The Rust Bucket III enters hyperspace towards Kinet, the closest planet from their last location. During the warp, Simon explained to Ben's team of how he knows their adventures. "That's not too much of a stretch. It's like that time me and Gwen were trapped in a Sumo Slammers video game, and Ishiyama didn't know he was in a video game, but just living his life." Ben said at the conclusion. "Glad you understand, Ben. I was worried you were gonna freak out." Finn said. "What about me?! You're telling us that for the past six years, millions of people have been watching our every move?!" Kevin said in alarm.
"Actually, it showed that one summer six years ago and the past two years from now." Simon corrected. "Not my point. Did you see anything embarrassing from any of us?" Kevin asked. "There was the episode Ben got pregnant." Simon said. "What?!" Finn, Jake, and Jerry said in confusion. "Yeah, nobody needs to know about that." Ben said in embarrassment.
The ship emerges from hyperspace to a star system where one planet is rapidly orbiting around its star. "That's Kinet, home to the Kinecelerans; a race of reptiles that can move at incredible speeds." Simon said. "It doesn't look like Malpha's here yet." Finn commented. "Malpha… maybe I should've said 'Alpha Malware', or even 'Alware'… no, that's just Malware without the 'M'." Jerry considered. "Is he always just chatty?" Kevin asked Finn.
"This is his first mission, so I wouldn't know." Finn answered. "I wish he weren't." Jake answered. Malpha Heatblast soon emerges from the depths of space, rocketting towards Kinet. "Woah, that was fast!" Finn commented. "Let's blow him outta the system before he lands!" Ben exclaimed.
"Buckle up, everybody." Rook instructed everyone. Seats behind the captain's chair pop out of the floor, everyone sits down, and Rook punches it, chasing after Malpha Heatblast. The fusion notices this, turns around, and fires pillars of fire from his shoulders. The Rust Bucket III dodges the attack and retaliates with lasers. Malpha Heatblasts takes the hits, but continues towards Kinet. They zip through the orbit of another planet as they engage in a firefight.
Rook fires missiles, too much for Malpha Heatblast to handle as they all take a direct hit, creating a cloud of smoke where he floated. The Rust Bucket III stops before the cloud as the crew looks on. "Yeah! Up high!" Jerry celebrated as he raises his hand to Jake. Emerging from the cloud is a hideous robotic creature with grey armour marked with red stripes, red gas emerging from holes all over its body, and a draconic head with an open yellow mouth and two red eyes, engulfed in a cloud of red gas. "Nice try, Tennyson. But I will not go down that easy!" Malware's voice spoke as he stretches his hand out to the ship.
"Here's a piece of advice, Jerry: villains that look like that don't go down easy!" Simon told Jerry before the ship gets rattled. Malpha's claw sinks into the ship's starboard wing before releasing it and flying away as Heatblast. "He's getting away! Step on it, Rook!" Ben screamed. "Ben, the starboard shield is disabled. Malpha must have disabled it." Rook said. "Who's up for a spacewalk?" Ben asked everyone.
Ben, Kevin, Finn, Jake, and Jerry step out of the ship to investigate the damage. "This isn't your regular wing breach." Kevin said in surprise as he sees the wing slowly crumbling apart. "This is one of Alpha's abilities. I saw him turn mutants into dust. Combined with Malware, he can do the same to tech." Ben suggested. "I can stretch out and grab the pieces, and you guys can weld the wing back together." Jake said. He stretches his body to reach the pieces, his suit adhering to his body to allow for this.
Once he collects enough wing chunks, Kevin leads everyone to weld it back together. "This on-the-job training is getting intense! I don't even know if this piece is supposed to go here or not!" Jerry panicked as he tries to fit a piece of wing into place. Before they could finish, a streak of blue flies past them. Ben looks on to see a hideous blue, raptor-like creature staring at him; Malpha XLR8. "We're too late. He's already got XLR8." Ben said in horror.
The creature stares at them before accelerating out of the system even faster than before. "Let's hurry this up!" Ben said before opening up his Omnitrix. He slams on the watch before transforming into a vaguely-humanoid alien with a black body, green circuitry, and the Omnitrix in place of a cycloptic eye. He turns into a puddle that engulfs the wing as everyone stops welding. He puts the wing back together and reverts to his default form.
"What's this alien called, Ben?" Finn asked Ben. "This is Upgrade. Malware's the same species as him, but mutated." Upgrade explained with Ben's voice. Simon watches from a porthole in awe. "Mister Petrikov are you staring at Ben?" Gwen asked Simon. "Upgrade's my top favourite alien. I just can't believe I get to see him like this." Simon said.
The five return and take their seats. "Malpha's already got XLR8. With his speed, he can reach the other planets even faster!" Ben said. "He already has five of your aliens. That leaves five more." Finn said. "If only we knew where he was going. We got lucky when we both ended up near Kinet." Simon said. "I dunno if this helps, but I found this." Jake said as he presented a chunk of black metal with red circuitry.
"That looks like a piece of Malware." Ben said. "I dunno how alien machines really work, but maybe we can get something outta this." Jake suggested. "Every nanite cell in a Galvanic Mechamorph's body serves all body functions at once, including data storage. It could be possible to probe it, but we do not have the equipment on-board." Rook said. "I can give it a scan with my noggin." Jerry said as he knocks his head. "You can?" Finn asked Jerry.
"Using light cloud functions, I can stick it in the cloud to get all its data." Jerry said as he removes his helmet, revealing a robotic skull. "Hand me the thing." Jerry asked Rook. The alien passes the chunk to Jerry as his cranium splits open to reveal blue light shining from his brain core. He pops the chunk in his head before closing it. He stays silent for a moment before collapsing face-first.
"Wow, that's a lotta take in!" he grunted before standing up. "What did you see?" Ben asked. "It's mostly corrupted, but the recent stuff's clear. His next stop is at a planet called Vulpin." Jerry answered. "Wildmutt's home planet." Gwen said. "Let's get there on the double!" Ben said as he straps in.
Rook activates the hyperdrive and they warp out of the system. They emerge at the edge of the galaxy at a pitch-black planet. "This is Vulpin, home to the Vulpimancers. Industry on the planet caused pollution to blacken the skies. With no use for sight, the Vulpimancers evolved to use their other senses to survive." Simon explained. At that moment, a blue streak crashes down on the planet.
"It's Malpha!" Gwen pointed. "Let's get down there fast!" Jake exclaimed. The ship swoops down towards the planet as a giant silhouetted humanoid floats a distance behind them. With glowing white eyes, they stare at them. The ship lands on a cliff overlooking a facility where toxic sludge flows from.
They all disembark on the planet and overlook the polluted environment." Rook said. "Vulpimancers live in caves below the surface. With Malpha that big, he must be digging." Simon suggested. The ground beneath them shakes a little, confirming Simon's hypothesis. Rook dismounts his shoulder-mounted rifle, the Proto-Tool, and it transforms into a scanner.
"The source of these quakes is coming from the northeast." Rook said. "Let's take the TRUK." Ben said. "I don't think a truck's gonna cut it for this terrain." Finn commented. "The Proto-TRUK's not any truck." Ben said. From the cargo hold, Rook drives out an ordinary orange commercial truck branded "Max's Plumbing" featuring an illustration of an old man wearing a red Hawaiian shirt.
"In our experience, a truck's not just a truck." Finn commented. "You got that right, Finn." Simon said. The truck transforms into a truck-sized spacecraft hovering off the ground, with low angled wings and two tail wings pointing upwards. "It's got its own Stealth Force mode!" Jake said. "Actually, the truck's the disguise. This is the primary mode." Simon corrected Jake.
They all hop into the ship from the back and they take off towards the source of the quakes. They fly through the smog-filled skies before coming across a giant, mutated Tetramand digging a massive hole through the ground. "There he is!" Rook pointed. "You guys find a safe place to land! I'll take it from here!" Ben said as he opens the ship's ramp. "Ben, what are you doing?!" Kevin yelled before Ben jumps out of the ship.
"Gimme Humungousaur!" Ben yelled before slamming the Omnitrix. After the green light surrounding him disappears, he has transformed into a blue moth-like alien with a muscular torso, skinny legs, and skull-like face. "Aw, man. At least Big Chill flies." Big Chill said before gliding towards Malpha Four-Arms. "Let's go after him!" Finn said before running out of the ship. "Wait for me!" Jake said as he jumps after Finn.
"Later." Jerry said before falling out of the ship. "Are they this reckless?!" Gwen asked Simon before the ramp closes. "Yep. Just the way I like it." Simon said. Jake stretches into a hang glider for Finn and Jerry to grab on. With Finn's arm gone, Jerry supports him up.
They follow Big Chill as they fly towards Malpha. Big Chill breathes ice onto Malpha Four-Arms' shoulder, gaining his attention. "If you wanted a dog, check the pound!" Big Chill taunted. "Or right over here!" Jake yelled as he stretches out a hammer arm, slamming it against Malpha Four-Arm's face. The mutant is knocked over against the tunnel wall before transforming into a green alien insect with four eyestalks.
It shoots goo from its eyes at the flying heroes, missing Big Chill but taking down Jake and the others. "Mayday! Mayday!" Jake screams as they crash down. Finn and Jerry survive unscathed, but Jake is encased in stinky goo. "Guys, get me outta here! The stink's too much for my sensitive dog nose!" Jake screamed. "I'll get you out, Jake!" Finn said as he removes his weapon from his backpack: the Night… Blaster? He aims the shotgun at Jake and blasts the goo to pieces, freeing Jake.
"Thanks, bro." Jake thanked Finn. "You think we need backup? I think we need backup." Jerry suggested. "Things haven't gotten hairy yet. It's only bodybuilder hairy, and not bear hairy." Finn said. As Big Chill flies circles around Malpha Stinkfly, Finn snipes one of his eyes, blinding him. Big Chill breathes a block of ice around his head, before it melts as he transforms into Malpha Heatblast.
Finn fires upon Malpha, but lowers it in tiredness. "It's not the same without my arm." Finn panted. "Here, have mine." Jerry said as he cleanly removes his right arm and attaches it to Finn. "Woah, thanks Jerry." Finn thanked Jerry before taking aim again. With better stability, Finn lands accurate hits at Malpha Heatblast, shooting him in the eye and knocking him down.
"Give up, Malpha." Big Chill said. "Malpha… what a quaint nickname for us." Malpha said he looks to the ground and sees a lone Vulpimancer fleeing from a hole. He discreetly puts his hand atop the creature before transforming his other arm into a hairy orange paw to swipe at Big Chill down to the ground. Big Chill reverts to Ben, looking up at Malpha.
To be continued…