Smoke consumed part of the street corner, a building had been blown open from the inside, with up to three men in hockey masks walking out, carrying bags of cash, and grins.
"That was easier than I thought." one of the robbers said, walking to a convertible Buick and throwing the cash into the backseat.
"Without Tennyson around, things should be runnin' smother." said another, more bulky robber.
"Oh, Boss is gonna be so proud of yes!" said the final, skinnier one, raising his arms in the air, celebrating all the money they had stolen.
"I wouldn't be so sure!" all three of them heard, looking up to the rooftops in front of them, seeing a figure of orange and yellow flame, with a body of red and brown rocks. His arms were crossed as he stared down at the three criminals. He had jumped down, landing on his feet and walking to the, slowly. "Really, guys? This idea is horribly too cliché. You know that?" he asked in a dehydrated sounding voice.
"Tennyson!" the skinny one screamed, hiding behind the rear end of the car, peeping his eyes out in fear.
The flaming figure looked at the terrified robber, rubbing his lit up head. "Uh...is he okay?" he turned his head to the muscle and...ZOINKS!
The big robber had pulled out a Mini-Plasma Machine Gun, firing purple rounds at the flaming hero, who was running away.
The fire human continued to run, the shots getting closer. He wasn't a good shot. That much he could tell. "Tell me this guy can fly!" he yelled, holding his arms out and his palms open. He jumped up, and fire had escaped his hands, propelling him into the air. He smiled flying into the sky. "WOOHOO!" he screamed. Then he stopped.
His fire had stopped sending him higher, letting gravity do the work. "Oh come on!" he yell, falling towards the earth. He adjusted himself, and soon faced the ground head-on, using his flames to propel himself to the street. "Okay...I can do this...I can do this...I can't do this!" but it was too late to stop it. He was about to make contact in 3...2... "Ah shi-"
A small mushroom cloud be seen in the distance. The flame made teen looked up, coughing and shaking off dust and debris. He saw the three criminal on the ground, getting up. Some...slower than others.
"Huh...guess it's the slammers for you guys." the flaming hero said, standing in a hero like pose. "I don't know what the sentence actually is. All I know is you're getting locked up for a long time, buddies." he then heard beeping, emitting from the green and black plate symbol on his chest.
"Code Name Acknowledged. Multimatrix DNA Lock Up activated." the symbol glowed, changing its color to whit and black, leaving the flame covered man confused.
"Uh, what?" he asked himself, tapping on the chest plate several times over. Nothing happened. "Oh boy..."
They all then heard a vehicle pull up. It was an orange truck, with a plumbing company logo on it. The vehicle had drifted to a stop, with a man covered in blue fur and a suit getting out, aiming some type of weapon at him. "Freeze! You are under arrest by the authority of the plumbers!"
"Don't worry dude. I already took care of them." the flaming hero stated, pointing to the crooks on the ground. He grinned, but then realized something...the weapon was pointed at him.
"You have the right to remain silent, Pyronite. Anything you say, or do can and will be used against you in a court of law." the blue fur man continued on. "If you are a telepath, you have the right to reframe from all thought. Anything you think or cause will be held against you."
"Woah Woah Woah! I'm not the bad guy here! I just helped out stopping those guys!" the Pyronite pointed to where the criminals were, but they were gone. "Wha-what?! No!"
"The only thing I see, is the large amount of destruction you caused to this street block." the blue officer replied, pointing to a building.
The fire man looked at the building with wide eyes and an opened jaw. The building was in flames, about to fall over. He slowly turned his head to the man, a sweatdrop on his face. "Now, I can explain-" before he could finish, he was shot by the officer in an electric wave, covering him in a net and knocking him out.
'Worst...hero day...ever...'
It took a while for the Pyronite known as Colby to wake up. When he did, he was harnessed to a metal chair, facing a table. He looked down and sure enough, he was still on fire. He sighed, then looked up seeing the fur covered man from before, tilting his head. "You, uh...got something on your face buddy."
The man only stared at the teen, confused, patting his cheeks to find nothing. "There is nothing on his face." he replied. "My name is Rook Blonko of the Plumbers. You have been apprehended."
"What?" the flaming man looked surprised. "But I'm innocent! I was trying to help stop those hockey-mask guys!"
"The Terror Triplets?" the officer asked, looking at the ground, pondering.
"Yeah." the young adult looked at his flaming body, confused. "Hey, how long have I been out?"
Rook looked at the clock on the wall, calculating how long it took. "Approximately 1 hour."
"Weird, this thing usually turns me back after 15 to 20 minutes..."
"What is this you are referring too?" the furry teen asked, but before he could get an answer, the door had opened, and the pair from before had walked in. Gwen and Kevin.
"Ah balls..." the Pyronite let out a huffed of hot air, looking up at the two. "Have I seen you two before?"
"Okay, start talking!" the woman slammed her fist on the table, frightening the young man.
"About what?!" he shouted back, looking down at his chest plate. "I'm just a normal person, like all of you!" he looked at Rook, trying to take back what he said. Why bother? He was as normal as anyone else on his planet.
"I doubt that matters when you turned an entire city block into ash, buddy." Kevin retorted, smiling at his own words.
"And on all days." Gwen continued in a voice of rage. "Do you have any idea what today even is? I lost my cousin because he was trying to protect people like you!"
"Don't you think I know that?" Colby closed his eyes. He could only think of what Ben went through to save the universe. And he was supposed to step up and take his place? "Look, I'm actually human, stuck in this...hey Furry, what did you call me earlier?"
"A...Pyronite..." Rook only stared at the flaming figure, dumbfounded. How could a member of a race forget its own species name?
"Yeah Pyronite." he continued, turning to the human couple. "Stuck in this Pyronite body. This isn't the first time. First it was this blob that works machines. Then it was this moth thing that moves through walls."
"Wait..." Kevin stopped Colby. "You mean Upgrade and Bigchill?"
"Upgrade and what now?"
The man walked closer, poking the metal plate on the Pyronite's chest. "How'd you get this?"
"I got it from a meteor that curved down into the Junkyard." he stated, hearing the table be thrown into the wall.
"Liar! A meteor doesn't just curve down!" Gwen yelled out in anger as pink energy staticed around her hand.
"Well look at me! I'm supposed to be a normal person by now, but for some reason this thing hasn't timed out!" Colby snapped back, grabbing both Rook and Gwen's attention. But not Kevin. He saw it clear as day.
"This guy has an Omnitrix." Kevin stated to the others, shocking them. "Just who are you anyway, and what are you doing with this thing?"
"The name's Colby Carsen. What I'm doing, was stopping the badguys." the Pyronite stated.
"Earlier today he had attempted to apprehend the Terror Triplet." Rook mentioned.
"Really? Police's been trying to get them for months..." Kevin said, pondering on what to do.
"And I would've had them, if it weren't for you guys. Now can you change me back, and let me go?"
"I do not understand." Rook stated, putting his hand on his chin. "You have an Omnitrix. Can you revert back to your original form."
Colby sighed, looking at Rook. "No Blonko, I can't. Like I said before, I should've timed out by now! Now can you fix it or not?"
"Depends. Did you bust it?" the man asked.
"I don't know..." the Pyronite answered.
"What happened before you couldn't change back?" he asked.
"Well, I beat the Triplets and then it just said DNA Lock Up Active or something."
Kevin slapped his palm into his face, groaning. "Great. You activated DNA Lock Mode..."
"And that's bad, am I right?" the flaming hero asked rhetorically.
"Only if ya think being trapped as an alien forever is bad." he stated, with a slight douchey grin.
"WHAT?!" he yelled in terror, wiggling in his seat, trying to pry his way out. "CHANGE ME BACK! PLEASE!"
Kevin pondered, looking back at Gwen, who was giving her usual stern look, and Rook, who was still dumbfounded by the newfound information. "Okay. We'll change you back, on one condition: You help us find the Terror Triplets, and bring them in."
"Deal. Anything. Just turn me back to normal!" suddenly they all heard a beeping noise as the chest plate started blinking green.
"Transformation sequence activated." It stated, making Colby grin in excitement.
Green and yellow lights engulfed him, his skin became white and green with three green orbs on his waist and arms, with his hands turning stubby with four fingers. His body shrunk to the size of a child, with three green fins on his head.
Colby looked at himself with a grin, but it then faded. He looked his hands, letting his jaw drop. "What? What happened?!" he screamed, holding his face in his hands.
"You turned into Ditto." Kevin poked the child sized man in the head, smirking.
"How do I change back?" the child sized teen looked at the metal plate, which was now on the back of his left hand. He tapped it vigorously, growing more aggressive at it. "Great. And now I turned into...Ditto?"
"Ditto is a Splixson. He has the ability to multiply himself at will." Rook explained to Colby.
Ditto looked at himself, pondering. He tried to concentrate, thinking on one thing, but he couldn't do it. "Ah man..." suddenly he felt a four fingered stubby hand on him. "Don't worry buddy, you'll get it." said Ditto 2, with a big grin.
The original jumped back, surprised, and starred at his copy, amazed. "It...it worked?...awesome!" they both stated, dancing there own funny dance with eachother, until one of them was pushed into the wall with pink energy, the other groaning in pain.
"Gwen!" Kevin yelled at his girlfriend.
"This thing's gone on long enough." she stated. "Look at him! He's incapable of using that thing..."
"So was Ben," Kevin retorted, walking to the Splixson duplicate and pulling him out the wall. "That didn't stop him from anything." he only heard a sigh from her, then he turned to the child size alien on the ground. "It's a deal then."
A small orange truck drove down the streets of bellwood, with Rook behind the wheel, as it was his main mode of transportation. Kevin had taken the passenger seat and Gwen was in the back with the two Splixsons known as Colby. She was unamused.
The copy of Ditto was tapping on his originals Omnitrix symbol, twisting and turning it. "It won't come off!" Ditto 2 stated. "Then try harder!" the original stated. "I'm doing my best here!"
"Will you two stop arguing?!" Gwen shouted at them, but was surprised by their reaction.
"Stay out of it!" they both talked back in unison. "This isn't any of your concern! Got it, Gwen?!"
She only pouted, crossing her arms and looking away to the wall.
Then truck stopped, causing the twin Dittos to fall into a seat in the front, then to the floor, moaning in each others pain. They slowly got up, looking at the driver and rubbing their heads. "Jeez..." "Care to give us a heads up next time?"
"I apologize, Colby Carsen. I assumed you were wearing seatbelts." Rook looked at the two, rubbing his head in embarrassment.
"Dude, don't call us Colby Carsen." "Yeah, just call us Colby, man."
He pondered, then smiled. "Very well, Colby-man."
The two aliens looked at themselves, then slammed their hands into their heads. "Boy golly...this is gonna be a long day..." they both stated, walking to the back of the truck, opening the dual doors and hopping out. They saw they were at the bank where the triplets were. "What?" But we were already here."
"Exactly." Kevin stated, getting out the truck and to the back to help Gwen out. "That means you should be able to track them."
"Woah! Me?" "You mean we!" the two Dittos argued. "You're me, idiot!" "What if you're me, huh?" "I am! We're the same person!"
Gwen sighed, frustration building up as he looked at the two child sized aliens bicker. "Unbelievable! How is he supposed to find the Triplets?"
"We don't know! Okay?!" the duplicate snapped back. "We just got this thing, and barely know what it does!" "Much less do we know anything in it that tracks things!" suddenly, they all heard a beeping from the metal plate on Colby's Ditto hand, and both copies gulped. "Oops!"
Colby became covered in a bright green and yellow lights, but instead of his changing, the veins in his left arm swelled, extending to the rest of his body as he can feel a primal instinct take over. He fell on all fours, becoming covered in orange fur, with a mighty roar.
"Wildmutt!" Kevin announced with a grin, then saw Gwen give another stern look. "He can't exactly speak, remember?"
The fur covered teen snarled, in human frustration. The beast turned his body to the three others, whining at them.
Rook walked over to Wildmutt, pulling his wespon from his shoulder and changing its form. It didn't look like a futuristic looking gun now. It looked like some kind of hook. He pointed the device to Colby, who just snarled.
"I understand. This is all new to you." Rook stated. He seemed to understand what the animal was saying. Wildmutt only snarled in response. "When this is all said and done, we will do the best in our abilities to revert you to normal." the fur covered teen stated. They all heard whining of frustration from the orange beast as he started to look around, sniffing the ground.
"How could you?..." Gwen started, slightly confused.
"I was able to use the prototool to translate the what Colby was saying." Rook explained with a smile.
They all heard a roar from the orange beast. He had found something. He began to run on all fours, following the scent left behind by the criminals. He stopped at alley. It was a deadend. The others caught up, dumbfounded.
Kevin looked around, then at Wildmutt. "Well...where is it?" he asked.
"Oh. I understand." Rook said, walking to the wall and pulling out the weapon on his shoulder once more. He pointed the device at the brick wall, moving it around, until finally he stopped. "The Terror Triplets are using underground network tunnels to travel."
"That would explain why the police could never find them." Gwen concluded with her eyes turning pink, with energy forming from her fingertips. Part of the wall became covered in a pink color, moving back and up, and revealing a secret dirt pathway. It was going down.
"They operated in Undertown?" Kevin scratched his head. Then he thought about it. Most of the police probably think only aliens go to Undertown, so it was a perfect place to hide.
Colby growled, running on all fours into the entrance, any care was clearly at the back of his mind. Rook and Kevin soon followed. Gwen just walked.
The orange beast soon stopped, smelling around his new surroundings. He was on ground, obviously. There were many new scents in the radius. He smelled Rook and Kevin enter the area, and turned his head around, sniffing at them.
"They must still be here." Rook stated, turning to his comrades. "Wildmutt would have followed any new scent by now."
Colby growled in agreement, looking at the building in front of him. Suddenly, the metal plate on the collar around his neck started to beep once more. The animal howled in excitement, being covered in a green and yellow glow.
His skin began to turn blue, with his head gaining an aerodynamic helmet like head and a slimmer body. His feet pulled backwards, forming balls for feet. his hands began to thin, turning into three blade like appendages, as well as growing a long blue tail with black stripes.
The teen looked at himself, clamping his three fingers with a smile. "What does this one do?"
Gwen walked by, adjusting her glasses and looking to Colby. "That's XLR8. By the name, he's fast."
"Say no more!" in a flash he sped through Undertown in seconds, and in seconds he returned. "Found them! In some old alien bar named the Black Hole."
"Got it." Kevin replied, cracking his knuckles. "We got this."
The bar was half full, with all kinds of alien species. The only three humans at table, stomaching down purple and blue drinks. The skinniest enjoying it.
"So, what about that Pyronite earlier?" the brute of the three asked, setting his hands down to grab a glass, crushing it in his palm.
"You mean Tennyson?" the smaller, muscular one. "Something was off with him. Like he didn't know what he was doing."
"Maybe it was amnesia?" suggested the skinny one. The other two only stared at him. "Or maybe it wasn't Tennyson?"
"Eddy, that's stupid." said the bulky of the three.
"No no Edd..." the average sized human stopped them both. "Maybe he's right..."
The brute known as Edd rolled his eyes, leaning back into his chair with a huff. "So what? Ed you know he almost took us out right?"
"Yes, but he didn't. Think about that, huh?" Ed replied, getting up and walking over to the bathroom.
Eddy turned his head to the larger robber with a smirk. "Relax big bro. It could have so much worse."
They both suddenly felt breezy wind as XLR8 entered the room in a blue and green blur. "The jig's up buddy!" he stated, running to the as fast as he could. He ran into the wall and fell on his back, dazed. "Ow..."
The skinniest of the triplets jumped out his seat, beginning to run to the door, being stopped by a silver Kevin cracking his knuckles. Eddy then tried to run the other way, passing Colby as he got back on his feet.
"Okay...this guy is was to fast...I need to wrap this thing up..." he heard beeping and saw green flashing from the Omnitrix symbol. He then became covered in green and yellow lights.
The teen figure became covered in green vines, with a spiked yellow and red head and a black face. Red and yellow petals grew on his shoulders, with green petals on his arms. He opened his now green and black eyes in a flexing pose. "SWAMPFIRE!"
Swampfire looked at himself, confused on what he had just shouted. "Why did I say that?" he sniffed himself, and gagged. "Why do I smell?" a shot was suddenly fired, hitting the plant like humanoid in the abdomen, and setting a hole in it. Colby turned his eyes to the brute, who was holding the plasma Minigun. "Oh come on!"
The brute began to fire rapidly as Swampfire began to run through the bar, dodging as many shots as he could. He was shot in his right arm, and left leg, ducking over the counter.
"Okay...what does this guy do?" he questioned himself, looking at his disfigured hand. He was surprised. Vines from his body were filling the openings of his wounds. The teen smirked. "Okay, awesome...but I'm gonna need more than that..." a small ball of fire engulfed the palm of his hand, making Colby grin wide. "That'll do!" he jumped over the counter, chucking the ball of fire at the brute, knocking the minigun out his hands.
The skinniest one hopped around the room, laughing in amusement with Kevin running after him. "Catch me if you can, slow poke!"
"Get back here you little-!" Kevin shouted, turning his right hand into a sword and swinging it at the triplet, slicing the tables in the process. He then stopped, seeing Eddy swing on a pipe, taunting him. "That's it! Get over here!" he jumped at him, watching the criminal drop from the ceiling pipe and letting him fly into a table, breaking it. The silver man puffed in frustration.
The average looking triplet walked out the bathroom, seeing the chaos outside and groaning. He grabbed the rifle on his back, aiming it at Kevin, until it was knocked out his hands by an orange energy shot. He looked to the source, growing. It was Rook, putting his weapon in his hand, transforming into a Tonfa.
"Bring it, bro!" Rook stated, putting up his hands. The criminal charged at him, trying to land a punch. He was countered with the weapon in the blue fur teen's hand, causing him to be pushed back. Rook quickly pulled himself to the floor, swinging his leg over to Ed's ankle and sending him down to the ground.
Kevin continued to chase Eddy, transforming his arm into a hook. The skinny child like man jumped up once more onto a pipe, as a body was thrown at Kevin, knocking him down.
"Ahh..." Colby groaned, slowly getting on his feet with Kevin. He saw the brute and stepped back. "Hey man, let's switch, okay?" he said in terror.
"Sure. Works for me." the silver man replied, jumping at the bulkiest.
Swampfire sighed, lookin at Eddy, fireballs appearing in his hands. "This one I can do..." he chucked one ball after another. None of them seemed to hit, making the plant like humanoid huff. "Yeah, I expect much." he looked in his other hand, and saw seeds grow out his palm. "Well, I got nothing else..." he threw the seeds at the criminal, letting them fall into the cracks of the floor.
"What was that?" Eddy asked Colby, breaking out into a laugh. "That was pathetic!" then they both heard a sound. The cracks in the floor were overflowing with vines, reaching out to the skinny man, and grabbing his ankles, soon the rest of his body.
The vine covered teen only looked at him, surprised on what seeds have accomplished. His seeds! "Okay...that's cool!"
Kevin and Edd struggled against each other. Their hands were locked together, and both were forcing their strength on one another. Kevin groaned, pushing his hardest, and pushing the brute against him a small bit, then sending him into the ground.
The silver man quickly got on top of the brute, morphing his hand into a bigger fist. "Nighty night!" he punched the brute in the face, knocking him out.
Ed quickly ran through the room, out the door of the bar and down the street. He stopped himself when he saw Gwen stand there, with a group of police men behind her. The robber sighed, looking down.
It didn't take long for the police to apprehend the other two. They were put into a SWAT van, cuffed in plasma bindings.
"We're going to jail, aren't we?" Eddy asked his brute brother as they were directed into the van by the officers.
"Yeah...don't worry, we can handle it." the average of the three replied, sitting on a bench.
Colby walked out the bar, sighing, and then smiling. It was over, and now all he needed to do was change back. He turned to see Kevin and Gwen, along with Rook inside the bar, and walked to them.
"Okay, I did as asked. Now you gotta finish your side of the bargain." Swampfire stated, tapping the metal plate on his chest.
Kevin only looked at the plant like humanoid, a smile on his face. "You seriously haven't figured it out?"
"Figured what out?" the teen asked.
"Okay, repeat after me." the Osmosian ordered. "DNA Lock Up Deactivate."
Colby's jaw dropped. That's all it took? Just that simple phrase? He risked his life for that simple sentence? The teen sighed. "Unbelievable..." he mumbled. "DNA Lock Up Deactivate." he repeated, hearing beeping from his chest.
He was covered in shining green and yellow lights. When the light dimmed, he had returned to his human state. His normal blonde hair and white and green jacket. The watch was on his wrist still. He was normal again.
"Thanks, guys." Colby said with a smile.
"It was our pleasure." Rook replied.
"You know, there is a place where you can get used to that thing." Gwen stated, gesturing the white and green watch on the young man's wrist.
"Like what? An insane asylum?" the blonde joked.
"No, like a place with people like us, and you." she replied.
Colby pondered for a second. It would be a good opportunity to figure out what this thing is. Find out a way he could use it to protect others. To save so many people...
"I'll sleep on it." he said, walking away, and activating the hologram and wheel. Scrolling through it with a smile.
Anything he does now is up to him...
