The drone was practically making a mess of everything, as it tried to kill everything around it. Shooting crimson lasers out of its metallic palms.
No way! Is that...?" Luffy exclaimed as he and Chopper both grew stars in their eyes, "A BEAM?!"
Is this seriously the time you idiots?!" shouted Kevin having already absorbed the matter from the bell, his skin now a brimming gold. Kevin's hands formed into hammers as he charged forward and slammed his fists into the drone's chest knocking it back a few feet.
"Gum Gum Spear!" Luffy shouted as he shot both of his legs down in a stamping kick. It struck the drone dead on, slamming it violently into the ground and sending spiderweb cracks in all directions.
Luffy landed with sure footing beside the impact crater, a small cloud of dust obscuring the ground. A clawed hand suddenly reached out to grab Luffy who leapt backwards hoping to dodge the deadly strike, when two feminine arms sprouted from the drone's arm and pulled it back, throwing its aim off-course.
Several hundred feet away, Robin stood with her arms crossed over her chest, wincing a bit as she struggled to restrain the machine despite it's massive weight. Taking advantage of the opening, Luffy launched off the rocky ground and struck the drone in the chest with a spinning punch.
"Gum Gum Rifle!"
The drone flew backwards, hovering through the air. Seeing his chance, Sanji dashed forward, intercepting the flying mechadroid with a stabbing kick that shot the drone back into the air like an artillery shell sending it to the ground once more.
"Poitrine Shoot!"
Each of the Straw Hats were now spread out around the recovering drone at long range. Luffy watched, ready to attack at a moment's notice. Nami had retrieved her Clima-Tact and had begun generating a cloud using the staff's atmospheric manipulation abilities, watching the fight nervously as she did so. The gold-skinned Kevin's hands formed into spiked maces as he now seemed rather eager for a fight. Chopper stood in his Heavy Point, desperately hoping he wouldn't have to try dodging one of those laser beams.
"Mr. Cook!" shouted Robin, "Please get it away from the bell, if you can! Even ruined like this, it is still an important artifact!"
"Anything you say!" Taking advantage of the distraction, Sanji attacked, delivering a boulder-shattering kick that sent the drone smashing to the ground beside the bell like a meteorite.
"Hey, save some for us!" Kevin came in, still covered in his concrete armor as he and Chopper joined in. Kevin's right arm formed into a spiked ball as he leapt to smash it into the back of the Mechadroid's head, knocking it into a daze and allowing Chopper to leap onto its shoulder and smash his fist into its chin area. When it tried to reach and grab for him, several pairs of Robin's arms sprouted from the monster to grab and restrain both of its arms to keep it from moving; while Kevin came in from the other side again, his arm now formed into a blade as he quickly sliced off its left arm by the joint, allowing Luffy to use an axe kick on top the drone's head and then leapt off to regroup with Kevin, Sanji, Robin, Chopper, and Nami.
The suddenly, the drone got up again as silos opened up on its shoulders to shoot a series of heat seeking missiles at the pirates. The Strawhats all scattered as the missiles exploded all around them sending them flying in every direction as they hit the ground hard.
"Holy shit! This thing is packing heat! Who the hell made this thing?!' Nami exclaimed, now covered in soot.
"So awesome! I want one!" Luffy cheered happily.
"Knock it off already!" Kevin yelled as he bonked the captain right on the head, "In case you haven't noticed, this tin can's trying to kill us! Even with one arm, it can still do a lot of damage!"
As the drone got ready to strike once more, what looked to be a mana-construct that took the crude shape of a hammer suddenly appeared, which then proceeded to pound the drone into the ground. Before it could recover, a series of lasers that were both green and orange as well as a hail of diamond shards all struck the drone right in the chest.
"36 Caliber Phoenix!"
Even cutting through nothing but air the slash sounded like cannon fire. A swirling blade of wind flew up and sliced the drone across its side, greatly damaging its internal systems.
"Gunpowder Star!"
A black pellet was fired at the drone's face which exploded upon contact causing even more damage.
"Looks like you guys could use a hand."
The Strawhats turned around to see that the rest of their crew had arrived, namely Gwen, Zoro, Julie, Rook, Usopp, and Tetrax all ready to back them up.
"You all did well to fight off this drone," said Tetrax, "But now it's time to end this!"
He stepped up in front of the robot to taunt him. "Time to take a page from Ben's book," He pointed at his chest.
The drone fired his laser at Tetrax who stuck his hands up to block the blast. He was pushed back a few feet, but he kept his hands in place letting the light reflect.
"As you humans would say, what goes around comes around," Tetrax said. "Let's see how you like it!"
Tetrax managed to reposition his hands to reflect the blast which he then used to slice the robot across its chest. Once the laser hit, the entire upper part of the robot's body exploded in a raging fire. The rest of it blew up once it dropped on the ground.
The Alien Force cheered while the rest of the Strawhats were astonished. Even Zoro was impressed.
"And that is how it's done." Kevin smirked.
"Tetrax, what happened? What did you do?" Nami asked as they all regrouped.
"The power of refraction," Gwen explained, "He created a reflective surface with his crystal body to redirect the lasers."
"So cool! You kicked its ass!" Luffy yelled happily.
"Yes, that was very clever," Rook praised.
"I'll admit, that was pretty creative." Robin commented. "Good work."
Tetrax simply nodded in response.
"Okay, but just what the hell was that thing?" Usopp questioned as the crew looked toward the flaming wreckage of the drone.
"Something that came crash landed from the sky along with that bell apparently, "Sanji said as he lit up a cigarette.
"It's called a Mechadroid, an alien drone armed to the teeth," Kevin replied.
"Wait, an alien robot?! Are you serious?!" Usopp screamed frantically, "Where did it come from?! What did it want?!"
"Don't know. But in any case, it's more than likely that there are gonna be more on the way," Kevin stated.
Nami was ready with her orders. "Then we're getting out of here! Kevin, Zoro, Tetrax, Luffy, and Sanji, come here and bring these bags back to the ship!"
"What? What's in the bags?" asked Sanji, already moving.
Nami's grin was as sudden as it was unexpected. All she said was one word. "Gold!"
"Hey wait a minute...where's Ben?" Luffy noticed, "Wasn't he with you guys?"
"That creature that attacked you at Mock Town came back again, so Ben went to deal with it," Rook answered.
"I just hope he's okay," Julie said, now a bit worried.
It was then that Gwen heard a familiar beeping in her pocket, she reached in and took out her Plumber's Badge which was the cause of it.
"Oh no..." said Gwen as her expression became one of concern.
Elsewhere
Meanwhile, Ben had just woken up… and he was upside down. Thankfully, he was used to being trapped like this, so it didn't exactly bother him. But what was a bother to him was that his hands were bound behind his back, and they had been tied in a way where he couldn't easily access the Omnitrix. And even he could, he probably wouldn't even be able to see which alien he'd be choosing.
The hero took a glance around the room to see several different items on display… and he was pretty sure that they had all once belonged to living aliens that weren't so alive anymore. He saw a Vulpimancer-skin rug, a Geochelone Aerio shell that had been transformed into a shelving unit, and he himself was actually hanging from a Crabdozer skull.
What most unsettled him though was the full Appoplexian skeleton that stood next to the Terraspin shelves. 'There's just something about seeing Rath's bones that just doesn't seem right.' he thought to himself. However, it was then that he noticed a certain figure standing across the room with his back toward him, sharpening a rather sharp-looking knife. Indeed, it was Khyber, with his alien dog laying on the floor with a bone in its mouth as well. With a slight smirk, Ben decided to do what he did best.
"Hmph, well, gotta say, Khyber, I love what you've done with the place." The Omnitrix bearer craned his head toward the trophies, pretending to admire them. "Who knew alien skulls had so many uses?" He got no response initially, which upset him a bit. "…This is usually when you start spouting your whole "dominate the universe" plan, just so you know. You're kinda breaking a villain tradition here." Once again, nothing. Ben pursed his lips irritably, finding Khyber to be a tough nut to crack. "I'm sure you're just dying to fill me in on everything you've got going on here, right?"
"Not really, no." Khyber finally replied, turning around toward him while gesturing to the walls with his knife. "The trophies, the hunting equipment, it's all pretty self-explanatory." He pointed to himself. "I am the ultimate hunter, and you…" His knife drew close to Ben's face, making the hero crane his head back. "…are the ultimate prey." Khyber peered behind Ben to take a peek at the watch. "And your Omnitrix shall be my greatest trophy. Once my benefactors are done with it, of course."
"Yeah, I've been meaning to ask about that, actually." Ben tilted his head as best he could. "What is your connection with Vilgax anyway? And yes, I know that he's here and you're working for him, but there's gotta be some reason he recruited you."
Khyber nodded whilst turning away from the hero. "Hmm, you would be correct. My reasoning for allying with Vilgax does not solely lie with his animosity towards you." He took up a rag and started polishing his knife, making sure he could see his reflection in it. "You see, my benefactors and him share a common interest in wanting to obtain the Omnitrix, both for very… interesting reasons."
Ben gave a shrug. "Yeah, I get that part. Vilgax wants to create an army of Omnitrix wielders to help conquer the universe. Not sure what your "benefactors" want with the watch, but I'm sure it involves dominating this universe, too." He raised an eyebrow at the hunter. "Only question is, what will you do with it when they're done?"
A smirk came to Khyber's lips, and he waved his hand across the room. "Didn't I just tell you, Tennyson? I shall have it taxidermized and it will have a permanent place in my collection…" He hummed and started pondering to himself, staring at the Terraspin shell. "Hmm, yes, I'm thinking of placing it on my Geochelone Aerios shell mantel piece. Right next to the Appoplexian skeleton, just above the Vulpimancer pelt."
"Okay, I get it, you've got a bunch of creepy junk, now can we—" THUNK! Ben's eyes widened after Khyber threw his knife at the Appoplexian skeleton's wrist, lobbing the hand clean off. "…Point taken."
"Good." Khyber retrieved his knife and went over to a nearby table, which held some rather… dangerous-looking alien surgical tools. "I suggest you prepare yourself for what's about to happen, because it will hurt. Quite a bit, might I add."
The hero rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Please, you think you're the first person to ever wanna hack off my arm for the Omnitrix? Creeps like you have been trying and failing since I was ten." Ben saw Khyber turn back toward him, now sure that he had his full attention. "Heck, one time, I even got trapped in the Null Void after a stunt like that. My hand was literally body-less here on Earth, and I even switched places with it before things got back to normal."
Khyber stepped back up and lowered his head so that he and Ben were eyelevel. "If you're attempting to stall for time so your little friends can come swooping to your rescue, I'm afraid you will be sorely disappointed. There is no hope for you, Tennyson. Your allies don't know where you are, you cannot communicate with the outside, and this ship is untraceable. You're finished."
Ben pursed his lips, searching for something to counter that with. Thankfully, it didn't take him too long to find it. "Yeah, well, at least I don't make my teammates do all the work for me while I take all the credit." He nudged his chin down to the alien dog, still chewing on its bone. "I mean, the mutt is clearly the brains of the operation, right?"
Khyber sneered at the accusation. "She is not a mutt." The dog stood up and received a pet on its head by its master. "She is a an extremely well-trained Anubian Baskurr."
"Wearing a cheap Omnitrix wannabe."
"Hm, yes… courtesy of an old friend of yours." Khyber's smirk returned. "Malware."
Ben widened his eyes at the very mention of that name, a shocked gasp escaping his throat.
"Now that I have your attention… it seemed Malware somehow managed to obtain crucial yet flawed design specs for the Omnitrix."
Ben's features went from astonished to thoughtful when he said that. "Must've been during one of our fights back in the day. I think I remember him touching the Omnitrix at one point while I was transformed."
"Whatever the case, he ended up seeking out the aid of a Cerebrocrustacean with a vendetta against Azmuth." Khyber continued. "The doctor was able to reverse engineer a workable facsimile; the Nemetrix." He gestured down to the device, which gleamed around his dog's neck. "It was only missing one critical element… predator DNA." He spun around, placing a hand to his chest in pride. "So naturally, they sought out the greatest huntsman in the galaxy."
"Oh yeah?" Ben questioned snidely. "Who was that?"
Khyber immediately whipped around and stuck his knife straight at him, "One more remark like that, child, and I will collect that smart tongue of yours." Ben sucked his lips in, resisting the urge to laugh as Khyber went on. "Back to the point… I hunted down all of the fiercest, most savage predators in the galaxy. Procuring their DNA for the Nemetrix. And, once my mission was complete, all that was left to do was find a willing test subject to wield the device for us."
"So, you used your own dog," Ben concluded.
"Not initially, no," Khyber denied. "Our first subject was one that we found in the Null Void. In fact, there was no shortage of candidates to be found there… willing or unwilling."
Ben sneered in disgust. "So, you forced alien criminals to transform into abominations for your invention? They may be the bad guys, but I doubt they deserve that."
"Perhaps, not… but you cannot argue with the final results." Khyber lifted his head and whistled, leading the Anubian Baskurr to respond by changing into the Terrorantula once again. "Tell me, Tennyson… does this beast look familiar to you?"
Ben scrunched his face in confusion as he stared at the Terrorantula, meeting its piercing red gaze. "What? The heck are you… wait…" Ben's eyes widened as he kept his sights locked on the monster, slowly remembering something that had slipped his mind a long time ago…
Six Years Ago
It was a bright, midsummer afternoon as young Ben Tennyson was sitting on the lake shore. It was a weekend, so himself and his cousin were on a short fishing trip with Grandpa Max. However, neither of the kids were really interested in the actual fishing part, with Gwen busy practicing her magic while Ben was fiddling with the Omnitrix as per usual. Still, that didn't stop Max from trying to change their mind as he waded through the water. "Ah, nothing like a good spot of fishing to make the day pass." The old Plumber said. "C'mon kids, why not enjoy the peace and cast a line yourselves?"
Gwen, who was busy trying to balance on a mana platform, wasn't too jazzed on the idea. "I'm trying to get a hang of my powers, grandpa. Sorry, but I don't have time for fly fishing."
"Hmm…" Ben smirked with a conceiving gaze toward his cousin. "Then how about some… STINKFLY fishing?!" He slapped the Omnitrix and transformed into Stinkfly in a flash of green, the Lepidopterran rushing over Gwen's head and taking her off balance. Stinkfly gave a mocking laugh as she landed on her butt. "Haha! Have a nice trip! See ya next fall—OW!"
He was cut off as Gwen shot a mana burst at his face, though Max was quick to intervene. He held up his hands and warned the duo; "Alright, you two, knock it off." And, as he expected, like clockwork, his grandkids argued.
"He/She started it!"
Gwen scoffed and threw her hand up at Stinkfly. "As if! HE started it!"
"Nuh-uh! SHE started it!" Stinkfly denied.
"HE started it!"
"SHE did!"
"No, YOU did!"
"You wish!"
"Why would I wish for THAT?"
Just as Gwen asked that, however, the trio were caught off guard as something came leaping out of a bush not too far away. They snapped their heads around and gasped at the sight of a large, spider-like alien beast coming barreling toward them, and Stinkfly took that as his cue. "Uh, hold that thought! It's Hero Time!"
The Lepidopterran flew at the monster and raised his eyestalks, firing off several globs of slime that stuck to the creature's legs and held it in place. Then, from out of nowhere, a mana disk crashed against its head and started pushing it back, with Gwen proclaiming; "Correction. It's HEROES Time!"
"See, now THAT just ruins it." Stinkfly shook his head before the spider creature broke through the barrier, all while unsticking itself from the ground. As Max took off toward the Rustbucket, Stinkfly continued to berate his cousin. "News flash, Gwen, there's an alien HERO on the scene! I don't need any backup!"
The creature lifted its legs and created a large laser web in front of it, which it then proceeded to step through. As it did, the web actually clung onto the spider alien's body, covering it in a protective web layer. "Watch how the REAL heroes get it done!" Stinkfly flew into the air and came down for a stinger attack… only for him to get shocked BIG time when his tail connected. He was sent flying back as he transformed back into his human form, with Gwen catching him on a mana platform.
The redhead couldn't keep that up for long, so she just decide to drop her cousin as payback. "See? What'd I tell you, Ben?"
"Ugh… alright, maybe I COULD use a little backup." Ben admitted, going for the Omnitrix again. "Or maybe… some Feedbackup!"
Ben smacked the Omnitrix again after making his selection, and within seconds, he had transformed into his favorite alien which was a humanoid that had a black body with one green eye in the middle of his head, two antennae, a white chest color, a tail with round plugs on their tips, four-fingered hands, and feet with only two front toes. Though while HE was hyped about it, Gwen simply rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Ugh, don't you ever get tired of using that alien?"
"Ha! Why would I?" Feedback scoffed, sending a toothy grin toward the spider. "Especially when he can do THIS!" The Conductoid thrust his arms out and sent out bolts of energy from his plug-like finger tips which hit the spider creature and immediately absorbed the laser webbing from its body, leaving it defenseless. "Ha! Score another one for the energy absorbing dude!"
The spider wasn't too happy, though, and it lunged for Feedback with its mouth open wide. The hero jumped back just in time to avoid the hit, though when the beast landed, it was met with the grill of the Rustbucket ramming right into it. Max pulled to a stop and looked to his grandkids out the window. "You two alright—GAAH!"
Without warning, the spider beast was back up and lifted the Rustbucket off its wheels, flipping it straight back onto its roof. All of the windows were shattered, and in that very second, the cousins put aside their petty squabble for what mattered most; "GRANDPA!"
"Ugh… I'm alright!" Max announced as he crawled out of one of the many broken windows, only to be met with the spider monster. The beast set its red-eyed glare down at him… but then something strange happened. The moment their eyes met, the creature seemed to do a double take, and then foam began to bubble from its lips. From there, it began convulsing and shrieking, its eyes losing focus as it bashed its head against the Rustbucket.
Max was confused to say the least, but he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. He got to his feet and rushed over to his granddaughter, while Feedback switched places with him to grab a hold of the monster. "Uh, dude? You DO realize you're beating YOURSELF up, right?"
"I think its brain went "bye-bye", if you know what I mean." Gwen said as she made the "cuckoo" hand motion next to her head.
"Very well could have." Max agreed.
But the two didn't have long to speculate as the Omnitrix timed out and Ben transformed back… though oddly enough, the red flash seemed a lot more prominent. Once the flash died down, Ben shook his head to get his bearings… and then gasped at what he was met with. Rather than the spider creature, he was standing next to an old, yet strong-looking man with long, greying hair and a matching beard. He had a scar over his right eye, and while he didn't SEEM familiar, there was something recognizable to him, though Ben couldn't quite place him. "Woah… this is new."
"Ben!" Max and Gwen rushed over, the old man kneeling down next to his grandson. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, just… kinda shaky." Ben eyed the other man incredulously. "Grandpa, is that…"
Max's eyes landed on the man, and unlike Ben, he instantly recognized him. Even with the new beard and scar, he knew his old partner anywhere. "Phil?!" He placed his hands on Phil's shoulders, hoping to get some sort of reaction. "Phil, what happened?" The man's eyes seem to widen a bit, but for the most part, he seemed totally lost.
"Wait… Phil? As in, your old Plumber partner?" Gwen tilted her head. "How did he escape the Null Void?"
"And more important, has he ALWAYS secretly been a giant, ravenous spider-monster thing?" Ben added.
"Questions later. Right now, he needs our help." Max resolved.
Just then, Phil blinked and gasped, reaching out to his old partner in shock. "M-Max?! Max, i-is that really you?"
Max grasped the man by the arms firmly, yet reassuringly at the same time. "It is, Phil. It's okay. Whatever happened to you is over now."
"No… N-No, no, it's NOT over!" Phil exclaimed, clearly panicked. "W-What they've done to me, it's only the beginning! Max, you and your grandkids have to—AGH! AAAAH!" Before he could say any more, a Null Void portal suddenly appeared underneath Phil, dropping him back into the extra-dimensional prison. And, for the several following weeks, not one of the three could get that image out of their head.
Present Day
"…That attack by Phil six years ago." Ben concluded, having recounted the memory for all to hear. "That was you testing out the Nemetrix. Okay, wow, sure, ruin a poor guy's mind. Phil might've done some bad stuff, but even he didn't deserve that."
"What he deserved was irrelevant to me at the time." Khyber dismissed, handwaving the entire topic. "Because at the end of the day, the test eventually proved to be a failure. Alas, a higher functioning creature such as a human could not handle the savage feral nature of the Nemetrix."
Ben glanced down, or rather UP from his upside-down state, toward the Anubian Baskurr. "So, Fido here gets her paws dirty for you instead." In response, the alien canine barred its teeth and growled at him.
Khyber chortled and snapped his fingers, making the dog sit obediently. "Hmhm, "Fido" as you call her, being feral herself, has no higher function than absolute loyalty." The huntsman reached down, grasping the dog's collar. "Making her a perfect fit for the Nemetrix."
"She'd have to be lacking in higher function to be loyal to you." Ben quipped.
"You would do well to show respect to the greatest huntsman in the galaxy!"
Once again, Ben rolled his eyes at that. "Oh yeah? Well if you're so great, then why'd it take you six years to capture me then?" He raised a brow at Khyber with a sly grin. "After all, it took Vilgax, like, six minutes the first time."
And that was the straw that broke the camel's back. Khyber growled furiously and lunged forward, seemingly ready to gut Ben. The hero recoiled, but Khyber stopped himself short, holding his knife up to Ben's throat. "GRAH! I could destroy you now!" After a few calming breaths, however, Khyber regained his composure, standing up straight. "But… I would lessen my bargaining power with my associates." He turned around, holding his knife behind his back. "You should remain silent until they arrive, lest you try my patience again."
But Ben's eyes lit up before spinning around so that the ropes were against the blade. "You really need to control that temper…" SNAP! After a second of rubbing, the knife cut through the ropes, freeing his arms. "It leaves you open to making mistakes!" Ben swung up and collided with Khyber's back, taking the huntsman off his feet.
At that moment, Khyber was just starting to get up, though Ben had already dialed up the Omnitrix. "Alright, Mr. "Galaxy's Greatest Huntsman", get ready to throw down with Humungousaur!" Ben slapped the Omnitrix down… and didn't transform into Humungousaur. Rather, hanging upside down from the ceiling was a very familiar bipedal tiger alien. The hero let out a snarl and hoisted his head up high, roaring out his name; "RATH!"
"LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHIN', SELF-PROCLAIMED GREATEST HUNTSMAN IN ALL THE GALAXY!" He narrowed his eyes at the villainous alien. "Rath is not Humungousaur… but RATH is gonna make YOU HUMUNGOU-SORRY!" Rath was about to charge forward, but was met with the Baskurr, shielding its master from harm. "Really?! You wanna piece of me, Puppy-Dog?! THEN IT'S GO TIME, MAN! GRRAAHH!"
Rath and the Baskurr were now tussling across the floor, rolling along in a scrap that went on for about two minutes. The Appoplexian had thrown the dog around, slid it across the floor, and gave it a body slam without hesitation, and it was then that Khyber had seen enough. He had determined that now was his time to step in. "Enough playing." he announced, garnering both of their attention. "He's mine."
Khyber cracked his neck, tossed his blade away and then snapped his fingers so his dog sat obediently… only for it to get punched off by Rath. "LISTEN HERE, YOU DOG-LOVING, OMNITRIX COPYING PAIN IN MY BUTT!" He jerked a thumb to his chest. "RATH IS DECLARING TODAY "KHYBER THE HUNTSMAN HUNTING SEASON"!" With that, he lunged into a grapple with the hunter, pushing him back a bit before going for a punch.
Khyber managed to dodge that, though, and he delivered a swift kick to Rath's gut. It didn't affect the hero much, so he went for yet another punch, only to miss entirely again and get thrown into the Appoplexian skeleton. The bones were destroyed upon impact and went scattering across the room, with Khyber crushing the skull beneath his boot. "As you can see, I have already taken advantage of Appoplexian Hunting Season."
Rath's eye twitched and he belted out; "Grr… KHYBER SEASON!" PUNCH!
Khyber staggered back but wouldn't let up. "Rath Season!" SOCK!
"KHYBER SEASON!" BASH!
"Rath Season!" CRACK!
"KHYBER SEASON!" BAM!
After getting knocked around for the umpteenth time, Khyber pulled out the Vulpimancer-skin rug just as Rath was getting to his feet, sending him toppling over once again. "Hmph, Rath Season."
The Omnitrix bearer wasn't about to take that lying down, though, and he quickly lunged at lifting the huntsman in a bear hug hold. "KHYBER SEA…son…" Before he could do anything, Khyber reached out and pinched his hand on Rath's neck, targeting a specific nerve that instantly made the Appoplexian's whole body give way and fall to the floor. The Omnitrix timed out, leaving Ben incapacitated. "W…W-What did you… ugh…"
"Hmhm, Hephaestan Neuro Grip." Khyber explained, picking Ben up off the floor along with his knife. "Useful for subduing all manner of prey…" He lifted Ben's limp body up, "Now my partners are just going to have to take you in... pieces. I'm sure Vilgax will be thrilled when he arrives to see me remove your Omnitrix arm." Ben could only widen his eyes in horror.
"Hold still, now. This won't hurt... for long-AAAGH!" A stretchy fist came smashing into Khyber's body before he could even get a chance to react, sending him flying and landing next to his pet. The huntsman rolled onto his feet and shook his head, seeing Luffy standing before him with a rather intimidating glare.
"Leave him alone, you bastard!"
On one side of Luffy was Gwen and Kevin, while Zoro and Sanji were on the other. The five all came in ready for a fight, surrounding Khyber with determined expressions.
"More shitty aliens?" Sanji sneered, "They all keep crawling from outta of the woodwork."
"Let's see if this one can put up more of a fight than the last one," Zoro said as he unsheathed his swords.
"I don't care! I'm gonna kick his ass!" Luffy exclaimed as he cracked his knuckles.
Ben sighed as Kevin and Gwen helped him up. "Boy, am I glad to see you guys. I had this guy telling me his whole life story for half an hour buying time for you guys to come and find me."
"Hey, in all fairness, we were all busy fighting a giant drone." Kevin revealed. "Finding you was the easy part."
"Yeah… plus you could've brought some backup with you, too." Gwen noted.
Khyber got up with a look of disbelief on his face. "But… this cannot be! This ship is untraceable! A good hunter always hides his tracks."
"Guess you weren't as thorough as you thought you were." Ben snarked. "I don't normally keep a Plumber's badge on me. I've got the Omnitrix for that. So, it's a good thing my teammates held on to theirs when we joined the crew. Gotta say, Khyber, for the so-called "greatest huntsman in the galaxy", it's kind of sad that you didn't recognize a trap when you saw it."
Khyber's scowl deepened, his rage beginning to boil over. But he kept himself restrained, keeping in mind that he still had his own hand to play. "And apparently, neither do you." He lifted his head and whistled, his pet transforming into Buglizard, letting out a burst of green smoke throughout the room.
The group immediately began coughing as their eyes began to blur with tears as well, allowing Khyber to gain an advantage and get away.
"No!" Ben dialed in an alien and transformed, becoming… "TERRASPIN!" The Geochelone Aerio shifted into his propeller-like mode and started spinning his fins, blowing out air from the holes in his shell to clear the room. Once all of the noxious gas was gone, that left the crew on one side of the prison… while the villains were on the other.
"Hm, I was hoping it wouldn't have to come to this." Gwen sighed. "But I suppose it's never that easy."
Terraspin landed on the ground, glaring at the bad guys. "Don't worry, Gwen. We can still pull this off. We've got the numbers advantage."
Just then, the Buglizard pounced up and started clawing at Terraspin's back through his shell, though this seemed to only annoy him, "Okay… really not comfortable!"
The beast then howled in surprise as Luffy leaped up and kicked it off of Terraspin with both feet. "Oh no you don't, you're not getting away that—AH!"
Luffy gasped as the Baskurr once again changed form, this time into the massive worm that the Omnitrix bearer had encountered back in Alabasta. The spikey worm roared in Luffy's face, with Gwen and Kevin doubling back a bit. "Whoa, what's is that thing?!" the Osmosian asked.
"Don't know." Terraspin replied. "Some sorta… Slamworm or something? I don't really care." He got up again, glaring at Khyber. "All I care about taking this guy down!" He lunged at Khyber once again, ready to go all out… only to then get slammed by the Slamworm and sent straight down through the floor.
"BEN!" Luffy, Kevin and Gwen were taken aback, but they quickly snapped out of it when they saw Khyber dashing for the door. "Hey! He's getting away!" Luffy exclaimed.
"We'll handle him." Gwen assured, placing a hand on the captain's arm. "Right now, though, Ben could use some back-up, so you should help him. We'll try to prevent Khyber from using that whistle of his anymore."
Luffy grinned at the redhead with a salute. "Yeah! I can do that!" He then jumped down the hole, ready to get in it with the alien predator once again.
"Okay boys, let's head after Khyber."
Engine Room
The "Slamworm" as Ben had called it, had burrowed through the whole vessel and crashed down into the engine room, bringing him with it. Ever since, it had been nothing but a complete war of attrition as the predator refused to give the Omnitrix wielder an inch.
Tapping the Omnitrix, Ben switched to an alien he hoped would give him an edge. This new transformation appeared to be a hulking, broad-shouldered alien covered in natural, yellow armor plating on his back, shoulders, and the backs of his arms. He was mostly white with black on his upper half and had four claws on both of his hands, having a color scheme and claws similar to that of a panda. The Omnitrix symbol was on its chest.
"CANNONBOLT!" The Arburian Pelarota quickly curled into its ball form. "Let's roll!" Cannonbolt then rolled towards its target at a tremendous speed, intending to bulldoze right through it.
Suddenly, the Slamworm transformed once more, this time into a massive shark with dense armor, huge mouths containing hundreds of teeth, and possessing over ten eyes. It also had eight relatively insignificant fin-like limbs running along its body. It had green skin and a long tail with spikes on it. the creature then proceeded to swallow the charging Cannonbolt whole and spit back out, sending him flying to the other side of the room.
"Hey, he's not food!" Luffy yelled, "Gum Gum Gatling!" The Strawhat captain unleashed a flurry of punches that struck Megalodoom all over its body causing it to scream in pain. Having enough, the predator swung its spiked tail which sent the pirate crashing into the ground.
It was then that the entire ship suddenly jerked around, nearly taking all three of them off balance. "Uh… what the hell was that?" Luffy questioned.
Cannonbolt grimaced as he was now covered in drool. "I don't know… but I don't like it." The hero pressed the Omnitrix, activating it communicator. "Gwen, Kevin, we got big an' ugly right where we want him. But what the heck's happening' up there?!"
"Ben, Khyber's gotten to the bridge and he's taking the ship into the air." Gwen replied. "Sorry, we couldn't get to him in time, but we're headed there now."
"You've gotta take it out, cous." Cannonbolt insisted. "He's the source of the whistle that makes this thing switch aliens…" He glanced off to the side just in time to see Megalodoom having recovered and roar at him and Luffy again. "Oh boy… uh, you might wanna make that snappy! We're facing my natural predator here!"
Kevin piped up on the other end; "Dude, just change aliens. That thing can't change unless it hears the whistle, right?"
"Okay, I'll try to change into Humungosaur again." The Arburian Pelarota slapped the Omnitrix and transformed. but instead, he transformed into a alien that looked like a humanoid pile of green goo with bright green eyes and a small UFO-shaped device floating above its head.
"GOOP!" The Polymorph then grunted in annoyance as he said, "Ah great...well, at least I can regenerate from whatever that freaky shark can hit me with."
Goop levitated the air, flinging its acidic goo at the predator, making the creature roar out in pain before a whistle was heard throughout the ship, making it turn into a giant pink mosquito, who hissed at him. Goop then tried to wrap his body around the insect, but it did something unexpected, with its straw like mouth it began to slurp up the Polymorph like a shake.
"Oh man, it's drinking me!" Goop screamed.
"Gum Gum Stamp!" Luffy then stamped his stretchy foot into one of Mossuck's eyes, causing it to cease its slurping.
Some of the goo hit the floor and melted through, which the mosquito actually followed through after. Taken aback, Luffy and Goop eyed the hole curiously. "Uh… that was too easy." The Polymorph then slammed the Omnitrix dial again, this new form resembled a cross between a Pterodactyl and a glider. It had a large yellow beak-like mouth, green eyes, red skin, black and green clothing on its shoulders and waist, green braces around its wrists and ankles, and small, yellow, retractable wings that resemble a glider in appearance which are connected to a 'jetpack'-like structure on its back. the Omnitrix symbol was on its left shoulder.
"ASTRODACTYL!"
The Pturbosaurian flew closer to the hole and peaked his head out, seeing the sky and the forest below… as well as what appeared to be a giant jet-black Quetzalcoatlus grabbing him in its large beak. "AGGH! I KNEW IT!"
The beast dragged Astrodactyl out of the ship, making Luffy gasp and give chase. "Ah! Ben! Hold on, I'm coming!"
Up on the bridge, Khyber was at the helm with the ship's controls in hand, watching the outer cameras as his pet grabbed Tennyson and started climbing up the side of the ship. "Excellent work, old friend. Bring him here, and we shall end this once and—"
Just then, the door to the bridge was burst open as Kevin, Zoro, and Sanji entered, the former's body coated in solid steel. He shifted his left arm into a sword and the right arm into a mace, pointing the weapons at Khyber. "Looks like the hunter has become the hunted, Khyber! Give it up!"
As the Strawhats charged at the huntsman, Gwen came in, speaking into her Plumber's badge; "Ben, we've made it!"
"Good! Now stop this crazy thing before we fly into the sea!" Astrodactyl responded before hitting the Omnitrix again, changing into AmpFibian, flying out of the Turboatlus's grasp and straight over the ship. It then shot bolts of electricity right at the predator, making it screech in discomfort. "Hah, how do you like that? Well, c'mon ugly! I can keep this up all day!" He then increased the voltage… only for the Turboatlas to transform again in an instant, becoming a blue sunfish with glowing fins that absorbed all of the electricity.
"Me and my big mouth." The Amperi groaned. "Gwen, how are things going in there?!"
"Working on it!" Gwen replied as she slowly made her way over to the ship's controls. "The others are holding Khyber off as best as they can, but—AH!" The Anodite was stopped short when Khyber suddenly flung his knife at her, the blade just barely missing her skin but catching her by the shirt. The garment was torn as the knife flew, leaving the right side of her belly exposed. "AAH! Oh, you did not just do that!"
"HOW DARE YOU!" Sanji screamed as he kicked Khyber in the chest, making him grunt in pain.
Kevin then lunged at Khyber with a vengeful growl, thrusting his blade at him only for the huntsman to roll out of the way and rush past him. "You're gonna pay for that, dude! You do not just tear a girl's top like that!" He swung his mace hand, only for Khyber to grab a shield off the wall and block the attack.
He was about to reach for a rifle that was mounted there as well… only for Gwen to grab it and snap it in two. She then pelted the huntsman with it, striking him on the back of the head and forcing him to drop the shield. "Kevin, NOW!"
The Osmosian rushed forward and slammed the flat of his blade into Khyber's abdomen, knocking the wind out of him and bringing him down. "Jig's up, Khyber!" Kevin stated as he brought out a pair of cuffs. "You're not going anywhere." Just as he grabbed Khyber's wrist, however, Khyber wrenched his arm away and slammed Kevin to the floor, rolling back up and going for a rather spikey sword that was on the opposite wall.
Kevin belted out a yell and went straight at Khyber again, the two exchanging blows in a brief clash before going into a struggle against one another. "Hmph, your abilities are versatile, Osmosian." Khyber granted. "But you lack power!"
"Well, sometimes versatility has its advantages." Kevin countered. "Case in point…"
"Oni Giri!"
Without knowing, Khyber was suddenly slashed in the back by Zoro, causing him to fall down on to his knees. "Ha! Finally."
"Great work, you guys." Gwen smiled as both of them went for the controls. "Now let's park this thing somewhere safe…"
Back up top, Luffy suddenly felt the ship begin to lurch beneath him as it changed course, causing the captain to lose his footing. It was then that the Omnitrix timed out and Ben changed back to normal, breathing hard as Luffy stood next to him. "Well, that worked."
"Yeah, but what happened?" Luffy asked. "Why is this mystery ship shaking?"
Ben lifted the Omnitrix and contacted his cousin. "Gwen, status report. What's going on?"
"We're commandeering this ship, Tennyson!" Kevin's voice replied, much to his surprise.
"Alright, guys! Now just find the whistle!" Ben said as the Deltafish flew down at him, as Ben signed a bit.
"Honestly Omnitrix, I give up...surprise me." Ben said as he turned it on and slammed down, as a bright glow came onto the area as a thunderous roar is heard.
Down below deck, Gwen looked up as Kevin smirked as, on the screen before them, was something gigantic, easily dwarfing the size of the blue fish before him.
"HUMUNGOUSAUR!" the Vaxasaurian roared out as he said, "For real? Yeah!"
"That is so awesome!" Luffy yelled with stars in his eyes.
He growled at the giant sunfish as he ran forward, sending a powerful punch his way. "Who's the predator now, tiny?!" He then picked him up, ready to toss him overboard.
Gwen could not have been in a grosser situation if she'd tried. It seems that Khyber was made of tougher stuff than she thought as he was able to get yet another weapon from the wall. This one, as it happened, was some sort of slime cannon that immediately trapped her, Kevin, Zoro, and Sanji against the floor of the ship, much to her chagrin.
It was then that Khyber looked at the video feed and whistled through his gills.
"He's the whistle..." Gwen said in concern as she and the group watched as the dog turned into something else...making the Anodite's eyes widen in horror. "That doesn't look good..."
Both Humungousaur and Luffy looked in shock as he saw it turned into a large monster that had a segmented purple and gray body and a red head resembling that of a Tyrannosaurus Rex with a horn on its forehead. It had four legs and six small arms with two clawed fingers on them., growling down at the smaller alien as the Vaxasaurian gave a sheepish smile before he gave in under the weight as he says, "Ah great...that thing is huge!"
"Can't Humungousaur grow bigger too?" Kevin asked as Ben cringed a bit at that, knowing he was right.
"Yeah...but the muscle strain is crazy. But I guess I better grow if I want to keep up with this thing. But that was advice, not a save. Difference." Humungousaur said as Gwen just groaned.
"Seriously, Ben?" Gwen said in annoyance as Humungousaur took some breaths before he began to growl, growing in size as his body began to become more armor-esque all over him as a crest began to grow on his head, his back gained plates, and spikes on his tail. He roared, now a few feet bigger as the two dinosaurs began to fight it out, crashing around on top of the ship, causing it to lose balance.
Khyber growled as he was trying to regain control of his ship as he says, "I may lose my ship...but I will not lose...my prey! Bag the game, old friend." He then sent out a whistle command, making the monster roar out.
"Wanna piece of me, Tyrannopede? Humungousaur growled at this as the monstrous beast, dubbed 'Tyrannopede' now, spat out a thick webbing-like substance, making him yell out as he was being constricted in it, as the creature then tackled him, knocking him down as he clawed at him, making a few scratch marks on his face as Humungousaur kicked him, but that got sprayed as well as his chest got hit by the monstrous beast's tail, roaring out in pain.
"No, you don't you ugly dinosaur!" Luffy exclaimed as he got ready to pound the monster's face, but then it swung its massive tail into Luffy's abdomen making him cough up some blood as he was knocked back to other side of the ship.
The creature fully covered the sixty-foot monster in webbing, roaring out as it went for the head area and snapped its jaws. "BEN!" The Alien Force and Strawhats yelled out in horror at the screen...
Only to see that the head area was empty, confusing the monster as Ben had hid his way back into the webbing. "Don't worry guys, I was lucky it timed out when it did...but now I need to knock down big ugly there..." Ben said as the giant creature started tearing apart the web to look for him. "Come on, give me something good!" He slammed down, turning into Brainstorm.
"Brainstorm? Hmm...a heroic alien with a crustacean-like appearance against a brutish beast that has distinctive attributes of an insect and prehistoric birdesque reptile. Hmm...must plan this accordingly..." Brainstorm looked around, taking into account of everything around him. "The beast stands at about forty feet, weighs approximately six hundred metric tons of muscle. This webbing is made to withstand high amounts of pressure, and to knock something this big and heavy must involve a grip...the very same paralyzing grip he previously used on me! Very well...with that height compared to Rath's, I believe I can approximate the exact point of impact in which the nerves that the grip has the best effect on based on it and..." The Cerebrocrustacean nodded as his head opened up, revealing his brain that had the electricity come out of his head.
The giant of a monster heard something and turned, going wide eyed as it saw the blast heading towards the beast, roaring out as it got shocked while Brainstorm moved quickly. Khyber saw this and smirked as he was about to whistle but got a face full of slime curteousy of Sanji. "Nice one, Eyebrows." Kevin said as Gwen was currently trying to get them unstuck with a knife made of mana but was having trouble. Khyber than ran at them, grabbing Sanji as he glared at him, angry to say the least.
The crab-like alien landed on the alien's back as he said, "Desist, you overgrown canid-like abomination! This shall have to do, have at thee!" Brainstorm then wrapped the giant's mouth with its own webbing before pinching its neck, making it pass out.
Luffy having recovered from having the wind knocked out of him, could watch in astonishment with his jaw dropped, "No way, how the hell did you do that?!"
Brainstorm chuckled at this, amused. "Hephaestan Neuro Grip, a procedure that is capable to subdue or otherwise incapacitate any form of prey or other forms of targets for a hunt." He stated but all he got in response from the Strawhat captain was a look of confusion with his head titled a bit.
"Oh, so it's a mystery attack, got it!" Luffy deduced, much to Brainstorm's chagrin.
Then suddenly, the ship began to teeter downward. "Oh dear...we must make haste to get our comrades out of this predicament. Omnitrix, shall we rescue them?" He pressed down on it, creating a short wave of icy energy.
Standing in Brainstorm's spot was a familiar moth-like alien. "Big Chill? This should work out just fine." He then grabbed Luffy's hand phased downward, going to the bridge before freezing Khyber in a block of ice. "Hmm...looks like it's my turn to save you guys."
"Hey, at least I don't make a habit out of getting myself kidnapped like a lot of superhero girlfriends in those comics." Kevin pointed out at this, amused.
"Fine, fine. You got me there. But still, I saved you." Big Chill as he grabbed the slime and concentrated, making the icy energy go onto it as it was shattered. "Now let's get out of here already."
Big Chill then blasted the floor with an icy breath before shattering it with a fist. He then picked up Luffy as the two flew out, with the rest of the group flying after them on a floating mana platform.
The six watched as the ship crash landed as Gwen said, "Hopefully that's the last we'll see of those two..."
At the crash site...
Khyber groaned, the ice saving him as he ripped the webbing off of his pet's armor, making it whimper a bit as the Nemetrix began to spark a bit, turning it back to normal, showing it had sustained damage from the fall.
Khyber coughed and hacked, dispelling smoke from his lungs. Just then, the sound of pained whining graced his ears as the Anubian Baskurr, limped slightly before falling to the ground. Khyber then went over to his pet, giving it a pat on the head as it stared at him apologetically. "Fret not, old friend. That young whelp, Ben Tennyson and those meddling Straw Hats, will pay dearly for this."
A robotic chuckle is heard, making the two turn to see both Malware and Doctor Psychobos approaching from out of the nearby forest.
Khyber's eyes widened in shock. "You…are here."
"Indeed, Khyber." The frightening Galvanic Mechamorph confirmed, his terrifying voice accentuated by an unfeeling reverb. "And I certainly do hope that you can make do on your word of making Tennyson and the Straw Hat pirates pay." Malware said with a growl, glaring down at them with his eye narrowed. "Your mutt's Nemetrix is damaged. Come. We shall go back to our base to repair it." He motions them along as Khyber got up as he carried his pet with him.
Malware then looked to where the Alien Force and Straw Hats were going, frowning a bit as he says, "Soon Tennyson...our reunion will be coming sooner than you think. Just you wait. By the time it's over, your search for that so-called treasure will be the least of your problems." Malware said with a dark chuckle, making even Khyber pause a bit at the robotic tone the laugh gave, giving off a soulless, merciless tone to the frightening machine.
AN: Done. The reason this chapter took so long is because I had a hard time figuring out which direction I wanted to take this story considering I was skipping the Skypeia arc. Some people in the reviews have pointed out that not going to Skypeia means that Nami and Usopp don't get to upgrade their arsenals such as the Impact Dials and the Clima Tact. Plus, how Wapol's death means the Franky won't get the inspiration to build the Franky Shogun. I do have bit of a workaround that and it refers to a throwaway line way back in chapter 1 and that is alien technology. One reviewer suggested how the Straw Hats could get upgraded with alien tech and with how many alien criminals that Vilgax has recruited into his ranks, it's more than likely that both pirates and even marines might want in on all that technology too. But we're still a long way from that point.
I also added more fan-made predators here, the credit goes to their creators obviously,
Cannonbolt's Predator: Megalodoom (The Arburian Carcharodon from the Reboot) by RZGmon200
Goop's Predator: Mossuck by ArtMan196
Astrodactyl's Predator: Turboatlus by ArtMan196
AmpFibian's Predator: Deltafish by RZGmon200
Another minor detail is that Khyber knows Zed's true gender unlike canon, I figured with his profession he would know that much at least. The next arc will be more action packed as I have something very interesting planned for you all. Unitl then, stay safe and have a good one.