The strange swamp man cries out, it's lanky, yet lumbering form being hard to manage as the weight constantly swings him around. The creature looked to be around six-to-seven feet tall, its body comprised of that murky moss and a bunch of ever-entwining vines. Its eyes were shining green, all while red and dark blue petals sprouted from its body. The two most noticeable features about the creature were the blue bulbs growing around its neck, its upper upper body, within the odd root stumps that resembled feet, and the palms of its hands. All while, the badge for the watch was now on its chest.
"Oh man, oh man, oh man!" The creature panicked more and more, the blue bulbs in its feet slip off and give off a faint glow as the alien paces back and forth. "This is it, I'm done for! I've become some kind of monster! Wh- What am I gonna-"
Soon enough though, the creature slowly begins to notice a rather, pungent smell in the air. A look of disgust began to form on the creature's face. "Ech! What's that smell?" the creature raised its arms and sniffed itself a few times, only to register the same strange scent he picked up. "Is that me? Weird, this is so crazy..." The creature looked over at the pod, noticing his reflection. He had a red petal jutting out of the middle of his temple, all while the dark blue petals jutted out in a similar manner.
The creature scoffed and laughed for a quick minute, looking at his hands as he felt the bulbs. "This is something else. Maybe I could test out what I can do, as long as I don't hurt anyone, it should be alright." the monster rationalized.
Back at the campsite, Max and Gwen are doing their thing, only for Max to notice that Ben hasn't come back yet.
A look of concern grows on Max's face. "Hm. Ben's been gone a while. Well, I guess he can't get into too much trouble out here. He's just a boy, he's not like Carl, but still..." Max tries to calm himself as he tries to get a fire started.
Gwen looks over, and then looks around the campsite for her cousin, noticing a lacking in his presence. "The possibilities are endless, maybe he wound up as bear food," Gwen noticed her grandpa's look of concern, and simply groaned. "Fine, I'll go find the doofus. Wouldn't be the first time." Gwen set her laptop on the table-bench and went into the rust bucket to find some gear.
Back up in space, the warship is in tatters. Most of the individuals are using the few parts worth salvaging from the smaller ship to repair the damages as best they could. The bridge on the ship was completely decimated, and an unexpectedly mutilated mess of flesh and armor floated in place, within the safe confines of a type of healing tank.
"What do you mean it's not there?" the figure asked.
"Sire, the Omnitrix does not seem to be onboard, and, on the off chance they didn't jettison the Omnitrix down to the planet below, they might've destroyed it." The individual stated, reading off the damage report from the holographic pad.
There was a sense of eeriness, followed by a deafening silence. The tank began to rattle and shake, numerous bubbles began to generate within the tank, and the figure's eyes opened up, filled with a red hot blistering rage as he roared out.
"This battle nearly costs me my life! -And you say the Omnitrix is no longer on board the transport?!" The figure exclaimed, a searing white fury could be felt in the figure's wide-eyed stare, it was clear he wasn't going anywhere without the Omnitrix.
"We'll send a singular reconnaissance drone to pick-up the Omnitrix, sire. We won't fail you, master." The individual remarked.
The figure said nothing, though they did seem to calm down a fair bit. With a few button prompts, a black and red disc ejected from the outer port-side of the warship, transforming into a standard drone, slowly but surely making its descent down to the planet below, already picking up on an active signal.
Back with Ben, who was still the lumbering creature, was experimenting with the bulbs on his body. They tear off so easily, and it was painless. He could throw them with little issue, it was like pitching a baseball with the strength of some kind of plant beast. He tore some seeds off his body and tossed a few of them around the edges of the crater, letting several mossy vines and roots grow and restore the broken earth.
But, at some point, the intrigue was reaching its fleeting point. "Okay, I think I know what this guy does now, I think it's time I turned back to regular old Ben, and see if my grandpa can pry you off of me." the creature remarked. It slapped and tapped the device, but it did nothing. The creature attempted to turn itself back into human with more failed attempts, and eventually just gave up. "Ok, clearly I haven't figured everything out about this thing, other than it messes with plants and smells like a swamp, what else can I do?"
Soon enough, more of that strange smelling gas poured out of his hands, and a ball of fire ignited in his hands. the creature was caught by surprise, but was also back to being pretty interested. "Plant powers was one thing, but this guy has fire powers too?! This is nuts... but I like it!" The creature smirked, looking over to one of the bulbs he threw earlier, stuck to a tree.
the creature reels his arm back, clutching the ball of fire in his hands, and throws it, landing a clean hit on the bulb, causing a massive fiery reddish, yellowish and blueish explosion to ring out. Ben was very surprised by what he just did, but at the same time, that felt liberating. "Okay, maybe this crazy watch can stick around for just a little bit longer, I wouldn't mind trying to figure out more about this guy. But, now I gotta wonder, can I turn into anything else, or is this fiery swamp thing all I got?" the creature wondered.
Unfortunately, an explosion like that was enough to draw attention. Almost as if to purposefully interrupt his train of thought, and have him ask even more questions, a strange circular disc-shaped drone came down, getting a lock-on the Omnitrix badge that was attached to the creature. the creature looked up at the drone, and then began to put two and two together, looking at the badge, and back at the drone. However, things were getting worse just by the second. The other bulbs began to explode as well, and it caught the drone in the explosions for a split-second, but that didn't stop the explosions from setting the forest ablaze, which just spelt out more trouble for the creature.
"Oh man, I'm gonna get so busted for this." the creature remarked, repeatedly trying to stomp out the fires.
Back at the campsite, Gwen walked out dressed in thick camouflage cargo pants, brown boots, equipped with a first-aid kit and a fire extinguisher. Before Max could tell her anything, they both heard the explosion, even seeing the colorful display rise above the tree-line, as well as the smoke and flame that came after.
"Grandpa, you don't think that-"
"I'm hoping it's not. I'll grab the other extinguisher, go find your cousin!" Max interrupted, running back inside as he fished around all his stuff. Gwen made the smart move by running towards the danger, readying the extinguisher as she prepared to see any fires up ahead.
As Gwen trudged forward through the woods, the smell of smoke, and what also smelled like a swamp was becoming more and more pungent the further she got. The smoke began to cloud her view of the sky above, and the raging colorful fires were becoming easier to spot, as well as much brighter.
Gwen stopped and tried to get her breath back, but began to violently cough as smoke entered her lungs. "Ben, I swear... I'm going to-" Gwen didn't have much time to finish her sentence as she heard the sound of someone panicking. Eventually, Gwen found a small clearing and got some fresh air as the forest burned around her. She then took notice of the lumbering figure that was trying to put out the fires. Something about it was so indescribably foreign, yet it had an air of familiarity about it.
"Ya know, this would be kinda cool, if it weren't so- not cool! Man, where's Kangaroo Kommando when ya need him?!" The creature was panicking, trying its best to throw seeds that spontaneously grew and attempted to put out the fires, only to then be set ablaze themselves.
Gwen was very confused. But, she was looking for her cousin, and she came to the conclusion that this... thing, must've seen him run off when things got disastrous. Gwen put two fingers to her lips and whistled in the creature's direction, causing it to stop for a moment. its eyes went wide at the sight of her as she attempted to get closer.
"No, don't step there!" The creature warned. Instinctively, the creature thrust its palms out and fired a couple vines from his fingertips, wrapping around Gwen as he pulled her over where she was about to step. Another one of those blue bulbs was about to explode, and soon did when Gwen was just about out of its range. "Sheesh, and you call me reckless?!" The creature reprimanded, setting the girl down as the vines unraveled and re-entwined with the creature's fingers.
Gwen looked up at the figure, noticing that the pungent swampy smell was similar to that, of methane. Gwen really found it hard to figure out just what exactly she was looking at. A bipedal humanoid creature made of moss, mud, roots, vines, petals, and had explosive bulbs growing in different parts of its body.
The creature groaned and snapped his fingers, letting a couple sparks generate and dissipate as Gwen came back to reality. "So, dweeb, you wanna tell me why you're dressed in grandpa's fishing pants, or did you guys just forget about me till you saw smoke?" The creature sarcastically asked.
The creature tried to reach out and get her attention, but was met with a near immediate fierce smack to the face by the extinguisher in her hands. the creature stumbled into a tree and tried to get his bearings, only to barely dodge another attack made by the little girl. "Okay, you're surprisingly aggressive! Can't we just talk about this?" The creature, for once, used his lumbering stature to his advantage, letting his weight shift and pull him around as Gwen started to miss her attacks.
The creature tears a couple seeds off and flicks them down near Gwen's feet, letting vines and roots hold her still as she squirmed. "Ok, you listen here, you freak! I don't know what you think is going on, but I'm just out here looking for my stupid cousin. Just point me in his direction, let me go, and I'll let you be, deal?" Gwen bartered.
The creature looked very unamused. "Oh yeah, sure, I let you go, and then you smack me in the face again. Ha! Don't even think about it, freakazoid!" The creature remarked.
And then, the nail was finally hit into Gwen's head. The insults, the snarky remarks, information on a specific superhero from a comic book, the knowledge that she was with her grandfather, she felt like she needed to kick herself for not noticing the similarities sooner. No wonder this thing felt familiar to her.
"Ben, is that you?" Gwen asked. the creature smiled, nodding its head as he let the vines unravel from her feet. "Ok, you were gone for, what, thirteen, maybe seventeen minutes, what happened to you?" Gwen asked, still a bit shocked that this creature, was her cousin.
"It's kind of hard to explain, think you can grin and bare it for a few seconds?" The creature asked. Gwen looked around at the burning forest and nodded. The creature took a deep breath and sighed.
"Ok, here's how it went. When I was walking, I was still kinda bummed out that you were along for the ride, but then I saw this meteor in the air, and thought it was a shooting star, but then it fell from the sky and almost smudged me, when I saw it, it wasn't a meteor or a satellite, but this cool watch thing that jumped up onto my wrist, and when I tried to get it off, I suddenly became this weird plant thing, then a robot came from the sky and seemed very intent on getting it, I was trying to get rid of it, but then I accidentally started this mega forest fire in the process."
Gwen slowly nodded, letting her brain process the info, until she realized just exactly what he said. "Wait, a robot? Where is it now?" Gwen asked.
The creature was about to answer, until his head got blown to bits. Pieces of moss, mud and gunk splattered onto Gwen as she looked terrified, shrieking loudly as the creature's body stumbled and tried to keep itself steady. Numerous vines, roots, petals, mud and moss all began to grow over where the head was, with a black treebark-like tendril acting as some kind of spinal cord. Soon enough, the creature's face and head were back to how it was before it got blown to bits.
"Ok, that hurt!" the creature gritted, igniting balls of fire in his hands.
Soon enough, a set of footsteps came up from behind them, revealing their grandfather, Max, had finally come onto the scene. "Gwen, are you- are you alright? I heard you scream and- a-and-" Max's word trailed off when he caught sight of the creature. "What in blazes?" Max said.
"Heheh... Hi, grandpa." the creature shyly said, smiling nervously as he waved.
Max looked towards Gwen, who was getting the last of the creature's face off of her clothes. "Ben, explain it to him later, right now, we've got two problems to deal with." Gwen remarked.
Max looked ahead, his eyes going wide at the sight of the drone. Almost immediately, the drone charged towards Max, gaining speed as it attempted to ram the old man. Before it could, however, the few trees that were still standing, their branches jabbed into the drone, keeping it stationary as it struggled to free itself. The creature threw a massive ton of seeds at the ground, causing a vibrant murky green stalk of vines and roots to grow and tear the machine to pieces.
Max looked at the creature, who was growing back pieces of itself from the various seeds it tore off to destroy the drone. "Ben? What happened to you, son?" Max asked.
"It's hard to explain, grandpa. And at the rate this forest is burning, I don't think we'll be around long enough to tell it!" the creature remarked, stamping out the smaller fires as the fires work their way through the leaves.
"What do we do? I doubt two extinguishers are gonna fix all of this!" Gwen stated, frantically spraying at the flames that got closer and closer.
Max looked around, noting the fire's rapid spread, and noticed the other side of the forest still being untouched. Then, an idea came to him. "Backfire. Ben," the creature looked at the older man. "Start a new fire and let it burn into the old fire. They'll snuff each other out. Think you can do it?" Max asked.
The creature smirked. "Shooting flames? I can definitely do. Be right back, Mother Nature's calling for a raze!" the creature stated.
The creature ran through the fire and flames, as did Gwen and Max. As soon as the creature got out, it faced the untouched part of the forest, and began to let loose. it tore the bulbs from its body, one by one, and threw them at the trees, watching them stick and glow. Max and Gwen quickly got behind the fiery plant creature, and watched as it blasted a bright hot yellow stream of fire, detonating the bulbs and starting another massive fire.
"That was a bit extreme, don'tcha think?" Gwen reprimanded.
the creature gave her a smug smile. "You're just jealous." it remarked.
Sometime later, a park ranger came by to take note of the damage, taking a massive notice of the burnt out forest, and oddly enough, the one fresh green patch of grass that survived the whole ordeal.
Back at the campsite, the creature, Gwen and Max sit around the campfire, eating marshmallows by the fire as it just explained the situation to Max. It was a lot to take in, and judging by his facial expressions, it definitely worried the kids.
"And you say that this watch, it just 'clamped onto your wrist'?" Max asked, looking to clarify that statement.
Gwen tossed a marshmallow to the creature, all while it used a small flame to roast it to a golden brown. "Yeah, but you gotta believe me, grandpa. This time, it wasn't my fault!" The creature tossed the golden brown marshmallow into his mouth. "I swear!"
"Relax, Ben, I believe you." Max reassured, making the creature smile.
"So, what happens now? Is Ben just... you know, stuck like some swampy-fire monster-man forever?" Gwen asked.
"He's not a monster, Gwen. He's an alien," Max stayed silent for a moment, noticing the inquisitive looks on his grandkids' faces. he coughs into his hand and clears his throat. "I-I mean, look at him. What else could he be? I've seen monster movies before, but this... it seems like something else." Max restated.
The creature sighed. "I don't wanna be 'Swampfire' forever. How am I supposed to play Little League this fall if I charcoal the ball every time I catch a pop fly? What if I throw one of those bulbs, or a ball of mud, or one of my seeds when I'm trying to pitch?" the creature lamented.
"Don't worry, Ben. Just try to stay calm, and keep a level-head. We'll figure this thing out, no matter how long it takes." Max reassured, leaning over to pat the creature on the back.
Before another word could be said, The Omnitrix on the creature's chest begins to beep and flash red five times, then lets out a blinding light towards Max and Gwen. When they open their eyes, Ben is standing in front of them, human and all.
Ben looks at himself, noticing that he finally looks like his normal human self again. "Hah! I'm me again! Woohoo!" Ben cheered.
Gwen sighed in disappointment. "Aw, too bad. I liked you better when you were mother nature's pyromaniac." She stated, popping another roasted marshmallow into her mouth.
Ben looks at the watch for a moment, pushing the button again. The core pops up, and he pushes it down, but he doesn't transform this time. The watch glows red, unlike the green color it was emitting before. "Huh... I guess it's recharging. That, or it's ordering take-out." Ben jokes.
"It'd be wise to not mess with it again, not till we know exactly what we're dealing with," Max grabs a flashlight. "I'll go check out that crash site. You guys stay here until I get back. And Ben?" Ben looks towards his grandfather, who seems to be acting pretty serious about this whole situation. "Don't. Mess around. With that watch." Max stated sternly.
Ben gulps and nods, pocketing his hands as Max goes towards the watch's crash site, and Ben and Gwen try to wind down after all that happened.
Unbeknownst to the trio, however, A pod shoots from the warship above orbit, landing deep in the woods, next to the Omnitrix's pod. Revealing itself as a gigantic droid. It scans and promptly disintegrates the pod in the crash site, and ejects smaller flying drones, ones that look similar to the drone that the swamp creature destroyed previously, from its shoulders to go find the watch.
After a few minutes of walking around and searching, Max finds his way to the crash site. He looks around, noticing the drone that Ben defeated was actually deactivated, which made him feel a bit easier on his search. he notices a recently pluming trail of smoke, and notices the pod that contained the Omnitrix, now recently broken into pieces of metal scrap. Max picks up and observes a piece of the scrap, a feeling of worry, determination, and sheer uncertainty washes over him. He takes a deep breath and slowly exhales as he pockets the scrap piece.
"Vilgax." Max mutters under his breath. He looks back at the drone Ben defeated, rubbing the scrap between his finger and thumb. "I don't like this one little bit. I-"
Before Max could finish his sentence, he noticed two smaller drones slowly making their way to his campsite. His eyes widen.
"Kids!" Max yells. He immediately gets to his feet and chase after the drones.
Meanwhile, Gwen watches on as Ben starts to fiddle around with the Omnitrix. Ben managed to figure out that the button activated it, and he stared at the swamp creature's icon. He twisted the dial just a little bit, showing another silhouette.
'Huh, so that's how this works. I turn the dial to the one I want, then press it down, and I become that thing I selected, like I did with that 'swamp-fire' guy. Okay, I can dig this.' Ben thought to himself, a smile forming on his face.
Gwen knew Ben long enough to know of how easy it was for him to just, make a choice without thinking about it, and decided to intervene. "Ben, what are you doing?" Gwen asked.
"I'm trying to figure out how this thing works. It won't come off, so, I might as well try to learn how it works." Ben answered.
Gwen groaned, obviously not liking how Ben is ignoring what Grandpa told him explicitly not to do. "Ben, you know Grandpa told you to not mess with that. You don't know if the next time to turn into something, you'll end up stuck as that very thing." Gwen advised.
"And I won't know if you're wrong if I don't at least try. Besides, after a bit of careful experimenting, I found out what the burning plant guy could do, so I can handle it." Ben rationalized.
"Did your parents drop you on your head when you were born? Is that the reason why you're so willing to not listen to reason!?" Gwen argued.
Ben gave Gwen a scowling look. "Oh come on, You can't tell me that you, little miss know-it-all, little miss smarter-than-everyone, isn't just a little bit curious to what else this thing can possibly do?" Ben asked.
Gwen took a deep breath and looked her cousin in the eyes, unflinching. "Not in the least." Gwen simply said.
"Ok, apparently this is happening... again. How in the blazes are you even related to me, in the slightest?!" Ben was absolutely surprised by Gwen's own audacity to not even be curious about the watch. "You were curious about the plant guy before you knew it was me, why are you not curious about this?" Ben asked.
"Because I'm not gonna betray Grandpa's trust, just to learn more about some stupid space watch." Gwen rebutted.
"I'm sure he'll understand, my point of view, at least." Ben stated. Gwen looked back at her cousin, continuing to fiddle around with the watch. "Look, I know I compared the pod to a shooting star, and I know it wasn't one, but I'm willing to say it should've been. I feel like this thing, it's the answer to most of my problems, something you clearly don't understand." Ben stated.
Gwen was about to say something, but Ben continued to talk. "Look. If I can figure this thing out, maybe I can help people. I mean, really help them. Not just, you know, make things worse. I've always wanted to be like, a real hero. Something like, Kangaroo Kommando, or Captain Nemesis. If I'm truly stuck with this watch, why should I not use it to help people? Isn't that just... selfish?" Ben asked.
Gwen let those words ricochet around in her brain, and though her doofus cousin was a total dork, he did always stick up for the little guy, most times, despite his flaws. Gwen sighed and let Ben continue messing with the watch, but watched him intently.
The two stayed silent for a good couple minutes, then Gwen finally broke the silence. "So, what did it feel like going all alien like that?" Gwen asked.
"It was quite the experience," Ben started. "It freaked me out at first, though. It was like I was me, but it was also like I was somebody else." Ben explained.
Ben popped the core up and twisted the dial to another icon. A silhouette of a bipedal reptile-bug-like alien. Its head seemed elongated, and it seemed very strange to him, somehow stranger than becoming a fiery plant dude. Ben looked at Gwen, who seemed pensive. "Think I should try it again? Just this once?" Ben asked.
"I wouldn't, but I'm not the one with the odd watch stuck to me." Gwen stated.
"Yeah, you probably wouldn't. Well, here's to hoping I don't get stuck." Ben states as he slams down the dial.
Ben finds himself within the void again, his body was changing. The addition of new bones as his skin felt tight. A black chitin glosses over his body, hardening and toughening up as he sprouts a tail with a sharp bladed end. His hands become claws and his feet become these beastly talons. A white suit forms on his torso as the eyeless creature shows off a row of sharp teeth, only to open its mouth and reveal a second smaller maw. The creature's elongated head shows off a white stripe that formed on top of it. The Omnitrix's badge was placed on the creature's chest as it let out a blood curdling screech.
He escapes the void, now on all fours. The creature seemed to be around five feet tall when on all fours, but the moment it stood on its hindlegs, it seemed to be nearly seven-and-a-half feet tall.
The eyeless creature seems to 'look' towards Gwen, all while she's shaking, almost as if she's paralyzed with fear. There was a sudden rustling sound, causing both of them to look to the brush.
"G-Grandpa?" Gwen managed to call out.
Before the two of them knew what hit them, two drones came rushing out, setting their sights on the beast. It lunged upwards into the air, grabbing onto one of the droids as it tried to tear it apart, all while the other drone manages to use a robotic limb to generate a type of blade made of energy. It slices at the creature's hide, causing it to droll out in pain, letting a bright neon green fluid escape the wound.
The fluid landed on the table-bench, causing it to melt and corrode upon contact. The creature snarled and jammed its tail into the drone it was riding on, repeatedly stabbing it as it tore out, and tore up most of the wires and mechanisms that kept it running. Before Gwen could comment, she felt herself be pulled to the side. She tried to fight, but soon saw it was grandpa Max, who looked absolutely mortified.
"Gwen, are you alright? You're not hurt, scarred, nothing latched onto your face?" Max asked, frantically making sure his granddaughter was alright.
"Grandpa, I'm fine, but I don't think Ben's gonna be able to fight that drone, not as long as that blade it has can cut him!" Gwen stated.
For a moment, an abnormally brief moment, Gwen could see a look of horror in her grandfather's eyes. Max looked at the lanky, thin, yet towering and feral creature tear into the droid, only to be kept at bay by how much neon green fluid was starting to spill.
"Grandpa?" Gwen asked. Max stood completely still, watching as the beast tried to fend off the drone.
Soon enough, the drone was able to shake the buggy creature off, and began to fire several lasers at it. Though the lasers didn't pierce the creature's chitin, it did still cause some form of damage to it. The drone moves in closer as it prepares to land another blow, only for the sound of ripping metal to echo out as the creature's tail rips through the drone, finally shutting it down.
The creature slowly gets back on all fours and moves towards Max and Gwen. Max grabs an unburned log of wood, ready to defend himself, only for the creature to curl up on the ground. Max hesitated for a moment, but finally set the log down, feeling the sleek black chitin of the creature against his hand.
'Never thought I'd see one of these again... especially knowing that my grandson is this thing.' Max thought to himself, feeling both relief, and sheer nostalgic terror wash over him.
After a little bit of time passes, Ben is turned back to normal and the Tennysons sit in the Rustbucket as Max gives Ben a serious scolding.
Max frowns at his grandson. "I was worried that you might get popular with that thing on your wrist, that's why I asked you not to fool around with it. At least, not until we know what the heck it is." Max states.
Ben sighs. "Sorry, Grandpa... But at least I figured out how to make it work, Gwen watched me mess with it, she can vouch for me." Max looks at his granddaughter, raising an eyebrow. Gwen nervously smiles and nods her head yes. Max looks back at Ben, waiting for him to explain. "See, all you do is press this button. Then, when the ring pops up, just twist it until you see the guy you wanna be, whether it's Swampfire, or Nightstalker." Max looks more confused, but continues to listen. "Then you slam it down, and bammo! You're one of ten super-cool, or super-scary alien dudes!" Ben explains.
"And what about staying an alien and not transforming back?" Max asked.
"I haven't figured that part out yet, mainly because it hasn't happened yet. But, I am starting to figure out how it works, now. That's gotta count for something, right?" Ben enthused.
Max thought about both instances he saw his grandson as an alien. One was terrifying, and the other was rather shocking, to say the least. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if his grandson got seriously injured on his watch, but he did demonstrate that he can do some good with his powers, even from the miniscule examples.
Max put his knuckle to his chin, letting a smile form on his face. "With a device as powerful as that watch clamped on you, my guess is we better help you learn, fast." Max stated.
Max never saw Ben's eyes light up like they did in that moment, but the moment was cut off as the radio suddenly blared to life.
"Mayday! Mayday! Somebody help us! We're under attack by some sort of - I know you're not going to believe me, but… we're being attacked by a giant robot!" The voice declared as it cut off.
"Sounds just like those things that attacked us. They must be looking for the watch. Those people are in trouble because of me!" Ben worried. He took a deep breath, and looked at the Omnitrix. "But, I think I can help them."
"What exactly are you gonna do about it, Ben?" Gwen asked.
Ben looks at his reflection in the mirror, then at the Omnitrix. He smiles and raises the watch in the air.
"It's Hero Time."