Chapter 2: The Mutation

In which the set up continues, and the plot begins to thicken.

Sticky allowed herself to settle at one of the tables that had been set six feet apart from each other. A cloth face mask was tied around her head, covering her mouth to protect herself, and others, from tiny flying pathogens. She was carrying a tray with food on it - a burger loaded with three juicy patties, an equal number of slices of cheese and extra ketchup (a typical McGuffin had three all-beef patties with everything on it - ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, you name it - but Sticky had a very particular taste), a medium-sized helping of fries, a tall cup filled to the brim with Diet Coke, and a smaller cup of vanilla ice cream with dozens of multicolored chocolate candies mixed in it.

Smiling behind her mask, the Shiny Poipole cheerfully hummed the tune she'd been singing earlier when she saw Hiccup on her FaceTime call to Adhesive. She was reasonably hurt and confused when her boyfriend abruptly hung up on her. For that reason, she decided to call him back.

"Hey, Ad, did something happen?"

"Yeah, sorry," said his voice on the other end. "I didn't want to risk any of these guys finding out anything about the future of the canon timeline."

"I understand," she affirmed. "I didn't mean to freak you out, or get you in trouble."

"That's okay," he said. "I have been known to be a little too careful when it comes to these things. It's just that so many terrible things have happened to creatures who've tried to prevent future happenings, I don't want to risk it."

Sticky started, then was interrupted by her grumbling stomach. "We can talk more later," she decided. "After I finish my lunch."

"I'm looking forward to it," Adhesive teased. Then he added sincerely, "Love ya."

"You, too," she said sweetly. Then she hung up.

Reaching for her mask, the Shiny Poipole scanned the area to make sure she was alone before pulling the mask down to her chin. Her first course of action was to sip her soda before grabbing the burger and lifting it up to take a bite.

The entire restaurant shook as a gigantic black Pokémon with an enormous mouth took big steps across the room and sat down at one of the tables within six feet of Sticky. He was carrying his own tray, one with a proper McGuffin as well as a Super Sized set of fries and drink.

"Only one meal this time?" asked the Shiny Poipole. "That's not like you, Glutton. Are you on a diet, or something?"

The tiny head on top of the Guzzlord's body turned to eye her. "Diets never do me any good," he said, his loud voice booming off the walls. "I'm only taking one meal 'cause they said I have to stop eating the profits. More food, more business."

Sticky shrugged. "They're not wrong."

"Tell that to my appetite," Glutton snapped. He dropped the tray of food into his super-sized mouth, chewed it twice, and then swallowed it. All of it. As in, the food, the cup, the cardboard containers, and the tray itself. "Back to work," he grumbled to himself as he stomped off.

Too bad there aren't any masks big enough to fit him, Sticky thought to herself. She took another bite of her burger and washed it down with a sip of soda.

Absorption was proud of his work as a patrol officer. It just seemed fitting that an Ultra Beast as big and muscular as Buzzwole would be given the authority to protect and serve the citizens of Ultra Megalopolis.

So, when he got a call from his wife, Beauty, about some suspicious behavior in the labs, he was more than willing to take the job.

The Pheromosa was waiting for him at the door, her lithe form highlighted by her smooth, hair-style-shaped insect wings. He gave her a flirtatious flex as he approached. In response, she gave him a peck on the tip of his long, silver proboscis.

"What seems to be the problem, my dear?" asked Absorption.

"Weird noises in the lab," Beauty said, "I'd investigate it myself, but I'd rather do it with my big strong husband with me." She giggled and winked at him.

The Buzzwole had to will himself not to turn into a pile of mush. "Well, let's see what we've got." He adjusted his police belt and marched right inside.

The building had many floors, and the lab where the Ultra Guardians were working on a Cholegio virus cure was up near the top. The elevator wasn't working, so the two Bug and Fighting-types had to take the stairs. Any normal creature would get completely winded after just ten flights, but Absorption was still raring to go when he reached the vaccine lab.

When he entered, the first thing he noticed was that the door was covered in scratches. Then there was the mess - everything that was supposed to be on the tables was on the floor, broken and spilled all over the place.

"There's something in here," said Absorption, mostly to himself. "And whatever it is, it wants to get out." He kept one hand close to the taser on his belt as he treaded lightly into the room.

He heard a faint scratching sound from somewhere in the room. His compound eyes scanned his surroundings, but found nothing. At least, not yet.

He definitely wasn't alone in the room.

Something moved in the far corner, and Absorption turned his head to look. Whatever it was, it was fast, because now it was gone. Minuscule shivers rippled up and down the Buzzwole's exoskeleton. He was getting a very bad feeling about this situation.

After a long, tense moment, something jumped out at him with an unworldly shriek.

Absorption fell back as sharp insectoid claws raked at his arms and face. He thrust out, knocking his basketball-sized attacker to the floor.

The mutant Cholegio virus cell scampered back into hiding.

"What happened?" Beauty called out to her husband. "What is it?"

The Buzzwole was on his feet in seconds. "We can't let that thing get out of the building," he said. He ran for the exit, shouting, "Lockdown! Lockdown all the doors!" He slammed his palm on a red button on the wall next to the door, and an alarm sounded.

They, and everyone else in the building, had exactly two minutes to evacuate before all of the doors locked and trapped them inside.

Absorption made sure that the door was shut behind him as he and Beauty made a beeline for the stairs. The lab had elevators, but taking one down to the main floor would take more time than they had, considering that everyone else in the building would be trying to get out that way, too.

The stairs weren't much better. Countless Ultra Beasts - Nihilego, Blacephalon, Kartana, Pheromosa, Xurkitree, Poipole and Naganadel galore - were scrambling over each other to get out the doors before they were sealed in.

One of the responsibilities Absorption had given himself since he'd been hired as a patrol officer was making sure everyone made it out safely. When he made it to the main doors, he stayed inside instead of scurrying out with all the others.

A clattering noise from inside the ventilation system alerted him. A large insect-like leg cut right through a nearby ventilation shaft and the mutant Cholegio virus cell emerged.

The two minutes were almost up, and only Beauty and her husband were still inside.

Absorption knew what he had to do.

"Go tell Kuro," was the last thing he said before he pushed his wife out the door. The mutant cell lunged, but he blocked the exit. Beauty cried out for him, but the doors had already shut and locked themselves.

The Pheromosa pressed against the window, watching helplessly as her husband confronted the mutant.

The Buzzwole swung a fist, but missed. The mutant cell pounced, landing on his face and knocking him back a little. Thick, dark blue fumes billowed out of the cell's spike proteins, engulfing the air around Absorption's head. He coughed and wheezed as the offending mist entered his lungs. His body seized, and he fell to his hands and knees.

Beauty cried out to him, but the answer she got was a growling shriek.

Absorption was changing.

His skin went from its usual red to the same grayish-blue as the mutant cell. His head bulged, engulfing his eyes, and his proboscis was sucked right in like a worm. His bulging head rounded out, and dozens of circular spike branches popped up around the head and torso. His fingers lengthened into a sinister-looking set of claw-like digits. And his legs sharpened into insectoid claws not unlike the ones on the mutant cell.

After a moment of stillness, Beauty called, "Absorption?"

With an unholy shriek, the virus zombie that was once her husband lunged at the window. Its fist pounded on the glass, cracking it with ease.

Beauty scrambled away from the building, yelling to the other Ultra Beasts, "Run!"

*SMASH!*

Shards of glass rained onto the ground as the virus zombie punched its way out of the labs. It pulled itself out of the building in one fluid motion, landing right on top of an unfortunate Blacephalon. The Fireworks Pokémon struggled to push the heavy zombie off, and the mutant pinned him with one powerful arm. Its spikes released a cloud of dark blue vapor not unlike the kind the mutant cell had produced.

The Blacephalon coughed on the fumes, then his body seized as it morphed. Gray-blue skin, long claw-like fingers, a bulbous head with round spike branches, and a pair of ugly dinosaurian feet. The new virus zombie let out a shriek as the first one released it so it could stand up.

"They're contagious!" yelled one of the Ultra Beasts. "Don't breathe in the gas!"

Everyone scattered, fleeing in all directions to escape the virus zombies. But the mutant cells weren't your stereotypical slow-as-a-turtle, aimlessly-ambling zombies.

They were FAST.

The virus zombie that used to be Absorption was on another victim, a Xurkitree, in seconds. Not too far away, the Blacephalon zombie snatched a Kartana out of the air. They weren't going to stop until every creature in the city and beyond was a virus zombie.

Beauty scaled the steps of Megalo Tower (thank Arceus she took step aerobics!) and burst into Kuro's office. If Necrozma had a proper face, Kuro's surely would be expressing surprise at the Pheromosa's sudden entrance.

"We have a problem at the labs," was all Beauty got to say before a cacophony from outside brought Kuro's attention to the window.

There were a dozen virus zombies now, each of their former species providing them with their own distinguishing features. It was easy to tell which ones were Stakataka - enormous semi-rectangular Cholegio virus cells with four sturdy insect legs.

"Well," Kuro said in a surprisingly calm voice. "This is not good."

"Should we activate Code White?" asked Beauty.

"No," the Necrozma said, "Much too risky. If all the heroes of the Multiverse get infected..."

He didn't have to finish that sentence.

"Gather what's left of the Ultra Guardians," he ordered, "Recruit a portion of the Multiverse's greatest heroes and bring them here to fight off this mutant virus. If they can't handle it, we'll bring in backup. No matter what happens, we must keep the mutant virus contained in this dimension."

The Pheromosa was out of the room before he could even turn around.

Sticky and Symbiont had managed to avoid the outbreak at the labs, and they had the fact that they'd taken a little too long with their lunch break to thank for that. The Shiny Poipole decided to take the news to her boyfriend and the Go-Getters, leaving the Nihilego to head for the Monsters of Berk timeline.

When Sticky arrived at the team's living quarters, she looked rather wild-eyed and she was panting a little. Fast travel through wormholes had a tendency to take your breath away.

Adhesive was quickly alarmed at the sight of his girlfriend's current state. "Sticky? I thought you said you couldn't come visit."

"Right now, that's the least of our worries," she wheezed out. "There was an accident at the labs, and I think it's my fault. I spilled some unstable isotopes on a petri dish of Cholegio virus cells. They mutated while I was on my lunch break, and they're turning everyone into virus zombies."

"Congratulations," snarked Hiccup, "That's officially the most bizarre thing I have ever heard that I didn't understand at all."

Sticky grabbed her own tail and started to wring it like she always did when she was nervous. "There isn't much time," she said, "We're gonna need the help of every Go-Getter."

Symbiont always took his job as an Ultra Guardian seriously. Like the time when that frightened little girl happened upon a delusional man's experiment on creating wormholes to summon Ultra Beasts. The Nihilego had recognized the danger and tried to protect the girl, and what was his reward?

Getting assaulted by a Silvally.

Since that day, he'd neglected to travel outside his own dimension.

But given the current circumstances, that was a rule he had to break. And he planned to be smart about it this time around.

He emerged from his wormhole on the other side of the island home of the Monster Riders, far away from the village. There wasn't a single human in sight.

But there was a trio of monsters staring up at him - a Nargacuga, and a pair of Rathlings.

Symbiont was about to fly away when he noticed the male Rathling's left eye. He didn't know Ratha, but he'd heard from others that he was a friend of Snivels.

We'll need all the help we can get, the Nihilego thought to himself.

Glutton, being a Guzzlord, was the only Dragon-type on the Ultra Guardians, so he was the obvious choice for gathering a quintet of young dragon heroes.

When he stepped through the wormhole, he found himself in a larger and more draconic form. This was not unexpected, it was something that happened to every non-dragon creature that stepped into this dimension.

Beefeater the NightWing-MudWing hybrid let out a long, loud sigh of relief. For the first time in his entire life, he didn't feel hungry at all. It was a pain, having to eat large amounts of food every minute of every day in a vain attempt to satisfy his insatiable appetite. He almost didn't want to return to his real form.

"Hey, you!"

The Guzzlord-turned-dragon swiveled his head to look into a pair of fierce green eyes belonging to a royal-blue SeaWing.

"Tsunami," he said without guessing.

Her gills fluttered furiously. "How do you know my name? Who are you? Where did you come from? AND WHAT IN THE THREE MOONS IS THAT MAGIC ANIMUS PORTAL BEHIND YOU?"

"It's a wormhole," he corrected. "Where are your friends?"

The teenaged superherione had been at the gig long enough to be ready for whatever challenge came her way. But she never would have expected an other-dimensional encounter in a million years.

Burst was hiding in the shadows when she landed at the entrance to an alleyway to change back into her civilian form. She barely had uttered the first half of her detransformation phrase when the Blacephalon called out, "Marinette?"

She froze for a split second before turning toward the source of the voice. It was too dark to see exactly who it was, but she could make out a human-shaped figure. "I-I'm sorry," she stuttered, then hastily fibbed, "I don't know anyone named Marinette."

"Your suit's quantum masking is meant to confuse human minds," Burst said. He stepped out into the light so she could see him. "I'm not human."

Ladybug stood gobsmacked, staring at what she'd thought was a person but looked vaguely like that lollipop sentimonster she and her partner-slash-friend had done battle with on occasion.

"I'll explain everything later," the Blacephalon promised. "Right now, I need you to gather as many of your friends as you can. After that, meet me on top of the Eiffel Tower."

"Are you sure this is the right house?" Blade asked her partner. "There must be a hundred thousand other heroes in the Multiverse who are older than these two."

The Celesteela towering over her offered the best shrug he could muster. "Age doesn't really matter," said Blaster, "Especially as far as these boys are concerned."

The Kartana reluctantly swooped in and pressed the doorbell.

A voice from inside the house asked, "Ferb, are you expecting someone?"

No sooner after the question was finished, the door swung open to reveal a pair of preteen boys - one with a triangular head and one with green hair.

The green-haired boy took one look at the Kartana and Celesteela waiting for them on the front lawn, then turned to his stepbrother and said, with a distinct British accent, "Not them."

Himinn sat slumped against Typhoon's flank. Both rider and dragon looked completely bored out of their minds.

Their boredom was quickly forgotten when a wormhole opened up in front of them, and Beauty and Lighting stepped through, followed by Splice. One wave of the Mewtwo's hand, and every ounce of confusion was erased from the girl's face.

Barely had the Pheromosa or Xurkitree spoken a word when Himinn jumped to her feet and provided her answer.

"We're in."

They're back!