Monster High and Ben 10 do not belong to me.
This is a work of fiction.
Any resemblance to people, organizations, religions, and places is just a coincidence.
Possible grammar problems.
CHAPTER 12: MANY THINGS CHANGE PART 2
The smell of burning filtered through the broken glass of the windows.
A middle-aged man was hugging his son, both sitting on the ground. A little further to the side was a policewoman who was unconscious and some blood was smeared on her face.
Two girls, one older than the other, both looking a bit dirty. Then a girl with white skin and black and pink hair offered them a bottle of water.
"This is a dream, isn't it? This is all a horrible nightmare." Murmured the younger girl through her tears as her sister comforted her. "I'm going to wake up and mommy's going to give me another one of her lectures, right?"
"Melody, calm down, nothing bad is going to happen." Said the eldest, in an attempt to calm her sister. "We'll be back with mom and dad, I promise."
"Your sister is right. It's going to be all right." Draculaura forced a smile as she said that. While she was confident that Upgrade would show up, nothing assured her that the alien wouldn't be late.
Frankie, who was sitting by a window just listened as her friend tried to comfort the girl. Sometimes she forgets that Draculaura had lived more than a millennium. She was mature if the situation called for it.
At that moment, they and that small group were on the second floor of the building where Clawd had brought them at first. They discovered shortly thereafter that they were not the only ones hiding around the area.
"A dream..." thought the Frankenstein girl. Her eyes rolled to the broken window next to her. Of course, it wasn't a dream, even a nightmare would be better than everything that was happening.
Everything was real, the smell of humor, the sound of thunder in the sky. She was amazed that she could keep calm as she did, maybe it was an inhibition her parents put on her when they created her, or maybe she was just unable to process everything correctly.
Or perhaps his father's madness was contagious. She hoped this wasn't the case. She didn't want to be a tech-addicted lunatic at such a young age. Was he about to give her a stress spike just thinking about it?
It didn't help that the sounds of the fight between the alien and the police had stopped several minutes ago. And although he was curious enough to peek out, he was afraid of attracting the alien's attention. So was everyone else in there.
That was the reason why they were crouched on the second floor of the building. To avoid being seen.
Although Clawd was constantly peeking out to try to see his sister, he would not share any information. Frankie could only deduce what was going through his stressed-out head. He was nervous and impatient.
In their situation, who wouldn't be? His sister was not with them. Separated by accidents when it all started.
Frankie approached Draculaura, who went to sit at one end of the place and leaned her back against a wall. She sat down next to her friend and joined her.
"Do you think he's coming?" questioned Frankie quietly. Her friend looked at her for a few moments and then hugged her legs. "Lala..." Frankie encircled her friend in a hug. "Relax, Clawdeen is sure to be fine."
"I'm not worried about her... It's just... I'm scared."
Frankie could only close her eyes and rest her head on her friend's head.
"Me too."
None of those present could know that a hero was on his way.
Or something similar.
"Dang...I forgot the Omnitrix." Said that strange and adventurous 17-year-old guy named Ben Tennyson.
The one who ran away from Frankie's parents, plunging headlong into danger confident he could take it on. Only for him to realize he had forgotten his ace.
The boy was leaning against a wall, next to an empty lot. Hidden, not because he was afraid, but because he needed to think about what to do.
Being rash like no other, Ben just jumped into the fray, as he always did, but now he couldn't fight. He was defenseless against an unknown threat. Or at least he wanted to believe he was.
He had a horrible feeling in his body at the thought of it being about Him.
He thought and thought, but nothing came to his mind.
Running to the fight was suicide. Going back meant getting caught by the cops and not being able to help. So I had to find the middle ground between the two options.
I knew Frankie was somewhere near the park. I didn't know where, but if she was hiding then it had to be in some building still intact. Or at least one that would work as a cover.
"Find Frankie, go back to her parents, get the watch back, kick some ass and be back for dinner. Sounds like a good plan." He said to himself. His plan was subject, if not stuck, to improvisation. He wasn't a planner after all.
With that step taken care of, he emerged from his hiding place, using the abandoned cars around the area as cover. He was just under seventy meters from the park. If he peeked out he could see it. Though he was sure he saw better days.
That area, which on normal days should have been full of people and the bustle of cars, was now plunged into silence. Not even the fleeing people were left. He had come across a few groups, the last stragglers. Those groups were her confirmation that Frankie and company must be hiding somewhere.
Maybe after sorting this out and giving some explanations he could do some sightseeing. He had seen some food stores, like confectioneries or fast food restaurants on his way there. He could enjoy a burger after being stuck as an alien for a week.
Whenever he went to another universe it was only to solve problems he accidentally got into, never to do any sightseeing. And since no one in that world seemed to recognize him as a public figure, the idea of being a tourist, even for a day or two before starting his job to return home, sounded tempting.
He stopped in front of what looked like a destroyed lock shop. Hiding behind a car, he peered out. Where was the person responsible for all this chaos?
He scanned the park from left to right, besides the obvious destruction, and what appeared to be people lying around the place, he saw nothing like what Frankie had described.
Was it all the fault of something else? Something I didn't know about? He wasn't sure if that was better or worse. Knowing his villains, abilities, and weaknesses was always one more card to use in the game.
Fire, electricity, cold, being foolish enough to put two red lights on your weak point that lit up when you used your powers, and having them glued to your forehead!
He could deal with such things with relative ease. Even his most adaptive and headache-inducing enemies fell for the oldest trick of all. His big mouth.
Getting on your opponent's nerves while fighting was his specialty.
But facing something he didn't know? That represented many variables and risks that he was not willing to take. He didn't want a repeat of the time beast and the black hole.
How was he supposed to know that was going to happen?
Resuming his original thoughts. The boy set out to move forward. He didn't know that in the building just to his right was the person he was looking for so he continued to approach the park until he reached the edge and popped his head back behind an overturned car.
"Shit..."
He thought as he saw several bodies lying around the area. It was hard to tell if they were alive or not, nor did it help that the nearby streetlights were destroyed, spreading a blanket of darkness that barely allowed them to distinguish things. If it wasn't for the fire from that downed helicopter then I wouldn't be able to see anything. I wasn't sure I wanted to see it either.
He was about to leave his hiding place and enter the park to continue investigating, but his heart skipped a beat when he saw some red lines appear in the darkness. It was too far to distinguish what it was, but he could see a vague human silhouette dragging something.
The mental image of an anthropomorphic figure with a body almost entirely black appeared in his mind. Asymmetrical lines run along its gorilla-like body. And that solitary red oval eye staring back at him accompanied by a sick, sadistic, toothy grin.
I wasn't sure what I preferred. Facing something he knew, or something unknown. Both options were bad.
Ben leaned back by the car that was his cover and looked at his left wrist. The lack of the watch prevented him from going after that figure he saw. He still refused to accept what he saw, the distance, the darkness. It could be anything, couldn't it?
Her hand was trembling and she had to hold her wrist with her other hand and take a deep breath to calm herself. To control herself.
"Remember what you were taught...inhale...exhale..." so he did. One thing that, like a hero, he refused to show was that there were things that paralyzed him.
The image in his mind was one of those. Even though his absolute fear was gone, facing it was always one of those difficult roads to travel.
Calmer, he was about to move, until he saw some figures moving through some bushes. The darkness did not allow him to distinguish what they were, he only knew that there were three of them and they were moving in the opposite direction to the silhouette of the red lines.
He saw silhouettes entering the street and using the abandoned vehicles as cover to flee safely.
The odds were never in his favor, but if there was a favorable probability then he would take it. And he hoped that was the case.
Without much thought, and after peeking out once more just to make sure that the silhouette with the red lines had not decided to run towards him, he ran in a crouched position towards the moving figures.
Reaching them was not difficult. It was more than obvious that they were terrified of the entity causing all this. He deduced this from their clumsy and hurried movements, trying to be as silent and invisible as possible.
When he got close enough to make out their silhouettes, one of those three figures turned toward him. He distinguished two triangular protuberances on its head, as well as long wavy hair.
He wasn't sure if it was or not but decided to take a chance.
"Clawdeen?" he questioned. If it was her, then the distance would be no problem. He knew that wolves had good hearing from his own experience.
As if in confirmation, the figure stopped and reached for something in her clothes. Her ICoffin, and using the phone's flashlight to illuminate, she could see Ben.
"It's me, Upgrade." Despite the distance, she could hear him. She was amazed to hear him speak without that synthesized voice, but if she had to guess it was due to some alien thing.
The young woman motioned to her companions, they remained hidden and Ben approached them.
"Are you all right?" the young man asked, receiving a nod from the wolf woman. "That's a relief." The boy dropped his shoulders, as if a weight was lifted off his shoulders, and then focused his attention on the other two teens.
He recognized Lagoona, but the boy was unfamiliar to him. He looked like a stereotypical Nerd, but he wasn't going to judge appearances at that point.
"Ben, what are you doing here?" questioned Lagoona as she recognized him. Jackson for his part stood aside, as he didn't know him.
"Frankie called me, said you were in trouble, where is she?" his reply made the saltwater girl's eyes widen a little. Surprised that he had put himself on the line like that for Frankie.
"We split up." Hastily replied the wolf girl. "She, Draculaura and my brother split up."
Ben cursed in his mind. The universe never made things easy for him. Jackson for his part was surprised to learn that another human knew Frankie, sure he could be a monster in disguise, but he didn't look like one. This itself led him to question their relationship.
The boy looked out, just to make sure that the person responsible for the chaos was still far away. He didn't see him. That was a good thing.
"Let's go this way." He said pointing to the road he used to get there. "There are some cops three blocks from here."
"What about that guy with the red lines?" asked Lagoona, unsure about the plan.
"I saw him near the river. As long as he doesn't see us we'll be safe."
Ben hoped those three boys would agree. He needed to go back to get the watch and they were a good excuse to do so. Besides, he would be more at ease if he knew they were as far away from all this as possible while he continued to search for Frankie.
In the end, they ended up accepting the idea of following Ben. His words seemed confident.
The four young men thus set out on their way. Crouching low and stealthily, they advanced until they reached the street by which Ben had come. The place had the problem that the covers were a little farther away from each other, so they had to run fast to avoid being seen.
Clawdeen, who stood behind Ben, couldn't stop watching him. She had questions, she wanted answers. And she was going to get them.
They looked out to check and when they saw nothing, they continued.
First was the boy Ben didn't know. He was the one who looked the most scared. He tried to get to the next car as quickly as possible, stumbling as he went.
Next up was Lagoona, she was more agile, almost seeming to glide over the asphalt.
Both young men looked out and Lagoona gave a thumbs up, a sign that they could follow.
"You go first." Ben said.
"Wait. You have to tell me, what's going on?" Clawdeen looked at him seriously. They were far enough away now that they couldn't be overheard and she was impatient for answers. "Who is that other alien, why is he doing all this?"
"Clawdeen, I don't think this is the best time." Ben grew impatient, he looked over his shoulder towards the destroyed park, he couldn't see the red-lined silhouette and hoped it would stay that way.
"You brought him?"
"What? No! Why would I bring that jerk?"
"Do you know him?"
"This is complicated! Just...ahg!" the boy looked over the car and then looked at her. "Just trust me."
"How complicated can it be? Did he follow you? Is he here for you?!"
"I don't know! I don't even know if it's him!"
"Him? Then you know him!"
"Clawdeen! Not the best time!"
The wolf woman grabbed him by his shirt and looked at him very angrily.
"You're going to tell me everything!" she demanded raising her voice. The werewolf woman, due to the mood, and her moodiness, didn't notice that she was holding real clothes. Or that the young man's scent was that of a human. "I don't know where my friends or my brother are! That thing tore up half a park and attacked people! You're going to tell me everything!"
"All right! All right! All right! But not now!"
"Now! I swear Upgrade, if one of my friends got hurt I will...!"
The young woman's threat was interrupted when a huge chunk of earth hit the building in front of both of them, managing to partially destroy the wall of the upper floor.
Both covered themselves with their arms as chunks of dirt and gravel fell nearby.
As they lowered their arms and looked toward the building. Clawdeen could see a figure he recognized dart to the side just before a torrent of red energy impacted the place.
"Clawd?!" he exclaimed and without thinking ran toward the front doors of the building.
"Clawdeen wait!" Ben tried to stop her, but the girl was undoubtedly faster.
He was about to follow her when a black shadow passed over his head. Her eyes widened like saucers. All doubt disappeared when she saw the owner of that shadow. Three tentacles emerged from its back, symmetrical red lines on an all-black body.
The boy could only manage to say one thing before he went after her.
"Shit..."
Malware walked aimlessly through the park. He no longer had anyone to attack. Gone were those beings that attacked him.
That relaxed him, and only now did he realize that he could think more clearly. He was just now becoming aware of that bar that was slowly filling up and appearing in his vision.
[REPAIR OF MEMORY CELLS 76%].
His memory. That was strange. He remembered things. He didn't remember things. It was all a shapeless jumble of corrupted information.
Would he remember what he was doing there, or where his father was?
Her father...it was strange to have thoughts of someone she couldn't remember clearly.
"You can be like your brothers. Let me help you."
A disembodied voice echoed. Malware turned his head, searching for its source.
"Follow me, I need to give you a checkup."
A few steps away from him, a small gray frog-like figure in green tunic-style attire walked with his back to him.
Malware cocked his head to one side. He had no idea why, but... he wanted to follow it.
And so he did.
But he took only three steps and the small entity disappeared. It was strange. It was like seeing a glitch in reality. As if it was a corrupted video and unable to play.
"You have a weak body, and a flaw in your DNA is the cause of your condition." Again, the voice came back. He turned his head again and again that little being was walking with his back to him. "I need some time, but I promise you, I will heal you."
This time, he was able to follow him longer, perhaps about eleven paces before he disappeared.
What was going on? Why was he seeing that little entity? Why... why did it hurt him to see that little entity?
It wasn't physical pain. It was pain... A strange kind of pain.
"First thinker. You've can't be serious."
"No, my apprentice. It is the truth. The Omnitrix is in his hands. "
"But… but is a human!"
This time it was two of those little beings. They seemed to be arguing about something, all the time with their backs to him. Malware walked in a circle, but it was as if those beings were doing the same. All the time he only saw their little backs.
The visions disappeared as he approached.
Why were they just turning their backs? Who were they? Why was he seeing them?
"Malware, listen to me, I need more time!" once again that little creature appeared somewhere else around him. This time it was alone, and again its back was to him.
Malware felt the need to say something, but another voice was heard, but this voice, it had no body.
"More time! I've given you enough! You have no idea what I'm feeling! How much this hurts me!" a distorted, cybernetic, angry-sounding voice chimed in. "How much more time do you need! I want a cure!"
The little creature was about to turn to look at him, but again it disappeared. That made him desperate and he approached where he saw it standing and began to dig in the ground.
I wanted to look him in the face. I didn't know why, but I wanted to see it.
"Father... father... father... father..." he repeated over and over without realizing it as his claws churned the earth, creating a hole.
"FATHER!" that cybernetic voice was heard again and he looked up. There was that little being again, turning his back on him. "NO MORE GAMES! I WANT MY CURE!"
"Malware, breaking into my lab like that won't make things any easier."
"NO MORE EXCUSES! NO MORE LIES! GIVE ME MY CURE!"
"Father..." Malware spoke as he watched the small being disappear. "Why... don't... you... look... at... me..."
"I'm so sorry..."
Malware heard the voice but did not see the small figure again.
"Thank you for stopping him. I wish it had been different." I could hear him, he was talking to someone else. So why couldn't I see him? "Tennyson..."
That name. That name he recognized and at the same time he did not. He had been shouting that name since it all started, but it never appeared. He didn't even know who he was looking for, but he didn't like it. He wanted to kill him. He hated him and feared him.
"Tennyson..." saying that name was like trying to swallow molten steel. His mouth burned and his body ached. "Tennyson... Tennyson... Tennyson...! Tennyson...!"
"You may not be the best candidate, but...I couldn't ask for someone better."
"Don't worry. As for Malware... he deserved it."
That new memory appeared and disappeared fleetingly, she didn't even see her father. She only heard him.
He heard it and it hurt to hear it. It was a horrendous pain. It hurt.
He inadvertently brought his hands to his chest, perhaps where his core was.
It hurt there.
"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAA!"
Instead of a bestial roar, this time it was a scream full of rage.
His fragmented mind was coming together, bringing with it memories and emotions, all at once chaos. Pain, sadness, excitement, anger.
His lines glowed brightly and he dug his claws into the ground as he laughed and screamed.
"TENNYSON, TENNYSON, TENNYSON!" with his superhuman strength he ripped a chunk out of the ground and lifted it onto his shoulders, and then threw it towards the buildings across the street. "TENNYSON!"
The rocky projectile hit the wall, managing to break the already damaged wall.
His gaze accidentally focused on that spot and he saw a figure with whom he crossed glances.
The distance did not allow him to recognize a face. But he could distinguish colors and gender.
Male, brown hair. And looking at him.
His mind associated him with the only other such figure he knew.
"TENNYSOOOOOOOOOOON!" he roared and a second later, from his eye he fired his laser.
It was an accurate shot against the building, piercing the hole that his first attack had created and also went through the roof and caused a small collapse, but missed its target.
At superhuman speed, he ran. She would catch him. He would tear him apart and make his father look him in the face.
Three tentacles emerged from its back as it leaped across the street and pinned itself to the wall.
There he could see several individuals. Everyone was looking at him with horrified expressions. Especially one of small size.
"Everybody run!" shouted that brown-haired boy I was unable to recognize.
"TENNYSOOOOOOON!" he roared angrily and lashed out at it.
His movements were not coordinated, his mind was dominated by rage, and he only wanted to attack, attack and attack. Each strike was erratic, thrown blindly and hoping to slice the boy, who managed to narrowly dodge each attack. One came so close to him that it managed to cut through his clothes, leaving three huge claw marks.
Clawd stumbled and fell backward, an advantage that was taken advantage of by Malware. He approached and pierced the ground with his fists, then brought his face close to Clawd's and examined him.
"You're not him!" he exclaimed. The images in his head were unclear, but he was sure, Tennyson didn't have ears on his head. "Where is he!? Tell me!"
"AAAAAAAAH!" Clawd could only scream in horror at being so close to the alien's mouth.
The malware was furious to see that it was not its target, plus it was very noisy.
His twisted mind gave him an idea that he found amusing. His jaw curved into a smile and he flexed one arm back.
"You may not be him, but beholding your face of terror...MAKES IT WORTH IT!"
Clawd was about to be pierced by the villain's claws but was saved when a television was thrown at the mechamorph, knocking it off balance and freeing the boy.
Malware fell backward, its face was completely crushed by the object and its nanomachines created a small puddle as it hit the ground.
The person responsible for the attack was Clawdeen in conjunction with Ben. Both teenagers had managed to arrive in time and act together to save the girl's brother.
"That won't stop him! Run!" the shout from Ben brought everyone out of their stupor and they didn't hesitate to run.
The man left his son in the hands of the two sisters and helped the unconscious policewoman, while Clawdeen and Ben helped Clawd to stand up and escape.
As they started down the stairs, Malware smashed the TV and caused several sharp rocks covered in nanomachines to emerge from the floor.
They all looked at him with fear and surprise. Both he and Malware exchanged glances. Ben knew that this would make him the villain's primary target, so he decided to steer the danger away from the civilians. He grabbed what he could off the ground and stepped firmly in front of the villain.
As they reached the halfway point of the first floor Clawdeen noticed the boy's absence and shouted for him.
"What are you doing!?" she questioned as he saw the young man ready to take on Malware.
"Get them out of here!"
Clawdeen did not reply, the little confidence she placed in Upgrade hung on a thread, but her priorities were other, so she did not question his decisions and escaped.
When he recovered, Malware saw only one person on the spot with him. Brown hair but his face... it was... unrecognizable. He couldn't see it, his face was pixels that had no shape at all.
"what's up face butt?" ask Ben with a big and nervous smile.
Malware just laugh
"I have a brilliant idea... I'll slice and dice you... I'll use you as bait... UNTIL BEN TENNYSON APPEARS! GAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! "
"Doesn't he recognize me?" was Ben's fleeting thought, but he couldn't hold it for long in his mind because of the alien's attack.
With acrobatic agility, the boy managed to dodge it by leaping up and over the wall behind him and completely over the alien.
The three tentacles on its back lunged toward the boy, but he took two steps backward, then sideways to avoid the three attacks.
The attack did not stop. The villain lunged like a projectile toward the boy, who dodged by ducking and sliding across the floor. The malware hit the opposite wall and used it to propel himself toward the human. At this, Ben spun on the ground to the side, and the place where he had been being pierced by one of the alien's legs.
"GHYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! THIS IS FUN! DESTROYING IS FUN!"
Malware decided to ignore Ben and started pounding the floor. He didn't care that he was on the second floor and the whole structure was coming down. No. Nothing mattered more to him than his father's appreciation.
One of his punches went through the building's wiring and his metal body was the perfect conductor for all that electricity.
The human was in the front row and could see the macabre spectacle. The alien was jerking erratically, unable to free his body from the DC.
"It hurts meeeeeeee!" he screamed as he was accidentally electrocuted. "
Malware threw punches in the air, unable to hit anything, just suffering from the electricity.
Ben didn't understand. It didn't make sense. Such erratic behavior was not like Malware. It was too reckless.
The lines on Malware's body began to glow and Ben knew what that meant. Without hesitation he jumped to his feet and ran to one of the windows making his body as close to a cannonball as he could, he jumped against the window, smashing through it and falling into the street onto a car.
When it hit the vehicle, Malware unleashed its attack. It was imprecise and destructive, launched blindly and in all directions, the red lasers were like a destructive light show.
Ben got out of the car as best he could. That may have been reckless, but he managed to escape an attack that was sure to kill him. In the overall calculus, having a sore back and a few cuts was better than being reduced to ashes.
He cursed in his head, he hoped it was a mistake and that he saw wrong. That it wasn't him, but now he couldn't deny it. Malware was there and he looked completely out of it.
"I can't fight like this. I need the watch." The boy ran down the street. He needed to get back to Frankie's mother and get the watch back.
His priority now was to flee, turning around and fighting meant death, even if they wished to do so and that frustrated him. He didn't notice Malware emerging from the building, fuming and very angry.
Malware looked around for him rather desperately - if he lost his bait then he couldn't find Ben Tennyson! He couldn't let him get away!
He saw him running fifteen meters away from him, but now he saw three, one with long hair and one with short hair, and a third with a black T-shirt. He also recognized that girl with bolts in her neck.
Three targets. He didn't understand why they were suddenly so many, but he didn't care, he was going to get his revenge.
So he started to run after them.
Meanwhile, in the area where the police prevent civilians from crossing.
"Viktor do you think... do you think it's true what he said?" the woman asked as she looked uncertainly toward the assembled people watching the broadcast.
"We live in a strange world Viv, but other realities? Teenage super heroes? That's too much." Despite what she said, he doubted her words.
"And yet...he ran to the park like it was the most normal thing to do." Frankie's mother added. The woman thought about everything she knew and the words she crossed with that young boy named Ben. Nothing made sense and at the same time everything seemed to fit, but there was one piece that was out of place. "Your watch...no...I didn't give it back to you." He said looking at the device in his hands.
Viktor looked at the object and then at his wife. An important, if not the central element in the story the boy told them was that watch. Named Omnitrix, an artifact that transformed the wearer into another species.
His scientific side could not help but feel excited at such a creation. But at the same time, he felt frightened. Transforming a person into a completely different entity would require massive amounts of energy. And with his wife's confirmation, for she discovered it by accident. He knew that the little watch that fits in the palm of his hand had monstrous amounts of energy.
Was his arrogance that much? Was he refusing to accept such a crazy idea as a shape-shifting hero from another world? Yes. Was the boy a shape-shifter? Yes. So, was he from another world? Therein lay the rub.
So many possibilities and everyone didn't make a lick of sense.
But more importantly, most of his brain could only focus on his little daughter. Who was at the epicenter of pandemonium?
Viktor glanced sideways. A woman was there, hugging herself with dried tears on her cheeks. That was the woman who had confronted the police a few moments before.
Scruffy attire, a sign that she had rushed into the area without much ado when she knew what was going on. She had reddish-brown hair and wore glasses. Although she looked human in appearance, he was sure it was a disguise, for he sensed the "spark" that the monsters had.
If he had not learned to be a thinker of his stature, he would long ago have gone through that poor barricade and gone personally to find his daughter.
His brow furrowed as he remembered how that human boy escaped from him and his wife, acrobat-like smashing through the barricade and running into the mess.
Was he a good father for being so passive and not acting? His daughter was there. He needed to go there and make sure she was okay.
Maybe he could do it. With his wife's help, of course.
Looking at her, he saw her examining that watch belonging to that boy, alien... whatever the hell it was.
"Viveka, what are you trying to do?" he questioned.
"Frankie somehow called this thing, maybe we can do the same." She replied.
The woman tried to activate the device, but it did not respond to any command. She wasn't sure what she was doing either, the thing was a clock by all accounts, but very strange. One wrong command and it could end up exploding. It was not a pleasant idea.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden commotion. The woman and her husband turned toward the street. A group of people was running up the street. Most were children, young people no older than seventeen, and a man carrying a policewoman on his back.
"Officer down!" was heard.
If it had all ended there it would be just another bad memory of that night, but no, it was just the beginning.
"RUUUUUUUUUN!" a boy was heard shouting.
Everyone there began to scream when that entity responsible for the chaos made itself known.
"WHAT'S THE MATTER, WE'RE NOT GOING TO PLAY ANYMORE?! GHYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA" his distorted laughter caused fear in all who heard him.
The alien flung its tentacles towards the people, grabbing what it could and pulling them towards it, then flinging them towards the other fleeing people. All this caused him sick joy and amusement. It was entertaining for him to cause harm.
One of the people who was almost caught by the tentacles was Lagoona. The young girl was pushed to the side by another person running and was unable to pull herself together in time. She was going to be caught, but someone tackled her.
"Get down!" All she saw was a chestnut-colored blur that knocked her out of the tentacle's way and they both hit some trash cans that were on the spot. "Lagoona! Lagoona! Are you okay?"
"Who... who?" the young woman saw that a familiar face was in front of hers, it was the face of Ben Tennyson. The boy was on top of her, a sign that he was the one who knocked her to the ground. "Be-Ben?!"
"Are you okay?" he asked brushing himself off.
"Yes... I think so." The young woman was dazed, but except for a few scrapes and dust on her clothes, she was perfect. "You... saved me?"
"Saving a pretty girl or two is part of the job." He joked, jumping in the process with a light chuckle. The young woman's cheeks were covered with a darker hue soon after. She could only look at the young human and watch as he stood up and looked with an angry expression toward that out-of-control monster.
The next thing he did was, in the girl's eyes, the stupidest thing he could have done.
"Hey bad copy of Venom! I'm over here! "
Malware at the sight of him again growled with joy and lunged towards him with his arms outstretched sideways. Its claws extended and the tentacles on its back prepared to attack.
If Ben wanted a chance of getting out alive without the watch, he had to hinder Malware as much as he could.
He escaped, getting as far away from Lagoona and the people as he could, but sharp rocks emerging from the ground cut his path, forcing him to change direction.
On her flight, she could see a couple of monsters that were hugging her daughter to protect her. She did not hesitate to scream for help.
"Viveka give me the watch!" the woman watched petrified as the boy did everything in his power to keep the alien distracted.
Most of the civilians had fled and the policemen could do nothing due to the total lack of control. No one seemed to have a shred of interest in this human boy who was taking his chances against an out-of-control monster.
Frankie looked at her mother and looked at Ben, she already knew the two of them met, but she didn't know what watch she was talking about.
"Viveka..." Viktor looked at his wife, he had no idea what the woman should do.
The boy narrowly dodged a cut, which passed so close to his body that it cut his shirt.
"You have to trust me!" he shouted once again. "I need the watch to stop it! Please!"
The woman hesitated. She couldn't believe it, but she was hesitant to help him. She didn't trust him. What if it was all a trap? What if it was all an act to get her watch back? The boy had said he could transform because of the watch, without it he was just a human.
"Damn it, please kid, don't be a lunatic who will kill us all." Viveka stretched one leg back and screamed at the top of his lungs. "Ben! Catch!"
The boy turned around and saw in the air an object he recognized.
He could not stand still and catch it, but he could run in a zigzag pattern and try not to die while grabbing the watch.
"Got it!" the young man ran to where they threw the watch. Steps behind him were Malware, running on all fours like a wild predator.
The boy managed to leap up and catch the device in his hands. As if similar to Upgrade or Malware, upon contact with the young man, the watch melted its shape and launched itself towards his left wrist.
"Time to even this up!" the boy yelled. "Hey asshole!" Viveka watched in horror as Ben stopped and turned one hundred and eighty degrees to face the villain. "Time to be a hero! " The boy tapped his watch, but nothing happened.
[ERROR]
The confidence and pride he felt at that moment vanished when he heard that answer from the watch.
"What!?" he shouted and tried again to activate it, but the answer was the same.
[ERROR]
He watched as malware approached him at full speed like a runaway bull, and seeing that his plan failed, he had only one option left. Run.
The boy did so, escaping from his pursuit by throwing himself toward the cars and trying to get distance with obstacles between him and the alien. Obstacles that were easily destroyed by the alien.
"Just work damn thing! work!" he shouted as he ran away.
[ERROR]
"You piece of shi...!" the boy was silenced as a skeletal fist struck him, from the side.
It was all in slow motion. The blow went straight into his right shoulder and sent him hurtling at high speed into a store, through the window, and out of sight.
"GHYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! YES! YES! I GOT MORE WHERE THAT CAME FROM! GYAHAHAHAHAHAH! WHERE ARE YOU HERO!? DON'T MAKE ME WAIT MORE TIME!"
The lines on his body glowed and he made use of his cloaking ray to destroy the store and several other buildings. The resulting fire and smoke began to spread through the area, but the villain didn't care and just turned and looked towards those other strange-looking humans that had appeared and threw something at that brown-haired human.
He saw brown hair.
He saw Clawdeen.
He hated that hair color.
He went after her. He wanted to finish Tennyson off. Although he couldn't tell if he was or not. Did it matter? No, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
He leaped toward her with murderous intent, his bars extended toward her as the young woman hugged her black-haired, pink-haired friend and closed her eyes.
"Where do you think you're going?!" shouted a new voice. Malware's head was caught by a huge black cadre-fingered hand and it was pulling him backward and then throwing him towards some cars.
There was Upgrade, making his entrance and ready to match this fight.
For a second he looked at the girls, who in turn stared at him.
"After this, how about we go for smoothies?" they heard him say.
Upgrade then rushed over to where it threw its red counterpart.
Malware was already standing when he approached. They both stood looking at each other, but the evil alien seemed more curious than anything else.
He looked at Upgrade curiously, he recognized him. Yes, he did. He looked like... like himself.
He thought it was a brother. Yes. A brother who...
Anger began to fill him. His brothers. He did not love his brothers. His brothers were weak and inferior. They were weak and inferior and yet they had their father's favor! Why, why, why, why, why did their father prefer them!?
"This ends now, Malware." She heard him say as he raised his fists, gaining a stance.
He was amused by that. Yes, he was very amused to hear that.
"Gyhahahahahhaa!" his distorted laughter emerged from his mouth and he pointed a finger at Upgrade. "Inferior brother, I'm superior! I WILL FINISH YOU OFF AND DADDY WILL ONLY PAY ATTENTION TO ME! GYAHAHAHAHAHAHA! "
Both of the run toward the other one. Although they only acted as hero and villain, unknown to him, there were more personal nuances to their fight. Malware's mind didn't understand it, it just wanted to kill him.
Upgrade was seized by the hands of his enemy and his face slammed against the ground as the villain laughed unabashedly.
"GYAHAHAHAHAHAHA. WHAT'S THE MATTER?! ARE WE GOING TO FINISH?! BUT I'M HAVING A LOT OF FUN! !"
A point-blank shot caused the villain's body to transform into liquid, staining everything around Upgrade. The green alien had used his eye beam to do so, only he didn't count that, from the stains, several pointed spears emerged, trying to pierce him.
Imitating his rival, he transformed himself into a liquid to move away, being cut and pierced a few times. Managing to narrowly escape that death trap, he wanted to reposition himself, but several hands rushed at him and pulled.
Malware pounced and embraced Upgrade's body. The green mechamorph tried to free itself from the lethal embrace, but it proved to be more difficult than Malware and it was composed of the same type of nanomachines.
It was then that the villain's jaws closed on the hero's neck.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Upgrade's scream pierced the night as Malware's sharp teeth closed on his collarbone.
The inside of the villain's mouth was hot, very hot, he could feel his nanomachines melting, he had to escape.
Malware threw its head back, tearing off a sizable chunk of Upgrade's body.
His nanomachines began to eat that separate fragment of the green alien. He assimilated it and this accelerated the process of repairing his memory.
He saw images that stunned him. A white and red creature launched a lightning bolt from its arms toward him. This stunning state was taken advantage of by Upgrade, who delivered a blow with his fist turned it into a spiked sphere, and knocked it out of his body.
The villain crashed to the ground, his body smeared and separated into a few small pieces across the asphalt until he hit a vehicle.
Malware's mind distanced itself from the fight. He was trying to understand this new information while his body assimilated the new nanomachines. His chest turned white and he held his head.
What was in front of him changed. Instead of a mechamorph just like him, the figure facing him transformed into something else. An almost completely black entity except for its green-colored chest and the gold-colored protrusions on its body. Plus that dial on its chest looked like an hourglass.
That hourglass. That hourglass...
"TENNYSOOOON!" finally, there it was, all this time he was fighting against the person he wanted to find.
His mind still did not bring him back to reality, he could still see that strange humanoid... He could remember it was called Feedback. Yes. Feedback, that alien that defeated him.
"Let's turn on the power." He heard him say.
Malware growled. He could remember that fight. Yes. He remembered it and it infuriated him.
His anger made his lines begin to glow brighter and brighter.
All the energy went to his eye and he made use of his conceal ray to attack it.
I could remember that this had already happened.
"I CURSE YOU" he recalled shouting in a desperate fit.
"BEN TENNYSOOOON!"
"BEN TENNYSOOOON!" he roared as he fired his ocular laser.
Upgrade responded in kind.
The two attacks packed into each other, canceling each other out. The opposing energies that both used began to generate a small sphere in the center of both, which began to expand rapidly until it exploded and raised a large amount of dust.
Upgrade took cover to mitigate the damage, but this left him at the mercy of Malware, who came leaping in from the air.
That was a sinister image. Like a demon incarnate. Uncontrollable. Tireless.
A monster.
"GHYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! WHAT'S WRONG! CAN'T YOU STOP ME!?"
"I'll make you swallow those words." Replied the hero, returning to combat.
The struggle of the two was summed up in a macabre game of tag. One would chase the other, cut him down and his rival would beat him up. Upgrade would strike with his arms transformed into spheres. Malware would stab and slash him. Both would separate into little pieces of themselves which were then absorbed by the other.
A sinister cycle that seemed to have no end.
Until Upgrade missed a hit. The lower half of his enemy had melted and he was in the perfect position for a direct attack.
Impossible to dodge. Upgrade was thrown back several meters by a torrent of energy expelled from the villain's eye.
The hero barely had time to compose himself. A beastly combo of attacks came at him. Malware tried to slice and dice, even going so far as to dig his claws into the ground to impale him with the stones he could bring up, if it weren't for his liquid state, Upgrade would have long since lost.
He managed to catch his breath as he took distance, fifteen meters of separation, meters that in just a few seconds could be crossed by the villain if he ran or jumped.
His mind was working at its best, he had to think of a way to control Malware. Something that always weakened him and allowed him to win.
Thunder in the distance was their response.
Electricity. His species was extremely weak against it. That was a start, now he had to think about how to electrocute the villain.
He turned his head to see a high-tension wiring pole.
"Oh maaaan, this is going to hurt." He said to himself, perhaps as an attempt to lighten things up, and ran toward the pole.
Upgrade crossed the street with Malware at his heels running like a wolf ready to pounce again on its prey.
When the attack came and Malware leaped out with his claws ready to cut his enemy. The villain's beastly mind didn't make him realize that it was all Upgrade wanted.
The villain hit Upgrade, cutting through it and in turn cutting a wiring pole and breaking it, causing it to fall, severing some wires, and knocking out power to the area.
Lacking his lower half Upgrade fell split in two. Both halves joined together and he tried to escape, but Malware jumped on him, imprisoning his arms and laughing in his face.
"That's it!?" cried Malware, bringing his face close to that of his green counterpart. "Tennyson?! Tennyson?! TENNYSON! I haven't had my fun yet! I haven't gotten my revenge yet! NOT ENOUGH YET!"
"HOW ABOUT YOU STOP YELLING!" Upgrade took a cut wire and stuck it straight into his rival's mouth.
"GHAAAHAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! He screamed at the sudden waves of pain he felt. Trying to pull away, he bit Upgrade's hand, severing it from his body, but it wasn't enough. His opponent embraced him, stretching around him as they were both electrocuted.
His body stopped responding to him. He went crazy.
In turn, Upgrade, being so close, received part of the electric shock.
The scream of the pain of both techno-biological aliens broke through the stormy night.
The lights of the entire city began to fail while all this was happening and although it was only an instant, for them it was longer.
The shock spread through Malware and then to Upgrade and the Omnitrix stuck in its chest. The latter in response emitted an opposite shock.
[GENETIC DAMAGE HAS BEEN DETECTED IN THE USER]
[SURVIVAL PROTOCOL ACTIVATED] [SURVIVAL PROTOCOL ACTIVATED]
The electricity from the high-voltage wires, and the very energy emanating from the Omnitrix caused even greater damage to both of them. Especially the black and red attacker.
Everything stopped so fast that none of them processed it properly. Malware just exploded and Upgrade fell to the ground on his knees as the electricity stopped. His body smoked and the glow of his green lines flickered.
He refused to fall unconscious. He could not fall unconscious.
It was the sheer force of will that made him stand up and look down at where Malware was. A puddle of black liquid with red lines was all that lay there. Squeezing through the debris and wetness from the rain that began to fall.
He succeeded. He managed to incapacitate him, but he didn't know by how much. He needed to contain it somehow.
"Ahg..." Upgrade staggered. His vision dimmed for an instant. "This is no time to rest..." he said to himself, forcing his body to follow. A part of his body melted but was quickly assimilated again.
One of his hands went to his chest and tapped the dial there.
[INTEGRAL DAMANGE DETECTED]
[OMNIMATRIX REBOOTING... 1%...2%...3%...]
I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, but I didn't care anymore. His whole body ached. I didn't know that was even possible.
His one eye rested on the puddle that was Malware, he knew that leaving it unsupervised would be a terrible decision, but he was worried about his friends. He needed to know if they were okay. Malware would be a secondary problem.
Now he had to find them. He needed that assurance in his mind. That he was not late, nor that they were caught in the crossfire.
The black and red puddle remained inert, but a part of it slipped through the rubble of the street, slowly making its way toward one of the wires, and when it touched it, a spark was produced.
Malware had been asleep too long for his liking, and although he wasn't aware, he knew a lot of things happened.
He knew that now his body was damaged, but more importantly, his mind was damaged. He was having trouble maintaining consciousness, but thanks to absorbing a portion of Upgrade's nanites he was able to keep himself stable and speed up his recovery process from his memory cells.
This made him remember many things. All those things he went through in his life.
His birth was unexpected, a by-product of the Helix that gave life to his species as it was dying out. He was born by accident and was the last to be born by the Helix.
This caused an error in his genetic code. A flaw that affected all his cells. And as with biological cells, if one mutates uncontrollably it creates a degeneration. Cancer would eventually kill the body in which it was born.
Unfortunately for Malware, that cancer was its entire body.
A mechamorph composed of unstable nanites, incapable of fusing to technology, only destroying it and mimicking it loosely. This ability came at a horrible cost. It hurt when he did it, a pain he had to go through every time he did it was indescribable, so much so that his psyche began to break down.
Even for highly intelligent beings like the Galvans, the mind was a mystery, a box containing another box, and so on ad infinitum. Unstable, variable, ever-changing.
The pain he felt caused Malware to become an aggressive and solitary entity. Even among his siblings, he was seen as an outcast, an aberration, a failure.
All that negativity piled up, along with empty promises and excuses his father, Azmuth, was giving him.
Until he got tired and decided to take matters into his own hands.
It was perhaps his first mistake, but for him, there were no other options, he was dying and he wanted to be normal. To stop being treated as an outcast among his kind. He wanted to make his father proud. But this noble goal was twisted. His mind degraded by pain and resentment turned that quest for respect into something that doomed him.
Turned to stone by the hand of Ben Tennyson. A poetic end for someone who did the same to his entire species. He was not dead, but he would no longer be a problem for anyone.
That would have been best.
Until they came along and started experimenting with it.
Malware wasn't fully aware of what was happening at that moment, but he could feel it. The pain. Vast amounts of pain. So much that he would have preferred to be dead.
His still functioning mind evaluated his best options. Suffer in that state and be used. Or kill himself.
In his last moments, before he was reduced to a mere weapon, he decided that he was not going to let it all end like this. He was going to take revenge on everyone.
Driven by unnatural rage, he began to break himself to survive. To fragment his mind. His memories. His logic. His every emotion. The more he broke himself, the more pain ensued, but it would not compare to the satisfaction he would feel when his revenge was fulfilled.
Everything separated and dispersed, going into a state of hibernation until he got his revenge.
Latent. Asleep. But not dead. Malware just waited.
Even while his body was controlled by that copy of himself. That amount of emotions dominated him. He waited for the moment when he could subdue that erratic fragment and return.
And it was time for Malware to return once again.
[MEMORY CELLS HAVE BEEN RESTORED]
Upgrade stopped in the middle of the street. At least twenty meters away from him was a full barricade of vehicles with police officers pointing their guns at him.
He took a close look at everyone in his range of vision. It wasn't until she saw Frankie peering out of the window of a pickup truck that she allowed herself to relax. She was safe, which also meant they all escaped.
Now I had only one problem. The cops, what could he do? If he ran then they would chase him and he still had to find a way to contain Malware, maybe if they worked together they could pull it off. Or maybe he could get through to the plumbers' version of that reality. Or failing that the secret organization that was in charge of such things.
Little by little he raised his arms. The rain continued to fall, drenching him and all those who were not sheltered.
"Weapons ready!" shouted one of the human officers. The sound of the safeties being removed muffled by the rain was heard and Upgrade decided it was best to speak.
"Please. This is a mistake." He said. His calm, gentle voice caused the policemen to look at each other. Was this the creature that was attacking them? It matched the description but acted differently. "I don't want to hurt anyone."
The alien didn't come any closer. He knew he made them nervous, he had to be careful or he would start getting shot at.
One of the policemen, a werewolf, looked away from the alien and began to look around as if he was listening to something. This did not go unnoticed by his colleagues, who looked at him.
"What's that sound?" questioned a cat woman in the crowd lingering on stage.
Clawdeen and his brother looked up. Up there, a red dot was approaching.
The werewolf woman cocked her head to one side. What was that? It was approaching fast. The darkness of the sky allowed no silhouettes to be seen, only that red color.
Upgrade looked up as the monsters did so. He saw the red dot, which was getting closer and closer. His eye opened as he recognized who it was. His concern became present and he looked at the policemen and could only manage to say one thing.
"Run." The law enforcement officers looked at it in confusion, but when several shots of red energy hit the asphalt and vehicles, causing a small explosion, they knew it wasn't just a glowing dot in the sky.
A humanoid being hit the asphalt. In a succession of quick movements, it closed its distance with Upgrade and grabbed it by the neck, and then knocked it to the ground.
The figure was humanoid. His shoulders were broad and he had a muscular appearance. His chest was ivory white, making a stark contrast to the jet black of the rest of his body. Red lines symmetrical to each other stretched across his entire body, giving the appearance that they were tattoos, but they glowed. Despite its similarities to the good-natured alien, who had a smooth, circular head, this other alien's head was polygonal, which accentuated its aggressive appearance. Finally, an inverted triangle-shaped eye opened in the center of its face.
There was Malware, once again.
The villain ignored the policemen completely, only focusing on going after the hero while shouting.
"YOU THOUGHT WE WERE DONE!?"
Upgrade transformed into his liquid state, freeing himself, counter-attacking with his hands transformed into spiked spheres. The red alien responded quickly, hitting the ground with his fist causing black stones with red lines to emerge from the ground.
Following this, his hand transformed into an orange energy blade and he tried to pierce Upgrade with it, but the hero rolled out of the way. Alternating from puddle to humanoid form, he was on his feet again. Upgrade grabbed a manhole cover from the ground and threw it with all his might towards Malware, who mimicked him, transforming into a liquid to avoid and approaching in that form closing the distance.
Due to the exhaustion he felt, Upgrade was unable to react as he usually would. With Malware in his blind spot, he could do nothing when the villain returned to his humanoid state and punched him with all his might, sending him towards the police patrols.
There Upgrade exchanged glances with two agents. They looked at him and he only managed to say.
"Are you taking notes?" the hero turned to his enemy. He saw his hand transform into a gun and point it at him.
"YOU WILL DIE SCREAMING!" bellowed the villain. Before he could fire, a green and black police car rammed him. Upgrade had merged into the vehicle with the intent of driving Malware away from people. The damage would be unthinkable if they fought so close to people.
"How's my bumper taste, asshole!?" questioned Upgrade as he accelerated.
On the bumper, Malware was trying to avoid falling under the car. He was in a disadvantageous position and if he broke away from Upgrade then his rival would gain an advantage. Especially given the bold and erratic way Upgrade was driving.
Malware's hand rose on the front bumper, which startled Upgrade, and, unable to help himself, he saw it dig into the engine area.
"Oh fu..." the vehicle blew up due to an explosion in the engine.
Both mechamorphs separated from the car, starting a fight with each other, coming together and separating as they slammed into each other. Their liquid-like bodies mingled for a few moments until they both hit the asphalt, bouncing off and separating from each other.
Upgrade began to regenerate. He was tired, and this was reflected in how his body was finding it harder and harder to repair itself, even the lines on his body were less shiny, compared to how they looked at the beginning.
As best he could, he sat up and looked around. He was back in the park, crashed in the vicinity of what was once the carousel building. His plan had worked, perhaps by sheer luck, he had driven Malware away and now he had to finish the fight.
Hitting the dial on his chest he got a simple voice message.
[65%...66%...67%]
He grunted and cursed at the sound of it. How much longer was it going to take for that thing to come online once more? He needed it now.
Upgrade put up a good fight, it lasted so long because Malware never tried to disable it for some reason, but it was already the alien's limit and needed a reliever.
"GAAAAAAAH!" Malware emerged from the flames of what had once been a patrol car. The fire had stuck to his body, giving him a look like a monster that had just crawled out of hell.
For anyone else, that scene would have been enough to make them wet their pants, but not for the hero. Upgrade just looked at him. Looked at him and cursed him in his head, questioning why he didn't just drop dead and let him relax.
Close-range combat resumed almost instantly. Upgrade needed that extra time, the clock couldn't take that long to repair and if he could hold on then he could outmaneuver Malware.
Failing that, I was hoping the watch would force a change from alien to something that could stop the villain and prevent him from dying in a very gruesome way.
He used quick punches and dodged with nimble footwork. Malware was more erratic and wild, trying to cut and tear at his enemy.
Their bodies separated into small fragments that hit the ground creating black spots with lines of the colors of their respective owners.
One slip-by Upgrade due to exhaustion and continued damage was enough for Malware to take advantage.
One, two, or three consecutive blows in a devastating combo that Upgrade was unable to respond to.
Although Malware was the same as Upgrade, his anger kept him going. Like an out-of-control berserker.
"NOW DIE!" roared Malware, digging his claws into his opponent's chest. His death grip was just the beginning. He didn't let it go so easily and in an act that showed his brutality, he began to twist and turn, starting to gain speed.
When he reached the climax after a few moments, he launched his rival into the air. Such was the force that Upgrade was thrown into the wreckage of the carousel.
The hero went through the walls as if they were made of paper and splashed across the floor, fluttering until he hit a pile of debris that accumulated around the place.
The alien coughed. Despite his lack of lungs, he could swear they were burning. He coughed and tried to move, but his energy was at its lowest range.
His head moved and he looked at his body. An iron bar pierced his chest a little above the dial attached there. As if it was nothing to him, he grabbed it and pulled it away, taking a piece of debris with him and tossing it aside. The resulting hole was soon covered by nanomachines and he threw his head back. He was tired.
"This is... hard..." He commented to himself as he tried to sit up once more and failed. "How much longer?"
"Don't worry about it." Malware walked over. Taking his time to enjoy what he saw. Ben Tennyson is at his mercy. It was almost delicious to watch. "I'll be done with you soon."
Upgrade looked at his counterpart for a second and then threw his head back again. He was so exhausted, but his second wind was on its way. He just needed a little more time.
"I missed you too." He said sarcastically. "I like your new style, were you inspired by me?"
The comment was not amusing to Malware, who merely stared at his now white chest. He deduced that this was Tennyson's fault, even if the boy himself was not aware of it.
"As talkative as ever. Shutting your mouth forever will be a pleasure like you can't imagine." The mechamorph pointed its arm at the boy, transforming it into an energy weapon.
"Come on, man. How many times have we done this?" he questioned. "If we keep this up, people are going to start talking. I've got a reputation to uphold, you know?"
"After today, you won't have to worry about that." He replied and pointed his weapon-transformed arm at her.
"Do you really think you'll beat me? This is only halftime. I'll get up, kick your ass and force you to take me back to our dimension."
The last part of the sentence confused Malware. Back to his dimension? What was that hairless monkey talking about? Whatever the answer was, he would find out, after killing that boy.
"Last words?"
Upgrade furrowed his eye. He wasn't going to let things end the way Malware wanted them to, and if he had to go with him, he would if necessary.
Fortunately for him, it wasn't.
[98%... 99% ... THE OMNIMATRIX IS IN STAND BY]
The voice on the clock chimed and Upgrade smiled or would have if he had a mouth.
"Yes. You should stop being so slow." The alien tapped the dial on his chest, causing a green glow to coat his body. Malware knew what this meant and without hesitation, fired.
Several shots of red energy hit the place where Upgrade had been lying, raising a curtain of dust and smoke. Not a single second passed before several aquamarine-colored crystals emerged from there and slammed into Malware's body, only to explode.
A seven-foot-tall humanoid figure emerged from the smoke. His body was made of crystals and a large, arrogant smile graced his face.
"Like I said. That was only halftime." The new alien slammed his fist against his palm, generating a crystalline sound.
In the distance, civilians, reporters, and law enforcement. Humans and Monsters. They were all looking in the direction of the park. All wondering what was going on.
Inside a family van, there was a monster girl made of parts.
Frankie's eyes were glued to the car window. Her parents forbade her to get out of the vehicle because of the rain, as she could electrocute someone by accident. That didn't stop her from keeping her gaze in the direction of the park. She wondered what was going on. Upgrade was fighting that other alien.
She questioned in her head the alien, why he decided to do it. They were the same, but different, were they enemies? Like vampires and werewolves? Upgrade seemed to know him. They both seemed to know each other and once again a name was in the middle.
Tennyson.
The red and black alien was shouting it with rage and hatred. It was clear that this person was related to both aliens. Maybe he provoked something and they were responding. Which explained why when Upgrade showed up as a human the other alien attacked him instantly. They wanted something from the same person.
Thinking about it made her wonder, why did Upgrade look different this time? He wasn't wearing that black and green suit, now he seemed to be wearing normal clothes, something that any teenager would wear.
Other than that, she only transformed when her mother appeared and threw something at her. She wasn't sure what it was, it looked like a watch.
Knowing that her mother discovered the alien gave him a premonition that she was going to be in big trouble, bigger than just running away from home to go to a party.
Her thoughts were interrupted when a red light illuminated the sky.
All eyes turned skyward as a torrent of energy shot across the sky from the ground and despite the distance, a large monolith made of cyan-colored crystals became visible in the park.
Those present began to murmur, while the forces of order began to move, to enter the building and find out once and for all, what was going on.
Malware was catapulted backward due to a powerful blow from a tree. He landed on his feet, crawling on the ground and using his claws to slow himself down.
His hands transformed into energy swords and he cut through the same tree they used to hit him, but this time used as a javelin.
The two halves passed by him and ended up crashing somewhere behind his back.
Diamondhead approached his opponent. The two were more than ten paces away from each other but did not begin another round.
The rain continued to fall, but none of them cared about that, they were too focused on their fight that they didn't notice that the storm was getting worse. Violet lightning flashed across the sky, overloading the clouds with electricity.
The park was even more destroyed than before. Stones covered in a black and red substance, pillars of glass pierced from the ground in different directions along with craters from explosions. Everything was reduced to little more than a wasteland.
"That's all Tennyson? The Great hero, the savior of the universe, you can't do anything against me?" she questioned mockingly as she pointed one of her guns at him. "You disappoint me."
"You are beginning to wear on my patience." said the petrosapien. "Why don't you tell me how you ended up in this dimension?"
"I don't know what the hell you're talking about, brat." his voice showed his confusion.
"Don't play dumb Malware, I don't know what happened to you before or how it's possible that you're talking again now, but I'm sure this is all your doing."
"As rash as ever, I had nothing to do with it. " his eye curved downward and he tilted his posture again. "But I will take advantage of this situation, I always wanted to dominate a planet."
"Over my dead body."
"That can be arranged."
Both rushed at each other once again. Malware tried to cut off his rival's head, but the latter was quicker, ducked under the attack, and then launched a hook straight to the villain's abdomen. The blow caused the mechamorph's body to lean forward.
As it was practically on top of its enemy, the mechamorph raised both arms above its head and launched a downward blow against the petrosapien's back.
When he saw him fall to the ground, the villain did not miss his chance and grabbed him by the skull, then lifted him and slammed him to the ground.
He repeated this action several times, some crystal fragments began to be thrown at each impact, and he only stopped when he felt satisfied.
Seeing that his opponent was disoriented, the villain decided it was a good time to end that fight.
The mechamorph kicked him in the abdomen, causing Diamondhead to be forced to stare up at the roof of the building, then extended one of his hands toward the hero's belt, ready to claim the greatest invention in the universe.
The Omnitrix.
"Any last words, Ben Tennyson? " asked the villain as he paused his hand over the dial resting there.
The hero tried to move his head to look at him, some cracks were present on his face, but they were gradually regenerating.
"I have a few, but I don't think they're suitable for all audiences," he replied with some amusement and pain.
"Even in your final moments, you take everything like it's a big game." the mechamorph pulled the device and let his nanites slide into it. "At last, Azmuth's greatest invention, it's mine!" he exclaimed with twisted glee.
But something strange happened, he could not feel how he absorbed that piece of technology. His eye curved down and again he tried, he even forced his body to slide towards the device, but nothing happened.
"Why can't I absorb the Omnitrix!" he roared angrily, a small flash appeared in his mind, and he saw himself before he fully regained his consciousness, his body had attacked Upgrade, which consequently meant that that infernal device he carried had been activated to protect him, and if he no longer possessed his most characteristic ability, it could only mean one thing. The Omnitrix had done something to his DNA. Pulling away from the petrosapien, the villain began to back away and was upset. "No, no, no," he repeated over and over as he looked down at his hands.
His unique characteristic. The thing that made him more special and superior to his brothers. He didn't have it anymore? That wasn't fair. That wasn't fair! He was now just like them! Inferior! He couldn't be anything but a horrendous nightmare! Why would he want to be like the bastards who turned their backs on him?!
Dominated by anger. Malware looked at his opponent. He was to blame, that meddling brat and the stupid watch. Who else but him? All the ills of his life were his fault. His. HIS. HIS.
IT WAS ALL HIS FAULT.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" the villain roared and grabbed the hero's face and lifted him. And then crashed him. He lifted him. Crashed him. He picked him up again and crashed him again.
His fit of rage culminated when his lines glowed brightly and his energy beam shot out of his eye. It struck Diamondhead and dragged him several meters along the ground until he crashed into the debris of the carousel. Even Malware was dragged backward by the intensity of his attack.
When he stopped, he was determined to put an end to it all at once.
Malware advanced towards where his opponent was thrown. But on his way, his body failed him and he fell to his knee. His one eye furrowed as he watched one of his hands begin to melt. Maintaining his solid form was beginning to be difficult. He was injured, barely recovering his body and his mind was still not fully repaired. He got to that point in the fight just out of sheer violence and rage. A full-fledged monster who craved revenge.
"Don't you dare..." Malware forced his nanomachines to work at maximum capacity, reforming his arm and keeping all the others functioning. Even if he hated it. He had to go for now.
The sound of crashing glass was heard and Malware looked over to where his rival was. He saw his silhouette emerge from the rubble and just like him, he looked tired and his body cracked.
"You're still alive." He said with annoyance and distaste.
"And you're still surprised." Replied the alien made of diamonds.
Both opponents were ready to throw themselves at each other once more, but before he could take a single step, the ground they were standing on shook.
"What the...?" questioned Malware as he lost his balance.
The tydenite crystals and stones corrupted by Malware had destabilized the ground. Diamondhead and Malware staggered as the ground beneath their feet shook. Unknown to both of them, beneath the city was a complex system of tunnels and caverns that went by the name of the catacombs. Being spaces composed of air and ancient structures or caves, the continuous attacks of both destabilized the ground, causing a collapse.
The hero managed to avoid falling into the trap that opened beneath his feet. One leap, propelled by a column of crystals, and he was out of danger, but that was not the case with his rival.
Malware was at the epicenter, the last attack it had made was the straw that broke the camel's back. The ground opened up and blackness swallowed the mechamorph.
Diamondhead seeing that, by accident, his villain escaped was determined to follow, he could not let him escape, and he would have done so if it were not that the symbol tied to his waist began to blink with a sound that gradually became longer and longer.
At that familiar warning, the alien hesitated. Should he go after Malware? It wasn't certain he could do anything if the watch ran out of power. In his hesitation, several police officers and other security forces began to arrive in the area. Seeing that he was soon going to have more company, he opted to make his escape.
Diamondhead cursed in his mind. It was all an unwelcome mixture. He glanced once more at the hole before fleeing in the opposite direction.
He jumped, completely ignoring the shots fired at him. Although they hit, the bullets managed to crack his glass skin.
"Go after him!" he heard someone shout behind his back.
He knew he had only seconds left before his transformation was gone. He needed to hide, but running away was not an option. Diamondhead was strong, not fast. Luckily for him, he was surrounded by hiding places.
He leaped towards one of the ruined buildings, losing sight of the policemen.
"Catch him!" an officer shouted and his fellow officers scattered around the area.
One of the police, a cat woman, signaled to her fellow officers that she was going to enter the building Diamondhead entered to hide.
The woman made sure she had a flashlight and a gun with her. Her night vision made it easier for her to walk around the place.
She walked carefully through the place. Expectant. She knew that monster must be in there, there was no other way out and her companions surrounded the place.
The sound of something falling alerted her and she turned, pointing her gun at the culprit.
"I'm a friend! Don't shoot!" said a young, male voice in obvious panic.
The werecat pointed her flashlight at this new person and relaxed when she saw that it was not that crystal monster.
"Ouh, my eyes." She heard him groan. With the light shining on him, the woman could see that this was a young human, in his mid-teens perhaps. Messy brown hair, black and green T-shirt with a number ten written in the center of the chest, and brown pants.
She calmed down and lowered the gun. It wasn't who she was looking for, it was just a civilian. The boy kept his arms raised as a precaution. An audible sigh escaped the woman's lips and she spoke.
"You can put your arms down." The boy heeded. Carefully that young man advanced through the rubble in the direction of the woman.
She could see him a little better when he came closer. He looked... calm, for all the situation around him, he was calm. It wasn't the only strange thing, for him to have been in that place hiding, he looks very calm.
"Is something going on officer?" the young man's voice brought her out of her thoughts, she didn't notice that she had been staring at him.
"No." Was her reply. "It's safe to leave. Ambulances are already on their way."
The boy nodded and walked past her. The woman did not turn to look at him, she was more focused on observing her surroundings.
"Is there any sign of that monster?" questioned a voice over the woman's radio.
"No. But I found a civilian."
"The hounds are already here, let them work, better escort that civilian to the ambulances."
"Roger." The woman took one more look at that destroyed store and walked out.
As instructed, he intended to escort that young man, but when he went out and looked for him with his eyes, that young man was nowhere to be found.
This confused her, it wasn't much of a time difference, it only took a few seconds before she went after him, so where was he?
Away from the site, Ben leaned back by a tree and ran a hand through his tousled hair.
The whole situation was bad. Having run from the police like that would no doubt put him on a blacklist or two. His fight with Malware. Not counting the wounded under the hand of the maniacal alien, who was now on the loose.
Carelessness and mistakes were his faults.
His eyes fell on the watch on his wrist. The device had shut off, and its power was completely drained.
He turned his head towards the destroyed park. At that moment he had nothing left to do and could only wait.
You know, I saw the Monster High movie. It wasn't too bad, it gave me some ideas. Although if I have one complaint and I'm sure someone is going to hate me...I don't like musicals, I skipped every single song.
Whatever. This time I have things to say.
After finishing the entire Chainsaw man manga in one weekend, I noticed a lot of things I didn't like about the previous version. Malware among them.
Why? You may ask. Well... it didn't feel like someone fragmented, someone has broken who was rebuilding and neither did those daddy issues. Let's face it, that guy has daddy issues.
This time I made it more realistic, more human, and more hurt. That's not counting the background characters who, spoiler, will have their part to play later.
It's amazing how if we transform the Upgrade and Malware fight by changing both of them to characters that, if they can bleed, everything becomes very gory and M-rated.
Since I'm talking about this, I want you to more or less get an idea of what I want. Something dark, but not too dark, at a balanced point, and hard to achieve without it all looking like edgy crap, no one likes that stuff, whatever. I'll do and do more tests until I find a suitable pace for all this.
Be that as it may. Here's the end of the first... errr... season? let's call it that.
Ben is Ben, Malware is free and someone may need to visit a therapist.
I don't think I'll be able to update anything for a while. That is if I get this chapter up before December 5. I have exams from the 5th to the 22nd of December, horrible, someone frees me from this.
Be that as it may, my exams are over and I will publish something, that's for sure, maybe before the new year. I don't want to say dates because knowing me I will end up publishing something in February.
Now if you are interested in knowing what I plan to do from here and all the changes I will make...
Chapter 13 will mark the beginning of something new. Characters, plots, and reasons why Ben sucks at love and doesn't know how to have a partner.
At the moment it has the working title of "People with no name" but is subject to change. I don't want to say anything, but it's something that focuses more on our favorite time traveler and takes place in a time of about... 2 weeks since Malware appeared. It's going to be slow, I'll try to establish certain rules of the world, I'll tell about the aftermath of what happened and we'll only have a small scene of Ben.
Now, after this comes the beginning of the monster high arc and the first major arc I want to write. Arc dubbed "The hunters". Here we all know who is going to appear. But I want to make it natural. As well as introducing another concept that I've wanted to deal with since the previous version.
I'd love to tell you more here because I've been putting a lot of work into this. But if I keep talking I'd make too many spoilers and no one wants that.
And well... thanks for reading this story again. The new and old versions, I know it bothered some of you. I tried to improve as much as possible, there are still things that weren't better, but I like everything better.
The tone of this story will remain as T, although I may go up to M sometime or another, I'll leave a warning when it happens.
With that settled, I look forward to your comments, critiques, messages, whatever are always welcome, I love reading it and it helps with the motivation to keep writing
Take care of yourselves and I hope you have a good Christmas and a nice New Year.
PS: I edit this before I forget, but I will make a new version of the story. Before you kill me, I'm just calling it that, it's something different, but using the basics, it would be a mix of Alien Force, yeah the full season, with monster high stuff, and when I say that, I mean everything, a mix of the 3 generations and Lizi Harrison's books. I think that's how it's spelled. I've been talking to several of you about it and you liked the idea. I was going to leave it as something that would be just for me, but I got attached to it and I want it to see the light of day. It won't be something I'll update often, even though I've almost finished about 4 chapters. Yes, it's my happy corner when I'm blocked and I can't write this story. Anyway, that would be it now if I'm out of here.
