After a blinding flash, the trio came out from behind a truck. They were now in a city, in what looked like a public green space. There were food trucks, and street musicians, and people selling trinkets out of makeshift stands.

"This is exciting!" said Erika, "We get to travel the multiverse again, and this time we're not racing against an evil genius bent on destroying it… as far as we know."

A kid ran by with a painted face and a balloon.

"Where are we anyway," she asked, "Some kind of craft fair?"

"My guess," Ted suggested after observing the area, "is that we're somewhere in the vicinity of Kansas City."

"What makes you think that?" said Shawn.

"Well… that guy ordered a barbecue sandwich and got shredded pork with a sweet ketchup-based sauce. That's as opposed to a Texas beef brisket and the Carolinas' tangy vinegar-based sauces." After an awkward pause, he said, "What? I like barbecue. Also… I see lots of Chiefs jerseys."

"Okay," Shawn said holding up the professor's device, "What does the wheel say?" He read aloud, "Universe 19T. The Omnitrix malfunctioned when fraternal twins Dillon and Dakota Preston reached for it simultaneously upon it's discovery, transforming both into different aliens randomly. Eventually Azmuth was able to stabilize their transformations with two new Omnitrixes that only activate when both dials are pressed."

"Neat," said Erika, "They're like the Wonder Twins!"

"Uh… sure," Shawn said and then continued reading, "The twins became fed up with the Plumbers who viewed them more as a threat then someone who needed help, even locking them up at one point." He glanced at Ted.

"Randomly transforming alien twins do sound pretty dangerous," Ted admitted, "But yeah, locking them up… probably not the best move."

"It says they instead joined the Galactic Enforcers," Shawn said, "Is that like an enemy of the Plumbers or something?"

"No," Ted explained, "The Galactic Enforcers and Plumbers have cooperated in the past. They have a similar mission in bringing about justice and order in the galaxy, and while I've never worked with them personally, I respect their very efficient prison ship, the Incarcecon, and their adherence to a Galactic Code of Conduct."

"They sound just like Plumbers," said Shawn.

"Well, the biggest difference," Ted replied, "Is when the Plumbers are private, the Galactic Enforcers are public… very public."

Just then, a loud crash followed by screams of fear were heard in the distance. The trio ran toward what everyone else was running away from. They soon saw them; two giant mutated turkeys! They seemed to be spliced with XLR8 DNA, with blue and black striped feathers on bodies that looked less turkey than velociraptor. With their super speed, they pecked at buildings like jackhammers, causing catastrophic damage. They then heard a voice from behind the two monsters. "Society will rue the day it derided the name of Dr. Aloysius J. Animo!" The unimpressive, sickly looking man stepped out wearing a helmet and harness made haphazardly out of everyday items and electronics, like a colander.

"Dr. Animo," Erika reminisced, "Now that's a name I haven't heard in a while."

"It's a name I've never heard," said Ted.

"You would love him," she added, "He's a riot! I'm gonna go make fun of him."

"Oh no you're not," said a random police officer, throwing up one hand, "Please just stand back and let the heroes do their jobs."

"Heroes?"

Then, another voice announced from the roof of a nearby truck, "Never fear!" A young man and woman stood back to back with dynamic action poses. They were both blonde, and they wore matching yellow and white spandex suits with a torch emblem on a shield on the chest. They had identical yellow Omnitrixes. "The Galactic Enforcers are here!"

"Oh!" Shawn said quietly, "I see what you meant by 'very public'. These guys are freakin' superheroes!"

"Delta 17 Formation!" Dillon stated, and then he turned into a Bullfrag and Dakota, a Jetray. He latched onto one of the monsters with his long sticky tongue, slingshotting himself, and kicking it in the face with both feet. She shot one in the back of the head with a neuroshock blast from above. The monsters, only angered by the attacks, retaliated by pecking furiously and swiping at them with their long, feathery, dinosaur-like tails. After a few more back-and-forth rounds, both mutants tried to dodge attacks and ended up running into each other head first at super speed. They landed flat on their backs with twitching feet in the air and soon devolved back into regular turkeys. "Surrender, evildoer," Dillon demanded.

"You think I only brought two of my minions?" Dr. Animo cackled. Mentally activating the device on his helmet, Dr. Animo summoned five more turkey mutants from a nearby 18-wheeler. "You can't handle five, and neither can the city! Ha!"

"That would be our cue!" said Erika. She, Ted, and Shawn transformed into FastTrack, Lodestar, and Feedback respectively and joined the fight. The trio plus Dillon and Dakota were evenly matched with the five monsters, but eventually came out on top. Dillon snared one by the ankles, causing it to trip into a fire hydrant. Dakota grabbed on by the tail and flew it into the side of a building. Ted fenced one in with metal shrapnel from crushed cars, and then smacked it with a billboard. Erika angered one into chasing her at super speed and dashed to one side at the last second. It couldn't stop as fast and ran into a light pole, dislodging a transformer. Shawn caught it redirected the electricity into the last monster. Dillon came up behind Dr. Animo, distracted by the chaos, and pulled off the helmet and crushed it.

Later, as two police officers loaded an angry shouting Dr. Animo into the back of the cruiser, and several others chased around the wild turkeys, Dillon and Dakota approached. "We don't know who you are," Dakota announced loudly enough for some reporters behind the police tape to hear, "but the Galactic Enforcers are always glad to be joined by those fighting on the side of justice." She then handed them a card and whispered, "Say something heroic for the cameras, and then meet us here in 6 hours!"

"Uh…" said Shawn, not a fan of the publicity.

"I'll tell you who we are!" said Erika, who relished it, "We are the roofers of righteousness, here to apply the shingles of integrity to the roof of America! We are the orthodontists of justice, and we will remove the braces of tyranny from the teeth of freedom! We are the varnish of truth, and when applied to the cabinet of malice, we will…"

"I think they get the idea," Ted interrupted, nudging her shoulder.

As they were leaving, one reporter asked, "Will you stay and help the Galactic Enforcers protect the city!?!"

After a pause, Erika answered, "It's possible, but probably not."

-- -- --

That evening, after eating barbecue and hiding from reporters, the trio went to the address on the card. The large bunker-like building was on the edge of the city and had the torch emblem above the entrance and on a flag out front, apparently a Galactic Enforcers headquarters. Dillon and Dakota met them on a concrete landing outside of what looked like a hangar. "All right, explain yourselves," ordered Dillon, decidedly less cheerful and optimistic sounding when away from the cameras, "How did you get Omnitrixes?"

"Same as you," answered Shawn, "We found them in pods that crashed to Earth."

"Look," added Ted, "We know this is hard to believe. Trust us we know, but… we're from alternate dimensions." Dillon simply raised one eyebrow. The trio proceeded to introduce themselves and explain how they were each the one-and-only Omnitrix wielder in their home universes until the ordeal with the Celestialsapiens, and how they were sent by a time traveler to warn other Omnitrix users of the negative futures they could avoid.

Dillon then turned to Dakota and asked, "You believe this?"

"I don't know," she answered reluctantly, knowing her answer would anger him, "But we should listen to them just to be safe."

Dillon rolled his eyes and muttered "This is just what we need."

"What's the harm in hearing them out?" she argued, "It's surely not as bad as if it turns out to be true and we didn't listen to them!"

The three were puzzled by how different the twins were here than in public.

"What does this time traveler guy say about us?" Dakota asked.

"Well," said Shawn, "Basically that you need to cooperate. But it looked like you cooperated just fine in the city today."

"Sure," said Dillon, "We cooperate fine when we agree, and 'stopping the giant mutated turkey monsters' is pretty agreeable."

"But you don't always agree…" said Ted.

"I want to stop the bad guys before something like today can happen again," Dillon explained, "and that means hitting them where they live. But Dakota insists that we wait until a crime has been committed, because it looks good on camera to stop a crime in progress."

"You know that's not true!" she responded angrily, "The GCC only authorizes us to subdue criminals, and acting suspiciously is not a crime! Also, if we spend all of our time going after possible future threats, who will protect the quadrant from threats we didn't see coming?"

"And you can't split up and do both because?" Shawn asked.

"Because," Dillon answered annoyed, "Both Omnitrixes have to be activated at the same time for either of us to transform."

"Oh, right," he replied, "That's a problem."

As Dillon and Dakota continued arguing over each other, Ted finally grabbed the wheel and loudly said, "This is what your future holds!" They both stopped. "It says," he read, "a powerful alien villain appears on Earth and issues the Conqueror's Challenge, a battle for the fate of the planet which, according to the Galactic Code of Conduct, can only be fought by one warrior."

"That's a stupid rule," interrupted Shawn.

"It may sound like it, but it has prevented numerous interplanetary wars in the past, and it was sanctioned by the Galvans. Anyway," Ted continued reading, "After the Preston twins are unable to agree which one would fight the challenger, they refuse to cooperate during the battle, and the planet falls."

After a pause, Dillon said, "…to a threat that could have been prevented if we apprehended suspicious aliens."

"You mean a threat we wouldn't be there to handle," Dakota replied, "If we were too busy looking for trouble where there isn't any."

Before the twins could start yelling at each other again, Shawn asked, "So why don't we just turn down the challenge? The dude comes up and says, 'I challenge you!' and we're like, 'Nah, man.'"

"That would leave the planet open for invasion," Ted explained, "That's what the Conqueror's Challenge is there to prevent."

"So, what do we do? We all have basically the same powers; can one of us fight it for them?"

Ted finally said, "I can."

"And there it is," Shawn said sarcastically.

"What?"

"You with your fancy Plumber training… I knew it would only be a matter of time before you let it slip… you think you're the leader."

"No… not necessarily. It's just that for a team to work, every member needs to have a clearly defined role. Albedo handled high-technology, for instance, and Tack was on inter-species relations. Tactical combat was just… my role."

"Well, I didn't have a whole team of people I could delegate tasks to. Any problem I ran up on, I had to solve myself, which made me flexible… which is why I think… I should fight the guy."

Before any more could be said, they were startled by a booming voice in the sky. "People of Earth," the mysterious invader shouted, "In accordance with the Galactic Code of Conduct, as ratified by the Casey-Kelly Accords, I hereby issue the Conqueror's Challenge to the planet's greatest defender!" The five ran out to see the challenger. He was muscular, bald, and had pale gray skin and no nose or ears. His skin-tight black suit included a black cape which flowed in the wind as he hovered, and a shiny metallic neck brace which came up to his chin and knee-high boots.

"You didn't tell us he was a Tekayan!" Dakota muttered frantically.

"We didn't know!" said Ted.

"What's a Tekayan?" asked Shawn.

"He's the same species as Ultimo!" answered Dillon.

"Is that bad?" replied Shawn.

"Yes!" Ted, Dillon, and Dakota answered simultaneously.

"Who will face me in a trial by combat!?!" the challenger demanded.

"I will!" Erika answered with a mischievous smirk.

"You will?" The rest asked worriedly.

As the alien approached, Erika nonchalantly asked, "So what's your story, Neck Brace?"

"I am the warlord Vantablack," he answered angrily, "I was banished from my home planet of T.K. for war crimes decades ago. When I learned that the World Conqueror Vilgax defeated the Specimen Prime and took the planet, I was furious! Not for my people's sake, but for the fact that he accomplished what I had failed to do. But then, I heard that Vilgax failed to do the same on Earth, and I knew it was my time to strike. I will prove to be superior!"

"So, it sounds like you think you can beat the guy, who beat the guy… who beat the guy who beat you the first time?" Erika prodded, "Is that right?"

He clinched his fist and growled, "You will learn to respect your planet's conqueror!"

She transformed into Fourarms and said, "Yeah, not likely. I don't respect anything."

"Then your comrades will learn from your example." He grabbed her by the neck and tossed her into the air, immediately flying up to her and slamming her away with a backhand. She flew all the way through an office building and then plummeted through the ground into a subway station on the other side. Vantablack entered the destroyed station, followed by Ted, Shawn, Dillon, and Dakota who couldn't interfere. There was a crater in the floor, but Erika was nowhere to be seen.

That is, until she dropped down from the ceiling, now as Goop, much to the relief of the others. "Whew," she taunted, "That would've been a bone-breaker if I had bones to break!" "What!?!" he roared and then punched right through her gelatinous center, but she adhered around his fist and grabbed his head, causing him to punch himself in the face. "Everybody loses sometime!" she laughed, "Don't beat yourself up about it!"

He jumped up through the hole in the ground and tossed her onto the street. She threw a punch at him with a long, stretchy arm, but he caught her wrist and karate chopped her arm off. "Won't be long now!" she chuckled. Then he shot her with laser vision, very effective against Goop. She winced in pain, quickly transformed into Chromastone, and flew into the air. He followed her, firing red beams from his eyes.

One finally hit her, but she absorbed it and began radiating rainbow colored energy. "Spicy!" she said, "Almost as much as breakfast cereal!" She then returned fire, grazing his shoulder. Getting angrier with every taunt, he flew up, grabbed her by the ankle, spun around several times, and tossed her all the way out of the city, into a cornfield. When he caught up with her, he had to search the field for a trail of uprooted corn where she landed.

She had now turned into Gutrot, and as soon as Vantablack got close enough, she sprayed him with cloud of noxious gas. He coughed and waved at the air several times, but finally thunder-clapped, clearing the gas. "I knew my jokes were funny," Erika said, visibly tired, "But do I really deserve a round of applause?" She launched another spray of gases at him, but he blew it away with a cold burst of super breath. "I've seen jokes get a chilly reception," she panted, "but this is ridiculous!"

The others arrived just as Vantablack was starting to get the best of Erika. He roundhouse kicked her into the air, and then jumped up and shot her back down into the ground with a laser beam. Dillon and Dakota exchanged knowing looks, and then ran toward the fight. "Hey Dakota!" Dillon shouted from one side of the field, "Knock knock!"

"Who's there?" she replied from the other side.

"It's me, the guy who defeated Vantablack! Oh wait, I'm sorry! That doesn't narrow it down enough!"

"What on Earth on they doing!?!" said Shawn, "Are they trying to get Erika killed?"

"Hey Dillon!" Dakota shouted, "Why did the chicken cross the road?"

"Why?"

"Because Vantablack was running his mouth! She went to go beat him up!"

The warlord finally roared and shot a laser beam at Dakota. She dodged it with a forward roll and immediately pulled out a Galactic Enforcer badge. "According to resolution KC 216," she announced authoritatively, "by attacking someone not involved in the Conqueror's Challenge, you are in violation of the GCC."

"Which means we can do this!" Dillon added. He transformed into Humungousaur and Dakota turned into Atomix. She bear-hugged Vantablack from behind and flew into the air, electrocuting him with radioactive energy. As he plummeted back to the earth, Dillon caught him by the foot, swung him over his head and slammed him into the road. Shawn turned into NRG and melted the pavement around him, and finally, Ted turned into Water Hazard and blasted him with cold water, solidifying the pavement into a trap. He was finally defeated.

That night, several Galactic Enforcers as well as Plumbers arrived, preparing the warlord Vantablack for transport to prison, perhaps the Incarcecon, or maybe the Null Void. The trio and the twins sat on the road, with Erika massaging her sore muscles. "So, the way you two decided to just start throwing jokes at Vantablack without discussing it first…" said Ted.

"Call it a twin's intuition, I guess," said Dakota.

"We've always done stuff like that," added Dillon.

"Well, that's a valuable skill to have," said Ted, "but it's one that only works if you stick together, even when you disagree."

"I supposed I can start taking your suspicions more seriously," Dakota admitted.

"And I won't threaten to arrest everyone I don't like the looks of," Dillon agreed.

"And both of you leave the joke telling to me," Erika said, "Seriously, that chicken crossing the road joke hurt worse than the fight!"

After a laugh, Shawn said, "I think this world is in good hands," he stood up and pulled out the wheel, "But there are other corners of the multiverse to save."

"It's good to know there are people out there doing what you're doing," said Dakota, "And remember, if you ever need to make a dimension hopping pit-stop, you've got friends in this one."

Ted, Shawn, and Erika each grabbed the wheel, and in a flash, they were gone.

-- -- --