After another flash of light, Ted, Shawn, and Erika find themselves in an alley between two round clay buildings. In stark contrast to the cold space station they had just left from, the air is warm, and it smells sweet. "Finally," Ted said, kicking up dirt with his foot, "terra firma! I'm glad to be done with outer space for a while."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that," said Erika, reading from the wheel, "Universe 938F. We're still not entirely sure how it happened, but somehow, the Omnitrix was intercepted between Xylene's ship and Earth. Perhaps it began faster-than-light travel or entered a wormhole. Either way, it ended up in the Fornax Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy, in the possession of one, Yocha Stravrats."
"The Fornax Galaxy!" Shawn complained, "We're like a million lightyears farther from Earth then we were!"
"466,000 lightyears," said Ted.
"Well," Erika lightened the mood, "We're not gonna find old Stavros standing around here, are we?"
They stepped out and observed their surroundings. They were in a fairly small village of round clay buildings nestled among what looked like palm trees with teal fronds. There were lots of pink turtles with flowers growing on their backs, and the clouds in the sky passed very quickly. As for the village's inhabitants, the three had seen many alien species on their adventures, but never any of these. Some were truly bizarre looking, with an odd number of appendages, often sprouting directly from their heads. Some had horns in random places, and one had a small mouth on the end of a tongue inside a bigger mouth.
Surrounded by several small versions of these aliens, presumably children, stood a Wildvine. "I think we found Yocha," said Shawn. The Wildvine dislodged several large round seeds and began juggling them for the children's entertainment. They laughed and clapped. He then stretched one vine arm and grabbed a tree next to what they assumed was an elderly alien, allowing her to cross the street holding onto his arm like a railing. He grew a small yellow flower on his shoulder, picked it, and gave it to the lady.
"I didn't know Flourana could do that!" muttered Ted.
Then a hovering robot approached him from the top of one of the trees. "Is that a… Vilgax drone?" said Ted worriedly.
"You got the ball?" Yocha asked. The drone handed over a big yellow rubber ball, which it had apparently been sent to retrieve from the tree. Yocha handed the ball to the kids and pat the robot on the head saying, "Good job, Droney."
"I like this guy," said Erika, "He seems… pleasant."
Then, one of the kids happened to turn around and see the three standing there. They smiled, but the kid screeched in horror. Yocha jumped over the kids, putting himself between them and the trio. "I'll protect you from the monsters!" he announced.
"We come in peace!" Ted said.
"Oh," Yocha replied, "good!" He turned to the kids and said, "They're safe!" Immediately, the kids surrounded the trio, looking them up and down and sniffing them curiously. "What are you?" Yocha asked.
"Uh…" said Shawn, "We're humans."
"Hello, humans, and welcome to planet Zigninus" Yocha replied, transforming back into his base form. He was maybe two and a half feet tall, and his body was shaped kinda like a bowling pin, being widest at the hips and tapering upward to the narrowest point at his neck. His feet basically joined the bottom of his body, but his long, spindly arms were nearly as long as he was tall. He had tufts of tan fur at the corners of his jaws and a purplish parrot beak. His eyes looked inverted, a white pupil on a black background, and his ears looked like a rabbit's, but there were six of them. He wore brown pants pulled all the way up to his armpits and had an orange Omnitrix. "My name is Yocha Stravrats, and I'm… whatever this is."
"Can we, uh, speak to you in private," Ted asked, showing him his Omnitrix. The kids had started touching them, pushing up their pant legs, untying their shoes, and looking in their pockets.
"Sure," Yocha replied, "Follow me! I want to show you my friend Quigmu'ut."
-- -- --
The three followed Yocha and Droney east through the palm forest and up the side of a cliff with an elaborate system of pulleys. They were glad to be away from the children who knew no boundaries. Near the top, they entered a big square room carved into the cliff. "This is my home," Yocha said. It had some furniture but a large plant in the middle of the room took up most of the space. Yocha pulled out a tray stacked with little cakes with a dollop of dense blue jelly in an indention in the center. "Care for a snack?"
Not wanting to insult him, they each took one, and Erika said, "Thank you for your hospitality." They could already tell that Yocha was exceptionally kind and trusting.
"These are phenomenal!" Ted exclaimed. They couldn't tell if it was sweet, or savory, or both, or neither. It was like a whole new category of flavor they had never experienced before. All three finished their treats and grabbed a second.
"Thanks," said Yocha, "Quigmu'ut never likes these, and I always make too many." Then he called, "Quigmu'ut, you must come see who appeared in the village today!" They had no idea there was anyone else in the room with them.
Suddenly, the big plant began to bend and twist revealing six heads that looked like snakes. Their eyes didn't really look real, more like yellow spots that were only meant to look like eyes, but apparently Quigmu'ut could still see with them. "Fascinating," one of the heads said.
"They call themselves 'humans' and they all have watches just like me!" Yocha explained.
"Right," Quigmu'ut replied, examining the three, "Tell me, assuming your central processing is done in a brain, where is that brain located?"
"In my head?" Erika answered.
"The uppermost extremity, that's why I figured," every time Quigmu'ut spoke, it was a different head, "And what happens if you lose your head?"
"You die," said Shawn.
"I don't know why that's such a common feature!" he responded, "A design flaw if you ask me, especially when compared to the superior orientation of having the brain in the trunk." They were a bit taken aback by his rudeness, especially compared to Yocha's niceness.
"Anyway," said Ted, "We know this may be hard to believe, but we came here from another galaxy in an alternate universe to…"
"What's hard to believe is how humans have managed to function this long," Quigmu'ut interrupted, "Hideous creatures really. I mean look out their mouths; bony protrusions lubricated with salivary gland secretions. Disgusting."
"We didn't come here to get insulted by a plant," Shawn said angrily, "We came to warn you about a future that you can avoid." That finally got him to shut up for a second. The trio explained how Professor Paradox had been observing various universes and sending the team to advise the Omnitrix wielders of those universes on how to avoid their negative futures.
"Well then," said Yocha, "What does this time traveler guy say about me?"
"Actually," Erika said, reading the wheel, "He says you're a genuinely good person. Yocha doesn't have a malicious bone in his body."
"It's true," said Quigmu'ut, "Yocha is cartilaginous."
"HOWEVER," Erika continued, "Three of his greatest enemies join forces in an evil alliance, and acting on the bad advice of a friend, Yocha takes them on alone. He loses, leaving the galaxy open for conquering."
"Well, we know right away who the three enemies are," said Quigmu'ut, "Though I would hesitate to call them great. All three are inferior ambulant creatures with life spans of less than 100 Zigninus years, a trait I imagine shared by humans. Of course, that's as opposed to stationary beings, like myself, with a life span in the thousands. But what I don't know right away is what friend Yocha could receive bad advice from?"
"I wonder?" Shawn said sarcastically.
"Either way," he continued, "It's not like you humans can do anything about it. I mean, what did you expect to do? Defeat his enemies before they can join forces?"
"That's exactly what we'll do!" said Shawn, "Come on, Yocha, let's leave Quigmut alone with his superiorness!"
"It's pronounced Quigmu'ut, you dense beast. That's three syllables. Do you know what syllables are, or is that another weakness of humans?"
Three stormed out with Yocha and Droney not far behind. Ted returned momentarily to take the tray of cakes with him, and Quigmu'ut scoffed.
-- -- --
Ted, Shawn, Erika, Yocha, and Droney went further east from the top of the cliff until they came to a small town where they boarded a large gondola lift. The ride through the warm air above the pink and teal forest was quite nice.
"Why are you even friends with that guy," said Erika.
"Because he is growing in my living room," Yocha answered as a matter of fact.
"Why don't you move?" she asked.
"I can't afford a new house," he replied, "and I don't want to start accepting money for my good deeds. I want to help everyone, regardless of their ability to pay me."
"That's very selfless of you, Yocha," Ted commended.
"Well, why don't you…" Shawn made the hand gestures of striking a match and then flames, which got a dirty look from Ted and a smile from Erika. "Sorry," he muttered.
"We've been wondering," asked Ted, "Where did you find your watch?"
"Droney brought it to me," Yocha answered, patting the robot on the head, "She's been my loyal friend and sidekick ever since."
"She?" said Erika.
"The drone must have retrieved the Omnitrix from Earth but the energy it gave off messed with it's circuits or something," Ted suggested, "because those drones typically aren't loyal or friendly."
"Well Droney is," said Yocha. Droney approached Erika, she scratched it's head, and it began waving one arm back and forth like a dog wagging it's tail.
Erika laughed and said, "She's kinda cute actually!"
"Anyway," said Ted, "Who's this first enemy we're going to see?"
"First is my oldest foe, the Pummeler. His M. O. is quite simple. If he doesn't get what he wants, he pummels. I've tried to talk some sense into him, but I'm afraid he only knows pummeling."
"We know the type," said Shawn, cracking his knuckles, "Sometimes you have to speak the only language they understand."
"I see," said Yocha, "and if I know my nemesis, I'd say he's in the Hilltop Stadium. It was once used to host events for surrounding towns, but the Pummeler took up residence in it and threatened to pummel anyone who tried to evict him."
"Well then," said Shawn, "Let's do exactly that!"
-- -- --
After the gondola ride, they enter the aptly named Hilltop Stadium. The inside looked like the Colosseum under construction. Rows of seats surrounded a dusty dirt floor with several abandoned platforms of steel scaffolding.
Ted stopped Shawn and Erika as Yocha went on ahead with Droney. "I'm thinking we should let Yocha fight the Pummeler," he said.
"Seriously? Why?" said Shawn.
"We came here to convince him to change his ways in some way to prevent the bad future, right. Well whether that means taking his enemies more seriously, or taking Quigmu'ut's advice with a serious grain of salt, if we swoop in and fight his battles for him, what lesson is he going to learn?"
"Well, can we at least give him some pointers?" said Erika, "Because I think he found the Pummeler."
The Pummeler came out of a dug out carrying some crates. He was a large rhinoceros guy with a splash of grizzly bear. He had a rhino's two signature curved horns on his nose but also on his forearms.
"Is it weird that the woolly rhinoceros man is the most normal thing we've seen on this planet?" said Shawn.
"Yocha Stravrats!" the Pummeler roared, throwing down the crates, "I will pummel you!" He charged forward with all his might, holding both arms crossed in front of him, so that all six horns were pointed forward. He struck a metal I-beam, going right through it like tissue paper, causing that platform to collapse. Yocha activated his Omnitrix and transformed in the middle of a roll to get out of the Pummeler's way. He turned into Ripjaws.
"Uh…" said Erika from the stands, "Why exactly did you choose Ripperanha in this… exceedingly dry setting?"
"Fish Face?" said Yocha after another dodge, "I don't know, I guess I like him."
After Yocha dodged a few more charges, Shawn said, "This guy isn't getting tired! You're gonna have to do some offense!" However, instead of using his sharp teeth or claws, he tried kicking the Pummeler. He missed and got smacked into the air. Droney caught him before he hit the seats.
"Okay," said Ted, "Let's try something different. His best attack is his bull-rush. Maybe you could lift him into the air so he can't get ground traction?"
Is Fish Face strong enough to lift the Pummeler?"
"No… maybe you should try a Galilean!" suggested Ted.
"I don't know what that is!"
"Orbitorb?" said Erika.
"Gravity Guy!?!" said Shawn.
"Oh," Yocha finally said, "You mean Planet Face! Good idea!"
"Fish Face, Planet Face?" Erika muttered, he's about as good at naming his aliens as he is picking them!"
Yocha, as Gravattack, lifted the Pummeler into the air, disabling his charge attack. "Now what?" said Yocha. Then, Droney shot a laser bolt at a crane arm that was holding up a pulley. It fell and got caught between two platforms. A web of connected cables and chains tangled around the Pummeler, suspending him.
The three met with Yocha in the bottom of the stadium as he turned back into himself. "The Zigninus Law Authority will be here momentarily," Yocha announced, "And then the people will get their stadium back!" The Pummeler snorted and thrashed madly.
"Alright," said Shawn, "That's one down, two to go, but it kinda looks like you could use…"
He was interrupted by Ted's Omnitrix, "Unknown alien DNA detected." It scanned the Pummeler and said, "Scan complete. Ulnacerotidae added to playlist."
"Nice!" said Ted, "A souvenir!"
-- -- --
Later, Yocha, Droney, and the trio were back on the gondola headed toward the hideout of Yocha's next enemy, but this time, they weren't alone. A mother and child rode across the aisle from them, and the child was on the verge of tears, either from a fear of heights or the scary humans sitting feet away.
Yocha looked around for a second, and noticed series of metal wires in a panel in the side of the cable car. He plucked a couple and listened carefully to the sounds they made. Within seconds, he had figured out the acoustics of the gondola and was playing it like a guitar! He sang a peppy little tune, "Happy little gondola, high up we go, in sweet-smelling air, with new pals in tow. No need to worry, no need to fear, on this carefree ride, we'll find joy here. We sway in the breeze, but we don't mind it. There's a song to be sung; just look and you'll find it!" The child wiped her eyes and giggled.
While Yocha was distracted, Erika said, "How can Yocha be so bad at fighting, and yet so good at everything else?"
"Helping people, baking, consoling children, apparently songwriting," said Ted, "Maybe he's just not cut out for battle."
"What does that say about us?" replied Shawn, "Were we made for violence?"
After some troubling introspection by the trio, Yocha came over and said, "So, the second guy we're looking for is named Initrioh. His powers are to generate portals, which would be an incredibly useful power, if only put to some use other than evil. He abducts people and steals things, but not even for the monetary gain. I'm convinced he does those things simply because he can, like some kind of power flex, or to keep people afraid. Perhaps he was bullied."
"Being bullied is no excuse for being a bully," said Ted, "Where can we find this guy?"
"We're headed to the town with the tavern that he's been known to hang out at," Yocha answered, "My theory is that if you three are seen in public, he'll be drawn to you just by virtue of you being, you know, rare specimens."
"So," clarified Erika, "We're kidnapper bait?"
"That's some good planning," said Ted, "Try and use some of that planning during the fight."
"I always do," said Yocha, but not very reassuringly.
-- -- --
They came to the place. There was a big wide path running down the center with buildings lined up along both sides, evocative of an old western town. This time, Yocha and Droney hid off to the side, while Ted, Shawn, and Erika stepped out into the middle of the street. The town was busy with people walking from building to building, several pulling hovering carts with strange alien beasts of burden, but when they saw the trio, traffic slowly ground to a halt.
"What are they?" the townsfolk mumbled to each other, "They're so ugly!"
"Yeah, yeah, we get it," said Shawn, "You don't see a lot of humans around these parts." The aliens began to approach them carefully, to get a better look, but then, everyone hurried away as soon a another figure appeared.
This guy was shaped sort of like a sea horse, with a tail that curved forward and ended with a glowing ring. His round head had two big glowing eyes, but no mouth, and three super long tendrils that held him up off of the ground like a tripod. Without a word, he launched a circle of energy from the glowing end of his tail, which was apparently a portal to space, because it started sucking them in like a black hole. They braced themselves on the ground, inching forward.
"Initrioh!" Yocha announced. Intrioh turned around, letting the portal close behind him. Ted, Shawn, and Erika ran to one of the buildings on the side, and Yocha continued, "I'm calling you out!"
"Yocha!" Initrioh replied menacingly. Apparently his voice somehow came from his tail as well as the portals. He then said a string of words in some alien language.
"What is he saying?" said Shawn.
"I don't know," said Ted, "But frankly, I'm surprised it took this long to encounter a language that the universal translators don't recognize."
"No way!" Yocha replied to whatever Initrioh said, "Your going down, courtesy of Lizard Face!" He transformed into Humungousaur and tried smashing him with his fists, but Initrioh quickly slipped through a portal, and ended up behind him.
"A Vaxasaurian against a fast teleporter," said Ted, "Maybe he's going for an unorthodox approach?"
Initrioh opened a portal to some hot planet, which sent a beam of fire at Yocha. "Hot! Hot! Hot! Hot! Hot!" he shouted. Then, Intrioh opened a portal to a cold planet. "Cold! Cold! Cold!"
"No," said Erika, "I think he just sucks."
"Listen," Shawn suggested loudly, "You have several options. You could try to stick his feet to the ground so he can't get away!"
"Or you could try to disrupt his tail somehow," Erika added, "You know, with something sticky, or goopy, or web-like."
"Or you could pick somebody faster than him," said Ted, "maybe even the one who SLOWS DOWN TIME!"
"Yeah!" said Erika, "You should try… uh… Clock Face!"
"Okay!" Yocha finally said, turning into Clockwork. He slowed down time just as Initrioh was opening a portal to escape. He managed to grab two of his head tendrils and tie them to the porch post of a nearby building. When time returned to normal speed, Initrioh was stuck in place, being sucked through the portal from one end and tied to the post at the other end.
He was shouting angrily in the unknown language until Droney rammed into his head at full speed, knocking him out. "What was he saying?" asked Erika.
"Well," replied Yocha, "It's probably best that you don't know."
Shawn's Omnitrix announced, "Triporgon DNA scan complete."
"Alright," he replied, "I don't think I had a Portal Guy."
"It looks like you're getting better at this," said Ted, "When you get a good alien for the job."
"I sure hope so," said Yocha, "because my last foe is the strongest!"
-- -- --
This time, they traveled on foot to the stately mansion of a Dr. Cinogen. It was tall, dark, and imposing especially under the thundering storm clouds which had rolled in overhead. "Dr. Cinogen's power is to get into your head, and his motivation is ruling the world."
"Well," said Erika, "he picked the appropriate house for that." A metal gate snapped shut behind them, trapping them in a large courtyard in front of the mansion.
"You should never have returned," echoed a ghoulish disembodied voice all around them, "Now you are DOOMED!" They all stood back to back and transformed, with Ted, Shawn, and Erika choosing Diamondhead, Kickin Hawk, and Shocksquatch, but Yocha chose Walkatrout.
"New plan," Shawn told Yocha, "Next time, just spin the dial randomly!"
Suddenly, a gross bony hand came plunging up through the ground and out crawled a zombie, followed by another, and then several more! A zombie horde was not even on the list of things they thought they might encounter here. Yocha screamed at the top of his lungs and ran around, flailing his tiny useless fins.
Erika, punched one, and it fell to pieces. From inside the zombie came several large spiders. "Kinda wish I had picked Chargirl!" she said nervously. She, Ted, and Shawn fought several of the spider-filled zombies, trying their best to only use ranged moves, but that was especially hard for Shawn, as Kickin Hawk. The zombies just kept coming, and also kept getting more moldy and decrepit, seemingly in worse stages of decay.
"Wait a minute!" said Ted, "These aren't some kind of zombie-looking aliens! They're straight up undead humans!"
"Really," Shawn shouted sarcastically, "I hadn't noticed!"
"If nobody on this planet has seen humans before," he continued, "Then, why are there humans buried here?"
"Also," said Erika, "Didn't Yocha say the Doctor's power was getting in your brain?"
"What are you saying?" replied Shawn, "None of this is real?"
Ted stopped fighting and turned back into a human. "I noticed Droney wasn't reacting, cause she doesn't a brain to get into." One of the zombies bit him on the shoulder, and he winced in pain for a moment, but quickly realized it only hurt because he expected it to. It hadn't actually done any damage. It was all in their heads!
They all detransformed and kicked in the mansion doors. Several alien suits of armor lined up along the walls of an entrance hall came to life. They moved toward them in irregular bursts of speed, with one even crawling on the ceiling. Ted glanced at Droney and said, "None of this is real either."
One of the suits swung a sword at Shawn, and he instinctively through up a hand to block it. The sword went right through his hand like a ghost. "Let's find this Cinogen guy!" he said, flexing his unfazed hand. They searched the mansion, finding some shadowy figures in the library flinging possessed books at them, and a giant, spiky, red dragon breathing fire in the dining room. Of course, these weren't real either.
Where they finally found him was in a basement laboratory. Dr. Cinogen was as small as Yocha. His dark blue hovering body came to a point below the waist and he had large red and yellow mushroom caps on his head, back, and the backs of his hands. Like the last guy, he had no mouth, instead using his brain-manipulating spore clouds to speak directly to their minds.
"That's not possible!" Dr. Cinogen yelled, "How could you have made it past my mental defenses!?!"
"Let's see," said Yocha, "Spin the dial randomly…" He turned into Terraspin. "Turtle Face! Is this guy good?"
"Yeah!" said Ted, thinking he would blow away any spores. Instead he smacked Dr. Cinogen into the wall. "Well… That works too, I reckon."
Erika's Omnitrix announced, "Basidiomedium DNA added."
"Neat!" she said, "You can call me Shroomer!"
"So," said Shawn, "We defeated his three enemies. Does that mean we're done here?"
Before anyone could answer, Yocha came up with a transparent screened device that contained a scrolling message in an alien language. "Bad news, guys, look at this!"
"We can't read that."
"It says that, as per a plea deal to get out of prison the last time he fought me, Dr. Cinogen was scheduled to perform a public service tonight! He was going to be placed on a team of three with Initrioh and the Pummeler!"
"I guess we know how they teamed up in the first place," said Shawn.
"They were going to guard a train that's delivering medical supplies to the Ravine!" Yocha read.
"Wait, so they let you out of prison if you agree to perform a public service at a later date?" said Ted, "On what world would that work?"
"Not even this one apparently," answered Erika.
"What are we going to do?" said Yocha, "If bandits attack the train, the people of the Ravine won't get their medicine!"
"We'll just have to guard the train instead," said Shawn.
"You can't do that!" said Yocha, "If you did their public service for them, it would be interfering with justice!"
"Well, then," Ted said, transforming into his newest alien, "Tell them to come get us!"
-- -- --
That evening, Yocha and Droney have gone home, and Zigninus Law Authority officers have transported Ted, Shawn, and Erika disguised as the three villains to the train station. They have locked, their Omnitrixes, so there's no chance of them timing out, but it also means they'd have to unlock them before transforming again. "Remember," one officer said, "Your mission isn't over until the supplies have been delivered to the Ravine." They nodded. "And if bandits should happened to board the train…"
"We'll knock some heads," said Ted. Everyone gave him an odd look. "Uh, I will pummel them!" he corrected.
"Right," the officer said, "be on your way." The very last train car was loaded down with heavy-duty metal crates. Instead of resting on a track, the bottom of the car had several little metal rings in a row through which lasers shine, acting like a track that could be turned off when not in use. They sat in the last car and within no time the train was going full speed.
Several minutes later, all signs of civilization were gone, and the teal palm forest seemed to stretch for miles. "Maybe," suggested Ted, "there won't even be any bandits; just a nice relaxing train ride to…" He was interrupted thuds coming from the roofs of cars ahead of them.
"You should know better than that by now!" said Erika. The three climbed through a hatch in their own car's roof and then jumped the gaps to get a couple of cars ahead. The large band of bandits were all of the same species. They had three hands, including one on the end of their tails, and they each wore a colorful goblin mask and a jet pack. Several were armed with repeating laser rifles.
"Take the boxes!" their leader commanded, "By any means necessary!" Erika and Shawn hid behind Ted, whose thick rhino hide could tank the laser shots. He ran forward, bowling down several of the bandits. Shawn opened two portals, one behind the bandits, and one directly in front of himself. When they shot at Shawn, their lasers went through the portals and shot themselves in the back. Erika released a cloud of spores, showing the bandits something they feared.
"It's my mother-in-law!" one shouted. He and several others jumped off the train and tumbled to a stop.
"I could get used to this guy!" said Shawn.
"That's good," said Erika's disembodied voice as she pointed toward the front of the train, "Because the relentless robbers continue their crimes!"
This time, Ted clotheslined some off the train. Shawn opened a portal to the sky, generating a huge gust of wind and blowing them off. Erika made them see a huge, flaming, three-headed lion, scaring them off.
One of the remaining bandits shouted, "It's the Ravine!" The rest put away their guns and pulled out huge magnets which were attached by cables to their jetpacks, planting them on the roof.
Suddenly the train took a huge dive, like a roller coaster, speeding up tremendously. Ted dug one forearm horn into the roof of the train, and caught Erika, but missed Shawn, who went tumbling off the roof. "Shawn!" they both shouted.
Something caught Shawn by the tail. He looked and said, "Droney!" Droney pulled him through the window into the train car which was empty aside from Yocha. "Yocha!" said Shawn, "I thought you were going home!"
"No, that's not what I said," Yocha replied, "I said I wasn't going with you… and I'm not. I'm doing my own thing in the Ravine."
"Haven't you heard the fighting on the roof? I doubt Ted has been very quiet."
"I would just get in your way. I'm no hero."
"Are you kidding!?! Look, Yocha, you don't have to be the best fighter to be a hero, and if you are the best fighter, it doesn't make you one. I've come to learn that being a hero is about doing what's right for others, and nobody does that more than you, certainly not us three!"
The train leveled out and the roof tore open. Ted hit the floor face first, and Erika landed on his head. "Shawn!" she exclaimed, "and Yocha!"
"And Droney!" mumbled Ted.
"There's one bandit left," said Erika, "He got past us!"
They rushed to the last train car, where the lone bandit was struggling to lift a heavy crate. "Shouldn't you check on your friends?" Yocha asked. The bandit jumped all over. "Surely they're worth more than you can get for one measly crate, no?" He thought for a moment and then gave up on the crate, jetting out the ceiling hatch.
"See," said Shawn said, "fighting is not always required."
As the train slowed to a stop in the Ravine and they helped unload the medical supplies, Shawn asked Yocha, "So, you said you were doing your own thing in the Ravine, what was that? Were you just trying to get away from your insufferable houseplant roommate?"
"Well, it's actually a holiday season on Zigninus," Yocha said, transforming into Wildvine, "and there's this folk hero who just happens to look like Plant Face, and the kids seem to love him."
"So, you came to make these kids' holiday." Shawn concluded. The children saw him and laughed and cheered.
"Hey kids!" Yocha said gleefully.
"Our hero!" one squealed.
After a hearty holiday meal, Ted said, "I think our job here is done."
"And I think we might have learned more from you than you learned from us," added Shawn.
"Actually," said Yocha, "there is one thing you could do for me before you leave."
After scanning the three as they held the wheel handles, Yocha's Omnitrix said, "Scan complete. Adding Homo Sapiens to playlist." He immediately transformed.
"Huh," said Erika, "So that's what a peak human looks like. Kinda hot."
"Alright," Ted said quickly, "happy holidays everybody." They activated the device.
-- -- --