"What are we going to tell Vilgax?" Kraab asked, leaning on the side of the ship.
Tetrax shrugged, taking out a small, green crystal. "If you want my option, we should keep tailing them, get an idea of their forms before we try attacking them again," Tetrax said. "Made that mistake before, when we lost SixSix. We can tell Vilgy that he abandoned the mission."
As Tetrax bit into the crystal, Kraab replied, "We don't know if he's dead or not, but saying that will probably be fine."
"Besides, remember that bounty we heard for a cryptid on Earth?" Tetrax started. Kraab nodded, his larger pincer clicking. "When you were checking your systems, I hacked into a cryptid watcher group- Secret Saturdays, or something like that- and the files said that the cryptid we call the Cascareaun Lizard is in this area."
"Really? What does it say?" Kraab questioned.
"According to the files I hacked into, it's called the Kraken to humans. Normally, some drones working for those Saturdays guys would check on it, but they're been dealing with an illegal fishing operation lately, so they aren't able to do it," Tetrax answered. He went over to the ship's computer and pressed something, what could best be described as a webscreen popping up. "Here's the file on said cryptid if you want to read more about it. Still strange to thing that cryptids are just dark magic mixed with an hellish amount of different DNA samples."
Kraab looked at it, quiet. He then asked, "Can you bring up the bounty for the Cascareaun Lizard?" Tetrax nodded, taking another bite of the crystal as he did so. A good few seconds passed before it popped up.
"Any knowledge of it was also requested, but if we can either snag it or pass along with what we hacked from that Saturdays guys," Tetrax said. Kraab looked over the bounty as Tetrax commented, "Why do we call it the Cascareaun Lizard when most of the DNA that makes it up comes from the many different Manzard species?"
"Because the ritual to make it was performed on Cascareau, but the Cascans and Polymera wanted nothing to do with it, so captured it and shipped it off planet," Kraab answered. "Didn't keep them from still making fools of themselves."
"Yea, the Cascans keep on flopping on that front. Like, if you don't want to make fools of yourself, don't try to do anything major! At least admit you need help," Tetrax ranted. Kraab scoffed at his partner's words.
"What do you suggest?" Kraab asked.
Tetrax shrugged before answering, "Knowing Vilgy, he'll probably go after the Omnitrix himself or hire someone like Khyber. I say we take this bounty and deal with him later." He took a bite of the crystal. Kraab nodded.
"Let's contact them, then we go after it," Kraab said. Tetrax nodded.
…
"Are you ok from yesterday, Sister EightEight?" Ben asked, looking at her. Gwen did the same while Kevin just stared into the distance. After hearing of what happened, Dragua had told them to take a different route. It would take longer to get to Sparksville, but apparently someone had looked around for some help and the Dragoon took it. It was a good excuse, anyways. It would give them more practice before reaching Sparksville.
EightEight nodded. She then added, "We will be meeting up with a human who studies and records cryptids. There, the researcher will tell us where to patrol until they can get their priorities sorted out."
"Cryptids? Those things exist?" Ben blinked.
"Wait, so like Bigfoot is real?" Kevin asked.
EightEight looked at Kevin and shrugged. She had no idea what a 'Bigfoot' was. She looked towards Ben and answered, "That is what Dragua told me. I don't know for sure."
Ben nodded. Gwen muttered, "Cryptids… that sure is interesting."
EightEight looked out the window before saying, "We're here."
The vehicle stopped, the seven of them getting out. EightEight walked towards a building, the Wyrmlings following her as Seagull, Crocodile, and Falcon stood on the side of the vehicle.
A man came out of the building, wearing mostly black with orange shoes, gloves, and vest. His hair was white with black side bits with a scar going over his left eye. His skin was a dark color with the eye without the scar being a dark brown color. They came up to him.
The man observed the quartet before asking, "You four are of the Dragoon, correct?"
EightEight nodded.
"I am Dr Soloman Saturday. As you may know, we have been having some… troubles lately, so we need some extra hands to help with a Cryptid," the man explained. "The cryptid here, the Kraken, has recently laid eggs and we do not have the resources to guard it by ourselves at the current moment. The pond just down this river is where it stays. Just make sure no one gets close to it while we deal with the problem."
EightEight signed, 'Very well, Mister Saturday.'
Soloman stared at her before muttering, "This is why my wife should deal with this, I have no clue about sign language."
"Sister Afri said, very well Mister Saturday," Gwen repeated. Soloman looked at her briefly before nodding. Soloman went back inside while the quartet went back to the vehicle.
EightEight signed at the other three, which afterwards caused them to nod and give a thumbs up. EightEight turned towards the Wyrmlings and motioned to follow before starting in the direction Soloman told them.
The quartet got to the pond, looking at its surface. Kevin commented, "That's a murky pond."
Ben looked at Gwen before saying, "You still processing cryptids being real, cous'?"
Gwen seemed to process what he said before replying, "Yes. Cryptids are real. So are aliens. What's going to be real next?"
"You know, I'd rather not jinx it, thanks," Kevin commented.
EightEight observed the pond before saying, "I have a way to check an eye on this pond. Ben, are you willing to transform into Radiowave for a moment?" His response was Ben activating his watch and doing so. In a flash, Ben was replaced by Radiowave.
"What are you planning?" Gwen asked.
'One second,' she sighed before saying, "Find somewhere to perch and keep sensing around for any unnatural movement." Radiowave squawked before flying into the air.
"So… what's going on?" Kevin asked.
EightEight turned to Gwen and signed, 'I want you and your cousin to alternate who senses the area. He is currently radio wave to sense the area right now. When he times out, you go dog hunt, find a good perch, and sense the surroundings.'
"And when I timeout, he switches back to Radiowave and we continue until those Saturday guys are able to work back here again," Gwen finished. EightEight nodded.
"… I'm still here," Kevin commented.
"Looks like you have to absorb some energy from Artemis after all," Gwen smirked. Kevin looked boredly at her.
Radiowave perched on a rock on the other side of the lake, head lifted up. EightEight observed the Radioscaviger for a moment as it stood still before she sat down. The other two joined her, the group silent as they waited.
-(...)-
He waited until his father came back into the room, hearing the man sigh in frustration. "Still no luck with them, father?" he asked.
Soloman looked at his son before answering, "No luck. I swear, if they would just listen we wouldn't have to deal with this."
He waited a few seconds before asking, "Who were those animal dressed people you talked to earlier?"
"Just people we got to help keep an eye on the Kraken, nothing else besides that, Zak," Soloman answered. Zak nodded and his father walked into a different room.
He waited until his father was gone before standing up and grabbing a camera hidden behind a few books. Zak briefly looked back at where Soloman went before going outside.
He hung the camera around his neck before going down a hidden path to the Kraken's pond. It took a bit, but he managed to get to a spot where he could see the pond well while still being hidden.
Zak observed the group, seeing an orange canine and a creature that looked like the canine mixed with a human sitting on one of the rocks. On the other side of the pond were the canine and rat dressed humans. He was pretty sure there wasn't a dog-like cryptid with the four, but his question was answered when a light started flashing from around the orange canine's neck. In a flash, it was replaced with the blonde human, the mutant shifting back into the crow dressed human.
His eyes widened as he stared. Were those cryptids that could disguise themselves as humans?
He saw another flash and turned towards it, seeing the rat dressed human had been replaced with a bright blue… bird thing. Zak stiffened slightly as the bird-like looked in his direction, but it didn't seem to pay him any mind. Zak sighed before lifting up his camera.
Before he could lift the camera to his eyes, the bird-like screeched and faced a different direction. Zak stopped to observe them as the bird-like continued to shriek. The crow dressed human touched the blonde's arm as the canine dressed human stepped in the direction the bird-like was facing.
Crystal shards flew through the forest towards the canine dressed one, but it managed to dodge. Zak scrambled slightly, switching his camera to record the situation as the bird-like rushed off the stone it was perched on. A crystalline being and a giant crab looking thing stepped out of the fauna and began to attack the two. The crow dressed human dashed towards the battle as the blonde did something with its wrist.
Zak began recording and pointing his camera towards the pond, eyes wide. Then, a green light came from the blonde, replacing it with a reptile dressed in navy and sky blue.
"Nike!" the reptile called out before dashing towards the fight.
The quartet began to properly fight the newcomers. The bird-like and the crow dressed one seemed to focus on the giant crab as the canine dressed human and Nike focused on the crystalline. The crystalline seemed thoroughly annoyed with Nike, trying to strike the reptile with a bladed arm, but it kept speeding out of the way. The crystalline mostly ignored the canine dressed human, but did take a swipe at it every now and again. The giant crab tried to alternate between attacking the two attacking it, but the bird-like and crow just kept dancing around it.
Zak set up his camera in one of the bushes, still pointed at the lake, before taking it off and taking out an object hidden under his shirt. Currently, it just looked like a crescent moon with an orb at the bottom. He began going down to the lake before flicking the object. A staff appeared between the moon shape and the orb as energy began to form in the middle of the crescent. The two groups continued to fight as he approached them. He stopped briefly when the bird-like seemed to notice him again, but he continued when it refocused on its opponent.
Zak came up to the lake, seeing a creature nearing the surface. Some of the energy from the staff flowed to his free hand as he lifted said hand towards the creature. He muttered, "Go back down so you don't get hurt, please." Some of the energy seemed to flow off of him and towards the creature. It turned towards him, seemingly receiving the message. The creature stared towards him, Zak staring back until the creature finally dove back into the water.
"Dude, what are you doing?"
Zak snapped around, seeing Nike next to him. He quickly answered, "I want to help! And I got the Kraken to go back down so she doesn't reveal herself!"
Nike blinked at him for a moment before replying, "Good. Sister Afri and I are distracting the crystal dude while Ke- Crow and Radiowave are attacking Kraab and don't ask how we know the robot's name but not the crystal's. If you can help with the crystal dude, it'll be appreciated."
Zak nodded before Nike zipped back over to the crystalline. Nike seemed to mutter something to the canine dressed human, Afri, before refocusing on the crystalline. The bird-like, Radiowave, cawed before grabbing one of Kraab's legs. Crow launched a bolt of electricity at Kraab, managing to hit its head as Radiowave tore off a leg.
Zak approached the crystalline from behind, said being more focused on Nike. He then swung the staff, hitting the crystalline in the leg as the energy from the staff flowed into it. The crystalline yelled out in pain as Kraab seemed to realize something.
"Tetrax, we must fall back!" Kraab yelled, jumping away from Radiowave and Crow with just three legs. Zak ducked under a swing from the crystalline, who began to step away from him. Nike struck the crystalline's side, the strike causing one of its arms to begin cracking and throwing him to the side.
"Imagine if the crystal dude was called Crystal, like how the crab dude is called Kraab," Crow commented before launching another bolt. Was there a cryptid that used electricity? He would have to ask or look it up.
"Tetrax!" Kraab yelled, coming over to his comrade. Seeing the crystalline on the ground, clearly in pain, Kraab looked at them and yelled, "We will be back!" The robotic crab touched Tetrax before, in a strange light, they both disappeared.
"… Well, that happened," Nike commented after a few seconds of silence. Zak put a hand on the crescent and pushed it down, the staff returning to just the crescent and orb.
Radiowave squawked in agreement before pawing at the thing around its neck. The bird-like managed to press it, a mechanical voice saying, "Quick-change is disabled. Early timeout is disabled. Five Earthen minutes remaining."
"I could've sworn it was less time than that…" Crow muttered.
"Well, we've been using the watches a lot more lately," Nike shrugged.
"Are… you guys cryptids?" Zak asked, causing the quartet to look at him. Afri put the odd dagger things away on the straps around her hip.
"No, we're aliens," Crow replied. Nike and Radiowave seemingly glared at Crow. "What? It's the truth! Pretty sure all of us are aliens."
Afri gurgled something in a language he didn't understand, but Radiowave seemed to because the bird-like squawked in laughter.
"Here go with the 'only one that cannot understand EightEight' stuff again," Crow commented, causing Nike to kick him. "What was that for?!"
"Alter egos, bird boy," Nike answered, causing Radiowave to squawk in laughter again.
Zak then commented, "I… suppose that isn't too surprising considering cryptids exist all over Earth, so aliens existing isn't too far fetched."
"Screw you, Kevin," Nike growled.
"Love you to, Gwen," Crow replied before something clicked as Radiowave laughed again. "Wait, no, not the way you're thinking, Ben!"
Radiowave just pecked Crow in the head, beak and closed eyes showing delight.
Just then, the thing Radiowave pawed chirped, "Error! Failsafe 784-C-F activated." Suddenly, in a flash of green, Radiowave transformed back into the rat dressed human.
"Note to self, don't transform into any form ten times back to back," the rat dressed human commented.
"Failsafes… huh," Nike commented.
"Are aliens like cryptids?" Zak asked, coming closer to them.
Afri gurgled something again. Once she was done, the rat dressed human repeated, "Er, Sister Afri said that as far as she is aware, there might be some correlation, but she can't confirm nor deny that idea." Zak nodded. "Oh, have we introduced ourselves to you yet?" the rat dressed human asked.
"I don't think so," Crow commented.
"I didn't ask you," the rat dressed one stated.
"I know I haven't introduced myself," he commented, causing them to look at him. "I'm Zak Saturday."
Afri gurgled something, causing the rat dressed one to look at her before nodding. He turned back and said, "That's Sister Afri, but since she said we can risk sharing our actual identities with you, her real name is EightEight. I'm Ben!"
"Cool. Sup, I'm Kevin," Crow added.
Nike seemed to hesitate slightly before saying, "Please call this form Nike, but my real name is Gwen."
"Nice to meet you four," Zak smiled.
"So, does your family study cryptids or something? That dude Afri talked to earlier was called Soloman Saturday or something like that," Kevin asked.
…
Zak tapped Rhinorush's hide, rubbing his hands on the rocky skin. "I haven't seen anything like this before."
EightEight gurgled something, which Rhinorush translated, "According to EightEight, Crabdozers- what Rhinorush is- have tough skin to avoid burning on their home planet. Oh, uh, also to eat what Pele is, but I have no idea why."
"Excuse me?!" Pele snapped.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to eat you, cous'," Rhinorush added, smirking at her.
"You better not!" Pele hissed.
"So with the exception of Theia, which is somewhat artificial, Dracula, who none of you know what the species is, and Shockwolf, which was unlocked when EightEight touched Ben's watch, each of Ben's forms is the predator of one of Gwen's forms?" Zak pieced. Pele, Rhinorush, and EightEight nodded. "I never realized alien life could be so diverse…"
"To be fair, we were told our forms were based on mythos before we met EightEight," Rhinorush commented. Zak nodded, continuing to rub Rhinorush's leg.
"If these Crabdozers' skin could be molded and reshaped, they could act as gear against fires for creatures vulnerable to it," Zak said.
EightEight gurgled something. Rhinorush translated, "Apparently some aliens already tried that, but Crabdozer skin is like obsidian in the fact it's near impossible to bend."
"Really?" Zak muttered. "It feels a lot like dry moss… I would have never thought it was like something so strong. What about what Pele is?"
EightEight gurgled again, which Rhinorush translated, "Uh, EightEight said that most creatures agree that using material from typically sapient creatures is frowned upon. The only species it's vaguely fine with are Vulpimancers, but even then creatures tend to be put off by it due to it being known that Vulpimancers have their own near untranslatable language." EightEight added something, which caused Rhinorush to ask, "Do I want to know?"
"Interesting…" Zak muttered, stepping away from Rhinorush. He turned towards Pele and asked, "And Pele's species is able to control the strength of their fire, but not enough to harm Crabdozers?"
"From what EightEight told us, Crabdozers naturally hunt Pyronites," Pele shrugged. "My guess is that they're immune to fire entirely."
"Speaking of fires, would Rhinorush be better for a fire situation or Goowash?" Rhinorush questioned. "Rhinorush is immune to fire, but Goowash's entire body can put out fires."
"At the same time, Rhinorush is freaking huge and Goowash leaves behind goo if you use too much," Pele added.
"Goowash is also pretty big, but not as big as Radiowave or Fish Snatcher," Rhinorush commented.
"Fish Snatcher? That's… the one who hunts Athena's species, right?" Zak recalled.
"Yup. And let's not talk about how Belltail's bells still scares Styx," Pele replied.
"This is all so interesting," Zak commented, "Each alien has their own thing with their own problems and reactions."
Both symbols began to flash, the duo transforming back to normal. They then heard footsteps, the group turning towards where they came from.
"Zak…" Soloman growled, approaching them. "What have I said before about wandering off on your own?"
"But he isn't alone," Gwen stated. Kevin and Ben nodded while EightEight stood still.
"My point still stands. You do not know these people, Zak," Soloman continued.
"We've been talking ever since they chased off those hunters!" Zak snapped.
"Took, like, three hours for them to show up, but it happened," Kevin added.
"And he kept the cryptid here from showing herself when they were here," Ben added.
Soloman was quiet for a moment, staring at them before saying, "Zak, go back to the outpost."
"No," Zak replied without missing a beat.
Soloman sighed when he processed what Zak had said. "Child, you are going to be the death of me," Soloman muttered.
EightEight gurgled something, which caused Ben to snicker. Gwen and Kevin didn't have a reaction.
Soloman turned towards the quartet and said, "The problem has been dealt with and we can return to watching the area. Thank you for your help. The payment has been passed to who contacted us." EightEight nodded.
As the four began to leave, Ben, Kevin, and Gwen waved at Zak, causing him to wave back. Soloman and Zak waited for the four to disappear into the distance before doing anything.
"You reckless child," Soloman growled. Zak immediately bolted away, startling his father. The older man sighed before moving to follow the child.
Ushindi: Glad you're liking the story. As for Omni Enhancements, ignoring that they were Shock Rock exclusives, the idea really cool. Omni-Kix, they're literally just armor so I'm uninterested. Albedo and the Ultimatrix/his stablizer in general, he's fine, I have no real opinion either way.