Hi uh there's a tumblr for this and I'm doing something weird for this "season" where there's art representing the next chapter. Didn't mention it last time because FanFic doesn't like links and I forgot. so here link remove spaces: of-sentience-and-predator-stuff. tumblr
Oh, I probably will make a post of the art I used to represent this chapter at some point so ye
Compared to the near desert that was Sparksville, the forest was so freaking refreshing. The wonderful noise of songbirds, the wind ruffling the trees, and the general atmosphere was amazing. At least, that was what EightEight thought, but looking at the Wyrmlings casually laying in the grass and not saying much, they seemed to agree. It was really peaceful considering what happened with the back-to-back nature surrounding the Ectonurite escape- the bin was down the river now-, Vilgax again, and the Plumber popping up.
EightEight looked at one of the trees, seeing a bird perched on a branch. The bird was a beautiful red with a black face, tail tips, legs, and beak. It flew away and she looked back at the Wyrmlings. They really did ne-
The area and everything around it suddenly gained a grey tint with the exception of Gwen and Ben. Ben reacted first, sitting up and questioning, "Huh? What happened?" Gwen realized soon after and sat up as Ben stood up from the ground.
Ben started to glance around as Gwen stood up and asked, "What caused this?" Ben turned to her and shrugged.
Just then, in a magenta light, something popped into the area in front of them. The creature appeared to be a human with purple skin, elf-like ears, and wearing mostly black clothes with a forearm brace with a similar symbol on it.
The creature quickly noticed them and stared at them. Ben quickly activated the Predatrix as Gwen went up next to him.
"Why do they have the Predatrix symbol on their wrist?" Gwen muttered to Ben. The creature seemed to smile at that as Ben gave a small shrug in reply.
The creature walked up to the grey tinted EightEight and dropped a piece of what seemed like paper in her lap. It then promptly turned to the two, seemingly teleported next to them, then disappeared from the area with the two in toe.
-ed this. EightEight suddenly froze. Wait, when the hell did Ben and Gwen disappear? She stood up before looking towards the ground, seeing a piece of paper that definitely wasn't there before now there. Kevin finally seemed to notice something was wrong as she picked up the paper and read it.
"I am going to fucking have a word with this Chronian when he gets back," EightEight growled, crossing her arms and crunching the paper in a fist.
-()-
Ben and Gwen squawked as they dropped onto the ground. The weird looking human floated behind them before landing. Ben quickly went for the still active Predatrix before the creature said, "Sorry about that, didn't want to mess that up."
Ben quickly snapped his attention towards the creature, as did Gwen when it spoke. The creature laughed before a red light surrounded it and suddenly-
"Wait, you're me?!" Ben yelled, pointing at the other. Gwen shook her head and looked between the two.
The older Ben (future Ben?) was much taller and more muscular than his younger self. His hair was longer than his younger self's, along with having what looked like a braid tucked into it. His clothes seemed similar for a lack of a better term, but clearly different. The older Ben wore a dress robe that was mostly white with black designs on it. From how it looked, the robe was designed to look like a simplified black and white version of the space.
"Not exactly," the older Ben replied. "The name's Ben 10K. And welcome to Omnitrix City." When he lifted his hands to motion to the area in front them, they looked.
They stood on a hill or mountain just outside of a massive city so alien in nature it was nearly unbelievable. In the center of the city was a massive tower that nearly touched the clouds, black, white, and green in color. There were a few buildings that almost seemed to want to challenge it in height, but stood down after a bit. The city itself, besides the central tower, was colorful and appeared so active with its sparkling lights and clear flight paths.
"Hey, so you finally took the dive!" a new(ish) voice asked, causing them to look over. "About time!"
Landing next to them was a creature that looked like an amalgamation of what seemed like a large black pterodactyl, some sort of clockwork creature, and strangely Nike. It wore a black shirt and pants with a silver chain necklace and black boots. Its multiple eyes we're all brown.
"Hey, Kev," Ben 10K replied.
"That's Kevin?" Gwen gawked.
"Eh," the amalgamation shrugged before it suddenly shifted, retracting into itself to reveal what he really looked like. With the alien-ness gone, he appeared to be just an older version of his older self, just with longer hair, the same clothes as when he was an amalgam, and four horns growing out of his head.
"How did you do that?" Ben asked, staring at the older Kevin. The older maybe-human broke down into laughter at that.
"Oh, what day did you yoink them, this is amazing!" the older Kevin laughed.
"He doesn't mind if you call him Ethan, Argit calls him that all the time," Ben 10K deadpanned. That didn't stop the older Kevin from laughing, but the maybe-human did give a thumbs up in response.
"Can… we have context?" Gwen asked, looking at the two. Suddenly, a burst of wind and a female Kineceleran was near them.
"What the hell are you two doing?" the Kineceleran asked, standing up slightly and seemingly glaring at the two men through her visor. From looks, it seemed like an older version of Nike.
"Hello to you, too," Ethan squeaked through the rest of his laughs.
"What do you think we're doing, Nike?" Ben 10K replied, a flash of red happening. It faded, revealing him to have transformed into a larger, clearly older version of Goowash.
The now confirmed older Nike looked at the two younger versions before demanding, "Send them back." Goowash stepped closer to her, but Nike didn't flinch. She seemed to turn to Ethan.
Ethan sighed, then noticed Nike's look, then shrugged. "Hey, I don't want to drop them back in the incorrect time, Spacetime did that."
Nike tilted her head slightly before growling, "Send them back." She suddenly burst away, leaving a dust cloud in her wake.
Once Goowash flapped his wings to chase the dust away, Ethan sarcastically quipped, "That went wonderfully."
"Well, good to know Gwen picked up on my stubbornness of all things," Goowash commented.
"That was future me?" Gwen asked.
"Yup," future Kevin replied, popping the 'p'.
"What happened?" Gwen asked, looking in the direction her older self seemed to disappear towards.
"A lot of stuff, really," Goowash shrugged. "Kev knows better than I do, I mostly stay with PB and JP nowadays."
"Who are those two?" Ben asked. A red flash.
"For me to know and you to find out," Dracula replied. Dracula looked towards the city and his eyes seemed to glow. This version of Dracula had slightly different clothes on, its normal robe more like a wizard's cloak with the top half connected up, revealing legs covered in the same colored cloth as what made most of his outfit. Dracula licked his lips before saying, "That's a problem."
"Hm?" Ethan hummed.
"She added defenses to the city that can prevent mana viewing from this species," Dracula replied.
"Shit," future Kevin growled.
"What's wrong?" Gwen seemingly repeated, the two cousins looking at the two males.
Future Kevin looked at her and answered, "She's way too serious, that's what." A red flash surrounded Dracula and he became a strange female shaped human that was pure dark magenta with light pink hair swirling around like a storm. The Predatrix symbol hung as a charm on a rope-like necklace around their neck.
"Still green, at least," the new form seemed to quip. Before any questions could be asked, a red flash surrounded him and he became a more dragon-like Belltail. "She's at her headquarters, if you could call it that. Even JP's ship has more comfort than what she has, last I saw."
"The Predatrix has Master Control, too?" Ben asked. Belltail looked towards him.
"Kinda, PB calls it something different," Belltail wisped. A red flash and suddenly he was a white, robotic, quadaped creature with four 'toes' per foot and body that seemed like it was ripped straight out of a video game. Its head looked towards the city and he stared.
"Erm, future Kevin?" Gwen started.
"Yea?" he prompted.
"Can you tell me what made… well… me so serious?" Gwen asked.
"Long as a certain someone doesn't pop up in the next ten seconds," future Kevin shrugged. Said ten seconds passed in mostly silence, the only noise being from the strange predator alien shifting. Ethan nodded a bit and said, "Once her identity got out and she got Master Control, she felt the need to protect Earth, you know? There's more than that, but paradoxes exist and… yea."
The predator alien suddenly said, "Sector 15-D, Animo approaching." A red flash and he was suddenly a green falcon with dark green highlights. The Predatrix was, like on the strange dark magenta form, on a necklace. He turned towards the two and asked, "Wanna help?"
"We can?!" both cousins chirped at once. Future Kevin barked a laugh before shifting to the form he was in just before. The new predator smirked before jumping into the air and diving down a freaking cliff. The two tried to come over, but a red flash and a somewhat large dragon with bolt-like wings, electrical horns, and a color like thunder flew to their height.
"Get on," he smirked. Ben went up first, jumping on his head and holding onto the horn, Gwen quickly following with the other horn. The dragon then turned and flew off, the amalgam flying after it.
As they flew over the city, the two were better able to see the city. From right above it, it was definitely more active closer to the ground you got. A few of the flying creatures seemed to approach slightly, yell something they couldn't hear, then go back to whatever they were doing.
The dragon started to descend, tucking his wings into the dive. Ethan followed along, coming closer to them before the dragon said, "Be ready to transform." They nodded, despite the predator dragon not seeing it, and activated their respective watches.
The amalgam's mouth twitched into a smirk, came to a point where the two could see him, then mouthed 'now'. The dragon's wings spread out suddenly, forcing himself into a glide, and released a bolt of lightning from his mouth. Red and green flashes started on his neck and ended midair.
Shockwolf landed on the ground while Selket flew in the air. They were now in an area that was in front of a gigantic tower with green lines running up the white colored walls. The dragon had attacked a large, white gorilla with a strange helmet covering their face.
The amalgam joined in, roaring at the unknown creature- was that Animo?- and flying closer. Selket followed and Shockwolf ran towards the fight. The creature backed up slightly and let out a strange roar at them. The predator dragon returned the roar, slashing down and smashing the helmet, revealing a clearly human head. Shockwolf then bit the creature's leg, electricity coursing through them as the amalgam and Selket released bursts of green energy and goo respectively towards them.
The creature kicked Shockwolf before backing away more and yelling, "I thought you weren't Earthbound!" The dragon was surrounded in a red light before a significantly larger Cultfire appeared and threw a burst of fire towards the creature. The creature barely dodged, the fire disappearing when it realized it missed.
"Said who?" Cultfire said in a voice that sounded like five voices layered on top of each other. The amalgam landed at the exit and gained the creature's attention by roaring. Selket flew near Shockwolf, herself tense while the wolf growled and allowed electricity dance around him. The creature looked around, quickly noticing its situation.
Suddenly, a burst of air and the creature slammed against the wall. Nike stood were the creature once was, staring down at it. She looked at Cultfire and said, "You shouldn't have done that."
Cultfire flashed to a creature that looked like a big, fluffy brown dog but with no snout, no nose, the mouth large and razor-like, no eyes, massive ears, and strange holes on those ears. "When did you start to care?" he growled.
"How?!" the creature yelled, regaining their attention. In a green flash, Nike was suddenly a black humanoid with two long antennae, a long tail, all with plugs at the end of them, along with two clawed feet and hands with three claws and a thumb. The form wore a white toga that still allowed the tail through.
"Shush," the form crackled, antennas and tail moving to face Shockwolf. Suddenly, the electricity the wolf was producing was sucked towards her, Shockwolf yelping as she did so.
The creature turned to leave, but the brown predator flashed to a pale blue and purple falcon and crashed into them. The black humanoid detached the three plugs before releasing a wave of angered electricity from her hands towards the two creatures. Another flash and the predator falcon turned into the same creature she was, absorbing some of the energy as most of it crashed into the creature.
The Predatrix's version of the same creature had strange copper attachments to the ends of his fingers and thumbs and wore something more akin to a full body suit. "So," the Predatrix started before aiming the antennas upwards and releasing the leftover energy. "Wanna say what that was about, Gwen?"
A green flash and Nike was back. "Don't call me that," Nike growled, tail flicking. A red flash and he was now a strange humanoid jackal creature with its wrists and ankles ending with points, leaving strange magenta constructs to form boots and gloves along with hair beyond a mask-like face.
"Have you forgotten the Omnitrix's purpose, according to its creator?" the odd form growled. Nike seemed to stumble, but nothing around them changed. "If not that, then when did you get so cold?"
The amalgam approached them, constricted itself back to future Kevin, and said, "You two might want to get involved."
Shockwolf whined, shaking his head as Selket flew closer to him and asked, "Why?"
The creature the predator stood on stayed silent as Ethan answered, "Well, why else?"
Suddenly, there was an explosion and an alarm rang out across the city. Nike suddenly shifted to Styx, whose second skin was more torn and had tentacles draping out, and looked in the direction of the explosion.
"What the hell was that?!" Ethan yelled, his arms and hands mutating into that of a Pyronite's.
"Stay here!" Styx yelled before becoming a strange copper female humanoid with a copper dress, piercing green eyes, and an odd green component in her chest. Suddenly, the purple skinned elf-thing was back in place of the odd jackal. The machine and the elf-like seemed to stare at each other before Nike was back and she zipped away. The younger one's Predatrix began to flash, detransforming him.
"Kevin, get mine and Gwen's younger selves to her. I have to stay as Spacetime to catch the Sotobro Effect she'll release if she goes back to Chronos," the elf-like said, glancing at the three before looking in the direction Nike went.
Future Kevin nodded before mutating into what seemed like an electric dragon, a water dragon, and an earth dragon mixed together. "Aight, leave it to me. Get on, kids," the new mutation smirked. Selket tilted her head slightly as Ben quickly got onto the amalgam's back. She flew over and landed on his back next to Ben.
The dragon amalgam took into the air as a crackle of a small electric bit popped out and struck the Omnitrix, detransforming her. Gwen shook her head, gripping onto a back spine before asking, "How did you do that?"
"Tricked the Omnitrix it was being overloaded. I think Miss High-And-Mighty added something to the Omnitrix to prevent it from overloading," the dragon amalgam answered. "Want me to trick 'em to be recharged?"
"Maybe when we're closer to see what's going on?" Ben mentioned, looking at Gwen. She nodded.
"Dunno why you think that, but Imma do it right now anyways," he hummed. Another pop of sparks and the watches returned to their normal colors. The dragon amalgam then said, "Ah, there she is! Hang on!" He suddenly dove, striking through air quickly, wings acting somewhat like a shield.
Then, out of nowhere, he crashed into a pillar, yet somehow was able to grab and 'stand' on it. The armored wings spread, giving the two a place to 'stand' on as they looked at the situation.
The older Omnitrix wielder was currently one of Vilgax's species, though clearly female with the strange markings on the facial tentacles and more tentacle-like arms. She was in the middle of a battle with a machine that could best be described as a small, robotic hydra. The robotic hydra was speaking to the Chimera, but they couldn't hear what was said. A green light and the Chimera changed to a blue, black, and white lizard with an aura of frost about it. The ice lizard jumped away from an attack before blasting out a beam of ice.
As the robotic hydra scampered and crawled, the dragon amalgam said, "Ah, that insane Galvan. Forget her name, though. You two go help her or something, pretty sure that's what he wanted you two to do anyways."
"Wait, who do we transform into?" Ben asked. The amalgam shrugged in answer.
"I'll just say no Mechamorph, that'll be useless," future Kevin simply stated.
"Maybe just something general?" Gwen suggested, looking at Ben.
"Problem with mine is that they could be too big…" Ben muttered.
Gwen was quiet for a moment before throwing out, "Alke and Hexadeca? I think I'll be able to use Alke to get my future self's attention and you can use Hexadeca to stop the robot hydra."
Ben nodded, muttering, "Ok… that works."
"Please don't crush me," the dragon amalgam deadpanned, lifting its head to face them. Gwen became red in the face and Ben looked away, but they both nodded. The amalgam laughed slightly before facing back down to the fight. The ice lizard had changed to a more forest-y one. They quickly activated their respective watches and found the forms they wanted.
Another green flash and the future Omnitrix wielder was now a yellow skinned, six winged, four armed humanoid with red light-like hair and wearing a pure black toga. The duo looked at each other again before Ben stood up on the wing and came to the end of it. A few seconds passed before he jumped and slammed down on the Predatrix.
The new form snapped to Nike and she shot back as Hexadeca slammed itself onto the ground, a leg pinning the mechanical hydra. A green flash from above and Alke landed nearby, looking towards Nike.
Nike's tail twitched. "I told him to bring you two back. Stay out of my way!" Nike suddenly bursted towards the metal hydra and Hexadeca, but was barely caught by Alke. A flash and an older Alke slammed her younger self back. While the older Alke was clearly, well, older, her clothes were changed out for more of a black armor lined with white feathers. "Did you not hear me?" the older Alke growled before turning back to face Hexadeca.
"Hey, you can't just do everything alone!" the younger Alke snapped, standing up. Her older self stopped and turned towards her.
From a distance, the elf-like and a human wearing an almost steam-punk like lab coat watched on. The human smiled and questioned, "I already know, but why specifically two days before Maxwell's birthday?"
"If only to prove that he can't break down our own stubbornness," Spacetime replied. The Chronian gained an evil grin. "Again." The human laughed.
The older Tetramand glared at the younger one before growling, "The Omnitrix."
"It's a device that fell from the freaking sky! It isn't sapient, you should know that!" the younger Alke yelled.
Spacetime raised a brow when the human next to him laughed. "If only she knew," the human chuckled. Spacetime squinted at him, causing the human to add, "However, with just the prototype, which your Gwen has, that isn't much of a big deal."
"Paradox, why," Spacetime whispered under his breath before returning focus to the three.
The robotic hydra shifted a head, seemingly to watch the admittedly extremely odd situation as the older Alke snapped, "Then what's the point of a team?"
"To have your back! To confide in!" the younger one started.
"To support you," Hexadeca added in his double layered voice. The hydra shifted a head to look at the ground.
"To be there when something's wrong!" the younger Tetramand nodded.
A beat.
"… family?" a voice from the hydra squeaked.
More silence passed before a green flash surrounded the older Tetramand and a human woman stood in her place. She had the same hair as her younger self, messy and slightly unkempt, and wore a white and black bodysuit with somewhat of a theme of a forest, dark brown almost black boots, and a fingerless glove on her right hand. On her left was the Omnitrix, but it had expanded to cover nearly her entire forearm and part of her palm.
She stayed silent as the dragon amalgam came to the ground, shifting back to normal when it landed. A red flash, Belltail floating to the ground, then Ben 10K reappearing. The two men approached her and future Kevin chirped, "So the only person you reliably listen to is yourself, huh?" As they stopped, future Gwen scoffed and lightly punched his arm.
"Heh, you're not wrong," she commented, moving her head to look at the two. Hexadeca looked towards Alke, who shrugged as Ben 10K laughed in response.
There was a sudden flash of blue light and the two looked towards the light. There was nothing where the light happened, causing the two heads of Hexadeca to tilt his head. The three others seemed to notice the duo not focusing on them and turned towards them. The metal hydra ripped itself out from under Hexadeca and quickly popped itself onto a nearby wall.
Ben 10K got the attention of the predator and prey before asking, "Time to get you two back to your own time." He came over to Hexadeca and did something to the Predatrix, timing him out. Ben blinked and shook his head as his older self looked at the other two. Ethan came over to Alke and quickly detransformed her as the older Gwen transformed into the machine-like woman. Spacetime quickly came back as the four gathered near each other. Then, in a flash of green mixed magenta, they were gone.
Ethan crossed his arms before glancing back and saying, "I know you're there, Paradox."
"Hello to you too, Kevin Ethan Levin," the human, Paradox, commented. "I should let you know that while they're gone, while not important in the slightest in this section of the timestream with the exception of this one thing, there will be someone that will be trying to get that time gear I requested Gwen to keep secure."
Ethan then promptly stared at Paradox for a hot minute before shifting to a mix between Nike, a red and yellow manta ray, and a furry humanoid cat and bursting off.
He opened a blue portal and casually said, "Have fun, Maltruant." Paradox then walked through, the blue light quickly vanishing behind him.
-()-
EightEight stared at an empty spot as the forest continued as if nothing happened. Kevin was sitting nearby, staring at an image of a cat-like species from Osmos V. A sudden burst of magenta and green caused Kevin to look up and EightEight quickly stood up.
The Chronian said, "Here we go."
The Chronosapien then stared at the Chronian as Ben and Gwen quickly went over to Kevin. The maybe-human asked, "Where did you guys go?" The Chronian noticed the Chronosapien and stared back.
Neither cousin got a chance to reply when EightEight suddenly tackled the Chronian, slamming him into a tree. The Chronian squawked at the attack, the Chronosapien continuing to stare and hold her hands as she watched. The Chronian tried to do something, but ended up glaring at the Chronosapien.
"Chronos!" the Chronian chirped just before barely dodging a talon stab from EightEight. She simply stared, crossing her arms slightly as the Chronian managed to get out of the way from EightEight.
Chronos glanced at the Wyrmlings, who were staring at the situation. A magenta flash and Chronos looked over and the Chronian was gone. EightEight growled before looking at the Chronosapien. Chronos hummed before disappearing in a flash of green light.
EightEight blinked before looking at the trio and she asked, "Are you two alright?"
"I am," Gwen nodded. Ben nodded as well. She nodded, smiling under her mask.
-()-
A knock at the door caused Dragua to look up. The dragon disguised creature said, "Come in." The door opened, revealing a member of his Dragoon who wore an arctic fox mask.
"Um, sir?" the arctic fox disguised creature started. "There's, uh, an Osmosian Plumber who wants to talk to you. I, uh, couldn't tell you why…"
Dragua seemingly raised a brow before saying, "Send him in." The ear of the disguise seemed to twitch before SnowFox nodded and left the doorway. Dragua sat back in his seat slightly, staring at the door.
Roughly a minute passed before SnowFox returned with a male Osmosian with brown eyes and nearly black hair. The Osmosian quickly noticed him and said, "Hey."
"Hello, Plumber Agent Levin," Dragua simply said, tilting his head slightly. SnowFox left and closed the door when the Osmosian entered.
"Dragua, right? Sorry for this mess, but do you know where my son is?" Agent Levin asked.
Dragua raised a brow. "May you be more specific?"
"Kevin Ethan Levin. Kinda just looks like a younger version of me, just with less pale skin and more human. You seen him at all?" Agent Levin provided. Dragua laughed and Agent Levin squinted at him. "What's so funny that I don't know about?"
Dragua calmed himself slightly, mask showing sharp teeth as he smiled and answered, "Well, a crow fits you just nicely, doesn't it?"
Agent Levin paused for a moment before laughing and sighing at the same time. "Not that I'm surprised or anything, but the heck did that happen? Also, Earthen Crow or Sparkcrow?"
Dragua scoffed slightly, before turning serious and stating, "Him and the wielders of two certain devices, who were also children, approached us." Agent Levin suddenly dropped his playfulness and stared back.
"Let me get this right," Agent Levin started. "My son somehow made friends with the child wielders of the Omnitrix and the Predatrix, then joined the Dragoon?"
The fake tail swished behind the disguised creature. "That is the story, yes. As of what I've been updated through, the one overseeing the three of them is taking them on a roadtrip of sorts. Her reasoning was that the place I sent them too was limited and they would benefit from having new places to train and experience. I certainly agree with that, so if you're going to ask for your son's location, I'm afraid I can't be of much help in that department."
Agent Levin was quiet for a moment before saying, "Can I just know that my son is in good hands?"
"If it makes you feel any better, Devin, your son is traveling with a close friend of mine, a Sotoraggian to be specific. I helped her learn American Sign Language, after all," Dragua replied.
Devin Levin smiled. "Hey, thanks, Bose." A beat. "Still no way I can convince you to consider partnering with the Plumbers?"
"The Dragoon is strictly Earth based and will stay that way even if I take that to my grave," Dragua replied.
"Have fun, kitty," Devin said before going to leave.
"I'm not a cat, just cat-like," Dragua smirked. Devin laughed at that and left the room, closing the door behind him.
Ushi: 1- Funny you say that. I will say though, I don't plan on posting anything until I'm finished with it (...unlike this story). The only thing I'll say with it is that I'm currently calling it "Unicronians". 2- Oh, there's a lot. Ignoring Transformers and Ben 10, on the top of my head, there's Splatoon, Skylanders, Kirby, Miitopia, Shovel Knight, Pokemon, Angry Birds, Mario, YuGiOh, and Legend of Zelda. There's probably others I can't think of right now (oh yea, Knack and BattleBots!) but shrug.