The ship extended its landing legs and, well, landed. Its engines turned off and it rested. A moment later, the door opened. An Osmosian came out first, followed by a Piscciss Volann and a Vulpimancer.

Devin looked at Patelliday and asked, "So why's the Megamutt here?"

"To see if it can track whoever activated the Rushmore base," Patelliday stated. The Vulpimancer trotted over to Devin and rubbed its eyeless face on his leg.

Devin looked at it before reaching down and scratching its head. The beast moved its head to be scratched under its chin. "Who's a good beastie?" Devin said. The Vulpimancer let out a happy growl.

"Let's go," Patelliday stated, quickly moving towards the mountain side they landed near. Devin shrugged, moving to follow the Volann with the beast following closely behind.

-()-

"On the subject of family," Psychobos suddenly started, getting Kevin, Gwen, Ben, and EightEight to look at him, "what of your three's families are you willing to share?"

They were still in the Dark Eagle, but it was parked on a dirt road near a forest. Out of the way, if anything.

When none of them answered right away, Psychobos added, "If you wish not to speak of your parents, then you don't have to. Merely a curiosity."

Kevin changed his position on the couch by pushing himself up slightly, less leaning against the back of the couch now. "Don't know my father very well," he started. "Mother was there, but didn't seem to know what to do with me. So, I don't really know either of them that much."

Psychobos hummed slightly. "Assuming what I've heard about Osmosian families is correct, the father of the child tends to be 'hidden' for the lack of a better term until the child proves themselves. Strange, but." He made a shrugging motion.

"Revonnahgander's tail thing," EightEight suddenly said and Psychobos groaned. The crab-like didn't reply, but clearly had thoughts on what EightEight said.

There was a strange moment of silence.

"Mom and dad don't like Max," Gwen commented, somewhat randomly. "They're… good, and my brother is in his first year of high school. Er, I guess second year when the next school year starts up." Psychobos simply nodded.

"Don't wanna," Ben muttered, looking away from them. No reply.

-()-

A knock at the door caused him to look towards it. He placed down the newspaper and stood up. He unlocked the door and opened.

Phil blinked as Max said, "Hello, Phil."

"Hello, Maxwell," Phil said. An odd second before he added, "You've come… unexpectedly."

Max chuckled slightly, but his body was tense. "Sorry, I… need help with something."

Phil raised a brow. "Help with what?" Phil asked.

Max leaned forward slightly and whispered, "Aliens." Phil clammed up and motioned Max to come in. The man did so and the door was quickly shut and locked afterwards.

"What about aliens?" Phil asked as they moved to the chairs.

As they sat down, Max said, "What do you know of the Omnitrix and Predatrix?"

"Rumors and scuttlebutt. Most factual thing is that Vilgax is after them," Phil answered.

"On the first day of my grandkids' summer vacation, they found them. The devices."

"W-What?"

"I don't know why or how, just…"

"That it happened."

"Yes."

"What is it with you and aliens?"

"I'm… I don't know."

"Ok. What happened that you resorted to coming to a fellow retired Plumber rather than any active ones?"

"Sotoraggian."

"Excuse me? A Sotoraggian?"

"I don't know the full details, just that after an… incident at the capital, they ran off and somehow became friends with a Sotoraggian and I think an Osmosian-human hybrid."

"The Sotoraggian alone is a possible problem… Do you know which one?"

"I… forget if I got the Sotoraggian's name, but it was definitely female and wore purple armor."

"Hm… I'm not familiar enough with Sotoraggian families…"

"Do you still have your Extranet set up?"

"I do, actually. It would be easier to figure it out on the Extranet than without it. But what are we going to do once that is finished?"

"I know some forms the Omnitrix and Predatrix have unlocked. Just… I don't want them to hurt themselves and their parents will be concerned if they aren't with me when we get back."

"Concern, mostly."

"Correct. And if there's a way to get the two devices off, I'll take it. It is too dangerous to leave the devices in the hands of children."

"And too much pressure for them at such a young age."

"Hm."

"You said you knew their forms. What are they?"

"Gwen, the one with the Omnitrix, has Athena the Galvan-"

"So you're saying the species and what she calls them?"

"If I know, correct."

"Ok. Sorry sir, go on."

"Athena, Alke the Tetramand, Styx the Ectonurite, Theia the Galvanic Mechamorph, Selket the Lepidopterran, Pele the Pyronite… Kleodora the Petrosapien, Nike the Kineceleran… Artemis the Vulpimancer, Tiamat the Piscciss Volann, and two forms I don't know what she called in an Arburian Pelarota and Florauna."

"And that's just the Omnitrix?"

"Hm."

"That's… that's twelve… twelve aliens."

"I don't know if she has more than that either."

"The Mechamorph can very easily become a problem, same with the Petrosapien… which Lepidopterran is her form?"

"Dominant."

"Ok… Kinecelerans can be naturally hard to deal with due to their speed and Pyronites, well, it's in the name."

"Florauna is especially problematic. It's a winter one, specifically."

"What about the Predatrix, sir?"

"I won't be able to say these names as accurately as with Gwen's, since there's no theme to follow. Ben, wielder of the Predatrix, has a Crabdozer, Stonebreak Batcracker, Piscciss Nebula, Buglizard, Anurian Shadow… Radioscaviger, Stormslime, Omnivoracious, Spideros, I want to say Vladat but I'm not too su-"

"A Vladat?! But aren't they extinct?"

"They are. I don't know why the Predatrix has it, though. I am sure there's more, but I have no idea."

"If the Omnitrix unlocked more forms, I feel like it's safe to assume the same can happen with the Predatrix."

"A reasonable one."

"Let's go to the Extranet setup, then. Oh, do the two know about the Plumbers?"

"I… don't know for sure."

"Hm…"

-(…)-

The strange bug-bear thing screeched before he ripped out its heart. The bug-bear suddenly froze as Vilgax dropped the bleeding heart. The Chimera bent down and quickly broke one of the buggy legs. He lifted a free claw to his breathing mask and lifted up the leg piece. He bit into it, tearing off a piece and eating it. Vilgax flinched slightly, a chill running through him.

"Disgusting…" he muttered once he swallowed. He took another bite. Who was he to complain?

A screech forced him to look towards the source of the noise. Vilgax was suddenly tackled by a large, yellow, humanoid robotic looking creature with odd vehicle features. He growled and kicked at its leg, but it simply made a small dent. The yellow thing threw him aside like a toy. Vilgax crashed onto the ground as the robot-like quickly snapped its attention to the corpse and bit into it.

Vilgax pushed himself up as the yellow creature drank the bug-bear's blood. He glared at the strange creature as another of its kind joined it, this one being mostly black and much larger. The yellow one let go of the beast and said, "I scared away the squid thing, and now we have this to eat!"

"Good job, Bee," the black one stated before also biting into the creature.

Vilgax moved slightly to crouch behind a pillar on the floating land. He knew better right now. The two things just seemed more interested in the blood, seeing as they were drinking it. He could take the rest once they were finished.

The yellow one beeped, "Thanks, Prowl! Too bad it isn't Energon or oil."

The black one released its hold. "Better than going under," it said. The yellow one nodded in agreement before the two went back to drinking the bug-bear's blood.

Vilgax waited. A Vulpimancer attempted to approach, growling. The black one- Prowl?- looked over and turned one of its hands into a blaster. The Vulpimancer growled again, but quickly hipped as an energy blast was released to it. The Vulpimancer ran off as Prowl refocused on the meat. The yellow one- Bee?- looked towards him briefly. Vilgax did not move, appearing to make Bee more confident to continue drinking.

Eventually, Prowl and Bee finished their feast and left. Vilgax waited until they were near the edge of the island to approach the dead meat.

He ripped off a piece of meat from around the stomach, looking at it. He once again lifted the mask and took a bite of the meat. Not as bad as the leg, but the fur definitely made it worse than it probably was. He supposed it being drained of liquids and raw wasn't helping.

A noise caused Vilgax to look over. A large reptile twice his size coated in black scales growled at him, scales beginning to move through the color spectrum like prisms. Vilgax took a step back as the Prismatic Wyvern roared at him. A sudden burst of light was released by the wyvern, forcing Vilgax to dodge.

Vilgax mentally growled before turning and jumping away. The wyvern roared again before turning to his claimed prey.

He fought the damned thing for nothing. But that's the Null Void. Vilgax fixed his mask, then wandered off.

-()-

"That's not good," Max muttered, staring at the screen. Phil nodded slightly, bringing a hand to his chin.

"There's nothing on the Extranet about them, other than the whole TwoTwo situation," Phil commented. "For the Omnitrix, just rumors, as usual. Same with the Predatrix."

There was silence as Phil shut down the Extranet set up. Max suddenly stated, "Vilgax is said to be trying to get the watches, right?"

"Maxwell," Phil said, looking at the former Magister. "Please don't say what I think you're implying."

"However, we convince him that Omnitrix and Predatrix negatively affect whoever has control over them."

"I doubt we would be able to convince him with just that."

"The Predatrix transforms its user into a non-sapient creature. Imagine the feedback loop that would cause if used enough."

"This… I'm sorry, Maxwell, this sounds like trying to make a broken machine up to date."

"A broken machine… can't do anything. Wait, the DNA. According to the rumors, both devices change the user's DNA, right?"

"So they wouldn't be able to be removed in the first place… And… if Vilgax is made aware, he might be on board with just… destroying them?"

"If we pull it off correctly, yes."

"Maxwell, how are you so sure of this? I remember you saying you wanted to make sure your grandchildren don't take part in anything alien related."

"That's the core. They're currently in the middle of what could easily become a galactic affair. Stop it before it begins."

"I… I suppose so."

-()-

"So the mutt got no scents, but also a Null Void Projector is gone," Devin summarized.

Patelliday nodded. "A mess, this is. But this doesn't explain why there was activity from the computers."

"Welp," Devin shrugged. "We won't know unless whoever did comes clean."

Patelliday sighed. "We need to let the Magister know about our finds. Let's head back." Devin nodded and followed the Volann and Vulpimancer.

-(…)-

Phil(.exe) crashed as Max opened up a hidden vault door that was already in a vault room. As steam rolled out of the shifting mechanisms, Phil asked, "How…?"

"The Magister of the sector before me, the one who was killed by a Techadon. Only myself and them knew. It was a backup no one else knows about. Except you now," Max stated. He reached inside of the small, open vault and pulled a Null Void Projector.

"If this goes wrong, this is your fault."

"I know, Philip."

-()-

Vilgax was forced to stop as a scream filled the air. He looked up at the yellow void, towards the source of the noise. He flinched and quickly moved out of the way as a massive black scaled, multi-eyed pterodactyl crashed into the ground with a very mutated Pturbosaurian under its claw.

Vilgax quickly backed away as the two winged sapients wrestled and screeched and tore apart the ground. Eventually, they disappeared as they rolled over into the abyss, a purple glow most likely coming from the Pturbosaurian. The Chimera held his breath, clutching his fist. The Null Void was a mess that knew no bounds.

He turned around, then stopped. In front of him was a portal. Vilgax stared as a figure stepped out, some sort of cord leading back into the portal.

As the figure became more visible, Vilgax stated, "Hello, Plumber."

"Vilgax," the Plumber replied.

There was a sudden burst of wind as the mutated Pturbosaurian bursted into the sky, a purple trial following it. Soon after, the other winged reptile followed, wings spread out like a glider. Their roars followed as they continued doing… whatever caused them to turn to this mess.

"Why are you here, Plumber," Vilgax stated.

"We have come with an… offer," Phil started.

-()-

The police ran by their hiding spot, completely ignoring the slightly tilted manhole cover. Thumbskull stood on the ground with Acidbreath next to him and Frightwig climbed down the ladder.

"The sewer system here leads to a river, right?" Acidbreath asked.

"I'm not the pre-Quirk sewer network knowledge holder here," Frightwig commented, getting off the ladder. Acidbreath turned to Thumbskull.

Thumbskull grunted and did a weird motion with his hands.

"Good, let's go then," Acidbreath stated. Thumbskull turned and began to walk away as Frightwig and Acidbreath followed.

-(…)-

The day continued on until night fell and they began to settle for rest. Gwen and Kevin had already fell asleep, as did Asani and EightEight. Psychobos still wasn't asleep, looking at the also still awake Ben leaning against him. The boy was clearly tired, however, and Psychobos was simply waiting.

"Can I ask you something?" Ben randomly asked.

Psychobos telepathically replied, "Of course."

"If you have no reason to stay where you currently are, where would you go from there?" Ben asked.

Psychobos was quiet for a moment. He then telepathed, "I am unsure how to answer that. For me personally, go to the next place for sample collecting or return to my lab back on my home planet's moon to study the samples."

"Oh…" Ben whispered, looking to the ground.

Ben curled against him and fell asleep. Psychobos frowned, observing the child. Psychically, in his native tongue, Psychobos whispered, "You poor child."