Ultimate Fairy
Chapter 68: Adaptation is Null and Void
Part II
…
Last time on Ultimate Fairy…
"...We never wanted you to suffer hermano." Caesar said seeing Rex's scar, hating Van Kleiss on a new level of hate he never knew he had.
"This is my life bro, I gotta live it, happiness, pain, and all." Rex said a bit sadly "Hey can you look into something for me?" he asked him simply.
"Sure what's up?" Caesar asked him curious to what he was after.
"I was helping with an investigation and when you brought Hunter Cain up it clicked." Rex said to him pulling out a red mask with eye holes "Do you think you can make a connection to Hunter Cain and Will Harangue?" he asked him as he found this mask with Harangue's propaganda and didn't realize it belonged to Hunter's group till now.
"You're asking your brother for detective work?" Peter Meechum asked walking in "Wrong scientist Rex, I can keep an ear out." he said as he lived in the city and knew it well.
"I have to agree with Peter out of all of us he was the one that wasn't a recluse." Caesar said to Rex.
"Listen, Rex, Will Harangue is a bullshit journalist and sprouts lies and sells out pretty easily." Peter said as that was pure truth "If he was in bed with Hunter, he may be secretly funding or working with him in some ways." he said as Hunter was not a good person and the country knew it, he was a racist terrorist plain and simple, he hated people because he couldn't understand or accept them or some other dumb reason because he honestly thought the man was an ignorant moron.
…
"Tennyson." a voice rasped out pressing it's hand against a nearby wall clawing it "I sense you are near, hide under your silly name all you like, it will not matter, I will hunt you down for what you did to me!" the voice said angrily as it roared in unrestrained anger.
…
"How do you understand Ship?" Makarov asked finding it curious that Max could understand the little creature as it said its name on repeat.
"It's mostly his tone, there is a somewhat vocal element in how he says the word, and after hearing him speak so much you understand what he says." Max said to him.
Makarov was curious about that as he never met such an intelligent creature like Ship rarely seeing him apart from Wendy or Ben.
"Ship?" Ship said in a deeper tone as whenever he took this ship form his voice was deeper.
Max chuckled getting a questioning look from Makarov "He asked if he could start blowing up asteroids." he said to him translating.
"Sounds like Natsu." Makarov said with a chuckle.
"I think it sounds like Ben when he was younger." Max said as Ben has come a long way ever since he got the Omnitrix, Ben always looked up to him, but in truth Max looked at the example Ben didn't always realize he set for others.
…
"So got any enemies that are savages?" Gajeel asked as these bones were old.
"Not that I'm aware of." Ben said as Gajeel was doing some dating on the bones saying they were at least under a decade old "Kevin I don't know who this might be, but let's get back to finding Wendy and Erza, preferably before whoever did this, comes back and tries to eat us." he said to him not in the mood to deal with some stray prisoner.
"Ben." Gajeel said as they walked away "Those bones didn't belong to mindless species." he said as he recognized some from Plumber HQ.
Ben was silent for a moment taking one last look at the bones "...I know." he said as he knew the moment he saw the bones identifying the species was simple.
…
"Have you lost every sense of reason you have?" Mira asked Natsu as he was looking at one of the Null Void's suns and stated proudly "I'm gonna eat a sun!".
"Mira how many times in our lives are we gonna be able to say we did something this cool!?" Natsu asked her curiously.
"Natsu, it's a sun, A SUN, it burns at literally a over million degrees." Mira said as she read some things about interstellar travel wanting to ask Ben if he had any possible missions in space as she wanted to see some new things beyond Earth, one of the things she learned was stars burned at very high temperatures 'Can he even survive that?' she thought knowing about his encounter with Zancrow as certain fire could harm Natsu and she was unsure if the radiation he ate would be good enough to shield him from the radiation a sun produced.
Mira's pleas fell on deaf ears as Natsu while a dangerous proximity to a sun for a person began feeding on the excess fire it let out.
Mira watched in small fascination as she wondered what the point was as even if Natsu could learn to make his heat as strong as this sun, it would be overkill and a possible murder as no one besides someone like him would ever be able to withstand this heat.
…
Kevin was curious as he was sure he had driven to this spot before, but couldn't remember the reason, Gwen was in one of the country clubs Harangue was listed as a member and was wearing a bug that would record and digitize images, especially anything about Harangue in the open.
"What number does this make?" Gwen asked Kevin curiously.
"Fifteen." Kevin said to her "How goes your investigation?" he asked as while Gwen's purpose was to walk around and gain info with the bug, she was playing the part of a girl interested in joining the club, she was focusing on the history and members while he focused on the records and anything else he could gain access to.
"It's kinda odd actually." Gwen said to him "Each club we've visited is different, there's no chain or anything, they all have various requirements and they all differ and this one seems the oddest as they said it was 'exclusive', but they didn't mention how one would join." she said as she went to the front desk and the man there was a bit quick to dismiss her, she even dropped Ben's name and still no dice.
"Rich jerks are rich jerks." Kevin said to her "I need to go over the footage of what the bug saw." he said as Gwen was good, but she didn't have his detective eyes "Hey have we been here before?" he asked unable to shake the feeling of familiarity.
"Probably, I mean we've been all over Bellwood." Gwen said as there wasn't a street they hadn't seen before, whenever she felt that way she chalked it up to them fighting some alien 'Maybe that's why the front desk was giving me issues.' she thought thinking she and the others may have left some property damage in the past.
Kevin didn't deny that, but he swore they'd been here before.
"What do you think you'll be able to find on Harangue anyway Kevin?" Gwen asked wondering what he intended to do.
"Well if a simpleton like Harangue can get alien tech even cheap knockoff parts and metals it kinda breaks Plumber regulations and interstellar law to a strong degree, it might change or affect the planet's advancements." he said to her.
Gwen took a minute to think on that "What about the esoterica?" she asked him.
"The cult people, I thought they went dark after Diagon died?" Kevin asked her curiously wondering why Gwen thought of them.
"When has it ever been that easy, plus remember they went after high-profile people." Gwen said as she remembered some of the people that she had seen work for the esoterica, were high in society and ranking people, or just loyal idiots.
"I'll check if there have been any out-of-the-ordinary thefts." Kevin said as that was a possibility he couldn't ignore seeing Gwen's point of view "But this makes no sense in my mind, Harangue hates everything alien right, why work with a group of cultists that worship an alien or want alien technology?" he asked as that seemed like the opposite of what Harangue paraded on his show.
"I think he might be using them or whoever to get an edge, but Harangue will do whatever he can to win or get ahead." Gwen said to him as it could've been the esoterica as they were people Harangue would most likely agree with.
"I may have to look deeper." Kevin said as he needed to look to deeper sources as there were shadier and dumber people than the esoterica "Hey what about someone more local?" he asked Gwen getting a curious look "What about people we know who have come into contact with alien technology, I mean Animo is one, kinda." he said to her.
"Animo goes to Plumber lock up for that very reason." Gwen said as Animo was too dangerous to leave to a regular prison as while human he was too deep in certain alien matters.
"Yeah, but what about the others like Rojo and her gang, they get ahold of alien tech all the time." Kevin said to her as Rojo was human with no alien ancestry, but she herself got a hold of alien tech for her armor and bikes.
Gwen didn't have a rebuttal as Kevin made a point "What about the Forever Knights?" she asked curiously.
Kevin laughed at that "Yeah no, the Forever Knights rarely work with outsiders." he said to her.
"You worked with them when we met Kevin." Gwen said reminding him of that little detail.
"Wrong, I was the middle man, huge difference." Kevin said to her a little insulted she never picked up on that "The Forever Knights use people Gwen, they don't give things to them, Harangue is a lot of things, but he'd need to do some big things to get into the order or one of them, I don't remember however many there are." he said to her as the knights had a lot of orders and he wasn't sure what the status was after George.
"What kinda things?" Gwen asked never hearing about this before.
"Well to become a Forever Knight, you gotta prove your worth, you need to kill an alien." Kevin said to her seeing her look of shock "The only real way to join as a knight and be privy to their collectibles." he said to her "So yeah, Harangue may be the world's biggest tool, but he is in no way possible capable of killing an alien." he said to her.
Gwen saw his point, but she still couldn't shake this feeling she had, wondering what Harangue had to have done to get his alien tech.
…
"Natsu, we need to leave." Mira said as she had to restrain every urge she had, as the asteroid they were on and the ones nearby their area of search were covered in large pools of blood and mutilated bodies.
Natsu was in a bit of shock as he saw the corpses as it was a terrible sight to behold, the corpses were still hot and the blood still warm, he could smell it and feel it as the steam brushed against his skin.
Mira slapped him across the face "Natsu, you are an S-class now, we will face and see things like this more often than you think." she said speaking from experience "We're here for Wendy and Erza, they're not here." she said as while it sounded cold there was no one else here alive.
Natsu wanted to throw up, but nodded as they left.
Unaware too the two a tentacle with an eye at the end was watching them, it slowly crept back to a large form "Humans." the being said in both annoyance and interest "Lead me to Tennyson." it said as it felt Tennyson was near, blood dripped down it's form as it chewed on some meat.
…
"Ah, here we are." Animo said as he reached inside an asteroid and pressed a mechanical button as a door opened up and Animo laughed like a maniacal idiot as he came face to face with a skull the size of a small truck "Ah but where are my samples?" he asked himself as he had to look around as he was not very organized.
…
"Ben not to be a downer, but how do we know we're even going in the right direction?" Gajeel asked as this place had no set landmarks and going straight was not very accurate unless Ben changed into something that could fly, in all honesty, he felt most of his tracking abilities were useless here.
"I've been keeping track of the asteroids we have been to, some have footprints meaning this is a more set path or more used path." Ben said as that was what he was currently doing following footprints, it was better than being blind.
"And you can tell these rocks apart?" Gajeel asked in slight amazement.
"Oh no way, they all look the same to me." Ben said seeing Gajeel's eyebrow twitch "Calm down, I left behind a trail of mana in each rock we've been to, if we're lucky Wendy and Erza will either come to us or go back to the place we arrived at." he said as that spot was for Plumbers entering the Null Void from Plumber base, he had Molly Gunther checking it on the hour to see if anyone was there.
"Mana breadcrumbs, well it's better than nothing." Gajeel said to him as it was actually smart as only Ben and Wendy could detect mana here.
…
'Thank you mana vision.' Wendy thought as an asteroid she landed on had mana on it. Verdona and Ben had stepped up her training with Mana, she had been getting the hang of it very quickly much to Verdona's amazement as out of everyone, Wendy had the greatest capacity for becoming a full anodite the fastest.
"What are you tying your shoes?" Phil asked sarcastically seeing Wendy on one knee.
Wendy rolled her pink glowing eyes and looked around as while she was able to see mana sensing it was a bit trickier 'Oh great two separate paths.' she thought as she looked to her left and to her right "Which way to the prison?" she asked Phil getting silence "It's that way isn't it." she said pointing to her left as that was the general direction they were heading to.
Phil narrowed his eyes wondering how she knew that as he was taking the long way there on purpose.
Erza eyed Wendy critically wondering how she knew that and soon saw a faint pink in her irises, she guessed she was using mana "What's in the opposite direction of here?" she 'asked' with her signature glare, seeing it had no effect on Phil.
"There is nothing, just emptiness." Phil said to them, but soon spotted the slight pink glow in Wendy's eyes "You can use mana." he said in surprise.
'Oh no.' Wendy thought as she really needed to fix that.
"Who are you two!?" Phil said demandingly "I only know two alien species that use mana!" he said reading his spear "And both were screwing that bastard Max Tennyson!" he said to them.
Erza raised a brow at that thinking that only anodites and some humans could use mana.
"Ok caveman, she's Erza Scarlet and I'm Wendy Tennyson." Wendy said as she was tired of this farce "So what is it gonna be old man?" she asked as there was something foul about this man, like something buried deep inside him was dark.
Phil was silent "I want to leave this god-forsaken hell." he said surprising both Erza and Wendy.
Erza was a bit caught off guard knowing what it felt like to be a prisoner, but to let go of it all was surprising and foreign to her, it wasn't until Ben destroyed the tower of heaven that she felt truly liberated "Which way do we go?" she asked them.
"Well, my father." Wendy said picking her words carefully "Went right and the prison is left so, we got options." she said as if Phil was right about the prison that was another can of worms, but now they could follow a trail to search for Ben.
Erza thought the same as Wendy as either option had pros and cons.
…
"Sorry boy." Max said petting Ship as the roar of his engines attracted the Null Guardians and they were not exactly friendly to Ship taking bites out of his form.
"That should be the last of them." Mira said as she and Natsu were able to spot Ship from their location and rushed to help "You find anything?" she asked them curiously.
"No, what about you?" Max asked seeing their gazes lower, knowing that wasn't a good sign.
"We found mutilated corpses." Mira said as that was a generous description "Something is here, eating things, it wasn't the Null Guardians." she said as she saw the wounds on all the corpses when she and Natsu first saw them, she saw the way they bit into Ship, the beasts were to large to leave such a mess and not eat them whole.
"It could be Leviathan." Max said getting odd looks "A few years back I got trapped in the Null Void and around that time after Ben saved it from Animo there had been reports from my Helpers of missing colonists, there were often rumors of a beast that had been lurking in the shadows of the Null Void waiting for prey to fall into its grasp, this being ate people, we chalked it up to rumors given that there were species here that did in fact eat other species." he said to them.
"We met some of them, they breathed fire." Natsu said as this place might actually be a place Lisanna would love to heavily avoid as the things here, well he'd have no problem ending them as they were monsters in his mind pure and simple.
They got a flash on their Plumber badges and soon a map appeared.
"I thought Kevin was kidding when he said he mapped this place with Argit." Max said as this was detailed and even the asteroid they were on now was marked.
Mira made a hologram display appear and soon she saw what she was looking for "We're here and me and Natsu traveled around this area." she said as there was no way of telling what was which direction so it was mostly pointing.
"Me and Makarov were here." Max said to her as they looked the map over.
…
"Ben!" Erza said seeing him and Gajeel, she rushed to him giving him a bone-breaking hug that not many could withstand.
"Hey, squirt." Gajeel said as he was glad the youngest Dragon Slayer was alive and well "Who the hell is this?" he asked seeing a raggedy caveman with them.
"Phil." Ben said neutrally seeing the old plumber seeing his hand tremble unsure of what the man would do, he let go of Erza and looked at the man critically, this man was not a true enemy to Ben, but he did in fact try to harm his family so, there wasn't a high opinion he had of Phil.
"They said you could get me out of here." Phil said to him simply.
Ben was silent as he was unsure of what to do as Phil was a person who betrayed and attacked his family abusing the Null Void projector years ago to try and relive the glory days and restart the Plumber program, but he had been trapped here longer than anyone else should be, even if his crimes were unofficial at the time "Fine, I'll get you out of here." he said as the man may have been a pain, but he left Kevin here when he didn't deserve it as he was a kid, not fixing the same mistake this time around seemed unfair, unjust, and down right cruel.
Phil relaxed a bit thinking of his freedom.
"We have one more thing to do though, did you find Animo?" Ben asked Erza and Wendy as they shook their heads.
"Are you talking about D'Void?" Phil asked getting a look from Ben "I was a Plumber for a reason kid, I know how to do reconnaissance." he said to him.
"You can take us to him?" Ben asked him curious as to what he knew.
"I will if I can walk away from ALL of this clean." Phil said as he had something Ben wanted and that was his price.
Gajeel was curious as he had seen Ben negotiate with people and not the other way around.
"Fine." Ben said as they were surprised he made a deal that quick "But let me be clear on something, if you betray us, if you hurt my friends, my family, I will make this place seem like a paradise because I will make sure everyday for the rest of your VERY short life is a nightmare." he said to him, his glare clean and slight, but that did nothing to hide the power behind it.
Phil took a step back in fear as he hadn't seen that kind of look in all his time here, seeing it on a goofball kid he knew way back when was a bit scary.
The group composed itself Phil taking the lead as he was guiding them.
"I have to ask you something." Ben said next to Gajeel as both stuck to the rear "Does Phil have a similar scent to that place we found?" he asked as it wouldn't be a stretch.
"It was, but I don't think it was him though." Gajeel said to him as they walked "He may have killed those things, but something else was there, there are two separate scents." he said as he wondered how this news affected Ben's decision.
"We can't back out now, plus believe it or not what he did isn't illegal." Ben said as there was no true way to determine his innocence as many people here besides people that were born here were criminals, it was impossible to charge Phil with anything other than just surviving this place 'And if he didn't make those carvings, what did?' he thought in wonder.
…
"What the blazes are you doing?" Azmuth said appearing in Kevin's lab.
"Doing something semi-legal." Kevin said to him not going into details.
Azmuth raised a brow at that and looked at what Kevin was working with "A multiversal emitter?" he asked looking it over "Looks pretty basic and seems to be able to reach one dimension at a time." he said as while not very advanced it was still a piece of work.
"You know what this is?" Kevin asked curiously.
"Yes and technically so do you." Azmuth said looking it over "We technically made or rather used the right conditions for one when we went to the Null Void to see Dr. Victor." he said to him.
Kevin paused for a moment "Question, if I tuned this to the Null Void's frequency, could I get a message through?" he asked him.
"Theoretically." Azmuth said catching on "By the way where did you get this, these are rare to find and even rarer to find someone capable of building it?" he asked him.
"Believe it or not Earth and turns out this thing is 100% Earth tech." Kevin said as he found the device Nemesis made to summon Computron and was studying it.
Azmuth froze momentarily "I may have to redress Earth's planetary advancement level." he said to himself as he entered the Null Void frequency.
"Why'd you come here anyway?" Kevin asked him as he was patching through to the Plumber badge frequency.
"I was checking on the progress of Wendy's retrieval." Azmuth said thinking Kevin would be best to go too.
"Still going." Kevin said as it had been under three hours "Hey question is there anything special about the Null Void, I mean you Galvan manage it right?" he asked wondering since the man had to have more info on it than most.
"Technically we oversee it and the Null Void is much more than it seems Kevin." Azmuth said as the frequency was taking a while to lock in, something he expected from Earth technology "Have you ever seen changes occur in aliens there?" he asked him curiously.
"Rarely why?" Kevin asked as when he was living outside prison or was in it, he saw the occasional strange that was more than their usual brand.
"The Null Void is what I based the simulator for the Ultimatrix and now the Omnitrix's ultimate function on." Azmuth said shocking Kevin.
"Are you saying that aliens evolve in the Null Void?" Kevin asked in shock wondering if that's what happened to his powers when they went from energy absorption to matter absorption.
"Yes and no, the constant survival puts the body in a state of excitement causing it to adapt, but the dimension itself has its own field of energy that unleashes possible genetic potential, but it's different, believe it or not, it was the Vulpimancer species that made me look into this as each species changed under different climates and environments, at first it was a form of adaptation, but then I saw it was evolution." he said to him.
"So the Null Void can change things?" Kevin asked once again.
"Under the right circumstances, but the Null Void is tricky as the saying goes, everyone is different so any number of factors can change how something could progress." Azmuth said to him as they tried to establish communications in the Null Void.
…
Makarov watched as Max and Mira tried to figure out where to go next, but was brought out of his thoughts when he saw Ship cowering and Natsu looking like he was going to vomit.
Natsu soon vomited on the asteroid they were on as he looked around in slight fear.
Makarov had rarely if ever seen Natsu afraid and by the look of it something bad was going to happen.
"Max Tennyson, we meet again." a voice said making its presence known.
Max didn't recognize the voice, but the sound of heavy footprints made him tense.
The being soon appeared before them.
"A highbreed?" Max said as this Highbreed was a good five feet taller than the regular ones and had a high collar like for a coat, it had grey instead of white skin, but its hands and feet which were usually black were now crimson red, and the eyes on his chest were pure white along with the ones on its face, its wings were far larger than any highbreed he had seen, but the most creepy thing was its stomach it was open similar to the DNAliens, but it had teeth on the sides of the opening.
"Do you not remember me Max Tennyson, you put me here after all." The Highbreed said as the eyes on his face as well as his chest moved and glared at him.
"You, I remember you know, I thought you died." Max said as he glared at this highbreed "You're Leviathan." he said to himself.
"If that is what you wish to call me so be it." Leviathan said not really caring or bothered.
"Mind filling us in?" Mira asked as she'd like some context on who this was.
"During the early stages of the Highbreed invasion, they kidnapped my grandson, Ben's cousin to lure me out of hiding as I was attacking all their staging operations, I broke in and they detained me, Ben found me and rescued me with his team, but the Highbreed had made an army well within the thousands." Max said to them as if that army got loose, they could infect multiple towns within a short time.
"So he detonated a Null Void projector taking everything out for miles, sending not just himself but all of my army with him." Leviathan said to them.
"What happened to the people?" Makarov asked as this place was not kind, he'd hate to think about what'd happen.
"We staged a rescue operation after the war." Max said as he did this one in secret from Ben with the help of Azmuth as they used a DNA repair gun in order to free however many prisoners they could find as the DNA pulse Ben launched didn't reach the Null Void.
"But not all of them, I got hungry after a certain amount of time here." Leviathan said to him seeing and savoring the shock on their faces.
"You're the one that's leaving piles of bodies everywhere." Mira said as she glared at him, as she had seen his style, he played with his food making them suffer, it all honesty she was the same with her enemies in a way, she felt a rush in her demonic blood whenever her enemies suffered and had that look of dread in their faces when realising they were against a superior enemy.
Natsu dashed to Leviathan upon hearing that "You bastard!" he said as he ran right at him, his right fist ignited and blazing powerfully.
Everyone watched as Natsu's fist made contact and an explosion soon followed.
"Choke on-!?" Natsu was saying till a tentacle wrapped around him and Leviathan looked completely unharmed.
"He took a hit straight on how?" Max said in surprise as heat was the Highbreed's natural weakness.
"Fool, the Null Void is hot, it has suns within this dimension, and the temperature is well above what we Highbreed are used to, but I have adapted." Leviathan said raising his hand which ignited "Not even a Pyronite can harm me." he said having killed one to test his limits and learned he now had flame immunity "And that is not all I can do." he said chuckling evilly.
"Ahh!" Mira said looking at her legs seeing it covered in ice.
"He can control fire and ice." Makarov said as that was a deadly combination, especially since he mentioned he was flame retardant.
"I will feast on you all!" Leviathan said as the teeth on the sides of his stomach wiggled.
…
"Do you trust him?" Erza asked Ben curiously.
"About as far as I can throw him which is pretty far." Ben said jokingly trying to make the tension lighter "But I know he wants out of here, we can trust he'll do anything to leave this place and be clear of his crimes." he said to her.
"I need to ask, can you really do what he wants of you?" Erza asked wondering how much authority Ben had.
"Officially speaking I am a special agent of the Plumbers, I work universally answering only to my Grandpa Max, I am limited to a few protocols but otherwise I don't follow the same rules as most Plumbers, I can conduct official Plumber business, but I don't have to answer to a lot of people and go through most of the red tape." he said to her.
Erza listened and tried to gauge Ben's status to that of the magic council, she knew he was important having saved his world and the universe countless time and time again, but she had to put Ben's status on that of the council or a wizard saint or even higher if that was possible.
They were all brought out of their thoughts hearing maniacal laughter and bright light shining from a cave.
"There he is." Phil said to them stating the obvious "Deal's a deal." he said to Ben.
"You kept your end of the bargain so I'll keep mine." Ben said to him as he led them straight to Animo's hideout.
They were all brought out of their thought when they heard a roar.
"Everyone find cover!" Ben said as whatever Animo did he finished it.
They all waited and soon saw a giant bug-like creature made of stone come out.
"What the hell is that?" Wendy said slowly as her mana vision was getting weird signs from that creature and it felt off like it was completely and utterly wrong.
"A reanimated corpse." Ben said simply seeing exposed bone through it's scales "Animo is able to bring corpses back to life." he said remembering the T-Rex he fought as a kid "He is also able to evolve living creatures to monstrous levels, the two don't happen together thankfully." he said as due to it already being dead the DNA halted altogether unable to change.
"And I thought Maxxie and I had weird adventures." Phil said as he got a good look at the creature "That's a Crabdozer, they're the natural predator to Pyronites." he said to them "These things can withstand heavy fire and even heavy combat isn't worth much to that thing." he said as if he had to guess even tanks couldn't make a dent in it.
Ben nodded in appreciation "A lot of my guys are smaller than that thing so unless I go ultimate there isn't much I can do to beat that thing." he said to himself.
"Or you can think before you act." a familiar voice said coming out of the Omnitrix.
"Azmuth!" Ben said in surprise hearing him from the Omnitrix.
"I've heard what you're talking about, listen to me closely, that creature has a weakness, it is able to withstand heavy amounts of heat and has dense armor like the man said, but it is not stupid, it can detect and see heat similar to thermal vision." Azmuth said to him.
"So my ice aliens are my best bet." Ben said to him hearing Azmuth sigh.
"No, as I said it has a UNIQUE vision, it can even see the cold, and not all aliens with ice powers have matching insides as they do outsides, Big Chill's species eats the plasma from suns if you recall, that means it is hotter on the inside than it is on the outside." Azmuth said as he knew Big Chill would've been the more ideal alien for this battle, but the beast would react hostily to Big Chill and would even avoid it.
"So which alien do I use?" Ben asked rarely in this situation.
"Heatblast." Azmuth said surprising them.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Heatblast a Pyronite, the thing this zombie eats?" Gajeel asked no one in particular.
"I gotta side with the hippy on this, are you out of your mind?" Phil asked as if Ben died he felt Max would put the blame on him and he'd be stuck here.
"What'd you just call me." Gajeel said letting out a growl.
"The opposite in fact, Ben years ago you had to use Heatblast when you were sick and he gained ice powers correct?" Azmuth asked as Max had informed him on any abnormalities in Ben or the Omnitrix whenever he transformed.
"Yeah, but that was because I was sick." Ben said as he had been sick at the time as his aliens all gained different traits or symptoms at the time.
"That is only partially correct, I have monitored your use of Heatblast closely as you put Heatblast in instances where he is put in critical moments of adaptation, your body theoretically remembers the feeling of each instance, such as creating flames under water or maximizing the output of an adolescent Pyronite in a near infantile state where it exceeds its own adult form." Azmuth said as he saw the results of Ben underwater, Pyronites often stayed away from heavy sources of water never diving into it and was curious about the data and when he heard Ben had deaged in the past he saw the data the Omnitrix recorded from that date, Ben had exceeded Heatblast's natural heat when younger Pyronites often had weaker flames than their adult forms.
Ben looked at the Omnitrix and had to admit he had put Heatblast through the wringer as he was after all his first alien "Tell me what I need to do?" he asked Azmuth.
…
"Can Ben really adapt Heatblast nature even after all this time?" Kevin asked as it had been nearly a decade.
"Theoretically yes, the Null Void may be able to help push Heatblast's natural limits to re-engage his former ice powers." Azmuth said reminding Kevin of what they had spoken of earlier.
…
"Ben quick question, what the hell is that?" Gajeel asked seeing a giant T-Rex-looking creature.
Ben looked at it curiously and saw a familiar headband "Oh great now Animo has something under mind control." he said to himself.
"Mind control?" Erza asked Ben curiously.
"Those headbands are special they are able to control many kinds of different species, even beings with high intelligence." Ben said remembering when Aggregor used them on the five aliens he captured.
"Got any info on him?" Wendy asked Phil as he knew of the Crabdozer.
"Not a one, but look at it." Phil said analyzing it "It's like a giant T-rex and a centipede." he said noticing it was insect-like along with being reptilian in nature.
"Azmuth know any creatures like that." Ben asked him.
…
Kevin pulled up the feed from the Omnitrix, it was glitchy, but they got a good look.
"A Kaosseffexx Ultimasauria." Azmuth said in amazement that one was in the Null Void "Ben that is the predator to Humungasaur it is a deadly predator." he said as that particular predator was a hard one as not many species could match it, the only reason Vaxasaurians weren't extinct was that they grouped together and killed them off as the species current numbers were less than in the hundreds on their home planet, but in singular combat it wasn't a matter of if they'd survive, but how long they could.
"I've seen one of those in the black market." Kevin said getting a look from Azmuth "Way Big might be Ben's only hope against something like that." he said to him.
Azmuth couldn't deny that "Have you tried calling Max?" he asked him curiously.
Kevin connected to his badge.
"Kevin?" Max asked weakly.
Both Kevin and Azmuth were concerned now hearing Max.
"Max, what is the problem?" Azmuth asked curiously.
"A Highbreed from the war, he's been here all this time and his body has changed, he's bigger, stronger, and has control over fire and ice and he's just displayed an ability belonging to the Opticoid species, he's able to materialize eyes and shoot beams from them." Max said explaining the situation.
"Oh perfect more of this former war crap." Kevin said as he hated the sleeper that awoke from an earthquake "That's it I'm switching out, Ben and Max need reinforcements." he said as he went to the elevator "Call those two morons to have them ready the bases Null Void projector and see if you can patch in Ben and Max's coordinates so we can get there faster." he said as he left.
Azmuth nodded as the plan was sound 'You have come into your own Kevin Levin.' he thought to himself as Ben and Kevin had come into their own as they had developed much farther as they got older.
…
"Finally!" Natsu said in his Lightning-Flame Dragon mode as Leviathan was able to resist most of his flame attacks even his radiation, but he was weak to his lightning thankfully enough.
"Question would it be illegal if I tried to use my magic on him?" Mira asked Max curiously.
"Illegal no, might cause an incident though." Max said as the Highbreed while now at peace, were on thin ice for a time with many groups and species given their attempt to take everyone out "It'd be best if we subdued him." he said knowing he was asking for a tall order, but it'd be best to not cover this up.
Mira was thinking similar lines as she looked at her master and saw his slightly bloody hands as he tried to pin down Leviathan earlier due to his abilities and body, he bit their master's hands and fired from his eyes and body with beams and flames.
…
"We need to split up." Ben said to them "Two beasts plus Animo, that's three teams." he said to all of them.
"I assume I go after Animo?" Phil asked as given he was the only one without powers, he was next to useless for the beasts.
"Fine." Ben said knowing Phil was not gonna be of any use "Azmuth any tips?" he asked as if the Kaosseffexx Ultimasauria was as strong as Kevin thought and Way Big was his only option, it'd be hard as along with the beast's giant size it seemed very versatile and none of the nearby asteroids seemed big enough for Way Big to stand on.
"I think I might be able to do some damage to that thing." Gajeel said as his body was a living weapon, he could harm and kill this creature if need be "There won't be issues if I kill it will there?" he asked them.
"None whatsoever, the beast is wild no higher brain functions and it will kill anything it deems as an enemy, prey, or food." Azmuth said as Ben had rarely killed things in his long career as a hero, some mindless, some functioning, some things that defied explanation, but this creature could rarely be subdued and in Animo's hands they couldn't just wait for him to finish.
"I shall assist." Erza said as it would not be the first time she had slain a beast.
"Ready to fight a zombie alien rock bug?" Ben asked Wendy with a smirk.
"Yeah, would my mana be any help?" Wendy asked as the beast wasn't alive similar to Zs'Skayr.
"That would be ill-advised Wendy, I am unsure what reaction this zombie would have with mana." Azmuth said as he was unsure of this particular branch of science as it was unpredictable what this reanimated corpse would be like and what effects being a zombie would have on its biology along with the fact it was still dead 'And given what Hex did.' he thought as Zombozo was bad enough.
…
Gwen was bored out of her mind, she was searching into Harangue and his connection to those clubs, but so far nothing 'Why so many?' she thought as he didn't own any of them, he wasn't a sponsor, and he didn't donate anything to them which she could find 'Maybe I'm looking at the wrong category, what do they all have in common, they're country clubs, but what else.' she thought as she looked at their similarities.
Gwen read each one carefully 'Pools, open bars, golf, and…sports tournaments?' she thought to herself seeing they all had tennis programs and looked deeper into it and was shocked by what she saw.
…
"You just can't ever fight something normal can you!?" Kevin said to Heatblast as they fought the Crabdozer.
"You make it sound like this is my fault!" Heatblast said throwing fireballs at the undead creature "How the hell am I supposed to make ice!?" he asked no one in particular.
"I thought Ultimate Big Chill turned fire into ice." Kevin said as that seemed like a good reference if any.
"That's more biological than whatever this is." Heatblast said as he had been trying and having no luck 'I need to think, what can I do to force this.' he thought to himself feeling a burst of wind pass alongside him as Wendy fired a roar at the Crabdozer "Wendy!" he said calling her attention "Put my flames out!" he said getting an odd look, but she complied none the less.
They all watched as Heatblast was put into a smoky state, his flames mostly out, but he was still generating a lot of heat.
…
'I must admit this beast, is a true challenge.' Erza thought as it was very deadly, she now understood how this was Humungousaur's race natural predator.
"What the hell is that sword?" Gajeel asked Erza seeing the sword Erza had and saw it glow disintegrating the webbing that cocconed her.
"It belonged to Vilgax." Erza said as this blade was truly well-made and had many functions.
Gajeel was surprised as Ben mentioned that name to him before and it was not a time he'd forget "You sure keeping that thing is a good idea?" he asked as it was a poor idea to keep something that belonged to an enemy that hurt Ben so severely.
Erza was never one to waste items, especially swords "I'll talk to him about it, but before I forget." she said raising a red jewel that fired a red beam at the Ultimasauria.
Gajeel was slightly impressed.
…
'One last job Phil.' Phil thought to himself repeatedly as he spotted Animo.
"Tennyson and his fools will soon be no more." Animo said as he chuckled "Soon I, Dr. Animo will once again rule the world with my genius, I Dr. Animo will make an army of undead alien beasts, control the monsters that dwell deep within the Null Void, and make alien hybrid specimens!" he said triumphantly.
'Maybe I'm less crazy than I thought.' Phil thought to himself as this guy was a mixed bag of all kinds of crazy.
Animo's lenses were picking up a stray heat signature nearby 'A test subject.' he thought to himself grabbing a vial and soon activating his helmet "How perfect!" he said firing a beam from his antenna and capturing Phil "My my a human test subject, very rarely do I get to work on them." he said as he was aware of alien hybrids and that made the DNA humans had more valuable as they were more malleable and adaptable to change.
"Get away from me you nutcase!" Phil said gritting his teeth in pain as the beam that was holding him was not pleasant.
"My good man, you are going to be the first lucky few to be changed into something more than you could have ever dreamed!" Animo said as he loaded the DNA sample into a jet injector and injected the DNA into Phil.
Phil screamed loudly as he felt each cell in his body is ripped apart.
…
'Ok calm down and be cool.' Heatblast thought to himself as he had been trying to decrease his temperature, Wendy putting his flame out helped a lot, but he was nearing the threshold of when he'd be cold enough.
"Any day Tennyson!" Kevin said currently in the Crabdozer's jaw trying to not be crushed.
Wendy roared at one of the openings in the zombie and saw it expand a bit as it filled up with air, but the other holes on its body were causing the air to escape 'Need to do more.' she thought increasing the power of her roar causing Kevin to be shot out the mouth.
"Never wanna do that again." Kevin said wiping off the excess drool "Thanks little Tennyson." he said to Wendy as he got up.
"Think he can pull it off?" Wendy asked Kevin curiously.
"Listen your dad is the most stubborn person I know, he's done the impossible and improbable, he'll do it." Kevin said as if anyone could pull this off it'd be Ben.
Heatblast no longer felt hot or even warm, his body was as cool as a stone, but his temperature was dropping even more soon blue sparks appeared over his body and soon flames appeared but they weren't hot and were ice cold "Finally!" he said firing at the Crabdozer.
The Crabdozer stared at Heatblast in confusion seeing it was different than before.
Heatblast fired his beams to the ground and instead of launching up into the air on a flaming platform, it did nothing "Why can't I fly!?" he asked in shock.
"Heat creates elevation and thrust, ice slows and weighs everything down!" Kevin said as heat rose, that probably made Heatblast's natural geokinesis easier when said ground was on fire.
"So I'm grounded!" Heatblast said in indignation.
The Crabdozer roared as it tackled Heatblast making him fall off the asteroid.
"I'm on it!" Wendy said as she went after Ben leaving Kevin alone with the Crabdozer.
"How'd I get stuck holding the bag?" Kevin asked no one in particular as he changed his fists into hammers.
…
"Why are we not killing it?" Gajeel asked Erza as he thought he was all for killing this thing.
"Ben said it was mind controlled, while Azmuth did confirm the beast was mindless, I couldn't kill a creature for not making the choice itself to attack us." Erza said as she saw the struggle in its eyes, it made her resolve waver in her decision to end its life.
…
"So enjoying your trip to the Null Void?" Heatblast asked Wendy as he needed to gain some bearings on what he could do now instead of normally.
"Carla would pop a blood vessel if she knew what I was doing." Wendy said to him as she was getting a taste of what her dad dealt with on the regular, she wasn't sure if she was enjoying it or not.
Heatblast laughed at the thought of the small white cat talking to Wendy 'She is growing up.' he thought as Wendy was more independent from Carla as when he met them, it seemed Carla was leading the two-person team, despite the fact she was in fact younger than Wendy.
"Think you and I can pull off a unison raid?" Wendy asked him curiously.
Heatblast thought it was a decent idea, especially given his body now producing cold flames which worked best with wind magic.
"Hey Ben!" Kevin said on the edge of the asteroid above them "Am I interrupting!?" he asked trying not to be crushed as the Crabdozer had a claw trying to crush his head.
"Give me your hand!" Wendy said grabbing Heatblast's cold hand and threw him up so he could attack the Crabdozer.
Heatblast uppercutting the Crabdozer and sent him back "Wendy now's the time." he said increasing his cold fire ready to blast the moment he felt Wendy's wind.
Wendy took a deep breath "Sky Dragon Roa-!?" she was saying barely a wisp of wind escaping her mouth as she went stiff as a red smoke entered her nose.
"Wendy?" Heatblast asked turning around and was blindsided by the Crabdozer as it wanted to eat him.
"Kid?" Kevin asked seeing Wendy was frozen, he looked in her line of sight and saw a large moth-like creature slowly approach Wendy "Oh come on!" he said in pure annoyance.
"What is that!?" Heatblast asked trying not to get eaten by the Crabdozer.
"A Psycholeopterran, they hunt bugs and bird-like aliens, they have a hypnotic mist that works on those species, why is it working on Wendy though?" Kevin asked attacking it and making it back off.
'Is Grandeeney part bird?' Heatblast thought wondering if that was why it was working on Wendy as he knew she grew feathers whenever she entered Dragon Force, some reptiles had distinct relations to other species as he remembered when Animo made dino men and he evolved them all into chickens.
"Screw this!" Kevin said absorbing his belt buckle his entire right arm getting encased in metal as he made it into a sword and sliced off two of its arms "Who has the Null Void projector?" he asked curiously.
"I do, but my hands are kinda filled." Heatblast said blasting the Crabdozer in the eye, it took a few seconds but it backed away, he changed back and threw him the projector.
Kevin fired a portal "Quick chuck it in!" he said as the portal was sucking everything nearby.
"Where'd you open it!?" Ben asked him turning into Four Arms.
"Earth's sun!" Kevin said thinking on his feet, the Crabdozer was slowly being sucked into the portal so far only the head was through "Ah screw it." he said as closed the portal, the zombie now missing its head.
"Nice." Four Arms said to him, his eyes widened hearing fast movement and clicking and dashed to Wendy out of pure reaction.
"Ben!" Kevin said as he saw the Psycholeopterran with its fangs in Four Arms as it tried to attack Wendy.
"Not sentient right?" Four Arms asked getting a nod from Kevin as Four Arms ripped off the beast's wings and as a result, it released him from its mouth and it dropped on the floor curling in a ball and dying.
"Was I high?" Wendy asked her mind very cloudy and she could just taste the mist she inhaled.
"Probably." Kevin said as that was basically what it was as that mist basically weakened the mind.
"You did drugs?" Gajeel said walking to them with Erza in tow both of them seeing the headless corpse of the Crabdozer and the mutilated and bleeding Psycholeopterran "What we miss?" he asked wondering what was going on.
"Short version we got blindsided, what happened to you guys?" Ben asked having turned back to normal.
"We stopped the beast, but I decided against killing it." Erza said to him.
Ben nodded as nothing else needed to be said as mercy wasn't something someone should be ashamed of.
They were caught off guard when they saw a large explosion from the asteroid Animo was on and red lightning filled the area around it.
"I have done it, I Dr Animo, have finally completed my perfect invention." Animo said holding up a golden crown.
"What is that a tiara?" Kevin asked not getting a clear sight of it.
"Erza?" Gajeel asked her given she was very fashion excessive.
"It's a tiara." Erza said to them.
"What's the matter Animo, couldn't be crowned queen had to make yourself one." Ben said jokingly.
"Laugh while you can boy, my annextron combined with my transmodulator, I can not only revive and evolve species, I can steal what makes them special." Animo said smiling as he placed the crown on his head and his antenna glowed brightly as multiple bolts of lightning fired at all the predators.
…
Azmuth was watching from the live feed from the Omnitrix and was shocked seeing the lightning grab the wings and fangs from the Psycholeopterran, the armor and legs ripping off the Crabdozer, and finally the Kaosseffexx Ultimasauria unconscious form was being lifted off the ground and all the separated pieces were added to it 'This is truly bad.' he thought as the aliens separated were annoyances on their own, but together in this botched up monster, there was no telling what it could do.
…
"Yes!" Animo said loudly in victory "My new alien Chimera is a masterpiece!" he said as this alien predator monster was now going to destroy everything in its path.
"I'm guessing this is bad?" Gajeel asked them seeing the Chimera land on a asteroid stumbling as it got used to its new appendages.
"Extremely." Kevin said as there was no way he could take that thing "Think before you transform Tennyson." he said just as Ben was gonna change "The Psycholeopterran stopped your kid, this Chimera could literally be able to use those exact same powers, so no bugs or birds." he said to him.
Ben realized that knocked out around a dozen of his aliens.
"Don't forget the Crabdozer, that armor will be hard to break." Erza said seeing the legs and armor of the Crabdozer on the Chimera.
'That eliminates my fire guys.' Ben thought as Heatblast was his best fire guy aside from NRG.
"And the beast is Humungasaur's natural predator, so brute force is not going to cut it." Azmuth said through the Omnitrix.
'And that eliminates over half of my roster.' Ben thought as a lot of his aliens were hand-to-hand fighters, but compared to something that was stronger than Humungasaur they had no chance.
"Way Big's our only option man." Kevin said to him seeing the Chimera gain a new sense for its new parts.
Ben knew he was right as there weren't that many aliens in his arsenal that could beat that thing "Time for the big guns, get out of here." he said as they knew it wasn't an insult or anything of that manner as they all had seen Way Big, they knew how this would go.
They all ran away thinking five asteroids would be the minimal safe distance.
Ben found the icon he desired "Well Animo never thought I'd have to use Way Big for you, but here we are." he said slamming down on the dial.
…
Azmuth was getting an alert from the Omnitrix 'What?' he thought seeing the alert was about the Omnitrix's electrical current tripping the transformation selections and functions as it was as if a single transformation was being forced.
…
"Of all the damn times!" Kevin said as Ben transformed into the worst possible transformation for this situation.
"Humungasaur!?" Humungasaur said in shock and immediately slammed on the dial to change, but to his shock and horror, the Omnitrix was not changing him.
"Did you really think I wouldn't plan for you, you simpleton!" Animo said laughing loudly "You have always been a thorn in my side always getting in my way, I now have my ultimate beast and you will suffer the same pain you have put me through, though yours will be much more painful and far more quick!" he said as his antenna fired a beam at the Chimera's skull forcing the beast to submit and charge at Humungasaur.
"Ultimate good idea!" Hunungasaur said as while he was trapped as his current alien, it didn't mean he couldn't change this alien's form "Time to go Ultimate!" he said slamming the dial and gaining his ultimate feature "How'd you mess with the Omnitrix, that's above even your paygrade?" he asked curious to how he did that.
Animo snapped his fingers and a large hulkish figure emerged it looked mostly like a bipedal insect man.
"Phil?" Ultimate Humungasaur said seeing the feral look in his eyes "More alien hybrids." he said as Animo pulled this before, but he'd never seen that particular species.
"Yes this one was rather durable, I was surprised by how well he accepted the DNA, but the real gem is this species is able to disrupt all forms of electricity even your blasted device!" Animo said as he had captured this species before, but was forced to kill and extract its DNA as he was unable to contain it as D'Void as they kept draining from his drill machine.
…
'I swear, I need to make a stronger bio-electric regulator!' Azmuth thought in silent fury as he had thought that part of the Omnitrix was well built, but he had learned that a baby Tiffan was stronger in the previous model and even now with his new model it was suffering the same thing.
…
The others saw Ultimate Humungasaur charge at the Chimera.
"Kevin!?" Max's voice said over the comms "We need immediate backup, Makarov and Mira had to depart having little to no magic and took a Null Void projector leaving me with Natsu and Ship, ours is broken." he said over the line.
"Max must be in a situation, he rarely calls back up." Kevin said as he locked onto his position.
"What about Ben?" Erza asked seeing her boyfriend battle the Chimera.
"I'll stay." Wendy said to them.
"No." Kevin said immediately "You got mind jacked when those wings belonged to just a bug, we don't know if it'll happen again to you now." he said not letting her become dead weight for Ben "Plus Max and Natsu might be injured, Makarov and Mira had to leave, it means they were low on power." he said as Ben informed him of how powerful they all were and if they were pushed back it meant things were bad.
"I'll stay, maybe that thing only affected the shrimp." Gajeel said knowing it might've been because of Wendy's avian features that she fell prey to the mist 'And if it does affect Dragon Slayers, I'll just have to keep my distance.' he thought as he was guessing it was fifteen feet given how close the bug was to her.
Erza grasped Vilgax's sword wondering if it was possible to use it hurt the beast or perhaps the crystals she stole 'I don't know all their secrets.' she thought as while she can wield and use any blade, she felt these particular items could go either way for this fight.
"Iron Nightmare Dragon mode!" Gajeel shouted gaining his purple features and gems "Now go!" he said charging into the fight having Ben's back.
…
Gwen hated the thoughts that were coming to her mind as she found the common thread that all the clubs seemed to have in common and that thing made her worried 'It can't be, we would've noticed.' she thought to herself as she trusted herself and logic when she put the pieces together, but the picture this built wasn't making any sense, she made a phone call "Jimmy, I need a favor, it's for Ben and under no circumstances are you to tell him or post about it on your blog." she said as if this was in fact true, this'd change and shake the things that the team thought they knew.
Author's Note-Hey everyone sorry for the delay been kind of hectic this month got a few vaccine shots and they were not pleasant at all, basically, they made me sick to no end, I have been looking for a co-author to help me out with the story to make it less rough, I am serious asking around and getting zip, if any of you think you have what it takes message me and we'll talk, now I still have the poll open and a lot of you have been messaging me, I am keeping tally of both alright for who Natsu and Rex should date alright, also I know it seemed kinda rushed in the end of how the predators showed up, but I used what I could as the Null Void is mostly empty, another note I basically connected some dots to say the Null Void forced species to evolve, but given how species go in and come out different it shows that the Null Void has some effect on them, I mean there are the Vulpimancers, there was a tetremand that was turned blue, Kevin even learned more about his powers there, the connections may seem weak, but I tried to work with what I could to make it more exciting and give it more depth, to explain Heatblast having ice powers, I thought it was cool that he got them at one point and tried to reason how he could regain them hope that was well explained, now for the Highbreed I thought since Max was at point blank of the explosion and it teleported him to the Null Void, I thought it must've done the same for everything caught in it's blast, I had to make the Highbreed a bit more powerful as in Alien Force it was an alien that gave Ben trouble in multiple forms, so I did what I could and made changes based on it's weakness and powers and it's appearance I mean it had a lot of eyes on it, so I made the connection to Eye Guy naturally, I gave it fire and ice powers as I was thinking since it was in the Null Void as it's naturally warm there(I believe) and lives mostly in the cold similar to Big Chill, so I thought it could maybe mutate in that type of environment gaining those powers, finally the name Leviathan I thought it was a name that could fit a Highbreed and given that a lot of people die in the Null Void given that a lot of the things there are carnivores, Max wouldn't have been able to tell or know anything about Leviathan in his time there, I mean he never ran into Phil during that time, anyway that's it hope you all enjoyed the chapter and hope to get some support on P-A-T-R-E-O-N link is on my profile or you can search up P-A-T-R-E-O-N with my user name.