A fire was raging uriously throughout the apartment complex on the corner of Casey and Rouleau. Firefighters were rushing in trying to quell the inferno while rescuers tried to force their way into the building. Unfortunately, the blaze had broken much of the building's support structures, collapsing entire floors and shattering any possibly means to the upper levels. This was even more troubling as a mother and her son were still trap on the fifth floor.
As the fires burned their home around them, both rushed for the door – the boy, for some reason, was hugging his backpack trying to shield it from the flames. The mother's hand was only inches away from the knob when a large chunk of the ceiling broke off and dropped down between them and the door.
The mother and child backed away and a flaming bookcase tipped over behind them, preventing them from moving back. They heard an ominous creak coming from above their heads and looked up to see a piece of the ceiling break off and start to fall on top of their heads. The mother instinctively pulled her son close and pulled her body around to shield him. The mother and child shut their eyes tight and waited for the end to come…
Only it never did.
A few more seconds went by and they still weren't crushed to death, but they also felt a strange chill brush against their skin. The boy slowly opened his eyes and gasped in awe.
A block of jagged ice had risen from the floorboards and trapped the flaming wreckage in midair, snuffing out the fire, and a strange alien stood heroically on top of the frozen piece. The creature walked on all-fours and looked like a cross between a fish and a lizard with icy-blue skin. The cold alien had four shark-like fins running down its back, a row of sharp teeth over its lower lip, and black strips around its squinty eyes. Its body was covered in a black shell above its head and layers of white shells underneath its face with the Omnitrix symbol stamped in the middle of its chest.
"Who are you?" asked he boy, looking star struck.
"Don't worry, I'm here to help," said Arctiguana breathily; white puffs escaped his mouth.
The polar lizard took in a deep breath and then exhaled cloud of crystal-blue mist in every direction of the room, instantly flash freezing the flames and converting the apartment into an instant winter wonderland. The temperature in the room immediately dropped to below zero temperatures, but compared to the blazing heat from a few seconds ago, the mother and child had no room to complain.
Arctiguana pounced off the ice and gestured for the family to follow him. The boy smiled and immediately chased after the freeze lizard; the mother was more reluctant, but followed nonetheless. Arctiguana led the parent and child out into the hallway and stopped at the stairwell.
"This way," Arctiguana gestured to the stairs. "I'll cool down the fires before – " but before the freeze lizard could finish explaining, a chunk of the ceiling broke off and smashed through the wooden stairs. The mother and child looked to Arctiguana for help; the freeze lizard stared at the broken stairway with a look that clearly said: 'Are you freakin' kidding me?' "Okay, new plan. Head back that way!"
He turned back down the hallway toward a boarded-up window. Arctiguana exhaled his icy mist and flash froze the entire surface of the wall. He turned around, raised up his back legs, and kicked the wall with all the muscles in his alien body, shattering the wall into hundreds of broken ice chunks that dropped on the heads of the pedestrians watching from the streets. Arctiguana hopped over to the edge of the hole and breathed downwards, creating a slide of solid ice that connected from the window to the street.
"Go, go, move it!" shouted Arctiguana urgently.
The mother and child didn't need to be told twice. The boy hopped down the frozen slide first, followed by the still hesitating mother, and Arctiguana brought up the rear. In a few seconds, everyone was safely on the ground; the firefighters quickly brought in blankets for the mother and son to warm them up from the freeze lizard's breath. A crowd started to gather around Arctiguana, most taking out their phones and snapping pictures of the alien hero. Arctiguana gave them a toothy grin and waved like a celebrity.
"I'm sure you all to thank me personally," said Arctiguana haughtily. "But really, it's all in a day's work for – " He gasped, accidentally making a snowball that slapped one poor fool in the face, when he saw the boy pull out a set of golden colored trading cards from his backpack. "No way! A gold Sumo Slammer card! Where'd you get it?" He asked, practically crawled on top of the boy. "I've been searching all over for that!"
"It was a prize inside a box of Sumo Smacks cereal," the boy answered, looking just as confused as the onlookers scratching their heads. Why would an alien lizard be interested in a trading card?
A horn honked at them from the road and Arctiguana looked off to the side, spotting his grandpa Max and his dweeb cousin sitting in the front of the Rust Bucket while Trixie hovered over Gwen's shoulder.
"Yo, super doofus!" Gwen yelled impatiently. "The fire was just a diversion to cover up a jewelry store robbery! The bad guys are getting away!"
Arctiguana made a childish whimpering noise as he looked back at the boy, almost hoping that he would give up his golden trading card as a reward for saving his life. But the boy just stared at the freezing lizard, tilting his head in confusion. Arctiguana grumbled and begrudgingly walked back to the RV.
"I'm coming, I'm coming."
Several blocks away from the building fire, a single car was racing through the streets of downtown Washington D.C., ignoring all traffic signals and nearly running over crossing pedestrians. Two men dressed in stereotypical bank robber clothes – including the ridiculous sock masks – were feeling mighty proud of themselves. They had pulled over an easy heist without any interference from the police, and all it took was destroying the livelihoods of a couple dozen people. They were gonna get away with it…or at least that's what they thought before they noticed the Rust Bucket chasing them. The driver raised a brow under his mask. Since when do the police chase down criminals in beat-up recreational vehicles?
Inside the Rust Bucket, Arctiguana had taken Gwen's place in the passenger's seat while Gwen and Trixie stood in the middle of the aisle. All present humans shivered involuntarily from being in close proximity of the Polar Manzardill, who was blowing out cold air every time he breathed through his mouth.
"Didn't think I'd need to pack snow gear for a summer trip," said Max, shivering. He had cranked the heat up to full blast, but Arctiguana's breath overpowered the Rust Bucket's AC. "Suppose that's my fault for not planning ahead of time."
"Sorry, grandpa, I can't help it," Arctiguana apologized. "I'm just too cool for my own good."
"Accessing Pyronite sequence," said Trixie. The human Omnitrix's hair suddenly turned to fire, instantly heating up the Rust Bucket, much to Max and Gwen relief.
"Ten aliens in that stupid watch and you had to pick the living ice box," Gwen complained, warming up her hands near Trixie's flaming hair.
"Jealous?" said Arctiguana tauntingly.
Gwen glared and pushed Trixie forward so that she headbutted the Polar Manzadill, making the freezing lizard yelp and jump out of his seat when Trixie's hair whipped his behind.
The jewel thieves' tires screech as they made a sharp turn around the corner, but Grandpa Max's superior driving skills got them around safely without losing speed. They were starting to catch up to the thieves and Arctiguana pulled down the window, sticking his head out. The Polar Manzadill took a deep breath and heaved a cloud of icy mist on the street, creating a long stretch of ice down the road until it caught up with the robber's wheels. Their car lost traction on the ice and started spinning out of control until they rammed bumper first into a streetlight, bending the metal slightly but not enough to knock it over.
Arctiguana hopped out of the Rust Bucket, marched over to the driver's side door, grabbed the handle with his teeth, and ripped the door off its hinges. The jewel thieves whimpered and held each other as the Polar Manzadill glared at them.
"Unless you punks want a permanent case of frostbite," said Arctiguana threateningly, crumpling the door in his teeth to emphasize his warning, "down on the ground with your hands behind your head."
Neither of them was stupid enough to argue with a freaky talking gecko with ice breath. The jewel thieves quickly scrambled out of the car, dropped to the knees, and placed their hands behind their head with their backs turned on the Polar Manzadill. Arctiguana was unfortunately so caught up in his heroic act that he failed to notice the beeping noises emitting from his Omnitrix logo.
"You punks picked the wrong day to be bad – " Arctiguana returned to being Ben Tennyson in a flash of red light " – guys."
The jewel thieves couldn't help noticing the sudden change of voice from the freezing lizard. They both turned around and quickly realized that the ice iguana was missing and they were being held up by a runty little boy.
"Hey, it's just a kid!" yelled the first thief angrily; he didn't like being humiliated. "Get the jewels!"
Now Ben finally realized he had transformed back into a human when he looked down at his hands and saw that the watch had gone into recharge mode. The small boy chuckled nervously and started backing away from the criminals.
"Wow, time sure flies when you're having fun," said Ben nervously. "I – I've decided to let you guys off with a warning this time."
The jewel thieves snarled angrily, baring their teeth and cracking their knuckles threateningly. They stepped closer to Ben while he backed away from them at the same time, inadvertently tripping over the edge of the sidewalk and falling flat on his butt. The jewel thieves soon loomed over him. Both grown men started to pull back their fists to punch him out when a fireball suddenly flew over Ben's head and exploded on the ground at their feet, sending them flying and slamming into their wreck of a car, knocking them out. Ben blinked for a moment then spun around, spying Trixie hanging out the window with another fireball ready in her hand.
"I believe it is human custom to say 'thank you' when you rescue them," stated Trixie.
"I totally had that under control," Ben complained, standing up and brushing himself off.
"Yeah, cause letting the bad guys pound you into paste was totally part of the plan," said Gwen sarcastically. "You're just lucky that Trixie's here to save your butt when you mess up, like always."
"We can argue about this later," said Max, cutting them off before they could argue further. Off in the distance, they could hear police sirens closing in on their location. "Right now, we need to get out of here before the police arrive."
"But I'm the hero!" whined Ben.
"Now, Ben!" said Max firmly, leaving no room for argument.
"Aw, man," Ben bemoaned.
The young boy reluctantly climbed back into the Rust Bucket and drove away just moments before the police arrived on the scene, scratching their heads as to why half the road was frozen and why there was a giant scorch mark on the sidewalk.
The very next morning on the opposite side of Washington, a grumpy-looking bald man in a business suit was knocking incessantly on a small-town apartment building. The overhead sign said the building was being used by someone named Dr. Animo. When nobody responded to his knocking, he banged on the door harder and yelled.
"Hey, Animo!" said the bald man. "I know you're in there! Open up!"
But Dr. Animo wouldn't come to answer his knocking, so the balding man finally had enough and barged right into the building – it seems like Animo didn't know how to lock his door. When the businessman stepped inside, he had not been expecting to see walls of cages of every shape and size everywhere or to hear the overlapping noises of different animals. And the smell was the worst part – he couldn't even describe the smell because his nose immediately lost all sense.
"Oh man, that's just horrible," said the bald man, reluctantly walking further into the building.
He walked closer to a tank with a species of frog he had never seen before when heard someone's footsteps walking up behind him, turned around, and nearly jumped out of his pants. The balding businessman stared up at the face of a man with sickly, pale-green skin, yellowing eyes, and dirty white hair that touched past his shoulders. The reclusive man bared his broken teeth at the intruder.
"How did you get in?" questioned the sickly-looking man angrily.
"Passkey," answered the bald man, collecting himself and readjusting his tie. "I am still your landlord, remember? Maybe not since your rent is six months past due, Animo."
"All my funds go into my research," said Dr. Animo, glaring at the landlord. "Now get out! You're disturbing me!"
"Hmph, looks like you were disturbed long before I got here, pal" the landlord insulted, looking out the zoo-like apartment. "Listen, doc, you and your furry friends are out on the street, unless you pony up the green," he said, holding his hand out expectantly.
"Pony up," Dr. Animo repeated with a hint of amusement. He took out the frog in the tank and released it on the floor. "Interesting choice of phrases. You must be an animal lover. Then you're gonna love this."
Dr. Animo took out something from underneath on of his cabinets and turned around to the landlord with a serious expression. The balding landlord stared at Animo for a long minute, trying to process what he was seeing, and then broke out in a fit of laughter. Dr. Animo, for some reason or another, had put on a harness and helmet that looked like he had built from a cooking strainer and cobbled together electronics.
"What's that?" asked the landlord through his giggling fit. "You a member of the moose lodge or something?"
"This is my transmodulator," said Dr. Animo seriously. "Phase number one: it creates and accelerates mutations at the genetic level. Perhaps a demonstration is in order."
Dr. Animo twisted the dial on his chest, the patchwork machinery began to hum, and red sparks snapped from his strainer bowl helmet horns. Beams of red lightning struck down on the frog and the amphibian grew to be twice as big as the landlord with a murky-shade of green skin, growing two horns on the side of its head and doubling its number of red eyes. The landlord screamed like a frightened schoolgirl before the mutant frog swallowed him whole. The landlord makes an obvious attempt to escape based on the movement in the frog's mouth, which Dr. Animo found delightful.
"I'm sorry, I can't hear you," said Dr. Animo mockingly. "Sounds like you have a frog in your throat – or is that the other way around?"
The mutant frog eventually found the landlord to be a distrustful little fly and spit him out against the wall, knocking him unconscious on the floor. But Dr. Animo paid him no mind, instead staring spitefully at a newspaper clip he pulled from his pocket.
"So close to having what is rightfully mine," said Dr. Animo, clenching his fist angrily. "All I need is a few lousy components to finish my work."
"So whatever you need from hairspray to state-of-the-art electronics," said the advertiser to the commercial that had conveniently and unrealistically appeared on the television that hadn't been there a moment ago, "you'll find them under one roof at the grand opening of the district's newest mega mart."
"Ah…," said Dr. Animo sinisterly. "Just what the doctor ordered."
Either by sheer coincidence or dumb luck, the Tennyson party just happened to be shopping in that very same supermarket just on the other side of town.
Max led the children down the aisle with Gwen following behind bearing a sense of dread at the weird and disgusting things her grandpa liked to purchase even in convenient stores and Trixie looked around the complex in wonderment. Technically speaking, this was her first time ever being in a supermarket, or even in a big city – it was all brand new to her and she wanted to see everything. But Ben had other ideas.
The moment his eyes wandered toward the cereal aisle, Ben broke off from the rest of the group and made a beeline for the boxes of quick breakfast. He searched for one brand in particular, pulled it off the shelf, and eyed the ad in the corner
"Sumo Slammer cards, cool!" said Ben eagerly.
Wanting desperately to get the card inside, Ben hatched up a very devious plan.
Meanwhile, Max, Gwen, and Trixie stopped at one of the nearby aisles as the elderly man scrutinized a can of octopus chunks. Gwen was horrified; what kind of a freaky supermarket sold pieces of sea creatures in cans on store shelves, especially next to the soup?
"Hmm, only canned octopus," Max said disappointedly. "I thought this store prided itself on wide selection."
"Uh, grandpa?" said Gwen hesitantly. "No offense, but can we have a normal dinner for once? You know, one that doesn't involve stir-fried tentacles?"
"Heh, nonsense," Max chuckled amusingly. "Now where do you suppose they keep the sheep's bladder?"
"I happen to quite enjoy your meals, Maxwell," said Trixie as she and Max moved on to the back of the store. "Then again, I do have the dietary needs of over one million different species of aliens, so I don't think I have a right to talk about human standards."
Gwen groaned, already picturing the nightmare concoction those two would be creating tonight. But before she could (reluctantly) follow them, the redhead noticed a flash of green out of the corner of her eye, followed by the sound of reckless rummaging. Neither one was a very good sign.
"Ben?" Gwen called him suspiciously.
Gwen followed the source of the green light, turned into the cereal aisle, and gasped in horror at the grizzly scene.
Nearly every box of cereal in the row had been knocked off the shelves and had their tops ripped off, which was very impressive considering it had only been a few seconds. She stepped carefully into the aisle and noticed a single box of Sumo Smacks rattling around with something small moving inside. She pulled the box off the shelf and heard a tiny voice complaining ("Man, another red card"). She stuffed her hand inside and wrapped her fingers around the small creature.
"Gotcha!" said Gwen victoriously. She pulled her hand out and glared at the four-inch, gray-skinned, frog-like alien with large green eyes wearing a white jumpsuit with a black strip and the Omnitrix symbol on his back. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Uh, looking for the gold Sumo Slammer card, duh," said Gray Matter sarcastically.
"You're supposed to use your powers to help people," Gwen chastised him. "Not find some stupid trading card."
She was just starting to build into a whole tangent about using his aliens responsibly when they heard someone clearing their throat behind them. Gwen grimaced as she turned around, keeping Gray Matter hidden behind her back. One of the store employees (his name tag said "Regis") looked very unhappy with Gwen.
"Just what do you think you're doing, young lady?" questioned Regis irritably.
"It wasn't me!" said Gwen. "It was my doofus cousin!"
"Well, someone is going to have to pay for all this," Regis told her.
And that how Gwen and Ben found Grandpa Max and Trixie in the back of the store five minutes later, dumping piles of opened Sumo Smacks cereal boxes into their cart. Max was obviously disappointed, but Trixie broke her normally expressionless state and glared angrily at Ben. The young Tennyson boy noticed and quickly jumped on the other side of Gwen to keep them separated.
"So why are we buying all this cereal?" Max interrogated.
"Well, we would have only had to buy the one I found the gold Sumo Slammer card in if Gwen hadn't butted in with her big butt!" said Ben angrily.
"Hello!" Gwen snapped back. "You were trashing the whole cereal aisle just to find some stupid piece of cardboard!"
"Ben, now I can appreciate how much this card means to you – " Max started.
"I can't," Trixie interrupted, show the first sign of anger since the Tennysons met her. "How could you do something so stupid with the Omnitrix? Do you realize what you are wearing on your wrist? That is the most powerful weapon in the known universe – a Yautja hunter and her pet Xenomorph tried to kill you for it! And you waste its power because of some ridiculous card that has no real value?"
"Hey, I'm the one busting my butt saving people every day!" Ben argued. "I just saved a bunch of people from a burning building last night!"
"All right, you two, that's enough," said Max.
Ben and Trixie glared at one another and turned away in a huff as their group moved on to the rest of the store. As they were walking by the electronics section, Ben noticed a standee and a display case for the Sumo Slammer's franchise (which made no sense because trading cards had nothing to do with electronics). Ben paced over to the case gleefully, purposely ignoring the daggers Trixie was glaring into the back of his head.
"Whoa," said Ben gleefully. "Sumo Slammer cards – a complete set."
Trixie shook her head disapprovingly while Max and Gwen frowned at the display.
"Let's go check out the pet department," Max suggested. "Trixie, stay here and make sure Ben doesn't try anything."
"If he does anything stupid again, I'm putting him in lockdown mode," said Trixie, still miffed.
"Please tell me you aren't looking for our breakfast," said Gwen pleadingly to her grandfather.
Trixie watched them disappear around the corner and turned back to Ben; the boy was still staring fixatedly at the display case.
Now Trixie was a creature that was born (built?) based on logic, and no matter how hard she tried to rationalize it, she could not understand Ben's obsession with a piece of worthless cardboard enough that he would waste the Omnirix's charge. It made about as much sense as Pyronites mating with Pisccuss Volanns or why this nation would make a con artist their leader. Trixie often wondered if she would have been better off taken by the Yautja just from looking at the Omnitrix's wielder.
"Someday, you'll be all mine," Ben spoke to the card like he was possessed.
Trixie was just about ready to tear the boy away from the display when the ground suddenly started shaking, taking even Ben's mind off of the gold card.
A muffled thud echoed before the ground quaked each time, rattling the items off the shelves including the wide screen television that smashed at Ben and Trixie's feet. Sensing that the tremors were getting closer, Ben instinctively grabbed Trixie's arm and pulled her behind the display counter before the wall exploded inwards. Trixie laid flat on the ground with her hands over her head while Ben chanced a peek around the counter and looked up.
"Whoa," said Ben in amazement.
Dr. Animo had driven him way through the display of televisions riding atop his mutated frog like a bull. The sickly-looking scientist gazed around for what he wanted. He jumped down from his seat on his froggy steed, pulled out a dirty pillowcase, and started stuffing it with packaged machine parts. That was the moment when Ben decided to be the hero and jump out into the open before Trixie had a chance to warn him. Dr. Animo noticed the spry boy and leered through her red-lensed goggles.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" questioned Ben.
Rather than answer the boy's question, Dr. Animo snapped his fingers and his mutant frog lashed its tongue at Ben. The young Tennyson boy ducked his head out of the way in time, but the mutant's tongue whipped the display of boxes behind him and brought the whole thing tumbling down on top of him. Luckily, the display was only for empty boxes, so there was no harm done. Ben crawled out of the cardboard avalanche and looked up as Dr. Animo loomed over him threateningly.
"Don't be a hero, kid," Dr. Animo warned. "Just run along and play."
Ben glanced down at the Omnitrix – it was still in Cooldown Mode from his stunt in the cereal aisle.
"You are so lucky I can't go hero," muttered Ben in annoyance.
Dr. Animo chuckled at the amusing threat and hoisted himself back aboard his mutated amphibian just as the store security started to show up.
"Freeze," the security worker said weakly, only just realizing there was a gigantic, four-eyed horned frog in the middle of the electronics section. "Get down off that giant…frog…thing and put your hands up."
Dr. Animo scoffed and silently commanded his pet forward, leaping over the security guards and bouncing off to another section of the store. The security guard pulled out his walkie talkie, watching the pair go in disbelief. "Uh…we have a grab and dash in electronics. Male, five-foot-six, riding on a giant frog or-or toad – trust me, you can't miss him."
"Benjamin!" yelled Trixie, running over to the boy in worry. "Are you all right? What were you thinking going up against him while the Omnitrix is in Cooldown Mode?"
"We can argue later," said Ben hurriedly. "Where are Grandpa and Gwen?"
The other Tennysons were on the other end of the store in the pet section. Grandpa Max was looking over his handmade list scratching his head while Gwen played with a hamster in its cage. But the quiet moment was quickly ruined when Dr. Animo and his mutated monster hopped over the shelves and landed in the middle of the pet section with a heavy thud. She didn't know why, but Gwen was almost sure Ben had something to do with it – he always seemed to attract the biggest weirdos.
Dr. Animo turned the dial on his harness and his strainer bowl helmet blasted its red lightning energy towards the cages where Gwen was standing. Grandpa Max quickly dived and pushed Gwen out of the way before the energy could hit, instead zapping the little hamster inside. Only that little hamster busted out of its cage and grew to be eight feet tall with three smaller eyes surrounding its bigger eyes.
Dr. Animo then did the same thing with the cockatiel in the hanging cage next to it, growing the small bird twelve feet in height with a large wingspan and razor-sharp talons.
"Arise to your full potential, my pets!" Dr. Animo shouted dramatically.
Ben and Trixie arrive moments later and came to a screeching halt when they saw the mad doctor had expanded his ranks from one frog to group of mutated monstrosities. The mutant cockatiel paced around the mad doctor while the mutant hamster climbed over the shelves, chasing after Max and Gwen, roaring hungrily.
"Oh man, what kind of pet food are they selling around here?" gapped Ben.
"I do not understand why humans need to inject humor into these types of situations," said Trixie astounded.
"Behold the genius of Dr. Animo," said Dr. Animo self-importantly, joined by his posse of mutants. "Nothing can stop me from getting what I deserve. Mark my words! Today, I will make history, or should I say, pre-history."
"If that's your way of telling us your evil plan," said Gwen, "then you might not be as smart as you think."
"Silence!" yelled Dr. Animo.
"If you hadn't used the Omnitrix's charge to go looking for that ridiculous card," Trixie whispered into Ben's ear, who looked down at his watch with a groan, "one of those aliens could have prevented us from becoming Cricetinae nourishment." Ben looked at the green-haired girl with no clue what she just said; Trixie rolled her eyes exasperatedly. "Hamster food."
The mutant hamster in question took a thunderous step closer to the Tennysons and roared, splattering their shoes with slimly green mucus; Gwen would have been disgusted if she wasn't so terrified.
The Tennysons screamed in a panic, spun around on their heels, and took off in the opposite direction. The mutant hamster leaped, already catching up with its human prey in only two pounces. The mutant monster crashed into Trixie and knocked her down, but Dr. Animo's pet seemed to care very little about her and went after the Tennysons instead. The mutated monstrosity didn't have very far to go; Ben and his family somehow ended up walking into a dead end literally only ten feet away.
Max pushed Ben and Gwen behind him and threw his arms protectively, staring down the eight-eyed hamster. The mutant pet roared and crouched low to pounce them when Trixie suddenly came up from behind and threw herself onto the hamster's back. The mutant hamster roared and tried bucking the green-haired girl off, but Trixie was holding onto clumps of the animal's fur for dear life.
"Trixie, get down from there!" shouted Max worriedly.
"Don't worry, I got this!" Trixie assured him. "Accessing Aerophibian sequence!"
Red and Yellow streaks replaced the green in Trixie's hair and the girl's eyes glowed green with vibrant energy. While the mutant hamster kept trying to buck the human Omnitrix off its back, even slamming itself into store shelves and knocking over the products, Trixie pulled herself up until she was staring directly at the monster's forehead. Trixie leered and blasted her eye lasers into the hamster's skull. The massive mutant squealed when its limbs suddenly seized up and it fell over sideways; Trixie got thrown off and landed on a pile of flour – lucky her.
"Trixie!" Max, Gwen, and Ben cried out, running and helping her up.
"What did you do to that thing?" asked Gwen curiously.
"In ancient times, Aerophibians evolved to use their neuroshock blasts to paralyze their prey," Trixie explained. "I just applied the same method to that…thing. It will be several hours before it can more again."
"Uh-huh, that's right," Ben boasted, doing a little dance. "Even without aliens, not even giant hamsters can mess with Ben Tennyson!"
"Except Trixie did all the work while you were crying behind grandpa like a little girl," said Gwen tauntingly.
"Was not!" Ben yelled; Trixie sighed exasperatedly.
The all-too familiar ground shaking returned as Dr. Animo hopped around from behind the shelves riding his mutant frog. The mad scientist spotted his motionless pet mutant lying in a bed of dented cans and then at the Tennysons standing around the beast.
"You fools!" yelled Dr. Animo dramatically. "You cannot stop me! I will turn Washington D.C. into Washington B.C."
"So what you're saying is your evil plan is to go to the natural history museum and use your freaky gizmo to revive the dinosaurs?" said Gwen.
"What – how did you - ?" Dr. Animo sputtered in shock.
"You aren't exactly subtle," said Trixie bluntly.
Dr. Animo growled in frustration – very understandable considering two little girls figured out his evil scheme in only a few minutes. The mad scientist jumped off of his toad onto the back of the swooping cockatiel that flew by and flapped towards the ceiling, smashing through the skylight. Max threw himself over the children to protect them from the falling glass. The mutant frog didn't want to be left behind and bounced out through the broken skylight following its creator. Dr. Animo was gone and he left behind a trashed convenience store with a limp mutant hamster in the canned goods section, but Regis the store employee looked surprisingly cheerful when he approached the Tennysons with the security team.
"You saved the store!" Regis said to Trixie in sweet relief. "If there's anything I can do to repay you, anything you want!"
"Well, now that you mention it – " Ben said wickedly, butting in front of Trixie. Thankfully, Grandpa Max pulled up Ben and walked away with Trixie and Gwen following him. "Grandpa! I was finally gonna score the gold Sumo Slammer card!"
"No time for that now, Ben," said Max, setting him back on his feet. "If what your cousin said was right, then we have to stop that nutjob Animo before he turns the nation's capital into a Jurassic nightmare."
Gwen laughed in his face as she passed and Trixie just shook her head in disappointment. Ben groaned and hanged his head, following everyone back to the Rust Bucket.
Catching up to Dr. Animo wasn't too difficult – I mean, how hard could it be to find a giant mutated cockatiel in the middle of Washington D.C.? Max's expert driving skills got them around the corner without losing speed and continued down the road while keeping Dr. Animo trained on their sights. While Gwen was sitting in the back typing on her computer and Trixie waiting patiently for her to finish, Ben was, of course, pouting in the passenger's seat.
"Ah, just like the good old days before I retired," said Max reminiscently.
"So, exactly what kind of plumber were you, grandpa?" asked Gwen, raising a suspicious brow.
"I – uh – a darn good one," Max sputtered evasively.
"Plumbers…," Trixie hummed the world, touching her chin thoughtfully. "That word seems familiar…."
"They do have bathrooms in space, right?" asked Gwen.
"No, it has nothing to do with sanitary needs, Gwendolyn," said Trixie, her brow creasing like she was thinking very hard. "That word – I know it means something important, but I can't remember what. The answer must have been in the gaps in my memory banks. If I could just remember what…."
"Uh – hey, Ben, what's the matter?" Max asked his grandson almost too quickly, like he was purposely trying to change the subject.
"I save people all the time when I go alien," Ben complained, "and what do I get? Nothing. It's not fair."
"Being a hero isn't about others knowing you did something good," said Max sagely. "It's about knowing you did something good. Being a hero is its own reward."
"What? Were you reading greeting cards at the mega mart," Ben scoffed.
"Well, yes," Max admitted.
"Bingo!" announced Gwen suddenly. Ben and Trixie turned their attention to the redhead; Max was a responsible driver and kept his eyes on the road. "Five years ago, Dr. Aloysius James Animo was a promising researcher in veterinary science. But it turned out he was doing all these twisted genetic experiments and was mutating animals. And when he didn't win some big prize called the Verities Award, he flipped out."
"Any of this sounds familiar to you, Benjamin?" commented Trixie pointedly; Ben stayed silent and turned away.
Unfortunately, in the middle of their conversation, Dr. Animo had decided to cut time and went over the rooftops, effectively losing the Rust Bucket. But on the positive side of things, the Tennysons already knew where he was headed thanks to him spelling out his plan back at the mega mart.
The Rust Bucket parked outside the Natural History Museum and rushed up the stairway. The front doors had been busted open and the feathers littering the ground made it all the more apparent who was responsible.
"Stay close, everyone," Max warned them. "We don't know what Dr. Animo may be capable of."
"I can handle anything that creep throw at us," said Ben confidently.
"Which means Trixie will have to clean up after you – again," said Gwen.
Ben stuck his tongue out.
The Tennysons walked into the museum without running into any trouble and headed toward the dinosaur section without even spotting a single mutant or guard – the museum's security was severely lacking. They walked by the mammoth skeleton display when Ben notices a box sitting on the raised platform and picked it up. It was one of the stolen parts from the mega mart. And not much farther away, they spotted Dr. Animo tinkering with his harness. None of the Tennyson's said a word as they tried to sneak up on him, but the lunatic scientist somehow knew they were there anyway. Did this guy also have animal senses too?
"You are very persistent – I hate persistent," said Dr. Animo as he rounded on them.
"We all know about you and your freakazoid experiments, Dr. Animo," said Ben. "It's over."
"Oh, but it's only just begun," said Dr. Animo self-assuredly. "See, I only needed a few components to push my work into phase two: the reanimation of dormant cells."
"Uh…does this guy come with subtitles?" asked Ben; the science went completely over his head.
"He's talking about bringing dead creatures back to life," said Trixie knowledgably.
"Precisely," said Dr. Animo proudly. "Breathing life into that which has long been lifeless. Allow me to demonstrate."
Dr. Animo turned the dial on his harness once more and electric beams of red energy shot from his strainer bowl helmet into the woolly mammoth display. The lifeless mammoth's eyes glowered red, its trunk honking like an elephant, and took its first step off the platform. With each earth-trembling step, it moved closer to the Tennysons looking very angry.
"Behold the genius that is Dr. Animo," said Dr. Animo jubilantly before running away.
"That doesn't even make sense!" yelped Gwen. "That's not a real mammoth; it's just a display made of sandbags and cloth! It can't come back to life!"
"We can worry about the logic later," Max spoke very calmly. "Now would be a good time to go hero, Ben."
"No kidding," said Ben, pushing the button on the Omnitrix to raise its core. "You guys go after Animo. I'll take care of Jumbo."
Ben slammed his hand down on the core and exploded into the green light, physically morph into his new alien form. When the light died down, Ben had transformed into a nine-foot-tall orange and white tiger with a very muscular build, a single claw coming out of each of his wrists, and the Omnitrix symbol stamped on his white-furred chest. Gwen and Max gasped at the new alien, mostly because of its size and muscular mass, but Trixie looked away with a huge blush on her face (She didn't have the guts to tell Ben the Omnitrix made a glitch and that his alien form was naked).
"Let me tell you something, giant woolly mammoth that it's really a woolly mammoth!" Rath screamed at the beast. "Rath is gonna tie that stupid trunk into a pretzel and then Rath is gonna body slam you into next week!"
"Why is he yelling like that?" asked Gwen.
"It's an unfortunate side effect of the Appoplexian DNA," answered Trixie. "Appoplexians are very open about their emotions, though their brain chemistry is generally hardwired toward blind rage and aggression."
As if trying to prove her point, Rath let out a powerful roar that caused many of the displays to tremble, rushed at the mammoth, and shoulder tackled the great beast in the trunk. The Mammoth was sent sliding backwards into a display case of very ancient and valuable-looking artifacts on the wall, shattering everything into a billion pieces. Before the revived animal (which wasn't a real animal) could regain its footing, Rath rushed in, grappled the mammoth by its horns, and twisted them sideways to drive the mammoth into the floor. The aggressive Appoplexian then started to punch the living daylights out of the mammoth, and as much fun as it was to watch, Trixie, Gwen, and Max knew they had other business to take care of.
Leaving Rath to take care of the (not real) mammoth, Gwen, Trixie, and Max chased after Dr. Animo into the next room, quickly stopped when the mutated Cockatiel blocked their path. Trixie pushed her way in front of the group, holding out her arm protectively.
"Accessing – " Trixie started.
But she never had the chance to finish when the mutant cockatiel's wings swiped around in the blink of an eye, slapped Trixie across the face, and knocked her on the floor.
"Trixie!" said Max worriedly as he picked her up. He patted her cheek lightly; she was out cold.
The mutant cockatiel howled and took one monstrous step closer to them, making Gwen and Max take a couple steps back. At the time, Gwen just happened to notice the display of a caveman directly to their right and took the spear out of the model's hand.
The redheaded Tennyson confidently approached the mutated avian as she twirled the spear in her hands with great coordination, making the Cockatiel twitch uncomfortably. Once she had reached a good enough distance, Gwen gripped the spear's end and slammed it down on the bird's head. The mutated avian squawked and stumbled deliriously, then Gwen went in with the finish blow by spinning around and breaking the spear across the cockatiel's face. Now in a panic, the mutated bird turned around and ran away with its tail feathers literally between its legs.
"Ben's not the only one with skills," said Gwen proudly; Max stared openmouthed at his granddaughter.
Max threw the unconscious Trixie over his shoulder for the time being as he followed Gwen into the next room. Dr. Animo noticed them coming in and smirked before turning his makeshift machine on the gigantic dinosaur display in front of him. The red lightning struck the prehistoric skeleton, materializing flesh and sinew to fill in the empty space. Soon enough, the Tennysons were staring up and the hulking monster known as the Tyrannoaurus Rex, though several chunks of its flesh were missing, but that did nothing to take away its deadliness.
"Okay, that thing is made of plaster casts, not real dinosaur bones!" shouted Gwen, angrier that logic was taking a massive hit today rather than the man-eating monster coming back to life.
"Not the time, Gwen!" said Max as the T-Rex stepped down and roared hungrily.
Back in the other room, Rath was thrown clear across the chamber and smashed into a wall between a stegosaurus display and, for some odd reason, a wooden statue of a brown bear. The alien tiger man fell forward on his hands and knees, growling spitefully at the reanimated mammoth.
"Let me tell you something, wooly mammoth that isn't really a mammoth!" yelled Rath. "Rath does not like being thrown around! Being thrown around makes Rath angry! And let me tell you something, museum wall!" He turned his back on the mammoth and glared angrily at the cracked wall. "Rath does not appreciate being thrown into you!"
The reanimated mammoth blew its trunk, alerting the Appoplexian as it charged for the humanoid tiger again. Rath let out another bone-rattling roar, pivoting on his heel, and throwing himself to meet the mammoth halfway.
Rath punched the mammoth across the face with a clean right hook, making the mighty monster stumble, and threw himself over its horn to lock it in a chokehold. Unfortunately, the mammoth easily lifted the Appoplexian off the ground and tossed him into the air, sending him flying into the triceratops bone display. Rath rose from the ruined display wearing the triceratops skull for a hat before he ripped the material in half and howled at the mammoth heatedly.
"Let me tell you something, wooly mammoth that isn't really a mammoth!" yelled Rath. "Rath is gonna punch you so hard, Rath will knock you back to the ice age!"
The reanimated mammoth charged at Rath again, but this time the Appolpexian waited for the beast to come to him instead of jumping straight into the fight. When they were close to one another, Rath reached out and grappled the mammoth's trunk and forced it down to the ground sideways. The Appoplexian turned, carrying the weight of the massive mammoth behind him, and spun around in circles until the furry beast was no longer touching the floor. After ten full rotations (and when Rath started feeling a little dizzy), the Appoplexian released his grip and flung the mammoth across the room. The massive furball slammed into the upper edge of the doorway, breaking off large pieces of stone that fell on the mammoth when it hit the ground.
But back with Rath, the tiger man was hobbling around dizzily and holding his hand over his mouth.
"Oooh…Rath thinks…Rath is gonna hurl," Rath groaned, before he felt the bile rise up to his throat.
Gwen and Max ducked underneath the T-Rex's tail before it slammed into the wall next to them. Dr. Animo climbed on the back of the dinosaur's neck and the two of them made their way to the exit with every earth-shaking stomp.
"I'd love to stay," said Dr. Animo, "but I need to claim the award I so richly deserve."
The T-Rex lowered its head under the entryway, but the rest of its body was too massive to fit through, so the walls crumbled around them as they made their exit. Max and Gwen could only stand and watch through the hole in the wall until they heard a familiar avian screech and spun around.
The mutant cockatiel was back and it was not too happy to see Gwen again. The massive bird swooped down, closed its talons around the redhead's shoulders, and flew out of the museum with its prey screaming in its claws. Max wanted to chase after his granddaughter, but with Trixie unconscious, he couldn't very well leave her alone. So he went with the next best thing:
"Ben!" called Max.
The instant he heard his human name, Rath came around the corner, dashed out of the hole, and leaped as high into the air as far as his legs could push him. Max watched them go with a worried expression until he noticed something that stood out among the rubble on the floor. It was an old newspaper clip; Max hummed in thought.
Back outside, Rath's excellent jumping skills allowed him to reach the mutant cockatiel and grab on to a bundle of its feathers, making the avian squawk in surprise.
"Let me tell you something, giant ugly mutant bird thing!" yelled Rath. "Rath may think Gen Tennyson is annoying and a dweeb, but Rath respects Gwen Tennyson and thinks she's pretty cool sometimes, so Rath ain't letting you take her away!"
"Did I just get insulted and complimented?" asked Gwen, raising a confused brow.
The mutant cockatiel flapped in place trying to shake off the alien tiger, but he was not letting go any time soon. But when the avian dive-bombed toward the ground, the Appoplexian's grip ripped up the clumps of feathers he was holding on to and fell off, plummeting thirty feet to the ground.
Rath crashed in the middle of the street, making a huge crater from the impact. It was very fortunate timing that the Omnitrix lost its charge only a few second after and not before, leaving Ben lying in the middle of the hole he created in his human form rather than as a smear on the ground. Ben climbed out of the crater with some effort and watched helplessly as his cousin was dragged off by the monster bird.
"No, Gwen!" cried Ben.
Grandpa Max and Trixie (who was holding a bag of frozen squid arms to her head) arrived in the Rust Bucket almost immediately.
"Somebody call for a taxi?" said Max.
Ben wasted no time jumping into the Rust Bucket before Max slammed his foot on the accelerator.
Meanwhile, Gwen had finally gotten over the sheer terror of being carried off by a giant, possibly flesh-eating bird and looked extremely peeved, cross her arms and glaring into nothingness.
"Spend the summer with your grandpa, honey," said Gwen is a sarcastic imitation of her mother's voice. "It'll be an adventure."
While the Tennysons were scrambling to rescue Gwen from the clutches of the monster bird, Dr. Animo and his new pet Tyrannosaur Rex were stampeding down Independence Avenue, crushing cars into flat sheets of metal and smashing their way through every building that came in their path. Dr. Animo laughed as the crushed their way through the mega mart where this whole journey began and made the whole building come crashing down (Regis was on the opposite side of the street, curled up and crying into his hands).
"Ah, I do love my work," said Dr. Animo.
Neither the mad scientist nor the T-Rex noticed that the object of Ben's obsession, the golden Sumo Slammer card, had been lodged underneath the skin of the Tr-Ex's toe before they continued on their way.
The mutant cockatiel had moved Gwen from his talons to is beak and perched itself at the very tip of the Washington Monument. The way she was dangling so precariously from the monster's beak, and the way she was fifty feet from any solid ground, Gwen did everything in her power not to just wet herself right there. Just when – thought she would never say it out loud – she really wished Ben was around, an idea suddenly struck her. She remembered that she had packed a cellphone before leaving on their country wide trip, which she thankfully had the foresight to keep in her pocket.
"My mom said only use it in an emergency," said Gwen, whipping out her phone and hitting speed dial. "I guess this qualifies."
Max took a hard left down Pennsylvania Avenue, which was not good for Trixie's throbbing headache. They were in such a rush to find Gwen that Max wasn't paying attention to the road and nearly ran over the president of the United States. Ben was biting his bottom lip nervously, keeping an eye towards the sky for any signs of Dr. Animo's pet monster.
"No sign of beak breath," Ben reported.
"There can't be that many places for a parrot the size of an elephant to roost," said Max. He reached over the dashboard and pulled out the newspaper clip he found at the museum. "Here, look at what Dr. Animo left behind."
Trixie reached past Ben, snatching up the paper, and looking it over. It was an old article about an award that had been given to some veterinary scientist and showed the winner shaking hands with the clinic president. Standing in the background was another man glaring at the award winner with suppressed contempt. Though he had brown hair tied into a ponytail and his skin was a normal tone, Trixie recognized this man to be Dr. Animo. Knowing that this might be a clue at what he was planning next, Trixie read the article aloud:
"'Doctor Kelly accepts Verities Award' – Dr. Animo said he was going to claim the award 'he so richly deserves'. Animo must be going after Dr. Kelly to take the award by force. We have to stop him."
"First thing's first," said Max. "We have to find Gwen."
And as luck would have it, the phone of Max's dashboard rang and the caller ID showed that the number belonged to Gwen's cellphone. Max performed a risky U-Turn that nearly caused them to run into oncoming traffic and as he accepted the call. They made a beeline to the Washington monument, which was thankfully close to where they were.
"Hold on, Gwen, we're coming!" shouted Max
"I can't hold on much longer!" Gwen told her, panicking when the bird deposited her on the top of the building and flew off. "I'm stuck up – oh no, no, no!" Gwen scrambled for the cellphone as it slipped out of her hands.
The Rust Bucket stopped in the shadow of the monument and Ben, Trixie, and Max rushed outside just as Gwen phone smashed to pieces at their feet.
"Oh no, Gwen will be next," said Max worriedly.
Ben was trying to keep back the image of his cousin lying broken on the floor like her phone when he heard a sharp beep from the Omnitrix. He looked down at the watch and felt relief wash over him when the device's faceplate glowed green instead of red. Ben wasted no time raising the core and cycled through the aliens until he found the right one.
"Not if I can help it!" Ben declared. "It's hero time!"
He slammed down on the Omnitrix's core (which Trixie will remember to scold him for later), and exploded into the regular green light whenever he transformed. She the light died down, Ben's newest alien transformation resembled a red, humanoid manta ray with two black lightning bolts stripes coming down from his shoulders to the Omnitrix symbol on his chest, yellow horns extending from his nose, gills underneath his arms, and yellow patagium connecting from his wrists to the base of his tail.
"All right, Jetray!" said Jetray excitedly, then look to Max and Trixie. "You two hang tight, I'll grab Gwen."
And before either one of them could get in a word, Jetray blasted into the air at high velocity that nearly knocked Trixie's small body over.
The manta ray alien moved faster than a speeding bullet, reaching the top of the Washington Monument and pulling his cousin off just seconds before her hands slipped. The redheaded Tennyson screamed at the sudden rush of motion until she realized that she wasn't falling, but that the ground was moving underneath her. Gwen craned her head over her shoulder and recognized the Aerophibian carrying her.
"Speed Bat," gasped Gwen.
"That's Jetray," he retorted.
"Whatever," said Gwen, really not wanting to argue names while flying fifty feet at mach-1. "Anyway, thanks for the save, but – INCOMING!"
Jetray turned back as the mutated bird swooped down from behind and snapped its beak at Jetray's tail, but the Aerophibian quickly pulled up and dodged at the last second.
The mutant cockatiel curved around the air, flying in a direct course for Jetray. The Aerophibian pulled up sharply at a vertical angle, which scared the living daylights out of Gwen, and looped back around behind the Washington Monument with Animo's flying pet chasing close behind. Jetray did a quick barrel roll, let go of Gwen (her natural reaction was to panic in that moment), and stopped spinning to let Gwen land safely on his back so that he could focus on flying instead of trying to hold her up. The mutated flying monster glided in from the side and snapped its talon at the Tennyson cousins, only just missing when Jetray did a quick dive out of its reach.
"Watch the nails there, polly!" yelled Jetray.
The flying monster screeched and flapped harder to increase its speed; Jetray returned the favor in kind and folded his wings down until he was flying at a hundred miles per hour. But unfortunately for Gwen, the human body wasn't accustomed to going at such speeds without some protective covering, making her stomach feel very uncomfortable.
"Ooh, I think I'm gonna be sick," said Gwen queasily.
"Spew on me and you better learn how to fly quick," Jetray threatened before pulling a sharp turn and headed back to the monument.
Meanwhile, Trixie was sitting at the top of the stairs at the highest floor of the Washington Monument with her legs pulled up to her chest and her hands on her knees, waiting patiently for her elderly guardian. Trixie had made it to the top of the monument less than five minutes ago, but Max was having a much harder time due to his age and size – they got separated somewhere on the after the four hundredth step. The human Omnitrix was patting her knees to a rhythmical beat of a television show she watched last night when Grandpa Max finally showed up, wheezing hard and sweating profusely.
"Are you all right, Maxwell?" asked Trixie curiously.
"I've…been better," said Max tiredly. "Would it…would it have killed…the founding fathers…to put in an elevator?"
"Well, technically there is an elevator," Trixie informed him, "but you were such a hurry to get up here, you failed to notice when we passed them."
Grandpa Max stared at Trixie hoping she was just joking, but that would imply that Trixie knew what a joke was; Max facepalmed.
Though curious to why Maxwell was physically punishing himself with his hand, Trixie's head turned when she heard the screech of the mutant cockatiel through the open viewing window. Max heard it too and the both of them rushed over, waving down Jetray and Gwen as they flew by the monument with Animo's pet chasing them dangerously close. The Tennyson cousins saw them out the side of the monument, but Jetray looked back at the flying monster that was closing the distance between them every second.
"I can't shake cracker breath," Jetray told Gwen. "You're gonna have to trust me."
"Trust you?" Gwen repeated incredulously.
Without warning, Jetray stopped in the air and let Gwen fall forward off his back. Jetray snatched her up by her shoulders before she could fall too far, trying to block out the shrill screams from his cousin as he looped up into the air and went into a sharp dive on the side of the monument. The Aerophibian saw his grandfather holding out his arms waiting to catch them and dropped off Gwen in the split second when they crossed each other. Grandpa Max held on to his granddaughter with all his strength and Gwen felt relieved for the first time since the museum incident…until the mutant bird started flying towards them.
Dr. Animo's pet opened it beak to devour them, but three beams of green energy suddenly shot the cockatiel's chest from below, causing its wings to go rigid and slam face first into the monument wall. The giant bird plummeted to the ground with a loud crash as Grandpa Max pulled Gwen inside. Trixie stood up on her tiptoes and peered down the edge of the window, spying Jetray hovering a few feet below them; she was able to deduce that Ben had used the Aerophibian's neuroshock blasts to paralyze the bird just as she had done to the hamster.
"You guys okay?" asked Jetray.
"We'll be fine!" Trixie shouted. "Go stop Animo before he hurts anyone else!"
Jetray silently nodded in agreement and zoomed off into the night sky.
Kelly Industries was a small research company on the northeastern part of Washington D.C. near Ivy City. Despite it being late at night, the company still offered tours of the facility and the one in charge of the tour was the owner of the company himself, Dr. Kelly (mostly because he didn't have the money to pay for tour guides after he bought the building). The next stop on their little tour was the small trophy shelf Kelly kept in his company lobby, which he was very proud of.
"And here is my Verities Award," said Dr. Kelly, gesturing to the golden beaker trophy. "Of course, it was an honor just to be nominated with a distinguished group of scientists."
All of a sudden, the tour group struggled to keep their balance when the ground started to quake beneath their feet. They could feel that the tremors were originating from the outside and looked out the window to see a massive shadow growing closer toward them. The wall burst open and in came the mutated Tyrannosaurs stomping into the main lobby, crushing the receptionist's desk with its massive feet.
The tour group ran like the wind after they caught sight of the living dinosaur and Dr. Kelly would have joined them if the T-Rex hadn't slammed its tail in the middle of his path, blocking him off from the group. The T-Rex snarled softly at the scientists, and then turned its head to present its creator.
"Kelly!" yelled Dr. Animo. "I believe you have something of mine!" He leapt off the T-Rex and snatched the golden beaker off the shelf with a deliriously happy grin. "I'd like to thank the committee for this honor!"
The mad doctor bounded back up to his pet dinosaur's neck with a delighted cackle. The mutated T-Rex stepped closer to Doctor Kelly and roared in his face, looking ready to eat him whole, when three beams of green energy suddenly shot the monster's head from the side, making the beast flinch, but not fall.
Jetray swooped in through the hole in the wall a moment later, only to fly directly into the T-Rex's sweeping tail. The Aerophibian bounced off the ground, hit the back wall, and fell forward on his front with a painful groan. Jetray held his head and shook it free of the brief dizziness when he noticed something shimmering in the rubble nearby. It was the golden Sumo Slammer card – it must have fallen off the T-Rex's foot when it smashed through the wall.
"Whoa, I struck Sumo Slammer gold," said Jetray excitedly.
"Somebody help me!"
Jetray looked back at the scene with a gasp. Dr. Animo was holding his sworn rival by the teeth of his mutated monstrosity just moments away from ending his life.
The Aerophibian looked between the endangered scientist and the golden Sumo Slammers card, and found himself faced with a moral dilemma. Letting the scientist would be bad, but he really wanted the Sumo Slammer card too. If he went after either one, he knew the other would be lost. Jetray took another look back and forth between the two, deciding which was worth saving: a human life or a super rare card…. The answer was so obvious that Ben actually felt ashamed he even had to think about it.
"Oh man, this hero stuff ain't easy," Jetray complained.
Jetray shot across the lobby; the force behind him caused the rubble to move and bury the card.
The Tyrannosaurus flicked the veterinary scientist in the air and opened its mouth wide as Dr. Kelly started falling. But Jetray zoomed in and snatched Dr. Kelly out of the air before the dinosaur could snap its teeth. The mutated dinosaur roared for denied a meal and Dr. Animo gritted his already damaged teeth.
"What are you, you little pest?" sneered Dr. Animo.
"I'm Jetray!" said the Aerophibian, dropping off Dr. Kelly near the entrance. "And I'm here to kick some tail!"
Dr. Animo turned the dial on his harness and blasted the Aerophibian with his transmodulator beam. Jetray zoomed out of the way, but the mad scientist followed the flying alien with her red beams, growling in frustration as the Aerophibian always managed to keep one step ahead of him. Jetray flew behind one of the pillars to block the transmodulator's beam while curling his tail around the bend to fire his own beam from the tip. The neuroshock blast struck the mutated tyrannosaurus in its right eye, making the monster reel back, howling in pain. Dr. Animo struggled to stay on his flailing beast that he lost his grip on his prized Verities Award. The golden beaker smashed on the ground into many pieces; Dr. Animo jaw dropped in horror. And while the doctor was distracted by his great loss, Jetray swooped around the pillar, swept past Animo, and ripped his strainer bowl helmet right off his head.
"My transmodulator!" cried Dr. Animo.
Jetray smashed the helmet on the ground and blasted it with his eyes and tail for good measure. With the strainer bowl helmet now a puddle of goop on the floor, a red pulse went out and Dr. Animo's mutations all over the city returned to their normal state. The hamster, frog, and cockatiel were reduced back to their normal size, the mammoth became lifeless once more, and the T-Rex's dissolved until it was plaster cast. And unfortunately for Dr. Animo, who was sitting on the dinosaur when it returned to its normal state, fell through the fake bones when the entire thing collapsed. Jetray swooped in close to inspect the wreckage; Dr. Animo groaned in his unconscious state, buried under heavy piles of plaster.
"Looks like your history, Animo," said Jetray; heroes always needed one-liners.
The next morning, the police came to pull Dr. Animo out of the rubble before slapping the cuffs on him and the Tennysons were there to watch with smiles on their faces.
"Let me go!" screamed Dr. Animo, still trying to put up a fight even after he lost. "I deserve that award! I've got it coming to me! I WANT IT!"
The police officer rolled his eyes as he pushed the mad scientist into the back of his car; why did he always have to get the crazy ones. When the officer walked away, Dr. Animo glared through the window at Ben and the others. He knew they were responsible – they had always been there to ruin his plans. And that symbol on his watch looked it exactly the same as the one those aliens were wearing. Dr. Animo may have been crazy, but he was smart enough to put two and two together. Dr. Animo knew he what he needed to do next, and he would have his revenge on the Tennysons.
"For some reason," said Ben as the squad car drove away, "that sounds kind of familiar."
"Gee, I wonder why," said Gwen sarcastically.
"I am sorry you didn't manage to collect your golden card, Benjamin," said Trixie. She brought something out from behind her back and held it out for Ben; it was a piece of Dr. Animo's transmodulator. "But maybe you would be satisfied with a trophy of your victory today."
"Aw, sweet," said Ben excitedly, accepting his trophy. "This is pretty cool, but I guess saving the city from Doctor Wacko is its own reward."
"Don't forget, you save me too," said Gwen, showing a little softer expression than she normally would with Ben. "Thanks."
"Yeah, well, that's what we heroes do best," boasted Ben. "Rescue dweebs."
"A dweeb, huh?" Gwen repeated with a knowing smirk. "I seem to remember you say I was pretty cool."
"What? That?" Ben sputtered. "That was – I was only kidding. I don't seriously think you're cool."
"Appoplexians only know how to speak the truth, Benjamin," Trixie informed him, smirking. "Despite your bickering, you actually like your cousin, don't you?"
Ben opened his mouth to retort, but he couldn't think of anything to throw back. Gwen and Trixie shared a laugh while Ben pouted and stared at the ground embarrassed.
Dr. Animo muttered to himself in the back of the police car as they hauled him to the prison outside of town since he was considered too dangerous too he locked up at police headquarters. The mad scientist fought against his cuffs uselessly before he gave up and threw his head back into the seat, glaring at the car ceiling.
"I swear, one day I will have my revenge," muttered Dr. Animo maliciously. "One day, they will know the wrath of doctor – "
Suddenly, the squad car's front tire exploded with an ear-splitting bang and they started swerving off the road. The two officers up front tried to regain control of the vehicle, but the brakes stopped working and the steering wheel locked up. Next thing they knew, the squad car slammed bumper first into a tree on the side of the road, crushing the front of the car like a tin can. The officers in front were lying across the dashboard with shards of the windshield glass draped over then like blankets – it was impossible to tell if they were alive or dead. Dr. Animo survived in the back of the car thanks to the separating cage, but hissed at the bump where he hit his head.
Before Dr. Animo had time to think about what happened, a reptilian hand grabbed the edge of his door and ripped it off the car's hinges. Dr. Animo yelped in a fright and scooted away to the other side of the backseat. The creature crouched due to its size and Cetanu peered through the opening.
"Dr. Animo, I presume?" asked Cetanu.
"Who are you?" Dr. Animo spoke in a panic. "What do you want?"
"Who I am is a friend," said Cetanu cryptically. "And what I want is the same thing you do: to destroy that boy that meddled in both of our plans. I think we could help each other, but only if you are willing." She offered up one of her scaly hands. Dr. Animo stared at the appendage – his moment of fear now over – and looked up at Cetanu's mask in curiosity. "So…are you interested?"
No real difference from the original except laying the foundation for some super villain team-ups.
Next chapter: TGIS