"There is no way that happened," Blake argued.
"There is so!" Ruby pouted.
Weiss rubbed her forehead in confusion. "Ok, ok...just, start from the beginning. What happened?"
"I don't see what's so hard to understand," Ben said. "I wanted better reception on the Rustbucket TV, so I transformed into Upgrade. Lightning struck the antenna while I was using it and it brought a cartoon character to life."
"THERE! RIGHT THERE!" Weiss yelled. "THAT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE!"
"WELL IT HAPPENED, OK?!" Ben hollered back.
"Ladies, please stop arguing, you're both pretty," Ceres deadpanned, rolling her eyes.
Why was an argument like this even taking place? Easy. A nice, relaxing picnic in a nice, sprawling park on a beautiful day. It was an impulse decision on Ruby's part, but, looking back, probably the best choice.
That was until they played two truths and a lie.
"Look, I'm just saying; it's unrealistic." Weiss frowned heavily. "If you really got shocked, you were probably hallucinating."
"Oooh, no, it happened alright. That bastard is still out for blood." Ruby shivered. "I can't turn on Cartoon Network without worrying if he's gonna pop up on screen."
"Plus, Ben and I have fought him before," Rook added. "This 'Xingo' character emerged from the TV one evening when we were watching a few horror movies. And he brought the monsters with him."
"That was a fun evening," Ben recalled bitterly.
"Can we get back to the game?" Kylie huffed, right before she scarfed down some mac and cheese. "It's Yang's turn next."
"Oh, really?" Yang perked up, breaking away from her arm wrestling contest with Kevin. (Both of them were cheating; Kevin was using a Tetramand arm, Yang was using her robot arm.) "Alrighty, here goes...uh, I built my own motorcycle, I bench press 300 pounds and..." Her lips curled into an evil smile. "I kicked Tennyson's ass when he was 10."
Ben turned beet red, as he suddenly remembered-
"Anyway, I should say goodbye to her." Yang grinned. "It was nice meeting you, Tennyson."
"Same to you," Ben said, outstretching his hand...and without a second thought, Yang crushed his hand with her iron grip. Ben cringed in pain as she grinned evilly.
"By the way? I could still kick your butt." Yang laughed as she walked out the door. Ben waved his hand around and blew on it to ease the pain.
"Oh, I am so kicking her butt the next time we meet."
Ben slammed his smoothie cup down on the table, a determined look in his eye. "REMATCH! RIGHT NOW!"
Yang gave him a curious look. "Did someone spike your smoothie?"
"Believe me, if someone did, I would have my phone out right now," Ari said with an evil little grin.
"Come on, you wanna start something? Let's go, one on one, red versus blue, no cam kills, I'LL KICK YOUR ASS!" Ben snarled.
Yang chuckled as she stood up. "Alright, I'm game." She threw off her jacket to reveal her broad shoulders and sculpted biceps. She did a few stretches as Ben scrolled through the Omnitrix. The rest of the group watched from the sidelines.
"So, who do you think he's gonna go for?" Kylie asked, a cold CapriSun in hand. "Cannonbolt again?"
Weiss scoffed. "Again? Kylie, think about it. He's got like 40 aliens on that watch. If he turns into that thing again, Yang's already won this battle."
"I think he's gonna go for the alien tiger guy." Ruby grinned. "Make some Wrestlemania out of this. What do you think, Kevin?"
Kevin had his phone out, ready to record the mayhem. "Huh? You say something?"
"...never mind. What about you, Blake?"
Blake glanced up from her book. "Yang's probably gonna win. You've seen how she is. I'm kinda shocked you're not rooting for her."
Ruby gasped, insulted. "Hey, I'm just trying to remain neutral, ok? This is my best friend and my sister fighting! I am not showing any favoritism to either side." She turned around and huffed.
Hope Ben wins, she thought.
Ben slapped down the Omnitrix. His left arm became ruddy and muscular, and his right arm followed. Two extra arms sprouted out of his lower torso area, as his body became tall and muscular.
"I call this one Fourarms!" Ben declared as he flexed his muscles.
Yang blinked, unfazed. "Wow, original."
Ben cracked his two sets of hands and his neck. "Now...shall we?" The two stared each other down, glaring daggers at one another. The others watched patiently.
"Just kick each others asses already!" Ari yelled.
Ben jumped up and slammed his fists onto the ground, causing the earth to shake. Yang lost her balance and Ben rushed her with a barrage of fists. Yang rolled to the side and activated her Ember Celicas.
She leapt over Ben, and struck his back with a fiery punch. Ben quickly grabs her and...accidentally ripped out a single strand of her hair, oh God, oh fuck-
An inferno surrounded Yang and she rocketed forward, unleashing a devastating combo of flaming hits and blows on the helpless alien, sending him flying through several trees.
Ben shook his head in confusion as Yang pounced on him; he defended himself with his giant arms as she continued to rain down punches on him.
"What's got her all crazy?" Kevin asked, moving his phone around to record the action.
"Yang's really sensitive about anyone touching her hair," Ruby explained. "Like, the first time my dad took her to a barber? Yang blew up the place."
Ceres grinned madly. "If Ben loses, I am so taking her on next."
"We should totally sell tickets for that," Ari said cheerfully.
Ben waited for Yang to pause her attack to take a breath, and hit her in the abdomen with one of his lower arms. Yang made a choking noise; Ben used that moment to unleash a barrage of punches, knocking his opponent into the air. Yang quickly plummeted to the ground, creating a small crater. She easily stood back up and cracked her neck.
"Not bad." Yang punched the air to release a strong Dust bullet that hit Ben dead center in the chest, covering it in ice. "Too bad you don't have a ranged attack."
She fired two more shots from her gauntlets, which Ben avoided, and he broke the ice on his chest. He charged at Yang, who just cocked her gauntlets. Ben went for an overhead swipe, but Yang blocked the attack with her left arm and stood her ground. She then decked the Tetramand in the jaw.
Yang slid underneath Ben in order to fire off a barrage of six shots of lightning Dust from behind. Ben resisted those shots and jumped at her. He delivered a heavy ground pound that kicked up debris, knocking Yang to the ground hard enough for her to bounce. Yang groaned as Ben stood over her.
She chuckled weakly. "Lucky shot."
Ben helped her to her feet. "I could've shifted aliens at any time, but decided to give myself a handicap. You know how it goes." Ben stretched out his massive hand to shake Yang's hand, and she returned it...only for her to twist Ben's hand around with her robotic hand.
"OW, OW, OW! UNCLE! UNCLE!"
Yang laughed as Ben reverted back to human.
"I win~," she teased, sticking her tongue out.
"Oh, yeah," Ceres drawled, walking over. "I want a turn."
"Me too!" Kevin crowed as he bounded over.
"I would be most interested in playing," Rook said blithely.
Kylie shrugged. "I'm game for it."
Yang grinned, knowing she'd just drawn in a crowd. "Oooor...how about we play a game of assassin?"
"What's that?" Weiss asked.
"You seriously don't know?!" Yang yelped incredulously.
"Yang, Weiss is probably the most sheltered out of all of us," Blake sighed. "Don't be shocked."
"I'm hurt by that comment, but yes," Weiss said flatly.
Ari looked up from his phone, having looked at the rules already. "It's this game where the players try to eliminate one another using mock weapons, with the last surviving player winning. Assassin is particularly popular on college campuses, and since we're all college aged or near it..."
"Alright," Weiss said, semi invested.
"We play by Beacon Rules." Yang grinned. "Launch ourselves into the forest, and the first person we see is our partner for the day. You gotta survive till sundown, or at least take down the most players. Safe zone is the center."
"I'm game for that," Ben said, finishing up his smoothie.
"Question is, how are we gonna launch ourselves into the fo-" Ruby's comment was cut off by a bright green flash. She looked over to see Ben as Bloxx, and he quickly shapeshifted his body into a catapult.
"Going once, going twice!" Ben joked.
Blake blinked. "Hey, Ben?"
"Yeah?"
"What the fuck?"
"Why is Earth food so greasy yet addictive?" the albino asked as he scarfed down what little remained of his chili fries.
Hell if I know, his partner, a girl around his age, signed back. Her hair was mostly brown with pink locks interwoven, with silvery white streaks hidden inside her pink bangs.
"Well, that's one mystery to put on the backburner," Albedo noted as he quickly fiddled with a familiar device; unlike the Omnitrix, the device didn't resemble a wristwatch, looking more like a gauntlet that extended up to almost half of the wearer's arm. The dial popped up, and Albedo twisted it a few times.
"So, how do I look?" Albedo said, straightening himself out. The chameleon module on his Omnitrix was a work in progress, but it worked pretty well regardless. He had the exact color scheme of Ben Tennyson, right down to the outfit he was wearing today; brown cargo pants with a black t-shirt, green trimming on his short sleeves and a wide green vertical stripe going down his torso, a white number 10 emblazoned on his chest.
Neo cocked her head and did a quick look around the boy. Impressive, she signed with her hands. I kind of expected you to knock him out and steal his clothes.
"Why would I do that?" Albedo asked, furrowing his brow. "That would take up precious time that could be better utilized studying Tennyson's allies."
Sorry. Neo shrugged. But, hey! She snapped her fingers and activated her powers. Her outfit suddenly changed to match Albedo's. We match!
Albedo rolled his eyes. "Normally I'd be mad, but seeing as you were the inspiration for this mode in the first place..."
Oh, stop~ Neo teased, waving her hand in embarrassment as she reverted back to her normal, Neapolitan inspired outfit.
"Just wait here. I'll be back within the hour," Albedo told her, sneaking out of the bush he was hiding in.
Are you sure you won't need my help? Neo asked, concerned.
"I'm sure of it," Albedo said, pointing as his brain. "I have all I need in here."
Ruby walked through through the woods, happily taking in the sights and sounds of nature. She was quietly singing one of her favorite songs, since she was alone and no one was around to judge her.
"Red like roses, fills my head with something something..." she hummed before she heard something rustling in the bushes. Ruby quickly pulled out her weapon and rushed over to the shrub, only to see 'Ben' hiding in there.
Ruby lowered her weapon. "Oh, it's just you. Sorry about that."
Albedo pretended to clutch his heart in shock. "Ah...yes, once the heart palpitations go away, I'll get you back."
"Anyways, wanna team up? I think I have a good idea where the others are hiding." Ruby beamed.
"Sure thing, Ruby." Albedo grinned as Ruby turned her back to him. Now was his chance to strike and properly take note of this strange girl that 'her grace' was so worried about. Ruby seemed too gullible a person to really be a threat. Albedo's hand slowly crept for his Omnitrix, to quietly transform and take the girl out-
Ruby suddenly pointed to the left. "BEN WATCH OUT, A PEACOCK!"
Albedo shot her an incredulous look. "...okay?"
Ruby whipped out Crescent Rose again and pointed the barrel of her gun at Albedo's face. He barely flinched.
"Yeah, you're not Ben."
"What?!" Albedo gasped. "How did you-!"
"Well, for starters," Ruby drawled casually, "Ben's got this irrational fear of peacocks. He'd be running away if there was actually one here. Second, Ben always calls me Rue when we're alone."
"You two are that close?" Albedo frowned as he deactivated his Omnitrix's disguise function, quite literally revealing his true colors.
Ruby grinned. "Absolutely. But I'm glad you took the bait." She examined his discolored form. "Jeez, you look like a DeviantArt recolor, dude. Who are you?"
"Oh, no one important." Albedo suddenly slapped down his Omnitrix, and Ruby was blinded by a harsh red flash.
When she opened her eyes again, there was a feline-like alien right in front of her. He had a black suit-like colour scheme. His hands, legs, chest and part of his head were coloured red. He had spikes on his hands and legs, and also black mask-like fins around his red eyes, with a triangle-shaped nose, and a thunderbolt-like design down his chest.
"I'm just doing a few observations, that's all."
Ruby barely had time to react; the alien suddenly blitzed her with a flurry of fast punches and kicks. Ruby could feel her aura depleting rapidly, so despite her confusion she knew she had to act fast. She used her semblance and turned into a flurry of petals, blinding the alien as she sped high into the sky.
"Piss off, knockoff XLR8!" She began firing wild shots of Earth Dust down onto the ground, causing giant spikes to pop up. The thing sped past each one of them, his fur crackling and sparking as he did.
Albedo jumped back swiftly, throwing a lightning bolt at his skyward opponent. Ruby gasped and dodged the attack before it could even touch her.
"...ok, maybe it's not a knockoff XLR8, but the Flash in a fursuit," Ruby muttered as she landed on the ground. The alien kept on throwing more lightning bolts at her, but Ruby dodged the blasts with her semblance, avoiding each with style and ease.
Albedo suddenly appeared next to her, and Ruby responded with a quick few slashes from her scythe...that seemed to phase right through him.
"Don't tell me. Are you vibrating your molecules to make you intangibile?" Ruby sighed. Albedo responded with a powerful blow to her gut, sending her flying through the air and into a tree. Albedo grinned as he ran towards her. Yes, this girl was certainly nothing to sneeze at, but nothing Salem needed to really worry about-
Ruby grinned as she fired a bullet on the ground. Albedo shrugged it off as her trying another trick with her Earth Dust. He'd just phase right through it and finish her off-
Albedo slipped on a sheet of ice that formed underneath his feet. "You little b-" He was cut off when he smashed his face into a tree. Now, that's already painful enough, but imagine smashing into a tree at 300 MPH.
Yikes.
Albedo stood up and looked around. A few rose petals lingered in the air- Ruby had obviously made a break for it. He sighed as he rubbed his face in pain.
"She certainly is a tricky one," he said to himself as he reverted back to human. "Still, an informative experience." He walked off into the forest, hoping to find more of Tennyson's allies.
Kevin had no idea how to talk to Blake. Not because he was socially awkward or anything, but because she was so quiet. She radiated the same aura a cat would when it was staring into the corner; you didn't know what it was seeing, but you were scared regardless.
Kevin coughed. "So, uh, any plans on what to do if we're attacked?"
"Mainly just keeping them at a distance so we make a quick getaway and survive until sundown," Blake said, turning a page in her book. "I suspect your ability to use Doppler's weaponry should help us."
"She's not wrong," Doppler chimed in. "I am the backbone of this operation."
"Hush, you," Kevin said, flicking the thing in its 'nose'. Suddenly, sticks started snapping behind them. Kevin and Blake readied their hand just as Albedo walked out, Omnitrix already activated and glowing a dangerous red. He glared daggers at the two before he slammed down his faceplate; his skeleton became more durable, as crystals sprouted out of his back and around his hands...
"Kevin Levin." He grinned maliciously. "Just the man I've been looking for." Albedo immediately started firing shards from his hands. Kevin and Blake gasped in shock before ducking for cover behind a large boulder.
"Jeez, he full named you," Doppler sassed. "He must be really into this game."
"Uh, yeah, if you didn't notice," Kevin said, as he started to form two dinosaur-like fists around his hands, "that wasn't Ben."
"Yeah, last I checked, red was more your color." Blake noted as she loaded up her weapon. "Forget the whole 'running away' plan, we gotta take this thing down to tell the others!"
"Yeah. Now get behind me." Kevin picked up the boulder they were hiding behind. The two of them ran forward, the boulder acting as a shield against the flying crystals. Kevin rammed it into Albedo's face, but he didn't even budge; the boulder fell to pieces, and Albedo just glared at them.
He raised his hand and sharpened it into a blade, swinging it at the two of them. Blake quickly blocked with the blunt side of her weapon, but her defense was almost immediately broken, as Albedo's tough form overpowered Blake's weapon...but not her semblance. Albedo suddenly found his fist briefly stuck in a clone of Blake, made perfectly out of the earth. Blake pulled Kevin back and they immediately made a run for it.
Albedo shifted his foot, and a crystalline wall shot up from underneath the ground and blocked Blake and Kevin's escape.
"What is with this guy?" Blake growled as she fired off two quick shots from her weapon.
Albedo boredly blocked them with his wrist. "Pathetic," he yawned, as crystals started to erupt from the ground.
Blake leapt away and Kevin quickly rolled to the side. A crystalline wall separated the two from each other, and much to Kevin's luck, he ended up on the side with Albedo. "I felt it might be fair to let us duel first. The girl obviously lacks the ability to transform. I feel it would be fair to spare her...for now."
Kevin decided it was best to go out fighting rather than just surrendering; he swung his fists at Albedo, who blocked them with ease. Albedo raised his hand, and more sharp crystals suddenly poked their way through the ground, and Kevin had to quickly sidestep them to avoid getting skewered like a shish kabob.
Albedo suddenly snatched Kevin off of his feet, carefully observing him.
"Interesting," Albedo said as he cocked his head. "You've drawn out the energy from within your organic Omnitrix to create weaponry. I must look into this." Kevin gasped as his hands quickly shrank down and became more sleek looking.
"Oh no, you are not dissecting me!" Kevin snarled as he unleashed a sound blast from the palms of his hands. Albedo's form shook as his hand shattered, freeing Kevin from his grasp. The second Kevin's feet hit the ground, he transformed into Smashing Pumpkins.
"You're smart," Kevin admitted, "but your attacks lack power." He slashed at Albedo, four vines protruding from his fingers. The vines slashed at his tough diamond skin before Kevin clenched his fist. Fire suddenly ran up the vines, and Albedo's form exploded.
Before the dust could even clear, Kevin took off running towards the wall; he hoisted himself over with some vines on his back and grabbed Blake's hand. They ran through the forest, not daring to see if Albedo had followed them. With every step they took, the forest around them grew thicker and denser, as if creating some sort of barrier.
Albedo growled, his diamond body reforming. "Quite the clever one," he noted as he reverted back to human. "This is starting to really irk me. Are all humans tricksters in some regard?"
Albedo paused as he remembered Neopolitan.
"What am I saying, of course they are."
Ruby rushed through the forest, desperately searching for someone, anyone who could help her. Dealing with Ben was one thing, but an evil Ben? That outright terrified her. The Omnitrix was an obviously benevolent device, and should it fall in the wrong hands… She shivered at the thought of someone like Vilgax getting their hands on it-
Ruby crashed into someone, and they both went tumbling painfully to the ground.
"OW!" Ben whined as he rubbed his back. "You really gotta warn a guy when you do that!"
Ruby shot back up, still on the defensive. "Is it really you?"
Ben gave her a confused look. "What? Yeah, of course it's me, why wouldn't it-"
"LOOK A PEACOCK!"
Ben screamed and jumped into her arms, looking around fearfully. Ruby awkwardly patted his back and set him back down. "Thank Oum," she said. "We got a situation."
"What is it?" Ben asked, his heart rate beginning to calm.
"There's a dude in the woods. Looks just like you, but he's got snow white hair-" Ruby explained.
"Did you run into Danny Phantom?" Ben interrupted, raising an eyebrow.
"That's beside the point! The dude has an Omnitrix like you, and he's crazy evil!"
He felt a lump in his throat. "What?"
"Dude came at me with this alien I've never seen before! Do you have a cheetah alien that can, like, shoot thunderbolts or something?" Ruby asked.
"No, I don't," Ben said, still processing what was going on. "But that alien just sounds weird."
Ruby grimaced. "Then something tells me he's got some more tricks up his sleeve."
"So, be honest," Kylie grinned as she and Yang walked through the forest. "Did they actually launch you into the forest?"
"Hm?"
"You know, the Beacon staff," Kylie said, shrugging. "Did they, like, use catapults or something?"
"Oh no, they just used some launchpads," Yang explained. "It was kinda weird, but hey, it spread us out."
"And that's how you met Blake, I assume," Kylie teased. "So, what's the deal with you two? Are you, y'know~?"
"I could ask the same about you and Weiss," Yang teased back.
"...you play dirty, Xiao Long."
"I know."
"But, uh, how's your second year going so far? Are you exercising enough? Do you have a balanced schedule?" Kylie asked curiously.
"Kylie, I'm fiiiine," Yang reassured her. "Honestly, you sound like my dad right now."
"I'm just worried about my friends, that's all," Kylie pouted. "If I don't connect with one at least once a day, I will shrivel up and die."
"Understandable," Yang commented, before she stopped in her tracks and noticed something up ahead. "Woah." Kylie was confused, until Yang turned her head towards what she was looking at. "Looks like Ben was busy."
Kylie ran over and examined the giant crystalline walls. "Guess Diamondhead did a good number on whoever was here."
"Is that what he really calls his Petrosapien form?"
Kylie perked up as Albedo walked out from behind the wall. Yang cocked her head and studied the boy's form.
"Jeez, Ben. Never took you for a scene kid," she joked.
"Nahhh," Kylie cut in. "He looks like one of Weiss' siblings. Obviously one that's going through a rebellious phase. How'd you dye your hair white, dude?"
"This isn't dye," Albedo scoffed. "This is my form's natural hair color."
"Wow, how emo are you, dude?" Kylie teased.
Albedo decided it was best to just attack the two right now than just stand around and be roasted. He slammed down the Omnitrix; in a flash, Swampfire was hurling a fireball at the two. Kylie reacted with a quick cloud of carbon dioxide to kill the flame before it reached them.
"Jeez, he's cranky," Yang said as she prepared for battle.
"I'm starting to think this isn't Ben."
"Well, whoever it is, I can take 'em!" Yang rushed forward, ready to strike Albedo with a fist to the face. Albedo traded off Yang's leading punch with a kick. The pair traded several kicks and punches, and Albedo could see that Yang was exceptional when it came to hand-to-hand combat. But there was something strange about her fighting style; it seemed wild and erratic, and yet so carefully calculated. What was this girl planning?
Albedo prepared to deliver another kick to Yang's side, but something wrapped around his leg and stopped him. He looked down to see his foot had been wrapped in some wire coming from the girl's robotic arm. Albedo gasped, and Yang jumped back and tore his leg right off his body. Albedo awkwardly hobbled around, trying to strike Yang with a flurry of fire balls-
BANG! BANG! BANG! Three gunshots hit his torso- his flames died out and his plant skin began to turn yellow around the wounds. Albedo looked up to see Kylie, holding her pistol, and Yang, holding his leg.
"Cute," he muttered, regrowing his leg. He clenched his fist and threw some seeds at them. The seeds dug into the ground, and vines shot up from the ground and ensnared the two. Albedo grinned as he tightened his grip.
"What is with this alien?!" Yang snapped. "It's like that plant dude and the fire dude had a kid!"
"Yang, sweetie, I love your humor but let me tell you, that joke has been overused for years," Kylie sighed as she squirmed. She released a quick puff of liquid nitrogen that quickly froze the vines wrapped around the two girls. They broke out with ease and landed on their feet.
Kylie quickly reloaded her weapon, and Yang readied a battle stance. Albedo grinned, thrusting his palms forwards and releasing a powerful wave of flames. Kylie and Yang broke away, dodging the flames with ease. Albedo let up his fire, allowing for the two girls to rush back in. Kylie quickly unloaded her nitrogen-filled bullets into Albedo's chest and arm, causing them to shrivel up.
"Ergh!" he hissed, right before Yang uppercut him in the jaw. She unleashed a quick flurry of punches, and Albedo collapsed to the ground. Yang quickly regrouped with Kylie and gave her a quick high five.
"That's twice today I've kicked Ben's butt!" she said, beaming.
"I gotta hand it to you," Kylie chirped. "You are on a roll today!" The two ran off, happy about their victory.
Albedo frowned as he rubbed his head. "That girl was even more tenacious than the last. How tough is this backwater planet?" He felt someone tap his shoulder. He spun around to see Neo, holding a water bottle and an apple.
She handed them to him, singing a quick For you.
"Thank you," Albedo said sincerely. He unscrewed the bottle and drank deeply.
You're getting your butt kicked, Neo teased. I thought you were good at this.
"I am," Albedo grumbled as he wiped his mouth. "I'm more used to 'formulated' attacks. The species I've fought all had a clear, exploitable weakness thanks to their shared powers. But these humans? Impossible to read. There is no 'shared' fighting style on this planet. I can see why she sent me out here today..."
Yeah, we're tough like that. Neo smiled as Albedo took a bite of his apple. So, what now?
"I've yet to face the Archimedeans, the Revonnahgander, and the secondary member of the huntress team," Albedo listed.
Neo gave him a blank look.
"The girls with the horns and dark skin, the cat alien, and the rich girl," he restated in layman's terms.
Ah, Neo signed. Alrighty then. Good luck! And then she disappeared, just like that.
When Albedo thought of the Archemedians, he thought of proud, intelligent warriors that the Galvans had collaborated with multiple times. They had been great allies when the Galvans went to war with the Cerebrocrustaceans hundreds of years ago, in the legendary 'War of Wits.' One particular Archimedean, Ileana Petranova, stood out amongst the rest for not only rivaling Azmuth in intelligence (so much so that the Archimedeans called her 'The One True Thinker' as a cheeky counter to Azmuth's legendary nickname 'The First Thinker') but also for being Azmuth's best friend. Legend said that when Ileana died, Azmuth went into hiding to mourn her. Albedo had never found anything other than circumstantial evidence of this- Azmuth was notoriously elusive- but the tale was entertaining regardless.
As a result, Albedo expected great things from the Archimedeans. How could he not, when their intelligence and military prowess made them the Atlas of the universe? Surely these Earthbound counterparts stood up to par.
He… didn't expect this. At all.
"THE FUCK IS THIS SHIT?!" Ari screamed at Albedo. Or rather, a Rath version of Albedo that was skinny, rational, and calm.
It was unnatural.
"Ari, please calm down-!" Rook tried to comfort her.
"I appreciate it dude, but you gotta draw the line!" Ari cried out. "You gotta draw a fucking line in the sand, man! You gotta look inside yourself and ask, 'what are you willing to put up with today?' NOT. FUCKING. THIS!"
"...that is...certainly a way to greet somebody," Albedo said, shocked.
"...okay, you know what, you have a point," Rook conceded, eyes wide. "This is beyond wrong."
"Indeed it is," Albedo agreed, running at them. Ari sent purple flames at the alien, her rifle shifting into a sword with fluid ease. Albedo crossed his arms and shrugged off the attack. He jumped up and prepared to strike Ari in the face, but Rook quickly blocked him with his Proto Tool's shield.
Ari went in for a stab, nearly gutting Albedo, but the alien quickly escaped with unnatural grace. Ari leaped at him and bashed her shield into his shoulder, aiming her sword for his neck, but somehow Albedo was able to escape.
Albedo responded with a smirk, and he unleashed a barrage of punches on the spot, knocking Ari off their feet. "Oh fuck you!" she shouted as she flew through the air. Rook took her place, aiming a kick to the head.
Albedo caught the foot. Rook fully expected him to twist it, or slam him around like a rag doll, but instead Albedo just shoved him back on the ground. Rook flipped back up, and Albedo made a finger gun motion at him.
"...I do not follow," Rook said, raising an eyebrow.
"Give it a second," Albedo said, as a short claw grew out of his fur. He fired the claw at Rook, who narrowly avoided it. The claw bullet instead shot through a tree.
"Now that is just unnerving," Rook stated flatly.
"Thank you, I try."
Rook flipped around and easily shot him with an energy arrow, right into his back. Electricity fizzled out of the weapon, and Albedo screamed as he was tased. He fell to the ground, twitching and nearly unconscious.
"Well, that was weird," Ari grumbled as she walked over and kicked Albedo in the gut.
Albedo groaned pitifully. "Perhaps you should have kicked him in the head," Rook mused. "It may be a cheap tactic, but that tends to be the fastest way to knock someone out in Earth movies."
"It can also leave them concussed... which is perfect!" And Ari gleefully slammed her boot down on Albedo's head, knocking him out instantly.
Albedo groaned as he felt someone smacking his face. "Neo, you can stop that..." Another smack. "Okay, okay, I'm up!"
You're doing horribly against these guys, Neo signed. You seriously need to bring 'them' out.
"Is that wise, though?" Albedo asked, brow furrowed. "They're supposed to be a trump card. Revealing them now may not be such a good idea."
You're getting your ass kicked with the normal aliens. What do you have to lose?
"...an excellent point. Then again, I am trying to challenge myself. I try to vary my forms, unlike Tennyson who, according to my studies, once transformed into nothing but his Vaxasaurian form for a full three days."
Neo made a face. What a dumbass.
"Indeed."
So, what now?
"I'll just have to take care of the remaining two," Albedo declared. "And then I'll introduce myself to Tennyson."
Weiss was kind of intimidated, being in Ceres's presence. While she had the utmost respect for her, she did find it hard to talk to her.
Mainly because she was already blushing enough.
"Hey, you feel that?" Ceres said, looking around. A chill was in the air.
"Huh?" Weiss said, looking around. Suddenly, something caught her attention. A nearby plant seemed to be...freezing over. Frost covered the thing.
"Feeling chilly?"
The two of them looked up to see a black skeleton with rainbow wings that let light shine through, like the window panes of a church. The thing looked malicious, and certainly interesting, especially his red Omnitrix symbol.
Ceres could feel the cold already seeping into her skin. She hadn't worn her thermal coat- she needed to figure out a way to turn it into a proper uniform and have it appear on her body instantly, therefore making it portable, but that was a thought for later. Right now it felt like ice was being injected into her veins, and frost was already spreading to her hair. Ceres began to generate heat, letting wisps of blue fire escape her palms as steam emanated from her body.
"C-ceres!" Weiss could feel her eyes beginning to clamp shut due to the cold. She struggled to control the glyph underneath her feet, and even then, she could barely feel the heat coming off of it.
Ceres pulled her close, basically hugging her. Weiss sighed happily as frost disappeared from her flesh. It was like sitting in front of a warm fire on a cold winter's night, dressed in your favorite pajamas with a blanket wrapped around you, a mug of hot chocolate in your hands.
(It helped that Ceres smelled really nice, like cinnamon and vanilla and a warm sunny day.)
Weiss had to remind herself she was in the middle of a battle and not at said fantasy. "What the hell is up with this alien?" Weiss asked, shifting the Dust load on Myrtenaster.
"Some subset of Necrofriggian, most likely," Ceres said, her voice low. "Probably a genetic mutation that lets them manipulate thermal temperatures. I don't think he can turn intangible in this form, though. We can work that to our advantage."
Weiss gave a small smirk. "That's good enough for me." She pointed the weapon at the alien and conjured up a whirlwind from the tip of her blade.
"What are you doing?"
"Blowing this thing away!" And in a way, Weiss was. The lack of intangibility on the alien really showed, as Albedo couldn't resist the wind, and flew back into a tree.
"Fry, bitch!" Ceres exclaimed as she sent a torrent of blue fire at the tree.
The alien hissed and yelled in pain, but it quickly put out the flames by spreading its wings, extinguishing the fire instantly. Weiss conjured up a few glyphs behind her and Ceres, sending out a few blasts of lightning towards the thing.
"Not bad," Ceres said approvingly. "I see why Ruby speaks so highly of you."
(Weiss would never admit to preening at her praise.)
Weiss's joy didn't last long, however. Albedo flew at the two girls, ready to make one last strike-
Only for Ceres to step aside, lift her arm, and clothesline him. Albedo got the wind knocked right out of him, falling to the ground and groaning in pain. He reverted back to human form, and Weiss eyed him carefully.
"...kinda reminds me of my brother," Weiss finally said.
"Is he whiny and spineless?" Ceres noted dryly.
"I...resent...that," Albedo wheezed.
"I'm more curious as to why he looks like Ben," Weiss admitted.
Ceres quickly cuffed Albedo and threw him over her shoulder in a fireman's carry. "We can ask him in his cell."
Weiss blinked. "Do you have the feeling that this battle was rather anticlimactic?"
"Honestly, I prefer my battles that way these days," Ceres admitted. "Drawn out fights are fun and all, but with the chaotic dumbass energy my team gives off, short fights are a precious commodity."
"I can relate," Weiss sighed as she followed Ceres back to the camp.
Ceres was still defrosting as the others met back up to the starting point. Archimedeans flourished in warm climates, preferably deserts and rainforests. It was why she did so poorly in cold weather- granted snow was fun to play in, and she could certainly admire the beauty of winter, but actually fighting? Terrible, would not recommend for Archimedeans of any age.
Once everyone was together, they all unconsciously agreed to stare at Albedo. "Alright, so, apparently there's like three Omnitricies out there?" Ben asked, bewildered.
"What?" Ceres asked indignantly.
"Oh, Omnitricies? That's the plural form of Omnitrix. Omnitrixes doesn't sound right."
"Ok, I know this isn't the time," Ceres huffed, "but you are absolutely wrong."
"Oh, he is. I don't know where he got that from," Albedo sighed.
"Shut up, you," Ceres snapped.
Albedo's stomach growled. "...well, this is awkward. Do you happen to have any food?"
The group shared a glance, and then shrugged. "Eh, why not. There's some food in the bag," Ben said, gesturing to it.
Albedo walked over to said bag and pulled out some chips. He didn't particularly like the odd triangle shape of them, but Albedo's instincts told him it was safe to consume, so he scarfed them down and quickly (and safely) as he could.
Ben looked at Albedo, taking in his duplicate's appearance. "That's a good look on you," Ben joked.
"Not in the slightest," Albedo hissed as he put the empty chip bag back into the backpack. "Out of all my transformations, this one is the worst. This is a sticky, sweaty, noisy, hungry, hairy, smelly teenage human body, constantly craving chili fries and scratching myself in places I suspect are inappropriate."
"TMI, dude," Kylie gagged.
"He really is you," Ceres noted, rubbing at her chin. "But, question: the Omnitrix takes the sample of the prime example of a species, right?"
Albedo nodded. "That is correct."
"Ok, so, why do you look like Ben?" Ceres asked. "No offence, by the way."
Ben shrugged. "None taken."
"Tennyson's DNA is encoded as the default in the Omnitrix," Albedo explained. "Mine apparently synchronised across space and time with yours."
"Alright," Weiss said, frowning heavily. "But that doesn't explain what you're doing with an Omnitrix in the first place."
"I'm fulfilling the role Ben never could bring himself to do," Albedo said seriously. "I'm acting as judge, jury and at times, executioner."
"So, what, you're a more competent Ben?" Kevin said. "No offence."
Ben glared at him. "Some taken."
"In a way, yes. I acted as a more galaxy wide hero. I took on the tasks Ben could not," Albedo explained. "After hearing about the Vilgax incident-"
"Of course you did," Ben sighed.
"As I was saying," Albedo continued, irritated. "I sympathised with both sides. Vilgax's intentions were right, but his path to obtain said intentions was wrong. The young Tennyson's reaction was also correct, and yet, he could've done something different."
"Look, when Vilgax tortures one of your friends, you don't really give a shit about what his morals are," Ruby argued hotly.
"And I agree. The Omnitrix is a complicated device. It needed to be placed in more 'capable' hands. So, using my advanced intellect, I built my own Omnitrix and acted as a hero for a few years."
"So, you're here to do what, exactly?" Ari asked.
"Observe," Albedo answered coolly. "To figure out why the wielder of the Omnitrix associates himself with this backwater planet, when there's much more going on throughout the galaxy. The more I study the history and politics of this planet, the more sure I feel that humanity is, in some ways, fundamentally cruel and evil. No matter how complex your technology, no matter how well educated, no matter how legalistic you become, it's all just a show you put on for each other. You like to pretend you're kind, thoughtful, and loving, but our behavior shows only a fundamentally vicious, selfish, and short-sighted mistake of a species. So, I'm here to gather info. Nothing more."
"...really?" Ben asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I dare not lie. Your moon isn't even intact, why do you restrain yourself here?"
He shrugged. "Alright, cool."
"Hey, don't talk shit talk the moon, she's a giant lesbian and I love her!" Kylie huffed.
"I don't even know what that means," Albedo said flatly.
"Shut up. You're a full grown person that was originally a fuckin frog," Kylie shot back.
Albedo rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to Ben. "If it's not too much to ask, may I engage you in combat?" he asked politely.
Ben shrugged. "Sure."
"I have all of your powers and a superior intellect. I feel like this victory is in my hands," Albedo boasted.
"Uh huh. Cool." Ben slapped down the watch; he melted into the ground as his skin turned a bright green. A small UFO entered the scene and started lifting the puddle up into the air, forming it into a humanoid blob-like creature. "GOOOOOOOP!"
The thing jumped into the air and started throwing globs of itself at Albedo. Albedo quickly dodged them, and they hit the ground, the crash sites melting dangerously. Albedo ran as he dodged more slime blasts.
"Oh, no you don't!" Ben extended his arm, shooting out an 'acid hose' that narrowly missed Albedo. He quickly ducked behind a stone before the other guy could retaliate. Albedo activated his watch and slapped down the hologram of a hulking alien.
Albedo's body started growing bigger, as scales grew around his body, followed by some chest armor and a helmet around his head. A massive shell formed around his back, and Albedo's Humungousaur roared as he unveiled his unlikely weapon; a turret that replaced his left hand.
"That's different," Kevin noted.
"And cool!" Ruby gushed.
Albedo grinned as he stuck out his hand and unloaded literal missiles. Ben gasped and quickly dodged them, Albedo leveling the forest around him. The onlookers ducked down as the missiles turned the forest into a fire.
Ben landed on the ground with a dull flop. Albedo made a beeline for his target, eager to kill. Ben huffed as he slapped the Omnitrix symbol to change forms. Roots ran up his hands as he shifted to the more organic (and eco friendly) Swampfire.
"Here's mud in your eye!" Ben yelled, his hands secreting some adhesive mud. He tossed it at Albedo's face and perfectly struck his eyes. Albedo blindly charged at his opponent, still dead set on taking him down.
Ben slammed his hand onto the grass, and the plant life around him began to change. Roots from underground popped out and tripped Albedo, and Ben threw some seeds on top of him. Vines grew around him, bonding him closer and closer to the ground. Ben then bombarded the massive target with fireballs.
At least, until the vines went taut and snapped apart, the sound like glass breaking. Albedo's ghastly Big Chill spread his wings, and Ben paused to get a better look.
"Shit!" Ceres yelled out. "Ben, get back! His wings-" But she was too late ; the beams of light hit Swampfire and froze him solid.
"I...can...seeeeee...that..." Ben shivered as he weakly reached for the Omnitrix. He slapped it back down, and he changed forms again. Brainstorm easily broke free of the ice and quickly skittered away from the light. Albedo chased after him.
What's with this guy's aliens? Ben prosed to his teammates via telepathy.
Ceres narrowed her eyes at Albedo. "It looks like personal DNA modifications."
"So, they're mutated?" Kevin asked, eyeing his own AntiTrix.
"Not exactly. Yours are sort of like corrupted files. This guy? It's like he personally made sure his aliens could withstand any kind of combat."
"Alrighty, so he's just a smarter Doctor Animo," Kevin said bitterly. "Just with enough smarts to literally build an Omnitrix." (No one held his tone against him. Animo may have been smart enough to make Vilgax functionally immortal, but he didn't even try with the AntiTrix.)
"What I don't understand," Ruby interjected, "is why he's suddenly Mr. Expert now that he's fighting you. He kinda struggled to keep up with us."
"He said he was some sort of 'intergalactic Ben', right?" Blake pointed out. "Maybe he's more used to fighting aliens than humans. Especially since each of us is different, with our own fighting styles and weapons."
That makes sense, Ben said. Let me go through a few more aliens. I wanna see what he can really do. He stopped in his tracks and popped open his head shell, revealing the delicate brain underneath.
Tremble before my electrical power, you feckless facsimile! Ben mentally yelled. Lightning shot out of his cerebrum, electrocuting the strange Big Chill. Albedo screamed in pain as he weakly reached for his Omnitrix-
And was gone in a flash. Ben paused to close his shell. Where did that rapscallion-!
THWACK! Something slammed into the back of Ben's head, clocking in at 400 MPH. Ben toppled forward, and Albedo rushed past him once more, delivering some more powerful blows to Ben's head. Ben hissed as he slapped down the Omnitrix, swapping to the more durable Slapback.
Albedo struck Ben's back, which caused him to split. With expert timing, one of the clones grabbed Albedo and duplicated himself to weigh the alien down.
"Gotta admit, you're pretty good at this!" Ben complimented. "I can see why you handled the space stuff."
"And...I can see...why you remained here!" Albedo gasped.
He crumpled under the weight of the clones. There were too many of them, and their numbers and weight made running impossible. Albedo weakly grasped for his watch and slapped down the symbol, his form became larger and more spherical.
A red swirling sphere appeared on his chest, and he stomped on the ground; his foot became encased in large brown rocks, and his arms started to become encased in the same material...
Albedo spread out his arms and unleashed a strong pulse of gravity that removed the weight of everything around him. One by one, the Slapbacks floated off of him and into his personal orbit, and Albedo's arms retracted back into his body. The Slapbacks spun around him, screaming for help.
"Should we intervene?" Ruby asked worriedly.
"Not yet," Ceres said, holding her back. "Let the idiots fight it out."
In midst of Albedo's little 'gravitational spin cycle', Ben reached for the Omnitrix and transformed into an unexpected choice.
"Echo Echo!" he yelled as he increased his clones. Albedo raised an eyebrow as he watched the clones obscure his vision.
"What is this?"
"Oh, nothing," one of the clones sneered.
"Just showing you why-" another one said.
"It was a bad idea to bring us this close!" The clones took a deep breath and released a powerful, close range echo chamber that nearly rendered Albedo deaf. He released his gravity field, brought his arms back out, and clasped his ears. His form shook as he reached for his Omnitrix-
Albedo's form became nice and slender, shedding the rocks from his body. A yellow patagia dropped down from his arms as a tail sprouted out from his back. The mantaray-like alien flipped through the air as he unleashed a powerful optic blast that exploded when it hit the ground, taking out a big portion of the army. The remaining members scattered as Albedo continued to raze the land.
The clones all regrouped right before Ben hit the Omnitrix, transforming into Shock Rock. Ben's body started to glow menacingly, and the clouds above Albedo turned black. Albedo shot out another powerful neuroshock, but Ben simply absorbed it and converted it into his own. Ben grinned as blue lightning crashed down from the sky and hit Albedo. Albedo screamed in pain as he fell to the ground...
And slapped down his Omnitrix symbol.
Ben crashed down another blast of lightning, hoping to knock Albedo down for good this time. Instead, to his shock, the leopard alien from before stepped out of the crater, panting and huffing. The alien's fur was sparking with electricity, as if it absorbed the last torrent of electricity.
"You done?" Ben asked nonchalantly.
"I...will be, after this," Albedo huffed. "Judging by our rapid changes, we will both be out of power by the end of this next bout. I've already spent mine..."
"And you wanna make it equal."
Albedo nodded. "If it isn't too rude, may I request a form?"
"Eh, sure," Ben shrugged. "Who you thinking?"
"Your first transformation."
Ben grinned as he slapped down the Omnitrix. Ben's blue hand changed to blue fire and coal started surrounding his right arm, then the rest of his body. Coal covered his head, and his face started to light up.
"Fascinating," Albedo said in awe, as he decided to discharge some energy. Ben did the same, releasing a heavy stream of flames from his arms, back, and the soles of his feet.
"Oh wow, they got intense, didn't they?" Ari said, snacking on some popcorn. (Where'd she even get it, they were in a forest and they didn't have a microwave.)
"He's proving himself to be an near-equal match to Ben," Ceres said blithely.
Ruby raised an eyebrow. "Near equal?"
She grinned. "Ben tends to be more creative with his powers. Albedo's abilities are more calculated, probably on account of his Galvan side. I'm 95% sure Ben's gonna win this."
Albedo rushed at him, coating his body in electricity. Ben propelled himself forward with a jet of fire. Ben burned his flames a little brighter as he drew closer to Albedo-
Their fists collided, and the resulting shockwave forced the others to fly backwards.
"HOLY SHIT!" Kylie gasped, blinded by the clash.
"These two are either gonna kill each other or just take us out with them!" Blake yelled.
The two had equal strength, if their clash showed anything. Albedo was exerting all of his energy into this one punch, but Ben didn't even look like he was trying. Albedo wondered if he had finally tired out his opponent, and prepared to land the finishing blow...
Until he noticed something. In Ben's other hand, some flames were swirling around, forming into a perfect sphere. It looked like a tiny blue sun-!
"Oh, you noticed!" Ben grinned madly. He released a quick circular shockwave of flames from his body. Albedo flew back, as Ben fueled the small sun in his hand and threw it at Albedo-
BOOOOOOOM! The area felt like it had just been hit with a small meteorite, the Earth shaking from the impact. The others didn't dare look, mostly because they didn't want their faces melted off.
"HOLY FUCK!" Yang cried out.
After a few seconds of peace, Ruby finally peeked over at the battle. Ben was standing over a knocked out Albedo, utterly exhausted.
"...did Ben win?" Rook asked tentatively.
"Yeeeep." Ruby nodded. "And he absolutely scorched the Earth around him."
She was right; a good mile of the forest had been reduced to ash, much to Ben's embarrassment. "I'll, uh, fix that later."
"YOU BETTER!" Ari yelled.
"Yeah, yeah, lemme just take care of..." Ben looked down to see that Albedo had vanished. He scanned the area to see if he had made a break for it, but Ben doubted he could even walk after all that.
Albedo's entire body ached. Every time he moved, it felt like knives were stabbing at every one of his muscles. But he still forced himself to move. He was used to this kind of feeling after week long crusades... just not a day long one.
"Thank you again for pulling me out of that situation," Albedo said sincerely.
No problem. Neo smiled. I still say you should've won.
Albedo nodded. "I was going to win. I willingly let myself lose to let Tennyson drop his guard."
Neo tilted her head. Why's that?
"Because," Albedo responded, smirking a little. "I haven't even used my full powers yet."