The next "lovely" destination on the Tennyson's cross-country tour was the foggy swamps of the Florida. The Rust Bucket had pulled up to a particularly dank marsh and Max stepped outside, taking a big breath of mucky air.
"Ah, looks like we beat the crowd," said Max proudly.
"Yeah…," said Gwen, leaning out the door nervously. "You sure we're in the right place, grandpa?"
"Tomorrow, this place will be crawling with Gator Fest fans," said Max.
"Quite the interesting place for a festival," said Trixie, walking around Gwen and stepping outside into foggy, dark, and dreary environment without hesitation. "It reminds me of the mires of Methanos, only cleaner."
Gwen, on the other hand, took her first nervous step outside and made a disgusted grimace when her shoes sank into the mud. And the strange creatures making noises in the brush didn't help either. The sorceress-in-training walked around to the back of the RV and was somehow not surprised to see her doofus cousin skulking the dark. From the looks of things, it seemed like he was trying to mess with the Omnitrix using a flathead screwdriver. Because that wasn't a terrible idea at all.
"What're you doing?" Gwen scolded him.
"After Nanomech and Gutrot, I started thinking," said Ben.
"Already off to a bad start," Gwen remarked.
"Who knows how many hero dudes are inside this thing," Ben continued. "I just have to figure out how it works."
"You shouldn't mess around with that thing, Ben," Gwen warned. "If Trixie finds out you're messing with the Omnitrix, she's going to flip. And then it's New York all over again."
"Just chill out; I know what I'm doing," said Ben, wedging the screwdriver under the faceplate.
"That'd be a first," said Gwen.
"What in the name of Galvin Prime are you doing?!" Ben nearly jumped out of his skin when Max and Trixie walked around the Rust Bucket; the latter gave the boy a stern glare. "Are…are you messing with the Omnitrix? With a screwdriver?! That is a Level Twenty weapon of galactic importance! Not a toy for you to mess with!"
"Trixie's right, Ben," said Max. "I want you to promise me you'll take it easy on the Omnitrix."
"Okay, grandpa," Ben agreed easily. A little too easily. Trixie narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
"Now don't stay up too late," said Max, not at all suspicious of his grandson. "Tomorrow's a big day. G'night."
Max, Gwen, and Trixie walked back inside the RV…. Ben barely waited until the door slammed shut before pressing the screwdriver harder into the Omnitrix's crevices. He pushed and pushed, sinking the head deeper underneath the faceplate until the plate popped off the Omnitrix and landed on the ground.
"Yes!" Ben cheered.
But his celebration was short-lived as the Omnitrix's exposed core started gathering a large quantity of energy that exploded outward as a burst of blinding green light. The last momentarily stuns Ben, knocking him flat on his butt until it dissipates. He rubbed his eyes clear of spots and took another look at the Omnitrix. The core seemed struck in mid-change and was giving off green electric sparks.
"Aw man, Trixie's gonna kill me if she sees this," Ben moaned.
He stood back on his feet and retrieved the Omnitrix's faceplate just in time before the Rust Bucket's door flew open. Max, Gwen, and Trixie stepped out - it made sense that they would've noticed the explosion; it could've been seen from space!
"Ben?" Max called out in concern.
"What was that just now?" Trixie questioned sternly.
"Er – what was what?" said Ben, hiding the Omnitrix behind his back.
"What was that noise?" asked Max suspiciously.
"Uh…lightning?" Ben replied lamely.
"There's not a cloud in the sky," Gwen pointed out, and Max looked up to confirm that she was right.
"Uh…lightning got rid of them?" Ben dug himself a deeper grave.
"You didn't mess with the Omnitrix, did you?" questioned Trixie, narrowing her gaze. "If I found out that you broke the most powerful device in the universe – "
"Geez, you're so paranoid," said Ben defensively. "I'm telling you I didn't do anything."
"Okay, that's enough," said Max, ever the mediator. "Let's go, all of you. Bed time."
Trixie shot one last look at Ben before reluctantly follow Max and Gwen back inside the Rust Bucket. Ben frowned as he stared at the broken piece of the Omnitrix in his hand, thinking how he was going to get himself out of this mess. What he failed to notice was that the patch of ground where the faceplate had landed was glowing with green radiation and tentacles spawned out of the swampy soil….
Somehow, Ben had succeeded in hiding the broken Omnitrix for the night, so when the morning came, he was ready to put his plan into action. If you can even call it a plan.
Ben quietly slipped out of the Rust Bucket, making sure to shut the door quietly, and tiptoed to the back of the RV. He took a peek through the window to make sure that no one was watching, then retrieved the Omnitrix's faceplate that he had kept in his pocket. And his brilliant idea for fixing the most sophisticate device in the universe: chewing gum.
Ben had been chewing the wad for almost half-an-hour, ensuring max stretchiness. He wraps it around the ring of the faceplate and then slaps the whole thing on the main body. Now the Omnitrix had an obvious pink sticky makeover.
"There, good as new," said Ben, completely oblivious to his lack of technical skill.
"What's good as new?" Ben nearly jumped out of his shoes when Gwen walked up behind him with a smirk.
"I wish I could say your face, but it's the same old one," Ben deflected.
"I think the Florida heat has fried your brain," Gwen scoffed.
"Benjamin, Gwendolyn, come over here!" Trixie called, appearing around the Rust Bucket.
Gwen shot one last look of suspicion at her cousin before walking away; Ben let out a relieved sigh and followed.
When the Tennyson cousins walked around the front of the RV to see what got Trixie so excited, the duo paused and stared in awe. The entire swamp had literally changed overnight; an entire festival had just popped up out of nowhere with hundreds of people flocking the stalls. And everything was gator themed: gator juice, gator steak, gator t-shirts, gator hats, gator popcorn, gator video games, and (probably the most normal) a gator themed cartoon character named Wally.
"Ha, told you!" said Max cheerfully when he stepped out of the Rust Bucket. "Let the Gator-Fest begin!"
"This will certainly be an interesting experience," said Trixie.
While the Tennyson children headed into the festival, genuinely interested in Max's suggestion for a change, a dark shadowy creature slowly emerged from the swamp water. It stared blindly at the Tennysons, baring its teeth with a chittering noise, and disappeared beneath the murky water again.
There were so many stalls to explore that Ben didn't know where to being. A pile of gator toys was selling dirt-cheap, the gator-meat hamburgers smelled surprisingly delicious, and there were even some gator-themed carnival games like whack-a-gator and gator fishing. They were eventually drawn by a large crowd ahead and decided to see what had gotten everyone's attention. As they made their way to the front, they notice a small nest of eggs laying of the shore of the marsh.
"Why is everyone staring at those eggs?" asked Trixie.
"Those are gator eggs," Max explained. "And everyone is waiting to see them hatch. I think you kids are gonna enjoy this. It is a rare event."
"You mean like Ben changing his underwear?" Gwen taunted.
Ben wasn't given a chance to retort because the eggs chose that exact moment to hatch, releasing a small batch of baby alligators. The crowd cheered and took pictures with their phones as the young reptiles instinctive waded back into the swamp, disappearing into the murky water.
"Aw, they were kinda cute," Gwen cooed. "I wish I had a better chance to look at them."
Well, Gwen got her wish. No even seconds after they submerged, the baby gators rapidly crawled back to shore and led into the tall grass. This strange action left many gator fans scratching their heads.
"What're they running from? They're alligators," said Ben.
"That's very odd," Max hummed. "What do you think made them do that?"
"Uh, Trixie?" said Gwen, anxiously tugging at the Omnitrix girl's dress. "What's the name of that one alien with the black shell, long head, big teeth, and stabby tail?"
"That would…be the Xenomorph, I believe," said Trixie, thinking for a moment. "Why do you ask?"
"Take one guess," said Gwen, pointing ahead.
The Tennysons followed her finger and spotted the Xenomorph in question as it landed on the shore, snarling with its teeth bared at the heroes. The crowd predictably scattered, but Ben and his family stood their ground.
"No way, is that what I think it is?" Ben gasped. "That's Cenatu's pet. Vilgax's daughter."
"Does that mean Vilgax is here?" asked Trixie, looking around fretfully.
"If he was, he would've come himself," said Max seriously. "But that doesn't make it any less dangerous. Stay on your guard."
The Xenomorph raised its bladed tail and stretched it to stab the ground where they stood. The Tennysons jumped out of the way in opposite directions; Max and Gwen in one direction, and Ben and Trixie in the other. Ben tucked and rolled his way back to his feet while Trixie faceplanted in the dirt.
"This is so not the kind of reptile I wanted to see today," Ben grumbled.
Unfortunately, his little maneuver caused the Omnitrix's faceplate to fall off without his notice. Of course, that hardly mattered when the master of the rampaging Xenomorph suddenly stood before Ben, towering over him with her intimidating height.
"Tennyson…," Cetanu growled.
"You – you're um…set-something," Ben stammered.
"Cetanu, daughter of Vilgax!" Cetanu snarled, making Ben take a step back. "I've been searching for you all over, Tennyson. You made it surprisingly easy with all of your heroics on everyone information network in the country." She clenched her fist, unfolding her double wrist blades. "My father is gone because of you, but his legacy still lives with me. You and your family will suffer in ways beyond your darkest nightmares!"
Cetanu takes a swing at Ben, but the wielder of the Omnitrix threw himself out of the way, causing her to clip a stand of gator dogs. While Ben recovered, Max ran at Cetanu, shouting, "You'll be joining your father soon enough, Cetanu!"
"If I do, it certainly be at your hands!" Cenatu declared as her shoulder cannon took aim and shot at Max, who threw himself behind a stall for gator purses to avoid the blast.
"Okay, daddy's girl, party's over!" said Ben seriously.
The boy pressed the activation switch for the Omnitrix, only just realizing that the faceplate was missing again. The core was blanketed in arcs of electricity, which seemed incredibly unstable. There was a moment when Ben started to reconsider his options, but with the daughter of Vilgax tearing everything up, he had little choice. Take a nervous gulp, Ben slammed down on the Omnitrix's core and exploded in a flash of green light.
Gwen, who was helping Trixie back up, looked around and her jaw dropped at the alien Ben had unknowingly chosen.
"Benjamin, you're…" Trixie gapped.
"Jetrath?" said Gwen dumbfoundedly.
Or some inconceivable reason, Ben ended up becoming a fusion of Rath and Jetray. Though the main body resembled Rath and had his strapped pattern, he lacked the Appoplexian's muscle mass and was unhealthily thin. On the other side of the spectrum, he had Jetray's tail and horns, but his "wings" were unnaturally small and only extended to the length of his arms. It was – in short – a complete mess.
"Rath in Jetray's body?" said Jetrath, speaking in Jetray's voice.
Cenatu made a whistling noise and her pet Xenomorph lunged at the amalgamated alien. Luckily, Jetrath was small and nimble enough to hop over the alien pet, though he almost tripped over himself when his tiny wings caught air. When he landed, he spotted the gum-covered faceplate in the dirt.
"Must be another new alien," Ben somehow concluded. "Now I can fly and kick butt at the same time. Cool."
But Ben found out the hard way that his new alien form didn't have any of the benefits of his individual counterparts. When the Xenomorph bounced on top of Jetrath, the mixed alien tried to catch him in the air and lift him overhead, only to realize his toothpick arms couldn't hold the weight of the Xenomorph and ended up on his back with the alien pet on top of him.
"Either you've gained weight since last time," Jetrath grimaced, "or I'm not as strong as I used to be."
The Xenomorph opened his mouth to reveal its second set of teeth and took a stab at Jetrath's head. The fusion alien tilted sideways, letting the Xenomoprh bury its head in the mud, and quickly crawled out from under it. He took off at a running start and leapt into the air…and faceplanted in the dirt when he couldn't catch any air in his tiny wings.
"Great," Jetrath groaned. "Too small to lift anything, too big to fully. This new alien stinks!"
Ben had no time for complaints because the Xenomorph was on his tail again. He pulls himself up to his feet and noticed the novelty above the gator dog stand as the Xenomorph took another leap. Despite his frail body, Jetrath was still strong enough to rip off the fake gator and use it to bat away the Xenomorph, sending it flying towards Cetanu.
The Yautja hunter is knocked off her feet and thrown a considerable distance before landing on her back. As she raised herself up by her elbows, she noticed something strange in her peripheral. It only took a quick glance to recognize it as the Omnitrix's faceplate. But it got even weirder. She witnessed an insect crawling on the ring and was taken aback when it suddenly grew blur fur and crawled into the swamp at the speed of sound. Cetanu carefully picked up the faceplate and hummed.
"Well, well, what do we have here?" she said menacingly.
The Xenomorph slowly circled Jetrath with a hungry snarl when its master suddenly whistled for its return. The alien hound shot Jetrath one more snarl before leaping into the swamp and disappearing in the murky water. At the same time, Cetanu activated her camouflage and blended with her surroundings, ultimately disappearing from the scene. Jetrath let out a relieved sigh before reverted back to human form, which Ben was happy to see had not changed.
"Yeah, that's right, you better run!" Ben shouted, despite his exhausted wheezing.
"So Ben," Gwen said cautiously to her cousin, "why did you turn into some freaky alien combo platter?"
Know that there would be no point in hiding it after what happened with Jetrath, Ben showed them the Omnitrix, which was sparking aggresively.
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO THE OMNITRIX?!" Trixie screeched, nearly tearing Ben's arm off when she examined it.
"It's no biggie; it pops right back on," said Ben offhandedly before looking around uncertainly. "Now…where is it?"
"Where is what?" Trixie growled, who acted like she was trying to cut off the circulation in his arm.
"The faceplate; it was right here," said Ben, gesturing to the general area where he last saw it. "I saw it right before Cetanu and her alien dog…. Uh-oh…."
Somewhere in the heart of the swamp was an old abandoned observatory that had been left to ruin. It had become the home for many flocks of bat and one particularly bat-crazy supervillain.
Dr. Animo grumbled irritably as he took a wrench to his latest creation: a giant ray gun straight out of a 70s sci-fi movie. He had clearly been work on it for a long time, cobbling together as much scrap and wires as he could find. But even with all his progress, there was still something stopping his from completing his work. Even as he tightened the last nut and checked the energy output, it still wouldn't operate the way he wanted it to.
"Blast it all!" Dr. Animo cursed. "I don't understand! I run through all the calculation perfectly! What am I missing?"
"Perhaps I can offer some enlightenment."
Dr. Animo let out a joyful squeaking noise when Cetanu seemingly appeared out of thin air. He was less happy to see her pet Xenomorph, however, who snarled at Dr. Animo when he got too close to its master."
"Cetanu, my love, you have returned!" Dr Animo cried with glee.
"How are you the creepiest of the two of us?" said Cetanu, shaking her head. She then tossed the Omnitrix's faceplate to the master of mutations. "Here, take this."
"What is it?" asked Dr. Animo curiously, examining the ring closely.
"A piece of the Omnitrix," Cetanu explained. "I don't know how it happened, but it seemed to have broken off during the fight. I have witnessed its mutagenic effects in person. Given your area of expertise, I thought it could be useful."
"Yes…yes, this is exactly what I was looking for!" Dr. Animo shouted happily. He climbed to the top of his ray gun and slipped the faceplate inside an open slot, taking a step back as the piece was locked inside and began to charge. "DNA based with a power source unlike anything I've ever imagined. It's the final piece of the puzzle I needed. Now all we need is a test subject."
The good doctor seemed to be eyeing the Xenomorph, who noticed his stare and snarled.
"Don't even think about it," Cetanu warned.
Disappointed he couldn't take his vengeance on the alien hound, Dr. Animo's attention was redirected to a bat that was hanging of a piece of the broken wall. With a sinister grin, he activated the machine's console and turned his ray gun's barrel at the unsuspecting flying rodent. Once his target was locked on, Dr. Animo initiated his machine to fire and shot a beam of green energy that lit up the entire area –
Several hours later after the sun had gone down and the full moon illuminated the sky, the Tennyson could be spotted going down river in an airboat they rented. While Max and Gwen were keeping a sharp eye on the terrain, Trixie had hard at work trying to patch the Omnitrix. He had brought out her entire tool kit, which included a sawdering, a miniature saw, and several rolls of tape.
"We've been at this for hours," Gwen complained.
"We have to keep looking," said Max. "If Vilgax's little princess can figure out how to tap into the Omnitrix's alien DNA, who knows what could happen."
"None of this would have happened if Benjamin just listened for a change," said Trixie exasperatedly, taking a pair of pliers to the sparking Omnitrix. "Honestly, how many times have we been in a situation that could've been avoided in Benjamin had just listened?"
"You want a list?" Gwen offered.
"Well, I wouldn't have broken the watch if you just told me how it worked," Ben accused Trixie.
"Even if my memory wasn't a spotty mess," said Trixie seriously, "you have yet to prove yourself responsible enough to warrant further access. Now hold still while I try to reroute the gene matrix though the communication relay. Hopefully that should boost the signal to wherever the Omnitrix is receiving its codon sequences and prevent further mutations."
"Hey, Trixie, I just thought of something," said Gwen. "If the Omnitrix is on the fritz, does that mean you'll mutate into a fused alien if you transform?"
"Theoretically, yes," said Trixie. "The Omnitrix provides me a connection to the codon stream in the same sense a modem connects your computer to the internet. If the modem is faulty, then it creates a bad connection. Of course, for Ben, he has the security of a timer function that forces him to transform back. I don't have that feature, so there is a chance of a permanent mutation. That's why I don't want to risk transforming until the Omnitrix is fixed."
"Is this the part where I say 'I told you so?'" Gwen said to Ben, who stuck out his tongue.
Just then, the quiet swamp air was punctured by a piercing shriek, making the Tennysons jump.
"I don't like the sound of that," said Max apprehensively.
Up ahead, something moved through the thick fog and was growing bigger by the second. When it emerged was the haze, the Tennysons witnessed Dr. Animo's latest creation in action: a human-sized bat with a magma-based body and a flaming skull. The winged Pyronite screeched again and started spewing fireballs everywhere.
"Whoa, it's Heatblast gone batty!" said Ben.
"Hold on!" Max shouted before accelerating the airboat at top speed.
The Tennysons narrowly swerved around Heatbat's fireballs and slipped in between the trees. Heatbat curved around to avoid running into the branches, but continued to follow them overhead.
"Gee, you think Cetanu figured out that piece of the watch?" said Gwen sarcastically.
"That doesn't seem like something a Yautja hunter is capable of," said Trixie. "She must be working with someone."
"Dr. Animo!" Ben realized. "He was working for Vilgax last time we saw him!"
"Great, now we have two supervillains that want to kill us!" Gwen snapped.
The Heatbat rained down fiery destruction from above and forced Max to swerve around them, which made it especially difficult to keep her focus on the Omnitrix. One particularly curve nearly threw her overboard if Gwen had not caught her hand and pulled her back.
"I'll take care of this hothead," said Ben, reaching for the Omnitrix's activation switch.
"Ben, I don't think going hero is a good idea," Max advised. "You don't know what you'll turn into."
"If I don't try, we're gonna get barbequed – Cajun style," said Ben. "Please give me something good."
Despite warnings from Trixie and Max, Ben slammed the exposed core and urst into an explosion of green light. What was left behind was a foot-tall Petrosapien with Galvan eyes.
"Aw man, Diamondhead and Gray Matter?" Diamond Matter(?) complained, looking over his new body. "I'm a razor-sharp hood ornament."
"Benjamin, look out!" Trixie suddenly shouted.
The Petragalvan(?) looked up as Heatbat died at their airboat and snatched up Diamond Matter in its molten claws, lifting him into the air. It was fortunate he had Petrosapien durability or the monster would have burned him. The Heatbat carried him a short distance before abruptly dropping on the water. Diamond Matter gasped when he broke the surface, but found himself struggling to remain afloat with Diamondhead's weight on Gray Matter's tiny body. But that was the least of Ben's concerns as the local gators spotting him in the water and saw their next meal.
"Ben, behind you!" yelled Max.
Diamond Matter had no chance to react when the gator gobbled him up in one bite and disappeared under the water before the Tennysons could stage a rescue. Although, a rescue seemed unnecessary as Diamond Matter's sharp edges cut the roof of the gators mouth, causing the reptile to spit him back out. The Petrogalvan was abruptly shot into the air where he ended up stabbing a tree branch with his back spikes. And, to his dismay, Diamond Matter realized that he was stuck.
"Could this get any worse?" Diamond Matter complained. In comes Heatbat, screeching and spewing fireballs. "I had to ask…."
The Heatbat tackles Diamond Matter, breaking him free of the branch and sending him freefalling back to the water. Luckily, Max drives the airboat underneath and catches Ben in time. But they weren't safe for much longer when the Heatbat swooped around and made a beeline for the boat.
"I've got this!" Gwen declared. She stood up and opened her pocket with one hand and held out the other to the magma rodent. "Aquata Risa Spackwata!"
As the Heatbat made its approach, a spout of swamp water suddenly shot up like a fountain beneath it. The spray doused the Heatbat's flame, causing it to steam and shriek like it was in pain. The mutated animal's self-preservation instincts kicked in as it flew away in the opposite direction.
"Probably heading back to Animo," Diamond Matter theorized. "Follow that mutant bat!"
Thankfully, the Heatbat's magma body lit up like a beacon in the foggy swamp or they never would have been able to find it. They had spent the last six minutes following the mutant from afar (in which time Ben had reverted back to human form.) When they finally found where the bat had nested, the Tennysons found themselves rolling up to a dilapidated building in the middle of nowhere with the walls and roof crumbling while the rest was being reclaimed by the swamp's plant life.
"It looks like an old observatory," Max noted as he killed the engine so as not to alert anyone they were coming.
"What's an observatory doing in the middle of a swamp?" asked Ben.
"Without the lights from a city, the stars are brighter and can be seen more clearly," said Trixie knowledgably.
For some inexplicable reason, there was a hole in the side of building that allowed the Tennysons to paddle the airboat directly into the observatory. And despite it being a large structure, they somehow ended up exactly where they needed to be without putting any effort into searching. So when they entered the waded into the observatory, they were already standing underneath Dr. Animo's mutant ray.
"They've been busy," said Max seriously.
"So where are the freaky couple?" questioned Gwen.
As they looked around the seemingly abandoned building, Trixie was the first to hear a strange scratching noise coming from beneath the boat. She barely saw the cracks in the airboats bottom before Cetanu's pet suddenly burst out from under them, shattering the airboat to pieces and scattering the Tennysons in the water. The rental owners were not going to be happy with them.
The Tennysons paddled towards the sparse platforms on the edges of the platorms; Max helping Trixie on one side while Ben and Gwen fled to the other. Their Xenomorph attacker slithered its way to the top of Dr. Animo's machine, where the good doctor and his Yautja cohort were waiting for them.
"You really should've knocked," said Dr. Animo mockingly. "It isn't polite to sneak up on someone like this."
"You've got something that belongs to me and I want it back!" Ben demanded.
"Ah yes, interesting piece off technology, that wonderful Omnitrix," said Dr. Animo gleefully. "Lord Vilgax's description of its genetic manipulative powers were sorely understated. Its potential power is virtually unlimited. I will put its alien DNA to good use."
"What do you mean 'good use?'" asked Trixie.
"With this telescope I have modified," Dr. Animo explained, "I will be able to bounce my transmodulator signal off of a satellite and blanket the planet with its power, creating a new, more interesting world order."
"And you're going along with this loony plan?" Trixie asked Cetanu.
"One, my main priority is to see you all dead for what you did to my father," said Cetanu. "And two, hunter in a world filled alien-mutated prey sounds interesting."
"Well, science project's over, creeps," said Ben.
"Oh, but it's just beginning," said Dr. Animo while he booted up his machine. "In fact, you should feel privileged to be the first human test subjects."
Dr. Animo's mutant ray whirled around the observatory. At first, it seemed as if it was swinging toward Ben and Gwen as it charged up; Gwen and Ben prepared their respective tools to counter. But then, with a malicious grin, Dr. Animo turned his machine on Trixie just as the machine finished its charge. Trixie had no time to react when Dr. Animo's ray fired a green beam in her direction.
"Trixie!" screamed Max.
Max pushed Trixie out of the way at the last second, throwing her safely on the ground, but got shot in the back himself. When the explosion created by the beam fades away, something large and red flopped uselessly on the ground. It looked like Dr. Animo had tried to turn Max into an Aerophibian, but his body was too large and fat for his thin and skinny limbs, rendering him incapable of moving.
"Maxwell!" cried Trixie, kneeled down beside him. "Maxwell, hold on, we'll fix this!"
On the opposite side of the observatory, Ben and Gwen stared in fear and anxiety.
"If I had just listened to you guys about messing with the watch," said Ben remorsefully, "none of this would've happened."
"You can feel sorry for yourself later," said Gwen, flipping through her spellbook. "Right now, we need to stop doctor freakshow's mad science experiment."
"That is…not what I was expecting," Cetanu said strangely to Dr. Animo.
"Yes, a successful test indeed," said Dr. Animo, mistaking her awkwardness for approval. "But as a scientist, I must be sure."
While she flipped through her book looking for a spell that might undo her grandfather's mutation, Gwen noticed her cousin fiddling with the broken Omnitrix again.
"You really think it's a good idea to go alien again?" she asked.
"If I don't, we all turn into that," said Ben, pointing at mutant Max to emphasize his point.
Just then, Dr. Animo's machine came to life again, swinging around the room until it was pointed at the Tennyson cousins. It fired off another beam, but Ben and Gwen threw themselves out of the way. Unfortunately, they weren't out of danger just yet. Cetanu jumped down from the machine and landed in front of Ben with her wrist lades drawn while her pet crawled up to the platform in front of Gwen. As Cetanu raised her blades overhead, Ben slammed down on the Omnitrix's core, momentarily blinding the Yautja.
When the glow faded, a strange quadrupedal creature with the body of a Polar Manzardill and the limbs of a Pyronite stood in his place.
"Heatblast and Arctiguana?" said Heatguana(?) dumbfoundedly. "Not the best combo."
"Well, well, what do we have here?" Dr. Animo taunted. "A melted popsicle?"
"Turn my grandpa back to normal, or so help me – !" Heatguana threatened, rising on his back legs and stretch out his arms. But when he tried forcing a fireball, all that came out was a warm mist. "That's not good."
"The Pyronite and Polar Manzardill's powers cancel each other out!" yelled Trixie.
"Yeah, I fiured that out!" Heatguana snapped.
"Looks like your luck has just run out, Ben Tennyson!" said Dr. Animo giddily.
The mad doctor charged up his mutant ray and released another beam at Heatguana that blasted the Pyro Manzardill(?) point blank. Though eager to see what horrifying mutation his machine had created, Dr. Animo was astonished to find that Heatguana was…unchanged. The Pyro Manzardill was just as surprised, looking himself over to check for any addition mutations, and was relieved to see that there were none.
"Phew, nothing happened," said Heatguana.
"Your altered state seems to have made you immune to the effects of my ray," Dr. Animo theorized. Pity. Instead of giving you a new life, we'll have to settle with ending your old one. Would you be so kind as to finish them, my love."
"Only if swear never to say that again," said Cetanu. "Serioiusly, you make my skin crawl."
"Hah! Even alien girls don't want you!" Heatguana cackled.
While the Pyro Manzardill doubled over in laughter, Cetanu lunged forward and slashed her blades over his head. Heatguana swiftly rolls sideways, but Cetanu snatches him up by the throat with her other hand and slams him into the wall. The Yautja hunter held him in place as she raised her blade when Heatguana suddenly has an idea and belches in Cetanu's face. He doesn't breath fire or ice, but exhales a burst of warm fog that knocked Cetanu backwards, stumbling on her feet. But the fog didn't just disorient the Yautja; it covered the entire observatory, making it impossible for anyone to see more than three feet in front of them.
Cetanu's pet Xenomorph crawled cautiously around the platform, unaware of where its master or prey were located. But after wandering aimlessly around for a while, it ended up bumping into someone in the fog. It was Heatguana, who looked just as lost as the rest of them were. Now that it had found its target, the Xenomorph leapt onto Heatguana, pinning him to the floor. The Xenomorph snapped its teeth over and over again, but Heatguana kept moving his head out of the way.
"Whoa, down, Fido! Heel! Heel!" Heatguana yelled.
"Declam Baccura!"
The Xenomorph squeaked in surprise when it suddenly found itself lifted off of Heatguana and was suspended in the air. It hovered for a few seconds before it was launched across the observatory somewhere in the fog. Judging by the loud clanging noise and the soft splash that followed, it must have hit Dr. Animo's machine before falling into the water.
Thankfully, the fog finally starts to fade as Heatguana gets back up. He was surprised to see that Gwen was standing only a few feet away from him with her hand on her spellbook, even though Heatguana couldn't find her a moment ago.
"Nice spellcasting," Heatguana complimented her.
"Not really," said Gwen. "I was trying to blow that thing up. Guess I mixed the spells up again."
"You saved my tail; that's all I care about," said Heatguana. "Now what happened to – "
Heatguana let out a surprised yelp when Cetanu suddenly ran in and tackled him from the side. They are thrown of the platform where Cetanu slams Heatguana into the base of Dr. Animo's ray, causing the entire machine to rattle. The Yautja punches her pray in the back of the head twice before grabbing Heatguana by the tail and sent him flying over her shoulder. Heatguana slammed his back roughly into the wall (it's amazing the structure didn't break) and collapsed on the floor with a pain groan.
"Ugh…man, I don't like this ride," Heatguana moaned.
Cetanu leapt back up to the platform and rushed the Pyro Manzardill with her wrist lades swinging, only to come to a sudden stop when Gwen called out, "Appendaga Regoria!" The Yautja's body was blanketed in pinkish aura that caused her entire body to freeze, though it seemed to cause a visible strain for Gwen as she tried to maintain it. Heatguana wasn't going to let the opportunity his cousin made go to waste. The amalgamated alien rose to his feet, turned him back on Cetanu, and jumped to slam his shell in her face. The Yautja hunter was thrown off the platform and fell into the water with a big splash.
"How 'bout you cool off for a while," said Heatguana amusingly.
"That was bad, even for you," said Gwen, shaking her head.
"Everyone's a critic," Heatguana grumbled, rolling his eyes.
While everyone else was distracted with the fighting, Trixie climbed the rickety stairway to the upper levels of the observatory. She couldn't risk using her transformations, but the least she could do was figure out a way to reverse Animo's ray. But Dr. Animo was well aware of her plan, viewing Trixie's intelligence as a greater threat than the Omnitrix. The mad doctor followed Trixie's path with his mutant ray as it steadily charged up.
"Welcome to my world, little girl," said Dr. Animo menacingly.
He fired his beam at Trixie, but human Omnitrix skillfully dropped and slid underneath, then jumped back to his feet and continued running. Dr. Animo gritted his teeth in frustration; it would take some time for the ray to charge up again. In the meantime, he spotted Cetanu's pet climbing out of the water below, shaking itself like a wet dog.
"Get the girl!" Dr. Animo commanded.
At first, the Xenomorph refused to obey; Animo wasn't his master! But when Cetanu emerged from the water and overheard Animo's orders, she made a high-pitched whistling noise. Instantly, the Xenomorph changed its attitude and jumped to the upper levels, crawling over the railing as Trixie ran past him.
The Xenomorph closely follows Trixie as she runs around the length of the observatory, dodging its claws, teeth, and bladed tail. They eventually come to a section where the walkway had been blocked off by wooden boards. All except for the small gap at the bottom. Trixie once again dives into a spectacular slide through the gap and smoothly rises to her feet while the Xenomorph smashed headfirst into the barrier. Trixie pressed on while the Xenomorph struggled to pry its head from the board, eventually deciding to tear the whole wall down all together with its tail.
With all the heroes presently distracted, Dr. Animo checked something on his monitor and was pleased with what he saw.
"The satellite is approaching its position," said Dr. Animo excitedly. "He-heh! Who says one man can't change the world?"
Trixie grimaced as she looked over her shoulder and saw the Xenomorph starting to catch up. When she looked ahead, she spotted a broken plank resting over the railing. An idea formed in her head; a stupid one, but it was better than nothing.
Trixie picked up the pace, running up the length of the board and jumping off the end, knocking the plank over the edge. By some miracle, she managed to throw herself onto Dr. Animo's machine and grab hold off the bars to secure herself. As she pulled herself to firmer ground, she found herself in front of a small latch that likely led inside the machine – possibly for maintenance purposes. The human Omnitrix managed to pry the hatch open just as the Xenomorph took a running leap off the walkway and flew straight toward her. Trixie dropped into the narrow crevasse inside the machine and as the Xenomorph landed and tried chasing her inside. But the alien hunting hound found the crawl space too small and ended up getting its head stuck – again.
With one problem out of the way, Trixie started crawling through the machine with a determined glint in her eye.
"You haven't won yet, Animo," she said.
Back with Cetanu and the Tennyson cousins, the Yautja hunter forced herself back up and performed a spinning kick to Heatguana's face that sent him flying into the wall again. Gwen flipped through her book for another spell when Cetanu reached for a metal ball on her belt and tossed it at the redhead. The ball burst open and covered Gwen in a metal net, binding the human girl and dropping her on the floor.
"Hey, no fair!" Gwen complained.
"Hey!" Heatguana shouted, drawing Cetanu's attention. "Why don't you pick on someone your own size?"
"You're not even my size," Cetanu retorted.
"Oh…yeah, that's a good point," said Heatguana awkwardly. "Didn't really think that quip through…."
She could roll her eyes, Cetanu would. Instead, she rushed ahead and clamped her hand over Heatguana's mouth before he had a chance to exhale another cloud of fog. With a little more effort, she shoved the Pyro Manzardill on his back, causing the wood to crack underneath him. Heatguana tried prying the hunter's hand off his jaw, but she was much stronger than him. As Cetanu raised her blades for the killing blow, Heatguana looked around desperately when he noticed the cracks in the floorboard. An idea came to him; it might be a bad one, but it was better than getting skewered.
Cetanu stabbed her wrist blades at Heatguana's head when the amalgamated alien suddenly reached up and grabbed her arm, redirecting it to the floor next to his head. The impact caused the wood to splinter and eventually snap underneath the pair, dropping them both into the water below.
As they sank deeper into the murky depths, Cetanu took anther swing with her wrist blades. But her movements were drastically slowed thanks to the water, giving Heatguana ample time to duck underneath. As the Yautja prepare for her next attack, Heatguana contemplated his next move. His fog power would be useless in this situation, so he needed to find a different solution to incapacitate her. Luckily, he spotted the cable connecting to her mask and remembered how she passed out rom Earth's atmosphere the first time they fought. Being underwater would definitely make it worse, Heatguana thought.
The Pyro Manzardill lurched forward and ripped the tube from her mask before Cetanu could react. As he expected, the Yautja started panicking as the water filled her lungs and couldn't think straight enough to swim to the surface. After a minute of wild flailing, Cetanu finally slumped over and passed out. And, being the good guy that he was, Heatguana knew he couldn't just leave her. He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her up to the surface, dragging her unconscious body onto the wooden platforms. Once she was safe, Heatguana slumped over with a tired groan.
"I am so done with this," Heatguana moaned.
Dr. Animo gritted his teeth at the sight of her love (seriously, why is he do creepy?) defeated at the hands of Ben Tennyson once again.
"You may have won that battle, Tennyson, but I will win the war!" Dr. Animo declared. He pushed a button on his controls and raised his mutant ray to the very top of the observatory, tilting it all the way back and aiming at the starry night sky. "The moment is here! The next evolution will be televised!"
The doctor was startled when something slammed against the side of his ray, nearly hitting him in the head. He looked around and spotted Gwen Tennyson, having freed herself with a little hocus pocus, and was levitating several chunks of concrete at once.
"Change my grandpa back, or I'll knock your block off!" Gwen threatened.
"And ruin my best work? Forget it," Dr. Animo scoffed. "But I will give him some company. Like the entire planet!"
With a glorious laugh of victory, Dr. Animo activated the mutant ray…and nothing happened. The mad doctor tried again with the same result. He tried it a third time. Then a fourth. And still his greatest creation refused to respond.
"No-no-no-no!" Dr. Animo cried. "My mutant ray! Why won't it work?!"
"I can answer that." Dr. Animo gasped in surprise when Trixie emerged from the inner workings of his ray, holding up the Omnitrix's missing faceplate. "I decided to take back what's mine."
"Give it back to me!" Dr. Animo commanded desperately. "Only my genius can utilize such power to its full potential!"
"I sincerely doubt that," Trixie retorted.
Dr. Animo stood up from his seat and started to climb his mutant ray when Gwen lobbed another concrete chunk that smacked him squarely in the back of the head. The mad doctor wobbled in a daze, muttering deliriously, before tipping over and plunging into the water. Heatguana groaned and dived back in to save him.
"Nice shot, Gwendolyn," Trixie complimented.
"Thanks," said Gwen. She directed her attention to the overweight Aerophibian on the opposite side of the building and asked, "Is there any way you can turn grandpa back?"
"Hmm…," Trixie hummed. "Normally, there would be some complex method required to repairing damaged DNA. But, since it's Animo, I think the solution might be simpler than expected."
The sorceress-in-training tilted her head curiously as Trixie dived back inside the machine. After a minute, she came back out and climbed down to Dr. Animo's and started fiddling with the controls. Trixie lowered the mutant ray and pointed the barrel at mutant Max, charging the beam to full power. Mentally crossing her fingers, Trixie activated the beam and blasted Max at pointblank range. Everyone held their breath…then let out a relieved sigh as human Max Tennyson stood up, rubbing his throbbing skull.
"Grandpa, your back!" Gwen cheered, running over and giving him a big hug.
"Thanks, um…where'd I go?" asked Max, noticeably confused.
"I'll explain later," said Gwen teasingly. She looked back up at Trixie, who dived back into the machine and came back out holding the Omnitrix's faceplate. "What did you do in there?"
"It's Animo's design, so I figured putting the faceplate in backwards would fix everything," said Trixie, chuckling to herself. "For a man who calls himself a genius, he's very simple. I just wish we could do the same to Benjamin."
Heatguana finally emerged from the pool, lifting Dr. Animo onto the wooden platform next to Cetanu. As he leaned over with an exhausted sigh, the Omnitrix's emblem blinked with a familiar beeping noise. It was in that moment that an idea struck Gwen.
"Maye we can," Gwen mumbled to herself at first and then shouted, "Trixie, throw the faceplate to Ben! Ben, put the faceplate on before you change back!"
Heatguana and Trixie were surprised by the suggestion at first, but then realized what Gwen was planning. Trixie pulled her arm back and threw the faceplate with all her strength. Heatguana jumped up to snatch the piece out of the air and slapped the faceplate on the emblem on his chest just as the countdown was reaching its final moments. One second later, Ben returned to his natural human form. And to his relief, the Omnitrix was back in one piece without any glitching or sparking.
"Yeah, it worked!" Ben cheered. "Good as new!"
"That's great, Ben," said Max. "Now…could someone explain to me why I have a sudden craving for a bowl of worms and crickets?"
After making an anonymous call to their old pal Lt. Steel and his SECT soldiers to pick up Cetanu and Dr. Animo, the Tennyson family was out on the road again. It was curious how the SECT wads ale to respond so quickly and why they believed them so easily, but Trixie had the sneaking suspicion that the good Lieutenant was keeping tabs on them. At least it made things easy when capturing the bad guys, Trixie thought.
Trixie was sitting at the table, having commandeered Gwen's laptop the instant they returned to the Rust Bucket. Her fingers were flying across the keyboard, her eyes staring intently at the screen. She didn't eve react when Ben threw himself in the seat across from her, rubbing the back of his neck guiltily.
"Hey um…I just wanted to apologize for messing with the Omnitrix," said Ben sincerely. "You were right; I shouldn't have poked my nose into something I didn't understand. I promise it won't happen again."
"Oh, you'll probably find some other way to screw something else up," said Trixie bluntly, making Ben wince. "But you'll be happy to know that I'm not mad at you."
"You're not?" asked Ben, surprised.
"While I was upset at first," said Trixie, "seeing those combination transformations have given me an amazing idea. I'm trying to write down everything while it's still fresh in my brain. I would never have thought of something like this if it hadn't been for your stubbornness. You have my gratitude, Benjamin."
"Uh, sure, no problem," said Ben, relieved that she wasn't angry. "So what's your new idea."
"Just something to consider for the future," said Trixie cryptically.
Trixie saved the file and exited out of the folder, the typed in the new older name: Biomnitrix
Next chapter: Welcome to DexLabs