Chapter 3: A Steaming Battle
Both XLR8s raced towards where the explosion came from, they arrived at a large town and witnessed the town being attacked by a bunch of steampunk style robots, that were the size of a five story house, with huge furnaces in their chests.
"Woah," Prime XLR8 said, before turning back to normal, "Who's the madman behind this?"
Reboot XLR8 turned back to normal before saying, "The madman behind this is someone called 'Steam Smythe', judging from the steampunk getup."
"Huh, never heard of him," Prime Ben said.
"Lay waste to this modernized wasteland my titanic titans, show this world the raw power of the past," A man said.
This man was a red-head with a redhead who wears a steampunk armor suit and maroon pants. His facial hair consists of big sideburns and a mustache. Most of his armor is a rusty brown color, but other portions are maroon like his pants, while others are light gray and gold. His belt buckle is an oversized gear. His name was Steam Smythe.
Steam Smythe rode on his hot-air balloon towards two figures, one that he knew too well.
"Well then, if it isn't the foolish child of the future who has been giving me such a hard time," Steam Smythe said to Reboot Ben.
"Alright Steam Smythe," Reboot Ben said, "What are you doing?"
"Ah, so that's who he is," Prime Ben said.
"I am merely terraforming this hideous modern monstrosity to make way for an archaic utopia," Steam Smythe claimed.
"What's this guy's problem?" Prime Ben asked.
"My problem is the future, and my solution is the past," Steam Smythe said.
"What's wrong with the future? The future is great. I should know, I've been to a few alternate futures before." Prime Ben said.
"You went to the future!?" Reboot Ben asked.
"Well, technically possible futures," Prime Ben said.
"The future is merely a wasteland of modern technology destroying everything the past has created, it robs the world of the greatness that it once possessed and-" Steam Smythe was cut off by Prime Ben.
"Oh boy, here comes the evil monologue of evil," Prime Ben said.
"Evil?" Steam Smythe asked, "No. I am merely the hero of the past, here to destroy the modern progress that mocks the historical world that brought a new age to the world. Your generation created mini malls, flashing lights, and fast food. My generation created blimps, titanics, and Hindenburgs. I shall avenge the world laid waste by modern society, and rebuild it in my perfect image."
"Yeah yeah, look Steamy, you hear one evil 'blah blah blah' you hear them all," Prime Ben said, "Okay Ben, if we want to take out those robots, we're going to need aliens that can put out the fire in their furnaces."
"I've got something for that," Reboot Ben said.
Both Bens slammed on their Omnitrices and transformed.
Reboot Ben turned into a red metallic alien with two containers filled with water on his head and has black mask-like markings around his green eyes. He has two tubes of water reaching from a respirator where his mouth should be to his back, and his forearms are filled with water. He has black three-fingered hands and two black toes on each foot. His armor is made of Serpent Glass. He bears the Omnitrix symbol on his chest. This alien was called Overflow.
Meanwhile, Prime Ben transformed into a hunched over, humanoid, moth-like alien with a muscular build. His four, large, bat/moth-like wings and a pair of antennae can fold up into a hooded robe (much akin to a poncho), giving him the appearance of a phantom. He has a black body with cyan patches on his arms, shoulders, legs, the back of his wings, and the back of his neck that resemble ice chunks. Each patch has thick blue outlining (except for the ones on his wings, which are outlined in black). There is also a black line that runs on the edge of the outer margin on the back of each wing. On his torso are three plates: one resembling the chest, a shorter plate under the chest, and one resembling the stomach. His chest piece extends over his entire chest and sports three gill-like marks on each side. On his face are blue cheeks and underjaw, a somewhat wide mouth that always shows bluish-white teeth, and large green eyes with dark green spots that have sharp eyebrows surrounding his eyes. He has a blue stripe on his chin, and a black beard design under his chin. The top of his head also sports a blue Y-shaped marking that extends over his scalp. He has three pointed fingers and a thumb on each hand, and two toes on each foot and a third toe-like extension on his ankles, and claws on each finger, thumb, and toe. There is also a line running down his abdomen. He also has a third antenna that folds onto his back in wing mode. He wears a green belt with a white stripe with the Omnitrix symbol on his waist. This alien is Big Chill, and he was currently in robe-mode.
"Good thinking, going as Water Hazard other me," Big Chill said.
"Water Hazard? No this guy is similar to Water Hazard, but a different species. I call this guy 'Overflow'. You?" Overflow said.
"I call this one, 'Big Chill'." He responded.
"You have very impressive gadgets, for such advanced abominations, but with one simple pull of a lever…" Steam Smythe said, but when he pulled the lever nothing happened. "Simple pull of a lever," he said again as he pulled the lever again. He kept pulling the lever in frustration.
Meanwhile Big Chill and Overflow briefly stared at each other, both with an expression that said "Seriously?".
When Steam Smythe pulled the lever and got a desired effect he said, "Ah, there we go. ...you will face the wrath of the past coming to haunt you. Titanic titans, divert all of your attention to both aliens."
The huge robots, now dubbed "Titanic Titans", all went to attack both Bens. Overflow used his water jets to fly towards the robots, while Big Chill folded out his robe into his wings to fly towards them. Overflow blasted water at a Titan's furnace, cooling it down and shutting down the robot. He evaded a punch from another Titan, who also fired steampunk-style missiles from his shoulders at Overflow. Overflow blasted water at all of them, detonating them all. He was knocked back a little, but he got back up and blasted a large ball of water at the furnace, shutting it down. He slid under another robot, and got on another robot's face. The other robot fired missiles at the robot Overflow was on, destroying it. Overflow dodged the attack and blasted water at the robot's furnace. He then created a large wave that struck every robot in its path, which was quite a lot.
"Yeah, all washed up," Overflow said.
Meanwhile, Big Chill was phasing through many robots. He would phase through them, blast the furnace from the inside with his cryokinesis, and phase out of them. A few robots then fired missiles at Big Chill, who turned intangible and they phased through him. Big Chill struck back by blasting his freezing breath at them all, freezing the robots solid. Big Chill punched them, and they all shattered like glass. He flew around at least seven robots, creating an ice trail, which froze their furnaces and encased them in ice, shutting them down.
"At least I could break the ice," Big Chill said.
"Ben, I have an idea," Big Chill shouted.
Overflow went up to Big Chill and listened to what he told him. They nodded their head in agreement and performed a team-up attack. Overflow used the water to encase all the remaining robots in large water bubbles, while Big Chill used his ice rays to freeze them all. They both then proceeded to smash all of the robots like glass. Both Bens high fived each other in victory.
"That looks like just about all of them," Overflow said.
Suddenly, a giant robot landed behind the two heroes. The robot looks like a giant robotic octopus, with a brown body and grey tentacles. It has multiple crooked pipes on its head, which act like chimneys along with a bigger chimney on front, and a clock on it. This was the Clocktopus and it had Steam Smythe in the pilot seat.
"Although… looks can be deceiving," Overflow said.
"I was going to be a gentleman and crush this town with an army to make it fast and get it over with," Steam Smythe said, "But it seems like I am forced to dismantle this modern town by ripping it apart myself with my Clocktopus. Starting with you two."
"Don't worry," Big Chill said, "As long as our power holds out, we can take this guy with no problem."
However, both Bens heard a familiar beeping sound, coming from both their Omnitrices.
"Uh oh," Big Chill said.
Unfortunately for both of them, their Omnitrices timed out and they turned back to normal.
"Uhhh… Time out?" Reboot Ben asked in a worried tone.
"Sorry, but with one simple push of a button…" Steam Smythe said as he pushed a button, only for nothing to happen. "One simple push of a button…" Steam Smythe kept pushing the button over and over again, hoping for something to happen.
Meanwhile the two Bens briefly stared at each other with a look that said "Seriously?" again.
"Ah, there we go," Steam Smythe said, "Now face my Mecha-Missiles."
And with that Steam Smythe fired missiles at the two Bens' feet, sending them running. They hid behind a building and turned the dial on their Omnitrices.
"Hopefully the Omnitrix gives me something good," Reboot Ben said.
"Come on Omnitrix," Prime Ben said, "I want Humungousaur. I don't want Grey Matter. I don't want Nanomech. I want Humungousaur. You hear me? Humungousaur!"
Both Bens slammed on their Omnitrices and transformed.
Reboot Ben turned into a dinosaur-like alien that is approximately 20 feet tall. His body is somewhat humanoid and muscular with two arms and two legs. His legs are shorter than his arms. He has elephant-like feet and a lengthy lizard-like tail. His armored hide is light brown, with minor plating on his shoulders, tail, back, arms, and upper legs. He has a beige chest, abs, inner arms, and lower jaw. Dark grey, stone-like spikes, each shaped like the dorsal fin of a shark, run down his spine from the top of his neck to a black mace on the end of his tail. The mace has three spikes shaped like stalagmites, being one large spike on the middle and two smaller spikes on the sides. He has three fingers and a thumb on each hand and three black, elephant-like toes on each foot. His knee caps and finger joints also bulge out. His square-like head is mostly hunched forward and the beige area of his neck is wrinkled. Both his lower jaw and brows are protruding while his almost human-like nose appears to be squished inward. His lips are black and have wrinkles. His teeth are yellowed and minorly fanged. He also has two green eyes with thick black outlines. He wears the Omnitrix symbol on his chest. This was Reboot Ben's Humungousaur.
Prime Ben turned into an alien with green skin, six sprout-like growths on the back of his head, a dark-green patch of skin on his head, light-green skin on his face and belly and a crooked teeth overbite. He has whisker-like lines on his face, and a green tail. He wears the Omnitrix symbol on his stomach. This was Upchuck.
"Oh yeah, Humungousaur!" Reboot Ben exclaimed. He then noticed his Prime counterpart.
"Upchuck?" Prime Ben asked, "Not what I was going for, but I think I can work with this."
"Really?" Humungousaur asked, "What are you going to do? Gnaw on the Clocktopus for a few hours until he gives up?"
"Yes, but it will take less time than that," Upchuck said, "just get me close enough."
"Okay, but I don't see where you're going with this," Humungousaur said.
"You'll see," Upchuck said.
Humungousaur distracted Steam Smythe. Steam Smythe swung enormous tentacles at Humungousaur, who dodged them all.
"Why did it have to be tentacles?" Humungousaur asked himself.
Humungousaur evaded a few more attacks before delivering some punches himself. Steam Smythe blasted some missiles at him, which exploded on impact, knocking Humungousaur back.
"You cannot outclass me dinosaur, the past is coming, and me along with it," Steam Smythe said, "and neither you or your older clone can stop it. Hey, speaking of which, where is he? Kids these days have absolutely no attention span whatsoever."
"Hey, over here Steam-Punk," Upchuck shouted.
"You dare insult Steam Smythe? Hero of the past and destroyer of a foolish future?" Steam Smythe asked in an offended tone.
"Yeah I dare," Upchuck said unfazed.
Steam Smythe fended off Humungousaur, while using some of his remaining tentacles to slam down Upchuck. Upchuck dodged the tentacles. Steam Smythe then swiped a tentacle at Upchuck, who slid under it. Upchuck then opened his mouth, and four long, green, tendril-like tongues came out and grabbed the tentacle. Upchuck ripped the tentacle clean-off and slurped it down. Much to both Steam Smythe and Humungousaur's surprise.
"Egads!" Steam Smythe said.
"Tastes like overcooked, metallic calamari," Upchuck commented before noticing something else in the taste, "Huh, with a hint of vinegar."
"Woah," Humungousaur said, "I've heard about having iron in your diet but this is ridiculous!"
"Give that back," Steam Smythe said.
"Gladly," Upchuck responded.
He then launched a large, green fireball from his mouth, which exploded, knocking Steam Smythe back, away from Humungousaur.
"Repulsive," Steam Smythe said.
"Awesome, exploding loogies," Humungousaur said.
"Now let's show this guy what we're made of," Upchuck said.
The two heroes charged at Steam Smythe, who retaliated by swinging his tentacles at them, which they both dodged. Humungousaur grabbed Upchuck and threw him at the Clocktopus. Steam Smythe fired missiles at Humungousaur, which Upchuck ate and spat back out at the Clocktopus. Upchuck landed on the Clocktopus and Humungousaur hit it. Humungousaur swung his tail at the Clocktopus and delivered a few punches. Meanwhile, Upchuck is on the Clocktopus and begins to eat parts from the Clocktopus, whether they come off due to Humungousaur hitting it or they are taken off by Upchuck's tongues, and then spits energy balls at the Clocktopus. Upchuck continues to eat the Clocktopus while Humungousaur swings his tail a few more times before using his fist to deliver an uppercut. Humungousaur was then caught in an arm lock with the Clocktopus.
"Your tricks will not defeat me child," Steam Smythe claimed, "For no modern technology could possibly be a match for the raw technological power of old-fashioned marvels."
However, he had just noticed that Upchuck had eaten a hole in the Clocktopus.
"Had fun with the appetizers," Upchuck said, staring at the main engine, "Now it's time for the main course."
Upchuck then proceeded to wrap all four of his tongues around the main engine, slightly crush it, and rip out the entire thing, devouring it. He released a large belch that blew up the entire mantle, causing the entire thing to collapse. Steam Smythe escaped the wreckage on a steampunk flight device.
"You may have bested me today, my good sirs, but next time, I will be more prepared for our next encounter," Steam Smythe said before flying off into the distance.
Humungousaur and Upchuck transformed back into the two Bens. A crowd of people started cheering for our heroes before Rook, Kevin, Max, and the Gwens showed up.
"Did that small green alien that your Ben turned into eat that entire thing?" Reboot Gwen asked.
"He did," Prime Gwen said.
"My apologies. We would have come to assist you two, but we were busy evacuating the area of civilians," Rook explained.
"No hard feelings," Prime Ben said, "Besides, Ben and I had the situation under control."
"You okay Gwen?" Reboot Ben asked.
"I'm fine, I'm just glad that you're okay," Reboot Gwen said. The two Reboot cousins gave each other their secret handshake.
"Quite a day, hasn't it been," Reboot Gwen asked.
"Yeah. We meet other versions of ourselves and their friends, find out that Kevin is good in another universe, team up with our other selves, and kick bad guy butt." Reboot Ben said. "What could possibly happen to cause all of this to go downhill?" He asked.
Meanwhile in another dimension…
There is a vast, colorless, void-like space beyond universes that would probably be incomprehensible by any science. This dimension was known as the Null Void.
There is a nomad-like figure traveling the area. This figure is a very muscular squid-like humanoid alien with a face resembling that of an octopus. He has red eyes, four tentacles dangling in the front of his face, like a beard, and six tentacles dangling in the back of his head. His skin is a dark pale-green and his tentacles and arms fade into a dark brown. He has red veins across his exposed arms, one red sac on each side of his head, has black lips around his mouth, and sharp teeth. He also has dark blackened patches of scarred flesh over his left eye and down his left tentacles and arm. He wears black and dark reddish-brown armor. He also has metallic gloves with knuckles and no fingers, two-toed boots, as well as reddish brown cylinders-like objects piercing his arms and shoulder pads. He also wears a dark-grey, tattered cape. This figure was Vilgax, and he was from the Reboot universe.
He sat down to rest in a spot so that he could replenish his energy; he was trapped in the Null Void, perhaps for eternity. At least he thought so, until a red portal opened up and a figure stepped out. The figure was about Vilgax's size, but he was shrouded in a black cloak that went down past his feet, so the only part of him that was visible was a pair of beaming, red eyes.
"Vilgax the Conqueror," the figure said, "I have come to escort you back to your own universe."
"Who are you?" Vilgax asked, "And how did you find me?"
"I have traveled far to find you. It would have been easier if the High Override didn't send you here for me to claw my way through the depths of the multiverse," He responded.
"How do you know about that?" Vilgax asked.
"That is not important right now. I have a proposition to make. The Ben Tennyson of my universe and the Ben Tennyson of yours have formed an alliance. It would be fitting if we did the same. That is, if we both want to retrieve the Omnitrices of both universes for our goals of conquest," he responded.
"I'm listening," Vilgax said.
"The two of us are equal partners in this alliance and we both offer our resources to one another. If we serve each other and work together, we will have our prizes," he responded.
"A tempting offer," Vilgax said, "But on what conditions?"
"There are no conditions," he answered, "Are you in, or out?"
Vilgax though for two seconds before making a decision. He replied, "I'm in. Anything would be better than being in this distorted wasteland."
"Good," the figure responded, "Now come, I will explain the rest on my ship."
"Wait," Vilgax said, "I also want an explanation. Who are you and how do you know me?"
The figure made an evil chuckle before replying. And his answer would certainly be foreseeable by Vilgax, but still surprising.
The figure replied, "I know you…"
He then threw off his cloak, revealing his true appearance.
He was a very muscular, squid-like humanoid creature with a face resembling that of an octopus. He has tentacles dangling in the front of his face, like a beard, and red eyes. His skin is green with dark-green spots on his tentacles. He has green sacs on the sides of his head. His mouth had black lips, and was attached to the sacs by a respirator. He had five tentacles dangling down the front, the two outer ones ending with a spiky-looking-shape, and six dangling down the back. He has yellow teeth. He wore a dark red armored suit and dark red gloves with no fingers, as well as gold cylinders-like objects piercing his arms, shoulders, legs, and armor, giving him much stronger and more muscular limbs. He wears black clothes underneath his armour and black stockings. And he wears a headpiece similar to his shoulder pads.
And finished his answer by saying "…because I am you."
To be continued…