I built an alien decider in Python for Gems and Carry On, so that's how transformations will be decided nowadays :p
Anyways, here's your chapter. Here's the Discord: /cgFmXz3qJ5
The concert was almost ready. Team FNKI took care of some last minute preparations, nothing big, just some extra Halloween decorations to give that extra bit of spooky ambience they wanted. The Outcasts were ready for the coming festivities as well. Ben and Ruby had successfully taught Blake and Yang how to properly dance, which was an added bonus. And Penny?
Penny was eager.
The musical Hunters were fixing up a few small technical touches, getting the lights on, turning up the speakers but making sure they wouldn't deafen anyone in the audience, and so on, as the other musical talents arrived. At the Protector of Mantle's insistence, those of the Outcasts who would be attending arrived a little early, and her eagerness was on full display here.
Penny was right by Ben and Ruby, bouncing up and down in place. Ruby put a reassuring shoulder on the mechanical protector's shoulder to calm her down a bit, but she was still bouncing. She was just so excited. Not only that, people had actually attended from both cities, a much better turn out than any of them could have expected! Workers from the mines who got a night off, some average citizens from both Atlas and Mantle, even some of the more well-off individuals from Atlas had turned up.
Ruby saw Yang and Blake in the crowd, the both of them in possession of glow sticks or glow-bracelets. Much to her surprise, she actually saw Vine as well. Not just as a bit of extra security either. He actually had one of the glowsticks in his hands, standing off to the side.
"Oh...my god, he actually showed," Ruby muttered.
"He did?!" Ben asked, still getting his guitar ready.
"My plan is workiiiiiiing!" Penny beamed, bouncing faster now.
"Penny, careful! You're gonna end up launching yourself to the moon!" Ruby cautioned.
"Someone's a big jumper, huh?" Ben noted.
Penny giggled and slowed down her bouncing a bit. "Sorry, Ruby. I'm just so excited! I can't wait! Dancing to the other songs, serving as DJ to Team FNKI's finale! It's going to be great!"
"Well, you better not tire yourself out before the dancing even starts," Ben teased, tuning his guitar. "...wait, do you even get tired?"
"Nope! I charged myself up twice last night!" Penny grinned.
"Twice? And that's ok for you?" Ben asked.
"I will be very drained tomorrow, but that is ok! I can survive!"
Ruby chuckled. "Well, I'm sure you'll be fine. And we're all here to have fun and enjoy the concert, right?"
"Absolutely!" Yang called out from the crowd, waving her glowstick.
Blake nodded in agreement, a small smile on her face. "Let's just hope we get a good turn out."
"I cannot wait to see your improved dance moves!" Penny beamed.
The festival began with a sudden burst of energy. The crowd had been waiting eagerly for this moment, and as the music started playing, a wave of excitement rippled through the air. Ben's fingers danced over the guitar strings, the chords ringing out like a call to action. The rest of FNKI joined in, their instruments complementing each other perfectly.
Penny watched with rapt attention, her eyes glowing as she swayed to the beat. Ruby, Yang, and Blake were just as entranced, their eyes fixed on the stage. This was it - the moment they had been waiting for.
And then Flynt Coal stepped up to the mic.
No need to explain cause I know your story
You're making the claims to have the guts and glory
You're sad, sad, sadly mistaken
The man was a force to be reckoned with. His voice was like a weapon, sharp and powerful, slicing through the air with ease. As he began to sing, the crowd erupted into cheers.
You're steady mistakes give me a bloody rush
We burn at the stake, why you keep bashing your love?
You're sad! Sad! Sadly mistaken
Ben's guitar shifted to the deeper strings as Flynt sang the next lyrics. It reminded Penny of a low growl...
So let me make you familiar
You say you're going up, I beg to differ
I think you're going straight on down, down, down
In a hail of gunfire...
The crowd was practically vibrating with energy, their bodies swaying and moving to the beat. And as the song reached its crescendo.
I'm a hunt! Hunt for your chemicals
I've got the lust! Lust for the criminal in you
Just trust me, cuz I'll be honest
You think you got it all, but I think you lost it!
You're a fake or a fraud
But you're a better one naturally...
"This is amazing!" Yang cheered, her voice almost drowned out by the music and the cheers from the crowd.
"What?" Blake asked, so focused on the music, Yang's words actually were lost in the chorus of cheers.
"GO BEN! GO TEAM FNKI!" Ruby yelled, swaying both of her glow sticks in the air, appropriately colored red and green.
Penny swayed her own glow sticks in the air, her grin brighter than ever in this. She got an idea from that.
"FNKI, FNKI, FNKI!" Penny started chanting, swaying her glowsticks in motion with the chants. Then the rest of the crowd added to the chat, yelling the team name over and over, encouraging the band on. Even Vine was enjoying himself, tapping his foot to the beat. All the musicians up on stage couldn't help but smile as they continued the impressive music. Yang turned to Blake as the crowd was chanting, giving her a look of, "Wanna show off?" Blake blushed a bit, her cat ears twitching, but she gave an enthusiastic nod in response. Yang smirked and tapped Ruby on the shoulder.
"Hey, mind helping us get some space?" Yang asked.
"Dance time?" Ruby asked back.
"Dance time!"
Ruby turned to Penny and got her help clearing a bit of space for the bumblebee duo to show off. Once there was enough room for them, Yang started things off, letting Blake follow suit once she was ready.
Unfortunately, before the duo could start, something pinged in Penny's brain, almost like a sixth sense. She turned her head to one of the alleys at the edge of where the concert was set up. Something was wrong. She saw something move in the shadows, vanishing in the blink of an eye. But there was something pinging in her mind, compelling her to go after it. She looked back to Ruby and the rest of the crowd, who were all happily watching Yang and Blake show off their new moves. With a justification of 'I'll be back!' Penny went to investigate the shadow. Whatever was compelling her onwards here was like an alarm that wasn't really there. She continued down into the alley, the thrum of the music, singing, and chanting starting to fade behind her. The android blinked and her vision turned to infrared, keeping an eye out for any wayward heat signatures in the darkness.
"I know I detected something," Penny thought as she kept walking forward, her backpack clicking so that, if something did jump out from the darkness, Floating Array was but a swift motion away. There shouldn't be Grimm here, nor should they really be attracted to the emotions here. Not a single bit of hate or fear here, just a bit of nervousness and a whole lot of joy.
"If there's anyone back here," Penny announced, "please be aware! You are not in trouble! I am merely trying to understand why you are hiding back here and when the festival is out there!"
Silence.
Penny pressed on, the thrumming of the speakers and drums growing fainter and fainter with each step she took. It was around now that Ruby took notice of Penny's absence. The red-hooded reaper looked around for her friend.
"Where did she...?" Ruby asked.
Penny continued down the dark alley, eyes darting around before she heard something knock over what sounded like a glass bottle, given the clinking that echoed off the walls.
"Hel-?" Penny asked before something large pounced from a side alley that Penny didn't check yet. Whatever it was slammed into her and knocked her to the ground, snapping its jaws at Penny's face. The android managed to avoid the snapping jaws before she pulled her legs to her chest and kicked out with them, sending her assailant flying back with a hydraulic-powered shove. The creature rolled on the stone before coming to a stop, digging its claws into the cobblestone of the alley. Penny leapt back to her feet and tried to open up her backpack. A few odd clicks sounded out and got Penny's attention. She looked over her shoulder and only one of the pack's doors opened up. A single blade ejected and unfolded, hovering above Penny. She looked at the weapon and decided to roll with it.
"Detach cable!" Penny said. The thin fiber cable snapped off and the blade fell into her hand. She checked it and activated a more manual firing mode with the Dust inside the weapon.
Penny stood ready, her senses heightened and her weapon at the ready. She scanned the alleyway for any signs of movement, but it was eerily silent. She couldn't shake the feeling that there was something else out there, waiting to attack. She took a step forward, cautiously moving towards where the creature had landed.
Suddenly, something crashed into her from behind, knocking her to the ground. She turned to face her attacker and saw another Grimm, its eyes glowing red in the darkness.
There's two of them?! Penny thought.
The single blade of Floating Array quickly snapped into a form that resembled a pistol. Penny pulled an invisible trigger, in reality just a connection she had with her weapons, and fired off a barrage of green lasers. Whatever this beast was, despite its size, it was incredibly agile. That and the feline appearance would have suggested a Sabyr, but then Penny got a flash of something as her blast traveled past the monster.
It wore a collar.
This...this wasn't a Grimm! Before that revelation could really sink in, the original beast lunged at her, taking a few swings at her with its claws. The first one managed to land, cutting through the fabric on her back, but the mechanical protector was able to quickly spin on her heel and block the next few swings. She sidestepped the last one and, with some help from her thrusters, shoulder-checked the first beast into the side of a nearby building. The second creature winced a bit, unseen by Penny, before it bounded after her and roared, smacking Penny away from its packmate.
From the other side of the alley, the same sniper from before watched the two creatures attack the mechanical girl. Blade met with fang and claw, just as he wanted.
"Keep it up, girl," the sniper thought to himself, "Wear yourself down...so I can take the shot."
Penny quickly recovered from the blow and readied herself for another round of fighting. She knew she couldn't let her guard down for even a moment in this fight. The fact that these creatures were not Grimm made her even more determined to find out what they were and why they were attacking her.
Penny lunged forward, her Floating Array transforming into a long blade as she closed in on the second creature. It snarled at her and swung its massive paw, but Penny dodged and brought her blade down, slicing into its side. The creature let out a howl of pain and recoiled, giving Penny a chance to catch her breath.
She glanced over at the first creature, which was slowly getting back on its feet. Penny knew she couldn't let it rejoin the fight, so she quickly charged towards it, her blade poised for a finishing blow. But just as she was about to strike, she saw something that made her pause.
The collar. It was glowing. Something was reflecting off of it-
Penny dodged at just the right moment to avoid a sniper shot, the sound of the rifle going off drowned out by the music from the concert. The round scorched a hole into the cobblestone, a small smoke trail rising up from the impact point. The creature just ran over the shot and put Penny on the defensive again. But, despite her sensors being some of Atlas' best, she had no idea about a sniper until she was practically in their crosshairs.
You focus on the...tiger things, a familiar disembodied voice told her, I'll let you know when the sniper's firing.
"W-what?" Penny asked.
Trust me. The voice spoke.
Penny hesitated for a moment. But in the midst of battle, she knew she needed all the help she could get. So, she nodded her head and refocused on the creatures in front of her. The first creature was now fully back on its feet and was charging at her, its claws bared. Penny leaped into the air, dodging its attack, and landed behind it. Before it could react, she swung her blade and severed its tail.
And then the strangest thing happened. The other creature yiped too.
"What just-" Penny began.
DODGE! the voice warned. The Protector of Mantle didn't hesitate, using her thrusters to maneuver her out of the way of the next sniper shot.
"Those rounds...I am detecting no traces of Dust in them. Does that mean-?" Penny began.
Judging by the size of the burn mark, I'm going to guess a precision rifle, possibly of Aerophibian make, the voice theorized, Or not. I would need to know where the sniper is, the range of their rifle.
"And I'm assuming you require one more bullet dodged for that?"
You assume correctly.
Penny nodded and took a deep breath, readying herself for the next shot. She knew that she needed to trust the voice and focus on dodging the sniper's attacks while also keeping an eye on the two tiger-like creatures. With a sudden movement, she dodged to the side as the sniper fired again, the bullet grazing her shoulder.
Penny gritted her teeth and tried to pinpoint the location of the sniper. She scanned the surrounding buildings, trying to find any sign of movement or a flash of a rifle scope. But the sniper seemed to be well-hidden and was taking shots from different angles, making it even harder for Penny to track them down.
I said to focus on the tigers. I'll handle the sniper. The voice reprimanded her.
"But-!" Penny protested.
LOOK OUT! the other voice yelled. The sniper must've gotten wise to Penny getting help. The speed of their shots amped up here. The first shot was able to be deflected away from the mechanical protector thanks to her blade, but before she knew it a second blast had fired out and struck her in the leg. Penny staggered from the sudden blast and began to hobble, her balance collapsing beneath her.
Do not worry! Not only do I have their location, I'm sending a message! the voice said.
"T-to who?!" Penny asked.
Without even so much as a second passing, Ruby's Scroll buzzed with a message notice.
Ruby blinked, as she looked down at it.
"It's from Penny!" Ruby exclaimed. "She needs our help!"
"W-what?" Ben asked. "What's going on? Where is she?"
Ruby quickly texted that over to her and immediately a message came through with directions.
"Alleyway! Over there!" Ruby said, racing and pushing through the crowd as best she could.
As Ruby and Ben arrived at the alleyway, they could see Penny struggling to stand up, her leg badly damaged from the sniper's shot. The two tiger-like creatures were still prowling around, waiting to attack Penny again.
"We need to distract those things," Ruby said, pulling out Crescent Rose. "Can you keep them busy while I get Penny out of here?"
"Got it," Ben nodded, activating the Omnitrix and morphing into Ghostfreak.
The sniper saw that flash of green from his scope and adjusted his aim to see Ruby. Ben, by now, had gone intangible so he wouldn't be seen by the tigers.
"Rose," the sniper growled, "And where there's Rose, there's Tennyson." Without taking his eyes off Ruby, he whistled to get the tigers' attention. Both predators' ears perked up at the sound, as if they were being told what to do.
Ben extended his tendrils and wrapped them around the two tiger creatures, effectively immobilizing them. The creatures thrashed and growled, but they couldn't break free from Ghostfreak's grip. Ruby rushed over to Penny and helped her up, supporting her weight as they made their way out of the alley.
"Penny! Are you okay?" Ruby asked.
"I'm fine," Penny huffed, "Just...a little banged up..."
But that was when the sniper rounds started firing again. A second shot nailed Penny in the shoulder, causing her to shout in pain.
"I. Don't. Think. So," the sniper growled, "Not this time, Rose."
"PENNY!" Ruby yelled in shock.
Green blood seeped from Penny's wound, her free arm jolting to try and cover it, but vibrantly colored liquid just started seeping between her fingers. Ben's eyes widened as he looked back to her, before he flung the two tigers into the air. He then quickly ran over and grabbed both Ruby and Penny.
"We're making a quick get away, now!" Ben yelled, as he turned intangible.
A few more sniper shots rang out, but thanks to Ben's powers extending to Ruby and Penny, they just phased right through them. The sniper growled and whistled again, calling back his pets. But this time, Ruby heard a bit of the whistle as well.
"Wait...why does that sound familiar?" Ruby thought, her head wincing in pain. No time to dwell- only time to run.
"Ruby," Ben rasped, "Can you call in a Manta?"
"Here? That'd cause a panic."
"No, not here. As long as I can keep the intangibility up, we'll be safe from whoever was shooting at us."
"Think it was one of Salem's? Maybe the same guy who killed Thornmane?" Ruby wondered.
"N-no," Penny gasped, "Those...weren't Grimm. That wasn't...Dust."
"It wasn't Dust?" Ben repeated, thinking for a moment before it dawned on him. Marrow's call from earlier.
"Shit- we might be up against an alien, guys!"
"But...why..." Penny began.
There's a 98% chance that he's correct, the mysterious voice told Penny, As to why, for now I can only speculate. Bounty hunters are a common sight in the galaxy. The Sotoroggians, Kraab, Sunder, the individual known as Thunderpig...
"How do you...know all those?" Penny asked aloud.
"Know what?" Ruby asked.
I took the chance to scan through one of our database connections, try and figure out who shot at you.
"O-our connections?" Penny repeated.
"Penny, who are you talking to?" Ben asked.
"There...there's this...voice in my head...it's giving me info. Is that something new Ceres added?" Penny asked.
"Um, I don't think so?" Ruby said, very much unsure.
"We can ask her or your dad when we see them," Ben added.
"I-i apologize for...ruining the night for you two," Penny apologized, even though she knew full well she was not at fault.
"Penny, it's okay. It's...it's not your fault." Ben said. "I promi-"
And then the sniper fired again. Normally, that wouldn't be a problem, though, with Ben as Ghostfreak. A normal bullet or laser shot wouldn't do anything. But it wasn't a conventional shot the sniper fired, it was something different. Something brown and sticky smashed into his back, hitting his spine. Ben screamed in pain as an unnatural shock of cold jolted through his ghostly form. The scream, as drowned out by the music as it was, sounded utterly demonic.
"Found you," the sniper growled from afar. That whistle echoed out into the night sky again, signaling for the tigers to begin their chase again.
"And just in case you think you'll get some extra help," the sniper continued, before pushing a few buttons on his wrist. His little surprise was about to go off at the concert. If only he could enjoy the pyrotechnics.
Ben landed on a nearby roof, and reverted back to human. "Ow..." He said, turning around. His jacket was stained with weird, brown gunk. Ruby made a face.
"The heck is that!?" Ruby gagged.
"Protoplasm Nullifier...found in the glands of an Ectonurites natural predator, a Vengstanzleron Spengmanians..." Penny recited.
"...well that's a name," Ruby commented, "Wait, Ghostfreak has a predator?"
"Let's not worry about that right now," Ben said.
Back at the concert, Blake and Yang were watching their competition. See, they had finished their dance routine earlier and, from there, a dance-off had started in the crowd. They'd already seen one of the miners do a pretty impressive breakdance, some rich kid from Atlas actually did a pretty good job at it, and their current rival. Much to the shock and surprise of everyone at the rave, that rival was an Ace Operative; it was Vine. At first, the only sounds in the air was the music, as the crowd watched on in stunned silence as Vine just went off. It put Yang and Blake's routine to shame.
When Vine finished, there was a moment of silence, before the crowd just erupted in cheers.
"After all that practice...beaten by Vine of all people," Yang muttered.
"It's okay. We were better than we were yesterday," Blake said, trying to find a bright side.
"Hope Ben and Ruby saw that at least," Yang looked around for the red and green duo, "Hey, where did they run off too?"
"I...don't know," Blake looked around too, trying to find any sign of her team leader's distinctive cape. In the sea of neon colors from the glowsticks, there wasn't a single speck of red but her sharp eyes did catch a glimmer of something, something that the feline Faunus was fairly certain wasn't part of the lightshow.
"You see that too, right?" the stealth expert of RWBY asked.
"See what?" Yang asked.
"Over there," Blake started to lead her girlfriend through the crowd, slowly making her way towards its source. Vine took notice as well and, while accepting a few kind words from those who watched, began to make his way after the two as well. The Bumblebee duo soon arrived at the site of the glow, one of the side booths that Team FNKI had set up for refreshments. Blake lifted up the table cloth and looked under the foldable table and her eyes went wide. Her immediate reaction was that this was a bomb of some kind, given the pieces of tech that were clearly jutting out from it, bronze in coloration with exposed gears, accompanied by a rhythmic ticking sound. That tech was where the green light was coming from, not blinding but bright enough to be noticeable. But the rest of the object was black, almost obsidian in hue, with a few small spikes protecting it.
"Uh, that's not what I think it is, right?" Yang asked.
"It's an...egg?" Blake asked, tilting her head, "A weird alien egg." Something about that shade of green coming from the pieces of tech, why did it seem almost familiar to her?
"Thing's the size of a football. Ben would've told us if they found something like this," the blonde brawler began, but then both of them heard the ticking get faster. The duo watched as the egg itself was soon engulfed in that green glow and it rapidly began to grow.
Yang's eyes widened as the egg began to hatch, growing larger and larger until the thing inside was mostly mature...whatever the hell it was. Yang figured it had to be from the same corners of the galaxy that Humungousaur called home. The creature was very dinosaur-like in nature, resembling a cross between a centipede and a theropod. The monstrous creature had a segmented purple and gray body and a red head resembling that of a carnotaurus or a tyrannosaurus with a horn on its forehead, with four legs and six small arms with two clawed fingers on them.
Vine's eyes widened. "What...is this?"
"Something to be scared of." Yang sighed. "Here I thought we weren't fighting tonight..."
At first, the crowd cheered upon seeing the dinosaur-like beast, thinking it was part of the show, even though Team FNKI had stopped performing upon seeing the creature. The party goers very quickly realized that this wasn't part of the show when more of the beasts seemed to just erupt from various places around the festival grounds.
In total, there were now five of these reptilian-insectoid fusions.
"And it brought friends," Blake said.
"Do you have your weapons?" Vine asked.
"No, they're back at the Academy!" Yang yelled.
"Call the lockers then! I'll hold them off for now!"
"With some help!" Flynt's voice called out from on stage, almost drowned out by the sounds of the panicked and fleeing crowd. Sure enough, the musical team of Hunters all had their usual weapons drawn.
"Never go to a concert without 'em!" Neon smirked.
Yang huffed. All I have right now is my string, one arm of Ember Celica and my wits...
Yang smirked. That would be enough. Yang quickly deployed her string through the legs of the Tyranopede, and slid in between them. She quickly punched a few explosives on the underside, before pulling herself out.
With a snap of her fingers, the bombs detonated. "Vine! Try manhandling it!" Yang yelled, as the beast went flying into the air.
Vine's arms were quickly surrounded by his Aura constructs and stretched towards the mid-air beast. He grew the palms of the constructs to better hold the beast aloft before the explosives went off, enveloping the beast in fire and smoke. Vine's eyes widened when he realized he could still feel the beast thrashing around in his hands. In the meantime, Blake quickly brought out her Scroll and sent a call to both her locker and Yang's back at the base.
Team FNKI leapt off the stage and rushed into the fray, as well. Flynt aimed his trumpet and blew a sonic assault at the nearest alien dinosaur, causing it to bellow out in pain. While it was disoriented, Neon took to the soundwaves and rode them towards the beast, snapping her glow-nunchucks so that they now had a vibrant light blue color. She slammed the weapons into the beast's legs repeatedly, forming ice crystals that would, hopefully, immobilize it. Ivori cracked his whip to get another Tyranopede's attention. The alien monster turned and locked eyes with the Huntsman, growling and getting ready to charge.
"There's a good...T-Rex," Ivori said, trying to keep his shock in check. The Tyrannopede roared out before charging, lowering its head so that, when its jaws opened, it could just snap up its prey with ease. Ivori wasn't worried though. From behind him, Kobalt leapt into the air and brought his bare fist down on the charging alien dinosaur with enough force to not only force its jaws shut, but also to slam it into the ground so hard the concrete beneath it cratered on impact.
"The hell are these things!?" Kobalt yelled.
"I dunno, but they're going down WAY too easy." Blake frowned, as she dodged a Tyranopede's jaw attack. "...that's a bit strange."
"They're not fully formed." Vine surmised, as he picked up a tooth from off the ground. "Otherwise...this wouldn't be here-" Before he could finish his sentence, Vine was suddenly covered in a silky substance, launched from the horn of one of the tyrannosaurus aliens.
"What the hell?!" Yang yelled, before she found herself wrapped up in the same silk.
"Yang!" Blake yelled. She dodged another blast of webbing from another Tyrannopede, letting the silk splatter on the ground.
"They're spiders too?! Ewwwwwww!" Neon shivered.
"Just focus on the-Neon look out!" Flynt yelled. The beast whose legs Neon was freezing broke free of its shackles and thrashed its tail towards the upbeat cat Faunus. Neon took the hit, getting knocked back up on the stage and through the back wall.
"Owww...ok, spider bit threw me off," Neon huffed, quickly getting back on her feet, "Not cool, dino-bug!"
This must be how they capture Humungosaurs... Blake thought. That silk is probably really, really tough. Until further notice, I think Yang and Vine are out of the fight!
One of the Tyrannopedes charged at Blake, jaws already open to devour her. Before the feline Faunus could leapt out of the way, two rocket-propelled lockers slammed into its side and mouth, bouncing off its hide and landing on the ground after spinning in the air. The monstrous alien T-Rex fell to the ground with a thud and a whimper, writhing about in pain. Blake took the chance and quickly opened up the first locker, pulling Gambol Shroud out and making sure it had a fresh clip of Dust rounds. Then she went over to Yang's locker and was struck with inspiration. She quickly took out Ember Celica and put it on.
"Uh, Blake? What are you doing?" Yang asked, her voice muffled by the webbing.
"I'm trying something really stupid. I'm gonna try to burn through the webbing!" Blake said, firing off a few rounds at the nearest Tyrannopede to heat up the barrel. Once the gauntlet's barrel was glowing orange, the feline Faunus tried to gently apply the heat so that the webbing snapped apart.
"Please let this work," Blake muttered.
Miraculously, it worked- the webbing started to quickly snap apart, freeing the blonde inside. Yang's face went over the hole Blake made.
"You look so hot wearing that thing." Yang grinned. "Maybe I should teach you how to throw a punch..."
"Might take you up on that," Blake said, taking hold of Gambol Shroud's thinner blade, "Now hold still! Gonna see if I can-"
The ninja of Team RWBY began to gently cut at the webbing, now that it was weakened from the heat. Her blade began to slice through, weakening the restraints further, but she was quickly stopped by another beast. The creature's reptilian tail smashed into her and knocked her away, wrenching Gambol Shroud out of her grip.
"Blake!" Yang yelled, struggling inside the cocoon.
Blake hit the wall hard, dazed and disoriented from the impact. She shook her head to clear it and quickly got back to her feet, ready to fight again.
The Tyranopede that had attacked her was closing in, but Blake was ready. She drew her other sword and charged forward, slashing at the creature's exposed side. The creature let out a hiss of pain and turned to face her, its eyes flashing with anger.
It snapped at her with its jaws, but the cat Faunus was much more agile. She dodged out of the way or rolled under the beast as it tried to grab her, each missed snap making the beast angrier. The Tyrannopede roared out in anger and just tried to crush Blake underfoot, only for the feline Faunus to try and pull a Yang. She punched the alien dinosaur's leg, not entirely used to the recoil of the shotgun blast and knocking her off balance. The good news was that the Tyrannopede was also knocked off center, stumbling as it tried to regain its footing.
"Come on...come...ON!" Yang yelled before she finally tore her way through the webbing, "YES!"
Blake looked at her hand and hummed. Maybe I should learn how to punch...
Yang took advantage of the stumbling creature and latched a few bombs onto its underside. She allowed herself a quick and smug smirk before detonating the explosives.
The explosions toppled it with ease, forcing the creature to let out a roar of pain as it fell.
"Ok, how many are left?" Yang asked.
Before Blake could answer, all the Hunters defending the crowd suddenly heard three more eruptions from all around them. The sniper, though still in the air following his target back to their base, was smirking under his helmet. Give the prey just enough hope that they'll win and they'll fight like hell...then you spring the second trap. Or in this case, a second wave of Tyrannopedes, fully matured Tyrannopedes.
"...Oh, come ON!" Yang yelled.
"Out of all the damn things to crash this concert, dinosaurs were NOT one I was expecting!" A clearly enraged Flynt yelled. He stood in front of the charging armies, and blew into his trumpet as hard as he could. One clone- two clones! Three clones! Four clones-!
...five clones?
"Hey, when could you do five?" Neon asked, "Actually, nevermind! Dino-fight first!"
Rewinding a bit to a few minutes before the Tyrannopedes hatched, Ben, Ruby, and Penny were still making their way towards the rendezvous where they'd meet up with the emergency Manta. Ben was still covered in that anti-Ectonurite sludge that kept him from going intangible.
"Ugh, second worst thing to happen today," Ben complained, "Gonna need to switch. Ruby, can you-?"
"I got her. Might wanna make it someone quick or a good hitter. Sounds like those things are getting closer," Ruby said.
"What if I could be both?" Ben said, activating the Omnitrix. "Albedo did me a favor a few days ago...I managed to bribe him into unlocking some aliens."
"How?"
"Chili fries, duh." Ben said. "And chili dogs. He likes those now."
"What is he, Sonic the Hedgehog?" Ruby scoffed.
Ben slapped down the Omnitrix, and blue fur started to crawl up his arm. It spread around his body, and coated him from head to toe. Ben blinked, as he was now...what did Neo call this guy? Fasttrack.
"Isn't that-?" Ruby started.
"Yep! Proper version of Albedo's speedster! Gave him a test run earlier too! Not as fast as XLR8 but definitely faster than those things! And he's got a nice punch, so it works out!" Ben said, his words spoken about as fast as this alien could run.
Well that's interesting, the disembodied voice in Penny's head mused, Citrakayah.
"How...how do you know what that is? Our...database connection?" Penny asked.
Oh, no, that's just my knowledge.
Ruby raised an eyebrow. "Well, if it's speedy and got a punch to match, go for it."
Touch the Citrakayah. Please. The voice said.
"...I'm...sorry?" Penny raised a brow at that.
Do it. Do it now...please.
"Um...Ben? Before you go, uh...theeee voice in my head wants me to touch you?" Penny said, well aware of how this sounded.
"...I mean. You can feel my fur?" Ben chose not to question Penny's weird head voice.
"Thank you and apologies for...not understanding what she's doing," Penny placed a hand on Ben's arm. Something just clicked inside of her, something she couldn't really describe.
There. A contingency! the voice nodded.
"Con...tingency?" Penny repeated.
Explain later. Incoming sniper shot.
"Ruby! Look-!" Penny grabbed hold of her red-hooded friend and, in a blur of green and red, sped out of the way of the shot. It missed entirely and the act did cause Penny to wince in pain, falling to her knees, but that made the sniper, Ben, and Ruby look at her in surprise.
"-o-out?" Penny blinked.
"Did...Ceres give you a speed boost?" Ben asked.
The Archimedian did not. But the Citrakayah in front of us did! the inner voice said, no doubt with a satisfied smirk.
"I...what?" Penny asked, totally confused.
"Penny?" Ben asked.
"I...I don't know what's happening..." Penny muttered.
I'll explain everything when we're out of danger. Tigers incoming! the inner voice warned.
"B-ben! Look out!" Penny yelled.
Ben quickly flipped out of the way, as the tiger alien pounced at him. Ben landed on the ground, and rushed towards the beast. He began landing a flurry of blows against it, severely weakening it.
"You...you know a lot about aliens, right?" Penny muttered.
Correct.
"What...is Ben fighting?"
Based on the claw length from when we were hit, the strategy based on pairs, and the decibels of the roar-
"You recorded that?" Penny asked.
Indeed! But with all that in mind, he is fighting the natural predator of the Splixon species, a Panuncian. Or...maybe two Panuncians? Hard to tell.
"Splixon..." Penny muttered.
"Huh? Penny, what?" Ruby said.
"That thing...hunts Splixons." Penny repeated.
"Splixons? That's Ditto's species..." Ruby repeated. "...oh, crap."
"You...have an idea where they...came from?" Penny asked.
"Got a pretty good one, yeah..."
The two tiger-like aliens pounced at Ben, the first missing the mark entirely as Ben quickly sped out of the way and landed a powerful roundhouse kick to its back. The second tried to cover its partner's missed lung but it was just as ineffective. Ben actually managed to catch the Panuncian and threw it into the other...and he watched them recombine into a single entity.
"Ok...two things taken from this. One, Fasttrack's much stronger than XLR8. Two-" Ben began.
"That's how they hunt...they can duplicate too," Ruby realized.
Ben frowned. "Great..." Ben began charging up energy. "Let's just end this thing."
Ben dashed forward, body imbued with static electricity. Ben began punching faster and faster, each attack bruising and shocking the beast. Needless to say, the Panuncian was stunned.
Blue bolts of lightning jolted across the stunned Panuncian's body as it lay on the street, completely stunned. The timing of the Manta couldn't have been more perfect, because that's when they decided to land. The doors opened to reveal not only Ari with some medical tools, but also Clover with Kingfisher at the ready.
"Good thing I decided to come with," Clover said, hopping out of the Manta, "Penny, are you ok?"
"As...ok as I can be," Penny gave a weak salute.
"How bad are her injuries?" Ari asked, turning to Ruby.
"Sniper shot through the shoulder and the leg," Ruby listed off, "The leg one might be worse because of what she just did but...that's a whole other story."
"I think your reckless streak is rubbing off on her. Alright, let's get you in," Ari said, hopping out of the Manta and helping Penny aboard.
"How long will that be down?" Clover asked, motioning to the stunned tiger alien.
"Long enough for us to get her out of here and for you to help the others," Ben answered, "You called in the others, right?"
"Harriet's on her way down in a separate Manta. Besides, I doubt this'll just slip under Robyn's radar."
"I'm gonna run around the area. Scout if there's more of these bastards around the place." Ben frowned.
"Good move. Meet us back in Atlas after Harriet gets here." Clover said.
"Oh trust me, won't be that long!"
With that, Ben gave a quick two-finger salute before he dashed around the nearby area in a streak of blue. Hell, from a bird's eye view, one could see the speedster alien snake and race through the streets of the sprawling industrial city. As he ran, he discovered the broken shells of the Tyrannopedes that were already rampaging, but he also found another group of eggs that hadn't hatched yet. Without knowing, he just smashed up the bronze-colored technology to stop them from hatching. It seemed to work, too. When he didn't find anymore eggs on the last pass, he raced back to the Manta and hopped on.
"All clear! Eggs are here, here, here, here, here, here, here, aaaaand here!" Ben said rapidly, marking several locations on Clover's Scroll.
"Thanks. Now we just gotta deal with the adults," Clover said, turning back to the battle as Ben turned back to human.
"Whoever we're dealing with here...they're crafty." Ben said, holding up some bronze tech he snagged. "You know what this is?"
"Nope." Clover frowned.
"Chronosapien tech. My Clockwork alien- he can accelerate time. He must've used it on the eggs." Ben explained.
"That's terrifying- what level tech is that?" Clover asked.
"Far beyond anything that should be on Earth and like 500 other planets." Ben explained.
"So in other words, keep the Huntresses, civilians...and pretty much anyone who isn't a Plumber away from the eggs," Clover surmised.
"Pretty much, yeah. I'll send in a call to them once we get Penny back up to Atlas."
"Good," Clover was about to say something else, but then he heard the sound of one of the Tyrannopede's roar and the echoing shots of gunfire, "Nevermind for now. Got a dinosaur to catch. And somehow that sentence is not as crazy as it should be."
"Lemme guess, cause of the Teryx?" Ben quipped.
"Pretty much. See ya back at Atlas!" Clover said before rushing into the fray.
From his perch, the sniper watched the Manta's engines roar up again and take to the sky. He could take a shot and force the ship down, but that might damage the merchandise. No, he needed to follow them. He leapt down from his perch and quickly went to his still stunned pet, applying some kind of spray to it that got rid of the discharge.
"Easy boy," the sniper said, petting the Panuncian gently, "You'll get your chance yet."
Ben walked over to Penny, and frowned. "How're you holding up?"
"B-better than I thought." Penny said.
"How'd you...copy Fasttrack's powers?" Ben asked.
"I...do not know," Penny admitted, "The voice in my head just...told me to. As a 'contingency.'"
"What do you mean 'voice in your head?' Penny, how-?" Ari started to ask.
"I do not know. She said she would explain it all once we're out of danger."
"She?" Ruby asked.
"Yes. She...actually sounds a lot like me," Penny admitted.
"Are you maybe just having...thoughts? Inner monologue?" Ben asked, and Ruby lightly punched him in the arm. "What!? It's a serious question."
"No. Because the voice is not...exactly me? And if it were a thought, wouldn't it be 'I'll' worry about the Panuncians then the sniper', not 'You worry about the Panuncians, I'll worry about the sniper?'" Penny asked.
"A voice...that isn't yours?" Ben asked. "I don't understand."
"Neither do I...not really. The best I can describe it is like...if you took my voice, but maybe mixed it with Blake's?" Penny guessed.
In pitch, I suppose, the voice mused, but...the story as to what I am isn't mine to tell I think. It's Father's.
"Father's?"
Pietro, the voice answered, much to the android's surprise.
"She's...telling me it's my father's doing?" Penny repeated.
"What? Pietro did it?" Ben asked.
He...installed me. But the story is his to tell, the voice told Penny.
"He installed you?" Penny repeated.
"We...we gotta ask him once we get back up there. Ari, call ahead?" Ruby asked.
"On it," Ari said, punching in a few numbers.
Ruby was confused. Her mind had a million questions, but the biggest one was...
What was inside Penny?