Whoosh, whoosh!
Countless snowballs blasted out of the tornado, their terrifying momentum knocking every toy soldier to the ground.
They tumbled down the slope, rolling into a gigantic snowball that sent the pursuing soldiers flying backward and slammed them hard into a house, leaving them trapped inside.
XLR8 stopped spinning, but the powerful inertia kept him turning in place until he ended up stuck in the soft snow.
The Omnitrix on his chest suddenly began flashing, then burst with a bright red glow.
Thunk.
XLR8 changed back to normal.
By the time Ben fully stopped spinning, both legs were buried deep in the snow all the way up to his knees.
"Oh, come on, what country is this stupid watch even from?" Ben glared furiously at the Omnitrix, looking like he was about to rip it off.
Big Chill stepped forward and pulled Ben out of the snow like yanking up a carrot.
"Wow, that move just now was amazing!" At that moment, the little dwarf from earlier ran over.
Ben scratched his head. "Amazing? The running away part?"
"Dude, what era are you from?"
The dwarf's blue eyes dimmed a little as he sighed. "My name is Elsgood. I work at the Christmas Resort."
"Why were those toy soldiers trying to capture us?" Gwen asked, unable to hold back.
"There's no time to explain." Elsgood looked panicked. "If you don't leave this place right now, you'll be cursed by the Christmas Resort and turn into one of us."
"Me? Turn into a dwarf?" Ben laughed. "Yeah, right!"
"Um, Ben, maybe you should touch your ears first," Gwen kindly reminded him.
Ben didn't believe it, but when he reached up and felt them, they were long and pointed.
"Oh no!"
"The curse has taken effect," Big Chill said, staring at Ben.
Ben's eyes had turned green with no whites showing, and his ears were now long and pointed.
The only thing that hadn't changed was his height. Maybe the curse hadn't fully taken hold yet.
If they stayed a few more hours, everyone there would probably turn into real dwarves.
"Hahaha, Ben finally turned into a real doofus," Gwen laughed.
"Hmph, you're not much better," Ben shot back.
Gwen's heart skipped a beat, and she hurriedly touched her own ears.
The feeling was wrong. Long and pointed.
"Ahhh! I don't want to turn into a dwarf! This look is never going to catch on!" Gwen panicked.
"We need to find Grandpa, then get out of here," Ben suggested.
At that moment, Big Chill voluntarily ended the transformation.
Lucian touched his ears and found they hadn't changed. It seemed his alien form had blocked the curse.
When Elsgood heard Ben say they were going to find Grandpa, his expression turned bitter and he shook his head. "I'm afraid you won't be able to find him. Mr. Jingles has already taken control of your grandfather."
"Why?" Ben asked, confused.
"Because Mr. Jingles firmly believes your grandpa is Santa Claus," Elsgood replied.
Ding. Alien Hacker mission triggered.
Lift the curse on the Christmas Resort.
Reward upon completion: Random Scrapped Alien chest.
The system notification sounded in Lucian's mind.
Scrapped Aliens? That hasn't shown up in a long time, Lucian thought.
He had no idea what kind of alien this time would unlock.
Whoooosh.
The bright sunlight suddenly dimmed.
Snow and wind erupted as the gale howled wildly.
In the blink of an eye, the entire Christmas Resort was plunged into a terrifying snowy night. The storm raged around them, and the wailing wind sounded like monsters roaring right beside their ears.
"Elsgood, do you know where Grandpa is?" Lucian asked, looking down at the dwarf in front of him.
Elsgood shielded his eyes against the roaring blizzard. "I do. Hurry and follow me."
With that, he hunched over and pushed into the shrieking storm, disappearing into the pitch-black darkness ahead.
"Let's go. Follow him," Lucian said, and Ben and Gwen immediately followed.
...
But the one behind all this was never going to let them get close so easily.
A freezing gust blew a black top hat through the air, dropping it into the snow in front of them.
In the next second, a huge snow monster burst out from underground. It had a human upper body, a serpent's tail, bared claws and fangs, and a black top hat on its head as it lunged viciously at them.
And there wasn't just one.
Ten of those human-bodied, serpent-tailed snow monsters appeared from every direction, surrounding them.
At the same time, a large force of toy soldiers came charging over with swords in hand.
Lucian let out a cold snort. "Looks like there's no avoiding this fight."
He pressed the Omnitrix and switched aliens.
A hologram of Swampfire appeared on the recalibrated Omnitrix dial.
Lucian slammed it down and instantly transformed into a tall plant-like alien.
His whole body was dark green and made of plant matter. A flame-like crest rose from his head, and his long, lean form gave off the stench of swamp gas.
But with ice and snow all around suppressing molecular activity, the smell wasn't too strong.
At least it was much better than usual.
Ben put his hands on his hips, straightened up, planted one foot on a rock, and shouted, "Time for the hero to take the stage! Heatblast doesn't mind beating the stuffing out of you losers!"
Ben pressed the Omnitrix and slammed it down.
But in the next second, he turned into Four Arms instead.
"Oh, come on, wrong one again." Four Arms held his head. "But whatever. Four Arms can still beat the stuffing out of these losers!"
The battle was about to erupt.
Swampfire formed a fireball in his palm and hurled it out, instantly blasting the two snow monsters in front into powder.
The searing heat melted them into icy water that soaked into the white ground.
Four Arms was even more direct and brutal. He swung his fists wildly, his beastlike strength smashing through the toy soldiers and leaving them scattered in defeat.
The toy soldiers' sharp swords struck Four Arms's body, but it was like hitting solid iron. They couldn't cut in at all, only sending off a few sparks.
With a roar, Four Arms snatched a sword from one of the toy soldiers and chopped it in half.
Then he charged straight into the crowd, swinging the blade with overwhelming force. In his hands, the sword's power was brought to the limit.
Not a single toy soldier could withstand even one strike from Four Arms.
Swampfire wasn't weak either. One punch was enough to take down a snow monster, and he could also fire flames from his palms for large-scale attacks.
"Your brothers are all amazing!" Elsgood said from beside Gwen, unable to hide his admiration.
"Not all of them." Gwen paused, then pointed at Swampfire's back. "That fire-spitting one is the exception."
"Oh."
During the fight, a few monsters tried to attack Gwen and Elsgood.
But Gwen was no longer what she used to be. She had already been practicing Five Elements Magic, the gift Gwendolyn gave her back in the future timeline.
Streams of fire magic burst from her delicate hands and easily took care of the snow monsters.
Before long, the group had finished the battle.
But just as they were about to breathe a sigh of relief, a huge shadow spread across the sky above the Christmas Resort...