Grabbing the massive tusks of the giant mammoth, Four Arms dug his feet into the museum floor and pushed back with all four of his powerful arms. The revived beast roared furiously as it struggled, its enormous skeletal body thrashing while its glowing red eyes burned with unnatural life.
Four Arms tightened his grip and forced the creature's head downward, muscles bulging as he wrestled the towering animal toward the ground.
"Stay down!" he growled as he shoved the mammoth hard against the polished floor.
The impact shook the nearby exhibits, rattling display cases and ancient bones hanging from the ceiling. With the giant creature temporarily pinned, a clear path opened deeper into the museum.
Max quickly recognized the opportunity.
"Move!" he called out.
The trio rushed past while Four Arms kept the mammoth occupied behind them, the sounds of their struggle echoing across the large exhibition hall.
They had barely crossed the next section of displays when a piercing shriek suddenly echoed through the air.
The mutated parrot swooped down from above, its enormous wings beating violently as it blocked their path. Its claws scraped against the marble floor as it landed in front of them, feathers bristling while its glowing red eyes locked onto the group.
Max immediately stepped forward protectively, but before Evan could even reach for his transformation device, Gwen's eyes darted toward a nearby exhibit.
A display of ancient human tools stood beside them.
Without hesitation she grabbed one of the spears from the figure of an early hunter. Spinning it once in her hands to get the weight right, she stepped forward and swung.
The spear cracked loudly as it slammed into the side of the parrot's head.
The massive bird screeched and stumbled backward, clearly stunned by the sudden blow.
Gwen didn't hesitate and swung again.
The second strike hit even harder, the wooden shaft splintering apart on impact as the spear shattered against the creature's skull.
The parrot shrieked in pain, flapping its wings wildly before turning and fleeing down the hallway.
The redhead tossed the broken handle aside and turned back toward the others with a smug grin.
"Ben isn't the only one with skills."
Max blinked in surprise. Evan simply looked at her for a moment before shrugging.
"Fair enough."
The two of them quickly followed after her as they continued deeper into the museum.
They soon reached another large exhibit hall and immediately stopped.
Across the room stood Dr. Animo once again.
This time he was standing beside the towering skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex mounted on a large display platform.
And he was already activating the device on his chest.
In the shocked eyes of the trio, the horns of his helmet sparked with energy as he fired another bolt of crackling electricity toward the ancient fossil.
The skeleton began to glow. Then flesh began to form.
Muscle, tissue, and skin regenerated over the bones in a horrifyingly fast process, as if millions of years were being reversed in seconds. The enormous predator regained its full form, its massive body expanding as life returned to it.
The fully restored dinosaur stepped down from its platform.
The ground shook with every heavy footstep.
It lifted its head and let out a deafening roar that echoed through the museum halls.
Meanwhile, Animo laughed triumphantly as he climbed onto the back of the obedient dinosaur.
"I'd love to stay," he said smugly, "but I must go claim the award I so richly deserve!"
The massive creature turned toward the trio, lowering its head as if ready to charge.
Evan leaned slightly toward Gwen. "You think you can scare it off with a bigger stick?"
"Uh, Evan, I don't think this is the time for jokes," Gwen said quickly, glancing nervously at the towering predator in front of them. Then she looked back at him. "Shouldn't you be going hero?"
Evan let out a small sigh before raising his wrist.
He activated the Another Omnitrix and pressed the dial down without even looking at it.
A blinding golden light erupted around him.
When the light faded, his form had completely changed.
The alien that now stood in his place resembled a giant crab with an unusually large head. Two powerful claws extended from the sides of his head while four pointed legs supported his short, sturdy torso.
"Brainstorm!" The alien narrowed his gaze toward the approaching dinosaur.
Gwen blinked at the transformation. "Uh… what exactly is turning yourself into crab meat going to do?"
"Do not judge a book by its cover, Gwendolyn," Brainstorm replied calmly.
His eyes moved rapidly across the room as he began analyzing the environment.
"Potential useful objects detected. Protective glass displays. Mop bucket containing contaminated water. Metal fence posts from restoration equipment."
He paused briefly.
"Their advantages: superior strength and raw power. My advantage: superior intelligence."
With that, Brainstorm stepped forward.
The shell covering the top of his oversized head slowly opened, revealing the glowing, pulsating brain beneath.
A bolt of yellow electricity burst outward.
"Electrokinetic blast. Objective: draw target hostility."
The energy struck the dinosaur directly in the chest.
The Tyrannosaurus roared in pain and fury, its glowing red eyes immediately locking onto the alien that had attacked it.
With a thunderous roar, it charged.
Brainstorm calmly stepped to the side. "Dodge."
The dinosaur's massive jaws snapped shut just inches from where he had been standing.
Brainstorm moved toward the left side of the hall while firing another electrokinetic blast toward a nearby row of protective glass displays. The blast shattered them instantly, sending thousands of sharp fragments scattering across the floor.
"Environmental hazard deployed." The dinosaur continued pursuing him it movement slowed.
"Dodge again."
Brainstorm sidestepped another massive bite and continued moving across the hall toward a corner where cleaning equipment had been left behind.
"Counterattack."
Another electrokinetic blast shot from his brain and struck the dinosaur again.
The electricity traveled across the creature's body and briefly surged up toward Animo as well.
"Observation: device temporarily short-circuited. Full control of creatures weakened."
Animo nearly lost his balance on the dinosaur's back as sparks flickered from his machine.
"Hey! Stop that!"
Brainstorm ignored him and continued his strategy. He moved toward a mop bucket filled with dirty water. The Tyrannosaurus roared and lunged again.
"Dodge once more."
Brainstorm slipped aside just as the jaws slammed down beside him.
Using his electrokinetic control, he lifted the metal bucket into the air and hurled it toward the dinosaur.
Water splashed across Animo and the creature's body. The dinosaur barely reacted. It continued charging forward.
"End Phase."
Brainstorm fired another powerful electrokinetic blast.
The electricity surged into the water covering the dinosaur's body, the impurities allowing the current to spread much more effectively.
The energy shot through the creature and directly into Animo as well.
Both of them screamed.
The dinosaur roared in agony while Animo clung desperately to its back as electricity surged through the device on his chest and head.
Before either of them could recover, a thunderous crash echoed through the museum.
The wall beside them suddenly exploded inward. The massive mammoth came flying through the opening.
Four Arms had thrown it.
The giant creature slammed directly into the Tyrannosaurus, the impact knocking the dinosaur completely off its feet.
Both enormous animals crashed down together.
Their combined weight collapsed onto a stack of metal fence posts that had been lying nearby.
The heavy steel rods pierced through the bodies of the fallen beasts, pinning them against the floor.
Animo was trapped beneath the tangled mass of creatures; his body and hands were now bleeding from the cuts caused by the glass shards. Smoke rose from his damaged machine as he struggled weakly to move.
"No… my rightful prize…" he groaned helplessly, unable to escape from under the crushing weight of the two massive animals while being injured.
...
"Let me go!" Dr. Animo shouted as he struggled against the police officers escorting him down the museum steps. His wrists were secured in handcuffs, but that didn't stop him from twisting his shoulders and trying to pull away while the officers firmly guided him forward. "I deserve that award! I've got it coming to me! I want it! Do you hear me? I earned it!"
The officers ignored the rant completely and continued pushing him toward the patrol car waiting by the curb. Animo kept shouting the entire way, his voice growing louder and more desperate the closer they got to the vehicle.
"Years of research! Years of work! All stolen from me!" he continued, his face red with anger. "Those fools on the Vernities committee wouldn't recognize genius if it mutated their own pets!"
They forced him down into the back seat of the police car before he could resist any further, one officer pressing a hand firmly on his shoulder while the other shut the door with a heavy slam.
Through the window, Animo suddenly noticed someone standing a short distance away.
Ben was looking straight at him. His expression wasn't proud or triumphant like someone who had just stopped a villain. Instead, he looked strangely thoughtful, as if something about the entire scene had left him with an odd feeling.
"For some reason… that sounded familiar," Ben murmured quietly.
Inside the car, Animo's eyes narrowed suspiciously when he noticed the group standing nearby. He recognized Max and Gwen from the chaos inside the museum, but the alien that had interfered with his plans had vanished long before the police arrived.
By the time the patrol car drove away, the group was already heading back toward the Rust Bucket.
After the fight inside the museum, Evan had barely said anything at all. He had simply raised two fingers in a casual wave toward Ben, Gwen, and Max before quietly heading back into the RV ahead of the others.
Now the Rust Bucket was already moving down the road again, the museum shrinking into the distance behind them as the city returned to its usual rhythm.
Inside the RV, Ben leaned back comfortably in the passenger seat with his hands behind his head. His earlier frustration about the cereal card seemed to have faded, replaced by the familiar confidence that always appeared after a successful fight.
"I didn't get that gold Sumo Slammer card," he said with a small shrug, "but at least we snagged a trophy from Animo. Plus, I guess saving the city from Dr. Wacko is its own reward."
Max chuckled softly as he drove, clearly amused by Ben's attempt to sound mature about the situation.
"Of course it is," he replied. "And don't forget, Ben, being a hero isn't about other people knowing you did something good. It's about you knowing you did something good. Being a hero is its own reward."
Ben tilted his head slightly and glanced sideways at his grandfather.
"Grandpa… was that a quote from one of those greeting cards in the Megamart?" he asked with a teasing grin.
That immediately made Max laugh.
"Hey, I have to expand my knowledge one way or another," he replied with a shrug. "After all, nobody knows everything. You learn something new every minute, and your thirst for knowledge grows as you grow. The more you experience, the more you realize how much there still is to understand."
As he said that, Max's eyes shifted briefly toward the rearview mirror.
He paused for a moment. "Evan, what are you doing back there?"
Ben and Gwen both turned around to look toward the back of the RV.
Evan had transformed again. Brainstorm's large armored shell partially opened to expose the glowing brain beneath it.
Several small sparks of yellow electricity flickered through the air as pieces of a damaged machine floated in front of him.
"Studying," he replied calmly without even looking up.
The object hovering in front of him was the broken DNA Transmodulator that he had quietly taken after Animo's defeat.
The device had been partially dismantled, and its internal components were suspended in the air through Brainstorm's electrokinetic control while he examined them piece by piece.
Tiny arcs of electricity moved between his claws as he adjusted several floating circuits, occasionally pausing to observe how certain components interacted with each other.
While the RV continued rolling down the road, Brainstorm continued his analysis with complete focus.
The technology itself wasn't particularly refined, but it contained some unusual biological conversion circuits that allowed the device to manipulate genetic structures far more aggressively than normal equipment would allow.
While the others talked in the front of the RV, Evan quietly began sketching out a possible upgrade module for the Another Omnitrix in his mind.
Even now, he still didn't fully understand where the device had originally come from. Some of its internal systems resembled the Omnitrix Ben used.
Because of that, the only reliable option available to him was to improve it gradually on his own.
Ben already had enemies. And eventually those enemies would notice Evan as well.
When that happened, simply reacting to danger wouldn't be enough. If someone came after him specifically because of the Another Omnitrix, he needed to be ready before that moment ever arrived.
After several more seconds of silent observation, he finally spoke.
"It appears that the lack of alien-grade materials is what is truly limiting my progress."
He gently tapped the dial on the Another Omnitrix. A flash of golden light filled the back of the RV.
When the light faded, Evan was human again, sitting quietly at the table while the dismantled pieces of the transmodulator dropped softly onto the surface in front of him.