Later that evening, back inside Aunt Vera's quiet house, the atmosphere had settled into a calm routine.
The sun was beginning to dip lower outside, casting long orange shadows through the windows.
In the kitchen, Max and Gwen were quietly washing dishes and putting them away while chatting softly.
In the living room nearby, Evan was stretched out across the sofa, lying flat on his back like a salted fish, his father's old ragged coat draped over him like a blanket while he rested with his eyes closed.
The calm didn't last long.
The front door suddenly burst open as Ben rushed inside, panting heavily as if he had just run several blocks.
"Guys, something is seriously wrong with this place!" he blurted out loudly.
Max immediately turned and raised a finger to his lips.
"Shh," he whispered firmly. "Your Aunt Vera is sleeping."
Ben blinked in disbelief.
"Are you for real? It's only like six-thirty!"
He shook his head before continuing quickly, clearly still shaken by what he had seen.
"Anyway, this place is way creepier than we thought. I was just out for a walk, and I saw some really weird stuff. First, this old lady ninja climbed straight up a wall, ate a fly, and landed like it was nothing. Then this creepy guy from next door turned out to be some kind of alien or something. His neck twisted around one hundred and eighty degrees, and his body stretched like rubber and-"
"Slow down, kiddo," Max said calmly, kneeling down and placing both hands on Ben's shoulders to steady him.
Ben took a breath.
"I believe you," Gwen said, crossing her arms thoughtfully. "After everything we've run into this summer, nothing sounds impossible anymore."
She glanced over toward the living room.
Evan was still lying on the sofa without moving, covered by the ragged coat and looking almost completely asleep.
"Thanks," Ben said with relief. "I think we should hero up and check out that old man's apartment."
Max hesitated for a moment. Clearly, he didn't want the kids getting themselves into trouble.
"Well… maybe we should do a little investigating," he admitted finally. "But you stay exactly as you are."
Ben sighed heavily. "Fine."
Gwen shook her head slightly. "You know, ever since you got that watch, weird stuff seems to follow you everywhere."
Her eyes drifted again toward Evan, who hadn't moved at all on the couch.
Max noticed too and quietly said, "No, let him rest."
Between Evan's calm personality and the mysterious Another Omnitrix he carried, Max wasn't particularly worried about him handling himself if something happened. If anything, he was far more concerned about Ben accidentally causing problems.
Not long after that, the three of them quietly made their way to the old man's apartment.
Max carefully pushed the door open just a little and peeked inside.
"Hello?" he called softly. "Anyone home?"
No one answered.
He signaled for the kids to stay quiet before stepping inside.
The apartment was dim, filled with long shadows cast across the walls. A faint ticking noise echoed somewhere inside, followed by the occasional ringing sound from an unseen clock.
They moved carefully through the room, trying to find a light switch.
Ben suddenly jumped when something brushed against him just as Gwen flipped the switch. The lights came on. It turned out to be nothing more than a coat and hat hanging on a rack near an open window, gently moving in the breeze.
Max looked around the room carefully.
"Well, nothing seems out of whack," he said thoughtfully.
"I'm telling you, I know what I saw," Ben insisted.
As he scanned the room again, something caught his attention.
A slightly faded patch on the carpet.
"Oh yeah," Ben said, kneeling down. "I forgot to mention something. When I saw that guy earlier, he was carrying something rolled up inside a rug and hiding it in a secret passage under a dumpster. This looks like where the rug used to be."
Gwen crouched down beside him and examined the area.
"I'll admit," she said slowly, "it is a little strange that a rug would be removed from a place like this."
Ben crossed his arms confidently.
"I've proven plenty of times that I'm not crazy," he declared. "And I'll prove it again this time."
Later that evening, as the sun finally dipped below the horizon, Max guided the kids to their rooms back at Aunt Vera's house.
"You kids sleep well," he said. "I'll be in the guest room if you need me."
"But Grandpa-" Ben began.
Max gently cut him off. "There's nothing more we can do tonight. I'm going for an early walk in the morning. When I get back, we'll take another look around. For now, get some rest."
With that, he left the hallway.
Ben nodded reluctantly.
Meanwhile, Evan stood beside them.
"You seriously woke me up just to tell me to go to bed?" he asked in a completely deadpan voice.
Ben rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, since he was the one who woke him up. "Evan, Grandpa said sleeping on the couch isn't exactly ideal."
Back in the Rust Bucket, there were enough bunks for three people to sleep comfortably. Max had offered several times to give Evan one of the bunks while he took the couch, but Evan had always declined and spent the entire summer vacation sleeping on the RV seats without complaint.
Now that there was an actual bed available, Max clearly wanted him to use it.
Gwen nodded in agreement. "He's got a point. You've been sleeping on that couch all summer."
"I'm used to it," Evan said while waving dismissively before wandering back toward the living room again.
Gwen just shrugged before heading into her room, while Ben did the same.
The house slowly grew quiet.
Inside Vera's bedroom, the old woman slept peacefully beneath her blankets.
Then something moved.
A strange slime-like substance slithered silently along the rafters above her bed. Slowly, it dripped downward, creeping along the wall before sliding onto her arm.
Vera stirred slightly.
But before she could react, the living substance spread rapidly, covering her body completely before she could even scream.
Elsewhere in the house, the same strange substance slithered beneath the living room door and crept across the floor toward the sofa.
It reached Evan's hand.
The moment it touched him, the Another Omnitrix suddenly glowed.
Evan's eyes snapped open.
The watch's self-defense system activated automatically. The dial popped up, and Evan immediately slammed it down.
A burst of bright golden light filled the living room.
His body rapidly transformed, becoming slender and reptilian. His new form resembled a large purple salamander with darker camo-like spots covering his body and a short tail extending behind him. A black helmet formed over his head with a fin-like spike along the back, and three triangular lenses, blue, green, and red, glowed across the front.
"Chamalien," he announced.
With a swift whip of his tail, he struck the living substance, slamming it hard against the wall.
Then Chamalien vanished completely.
The alien slime paused, its body shifting nervously as it tried to locate him, but the invisible alien remained undetectable.
After a moment, the creature retreated quickly, slipping beneath the crack in the door and escaping outside.
A nearby window quietly opened and closed. Invisible to the naked eye, Chamalien followed.
"Omnitrix," he said calmly, "activate Life Form Lock Mode."
The golden dial on his chest glowed faintly.
[Life Form Lock Mode is now active.]
...
The next morning, Ben went through Vera's fridge while his cousin was getting a glass of water. "Prune juice, prune juice, and, oh, what a surprise, more prune juice."
"This is odd. Have you seen Evan anywhere?" Gwen asks, noticing Evan's coat but not its owner.
"Probably out with Grandpa." he replied casually.
Then, Vera came down the stairs to the kitchen.
"Good morning, Aunt Vera," Gwen said with a smile. "How did you sleep?"
"Just... fine," Vera said with little emotion in her voice, which caused the twins to raise their eyebrows in suspicion. "How about you?" Then, she reached out like a zombie and pinched Ben's cheeks rather painfully.
"Fine, Aunt Vera," Ben said.
"I made you some coffee, Aunt Vera," Gwen said. But then, she tripped and sent the coffee and water sprawling to the ground, causing Vera to panic, jump up, and do the splits between the kitchen shelves.
"Clean it up! Clean it up right now!" She ordered as the kids looked absolutely shocked at the sight of it.
"I'm sorry," Gwen apologized before she cleaned up the coffee and water with a towel.
Vera then jumped down once it was cleaned up and glanced over to see the empty guest room where Max was sleeping.
"Where did your grandfather go?"
"He said he was going for an early walk," Gwen said.
"Well, behave yourselves. I'll be back soon," Vera said before walking away from them.
"She's one of them," Ben said.
"One of what?" Gwen asked.
"Whatever's possessing these old people. Something or someone's got to Aunt Vera, and who knows how many other of the fossils around here." Ben said, his voice serious.
"We've got to do something," Gwen said as he nodded. "I think we need to go look for Grandpa Max and Evan."
After a moment, the two left the house.
...
Deep beneath the quiet town, hidden far below the streets and houses, a large underground chamber stretched out like a secret hive. The walls were rough stone carved by tunnels that twisted and branched in different directions like a maze.
In the center of the cavern sat a strange alien spacecraft, its dark metallic hull reflecting the faint green glow coming from dozens of pods arranged around it.
Each pod pulsed faintly with soft light.
Inside them, silhouettes of captured townspeople could be seen floating motionlessly.
For a moment, the air shimmered as Chamalien briefly became visible again.
"Now we're talking," he murmured quietly.
His eyes focused on the alien spacecraft sitting in the middle of the chamber. The moment after speaking, his body faded once more as his camouflage ability activated, turning him completely invisible again.
Moving silently, he crawled forward toward the ship.
As he passed between the rows of glowing pods, something caught his attention.
One of the pods contained a familiar figure.
Chamalien briefly reappeared beside it, his eyes narrowing slightly.
"Grandpa?"
Inside the pod floated Max.
Without wasting time, Chamalien drove his sharp claws into the surface of the pod and tore it open with a quick pull. The flesh-like material cracked apart, releasing a hiss of air as the lid split open.
Max dropped down onto his feet, slightly unsteady.
"I was out for a walk and then…" he started to say before pausing, pressing a hand against his head. "I can't remember what happened next."
Chamalien stepped forward and helped him steady himself.
Max blinked a few times before looking at the alien standing beside him.
"Ben?" he said uncertainly.
Then his gaze shifted to the glowing symbol on Chamalien's chest.
The color was gold.
"Evan."
"Yeah, it's me," Chamalien replied simply.
Max straightened up and looked around the underground chamber. Rows of pods filled with unconscious townspeople surrounded the alien ship.
"What exactly is going on here?" he asked.
"Long story short," Chamalien answered calmly, "aliens invaded this place. I spent the entire night tracking them through that maze-like tunnel system before I finally found this chamber."
Max glanced toward the tunnel he was pointing to and nodded.
Hearing that Evan had spent the whole night searching made him smile slightly.
He knew the boy beside him preferred keeping a low profile and living a quiet life whenever possible. But when innocent people were in danger, Evan still chose to step forward and deal with the problem anyway.
"I see," Max said thoughtfully. "So what's the plan now?"
He asked the question partly out of curiosity. He wanted to see how Evan intended to handle the situation.
Chamalien looked toward the pods.
"You help pull these pods out and move the people somewhere safe," he said. "I'll go inside their ship and dismantle anything that looks like a weapon or communication system."
Max squinted slightly, clearly suspecting that Evan might also be planning to salvage some useful technology while he was at it.
But he trusted the boy enough not to question it.
"Fair enough," Max said.
The old Plumber veteran immediately began picking up nearby pods and carefully moving the unconscious townspeople away from the spacecraft.
Meanwhile, Chamalien turned and headed toward the alien ship.
Once inside, he stopped and tapped the dial on his chest.
"Omnitrix," he said calmly. "Disable Life Form Lock."
The golden symbol on his chest glowed softly.
[Life Form Lock Mode is now deactivated.]
Chamalien tapped the dial again.
Golden light erupted across his body. When it faded, the alien form standing inside the ship had changed.
"Brainstorm," he announced.
Now in the form of Brainstorm, his massive brain casing opened slightly as sparks of electricity danced across the surface.
His eyes scanned the interior of the ship rapidly, processing enormous amounts of information at once.
Within seconds, he began identifying components.
More importantly, he quickly noted which materials would be useful for his self-made upgrades.
Several alien alloys and energy regulators caught his attention immediately.
After mentally recording the parts he wanted, Brainstorm tapped the Omnitrix again.
Another burst of golden light flashed.
"Fasttrack."
Now transformed into the sleek blue speedster Fasttrack immediately began moving.
He ran through the corridors of the alien ship at incredible speed, dismantling key components with precise movements. Panels were removed, circuits disconnected, and important systems stripped apart before the alien invaders could return.
In just a few minutes, large sections of the ship's systems had already been disabled.