SAM stepped forward, and then golden flames burst from his back, launching him straight ahead. He came crashing down between Ah Puch and the Forever Knights with enough force to shatter the ground beneath him and send both sides stumbling back.
SAM lifted his head and raised his right palm, firing a plasma blast that slammed into one of the Forever Knights and threw them backward. Before the others could recover, he raised his other hand and fired another blast at the second knight, then charged forward and drove a knee straight into Enoch's stomach.
Enoch doubled over, but SAM did not give him any time to breathe.
He turned at once, flame bursting from his elbow as his metal fist slammed into Ah Puch's face and sent the guardian reeling toward the stairway that led up to the Sword of Ek Chuaj.
SAM's gaze snapped toward Enoch again.
The masked man was trying to make a break for the sword.
Golden fire flared from SAM's back as he shot forward, grabbed Enoch by the back of the head, and slammed his face hard against the stone steps. The impact cracked the surface, sending jagged lines across the stairs. SAM did not stop there. His fingers tightened around the top of Enoch's head, and the knight let out a painful cry as SAM dragged him up just to smash him back down again.
"Evan, stop! That is too far!" Four Arms shouted.
He rushed in and wrapped all four arms around SAM's shoulders and back, doing everything he could to pull him away from the badly injured knight.
"Hands off, Ben," SAM said coldly.
A burst of golden flame erupted from his armor, making Four Arms hiss in pain and let go.
Before either of them could move again, Ah Puch crashed into them both, sending them tumbling down the stairs in a heap.
SAM, Four Arms, and the guardian all got back to their feet at the same time, and the chamber suddenly became a three-way brawl.
Ah Puch lashed out with its long tongue, wrapping it around SAM's metal arm and trying to pull him closer. SAM refused to budge. Instead, he grabbed the tongue with his other hand and yanked hard, dragging the creature toward him.
Flame burst from his elbow again.
When Ah Puch was close enough, SAM drove a metal fist straight into its face and sent it staggering back. The tongue snapped around again, trying to pull him in once more, but SAM answered with another brutal punch that sent the guardian flying.
A Forever Knight rushed in with an energy sword raised high.
The blade barely scratched SAM before he turned and fixed the knight with a cold stare that made the armored figure hesitate. SAM stepped in, drove a sharp knee into the knight's chest, and launched him through the wall in a spray of broken stone.
He turned to the last Forever Knight and raised his palm, ready to fire another plasma blast.
"Stop it!" Four Arms shouted as he tackled SAM from the side and knocked the attack off course.
He struggled against him, trying to hold him back. "Evan! We take them down, not out! We are supposed to be the good guys here!"
"Correction, you are the good guys," SAM said flatly. "I do not care enough about my enemies to give them second chances."
"That does it!" Four Arms turned and grabbed the two energy swords left behind by the Forever Knights. He held one in each of his upper hands while his lower hands cracked their knuckles.
"I am taking you down before you seriously hurt someone!"
SAM's eyes narrowed. "Is that so?"
Plasma gathered around his palms and stretched outward, reshaping into two golden flame blades.
"Aw man…" Four Arms muttered despite himself. "That is so cool."
Then he charged.
SAM flew toward him at the same time, and their blades clashed with a burst of sparks and golden light.
Nearby, as Max and Gwen climbed the stairs, they noticed the fight immediately.
"Grandpa!" Gwen shouted. "Evan and Ben are fighting!"
Max turned sharply, eyes widening when he saw the scene below. "What?"
He had been so focused on reaching the Sword of Ek Chuaj that he had barely paid attention to anything else. Not how Evan had come back bloodied. Not how he had ignored Gwen's concern. Not how he had been acting more aggressive by the second.
Down in the chamber, Four Arms was still struggling to push back SAM's golden blades.
"We are supposed to be heroes!" he roared. "How can we call ourselves anything different if we just kill them because we can?"
He swung his stolen swords with all his strength and managed to cut one of SAM's plasma blades apart.
SAM released the shattered weapon without hesitation, and the other blade in his hand shifted shape, changing into a massive buster blade.
"I am not playing hero with you, Ben," SAM said coldly. "I only take out my enemies. Not make them."
The buster blade crashed into Four Arms' weapons and shattered both of them in a single strike.
"Your thinking is seriously messed up!" Four Arms shouted.
He dropped the broken pieces and shoved forward with a heavy punch that drove SAM back a step.
"I know you are angry, but everybody deserves a second chance! What right do you have to decide who lives and who dies just because they step in your way?" He kept throwing punches as he spoke, trying to reason with him even while they traded blows. "If you start doing that now, then where does it stop? Who gets to decide the limit?"
SAM answered with a hard metal fist to Four Arms' jaw, sending him flying into the wall and cracking it behind him.
The more Max and Gwen heard, the more worried they became.
"Grandpa, something is seriously wrong with Evan!" Gwen shouted. "I think he hit his head on something when he came back!"
Max stared down at the fight, his expression tightening with concern. He had missed too much already, and now it was becoming obvious that Evan was not just angry.
Max's eyes widened in horror at the scene before him, and the sight hit him harder than he expected because it looked far too familiar.
It pulled him straight back to his Plumber days, back to the time he had taken Stay Gold under his wing. She had been so eager to prove herself, so eager to follow every order without question, that it had almost become a problem all on its own. Max had known she had not had a proper childhood due to her condition, and she had never really had a parent figure she could trust until he came along. Once he had adopted her, treated her like one of his own, and given her a place where she finally felt wanted, she had latched onto that trust with everything she had.
And because of that trust, she had gone too far for him.
Back then, Max had been so focused on finishing an important mission that he had almost dragged Stay Gold right into death for him. She had followed him without hesitation, trying to help in every way she could because she did not want to disappoint the first person she had ever truly seen as a father. Even when she took a hit for him, even when she was bleeding and clearly in bad shape, she still pushed herself to keep going, as if her only thought was helping him finish what he started.
That mission had only ended when Max finally snapped out of it and realized she was the one in danger. Stay Gold had never complained. She had never blamed him. She had only wanted to keep going, to help him succeed, even at her own expense. So Max had made the choice to abandon the mission and take the blame for it himself, because at that point, nothing mattered more than making sure she survived.
He remembered every bit of that aftermath too. He had never argued when the punishment came down. He had never tried to excuse himself. He had just focused on one thing and one thing only: that Stay Gold make it out alive.
And once she recovered, they had talked. Really talked. He had promised himself then that he would never let that happen again, that he would never let devotion and duty blind him so badly that he ignored the person standing right in front of him.
Now, decades later, it felt like he had made the exact same mistake all over again.
Evan was strong. He is both reliable and capable. He could take care of himself better than most kids Max had ever known, and maybe because of that, Max had subconsciously pushed aside the fact that Evan had come back injured, bleeding, and clearly not thinking like himself. He had seen the blood and the anger, but he had still kept moving toward the sword, still kept thinking about the mission first, just like before.
His heart skipped a beat. Cold sweat ran down Max's forehead as the realization sank in.
History was repeating itself.
"Evan, stop! That's enough!" Max abandoned the sword at once and rushed down the stairs beside Gwen.
His shout cut through the chamber, and for a split second it worked. SAM halted his assault on Four Arms, his helmeted head turning toward Max as flames began spreading out from the gaps in his mask.
Suddenly, he shot toward them, and Max and Gwen both widened their eyes in alarm.
"Duck!" SAM shouted.
They dropped just in time as he slammed into Ah Puch behind them, knocking the guardian backward with a heavy impact that shook the stone floor.
Max and Gwen turned back in time to see SAM pinning Ah Puch down, his metal fingers locked firmly around the creature's head.
"I think you have lived long enough," he said coldly. "How about you rest for a while?"
His other hand moved to the guardian's lower jaw, gripping it with crushing force as Ah Puch struggled beneath him. The creature clawed at SAM's wrist and tried to wrench him away, but it could not break free.
SAM applied more pressure, and with one final brutal pull, he tore the lower jaw free.
Ah Puch collapsed to the ground, and crimson stained the front of SAM's armor. He glanced down at the jaw in his hand, then moved his bloodied hand to his chest and activated his Another Omnitrix, opening the interface, letting it absorb the stolen piece.
[Data Upgrade Detected. The One Who Rules Over The Dead is now available.]
SAM looked down at the fallen guardian, which was already beginning to recover from the attack. Seeing that it was still moving, his expression hardened even more. He clenched his fist and drove it down again, and again, and again, each blow landing with relentless force as Ah Puch struggled weakly beneath him.
The Tennysons could only stare in stunned silence.
Ah Puch let out a terrible cry as SAM kept pressing the attack, refusing to let the guardian recover. His metal hand locked around its throat, holding it in place while the other continued to strike with cold, mechanical precision. The creature fought to push him off, but SAM did not budge.
His fists kept coming until the guardian finally went still.
SAM pulled back, his bloodstained metal hands rising slowly as he looked down at the defeated creature.
"At last, I finally did it." A voice suddenly rang out from above.
Everyone turned and looked up just in time to see Enoch pulling the Sword of Ek Chuaj free from its shrine, lifting it high above his head.
"The ultimate weapon!" Enoch shouted. "The world shall kneel before me!"
SAM looked up at Enoch, then tapped his Omnitrix dial. In response, three spikes popped out from it with a sharp metallic click.
A golden glow spread across SAM's body as his frame shifted again. The armor became smoother and more refined in some places, while other sections sharpened into a more dangerous shape. Golden spikes extended from his arms and elbows, and his build thickened just enough to make him even harder to move or push back.
Then golden-white metal wings unfolded from his back, their pointed edges catching the light as they spread wide behind him.
Enoch raised the Sword of Ek Chuaj, ready to swing, but SAM pointed at him first. At the same time, the wings on his back split apart, breaking into a small swarm of drones that launched forward and opened fire with rapid plasma blasts.
Enoch did not even get time to brace himself before the barrage slammed into him and threw him backward, nearly sending him off the shrine.
He forced himself back up with a snarl and swung the sword at the drones, sending a powerful energy slash toward them.
The drones simply scattered out of the way and kept firing.
The nonstop pressure from all sides forced Enoch backward again and again, even while he was holding the legendary Sword of Ek Chuaj. The blade might have been powerful, but that did not matter much if the one holding it could not use it properly. A weapon like that meant nothing if its owner got overwhelmed before they could even swing it right.
SAM kept the drones moving, guiding them around Enoch and making them attack from every angle. Enoch slashed again, trying to catch them in one hit, but the drones slipped away just in time and let the blast rip harmlessly into the ceiling instead.
Then SAM himself flew up, firing more plasma energy blasts as he came in. Enoch tried to shield himself with the sword, slashing at the incoming fire with increasing desperation, but SAM and the drones kept weaving around every attack.
Before Enoch could recover, SAM dropped right in front of him.
His metal hand shot forward and clamped onto the blade.
"What are you doing!? Let go!" Enoch shouted, panic finally cutting through his arrogance as he pulled back with both hands.
He knew exactly how dangerous SAM was already. If SAM got the Sword of Ek Chuaj, then there would be almost nothing left he could do. So Enoch held on with everything he had, refusing to give it up.
The only problem was that SAM had never intended to take the blade from him in the first place.
Using his other hand, SAM applied force from both sides at once and snapped the sword clean in half right in front of him.
Max and Enoch both widened their eyes.
SAM stood there holding the broken blade in one palm, then drove a sharp kick into Enoch's stomach and sent him crashing backward through the wall.
The impact sent a violent rumble through the whole temple.
Rocks started falling around them as the ancient structure began to break apart. The fighting had already weakened it, and now the old temple was finally giving in.
SAM narrowed his gaze at the collapsing chamber, then looked back toward the Tennysons.
"Let's get-" Four Arms started to say, but his Omnitrix suddenly began beeping.
A red flash erupted, and in an instant he was turned back into Ben.
"We have to get out of here!" Max shouted.
He turned and started running, leading the kids toward the exit, but before they could reach it, the entrance collapsed behind a wall of stone and debris, sealing the way out.
A slab of rock came tumbling toward Gwen, only for Ah Puch to rush in and knock it aside before it could hit her. Then, to everyone's surprise, the guardian picked up Ben and Gwen with one arm each and set them onto its shoulders as if it had decided they were riding with it now.
"Hey!" Gwen shouted, more startled than anything else.
"Wow! What the? Is he on our side now or something?" Ben asked.
"We will question it later!" SAM said.
He fired a plasma blast at the blocked doorway and blew open a clear path through the rubble.
Ah Puch immediately started running, heading for the opening at top speed. SAM flew after Max and grabbed him, keeping close behind the guardian as they all raced through the temple together.
When they reached the large pit chamber where they had to descend to get down here. Ah Puch carried Ben and Gwen forward, placing them on SAM's shoulders, as SAM lifted Max up, following the same route they had used to enter. They made it back out through the temple's passage just before the whole place gave way behind them.
The moment they emerged outside, the entire structure collapsed in on itself. The ground shook once, then settled.
Ben let out a breath and grinned. "Well, that was quite an adventure."
SAM tapped his Omnitrix dial and returned to human form.
Evan landed on the ground a moment later and slowly rose to his feet. Dry blood stained his face and clothes now, and a visible scar had formed over his right eyebrow.
Max looked at him for a moment, then tried to lighten the mood. "I don't know about you, but I could sure go for some dung beetle soup. It's even better reheated, you know."
"Not a chance, old man," Evan said.
Then he snickered, and that was enough to make everyone else ease up and laugh too.
"Glad to have you back, Evan, Grandpa," Ben said with a smile.
"Thanks, guys," Max replied. His expression softened. "And I'm sorry for how I treated you today."
His gaze shifted to Evan, and his voice lowered a little.
"And sorry for not looking after you properly."
"It's fine…" Evan said. "I'm just a bit lightheaded, that's all."
That only made Max feel worse, because for a moment in his eyes, Evan Gold overlapped with Stay Gold. Even after everything that had happened, they still were not blaming him, not even once.
Then Evan blinked and looked over at the others. "Say, why are there two Bens?"
AN: Gwen and Ben have the same face model, with the only difference being their hair, eyebrow size, eyelashes in the original, and lips in the later series.
"Okay, now there is really something wrong with his head," Gwen concluded.
"So how are we getting back?" Ben asked.
"Sorry, but there is no way I am flying Insectoid Airlines again," Gwen said, then looked toward Evan with a small smirk. "Although I do not mind flying on a big, strong dragon's back."
Evan either did not catch the hint or simply did not care, because he was already activating his Another Omnitrix. He turned the dial and opened the interface.
Then he pulls out the broken shard of the Sword of Ek Chuaj, and lets it fall into the watch, letting his Another Omnitrix absorb it.
[Data Upgrade Detected. Sun Eater is now available.]
Everyone looked toward the helicopter the Forever Knights had left behind.
"Grandpa, you wouldn't happen to know how to fly a helicopter, would you?" Ben asked.
Max smiled.
A little while later, the group was on their way to the Rust Bucket in the helicopter.