Chapter 15: Roadside Rumble and a Glimpse of a Conqueror
The morning was bright and clear, bathing the landscape in a soft, pale-yellow light. From the lush green trees lining the road, the crisp songs of birds occasionally drifted through the air.
After some time on the road, the Rustbucket's engine sputtered, forcing a temporary stop at a gas station. With the RV needing fuel, everyone decided to stretch their legs and take a short break.
Boom!
A familiar roar of an explosion shattered the morning peace. A gang of thugs, decked out in biker gear and wearing ridiculous-looking helmets, were causing chaos. They wielded energy guns—a surprisingly common sight in this world—and were casually blasting buildings while brazenly stealing money. Alongside them, two saucer-shaped mechanical drones hovered, their single red optics scanning the area as if searching for something specific.
"This is a blast!" the leader of the biker gang, a woman with a sneer, mocked as she watched the destruction.
"Ben," Klein said faintly, not even bothering to look up from his spot leaning against the Rustbucket. Ordinary thugs? They weren't worth the effort of him lifting a finger. As for the mechanical drones, his only impression of them was that they were utterly useless.
"It's hero time!" Ben, on the other hand, never passed up an opportunity for action.
A brilliant green light flashed from the Omnitrix.
"Oh, man! How annoying! I wanted to transform into Four Arms, not Heatblast!" the fiery alien complained, looking down at his magma-rock hands. With a sigh of resignation, he charged forward anyway.
"What kind of freak is this?" one of the thugs scoffed, unafraid. They raised their energy guns and fired a volley of crimson bolts at the approaching Pyronite.
"Losers! Those little toys can't even scratch me!" Heatblast taunted. He raised a hand, and a torrent of fire erupted from his palm, warping the very air around it.
The intense flames easily dispersed the energy blasts and surged toward the bikers.
BOOM!
The fiery explosion sent the thugs flying, knocking their helmets clean off. With a flick of his wrists, Heatblast then shot two more streams of fire, incinerating the two mechanical drones in an instant.
He turned, ready to gloat, but stopped short when he saw the thugs lying scattered on the ground. "They're… they're all women?!" he stammered, his bravado vanishing. "I don't hit girls!" His raised hand, which had been ready to unleash another fireball, unconsciously lowered.
"Well, thank you very much!" the female gang leader snarled. Scrambling to her feet, she swung the butt of her energy gun like a club, catching the stunned Heatblast square in the head and sending him flying.
"Ouch!" he cried out in pain as he hit the pavement.
"Ouch!" The biker leader's cry of pain echoed his a moment later. Klein had appeared behind her as silently as a ghost, and a single, precise kick sent her tumbling several meters away.
"I do," Klein stated flatly, planting his foot firmly on the leader's left hand as she reached for her dropped weapon. No one noticed her right hand, however, as it brushed against the shattered remains of one of the drones. For a split second, its single red optic flickered to life before going dark again.
"So do I! And I'm a girl," Gwen added, her eyes glowing with pink energy. Mana tendrils shot out, wrapping around the other dazed bikers and binding them securely.
Soon, the wail of sirens filled the air as the police finally arrived, apparently having been delayed by another card game.
As the officers escorted the female thugs into their patrol cars, the Tennyson family climbed back into the Rustbucket and resumed their journey.
Inside the vehicle, Gwen turned to her cousin with a thoughtful expression. "Uh, Klein… did you really just hit a woman?"
"Don't worry," Klein replied, misinterpreting her concern. "I would never hit you."
A faint blush crept onto Gwen's cheeks, and she quickly looked away.
…
The Rustbucket rumbled along a winding mountain road.
"Hehe, our next stop is one you guys are going to love!" Grandpa Max announced, once again keeping their destination a closely guarded secret.
"Grandpa, it's not another amusement park full of alien freaks, is it?" Ben asked, his tone laced with weariness. He had learned not to have high expectations for his grandpa's so-called surprises.
Klein and Gwen both gave silent, concurring nods.
"Of course not! I guarantee…" Max began to assure them, but his words were cut short.
BOOM!
With a deafening crack, huge boulders began to tumble down the mountainside, crashing directly toward the Rustbucket.
Without a word, Klein slapped his watch. A flash of brilliant blue light enveloped him.
"Diamondhead!"
The crystalline alien kicked open the RV's door and leaped out, plunging his sharp hands into the asphalt. Shimmering, translucent diamond shot up from his arms, extending all the way up the mountainside and solidifying into a massive, angled wall that effortlessly deflected the falling rocks.
"What in the world is going on?!" Ben shouted as he and Gwen scrambled out of the vehicle.
From the top of the mountain, Diamondhead's enhanced hearing caught the faint traces of a conversation. "...didn't tell me… I'm not doing this!" a voice complained.
"There are people up there!" Diamondhead called down to the others. He then slammed his foot on the ground, conjuring a staircase of solid diamond and sprinting up the mountainside. Seeing this, Gwen's body dissolved into its pure pink Anodite form, and she flew up to follow him.
"An enemy, huh? Awesome! Let's see how they like Stinkfly! It's hero time!" Ben excitedly slammed the faceplate of the Omnitrix. In response, Ben's true archenemy made its appearance: the Omnitrix's randomizer.
A green flash, and a gelatinous, black-and-green creature stood in Ben's place.
"Oh, come on!" Upgrade shrieked, looking at his gooey hands. "You useless piece of junk! What's your malfunction?!"
Up on the mountain, the female biker leader—now with a smoking laser cannon fused to her shoulder—saw the two figures rushing up toward her. Recognizing them as trouble, she immediately pivoted the cannon behind her, intending to use it as a thruster to escape.
"See ya, freaks—" She had barely lifted into the air when a volley of razor-sharp diamond fragments shot from below, puncturing the cannon on her left shoulder. The damaged thruster sputtered, sending her spiraling unsteadily down the other side of the mountain.
"Ugh… hey… how much farther is it?" Upgrade whined, struggling to pull his semi-liquid body up the diamond stairs. He paused halfway, leaning on his knees and panting.
"Ahhh!~" A terrified scream grew louder from above. Upgrade looked up just in time to see the out-of-control biker leader hurtling directly toward him. With a heroic leap, he intercepted her, his gelatinous form wrapping around her. He immediately tried to merge with and possess her cybernetically enhanced body.
But before Upgrade could even begin to assert control, a searing wave of alien consciousness violently ejected him from her mind. He went limp, his form detaching from her as if he'd been electrocuted.
Just as the now-unconscious Upgrade was about to plummet from the great height, a diamond slide materialized beneath him, catching him and safely guiding him to the ground.
"Ben! Are you alright?!" Grandpa Max rushed over, helping the dazed Galvanic Mechamorph to his feet.
"Ugh… my head hurts so bad," Upgrade groaned, clutching his head.
BOOM!
In the distance, the biker leader, unable to control her flight, crashed into the mountainside and exploded in a massive fireball.
At that moment, Diamondhead and Gwen arrived back at the base of the mountain.
"Well," Gwen said, looking at the distant plume of smoke, "I guess we don't have to worry about her anymore."
Back in the Rustbucket, the journey continued.
"Grandpa! Just now… I saw a guy with a face like a squid," Ben said, still rubbing his aching head. "He said he wasn't going to let me get away." He looked up and saw Grandpa Max's face had become incredibly grim. "Grandpa? Are you scared of him?"
"No… it's nothing. Let's just keep moving," Max said evasively, his knuckles white as he gripped the steering wheel. Even though he had told his grandchildren about his past as a Plumber, his deep-seated vigilance toward his old adversary, Vilgax, kept him from saying more.
Klein, however, instantly recognized the description. He knew Ben was talking about Vilgax. But far from being worried, he felt a flicker of excitement. A fight with Vilgax? That actually sounded like it could be fun.
Of course, he thought with a lazy smile, if Vilgax decided to 'cheat,' he always had options. Way Big was a good one. Spidermonkey could be fun, too.
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