Chapter 23: How to Change a Professor's Art Style
Late at night, under the soft glow of a crescent moon, Klein slipped quietly out of the Rustbucket. He walked alone along the shore of the lake where they had parked, the gentle lapping of water against the earth the only sound in the suburban stillness.
As he strolled, a faint prickling sensation on the back of his neck finally became too persistent to ignore. He stopped, his shadow long on the damp ground. "Come out."
"Your senses are as sharp as ever." A shimmering, blue portal tore open the air behind Klein, and a man in a pristine white researcher's lab coat stepped through.
"You shouldn't have come," Klein said, his voice flat. He was a little speechless; there really was someone there. He'd felt like he was being watched all night, a persistent itch in his mind that had kept him from sleeping. Because of that, he'd decided this old man wasn't going to get any rest for a while either.
"But I did," the man in the white coat replied with a serene smile. Though his composure was perfect, he caught the distinct lack of amusement in Klein's eyes and quickly added, "You said I could. Or rather, the future you did. Your exact words were, 'Come to me anytime if you need anything.'"
He had to say it. Based on his understanding of Klein, if he didn't get to the point, he was going to get messed with. And this version of Klein was more than capable of doing it.
Klein blinked, the statement catching him off guard. He tilted his head, gesturing for the strange man to continue.
The man was clearly intelligent and caught the silent cue immediately. "I don't recall my name," he said, his tone pleasant. "But you can call me Professor Paradox."
With the introduction out of the way, Professor Paradox explained his purpose. "I'm here to ask for your help. I may be stirring up a bit of trouble shortly, and I was hoping you might… take care of it for me."
Klein was confident in his ability to resolve any trouble, but more than that, he was intrigued by this Professor Paradox, who claimed to know a future version of himself. As for whether the man might be lying, Klein's intuition screamed that he was telling the truth. He always trusted his gut; on matters like this, it had never led him astray.
"Alright," Klein nodded slightly. "But you have to tell me why."
"Why you? Why do I think you'll help me? Or why did I mention 'the future you'?" Paradox mused aloud, a twinkle in his eye. "Because only you can help me. And now that you're interested, I know you will."
"I can travel between various timelines," Paradox explained, walking to stand beside Klein. "But the task I must perform can only be done in this one. And while I know the you of the future, only the you of the present can help me." He conveniently left out the fact that the future Klein already knew what he was planning and would never have agreed to it.
"What about Ben?" Klein asked, shaking his left hand, where the Another Omnitrix was strapped to his wrist. "My abilities come from this. Ben has the same thing."
"The Omnitrix? A powerful device, indeed," Professor Paradox acknowledged, his gaze falling upon the watch. "But Ben Tennyson is not you. He cannot do what needs to be done. No matter which Ben Tennyson we're talking about."
"Then," Klein said, the corner of his mouth curving into a slight, interested smile, "let's go."
Professor Paradox opened another blue portal. The two of them stepped through, one after the other, and emerged into a place beyond comprehension. It was a boundless void, as beautiful and vast as the universe itself, yet splashed with impossible colors like a painter's canvas. They stood on a floor of solid black, made of a material that defied identification.
"Where is this?" Klein asked after a moment of taking in the stunning vista.
"The Forge of Creation," Professor Paradox said calmly.
"The Forge of Creation?" Klein repeated, the name echoing in his memory. "Sounds… familiar."
"This is the home of the Celestialsapiens," Paradox said, dropping the bombshell with the casualness of someone commenting on the weather.
"Celestialsapiens!" Klein froze, a very bad feeling beginning to bloom in his chest. "The trouble you're causing… it couldn't be…!" He stared at Professor Paradox, his expression one of pure disbelief.
"Oh, it's nothing. Just a few dozen Celestialsapiens. Or perhaps more?" The professor still showed no hint of panic. It was possible the man was simply incapable of it. He placed a reassuring hand on Klein's shoulder. "I'm sure you can handle it."
"You're messing with me!" Klein slapped the hand away. "Celestialsapiens! Dozens of them! What did you do, piss in their divine cereal?!" Klein, who rarely swore, couldn't stop the words from escaping.
"It's nothing, really," Paradox shrugged. "I just needed to acquire their DNA. Besides, you can easily deal with them by transforming into Alien X."
"Heh!" Klein let out a cold, humorless sneer. "You really think highly of me. But you got one thing right. I'm going to transform into Alien X, and then I'm going to leave. And right before I do, I'm going to change your entire art style!"
Professor Paradox seemed not to have heard him. "Well then, I'll be off first." He casually opened a portal and stepped inside.
"Already?!" For the first time, Klein was genuinely dumbfounded.
A moment later, a black portal flickering with cosmic light tore open nearby. From it emerged dozens of star-dusted, silhouette-like figures—the Celestialsapiens.
"An accomplice of the Timewalker?" the leading figure spoke, its voice a chorus that echoed across reality itself.
Klein gritted his teeth and slapped the faceplate of his watch. A flash of faint blue light washed over him, and in his place stood Alien X, a being of living cosmic power.
In the same instant, the dozens of Celestialsapiens vanished, their own teleportation activating. The battle had begun.
A fist that could shatter galaxies materialized, aimed directly at Alien X's head.
But before it could connect, a silent, internal debate occurred at the speed of thought.
'Alien X, counterattack.''Agreed.''Motion passed!'
With speed that defied the very concept of motion, Alien X's own fist shot out. It met the incoming attack, and the space before his knuckles—an area roughly the size of a small galaxy—was simply erased, wiped clean from existence.
With a decision-making process that was infinitely faster than his kin, Alien X suppressed dozens of them single-handedly. While the other Celestialsapiens were still locked in their internal debates over whether to "defend," "dodge," or "attack," Alien X had already unleashed over a dozen reality-bending abilities.
It was only after transforming that Klein finally understood why.
He was an anomaly, an existence from outside this multiverse. His very soul was special. Even if every cell in his body was identical to a human's, his origin was fundamentally different. He was unique, an irreplaceable being existing only in this universe, on this timeline. There were no parallel versions of him, no alternate Klein Tennysons. A drawing in a comic book could not suddenly sprout living cells in the real world.
Because of this fundamental difference, the alien heroes he transformed into would never develop their own consciousness. He was irreplaceable, so another consciousness originating from him simply could not exist. He could influence them, but they could never truly influence him back.
And because he was special, his transformations were special. Their abilities far exceeded the normal limits of their species. This included Alien X.
His superiority was simple, yet absolute. Other Celestialsapiens required a unanimous vote from all their personalities to perform any action. His Alien X, however, operated on a simple majority rule.
All he needed was to convince one of the two other minds within.
'Are you angry?'Klein projected to the voice of rage and aggression.'Furious,'Bellicus roared back.'Then we fight?''WE FIGHT!'
And that was that. With Serena, the voice of love and compassion, abstaining, the motion passed two to one. It was a cheat code to omnipotence.
Alien X continued his one-sided assault on the group of cosmic beings who spent ninety-nine percent of their time frozen in indecision. After what felt like an eternity and no time at all, the lead Celestialsapien called a halt. It and the others departed, but not before issuing a stern, universe-shaking warning.
"If you or the Timewalker appear within five hundred light-years of our domain, you will be hunted by all Celestialsapiens!"
Alien X didn't even bother to respond. It was a joke. He could handle a whole army of gods who were perpetually stuck on pause.
With a thought, he teleported away from the Forge of Creation.
It's worth mentioning that for a very long time afterward, Professor Paradox's personal reality had a distinctly different… aesthetic. One might even call it two-dimensional.
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