Chapter 46: The Mycelial Mind and the Athlete's Foot Cure
"Wildvine!" Ben shouted, his voice a reedy rasp.
But Swampfire and Gwen were already moving steadily forward, paying him no mind.
"Hey! Wait for me!" Wildvine grumbled, quickly scrambling to catch up.
As they ventured deeper into the fleshy, pulsating tunnel, Swampfire suddenly lifted a hand without breaking his stride. A gout of emerald flame erupted from his palm, instantly incinerating a cluster of thick, whip-like hyphae that had lashed out from the walls. He then continued his unbothered stroll as if swatting a fly.
Though Gwen and Wildvine remained alert, the tension in their shoulders had eased considerably. The sense of absolute security their cousin radiated was just that potent.
The wall of fungal tendrils, now charred and smoldering, had a gaping hole burned through its center. The trio passed through it into the next section of the network.
After walking for what felt like an eternity, the narrow tunnel finally opened into an immense underground cavern. Suspended in the very center was a colossal, irregularly shaped sphere of pinkish-purple tissue, pulsing with a faint inner light. It looked disturbingly like a gigantic, disembodied brain.
"Well," Wildvine remarked, tilting his head with morbid curiosity. "I guess we found the guy."
Suddenly, a voice echoed not in the air, but directly in his mind. 'As a fellow creature of green, why do you aid these fleshy mammals?'
Wildvine flinched, his single eye darting around the cavern. "Did you guys hear that?"
"What are you on about now, Dweeb?" Gwen asked, giving him a confused look. "It's dead silent in here."
"Gwen, it's that thing," Swampfire said, his voice a low rumble. He gestured with a leafy hand toward the massive brain. "You're not a plant. You can't hear its frequency."
The mental voice returned, this time directed at Swampfire. 'You heard me?''Loud and clear,' Swampfire projected back calmly.'Then answer me! Why do you betray your own kind!?' the brain-fungus demanded, its psychic voice vibrating with indignation.
Swampfire's mental response was the epitome of nonchalance. 'Don't feel like it.''Then you can DIE!' it shrieked.
Instantly, the thick hyphae making up the cavern walls surged toward Swampfire, a tidal wave of living tendrils. But just as they were about to converge, they froze in mid-air. Swampfire had once again extended his own consciousness, hijacking the network and issuing a counter-command.
The fungal appendages quivered violently, caught in a paradoxical loop. One master screamed 'attack,'while another, more powerful one, commanded'stand down.'Overwhelmed by the conflicting orders, the entire system glitched and ceased all movement.'Why must the bosses fight and make things difficult for us humble workers?' a stray thought seemed to echo from the paralyzed fungi themselves.
Gwen watched as the great Mycelial Mind twitched and spasmed, its surface rippling as if in a seizure. She looked at Swampfire, bewildered. "What's wrong with it?"
"Perhaps it ate something that disagreed with it," Swampfire replied with a placid shrug. "Who knows?"
The Mycelial Mind, however, was anything but calm. Its control over its own body had been usurped, it was completely immobile, and the sheer arrogance radiating from this other plant-being was driving it into a frenzy. It was so enraged it could barely form a coherent psychic thought.
'I... your... spore-sac... damn you... YOU...!'
Swampfire acted as if he hadn't heard a thing. He turned and walked over to Wildvine, then casually extended a finger and tapped the Omnitrix symbol on his cousin's chest. A flash of red light enveloped Ben, and he shrank back into his human form.
"Ben," Swampfire said, his tone perfectly serious. "Looks like this thing's got a bad case of indigestion. Let me borrow that 'medicine' of yours for a bit."
Ben just stared, speechless. 'Cousin, I could understand what it was saying just now!' he thought, still reeling from the telepathic conversation.
Swampfire reached into Ben's pocket, retrieved the bottle of Extra-Strength Athlete's Foot Powder, and ambled back toward the giant, quivering brain.
A wave of pure panic washed over the cavern. '...What do you think you're doing?'
"Don't mention it," Swampfire said aloud, a cheerful lilt in his voice.
He twisted the cap off the bottle and, with a delicate flick of the wrist, sprinkled a small amount of the white powder onto the Mycelial Mind's glistening surface.
The effect was instantaneous and horrific. The area touched by the powder began to sizzle, oozing a thick, yellow mucus as the tissue shriveled and died.
'NO! STAY BACK! DON'T COME NEAR ME!' the brain screamed in silent, abject terror.
"Don't worry, you might feel a little dizzy," Swampfire advised soothingly. "That's perfectly normal. You'll feel much better once you pass out."
He began to circle the Mycelial Mind, sprinkling a little powder here, a little there, completely ignoring its terrified mental shrieks. He continued his work with methodical precision until the colossal organism finally stopped twitching, all signs of life extinguished.
Still, Swampfire worried the "treatment" wasn't thorough enough. He reached out, his powerful fingers tearing a deep fissure in the brain's dead flesh. Then, he shoved the entire, half-full bottle of Athlete's Foot Powder deep inside.
A wicked smirk tugged at Swampfire's lips. "Run," he said, his voice a low chuckle.
As soon as the bottle was inside, he spun around and bolted, moving with the practiced speed of a kid who had just rung a doorbell and run away. Gwen, ever the obedient partner-in-crime, immediately levitated and shot after him.
"What's going on? Why are you... Oh my god!"
Ben stared in confusion at his retreating cousins, then turned back just in time to see the Mycelial Mind erupt. A geyser of foul-smelling, yellowish slime burst forth, drenching the entire cavern—and him—in a disgusting torrent.
...
"Ugh... Ben, what happened to you?"
When Grandpa Max saw the mushroom people outside begin to wither and collapse, he knew his grandkids had solved the problem. The safe return of Klein and Gwen confirmed his suspicions, but the sight of Ben made him recoil in shock.
Ben was drenched from head to toe in viscous yellow goo, and he smelled absolutely atrocious.
Hearing his grandpa's question and catching the resentful glare from his cousin, Klein immediately went on the offensive. He pointed a dramatic finger at Ben, clutched his chest with his other hand, and spoke with a voice full of theatrical pain.
"How could you not trust me? I told you to run, Ben! Why didn't you listen to me!?"
Ben was completely blindsided by the accusation. He thought back... and his cousin had told him to run. He just hadn't reacted in time.
Seeing Klein looking so heartbroken, Ben felt a pang of guilt. Realizing his "mistake," he hung his head in shame.
As his grandpa led a defeated Ben away to get hosed down—a Ben who not only didn't argue but actually apologized—a faint, triumphant smirk curved Klein's lips.
Gwen, who had witnessed the entire "bullying" incident, said nothing. She always stood by her cousin's side, so Ben would just have to suffer a little.
"Um... what about all these fungi?" Gilbert asked, breaking the silence. He and the twins walked over, gesturing at the towering mushroom stalks. Even with the Mycelial Mind dead, they were still standing.
"How much of that powder is left?" Klein asked Mandy.
"There's a whole case of it in the house," she replied.
With his answer, Klein stepped inside the vacation home. He opened a cabinet and found dozens of bottles of the Extra-Strength Athlete's Foot Powder. Nodding in satisfaction, he tapped the Other Omnitrix on his wrist.
Outside, Gilbert and the others saw a faint blue light flash from within the house. A moment later, a sleek, pterodactyl-like alien carrying an armful of white bottles flew out.
"This has to be the most fantastic thing I've ever experienced in my life," Gilbert said, his eyes wide with wonder as Jetray soared into the air, dusting the entire mushroom forest with the potent anti-fungal powder. "I'm definitely coming back next year!"
Andy and Mandy nodded vigorously in agreement.
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