Chapter 129: Please Welcome, the Ultimate Superpower
"We should get going too."
"Goodbye, Azmuth. Goodbye, Xylene."
Gluto's gelatinous form shifted over the control console, piloting the sleek spacecraft away from Azmuth's headquarters. The hum of the anti-gravity engines vibrated through the metal floorboards as everyone bid their final farewells to the brilliant Galvan and his Uxorite companion before boarding.
Myax was among the passengers. Having absolutely no desire to look at Azmuth's face for a second longer than necessary, the towering Chimera Sui Generis had bluntly decided to hitch a ride back.
Just as Klein planted his boot on the boarding ramp, a sharp voice called out.
"Klein. Wait a moment."
Klein paused, turning back to look at the diminutive Galvan with a raised brow.
"Come with me," Azmuth instructed, already turning on his heel and walking back into the depths of the headquarters.
Xylene did not follow. She merely offered Klein a knowing, quiet glance, clearly aware of what the First Thinker intended to discuss.
Klein shrugged, his hands stuffed casually into his pockets, and trailed after the grumpy genius.
Azmuth led him through a series of heavy blast doors into a heavily shielded, hidden laboratory. The room hummed with latent energy, illuminated by the sterile glow of countless holographic monitors.
"I do not like owing favors," Azmuth stated flatly, marching up to a high-tech circular pedestal in the center of the room. He tapped a rapid sequence onto the console.
The center of the pedestal hissed open. A pillar of transparent green light erupted upward, and within it, a small, complex device slowly ascended, floating suspended in the energy field.
Klein blinked, recognizing the general architecture of the tech. "Is that... an Omnitrix core?"
"No. It is not an Omnitrix," Azmuth corrected, his tone laced with his usual intellectual pride. "It is a secondary module I have been painstakingly developing. However, it remains incomplete. Once I finish the final calibrations, I will give it to you."
Klein leaned in, his eyes tracking the floating tech. "What's the catch? What are the drawbacks?"
"I have not even begun the related physical experiments yet," Azmuth admitted, waving a hand dismissively.
Oh? And how long is that going to take?
Klein's interest was already thoroughly piqued. He was a pragmatic man, and waiting around for a perfectionist like Azmuth to finish a side project over the next decade was not on his schedule.
Without a second thought, Klein reached straight into the green light and snatched the module. "Don't worry about it. I'll finish the job myself."
Azmuth's whiskers twitched in sheer indignation. "Do you honestly believe you are smarter than me?"
"No, I'm definitely not smarter than you," Klein replied smoothly. He lifted his left arm, tapping the dark blue faceplate of the Another Omnitrix. "But I've got a guy in here who absolutely is."
Back on Earth.
The morning sun beat down on the rusted metal roof of an abandoned industrial factory. Inside the cavernous, echoing building, Klein—currently transformed into the diminutive Galvan, Grey Matter—sat cross-legged on a dusty crate, thoroughly examining Azmuth's parting gift.
"Oh, now this... this is fascinating," Grey Matter muttered, his oversized eyes reflecting the microscopic circuitry. His tiny, nimble fingers danced over the module.
"An evolutionary function? He actually built an evolutionary matrix!"
Sparks flew as he adjusted a micro-valve with a makeshift tool. "The stability is a bit rough around the edges... but nothing a slight structural improvement can't fix."
He paused, his massive brain processing the raw data streams pouring from the core. "Wait. These data logs indicate... forcing an evolutionary simulation over millions of years might cause the alien DNA to develop its own self-awareness. A sentient ultimate form."
Grey Matter rubbed his chin, calculating the variables. Then, a sharp, confident grin stretched across his tiny face. "But that's impossible for me. My unique soul structure and the system's absolute override mean the DNA can never rebel. Which means... zero drawbacks."
Having previously used his hyper-accelerated intellect to analyze his own anomalous existence outside the multiverse, Grey Matter knew exactly what rules he could break.
"Alright, I've seen enough." He snapped the casing shut. "Safe, no side effects, ready for installation."
His tiny hands moved in a blur, modifying the core's architecture to interface perfectly with his specific watch.
A short while later, a flash of blue light illuminated the dusty factory.
Klein stood in his human form, holding a tiny, modified green crystal between his thumb and forefinger. He raised his left arm. The faceplate of the Another Omnitrix slid open with a mechanical hiss.
He slotted the crystal directly into the exposed circuitry. The cover snapped shut.
The Another Omnitrix flared with a brilliant emerald light for a split second before settling back into its signature, ominous dark blue. The exterior looked completely unchanged, but Klein could feel the heavy, latent power now loaded into the system.
"Let's take this for a spin," Klein murmured, a dangerous smirk playing on his lips.
He dialed the interface, the holographic silhouette shifting until he found the right heavy-hitter.
"Humungousaur!"
He slammed his palm down onto the dial.
A blinding flash of dark blue light erupted, washing over the factory floor. Heavy, clawed feet slammed into the concrete, cracking the foundation. The towering, muscular Vaxasaurian roared, flexing his massive arms. Thankfully, the abandoned factory had a high enough ceiling; Humungousaur didn't even have to hunch.
Without missing a beat, Humungousaur reached up and slapped the Another Omnitrix emblem resting on his broad chest.
"Ultimate Humungousaur!"
The evolutionary matrix engaged. A deep, resonant hum vibrated through the air as dark blue energy cascaded over his massive frame, originating from the emblem.
The light shattered like glass, revealing a terrifying new form. He had grown even larger, his sheer mass doubling. His previously brown hide had hardened into a thick, armored green shell. A heavy, spiked black carapace erupted from his chest and back, and a matching black helmet-like crest encased his head. He swung his tail, the appendage now ending in a devastating, spiked mace that whistled through the air.
"The raw physical strength is off the charts," Ultimate Humungousaur rumbled, his voice deeper, echoing with metallic distortion. "And let's test the new toys."
He planted his feet, clenching his massive fists, and aimed his right arm toward the distant, rusted factory gates.
The flesh and bone of his forearm shifted, expanding and locking into place to form a massive, biological Gatling cannon. The barrel spun with a sickening crunch of cartilage and bone.
BOOM!
A hyper-dense bone-fragment missile blasted from the barrel. The projectile tore straight through the heavy steel gates like wet paper, screaming across the desolate wilderness outside for several thousand meters before slamming directly into a distant hillside.
The impact was catastrophic. The entire hillside detonated, vaporizing into a massive shockwave of shattered rock and dirt that kicked up a dust cloud dozens of meters high. The ground trembled beneath his feet.
Since this factory sat in the middle of an absolute wasteland, Ultimate Humungousaur didn't have to worry about collateral damage.
Once the dust finally settled, he stomped over to inspect the damage.
A smoking, glassed crater over a hundred meters in diameter scarred the earth where the hill used to be.
"Awesome."
A slow, dangerous grin spread across his heavy, armored jaw. He was extremely satisfied with this firepower.
By the time Klein strolled back to the campsite where the Rustbucket was parked, he was in a fantastic mood.
"Hey, Dweeb!" Klein called out, fully intending to use his cousin as a test dummy for his new Ultimate evolutions. "Your favorite cousin brought you a present!"
The door to the RV practically flew off its hinges.
"Cousin! You're back!" Gwen scrambled down the steps, her face pale and her eyes wide with panic.
Klein's playful smirk vanished instantly. His posture straightened, his lazy demeanor evaporating into cold focus. "What happened?"
Seeing the sheer anxiety radiating from the usually composed Dork, he already knew things had gone sideways.
Gwen quickly gave him the rundown. While Klein was off-world, the Forever Knights had launched an ambush. Under normal circumstances, Ben, Gwen, and Grandpa Max fully equipped should have wiped the floor with them. It should have been an overwhelming victory.
But the Forever Knights had come prepared. Ben, riding high on his usual arrogance, had gotten careless, stepped right into a trap, and was captured.
"They brought some kind of specialized device," Gwen explained rapidly, her hands trembling slightly. "They strapped Ben into it, and he just... fainted. Grandpa says it's a machine designed to weave an artificial dreamscape. If he's wearing that helmet, we can't just rip it off to rescue him. If we do, his consciousness might be trapped in that dream forever. He has to wake up on his own."
She grabbed Klein's sleeve. "Grandpa and I were just about to hook ourselves up to the machine's interface to enter Ben's dream and pull him out when you walked up. Do you want to go in with us?"
Hearing the explanation, Klein's eyes narrowed. He shook his head slightly.
"No. You two handle the dream." He cracked his knuckles, the sound sharp in the quiet campsite. "I'm going to pay the Forever Knights a visit in the real world."
Gwen nodded immediately. She trusted Klein implicitly; if he was handling the physical threat, they were safe.
The Forever Knight Castle (Version 2.0).
Calling it a 'castle' was a bit of a stretch. It was significantly smaller and far less imposing than their previous stronghold. After all, they had lost the vast majority of their funding and assets when Way Big had literally stomped their last base into dust. Thrifty budgeting was now a strict requirement for the organization.
Deep inside the sterile, dimly lit laboratory, Ben lay unconscious on a steel examination table, a heavy, glowing neural helmet locked around his skull.
A researcher in a lab coat carefully secured Ben's left arm into a secondary extraction device. The heavy machinery clamped down, perfectly enveloping the Omnitrix. It was painfully obvious what the Forever Knights were truly after.
Enoch stood over the table, his metal mask reflecting the harsh overhead lights.
"Once I pry this Omnitrix from your wrist... hehehe... the Tennyson family will finally fall..." Enoch gloated, his voice dripping with triumphant malice as he stared down at the sleeping boy.
It was a grand villainous monologue, utterly ruined by one simple fact: stealing the watch was completely useless.
Assuming the Omnitrix wasn't actively malfunctioning, Klein could easily track its exact coordinates from anywhere on the planet. In other words, by attempting to steal the Omnitrix, Enoch wasn't securing ultimate power—he was just signing his own death warrant.
Or, perhaps, if Klein happened to be in a particularly forgiving mood when he kicked the door down, he might just settle for chopping off Enoch's third leg.
(Enoch:...Have some humanity!)
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