Chapter 189: How Did You Bring Him Here?
"Oh my god! Ben Tennyson, I can't believe you have a guy like this! Why haven't I seen you transform into him before?"
Kevin slapped a hand down on Alien X's starry, cosmic shoulder, his eyes wide with awe.
Alien X remained completely motionless. The silhouette of deep space simply stood there, ignoring him entirely.
A sudden roar of thrusters shattered the moment. Sevenseven plummeted from the sky like a heavily armed missile. Before anyone could react, the bounty hunter swooped low and snatched Princess Attea right out from next to Kevin.
Raff, who had been guzzling river water for what felt like an eternity, lay sprawled in the mud. He weakly extended a trembling, webbed hand toward Attea, making a pathetic grasping motion as she was hauled into the air.
The other Incursean soldiers, finally dragging themselves out of the water, completely abandoned any pretense of strategy. They unleashed a chaotic barrage of laser fire directly at Sevenseven. In their amphibious minds, returning a dead princess to His Majesty the Emperor was probably better than returning empty-handed.
However, their marksmanship was utterly atrocious. Bright red beams scorched the sky, the dam, and the dirt, but they aimed for entirely too long and did not land a single shot on the fleeing bounty hunter.
Kevin grabbed Alien X by both shoulders, shaking the cosmic entity violently. "Ben Tennyson! Stop him! He is getting away!"
Alien X's starry visage remained perfectly, infuriatingly still.
"I... This is your fault!" Kevin roared. He hoisted the rigid alien into the air and hurled him directly at Sevenseven like a cosmic javelin.
Sevenseven simply sidestepped. He did not even break his flight path.
Alien X sailed through the empty air and plummeted straight into the river below the dam with a heavy, unceremonious splash.
Kevin stared over the edge. The water rippled, but the alien did not surface. Seeing that Alien X showed absolutely zero reaction even while sinking like a stone, Kevin finally realized something was seriously wrong with the Dweeb.
Muttering a string of curses, Kevin dove into the rushing water and hauled the stiff, heavy alien back onto the muddy bank.
A chilling gust of wind swept over the dam as Big Chill descended from the sky, carrying Gwen.
Gwen landed gracefully, her mana fading as her feet touched the concrete. Beside her, a quiet blue light flashed. The icy, moth-like alien vanished, leaving Klein standing in his place, looking as relaxed as ever.
"What is wrong with him? He is not moving at all." Kevin gestured wildly at the rigid, starry figure, looking to Klein and Gwen for answers.
"I do not know. The Dweeb never used to act like this when he transformed into Alien X." Gwen shook her head, her brow furrowing in confusion.
Both of them naturally turned their expectant gazes toward Klein.
Klein shoved his hands into his pockets, his tone casual. "Including his own consciousness, Alien X possesses three distinct minds. He can only take action when all three of those consciousnesses reach a consensus. Knowing Ben, he is probably screaming at the other two right now."
Gwen blinked, tilting her head. "Then why do you never have this problem when you use that form?"
"Do you even need to ask?" Kevin crossed his arms, looking entirely too confident in his own logic. "It has to be because the Boss is just that good at talking. He probably bullied the other two voices into absolute silence."
Klein offered a faint, amused shake of his head. "My situation is special. It is an isolated case. Ben cannot replicate it."
Kevin waved a hand, dismissing the technicalities. "Then can he change back?"
"Yes. If needed, I can force the Omnitrix to revert him right now." Klein paused, a slow, mischievous smirk creeping onto his face. He looked at the frozen, statue-like Ben. "But let us just leave him like this for a while. It builds character."
Meanwhile, deep within the boundless, starry void of Alien X's consciousness space.
Ben finally understood. He finally realized why every older, future version of himself he had ever met looked absolutely miserable the second Alien X was mentioned.
No wonder you guys have such an awesome alien but never use him!
It turned out this stupid transformation was completely useless! A shiny cosmic paperweight!
Now he was stuck. Two massive, floating green faces had cornered him in the endless void, and they refused to let him leave. Bellicus and Serena had made it perfectly clear: unless all their pending motions were resolved, he could forget about transforming back.
And what exactly were these urgent, cosmic problems they needed to debate?
Whether or not to save the dinosaurs.
Save the dinosaurs?! They went extinct millions of years ago!
Ben threw his hands up, his voice echoing in the void. "Let me go! I have a bounty hunter to catch!"
And so, the endless, agonizing argument with Bellicus and Serena raged on.
Back on top of the dam.
Kevin was currently trying to shove Alien X's starry head into the trunk of his car. He pushed, he shoved, he leaned his entire body weight against the alien's back.
"Can you just bend your knees?!" Kevin grunted, his face red with effort.
It was completely useless. Alien X maintained a rigid, upright posture, stiff as a steel girder. He simply would not fold.
"You cannot just shove him into the trunk like luggage." Gwen sighed, rubbing her temples. She still remembered her familial ties and felt this was a bit too degrading for her cousin.
Kevin stepped back, panting. "You are right. He will not fit."
Just then, one of the soaking wet Incursean soldiers shouted from the mud. He held up a small, blinking device. "The Princess's watch!"
"Let us just leave him like this for now." Gwen decided to adopt Klein's approach and completely ignore Ben's predicament. She stepped forward and took the muddy device from the soldier. Her eyes glowed with pink mana. "I can still sense her energy signature."
Before she could cast a tracking spell, a blinding pillar of white light engulfed the entire group. In the blink of an eye, they vanished from the dam.
Aboard the massive Incursean command dreadnought.
Emperor Milleous sat heavily upon his massive golden throne, glaring down at the empty teleportation pad in the center of the bridge.
A brilliant flash of light illuminated the room. When it faded, Klein, Gwen, Kevin, and the frozen Alien X stood right in the middle of the command deck.
Seeing Klein standing there, Milleous's face turned an even sicker shade of green than his natural amphibious complexion.
The Emperor reached out, grabbed the nearest Incursean technician by the collar, and hissed through jagged, gritted teeth. "I told you to teleport Raff here! Why did you bring him?!"
The technician shrank back, his bulbous eyes wide with terror. "I am sorry, Emperor Milleous! Perhaps... it was a slight miscalculation in the targeting coordinates."
Hearing this pathetic excuse, Milleous felt a powerful urge to strangle the frog-like soldier on the spot.
Klein casually glanced around the sprawling, high-tech bridge, taking in the heavily armed guards and the glowing control panels. Finally, his dark eyes locked onto Milleous.
Having quickly grasped the situation, Klein did not bother with pleasantries. He pointed a finger directly at the Emperor. "Toad. Get down. I want to sit."
Gwen and Kevin exchanged dumbfounded looks.
'Is it really appropriate to say something like that right now?'Gwen thought, her eyes darting to the dozens of blasters aimed in their direction. They knew Klein had some sort of strange authority over the Incurseans—Raff had called him'Sir' after all—but they never imagined his status was this absurdly high.
He was practically ordering a galactic conqueror around like a stray dog.
Milleous shifted uncomfortably on his massive seat. He looked terrified, yet strangely bashful. "Uh... is this not a bit inappropriate with so many people watching?"
"Hurry up." Klein's voice dropped, cold and utterly devoid of patience. "Otherwise, I will slaughter every single one of you."
Milleous gulped. He gritted his teeth, looking as though he were about to make the ultimate sacrifice for his empire. With a heavy, dramatic sigh, he muttered, "Alright."
The Emperor of the Incursean Empire stood up. He walked slowly down the steps toward Klein. Then, he turned around, dropped to his hands and knees, and flattened his back against the metal floor.
"This is my first time being a chair," Milleous mumbled at the floor. "I am not very skilled at it."
A dead, suffocating silence fell over the entire bridge.
Gwen stared. Kevin's jaw practically hit the floor.
Did this giant space toad have some sort of extreme degradation fetish?!
Klein's face twisted in absolute disgust. He drew his leg back and kicked Milleous hard in the side, sending the massive amphibian rolling across the deck. "Get out of the way, you freak."
Ignoring the groaning Emperor, Klein casually walked up the steps and settled himself comfortably onto the giant golden throne.
Rubbing his bruised side, Milleous finally realized his mistake. Klein just wanted the actual chair.
Yet, for some bizarre, twisted reason, not being used as human furniture actually left the Emperor feeling a tiny, fleeting sense of disappointment.
Shaking off the weird thought, Milleous remembered the main issue. He looked up at Klein, gesturing vaguely with his webbed hands. "That... Klein, sir. The time limit is up. Do you want to..." He made a small explosion gesture with his fingers.
"You really want to blow up the planet that badly?" Klein looked down at Milleous, utterly speechless at the alien's priorities. "Extend the timer by another hour."
"Alright." Milleous nodded, though he looked slightly troubled. He rubbed his chin. "Or... should we extend it by two hours?"
Gwen and Kevin stared at the giant toad in sheer disbelief. Was this guy not worried about his kidnapped daughter at all?! What kind of father negotiates to give the kidnappers more time? Two hours? Did he want his daughter to be played to death?!
What the humans failed to understand was that Incursean family dynamics were incredibly warped. Affection was virtually non-existent. In their culture, imperial succession usually involved the child violently overthrowing and assassinating the parent. Milleous probably saw this kidnapping as a convenient vacation.
Just then, the main communication screen above the bridge flickered to life.
The heavily armored, insectoid visage of Sevenseven appeared on the monitor. The bounty hunter immediately began clicking, whirring, and spitting out a rapid series of harsh, untranslatable alien syllables.
The translation software quickly processed the threat. The general message was loud and clear: Emperor Milleous, your daughter is in my hands. If you do not want her to lose her life, pay the ransom immediately.
[Akarin's Note:
Enjoying the story? Dropping a quick review, comment, or Power Stone means the world to me and keeps these daily updates flowing!
Want to read 50 chapters ahead or just want to help keep a shameless translator alive? (My livelihood actually depends on this, haha 😭). You can support me directly here:
(P.S. Just remove the brackets and replace the [.] with a regular dot . to use the links!)
✨ Patreon (50 Advanced Chapters): patreon[.]com/AkarinTL
☕ Ko-fi (Support / Sponsor): ko-fi[.]com/AkarinTL
🔗 All My Links: linktr[.]ee/AkarinTL
Thank you so much for reading and keeping this project alive!]