Tyler crouched in the thick undergrowth, watching a scene that felt like a surreal mirror.
"This watch is clearly mine!" Ben shouted, his face red with indignation.
"Blockhead, stop talking! I found it, and it won't come off!" Gwen retorted, tugging at the green faceplate of the Omnitrix on her wrist.
Tyler sighed, leaning back against a tree. "Professor Paradox, I swear I didn't trigger the Warp-Disk this time. I just woke up and—boom—parallel universe." After the chaos with Kevin and Captain Steel, Tyler had fallen into a deep sleep, only to materialize back at the "beginning" of a summer vacation that wasn't his own.
He watched Gwen transform into Heatblast. Unlike Ben, she was a natural, controlling the flames with elegant precision rather than setting the forest on fire. Ben, ever the prankster, convinced her to turn into Grey Matter, laughing as she was chased around by a stray wolfdog.
"Since when are there wolfdogs in this part of the woods?" Tyler muttered, rolling his eyes.
BOOM!!
The sky seemed to split as a massive Vilgaxian Droid-Assault Unit slammed into the clearing. Standing over ten meters tall, the cold, mechanical scanner locked onto the small, grey form of Gwen.
The wolfdog vanished into the shadows, and Ben scooped up the tiny Gwen, sprinting frantically. "How did they find us so fast?!"
The robot's hand transformed into a laser cannon, blasting the trees around them. A massive fallen pine blocked Ben's path. As the droid reached out its cold, metal claw toward Gwen, a blood-red light shattered the darkness of the forest.
"Detecting intense Omnitrix energy signature... Error detected," the robot droned, pivoting its head.
"Hey, scrap-pile," a voice boomed from the treeline. "Try fighting someone your own size."
Out of the red mist stepped a titan. He was dirt-yellow, his skin resembling thick, organic armor plating. His eyes were voids of pitch black, and his maw was a landscape of serrated, blood-stained teeth.
The Ruin-Colossus.
The droid opened fire, but Tyler didn't even flinch. He willed his body to grow, his mass expanding until he loomed over the trees like a small mountain. The lasers that would have vaporized a human were nothing more than a mild itch on his armored hide.
The droid lunged with its sharp claws, trying to pierce Tyler's chest. The moment the mechanical fingers touched the Carnitrix energy field, the metal shattered like glass.
"Courting death!" Tyler roared. He swung a massive fist, the kinetic force alone liquefying the droid's head. With a series of brutal, rhythmic slams, Tyler hammered the ten-meter machine into a heap of useless scrap.
"Are you two alright?" Tyler asked, shrinking back down to his base height. He turned his head—but the clearing was empty.
Ben was a hundred meters away, running so fast his sneakers were smoking. "What was that thing?! It makes Vilgax look like a plush toy! Gwen, wake up!" Gwen, tucked in his palm, had actually fainted from pure terror.
WHOOSH!
Gwen's transformation timed out, her weight returning to normal and pinning Ben to the ground. Tyler stepped over the broken trees, approaching them with a helpful expression. Ben squeezed his eyes shut, whispering, "Gwen, play dead. Maybe it only eats moving things!"
"Ben, stop it," Tyler said, reverting to his human form. "I'm a traveler, just like you. This is just an alien from my watch—the Carnitrix."
Ben opened one eye, then the other, staring at Tyler in disbelief. Tyler explained his situation—the jumps, the watches, and the different universes.
"So that's it," Ben said, feeling a mix of shame and awe. "I can't believe someone else is going through this. But man... I envy you. Your watch is terrifyingly cool."
"Cool? It's a nightmare," Gwen whispered, finally waking up and staring at Tyler. This gentle, elegant boy was the same monster that just turned a giant robot into tinfoil? If Ben had said he transformed into it, she'd believe him—but Tyler seemed too "normal."
"That dinosaur form... let's call it The Blood-Tyrant," Ben said, already falling back into his habit of naming everything.
In the depths of space, Vilgax slammed his fist onto his console. "Two Omnitrix signals? Impossible! I don't care what tricks they're playing. Prepare the transport. I will personally go to Earth and flay the secrets from their bones!"
In a pocket dimension between worlds, Professor Paradox adjusted his goggles. "It seems another universe is experiencing a 'Carnitrix Infection.' Time for me to play the diplomat again." He stepped through a golden rift, leaving the Carnitrix Universe behind.
New Transformation Log
The Ruin-Colossus (Humungousaur Variant)
Playlist: Calibrated / Predator.
Traits: Dirt-yellow armored skin, black "hollow" eyes, and a predatory bite.
Special Ability: Mass Expansion. Can grow to over 60 feet. Unlike the standard Humungousaur, its skin density increases with its size, making it virtually invulnerable to conventional weaponry.
Nicknamed: The Blood-Tyrant by Ben Tennyson.
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