I stood on my side of the arena, hands tight at my sides, breathing slowly. Every fight had taken something from me. Not just strength, focus. Energy. Control. My chest felt tight, like a battery running low.
Across from me, Todoroki stood still.
His face was calm, but I could feel it…like he was holding something back. Thinking.
The stands were packed.
Everyone leaned forward, behind me, I heard voices.
"I'm telling you man, Ben wins," Kirishima said confidently.
"He adapts way too fast."
"Yeah," Mina agreed. "You never fight him the same way twice."
Others disagreed.
"Todoroki's ice is insane."
"If Ben gets trapped once, it's over."
People laughed. Bets were made. But underneath it all, everyone felt it.
This fight mattered.
Midnight stepped forward. Her usual smile on her face.
"Final match," she said. "Prepare."
I rolled my shoulders once.
Todoroki took a slow breath.
The stadium went quiet.
"BEGIN !"
For a split second, nothing happened.
Then a sound ripped through the air.
Something moving fast.
Everyone heard it.
A sharp, screaming whistle…like metal tearing through the sky.
My head snapped up.
"What the—"
I didn't finish.
Something massive slammed into the center of the arena.
The ground shook. Concrete cracked. Dust and debris exploded outward, swallowing everything.
People screamed.
Others froze.
"Is that part of the fight ?!"
"What just happened ?!"
"HEROES ?!"
The dust stayed thick, blocking my view.
Seconds passed. Then the cloud started to clear.
And I saw it.
A huge cylindrical machine stood where the arena floor used to be. Dark red and brown metal, scarred and heavy. Parts of it shifted and unfolded, plates sliding apart with loud mechanical clicks.
It stood up.
Three long mechanical legs locked into place. Its upper body turned with a deep grinding sound. A head lifted shaped like a visor glowing red.
My blood went cold.
"…No," I whispered.
I knew that machine.
The head turned left, then right. Scanning.
Then it stopped.
Its glowing eyes locked onto me.
I froze.
A flat, robotic voice echoed through the stadium.
[ Omni energy detected. ]
Pause.
[ Recover Omnitrix. ]
From its back, smaller machines detached.
Drones.
Dark, insect-like robots with thin legs and red glowing cores. They hovered and crawled through the air, circling the bigger machine like guards. Some flew higher. Others moved low across the broken ground, weapons already charging.
The crowd went silent. This wasn't part of the festival.
I saw it on the heroes' faces.
Midnight had gone pale.
Aizawa was already moving, hand near his capture weapon.
Pro heroes around the stadium stepped forward, tense.
I knew exactly what was happening, something I was mentally preparing myself for in case it happened, I just didn't expect it to be today, and here.
Vilgax had made his move…
Everything broke at once.
"EVACUATE THE STANDS !"
"MOVE, MOVE, MOVE !"
"SHIELD THE CIVILIANS !"
Heroes shouted over each other as alarms blared through the stadium. The crowd finally understood.
People screamed and ran.
The smaller drones reacted instantly.
They spread out like a swarm.
Red beams fired in every direction.
Seats exploded. Concrete cracked. A laser sliced past a hero's shoulder, forcing him to dive. Another drone chased a group of civilians until a Pro Hero jumped in front of them, taking the blast head-on.
The heroes fought back.
Fire. Wind. Steel. Energy.
The air filled with smoke and light.
But the drones were fast. Too fast.
They moved in sharp, sudden turns, dodging attacks and firing again before anyone could line up a clean hit.
I didn't have time to think.
The big robot was still standing.
Still locked on me.
And that meant one thing.
If I didn't stop it, this would only get worse.
Green light flared.
GHOSTFREAK
My body faded, turning pale and transparent. The world felt colder, quieter. Sound dulled. Gravity loosened its grip.
At the same time ice exploded across the ground.
I saw Todoroki move.
He didn't hesitate.
A wave of ice surged forward and wrapped around the robot's legs, freezing them solid, locking them to the ground. The machine struggled, metal creaking under the pressure.
Good.
That gave me my opening.
I flew straight at the robot.
Lasers passed through me like light through fog.
I phased through its chest.
Inside, everything changed.
No sound from the outside.
The inside was massive. Cables as thick as tree trunks ran along metal walls. Energy flowed through glowing lines I didn't recognize. The technology was wrong not human, not clean.
I drifted deeper, searching. Then I changed again.
GRAY MATTER.
The world exploded into detail.
Every wire. Every pulse. Every vibration made sense, or at least, parts of it did.
But machines still followed rules.
I ran along a metal beam, tiny hands grabbing cables.
"…Okay," I muttered. "No idea what you are… but you still need power."
I started working.
Disconnecting one cable. Reconnecting another. Pulling energy away from joints.
Feeding it into places it didn't belong.
I didn't know if it would shut down.
I just hoped it would break something important.
Outside, chaos ruled.
The drones kept firing.
Heroes jumped between civilians and laser fire. One hero got hit and rolled across the ground. Another grabbed two kids and dove behind broken stone as an explosion ripped past them.
Todoroki watched the robot.
He saw me go inside.
He didn't know what I was doing.
But after a few seconds… he noticed something.
The robot slowed.
Its movements became stiff. Jerky.
It raised one arm…then stopped halfway.
Then it did something desperate.
It started punching its own chest.
Hard.
Each hit sent sparks flying. Metal cracked. Pieces broke off and hit the ground. The robot was trying to crush me inside it.
I felt the impact shake the walls around me.
"…Yeah," I said under my breath, breathing hard. "That's a good sign."
I kept pulling cables.
Swapping connections.
Breaking systems that didn't like being broken.
"I just need you to stop," I whispered.
The robot roared a deep, broken mechanical sound and struck itself again.
The plan didn't work the way I hoped.
Instead of shutting down, the robot got angry.
Really angry.
The metal around me shifted suddenly. Plates pulled apart and opened a hole in its own chest. Before I could react, a massive hand reached inside and grabbed me.
Hard.
I was ripped out into the open air.
I was dangled in its huge fingers, my tiny body shaking as I struggled.
"Well…" I said, forcing a weak grin. "This is… rude."
It didn't care.
The robot raised its other hand.
The palm began to glow red.
A laser charged, aimed straight at my face.
"…Yeah. Joke didn't land," I muttered.
I didn't think.
I reacted.
Green light exploded around me.
UPGRADE
My body stretched, changed, merged with metal and energy. Instead of falling, I spread — my form turning into living technology.
I fused with the robot.
The moment it happened, sparks flew everywhere.
The machine shook violently, systems screaming, like it was trying to reject me. Circuits burned. Energy surged in wild bursts.
It fought me.
Hard.
Inside its systems, information rushed past me. Data. Signals. Orders.
I tried to grab anything useful.
Anything about Vilgax.
Anything about plans.
Anything about Earth.
But there was only one command.
Over and over.
Recover the Omnitrix.
"No personality," I whispered. "Just a leash."
I pushed deeper.
I crossed wires, swapped circuits, burned control paths.
Anything that could never be fixed again.
If Vilgax wanted this robot back, he wasn't getting it in one piece.
The resistance weakened.
The robot's systems failed one by one.
Then…
Everything went dark.
The massive body collapsed.
It hit the arena floor with a thunderous crash, shaking the stadium again.
I detached myself and stumbled free, landing hard on my feet as the green light faded.
Smoke rose from the robot's body. It didn't move.
I looked around.
The arena was wrecked. Broken stone. Burn marks. Fallen drones. Heroes everywhere, helping people, carrying the injured, still on guard.
But my eyes searched for only one thing.
My family…they weren't in the stands.
My chest tightened.
"They moved them," I told myself quickly. "They had to."
I knew what Grandpa Max could do.
A fully trained Plumber didn't go down easily.
Still…
That didn't stop the worry.
I clenched my fists and turned, scanning the chaos.
"…I hope you're all safe," I whispered.