A shorter chapter today. Thanks for your patience guys. Been dealing with some family matters but I'm back.
As always, Check out my [email protected]/Saintbarbido for advance chapters and CRAZY fics.
(General P.O.V)
[-Outer Orbit, Earth's Upper Atmosphere – Aboard Vilgax's Flagship-]
The darkness of space hummed with low vibrations as the ship's AI pulsed awake.
"Omnitrix signal detected," it reported, its voice synthesized and cold. "Source locked. Earth quadrant. Coordinates triangulated."
Inside a fluid-filled incubation chamber, Vilgax stirred.
Tubes detached from his shoulders as the viscous healing agent receded. The scars from his last defeat hadn't fully mended, his breathing still ragged. Yellow eyes blinked open as he turned to the holographic display flickering before him.
"Finally…" he rasped. "The weapon is exposed. Send a drone unit. Retrieve it. Now."
"Warning," the AI cut in before the command could register. "New data: A Class-5 power signature is present near the Omnitrix. Threat classification exceeds standard parameters."
Vilgax's expression didn't shift, but he paused, listening carefully.
"…A Class-5?" he repeated slowly. "On Earth?"
"Affirmative. Energy type: Unknown. Origin: Non-local. Anomaly presents multiform magical traits."
Vilgax's hands clenched around the rim of the pod. "Change the deployment order. All Class-4 combat drones, launch immediately. Include the Special Unit."
A pause.
"Bring me the Omnitrix," Vilgax growled, venom dripping from each word. "Or don't return at all."
[-Earth – Highway Route 26, Arizona – Inside the Rustbucket-]
The inside of the RV rattled with chaos. A small gray alien—Ben in his Grey Matter form—was darting between cabinets and around corners like a caffeinated squirrel, evading a furious Gwen.
"Get back here, you little mutant!" Gwen shouted, brandishing a pink plastic flyswatter like a weapon of divine vengeance.
"I corrected your novel," Grey Matter shot back, leaping onto the dining table. "Your FTL science was laughable. It was a mercy."
"You ripped out a page!"
"It was inaccurate. You're welcome!"
The table shook as Gwen lunged forward. Grey Matter backflipped off its edge and landed squarely on Loth's head, who was dozing in the front passenger seat, arms crossed, hoodie drawn.
"Hey, Loth!" Grey Matter called smugly. "You'd back me up on scientific integrity, right?"
Loth didn't move.
Unbothered, Grey Matter struck a pose atop his head. "See? He agrees."
Gwen, grinding her teeth, wound back and hurled the flyswatter.
It missed its intended target entirely—and slapped against the back of Loth's head with a loud smack.
Loth's eyes opened with a snap.
Twin beams of searing pink energy lanced out from his eyes on reflex—piercing through the RV windshield with a blast of heat and screeching glass. The front glass exploded outward, shards sent flying into the desert air.
Grandpa Max slammed on the brakes.
The Rustbucket screeched to a halt, tires skidding across gravel as the old RV swerved violently to the side of the highway.
For a second, nobody spoke.
Loth sat blinking, breathing slow, his face calm. Then he leaned forward slightly and muttered, "...We're being watched."
Ben shifted back into human form with a flash of green light and rubbed the back of his neck. "Okay, uh. My bad."
Gwen slowly lowered the flyswatter. "Did he just laser-eye a hole through the van?"
Max exhaled, pulling the vehicle into park. "Everyone out. We're not going anywhere until we figure out what that was."
Loth didn't respond. His gaze had turned skyward, unfocused. But beneath the surface, his Aura Sense was flaring.
Something powerful was coming.
Not magic. Not divine.
Something… manufactured. Cold. Violent.
And heading straight for them.
Max who broke the silence.
"I'm going to ask again. Where are you from, son? And what's your plan?"
Loth didn't answer right away. His gaze was still fixed on the sky.
Ben whistled from behind him, poking at the cracked glass of the RV. "Grandpa… I think there's an alien in this thing that could probably fix the windshield. Might even give it a turbo boost."
"Not now, Ben," Max barked. "And I told you already—you're not transforming again until we figure out how to get the Omnitrix off your arm."
That was enough to pull Loth's attention back down to earth.
He turned slowly, eyes narrowing. "Of course you'd know what the watch is. You're a retired Plumber."
The old man's face shifted instantly. "What did you say?"
His voice was lower now, stripped of warmth. More soldier than grandfather.
Loth didn't flinch. "I said you're not just some old guy in an RV. You know what that device is… and what it'll bring."
A tense pause settled between them, the moment tight like a wire ready to snap.
Gwen cut in with a frown. "Wait—what even is the Omnitrix?"
Loth answered her flatly, "Arguably the single most powerful tool in existence. It encodes and decodes alien DNA with a scan. It also happens to be a universal magnet for every warlord, mad scientist, and extinction-class threat within six galaxies."
He looked back up at the sky.
"And speaking of…"
A glint caught everyone's eyes—several metallic objects, descending like burning comets.
Gwen shaded her eyes. "What are those?"
"Trouble," Max said grimly, already moving. "Both of you—back in the RV! Now! "
Loth's body began to glow, pink veins of energy sparking along his arms and shoulders.
"I'll clear a path," he called over the wind.
The objects struck the asphalt up ahead with sharp metallic impacts, burrowing into the ground and unfolding like mechanical flowers.
Six silver combat drones, each over seven feet tall, stood up in unison. Red energy cores blinked to life in their chests. Their limbs reshaped into cannon-like blasters, immediately locking onto Loth.
"Class-5 target detected," the front drone intoned. "Activating lethal protocol."
The air vibrated with kinetic charge—then all six fired.
Loth's hands moved fast, raising solid pink barriers in front of him. The beams struck them in unison, blinding light filling the narrow highway.
Loth clenched his jaw and tried to mold another construct.
Too late.
The magic inside him spiked wildly—and the barriers exploded outward in an uncontrolled burst, creating a shockwave that staggered the drones and kicked up a cloud of smoke and dust.
From within that smoke, the Rustbucket roared forward, tires skidding, weaving between the confused drones. Loth landed on the RV's roof mid-motion, crouching, eyes scanning.
The drones recovered fast. Their heads turned. Their legs transformed into hover-units. The chase began.
"Loth, get in!" Max shouted through the open side window.
"Not yet," Loth yelled back. "They'll catch up. I need to take them out!"
His hands trembled slightly. Not from fear—from the unstable feedback of his magic. He studied them, breath measured.
"Any spell I release out grows unstable," he muttered. "It's not me. It's this world. This universe is interfering with my casting."
His gaze sharpened. "Then… the solution isn't projection. It's reinforcement. Internal application."
Pink light surged from within.
Veins of raw anodite energy threaded across his skin, glowing like circuitry. Muscles tightened. Vision sharpened. Every cell in his body burned with potential.
He jumped.
The air cracked as he cleared the distance between the RV and the drones in one bound.
His first strike—a hand chop—sliced the nearest drone in half, its core sputtering out mid-scream.
He caught one half mid-fall and used it as a makeshift shield, charging straight into a barrage of red beams from the others.
Impact.
He tore through their formation. A punch to the core of one slammed it into another. Both units exploded in a mess of wires and flickering lights.
Loth landed, breathing hard.
He glanced down.
"…Am I vibrating?"
From behind, a drone lunged. Its metal limbs struck Loth's back—
And shattered on contact.
Loth turned in confusion, realization dawning. "My cells… they're phasing. I'm semi-transient. Not fully physical. I'm… nullifying damage."
His theory was cut short as the remaining drones combined their cannons into one massive red unibeam, and fired.
The blast hit Loth full-on.
But instead of falling, he braced—and held.
The ground beneath him cracked and melted, but Loth stood firm, arms raised.
Then he did the impossible.
He reached out, pushed his anoditr energy into the beam—and shattered it from within.
The beam ruptured. Energy backfired into the drones, overloading their cores. One by one, they exploded, ripped apart by internal surges.
Loth exhaled slowly.
He didn't even get a second to celebrate.
An explosion erupted ahead on the road. Smoke. Screams. Something had overturned the RV.
His heart dropped.
A black-armored drone, larger than the others—sleek, angular, cruel—stood over the wreckage.
It raised one arm to deliver the final blow to Four Arms, who was shielding Gwen and Max with his own body.
Loth didn't hesitate.
He kicked off the ground, moving so fast the air cracked like a sonic boom in his wake.
"Not a chance!"