A few moments ago
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The neon lights of the city’s night streets cast an eerie glow on the faces of two teenage friends, as they strolled along the walkway.
“Hey Cash, did you hear the news?” JT’s eyes sparkled with excitement. ”’Sumo Smasher — Ultra Smash 2' is dropping at the end of the year!”
Cash raised an eyebrow. “No way. Did they reveal the plot?”
“Yeah! It’s insane. So get this—” JT began, but his words trailed off as Cash suddenly froze in his tracks.
Cash’s face drained of color as he stared at something JT couldn’t see—a certain interface hovering nearby. Sweat beaded on his forehead as the Omnitrix icon inched closer, then mercifully stopped.
‘It’s just a coincidence.’ Cash muttered to himself, his heart racing. ‘Why am I even a participant? I don’t have powers!’
As the Omnitrix icon lingered nearby, Cash’s mind raced with memories of Ben, his former favorite bullying victim. He shuddered, recalling a particular incident that he couldn’t bring himself to fully remember. The mere thought of Ben now filled him with a deep fear.
‘One day, he…’ Cash’s thoughts trailed off, unable to complete the sentence even in his own mind. Despite their mutual avoidance now and Cash’s attempts at apology, an overwhelming sense of dread consumed him whenever he thought of Ben.
If Ben Prime, who was supposed to be normal, had been resentful enough to use his alien forms for petty revenge against the Prime Cash and JT, what horrors could this version of Ben inflict with that kind of power? The possibilities made Cash’s blood run cold.
“You okay, man?” Concern etched JT’s features.
Cash swallowed hard, trying to keep his voice steady. “Y-yeah. Let’s, uh, go this way instead!” He pointed in a direction, desperate to put distance between himself and the Omnitrix icon, and the terrifying implications of Ben’s presence.
“But it’s the opposite direction from your home.” JT pushed his glasses up to his nose as he tilted his head. “You said that—”
“So what? It’s good to change our habits once in a while.” Cash forced a grin, trying to appear nonchalant. “Anyway, I heard they opened a new fast food…”
They continued to stroll, the bustling sounds of the city growing louder as they soon arrived at the busy city center. The streets were crowded with people going about their day, the air filled with a cacophony of voices and traffic.
“Greetings, children! Would you care to contribute to our charity or, even better, join our blessed family? All in the name of Dagon, the benevolent.” A voice called out lovingly. The speaker wore a predominantly golden robe with red accents and a hood, his eyes gleaming with devout passion and welcoming warmth.
JT turned his head, curiosity piqued, but Cash was quick to pull him along. “Don’t look him in the eyes and pretend you didn’t hear.” Cash muttered under his breath.
“Yeah, I know.” JT replied, his voice low. “But I was just wondering what Dagon was.”
As Cash and JT shrugged, a comforting, yet disturbing warmth enveloped them from behind. The devoted servant of Dagon, sensing their awakening curiosity, stepped forward with gentle eagerness.
“Dagon, dear seekers, is the name of our Benevolent Lord who blessed this world with His divine presence millennia ago. He came to share His infinite wisdom. The sacred prophecies foretell His glorious return, which is soon upon us! When He shall embrace us all in His boundless love—”
“Yeah. Yeah. Get lost!” Cash waved his hand dismissively, cutting off the eager explanation. With visible displeasure, the cultist left, melting back into the crowd.
JT pulled out his phone, his fingers flying over the screen, his eyes widening. “For a religion I never heard about, I didn’t expect more than ten million to be a part of it!”
“Ten million? Cool, I suppose…” Cash was indifferent. “Why should we care?”
“We don’t. Still interesting, though…” JT agreed, closing the browser and opening the map application on his phone. “Hey, the new fast food is nearby. Let’s go this way, it’s quicker.” He pointed to a side street.
Cash nodded, “Sure, I’m getting hungry anyway—”
Several loud sounds resonated through the air. A strong vibration shook the ground beneath their feet.
Countless screams of panic erupted from behind several buildings. The once-bustling city center began to shift, an undercurrent of fear rippling through the crowd.
The unknown threat made everyone uneasy. Cash and JT watched as the most pragmatic individuals were already running or walking fast in the opposite direction, their faces etched with worry. And the bravest or most foolish individuals were running towards the noise.
“Maybe we should head back.” JT suggested, his voice trembling.
“No shit—”
All the onlookers’ eyes dilated in shock and horror. Cars and lampposts went flying through the air like deadly missiles, hurtling towards them and many others unlucky enough to be in the path of destruction.
In a heartbeat, a car came flying towards them, its metal frame glinting ominously in the moonlight. Cash, mere centimeters away, felt the rush of air as the vehicle whooshed past him, ruffling his hair. But JT wasn’t so lucky.
The car violently crashed into JT with a sickening crunch, crushing him instantly beneath its tonnage of steel and glass. Then it bounced off the ground, leaving a dark-red smear with some organic matter on the pavement. It happened in a split second, too fast for the mind to process.
The momentum carried the vehicle forward, causing it to bounce once more, before smashing into a nearby wall with a deafening impact that shook the ground.
Cash stood paralyzed, unable to comprehend the horror before him. He couldn’t register the warm drops of blood and organic matter spattering his clothes, nor the sharp glass fragments embedded in his belly and thighs. The wounds weren’t fatal, but they would be extremely harmful if he could register the pain through his shock.
He tried to pinpoint JT but… JT was on the pavement, he was on the car, he was on the wall, he was on Cash, he could be considered to be everywhere.
Starting to tremble, Cash looked down at the screen that only he could see.
The accursed Omnitrix symbol was nearer than before, pulsing with an eerie green light that seemed to mock the destruction around him.
Suddenly, a blinding light descended from above, resembling a second sun plummeting towards Earth. While panicked onlookers craned their necks skyward, Cash remained fixated on the screen.
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“Kevin!” Suddenly, the flames engulfing Heatblast’s body began to flicker and dance erratically, growing more intense with each passing second while not turning blue like before. The alien’s speed doubled in an instant, leaving a trail of scorching heat as he propelled himself towards Kevin.
‘!’ Kevin’s eyes widened in surprise as he barely managed to dodge the sudden burst, his body twisting and contorting in an almost inhuman manner. However, he wasn’t quick enough to completely evade the searing heat radiating from Heatblast. The intense temperature caused Kevin’s skin to darken, while the metallic parts of his body began to melt and warp. Though his regenerative abilities kicked in, the healing process was noticeably slower than before.
Unable to stop his momentum, Tennyson crashed into the ground floor of a building at full speed. The impact was deafening, sending debris and dust flying in all directions as Heatblast’s fiery form disappeared into a gaping hole in the structure, which was soon sealed due to the fallen rubble.
Kevin’s mind raced as he assessed the situation. ‘It’s time to get serious… The whole point is to have fun while discovering my abilities. I’ve only fully figured out 5 out of 10 alien capacities, I can feel it.’
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
From the beginning, Kevin had been putting on an act. While he could still be considered unhinged due to his past actions and the killings he had committed even before becoming Kevin 11, and rash for choosing such a dangerous method to control his abilities, he wasn’t an idiot. If he truly felt his life was in danger, he would flee without hesitation.
Since he couldn’t steal the Omnitrix without it destroying itself, Kevin racked his brains for ways to use Ben to his advantage.
Ultimately, due to the Omnitrix’s location being displayed for all participants, he decided to quickly use Ben to discover his abilities instead of prolonging the boy’s unconsciousness.
In the end, Kevin had angered most of the surviving Negative-10 members by taking Ben for himself. Not that he was particularly worried about them.
‘I feel I can…’ Kevin’s mind began to change, as if new limbs were continuously being grafted onto his being. The sensation was exhilarating.
“Hey, Tennyson! How many people can you save?!” Kevin’s malicious voice rang out. His crab-like hand morphed into a massive metallic ball. Grinning sinisterly, he slammed it against the ground. The earth beneath them began to tremble and crack, the vibrations intensifying rapidly. Gradually, the surrounding buildings started to crumble, their foundations giving way. Screams from those trapped inside were quickly silenced, save for a few voices inside the rubble, gradually becoming weak.
“Tennyson?” Kevin called out, his voice echoing through the destruction. When no response came, he tried again, his tone becoming more urgent. "...Tennyson!” Kevin yelled, his voice now tinged with a hint of confusion and frustration. There was no sign of Ben anywhere in the rubble or debris.
‘He’s scared after all.’ Kevin thought to himself. ‘Since he was unconscious when I found him, I wonder for how long… He should know that every participant can locate his Omnitrix!’
Kevin visualized the Omnitrix tracking map in his mind. Usually, the map displayed two points from a bird’s-eye view: a white dot representing himself and the Omnitrix symbol, both set against a plain green background. While efficient, it showed nothing else—just these dots on the featureless green expanse. Now, strangely, only the Omnitrix symbol remained visible.
‘What does it—’ His thought was violently interrupted as he looked up, his eyes widening in sheer terror.
The entire sky had transformed into a nightmarish sea of sickly green, it descended upon the world like the wrath of god. The very air seemed to thicken, making each breath a struggle as the green doom inched closer.
Kevin’s survival instinct screamed at him to flee. As he tensed to bolt, bandages erupted from the cracks on the ground beneath his feet. They shot up like demonic serpents, wrapping around his limbs and body with crushing force. In seconds, he was mummified, like a package of flesh, metal and bone trapped in an inescapable cocoon.
“I’m afraid you’re going to stay.”
Desperate, Kevin electrified himself, flying up while shocking Ben through the bandages. Snare-Oh groaned but tightened his grip, causing Kevin to lose focus and crash back to the ground. Gasping for air, Kevin’s vision blurred as the bandages crushed his chest even tighter.
Suddenly, instead of blacking out, Kevin adapted. He no longer needed to breathe, yet he was still trapped, awaiting the impending doom.
“At this size, bystanders are going to die!” Kevin blurted out, his voice raw and desperate.
“Don’t pretend you care.” Ben snarled, his voice dripping with hate.
“And you don’t?” Kevin shot back, defiant even now.
“Not really, to be honest. And I have my priorities. So stay down and die in peace, nutcase!” Ben growled.
The bandages tightened even more, squeezing the last bits of hope from Kevin as the green doom descended from above, promising a terrifying end.
“NO!” Kevin’s mind roared as he exploded with newfound strength.
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Explanation
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Ben can switch between alien forms by pressing the Omnitrix dial that appears on the body of his current alien form. However, each transformation reduces his remaining time by 30%. As a result, Ben must carefully plan multiple transformations to avoid depleting his available time and reverting to human form prematurely.
After crashing through the building as Heatblast, Ben realized he couldn’t defeat Kevin in that form. He transformed into Buzzshock, his alien capable of elementalizing into electricity. By turning into living electricity, Buzzshock can move extremely quickly, but only for short bursts without an energy source. This brief burst of speed allowed Ben to rapidly ascend into the sky.
In the air, Ben became Ball Weevil, the alien that spits explosive green balls that grow exponentially by absorbing matter, including air. As the ball fell, it grew enormously, eventually replacing the entire sky.
Ben then briefly switched to a certain alien to prepare something.
Swiftly descending as Buzzshock, he immediately transformed into Snare-Oh. In this form, he immobilized Kevin while simultaneously grasping a nearby lamppost, positioning them both directly beneath a certain falling object he had strategically prepared earlier.
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Remaining time in Heatblast: 23 minutes
Reduction percentage per switch: 30%
Number of switches: 5
Calculation: 23 * (100% - 30%)5 = 3.86561 minutes
Approximation accounting for the time elapsed after transformations: About 3 minutes remaining
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One of Kevin’s crab pincers finally broke free from the bandage wrapping. It morphed into a hand, gripping the bandages that still covered his body. With all his might, Kevin tore at the wrappings, throwing them away. However, the bandages, as light as paper and cloth in the air, didn’t travel far before falling harmlessly to the ground.
Before Kevin could flee, he found himself in the air, right underneath the very thing he wanted to escape. The ball’s eerie glow and sheer size momentarily stunned him.
In his surprise and due to the matching color, Kevin failed to notice a green web glued to the green ball’s surface. Not that it mattered; the second web portal near the ground had already been destroyed by Ben before it could even land.
‘Quick!’ Kevin activated his flight ability, a power he’d absorbed from Buzzshock. While he couldn’t fully elementalize into electricity like the alien, he could fly using electrical propulsion and generate electricity without visible limits—a feat even Buzzshock couldn’t achieve, though Kevin was unaware of this. Though not as fast as Buzzshock, Kevin was still impressively quick.
He shot off in one direction, but within ten seconds, he came to an abrupt halt. Buzzshock hovered in front of him, blocking his escape route.
“Sorry, but hell isn’t this way.” Ben’s voice crackled with electricity.
“Wait! We can talk!” Kevin shouted, a sinister expression forming on his face. His mind raced: ‘Is his plan to trigger the bomb while stopping me, then transform into the mummy alien to survive? Or can he already survive the explosion in his current form?’
“Y-you just attacked me out of nowhere. I panicked!” Kevin stammered, his voice betraying his fear.
The real reason Kevin didn’t act was that at this distance, he was sure to be caught in the explosion. Also, his instincts were currently screaming at him, and the purple smoke emanating from his arms grew increasingly shiny without him knowing what it was supposed to do.
“I admit… I was indeed the one who started.” The small electric alien replied, his voice tinged with regret. “Maybe I… No, I should have tried to talk more. I’m the one who panicked, and I’m sorry. Or maybe I just wanted to blow off steam, I guess…”
The alien raised his hand, targeting the giant mass of green above them. His voice hardened as he continued, “But don’t get me wrong, you obviously didn’t panic or hesitate when you killed those people.”
With all his strength, Kevin managed a burst of speed, blocking the electric attack from reaching the ball. At this distance, he couldn’t escape the explosion nor outpace… wait, why was he fast enough to absorb the electric attack in time?!
A green flash engulfed the surroundings as a bulky, metallic yellow two-meter alien was propelled towards him (with Buzzshock’s previous momentum). His sharp hand, shaped into a drill, began to turn at great speed, targeting Kevin.
Instead of dodging and giving Ben a chance to trigger the bomb, Kevin let his instincts guide him. Suddenly, his mustache grew to his size, one of the sides heading towards the drill. After several hairs were cut, the drill came to a stop as the hair stuck inside the mechanism. Kevin lifted Armodrillo by his arm using his mustache.
Then, without warning, eight metallic spider-legs shot out from Kevin’s back, whipping through the air with lightning speed. In an instant, they pierced Armodrillo’s metallic body, driving deep into his ribs. Ben gasped in pain as black liquid began to ooze from the puncture wounds, dripping steadily like rain.
“You’re too annoying, Ben. You didn’t have to die, at least not now.” Kevin shook his head.
“That’s funny, I was going to say the same,” Ben retorted in a low voice. He used his freed arm, the hand forming into a drill. Kevin extended the other side of his mustache to block it, the drill still pointing towards him.
“Repeating the same thing is only a sign of madness! HAHAHA!” Kevin laughed as they both trembled, the drill cutting through the hair.
‘No, this time you can’t dodge!’ Ben yelled in his head.
‘Special attack: ROTARY DRILL…’
The drill’s speed increased rapidly, reducing the hair to small particles. However, Kevin decided to only cover the arm instead, making the drill useless if it couldn’t reach him.
“Am I supposed to be impressed?” Kevin sneered. The spider-legs inserted into Armodrillo’s ribs began to emit fire and electricity. A few more seconds and Ben would effectively die, grilled and carbonized from the inside.
‘I won!’ Kevin thought triumphantly. ‘With my own eyes, I saw him press the dial on his torso. He can’t transform by thought, and he can’t transform now that both his arms are restrained!’
“Hmm?” Kevin felt a growing vibration from a side of his mustache. “This is that alien that can…”
“IMPACT!!!”
A devastating shockwave erupted from Ben’s arm, catapulting Kevin like a swirling ragdoll towards the colossal explosive sphere. Blood sprayed from his mouth as the shattering impact pulverized his insides. His spider limbs were forcefully torn from his back, remaining embedded in Ben’s body as he was hurled away.
Kevin plunged into the gelatinous ball, vanishing for a split second before the night sky itself seemed to tear apart. A blinding flash engulfed everything, turning darkness into day, followed by an earth-shattering boom that shook the very foundations of the city. The fireball devoured the clouds, filling the heavens with light and casting twisted shadows across the trembling earth below.
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Remaining time: 3 minutes
Reduction percentage per switch: 30%
Number of switches: 2
Calculation: 3 * (100% - 30%)2 = 1.47 minutes
Approximation accounting for the time elapsed after transformations: About one minute remaining
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