Advanced chapters on [email protected]/Saintbarbido.
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My wife forced me to take a little break and just unwind. I'm really glad I did. Thank you for your patience.
-Saint.
Recap:- On the last chapter, Ben transformed into Alien X and in a bid to save him, Loth was accidentally sucked into the Omnitrix.
(Loth's P.O.V)
I thought I was gone.
When the Omnitrix pulled me in, when my body turned to energy dust, I thought that was it—game over. But when I opened my eyes, I wasn't staring into nothingness. I was standing in a void with endless light pins. Too small to call them stars, they resembled the white dots across X's entire body.
And I wasn't alone.
Two colossal green faces hovered before me, their expressions locked in a perpetual glare at one another. One male, sharp and cruel, the other female, softer but just as unyielding. Their voices echoed like thunder through the infinite dark.
Bellicus.
Serena.
The two halves of Alien X's will. Shiiitt. Immediately, I knew I was fucked.
"He is an intruder," Bellicus boomed, his glare cutting through me like a blade. "He does not belong. A crafty, dangerous little soul. Erase him."
"Erase him?" Serena's voice flowed over the void like water, yet carried the same weight. "No. Better to trap him here, Bellicus. Eternity inside this mind is punishment enough. Just as we intended for the boy, Benjamin. Had he proved unworthy."
Bellicus sneered. "You'd keep a foreign soul inside us? Risk contamination of our mind?"
Their words hammered me, but I forced myself to speak. "Or you could use your awesome reality distorting power to totally banish me to another universe. I don't need to be killed or imprisoned. If you can eject me back into… anywhere but here, then the risk- me is gone. Simple."
Bellicus's eyes narrowed, his voice rumbling like stone. "Preposterous. You have no authority to propose a motion."
Oh yeah. That's how they did things. Both personas had to agree on a motion.
Serena tilted her head, considering. "As the subject of the motion, he has the right. His fate is being debated. He may be heard."
That was all they needed to break into argument. Serena and Bellicus volleyed back and forth, and I used their distraction to reach out with my senses. The void, basically Alien X's mind, wasn't empty. Beneath their looming presence, behind them, I felt it—a fragile point disguised as one of the light pins, like a hairline crack in a glass window.
I pressed against it with Aura Sense. Resistance pushed back, hard. I masked the strain by layering illusion magic over my soul-form, hiding the surge of aura. Just a little more and I could slip through.
And when I finally popped through, I sensed it.
Another space, deeper than this one. I could feel countless alien signatures swirling together—each one distinct, alive in its own way. The Codon Stream. The Omnitrix's database.
If I could phase my soul through, I might escape into it. Slip between the streams of DNA and find a way out.
But there was a problem. My soul wasn't whole. Most of my anodite energy had been burned away in the transition. The pinkish glow of my form was dim, like a dying ember. Altering my molecular density like this would be hard enough with full strength—right now, it bordered on impossible.
And worse, if I tried to force my way through and they noticed, I'd prove Bellicus right. A dangerous anomaly, trying to escape. Serena would turn against me in an instant.
The two titans' argument was still raging. Serena accused Bellicus of cruelty. Bellicus accused Serena of weakness. Their words carried law, their law, and my life was caught between them.
I racked my brain. Ben had done this before. Trapped in Alien X's mind in another timeline, Alien Force. He had convinced them to let him use Alien X's power. How?
Bellicus was the voice of rage and aggression. Serena, love and compassion. They represented absolutes on extreme ends, and absolutes clashed forever.
But that left a gap. A missing voice. The one thing that could bridge them—Reason.
Not tricks. Not lies.
Reason.
I glided forward, my dim glow barely noticeable against the starry void. My voice echoed through the courtroom of the infinite.
"How about a compromise?"
The void fell quiet after my words. For once, Bellicus didn't shout. Serena didn't immediately counter. Both leaned forward, their colossal faces tilting, curious.
"Inaction," I repeated. "A compromise. You do nothing. Don't help me, don't hinder me. You already have more important motions waiting for resolution than wasting time debating little inconsequential me."
Their gazes narrowed. The void hummed with the weight of their silence.
Then, together, they answered:
"Motion denied."
I didn't flinch. Instead, I let myself smile. "That's the first time you've both agreed on something. Do you realize why?"
Bellicus snorted, his eyes sharp as blades. "Speak, anomaly."
"Because you were reasonable," I said simply. "Reason is the intersection of your absolutes—aggressive rage and compassionate love. When you both compromise, you create balance. That's reason."
Serena blinked slowly, thoughtful. Even Bellicus, though scowling, didn't argue. For the first time, I felt their focus fully settle on me instead of tearing into each other.
I pressed forward. "And what's more reasonable than letting me leave? You both know I don't belong here. But out there, there's a wielder of the Omnitrix who has no idea what he's carrying. If someone with real evil intentions gets their hands on it, entire galaxies could burn. You've seen the watch's potential. You've seen what it contains. Someone has to train him, prepare him. If you deny me that chance, you risk far worse than allowing me to walk free."
Bellicus sneered. "Your words are convenient. Easy to say, harder to prove."
"Then look for yourselves," I said, and lowered the mental shields I'd been holding tight. My memories unfurled into the void- the swarm of drones descending, my fight with the black Class-4 unit, Ben screaming as the Omnitrix nearly ripped itself from his arm. Gwen's terror. Max's desperation. The reality of what was coming.
The images faded. The void pulsed in silence.
Serena was the first to speak, her tone heavy with unease. "It is… true."
Bellicus clicked his tongue, grinding the words out. "…Fine. I propose the motion of inaction."
"Seconded," Serena said immediately.
The stars rippled as the motion locked into place. I felt the weight of their verdict, not like chains, but like watchful eyes.
Bellicus leaned closer, his voice low and dangerous. "Do not mistake this compromise for trust. We will not interfere if you attempt to escape this place. But neither will we aid you. The path is yours alone to carve."
Serena's face softened, but her words carried steel. "And should you act against this world, should your presence bring harm… even I would agree to your erasure."
I forced myself to nod, even as my dim form flickered. "Fair enough. Then let's see if reason can get me out of here alive."
True to their word, the two faces—Bellicus and Serena—didn't interfere. They only watched. My focus turned inward. I had one option: shift my molecular density until my soul slipped through the crack in the void I'd sensed earlier.
It sounded simple. It wasn't.
Ninety percent of my Anodite energy was gone. My body, already burned away mid-transition, wasn't here to physically stabilize me. And my mindscape, usually my fallback reservoir, was still locked tight—sealed as it slowly evolved.
I tried anyway, soul form pulsing as I forced my essence to vibrate. Nothing. Not even a ripple. I didn't have enough energy to push through.
From above, Bellicus' laugh rumbled. "Arrogant fool. Did you think you could walk out of a Celestialsapien's mindscape? Futile."
Serena's voice, calm but firm, cut through his mockery. "Do not underestimate him. If anything can attempt the impossible, it is an Anodite."
I froze at that. Serena wasn't careless with her words. If she said that, there was something more. Something I wasn't seeing.
I scanned the void again. Nothing. Just endless dark, the two faces, and the faint shimmer of the crack I'd already found. My aura sense stretched as far as it could, but there was no hidden lever, no concealed escape hatch. Nothing except—
The Personas themselves.
The ambient aura pouring off them was unlike anything I'd ever encountered—raw, unshaped Celestialsapien presence. It wasn't guarded, because why would it be? To them, I was already doomed. But to me, it was a lifeline.
"That's it," I whispered.
Both faces turned sharply toward me. Bellicus narrowed his eyes. Serena tilted her head in quiet curiosity.
I reached out and let the ambient aura bleed into me, taking advantage of an Anodite's base ability to feed on energies. Even exotic types.
The effect was immediate. My dim pink form brightened, threads of vibrant green weaving through me. Power surged—not as overwhelming as their own, but enough to fill the gaps where my Anodite energy had been shattered.
Bellicus roared. "Thief! He cheats! He steals what does not belong to him! He will destabilize the Omnitrix—erase him now!"
He lunged forward, a vast green hand forming at his side, glowing with intent. But Serena's gaze hardened as she blocked the way.
"We agreed to inaction. You will need to motion again, Bellicus."
"Then I motion—"
"Denied," Serena interrupted, her tone cutting.
The giant faces clashed, but I no longer paid them full attention. I focused inward, stabilizing myself as the Celestialsapien aura merged with the remnants of my Anodite essence. My soul grew whole again—not perfect, but enough.
If this had been true Celestialsapien power, I knew I could simply will reality to bend. Unfortunately, it wasn't. It was diluted, ambient energy—enough to let me vibrate across densities. Enough to make escape possible.
I let the resonance build. My form buzzed with static, composition shifted, and then began to phase. The crack widened, responding to my shift. I forced myself through, slipping past the void.
The last thing I saw was Bellicus' face, twisted in outrage, spitting curses while Serena silently watched. At the very last second, before the crack sealed, she winked at me.
And then—I was through.
I opened my eyes to a starry sky. Not empty space. Not constellations. A structure so vast it made my mind reel.
The stars weren't random—they formed the outline of a colossal tree, branches stretching in every direction, each thread glowing with alien energy signatures. Thousands of them. Maybe millions. It was so massive, so incomprehensible, I felt my breath catch.
The Codon Stream. The DNA of every lifeform cataloged by the Omnitrix. I might be the first sentient being to see it in its entirety.
If I wanted out, I'd need to reach its core—the Transformation Matrix. Azmuth had to have left something, some backdoor or failsafe, for scenarios like this. He was too much of a genius not to.
I pushed forward, flying through the star-branches toward the heart of the tree. Hope flared in my chest. Maybe, just maybe, I could escape.
Then the Codon Stream moved.
A ripple coursed across its expanse, and from the branches emerged a swarm of figures—hybrid constructs, metallic bodies glowing with green Omnitrix symbols across their chests. Each carried weapons shaped from alien designs, blades, cannons, whips.
Security.
I cursed under my breath as the swarm locked onto me, weapons primed. Not a backdoor. A firewall. The Omnitrix's first line of defense.
If I wanted to leave, I'd have to fight through.