Seeing the lone figure standing before them, the three alien monsters narrowed their eyes.
Originally, after listening to Dr. Viktor's plan, the alien werewolf and mummy had intended to ambush Ben. However, after noticing the small Golshi carrying away several framed photos of a young Max, the two aliens instantly realized the other one might also be nearby.
Because of that, they held themselves back, making sure Ever Gold wasn't around before making a move.
Both of them had clashed with Evan before, and they knew just how dangerous he was compared to Ben. One fought through pure instinct mixed with inexperience, while the other relied on refined skill and never pulled his punches.
You didn't need to be a genius to know which one was more dangerous.
Even now, despite taking on such a small form, the way he spoke and the ominous aura radiating from him were enough to make all three of them tense up instinctively.
"Chaos Spear!"
Eclipse swung his arm, launching a spear of chaotic energy straight at them.
The robot immediately raised its cannon arm and aimed it at the incoming projectile, but before it could even fire, the Chaos Spear slammed directly into its chest.
The impact shoved the massive machine backward, its enormous feet carving deep grooves into the ground as it struggled to hold its balance. A large dent caved into its metallic chest, while the reinforced windshield protecting its core shattered into countless pieces, scattering glass across the scrapyard.
Eclipse narrowed his golden eyes.
A full-powered Chaos Spear had only managed to inflict that much damage.
That alone confirmed one thing.
This transformation, Eclipse the Ultimate Life Form, truly possessed enough power to kill someone with nothing more than a casual wave of his hand.
Earlier, his sixty-foot Humungousaur form had tried to crush the Cybertronian's head in a fit of anger, yet even with all that overwhelming strength, he had only managed to dent it.
Although... given enough time, he was confident he could have pulled a Vilgax and crushed its head completely.
Still, compared to Eclipse's destructive power, Humungousaur's raw strength was simply too slow and too easy to counter. It wasn't well suited for a three-against-one battle where the opponent possessed spread-out, balanced speed, attack power, and defense.
The werewolf suddenly opened its maw and unleashed a powerful sonic howl toward the smaller alien.
Instead of dodging or even attempting to move, Eclipse simply folded his arms and calmly watched the incoming attack.
The next instant, he vanished. The sonic wave passed harmlessly through empty space.
Eclipse reappeared directly beneath the werewolf, perfectly positioned inside its blind spot. His leg shot upward, kicking it cleanly beneath the jaw and launching the creature into the air.
Bandages immediately burst toward him from the mummy.
Eclipse disappeared again.
This time he reappeared behind the airborne werewolf, driving a heavy kick into the back of its head and sending it crashing straight toward the incoming bandages.
The mummy accidentally wrapped its own ally instead.
At the same time, the robot swung its cannon arm toward Eclipse, the barrel glowing brighter and brighter as energy rapidly gathered inside.
Eclipse vanished once more.
The robot instantly spun around, its crimson optics scanning every direction in search of the smaller alien.
It found nothing. Until a foot landed on the back of its head.
Eclipse had appeared on top of it. Standing calmly with one foot planted against the robot's head, he looked down at the three alien monsters beneath him.
"Tch. You can't even make a decent stepping stone."
His voice remained as cold as ever as he removed one of the limiter rings around his wrist, one of the seals created by the Another Omnitrix to suppress his power.
The moment the ring struck the ground with two sharp metallic clinks, an overwhelming wave of Chaos Energy erupted from his body.
His black fur instantly shifted into a brilliant crimson-red, glowing like a blazing beacon in the middle of the scrapyard.
"Chaos Blast!"
A massive explosion of crimson Chaos Energy burst outward from Eclipse, swallowing the three alien monsters in an instant.
When the light finally faded, Eclipse stood silently in the center of the newly formed crater.
Most of the abandoned scrap metal around him had been blown apart, leaving twisted wreckage scattered in every direction.
His gaze swept across the battlefield until it landed on the robot's headless body, which had taken the full force of the blast.
As for the mummy and the werewolf, they were nowhere to be seen.
Still, Eclipse could faintly sense their rapidly fading presences.
At the very least, both of them had been heavily injured.
Expanding his senses further, he also noticed his family rushing toward his location, having clearly seen the brilliant crimson flash created by the Chaos Blast.
His gaze shifted toward an abandoned aircraft in the distance.
Without another word, he teleported directly onto it.
Tapping the Omnitrix, he returned to his human form before looking over at the familiar figure on the other side.
"Yo, you good?"
"What do you think?" Orfevre replied with a deadpan look. "Since when can you turn into a living bomb?"
"A while now."
He casually reached out a hand.
Orfevre grabbed it, letting her brother pull her back onto her feet.
Earlier, she had wanted to help him fight, but the moment she realized just how powerful their opponents were, she immediately chose to keep her distance instead of becoming a liability.
It wasn't that she was afraid of them.
She simply knew her current self didn't stand a chance.
If it had only been a one-on-one fight against the werewolf, then maybe.
But against a giant transforming alien robot the size of a massive truck and an alien mummy capable of corrupting her simply by opening the chest on its body...
Yeah.
She had absolutely nothing that could deal with those two.
"Evan! Orfevre!" Max called out.
The twins turned around and saw their grandfather, Gwen, and Ben running toward them.
"What happened? We saw that red light and-" Gwen began before a sudden noise interrupted her.
Everyone instinctively turned toward the sound.
Golshi poked her head out from beneath a pile of rubble.
Her sudden appearance caught both of her older siblings completely off guard.
The exact same question appeared in both of their minds.
Where the hell did she come from!?
"Grampa!" Gold Ship shouted as she sprinted toward Max. "Big Bro actually took the time to bully an innocent robot just because it wanted to take Big Sis out on a date!"
"Heh!?"
Question marks practically appeared above Evan and Orfevre's heads.
Max, Gwen, and Ben could only blink, unsure how they were even supposed to respond to that.
Then, Gold Ship suddenly heard footsteps approaching from behind.
Orfevre calmly rested her left hand on her right shoulder before rolling it with a loud crack, looking like she was about to beat someone up.
Beside her, Evan placed a hand against his neck and slowly cracked it as well.
The loud series of pops echoed through the scrapyard.
Gold Ship's hair immediately stood on end.
The little troublemaker instantly dove behind Max, grabbed the back of Ben's shirt, and yanked him over to use as a human shield.
"Hey! Let go!" Ben protested, trying to pull himself free.
No matter how hard he tugged, he couldn't escape Gold Ship's grip.
Ben suddenly found himself questioning his entire physical strength.
Am I really so weak that I can't even pull away from a nine-year-old who's constantly causing trouble...?
"Alright, alright, that's enough." Max quickly said, clapping his hands loudly. "You two can deal with her later. We've got something much more important to worry about right now."
Truthfully, even Max wasn't sure how the twins planned to deal with Gold Ship.
To stop things from escalating into an actual fight, or worse, a three-way brawl, he immediately interrupted their little siblings' dispute.
Hearing the seriousness in their grandfather's voice, the twins reluctantly put the idea of teaching Golshi a lesson on hold.
"Dr. Viktor has been spotted near where the purple lightning struck," Max explained. "Besides that being incredibly suspicious, we haven't found anything else."
His instincts as a Plumber were screaming that something bad was about to happen.
Unfortunately, instincts alone weren't enough. Without a real lead, he had no idea what direction to investigate.
"What happened here, Evan?" Max asked, turning toward what was currently their only clue.
"Long story short, a truck-transforming robot alien, the werewolf alien, and the mummy alien teamed up to take me down." Evan shrugged. "I destroyed the robot. The other two escaped, but they're badly injured."
Max nodded. "Did you see which way they went?"
"Over there." Evan pointed toward the spacecraft in the distance.
Earlier, while he was still Eclipse, he had sensed where the two aliens fled, but he hadn't bothered chasing after them. Making sure Orfevre didn't get caught in the blast had been far more important.
"Good." Max nodded firmly. "Then that's where we're heading. Whatever they're planning, bringing Corrodium onto a spacecraft can't be anything good."
The family immediately rushed toward the spacecraft.
Green and golden light erupted simultaneously. XLR8 appeared beside Noir.
Without wasting a second, Noir leaped onto XLR8's body.
The symbiote rapidly spread across the speedster's black, white-and-blue frame, coating it in living black armor as white markings expanded across his body.
Long black spikes extended from his forearms, while the blades on his elbows grew even larger. His claws lengthened into razor-sharp talons.
His visor turned completely black.
A pair of enormous white eyes slowly opened across it, giving the bonded alien a far more intimidating appearance.
Ben's Omnitrix remained on his chest.
Evan's golden Omnitrix materialized on his stomach.
Lowering into a runner's stance, the bonded alien exploded forward. They vanished in a blur, reaching the spacecraft in less than a minute.
Entering the spacecraft, the two paused as they spotted Dr. Viktor standing beside the injured alien werewolf and the tattered alien mummy.
"You really did a number on them," XLR8 remarked, narrowing his gaze at the enemies before them.
The alien werewolf answered with nothing but an angry growl.
Dr. Viktor's eyes shifted toward the bonded alien, stopping on the two Omnitrix symbols.
"I was told about the Omnitrixes," he said calmly. "But the two of you are not the only ones with the power to transform."
The moment he finished speaking, Dr. Viktor's body began to convulse.
Two massive generators burst out from his shoulder blades as his muscles rapidly expanded, tearing through his clothes. Beige fingerless gloves covered his hands, while heavy boots formed around his feet. His skin faded into a pale green, and his eyes turned purple, one noticeably larger than the other.
Several large bolts protruded from different parts of his body, crackling with purple lightning.
He looked like an alien version of Frankenstein's monster.
"Hahaha!" Noir burst into laughter. "You look like a bunch of Halloween rejects. Now all you need is a vampire, a ghost, and an invisible man to complete the classic horror monster lineup."
Looking down at his own raised hand, XLR8 silently used his other hand to lower it.
Sure, making fun of the enemy was kind of his thing.
But when Evan was the one doing the mocking and the one who might get beaten up was him... It didn't exactly feel fair.
"So these are the two who defeated our lord?"
Another voice echoed through the spacecraft, causing both XLR8 and Noir to turn toward it.
Standing there was a massive Triceratops-like alien balanced on its hind legs, casually holding an advanced-looking space rifle.
Beside it stood another alien that resembled a dragon. It had four clawed limbs, a pair of wings, a hunched back with a bent neck, an elongated snout, and a long tail ending in a sharp arrow-shaped tip.
"Lord?" XLR8 repeated, tilting his head in confusion.
"You guys actually have your own lord and savior?" Noir blurted out. "What, is alien Jesus a thing? Wait a minute..."
At the moment, he simply couldn't take any of them seriously.
If this had been the old Evan, he probably would've stayed quiet and approached the situation much more cautiously.
But after seeing just how overwhelming Eclipse's power was, enough to defeat everyone here by himself while he was still holding back, and remembering that the Another Omnitrix still held four other combat-oriented aliens in TheBlade Playlist... He honestly couldn't bring himself to feel threatened.
After all, Ever Gold had never been afraid of death.
"Dude, the jokes are funny and all," XLR8 said helplessly, "but I seriously don't think this is the time."
Because they were currently bonded together, XLR8 could clearly feel Noir's emotions.
There wasn't even the slightest trace of fear or anxiety.
That was about as reassuring as it could possibly get.
"Stop them. The plan can't be delayed," Dr. Viktor ordered.
Four thick cables hanging from the massive machine behind him snapped forward and connected themselves to the ports on his back.
The Triceratops-like alien immediately raised its blaster and opened fire at the duo.
XLR8 effortlessly weaved through the barrage with overwhelming speed before dashing straight toward Dr. Viktor, intending to stop whatever he was preparing.
Before he could reach him, the dragon-like alien dropped directly into his path.
XLR8 abruptly changed direction as the creature lunged forward, swinging its razor-sharp claws where he had been only a split second earlier.
Behind them, the generators on Dr. Viktor's back crackled with violent purple lightning.
He slowly spread his arms apart, and a mass of unstable electricity rapidly formed between his hands.
At the same time, the alien mummy carefully placed the damaged Cybertronian Core inside a military jet stored within the spacecraft.
The Core immediately reacted. Metal shifted and folded as the jet transformed into a towering robotic body.
It was the very same Cybertronian Evan had defeated earlier. Fortunately for it, its Core had survived the Chaos Blast. With the help of its allies, it had quickly secured itself a replacement body.
Just then, a tiny glowing insect flew toward the robot. The robot narrowed its crimson optics.
"Fine... I'll work with you just this once, Entomomech."
Its voice carried obvious reluctance as it allowed the tiny alien to fly into its chest, where it fused directly with the machine.
The robot let out a mechanical roar as violent sparks burst across its body.
Its armor glowed with an eerie light, and its entire frame seemed to become more organic, more monstrous, as if it had come alive.
Back on the battlefield, XLR8 and Noir were completely occupied by the Geoform-187 clone and the Triceraton.
Seeing the opportunity, Dr. Viktor calmly raised one hand.
The unstable purple lightning surged upward before violently tearing open space itself.
A swirling portal opened. On the other side was New Mexico. Without hesitation, the alien werewolf sprinted forward and allowed itself to be pulled through.
The portal sealed itself shut only moments later.
Dr. Viktor turned his attention back toward the fight.
Because Noir had already copied most of Ben's alien DNA, XLR8 was now borrowing Four Arms' immense physical strength.
Grabbing the dragon-like alien by its tail, he lifted it overhead before swinging it around like an oversized flail. The unfortunate dragon crashed directly into the Triceraton.
Just as the two aliens collided, XLR8 released his grip and leaped backward.
A split second later, the floor exploded beneath where they had just been standing.
The rebuilt Cybertronian landed heavily in front of them, glaring down with burning crimson optics.
The machine guns mounted on its shoulders rotated into position.
Then they opened fire. A storm of bullets tore across the hangar.
XLR8 and Noir instantly vanished into blinding streaks of motion, relying entirely on their high speed to weave through the barrage without slowing down.
Watching everything unfold from his elevated platform, Dr. Viktor allowed himself a smirk.
He reached toward a nearby control panel and pressed a single button.
The spacecraft's engines roared to life.
Moments later, the entire vessel lifted off the ground and shot toward the sky.
...
"What's happening?" Gwen asked as she, Max, Orfevre, and Gold Ship climbed into the spacecraft's interior.
"Main thrusters have ignited," Max answered.
"Oh! Oh! Oh!" Gold Ship cheered excitedly, sounding far more thrilled than worried as she clung tightly to Orfevre's back.
"I'm gonna be an astronaut!"
"Stop swinging around!" Orfevre snapped, quickly reaching behind herself to steady Gold Ship before she accidentally fell off.
"Looks like we're going for a ride," Max said.
Fortunately, before boarding, he had already attached the Plumber-issued hazmat badges to everyone.
Once activated, the advanced hazmat suits also functioned as fully sealed spacesuits.
"But where's the countdown?" Gwen complained. "Shouldn't there be a dramatic 'T-minus ten... nine... eight...' or something?"
"Well," Max replied with a small smile as he activated his suit's magnetic boots, "congratulations."
"You three are astronauts now."
He quickly stepped between the three kids, using his larger body as a safety barrier while the magnetic boots anchored him firmly to the ladder.
The spacecraft accelerated upward, carrying all of them into space.