Chapter 36: Weak Alien X? Pesky Dust Appears
"So, Paradox. You really do have some eccentric hobbies, don't you?"
Klein stared flatly at the time walker, a muscle twitching in his jaw.
Just moments ago, Paradox had conjured a grand, swirling portal of cosmic energy. It looked like a gateway to the edge of eternity. Klein had stepped through it, expecting to be transported across dimensions. Instead, they had emerged exactly ten feet away, landing squarely on a wooden park bench.
Klein crossed his arms, thoroughly unimpressed. He suspected the old man just wanted an excuse to show off his flashy entrance.
"Now, now, don't say that," Paradox replied, entirely unbothered. He offered a casual shrug. "At the very least, we saved ourselves a few steps."
Klein rubbed his temples, letting out a long, exhausted sigh. "I thought you were going to take me directly to where this mysterious threat was supposed to appear."
"Oh, I did," Paradox said cheerfully. He lifted a half-finished blue slushie from seemingly nowhere and took a loud, obnoxious sip through the straw. "Because he is about to appear right here. We simply need to wait."
Hours dragged by. The sun dipped below the tree line, bleeding orange into deep violet as night settled over the campground.
"So," Klein broke the silence, his voice dripping with dry sarcasm. "Where exactly is this guy? We've been sitting on this bench for hours."
He was seriously beginning to reconsider his life choices, specifically the one where he trusted a cryptic time traveler.
"Ah, well..." Paradox cleared his throat, suddenly looking a bit awkward under Klein's deadpan glare. "You know how it is. As a time traveler, my concept of time is a bit... fluid compared to yours."
Klein didn't blink.
"Look over there," Paradox quickly deflected, pointing a finger across the grass.
A short distance away sat the familiar, clunky silhouette of the Rustbucket. Outside the RV, the Tennyson trio—Grandpa Max, Ben, and Gwen—were busy setting up a campfire and preparing dinner. The smell of roasting food drifted through the cool night air.
"Of course I know what's over there," Klein muttered, sinking lower into the bench. "I've been watching them for hours."
He really didn't want to look anymore. He had spent the entire evening staring at the Tennysons, hyper-vigilant, waiting for this supposed villain to ambush them. Now, he just felt like a creep hiding in the bushes. He was starting to worry he was catching Paradox's weird voyeuristic tendencies.
Sorry, Dweeb, Klein thought, watching the younger Ben argue with Gwen over the campfire. I never thought I'd actually say this, but I am completely sick of looking at your face.
"Here he comes!" Paradox's voice suddenly spiked with energy.
"What's coming? Can't you just give me a straight—" Klein started to complain, raising his head gloomily. Then he followed the old man's gaze. "Holy crap."
A tear in reality ripped open just yards away from the Tennyson camp. The portal glowed with a sickly, light purple hue. Heavy boots stepped out onto the grass.
It was Alien X.
But this wasn't just any ordinary Celestialsapien. The cosmic, star-filled silhouette was covered in a bizarre, chaotic array of Omnitrixes. They were strapped to his arms, his chest, his legs—dozens of them, glowing with an ominous green light.
The Multi-Omnitrix Alien X locked his featureless gaze onto the campsite. He raised a starry right hand, pointing directly at Gwen.
"Omnitrix," the rogue's voice echoed, layered and distorted. "Give it to me."
Gwen didn't even flinch. She raised her left wrist, flashing the dial at him with a cocky smirk. "You want this? Come and get it!"
She slammed her hand down. A flash of emerald light illuminated the trees, and in her place stood the sharp, crystalline form of Diamondhead. She shifted into a combat stance, the pale green crystals on her back catching the firelight.
The Multi-Omnitrix Alien X vanished. No sonic boom, no blur of motion. He simply ceased to be in one spot and appeared in the next, closing the distance to Diamondhead in a fraction of a millisecond.
But Klein was already moving.
A blinding bluish-purple light erupted from the park bench.
Deep within the cosmic void of his own mindscape, Klein didn't even bother negotiating.
Alien X. Attack. Agreed. Motion passed.
Boom!
The air shattered. Klein, now in his own Alien X form, materialized directly between the rogue and Diamondhead. He didn't use energy blasts or reality-warping magic. He just pulled back his fist and threw a simple, physical punch.
His knuckles connected with the rogue's chest.
The impact didn't just break the rogue. It broke everything. The kinetic force rippled outward, catching the very fabric of the universe. Space splintered like a dropped mirror, spider-webbing outward from the point of impact until the stars themselves began to wink out, collapsing into a terrifying, absolute void.
Klein floated in the empty white nothingness, staring at his fist in genuine confusion.
'Dead? He was that weak?'
He looked around at the shattered remnants of space-time floating around him. With a mental sigh, he raised his right hand, turning his palm upward. A ring of light gray temporal energy pulsed outward, washing over the broken universe.
Like a movie played in reverse, the shattered glass of reality snapped back into place. The stars reignited. The grass returned. The campfire crackled back to life.
Sure, I destroyed the universe, Klein reasoned internally. But I also put it back together. Technically, that makes me a savior.
As reality stabilized, the Multi-Omnitrix Alien X reappeared, groaning and disoriented. Klein didn't give him a second to recover. He lunged forward, his starry hand clamping down hard around the rogue's neck.
With a casual wave of his free hand, Klein stripped the stolen power. The dozens of Omnitrixes detached from the rogue's body, clattering uselessly to the dirt. Stripped of his cosmic form, the rogue shrank, his starry skin dissolving to reveal a disheveled, scruffy man with a thick, unkempt beard.
Klein manifested a glowing ring of solid cosmic energy, snapping it around the scruffy man's wrists like handcuffs.
With the threat neutralized, Klein tapped the dial on his chest. The bluish-purple light flashed again, returning him to his lazy, human form. He glanced at the pile of watches on the ground, then turned to Paradox, who was casually strolling over.
"Paradox, what exactly is going on here?" Klein demanded.
Before the time walker could answer, a heavy silence fell over the camp. Grandpa Max stepped forward, his eyes locked onto the restrained, bearded man. The older man's face went pale.
"Ben...?" Max's voice trembled with disbelief. "Is that you?"
The scruffy man flinched. He squeezed his eyes shut, refusing to answer, and stubbornly turned his head away with a cold, bitter snort.
"You're... Ben?" Gwen asked, dropping her Diamondhead transformation. She stared at the older, broken version of her cousin in absolute shock.
Young Ben Tennyson took a step back, his jaw dropping. "You are... me?!"
Klein looked back and forth between the two Bens, then fixed his gaze on Paradox. "Care to explain?"
Paradox offered a small, cryptic smile, his eyes twinkling with an unclear meaning. "Hmm... I don't quite know all the details myself. But I imagine you have a way of finding out, don't you?"
Klein gave the old fox a long, deep look. He knew Paradox was acting. The man knew exactly what was going on, but as usual, he was forcing Klein to do the legwork. There was no point in arguing.
Klein sighed and tapped the face of Another Omnitrix. The familiar bluish-purple light engulfed him, shrinking his body down until he hovered in the air as a small, blue-green, pixie-like creature.
Pesky Dust.
Fluttering his delicate wings, Pesky Dust drifted over to the scruffy, older Ben. He raised his tiny right hand and waved it in a graceful arc, sprinkling a shower of sparkling, iridescent powder over the man's face.
Scruffy Ben's eyes rolled back, and he instantly slumped forward, plunging into a deep, magically induced sleep.
Inside the dreamscape, the world materialized into a dimly lit, empty bar. The neon signs buzzed softly in the background.
Klein sat on a stool next to the older Ben, playing the role of a silent, trusted confidant.
Scruffy Ben stared into a glass of amber liquid. He raised it, taking a long, bitter gulp before slamming it down on the counter.
"Grandpa and Gwen..." the older Ben muttered, his voice thick with grief and resentment. "They didn't believe me. They didn't believe I could defeat Vilgax on my own. It made me realize I had to act alone. I had to protect them by leaving."
He gripped the edge of the bar, his knuckles turning white. "But they still found me. And because of that... because they followed me... I lost them. Why? Why am I the only one who has to lose the people I care about?!"
He slammed his fist against the wood, his eyes burning with a twisted, manic obsession. "I couldn't accept it. I won't accept it. Since I don't have them anymore... I'll make sure the other Bens lose what they cherish too!"
Sitting next to him, Klein said absolutely nothing. He just took a sip of his own imaginary drink and silently grumbled in his head.
You've completely lost your mind, haven't you? Klein thought. 'Cherished things'? You mean the Omnitrix? The massive flaw in your edgy revenge plot is that the Dweeb in this universe doesn't even have the watch. The Dork does.
Back in reality, Pesky Dust fluttered in the air, translating the tragic, unhinged confession to the stunned Tennyson family. Once the story was told, a flash of bluish-purple light returned Klein to his human form.
He dusted off his jacket and looked at the time walker. "Alright, Paradox. What do we do with this massive pile of watches? And... what about this Ben?"
If it were anyone else, Klein wouldn't have bothered asking. He would have just walked away. But since it was a version of Ben Tennyson, he felt a rare twinge of obligation to see it through.
Paradox calmly scanned the pile of Omnitrixes scattered in the dirt, then looked down at the scruffy Ben, who was just beginning to groan and blink awake from the dream dust.
"I will return these Omnitrixes to their rightful owners across the timelines," Paradox said smoothly. "As for this particular Ben... I believe there is someone who will be very willing to teach him a personal lesson."
With a wave of his hand, Paradox tore open another swirling portal. He turned to Klein. "Well then, let us go. It is time I sent you back to your own universe."
Without waiting for a response, Paradox turned and strolled into the rift.
Klein nodded, shoving his hands into his pockets. He took a step toward the glowing threshold.
"Wait!"
Gwen's voice called out from behind him.
Klein paused. He turned back to look at the young heroine, the campfire light reflecting in his eyes. He let out a soft breath, offering her a faint, lazy smile.
He spoke a few quiet words of parting, leaving them hanging in the cool night air, before turning around and stepping into the portal, leaving this universe behind.
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