Chapter 100: The New Alien Hero, Ditto
"Klein! Gwen!" Fasttrack called out, his voice buzzing with a mix of relief and adrenaline.
Hearing his shout, Swampfire and Gwen snapped their attention toward the blue-and-black speedster.
Across the clearing, the towering, ragged figure of the Mummy sensed the shifting odds. Seizing the momentary distraction, the creature lashed out. Thick, dusty bandages shot from its arms, wrapping tightly around the wooden support beams of the nearby granary. With a sickening groan of splintering wood, the Mummy gave a vicious yank. The massive structure collapsed in a thunderous crash, throwing up a blinding cloud of dust and effectively barricading the path between the creature and the trio.
Swampfire did not even flinch. He casually flicked his wrist, scattering a handful of glowing green seeds into the dirt at the base of the wreckage. Within seconds, thick, muscular vines erupted from the soil, twisting and braiding together. Under Swampfire's silent command, the massive botanical limbs surged upward, hoisting the crushed granary into the air as easily as lifting a cardboard box.
But the clearing beyond was completely empty. The Mummy had vanished into the shadows.
A sudden flash of crimson light pierced the gloom, accompanied by the familiar high-pitched whine of the Omnitrix timing out. Fasttrack shrank down, leaving Ben standing in the dirt, panting slightly.
"It got away," Ben muttered, kicking a loose pebble. He turned to look up at the towering plant alien. "It looked like it was searching for something. Something glowing with a weird purple light."
A soft, quiet blue light washed over the area. Swampfire's massive form melted away, leaving Klein standing with his hands tucked casually into his pockets. He stared thoughtfully at the empty space where the creature had stood, his eyes narrowing just a fraction.
Before anyone could say another word, the horizon began to bleed with a pale, golden hue.
"You have got to be kidding me! We haven't even slept yet!" Gwen whipped her head around, staring in absolute horror at the rising sun.
"Run!" Ben yelled, already sprinting back toward the farmhouse. "If we hurry, we can still squeeze in two hours of sleep!"
"Klein, come on!" Gwen shouted over her shoulder, her legs pumping as she chased after her cousin.
Klein, however, did not run. He simply adjusted his collar and walked at a leisurely, unbothered pace. He clearly remembered Grandpa Max's ominous warning from the night before: 'You'll be glad you went to bed early.' Knowing the old man's farm schedule, Klein was willing to bet his entire allowance that there would be absolutely zero sleep to be had.
...
By the time Klein strolled up to the main farmyard, the tragic scene was already unfolding. Ben and Gwen, both looking like reanimated corpses, were being herded toward the cowshed by Todd, each carrying a pair of heavy metal buckets.
As expected. No sleep.
But since Klein had anticipated this exact scenario, he naturally had a countermeasure prepared. Today, he had no intention of causing trouble, fighting monsters, or saving the day. His sole objective was to slack off with maximum efficiency.
"Grandpa Max!" Klein called out smoothly, pivoting on his heel. "I'll go check on the other chores around the back!" He prepared to make his grand escape.
Grandpa Max stepped out from behind a tractor, his brow furrowed in a stern, no-nonsense expression. "Oh, no you don't! You need to get in there and milk the cows too. You slacked off all day yesterday, didn't you?"
Klein froze. A rare miscalculation. He genuinely had not expected his grandfather to keep such a tight ledger on his laziness. Suppressing a heavy sigh, Klein accepted his temporary defeat and trudged toward the pungent-smelling cowshed.
Todd noticed Klein approaching and gestured vaguely toward the line of bovines. "Grab a stool and pick a cow. Just avoid that one at the end. She seems a bit sick, been completely listless since yesterday."
Klein glanced at the specific cow Todd was pointing at. He raised an eyebrow. The poor animal looked awfully familiar, likely a victim of one of yesterday's chaotic incidents.
"Alright, you kids do a thorough job!" Grandpa Max instructed cheerfully, clapping his hands together. "Todd and I have other matters to attend to." With that, the two adults walked out of the shed, leaving the trio alone with the herd.
The moment Grandpa Max was out of earshot, Klein turned to look at Ben and Gwen. The sheer number of cows was staggering. "There is absolutely no way we are finishing this by hand," Klein stated flatly. "Unless..."
Ben and Gwen exchanged a tired, desperate look. They both nodded in unison, completely on board with whatever shortcut Klein was about to propose.
Seeing their agreement, Klein gestured with two fingers. "Dweeb. Come here."
"What are you doing?" Ben asked, shuffling over with a confused expression, dragging his bucket along the dirt floor.
Klein did not answer. He simply grabbed Ben's left wrist, his fingers dancing across the faceplate of the Omnitrix. He twisted the dial, inputting a specific sequence. The device beeped, the core popping up with a fresh silhouette.
Ben's eyes widened, all traces of sleep instantly vanishing. "Awesome! A new alien!" He immediately understood the assignment.
"Give it a try," Klein said, stepping back a few paces and crossing his arms over his chest, waiting for the show.
"You got it!" Ben grinned, slamming his hand down onto the core.
A brilliant flash of emerald light illuminated the dusty cowshed. When the light faded, a completely new alien stood in Ben's place. It was only about the height of a human child, its body a sleek combination of stark black and white with gray accents. Three fin-like protrusions stuck out from its head, and glowing green nodes rested on its shoulders and wrists.
"Whoa..." Ditto held up his oversized hands, flexing his three-fingered claws. "What kind of powers does this little guy have?"
"Cloning," Klein answered simply. Having provided the solution, he turned his back and walked away to find a comfortable spot.
"Cloning?" Ditto repeated, his voice echoing with a slightly squeaky, energetic pitch. He focused hard, straining for just a second.
With a strange, rubbery popping sound, his body stretched and split right down the middle, instantly forming a perfect duplicate. The two Dittos blinked, staring at each other in absolute amazement. "Okay, that is cool!" they said in perfect unison.
Not wasting another second, the two Dittos concentrated again. Pop! Pop! Two became four. Four became eight. Eight rapidly multiplied into sixteen identical aliens, crowding the aisle of the cowshed.
"Awesome!" the sixteen Dittos cheered, their voices bouncing off the wooden walls. They immediately scattered, pairing up and grabbing buckets to tackle the long line of cows.
This was exactly what Klein had planned. He had unlocked Ditto for the sole purpose of outsourcing his manual labor. Spotting a large, relatively clean haystack in the corner, Klein climbed up, settled into the soft hay, and closed his eyes.
Gwen watched the chaotic swarm of Dittos working at lightning speed. Realizing her shift was effectively over, she turned and walked over to the haystack. A faint, embarrassed flush dusted her cheeks as she climbed up and quietly lay down beside Klein, desperate for some actual rest.
...
Time passed peacefully in the quiet corner of the shed.
"Finished milking!" sixteen voices shouted in triumphant unison, shattering the tranquility.
The Dittos wiped their brows, looking around the now-empty aisle. "Hey, wait a minute..." They turned their oversized heads, scanning the room until they spotted the two figures resting comfortably on the hay.
"Hey! This is totally unfair!" the sixteen Dittos yelled, throwing their arms up in synchronized outrage.
The sheer volume of the complaint jolted Klein awake. His brow twitched in annoyance. He slowly opened his eyes, propping himself up on his elbows as he glared down at the sea of black-and-white clones.
"You are way too noisy..."
Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Klein slid off the haystack. He walked right up to the nearest Ditto, pulled his hand back, and delivered a sharp, precise flick right to the alien's forehead.
"Ouch!" all sixteen Dittos shrieked simultaneously, clutching their foreheads in identical pain.
"Wait, why does it hurt me when he hits you?!" one of the Dittos complained to the clone next to him, rubbing his throbbing head. The entire group looked around in mass confusion, realizing their sensory network was linked.
Klein, however, was far too lazy to explain the biological drawbacks of a Splixson's linked nervous system. He simply turned around, climbed back onto the haystack, and closed his eyes again. Seeing the clear threat in his casual demeanor, the sixteen Dittos immediately clamped their mouths shut, not daring to make another peep.
A moment later, the Omnitrix symbol on their chests began to blink red, emitting a rapid warning beep. With a brilliant flash of crimson light, the clones merged back together, leaving a very disoriented Ben standing in the dirt.
He let out a massive, jaw-cracking yawn. The exhaustion of controlling sixteen bodies at once hit him like a truck. Without a word, he stumbled over to a nearby pile of hay, collapsed into it, and instantly started snoring.
...
An hour later, the heavy wooden doors of the cowshed creaked open. "How are things coming along in here?" Joan called out, stepping into the dim interior.
She stopped in her tracks, taking in the sight of the three kids dead to the world on the hay bales. A knowing smile touched her lips. "Well, it certainly seems like they didn't go to bed early last night."
Her gaze then shifted to the neat, massive rows of perfectly filled milk buckets lining the wall. She raised her eyebrows in genuine surprise. "I have to admit, though... they are incredibly diligent."
Stepping closer, Joan clapped her hands loudly, breaking the peaceful silence. "Alright, up you get! No sleeping on the job. Go find Todd outside; he'll give you the rest of your chore list for today." Having delivered the bad news, she turned and briskly walked out of the shed.
Groaning in collective misery, Klein, Ben, and Gwen dragged themselves out of the hay, brushing the dry stalks off their clothes.
As Joan's words fully registered in his sleep-deprived brain, Klein's expression darkened considerably. 'Are you kidding me? You really aren't going to let me sleep, are you?'A dangerous glint flashed in his eyes. If they wanted farm work done, he would give them farm work. He slowly raised his left wrist, his fingers hovering over the dial of the Another Omnitrix, fully prepared to select an alien that would permanently'solve' the farm's chore problem through sheer destructive force.
"Klein, wait!" Ben yelled, his eyes bugging out.
"Klein, calm down!" Gwen shrieked, lunging forward.
Both of them recognized that specific, terrifying look in his eyes. They rushed over, grabbing his arms to physically stop him from transforming.
"Listen, just... just leave the rest of the farm chores to us!" Ben pleaded, patting his own chest with forced bravado. "We've got it covered!"
Gwen nodded furiously, her eyes wide with panic. "Absolutely! You just rest!"
Klein paused, his hand dropping away from the watch face. He gave them a slow, indifferent nod, saying absolutely nothing. It wasn't until Ben and Gwen had sprinted out of the cowshed in a panic that a sly, victorious smirk finally crept onto Klein's face.
Hook, line, and sinker.
...
Outside, Todd handed Ben and Gwen a terrifyingly long list of daily tasks before heading off to tend to the tractor. Left with no other choice, it was time to put the Omnitrix to work.
The rest of the day became a blur of alien labor. Wildvine used his stretching botanical limbs to carry massive troughs of slop, feeding the pigs from a safe distance. Fasttrack became a blue blur, zipping through the coops to collect the morning eggs—though Ben was highly confused as to why there were so few of them. Wildmutt took over the fields, using his raw, beastly strength to drag the heavy iron plow through the tough soil. Later, Diamondhead stood by the pastures, casually firing crystalline shards into the ground to serve as indestructible new fence posts.
The grueling hours bled away, and soon the sky was painted in the deep oranges and purples of dusk. Exhausted beyond measure, Ben and Gwen finally finished the last of their assigned tasks, dragging their feet as they followed Todd back toward the main farmhouse.
Ben rubbed his lower back, wincing at the dull ache settling into his muscles. "Do you guys seriously have this much work to do every single day?"
Todd chuckled dryly, shaking his head. "Not even close. The spring plowing and autumn harvest seasons are way harder than this."
He paused, leaning against the porch railing. "But honestly, I prefer the hard work. It keeps your mind busy. It's usually pretty boring out here in the middle of nowhere. After all, it's not every day that a creepy Mummy shows up right after the purple lightning." Todd scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Though, now that I think about it... the Mummy we saw yesterday didn't have any purple lightning before it showed up."
Ben and Gwen stopped dead in their tracks. They slowly turned to look at each other, the exhaustion momentarily forgotten as a shared sense of alarm washed over them.
"Purple lightning?" they repeated in unison.
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