"That's right, please come in."
The Happy Country owner stood to one side, placing one hand on the heavy wooden door. He pushed it halfway open, just wide enough for a child to walk through.
Through the gap, Asher noticed something odd: no light reflected from inside. The interior was pitch black, as if the darkness itself had swallowed any illumination that dared to enter.
"I'll go first," Asher announced, unable to resist his curiosity. He stepped toward the wooden door, ducking through the opening before anyone could object.
The owner puffed out his chest with pride. "As I said, this is the most interesting facility in Mirage Paradise. Just look at how excited this kid is!"
"I hope nothing strange shows up in there," Gwen murmured, clasping her hands together in a silent prayer. Ben followed close behind Asher into the mysterious room.
Inside, the darkness was absolute. Asher could barely see his own hands in front of his face. The emptiness felt vast, as if the room extended far beyond what should be possible given the cabin's external dimensions.
Asher squinted into the gloom, moving forward slowly to avoid bumping into Ben and Gwen as they entered behind him.
Suddenly, the walls on both sides erupted with writing, glowing letters painted in fluorescent powder that pulsed with an eerie greenish light!
"DON'T TOUCH IT!"
"NO PHOTOGRAPHY!"
"DO NOT USE BATTERIES OR ELECTRONIC DEVICES NEAR IT!"
Various warning signs covered the walls, their strict prohibitions only adding to the ominous atmosphere. Combined with the oppressive darkness, it felt like they were approaching something dangerous, perhaps a terrifying monster imprisoned in the depths.
"What is it?" Gwen asked cautiously, her voice barely above a whisper.
Asher's interest only grew. His face lit up with excitement despite the creepy setting. "It must be some kind of special creature, otherwise they wouldn't need so many warning signs! Let's keep going!"
Asher pressed forward through the darkness, following the fluorescent markings deeper into the room. Finally, he reached what seemed to be the center.
A massive sign stood before them, illuminated by a spotlight that suddenly clicked on overhead. Bold letters flashed across its surface:
"THIS IS IT!"
In the next moment, a hook descended from the ceiling. The sign lifted away, slowly rising to reveal what lay behind it.
"An alien in a cage? Or maybe a monster preserved as a specimen?" Asher's imagination ran wild before the reveal, cycling through increasingly elaborate possibilities.
Until...
The sign rose completely, and a huge rubber ball came into view.
The ball simply sat there, motionless and unimpressive. All those dramatic warning signs, all that mysterious buildup, for what? A giant piece of playground equipment?
Asher felt his IQ had been personally insulted.
"Are you serious? It's just an oversized rubber ball?" He leaned against the nearby wall, his face a mask of disappointment and boredom. "I thought it would be some kind of alien or something..."
"That's it?" Ben echoed, equally deflated by the anticlimactic reveal.
The Happy Country owner thought otherwise. He walked into the room with an air of mystery, looking at them with knowing eyes. "Don't let appearances fool you. This rubber ball may look ordinary, but what's inside it, well, I can't guarantee anything about that."
With that cryptic statement hanging in the air, he walked out of the room with obvious satisfaction, leaving plenty of suspense in his wake.
"Inside?" Asher's eyes sharpened instantly, disappointment giving way to fresh curiosity.
Asher straightened up and approached the rubber ball again. He extended his right hand, the one wearing the Omnitrix, and hooked his palm around one of the thick rubber bands stretched across the ball's surface.
He pulled gently, and the rubber band stretched outward under the pressure, creating a small gap in the ball's exterior.
BZZT!
A dazzling yellow bolt of electricity flashed out from the gap! It illuminated the dark room like a miniature lightning strike, crackling with raw power!
The electrical discharge struck Asher's palm instantly, sending a numbing jolt up his arm. He jerked his hand back reflexively, and the rubber band snapped closed again with a sharp "CRACK!"
At the same moment, the Omnitrix's display flickered twice. The screen pulsed with unusual light, a clear sign that it had detected and attempted to scan alien DNA in close proximity.
"Asher, did something just flash in there? Are you okay?" Gwen noticed the strange light and rushed to his side, her voice filled with concern.
"I'm fine!" Asher assured her, flexing his fingers to work out the lingering numbness. "Ben, Gwen, don't touch those rubber bands. There's something inside with unknown properties. Remember that, okay?"
Asher spoke with uncharacteristic seriousness, though his heart raced with excitement.
There must be some kind of alien with lightning abilities trapped inside that ball!
Electric powers were rare and valuable. If he could successfully record that alien's DNA and add it to his arsenal, it would be an incredible addition to his transformation roster!
BIU~
Asher tapped the Omnitrix's faceplate, causing the holographic display to pop up. He quickly rotated through the interface, cycling through alien silhouettes one by one. He scrolled all the way to the end of his current roster, but no new alien patterns appeared.
Damn, Asher thought with disappointment. The DNA wasn't recorded because I didn't make full contact with the creature itself.
The Omnitrix needed direct, sustained contact to properly analyze and store new alien DNA, the rubber bands had blocked a complete scan.
"This place is boring. We should go outside and do something else," Ben complained, breaking the thoughtful silence. "I saw a really good burger joint on the way in. I haven't had a proper burger in forever. Why don't we go out and grab something to eat?"
Ben's suggestion was music to Asher's ears.
Perfect! Asher thought. If anyone else hung around here, he wouldn't be able to return and record that alien's DNA. The fewer people who knew about his plan, the better.
"Wait until tonight," Asher decided, already formulating his strategy. "I'll sneak back in here after dark and record the DNA of whatever's inside that ball! That way, nobody will be disturbed, and I can coax the creature into this contained space where it won't cause trouble elsewhere!"
The plan was flawless, no one would get hurt, and he wouldn't waste a valuable transformation opportunity.
Asher, Ben, and Gwen left the house calmly. As they walked back toward the main thoroughfare, Asher carefully memorized the route, noting landmarks and turns he'd need to find his way back in the dark.
For the rest of the day, they simply ate, explored, and killed time. It was worth mentioning that they accidentally ran into the kid who'd been making faces after Ben earlier, but fortunately, the encounter didn't escalate since Ben wasn't around when it happened.
Time passed quickly. Before they knew it, evening had arrived, and the sky deepened from orange to purple to black.
Around eight or nine o'clock, everyone returned to the Rust Bucket to rest. Asher made an excuse about wanting to take a walk and slipped out of the RV. Thanks to Max's trust in him, his grandfather didn't try to stop him, only reminding him to come back early.
"Phew!" Asher breathed in the cool night air, scanning his surroundings carefully. The area was deserted.
Mirage Paradise, which had been moderately busy during the day, now stood completely silent. Even the shops had closed early, leaving Asher as the only person walking through the retro-themed streets.
"Now's my chance!" Asher whispered to himself, a determined smile crossing his face.
He made his way to the men's restroom in Mirage Paradise, a nondescript building that would provide perfect cover for what came next.
FLASH!
Green light erupted from inside the restroom, so bright it could be seen through the windows and under the door. When it faded, a black blur with blue stripes shot out at incredible speed, leaving only a trail of scattered papers and swirling dust in its wake!
XLR8 raced through the streets at velocities that made the world around him blur into streaks of color. His ball-shaped feet spun like wheels as he tore across the pavement, following his memorized route toward the Happy Country attraction.
Within seconds, he'd crossed the distance that had taken them twenty minutes to walk earlier. Buildings flashed past in the periphery of his vision as XLR8's enhanced perception processed everything in super-speed.
SCREECH!
XLR8 came to an abrupt halt in front of the wooden cabin. His protective visor lifted automatically, revealing his blue reptilian face and bright green eyes. He stared at the structure before him, double-checking that this was the right place.
"This is it!" XLR8's voice came out slightly higher-pitched and faster than Asher's normal tone, a side effect of his accelerated metabolism. "Time to meet our electric friend!"
...
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