Tokyo, Japan – 3:54 A.M.
A silence fell over the ruined garage. Not peaceful. Not still. The kind of silence that presses against your chest—too thick, too unnatural. Even the city's ever-humming neon quieted.
Scorch took one step back from the darkened hole in the wall, claws drawn. The dim glow of Hikaru's Elementatrix painted the room in pulsing orange-black. The light reflected in her wide, alert eyes.
"He's already here," she whispered.
Hikaru stumbled beside her, gripping a broken crowbar like it was Excalibur. "You said he—wait, like him him? Spikes, eyes, nightmares?"
"Run."
Scorch's voice was sharp as a blade. But it was too late. The air screeched—a tearing sound like reality itself had been stabbed.
From the swirling dark, a figure stepped out.
Vornyx.
Sharim's stealth stalker form.
His body was sleek, blackened chrome, with reflective surfaces that shimmered like oil under light. His long arms bent at unnatural angles. Crimson energy veins pulsed beneath his armor, and two needle-thin tendrils writhed behind him like scorpion tails.
His face was nothing but an angular mask—no eyes, no mouth. Only a thin, vertical red slit glowed down the center of his head.
Hikaru froze.
What the hell is that?"
Scorch didn't answer. She launched forward at impossible speed, slashing toward Vornyx's neck. The alien barely moved—her claws passed through him like smoke.
She skidded to a stop.
"No... he phased—"
BOOM.
Vornyx's tendrils snapped out, slamming Scorch into the wall with bone-rattling force. Sparks flew. She dropped, panting, her side bleeding purple.
Hikaru's heart pounded. He looked down at the Elementatrix. Its central glyph now glowed with chaotic orange lines, flickering like fire inside a forge.
It hissed at him.
"HOST STATUS: THREAT IMMINENT."
"Okay," he whispered, raising his wrist. "No clue how to use this but—do the thing!"
The glyph spun violently. The orange-black glow intensified—and with a sound like a struck tuning fork, energy enveloped him.
His body split, surged, rewrote itself.
NEW ALIEN FORM: FEEDGRADE
A fusion of synthetic and electric energy.
Half-black, half-white. Feedgrade's head was angular, crowned with Feedback's signature plug-spikes. Neon green-black Upgrade circuitry slithered across its skin, glowing faintly. From both hands extended two long bio-cables sparking with untamed voltage.
"Whoa…" Feedgrade's voice echoed, layered with mechanical distortion. "This feels awesome!"
Vornyx turned.
He lunged—too fast for any human to react—but Feedgrade was already gone, streaking in a blur of light and electricity. They clashed mid-air, sending a shockwave through the garage that shattered every remaining window.
Cables lashed forward, wrapping around Vornyx's limbs and slamming him into the floor. Sparks danced across the walls.
"Yeah, I've seen horror movies before," Feedgrade shouted. "You're the part that gets deleted from the final cut!"
But Vornyx shifted, dematerializing. His body pixelated and reformed behind Hikaru in a single flicker.
He struck.
Feedgrade flew backward through the garage doors, crashing into the alley in a heap of shattered concrete and electricity.
Above Earth – 200 km up
Inside Sharim's ship, an alert flashed across the Spacetrix interface. Vornyx was taking damage. A low growl escaped Sharim's throat.
"Enough with the toys."
He deactivated the current form and let the Spacetrix scroll… until it stopped on a red-and-purple glyph, shaped like a twisted vortex spiraling inward.
"You wanted fear?" he muttered.
He slammed the dial.
NEW ALIEN UNLOCKED: CRUELIGHT
Species: Unclassified
Origin: The Gravity Abyss – an interdimensional void between dying stars.
Sharim's body ripped apart and reformed into something unspeakable.
Cruelight stood twelve feet tall. Long-limbed and skeletal, with flesh made of translucent obsidian light, constantly twisting like it wasn't sure what form it wanted. Its face was a hollow void; no eyes, no mouth—only noise. Echoes of screams. Its body pulled at reality itself—light bent around it, sounds distorted. Wherever it stepped, the ground cracked like ice.
Back in Tokyo, Feedgrade stood, panting, as Vornyx's form disintegrated.
Then the alley turned black.
As if the sky itself had blinked.
Cruelight stepped through.
"Hikaru Tenma," it said—not with sound, but as a thought forced into his head.
Scorch staggered to her feet. "Sharim… what did you do to yourself?"
Cruelight turned toward her—and suddenly she was slammed to her knees. The weight of his presence alone was like gravity collapsing inward. Her bones groaned. Her claws dug into the concrete just to stay conscious.
Feedgrade's hands trembled.
"You're... not supposed to exist."
Cruelight raised a hand, slowly, and the street itself lifted into the air—chunks of concrete, metal, cars twisting like toys.
"I exist because fear has form."
And he hurled the entire street section at Hikaru.
Feedgrade's body lit up like a generator.
"NOPE—NOPE—NOPE!"
He released a surge of sonic electricity, Feedback's scream blending with Upgrade's override energy. The wave split the incoming debris in half, vaporizing the first layer.
But it wasn't enough.
Just before impact—
BOOM!
A blue light slammed into Cruelight from the side, knocking him back thirty feet into a building.
A tall, green-clad figure landed in front of Feedgrade, dusting off his jacket.
"Man, you guys throw one heck of a party," the voice said, grinning.
It was Ben Tennyson. Classic outfit. Classic attitude.
He turned to Hikaru.
"You okay, newbie?"
Feedgrade nodded, stunned.
Ben turned toward the wrecked building—and Sharim, still in Cruelight form, slowly rising from the rubble.
"Okay, Slenderman. Time to see what the real Omnitrix can do."
Tokyo, Japan – 4:02 A.M.
The fractured street hung in the air, suspended like a broken mirror in Cruelight's crushing grip. Its obsidian light body shimmered and twisted, soundless echoes rippling from its hollow face.
Feedgrade gritted his teeth, sparking wildly as cables crackled. Nearby, Scorch struggled to steady herself, muscles trembling beneath her kinetic armor.
Suddenly, a blue blur streaked through the smoky air, landing between them and the floating debris.
Ben Tennyson.
His trademark cocky grin was there, but his eyes held the focus of someone ready to fight—not just a kid playing hero anymore.
"Alright, spooky tall guy," Ben said, cracking his knuckles. "You picked the wrong planet to scare."
The Omnitrix on his wrist gleamed green and spun as he slammed it down—settling on Four Arms. Red-skinned, four-armed, all muscle and rage.
Ben transformed in a flash, his form exploding outward with seismic force.
The Fight Begins
Cruelight's head twisted in impossible angles. Without eyes, it sensed Ben's energy signature. It reached out with one elongated arm, crackling with warped gravity.
Four Arms charged.
The two collided with a deafening BOOM that shattered windows and sent ripples through the streets. Ben swung his fists with furious power, each blow threatening to crack the ground.
Cruelight absorbed the impact, bones of obsidian light flexing unnaturally, almost like liquid glass. Then it lashed out with a whip-like tail that tore through the air.
Ben dodged, barely, but was clipped on the shoulder.
Pain flashed.
He gritted his teeth.
"Okay... no big deal," Ben muttered, "Just gotta keep the pressure."
He swung again, grabbing Cruelight's wrist and slamming it against a parked car. Metal crumpled beneath the alien's grip.
"Four Arms smash!" he shouted.
Cruelight's form warped and rippled, cracking the pavement beneath its feet.
"You... are... nothing," it hissed—not in voice, but through the crushing weight forced into Ben's mind.
Ben staggered, vision blurring as a psychic pressure slammed into him.
Locked In
Ben shook his head fiercely.
"No way. You're not messing with my head."
His Omnitrix glowed bright green, but he knew the rules—no switching until the timer ran out. This was Four Arms' fight.
He sprinted forward, dodging a gravity-distorting strike that bent street lamps like twigs. He grabbed a street sign and swung it at Cruelight's torso.
The alien twisted its limbs unnaturally, absorbing the strike—but cracks spidered along its form.
Rising Stakes
Suddenly, Cruelight's body shimmered and fractured, sending shards of dark energy slashing through the air.
Ben blocked one with his forearm, but the others grazed him. His skin burned with the sting of shadow fire.
He coughed, backing away.
"Not over yet," he growled.
Feedgrade looked on, fear and awe mixing in his mechanical voice.
"He's strong... but that thing is pure nightmare."
Scorch limped forward, claws sparking.
"We need to find a weakness—now."
A Moment of Respite
Ben ducked behind a pile of rubble. His Omnitrix glowed—5:12 left on the timer.
Cruelight hovered, shifting and bending the space around it like a predator preparing to strike.
Ben clenched his fists, determination blazing.
"Time's ticking. Got to end this before I'm a sitting duck."
The Final Clash
Ben burst out from cover, charging with a battle cry.
Four Arms grabbed Cruelight's arm, spun him around, and delivered a crushing uppercut. The alien staggered—its obsidian form cracking.
But then it smiled—or at least, Ben thought it did—as the surrounding space warped violently.
A shadow wave exploded outward, knocking Ben off his feet.
Cliffhanger
Ben lay on the ground, chest heaving. The Omnitrix's green light flickered—and then dimmed slightly.
Cruelight loomed over him, voice filling his mind:
"You cannot win. Fear is eternal."
Ben's vision blurred.
Just before darkness took him—
The Omnitrix beeped.
And a new glyph glowed faintly on its face—one that Ben had never seen before.