Following the injured fire bat, the group made their way all the way to the observatory.
Looking at the rotten, abandoned building, everyone had the same feeling.
Dr. Animo had to be inside.
The boat pulled up to the shore, and one by one they climbed out, stepping over the muddy wet ground until they reached the observatory entrance.
"Looks like this observatory's been abandoned for a long time," Grandpa Max said, studying the rusty iron door.
"Dr. Animo must be pulling some dirty trick again. He turned all those animals into freaks."
At the thought of the fire bat, Gwen shivered.
If Dr. Animo turned that power on humans, what kind of monsters would they become?
"Let's go in, see what he's up to, and get the Omnitrix casing back while we're at it."
With that, Lucian stepped forward and casually pushed open the iron door.
Creeeak.
The rusty door let out a sharp scraping sound.
A cold gust of wind rushed out from the dim room, carrying the smell of dust as it brushed over them.
Ben hugged his arms and kept glancing around, half-afraid Dr. Animo would suddenly jump out and wipe them all out in one shot.
But for the sake of getting the Omnitrix casing back, he couldn't worry about that now.
And so the group entered the observatory and soon reached the far end.
A huge telescope stood right in front of them.
All around it were strange instruments and jars of every size, filled with bizarre unknown specimens soaking inside.
At that moment, Dr. Animo was sitting in front of the telescope, turning a handle as he adjusted something.
"Animo, give back the Omnitrix casing!" Grandpa Max shouted sternly.
The Omnitrix was an extremely important piece of advanced technology. It contained a vast amount of DNA data. If Dr. Animo managed to crack it, the consequences would be disastrous.
Dr. Animo froze for a moment, then looked up and flashed his white teeth.
"Heh heh, so it's you. Perfect. You'll make excellent test subjects!"
"Dr. Animo, what exactly are you trying to do with the Omnitrix? Other than mutating animals, it's useless to you, isn't it?" Grandpa Max clenched his fists.
"Wrong!" Dr. Animo shook his head, looking like he was disappointed in someone hopelessly dense. "You have no idea how powerful this watch really is. Only I, Dr. Animo, can bring out its true value!"
"What value?"
Dr. Animo let out a cold snort and pointed at the telescope launcher.
"I've already infused the telescope with the watch's energy."
"When the time comes, I'll send the gene accelerator's signal to a satellite, and then it'll be reflected to every corner of the world, so everyone can bask in the sacred light!"
"You want to turn the whole world into freaks?" Shock flashed through Ben's eyes, followed by a surge of anger. "Dream on, Animo! Your plan's never gonna work!"
"Oh really? Then let me see what you're actually capable of!"
Dr. Animo grinned and clapped his hands.
From the shadows in the corner, several terrifying monsters slowly emerged.
"Fire Bat, Diamond Crocodile, Ghost-Eyed Demon Wolf, Morphing Buffalo, Steeljaw Bear, Four Arms Ape. These are the special gifts I prepared just for you. Enjoy yourselves! Hahahahaha!"
Dr. Animo spread his arms, his expression completely crazed.
"Ben, get read—"
Before Grandpa Max could finish, a beam of eerie green light suddenly enveloped him.
The next second, the light faded, revealing a fat, oversized bug.
Its body was grass-green and grotesquely bloated, with four eyes on its face and disgusting slime dripping from the corners of its mouth.
It lay lazily on the ground without moving, as if it had lost all awareness.
And on top of the giant green grub's head was a patch of gray-white hair.
"Grandpa!" Ben shouted in panic and rushed over.
"Grandpa... how... how did you turn into a giant green worm..."
Gwen muttered in disbelief, unable to accept what she was seeing.
As for Lucian, he didn't even have time to feel sad.
At that moment, six huge monsters, all radiating terrifying power, were closing in on them from all sides.
Lucian pressed the Omnitrix without even switching forms and slammed it down.
A slender figure appeared, built like a velociraptor, with wheels under its feet and a long tail swaying behind it.
XLR8.
No... his entire body was wrapped in flames, radiating blistering heat that made the air around him warp.
Flame XLR8!
"Awesome!" Flame XLR8 clenched his claws, overflowing with excitement.
Heatblast's firepower combined with XLR8's speed. That combat power was absolutely insane.
"Awooo!"
The Ghost-Eyed Demon Wolf let out a howl and lunged in with explosive force.
It had a single purple eye on its head, jet-black fur standing up like steel needles, and horrifying cracks running across its body, giving off waves of cold, sinister energy.
"Hahaha! This is my masterpiece, a fusion of Ghostfreak's genes with a wolf. Enjoy it, Lucian!" Dr. Animo cackled.
Just as the Ghost-Eyed Demon Wolf's claws were about to rip Flame XLR8 apart,
Flame XLR8 blurred into a streak of red fire and instantly flashed behind it.
He thrust out a flaming claw, aiming straight at the wolf.
But in the next second, the Ghost-Eyed Demon Wolf's body blurred and vanished like smoke.
Ghostfreak's invisibility.
Whoosh!
A sharp gust of wind suddenly came from behind.
Flame XLR8 snorted and shot away at once.
The next second, he appeared atop a piece of broken machinery, looking down from above.
"So it was you..." Flame XLR8's eyes flashed.
It was a Morphing Buffalo.
It looked just like an ordinary buffalo, except its entire body was black and green, like a buffalo-shaped Upgrade.
"Kill him already!" Dr. Animo shouted.
"Moo!"
The Morphing Buffalo roared, thundered forward on its thick legs, and charged with its sharp horns straight at Flame XLR8.
Flame XLR8 dodged, raised a claw, and fired several streams of flame onto the buffalo's body.
Sizzle!
The Morphing Buffalo cried out in pain, shocked and enraged, and started charging wildly in every direction.
Flame XLR8 shook his head. This one wasn't enough.
Just then, the Diamond Crocodile arrived.
Its whole body was made of green crystal. It was powerfully built, with sharp spikes all over its back like impenetrable armor.
The Diamond Crocodile opened its jaws and began firing out a dense barrage of crystal spikes at Flame XLR8.
Flame XLR8, of course, wasn't afraid. Moving at incredible speed, he threw himself into battle against the monsters.
On the other side,
next to the fat green grub, Gwen grabbed Ben, who was drowning in guilt, and said through clenched teeth,
"Ben, we can't keep doing this. I'm worried about Grandpa too, but Cuz is in real danger right now. We have to go help him!"
"It's all my fault. If I hadn't messed with the Omnitrix, Grandpa wouldn't have turned into this..." Ben muttered miserably.
Gwen grabbed Ben by the ear and shouted, "Exactly! Grandpa ended up like this because of you!"
"So you're going to beat Dr. Animo, and then we'll make him tell us how to turn Grandpa back!"
Ben froze, then his eyes slowly lit up.
"You're right. We need to beat Dr. Animo first!"
With that, Ben slammed the Omnitrix, and a burst of green light erupted.
"Heat...jaws?"