A moment later, the blinding green light gradually faded.
A white-haired old man in a floral shirt twitched his eyelids, slowly opened his eyes, then rose to his feet and stared at his hands in surprise.
"What... happened to me?" Grandpa Max murmured.
It felt like he had just woken from a nightmare, one where he had turned into a disgusting giant bug that kept drooling nonstop.
Heatjaws was overjoyed. He rushed forward and threw his arms around Grandpa Max.
"Grandpa, you finally changed back! That's awesome!"
Gwen's eyes were red as she wiped away her tears.
"As long as Grandpa's okay..."
Grandpa Max scratched his head, still not quite sure what was going on.
Even so, he reached out and gently patted both grandchildren on the head to comfort them.
Seeing that, Heatstar smiled in satisfaction.
After the warm reunion, Heatjaws looked up at Heatstar.
"Oh right, Cuz, how did you do that just now? That was incredible!"
Gwen nodded, admiration shining in her eyes.
"Yeah, Cuz. How did Dr. Animo's mutation beam end up turning someone back to normal?"
Heatstar pulled the Omnitrix casing out of the launcher and gave it a little shake in his hand, his voice hoarse as he said, "Because I put the casing in backwards and reversed the mutation beam's effect."
"Awesome, Cuz. You're seriously the coolest!" Heatjaws said, giving him a thumbs-up.
Heatstar smiled.
"Alright, I'll change the others back while I'm at it."
As several flashes of light passed, Ghostwolf and the other mutated animals all returned to normal.
Beep! Beep!
At that moment, the damaged Omnitrix symbol on Heatjaws's chest began flashing.
Heatstar's gaze sharpened, and he tossed the Omnitrix casing over.
"Ben, hurry and put it back!"
Heatjaws caught it and immediately pressed it onto the Omnitrix on his chest.
Thump!
A crimson flash swept over him, and Ben returned to normal.
The Omnitrix replica also returned to normal.
[Successfully retrieved the Omnitrix casing, restoring the Omnitrix replica to normal]
[Omnitrix Calibration Version restored to normal operation]
[Additionally obtained a random enhancement effect: Fusion Transformation]
A series of cold system notifications echoed through Heatstar's mind.
"Fusion Transformation?" Heatstar froze for a moment.
[Fusion Transformation: Activates the fusion function, allowing two Alien Heroes to be freely combined into one]
[Note: The host must pay attention to proper hero pairings. Otherwise, it may affect the hero's overall performance]
After hearing the system's explanation, Heatstar stood there stunned for a long moment, then was overwhelmed with joy.
Fusion Transformation!!
For his strength, this was a true leap in power.
"By the way, where did Dr. Animo go?" Grandpa Max suddenly asked, glancing around.
"I think he fell into the water just now..." Gwen said uncertainly as she walked over to the edge of the pool.
But aside from a pond of murky dark-green water, there was nothing there. Dr. Animo had already escaped.
"Damn it, Dr. Animo got away." Ben clenched his fists and said viciously, "Next time I see him, I'm gonna pound him good!"
Heatstar tapped his chest and changed back into Lucian.
Then he began testing the Omnitrix Calibration Version's new ability.
...
A moment later, a blue Kunpeng flew out from the depths of the swamp.
Its whole body was wrapped in icy snow and drifting sand, ethereal and unreal, carrying a cold aura as it flew off toward the distant sky...