The blazing sun hung high overhead.
The Rustbucket was parked on the bridge spanning the lake.
The tourists nearby had already fled long ago, terrified of getting caught in the crossfire.
Grandpa Max gripped the Null Void Projector, his expression grim as he stared at the giant octopus and Kevin in the lake below.
"Vilgax is using his aquatic form. He's incredibly strong. We're not a match for him."
Grandpa Max raised the Null Void Projector and aimed it at the two figures below.
"That's not necessarily true..." Four-Armed Humungousaur said slowly.
By now, he had already unlocked Way Big's genes.
Dealing with Vilgax and Kevin 11 would not be difficult at all.
The only reason he had not turned into Way Big earlier was because he wanted to test the power of the fusion ability first.
Stinkfly landed at the edge of the bridge, his wings fluttering lightly.
"Relax, Grandpa. Cuz and I are crazy strong right now. Beating up that giant octopus would be easy."
"Hmph, doofus. And what happens if your little busted watch acts up again?" Gwen said with her hands on her hips, clearly annoyed. "Just because you can switch freely between Alien Heroes right now doesn't mean you're safe. If that little broken watch crashes again, you're the one who's getting beaten up!"
"Gwen's right. We can't let our guard down." Grandpa Max finished adjusting the projector and said seriously, "Sending Vilgax to the Null Void is the safest option."
"Works for me." Four-Armed Humungousaur smiled.
"Oh, man. I haven't had enough fun yet." Stinkfly drooped his head in disappointment.
Still, since everyone else had already decided, Ben naturally did not object.
In the blue lake below.
Kevin 11 stood on top of the giant octopus, his face twisted viciously as he glared up at the people on the bridge.
"Ben Tennyson, if you've got guts, come down here! Let's go another three hundred rounds!"
Kevin clenched his fists until they cracked.
The giant octopus finally recovered from its dizziness, bared its fangs, and let out a thunderous roar.
"Grab them, now!"
"I told you not to order me around!" Kevin stomped hard on the octopus's head.
"You're asking to die!" Vilgax was just about to lose his temper.
But then a golden wave of light shot down from above.
Thunk!
The golden light swept past the two of them and struck the water nearby.
Immediately after, a huge golden ring appeared out of nowhere.
Its terrifying suction spun wildly like a deep-sea whirlpool.
"The Null Void!!" Vilgax cried out in alarm and tried to flee.
But the pull of the ring was overwhelming. Everything within a hundred meters of water was being dragged toward it.
Kevin's eyes hardened. He instantly beat his wings, trying to escape into the sky.
But Stinkfly spat out a stream of slime, knocking Kevin straight back into the golden ring.
Seeing that he was about to be sucked into the Null Void, Vilgax roared and chose to go down fighting.
"If I can't escape, then none of you are getting out either!"
"Tennyson, come into the Null Void with me!"
Vilgax lashed his tentacles wildly, and green vine-like tendrils shot out of the water and soared into the sky.
Then they came crashing down, sweeping toward the bridge with terrifying force.
Grandpa Max's pupils shrank at once.
At the critical moment, Four-Armed Humungousaur leaped into the air.
His powerful muscles swelled rapidly as he clenched mountain-sized fists and smashed straight into the giant octopus's tentacles with fearless force.
"Hey! Don't forget about me!"
With a thought, Stinkfly transformed into Diamondhead.
"Hero time!"
Diamondhead turned one hand into a giant hammer, launched himself upward, and slammed into the sky-covering tentacles as well.
"Heh, then come to hell with me!" Vilgax sneered.
His tentacles curled around and engulfed Four-Armed Humungousaur and Diamondhead in a tidal wave of writhing limbs.
Thunk!
A blinding golden light erupted from the giant ring in the lake, sucking Vilgax into it and sealing him inside the Null Void.
Four-Armed Humungousaur and Diamondhead were pulled in with him.
"Cuz! Ben!" Gwen shouted anxiously.
But their figures were already gone from the lake.
The water rippled softly, glittering in the sunlight.
The blazing sun reflected off the lake like a giant golden eye, silently witnessing everything.
Grandpa Max let out a sigh. He had never expected things to turn out like this.
"Grandpa, what do we do now?" Gwen asked worriedly.
She had never been to the Null Void, but any place capable of holding Vilgax had to be unimaginably dangerous.
Sure, Cuz and Ben had the Omnitrix, but that did not mean nothing could happen to them.
"Come with me. We have to rescue Lucian and Ben."
With that, Grandpa Max turned and ran back to the Rustbucket.
A moment later, the two of them came back out.
Grandpa Max was holding a stand with the Null Void Projector fixed onto it.
Then he activated it, and a golden beam shot out.
In an instant, the massive ring of light appeared again, with ripples of distorted space spreading around it.
At the same time, Gwen put on a special protective suit.
There was an engine pack on her back that allowed her to hover and fly, and two handguns hung at her waist in case she ran into danger.
On top of that, Grandpa Max also strapped a tracking watch onto her.
That watch would help her find the route back through the portal, so she would not get lost.
Grandpa Max adjusted the projector's output and said gravely, "Gwen, once you go in, you have to find Lucian and Ben as fast as possible. I can only keep the portal open for ten minutes at most."
"After ten minutes, whether you find them or not, you have to come back. Understood?"
"Got it, Grandpa!" Gwen nodded, her eyes full of determination.
No matter what, she was going to find Cuz and that doofus.
Grandpa Max shook his head and sighed.
"I wanted to go in and rescue them myself, but someone has to stay outside and control this machine. So I'm afraid this has to fall to you."
"Relax, Grandpa. Don't forget, I'm Lucky Girl!"
With that, Gwen stepped into the ring of light and vanished into the dazzling golden glow.
....
Western Null Void.
Huge boulders of every size floated in midair. The sky was blood-red and endless, like some legendary hell, silent and eerie.
There were no flowers, no grass, and no sunlight.
All that existed here were endless giant rocks, cold spaceship wreckage, and countless vicious criminals.
A huge green octopus lay sprawled across a yellow-brown boulder.
"Damn it, I got played by Tennyson again!" Vilgax's tentacles trembled with rage.
"Forget it. I'll change back first."
As he spoke, Vilgax's octopus form gradually shrank, his flesh rapidly shifting.
Crack... crack...
The sound of flesh and bone restructuring echoed through the dead silence.
Vilgax gritted his teeth so hard they creaked, his face twisted in pain.
Every time he changed back from his aquatic form, he had to endure this pain. Otherwise, he could not return to his humanoid body.
About ten minutes later, Vilgax finally turned back into his normal form.
He still had that octopus-like head with writhing tentacles, but the rest of him was once again a beast-like body packed with bulging muscle.
"Good thing I didn't fall into a weakened state. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to change back." Vilgax clenched his fist, still shaken.
In truth, taking aquatic form came with certain risks.
If he were badly wounded and weakened, then even after leaving the water, he would not be able to return to humanoid form.
That was because switching forms consumed a massive amount of energy.
At that moment, Kevin walked over from the side.
"This is all your fault, Professor. You dragged both of us into this mess!"
Vilgax narrowed his eyes.
"And what exactly are you trying to say..."