As Evan's body began to fall, something inside the Another Omnitrix reacted before he even hit the ground. The dial flared to life, a surge of golden flame burst outward from the watch and spread across his body in an instant, swallowing him completely.
The air around him warped from the heat.
Ben froze, Gwen's breath caught, Max was too stunned to move, and even Vilgax, who had just cut him down without hesitation, paused as the burning figure steadied itself instead of collapsing.
Evan raised both hands, and before anyone could process what was happening, a wave of fire blasted forward and crashed straight into Vilgax. The impact sent the already damaged warlord skidding back across the ground, his remaining armor grinding against the ground as he was forced away.
The flames slowly died down. What stood there now wasn't human.
The golden fire peeled off like a second skin, revealing a tall, plant-like figure with a body made of layered green and black, streaked with muck and rough textures, like something that had grown instead of being built. A red, flame-patterned petal spread out where his head should be, and root-like feet dug into the ground. Red petal-like growths framed his shoulders and head, while green frills extended from his limbs. Heat rolled off him in waves, carrying a faint, rotten scent that only grew stronger the longer the warmth lingered.
The golden Omnitrix dial rested on the center of his chest.
He looked down at his hands, flexing his fingers slowly.
This wasn't in his playlist.
And yet, he understood it immediately.
"Swampfire."
The name came naturally, like it had always been there.
The cut across his body was already gone. Where Vilgax's blade had split him clean in half, the plant-like structure of his body had simply pulled itself back together, fibers reconnecting, layers sealing, as if being torn apart was just another form of damage to recover from.
Evan understood what had just happened, the moment Vilgax's blade had cut him in two, Phoenix Protocol had triggered, and since his entire playlists doesn't have anything that could survive a cut like that and fight back against Vilgax, it transformed him into a new alien that can survive and fight back.
Although he still didn't know where the new DNAs were coming from, he naturally wasn't going to question it. Since right now, there is a more pressing matter to be dealt with.
Ignoring the looks the Tennysons were giving him, Swampfire didn't slow down or hesitate. He moved straight toward the injured Vilgax, closing the distance in a few heavy steps. His fist clenched, then drove forward, connecting cleanly with the alien warlord's face and sending him skidding back across the ground.
He didn't give Vilgax time to recover. Fire gathered in both of his palms before he hurled them forward. The blasts struck and detonated on impact, the explosions kicking up dirt and flame as they pushed Vilgax even farther away.
For a moment, there was only the crackle of burning debris.
Then Vilgax forced himself back up.
His eyes locked onto those bright, glowing, golden eyes staring back at him.
Like a phoenix, once it reaches the end of its life, it is said to burn away and be reborn from its own ashes.
When Vilgax cut him down, he really had died. And whatever stood here now had risen from that golden flame.
But the memory didn't disappear with the fire.
The feeling of the blade cutting through his skin, muscles, bones, and organs was still there. Evan remembered all of it.
"Since you're willing to go that far, willing to stop at nothing... to achieve your goal…" Swampfire said, stepping forward again, his voice low but steady. "It seems that we aren't that different."
"Although I don't want to admit this. Or even accept this."
He kept walking, each step measured, unhurried.
"But I really can't just lie to myself when the trust is right in front of me."
"You're willing to do anything to rule the universe," he continued. "And I'm willing to do anything to protect my loved ones."
Those golden eyes met Vilgax's red ones without flinching.
"I am you."
The moment the words left him, he moved.
Swampfire surged forward, closing the gap instantly. Vilgax swung his arm in response, a heavy strike meant to crush him, but Swampfire brought up his own arm and blocked it head-on. His root-like foot dug into the ground beneath him, holding his position.
"Royal Guard!"
His free hand snapped down and slammed into Vilgax's leg. Methane gas surged out from his palm, igniting the second he made contact with the larger alien. The explosion hit point-blank, throwing Vilgax off balance and sending him backward again.
Swampfire didn't stop. He was already moving.
He rushed forward, fists flying. Each punch was backed by controlled bursts of flame from his elbows, the combustion adding weight and force to every strike. The repeated impacts drove Vilgax farther and farther back, leaving him little room to counter.
Grinding his teeth, Vilgax endured it. Then, in a sudden motion, he lashed out with his claw.
The strike tore clean through Swampfire's right arm.
But even that didn't stop him.
Swampfire's left fist came crashing into Vilgax's head a split second later, the blow landing just as hard as the others and sending the warlord stumbling back again.
Where his arm had been severed, new plant matter was already forming, growing back in seconds as if nothing had happened.
Without pause, Swampfire reached up to his shoulders, ripping free several of the seed-like pods embedded there. He threw them toward Vilgax's position. The moment they hit the ground, they burrowed beneath the surface, and thick vines erupted upward, coiling tightly around Vilgax's body and pinning him in place.
Swampfire brought both palms together.
A surge of flame blasted forward, a concentrated wave that struck Vilgax head-on. Then he pushed more methane into it, feeding the fire, amplifying it further with Pyretic Overdrive. The flames roared brighter and hotter, burning through even his own vines as they overwhelmed the target.
The force of it sent Vilgax flying, crashing deeper into the forest beyond.
Even then, Swampfire didn't stop.
He lowered his arms and started walking forward again, heading toward where Vilgax had been thrown, his pace unchanged.
Behind him, Max's expression tightened.
"Ben! Go Diamondhead and stop Evan!" Max called out suddenly.
Ben blinked, confused for half a second, but the urgency in his grandpa's voice made him act without questioning it. He activated the Omnitrix, cycled quickly, and slammed it down.
A flash of green light burst behind Swampfire.
Crystal surged up from the ground in front of him, forming a thick wall that cut off his path. Swampfire tilted his head over his shoulder, seeing Diamondhead standing right behind him.
"That's enough, partner," Diamondhead said from behind him, arms raised. "I don't know why Grandpa wants-"
Swampfire turned away, his fist clenched.
With one punch, boosted by a burst of flame, the crystal wall was shattered into fragments. The pieces scattered across the ground as if they'd never been solid to begin with.
He kept walking.
Taken aback, Diamondhead stepped forward quickly and grabbed onto Swampfire's shoulders, trying to hold him in place.
"Evan, wait! Grandpa-"
Swampfire didn't respond. His body shifted, the plant matter loosening and slipping through Diamondhead's grip as he continued forward, ignoring him completely.
"Okay, that's done it," Diamondhead muttered, irritation creeping into his voice.
He raised both hands. Crystal erupted from the ground around Swampfire, rising up and sealing over him from all sides, forming a complete cage.
"That should do it."
But before anything else could happen, Max ran past him.
The crystal cage blocked everything above ground, but not below.
Inside, Swampfire's body broke apart, sinking into the soil in an instant. He moved through the earth itself, bypassing the crystal entirely and emerging just outside of it.
Max had already anticipated it.
The moment Swampfire reappeared, Max lunged forward and wrapped his arms around him from behind, locking them around his neck and shoulders.
It wasn't enough to physically stop him, as Max wasn't trying to overpower him.
After everything that just happened, after seeing how Swampfire ignored Diamondhead and never once tried to hurt him, Max knew there was still control there.
"Evan, calm down!" Max said firmly.
Swampfire stopped. Not completely, but enough.
His gaze shifted slightly, and those golden glows narrowed toward the voice beside him.
Before anything else could be said, a low rumble cut through the air.
All of them looked up.
Vilgax's damaged ship was rising, barely holding together as it forced itself upward. Flames and sparks trailed from its sides as it climbed higher, trying to escape despite the damage.
It didn't make it far.
Before it could even leave the atmosphere, the ship erupted in a massive explosion. Fire and debris burst outward, fragments scattering across the sky before beginning to fall back down.
"What the?" Swampfire muttered.
"Before we left, I activated the ship's self-destruct system," Max said, releasing his hold as the immediate tension eased.
Swampfire stood there for a moment longer.
Then he tapped his Omnitrix dial, and his body shifted back into human form.
Evan stared up at the thick black cloud spreading across the sky, silent.
Slowly, his hand moved to his chest, tracing along an invisible line, the place where he had been cut apart. Even now, he could still feel it.
Max noticed, and after a brief pause, placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Evan, I know you're angry," he said. "But you can't let that anger decide things for you. Once you take a life, you don't get to undo it. If you ever cross that line… it has to be because you chose to, not because you lost control to your emotion."
Evan didn't respond right away.
His hand dropped from his chest and moved to the goggles around his neck, gripping them lightly before letting go. After a moment, he turned his head toward Max.
Behind them, Diamondhead and Gwen approached, both quiet now, their attention fixed on the two of them.
"Grandpa," Evan said at last, his voice steady again.
"We need to talk."
Max let out a quiet sigh.
There was no putting it off anymore.
...
Max rested his hands on the steering wheel as the road stretched ahead, the engine of the Rust Bucket humming steadily beneath them.
After a moment of quiet, he finally spoke, his tone casual, like he was easing into something he hadn't talked about in a long time.
He started telling his grandkids about his time as a Plumber.
The Plumbers were an intergalactic law enforcement organization, one that operated across different worlds, dealing with threats most people on Earth didn't even know existed. Their job wasn't just to fight aliens, it was to keep order, to step in when things went beyond what any normal authority could handle.
He explained it simply, without trying to make it sound bigger than it was.
Eventually, the story shifted to Vilgax.
Max talked about the encounter like it was just another mission, even though the others could tell it wasn't something small. He described how things escalated, how it turned into a direct fight, and how he managed to send Vilgax back to his own ship on a missile.
"…And then kablamo," Max said, finishing it off with a small gesture of his hand. "No more Vilgax… or so I thought. Until today."
There was a brief silence after that.
"Whoa! You were a hero?" Ben asked, leaning forward in his seat, clearly impressed.
Max shook his head slightly. "I was just a guy doing a job."
"Excuse me," Gwen cut in, glancing at him. "But exactly what was that job?"
Max glanced at her, then back at the road. "We called ourselves the Plumbers. Officially, we didn't exist. No badges anyone would recognize, no records you could look up. We handled the things no one else could, extraterrestrial, extrasensory, extraordinary."
Gwen nodded slowly, piecing things together. "So that chamber you brought us back at Mt. Rushmore…"
"Was an old Plumber base," Max confirmed.
That clicked something for Ben almost instantly.
"So all this time, me and Evan have been going hero…" he started, then grinned. "We've been following in your footsteps!"
He turned slightly, excitement clear on his face. "We're basically Plumbers in training!"
In the back, Evan had been listening the whole time, quieter than usual. At that, he shifted his gaze away, looking out the window instead of joining in.
"And you knew about the Omnitrixes the whole time?" Gwen asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Not really," Max replied. "I'd heard rumors. Nothing solid. I was just as surprised as you were when it showed up on Ben's wrist. And even more when there is another one on Evan's wrist. The rumors only speak about one Omnitrix, not two."
Gwen didn't look fully convinced. "You always told us we could tell you anything, Grandpa," she said. "Guess it didn't go both ways."
Max didn't answer right away.
Instead, Gwen followed up with another question. "Do our parents know who you really are?"
"No," Max said after a moment. "I never told either of my sons what I really did. As far as they were concerned, I was just an ordinary plumber."
There was a pause before he continued, his tone shifting slightly.
"Stay Gold, on the other hand… she is part of the Plumbers too," Max added. "I trained her when she was starting out. We went through a lot together, more than a few situations that could've gone either way."
His eyes flicked briefly to the rearview mirror.
"After a while… I adopted her. Although due to her personality and complicated circumstances, many still mistake her for a man."
In the back, Evan tilted his head slightly, meeting Max's gaze through the rearview mirror.
"So why didn't you tell us this?" Evan asks.
"Evan, the Plumbers isn't something to take lightly." Max said, his gaze locking onto his grandson through the rearview mirror. "We deal with threats that ordinary people don't know existed. I don't want my grandkids to enter the same war zone battlefield I once entered."
The RV became quietly still for a moment, with the three not knowing what to say.
Before anything else could be said, the sound of sirens cut through the moment.
Max glanced ahead and then to the side mirror as flashing lights approached from behind. He slowed the Rust Bucket and carefully pulled over to the side of the road, giving the emergency vehicles space to pass.
"Alright!" Ben said, already shifting in his seat. "Could be a chance for the Plumbers to get back to work!"
"Ugh," Gwen groaned. "You should start by unclogging whatever's blocking your brain, Mr. Plumber."
Ben smirked and stuck his tongue out. "You're just jealous because you're not part of the family business."
"There is no family business," Max said, more firmly this time. "Those days are over."
Ben didn't look convinced.
"Well, mine are just getting started," he said as he reached for the door.
"Ben, wait!" Max called, but Ben was already hopping out of the RV.
"It's hero time," Ben said, raising his wrist. "Let's XLR8 out of here."
He spun the Omnitrix dial and slammed it down.
A flash of green light followed.
A few seconds later, Ripjaws stared back at himself in the Rust Bucket's side mirror, his expression immediately dropping.
"Ripjaws? What a rip-off!"
Another firetruck sped past, sirens blaring.
Ripjaws hesitated for half a second, then quickly scrambled back into the Rust Bucket without another word.
...
While Ripjaws went off to deal with whatever incident was happening, Evan stayed behind in the Rust Bucket with Gwen and Max.
The fight with Vilgax hadn't ended that long ago. The smoke, the fire, the impact of it, it all still felt close, like it hadn't fully settled yet.
Max kept his hands on the wheel, but his thoughts weren't on the road.
They were on Evan.
He knew his grandson wasn't a bad kid. Evan wasn't reckless like Ben, and he wasn't as openly driven by the moment as Gwen. Most of the time, he kept to himself, only stepping in when it mattered.
But the moment someone crossed a line, especially when it came to family, something in him shifted.
Max had seen it clearly back there.
He still remembered the exact words Evan said to Vilgax after he came back from that golden flame.
"I am you."
It wasn't said in anger. That was the part that stuck with him.
It was acceptance.
By saying that, Evan was admitting something to Vilgax, accepting that they weren't as different as they should've been. That both of them were willing to do whatever it took to reach their goal.
And that was what worried Max the most.
Not what Evan had done, but how this might backfire on him.
Max had seen people go down that road before. Good people, who started making exceptions, convincing themselves that what they were doing was necessary. Over time, those exceptions stopped feeling like exceptions.
And eventually, there was no line left to cross.
He didn't want that for his grandson.
"I'm gonna go check on Ben," Max said after a while, his voice quieter than usual. "Gwen, can you keep an eye on Evan for me?"
Gwen glanced at him, then nodded. "Yeah."
Max pulled the Rust Bucket to a stop and stepped out, leaving the two of them inside.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Gwen shifted slightly in her seat, looking over at Evan. He was lying on his side, facing away from her, his back turned like he wasn't interested in talking.
She hesitated, trying to figure out how to start.
"…Evan," she said after a bit, her voice softer than usual. "I know this might be late, but… thanks. For saving us."
The words felt a little awkward coming out.
They had only met at the start of the summer. If Max hadn't introduced them, she might not have even known he existed. They weren't close, at least not like her relationship with Ben.
And still, he didn't hesitate to give up his life just to protect her, along with Max and Ben.
That wasn't something she could just ignore.
Evan didn't answer right away. For a second, Gwen thought he might not respond at all.
Then, without turning around, he spoke.
"It's nothing," he said. "I'd still do it again if I had to."
Gwen leaned back slightly, unsure what to say after that. The conversation just… stopped there.
The silence stretched out longer than she expected. To her, it felt like it dragged on forever, even though it probably wasn't that long.
Eventually, the door opened.
Max and Ben climbed back into the Rust Bucket, breaking the quiet. It didn't take long before Max started the engine again and pulled back onto the road.
"I don't get it," Ben said as they drove. "How come you didn't tell Phil about the Omnitrix?"
"That's on a need-to-know basis only, Ben," Max replied. "The fewer people who know, the better."
"Guess that's your answer to everything, isn't it, Grandpa?" Gwen added, glancing forward.
Ben leaned back, thinking for a second before snapping his fingers. "Hey, I've got an idea. Why don't we bring the Plumbers back? Us, you, and Phil. We'd be, like, a team, taking down alien bad guys all over the place!"
Max let out a small breath. "Ben, I appreciate the enthusiasm. But you can't just bring back the past like that."
Before Ben could argue, the Rust Bucket's onboard computer suddenly started ringing.
Max reached over and activated it. Phil's face appeared on the screen, looking more serious than usual.
"Max," he said quickly. "If you're out there, I need help. Two Vulpinmancers are tearing up a meat processing plant on Highway 44."
The message cut off as abruptly as it started.
Max frowned. "Vulpinmancers…?"
Without wasting time, he turned the wheel, making a quick but controlled U-turn and accelerating toward Highway 44.
"Alright!" Ben cheered. "The Tennysons are back in the plumbing business!"
Max sighed, but didn't argue this time. His focus stayed on the road ahead.
For a brief moment, though, his eyes shifted to the rearview mirror.
Evan was still in the back, quiet as ever.
Out of everyone in the RV, he was the one Max was most worried about.