Chapter 39: Returning to Earth, Embarrassed Kevin
"Again!"
The nauseating pull of teleportation yanked Kevin and Ben Tennyson through space, dumping them unceremoniously into a room they recognized all too well. The cold, metallic walls of the gladiator ship's control center loomed around them.
"Ben, having fun yet?"
A deep, synthesized voice echoed from behind a humming red energy barrier.
"How do you know my name?" Ben scrambled to his feet, eyes wide as he stared at the glowing red shield. Beside him, Kevin was so caught off guard that his simmering animosity toward the Tennyson boy completely evaporated, replaced by sheer bewilderment.
The voice didn't answer. Instead, the red energy barrier hissed and slowly parted down the middle.
"...Big surprise!"
As the crimson light faded, the true mastermind was revealed. Sitting atop a hovering command chair was the ship's warden—a massive, mechanical octopus-like creature. But it wasn't acting on its own. Its entire chassis was smothered in the sleek, black-and-green circuitry of a Galvanic Mechamorph. Upgrade.
"Cousin!" Ben's face lit up with absolute delight at the sight of the familiar alien attached to the robotic warden.
"It is you!" Kevin barked, taking a reflexive half-step back, his face twisting in shock.
"I know you two have a lot of questions," Upgrade's voice crackled through the ship's speakers, laced with casual amusement. "But let me clear the air right now: I didn't capture you. I just hitched a ride up here and hijacked this guy."
With a wet, metallic squelch, the Galvanic Mechamorph peeled itself off the octopus-like robot. Freed from the technological possession, the warden's mechanical tentacles seized violently. Sparks erupted from its cranial dome. It twitched two, three times, before slumping over entirely—a useless heap of scrap metal. To be fair, it was already on the verge of critical failure the moment Klein had forcibly overridden its systems.
"I've already programmed the escape pods and initiated the ship's interstellar jump sequence. The second we are off this rust bucket, this entire cruiser is blasting out of the sector." (It was a calculated move; when Klein set the coordinates, he deliberately chose the most remote, desolate corner of the universe, as far away from Earth as physically possible.)
Upgrade didn't wait for a response, simply turning and sliding out the heavy blast doors. Ben hurried after him without a second thought.
Kevin hesitated. His boots felt glued to the floor. By all logic, these two were his enemies. Yet, his legs moved on their own, trailing awkwardly behind them. In truth, his bravado had completely shattered; he desperately wanted a ride back to Earth and didn't dare pick a fight with a monster who could casually hijack a warlord's flagship. For now, playing the obedient follower was his only survival strategy.
...
Escape Pod Hangar.
Klaxons blared a rhythmic warning as Ben stood by the launch bays, frantically waving his arms to direct the bewildered, captive aliens.
"This way! Get in the pods! The navigation systems will take you back to your homeworlds!" Ben shouted over the din of venting steam and charging engines.
One by one, the extraterrestrial gladiators piled into the sleek escape vessels, shooting Ben grateful looks before blasting out into the starry void. Soon, the massive hangar was nearly empty. Except for one.
"My life belongs to you, Master."
The towering, rock-skinned Detrovite—Technorg—dropped to one massive knee. The impact shook the deck plating. He bowed his head deeply toward Ben.
"Whoa, hey! Why are you saying that?!" Ben waved his hands frantically, completely flustered by the giant alien's sudden pledge of fealty.
"You spared my life in the arena," Technorg rumbled, his voice like grinding boulders. "By the laws of my people, you are now my Master."
"I don't want your life! I am giving it back to you!" Ben protested, his face scrunching up in discomfort. He hated the idea of anyone treating him like some kind of warlord. "Just get in a pod and go home!"
Technorg didn't budge. He remained perfectly still, kneeling in silent, stubborn devotion.
Standing off to the side, Klein watched the exchange with mild confusion. He didn't care about the alien honor code, but he did care about the countdown timer ticking away in the ship's mainframe. If they didn't leave right now, they were going to be dragged into a hyperspace jump to the edge of nowhere.
Sighing, Klein stepped forward. He grabbed Ben's left wrist, ignoring the boy's startled yelp, and shoved the Omnitrix directly into Technorg's face.
The dial flared. The signature green glow shifted to a bright, scanning yellow. A beam of light swept over the Detrovite's rocky exterior. A second later, the Omnitrix beeped cheerfully and reverted to its emerald green state. New DNA acquired.
"Alright, deal is done. Ben just took your DNA as payment for saving your life. Debt settled. Now get out of here," Klein ordered, his tone dry and impatient.
Technorg blinked, looking at the glowing watch, then up at Ben. Seeing the sheer, ecstatic wonder on Ben's face as he stared at his newly updated Omnitrix, the Detrovite finally relented. He rose to his feet and lumbered toward the final escape pod, glancing back over his massive shoulder with every step until the hatch finally sealed him inside.
"Right, our turn. Let us move," Klein muttered.
As Klein transformed back to his human form in a flash of faint blue light, he stepped into the last available pod, taking the left seat. Ben scrambled in right behind him. Kevin lingered at the threshold for a fraction of a second before reluctantly squeezing inside, taking the seat on the far right.
With a violent jolt, the pod detached from the cruiser and rocketed toward Earth.
Inside the cramped confines of the escape pod, the atmosphere was suffocatingly thick.
Klein slouched in his seat, utterly bored, casually twisting the dial of his Another Omnitrix just to watch the holograms flicker.
Across from him, Kevin was a statue of pure awkwardness. The punk kept his eyes glued to the metal floor grating, pretending to be absolutely fascinated by a scuff mark. He didn't dare look up. He didn't dare breathe too loudly.
Ben sat between them, swinging his legs. Having his cousin there made the situation far less tense for him, but the sheer, radiating discomfort coming from Kevin was hard to ignore.
...
After a flight that felt like a brief nap for Klein and an agonizing eternity for Kevin, the pod violently shuddered as it breached the atmosphere, finally slamming into the dirt of a remote Earth grassland.
The hydraulic hatch hissed open.
Kevin didn't walk out; he bolted. He scrambled over the threshold, boots kicking up dirt as he put as much distance between himself and the Tennysons as physically possible.
"Ben Tennyson!" Kevin shouted over his shoulder, his clothes disheveled, trying desperately to salvage a shred of his tough-guy image. "I will come for you again! Just you wait!"
He disappeared into the tree line without looking back.
Klein and Ben stepped out of the pod, exchanging a dry look before shrugging in unison.
"By the way..." Ben rubbed the back of his neck, scanning the empty, moonlit field. "Where are Gwen and Grandpa Max?"
"Probably driving around in a panic trying to rescue us," Klein reasoned, stretching his arms over his head. "Considering we got beamed up right in front of them."
"Good point. Alright, I will just use Fasttrack to scout the area and find the Rustbucket." Ben reached for the Omnitrix dial, ready to slam it down.
Smack.
Klein lightly chopped the top of Ben's head.
"Ow! What was that for?" Ben rubbed his hair, glaring up.
Klein didn't say a word. He just reached into his pocket, pulled out his smartphone, and gave it a gentle shake. The screen glowed, displaying a perfectly clear signal.
Ben stared at the phone, then at his watch, and let out a sheepish laugh. Right. Technology.
...
Meanwhile, in the deep, silent expanse of the Milky Way.
The massive gladiator cruiser suddenly warped into the sector, its engines glowing with unstable, critical energy. A second later, the entire vessel detonated, blossoming into a silent, blinding sphere of cosmic fire.
But just before the shockwave consumed the hull, a small, sleek scout ship shot out from the docking bay, tearing through the debris field.
Shortly after, the scout ship touched down smoothly on the landing pad of a seedy, neon-lit space station.
The boarding ramp lowered. Heavy, metallic footsteps echoed across the docking bay. An alien entirely encased in heavy, industrial metal armor stepped out. His head, a thick, blocky structure, bore a striking resemblance to the Detrovite, Technorg.
Vulkanus.
The armored alien lumbered through the station's corridors, eventually arriving at a circular, dimly lit control terminal. With a heavy grunt, he placed a transparent, cylindrical containment unit onto the console. Inside the glass, a jagged purple crystal pulsed with an eerie, volatile light.
Vulkanus punched a series of coordinates into the terminal with his thick, metal-clad fingers. A holographic projection flickered to life in the center of the room, displaying a rotating star map.
"Element X is already secured," Vulkanus growled, his voice a harsh, metallic rasp. "Now, we just need to locate the Baisinion alloy..."
His glowing eyes narrowed as the hologram zoomed in on a tiny, blue-and-green sphere.
"Should we head there next? The ultimate junkyard of the Milky Way... Earth."
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