Chapter 239: Who Stashes Explosives Underground?
A small army of Spidermonkeys rode atop the rampaging, rhino-like creatures, darting back and forth in a chaotic frenzy. While the primate clones managed to steer the stampeding beasts using thick, hastily woven reins made of webbing, forcing them to a complete halt was entirely out of the question.
For whatever bizarre reason, the subterranean rhinos were in a state of absolute, unbridled panic—or perhaps extreme excitement.
Realizing brute force wasn't going to cut it, Gwen's eyes flared with a brilliant magenta light. A shimmering aura of pure Mana enveloped her body, lifting her off the dusty ground and high into the air. She scanned the chaotic dust bowl below. Her glowing gaze quickly locked onto a nearby stretch of abandoned railway tracks and the rusted husk of an old train car.
Raising both hands, Gwen unleashed a massive, surging wave of telekinetic force. The Mana gripped the heavy steel tracks and the train car, ripping them from the earth with a deafening screech of bending metal. She warped the heavy iron into a massive, makeshift corral, leaving only a single, narrow gap for an entrance.
"Klein! Over there!" she called out, her voice echoing over the thunderous hoofbeats.
Hearing the Dork's cue, the legion of Spidermonkeys immediately yanked their web-reins, steering the stampeding herd directly toward the makeshift enclosure. It took less than ten minutes of chaotic wrangling. Like a herd of incredibly destructive, armored sheep, the rhinos were successfully driven through the gap.
The moment the last beast crossed the threshold, Gwen thrust her hands forward. Another burst of magenta energy seized the twisted steel, slamming the entrance shut and welding the tracks together into a seamless, inescapable ring.
The heavy iron barricade easily contained the rampaging rhinos. As for the Spidermonkeys, the towering walls meant nothing; their multi-limbed agility allowed them to scale the metal with effortless grace. Dozens of blue-furred monkeys vaulted over the rim of the enclosure. In perfect unison, they slapped the glowing Another Omnitrix dials on their chests. A blinding flash of ethereal blue light washed over the quarry, replacing the agile primates with a massive crowd of small, silicone-bodied Echo Echos.
The sonic aliens immediately blurred together, merging back into a single entity. One final flash of azure light illuminated the dust cloud, leaving Klein standing casually in the center of the clearing, brushing a speck of dirt from his shoulder.
"So what? Is that it?" Kevin kicked a loose rock, crossing his arms. Having spent the entire stampede standing on the sidelines, he looked thoroughly dejected.
Ben trudged over, his expression equally sour. He had spent the first half of the crisis frantically slapping the faceplate of his Omnitrix, only to finally trigger a transformation that gave him the exact wrong alien for the job. And that wasn't even the most humiliating part. By the time the green flash faded and he was ready to fight, Klein and Gwen had already wrapped up the entire situation with zero collateral damage.
The Dweeb let out a heavy sigh, feeling just as utterly useless as Kevin. Glaring down at the stubborn device on his wrist, Ben firmly made up his mind. The second they got back to the Rustbucket, he was going to relentlessly pester Klein until his cousin agreed to fix the glitchy watch.
As for asking Azmuth for tech support? What an absolute joke. Contacting the First Thinker would only guarantee a blistering, condescending lecture about human incompetence. The grumpy Galvan probably wouldn't even fix the dial; he would just float there on his little hover-pad and gloat about Ben's misfortune. Just picturing that ancient, smug frog-face smirking at him made Ben grind his teeth in silent annoyance.
Fortunately, a familiar chime pulled him from his bitter thoughts. "Call coming in!"
Kevin pulled his Plumber's badge from his pocket and slapped it flat onto the hood of his sports car. The badge beeped, projecting a crisp, blue holographic image of Grandpa Max into the evening air.
Gwen quickly briefed him on the bizarre stampede. Grandpa Max stroked his chin, a nostalgic smile spreading across his holographic face. "Underground Rhinos? Now there's a sight I haven't seen in a long time. It really brings back memories."
Kevin frowned, leaning closer to the projection. "Why have I never heard of them?"
Judging by the veteran Plumber's casual tone, these subterranean beasts had been roaming beneath the Earth's crust for decades, if not centuries.
"Child, there are countless rare species native to Earth that you won't find in any biology textbook," Grandpa Max explained with a warm chuckle. "That's exactly where our ancient myths come from. Unicorns, trolls, elves... they all exist in some form or another."
He paused, letting the weight of that revelation sink in.
"Well, at least we know they aren't the vanguard of some new alien invasion, right?" Ben shrugged, accepting the existence of magical cryptids with surprising ease.
Kevin, however, wasn't ready to let his skepticism go. He crossed his arms and arched an eyebrow. "According to that logic, does that mean Bigfoot is roaming around the woods somewhere too?"
"Heh heh... Don't be silly," Grandpa Max laughed, waving a hand dismissively. "That was just a guy in a very convincing ape suit."
"Fascinating as this is, what actually drove them to the surface?" Gwen interjected, steering the conversation back on track before they started debating the Loch Ness Monster.
Grandpa Max's holographic brow furrowed in genuine concern. "I don't know for sure. But based on your description, they were clearly terrified. Something down there made them feel incredibly unsafe, forcing them out of their natural habitat."
Kevin scoffed, glancing over at the massive iron corral where the beasts were still snorting and pacing. "They're built like literal tanks with horns. What the hell could possibly scare them?"
"We'll know once we go down and take a look," Klein said lazily. Pushing himself off the large boulder he had been using as a makeshift lounge chair, he strolled casually toward Kevin's prized vehicle.
It really had to be said—Kevin's obsessive mechanical modifications were nothing short of miraculous. As they descended into the massive, excavated sinkhole left behind by the stampede, the terrain turned into a jagged nightmare of loose rock and steep inclines. A military-grade off-road vehicle would have flipped twice over, yet the sleek sports car glided over the rubble as smoothly as if it were cruising down a freshly paved highway.
High-beam headlights pierced the suffocating darkness, illuminating the winding descent into the subterranean cavern. To kill the tense silence, the group casually chatted about the cryptids Grandpa Max had mentioned—specifically the unicorns.
Kevin listened with a bewildered expression, completely out of the loop. After all, he hadn't been around during Klein's younger, more eccentric years. But Ben and Gwen knew the truth perfectly well. Beneath his lazy, indifferent exterior, Klein harbored a bizarre, borderline-obsessive eccentricity for collecting the strangest, most dangerous pets the universe had to offer.
It was a minor miracle that the exact coordinates of these mythical unicorns remained a mystery, and that Klein's hoarding tendencies had mellowed out recently. Otherwise, they all knew they would wake up tomorrow morning to find Klein casually riding a magical horned horse instead of riding in the passenger seat.
The headlights swept across the jagged stone walls as the tunnel gradually narrowed. Finally, the tires crunched to a halt in front of a massive, solid wall of dirt and rock. A complete dead end.
"Damn it, no more road ahead!" Kevin slammed his palm against the steering wheel in frustration. He twisted around in his seat, looking back at Klein. "Boss, what's the play? Do we back out, or do you want me to rig up a plasma-drill so we can keep digging?"
He wasn't joking. If Klein gave the nod, Kevin was fully prepared to cannibalize the car's engine and build a high-tech subterranean drill right there in the dirt.
"No need." Klein shook his head slightly, leaning back against the leather upholstery. He simply raised a finger and pointed straight down at the floorboards.
"Down? What do you mean 'down'?" Kevin asked, his brow furrowing. Ben and Gwen exchanged equally bewildered glances.
A split second later, the ground beneath the tires gave way with a sickening crunch. The heavy vehicle violently lurched forward, plummeting into the abyss.
"No way..." Ben choked out, his stomach dropping into his shoes as zero gravity took hold.
The thin crust of rock had completely collapsed, revealing a seemingly bottomless, pitch-black chasm hidden directly beneath the tunnel floor. The sports car was in a total free-fall, plunging into the dark unknown.
Panic spiked in the cabin. Ben immediately reached for the Omnitrix dial, ready to transform into something capable of catching a two-ton vehicle. Beside him, Gwen's hands flared with bright magenta Mana, preparing to cast a levitation spell to halt their descent.
However, Kevin was infinitely faster—and much more eager to show off. With a calm, practiced flick of his wrist, he slammed a glowing red button on the center console. The car's four wheels instantly folded inward, retracting into the chassis as powerful, blue-flamed hover jets ignited in their place. The violent free-fall smoothed out into a controlled, gliding descent.
"Whoa, cool! Your car actually has a hover function too?" Ben gasped, his panic instantly replaced by wide-eyed delight as he peered out the window.
Immensely satisfied with the Dweeb's reaction, Kevin leaned back in his seat and let out a smug, self-satisfied snicker. "Told you. My modifications aren't just for show, kid."
The thrusters hummed a low, vibrating tune as the car slowly descended, finally touching down gently on the solid stone floor of the massive underground cavern.
It was suffocatingly dark down here. The headlights cut through the gloom, revealing a narrow, jagged passage carved into the rock face ahead. It was barely wide enough to fit two people walking shoulder-to-shoulder. Driving any further was physically impossible.
Having no other option, the team popped the doors and stepped out into the cool, damp subterranean air. Leaving the idling car behind, they filed into the narrow rock corridor.
The deeper they walked, the darker it became, the shadows seeming to swallow the ambient light from the cavern behind them. However, the claustrophobic tunnel soon opened up, expanding into a colossal, hollowed-out chamber.
Kevin pulled a heavy metal lighter from his pocket and flicked it open. The small, flickering orange flame pushed back the oppressive darkness, revealing the true scale of the room. It was a massive, man-made storage facility. Stacked high against the cavern walls, towering like wooden mountains, were thousands upon thousands of heavy industrial crates.
"Hmm? There's writing stenciled on this one," Kevin muttered, stepping closer to the nearest stack. He raised the open flame of his lighter right up to the wood, squinting to read the faded red warning labels painted on the side.
"Let's see... 'Explosive'... 'Highly Flammable'... 'Dynamite'?"
Kevin froze. The color drained completely from his face as he stared at the open flame dancing mere inches from the wood.
"Oh my god!!!"
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