"Oh no..." Max felt the air tear in front of him. There was no time to reach for a Plumber blaster. He gritted his teeth, shoved the traumatized Gwen behind him, and used his own broad shoulders to shield her from the Velocity Wraith's incoming claws.
"Grandpa!" Gwen screamed.
But the serrated, black claw stopped inches from Max's spine. The limb trembled, straining to complete the kill, but it was held back by a force of absolute authority. Max turned slightly, his breath hitching.
A larger, more muscular, and infinitely more terrifying version of the Velocity Wraith stood there. Tyler's hand was clamped around Prime-Ben's wrist like a hydraulic vice.
"Ugh... why is it you again?!" the Prime-Ben Wraith hissed, snapping its jaws at Tyler's face.
Tyler tilted his head with cold efficiency. Prime-Ben's teeth slammed together on empty air with a bone-jarring crack. Before the creature could recover, Tyler drove a jagged elbow into its chin.
PFFT!! Prime-Ben's head snapped back, a spray of black blood and shattered teeth erupting into the air. His entire front row of fangs was obliterated. Desperate and broken, Prime-Ben tried to accelerate his wheels to flee, but Tyler's hand shot out and seized the creature's tail.
"Wait... what are you doing?!" Prime-Ben shrieked as he was slammed face-first into the asphalt.
Tyler didn't answer. He simply began to run.
Prime-Ben was dragged behind him like a piece of roadkill. At Mach speeds, the friction was agonizing. Prime-Ben's shattered face plowed into the road, carving a bloody trench into the earth. Ten meters... a hundred... a thousand. Tyler was tireless, his speed increasing with every second.
Desperate, the Carnitrix on Prime-Ben's chest began to rotate, trying to switch forms to survive. But Tyler's own prehensile tail whipped around, pinning the dial in place and preventing the transformation.
"I'm going to die... he's going to execute me..." Prime-Ben's eyes went dull with despair.
"Just a little further," Tyler panted, his voice a low, rhythmic growl. "A tribute to the legend... the A-Train style."
WHOOSH!!
Tyler's body suddenly stiffened, coming to a dead halt. Prime-Ben's mangled form skidded to a stop behind him, leaving a long trail of gore on the highway.
"You really are a piece of work," a steady voice echoed from the space ahead.
A man in a lab coat, leaning on a cane with a glowing mechanical gauntlet on his left hand, emerged from a ripple in time. Professor Paradox frowned deeply at the scene. "How could you beat him this mercilessly? You've gone too far."
"Are you mistaken?" Tyler snapped, his eyes flashing red. "I'm the one saving the Multiverse here."
Tyler caught himself, realizing Paradox hadn't muted him this time. He was talking to a Time Lord—a dangerous game. He quickly reorganized his thoughts. "This Watch... the Carnitrix... it's a plague. It's uncontrollable. If this version of Ben is left to its whims, he will erase this world. I'm just the only one strong enough to put him on a leash."
"But aren't you controlling yours perfectly?" Paradox countered, his sharp gaze trying to pierce Tyler's very soul.
"It's a matter of will," Tyler bluffed, adopting the persona of an arrogant brat. "I've unlocked forms that can cross dimensions. He can't even handle an XLR8 without becoming a rabid dog."
Tyler slammed the dial, reverting to his 11-year-old human self. He looked up at Paradox with a face of feigned innocence. "I'm just trying to clean up Azmuth's mess."
Paradox studied him for a long moment before nodding slowly. "I will send you back, Tyler Levison. But hear me: if you displace yourself without permission again, I will be watching you very closely."
"Wait! Don't let him go!" Prime-Ben gurgled through a mouth full of blood. "I'll kill you! I'll bite you to—"
"Scram," Tyler said with a look of pure disgust.
Golden light enveloped Tyler. As his form began to phase out of reality, he looked at Paradox one last time. "That Watch is a death sentence for this universe. Keep your eyes on this timeline for a few days. You'll see I'm right."
"I shall," Paradox murmured, looking down at the broken, hateful child at his feet.
The world collapsed into a kaleidoscope of colors. Tyler felt the weight of multiversal travel pressing against his mind. One day, he thought, my Prism-Sentinel will do this on its own.
[Ding! Host defeated the Velocity Wraith Prime and warned Professor Paradox of the Carnitrix's threat. Plot significantly altered. Progress +1%.]
[Template Mastery: 29/100. DNA UNLOCKED: THE COSMIC HORROR (Way Big Variant)!]
Tyler's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "I got him... I actually got Way Big!!"
In the early series, Vilgax was a nightmare that required luck and teamwork to survive. But Way Big? Way Big was the "Delete" button. He could flick Vilgax into the moon like a pebble.
"Tyler! Wake up! Grandpa! He's back!"
Tyler snapped his eyes open. He was back on the lower bunk of the Rustbucket. Max, Ben, and Gwen were huddled around him, their faces full of relief.
"Tyler, I'm so sorry!" Ben cried. "It was my fault you vanished!"
"It's alright, Ben," Tyler laughed, patting his brother's shoulder. "You're my lucky star. Truly."
Ben's unintentional tackle had netted Tyler a Multiversal jump and the strongest alien in the initial roster. It was the greatest "accident" of the trip.
"It's good you're safe," Gwen sighed. "Just... stay away from that crystal form for a while."
Max stood up, his expression solemn but determined. "I've made a decision. We're leaving tonight. We're restarting the travel plan immediately. Ben was right—heroes need a place to use their skills. I won't let you kids grow stagnant."
"Good!" Tyler cheered. "Double the trouble, double the fun!"
Carnitrix Universe Prime
Professor Paradox stood alone in the dark forest, rewinding the local timeline to repair the physical damage to the road. He looked toward the campsite where the other Max was tending to a scarred Gwen.
"Is it truly as dangerous as he said?" Paradox wondered, his eyes invisibly tracking the crimson pulse of the Carnitrix on Ben's wrist. "Or was that boy simply an outlier?"
New Transformation Log
The Cosmic Horror (To'kustar Variant)
Traits: A colossal, bipedal nightmare standing over 100 meters tall. Its skin is a bone-white exoskeleton with blood-red markings. Its "fin" is a serrated blade of pure energy.Ability:The Event Horizon Beam. By crossing its arms, it fires a cosmic ray that can incinerate entire fleets and crack the surface of a planet.System Note: Due to its massive size and energy requirement, this form drains the Carnitrix battery 3x faster than normal.