Chapter 25: Entrapment, Pt 2: The Archenemy
"He beat those guys with Grey Matter!?" Lucy repeated, shocked.
This shocked and impressed the team of wizards. Though Kraab and Sixsix were certainly not the strongest opponents they had faced, they were no pushovers. And the fact that a little brainy being like Grey Matter defeated them made their victory less impressive.
Erza shook her head from her musings, a determined expression cast over her face. "None of that matters now. All that matters is saving Ben." She stated.
The rest of the group turned to Erza with determination and nodded in response.
"I couldn't agree more. But we must hurry. Time is running out." Azmuth replied ominously. He could feel the negative energy of the storm in the sky growing stronger by the minute. It was only a matter of time before the Entrapment made its final move, and then that would be the end.
The subconscious mind summoned a white sphere in front of the group. Without wasting a moment, the Ultimate Team sprinted into the bubble and into another memory from the life of their shape-shifting comrade.
…
After defeating the Entrapment embodiments, which had taken the forms of Ben's oldest enemies in Kraab and Sixsix, the Ultimate Team had gone through another memory gateway. Once they sprinted through the luminous sphere, a bright flash engulfed their vision momentarily. When the flash died away, the wizards and cat blinked and looked around to find themselves in a new setting, which happened to be quite cramped.
This restricted space was in fact the inside of the Rustbucket. The Fairy Tail wizards observed their new surroundings while trying to avoid bumping into each other.
"What is this place?" Lucy inquired curiously.
"Dunno. It is small though." Gray noted.
"This is the Rustbucket." Azmuth explained. The team turned to see him sitting on the edge of a kitchen counter that was on the left side of the room. "It is the mobile home of Ben's Grandpa Max."
"Mobile home?" Erza repeated.
When she looked out the window, her eyes widened a bit from a prairie landscape passing by them quickly. The others were a little surprised as well. True they had vehicles in Earthland, but not a mobile home type of vehicle. However, one member of the group was not quite as intrigued as the others.
"Mobile? You mean…" Natsu stammered nervously. He looked out the window and paled when he saw the scenery rolling past them. "THIS IS A VEHICLE!?"
Instantaneously, the Dragon Slayer's face turned green as he collapsed to the carpeted floor in a sick heap.
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" Lucy shrieked incredulously. "This isn't even a real vehicle! It's just a memory, yet you still get sick?!"
Gray huffed, crossed his arms over his bare chest, and looked away in annoyance. "Geez, Natsu…you're really pathetic."
Natsu would've insulted his rival back; however, he was struggling to keep his lunch in his stomach. Wait…could he even have food in his stomach when their bodies had been converted into magical energy so they could enter Ben's body? Hmm…good question…
Erza shook her head and turned forward. Ben's Grandpa Max was at the front driving the Rustbucket while his cousin Gwen was sitting at the booth, typing on a peculiar-looking contraption.
"Um…what's that thing that she's messing with?" Gray wondered.
"I'm not sure." Erza admitted.
"I dunno either." Lucy added.
"It looks really odd." Happy stated.
Natsu groaned sickly as he rolled on his back, trying to ease his pain; however, it was to no avail.
"It's called a computer, or more precisely a laptop." Ben's subconscious answered.
The wizards and blue cat turned to the small manifestation and blinked in confusion.
"It is a device that stores a multitude of data and is capable of connecting with similar devices around the world, creating a sort or worldwide web full of information." Azmuth explained.
The group's dumbfounded miens only intensified from the manifestation's explanation.
"Ugh," Azmuth face-palmed. "In laymen terms, it is like a virtual library full of information."
"Uh…I guess I can understand that." Lucy said, tapping her chin in thought.
"I sure don't." Happy admitted, clueless.
Suddenly, the Ultimate Team's attention, minus Natsu, was drawn back to Gwen when her device made a strange noise and the screen went dark; much to her confusion and dismay.
"Hey! What gives?!" Gwen yelled, tapping a button repeatedly.
Without warning, the screen turned back on; however, it now had a green circuit-like pattern on it with a circle at the center. Erza immediately recognized that pattern.
"Upgrade?" Erza said, surprised.
The wizards and cat looked at the redheaded knight with curious expressions.
"Upgrade?" echoed Gray.
"You mean that form that Ben used to help you defeat that Magtartus guy in Peony a couple weeks ago?" Lucy inquired.
Erza simply nodded.
"Sorry. You are a loser…"Upgrade's 'face' oozed out of the computer screen and got up into Gwen's face. "…and always will be!"
"AHH!"Gwen screamed, and then narrowed her eyes in anger. "BEN!"
Upgrade then oozed back into the computer as Gwen hit the table in frustration. "Get out of my computer!"yelled Gwen.
"What? I'm just entertaining myself."The young Omnitrix bearer retorted.
Gwen hit the table repeatedly as she shouted, "This is my private property!" She paused to pick up the laptop and shook it angrily. "And you're getting your cooties all over it!"
Just then, the laptop grew a black and white design with green circuitry lines all over it, as well as a green keyboard, and sprouted three pointed legs, similar to an insect's. This caused Lucy to jump back and yelp in surprise.
"Ooh! What's this?" Ben pretended to gasp. "A diary!"
Not wanting Ben to read her diary, Gwen reached out to grab the insect-like laptop, but Ben jumped back-and-forth and continued to dodge her as he read.
"'Dear Diary, my cousin Ben is such a-'"
"Doofus! Knock it off!"Gwen yelled.
Lucy huffed indignantly and narrowed her eyes. "Reading a girl's diary? That is so rude and immature!"
Erza nodded. "Yes, it is. Remember though he was only ten-years-old. Natsu and Gray were just as immature and ill-behaved when we were young as well."
"Oh, and you and Mira weren't?" deadpanned Gray.
Lucy turned to Ben's subconscious, who was still sitting on the kitchen counter. "So, why did Ben do that anyway?"
Azmuth looked off into space as he stroked his beard-like growths in thought. "Hmm…" he hummed, and then shrugged, "…meh…the dweeb had it coming."
From the driver's seat of the RV, Max glanced back at Ben with a serious expression. "Ben now is not the time to go alien. Do you understand?"
Upgrade's head oozed out from the computer once again, followed by the rest of his blobby body. "I was just foolin' around."
"We can't afford to attract attention right now."Max stated.
Upgrade shrugged and countered, "What kind of attention could I attract in here?"
The Omnitrix dial on Upgrade's chest began to blink red, and in a similarly colored flash, Upgrade turned back into Ben.
Max returned his attention to the road and responded, "Never mind..."
Ben and Gwen then turn to each other with confused expressions, neither of them able to understand why their grandfather was being so serious.
Erza, Lucy, Gray and Happy were quite bewildered as well as they watched the scene transpire.
"Why's his grandpa acting so on edge?" Gray questioned.
"You'll see soon." Azmuth replied impassively.
As Ben and Gwen were sitting at the table, reading a book and computer screen respectively, they looked out the window to see several large plumes of smoke billowing from a city in the distance.
Ben looked at Max and asked the obvious question. "What's going on there?"
Max looked out the window, and then turned his attention back to the road. "I'm sure the local authorities have the situation well in hand…" he dismissed.
Suddenly, a large conflagration erupted into a gigantic mushroom cloud of smoke within the city. The Ultimate Team's eyes widened from the size of the explosion, with the exception of Natsu, who was still lying on the floor in a sick heap.
"Somehow I get the feeling they don't have it under control." Gray deadpanned.
"Looks like it's Hero Time."Ben smirked confidently.
"He sees an enormous explosion and he gets excited?!" Lucy cried, shocked.
"This Ben reminds me of Natsu, minus the motion sickness." Happy chimed, with a happy smile on his face.
Natsu groaned in response.
As Ben activated the Omnitrix, Max turned back to him. "Ben, I don't think that's the best idea-"
"Time to turn up the Heatblast on these guys!" Ben exclaimed, ignoring his grandfather's concern.
When Ben found the icon for his Pyronite form, he slammed down the core. In a flash of green, he was replaced with the fiery humanoid known as Heatblast. Suddenly, the RV stopped and allowed for Heatblast to jump out the door, with the group of wizards following behind him. The instant the vehicle stopped, Natsu's motion sickness instantaneously vanished.
"Yes! I'm alive!" Natsu cried out triumphantly, with his arms raised in the air.
The instant Heatblast set foot on the ground he ignited his hands and propelled himself high into the air. The Ultimate Team watched as Heatblast launched himself towards the city.
"Heading into battle with a hothead? You're right, Happy. This Ben does remind me of Natsu." Gray remarked, smirking.
"At least I don't head into battle without any clothes like you, yah icy stripper." Natsu retorted.
Gray was about to counter until he noticed that he somehow stripped down into his boxers. "Dammit!" He shouted, scrambling around for his clothes.
Lucy simply sighed in exasperation while Erza closed her eyes in frustration from the fire and ice duo's antics.
All of a sudden, their surroundings became distorted and began to fade away.
"Hey, what's happening?" Lucy asked. "Are we going to another memory?"
"Not quite," Azmuth answered. He was standing on the ground right behind the group, causing Lucy to yelp in surprise. "We're shifting toward another scene of the same memory."
"Another scene?" Erza repeated.
The subconscious manifestation nodded. "Yes. Watch and you'll see for yourselves."
The Fairy Tail wizards turned around to see that they were now in an entirely new setting; much to their surprise. They were in the middle of a city. The building and street designs were quite larger and different than what they were used to in Earthland, and they would've marveled more at the architecture had it not been currently burning and falling apart.
There were countless mechanical drones flying through the air. They were rust-colored, with three bulbous red sensors on the front and back. Each of them had gray, insectoid legs, and a gray cannon sprouting from their undersides. They were flying about, firing red lasers at anyone and everything they could see, with many people fleeing for their lives all around them.
"The hell?! What are those things!?" Gray yelled.
"They…look like…giant metal bugs." Lucy said frightfully.
"Those are called drones." Azmuth explained; who was standing right behind them. "They are machines designed to kill and destroy anything in their path."
Without warning, Heatblast arrived and hurled fireballs at two of the drones, destroying them instantly. He then lowered himself down to the street, surrounded in the flames he had created during his descent.
"Hey. Why don't you pick on someone with real firepower?"Heatblast challenged.
"Awesome line!" Natsu praised.
Gray crossed his arms over his chest. "It wasn't that good, flame-for-brains."
Before an argument could ensue, their attention was drawn back to Heatblast as he was completely surrounded by dozens of hovering drones. None of them firing at him; simply staring.
"Oh man... I didn't mean all at once."Heatblast remarked."Why do I get the feeling you were expecting me?"
Heatblast surrounded himself in more flames, and used both of his hands to fire two large streams of fire at some drones. He then proceeded to spin slowly in place, blasting several more drones in the process. Additional drones then made their way toward Heatblast, only to be sliced in two by disks of fire created by the boy-turned-Pyronite. He chucked a few fireballs at some of his enemies, before destroying the remaining ones with another stream of fire from his left hand, and a few fireballs from his right.
A grin of uncontainable excitement spread across Natsu's face. "And that's why he's Ben most awesome form!" he proclaimed.
"Get real, pyro. Big Chill would've handled those things in less than half the time." Gray countered.
Natsu and Gray head-butted, fiery orange and icy blue aura's wafting off their bodies respectively. "That's a load of crap, ice princess! Heatblast can smoke Big Chill anytime!"
"And how do you think he would do that when Big Chill can go intangible?" Gray countered.
"You're both wrong!" Happy butted into the conversation. "Rath is his most awesome form. No debate."
"Silence!" Erza commanded, making the trio flinch. "You need to focus and cease this banter! And for the record, all three of you are wrong. Upgrade is obviously his most awesome form." She stated.
"Upgrade?!" Natsu, Gray, and Happy yelled simultaneously.
Lucy slumped her shoulders and looked on in exasperation and disbelief. "Now Erza's getting into the argument…?" she sweat dropped. "What next…"
When all the drones were destroyed, Heatblast stood amongst the scrap metal debris with a triumphant smirk on his rocky face, until suddenly, a bola-like device came from behind a cloud of smoke to his left, and pinned him to the wall of a building. The device was essentially six metal rods, connected by blue electricity.
This immediately caught the team's attention, and made them cease their rambling.
"Whoa…what was that?" Gray wondered.
Heatblast shook off his daze and lifted his head to see an incredibly large, spiked ball rolling towards him. It had the same color scheme as the droids, which could only mean that they were connected in some way. The ball stopped rolling about two yards away from Heatblast.
Suddenly, the seam at its center began to hiss as steam poured out. The ball then split apart into two semi-spheres, and revealed a silver, horizontal tube within them. It had what appeared to be a door with a red light on it. The door opened with steam pouring out from it as well. Once it was open, a large, muscular silhouette could be seen. It had ominous, red eyes and a green, tube-like structure around its seemingly bald head.
The being then stepped out from the strange vehicle, the ground shaking with each footstep. It was a very large, hulking humanoid, standing at least twelve-feet-tall. Its legs, torso, chest, and shoulders were adorned with black-reddish armored plates. The body parts not covered by armor were revealed to be green splotchy skin. Long, dark crimson spikes extended from the red creases in its massive green arms, and its shoulder plates. The scariest feature of this being was its squid-like face, a few long tentacles dangling down like a beard. Its mouth was concealed by a black mask with red tubes connected to it.
The wizards collectively gasped at the sight of the large, hideous being. Never before had they seen anything like it.
"W-what…is that thing?" Lucy stuttered fearfully.
Erza, as well as the others, was at a loss for words. She could only stare at the large, menacing being with wide eyes and an apprehensive expression.
"You…"Heatblast's eye sockets widened. "…you're the alien from my visions!"
"At last, we meet."The creature spoke in a raspy, sinister voice. "The being that has caused me so much trouble…"
There was a short, tense pause as Heatblast and the squid-faced behemoth stared down at each other.
"Who are you?"asked Heatblast.
"I…am Vilgax," he answered, "and I have come for the Omnitrix."
"Vilgax? I don't remember Ben saying anything about this guy. Do any of you?" Gray turned to the others.
"Nope," Happy shook his head.
"Neither do I." Erza admitted.
"He looks super scary." Lucy admitted, trembling slightly.
"Well…" Natsu punched his open palm, a cocky grin on his face. "He doesn't look so tough to me."
"And, uh...I'm guessin' you're not with the good guys."Heatblast remarked.
Ben struggled against his restraints and melted the six metal rods, freeing himself. Heatblast leapt at Vilgax, igniting his hands in flames and slamming a large fireball into the latter's chest. He then punched Vilgax's massive leg numerous times. The boy-turned-Pyronite then stopped and looked up at Vilgax, only to realize that his attack had gained no reaction whatsoever from the squid-faced alien.
Vilgax then picked up Heatblast and casually threw him, sending him incredibly far and crashing through several buildings; much to the Ultimate Team's shock and disbelief.
"Whoa," Happy gawked, wide-eyed.
Gray glanced over at a shocked Natsu with an irritated look. "Not so tough, huh?"
With Erza at the lead, the team ran down a few alleyways in the general direction that Heatblast was thrown.
"I don't believe it. That guy just tossed Ben away like he was nothing!" Lucy yelled, still unnerved.
"He must be really strong if he can throw one of Ben's forms like that." Gray noted.
"You have no idea." Azmuth commented. He was now sitting on Erza's left shoulder plate. "That was only a taste of Vilgax's strength."
Erza glanced at the small manifestation with wide eyes. "Wait! Are you saying he's holding back?"
"Vilgax naturally believes that his enemies are beneath him." the subconscious embodiment explained. "When he really begins trying, you'll see."
A minute later, the wizards discovered their shape-shifting friend lying in the middle of a street with building debris on top of him. He blasted the rubble off with two streams of fire, and to the group's surprise, he appeared relatively unharmed, save for the fact that he was panting.
"Okay…"he breathed, "this guy's really tough…!"
Remarkably, Vilgax jumped a great distance over several buildings, and landed about fifty yards away from Heatblast. The impact created a crater and formed a dust cloud around where he had landed. The fearsome warlord wasted no time as he strolled towards Heatblast.
"I gotta slow him down!"
Heatblast reared back his arms and head, seemingly charging his pyrokinetic powers, and released two powerful fire streams toward the street in front of him. The intense heat from his flames melted the tar from the street into a thick, black liquid which, upon contact with Vilgax's legs, caused the beast of an alien to trip and fall face-first into it.
"Whoa…" Happy awed.
"That was pretty cool!" Natsu remarked, grinning. "I so gotta try that!"
'That was actually not a bad strategy.'Erza thought. She turned her gaze to Vilgax, who was struggling against the thick tar. 'However, I fear that won't be near enough to stop this… Vilgax.'
Heatblast, his confidence now returned, stepped forward. "Not so tough when you can't move, are you?"he taunted.
Suddenly, the Rustbucket pulled up directly in between Heatblast and Vilgax. The door opened and revealed Gwen with an anxious expression on her face.
"Ben! Grandpa says to get in! Now!"Gwen shouted.
Heatblast shrugged nonchalantly. "What're you talkin' about?" he pointed at himself and smiled. "I'm just about to kick alien butt!"
As if on cue, the Omnitrix dial on Heatblast's chest began to blink red, and in a similarly red flash, he reverted back into Ben.
"Or…not…" Gray said.
"Benjamin! Get in!"Max ordered sternly.
Hearing his full first name spoken, Ben wasted no time in hopping onboard the RV, with Max flooring it the second he did. The Ultimate Team watched as the Rustbucket raced off down the battered street.
"He's running away?" Natsu said, confused. "Why didn't he just turn into that titan form and step on him?"
Azmuth turned to the Dragon Slayer, and answered, "Ben did not have access to the To'kustar DNA yet, and even if he had it wouldn't have mattered."
The wizards looked at the Galvan in confusion.
"What do you mean?" Happy asked.
"Unlike the Omnitrix Ben has currently, the prototype he had as a child could only transform him into one form for ten minutes, then it required time to recharge before he could transform again." he answered.
"I see." Erza replied, understanding. "So his Omnitrix was not as powerful back when he was a child."
"Indeed," Azmuth nodded. "But it was still powerful enough to gain the attention of many evildoers; Vilgax being the most fearsome and wicked of them all."
Before any of the group could comment, the scene began to distort once more as it shifted into a new setting. Within seconds, they were now in another part of the city, but there were less destroyed and burning buildings.
"Lemme guess, we shifted to another part of the same memory, right?" Gray implied to the subconscious manifestation.
Azmuth simply nodded.
Suddenly, the Ultimate Team's attention was gained by a peculiar and quite disgusting-looking creature. It had a bug-like body and a sharp, black tail, all covered by a white and black outfit. It had four insect-like flat legs with two arms, whose hands are human-style ones with a black coloration, similar to fingerless gloves, and had three clawed fingers. It had four pedunculated eyes that were pretty small and yellowish-orange in color. The eyes were linked directly to the sides of its huge black head. Its limbs were a brown-greenish color and its wings were light green. A familiar hourglass symbol was displayed on top of its forehead.
"EW! Gross!" Lucy remarked, disgusted. "What is that thing?!"
"That…" Azmuth answered impassively, "…is one of Ben's forms, Stinkfly."
"Stinkfly?" Erza repeated. "I've never heard of or seen that form."
"Why would he call it that?" Natsu wondered.
Azmuth sighed. "If you ever get the chance to see him turn into it in the future, you'll find out why."
Stinkfly was currently flying through the city, trying to escape from Vilgax, who was closing the distance between them. He was extremely persistent and refused to let up on his chase. Vilgax leapt onto a rooftop and began pursuing him once more, leaping from one building to another. The structures cracked and crumbled underneath him.
Vilgax leapt one more time and finally gained enough air to wrap his hulking arms around Stinkfly, preventing the insectoid alien from flying any further. Vilgax and Stinkfly then crashed through a building, creating a large explosion on impact that destroyed the upper portion of it, and landing in the demolished street behind it.
The Ultimate Team rushed toward the destruction, quite shocked by the squid-faced alien's strength, agility, and the damage he casually created. They watched as Vilgax quickly rose from the debris unharmed, clutching a struggling Stinkfly with his left hand.
"I grow tired of this." Vilgax snarled.
The warlord pointed his right index finger at Stinkfly's face as it began to glow red, and tapped the Omnitrix dial. Doing so caused a bright red flash to engulf the area, and when it faded, Stinkfly had turned back into Ben; much to his and the wizards' surprise.
"Hey!" Ben's eye widened from shock. "How'd you do that?!"
"A child...?" Vilgax ignored Ben's demand and clenched his right fist, growing angrier by the second. "The Omnitrix is in the hands of a mere child?!"He roared, outraged.
Vilgax seemingly shook off his initial shock at Ben's true identity, and placed his right hand over the Omnitrix. However, the device began to give off a green glow, along with a burst of green electricity. An instant later, the squid-face warlord was sent rocketing back into a portion of a partially-destroyed building, leaving a large dent in it.
"Whoa! What was that?" Gray asked, surprised.
"Vilgax tried to remove the Omnitrix, and caused the security function to activate." Azmuth explained.
It didn't take more than a second for Vilgax to recover and approach Ben once more.
"Looks like it didn't do anything to slow him down…" remarked Gray.
"Just how strong is that guy?" Natsu asked, narrowing his eyes at Vilgax.
Azmuth was silent for a moment as he glared hard at Vilgax, which didn't go unnoticed by a certain scarlet-haired knight. "Very, very strong…"
"It would appear the Omnitrix has already merged with your own DNA..."Vilgax realized.
Ben tried to scurry away, but was grabbed by the back of his shirt by the huge alien.
"I, uh...don't suppose that means you're gonna let me go, does it...?"Ben asked.
"Hardly..."Vilgax retorted sourly.
Vilgax's spiked, ball-shaped vehicle then rolled up and opened up to allow its driver to enter. The squid-faced alien tossed Ben into the vehicle, and then stepped inside himself and took his seat. After that, the door closed, as does the sphere. It then begins to roll away and crashed through a building.
After that, the setting around the Fairy Tail wizards began to fade once more and refigure into a new one.
"So that's it? That octopus dude captured Ben?!" Natsu asked.
Azmuth nodded. "Yes…though this memory isn't over yet."
The group's surroundings then configured into a large, metal circular room. Several drones were hovering around the perimeter. In the center, Ben was hooked up to a big, ring-like machine that was suspended in the air. His legs and right arm were restrained by blue energy beams while his left arm and the Omnitrix were inside a tube-like device.
The Ultimate Team glanced over to see Vilgax looking a green, holographic screen that displayed multiple readings from the machine Ben was hooked up to. Not that any of them knew that since they were still ignorant over the concept of computers.
"A child..."Vilgax growled as he glanced back to the small boy. "I should've suspected as much. The Omnitrix being used as a play toy..."
"Hey! I've saved a lot of people by going hero."Ben argued.
Vilgax approached the young Omnitrix bearer until he was less than a couple meters in front of him. "You hold the key to a power struggle so ancient, so vast..."he leaned closer, "...it is beyond your feeble comprehension."The warlord mocked.
"Picture an entire army, each in command of an Omnitrix, all at my command..."Vilgax paused as he imagined his vision. "I would be invincible... I will rule the universe! And the only thing standing between me and my destiny...is you."
The eyes of the wizards and cat widened from the squid-faced warlord's declaration. Erza's mouth gaped a little as that unsettling thought raced through her head.
"An army of Omnitrix users?" Erza gasped. "That's his plan?"
Azmuth, who was still sitting on Erza's left shoulder, nodded. "Yes…quite frightening, is it?"
"I'll say…" Lucy trembled.
"Aye," Happy agreed uneasily.
"Ben alone is as powerful as anyone in the guild." Erza stated. "I can't imagine the destruction and carnage an entire army of Omnitrix users under that monster's command could cause, especially if those troops didn't care about innocent lives or collateral damage."
"No kidding," Gray agreed.
"An army of Omnitrixes…" Natsu tapped his chin in thought. "You think I could have one of them?"
The team sweat dropped and groaned from the Dragon Slayer's foolish question.
With Vilgax's last statement, a ring of mechanical, menacing blades rose up from the floor. Lucy and Happy gulped at the sight of them.
The cybernetically-enhanced Chimera Sui Generis turned to one of his humanoid drones. "Prepare for takeoff..."he commanded. The servant drone simply saluted and ran off to do as it was told. "Once we're in orbit, I will finally have the pleasure of destroying this miserable planet, once and for all."
The group's eyes widened from shock once more from Vilgax's threat. Did he really possess the means to destroy an entire world? Suddenly, Natsu's eyes narrowed as he thought over what Vilgax said.
"Wait…takeoff…?" Natsu repeated. His eyes then widened in realization. "You mean…we're on a mode of TRANSPORTATION!"
As if someone flipped a switch, Natsu's face turned a sickly green as he collapsed to the floor. The group members, excluding Erza, could only gawk at the Dragon Slayer.
"SERIOUSLY!?" Lucy shrieked, annoyed. "You've been fine this whole time, but as soon as you find out we're on a vehicle you get sick?!"
Happy sighed. "That's Natsu for yah…"
"What did you think we were standing in this whole time, pyro?" Gray yelled, irritated.
Erza face-palmed from frustration, and mumbled, "I swear…"
The Ultimate Team's attention, except for Natsu who was now writhing on the floor, was drawn back to the memory taking place.
Vilgax reached for the many blades surrounding Ben, and took one that was seemingly only a hilt, though with a handle similar to that of a gun. However, from the hilt emerged a long, blue blade of energy, with many curves and points all along it. The warlord approached Ben with the blade, prepared to cut off the latter's arm as he struggled in vain to free himself. But before Vilgax could do anything, the sound of a horn honking can be heard from somewhere nearby, distracting the warlord and his drones.
"What's that?" Erza wondered.
Suddenly, no more than a second later, a hole was blown open in the side of Vilgax's ship, and through the smoke and debris, came the Rustbucket, albeit with the front grill extended outwards as a sort of high-tech battering ram; much to the group's surprise.
The RV slammed directly into Vilgax, causing him to drop his energy blade and crash him into a door. After a moment, the high-tech motor home pulled back, and Vilgax slowly but steadily rose to his feet again.
"Warning! Hull breach! Power surge!"a drone notified.
Just then, Max emerged from the door of the RV, but he looked much different than before. Now, he had a large, high-tech, blue and gray cannon strapped to his chest. Attached to the cannon were tubes that connected to a mask of sorts covering his eyes.
"Claws off my grandson, Vilgax!"Max yelled.
Ben's eyes went wide from shock. "Grandpa?!"
Vilgax lifted his head, and then narrowed his blood red eyes at Max. "Tennyson!"He growled.
Without another word, Max pulled the trigger on the cannon, and fired a large, blue beam of energy at Vilgax, sending the alien warlord through the door behind him, while causing a moderate explosion as a result from the blast.
"Whoa…" Lucy breathed, shocked.
"Ben's grandpa is awesome!" Happy chimed happily.
"Gotta admit," smirked Gray, "he is a tough old man."
Max then dropped the cannon and ran straight over to his grandson.
"Grandpa... You know this guy?"asked Ben.
"It's a long story..."Max replied.
Suddenly, the device around Ben's left arm began to surge with electricity, much to Max's dismay. Ben noticed this as well, but right after he took notice, he felt something strange. His body then began to twist and contort, until he was suddenly transformed into XLR8.
XLR8 struggled against the surging energy. "Hey...!"
XLR8's body then shifted until it turned into Diamondhead.
"What's going..."Diamondhead groaned painfully.
He then randomly transformed into Wildmutt, and let out a roar, seemingly finishing his inquiry. The wizards and cat looked on in confusion.
"What's happening to him?" Erza asked, concerned.
"Yeah, why does he keep transforming like that?" Gray wondered.
"When the Rustbucket slammed through Vilgax's ship, it caused a power surge which caused Ben's Omnitrix to malfunction." Ben's subconscious answered.
"The power surge must've affected the watch!"Max realized.
Wildmutt then transformed into Four Arms, and began to struggle against the device restraining his upper left arm, eventually breaking it with his enhanced, Tetramand strength and easily freeing himself from the other three energy restraints. Four Arms then lifted up the ring-like device and threw it across the room with ease.
Just then, Gwen exited the RV as well and turned to her left to see several flying, disk-like drones making their way through the hole that Vilgax had been blasted through.
"Look out!"Gwen cried.
Gwen ran over to Four Arms and Max as the drones open fired on her, narrowly missing.
Four Arms blocked a few laser bolts with his left forearms and reared back his fist and attempted to punch one of the drones; however, before his fist could make contact, he randomly transformed into Ghostfreak, and phased through the robot completely.
Ghostfreak looked at himself, and moaned, "Oh, man..."
Suddenly, Ben began to transform again, just as another drone flew by, and a familiar, squeaky voice to the Ultimate Team came from inside the drone as it began to spark and twitch erratically.
"A little alien knowhow and the toaster is toast..."Grey Matter quipped.
Grey Matter hopped from the disabled drone and onto another. He then climbed inside it, ready to do some more damage, until he seemingly transformed again. The drone suddenly gained a new black color scheme with green lines all over it as it grew to twice its size and sprouted a jagged saw blade from its circular midsection.
Meanwhile, Gwen was cornered by two more drones, which were about to fire on her, until…
"Try picking on someone your own size!"Upgrade shouted.
Upgrade then spun his saw blade and rammed into the two drones, destroying them completely, and sending scrap flying in every direction. One small, smoking chunk landed directly on Gwen's head, much to her annoyance.
Meanwhile, as the team watched as Ben wrecked the drones a certain ice wizard took notice of something. "Hey. Is it me or does it look like this ship is going down?" Gray implied, pointing to the large hole in the ship.
The wizards, minus Natsu, and cat turned to see the blue sky rolling past them as Vilgax's ship plummeted back to earth.
"Yeah! You're right!" Lucy gasped.
"Ugh…feel…so…sick…" Natsu groaned sickly.
"Hang in there, Natsu!" Happy stood by the Dragon Slayer's side.
Gray sweat dropped, annoyed. He glanced over to Azmuth, who was still sitting on Erza's shoulder plate. "I thought you said nothing in these memories could affect us?"
The subconscious embodiment rubbed his chin, seemingly in deep thought. "Hmm...I'm puzzled too. He should be fine."
"Natsu really hates transportation." Happy explained. "Though this place isn't real, I bet just the thought of being in a big, moving vehicle like this ship makes him sick."
"Of course it would…" Lucy mumbled.
"Talk about lame." Gray grumbled.
Erza did not comment as her attention was focused on the fight taking place.
Upgrade proceeded to destroy more drones with his saw blade as Max used a drill from Vilgax's assortment of blades to wreck another drone. Upgrade then abandoned his drone and prepared to fight more.
"We've got to get the ship under control!"Max yelled, rushing off toward an array of monitors and computers against a wall near the hole he had sent Vilgax crashing through.
"He can fly a spaceship?" Upgrade said, shocked.
Another drone tackled the Galvanic Mechamorph, distracting him from his grandfather.
"At this point, nothing surprises me..." Gwen groaned.
As Max typed away on the computer's interface, a pair of menacing, red eyes and a familiar silhouette could be seen through the smoke cloud. Vilgax grabbed Max by his shirt and threw him across the room, where the once-retired Plumber was now only mere inches away from falling out of the hole his RV made when it plowed through the ship's hull.
Gray, Lucy, and Happy diverted their attention away from the motion-sick Natsu and toward Ben's grandpa. Vilgax approached Max and placed his massive foot on the elderly man's chest, catching Ben and Gwen's attention.
"Grandpa!" Upgrade and Gwen shouted simultaneously.
"Oh no!" Happy gasped, horrified. "He's gonna squash him!"
"No he won't." Azmuth rectified. "Just keep watching."
Vilgax glared down at Max ominously as the latter struggled to free himself but to no avail. "Your weapon won't help, Tennyson." Vilgax rasped. "As you can see, I'm much stronger than in our last encounter."
Upgrade placed his hand inside the drone he was scuffling with and disabled it quickly. Without a second's hesitation, he charged straight for the warlord behemoth.
"NOOOOOO!"Upgrade yelled.
Erza, Gray, Lucy, and Happy gasped in shock as Upgrade tackled Vilgax and sent them both flying out of the ship.
"BEN!" Max and Gwen cried.
The scene around the Ultimate Team once again began to contort and configure into a new setting instantly. The Fairy Tail wizards looked around to see they were now standing on top of a wide, stone mountain. A forest stretched across the hilly landscape below.
Instantaneously, Natsu's motion sickness vanished as he hopped up back to his feet, his body shrouded in flames. "YES! I LIVE AGAIN!" He exclaimed exuberantly.
"Welcome back!" Happy chimed.
"Where are we now?" Lucy asked as she looked around, ignoring Natsu's outburst.
"On some kind of mountain apparently…" Gray replied.
"Hey! What are those?" Natsu asked, pointing at the objects of interest.
The group followed Natsu's finger and could see that there were three giant faces carved into the mountain face. Under closer observation, they could see that they were currently standing on a fourth one. Out of their knowledge, they were standing on the carved head of Thomas Jefferson.
"Huh? What's with the giant faces?" Happy wondered.
"Dunno," Natsu grinned toothily, "but I kinda want my face on a mountain too!"
"We are on Mount Rushmore." Azmuth answered, gaining the team's attention.
Erza's eyes widened from recognition. "Mount Rushmore? I remember Ben telling me about this place on our mission in Peony."
"Yes," the subconscious manifestation glanced away sheepishly, remembering the few incidents Ben had with Erza on that mission. "This monument was built in honor of the four greatest leaders in Ben's home country, the United States."
Before anyone could comment, a falling object in the distance caught the group's gaze. It impacted the ground miles away, creating a loud boom and a large crater as well.
"What was that?" Lucy squealed.
"You'll have to brush us up on our history later, dude." Gray remarked to Azmuth.
Their attention was then drawn to Upgrade, who had stretched out his body to form a sort of parachute. He was gently floating toward one of Mount Rushmore's heads; however, just before he could make it, he randomly transformed again, this time into Ripjaws. Ripjaws fell down to the nose of Theodore Roosevelt's head, and was barely holding on with his sharp claws as he began to slip.
"Ohhh…sometimes I hate this watch…"Ripjaws complained.
Gray folded his arms over his chest, and noted, "I wouldn't wanna be in that position."
The Ultimate Team watched as Ripjaws miraculously managed to find his footing and climb his way up the nose and up to the top of the head. They ran over to him to get closer, and see what happened next. Needless to say, Ripjaws wasn't looking very good. He was crawling on all fours and breathing heavily.
"Can't…breathe…need…water…"Ripjaws managed to say as he flipped over on his back, completely exhausted from dehydration.
"I don't get it." Natsu scratched his head, confused. "Why did he change into that form? Seems kinda dumb changing into a fish on top of a mountain…"
"Why weren't you paying attention earlier, Natsu?" Erza growled, annoyed. "His Omnitrix is malfunctioning. This was explained clearly back on Vilgax's ship!"
"But…but…this is the first I've heard about this…" Natsu whimpered, cowering in fear from Erza's wrath.
Lucy sweat dropped. "I guess she forgot that he was completely out in the last memory, huh?"
"That's Erza for yah." Happy commented.
Suddenly, the wizards and cat were snapped out of their musings when an all-too-familiar figure leapt from the forest in the distance and behind an immobilized Ripjaws, the ground cracking beneath his metallic feet. The Ultimate Team felt their jaws drop to the ground in shock.
"Whoa…" Natsu gawked.
"Did…he really just jump that far…?" Lucy trembled.
"Seriously…" Gray added.
Erza stared at the large, intimidating form of Vilgax with wide, apprehensive eyes. 'Just how strong is this monster…?'She thought.
As Vilgax approached an exhausted Ripjaws, he mocked, "You are a slippery little fish, child... but no longer."
The warlord reached his hand down to the Omnitrix dial, prepared to disable Ben's transformation. However, he became annoyed when the Piscciss Volann disappeared, leaving a dust trail in its wake. The squid-faced warrior turned around to see that Ben had now turned into a certain speedy alien.
"I can still give you a run for your money!"XLR8 quipped.
In response, the Ultimate Team groaned from Ben's pun. Erza pinched the bridge of her nose and moaned, "Again with the puns…?"
Azmuth, who was still sitting on her left shoulder, shrugged. "It wasn't that bad."
XLR8 disappeared in another blur, leaving another dust cloud where he once stood.
"You can't hide from me forever, boy!" Vilgax yelled.
The sight of another dust trail coming from behind the Chimera Sui Generis warlord caught the wizards' attention.
"Wasn't planning on it! Peekaboo!"retorted XLR8.
XLR8 rammed straight into Vilgax, creating a shockwave and a massive impact crater around the two. A dust cloud was thrown up and obscured the team's sight of the shape-shifter and the warlord.
"That had to hurt." Gray commented.
"I'll say." Natsu agreed. "That should've taken him down."
When the dust cleared, much to the Ultimate Team's astonishment, Vilgax was unaffected by XLR8's hit. In fact, he had only slid back a few feet while XLR8 was staggering and quickly feel to his knees.
"No way…" Lucy whispered, wide-eyed.
"What?!" Gray yelled, shocked, "How the hell could he still be standing after a hit like that?!"
"Ohhh..." Ben groaned painfully. "I'm gonna feel that tomorrow..."
"For you," Vilgax approached the Omnitrix wearer, "there is no tomorrow!"
Suddenly, the dark crimson rods jutting out from Vilgax's arms sunk into his arms, which in turn, caused his arms' muscle mass to expand dramatically. Vilgax raised his arms over his head and proceeded to slam them down in front of him, with XLR8 only narrowly running out of the way in time. The sheer force of Vilgax's blow created a massive tremor that sent giant cracks all over Theodore Roosevelt's head, which eventually caused it to crumble away down the mountain side.
The wizards' and cat collectively gasped at the sheer strength that Vilgax demonstrated.
"He…he…punched part of the mountain away…" Natsu stuttered.
"…with one hit?!" Happy added fearfully.
Erza's brown orbs widened from apprehension. Though she and Ben had destroyed a volcano together that was only because the latter had Upgraded her Armadura Fairy Armor. This being, this Vilgax, had punched an entire mountain side away with one hit. Needless to say, his strength did intimidate her.
Vilgax wasted no time in lunging toward XLR8, attempting to punch him repeatedly, only for the Kineceleran to dodge him each time.
"You can't escape me!"Vilgax rasped, frustrated.
XLR8 then jumped up and reared back his clawed right hand, aiming it for Vilgax's head. However, the latter easily sidestepped the blow and grabbed the speedster by his arm. He spun XLR8 around incredibly fast and threw him into a large chunk of rock from the destroyed head of Theodore Roosevelt.
Without a moment's delay, diamond shards flew out from the dust cloud created by XLR8 with Diamondhead quickly following them, holding his arms out as he continued to fire more shards. The group noticed that Diamondhead was wearing a different outfit. He was now wearing a sleeveless suit that was black on the right side and white on the left, the Omnitrix dial was positioned on his left chest.
"Special delivery!" Diamondhead quipped.
Vilgax tried to punch Diamondhead; however, the Petrosapien ducked, shifted his arms into diamond blades, and proceeded to punch Vilgax's leg three times. When he looked down at his diamond hands, he saw that they were now nothing more than stumps.
"I thought that form's crystals were super-strong?" Natsu said, confused.
"They are." Erza assured; her eyes then narrowed at the squid-faced alien. "However, it appears that Vilgax's armor is stronger."
"Just how strong is that guy…?" Gray muttered, surprised by Vilgax's effortless display of dominance.
"Oh man."Diamondhead grumbled,"Guess I should've seen that coming."
Diamondhead quickly reformed his hands, but Vilgax quickly grabbed him by the face and slammed the Petrosapien into the ground with a ton of force. When Vilgax lifted his hand, Diamondhead could be seen lying on the ground, with his eyes barely open and his crystal face covered in cracks.
"He's strong enough to break his diamond body?!" Gray shouted, shocked.
The scarlet-haired knight's eyes widened from fear in seeing Diamondhead's condition. She then glanced over to Azmuth, who was still on her shoulder plate. "Is this what you meant by 'when he really begins trying'?" Erza inquired.
The subconscious form nodded. "Yes. The heavy-hitters that Ben possessed at the time were no match against Vilgax's raw strength."
Vilgax reared back his massive right fist again as Diamondhead's body began to twist and reform itself. He let loose his punch, but was met with nothing but rock and dirt as Ben had just turned into Ghostfreak, and had instinctively went intangible, albeit still covering his eye.
Ghostfreak peeked through his hand, and then uncovered his eye. "Yes! Sometimes I love this watch..."
Ghostfreak teasingly waved at Vilgax and phased into the ground below them. Vilgax then decreased his muscle mass as the crimson rods in his arms popped back out again.
Once again, the scene around the Fairy Tail wizards began to distort as they transitioned to another scene. Once their surroundings reconfigured, the team looked around to see they were now in the forest below Mount Rushmore, standing on the edge of an enormous freshly carved trench. The wizards followed the trough to see that Vilgax's ship had crashed.
"Hey, weren't Ben's grandpa and cousin on that ship?" Lucy asked.
"Yeah," replied Gray, "unless they got off somehow."
"So," Natsu turned to Ben's subconscious, "where'd Ben go?"
Azmuth simply pointed toward the mountain. Natsu was about to angrily respond when Ghostfreak phased out from the side of the mountain and took a quick glance back at it.
"Don't switch on me now." He begged, referring to the Omnitrix.
Ghostfreak then took a look forward and saw that Vilgax's ship had crash landed, with Max and Gwen presumably still inside.
"Oh no!" Ghostfreak rasped.
Ghostfreak immediately flew toward the crash site, the Ultimate Team following behind him. When he reached it, he found the Rustbucket completely trashed.
"Oh no," Happy said, scared. "Are they okay?"
"Only one way to be sure," Erza replied. "Let's keep following."
"Grandpa? Gwen?"Ben called out.
As Ghostfreak phased through the Rustbucket, the wizards' and cat went around it. They approached the back the exact moment Ben phased back outside. Ghostfreak looked forward and was shocked by what he saw. The Ultimate Team followed his gaze and their eyes widened in horror as well.
Vilgax had both Max and Gwen in either hand, both of them unconscious.
"No…"Ben uttered.
"How'd he get down here so fast?" Lucy squealed.
"Seriously?" Gray cocked a brow at the blonde. "This guy jumped over buildings and a mountain with a single leap."
All of a sudden, Ghostfreak transformed into Wildmutt and landed on all fours. He let out a loud, angry roar at Vilgax, seemingly commanding him to let his family go.
The alien warlord, of course, was unintimidated by his transformation. "It's your choice. You…or them..."He stated.
Expressions of anger crossed the Ultimate Team's faces. Threatening to kill Ben's family members to force him to surrender was enough to make the group's blood boil; especially Natsu and Erza's.
"That bastard…" Natsu snarled, clenching his fists tightly.
"What a coward," Gray growled, his anger matching Natsu's.
Erza, meanwhile, was ominously silent as she glared daggers at Vilgax. If she could say anything at the moment, it wouldn't be anything good. What Vilgax was doing made her sick to her stomach.
After a brief moment of snarling, Wildmutt lowered his head in defeat and gave himself up for his grandpa and cousin's safety.
Vilgax dropped Max and Gwen's bodies and approached Wildmutt. He tapped the Vulpimancer's Omnitrix dial and, in a flash of green, turned him back to Ben. He was on his knees with his head lowered and eyes closed in defeat.
"How noble..." Vilgax mocked.
Natsu growled as he ignited flames on his fists. "If I were there I would've turned that squid face into a seafood platter by now!" He proclaimed angrily.
"I dunno, Natsu," Happy disagreed. "This guy is really strong. Strong enough to beat Ben's forms…"
"And how much success have you had against those, flame-brain?" Gray retorted.
"What'd you say?!" Natsu roared.
"Guys, we need to focus here." Lucy said desperately.
"Natsu…Gray…" Erza growled. "That's quite enough."
"Aye, sir!" the duo replied simultaneously, their arms slung over each other's shoulders.
"Another bad Happy impression…?" Lucy moaned, exasperated. "When will it end?"
Azmuth, meanwhile, shook his head and groaned in annoyance. "How does the conscious mind put up with this insanity?"
The team diverted their attention back to Vilgax, who had picked up young Ben by his shirt and proceeded to return to his ship. Without a word, they followed the two with Erza at the lead. Suddenly, a flash engulfed the wizards' and cat, and they suddenly found themselves in Vilgax's ship already.
"Huh…" Natsu blinked, confused. "How did we…?"
"That was me." Azmuth answered. "I simply transitioned you to this spot so you wouldn't have to follow Vilgax inside."
"Huh…?" a question mark formed over Natsu's head.
"Just forget it, Natsu." Gray groaned, irritated.
Max and Gwen were both beginning to wake up, with the former noticing where Vilgax was heading.
"Vilgax, no!" Max yelled. "Don't go back in there!"
Ignoring Max's warning, Vilgax leaped back into the hole in his ship. The Fairy Tail wizards stood to his left, meters away from him. From this distance, the warlord was certainly more intimidating. Lucy and Happy gulped fearfully while Natsu and Gray sweated a little. Erza simply narrowed her gaze at Vilgax, clenching her armored fists.
Vilgax turned back to Max as his ship began to take off into the sky. "Foolish Earthling. Why would I-"
Vilgax was cut off when he noticed a red light flashing and an alarm going off inside his ship. "The auto-destruct launch sequence has been initiated!"He yelled.
"The what?" Gray asked, dumbfounded.
"It is a function that causes a spaceship to launch itself high into a planet's atmosphere and self-destruct." Azmuth explained.
Vilgax immediately dropped Ben and rushed over to a nearby computer, attempting to type something on its interface. As a result, sparking, blue electricity surged from the terminal and disabled the interface.
"TENNYSON!"Vilgax bellowed. "You are the thorn in my side-"
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a blast of blue energy struck Vilgax and sent the squid-faced alien slamming into the computer in front of him, his body falling to the floor. The group turned to the source of the blast to see Ben holding up his grandpa's large, blue cannon with a smirk across his face.
"Guess it runs in the family."Ben remarked.
The young hero quickly abandoned the cannon and made his way over to the hole in the ship, as Vilgax attempted to push a large, piston-like mechanism off of his torso.
"Commencing self-destruct launch..."the computer articulated.
"NOOOOOOOO!"Vilgax roared.
Ben quickly activated the Omnitrix, found the icon he wanted, and slammed down the core. In a familiar flash of emerald, he transformed into Heatblast and blasted out of the ship. The scene began to contort and fade away just before Vilgax's ship exploded.
The Fairy Tail team now found themselves in a greenish-black void, identical to the one they were in when they first entered Ben's mind.
Gray smirked, crossing his arms over his chest. "Gotta admit, it was pretty cool how Ben beat that octopus dude in the end."
"I'll say." Natsu grinned roguishly. "Wish I had a cannon like that!"
"Aye, sir!" Happy chirped.
"You with a cannon…?" Lucy sweat dropped nervously. "For some reason, I don't find that to be a good combination."
Erza turned to Azmuth, who was now standing in front of the group with his hands behind his back and an impassive expression on his face.
"So, I have to ask, was that the end of Vilgax?" Erza questioned in a serious tone.
The subconscious manifestation shook his head. "No. In fact, that was only the beginning. Ben would have many more deadly encounters with Vilgax after that."
The wizards and flying cat all turned to Azmuth with shocked expressions.
"What?!" Natsu, Gray, Lucy, and Happy exclaimed together.
"What are you talking about?" Gray shouted. "That explosion should've killed him!"
"There's no way he could've survived that!" Natsu added.
Azmuth simply shook his head. "Wrong. There's a reason why Vilgax is Ben's archenemy. As you will see as we progress through his memories, Vilgax has survived far worse than that explosion."
Their eyes all widened from the thought of being that strong and durable. After witnessing how powerful he is, it was clearly evident why Vilgax was considered Ben's archenemy.
"However, there is one other being that could be considered worse than Vilgax." Azmuth implied.
"Worse?" Lucy stammered. "How…?"
The manifestation turned around and summoned a brilliant, white sphere in front of them. "Follow me and you'll see for yourselves."
"Wait a second…" Natsu looked around, "how come we haven't fought anyone else yet?"
"Natsu makes a good point." Erza agreed, turning back to Azmuth. "I'm surprised the Entrapment spell hasn't sent anything else to stop us yet."
"I'm also concerned." Azmuth admitted. His green eyes then narrowed. "But, I warn you, keep your guard up."
The team nodded while Lucy trembled lightly. Natsu saw this and laid a supportive hand on her right shoulder. "Don't worry, Luce." He grinned toothily. "We'll be fine! And we're gonna save our pal, Ben. You can count on it!"
Lucy stared at Natsu in shock for a brief moment, and then smiled confidently. She nodded in agreement.
With that, the Fairy Tail wizards and subconscious manifestation entered the luminous sphere and advanced to another memory of their shape-shifting friend.
…
In another part of Ben's mind, a dark individual shrouded in shadows stood in a seemingly empty void. Purple lightning and booming thunder raged in the storm clouds above. Along with the sounds of thunder, another sound could be heard: screaming.
The unknown individual was standing a few meters in front of a glowing purplish-black sphere that levitated a few inches off the nonexistent ground. His hands were tucked inside the pockets of his long, dark coat. A sinister smirk grew on the exposed lower region of his face. The rest was obscured by darkness.
It appeared that the agonizing screams were emanating from within the dark amethyst ball. They grew more desolate after each passing minute. The figure's smirk grew wider. Everything was going according to plan. He knew that his prey wouldn't hold out for much longer. Once he was at his weakest, he would send the final blow, and that would be the end of it.
"It won't be long." The dark enigma noted.
The individual's eyes glowed purple for a brief moment. As a result, a frown crossed his face.
"I see that our uninvited guests are still scurrying about. I should've known the first wave wouldn't be enough to stop them."The figure was ominously silent for a moment before his smirk returned. "However, they are of no concern. Their opposition will only grow stronger after each battle while they grow weaker."
The dark man lifted his head and stared at the purple sphere, listening to the melody of screams coming from it. His smirk turned into an evil smile. "There is nothing they can do…to stop the Entrapment."