Spotting the escaped prisoners, the synthetic soldiers accelerated, their heavy, metal-clad feet clattering loudly against the deck plating as they charged.
“Watch out!” Ben warned, stepping back instinctively.
Kevin didn’t hesitate for a fraction of a second.
Before the lead Biooid could close the distance, Kevin flexed his arms, shifting his stony, mutated forearms into two massive steel hammers.
He lunged forward, swinging his right hammer in a wide, vicious arc that struck the front runner squarely in the chest.
CRACK!
The impact caved in the droid’s chest plate, sending it flying backward into the bulkhead with enough force to shatter its internal power core.
Beside him, Gwen was already in motion.
She raised her right hand, concentrating her Anodite mana into a sharp, spinning disc of brilliant magenta energy.
With a sharp flick of her wrist, she hurled the disc down the hallway.
It cut through the air with a high-pitched hum, effortlessly slicing two charging Biooids clean through their midsections before dissipating into sparks.
Without the Omnitrix network actively overriding their biological systems, these un-transformed Biooids were remarkably weak—barely more than basic automated foot soldiers.
They lacked the raw durability of Vilgax’s heavy combat droids, allowing Kevin and Gwen to carve a path through them with minimal effort.
As the small group advanced down the primary corridor toward the bridge deck, an amusing dynamic took shape.
Gwen and Kevin were at the front, fighting fiercely and clearing room after room.
Trailing several paces behind them was Albedo, walking with his hands lazily tucked into his jacket pockets.
He had zero interest in lifting a finger to help, even pausing briefly to poke a pale boot at the smoking torso of a fallen Biooid, examining its synthetic circuitry with a critical, condescending eye.
Beside Albedo walked Ben Tennyson—currently reduced to a completely powerless, ordinary teenager.
Ben kept his head low, hovering safely behind Gwen and Kevin.
He possessed enough self-awareness to know that jumping into melee combat without alien transformations would make him a liability, but watching his friends handle all the heavy lifting left a bitter taste in his mouth.
He stared at his bare wrists, letting out a heavy, frustrated sigh.
“Man, this is so annoying…
Without the watch, I’m completely useless out here.”
Albedo glanced sideways at him, a faint, mocking smile tugging at the corner of his lips.
“Well, Tennyson, while custom demands that a companion offer you some soothing words of reassurance, the logical reality is that we are not friends—and your assessment of your current combat utility is mathematically absolute.”
Ben’s face darkened, a dark cloud settling over his expression as he glared at the white-haired clone.
Albedo rolled his eyes, brushing a stray strand of white hair from his forehead.
“Oh, don’t look so tragic.
It’s pathetic.
Frankly, if you’re truly that desperate to make yourself useful, there is a simple workaround…”
Before Ben could ask what he meant, Albedo reached down and slapped his left wrist.
A brilliant flare of red light engulfed his small frame.
“Grey Matter!”
The tiny, high-intellect Galvan landed lightly on the deck plating.
Without offering a single word of explanation to the bewildered teenager, Grey Matter scrambled forward like a streak of lightning, darting right through the legs of the fighting Biooids.
He reappeared ten seconds later dragging a heavy armful of severed Biooid limbs, wiring, and synthetic core components.
Quickly!” Grey Matter squeaked in his sharp, high-pitched voice.
Ben hesitated for a second, but figuring the Galvan wasn’t about to sabotage him in the middle of a warship, he extended both forearms.
Grey Matter’s four-fingered hands moved in an absolute blur of hyper-active mechanical assembly.
Screws were salvaged, bio-synthetic pathways were rewired, and metal plating was snapped into place with blinding speed.
In less than fifteen seconds, a pair of crude, bulky armored gauntlets fashioned directly from the Biooid parts were locked snugly over Ben’s forearms.
Albedo’s Galvan logic was simple: according to Vilgax, the Biooids possessed blank-slate cellular structures designed to interface directly with external transformation commands.
If he forged those blank pathways into wearable armor and linked the frequency to his Ultimatrix, could he project localized alien properties directly onto a human host?
A flash of red energy swept over the tiny alien, reverting him back to his human form.
Albedo smoothed down his red jacket, a deeply satisfied smirk on his face.
“Design phase complete.
Let us test the theory.
Although this interface was assembled under primitive constraints, my engineering remains flawless.”
Albedo brought up his Ultimatrix interface, dialed in a Petrosapien profile, and pressed the dial.
This time, however, Albedo didn’t transform.
Instead, the raw bio-synthetic gauntlets strapped to Ben’s arms burst into a glowing crimson light.
Ben gasped as the metal plating on his forearms shifted, calcifying into dense, light-green Taydenite crystal.
The gauntlets expanded, encasing his wrists and hands in a pair of miniature, functional Diamondhead arms.
Ben stared at his glowing crystal fists in absolute awe, flexing his newly armored fingers.
“Whoa!
This is awesome!
Alien hero armor?!”
Fascinating, Albedo thought, watching the energy transfer with keen scientific interest.
The blank Biooid tissue successfully channeled the local Ultimatrix signal to project localized phenotypic traits.
“Don’t just stand there gaping, Tennyson,” Albedo urged smoothly.
“Test the offensive yield.
You should be able to tap into basic Petrosapien projectile abilities.”
Ben didn’t need to be told twice.
He sprinted past Kevin, aimed his crystal gauntlets at a group of three advancing Biooids, and fired.
A rapid-fire volley of razor-sharp Taydenite crystal shards erupted from his knuckles, riddling the synthetic soldiers and shattering their chest plates into scrap.
“Haha!
Yes!” Ben cheered, firing another burst.
With Ben actively providing long-range crystal fire alongside Gwen’s mana constructs and Kevin’s heavy hammers, the group swept through the remaining security forces in record time.
Within minutes, they reached the reinforced blast doors leading directly to the flagship’s main bridge deck.
Kevin stepped up, swung his heavy steel hammers, and smashed the door’s locking mechanism to pieces.
The heavy blast doors hissed open, sliding into the bulkheads.
Inside the cavernous command room, Vilgax stood near the central observation window, his back turned to the entrance as he stared out into the pitch-black void of space.
“To think you wormed your way out of the cell block and made it all the way to my bridge,” Vilgax growled, his deep, gravelly voice echoing off the walls without him turning around. This story is hosted at novelping(.)com.
“I must admit, your persistence is mildly irritating.”
Ben stepped forward, his crystal gauntlets raised and ready.
“It’s four against one, Vilgax!
It’s over!
Hand over the Omnitrix right now!”
Behind him, Kevin and Gwen took up offensive stances, while Albedo stood near the back doorway, leaning casually against the frame with his arms crossed, looking thoroughly unbothered.
Vilgax let out a low, terrifying rumble of laughter, slowly turning to face them.
“How remarkably tragic, Ben Tennyson.
I had intended to grant you the privilege of watching from a cage as I brought your home world to its knees.
But it seems you are intent on rushing to your own execution.”
At that exact moment, heavy blast panels along the side corridors slid open.
Dozens upon dozens of Biooid droids flooded into the bridge, forming a dense, impenetrable wall of synthetic soldiers surrounding the four of them on all sides.
Vilgax’s crimson optic swept over the group, lingering for a second on Albedo with a sneer of pure contempt before fixing on Ben’s armored arms.
“Even with the pathetic assistance of my disgraced former ally, you stand no chance.
Clinging to such crude, makeshift toys will not save you.”
As if executing a comedic prompt, the Biooid gauntlets strapped to Ben’s forearms suddenly hissed.
A puff of acrid white smoke erupted from the mechanical joints, the Taydenite crystal dissolving into dull grey dust before the entire assembly shattered into useless pieces on the deck floor.
(As a rule of Galvan engineering, anything Juryrigg or Grey Matter slapped together out of scrap metal in under twenty seconds possessed catastrophic durability limits.)
Ben blinked, staring at his completely bare, unarmored hands, then let out a weak, sheepish cough.
Vilgax sneered, stepping forward with his heavy broadsword drawn.
“Accept your defeat, Tennyson.
I possess the Omnitrix, an endless legion of soldiers, and absolute control of this vessel.
You have nothing.”
Facing the mountain of enemies and the terrifying warlord, Ben didn’t flinch.
Instead, a slow, confident smile spread across his face.
“You’re wrong, Vilgax,” Ben said softly, his voice full of absolute certainty.
“You’re the one who’s out of moves.
Because that watch…
was never yours to keep.”
Alien Data Files
Grey Matter
Origin: Taken from the DNA sample of a Galvan from the planet Galvan Prime.
Anatomy: A diminutive, frog-like bipedal alien standing barely five inches tall.
It possesses soft grey skin, large bulbous orange eyes with horizontal slit pupils, and a tiny physical frame.
The Ultimatrix symbol is located squarely on its back.
Abilities: While physically weak, Grey Matter possesses supreme, god-tier intellect.
It can analyze complex mechanical, electronic, and biological systems instantly, allowing it to invent, repair, hack, or dismantle advanced intergalactic machinery within seconds using simple scrap materials.