On a dark, stormy night, the Rust Bucket drove through the mountains along a narrow winding road while Ben and Gwen argued in the back, as usual.
Max's eyelid was twitching with growing irritation, and Evan was getting more and more annoyed by the noise. For a moment, he actually considered getting out into the rain just so he would not have to listen to them anymore.
"Change it!" Ben said, pointing at Gwen.
"No way, you change yours," Gwen shot back. "It is your turn to change the date of your party."
"Sorry, but I already picked the cake, color-coordinated the balloons, and sent out the invitations," Gwen said, clearly not planning to back down anytime soon. She held one of the invitations up and handed it to Ben. "By the way, here is yours."
Ben took it, looked at it for half a second, and tossed it aside.
"Who plans their birthday party six months in advance?"
"The one who actually gets to celebrate it on the correct date this year," Gwen said, folding her arms.
Ben planted his foot on the table, looking offended. "I do not think so, Gwen. Grandpa Max already promised he would take us to laser tag for my birthday this year."
"But you cannot miss my party, Grandpa," Gwen said, turning toward the front.
Max let out a long, tired groan. "You two have shared the same birthday for ten years. And if you do not stop arguing right now, neither of you will make it to eleven."
He reached into the glove compartment, pulled out a small container, and tossed it back to Ben.
"Here, try this on your foot. It gets rid of all kinds of fungus."
Ben caught it and grinned. "Athlete's foot powder? Well, I am an athlete."
"More like an athletic supporter," Gwen muttered.
Ben stuck his tongue out at her and started messing with the powder anyway.
After a moment, Evan finally spoke from the back, looking between them with a flat expression.
"Why don't you just go to laser tag with Ben?"
Gwen sighed like she had been waiting for someone to ask that.
"Easy for you to say," she replied. "You are the only one of us who has ever had a birthday all to yourself."
"Yeah..." Evan said awkwardly, glancing away.
He did not say much after that. He still did not remember any part of his life in this world before he crossed over, and the feeling of having an entire family felt strange to him. The only reason he even knew their names and weird dynamic was that he had gone digging for it himself after realizing he didn't even know his sister's names on day one.
"It is not that simple, Evan," Ben said. "We live three hours apart. I am sure Grandpa does not want to spend the whole day driving back and forth."
The Rust Bucket kept rolling forward through the rain until, suddenly, a boy in a green camp uniform and a towel around his neck appeared in the headlights ahead.
He was standing right in the middle of the road with a terrified look on his face.
"They're coming! Help me!"
Max's expression changed instantly.
He slammed on the brakes hard, causing Ben and Gwen to lurch forward as the Rust Bucket skidded to a stop. At the same time, a golden flash burst from behind the RV, lighting up the inside for a split second.
"Grandpa!" Ben and Gwen shouted.
"Slender!" The faceless alien annouched.
The RV spun on the wet road and finally stopped at the edge of the cliffside, rain hammering against the windshield. The boy, in his panic, stumbled away, his body rolling, heading straight to the cliffside. His body suddenly stopped near the edge as he seemed to hit something or someone.
The boy then looked up, seeing that. Standing in the rain was a tall white figure with no face at all. A flash of lightning struck behind it, outlining the strange shape for only a moment before it turned its blank head toward the boy.
"Are you okay?" a static, ghostly voice asked.
The boy stared at it for one second. Then he screamed and fainted from pure fear.
Slender stared for a moment, then gave a small shrug.
"I will take that as a no."
...
Later, the group gathered around the couch, looking over the kid as he rested there, still unconscious.
Max leaned in slightly, checking him over with a careful eye. "Just a few scrapes and bruises. That is good," he said, straightening up a bit. "But he is still out cold."
Gwen reached over and lifted the edge of the towel around the boy's neck, glancing at something underneath. "His name's Gilbert."
Ben blinked. "Whoa, how'd you know that?"
"Women's intuition," Gwen said with a smug little smile.
"Yeah, you are definitely not reading off a name tag," Evan replied flatly as he reached over and pulled the towel aside, revealing the tag with "Gilbert" printed clearly on it.
Gwen rolled her eyes but kept going. "He must go to Camp Opinicon. That would explain the uniform."
Ben leaned in closer and noticed a purple rash on Gilbert's arm. "Ugh, that is one ugly-looking rash."
"It is obviously some kind of fungus," Gwen said, studying it more closely. "Normal rashes do not look like that."
Max nodded slightly. "I saw the sign for the camp a little way back. They should have a nurse there."
…
Not long after, the Rust Bucket pulled up to Camp Opinicon. The rain had not let up, and thunder rolled overhead as they parked near the mess hall.
They stepped out quickly and headed inside, only to stop as soon as they got a good look at the place.
The entire hall was a mess.
Tables were knocked over, chairs scattered everywhere, and food had been left behind as if everyone had rushed out in a hurry. There was no sign of anyone.
"Hello?" Max called out, his voice echoing slightly. "Anyone home?"
"It looks abandoned," Evan said as he walked further in, scanning the room. There was not a single sound, not even the faintest movement.
"Yeah, definitely abandoned," Gwen added, folding her arms.
Max did not respond right away. He walked over to one of the tables and stopped in front of a plate of spaghetti and meatballs. He waved his hand over it and felt the warmth rising from the food.
"Still warm," he said quietly. "This just happened. Someone has to be here."
Right as he finished speaking, thunder cracked loudly outside, and the lights went out.
The room dropped into complete darkness.
Max immediately pulled out a flashlight and switched it on. At the same time, Evan raised two fingers and formed a small ball of fire above his hand, casting a steady glow across the room.
The light revealed an unimpressed Gwen and Ben sitting at the table, already eating the spaghetti.
Max stared at them.
"What? I'm hungry," Ben said, his mouth covered in sauce.
Max sighed and pulled out another flashlight, handing it to Gwen. "Here, you and Ben share."
"Don't we share enough already?" Gwen muttered.
"Will you just let it go?" Ben shot back.
"Never!"
"Well then, never plus one!"
Evan glanced at them from the side, clearly losing patience. "Would the two of you stop already? This is getting annoying."
"Not until he drops it first!" Gwen said.
"Not until she drops it first!" Ben replied at the exact same time.
They paused just long enough to glare at each other again.
Max pinched his nose and exhaled.
They moved toward the kitchen, their lights sweeping across the dark room. Gwen stayed a little closer than usual, clearly more uneasy now that they were deeper inside the building.
As they reached the doorway, a low rumbling sound came from the darkness ahead.
They both froze. Two pairs of glowing eyes stared back at them.
Ben let out a shout and fell backward, crashing into Gwen and knocking her down along with the flashlight. It hit the ground and rolled, its beam shifting until it finally illuminated the figures properly.
Two kids stood there, both wearing Camp Opinicon uniforms, both looking just as scared.
"Is it safe to come out?" they asked together.
Max stepped forward carefully. "Are you two okay?"
"For-" the boy started.
"-now," the girl finished.
"What happened?" Max asked. "Where did everyone go?"
"We heard something outside, but-"
"-we were too scared to check."
"I'm Andy."
"And I'm Mandy."
"We're twins," they said in perfect sync.
A low rumble sounded again somewhere behind them, and the twins immediately rushed over, hiding behind Max.
"Where are the campers?" Max asked.
"G-gone," Andy said.
"With all the others," Mandy added.
Max moved over to the phone mounted on the wall and picked it up, only to frown.
"No dial tone. The storm must have taken out the landline," he said. "And there is no cellphone reception either."
"So we are on our own," Gwen said quietly.
Max nodded once. "Let's get back to the RV. We will take them to town."
Everyone agreed, and they quickly made their way back through the rain to the Rust Bucket, where Gilbert was still asleep.
Once inside, Max grabbed a couple of towels and handed them out.
"Here, dry off," he said, giving one to Ben and Gwen and the other to Andy and Mandy. "Sorry, only got two clean ones."
"That is okay," Andy said.
"We will share," Mandy added, leaning against him.
Meanwhile, Ben and Gwen immediately started pulling the same towel in opposite directions.
"Let go!"
"You let go!"
Evan watched them for a second, then smirked slightly. "Are you sure you are not twins?"
"NEVER!" they both shouted, before going right back to glaring at each other.
Max shook his head, then noticed Evan standing closer to him. The air around him felt warmer now, the heat rolling off him like a quiet heater. Max smiled faintly at the gesture but did not comment on it.
"A couple of kids I know could learn a thing or two from you," he said to Andy and Mandy, gently patting their heads before heading to the driver's seat.
"Who?" Ben and Gwen asked at the same time.
Max ignored that and turned the key in the ignition.
The engine sputtered, but it didn't turn on.
He frowned and stepped outside, lifting the hood. After a quick look, his expression shifted.
"Huh. The engine is covered in some kind of fungus," he muttered before shutting it and heading back inside. "Looks like we are staying here for a while."
With no other choice, the group made their way to a nearby cabin, Max carrying Gilbert while the others followed close behind.
At the back of the group, Evan slowed down. He turned his head slightly, looking toward the dark treeline beyond the camp. His Another Omnitrix reacted, the dial lighting up faintly.
Without saying anything, he pressed it. A bright golden glow erupted around him.
"Quilava."
Instantly, he dropped down to all fours and took off toward the treeline. His body moved low and fast, each step barely touching the ground before the next carried him forward. As he closed the distance, he leaped and tucked in, rolling into himself as flames ignited across his body.
In the next second, he became a blazing sphere, a rolling ball of fire that shot straight into the darkness.
He slammed into two mushroom-like figures, sending them flying from the impact as the flaming sphere skidded to a stop. The fire died down just enough for him to regain his footing, revealing what he had hit.
The creatures were tall and uneven, their bodies shaped like twisted stalks with oversized caps, their surfaces pulsing faintly as if alive in a way that was not quite natural. One of them let out a sharp, grating screech, baring rows of jagged teeth as it snapped toward him.
"Wanna fight, huh?" Quilava muttered, tilting his head slightly before tapping the Omnitrix.
A golden flash burst outward, and in the same motion, a wave of fire surged forward, slamming directly into the creatures and engulfing them.
"Swampfire."
Flames flared to life in his palms as he stepped forward and hurled them in controlled bursts, forcing the mushroom creatures to recoil as the fire spread across their bodies.
"Interesting," Swampfire said, watching how they reacted. "Some of you produce your own methane gas. That just makes it easier for me."
He sent another volley of fire toward them, driving them further back.
"Intruders."
The voice did not come from in front of him. It came from everywhere.
Swampfire paused, his eyes narrowing as the sound echoed directly inside his mind.
"No matter. You will join the other one… in my stomach."
"Heh? What the-" Swampfire looked around, but there was nothing there.
Then the ground beneath him burst open.
Purple tendrils shot upward and wrapped tightly around his limbs and torso, coiling around him before he could react. They pulled, dragging him down into the earth with surprising force.
He did not resist.
Green vines sprouted from his chest, sliding over the Omnitrix dial and covering it, and pushing it inside his body as Swampfire let himself be pulled under.
"Huh," he muttered as he was dragged deeper. "This is like an entire mushroom world down here."
The underground cavern opened up around him, filled with glowing fungi of all shapes and sizes. The walls pulsed faintly, as if the entire space was alive, breathing in its own slow rhythm.
The tendrils kept pulling him further down. Swampfire stayed still, letting it happen.
As he descended, he quietly began releasing methane gas from his body, letting it spread through the enclosed space without drawing attention to it.
Then he saw it.
Below him, a massive pink structure spread across the cavern floor, pulsing and shifting. It was not just one body but a collection of growths, layered together into something larger, something that moved with purpose. Spores drifted through the air around it, and smaller fungal structures seemed to grow directly out of its surface.
"So you're the one talking to me," Swampfire said, looking down at it.
"I communicate with all vegetation on a telepathic level," the mass replied.
Swampfire narrowed his eyes slightly at that.
"Let me guess," he said as he was drawn closer. "You're a bacteria?"
"I'm not a bacteria. I prefer Mycelium." The mass shifted, opening a massive maw lined with rows of jagged, uneven teeth.
Swampfire did not look impressed.
"I've dealt with uglier freaks than you," he said calmly. "Do you really think a giant blob of bacteria is enough to scare me?"
More methane continued to seep from his body, spreading through the air around them.
"I am no bacteria. Struggle as you may, you cannot stop me," Mycelium replied it voice, growing more noticeably angrier. "Soon, I will consume every living creature on this planet."
"Oh yeah?" Swampfire said. "In your dreams, bacteria."
"I am NOT a bacteria!" the creature roared, its voice echoing violently through the cavern as the tendrils yanked him closer to its open mouth.
"Well," Swampfire muttered under his breath, "that plan backfired faster than expected."
He exhaled slowly, his tone shifting just slightly.
"Mutual destruction."
The methane around him thickened, becoming far more concentrated.
"Self-destruct."
In the next instant, he ignited.
Flames burst across his entire body, acting as the spark that set everything off. The methane cloud detonated in a massive explosion, fire tearing through the cavern in every direction. The shockwave ripped through the fungal structures, sending debris and burning fragments outward as the entire underground space shook violently from the blast.
Back at the camp, the others were still dealing with the mushroom creatures as they kept pressing in from all sides, their numbers making it harder to push them back for long.
Then the ground suddenly shook violently. The entire area rumbled like something massive had gone off deep underground, throwing everyone off balance for a second. The creatures froze mid-movement, their bodies twitching unnaturally.
One of them suddenly stopped, its form shriveling in on itself before collapsing to the ground, lifeless. Then another followed and another.
Within seconds, the entire swarm began to wither and drop, their bodies decaying rapidly as if whatever was controlling them had just been cut off. Soon, the ground was littered with nothing but dead fungi.
The group stood there, momentarily confused by how quickly everything had ended.
Max was the first to react.
"Evan," he said under his breath.
Ben and Gwen immediately understood. This kind of disruption, that sudden collapse of everything at once, and his sudden disappearance.
They took off without another word. It did not take long for them to find the source.
Where part of the ground had once been, there was now a massive crater, the earth torn apart and caved in from below. The edges were still uneven, with loose dirt and rock sliding inward as the damage settled.
Max slowed to a stop at the edge, his expression tightening.
"…That is not good."
He immediately pulled out the tracking device and activated it, locking onto Evan's Omnitrix signal.
Then his heart skipped.
The signal was not somewhere around them. It was right under his feet.
Max lowered the device slightly, staring at the ground.
"He's down there," he said, his voice more serious now.
The three of them started digging without hesitation.
At first, it was just their hands, pushing aside loose dirt and debris as fast as they could. But it quickly became clear that it was not enough.
"Gwen!" Max called out. "There should be equipment nearby!"
They split for only a moment before Gwen and Max managed to locate an excavator close to the camp. Max got it running while Gwen continued to help using the shovel, and together they started clearing away as much of the collapsed ground as they could.
Ben stayed closer to the center, his worry growing with every passing second.
"Come on, come on…" he muttered, slamming down on the Omnitrix.
He shifted into Four Arms and started tearing through chunks of debris, tossing them aside with brute force. When that was not enough and his time ran out, he continued helping in human form.
His Omnitrix lit up again as he transformed into Diamondhead, slicing through hardened sections of the ground.
Then XLR8, clearing smaller debris at high speed.
He kept going, cycling through anything that might help, barely stopping to think.
At one point, Ben didn't even bother looking at his Omnitrix and just slapped it.
A new form took shape, something plant-based, with vines and roots extending from his legs, sharp vine-like claws for fingers. Flytrap-shaped flaps with teeth covering his head, his single eye looks down at his own hands.
He blinked once. "Okay… new guy."
Still, he didn't bother thinking of a name for the moment, as he would later name this transformation Wildvine.
Without wasting time, Wildvine drove his roots deep into the ground, forcing them through layers of dirt and rock as he searched below. He spread them out, reaching as far as he could, trying to feel for anything that resembled Evan.
For a few seconds, there was nothing.
Then... "I found him!"
Max and Gwen immediately turned toward him.
Wildvine pulled his roots back up, leaving a visible crack in the ground where they had been. The earth shifted slightly around it.
Then something moved.
Green plant matter began to push up from the crack, twisting and growing rapidly as it rose to the surface. It stretched upward, reshaping itself, forming limbs, a torso, and finally a head.
The shape stabilized, and Swampfire stood there.
He brushed a bit of dirt off himself, rolling his shoulder slightly as if testing that everything still worked.
"So that is what it feels like being buried alive," he said, sounding more annoyed than anything else. "I would not recommend trying it."
For a second, none of them said anything. Then all at once, they moved.
Max, Gwen, and Wildvine rushed forward and pulled him into a tight hug, not even bothering to hold back.
Swampfire stiffened slightly at first, clearly not expecting that kind of reaction. Then he let out a small breath and relaxed just enough to accept it. The tension that had been building finally eased.