Chapter 202: The Battle Before Returning Home
Upon hearing this, Big Chill chose to place his trust in Reiny. His moth-like wings folded inward as his body turned completely intangible, phasing directly into the Mutated Devouring Worm's massive, thrashing form.
Almost instantly, the temperature plummeted. Frost rapidly crystallized across the Mutated Devouring Worm's thick hide, spreading backward from its monstrous head in a wave of crackling white ice.
Reiny seized the fleeting opportunity. Once the gargantuan creature was almost entirely encased in a thick layer of permafrost, the Highbreed commander raised his voice. "Come out!"
A burst of freezing mist erupted from the creature's back as Big Chill phased out from inside the Mutated Devouring Worm, soaring high into the cavernous ceiling.
Without missing a beat, Reiny raised both hands. His bio-organic armor shifted, firing a relentless barrage of razor-sharp spikes directly at the frozen beast.
CRACK!
The frozen Mutated Devouring Worm shattered into thousands of glittering, icy fragments. Only a small, severed section of its tail remained, sinking uselessly into the bubbling magma below.
A brilliant flash of emerald light illuminated the cavern, and Big Chill transformed back into Ben. He landed in a crouch, a triumphant grin on his face. "We took it down."
Although Reiny didn't offer a verbal reply, the Highbreed silently admitted to himself that cooperating with Ben Tennyson felt surprisingly effective.
Just then, the air rippled, and Klein materialized out of nowhere.
Seeing his older cousin, Ben immediately scurried over, his eyes practically sparkling with anticipation. "Cousin! Is there a reward this time? A new alien, maybe?"
"Yeah... no. I'm too lazy to bother," Klein replied, his tone dripping with perfunctory indifference. He stifled a yawn, clearly finding this entire segment of their journey utterly uninteresting.
Ben's hopes of unlocking another alien hero shattered just as spectacularly as the giant worm had moments ago. His shoulders slumped in defeat.
As for Reiny, the proud Highbreed merely scoffed, indicating through his posture that he couldn't care less about Klein's usual half-bottle of mineral water rewards.
"Alright, Ben. Head out through that opening," Klein instructed, pointing lazily toward a jagged archway at the end of the cavern. He looked exactly like a bored NPC handing in a quest. "As long as you pass the final stage, you can finally go home."
Ben and Reiny exchanged a brief glance before walking straight through the designated opening.
When they emerged from the suffocating underground, they were greeted by the blinding glare of daylight. They stood in a vast, desolate expanse of yellow sand and towering, jagged boulders. Not far from their position sat a large, circular instant teleportation device, humming with latent energy.
Ben didn't immediately rush toward the teleporter. Instead, his gaze swept across the barren surroundings. "What exactly is this 'final stage' Cousin mentioned?"
Aside from the teleportation ring, the desert was completely empty.
Suddenly, the sky tore open. Three streaks of brilliant blue light plummeted from the heavens, crashing into the sand with a heavy, synchronized thud.
"Galactic Enforcers reporting for duty!" a booming, heroic voice echoed across the dunes.
As the dust settled, three highly familiar figures stood proudly before Ben.
"Ultimos! And Synaptak and Tini?!" Ben gasped, instantly recognizing the premier superhero trio of the galaxy.
"Long time no see, Ben," Ultimos declared, his cape billowing dramatically in the desert wind. "By Klein's request, we are here to conduct your final test."
That's right, it was a 'test.' Klein had conveniently omitted the fact that this was actually just a personalized game he had orchestrated out of sheer boredom. Ben immediately understood the setup, but he wisely kept his mouth shut. Exposing his cousin's trolling would only result in another ruthless beating once they got home.
"What exactly is this test?" Reiny demanded, his patience already wearing thin.
Synaptak, the floating brain-like alien, glared down at them. "Defeat us."
"Of course, Klein did mention there's a second option," Tini interjected. The towering Tetramand warrior suddenly flashed Ben a sickeningly sweet smile.
Seeing that smile, Ben violently shivered. A terrible premonition crawled up his spine. "What... what's the second option?"
"Kiss me," Tini purred, stepping forward and opening her four massive, heavily muscled arms to pull Ben into a bone-crushing hug.
Staring up at Tini, whose individual biceps were significantly larger than his entire head, Ben subconsciously scrambled two steps backward. His lips twitched stiffly. "I'll... I'll choose the first option!"
Tini pouted, crossing her upper arms in clear disappointment.
Hovering nearby, Synaptak was even more displeased. He harbored intense, unrequited feelings for Tini. Seeing Ben reject her—and seeing Tini actually want to kiss the human boy—made his telekinetic brain boil with jealousy. He secretly vowed to use every ounce of his power to pummel Ben into the sand.
Ultimos clapped his hands together, the sonic boom drawing everyone's attention. "Come on, team! Let's begin!"
The atmosphere instantly shifted. The casual banter vanished, replaced by heavy, suffocating combat tension.
Ben acted first. He slammed his palm down on the Omnitrix dial. "Humungousaur!"
A blinding green light engulfed him, and the towering, heavily armored Vaxasaurian materialized, his massive tail slamming into the earth.
"Ben! Take this!" Tini roared, her disappointment instantly morphing into battle lust. She clenched her four fists and launched herself through the air like a cannonball, aiming straight for Humungousaur.
Humungousaur planted his feet and threw a devastating right hook.
Their fists collided in mid-air. The resulting kinetic shockwave exploded outward, kicking up a massive localized sandstorm. For a split second, the two heavyweights were locked in a brutal stalemate, the ground cracking beneath their feet. But ultimately, Humungousaur's sheer, overwhelming mass won out. With a thunderous roar, he pushed forward, sending Tini flying backward into the dunes.
Seeing his crush swatted away, Synaptak's eyes glowed with fury. He unleashed a barrage of concentrated blue mental waves from his oversized cranium, striking Humungousaur squarely in the chest.
Humungousaur raised his thick arms to block, his boots digging deep trenches into the sand as the sheer concussive force of the telekinetic blasts pushed him back repeatedly.
From the sidelines, Reiny took flight. He raised his right hand toward the hovering Synaptak and fired a volley of bio-spikes.
The projectiles pierced Synaptak's floating apparatus and grazed his fleshy exterior. The sudden, sharp pain broke his concentration, instantly halting his mental assault on Humungousaur.
Just as Reiny prepared to follow up with a lethal strike, the air sizzled. Two searing red laser beams blasted him from a distance, sending the Highbreed crashing into a nearby boulder.
"Ben! Face justice!" Ultimos shouted. Having just blasted Reiny out of the sky, the Superman-esque hero shot forward, flying at supersonic speeds directly toward Humungousaur.
Ultimos pulled back his fist, aiming a devastating blow at the Vaxasaurian's jaw.
Humungousaur simply raised his hand, catching Ultimos's punch in his massive palm. The impact created a sonic crack, but Humungousaur didn't flinch. Instead, his muscles bulged, his armor plates shifting and expanding as he actively triggered his growth ability.
In seconds, Humungousaur swelled into a sixty-foot-tall behemoth. Gripping Ultimos by the fist, the giant Vaxasaurian lifted the Galactic Enforcer into the air and ruthlessly slammed him face-first into the desert floor.
The sheer force of the impact excavated a crater over thirty feet in diameter. Ultimos lay sprawled at the epicenter, completely unconscious.
Desperate to turn the tide, Synaptak used his telekinesis to rip a massive boulder from the earth, hurling it toward the giant Humungousaur.
Reiny, recovering from the laser blast, spread his wings and dove at Synaptak. He slashed downward with his razor-sharp claws, knocking the floating brain out of the sky and sending him crashing into the dirt.
With Synaptak's concentration broken again, his telekinetic grip on the giant boulder vanished. The massive rock plummeted from the sky midway through its trajectory—coincidentally dropping directly onto Tini, who had just recovered and was charging back toward Humungousaur.
The boulder shattered over Tini's head. The Tetramand stumbled, her eyes rolling dizzily. She shook her head vigorously, trying to clear the ringing in her ears. Just as her vision focused, she looked up to see a fist the size of a small house descending rapidly toward her face.
Tini narrowed her eyes, pursed her lips, and sighed in utter defeat. "Sometimes, I really hate these kinds of missions."
Humungousaur's punch connected with the earth. Tini was instantly knocked out cold.
The legendary Galactic Enforcers trio had been completely dismantled.
A flash of green light washed over the battlefield, and the towering Humungousaur transformed back into Ben, who dusted off his jacket with a satisfied smirk.
Right on cue, Klein materialized from thin air. He stared at the unconscious heroes with absolute apathy. "Congratulations on passing the final test."
"I was getting tired of watching anyway," Klein muttered under his breath. He casually strolled over to Ultimos, who was just beginning to groan and sit up. "Thank you for your trouble. But there's no reward. Goodbye."
Having squeezed every ounce of entertainment out of them, Klein immediately began shooing them away. Sometimes, calling him an 'inhuman monster' wasn't entirely an exaggeration.
However, the Galactic Enforcers knew better than to voice their complaints. Cursing him out loud would undoubtedly lead to a severe, unprovoked beating from the anomaly standing before them. Swallowing their pride, the bruised trio politely bid their farewells, transformed into streaks of blue light, and teleported back into the cosmos.
"Alright, Ben. Let's head home," Klein said, patting his cousin's shoulder. He turned and began walking toward the instant teleportation device, his small hover-skiff trailing silently behind him.
Ben had originally planned to throw a tantrum, cry foul, and maybe even threaten to hold his breath until he passed out to extort a proper reward from his cousin. But looking at Klein's utterly indifferent back, he realized it would be a complete waste of energy and only damage his own dignity. He sighed and gave up on the idea.
Adjusting his jacket, Ben took two steps toward the teleporter, fully intending to follow Klein.
But he suddenly realized Reiny wasn't moving. Ben stopped and turned around.
Ben frowned in confusion. "Let's go. You're not going to pull that 'staying ten steps away from me' garbage again, are you?"
"Go home, Ben Tennyson," the Highbreed replied, his voice heavy with a strange, melancholic resolve. He didn't look at Ben. "I should stay here."
Ben's frown deepened into a scowl. "Is your brain broken again? We just beat the final stage! We're about to leave this ghost planet and go home!"
"I have been with you for too long, Ben Tennyson. Clearly, I have been contaminated." Reiny slowly raised his right arm, staring intently at his reattached, plant-like green hand—a permanent reminder of Swampfire's intervention. "Risking my life to save a lowly Earthling... these unusual occurrences are more than enough to prove the facts."
Reiny clenched his green fist, his posture rigid with self-loathing. "Clearly, I have been adversely affected by your low-level biological traits. Therefore, I am no longer pure!"
To Klein, who was eavesdropping from the teleporter, Reiny's dramatic speech basically translated to: Ben Tennyson! I'm no longer pure! And it's all your fault!
Klein rubbed his chin in genuine bewilderment. Why was Ben's romantic luck always so bizarrely skewed? He couldn't figure it out, no matter how hard he analyzed the multiverse.
"But you're doing good things now!" Ben argued, stepping closer, his voice laced with genuine frustration and confusion. "Even if I buy into this 'impurity' garbage you're spouting, why do you have to stay here?"
"To do what I must. To exile myself. Because I cannot go home! I cannot go anywhere!" Reiny's voice cracked, revealing a deep, agonizing sense of loss beneath his haughty exterior. "I might infect my people with this... this empathy. The only noble choice I can make is to remain here, alone."
Ben stared at the towering alien, his anger melting into deep sadness. "No... I thought I convinced you. I thought you had changed."
"Yes," Reiny whispered, turning his gaze toward the endless, unforgiving desert horizon. "I have changed. And now, I must pay the price."
Without another word, Reiny turned his back on the teleportation device and began walking slowly into the desolate wasteland.
Ben stood frozen, silently watching Reiny's solitary figure shrink into the distance.
Klein stepped forward, his footsteps silent on the sand, and gently patted Ben's shoulder. "It's alright, kid. If you want, your awesome Cousin can just knock him out, tie him up, and drag him back with us. We can consider it your official clear-the-level reward."
Ben remained silent for a long moment, the desert wind rustling his hair. Finally, he shook his head.
"No, Cousin," Ben said softly, his eyes never leaving the horizon. "This is his own choice."
Taking a deep breath, Ben turned away from the desert and faced the glowing instant teleportation device. "Let's go home."
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