Chapter 206: This Punishment Made Ben Very Dissatisfied
Seeing Ben close the distance, Albedo staggered forward to meet him. His left hand clenched into a tight fist as he swung a desperate punch. "Hah!"
Ben did not flinch. Planting both feet firmly on the ground, he drove his own left fist forward to meet the strike.
But instead of knuckles colliding with flesh, a strange magnetic resonance filled the air. As their wrists drew near, a powerful gravitational pull hijacked their movements. With a loud, metallic clack, Ben's Omnitrix and Albedo's replica slammed together, locking their wrists in an unbreakable grip.
Ben stared at their fused wrists, his eyes widening in shock. He glared up at his doppelganger. "What is going on?! Albedo, what did you do?!"
"You are blaming me again?!" Albedo yelled back, his face twisting in indignation. "I didn't do anything!"
He felt incredibly wronged. Why did every single malfunction have to be his fault just because he was the villain? Besides, if anyone looked like a villain, it was that overly handsome cousin standing in the background.
But no matter how much they bickered, the reality of the two synchronized devices malfunctioning remained. Without warning, a violent surge of emerald lightning erupted from the seam between the two watches.
"Aghhh!"
Albedo shrieked in agony as the feedback loop surged through his body. The intense genetic energy scoured his DNA, causing his brown hair to rapidly bleach into a stark, snowy white. The chromatic shift cascaded down his clothes, instantly inverting the colors of his jacket from a familiar green to a deep, blood red.
Kevin leaned against a nearby wall, crossing his arms with a smirk. "Well, at least now we can tell them apart."
Gritting their teeth against the static shocks, Ben and Albedo planted their feet and yanked their arms in opposite directions. With a sharp tearing sound, the two watches finally snapped apart.
Before anyone could recover, a brilliant pillar of green light materialized on the ground between them.
Albedo stared at the glowing circle, his expression turning deadly serious. "He is here."
"Who is here?" Ben asked, tilting his head at the sudden light show.
The emerald beam dissipated into a shower of digital sparks, revealing a tiny, frog-like alien standing with his hands clasped behind his back.
"I, the great Azmuth of Galvan Prime," the Galvan declared, his voice echoing with unearned majesty. "The true genius inventor of the Omnitrix, have arrived to—"
"Alright, alright, we get it. You are awesome," Klein drawled, rudely cutting off the grand entrance. "Now what is the matter?"
Azmuth shot Klein a withering glare. The Galvan clearly thought this particular human was as insufferable as ever. Choosing to ignore the anomaly, Azmuth turned his attention back to the two watch-bearers. "I felt the energy fluctuation from half a Milky Way away."
"Ugh, it is entirely his fault!" Ben declared unceremoniously, pointing a finger straight at Albedo.
Albedo ground his teeth. How despicable could this human get? He opened his mouth to defend himself, but Azmuth beat him to the punch.
"My former assistant, Albedo, forged a shoddy fake," Azmuth stated flatly, his large eyes narrowing as he looked at the white-haired Galvan-turned-human. "I warned you about this."
"I could not entrust the fate of the universe to some unknown Earthling!" Albedo shot back, glaring fiercely at Ben. "My own Omnitrix was malfunctioning, so I decided to take his!"
Azmuth did not indulge the excuse for a second. "I told you, you cannot possess the Omnitrix! You will only make things worse for everyone!"
"So the universe is actually in danger?" Klein chimed in, a dangerous, playful glint appearing in his eyes. He looked exactly like a man plotting something highly destructive and entirely unnecessary.
Azmuth immediately saw through the scheme and poured cold water on the idea. "It never will be, provided you do not go to other universes to play."
Klein offered a lazy smile. "You really think highly of me."
"It is hard not to," Azmuth retorted dryly. The Galvan shook his head, bringing the conversation back on track. "Albedo merely wants to use the Omnitrix to restore his original form."
"I cannot stand this primitive Earthling body!" Albedo snapped, tugging at his red jacket in disgust.
"I completely understand," Kevin chimed in from the sidelines. "Especially that face. It is absolutely hideous."
Ben shot Kevin a look of pure displeasure. Having spent far too much time being corrupted by Klein's trollish tendencies, Ben silently resolved to find an opportunity to knock Kevin out cold, take a series of highly embarrassing photos, and plaster them all over the streets of Bellwood.
"Albedo, your act of heresy has proven you to be a lower life form," Azmuth declared coldly.
With a swift leap, the tiny inventor landed squarely on Albedo's left wrist. Before the white-haired teen could react, Azmuth reached down and forcefully ripped the central dial right off the replica Omnitrix. Sparks showered the pavement as the device powered down completely.
Azmuth pointed a tiny, accusatory finger at his former assistant. "You shall remain exactly as you are. Trapped in a cage of your own making."
"No! You cannot do this!" Albedo cried out, his voice cracking. He dropped to his knees, sliding across the dirt to grovel before the Galvan.
"I can," Azmuth replied. To Klein's observant eyes, the old frog looked incredibly smug about the whole situation.
"I hate you!" Albedo screamed, raising his hands to the sky. He deeply regretted not squashing this arrogant old frog when he had the chance.
But before he could act on his murderous impulses, a familiar green light enveloped him, and his figure dissolved into the ether, banished to parts unknown.
Azmuth turned to Ben, opening his mouth to deliver a deep lecture on responsibility. However, he caught sight of Klein casually leaning against a lamppost, watching the drama unfold like it was a prime-time soap opera.
Azmuth paused. He looked at Ben, then pointed a tiny finger straight at Klein. "If you ever encounter an enemy you cannot beat, just let him do it."
With that incredibly pragmatic piece of advice, Azmuth tapped his badge, and his figure vanished in a flash of emerald light.
"What do you mean, 'if you cannot beat him, let me do it'?" Klein complained to the empty air, crossing his arms. "That makes it sound like I am some kind of glorified cleanup crew."
Ben, however, had long since mastered the art of shamelessly clinging to his older cousin's coattails. He saw absolutely nothing wrong with this arrangement.
'I might not be able to beat you, but my big brother can definitely pound you into dust,' Ben thought, grinning foolishly at the sheer convenience of it all.
The triumphant mood was abruptly shattered when Gwen checked her phone. "Ben, your make-up exam starts in exactly three hours."
Ben's goofy grin vanished instantly. "Huh?! Oh, man! That is so annoying!"
The next morning, the Rustbucket idled outside the gates of Ben's high school.
"Honestly, I really cannot understand why Azmuth refused to let Albedo change back to his original form," Ben mused from the passenger seat. Facing a major make-up exam, he was completely unconcerned about academics, entirely focused on his bruised ego. "Making him turn into me as a punishment? I am not that bad."
"Stop thinking about all that nonsense. Your time is almost up, now get out of the car!" Klein ordered, literally planting a foot on Ben's back and shoving him out the door.
Ben stumbled onto the sidewalk, adjusting his jacket.
Gwen leaned out the window, offering a supportive smile. "Time for the exam! Good luck, Ben!"
Kevin leaned over from the back seat, flashing a sarcastic smirk. "Yeah, good luck in there, big hero. Try not to blow up the gymnasium."
Ben shot his companions a confident look, adjusted his backpack, and marched through the front doors of the school.
Inside the bustling hallway, a classmate hurried up to him, clutching a stack of notes. "Ben, have you finished reviewing? The test is going to be brutal."
Ben tapped his temple with a smug chuckle. "Heh. What is the difference between having the answers naturally in your head and cheating?"
Thanks to a quick transformation session the night before, he had memorized the entire textbook. This exam was going to be an absolute breeze.
Meanwhile, in a high-security prison floating somewhere in the cold depths of space...
Albedo sat huddled on a freezing metal bunk, his white hair hanging limply over his eyes. He muttered bitterly to the empty cell. "Why am I the one locked up? Being trapped as a primitive Earthling is a severe enough punishment."
Heavy footsteps echoed outside. A small slot in the reinforced door slid open.
"Dinner," a gruff alien jailer grunted.
A dense, gelatinous green stick was tossed through the gap, clattering onto the floor. It looked like some sort of synthetic nutrient bar. It probably tasted like recycled cardboard, but it contained enough calories to keep a prisoner from starving.
Albedo slowly picked up his meager dinner. He stared at the green stick, his grip tightening until his knuckles turned white. "I must find a way to escape," he whispered, his eyes burning with vengeance. "I will make them all regret this. Just you wait."
A sudden, overwhelming craving hit his human biology, completely shattering his dramatic monologue. Albedo violently hurled the green nutrient stick at the wall, throwing his head back as he screamed at the top of his lungs.
"I want chili cheese fries!!!"
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