[System Notification: Template Progress 10/100 reached. Critical Node accessed. Carnitrix Authorization: Protection Overload activated!]
[Template Progress: 11/100. DNA Unlocked: Frost-Bite!]
Tyler stared at his wrist, a slight frown creasing his brow. "System, open status panel. Define 'Protection Overload.'"
Host: Tyler Age: 11 Template: Carnitrix (Error-State) Transformation Duration: 20 Minutes (DOUBLED) Cooldown: 10 Minutes Skillset: Multilingual (Universal), Expert Pilot/Driver, Master CQC Grappling, Elite Marksmanship.
"The active duration has doubled," Tyler muttered, a smirk tugging at his lips. "Protection Overload is just the watch stabilizing its own power draw. Twenty minutes... that's long enough to raze a city."
"Tyler!" Ben came sprinting up, his face grim. "Grandpa figured it out. There's a central hive. The Limax are keeping the missing townspeople there, along with the rest of their colony!"
Tyler nodded, his eyes glowing with a dark intent. He began to dial the Carnitrix. Ben tried to follow suit, but the Omnitrix remained stubbornly gray.
CRACK!
A burst of orange light flooded the street. Standing there was a lean, eyeless beast with exposed muscular sinew and jagged, needle-like teeth. The Feral Stalker (Wildmutt) let out a low, wet growl. Tyler suppressed the nausea that came with the sensory overload and leaned down to sniff a scrap of discarded Limax skin. He caught the scent—a mix of stagnant pond water and ozone—and bolted toward the outskirts of town.
Max swung the Rustbucket around, following the orange blur closely.
A few minutes later, Tyler skidded into a dilapidated junkyard. He backhanded a rusted dumpster out of the way, revealing a hidden bulkhead that led into a pitch-black, bottomless shaft.
Ben walked over, his jaw dropping. "You're still transformed? Seriously? My watch times out after ten minutes! Yours is basically a cheat code."
"ROAR!" Tyler gestured toward his back, letting out a series of rhythmic grunts.
"He wants us to hold on," Gwen said, miraculously deciphering the beast's intent. She, Max, and Ben clambered onto the Stalker's back, gripping the coarse, blood-stained fur.
Tyler leaned back and took a long sniff near Gwen's shoulder. It wasn't that he thought she was a double—he just needed to drown out the metallic stench of the junkyard with something pleasant to keep his feral instincts from taking over. Gwen's face flushed a deep crimson, but she held on tight.
Whoosh!
Tyler leaped into the abyss. They plummeted for several seconds before Tyler slammed into the floor of a massive underground nest. The cavern was a labyrinth of pulsating, organic tunnels. Tyler's heightened senses mapped the route instantly just as his timer finally beeped and he reverted to human form.
"I know the way. Follow me," Tyler said, his voice echoing in the gloom.
"Lead the path, Tyler! Once we find those slimes, I'm gonna show 'em what a Tennyson can do!" Ben slapped his newly cooled watch.
They navigated the humid tunnels, dodging swarms of mutated bats and scurrying vermin, until they reached a high ledge. Below them sat the hive core—and it was a horror show.
Rows of translucent, pulsating egg sacs lined the cavern walls. Inside each one, a resident of the town was suspended in a deep, forced slumber. In the center of the room sat a rusted, barnacle-encrusted spaceship that looked like it had crashed decades ago.
"Look at that... they've been here for a long time," Ben whispered.
"How did these Earth brats find us?!"
"The surface scouts must be dead. Kill them! Protect the harvest!"
From the shadows beneath the sacs, a dozen Limax slithered out, their bodies knitting together into muscular, predatory forms.
Tyler glanced at the red glow of his Carnitrix. "Ben, it's all you. I've still got a ninety-second cooldown."
"On it! They're weak to water, right? I'll find a way to hydrate 'em!" Ben slammed the dial with maximum force.
Whoosh!
A pillar of fire erupted in the dark tunnel. The heat was so intense Tyler and Gwen had to stumble back.
"Heatblast? Seriously?!" Ben looked at his flaming hands in horror. "Watch, you're officially broken! I wanted Ripjaws!"
"Ben, don't hit the dial so hard! You're confusing the interface!" Tyler shouted over the roar of the flames.
"Whatever... I can make this work!" Ben raised his hands, spinning a massive sphere of concentrated plasma. "Fireball Rasengan!"
He hurled the projectile. It struck the lead Limax, vanishing into a massive explosion of soot and heat.
"Got 'em!" Ben cheered.
But as the smoke cleared, the Limax stood unbothered. In fact, they were growing. Their sickly yellow bodies were expanding, their muscles rippling as they absorbed the thermal energy.
"Foolish Pyronite," the leader hissed, his voice deeper and more resonant. "Our heat resistance is absolute. The hotter it gets, the faster we metabolize. You're just feeding us!"
Ben paled as the dozen monsters, now nearly ten feet tall, began to close in. He desperately threw more fire, but it only made them larger.
Tyler looked down at his wrist. The red light was fading. One minute left.
"System," Tyler whispered. "Ben is technically super-charging the enemies. Does that increase the progress reward for defeating them?"
[Ding! Confirmed. The threat level of the Limax colony has been elevated from 'Minor' to 'Elite.' Potential Template Progress has been recalculated: High.]
Tyler's lips curled into a predatory smile. "Ben, you magnificent idiot... you're my best power-leveler."
CRACK!
The Carnitrix turned green. Tyler raised his wrist.
"Harvest time."