A terrifying blood-red light pulsed at the tunnel's exit.
The humid, stagnant heat of the Limax hive vanished instantly. The temperature plummeted so fast that Gwen let out a gasp, her breath hitching in a plume of white mist. Even Max shivered, instinctively stepping back from the source of the chill.
From the crimson glow emerged a massive, silver-white reptile. It looked like an iguana reimagined by a horror artist—spikes protruding from its joints, shark-like dorsal fins along its spine, and a mouth filled with serrated fangs. Through its translucent, ice-blue chest plates, one could see its internal organs pulsing with a frozen, bioluminescent light.
"That's... Frost-Bite," Ben muttered, his four eyes wide with awe.
"If the heat feeds them," Tyler's voice echoed through the lizard's throat, "let's see how they handle absolute zero."
The smoke from Ben's fireballs cleared. The Limax—now nearly ten feet tall and rippling with thermal energy—loomed like demons of sludge. They roared and charged, their footfalls shaking the cavern floor.
"DIE, OFF-WORLDERS!"
Tyler took a deep, rattling breath. His chest cavity expanded like a balloon, glowing with a deep, cobalt energy. Then, he exhaled.
A concentrated beam of sub-zero energy lanced across the cavern. The lead Limax didn't even have time to scream; the moment the beam touched its liquid form, its color shifted from sickly yellow to a crystalline sky-blue. Its muscles locked. Its roar froze in its throat.
In seconds, seven of the muscular giants had been turned into grotesque, hyper-detailed ice sculptures.
"It... it froze us?!"
"The heat! It's gone! Run! Get to the ship!"
The remaining Limax broke ranks, sliding across the floor in a desperate attempt to reach the other exit.
"You're not going anywhere," Tyler hissed. He exhaled in short, sharp bursts, launching 'Cold-Air Bombs' like a biological mortar. Thanks to his Plumber Marksmanship, he didn't miss. Every fleeing slug was hit squarely in the back, turning into a sliding block of ice.
Tyler stopped, huffing as frost coated his snout. "I'm out of... breath... Give me a second..."
One pair of Limax reached the far tunnel, their slimy hands scrambling at the rock.
BOOM!
A fireball slammed into the ceiling above them, causing a massive cave-in that buried the exit in tons of rubble. The Limax stared at the dead end in despair.
"Don't look at me," Ben said, his Heatblast form flickering. "I wasn't trying to hit you—I was just closing the door."
Tyler recovered, his throat glowing once more. He unleashed an ultra-long-range freezing ray that didn't just turn the last two Limax into statues, but encased the entire collapsed tunnel in a magnificent, jagged fortress of ice.
"Done," Tyler wheezed, reverting to human form.
[Ding! Host has neutralized the Limax Elite Guard through elemental suppression. Progress: +1%]
[Template Mastery: 12/100. DNA Unlocked: Feedback!]
Tyler's eyes lit up. He was finally tapping into the high-tier energy manipulators. He was still a long way from an Alien X, but the path to Way Big was becoming clearer.
Half an hour later, the "harvested" townspeople were safe. Tyler used The Velocity Wraith to zip back and forth, returning the elderly residents to their homes before they even woke up. To them, it would just feel like a particularly long nap.
Before leaving town, Tyler and Ben used Upgrade to fix the community's ancient power grid and water lines—a small apology for the chaos.
As they prepared to leave the next morning, Aunt Vera gave Ben's cheeks one final, agonizing pinch. "Come back soon, boys! And Tyler, eat more! You're all skin and bones."
"I will, Aunt Vera," Tyler said, cleverly hiding behind his uncle to avoid the same fate as Ben.
Back on the road, Tyler looked at the new Feedback icon on his watch. If my memory serves, the bounty hunters are coming today. Kraab, SixSix, and... Tetrax. He smiled. If they think they're hunting children, the Feedback loop is going to hit them hard.
In the driver's seat, Ben looked at his own watch with newfound resolve. "I was useless yesterday," he muttered. "Never again. I'm going to master this thing if it kills me."
Deep Space: Vilgax's Flagship
In the darkened armory, a golden robotic crab—Kraab—sharpened its massive pincer. Nearby, a heavily armored figure with a jetpack—SixSix—checked the seals on his twin submachine guns, letting out a muffled, electronic cackle.
Leaning against the wall was a stoic Petrosapien in high-tech armor: Tetrax Shard. He watched the others with a silent, conflicted gaze.
The armory door hissed open. A drone drifted in. "Target assessment complete. Lord Vilgax has authorized the deployment. The military droids will provide support."
"Military droids for two Earthlings?" Kraab laughed, a grating metallic sound. "This mission is a joke. I'll have their heads on my mantle by sunset."
Tetrax looked up, his mood heavy. Two children against this much firepower? They're finished. He decided then: he would watch. If these Earthlings showed even a spark of the courage needed to wear the Omnitrix, he would intervene. If not... he wouldn't let Vilgax have the watch.