BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The Vilgaxian drones unleashed a barrage of laser fire, reducing the wooden house to splinters and dust. SixSix didn't stop, his twin blasters screaming until the entire structure was leveled. He checked his HUD; the Carnitrix signal had vanished. The drones ceased fire, their scanners reporting zero biological signatures.
The threat was neutralized. Or so they thought.
WHOOSH!
The air twisted like a dying gasp. Amidst the settling dust, a horrifying, hooded phantom materialized behind the drones.
"EXTREMELY VIOLENT ENERGY SIGNATURE DETECTED!""THREAT LEVEL: OMEGA!"
The drones scattered in a panic, their logic processors redlining. Tyler, in his Ziska form, didn't give them a chance. A dozen blood-red tentacles lashed out like razor-sharp whips, cleaving three drones in half before they could rotate their turrets.
"Monster! Demon!!" SixSix shrieked in his mechanical tongue, his hands trembling as he fired wildly. The shots went wide—Tyler's terrifying skeletal visage had shattered the bounty hunter's composure.
"You're next," Tyler rasped. He focused his newly enhanced Mental Energy. His brain pulsed, and a wave of deep purple telekinetic force erupted from his single eye. The shockwave caught SixSix mid-air, slamming him through a brick wall and into a pile of rubble.
Tyler roared, feeling the surge of power. The desert sun beat down, searing his ghostly skin, but he simply phased into incorporeality. Thanks to his neural upgrade, his stamina drain was negligible. He was a shadow that could bite back.
"The hunt begins," Tyler hissed.
Moving like a blur of smoke, he stayed invisible, firing beams of dark energy from his core. One by one, the drones exploded, unable to even track the source of their destruction.
Below, a battered SixSix crawled out of the wreckage. His mask was half-shattered, revealing his snarling fangs. Driven by a mix of fury and fear, he ignited his jump-pack, charging Tyler with reckless abandon.
Tyler solidified, his tentacles weaving together into a massive, blood-red mace. He swung—
But SixSix flinched. His aura broke. At the last second, the bounty hunter veered off, screaming as he rocketed past Tyler and disappeared over the horizon. The remaining drones followed suit, entering emergency retreat mode.
"Did... did I just scare SixSix away?" Tyler blinked, his tentacles receding.
[Ding! Host has repelled SixSix and destroyed 8 Elite Drones. Progress: +1%]
[Template Mastery: 14/100. DNA Unlocked: The Gut-Stuffer!]
On the ground, Kraab lay scorched and sparking. Ben, still as Heatblast, stepped on the golden crab's pincer. "Looks like you're the only one left for the barbecue, crab-cake! We won!"
Ben looked up at Tyler, beaming with pride. Tyler began to descend. "Ben, let me take the finish. I might get a system bonus."
Ben shrugged, stepping back. But before Tyler could land, a hail of sharp crystal shards whistled through the air! Tyler phased through them, while Ben melted the projectiles with a burst of flame.
At the entrance of the town stood a stoic Petrosapien on a high-tech hoverboard: Tetrax Shard. Behind him, the "fleeing" drones had regrouped, standing at attention.
"This one is mine!!" Ben roared, re-igniting his hands and charging Tetrax.
"Impudent child," Tetrax said calmly. Without looking, he threw a precise elbow that caught Ben mid-rush. BOOM! As Ben hit the ground, Tetrax raised a hand, encasing the boy in a massive, reinforced diamond cage.
"You're next," Tetrax said, looking at the empty air where Tyler had vanished.
WHOOSH!
Tentacles erupted from thin air, stabbing at Tetrax's joints. The Petrosapien reacted instantly, his own hands morphing into massive diamond shields. He grabbed the tentacles, using Tyler's own momentum to slam the invisible ghost into the dirt.
"Too weak!" Tetrax declared.
But Tyler was smarter. As he hit the ground, his tentacles coiled around Tetrax's legs like living snares, yanking the bounty hunter down with him. Tetrax crashed hard, his expression shifting from stoicism to genuine surprise. This one knows how to fight.
They wrestled for several seconds—Tetrax's raw strength against Tyler's spectral agility. Finally, Tyler phased through Tetrax's grip and vanished.
FLASH!
The red light flickered, and The Velocity Wraith (XLR8) appeared. In a blur of motion, Tyler bypassed Tetrax, grabbed the now-human Ben, and sprinted toward the Rustbucket. "Retreating! We're outmatched!"
Tetrax stood up, dusting off his armor. He watched the blue streak disappear. "That shapeshifter... his control over the watch is beyond anything Vilgax described."
A pathetic clanking sound came from nearby. Kraab, half-melted and leaking oil, shakily stood up. "Deserters... all of you..."
"Still alive, Kraab?" Tetrax asked, unimpressed. "SixSix has fled. Why are you still here?"
Kraab raised his one remaining pincer, his mechanical eye glowing red. "No. We kill them together."
Tetrax went silent, looking at the broken machine. "...Fine. We finish this."