Tyler rubbed his temples, feeling the cool night air sharpen his senses. "After that nap, I'm wide awake."
Ben stood on guard, his eyes darting toward the pitch-black entrance of Zombozo's Funhouse. "Tyler, we've waited half an hour. We need to be careful. It's dark as a grave down there."
"With me here, what is there to be afraid of?" Tyler comforted him, then tapped the distorted, pulsing Carnitrix screen. He scrolled past the howling wolves and burning souls until he found his favorite nightmare.
A flash of sickly red light erupted and died. In Tyler's place stood a silhouette that seemed to swallow the ambient light. Ben's vision went dark for a second, his knees buckling. "Tyler... with you here, I'm actually more scared."
"Oh? Then I'll go in first."
A chilling, hollow voice echoed from the shadows as Tyler phased through the tent floor.
"The Void-Wraith has become even more terrifying," Ben whispered, trembling as he watched Tyler's back vanish into the ground.
In the underground base, Zombozo stood before his Laughter-Extraction engine, nursing a scorched chest. "Our masterpiece! Interrupted by a mangy werewolf!"
"Boss, at least we got the loot," Frightwig said, her red hair tentacles uncurling to reveal a hoard of stolen jewelry and cash.
Thumbskull cracked his knuckles. "Werewolf? If he shows his face here, we'll turn him into a rug."
"You're right," Zombozo caressed the mechanical casing of his soul-draining machine. "Just a little more, and the energy of this entire town would be mine."
As he touched the machine, he paused. The metal felt... cold. Wet. And strangely rough.
"Hey."
An upside-down, skeletal face with a single tracking eye emerged directly out of the machine's hull. Its grin stretched impossibly wide, revealing rows of necrotized teeth. "Why are you touching my face? Is this harassment?"
"AGHHH! GHOST!!" Zombozo shrieked, his hair standing on end as he collapsed, nearly losing control of his bladder.
"A ghost? Boss, you said it was a wolf!" Frightwig's face went pale. Acid Breath instinctively sprayed a glob of corrosive bile, but it passed through the creature like mist.
Tyler's ethereal form phased out of the machine, slowly materializing. He stood two and a half meters tall, his claws like serrated scimitars. A massive, vertical rupture opened in his chest, and thick, bucket-sized crimson tentacles surged out, dripping with a foul, viscous fluid.
He didn't look like an alien. He looked like a Ghost-God of Death.
"Wow," Tyler bared his fangs. "The strength buffs from my human body actually scaled up the Void-Wraith. This is going to be easy."
Zombozo scrambled back toward his elite trio. "Kill it! All of you, at once!"
But the trio didn't move. They were paralyzed, staring at the horror before them. Had Death himself come to collect?
Tyler lashed out. Two massive tentacles whipped forward. One slammed into Thumbskull. The strongman's eyes bulged as he tried to catch the limb, his knees hitting the concrete instantly. "It's like... a mountain... is pressing down..."
CRACK. Thumbskull was pinned to the floor, unable to move an inch.
The second tentacle swatted Frightwig out of the air, entangling her hair and suspending her from the ceiling like a fly in a web. Acid Breath tried to spray again, but Tyler phased through the attack, reappeared behind him, and hammered him into the dirt.
The "Circus Freak" trio was dismantled in exactly four seconds.
"No! Stay away!" Zombozo screamed, frantically dodging the tentacles.
"Clown, don't run. I'm a kind person," Tyler rasped, his tentacles lashing the air around the clown. "If you just let me knock you out, it won't hurt at all!"
"I'll help!!"
With a heroic shout, Diamondhead plummeted from the ceiling. Ben rushed toward the clown. "Golden Arches Fatso! You're under arrest!"
Ben tackled Zombozo, but Tyler's momentum was already set. A heavy tentacle was mid-swing.
WHAM!
The tentacle struck both of them. Zombozo's eyes rolled back as he fainted instantly. Ben, however, took the brunt of the kinetic force. He was flung across the room, hitting the wall so hard he felt his soul nearly leave his body.
"Ugh... so this is how you treat enemies..." Ben groaned, clutching his crystal chest. "It hurts! Even as Diamondhead, that hit felt like a truck!"
"Uh... sorry, Ben." Tyler retracted his tentacles, looking at the four villains neatly laid out on the floor. He glanced up at Frightwig, who was still hanging from the ceiling.
Frightwig immediately squeezed her eyes shut, held her breath, and went limp. I'm dead... he can't see me if I'm unconscious...
[Ding! Host has defeated Zombozo and the Mutant Trio. +1 Progress.]
[Progress: 20/100. CRITICAL NODE REACHED.]
[Killer Mode evolved $\rightarrow$ Predatory Targeting System (Auto-Activation) Unlocked!]
Tyler lowered Frightwig to the ground, confused. Usually, he unlocked a new alien. This time, his system had evolved.
The Evolution: Predatory Targeting
"What is Killer Auto-Activation?" Tyler wondered as he scooped up the five bound criminals in a net of tentacles and floated out of the Funhouse.
A moment later, the villains were lined up outside, looking utterly defeated.
"I didn't do it! They made me do it!" Zombozo sobbed, his face swollen like a pig.
"Boss is selling us out?" Thumbskull growled.
"Hey, Clown," Tyler (back in human form) glared at Zombozo. "Don't sell out your team. If you do... I'll find you in your dreams. And I won't be wearing a smile."
Zombozo shrieked and buried his face in the dirt. Frightwig and Thumbskull looked at Tyler with newfound respect. Even the monsters were afraid of the Carnitrix.
As the local Plumbers (secret police) arrived to haul the gang away, Tyler stepped into the shadows.
"System, open status."
Host: Tyler Levison (Age 11)
Template: Carnitrix (Free Tier)
Progress: 20/100
Abilities:Predatory Targeting (Auto-Activation)
Description: The Carnitrix now constantly scans the environment. Regardless of whether Tyler knows the plot, the watch will automatically identify the "Optimal Killer" for any enemy encountered and recommend the transformation.
Physique:Entry-Level Plumber (Stronger/Faster/Higher Mental Fortitude).
Recent Unlocks: The Chimera (Vilgaxian), The Wrecking Star, The Void-Wraith (Enhanced).
Tyler smiled. This meant he didn't need to remember every detail of the original show anymore. Whether it was a space god or a street thug, the watch would give him the exact tool to end them.
"Vilgax," Tyler whispered, looking up at the stars. "Are you scared yet?"