"System, open status."
Host: Tyler Levison (Age 11)
Template: Carnitrix (Progress: 22/100)
New Skills: Alien Encyclopedia, Starship Piloting, Plumber Engineering Mastery.
Roster: 22 Forms (Initial Ten + Mummy, Blitzwolfer, Snare-oh, etc.)
It was a fresh morning. Tyler leaned back in the passenger seat of the Rustbucket, satisfied with his growth. "I wonder..." he whispered, clenching his fist. "Am I strong enough to kill Vilgax yet?"
Cough! Hack! Sniff!
A series of pathetic coughs broke his concentration. Ben was slumped over, eyes bloodshot and nose rubbed raw. "I... I shouldn't have had that extra cola last night..."
"Ben," Tyler sighed. "You had one bottle. How did you catch a cold that fast?"
"Well..." Ben looked away guiltily.
"He snuck three more bottles and buried them at the bottom of the trash," Max said, eyes fixed on the road. "Chinatown is just ahead. We're getting you some traditional medicine."
The Rustbucket pulled up in front of an old apothecary. Tyler weighed out several bags of bitter-smelling herbs for Ben—the kind his parents used to make him drink in his past life. Ben grimaced, drinking bottle after bottle of the dark liquid under the stern gaze of his brother and grandpa.
Suddenly, Ben pointed at a discarded herb bag. "Bugs! Gross!"
Tyler looked down. A swarm of locusts was wriggling inside the bag.
"They're on me too!" Max pulled a locust out of his collar.
"It's not just us," Gwen said, gripping her staff. "Look outside!"
Through the windows, a dense, black mist of millions of insects blotted out the sun, surging toward the city center.
The Plaza Attack
"This city will be perfect under my rule! First, we demolish the slums!" a female politician announced from a podium in the city square.
The crowd panicked as the sky turned black.
"I won't let you destroy my home!!" a sallow-faced vagrant—Clancy—emerged from the crowd. He waved his hand, and the insects coalesced into a giant, buzzing fist that lunged for the politician.
BOOM!!
A wall of white-hot fire erupted in front of her, vaporizing the lead locusts instantly.
"Are you alright, madam?" a voice like a vengeful god echoed.
The politician looked up at the flaming silhouette. "Is... is it a God?" She took one look at the terrifying, jagged rock-and-fire form of the Pyre-Fiend and promptly fainted.
"Uh, I guess not," Tyler muttered.
"I'll handle the civilians! You burn the bugs!" Gwen yelled. She was draped in Hex's crimson cloak, the magical fabric shielding her face. She used her staff to create a gust of wind, floating the unconscious politician to safety.
Tyler turned back to the swarm. He felt a surge of confidence. The Alien Encyclopedia had taught him something the original Ben never knew: Pyronite flames could be pressurized.
"Leave it to me!" Tyler roared.
"Kill the monster!!" Clancy screamed. The insects formed a massive, vibrating spear and thrust at Tyler.
"You brought a toothpick to a supernova," Tyler grinned. He brought his hands together, channeling the heat into his palms until the flames turned a deep, violet-red.
The Superheated Plasma roared out, incinerating the insect spear in seconds. But more locusts surged forward, acting as a living shield for their master.
"Need a hand?!" Gwen shouted, shielding her eyes from the heat.
"No... I have a trick for this!"
Tyler spread his fingers, twisting the flames in the air. He began to condense the plasma, spinning it into a small, pulsing orb of violet energy.
RUMBLE!!
The orb detonated. A massive, purple thermobaric explosion engulfed the entire sky, turning the locust army into falling ash in a single heartbeat.
"His... his fire can explode like a nuke," Gwen whispered, her voice trembling.
"Just found that out yesterday," Tyler rasped. Knowing the technical limits of his aliens was changing everything.
The Final Form of Clancy
Clancy fell to his knees, trembling. "I won't be defeated by a monster..."
"Oh?" Tyler approached, still wreathed in flames. "Show me what else you've got. Squeeze out every bit of value you have as a villain."
Enraged by the disrespect, Clancy crawled toward a manhole cover. He began to hum a low, subsonic frequency.
WHOOSH!
Millions of cockroaches swarmed out of the sewers, climbing over Clancy's body, knitting together with foul-smelling silk. Within seconds, a fifty-foot-tall Insectoid Giant made of roaches towered over the street.
CLICK.
The Predatory Targeting System on Tyler's chest rotated automatically.
"Gotta love auto-pilot," Tyler said, looking at the icon. "It even has a strategy for roaches."
He slammed the dial. It was time to end this pest problem permanently.