During the tour, Wendy realized Tyler and his family were from a small town like Bellwood. Her tone remained sugary-sweet, but her words were laced with venom.
"There are always people who overestimate themselves," Wendy remarked, her smile never wavering. "Thinking a simple visit will grant them entry into a prestigious academy... Come, let me show you the laboratory."
She was a master of the "backhanded compliment"—insulting their background and intelligence one moment, then acting like a gracious host the next. It was the kind of psychological warfare that left you stewing in anger; if you talked back, you looked petty, but if you stayed silent, you felt humiliated.
Gwen looked defeated. As a straight-A student, she had never been talked down to like this. Ben, however, nudged Tyler and whispered, "Haha, Wendy is totally trashing the Nerd! I'm dying here!"
Tyler's mouth twitched. "Ben... she didn't just insult Gwen. She was talking about all of us."
Ben's smile vanished instantly. "What? It's fine if she mocks me, but no one talks about Gwen like that! I need to find a way to pay her back!"
No sooner had the words left his mouth than the Carnitrix dial on Tyler's wrist suddenly bulged outward. Tyler stared at his arm in disbelief. "Ben... your anger actually made the watch stand up?"
Not far away, Wendy's voice rang out again with mock kindness. "No playing with toys during the tour, please!"
Tyler and Ben ignored her, their expressions turning stone-cold. "Is it happening?" Ben whispered. "Is the Void-Wraith trying to escape?"
They bolted toward a dark, empty corner of the campus, completely ignoring Wendy's threats about their "permanent admission records." Wendy stood frozen, her sweet mask cracking. "Mr. Max, their behavior is going to reflect poorly on—"
"Let them handle their business," Max interrupted, his voice lacking its usual warmth. He gave her a stern, elder's glare that silenced her instantly.
In the shadows of the school, Tyler nervously checked the dial. "Holy... does the Carnitrix look down on the Void-Wraith that much?"
"What do you mean?" Ben craned his neck.
On the screen, the silhouette wasn't a powerhouse. It was the icon for The Skeletal Spark. In the Carnitrix's cold logic, the threat didn't even deserve a high-tier transformation.
Tyler slammed the dial. A flash of red light erupted, and a small, skeletal creature crackled with golden electricity. "Ben, if the Ghost tries to crawl out, I'll fry him myself!"
CRACK!
Suddenly, a loud breaking sound echoed from the main building, followed by screams.
"Emergency! Someone help!"
"Robbers! They have weapons!"
Tyler looked toward the campus center. "The watch didn't trigger because of the Ghost... it triggered because of a heist!"
"Tyler, the heroes have arrived!" Ben grinned, opening the Omnitrix. He bypassed the Ghostfreak icon and successfully transformed into The Kinecelere-Slayer (XLR8). "Let's move."
A blue blur and a golden streak of lightning shot out from the shadows.
Inside the main hall, the scene was chaos.
"Haha! This is how you get rich," a woman laughed, her prehensile hair—looking like a nest of snakes—wrapping around bags of jewelry and cash. "Private schools are gold mines! Why did we ever work for that clown?"
A massive, burly man counted stacks of bills. "Going solo was the best move we ever made."
Acid Breath, his face a map of corrosive wrinkles, nodded. "We owe it to that 'Evil Alien'... he terrified Zombozo so badly that the clown took the fall for everything in court! Hundreds of years in the hole! Our lawyer just told the jury we were 'hypnotized victims,' and we walked out clean!"
The Circus Freaks were reveling in their freedom. They rounded a corner and came face-to-face with two familiar faces: Max and Gwen.
Wendy was curled on the floor nearby, paralyzed with fear.
"Eh? These two... didn't we see them at the circus?" Acid Breath squinted.
"They know too much," Frightwig hissed.
Thumbskull cracked his massive knuckles, stepping toward the trembling Wendy. "Then we make sure they never speak again!"
"I... I haven't seen anything!" Wendy shrieked, her voice failing her as the mountain of a man loomed over her.
New Transformation Log
The Skeletal Spark (Buzzshock Variant)
Traits: A small, humanoid skeleton contained within a translucent, battery-like shell. It crackles with high-frequency golden electricity.Ability: Arc-Multiplication. When struck or when it absorbs power, it can split into dozens of identical copies, creating a localized electrical storm.Passive: Circuit-Surge. Can travel through any conductive material, including the metal structure of a building, appearing behind enemies instantly.
The Kinecelere-Slayer (XLR8 Variant)
Traits: A predatory reptilian speedster with a blue-and-black exoskeleton.Ability: Terminal Velocity. Moves at speeds that render it invisible to the human eye, creating vacuum-pressure waves that can knock back groups of enemies.
30+ chapters are available now and daily updates! @patreon.com/Authorzero