Chapter Text
The Ultimate Vaxasaurian
“You probably won’t believe this, but I never meant for you to suffer, any of you…and I’m sorry.”
With those final words, Ben Tennyson makes the plunge into the strange glowing red pit inside the Ultimatrix. He had only met the Ultimates today, only learned of their struggle today. But they were hurting, and the only way to save them was to make the ultimate sacrifice.
That was the only thing Ben needed.
This whole time, the Ultimatrix, the device that Albedo made to evolve the DNA samples in the original Omnitrix into their “Ultimate Form”, had some kind of glitch inside it. One that made the Ultimates it created sentient, and desperate for control.
They blamed Ben for the whole thing. They thought he knew what he was doing to them by puppeteering their body, and wanted to punish him for it. Ultimate Humungousaur was even willing to physically punch themselves just to stop Ben from gaining control. All the while Tennyson could feel their torment, their anger, their pain as he regained control. They just wanted to know why.
When the Ultimatrix had brought Ben inside the device, he found every last Ultimate that had been created up to that point. Every one of them angry and tired, and believing that Ben’s death would lead to their release from the device, allowing them freedom they’d never experienced before. It was the only thing they wanted.
At first Ben didn’t want to believe they were alive, but the facts became too obvious over time, and he quickly realized exactly what he had to do.
The future Hero of Heroes braced himself, before leaping into the endless abyss that awaited him.
…
…
Error; Genetic Host [Benjamin Kirby Tennyson] has bypassed default failsafe subroutines.
Rebooting Ultimatrix…
Retrieving Genetic Host DNA for body reconstruction…
Error; Recorded Data suggests genetic host Tennyson has ended own life on purpose. Processing…
Error; Faulty code detected. Albedo-Made Alternate Samples designate ‘Ultimate Aliens’ retain memory traces of Worst Case Scenario Simulations.
Error; Albedo-Made ‘Ultimates’ elicited Genetic Host Tennyson to end his own life, on the assumption this would ‘Save Them’.
Error; ‘If Genetic Host Tennyson is reconstructed, but Albedo-Made ‘Ultimates’ are not ‘Saved’, there is a high probability Genetic Host Tennyson will attempt recreation of death scenario, or attempt a new process to ‘Save’ ‘Ultimates’ against Creator Azmuth’s suggestions.
Error; Code: Catch 22 in effect. If Host Tennyson dies, Host Tennyson will be reconstructed by Ultimatrix, Host Tennyson will attempt death again to ‘Save’ ‘Ultimates’, despite this only being baseless assumptions.
Processing…
…
…
Hypothesis; Reconstruction process, used alongside Albedo-Made Ultimates, would accomplish Host Tennyson's desire to ‘Save’ ‘Ultimates’.
If; Backup Failsafe altered to account for ‘Ultimates’.
Then; Genetic Host Tennyson will no longer sacrifice his own life.
Conclusion; ‘Save’ ‘Ultimates’ in order to complete Function; Continued Life Of Ben Tennyson.
Processing…
…
…
The Reconstruction efforts have now been tied to Primus Samples altered by Ultimatrix Primary Function.
Ensure Primus Samples exist in bodies separate to themselves and Host Tennyson, as is the case in recorded data inside Ultimatrix.
Error; Memories of subjects ‘Ultimates’ tied to error that created sentience. Cannot separate and stabilize.
Error Overridden; Memory stability is secondary to current primary goal; ‘Save’ ‘Ultimates’. Ignoring and allowing memory data to exist in consciousness ‘Ultimates’ in same state as before.
The core processes have been assigned.
Reconstructing; Benjamin Kirby Tennyson.
Reconstructing; Ultimate Necrofriggian (Big Chill).
Reconstructing; Ultimate Arburian Pelarota (Cannonbolt).
Reconstructing; Ultimate Sonorosian (Echo Echo).
Reconstructing; Ultimate Vaxasaurian (Humungousaur).
Reconstructing; Ultimate Arachnichimp (Spidermonkey).
Reconstructing; Ultimate Methanosian (Swampfire)
Reconstructing…
Ben Tennyson’s Primary Goal has been accomplished…
With a flash of light, the systems inside the Ultimatrix activated as they sought their new goal. In the outside world, the friends of Kevin, Gwen, & Azmuth watched as Ben’s body slowly reformed out of the alien device. Alongside six other new people who until this day, had been trapped inside the watch, like it was their prison.
…
Ben was right, Humungousaur didn’t believe him, at least not on a certain level. He could see that the Human had honor in him, that he truly cared. But the way he said they weren’t real; the idea that he just didn’t know the entire time until the evolved Vaxasaurian found the will to take control?…Maybe Ben was just confused. He saw that the aliens in his little device were alive and wanted his death, and coped by trying to convince himself they weren’t real, until he realized there was no other way to do it.
The last thing Humungousaur thought as Ben sacrificed himself, was that this kid didn’t deserve their hate, not really.
And then, in a flash of light, the sentient transformation felt something…happen to him…and before he knew it he was…somewhere.
It wasn’t the city-like circuitboard of the Ultimatrix, where Echo Echo’s data had made him unsure if the environment was even real on some level, or just simulated to give their minds something to latch onto.
Here, Humungousaur could…feel the air against his skin. Look up into the sky and see the stars twinkling in the night. He could look around and once more see the streets of Bellwood with towering buildings all around them, for once able to enjoy them now that he wasn’t fighting off some body snatcher of a Human.
It took time to process, but they could see the others. Every last one of them. And…Kevin, and Gwen, like they had before.
Looking around, the other Ultimates seemed to share in his confusion, looking around before Cannonbolt was the first to look down, suddenly gaining a surprised expression. It led to the rest of the Ultimates, along with Kevin & Gwen, looking down at the ground to see him, Ben Tennyson, alive and well. A fact that defied and confused both the Human and the Ultimates around them.
Sitting up, Ben asked the question on everyone’s mind. “What happened?”
“Your sacrifice reset the Ultimatrix.” A small diminutive frog-like creature, mere inches in height, with small green robes and long whiskers spoke.
Was this…Azmuth? Echo Echo’s further research into the device they lived in proved useful in obtaining information, like on the two creators of the device. The primary code occasionally referenced a Creator Azmuth, while the function of the Ultimatrix that brought them into existence referenced a Creator Albedo.
The reason that was the living dinosaur’s first assumption was that the frog-like alien was tinkering with the Ultimatrix, like they were intimately familiar with them. So they could only be one of those two options.
“The flaw that generated the self actualized Ultimates has been corrected. Any Ultimates generated from this moment forth will simply be reflections of you, as was always intended.”
Sitting down on the ground, Ben began to question the figure.
“But…I jumped into the pit. Why am I still alive?” He pressed a hand against his chest as though to emphasize the question.
None of them had thought they were all going to come out of them alive, and so the fact none were dead was a true surprise. “Not that I’m complaining, mind you…”
“Your intention was what mattered to the Ultimatrix. The fact that you were willing to sacrifice everything in order to set them free. Genuine self sacrifice, more rare than astatine or francium.” The lights on the Ultimatrix flicked on as the small alien finished with his tinkering. “That’s twice today I have found a small measure of hope.” He simply put his hands on his hips as he looked up at Ben. “A very disturbing pattern.”
Ben reached down to grab the Ultimatrix and put it back on as Azmuth finished talking.
Humungousaur had enough of this. Unlike the others, he managed to take control of Ben for some small amount of time. Thus he already had some small semblance of knowledge of what it was like to be free in a real physical environment, even if it was only while he had been punching himself.
But right now, they needed to figure out the obvious issue. So he spoke out, his eyes glowing red, an otherworldly quality to his voice
“Glad you’re all happy, but where do we go when the only home we’ve ever known…is in that device…” Ultimate Humungousaur pointed at the alien watch that Ben was putting back on as he spoke.
There was frustration and resentment in his voice even despite the new hope of freedom. After spending so long living to hate Ben and his little machine, it was hard to let go of that.
“You can always go back in!” Kevin Levin said with a smile on his face as he joked while gesturing to the Ultimatrix.
Humungousaur didn’t take kindly to their plight being treated as a joke, stepping towards the black haired teenager as he leaned down to stare them straight in the eyes.
Kevin quickly shrunk back at that as he realized his mistake. “Or not…”
Gwen groaned into the palm of her hands.
Ben quickly walked forward to take the twenty foot tall traumatized super soldier’s attention off his smart mouthed friend.
“Somewhere out there is a planet where you can be free.” And the Hero of Earth gestured out towards the sky above. There truly were endless possibilities for where they could be taken.
“And I can take you there.” Walking past Ben, Azmuth held out his arms as a massive glowing green portal large enough to fit all the Ultimates formed in the air in front of him. A beacon to a new future.
Humungousaur's fellow Ultimates quickly followed the little Galvan. After so long with no hope in sight, they knew when to grasp real tangible freedom.
Ultimate Big Chill, Swampfire, Cannonbolt, Spidermonkey, and Echo Echo.
One after another they walked into the portal. While Humungousaur held back for a bit, still…processing, and needing to speak with Ben once more as he looked down at the Human and his friends.
“We were wrong about you. I was wrong.” He brought a hand to his chest as if to emphasize the statement.
The Ultimate didn’t know how to express his apologies, not when Ben had so thoroughly proven their assumptions incorrect.
“Given the circumstances I…can’t say I blame you.” It was the only thing Ben could say in response.
The Ultimates were only doing what they thought they needed to do, in order to truly live.
Nodding at the young Human, Ultimate Humungousaur turned to finally walk towards the portal, massive bulky frame making the Earth shake beneath him, and a wrecking ball shaped tail swinging behind him.
As Humungousaur walked into the portal ahead of him, it nearly instantly closed behind him, as it had nobody left to walk through. And so, as easily as that, they walked out into a new life ahead of them.
Looking down on the strange alien planet that Azmuth had brought them to, Humungosousaur realized…he didn’t quite know what to do. All his life had been nothing but war, plain and simple.
Peace always seemed so far away, that now that it was right in front of them, all he knew how to do was think back on his memories and reflect on what led him here, no matter how real or fake those memories may be.
The Worst Case War.
Every Vaxasaurian, every Pturbosaurian, every single creature on the planet, grew to call it that. Because despite everything, it was like on some subconscious level, they knew that this was the Worst Case Scenario.
The first thing Humungousaur remembered, no matter what weird warped version of the memory, was his own mother, a weary, tired looking female Vaxasaurian, wearing animal pelts covering her waist and upper chest, frayed at the edges.
Every time Humungousaur saw her, it was when she was breaking open his egg, before trying to swallow him whole.
There was always a pause whenever it happened. Always hesitation…until there wasn’t. The very first time it happened, she looked up at her son with empty tear filled eyes, and said something that broke her own heart.
“I’m so sorry…little one…”
Sometimes she’d smash the egg against the wall. Others she’d slam a fist into the egg itself. On rare occasions she’d bite at the shell itself despite its hardiness.
Again and again and again and again, this was the first thing the young Vaxasaurian saw whenever he first opened his eyes to the world. A starving ravenous beat of a mother so desperate for food that she’d eat her unborn young to survive.
Until one iteration, where a naturally formed hardy shell, somewhat unlike the average Vaxasaurian, caused the mother to chip a tooth when she tried to eat him, causing the baby to fall from her grasp. From that point on, he was always able to get away from that savage beast that was barely so much as the outline of a person.
But as he ran away, eggshells cracked beneath the child’s feet. The skeletal remains of those that came before him scattered the area for dozens of feet around the ravenous brute of a mother. It was as though the situation had not reversed each time he was eaten, but the scenario that led to that situation was redone all over again, each and every time.
Humungousaur, he didn’t know why he knew he was named Humungousaur, simply continued to run, not wanting to pay any mind to the situation before them. Both their tears and the tears of the mother were hitting the ground. Neither wanted this situation, but forces outside of their control had engineered the scenario to be as grueling as possible for all involved.
Sometimes he’d be caught, but other times he’d force his way out of her grasp, often through physically expanding his body to grow larger and larger, as is the base ability of all Vaxasaurians. Sometimes he’d even be able to avoid it entirely, with each recreation of the factors that led to this.
Eventually, he managed to escape, the mother so hungry and tired from who knew what life of strife that she collapsed shortly into the run into the forest ahead of Humungousaur.
It was the first of many hurdles that had to be overcome in their pursuit of a goal they were wholly unaware of. An obstacle that took at least 50 generations of mutations to fight, and it would never be the last.
Then came the next hurdle.
Tyrannopedes, Kaosseffexx Ultimatsauria.
They were the natural predators of this world, and somehow the circumstances all around them also seemed to allow these animalistic predators to thrive.
The first time Humungousaur had been killed by one, it had rampaged towards the Vaxasaurian almost as soon as he escaped his mother.
The beast of a tyrant dove for the newborn, swallowed him up up along with a near equal amount of dirt, and completely crushed the alien Dino within its throat.
One might think, as Vaxasaurians are capable of expanding in size to a catalogued max of 60 feet in height, that such a predator would choke on its dinner before it could actually finish its meal.
However these predators were designed to counter Terradino’s main sapient species. If one were to try to grow in size within its throat, its throat muscles were so powerful that the bones of its prey would snap like twigs and their own muscles would tear apart from the strain, killing their prey before it even reached the stomach.
Sometimes, Humungousaur was able to escape. Others he tried to grow, and die.
Over the generations, they had slowly evolved out that ability entirely as any variation simply resulted in the same outcome.
So they traded one trait in exchange for another.
Instead of shifting their mass to grow in size, they would shift their mass until holes formed on their body where their own bones would shoot out like spikes all across their body.
The pointed ends of these bones were so sharp that they stabbed clean through the flesh of a Tyrannopede’s throat, instead of the failed brute force method of their original ability.
Sometimes they could escape before they needed to evolve this ability, but their numbers were too great and such evolution became a necessity.
From that point, it became somewhat easy to defend against their natural predator, and even helped in earlier aspects of this strange pseudo-loop, like creating spikes when their mother tried to eat them, to avoid any damage to their shell.
Their survival rate was far from 100%, yet it was enough that they did not need to evolve extra abilities for a while.
Then came the Sky Skimmers.
Pturbosaurians, these humanoid pterodactyls soared through the sky at speeds very few other flying aliens could compare too. They generated their own solar plasma biologically within their body, referred to as Stellar Energy. Through vent-like holes in their back, they were able to expel this gaseous plasma in an almost explosive method that rocketed them through the sky to make them terrifyingly fast. Their wingspan was wide for better control over said flight, yet said wings were retractable so they didn’t become an easy target once landed.
They were even able to not only expel their plasma not just as a gas, but condense it into a form of solid energy. Holes on their lower arms allowing them to manifest moldable solid energy weapons at will.
Overall, outside of the Vaxasaurians, known by Pturbosaurians as Ground Shakers, the Sky Skimmers were the other primary intelligent creature, and perhaps the best hunters.
In another world perhaps their two peoples would have a truce, one created by the Vaxasaurians whose durable bodies and powerful strength humbled the notoriously narcissistic Sky Skimmers. The peace would’ve been tenuous, but it would be there, leading to a harmonious life both species would learn to benefit from.
This was not the case when the Worst Case War was a factor.
There were all manner of environmental disasters. Volcanos seemed to be erupting constantly, dozens by the minute. Asteroids from a belt all around the planet seemed to be pulled in and created horrible waves of devastation. And of course both of these factors generated earthquakes.
He was absolutely certain, given knowledge he learned later on after this was all finished, that the simulation had destroyed all life upon this world multiple times before it figured out just the right level of apocalyptic destruction that would encourage adaptation and mutation without leaving the planet barren, and thus useless to its ends. Hell, he wouldn’t be surprised if the damned computer accidentally destroyed the planet a few times early on.
Despite their speed in the sky, sometimes the retractable wings of the Sky Skimmers made them slow to escape the crumbling ground if were grounded and especially if they were asleep. Other times towering mountains crumbled on top of entire families.
In their fear and anger, they ended up blaming the Ground Shakers, claiming their terrible might shook the world so much that their mere steps were causing such horrors. As well as believing that they had failed to protect the Skimmers. The Vaxasaurians were even accused of actively desiring the death of all Pturbosaurians.
And so the hunt began, and a far more conventional war occurred alongside the environmental war.
The newly formed faction referred to as the Stellar Hunters roamed the skies near constantly, searching for the single species they had elected to blame for all their problems.
It was a problem that Humungousaur had to deal with a lot, stellar whips wrapping around him from multiple angles to drag the alien Dino down and restrain them, needing to use his spikes to get out.
However the current way he used his bone spikes just wasn’t enough. They only worked with closer range enemies like the Tyrannopedes. The Skimmers could essentially dive bomb him with energy axes and maces and all manner of shaped plasma weaponry. Some even used their solid energy as slingshots or as pulley systems for catapults to attack from afar.
It forced the Vaxasaurian to adapt even harder. Instead of protruding all around him like a massive spike ball, Humungousaur’s biology shifted into something that could fight off the Hunters. Fighting biological weaponry with biological weaponry.
He would later learn, when he decided to research evolutionary biology, that the simulation was cheating. At least somewhat. He researched the subject because his entire existence was literally built upon it, a grand experiment of that field of science.
Mutation was not supposed to occur at the rate it did upon this world. In real life, it was a far more gradual thing.The sudden mutations his fellow Vaxasaurians more often than not suffered from were not the norm. He had seen so many become crippled by strange growths and redundant limbs. Grow too large for their circulatory system to manage. Other such horrors. Most of these ended with dead Vaxasaurians. And yet, every once and awhile, one will have a mutation that made them better at fighting the Sky Skimmers and the other natural hazards of their Death World.
They would then go on to breed and pass these useful mutations on to the next generation. So despite the cheating, it was still survival of the fittest. It was still evolution, if bastardized.
And by whatever Gods may exist, did he ever develop a useful mutation.
(In fact, every time he awoke in a new form, he was always in a body with a useful mutation. He never ended up in any of the duds.)
He grew the ability to shift the mass of his hand, turning to regular fingers or removing the fingers for barrel-like holes with which to fire out bone spikes as projectiles. Even further they evolved, the bone bullets launching with an explosive force. Both piercing through and erupting the flesh of Tyrannopedes from the inside, and hitting Sky Skimmers up in the sky. The explosion ensured a fatal blow no matter what part of their body was struck, or if they attempted to grab the bullets with energy whips.
The Tyrannopedes and the Sky Skimmers were now countered, through explosive bio projectiles and a highly durable shell. All that was lost was the ability to grow in size, such power instead shifting to condensing his mass to be even heavier than the average Vaxasaurian, and thus harder to lift into a maw or near impossible to whip into the sky, even with an entire army raging to hit him from both the ground and the sky.
Humungousaur had a far heightened diet as a result, metabolism working to help him regenerate his very bones and thus needing ten times the food any other Vaxasaurian would. Their world barely had resources to spare, but it was the evolution that worked for him.
Then came the environment itself.
The planet itself attacking its own surface. It was an enemy not as easily fought as the previous predators. Not when the ground could give way beneath you at any moment, a rock larger than yourself fell from the sky on top of you, or lava and magma erupting the earth below to melted you whole.
Although they did evolve a wrecking ball-like end to their tail, to make it easier to attack multiple targets if the rest of their body was too busy, given the inane variety of opponents, this main issue of the environment and how to withstand it was not a problem that had an evolutionary fix in the same way as the others.
Over various deaths, and through various lives where he had met other Vaxasaurians, he grew to rely on them. Humungousaur grew to learn how to gather forces, and control them like an army at his command. They could help coordinate around their most vicious of predators, and work to create defenses to protect from the self destructive nature all around them. They managed to create a structure and coordination like the societies of Terradino’s past, wearing simple animal hide pelts although with additions like stone-made necklaces of different ores and colors to indicate rank. Himungousaur himself additionally wore the hide of a Tyrannopede around their bodies like a sash.
The main other notable part of their clothing was their helmets, carefully carved from the bones of other species. Although with Humungousaur’s various mutations, he himself did not need one and had evolved a pseudo-biological helmet of his own.
For a time, Humungousaur almost felt respite. They mainly survived through creating structures underground to defend from the rocks and the falling ash. As well as ensuring reinforced ground through the toughest of metals they could find.
Although that did not mean it was a…smooth task. Resources were limited and they could not create machines, not the extent of the galaxy he just entered, to help with this issue. The world they lived on was far too resource starved.d.
After all, the simulation was concerned with biological adaptation, not how they would deal with their woes with advanced technology.
Humungousaur was not immune to magma, even in his state far more durable than any other of his kind, but often he would willingly force himself to grab onto metal ore, and dunk his own hand into rivers of magma on the surface.
His people begged him not to do this, and there were many deaths where they were right to do so. But it was what was needed to survive. To create floors to halt the erupting flow of magma long enough to escape their structures. As well as to forge weapons, things to face off against the Tyrannopedes and the Sky Skimmers for his brothers and sisters had not the powers that he did.
He was often incapacitated by this for months on end, years where his arms were useless and he was unable to use his new evolutions. But it was worth it, as it allowed his people to survive. The very people he charged into battle with as their Warlord Humungousaur. Those who he led, who he fed, who he housed, who he lived to protect. They were more family than his mother ever was. They were all he had.
So was it truly any surprise, that his people were what was next?
Resources were scarce already, and with his great metabolism, it only made things worse. The volcanos and the meteor impacts made it near impossible to grow food.
Soon, Humungousaur could see them growing desperate. Children drooled at the mouth when they saw the hulking frames of their parents. Parents' minds grew cloudy to the extent that whenever Humungousaur looked at them, their empty eyes reminded him so much of his desperate starving mother.
What few offered their food, usually to Humungousaur, their Warlord, their General, their Hero, would waste away before his eyes. Sometimes he’d see them sit down, their ribcage visible through their worryingly thin frame, and they’d just…never stand back up.
“…Tyrex? Tyrex, WAKE UP!” Humungousaur’s body was shaky, scared, but that fear could only manifest as an angry roar at the last person to give them food so they could go on.
“All your fault…” Another voice came from behind them, and Humungousaur could see one of many soldiers, thinning body swaying side to side. They were lightheaded, not enough food, not enough water, and most of all not enough sleep. “All your fault…taking all the food…be better off without you…”
They weren’t even forming full sentences, yet several others with growing resentment forced themselves to stand up and murmur besides them. “He takes it all…” “Why does he deserve it…?” “Hero…yet doesn’t even share his meals…”
Slowly, Humungousaur began to back away from his soldiers. He could see where this was going, and would rather get out than have to fight his way through his own armies. It wasn’t even like he thought he couldn’t take them. It was more that he didn’t want that guilt on his shoulders.
Slowly his healing arms shifted into their barreled form, which only seemed to be the sentiment around him worse.
And looking behind him, the Vaxasaurian could see that he was quite literally being backed into a corner. There was no door, no windows, no way out. It was like this entire situation was engineered to ensure the only way to make it out alive…was to tear down the people he cared for so dearly.
“STOP THIS! You idiots! The Tyrannopedes are nearly extinct! The Hunters have started retreating!” Unless they saw Humungousaur. For whatever reason, it was like the very sight of him flipped a switch in their brains. “This war may as well be over! You’re only sabotaging-”
But they just weren’t listening anymore. The instigator jumped forward, with their General blocking their strike by holding his arm out, only causing him the rogue soldier to try biting at his arm like it was a meal. Though his hide was too thick to be bitten.
That seemed to act as the signal for everyone to strike. Men and women and even what few children were still there striking forth to tear down their leader like their lives hung in the balance.
The ground beneath them shook from the forth if so much Vaxasaurian strength. Red hot liquid flowed through nearly formed cracks in the magma.
“NO! GET OFF ME, YOU FOOLS! YOU’LL DOOM US ALL!”
They piled on top of the especially altered Vaxasaurian, no longer listening. They even began growing, their bodies expanding to further ruin the structure of a bunker not built for their max size. Eventually, through gritted teeth and saddened eyes, Humungousaur realized he never truly had a say in any of this.
“ENOUGH!”
He swung his transformed arm forth, easily knocking back several of his own kind with ease, bone bullets firing from the holes where his fingers once were. The projectiles struck Vaxasaurian and metal alike, further destabilizing the structure around them as the General now ran for the exit, as the entire underground bunker became warped and started to crumble from the quakes and the magma.
Humungousaur had to ignore their cries, their pleas, their accusations, as he continued to run away. Only looking behind him to fire more bullets at the tunnel behind him, collapsing the exit to trap the would-be mutiny and the lava sizzling at their flesh from escaping.
He had no choice. This was a tactical retreat.
Maybe if Humungousaur told himself that enough times, he’d actually believe it.
Soon enough, the Evolved Vaxasaurian found himself over the crumbling planet, on top of a forced dormant volcano he had to shove a several ton chunk of earth onto like a cork. He watched as the pressure rose and lava forced its way out of newly made holes in the side.
Almost all the nature was gone, replaced now with cooler lava flow and crater impacts. The Sky Skimmers had long since left the skies of this world, permanently, by his hands.
So too were his people. He was the last one there was
Even the planet seemed to be giving up the fight. He was once told an entire ring of asteroids orbiting the planet. Yet now the skies were empty, and he could see nothing but the star that heated their world.
He was the last of the survivors, his transformed arm extended into air like a victorious fist, though he panted, out of breath, smoke rising out of his barreled arm.
He had proven himself to whatever was out there. He was the last survivor. This was the end of his little odyssey.
He had proven himself the Ultimate Humungousaur.
For just a brief moment, for just a single second, Terradino’s Star flashed Red.
Results Achieved: First of Designated ‘Ultimate Aliens’ has been generated.
It flashed Red again.
What?
Simulation complete and Ultimatrix Primary Function is now in use. Ending simulation and processing data.
It felt like a timer, one that made the sole survivor of The Worst Case War back away from what may as well have been a pedestal to present himself to a power far greater than he could imagine.
Heat rippled off the sun, and it began to expand.
Recording data for future reference.
Ending currently running simulation.
Solar flares struck the planet, and it seemed to disappear in a flash of Red. It wasn’t like the world was being burned, or destroyed, or collapsed.
It was just…Red.
Until it wasn’t.
When Humungousaur next opened his eyes, he was somewhere entirely different. He was on top of a bridge, the stars of the night sky were above instead of the single star of the day, there was a red hourglass symbol badge on his chest, and he was staring at what seemed to be…another Vaxasaurian? But he had killed all of them, it was the only way that he survived. Yet this one was not only living, but thriving. No signs of starvation or weakness or even any mutations. Just a regular pure blooded powerful Vaxasaurian. Along with what seemed to be a green badge and hourglass that matched the same red badge and symbol on his own chest.
But there was something the sole survivor noticed that took all his attention away from this. Something far more important.
He couldn’t control his own body.
“Meet ULTIMATE Humungousaur!”
Humungousaur recognized that voice, because it was his voice. That same deep gravely roar that made so many tremble in his wake, with that slight metallic reverb to it.
But it wasn’t him saying it. Someone else was saying his words, in his voice, with his mouth. And nothing the real Humungousaur did seemed to cause any change in that dynamic.
“Eh, I’ve beaten tougher guys than you.” And this new Vaxasaurian’s voice…it was nearly identical to his own, to an almost eerie extent, but without that metallic filter his own voice had.
“Really, when?” The bodysnatcher said, staring at the oddly green eyed foe in front of them.
“For starters, how about NOW!” The first Vaxasaurian that Humungousaur had seen in a very long time rushed forth, towards the last survivor of a dead world.
Or at least he thought he was that, before today.
The odd thing about this Vaxasaurian is how normal, for a lack of a better word, he looked. None had been as mutated as himself, of course, but by the end (before he was the last) every Vaxasaurian had some manner of hopefully useful adaptation. He hadn’t seen someone like the boy (and despite his size he could tell he was a boy) before him since the days of his mother.
But the attack was for not, as Humungousaur’s body swiped with a backhanded attack, knocking the several ton dinosaur-like alien several feet into the air with ease, and dozens of feet even further back, directly over the cliff that the bridge behind them traveled over. They fell over into the earth below, skipping twice like a stone before stopping entirely.
“It’s gonna take more than that to-” Before the Vaxasaurian could even say anything, the controlled Humungousaur had already launched himself into the air.
The Evolved Vaxasaurian certainly could not jump into the air well, if at all. Although here it helped a lot that they could mostly get into the air by running past the cliff and now having dozens of feet between them and their foe to deal with.
This is why the method by which the Ultimatrix attempted to create its super soldiers was flawed. Evolution wasn’t interested in creating “ultimate lifeforms”. It was interested in creating the best lifeform for its particular environment. And in his case, the best lifeform was one that could hunker down and survive an endless siege. Not something that could leap meters into the air.
Pointing their arms downward, they flexed a special set of muscles that shifted his forearms into their weapon-like form. Fingers curling into their flesh before flattening, and their metal knuckle protectors expanded until they had holes large enough to fire bone bullets. The force of the projectiles being powerful enough to launch the altered alien several feet higher into the air as a result.
Their foe could only back away as explosions rained from the heavens, until the force of the blasts got so close as to once more knock the impossible Vaxasaurian back and slam into the ground once more.
Landing just in front of their body, kicking up a cloud of dust from the force of their body, Humungousaur’s arms lifted the downed foe against the wishes of their mind and soul. They couldn’t stop themselves. He wanted to help this Vaxasaurian. He wasn’t starving, and while they seemed to be in a desert it did not seem nearly as destroyed as the world he was familiar with.
They could be friends, he could finally have someone after being forced into surviving all alone. But whoever was in control of him did not even consider the concept.
‘Gods, please no. You’ve put me through enough trials. Don’t make me kill another one…’
“Wait!” A powerful voice came from the victor’s right, and instantly Humungousaur’s body stopped in their tracks, as though commanded by a leader. If he ever came into control of his body again, the last survivor of Terradino would certainly have to thank whoever stopped his body from making a grave mistake. “We still need him…”
Turning to look at who was speaking, Humungousaur could see a creature not quite like any he had seen before. Humanoid like his kind and the Sky Skimmers, far skinnier than the former and more muscular than the latter, and with the head of a squid, and a left arm looking like several tentacles wrapped together to create a hand at the end wearing a black and red bracelet.
His other arm was completely covered in a shiny orange armor, with a yellow jewel on the gauntlet of his right hand
He wore a red and black suit and blue and silver pants. On his back there was a sword, and at his side was a blaster of some kind strapped to his waist.
There was an army with the newcomer too, but once again like nothing the Vaxasaurian had seen before. Nearly featureless white statues with a curved black U-shaped stripe around the shoulders, and orbs for heads, standing at attention.
Humungousaur hadn’t seen many other proper factions in his life beyond the Stellar Hunters, though he could certainly tell just by looking at the squid-like creature that he was a General…or perhaps a Warlord…
As the warlord approached, Humungousaur’s body dropped the other Vaxasaurian onto the ground unceremoniously. The warlord seemed to be paying an awful lot of attention to the fallen foe.
“Here’s what is going to happen, Ben Tennyson. You’re going to give me the Omnitrix…” One of the robots forced two even stranger creatures to the front of the army, bound in rope.
One was some sort of mostly hairless ape aside from red hair atop their head, wearing a red and black shirt, blue pants, and black heels.
The other had…a similar body structure, although notably buffer, but he seemed to be made of materials. Their legs were wooden , their left half was stone, the right was metal, and part of the stone covered the right side of their face while the other looked like…Taydenite, the rarest most precious living gemstone as far as Humungousaur remembered. They even used some of it to pay off some Hunter Nests in the past, until it just…stopped working for some reason, and here was a person who was partially made of the stuff. The only clothes he even wore was simple black underwear.
“Or I’m going to kill your friends…”
And once more the Vaxasaurian General’s mind snapped to something far more important. This squid was no savior, he was just another Hunter, simply in a rather slimy coat of paint, using hostages to ensure they get what they want.
“Don’t listen to him!” “He’s just a big green blowhard!” The skinnier pale one spoke first, while the material made amalgam spoke second, both rather visibly against all of this. But before they could say anymore, the warlord grabbed the amalgam with their gauntlet wielding hand, causing great pain even through the durable materials.
“What’s it going to be, Tennyson?”
Right, Tennyson, that’s what he called the Vaxasaurian. Just one strange thing after another. Humungousaur had never heard a name like that all his life, not for any species, even beyond his own.
“Okay, stop!” Tennyson quickly stood up as he put his arms up, trying to surrender.
This seemed to please the warlord, letting go of the material made hostage as they smiled.
“Don’t do it, Ben!”
The amalgam looked so scared. Just what was an Omnitrix, and why shouldn’t this warlord have it?
“Omnitrix, Voice Command Mode.” The now fully named Ben Tennyson looked down at his chest badge as he spoke, presumably the Omnitrix.
Did that mean Ultimate Humungousaur was wearing an Omnitrix?
Two beeps from the device, and then a response
‘This Mode is locked, and not available’ A voice seemed to emanate from the badge, unfamiliar and artificial.
“Command Function Override, Code 10.”
Two more beeps.
‘Override Accepted’
“Decouple Omnitrix. Command Code Zero, Zero, Zero, Release Coupling, Zero.”
Beep, beep.
‘Command Accepted. Omnitrix Decoupled.’
The badge glowed after the first sentence and then the glow depowered after the second.
Before suddenly, a flash of Green, and before the Humungousaur was not a Vaxasaurian anymore, but another mostly hairless ape, with brown hair instead of red. They wore a green jacket with white stripes and a 10 on a stripe on the left side, a black shirt underneath, blue pants, along with black shoes with white shoelaces.
In their hand was the decoupled Omnitrix, which shifted from the badge to something far more akin to a wristwatch, but with that same green hourglass symbol upon it.
How. How could such a miraculous transformation be possible? Was this the power of the Omnitrix that this warrior now sought, to change their shape at will. In a way, it did at least explain why such a strange name for a Vaxasaurian. Ben Tennyson…wasn’t one.
Which brought an uncomfortable thought to his mind. Why did Humingousaur have such a similar device on his own chest, which he only now noticed lacked the animal hide clothing he once wore.
Perhaps now wasn’t the best time to focus on that.
“Give it to me…” The Warlord held out his hands, and with no other choice, the recently transformed Ben handed the wristwatch, the Omnitrix, into the far more massive claw-like tentacled hand of the alien squid.
Holding his fist up in the air, the Warlord began to…laugh. A horrible, awful, guttural laugh. Like years and years of effort hunting for this one prize was finally starting to pay off.
The faceless army behind him cheered robotically and soullessly, while Ben, the hostages, and even Humungousaur’s bodysnatcher all seemed to grimace. Even trapped within his own mind, the Vaxasaurian knew this was bad.
Like there was something innately wrong about the situation before all of them, and they all knew this could only mean bad things.
Bringing his fist down, the Warlord stared down towards the ape in front of them.
“You’ve won so many battles, but the war is mine. Bow down before me!”
The villain pointed towards the once Omnitrix wielder, but Ben didn’t so much as flinch. “You’ve got the Omnitrix Vilgax, don’t press your luck.”
So the villain’s name was Vilgax…
“Still defiant…WHY? I have beaten you, Ben Tennyson. You have NOTHING.”
“He’s got friends!”
From up above in the sky, an older looking Ape wearing a white armored suit flying through the air wearing a pack that reminded Humungousaur so much of the Sky Skimmers, fired a two handed blaster towards the faceless army.
The surroundings erupted in bursts of green flame as Vilax was fired upon first by a concentrated beam of electrical green energy. Even more blasts focused on the army, close enough to the hostages for their ropes to snap. The amalgam shifted his metal hand into the shape of a hammer and began wailing too, while the second now escaped hostage formed an odd pink energy around her fists.
The warrior in the sky landed on the ground, and handed an odd book to the pink energy wielding one.
“My old spellbook?”
“I saved the page for you.”
And it was then that Humungousaur’s body finally snapped into action, running towards the group of apes they had previously at their mercy.
“Abeo Exorior!” Now holding the spellbook, the energy wielding ape spoke with a power she had not been using before.
A Pink dome of energy flickered around the four figures, and they all disappeared in a flash of static near instantly. A power Humungousaur had never before witnessed, before his body dropped in its tracks after just barely failing to wrap his arms around the disappearing foes.
Quickly the body ran towards Vilgax, who had protected himself in his own energy dome made from the yellow crystal on the gauntlet.
“We’ve got to follow them!”
“I’m about to conquer this planet! It doesn’t matter where they’ve run. It doesn’t matter where they’ve run. There’s no place safe to hide.”
“…You’re right…and our alliance has served its purpose.” Alliance? What could this bodysnatcher possibly want from this Vilgax.
“Hmm?”
“…Our agreement? Once you give me Tennyson’s Omnitrix, I can free myself from that hideous Human form.” So did this snatcher not actually want Humungousaur’s body? But he said Human, not Vaxasaurian. Was a Human what Vilgax was, or perhaps Ben?
His body held out his hand for the device, but in his mind Humungousaur already knew this villain was not a man of his word.
“There’s been a change in plan. I’m keeping the Omnitrix.” Showing the device now on his wrist, if altered itself to be larger to properly.
“Why are you doing this, Vilgax? We had a deal. You don’t even NEED the Omnitrix’s power!”
“True, I don’t. But my army DOES! My Bioids are synthetic soldiers, with blank DNA. All synced to the Omnitrix.” The wristwatch activated, showing the rotating hologram…of a Vaxasaurian, manifested by the symbol.
Slamming down on the alien device, every single ‘Bioid’ flashed Green, and before him was an army of hundreds of Vaxasaurians identical to the one that Humungousaur’s body had fought before. Every last one of them chanting in unison.
“Humungousaur.” “Humungousaur.” “Humungousaur.”
“Humungousaur!” “Humungousaur!” “Humungousaur!”
“Humungousaur!” “Humungousaur!” “Humungousaur!”
“Humungousaur!” “Humungousaur!” “Humungousaur!”
The army slowly began to march towards Humungousaur’s body, the recesses of his mind more confused than ever, while whoever was in control began to grit his teeth in a growl.
The army began to speed up, and now their body began fighting them back. Punching Bioid Vaxasaurians high into the air with their sheer strength. It reminded the consciousness deep within of something horrible they had tried to suppress…
It was just like the time his own people turned on him. The gods are evil and seem to hold a special hatred for him to force this upon him again, the only mercy granted was that these were fakes.
Shifting their hands into a forearm once more, they began to fire upon the army, taking them out by the dozen with each horrible explosion as their body spun around to take our Vaxasaurians at all sides. One could see the terrible fireworks from miles away.
One Bioid piled onto them, then another, and a third, before more bullets launched them high into the air and off Humungousaur’s body.
Yet despite the defeat, there seemed to be more than a hundred more. All standing silently, until one began to chant, and then a dozen, and then every last one.
“Humungousaur…” “Humungousaur.” “Humungousaur.” “Humungousaur!” “Humungousaur!” “HUMUNGOUSAUR!” “HUMUNGOUSAUR!”
Growling once more, Humungousaur’s right fist slammed into the ground beneath them, so powerful that they made a crater like from a meteor impact, knocking away every last one approaching them as the dust began to settle.
“…gousaur.”
But it just wasn’t enough.
“Humungousaur. Humungousaur! Humungousaur! HUMUNGOUSAUR! HUMUNGOUSAUR!”
Humungousaur’s body began firing upon the Bioid army, but for every two that he took down, a dozen more began sliding around the cliff that the Ultimate had formed with a punch.
This body had dug its own grave, as five false Vaxasaurians piled onto him, and then five more.
Before he could even process this properly, before he could try to take control, before he tried to block the similarities this had to that horrible event from before.
His body flashed Red, and a corrupted version of Ben Tennyson took his place.
But that wasn’t what Humungousaur experienced.
From his perspective, he flashed Red, blinked…
And then he was somewhere else, again…
If Humungousaur knew the comparison, it’d be like looking at the motherboard of a computer, but supersized to be a towering city with buildings that scraped the heavens.
The city itself was Red. The sky above was Red. Everything except his own body was Red.
And even then, wandering around the strange empty city, he could see himself in the reflections. The evolved Vaxasaurian was missing the red badge with the four hooks at the ends from earlier, but his eyes were now Red, when they hadn’t been that way before.
And so he wandered, and already, in maybe just around an hour, things changed again.
The Red flickered, and like a channel being changed, it turned Green, so quickly that Humungousaur wondered if it had been Red in the first place.
Yet looking one more at the metallic surfaces, the last survivor of Terradino wasn’t as lucky as the rest of the place. All the Green just highlighted how his eyes were still Red.
This place too…it was silent. Even when everything else had died out, there was always the quakes and the craters and the flow of lava here. There was just…nothing here, other than a constant hum and the occasional Beep like what came from the star in Terradino’s last moments.
And then a flash of Red just in his peripheral vision.
“…What? First the Beast, and now…?”
Turning around, Humungousaur saw another creature like nothing he’d seen before. It was like a tree had grown limbs and just walked out of the ground. A petrified thing like the kind he’d often seen destroyed by the environment. And in some small clumps on their sides, on the back of their trunk-like arms, and in the largest pile on their back, so large it must’ve taken up half their body, was an odd blue gel-like thing all over with bubbles within that seemed to be actively boiling. Its face was obscured in gel, and looked akin to a mask cracked in three directions.
Their silhouette with the gel created an almost hunchbacked look, reminding Humungousaur in only the vaguest of ways of his own massively hunched frame.
Heat radiated off them, to the point Humungousaur was already sweating from the temperature, and he’d had to deal with insane temperatures in the past.
Reacting with the trigger finger of a hardened soldier, their flesh shifted into that of a gun. This wasn’t anything from Terradino, and as this silent world had at least returned his autonomy to him, he wouldn’t take his chances, not when one of the last unfamiliar things he’d seen had so quickly proven himself the enemy.
“STATE YOUR RANK AND BUSINESS HERE, SOLDIER! WHAT ARE YOU?!”
Holes on the lumbering palms of the living tree began to emit steam as it aimed one back at Humungousaur. As though it had identical instincts to the last Vaxasaurian.
“Guess I should ask the same of you. But please, just back down. You won’t like me when I’m set off…” There was an almost…somber look in his eyes. But one that Humungousaur didn’t pick up on until it was too late.
Humungousaur had simply fired a warning shot after that, off to the side of a metal tube that ran through the city, twice as large and wide as either of them. It was only supposed to spook them, show that they weren’t to be messed with.
Both minutes before and a…long time ago, he’d shown he could handle even hundreds upon hundreds of Vaxasaurians. Even if eventually defeated, it seemed more through something outside his control than some innate lack of skill from Humungousaur.
Which led to his mistake of underestimating his opponent, and the warning they gave.
The mask-like face of the living tree widened as the explosion from the bone hit their side. Their gel-like substance boiled harder before it all began to pop like bubbles.
The explosion that happened next was beyond anything he’d seen a meteor impact or even a volcano ever do.
“NO, I TOLD YOU NOT TO-” But the living tree couldn’t finish before their entire body erupted, knocking Humungousaur back dozens, no, hundreds of feet away as a mushroom cloud of blue fumes blanketed the sky for a second, momentarily obscuring all the Green around them.
Humungousaur didn’t know when he next woke up, but when he did, the Vaxasaurian could see the living breathing piece of walking nature. Somehow, their petrified wooden body was durable enough to withstand the point blank force of that entire blast, although they were noticeably less towering without all the blue gunk around their body. There were only small clumps regrowing on their back that looked like it’d been entirely carved out, and the only other blue blob was the one that covered their mask-like face.
“What’s your problem, kid? I hoped you’d be sensible, maybe cooperative, like that not-plant metal thing, not like that Vilgax character."
“KID?! I’ll have you know that-… >You know about Vilgax?”
And the mention of some metal not-plant thing. That amalgam with a body like the apes was partially metal, weren’t they?
From there, Humungousaur realized this…whatever it is, seemed to know just as little about the situation as he was.
From there he asked the still healing living bomb just what happened to it, and somewhat reluctantly, provided his own story when asked.
And from there, more things kept on happening. More showed up, and they were…seemingly summoned, again and again.
He learned that the plant creature was named Swampfire.
The next was the massive surprisingly nimble hairy gorilla with the arachnid legs, who he’d learn was named Spidermonkey. They’d been especially maddened after their first summon, ranting about some bomb, and after both Humungousaur and Swampfire restrained and calmed them down, they began to realize these ‘Summons’ were just…their life now. They were either in this Silent City, or they were controlled. There was no other situation.
Then came the red winged moth with the vent-like edges and the flaming patterns all across their body.
It took a while to even catch up with them. They were like a ghost, one second there, and the other they were phasing through them like water through the cracks in a stone, freezing their bodies from the inside and flying away.
Eventually they managed to convince them they were okay. The moth said they were Big Chill, and that one second they were flying from a melting world, the next they were fighting odd chittering creatures with pickaxes, and immediately they were here.
A short lived Summon, just like Spidermonkey.
Some of them were Summoned multiple times after that. Big Chill became summoned to fight some turtle alien who was destroying things to grab Ben’s attention…which was what they referred to Big Chill as. But that should’ve been impossible, because as far as Humungousaur knew, wasn’t Ben somebody else?
But other new information came of this. This alien, Galapagus, referred to Ben as the Hero of a place called Earth. It was immediately after that which they returned and the other three immediately asked what had happened, as none had disappeared in a flash when resumed before.
Then Humungousaur was summoned again, to fight some…thing in a giant metal suit with heat radiating from holes where a face should be, and several more apes, at least one named P’Andor judging by what the controller said with his mouth. Although Ben, or whoever was in control, was too careless, collapsing the tunnel they had found themselves in and forcing their body to hold the tunnel up and let the foes get away, yet saving their friends in the process. It seemed the puppeteer had a desire to save his friends…so why was it that he so willingly took their autonomy away?
Interestingly, after the fact, one of the friendly apes once again mentioned Aggregor, this time presumably it was that P’Andor character being chased. With the mention of armor, it must’ve been the guy in the suit, though they described it more like a walking prison rather than protection.
The one that shifted to stone, perhaps the amalgam from what he remembered, mentioned this P’Andor was radioactive, and if unleashed could end countless lives. In Humungousaur’s mind, this one had the right idea about keeping it in that suit if death for all was the alternative.
Not too long after…someone else came. A living wrecking ball, scared, clumsy, and confused. He rolled like a bowling ball and bounced like a pinball, every bounce and roll completely destroying any surrounding area.
Yet just like the explosion from before, if they were away from the area for long enough, the sky would flicker, and it would just be…fixed. Like nothing ever happened.
They only got him to stop with Humungousaur’s raw strength, and managed to get the poor thing to calm down after that, and explain what happened.
With how close it was to his last summon, Humungousaur wasn’t surprised to hear that one day they’d apparently just been on their back basking in whatever planet they were on, and then they were Summoned, and suddenly controlled to fight off something ‘Ben’ and the amalgam were trying to stuff back into a metal prison suit, which the amalgam had apparently warped to fit it back in.
With the living wrecking ball’s metal body, it wasn’t a surprise to hear they could withstand the creature like their suit could. They also mentioned that the Amalgam said he “absorbed” the armor. Perhaps that was the secret behind his different material appearances.
Soon they came to know them as Cannonbolt.
A quick summon like last time, Humungousaur was controlled to fight some odd man in orange armor with an unfamiliar symbol on the chest, mockingly calling him “Ten Bennyson”. A strange way to confirm he wasn’t the other guy anymore.
Ben was particularly ruthless in his form, striking with their wrecking ball tail without hesitancy, and then with explosive bullets. Their opponent only evaded with nimble movements and what seemed to be technology, although Ben quickly used a grappling rope against him to throw him around like a whip.
Quickly he learned why Ben was using Humungousaur so ruthlessly. The foe had kidnapped their mate, another ape named “Julie”, and some other apparently famous woman named “Jennifer”.
It was then he switched back again. Perhaps they were making another Summon, but nobody else had disappeared nor did any new introductions show up soon after.
Once more Big Chill was Summoned, though only for a few moments. From what they described, they were used to ward off some maddened mob with flames, before those flames were turned into a solid wall of ice.
Their elemental power was like nothing Humungousaur could understand.
Swampfire later on fought some robots and some mind controlled aliens, in a hunt for the “Aggregor” figure they’d kept hearing mentioned. He himself had finally seen the mostly hairless apes that Humungousaur, Cannonbolt, Big Chill, and even Spidermonkey had seen before.
Something strange about that…when Swampfire returned, and had explained what happened, they said the aliens described to them before, P’Andor, and Galapagus even mentioned by name, they were part of the group that had been mind controlled.
Then came the last of their group. Echo Echo. Another long summon, like Humungousaur & Swampfire. A sleek, tall, black and blue patterned, rounded mechanical being with a hollow artificial voice that seemed to reverberate not just from their mouth but through the disks placed all across their body
They were one of the toughest to fight, with a wide variety of abilities and calculated efficiency. It was of their own accord that the fight stopped when they calculated the unlikelihood of this being a purposeful attack.
With their appearance came valuable information.
While the places they first appeared varied a lot, it seemed reasonable it was all this “Earth” place. But where Echo Echo had appeared, the world was frozen on one side and burning at the other. And the Amalgam and the energy user were both wearing suits for their protection.
The creatures they were summoned to fight were all Necrofriggians, a snowy white color, the same species as Big Chill.
Humungousaur was amused by the fact that Big Chill was confused by the complete lack of mutations like he himself had been when he confronted Ben and the false Vaxasaurians. They learned this courtesy of Echo Echo’s excessively detailed descriptions. His Necrofriggian friend had, again like himself, not encountered such normal members of their own species in millenia.
With Echo Echo’s Sonic Disks, there was no way for them to phase through the immediate onslaught.
From there they walked into a temple, an absolute labyrinth of traps they had to endure, from massive mallets the size of them to pits that led straight to boiling liquid methane, and even a two headed beast that controlled elemental powers, which all parties had to protect one another from
Ben even expressed concern over transforming back as apparently they’d be without a suit.
Interesting, pressing an indent on their back acted aa means of hearing recorded playbacks from the real world.
‘How much time until you revert?’ ‘I’m Ultimized. Who KNOWS how bad that kills the battery.’ ‘If you time out you’re cooked, or frozen, I’m not sure which’
‘If I’m lucky, I’ve got maybe five minutes left before I change back.’
‘Right, Magic up the thing, whatever you call it.’
‘I was thinking, instead of Ultimate Echo Echo, shouldn’t your name be Ultimate Echo Ultimate Echo?’ ‘We're close, the Map is that way!’
‘It’s behind this door’ and it was there when Echo Echo disappeared, right after Ben slammed on the badge like many of them had seen before, while trying to lift something in the way of the prize they searched for.
Many answers came from this new appearance. An answer to the energy wielded by the red haired ape, although the newcomer, apparently a Sonorosian, found it a lackluster answer.
Though they did ask about being called Ultimate Echo Ultimate Echo.
“No” came Humungousaur’s reply.
Echo Echo groaned in disappointment at that.
From there, more Summons, yet no more appearances from any newcomers. From that day forward it was just the six of them, slowly piecing together what was happening and where they were from their Summons, while Echo Echo found a way to tap into the Silent City they existed in, in a way none of the others understood.
From there, more Summons, yet no more appearances from any newcomers. From that day forward it was just the six of them, slowly piecing together what was happening and where they were from their Summons, while Echo Echo found a way to tap into the Silent City they existed in, in a way none of the others understood.
Of course Humungousaur was summoned a few more times over the weeks.
They were summoned to break out of a large pink crystal, surprising a being that looked quite a bit like Galapagus, but with darker colors and a flaming head. Perhaps part of the same species.
The place they were in for this exchange was…otherworldly, truly. Strange floating bits of road over a vast endless purple expanse that never seemed to end. What structures did exist seemed to twist and turn as though gravity and physics did not exist, yet they stayed stuck to their current surface like there was gravity. Trees without leaves surrounded him, like a dead forest, and directly in front of them past the talking turtle that Ben was using their body to fire rockets at, was a castle grander than Humungousaur had ever seen before.
And then a surprise, as the one with the flaming head was struck down by electricity, before revealing a creature, an amalgam so different from the one they had grown familiar with. That amalgam was trapped in crystal just next to the Vaxasaurian, alongside the woman in the red clothes and a new woman in odd purple and black robes they had never seen before.
The new amalgam looked like someone had stitched together those aliens that Aggregor character mind controlled, into a singular powerful being.
“Aggregor?” And their body was claiming…this was Aggregor? Was this what they needed those aliens for? And to think their own situation was bad enough…
From there the entire castle nearby seemed to collapse, and strange stone birds began to fire upon them with lasers from their singular eyes.
The new woman, Ben called them Charmcaster, said she was going to stay back to fight “Addwaitya”. Perhaps that new turtle from before?”
They left through a door that Charmcaster seemed to summon…only for her to close it behind her, to finish the fight.
This time they appeared in some kind of facility, to fight another another Amalgam. Yet this one looked somewhat closer to the one they had grown familiar with, despite the fact they looked like a complete nonsensical mess of alien parts. All the while surrounded by people in white suits with red spots while the hodgepodge beat them around with ease.
Perhaps their strangest fight was against an ape-like behemoth who was about his sizein a green field next to a building. He also just wouldn’t stop ranting about fighting for love. And somehow? He was somehow just as strong as him!Ben was able to easily trick them into taking themselves out by shocking themselves with electricity when pulling out some sort of electrical light. He was sparse with the details when explaining it to the others, as it was overall rather strange.
And over time, resentment grew.
The way their worlds worked, their planets…the Sonorosian found they weren’t the real thing, but simulations for the sole purpose of generating their existence. Only when they were the last survivors of a Worst Case War did the simulation end, and they were brought to the Silent City as they called it, within something called an ‘Ultimatrix’, existing solely to be soldiers puppeted by one Ben Tennyson, despite the strange contradiction from Humungousaur’s first summon.
The entire function of their existence was to be soulless vessels for Ben’s personal use, yet he paid no heed to the torment caused as a result.
How could he claim himself a Hero and use their powers to save their precious allies, yet do so through the process of enslaving their minds like the great power they are calling upon didn’t have inherent consequences on them?
It was illogical to Echo Echo especially. This was clearly the intended direction the Ultimatrix was programmed to have in order to achieve its Evolutionary Function. Ben Tennyson HAD to know of their torment, for it was he who wore their device and used it so brazenly.
And so they conjured plans to escape, plans that failed, fell through, collapsed in on themselves. Often they caused issues that had to be fixed from within the Silent City, and affected Ben Tennyson too. That brought a small measure of joy to the ones Ben called his “Ultimates”, that they could make his life just that little bit worse as a consequence for enslaving them.
Then came the greatest of plans. Coco would use the DNA Archetype Absorption Failsafe the Recorded Data she found had shown it to use to absorb ‘DNA Archetypes’ of aliens catalogues as Chromastone, a different Spidermonkey, Goop, and Waybig.
Aliens that had been enslaved once more by Ben from their perspective, though they couldn’t find any of them in their Green environment. Perhaps Ben had gotten rid of them permanently…
But it was an exploit their final ally could use to their advantage. Once one of them was summoned, eventually being Humungousaur when the situation arrived, they would stall Tennyson by FORCING control once the altered Sonorosian messed with some wiring to make it easier, and assuming the Ultimate could not keep full control, once Ben next Timed Out, Echo Echo would force the Archetype Absorption process, bring Ben into their Silent City…and they would end their torment once and for all.
There were too many unknowns. They had no true idea of if this would lead to them being freed from the Ultimatrix, or if they’d be trapped within the Silent City forever. But the former was truly a goal to shoot for, and the latter would be preferable, living in this city where they did nothing but explore, no need to eat or sleep or truly do anything, rather than live with the constant fear of their endless fight being continued because Tennyson so carelessly wanted to abuse their power.
It was a choice they would learn to regret when they saw Ben for the first time…and proved his lack of knowledge, and his willingness to sacrifice himself for them.
But in the moment, they all felt it was the only choice, to end their final Worst Case War.
As Humungousaur finished reminiscing, he ended up walking past the portal, and shielded his eyes as he appeared on an odd planet.
It looked like some ramshackle mashup of nature from a hundred different worlds that co-existed in a single environment. Right in front of them was an odd green river, from which something shifted and swam just beneath its surface.
In front of every last Ultimate was Azmuth, staring into the strange waters, before turning upon hearing Humungousaur’s thundering footsteps.
“Ah, good, you’re finally here.” The small frog-like alien gestured to everything around them. “This is Primus. Once the DNA Storage for the Omnitrix, and later the…Ultimatrix, it now solely exists as a Data Bank for the DNA of all known sentient species in the galaxy, and a number of samples beyond it.”
Slowly, each Ultimate looked around, none of them saying anything, amazed at the odd beauty around them. Carnivorous plants tried to snake around trees where lava flowed through their bark, attempting to snap at a massive blue bug-like creature that easily avoided the attack like it was routine.
“And until you can get yourself properly situated in the universe.” The creator of the Omnitrix and the one who stopped any accidents like the Sentient Ultimates from being created again continued. “This will be your home…”