"Whoa! Be careful! You don't come with a seatbelt, Rio!"
Gwen and Ben flattened themselves against Wildmutt's back, fingers buried in his orange fur so they wouldn't get thrown off.
They raced through the tunnel, only to find their path blocked by rubble and a wall of wooden planks mixed with thick, slimy mucus.
"Uh—Rio?!"
"Oh—fuck!!"
Two shouts merged with Wildmutt's growl as he rammed straight through. Splinters and slime flew as Gwen and Ben held on, screaming into the rushing wind.
"Do we look like crash-test dummies to you?!" Gwen shouted, flinging slime from her sleeve.
Wildmutt only rumbled in reply, shaking debris from his mane as the tunnel abruptly widened.
Just ahead, the floor dipped sharply, opening into a massive chamber.
The kids froze.
Row after row of green, translucent eggs stretched out before them—easily over a hundred—each laying like oversized orbs. In the middle of all the eggs, half-buried in compacted soil, was what appeared to be an alien ship.
Bii-Bi-BEEP.
Wildmutt's body flashed blue, collapsing back into Rio's human form as Gwen and Ben slid off beside him.
They stepped toward the nearest pod. Through the transparent membrane, they saw what lay inside.
Gwen's voice dropped as she glanced around. "Are… are all the old people here?"
Inside each egg, an elderly resident from the retirement complex lay folded in stasis, suspended in thick green fluid.
A sudden high-pitched voice from behind halted Ben as he reached out to touch the pod's surface.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you."
The voice echoed coldly from the tunnel behind.
The alien Marty had followed them—this time with two others in tow, one even wore the disguise of Vera.
Rio's breath hitched. Vera wasn't supposed to be kidnapped until later tonight.
"Well, you're not me," Ben shot back.
"Not yet, I am not."
The old Marty replied as he and the other two aliens finally turned into their true form. Their human body, or rather what looked like it, rippled, rapidly contorting and shifting, transforming into an inhuman monster in the blink of an eye.
They had a sharp row of jagged teeth, clusters of red eyeballs sprouting across their head, and a long esophageal tube running down from their mouth to their stomach, merging into a single organ that seemed to be both stomach and intestine.
The alien monsters' advance made Gwen and Ben retreat instinctively. They weren't truly frightened—just caught off guard by the sudden reveal. Seeing such disgusting, monster-like beings at such close range was enough to make anyone step back.
They were already near the ship, and in just a couple of steps, Gwen backed into the ship.
The instant her hand pressed onto it, it suddenly opened from where she touched, and she stumbled a few steps inside with no support.
"Ben! Rio—wait—look!"
Inside the ship, more eggs were stacked like cargo. One of them held the real Vera, suspended in the green fluid just like the others.
"They've got Grandma Vera!"
Gwen was already clawing at the pod's surface, fingers digging into the gel. Ben rushed to help.
"Guys—wait, it could be dangerous!" Rio's heart sank, but they were already trying to tear it open.
Of course, they ran. Anyone would.
He understood them. After all, Grandma Vera was their family, and no one wants to see their family members becoming food for some alien.
But at the moment, turning their backs on the enemy to save her was a fatal choice.
Evidently, he had been able to train them and raise their martial skills well above their age, but their mental fortitude and experience were still that of fourteen-year-olds.
"Don't disturb their marination!" one alien screeched. Seeing them open their meal, it leaped into the air towards them.
While Gwen and Ben were distracted, Rio, already alert, raised his water gun and fired.
The stream of water hit the airborne alien mid-leap, striking its head.
The area in contact with water dissolved as the alien hit the floor, instantly screaming in agony.
The terrifying scene forced the swiftly pouncing aliens to halt in their steps.
They hesitated because the kid in front of them had the strange device, which could shoot "acid" that melted them.
"Hiss"
But seeing their fellow alien in much pain, the other aliens couldn't contain their anger, letting out a menacing screech.
Rio knew what they were thinking.
The next moment, without hesitation, he threw a small metal sphere across the floor. Then another. And a third.
The three small metal balls landing just a few meters apart shot three pillars of white light upward, converging into a shimmering, pyramid-shaped barrier around the aliens, trapping them in it.
-It wouldn't last long. Thirty seconds, maybe.-
Rio calculated.
But thirty seconds was enough for him.
Rio glanced at his watch. Just a few more minutes until the Omnitrix is recharged.
"Grandma's safe. But you two—get your bearings together. We had monsters right in front of us, and you showed them your backs. Do you really want to die?"
Rio snapped, glancing at Gwen and Ben as they finished freeing Grandma Vera and tried to wake her.
Rio's voice was a whip-crack.
Both Gwen and Ben froze, then came to their senses, their faces falling.
Indeed, earlier it was their mistake, and it could have been a fatal mistake if not for Rio.
They quickly stood up and moved to his side, raising their water guns and aiming at the aliens trapped within the barrier, not arguing or denying his point.
Gwen's grip on the water gun tightened until her knuckles paled. She was ashamed and angry at herself more than anything else.
She prided herself on thinking ahead and being the careful one in their group. And yet she couldn't even face the situation upfront. That was a blow to her.
In the open area, unwilling to show weakness, the aliens lunged forward, using all their might. They hammered against the barrier, their bodies splattering and reforming.
Their slime-like flexibility and control over their forms were the primary methods they relied on.
Unfortunately for them, the barrier had no gaps to exploit.
They couldn't strangle or use any gaps to slither out of, hence they couldn't get out, not even making a ripple.
Realizing they couldn't do anything effective, they stopped attacking the barrier. Instead, their bodies loosened, collapsing into puddles of green slime. The puddles slid toward each other, merged, and rose.
The combined mass twisted upward, shaping itself into a bigger alien slime with too many arms and too many snapping jaws.
Rows of jagged teeth formed like shards of glass inside its shifting maw. Pulsing red eyeballs opened across its chest and shoulders.
The big alien, with just one strike, tore through the barrier like wet paper, the remaining light shattering in a burst of sparks. Immediately after, a thick, tentacle-like limb shot forward, targeting the kids.
By now, their nerves had cooled somewhat.
This time, they were ready.
All three raised their water guns in unison, pointing at the big alien.
Three streams of water shot at the tentacles, hitting the attacking limbs mid-swing.
Wherever the water touched, the creature's body simply dissolved, sloughed off onto the floor with wet, melting splatters.
Another tentacle surged forward—Gwen fired first, dissolving it apart in a rain of green droplets.
Ben followed, catching the second limb mid-lash.
Rio's shots were much trickier and accurate, directly avoiding the barrage of tentacles and reaching the monster's torso, however as many holes as the water made closed almost as quickly as they appeared.
"Keep shooting!" Ben yelled, his voice cracking halfway through.
"I am!" Rio snapped, fumbling with the trigger. "I'm—dammit—"
The weapon gave a few weak sputters, then fell silent with a hollow click-click-click.
Gwen's voice cut through the chaos, sharp with panic. "Rio?!"
"It's empty!" he shouted back.
The creature froze for a moment, then seemed to smile. Its chest split open like a grotesque grin, rows of jagged teeth grinding wetly as new limbs began to tear their way out from its sides.