Chapter 152: Eatle Appears, The True Identity of the Forever King
The search dragged on, stretching their patience thin. Gwen and Charmcaster stood side-by-side, their hands glowing with contrasting hues of pink and violet mana. They swept the rugged terrain with detection spells, muttering incantations under their breath, but the mountain yielded nothing. The hidden entrance to the Mount Rushmore base remained stubbornly concealed.
"I think... maybe it's over there."
Cooper suddenly raised a hand, pointing a trembling finger toward a dense cluster of trees just a short distance away.
Hidden deep within that exact thicket, the Forever King stiffened. Beside him, Dr. Animo and Sublimino froze, their breath catching in their throats. They had been secretly observing the group, and Cooper's sudden gesture made them certain their cover was blown.
But Cooper's next words allowed the villains to exhale a collective, silent sigh of relief. "Sometimes, if I focus hard enough, I can see the inner workings of mechanical devices... just like how I control them. I'm picking up a massive cluster of complex machinery over in those woods. The main entrance hatch has to be there."
That fleeting relief vanished from the Forever King's mind a second later. His armored gauntlets clenched. Wait a minute. His entire suit of medieval power armor, Dr. Animo's jury-rigged devices, and the literal Forever Ninja crouching right next to them... weren't those all mechanical devices too?!
He clung to a desperate sliver of hope. Maybe the kid was actually sensing the base's hatch and not their gear.
Klein and the others exchanged skeptical glances but decided to follow Cooper's lead, trudging toward the tree line with a mix of trust and doubt.
In the bushes, the Forever King and his villainous entourage held their breath. They pressed themselves flat against the dirt, praying the group would just walk past.
And for a moment, it seemed to work. Klein and the others brushed right past their hiding spot, their footsteps crunching on the dry leaves.
The villains finally let out the breath they had been holding.
Then, the rustling stopped.
"Are you guys out here to take a dump, or what?"
Klein casually pushed aside a large fern, staring deadpan at the Forever King, Dr. Animo, Sublimino, and the Forever Ninja, who were all awkwardly squatting in the dirt.
The Forever King immediately stood up, dusting off his armor with practiced dignity, trying to act as if he hadn't just been caught hiding in a bush like a frightened animal. He was, after all, a man who had weathered many storms.
Dr. Animo and Sublimino lacked such composure. They awkwardly averted their eyes, looking like they wanted the earth to swallow them whole.
As for the Forever Ninja, being a soulless automaton, it simply stared blankly, completely immune to the crushing weight of social embarrassment.
"The Forever King?" Gwen raised an eyebrow.
"Yep, that's him alright," Ben snickered. "Gotta say, this is the first time I've ever seen a big bad evil king make such a lame entrance. Squatting in the weeds? Really?"
Ben's mocking whispers carried perfectly into the Forever King's ears, word for word. Beneath his iron faceplate, the villain's face burned. He really should have known better than to try and hide from this ridiculous group.
"Ahem..." The Forever King cleared his throat, desperately trying to salvage his menacing aura. "Mock me all you wish. No matter what happens, nothing can stop me from returning home."
The moment the words left his mouth, the Forever Ninja sprang into action, lunging forward with lethal precision.
Klein didn't even blink. He casually raised his wrist and slammed his palm down on the core of the Another Omnitrix.
A blinding flash of ghostly blue light erupted through the forest.
"Eatle!"
Standing in Klein's place was a hulking, metallic humanoid alien. His head resembled a massive rhinoceros beetle, complete with a prominent, grooved horn. Eatle possessed a cavernous mouth capable of devouring almost any material, converting the consumed matter into devastating green energy beams fired directly from his horn. Combined with a dense, armored exoskeleton, he was a walking, eating tank.
The Forever Ninja flipped through the air, its robotic arms blurring as it hurled a barrage of razor-sharp shurikens straight at Eatle's face.
Eatle simply unhinged his massive metallic jaws and caught every single projectile in his mouth. He chewed once, the sound of grinding metal echoing loudly, and swallowed.
Instantly, the grooves along his beetle-like horn flared with a vibrant, toxic-green light. A concentrated beam of pure energy blasted forward, tearing through the air with a deafening screech.
Sensors flaring, the Forever Ninja kicked off a tree trunk, leaping frantically to the side to evade the incoming strike.
The beam slammed into the exact spot the ninja had just occupied. A massive explosion rocked the forest, sending a shockwave of dirt, shredded bark, and thick smoke billowing outward.
As the dust settled, a smoking crater over twenty meters wide scarred the earth. The Forever Ninja lay crumpled at the edge of the blast zone, its chassis scorched and sparking with erratic electricity. It had managed to dodge the direct hit, but the sheer explosive radius had caught it anyway.
Still, the machine was built to last. Gears ground and servos whined as the Forever Ninja forced itself back onto its feet.
Without a second of hesitation, it charged at Eatle again. It launched itself into the air, extending its right leg for a devastating flying kick aimed right at Eatle's chest.
Eatle didn't bother dodging. He simply raised his left hand, caught the ninja's incoming foot out of mid-air, and squeezed.
Metal shrieked. Eatle's grip crushed the robotic foot into a mangled lump of scrap, instantly rendering the limb useless.
With a casual yank, Eatle ripped the entire right leg clean off the ninja's chassis. He tossed the severed limb into his mouth, crunching down on the reinforced steel like it was a stale breadstick.
Now balancing on one foot, the Forever Ninja reached over its shoulder, drawing twin katana blades. It hopped forward and brought both blades down in a vicious, cross-slashing strike against Eatle's torso.
The blades sparked against Eatle's metallic armor, failing to leave even a single scratch.
Eatle leaned forward and took a massive bite out of the ninja's left shoulder. He tore the entire arm away, swallowing the limb, the hand, and the katana all in one gulp.
At this point, the Forever Ninja was little more than a sparking torso with one leg and one arm. Yet, bound by its core programming, the machine continued its futile struggle, hopping forward to execute its attack orders.
It was a pathetic sight.
Eatle's horn flared green once more. A second energy beam erupted, illuminating the forest.
The crippled robot tried to hop out of the way, but with only one leg, its evasion protocols were useless.
The green beam punched clean through the center of the Forever Ninja's chest. A gaping, molten hole appeared in its torso, exposing a mess of melted wires and violently crackling circuitry.
The robot swayed for a second before collapsing backward into the dirt, completely and utterly scrapped.
The Forever King watched from the sidelines, his eyes narrowing behind his visor. 'As expected... he is absurdly strong. However, I am not without a contingency.'
Seeing his elite robotic assassin reduced to a pile of chewed-up scrap, the Forever King calmly drew a remote detonator from his belt and pressed the trigger.
A series of deafening booms echoed from the mountain slopes above them. Explosives, planted well in advance, tore through the rocky overhang. The ground trembled violently as a localized avalanche of massive boulders began tumbling down the mountainside, barreling straight toward the group.
Without missing a beat, the Forever King slammed a smoke pellet into the ground. A thick, impenetrable cloud of grey smoke instantly swallowed him and his remaining allies.
"Oh no! He's making a run for it!" Gwen shouted over the rumbling earth.
"Forget him! Deal with the falling rocks first!" Grandpa Max ordered, his voice cutting through the chaos.
Ben slammed his hand against the Omnitrix dial. A flash of green light illuminated the dust.
"Diamondhead!"
The Petrosapien slammed both of his crystalline hands into the dirt. Jagged pillars of pale green diamond erupted from the earth, shooting up the mountainside and weaving together to form a massive, slanted barricade.
The tumbling boulders slammed into the diamond wall with bone-rattling thuds. Instead of crushing the group, the rocks were deflected by the slanted surface, rolling harmlessly down the side of the barrier and crashing into the distant forest.
With the immediate threat neutralized, the dust and smoke finally began to clear. The group turned their attention back to where the Forever King had been standing.
The villains were gone. In their place was a massive, seemingly bottomless tunnel bored directly into the earth.
It was obvious what had happened. Dr. Animo must have used his jury-rigged Omnitrix knockoff to mutate a mole or some other burrowing creature, digging an escape route right out from under them.
"They got away?" Diamondhead scowled, looking over at Grandpa Max. "Should I go after them?"
"No, let them go." Grandpa Max shook his head, his expression grim. "I have a feeling the Forever King won't give up just like that. We need to secure the sub-energy first. Besides... what he said just now bothers me greatly."
Grandpa Max stared at the empty tunnel, a deep worry etching lines into his weathered face. 'Returning home...'
A flash of ghostly blue light washed over the clearing as Eatle transformed back into Klein. He rolled his shoulders, looking completely unfazed by the brief skirmish. "Well, that was a fun snack break. But now we're back to square one. Where's the entrance?"
"I've already found it. Follow me." Cooper spoke up, his voice a little strained.
He led the group around the edge of the forest, handling the rocky terrain until they reached a sheer, unassuming mountain wall. Cooper stepped forward, staring intently at the solid stone. His eyes seemed to lose focus as he tapped into his technopathic abilities.
Deep within the rock, heavy gears shifted. A circular seam appeared on the stone surface, and a massive, heavy metal hatch hissed open automatically, revealing a dark corridor.
"Woah, cool," Diamondhead muttered.
He quickly reached out to support Cooper, who swayed on his feet, looking pale and ready to pass out from the mental exertion.
Cooper took a deep breath, bracing himself against Diamondhead's crystalline arm, and managed to stand upright. "I'm... I'm okay."
A flash of red light signaled Diamondhead timing out, leaving Ben standing in his place. "What are we waiting for? Let's get in there."
Ben didn't wait for a second invitation. He leaped straight into the open hatch. Instead of stairs, the entrance gave way to a smooth, steep metal chute that plunged deep into the bowels of Mount Rushmore.
The rest of the group followed, sliding down one after another into the darkness.
The long descent finally deposited them into a massive, high-tech underground facility. Terminals lined the walls, and a massive central computer dominated the room. They had reached the main control center of the Plumber base.
The moment Grandpa Max's boots hit the floor, he marched straight toward the primary control console. His fingers flew across the keyboard with practiced familiarity, bringing the dormant screens to life.
He pulled up a localized audio recording from the forest skirmish just moments ago.
The main screen flared to life, displaying an audio waveform alongside an image of the Forever King. The villain's voice echoed through the control room: "No matter what happens, nothing can stop me from returning home."
Grandpa Max typed another command, accessing the deepest, most classified archives of the Plumber database.
The screen split. On the right side, an old personnel file appeared. It displayed a stern-looking, middle-aged man wearing a standard-issue Plumber uniform.
An old audio log played from the file: "Driscoll. Plumber ID: 12906."
The computer system automatically began running a vocal analysis, comparing the acoustic signatures, pitch, and cadence of the two audio clips. A progress bar zipped across the screen.
A second later, the result flashed in bold, glowing letters.
[VOICE MATCH: 100%]
The control room fell into a stunned silence.
The Forever King, the ruthless leader of the Forever Knights... and Driscoll, a disgraced former Plumber.
They were the exact same person.
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