"Maybe if I start with the lowest probability..."
Tyler Levison, still in his diminutive, exposed-brain form as The Sinister-Savant, didn't move his hands. Instead, a flash of pure, cold inspiration lanced through his hyper-evolved mind. He didn't just rotate the Omnitrix dial; he spun it with a blur of kinetic force, letting it whirl until it blurred into a circle of green light.
CLICK.
The jagged "Error" hourglass vanished, replaced by a crystalline digital chime. A line of text scrolled across the green glass: [OMNITRIX SYSTEM INTERFACE ACTIVE. PARAMETER ADJUSTMENT UNLOCKED.]
"It worked..." Ben breathed, staring at the tiny, grey creature on his wrist as if it were a miracle worker.
"Not exactly," Tyler rasped, his oversized brain pulsing with a sickly yellow light. "I've only cracked the surface layer—the aesthetic parameters. I can change the order of your playlist or the color of the interface, but the core logic is still locked. Without Azmuth's specific resonance tools, I can't purge the hardware corruption."
"So you spent all that time just to change my watch's theme song?" Ben pouted. He felt a wave of irritation at being so thoroughly ignored by the arrogant little scientist. "Forget it. If the genius can't fix it, I'll use my own method."
Tyler didn't even look up. He was already deep into a mental calculation involving Galvanic string theory. He didn't think Ben had a prayer.
WHAM!!
The table shook with such force that Tyler was nearly buckled off the watch. He looked up, his needle-teeth bared in shock.
BANG! CRACK! THUD!
Ben Tennyson's face was a mask of primal frustration. His fists were moving like rhythmic hammers, slamming into the face of the Omnitrix with everything he had. "Work! Normally! You! Stupid! Watch!!"
With every impact, the Omnitrix's interface flickered through a chaotic rainbow of colors. It looked less like a high-tech tool and more like a computer dying of a hardware virus.
"Hey! Are you insane?!" Tyler shrieked, jumping back. Since transforming into the Savant, he was painfully aware of how fragile everything was—and how incredibly stupid Ben could be.
CLICK.
The Omnitrix hummed. The jagged red claw mark faded, replaced by a steady, serene green glow. Ben stopped his assault, raising his wrist with a triumphant grin. "See? Back to normal!"
Tyler stumbled, his tiny legs giving out as he suffered a hundred million points of psychological damage. He had used the math of the gods, and Ben had simply used a hammer. It was a humiliating defeat.
"Omnitrix physical trauma detected. Internal logic desynchronized..."
On the high-tech sanctuary of Galvan Prime, Azmuth sighed. The First Thinker had deep shadows under his eyes, his hands dancing across a holographic interface that spanned his entire laboratory. He had spent the night monitoring the chaotic data packets coming from Earth.
Physical damage? Percussive interference?
With a weary flick of his finger, Azmuth pushed a software patch across the galaxy, silently overriding the "percussive maintenance" and sealing the corrupted sectors of the watch.
"Repair complete," the machine droned.
Azmuth lowered his hands, his gaze drifting toward the stars. "Was giving such power to a child of Earth truly my greatest mistake? They treat the pinnacle of science like a stubborn television set."
Deep in the void, the doors to a high-gravity training chamber on Vilgax's dreadnought hissed open. A thick cloud of superheated steam billowed out, revealing a silhouette that radiated a lethal, metallic heat.
Vilgax stepped out. His once-grey hide had been forged into a shimmering, bronze-gold hue. His muscles were cables of reinforced power, glowing as if he were wearing the sun as armor.
"Ten days of total isolation," Golden Vilgax rasped, clenching a fist that hummed with kinetic energy. "I have unearthed every drop of potential within this frame."
The Mechanical Freaks bowed low as he approached. "Lord Vilgax... we have compiled the records of Tyler Levison's recent activities. He is growing stronger."
"Let him grow," Vilgax sneered, his eyes gleaming with a cold, golden light. "The higher he climbs, the more satisfying his fall will be. Is the specimen ready?"
"He has been fully restored, my lord."
Led by his subordinates, Vilgax arrived at a massive stasis pod. The glass hissed open, and a figure stepped out, his eyes burning with a singular obsession.
"Listen well, Earthling," Vilgax commanded. "I have pulled you from the brink of the void. In exchange, you will help me erase Tyler Levison from history."
"Of course," the man whispered, his voice dripping with venom. "I'll kill the brat... and then I'll take every cent he's worth."
The early morning peace of the Rust Bucket was shattered by a high-pitched, rhythmic screeching coming from the lower bunk.
"Logistics error! System reboot required! Active defense triggered!"
"Urgh..." Ben groaned in his sleep, swatting at his wrist as if it were an annoying alarm clock.
WHOOSH!!
A blinding flash of green light filled the cramped RV. In an instant, the smell of burnt trash and swamp water filled the air. Where Ben had been sleeping, a massive Stinkfly now lay tangled in the bedsheets.
"Ugh!! What is that smell?!" Tyler bolted upright, dry-heaving as his senses were assaulted by the Stinkfly's pheromones. He scrambled off the upper bunk and stared at the monster on the bed. "Ben! Wake up!"
"Huh? What's going on—GAH! Why am I a bug?!"
WHOOSH!!
Another flash. The bedsheets instantly erupted into flames.
"Heatblast! No!"
After a frantic five minutes involving a fire extinguisher and several panicked screams, they all stood outside in the natural park. Ben, currently a Wildmutt, was frantically scratching letters into the dirt with his claws.
[IT IS HAPPENING AGAIN. THE WATCH IS GOING CRAZY.]
"Maybe you hit it too hard yesterday," Tyler said, his mouth twitching. "Maybe you gave the hardware a concussion."
"Maybe you should try being the Imp again," Gwen suggested, looking at Tyler with genuine concern. "Arrogant or not, we need a fix."
WHOOSH!!
A final flash, and Ben appeared in his human form, looking dazed. He raised his wrist, watching the green dial spin smoothly. "Wait... it stopped. It feels fine now."
He looked at the Omnitrix with a mixture of awe and suspicion. "I think the watch isn't broken anymore, Tyler. I think it's finally starting to think for itself."
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