256Originally planned to make this longer but brain fried and I got a good cliffhanger! Here's mah brain meat! Gonna see if I can muster the energy to go back to Hunter Amongst Villains or still be stuck on Overlord, too many stories to focus on now. Wish me luck in expanding my brain to Lovecraftian levels of madness.
It was complete and utter chaos.
One moment, the city was fine and peaceful; Julie Yamamoto was walking with her parents to explore with her parents during their summer vacation.
No one expected monsters to swarm the city in the middle of the summer night. There was no warning when they arrived.
Faceless monsters with wings and tentacles and a large mouth flew across the skies while many creatures rampaged across the streets.
Other creatures of different shapes and colors scattered in the city, either running away from something or causing damage, attacking people or defacing public property in their frenzy.
Her father held her hand while her mother ran beside him. After running past the red light, they made a sharp turn around the corner of a street. She saw something that was bigger than the rest of the monsters.
It was… like seeing a brontosaurus and a human, thick tree-trunk like arms and legs, no, hooves. It was large, saurian and dinosaurlike, more of a herbivore, but looked like this herbivore partook in the consumption of meat and evolved down this path. However, this one looked like it evolved into a thug, a brutish outcast of the herd.
"Stop running, meat. Come on, don't make this hard."
And this thing was collecting humans, the ones that couldn't move in a makeshift ragged bag.
It was the first time Julie saw humans picked up and placed in a bag as if they were items of a supermarket.
Its head turned towards her and her family.
She was frozen in fear. Her parents were equally paralyzed, she could feel her father's hold on her hand shaking.
The last thing she remembered was the giant's hand reaching out towards them…
Then she opened her eyes to see that she was somewhere else.
The space around them reminded her of the mall she visited, except the windows of the various stores were ruined, shelves broken and raided.
As she looked around, she found that she and her parents were grouped with other people.
"M-Mom?" Julie called out.
Her mother was holding her on her lap, she woke up from it.
"Sweetie, please, don't talk too loud." Her mother was whispering.
"Blegh, these portions are too small. What's so good about this if it isn't enough to fill my stomach, huh?!"
An angry voice echoed in the deserted mall lobby, the voice belonging to a tigerman eating from a large bag of potato chips.
There were big monsters, scary faces looking at them, acting like guards.
One of them was like a giant fishman, stout with dark blue skin, green eyes and large fins at the side of his face, though his overall shape looked like a blue potato with arms and legs with sharp teeth.
"Boss, I checked the meat section. Most of it is frozen and edible, but they ain't gonna last long in the voyage!" The blue potato bemoaned.
"AGH! This day couldn't get any worse! We finally got out of the Null Void only to be stuck on this rock! On Earth?! Where is that little robot thing we brought?!"
"He escaped…"
"He what?!"
"The faulty AI bot ran off in the chaos. We don't know where he is. Probably chewed to bits by the Havok Beasts."
The one explaining things to the angry tigerman was a possum-like creature with a large, black main, though its hairs were unusually thick and each follicle was straight and pointy. It looked a bit scared by the tigerman.
"That traitorous piece of scrap! How are we supposed to build a SOS beacon, huh?! Even I know how primitive this rock is! We can't find hijack a spaceship to get off, and this place don't have the tech we need to build one! And we can't call for help without risking the Plumbers finding us!"
"Er, how do you know so much about Earth, sir? I've never been here before…" The possum thing asked.
"Oh, I never told you the reason why my people threw me in here? You see, I, am an alpha. I am the strongest and most handsome and the fiercest! You see, new guy, our gang is special… I run a tight ship of hunters. You see, we ain't like regular hunters. We sell our catch to those with exquisite tastes like us. Like human meat."
Julie blinked, confused by the words.
"Dear god…" Her father cupped his mouth. He looked scared.
Everyone around them was terrified.
"We go around the galaxy, hunting and selling the most dangerous game out there! The meat of sapiens! At least intelligent enough to make something that works! Human meat is a delicacy, you know?! I know, cause I eat them! Then I got caught because of them blasted Plumbers and got sent off here with my gang!"
"Oh… Oh…" The possum turned to look at the humans. He looked sick. Julie did not understand why yet.
"...And we're collecting humans here because…"
"The humans ain't got nothing! Trust me, I've been here before! Even without my equipment, they are easy prey. They're our rations for the voyage! At least that was the plan before that robot ran off!" The tigerman threw the bag of chips on the floor in his rage.
"How are we going to transport all of these humans, though? Primitive or not, there is gonna be a lot of resistance. They might even call the Plumbers…"
"Argit, my friend, there are no human Plumbers. There's no way that them peacekeepers will keep an eye on this backwater. It took them years to get me, you know?!"
The creature called Argit chuckled nervously.
"Yeah, yeah… I-I'll take your word for it. Say, why don't I see if there are any… well, snoop around to see if there is anything we can use to get a spaceship off this rock?" Argit suggested.
"Hmmmmm… you ain't gonna run off on me, are you?" The tigerman asked.
"Thurax, Thurax, my man, I got this. Hey, you can have one of your mates come with me as extra muscle and eyes, you dig?" Argit suggested with a nervous smile.
"Oh, good idea! Dreev, go with Argit! If we can't find anything to get off this rock, at least secure us a means of transportation!"
"I don't think we can get something that can hold all these humans… No, wait, I think there is one vehicle, but I do not know how to operate human vehicles. And I'm too big."
The giant dinosaur man called Dreev said. He looked smaller than before. Did he shrank?
"Bah, nothing too hard. Argit can drive it then. Now, get to it! We don't have all day! And I'm getting hungry!"
"Fine. Let's move, small thing."
"Ahahaha, sure thing, sure thing, senior."
Argit walked out fidgeting as the dinosaur man followed him.
"Oh god, we have to get out of here."
"They're going to eat us."
"What do we do? They have us surrounded."
"I don't want to die. Oh God, I don't want to die."
Julie did not understand. Eat them? Eat her… She was starting understand the more she thought about it and it scared her.
"...Mom? What's going to happen to us?"
"I'm right here, Julie. I'm right here."
Julie realized that she and her family might not make it out alive.
"How long do you think we'll be stuck here, boss?" Another monster asked, looking like a deformed creature with his mouth being his entire body in a sense.
"Hopefully, not by seven of this planet's solar rotations! Other than that this might be a good hiding spot, but I cannot stand to eat human flesh without my favorite drinks! They don't sell that here, you know?! Speaking of human meat… I'm starting to get hungry."
Julie prayed for someone to save her and her family.
Argit couldn't believe it.
He joined Thurax's gang just to survive in the Null Void, not a lot of things to eat there. The crew was strong enough to kill the Null Guardians for their meat. He had to admit, they were good cooks, the guardians surprisingly tasty.
Then there was a giant red wormhole in the Null Void which triggered every lowlife that wanted out to clamor towards it like an angry hive that wanted out of its nest.
To think the planet he ended on was some backwater planet, and he just found out that his boss had a fondness of sapient flesh. Any sapient flesh.
His meat would be on the menu if he didn't find something that he could use to appease that man-eating Apoplexian, and there was nothing technologically advanced enough in sight that could stop the tiger man from being even angrier.
"Hey, Dreev, uh, any tidbit you know about this planet? I'm kind of a newbie at this, so…"
"Not much. The only shuttle that exited orbit was some primitive ship that landed on the moon the last I recalled."
"How primitive?"
"Fossil and alcohol based fuel."
Damn, that was so primitive.
The humans were running away from them, well, more like from Dreev. The Vaxasaurian would probably eat him if he messed this up, but Argit didn't know where to start!
"How about… we start with the tallest building?" Argit suggested.
"Tallest?"
"Gotta start somewhere. Tallest means wealthiest, right?"
"Hmmmm… So be it… hm?"
Something caught Dreev's attention. Argit followed his line of sight until he saw something standing out from the usual.
It was a man, or one with the contour of a male figure.
From what Argit saw, it looked like a high-tech battlesuit.
It was a sleek design that reminded him of Six Six's battlesuit, but more… he didn't know the words, but it was more humanoid.
The color was weird, garnet metal exoskeleton with silver colored metal fingers, some steel-grey tertiary colors mixed with the garnet.
He, Argit assumed it was a he, held a very strange sword held within a metal sheathe wrapped in cloth.
His helmet had two crimson eye slit, very narrow and menacing, like a bird-eye perpetual glare of malice, his entire head was covered in sleet garnet metal, an engraved face of a strange, monstrous alien was on the face helmet.
"Human resistance?" Dreev sounded curious rather than scared.
The armored human drew his sword.
Its blade shared the shape of the katana, yet an arcane blue stroked the rims from hilt to tip, humming with palpable energy.
"You know what, I think you can handle this." Argit immediately ran towards the nearby car and hid behind it.
Dreev didn't argue, only scoffing with amusement.
His amused smirk fell when the human moved. Argit barely saw him cutting Dreev's legs with his sword.
He only saw blurs as blood flew from Dreev's arms, multiplel lacerations of thick skin and muscle as Dreev fell on his knees and then on his hands, wheezing as he looked up to see the sword of the armored human pointed so close to his right eye.
"Ohhhhhhh… ohhhhhh." Argit paled when the human turned his head towards him.
"Wait, wait, wait! I surrender! I-I got some information if you spare me!"
The human flicked the blood off the blade and walked towards him.
"M-My boss, former boss captured a bunch of humans! For food!"
The man stopped.
"...What?" His voice was garbled, mechanical and deep, a heavy tone that speaks of might.
"Argit, you sniveling traitor!" Dreev yelled at him.
"See?! It's true! I-I can show you to them, I never wanted to be a part of their gang! I just wanted to survive, you know?! Life in the Null Void ain't easy!"
"Argit!"
Dreev rose to his feet out of pure spite.
However, the man turned and swung his blade from the down up.
Argit stared at Dreev. The Vaxasaurian froze as if paralyzed.
"Im… possible…"
That was his last word before the giant fell.
In two.
Two halves fell left and right simultaneously.
Argit's jaw dropped. Didn't Thurax say that humans were weak? This one killed a Vaxasaurian with one swing of his sword so cleanly it was scary.
"You. Argit."
The man called out. He was quick on the update too, learning his name from Dreev.
"Y-Yes!"
"Take me to the humans. Now."
"Yes sir!"
Argit instantly saluted.
For now, he should suck up to this guy until he can bail. Besides, he could use him to get rid of Thurax and his gang, cowardly backstabber he may be, he was not good with the gory stuff. At least he got out of the Null Void, if he could survive in that hell, he could survive this planet.
The battlesuit was inspired by Rojo, when one of Vilgax's robots fused into her.
To think that his inexplicable kleptomania pulled through, having just enough materials to craft something similar.
Gwen, as Grey Matter, dawned upon this idea when she saw the leftover parts of Vilgax's robots and realized that she could create a mobile transformation device like the Omnitrix, only instead of aliens, it would give Garou a cyborg battlesuit at his beck and call.
This battlesuit was more advanced than what Rojo had.
The materials consisted of the arms Garou collected from robot Rojo, the scrap of Vilgax's battle droids, some loot from Vilgax's ship, a power core from one of those giant insectoid robots, and most of the head of the robot Garou beheaded in the Megacruiser, one head that was shaped like disk with many eyes lined around the perimetor of the circle.
Gwen complimented the design of the head and the artificial intelligence, so she removed the memory storage containing the artificial intelligence and used the Rustbucket's secret high tech computers to reprogram the AI into a combat AI to maintain the suit and assist Garou, the rest of Vigma's head consumed as the battlesuit's brain.
Also, Garou wanted one of Max's Plumber weapons.
Max protested.
Garou argued that it was for the safety of the city and he needed everything, and there was no time, forcing Max to part with one his heavy laser rifles.
As for how Gwen forged the battlesuit, she tinkered with the part that controls the mechanical tendrils that gathers raw materials to reconstruct itself and then transformed into Upgrade, taking over the jury-rigged creation to manually forge the battlesuit.
Garou found the sensation of his body being… invaded a strange experience, not like being tortured by Psykos in a sense. She basically wove all of the parts and somehow compressed it into a dial on his chest, similar to the dial that appeared on the chest of each of Gwen's aliens.
Which led him to his current situation, running around in the size of adult in high tech gear, taking inspiration from the Demon Cyborg, holding this Argit's head as he ran towards the direction he pointed.
"That way! Yeah, that way!" Argit pointed at the ruined mall.
"You better not be lying." Garou warned.
The features of this battlesuit were many.
He could fly using the same mechanism of the hovering battle droids.
He could erect shoulder laser cannons and blast his enemies.
His helmet visor was processing information and had high speed targeting assist, his thoughts and intent could operate the suit like his limbs.
He could fire lasers from his palms.
And he had a super laser he got from Max's Plumber weapon.
Oh, how Kevin complained about his super battle suit.
Garou released Argit's head as he ran towards the mall and placed his hand on his sword. He should come up with a name for this sword, honestly, calling it badass sword would not do.
He wasn't sure how strong he was in this body, it was weird to move with all of the alien parts in him, but he would get over it.
He would master it like everything else, he was a genius, he should live up to the title as he dashed into the ruined mall through the widened entrance that looked as if something big broke through the wall.
He was impressed by the speed of the data he was sitting on the HUD inside, multiple bogies, around fourteen.
One was a tiger man, old, black-furred with balding gray hair, muscular with white stripes, holding a child, a young girl around Gwen's age in a pink sweater.
He moved fast, his feet propelling energy to boost his velocity as he flew, activating the flight function to move faster as he jumped towards the tiger man and drew his sword.
His blade slid through the flesh like air as he didn't stop and moved to the others.
He bounced from alien to alien like a ping-pong ball, a homing ping-pong ball. He cut off the legs off a tall, four-legged alien with bronze skin, then chopped of his arms.
Next was the blue fish potato thing, his blade departed its upper half from its lower in asymmetry.
A giant shark alien, his blade throat-slit and then disemboweled.
He mutilated the rest, some alive, some survived, he didn't care, and that was before the arm of the alien black tiger finally gave way to gravity and left the main body.
The people were confused by the bloodshed, but Garou didn't have time.
"...Eh?" The tiger man was staring at his bleeding stump of an arm.
Garou didn't give him time to register the pain as he swung his blade at his neck.
He flicked the blood off his blade and sheathed it as the tiger man's head fell off his body.
The sound of his head hitting the floor broke the silence as it rolled.
"Is everyone alright?"
Everyone turned towards him, the humans gathered by the aliens. He inspected them, seeing that not one of them was severely injured or in need of medical attention.
However, he could see fear in the eyes of some.
"AGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
The screams of the remaining aliens fell on their backs upon finally registering their injuries.
The citizens were disturbed by the sight and sounds of aliens dying or writhing on the ground in agony, but he had no choice. He was pressed for time, and there were other aliens out there he must incapacitate, kill if necessary. He didn't promise the old man that he would spare all of the aliens, and these aliens were on his kill list for wanting to eat humans out of choice.
"I don't have much time to explain. We need to move. Are you all able to walk?" He asked.
His words snapped some of them out of their confusion, seeing too much happening in a moment.
"Y-Yes." A man answered, he was helping the girl in a pink sweater stand up, probably her father.
"Go outside and find the authorities. Make sure you're not seen."
"Yes Sir!" The man picks up his daughter into his arms, accompanied by another woman, presumably the wife.
The child's eyes lock onto Garou, her eyes full of wonder and relief.
He wondered what went on in their heads when they saw him shedding alien blood… honestly, thinking about it, XLR8 would be better for this, but Gwen must find and shut down the prison gun. She could not maintain her alien form for long to fight off an army of convincts, so Garou decided to play this role as he was fast, strong, and could fight all day if he must.
"T-hank you!" "God Bless your soul!" "You're a hero!"
Were one of many words of thanks the citizens gave to Garou as they left the building.
"Damn human! You'll pay for-"
The alien couldn't finish his sentence, a clean slice separating head from shoulders before Garou flicked the blood off his sword.
He turned to look at the survivors once the last citizen left the building.
"W-We surrender! Mercy!"
He walked towards them, slowly drawing his blade as he approached the maimed monsters.
Inhuman beings begging for mercy after attempting a despicable act…
It reminds him of home.
Seeing creatures like them triggered a long-forgotten instinct in him.
He no longer saw them as people with different shapes, just monsters at this point.
And it did not take long to silence them as he flicked the blood off his sword, turning around, walking away from the heads rolling on the floor.
Argit could hear the screams of the gang of cannibals. No doubt facing the monster of a human, that freak of nature, if he was a human. Their screams shortly end after the captured humans start exiting the building. Upon seeing them, Argit plays dead on the ground, his most favored trick.
"Thank the Lord that man came!" An older woman praises next to a man holding a smaller human child.
"Is he a superhero?" The little girl asks in wonder.
Her father hesitates. "Yes… he's a hero."
They past by him as another corpse.
Argit waited until the sounds of footsteps were gone… wait, there was someone approaching him.
His steps were heavy and metallic.
Please do not be that guy, please do not be that guy.
"You."
Damn it, it was that guy.
"A-Ahahahaha, yes, yes." Argit got up, smiling nervously at the human.
"How many escaped? Are there any more maneaters?"
Argit blinked at the man's questions.
"H-Hey, no one keeps count of the Null Void population. Trust me, I am new there. I-I'm just a simple survivor."
"What about Vilgax?"
Argit blanched at the name of the warlord.
"Vilgax? Wait, wait, Vilgax? He ended up in the Null Void?" Argit was shocked to hear that one of the most feared alien warlords ended up in the Null Void.
"What was your crime?"
"Excuse me?"
"What did you do to end up in the prison realm?"
"Urk…" Argit tensed. He flinched when the man reached for his sword.
"S-Smuggling! Bribery! Theft! Identity theft! Counterfeiting! Laundering!" He raised his hands in the air as he squealed.
The human stared at him through his demonic face mask.
"...Go."
"...Excuse me?"
"I don't have time for you. Don't cause trouble or else." The man turned around and jumped.
Argit watched as the armored human flew away at high speed. From how he flew, it looked like a bit of anti-gravity tech with laser-based jetpack propulsion.
Well, he had no plans to remain on this rock, he knew that this backwater would be xenophobic for a while after a while.
A monster rampaged the streets, chasing after the fleeing populace, and knocking the cars and metal posts in its way.
It stood on four pincers, resembling a giant green crab on four legs but without the pincers for its arms. Its white fangs showed through its lipless mouth; fire left its maw in radiant orange as it washed over the concrete in its frenzied rage.
Law enforcement stood their ground, aiding the panicked citizens in their evacuation as they fired their arms at the mindless beast from the safety of their police vehicles. Still, the bullets simply bounced off its skin harmlessly. Be the firearm heavy or light, machine guns or pistols; none affected the beast as it charged towards them with growling hunger.
"Somebody help us!" A nearby civilian screamed in desperation as the alien creature stampeded closer. Suddenly, a blast of fiery red energy slammed into the monster, sending it backward by a few feet. Highly confused and irritated, the Null Void inhabitant narrowed its beady black eyes to spot the originator of this surprise attack.
There, a large group of soldiers armed with highly stylized laser blasters stood in deep focus. They each wore advanced goggles with one cycloptic lens placed in the center, paired with black gloves and combat boots. Their military uniforms were marked with one single acronym known as S.A.C.T. in dark red lettering.
Standing in front of this peculiar task force was a middle-aged man with a yellow buzz-cut and black jump-suit. His large hands were concealed by gray gloves, one holding a uniquely designed pistol of sorts. However, the man's most defining feature was the faint scar streaking down the bridge of his nose. He stared back at the green beast with a cold, calculating scowl, not even scared by its hideous appearance.
"Step away from the people, ugly. That's an order." The lead militant commanded, cocking his gun in preparation to shoot. With the other hand, he raised it up in the form of a fist and then unclenched all five fingers. This signal incited the oddly dressed gunmen to step a bit closer, keeping their focus on the primary target if it decided to display any kind of hostility. Said alien had no idea how to react, growling lowly in remembrance of the laser that previously hit it. Seeing that their tormenter was acting more territorial, both the police and pedestrians looked at the group in confusion.
"Who are you?" A male officer boldly asked, still hiding behind his patrol car for safety reasons. The man didn't even acknowledge the man's presence, his gaze still primarily focused on the interdimensional abnormality in question.
"The name's Lieutenant Steel, officer, and who I am is confidential information." The newly revealed lieutenant replied authoritatively. He then glanced at the curious officer, squinting his blue eyes.
"My men and I have this under control. Get the civilians to safety." Steel remarked cooly, still keeping track of the alien's every movement. The police officer, unsatisfied with this explanation, attempted to object.
"But-" The green alien stomped its spider-like legs on the ground and roared angrily, orange flames billowing out of its maw whilst doing so. The cop, his skin paling a ghostly white, then gulped and gave his fellow officers a quick hand signal.
"E-everybody, get in the nearest police car. We'll drive you to a safer area in the city!" The police shouted out to the cowering civilians, motioning them to the collective of vehicles. As the people obeyed his orders, the spider crab became miffed from this frantic series of motion and attempted to spew another stream of fire from its mouth. However, before the fleeing citizens could be burned to a crisp, two more energy blasts crashed into its stomach.
"Fire at will, men! Show this freak what happens when you mess with the human race!" Steel spat confidently, pointing his gloved hand at the Null Void native with furrowed eyebrows. Laser after laser smacked into all parts of the alien's body, leaving it no room to move or counterattack.
However, none of their shots could pierce its rough, green hide, only forcing it to stumble back and raise its arms to cover its face. Lasers fusillade the monster, and to the dismay of S.A.C.T, the monster pressed forward through the barrage with growing momentum.
"Damn! Fall back!" Lieutenant Steel growled in frustration, leading his men a few feet away from the monster as it slowly approached. Steel used his own pistol to try blinding the beast's eyesight, but nothing could do enough damage to quell its fearsome rampage.
Worse, the noise had drawn the attention of the flying ones from above. The flapping beats of the eyeless beasts reached their ears as they turned their attention to the unexpected reinforcement.
But the S.A.C.T was not without aid. Sprinting across the building tops, a shadowed figure frisked to and fro in the stealth of night. Below it was a descending winged beast diving in to swoop. Once it lowered at the level of the building the figure was on, it jumped from his footing to the back of the beast, unsheathing its sword in the interim and stabbing it in the back upon landing.
SCREEEEEEEE!
They watched the figure, to their amazement, jerked the blade and steered it into the green beast below. The flying beast crashed into the monster, knocking it from the side and into a nearby car, toppling them.
"What the hell is that?" Steel muttered to himself in immense confusion, observing the two incapacitated aliens. His men were equally startled, having no idea what to do after the crash that just took place.
The man was wearing armor far more advanced than what the government could make, alien tech. Steel could almost see a similarity between this man's mechanical shell and a recent criminal when she got her hands on alien tech… or the other way around.
"Identify yourself." Steel proclaimed audibly, giving his team the signal to ready their weapons if need be.
The stranger simply turned to them. He did not answer, he pointed his blade at the skies above them, behind them. Lieutenant Steele quirked a brow before turning around, seeing two more of the winged beasts approaching. Whatever the stranger's intentions were, Steele knew at least he was here to help.
"This is Steel. I'm in need of some air support stat." Steel announced into the walkie-talkie's speaker. Upon this command, a green helicopter flew from the distant horizon and headed straight for each airborne assailant. Compartments opened up from each side, revealing a set of larger blasters and heat-seeking missiles. As the bat-winged abominations closed in on S.A.C.T.'s members from above, Steel shared another command in a much more annoyed manner.
"Fire!" Steel seethed, his teeth clenched in adrenaline-filled conviction. Two missiles then deployed from the helicopter's storage, impacting both creatures in a large, fiery explosion.
Garou watched the flying 'Null Guardians' fall in flames. He could not save them all and he had no right to stop the military from using lethal force, he knew better than to force self-righteous restrictions onto others.
He did not know who these people were, but his AI scanned their equipment, seeing traces of alien technology in their weapons, although crudely remade.
Most likely reverse engineered, though the scientists probably couldn't understand all of the alien blueprints.
His presence was no longer needed, so he flew, still trying to get used to flight.
He was more comfortable running and jumping against gravity, the feel of his feet on the ground. Flying made him feel more vulnerable without a proper foothold on solid matter, but that would be rectified in no time.
He flew to the highest vantage point to inspect the situation.
He needed to know. Did Vilgax escape in the chaos? A giant squid hulk with a missing arm was not hard to miss. He should still be heavily wounded from the pounding days ago. He clicked his tongue as he used his mind to order the AI to scan for anything resembling the image of Vilgax in his head.
Instead, the AI did something else, opening a radio channel while his ears were blasted by chatter regarding sightings as a minimap blipped at then top right corner of the screen.
"Well…"
Garou started to wonder if this was how Genos saw the world.
He moved towards the nearest report on 'monster' sightings and got to work. They must be saved before he could hunt the squid hulk.
Wildmutt prowled in the alleyways of a steel mill, sniffing around the area for the gremlin that stole the portal gun from them. On her back, Kevin held on, his skin matching the color of Vilgax's robot minions.
Max triangulated the location of the gremlin by hacking into the radio waves, listening in various frequency channels for any signs of monsters invading their domicile. One was in a working steel factory in the town, fortunately, not too far to the edge of the borders.
"Are we there yet?" Kevin grumbled, itching to get into action and use his newfound ability. He could feel the metal he imbibed giving him strength, inciting him to use it against his foes.
Wildmutt adjusted the position of her head to deadpan at Kevin in irritation, an expression which was admittedly hard to read from her lack of eyes.
"Don't look at me like that. We've been running around in circles for like thirty minutes!" Kevin complained, exaggerating the duration of Wildmutt's search out of sheer boredom and desire to do something cool.
Not because he was jealous of Garou's new superarmor.
Wildmutt just grunted in response, smelling the surrounding area once again. Thankfully, a unique scent caught her attention. As if to finally answer Kevin's cries for action, Wildmutt finally picked up thermal movement inside one alleyway.
Wildmutt roared as she chased after the source, breaking down the door on her left and entered the building through the back.
"Whoa whoa! Slow down!" Kevin shouted as he bounced from her sprint until they stopped in a flickering room.
"Offf! Seriously, what the…" Kevin stopped when he saw what was inside.
Broken glass and chewed wires littered the room, sitting on the center of the littered junk, the lights blinking on and off at rapid intervals, was the very thing bringing them so much trouble in this single night. The little, red, chubby thing with black fangs and three fingers was eating a Sumo Slammer game cartridge.
"Well, we found it, but where's the..." Kevin interrupted his faint whispers at the sight of their current object of desire. The Null Void Projector laid next to the creature's feet as it tore away at the currently mangled video game, drips of slobber oozing down the weapon's front.
"Sorry, Sumo Slammers. I'm graduating to the big leagues." Kevin apologized to the series as he got off Wildmutt and calmly walked towards the Null Void Projector. He tiptoed towards the tiny thing and slowly reached out for the gun before it noticed him.
However, Wildmutt sensed more movement. Many more movements in the surroundings. Many other things as big as the Havok Beast eating machines. Kevin also noticed when he looked around… seeing many more of the red munchkins either eating or sleeping with their bellies full.
"Ok. Maybe they won't hear me if I'm quiet enough…" Kevin muttered to himself hopefully, taking extra precautions to hide his nervousness.
As Kevin quietly shuffled over to the distracted alien, he accidentally stepped on a torn fragment of metal. To his horror, it made a surprisingly loud creaking sound that echoed throughout the marginally empty room. This sparked the attention of every single Havok Beast, each one staring at Kevin with curious red eyes. The one from before also stopping his incessant chewing to glare at Kevin's frozen form.
Wildmutt growled at Kevin irritably, audibly chewing him out for blowing their cover in front of so many aliens. Kevin just shot a glare at Gwen before delving in for the prison gun, grabbing it fast enough and booking it before the beasts roar out in an angry chorus.
"SCREEEAH!" The Havok Beast shrieked in rage, calling out for support from his nearby brethren. Suddenly, the entire room began to shake rapidly, an intense banging originating from the ceiling.
"That doesn't sound good…" Stopping his tracks, Kevin mumbled curiously, his eyes darting towards the roof as it began cracking to pieces. The ceiling then caved in completely, revealing a gigantic version of the Havok Beast that was comparable in size to Sunder or even Vilgax.
"Seriously? Can't we have something easy for once?" Kevin yelled in aggravation, gesturing to the monstrous Havok Beast with outstretched arms. Gwen just gave Kevin a blank stare, pointing to the Null Void Projector in Kevin's hands with one of her claws.
Kevin looked down at his hands, realization of his stupidity starting to dawn on him. He nervously coughed and attempted to hide his embarrassment.
"Oh, right. Prison Gun." Kevin almost felt stupid for a moment. That was until he caught sight of sparks jumping from the Null Void Projector. He wasn't sure if it was safe enough to use but, considering the circumstances, he had no choice in the matter.
"Here goes nothing." Kevin announced, holding the Null Void Projector in front of the legion of enraged Havok Beasts. However, once he pulled the trigger, its yellow beam shockingly branched out into several smaller ones. This unusual phenomenon produced multiple red portals, all varying in size and shape. The smaller Havok Beasts were helplessly dragged into these dimensional rifts, including the largest one. But, to Kevin and Gwen's puzzlement, the portals wouldn't disappear.
"What gives? Shouldn't the portals be gone by now?" Kevin grunted in annoyance, examining the extraterrestrial gun for any off switch or serious damages. Gwen was also confused, examining the strange terrain of the Null Void.
Emerging from the yellow portals, one from each, a monster growled into existence, each one bearing a remarkable semblance to Gwen's current form. However, each of them was larger, their mouths more circular, as scars and stripes streaked their orange hides.
"Grroowh!" One of the Vulpimancers roared, its long, pink tongue protruding from its jagged maw. Wildmutt was amazed by the massive stature of these two Vulpimancers, noting that they had a similar looking tail as well.
"Oh, boy. We need two leashes. Big ones." Kevin quickly backed away to Wildmutt, reshaping his free hand into a blade just in case they chose to jump him. He wasn't sure if their fangs could rip his tiny body to shreds.
Strangely, the two tiger-like aliens didn't do anything. They simply stopped in place, examining Gwen's transformed appearance from head to toe. Then their tails started wagging like normal everyday canines.
Kevin raised an eyebrow, not expecting these aliens to be less hostile than the Havok Beasts from before.
"Aru?" If Wildmutt could blink, she would. What were they doing?
Both Vulpimancers stomped over to Gwen almost too excitedly, getting a closer look at her body. To make this situation even more awkward, one of them started sniffing her backside. Gwen's orange face lit up like an erupting volcano, her embarrassment heightened to an unprecedented degree.
"Wait a minute, are they… are they in actual heat? Oh, man!" Kevin asked, his lips slowly widening.
After getting a good whiff of Wildmutt's rear, the two fully grown Vulpimancers began panting with desire. They licked Gwen on both cheeks, slobber drenching her orange fur.
"Ahahahahahaha! Oh, man! This is hilarious!" Pointing his finger at her, Kevin started laughing at Gwen as the two males continued showering her with their drooling affection.
Gwen whined in misery and discomfort, silently pleading for Kevin to save her from this mess. To make matters worse, the two Vulpimancers were starting to get a bit too possessive of Gwen and almost territorial.
One of them growled at the other and the other vice versa. Growls turned to barks, barks turned to roars and later into bites and vicious brawling as they tackled each other almost as if to determine which one was the alpha male.
Gwen stared at the spectacle in disbelief, unsure if she should intervene or watch how this fight played out.
Kevin walked over to Gwen, his smile still stuck on his face.
"Wanna bet which one's gonna win?" Kevin asked as he nudged his alien friend with his elbow.
Gwen shook her head in further embarrassment, mentally pleading for the Omnitrix to change her back soon.
"I'm gonna tell Garou and your grandpa about this for sure!" Kevin snickered as he relished the violence.
Wildmutt curled up into a ball, depressively slumping down onto the floor as both Vulpimancers continued to fight for her.