Up in space, Vilgax's ship continued to float above the planet without any of the countries of that planet knowing it was there.
Suddenly, a hatch on the ship opened up before two metal disks were sent flying out. They flew forward and then dived towards the planet, heading for the same location the previous machines and bounty hunters had gone. Inside, the robot that launched them turned towards its master in the tube.
"The drones have launched," it told Vilgax. "Equipped with the improved internal tracking systems, along with the absorption and adaptation technology we recently acquired, they should have no problem finding and retrieving the Omnitrix."
The tube gasped as the one inside spoke. "They may find it." A long wheeze followed, "but retrieving it will not be easy. Whoever possesses the Omnitrix, continues to be an opponent of extreme danger. And inspiring brilliance."
Flash burped as he stuffed another handful of potato chips into his mouth, Trixie, Twilight and Rainbow frowning at him as they looked up from their own choice of snacks.
"Really?" Trixie asked, as Flash shrugged.
"What? I'm just making sure the chips are good enough to keep everyone satisfied for the night." He plucked out another chip and pointed it at them. "Do you want to spend the entire movie eating the wrong type of chips?" The girls rolled their eyes and tried to find their own choice of snacks.
As they continued to make their selection, they heard the store open and a voice they recognised. "Well what do we have here?" They spun around and spotted Shining Armor, a smirk on his face as he stepped up to them. "You kids aren't looking to buy anything you shouldn't, are you?" He smirked at the joke, as the teens rolled their eyes.
"What are you doing here?" Trixie asked, but Twilight had a guess.
"Diapers?" Shining nodded at this, sighing as he did so.
"The sooner Flurry starts potty training, the happier I'll be." They all nodded, knowing that none of them wanted to have to do such a horrible thing any time soon. "So what are you kids looking for?"
"Applejack found a bunch of old movies in her family's attic," Twilight explained. "She also found an old timey movie projector, so she invited all her friends to come and watch the movies."
Flash laughed. "We're probably gonna spend the whole time laughing at the terrible production of movies back in the day." The girls laughed with him, Shining rolling his eyes before grabbing diapers off a shelf.
Once they had all made their purchases, the lot of them stepped outside the store. As they did, Twilight turned to Shining. "Shouldn't you be at work right now?"
"Actually," Shining smirked, "crimes been down a lot lately. With all those aliens showing up, it's like the crooks are afraid to come out and do crime. Which means I can complete my paperwork without having to worry about ten more files appearing on my desk by the time I've finished one."
Twilight laughed at this. "Yeah, ever since they showed up things have certainly gotten a lot more interesting." The lot of them grabbed their chosen snacks and moved over to the cashier to pay for them, "but I can't help but still wonder why they only show up here."
"Who knows," Flash shrugged. "Maybe they really like Canterlot." Nobody had anyway to deny that and once they paid, they headed out the store. But as they did, a rumbling filled the air. "What's that?"
"I don't know?" Shining looked around, the others doing the same.
"Sounds kinda like a stampede," Rainbow stated.
"In the city?" Trixie rolled her eyes. As she did, she noticed something and pointed down the street. "Look!" They did so and saw the cause of the rumbling. A butt tone of large trucks, which were rolling down the street.
As they flew passed, Flash noticed they were a combo of red and black with a logo on the side that showed a red D on a green background with three claw-marks running over it. Rainbow gasped. "No way!"
"You know what that is?" Twilight asked.
"Yeah. It's Dynamo Danger. He's a TV star that has his own show. Dynamo Dangers, the Monster Hunter."
"Monster Hunters?" Flash asked, Rainbow nodding.
"Yeah. Every episode has him tracking down some rare breed of animal or creature, then capturing it."
"What?" Trixie looked apald, "that's sick! How is something like that legal."
"Well all his methods are considered humane and he doesn't kill the animals he hunts. He captures them and, depending on the animal, lets them go once he's shown the wold a close up look or sends them to an animal sanctuary. Last season, he managed to save a rare white rhino that was living in the wild and moved it to a safer place to avoid poachers. Another time, he had to capture a rare and deadly scorpion in order to get its venom to make a special medicine."
"Oh," Trixie frowned, "I guess that's alright."
"Yeah," Rainbow frowned, "but sometimes he goes a bit to far. He once managed to track down Fifty-Two Blue and planned to capture it for a zoo." That didn't sit well with them. "And every season opener, he tries to hunt down a mythological creature to prove they're real. Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, Chupacabra..."
"Let me guess," Flash frowned. "None of those episodes had him find them."
"Well...a few seasons back he climbed to have captured Moby-Dick, but apparently some do-gooders as he calls them, released it before he could show the world." Everyone frowned at this as the sixth truck flew by, the lot of them interested to see what this guy was doing in Canterlot.
As it turned out, the trucks pulled into a large parking lot and parked in a large U-shape. A large crowd gathered and Shining was about to march over and tell them that they couldn't park like that. But before he could, one of the trucks opened up and something flew out of it.
That something was a drone, which began to drop objects on the ground. These things sprung up to form a three foot high barrier, that blocked off the top of the U. As it did, something jumped out of another truck.
It was a man around Shining's age, with brown skin and red hair that was combed to the side, wearing a gray V-neck under a black and red sleeveless lifejacket and orange pants with about a thousand pockets on them. Around his neck, he wore a shark tooth necklace.
The man walked with a smug arrogance that reminded Flash of many Crystal Prep boys, the man waving at the crowd as if they were screaming and begging for his autograph. Then, another drone appeared and floated down behind him, whilst two of the trucks suddenly unfolded a large screen onto the side of them.
He spun around around as the screens turned on, showing the image of him that the drone was recording. "Welcome back, Danger Fans. I'm Dynamo Danger, the Monster Hunter."
"He's recording an episode?" Rainbow asked, "what the heck could he be planning to hunt in a city?" Flash had a guess and it made him sweat.
"I've travelled all across this planet, capturing the most powerful beasts and creatures that have evolved here. But today, I intend to set my sights on a new kind of prey. One that is certainly out of this world." As he said that, the screens changed to show images of the many aliens that had made Canterlot their home.
Trixie and Shining gave Flash a look, the teen gulping as he did so.
"For a good while now, these invaders have been showing up and causing major property damage and who knows how much injury." As he said that, an image on the screen showed Riot-Horn crashing through a wall. Flash remembered that as the time a horrible gas leak had occurred and he needed to increase the ventilation before a huge explosion followed. "Why have these horrible creatures come to our planet? Are they the vanguard of a full on invasion? We'll find out after I capture one of them for interrogation."
"HEY!" Rainbow called out to him, "are you nuts!?" Dynamo turned to her with a raised eyebrow, the camera focusing on her. "The aliens have only been helping us. They save people."
"That's right," Twilight nodded. "One of those aliens saved my life once. Canterlot's a better place thanks to them."
"Oh dear viewers!" Dynamo cried, hamming it up a bit. "It's as I feared." He marched over to the girls, "the aliens have already started to brainwash our impressionable youth." He placed a hand on their shoulders, "what did they do? Did they take you up to their ships? Did they prob you? How many eggs did they implant?" The girls looked ready to barf at this statement, as he turned back to the camera. "We must stop these horrible creatures before they weasel their way into everyone's minds and start breeding alien human hybrids!" The audience who heard this stepped away from the girls, who rolled their eyes.
"This guy's nuts," Trixie shook her head.
"No," Shining told her, "he's just seen one too many movies."
Dynamo stepped away from the crowd, the camera flying backwards to keep him in shot. "I intend to prove without a shadow of a doubt that these creatures are a danger to our planet's very safety. And when I capture one, it shall see that coming to this planet was the biggest mistake of its six-legged life."
"None of the aliens have six legs!" Rainbow told him.
"This guy's getting on my nerves," Flash frowned as he activated the Omnitrix. "I think it's time he saw what us aliens can do." He was about to slip away to transform, but Shining stopped him.
"That's a bad idea," he stated so Twilight and Rainbow couldn't hear. "This guy might be an idiot, but it's clear he's a heavily armed idiot. He probably has at least one weapon that can hurt each of your aliens."
"So what am I supposed to do?" Flash hit the button again and the dial returned to the watch.
"Lay low. There's no way this guy's gonna stick around if the aliens don't show up. Take a break for a while and he'll get bored and leave." But no sooner had he said this, something occurred that would force Flash's hand.
Suddenly, a laser beam shot down and blasted one of Dynamo's trucks. The man gasped at this and looked up to see a bunch of drones flying down, Flash and Trixie recognising them from Flash's first day as an alien hero.
"LOOK OUT!" Twilight cried as the machines pointed their weapons at them and started firing, the magical girls grabbing a nearby trash can in her magic and lifted it up to block the beam. As the can exploded, making trash rain down upon them, the other drone fired a beam which hit the building behind them.
Parts of it began to fall towards Flash and Trixie, Flash instinctively going to his watch only to be zipped away by a blue blur. The next second, he and Trixie were dropped off in an alleyway by Rainbow.
"You okay?" She asked, the pair of them nodding before Rainbow rushed back towards the battlefield.
"This has gotta be that Vilgax guy Tetrax warned us about," Trixie stated as Flash activated the Omnitrix. "They must be here for the watch."
"Well they're gonna get it," he stated once he found his choice of alien and slapped the dial down.
The drones continued to fire, having detected the Omnitrix but not being able to hone in on it.
As such, they followed their programming to cause as much mayhem as possible in order to flush the user out. They blasted another of Dynamo's trucks, shot down several of his cameras and terrified the man half to death. "Do you believe this viewers," he told one of his remaining cameras. "Not even a minute after my declaration of war, and the alien monsters have sent a bunch of machines in order to silence me. Clearly, they're scared to come out and face me in person."
"RAAAAAAAAAAH!" Suddenly, something shot out of the smoke of the many explosions. That something was the alien: Riot-Horn, who smashed his fist into one of the drones and pushed it down into the ground. The two smashed into one another and was completely destroyed, whilst the remaining drone began firing at him. "Back off!" He cried, raising his arms to protect his head.
As he did, Dynamo rushed over to one of his remaining trucks and pulled out a set of keys. With a press of a button, the back of the truck opened up and revealed a ton of different weapons. He began going through them. "Sonic disruptor? Too noisy. Flamethrower? Too slow. Net gun? Too small."
Shining rushed up to him, "what are you doing? Get out there before that robots blasts you!"
"I will not leave until I'm fully equipped to take down that monster."
"Leave taking it down to Riot-Horn?"
"I'm talking about the alien," Dynamo cried as he grabbed a tranquilizer gun. "This should work. I used this same weapon to dart a rare white rhino in order to transport it to a nature preserve." He turned towards the camera and smiled, "but those who've bought my season four DVD should already know that." Shining swore his tooth actually sparkled in that moment.
As he was doing this, Twilight grabbed the robot in her magic and kept it in place. This allowed Riot-Horn to leap up and smash his fist through it, but not before the drone fired a laser from every blaster it had.
One of those lasers struck the side of Dynamo's truck, Shining seeing this and grabbing the man. "MOVE!" He threw Dynamo away as the truck exploded, Shining managing to leap away from the blast but the force carried him and he was sent sailing into the side of a building as a sickening crack filled the air.
"SHINING!" Twilight screamed, causing Riot-Horn to stop when he lifted his fist out of the destroyed robot and look over at his fallen friend. Seeing Shining laying on the ground, not moving, causing his entire body to freeze up. Millions of emotions flooded through his body, as he watched Twilight and Rainbow run up next to him and see if he was okay.
"No," he whispered in horror. For the first time since he had gotten the Omnitrix, someone had been hurt whilst he was trying the save the day. And the fact that someone was a person close to him made Riot-Horn want to be sick.
He didn't have time to throw up however, as in that moment something bounced off his shoulder. Looking around, he saw Dynamo pointing the tranquilizer at him. "Freeze!" He yelled, but Riot-Horn growled before reaching down. "I said stop!" He fired again and the dart bounced off his hand before the alien grabbed the gun and yanked it from him, "hey!"
Riot-Horn twisted the gun around, forming a pretzel shape before throwing it back to him. "You better leave me...and my friends alone. We're not your enemies." He turned back to Shining and saw Twilight had lifted him up in her magic before placing him on a large piece of flat metal that used to be part of the truck.
Sitting on the now floating metal, Twilight continued to take care of her brother as Rainbow used her superspeed to push it down the street.
Riot-Horn felt a flood of emotions racing through him at the thought of Shining's fate, but could do nothing but wait until he changed back before he got the see what happened to him. "RAAAAAH!" He punched another piece of Dynamo's truck, smashing it to bits before he power jumped into the air.
"Get back here!" Dynamo yelled, but Riot-Horn was gone and all he could do was look around the place.
All his equipment was destroyed and even his cameras were totalled, "so much for the scoop of the century." He started moving through the wreckage, wanting to grab as much salvageable equipment as he could before the police arrived.
He then spotted the remains of the drones and looked them over, "very advanced. I wonder what you can do." He picked up a piece of the robot's head and lifted it up, trying to figure out how it worked.
But suddenly, the drone's lights came on before a cable shot out of it and struck Dynamo's neck. His eyes went wide as he felt something hot flowing through him, his veins turning bright red followed by the rest of his skin.
"AHHH!" He cried as his body grew about a foot in height, whilst also bulking up a great deal which caused him to rip through some of his cloths.
As he did, more cables shot out of the drone and struck several pieces of Dynamo's destroyed gear. All of it began to fly towards the man, as parts of his body mutated to grow slows and holes that the machinery connected too.
In the blink of an eye, the red hulk was suited up in a robotic battle-suit. It was mostly black with red trim, with his right arm being completely hidden from the elbow down by a large mechanical blaster. His left arms was covered in spikes and he had long metal claws in place of fingers.
His chest was covered in a metal chestplate that looked like lt opened, whilst his shoulders had large red spheres sticking out of them. Those same spheres were covering most of his face, blocking his eyes and making him look like a fly.
The half human half machine hybrid panted as he looked himself over, then screamed at the top of his lungs.
As soon as Flash was back to his human self, he and Trixie rushed over to the hospital.
When they got their, the rest of Shining's family was already there. The visitors number was already full, so the pair stayed out in the corridor waiting to hear if everything was okay.
As they waited, Flash leaned against the wall and sighed. "This is all my fault."
"Don't be ridiculous Flash," Trixie told him. "None of this was your fault. Shining was doing his job, getting an idiot who thought he knew everything out of the way."
Flash held up the Omnitrix. "But if I didn't have this, those drones wouldn't have been there."
"You don't know that. You found the Omnitrix but you didn't make it fall to earth. If you hadn't found it, I could be wearing it. Or someone else might have found it and they might not have chosen to use it the way you've used it. Things could be a lot worst."
"Maybe," Flash looked out the window, "but Shining might not have been hurt."
Up in space, Vilgax was not happy to hear his minion's report. "The drones were destroyed."
He hissed in anger, "send out more!" But as he said this, the robot was looking at a tablet-like device which showed a signal coming from the supposed destroyed drones.
"We may not need to. It seems the drones have somehow merged. I am receiving one combined signal. And that signal is on the move." The alien within the tube hummed hearing this, trying to think of what to do.
"Perhaps one head is better then two."
Dynamo had run off and hidden in a back alleyway, still freaking out about what had happened to him.
He panted and looked himself over, staring at his large metal claws and then at the blaster on his right arm. "What am I?" He asked, remembering this was one of his own weapons. The sonic disruptor.
He couldn't see the trigger and as soon as he thought about firing it, the machine powered up before unleashing a powerful blast of sound that struck a trash can and threw it against a wall so hard, it was flattened.
"Huh," he smirked. Now that he had had time to calm down, he thought about this. He looked his body over and realised he was a living weapon. As he wondered what else he could do, his vision suddenly changed to what he realised was infrared. He hummed at this before thinking and sure enough, the right concentration allowed him to switch to X-ray.
He looked through several walls and spotted a woman in an apartment building, who was moving towards the bathroom as she was slowly taking off her clothes.
But before he could see anything juicy, he suddenly felt a great amount of pain in his head. "AUGH!" He screamed, clutching his head as he fell to his knees. It was like nothing he had ever felt before. And just as he was about to pass out, a voice spoke.
"Listen to me. Whoever you are."
"Where are you?" He asked, "who are you? How did you get in my head?"
"No questions!" The voice hissed, "you are here to serve me!"
"Dynamo Danger doesn't serve anybody!" But as he said that, another explosion of pain rocked through him. "AUGH!" He clutched his eyes shut and when they opened, he found he was in a multi-coloured void. And from that void, a strange octopus creature appeared in front of him.
"You now possess power you could have never imagined. But unless you find a way to use it correctly, it will be worthless." Dynamo felt absolute fear flow through him. "Fulfil my demand and I will teach you. Fail me, and I will turn you to dust."
"You're with those other aliens," he realised. "What, are you their leader?" The alien looked at him strangely.
"Tell me about these aliens."
"They've been showing up and causing havoc, then tricking people into thinking they're heroes."
"Do any of them appear together." He shook his head, "those are no aliens. They are someone who has gotten their hands on a technology far too powerful for them." The Omnitrix appeared between them, "this is your mission. Find whoever wears this device and take it from them."
"Fine," Dynamo frowned, "but how the heck am I supposed to find it?"
"The programming to locate it is already within you. All you must do is wait for it to activate." With that, everything around him vanished along with the pain. In the blink of an eye, he was back in the alleyway.
"Alright," Dynamo looked himself over, "looks like the hunt is on."
Back at the hospital, Flash and Trixie had finally been allowed in to see Shining.
"So you're gonna be okay?" Flash asked, seeing Shining was in bed with several bandages around his body. Luckily, nothing was in a cast.
"I'm fine," Shining assured him. "Nothing's broken, though if I had hit that wall any harder I would have broken a rib or two." Flash frowned at this and sat down next to him.
"I'm sorry." Shining looked confused, whilst Trixie rolled her eyes.
"He thinks it's his fault you're in here." Now Shining rolled his eyes.
"This isn't your fault. And even if it was, you shouldn't let this get you down. I never expected you to be able to save everyone. If you could, it would be a miracle." Flash didn't reply, still looking upset at what had happened. "I get it. You're upset you failed to keep me safe. Now what are you gonna do? Cause pouting about it isn't gonna help."
"What do I do?" Flash asked.
"Learn. Figure out what went wrong this time and improve yourself so it doesn't happen again. Not learning from a failure is just doubling that failure." Flash sighed, but nodded as the doors opened to show a nurse. She told the pair that they would need to leave for a bit, as Shining needed to have a few more test done soon.
The pair nodded and after saying goodbye to Shining, they headed outside and down the hall. As they did, they spotted Twilight coming back. "Hey," she inquired, "is Shining okay?" Clearly she was wondering why they left him alone.
"They need to do a few more tests," Trixie explained as Twilight nodded. The three headed down to the cafeteria and Trixie offered to get them some drinks from the vending machine, Flash and Twilight sitting at a table.
"Where's the rest of your family?" Flash asked.
"Cadance went to get Shining some change of clothes. Mom and dad offered to look after Flurry, so they took her home." Flash nodded and the pair sat there in silence, Flash unsure what to say to her. "Thanks for coming to check on him. You and Shining have really gotten close lately."
"Thanks," Flash smiled, "he's...like the big brother I never got to have. He's been helping me a lot lately, so I couldn't just stay away when he's here." Twilight nodded at that, then changed to subject to something Flash would rather avoid.
"Weird how those drones showed up like that. Do you think Dynamo was right about the aliens sending them to stop his show?" Flash shook his head.
"No way. They wouldn't do that. Those robots showed up because..." He wasn't sure what to say next, "cause someone's clearly trying to cause trouble and it's those aliens that saved us." Twilight nodded as Flash looked down, "even though they couldn't help Shining."
"It's not their fault this happened," Twilight explained. "Though I guess if more then one of them had shown up, they could have stop those things before Shining got hurt."
"Yeah," Flash wished that were possible. He looked down at his watch and switched it on, the aliens he could become appearing one by one in the dial. "Too bad there isn't an alien that can heal wounds." At that moment in time, Flash would have traded any of his ten aliens for one with that power.
At the same moment, Dynamo's head shot up.
It was like there was a sudden urge flowing through him to head in a certain direction, the hunter realising this is what that alien meant when he said he was programmed to find the device. Suddenly, the orbs on his shoulders detached to reveal mechanical arms beneath that coming out of his body. They then curved backwards and unleashed a red energy behind him, whilst his feet also unleashed the same energy that propelled him into the air.
He shot through the sky and headed in the direction he was being drawn in.
"That would be cool," Twilight nodded. "But I'm still grateful for the aliens that are already here. They've done so much to help the city, we shouldn't blame them if they slip up every now and then."
"Maybe," Flash deactivated the watch and saw Trixie walking towards them, "but I guess it depends on the slip up."
"Okay," Trixie handed Flash an orange soda and Twilight a diet cherry. "I guess Applejack will be cancelling her movie night." Twilight nodded at this.
"Rainbow ran over to tell everyone else what happened. They called earlier asking if I was okay and even though I said it was okay to keep their plans, they said they would have the movie night another time."
"I guess those robots ruined everyone's day," Trixie frowned. But in that moment, something happened that would ruin their day even more. Suddenly, the entire hospital shook so violently that the teens were knocked off their chairs.
"WOW!" Flash cried as he hit the ground, but quickly recovered as the hospital shook again.
He looked towards a nearby window and was shocked to see a red laser shoot passed it before the building shook again. "What was that?" Twilight asked, as the teens ran to the window and looked down to see the course of the havoc currently terrifying the patients and medical staff.
The human hybrid fired another laser, then turned to a nearby ambulance and raised its arm to fire a sonic blast that knocked it over. "What is that thing?" Trixie asked, Twilight examining it.
"I think it's one of those robot things that attacked earlier," she finally said. "But...what's it doing here?" Flash knew why it was there and frowned, the teen moving away from the wall and walking off. "Where are you going?"
"Err...I'm gonna go make sure Shining's alright. You're obviously gonna fight that thing, right?" Twilight nodded as Trixie moved with him, the girl smiling at them both.
"Keep him safe."
"Promise," he assured her as Trixie saluted. Twilight then ran off and the two did the same, looking for an empty room with a window. When they finally found one, he opened it up and activated the Omnitrix.
"What's your plan?" Trixie asked whilst she opened the window.
"I've gotta lead that thing away. So, it's time to fly. Firefly!" When he found the alien, he slapped the dial down and the room was filled with green light. But when the light faded, Volt-Edge stood in Flash's place. "Seriously?" He groaned before running to the window, grabbing a metal tray that happened to be on the bedside table as he opened it.
Dynamo kept firing, knowing the Omnitrix was somewhere close. He just had to bring the one holding it out.
"Show yourself, you coward!" He fired another sonic blast that destroyed another ambulance, then lowers his arm and turned to slash at a sign. "I should have known you would be too scared to face me."
"Who you calling scared?" Dynamo looked up and spotted Volt-Edge sliding down the side of the building, using the metal tray as a hoverboard to reach the bottom before jumping into the air. "Hope this isn't too...shocking!" He launch a burst of lightning, which flew towards Dynamo.
But before they could hit him, his shoulder blasters extended. He pointed the orbs at the lightning and unleashed the lasers he had been firing at the hospital, which struck the lightning and cancelled it out as Volt-Edge landed.
"Okay," he frowned before slamming his gauntlets together to unleash a powerful burst of lightning. And when he slammed them into the ground, the lightning exploded off of them and flew out in a crescent wave.
But Dynamo's blasters curved back and fired, his feet doing the same and propelling him up and above the lightning. Volt-Edge growled at this as the hybrid cut the power and fell towards him, the claws on his left hand extending as he did.
He slashed at Volt-Edge and the alien raised his claws to block, the claws cutting into the metal of his gauntlets and leaving scratches. As the two pushed against one another, he got a closer look at the monster's face and realised he had seen it somewhere before. "You're that monster hunter. The one that attacked me-...Riot-Horn."
"Don't bother," Dynamo told him. "I know you're really some guy with a device far more powerful then you should have. Hand over the Omnitrix!"
"You know about that?" He asked, fearing what else this guy might know.
Dynamo then leapt back and jetted into the air, cutting the power and turning the lasers around to fire at him. Volt-Edge quickly let out a burst of lightning, which formed a dome around him that the lasers bounced off.
One of the lasers flew towards a window of the hospital and Volt-Edge gasped, only for a piece of rubble to suddenly fly up and intercept it.
As it exploded, Volt-Edge looked down to see Twilight standing there using her magic. He smiled before turning to glare at Dynamo, knowing he needed to move the danger away from the hospital. As such, he ran forwards and grabbed a piece of metal off the ground. "Come and get me!" He jumped onto the metal and floated it up into the air, allowing him to skateboard down the road.
"Get back here!" Dynamo yelled as he took flight and flew after the alien.
Volt-Edge expected him to start firing from above, but he didn't and the two continued to race through the city. But then Dynamo shot ahead of him and landed down the street, putting his thrusters away and holding up his blaster arm. He fired a sound pulse towards Volt-Edge, who gasped and raised his metal hoverboard to block it.
It did but he was still propelled backwards, as a fuel truck happened to pull up from around a corner. He slammed into the container with enough force that it almost tripped the truck over, his horn piecing the metal. He tried to pull himself free of the gas truck, but as he did Dynamo charged towards him with his claws drawn.
Luckily, he managed to pull himself free of the gas truck and flip himself backwards over the hybrid before the gas could fly out and drench him. Instead, it flew out and struck Dynamo. The hybrid was knocked backwards as the liquid fuel spilled out and covered him head to toe.
Volt-Edge did a few more backflips until he was a safe distance away, quickly shaking the fuel on his horn off, then looked around to see everyone in the immediate area had already vacated. That included the truck driver, meaning Volt-Edge was safe to charge up a bolt of lightning and fire it towards the truck.
The spark struck the fuel and ignited it, flames spreading everywhere including Dynamo. Luckily for him, his new body was completely fireproof.
But when the fire flew up the gas stream pouring out of the truck, the flaming pressure being too much as it exploded with a loud boom. The flames flew everywhere, though luckily nothing around the explosion was flammable. Volt-Edge sighed at this and began to walk away, thinking that was the end.
But then he heard screaming and looked back, as a figure began to stagger out of the smoke.
He quickly grabbed a piece of the truck that had landed near him and used it to fly up to the top of a nearby building, the alien watching as Dynamo stepped out of the flames looking unharmed but exhausted. "You can't hide forever!" He looked around with Volt-Edge stepping away from the edge to keep from being seen. "I'll find you again. As long as you have that watch on, I'll always be able to track you down. I will find you again and no matter what, I'll get that watch off of you!"
Volt-Edge didn't stay to hear anymore, the alien flying off the other side of the building and getting as far away as he could.
He quickly hid in the back streets until the Omnitrix powered down, Flash sighing as he stepped out into the light and began heading towards the hospital. But he stopped before he got even one street closer, as Dynamo's words echoed through his mind.
As long as he had the Omnitrix, Dynamo...anyone who wanted it would come after him.
He remembered what had happened to Shining. What had almost happened to the hospital, all because of him. His mind flashed to all the people he hung around. Trixie, the Rainbooms, his parents and the students of CHS. Then he started imagining them all being attacked by Dynamo, by those drones or the bounty hunters he fought.
"I'm not safe to be around," he whispered before turning to leave in the other direction. He remembered what Shining had told him. He had to learn from his mistakes and now, he realised being around anyone important was a huge mistake. There was only one thing he could do to make sure nobody he cared about was ever hurt again.
Back with Dynamo, he had run off before the police could arrive and cause him any more trouble.
Hang out behind a large warehouse, the hybrid growled as he realised he had allowed his prey to escape. "DAMN IT!" He blasted a trash can, doing so barely helping with his frustrations. But before he could blast anything else, he suddenly felt incredible pain rush through his head. "AUGH!" He fell to his knees, as his mind retreated into itself and was back in the void.
The squid alien appeared above him and glared down at him. "The Omnitrix!" He growled, "where is it?"
"I lost track of it," Dynamo frowned. "The one using it was better than I anticipated. But I'll find them again and get it for you." He cried out in pain again, as Vilgax continued to torture him.
"Do not fail me again. And this time, make him come to you." With that, the vision ended and Dynamo opened his eyes to find himself back behind the warehouse.
"You wanna go the bait route, huh? Fine. it's not a method I prefer but I can work with it. Now...how to get these aliens to come to me?"
Flash had chosen to risk a return to his home to get everything he needed.
He grabbed the largest bag he could find and stuffed it full of as many clothes that he could, along with all the money he had managed to save up. As he packed, he heard panting and looked around to see his family dog, Banana.
"Hey boy," he knelt down as the dog moved up to him and let its owner scratch him behind the ear. "Sorry, but you can't come with me. I need to be away from everyone special to me." He stood up and looked at a picture on the wall. That picture was of him and his parents, having been taken about a year ago during a ski trip. Flash stared at them for several moments, then took out his phone and placed it on the desk. "I'm sorry. But this is for the best."
With that, he headed out his room and left his home for what he believed would be the last time. He didn't know what his life would be like from this point on, but he knew he had to keep those he cared about safe.
Back in his hospital room, Shining and Trixie were in his room staring at her phone.
After hearing from Trixie about the strange robot that had attacked the hospital, he had used her laptop to search the web. Sure enough, a bunch of people had recorded the machine's rampage and had uploaded it. He watched Volt-Edge fighting it and felt something was off about it.
But before he could figure it out, a knock on the door caught his attention. "Come in." Twilight stepped in "Hey sis? You okay?" Twilight nodded, having had to use her magic to try and do some repairs to the hospital in order to keep it from falling apart. The police had then arrived and forced her to answer some question, which had been rather taxing for the girl.
"I'm fine. A little exhausted, but nothing serious. What about you guys?"
"We're good," Trixie assured her. "Luckily, that attack didn't do any damage to Shining's room."
Twilight nodded and looked around. "Where's Flash?" Trixie and Shining suddenly got worried, "he said he was going to make sure you were okay when that robot thing attacked. Did he not show up?"
"He did," Trixie nodded. "But after things calmed down, he got a call from his parents. They needed him to come home right away."
"Yeah," Shining nodded, "he wanted to stick around, but I didn't think getting him in trouble would be a good idea." Twilight nodded at this, but then her phone rang and she turned away to answer it.
"Hey Fluttershy. What's up?" She listened, then got confused and worried. "Wow, wow, wow. What do you mean missing?" Now the others were just as worried. "He was here earlier, but Trixie said he went home. I don't know where he is. Are you sure? Okay, I'll keep an eye for him." She hung up and turned to the others, "Fluttershy just got a call from Rainbow, who got a call from Derpy. Apparently, Flash's parents have been calling around all his friends."
"Why?"
"He's not at home and his closet's been emptied out. They tried calling him, but his phone's been left in his room. They're worried he might have run away or something."
"Why would Flash run away?" Trixie asked, but Shining suddenly looked concerned since he knew why Flash would want to run away.
"I don't know," Twilight told her. "Do you know if Flash was having any issues? You guys have been hanging out a lot."
"Nope," Trixie shook her head, "nothing I can think of." She also realised why Flash might have left, but she couldn't tell her either. "I'm sure he'll show up. Probably went over to a friend/s and forgot his phone." Twilight thought about this and shrugged, thinking she might be right. When she wasn't looking, the pair turned to one another and was worried.
Flash had moved over to the less filled section of the city, where he knew practically nobody he knew would search for him.
As the sun began to set, he arrived outside the same building he had once been handcuffed inside of by the man he had sent to the hospital. It would be the last place anyone would look for him. He looked around and nobody was on the street, meaning he wouldn't be seen as he stepped inside and headed up to the room he had told Shining the truth it.
Once there, he placed his bag down and dug through it to pull out a radio. With his phone no longer an option to have, he needed this to keep himself entertained. He quickly tuned into a music station and once he found a song he liked, he stepped over to the bed and sat down.
He knew the bed was not going to be a comfortable, but it was the best he could expect. So he laid down and let the music of the radio flow through him.
Back in the hospital, Trixie and Shining waited until Twilight left to really talk.
"What is that idiot thinking?" Trixie cried, "just leaving without telling us anything. What's he gonna do if that robot thing appears and attacks him again? He can't do this alone."
"I think he's more concerned about what might happen to us than he is about what'll happen to him," Shining pointed out. He looked down at his laptop, having asked Cadance to bring it for him. She was currently with Twilight, trying to figure out when Shining could be discharged.
He was continuing to try and locate footage on the hybrid that had attacked earlier and as he did, he notice popped up from his work computer.
"What?" He opened it up and saw it was a city wide police alert. "The police training center is under attack."
"By who?" Trixie asked.
"Unknown assailant," Shining replied. "But they seem to have high-tech weapons." He turned to Trixie, "it's that robot. It must be trying to flush Flash out."
Trixie frowned, wondering if Flash would even hear about this.
At that moment, Flash was listening to a song he really liked when the radio stopped.
"We interrupt this song for an important police announcement. An odd creature is attacking the police training grounds on twenty-fifth and west." Flash instantly sat up hearing this, knowing what it had to be. "All citizens are advised to steal clear of that area."
"Yeah right," Flash leapt off the bed and activated the Omnitrix. "XLR8 should get me there in ten seconds flat." He slammed the dial down and the room was filled with green light.
Trixie rushed towards the door, "where are you going?"
"Flash needs help," Trixie stated. "I don't care if I don't have any powers or weapons, I'm going to go and help in whatever way I can." Before Shining could say anything else, she ran out of the room and through the hospital.
Once she was outside, she spotted Flash's car from when they originally arrived there. And as luck would have it, Trixie had a set of keys Flash had given her in case she ever needed to drive whilst he was doing alien stuff.
"Okay Trixie," the girl told herself as she sat in the car. "Relax," she started the engine, "you're licenced to go on the road. Might just be a learners permit, but it still counts." She drove off, the car's gears grinding as she did so. "Hang on Flash!" The car jolted a bit, "Trixie's coming to save you!"
Outside the Canterlot police training centre, a police car fell to the ground and broke apart from the impact.
The police officers on the scene were all dressed in riot gear, having seen how ineffective normal police equipment was against their opponent. Dynamo stepped forwards and several of them opened fire, but the blasters on his shoulders fired lasers that atomised every bullet that would have hit him.
He then raised his blaster arm and fired a pulse of sound, which struck the men and made them scream as they reached to cover their ears. Some who weren't in range charged forward with batons, attempting to beat him into submission. But the hybrid easily cut them down to size with a single swing of his claws.
The police gulped as the shoulder lasers fired again and blasted them all back, though luckily none of them were hurt from this. "Now," he looked around, "where are you?" He got his answer when a bunch of spinning razor leaves shot towards him and bounced off his metal body.
He turned to see Bushwhacker staring back at him, the alien plant glaring at him. "Enough of this. I'm the one you want."
"True," Dynamo raised his sound blaster and fired it at him. The sonic bullet shot through the air and struck Bushwhacker, knocking him backwards into another police car. "If he wants his Omnitrix, he can have it. As long as he lets me keep these powers and frees me. With them, I'll become the greatest hunter ever known."
"He?" Bushwhacker groaned, then realised he must have been talking about Vilgax. He didn't get to make sure of this, as Dynamo charged with his bladed hands raised. "Wow!" He raised his arms and turned his hands into shields, the claws slashing through the wood and doing some serious damage. But as they did, Bushwhacker launched his root feet forward and wrapped them around both Dynamo's feet.
The hybrid felt this and looked down, allowing Bushwhacker to pull his legs out from under him.
"Augh!" He slammed into the ground and the alien picked himself up, repairing his hands and turning them into hammers. He raised them up before swinging them downwards, slamming them into Dynamo's chest. But the metal of his chest protected him and when Bushwhacker pulled back, the chest opened up to release the cannon that fired a blast directly into Bushwhacker's chest.
"Gyah!" He cried, flying backwards before crashing into the ground. As he did, Dynamo stood up and heard a rumbling. He looked over to see a tank moving towards him, the machine aiming the barrel towards him.
The hybrid just stood there as the shell was fired towards him, Bushwhacker picking him up in time to see Dynamo be surrounded by an explosion. He waited and watched, wondering if that had been enough. But then the tank rolled through the smoke, making him sigh.
However, that relief was short lived when the tank was suddenly lifted into the air. Dynamo was underneath, smirking as his apparent unstoppability. As the drivers inside leapt to safety, he threw the tank towards Bushwhacker. The plant alien reached out to grab a nearby lamppost and pulled himself away, seconds before the tank slammed into the ground and exploded.
He then swung around and used the lamp to catapult himself towards Dynamo, turning his fist into a mace as he swung it at him. But the wooden weapon shattered upon contact with Dymano's face, the alien pointing both his shoulder cannons at him before firing.
"AUGH!" He crashed into the side of a building and fell to the floor, Dynamo smirking as he approached.
Bushwhacker let out a moan as he picked himself up. As they did, the Omnitrix started beeping. "Not now." But the watch didn't listen to him and in a flash, he reverted back to his human form.
Dynamo saw this and was shocked by what he saw. "A kid." He marched forward and Flash staggered back, "those aliens are just a kid." Flash gulped, knowing he was in trouble.
He tried to run, but Dynamo reached out and grabbed his Omnitrix arm. "AUGH!" He was listed up as Dynamo squeezed his metal claws tightly around Flash's wrist, the teen scared they was begin to cut through it. As he did, his chest opened up and unleashed a cable that slithered up and connected itself to the watch's dial.
Multiple strange noises began to come from the Omnitrix, as it seemed to spark and flash multiple colours. Flash assumed the hybrid was trying to hack into it, likely trying to remove it from him. He fought against the hybrid, kicking and punching him with his free arms, but the mechanical body was too strong for him.
And just when it seemed all hope was lost, a loud engine filled the air.
They looked around and saw a police car right in front of them a good thirty feet away, when it had gotten there being lost on them. And behind the wheel, Trixie Lulamoon glared at them.
The girl put the vehicle into drive and stepped on the gas, the car exploding towards them as fast as it could get. Dynamo raised arm cannon and as he did, Flash heard the noises from the Omnitrix stop as the hacking ceased. And just as he was about to fire, Flash swung up and kicked it off target. Moments later, the car rammed into him and he was knocked backwards whilst releasing Flash.
The teen fell to the ground and rolled to a stop, as the car pinned the hybrid to the wall. He moaned as he picked himself up, then looked over towards the car and saw the front was highly compacted. "Trixie!" He rushed over to the car, as the door opened and Trixie staggered out. Flash caught her, "are you okay?"
"Thank god for airbags," she groaned before they heard Dynamo beginning to recover. "We have to go!" Flash nodded and pulled her away, the pair running around the precinct as Dynamo threw the car away from him.
Once they were around the other side, Flash turned to Trixie. "What are you doing here?"
"Making sure you don't get killed," Trixie glared at him. "What were you thinking? You can't do this alone!"
"I have too." He held up the Omnitrix, "as long as I have this thing I'll always be a target. And I don't want those I care about getting caught in the crossfire."
"That's our choice to make," Trixie stated. "The Rainbooms seem to attract just as much trouble as you, but they don't hide themselves away. You need us." Flash was about to argue, but Dynamo flew in and landed before firing at them again. The pair managed to avoid getting fried and spotted an open door, the pair rushing in to what they assumed was the training's centre cafeteria.
Flash quickly closed and barred the door, as Trixie continued to stare at him.
"You can't let the fear of what might happen stop you from living your life. What happened to Shining is terrible but it's not your fault. Shining doesn't blame you for what happened and you can't let this whole situation make you push those that just want to help you away." The door jolted as the hybrid tried to break it down, the pair running out of the room seconds before Dynamo blasted through it.
He stepped inside and looked around, his vision going X-ray as he picked up on two running down a corridor towards the gym.
As Flash and Trixie ran as fast as they could, Trixie's phone went off and she quickly answered when she saw who it was. "Not a good time," she cried as they reached the gym. But then she threw it to Flash, "it's for you."
Flash caught and placed it too his ear, "hello?"
"Flash!" Shining's voice called out, "glad I got through to you."
"If this is a lecture about me trying to distance myself-"
"Just listen. I've been reviewing the hybrid footage online.
Shining was sitting in his bed, staring at a laptop. "I'm not one hundred percent sure, but I think I've found a chink in his armour."
"I'm listening."
"In all the footage I've seen, he hasn't doubled up his abilities." Shining watched as Dynamo flew through the air, dodging police fire, then landed before firing his arm cannon. "Even though it gives him an advantage, he never uses one weapon at the same time he's flying or holding something heavy. My guess is the reason he's doing that..."
"Is because he can't," Flash realised. He remembered before, when Trixie rammed Dynamo. He needed to stop hacking the Omnitrix to do it. "Shining, you might be right."
"If you can force him to use one of his weaker abilities, you might have a chance at beating him. Gotta go, I think Cadance is coming." He hung up as Flash passed the phone back to Trixie, who was smirking.
"Good thing Shining can be just as stubborn as you are." They then heard a lot of noise coming towards them, the pair leaping behind some workout equipment, right as the Omnitrix turned green.
Flash tried to think of a way to keep Dynamo using a weaker ability and quickly got an idea, turning to Trixie. "Thanks for everything. Now get out of here so he doesn't hit you by mistake." Trixie raised an eyebrow as he activated the Omnitrix, then saw which alien he had dialed up and understood.
Seconds later, Dynamo exploded through the doors and had his weapon ready. He then noticed movement and prepared to fire, but heard Flash's voice. "HEY!" He looked straight ahead and saw the teen standing in front of him, then glanced back and saw the girl was the one he had noticed. "You want this!" Flash held up the Omnitrix, "come and get it." Dynamo activated his shoulder cannons but before he could fire, Flash slammed the dial down and unleashed a green light.
When the light faded, Dynamo was greeted with the sight of a giant lion alien with a smoking mane. "Is this supposed to be a joke?" He asked, "I've hunted lions my entire life."
"Not ones like me," Vapaw growled before his mane suddenly extended and filled the entire room.
"What?" He asked, as he found himself blind. He looked around with his weapons primed, trying to see the alien through the smoke, but he couldn't. And the next thing he knew, he was suddenly being slashed by sharp claws. "AUGH!" He spun around and fired when the slash had come from. And whilst there was an explosion, he heard no cries of pain. "GYAH!" He was suddenly slashed in the back and spun around, firing again with the same results as last time.
"What's the matter?" He heard Vapaw ask, "those high-tech eyes of yours can't see through smoke."
"I'll show you!" His vision switched to infrared and he quickly spotted Vapaw jumping around the place, leaping towards him with his claws ready. "Gotcha!" He charged up his weapons. But as he did, he lost his vision.
The laser fired and struck nothing. "Swing and a miss," he heard Vapaw announced from behind him.
"Stop hiding!" He turned his infrared back on just in time to see Vapaw charged at him, slamming him down to the ground. As his shoulder cannons powered up, he was blind again but quickly felt the metal arm on the cannon be bitten into. "Ahhhh!" He tried to fire, but the blast missed its target. "Are you trying to mock me?"
"Maybe," a voice within the darkness stated. "You've been making a mockery out of me. Calling me a monster and freak. Saying I'm trying to hurt people when all I've done is help them. Now tell me who you're working for. Who's controlling you? Is it Vilgax?"
"Tell you what?" He continued to point his blaster in random directions. "Give yourself up and I'll take you to meet him."
"No thanks. But you could invite him here, so I can talk to him face to face." Dynamo was tackled again and slashed on the chest, the hybrid trying to slash him back but getting nothing as his target vanished into the darkness again.
Dynamo growled, but then heard something behind him. He spun around and fired, an explosion occurring along with a mild grunt. His target had narrowly avoided being hit. That was when he realised he was more than just his fancy tech. He was a trained tracker, though his new appearance had made him forget that.
Instead of searching for the alien, he stood still and listened. Slowly, a sound filled the air. Breathing.
He smirked and powered up his arm cannon, waiting for the right moment. And that moment eventually came, as the alien lion's breath hitched behind him.
He spun around and fired, right as Vapaw leapt towards him. He was in for quite the surprise when the sound blast slammed into his chest, making him cry out as he was knocked backwards and slammed into something.
The smoke slowly began to fade, allowing Dynamo to see the alien laying atop a broken weight lifting bench in a slight daze. He stepped forward and picked up a heavy dumbell, reaching Vapaw right as he was coming around. "Augh!" The alien hissed as the heavy weight was dropped down onto his chest and rolled down under his chin, Dynamo's extra weight keeping it down as it pinned him and his arms down.
"Gotcha," Dynamo smirked before his chest opened up again and unleashed the cable. It attached itself to the Omnitrix and once again, it started buzzing and whirring as it tried to hack into it.
"Gyah!" Vapaw could barely breathe, as he tried to push the weight off of him. But it was no use and he could tell the Omnitrix was going to be effected. If it didn't remove it, it would likely deactivate it or make it blow up. None of those were good for him. "Get...off me!"
"No," Dynamo smiled, "I've captured my prey. And now, I will take my trophy." But as he said that, he started flinching and clutched his head. "No!" He cried in pain, "not now. I'm...doing it!" His whole body sparked as he seemed to be going haywire.
Vapaw had no idea why, but he got worried when sparks began to fly down the cable and into the Omnitrix. "GYAH!" He cried, as he was electrocuted. It appeared the cable connecting the Omnitrix to Dynamo, was also connecting the two of them as well. Vapaw's brain was suddenly overwhelmed and as he was, his consciousness was sent someplace else.
When Vapaw opened his eyes, he was in a dark void.
Before he could say or do anything, the darkness vanished as a giant face appeared in front of him. A horribly tentacled face, of a strange looking alien that was clearing down at him. "Listen to every word," the alien told him. "Be very afraid." Vapaw wanted to say something, but it was like he was frozen as the alien threatened him. "You cannot run. You cannot hide from me. I will find you. And when I do, I will retrieve my Omnitrix and destroy you!"
Vapaw gasped as the alien opened its mouth and swallowed him whole.
"AHHHHHHHHHH!" Vapaw cried, his fear giving him extra strength that he used to finally throw the still screaming Dynamo off of him with the cable being ripped off the Omnitrix.
Dynamo staggered back as Vapaw picked himself up, shaking his head to try and get what he had just seen out of it. "That was nuts." He turned back to Dynamo and saw he was starting to recover. He needed to end this now.
Luckily, he spotted a fuse box behind the hybrid and got an idea.
He rushed forward and before Dynamo could react, grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him backwards into the fuse box. "AUGH!" He screamed as the box was crushed and unleashed a butt ton of power into his body. Doing so caused his electrical pieces to short-circuit, as pieces of his body exploded off of him.
Vapaw watched an hoped this would work, or at least knock him out enough to put in some kind of restraints.
After a few moments, the lightning stopped as the building's power went out. And then, parts of Dynamo's mechanical body began to fall off of him as his skin slowly returned to normal. He fell to the ground as he was completely restored, the monster hunter looking how he was when Flash had first met him, though his clothes were a wreck.
Vapaw sighed as he saw this, but then remembered that vision he had seen. Had that been the alien Dynamo was talking about before? Was he the one sending those robots to take the Omnitrix? Was he Vilgax?
From atop a nearby building, Vapaw watched as Dynamo was wheeled out of the building.
The man moaned as his head shifted from side to side, the police accompanying the paramedics planning to make enquiries about what the heck had happened. The alien then spotted Trixie a ways off, the girl looking up at the rooftops and spotting him.
The pair locked eyes and Vapaw smiled at her, nodding his head as he did so before turning to leave. Trixie smiled back, knowing he wouldn't be disappearing forever like he had hoped.
A few days later, Shining was released from the hospital. He would still have to take it easy for a week or so, meaning no work for him, but either way he would make a full recovery.
As Cadance and Twilight led him out of the hospital, Flash, Trixie and the Rainbooms were all waiting for them and clapped as he left. Shining smiled at this and turned to Flash, who had had a heck of a time explaining his sudden disappearance to his friends and family.
As Cadance and Twilight went to get the car, Shining, Trixie and Flash leaned against a wall. "Glad to see you came to your senses," Shining smirked at him. "When I said you needed to take steps to improve and make sure people didn't get hurt, I didn't mean completely blacklisting everyone you care about."
"I know," Flash nodded. "And I'm sorry. You guys are right. I need you, even if it comes in the form of a scalding."
"On the bright side," Trixie smirked. "Did you hear guys know that Dynamo's at this very hospital." That surprised them all. "Turns out, he doesn't remember anything that he did when he was a robot. The last thing he remembers is driving towards Canterlot. Everything after that's a complete blank for him."
Flash sighed in relief, since that meant Dynamo wouldn't remember he was the one with the Omnitrix. But then he remembered what he saw in his visions. "You okay?" Shining asked him.
Flash sighed. "When I was fighting Dynamo, I saw something. Maybe it was a hallucination, but I think I saw the one whose sending those robots after me. He looked dangerous and...he said I should be afraid." He turned to them, "and I am."
They frowned at this, but then they both smiled. "Don't be," Shining told him. "As long as we're here, you won't have to face anything alone." Trixie nodded and Flash smiled, knowing he was right. No matter what, Flash wasn't in this alone. And that was what would always give him the edge. The Omnitrix might give him power, but his friends were what gave him strength.