//------------------------------// // Season 1, Episode 15: Revelations // Story: The Omnitrix Hero // by Banshee531 //------------------------------// It was a late night in Canterlot and almost every teenager in the city was fast asleep. All except one. Within her room, Twilight Sparkle was staring at her computer. On said computer were the images of the ten aliens that had been saving her town for the last few months. The young girl stared at them, all the while trying to think about what had happened just a few short days ago. The alien criminal, Gelidafur, had raged havoc on the town until he was finally captured. And when he was, a bunch of new aliens claiming to be intergalactic police officers appeared to take him away. When she showed them pictures of other aliens with the same logo they had, these space cops stated they were imposters. Twilight was now more curious than ever about these aliens, wondering who the heck they were and why they kept showing up in Canterlot. A yawn broke her out of her super focus, making her spin in her chair and see Spike getting up from out of his bed. "Twilight," he rubbed his eyes and moved over to her, "what are you doing still up? You've got school tomorrow." Oh how he sounded like a parent saying that. "Sorry Spike. I'm just trying to get my head around the alien heroes." Spike moved over to jump on her lap. "Why are they here? What makes Canterlot so special that they only show up here? And why only one at a time?" "Maybe they want access to Equestrian Magic here." "Maybe. But if that's the case, why not just talk to us? They've helped us so many times. If they're interested in magic, they could have asked us." "Maybe they wanna figure it out themselves. Or plan on using it for something and know you might not agree with it. I guess you can't know for sure unless you actually talk to them about it." Twilight knew that was true, but given that they kept vanishing whenever the situations they fix ended, that wasn't a very good option. "I just need something to work backwards from." She zoomed in on a part of XLR8's chest, "like why are they wearing these badges on their bodies. I thought they might be something special and they are. Those other aliens who called themselves the plumbers had them and gave one to Shining. So they must be important. But when I showed them the ten aliens, they said they weren't apart of the plumbers. So why do they have these symbols on them?" Spike stared at the image, getting a strange sense of familiarity from it. "Hey...I think I've seen that somewhere before." Twilight raised an eyebrow at this, "on something other than these aliens." He stared at the symbol for a few moments, groaning as he tried to remember where he had seen it before. Twilight couldn't help but wonder where Spike of all people could have seen it. Then he gasped. "That guy!" "What guy?" "Flash...Flash...um." "Flash Sentry?" "Yeah," Spike nodded. "When we were cleaning up the park that one time. He was wearing a watch on his wrist that had this same symbol on it." Twilight was shocked to hear this and pulled up some of the pictures she had of Flash, though there were only a few. One was of their time at the amusement park, which she remembered was one of the few spots outside Canterlot that the aliens had appeared. The picture showed him, Pinkie, Twilight and Trixie in front of a ride and Flash had his arms around Pinkie and Trixie. She focused in on his arm and saw the watch, trying to zoom in as best she could without making it fuzzy. And sure enough, the watch she had never really paid attention to had the same symbol on it. The white part was green, but it was definitely the same symbol. "No way," she whispered at this. She then leaned back and tried to think. Had she ever seen Flash and an alien together? Slowly, she realised she had never seen Flash around any alien. She had heard him talk about the aliens appearing in front of him, but had never seen it herself. In fact, Flash seemed to have a nasty habit of vanishing whenever an alien was about to show up. But why? "Flash Sentry," she stared at his pictured. "What secrets are you hiding?" Meanwhile, up in space, the spaceship of Vilgax was hovering above the planet. Inside, preparations were being made. Specially designed robot drones were currently being constructed in the hanger, these ones being more beetle-themed than the disk-like ones that had previously been sent. Meanwhile, on the main bridge, several robots were showing their newly reborn master a satellite image of Canterlot. "This is where the Omnitrix's signals have been originating from. Some occasions have had it be located elsewhere, but the majority of them have come from this area." "I see," Vilgax growled as he sat in his throne. The bridge was so dark, he was hidden by the lack of light. "We will not be able to detect the Omnitrix until it has activated again," the robot spoke. But then Vilgax pressed a button on his chair and caused a bunch of holographic images to appear. "We do not need to wait." Said images showed footage of the many Omnitrix aliens, using their powers to save people and fight against villains. "The wielder has already revealed his greatest weakness. And when I find them, they will not live to regret caring for others over themself." The next day. Flash was singing to himself as he rolled down the street leading to Canterlot High, his radio blasting out one of his favourite songs. He was in a good mood, having yesterday stopped two bank robberies and saved a little old lady from being run over. He knew he shouldn't feel arrogant, but it was hard not to be smug when so many things were going his way. And as he turned into the parking lot and finished his song, he seemed to be on the verge of another good day. He got out of his car and headed into the school, navigating straight to his locker to deposit his unneeded books. But when he arrived, he spotted something that put him on edge. The Rainbooms, all gathered around his locker, talking about something that appeared to have them worried. And when they noticed him approaching, they all stood firm. "Hey," he reached them, "what's going on?" "Twilight was just telling us something very interesting," Sunset told him. "About a possible revelation involving the aliens." "Oh?" Flash suddenly felt very warm, "what kind of revelation?" "Well," Rainbow spoke, "we were hoping you could help us out with that." Rainbow had just gotten her cast off the previous day, having sliced her arm open during the event with the ice breathing lizard. But somehow, likely due to her magical superspeed, she had healed up super quick without even getting a scar. Twilight stepped forward and looked down at the device on his wrist. "That's a really interesting watch you have on" "Oh," Flash tried to keep his panic under control, "thanks." "Where'd you get it?" Pinkie asked, looking at him with less suspicion then the others. "Er...cereal box." "Really?" Rarity raised an eyebrow, "which cereal?" "Um..." "Oh for Granny's sake!" Applejack was clearly done beating around the bush. "Flash, why does your watch have the same symbol those aliens do?" Flash forgot how to breath for a second, as Twilight grabbed his wrist to take a closer look and see it really was the same. "I don't know what you're talking about," Flash pulled away. "Come on Flash," Sunset told him. "What's your connection to the aliens." "Nothing," Flash frowned, "I don't have a connection to the aliens." "Really?" Twilight asked, "so you just happen to never be around when the aliens show up. And all the times you said you were near them, nobody else was around to see it?" "Trixie and Shining were around when Bushwhacker showed up to save me," Flash told them. "And just because you guys haven't seen me around other aliens, that doesn't mean I haven't been. The world doesn't revolve around you girls, you know." The girls frowned at him, Fluttershy then stepping forward. "Flash, we're your friends. We care about you. So if something is happening, then we want to help you." "Well," Flash rubbed his arm, "something is happening." "What?" Rainbow moved in close, too close, eager to get answers. Flash glared at her. "This bunch of girls are hounding me for no reason and it's really getting on my nerves!" The Rainbooms all frowned as Flash began to walk off, deciding to just hold all his books until he was next free. "Hey!" Rainbow cried, "don't just walk off. You're giving us an answer and we're not leaving you until we get them." "Yeah right," Flash told her. "The only class I have with some of you isn't until after lunch, so forget it." He continued to walk through the halls with the girls hard on his tail, eventually deciding to go to the one place they couldn't follow. "Hey!" Rainbow cried, seeing him duck into the boy's bathroom. "You can't stay in there forever." "I don't have too," Flash cried back before the bell rang. The girls all moaned and considered skipping class, but then Celestia walked by. "Bell girls," she told them. "Time to get to class." They sighed and walked off, Twilight glancing back at the bathroom and wondering what Flash was being so defensive of. Once they were all gone, Flash stepped out of the bathroom and sighed. But he knew this was just a brief reprieve. The girls were onto him and he needed to think of a way to get them off of him. But how? Outside of Canterlot, the large forest that was halfway between the city and Camp Everfree stood. The creatures of the forest were busy minding their own business, enjoying their normal forest dwelling lives, when something unexpected arrived to disrupt. For from up above, a large spaceship flew down completely under the radar of every piece of sensory technology on that planet. That ship flew down and stopped several feet above the forest, the expelling of jets that kept it elevated causing the trees around it to be ripped out of the ground and sent flying. The ship continued hovering for several moment before a section of the undership opened up. Several of the newly built drones flew out of it and they weren't alone, as a giant red sphere also fell out of it. Said sphere was covered in spikes, giving it the appearance of a flail ball. It slammed into the ground and started rolling in the direction of Canterlot, the drones following it as the orb knocked down several more trees in its journey. Its objective, find the one who had the driver's prize. Flash had just gotten out of his second class, and was currently enjoying the fifteen minute snack break he and many of his classmates had. Though enjoying it might not have been the right words. He knew he only had one more class before lunch and when that happened, the Rainbooms would be on him once again. Luckily, he had found Trixie and was currently explaining everything to her and Shining over the phone. "So that's the situation," he finished telling and Trixie was looking pretty worried. "How the heck am I supposed to convince the girls I've got nothing to do with the aliens?" "I don't think you can," Shining told him. "Once Twilight's found something she wants to learn the truth behind, she won't stop until she sees proof her assumptions are wrong." "But she's not," Trixie sighed. "And there's no way to fake you being near the aliens." She sighed, "if only I could still make illusions." Flash groaned as he opened his locker and put his books away, "so what do I do?" "I think there's only one thing you can do. Come clean and tell them." "Is there no other way?" Trixie asked. "Not unless Flash suddenly has an alien he can use to wipe their memories of this idea." Flash sighed, knowing he didn't have any other choice. "I gotta tell them." He closed his locker and put his head against it, "I just hope they don't start seeing me as some kind of freak." "Hey, they're more likely to be seen as freaks than you. Your abilities come from a piece of technology. Theirs comes from magic nobody knows about. I doubt they have a leg to stand on." Flash couldn't deny that, but it didn't make this thought any easy. "Wait until after school," Shining told him. "I'll come by after work to try and help explain things." "Thanks Shining," Flash told him before hanging up. Shining sighed as he sat in the van he was currently driving. Several officers were still off sick due to injuries they had sustained during the fight against the ice alien, so Shining had been roped in to driving the large van that was used to haul away large numbers of criminals when needed. The ''Perp Van'', as it was called, swung around a corner ready to be called to action at any moment. But as he was about to pass a green light, a piece of the road suddenly exploded. "WOW!" He hit the brakes and was glad he did, since a chunk of debris hit the spot he would have driven to if he hadn't. He looked around and saw a bunch of familiar drones fly passed shooting lasers, Shining reaching for his phone but dropping it when another laser almost hit his vehicle. Instead, he kicked it into gear and reversed away as a drone flew down the street at him. "Oh great!" Flash and Trixie were sitting in their next class listening to Ms Cheerilee talk about something they were barely interested in, all the while Flash tried to think of what he was going to tell the girls. He knew telling them was needed, but he feared he would end up saying the wrong thing during his explanation and make them more angry than they were likely gonna be about him keeping this secret from them. His explanation had to be spot on, or he would only make things worse. But what should he say? However, before he could think of something, Sweet Leaf suddenly spoke up and broke him out of his thoughts. "Hey, what's that?" Everyone turned towards the window and looked out to see a bunch of smoke coming out from behind several buildings. "That can't be good," Ms Cheerilee stated. She got up and stared at the clouds for several moments, as more of them began to appear. And before anyone could say anything, the PA system suddenly came online. "This is an emergency announcement," Principal Celestia spoke out. "All students head to the gymnasium in an orderly fashion." The students began to worry at this, the lot of them getting up and heading for the door. One of the last ones was Flash, he and Trixie catching each other's eye and nodding. They remained at the back of the group as they made their way through the corridors. And when they passed a bathroom whilst nobody was looking, the pair leapt into the room and waited. "Hope they don't take too long," Trixie told him as Flash activated his watch. Outside the school, the Rainbooms ran out and headed towards their vehicles. "What do you think it is this time?" Applejack asked. "I don't know," Sunset sighed as she, Rarity, Pinkie and Twilight jumped onto the farmgirl's truck. "I'm hoping it's Equestrian magic that we can deal with quickly. If not..." "I hope one of those aliens show up," Fluttershy gulped as she put on a helmet and got on Rainbow's bike behind her. Twilight was thinking the same thing, all the while wondering if Flash was calling them in that moment. Up on the roof, Flash and Trixie managed to get out to it once everyone was gone. As they did, a massive explosion shot up from behind the buildings that caused the school to shake and a couple of windows to break. "This isn't something small," Trixie realised as Flash dialed in his chosen alien. "Then I'd better bring something big," Flash smirked before slapping it down. And in a burst of light, he was transformed into Volt-Edge. "Oh yeah," he took several steps back before running forward and exploding into the air with a blast of lightning. The leap sent him flying over the street and landing on the foot of a house before leaping again, jumping from house to house on his way there. Trixie watched from the roof and smiled as she saw him disappear, then sighed wishing she could help. She subconsciously reached up and touched her forehead, where she wished the coin that had given her power was still sitting. After a few moments, she looked over at her bike on the stand and nodded before running for the door. The Rainbooms arrived at the half destroyed street and found the cause was from a bunch of robots that they recognised. "Not these things again!" Rainbow groaned as she got off her bike, the others doing the same. "Where the heck do these things keep coming from?" The others said nothing, since they had no idea. All they knew was that these robots were dangerous and needed to be taken down. "Let's go!" Applejack cried as she ran forward, transforming into her ponied up form. The others did the same and ran into battle, Applejack leaping up and grabbing a drone to pull it down and smash it into the ground. Rainbow ran around the many lasers, keeping the drones distracted as Twilight used her magic to grab and crush them. Rarity shielded the others, as Pinkie took out some sugary treats that she threw towards the droids to destroy them. Sunset and Fluttershy also threw some super charged treats at them, Fluttershy surprising everyone with her pretty good arm. But the droids quickly grew tired of them and started surrounding the girls, forcing Rarity to make a dome to protect them. The others saw this and would have stepped in, but at that moment a bolt of lightning flew down and struck one. They all looked up and saw Volt-Edge, the armored lizard smirking as he leapt up into the air before diving down towards the ground. Spinning like a top, he unleashed tendrils of lightning that struck the drones and short circuited them. He then spun around and landed on his feet, as he pulled the drones around to smash them into other drones. Another drone shot towards him, a buzzsaw on the end of its arm. But Volt-Edge shot forward before jumping down to slide on his knee guards, the lizard flying under the drone and stuffing his claws into it. He then threw the machine around, causing it to break apart again a wall. "He's good," Sunset smirked as the rest of the Rainbooms grouped up. "We're just as good," Rainbow smirked only for Volt-Edge to leap up onto a drone and stick himself to it before steering it around to crash into another. "Okay...we can't do that." "Ha!" Volt-Edge smirked as he landed, "who's next?" He got his answer when about thirty more robots appeared and circled around him. "Ah, man! Why do I get the feeling you were expecting me." He launched blades of lightning in all directions, cutting the robots in half and short-circuiting others. The Rainbooms helped as well, using their magic to take out the robots as they only seemed to be focusing on the alien. Volt-Edge leapt over one drone as it tried to get him and blasted his way through another, landing right next to the girls as Twilight crushed another in her magic. "Are you aliens connected to Flash Sentry?" Volt-Edge hadn't been expecting her to ask that. "What?" He glanced at her, Twilight pointing at his chest. "That symbol on your chest. It's the same one as a friend of ours. The one you guys beamed up to save a while back." Volt-Edge couldn't believe she was asking him this now, especially as several more drones headed towards them. "Rarity, shield everyone but me!" Rarity didn't argue and put a dome up around all the girls, which Volt-Edge leapt onto. He then built up a bunch of electricity between his claws before slamming them together, this causing the lightning to explode off and shoot out in a circular wave. This wave caused the drones to all go haywire before exploding, leading not a single one left floating. Volt-Edge smirked at this and thought his job was done, but in that moment something shot towards him through the smoke. It was a bunch of cables, which slammed into him and sent him flying backwards. "Volt-Edge!" He heard Twilight cry as he slammed into the side of a building, the cables impaling themselves into it to trap him. A rumbling sound them caught his attention, making him look up to see the mace ball rolling down the street towards him. "Now what?" He asked as the Rainbooms were forced to run out of Rarity's dome and jump into an alleyway to keep from getting crushed by it. Once it was a few feet from him, the ball stopped and split in two. Smoke escaped the ball as something appeared within it. A large figure who slowly began to step towards him. And when he saw who it was, his eyes went wide. "It's you!" He cried, seeing the head of the squid-faced alien standing before him. "You're the alien from my vision!" Said alien stood at almost fifteen feet in height, his body covered by a red metallic armor that also covered his shoulders, feet, legs, knees and hands. His bulky green arms were covered in red veins, whilst black rods could be seen sticking out of them. Finally, his mouth was covered by a mask that had tubes sticking out the side that ran around to his back. "Vilgax." "At last, we meet." Volt-Edge had a feeling he was smiling behind his mask. "The being that has caused me so much trouble." "Me?" He asked, trying to play coy. "I don't know what you're talking about." "I have come for the Omnitrix!" Vilgax growled, "relinquish it to me or suffer the consequences." "Omnitrix?" Twilight asked, the Rainbooms having heard every word of this transaction. And they were all just as confused as Twilight was. "What the heck is going on?" Rainbow asked, "who is that guy?" "A'h don't know," Applejack replied. "But a'm guessin' he's not with the good guys." The others didn't get to say anything, for in that moment Volt-Edge unleashed a huge surge of electrical energy that almost blinded them. The lightning caused the cables holding him to melt and weaken, allowing him to cut through them before leaping into the air. He let out a mighty cry as he swung an electrofied claw at Vilgax, slashing down his armored chest until he landed before dealing several more slashes to his leg. But these attacks did nothing to the alien that was almost twice his height. Instead, he reached down and grabbed Volt-Edge by the horn before lifting him up. The lizard cried as he was swung around before getting thrown through the air, the Rainbooms screaming at the sight as he smashed through a building. Literally, he was smashed right through the building. Going in one side and coming out the other, then going through another building before flying out and slamming into the ground. All the while, he cried out in pain with every hit and as he formed a trench in the street, his body was screaming at him. "Okay," Volt-Edge pulled himself up out of the debris. "This guy's tough. Really tough." He knew he was understating it. This alien might just be the most powerful opponent he had ever faced. And as he picked himself up, he heard a voice he recognised. "Flash!" He looked around and was shocked to see Trixie biking towards him. "What are you doing here?" "I couldn't just sit around and let you do this all again. So, who are we up against?" She got the answer when a loud booming sound filled the air, the pair turning to the source and seeing Vilgax flying up into the air and over the buildings he had just been thrown Volt-Edge through. "No way," the lizard whispered as the alien came crashing into the ground. The pavement shattered at the impact and Vilgax didn't have a scratch. "What is this guy?" Volt-Edge asked as he tried to think of a way to stop him, spotting a cement mixing truck a short ways away. As Vilgax moved towards him, Volt-Edge shot out bolts of lightning that struck the truck and lifted it into the air. Vilgax clearly didn't know what the truck was, for he did nothing as it was lifted over his head. Volt-Edge smiled and ripped the tanker open, causing the liquid the come flying out and crashing down upon the squid. "Yes!" Trixie cheered, "that's got him." Volt-Edge shook his head, "that won't hold him for long. I need to figure out what his weakness is." Alas, a familiar beeping put an end to his planning session. Dropping the cement truck on the ground between him and Vilgax, he was consumed by light and reverted back to human. "Okay," Flash gulped, "this is a problem." He could already hear Vilgax pulling himself out of the drying cement, making him panic until he heard an engine. Looking around, they saw a police van driving towards them before skidding to a stop. "Get in!" Shining cried, the two not arguing and getting into the back as Shining drove off. As he did, Vilgax finally pulled himself out of the liquid earth. "Wanna fill me in here!?" "That's Vilgax!" Flash cried, both Shining and Trixie flinching as they remembered that name. "So," Shining sighed, "the big cheese has finally stopped sending his underlings." "I don't get why he didn't come sooner," Flash gulped. "Nothing I did left a scratch on him." As he said that, the ground besides the van exploded and Shining almost lost control. Looking in his mirrors, he saw a pair of drones flying towards them. "Hold on!" He started swerving through the streets, zigzagging around to avoid the lasers. At one point, he had to do a full hundred and eighty degree turn that caused a lot of screeching tires. They did this for several minutes and no matter what they did, they just could not shake the robots. "This is insane!" Trixie cried. "If we don't do something soon, the whole town's gonna end up being nothing but rubble!" As she said that, the Omnitrix turned green. "Yes!" He activated the watch, "it's me they're after." "Flash, wait!" Shining's cries weren't listened too and Flash slammed the dial down, transforming him into Firefly. The alien insect threw open the van's doors and and took off, the drones seeing him and attempting to blast them. But he easily avoided the lasers and shot a pair of fireballs at them. The drones dodged the flames and attempted to blast him, but Firefly shot some thread at one of the drone's blasters. The laser was covered up and formed a balloon, which quickly expanded before blowing up and destroying the machine. Firefly then landed on the second drone and used his welding flame to slice through the back, destroying its propulsion and causing it to fall towards the ground. Firefly leapt off and smirked as he watched it smash into the ground, exploding as the insect hovered over it. "Oh yeah. Who's bad?" But in that moment, he was tackled by something behind him. "WOW!" He spun through the air and what tackled him fell off, but managed to grab his foot and pull him towards the ground through the weight. Firefly looked down and saw Vilgax glaring up at him, "give me the Omnitrix!" "Counter suggestion!" Firefly launched a bunch of flames that slammed into Vilgax and made him release his foot, allowing Firefly to fly higher. Vilgax crashed into the ground, but instantly recovered and leapt into the air to try and grab him again. But Firefly managed to dodge him and Vilgax fell back onto the street, slamming into the ground as Shining was driving the van down it. The cop ground his vehicle to a stop and locked eyes with Vilgax, then quickly pushed the van into reverse to escape. Vilgax had no interest in them, instead seeing Firefly rocket away. He started running, moving at speeds that would make Rainbow be impressed. He chased after the Omnitrix wielder and leapt up several times, attempting to grab him but just managing to miss. As this was happening, the Rainbooms were following the battle from the explosions that had been occurring. "What the heck is goin' on here?" Applejack asked, the girls unsure how to answer. They then spotted Firefly flying over a building as Vilgax leapt onto its roof, then shot into the air and tackled Firefly towards the ground. The pair fell towards the ground so far, Twilight knew what would happen next. "SHIELD!" Rarity barely managed to put the dome up around them as the pair crashed into the ground, unleashing a wave of force that knocked them flying backwards. If not for the shield, the girls would have been ripped apart by the debris sent at them. When the shockwave ended, they all moaned as they began to pick themselves up. When they did, they saw Vilgax holding Firefly around the waist. "I grow tired of this!" The alien growled as Firefly struggled against him. He was about to launch flames at him. But before he could, Vilgax reached over and pushed against the Omnitrix. A green flash filled the air, blinding the girls for a moment. When it died down, they opened their eyes and were shocked by what they saw. "Flash?" Flash Sentry was now in the alien's grip, looking shocked by the fact he was human again. "Hey, how'd you do that?" Vilgax also appeared shocked. "A child? The Omnitrix is in the hands of a mere child?" Flash saw the watch was still green and was about to reach for it, but Vilgax reached for it first and attempted to access it. But before he could, the device started unleashing green bolts of lightning. "What the?" Flash asked before feeling a sudden pulse of energy that blast him and Vilgax apart, Flash crying out as he crashed into the ground. Vilgax smashed into the side of a wall, crying out as he fell to the ground but not even resting for a second as he picked himself back up. "It appears the Omnitrix has already bonded with your DNA." "You bet it has," Flash smirked as he prepared to activate it again. But before he did, he spotted something. The Rainbooms. The girls were all staring at him in absolute shock, clearly lost about what was going on. However, this moment of hesitation gave Vilgax the time he needed. His arms suddenly started bulging as the rods sticking out of them were absorbed into his flesh. Once fully expanded, he raised his arms up and smashed them into the ground to create another shockwave. This once slammed the humans backwards, Flash hitting the ground and blacking out from the impact. Twilight managed to use her magic to grab the girls and slow them down enough, so that when they slammed into the side of a building none of them were badly hurt. But as they fell to the ground, Vilgax's arms unleashed a bunch of steam and deflated as he moved over to pick Flash up. As he did, the wrecking ball from before smashed through a building as it headed towards them. Stopping, it opened up and Vilgax threw the unconscious boy inside. "FLASH!" His friends all cried as the sphere closed up and started rolling away, crashing through another building as it did. Moments later, a police van rolled up to the street and someone got out of it. "FLASH!" Twilight heard her brother yell, making her turn to gasp seeing him and Trixie there. "Shining?" They turned to the girls and looked shocked to see them, as they slowly picked themselves up. "What is going on?" She moved towards them, "why are you two here? Who was that alien that took Flash and how the heck did Flash suddenly appear in place of one of the aliens?" The pair shared a look, seeing that their secret was out. Shining sighed, "get in the van." He rushed back into it, Trixie getting into the back as the girls got closer. "You didn't answer my question." "I will," Shining told her. "But right now, Flash is in trouble and he needs our help to save him. So get in the van!" The girls didn't argue and climbed in, Twilight getting in next to her brother as he started following the path of destruction the wrecking ball had created. "So what's going on?" "Yeah?" Rainbow nodded, "what was with that squid guy. He said he was after something." "The Omnitrix," Trixie sighed. "It's the watch on Flash's arm." She had her phone out and was typing something, whilst the Rainbooms looked confused. "What exactly is an Omnitrix?" Sunset asked, "and how the heck does Flash have it?" "Does it act as a signal to those aliens?" Rarity asked. "Allows him to contact them and trade places with them so they can save the day?" "Of course not," Trixie sighed. "The watch turns Flash into the aliens. All of them. All ten of those alien heroes have actually been Flash, using the Omnitrix to save the day. That's why no two of them have ever been seen together." As she said that, her phone beeped. "Got him!" "Got who?" Pinkie asked. "Flash. I've got his phone's GPS. Figured we might need it in case we run out of wreckage to follow." "Though I doubt that's gonna happen," Shining explained as he looked around at the line of devastation they were following. "I just hope Vilgax isn't doing anything horrible to Flash right now." "Hang on," Sunset spoke up. "I can buy Flash having a watch that turns him into an alien, but how the heck did he get something like that? And how did you two get involved in all of this?" Trixie sighed at this, not in the mood to answer a bunch of questions. Instead, she grabbed Sunset's wrist and pulled her hand up to touch her forehead. Doing so caused Sunset's magic to kick in and let her see everything that had happened since Flash got the Omnitrix. Or, at least the parts that Trixie had been present for. In the space of a few seconds, she lived through Flash finding the watch, using it the first time, becoming a hero and when Trixie was told about Shining learning the truth. Once the final memory was shown to her, her eyes returned to normal and she pulled away from Trixie with a gasp. "Wow," she whispered, "that really all happened?" Trixie nodded as the others looked curious, wondering what it was that Sunset had seen. Everyone except Shining and Trixie began listening as Sunset retold what she had just seen, the two already in the know continuing to follow the destruction as it lead out of the city. All the while hoping Flash was okay and doing whatever he could to save himself long enough for them to get there and help. Flash let out a moan as he felt himself beginning to come around. When he opened his eyes, he found himself inside a very dark room with little illumination. Said illumination was coming from a glowing orb on the ceiling, along with a strange energy that was enveloping his right hand and both feet. The energy was coming out of a metal ring he was inside, which was suspended in the air as Flash's left arm was inside a weird tube. His vision slowly grew stronger and as it did, Flash saw he was surrounded by several robotic drones. He then spotted Vilgax on the other side of the room. The alien was looking at a holographic screen, showing scans of Flash and the data it had given him. "A child. I should have expected as much. The Omnitrix being used as a play toy." "Who you calling a child?" Flash asked, "I'll be eighteen a year from next month." Vilgax turned to glare at him. "And for the record, I've not been playing with the Omnitrix. I've been using it to help others and stop bad guys. Bad guys like you." Vilgax moved closer to him and glared at the teen. "You hold the key to a power struggle so ancient, so vast, it is beyond your feeble comprehension. Picture an entire army, each in command of an Omnitrix. All at my command." Flash was imagining it, picturing multiples of his aliens all attacking innocent people. "I will be invincible. I will rule the universe." As he said that, the floor beneath Flash opened up. "And the only thing standing between me and my destiny...is you." Flash heard a noise and looked down, seeing a bunch of metal tools extended out of the ground. "Ah." "Prepare for takeoff!" Vilgax told a robot, who ran off as he leaned in closer to Flash. "Once we're in orbit, I will have the pleasure of destroying this miserable planet, once and for all." Flash's eyes widened, the teen realising just how much trouble he and his world were in. As Shining continued to drive the van through the woods, Trixie kept navigating and Sunset was finishing her story. "That's everything I saw," She stated. "And there's probably even more that happened that Trixie wasn't there for." "You have no idea," Trixie replied. "Flash can give you all the details later. Right now, we need to focus on saving his butt before Vilgax finds a way to get the Omnitrix off of him." They nodded, knowing she was right. But the whole situation was still insane to them. "Why didn't Flash tell us any of this?" Twilight asked, "we're his friends. He could trust us not to tell anyone this secret." "I think Flash didn't wanna change how you girls saw him," Shining explained. "Flash doesn't do what he does for the praise. He just wants to help people and live as normal a life as possible. That includes being friends with you because you like him, not because you like what he can do." The girls frowned, knowing he was right. They thought back to when the aliens had first started showing up, how amazed they were at them and curious about them. Twilight remembered how eager she had been to learn about alien technology. If she had known about the Omnitrix, she would have wanted to study it non-stop. And since it was connected to Flash, she would have kept asking him to hang out in her lab whilst she examined it. Only now, that she had grown closer to Flash thanks to his friendship with Shining, did she see how that might have upset him. Trixie looked at them all. "When this is all over, please don't treat Flash any differently. I know the alien stuff is insane, but you guys know more than anyone what it's like to be seen as different because of something you never asked for." The girls couldn't deny that. And as she said that, they arrived at the top of a hill overlooking a large clearing full of crushed trees. The thing that crushed said trees was a giant spaceship, the lot of them staring at it in amazement. "Wow," Rainbow whispered, "an actual alien spaceship." "And Flash is inside it," Trixie told them. As Shining was putting the van into drive, they realised the ship was beginning to hover off the ground. "It's taking off!" "What do we do?" Fluttershy asked, but the others smirked as they all had a plan. As Shining kicked the van into full speed, Rarity and Twilight activated their geodes. Twilight was using her magic to lift the van and everyone inside it up, doing so not allowing them to fly but did lighten it considerably. Light enough that when Rarity created a line of large gem shards, the van racing over them didn't cause them to shatter. The van rushed up the line as they acted like a ramp, the ship getting higher and higher into the air. Applejack and Pinkie got out of the back and climbed onto the roof, Pinkie taking out every piece of sugary substance she had on her. "Hold on!" Shining cried as they shot off the final platform and flew through the air, getting closer to the ship. As they did, Pinkie enchanted all the treats and Applejack grabbed them. Using her strength, she threw the treats right ahead. They slammed into the ship hard enough to cause a dent, seconds before they blew up. Flash watched as Vilgax took out a strange looking gun and pulled the trigger, causing it to fire out an energy that quickly took the shape of a blade. The squid alien moved over to him and placed the blade close to his left arm, Flash gulping as he pulled the blade back ready to cut it off in a single swing. But before that could happen, the wall to their right suddenly exploded. The force of this explosion knocked several robots away, Vilgax using the weapon to cut one heading towards him in half. Moments later, a police van shot through the hole that had been blown into the hull. Flash couldn't believe what he was seeing, as the van bounced around and headed straight towards Vilgax. The alien prepared to slash it in half as well, but Twilight managed to use her magic to push him backwards through a wall before he could. As this was all happening, a robotic voice spoke overhead. "Warning: Hull Breach! Power Surge!" Shining pulled the van to a stop and rushed out with everyone else in toe. "Guys!" Flash cried, amazed that they were here and thankful they had arrived before he lost his arm. He then saw the Rainbooms, who were looking at him with new eyes. But before he could say anything, sparks began to occur all over the room. Several monitors were going haywire and the robot drones were freaking out. "I don't think that's a good thing," Pinkie gulped. "Better than them attacking us," Trixie pointed out. "Let's get Flash down and get out of here." Nobody argued and they ran around Flash, but had no idea what they had to do to free him. However, they wouldn't get a chance to try as a jolt of energy flew into the tube holding Flash's arm. The teen flinched as he felt this, then felt something new. Suddenly, his entire body shifted as he transformed into XLR8 in a different manner to how he usually did. "Hey!" He cried before his body reacted again, changing him from XLR8 into Volt-Edge. "What's going..." He changed into Vapaw, "on?" "Power surge must have affected the watch," Shining realised. As he did, Flash changed into Diamondhead. He quickly used this chance to turn his trapped arm into a bunch of blades, ripping through the tube and freeing himself. He then cut through the rest of the ring, getting rid of the energy holding him. As he did, one of the doors opened and several functioning drones flew in. "Look out!" Fluttershy cried, the girl rushing over to Rarity so she could shield them. Diamondhead smirked and ran forward, hand turned to a blade to slash at the robot. But as he swung it, he suddenly transformed into Chamalien and ended up karate chopping the drones to little affect. "Ow," he staggered back as the drones fired at him. But as it did, he changed into Molestache and the laser flew over his head. "I say!" He leapt into the air and punched the drone with a mustache fist, knocking it flying into another. As he did, Applejack punched through another whilst Rainbow ran around and pulled several by the mechanical arms. Twilight grabbed several more in her magic and sent them crashing into a nearby wall, causing them to explode whilst Molestache turned into Goop. The explosion caused the ship to suddenly stop dead in its tracks, its thruster somehow cutting out and causing it to begin falling back towards the ground. "We're going down!" Pinkie screamed, as Goop seeped his body into a drone and melted it from the inside out. "We gotta get out of here!" Trixie cried, as Shining rushed over to a console. "Maybe I can figure out how to steer this thing away from anywhere populated." But looking over the controls, he had zero clue how anyone was supposed to control this thing. Sunset was watching from behind Rarity's shield, as Flash turned into Riot-Horn and smashed two more drones. But when she turned to Shining, she gasped seeing a dark figure looming over him. "LOOK OUT!" Shining heard this and finally noticed the presence, turning just in time to see a hand reach out and grab him. He cried out as he was thrown towards the hole in the ship, landing just next to it. He moaned and tried to pick himself up, only to feel a heavy foot slam down on him. Looking up, he saw Vilgax glaring at him. "Humans, always getting in my way. First you destroyed my cherry tree, then you tried to destroy me with one of your confounded nucular weapons. And now you try to stop me from attaining my ultimate prize." He raised a claw, "well this time, you won't stop me." "NOOOOOOOOOO!" Everyone screamed, Riot-Horn leaping into action and rushing towards Vilgax. The ship shook as he charged, Vilgax turning to see him seconds before the rhino body-checked him. Everyone gasped as they saw the two aliens fall through the hole towards the ground, Vilgax attempting to slash at Riot-Horn but falling out of reach. Riot-Horn would have started panicking, had he not suddenly transformed into Firefly. "WHOA!" He cried, spreading his wings but falling too fast to get them straight. He quickly fired his gauntlets to slow his fall, managing to kill his speed enough to start gliding towards the ground. But then he looked up at the ship and saw it was still going down, his friends trapped inside. And just as he was about to fly back up, he transformed again into Bushwhacker. "Oh no." He fell the remaining hundred or so feet before crashing into the ground, his plant body shattering upon the impact though his head remained undamaged. However, the crash had knocked his brain spinning and he couldn't get the proper focus he needed to reconstruct his body. "Gaaaah! Sometimes, I hate this watch!" Back on the ship, Shining Armor had recovered from his earlier attack and the last of the drones had been taken out. Alas, the ship was still crashing and none of them had any idea how to stop it from doing so. "We've gotta get out of here!" Shining told the girls, the lot of them rushing back towards the van. "Think you can do what you did before?" "We can try," Rarity told him. "But last time we were on a stationary surface," Twilight explained. "This might be too much for us." Another explosion shook the ship, the lot scrambling faster into the van. "Well I'd rather risk it than stay here!" Trixie cried, the others nodding. But when they looked at the hole, the saw it was pointing in the direction they were falling. If they got out that way, the ship would crush them. "I have an idea," Twilight announced as she picked up several pieces of destroyed drones. Back on the ground, Bushwhacker continued to put his body back together. But so far, he had only managed to rebuild his chest and waist. His arms and legs were still pulling themselves into one piece. In that moment, something shot up from behind some nearby trees. It shot through the air and arched back down towards Bushwhacker, crashing into the ground next to it so hard it shot the forest and created a crater. When the dust settled, VIlgax stood over Bushwhacker. "Oh," the plant alien gulped, "fancy meeting you here." "You are a slippery little weed, child!" Vilgax growled before reaching for the Omnitrix, "but no longer." He was inches away from touching it, when Bushwhacker's form went blurry. And in a whoosh of wind, he disappeared and Vilgax growled. "I can still give you a run for your money." He turned just in time to see XLR8 before he zipped off, vanishing into the trees. Vilgax remained where he was, looking around the many trees that surrounded him. "Give up. No matter where you go, you will never escape me. You can't hide forever." As he said that, a burst of speed came out of the trees behind him. "Wasn't planning on it!" XLR8 smirked as he kicked into his top speed, right as Vilgax turned towards him. "Surprise!" He slammed into Vilgax, the impact kicking up more dirt that blocked them from vision. But when the cloud settled, XLR8 staggered backwards as his body was racked with pain. "Okay," he fell to his knees, "that's gonna leave a mark." He fell to the ground as Vilgax stood there, not having moved an inch from the impact. "No matter." He raised his arms, "you won't be around long enough to show it!" As he said that, his arms bulged as the rods sank into his flesh and he swung them down into the ground with enough force to make the entire clearing ground crumble and break apart. Luckily, XLR8 had managed to recover just in time to pick himself up and shoot off out of the blast zone. Vilgax continued to follow him and throw punch after punch, the alien speedster's injuries slowing him down to where he was only a little faster then the squid man. "You can't escape me!" He growled, as XLR8 ducked under a very strong punch. He then tried to slash at Vilgax, but found his wrist being caught before he was swung around and thrown through three trees. Vilgax prepared to charge again, but suddenly found a bunch of crystals flying towards him as Diamondhead appeared from under the trees and fired at him. "It's time you got the point!" He got in close and ducked under another punch, quickly dealing several of his own to Vilgax's legs. "I'm not giving you this watch!" But every punch only resulted in his fists breaking apart, until eventually he had nothing above the wrists. "Huh, should have seen that coming." And as he tried to grow them back, Vilgax grabbed him by the head. "Ahhh!" "I tire of these games!" Vilgax held him up and slammed him into the ground a hard as he could, Flash thankful he was Diamondhead since he probably wouldn't have survived as any other alien. But Vilgax pulled back for another, more deadly punch. And as he did, Diamondhead's body morphed and melted. Vilgax thrust his fist forward, only to slam the ground and kick up a bunch of dirt and dust instead of hitting diamond. When the cloud settled, he saw the reason he had missed was because Diamondhead had changed into a slimy green alien who had a hole where his fist had landed. "Huh?" Goop looked himself over and saw what he was, "yes! Sometimes, I love this watch!" Before Vilgax could try anything, he shot off and flew into the darkness of the trees. Vilgax growled as he stood up, his arms deflating as steam poured out of them. As he did, he looked up and saw his ship flying overhead. The vessel was now dangerously close to the ground, the tip of it hitting the forest floor and ripping through it. Inside, Shining was driving through the large hallways of the ship as the girls held on in the back. Fluttershy, Rarity and Trixie screamed with every sharp turn, as the others simply held on for dear life. Twilight was busy tinkering with the robot pieces they had grabbed, hoping her plan actually worked. "Twilight!" Shining cried, "we're running out of room!" "Okay!" Twilight threw the robot pieces to Trixie, Sunset, Rainbow and Pinkie. "Let's do this!" The girls nodded and Twilight used her magic to remove the van window, the glass breaking off and falling to the side as Shining drove towards a wall. The girls held up drone arms and pulled the section Twilight had shown them, which acted as a jury rigged trigger that caused the lasers to fire. The beams struck the wall and blew a hole through it, allowing the van to drive right through it into the next room. They fired again and blasted their way through a second wall, then a third and forth until the fifth wall revealed the outside world with the ground coming up fast. "DO IT!" Shining roared, Rarity doing her best and managed to create a ramp of diamonds seconds before the van drove out of the hole. Twilight used her magic to lift the van up, allowing it to fly along the track until the last diamond. Luckily, that platform was only five feet off the ground. The van slammed into the trench the ship had carved and bounced a few times before landing on the ground. They all cried out as this happened, but settled down as the van came to a steady and Shining put the breaks on. They all panted at this, unable to believe they had actually survived. The ship finished crashing several meters ahead and also came to a stop, as several parts of it began to smoke. Their breathing slowly settled before Pinkie started laughing, "that...was...a...BLAST!" The others started laughing as well, the absurdity of the situation getting the best of them. But before they could relax and start looking for Flash, something suddenly crashed down in front of them with enough force to rock the van and force Shining to put on the parking brake. The dust this caused quickly gave way to reveal a large figure moving towards them. Vilgax. They all stared at him through the windscreen, his glaring gaze filling them with dread. Shining gave a nervous chuckle and for some reason he couldn't explain, locked the doors. A ways back, Goop continued to fly through the forest. But then he heard a loud banging and came across a hill overlooking the forest where the ship had crashed. "Oh no," he worried before flying towards it. Along the way, his body began to solidify and morph into Vapaw. This didn't stop him though and he kept moving, running and swinging through the trees as fast as he could. Eventually, he leapt out of the trees and landed in the trench. He ran up it and as he did, he spotted Shining's van ahead. And when he realised it had been thrown onto its side and ripped apart, his stomach starting churning. "Guys!" He leapt onto it and looked through the door window, seeing nothing. His ears then picked up the sound of Twilight's voice, which was crying out in pain. "No!" He ran towards it, moving closer and closer to the ship. And eventually, he saw it. Vilgax was standing over his friends, who all looked pretty badly beaten up. And Twilight was being held by her neck, up above the tentacled alien. Said alien looked over at Vapaw, who growled and looked ready to kill him. "LET HER GO!" "Go ahead," Vilgax laughed. "Attack me. You know you won't be able to reach me before I pop her head off like bottle top." Vapaw stopped his attempted advance, staying where he was and hoping his next alien was XLR8. "It's your choice, hero. You or them." Vapaw just looked down, knowing he only had once choice. "Don't do it!" He looked over at Twilight, who was staring at him with fear. "I don't know everything that's going on, but I know you can't let him have the watch." Vilgax tightened his grip, making her cry out. "We're...not worth it." Vapaw stared at her for a moment, then sighed. "You are to me." He glared at Vilgax, "you win." Vilgax moved closer, throwing Twilight over to her unconscious brother before reaching down and tapping the Omnitrix. In a flash, he was back to his human form. "How noble." But just to be safe, he struck Flash on the head. The teen grunted as he lost consciousness, Vilgax grabbing him by the back of his jacket and moving towards the ship. "Flash," Twilight groaned as she tried to pick herself. But no matter how hard she tried, her arms and legs gave out and she fell to the ground. "No." Vilgax leapt through the hole they blasted in the side of the ship, throwing Flash to the side as he gave the command to take off. Vilgax looked out the ship, at the planet he was going to enjoy blowing into space debris once he was in space. However, his enjoyment quickly vanished when an alarm began to go off. "What?" He rushed to a console and brought up the problem, his eyes going wide. "The hyperdrive is powering up! Why?" He typed away at it, but found the power surge had done serious damage to the ship's systems. As this was happening, Flash began to come around. He let out a moan and looked around, seeing he was back on the ship as it shook. "If the hyperdrive activates without the proper safeties, the ship will keep flying through space without proper navigation. We'll eventually crash into something!" As he said that, the ship jolted and a large cable fell out of place on the wall. It landed right next to Flash and was sparking heavily, but Vilgax didn't seem to notice. "Humans. Why do they continue to be a thorn in my side!" "It's just something we're naturally good at!" Vilgax heard Flash's voice and spun around, only to feel something be jammed into one of the pipes on his arm. "AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRHHHHHHHHHH!" He roared as his insides were being cooked alive, Flash smirking as he leapt back. The ship then spoke. "Hyperdrive firing in ten...nine...eight..." He rushed towards the hole in the ship and activated the Omnitrix. "Seven...six...five..." He slapped the dial down and in a burst of green, he transformed into the first alien he ever became and grabbed a sheet of metal. "Four...three...two..." He leapt through the hole and fell towards the ground, "One!" The ship's engines suddenly burst into action and the ship shot into the sky so face, a powerful burst of wind followed that pushed Volt-Edge spinning and created a bright flash. Down on the ground, Twilight and the rest of her friends were recovering when they saw the bright flash. They gasped as they looked up and saw the ship vanish, a miniature sun taking its place. Silence filled the group as they stared up at the light, believing they had lost their friend forever. "FLASH!" Trixie screamed, falling to her knees. Shining, who was still on his knees, punched the ground and let out a roar of anger. The others just stood there, hating themselves for not being able to help him. They all looked down, all except one. Twilight continued to stare at the light, then noticed something coming out of it. A dot. "What's that?" She pointed at it and everyone else looked up, seeing the dot and realising it was getting closer. And when it was close enough, they gasped when they realised what it was. "WOOOOOOOW-HOO!" Volt-Edge cheered as he soared through the sky, using the metal sheet he was attached to as a hoverboard. He sailed on the wind that was cushioning his fall, as he fell towards the ground and shot past his friends. The lot of them watched as he disappeared behind some trees, all pushing their battered and bruised bodies up and out of the trench. They headed over to where they had seen Volt-Edge land, a green flash catching their attention as they got closer. And eventually, they found Flash sitting on a tree stump with the metal plank laid next to him. The teen looked up and saw his friends, the lot of them relieved to see him and not appearing permanently harmed. The Rainbooms then gave him a look that told him one thing. He had a lot of explaining to do.