The moon shined brightly in the sky, its light reflecting off the water of the ocean a half-mile from the beach.
A man could be seen swimming through the water, happily enjoying a night time dip despite the alleged danger that doing so put him in. But he liked a little bit of danger and sighed as he came to a stop, treading on water as he looked around. Everything was so peaceful.
However, that peace was soon broken when he felt something grab his leg and pulled him down. He gasped and kicked wildly, managing to untangle his foot and swim back to the surface. He looked down and as he did, he saw something glowing red beneath him.
He quickly started swimming back to shore, frantically moving as fast as he could. But he didn't get to far before whatever was attacking him grabbed his leg again, tighter this time. He let out a single scream before being pulled under the waves, bubbles exploding out the water where had once been.
And after a few seconds, the bubbles ceased.
It was a beautiful day at the Canterlot Beachfront. The sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in the sky, which of course meant a lot of people had chosen to come and spend the day at the beach.
This included Flash Sentry, who was there alongside Trixie and the Rainbooms. He was dressed in black shorts with yellow rings around the legs and his emblem stitched into the side. The rest of the girls were all wearing their regular beachwear, the lot of them enjoying the oddly hot day given the time of year.
Twilight, Spike, Trixie and Rarity were sitting on deck chairs, reading books or magazines whilst Pinkie and Fluttershy were working on a sandcastle. Flash, Sunset, Rainbow and Applejack were playing beach volleyball, enjoying themselves as they knocked the ball back and forth.
Flash laughed as he hit the ball before wiping his brow, feeling himself working up an enjoyable sweat as Applejack failed to hit the ball back. He and Sunset cheered, both high-fiving as they decided to take a break. They moved over to where the others were, grabbing some drinks out of their bags and re-hydrating.
As they did, Fluttershy and Pinkie put the finishing touches to their castle right before a crab scuttled inside. "There you go," Fluttershy laughed. "A lovely home for you to enjoy...at least until the tide comes in."
Flash sat on a chair next to Twilight and started drinking, sighing once he had his fill. "Man, I needed this. Seven alien situations in six days."
"You definitely needed a break," Twilight agreed as she looked out to the sea. She saw a boat off in the distance and wondered who was on it, but shrugged it off and returned to focusing on her book. Flash also looked out at the ocean, wondering if the waves were gonna get any bigger since he was itching to do some surfing.
He laughed as he imagined what surfing would be like in each of his alien forms.
He started reapplying his sunscreen as the others kept enjoying themselves, whilst Fluttershy went off to tell some little kids the dangers of digging a deep hole in the beach. Apparently, sea-turtles could end up stuck inside them and result in fatal injury.
Flash was just starting to relax, when a bunch of screams suddenly filled the air. Everyone looked out to the ocean, where they saw the boat in the distance appeared to be sinking. Currently, one end was tipping upwards and likely filling with water.
Twilight watched in amazement and horror before noticing movement, the teen looking to see Flash running down the beach towards the pier. She gave chase and when she caught up with him, he had already activated the watch. "What are you gonna do? None of your aliens are aquatic."
"Maybe," Flash found his chosen alien, "but XLR8 can move fast enough to run on water." He slammed the dial down and in a flash, he transformed. But not into the alien he was hoping for, as he was now his newest alien. "Lindwhirl!" He cried, looking him over. "Ahhh!"
"Great," Twilight sighed, "now what?" But Lindwhirl didn't seem put off by this. Looking around and seeing nobody had noticed him, he rolled up and barrelled towards the water. By the time someone noticed something big moving under the pier, he managed to dive down into the water and and found it was deep enough for him to be submerged.
Moving his arms and tail as fast as he could, he was surprised to find the usually clumsy alien was actually quite a good swimmer. He swam through the water as fast as he could, quickly reaching the ship and seeing people were trying to get on lifeboats to escape.
Taking a deep breath, he dived under the water and swam beneath the ship. As he did, he spotted something on the side of the hull. A hole.
He picked up as much speed as he could and swam straight up, tackling the ship in an attempt to push it back up. And he was actually succeeding. Using his tail like a rotor, he managed to push the ship's rear upwards and stabilized it. He knew he couldn't do this for long, but just long enough for the lifeboats to get on the water.
He looked up and saw the first touchdown, followed by another and another. He smirked and as he felt his breath slowly running out, he saw no more boats land. As such, he let the ship go and swam towards the surface. But as he did, he was unaware of a red light that appeared in the ship's broken hull.
Hitting the surface, he gasped as he looked towards the ships. None of them noticed him and were too focused on getting to shore. But just as Lindwhirl was about to swim after them, something grabbed his tail. "WOW!" He cried, barely having time to take a breath before being dragged under.
He quickly looked down and was shocked to see what was pulling him below the waves.
It was a squid. A robot squid whose body was about five feet in length, with long cable-like tentacles that added another six feet to it. The top four feet of its head was made up a mechanical drill device, with two foot-long bands below it. The bottom band was where the cables were coming out of and the middle one had a round red light on it that Lindwhirl guessed was the eye, which spun around and allowed it to see everything.
The robo-squid had its tentacles wrapped around his tail, but Lindwhirl quickly pulled it towards him and slashed the mech with his claws. He cut through the tentacles and it fell back, as he swam up towards the surface. But as he did, the squid's drill head spun and propelled it forwards.
He broke through the water and took a breath, then swam to the side to avoid getting drilled into. The squid missed him and he slashed at it again, this time cutting right through the machine's eye section and breaking its red light. This seemed to kill the robot, who went still and began to sink.
Lindwhirl swam down to watch it vanished into the darkness. But as it did, something new appeared in the shadows. Another red light, followed by another, then another and another. Lindwhirl's eyes went wide as he found he was surrounded by these lights on every side. And before he realised what was happening, hundreds more squids appeared out of the darkness and shot towards him.
He swam as fast as he could, trying to outrun the bots as he propelled himself out of the water. He got a good ten feet of air, as several squids flew out behind him. He then curled up and spun towards them, crashing through them before diving into the water. This caused him to lose all momentum though, as more squids attacked.
He started slashing away at them, cutting through their tentacles and eyes to power them down. But there were too many of them and he was starting to get overwhelmed. One then slammed into his back, knocking him deeper into the water. And as he reached back to tear it apart, another one swam up to him.
It raised its tentacle and Lindwhirl saw a nozzle on the end, which fired out a jet of black liquid. It hit Lindwhirl's mouth but that was all it touched, as he pushed himself back and swam straight up. But when he hit the surface, he found this strange black liquid suddenly began to harden. Within a second, it turned into a rock that covered his snout.
This, of course, caused a serious problem. Lindwhirl couldn't breath. He tried to pry it off, but his lack of oxygen caused him to start panicking. And as he struggled, the squids swam off towards...the lifeboats.
He cried out, or at least he tried, and began to swim after them. But this just caused his oxygen-deprivation to increase, the alien eventually feeling himself blacking out. The last thing he heard were a bunch of screams before everything went black.
"Kid...kid, wake up!" Flash heard a voice speak out through the darkness, as his mind began to clear.
He realised he could breathe again and as he opened his eyes, he saw a man looking down at him. He was a light blue skinned individual, with a beard and hair that was mostly dark blue with strands of white here and there.
The man looked him over and saw he was coming around, "you're still with us. That's good." Flash reached up and felt his face, the ink rock no longer then. He realised he must have timed out after going unconscious, causing the rock to fall from his face.
He took a deep breath and looked around, seeing he was on a boat of some kind. The people on deck were all dressed in the same uniform, Flash realising they must be the coastguard. "What happened?"
"We were hoping you'd tell us," the man told him. "We found you in the water, unconscious. You don't appear to be injured, but we assumed you were on the boat that just sank." Flash gulped, unsure if they would have a way to tell if he was lying. "I'm the man in charge of this vessel. Command Master Chief, Petty Officer Ripple."
"Flash Sentry. And yeah, I was on the boat. But then something made it start to sink." He then remember what had happened and gasped, "aliens!" The coastguards all jumped at this, "they sank the boat. There were these robotic squids that made a hole in our boat. And when we tried to escape, they destroyed our liferaft."
"I see," Ripple frowned. "I knew this day would come. Those monsters are starting to attack our seas. We should have dealt with them when they first showed up."
Flash raised an eyebrow. "You know not all the aliens are bad, right?" Ripple turned to them, "one of those alien heroes even showed up to help. He's the reason we were able to get off the boats before it sank. And he fought the squids off for a bit to help us escape. But...he went down against them. The squids shot this black ink that turned to rock as soon as he left the water."
"Don't let those things fool you," Ripple told him. "All aliens are bad. And now they've abducted our citizens in our oceans. Well, I'm not gonna let them get away with this." Flash frowned, but had a feeling this guy wouldn't be easily convinced of his alter-egos innocence.
They made their way to land and Flash did a full statement, though luckily they didn't ask why he was on the boat and in nothing but swim trunks. The coastguard medics gave him a good bill of health, but considered calling his parents to have them come pick him up.
This terrified Flash, since it could ruin his story. But luckily, the guards all had to head off to deal with another incident when they got to the merina. They told Flash to stay where he was, but Flash used this chance to sneak off the boat and out of sight before they could return and ask for his parent's number.
Once he was off the marina, he headed for the beach. But he found his friends before that, the lot of them on the boardwalk. "Flash!!" Trixie cried out, seeing him heading over to them. They all rushed over and started asking a million questions, the lot of them having been worried when he and the boat riders didn't return.
Flash quickly started explaining as they walked along the boardwalk and arrived at the pier. The girls weren't happy when they heard about the people that were kidnapped. "But you're okay?" Fluttershy asked.
"Yeah, but that was a close one. If I hadn't timed out when I did, I might have suffocated." The girls all looked worried, clearly not liking the sound of that happening to him. "But I can't think about that right now. I've gotta focus on the finding where those robo-squids took everybody."
"I wonder why they took them?" Twilight asked.
Pinkie shivered. "You don't think they're using them for...spare parts, do you?" The others shivered, not liking that thought at all. Flash knew he needed to find where those squids were hiding before it was too late
As this was happening, a man was leaning against the railing and looking down at the water. He then noticed something just below the surface and before he could take a closer look, that something exploded out of the sea and revealed itself as a robo-squid.
He cried out, staggering backwards as the squid pulled itself up onto the pier. As it did, it fired ink at the man and it solidified as soon as it hit him. In a second, he was trapped in the black rock-like substance before the robo-squid picked him up and threw him into the water.
Flash and his friends saw this and gasped, the Rainbooms rushing off to try and save them whilst Flash and Trixie ran behind a food shack. As everyone else was running, nobody noticed Flash activate the Omnitrix. Octavia Melody happened to be running by when a flash of green caught her attention. She didn't have a chance to see what it was, as ink struck her legs and made her fall to the ground.
The squid that sprayed her leapt in and was about to grab her, only to suddenly get electrocuted and fall to the ground.
Volt-Edge leapt out from behind the shed and landed next to the girl, using his claws to slash through the rock holding her legs. Once freed, Trixie ran in and helped her up before they both fled. This left Volt-Edge to focus on the squids and charged forwards, electrifying his claws as he started slashing through them.
The rest of the Rainbooms were also fighting, Twilight throwing the robots around whilst Applejack threw things at them and Pinkie blew them up with snacks from a nearby sweet shake. Rainbow used her super speed to grab them by their tentacles and whip them around, whilst Rarity was shielding people as Sunset and Fluttershy helped them get to safety.
Volt-Edge kept slashing wildly at the machines, being sure to avoid getting struck by the ink whilst sending out bolts of lightning in order to kill them. Whenever a squid was damaged, another grabbed it and tossed it into the water. Volt-Edge targeted one of these robots and fried it, causing it to fall to the ground.
He then grabbed the now useless drill attachment and ripped it off the main body, expecting to see a bunch of wires inside. And whilst he did see wires, he also saw something else. "Wow," he stared at it.
It was another squid. But not like the ones on earth. This squid was white in colour, but had a bunch of black markings covering its body and tentacle. A single eye was in the centre of its head, right above a very human looking jaw. Several short white tentacles were under its mouth, whilst two large tentacles were sticking out the sides of its body. On the ends of these tentacles were three large black claw-like fingers.
The alien looked scared as it was unable to protect itself, the creature frantically pressing buttons and pulling levers. "What are you?" He asked, only to drop the machine and leap back to avoid getting inked. The squid that fired quickly grabbed the downed one and threw it into the water, whilst Volt-Edge prepared to launch more lightning.
But before he could, a scream made him look around and he gasped when he saw Rarity get struck by ink and fall to the ground.
Everything but her head and feet was soon trapped by the ink, the others gasping as they saw a squid fly down and grab her. "Rarity!" Twilight cried, about to grab the squid in her magic. But another squid quickly fired ink at her. She soon found herself cocooned like Rarity, Volt-Edge and the others attempting to save them but getting surrounded by more squids.
And as they took them down, Rarity and Twilight were both picked up and thrown into the water. "NO!" Volt-Edge roared, as the two sank beneath the waves. This angered the electric alien, causing his entire body to radiate lightning that sparked wildly. "RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" The stream of electricity blasted off of him, the Rainbooms barely managing to avoid it.
The squids weren't so lucky and many of them were electrofied, causing them to fall to the ground.
Volt-Edge panted as he turned towards the water, but saw no sign of Twilight or Rarity. He did see more squids, which rose out of the water ready for a fight. However, the thing that stopped it wasn't him but a bullet.
Said bullet struck one of the squids in the eye, knocking it into the water. More bullets hit the other squids, as Volt-Edge turned to see Ripple walking towards them with several men. "They've taken people prisoner," Volt-Edge cried. "We've gotta-" He didn't get to finish, as Ripple quickly turned his gun on him. "WOW!" He barely managed to leap into the air and avoid a bullet.
"Hey!" Rainbow cried, "what are you doing?" Ripple fired again and Volt-Edge dodged again, as the squids started to escape. "He's on our side and the bad aliens are getting away!"
Ripple just kept firing, "they're all in league together. This one appears able to talk, so we'll capture it for questioning." He and several other members of his squad kept firing, as Volt-Edge grabbed some metal in his electricity and used it to shield himself. He watched as the last few squids disappeared into the water, angering him since he now had no way of telling where his friends had been taken too.
"RAAAAAH!" He punched the ground and unleashed a blast of lightning, which knocked the coastguards and even Rainbow and Applejack down. The light of the electrical blast blinded everyone and when the light faded, Volt-Edge was gone.
"Ahhh!" A numb Ripple picked himself up, "it got away."
"He's not the one you were supposed to be fighting!" Sunset told him. "Those squids were the ones attacking people and you focused your attention on the alien protecting people. Thanks to you, two of our friends were kidnapped and are having who knows what done to them!" Ripple could tell she was upset.
"Relax sweetheart. We'll find your friends. We fought several of those things on the way over here and I slapped a tracer on one of them before letting it get away. We'll find them." The coastguards walked away and the girls shared a worried look.
"You think he can save them?" Spike asked, looking at the water and worrying for Twilight and Rarity.
"A'h hope so," Applejack sighed. "But honestly, a'h don't think those guys stand a snowball's chance in a desert against those things." The others agreed. They knew the only one able to save them was Flash. But where was he?
Flash, still in alien form, had jumped under the pier and held on as he waited for the coastguard to leave. As such, he had heard everything Ripple had said. If he was gonna be going after his friends, Flash was gonna be going with him.
An hour later, Ripple were just about ready to go after the captured people.
Their large coastguard boat was fuelled up and they had the weapons and gear they would need to save the hostages and deal with the aliens. "You men ready?" He asked, the guards all nodding as he got behind the wheel. But as he kicked the boat into action, he sensed something behind him.
He looked, but there was nothing there.
The boat shot out of the marina and raced out to sea, Ripple following the tracer's location on the boat's computer. The boat was quite fast, so it wasn't long before they were a good distance away from the shore. But as they flew over the water, Ripple couldn't help but feel like there was someone there that shouldn't be.
He told another member of the crew to take the helm and as they did, he moved over to the side of boat. His men were busy preparing their dive gear and he pretended to watch them. But then, he pulled a knife from his belt and slashed at something.
"Ahhhh!" Blood covered his blade, as the one he cut became visible.
Chamalien held his tail as part of it was cut, he then leapt off the side of the ship as Ripple slashed at him. The other guards rushed over and held up guns, "surrender!"
"Wait!" Chamalien held up his hands, "I'm on your side. I'm just trying to find the captured humans."
"More like stop us from saving them," Ripple stated. "I don't know what you and your friends are planning," he took out a gun. "But it stops here." But before he could fire, the Omnitrix stated beeping. Chamalien's eyes went wide with fear, as he suddenly transformed back to human. Ripple was shocked by what he saw. "You."
Flash gulped, "hi?" He continued to keep his hands up, as the coastguards surrounded him. A minute later, Flash was sitting on the edge of the deck with his hands cuffed to the railing.
"Alright," Ripple stated. "You better start explaining. What are you? Alien taking human form? Or did you and that alien switch places?" He noticed the watch on Flash's arm and saw the symbol on it. "Does it have something to do with this thing?"
Flash sighed, "fine. I'll tell." And he did, explaining the Omnitrix, how it got there and why he was there. "I'm telling the truth. I just wanna save my friends."
"A likely story," Ripple told him. "Nothing good can come from alien technology and if you have it, you're dangerous. So you're gonna tell me how to remove it or I'm removing it the hard way."
Flash rolled his eyes, "it doesn't come off. It's bound to my DNA and if you try to force it off, it lets out a pulse that'll likely rip this ship apart." The coastguards frowned at this, whilst Ripple seemed to believe him.
"Fine, then we'll give you over to the government. They'll decide what to do with you." As he said that, the ship came to a stop and the driver told them they were right on top of the tracer. "After we save those victims." The lot of them had changed into wetsuits and were armed with guns and knives of every kind.
Ripple was the first to dive into the water, the rest of his crew following behind. Flash was surprised they didn't leave someone behind, but was glad since that meant he didn't have to worry about anyone stopping him. He waited until the Omnitrix turned green and as he did, he looked over the edge to try and see if he could spot any action down there. But he couldn't, for the seabed was too far down.
Time passed and Flash wondered how Ripple and his crew were doing, whilst also wondering how he was gonna weasel his way out of them revealing his secret. He knew this was his own fault, sneaking onto the ship without thinking about the possibility of being found. Now he was gonna have to deal with everyone in the world knowing his secret.
But as the watch turned green, he knew he still had a chance. Show Ripple he wasn't the enemy and help them stop these things.
He activated the device and found the only alien he knew could survive underwater, then pushed the dial down. In a flash, he transformed into Goop and slid out of the handlebars. He then dived into the water, whilst anti-gravity disk pulling him deeper and deeper beneath the waves.
It quickly got dark, but Goop could just about see as he found himself at the bottom of the ocean. Sand was all he could see in every direction and he began to worry he had no way of locating Ripple and the others. But he began his search and as he did, he noticed something on the ground. A bullet shell.
He picked it up and looked around, noticing another one not to far off. Going in that direction, he saw a bunch of rocks off in the distance. Likely a good place to find a bunch of robotic squids.
He flew through the water and as he did, he spotted something else on the seafloor. An actual gun. It was broken in half, likely due to a struggle. He quickly found more and more as he got closer to the rocks, wondering what could have happened.
When he finally found the rocks, he spotted movement and dived behind some of them. Looking up, he saw the movement was coming from a pair of robo-squids, which used the drills on their heads as propellers to move them through the water. He watched them as they swam above the rocks before suddenly diving and disappearing, Goop slithering around the rocks in the direction they disappeared.
He then came to a stop when he found himself at the edge of a trench, the alien looking to see that it went on further then he could see in both directions. The other side was about ten meters across and as he looked down, he couldn't see any sign of the squids.
He quickly dived down and stared at the trench walls, eventually spotting something. A hole in the side of the trench
Swimming into it, he saw it led to a diagonal tunnel going down further and further. He worried he would time out and drown, but before that panic kicked in he found the tunnel leveled out before coming to an end. Looking up, he noticed a light of some kind and realised he was looking through an entrance to an area devoid of water.
Lifting himself out of the water, he looked around and found he was inside a large cave. It was likely some kind of air pocket, whilst Goop started flying around to try and locate everyone.
There were multiple tunnels, some appearing to be natural whilst others looked like they had been dug out using the squid's drill heads. He tried to figure out which way his friends were in, but at that moment he heard someone speaking up.
"Let me go!" It was Ripple, Goop locating his voice coming from a central tunnel. He flew down it, keeping himself low to the ground so as to not be noticed if a squid-bot showed up. Ripple continued to yell, Goop wondering why his was the only voice he heard.
Eventually, he came to the end of the tunnel. It had a large metal door blocking it, making Goop frown until he noticed a hole in the wall that Ripple's voice was coming out of. He was just about to slide through it, when the door started retracting upwards.
He quickly stuck himself to the ceiling, as several squid-bots pulled themselves out of the room. The door quickly began to close and Goop barely had enough time to fly under it before it shut. As he did, he was greeted to the sight of another large tunnel. This one was bigger than the last and lining the walls were a bunch of strange egg-like devices, which were attacked to the walls and each had a window on the front of them.
Goop took a closer look and when he did, he was shocked to see that the egg had someone inside it. A woman who appeared to be asleep, whilst appearing dressed to go to the beach. Goop quickly realised this must have been one of the people who was kidnapped that day, then looked around and saw a bunch more people in all the other eggs.
A roar of pain then filled the air and Goop realised it was Ripple, whose voice was coming from further down.
He rushed forward, the lights coming from the pods his only source of light in such a dark place. When Ripple finally came into view, he realised he was at the very end of the tunnel. He was stuck to the tunnel, that strange black rock-like substance plastering his body and arms to it. A bunch of squids were doing something to him and as he flew in to save him, something caught the alien's eye.
Twilight and Rarity. The two were each inside an egg, asleep and unaware of the danger they were in.
Seeing them just angered Goop and as the robo-squids noticed him, he quickly grabbed one and swung it around to smash into the wall. The other squids started firing ink at him, but Goop was able to avoid all the attacks and get in close.
He managed to hit them all with an acidic limb that caused their robotic bodies to malfunction, whilst Goop landed in front of Ripple. As the squids fell to the ground, Goop looked Ripple over. "Hang on. I'll get you out of there." But before he could melt through the ink, the Omnitrix started beeping.
"No!" He cried before turning back to human, "not now!" He looked around, hoping to find something else to break through the rock with. But as he did, Ripple noticed something behind him.
"Look out!" Flash spun around and saw that one of the squids were still working, or at least enough to raise its one tentacle and fire a blast of ink.
It struck Flash and he was thrown backwards, as everything but his head and lower arms were covered in the quickly solidifying ink. The squid died at this and as it did, several more robo-squids flew in and saw the havoc done. One flew up to Flash and looked him over, whilst the others picked up their fallen comrades.
"What are you looking at?" Flash asked, glaring at the squid-bot. The creature raised a tendril as a needle suddenly popped out of it, Flash's eyes going wide before the squid stabbed him in the right arm. Flash screamed in pain, as his blood was sucked out of his arm. It wasn't much, but it caused Flash to feel lightheaded when it was done.
It pulled the needle out and turned to leave with the others, causing Flash to moan as he let his remaining blood spread out more. "You'll be okay," Ripple told him. "Did the same thing to me and my men before they stuffed them in these egg things."
"Right," Flash blinked, "why aren't you inside one?"
"I think they might have ran out. I don't see any empty ones, do you?" Flash looked around and realised he didn't. All the capsules were full of someone. "You shouldn't have come down here. Those things got the jump on us before we could even get inside the cave. Knocked out our weapons and damaged our air tanks. If they hadn't brought us down here, we'd be dead."
"You should have taken me with you," Flash stated. "I could have helped." Ripple stared at him, "I'm not your enemy. All I've tried to do since getting the Omnitrix is help people. I haven't always succeeded, but I've done my best. I'm not trying to hurt anyone."
"Maybe," Ripple frowned, "but I don't trust alien technology. It's done nothing but bad."
"You sound like aliens hurt you," Flash rolled his eyes before noticing a look on Ripple's face. "This isn't your first alien encounter, is it?"
"No," Ripple shook his head. "When I was a kid, I used to spend my weekends on my father's fishing boat. He loved the sea and he taught me to love it too. But then, one night, something happened. We had just pulled up a big haul when something appeared in the sky. Something big came crashing down towards us. We thought it was a meteor, but when we tried to outrun it it started chasing us. Eventually, it crashed into the water behind us and created a wave that turned our boat."
"What happened to your dad?" Flash asked, Ripple looking hurt at the question.
"He went down with the ship. I was thrown overboard, but the vessel was sunk and my father went with it. I found some driftwood to hold onto and eventually floated to shore, but my father was lost."
"You think that thing was alien?"
"What else could have moved like that? It was nothing human, I'm sure of that. It was an alien, just like these creatures."
"You think these things are the same creatures that sank your boat?" Ripple shook his head.
"If they were, they're a long way from where it happened. My father and I lived on the other side of the country. Different sea. But I knew what happened to us could happen again, so I swore to be prepared. My father loved the sea and I will defend it from all sorts of threats. Even alien ones." As he said that, a ding from the Omnitrix signalled its recharge.
Flash tried to activate it, but the way his arms were locked in place he couldn't get them close enough. He then looked over to Ripple. "You don't have to trust in the Omnitrix. Just trust in me, at least until we get out of here and save everyone." Ripple stared at him for a moment, then nodded. "Great, see if you can switch it on. Round green button."
Ripple tried to reach over and Flash did the same, the pair's hands only inches from one another. Ripple pointed with his finger so hard, he feared he might dislocate it. But eventually, he managed to hit the button to switch the watch on and Flash instantly pushed it against the wall.
He hoped he would get something strong, like Diamondhead or Riot-Horn. But what he became was like nothing he had ever been before.
When the green light faded, Ripple saw the alien in front of him. It was a strange orange squid-like creature, with a head that had a darker orange helmet on top along with a mouth and blue eyes. Everything below its neck was nothing but nine long tentacle appendages that ended in a flat egg-shaped hand that had suckers on the underside. The Omnitrix could be seen on its chest.
"What the heck is that?" Ripple asked, as Flash looked himself over.
"Beats me. I never went him before." He suddenly found his wiggly body wasn't as stuck in the rock as before and he managed to slide down and out of it before standing on his many tentacles. He then spun around and slammed a tentacle into Ripple's restraint, shattering it and freeing the man. "But I like what he can do."
Ripple stretched as the pair looked towards the pods holding the others. Flash moved onto to the one holding Twilight and looked it over, not seeing any kind of hatch on door that could free her. But as he touched it, a part opened up and unleashed a cable with some kind of sucker. It shot out and hit Flash in the head.
"WOW!" He cried, as he felt his brain buzz.
"You okay?" Ripple pulled a knife out of his boot.
"I think so," Flash nodded. He didn't feel any pain or effect it was having on his brain. "Whatever this is, hopefully it can help me free Twilight." But as he said that, something happened.
The pod suddenly split in two. The front detached from the back and swung open, releasing a strange white mist that entered the room. Flash shielded his mouth as the mist fell to the ground and Twilight fell forward, allowing him to catch her. "Twilight, come on." He pulled the cable off, "wake up." Twilight's eyes began to flick open and as they did, she moaned and looked up into his face.
When their eyes met, Twilight blinked for a moment before screaming. "AHHHHH!" She used her magic and threw Flash backwards, making him cry out as he was slammed against the wall between two pods. But when he was, she saw the Omnitrix.
"Twilight...it's me!"
"Flash?" He nodded and she let him down, "what happened?" She looked him over, "when have you had this alien?" She then looked around, "and where are we?" She clutched her head. "The last thing I remember...we were all heading to the beach."
"You don't remember the robo-squids?" Flash asked, Twilight shaking her head.
"No," Twilight told him, "I don't. What happened?"
"Story for later," Ripple stated before turning to Flash. "How'd you free her?"
Flash turned to Rarity's pod and touched it, the cable shooting out and hitting his head. "I just thought about freeing her and-" The pod suddenly opened like before and Rarity fell forward, Flash grabbing her and placing her on the ground. He stepped away as Twilight moved to her side, Rarity moaning as she awakened.
"What on earth happened?" She asked, only to then notice Flash and gasp. But seeing the Omnitrix made her relax, "where are we?" Flash quickly explained everything that had happened, whilst Twilight started examining the pod she had been in.
"Amazing," she whispered as the cable attached to her head. "These pods are some kind of stasis devices. Clearly meant to preserve whatever's inside for long space travel."
"Interesting," Flash told her, "but that doesn't help us. We've gotta find a way to get everyone out of here and quick."
"Let's just release them and escape," Ripple told him.
"How?" Rarity asked. "This many people would never be able to sneak through the caves. These creatures you talked about will find and catch us again. And this time, they might not be so willing to simply pod us."
"Wait," Twilight gasped, "I think these might be escape pods. They're probably how the squids got here in the first place. And I bet they work on mental commands."
"Guess it makes sense," Flash stated. "These things don't appear to be very dexstruss. They must control everything, even those robot bodies, through the mind."
Twilight nodded as her body suddenly glowed. Then, in a flash of light, it suddenly disappeared and reappeared further up the tunnel. "Teleportation."
"You think we can teleport them all out of here?" Flash asked, Twilight nodding.
"I just need the longitude and latitude of where they have to go." As she said that, movement could be heard from up ahead. Looking around, they saw several more robo-squids shuffling towards them. They saw what Twilight was doing and fired ink at her, Rarity barely putting up a shield.
Flash shot forward and avoided the ink blasts, managing to grab two of the robo-squids with in his tentacles before swinging them around. They smashed into the walls, but another squid struck Flash and knocked him to the ground. He cried out as he did so, only for something to shoot out of his mouth. The same black substance that the other aliens were firing. Ink.
It shot into the robot's eye and blinded it, allowing Flash to pick himself up. He then leapt at the robot and wrapped his tentacles around it, constricting them as hard as he could. Eventually, the machine was crushed and went dead. "Not bad," Ripple told him. But as he did, an alarm filled the air. "What's happening?"
"They must have sent out an alert!" Twilight cried as the pod's cable retracted from her head and disappeared into the device. "NO!" She tried open the hatch, but it wouldn't give. "They must have cut power to it." Flash frowned and grabbed the three in his tentacles, pulling them behind him as he flew down the tunnel. "What are you doing?"
"Getting us out of her," Flash announced. "If there's an alert, they're gonna try and shut us inside." Sure enough, as he reached the end of the tunnel he saw the metal door begin to close. He threw the trio and they flew under the door before it closer, Rarity using her shields to give them a smooth landing. Flash then leapt into the air and as he looked at the small hole in the wall, he felt an instinct to try and get through it.
Having felt this kind of thing before, he pushed his head through it and found his squishy body was like putty that pushed its way through the hole as the others looked a little freaked out. His entire head soon made its way through, followed by his neck and several tentacles. It took a little effort to get the Omnitrix through, but once it did the rest of him followed easy enough.
"Alright," he told them, "which way now?" He couldn't remember which way he had come through to escape.
"What about the people in that room?" Twilight asked.
"We'll come back for them," Ripple assured her. "But the four of us aren't gonna free them all." Flash nodded before hearing something coming from one of the tunnels. He went to investigate and saw several more squids making their way towards him. He quickly pushed himself against the wall and as he did, his body changed to the same colour and texture as the wall.
"Cool." He used this to move in close and once he was, he grabbed the robots and slammed them against the wall. Some more saw him and prepared to attack, but Twilight jumped in and used her magic to pull them apart. The pair smirked at on another before they headed down the tunnel. And as they did, they found the tunnel was starting to get steeper and steeper.
And eventually, it was so steep it was like a slide. One that Rarity ended up tripping down. "Ahhh!" She fell and knocked into Ripple, pushing him into Twilight. The three fell into Flash and the alien was quick to wrap his tendrils around them all, wrapping them up and protecting them as they all tumbled down the tunnel.
Flash flinched with every impact, but his squishy and durable body managed to take them without damage. And when they finally reached the end of the tunnel, they flew out and Flash used his tendrils to grab onto the ceiling. The other three were wrapped up in his tentacles, as they looked around to see a large cavern.
A giant pool was at the far end and along the wall were a bunch of machine parts.
Flash lowered the others down and Twilight rushed over to machines. "I think this might be where they operate everything." But as she touched the machine, the pool exploded as multiple squids leapt out.
Flash jumped into action and swung from stalactite to stalactite, grabbing the squids and destroying them with relative ease. As he did, Rarity put up a wall of diamonds to protect herself and Twilight whilst she rushed to the computer. And to her relief, the device activated upon touch and unleashed a chord.
It stuck to her head and she found herself seeing images and other things she barely understood. Clearly, the device was streaming info straight into her head. A normal person would likely be overwhelmed by the input, but Twilight found herself just managing to follow it.
"Do you know what this stuff all does?" Ripple asked, Twilight nodding.
"Yup. This computer is their main control centre." A loud crash was heard, as Flash destroyed another squid. "In controls everything, including the escape pods." She smiled. "Activating teleportation. Inputting longitude and latitude of arrival location. Programming them to release upon arrival."
the remaining squids flew at the magical wall and slammed their drills into it, boring away at Rarity's crystals. "Hurry!" Rarity cried, as Flash landed behind the robots and grabbed them in his tendril. He swung them around until they crashed into the ground, being broken apart.
Once the last squid was damaged, the creatures inside pulled themselves out and started dragging their weak bodies to the water. "That's right, run away!" Flash smirked as Twilight clapped.
"I did it!" They turned to her, "the escape pods have teleported themselves to the area I chose near the beach. They should start waking up soon."
"Good," Ripple nodded, "but see what else you can find in there. Maybe why they were kidnapping people to begin with." Twilight nodded and asked the computer why the humans were being stored away. But as she did, something exploded out of the water.
That something was huge. So huge that when it pulled itself out of the water, its top almost hit the ceiling. Said ceiling was almost twelve feet high and as the water on it rolled down its body, it was revealed to be a larger version of the squids that had been inside the robots.
"Wow!" Flash gasped, "I think we just met the mommy squid." As he said that, the creature's one colossal eye looked down towards them. "Er...hi."
"Cephalod-ae," the creature spoke. They hadn't been expecting that, "your presence on this planet was not expected. Why are you here?"
"I could ask you the same question," Flash told him. "Why are you on this planet? And why are you trying to kidnap humans." As he said that, Twilight found something in the computer that interested her.
"We are here for colonisation," the giant squid explained. "And you are impeding our progress."
"Colonisation?" Ripple growled, "you came here to steal our planet?" He looked outraged, "how dare you!"
"We require this planet," the squid announced. "We are the last of our species. To survive, we require this planet." It started pulling its large tentacles out of the water. "Humans are a threat. They take from this world and leave nothing but pollution and devastation in their wake. This planet's oceans are a suitable environment for my kind to thrive in. But human pollution could make it inhospitable for us."
"So you're stealing people to try and stop them from polluting?" Flash asked, "how does that work? You've only taken a small group of people and that filled up your escape pods pretty fast."
"The abductions were needed for our plan," the squid replied. "Soon the human threat shall be neutralised." The humans all looked confused, until Twilight gasped.
"Flash!" She called out, "they have a bomb." That got their attention, the lot of them turning to glare at the squid.
"A weapon from the ancient times of my world. A relic preserved during the golden age, now restored and ready to be detonated. It will target the DNA of any creature programmed into it and will only attack cells containing it. The deaths shall be quick and painless."
"You monster," Ripple growled. "You kidnapped people and took their DNA to fuel your doomsday weapon."
"We had hoped only one or two samples would be required, but you humans are so complicated. Unlike us, your DNA is too radically different from each person. However, we have managed to acquire enough data to successfully destroy ninety percent of the human population on this planet."
"You'll be killing billions!" Rarity screamed.
"This must be done. The technology I have is limited. It can clean these waters, but not fast enough to keep up with the amount of pollution humanity produces. The only option is to destroy the pollution at its source."
"We're not letting you do this," Ripple told him.
"Too right," Flash nodded before leaping into the air. The larger squid attacked with its tentacles, attempting to slash at him with the claws. But Flash swung from one stalactite to another, avoiding them whilst shooting out blasts of ink to try and hit its eyes. But the larger cephalopod was able to block these with its other tentacles.
At the same time, Ripple started slashing at the other tentacles that got too close to the magic wall. He slashed at one tendril and actually managed to cut the tip off, whilst Twilight was busy trying to mentally hack into the bomb. Rarity was growing tired, her gems starting to flicker.
"Twilight, how much longer?"
"I'm into the bomb's system," Twilight explained. "But it doesn't have a DNA delete function." She told the computer to deactivate the bomb, but it didn't work. This bomb was set to blow, even if she didn't know when. "The only way to get rid of the DNA samples is to scan something new into the system. Something that isn't human."
Ripple heard this and as Flash was batted away by a tendril, he spotted the small piece he had cut off that was still wiggling on the ground. He reached down and grabbed it, "here!" He threw it at Twilight, Rarity making a hole in her shield that it flew through.
She caught it in her magic and brought it to her, Twilight's eyes going wide as she realised what Ripple wanted her to do.
"Hurry," he told her before slashing at another tendril. Twilight looked at the wriggling tentacle tip, then at the machine. Taking a deep breath, she reached out and told the machine to scan it. As she did, Flash managed to finally get an ink hit on the squid's eye.
It roared in pain and accidently hit the ceiling with its tentacle, causing several stalactites to fall. Rarity changed her shield to block them from hitting the ground, but this pushed her passed her limit and the shield ripped apart. Flash then leapt at the creature and swung his tentacles around, hitting the creature in the ink-stained eye as hard as he could.
The beast roared as Flash leapt backwards. But as he landed, the Omnitrix beeped. "Not now!" But he couldn't help it and was returned to normal, the now powerless teen stepping back as the tentacles weaved around. As it did, Twilight watched a beam that was flying out of the computer and moving over the tentacle tip.
"There," she said when it finished. She gave the command and this DNA replaced the one already in its database, the computer then opened a slot before firing out a tube with a button on the end of it. She caught it and turned towards the squid, holding the device up. "You'd better stop if you know what's good for you."
The squid splashed water on its eye and cleaned it out, allowing it to see the tube in her hand. "The detonator!"
"That's right," Twilight nodded. "Now the bomb is set to your DNA." She held her thumb over the button. "You said it yourself. Your species' DNA isn't as jumbled up and wild as ours. I'm guessing that means your DNA will make the bomb target every member of your race on this planet."
"NO!" The squid swung its arms around attempted to strike Twilight, Rarity putting a shield up in front of them. But the tentacle managed to push the gem into them, knocking the two to the ground and causing Twilight to accidently throw the trigger.
Flash saw this and ran for it, managing to catch it before it hit the device. He held it up and placed a thumb over the button. "One wrong move and I set this thing to blow."
"You would wipe out my entire race?" The alien asked. "You would dare commit genocide?"
"I don't want to do it," Flash told him. "But I will if you leave me no other option." The squid stared at him, then retracted the tentacle back into the water.
"What do you wish from me?"
"I'm giving you a choice," Flash stated whilst the others looked at him in shock. "I am a dully deputised member of the plumbers. I can get in contact with them and they can relocate you to a planet you can survive on without interference. But if you really want to stay on this planet, then you have to make peace with our kind. Humans can be good people if you treat them with respect. They care about this planet. Our government will be willing to let you stay here if you promise not to hurt anyone."
"He's right," Twilight nodded. "And if you're telling the truth about being able to clean up the pollution, then I'm sure many countries will be happy to let you live in their oceans."
"We don't have to be enemies," Flash stated. "Please, do the right thing for your race."
The squid stared at them, as if contemplating the offer. "I have studied your race upon arrival and have determined that they have a great talent...for hypocrisy." They looked worried at that statement. "You claim the human race cares for this planet, yet they do almost nothing to protect it. They continue to use dangerous polluting machines, dump their waste someplace out of sight, thinking that is good enough. And then there are those that attempt to fix the damage."
"Yes," Rarity told him, "many people want to help the environment."
"A small number. And whenever it appears like change will begin, something louder and more exciting happens to make those changes disappear. Your species is incapable of change and cannot be trusted."
"Then leave this planet," Flash demanded.
"No. This planet is the only one I was able to find that could house my species. This must be our home."
"Won't leave and won't agree to peaceful cohabitation," Ripple glared at him. "Then you leave us no choice. Flash, fry'em!" Flash pushed his thumb against the button, only needing a single press to activate it. But before he could, the squid spoke.
"Go ahead. Wipe out the last of our kind. Doom my race to extinction. I hope you can live with yourself."
"I have to do it." But Flash's thumb wouldn't move.
"You claim to be a plumber. A hero that protects all life. Yet now you consider mass murder to get what you want. I was willing to become a monster for my race's future. Are you willing to do the same?" Flash still couldn't push the button, as the girls looked worried. "What are you? Coward or killer?"
Flash roared, trying to force himself to press it. But as his cry ended, he dropped the device as it fell to the ground. "Coward. Every time." He knew he might be dooming his race, but he just couldn't do it.
The squid chuckled as Ripple moved over to Flash and picked the device up. "It's okay kid. You didn't do anything wrong. The world needs more people like you." Flash smiled at him, only to see him raise the device. "And less people like me." With that, he pressed the button and it lit up.
Suddenly, the ceiling above them shook as a wave of energy flew out and struck the squid. The beast roared as its body bubbled, parts of its tentacles starting to slowly melt. The humans gasped at this. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?" He looked down into the water, a thousands of screams reverberated through the water. "You're killing them!" The tentacles shot out of the water and started thrashing about.
Ripple dropped the device and held up his knife, as a tentacle almost knocked him and Flash over. "Get out of here!" He yelled to the teen, "I'll hold it off."
"You can't stay!" Flash cried, only to have to dodge a stone spike. "You'll die!"
"Go!" Ripple yelled, as a tentacle flew at him. "Keep this world safe. That's an order!" He charged at the beast, as Twilight grabbed Flash and pulled him away. The three ran into another tunnel, this one being a lot straighter then the last, which quickly collapsed behind them. Now trapped, Ripple glared the monster down. "Hello beastie!" The squid roared before throwing itself at Ripple, its mouth open as he charged forward. He leapt into its mouth, knife thrust forward as the cavern collapsed down upon them.
Flash and the girls continued to run, as the tunnel collapsed behind them. It was gaining on them.
But in that moment, Flash's watched turned green. "Yes!" He quickly dialled up an alien and slammed it down, transforming him into XLR8. "Hold on!" He grabbed the girls and zipped down the tunnel, managing to out run the collapse. At least until they reached the end of the tunnel.
Said end was met by a large pool of water, which they hoped led to the surface. "Can you swim in this form?" Rarity asked, XLR8 unsure. Even if he could, they were likely so far underwater the girls would drown before they reached the surface.
"I have an idea," Twilight cried as the collapse approached. "Rarity, put a shield around us and hold your breath." Rarity did so, making a sphere that completely enveloped them. XLR8 pushed the sphere onto the water, right as the ceiling above them collapsed.
They were pushed down into the water, but the shield remained still and floated in place. XLR8 then started pushing to ball forwards, using the nightvision in his visor to show him where to go. It wasn't too long of a tunnel, so they were soon out of it. And when they were, the air inside the sphere pushed them upwards.
The girls could barely hold their breath and both gasped for air, Rarity accidently releasing the sphere as she did. But XLR8 held them tight and started moving his tail and legs as fast as he could. This resulted in them flying up and eventually reaching the surface.
The girls gasped for air again and XLR8 continued to move, his fast acting legs pushing the water around them lower and thrusting him forwards. Eventually, he reached the speed needed that he could actually run on the water. The girls looked back at where they had just been, realising that Ripple was gone.
XLR8 also thought that, the alien continuing to think the situation over again and again. He knew Ripple had done the right thing and Flash didn't hate himself for not going through with it himself. He knew that if he took a life, countless lives, he could never call himself a hero again.
They eventually reached the shore and as they got closer, the Omnitrix beeped. They reached the beach and zoomed under the pier as a green light filled the air. Flash was back to being a human and they were all standing there, wondering what to do next.
However, they got their answer when they heard a bunch of noise coming from the boardwalk.
They climbed out from under the pier and saw a bunch of people gathered around, looking rather confused. And as they got closer, they noticed a large pile of escape pods. Twilight remembered this was where she had teleported the kidnapped people, who were clearly still confused about what had happened.
But as they climbed onto the boardwalk, they heard Pinkie's voice. "TWILIGHT! RARITY!" They looked around and saw her and the rest of their friends running towards them, along with Twilight and Rarity's parents. Shining was also there, having been taking statement from those that had appeared.
"What happened?" Rainbow asked, "we were worried when the others came back but you weren't with them. And then we couldn't find Flash...what happened to you guys?"
"I asked around," Shining said. "Nobody remembers anything. Even the coastguards don't seem to remember anything." Flash inwardly smiled at that, since it meant his secret was safe. Then he frowned and got serious. He rushed over to a nearby bench and stood on it.
"Everyone...LISTEN!" They all stopped and turned to him. "I know a lot of you are confused about what happened. You all waking up here with no memory and being told you were abducted. Well it's true. I was there and I saw it all." This shocked the people. "And I saw the man who saved you. His name was Ripple."
The coastguard heard this and were shocked, as Flash kept talking.
"Those aliens feared us and planned on wiping us out before we could hurt them. Ripple stopped them from doing that. He saved me, my friends and around ninety percent of the earth's population. He didn't do it for fame, or glory, or even out of anger. He did it because it was something that needed to be done. And even though he had to commit a horrific act to save us, we should all consider him a hero. I know I will."
The crowd finished listening and broke out into a myriad of questions, Flash jumping down and being asked by Ripple's crew about what happened.
Flash pretended to be one of the people taken from the surface, Twilight and Rarity agreeing with this and explaining how they were taken into the underwater cave system. How the squids had run out of pods when they captured Ripple and his team.
He then stated that a new alien appeared and saved them, allowing the lot of them to escape and discover the robo-squid's plans. How Ripple managed to stop the plans and fought off the monstrous alien, allowing the heroic aliens to get the three of them out of there and to safety.
The guards all looked heartbroken by Ripple's loss, but Flash assured them they all went out a hero.
Later on, Flash and his friends were all at the pier. They stared out into the setting sun, wondering if the squid aliens were all really gone. Flash was also looking at his newest alien on the Omnitrix, wondering what he should call him. But that was something he could focus on later, as Trixie spoke up.
"You think those squids are really all gone?"
"I don't know," Flash told her.
Twilight nodded. "They seemed pretty sure the DNA bomb would destroy every last member whose DNA was inside of it. Maybe a few of them survived, but I doubt they're gonna be able to do much of anything on their own now."
"Well I hope they're all gone," Rainbow frowned with Fluttershy scolding her. "What, they tried to wipe us out. They got what was coming to them. Right Flash?" They all looked at Flash, wondering what he was thinking about.
"I'm not happy they're gone. Honestly, I'm just sad." This was a surprise. "They did what they did because they didn't think they could trust humans. And they had some pretty good reasons for not trusting us. We've done so much damage to the planet and it's only now we've tried to make things better. And even then, it's slow going." The others realised he was right and as the sun completely set, he looked up and the night sky. "I just hope one day, the human race can become one that no aliens are afraid to trust."
Flash knew the chances of such a thing were likely impossible, but he would continue to hope for the best. And until that day came, he would do what he could to help his race grow better and better. But only time would tell if he would ever be successful.