//------------------------------// // Season 2, Episode 9: The Visitor // Story: The Omnitrix Hero // by Banshee531 //------------------------------// It was the middle of the night, up in the Canadian winterland. The moon was full with not a cloud in the sky, meaning it was truly bright out despite being the middle of the night. As such, it was the perfect snowmobiling weather for those silly enough to think such a thing. Two of these silly individuals were currently racing across the snow on their snow bikes, the teens cheering as they did so. They were racing and each managed to pull ahead every so often, only to lose the lead almost immediately. But just as one managed to retake the lead, something appeared out of the snow. Actually, it had always been there, but only now was it close enough to see. A large shard of metal, sticking out of the snow. The rider cried out and swerved to avoid it, causing them to lose control and fall off the bike. They hit the ground and rolled for several moments before finally coming to a stop, their friend laughing as they stopped too. The teen picked himself up and looked at the metal shard, wondering where it came from. Before he could investigate, the ground beneath him shook and collapsed. He cried out as he fell into a hole, his friend rushing to the edge and looking down into it. When he did, he found his friend surrounded by a bunch of metal pieces that looked like it came from some kind of aircraft. And leaning against the side was a metal tube of some kind, the teen getting up and wiping away some of the frost on it. Suddenly, the tube opened up and unleashed a white mist. As it did, a figure of some kind appeared from within the tube. A figure that did not look human. The teen screamed as he backed away, then turned to run away. His friend reached down and helped him up, the pair rushing to their snowmobiles and escaping as fast as they could. As they did, the figure stepped out of the tube and whispered only two words. "The Omnitrix." The next day. It was another great day in Canterlot, where the alien heroes were always showing up to help save the day. Things were even more interesting now that Lady Masquerade had returned, the illusion hero now helping the aliens and the suited individual known as the Plumber. Together, these great heroes were keeping the citizens safe from the many dangers that had been showing up in the city as of late. But right now, these heroes weren't protecting the town from bank robbers or alien invaders. Instead, they were all at Shining and Cadance's house. "Wow!" Flash cheered as he rod around on his hoverboard, using it to lift paper hearts that he was hanging from the fences. As he did, Twilight and Trixie were working on setting a table in the middle of the garden. The pair looked up at Flash, Twilight rolling her eyes. "Flash, do you really need to float to put the hearts up. The top of the fence is shorter than your arm's width." "Maybe," Flash smirked, "but I never get to use this thing." Flash had decided to start carrying his hoverboard around with him, since it might help out if he was ever timed out of the Omnitrix. "I agreed to help with this. That means I get to do whatever I want to enjoy it. Besides, I gotta practise with it if I wanna use it when I need it." Trixie rolled her eyes, "boys." She and Twilight finished setting the table, as Shining stepped outside looking quite well dressed. "Well don't you look dapper." "Funny," Shining told her. "Is everything ready?" "Yup," Twilight assured him. "Table's set. Decorations are looking good and once we get the food started, you and Cadance can enjoy a night of wedded bliss." Shining smirked. "Thanks guys. Cadance and I really need this. I've been so busy with work, Flurry and my plumber duties that we haven't really had any time to spend together. Hopefully, this'll make up for it." "Where is Flurry anyway?" Flash asked, as he crouched down on his hoverboard and floated down to the ground. "Parents have her for the night. We are officially baby free and nothing should get in our way." But as he said that, his phone rang and he flinched. "Please don't let that be something that'll ruin this." He answered and sighed, "hey chief." The others frowned, "what? Oh no. Right, right. I'll be there as soon as I can be." He hung up and groaned, "stupid." "What happened?" "I forget to hand some files in at the precinct. They're important for a case I've been working on." "Oh," Twilight frowned, "does it need to be given in today?" Shining nodded, as Twilight looked around at all the effort they had put into the place. "But it shouldn't take too long. I just need to go in, drop the file off and I'll be out of there. I should be back before Cadance gets here." "Then go," Flash told him. "We'll finish things off here." The girls nodded and Shining smiled before running for his car. As he did, Flash, Twilight and Trixie continued getting everything ready. They then headed inside to start the food, which was pan fried duck breast with spring vegetables. "Weird choice for a romantic meal," Flash told them as they got everything out of the fridge. Twilight laughed, "Cadance really likes duck. So Shining looked up romantic meals that have duck in it. This was the best he could find." Flash shrugged, understanding that. But as Twilight got to work, she looked worried. "Uh oh. No lemon." "So?" Trixie asked. "Apparently, the lemon is what brings this all together." "No problem," Flash got up and headed for the door. "I'll go get one." Twilight smiled and thanked him before he headed out the door. He quickly got into his car and drove towards a nearby store. Luckily, they had lemons in and Flash was able to get what he needed. Driving back to Shining's place, he looked back at the hoverboard on his back seat. He shrugged, wondering when he would get the chance to actually use it. But his thoughts were quickly lost when his car suddenly jolted to a stop, "what the heck?" He then felt the vehicle move upwards, as if it was floating in midair. "Twilight, I hope this is just a very unfunny prank." He opened the door and tried to jump out, only to find himself floating away from the car. "WOW!" "The Omnitrix!" He then heard a voice call out, making him look around to see something floating towards him. "Where did you get it?" Flash got a good look at the thing and realised it was an alien of some sorts, being green in colour and wearing a blue jumpsuit. Its head looked like two long tendrils that stuck backwards and covered the entire top of its head, with a mouth beneath it and three eyes located in the middle of the head. Its legs appeared insectoid in nature, divided into three sections that zigzagged to make them look like a lightning bolt. It also had three claw-like toes, two on the front and one on the back of the foot. Finally, a long green tail was sticking out its rear. "What?" Flash asked, but quickly realised he was in trouble. "You want the Omnitrix?" He activated the watch, "too bad." He slammed it down and in a flash, he was replaced by the alien known as Volt-Edge. "Cause you ain't getting it!" His body sparked before he thrust his claws together, causing lightning to shoot towards the alien. She gasped as the bolt struck her, knocking her backwards and cutting the telepathic hold she had on Volt-Edge and his car. He fell towards the ground, but managed to grab his car in his lightning. This stopped the machine from hitting the ground too hard, Volt-Edge lowering it down as the alien picked herself up. "Give me the Omnitrix!" She cried, using her powers to pull several mailboxes out of the ground and throw them at him. Volt-Edge frowned before exploding off the car, shooting towards her and spinning around. This morphed him into a lightning drill, which shot towards her and knocked the mailboxes away. The alien quickly used her powers to lift up a huge chunk of earth from the road, Volt-Edge slamming into it and being knocked backwards. "Augh!" And he laid on the ground, the alien floated over to him. "I won't say it again. Give me the Omnitrix." But before she could do anything else, another car drove into the street. One that Volt-Edge recognised. The car accelerated forward and swerved around Flash's car before stopping, the driver rolling out of the vehicle before it even came to a complete stop. Shining Armor, dressed in his plumber suit, held up his weapon as it turned into a gun. "Freeze!" The alien turned to him and seemed to recognise him, or at least his suit. She spotted the badge on his chest and looked intrigued. "You're a plumber?" "Maybe," Shining stated, "what's it to you?" Before she could answer, Volt-Edge shot a blast of lightning that forced her away. "Flash, you okay?" "I will be when we take her down," Volt-Edge jumped to his feet as the alien looked between the two. "You two know each other?" She asked, the pair nodding. She then focused on Volt-Edge, "are you a plumber as well?" "Yeah, and I'm looking forward to throwing your butt in the closest space jail." He sparked his claws, but the alien stopped floating. "No need for that. We're on the same side." "Yeah, right. You just wanna lower my guard so you can fly in and take the Omnitrix. Well it's not gonna happen." Volt-Edge prepared to attack, but Shining stepped in front of him and held up his arm. "Hold on." He turned to the alien. "Who are you and why should we trust you, especially if you're after the Omnitrix?" "My name is Xylene," she explained. "And of course I'm after the Omnitrix." She held something up. And Omnitrix badge. "I'm it's protector and the one who sent it to this planet in the first place. I might not be an official plumber, but I'm an agent working under their jurisdiction." This statement caught the pair off guard, though Flash didn't believe it for a second. Shining, however, had a feeling she wasn't lying. But he knew there was only one way to determine the truth. "I'm gonna need Twilight to call Sunset." Back in Canada, the snowmobilers returned to the crash site. This time, they had brought another friend with them. One that had wanted to see this strange creature they wouldn't shut up about. And as they arrived at the hole, the three looked around. The first two were still terrified, but their friend got off his bike and looked down into the hole. Leaping into it, he looked around and frowned. "I don't see any big lizard," he told them. "All I see is a bunch of junk." But as he said that, the ground beneath his feet began to crack. "Huh?" He looked down, right as something exploded from the ground. That something was a giant beyblade-like object that was a mixture of red and brown. It spun through the air and folded out, revealing itself to be one of Vilgax's drones. The teens screamed as they ran for it, whilst the machine looked around and saw many pieces of tech for it to use. Cables shot out of it and started pulling the pieces of spaceship towards it, ready to be used to help it in its one goal. Obtaining the Omnitrix. Back in Canterlot, Shining and Flash had taken Xylene back to his house. Twilight and Trixie had been surprised by the sudden arrival of an alien, though they quickly called the others. Soon enough, the whole Rainboom team was there and ready to act should this alien try anything. "I'm not sure about this," Sunset told Shining. "I've never tried to read an alien's mind before." "Can you at least try?" Shining asked, "we need to know whether or not we can trust her. If she's telling the truth, great. If not, we need to know so we can act." Sunset sighed, but nodded and stepped forward. Xylene remained still, as Sunset looked her over. "I have nothing to hide," she held out her hand. "Though I'm surprised. Last time I was here, humans didn't have this ability." Sunset said nothing and simply touched her arm, her magic activating and allowing her to see into Xylene's memories. Sure enough, she was greeted to the sight of Xylene piloting a ship. Said ship exploded as a screen appeared, showing the image of a ship Sunset remembered from the day she discovered Flash's secret. Xylene ran into another part of the ship and over to a strange metal orb, which opened up as something floated down into it. The Omnitrix. When the orb closed, Xylene hurriedly typed away at a computer. As she did, the doors started being impacted. She finally launched the orb and as it was placed in a rocket, she ran over to another part of the ship and into a metal tube. But in that moment, the doors exploded. A robot stepped inside, looking just like the ones VIlgax had used. Xylene gasped as the metal pod shut and was filled with gas, the vision ending in that moment. Sunset staggered back and took a breath, "she's telling the truth. She sent the Omnitrix to earth." The others sighed, happy they didn't have to fight this alien. "Good," Xylene smiled. "Now we can get down to the meat of the situation. What to do with the Omnitrix. I'll admit, given how long I was asleep I'm surprised Vilgax hasn't already attempted to take the Omnitrix." "He has," Flash told her. "Came down. Tried to get the watch. Fought me. Ended up getting warp drived into who knows where." Xylene seemed shocked by this, the alien turning to Shining as he nodded to confirm that actually happened. "I see. And there's been no other attempts to take the Omnitrix?" "Not since Vilgax was taken care of," Shining replied. "And even if there were, I'm sure Flash can handle anything that's thrown at him. Especially with the rest of us helping him." They all nodded, as Xylene looked curious. "You don't have to worry. Flash was given permission from the Plumbers to keep the Omnitrix. You can trust him to take care of it." Xylene still didn't look convinced "So what are you gonna do now?" Rainbow asked. "No offence, but you don't exactly blend in. If anyone sees you, they'll realise an alien's on the planet and call who knows how many authorities." Xylene reached into her suit's pockets and took out a strange looking rod, which she pointed at the sky before pressing a button. The rod sent out a beam of light, everyone raising an eyebrow. "A transport ship should arrive in about twelve hours." She turned back to Flash. "Until then, I can determine for myself whether or not you're worthy of holding onto the Omnitrix." Flash frowned at her, not liking what she was saying. But in that moment, Twilight's phone buzzed and she took it out before gasping. "That's the tracker I put on Cadance's car. She's coming!" Everyone began to freak out. "Ahhh!" Shining looked around, "this whole situation couldn't have waited for another day. Alright. I'll keep Cadance distracted. You guys...find someplace the hide her!" He gestured to Xylene and rushed into the house, Xylene looking confused. "Who is this Cadance? An enemy?" "Hardly," Flash told her. "She's Shining's wife. I guess you would call her his mate, or whatever you do on your planet." He gestured around the back garden, "they were supposed to be having a romantic dinner together. And if we don't want to ruin their night, we've got to get you out of here." "How?" Rarity asked, "it was a miracle you got her here without anyone noticing. How are we supposed to get her away without anyone else, especially Cadance, noticing?" That was a good question. Shining panicked as he heard the front door open and close. "I'm home!" Cadance stepped into the kitchen, smiling when she saw Shining dressed up. "Well, don't you look dashing." Shining smirked, "was that Flash's car outside? What's he doing here?" "Um...helping." "Helping with what?" Cadance asked, before sniffing the air. "Do you smell something burning?" Shining looked confused, until he remembered. "Oh no!" He rushed over to the over and pulled it open, as smoke flew out of it. "Great." He grabbed the oven mits and pulled the dish out, revealing a slightly overcooked duck dish. Cadance laughed, "and that's why I normally do the cooking." She looked at the meal, then at Shining. "What's going on here? Were you planning something special? Is that what Flash was helping you with?" Shining frowned, hoping that the others had gotten Xylene out of the backyard. Unfortunately, they hadn't. "What if we cover her in a sheet?" Pinkie asked, "then we could sneak her away on one of our bikes." "I really doubt that would work," Applejack told her. "Why not just stuff her in the back of Flash's car." "You are not stuffing me in the back of anywhere," Xylene stated. "Isn't there another way you humans could hide me? If one of you can read minds, there must be something else you can do." Trixie's eyes went wide. "Oh, of course." She took out her mask, "why don't I just make an illusion of her as a normal woman? Then she could just walk through town without issue." The others realised that was the best idea they had. Hopefully, they could do that before Cadance came out and saw Xylene. However, before Trixie could transform, Xylene sensed something and looked up before gasping. "Look out!" She grabbed them all in her telepathy and pulled them out of the way, as something came crashing down out of the sky. They all looked around and were surprised to see a familiar looking type of machine, which was standing on four spider-like legs with a red and orange tube-like body. I also had a ring around its body that had mechanical arms sticking out of it. "Isn't that one of Vilgax's drones?" Twilight asked, expecting to never see anything like that again. "Must be after the watch," Flash frowned as Xylene flew into the air. She quickly used her telepathy to rip the ground open and send rocks flying at the machine, right as Cadance and Shining Armor arrived outside. "What on earth?" Cadance asked, unable to believe a robot and alien were fighting in her backyard. She then saw Flash stand up and activate the Omnitrix. "You want this!?" Before Shining could yell out no, Flash slammed the watch down and a green burst of light filled the garden. And from that light, Vapaw leapt out and charged at the machine. "Flash?" Cadance gasped, as Vapaw grabbed hold of the robot's leg. He bit into it and as the robot looked down at him, he unleashed a cloud of smoke to stop it from seeing. Xylene flew back to avoid getting consumed by the smoke. "Fool! I can't fight if I can't see!" "Then let me fight it!" Vapaw growled as he leapt off the leg, "I'm used to fighting giant Vilgax robots." But as he said that, he ran forward and accidently crashed into another leg. "Ow!" A moment later, a large cable flew down and wrapped around his body. "HEY!" He was pulled up, as the smoke began to clear. The machine saw him and part of its body opened up, a machine gun folding out of it. Vapaw struggled against the cable, as the machine gun fired. Luckily, Rarity was able to put a shield between him and the bullets. This gave him time to bite through the cable and free himself. Trixie had changed into her hero persona, as the rest of the Rainbooms used their magic to attack. Applejack rushed over and grabbed one of the legs, attempting to rip it off, whilst Pinkie threw some sprinkles onto it and Rainbow began running around. Sunset and Fluttershy even grabbed some pieces of destroyed robot to slam into it, as Twilight grabbed the machine and tried to pull it apart. But all of their efforts were for nort, as the machine swung its cables around and grabbed them all. Trixie and Vapaw managed to escape, whilst Xylene flew up. Another cable shot out towards Shining and Cadance, the woman screaming as she braced to be struck. But it didn't come. She opened her eyes and was shocked to see someone standing in front of her, holding some kind of energy shield and wearing a suit she had seen on the news. And when she saw her husband wasn't beside her, she realised who it must be. "Shining?" The figure in the suit looked back at her, Cadance telling a frown was beneath the helmet. He then pushed the cable away and transformed his shield into a blaster, which he used to shoot through all the other cables. "Flash, use your tail and aim for the head!" Vapaw nodded and and ran forward, leaping up as high as he could as everyone else fell to the ground. Xylene caught them as Vapaw thrust his tail forward, unleashing a stream of smoke that surrounded the mechs head. The robot was blind, allowing the Rainbooms to continue what they were doing. Applejack ripped some more metal, Twilight and Xylene doing the same. Pinkie launched explosive candy into the openings they made, as Vapaw and Rarity slashed through it with their claws and gems. Shining then ran forward and morphed his weapon into a bazooka, whilst Twilight and Xylene grabbed the mech in their telekinesis. They threw it as high as they good, getting a good few hundred feet into the air as Shining fired his weapon. The laser blast shot straight up and struck the robot before it could defend itself. A massive explosion followed that ripped the robot apart and destroyed the metal that made up its body. Many people surrounding the area heard this, but Trixie quickly pointed her staff at it. The cloud vanished from view before anyone could turn to see it, the people who heard and felt the explosion quickly shrugging it off as someone launching a firework or something. When the invisible explosion faded, metal began raining down on the yard. Rarity put up a large barrier, the metal Twilight and Xylene not able to catch bouncing off it. Everyone sighed, glad that the threat was gone. But a whole new problem was only just beginning. "What...the heck...is happening!?" Cadance cried, everyone turning to her and realising the cat was out of the bag. In another part of the suburbs, a man was returning home from work. He got out of his car and headed around the back, where his pool was located. But to his shock, he found everything in his backyard was wet through. And his pool was less full than it should have been, leading to him looking down into the water and gasping when he saw a massive crack circle at the bottom of it. Something had landed in the pool with immense force. Something that managed to pull itself out of the water and escape before he got back. What he didn't know was that the robot had pulled itself onto the roof of his house after crashing down into the pool. The only part of the machine that had survived was its head and a few tentacle-like cables. But that was all that was needed to survive. It jumped down onto the ground and started pulling parts off the car, using them to rebuild itself into a form that could continue its mission. As it did, it replayed the entire battle. All those creatures around the one with the Omnitrix were powerful. But one seemed to be less willing to fight then the other. That would be its target. Back at Shining house, Flash had returned to normal as he, Xylene, Trixie and the Rainbooms stayed outside. Inside, Shining and Cadance were having a very heated discussion. "And that's everything," Shining finished explaining everything he had been through since learning of Flash and the Omnitrix. Cadance paced back and forth. "So all this time, you've been running into dangerous situations. You've fought against aliens, robots, mutants and who knows what else. All the while, keeping this secret from me." "I couldn't tell you," Shining sighed. "It wasn't my secret to tell. Flash is the one with the Omnitrix. I couldn't betray his trust like that." "What about my trust?" Cadance asked, "we're supposed to be a team. If you had told me all this and asked me to not tell anyone, I would have." Shining frowned. "And then let's move onto you taking an entirely new job without even consulting me." "It's not a new job." "Right, cause that would imply you get paid. Instead, you decided to take up some very dangerous volunteer work. Throwing yourself into danger and for what? Because you think it's cool? You get bored working for the police?" "That's not it. Flash needs help and I was offered the chance to help him. He can't do this alone." "He shouldn't even be doing this at all. He's a kid!" Everyone outside was busy scooping up the remains of the robot, whilst Shining and Cadance's voices occasionally heightened enough to hear them. Twilight looked worried. "I hope those two can patch things up." The others nodded. They wanted to believe that Cadance and Shining's relationship was stronger than this secret, but this was a pretty big secret to keep. Xylene heard their arguments and lifted an eyebrow. "This human female seems to be acting a little over dramatic. Being a plumber is a great honour." "It's not him being a plumber that's the problem," Flash told her. "It's the fact that he kept this secret from her. I don't know how relationships work on your planet, but trust is a big part of them hear. If Cadance doesn't think she can trust Shining...who knows what'll happen." "I see," Xylene hummed. "Be that as it may, Shining Armor is quite an amazing fighter. Directing you in the way to use the Omnitrix. Makes me think maybe he should be the one wearing it." "What?" Trixie asked, "you wanna give Shining the Omnitrix?" "Of course. He was able to determine the best way to use Sentry's screw up to or advantage. Clearly, he'd do better with the Omnitrix then him." "Shows what you know," Rainbow glared at her. "Flash is awesome with the Omnitrix. He's won tons of tough battles, managing to use whatever alien he has." "Even when the Omnitrix gives him something he didn't pick," Fluttershy nodded. "I'll admit he's been lucky. But as you said earlier, you barely managed to defeat Vilgax the first time. You really think you're gonna be lucky enough to beat him again when he shows back up. Best to give the Omnitrix to someone who can use it correctly. Why it even went to you, I'll never know." "You shot it into space," Flash pointed out. "You're lucky it didn't fall in the hands of a criminal or something." "I didn't just shoot it into space on a whim," Xylene told him. "Before it launched, I programmed the pod to scan the planet for a suitable user. Someone with the right mental factors. Someone who could fill Max's shoes." "Max?" Twilight raised an eyebrow, "who's Max?" A look of pain appeared on Xylene's face. "Max Tennyson was a plumber. He was a friend of mine from many years ago. One of the best plumbers that ever lived. He was smart, kind, courageous and knew when to take risks and when to play it cautiously. He was my first choice to give the Omnitrix to." "So why didn't you?" Rarity asked, but Sunset had an idea. "He's not around, is he?" Xylene frowned, the others catching on. "What happened to him?" "He died on a plumber assignment, right before the earth branch was shut down. The planet lost a great hero that day. And I lost a good friend." Everyone looked down at this, the lot of them couldn't help but feel a little bad for her. "But that's beside the point. I had no other choice but to launch the Omnitrix to earth. So I programmed the pod to search for someone with similar mental faculties to Max." She turned to Flash, "and it seemed to find you." Flash looked down, amazed by what he was hearing. For so long, he figured he had just gotten the Omnitrix by luck. But now he was being told he had been chosen. "So I'm like this Max guy?" "Hardly," Xylene frowned. "You haven't shown anything that reminds me of Max. Clearly, the pod suffered some kind of malfunction or something sent it off course. It probably locked onto Shining or someone, but ended up crashing near you instead." "You're wrong." Surprisingly, it was Fluttershy that spoke up. "Flash is worthy of the Omnitrix. He's proven again and again that he's the right person to use it." "Yeah," Pinkie nodded, "Flash is the best alien hero ever. So don't go giving him any lip. He's the best." The others nodded as Flash smiled, whilst Xylene rolled her eyes. Clearly, the alien didn't think the opinion of children mattered much. Back inside, Shining and Cadance's argument continued. Shining was standing over by the mantle, looking at a pictured of him, Cadance and Flurry. Cadance saw this and thought about her daughter. "Did you ever think about what could have happened to you?" Shining turned to her, "It was one thing when you put yourself in danger against criminals. But you've been facing monsters and aliens and...and who knows what else? Didn't you ever think of the consequences? What if those things had hurt you. What if you got injured beyond a few scrapes and bruises. Did you ever think how Flurry would feel if she grew up without a father, because you were out thrill seeking." "Of course I did," Shining told her. "And I wasn't doing this for fun. I did this because it was the right thing to do. Every villian I help Flash put away means there's less danger for Flurry to live with." "And why does it have to be you!?" Cadance turned to him, tears in her eyes. "Let someone else help Flash. Someone who doesn't have a family. Who doesn't have a future." Shining looked down, "I can't do that. I can't just sit around and let the world remain dangerous." He looked her in the eye, "you and Flurry are the most important things in the world to me. So as long as I draw breath, I'll do whatever I need to to keep you safe." "Even if that results in you no longer drawing breath?" Cadance asked, Shining saying nothing to defend himself this time. He reached out to place a hand on her shoulder, but Cadance stepped away. "I can't be around you right now. I...I need time to think about this." She turned and walked away. "Cadance!" Shining tried to follow her, "don't walk away!" But she did. She was out the door and out of the house, the woman rushing over to her car and getting in. Before anyone in the garden could rush up to stop her, she started the engine and drove away. She took a deep breath as she drove down the road, letting everything she had just learn sink in. It was all...too much. How was she supposed to accept that her husband was out fighting aliens, and had been for months, without telling her? Her mind was racing and she took several deep breaths, trying to calm herself down. But before she could, something suddenly dropped down in front of her. She gasped as she saw the repaired robot, the woman instantly hitting the brake to stop herself before she ran into it. She tried to throw it into reverse, but the droid shot its cables out and grabbed her. She screamed as her car was lifted into the air, the droid staring her down. It had its hostage and now, it could claim its prize. Back at his house, Shining stepped out into the backyard and sighed as he closed the door. The others were all standing around, looking worried. Twilight moved over to him, "please tell me Cadance is coming back. She can't be that mad about you being a plumber, can she?" Shining didn't know how to answer that, but did know he had a lot of stuff to think about. "I don't know. Cadance just needs some space right now. And hopefully, she'll cool down and we can properly discuss this. So what have you guys been talking about? "Oh, nothing," Flash crossed his arms before gesturing to Xylene. "Except she wants to give you the Omnitrix instead of me." Shining's eyes went wide. "What? You can't do that. Flash is great with the Omnitrix. And even if he wasn't, I wouldn't want it." "Why not?" Xylene asked, "you'd obviously be great with it." Shining frowned. "Flash might be okay transforming into a bunch of different aliens, but I'd rather stay human. Besides, how would you even take that thing off? It's locked to Flash's wrist." The others nodded before Xylene removed something from around her neck. It was a key of some sort, which had the Omnitrix symbol on the round top. "What's that?" Trixie asked. "An Omnitrix Access Key," she explained. "A very rare item with the power to unlock all the Omnitrix's secrets." Everyone narrowed in on the key, amazed by what she was saying. "It can only be used to do one thing, and I can use it to access the Omnitrix's systems and disengage the lock on Sentry's DNA." Flash was suddenly very worried. Xylene was clearly tough and would be able to overpower him if she decided to take the watch away from him. Could this be the end of Flash's heroic journey? But before she could us it, Shining's phone rings. He took it out and was surprised when he saw it was Cadance, not expecting to hear from her so soon. He answered the call and as he did, he pulled the phone away from his ear. "SHINING!" Panic instantly flew through his heart, the way she screamed being full of fear. "What's wrong?" He put it on speaker and Cadance's terrified voice filled the air. "It's that robot! It's back and it's got me!" Everyone's eyes went wide, "please! Help!" But before they could say anything else, the phone on the other line started clunking like she had dropped it. "I thought you beat that thing?" Twilight asked, Xylene frowning. "Enough of it must have survived and rebuilt itself," she explained. "This isn't good. It must have grabbed her because it knew she was close to Flash." "It's a trap," Flash realised before he rushed off. "Where are you going?" Xylene asked. "Where do you think!?" Flash told her. "You can take the Omnitrix if you want, but before you do I'm using it to take that thing down and save Cadance." "You really think you can stop it?" Xylene asked, "you have no idea how strong it's gotten now. All you'd be doing is put yourself in unnecessary danger and threaten the safety of the Omnitrix." "Maybe. But let me ask you something? Would Max not do the same thing?" Xylene was stumped at that statement, whilst Flash smirked knowing he had her. "We've gotta find where this thing went with her." "Way ahead of you," Shining was typing something on his phone. "Cadance loses her phone almost as often as Twilight." "Hey!" "There she is," Shining showed them the map on his phone and a ping showing Cadance's location. It was moving. "She's heading for the junkyard," Trixie realised. Flash remembered the junkyard in the middle of town, the same one that he had fought those bloodsucking toads inside. "You think it's gonna try and use that busted up old machinery to power itself up?" Xylene nodded. "It should be able to rebuild itself using those parts. Anything that's broken will be ignored. But I'm guessing there's enough machinery in this place to make it a force to be reckoned with." "Well so are we," Flash stated. Night was falling as Flash made his way to the junkyard, having flown there on his hoverboard. Arriving at the entrance, he flew into it and looked around. "I know you're in here!" He called out as he stared at all the piles of junk surrounding him. "Show yourself!" He waited and sure enough, one of the junk piles exploded. Flash barely managed to avoid the flying metal, as the machine rose itself out and into the light. It now stood on four legs, each of them having tank treads that allowed it to move around. Its right arm was a giant chainsaw, whilst its left one looked like a giant turbine. Its head was that of the robot and in its chest was Cadance's car, where the terrified woman was located. "FLASH!" Cadance screamed, banging on the window of her car. "Hang on!" Flash yelled as the machine pointed its turbine arm at him, the inside of it beginning to spin. "WOW!" Flash turned to fly away, as the machine unleashed a powerful blast of wind. It flew forward and Flash barely managed to avoid it, only for a pile of junk to be struck and blown over. "NOW!" He cried, having caught the robot's attention. In that moment, Xylene, Shining and Trixie leapt out from behind another pile of junk. Xylene used her telepathy to pick up some pieces of metal and throw them at the robot, but the mech spun around and the metal threatened to slam into Cadance's car and hurt her. Luckily, Xylene was able to pull the metal back before it hit. Unluckily, this allowed the droid to swing its chainsaw arm around and attempt to cut them in half. But Shining was able to hold his weapon out as it morphed into a shield. The chainsaw slammed into it and ground against the energy barrier, causing it crack. Trixie used this opening to touch her Medallion and caused the tip of her staff to glow, which she swung around. The light flew off and shot passed the machine, hitting the ground behind it and exploding in a burst of light. The robot spun back around and when it did, a perfect copy of it appeared out of the light. The mech quickly swung its chainsaw around, cutting through the illusion. But all this did was make it fizzle for a moment before solidifying again. Shining quickly changed his shield to a machine gun, the plumber unloading a bunch of energy bullets into the machine. The robot roared as it staggered forward, Flash attempting to use the opportunity to fly in close and save Cadance. But the machine seemed to realise what the illusion was and began to ignore it, focusing its attention back on Flash and the others. "WOW!" Flash dodged the chainsaw as it attempted to slash at him, allowing him to grind down the flat of the blade before leaping into the air. He tried to fly away, but the robot pointed its turbine arm at him. This time, it spun in the opposite direction and started sucking air in. This caused Flash to be pulled towards it, Flash gulping as he held onto the board. But as he got closer to the turbine, Xylene flew in and threw some more metal into the turbine. Enough that th spinning came to an abrupt stop. "GYAH!" Flash was sent flying forwards and almost fell off his board, but managed remain balanced and stopped himself right in front of a large scrap pile. Xylene flew over to him, as the robot removed and blew the metal out of its turbine. "Time for round two!" Flash yelled, as the Rainbooms suddenly appeared and flew in on their wings and Rarity's crystals. Applejack leapt down and grabbed some metal, picking it up and throwing it whilst Pinkie threw sprinkles and Twilight more scrap. But the machine swung its chainsaw around and slashed through it all, whilst Rainbow tried to fly in close to Cadance's car. But as she did, the machine's shoulders opened up and folded out a pair of cannons. They fired and Rainbow gasped, as the laser exploded in midair and blasted her backwards. Rarity was able to catch her before she hit anything jaggard, Sunset and Fluttershy running over to make sure she was alright. Shining and Trixie ran around the machine, Shining continuing to blast away at it. But its backside was too well shielded. And he didn't dare attempt to fire at its chest, not without Cadance being removed. Xylene saw this and as Twilight tried to pull the car out of its chest, she saw that the vehicle was too ingrained into the machine. "We have to get her out of the car before we can hope to destroy it." "Not gonna be easy," Flash sighed. "Chainsaw, turbine and laser guns are a heck of a defence." "True. But this machine doesn't appear to have any way of seeing other than with its normal camera sight. If we can sneak in, we should be able to free her without activating its defences." "Sneaking?" Flash asked, a smirk on his lips. "Sounds like a job for Chamalien." He reached for the Omnitrix, but Xylene grabbed his wrist before he could do anything. "I have a better idea. But you must trust me." She took out the Omnitrix Access Key and Flash's eyes went wide, but Cadance's screams made him look back to see her being thrown about inside her car. He frowned and turned to Xylene, nodding at her. Xylene nodded back and held the key over the Omnitrix dial, tiny lightning appearing between them that caused an opening to occur that she placed the key inside. Rotating it a full three sixty, the key was suddenly pulled into the device before a holographic screen appeared above it. Flash watched as Xylene poked and pressed several spots on this screen, before a holographic keypad appeared. "What's that?" "DNA library code. Every sample of DNA inside the Omnitrix has a particular number in the order it was collected in." The robot fired the turbine and Rarity created a wall of shields, as Xylene typed something into the keypad. Once she finished, the numbers zero, zero, two, nine, four, eleven could be seen. The Omnitrix beeped several times before the dial shot up, as a new silhouette appeared within it. Flash looked at it, then at Xylene. She nodded and Flash slapped the dial down, a bright flash of light occurring that filled the junkyard. Everyone turned to Flash and saw him be replaced by an entirely new alien. He was a humanoid figure, who was dressed in black and grey clothing. He was the same height as Flash and wearing a hooded black cloak over a grey suit with black gloves and boots, his mouth and nose being covered by a grey scarf that flowed out the front of his hood as the rest of his face was hidden in the hood's shadow. Only a pair of blue lights could be seen within the hood, whilst the Omnitrix was in the centre of his chest. They all wondered what he was, but Pinkie looked impressed. "Oow. Ninja!" Flash looked himself over, amazed by this new form. "So...what's this thing supposed to do?" But before Xylene could answer, a car was sent flying towards him. Xylene leapt into the air and the car crashed down on Flash, making every gasp. "FLASH!" Twilight screamed, only for something to catch her attack. From under the car, the shadow that had formed when it blocked out the light suddenly stretch. It then detached from the main shadow and flew across the ground before moving upwards out of the ground, forming the humanoid shape before the darkness vanished. Flash's new alien stood there, completely unharmed. "Wow," he whispered, "that was weird." "That's your power!" Xylene announced, "you're a Ninjage. The master of shadows." "Master of shadow?" Flash asked, before smiling under his scarf. "Oh yeah!" He looked up at the machine, "you are so much trouble." The machine pointed its turbine towards him and started sucking everything towards him, but Flash rushed forward and transformed back into a shadow. He merged with the ground and flew across it, not even feeling the suction. He shot towards the robot like a large black snake, merging into the shadow the machine cast. The robot saw this and started firing its guns at it, but this did nothing to Flash, who shot out of the shadow and landed on its back. As it did, the others continued attacking the robot to keep it distracted. Xylene and Twilight threw machines at it whilst Shining fired and Pinkie threw explosive candy at it. Rarity kept the others protected as Flash merged with the robot and moved along its body. "You should be able to get inside the car!" Xylene announced. "You can also pull people into your shadows with you and move them. But you have to be quick, since they won't be able to breath." Flash quickly made his way towards the machine's chest, hiding in the dark areas of the machine like the armpit or under the car. When he reached said car, he managed to squeeze through the gap in the door and rematerialise inside it. Cadance gasped at this, but sighed in relief when she realised it was Flash. "You okay?" He asked. "I will be when you get me out of here. Please tell me you can get me out of here." "Yup, just hold your breath." Cadance took a deep breath in and Flash exploded into shadows that completely surrounded her, sucking her inside his body before he melted back into the shadowy puddle. He quickly flew out of the car and down the machine's body, only for him to be noticed by the robot. The machine fired at itself, only to cause part of it to explode. That part happened to have Flash on it, the piece of metal being thrown into the air. Flash was also dislodged by this, making him accidently spit Cadance out. Everyone gasped at this, with Shining leaping into action. Taking out his rod, he ran forward and used his suit's increased strength to leap high into the air. He flew towards Cadance and tackled her, wrapping his arms around her before thrusting the pole upwards. Cadance clung onto him as the rod morphed into a helicopter, the spinning blades rotating and bringing their fall to a halt. Cadance finally opened her eyes and looked up at the man she had married. Though she couldn't see his face through his mask, she could see the fire that was burning in his eyes. The fire of justice that he followed without fear, always wanting to do what was right no matter what. And now he was making that fire burn brighter than ever, all across the universe. They finally landed and Shining looked down at her, "you okay?" She nodded, "yes." The robot then let out a mechanical roar as they turned to it, the machine unleashing a bunch of cables that it used to rebuild the damaged section. Flash, who had splattered against the ground without injury, flew over to Shining and pulled himself out of the ground. "Sorry to cut this reunion short, but we've still got a giant robot to destroy." "How are we supposed to destroy it?" Trixie asked as she moved over to them, only for the machine to use its turbine arm to try and suck them up. But before it could, Xylene grabbed more metal and threw it at the robot. "We have to destroy the original mechanoid," she explained as the turbine clogged. "Alright," Shining stated. "Twilight, you and your friends keep Cadance safe." The others nodded and Rarity created a dome of shields, which Twilight pulled Cadance into. "Time to put this walking scrap heap down for good." "Flash," Xylene told the alien ninja, "you have one final ability. But you'll need to find a natural shadow to use it." As she said that, the robot swung its chainsaw towards them. Trixie and Shining leapt away, as Flash morphed into the ground and flew over to a stack of cars that was casting a shadow. Once he reached it, he leapt out of the ground. "Now what?" "Reach into the shadow!" Xylene cried as the robot managed to launch the metal out of its turbine, the alien psychic grabbing that metal and throwing it away. "And imagine a weapon of some kind." Flash wondered what she was talking about, but reached into the shadow and felt like he was dipping his arm into a pool of water. He also imagine a simple katana, like the ones he had seen in animes. As he did, he suddenly felt something in the shadow. A handle of some kind. He pulled his arm back and as he did, a katana made entirely out of shadows was pulled out with it. The others saw this and were amazed, though Twilight raised an eyebrow. "How is that even scientifically possible?" Flash didn't know and he didn't care, especially when the robot kicked a car flying towards her. Flash swung the sword around and cut right through the car, the sharpness of the blade amazing him. "Wow." He wondered what other weapons he could make and smirked, liking this alien more and more. He charged forward and as he did, the robot unleashed a powerful gust of wind that sent scrap metal flying towards him. But he used his shadow saber to cut through them without problem. As he did, Trixie used her illusions to making Shining and herself invisible. This allowed Shining to use his helicopter staff to fly up towards the robot. As he did, he fired his blaster towards it and did some serious damage as its left eye was shattered. The robot roared and looked around, trying to find Shining but seeing nothing. As it did, its chainsaw arm cast a shadow and Flash reached it. Reaching inside, he pulled out several shadowy kunai that he sent flying into the machine. The kunai cut through the metal, breaking away parts of its weapon. This distracted it from Shining, who continued firing at it. The droid roared as its tank treads spun, allowing it to move forward. "WOW!" Shining had to pull himself up, barely managing to avoid the robot headbutting him. Trixie also had to leap to the side to avoid getting crushed, this causing herself and Shining to reappear. Shining fired at the back of its head, but the damage barely did anything. Xylene picked up several pieces of metal, Flash flying under them and pulling out another shadow sword before she threw them towards the machine. But it used its turbine arm to push the metal backwards. The scrap flew all over the place, even bouncing off Rarity's shield. "So they've been doing this ever since those aliens, which are actually all Flash, started showing up?" Cadance asked the girls, who nodded. "Pretty much," Twilight nodded. As she said that, Shining flew down and blasted the robot's other eye. The robot roared and swung its chainsaw at him, but he morphed his blaster into a shield. It blocked the blades and allowed him to roll onto the flat of it. As he flew off the end, Trixie used her belt to allow Flash to bungee up as he held the shadow sword. He swung the blade around as the chainsaw stopped moving, the shadow saber cutting into the metal and managing to slice through half of it before getting stuck. He fell towards the ground as Shining, who had landed on a car pile, morphed his weapon into a sniper pistol. He fired at the area next to the cut, blasting it in a line that caused hole in the machine. Each hole started producing cracks and before the robot could grab some more parts to repair itself, Trixie threw her staff like a javelin. It struck the damaged blade and the impact caused the chainsaw to finally break apart. The girls cheered, as Xylene grabbed some more metal and threw it into the turbine. Shining nodded before turning to the ninja alien. "Flash! Take this thing down!" "With pleasure!" He rushed forward and reached into a nearby shadow, where he pulled out a shuriken that was almost as large as he was. Xylene then flew over to him and used surrounding metal to create a giant staircase, which Flash leapt up and bounced from one to another. When he landed on the top piece of metal, she pushed it forward and launched him up into the air. The robot had no idea he was right above it, holding the shadow shuriken in his grasp. He then spun around, moving faster and faster as he pulled the shuriken around. And eventually, he let it go with a mighty roar. Everyone watched as the spinning wheel of death spun through the air and hoped the machine would remain in place. But then, it began to move forwards out of the shuriken's range. They gasped, but Shining quickly acted and transformed his weapon into a bazooka. Barely aiming it, he pulled the trigger and unleashed a blast of energy that moved faster than the shuriken. It struck the robot's chest, making Cadance's car explode, and knocked it backwards, right into the path of the shuriken. The shadow weapon slammed into its head and tore right through the metal, making it roar as its entire body began to spark. And eventually, the robot's head exploded and it fell to the ground whilst its body fell apart. Flash landed on its chest and quickly moved over to its destroyed head, taking out a shadowy hammer that he swung down onto the machine. He crushed it again and again, as Xylene flew down to him and gave a quizzical look. "Just...making...sure!" The alien nodded as Shining moved over to the girls, taking off his suit as Rarity lowered the shield. Cadance stepped out and looked Shining over, "so are most days helping Flash like this?" Shining shrugged, making Cadance smile. "I guess you wouldn't be you if you weren't trying to help someone." Shining smiled, hoping this meant Cadance wasn't upset with him anymore. Once they were absolutely sure the robot was dead, they got out of the junkyard before the cops could show up. They all headed out of town, as Xylene's transport had arrived faster than expected. They were out in the woods, far from praying eyes, and watching the sky as the ship had yet to appear. But Xylene could tell it was coming. "Well," she turned to them, "I guess this is it." "Too bad you couldn't stay longer," Shining told her. "But I guess you need to check in with the plumbers." "Indeed. We need to be ready in case Vilgax arrives again." She then turned to Flash, who looked worried. "Since my Access Key has been used up, I guess I'll have to trust you with the Omnitrix." "Well I hope I was able to show you that you can trust me with it," Flash told her. Xylene nodded. "I'll admit, you were able to get the hang of the Ninjage form quickly despite it being your first time using it. Maybe you do have some talent with the Omnitrix after all." Flash wasn't sure that was a compliment or not. "But I can tell you've still got a lot to learn about the Omnitrix, so I guess I should tell you everything I know about it." Flash's eyes went wide and nodded, eager to learn more as Xylene held it up. "I don't know everything about the Omnitrix, but I do know one thing." She pressed one of the green side buttons and the Omnitrix's dial shot up, Flash remembering doing the same when he first got the Omnitrix. She turned the dial and it changed to different colours. "This is how you change the Omnitrix to different modes." "Modes?" "Green is transformation. Red is recharge. Yellow is Capture. Blue, Recalibration." "What's orange?" "Self destruction. Don't use that one." Flash didn't need to be told twice. "The blue one should come in handy if you ever find the Omnitrix acting strangely. It'll do a system restart and update, which should fix it." Flash nodded and deactivated the watch. In that moment, a strong gust of wind made them all look up and see and ship appear above them. It quickly landed and opened up a hatch, extending a ramp that Xylene headed towards. But before she left, Flash realised something. "Wait!" She turned to him, as he ran forward. "You were the guardian of the Omnitrix, but that doesn't mean you were it's creator." She nodded, "so who did create the Omnitrix? Why did he make it and why did he give it to you?" Xylene seemed to be considering something, then just smiled. "It was created by the smartest being in three galaxies, possibly five galaxies, and is known as the first thinker. He created the Omnitrix to help foster peace throughout the galaxy. I'm not sure what he would think about how you're using the Omnitrix, but I guess that's just something we'll have to wait and find out." "What's his name?" Xylene just smirked, "I'll leave that a mystery and let you figure it out yourself. Have fun." With that, she headed into the ship and the ramp retracted. "HEY!" Flash called out, but the ship took off and flew into the sky before he could do anything. Within seconds, it was gone and all his answers were gone with them. "Great," Flash sighed, "just when I could have gotten my answers." The others moved over and patted him on the shoulder, as he looked down at the watch. "First thinker, huh?" They all began to leave, each of them climbing into one of their own vehicles. Shining and Cadance ended up alone as Flash agreed to take Twilight home. As the married couple drove back home, they thought about the crazy night they had had. Cadance had promised Flash she would keep her lips shut about the Omnitrix, but Shining was still uncertain about what she wanted him to do. "Cadance," she turned to him, "if you want me to give up being a Plumber...I will." He sighed, "it wasn't right for me to keep this secret from you." "Agreed," Cadance nodded. "But...are you sure you want to do that?" "It doesn't matter what I want," he told her. "We're a team and any life decisions should be made together. You were right that when I agreed to become a Plumber, I didn't think about the consequences. What might happen to you and Flurry if something happened to me. Well, I'm thinking about them now. So if you want me to stop, I will." Cadance thought about what he said, then looked up at the sky. Aliens were real and they were coming to earth. If she made Shining stop being a plumber, wouldn't that put the world in danger. Maybe he was right about using his alien tech to keep the world safe. "No," she told him, "I don't want you to stop." Shining looked shocked by this. "I won't force you to do something you don't want to do. You're right about us being a team. And as a team, let's make this decision together. Do you want to still be a Plumber, more than anything?" "Almost anything," Shining told her. "After being your husband and Flurry's father." Cadance smiled, "then keep protecting our world from alien threats." Shining smiled, as she placed a hand on his arm. "Just promise me you'll always come home to us. And promise you'll do whatever it takes to keep Flash, Twilight and all the others safe." Shining nodded, "I will." With that, he pulled her into a kiss and the pair smooched for several moments, Shining barely able to keep his eye on the road. The day had certainly been a trying one, but in the end they had come out of it all the better. They had met the Omnitrix's guardian, gained a new ally and had even unlocked a new and powerful alien for Flash to use. No doubt, the future for the Omnitrix team was looking bright.