Wildmutt backed up from Shizuri, growling nervously. Ben had fought other espers before, and admitidly, he had managed to defeat many of them with ease. However, this was a different case. He was fighting a Level 5. And he'd never done anything like that before.
He'd seen some of the Level 5 espers such as Gunha Sogiita the Attack Crash, display their powers during the Daihaseisai festivals. And he'd always been amazed. Even Mikoto impressed him.. he didn't know how any of his aliens would match up against them though... and the Meltdowner.. Wildmutt's abilities v.s. that? Probably not a good matchup..
"Well.." said Shizuri. "Don't you want to try me? Doggy?"
Shizuri let the glowing sphere float out of her hand as two more Meltdowner spheres formed. Suddenly three powerful beam of photon energy exploded from the spheres.
Wildmutt leapt out of the way as the beams exploded into the metal hall, ripping apart the room with ease, and burning everything to nothing..
"ROOWWLL!!!" Wildmutt roared. Which basically meant. "HOLY SMOKES!!!"
"Come back here!!!" Shizuri exclaimed, firing several more Meltdowner beams at Wildmutt. Wildmutt jumped into the cieling and swung along the wires, dodging the powerful beams.. suddenly the beams split off into multiple cross beams.. and hundreds of multiple Meltdowner beams tore at the cieling, slicing things in half as easily as butter.
Wildmutt let out a pained roar as a bleeding gash was burned right through his side and he fell to the floor with a clang.
"Like a mouse in a trap." said Shizuri with a chuckle.
Like Hell that's going to happen.. Wildmutt thought as he roared and suddenly jumped forward in a powerful burst of speed. Wildmutt lashed out his claws at Shizuri.
Shizuri ducked under the powerful strike as Wildmutt ripped apart an old generator that was behind her. She formed several more spheres.. and several more Meltdowner Beams fired at Wildmutt from close range..
Wildmutt used his enhanced senses to predict the powerful beams striking area.. and twisted his body in mid air to dogde the blasts.. but several of the beams managed to rip through his shoulder and back..
Wildmutt roared with pain as some of his blood evaporated from the powerful blasts..
Wildmutt leapt back as more powerful beams fired outwards. Wildmutt galloped out of the way and jumped to the cieling and leapt down at Shizuri, his claws out and his slobbering jaws open..
"You just don't quit little doggie!! DO YOU!!!?" Shizuri grinned maliciously. "COME ON!!"
Shizuri spread her hands out.. and more Meltdowner beams shot out, this time firing into each other and merging into one tremendous beam of energy.. exploding right at Wildmutt.
Wildmutt grabbed a wire right at the last moment and swung out of the way as the beam exploded through the cieling, blasting a hole straight through it.. Wildmutt jumped through the whole in an instant and scrambled through the cieling.
"Heh.. you aren't escaping me.. " Shizuri muttered. "COME BACK HERE!!!"
As Shizuri began firing more random Meltdowner beams into the cieling.
"U-uh.. Mugino? M-maybe you're going a little too far here.." said Frenda as she stared in fright at the entire lab turn into dust thanks to the powerful Meltdowner.
A little ways into the lab, a vent opened up in the cieling of a seperate room, and Wildmutt leapt down to the floor, blood dripping from his body as he panted tiredly.
Ben knew that the fact that Wildmutt had a tough hide.. he'd be dust. Had he had just a second's more contact with those beams.. or even direct contact, he would've been broken down into nothing at a molecular level. He coudl tell by the fact that some of his blood had literally evaporated..
Wildmutt wasn't a suitable alien to handle the Meltdowner.. Ben knew that, but there was a reason he was choosing to stay as Wildmutt. He could smell Mikoto.. his super senses told him that she was in this abandoned lab somewhere.. If he could find her quick and get this mess resolved, he could turn into a more suitable alien and speed out of here quick..
Suddenly, Wildmutt's ultra sensory gills opened up as he sensed some extreme danger ripping through the wall on his right. Wildmutt galloped away as the entire right wall disintegrated into nothing, a host of Meltdowner beams exploding straight through and ripping apart the room..
Wildmutt jumped into the next room, running past dilapidated computer consels as Shizuri ran after him, jumping onto the tables so she had a clear aim.
"So.. what do you think my pay will be after I actually take apart some mutant creature little doggy!?" said Shizuri as she fired her powerful beams.
Wildmutt let out a furious roar and dove behind the multiple large desks that were bolted to the floor, he then began ripping them off the floor one by one, and throwing them at Shizuri.
Shizuri easily blasted the metal desks apart with each Meltdowner beam.. letting them disintegrate each massive metal construct into nothing.
Wildmutt remained silent then.. stealthily sneaking through the room between the desks, like a predator hunting it's prey, trying his best not to groan from the pain of his wounds as Shizuri narrowed her eyes and surved the room, Meltdowner spheres floating around her..
"Now now.. don't tell me you've gone shy.." said Shizuri.
That's it.. Ben thought. If I'm going to find Mikoto in one piece, then it's time I got serious!!
Wildmutt slapped the Omnitrix badge, and in a burst of green light, he turned into Jetray, who spread out his wing flaps and shot into the air at supersonic speed, colliding with Shizuri in a fullbody tackle.
He then grabbed Shizuri's shoulders with his three toed feet, taking the esper by surprise as he flew quickly through the door of the room and into a massive room full of factory claws and conveyor belts.. large enought to fly freely in..
Jetray let go of Shizuri, letting her fall into one of the conveyer belts. But Shizuri used her ability to create a series of beams to propel herself away and roll to the conveyer belt without injuring herself.
"What the hell!? First you're a monster dog!? Now you're some sort of flying bat ray!?"
"Batray?" said Jetray. "Well.. that's one possible name I might have thought of except Jetray.."
Shizuri fired off several Meltdowner Beams at Jetray who flew through the air at collosal speeds, dodging through the crossfiring beams with ease as he performed arial manuevers that were impossible for any normal flying creature or air craft.
"Not bad!! But not enough!!" Shizuri caused the beams to split off into multiple beams this time.. all of them ripping down at Jetray, moving towards Jetray with powerful precision, carving burning gauges through the cieling, claws, and walls as they ripped towards him.
Jetray flew down to the conveyer belts, and shot at Shizuri like a missle before stopping right in front of her and firing an incredible set of green energy blasts from his eyes..
Shizuri formed 3 Meltdowner Spheres in front of her and the eyebeams were redirected so that they arched around her and exploded into the wall. The spheres then fired three beams at Jetray who dodged and pointed his tail at Shizuri, firing another Nueroshock beam from the point of the stinger.
Shizuri fired a meltdowner beam at the Neuroshock blast, and there was an explosion of energy that melted the metal floor, and blew debree and metal shards everywhere.
Jetray flew back, grinning. "HA!! Float like a butterfly, sting like a-"
A Meltdowner Beam fired a few inches from Jetray's head and ripped a metal claw right off the cieling before it dissapeared into a blistering spark in mid air.
"Sting like an insignificant annoying bumblebee!!" Shizuri roared as multiple Meltdowner beams cleared the dust in front of her.. revealing the blood dripping form her forehead.
Jetray flew through the crossfire again, this time flying right over Shizuri and firing more Neuroshock blasts from his eyes. Shizuri once more redirected every blast, causing them to arch around her. "You're going to have to do better then that if you want to hit me!!"
Shizuri let out a scream, and combined four beams again to make one massive blast which Jetray barely dodged.
Jetray flew down behind one of the larger machines as Shizuri continued to walk through the lab, blasting apart machines in her way in a furious rage.
"You know!! Ben Tennyson!! When I was told not to underestimate you, I didn't actually know you would be some sort of freak that could change into other monstrous freaks!! That briefing file I got sure left out some details!!"
"Well.." said Jetray. "I've gotta admit, I've never faced a Level 5 Esper before.. so I'm sort of playing it cautious right now... Actually there's this one guy I change into I'm pretty sure might be able to take you down in two seconds flat.. but I ain't taking too many risks until I know exactly what kind of ability you have!!"
Shizuri turned at the sound of Jetray's voice, but thanks to the echo of the massive factory room, her Meltdowner beam hit meters away from Jetray's true location.
Jetray looked around the room. Hmm he could use this to his advantage, perhaps if he turned into an alien like Echo Echo.. but no.. he couldn't use such an imprecise way of attacking.. it just occured to him that if Frenda was the trap setting type.. if he was too reckless. he could set off plenty of explosives.. but all things considered.. Shizuri was already doing the same thing..
Jetray decided on a different tactic at that point. Jetray flew into the air silently, flying through the shadowy areas whenever Shizuri wasn't looking, using stealth to his advantage. Every so often, he'd go to an extremely dark area of the factory room and tap.. the echo making it hard to discern any actual location. Shizuri was soon firing a beam everywhere, completely on edge.
"Damn! DAMN!!! WHERE ARE YOU!!!?" Shizuri screamed.
Suddenly, a massive Nueroshock blast exploded into where Shizuri was, causing an explosion of dust to erupt out of the metal floor.. Shizuri had already dodged the attack, but blood was dripping down her arm and neck.
"Wow!" Jetray's voice echoed out of the factory. "You've got good reflexes!!"
Shizuri chuckled. "You can't keep hiding forever!!"
"WHO SAID I WAS HIDING!!!?" Jetray suddenly shot into Shizuri from behind and grabbed her in a hold as Shizuri let out a surprised cry of rage and began firing Meltdowner beams everywhere.
"Just as I thought!! You're not immune to your own disintegrating power!!" said Jetray. "So can't afford to blast me at such close range or you could take off your own head!!"
"YOU FREAKING AQUATIC ARIAL BASTARD!!" Shizuri screamed. "IF I CAN'T TAKE YOU AT THIS RANGE!! I TAKE YOU OUT WITH THE ENTIRE BUILDING!!!"
Shizuri's Meltdowner beams began to fire and explode into the cieling the walls and every support beam in the room. and the room began to fall apart as metal beams and parts of the cieling began to fall and clang down into the room that was now trembling and shaking.
"DAMN!!!" Jetray yelled as he broke away from Shizuri to dodge a massive steel girder that had just dropped between him and Shizuri.
Jetray flew through the falling debree for a minute before finally a massive support beam fell on his back.
For a minute, the alien blacked out..
_________________________
Ben was 11.. he was sitting in the RV known as the Rustbucket as his Grandfather sat at the wheel, driving down the American highway, whistling a tune...
Ben's cousin Gwen was typing away on her laptop as usual while Ben played a handheld video game.
"Hey.. Ben.." said Gwen. "Hellooo? Dweeb? Are you even paying attention right now?"
"What is it Dweeb? I'm busy trying to catch this stupid Moltress..."
"Haven't you played enough videogames doofus? Why don't you just put it down for once? I mean.. maybe if you put it down you'd make some friends for once!"
Ben sighed. "Forget it.. everyone in my class are a bunch of jerks.."
Gwen raised an eyebrow. "Your school year was that bad huh?"
"I'm not going to talk about it.." Ben growled as he hammered the keys of his game with renewed force. "Stupid.. darn.. Moltress.. GET.. IN.. THE.. FREAKING.. ULTRABALL!!"
"Put the game down.. for just one second!!" Gwen growled, snatching the game out of Ben's hand. "For once in your life we're going to talk like normal cousins!! It's about time we stopped all this stupid pointless arguing!! We're starting Middle School next week for petes's sake!!!!"
Ben stared at Gwen as if he'd never seen anybody quite like her. "Er.. kay.."
"So.. " said Gwen. "What's her name?"
Ben went pink. "Wh-what!? What's that all about!?"
Gwen glared at Ben. "Don't play dumb with me Dweeb!! What's... her... Name?"
"E-Elena.." Ben muttered. "Elena Validus..."
"Seriously, if you're rejected, move on.. that's all there is to it.." said Gwen.
"Whatever.." Ben muttered.
Suddenly the Rustbucket gave a start and the vehicle started slowing down.
"Whoops, looks like we're breaking down kids.." said Grandpa Max.
As the threesome walked out of the RV.. Ben began dialing on his bulkier prototype Omnitrix. "Alright, howabout I go Upgrade, and I-.."
"Hello you all do you need any help?"
Ben looked up and saw a car stopped next to the R.V. aparently having spotted the broken down RV. Sitting in the driver's seat was a young cheerful looking woman with chestnut brown hair who looked Asian. The woman smiled. "Hi! I'm Misuzu Misaka, I'm actually on vacation here with my daughter! Do you need anything?"
"Yeah.. could we drive with you into town?" Max asked. "I don't have the supplies I need for the repairs here.."
"Well of course.." said Misuzu. "Hey Mikoto! We have some extra carpoolers!!"
Ben caught a quick set of eyes and some chestnut hair for just a minute, before she hid behind the door of the car's backseat.
Ben raised an eyebrow.. then he watched as the girl peeked out again.. now he could see around half of her face and the frog doll she was holding.. however, he wasn't paying any attention to the frog doll now.. for some reason, his heart was fluttering into his head..
Gwen raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Looks like somebody's already forgeting about Elena."
"Shut up dweeb.."
_____________________________________________
Jetray awoke with a groan, his body covered in rubble and metal gurdurrs. he stood up, pushing the rubble off and shaking his head. "Dang.. was that a real memory? Or was that a dream?"
"Got you!"
Jetray turned to see Shizuri right behind him. holding a Meltdowner sphere right by the back of Jetray's head. Her clothes looked torn, and there were burns and bruises all over her skin.
"Oh my god.. you're crazy.." Jetray muttered. "You nearly risked killing yourself, just to get little ol' me!"
"Don't worry, I won't kill you.." said Shizuri. "I'm just going to detain you.. as stupid as I think it is.. after all, part of my job is to make sure you're not killed.. at least that's what my employer wants. So.. before I get down to business.. I want to ask.. what is Railgun to you? Why are you interfering?"
"Well.. To be honest, I don't even know what kind of stupid thing I'm interfering with, all I know is that somebody was black mailing Mikoto.. and that made me mad.." said Jetray. "So tell me.. was it you?"
"Was it me!? WAS IT ME!? HAHAHAHAH!!!" Shizuri laughed. "Wow.. you're clueless about what's going on arent you!? Well let me let it sink in.. Mikoto Misaka has been selected for a special experiment.. the details are a bit fuzzy, but, basically, it's going to involve her getting nothing but pain for next 7 weeks!!"
"Pain!?" Jetray said. "What are you talking about!? WHAT ARE THEY GOING TO DO TO HER!?"
"Who knows and who cares..?" said Shizuri. "I never felt the Number 3 really deserved that rank anyways.. if she dies in the process, all the better for me!! I'll be able to take the rank of Number 3 myself..like I was supposed to!!"
"How can you say something like that!?" Jetray growled angrilly.
"What do you care?" said Shizuri. "From what I hear.. you barely even know her.. if she dies..I know I'll definitely be glad she suffered.. she always irritated me.."
"You.. had better shut up.. right now.." Jetray growled, trembling with fury.
"Or what!? It's useless.. the first test has already gone down successfully, it's past 8:30.." said Shizuri. "I hope Railgun lost a few limbs.."
"You.. you.. YOU!!!" Jetray let out a scream of fury and slammed the Omnitrix badge on his chest.
In an instant, Jetray changed into Chromastone. Chromastone turned around and punched Shizuri right in the gut. Shizuri spat out blood and fell back as her ribs broke and she slammed into the rubble.
"RRRAAAHHH!!!" Chromastone let out another scream of fury and rammed his his fists into the rubble, creating a shockwave as Shizuri rolled out of the way.. a killing blow had that connected.
"DAMN YOU!!!" Shizuri shot out a tremendous set of Meltdowner beams straight into Chromastone. But the beams mereley absorbed into Chromastone's body like a sponge.
"So it does work.." Chromastone growled. "BRILLIANT!!"
"NO NO NO NO NO NO!!!" Shizuri continued to fire beams at Chromastone, every effort being in vain as Chromastone walked forward..
"WHAT!! DID YOU DO!!!? TO MIKOTO!!!?" Chromastone roared.
"GO TO HELL!!?"
"RRRRAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!" Chromastone suddenly glowed with ultraviolet light, and a massive sphere of light exploded out from Chromastone's body.. the entire lab shook and quaked as a massive ultraviolet blast shot into the sky and blasted a tremendous hole in the clouds.
When Shizuri came to.. She was lying in a flattened field of ruins.. and Frenda was standing over her..
"Er.. Looks like we found somebody with a bigger temper tantrum then you Mugino!" said Frenda. "Eheh..heh.."
Shizuri gritted her teeth angrilly. "Call Kinuhata... we're reassessing our strategy.."
_________________________________
Ben hurried through the door of the apartment.. the first thing he saw, was Kuroko sitting in the living room couch, looking shocked.
"Kuroko! H-has Mikoto come back yet!?" Ben asked.
Kuroko just nodded.. "Sh-she's n-not feeling well.. Oneechan..." (Kuroko says Oneechan when she's speaking english, however it will be translated to Sissy whenever she's speaking Japanese.)
Ben ran to Mikoto's bedroom and knocked on it. "M-Mikoto? Are you feeling okay!?"
Mikoto opened the door an inch and peeked out.. "O-of course.. Ben, you sound worried.. I-I'm fine really-"
Mikoto suddenly tripped, and the door creaked open by accident.. Ben stared in horror as he saw the numerous bandages running down her arms, her neck, the side of her cheek.. and her left eye was black and puffy.. and there were other injuries.. terrible ones..
"O-OH!!" Mikoto closed the door abruptly. "U-uh.. it's not as bad as it looks Ben.. I-I fell down some stairs.. that's right.. er.. I'm going to bed now.. Night!!"
Ben didn't go to bed that night.. in fact.. he spent hours.. frozen in front of Mikoto's door.. his face frozen in his horrified expression.