Despite the Rust Bucket's weathered appearance, it proved surprisingly fast and stable at high speeds. Asher felt little turbulence as Max navigated the darkened forest roads with practiced skill.
The distance between them and their destination grew smaller, and through the windows Asher could already see the orange glow of the fires and hear the increasingly desperate cries for help echoing through the night.
Max quickly reached the endangered campsite and brought the RV to a screeching halt nearby.
The scene outside was devastating, the campsite torn apart, several tents in flames, and terrified tourists fleeing in all directions, screaming for help.
Without hesitation, Asher threw open the door and jumped out.
"Asher, be careful!" Max called after him, genuine concern in his weathered eyes as he watched his grandson prepare to face danger once again.
"Don't worry, Grandpa. You be careful too!" Asher replied with a confident smile, looking back at Max one last time.
He walked into the open area and raised the Omnitrix on his wrist, pressing down on the device's core. Green light flashed through his body as the transformation began.
What emerged was not the flame-covered pyronite he'd been before, but a tall, imposing figure whose body was composed entirely of green crystalline structures. The alien stood nearly seven feet tall, with a powerful, humanoid build made of diamond-hard crystal formations.
"Hey Asher, why didn't you turn into that fire guy from before?" Ben asked confusedly as he climbed out of the rust bucket with Max and Gwen.
Diamondhead raised his right arm, his mirror-like crystalline surface reflecting his face back at them. "This... must be some kind of malfunction in the watch," he said with slight exasperation. "I guess we'll just call it a minor malfunction for now!"
"Cool! A second alien hero!" Ben exclaimed excitedly, his former confusion replaced by wonder. "Does it have a name?"
"The last one was called Heatblast, so this one..." Diamondhead's eyes sparkled like polished emeralds as he pondered. "Let's call this form Diamondhead!"
Diamondhead's expression became focused and determined as he stopped worrying about the transformation mix-up and strode purposefully toward a fleeing tourist in front of him.
Behind the terrified camper, a mechanical creature resembling a metallic disk hovered menacingly in the air, its red sensors scanning for targets.
"Help me! Somebody help me!" the tourist cried as he ran, but when he saw the tall, crystalline figure approaching, his eyes widened in fresh terror. "Oh no! Another alien has come to capture me!"
The tourist fell to his knees in panic, covering his head with his hands and shaking uncontrollably.
Diamondhead barely glanced at the frightened human as he stepped past him, placing himself directly between the civilian and the disk-shaped robot.
"Target located... target located..." the drone's red scanner locked on to Diamondhead, emitting urgent beeps. Its built-in weapons systems immediately targeted the Petrosapien's crystalline form.
Whoosh!
The robot fired a concentrated red laser beam with devastating power!
BOOM!
The energy blast struck Diamondhead directly, causing a massive explosion that filled the area with smoke and debris, completely obscuring the crystal alien's position.
"Target destroyed..." the drone announced in its cold, emotionless, mechanical voice.
"You think... you destroyed me?"
The next moment, Diamondhead emerged from the smoke completely unharmed, a hint of amusement in his voice as he walked calmly toward the disk robot. His crystalline body showed no signs of damage.
"Impossible! Target still active!" the drone's sensors recalibrated frantically.
BOOM! BOOM!
The flying robot unleashed a relentless barrage of attacks, laser beams hitting Diamondhead's crystal form again and again, each impact causing violent explosions around him.
But no matter how many devastating blasts hit their targets, Diamondhead's advance never faltered. His diamond-hard body simply ignored the attacks as he marched steadily forward through the artillery barrage.
The defenses were absolutely terrifying!
"This... this alien is actually here to save me..." the cowering tourist finally realized, staring at Diamondhead in amazement.
"You had your turn to attack me," Diamondhead said as he approached the increasingly desperate robot. "Now it's my turn. Just one hit, don't try to run."
As the Petrosapien came within striking distance, the disk robot attempted to retreat and gain distance, but Diamondhead immediately reached out with his left hand and grasped one edge of the mechanical disk with an iron grip.
His left arm tensed slightly, and his tremendous strength pulled the struggling robot back toward him.
The fingers of his right hand pressed together, transforming his entire hand into a massive crystalline blade, gleaming with razor-sharp edges and reflecting cold, deadly light.
Slash!
Diamondhead's crystal blade moved like green lightning, slicing cleanly through the robot's entire frame in one fluid motion.
CRACK!
The red lights on the drone's sensors immediately dimmed and went dark. Its four mechanical limbs went limp as the robot's body split perfectly in half, the two pieces clattering to the ground on either side.
There was also a deep crack in the ground directly in front of Diamondhead, extending more than ten meters from where his blade had passed through.
"One down," Diamondhead said calmly, withdrawing his crystal blade and turning his attention to the other robots rampaging through the campsite.
As expected, a large attack robot was wreaking havoc among the tents and structures. Several disk-shaped drones hovered in the sky around it, firing weak laser blasts at fleeing tourists and destroying property.
Diamondhead had only dealt with one small drone so far.
Vilgax must be getting desperate, he thought with satisfaction.
Ding!
"Login target detected: Large attack robot!"
"Engage it and all surrounding robots to complete registration!"
The system's message filled Diamondhead with joy and anticipation!
Vilgax was literally delivering experience packs directly to me!
It was like having power-ups hand-delivered to you!
"A one-on-one battle? I don't mind the odds at all!" Diamondhead clenched his right fist, transforming it from a blade into something resembling a cannon barrel. Three diamond shuriken instantly shot out of his crystalline projectile system, streaking toward the enemy robots with deadly precision.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The large robot's right shoulder armor was directly penetrated, creating a gaping hole that sparked with electrical damage and emitted mechanical grinding noises.
The smaller disk drones proved more agile, narrowly avoiding the crystal projectiles with evasive maneuvers.
"Target acquired... target acquired..." All the robots suddenly stopped attacking the human civilians and turned their attention to Diamondhead.
"Destroy him!" Vilgax's voice roared through the robots' communication systems, his fury carried across the vast distances of space.
The tourists who had successfully escaped to safety now watched in amazement from afar, watching the heroic crystal alien who had fought off all the mechanical threats.
This brave alien warrior saved them all!