Chap 29 Hideout discovered
With his cousins secured on his back, Wildmutt turned toward the left-hand tunnel.
He lifted his head, sniffing deeply from the grills on his neck.
His perception was like a radar, spreading to every corner of the deep tunnel in an instant. The raised soil, rocks, and the entire structure were instantly mapped into his mind.
It was similar to echolocation, just that he didn't need to send out a sonic wave.
Beneath the rotting smells, he caught a subtle different scent mixed in.
"Groo"
Wildmutt let out a low grunt like that of a cow.
And then he charged into the dark with Ben and Gwen clinging to his fur, following the scent straight to the source.
His powerful legs propelled him forwards with tremendous speed, no less than that of a cheetah.
As they were making their escape, Wildmutt smeared the sticky alien residue he had on his claw directly onto the Omnitrix symbol on his shoulder.
"Whoa! Be careful! You don't come with a seatbelt, Rio!"
Gwen and Ben flattened themselves against Wildmutt's back, fingers buried in his orange fur so they wouldn't get thrown off.
They raced through the tunnel, only to find their path blocked by rubble and a wall of wooden planks mixed with thick, slimy mucus.
"Uh—Rio?!"
"Oh—fuck!!"
Two shouts merged with Wildmutt's growl as he rammed straight through. Splinters and slime flew as Gwen and Ben held on, screaming into the rushing wind.
"Do we look like crash-test dummies to you?!" Gwen shouted, flinging slime from her sleeve.
"I think I'm about to vomit!" Ben called out weakly.
Wildmutt had been jumping and maneuvering so violently that Ben's stomach couldn't handle the motion. It was more intense than any roller coaster, and the nausea was overwhelming!
A low, apologetic growl rumbled from Wildmutt's throat, as he shook the debris from his mane, he couldn't speak in this form, but the regret in his tone was unmistakable.
Along the way, he encountered more than a few alien monsters. All of them seem to be guarding the tunnel towards the ship where the residents were kept, but Wildmutt dispatched them with lightning speed and his razor-sharp claws, wasting no time whatsoever!
However he also felt something was wrong with the situation, as in the original show there weren't this many aliens guarding in the tunnel.
Meanwhile, on the surface…
A telepathic distress signal rippled through the Limax hive mind. Base camp infiltrated! Return immediately! Protect the ship!
"Return immediately! those despicable humans have attacked our headquarters!"
"We cannot allow them to discover our base..."
"The spaceship is there as well. We can't let them destroy it..."
A massive wave of "elderly" residents suddenly stopped what they were doing. They poured out of houses and gardens, their faces blank, running toward the dumpster entrance like a tide of corpses surging!
Making anyone looking at them feel a chill in their scalp.
—
When the sloped tunnel finally leveled out and light began to appear ahead, Wildmutt discovered the nest at last!
WHOOSH!
He leaped through the opening with Ben and Gwen still clinging to his back, skidding into the main cavern.
The first thing that appeared before them was an enormous UFO parked in the underground cavern.
Ben let out a gasp of amazement. This was the first time he'd seen a real UFO with his own eyes!!
This... this is a UFO?!"
"So UFOs really do exist... I always thought they were just science fiction."
Gwen was equally shocked by the unbelievable sight.
No matter how realistic special effects might be in movies, they could never compare to the visceral impact of seeing an actual alien spacecraft right in front of you!
Bii-Bi-BEEP.
Wildmutt's body flashed blue, collapsing back into Rio's human form as Gwen and Ben immediately slid off beside him.
When the transformation timed out, the Omnitrix didn't go dark this time; instead, the faceplate began to rotate and pulse with a frantic yellow light.
After a sharp beep, the watch returned to its standby mode.
Rio's gaze focused on the watch.
The watch was currently scanning the LIMAX SPECIES DNA. a new transformation was locked in for later, but he didn't have time to celebrate.
But he didn't pay it much mind as it would take some time, instead he gaze over the ship his confusion and puzzlement seemed to decrease a bit, the ship in front of his was at least a medium sized ship where as the one in the show was just a small one, He seemed to understand now, where the new limax's suddenly appeared from.
Calming his mind he then patted Ben on the shoulder and pointed toward something next to the UFO that looked like dozens of oversized insect eggs. "Look over there! Don't focus on the spaceship."
The two of them followed his gesture, and their scalps immediately went numb!!
This place would be absolute hell for anyone with trypophobia!
Row after row of green, translucent eggs stretched out before them—easily over a hundred. The alien ship was in the middle of all the eggs.
Soon they stepped toward the pods. Through the transparent membrane, they saw what lay inside.
Gwen's voice dropped as she glanced around. "Are… are all the old people here?"
"It's like everyone in the retirement village has been podded up."
Inside each egg, an elderly resident from the retirement complex lay folded in stasis, suspended in thick green fluid.
"It looks like the shapeshifters captured all the humans underground, placed them in these special containers, copied their memories and personalities, and then sent the alien duplicates to live in this town instead of them!" Rio pieced together the horrifying truth as he surveyed the scene.
This method was far superior to Vilgax's strategy of conquest through brute force. These aliens could slowly devour the entire Earth from within, replacing humans one person at a time! And once established, their infiltration would be permanent! Truly terrifying.
As they walked between the eggs, suddenly they saw something that made them instantly run towards it.
Of course, they ran. Anyone would.
After all, It was a pod containing Max, suspended in a state of peaceful sleep!
And Max was their family, and no one wants to see their family members becoming food for some alien.
"Grandpa!"
Ben didn't think anything as he grasped the surface of the pod with both palms. His fingers easily sank into it, as if pulling a lump of soft rubber!
He leaned his body backward, and the green membrane on the surface stretched like a rubber band.
Until there was a loud "bang"!
Ben staggered backward several steps as the front half of the container tore away and fell to the ground, releasing a large cloud of gas as the liquid inside evaporated the second it came in contact with the air!
With Max tumbling out onto the cavern floor!
Nearby Rio was completely stupefied, his breath hitched. Max wasn't supposed to be kidnapped yet, not until the next morning and yet here he was laying in one of the pods, ready to be food for the aliens.
On the ground Max's consciousness immediately became clear after a few seconds.
He sat up, touched his head, and his eyes gradually brightened. "I knew... you'd definitely come to help me. I was just going to sleep and suddenly a green slime attacked me, and then? Oh, I can't remember what happened next"
"It's not just you, Grandpa." Snapping out of his shock, said Rio. "We need to rescue everyone else!"
His gaze turned toward the surrounding pods and he spoke with determination, but beneath that determination was a worry and frustration.
Max nodded, his plumber instincts kicking in despite the confusion. "Right."
He exchanged a glance with Gwen, and Ben. Each of them moved to a different container, grabbed hold of the membrane, and began pulling, imitating Ben's technique!
A sudden high-pitched voice from behind halted Ben as he reached out to touch the pod's surface.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you."
The voice echoed coldly from the tunnel behind.
The alien Marty had followed them—this time with two others in tow, one even wore the disguise of Max.
"Well, you're not me," Ben shot back.
"Not yet, I am not."