“Get moving, you stupid…!” grumbled Homer as he kicked the tortoise. We stayed behind. “When I’m kicking you,” continued Homer to the tortoise, “that means hurry up! Come on!” He then punted the poor creature like a football!
“Poor tortoise!” I cried. Homer charged off after the tortoise and arrived at a low altar. The tortoise moved its head to the top.
“Oh, you want me to climb that, huh?” muttered Homer. “No problemo!” He was the one who opened his mouth, he was the one that made a large step pyramid grow with the altar on top. Homer snarled, then kicked the tortoise again. The pyramid grew another level. “D’OH!”
“Well, this is a surprise,” I muttered.
“I’m surprised to see y’all,” called a hillbilly’s voice. Sitting behind us on a rock was a backwoods brunette girl.
“Heather!” shouted Ben. He readied the Omnitrix and slapped down on the core. Rocks covered him and a fire spread out from the core of his body, lighting his head on fire. “HEATBLAST!” he called. “Tell me, can you handle the heat?!”
“Can you handle a Highbreed like my partner?” asked Heather. Heatblast was then decked and forced back into Ben. A large Atasian came into view. It had a humanoid female appearance, but I couldn’t say until she spoke.
“Idiotic cattle!” boomed the Atasian woman. “You cannot stop me!”
“Suppose we make the attempt?” taunted Kōta.
“Do not embarrass yourself, vermin!” snapped the Atasian. Kōta brought out his Lockseed and I got out my i.d tag.
“ORANGE!” announced the Lockseed as he opened it.
“Henshin!” we called. We then transformed in our usual styles.
“Lock on! Soiya! Orange arms! Hanamichi! On stage!” announced the Sengoku Driver. I unleashed my bagh naka as Gaim took out his orange slice sword. Heather laughed.
“I’ve heard of someone being a fruit, but that’s ridiculous!” she laughed.
“I have gay friends that would take offense to that,” I hissed. I charged at Heather and swung my bagh naka, only for them to pass through. “Oh, right, dead.” I sighed.
“I’ve got her!” called Ben. He slapped on the Omnitrix again. “GHOSTFREAK!” Ghostfreak then flew to Heather while she sidestepped Ben and had him fly through a rock. Meanwhile, Gaim and Rook were attacking the Atasian. Gaim then grabbed the Atasian’s arm.
“Unhand me, MONGREL!” roared the Atasian as she threw Gaim off.
“Mother! Enough!” called Reinrassic. The woman stopped her assault and looked at Reinrassic. We all stopped when Reinrassic called the Atasian woman “Mother”.
“Wait, that’s your mom?!” yelped Ghostfreak.
“Asoorma II,” confirmed Reinrassic. “4th daughter of the Noble Highbreed House of Samertha, direct descendant of the Pure Blooded Order of Narseen, and Wife to my late Father, Reinrassic II.”
“Reinrassic, what are you doing here?!” cheered Asoorma. “It is good to see you again! Now, our operations can…” she saw Reinrassic’s arm. “…Reinrassic III, seventh son of the Noble Highbreed House of Derazza, direct descendant of the Pure Blooded High Order of Rarsect, what happened?!”
“A lot of recent events have occurred during your absence,” explained Reinrassic. “Especially my election as Atasian Supreme.”
“Highbreed Supreme!” exclaimed Asoorma. “And that is a lie!”
“No, it isn’t,” argued Ghostfreak. “Kevin, Gwen, and I saw him get that position.”
“Liars!” bellowed Asoorma. “The High Council would never allow someone like him to be Highbreed Supreme!”
“But I have!” protested Reinrassic.
“Impossible!” dismissed Asoorma. “You’ve allowed yourself to become…”
“Stronger!” interrupted Reinrassic.
“Oh, for the love of…IMPURE! LOOK AT YOUR HAND!!” boomed Asoorma.
“Yes, Mother, look at it!” demanded Reinrassic. He then showed his palm. It had a tattoo with four red eyes and black lines around them. Asoorma was surprised.
“The Imperial Seal?!” she exclaimed. “A new Highbreed Supreme?! But…but we were dying out! Corsanth was going to be the last Highbreed Supreme! Besides, I was only to be awakened if we lost the war!”
“The war has ended,” explained Reinrassic. “And, it has ended peacefully, thanks to Ben B…I mean, Ben Tennyson.” He pointed to Ghostfreak. “You see, our species had its DNA altered to save us. I was the first he had saved. After an accident that stranded us both on a desert world, I lost my arm. Ben turned into a creature known as Swampfire and made a new one for me. The new limb rewrote my DNA. At first, I thought it a curse, but now, I see that I draw new strength from it! Mother, we can live again!” Asoorma sat down to consider her son’s words.
“Don’t listen to him!” shouted Heather. “What is power if there isn’t a perfect being to wield it?! Only a pure species can be perfect! The rest of life is nothing more than refuse! Don’t be tainted by your son’s impure words!”
“Mother, what good is purity if it leads to our extinction?!” asked Reinrassic.
“No other life-form needs to be above you!” countered Heather. “That’s what the war was about! You were going to end all life in the universe so you can die as superiors!” Asoorma then held up a hand for silence.
“I have decided,” she declared. “Ben Tennyson, you altered my people’s DNA to save us from extinction?”
“Yes,” replied Ghostfreak.
“Do so with me,” directed Asoorma.
“WHAT!?” shrieked Heather.
“One minute!” called Ghostfreak. He then turned back into Ben. “Omnitrix, can you repair Asoorma’s genetic damage?”
“Genetic Recombination sequence ready,” reported the Omnitrix.
“Do it!” ordered Ben. A ring of light spread out across the desert. When it faded, Asoorma’s coloration looked different. She had a dark blue body with green eyes, a light blue face, and black arms and feet. She looked herself over. “Omnitrix, what did you blend her with?” asked Ben.
“Genetically damaged Atasian was spliced with Necrofriggian DNA,” replied the Omnitrix.
“You use our original name for our species?” asked Asoorma.
“It was per my instructions,” explained Reinrassic.
“Very well,” sighed Asoorma.
“IDIOT!” shouted Heather. “I knew the name ‘Highbreed’ was misplaced amongst you mongrels!”
“Funny how the words stings, correct?” muttered Reinrassic to Asoorma.
“Don’t talk,” hissed Asoorma. “I have yet to discover how useful this form is.”
“You won’t get a chance!” declared Heather. She then jabbed her fingers into Asoorma’s head. Asoorma screamed, then fainted.
“That’s it! No more of Heather’s monkeying around!” declared Ben. He selected an alien and became “SPIDERMONKEY!” He then decked Heather. He started making monkey noises before speaking. “Looks like you’re not as intangible as Ghostfreak!” he said.
“Hold on! This is my fight too!” called Gaim.
“I’ve got an idea!” I announced. “Everyone rush her at once!” We all got our final attacks ready. Gaim sliced the Lockseed three times.
“ORANGE SPARKING!” called the belt. Gaim’s Orange armor folded up into its orange shape and he head-bashed Heather with it. I inserted my i.d tag into my bagh naka.
“Final attack!” announced my weapons.
“RIDER CLAW SLASH!” I shouted as I slashed the air twice, making a tiger out of the energy wave swat Heather. Appropriate, given that bagh naka means tiger claw in Hindi. Spidermonkey slapped on the Omnitrix symbol and turned into a small creature in a white suit with green, narrow eyes, a green mouth, headphones with the connector on the back of the head, and cassette tapes on his lower legs. He had green holes on the back of his hands.
“ECHO ECHO!” called the new creature in a robotic tone. He then turned the Ultimatrix rig key and slapped on the Omnitrix symbol again. He was bathed in green light and grew. He became blue and metallic with a rounded design. He had fifteen blue holes on him and had green cables attaching from the back to the hands and smaller cables from the mouth to the collarbone location. “ULTIMATE ECHO ECHO!” announced the new creature in a deeper robotic tone. He took two holes, revealed to be discs, from his shoulders and tossed them at Heather. They replicated and surrounded her. “SONIC DOOM!” called Ultimate Echo Echo. Heather was bombarded by sound waves and fell to the ground. Gwen tossed a large, pink mana blast and Kevin touched a rock to cover himself in the rock’s material. He then morphed his hand into a sword and slashed Heather. Max, Rusty, and Rook fired with their respective weapons and Reinrassic fired darts from his right arm. The darts projected fire when they fell at Heather’s feet. Heather passed out and fell. “You never did that before!” yelped Ultimate Echo Echo.
“And you never altered your creatures before,” replied Reinrassic. “All Atasians have found that your genetic repair has granted us powers based on those creatures.”
“So, you can control plants, too?” asked Ultimate Echo Echo as he cancelled his transformation and returned to being Ben.
“Not as well as Swampfire,” answered Reinrassic.
“Well, she’ll get out of it,” I replied, referring to Heather. “So, we best continue following Homer.”
“And leave my mother here?!” snapped Reinrassic. Asoorma then stirred. “Mother, are you all right?”
“Ooff!” moaned Asoorma. “That was…unpleasant!” She shook her head. “Although, I do have to admit, the genetic repair helped me recover faster. Perhaps there IS strength in mixing genetics. My thanks, Ben Tennyson.”
“No problem,” replied Ben. “Let’s get out of here.” Gaim and I cancelled our transformations and we all followed closely behind Homer.
“This is because I kicked you, isn’t it?” he grumbled. He had to extend some steps like bleachers, but he made it to the top. It took so long that the moon was out. “Ooh! I hate this place!” whined Homer. He then turned to the heavens. “Why am I here?!” A giant coyote’s head then appeared!
“There is a lesson you must learn,” said the coyote head.
“If it’s about laying off the insanity peppers,” answered Homer, “I’m way ahead of you.” The coyote head then turned into mist, then reformed as a normal sized, complete coyote…as normal as a talking coyote can be.
“No, I speak of a deeper wisdom,” it replied. “The problem, Homer, is that the mind is always chattering away, with a thousand thoughts at once.”
“Yeah, that’s me alright,” responded Homer.
“What thoughts?” whispered Reinrassic. He was sternly hushed by Asoorma. “Yes, mother,” he muttered.
“You must find your soulmate,” declared the coyote.
“Soulmate?” asked Homer.
“Your kindred spirit,” explained the coyote. “The one with whom you share an unspoken bond.” The coyote then ran off.
“Hey! Wait! COME BACK!” called Homer. Too late, the coyote was gone. “Aww!” Then, a whistle blew. Homer saw the source coming at him in the sky! “Ah! A ghost train! And so little time to get out of the way! Now less! Now none!” The idiot was plastered onto the cowcatchers of the train.
“Hop on!” I directed. Everyone got onto the door railings of the coaches as we flew through the air, went through a purple portal, and…
“D’OH!” exclaimed Homer. We all woke up in various areas of a golf course. My team and I were in the forest near the green while Homer was in a sand trap. We picked ourselves up and ran our hands over our faces. We were drenched in sweat.
“Those peppers must have hallucinogenic properties,” panted Rook.
“Heather and I ate some before we met you,” answered Asoorma.
“Why?!” I asked. “You know what, never mind, we still need to get Reinrassic’s badge back.”
“Badge?” asked Asoorma.
“Reiny’s a Plumber!” called Ben.
“And my first day is rather hectic,” muttered Reinrassic. “Wound up in this universe, lost my badge to that man, and ended up as a caged freak. My day was not going well until Ben B…Ben and his associates arrived.”
“…Reiny?” asked Asoorma. “How did you find out about my nickname for my son?”
“That’s why I was against being called Reiny!” wailed Reinrassic to Ben.
“Can we please?!” I protested.
“Wha…?” mumbled Homer. “The Golf Course? Maybe the desert was just a sand trap.” He started walking off. “Wherever my soulmate is, it’s not here.”
“After him!” I called. We followed him closely, staying out of sight. He wandered around Springfield and the weather changed. It became dark, rainy, and cold. Even with my furry dress, I shivered. Reinrassic and his mother seemed to be doing just fine. “How are you looking so fit?!” I shivered.
“Highbr…Atasians…function better in colder climates,” replied Asoorma.
“Granted, we would prefer snow,” continued Reinrassic, “but, what’s the phrase ‘Them’s the breaks’.”
“You seem to be catching up on Earth expressions faster than I am,” mused Rook.
“It’s nothing but trial and error,” remarked Reinrassic. Homer managed to lead us to the pier. He stopped at a dock and sat down.
“I give up!” he called. He then saw something. “Huh? What’s that blinking light?” He then realized something. “The lighthouse keeper! The loneliest man in the world! He’ll understand me!” He took control of a salvage boat, got the boat’s crane to get something from the water, and move it onto the dock. He pushed it to the roof of a building and climbed up. He then broke the glass ceiling with his sonic belch and fell through. There was toxic waste in there, so Homer activated the sprinklers to wash it away. He then burst through the window and made it to a long wooden path stretching to the lighthouse. He started running out of breath. “I give up!” he wailed again.
“Find your soulmate, Homer,” urged the coyote’s voice. “Find your soulmate!”
“Where?! Where?!” called Homer.
“This is just your memory,” replied the coyote’s voice. “I can’t give you any new information.” That confused me, as I know we all heard it. Homer pressed on and made it to the small island the lighthouse was based. We used rowboats to get there. As we landed, Homer was climbing up the rocks that made up the island. As he did, the Plumber’s badge fell out of his pocket! Reinrassic claimed it and polished it.
“Mission accomplished!” I called. That was when Heather again attacked us. She punched Asoorma and got some sort of quarter-circle from her.
“MOTHER!” yelped Reinrassic.
“That’s one!” cheered Heather. “Three to go, and I’ll have my own Apocalypse Driver!”
“Earl!” called Homer. “My new friend’s name is Earl!”
“Ta-ta!” bid Heather as she made a portal.
“Stop!” I shouted. Too late. She went through. I let my shoulders droop. Reinrassic patted me on the back in a “there-there” fashion. “You know,” I muttered, “maybe it’ll get nowhere. Even so, I’d like to see how Homer’s mysterious voyage bears fruit.” We climbed up, getting battered by wind and flying debris, adding to our bruises with Heather, and made it inside. We climbed up the stairs and made it to the lighthouse’s bulb. We stayed out the door while Homer looked around. He then saw, on a computer screen, that Earl was an acronym for Electronic Automatic Robotic Lighthouse.
“A machine?!” wailed Homer. “Earl’s a machine?! Oh, that’s just perfect! Homer’s desperate search for a soulmate has yielded a lighthouse keeping robot! Oh, WOW!” He then looked out the window. “Alone! I’m alone! I’m a lonely, insignificant speck on a has-been planet orbited by a cold, indifferent sun!” We then heard footsteps. We got out of the person’s way as she made it to Homer. “Oh! MARGE!” called Homer happily. They ran towards each other and embraced one another, kissing deeply. Once the embrace broke off, Homer said to the heavens “In your face, space coyote!” A seagull then smacked against the window, startling Homer, causing him to barrel into us and fall down the stairs, becoming more bruised than ever! At that point, Asoorma asked to go home while Reinrassic asked to return with Ben. I opened a portal for Asoorma and summoned one for us. That’s why we’re so battered, your Majesty.
