10 New Heroes

Chapters

The Mysterious Toy Watch
It's Hero Time!
A Hero's Hero
Secrets of the Deltamatrix
Friendly Little Secret
Albedo's Spy Mission

The Mysterious Toy Watch

Spike was heading home from school. It was an early dismissal on account of another alien attack. Of course, Ben 10 had been on the case, and sent the alien to the Null Void. Still, the school had been badly damaged during the fight, and it would take a while to repair said damages. "Man, Ben 10 is so cool! I wish I could be like him." before seeing a toy store. He saw a toy Omnitrix in the window, it was the last one in stock, and he rushed in.

When he brought the Omnitrix up to the cashier, she looked confused at the box and said, "Strange, this doesn't seem to be one of our products... I doesn't even have a barcode... You're a good kid, you come here often, so just take it. If it doesn't have a barcode, I can't look up the price, and I've never seen this toy on the shelves before."

Spike felt guilty about getting the toy for free and put a $10 on the counter, "I appreciate that, but I can't just take something without paying, it goes against my principles."

The cashier smiled, "What a sweet boy. Have a nice day!"

As soon as Spike got home, his sister Twilight looked up from the TV and said, "I heard about your school Spike, you're not hurt are you?"

Spike shook his head, "No, I'm fine, it was the east wing that got destroyed, my classes are in the west wing. Besides, Ben 10 was there."

Twilight sighed, "Yes, I'm aware, but I honestly don't see why everyone praises him, he's caused plenty of trouble in town with these alien criminals."

Spike rolled his eyes, "You just have no appreciation for what superheroes go through." He went up to his room and opened up the box of his new toy. He looked at it and said, "The cashier wasn't kidding, this doesn't look anything like Ben's Omnitrix… Maybe it's limited edition?" before taking it and putting it on his left wrist. Suddenly, he felt a pinch on his wrist, but ignored it.

As the Omnitrix pinched down on him, Spike realized he couldn't get it off. "What the heck!? Is this toy broken or something?" suddenly, a silhouette showed up on the toy and part of it rose up and Spike was confused, but pressed down on it.

Suddenly, his body started changing. He could feel his skull getting longer in the back, his body growing a tail and claws, and a weird feeling inside his mouth. He looked into a mirror and screamed in terror, "I'm the Xenomorph from Alien!? Wait... that means... THIS ISN'T A TOY, IT'S A REAL OMNITRIX!?"

Twilight Velvet ran up to her son's room and burst in, "Spike, you were screaming, what's-" before shrieking in terror of the alien that stood in front of her, "Honey, get the gun, there's an alien in the house!"

Spike widened his eyes and said, "Mom, no, it's me, Spike!"

As Night Light came up holding a shotgun, with Twilight behind him, Twilight Velvet stuttered, "S-Spike...? But... what happened?"

Night Light kept his gun ready, "Don't believe him honey, he probably did something to our son and knows about him."

Spike held his hands up, "No, dad, it's really me! I bought a toy Omnitrix from the toy shop downtown, and when I put it on, it turned me into this!"

Before Night Light could fire, Twilight asked, "If you're really Spike, you have to prove it. What's Spike's favorite cereal?"

"Lucky Charms with Ben 10 alien marshmallows."

Twilight nodded and then asked, "How does Spike like his cheeseburger?"

Spike answered again, "Double bacon cheeseburger cooked medium rare, with caramelized onions, lettuce, chipotle mayo, ketchup, no pickles and grilled pineapple."

Twilight asked a final question, "What's Spike's biggest fear?"

Spike groaned, "Amusement park mascots..."

Twilight nodded, "It's him, we're the only ones who know all this stuff."

Night Light lowered his gun and stared in disbelief at what happened to his son, "Spike, what the hell happened?"

Spike looked at himself in the mirror and said, "I... I think that the Omnitrix I bought in the toy store wasn't just a toy..."

Twilight raised an eyebrow, "You're saying a toy store sold you a real Omnitrix? But humans don't have the kind of knowledge needed to make one, and the creator is on his home planet, even Ben hasn't heard from him."

Spike had an idea, "That's it, Ben! Maybe he knows something about this!"

Twilight Velvet thought for a moment, "Well, it's the only lead we've got right now. I'll see if we can get into contact with him. But how do we change you back to normal?"

Spike told her, "If I remember correctly, the Omnitrix times out after a while-" and all of a sudden, a deep beeping sound went off and Spike turned back to normal, "Speak of the devil. Thank god, I don't think I could ever be seen in public as a Xenomorph."

Twilight rolled her eyes and said, "Just don't go spreading rumors that you're Ben's sidekick."

Spike chuckled, "With his cousin at his side, I doubt he needs me as a sidekick."

Night Light nodded, "But still, keep this on the low, we don't want the paparazzi knocking at our door."

Spike nodded, "Ok dad, I promise I won't tell anyone. If anyone asks, it's just a toy and I'm an uber-fan of Ben."

Night Light nodded again, "Good, we need to keep it that way until we figure this out."

A few hours later...

Spike was looking at his new Omnitrix and thought to himself, "They never said I couldn't be a superhero, and it's not like anyone will know if I'm careful... Still, how does a toy shop end up selling a real Omnitrix?" before getting on his computer and searching, "Omnitrix Knockoff." and looking at the first article that came up, "Cerebrocrustacean Professor claims to have created Nemitrix, knock-off version of Omnitrix. Nemitrix confirmed as destroyed by Ben 10."

Spike thought to himself, "If a Cerebrocrustation created a knockoff, maybe somebody he worked with created a knockoff." before seeing another article, "Robbery at Tennyson household, nothing of value reported stolen, no signs of forced entry, no motive, and no suspects." Spike's eyes widened when he read the second article, he knew he had to find Ben, he had to know something about this Omnitrix that he got.

It's Hero Time!

Spike woke up early in the morning. He left a note on the fridge that said, "Going out to see if I can find Ben. My phone's on." before walking out of the house and getting on his bike. He started pedaling into town but stopped when he heard screaming. He could see an angry arachnichimp, but it wasn't Ben as Spidermonkey, it was a completely different individual.

He rode his bike into an abandoned warehouse and activated his Omnitrix and chose the first alien that showed up on the reel. As he changed into a new alien he called out, "Pumpka-Boom!"

He flew out into view and threw a Jack 'o Bomb at the Arachnichimp, who caught it and juggled it before throwing it back at Pumpka-Boom. As it exploded, Spike had already thrown another one to counter, "Think Spike, he's half-monkey, half spider, there's got to be something I can use against him." He looked at the web that the Arachnichimp had spun around the square and got an idea.

The Arachnichimp followed his movements as Spike used his webbings to hide Jack 'o Bombs in egg sacs, causing him to hoot angrily before trying to get the bombs out of the egg sacs before they went off. Though he didn't know it, none of the bombs were attached to actual egg sacs.

As the Arachnichimp gathered all the disguised Jack 'o Bombs, Spike laughed, "Trick or treat!" before the bombs went off in the webbing, causing the Arachnichimp to get tangled in the sticky webbing.

Suddenly, a voice said, "Thanks for the help, but we'll take care of it from here." before Plumber trucks showed up and arrested the struggling Arachnichimp. As Pumpka-Boom flew down, the man said, "Thanks for the help, whoever you are." the man didn't notice the Omnitrix symbol on Pumpka-Boom, and said, "It's good to see that not all aliens are bad."

Spike internally sighed in relief as the man thought he was an actual alien. "Yeah, it was just the right thing to do. Nobody deserves to get harassed and endangered like that. I'm out for now, but if you need help, I'll be there." before flying back into the alley where he left his bike. As he turned back to normal, he got back on his bike and pedaled into town, where new crews were already covering the arrest.

The newslady said, "And so, ever so early in the morning, an Arachnichimp has been arrested by the Plumbers, thanks to a helpful alien called Pumka-Boom stopping the Arachnichimp's rampage. We're here with a word from Max Tennyson. Mr. Tennyson, can you speak on behalf of the Plumbers as to who Pumpka-Boom is?"

Max shook his head, "No, I can't. Pumpka-Boom is not a member of the Plumbers, just a good alien samaritan choosing to do the right thing. We have Pumpka-Boom to thank for this arrest."

As Spike watched the news reporters asking Max about Pumpka-Boom, he sighed in relief that everyone thought Pumpka-Boom was just an alien doing the right thing. He continued to pedal through town before seeing the Tennyson house. However, there was a massive crowd of paparazzi and reporters trying to talk to Ben, so he just kept pedaling.

When he got home, his sister met him in the living room and forced him in front of the TV showing Pumpka-Boom stopping the Arachnichimp, "Care to explain this?"

Spike gulped, but said, "I have no idea who that is, there's plenty of aliens in town who could have chosen to do the right thing."

Twilight rolled her eyes saying, "And you didn't answer your phone because? I'm not stupid Spike, I know it's you."

Spike groaned, "Ok, fine! I saw that Arachnichimp causing trouble and I couldn't just stand there!"

Before Twilight could say anything, their mother spoke, "That's enough you two. Spike did the right thing, and everyone thinks it was just a good alien squating on Earth. There's no harm done, and your father and I never told Spike not to try and help people using his Omnitrix, we told him to keep a low profile, which he did, he wasn't discovered."

Twilight Sparkle sighed, "Ok mom, I get it."

Spike sighed in relief, "Does that mean?"

Night Light walked downstairs, "No, you're not in trouble. You protected people like we would have wanted you to. But still, don't make a habit of this, we don't want anyone knowing you were Pumpka-Boom, understand?"

Spike nodded, "Yes dad, I understand."

Meanwhile at Plumber HQ...

Max was going over the street camera footage that caught the fight between the Arachnichimp and Pumpka-Boom before calling, "Ben, come in here for a minute."

Ben walked over, "What's the matter, Grandpa?"

Max pointed out that Pumpka-Boom had an Omnitrix symbol on him, "That's not you though, you were on the other side of town when this happened."

Ben rubbed his chin, "You don't think that this has to do with those stolen blueprints do you?"

Max sighed, "I'm not sure, not yet at least. But nobody besides us has seen this footage, and I'm going to keep it that way for now. If a random kid has an Omnitrix and is using it for good, I want them to have the privacy that we don't have anymore."

Ben nodded, "Yeah, I get that. I wish I had my secret identity back sometimes."

Max nodded, "Don't we all?"

And so, Spike just had his first battle for good with the Omnitrix, and nobody knows he has an Omnitrix. Well, almost nobody. If Max and Ben figure out who Spike is, what will happen? Will they ask him to join the Plumbers, or will they tell him to stay out of these matters and leave it to the professionals? Only time will tell.

A Hero's Hero

Spike was looking through the aliens he'd unlocked. He recognized one of them as an Appeplexian, which was Rath's species. Watching Rath on TV was a lot like watching a professional wrestling match, only much funnier, even Twilight couldn't help but grab some popcorn when Ben turned into Rath. "I don't recognize most of these aliens... Still, they look pretty cool."

Twilight Velvet called down, "Spike, you have a guest downstairs! I think you'll be pleasantly surprised!"

Spike wondered who the guest could be before walking downstairs and seeing who it was, Ben. "Ben Tennyson!? What are you doing here!?"

Ben chuckled, "Your mom told me you were a big fan. But I'm not here for pleasure, it's strictly business. You have an Omnitrix, don't you?"

Spike nodded, "Yeah, I thought it was just a toy until I couldn't take it off. I bought it at Toy World down in town."

Ben knelt down to look Spike in the eyes and nodded as he stood up, "Ok, I believe you. Sorry if I seemed skeptical. My house was robbed about a week ago. We told the police nothing was stolen, but that wasn't quite true. We confiscated some blueprints from Albedo, and the blueprints were stolen. Based on what I remember, your Omnitrix was made from those blueprints. Of course, Albedo kept going on about that he called it the Deltamatrix."

Spike looked at his wrist, "Deltamatrix? What a weird name... But, how did you find me?"

Ben explained, "The Plumbers recovered street camera footage from Pumpka-Boom's fight, and my Grandpa Max noticed your Omnitrix symbol. I'm not here to take the Deltamatrix away from you, quite the opposite. If it's ok with your family, I want you to be a Plumber. Of course, we'll keep your identity a secret, I don't want to put the stress of being world-famous on a ten-year-old."

Spike smiled from ear to ear, "Awesome! Mom, please say it's ok!"

Twilight Velvet sighed, "If you didn't have that watch, I'd say not a chance in hell, but with the Deltamatrix and Ben... Fine, but promise me you'll stay safe and let Ben take over if things get too dangerous."

Spike hugged his mom, "Thank you so much, mom! I promise I'll be safe!" before getting ready to go with Ben. As he got in Ben's car and was driven to Plumber HQ, he asked, "So, are there any aliens we need to fight?"

Ben shook his head, "For now, no, but we'll get an alert if we-" before hearing the siren on his communicator beeping. "Speak of the devil, what's up, Rook?"

Rook was Ben's partner, Spike knew that and could hear him over the communicator, "We've got a problem with a Narcozian robbing a Plumber's weapon cache, we need you and Spike if he's with you. I'm en route to the robbery, Rook out." before hanging up.

Spike cheered, "Sweet! My first real mission!"

Ben chuckled, "It's good to be young and crazy. Let's go!" before heading to the cache. When they arrived, he got out of the car after telling Spike, "Find somewhere safe to transform." before running towards the cache.

Spike got out of the car and went into an alley, "Alright, this looks like a job for Rath!" before activating the Deltamatrix and turning into Rath.

Spike as Rath jumped ran of the alley and met up with Ben as Swampfire and said, "Let me tell you something creepy alien created by the same guy writing this story, if Rath can break the fourth wall, you can bet that Rath can break you without breaking a sweat!"

Ben as Swampfire looked at Spike and asked, "Is that what I sound like when I turn into Rath? Man, that's... actually kind of cool, sounds like a professional wrestler."

The Narcozian snickered, "Pity, I was expecting a challenge from the famous Ben 10, but all I get is a plant and some copycat."

Spike growled, "Copycat!? That does it!" before jumping at the Narcozian and pulling him into a chokehold, "Celaeno chokehold!"

The Narcozian coughed and wheezed as Spike caught him in a chokehold, dropping the weapons he'd stolen. He tried to slash his razor-sharp claws on Spike's arm but hit his claw instead, but Rath still released him, "Curse you!"

Spike punched the Narcozian and jumped in the air and spun with his claws going downward, "Corkscrew Solaris Body Slam!" and crashing into him again. As the Narcozian tried to slash at Spike's eyes, Spike grabbed him by the wrist and said, "Let me tell you something you Freddy Krueger ripoff, you want a piece of Rath, well you got a piece! But you just stole a bone from an angry flying pig, and he's coming to get it back!"

The Narcozian struggled to get free of Spike's grip, "That makes no sense!"

"I know!" Spike said as he lifted him up, slamming him against the ground multiple times, "Andromada Atomic leg drop!" before letting him go and jumping, slamming his leg into his neck, knocking him to the ground. "If you know what's good for you, you'll take Rath's advice to beg Rath not to punch you again!"

Ben was shocked as he just stood there and watched the fight before coming to his senses and calling Rook, "Rook? Yeah, we got him, he's out cold. Oh, I see your speeder." before hanging up and turning back to his normal form, and said to Spike, "Rook's coming along with a prison transport, keep an eye on the Narcozian, they're good at lock picking, don't want him escaping."

Spike nodded, before forcing the Narcozian into the back of the prison transport, "Watch your head." before hitting his own head as he got in, "Let me tell you something prison transport, Rath is not going to prison, so you better avoid hitting Rath's head from now on!"

Ben asked Rook, "Do I really sound like that as Rath?"

Rook nodded, "It's actually quite entertaining."

Ben laughed, "Yeah, it kind of is. Come on, let's get back to HQ." before getting back in his car and following the prison transport to HQ.

And with that, Spike has learned a bit of history about his Omnitrix, or rather Deltamatrix. And he has caught an alien criminal with the help... well, observation of Ben. This will surely get on the news, but nobody knows who Ben's new protege is, but will it remain that way?

Secrets of the Deltamatrix

Spike was meeting with Ben and Rook at Plumber HQ. He wanted to know more about his Deltamatrix, so he decided to go ask them about it. When he arrived, he walked in and saw Rook, "Hey Rook, glad to see you, where's Ben?"

Rook looked over to Spike and said, "Ben's at school right now. Shouldn't you be in school too?"

Spike nodded, "Normally, yes, but my school got badly damaged in an alien attack, and they're not done repairing."

"I see, well, what can I do for you, Spike?" Rook asked Spike, and when he asked about the Deltamatrix, he said, "I don't know much about the Deltamatrix to be honest. All I know is that it's an upgraded version of the Ultimatrix, and has the same evolutionary feature as the Ultimatrix."

Spike raised an eyebrow, "I didn't think Ben still used the Ultimatrix, I thought he had a new Omnitrix."

Rook nodded, "He does, but the Ultimatrix was never properly disposed of, so Albedo was able to recreate it as the Deltamatrix."

Spike looked at his Deltamatrix and thought "The Ultimate forms were really dangerous back in the day, I hope I don't have to use them."

Spike's thoughts were cut off by a familiar voice, "So, you must be Spike. Good to meet you." Spike looked up to see Max Tennyson, who continued, "I'm Max Tennyson, Ben's grandpa. I'm sure you want to learn more about your Deltamatrix. Come with me, I had a copy of the blueprints saved on my computer, I can show you more about what it can do."

Spike followed Max upstairs, and when they arrived in a room with dozens of computers, Spike sat down in front of the one that Max walked up to. He looked over the designs and asked, "Wait, the Deltamatrix can fuse aliens?"

Max nodded, "That's one of the more unique features. I suggest you train before using that feature in a fight. We've got plenty of training equipment if you want to."

Spike nodded, "I'd like that." before following Max to a training room. He activated the Deltamatrix and looked through aliens after activating Fusion Mode. "Hmm... let's go with Heatblast and Water Hazard!" before slamming the button down and turning into a fusion, "Fire Hazard!" before looking at himself in a mirror, "Sweet! This is a totally wicked transformation! All right, he's a fusion of Heatblast and Water Hazard, so let's see..." before seeing a pool, "Well, Water Hazard can breathe underwater, but how would Heatblast react with water? Only one way to find out I guess." before running towards and jumping into the pool. His heat combined with the water created a thick rock armor around his body. The only problem, it was a bit difficult to move.

Spike slammed against the bottom of the pool and jumped out. "Well, that answers that question, now let's test out how tough this armor is!" before walking to an armor testing section of the training room, "Hit me as hard as you can!"

Max got on the computer that was used for armor testing and said, "We'll start off easy just to be safe." before letting off small lasers and bullets that just ricocheted off of Fire Hazard's new rocky armor. As the ammunition got stronger, Fire Hazard's armor stood through before Max said, "All right, that's as far as we go, I don't want the armor breaking and hurting you."

Spike nodded, before shooting water from his body and shattering the rocky armor. "Do you have any training drones? I want to test something against something that actually reacts back."

Max thought for a moment, "I've got some men who can help, we'll set their lasers to stun though, just in case."

Spike gulped at the thought of being hit with a stunning laser but nodded. As the Plumbers came out from the back, Spike let out steam from the vents on Fire Hazard's shoulders, causing a smokescreen that made it hard to see, but Spike could see right through it, maneuvering himself and knocking out the trainers. As he knocked the last one out, he inhaled deeply, and the steam entered back into the vents on his shoulders.

As the Deltamatrix timed out, Spike jumped in the air excitedly, "Awesome! If Fire Hazard was that cool, I wonder what other sorts of fusions there are!"

Max chuckled, "You remind me of Ben at your age. You think before you act though, Ben didn't learn to strategize until he put the original Omnitrix back on after we'd finally gotten it off of him."

Spike smiled, "Thanks, Mr. Tennyson. It was nice of you to help me train with the Deltamatrix. Maybe when it recharges, I can try out a new fusion."

Max nodded, "Of course, the training room's ready to train you whenever you need to train. The fusion is the main feature of the Deltamatrix, but Albedo implied there were even more new features, and that he designed the Deltamatrix purely as a weapon. But it's not the weapon that makes the choices, it's the person wielding the weapon."

Spike nodded, "Right, a weapon is only as good or bad as the person who uses it. I'm glad I was the one who got the Deltamatrix, I don't know what might have happened if it got into the wrong hands."

Max nodded, "And I personally don't want to think of what could happen if it did. Still, it does surprise me you found the Deltamatrix in a toy store."

Spike nodded, "Yeah, that is kind of weird. Maybe it was left there for somebody else to claim?"

Meanwhile at an unknown planet...

Albedo was being chastised by a strange alien who said, "You idiot! The dropoff point was a toy store!? How did it not occur to you that somebody would think it was a toy and buy it!"

Albedo growled, "Hey, I didn't pick the dropoff point, one of your goons is responsible for that Tirek."

The alien, Tirek growled, "And you didn't think to alert me when you arrived at the dropoff point and discovered it was a toy store? And you Galvans call yourselves the smartest race in the universe! Dr. Psycobos may have been maniacal, but at least he kept good on his word!"

Albedo growled back, "Hey, don't you dare imply Cerebrocrustaceans are smarter than Galvans! Even the dumbest Galvans are smarter than the-"

Tirek rolled his eyes, "Yes, yes, I've heard that speech dozens of times. Find the Deltamatrix, or I'll send you to the beast pits, and when you find it, don't act, alert me!"

And so, while Spike learns of the Fusion Mode feature of the Deltamatrix, across the galaxy, an alien named Tirek seems to be involved in the creation of the Deltamatrix and threatens Albedo in order to get the Deltamatrix back. Will Albedo be able to get it back, or will he suffer a fate worse than death?

Friendly Little Secret

Spike was going with Twilight to meet with their friends. Spike asked his sister, "Are you sure I should tell them about the Deltamatrix? I mean, it's not that I don't trust them, I'm just being careful."

Twilight nodded, "Yes, you can tell them. They deserve to know too."

Spike sighed, "Fine, but if this goes sideways, I blame you."

As they arrived at their normal hangout, Mr. Smoothie, Spike sat down with a cotton candy smoothie in his hand. As the girls arrived, he said, "So, do you guys remember that news report about Pumpka-Boom?"

Rainbow Dash, the athlete of the group took a sip from her pineapple-coconut smoothie and said, "Yeah, that little dude was strong."

Rarity nodded, "Indeed, and very cute too."

Spike blushed when Rarity called Pumpka-Boom cute and stuttered until he got the words out, "Well, Pumpka-Boom wasn't just a random alien doing the right thing. It was me."

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow and laughed, "Yeah right! What, did you find an Omnitrix somewhere? Good one squirt!"

Spike lifted his hoodie's left sleeve up, revealing the Deltamatrix, "Not an Omnitrix, the Deltamatrix."

As he showed them the Deltamatrix, Rainbow Dash started coughing as she started to choke on her smoothie, and it coming out of her nose. As she cleaned herself up with a napkin, she asked, "Where'd you find that!?"

Spike chuckled as the smoothie shot out of Rainbow Dash's nose and said, "Believe it or not, I bought it in a toy store. But when I tried to play with it, I turned into a Xenomorph. Hell, my dad nearly shot me because of that."

Fluttershy shuddered when Spike said he turned into a Xenomorph once, "I can't believe those things are real... I had nightmares for a week when Applejack chose Alien for our movie night."

Applejack sighed, "Ok, I admit that was a bad idea, but I was always with you to help you through them."

Fluttershy kissed Applejack's cheek, "And that's the only reason I'm not mad at you anymore."

Rainbow Dash cleared her throat, "On the subject of the whole Deltamatrix thing, does that mean you're working with Ben 10?"

Spike nodded, "Yeah, he invited me into the Plumbers."

Pinkie Pie raised an eyebrow, "I didn't know Ben was a plumber, can you give me his number? We busted a pipe at the Sugar Cube last week and haven't been able to get it fixed."

Twilight sighed, "Not that kind of plumber Pinkie, the ones who fight alien criminals."

"Oh! Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie Pie said nodding her head.

Rainbow Dash twiddled her thumbs, "So Spike, if you work for the Plumbers... do you think you can put in a good word for me?"

Everyone looked at Rainbow Dash like she was insane, but suddenly realized, she wasn't the only one who wanted to join.

Spike sighed, "Yeah, come on." before getting up and calling Ben, "Hey Ben, it's Spike. Listen, I've got some friends who want to join the Plumbers with me. I can vouch for them, they're great in a fight, and they're my best friends."

Ben responded, "Sure, I can talk to Grandpa Max about getting them in. Meet me at the HQ in an hour with them, and we'll get started."

Spike sighed in relief, "Thanks Ben." before telling the girls that Ben would help. They headed to the Plumbers HQ, and when they saw Ben, they walked over, "These are my friends Ben. I trust them with my secret identity, and with my life."

Ben smiled, "Well if you're that faithful in them, they're definitely Plumbers now. Follow me, we have to do some procedural stuff, it's boring but quick." before leading them to a room that looked like a doctor's office.

As the girls saw the examiner, Rainbow Dash went first, and the examiner looked at the blood test results and said, "Well Ms. Dash, I'm not sure how to say this but... it seems you're DNA is a mixture of human and Kineceleran DNA."

Rainbow Dash's eyes widened as he told her this, "Are you saying I'm part alien!? ... AWESOME!"

The rest of the group facepalmed, of course, Rainbow Dash would find being part alien cool. Spike said, "It would explain why she's so fast. I mean, Rainbow Dash's top running speed is 25 MPH, that's not normal."

Rainbow Dash thought, "Yeah, I always thought it was just me being awesome, but it is kind of weird that I can run that fast."

After the others had gone through their exams, they all passed with flying colors. As Spike showed the girls around the building, Pinkie Pie asked, "So Spike... can we see some more aliens? Pretty please?"

Spike chuckled lightly, "Sure, let's go into the training room." before leading them to the room he was in the other day when he became Fire Hazard. He activated the Deltamatrix and asked, "Should I just go with an alien, or should I enable Fusion Mode?"

Applejack tilted her head in confusion, "Fusion mode? Are you saying you can become a fusion of two aliens?"

Spike nodded, "That's exactly what I'm saying. The other day when I was here, I fused Heatblast and Water Hazard into Fire Hazard. I can show you a fusion if you want, or a normal alien."

Rarity spoke, "I'd like to see a fusion, but perhaps we should start out small, so I say go for a normal alien."

As the others voiced their agreement with Rarity, Spike nodded, "Let's see... Here's a new one. It's hero time!" before slamming down the transformation button and as he turned into a new alien he named it, "Crocduster!"

As the others looked in awe of Spike's new form, Twilight checked the ALDB, the Alien Lifeform Database and said, "Be careful Spike, that's a Nilinian Aggrillidae. It says that they're aggressive, powerful, stubborn, and think any problem can be solved through violence."

Spike scoffed, "That's not true, sometimes you need to be very violent."

Twilight kept reading, "It also says they're not too bright, and that their main source of energy is pollutants in the air and water. They absorb pollutants into the vents on their back and release it in a cloud of miasma from the vents on their arms and as a beam of energy from their mouth."

Spike thought for a moment, "So... no power demonstration?"

The girls all said at once, "Absolutely not!" Causing Spike to look down in disappointment.

Spike groaned, "Might as well turn back to normal if I'm not going to test Crocduster out." before pressing the Deltamatrix symbol and turning back to normal.

The girls sighed in relief as Spike turned back to normal, and Twilight said, "Well, the six of us have to get to our training, we'll see you later Spike." before the six girls walked off to get ready for training.

And now, Spike's best friends know his secret, and have joined the Plumbers to help Spike fight evil aliens. However, little do they know that there are new enemies rising, both on Earth and far out in the galaxy.

Albedo's Spy Mission

Spike was training in the Plumbers HQ with Rainbow Dash, "You ready for this?" he asked

Rainbow Dash nodded as she stretched, "Yeah, come at me!"

Spike smiled and activated the Deltamatrix before turning into Crocduster. As Rainbow Dash stood up and got ready, he said, "It's clobberin' time!" before absorbing pollutants and getting ready to fire an energy beam from his mouth.

As Spike fired the beam, Rainbow Dash dodged it with her speed. As she ran in circles around Spike, he got dizzy before saying, "That's not gonna work on me!" before absorbing more pollutants and releasing them as miasma.

As Rainbow Dash got caught in the miasma, she coughed before spinning in place to create a vortex to blow it away.

Meanwhile, as they were training, Albedo was watching them from a ventilation shaft. He growled, "Stupid kid. He has no idea what the Deltamatrix is capable of." He thought about what Tirek had told him and moved through the vents to where there was nobody to hear him and activated his communicator, "Tirek, it's me. I found the Deltamatrix, it's in the hands of a ten-year-old named Spike. It doesn't look like he's figured out the true power of it though. What do you want me to do?"

Tirek thought for a moment, "Continue to observe him, and if you get the chance, use your Ultimatrix to get it back from him. I may be the universe's most wanted criminal, but I'm not going to kill a kid because of a screwup on my goons' part. Even I have some principles."

Albedo nodded, "If you say so." before hanging up and saying to himself, "Poor kid... I can't believe Tirek forced me to make such a weapon. Then again, what else was I supposed to do? Tirek's no ordinary thug, he's a criminal mastermind. It doesn't surprise me he's got the death penalty on 12 systems. Where did I go wrong?" before crawling back to watch Spike. "Still, the kid sure knows what he's doing with the Deltamatrix. Maybe... No, I can't think like that right now."

As Spike transformed back to his normal self, he panted, "Damn Rainbow Dash, you gave me a run for my money in that sparring session."

Rainbow Dash was panting as well, "I was about to say the same thing about you. I haven't had a rush that big since the Wonderbolt tryouts."

Spike collected himself and smiled, "Yeah, come on, let's get going." before going to pick up his bag. What he didn't know is that Albedo had planted a bug on Spike's bag, everything that was going on, Albedo could see and hear it.

As they started walking out, Ben called Spike over the communicator, "Spike, we've got a situation! If you're with any of the girls, hurry to the museum, there's a bunch of Forever Knights there, and I'm busy with Khyber!"

Spike nodded and replied, "On it!" before rushing out the door and getting on Rainbow Dash's motorcycle as she got on as well before rushing to the museum. When they got there, Spike hid behind a wall and got ready to transform. "Let's see, I'll go with Fusion Mode! Echo Echo and Spidermonkey should do!" before transforming and saying, "Echo Monkey!" and running to get to the fight, where Rainbow Dash was using her new plasma blaster.

As Rainbow Dash saw Spike's new form she said, "Sweet! Good combo!"

Echo Monkey smiled, "Thanks, now let's do this!" before creating clones of himself to make a circle around the Forever Knights and shooting webbing at them from all directions. "Well, that was easier than I expected."

Rainbow Dash holstered her plasma blaster and said, "Yeah, that really was a good combo using Echo Echo and Spidermonkey.

Spike smiled, "Yeah, but I've got to go before the Deltamatrix times out. See ya!" before shooting webbing to get out through a window and returning to where he left his bag.

Albedo couldn't believe what he saw as Spike turned back to normal, "What!? He already figured out Fusion Mode!? Great, this doesn't make things any easier, especially if he realizes that fusions like that one are still able to use Ultimate forms. I'll have to think about this before I do anything. If I tell Tirek, he's not going to be happy, so I'm not telling him, yet at least."

And so, Albedo contemplates on how to get the Deltamatrix back from Spike. And apparently, Albedo was forced to create the Deltamatrix under the orders of Tirek, an intergalactic wanted criminal. Tirek doesn't want to kill Spike to get the Deltamatrix back, but how long will the sentiment last?