A Hero's Origins
By TheAlienBrony22

Galactic Jailbreak

Within the dark infinite void of space, a large spaceship is heading towards Earth, casting a shadow on the Moon's surface. Another alien threat seems to have set its sights on the planet.

On a single screen, two images have been identified. An image of Armethyst, and an image of Gilda in her mutated state. A robed figure smiles, seeming satisfied with something.

Meanwhile, on Earth, there was a vicious and high-stakes battle happening on the wind farm. The RV was tossed on its side, with Luna, Rook and Dash knocked unconscious.

On the outside of the RV, Zuchi, Sunset, and Chance, who transformed into Armethyst, are knocked back from someone, crashing into the base of one of the windmills.

A distorted and gurgled laugh echoes out. "You're one sorry sight, Rocky! Surprised you can still stand after what I did to you back on the bridge!" the voice remarked, feminine and gruff in its tone and verbal cues.

Armethyst picks himself up, clearly not happy to see this foe. "That's Armethyst, you mutant twat-muncher! Besides, you're one to talk about sorry sights, didja look in the mirror lately?" Armethyst rebutted.

Zuchi and Sunset pick themselves up, with Sunset readying her magic tendrils, and Zuchi powers up, causing her body to spontaneously bulk up for a moment. In front of the trio was a familiar and rather unfriendly face they could recognize all too well. Their perpetrator was Gilda, who seemed to somehow survive her supposed death back in San Francisco, and still as mutated as ever.

Sunset gritted her teeth. She didn't forget what happened back on the bridge, and she was looking at Gilda with the intent to kill. "You ripped a hole in my friend, and knocked the other out cold. It only makes sense to do so to you, ten fold." Sunset gritted angrily.

Gilda sneers and stares daggers at Chance and Sunset. "It's payback time for turning me into a freak! If anyone's getting a new hole ripped in them, it's you two fuckers! The new girl can get some of this too, if she's all buddy-buddy with you!" Gilda snided.

Armethyst rolled his eye and stared the mutated punk down. "You weren't always a freak, you just perceive yourself that way because now, the ugliness inside you, it matches what you look like on the outside!" Armethyst remarked.

Gilda smirked. "Diss me all you want, Marsten, it won't save you from getting another hole ripped in your stomach. Besides, I'm still 10 times better than you! I got all your powers, plus a griffon! I'm "Gilda 11"!" Gilda remarked, firing golden crystal shards from her enlarged Quarzisapien arm.

A few of the shards broke against Armethyst's skin, except for one that Armethyst catches inches away from his face, and breaks himself. "Too bad each one of those is only an eleventh as powerful as my complete transformations!" Armethyst remarked.

Sunset stepped forward and whipped Gilda in the face, sending her sliding back a few feet. "And the magic you absorbed from my geode will fade eventually, especially since you can't even use it properly. You only manifested a new form with it, and that's just pathetic. You made yourself simultaneously stronger and weaker by doing that." Sunset remarked.

Gilda bit into one of the windmills' base, absorbing the nutrients with a mosquito proboscis-like tongue, and shot some kind of shiny white goop at Sunset. She quickly moved out of the way, only for the goo to hit right in Armethyst's face. "Gah!! Ew...! You were right, Sunset, this is gross!" Armethyst remarked, shuddering from the gunk on his face.

Zuchi creates two glowing balls of energy in her hands. "Zuchi will dominate abomination!!" Zuchi roars out.

Zuchi charges at Gilda, grabbing her and flies her up in the air. Unfortunately, Gilda grabs Zuchi, and throws her into a windmill's fan. Gilda laughs as Zuchi knocks her head against a metal propeller, but Sunset uses her magic tendrils to grab Gilda by the feet. Meanwhile, Armethyst notices the entire fan blade that Zuchi crashed into fall down, and quickly gets an idea.

Gilda tries to freeze Sunset, but she easily dodges the attack by rolling out of the way. She continues to hold Gilda in place, wanting to make sure she can't dodge. Armethyst runs back to the fight, holding the fan blade Zuchi crashed into, and throws it at Gilda like a shuriken. It knocks her to the ground, leaving Gilda momentarily stunned. As Gilda gets up and Armethyst jogs over, the two lock eyes, nod, and start charging at each other.

Sunset runs over to Zuchi, hoping to get her back on her feet while Chance keeps Gilda occupied, but something seems to abruptly interrupt the fight. Before Armethyst and Gilda can collide, a red beam from the sky freezes them and teleports them away. After the two alien fighters disappear, Luna, Rook and Dash finally get out of the RV and find nothing but Sunset and Zuchi, who are just as confused as they were, and a trail of smoke in place of where the two fighters would've collided in their fight.

"Chance?" Luna and Sunset called out.

In a dark room, red energy materializes Armethyst, who unfreezes from his position and completes the punch he was going to do. A light illuminates the room, showing what looked like a futuristic prison cell.

Armethyst slowly got to his feet, though he was a bit disoriented. "Ugh, my head. Woah, what happened? Where am I? Why does this look like some kind of space clink?" the alien wondered.

Before Armethyst can try looking for a way out, a rolling yellow mass quickly appears behind him, which unfolds itself into a robot about twice his size. The robot towered over the alien hero, and besides being in such a small area, Armethyst raised his arms to block any possible attacks that may come his way. "Easy now... You look upset! If ya want the top bunk, then that's fine, I'm good with just staying awake in a corner." Armethyst quipped.

The robot unfurls a large blade from its arm joint and starts swiping at Armethyst, but the alien continued to block the attacks. He stops blocking and dodges the blade's swipe for the first time, then grips the blade with his hands a second time. As he holds the blade down, the robot stands up and opens smaller blade arms from its shoulders, which swipe at Armethyst and force him to lose his grip and back up.

Armethyst backs up against a malleable, yet see-through wall. The hero had to assume it was some kind of force field, and it lead to an entire hallway. He sees tons of holding cells, and a whole lot of floors. Chance is a bit overwhelmed, and can only do one thing that matters in this situation. Adapt.

Without hesitation, Armethyst pooled together as much energy as he could, and blast the energy two different ways. One beam ripped a hole in his robotic attacker, causing it to explode in his face, and the second beam ripped a hole in the force field. Thanks to his quick thinking, the explosion propelled the crystalline alien through the hole, and to the other side.

Armethyst quickly got up, noticing that the hole was fixing itself. Armethyst let out a sigh of relief, and looked around at the liminal prison-like location he found himself in. Something was not right with this place, and he needed to find a way out.

Meanwhile, in a silent blue room, the robed figure is observing camera footage of Armethyst escaping. The individual smiles as Armethyst starts to walk around outside of his cell. "Mmh, this one is rather clever, they've got spirit, too. They seem to rely on talking their foes down first, though." The figure commented.

The figure presses a button, switching the footage over to Gilda's cell, where a fight was beginning to brew.

Gilda was fending off some kind of bald gray humanoid in a black and orange-striped jumpsuit, almost looking like some kind of prison uniform. Gilda shot ice and froze the man solid. Without a moment's worth of hesitation, Gilda smacked her tail against the frozen man, and shattered them to pieces. It wasn't much of a fight, but more so a one-sided slaughter.

Gilda laughs and breaks the ice off of the man's severed arm. "Was that all you had!? I eat chumps like you for breakfast. Heh, and speaking of which," Gilda wasted no time in tearing the sleeve off, and swallowing the arm whole. "Didn't have breakfast today. Lucky you, you get to die with a purpose! Being my source of protein! Hahah!!" Gilda cruelly remarked, smirking evilly.

The robed figure leaned back in his seat as he pressed another button, letting the force field that contained her in that cell down. "Sadistic. Cruel. Merciless. Truly, the pinnacle of criminal activity." The figure remarked, as if they were enamored by Gilda's aggressive nature.

Chance continues to walk around, trying to be stealthy. A minute ago, the Omnitrix timed out, leaving Chance on his own to find a way out. Soon enough, he hears footsteps running his way, and he immediately ducks into a small room.

Just as Chance enters it, he's met by three strange individuals, all dressed in prison uniforms, each individual was stranger than the last.

One was a floating brain with tendrils and a circuit-patterned face. The other looked like a buff gray-skinned human with a domino mask over his eyes, dressed in the same kind of prison uniform. Then there was a four-armed female. She had huge muscles, long black hair cascading down one side of her body, with a drastically shaved part of her head being devoid of any hair at all. She had red skin, a similar shade to what Riptile's skin looked like, four orange eyes, and had large gray cuffs on all four of her wrists.

Chance opens his mouth to say something, but the brain uses his tendrils to cover his mouth as the guards run by. The four of them panic in silence for a moment, but then the guards keep getting further and further away. The four of them relax for a moment, and Chance uncovers his mouth. "Thanks for not ratting me out, whoever you three are. Mind if I ask who you are, and where exactly am I?" Chance asked, thanking the strangers.

The gray man nodded. "You're very welcome, young man. I'm rather surprised someone as young as you ended up on the Starcruiser, you must be like the rest of us. Innocent people abducted from their homeworlds, forced to be prisoners for crimes we didn't commit," Chance looked confused, as well as outraged. If what they were saying is true, then he knew someone needed to get their ass kicked. "Forgive me, where are my manners. I am Ultimos, and these two are my allies. Synaptak, and Tini. From what I can gather, Tini's the last of the Tetramands, it's a grim and horrifying fate, to be sure." Ultimos introduced.

The brain squid, known as Synaptak, seemed annoyed. "At least you kept quiet long enough for the guards to pass us by. We still need to know if the opening is, well, open! I refuse to spend another minute on this prison vessel that continues to make a mockery of our organization." Synaptak snapped, clearly aggravated.

Tini simply smiled and patted Synaptak's cranial area. "It'll be okay. We escape soon, find help. Possibly call the Plumbers." Tini reassured.

Synaptak sneered at the tetramand, much to Tini's concern. "Oh please, last thing I need to deal with is that Tennyson fool, him and his pathetic Omnitrix. Didn't like him then, still don't like him now." Synaptak bitterly remarked.

Chance raised an eyebrow at Synaptak's words. "Wait, the Omnitrix? You're talking about the thing I'm wearing right now," Synaptak and his allies beheld the green hourglass on the watch that was being worn by the human in front of them. "What exactly are you referring to as an organization? Who exactly are you people, and how'd you get locked up? How do you even know about the Omnitrix, and who's Tennyson?" Chance questioned.

Ultimos looked to his allies, all three of them looked like they all came to the same conclusion, and Ultimos cleared his throat. "Well, we are the Galactic Enforcers, intergalactic peacekeepers that protect innocent lives across various corners of the universe. Our most recent mission, which was thirty weeks ago, was about investigating a distress beacon being broadcasted from the Andromeda galaxy. As we approached, a fluorescent green wormhole opened up in the vacuum of space, all of a sudden. It sucked our ship in, and spat us out somewhere in the neighboring Triangulum galaxy. Our ship was completely busted, and we tried radioing for help. It didn't take us long to realize that the ship that found us wore our team's emblem. We assumed they were the good guys, but they've since besmirched the meaning of what the Galactic Enforcers are supposed to be. They locked us up and left our ship floating in space, we've been here ever since." Ultimos explained.

Synaptak cleared his throat, metaphorically speaking, and made sure his turn to speak wasn't wasted. "As for how we know about the Omnitrix, it's top secret information, highly classified, which means if you're not a Galactic Enforcer, you don't need to know." Synaptak remarked.

Chance scowled at the brain, and got up to his feet. He could've transformed right then and there, if he could, but he decided to try something different. "Fine, I guess I'll go now, make some noise and tell them about three goofy psych ward escapees hiding in a closet," Synaptak froze up, and as Chance turned around to open the door, he found himself stopped in some kind of psychic grasp. Chance smiled coyly. "Oh? Do I see someone trying to get me to scream out for the guards, rather than make them see me?" Chance questioned, a small smirk forming on his face.

Synaptak let him go, and Chance looked back at him. "That's better, now here's how this is gonna go down. I help you escape, and in return, you tell me who runs this whole place, so I can shut their wrongful imprisonment ship down, agreed?" Chance suggested.

Synaptak scoffed, as his allies looked at each other, as if contemplating the decision. "Please, as if we'd stoop to teaming up with some cheap knock-off Be-"

Ultimos held his hand out to the human for a handshake, smiling warmly. "Consider it done." Ultimos agreed, interrupting Synaptak.

Synaptak was furious, but it's clear that he just wants to leave, so if it helps to have a distraction, then it'll be beneficial to let the human help, at best. "Rrrrgghh!! Fine, but I'm not happy about this." Synaptak remarked.

Tini smiled at Synaptak, and then greeted the human properly. "You aid our escape, I am appreciative. Tell us your name, human." Tini requested.

Chance smiled and held the Omnitrix up for all three of them to see. "I'm Chance Marsten, wielder of the Omnitrix, and defeater of Reinrassic the Second," The Galactic Enforcers were mixed on hearing someone else wield such a device, but they'll get used to it. "Now, I'm gonna step out, and look around. I'll be careful to avoid the guards, but it'd be best for you three to stay here. I'll come back once I've found a way out." Chance stated.

Synaptak shook his head, a smug smirk forming on his face. "No need, we know there's only one way out of this polished prison rocket. The only way out is through the escape pods, but we haven't had the time, nor the right opening to escape. Right now, the guards seem to be looking for one of the prisoners as of this moment, so we've got a clear window." Synaptak explained.

Chance thought for a moment, and carefully opened the door. "You know where the escape pods are located, right?" Chance asked.

Synaptak nodded his head. "We move down this corridor, make a left, then a right, then we go right till we see a large force field with multiple doors. Those doors lead to escape pods, primed and ready for immediate evacuation... or in our case, our escape." Synaptak stated.

Chance nodded his head. "Down the corridor, turn left, then right, keep going right till we see a large force field with tons of doors. Got it. Now, here's where the plan changes, I need to go after someone who might've ended up here with me. I can't, in good conscience, leave them here. They might've done some bad things, but that's because of the power they can't control." Chance explained, moving to the direction the guards went previously.

Synaptak groaned impatiently. "You're risking your chance at escape for some lowlife?! Why!? This is asinine!" Synaptak argued.

Ultimos thought about it for a moment, taking into consideration that the human was wearing the Omnitrix, and suddenly nodded like he understood, a patient smile forming on his face. "Affirmative, let's move." Ultimos stated.

Synaptak and Tini looked at Ultimos, who looked back at the human, clearly seeing that he's made his choice. "Wait, human not coming with us?" Tini questioned.

Synaptak's brain lit up as a look of frustration formed on his face. "This is ridiculous. If he wants to get caught, let him! We have to leave now, while we have a chance to do so uninterrupted!" Synaptak argued.

Ultimos sighed and looked to his frustrated teammate. "I understand the urgency of our mission, but if he has to save someone from this place, and if he's going to try and shut this place down, then it only makes sense that we uphold our end of the deal. We help more people that way by shutting this nightmare down at the source." Ultimos explained.

Ultimos looked to the human. "Listen, in the time we've been here, the prisoners fear the name "Gray Man". It's clear to me, that this individual runs this whole complex. You may not have long, so be fast, efficient, and keep doing the right thing," Chance decided to pull out a pencil and piece of paper, writing the name down so he'll remember it later. "Now go, save your friend. We'll try to hold out as long as we can. If things get too hectic, we either got captured, or we made our escape while we still could. Farewell, Chance 10." Ultimos stated, saluting to the teenager.

Chance gave an awkward smile and a thumbs up to Ultimos, but did salute back. He wasn't that fond of that nickname, and he doubted that it'll ever stick. Nevertheless, he was glad to help those in need, if Ultimos' words were to be believed.

As the three Galactic Enforcers move one way, Chance goes the other, the same direction that the guards went. He knew he could've gone with them, escape this place and leave Gilda here in a literal prison ship, but it didn't feel right, it didn't set right with him. He had to help her, and by proxy, he had to help everyone else who was wrongfully abducted and imprisoned here. Even Gilda.

Chance ran down the hallway, noticing that the Omnitrix was still recharging. He was a bit annoyed that he was still rendered powerless, but he kept moving, focusing on the task at hand. 'Risking myself to save someone who wants me dead, I'm more concerned that this is the start of some form of Stockholm Syndrome. Regardless of what I feel, even Gilda doesn't deserve this. Being imprisoned by a faux judicial system, just to fight for your right to live and survive, that isn't justice. That's psychopathic.' Chance thought.

Regardless of what Chance felt, he knew that saving Gilda and everyone else, this was the right thing to do. It's what a hero would do, to help those in need. Whether they be good or evil, a hero strives to help and save everyone they can.

Chance paused for a moment, looking around and trying to listen for a sign that he was going the right way. He heard the sound of some kind of riot, and he picked up the pace, hoping that he wasn't too late.

Meanwhile, in some kind of cafeteria, several prisoners were surrounding Gilda, and some sort of large, muscular and feral beast man. It had green skin, scales, long dreadlocks tied up into a long tail, as well as four mandibles around its mouth. The rest of its face seemed covered up by a makeshift mask with black glass lenses fixed into the eyeholes.

It roared out, wielding a couple makeshift shivs in its fists, like they were claws. Gilda roared back at the beast, all while the guards tried to push through the crowd to break up the confrontation. Chance pushed through the door, hiding below the crowd, but could tell by the lumbering mass of mismashed alien parts that Gilda was getting aggressive.

The enraged alien roared out and slashed at the mutated girl, only for their hand to get caught and slightly consumed in both ice and golden crystals. The alien didn't seem deterred, and struck Gilda's face, knocking her back against the surrounding crowd. Gilda wiped her mouth, noticing a bit of blackened blood had been spilled from her lip. She gritted her teeth and smirked, her eyes started to go completely red as she looked at her opponent with a hungry look in her eyes. "Ohohoho... you have no idea what you've just done, big boy!" Gilda remarked, flashing her sharp teeth.

Chance managed to finally push himself through the crowd and end up in the fray. He took one look at Gilda, then looked at the large alien that was eyeing him down. "Hoo boy, you sure do know how to fuck around, G!" Chance remarked snidely.

Gilda looked over at Chance, only just now noticing his presence. Rather than launching herself at the alien, she found herself with the urge to try tearing the human apart instead. "How's about you shut your trap, or I'll chew on your head like a wad of gum!" Gilda roared out, lunging towards Chance.

The teen barely had enough time to put his hands up and attempt to keep Gilda from sinking her teeth into him. Chance could see that her eyes were no longer that golden color, but were now pure red, and immediately, Chance was able to put the pieces together in time, and continued to try and keep Gilda from biting him. "Gilda, you need to calm down! It's Zombrex's zombie-ness, it's driving you up the wall. If you bite me, you could very well end up turning me into something that can't die, and can eventually tire you out and rip you apart like a fat man at a buffet!" Gilda wasn't listening, she continued to gnash her teeth at the human, eventually resorting to readying her lower set of pincers to rip another hole in him. Chance gulped and thought for a moment, and decided to try appealing to Gilda's desire for revenge. "G, listen! You want me dead more than anything! Turning me won't fix what happened to you, and if zombie movies taught me anything, this will come back to bite you in the ass, I promise you! Think for a moment, do you actually think that you can escape on your own?!" Chance cried out.

For a brief moment, Gilda seemed to hesitate, but then she was tossed to the side by the alien she was fighting. The alien picked Chance up by the collar of his shirt and sat him on his feet. Chance let out a sigh of relief, dusting himself off as he gave a thumbs up to the alien. Chance looks to the Omnitrix, noticing that it just now completed its recharge, putting him back in the fight. "Yes! Thanks a mil, pal, but I got this now." Chance stated.

Chance popped the dial up and scrolled to an alien he needed and pushed the core down. In a flash of green light, Chance transformed into Riptile, which surprised a lot of the prisoners, even surprising the alien Gilda was fighting. Speaking of, Gilda got up and growled at the transformed human. "You talk a lot about escaping this place, so why send us here to this freakshow in the first place!" Gilda remarked.

The alien hero rolled his eyes, his irritation slowly rising. "Oh sure, blame it on me. News flash, ya mutant broad, I didn't send us here! This place is an illegal prison vessel, we got abducted!" Riptile shot back.

Gilda groaned, she was clearly not happy with her current situation, being challenged by an alien she never saw before, and now continuing the brawl she believes she'll win against Chance. "Regardless how we got here, or who brought us, I know that one thing is for certain, jackass, you're a dead man!" Gilda roared out.

Riptile and Gilda lunge at each other, but just like they were back on Earth, their fight was interrupted when they were teleported away to a new location.

The alien stepped forward, dropping the weaponized utensils as it pushes through the crowd, seeming motivated.

The pair of them land in a room much smaller than the Cafeteria, not a single prisoner was in sight. As they resume moving, Riptile somersaults over Gilda as she throws a punch, and smacks her in the back of the head with his prehensile tongue, stoking her rage. Riptile lands on the ground and notices the change in scenery, and can't help but be a bit worried. "Okay, I definitely did not like that. G, let's call a truce, someone's clearly fucking with us." Riptile commented.

Before Gilda can respond, two robot guards advance in-between them, facing them both. Riptile got a good look at the robots, and noticed how uncanny and familiar the bots looked in comparison to that Synaptak guy, and that Tini lady he met earlier, only they looked like soulless machines in a dazed zombie-like state. "Huh, modeling bots after your prisoners, what a twisted way to remind them that they're their own warden." Riptile quipped, seeming genuinely uncomfortable with this.

The bots twirl their axe-like weapons and jab Riptile and Gilda's chests with the blunt ends, leaving behind a small implanted device. "Ow! Hey, I actually felt that! Back off, you walking scrap pile!" Gilda lashed out and tried to advance on the Tini look-alike, but the guard steps back and presses a button on their neck. Suddenly, both Gilda and Riptile receive a powerful and painful electrical shock all across their bodies. Both aliens were brought to their knees as the guards retreated from the room. Soon enough, the Omnitrix starts timing out and in a flash of light, Chance is turned back into his normal self. "Great, now I'm stuck with peewee the piss ant. Fucking great." Gilda griped.

Chance rolled his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to temper his anger. Chance's body twitches for a moment, likely because of the literal aftershock. "Oh man, where are we?!" Chance looks around for some form of identification of the ship, but soon sees the outside of an overhead window and sees Earth. The ship they are on is moving away, just now passing the moon again. Chance's blood runs cold, and his heart nearly stopped. "...oh fuck, forget I asked! Gilda, pick yourself up, we need to get the hell out of here!!" Chance exclaimed, a sense of urgency and panic filled his tone.

"At ease, Earthling native. This is your home now, there isn't anything you can do, anyway. Escape is impossible!" Gilda and Chance look behind them, the robed alien that had Chance and Gilda's attention, the one that had brought them here, has made himself known. "I don't believe we met... well, for one of you, we haven't met," Chance raised an eyebrow, feeling the figure's gaze on him. "You both have been brought here, because you are criminals. As such, while I run this ship, you are free to do as you wish, but your actions add on more years and offenses to your sentences. Evading capture, starting fights, attempting murder in the highest degree... You both are as criminal as they come." The figure explained.

Chance couldn't tell why, but that alien's voice sounded so familiar, like he just heard that voice hours ago. Gilda, on the other hand, was pretty pissed off. Before Chance could try and reason with the ship's "captain", Gilda angrily shoved him against a wall on top of a platform. "This is all your fault! You got us trapped here!!" Gilda roared out.

Chance slugged Gilda in the face as hard as he could, and despite being in human form, it did seem to surprise the mutant. "First off, this isn't my fault! It's that dipshit in the gaudy robe's fault, they brought us here to be prisoners, accusing us of crimes that I didn't commit! Can't the say the same for you, however," Gilda snarled and growled. "Kindly ask yourself Gilda, and think for a moment. How in the hell is this my fault?!" Chance remarked.

Gilda scoffed. "I don't know... It just fuckin' is, somehow! That's enough for me!" Gilda remarked, clearly not liking that her prey was making a good point.

Chance scowled at the mutant. "Gee, what sound logic you must follow, you ditzy psychotic power-hungry gluttonous bitch!" Chance insulted, his anger was starting to take a lot of precedence.

Gilda got up close to Chance's face and roared out. "Arrogant fuckwad!" Gilda insulted back.

"Prissy punk brat!"

"Whiny little Momma's boy!"

"Pathetic excuse for a freak!"

"Witless dickhead!"

"Parentless, friendless, loveless, and merciless little deformed pussy willow!"

"Puny little bastard!"

"Fugly little miss monster lookin' ass Bastitch!!"

Before another insult could be thrown, or another attack could be made, the pair were once again shocked and teleported back to the Cafeteria. The robed figure seemed rather pleased, and sat back down on his chair.

As the two teleported into the Cafeteria, Gilda lost her footing and fell off the platform. The other alien prisoners were clearly unsure as to what happened, but they seemed to keep themselves focused on their food.

The pair look around, noticing around twenty to nearly fifty or so different foreign aliens sitting down at tables, plus five that seemed content with being on the ceiling, each alien was of all different shapes, colors and sizes. Before either Chance or Gilda can say or do anything, a light bulb descends from the room's ceiling and lights up.

"Meal time!" One alien shouts.

The aliens gather towards what looks like a dispensing station, a bench slides out in front of Chance and trays fold out of the wall. Tiles from the walls slide out and slimy purple growths start hanging down, dripping ooze on to the trays. All of the aliens calmly walk up to the platform and sit down in front of a tray; Begrudingly, Chance and Gilda look at each other, both were equally repulsed, but decided to do the same.

As the two sat down, with Gilda being the braver of the two as she ate the purple slop, ALL of the aliens were heartily devouring this purple goop. The alien sitting next to Chance motions to his tray, and notices how they look a bit like Riptile, only bluer in color, dressed in the same uniform as the other prisoners, and had grills and tattoos. Chance simply smiled and slid his tray the alien's way. "I'm not that hungry, I'm on a diet. Bon Appetit, big guy." Chance remarked.

The Riptile guy shakes his head. "You should eat at least a small portion of it before Wultha'arr demands his offering, the bloody Yautja." the alien states.

Chance and Gilda looked at each other in confusion, then back at the riptile guy. "Who's Wultha'arr?" Chance and Gilda asked in unison.

The alien seemed confused. "Ya just met him, yet you don't know who he is? The beastly girl you tried to scrap with was fighting him, and he helped you up. After you got beamed up to the warden's quarters, he went back to his cell and readied himself for another grueling day at trying to work off his sentence." The riptile guy explained.

A clicking sound rings out, and the entire Cafeteria falls silent. Chance looks over at the alien that was trying to beat Gilda, and it's clear that from his presence, he commanded respect among his fellow prisoners. All of the foreign aliens get down on the ground to bow, and Chance and Gilda decide that for now, they'll go along with it, if it means they don't end up dead, or worse.

Chance looked over at the Riptile guy and poked him to get his attention. "Question, why is everyone bowing to him?" Chance asked.

"Because he's the reigning champion! Every other night, we host a tournament to find out who's stronger, and deserves to command respect from the others. You were wise to follow our lead, otherwise he would've done what all Yautja before him have done... take your skull, and claim it as a trophy." The riptile guy explained.

Wultha'arr comes in front of each alien in the bowing line, one by one, and gulfs down their entire tray of slop, crushing the empty trays with his bare hand. Just as Wultha'arr comes up to Chance's tray, Gilda decides to get back at the human. Gilda sneakily weaves her griffin tail in front of the line and, while Wultha'arr is distracted, her tail picks up the next tray and pies him in the face with it.

Everyone is shocked; purple goo trickled down the Yautja's face, and Gilda feigns innocence. "Wooooow, MAJOR disrespect!" Gilda points to Chance, much to his displeasure. "You gonna take that from him?" Gilda asked.

The Yautja roared and grabs Chance by the collar of his shirt, bringing the human up to his face. "Okay, I know this looks bad, but this wasn't because of-" The Yautja doesn't seem to hesitate throwing Chance to the other side of the room, watching as the human's body slams against the wall. As Wultha'arr readies himself to move on, a flash of light catches his attention. Soon enough, a torrent of ice and snow catch the Yautja off guard, revealing that Chance transformed into Nitrofrost. Wultha'arr notices his upper left arm had been completely encased in ice. "I've had just about enough of people giving me the cold shoulder! Ya wanna tussle, big guy? Then let's tussle!" Nitrofrost announced.

The Yautja removes their mask, their eyes widening in surprise as Nitrofrost punches them away.

Meanwhile, the robed figure looks at the cameras, watching as the human changes their shape and goes against the Yautja. The figure's eyes, still having been watching, widen in anticipation and intrigue. "This human is full of surprises, and coupled with their history with the mutant... Yes, interesting, very interesting indeed. Bring them back to me." The figure said.

From the screen, Gilda and Nitrofrost end up getting teleported out of the Cafeteria, leaving the Yautja to ponder the situation.

The two end up back in the same room they were in prior, where the two look-alike bots immediately pin them down with their weapons. The onlooker reveals himself to the two, though a thin wall separates his room from theirs. The figure removes their hood, revealing Ultimos' face, much to the teen hero's shock. The only noticeable difference that Nitrofrost could see was that this Ultimos had glowing light-blue eyes with slit pupils, and what looked like metal frames and panels being fused with his skin.

"Ultimos" chuckled at the human's reaction. "You recognize this face, do you not? The face of a man I used to be long ago. I am Slix Ultra, the ultimate culmination of science and nature, an artificial intelligence fused with natural intelligence, truly a phenomenal breakthrough. Though, you may affectionately refer to me, as the man you helped escape my complex... Ultimos," Gilda and Nitrofrost tried to break free, but the bots were too strong. "This used to be a Megacruiser, a ship that belonged to a one former Slix Vigma. After fusing Slix's cybernetic components and artificial intelligence with his own, Ultimos became unanimously corrupted by Slix Vigma's psychotic and vile nature, but it was Ultimos' sense of justice that corrupted Slix Vigma's protocols. This ship, along with its former warrior denizens, were now seized under the Galactic Enforcers' name, and have been using this ship as a prison convoy. The Cerephalopod and the Tetramand tried to fight back, but in the end, they were converted into obedient robotic guards. In the wise words of Slix Vigma, everything and everyone on this ship belongs to me. Including you two." Slix Ultra explained, his tone monotonous, yet sinister in the delivery of its words.

Gilda was finally at her limit. "Fat chance, you waste of parts! I don't belong to nobody, "Slick". Fuck this place and fu-" Gilda roared out in pain as she was shocked into silence. Gilda collapsed to the ground, twitching from the shock. "OOooww..." Gilda groaned weakly.

Slix Ultra stepped down and glared lifelessly at the mutant. "Rule No. 1, Paragraph 5, section G-3. I speak, and you listen," Nitrofrost barely managed to muster the strength to get back up and try guarding Gilda. "These eyes see everything on this ship, and these hands control everything on this ship. And I have decided that your - "relationship" - will make you an entertaining team in the upcoming tournament that's happening in a couple hours!" Slix Ultra explained.

Before the two could question what happened, the guards connect Gilda and Nitrofrost's leg with an energy-based leg cuff, much to Gilda's displeasure, but she was still recovering from the shock. "Your fates are now linked. If one of you should happen to expire, the shackles will ensure the other does as well... Now, your opponent awaits!" Slix Ultra explained.

Gilda comes to, and she and Nitrofrost look at each other with concern as they're teleported away.

The pair arrive at a giant circular arena, with a large and recently acquainted shadow looming in front of them. The alien steps forth, revealing themselves to be Wultha'arr, the Yautja they met earlier.

"Uh oh. I think we're in trouble." Nitrofrost commented, not feeling confident in their chances of winning.

The Yautja eyes the pair and nods his head. "I'm sorry, but there's only room for one champion here, me! HRARGH!" The Yautja roars out, charging at the pair.

Nitrofrost and Gilda run in separate directions, but their shackles stop them from getting too far apart, and Wultha'arr grabs them both, tackling them to the ground, expertly somersaulting back on his feet to the cheers of the crowd. Soon enough, the Omnitrix starts timing out, and Chance is turned back into his normal form, and he's not feeling exactly one-hundred percent like he was back on Earth.

Gilda groaned and sneered at Chance. "Nice move, moron!" Gilda mocked.

Chance shot a glare at the mutant. "Give it a rest, G. This is both our problem, and we could end up dead if we don't get our shit together." Chance remarked.

The two look up, noticing Wultha'arr's shadow looming over them. The Yautja grabs the link between their cuffs, and spins them around in the air like a lasso, only to then throw them into an arena wall. Chance groans and Gilda falls to the floor, still feeling twitchy from the shock she received a moment ago. Gilda slowly picks herself up and growls. "Great, now I'm stuck with this stupid piece of dead weight," Gilda grabs Chance and holds him up, ready to try and kill him, all while the crowd begins to boast. "But not for much longer!" Gilda remarked.

Soon enough, Gilda's momentary show of triumph didn't last, and she, along with Chance, received the shocking of a lifetime. Gilda drops Chance to the ground, and she falls on her face. "OOowww... okay, that's really starting to hurt, now..." Gilda remarked, coughing up a small cloud of smoke.

Chance rolled his eyes. "You weren't entirely awake, let alone aware, when he said that our fates were linked, so I'll let you have that one, because I'm a nice guy. In layman's terms, any mistake you or I make, we both pay for it. Big time. You're clearly not taking the electrical shocks that well, and it's a miracle my brain cells are still intact, we need to work together to get out of this alive." Chance explained.

Suddenly, Wultha'arr's silhouette appears above them, about to smash into them as he lets out a roar. Gilda and Chance simultaneously try to dodge but they both get hit, causing a big explosion. Gilda lands on the other side of the ring, while Chance, who was still tethered to her, rolls on the ground and lands on his head, before hitting the ground as well. Gilda glares at her enemy, but notices the Yautja coming and runs away. As she runs she pulls Chance behind her, who gets dragged along the ground.

When Gilda stops, Chance looks up at her, clearly annoyed by the lack of communication. Gilda smugly smiled at him. "Aw gee, I'm sorry, did that huuuurt?" Gilda asked mockingly.

Chance growled and got back on his feet. "You're enjoying this, I can tell." Chance stated.

As Wultha'arr continues to advance on the duo, Gilda focuses on taking the foe head-on, but Chance seems to get an idea. As Wultha'arr approaches, Chance quickly gets behind him. As Wultha'arr attempts to knock Gilda out, Chance tugs on the link connecting his and Gilda's shackles, preventing Gilda from running away, while simultaneously tripping the Yautja over onto Gilda's body.

Gilda kicks the Yautja off of her and snarls at the human, who gave her a smug smirk in response. "Damn, my bad, did that hurt a little?" Chance asked.

Gilda growled. "You did that on purpose, you little puke!" Gilda snided.

Chance rolled his eyes and stared her down. "And you didn't?" Chance shot back.

Gilda opened her mouth to say something, but seemed to hesitate. She sighed and got back on her feet. "Fair enough, I suppose, you win that one, but that's the only time I'll let you win. Remember that." Gilda commented.

The pair look at the crowd, it was mainly comprised of prisoners, and they both could hear the boos coming from all around them. "Sheesh, tough crowd. This is why I'm not a people pleaser, let alone a crowd pleaser." Chance quipped.

Wultha'arr gets back up, hearing the boos from the crowd. "Boos?! No, this can't be happening! I am a hunter, a warrior, I won't be bested by a shapeshifter and their beast!" Wultha'arr turns towards the duo, who are immediately on their guard. "No one boos Wultha'arr, Wultha'arr is Champion!!" Wultha'arr roars out, flexing to the crowd, in an attempt to win them back.

Chance facepalms and sighs. "This is also why I don't watch wrestling, too hammy!" Chance looks to Gilda, who seems a bit exhausted herself. "G, I know you don't wanna listen to me, but he's ragdolling us both, and we keep fighting each other more than we're fighting him! We have to work together, or we're gonna get creamed and our skulls will be his prizes!" Chance rationalized.

Gilda sneered. "You're not my boss, and you never will be, shithead!" Gilda growled.

Chance groaned in frustration. "I'm not saying I'm your boss, I'm saying we both want to live and get the hell out of here! We can fight all we want back on Earth, but this place demands that we cooperate, or we're both gonna end up at the bottom. It's common sense, something you seem to be losing. due to your prolonged mutation." Chance explained.

Gilda was about to strike the human, until the Yautja started to slowly approach. "Fuck this, I'm taking him out myself!!" Gilda roared out.

Gilda uses Fumesquito's proboscis to drain a bit of nutrients out of the metal ground, and spews goo at the Yautja, all while firing golden crystals too. While some of the shards to pierce the Yautja's skin, causing phosphor green blood to slowly leak from the puncture wounds, it got the Yautja's attention, and Wultha'arr was not going down like Gilda thought he would.

The Yautja tore off the goo and pulled the crystals from his body, unflinching as he brandished them like brass knuckles. Gilda's eyes widened a bit, and notices Chance not backing down. "You were saying?" Chance inquired.

The duo start stepping back, and Gilda continues to try slowing down the Yautja. She shoots ice and snow at the alien warrior, but it doesn't seem to slow him down that much. If anything, it freezes his wounds shut. Chance is starting to get a bit concerned, but soon sees a bit of snow and ice come into contact with Fumesquito's goo, and the whole thing starts to harden and become denser.

Chance finally gets a good idea. "That's it! That's how we beat him!" Gilda looks at the human in confusion, and Chance meets her gaze. "Gilda, spew more of Fumesquito's nectar at him, and immediately hit it with Nitrofrost's ice attacks!" Chance suggested.

"What for?" Gilda inquired.

Chance glared at her, and it's not like she had any better ideas. Begrudgingly, Gilda uses the proboscis to take in more nutrients and spews the nectar onto the Yautja. Before they can try ripping it off, Gilda fires off a beam of ice at the goo, causing it to become completely white, and to her own surprise, the goo was suddenly a lot harder to remove.

Wultha'arr struggled to remove the frozen metal nectar, to the point to where he was on his knees. Gilda smirked. "Now that's cold, and I like it!" Gilda remarked.

Chance smiled and approached Gilda. "This explains why your powers are so weak in comparison to my completed transformations. By using your powers in combinations... you can make up for them not being at full power!" Gilda is surprised and looks at her mutated physique. Gilda smiles and notices the Yautja getting back up, slowly forming cracks in the frozen goo it was trapped in. Chance climbs up onto Gilda's back. "Okay, here's another example, G, follow me on this, because we might just win if my math is right. Jump-Kick's relfexes, plus Zombrex's immunity to pain, plus Riptile's strength, plus Vitaguar's speed and enhanced sense, and Pinch's strong pincers equals what?!" Chance questioned.

Gilda smiled and got ready to fight. "...One mean combo breaker!" Gilda answers aloud.

Wultha'arr manages to break the frozen metal nectar off of his body, freeing him from a temporary prison, and he was annoyed. Both he and Gilda run at each other, clashing like warriors who chose to not rely on weapons, and wind down at opposite ends of the arena. Gilda, using his immunity to pain, is fine, but Wultha'arr's makeshift crystal knuckles crumble in front of him.

Gilda wastes no time and rushes over to him before he can react, punching, kicking and basically landing the equivalent to a video game finisher on the alien hunter, knocking him out. The crowd roars, excited, nervous and absolutely surprised that their champion had been dethroned.

Gilda smiles and takes in the praise, and for a moment, so does Chance. The pair take in the admiration, even sharing a couple victory screams. It all felt exhilarating, till Slix Ultra's voice suddenly came on over some kind of announcement system.

"Congratulations to our prison's newest champions," Suddenly, a hologram of Slix Ultra appears in the middle of the ring, motioning to Wultha'arr on the ground. "Now, finish him off! Only the strong are allowed to survive!" Slix Ultra commanded.

Chance stops celebrating and looks over at the unconscious Yautja. Chance took a moment to think about what he was doing, and suddenly he felt his common sense finally start kicking back into gear. "Wait what?! N-No, we can't kill him! This isn't right!" Chance argued.

Suddenly, Chance was shaken off of Gilda's back. "Speak for yourself, doofus! I'll gladly get that bastard's blood on my hands." Gilda remarked.

As Gilda started walking towards the unconscious warrior, Chance pulls on his shackle link before Gilda gets any closer to land a killing blow. Gilda snaps around at Chance, and suddenly finds himself to be her intended target again, much to his chagrin. "Couldn't be happy for one moment, couldja!? That's it! It's Go-time, again!" Gilda exclaimed.

Gilda pulls on the link, dragging Chance across the ground towards her. Gilda gets ready to use a finishing move on him, but then the both of them are shocked by their collars, causing both of them to yell out in pain. Gilda collapses on top of the human, and two guards quickly arrive on the scene to retrieve them. "Mercy? What a novel and nostalgic concept, for a couple of criminals," Slix Ultra looks to a computer on his end. "Prepare for galactic hyperjump! I need to - recruit some new blood - worthy of our champions of crime." Slix Ultra ordered.

The fight is declared to be over, and the prisoners are soon escorted back to the Cafeteria, Wultha'arr, Gilda and Chance included.

Chance and Gilda eventually wake up inside the Cafeteria, and as they stand up, all the aliens bow to them in a similar manner to how they once bowed for Wultha'arr, as if they were paying homage to their victory. Chance was a bit uncomfortable with how people were bowing to him, Gilda didn't seem all that weirded out. If anything, she loved the show of respect she was getting. "Finally, nice to finally get a little respect around here! Bow to me, bitches!!" The pair look over, noticing a stone-faced Wultha'arr approaching them. "Nice job letting him live, dipshit, now he's likely got it out for us!" Gilda reprimanded.

Chance flipped the bird in Gilda's general direction without saying another word, and just worried about how Wultha'arr was going to react. Chance braced himself for something to happen, but to his own surprise, Wultha'arr knelt down in front of them both, holding out his tray of purple slop as a type of offering. "Uh... what're ya doin'?" Chance asked.

Wultha'arr hung his head low. "You bested the best, then spared my life. Among my people, this kind of act would have a hunter like myself be seen as inferior. But here, mercy is a commodity, a rarity in its purest form to be given a second chance. Now, you are my master." Wultha'arr explained.

Chance was finally starting to remember why he came after Gilda in the first place, and it was to get the hell off this ship. Now he felt like he truly couldn't leave any of them here, not out of good conscience or overwhelming guilt, at least.

Gilda snatched the tray of slop from Wultha'arr's hands and claims the offering herself. "Well, let me be the first to say, it was actually all my idea! Don't know why you're wasting your time with this scrawny puke, but whatever." Gilda remarked, swallowing the goop in one bite.

Chance felt utterly repulsed. "You did not just actually eat that shit, did you?!" Chance questioned with concern.

Gilda shrugged. "Don't knock it till ya try it, shrimp! Besides, it's not that bad! Beats the food they serve in the penitentiary any day!" Gilda remarked, moving over to a seat to sit down.

Chance looked at Wultha'arr, and finally decided that this was the most opportune time to make an escape. "Look, hunter dude, I don't wanna be your master. I just wanna get me, and my mutated... uh... frie-.... acquain-..." Chance thought about how to best describe Gilda, and just gave up. "I need to get myself, and this gargantuan bitch off this ship and back home to Earth." Chance explained.

The Yautja peers behind him. The guards are still there at the doors. He gets in closer to the human. "Even if you could free your collar and escape, this ship will soon be traveling to a new galaxy. It's already too late for some of us, there's no point in us trying to escape." Wultha'arr explained.

Chance wasn't about to give up, not after all this. "It's never too late to do the right thing. There must be some way to get to the guard's collar controls." Chance wondered, eyeing the guards carefully.

Wultha'arr sighed and shook his head. "Don't bother, we all have tried. None of us are powerful enough to overtake them! Even with my hunting prowess, and my silent movements, they still caught on to my attempts. I'm ashamed to call myself a hunter, let alone a warrior." Wultha'arr explained.

Chance thought about their situation for a moment, but then he started thinking about how he and Gilda were working together. By using Chance's knowledge on his transformations, and with a bit of cooperation, they were able to beat a trained hunter, a warrior that could've killed them at any time they wished. "Maybe the way you all went about this is wrong. The idea of escaping is something we all want, but you've all been going about it the wrong way." Chance stated.

The prisoners looked to the human in confusion, some were curious as to what the human was trying to say. "You all tried to escape on your own, didn't you?" The prisoners nodded their heads, and that was what the teenager thought was the problem. "That's the issue, you tried to escape on your own, but remember when me and Gilda fought your former champion? It was only through working together, cooperating, and looking out for each other, that we managed to win and come out on top as the victors of the fight! I know it's risky, but I risked my life for a bunch of alien strangers before when taking on Reinrassic II when he came to Earth not too long ago, and I'll do it again! It's time for a prison break, everyone, and it's time to shut that cyborg fucker down!!" Chance proclaimed.

The prisoners looked at one another, and as Chance stood up, the other prisoners, except for Gilda, stood with him. "Now, everyone huddle up, and G, listen in if you can. Here's what's gonna go down..." Chance started.

After some time has passed, the prisoners were brought back to their cells. Chance is hunched over at the wall on the right side of his cell, over where two robot guards are standing guard on the ground floor, guarding a set of doors. The plan was ready. He looks up, seeing Wultha'arr on the other side and on the floor above him in his own cell, and winks in his direction.

The Yautja nods and makes a clicking noise to his left, which was Chance's right. Within the cell next door to the Omnitrix wearer's was two aliens. One was Gilda, who was on the bottom bunk, and the other was a frog/tadpole hybrid alien, who seemed to let their tail down and tap Gilda in the face. Gilda nods, and puts on an angry face, trying her best to look annoyed. "Raaahhh!!! I can't take this shit no more! Get me off this fuckin' ship, now!" Gilda roared out loudly, firing energy blasts and crystals all across the room.

The Yautja see the guards coming up. "Stop her, she's out of control!!" Wultha'arr called out.

In a flash of green light that the guards took no notice of, Chance had gotten the signal to do his part of the plan. Soon enough, the forcefields that kept the prisoners in their cells started to shut down one-by-one in rapid succession. The prisoners get out and instinctively for the guards and their shock collar controls, to which the guards give the prisoners a shock. All of the aliens are blasted back by their shocks as usual, but something's different.

The collars sputter and short out soon after delivering the shocks. "The shock collars. They're disabled!" One of the aliens cried out.

The drones back up, only to then be shocked themselves as they crumple to the floor, with Crime Detector floating above them. "Consider this your break. Numerous crimes have been committed by this Slix Ultra, and I intend to enact justice." Crime Detector stated flatly.

On the opposite side of a door, a guard is pressing its buttons to try and open it, but then Wultha'arr quickly roars out and smashes it. "FREEDOM!" The Yautja shouts. Another guard is suddenly destroyed behind him by one of the ceiling aliens.

While Gilda is busy beating away at a guard on the ground, Crime Detector moves in behind her. "Gilda, it is imperative that we get moving immediately." Crime Detector informed.

Gilda groaned. "Just when I'm starting to have fun, too!" Gilda griped. She gave the guard one final punch, then begrudgingly follows the transformed hero.

Meanwhile, up high in Slix Ultra's office, above the repurposed arenas, Gilda opens a sliding door to an empty room. Crime Detector rolls up beside her and attempts to get a scan of the area. "The controls to the emergency escape pod should be somewhere. Slix Ultra said he controls everything on this ship from here, but I cannot seem to detect any large compressed storage units for data and computer equipment." Crime Detector stated.

The pair spend a moment or two scratching their heads over what they were missing, when all of a sudden, Slix Ultra's voice and image appear on monitors in the room. "What a pathetic attempt to find my controls. Next time, listen to my words more carefully, human, what you thought - that's not quite accurate. What is said was, "these hands control everything on this ship", including them," Soon enough, multiple guards, along with the Synaptak and Tini look-alikes enter the room and surround the pair. Each guard was now equipped with large axe-like weapons. "And, unlike you, they have no problem finishing off their opponents." Slix Ultra commented.

The pair assess the situation, and it's becoming clear to the duo, that their escape was gonna be the furthest thing from easy. "I told you, these eyes see everything, and so will everybody else," The sound of a recorded loop of a cheering crowd plays out, and the duo look outside the tower. Slix Ultra was out there, standing on a hovering device, wearing what looked like a comic book-inspired superhero costume, cape and all, painted in white, yellow, gold, with a big U on the chest. The spare parts that stuck out of him were clearly a result of him becoming more cybernetically augmented, but he seemed to have a manic grin on his face. "But your demise will not be the opening act, theirs will. After all, a criminal will always be a criminal, in life... and in death. And according to the laws and traditions of the Yautja people, this one has already set himself up to die like a whelp." Slix Ultra explained.

A video feed shows up on one of the holographic screens, displaying the main arena. All of the falsely accused alien prisoners, Wultha'arr included, are there, cuffed and at the mercy of many guards. A ring of the arena lowers into a pit full of savage orange/purple beasts, jumping at them in hunger. Wultha'arr is aghast, but at the same time, he almost looks like he's accepted his fate.

The pair look back at the guards, and get ready to fight. "That's where you made your first and last mistake, Slix Ultra. If we're going down-" Crime Detector morphed his arms into cannons.

Gilda cracked her knuckles and readied herself for a brawl. "-we're going down fighting!" Gilda roared out.

Soon enough, the Omnitrix starts timing out, but Crime Detector manages to quickly fire off two consecutive blasts before being forced to transform back into his normal form. Chance, now in his human form, balls his hands into fists and gets into a boxing position. Gilda and Chance look at each other, and for the first time since they got here, they smiled and nodded at each other. Before Slix Ultra could understand what exactly just happened, the duo roared out and leapt at the guards.

They dodge one guard's weapon energy blast, and another's axe swipe. Gilda grabs one guard and starts trying to bash its head in, while Chance was battering the other guards back, even resorting to snatching one of their axes and slicing one of them in half. Chance tossed the axe aside and ran at another guard, only to be hit by an electric shock in the process. However, that didn't seem to stop him this time. Chance stared at the guard, and for a moment, it seemed like the boy was angry, about what, no one seemed to know.

He punched the guard and knocked it back, then he punched it again, leaving a fist-shaped dent where he landed his blow. Gilda threw one of the guards at the others, all while Chance grabbed the axe again, and twirled it between his fingers. Gilda formed her arm into a large golden crystal blade, and started to stab and slice through the guards in a similar vicious manner that the teen hero was, and it was getting pretty ugly. Five guards remained, and the pair charged at them, cutting, punching, kicking, even dismembering them.

Soon enough, one of the guards tries to land a hit, but Chance brings the axe down and cleaves it in half, straight down the middle as it sparks and collapses into a pile of busted scrap metal. Chance tosses the axe down and falls to his knees for a moment. Chance starts to slow his breathing, only just now realizing he was breathing like a madman. Adrenaline pumped through his body, and soon enough, his breathing slowed down enough for him to try and regain his composure. Everything felt so intense, it took the hero a moment before realizing the carnage he left in his wake.

Before the duo could say anything, more guards started to enter the room. Chance and Gilda run out and reach the tower's balcony, and peer down at the arena below.

Meanwhile, Wultha'arr breaks out of his hand cuffs and turns to face his guards, but they zap him back with their energy blasts. Wultha'arr almost falls off the ring, gripping the edge. The animals leer, the recording of the crowd's cheers echo out, and Slix is calmly watching aboard his hovering craft. As Wultha'arr gets ready to accept his fate, Slix Ultra looks up, and sees both Chance and Gilda free falling in his direction. Kevin manages to land on top of Slix Ultra, while Chance lands on Gilda's back and goes to pull Wultha'arr up.

Wultha'arr dusts himself off, and nods at the human. "You've spared my life yet again, Earthling." Wultha'arr stated.

Chance groaned. "We can talk about that later, right now-" Chance looks over and sees Gilda holding Slix Ultra up by his throat, ready to crush his head into pieces. "G!! NO!!! Don't do that, or we're not getting out of here!!" Chance called out in a panic.

Gilda glares at the human, only to continue squeezing Slix Ultra's head. "How do you like being at someone's mercy for a change, asshole!" Gilda taunted, growling in Slix Ultra's face.

Chance quickly got in-between them, but Gilda still had her grasp on Slix's head. "Gilda, stop! Ease up, at least! We still have to let him open the escape pods!" Chance reminded.

Gilda growled and didn't bother looking down at the Omnitrix user. "I am done listening to you, I'm no one's patsy!!" Gilda roared out.

Slix Ultra managed to punch Gilda away with a surprising amount of force, but Slix seemed to be shorting out, sparks of electricity occasionally jumped out of the cyborg alien mastermind. "This is not part of the show. I co-mmand you-to...stop them...stop them...stop-" Slix Ultra kept repeating the word stop without any sign of stopping, his head sputters with electrical sparks, as do the robot guards, and the Synaptak and Tini look-alikes.

Chance finally understands what's happening here. "Wait, of course! The lack of computers and actual equipment in his office, it all makes sense!!" Chance tried to fiddle with the Omnitrix in an attempt to transform, all while Gilda got up and got Slix Ultra's head back in her grasp. "G, you need to trust me! Don't kill him, just hold him still while I dial in another alien!" Chance remarked.

Gilda doesn't listen, but it's clear that she's practically done taking orders. Gilda lifts Slix Ultra over her head, ready to attempt snapping him in half over her knee. But before that happens, a flash of green light shines out behind him, and Slix Ultra breaks free from Gilda's grasp.

Gilda is left confused, but soon sees that Crime Detector has made himself appear once more. "What the-!?" Gilda watched as Slix Ultra pulled Wultha'arr, Crime Detector and Gilda up. "How the hell did you-!?"

Crime Detector let Gilda go, and floated in mid-air next to Slix Ultra. "It's like I've been attempting to explain. Slix Ultra doesn't just operate the control console, but rather, he is the control console! It's likely that whatever happened to this Ultimos, it thought it be best to integrate with an organic being that resembles that of a superhero, makes things easier to keep covert and under the radar! Now with him under my control, I technically have control over everything on this ship!" Crime Detector explained.

Gilda rolled her eyes. "Well goody-goody for you, peewee. As long as I'm not chained up to your passive pansy ass for another minute!" Gilda remarked.

Through connecting with Slix Ultra, Crime Detector keeps the hovercraft stable and types away at a few keys. "Initiating intergalactic hyperjump launch." A voice announced.

"An Error has occurred. Slix Ultra is attempting to regain control-" Slix Ultra's manic smile starts to slowly form on his face. It's clear that Slix Ultra's will is stronger than Crime Detector anticipated.

"You don't have as much control over me as you thought, criminal scum..." Slix Ultra hissed.

Without a moment of hesitation, Wultha'arr punches Slix's exposed face, and the transformed hero assumes control of his body again. Crime Detector lands the hovercraft on the arena floor and meets up with the other aliens. "We must get to the escape pods before we blast off to the next galaxy!" Wultha'arr cautioned.

Crime Detector took a moment, and seemed very inclined to listen. "The next destination is apparently located in the Whirlpool Galaxy, we'll be too far gone if the launch succeeds with us on it." Crime Detector stated.

Through controlling Slix Ultra, he presses a single button, and the imprisoned aliens, along with the trio themselves, are all teleported away.

Once they teleport into the escape pod chamber, Gilda is already trying to punch a pod door open, with very little success. "Lemme guess, that robot pile of garbage has to open it?" Gilda questioned.

Crime Detector nods. Slix Ultra's body raises its arms, producing six mechanical tentacles from his chest and inserts them into a lock next to the pod door. They twist the mechanism open and, all around the room, the doors to the escape pods open. Crime Detector turns to the escaping aliens and gestures to the opened pods. "Each pod is programmed to get each and every single one of you home to your home planets, please escape in an orderly fashion." Crime Detector requests.

All the aliens find and enter a pod with no hesitation, except for Wultha'arr, who stops himself and stares at the pod, seeming concerned and surprisingly hesitant to leave. The rest all eject from the prison cruiser and fly off into different directions of space. Crime Detector appears behind Wultha'arr, wondering what the hold up is. "Is there a problem? If not, then you must go, while you still have a chance." Crime Detector cautioned.

Wultha'arr shakes his head and turns to the transformed teenager. "I cannot. Not only does my life still belong to you, I cannot return to Yautja Prime, not like this. I am a disgrace to my race, my culture, my traditions, how could I go back after getting captured and imprisoned here for so long." Wultha'arr somberly explained.

Crime Detector sighs and pushes Wultha'arr into the escape pod. "If Yautja Prime is somewhere you can no longer call home, then make the journey to Earth, start anew and get yourself back on your feet. Forget the tradition of your people, just do what you think is right. I'll return to Earth momentarily." Crime Detector explains, closing the pod door.

Soon enough, the Omnitrix starts beeping, and Slix Ultra starts to break free from Crime Detector's control. In a flash of light, Chance is transformed back to normal. "Oh man! Not now!" Chance cried out.

Slix Ultra grabs Chance by the throat, and starts to squeeze, much to the boy's rising sense of panic. Slix Ultra was fuming, he was beyond anger. "You little human meatbag... Nobody controls Slix Ultra, not even a criminal! You hear me?! Nobodyyyy!" The sound of something tearing through metal and flesh could be heard, and Slix Ultra dropped Chance abruptly.

As Chance tried to get some air back in his lungs, he looks up and is surprised to see Gilda, who jammed a golden crystal blade through Slix Ultra's body, and then crushed his head in her free hand, like an oiled grape. "G?!" Chance questioned.

Gilda sneered and tossed Slix Ultra's lifeless carcass over her body, letting it collapse to the ground. "What, you gonna bitch and moan about how I saved your stupid ass?!" Gilda questioned defensively.

Chance shook his head and quickly scrambled back to his feet. "No! I just... I wasn't expecting you to save my life, that was the one thing I never expected to happen today. Why did you save me? You could've let him kill me, or you could've killed us both at the same time... I'm very confused, and kinda conflicted, but that doesn't mean I'm not appreciative. Just... why?" Chance asked.

Gilda didn't answer right away, but it was very clear that she wasn't happy about it. "Don't read too deep into it, Marsten. I guess you could say I was inspired, but don't mistake this for friendship, dumbass. I hate you, and I know you hate me, but... I guess I felt like I owed ya, and consider this me bein' generous," Gilda pointed to an empty escape pod that was right behind Chance. "Go, go continue being a goody-goody and go back to Earth, and leave me be." Gilda vaguely explained.

As the mutant walked away, Chance immediately got in front of her. "What, are you a dumb puppy?! Get the fuck out!" Gilda barked.

Chance didn't move, so Gilda's hand was forced. Gilda wrapped Chance up in Fumesquito's nectar, and tossed him into the escape pod, closing it behind her as she ran deeper into the ship.

By the time Chance broke out of the nectar, the pod had just launched, and it was going towards Earth, specifically... the very same place where the two vanished in an instant. Chance sat in the escape pod, wondering just what exactly happened.

The teen hero was thrown for a loop. Gilda had spent the entire time getting into fights and fighting him since they got on that prison cruiser, but in the end, she let herself be stuck on that ship, sacrificing the one chance she had to go back to Earth, and she told him, the guy she fucking hated, and blamed for her mutation, to leave her there.

Chance looked out the window, just in time to see the ship vanish, and just as the escape pod breached Earth's atmosphere. Chance had so many questions racking around in his brain, but one seemed so prevalent and persistent that it demanded an answer. "Why did she save me?" Chance quietly asked himself.

Back on Earth, Luna, Sunset, Zuchi and Rook were trying to think about how to save Chance from wherever he ended up, but just as they come up with a plan, Chance's escape pod lands on the wind farm, burying the front end of the pod in the ground, with the hatch still being above ground for an easy escape.

The four of them rush over as the pod opens up, revealing a disoriented Chance Marsten as he clumsily got out of the pod. "Oof, next time I ride in an escape pod, I'm double checking for one built for first class! Jeez!" Chance comments, cracking his neck as he returns his feet to more solid ground.

Sunset and Luna ran over to him, pulling him into a tight hug. "Mister Marsten, you sure know how to scare the hell out of us! We were worried that Gilda learned how to do something new, and deadly!" Chance chuckled at that thought, and hugged them tighter. Eventually, Chance let them go, and stretched his body for a moment. "What happened anyway? Where did you go?!" Luna questioned.

Chance looked a bit unsure and scratched the back of his head. "It's a long story, you guys okay?" Chance asked.

Rook nodded. "Affirmative, we survived the fight and let our wounds heal without wasting Senzu Beans. This Gilda individual really is a powerful opponent, however." Rook reported.

Zuchi nodded, a confident smirk on her face. "Yeah, mutant girl is very strong. She's no saiyan, but she'll make for great fight later," Zuchi looks around, and seems to take note of a lack of Gilda herself being present. "Speaking of which, where mutant girl go?" Zuchi questioned.

Sunset looked to her friend, seeing an unfamiliar expression on his face. "Yeah, I'm a bit curious myself, pal, what happened to Gilda?" Sunset asked.

Chance didn't answer immediately, but he didn't seem to have a concrete answer himself. "...I'll be honest with you all, I don't know. I was with her, we fought with each other, and ended up stuck together, fighting for our survival and we helped tons of aliens escape, but at the same time, she saved my life and told me to come back to Earth... she didn't want to go back, and I don't know why," Chance looked around, noticing that Dash wasn't around. "Now's my turn to ask why someone's missing. Where's Rainbow Dash?" Chance asked.

Luna sighed. "She assumed that the worst had occurred, you and Gilda took each other out, to the point where there was nothing left of you. We tried to get her to understand that this couldn't've been possible... b-but she wouldn't let us get a word in. Before we could even attempt to stop her, she used her magic to fly back to Canterlot City," Chance hung his head low, and leaned against his escape pod. "Sunset already got into contact with the others, trying to explain the situation, and promised them that she'd update the situation... Now that you're back, we don't exactly know how we're gonna tell miss Dash, that Gilda is no longer here." Luna explained.

Chance took a deep breath and sighed. "Let me tell her the truth. I was there, and you guys weren't... frankly, I'm glad you weren't there, it was hell." Chance vaguely described.

Chance looked over, noticing that the RV was back on the road, and the wind shield was fixed. "I'm gonna take a quick nap, think about a few things, and then Sunset can call Dash so I can tell her the whole story. I feel like I haven't slept in days, but it's only been a few hours." Chance remarked.

As the hero walked towards the RV, the other four walked back as well. Exhaustion made his mind feel heavy, like an anvil made out of bricks and mortar, but at the same time, he felt hopeful, a bit more optimistic than he did the night before.

Before he stepped into the RV, he looked up into the sky, letting a small smile form on his face. 'Good luck, Gilda, wherever you are now. We'll see each other again, and when we do, I'll be stronger than before.' Chance thought.

Author's Note

And that, was my version of 'Grudge Match', as well as my version of 'The Galactic Enforcers', just to make things a bit more interesting.

So, in the beginning of the chapter, Chance encountered another version of the Galactic Enforcers, they came from another universe that has a Ben Tennyson in it. It's not necessarily Ben Prime, but it's another version of him that'll likely become very important later.

Now, it's around this time that I'm testing the waters to do some more experimental storytelling with other characters. I decided to include the Yautja, aka, the Predators, into this story's universe, solely because I have an ideal chapter I wanna tackle, and maybe bring back Wultha'arr when I get the chance to.

I had the idea to incorporate the idea that Chance's version of the Galactic Enforcers ended up basically becoming zombie-like slaves to Slix Vigma's artificial intelligence and persistent show of willpower and aggression for a couple of weeks, and it made sense at the time, and even while finalizing this story, it still works, to me at least.

I also wanted to show that this Gilda still had the potential to reform, as well as to show just how fractured her mental state became in such little time, that part of her original mentality still exists in remnant bursts of neurons, but having ten aliens inside you, as well as a griffin that manifested through stolen magic, it's not doing her any favors.

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, I need to get to another equally important episode ASAP.