Omnitranyl (Ben 10 Alien Force)

Just a second, guys, I'm looking here...

Not on this page. Not on this...

Wait a minute...

Here, I found it:

Fe-ar. noun. Definition: 1. a psychological phenomenon of strong affective character, marked by the awareness of a determined and identifiable danger or threatening object. 2. an emotional state resulting from the awareness of danger or threat, whether real, hypothetical, or imaginary. 3. absence of courage.

What does this mean?

It means that we need a dictionary to understand the dictionary.

Fear is one of the most primitive emotions of living beings. For some people it is a tool of power. For others, a mere stepping stone to achieve courage. There are also those who use it as a "justification" for their odd attitudes. Some, on the other hand, find themselves hostage to this feeling and live stagnated, frightened, paralyzed in a way that only the fear of change can explain.

Fear is also one of the pillars of History. It is up to History to analyze the events, the rise and fall of fear and then add a new meaning to this fear: Experience. A people that does not know its own history tends to repeat its fears.

Regardless of how it is used, every fear has a source, an origin, a reason. And, be it the most fragile of insects, or the most powerful creature in the galaxy, everybody has some fear. Everyone. Even galvanian evil-geniuses trapped in human form.

Kevin took a step back when a laser blast crashed into the ground, kicking up dust. The Eternal Knights were battling the triangular ships with their usual stubborn determination. For Kevin the whole situation that was being established in the outer courtyard of the castle only affected him in the realm of "how do I get out of here now?"

The young Osmosian observed Albedo who kept his gaze directed at the spaceships. His gaze was not directed for a single moment at the knights who had tormented his patience for hours. Only the "new visitors" were worthy of his attention.

Albedo had always been known to think himself superior to other creatures, so Kevin found the villain's persistent silence strange. Not a single phrase of debauchery or mean comment. He just stared at the spaceships.

Suddenly, a reaction: Albedo clicked his tongue behind his teeth with contempt, turned his back to the exit and went back inside the castle.

"Where do you think you're going?" asked Kevin.

"Stay with the Entropy Regulator, I don't care anymore."

"Excuse me!?"

Albedo continued walking toward an east corridor.

"There's no way I'm going to accept an answer like that!" Kevin began to follow Albedo with unsteady steps. "You're running away!"

Albedo stopped walking.

"I got it! I got it, didn't I?" Kevin put his hand on Albedo's shoulder and forced him to look straight ahead "Who are these guys?"

"It doesn't matter who they are."

"Of course, it matters!" Kevin pointed toward the exit. "You simply gave up on the Regulator the instant you saw the spaceships. Either they are a danger to you, or they are a danger to all of us!"

Albedo remained silent.

"I've faced these guys before, Albedo; and from the looks of it this time, they were after you!"

Kevin again saw fear in the villain's eyes.

"I got it right again, didn't I?" said Kevin.

"It doesn't matter who they are after."

"Really? Then you won't mind if I go over there and warn them that-"

"Don't do that!"

"Oh, now we understand each other." Kevin stared at Albedo without a drop of patience in his expression. "Who are these guys?"

"They are the Galvanic Guardians," Albedo stared at the ground seriously.

"See, that wasn't so hard! Now I should recognize that name for what?"

Albedo made a contemptuous face and walked down the corridor, leaving Kevin behind, who continued to follow him. At various times, the two of them were forced to hide behind a column or inside some room to avoid being seen by the knights who were heading towards the courtyard.

"Why have I never heard of these guardians if they are so fearsome?" asked Kevin.

"You're not going to leave me alone anyway, are you, Osmosian? You already have the entropy regulator, isn't that what you wanted: to ruin my plans? There, you did it, now leave me alone!"

"No, I won't."

"That's great..."

"There's a lot here that hasn't been explained."

"Really? Go back to the Plumber's Academy and study harder, you look like you used to run away from your classes."

"Actually, I never went."

"Why am I not impressed?"

"But now you are the one on the run! You could easily knock down one of these walls or go through them and escape from here using the Omnitr-"

"Okay, what do you want to know?" Albedo stopped and stared at him, abruptly narrowing the space between the two.

Kevin's chest recoiled at the villain's sudden approach. Then he began to ask:

"Why are you running away from them?"

"Because they are a bunch of psychopaths and are heavily armed."

"So are the Forever Knights."

"But these are different."

"Where did they come from?" asked Kevin.

"From Galvan Prime."

"Galvan? But Galvan is a peaceful planet!"

"It is now."

"Are you referring to the-"

"The Galvan Wars? Yes, I am."

"But the wars ended years ago! Are you guys time travelers or something?"

"What? Of course not!" Albedo looked away, as if staring at his own thoughts, "Although they should be buried in the deepest pit of history."

"Then what are they doing here?"

"Some jerk, and I suspect who this jerk is, must have felt a bit nostalgic and decided to resurrect the secret force known as the Galvanic Guardians to do his dirty work?"

"Secret-force?"

"That's right, secret force. The height of cowardice. With the excuse of protecting the nation, or the innocents, or the government, or whatever lame excuse you can think of; such rulers choose to secretly subjugate anyone who stands in their way."

"So it's not an official force?"

"Certainly not today. Or at least it shouldn't be. The Galvanic Guardians is for Galvan one of the worst scars in its history. A clear example of how cruel a species can be for the sake of a goal."

"How cruel?"

"Kidnappings, torture, exterminations, disappearances, the whole package. It was the butchers of wartime. For them, anyone who did not support them was seen as a possible enemy, regardless of species..."

"And what are these guys doing here?"

"Are you really asking me that?"

"I get it, they're after you," Kevin said, receiving a look from Albedo in response. "I need to warn the Plumb-"

With a bang, a hole opens in the wall of the room they were in. A Guardian spacecraft had been hit in mid-air and had entered the castle with the delicacy of an elephant in a crystal store. Albedo and Kevin put their arms in front of their faces to defend themselves from the debris of the impact. The ship spun in mid-air and crashed into the opposite wall, falling inoperable.

"What the hell!" said Albedo.

"What?"

Albedo jumped over the debris that now occupied the enclosure and headed for the nearest exit. Kevin, moved by adrenaline, followed right behind, ignoring his own injuries.

Suddenly, an analytical laser beam is emitted from the fallen spacecraft and travels through Albedo and Kevin's bodies. A metallic voice is heard soon after:

"F-found-ded-ded energy traces O-o-o-omni...." and deactivated it.

Albedo kept running and turned toward the staircase of one of the towers. Kevin followed behind. As they climbed the steps, they watched from the tower windows the image of the confrontation in the courtyard becoming more and more distant.

"Where are you going?" asked Kevin.

"Never mind, by the way, why are you still following me?"

I don't even know ― thought Kevin.

A metal claw came through one of the windows and grabbed Albedo, pinning his arms together and making it impossible for him to reach his watch. The claw is now pulled by a kind of energy rope, pulling Albedo toward the outside of the tower.

"Damn it!"

Kevin speeds up the steps and catches up to the alien moments before he crosses the window opening. He leaned one of his feet on the wall, trying to keep Albedo inside the tower, and with difficulty, tried to open the arms of the claw.

"Come on, Osmosian!"

"Do me a favor and just shut up!" replied Kevin, getting little response from his effort against the claw.

Suddenly, an electrical pulse travels through the energy rope and electrocutes Albedo, causing him to let out an agonizing scream. Kevin is frightened by the possibility of being electrocuted as well, and impulsively releases the claw that pulls Albedo out the window for good.

Kevin climbs into the opening of the tower and watches the Guardian ship begin to move away, with Albedo unconscious, dangling like a prize machine teddy. The teenager rests his hand on the rocks that made up the window and absorbs enough matter for his arms, then leaps toward the spaceship.

In mid-air, he deforms his hands into spiky balls. His left "hand" strikes the side of the ship and clamps down on the vehicle, which begins to sway in the air with the sudden change in weight. Kevin uses his other "hand" and strikes the spacecraft again, causing it to spin in mid-flight. Albedo remained like a yo-yo, spinning from side to side.

The vehicle spun and lost height until it crashed into the castle wall, hurling Albedo through the air toward the forest. Kevin, in turn, jumped the instant the spaceship hit the stone wall and tried uselessly to cling to the tree nearest the wall. The young man fell, bouncing from branch to branch until he fell face up on the ground.

For a few seconds he remained in this position, first to check if he was really alive, then to think what he was going to do next:

My car is hiding nearby....

With great difficulty, Kevin rose from the ground and made his way through the forest. He tried to walk fast because he knew it was only a matter of time before the Guardians or the Knights would come after him, so he had to ignore the stabbing pain radiating from his wounds.

With only a few meters to go, he could already visualize his car hidden among branches and bushes. Was it a strategy that would probably scratch the paint job? Yes, it was, but at least it worked.

Suddenly, a thud in the back of his skull made his vision blur. The grass on the ground quickly approached his face. Dazed and powerless, he could only see the shapeless image of a pair of tennis shoes approaching before finally fading.

First it was the sound of the forest filling Kevin's ears again. Then a shaft of light entered his eyes and brought back the image of grass and trees. He put one hand on the ground near his face and began to try to get up. His muscles shook with the effort. The headache joined the pain fest of his injuries and decided to make its presence felt with a throbbing thud. He sat down on the grass. He tried to find context for it all.

Gradually, the pain, the forest, the car in front of him, everything took on meaning again. Including:

"The regulator!" said Kevin, reaching into one of his pockets.

Unfortunately, he found no trace of the device. On the contrary, he found a branch lying next to him, probably the tool used to knock him out.

"That bastard!" he muttered.

Driven by rage, Kevin ignored the pain and got up. He staggered to his car and removed the branches. He got into the vehicle, put his head on the back of the seat, and sighed. Then he started the car. Just the vibration of the vehicle was reason enough to sharpen his pain even more, imagine driving. He touched the car's digital panel and activated the autopilot with coordinates for the Plumber's Headquarters.

The car then began to move on its own and headed toward the nearest road.

Kevin opened the glove compartment and took out a small first-aid kit. He placed the case on the passenger seat and took off his torn and scorched T-shirt. He took two pain pills from the case and swallowed them without the need for water. He took a bottle of serum, a packet of gauze and began to clean his wounds.

Suddenly the communicator began to ring. Kevin tapped the panel to accept the call and already started talking:

"Hi Gwen, did something happen?"

"Kevin, where are you?" Gwen said.

"I'm on my way back to the headquarters. I went to take care of some business, but I'm finished for now. Why?" Kevin squeaked slightly between his teeth as he placed the antiseptic gauze on the wound on his leg. "By the way, what about Tennyson?"

"That's exactly why I'm calling you. Ben woke up-"

"That's great news! I knew you would make it! I was sure that if anyone could get Tennyson out of this it would be you!"

The car began to pull into the industrial area of Bellwood. Kevin was beginning to bandage the area around his ribs.

"I was happy too!" said Gwen, "But we have a problem."

"What's wrong?"

"Ben's gone."

The car took the highway access and headed toward the commercial part of town.

"What do you mean, gone?" Kevin was taping tape to the band around his chest "Was it some side effect of the magic or-"

"No, it wasn't. He woke up and ran away. Some cameras in the headquarters caught him as Big Chill through walls and out the east side."

The car slowed down because of the traffic that was settling on the highway overpass. Below the overpass the commercial buildings could be seen, with their huge screens projecting advertisements and breaking news.

"Are you still in the headquarters?" asked the young man.

"Yes, but the place is almost empty, at this moment only me, Cadet Fickell and Technician Sanmwell are in the surveillance room."

"Why 'almost empty', where are the personnel?" Kevin put on the spare shirt he had left tucked under the bench.

"We have a complicated situation in the central part of the city, which has forced several teams to move there. I am almost out of mana so I decided to stay and try to find clues to where Ben might be. I even thought about the possibility of him going to this occurrence as well, but so far he hasn't shown up, and the way he's getting media coverage, it would be crazy for him to expose his identity in this way."

Kevin looked out of the car toward one of the big screens. A reporter was bringing an update on the Central Park situation.

"Gwen."

"Yes?"

"I think I found Ben."

The news report showed an aerial image of Central Park. The triangular ships of the Galvanic Guardians were positioned in a circle around the hostages. Walking towards the ships, a young teenager in a green jacket caught the reporters' attention.