The flashlight illuminated the way as the four of them—Rio, Ben, Gwen, and Grandpa Max—walked through the woods toward where the Omnitrix was found.
On the way, Rio told them everything that had happened to him—except that he could turn into an alien. After all, now was the time to show his acting skills.
"So, you're saying this watch just jumped up and clamped onto your wrist?" Max said slowly, trying to figure out the situation. "And it won't come off?"
"Yeah, Grandpa! I swear, I didn't do anything," Rio said, panic edging his voice.
"I believe you, Rio," Max said seriously, his expression unreadable.
"Think it'll always stick to his arm?" Gwen asked while looking around.
Before anyone could answer, Ben exclaimed, drawing everyone's attention, "Wow! This thing pops up!" He fiddled with the watch on Rio's arm. "Oh, and there are drawings too."
"Ben! Don't mess with it. We still don't know what it is," Max scolded. "Now stop playing with it."
"Yeah, yeah, here." Ben rolled his eyes and pushed the dial down.
As the dial was pushed down, a bright blue light exploded from Rio's body, startling everyone. Ben evidently took a few steps back, falling down.
As the blue light dimmed, Rio was nowhere to be seen.
In his place stood a flame-headed creature, its body made of cracked black rock with molten fire oozing between the fissures. Small volcano-like openings were on its shoulders and biceps.
WHOOSH.
The moment its burning body touched the ground, the fallen leaves instantly burst into flames.
For a heartbeat, nobody moved. Then—
The flame man jumped from his place and anxiously shouted, "Grandpa! I'm on fire, I'm on fire!" Sparks flew from his body as he stumbled away.
"Cool!" Ben, lying on the ground, said with a look of admiration. "Dude, you're literally fire."
Gwen shrieked. "Oh my God!"
"Cool? I would be so cool if it weren't so… not cool," Rio snapped.
Max's eyes narrowed. "Rio, calm down! You're not burning—look at your hands!"
Rio froze, staring at his flaming claws. His skin—or whatever it was now—was unharmed.
"Whoa," he breathed. "I'm on fire, but I'm okay!"
Ben scrambled up, eyes shining. "This is the coolest thing ever! Can you shoot fire?"
"Ben." Max's voice was a warning as he kicked at the leaves that had caught fire. "Extinguish the fire first, interrogate your brother later."
Rio looked at his molten hands. "This is… insane." The words came out rough.
Ben, of course, was already circling him. "Do you shoot fire? Can you, like, melt stuff?"
"Hmm… let's find out." Rio raised his hand toward the sky—
FWOOM!
A fire wave rose upward, painting the trees and their surroundings in an orange glow.
"Woohoo! That's so sick, dude!" Ben exclaimed. "What else can ya do?"
Gwen smacked his shoulder. "Ben, stop! What if he sets a tree on fire next?"
"I don't know what I can do!" Rio snapped his fingers, and embers quickly condensed into a ball on his finger.
The fireball flickered—then popped like a firecracker, scattering embers at everyone's feet.
Gwen crossed her arms. "Next time, aim away from us, Flame Head."
Rio's flaming brow furrowed. "Flame Head? Seriously?"
"What, you got a better name?" Gwen shot back.
"Uh, yeah! How about… Heatblast?" Rio grinned, flames rippling across his face.
Ben pumped his fist. "That's way cooler!"
Max sighed, rubbing his temples. "Kids, we need to figure out how this watch works before—"
BZZZT!
A sudden buzzing sound cuts him off. Two disk-shaped robots, red in color with four spider-like legs and two pincer-like arms with glowing barrels, fly from the forest toward them. It looks like they are attracted by the fire show that Rio puts on in the sky.
Scanning everyone, the robots locate the Omnitrix symbol on Rio's chest and move their pincer arms, the glowing red barrels targeting him.
In just a brief second, laser beams shoot from the circular barrels on their arms toward Rio, but thanks to Rio's quick reflexes, he dodges, rolling sideways as the ground where he stands explodes in a shower of dirt.
"What the—?!" Gwen's face fills with horror.
"KIDS, RUN!" Max shouts, grabbing Ben and Gwen's wrists. They barely have time to react before he pulls them toward the RV.
"Grandpa, Rio is still there!" Ben, regaining focus, yells, struggling.
Gwen's eyes widen as another laser hits the ground where Rio stood seconds before. "They're gonna kill him!"
"Don't worry. He'll be fine—trust me!" Max doesn't slow down, but his grip tightens as he pulls them away. "Right now, we need to get to the RV. Now!"
Behind them, the forest erupts in another explosion of light—but this one isn't from the drones.
After getting up, Rio doesn't waste any time. Thrusting his hands forward, he fires two fireballs.
FWOOSH!
The robots, able to fly, zip aside as the fireballs hit the trees behind them, then lock onto Rio again.
Rio jumps, quickly putting his hands down as his palms and feet blaze like rocket thrusters, and he takes off the ground, adjusting his stance as he flies in the air toward the robots.
While the exchange takes place, Grandpa Max quickly runs inside, searching for the storage compartment. "Ben—fire extinguisher under the sink! Gwen, grab the one near the steering wheel!"
Ben rips open the cabinet, snatching the extinguisher, while Gwen fumbles near the steering wheel.
Max, slamming a fresh cartridge into his own heavy-duty blaster, orders, "Let's go save Rio!"
Meanwhile, in the woods—
One drone fires a laser. Rio barely dodges the laser, which grazes his shoulder. Although it hurts—it doesn't burn.
"Huh. New function noted!"
"Come on! Let's try some new tricks!" He inhales deeply, his chest and neck glowing brighter, then shoots a fire breath from his mouth.
KABOOM!
An explosion occurs as mechanical parts rain down.
The second drone charges, attacking with lasers. Although it misses Rio, the lasers hit a tree, breaking it and starting a fire in the wood.
Rio, knowing the situation is getting dire, makes a compressed explosion behind him, which instantly propels him near the robot lightning-fast.
Arriving near the robot, Rio envelops his arm with fire, condensing a huge flame. The shape of the flame is like a fire fist, making his arm bigger. He punches the robot.
SSSSSSSS!
Half of the robot melts as it hits the ground never to wake up, rejoining its comrade.
Just then, Grandpa Max came back with a silver gun in his hand, ready to fight. But seeing Rio—as a flame man flying in the sky—and scraps of robots on the ground, he was filled with surprise.
"Rio—!" Max said, but his jaw tightened at the blazing trees. "Kids, first, let's stop the fire!"
After Max said so, only then did the children notice that fire had spread in the surrounding forest, already raging everywhere.
Gwen dashed forward, spraying foam, while Ben fumbled with his extinguisher's pin.
"Wait a second, guys!" Rio suddenly shouted, halting everyone. "I think I can take care of it."
He raised his hand. Soon enough, like a magnet, the flames burning in the forest instantly peeled away from the trees and moved closer to him, merging into his body.
The flames surged into Rio's body, filling him with energy—until a sharp beep from the Omnitrix signaled his time was up.
Beep-beep-beep…
With a peculiar sound, the Omnitrix pattern on Rio's chest flickered, and then, a blue light covered his body.
After the light dissipated, Rio—still in mid-air—was back in his human form. With his powers gone, he fell to the ground.
"OH CRAP—"
He hit the ground knees-first, tumbling into a roll before landing on his back.
Ben's grin was blinding. "Dude. You're officially the coolest cousin ever."
Gwen crossed her arms. "And officially grounded if we don't figure out what just happened."
Max holstered his silver gun, exhaling slowly. "First things first, let's go to the RV everyone, it's not safe here."
"Wait a second Grandpa," Rio stopped them pointing towards the metal pile on the ground he said "let's get these too, who knows when they might be useful"
After picking the half remains of the melted robot and the exploded parts of another the group made their way out of the woods.
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Hey there! Thanks for reading my work! I hope this chapter is to your liking. Sorry if you expected more details. Also sorry if you felt it was still too much detail.
If these chapters are a mess of grammatical errors, please point it out and I will try to fix it.
Thanks as always for your time, hope you have a fantastic day and please stay safe.