Chapter 18: Running Out of Time?

I set off, flying into space. I let the Omnitrix guide me to my destination. As I'm flying, however, and before I'm able to reach maximum velocity and enter hyperspeed, I'm suddenly assaulted with massive amounts of pain. I stop flying and clutch my head in pain. My surroundings shake as if there's an earthquake reverberating all around the universe.

Although I was used to the pain of torture and death but, this was something else. I felt like my whole body was being ripped into pieces as if I'm being rejected by the very universe that I was born and reside in.

'Why? Why… Why now? What's happening to me? Or is the right question… What's happening to everything?'

The quake lasts around 5 minutes before everything goes back to normal… As if nothing happened… 'Omnitrix what just happened? What was that?'

'Analyzing… Error… Analyzing… Situation identified… The user just experienced a time quake.'

'What is a time quake, and why did it happen?'

'According to this device's database, a time quake Is a phenomenon that occurs when the timeline is at risk of destabilizing. The Omnitrix has concluded that the time quake happened because of the main timeline resetting, causing this timeline to be put in flux.

This timeline will either stabilize and continue to exist as a part of the multiverse or it will destabilize into nothing and everyone and everything that exists within this timeline will be erased.'

'Wait… Give me a second to process this… So, basically, this timeline is at risk of being fully erased… HEH… HEHEHE… Yeah, of course, why not? Let's add universal erasure to the list of shit that's happening. Why question it at this point? So, Omnitrix what can I do to stop this from happening?'

'The user can do nothing to avoid or stop this phenomenon. If timeline erasure is indeed what's going to happen, then the user is incapable of interfering.'

'Deep breaths Tennyson, DEEP breaths. What about Alien X? Can I use him to just stabilize the timeline if both Bellicus and Serena agree to it? Or even better what if I use Ultimate Alien X to stop this event?'

'Even with the transformation the user calls Alien X, the user will not be able to do anything to affect this event. Although this transformation can manipulate space and time, however, the whole timeline is at risk of erasure, and Alien X although supreme, is still a being that resides in this timeline.'

I smile which turns into a chuckle, then turns into full-blown uncontrollable laughter. 'In the end, nothing I can do but hope for the worst case to never come to fruition. Great… Always love to feel helpless... Getting erased with the universe just like that… Yeah… Sounds about right for me.'

Before I could continue my line of thought I'm interrupted by the watch, 'User must realize that it is only a possibility which is unknown what time it could occur. It could suddenly happen in a minute, or it could happen in many years, or the timeline could just stabilize. This device will also try and ensure the user's survival if this event occurs.'

'Yeah, yeah sure, knock yourself out. You're right about one thing though, I'll just leave this for now and continue my journey to stop Malware and the others. Omnitrix, lead me to Malware.'

'Acknowledged.'

Just like that, I continue my voyage. Time passes and I approach a planet. The planet, while approaching it, appears to be a mixture of yellow, blue, and white with a hint of green bordering each color. As I enter the planet's atmosphere, I see forests all around with no sign of homes, facilities, or buildings. The planet seems to be a more primal planet that supports the life of savage creatures.

I transform into Spidermonkey to make traversing the area easier and continue to follow the Omnitrix's directions that should lead me to Malware. Weird creatures start approaching me as I'm making my way through the forest. Since I'm high above the ground, on the trees, I stop for a minute and observe the creatures below.

I'm greeted by quadrupedal life forms surrounding the tree that I'm currently hanging on one of its branches. The creatures are 5-feet-tall, blue-skinned aliens. Each one of them has a long tail and they have 5 fingered clawed legs. They appear to be able to move at fast speeds and seem to be very strong with sharp instincts.

'Omnitrix, can you scan this creature and add it to my available transformations?'

'This alien is already available in Omnitrix's catalog; however, it is locked. Omnitrix could scan, unlock the alien, and add it to the available aliens' playlist. Should the device proceed to do that?'

'Proceed.'

The dial on the watch then suddenly pops out and a yellow light then appears from the Omnitrix and quickly scans one of the creatures. The dial then returns to its original position and the Omnitrix speaks, "DNA sample unlocked. Transformation is now available."

I then continue my journey toward Malware. Time passes as I traverse the landscape and the watch notifies me that the target is near. I finally find Malware and he is collecting some extract from an orange-colored plant.

'I shouldn't be quick to attack him right now since I still don't know where his partners are located. I'm just going to stick close to him and wait till he meets up with the rest of his crew.'

I then transform into Ghostfreak and turn invisible and tail him while trying to understand what he's doing. It takes a couple of days, but he finally seems to be done with this planet and approaches what seems to be a small aircraft, looking like an escape pod.

I enter it with him while maintaining my invisibility. He takes us all the way to a bigger spaceship which he flies into as the aircraft we're in connects to it. He walks out of the ship and passes through a few rooms until he reaches a room that has a huge table connected to a wall. There I see Khyber and Dr. Psychobos. The Dr. is working on a piece of technology while Khyber is leaning on the wall fiddling with the Nemetrix. He approaches them and hands over the extract he's been collecting.

'Finally, days of waiting and I've gotten them all together, just like I wanted. Time for some payback…'