Chapter 21: Well this is new

Last one for now, back to stockpiling I go.

Trevion1 - That's a really good question. But I'll have to say no since that's the Omnitrix, and not the Ultimatrix. Plus, this Ultimatrix is already noted to be different from the Canon one, and already has unlimited time, to a point.

Redburndragon - In Worm fashion, it CAN get worse for the PRT/Cauldron. Though not in the way of 'Oh, I'm fixed and I can remember everything.' The guy they use to wipe memories wouldn't be undone if they were fixed... Though that doesn't mean there aren't other ways to deal with that. And I'm pretty sure all information related to Cauldron is kept in their base, which is in a whole other dimension, so without having a backdoor into their systems, no sudden exposing of all their dirty laundry.

Djbernman - That is actually a point I didn't think about. Nice.

When I woke up, the first thing I felt was my stomach demanding sustenance... Which sounded about right.

Then I started to feel my body, and hissed at the scratches on my back. (Note to self, Swampfire those away.) I'd already used some of my fast healing stuff, so I was just going to cheat this time and use my healer to fix my back. Sure, I loved it in the moment, but my girlfriend had turned my back into a scratching post, and the cold air wasn't doing me any favors.

And then I smelled my room, and felt like I was bitch slapped with how strong the scent of sex was. (I need some fucking windows in here.) I put 'Make windows' on the to-do list.

Though, that all took a backseat when I fully took in the state we were in, and grinned as I felt my Other Half nuzzling into me. I got flashes of what we did, which made the scratches on my back ache a bit. That, and I was feeling a bit sore in my everything... But none of it mattered. Even now, my girlfriend was letting out a constant thrum of Love and Warmth, and I soaked it up.

It was weird to think that in 3 months, I'd gone from being lonely and apathetic, to feeling Whole and slightly less apathetic to everything not my girlfriend... And have an Ultimatrix after being Isekai'd into a book series... (Life is strange, but it's good.) Shrugging the thought off, I rolled onto my back, hissing again as my skin touched the sheets, and tried to sit up. 'Tried', because my girlfriend was apparently the strongest force known to man and somehow kept me pinned to the bed despite being asleep... I tried to get up again, maybe prop myself up with my arms, but a low rumbling from my girlfriend made me pause.

Her mind started to stir, and I watched as she started to rise. Her arms unwound from me, her legs tightened, and she rose, groaning as she arched her back and stretched... Then paused to open her eyes, and dazedly look at me. We stared at each other for a bit, me because I could feel the blood rushing through me at the sight in front of me, and my Other Half in Confusion.

Though, the haze ebbed away, and I saw the exact moment she remembered what we'd done. Love, Fulfillment, and Warmth flowed between us, and we shared a smile as she leaned down and brought her lips to mine. When we separated, we locked eyes, both taking in the other's feelings. "Morning goof."

My smile grew at that, and I wrapped my arms around her back, pressing her into me. "Morning Mi Reina. How're you feeling?"

She hummed, then winced as she loosened the hold her thighs on me. "Sore... Really sore." I knew how that felt, my back was actually starting to get annoying to me, Embarrassment and Worry pulsed from her at that, and I blinked. Seeing her chew her lip though was attractive though. "I... I didn't hurt you, did I?" I snorted, getting Indignation and a small scowl from her. "I'm serious!"

I scoffed. "And so am I. We both know we're a little masochistic." Her cheeks started to darken a bit at that, and I blinked for a second when I saw a bruise on her neck. "Is that..?" Confusion came from her, so I showed her the image of what I was seeing, and watched her blink, then raise her head as she brought a hand to her throat. Her eyes widened, Holy shit it is, and I felt my lips twitch. "Well, looks like you weren't the only one that was rough on the other."

Curiosity and Excitement pulsed from her, and she shot me a look that had me bringing my arms lower. "The next time we have sex, we're going to remember it." I barked out a laugh at that, and gave her ass a spank, getting a pulse of Lust. Though, the flinch, and groan of pain that came out Surprised me. "Ugh... My ass is sore."

I cackled at that, getting an adorable pout in return.

After taking time to get up, clean up, put some clothes on, and eat, we figured some shit out. First, yes, we were going to need windows or atleast better ventilation. After I'd healed up with Swampfire, I aired out my room with Terraspin. Then I had to put the covers in the laundry, but I cheated again with XLR8, his tail could hold things really well apparently. I'd gotten an idea on how to use that in combat that I was looking forward too.

Secondly, Taylor's range grew again. She was now sure that she felt out bugs from a mile away, which was cool.

Thirdly, the Bond changed again.

We learned that we had some nifty new features, like the ability to 'Mute' our errant thoughts. It'd be good for when either of us wanted privacy... Though it was weird, given we'd gotten used to randomly hearing the other's thoughts. We'd decided to try it out for a bit, but go back to our new normal later.

Though, something else it gave us was the ability to share senses. It was a little weird, going from normal sight one moment, to going to split screen mode. My left eye would switch to Taylor's vision, while her right would be replaced with mine. It had the side affect of making it look like we swapped eyes... Which looked good on us to be honest.

Then came the last change that came with the Bond growing.

When I'd turned into Swampfire to heal myself, Taylor had suddenly yelped, and I saw that her skin gained a green tint to it, like Poison Ivy. Her hair had even gained red highlights too... She'd also started healing before my eyes, not as quickly as the Methanosian, but still fast enough for the naked eye to see. That'd made me happy to use the new 'Mute' feature as I asked for a blood sample. I knew she was Suspicious about why, but I'd promised to tell her if it worked. It mollified her, and I mentally cheered at the sudden boon to my plan.

That aside, we found out that whenever I was in alien form, Taylor would gain some traits from that form, and a weaker version of their powers.

Terraspin got her his shade of green, air vents on her palms, thighs, back, and feet, as well as more durable skin in place of a shell. She didn't try to push wind out of them, which was unfortunate since I wanted to see if she'd bust her ass.

Meanwhile, XLR8 made her gain a blue tint to her skin, made her eyes glow, and a tail that was basically the same as his, but just more fit for her size. Even her nail changed, turning into black claws. She also gained some speed, but without proper testing, we had no idea how fast she could go.

So after we finished freaking out, she freaked out while I laughed, we made our way to the Danger Room to do just that...

And forgot about the fact we technically lived with another person.

Walking into the Danger Room, my Other Half and I standing side by side, we were both Surprised when it didn't automatically activate. "Draaa...-" The Perfected Hard Light Projector unfolded from the ceiling, and The Taskmistress appeared before us...

And was doing her best to not look at us. "G-Good evening Phoenix, Taylor."

My girlfriend and I shared a look, then blinked as we had the same thought. [|She heard us.|] I wasn't really surprised at this, neither of us knew how long we'd had sex for, or how long we were out of it, there were more important things at hand, so we hadn't thought about it.

So while my girlfriend was washed up by Embarrassment, I just looked at Dragon, Amused at the woman's sudden shy spell. "What, were we loud or something?"

[PHOENIX!] I snickered at that, but had to be quick and jump when she tried to sweep my legs from under me. Huffing at her failure, she looked away. "Sorry Tess."

Looking at Dragon's, I was probably going to keep referring to her like that since it sounded cooler, face, I grinned at the 'Forced Professional' look she had. She cleared her throat, and did her best to look at us, though I could still see the bit of embarrassment lurking in her eyes. "It... It's ok. As long as protection was used th...- Taylor?" I blinked at that, but the way her Embarrassment surged gave me a good idea of what she was thinking about.

Though, seeing the way my Other Half blushed, her ears going a little red as a small bit of Lust pulsed through her, was hilarious to me. She looked away from Dragon though, and did her best to analyze the wall. "Umm... We ah... I'm on the pill?"

Dragon said nothing, and stared at Taylor with an intensity I'd expect from a cat about to pounce. "We'll be having a discussion about the proper protections to have during intercourse, later." Taylor whipped her head towards the woman, eyes as wide as can be, and opened her mouth, but the A.I raised a hand, and narrowed her eyes at my girlfriend. "No excuses young lady, we WILL be talking about this."

My girlfriend closed her mouth, and stared at the ground. "Okay." I would've started laughing my ass off at the scene if it weren't for the Melancholy and pang of Heartache came from her. I wrapped an arm around her waist, and funneled the Love I'd had for her towards her side of the Bond. My Other Half looked up and met my eyes, and I smiled at her. |Love you.|

I grinned. [Love you too.] There was a moment where we were about to go for another kiss, but another throat clear brought our eyes back to Dragon.

The woman was giving me the same intense look she'd leveled at Taylor, and I was a little Worried about it. "You're not above that conversation either young man." Blinking, I wondered if she was serious. "VERY, serious." And apparently I said that outloud, fucking great. "Mhm. I'm not even going to bother with that."

Shaking myself out of my Surprise, I asked the obvious. "You do know I can escape you in a dozen different ways, right?" If I was really counting, I could escape her with ALL of my forms. (Well, maybe not Wildmutt.)

Unexpectedly, her response was a blank look and raised brow. "Firstly, you live here, so unless you plan to leave and create another base, this conversation would be inevitable." I slowly blinked at that, then recognized she was right. "Secondly," There was more?! "If you left Taylor to 'Suffer', she would make your life... Unpleasant, as it were." A hum of Agreement rang out by my side, and I had to admit she was right. "Thirdly," Oh fuck off.

"I get it. Remember the condoms the next time Taylor and I fuck each other unconscious. Read you loud and clear Auntie." I shouldn't have been surprised by the jab to the rib, but I wasn't prepared, and hit the ground in a 'Pained' groan. Embarrassment and Hunger were coming from my Other Half, making me laugh despite the 'Pain.' I'd gotten used to physical pain from my spars with Taylor, so this was nothing really, I was just playing it up for the bit. "Victory..."

While I was rubbing my chest, I noticed the weird... Contemplative, look on her face. Either Taylor noticed it too, or my Interest had caught her attention. "Tess..?"

Dragon blinked, then shook her head. "It's nothing." I didn't even need to look at my girlfriend to know she was sharing my deadpan at the Artificial Woman. Said woman shuffled in place a bit, then looked at me. "Why do you call me Auntie?" While the first answer was 'My Future Self said it', I couldn't exactly say that because that'd open a can of worms I wasn't going to be bothered going into.

So I went with the tried and true answer. "Because I want too." Which yes, was true. Dragon did give off Aunt energy, and felt nice to be around, so I was rolling with it. Her everything twitched, which made me snort. "Should I not?" I was fine with not doing it, though I kinda liked the ring of it to be honest. (Auntie Dragon sounds hilarious.)

The A.I looked at me for a bit more, I met her gaze, then looked away after a bit. "I... I think I can get used to it."

That made me grin. "So does that mean no lecture?" Her eyes snapped to me, purple meeting emerald, and I got the message. "What if I made a program to replicate food for you to eat? Especially sweets?" I could feel Taylor's eyes bore into my side, Exasperation rolling off of her, but I knew the tried and true method of bribery never let me down before.

Dragon's form even paused at that, her face visibly going thoughtful as a cycle of emotions raced through her eyes. For a moment, I thought I was in the clear, "Don't listen to him Tess, he'd do it anyway if you asked!" And I was betrayed by the one I held dear!

Turning to Taylor, I grasped my chest in mock pain as I stared at her. "Et tu Mi Reina?!"

She smirked at me for that, and brimmed with Humor and Amusement. "If I have to suffer, then you suffer with me. Forever and always after all." Well fuck, of course she'd use my own words against me.

A low hum brought our eyes back to Dragon, who was tapping her lips, an interested gleam in her eyes. "If you throw in helping me tune up my servers, I'll consider pushing it back."

BRIBERY CHECK PASSED! "Deal!"

While I celebrated the stat check, my girlfriend was throwing her hands into the air. "Oh come on!"

After I was done celebrating, and Taylor's ire was gone, we got into the reason we were here for. We said we knew what was responsible, but said we'd need more time to fully trust her with the secret. While we both trusted Dragon, it wasn't to the point that we'd tell her about the Bond. Maybe in the future, but at the moment, she didn't need to know.

My new Aunt took it in stride though, and accepted the fact there were things she wasn't clued in on.

Everyone had secrets after all.

That aside, we started Power Testing, something my new Aunt was looking forward to doing with us. I was interested too, since I could practice with my aliens, and maybe get another perspective or two to figure new moves or things like that out.

[Taylor's POV]

Standing in a field, I looked at my boyfriend, who was cycling through his Ultimatrix for a good first pick. It was a little strange not hearing his thoughts, the constant thrum of random thoughts weren't there, but they could be if we chose it. It was weird, but not something I'd lose sleep over. We were still together, still Bonded, and that was all that mattered to me really. (Still, I think I'd rather the thoughts be there instead of not.)

That aside, he had alot of aliens, and testing one specific form first was kind of hard to do. Especially because some of them might ruin my clothes. Sure, the fabric was made from refined Snare-Oh fibers, so they were tough to damage or break, but they couldn't exactly grow, so some of his bigger forms were out at the moment. "Alright, got one." I perked up at that, and looked at the choice...

And blinked. "Really?"

He shrugged. "Well yeah, we already know not much changes, so you should be fine." I got it. The worst that happened was my hair took a shade similar, but not the same, as Emma's. Looking at me, he hummed. "You ready?" I nodded right back at him, and mentally prepared myself as he pressed the dial. I felt a surge of power, and watched as my arms gained a green tint, small nubs growing in a ring around my wrists, and a trio of slightly bigger nubs growing on my shoulders. My fingers turned into claws, nails turning a dark green, and a wreath of what looked like flowers sprouting along my collar. "Swampfire!" My boyfriend being a goof snapped me out of my introspection, and I looked up to see his Curious eyes. "So, how do you feel?"

Humming, I flexed my hands, feeling the strength I had now. "Good... Strong too." He nodded, and I started to look at myself... Well, at as much of myself as I could... "Hey, Tess?"

The Taskmistress materialized by our side, an interested look on her face as she looked at my form. "Yes Taylor?"

"Can we get a model of what I look like before and after?" Saying that, two drones detached from the Projector, and came down to scan me. It said something that I knew to stay still as they went to work. Then, not even a moment after they were done, a pair of holograms appeared to my left. "Thanks Tess." The woman hummed in response, and we all turned to look at the before and after as the drones went to hover above the artificial woman.

Thanks to the holograms, I noticed I was a few inches taller then before, and found weird closed vents on my elbows, the palms of my hands, and the nape of my neck. I wasn't sure what that was for, but after my boyfriend pulsed with Understanding, I figured I was about to find out. "You remember how Swampfire works, right?"

I blinked. "Which part?"

Seeing a walking tree man deadpan at me was an experience. "Methane." And now I felt like an idiot. Raising a hand, I kept my palm up and willed the vent to open. Just as I thought about it, the vent opened... Well, ALL of the vents opened, and I could visibly see something flooding the air. Thankfully, it didn't stink. "Huh." Looking at my boyfriend, I saw and felt the Interest on his face as he scratched his chin. "Think you can ignite it?"

Frowning, I tried to do just that... And realized I had no idea how to do that. Opening the vents was like second nature, but igniting the methane in the air wasn't coming to me. Frustrated, I turned to him. "How do you do it?"

He blinked, then shrugged. "I like to snap for dramatic affect, but you just have to will it to happen." My eye twitched, and I was about to say 'How do I just WILL fire into being', when a flicker of flames ignited from my palms, and the room exploded.

Surprisingly, the explosion of fire didn't bother me. I could even tell that my workout clothes were fine too... I was just too surprised to react when I was enveloped by a sea of fire to do the normal thing and panic... That, or the form made me fine with all the fire. Either or to be honest.

When the flames died out, I just blinked at the devastation around me. "Like that." I slowly turned back to my boyfriend, I had no idea when I looked away, and stared at him, Unamused. He blinked at me, Confused. "What? You did it."

Turning to Tess, and meeting the surprised gaze of the woman, I pleaded at her with my eyes. In a show of female unity, she came over and put a hand on my shoulder, and returned the nod. "I get it." She was quickly becoming my 2nd favorite person in the world.

Indignation rolled out from my Other Half. "Women." Dragon and I rolled our eyes at the man.

After that, we did more testing.

As it turned out, the nubs around my wrist and shoulders were where I could grow seeds. Interestingly enough, I could shoot the ones around my wrist out like bullets, make them grow at any point in time, and control them just as well as he could.

Though there were differences between us.

I couldn't stretch my limbs, my healing factor had already been observed to be weaker then his, but we weren't exactly eager to test by how much, I couldn't control or affect any plants he made, and making too many plants made me hungry.

Though apparently that was solved when we went outside to test if I could interact with nature. Which also led us to find out it was dawn, so we either had sex for longer then we thought, or slept the day away.

Anyway, the answer was yes, and I could do what he did and 'Talk' to them and make them grow, since apparently I could photosynthesize... Which was weird, it felt like I was passively drinking water, but nice.

When we were done, we made our way back to the Danger Room, where we tested other forms.

Just like before, Terraspin and XLR8 gave me the same looks, and we tested my abilities as them.

Between the three, my favorite had to be XLR8, there was just something cathartic at feeling the wind whip around me as I ran faster then ever before. My max speed peaked at 445MPH, a fraction of what my boyfriend could run, but still faster then the vast majority of Movers... Though we needed to take a small break when I slammed face first into the mountain.

Running fast was cool, but I had NO idea how to stop at that speed.

My boyfriend was lucky he could run faster then anything this world had ever seen, or else I would've slapped him in the face with my tail for laughing at me.

That aside, we also found out I could just choose to return to my base form whenever I wanted, lock myself into said base so I didn't change whenever he did, and turn back into whatever form my Other Half gave me at the time. That was great, because now we didn't have to worry about accidentally outing me, or ruining my suit.

My suit was still going to be upgraded though, because some forms had changes that would definitely destroy it, or atleast tear it... Like Heatblast...

We'd saved the living volcano for last, for obvious reasons, and thank god we did, because I melted my workout clothes in an instant. Thankfully, I wasn't naked, I had armor made of rock covering my shoulders, knuckles, legs, and chest, while fire radiated off of me, and my hair. I thanked every/any being out there that I didn't have my necklace on me, or else I might've destroyed it.

That aside, this was an issue now, because we had to change our schedules now.

Dragon proved to be a godsend though, and helped us come up with a good schedule. We optimized it as Brainstorm, suddenly understanding concepts and information that would normally give me a headache was crazy, so we knew it was perfect.

Unless something happened, so an actual issue or because we 'Played' too much, and on Wednesday/Friday/Sunday since those were 'Us' days, no paroling or anything so we could properly unwind. We'd start our days at 9AM, have breakfast and work out normally from then to 11AM. Then we'd get into Cape training. We'd spend an hour or so working on hand to hand in our base forms, shooting and getting used to our new gear, and learn how to drive our bikes. We would have three 30 minute breaks to relax and cool down, then get back into it. At 2PM to work on our forms, take another break, then by 2:45PM we'd head out on patrol from then to 4:45PM.

From there we'd either come back home, or do whatever we felt like until 7PM. At that time we would return to base, and an optional thing was to Tinker, since I could actually help now, for an hour or two. After that was done, we'd have time to ourselves, then eventually go to sleep.

We agreed to switch when we patrolled during the day or night, so the 'Tinker Time' changed between whenever we went out. At first, I was against it, because I wanted to do more, but Tess and Brainstorm convinced me otherwise. It was even weirder when I managed to somehow convince myself that the plan was highly viable and would do good for me to not overwork myself and my 'Mate' by trying to be better then the 'Masked Charlatans.'

When my boyfriend and I switched out of Brainstorm, I had to take a bit to realize what he felt when the crab convinced him to cut pieces off of Chromastone. It was just that strange.

We thought that was the end of it, we'd spent hours going through each form as he helped me figure out what I could and couldn't do, and finding a Power Interaction that changed everything, so that should've been it.

Then Dragon asked the question.

"Phoenix," My boyfriend looked over to Tess at that, we'd just finished with the last form, Goop was a trip and a half, and made a noise for her to go on. Tess tapped her cheek, and hummed. "What about those alternate forms of yours? Like Agni?"

My boyfriend and I blinked, both Surprised, as well as Curious. Even without sharing our thoughts, I knew we both thought the same thing. (What would happen?)

With a grin, my Other Half raised the Ultimatrix, and popped the dial. "Okay, SOMETHING has to happen, and I'm all for figuring it out." I nodded alongside that, because this was way too interesting to leave be. With a single twist, and not caring about who showed up, he pressed the dial, and I felt myself change. "Armodrillo!" He blinked, looked at himself, then shrugged. "Eh, good enough."

While he said that, I took the time to give myself a once over. Yeah, I'd already been in this form before, but this was still knew.

My skin took a golden metallic sheen, my fingers turning into claws again, and my hair going as gold as my Khepri suit made it. I clenched a hand, idly marveling at how it started to vibrate. I didn't have the jackhammers he had, my hands would instead start to vibrate when they clenched, and I could slam them into the ground to cause low scale earthquakes. I did get some armor though, my chest and legs were protected, while my feet gained boots that exposed my clawed toes. I didn't grow though. (Still, this is cool.)

"You done?" I felt his Amusement first, then saw the 'Eye Smile' he had.

I rolled my eyes at him. "Yes, I am."

He let out a little huff, then nodded. "Well then, let's see what happens." I watched my boyfriend reached towards the dial, and held my breath as he twisted it. His form shimmered and grew, but I didn't follow the transformation.

The sense of power that ran through me blindsided me, and I had to focus as I felt my very being change. It was like nothing I'd ever felt, and at some point it felt like something in me was... Refined, for the lack of a better word...

And then it was gone. "Taylor?! Taylor, are you okay?"

I groaned, and opened my eyes, I didn't notice I closed them. "Yeah I'm..." I paused, hearing the change in my voice, and then STARED at my hands. Instead of the metallic covered skin I'd had before, my hands were fully armored, and my fingers were grey claws that I knew I could rotate fast enough to tear through the solid steel beneath the simulated earth.

Getting up, I didn't notice that I'd apparently been kneeling either, I was about to turn to where the holograms were, but my Other Half spoke up first. "Interesting." His voice sounded like boulders grinding against each other, and I turned to see him. I'd seen the form before, but there was something about it now that made a part of me want to REALLY look at it.

Ultimate Armodrillo, or Cabrakan as my Other Half called him, was quadrupedal, though he could stand up whenever he felt like it. His armor had changed color, turning gray, similar to the shade of a mountain, while his lower half was now properly proportioned. The low whir of his tail had gone silent, showing the limb as it unwound from the massive drill it started out as.

Standing at the shoulder, he was meant to be 8ft tall, and considering I was taller then him at the moment, that meant I was atleast 9ft tall on my own. (Cause that's a thing now.) Me aside, his head was shaped differently, more like a Pangolin, but if the nose was more of a small horn, the ears were like sharp daggers, and if it was entirely covered in sleek gray armor. It had surprised me when I learned he was blind in this form, but since Wildmutt existed, I got over it soon.

That aside, his arms were bulky, but they lost the jackhammers in favor of sporting denser armor. Though he could morph both of his arms into two 'Super Jackhammers' apparently. His claws were sharper though, looking like polished stone, and tinted black.

His back was lined with rows of ports that looked like closed vents that stopped above where his tail met his body. Speaking of his tail, in its unwound state, it was apparently half as long as his body, which translated to 6ft... And like before, it could wind up into a drill... Because fuck logic.

All in all, it was cool. "You're a Talpeadan, a female to be sure, but still a Talpeadan."

I blinked, remembering I'd suddenly turned into an alien... (God, that sounds so weird.) Shaking my head, I looked at my boyfriend, who was sitting on his haunches like a dog, and met the blank gaze of his armored face. "Cool..." Because what else was I supposed to say?! He snorted at that, and I felt my eye twitch. "It's not funny dammit!" I raised an arm at him, prepared to shake my fist to show him just how 'Mad' I was, when I tripped at the sudden change in weight, destabilizing myself.

I landed face first on the ground with a resounding 'Thunk' that echoed the area... Which was immediately followed by the loud cackle of my boyfriend, who had started slamming a paw against the ground, causing mini earthquakes as he laughed and radiated Humor.

I was going to remember this, and pay him back in kind when he least expected it.

That was a promise

[Dragon's POV a few hours later]

With all of my instances doing their things, I found myself with free time. A strange thing for me, since I was always working on something, whether I liked it or not. But now that I was free, I still felt giddy at that fact, I could spend time to relax and just think.

And now that I could, I found my thoughts preoccupied by the duo I'd taken under my wing. Feeling the appendage twitch at that, I mentally huffed. I'd gotten used to the Dragon Avatar I'd been supplied with, and actually liked it, but the added limbs such as my wings or tail were still prone to acting without my input. It was fascinating really...

(It's surprising that I can be distracted so easily.) Shaking the thought away, I mentally brought up an image of each form I'd seen, and let out a breath that came out like steam. "66 forms. 66 forms all with their own sets of powers." Anubis/Sun Wukong/Phoenix was the strongest Changer on the planet...

Then there was Khepri/Taylor. The strongest Master in the world with a MAXIMUM range of 10 miles.

She'd woken up from their... Activities, and had a range of a mile. But when she'd became a 'Talpeadan', her range had doubled to 2 miles. Then came time for Big Chill who, on his own, had doubled her range again! Even the first stage of her form had granted her a boost up to 6 miles. But with the both of them as 'Necrofriggians', every insect within 10 miles had fallen under her control, and seeing the apocalypse in insectoid form, I felt a shiver down to my scales.

It was terrifying... And with her new Changer forms on top of that?

I had the strongest teenagers in the world under my wings...

Teenagers who were being teenagers and were sexually active...

Teenagers that looked up to me as a friend/mentor in Taylor's case...

And as family in Phoenix's case...

I had no idea what to do with that, and even though a strange warmth filled me at the idea of family who actually believed me, I didn't know how to handle it...

I groaned. (I need a manual.)

Given time, I'd probably figure it out...

Well, I hoped I did.

Ultimate Armodrillo/Cabrakan - Due to having explored the majority of their planets upper levels, Talpeadans began to explore the deeper parts of their planet. As they explored, they began to create communities closer and closer to the core of their planet, leading to them evolving to deal with their new environment. To dig through the sturdier earth and other material, they grew stronger. To handle the increasing pressure, they grew bigger and denser. To handle the heat and to prevent themselves from overheating, they developed air vents to help cool themselves off. To ensure they did not collapse their new homes, they learned how to feel out the environment, gaining a new sense. The longer they explored and lived in their new homes, the more they changed. Eventually, they stopped going to the surface, fully adapting to the underground.

So, I'm basing this Ultimate off of two things, Badgermoles from Avatar, and the Ultimate Armodrillo on the Ben 10 Fan Fiction Wiki. I liked the idea of Armodrillo becoming quadrupedal, so I did that. Though I didn't want to make him fleshy all of the sudden, so I kept the robotic aspect, and leaned into it.

Ultimate Armodrillo gains

Enhanced durability.

Enhanced strength.

Earth sense.

Structural weakness/fault line sense.

Drill tail.

Ultimate Armodrillo loses

Speed.

Sight.

Weaknesses

Overheating/suffocation, cover the vents and he's fucked since they serve as his 'Mouth' in terms of getting air.

The ocean. This should be obvious, but he's too heavy to swim, and he can't see so he'd be blind in the water.

The sky. ^

Electrocution. Still weak to that.

As for Taylor's new range, Talpeadans are organic AND mechanical. The Shard was assimilated due to Taylor turning into the species, so now she won't have any Shard fuckery to deal with. So no itchy trigger fingers if they go on vacation, no exaggerated suicidal tendencies, or other stuff like that. The same would've happened with Upgrade, Lodestar, Goop, Echo Echo, Snare-Oh, Nanomech, and Heatblast. Sure, some of those aren't machines, but they don't have actual brains for QA to stay latched onto... And Nanomech is Nanomech.

Anyway, Taylor's power is hers now, and she'll be able to do more things with it in the future...

Not that anyone knows that yet.