All the way, Spider Monkey gritted its teeth, vigorously slinging webs and using the momentum to swing towards the distance.
But as it swung out of the forest, it found XLR8 leisurely leaning against a giant rock at the edge of the forest, looking as if he had been waiting for a long time.
He saw the swinging Spider Monkey, raised an eyebrow, and slowly straightened up: "We need to talk, right?"
"What if I say no?" Spider Monkey stared intently at XLR8 below the tree, acting very wary.
XLR8 didn't answer immediately. He just lowered his head and rotated the Omnitrix symbol on his chest. He was about to press it down but seemed to remember something and hesitated.
A moment later, he rotated the symbol again before pressing it down.
In an instant, a dazzling light shot up into the sky.
This beam of light was wider in scope than when Gwen or the guy opposite, presumably Ben Tennyson, had transformed earlier.
The ground began to tremble violently, and Spider Monkey was shaken so hard it almost fell from the tree branch.
In the light, a giant hand reached out.
Caught off guard, Spider Monkey was grabbed squarely.
When the light dissipated, Spider Monkey saw the full form of the being opposite and was completely stumped.
What held it was a towering giant. It had large red and black horns on its head, and huge fin-like structures on its shoulders and elbows were slightly spread. Its torso, arms, and legs were White, exuding a sense of sacredness, while its shoulders, hands, and feet were red.
Gwen, who was being held, could see its two enormous green eyes. Moving her gaze down, she could see the Omnitrix symbol on its chest, which was now larger than her entire body.
"Way Big, huh?"
As a being whose prototype was Ultraman, Way Big was the largest alien hero in the entire Ben 10 series.
And Gwen could be sure that if Spider Monkey wanted to break free from its restraint, it would at least need to brush its teeth first.
Otherwise, whether it could even bite through its skin would be a problem.
"You really do recognize it."
Way Big slowly squatted down, placing Spider Monkey on an open patch of ground.
The released Spider Monkey looked around, realized there was no chance to escape, and helplessly tapped the Omnitrix symbol on its chest.
A purple light flashed, its form rapidly changed, and it reverted to the appearance of an eight-year-old girl.
She rubbed her aching shoulder, looking at the colossal creature before her with lingering fear.
Seeing this, Way Big opposite also tapped the Ultimatrix symbol on its chest. The light flared brightly, and its form rapidly shrunk.
Once the light dissipated, the man with the Omnitrix on his left wrist and the Ultimatrix on his right reappeared before Gwen.
He looked down at the eight-year-old girl before him, paused slightly, then shook his head helplessly, as if reminding himself of something.
He tidied his slightly disheveled green and black jacket, a gentle smile appearing on his face, and extended his hand towards Gwen, introducing himself: "My name is Benjamin Tennyson. Just call me Ben."
His voice was no longer as deep as it was in his Way Big form but carried a hint of cheerfulness and familiarity.
Gwen looked at the outstretched hand but felt goosebumps all over her body.
She instinctively took half a step back, her gaze fixed on the guy opposite who called himself Ben Tennyson, wondering which quadrant he came from, her eyes full of wariness.
She could feel no hostility from him, yet the way he looked at her made her completely uncomfortable.
In his gaze, too many complex emotions were hidden. Although he deliberately acted cheerful, his eyes were filled with nostalgia, wistfulness, and some emotions she couldn't understand. It was as if he was seeing an old acquaintance from deep within his memories through her face. This feeling was really unpleasant, and Gwen felt a chill run down her spine from that look.
"I... I am Gwendolyn Wayne, Mr. Benjamin." Gwen's voice was stiff, every word squeezed out through gritted teeth, her body tense like a drawn bowstring, ready to turn and run at any moment.
Benjamin's smile instantly froze. He quickly waved his hand, a hint of urgency in his tone: "No, no, no, don't call me that! Just call me Ben!"
Just as he was about to say something more, the watch on his left wrist suddenly made a sound.
A slightly aged and anxious voice came from it: "Ben! Hurry up, the rift is closing!"
Benjamin's expression instantly became somewhat familiar. He looked at Gwen seriously and said: "Time is a bit tight now. Can you come with me?"
Gwen was very wary: "Where to?"
"Back to our World."
"My World is right here." As she spoke, Gwen slowly reached her hand behind her back.
Realizing what Gwen was trying to do, Benjamin grabbed Gwen's wrist.
Being caught by one wrist instantly startled Gwen, and she hastily used her other hand to tap the already popped-up dial.
In an instant, purple light burst forth like lightning, too dazzling to keep one's eyes open. Benjamin felt the wrist he had been holding suddenly slip from his grasp, the sensation vanishing without a trace.
He instinctively took half a step back, turned his head warily, and saw a pale purple, amorphous, humanoid sticky substance appear out of nowhere, with a UFO-like device hovering above its head and the Omnitrix symbol on its chest.
"Upgrade!"
Perfect, it just transformed into an alien suitable for slipping away.
Upgrade's body was already a liquid, so how could a hand possibly hold onto a liquid trying to slip away?
Benjamin watched the rapidly fleeing blob of goo and the UFO-shaped object, sighed helplessly, and quickly selected a hero and transformed.
Gwen, who had transformed into Upgrade, was just twisting her body, preparing to escape, when she suddenly felt a powerful airflow assault her back.
She shivered, instinctively turned her head, and saw a large, four-eyed moth-like creature diving towards her from behind.
Oh my god! Stinkfly!
As one of the ten heroes in the original broken watch, although its abilities weren't outstanding, it could fly!
And the opponent's target was clearly the anti-gravity generator on her head.
Stinkfly, transformed by Benjamin, was about to launch an attack when a purple light flashed before its eyes again, and it instinctively blinked its four compound eyes.
But at that very moment, a huge force gripped its neck.
"Crack!" A bone-grinding sound of bones being squeezed came from its neck, and its breathing instantly stopped.
Stinkfly flapped its wings frantically but couldn't break free from this iron-like restraint.
It focused its gaze and saw a slender female Tetramand appear before it, gripping the other's neck tightly with just one hand.
It had to be said that Benjamin found her appearance extremely familiar.
"She really looks like Looma…"
Although her muscles weren't exaggerated, as the strongest being on the planet Khoros, she was indeed the Tetramand princess.
Gwen gripped Stinkfly's neck tightly with both hands. She didn't actually want to kill it, and as she was pondering how to restrict its movements, she saw Stinkfly, who was choking and sticking out its tongue, suddenly gurgle in its throat and make a vomiting motion.
Gwen inwardly cried out in alarm, wanting to let go and dodge, but it was already too late.
The next instant, a foul-smelling blob of slime shot out of Stinkfly's mouth like a cannonball, heading straight for her face.
Gwen instinctively closed her eyes, trying to turn her head and dodge, but the slime was extremely fast, instantly splattering all over her face and completely sticking to it.
Just as Gwen was covered in slime, struggling and fumbling to remove it, Benjamin seized the opportunity. Two green lights flashed, and he switched his current form.
Gwen used her four hands to forcefully tear the slime from her face, which made a "splat" sound as it fell to the ground.
Once her vision cleared, she suddenly looked up, and her pupils instantly constricted violently.
Before her, a gigantic Tyrannosaurus-like creature was continuously growing taller, its massive body like a moving mountain, completely obscuring the moonlight that streamed down, plunging the surroundings into Shadow.