Chapter 228: The Highbreed Army Invades Earth
After thoroughly dismantling the remaining DNAliens, the group ventured deeper into the subterranean mine. There, resting quietly in the cavernous dark, sat the spacecraft belonging to the parents of the baby Green Giant.
The vessel was a massive, blocky construct, towering easily fifty to sixty meters high like a monolithic steel fortress. Stepping through the main airlock, the group immediately spotted three stasis pods lined up in the central bay. The smallest of the trio was already popped open, a dead giveaway as to where their oversized toddler companion had come from.
Klein casually tapped the faceplate of the Another Omnitrix. In a flash of emerald light, he transformed into Upgrade. His liquid-metal body flowed smoothly into the ship's main control terminal, effortlessly bypassing the alien security protocols to trigger the release sequence for the remaining two stasis pods.
A hiss of pressurized gas filled the room as the heavy pod doors slid apart. Ben and the others craned their necks upward as two massive Green Giants stepped out from their long slumber. The baby they had been babysitting was already an imposing three meters tall, but these fully grown adults were absolute behemoths. Standing at least six or seven meters high, they easily dwarfed even Humungousaur in his base form.
To be completely honest, the biological dimorphism of the Green Giant species was utterly baffling. The male and the female looked completely identical, right down to the bulging muscles and thick green hides. The only discernible difference was their vocal cords. The father spoke with the booming, gravelly baritone of a seasoned bodybuilder, while the mother sounded like a slightly less enthusiastic male bodybuilder.
Klein swallowed the sarcastic remarks bubbling in his throat. He had a much more important agenda to push. Reverting to his human form, he pulled out a digital pad and began ruthlessly tallying up a bill. First, he itemized the extensive property damage their overgrown toddler had caused over the past few days. Next came the exorbitant premium rate for two days of elite babysitting services. Finally, he tacked on a generous convenience fee for exterminating the invading DNAliens, using Upgrade to repair their busted ship, and manually waking them from stasis.
The two colossal parents stared at the final sum presented to them, their identical heavy jaws dropping in sheer disbelief. While they possessed the wealth to cover the outrageous invoice, it was still a massive chunk of change. Exchanging a weary glance, they decided it was easier to just pay the extortionate fee and get these terrifyingly competent Earthlings out of their hair.
Having been asleep in stasis for so long, they were blissfully unaware of Klein's infamous reputation across the galaxy. But reputation hardly mattered when faced with raw, overwhelming force. After Klein casually demonstrated his point by having Ben and himself briefly transform into twenty-meter-tall, fully grown Humungousaurs, the parents suddenly found themselves very eager to settle their debts obediently.
The compensation came in the form of a hefty sum of standard intergalactic credits, heavily supplemented by crates of rare alien technology. The moment the transaction was complete, the Green Giant family hastily mumbled a string of flimsy excuses, fired up their repaired thrusters, and launched their ship into the atmosphere as if fleeing a war zone.
As their vessel broke through the clouds, the parents could be heard loudly bemoaning their terrible luck. They had originally charted a course for a luxurious resort planet, entering their stasis pods with the simple dream of sleeping through the tedious interstellar flight. They never anticipated crashing into a bizarre spatial energy field midway, forcing an emergency landing on this backwater mudball, only to wake up to a massive extortion bill. Their luck was, quite frankly, abysmal.
Had they bothered to mention the exact temporal coordinates of their crash to Klein, a rather amusing connection would have been made. The exact day their ship was knocked out of the sky aligned perfectly with the day Professor Paradox had conducted his catastrophic time machine experiment.
A few days passed since Klein and the crew waved goodbye to the fleeing alien family. Meanwhile, lightyears away in a completely different sector of the cosmos, Galvan Prime was facing an apocalyptic crisis of its own.
The skies above Galvan Prime burned. A terrifying armada of Highbreed warships descended upon the planet, their overwhelming firepower systematically crushing the planetary defense grids with absolute, ruthless efficiency. Yet, standing amidst the crumbling architecture of his world, Azmuth maintained an infuriatingly calm demeanor, as unbothered as a man watching a light drizzle outside his window.
It seemed the only thing capable of breaking the First Thinker's stoic facade would be his estranged partner walking out on him again. But where was Zennith during this planetary siege? She was standing right beside Azmuth, her posture equally relaxed as she observed the apocalyptic rain of plasma fire descending from the Highbreed fleet.
The ancient couple truly were cut from the same intellectual cloth. Even with total annihilation staring them in the face, they analyzed the destruction with detached, open-minded equanimity, treating their impending doom like a fascinating theoretical physics problem.
However, regardless of their mutual acceptance of the end, the universe was not quite ready to lose its greatest minds. The air behind them warped and folded. A swirling vortex of crackling blue chronal energy tore open the fabric of space.
Azmuth did not even bother to turn his head. "Your timing is off, Time Walker. What exactly are you doing here?"
Stepping out of the portal, Professor Paradox adjusted his coat, his usually whimsical expression replaced by grim urgency. He cast a wary glance at the massive dreadnoughts eclipsing the Galvan sun. "Azmuth. Zennith. I strongly suggest you come with me."
Azmuth merely shook his head, his voice flat and resigned. "It is a futile gesture. The Highbreed launched a coordinated ambush while our attention was diverted." He trailed off, letting the silence hang heavy between them.
There was no need to state the obvious. The burning skyline and shattered defensive rings were proof enough that Galvan Prime had been caught completely off guard and was now moments away from total subjugation. Azmuth let out a heavy, weary sigh. "If the technological zenith of Galvan Prime cannot repel their armada, there is scarcely a world in this universe that can stand against the Highbreed."
Noting the rare flash of sorrow in the old Galvan's eyes, Zennith closed the distance between them, silently resting a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"While it feels incredibly strange to correct the smartest being in three, perhaps five galaxies..." Professor Paradox offered a small, knowing smile. "...you are entirely wrong. The Highbreed are formidable, yes. But you are vastly overestimating their ultimate reach, and severely underestimating a certain someone."
Azmuth narrowed his large eyes. "You mean..."
"The Highbreed's next primary target is Earth," Paradox stated plainly.
As the words left his mouth, a massive orbital cannon on the dreadnought directly above them began to glow with blinding, superheated red energy. The targeting lasers locked directly onto their position. Paradox checked his pocket watch. "I highly suggest you change your mind within the next three seconds."
Azmuth glanced up at the descending beam of death, then over to the woman beside him. "Zennith will perish as well if we stay, won't she?"
"Indeed," Paradox replied.
"Then let us depart."
In the blink of an eye, Paradox flared the blue portal outward, swallowing the two Galvans whole just as a devastating pillar of plasma eradicated the balcony they had been standing on.
Back on Earth, the sun had just dipped below the horizon, painting the sky in deep shades of violet and orange. Ben, having recently joined the school soccer team, was stuck running late-night drills under the stadium floodlights. Gwen, equally busy, was wrapping up a grueling evening karate session at her dojo.
With both cousins occupied, Kevin had taken it upon himself to drive Klein around town to kill time. Currently, the duo was lounging against the hood of Kevin's prized muscle car in the dimly lit parking lot of a local fast-food joint, casually destroying a greasy pile of chili dogs and heavily salted fries.
Klein leaned comfortably against the cool metal of the car, taking a massive bite out of a jalapeño-cheese hot dog. He chewed slowly, his eyes drifting toward a completely empty parking space a few yards away. He swallowed, wiping his mouth with a napkin. "Is something wrong, Paradox?"
The moment the question hung in the air, a familiar vortex of blue temporal energy spun into existence exactly where Klein was looking. Kevin paused mid-bite, a french fry dangling from his lips as he stared at the figures stepping out of the portal. "Professor Paradox? And... Azmuth?" Kevin blinked, his gaze shifting to the second Galvan. He had absolutely no idea who Zennith was.
Azmuth ignored the half-eaten junk food and immediately locked eyes with Klein, before scanning the desolate parking lot. "Where is the wielder of my Omnitrix?"
Professor Paradox stepped forward, his tone lacking its usual lightheartedness. "We have incredibly pressing matters to discuss. I suggest we gather Ben and Gwen immediately."
A few minutes later, thanks to the sheer convenience of Paradox's space-time manipulation, the entire crew was abruptly yanked from their respective evening activities and deposited straight into the center of Kevin's garage.
Glancing around at the assembled team, Paradox skipped the pleasantries. He dove straight into the grim reality of the situation, detailing the absolute devastation of Galvan Prime and the Highbreed's imminent, full-scale invasion of Earth.
"Uh, yeah, we kinda already knew that," Kevin drawled, waving a greasy hand dismissively. "They've been threatening to invade Earth for months now, and we haven't seen a single blip on the radar. Plus, we smashed their main jump-gate a while back. They probably haven't even scrounged up the parts to build a new one yet, right?"
"Incorrect. They have already completed its construction," Paradox replied, verbally slapping down Kevin's naive optimism without a second of hesitation.
Ben, still wearing his sweaty soccer jersey, felt the blood drain from his face. His usual cocky demeanor vanished, replaced by a hardened, serious glare. "Professor, are you saying..."
"Precisely," Paradox nodded grimly. "The Highbreed armada is preparing to strike Earth. Right now."
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