Beep, beep!
The moment the Omnitrix touched Snare-Oh, it changed from green to yellow.
DNA sample recording...
"Roar!"
Snare-Oh suddenly sprang up with a shrill scream.
The bandages on its chest spread open, revealing the purple crystal inside!
The Four-Armed Humungousaur's eyes narrowed. He immediately yanked Snare-Oh away and hurled it hard at the windmill tower above.
If he remembered correctly, those crystals were Corrodium ore, packed with Corrodium.
Anyone who came into close contact with it, human or animal, could undergo horrifying mutations.
Those two mutant cows were the best proof of that.
If he hadn't reacted fast enough just now, Ben probably would have turned into some kind of mutant monster.
Luckily, alien forms weren't affected by Corrodium.
Up above, after being flung into the windmill tower, most of Snare-Oh's body was shredded to pieces, bits of white bandage scattering everywhere like scraps of paper.
But to Snare-Oh, that kind of damage was nothing.
At most, it would only take a few seconds to recover.
"It's getting away!" Ben shouted as he watched the restored Snare-Oh run off into the darkness.
Those purple markings stood out clearly against the dark grassland.
The Four-Armed Humungousaur bent his legs and leaped onto the windmill tower. Grabbing the huge blades with both hands, he ripped the windmill free with brute force.
With a furious roar, he hurled it like a giant razor-sharp shuriken, sending it slashing toward Snare-Oh's back.
But just before it hit, Snare-Oh's back split open down the middle, dividing into two halves and neatly dodging the attack.
Then it casually tossed a purple crystal straight at Gwen at terrifying speed!
Gwen didn't dodge. She was even about to block it with an earth wall, not knowing how dangerous Corrodium was.
The Four-Armed Humungousaur had no idea whether Corrodium would affect a half-Anodite, but he wasn't about to gamble on it.
Whoosh.
A massive figure stepped in front of Gwen.
A blood-red giant hand, broad as a fan, caught the Corrodium crystal.
"Cuz?" Gwen froze for a second and started toward him.
"Don't come any closer." The Four-Armed Humungousaur clenched the Corrodium crystal in his hand. "These stones give off extremely powerful radiation. They can mutate Earth creatures, so stay back."
"So that's it." Ben suddenly understood, then frowned. "But Cuz... Snare-Oh got away."
"It's fine. As long as it still wants the Corrodium crystals, we'll be able to find it sooner or later." The Four-Armed Humungousaur grinned.
...
After driving off Snare-Oh, Lucian and the others returned to the chicken coop, their home for the week.
They quietly crept back to their beds and had just lain down when...
Click!
The dim yellow light suddenly switched on, stinging their eyes.
"Time to get up and work, kids," said Joan, the owner of the ranch, standing in the doorway.
Ben had dark circles under his eyes, and his face was full of disbelief. "Oh my God, it's only five o'clock!!"
The only time he'd ever been up this early before was when he snuck off to play Sumo Slammers.
"An inch of time is an inch of gold." Joan smiled. "Up you get. Wash up, then come eat breakfast and get ready for work."
"It's going to be a very full day."
Looking at Joan's "sinister" smile, Ben and Gwen immediately had a bad feeling.
"Oh man... why does the look on her face make me feel so creeped out..." Ben hugged himself and shivered.
...
Early morning.
Soft sunlight spilled across the endless stretch of withered grassland, painting it with a brilliant golden edge, like a sea of gold.
Today's workload was especially heavy.
Joan told Todd to teach Ben and the others how to do farm work, then went off to handle her own business.
It took Todd about two hours to teach Ben and Gwen. He looked young, but he was very attentive.
He taught Ben every detail and trick of farm work without holding anything back, based on his own understanding and experience.
Before long, Ben and Gwen started working.
Thankfully, Grandpa had been assigned somewhere else, so his work was different from theirs.
Which meant Ben could use the Omnitrix.
But to keep exactly that from happening, Grandpa Max had specifically told Lucian to keep an eye on Ben and not let him use alien forms to do farm work.
At that moment, Lucian stood outside the chicken coop with his arms crossed, supervising Ben and Gwen as they worked.
Looking at the room full of eggs and the hens walking all over the floor, Ben clutched his head and wailed, "Oh, man, this is not cool at all!"
"Doofus, it's time for the hero to make an entrance." Gwen reached out and smacked Ben on the head.
"Right. I can turn into XLR8!!" Ben snapped back to life and immediately pressed the Omnitrix.
Boom.
The next second, he turned into XLR8.
Without another word, XLR8 became a blur of blue and rushed into the chicken coop.
He even shut the door behind him.
"Cluck cluck cluck!!"
Instantly, terrified squawking erupted from inside the coop. Chickens flew everywhere, eggs cracked, and chaos exploded in every direction.
Two and a half seconds later, XLR8 burst out of the coop.
He was carrying a huge pile of eggs stacked high in his arms.
"All done!" XLR8 grinned and gave an OK sign.
Lucian yawned and didn't bother stopping him.
None of them had slept last night, so letting Ben use an alien form to get the work done was the most sensible option.
Otherwise, if Ben and Gwen had to drag their exhausted bodies through that much heavy farm work, they would be completely wiped out.
To keep Ben from collapsing on the spot, Lucian had no choice but to grit his teeth and ignore Grandpa's instructions.
"Nice one, Ben!" Gwen cheered loudly.
Next came milking.
Since there were just too many cows, Ben turned directly into Four Arms.
Using all four hands at once, he milked fresh streams into the iron buckets one after another.
Meanwhile, Lucian and Gwen lounged comfortably on a pile of hay with their eyes closed, taking a break.
Once Four Arms finished that, it was on to the next job.
Plowing.
What Todd had taught them before was to use a water buffalo to plow the field, tying a wooden plow behind it and driving it forward to turn the soil.
But Ben didn't bother the water buffalo.
He had a better helper.
"Roar!"
Wildmutt burst onto the scene, bit down on the plow, and started sprinting back and forth across the farmland, plowing like crazy.
He was far faster than any water buffalo.
Finally, it was time to plant the wooden stakes.
Todd's method was to dig a small hole with a shovel first, then set the stake into it.
But Ben's way was much simpler and rougher.
He turned straight into Diamondhead and transformed his arms into blades, stabbing hole after hole into the ground.
Then he planted the stakes like he was planting trees, leaving Gwen staring in shock.
After finishing the farm work, Lucian took Ben and Gwen to find Grandpa.
They needed to tell him what had happened the night before.
Lucian knew Grandpa would definitely have a way to find Snare-Oh...