Inside the Null Void, the portal suddenly opened sideways into a completely different stretch of broken dimensional space, and Kevin, Vilgax, and Diamondhead all got spit out in a messy tumble before the portal snapped shut behind them.
"Okay, maybe that was not such a good idea," Diamondhead muttered.
Kevin slowly got to his feet and took in their surroundings with a wary expression, while Vilgax rose to one knee with Diamondhead still pinned by the head for a moment before finally letting go. Around them was an endless pocket of distorted space, with a blue-purple haze stretching forever into the distance and long jagged rock formations frozen in place like they had been dropped there and forgotten by the universe.
"Where are we?" Kevin asked.
"The Null Void," Vilgax hissed. "An alternate dimension where the galaxy's worst criminals are banished. I heard it can be reached from anywhere in the multiverse if you have the right tools. There may even be beings here that do not come from our universe at all."
"Sounds about right," Kevin said with a smug grin. "I am the baddest of the bad."
Diamondhead pointed a finger off to the side. "Yeah? Tell that to them."
Both Vilgax and Kevin looked where he was pointing and immediately saw a squad of strange other-dimensional creatures circling the rocks around them. They had pale bodies, tentacles like squids, wide bat-like wings, and rows of fangs where their faces should have been. The moment they noticed the newcomers, they all turned toward them at once.
One of the monsters suddenly dove straight for Vilgax.
Vilgax growled and released Diamondhead just long enough to catch the beast by the neck before it could bite him. At the same time, Diamondhead took advantage of the opening and transformed into XLR8, blasting away across the rocks in a blue blur.
"No!" Vilgax roared, slamming the monster into the ground in frustration as he watched his prey get away.
XLR8 kept running until he reached the edge of the floating terrain and skidded to a stop just before the endless void beyond it.
Behind him, Vilgax let out an angry howl and leaped onto the back of one of the flying beasts. The creature fought to throw him off, but Vilgax dug his claws into its side and held on tightly. Once he had mounted it, the other monsters backed off immediately and lowered their heads.
Kevin glanced at them in disbelief. "...What was that about?"
"Respect," Vilgax said coldly. "Even beasts recognize superior strength."
"Yeah, well, good for you," Kevin scoffed. "What about Tennyson?"
"His grandfather will attempt a rescue, and so will the other one," Vilgax said. "We have to find him and get the Omnitrix before that happens, or we will be trapped here forever. Or worse..."
Kevin's smirk faded slightly. "Worse?"
Vilgax slowly turned his head toward him. "The other child is far less merciful than this one."
Kevin stayed quiet for once. Because deep down, even he understood exactly what Vilgax meant.
Ben fought like a hero.
Evan fought like someone fully willing to become the bigger monster if necessary.
...
Back on Earth, Gwen sat outside the Rust Bucket with her knees pulled tightly against her chest, burying her face against them as she stared at the dirt below. The area around Niagara Falls was quieter now that the tourists had mostly cleared out, but the silence only made everything feel worse.
Ben was gone. Trapped inside the Null Void with Kevin and Vilgax of all people.
Even thinking about it made her stomach twist.
As annoying, reckless, immature, and unbelievably stupid as Ben could be sometimes, he was still her cousin. The idea of him being trapped in some prison dimension with two psychopaths who wanted him dead was not something she could just brush off.
And knowing Ben, there was also a very high chance he had already done something incredibly reckless the second he got there.
Gwen groaned softly and buried her face deeper into her knees. Her thoughts were interrupted when the Rust Bucket's door opened behind her.
Max stepped outside first, looking serious, while Evan followed after him already geared up like he was preparing for war.
Not only Gwen stared at him strangely, but Orfevre and Gold Ship did too.
Evan had equipped himself with a ridiculous amount of gadgets in the span of a few minutes.
His Proto-Tool rested at his shoulder, several strange devices clipped along his belt, and a folded hoverboard was strapped against his side. A few compact explosive charges hung around his waist while a watch-like device sat on his right wrist. A metal rod was secured behind him. Combined with the old coat he always wore, he looked less like a kid and more like some sci-fi bounty hunter.
Gold Ship blinked. "Big bro looks like he's about to fight aliens and evade taxes."
Orfevre snorted despite the situation while Max sighed tiredly.
"I'm going in after Ben," Evan said simply.
Max nodded and raised the Null Void Projector without hesitation. They had already argued about this inside the Rust Bucket.
Originally, Max planned to enter the Null Void himself, but Evan refused to allow it. Between the two of them, Evan had the better chance of surviving a direct confrontation with Vilgax and Kevin. More importantly, unlike Max, Evan could freely reopen portals out of the Null Void at will, meaning there was far less risk of him getting trapped permanently.
The Null Void Projector activated with a loud hum before firing a beam forward. A swirling yellow portal slowly opened in front of them, crackling with unstable energy as powerful winds began pulling at everything nearby.
Evan stared directly at the portal while his long hair whipped wildly in the pull. The yellow light reflected across his goggles as he calmly slid them over his eyes.
For a moment, nobody spoke. Even Gold Ship had gone quiet.
Then Orfevre suddenly called out. "Hey, Ever."
Evan paused just before the portal and tilted his head slightly over his shoulder.
Their eyes met.
Orfevre crossed her arms tightly, trying to maintain her usual composure, but the concern on her face still slipped through anyway.
"Stay safe," she said quietly. "And come back alive with that idiot?"
Evan stared at her for a second before smiling faintly.
"Yeah," he replied. "I'll drag him back if I have to."
Gold Ship suddenly raised her hand dramatically. "And if evil space squid man tries anything, beat him with a chair."
"That's... a reasonable advice from you," Gwen joked.
"Golshi is wise beyond mortal understanding."
"Sure you are," Gwen muttered.
Max stepped closer to Evan and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Be careful in there. The Null Void is dangerous even without Vilgax and Kevin running around."
"I know," Evan replied calmly.
The pull from the portal intensified, making his coat billow harder behind him.
Without another word, Evan turned back toward the glowing gateway and started walking forward.
His boots scraped against the ground while the roaring pull of the Null Void echoed around them. Just before entering completely, he raised one hand to the side and gave a thumbs-up without turning around.
Then he stepped through the portal. The yellow light swallowed him whole.
A second later, the portal snapped shut, leaving the group standing in silence outside the Rust Bucket.
...
Dropping into the Null Void, Evan free-fell through the endless dimensional wasteland while strong winds tore past him. Massive floating rock formations drifted through the empty purple sky, broken platforms hanging in impossible places while distant flashes of lightning lit up the darkness for only a second at a time.
His eyes scanned the terrain rapidly, searching for any sign of Ben.
After falling several more meters, Evan steadied himself in midair and slowed to a stop.
Without hesitation, he pulled out the folded hoverboard strapped to his back and tossed it upward. The device unfolded instantly with a mechanical snap before hovering beside him.
Evan stepped on it smoothly and immediately accelerated forward through the Null Void.
The wind howled around him as he flew between floating cliffs and broken chunks of stone. The deeper he went, the more hostile the environment became. Strange creatures lurked across the drifting platforms, many of them immediately noticing the fresh outsider entering their territory.
A pack of blue-skinned quadrupedal aliens suddenly crawled over one of the cliffs ahead of him. Their mouths opened into circular rings of jagged teeth dripping with saliva while low growls echoed from their throats.
The moment they locked eyes on him, the entire pack charged.
Evan barely reacted before the Proto-Tool on his shoulder shifted and automatically opened fire.
Laser fire erupted outward.
The creatures leaped toward him from different angles, but the Proto-Tool tracked them precisely, blasting through their bodies midair and knocking them back into the abyss below before they could even touch him.
One of them nearly reached the hoverboard before another laser pierced straight through its head.
Evan kept moving, weaving through the drifting rocks while his gaze swept the Null Void for any sign of Ben.
The Null Void was dangerous enough on its own without the local wildlife trying to eat him every five minutes.
As he continued moving through the dimension, his gaze constantly shifted around while his mind stayed focused on locating Ben.
Then suddenly, he smelled something awful.
Evan immediately grimaced. "That smell can only be one person."
His head turned just in time to see Stinkfly flying toward him.
"Evan?!" Stinkfly shouted in relief. "Boy, am I glad to see you!"
Before either of them could get closer, a blazing fireball suddenly shot between them.
Both instantly veered away as the attack flew past.
Their gazes shifted upward.
Kevin and Vilgax were charging straight toward them while riding large flying beasts native to the Null Void.
Another creature suddenly burst forward from behind them, a massive pink-purple worm-like monster lunging with jaws wide enough to swallow them whole.
Both sides split apart just in time to avoid becoming its next meal.
Kevin immediately chased after Ben while Vilgax focused entirely on Evan.
Evan angled the hoverboard downward and landed hard onto one of the floating stone platforms below before turning back toward the approaching warlord.
Vilgax rode atop his beast while glaring down at him with murderous intent.
Evan calmly put away his hoverboard before looking directly back at him.
"Now it's just you and me, Squidward," he said flatly as he activated his Another Omnitrix.
A familiar hologram appeared above the dial.
Evan pressed it down. Golden light exploded outward.
When the light faded, Evan was gone. In his place stood a massive armored giant nearly as large as Vilgax himself.
Heavy white-and-gold armor covered his entire body, while streams of golden flame pulsed between the gaps of the plating. Jets of fire spread along his armor, emitting a glowing light, and the massive armored figure stared up at Vilgax without fear.
"SAM," he announced.
Vilgax narrowed his eyes immediately.
The armored plates on SAM's body suddenly shifted open as golden flames erupted from the vents.
Then he launched forward like a missile.
Vilgax barely had time to react before SAM slammed directly into him midair, knocking both him and his mount out of the sky.
The flying beast screeched while Vilgax crashed onto the floating platform below hard enough to crack the stone beneath him.
Several of the other flying beasts circled in aggressively and dove toward him.
SAM clenched both fists. Golden flames burst from his elbows as he punched upward, obliterating the first creature instantly.
The second beast lunged from behind, only for SAM to spin and backhand it hard enough to cave in its skull before sending it flying into a nearby cliffside.
A third tried to tackle him from above. SAM grabbed it by the mouth and slammed it into a nearby floating stone repeatedly until it stopped moving.
Each strike carried explosive force thanks to the flaming propulsion blasting from his armor joints.
After clearing the swarm, SAM slowly turned back toward Vilgax.
The warlord rose from the rubble while glaring upward furiously. Then the metal rods attached to Vilgax's arms retracted.
His already massive arms expanded even larger as his muscles swelled grotesquely with power.
Without a word, Vilgax charged. SAM rocketed downward at the exact same time.
The two collided head-on.
The impact created a massive shockwave that shattered the entire floating platform beneath them.
Chunks of rock exploded outward into the void while cracks spread everywhere from the collision point.
Vilgax was knocked backward off the collapsing platform but quickly recovered by jumping back onto his flying beast. While golden flame burst from the gaps in SAM's armor as he floated in the air.
Hovering above the destruction, the alien warlord glared murderously at the war machine before charging toward him again.
In another part of the Null Void, Ben was sprinting across floating stone platforms while Kevin and a pack of flying alien beasts chased him through the air.
He kept switching between aliens every few seconds, making it almost impossible to predict his movements.
One second he was XLR8, speeding across narrow ledges in a blue blur. The next, he became Wildmutt and leaped across a massive gap using pure instinct before changing into Stinkfly midair to avoid getting flattened by one of the swooping creatures.
Kevin gritted his teeth while hanging onto the back of one of the beasts.
"Would you stop changing already?!" he shouted.
"I can't hear you over how awesome I am!" Stinkfly yelled back before instantly turning into Four Arms and punching another flying beast directly out of the air.
The creature spun wildly before crashing into a distant rock pillar.
Meanwhile, far deeper inside the Null Void, the clash between SAM and Vilgax continued sending shockwaves through the empty dimension.
Their battle had attracted attention.
Several figures watched from nearby platforms, drawn in by the noise and the sight of Vilgax fighting someone head-on.
Most stayed hidden. Two of them, however, stepped forward.
"Wow," SAM said while floating above the shattered ground, "didn't think you'd make new friends so easily, Squidward."
Vilgax stood silently atop his flying beast, glaring at him. Beside the warlord stood two strange prisoners of the Null Void.
The first was a humanoid black creature wrapped in a torn dark cloak. A cracked white skull mask covered its face, with one horn chipped and the other completely broken off. Black mist leaked from underneath the mask as it slowly drew a jagged blade.
The second looked like a possessed suit of armor. Its body was deep purple with dark blue flames burning from inside the gaps in its armor plating. One arm was completely missing while the other had transformed into a massive sword made from blue fire.
The armored being dragged the flaming blade across the ground, leaving glowing scars behind it.
"Don't mistake obedience for camaraderie, Ever Gold," Vilgax said coldly. "Creatures in the Null Void understand survival. They follow strength."
"Yeah, yeah, scary speech and all that," SAM replied while rolling his shoulders. "Still looks like you picked up two discount minibosses."
The skull-masked alien immediately lunged at him.
The jagged blade swung toward his neck, but SAM tilted sideways at the last second and the blade barely scraped across his armor. Before the creature could recover, the armored warrior charged from the other side and brought its flaming sword arm down.
SAM caught the blade with one hand. The impact cracked the ground beneath his feet.
The armored creature pushed harder, blue flames roaring violently around its arm, but SAM simply tightened his grip.
Then twisted. The flaming sword-arm snapped clean off.
The armored being staggered backward with a distorted hiss of pain as blue fire sprayed wildly from the broken limb.
SAM kicked it directly in the chest hard enough to send it flying across the platform.
The skull-faced alien rushed him again from behind, only for SAM to spin around and drive his fist directly into its mask.
The white skull shattered apart on impact. The alien was launched backward and skipped violently across the rocky ground before disappearing into the darkness below.
"Man, you guys really are bad at this," SAM muttered.
That moment of distraction was all Vilgax needed. The warlord suddenly lunged forward and grabbed SAM by the face.
Before the armored giant could react, Vilgax slammed him into the ground hard enough to shatter the entire platform beneath them.
SAM tried to push back, but Vilgax planted both hands onto his head and forced him deeper into the stone.
"Here an advice, don't let your guard down around me," Vilgax growled.
Then he tightened his grip. SAM's head shattered apart. The armored body twitched once before collapsing motionlessly.
Vilgax stepped back slowly, staring down at the destroyed transformation.
"I've done it?" he murmured, almost surprised by how easy it had been.
Then his eyes narrowed. The golden Omnitrix symbol on the destroyed body had gone dark.
A faint sound caught his attention. Vilgax turned his head and spotted a small figure quickly retreating across the broken terrain.
A young girl with silver-white hair wearing a sleek white skintight bodysuit. The golden Omnitrix rested on the back of her left hand.
Vilgax's eyes narrowed further.
"Oh," he rumbled. "So this is the true form of an Iron Cavalry."
Sam glanced back at him while running. Vilgax charged toward her instantly.
The ground cracked beneath every step as he raised both massive arms and swung downward with enough force to flatten her completely.
At the very last second, Sam rolled sideways.
Vilgax's attack smashed into the platform instead, obliterating the area where she had been standing moments earlier.
Dust and debris exploded outward.
Sam slid to a stop and immediately opened the Another Omnitrix interface.
Two fragments of DNA were dropped into it, both gathered from the strange Null Void prisoners earlier.
[Two new DNA samples acquired!]
She pressed the dial down. Golden light erupted outward.
The transformation stretched upward rapidly, replacing her small frame with a much taller armored body.
Dark white and black full-body armor formed around the new alien while ominous golden flames burst from the top of its helmet, its eyes, and its arms.
The armor ended around the elbows while pure ghostly fire extended outward to form flaming hands.
A golden Omnitrix symbol rested on the alien's waist.
The flames around its body flickered violently as the alien slowly looked down at its burning hands.
"Cool," he spoke in a deep raspy voice.
The flames shifted. His fingers extended into long burning blades.
"FlameGuardian," he decided.
Vilgax charged again without hesitation. FlameGuardian leaped forward to meet him head-on.
His flaming blades slashed toward Vilgax's massive arms. The collision created a loud hissing sound as the ghostly flames burned directly through Vilgax's flesh.
Vilgax immediately recoiled, growling in pain while smoke rose from the fresh burns on his hands.
Before either of them could move again, the entire area suddenly shook.
A deep rumbling echoed throughout the Null Void.
Both of them turned. Then slowly looked upward. A gigantic figure towered over the surrounding platforms. A corrupted To'kustar.
Its pale gray skin looked cracked and lifeless while enormous purple blades jutted from its shoulders, arms, and head. Its glowing red eyes locked directly onto them with terrifying hostility.
Even Vilgax froze for a second. The corrupted giant slowly raised one massive bladed arm.
Then it roared loud enough to shake the surrounding platforms apart.