"The middle one."
Hearing Ben's answer, Rio moved first. The others followed close behind, their eyes scanning the surroundings for any movement.
"Ready?" Asked Rio, reaching the middle dumpster.
Ben nodded, raising his water pistol. Gwen positioned herself to watch their backs, her knuckles white on her own gun.
With a grunt, Rio pushed. The dumpster rolled aside with a metallic shriek. Beneath it, set into the concrete, was a heavy metal door, shut tight as though no one could open it.
Rio tried to pry it open, but it wouldn't budge. It was either locked from the inside or too heavy.
"Ben, come help," Rio called.
Together, they managed to pull one side of the door up just enough for Gwen to slip under and help open it from the other side.
As the door opened, a wave of cold, damp air washed over them, carrying the foul smell of a gutter.
"Stay sharp," Rio murmured. A set of crude metal rungs descended into utter blackness. "I'll go first. Gwen, watch our backs. Ben, right behind me."
He climbed down into the darkness. The air grew colder with each step, the smell intensifying. After about twelve feet, his feet touched solid ground.
"Clear," he called upward.
Ben scrambled down after him, then Gwen.
Rio activated his phone's flashlight. They stood in a narrow concrete tunnel, pipes running along the ceiling dripping with condensation.
"What is this place?" Ben whispered as he took in their surroundings.
"Some kind of maintenance tunnel," Gwen said, her voice tight. "But it's been... modified."
A minute later, the cone of light from Rio's phone cut through the dark ahead, revealing a junction where the tunnel split into three directions. Just as the kids were making heads and tails of which path to take, a voice echoed from behind them.
"Looking for someone?"
The words froze them in place. Then three heads whipped around in unison.
A figure stood at the tunnel's mouth, blocking their only exit. if you could even call it a figure.
It looked human in shape but made of green slime with its form continuously bubbling around and distorting as if struggling to hold itself together.
As if on cue, two more of the slimes oozed from cracks in the tunnel walls, cutting off any hope of retreat.
"You children are too curious for your own good," the lead one gurgled, its voice bubbling out from somewhere in its body without anything resembling a mouth.
Ben's jaw tightened. He raised the water gun, his bravado surged as he shot back.
"Oh yeah? Curious? You haven't seen anything yet!"
The provocation seemed to make the creature furious as his body rippled violently then dozens of tendrils sprouted from its surface, ready to whip at the groups.
Ben's face fell. The confident grin wiped from his face as the creature's attack oozed forward menacingly.
"Gwen—take this!"
Rio shoved his phone into her hands. The flashlight beam swung wildly as she fumbled to catch it.
Before she could say a word, he was already moving.
An unmistakable blue flash erupted from Rio.
From beneath the watch Rio's blood vessels began to grow abnormally eventually reaching his eyes prompting him to close them.
His body grew in size, and coarse orange hair grew all over his body filled with sharp small quills, his waist quickly bent, and his limbs fell to the ground, until he turned into a huge dog-shaped creature.
When he tried to open his eyes he couldn't, as they had disappeared from his face, instead three pairs of gills like nostrils were on his neck.
In the blink of an eye, Rio was gone.
What replaced him hit the ground with a thuh:
It was Wildmutt with muscle wrapped in coarse orange fur, filled with sharp small quills. His shoulders alone looked strong enough to break through a steel door. And his Long, hooked claws sharp enough to gouge lines into the concrete as he steadied himself.
His head lifted, the three pairs of gills like nostrils on his neck flared as he drank in the scent particles in the air.
But in this form Rio's vision completely disappeared, and he couldn't see anything. Instead, it was replaced by a very strong perception. Allowing him to judge the outline of the surrounding scene through pure sensory feelings, instead of sight.
"Grrrrowl…"
His mouth opened and a deep, powerful growl vibrated through the tunnel, shaking dust loose from the ceiling.
"Whoa!" Ben blurted, his fear briefly replaced with pure awe.
Rio now–Wildmutt didn't waste much time. He lunged, with one claw he slashed through the gelatinous creature's attacks, stopping them from reaching his cousins.
While his other claw landed on the lead slime, the push alone shoved it back several feet, buying them precious seconds.
though the slime reformed around the claws, it also left a thick, pulsing residue of green goop on his fur.
The three shapeshifters displayed identical expressions of shocked disbelief. The kid in front of them turned from a human into a dog, with enough power to actually stop them.
But they still continued their assault, their body parts stretching, twisting, and lashing out in increasingly complex patterns!
THOOM! CRASH! BOOM!
Their attacks struck the stone walls and pipes, leaving deep gouges in the concrete. But none of them could touch the giant and agile body of Wildmutt.
Wildmutt tried to bring the actual fighting field away from his cousins as he forced the aliens back again and again.
Suddenly an alarm seemed to go off in Wildmutt's mind as his hair stood on end and his body shuddered!
His body seemed to have triggered a passive ability, His powerful legs launched him upward at the perfect angle, grabbing the protruding rocks with its claws.
He clung to the raised rock overhead, completely avoiding a sneak attack from an extra alien that suddenly slipped out from between some rocks.
Wildmutt himself felt stunned by what just happened!!
This perception, the ability to react without thinking, was beyond anything he'd experienced before during combat!
It was as though his body possessed an entirely separate consciousness that detected threats and responded automatically!
It's practically the same as spider sense.
Even if Wildmutt was asleep, he could effortlessly dodge any attacks with this new ability!
"GRROOWWWL!!"
Wildmutt then snarled from his elevated position. The tremendous sound waves physically rippled across the shapeshifters' bodies, momentarily stunning them.
WHOOOOSH!
Without warning, Wildmutt charged again and in less than a heartbeat, he was upon them!
His massive paws struck each shapeshifter with devastating force.
His enhanced strength, combined with the momentum, created impacts that shattered the ground and stirred up a cloud of dust.
The three alien creatures were hammered into flattened masses, like putty pressed under a hydraulic press!
CRRRRUUUNCH!!
The ground beneath gave way completely, collapsing in large pieces from the force of Wildmutt's assault!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!!
Wildmutt swiped again at the four slime-like monsters on the ground. One strike, then another, scattering their mass until they were nothing but puddles.
Only then did he retract his massive claws with satisfaction.
Even the shapeshifters with their terrifying regenerative abilities could only slowly reform after such a beatdown.
The entire battle lasted less than thirty seconds from start to finish. The four shapeshifters were completely obliterated, their threat neutralized before Ben or Gwen could even process what had happened!
The speed at which the fight concluded was so incredible that Ben and Gwen were still catching up mentally, their minds struggling to accept how effortlessly Wildmutt had dispatched the creatures.
After solving the aliens wildmutt approached Ben and Gwen.
"Whuffff! Huffff! Huffff!" he wanted to say something but all that emerged was heavy breathing, like a bull's panthing.
Realising the problem, he dropped low to the ground, signaling toward his back with his head.
"Get on!" understanding his intentions Gwen scrambled onto his back and yanked a still-staring Ben up beside her.
"Oh! Right!"