The asphalt of the trans-state highway blurred beneath the tires of Kevin Levin's car, but the peaceful drive was cut short by the screech of metal tearing through the air. A modified Techadon robot, sleeker and faster than the standard models, slammed onto the road, blocking their path. Its single red optic scanner locked onto Ben.
"Techadons? I thought we scrapped these guys last week!" Kevin yelled, swerving the car into a drift.
"This one looks different. Faster!" Gwen noted, her hands glowing with mana as she shielded the car from a rapid-fire laser volley.
Ben slapped the Ultimatrix. "It wants fast? I'll give it fast!" In a flash of green light, the sleek, velociraptor-like form of XLR8 appeared. "XLR8!"
Ben bolted forward, moving as a blur. He circled the Techadon, delivering rapid kicks to its chassis. Usually, the sheer friction and speed would dismantle a droid in seconds, but this Techadon pivoted instantly, matching Ben's velocity. It anticipated his movements, catching XLR8's tail and slamming him into a guardrail.
"He's tracking my kinetic signature!" Ben grunted, struggling to get up as the robot charged its main cannon. "I can't outrun something that calculates my path before I take it."
Ben scrambled to his feet, barely dodging a plasma blast. He needed more than just physical speed; he needed to break the rules of physics. He twisted the dial on his chest. The Ultimatrix spikes extended, gripping the symbol.
"Ultimate XLR8!"
The transformation was immediate. Ben's skin turned jet-black, accented by pulsating neon blue circuit lines running down his spine. His helmet streamlined into a sharper aerodynamic crest, and his legs became turbine-powered pistons. A blade-like tail whipped behind him, crackling with energy.
The Techadon fired a point-blank laser. To Gwen and Kevin, the beam seemed to hang in the air, frozen. To Ultimate XLR8, the world had stopped. He wasn't just moving fast; he was slipping through the flow of time itself.
"Too slow," Ben whispered. His voice echoed with a digital distortion.
He casually walked past the frozen laser beam. As he broke into a run, blue lightning arcs generated from his turbine legs. He struck the robot a thousand times in the span of a nanosecond. When time resumed for the rest of the world, the Techadon instantly disintegrated into scrap metal, the delay catching up all at once in a thunderous sonic boom.
Ben skidded to a halt, the blue neon fading as he reverted to human form. "Okay," Ben panted, looking at the smoking watch. "That was... intense."