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(Loth's P.O.V)
The moment Alien X lifted the RV off the ground, I didn't think—I just moved.
I slammed into Max and Gwen, dragging them across the dirt, my barrier snapping into existence as the air filled with screaming metal and tearing roots. The Rustbucket, whole trees, glowing coals from the dead fire, even my tent—all of it hung in the air, caught in orbit around the black-and-star-speckled silhouette that had once been Ben.
At the edge of camp, I held the barrier firm. The pink dome rippled as chunks of debris struck against it, each impact making my bones hum.
Max exhaled hard, gripping his knees. "Good save, kid."
Gwen, red-faced and clutching her headphones, jabbed a finger at the floating RV. "Are you kidding me? He's lost his mind! One prank after another, and now he's some crazy alien about to smash our ride to pieces!"
Max didn't flinch at her rant. His gaze stayed locked on his grandson, but when he spoke, his voice was low and steady. "How do we stop him, Loth? How do we save my grandson?"
My jaw clenched as I tried to steady the barrier. Cracks spidered across its surface. "I don't know," I admitted. "You're asking me to put down a god. Because that's what he is right now."
Both of them stared at me, waiting.
I swallowed. "Alien X is a Celestialsapien. An alien… version of God. There isn't anything more dangerous in this universe."
Inside, my thoughts were racing. Think. Think.
I couldn't just wait for the Omnitrix to time out. Alien X didn't work that way—not always. If the personalities inside that body agreed, Ben could stay like this indefinitely. And those personalities weren't easy to reason with. At best, it was a coin flip. At worst…
"Watch out!" Gwen's shout cut through my spiraling thoughts.
I saw the tree too late. It was already spinning toward us, bark stripped away by the gravitational pull. Instinct took over. A pink saw-blade construct ripped free from my barrier, carving the tree in half. The halves tumbled harmlessly aside.
I exhaled, shaky. Good thing my control training was finally paying off.
But it didn't last. The ground itself began to tear, clumps of earth breaking free and joining the debris system around X. All the while, he floated there in silence, arms limp at his sides, constellations across his skin shifting.
"Wait," Gwen said, eyes narrowing. "He's not actively attacking. Look—he's just… stuck. Maybe the dweeb's still in there. Maybe Ben's still in control."
I blinked at her words. That… made sense. If Ben's consciousness was still active, maybe there was a way to reach him.
I cut my eyes to Max. "Take her somewhere safe."
Max's hand tightened on his weapon of choice- a tent peg. "We'll be fine. You go. Stop him."
I nodded, then lowered the barrier. The instant it dropped, the winds from the floating debris nearly dragged me off my feet. I steadied myself, reinforced my body, and prepared to run.
Whatever happened next, I had to reach Ben before Alien X decided to do something irreversible.
"Be careful!"
Max's order barely left his lips before I was moving
Sprinting along the edge of the camp, the ground shaking under the gravitational pull Alien X was generating. Trees bent sideways, smaller rocks shot past my head like bullets, and every step was a gamble between dodging debris and keeping my footing.
Focus. Reinforce.
Pink circuits lit up across my skin as I poured energy into my body. A boulder the size of a truck slammed into me from the left. My ribs cracked from the impact—then reset instantly under the reinforcement. The rock disintegrated around me like glass striking steel.
Now.
I sprang into the air, angling toward Alien X's blindside. His body was motionless in the center of the storm, but that didn't mean he wasn't aware. He twitched one finger.
The RV shot toward me like a missile.
The twenty-ton vehicle slammed into my arms and shoulders, knocking me back down, out of breath. The ground shattered beneath my feet when I landed. Pain seared through me as I fought to hold the vehicle steady, my shoulders muscles screaming, skin lighting up brighter as reinforcement kept me from folding in half.
"Come on, you piece of junk…" I grunted, and forced the RV to the side. It hit the dirt with a heavy thud, dented but still intact. Max would kill me if I let it get totaled.
I barely had a moment to breathe before Aura Sense flared like an alarm. Pressure hit me from above. Not physical—worse.
Alien X drifted toward me, slow and inevitable, dust and shattered rock orbiting his body. Those green, starless eyes locked onto mine, and every cell in my body caught fire.
It wasn't killing intent. It was something greater. Something that felt wrong. My anodite core vibrated at the edge of bursting, reacting to him the same way it had to Ragnarok Chaos.
The only way I could describe it was this: the weight of absolute authority. Greater than Hecate. Greater than the Olympians.
I froze in place.
"Let Ben go," I forced out. My throat felt raw. "He's just a kid. He didn't know what he was getting into. It was a mistake."
Alien X's voice came layered, like several entities speaking at once.
"Mistake? We think not. You are the mistake. An error in reality. You do not belong in this dimension. We agree on your prompt eradication."
"Son of a—" I spat, bracing as he raised a hand.
A tent spike bounced off his head. From the side, Max yelled, hefting another spike like a spear. "Let my grandson go buddy! There's plenty more where that came from!"
Alien X didn't even glance at him. Max floated off the ground with a flick of his hand.
That was the opening I needed.
I leapt, uncontrolled pink energy flaring unstable around my body. Debris surged in to block me, but with my aura, I phased through it, disintegrating anything it touched. For once, I was grateful my powers were out of whack.
I crashed into Alien X, grabbing onto his arm, locking eyes with him again.
"Alright," I growled, "let's see if this works."
I forced my Aura Sense to sharpen, layered Occlumency over my vision, and dove into the connection between us. If Ben was still inside, buried under those two cosmic personalities, then maybe I could drag him back.
For half a second, I felt the edge of something. A boundless realm.
Then my mind slammed into a wall harder than anything I'd ever encountered.
Alien X's eyes pulsed.
And I realized I wasn't the one invading—he was.
(General P.O.V)
Alien X's hand clamped around Loth's throat.
From the moment the Celestialsapien made contact, Loth's body began to unravel. His boots and calves disintegrated into dust first, then his knees. Each fragment of him peeled away like paper burning in reverse—vanishing into nothingness without heat or sound.
"Loth!" Max's shout carried across the camp, raw with panic.
Gwen screamed too, but her voice was lost in the storm of debris whipping around Alien X. Chunks of earth, trees, and metal scraps spun faster and faster in orbit, a miniature apocalypse around a still center.
Loth barely registered any of it. His mind locked onto survival. He had faced threats before—gods, monsters, and things beyond either—but this was different. Against Alien X, every instinct told him he wasn't just fighting. He was being corrected, erased by reality itself.
The pressure of Alien X's grip forced his vision to blur. Yet his thoughts sharpened in spite of the suffocation. Faces flickered behind his eyes: Percy, stubborn but loyal. Annabeth, always planning three steps ahead. Chiron, watching with quiet hope. Luna, lovably strange but kind. Even Mr. D, scowling with the faintest tinge of reluctant concern.
He couldn't let this be the end. Not here, not like this.
From the ground, Max roared again, hurling another tent spike at Alien X despite knowing it would bounce harmlessly away. He wasn't fighting to win—he was fighting to buy a second more for Loth.
That second was enough for Loth to make his choice.
"Not… yet…" he rasped through Alien X's crushing hold.
His body below the waist was gone now, dust trailing away into nothingness. Gwen clutched Max's sleeve, sobbing, begging him to do something, anything. Max's jaw clenched tight enough to draw blood.
Out of options, Loth gambled on insanity. His free hand clamped onto the glowing Omnitrix dial on Alien X's chest.
His powers functioned weirdly in this reality for some reason.
Against Vilgax's units, he had forced the energy into a drone to destroy it. This would be the same—or it would kill him outright.
Either way, it was better than being erased.
He poured everything into the dial—raw, unstable anodite energy flooding into the alien device. The watch screamed in protest, the green icon flashed wildly as pink veins spread across its surface like cracks in glass.
Reality itself stuttered. The storm of debris froze in midair for a heartbeat.
Then came the implosion.
A violent surge of green and pink light collapsed inward, dragging Loth into the Omnitrix as if the device had decided he was nothing more than data to be stored. Alien X was hurled backward across the crater, slamming into the ground as the debris storm collapsed in on itself. Trees crashed, rocks split, and silence fell.
When the dust cleared, Alien X was gone. Ben Tennyson lay unconscious on the ground, the Omnitrix smoking faintly on his wrist.
Max and Gwen rushed to him immediately. Gwen dropped to her knees, shaking Ben's shoulders. Max checked his pulse, his eyes flicking across the boy's body for injuries. Relief softened his face when he found nothing life-threatening.
But there was no sign of Loth.
"Grandpa," Gwen whispered, tugging on Max's sleeve. She pointed at the Omnitrix.
The dial was pulsing pink.
A synthetic voice echoed from the device:
"New Alien DNA acquired."
The dial face shifted, flickering with a holographic image. For an instant, the unmistakable outline of Loth appeared—his glowing form captured in the watch's catalog.
Max stared at it, his jaw tight, saying nothing. Gwen covered her mouth with her hands, eyes wide.
The camp was silent except for the faint hum of the Omnitrix, and the unconscious boy who had no idea what had just happened.