War of the Worlds (Ryder 10)

Story
Ryder is inspecting the underside of the Tenn-Speed, when Rook comes over.

Ryder: Ah, Rook! Status report!

Rook: I believe that we have everything necessary. However, Magister Patelliday is refusing to allow us to use many Plumber forces.

Ryder: Which means, we have to go small, and with friends. I’ve got a list of people who’d be good candidates for it. I left them on the handle.

Rook grabs the piece of paper on the Tenn-Speed’s handlebar, looking at the list.

Rook: Are you sure about some of these names? Some of these are wanted criminals.

Ryder: You may not consider them trustworthy, but they’ll be handy in a pinch.

Rook: I see. Well, I shall begin gathering them, but I suggest you contacting a few of them yourselves.

Ryder: Fine, fine.

The Proto-TRUK drives out into the desert, out toward Los Soledad. It stops right outside the gates. With Rook in the front seat is Ester, while Morty, Steel, Cooper, Lucky Girl and Argit are sitting in the back, Argit tied up.

Argit: Hey, let me go! This is no way to treat a person! I demand to talk to your Plumber superiors!

Steel: And have them charge you with your outstanding warrants? You’d get double time for disturbing them.

Morty: Ooh, ooh.

Ester: Heh! You said it, Morty. Argit, you’re as big a weasel as always.

Argit: Whoa, whoa! You understand that thing?!

Morty growls at Argit, him backing down.

Lucky Girl: Will someone please explain what is going on here?!

Cooper: We’ve been recruited to take out a threat here. Los Soledad has large amounts of dangerous technology that if utilized, it could shatter reality as we know it.

Lucky Girl: Blah, blah, blah! Good to see you haven’t changed a bit.

Cooper: (Chuckles) You two.

Ester: Okay, back to the subject at hand, where’s Ryder?

Rook: He is on the way.

The group all gets out of the Proto-TRUK, as two motorcycles drive towards them. Ryder and Turbine pull up, them parking and getting off the bikes.

Turbine: Ester! Been too long!

Ester: Turbine, but,

Ryder: I asked her to come. Thanks again, by the way.

Turbine: Anything that keeps you from dying in battle. Go ahead with a sit rep.

Ryder: Yes, ma’am. Rook, untie Argit.

Rook removes the bonds from Argit, though he doesn’t try to flee.

Argit: What? There’s nowhere to go out here!

Ryder: Listen up! Inside this base is an army of DNAliens, led by the Highbreed!

Argit: Highbreed?! Okay, now I’m out!

Argit goes to walk off, when Morty gets in his face, growling at him. Argit takes his place back in line, ears down.

Ryder: They are assembling a device known as a Jump Gate, to bring their invasion fleet from somewhere out in space to here. Our mission, disable the Jump Gate. The DNAliens are humans possessed by an alien parasite. If there’s a way to revert them, do it. Cooper, I want you on that.

Cooper: So that’s why I’m here.

Ryder: Argit, you put them to sleep.

Argit: And why would I do this?

Lucky Girl: Well, I know that if it mattered to the crowd I hang with, fighting and defeating an invasion force would be major bragging rights.

Argit: Really? That’s a pretty good reason.

Ryder: Don’t do anything big and risky. This is a classic “get in, break their fancy toys, and get out” scenario.

Steel: That is not what it’s called.

Ryder: Details! Now, let’s do this.

Ryder activates the Omnitrix, slapping it down. He transforms into Diamondhead, punching his fists together. Diamondhead walks through the gates of Los Soledad, going through an invisibility cloak, going into the snowed over military base. The DNAliens working all turn, looking at him.

Diamondhead: Hello! Can you guys please point me to the control tower?

The DNAliens all howl and snarl, as they spit slime balls at him. Diamondhead raises his arms, a crystal wall forming. The slime balls hit it, as the wall goes down, the others coming charging in. Rook fires lasers from his Proto-Tool, as Steel and Turbine fires shots from their guns. Lucky Girl fires mana blasts at them, as Ester runs in, stretching and kicking some away. She then shivers, shaking.

Ester: It’s f-f-freezing in here! Why’d you bring me here?!

Diamondhead: We needed a helping hand.

Diamondhead fires several crystal shots, as he plows through. Morty pounds through several DNAliens, as Argit slinks along the edge of the battle.

Argit: Doesn’t matter if I fight or not. I’m here, giving me plenty of street cred.

DNAliens surround Argit, as he screams, shooting quills at them, putting them asleep. Argit chuckles proudly at this.

Cooper is examining a DNAlien, as a blaster is floating by his head, it reconfiguring itself while floating. Rook morphs the Proto-Tool into a sword, slashing at DNAliens, holding them off. Diamondhead is quite a bit ahead of the others, slamming the DNAliens with crystal towers. Diamondhead reverts, as Ryder presses the receiver on his ear. More DNAliens swarm him, as Rook forces them back.

Rook: Is this what you were going for? Having everyone distract the DNAliens, and have us fight the Highbreed, which we have yet to win against?

Ryder: That’s the plan! Hop on!

The Tenn-Speed drives up, as Ryder gets on, slapping down the Omnitrix as he does. Viktor Stein revs the engine, as Rook hops on.

Rook: You do realize that you are going to shock me, correct?

Viktor Stein: Oh. Didn’t think about that. In that case.

Viktor Stein speeds off towards the communication tower, DNAliens covering the floor in between them. Viktor Stein activates the weapons system, firing missiles at the DNAliens, blowing them away. Viktor Stein arrives at the tower, driving up the stairs. They arrive in the communications station, where DNAliens and a Highbreed are.

Highbreed: How did scum like you make it into our tower?!

Viktor Stein: What can I say? We’re just that good.

Rook hops off the Tenn-Speed, firing laser blasts, knocking DNAliens away. They spit slime balls at them, as Viktor Stein shoots lightning, breaking through them. Viktor Stein charges in, punching through several DNAliens, making his way to the control station. Highbreed appears, backhanding him and knocking him away.

Highbreed: So, the rumors are true, Ryder. You are a tenacious one. But it isn’t enough to allow you to survive!

Highbreed goes to punch Viktor Stein, Viktor Stein catching it and shocking Highbreed. Highbreed lifts Viktor Stein up and slams him into the ground. Rook flips over several DNAliens, firing electric nets, trapping a handful of them. Rook heads for the console, as Highbreed flies over, ramming him. Rook hits the ground, Highbreed pinning him down. Viktor Stein hits Highbreed, shocking Highbreed off Rook. Highbreed charges, and slams his palm into Viktor Stein’s chest, pinning him to the wall. Highbreed moves his hand back, Viktor Stein dropping, the Omnitrix glowing yellow. Viktor Stein reverts, seeing this.

Ryder: Cool! Thank you.

Highbreed: For what?

Ryder activates the Omnitrix, as he slaps it down. He transforms into a Highbreed, the Omnitrix symbol on his chest.

Purebrid: For giving me perfect DNA, by your words.

Purebrid hammers his arm into Highbreed, slamming him into the ground. Highbreed kicks Purebrid off, him breaking through the ceiling, landing on the roof. Highbreed flies up after him, Purebrid firing finger darts at him. Highbreed pushes through, ramming Purebrid. The two wrestle, as Rook works on the console.

Rook: It is no good! I do not have access to any of the controls!

The Jump Gate opens, as it shoots out several Highbreed ships. They ships fly over Los Soledad, everyone looking up at them.

Morty: Ooh ooh aah.

Ester: No. This isn’t over! Ryder will fix this!

An engine revs, as Turbine rides by on her motorcycle, wielding a powerful cannon, firing it at the Jump Gate. Suddenly, the energy from the Jump Gate glows, as the process is reversed. The Jump Gate begins sucking the Highbreed ships back in, sucking in several DNAliens in as well. The suction catches Turbine and her motorcycle, as she tries to drive away from it. Highbreed flies into it, as Purebrid spots Turbine, the back wheel of her motorcycle being lifted off the ground.

Purebrid: Turbine! No!

Purebrid flies down, fighting against the suction to make it to Turbine. Turbine and her bike come off the ground, flying up and through the portal.

Purebrid: NO!

Purebrid stops resisting, heading head first for the portal. The Jump Gate closes, as Purebrid flies through open space, crashing down. He emerges from the ruins of a building, reverting. Rook rides the Tenn-Speed back down, as the others rally with him.

Ryder: Why’d you suck them back through?!

Rook: I did not do anything. Everything that just happened with the Jump Gate occurred on the other side!

Ryder: Open it back up! I’m going after her!

Ester: Ryder, calm down. We’ll get her back, don’t worry!

Ryder: Don’t worry?! They’ll turn her into a DNAlien, then I’ll never find her!

Cooper: I think I have an idea on this condition. I can start working on reverse engineering the process.

Rook: Good. I would like you to do that.

Ryder: Oh, forget this!

Ryder pushes Rook out of the way, as he takes off on the Tenn-Speed. Ester stretches her arm to try and catch him, him swerving to dodge. He speeds off, disappearing going through the cloaking field.

Argit: So, do I get paid or anything? End Scene

In a dark city on the planet Augstaka, the Time Cycle comes out of a time portal, hiding in the shadows of the building. Ryder and Skurd come out of the Time Cycle, as they sneak into the headquarters.

Skurd: Okay. I give up. Mind telling me where and when we are this time?

Ryder: Augstaka. Home planet of the Highbreed. We’re on the day my strike force stopped their Jump Gate from unleashing a Highbreed invasion.

Skurd: So, what’s the point in us being here?

Ryder: Because there was an anomaly. We couldn’t access the Jump Gate, yet it went into reverse, sucking the invasion fleet back here. Which means, someone did it from this end.

Skurd: And you think that someone was you?

Ryder: If I do it, then yes.

Ryder activates the Omnitrix, slapping it down, transforming into Purebrid. He then walks casually through the base, Skurd on his shoulder.

Purebrid: Is there anyway you can hide at all? You’ll blow my cover!

Skurd: You’re worried about me blowing your cover when the Omnitrix symbol pops out on your chest?

Purebrid: Good point. I think I can do something about that, though.

Purebrid opens his chest up, as the section of skin where the Omnitrix symbol is attached to moves to the bottom of the pile, creating an odd overlap. Skurd slips down Purebrid’s arm, going into his hand.

Skurd: Not bad. You’re actually getting pretty good at this espionage thing.

Purebrid: Did you have any doubt?

Reinrassic: You, halt!

Purebrid turns, saluting Reinrassic III.

Reinrassic: Where are you headed, soldier?

Purebrid: I was told to go to the command center to relieve the officer there, and to activate the Jump Gate. Orders from above.

Reinrassic stares Purebrid down, noticing the ruffle in his skin.

Reinrassic: What is with your skin, soldier?

Purebrid: Uh, just some irritation, sir.

Reinrassic steps towards Purebrid, and causes Purebrid to trip and fall back. His skin opens back up and goes back to normal, revealing the Omnitrix symbol.

Reinrassic: Ryder! How did you get here?! Our intel says you are attacking our forces on Earth!

Purebrid: I guess I’m full of surprises.

Purebrid gets up to punch Reinrassic, who catches it and knees Purebrid, punching him hard and throwing him. Reinrassic takes off running, as Purebrid rolls to his knees.

Purebrid; Skurd! Help me out here!

Skurd: What did you ever do without me?

Skurd slides up and touches the Omnitrix, stretching his tendrils around Purebrid’s arms, creating Wildvine’s vine tendrils. Purebrid whips the tendril at Reinrassic, wrapping around Reinrassic’s right arm. Purebrid pulls on the tendril, causing Reinrassic to spin around, the two deadlocking as they try to pull the other towards them.

Reinrassic: You think yourself as strong as the Highbreed?! You are nothing compared to us!

Purebrid: Right now, I think I’m doing pretty good.

Purebrid reverts, as Reinrassic pulls Ryder towards him, Ryder flying at him. Skurd activates the Omnitrix, slapping it down as Ryder turns into Slapstrike.

Slapstrike: The answer to how I survived without you Skurd, is not very well!

Reinrassic goes to punch Slapstrike with his right fist, as Slapstrike cocks his left arm back across his chest to slap at Reinrassic. Slapstrike slaps Reinrassic, damaging Reinrassic’s chest, and severing his right arm, sending it flying. Reinrassic drops to the ground, howling in pain as he grabs his right arm.

Reinrassic: Agh! My arm!

Slapstrike: Whoa, I’m so sorry! Skurd, that was too much!

Skurd: You’re feeling sorry for that thing? You are a bigger fool than I thought.

Slapstrike: Oh, whatever!

Slapstrike whips his tendrils and grabs the right arm, pulling it back over. He puts the arm back in the socket, as the tendril wraps around to seal it together. Skurd stretches his tendrils to it, and causes the matter to merge together. Reinrassic lies on the ground, weak, as Slapstrike takes off running.

Slapstrike: Thanks for fixing him.

Skurd: If you’re going to do an amateur job at fixing someone, then I might as well make sure you do it right. Though, if you don’t want to dismember the rest of them, I suggest you choose a different alien.

The stone door to the central control room is shattered by Slapstrike’s slap, as Skurd turns the Omnitrix, shifting Slapstrike to Toepick. The Highbreed in the room all turn to look at him.

Toepick: I’ll only say this once.

Toepick’s helmet hisses, as it opens. Wails, screams and chains rattling come from the helmet, all the Highbreed who look at him turning purely ghostly white.

Toepick: Get out.

The Highbreed all run out of the room, as Toepick stumbles into the room. He makes it to the controls, as he sees the Jump Gate is open on the monitor, the fleet flying through them. He closes his helmet.

Toepick: Skurd, use Upgrade to take control of the system. Suck them back in and shut it off.

Skurd: Oh, is that all you want? I imagined you wanted me to blow it all up.

Toepick holds his hands up onto the console, as Skurd morphs the hands into Upgrade’s, merging with the console. The monitor shows the Jump Gate going into reverse, the ships being sucked through. Toepick reverts, as Ryder watches Turbine struggle to escape the suction effect, eventually being sucked in.

Skurd: Who was that?

Ryder: Turbine. She served as a second mother to me after I had run away from home. And we’re going to save her.

Skurd: Wait, you’re saying that you came here only to save her?

Ryder: And we’ll succeed.

At the Jump Gate, Turbine lays on the ground, her getting up. DNAliens lie around the ground as well, Highbreed soldiers beginning to gather. Turbine pulls out her blaster, firing it at them. The Highbreed take little damage from the blaster, as one of them grabs her and lifts her off the ground.

Turbine: Get your darn dirty hands off me!

Highbreed: You dare say that we’re dirty?! You will be lucky to suffer a servant’s fate!

Xylofreeze: Turbine!

The group looks up, seeing Xylofreeze flying towards them. A Highbreed fleet ship opens fire at him, as Xylofreeze stops, using telekinesis to stop the attacks and firing them back. The other ships open fire as well, as Xylofreeze spins, becoming overwhelmed by the onslaught.

Skurd: Perhaps you should’ve thought this through a bit better!

Xylofreeze: (Straining) Get, us, out of here!

Skurd: (Sighs) If I didn’t find all this DNA scrumptious, then I would just leave you here and now.

Skurd forms over Xylofreeze’s stomach, forming Portaler’s stomach. He opens a wormhole underneath Xylofreeze, who drops through it. He comes out right on the ground, surrounded by DNAliens and Highbreed. Turbine is nowhere in sight.

Xylofreeze: Where is she?!

Xylofreeze’s eyes glow white, as he swings his arm, sending a legion of soldiers flying away. DNAliens spit slime balls from all angles at him, Xylofreeze holding his arms out, stopping the slime balls, them eventually forming a dome around him. A Highbreed punches through the slime, uppercutting Xylofreeze and sending him flying back through the hole in the Jump Gate, reverting. Ryder groans, as Skurd sighs.

Skurd: You know, I think these Highbreed have the right idea, thinking they’re superior.

Skurd forms a wormhole around Ryder, teleporting him away, into the Tenn-Speed. Ryder groans, as he flies the Tenn-Speed, going through a space portal.

Skurd: You know, thinking of teleporting, perhaps you should create a response where this vehicle can come to us in a dire situation.

Ryder: Ugh. Huh. Maybe, a whistle. But, I can’t believe I failed. Again. That’s the second time I couldn’t save her.

Skurd: Don’t worry. I’m sure that you’ll mess up the timeline enough somewhere along the line that she’ll be saved.

Ryder: Gee, thanks.

On Earth

 * Ryder (16 year old)
 * Rook Blonko
 * Ester
 * Cooper Daniels
 * Morty
 * Lt. Steel
 * Lucky Girl
 * Argit
 * Turbine

On Augstaka

 * Ryder (17 year old)
 * Skurd

Villains

 * Highbreed
 * Reinrassic III
 * DNAliens

By 16 year old Ryder

 * Diamondhead
 * Viktor Stein
 * Purebrid (unlocked)

By 17 year old Ryder

 * Purebrid
 * Slapstrike
 * Toepick
 * Xylofreeze

By Skurd

 * Wildvine (tendrils)
 * Upgrade (hands)
 * Portaler (swirl pattern)

Trivia

 * This episode features Ryder stopping the Highbreed invasion.
 * This is the first incident in 17 year old Ryder's timeline where he goes back to intervene with an event in his timeline.
 * Turbine is sucked in and captured by the Highbreed. This pushes Ryder over the edge of despair.
 * For 16 year old Ryder, the following episode is Demons and Shadows, the special crossover that jumpstarted the series. That is the last episode, timeline wise, for 16 year old Ryder.
 * There are still a few that haven't been aired though following that timeline, occurring before this one.
 * Reinrassic gets his arm severed and restored, giving him Flourauna DNA.
 * This ends the Highbreed invasion on Earth, for the time being.