Chapter 5: Chapter 5: Ultimate Swamp.......mud?
Now that Ben and Bloom are officially a couple the next day is bit of the blur for the two with them barely being able to remember anything aside from some weird stares from Stella but that wasn't important for now as the day after that professor Palladium took out his classes to the middle of some swamp near Alfea to try and teach them about the voice of nature or something along those lines Ben wasn't paying much attention.
"God damn these mosquitoes are everywhere" Ben who's currently in his fairy form says as she tries to swat away as many as she can while walking with their class to where the lesson is supposed to happen.
"We are in a swamp" Professor Palladium said who Ben just ignored as she turned her left arm into that of Gutrot and sprayed herself with mosquito repellant before he turned to his group.
"Want some?" She asks before they quickly began nodding since the mosquitos were getting beyond annoying, so she quickly sprayed them with the same gas.
"Wait, how do you even create the gas?" Tecna asks with Ben just shrugging before spraying her with the mosquito repellant since Gutrot was once of the aliens that she didn't know a lot about.
"I create them by mixing chemicals hell I'm honestly surprised I can even make them without being fully transformed" She responds before she turns her arm back to normal just as they get to a large clearing.
"Ah here we are class" Palladium says as they arrive in a clearing with the mud filled swamp being visible nearby as he then goes on for a bit that they're not allowed to use magic whatsoever and that they had 3 hours to get out of the swamp and meet him in a nearby forest before the then teleports out of there leaving them alone there.
"Well better get to it" Ben says before she and the girls walk into the swamp as they all have to force themselves through the mud since it was hard to walk through.
"Oh, screw this Ben give me a hand" Tecna says as both she and Ben raise their hands to try and move the mud away with their respective magic before they're stopped by Bloom.
"Wait don't remember what the professor said we have to listen to nature" Bloom says as Ben just gives her girlfriend a 'really look?' but does stop as he doesn't want to upset her but that is when they all notice a weird smell of some kind.
"Hey do you guys smell that?" Flora asks before Ben pauses for a second before realizing why he recognized that smell.
"It's methane everyone run!" Ben yells as they all manage to get out of the mud just in time as one of those gas bubbles pop releasing a bunch of methane.
"That was way too close you two thinking?!" Musa whisper yells as she gives Ben since she was the closest a quick smack while looking at the two of them.
"I was trying to use Swampfire to move the mud I wasn't trying to blow us all up to kingdom come" Ben whisper yells back back as the two look at each other for a second before the two sigh and let out a small laugh.
"C'mon girls we need to keep moving" Flora says as they all then continue walking to where the meet up location is.
Meanwhile at Cloud Tower the Trix have just gotten back from their classes as Icy just collapses onto her bed tired from the classes before they see this purple gelatine like creature slowly rise from underneath the bed followed by a small saucer, this was Eon's version of Goop.
"Ah good to have you girls back how were classes were the teachers annoying" Goop says in a condescending code before de-transforming back into his human form and pulling back his cloak's sleeve revealing his Ultimatrix which had been modified and its color scheme changed to being purple.
"I don't need your crap today Eon" Icy says with her hand on her forehead as she's currently having a headache which only got worse as Eon went to the closet and opened the door with Knut falling out.
"Knut? Explain why you were hiding in our closet NOW!" Darcy says as she and Stormy Walk over with Knut looking pissed.
"F-forgive me your highness but while I was hiding near the Red fountain school, I happened to overhear that they were going to turn over my hunting troll over to the police" Knut says as Eon raises an eyebrow before looking at them.
"You sent an ogre and a troll to do your dirty work?" He asks before he scoffs since he lives by the saying 'screw it I'll do it myself' as the rest of the Trix just glare at him with him just rolling his eyes as he pulls up the Ultimatrix before turning the dial until he finds Jet Ray with a hologram of it being displayed on top of the core.
"You witches coming or what?" Eon says as before slamming down on the core with the room then being filled with a bright purple light.
Over the forests near the swamp where the Winx and Ben are a red fountain aircraft is seen flying before something deep in the swamp begins to rise as this creature with bark like skin and blue gooey shell is seen before it looks up.
'That's not plumber technology but still I better shoot it down in case it's those bastards' The creature thinks before it reels back its hand and shoots bright blue flames straight at the blue fountain aircraft blasting a good portion of it off watching as the aircraft let out black smoke as it begins heading to the ground before it sinks back into the ground to continue its solitude.
"What hit us?!" Timmy yelled as he stumbles into the cockpit of the aircraft as the other are panicking trying to keep the aircraft somewhat steady before he sits down on his seat and buckles himself in.
"I don't know but whatever it had wanted us dead!" Riven says as he tries to keep it as steady as possible before he closes his eyes while bracing for impact just as they crash into the ground rocking the entire aircraft and also making it dig down into the ground leaving them stuck with no way to escape.
"Did you girls see that!" Flora says looking at her friends while pointing at where the smoke was coming from before they all then run over seeing the aircraft in the ground with Ben noticing some footsteps walking away from the aircraft.
"Normally I'd say karma's a bitch, but we have to save them" Ben says as she quickly turns into her Winx form before flying over the mud and flying over to where she hears the banging.
"Hey, anyone out there!" Brandon yells while banging on the wall trying to get the attention of anyone nearby as he then sees the wall begin to melt away before then Ben blasts it open letting light shine in through the previously pitch-black cockpit.
"Hello specialists need a hand" Ben asks raising an eyebrow before she flies back as they begin to walk out, and the rest of the girls also get there.
"Thanks for the help, Miss..." Brandon says stopping himself as he doesn't know recognize Ben who just stares at him for a while before scoffing.
"It's Genesis but my friends call me either Ben or Gen" she says in a serious tone as Genesis is the name she goes by in Alfea before dropping out of her winx form as Riven just looks at her and scoffs.
"We didn't need your he-" he begins saying before Ben just kicks her back into the cockpit before grabbing a piece of metal and beginning to weld the the hole back shut.
"Ben no stop" Bloom says putting a hand on her shoulder as Ben does stop before scoffing as her arm then turns a bit red before he rips the welded part right off using Tetramand strength.
"You're lucky my girlfriend is here" Ben says bitterly before she turns around and walks away before kicking away a rock that randomly lights on fire without even using pyronite DNA before skipping across the muddy water a few times and creating a small explosion as it hits a methane bubble.
"Anyways, what caused you guys to crash?" Tecna asks as Timmy manages to get some footage from the outside camera as he rushes over and shows it to everyone and for the first split second of it the Trix and Eon can be seen in a clearing as Eon was transformed into Heatblast and had created an arrow of fire to shoot at the aircraft but nobody noticed since the frame went by so fast as it then shows this walking tree looking creature with a blue gooey shell on its back as then Ben notices and rushes over.
"Wait a minute I know that guy…..that's Swampfire" Ben says while pointing at the paused image of the sentient ultimate methanosian.
"What are you talking about?" Sky asks while looking at her as Ben just takes a step back before grabbing Bloom's hand.
"Winx huddle we can't let them hear this" Ben whispers to the others who just look confuse at her as Bloom just looks at him.
"Ben c'mon don't be like that, if you know something we all need to hear it" Bloom says to her girlfriend who just looks away before sighing and nodding agreeing with Bloom as she then looks at the bracelet with the omnitrix symbol on her left wrist as she lifts up her hand and then slams it down quick changing into Swampfire.
"Swampfire!" he says loudly calling out his transformation's name now having transformed into the methanosian before he looks at the group.
"Wait you're the guy that" Timmy says eye wide as Swampfire just glares at him.
"Yes the guy you shot and I'm still pissed off about it" The methanosian says with a deadpan face as he then looks at the omnitrix symbol on his chest as he then slams on it but instead of reverting back to human or quick changing into another alien instead he begins to get taller with his plant like skin becoming like bark and him gaining the same blue goo shell on his back.
"Ultimate Swampfire!" He calls out before he looks down at his hands before sighing happily "Finally someone didn't interrupt me from going Ultimate" Swampfire says before looking at the rest of them and before he can start explaining they hear the activation of a phantoblade.
"So, you were the one who shot us down!" Riven says while he's pointing his phantoblade at Ultimate Swampfire who just gives him this deadpan stare.
"How could he have shot you guys down...….when he was literally with US the entire time!" Musa says in disbelief as she looks at Riven like he's the biggest idiot she ever saw.
"And another thing…..you SHOT Ben?!" Tecna asks while looking at Timmy before Stella steps up to explain further.
"Yeah, the night I met Ben and Bloom we were fighting against a troll and the specialists come out of nowhere and when Ben yelled at Brandon, Timmy just shot him" Stella says while glaring at Timmy before Ultimate Swampfire clears his throat getting everyone's attention.
"Can I explain now?" He asks looking around as the rest just stare at him as he claps his hands pleased "Thank you, now what you're seeing there on the screen is an Evolved Methanosian" He begins as he then goes on to explain that he recognized him because at one point when before he met Bloom he had something called an Ultimatrix which gave him the ability to turn into highly evolved forms of his regular aliens before then pointing to himself as proof.
"What I can't explain is what Swampfire is doing here as I left him on another planet" he says before he then reverts back to his fairy form.
"Wait, you mean to tell me he traveled across space with no ship?" Sky asks before Ben just shrugs unsure as the planet, she left them on was quite the paradise for a methanosian but then again, she's sure swampfire had a good reason.
"Wait guys what about these footprints" Bloom says as she points to these footprints that seem to go on for a bit before they disappear.
"Oh shit the troll!" The specialists yell simultaneously just now remembering about the prisoner that they were transporting before they then all run into the swamp of the footprints before disappearing into the swamp.
"Are they stupid?! They went in there without any type of plan" Ben says looking at the rest of the winx as then Flora speaks up.
"Well what should we do?" She asks while looking around before they then all decide to go after them to stop them from being killed by their own stupidity.
A bit later and the Winx are still looking for the specialists with them not seeming to be able to find them no matter how much they search.
"20 bucks says they're dead" Ben says sounding irritated since at this point, she was tired of walking just wanting to go back to their apartment and see Ship again.
"Ben, can you stop that they're not dead.....probably...…maybe" Tecna says unsure before she then gets an idea "Wait Ben maybe if you use Wildmutt it'll make tracking them down easier" She suggest before Ben without looking at the bracelet slams down on it turning into Wildmutt as he begins sniffing the air.
"You got their scent already?" Stella asks as Wildmutt looks at her nodding before they begin to walk in the direction of where their scent leads until they find them all tied up by vines.
"So, what did we learn?" Ben asks in a condescending tone as he reverted back to his human form as Flora began to use her magic to make the plant let go off them.
"Shut up we have a troll to catch" Riven says getting really annoyed by Ben's mere existence.
"Oh, that's right you did mention a troll what was that all about?" Musa asks as she sees a green flash of light as Ben turns back into Wildmutt sniffing the air before he growls as he recognizes the scent as the troll that attacked him, Stella, and Bloom the night they met the blonde so before anyone could stop him Ben takes off running after the scent ignoring the girls calling out for him.
"Where is that guy going?!" Timmy asks as they watch the orange furred alien canine disappear into the swamp.
"I don't know but we have to chase after him" Stella says as they then all run after him despite the fact that he's already long gone.
Nearly half an hour passes as Wildmutt continued chasing after the scent as he briefly stops to sniff the air once again trying to get a better lock on the scent as screaming is suddenly heard in the distance.
'Wait I recognize that voice...oh shit it's one of my classmates' He thinks as he runs as fast as he can in that direction as he then slams down on the omnitrix symbol on his collar as his fur began to turn a red like color along with gaining a tail with a spike at the end.
"Ultimate Wildmutt!" He yelled as he jumped off the cliff he had reached while running before falling down and landing on the back of the troll before it could hit one of his classmates.
"Run I've got this!" He yells before biting down on the troll's shoulder as it lets out a pained yell before grabbing and then throwing the evolved vulpimancer away from him as he lands in a small nearby mud puddle.
"Ben!" A voice that sounds oddly like Bloom's as he turns to the side while smelling the air as he recognizes Bloom's along with everyone else's scent as they run over to him.
"Couldn't you just wait for us?" Stella asks as he looks down in thought for a second before looking at the troll who was in a fighting stance.
"Ok I might've gotten a bit impulsive but we can leave that for later we have a troll to fight" He says before charging at the troll as he sidesteps just in time to avoid a punch before he swipes at it with his tail slicing its cheek before Timmy follows up by shooting the troll with his gun as the rest of the specialist all come from behind and slice the troll in the back making it collapse to the ground in pain before Flora from the sidelines puts her hand on the ground making vines come up from the ground trapping the troll.
"Good job Flora thanks for the assist" Wildmutt says while looking towards the others as they celebrate taking down the troll
"Yes! High five" Timmy says putting his hand up towards the vulpimancer who just looks at him before reverting back to his human form before high fiving him.
"Anyways how are we gonna get big, mean, and ugly out of here" Ben says while looking at the Troll before an arrow of fire suddenly comes from out of nowhere impaling the troll in the head killing it nearly instantly before the body also bursts into flames.
Everyone immediately spins around to see who shot the flame arrow when suddenly Ben, Bloon, and Stella freeze as their eyes land on the one responsible as the culprit turn out to be Ben's Pyronite transformation standing on the same cliff jumped off earlier...or what looks to be Ben as the Omnitrix symbol instead of being green, it's replaced with a purple one and same goes for his eyes "T-there's no way....Heatblast?" He says out loud as the Pyronite chuckles from above turning and walking away.
"Wait, get back here!" Ben yells smacking down on the omnitrix as he runs forward turning into Big Chill flying up only to see empty space as it was long gone by the time he arrived as he then turns to the others "He's gone" he says before flying down back to the others.
"I think I'm going to throw up" Stella says while covering her mouth at the stench that came from the burning body which quickly gets put out by Big Chill using his ice breath on it putting out the flames.
"Well there's a dead troll and some guy walking around with an omnitrix...great this da-" He begins saying only to have his mouth covered by Musa's hand.
"Don't jinx it!" Musa says loudly before the two have a standoff as they glare at each other.
"Oh my god just kiss already!" they hear one of their classmates in the background yell as Bloom, Big Chill, and Musa all simultaneously glare at her causing her to let out a 'EEP!' sound before slowly walking back and then run away.
"Enough with the arguing we have to call the headmaster....he's not going to be pleased when he hears about this how about you guys go back to your class, we'll watch over...this" Brandon says while gesturing to the burnt corpse of the troll.
"Yeah, let's do that we have to get Stella out of here anyways she looks like she's about to throw up any second now" Ben says as he quick changes from Big Chill to his fairy form while grabbing Stella's shoulders and pushing her away as the winx say goodbye to the specialists.
Though even once they had left the area and reunited with the rest of their class and Professor Palladium the one thing he couldn't keep out of his head was the fact that there was someone else out there with an omnitrix and whoever they were it looked like they were in league with the Trix 'Shit...….as if things weren't bad enough having to deal with the witches now I have to deal with a wannabe Albedo...….looks like thing's will only get more dangerous from now on looks like I'll have to stop holding back as much if this 'Albedo' wants to do things the lethal way then fine...…We'll do things more lethally'