Kyle 10 Alien Force: Singlehanded

I flew through the air, using Scorponok's wings.

Scorponok: "Okay, Ultima. Is this guy in any way one of the guys Bella told me to look for?!"

Ultima: "I don't think so, Kyle. He's not registering in any of the databases."

Scorponok: "So he's just a bounty hunter, then. Got it!" I dodged some more lasers from this guy's hover board. Oh, excuse me. I probably should have introduced this dude earlier. I mean, you all know ME already, Kyle Tennyson, right? Yeah, everyone knows me by now, I HOPE. Anywho, the guy coming after me today was a gray skinned muscular guy with long white hair riding on a hoverboard as it shot at me. I turned around to fire some heat lasers back at him. He spun his axe to deflect the attacks.

Ultima: "Wouldn't it be a good idea to call in the others?"

Scorponok: "Not with all the other things going on!"

Ultima: "You mean that Kayla finally decided to move Anubis in, right?" I trembled a bit. Still not used to this dog around the house nowadays, even with Kayla saying she's trained. The dog is still wearing the Nemetrix for fuck's sake! I nearly got singed by a laser when I kept flying and swooping around Bellwood.

Hunter: "Come back, Tennyson! The Ultimatrix will be mine!"

Ultima: "Sorry, big guy! Kyle and I are really attached!"

Scorponok: "Right down to the DNA, in fact! You couldn't remove her, even if you wanted to!" I dodged around some more fire. I flew low, getting under his glider, as I flew up to catch him off guard and make him fly off of the glider. I then went Web Head and webbed it between some buildings as he got his axe, and shot at my webbing, freeing his glider. It came for me as I webbed it up again, then became Jury Rigg.

Jury Rigg: "Ooh! FIXFIXFIXFIXFIX!" I scrambled up a bunch of parts on his glider.

Hunter: "NO!" I had made a control interface in it, and then used saw blades that I built into it to cut free of the webbing I installed on it.

Jury Rigg: "OHO! This'll be fun!"

Ultima: "It will certainly be interesting!" I flew the glider at the guy, laughing maniacally as I did so. He dodged me, and swung his axe to shoot an energy crescent at me. I dodged it as he blew apart a fire hydrant. The water shot me off of the glider, making it lose control and slam into someone's car.

Jury Rigg: "SHIT! Harangue's going to get on my case."

Ultima: "Yeah, not like anything else could get worse." I went Lodestar, taking the glider out of the car, and tried to rebuff it when I was hit from behind by the bounty hunter. He hopped back onto his glider, and got it to shoot saw blades at me, which I magnetized and hurled back at him. He sent another laser at me, and I went Scorchio, taking the shot on my scales, and deflecting it aside.

Scorchio: "Eh wot, mate? You thought you could nail me like that?"

Hunter: "So it would seem. What you seem to not understand is that I'm not leaving this planet without your watch!"

Scorchio: "Again, not happening, mate." I breathed fire at him, forcing him to move out of the way. I then began to spew fireballs at him, and took back to the skies to go after him again. I went Jetray this time.

Jetray: "Get back here!" I shot lasers at him from my eyes this time, and he brought the glider around to ram me. I flew above him this time, shooting from my tail. I nailed the guy in his shoulder, then dashed for him, trying to get him off the glider again. He spun around, nailing me with the axe, and forcing me into an office building. I landed in the middle of a bunch of cubicles as he tried to slice at me. I went Demantoid in the nick of time, with my hands on the lightning setting, and blasting him with lightning before punching at him. He shook his head as he caught my next punch. I ducked under an attack he threw, then kicked him out of the building. He landed on the glider, and flew off as I hopped out, transforming into Tentaclon, and began climbing my way up the building with my tentacles before launching myself off of the edge, and then going Spykeback, pulling spikes out of myself to hurl at the glider. I caught his glider's turbines, making him crash-land on the top of the building as I went Spidermonkey to trap his arm holding his axe with some webs.

Spidermonkey: "Yeah, sorry about that, bro. OOH OOH!"

Hunter: "Oh, you think you've won, do you?"

Spidermonkey: "Maybe not yet, but you'll be going into custody soon." I then went Ultimate Spidermonkey, preparing to knock him out and then completely web him up for later, when he used his free hand to hit something on his belt, and the glider hit me, then he pulled a device out of it.

Ultimate Spidermonkey: "Cheap trick, pal!"

Hunter: "Yeah, but it got you. Like this will!" The device he pulled out sent out a pulse towards me.

Ultimate Spidermonkey: "YEEOOWCH!" The pulse deactivated my transformation.

Kyle: "WHOA! Ultima! What's-"

Ultima: "That device negated my transformation functions! All DNA splicing processes have stopped!"

Hunter: "You can't escape me, Sunder, now, boy!" He came at me with his axe as I teleported off, and struck him in the back.

Kyle: "Yeah, bro. Not gonna happen. I've been training just for situations like this. You think keeping me out of my forms is going to matter, asshole?!"

Sunder: "So, you are half-Mobian, as the rumors have said."

Kyle: "I mean, considering I scared off a fleet of Incurseans on my own, yeah."

Sunder: "Emperor Milleous is known for being a boastful guy. I guess he didn't boast too much this time. I'm almost sad I have to kill you."

Kyle: "I'm touched." I made some hand signs, and some fire developed around my mouth.

Kyle: "FIREBALL JUTSU!" I breathed blue fire at Sunder. He spun his axe around to deter them when I got behind him.

Kyle: "CHAOS… SPEAR!" The lasers I shot all barraged him in the back as I grew my quills out, and used the Spin Dash to ram him in the face. He caught me when I tried to rebound, and he slammed me into the ground. I felt my hand change into an Ultimate Upgrade tachyon cannon, and it fired into Sunder's chest.

Ultima: "I'm getting some of my splicing back. Slowly. So limbs are an option!" I grinned as I punched the ground, sending a bunch of coral at him. It knocked him off of the building as I felt my legs turn into Red Lightning legs, then my arms turned into Red-Tail limbs, and I had a bo staff ready to go against Sunder with. I intercepted him on the fall down as he knocked the bo staff away, and I materialized shotgun gauntlets on to block his axe, then super-speed kick him with Red Lightning's speed. I then landed a spinning back fist to his cheek, and uppercut/shot him in the chest. He punched me down in response, and the interference was lessening, but not by a bunch. It was even getting to me a bit, when the limbs were being channeled by Ultima. He picked me up by the head, and then slugged me in the gut. I felt Ultima changing my mouth, then I spewed slime into Sunder's face. I blinded him, and headbutted him as hard as I could. He obviously felt it, but even I felt a bit of pain when I did that to him.

Kyle: "OW!" I spewed the last bit of slime out of my mouth, too. Spitter's slime is nasty!

Ultima: "Should have let me grow some rocks over your head or something… wait, you seem to be disoriented."

Kyle: "The interference is in the limbs, too, Ultima. Watch it." I got slugged when he came back to me. I felt Red-Tail's gauntlets being changed out for Diamondhead's hands when he swiped at the Ultimatrix, when a blinding light happened. When the light disappeared, I was shocked.

Kyle: "THE NULL VOID?! How the hell did I-" I looked at my left arm all of a sudden, noticing that it was half-gone, replacing it with a flat, glowing red light. The rest of my limbs were my normal limbs.

Kyle: "WAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

On Earth…

Third Person POV…

Sunder's hand was left behind after he struck Kyle.

Sunder: "Well, that was an interesting turn of events. That device seemed to change his powers to allow him to use his other forms' limbs over his own." He then noticed Kyle's hand, with the Ultimatrix attached to it. He then picked it up.

Sunder: "Not how I expected to get it, but they didn't say I should get Kyle alive." He called the glider back down, and placed the hand in a compartment, then prepared to leave the Earth. However, the hand shook, and got itself out of the compartment. It then transformed into Ultima.

Ultima: "Did you really try to kidnap me? Seriously?" Ultima was dressed up in a leotard-jumpsuit now, having Galvanic Mechomorph-like leggings, and a straight red colored top, and her hair was purely colored red now, and was short. She swung at Sunder, who was still momentarily surprised, and knocked him off the glider. She transformed into Upgrade, taking over the glider, and flew it away from him.

Upgrade Ultima: "We need to get Kyle back. Come on… I need to call the others. But I know who to tell first." She called Ali first.

Ali's POV… (leading up to then…)

It's not very often that Kyle is late, but if this happens, it usually means he's in the middle of fighting off a bad guy trying to get him, and he'll take care of it by himself. Last time we heard, Ultima said he was fighting a bounty hunter, but he didn't seem terribly strong like Deep Cut, so she said Kyle had it. I took her word for it. Kayla was with Anubis, trying to teach her dog tricks.

Kayla: "Roll over!" Anubis looked at her hand, which held some food.

Kayla: "Anubis! Roll over!" She cocked her head off to one side. Kayla then took it upon herself to demonstrate the trick, physically rolling herself. Anubis cocked her eyebrow in response.

Kayla: "Is it that hard?" She turned into Wildmutt, and tried to demonstrate it again, this time while growling at Anubis. Anubis barked at Kayla, wagging her tail happily. Ever since Kayla began to feed her routinely, she seemed to be a much better dog. That Khyber guy was awful to her! Yes, she also still wore the Nemetrix, but she only activated it when Kayla asked her to. She had to make a specific whistle to trigger the form, and then she had to whistle in a different way to shut it off. Anubis was a pretty compliant pooch.

Ali: "You having fun?" Kayla looked at me and growled slightly. Anubis looked confused. I guess she thought that Kayla was trying to have fun with her.

Ali: "Hey, just trying to figure it out. I don't understand mutt yet." I continued to sit on the bar chair in the kitchen. Kayla looked back to Anubis, and growled a bit, trying to actually communicate with her about rolling over, I would guess.

Wildmutt Kayla: "Roar-worf. WOOF! AROO!"

Anubis: "GRR." Okay, they're talking now? Odd. I sat myself up to witness this event better. Kayla kept communicating in mutt, and Anubis was responding to it well. Anubis barked, and Kayla nodded. Anubis then rolled like Kayla was trying to describe. Kayla grinned, then changed back to herself.

Kayla: "Good girl! Good girl! Momma loves you best after all!" She pat Anubis on the head as Anubis licked her cheeks.

Kayla: "That shit's ticklish! Stop!" She couldn't help but fall over in laughter.

Ali: "Your weakness is tickles, too, huh?" I raised my eyebrow at her.

Kayla: "Well, I used to be Kyle, so… yes…" Anubis kept licking her, until Kayla physically removed her from her face. My Plumber's badge went off.

Ali: "Shit. Call from… Ultima? That's odd. Usually she doesn't call me. Hello?"

Upgrade Ultima: "Ali! We got a problem! Kyle is dimensionally displaced! I don't know where to!"

Ali: "KYLE IS WHAT?!"

Kayla: "Is he dead?!"

Upgrade Ultima: "No. He isn't. Wait, Kayla's there? Good, she can help me out."

Kayla: "How so? What trouble did Kyle get himself into?"

Upgrade Ultima: "What you should be asking is why I'm still here and not displaced with him. For that, I'll need to get back to the base and show you two. We may also need some of Kevin's tech. Give him a call."

Kayla: "Already on it!" She began to call Kevin's cell with her Biomnitrix, and I stayed on with Ultima.

Ali: "Ultima, what can you tell me about what's happened?"

Upgrade Ultima: "The bounty hunter, Sunder, struck me, and it displaced Kyle somewhere. I'm utilizing a fail-safe that I had to set up myself. If Kyle and I somehow become separated… despite me physically bonding with his DNA-"

Ali: "Yeah, not cool. Especially how you mutated all of us."

Upgrade Ultima: "One, Kevin started it, and it was Bella's idea to mess with the tech in the first place. Two, I never ASKED to be sentient like all of you are. I was perfectly satisfied being a regular old AI. This sentience is quite the gift, and while I do enjoy it, my main directive has not changed. I have to preserve Kyle's safety as well as my own. REGARDLESS, I can assume full control of the Ultimatrix, and utilize any forms that I need to in order to find a way to get Kyle back. My Codon Energy clashed with whatever Sunder's axe was composed of, and it moved Kyle someplace else in the Omniverse. I don't know WHERE yet. I'm hoping I can get some outside consultants, namely Kayla and Kevin, to help out here!" I took a deep breath.

Ali: "I'm sorry, Ultima. Just… get here fast, okay?"

Upgrade Ultima: "On it. Just try not to overreact when I show you guys what's up, okay?"

Ali: "I'll know it wasn't your fault, at least. Thank you." I hung up on her.

Ali: "Computer, search for Kyle's Ultimatrix signature. Once it gets here, lower security measures and let it in."

Base Computer: "Understood, Ms. Levin." I sighed. What kind of trouble did Kyle get himself into now? It shouldn't be anything he can't get himself out of at least, right?"

Kyle's POV…

Okay… In the Null Void. Not good. I was hopping around, and the Ultimatrix was not responding to my thoughts to transform me. Am I out of range? How does THIS kind of dimensional displacement affect my Master Control? Damn, I should have researched this!

Kyle: "Right. Singlehanded. That episode. DAMN IT!" I tried to see if I could still utilize my Chaos or Chakra energy through my slightly handicapped arm. Nope. I shook it around, trying to throw attacks. No energy blasts. Great. I am single-handed right now.

Kyle: "Is this how amputees feel? That's scary, man!" I ran again, trying to find some kind of trace of Max's old hideout here in this place. I couldn't run into the crazy monsters here again, especially with Ultima not attached to me right now. I was used to operating without her, sure, but this? This was nuts. The ground shook, and a worm came out of the ground. It roared at me. I had to sprout my quills and zoom off immediately.

Kyle: "Shit. Ultima, if you can still hear me, let me transform!" It tried to eat me as I moved. I dodged it in time, but kept running off. I decided to boost forward, and used my present hand to shoot Chaos Spears at it. It mainly ignored the little shots I was firing off. After channeling some Chakra into my feet, I leapt off the rock I was on, and headed for a different rock. I narrowly managed to catch it, then I Chaos Controlled myself onto the rock, and kept moving. I couldn't believe all of this. I tried to reach Ultima's mind by thinking, or anyone like Raven, Sugilite, or Ghostfreak by thinking for them, and still no response. Was it because the Ultimatrix wasn't on me at the moment? This IS going to suck!

Kyle: "Great. Five years of having it on, and I become so used to wearing it that I can't fathom NOT having it. At least I have my own abilities now. Bella's going to notice eventually and drag me back, right?" The more I thought about it, the more I thought, I shouldn't rely on my sensei every time something goes horribly wrong. I'm much stronger now than I was without her, and I am happy for that, but I lost something that's been my powerset since I HAD powers to begin with. If I lost the watch when I was 13, I was screwed. No powers, except MAYBE accidentally triggering Kurama. The only GOOD thing about losing my watch for now was that he can't interfere with my thoughts. But I need everyone else there. I hate it when my mind isn't a bustling crazy city like it always is. Really, my mind always has my forms' thoughts and talking going on in it constantly. I don't recognize every voice when I do tune in on them, but it always brings me joy to hear them. Now, I can't. It's nerve-wracking to NOT have a stray thought in my head.

Kyle: "If I can't find something in Max's old stash, or I can't call Ultima, I'm stranded. There's NO way I can't react badly to this. Talking to myself… has never exactly been my forte." I zoomed away again, trying to keep myself focused on my predetermined goal. There was no way I wasn't going to get this to work out somehow. I began hopping from rock to rock, trying to find the old area Max was holing up in as The Wrench before. Max said something about having a skeleton key here once before, in case he had to make a quick escape, but since my Dad was there, he was able to get out anyway. Well, my Dad being Shadow the Hedgehog, and he's still much better at the Chaos Control thing than I am. He's been mostly trying to track Eggman down these days, as the Chaos Emeralds appearing in this reality wasn't exactly well predicted at this point, but it was something too important to just ignore. We kept up trying to locate him, trying to track Kazuma (and failing), and maybe trying to find Vilgax's movements. Nothing was really happening on those fronts right now.

Kyle: "None of these topographies look familiar. I should count myself lucky that no Null Guardians or whatever else is in here has found me besides that one giant worm monster." I then heard a roar, ducking under a rock. I looked out briefly to see some of what I was just talking about. They were in a hunting formation.

Kyle: "Great. Good going, universe. Jinxing me as usual." This part of my life is making me realize how much I rely on Ultima and her abilities. I don't use my Chakra or personal abilities that often, and I really should be doing that.

Kyle: "Well, Bella, you were right about being prepared in these situations. Especially if I don't like it."

Ali's POV…

Ultima had landed a hovercraft that was covered in Upgrade material, as she hopped off of it, turning back to herself.

Ultima: "Good thing I got here. The bounty hunter looked like he needed this to travel, and I took it from him just so he couldn't leave the planet." She smirked at me.

Ali: "Do you have any linkup to Kyle?"

Ultima: "Not right now. The dimensional displacement is blocking any possible communication I could be having with him right now!"

Ali: "Right… Kevin said he would be on his way, and Kayla is walking the dog. She'll be back soon."

Ultima: "Soon?! AGH!" She stomped the ground, shaking it slightly. She saw she turned her foot into a Humongousaur foot, and turned it back.

Ultima: "Yes, I do that unconsciously. Anyway, I can at least brief you. So, as you already know, I was hit by Sunder's axe. The axe clashing with my faceplate made the reaction."

Ali: "Yes, you did say that, Ultima."

Ultima: "I was analyzing the reaction more on the way here. What was something I hadn't realized was that a device he had used earlier had also interfered with me beforehand. It restricted Kyle or I from triggering our powers for a few minutes, but it had a much less significant effect on my limb-shifting capabilities. I recovered those much faster than my ability to fully transform Kyle. I was using the Galvanic Mechomorph state to get here on the way, and the device that jammed my forms seemed to be a Galvan device."

Ali: "A Galvan device?!"

Ultima: "Yes. A very strong jamming device. He could have only got it from a Galvan."

Ali: "Which means… either Azmuth or Albedo."

Ultima: "I'm going with the second option, then. Azmuth wouldn't want to get rid of me."

Ali: "Agreed. So, you were going to show me what exactly happened?"

Ultima: "Well, I have the unit, my main body, inside this one right now. I'll show you my current state. You may then be able to work on it from there." She glowed red, and then disappeared from my immediate view.

Ali: "Ultima?! Where did you-"

Ultima: "Down here!" I looked down, seeing Kyle's… SEVERED HAND?! I screamed immediately upon seeing it.

Ali: "GAAAHHHH! WHAT THE HELL, ULTIMA?! WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!"

Ultima: "Kyle is alive! I can verify that, at least. If he were dead, I would be dead, too!" The hand began moving on it's own, and began moving and walking around on it's fingers like Thing from the Addams Family. I strangely began to calm down slightly, seeing the Ultimatrix itself was still glowing. Ultima's voice had been pinging out of it this whole time.

Ultima: "I can't establish any kind of mental contact with Kyle either. The aliens in here are being driven mad over this, and trying to maintain order over a million aliens isn't easy!" She seemed to be using the faceplate of the Ultimatrix as an eye in that state, looking around as she moved about the room, trying to get used to that form.

Ultima: "Well, as long as I am like this, though, Kyle should be able to access his forms again. We didn't need to fight here according to what I was sensing on the way." The doors opened, and we turned to see Kevin and Kayla walking in, with Anubis as well.

Kayla: "And then Kyle was somehow displaced extradimensionally. On accident!"

Kevin: "Well, it wasn't the first time- OH MY GOD!" Kayla turned to see the 'Thing' that Ultima was at the moment. Anubis growled at it.

Ultima: "Okay. I know this looks bad, but… Oh my." Kyle's hand turned into Brickhouse's hand all of a sudden, confusing everyone.

Kevin: "Ali…"

Ali: "That's new. I just got used to the sentient moving human hand thing."

Kayla: "Oh! Like in Addams Family! I remember loving that franchise!" The hand then turned into a Big Chill one and began to shoot ice on it's own uncontrollably. Kayla turned into Scorchio and began to shoot fire from her mouth to counteract it. Anubis ducked for cover at this point.

Scorchio Kayla: "What the bloomin' 'ell?!"

Ali: "I don't know what's going on any more than you guys!" Kevin grew some shields out of his arm.

Kevin: "I can tell that!" The hand then transformed into a pile of Goop.

Ali: "Ew…"

Scorchio Kayla: "I'll get to removing the ice. Kevin, pick it up."

Kevin: "No way in hell am I-" The goop transformed into a Web Head hand and shot some webs. Kevin and I had to cut our way through them to capture the hand.

Kevin: "Ultima! Calm down! We're friends!" I grabbed it, and slapped it.

Ali: "Hey! Snap out of it, huh?" The hand then turned into a Humongousaur one, and slammed me across the room into a wall. It got up after that.

Ali: "Okay, Ultima. You're asking for it, now!" It became an Ultimate Humongousaur hand in response to me, and began to shoot missiles at me.

Ali: "Shit!"

Scorchio Kayla: "Bugger!" She transformed into Ronin, her version of it being a skinnier, but still armored Shredder form.

Ronin Kayla: "Stand back!" She slashed the hand with a sword she got from her armor, forcing it to get electrocuted, as it then turned into a Feedback one, grabbing the blade, and draining power out of it.

Ronin Kayla: "I didn't say you could do that!" It then turned into a Boombox hand.

Kevin: "HIT THE DECK!" We all dove down as it shot some sound waves throughout the room, shredding a lot of the room in the process. Kevin growled in annoyance.

Kevin: "I could have stayed home today! But no! I had to subject myself to THIS!"

Ronin Kayla: "We have to save Kyle somehow! How else am I going to be able to help them reunite properly?!"

Ali: "I sure couldn't say… my ears are still kind of ringing." The hand now lied down limply. I tiptoed towards it this time, and Kayla turned into Sorceressa.

Sorceressa Kayla: "Contigo!" The hand got encased in a manna orb.

Kevin: "Okay. I'll need some help to get the supplies I brought in here. Ali, wanna help?"

Ali: "I know you can turn into Ditto now, bro. You can bring them in yourself." Kevin sighed.

Sorceressa Kayla: "Keep in mind, I may need some backup in stopping this… hand. Or Ultima."

Kevin: "Okay, you ladies bring up a good point. Maybe." He turned into Ditto, and split into 10 of himself.

Ditto Kevin 1: "Come on, boys! We got supplies to grab!"

Ditto Kevin 2: "Aw, do it yourself!"

Ditto Kevin 4: "Eh, still really don't want to mess with this myself."

Ali: "KEVIN! NOW!" I spooked all 10 of them into running back out.

Sorceressa Kayla: "No, Ali, it usually isn't hard to control the Ditto minds. They just argue naturally."

Ali: "Not my problem, Kay. We need Kyle back."

Sorceressa Kayla: "Not debating that for a minute, Ali. We'll get him back. Somehow." The hand began to move again, and turned back to Kyle's hand, and I saw the Ultimatrix.

Ultima: "Well, now that I got some much needed- why am I being contained?"

Sorceressa Kayla: "Because you tried to kill us?!"

Ultima: "Wait, I did?"

Ali: "Yeah. You transformed and attacked us!"

Ultima: "Oh. Kyle had to deal with some Null Void creatures, but he couldn't fight them off easily with how many there were. Once he noticed the system preventing the transformations wasn't jamming him, or that I disengaged my safety protocols, he transformed into the RowdyRuff form. I was then able to talk to him. Every form he used just now was to deal with the attacking swaths of creatures that came for us. I communicated to him myself that I was getting ready to find a solution to the problem on my end. He also told me to contact Team Dark if I was able. Can you help me establish a link to Shadow, Kayla?"

Sorceressa Kayla: "Um, sure. But can you re-engage the safety for now that Kyle is out of immediate danger? I need to hook you up to the machines or whatever Kevin brought to help out. Plus, we need to be able to do it safely."

Ultima: "Understood. I'll deal with things here, too, then. Get set up with Kevin." Kayla set her on the ground as she rematerialized her body.

Ultima: "This was what was preventing him from transforming before. I used a form while heading here, and he couldn't feel his thoughts from his aliens or anything of the sort. I'm in full control of that now."

Ali: "Interesting turn of events. If you're like this, you choose what happens, but if you're Kyle's hand, he controls what happens." The Kevins were coming back in with the equipment now.

Ultima: "Yes, but it is a double-edged sword either way. If I am here, he loses many of his abilities he could be using. If I am there, you all are in danger, as I have gathered. The hands from the alien transformations may release all kinds of potent attacks on you all." Right, not good either way, but we may need her here for now.

Ditto Kevin 5: "Alright, guys, right here! It's the least in the way!" They were dropping piles of boxes and loose tech on the floor in between the dining area and the living room.

Ditto Kevin 3: "Yeah yeah, I get it!"

Ditto Kevin 1: "Just be sure not to upset anything, okay?" They looked at us, seeing Ultima.

Ditto Kevin 7: "Okay, you're YOU now?!"

Ultima: "Right. You may need to be debriefed as well."

Ditto Kevin 8: "Debrief us in a sec. Help me put this thing together, huh?" Kayla nodded, turning into UpRigg.

UpRigg: "Ready to get started?"

Ultima: "I will once I finish contacting Team Dark." She moved on with that as Kayla moved to help Kevin. I contacted Ben and Gwen myself.

Kyle's POV (Prior to the switch…)

As I was in hiding, I felt something change in my head. Suddenly, my link to the aliens was reestablished, and Ultima's connection to me was back.

Kyle: "Wow! That was sudden!" As I hopped out to go Jetray, the Null Guardians overhead heard me and began to fly at me.

Kyle: "OH SHIT!" I transformed to Brickhouse and flew at them. I began shooting eye beams at them.

Ultima: "Oh! That was trippy, even for me. Wait. Where am I?!"

Brickhouse: "In the Null Void, Ultima! What's going on?!"

Ultima: "Sorry I had to strip you of your abilities temporarily. I had to secure myself by using the transformation powers on my own accord." So SHE was the reason I couldn't transform? Wow!

Brickhouse: "Wish I knew that sooner! I've been dodging the wildlife here without so much as a limb swap!"

Ultima: "I had to secure the physical part of me! Now that I have the supplies from Kayla and Kevin that we need, maybe we can come up with a plan!" The lead Null Guardian flew at me as I socked it with my one hand, noticing my left one was still gone.

Brickhouse: "Still singlehanded. Not cool."

Ultima: "The disruption is still occurring. It's only natural you would still lose access to your hand."

Brickhouse: "Not the time!" I kicked a few more of them off of me as one bit down on me. I changed into Big Chill to phase through it and begin to escape. I also began shooting ice from my hand and mouth at them, freezing the whole flock. I continued to fly off before another horde came at me. I flew around them and was still dodging them, then I turned into Goop before one grabbed at me and I began to shoot a barrage of paintballs, forcing a path through them again. More Null Guardians tried to bite at me, as they only got raspberry flavored goop in their mouths as I used my UFO to dodge around them for a bit. I flew around the next flock as I then went Web Head to swing onto the rock behind them, slinging onto another rock to hide in a cave.

Web Head: "Okay. I think I lost them. We can talk about that plan now."

Ultima: "Good idea. Anyway, the thought of contacting Team Dark once I go back to the other side came to my mind. They may be able to help you find an escape portal so you can bring yourself back."

Web Head: "Couldn't Teleportal bring me back to Earth?"

Ultima: "Teleportal can't really go through dimensions, Kyle. His race hasn't mastered that art. Yet."

Web Head: "Note to self, look into Ultimate Teleportal soon. OW!" I tried to grab at my hand, but failed, as there was no hand to grab.

Ultima: "Odd. I know your left hand is at the base with Ali, Kevin, and Kayla. Is something going on on the other side?"

Web Head: "Worry about it later. Team Dark should hopefully know their way around here better than me if that is the case. I'll change back so you can talk to- OH GOD!" A Wigzellian Orf Beast came at me, roaring as it swung its club. I went Humongousaur, and began to clash with it.

Humongousaur: "I don't have time for ambushes, asshole!" I hit him with my one hand, and then tried to elbow him with my other hand as he caught me, and threw me back out, nearly knocking me off of the platform. I slapped my symbol, going Ultimate Humongousaur.

Ultimate Humongousaur: "BRING IT TINY!" I focused my hand at him, turning it into a missile launcher, and barraged the Orf Beast with missiles. The missiles knocked it back. I then increased my size to 30 feet and ran at it, plowing through the beast, triggering a horde of smaller brown aliens to rush at me from further back in the cave. I began to shoot at them when I got zapped on the other end by electricity.

Ultimate Humongousaur: "GAAAHH!"

Ultima: "Kyle! Something must be going on on the other side, then! Try to use this to your advantage!"

Ultimate Humongousaur: "Gotcha!" I transformed into Feedback, and channeled the shock out of my free hand and the antennae on my head, directing the shocks everywhere and freeing myself from getting shocked this time. The beasts were getting up, and I transformed into Boombox.

Boombox: "Let's get loud. NOW!" I opened up some of the audio covers along my body, and blasted sound in every possible direction, shaking the cave, and making a sonic shield around myself at the same time. The loud noises I was making shook the cave apart, burying the aliens and the Orf Beast at the same time. I hovered out of the hole, and landed on my feet above the large pile of rubble.

Boombox: "Okay, that should do it. Gotta thank whoever shocked me, I kind of needed that boost."

Ultima: "I'll mention it to them later. Would you want me to go back, or should I stay with you until you can get to safety?"

Boombox: "Stick with me for now. I'll fly us somewhere safer." I boosted myself at the speed of sound, flying over a few rocks on the way, and found a vacant space to land and chill out for a moment.

Boombox: "I wish I could talk more. Once Dad, Mom, and Uncle Omega are here, though, I should be fine."

Ultima: "Agreed. Shall I go back to tell them about what happened?"

Boombox: "Sure. That would be fantastic. Hopefully I'll be safe on my own again." I turned back to me, and Ultima was gone.

Kyle: "Alright. I need to keep moving. I'm sure to have alerted someone in the Null Void with that loud sonicboom I used to fly out here." I sprouted my quills again and ran off. I needed to get to a crevasse in the middle of the Null Void somewhere. That was where I fought Pierce, and allowed myself to be able to see Max after he warped himself here from the time at the Hatchery. I knew what the topography looked like, but I had no idea exactly where it was. Dad would know better than me. Maybe if I practiced with my Chaos Control more, or had an Emerald like Dad, I could warp myself there no problem. Or…

Kyle: "I should have made Ultima stay with me so I could go Teleportal and poof myself there! Damn it!" I leaped to another rock as I realized it. I couldn't believe my shortsightedness this time. This was going to drive me nuts!

Kyle: "Ugh, good going, Tennyson. Good going! You could have gotten yourself home free! Geez, if I realized it, Ultima must have already thought of it."

With Ultima, presently…

Ultima's POV…

Ultima: "And that's why we need you here for a bit, Shadow."

Shadow: "I understand. I'll take Rouge and Omega with me, too. I'll also be taking the communicator so we can hear you and we can transfer Kyle's messages to you guys more consistently."

Rouge: "Never thought I'd have to crawl my way back to the Null Void, but if my son's in trouble, so be it!"

Omega: "Eggman can wait. We will be in the Null Void as soon as possible."

Ultima: "ASAP, Omega. ASAP. Regardless, thank you. My communications channel will remain open for the foreseeable future. Try to make sure Kyle will be fine, okay?"

Shadow: "Will do." The communications ended there.

Ali: "Ben and Gwen are looking for the bounty hunter that was after Kyle in the first place. If there's anything else I can do here, just tell me." I wondered what to tell her. As Kyle's girlfriend, she does want to help, no doubt about it. But ever since the day I met her, I sensed something odd about her. Sure, maybe it's the mutation that was caused, but other than that, I couldn't help but think something MAY be up here. It's better just to play it safe around Kyle and Ali for now, as I'm sure Kyle would object to any kind of smack talk on Ali's character. It wouldn't be right right now. I sighed.

Ultima: "I can't think of anything right now. If there's anything else in your professional life you need to do, I would say to do that. Kayla and Kevin can cover for me from here." I looked over, seeing Kevin as Grey Matter and Kayla as UpRigg still working at it. The examination table now, unlike last time, was going to have a much better operating system, and be able to more accurately describe what was going on with me. I was about to shift into the hand form and walk over when Ali grabbed my shoulder.

Ali: "I'm going to be the first one that sees Kyle when he comes back. Do you understand?" I turned to her.

Ultima: "Ali, it's fine that you're not exactly having the best time here. I get it. But unless you want to help Ben and Gwen track down Sunder, you can't do anything else in this issue." I walked forward again, as she was getting more angry.

Ali: "Ben and Gwen can take care of themselves. Kyle. Needs. Me."

Ultima: "Then perhaps I should have sent you with Team Dark."

Grey Matter Kevin: "We're ready, Ultima!"

UpRigg: "Whenever you are!" I nodded again. Ali grumbled to herself. Her feelings for Kyle are positive, I can feel this. But she is probably going to get irrational soon. There isn't anything I can do about that, though. At least not now… right? I got a communication from Team Dark.

Shadow: "We're in the Null Void now. Just reporting in."

Ultima: "Good job, team! Say… would you object to having Ali show up to help you?"

Shadow: "I can't just Chaos Control back any old time, even with my Chaos Emerald. Kyle and I will be able to use it to go back, but traveling on my own isn't exactly easy."

Ali: "But you did it in the HighBreed War! Come on, Shadow! I'll be a good help!"

Rouge: "We don't deny that, hon. But Ultima will have to find a way to do that herself if she really wants you there now."

Omega: "We have no other choice. Scanning for Mobian Hybrid DNA in immediate vicinity. Will spread search as need arises."

Rouge: "Good thinking, Omega. Add use of Chaos Energy to your search, as well, just in case."

Omega: "Affirmative. Adding search criteria."

Shadow: "Ali, we will be just fine looking for Kyle on our own. Thanks for your offer. Anyway, we'll report in once we find him."

Ultima: "Good. Ultima out." They hung up as I proceeded on to the table, maybe to check on things, work on it myself, or just give advice depending on what we found. Hopefully my preference for Galvan-based technology over others won't take too much precedence here. I transformed into Nanomech, using his scanning processes to find something we could use.

Nanomech Ultima: "Hm. Good. The machine is in proper working order from what I can tell right now."

UpRigg: "Nice."

Grey Matter Kevin: "These parts may not be of Galvan quality, but it's what I could muster on short notice after what happened before with Kyle. I was using my free time to spruce it up a bit just in case we needed to utilize it again, y'know?"

Nanomech Ultima: "I understand perfectly." I stretched some tentacles out of my fingers and began analyzing the device and compiling my findings. Nothing here was acting too out of the ordinary yet. We didn't want to cause another mutation issue or a possible short circuiting with me out of the Ultimatrix body. I can't be de-synched with it and cause even more malfunctions. Even if I was born out of a malfunction myself, I didn't want to subject the others to higher levels of problems. Ali was sitting back, crossing her arms in annoyance. I could only imagine what was going through her mind, not being able to help her man. Truth is, I feel similarly. It's just that I CAN do something about it. I transformed into Brainstorm to go to actually analyze the quality of the data I found.

Brainstorm Ultima: "Seems in order. We can't afford any mistakes. But these parameters do seem in order. I will hook myself in." I turned back into my normal form, and Kevin became himself again as he hooked me up.

Kevin: "Let's get started."

UpRigg: "Are you sure you don't want me to man those controls, dude?"

Kevin: "I got this."

Ali: "No. Kayla, you do it. After what happened last time, we can't afford any more mistakes." Kayla nodded, transforming into her Brain Matter form.

Brain Matter: "Sorry, Kevin. Majority rules here." Kevin rolled his eyes, moving over to let Kayla take the wheel. Kayla grabbed the controls and began typing away at them, responding to things as she saw them on the keypad.

Brain Matter: "Hm. I see. The link still exists, even if it is fractured between dimensions, but we've already established this."

Ultima: "Yes. That is indeed true." She contined to examine the display, trying to find a workable knowledge between what happened and what it was interfering with, causing this displacement from the onset.

Brain Matter: "I will not deny it, but even with this brain, it will take some time to find the source of it. That axe you were struck with must have been a special one."

Ultima: "So it was the axe?"

Kevin: "Even I would have said that."

Brain Matter: "I will be working through a few hypotheses, but I will need the axe retrieved before I can say anything conclusive."

Ali: "I'll go get the axe then. Sunder still has it, right?" I nodded.

Ali: "Good. I'll be gone for a bit. Kevin, stay here and guard Ultima and Kayla. They could need it in case it gets hairy."

Kevin: "This entire day has been hairy, sis. Go out there and get that damn axe." She nodded, walking towards the hangar bay. Kayla was worried judging by the look on her face. I could tell this easily.

Kevin: "Somethin up, Kay?"

Brain Matter: "My brother is trapped in there on his own. It's a scary place in there, especially without his alien forms. I would know, I was there, too."

Ultima: "You, Kevin, and Argit worked together. I know." Kayla sighed.

Brain Matter: "I hope while Max was in there, there was some supplies he may have left behind to help them out. I don't know what else to do myself."

Kevin: "Yeah, even as a freak, I could tell exactly how it was out there." I was not concerned, I believed in Kyle's father.

Ali's POV…

I was flying through the city, looking for a bounty hunter looking guy with an axe. Sounds really obvious. But the guy could also have had cloaking technology somehow, or knew how to hide in broad daylight for all I knew. This could be like trying to capture Omni from that one time. Damn it! I'm not as good at this tracking thing as I probably should be. I landed on a building, making some shadowy clones.

Ali: "Split up and search, ladies. Find anything that could look like an axe-wielding murderer guy." They nodded, and split from me. I continued on my own, searching the skies as my clones searched the land. Sunder was not going to escape. Not easily anyway. As I flew, I saw Gwen also flying. She seemed to be scanning for manna traces, though she wished that she had some kind of an idea where she could go for it, from her exasperated expression. I flew over.

Gwen: "Hi, Ali."

Ali: "Gwen. I let loose some of my shadow clones just now. If they can't find this guy, you guys sure could."

Gwen: "I wish. Ben's been using both Wildmutt and Bloodhound since we got out here. We don't even know where he could have gone." We heard a howling noise, and saw a Wildmutt on the ground, looking for a trail. He was huffing madly, sounding annoyed. I was agreeing with him right now, Oddly enough. Ben was going to be some kind of mad like us. We flew down to him. Ben saw me, and waved.

Ali: "Any signs, Tennyson?" Ben shook his head, and went Ultimate Wildmutt.

Ultimate Wildmutt Ben: "I know we probably shouldn't be annoyed about this, but I hate not knowing where the guy who made Kyle disappear went. Bloodhound can usually sniff someone out JUST by knowing something about the guy, like an object they had or something. No go here."

Ali: "I know. This is bullshit."

Gwen: "We miss Kyle, too."

Ali: "Some of us more than others, I'm sure."

Ultimate Wildmutt Ben: "Ali. Whoa. Watch it."

Gwen: "She's just angry, Ben. It's okay."

Ultimate Wildmutt Ben: "Okay, then." He looked bewildered about this, but swept it under the rug. She is right though. We would all miss him if something awful happened to him. I already want to shove my boot firmly into Sunder's ass for this, even if he didn't intend for this to happen. He wanted to kill Kyle in the first place to capture Ultima. That was enough for me to want to beat the shit out of him.

Ultimate Wildmutt Ben: "So, anyone else got any weird plans or ideas we could use?"

Ali: "Not right now, Ben. I'm sure Kyle would want us to keep looking."

Gwen: "Where is Bella anyway?"

Ali: "Who knows? Only Ultima can reach her. I guess she didn't deem it necessary for Bella to be called, or she's trying to hide it from her." Ben started snickering.

Ultimate Wildmutt Ben: "And Bella sure does hate inconveniences like this. She went off to her own world for some errands, right?"

Gwen: "Last I heard, yeah. Come on. We'll deal with the Bella issue later."

Ali: "Indeed. Come on." I took off to the skies again, as Gwen made another flight over the city, and Ben continued sniffing. There was no way Bella hadn't noticed something by now. She put something in the Ultimatrixes, and Kayla's Omnitrix when it was still one device, that allowed her to sense whatever was going on with them. Did Bella not think she had to step in yet? This seemed like something that should be around for us to deal with! Plus, like we discussed, this guy shouldn't be hard to find based on the fact that he should be the only dude with an axe out right now. UGH! I scrambled around for a few more hours until I decided to hit the old establishment in this town, Baumann's store. The store did have a lot of good groceries and even some brands of alien tech in there. I guess Max has to get his food kicks from somewhere? I stopped in, seeing aliens wandering around.

Ali: "Okay. Where else to look but in the alien grocery store?" I walked to the front counter, hoping to speak to Mr. Baumann. He turned around from what he was working on to see me there. The guy was dressed in a blue shirt and an apron. He was balding, so he did not have a lot of hair.

Mr. Baumann: "Ali! Are any of the watch wielding ones here?" I know he worries about Kyle, Ben, and ESPECIALLY Kayla destroying stuff. Kayla is the least used to the hero thing, I guess.

Ali: "No, Mr. Baumann. Kyle's in trouble, though. Gotta ask you. Have you seen a crazy looking bounty hunter guy? Ultima never bothered to describe him, minus his name. Sunder."

Mr. Baumann: "Sorry to say, Ali. I haven't seen a mean or crazy looking alien, or human for that matter, in a long time. Usually when they do stop here, I try to send info to you guys, but I haven't seen anyone today." Crap.

Ali: "I get it. Say, mind if I take a look around anyway? Sunder could have-" Speak of the devil, I was sensing something off now.

Ali: "Maybe you haven't seen him, but I just now sensed something. Ultima was right. I should have been out helping." I kicked myself internally. Sometimes her logic-over-emotion complex can be a good thing, not that she doesn't have emotions now, she definitely has emotional triggers like we all do, but her head is usually on correctly. Was she just letting me stay because she was trying to help me out as much as Kyle? For once? Or was she just trying to placate my wants to be with him? I can't tell with her half the time.

Mr. Baumann: "Don't you go destroying my store, too!" He hid under his table. I sighed. Brought upon by the others, I would guess. He would worry about the rest of us out of association with them. I ended up having to walk through the most of the store, and then out back, and found what I was looking for, a gray-skinned guy with a trace of Kyle's aura on him, though it was faded. The guy still had bruises on him, must have still been recovering from whatever beating Kyle and Ultima had given him.

Ali: "Sunder?"

Sunder: "Yes. It seems since I lost my last job, I'll be on the lookout for another one. Hardly thought it would be so soon, especially without my main mode of transportation."

Ali: "All I needed to know. I'm going to need your axe now." I pointed to the thing hanging off of his back. He laughed at the mention of this.

Sunder: "You must be mistaken. I'm not some human."

Ali: "You are hiding behind a more alien-known store on this planet. Also, I am half-alien as well. I also got a mutation, making me even more powerful!" I grew two darkness blades out of my hands. Sunder drew his axe.

Sunder: "More hybrid freaks. Just my luck."

Ali: "Hand it over, big guy."

Sunder: "Are you nuts?" He swung at me, and I dodged the strike, then hit him with my sword, cutting his shirt.

Ali: "No. Are you?" I spun around, turning one of my swords into a shotgun hand, firing necroplasm bullets at him. He deflected them away easily by spinning his axe, and he rushed for me. I dodged him, and then he slammed me through the back wall of the store, landing in Mr. Baumann's back stock.

Ali: "Oh crap… Baumann's gonna want me marked now!" Sunder rushed through the smoke. I took the liberty of shooting Ember Celica bullets at the ground to make another smokescreen. I launched myself around the room, and then landed a diving punch through the smoke into Sunder's face. He fell backwards, and I landed a very powerful straight punch into his face, knocking him into the store.

Mr. Baumann: "NO! NOT NOW! Agh…" He hopped under his table.

Ali: "Mr. Baumann! Call Ben and Gwen, okay?" Mr. Baumann got his phone out, like I asked, and called anyway.

Mr. Baumann: "I know you kids mean well, but my store is still important to me!"

Ali: "I apologize! I'll make up for the damage! Somehow!"

Mr. Baumann: "You always do…" The aliens were scrambling away as a net came out of nowhere. Sunder had a net launcher?!

Sunder: "Drat! Usually works, too."

Ali: "Aw, so sorry about that, Sunder! But it's like I said! You have something I need!" I slammed the ground with my foot, and he was stomped on by a big foot I materialized over him.

Sunder: "AGH!" I began to rush at him again, nailing him with an uppercut, as I materialized a giant hand to pin him down.

Ali: "Give me the bloody axe, man!" I began to reach for it as he swung at me. I caught the end, and was trying to prevent the blade from cutting into me.

Sunder: "No way in hell!" I was still resisting it, when I felt a big tug. The axe did come out of his hands after all! It levitated towards one of the shelves, and latched onto a pronged hand. A Lodestar alien with green eyes walked out.

Lodestar Ben: "Mr. Baumann just called. I figured it was important. He never calls me without a darn good reason, after all."

Ali: "That's true, dude!" Gwen levitated in as well. Sunder had gotten himself free of the hand he was under and made his way for Ben, who began to get ready to fight, when Gwen wrapped him up in some manna ropes, and she then flew at him, punching him in the face. Even though she IS a full Anodyte now, she still retains her Keystone strength, we gotta remember that. She doesn't use it as much as she used to, though. She then slammed Sunder back into the floor, knocking him out.

Gwen: "Ali! You could have left some more of him for us!" She sounded disappointed for once.

Ali: "But Gwen, you're usually the sensible one, not wanting to fight people."

Gwen: "Doesn't mean I don't like testing myself." We glared at each other for a moment.

Lodestar Ben: "Guys. We need to get this axe back, remember?" He cocked his eyebrow at us as we stared back at him.

Ali: "He's right, Gwen. We'll talk more later."

Gwen: "Agreed. Kyle's safety is a bit more important."

Ali: "Oh?"

Gwen: "Just because he's my ex-boyfriend doesn't mean I want him gone or anything. It was Michael that broke us up."

Lodestar Ben: "All true. Hey. Kyle still needs us. Let's work on it, huh?" He transformed into Generator, and grew his bug wings out of his back.

Generator Ben: "Time to fly, ladies." He took off.

Gwen: "Sorry about that."

Ali: "I started it anyway."

Mr. Baumann: "My reimbursement?" He looked insistent on it.

Ali: "Gah, already?" He nodded.

Gwen: "Um… yeah, you're the adult here. See you later." She teleported away, leaving me with him.

Ali: "Goddamn it, Gwen." I began fishing through my wallet for some checks. I'll make Kyle, or Kevin, reimburse ME back later for this.

Kyle's POV…

I had just dodged past some more monsters, got swarmed by more little brown alien dudes, and was also jumped by a pack of Vulpimancers on the way through here. COME ON! I was still in the middle of a fight with the leader of the pack. I had to challenge him to make it out of the gorge I ran into.

Kyle: "Okay, mutt. Don't make me paly rough with you!" The Vulpimancer howled at me, and began to gurgle.

Kyle: "Yeah, figured as much." I rolled into a ball and charged him with a Spin Dash. It got out of the way, but I rebounded off of the wall behind the mutt and smacked him in the back. I couldn't feel Ultima's presence again, so I was on my own for this battle, too. As I unrolled, I was slashed. It growled as if it was taunting me.

Kyle: "Oh really, asshole? YOU ASKED FOR IT!" I began shooting Chaos Spears at the mutt, who dodged around them effortlessly. It tried to slash me when I grew a coral wall out of the ground to block the mutt off. I then hopped over it, kicking the mutt in the face. It fell to the floor, howling. It got up, and growled.

Kyle: "I can turn into one of you. You don't think I know how Wildmutt's work inside and out? You were one of my first ten species!" It shot the quills off of it's back at me. I substituted my way out of it, then made a hand sign.

Kyle: "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" I made two of them, and surprisingly, they also had only one hand each.

Kyle 2: "Damn it!"

Kyle 3: "Us, too?!"

Kyle 1: "Sorry, boys. But we got a mutt to put down!" It rushed at me, as my clones rammed into it with powerful kicks to its face. It slashed my clones backwards as they both began charging Chaos Spear barrages. They smirked. I rushed the mutt myself, and it roared at me.

Kyle 1: "You didn't say I couldn't use my techniques!" At least I think that's what he said? I went to punch it when it slashed me into the floor. The clones shot the Chaos Spear barrages as I fell back. The mutt saw the main me become a log, which confused him. I pulled a little something special out of my pants pocket, and slapped it onto the Vulpimancer's back. The mutt turned around, and saw one of the Chaos Spears strike his back, and it exploded on him. More than thought possible as well. I flashed a peace sign at the Vulpimcancer as it fell onto it's side. It growled at me again, with fire still lingering on it's back.

Kyle 1: "Dude, you got fire-tagged. I forgot what they're actually called." I pulled out a tag line with Japanese writing on it.

Kyle 2: "Aw man, you're packing literal heat now?"

Kyle 3: "Like Bella wanted?"

Kyle 1: "There wasn't much point until now. I mean, I did resolve to keep a few on me just in case Ultima was somehow incapacitated, but I never expected to actually ever USE it, ya know?" The mutt rushed at me as I Chaos Controlled away from it, and then my clones both punched it together after speeding into it, knocking it aside and into a rock wall. The other Vulpimancers of the pack began to close in.

Kyle 2: "Oh shit."

Kyle 1: "I know, guys. Let's go out with a bang, eh?" As my clones and I were gathering in energy, we saw missiles coming in.

Kyle 3: "Hey! Look, boys!"

Kyle 2: "I see 'em!" I made the clones vanish. The missiles stopped in front of the Vulpimancers, sending them flying back. They looked around, confused, as a white spinning object slammed into one of them, and landed next to me, revealing itself to be Rouge.

Kyle: "Hey, Mom! What's up?"

Rouge: "Ultima told us what was up. You seemed to be having trouble?" She stopped when she saw my… severed arm.

Rouge: "Oh God, Kyle! Does it hurt?" She flew up to my arm, as it still had the red energy on it.

Kyle: "Actually, no. It only hurts if someone on the other side hurts it deliberately."

Rouge: "Well, we'll get you home!" She flew up while holding me.

Kyle: "MOM! I got this!" Shadow and Omega hopped out from behind some rocks.

Omega: "ANNIHILATE VICIOUS HOUNDS! ANNIHILATE!"

Shadow: "Couldn't have said it better myself, Omega!" He used his own Spin Dash to knock aside several Vulpimancers, even more than I could, and then he pulled out his Chaos Emerald.

Shadow: "CHAOS… CONTROL!" I saw him vanish repeatedly, constantly smacking around the Vulpimancers. Omega jet-boosted himself into the crowd, and began to slash at them with his nearly claw-like fingers and hands. He turned his hands into machine guns and began firing at them as well. Shadow pulled out his own machine gun, firing on the Vulpimancers as well.

Kyle: "DAD! We've been over this! You don't need those!"

Shadow: "I use them because I can, damn it!"

Omega: "Do you want to be grounded?" He looked at me as he asked. I looked away sheepishly.

Rouge: "Thought so." She dropped me on top of the cliff above as Shadow and Omega kept fighting the Vulpimancers.

Rouge: "What do you have to say about what happened?"

Kyle: "Not much else Ultima wouldn't have told you, I don't think. I tried to fight Sunder off, and he got me transported here, and Ultima is stuck on Earth right now as we speak."

Rouge: "Figured as much. Say, got this for you." She showed me a ring with a big gemstone in it. An amethyst, I think?

Kyle: "Uh, Mom?"

Rouge: "I like giving you options for when YOU propose to Ali is all."

Kyle: "MOM! COME ON! Stealing just for…"

Rouge: "You helped me steal before!"

Kyle: "Usually for the greater good, ugh… not just ALWAYS!"

Rouge: "You helped me steal from a museum once."

Kyle: "And we promised not to discuss that again."

Rouge: "Publicly, hon." She winked at me, chuckling. I sighed. I felt a big Chaos Energy charge.

Shadow: "CHAOS…"

Kyle: "BAIL MOM BAIL!" Rouge and I ran the other way.

Shadow: "BLAST!" The ravine below was filled with red energy as it expanded outwards. We had thankfully gotten clear by then, and Shadow Chaos Controlled himself and Omega back to us.

Shadow: "How bad is it, Rouge?" I showed him the severed arm.

Shadow: "Oh. THAT bad." I saw him let down a drop of sweat.

Kyle: "Dad, it's fine if you don't like seeing me hurt. I get it, okay?" I hugged him.

Kyle: "And thank you all for coming to help out. I know you all are devoted to trying to find Eggman, but it's good to know you'll still come to help me out, too."

Shadow: "Hey, Ultima said it's something you can't really get yourself out of right now. I get that much. Plus, we would never say no to helping you, son."

Rouge: "But we know you're also an adult, so we know you can take care of yourself most of the time as well. Part of being an adult, kiddo."

Kyle: "Adult and kiddo in the same sentence, Mom?"

Omega: "Inconclusive."

Kyle: "Exactly. Anyways, now that you're all here, I'll need help getting to Max's old stash of tech. I don't know if he left anything behind here that I could use to make it back home."

Rouge: "Not to my knowledge, but it sure wouldn't hurt to look."

Shadow: "I think he may have left ONE thing there. In his secret stash."

Omega: "Secret stash?!"

Rouge: "I never heard of him having a-" She then realized why Max may not have mentioned this to her.

Rouge: "Shad…"

Shadow: "Like you don't know why he kept it secret from YOU specifically." He smirked to her. I couldn't help but chuckle. These family moments don't often happen enough for us. I looked ahead.

Kyle: "Any ideas where Max put it all?"

Shadow: "I think so. Come on." He sped off as I followed behind him. Rouge and Omega took up the rear guard in the meantime to help out. We sped on, taking off in a different direction than I had been using before. I stayed close behind Shadow here.

Kyle: "Again, Dad. Thanks."

Shadow: "No problem." He kept looking ahead.

Kyle: "Have you talked to Kayla at all?" I wondered about that, I haven't heard from either her or him about this. He was silent for a bit, but then he spoke.

Shadow: "Kayla and I are talking about things. I am cool with her relationship with Ben. He is a great guy."

Kyle: "That's great to hear, Dad. Anything else?"

Shadow: "We haven't talked a lot, but…" He looked me in the eyes as he ran, still managing to avoid a rock he could have tripped on.

Kyle: "But…?"

Shadow: "She knows about the Shadow Android project stuff. She doesn't know if that affects my opinion on her."

Kyle: "You have a personal thing against clones, yeah…"

Shadow: "I don't hate her, but my past experiences always have me on edge. Especially when she described your prior conflicts. I was feeling on edge about it for a long time. She wanted to kill your ex, Gwen, to date you. That's a little bit off-putting to say the least." I ran through a loop-de-loop, avoiding him for a second, and kept running beside him after I got out of it.

Kyle: "Dad. She's past it now. She's a much better girl than what she used to be. I know that. Ben knows that. Otherwise, he probably wouldn't be dating her, and he'd still be with Julie."

Shadow: "Right." He said nothing else after this. I assume he's taking my word for it now, but I have been noticing my Dad, Shadow the Hedgehog, is the type to form quick opinions and stick with them, unless something major happens to change his mind. I don't know if Shadow really does feel majorly about this, or if he's waiting for that thing, whatever it may be, to change his mind. He's not letting it interfere with working with her to stop problems, though. Have I ever heard Kayla call him Dad? I'm not even sure. I don't think it's weighing too hard in his mind, though. He's probably already content with what he's seen from SCP Kyle. I can't get him out of my mind. If I had gone to a worse universe than this one, I would have been fucked. Like him. I may have BEEN him somehow, for all I know. The reason the Foundation let me go was because I wasn't the 'anomaly' they wanted. They wanted their Kyle. They said they wouldn't do anything else with ME as long as I stayed in my dimension, and they can have him. I told them a lot about myself, to see if it would help them reestablish some kind of positive relationship with him, but I doubt they'll use that advice much. Or if they do, it'll be to keep him in line. I just kind of take pity on him now. If I do meet my other clones, I hope they aren't like him.

Shadow: "That other you we met before had me worried, you know. And Kayla's past is… well, it kind of backs my thoughts up. In fact, the only reason-"

Kyle: "Dad." I sternly looked at him, and Chaos Controlled around another rock to make sure I didn't hit it. Shadow looked me in the eyes.

Kyle: "You have no reason to get rid of her. I promise you. She is my sister now, and nothing will change that. I literally love her in a sibling way. And I think she proved herself." Shadow turned away from me. I know he values my opinion a lot, I could maybe even get him to change his mind a bunch. Have I done that?

Shadow: "We're getting close to the hideout he had as The Wrench. Come on." Changing the subject. He may be thinking about how to respond to me in a way that won't make me hate him. I don't hate him, I just want him to give Kayla a bit more slack. He laser-focused ahead, too. Rouge and Omega were not very far behind at this point, at least. They backed off, probably for us to talk. That was fine. As a grown-up, I don't need them around as much, I acknowledge, but they could come by more than they do, y'know? We found the rock bridge over the spiky bottom below, and Shadow and I sped past it into Max's hideout.

Kyle: "Still, I can't thank you guys enough."

Shadow: "Let's get looking." He began walking into the hideout. He continued, "It's been a bit, so it might take a minute or two to find out where he put it. Rouge, keep an eye out like you always do. Omega, scan around. Kyle, do whatever you can." Rouge, Omega, and I nodded.

Omega: "Affirimative, Shadow."

Rouge: "I'll take Kyle with me."

Shadow: "Got it." Rouge pulled me aside.

Rouge: "He's not angry, Kyle. I promise."

Kyle: "I'm not a kid, Mom. I can read him just fine. He's a lot like me, after all. Sometimes it feels like I've known him a long time even though it hasn't been a full year since I've met him yet." I turned to Shadow for a moment as he was feeling around for a keypad or something, and Omega was doing his usual scanning. I went to keep looking with Rouge. Rouge looked worried about me, but I gave her a thumbs up with my only available hand. I was looking through a pile of slightly rusted objects. Nothing looked too crazy in it, though it was supposed to be in a secret stash. Stash. Was there something I could use to find it sooner? I suddenly heard a growling noise.

Kyle: "Keep your eyes peeled, guys. I think I heard something."

Ultima's POV… (Leading up to this)

I was getting myself into position for the machine now.

Ultima: "Ready to go, you two!" Kayla and Kevin nodded.

Kayla: "Should be up… NOW!" Kevin was at the controls to it.

Kevin: "Ultima, I'm going to need you to change back to Kyle's hand to really get at the source of it, okay?"

Kayla: "Needless to mention, we need the axe that displaced Kyle in the first place." A portal opened up a few feet away from us. Ali, Ben, and Gwen had walked through it.

Teleportal Ben: "Okay, I think I got it right this time." They looked around.

Gwen: "Just when I was about to do it myself. Nice work, Ben."

Teleportal Ben: "Hey, I tried!" We heard barking, and Ben was tackled by Anubis.

Teleportal Ben: "Hey, girl! How are you?" He changed back to himself, and pet her, getting a lick in return.

Ali: "Yo." She heled out the axe for us.

Ultima: "That's the axe, alright! What about the… hunter that did this to us?"

Ali: "Us?"

Ultima: "Kyle and I, obviously."

Ali: "Right. We apprehended him and put him in custody for attempted murder."

Ben: "Right." Ali walked up with the axe. I was now able to scan the energy source on it.

Ultima: "Hm. This machine was the perfect one to set this up with then. I need to change back to Kyle's hand to make the process work."

Kayla: "I was going to say that. I paid attention in High School."

Ali: "I would hope! You graduated, right?" Kayla nodded.

Gwen: "For all our sakes, this had better work."

Ultima: "Once I change back and the machine blasts me with enough counter-interference for me to meet up with Kyle, I need you to hit me with the axe."

Ali: "Hit you?!"

Ultima: "Yes. It will neutralize the displacement and bring Kyle and I back into the same universe, linking his arm back to the rest of his body. Are you going to be able to do that, Ali?" Ali was quivering now. I was judging her look and demeanor, and was quickly coming to the conclusion she wasn't ready to do this yet.

Ultima: "If you cannot do this-"

Ali: "I'll handle it just fine!" She raised the axe up and over her head.

Ultima: "Don't get overeager!" Ali calmed down. She really wanted to be the one to do this. I know she will try to do anything for her boyfriend if she has to. She's heavily dedicated to Kyle. Heavily. It could be seen as a weakness. Kyle sees it as a strength. I also see the merits to that as well. Overall, however, I have mixed feelings. I just agree not to intervene in Kyle's relationship choices.

Ultima: "Just… do it when Kevin and Kayla give you the signal, okay?" She nodded.

Ali: "Okay." She raised it over her head again, much more calmly this time.

Ultima: "Kevin, let's begin." He pushed buttons on the console as I turned back into Kyle's severed hand.

Gwen and Ben: "AGH!"

Ultima: "Sorry." The machine fired a red beam into the Ultimatrix itself, and focused it onto me. It felt quite odd for me.

Ultima: "Am I supposed to feel this odd?"

Kevin: "I didn't think it would be perfect."

Kayla: "Neither did I."

Ali: "You also admitted there wasn't much better we could get with the tech we had." Ali was right.

Ultima: "So I admit." The weirdness was making me get all kinds of flustered, however. If it had been messing with my head, it had to have been messing with Kyle a bit, too.

In the Null Void…

Kyle: "We got company- AGH! Oh shit…" I had begun to spastically jitter around attempting to not pass out completely here.

Shadow: "KYLE!"

Rouge: "No! Omega! Hold them back!" Omega nodded, and began to shoot from his machine guns at the invading creatures. Many of the little brown guys had come up to check on us there. They howled as they were shot at. Shadow had started to come to me as he was forced to shoot Chaos Spears at the creatures coming in my direction. I tried to get up to help, but there was no way I could now. Rouge threw some bombs and tried to fly me out of the cave, only to see that was where the creatures were coming from.

Rouge: "Crap."

Kyle: "They must be trying something on their end to get Ultima and I rejoined up. Ultima knew one side would figure something out, but she was also covering all her bases." Rouge looked at me.

Kyle: "Whatever they're doing is affecting me, too. I can feel her resynchronizing with me, but… it's all jumbled and kind of screwing me up!" Rouge flew me farther away from the hole as I was spastically shaking some more. I was rolled from my back to my stomach back to my back again in just one shake. Whatever they're doing is hurting me more than helping!

Kyle: "Mom, there's nothing you can do for me right now… I'll come back if I can!" I clutched my left arm, growling in annoyance. Rouge nodded, flying for the cave and kicked her way in there. I was still clutching my arm. I could see the wavelengths in my eyes. Was Ultima showing me the data?

Ultima's POV…

I was still feeling off. My connection with Kyle was reforged enough to where we could use our powers for real, together again, but that was out of the question now. Neither of us would be cognizant to fight, and giving Kyle a limb would weaken me, and probably sever our connection again. I could not risk that. For anything. At all.

Ali: "Ultima! Is it time yet?"

Kevin: "No, it definitely isn't! The wavelengths are not even remotely synched."

Kayla: "You need to hit it the exact moment that they synch up! Otherwise, you'll scatter them to the aether or something."

Gwen: "Or something?"

Ben: "Sounds awfully vague, Kay!"

Kayla: "Sorry, guys! I'd remember better if I was Grey Matter!"

Kevin: "It won't be easy. If both of them can synch their wavelengths and thoughts up, it would be easier. I began to test this.

Ultima (thinking): "Kyle! Can you feel my signature? KYLE!" I felt nothing yet, besides the terror the other aliens were feeling about the attack on my systems. They knew Kyle could feel it, too. The fist I was in control of clenched on it's own and began generating Chaos Energy. Then I felt Chakra Energy. He was picking up on it!

Ultima (thinking): "That's it!"

Kyle (thinking): "Yo, Ultima. Sorry, that took a minute. How are ya?" I could feel his signature grin.

Ultima (thinking): "In pain. And you can quit trying to be macho for my sake. That's for Ali, y'know!" He snickered through the pain, and then grunted a bit. I saw both of our gauges now, but the link was still forging itself slowly.

Kyle (thinking): "Sorry about that, Ultima. But you're right. Being macho for maschismo's sake is for Ali. But you and I are pretty tight, too. Your AI has been with me for 5 years, through thick and thin. Something like this should be easy!" We were trying to forge the connection. The lightning signs on both of our gauges were connecting.

Kevin: "What the hell?"

Kayla: "I never saw anything like this before!"

Ben: "Okay. I know what I gotta do now. It might help!" He turned into Blue Streak.

Blue Streak: "Here goes!" He began generating Chaos Energy, and grabbed me.

Blue Streak: "Ultima! Is this helping?"

Ultima: "Surprisingly, yes! Keep doing it, Ben!" Ali was still gripping the axe tightly.

Ali: "Honey…"

Kyle's POV…

I felt a Chaos Energy surge into me from the outside.

Kyle: "Ben? DAMN RIGHT IT IS!" I bared my fangs in response to this. I channeled more energy through the surges the machine from the other side was giving me. Our energies were synching up more and more as I got up on my own two feet, brimming with both Ben's and my Chaos Powers. I Chaos Controlled into the scene in the cave, and channeled a big beam through the crowd of brown aliens. They focused on me. So did Team Dark.

Rouge: "Kyle?"

Shadow: "Son!" I nodded, and gathered energy into me, snapping off the inhibitor rings on my wrists. Shadow got the message, and took Rouge and Omega away.

Kyle: "CHAOS… BLAST!" I channeled the uninhibited power through them, blowing up yet another cave that day, even if it was Max's old cave. The brown creatures were all blasted away, and I was seeing an energy shaped like my hand and Ultimatrix coming to me. I grinned as I saw it. I was nearly synched! I stood up through the pain and focused harder on my energy. The last of the brown aliens were walking towards me. Some even charged. Omega's bullets suddenly came in, gunning them down. Rouge flew in, and cleared a way for Shadow. After Rouge let Shadow in, I saw her moving through the pile of rocks for something, as Shadow got his Chaos Emerald out.

Shadow: "Okay! Chaos… CONTROL!" I nodded, thinking he wanted me to join in on this, so I grabbed Rouge and Omega out of the crowd.

Rouge: "WAIT!"

Kyle: "CHAOS… CONTROL!" I grabbed his emerald as Shadow got ready.

Ali's POV…

Ultima: "CHAOS… CONTROL!" We saw an energy construct of Kyle appear in front of us.

Ali: "Now?!"

Kayla: "Give it one more… NOW!" I swung the axe down on Ultima, and after the power made another explosion, making a big tower of energy immediately over the Ultimatrix, blowing Ben away in fact, with Gwen attempting to shield us with her manna, we recovered, seeing Kyle with both arms intact, and even with Team Dark in tow.

Rouge: "I wanted to find some treasure in there!"

Shadow: "Well, maybe next time, then." He grinned to Kyle. Kyle hugged Team Dark.

Omega: "I agree, nephew. It is good to be home."

Ali: "I'll say." Kyle looked to me.

Kyle: "Ali!" He Chaos Controlled to me, and hugged me tightly. He then saw Anubis by Kayla.

Kyle: "DOG!" He freaked out, and hid behind me.

Ali: "Anubis is trained now, Kyle!"

Kyle: "Are you sure about that, Ali?"

Ali: "Yes."

Kevin: "Can't believe that actually worked."

Kayla: "We didn't have any other ideas, smart guy!" She slapped him on the back.

Blue Streak: "Oh man…" He got up, trying to shake the shock off of him. After Kyle saw Ben, he zoomed over and helped him up.

Kyle: "Thanks, Ben. You're the best."

Blue Streak: "Hey, no problem, man." He fist-bumped him, and Ben turned back to himself.

Ben: "Yeah, Anubis is here, you okay with-"

Kyle: "Well, it's not like I'm not a dog person, but I don't want her to eat me."

Kayla: "Oh my GOD, KYLE! DO YOU NOT TRUST YOUR OWN SISTER?!" She zoomed up to him and slapped him on the back.

Kyle: "GAH!" He looked at the Ultimatrix.

Kyle: "Ultima, are you-"

Ultima: "Yes, I'm fine. Thanks for asking now, of all times." I could pick up the sarcasm in her tone, and chuckled to myself.

Kyle: "Glad to know you're still safe, Ultima. Where would I be without you?"

Ultima: "Dead, most likely." She sounded like she was lightening up a bit on him. He then looked at Shadow and Kayla.

Kyle: "Dad, Kay, you two should start hanging out more."

Kayla: "Uh, well, yeah, but he's kinda… not…" She didn't know how to say something here.

Shadow: "Come on." He grabbed her hand.

Kayla: "D-Dad?" Shadow nodded, with a tinge of pink on his cheeks. Eh?!

Shadow: "Kyle can make me do things I wouldn't normally do for some reason. I can't explain it." Kyle rolled his eyes.

Kyle: "Say, if you want, I can join you two-"

Kayla: "No, Kyle. It's fine. Sh- DAD and I can work something out." Anubis ran up to Kayla, as well.

Shadow: "We can walk the dog."

Kayla: "Cool!" She leashed her up using a command code from her Biomnitrix, and lassoed the Nemetrix on Anubis' collar. Rouge and Omega looked on as they went outside.

Omega: "What about locating Dr. Eggman?"

Rouge: "I think they need daddy-daughter time today." She tried to look Omega in the eye, and he understood.

Omega: "I shall work on that later, then. I will recharge my batteries." He walked off. Rouge flew to Kyle, whose rings were now back on.

Rouge: "You controlled that energy so well this time."

Kyle: "To be fair, Ben, Dad, and Ultima were helping me channel it this time. We also gotta thank Kayla and Kevin for the device, right?"

Kevin: "You're welcome, Tennyson." Gwen had just checked on him, too.

Gwen: "Welcome back, Kyle. Sunder's under arrest now, too."

Ali: "And we confiscated his stuff. Never found out who his client was, though."

Kyle: "I'll check the Plumber Records with Max later if I can. If Sunder got Galvan tech, it's gotta be Albedo, right?"

Ben: "Agreed. I guess Albedo's gotten used to the powers he got from you, then?"

Kyle: "But he doesn't have a functioning watch anymore, right?"

Ali: "A question for another day." I slumped myself onto Kyle's right arm as Ultima sighed about it.

Ali: "I just want to be with you, today."

Kyle: "Gotcha."

The End.

A/N: Poll update. I wanted to hear about if Ben or Kayla should get the Omni-Kix armor from the reboot. 3 for Ben, 0 for Kayla so far. If you want to add in your thoughts, vote!

A/N 2: I also made a Kyle 10/Gurren Lagann crossover intro. It is on my profile page as well. Enjoy!