Elsewhere – Underground Vault, 1:15 P.M.
The clang of Sharim's boots on metal echoed through the chamber as he barreled toward Waterdrop. Each footfall sent micro-tremors through the aging vault structure.
Hikaru—still in his fluid, translucent Waterdrop form—darted backward, droplets of himself scattering across the floor and reassembling around the lone Plumber control console.
Sharim's voice rang out, fractured and desperate:
"You don't get to save me!"
Waterdrop's rippling surface calmed, his tone steady.
"I'm not here to save you. I'm here because Scorch believes in you. Because I believe in you."
Sharim skidded to a halt, the tempo-loop on his wrist flickering as if struggling to hold onto life.
"Belief doesn't fix broken things."
He lunged again. Waterdrop phased through the shadows, extending an arm to wrap around Sharim's wrist, closing in on that faltering loop.
A thunderous boom shook the vault as two more figures dropped through a grated ceiling hatch—XLR8 in a streak of cobalt speed, and Scorch, kinetic trails blazing pink from her claws.
XLR8 skidded beside Waterdrop.
"Need a hand, Aqua-man?" Ben quipped, though his tone was all business.
Scorch knelt to Scorch's side, eyes blazing.
"Sharim! This vault is going to overload if you keep ripping through it. Come with me!"
Sharim recoiled, the raw energy swirling around him creating a miniature vortex that ripped up dust and debris.
"Don't! I can't—"
BZZZT! A spark from the damaged stabilizer struck a nearby console. The entire chamber flickered with warning lights. Red glyphs pulsed ominously: CORE UNSTABLE.
Waterdrop seized the moment—morphing into a pressurized jet, he blasted around Sharim, forcing him to stumble back toward the vault's entrance corridor.
Scorch sprinted forward, claws extended—but paused at the safety threshold.
"Hikaru—get back!" she called.
Waterdrop and XLR8 interposed themselves between Sharim and the rest, holding the mutated Kinetian at bay.
XLR8: "We can't hold him here for long. That reactor's going critical!"
Waterdrop: "The tunnel beyond there leads deeper into the old reactor chambers. He's headed for the power nexus—if he reaches it, his mutation will feed off it."
Scorch's jaw clenched.
"Then we have to go after him."
Ben/XLR8 glanced at Hikaru/Waterdrop.
"On three?"
They nodded.
"One… two… three!"
In unison, they leapt past the console and dove into the corridor, leaving the vault's red-lit warning signs flashing behind them.
Deeper into the Tunnels
12 feet down, the corridor opened into a vast, domed chamber. Turbine shafts ran along the walls, and in the center sat the Kinetic Resonance Nexus—a towering orb of crystalized energy, thrumming with untamed power.
Sharim stood at its base, gaunt form silhouetted by the pulsing light. His spines and claws glowed like living embers. His pace was uneven, almost reverent.
Scorch skidded to a stop ten meters away. She raised her claws defensively.
"You promised me no more futures."
Sharim didn't answer. He reached out, trembling, toward the nexus.
Waterdrop slid forward, water tendrils lashing around his waist.
"Stop! You'll merge with that thing and become something else entirely!"
Sharim (voice cracking): "I'm already something else."
He placed a claw on the crystal surface—and the entire room resonated with a deafening hum. Energy rippled outward, knocking them all back.
XLR8 skidded across the floor, coming to rest beside them.
"It's amplifying him!"
Scorch sprang up, pink trails blazing.
"We need to pull him away—NOW!"
But the nexus's pulsing accelerated, locking Sharim in place. Blue-white filaments wrapped around his limbs, drawing on his mutated energy like a parasite.
Waterdrop banked a sphere of water around Sharim, trying to insulate him from the nexus's pull.
"Hold on, Sharim—"
His eyes met Scorch's through the water-glass barrier.
SHARIM (whisper): "Go back… leave me…"
Waterdrop's surface cracked with raw emotion.
"We're not leaving!"
A Race Against Time
The nexus alarm chimed through the tunnels—an urgent, mechanical warning.
SYSTEM: NEXUS CORE IMMINENT OVERLOAD.
Ben ripped off his XLR8 helmet, sweaty and tense.
"If that thing blows, it'll level half the city!"
He slammed down on the Omnitrix faceplate.
"Heatblast!"
A wash of orange fire erupted as Ben transformed. The heat pushed back the cold hum of the nexus. Flames licked around his fists.
"Stand back!"
He hurled a blazing fireball into the tangled energy filaments, trying to sever them.
Waterdrop shaped his form into a surge, dousing the strands loosened by fire with whirling torrents—stopping the energy feedback in its tracks.
But Sharim lurched forward, phasing through the water.
"I need this!"
He rushed the nexus, one hand tearing into the crystal core. Jagged shards sliced into his flesh—but his body absorbed them, energy leaping from wound to artery.
Scorch screamed as she leapt for him.
"Sharim, no—please!"
He caught her mid-air in one arm, lifting her off the ground.
"Stay away!"
Heatblast blasted at the core's base, igniting volatile energy but causing the nexus to shudder more violently.
The entire chamber trembled.
"Everyone out! Now!" Heatblast roared.
Scorch writhed in Sharim's grip, clawing at the tempo-loop.
Waterdrop formed a watery ramp under Heatblast's feet.
"We can't leave him," Hikaru pleaded. "There has to be another way!"
Ben, eyes on Sharim, hesitated.
"No. We can't lose them all."
He raised a flaming fist, hands glowing orange
"Ben—" Scorch's voice was pleading, broken.
BEN: "I'm sorry."
He slammed his fist into the nexus core.
A shockwave of superheated plasma rolled outward.
EXPLOSION.