Wind howled across the desert.
Ben stood atop a tall red rock pillar, his eyes scanning the endless canyon below. The sun had barely risen, casting golden rays over the sharp sandstone formations. The world was silent, except for the hum of the Omnitrix on his wrist — pulsing, alive.
> "Test sequence: Phase 3. XLR-Prime."
"Target: Mach 2 baseline. Goal: exceed atmospheric resonance threshold."
Translation?
Break the sound barrier — and then shatter it.
He tapped the dial.
The familiar silhouette of XLR8 rose, but modified — sleeker armor plates, less drag resistance, new glowing conduits along the legs. This wasn't the standard form.
This was XLR-Prime, the evolving fusion of speed and elemental thermal output: part XLR8, part Heatblast, reinforced by Grey Matter's scaffolding.
> SLAM.
The transformation struck like a lightning bolt, and Ben vanished — replaced by a living blur of heat, speed, and friction-defying momentum.
His claws touched the stone edge.
His eyes lit with green energy.
Then he moved.
---
At first, he was only a streak across the canyon floor.
Then the streak turned into a pulse — a wave of afterimages, warping the air, cracking the stone beneath his feet. With every step, he left a tiny shockwave behind, pushing the limits of traction, temperature, and reaction time.
Mach 1 hit.
Then Mach 2.
Then—
> BOOOOM!
The sound barrier shattered behind him. Gwen, watching from a distant ridge with binoculars, stumbled back, hair blown by the ripple of air pressure.
> "He's getting faster," she whispered. "Way too fast…"
---
Inside Ben's Mind – XLR-Prime Mode
He wasn't running anymore.
He was surfing time.
Seconds stretched. Thought expanded. The world slowed to a crawl — raindrops frozen mid-fall, insects locked in air like statues. Every atom moved like molasses around him.
His brain wasn't human in this state.
It was part quantum processor, part Galvan neural mesh. Grey Matter's gift wasn't just logic anymore — it was temporal acuity.
He could see time folding in front of him.
> "I'm not bound by speed anymore," he said to himself.
"I'm shaping velocity into force. Pressure into flight."
The Omnitrix glowed, feeding data directly into his optic nerve.
> Warning: Temporal Drag threshold approaching.
Core Temperature: Rising.
Cerebral Strain: High.
Ben smiled.
> "Let's break another law."
He kicked off a cliff wall and launched upward — then twisted in midair, using the momentum to spin into a horizontal cyclone. With a burst of heat, his form exploded into a thermal vortex, dragging the surrounding air with him.
Now, he wasn't just fast.
He was weaponizing wind.
---
Back at the Rustbucket
Max monitored readings on a homemade scanner, frowning at the data.
"Heat signatures spiking in a spiraling pattern. Wind pressure is off the charts," he muttered.
Gwen leaned over. "He's manipulating weather by moving too fast… Max, that's not just speed. That's environmental disruption. Like a miniature storm."
Max looked at her, concerned.
"That level of movement could tear him apart."
Gwen's eyes narrowed.
"Not him. But maybe the Omnitrix."
---
Back in the Canyon
Ben's speed plateaued — not because he couldn't go faster, but because the fabric of space was starting to ripple around him.
Dust warped.
Light bent.
He dropped into a final sprint across the ridge — and then leapt across a 300-foot canyon. Midair, he twisted, using a burst of combustion from his feet to push farther.
> THOOM.
He landed perfectly. A crater formed beneath his feet.
The dust cleared.
Silence.
Then…
> CHIME.
A message echoed from the Omnitrix:
> New Protocol Unlocked:
Velocity-Phase Transition Layer – Enabled.
Ben blinked.
> "Wait…"
He flexed his fingers.
Suddenly, his arm flickered, like it wasn't fully solid — like his molecules had begun vibrating out of sync with the normal world.
He wasn't just moving through the air anymore.
He was moving through matter.
> Phasing.
Not teleportation. Not invisibility. Something deeper.
Something quantum.
> "I've gone beyond movement," Ben whispered.
"I'm touching another layer of reality."
---
That night
Ben sat alone near the camp, staring at his hand.
Still human, but he could feel the vibration beneath his skin — the echo of the form still imprinted on him.
Max joined him, sitting beside the fire.
"You broke the sound barrier today," Max said quietly. "And almost broke the canyon."
Ben didn't smile.
"Almost doesn't matter."
Max looked at him.
"You're not just pushing the Omnitrix anymore. You're changing how it works."
Ben turned his gaze upward.
"I'm not changing it to be stronger, Max. I'm changing it to be… beyond. Speed was just a boundary. I'm learning how to erase boundaries completely."
Max didn't reply right away.
Then he said, "You need to be careful. Not just for your body. But for your mind."
Ben finally looked at him — eyes glowing faintly.
"What makes you think I haven't already planned for that?"
---
Far above Earth, in a quiet orbit, a satellite blinked to life.
Galvan tech.
Hidden for years.
Now activated.
Watching Ben.
Recording everything.
And deep within the Omnitrix's core, the feedback loop from Ben's phasing trial had triggered something… dormant.
> Chrono-Code Detected.
Temporal Branch Access: Locked – For Now