As an old friend of mine said, "there are so many different ways to tell a story but that's what makes them so interesting. you can never predict how they're going to turn out."

So here I am, pondering the question, what if some of our characters didn't turn out the way they were supposed to. What if their story went down a different path. A path of normalcy.

In an alternate universe where Oswald Silverbolt never got kidnapped by Servantis, Oswald went through his life normally, Oswald actually finished school in this universe, he picked up jobs left and right trying to find his place in the world.

Eventually, he found himself a gig in the private investigator business. At first, he struggled many, many, many times, but then he improved. He could do multiple cases at the same time due to his clones, he could earn more taydenite due to him taking more cases. He even became one of the best detectives in multiple systems!

That was until he died during one of cases...

He was tasked with investigating an illegal goods trading on some random backwater planet called Earth. At the time, Earth was barely known to the public eye, only criminals knew about it since they used the planet as a hidden hideout. Detective Silverbolt, now in his 30s, snuck onto a trading ship. He was doing good work as usual, until the big man arrived.

The Methanosian Kingpin himself.

He tied Oswald to a wooden chair in a dark and cold room.

Marra: "I've been expecting your arrival, Mr. Silverbolt... You've been on my ass for quite awhile now."

Oswald: "Everything all led to you, Juana. What happened to you? You were doing so good as a bounty hunter."

Marra: "Yeah well, times change.. The ol' bounty hunting business just ain't cutting it no more, so I went higher, I sought out a new business, a business EVERYONE will partake in."

Oswald: "Everyone? Even the ones who aren't a big fan of drugs?"

Marra: "Obviously not everyone, I was exaggerating. No matter, of course.. you know far too much now. You know exactly what we do with nosey detectives like you."

Marra formed a sharp knife from his hand and pressed it against Oswald's neck.

Marra: "You should've known this was serious business, kid. Your kind wasn't made for the dark criminal world."

Oswald: "I was told that before, but then they would get smacked on their head by a frying pan."

Marra: "A frying huh?-"

Suddenly an Oswald clone came from the vents of the room and smacked the kingpin with a crowbar.

Oswald 1: "Dude, I said frying pan, not crowbar."

Oswald 2 unties Oswald 1.

Oswald 2: "Well, they didn't have any frying pans here so I had to figure something out."

Oswald 1: "Yeah, but the joke doesn't land as well without it."

Marra gets up.

Marra: "Why you... You DARE mess with me?"

Oswald 1: "We can talk about this later-"

One of Marra's goons is about to grab Oswald 2.

Oswald 1: "-On your left!"

The goon tries to bash Oswald 2's head in, but he manages to dodge him.

Oswald 2 punches the goon in the face, knocking him out.

Oswald 1: "Where are the others? They're supposed to be here right now."

Oswald 2: "They're busy with another set of goons."

Marra: "What's wrong, Splixson? Are you getting too old that it's getting tiring to split apart? Here, allow me to assist you."

Marra grabs Oswald 1 using his vines as two more goons grab Oswald 2.

They force Oswald 2 to watch Oswald 1 getting ripped apart by Marra's vines.

His screams were so loud, they could be heard from the next rooms over.

Oswald 2: "NO!"

Marra walked towards Oswald 2.

Marra: "Chin up, you'll be seeing him very soon."

Marra killed the rest of the Oswald clones not that long after.

With the end of that story, that brings us back to my original question. Without the one thing that made your character who they are now, who would they be?

Subject 3865 sat there, bored out of his mind.

He has just finished feeding the "Ultimate Weapon".

Subject 3865: "UGH! This new modern world is so... BORING! No one's exploding things anymore!"

Suddenly, Echo flies by with a rolled up paper message.

Echo: "[[You have one new message.]]"

Subject 3865 sighed and then got up from his chair.

Subject 3865: "That guy really hates talking in person, doesn't he..."

Echo flies towards 3865's shoulder and starts speaking in Billy's voice.

Echo: "Hey 3865, so I'm with Eon right now and a very special person and business owner has refused to pay their debt, so I need you to bomb them."

Subject 3865: "FINALLY!"

Echo: "Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to sneak onto Epolon II without getting detected, plant explosives in each of their many casinos, and get out before it blows up."

Subject 3865: "Sounds easy enough..."

Echo: "There should be a spare starship for you to use in the parking bay. Good luck soldier."

Echo switches back to his regular voice.

Echo: "Sounds like we got work to do, [[Boss man!]]"

Subject 3865 puts the paper down on a workbench and heads to the elevator.

Subject 3865: "Indeed we do.."

He heads to the armory first and grabs some stealth equipment and the bombs.

These things include: an ID mask, full black clothes, and gloves.

Subject 3865 went down to the parking bay and grabbed one of the ships.

Subject 3865: "Not the best one in the house, but it'll do."

Echo sits down on the co-pilot seat.

Subject 3865 hands him a cracker and hides the explosives in the storage compartment.

One of Billy's robots start starcraft marshalling as Subject 3865 begins takeoff.

The ceiling opens up and a ramp comes out of the floor.

The starship's engines ignite as the starship itself quickly launches off of the ground and into space.

The starship cloaks and successfully sneaks past Plumber officers who are conducting starship inspections.

Subject 3865: "Activating hyperspeed."

The starship zooms off into the next system in an instant.

To be continued...

Traveler breathes in and breathes out.

Traveler: "I hate it here..."

Vilgax prepares to stomp his foot.

Traveler starts running.

Traveler quickly analyzes the area around him as he runs.

Traveler: "Let's see here... To my left, there's rubble and some destroyed buildings... To my right, there's more rubble and some left-over vines from the previous fight... And infront of me, there's some trees."

Traveler gets an idea.

Traveler: "That's it! I can slingshot myself using a giant slingshot made of bricks for the base, wood for support, and vines to replace rubber bands! Using some left-over wood and some rocks I could make myself some new weapons too! I'll need to find a way to distract him, though.."

Traveler hides behind a wall.

He chucks his hammer at Vilgax's head as a distraction.

Vilgax felt nothing.

Traveler: "What a waste of a perfectly good crowbar.."

Traveler first crafts two stone swords using some stone and sticks. He then makes a strap out of vines to hold the swords.

He quickly runs to the other side of the battlefield.

He gathers some parts for the slingshot.

Traveler puts together the slingshot's shape and wraps vines around it to hold it together.

Finally, he uses a longer vine as the stretchy part.

Traveler: "Ready... Aim... FIRE!"

Traveler launches himself at Vilgax and uses his swords to dig into the To'kustar skin and climbs his way up to the omnitrix symbol.

Traveler: "Alright.. I have no clue how the hell this thing works."

Traveler presses randomly on the Omnitrix's screen.

Traveler: "Beep boop bam bop bing self-destruct mode activate."

Nothing happens.

Traveler: "Eh, fuck it."

Traveler slashes his sword into the Omnitrix.

Omnitrix A.I: "Warning: Sufficient damage taken, activating failsafe protocol."

A giant blast of energy comes out of the Omnitrix.

Traveler gets launched off of Vilgax.

Vilgax gets knocked back and detransforms.

Traveler closes his eyes before he hits the ground.

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

Nothing.

He feels... nothing.

Traveler slowly opens his eyes.

To be continued...

The smoke clears.

Traveler stands on top of a shredded Methanosian.

He grins and wipes the plant juice off of his claws.

He looks at... Us?

Traveler: "Huh? Wait, you surely didn't think I was gonna EAT him, right? I'm crazy but I ain't THAT crazy. He probably tastes rotten anyway."

Suddenly, he gets tackled by the evolved Pyronite. The Pyronite deems the Methanosian useless and proceeds to burn him alive.

He calls upon the Arachnachimp and the Citrakayah to take care of Traveler for him.

The Arachnachimp shoots a web, the Citrakayah grabs it and quickly spins around Traveler, tying him up.

Traveler tries to chew through but his teeth aren't built for ripping things apart.

Tetramand and the Vaxasaurian pummeled Traveler repeatedly.

Afterwards, the Sonorosian yells at Traveler, sending him flying into buildings.

Traveler tries to get up.

The Evolved Pyronite breaks through a wall and grabs Traveler by his neck and chokes him.

Traveler: "F-Funny... cough cough kinda reminds me how me and Hálogi first met.. Almost like.. you guys are supposed to represent my frien-"

Traveler gets thrown into another wall.

Traveler coughs, trying to catch his breath.

The six variants stand infront of Traveler

Traveler: "I'm so.. fucking... tired... and that vine wasn't even that good..."

Traveler tries to get up but he gets hit on the head by his own handcrafted hammer.

The variants disintegrate into smoke.

The webs around Traveler gets dissolved and he grabs his hammer.

Traveler: "All that's left is the big guy... where is he?"

A bright flash of light appears outside, followed by a sudden dark shadow glooming over the entire area.

Traveler: "You gotta be kidding me.."

Now stands a being over 200 feet tall (60.96 meters)...

Vilgax has transformed into a To'kustar.

To be continued...

Traveler: "I may not be the smartest person in the room, I may not able to clone, I may not be able to use toon-force, and I may not even be able to call for backup..."

"...BUT THAT AIN'T GONNA STOP ME!"

Traveler rushes at the variants.

The Tetramand variant tries to grab him but Traveler manages to slide under the variant's legs (also hitting the Tetramand's lower waist for bonus points), then he kicks up into the jaw of the Vaxasaurian variant that was behind the Tetramand.

The Necrofriggian variant tries to freeze Traveler in place, but learning from his encounter with Nosu, Traveler grabs a large piece of rubble to block the attack.

He throws the piece of rubble at the Necrofriggian, but the variant phases through it.

The Methanosian variant catches the piece of rubble in mid-air and tosses it back at Traveler.

Traveler gets smacked against the wall by the piece of rubble and a part of the destroyed building the fight is taking place in falls on top of Traveler, crushing him.

The evolved Pyronite variant and the Prypiatosian-B variant walk up to the rubble, hold their arms toward it and set it ablaze.

The smoke clears and the rubble is melted into a puddle.

The variants look at each other, it can't have been that easy... Could it?

Suddenly.

Traveler: "Hey Negative Nine! Eyes up here!"

Traveler is seen riding a piece of rubble upwards to the stormy sky and the Necrofriggian and Prypiatosian-B variant fly after him.

Traveler digs his crowbar into the piece of rubble and uses it as a hammer.

Traveler: "An old friend of mine taught me this trick!"

Traveler twirls around holding his "hammer" in a straight line, he starts quickly descending downwards and creates a whirlwind around him.

The two variants get caught up into the whirlwind and get sent off into the distance.

As Traveler lands, he quickly makes a smashing motion into the ground. This creates a large shockwave that shakes the ground.

Traveler: "One powerhouse down... all that's left is the Pyronite to worry about."

Traveler's "hammer" gets snatched out of his hand by a web.

Traveler: "Hey!"

The Arachnachimp variant grabs a hold of the weapon and tosses it around like a toy.

The Methanosian variant grabs Traveler and shoves him into the ground, creating vines around him.

Traveler gets buried alive.

The Methanosian's vines squeeze Traveler more and more.

The Methanosian senses no more movement.

Silence...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

Suddenly, Traveler digs right out of the ground nearby with part of the vine in his mouth.

Traveler: "Tasty."

Traveler leaps at the Methanosian variant and grabs onto him.

Traveler: "Funny thing about being a herbivore, you don't really get much food in dead places, and you're looking mighty tasty right about now.."

The Methanosian tries to set Traveler on fire but Traveler covers up the holes with dirt he had in his hands. Instead of fire, a large area of smoke comes out, blinding everyone.

A loud scream can be heard along with the sounds of ripping and tearing.

To be continued..

CRASH!

Traveler dodges a missile.

CRASH!

He dodges again.

CRASH!

Even if Traveler was stripped from his toon-force, he's still good at dodgi-

CRASH!

Traveler: "AHHHHH!"

Nevermind.

Traveler: "Hey! A little help here would be nice!"

I cannot help you, as I am simply the narrator.

Traveler: "Yeah right, what good are you anyway?"

As Traveler said that, suddenly Vilgax, in his Vaxsasaurian form, crashed down onto Traveler.

He swung his mace-like tail across the battlefield and smashes some buildings into rubble.

Traveler, being powerless in his mind, runs away to shelter in the ruined cities. For once in a very, very long time... Oswald Silverbolt is scared*. He's trembling from fear... or is he? In fact.. it was quite cold in the room he was in, but half of the room is gone how could it be so cold?*

Before Traveler could realize what was going on, Vilgax formed from the floor in his Necrofriggian form. The Traveler stared at the cybernetic threat before him. It stared back.

Was he frozen from fear or from the cold? He couldn't tell anymore.

Suddenly, Vilgax spoke, he spoke in a clear, cold, threatening way.

Vilgax*: "*You left them to fend for themselves, you let millions of children die just because YOU were too scared to face ME."

Those words... something about them... Traveler knew they were being told by a fake version of the real thing.. yet... they felt realer than any other insult anyone else could've said..

Vilgax: "It's ironic, really... You and your little "team" trapped me in my dimension, and here you are... trapped in your own mind while a more competent version of you roams free..."

Traveler: "ENOUGH!"

Traveler stood up, trying to find the courage to face the only villain he ran away from due to his fear. Not even the Celestialsapiens themselves could strike this much fear into this Splixson, and yet this Chimera Sui Generis made him almost unable to move.

Traveler: "YOU AREN'T REAL! YOU CAN'T HURT ME ANYMORE! YOU MEAN NOTHING TO ME NOW!"

Although he said these words, Traveler knew that he was just lying to himself to feel better.

Vilgax: "Very well."

Vilgax opened his Necrofriggian cloak, revealing several Ben Tennyson corpses under it.

Their lifeless husks fell to the floor. Traveler stood there in shock as he recognized some of these variants.

They get up.

The corpses all transform into different species, one of them even goes Ultimate.

The Bens transform into a Tetramand, an evolved Pyronite, a Vaxasaurian, a Necrofriggian, a Prypiatosian-B, a Sonorosian, a Citrakayah, a Methanosian, and an Arachnachimp respectively.

Vilgax steps forwards.

Vilgax: "Splixson.. face your past... or face your end..."

Traveler stands up, trying to build all the courage his little body could muster. He looks up at Vilgax and his Bens. He begins to smirk a little.

Traveler: "Listen up Davy Jones and his undead crew.. Unlike you, I have people waiting for me at the other side of this.."

Traveler prepares his fighting stance.

Traveler: "...and incase you forgot..."

Traveler grabs a crowbar from the ground.

Traveler: "...this is all in my head, so for all intensive purposes..."

Traveler's eyes get covered by his nictitating membrane to protect his eyes from what he's about to do.

Traveler: "...you're in my domain."

To be continued..