Time Trials

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[Ben]: "Albedo!"

Albedo looked up towards the approaching group and grimaced, making his distaste exceedingly evident.

[Albedo] (Annoyed): "What are you up to, Tennyson?"

[Ben]: "I was just about to ask you the same question. You've been using Clockwork to mess with time and get ahead in the race!"

[Albedo] (Confused): "Clockwo-...Do you mean the Chronosapien transformation?"

[Ben]: "What else would I be talking about?!"

Albedo paused for a moment before bursting out into maniacal laughter.

[Albedo]: "You really are a complete idiot, aren't you?"

[Ben]: "What's that supposed to mean?!"

[Albedo]: "First off, I'm not the one causing the time leaps, you imbecile. If someone of my unlimited genius were to tamper with the flow of time to gain an advantage, it would be far too discrete for you common fools to notice."

[Ben]: "That's not-"

[Albedo]: "Enough evidence for you? Of course it's not, you're a buffoon. Look at this."

Albedo pulled down a panel on the outside of his ship, exposing a somewhat rusted, decaying engine turbine.

[Albedo]: "These time waves aren't random, they're targeting the racer's engines to cause them to break down. If you check your own engines you'll see the same thing."

[Ben]: "Kevin's doing that right now, so I guess we'll find out if you're telling the truth in a few minutes."

Albedo rolled his eyes.

[Albedo]: "Why would I purposefully damage my own engine, you utter twit? If you want to find the actual culprit, you should check to see whose engines aren't damaged."

[Ben]: "Why aren't you looking for the culprit, then? They'd be doing just as much damage to you as they are everyone else."

[Albedo] (Laughs): "What, and abandon a prime opportunity to have the upper hand against my opponents? Now that I know what the effects of the time leaps are, I can simply nullify them for my ship using my Chronosapien transformation while everyone else rots."

[Ben]: "You really are a terrible person, you know that?"

[Albedo] (Scoffs): "I think we both know you don't have the moral high ground over me anymore."

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[Eon]: "And now, my insufferable counterpart...now you die."

Eon swung his energy sword down directly towards Ben's head, only for it to be knocked aside by small laser blasts before reaching its target.

[Eon] (Confused): "What-"

Eon turned to find a teenager clad entirely in white, black, and green armor walking towards him, smoke still rising from the blaster mounted on the teen's arm.

[Spanner]: "Sorry Eon, but the murder party's cancelled. Can't have you messing up the timeline."

[Eon]: "Well, well, if it isn't Paradox's lapdog."

[Spanner] (Facetiously): "Wow, not even guard dog? You wound me, Eon. I mean that sincerely."

[Eon]: "How about I make you mean it literally, too?"

Eon charged towards Spanner with his sword held out in front of him. Spanner jumped out of the way of the attack and twisted a dial on his belt resembling an Omnitrix symbol. His suit was momentarily consumed in a flash of light, which faded to reveal that the suit had adopted a black, white, and blue color scheme, with the helmet's visor changing to match that of a Kineceleran's speed mask.

[Spanner]: "I'm not a masochist myself, but thanks for the offer."

Spanner suddenly launched himself towards Eon at high speed, moving too fast for his target to follow. He planted one foot in the ground next to Eon's right side and used his momentum to pivot himself around, kicking at the device on Eon's arm with his free leg. The impact shattered part of the device and sent Eon flying off to the side as time resumed moving as normal.

[Eon]: "My temporal manipulator! What have you done?!"

[Spanner]: "Normally I'm all for a one-on-one fight, but this seems serious."

[Ben] (Stumbles forward) "Woah, what just-"

Ben cut himself off as he spotted the two time-travelers staring each other down just a few feet away from him.

[Ben]: "Eon?! Spanner?! What the heck is going on?!"

[Spanner]: "Your guess is as good as mine. Eon was already stomping around when I got here to stop him."

[Gwen]: "Looking at the bigger picture, I think Eon might have been the person actually creating the time waves."

[Eon]: "Well look at you, able to make basic deductions. You must be proud."

[Ben] (Pulls up the Omnitrix): "You have about five seconds to get out of here and stop screwing with the race before I start wailing on you."

[Eon] (Grits his teeth): "You have no idea what's at stake here, boy. Finishing this race will be the end of you and everyone you love!"

Before Ben could activate the Omnitrix, Eon held out his arm and created a time portal to his side.

[Eon]: "Mark my words, Ben. I *will* stop this race, by any means necessary. Your time is running out."

With that, Eon vanished into the time portal, closing it behind him. There were a few moments of silence as everyone tried to process what had just happened.

[Kevin]: "Tell me if I'm wrong, but...did Eon just run away?"

[Ben]: "I doubt he's out of our hair for good. He's probably just plotting something."

[Gwen]: "What was he talking about when it came to finishing the race? It doesn't seem in-character for a megalomaniacal supervillain to be concerned about something like this."

[Ben]: "The prize for winning the race is a planet that shouldn't even exist anymore. Maybe having people on it would break time or something?"

[Kevin]: "Okay, that's great and all." (Points to Spanner) "But why is *he* here?"

[Spanner]: "Rude."

[Ben]: "Oh yeah, you guys never met Spanner, did you? He's that guy from the future I told you about."

[Spanner] (Waves): "Yo."

[Kevin]: "That doesn't answer my question."

[Ben] (Shrugs): "I don't know either. He just kind of shows up and leaves whenever."

[Spanner]: "I don't just pop up randomly, you know. I show up if you need my help."

[Kevin]: "And how do you know exactly when Ben needs help, huh?"

[Spanner]: "I'm a time traveler, if that helps you connect the dots."

[Ben]: "No offense, but you seem different from usual. The suit's new too. Kinda looks like XLR8."

[Spanner]: "Oh, this isn't my standard suit form."

Spanner twisted the Omnitrix dial on his belt, transforming his suit back into its standard mode.

[Kevin]: "...Okay, that's kinda cool."

[Spanner]: "To explain, it's been a bit over two years for me since the last time I've come to the past to help you. Things have changed a bit."