The Night of the Living Nightmare

***The Night of the Living Nightmare*** is the twenty-third *Ultimate Alien* chapter of *Clock 10: Choose Your Own Adventure*.

## Plot

The episode starts with Clockwork Firefly fast asleep, only to be interrupted by a strange, jellyfish-like creature trying to attach itself to his head. Clock tries multiple ways of getting rid of it, none of which properly work. He runs out of his room and attempts to step on it, but it causes him to slip and fall, activating the Ultimatrix unintentionally and turning him into Heatblast. His transformation finally harms the creature.

Heatblast takes the creature outside, which carrying it is enough to destroy it. Once outside, however, he realizes the entire neighborhood is completely empty. He walks the dark streets until one of the streetlights comes on, which reveals a DNAlien. He tries talking, but the DNAlien attacks, trapping him in hardened adhesive goo. Heatblast retaliates with fire from his feet, knocking the DNAlien into the darkness before freeing himself from the goo.

As he continues, he turns around upon hearing someone following him, only to find it's Reinrassig III, or as he calls him, Wayne Brady. Heatblast strikes up conversation, but Wayne attacks him, using regular quills as well as methane-laced ones which explode from his Methanosian arm. Heatblast dodges the attacks and fires off a huge blast of fire, which doesn't do much to immediately harm Wayne, but it does dehydrate him; however, this is only temporary, as Wayne regains his composure without rooting for water. Heatblast changes into Big Chill, freezing Wayne who proceeds to shatter.

Big Chill flies to Taryn's house, but gets no answer upon knocking on the door. He then flies to Kevin's, and finds the garage open but Kevin nowhere to be seen. Hearing footsteps, Big Chill readies himself whilst turning around, finding Aggregor behind him. Big Chill hits the Ultimatrix, becoming Clockwork, then tries to age Aggregor. Aggregor dodges before becoming his Ultimate Aggregor form, firing off electrifid water in retaliation. Clockwork doesn't dodge in time and is blasted into Kevin's car. Clockwork uses a time beam to try to send Aggregor to the past, which appears to work, though Kevin is still nowhere to be seen.

Clockwork uses a portal spell to get to Charmcaster's library, surprising himself as the spells don't normally work in alien form. Charmcaster comes out of the library, silent and emotionless, before covering herself in magical rock armor before attacking Clock, who had since become human again. Whilst Clock is in disbelief, Charmcaster knocks him into the air with use of a glyph. She follows suit, going into the air and attempting to continue attacking. Clock pleads with her, but she throws him, causing him to plumet towards the ground. Clock reluctantly becomes Rath, landing safely before jumping back into the air, and plunging his arm through Charmcaster. While convincing himself it isn't real, he realizes his arm has no blood, and that Charmcaster is nowhere to be seen.

Suddenly, without going anywhere himself, Rath finds himself in the Plumber base below his town. Still confused, Rath turns around to find Kevin and Taryn approaching, the first two to properly talk the entire time. Rath becomes Clock again, and demands the two prove themselves real. They dodge the question, remarking that Clock is having "hero stress" and needs a break, but can't have a proper one due to villains tracking the Ultimatrix, and that removing the device would be beneficial.

Upon revealing what he attempted to do to Charmcaster, Clock's teammates decide he's "gone off the deep end." Kevin rushes Clock, grabbing the Ultimatrix and turning into Ultimate Kevin again by absorbing the DNA. In retaliation, Clock turns into Ultimate Clock, but the Ultimatrix refuses to access Alien X's powers. He instead uses Big Chill's powers to freeze the two, which does not work on Ultimate Kevin. He then uses Spidermonkey's powers to web up Ultimate Kevin, which somehow works.

Ultimate Clock tries to interrogate them, but is interrupted by the sudden appearance of Geralt Firefly behind him. Geralt expresses his disappointment in Clock's attack of his teammates, and Azmuth appears as well to agree. Azmuth goes so far as to claim that perhaps Albedo was right regarding the former's decision in who should wield the Omnitrix. With Ultimate Clock in denial about the situation, Azmuth demands he give the Ultimatrix to him, but Ultimate Clock refuses.

All of the people in the room become annoyed only for them to disappear in a bright yellow flash as Albedo himself appears across the room, annoyed at Ultimate Clock's refusal to behave. Upon revealing Clock's friends to be unharmed, Albedo elaborates he wants the Ultimatrix back. Ultimate Clock attempts to go Alien X, but is unable. Albedo mocks him, explaining that they're in a dreamscape of his design, and that Clock does not have access to the "Big Three" here, which include Alien X, Way Big, and Atomix.

Albedo becomes Negative Jetray and grabs Ultimate Clock before flying out of the base and throwing him towards the ground. Ultimate Clock becomes Ghostfreak and gives chase, as Negative Jetray enters a McRonald's and transforms again. Ghostfreak enters and doesn't see or hear him, but is ambushed by Negative ChamAlien soon after.

Ghostfreak tries to attack, but Negative ChamAlien dodges, flipping over him before becoming Negative Lodestar. Ghostfreak attempts to transform, only to be rendered immobile by Negative Lodestar using his magnetism to hold his chains and shackles in place before ripping them from him, which would normally be painful but here is not, as Ghostfreak accesses his true form.

Ghostfreak fires an ectoplasmic beam at Negative Lodestar, which is tanked by a quick-switch into Negative Goop, followed up by a switch into Negative Heatblast, who opens fire on Ghostfreak's true form. Much to Negative Heatblast's surprise and confusion, Ghostfreak is not killed, or even harmed, by the flames. Angered and confused, Negative Heatblast tries and fails to harm Ghostfreak as Negative NRG, even when using his true form.

Negative NRG realizes Clock gained control of the "dream eater" from earlier, and becomes human again only to pull another from his jacket. Upon getting closer, Albedo slips and falls, which wakes Clock up in his actual bed, to find Albedo on the floor with his own dream eater attached to him. He had slipped on Blue Raspberry Heatblast. Clock takes Albedo to the garage and uses Big Chill to freeze him in place with the dream eater still attached. He later takes him to the Plumber base, where Patelliday explains he'll be kept in custody, but Blukic and Driba argue over being able to remove the dream eater.

The episode ends in Albedo's nightmare of being served Green Bean Grey Matter by Donald McRonald himself.

In a credit scene, Clock recounts the events of the episode as one would to a therapist, but does so to the Plumber, Jerry, who remarks on not being a therapist at all.

## Major Events

* Clock uses Clockwork for the first time in the present.

## Characters

* Clockwork Firefly
* Magister Patelliday
* Blukic
* Driba
* Jerry *(debut)*

### Villains

* Albedo
	+ DNAlien
	+ Wayne Brady
	+ Aggregor
		- Ultimate Aggregor
	+ Charmcaster
	+ Taryn Firefly
	+ Kevin Levin
		- Ultimate Kevin
	+ Geralt Firefly
	+ Azmuth

## Aliens Used

### Clockwork Firefly

* Heatblast *(unintentional)*
* Big Chill *(2x)*
* Clockwork
* Rath
* Ultimate Clock
	+ Big Chill
	+ Spidermonkey
* Ghostfreak *(unintentionally uses true form)*

### Albedo

* Negative Jetray
* Negative ChamAlien
* Negative Lodestar
* Negative Goop *(cameo)*
* Negative Heatblast
* Negative NRG

## Trivia

* Wayne Brady's methane darts are less a testament to his abilities and more to Albedo's creativity.
* It is revealed Albedo's least favorite McRonald's drink is, ironically, Green Bean Grey Matter.
* The Ultimatrix does not passively scan Jerry. This is due to the constant passive scans being a bug that was fixed when Azmuth reset the Ultimatrix in the previous episode.