The mutant seagull slowly rose from the ground, shaking off the impact of the volleyball before standing tall once more. Its enormous body towered over the group of kids and teenagers standing in front of it, and its beady eyes fixed on them with an unmistakably hostile glare.
It opened its large beak and let out a deafening screech, spreading its wings as if trying to intimidate them into backing away.
Unfortunately for the creature, the group it was facing wasn't exactly an ordinary bunch of beachgoers.
Taking advantage of the moment, Orfevre swung her leg back and coated it with Aura. She then kicked the sand beneath her feet with enough force to create a small gust of air, sending a cloud of sand flying straight toward the mutant seagull.
The sand struck its eyes.
"KREEEAAAH!"
The creature screeched in anger, shaking its head and flapping its wings as it struggled to get the sand out of its eyes.
However, before it could recover, the mutant seagull charged forward.
Dream Journey quickly reached for the iron shovel she had been using earlier and gripped it firmly with both hands. She stepped forward and swung it toward the creature's head with all her strength.
The shovel struck its head with a loud metallic impact, causing the massive bird to stagger backward. Its feet stumbled against the sand as it struggled to regain its balance.
"I heard about this on the news," Journey casually remarked, lowering her shovel. "Something about mutant animals that kept appearing across the country."
She didn't seem particularly surprised by the sight of one.
After all, ever since the beginning of summer, when Ben had first gotten his Omnitrix, the Tennysons had been traveling across the United States and dealing with all sorts of incidents along the way. With Ben constantly going around doing heroic work, it was only natural that people would eventually start noticing him.
Especially when he had a habit of staying behind to pose for the cameras and reporters after saving the day.
Add in the occasional appearances of Lucky Girl, along with the Rust Bucket showing up in the background of several news reports, and it was safe to say that the entire group had become somewhat familiar faces to the public.
Basically, whenever something happened, there was a good chance that someone from the Rust Bucket would end up appearing in the news.
Even Evan's aliens had made a few appearances in some of the reports, although their number was considerably smaller than Lucky Girl's.
Still, since the Gold family already knew that Evan could transform into aliens, they naturally assumed that any alien with an Omnitrix dial they saw on the news was probably him going around doing heroic things.
Of course, that misunderstanding didn't last forever.
It was only after Stay Gold explained that Evan's Omnitrix was gold-colored, while the gray one belonged to Benjamin, that they finally began to understand the difference.
As for the aliens without any visible dial?
Well, they were probably someone else.
"I always thought those things looked a bit ugly, but seeing one in person really shows just how hideous they are." Nakayama Festa couldn't help but comment.
She maintained a safe distance from the mutant seagull, keeping a particularly close eye on the two youngest members of the group, Gold Ship and Fenomeno.
Given the kind of strength the Gold siblings possessed, none of them could really be considered normal to begin with.
Then again, if one thought about it, the Tennysons weren't exactly ordinary either.
Ben, despite being only ten years old, had already put himself in danger countless times, doing things that even many adults wouldn't dare attempt. He had repeatedly thrown himself into dangerous situations to help others, even when he had no guarantee that he would come out unharmed.
Gwen wasn't much different.
Even before she had unlocked her ability to use magic, she had still been willing to step into danger whenever someone needed help.
In a way, the Tennyson family tree, starting from Max's generation, was probably filled with more abnormal people than normal ones.
And that included everyone, whether they were related by blood or had simply become part of the family.
Meanwhile, Ben wasn't about to let the mutant seagull have another opportunity to attack.
Ditto split into four separate copies, each one moving toward the massive bird from a different direction. The clones quickly surrounded it, working together to overwhelm the creature with a series of attacks.
Although none of them were particularly large, having multiple Dittos attacking at once made it difficult for the mutant seagull to deal with all of them. Whenever it tried to turn toward one clone, another would take the opportunity to attack from the side.
The group continued working together, keeping the creature occupied.
Standing a short distance away, Evan watched the situation for a moment before deciding to lend a hand.
He raised one hand to his mouth and bit down on it, opening a small wound. Blood began to drip from his hand, but rather than letting it fall onto the sand, he brought both palms together.
The blood gathered between his hands, gradually condensing into a small, concentrated mass.
Evan adjusted his hands, controlling its shape and density before finally releasing it.
"Piercing Blood."
The condensed blood shot forward like an arrow.
It crossed the distance in an instant, striking the mutant seagull's neck before piercing straight through its skin and emerging from the other side.
The creature let out a painful scream.
Its body twisted violently as it swung its wings and pushed the Ditto clones away, forcing them to retreat. Before anyone could close the distance again, it spread its enormous wings and began to fly upward, attempting to escape despite the injury.
Seeing the mutant animal trying to get away, Gwen raised her hand, preparing to chant a spell.
However, she paused when she noticed Evan shifting his clapped palms sideways before slowly opening them.
A pillar of flame began to gather between his hands.
Transparent gloves made from light formed over his fingers and palms, coating them like a second layer of skin. The construct protected his hands from the heat as he adjusted his stance.
His posture was familiar.
It was the same stance his mother, Dear Wink, would use whenever she practiced archery back at home.
The light between his hands began to take shape, forming a bow and arrow. Once the construct was complete, Evan allowed the flames to spread across it, gradually covering the transparent weapon until it looked as though he were holding a bow and arrow made entirely out of fire.
Evan kept his eyes fixed on the mutant seagull as it continued flying away.
He pulled the bowstring back, taking aim at the creature's back.
Then he released.
The fire arrow shot through the air, leaving a trail of flames behind it before striking directly into the seagull's back.
"KREEEAAAH!"
The mutant bird screamed as the impact threw off its flight. Its wings flapped desperately, but it could no longer maintain its balance.
A moment later, it came crashing down.
Its enormous body struck the sandy beach with a heavy impact, sending sand scattering across the surrounding area.
The creature struggled for a while, moving desperately as it tried to get back up. However, the flames continued spreading across its body, eventually leaving it unable to move any further.
After a while, it finally stopped struggling.
Evan lowered his hands and looked down at them for a moment.
"Should have just gone for Heatblast."
Compared to using Heatblast, performing the same technique in his human form was not only weaker, but also considerably slower and more complicated.
After all, he had to create a construct out of light first, carefully shaping it into a bow and arrow. Then he needed to spread his flames across that construct while maintaining a temperature that wouldn't burn through the light itself or end up burning his own hands.
It was a rather troublesome process.
Pyretic Overdrive only granted him some resistance to fire. It didn't make him immune to it, meaning that if the temperature became too high, he would still end up burning himself before he could properly use the technique.
Evan had already figured out that even with all the abilities available to him, not every one of them was going to be useful in every situation.
It was much like having a large selection of aliens to choose from. Some abilities were naturally more suited to certain situations than others, and there was no reason to use a complicated method when a much simpler option was available.
In this case, Heatblast would have been the obvious choice.
With that thought in mind, Evan casually waved his palm, dismissing the lingering embers around his fingers.
After the incident with the mutant seagull, the family eventually returned to enjoying their time on the beach.
With the immediate trouble out of the way, there wasn't much reason to let the encounter ruin the rest of their day.
Evan spent most of the time explaining his new abilities to his sisters, demonstrating what he could do even while remaining in his human form.
Naturally, the girls were interested.
They had already known that their brother possessed abilities beyond what an ordinary person could do, but hearing him explain the details and seeing some of those abilities firsthand was still something else.
Of course, their interest came with a certain amount of concern.
After what they had learned about Evan's willingness to put himself in danger, his sisters had become considerably more attentive toward him. They cared about their brother, and the thought that he might one day disappear from their lives for good was something none of them wanted to consider.
Dream Journey, in particular, was listening closely as Evan explained the mechanics behind his abilities.
"Interesting," she eventually remarked, looking rather astonished. "Blood manipulation, combined with a ten-times boost that lets you decide which aspect to apply it to, and that twenty-four-hour resurrection timer..."
She paused for a moment, processing everything he had just explained.
"No wonder you became suicidal."
Evan didn't immediately respond.
Journey continued, trying to make sense of just how much those abilities could affect his behavior.
Blood manipulation, combined with the ten-times boost that Evan could apply to his own recovery speed and healing rate, meant that most injuries he suffered would disappear in a surprisingly short amount of time.
As long as the damage wasn't something particularly serious, such as losing an entire limb, his body could recover from injuries faster than they could become infected.
And that wasn't even counting the resurrection ability.
Every twenty-four hours, if he died, he would be brought back completely restored, with his body repaired and without even leaving a scar.
With abilities like those, it wasn't difficult to understand why Evan had developed such a casual attitude toward putting himself in danger.
From his perspective, the consequences simply weren't the same as they would be for everyone else.
But that was precisely the problem.
Journey felt a massive headache coming on, as if someone had taken a sledgehammer and slammed it straight into her skull.
As the eldest sister, she had always felt responsible for looking after her younger siblings. And considering how deeply Evan cared about his family, she understood that he would naturally put their safety before his own.
However, that didn't mean she was going to let him continue treating his own well-being so carelessly.
It was normal for an elder sister to look after her younger siblings.
And in Journey's eyes, that responsibility wasn't something she intended to abandon just because Evan was capable of taking care of himself.
Evan didn't argue with her.
He knew she had a point, and there wasn't much he could say to change her mind anyway.
While the Gold siblings were busy catching up and discussing Evan's abilities, Ben had transformed back into Ditto.
With the ability to split into multiple copies, he decided to make use of it and play together as a team.
The Dittos scattered around the beach, each one doing their own thing while still being part of the same group. It was a rather unusual sight, but considering Ben's current alien form, it wasn't particularly surprising.
The family was busy relaxing and messing around with one another.
So much so that nobody paid much attention to the water nearby.
Bubbles began rising to the surface.
At first, there were only a few, easily overlooked among the gentle movement of the waves. However, something was moving beneath the water, slowly approaching the beach.
Dr. Animo, dressed in some kind of aquatic suit, the mad scientist was standing atop a mutant octopus. A spherical tank was strapped to his back, while one of the creature's tentacles was wrapped around an unconscious Ditto clone.
The other Dittos hadn't noticed what was happening until it was already too late.
By the time Max, Gwen, and the remaining clones finally realized something was wrong, Animo was already sinking back beneath the water.
He was taking the unconscious Ditto with him.
"HEY!"
Before anyone could properly react, the bubbles grew smaller as the scientist and his mutant octopus disappeared beneath the surface.
The remaining Dittos stared at the water.
Then they all turned toward one another.
"This is all your fault!"
The clones began shouting at each other at the exact same time, each one seemingly blaming the others for allowing their fellow copy to be captured.
Meanwhile, the Omnitrix began beeping.
The familiar countdown started, but something strange happened before it could finish.
The beeping suddenly stopped.
The Dittos remained exactly as they were, with none of them changing back into Ben.
Gwen blinked.
"Um, shouldn't this be the point where you turn back into Ben by now?"
She looked between the four remaining Dittos, clearly noticing that something wasn't right.
Max frowned as he examined the situation.
"Something must be blocking the DNA transformation process," he said.
"Maybe all the Dittos have to be together before he can become Ben again?" Gwen suggested, scratching her chin as she considered the possibility.
The four Dittos looked at one another.
Then, almost immediately, they reached the same conclusion.
"We've got to get back the other me!"
Without wasting another second, the Dittos took off in separate directions, each one running across the beach in an attempt to find the missing clone.
Gwen watched them scatter, her expression slowly changing as she realized what was about to happen.
She raised a hand to her forehead and face-palmed.
"Oh, it's going to be one of those days, isn't it?"
...
With that, the group set off to search for the missing Ditto, following the direction in which Dr. Animo had disappeared beneath the water.
At first, Max and Gwen considered asking Evan to transform into one of his aquatic aliens and search the ocean for them. Given his abilities, it would undoubtedly be much faster than trying to search the entire area by boat.
However, before either of them could suggest it, Dream Journey quickly shot down the idea.
Their overreliance on Evan was part of what had led him to develop such a dangerous mindset in the first place.
Whenever something needed to be done, they would naturally turn toward him because he could usually handle it more easily. It was convenient, certainly, but constantly placing almost every responsibility on his shoulders just because he was capable of handling it could eventually lead him to believe that everything was his responsibility.
And that was precisely the kind of thinking they needed to avoid encouraging.
Journey had read and studied enough books about human psychology to understand that a person's mindset was heavily influenced by their surroundings and the way they were raised. The expectations placed on someone, the responsibilities they were given, and the way people treated them could all affect how they viewed themselves and their place in the world.
In Evan's case, he had already developed the habit of putting his family's lives above his own.
That alone was a glaring problem.
If they continued relying on him for everything, they would only reinforce the idea that he was supposed to be the one who handled every difficult situation, regardless of the risks involved.
So, for the time being, they would have to manage without immediately asking him to solve their problems.
As a result, Max ended up renting a sailboat so they could head out to sea and search for Animo themselves.
Gwen, Orfevre, Nakayama Festa, and the Ditto clones were assigned to keep an eye out for any sign of the mad scientist or the missing Ditto.
Meanwhile, Evan, Gold Ship, and Fenomeno were left sitting on the deck with fishing rods in their hands, while Dream Journey kept watch over her troublesome younger siblings.
It was a rather unusual arrangement, but at least everyone had something to do.
The sailboat continued moving across the water, with the group keeping their eyes open for anything suspicious. The search wasn't particularly easy, considering how much ocean there was to cover, but they continued following the direction Animo had taken.
Eventually, something caught their attention.
A large shipwreck could be seen floating in the distance.
It was the only noticeable structure out in the surrounding ocean, making it an obvious place to investigate. Considering Animo's habit of using mutant creatures for his experiments, there was a fairly good chance that the wreck might be serving as some kind of temporary base.
Of course, there was also the possibility that the mad scientist had an underwater base. If that turned out to be the case, then they would probably have to leave the search to Evan after all.
For now, however, they decided to approach the shipwreck.
Just as the sailboat was getting closer, the water around them suddenly began to move.
Massive tentacles emerged from beneath the surface.
Before anyone could properly react, several enormous tendrils rose along the sides of the boat and wrapped themselves around the hull, causing the entire sailboat to shake violently.
"We are under attack! The Kraken is here!" Gold Ship shouted.
She immediately jumped up from her seat, seemingly far more excited than frightened by the sudden appearance of the enormous tentacles.
Unfortunately, Dream Journey wasn't about to let her younger sister get carried away. She quickly grabbed Gold Ship by the back of her collar, while also catching Fenomeno before either of them could move too far.
A massive octopus tentacle slammed down onto the deck, striking the exact spot where the two girls had been sitting just moments earlier.
The impact shook the entire boat.
Gwen screamed as the sailboat lurched beneath her feet. She quickly grabbed hold of the sail pole, holding on tightly to keep herself from falling over.
Orfevre and Nakayama Festa reacted just as quickly. Both girls crouched down and dug their fingers into the wooden floor, trying to keep themselves steady as the boat continued shaking.
The Ditto clones immediately began splitting off into even more copies, spreading across the deck and attempting to stop the enormous tendrils from striking the ship.
However, with so many tentacles attacking from different directions, keeping them all away was proving difficult.
One of the tendrils suddenly swung toward Evan.
He reacted immediately, rolling to the side to avoid the incoming attack before reaching for the dial on his Omnitrix.
Golden light burst outward.
His human form shifted as the transformation took place, replacing him with the familiar extinct aquatic arthropod alien with stone-like armored scales, bladed arms, and glowing golden eyes.
"Shellblade!"
The Kabutopterid wasted no time. As soon as the transformation finished, Shellblade charged forward, raising his bladed arms and swinging them toward the tentacles wrapped around the ship.
His blades cut through the tendrils, forcing the mutant octopus to loosen its grip.
Relying on his high agility, Shellblade quickly moved around the deck, changing directions as he avoided the incoming attacks. His blade-arms continued swinging, slashing through the tentacles one after another and cutting down the ones that tried to reach him.
The mutant octopus finally began pulling its tendrils back.
Crimson blood splashed from the open wounds as the creature retreated beneath the water, its remaining tentacles withdrawing from the sides of the sailboat.
With the pressure on the hull finally easing, Max quickly grabbed the wheel and worked to bring the ship back under control. The sailboat rocked for a few more moments before gradually stabilizing.
However, before anyone could even begin to relax, Shellblade had already made his next move.
Without waiting for the others, he ran toward the edge of the deck and leaped straight into the water.
He was going after the retreating mutant octopus.
For a brief moment, the others simply stared at the spot where he had disappeared beneath the surface.
Then the realization hit them.
He had done it again.
Seeing Evan rush off on his own without even considering the others' concerns, Gwen, Orfevre, and Dream Journey couldn't hold back their annoyance.
"EVER!!"