Before either Evan or Orfevre could say anything else, a hand suddenly reached down and grabbed Orfevre by the head.
"Orfevre. No fighting."
The calm voice belonged to an older woman standing behind her, one who looked almost like a grown-up version of Orfevre herself.
She wore a bright cyan-green summer dress and gave off a gentle, elegant atmosphere that sharply contrasted Orfevre's intense glare.
"Oi! Golshi! Remember not to cause too much trouble for your grandpa!"
Another voice rang out from behind her as a second woman poked her head into the RV.
This one looked like an older version of Gold Ship, complete with twin-tail hair and an energetic grin. She wore a red summer dress and looked like the type of person who absolutely encouraged chaos instead of stopping it.
"Moms," Evan muttered as he stared at the two women stepping inside.
"Hello, Dad/Pop," both women greeted warmly as Max approached them with a huge smile.
"Oriental Art! Point Flag! It's good to see you two again!" Max laughed before pulling both women into a large hug.
The two hugged him back just as warmly.
They pulled back from the hug, Oriental Art smiled seeing her son again, before noticing the scar running down his right eyebrow.
"Ever, what is this? How did you get this scar?" She asks worringly.
"I accidentally hit a rock." Evan replied smoothly, although it didn't convince Oriental Art much and just made Point Flag snort.
"You should be more careful! You have a handsome face, I don't want you to grow up looking like some gangster with a scarred face." Oriental Art still warns him.
"I'll try to be more careful next time." Evan said simply, seeing his mother's worried expression, he made a mental note to beat up those Forever Knight harder next time for making his mother worried.
"Thanks again for agreeing to look after these two for the rest of the summer," Point Flag said.
"Don't mention it," Max replied with a chuckle. "The more the merrier."
"Sorry for troubling you with them," Oriental Art added politely while glancing toward Gold Ship and Orfevre.
Considering how troublesome their daughters could be, she genuinely felt a little bad about it.
"It's fine, really," Max assured her with a smile. "How about you stay for dinner?"
The moment those words left his mouth, both women physically flinched.
"Oh? We would love to-" Stay Gold started after finally getting into the RV, only for Oriental Art to grab one cheek and Point Flag to grab the other.
Before she could finish, they immediately pulled hard.
"Gwahhhh?!"
"It's fine, Pop. You don't need to worry about us," Point Flag said quickly.
"Yeah, we already made plans for tonight, so no need to worry about us," Oriental Art added just as fast.
The two women immediately began dragging Stay Gold away before Max could insist further.
The two women hurriedly said their goodbyes before practically throwing themselves back into the car and speeding away with Stay Gold still trapped between them.
Inside the vehicle, both women let out relieved sighs. They had narrowly escaped Max's cooking once again.
As the car drove down the road, Stay Gold rubbed her sore cheeks before noticing something strange.
"Uh... Point Flag, dear? The way home is right, not left."
Point Flag ignored her completely and pressed harder on the gas pedal.
"Wait... don't tell me..." Stay Gold murmured, her face going pale as she spotted the massive love hotel in the distance.
The two women smiled as the car stopped right in front of the hotel parking area, and Stay Gold was dragged out by both of them, one on each side.
"Nooooooo!"
After all, she had only come back to help locate Max and drop Orfevre and Gold Ship off so they could join the summer trip with their grandfather, brother, and cousins.
She had fully intended to leave immediately afterward. Only now did she finally realize the horrifying truth.
It was a trap!!
Inside the Rust Bucket, Ben and Gwen were still in the middle of getting introduced to little Gold Ship and Orfevre by Max.
Gold Ship had already managed to turn the RV into her personal playground, running around, peeking into every corner, and touching things she probably should have left alone. Orfevre, meanwhile, had settled into the complete opposite mood, spending most of her time glaring at Evan like she had already decided he was the problem.
"Wait, so Uncle Stay has two wives!?" Ben asked, still trying to process everything.
"Four, actually," Max said a little awkwardly.
He had also noticed that his son's car had taken the wrong turn from where they came from, and from the direction he remembered, they might have reached a love hotel.
So he could already guess what had happened to Stay Gold.
"FOUR!?" Ben and Gwen both shouted at the same time.
"Is that even legal?" Ben blurted out.
"In some places," Max answered carefully.
Before either of them could ask anything else, they suddenly heard the RV start up.
All three of them turned toward the driver's seat, only to see little Gold Ship somehow sitting there and starting the Rust Bucket like she had always owned it.
"Golshi! Don't touch that!" Max said immediately as he rushed over in alarm.
"I'm driving the family inheritance!" Gold Ship declared proudly while slamming both hands onto the steering wheel.
"I'm still alive and well! And you are nine!"
"Details!"
While Ben and Gwen were still trying to recover from the fact that they apparently had a whole other branch of the family they had never even heard about. Trying to mentally adjust to the fact that they had an uncle who never showed up, multiple aunts, and enough cousins to start a small sports team.
Then a loud bang suddenly came from the back of the RV.
Everyone turned.
Orfevre had cornered Evan against the metal wall of the Rust Bucket. One foot was pressed hard enough into the wall to visibly bend the metal inward.
"You got some nerve running off, Ever," she said coldly.
Then she pressed one palm against the frame and leaned closer to him, her purple eyes sharp and unblinking.
"Not my fault you girls refused to come," Evan replied calmly while meeting her gaze directly.
To outsiders, the situation looked incredibly tense.
To Max? This was basically normal.
Every time Max visited the Gold family, these two had almost never interacted peacefully for more than ten minutes at a time. They were either arguing, fighting, or getting ready to fight.
The strange part was that Evan normally acted calm and mature around almost everyone else.
But around Orfevre? Something in him completely changed.
And Evan himself understood why.
Unlike his other sisters, Orfevre and Ever Gold were twins. Both of them strongly resembled their parents, with Ever Gold taking after Stay Gold while Orfevre looked identical to Oriental Art.
And for some reason, being twins came with an instinct neither of them could fully explain.
An instinct to fight each other.
When Evan first arrived in this world, he had noticed that instinct almost immediately. But because he still carried memories from his previous life, and being more mature, he forced himself to suppress it. He focused more on adapting to his new family and treating everyone with care.
Unfortunately, Orfevre noticed the difference almost right away. To her, it felt like her brother had suddenly become distant overnight. Worse, he stopped fighting back and only blocked using Royal Guard.
And somehow, that hurt her more than if he had just beaten her up. She ended up having an actual breakdown because she convinced herself her brother hated her.
After finding that out, Evan had finally given in to the strange bond between them. If this was how Orfevre wanted to interact, then fine. He would do it her way.
And weirdly enough... That solved the problem.
Because to Orfevre, this was their special way of bonding. This was how they understood each other.
Which eventually led to the current situation.
Evan and Orfevre were now fighting each other, rolling around on the floor of the RV like it was the most normal thing in the world.
Ben and Gwen stared at them in disbelief.
"Aren't they siblings!?" Gwen shouted.
"Why are they fighting like mortal enemies!?" Ben added.
Orfevre grabbed Evan by the collar, and Evan grabbed her wrist. The two rolled directly into a cabinet hard enough to shake the entire RV.
Max just sighed again, looking completely exhausted.
He really had been surprised at first when he saw how quiet and responsible Evan acted away from home.
Now he understood the truth. Orfevre simply activated a completely different side of him.
He was only like that when the two of them were separated.
Meanwhile, Gold Ship somehow climbed onto the table and pointed dramatically toward the chaos like an announcer at a wrestling event.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" she shouted at the top of her lungs. "From the Gold Family's most violent sibling rivalry! LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE!!!"
Her voice was loud enough to shake the windows.
Right after that, Orfevre crashed into a cabinet, which caused pots and pans to fall directly onto her head. At almost the same time, Evan got kicked hard enough to fly straight through the RV window.
Ben's jaw dropped. Gwen covered her mouth.
Gold Ship looked like she had just witnessed peak entertainment.
"UNBELIEVABLE!" she yelled excitedly. "A DOUBLE K.O!!!"
She looked thrilled. It had been a long time since she had this much fun.
Even though her other sisters were fun in their own ways, their time with their brother was always the most interesting.
Evan actually tolerated her nonsense, which made it much easier for her to cause trouble around him. Fenomeno liked spending time learning from him and treated him like a stand-in for their father, who was rarely home. Orfevre and Evan fought all the time, but anyone who knew them could tell they still cared about each other deep down. Nakayama Festa liked relaxing and playing games with him. Dream Journey, surprisingly enough, seemed to enjoy how responsible he had become.
The only thing they could not understand was why he had changed so much in just one day.
So they asked their moms about it before, and the answer they got was simple enough to accept, even if it sounded ridiculous.
It was probably Stay Gold's genes.
Apparently, every one of Stay Gold's children inherited some strange trait once those genes "activated." Whenever those genes kicked in, something in the child's personality would just twist in a strange direction. A calm child could become reckless. A gentle child could become weirdly intense. A well-behaved child could become a complete menace.
That explained a lot, honestly.
Dream Journey had suddenly developed a strange fascination with digging graves and burning things, or sometimes people.
Nakayama Festa had become weirdly addicted to gambling and occasionally muttered "gacha gacha gacha" in her sleep.
Ever Gold had turned into someone absurdly protective and caring toward his family and developed the ability to transform into aliens.
Orfevre became shy and antisocial toward strangers, aggressive toward siblings, and unbelievably violent, specifically toward her twin brother.
Gold Ship was Gold Ship. That one basically needed no explanation.
And Fenomeno... well, she was still normal. For now. Which honestly worried the adults more than anything else.
So whenever the children suddenly developed some bizarre hobby or strange new habit that made no sense at all, the easiest answer was usually the same.
It was probably Stay Gold's genes causing trouble again.
"Alright, cut it out, you two. Keep the fight and damage to a minimum! That's all!" Max finally shouted while clapping his hands together loudly enough to get everyone's attention.
Orfevre quickly stood up and started putting the fallen pots and pans back into the cabinet like nothing had happened. She tried to shut the cabinet door afterward, only for it to hang loosely from one hinge before falling off completely onto the ground.
Silence filled the RV for a moment.
Orfevre slowly looked down at the broken door. Then, quietly leaned it against the wall like that somehow fixed the problem.
Meanwhile, Evan casually opened the RV door and climbed back inside after being launched through the window earlier.
Max knew better than to try to strictly forbid the Golds from causing trouble. That only made them more stubborn. It was always better to set limits and keep the chaos manageable. If you tried to stop them completely, they would only get more determined to do it anyway.
Before anything else could happen, Max's phone rang.
He answered it, listened for a moment, and then a smile spread across his face.
"Kids, get ready," he said, looking over at all of them. "I think you're really gonna like our next destination."
...
A short while later, the whole group was aboard a private jet on their way to visit one of Max's old friends, who had just opened a new underwater resort. They had been invited to see it before it officially opened to the public.
"Now this is cool!" Ben said, leaning forward in his seat. "Getting picked up in a billionaire's private jet so we can visit his underwater resort before it officially opens? This is the best vacation ever!"
"Now this is what a summer vacation is supposed to be," Gwen said with a smile as she opened a cola from the cooler. "Thanks, Grandpa."
"I'd do anything for you guys," Max said warmly. "You know that."
Then he glanced toward the three Gold siblings.
Orfevre had gone quiet and was now resting with her head slightly against Evan's shoulder in the seat between them, dozing lightly. Evan was looking through his Another Omnitrix, his eye locking on the new hologram with interest.
Gold Ship, meanwhile, had been duct-taped to her seat so she would stop causing trouble.
"Huh... Is this really necessary?" Gwen asked carefully.
"Yes," Evan and Orfevre answered at the same time.
Gold Ship struggled against the tape dramatically. "You fools cannot restrain the legendary Gold Ship forever!"
"You tried opening the emergency exit mid-flight," Evan replied without even looking up.
"I was curious! Besides, what you're doing is only prolonging the inevitable."
Ben pointed at her immediately. "That sounds exactly like the kind of line villains say before disaster happens!"
Gold Ship gasped dramatically.
Meanwhile, Gwen looked toward Max again.
"Why didn't you tell us you knew Donovan Grandsmith?" she asked.
Max gave a small shrug. "It must've slipped my mind. Besides, if I told you I was good friends with a billionaire back in my day, would you really have believed me?"
Gwen opened her mouth, then closed it again. He does make a point, before this summer vacation, if it wasn't for everything they have been through, she would not believe him.
"...Fair point."
Eventually, the jet began descending toward a massive seaport built near the ocean.
Waiting for them outside was Donovan himself along with a young boy around Ben and Gwen's age. The boy wore a red sweater and white pants similar to Donovan's expensive-looking outfit.
The jet landed smoothly, and the group stepped outside.
Well, most of the group. Evan and Orfevre were carrying Gold Ship out because she somehow got tangled in her own duct tape restraints.
"Max Tennyson," Donovan greeted warmly as he walked forward. "It's been far too long."
"How've you been, Donovan?" Max asked while shaking his old friend's hand.
"Oh, you know. Owning sixteen luxury resorts worldwide keeps me busy," Donovan replied with a chuckle. "I'm just glad you finally decided to see how the better half lives."
Max snorted. "You still talk too much."
Donovan laughed before looking toward the kids. "And these must be your grandkids."
Max nodded proudly. "These are my grandkids. Ben, Gwen, Oru, Evan, and Golshi."
"Wrrryyyy!" Gold Ship yelled while running around with tape still binding her, causing Evan and Orfevre to chase after her.
Donovan chuckled at the energetic group. "Well, your children certainly kept themselves busy giving you this many grandkids."
Then he turned to the boy beside him. "And this is my grandson, Edwin."
"Hi," Ben and Gwen said politely.
"Yeah, whatever," Edwin replied, turning his head away.
Ben and Gwen both blinked, a little surprised by that response. Then both of them glanced toward the Gold siblings.
Gold Ship was too busy causing trouble and messing around.
Orfevre is physically incapable of talking to strangers without looking like she is about to beat them up to take their lunch money.
And Evan was currently focused on stopping Gold Ship from jumping into the water to "test how salty the ocean really was."
So none of them reacted at all.
"Ready to take the plunge?" Donovan asked proudly.
A large elevator shaft nearby slowly opened.
The group stepped inside, and the elevator began descending deep underground before eventually reaching another massive chamber below sea level.
Waiting there was a large transport car attached to rails.
Everyone took their seats as workers operated the controls and prepared the descent.
As the transport car slowly moved downward through the underwater tunnel, the children immediately pressed themselves against the glass windows in amazement.
Outside, massive coral reefs stretched across the ocean floor while schools of colorful fish swam past the tunnel walls. Larger marine animals occasionally drifted through the dark blue water farther away, their silhouettes barely visible beneath the light.
Even Orfevre quietly opened her eyes to look outside.
"It's beautiful..." Gwen whispered softly.
Ben nodded in agreement.
"Okay, yeah, this is awesome."
Max smiled at their reactions before looking toward Donovan.
"You sure this was the safest place to build something like this?"
At that exact moment, Gold Ship somehow pulled a screwdriver out of nowhere and reached toward a nearby panel.
Without missing a beat, Evan immediately snatched it out of her hand.
"Where do you even keep finding those?" he asked tiredly.
"A true engineer never reveals her secrets." She said proudly.
Donovan laughed before answering Max. "You talking about underwater fault lines?"
"I'm talking about the fact that you built this place smack in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle," Max replied.
The grandchildren immediately looked up in shock.
"The Bermuda Triangle!?" Ben repeated loudly.
Gwen suddenly looked much less relaxed.
Donovan just smiled calmly. "Growing up, you were always the worrywart, Max. Never the risk taker."
"And somehow I lived longer because of it," Max shot back immediately.
That earned a laugh from Donovan.
Then, as the transport tunnel curved downward further, something enormous finally appeared in the distance.
Lights glowed beneath the ocean like a hidden underwater city.
Massive glass structures connected together beneath the sea while sea life swam peacefully around them.
"There it is, kids," Donovan announced proudly. "The world's first and only underwater resort. You won't believe what's waiting down here."