Now, currently in Egypt, Gold Ship was happily performing an Egyptian-style belly dance alongside a group of street performers, and despite the dancers initially being confused about where the strange little girl had suddenly come from, they quickly became impressed by how naturally she moved.
Her rhythm was surprisingly good, and she followed along with their movements so easily that, if someone didn't know better, they might have assumed she was a local rather than a tourist who had wandered into their performance.
Evan and Orfevre stood nearby, watching their younger sister dance with the street performers simply because they had nothing better to do at the moment.
Their summer trip hadn't exactly included Egypt as one of their planned destinations, but since they had ended up here anyway, neither of them saw much reason to complain about it, especially when Gold Ship was enjoying herself and the rest of the family could simply relax for a while.
Max also felt that this was probably a good experience for his grandchildren. They had already been through more than enough trouble during their trip, and seeing a different part of the world while they had the opportunity couldn't hurt. More importantly, Max wanted Evan to relax a little and actually enjoy himself instead of constantly looking for the next upgrade for his watch.
By now, Max had already figured out that something about Evan simply wasn't quite right in the head, although he still hadn't completely figured out what exactly was going on with his grandson. It was, unfortunately, becoming a familiar trait among Stay Gold's children, considering how each of them seemed to have their own unique way of being completely ridiculous.
A short distance away, Ben and Gwen walked through the busy streets with Max behind them, taking in the sights and sounds of the town while the family explored the town together.
The streets were filled with tourists, local vendors, performers, and people going about their daily lives, creating a completely different atmosphere from the quiet roads they had been traveling through.
Left alone for now, Evan and Orfevre continued to watch over Gold Ship from a short distance away, just in case the little rascal suddenly decided to cause trouble or somehow turned the harmless street performance into another one of her chaotic adventures.
"So... how long have you been able to do that?" Orfevre suddenly asked, her sharp gaze shifting toward her brother as she sat beside him.
"A while now," Evan admitted, his gaze shifting back toward the Another Omnitrix attached to his wrist.
He was very grateful for whatever great power, Celestialsapien, or higher being had granted him this new chance at life, but even after everything that had happened, a small part of him still felt guilty for taking over the life of the previous Ever Gold, someone who had clearly been born into this world and had lived here for almost ten years before Evan suddenly appeared and hijacked his life.
It was a thought he wanted to ignore, especially because he didn't have any answers about his own existence, but no matter how much he tried to push it aside, Evan simply couldn't forget about it.
He didn't know what kind of relationship the original Ever Gold had with everyone, and he didn't know what kind of person he had been before Evan took his place, so from Evan's perspective, it still felt unfair and, in some ways, cruel that he had suddenly appeared in this world and taken the place of someone who had been living comfortably with a loving family that deeply cared about him, even if their relationships with one another had seemed a little strained at times.
Evan still remembered the first day he woke up in this body and eventually came face-to-face with Oriental Art, especially the deep worry on her face when she looked at him. He remembered the way she carefully spoke to him, as though she was afraid that saying the wrong thing might upset him, and he remembered the complicated emotions in her eyes when she called him "dear."
At the time, Evan didn't know how he was supposed to feel about any of it because everything had happened so suddenly that it completely overwhelmed him. He wasn't the person she thought he was, and he didn't know how to respond to the warmth she showed him, so all he could do was lie to her and pretend that he was her son, pretending that he was the original Ever Gold who had been born and raised in this world.
Before long, he had accepted his new life and the role he had unknowingly taken for himself as a Pretender.
Still, because he knew almost nothing about the original Ever Gold, Evan eventually decided that if he was going to continue living here, then he would simply have to create his own image of Ever Gold from scratch, using the same care he had once shown toward his grandparents and putting that care into his new family instead.
Perhaps, in some small way, it was his attempt to make up for taking the life of the original Ever Gold, while also giving something back to the people who had unknowingly accepted him as their family.
It can't be helped...
When you give someone who has been starving for family love for far too long even the smallest taste of what it could feel like to have a family again, they would naturally want more, and he was no different.
"That isn't what I want to talk about," Orfevre suddenly said, snapping Evan out of his thoughts.
Evan blinked before turning his deep violet-gold gaze back toward her, meeting those sharp purple eyes staring directly at him.
There wasn't any hostility in them anymore, not like when he had first woken up in this body and discovered that he apparently had sisters whom he didn't know at all.
Instead, there was something else in her eyes.
Something that made Evan pause.
"The way you threw your life away to protect us..." Orfevre began, gripping her own arms tightly as the strange uneasiness in her chest continued to grow heavier. "You didn't even hesitate."
"Do I really need a reason to hesitate?" Evan asked with a small smile, trying to reassure her. "You guys are my sisters. Protecting you while I have the strength to do so isn't wrong."
"No, I'm not saying that protecting us is wrong," she quickly replied, her grip tightening around her arms as that uneasy feeling in her heart rose another notch. "What I'm asking is... you didn't even hesitate to die for us."
"I still don't see anything wrong about it. Our situation wasn't good, and that was the only way we-" Evan began explaining, but before he could finish, he suddenly felt Orfevre's hand tighten around his arm so hard that a faint crack came from the bone underneath.
Evan's expression changed slightly as he turned back toward her.
Orfevre was staring directly into his violet-gold eyes, her purple eyes wide with horror as though she had just heard something she desperately didn't want to believe.
"The heck is wrong with you...?"
Her voice was barely above a whisper, but the emotion behind those words was unmistakable as she struggled to keep herself composed.
Because the suspicion that had been slowly building inside her heart had just been confirmed by Evan himself.
Her older brother, the same brother who cared so much about her and their family, who had repeatedly put himself between them and danger without a second thought...
Did not value his own life.
...
Later that day, after Evan was taking Gold Ship out for a walk, Orfevre used the opportunity to tell Max about what she had discovered about her brother.
Listening to her words, Max silently took a long, deep breath, trying to calm the troubled feeling in his chest.
He had suspected this possibility before, but there were still too many things about Evan that he didn't fully understand, and because of that, Max hadn't wanted to rush to a conclusion based on a few worrying observations.
After all, the strange, unhinged behavior that seemed to run through Stay Gold's children had always been treated more like a family personality trait than anything else.
Max didn't want to jump the gun and suddenly pull Stay Gold aside just to tell her that he thought her son didn't value his own life.
But now, with Orfevre, Evan's own twin sister, confirming the worst possibility he had quietly been considering, Max couldn't simply ignore it anymore.
As someone who cared deeply about his family, this was something he desperately didn't want to happen.
"I'll talk to Stay Gold and Oriental Art about this," Max said after a moment, his voice quieter than usual. "We'll figure out what we can do about it."
Although Max wanted to do something about Evan's situation as soon as possible, the problem was that he honestly didn't know what he could do right now that would actually help.
Evan's sudden change in personality had turned him into a completely different person from the kid Max remembered from before, and even Stego and Max had already confirmed that Evan hadn't been replaced by a Skrull or some other alien impostor.
He was still the same Ever Gold.
The same grandson who had somehow become far more protective of his family, far more willing to throw himself into danger, and apparently far less concerned about whether he personally survived it.
And with the Plumbers currently off Earth, trying to get Evan proper psychological help wasn't going to be easy either. A normal Earth psychologist probably wouldn't be equipped to understand someone like Evan, especially when considering his unusual way of thinking, his experiences, his abilities, and everything else he had kept hidden from them.
He couldn't exactly sit down with a normal psychologist and explain the truth either.
How was he supposed to explain that his grandson could transform into aliens, resurrect after dying, travel between dimensions, and had already experienced things that most people couldn't even begin to understand?
More importantly, how was Evan supposed to explain if he didn't even seem to believe there was anything wrong with the way he viewed his own life?
"But can't we do something to help him right now?" Orfevre asked, looking up at her grandfather with a worried expression. "Anything? Even if it's something small?"
Max looked at her for a moment before his expression softened.
"I wish I could, Oru..." he admitted, his voice carrying a hint of bitterness.
Orfevre lowered her gaze, gripping her hands together.
She had hoped Max would immediately have an answer.
After all, he was the person everyone in their family turned toward whenever something went wrong. He had traveled across the galaxy, dealt with aliens, criminals, monsters, and situations that normal people wouldn't even believe were real. If anyone could figure out what to do, she had thought it would be him.
But even Max didn't have an answer.
"What do you even say to someone like him?" Max continued, looking toward the distant night sky. "What can I possibly say that would convince him that his life is worth protecting when he doesn't seem to think there's anything wrong with throwing it away?"
He paused, his expression becoming more troubled.
"And worse, what can I say that I can actually back up? He can't die easily; we all knew that."
Orfevre remained quiet, listening to him.
Max let out another slow sigh before rubbing his forehead.
"I'm a Plumber, Oru. I've spent most of my life figuring out how to stop aliens and people from destroying planets, invading worlds, or shooting each other with alien weapons. I'm not a psychologist."
His voice became quieter as he looked at his granddaughter.
"And I don't know how to convince my grandson that he deserves to live when even he himself doesn't see it that way."
Orfevre's expression tightened at those words.
For a few moments, neither of them said anything.
While the two were still trying to process what they had discovered, a powerful energy wave suddenly burst outward from the direction of the pyramid, the force sweeping across the surrounding area and causing both Max and Orfevre to stumble on their feet as they struggled to keep their balance.
Both of them immediately turned toward the source of the energy, their attention drawn toward the top of the Pyramid of Khufu, where a bright golden beam of energy suddenly shot straight into the night sky, illuminating the surrounding desert like a massive beacon.
Back with Ben and Evan...
"Doesn't that guy look familiar?" Evan asked, pointing toward Hex, who was floating above the top of the Pyramid of Khufu while chanting something that neither of them could understand.
"That's Charmcaster's uncle," Ben replied, sounding somewhat confused by the question. "You seriously don't remember Hex?"
"Hope's uncle...? Oh, him." Evan finally seemed to remember.
Evan's impression of Hex wasn't exactly high to begin with. In fact, he barely had much of an impression of the man at all, so he never really bothered remembering the villains he considered unimportant.
Perhaps it was because he now had the mind of a ten-year-old mixed with the overwhelming power he carried, causing some parts of him to become noticeably more childish and carefree, especially compared to the cautious and calculating mindset he had when he first arrived in this world.
"Whatever, I can handle this," Ben decided, apparently not wanting to waste any more time thinking about it.
He activated his Omnitrix and began turning the dial until the silhouette of XLR8 appeared on the display, only for him to slam the dial down with a confident smile.
Green light erupted around him.
When it faded, a blazing red-and-yellow alien made of molten rock stood in his place.
"Heatblast!? Aw, man! What's up with this stupid watch?" Heatblast complained, looking down at his Omnitrix and tapping the dial with his finger.
"I think you should stop hitting it so hard," Evan said, although before Heatblast could respond, a series of loud growls coming from around them suddenly caught both of their attention.
Heatblast slowly turned his head, his expression becoming more serious as the sand beneath their feet began to shake violently.
"What the...?"
A dark purple, spike-hand suddenly burst out of the ground, followed by a monstrous humanoid creature crawling out of the sand like some kind of undead creature rising from its grave. Its body was covered in dark purple flesh, with sharp, uneven teeth lining its mouth and blade-like claws extending from its hands and feet.
"Those things are..." Evan murmured, recognizing them almost immediately. "They're identical to that security guard that got mutated by the Corrodium."
And it wasn't just one of them. Another mutant suddenly clawed its way out of the sand, followed by another and another, until more of the Corrodium mutants were surrounding the two from every direction.
"I'll go get Grampa!!" Gold Ship's loud voice suddenly rang out from somewhere behind them.
Both boys turned around and saw Gold Ship already running away at full speed, with Gwen thrown over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
"Wow, she's fast," Heatblast murmured, caught completely off guard by how quickly Gold Ship had managed to disappear into the distance while carrying someone who was bigger than her.
Golden light suddenly erupted beside him, drawing Heatblast's attention back.
Large blue, moth-like wings spread outward as a freezing aura spread through the air, causing the temperature around them to drop almost immediately.
"Big Chill."
Big Chill shifted his golden gaze toward Heatblast before looking back at the surrounding mutants.
"You take him on; I'll deal with immobilizing these mutants."
"Got it." Heatblast grinned, giving his cousin a thumbs-up before turning toward the pyramid.
Flames erupted from his hands and feet, and Heatblast launched himself forward like a rocket, flying toward the top of the Pyramid of Khufu where Hex was still carrying out his mysterious ritual.
Big Chill remained behind, his attention focused on the growing number of Corrodium mutants surrounding him.
He took a deep breath before releasing a powerful stream of freezing air, instantly coating the nearest mutant in ice and stopping it in place before turning toward the others.
One after another, Big Chill flew around the area, freezing each mutant before they could even react.
---
AN: Hey, seeing how we are reaching Season 4 and closer to the end of Classic, there are a few things I wanted to tell you guys.
I'm currently planning to expand the lore of this story, now that I have gotten a decent structure to work with and somewhat of a path that I feel like I could take this story on.
So currently, I have a few options that you guys can vote on.
1: I continue with this story, telling the adventure of the second summer trip all the way until Ben takes off his Omnitrix, which will explore more of the added stories I have planned.
2: I can start right off with Alien Force, while putting all the ideas I came up with in the Side Story for you guys to read, although it would be confusing since I may not want to explain in detail some event that happened in the Side Story.
Of course, there will be a hiatus before the start of Alien Force, since I have finally come to a conclusion on how I wanted my other two stories to end. I want to finish them off to focus back on this story asap, but I'm also trying to lead them toward the ending I planned for without sacrificing quality.
Also, during this story hiatus, I will be releasing the Side Story of this story, just so I won't lose interest in writing it like my Naruto story. Still wanted to finish that one, but simply can't pull myself to.