In the early morning mist, the Rustbucket rolled into a suspiciously quiet retirement community. The town was a picturesque haven for the elderly, moving at a pace so slow it felt like the clocks had stopped.
"Grandpa, why are we here?" Ben groaned, slumped against the window. "We could be at a stadium or a water park. Instead, we're at Aunt Vera's. This is peak boredom."
"Ben, Aunt Vera's house is charming. Not everything needs to explode," Gwen retorted, though she looked equally restless.
"Charming? Gwen, you're already a little old lady at heart. Wait—!! Did you see that?! That old guy just did a backflip on his lawn!" Ben pointed frantically.
Gwen didn't even look. "Is your brain overheating, Ben? Or did a water monster rattle your skull too hard last night?"
Tyler, however, wasn't listening to their bickering. He put down his handheld game and stared out the window. On a manicured lawn, an old man in reading glasses watched them pass. When he caught Tyler's eye, he forced a smile—a stiff, unnatural expression that didn't reach his eyes.
The Limax, Tyler thought, a chill running down his spine. I remember this. This whole town is a buffet for shapeshifters.
"Kids, we're here! Remember to protect your faces!" Max joked as the RV hissed to a stop.
Aunt Vera, a plump, cheerful woman, bustled out to greet them. She immediately began aggressively pinching Tyler and Gwen's cheeks. "Hohoho! Gwen, you have the best skin! And Tyler, you've gotten so thin. We need to feed you up!"
"Tyler, transform into that golden ball guy," Ben whispered, rubbing his sore jaw. "Let's see her try to pinch that."
Tyler eventually found an excuse to slip away, heading straight for the yard of the "backflipping" old man.
"Investigating the weirdo? I'm in," Ben said, appearing behind him with Gwen in tow.
"Stay behind me," Tyler warned, his voice low. "Something is very wrong here."
They spotted an old man in a wheelchair rolling slowly down the sidewalk. "What are you children... doing..." he wheezed.
"Just out for a walk, sir. We're staying with Aunt Vera," Gwen explained politely.
"Vera's house... a walk..." The man repeated her words like a broken recorder. He steered his wheelchair directly into their path, blocking them.
"Is he okay?" Gwen whispered. "Maybe it's Alzheimer's?"
As they tried to bypass him, the "frail" old man suddenly vaulted out of his wheelchair with the grace of an Olympic gymnast. He landed in front of them, his hand clamping onto Gwen's shoulder with bruising strength.
"What is... Alzheimer's?" he rasped. "Have I... been exposed?!"
His face split open down the middle, spewing a thick, putrid yellow slime.
THWACK!
Tyler didn't hesitate. Drawing on his Plumber Combat Skills, he delivered a brutal flying kick to the creature's chest, sending it flying ten feet back. The old man's skin suit shredded, revealing a yellowish-brown, gelatinous monster with visible, pulsing organs. A Limax.
"Ben! Alzheimer's is a human disease, not an alien race!" Gwen screamed, pulling Ben back.
A pillar of blood-red light erupted from Tyler's wrist.
The Limax scrambled up, its anger turning to pure terror as it looked at what Tyler had become. "A child... kicked me? Wait. What are you?!"
Hovering in the air was a nightmare. A translucent, skeletal phantom draped in tattered, blood-soaked rags. More than a dozen crimson tentacles drifted from its core like the hair of a medusa. The temperature in the street plummeted, frost forming on the pavement.
Ziska had arrived.
"Using a ghost against a slime-mold? Efficient," Tyler rasped, his voice sounding like grinding tombstones.
He didn't wait for a reply. A dozen tentacles lashed out like spears, skewering the Limax in mid-air. The creature was riddled with holes, leaking foul slime. "I... I am immortal! You cannot kill water!"
"Watch me," Tyler hissed.
The tentacles flared outward with violent force, literally shredding the Limax into a hundred separate chunks of wriggling goo. The pieces hit the ground, slowly trying to crawl back together.
"Disgusting," Tyler muttered. He looked at Ben. "No name for this one?"
Ben was white as a sheet, his knees knocking together. "I... I'm not naming that thing. That's a demon."
"Fine. I'll go with Ziska."
"Tyler! More of them!" Ben pointed. Dozens of "elderly residents" were stepping out of their homes, their skin melting away to reveal the slimy Limax forms beneath.
"Change of plans!" Tyler grabbed Ben and Gwen with his tentacles and phased through the air, rushing back to Aunt Vera's.
Inside the house, Max was backed into a corner, clutching a broom. Aunt Vera and a male "relative" were closing in, their faces melting into shapeless maws. "Mark, don't leave," Vera hissed. "Stay for dinner."
SHING!
Tyler's ghostly form phased through the wall. His red tentacles whipped through the air, shredding the two Limax into piles of jelly before they could touch Max.
"Grandpa, long story short: the town's been harvested. Every 'person' out there is one of these things," Tyler said, his Battle Intent flaring.
Max lowered the broom, his hands shaking slightly. "Right. Limax. I... I wasn't scared, Tyler. My heart is just doing some cardio. Let's get to work."