"Understood, Grandpa."
Tyler awkwardly extended his blood-red tentacles, hoisting Max back to his feet while sliding a heavy-duty Plumber-grade sidearm into the old man's hand. With a silent nod, Tyler floated over to Ben.
Ben caught the look in Tyler's eyes and slammed his wrist down on the dial. "Gwen, it's hero time! Go hide with Grandpa!"
"Ben, Tyler... please, just don't die!" Gwen, dropping her usual snark, left a rare word of genuine concern before retreating into the safety of the house with Max.
"Uh..." Ben, now standing as the massive Four Arms, looked down at his own red skin. "Why is she suddenly acting like we're in a tragedy? It's kind of weirding me out."
"Haha, Ben, I think she's finally realizing just how much of a nightmare we've become," Tyler rasped, his skeletal Ghostfreak face splitting into a grin as his tentacles unfurled like crimson whips. "Let's go!"
The two stepped onto the lawn. It was a sea of Limax—gelatinous, shifting horrors with eyes peeking out of their slime. Their hands morphed into jagged blades and blunt clubs.
"You can't escape!" the lead Limax hissed. "Two monsters against an entire colony? You're stronger than humans, but you're still just meat."
"Escape? Who said anything about escaping?" Ben roared. He brought his four massive palms together in a titanic clap.
BOOM!!
A localized sonic gale erupted, the sheer force of the shockwave blasting the Limax back and flattening them against the pavement like spilled jam.
"My turn!"
Tyler, in his Ziska form, drifted over the center of the swarm. As the Limax tried to reform, his red tentacles stiffened into serrated spears.
SHIK-SHIK-SHIK!!
In a blur of motion, Tyler impaled every single Limax on the lawn, pinning them to the dirt like biological specimens.
"Check it out, Tyler! We're actually getting good at this!" Ben grinned, flexing his brawny arms.
"What are you so proud of?" The Limax Tyler had impaled began to liquefy, its body sliding off the spear like melting wax before snapping back into its humanoid shape. "We are immortal! You can't kill a puddle!"
Ben's jaw dropped. "Immortal? That's totally cheating!"
"Ben! Tyler!" Max shouted from the porch, his voice booming with authority. "These things are made of high-density protein and energy. You have to either exhaust their reserves or use water to destabilize their cellular bonds!"
"Water, old man?" a Limax sneered, reforming its head. "Look around. This town is a desert. You'll die long before you find a hose!"
"Water isn't the only way to clear a plate," Tyler muttered. He retracted his tentacles, lunging forward to snag one arrogant Limax by the throat. He dragged the struggling creature onto the roof of the house.
"Go ahead! Tear me apart!" the Limax shrieked. "I'll just grow back!"
"Will you?" Tyler asked darkly. He reached for the Carnitrix dial on his chest.
WHOOSH!
A flash of sickly red light engulfed the rooftop. When the glow faded, a new nightmare stood there. It was barely three feet tall, bloated, and looked like a cross between an upright toad and a tumor. It had three massive, circular mouths arranged side-by-side across its face, each dripping with a corrosive, neon-green bile.
The Void-Guzzler had arrived.
"Haha! This is your trump card?" the Limax laughed, its voice wet and gurgling.
Ben covered his eyes. "Tyler, man... that thing looks like a footstool. Are you sure?"
Tyler didn't answer. He slowly tilted his head, his three mouths twitching. "You smell... delicious."
The Limax's laughter died instantly. A primal instinct, the fear of the prey before the predator, flooded its gelatinous mind.
SCHLORP!!
Tyler's mouths generated an localized vacuum. The Limax didn't even have time to scream as it was sucked into Tyler's gullet like a strand of noodles. Tyler's belly swelled, rippled for a few seconds as the creature was processed into raw energy, and then settled.
"He... he ate it," a Limax on the ground whispered.
"HE ATE IT!!!"
The entire street went silent. The Limax looked at Tyler with the kind of terror usually reserved for gods.
"Anyone else want to be part of the banquet?" Tyler rasped, turning his gaze toward the lawn.
BOOM!!
Tyler's three mouths opened wide, unleashing three concentrated bolts of yellowish-brown bio-energy. The beams struck three Limax, vaporizing them instantly.
The rest of the colony broke. They didn't just retreat; they scrambled in every direction, desperate to get away from the small, hungry god on the roof.
"Don't run! The party's just starting!" Tyler leaped from the roof, landing with a heavy thud. He began a gruesome game of tag. He would inhale a Limax, convert its biomass into a high-yield energy slug, and spit it at the next one.
Because of his Plumber Marksmanship, Tyler didn't miss. Even the ones running blocks away were sniped by glowing energy loogies that exploded on contact.
He was a one-man slaughterhouse. Immortal? Not when you're being digested.
"That's... intense," Ben whispered, his four eyes wide. "What do we call that? Demon-Toad? Throat-Ripper?"
"Call him The Taotie," Max said, walking out with a look of profound shock. "In the myths of the East, the Taotie is a beast of infinite gluttony that can devour the heavens. It fits Tyler perfectly."
Max watched Tyler with a newfound respect. Tyler wasn't just using the watch; he was exploiting the elemental counters of every species he faced. That was high-level combat intellect.
POW!
Tyler spat out one final energy bullet, sniping the twenty-eighth Limax a hundred yards away. The creature shattered, and Tyler—driven by the glitched hunger of the DNA—rushed over to lick up the remains.
"Hiss... okay, now I'm actually full," Tyler muttered, patting his bloated stomach as he reverted to human form.
[Ding! Host has eradicated twenty-eight Limax using biological consumption, bypassing their elemental immortality. Massive Plot Shift detected. Progress: +2%]
Tyler sat up, his eyes gleaming. "Plus two? Now we're talking!"
[Template Mastery: 11/100. Unlocking DNA: The Frost-Bite (Arctiguana Variant)!]