After tensions between the King and the Mayor finally settled, life returned to its usual rhythm. Max gained access to Andrew's lab, where he conducted experiments, explored the mysteries of marine life, and delved into the secrets of the deep ocean. Over time, Andrew became not just a mentor but Max's closest colleague and ally in discovery.
On one faithful day in California, Daniel, running an errand, wanted to teleport back his apartment building. As he teleported, instead of staying in a 100 kilometer range, he found himself all the way in the Pacific Ocean, 1000km west side away from California. Before he drowned, he quickly transformed, adapting to the environment. He quickly realized that he was thousands of miles away from California, so he got to shore, de-transformed and thought of teleporting to his brother's apartment. To his surprise he made it and this was a big upgrade because now he didn't have to worry about spending money just to travel to New York. He called his brother and asked him for his location. Knowing that Daniel couldn't be in New York, Max wondered why Daniel asked such a question. Before he hung up the call, Daniel teleported to the lab. They were so surprised because they thought the watches could only teleport them 100km at a time. Daniel's watch explained that it was a new upgrade only accessible to Daniel which means Max didn't get the upgrade.
Max felt a wave of confusion. As the eldest, he had assumed he would receive the upgrades first, but his watch patiently explained otherwise. Being the oldest didn't guarantee priority; what truly mattered was how much one had grown in the ability to wield the powers. Clearly, Daniel had already proven himself ready, surpassing Max in the process. He understood and saw the situation as an upgrade for all of them because now, with Daniel's teleportation range, they could explore places and get out of situations in an instant. Daniel didn't teleport to New York to hang out so he went back home. As the day drew to a close, Max and Andrew finished their work, carefully shutting down the lab before heading home. Night fell, and Max drifted into a peaceful sleep but it was abruptly shattered. Explosions ripped through the city, followed by distant screams, jolting him awake in a surge of fear and confusion. He peeped through his window only to see notice a massive flying reptile resembling a fusion of a pterosaur and a theropod dinosaur. Its wings stretch wide like torn metal sheets, and its body glows faintly beneath cracked, volcanic-like skin. Wherever it lands, the ground hisses from extreme heat.
He quickly contacted Daniel, urgently telling him to teleport to New York at once. From the fear in Max's voice, Daniel immediately understood that something terrible was happening. He got dressed and teleported straight to his brother's apartment. Even before seeing the chaos, the distant screams told him what needed to be done. He went invisible, then teleported toward the flying creature. Grabbing hold of it, Daniel teleported again, taking the beast to a deserted location far from any civilization. But the moment his hand made contact with the creature's skin, he realized he had made a grave mistake. His hand was burning off flesh so he quickly teleported to the lab in pain. Andrew wasn't in the lab but luckily he knew where he lived. He teleported to his house calling out his name but no answer. With the pain getting unbearable, Daniel needed to cool his hands immediately so he teleported to the arctic hoping the freezing ocean will stop the burning pain. Immediately he dipped his hands in the ice cold water, his hands went back to normal but the scars where still there.
He then teleported back to the place he left the creature but this time, Max wasn't left behind. Before they went into action, Max received a call from Andrew. He explained that Daniel left his house before he came out and insisted they should to get a DNA sample from the unidentified creature. He hung up the call and immediately summoned his cheetah, while Daniel called forth his firefly. Without hesitation, they merged the two creatures, forming a blazing hybrid, fast flying beast wrapped in swirling fire, streaking through the air like a living fireball. As the creature was about to fall, it suspiciously made contact with Max and Daniel then died on the spot. Teleporting back to the lab, Max grabbed a ceramic biopsy scraper and a sealed containment vial. Returning to the fallen creature, he cautiously chipped a small fragment from its still-smoldering skin and secured the sample before the corrosive residue could eat through the surroundings. Before they left, Max noticed something on the creature's body but was too distracted to point it out, as their fireball beast burnt it to ashes. As they teleported back to the lab, Andrew was already there, ready to discover how such a magnificent creature was brought to life. He inserted the sample into the sequencer. Lines of code flooded the screen as the system began comparing the DNA against its database. Within seconds, partial matches appeared ancient flying reptile markers, predatory dinosaur genes, and unfamiliar microbial sequences. Max's eyes widened. This creature wasn't natural; it had been engineered. Max then realized something. All the creatures they had been facing must had been engineered too but also, all of them had some kind of mark, scared onto their skin. First, it was the mutant Tartigrade from outer space, second, it was the crossbred whale and anglerfish. Andrew cut him off, saying there was an explanation for that creature. During their quest for the Black Phantom Stone, they had come across a dead sperm whale, and as Daniel transformed to free himself, a surge of bio-adaptive energy rippled through the surrounding waters. The fallen sperm whale's tissue, though lifeless, still carried intact genetic material, while a nearby anglerfish drifted within range of the pulse. The unstable transformation energy forced the two genetic signatures to merge, rapidly forming a hybrid embryo. Within seconds, a translucent membrane enclosed the fusion, creating a crossbred organism that began developing in the deep-sea darkness, so that creature was there doing. Even with the brief explanation, Max still had a hunch that maybe someone was behind all this so they had to keep their eyes open.