Underwater Resort Control Center.
Numerous sophisticated instruments were arranged all around the room, while pipes of every size crisscrossed overhead like a dense web, controlling every aspect of the underwater resort.
Donovan, dressed in a brown sweater with gray at his temples, walked with Grandpa Max to the center of the control room.
The two of them chatted and laughed along the way.
"Max, if you'd listened to me back then and gone into business with me, you'd have made a fortune by now instead of spending half your life fixing pipes." Donovan kept one hand in his pocket, looking quite pleased with himself.
Grandpa Max chuckled. "Everyone has their own way of thinking, and everyone wants different things."
"That's true." Donovan spread his hands.
Suddenly, the main console in front of them began to shake violently.
Outside the protective barrier, the seawater churned like it was boiling, and schools of fish scattered in all directions in obvious panic.
Donovan, who had been all smiles just a second ago, immediately changed expression and hurried to the console to speak with the experts there.
"Quick, stabilize it now!" Donovan barked.
Grandpa Max frowned.
Why was Donovan reacting so strongly? Was there some secret he wasn't telling anyone?
With that thought in mind, Grandpa Max stepped forward and took a closer look at the console.
Above it stood a tall, highly advanced machine. Its silver surface gleamed with a futuristic sheen, and countless pipes wound around it, twitching slightly as though they were absorbing some kind of energy.
An eerie purple light seeped through the gaps in the machine's surface, staining everything nearby in violet.
Several bald experts in white lab coats rushed to the console and started operating it frantically, all of them overwhelmed.
Donovan's face darkened. He clenched his fists and stared into the deep sea beyond the barrier, clearly lost in thought.
"Donovan, what's going on?" Grandpa Max finally asked.
The gloom on Donovan's face vanished at once, and he forced out a smile. "Heh, it's just an electromagnetic pulse making the machine a little unstable. It'll settle down in a moment."
Grandpa Max opened his mouth as if he wanted to press further, but in the end, he only sighed and said nothing.
He could tell this was no simple matter, but without any clues, there wasn't much he could say.
Bit by bit, time passed, and the purple glow inside the strange machine gradually faded until it disappeared completely.
Everything returned to normal, as though nothing had happened.
Seeing the puzzled look on Grandpa Max's face, Donovan gave an awkward laugh. Then, as though suddenly remembering something, he leaned closer and asked, "Max, want to see the work I'm most proud of?"
"Oh? What is it?" Grandpa Max looked at him with interest.
Donovan smiled and led Grandpa Max into a secret storage room, where he pressed a concealed button.
A huge opening appeared in the floor, and seawater surged up inside it, rolling and churning violently.
But aside from the seawater, there was nothing there.
Grandpa Max gave Donovan a strange look.
Was Donovan's proudest creation... this seawater?
It was too bizarre. He truly didn't understand the world of rich people...
Grandpa Max shook his head, about to say something.
But Donovan had already gone stiff, staring fixedly at the completely empty opening.
"My Undersea Manta Ray... Eddie, you..."
...
In the dark depths of the sea.
The massive golden submarine was covered all over by fierce Tentacle Troopers. Using their agile tentacles, they wrapped themselves tightly around the hull and slammed against it over and over.
Mechanical manta rays whipped their tails against the submarine, producing a series of heavy bangs.
Inside, the vessel shook violently. Objects toppled in every direction, and Gwen and Eddie were thrown off their feet, dizzy and disoriented.
A terrifying mechanical shark, its eyes glowing blood-red, opened its dagger-like jaws and bit viciously toward the reinforced window.
"Ah! Help!" Eddie screamed.
In a flash, a fish-man shot forward, his powerful tail lashing behind him as he surged toward the giant shark at incredible speed.
Just as the shark was about to swallow him whole, Ripjaws snorted.
"Then let's see whose bite is better!"
The moment he finished speaking, Ripjaws opened his terrifying mouth wide, nearly split to the base of his ears, and sank his razor-sharp fangs straight into the giant shark's teeth.
Clang!
The mechanical shark's teeth were snapped apart instantly, reduced to useless scrap metal.
"Roar!" The mechanical shark writhed in agony, struggling wildly.
"Heh, you cocky loser. Let me finish you off!"
Ripjaws let out a nasty laugh and smashed the mechanical shark's head apart with a single blow.
Bang!
Countless icy metal fragments, mixed with some unknown black fluid, spread through the blue seawater.
The smell was strange, part blood, part machine oil.
Inside the submarine, Eddie was completely dumbfounded.
"Oh my God, where did that thing come from?" Eddie's eyes went wide as he stared in disbelief at Ripjaws outside.
Gwen gave a dry laugh. "Uh... don't worry. He's on our side..."
Eddie scratched his head, still struggling to process it.
As he watched the fish-man continue wiping out monster after monster, he gradually started to accept it. At the very least, that fish-man didn't look like a bad guy.
But just as Eddie started to relax, another mechanical jellyfish appeared beside them.
Its whole body glowed red as it drifted soundlessly through the water, emerging from the darkness like a blood-colored ghost.
Its long, slender tentacles crackled with red electricity as they slowly stretched out toward the submarine.
Suddenly, a blue moth-like figure swept in from the side.
"A mechanical jellyfish... looks like it can generate electricity too..."
Big Chill turned intangible, beat its wings, and instantly passed straight through the mechanical jellyfish's body.
Crack... crack...
A bitter frost spread from inside the mechanical jellyfish, freezing it into a crystal-clear ice sculpture in the blink of an eye.
Big Chill threw a punch and shattered it, sending fragments bursting into the seawater.
"Oh my God, where did this moth come from now?" Eddie was completely unable to stay calm anymore.
Gwen's face twitched, but she still forced out a smile. "Th-that one's on our side too."
"Really?" Eddie stared directly into Gwen's eyes, making her visibly uncomfortable.
In the deep, turbulent water, endless mechanical creatures rushed forward one after another, throwing themselves at Big Chill with savage ferocity.
Big Chill let out a cold snort and exhaled a blast of freezing air.
In an instant, a massive ice dragon appeared, its head crowned with twin horns and its whiskers flowing as it circled around Big Chill, protecting him at the center...