"Yeah, that's right." Kevin's reply came without a trace of shame, matter-of-fact as breathing. "That's why I have to use methods like this to make up for my losses. Come on, we were working together just this morning, weren't we? You'll help me out this time too, right?"
Asher's expression hardened. "I only help people who are in the right. If you were getting bullied tomorrow, I'd step in to protect you. But when you're the one doing the bullying?" He dropped into a fighting stance, his voice turning sharp and decisive. "I won't allow it."
"I knew you'd say that!"
Kevin's face twisted with grim satisfaction, as though Asher's refusal confirmed something he'd already suspected. Blue electric sparks crackled across his palms as he tore away any pretense of civility. "Did you come here alone? Perfect. If you don't leave right now, I'll rob you too!"
"Let the kids go," Asher said quietly, his fists clenching as he carefully observed Kevin's movements. His eyes tracked every shift in the other boy's stance, every flicker of electrical discharge.
Even while speaking, he was still trying to provoke Kevin, to draw his attention and keep it fixed squarely on himself.
"Don't even think about it!" Kevin's voice rose to a shout, his composure shattering like glass. "You delivered yourself right to my doorstep, so don't blame me for what happens next, 'friend'!"
He opened his palms wide. Blue lightning bolts danced between both hands as he charged forward like a starving predator!
Asher seized the critical moment. Just as Kevin's electrified hands were about to make contact, he twisted his body and shifted his footsteps, slipping diagonally away from Kevin's grasp with practiced precision!
Whoosh!
His right fist shot out, capitalizing on Kevin's overextended position. The muscles in Asher's arm tensed visibly beneath his skin, blue veins standing out prominently. Despite belonging to a child's body, that fist carried devastating force!
[Fishman Karate: Tile Strike!]
WHAM!
The blow connected squarely with Kevin's back. Raw power lifted Kevin completely off his feet and drove him face-first into the dirt. He ate a mouthful of grime, his expression twisting into something ugly and furious!
A sharp, stinging pain radiated through his back, telling him everything he needed to know about how powerful Asher's punch had been.
"You kids, go! Now!" Asher ignored Kevin entirely, striding deeper into the alley toward the cowering children. He urged them on with genuine concern in his voice.
"O-okay! Thank you!"
The children had been frozen with fear, but Asher's command snapped them out of their paralysis. They scrambled to their feet and fled past him, disappearing around the corner as fast as their legs could carry them.
"I'll... make you... pay for that!"
Rage consumed Kevin. After taking a moment to recover from the blow, he lurched back to his feet with feral determination. His scream was hysterical, less human voice and more bestial roar!
That terrible anti-social personality that lurked within him had been fully unleashed.
"Pay?" Asher turned back to face him, frowning slightly. He showed no fear whatsoever of the furious boy before him.
Kevin yanked a pack of batteries from his pocket and clenched them tightly in his palm. Brilliant blue light burst outward, almost blindingly bright!
After absorbing the batteries' stored energy, Kevin's power increased dramatically. Electrical current gathered and coiled around both his arms like living serpents!
"This scene feels... familiar," Asher muttered under his breath.
Not long ago, while dealing with those trouble-making Nosedeenians who'd been eating batteries, he'd witnessed a similar display. Seeing it replicated in Kevin stirred an odd sense of déjà vu.
"So what if you can fight?" Kevin's expression twisted into something ugly and triumphant as he advanced step by step through the alley, clearly trying to create psychological pressure. "You still can't stop my ability!"
Unfortunately for Kevin, Asher had seen far too many genuinely powerful opponents to be intimidated by this display. The attempted mental warfare was completely wasted.
Asher glanced down at the fully charged Omnitrix on his wrist. Without even looking up, he said calmly, "Give me a few seconds."
"What?"
Kevin's expression faltered, confusion flickering across his features. Then he watched as Asher walked toward the alley's exit and ducked behind the wall at the entrance.
"Trying to run? It won't be that easy!" Kevin's face darkened instantly. He thought Asher was attempting to flee, and he surged forward with renewed fury,
FLASH!
From the other side of the wall, bursts of brilliant green light erupted!
The strange illumination made Kevin freeze mid-stride, his expression shifting to one of bewildered uncertainty.
A moment later, a figure wreathed in purple light moved with incredible speed, racing from behind the wall directly into the alley entrance!
Buzzshock
The figure was roughly the size of an eight or nine-year-old child. Its entire body crackled and sparked with purple electricity, and its expression held an icy coldness that sent chills down Kevin's spine.
"This, this is an alien!" Kevin's eyes widened rapidly, his expression transforming into one of shocked recognition. He blurted out the identification instinctively!
He suddenly remembered the confrontation with those street punks earlier that morning.
The same overwhelming sense of oppressive power had been present then!
These weren't different people with superpowers at all, this purple creature and the alien from this morning were both Asher! He'd been transforming all along!
The more Kevin thought about it, the more certain he became. The pieces fit together perfectly!
"Kevin," the purple figure said, spreading its small palms. Circles of tiny, needle-like electrical currents danced between its fingers. "Reason won't convince you. So I'll have to use force instead."
"That tone... it really is you!" Kevin's expression showed confirmation mixed with lingering confusion. He asked again, unable to contain his bewilderment, "I still don't understand something. We both have these incredible powers, why don't you want to destroy the world? Control other people's lives however we want? Make ourselves the masters of everything?"
His worldview, deeply ingrained and fundamentally warped, had taken these possibilities for granted.
"We're not on the same path," Buzzshock replied simply. That single reason was explanation enough.
"Hah!"
Kevin's face twisted into a sinister expression. Before the purple alien had even finished answering, Kevin was already fully prepared!
He raised both palms sharply, unleashing a blue electrical current that writhed through the air like a serpent!
Crackle!
Buzzshock's expression grew serious. Asher didn't know for certain whether his electrical output could match, or surpass, the approaching blue current!
Its right palm spread open. Purple electricity burst forth, colliding head-on with Kevin's blue assault!
BOOM!
The two currents clashed violently. Where they met, the electricity twisted and warped, creating a brilliant, colorful display of raw power. The mutually deformed currents carved smoking cracks into the walls on both sides of the alley!
The exchange lasted only seconds!
The purple current suddenly surged forward, overwhelming Kevin's offensive entirely! It rushed toward him with devastating speed!
"What?!"
Kevin's expression changed drastically. He raised both arms in front of his chest defensively, and bursts of intense electrical light flashed around them!
CRASH!
Even with his guard up, the purple current still drove into his raised arms, shoving him backward more than a dozen meters. He didn't stop sliding until the electricity in his arms completely dissipated!
Kevin's power couldn't stop the purple alien's attack at all!
"It seems your strength isn't as impressive as you thought," Buzzshock observed, flicking its fingers casually. In the blink of an eye, another bolt of purple electricity shot out, striking Kevin's arms with pinpoint accuracy!
"My arms... they're completely numb!"
Kevin's expression filled with genuine fear. His arms had been shocked into complete paralysis by the purple current!
Even most of his body had gone half-numb, forcing him to drop to one knee on the ground, completely immobilized!
He could only lift his head, like an ant staring up at a mountain, gazing at the purple alien floating in the sky above him!
The enormous gap in their strength was undeniable!
'This enhanced electrical output is truly terrifying,' Asher thought with deep satisfaction from inside Buzzshock form. 'The current Kevin isn't my opponent at all!'
"Asher... my good buddy..." Kevin's demeanor changed instantly, his voice taking on a humble, pleading tone. A smile stretched across his face, painfully forced, desperately ingratiating. "We were still friends yesterday, weren't we?"
In that moment, Kevin looked like the picture of harmless remorse.
But deep within his heart, resentment and murderous intent churned like a storm. He was already vowing to take revenge, planning how he would make Asher pay once he recovered!
"Do you actually think I'm an eight-year-old child?" Asher's voice was cold and unforgiving. "Did you really believe you could fool me by pretending to be pitiful?"
This kind of manipulation might work on the kind-hearted Ben Tennyson from the original timeline.
But it wouldn't work on Asher. Not even for a second.
He saw straight through Kevin's lie, his expression remaining frigid and unmoved as he exposed the deception without mercy.
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