Ibnoxe kept a constant [Scan] running on his helmet. If he failed to recognize a monster with his own eyes, the battle assistant should notify him.

Like this, their journey progressed smoothly until Victoria yelped and fell to the ground.

"You okay?" Holoxe asked, immediately putting his stuff down.

Ibnoxe joined him in setting down the disco alloy and the bag of behefleas. "What is it?"

"Something has my leg!" Victoria twisted around and kicked at the gap in the cement with her heel.

A bulbous creature had grabbed her other leg. It tried to tug her downward in its sluggish movement. Its smooth head had a mixture of pasty, pastel hues and seemed to shift colors whether Ibnoxe thought that he had determined its appearance.

"Zap it!" Ibnoxe offered.

"You don't think I'm trying?" As if to prove her point, visible electricity burst from her leg in an explosive force and snapped onto the monster. The attack was simply absorbed.

"I'll help!" Holoxe said as jumped behind the creature and readied his claws.

Writhing and struggling on the ground, Victoria said, "Wait! I think it's trying to electrocute me back. Don't touch it."

Ibnoxed realized that he could answer these questions with a simple [Scan]. His chest filled with dread as he realized a morbid fact. Why didn't the battle assistant pick it up in the first place? What is that thing? The longer it remained attached to Victoria's leg, the more danger that she was in.

Now that he had clear sights on it, he manually performed the [Scan].

Target: ???

Vitality: 100%

Discrete Parts: ???

Mana Reserves: 70 Mu

Element: Nature, Electricity

The series of question marks confused him, so he tried pulling up its description.

Name: ???

This is an unidentified mutant. No data exists on this creature.

Ibnoxe had never seen the likes of this before. Previously, he had assumed that the mutant database had comprehensive entries on every monster in existence, but apparently this was not the case. They would have to deal with this one on their own.

Alas, Ibnoxe could not help immediately because his screen was filled with an advertisement.

Alert: Mutant Bounty Program

You were the first to encounter this creature. Document its behavior to receive a monetary award! All entries receive a minimum 1,000 credits upon approval. Your first approved entry receives an additional 2,000 credit bonus!

…

The information went on, but Ibnoxe swiped the screen away with his mind. "Bastards," he muttered. His vision was now clear to see Victoria struggling against the monster.

"It's fine," Holoxe shouted. "I'll get you out!" He used [Manifest Ice] to insulate his claws, then dared to punch the alien mutant with all his might.

The flawless surface of the plant jiggled. Its mouth wiggled accordingly and Victoria started wailing loudly.

"Ah! Stop!" she shrieked. "That tickles!" Her body curled up, arms folded around her laughing gut.

Ibnoxe relaxed slightly. The plant did not seem immediately dangerous, especially as Holoxe kept punching it with his ice encrusted claws. As a result, the mutant kept tickling Victoria who laughed till tears beaded to her eyes.

Eventually, the plant had taken enough abuse from Holoxe. The bulb let go of Victoria's leg and withdrew under the crumbled cement. The monster was gone.

"Whew…." she gasped, finally having a chance to catch her breath. "Thanks Holoxe. What sort of monster was that?" Victoria asked.

"Unidentified," he replied.

The trio peered at the gap in the cement, but the monster did not return. It stayed cowering out of view, so they might as well let it live.

"Some advert came up about the Mutant Bounty Program," Ibnoxe mentioned. "Apparently no one's ever documented an encounter with this thing before."

That news seemed to prick Victoria's attention and cheer her up. "That's great. You can submit a description and footage of the monster and get some easy cash. I'll do it for you."

A scowl immediately crossed Ibnoxe's face, getting even more annoyed by her shameless greed. "My helmet has the video stored, so I think I'll be the one to do that."

Much to his surprise, Victoria did not argue. "Oof." When she stood up, she nearly collapsed on her flaccid leg.

Holoxe caught her and let her lean heavily on him. "You good?"

"I feel funny." Victoria was still giggling. Her leg could barely hold weight as she tried to walk again. "My leg feels like rubber!" A bright laughter chortled past her lips, uncharacteristic of her crash personality.

"Alright, well let's get you home." Holoxe grabbed one of Victoria's wrists to keep her from stumbling the wrong way. He made her carry some of the beheflea bags so that he could keep holding onto her.

Their travel resumed. Luckily, Victoria's leg returned to full strength quickly. Her mind was another matter. The bite from the plant seemed to inject her with some manner of chemical. Humming a happy tune, she skipped whilst trying to swing Holoxe's arm and made the brothers struggle to carry the disco alloy together.

"When do you think she'll go back to normal?" Ibnoxe asked.

"No clue, but I kind of hope she doesn't. I think I like her better this way." Holoxe had a slight smirk, indicated by the skew of his tail.

When Ibnoxe stared at her, his own tail drooped in a frown. Victoria was intensely annoying in her delirious state, yet somehow, he had to agree with Holoxe. This was an immense improvement to her usual self.

***

Back at Purity Grove, they shifted into their human forms when they passed through the [Filtration Net]. Ibnoxe took in a deep breath of fresh air. "Well, I'd say today's mission was certainly a success."

Best of all, the stalker behemoth was dead and would stalk them no more.

"Let's report back to Lottie and share the good news," Ibnoxe said.

They entered the Bouchard residence and shifted into their more comfortable forms. Ibnoxe stretched his wings through the slits in the back of his armor, pleased that his dragon filled out the armor appropriately.

From the kitchen, Josie immediately greeted them. "Welcome back, boys! My, you're awfully chipper, aren't you Vickie?"

"Yes, ma'am," Victoria replied with a salute. "Today's a great day for cartwheels!" For the one second that Holoxe let go of her hand, Victoria sprung into the next room.

"I'll… make sure she doesn't break anything," Holoxe said, leaving the supplies with Ibnoxe. His brother gave chase to the rambunctious woman.

Ibnoxe sighed and shook his head. Since he wanted nothing to do with the Disco Menace when she was acting like that, he figured that he would gladly take care of moving the stuff. "Excuse me, Josie. Is Charlotte still home?"

"Yes," she said cheerfully. "When she's not sleeping, you can usually find her in the garage." With a smile on her face, she helped gather the bags of behefleas.

"Oh, you don't have to take those—" Ibnoxe tried to say.

"Nonsense! I have two hands. It's no trouble."

As sweet as Charlotte's mom was, she did not have the strength to help lift the disco alloy. Ibnoxe hefted it up by himself and followed Josie to the garage. Even as he strained the muscles in his arms, Ibnoxe was not too overwhelmed to chat.

"Lottie told me your new names," she said with a bright smile. "Are you Ibnoxe or Holoxe?"

"Ibnoxe."

"Well, Ibnoxe…. In the future, I would appreciate if you'd take this directly to the garage. I don't like dead animals brought in the house."

"Yes, ma'am. Sorry about that." It was wholly understandable to dislike having gross monster parts inside, especially considering how Josie did not even want to cook meat.

The musty air of the garage greeted his nostrils. The one and a half car garage had a desk and computer set up on the far side. An assortment of widgets and gadgets cluttered the surrounding area. Charlotte was absorbed into the glow of her computer screen.

"Lottie," her mom called. "Your friends brought back some things that might interest you…!"

When Charlotte spun around in her office chair, all three vuls were revealed on her lap. Their heads perked up. Vie, Vel, and Vue trilled in unison and bounded to greet Ibnoxe and Josie.

"Hi there!" Ibnoxe said as the vuls circled him and rubbed their fluffy faces at his ankles. He clutched onto the disco alloy tighter to ensure that he would not inadvertently drop it and crush a vul. "Where can I set this?"

"Over here!" Charlotte hurried to clear a spot to set it along the wall.

Nearby, Josie set down the bags of behefleas and left the two of them alone. "I'm going back in so I don't burn dinner. You kids enjoy yourselves."

Ibnoxe was not a kid, but he did not mind Josie's endearing way of regarding Lottie and her friends. "Thanks for the help, Josie."

"My pleasure. I'll call you two when dinner's ready." With that, she left them alone.

Charlotte looked up to him with a small, endearing smile. "Hey Ibnoxe," she said, tucking some stray hair behind her ears. "What's in the bags?"

"Behefleas."

"No way," Charlotte said, breathless. "Cool! Did you get them for the vuls?"

"Yeah."

They sat down together, and Charlotte started rutting through the bags. "We should probably feed them since it's almost dinnertime, right?"

The vul kits clambered over the legs of Ibnoxe and Charlotte, making them both laugh. When's Holoxe going to get here? he wondered briefly. His brother would love this. Instead, Ibnoxe was the one who petted the vuls in the meantime.