Game changing. Revolutionizing. Life altering. Whatever other word thesaurus.com could give you.

Any of those, and yet none of those, do I feel would work to properly express how massive the discovery I’ve made right now is. For at this moment, inside of my little home, I was staring at a fish that was not just identical to me, but one that I knew was me.

That’s right, I discovered that I could create clones of myself.

This one wasn’t like the earlier clones however, the ones that I had created back when I was a cell. No, instead of splitting my body in two in order to create my clone, all I did was tap into some mysterious power and then…*poof* a new Beatrix was born,

The fish in front of me isn’t the first fish clone by the way. The first of the newest Beatrix clones was…eaten, unfortunately. So this is actually Beatrix-3c.

Or should I make it 3f for fish? No wait, I didn’t make it ‘c’ for cell back when I was making cell clones, so I probably shouldn't break naming conventions and just continue going up the alphabetical ladder…

Whatever, this is Beatrix-3c, say high to it!

Come on, wave your fin you dumb fish. There we go.

So how did this discovery come about? Well let’s start back from the beginning, when this morning began. It had seemed just like any other fishy day at first, I was outside doing fish things as any productive fish does like swimming around, munching on coral, and hunting the occasional crustacean. And generally just enjoying life unda da sea. There were, as there always are, a few occasions when my danger alarm went off, but a quick swim from me into cover normally took care of that.

So it really didn’t seem like today would be anything major, but then sometime around noon, things changed. Instead of getting the usual sensation that I was in danger, the one that was like a whistle telling me to get moving, a different, but familiar alarm, resounded in my head. It was like a loud fire alarm, a ringing feeling that filled my body with alarm, dread, and an impending sense of doom.

I knew right away what it meant, knew that yet another nightmarish situation had arrived. And so I acted right away. With all the strength my little fish body could muster, I swam at full speed away from where I was, keeping low and sticking as close to the coral reefs as I could.

But proving that this assailant had been worthy of the alarm my instincts had resounded, in only a few seconds the shadow of a fish larger than me had covered me, and only a timely sharp turn from me stopped me becoming fish food as the fish dove towards me.

I didn’t believe for even a second that that would have been enough, so I kept swimming away as fast as I possibly could. And it was for the best that I did so, because not even almost crashing against the sharp rocks did anything to dissuade the tenacious beast from chasing me, and it was soon hot on my tail-fin again.

I tried doing what I could to shake it off. Swimming through obstacles, sharp reefs, and coral. But no matter what I tried, nothing could stop the unnecessarily tenacious beast. Not even when I passed other fish, fish who should have been much easier meals and therefore should have been perfect bait, did the large fish behind ever let up. And eventually, the bastard had almost been rewarded for its tenacity as its teeth grazed my tail.

It was then, when I had mistakenly swam towards an open area, all but guaranteed my death at the hands of the much larger and faster fish, that my mind flashed back to the first time I had almost become a meal. To when my clones were being eaten and I had sent one of them to attack the larger cell in a desperate attempt. And as this memory played through my mind in what could have been my last moments, a strange feeling began to course through my body.

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Why this happened this time around and not before I wasn’t sure of. Maybe it was because for the first time ever, I actually lasted longer than a few seconds in a true life and death struggle. Or maybe it was because I had evolved enough to unlock a new ability or skill. Whatever the reason, all that mattered was that at that moment I was able to lean into this feeling and instinctively tap into the energy that had been building up within me over the past days. And then, there was a feeling as if I had activated something.

And a second Beatrix suddenly appeared behind me.

But just as soon as it had appeared, so too did it disappear. And without being given the time to celebrate or properly meet my new fish clone, let alone control or experiment with it, I was forced to watch as my assailant tore into the copy of me and ripped it into pieces before consuming the remains.

I…had been more than a little shaken by the experience. I mean, what could I possibly say? Imagine watching what was essentially you getting ripped up and devoured by a larger monster. Heck, just imagine the Attack on Titan scene from ep 1 if you want a good idea of how it felt like to watch it.

And yet, despite how traumatizing the moment may have seemed, I stayed and watched it for longer than I had any right to do. Maybe it was simple morbid curiosity, or maybe it was guilt at knowing that I was responsible for the death of the newly created clone. But for whatever reason, I allowed myself to remain in danger as I watched the fish devouring its meal.

Still, it was only a few seconds that I was distracted, and I was eventually able to gather my nerves and swim away and back to my little hole. I did have to take a few minutes after that to calm my nerves and allow myself to process the moment. But once I was feeling a little bit better psychologically, I decided to distract myself by recreating the earlier miracle.

And it worked! Which is why I’m looking at a perfect copy of myself.

It’s…not the best looking fish if I’m being honest. When comparing how it looks compared to some of the other ones, I’m honestly pretty disappointed in how ‘ordinary’ and ‘plain’ it looks. And it’s eyes…oh god fish eyes are creepy. Is that how I really look?

Yes, it is, because I can see through his eyes as well and the resemblance is uncanny…or not really, I mean it’s a clone, what else is it gonna look like.

But is it bad that I think that way? That I think that I look like an ugly fish? Does that mean I have low fish-esteem? Do I need to see a shrimp?

Let’s not think about that for now. Instead, let’s focus on what I can do with a clone of myself.

So yeah, as you could infer from earlier, I can tune in to its senses even while I’m still in control of my original body And I can also switch control to the clone and leave my original body on a sort of autopilot mode if I want to. But unlike when I was a cell, controlling both of them at the same time is a lot more difficult than it was before.

Before, it was like going on third person mode and just taking full control of the blob that was the Beatrix army. Easy, simple, and it made me feel as if I was in full control at all times. But now, now it feels as if I’m staring down at two monitors and using two controllers when I try to take full control of the two bodies at the same time. It feels clunky, confusing, and gives me a headache. So for now, it looks like I can only take control of one fish and give general orders for the other to follow, Like how I did earlier when I had the clone raise its fin to wave.

It definitely sucks that I don’t have the same kind of fine control that I did with the original Beatrix army. But in all honesty, I’m just glad that it looks like I’ll be able to start the great Beatrix army again. As well as the potential discovery that my powers aren't just limited to ‘evolving’.

Whether this means that there's some secret menu where I can ‘shop’ for skills or abilities that I somehow hit on earlier. Or that there are ways for me to unlock skills and I had managed to do so while escaping the fish. Or even if it means that I can take some of my powers from a past evolution with me. I don’t know. But in truth, I’d be pretty happy to learn that even just one of those possible theories of mine are true. After all, imagining myself having a bunch of powers is something that is super exciting to think about. And heck, even if my powers end at just making clones it still would be a great advantage toward fulfilling my ambitions.

So long as I can eventually evolve into something that’s not a fish. And has thumbs.

But that’s for the future. For now, I’ll be playing with my clone and trying to get a better grasp of my abilities. So until I make some progress or something else happens, I bid you, once more, ah-dieu.