Chapter One: Welcome to Remnant

Ben was flying, or rather falling, down the vortex of mana. His emerald eyes were wide open and locked directly ahead of him as he was pulled down the 'magic corridor'. He must have been falling for five minuets before he saw the other end of the tunnel. As Ben rapidly approached, he saw he was headed towards another set of doors identical to the ones that just spirited him away. Just as Ben thought he going to splat against them, the doors swung wide open and Ben was propelled out.

The good news was he wasn't in the strange magic tunnel anymore. The bad news was that tunnels exit was several hundred feet in the air. Ben was so stunned by the prospect of being deposited in the middle of the empty night sky, that it took him a second to realize he was falling. And falling fast.

Of course after realizing gravity was planing to introduce him to the ground, Ben, as quickly as he could, reached for the Omnitrix on his left wrist. "Come on, Stinkfly, Jetray, Big Chill, Terraspin, Astrodactyl. Please give me a flyer!" Ben practically begged the Omnitrix. He was about a hundred feet in the air when the Omnitrix reactivated, and Ben, in a panic selected an alien without getting a close look at his choice.

In a flash of green light Ben was replaced with a large, green insect. The bug in question resembled a mix between a grasshopper and a praying mantis with significantly large hind limbs. He had a large green horn and wore green overalls with black stripes all over and the Omnitrix insignia on his stomach.

"Crashhopper!?" he exclaimed. This species could jump, but it sure couldn't fly. Ben looked down to brace for a rough land. He saw that he was plummeting into a average sized city, and his landing zone was a narrow alley sandwiched between two six-story, brick buildings. Ben readjusted himself in midair to land on his feet, thinking Crashhopper's legs could stand the impact. However, lady luck didn't quite feel like cutting the teen hero a break yet, as his side caught the edge of one of the buildings, causing him to bounce back and forth between the two red brick walls. While Crashhopper's exoskeleton was enough to protect him from most injuries, bouncing around like a pinball still hurt.

Ben's painful experience came to an end by adding insult to injury when he fell into an open dumpster full of garbage. As soon as he landed in someone else's leftover takeout from last week, the lid came down. After a few seconds, a muffled beeping sound could be heard from the trash receptacle, followed by a green light that shown through the cracks and holes in the metal. After the light faded, Ben, now human again shakily lifted up the lid from the inside and poked his head out.

"No one saw that right?" Ben asked dizzily. He crawled out of the dumpster, brushed of all the dirt and used coffee beans off himself, and let out a groan. "Note to self, put all flyers on single playlist." He said to himself, thinking back to all the times he was falling, hoping the Omnitrix would behave itself and gave him an airborne species.

Ben shook his head to clear his thoughts. First thing he had to do was find out where Gwen's spell had sent him. And since the Omnitrix had just timed out, aerial reckon was out. Ben decided the best thing to do was to just to find which city he had been sent to and just contact Kevin or Rook to pick him up.

Ben casually strolled out of the alleyway he landed in, trying to pretend he hadn't just crash-landed in someone else's garbage. The streets and sidewalks of the city were empty, though that wasn't so surprising. It was currently late at night and all the streetlights were on. Buildings several stories high, on either side of the streets were made of bricks of various colors. Some of the windows had lights shining through them, but most were dark.

Ben looked to find some street signs to tell him where he was, but they all had names he didn't recognize. While Ben couldn't say that he was familiar with every city in his world, his hero work did take him around the world several times. Still this place seemed completely new to him. Deciding it would probably be better to just contact the Plumbers, the interplanetary police force he and his friends worked for, and let them trace the signal back to him, Ben opened the communication device built into the Omnitrix.

"Ben Tennyson to Plumber HQ, anybody read me?" he spoke into the device. But when he listened for an answer all he got was static. "Ben Tennyson to Plumber HQ, requesting pick up, can anyone hear me?" he repeated, and again was greeted by the sound of static. Ben began to worry, he then tried to call Gwen's personal number, nothing. He then tried Kevin's, Rook's, Grandpa Max's, Azmuth's, he even tried Jimmy Jones, every single one came back with static.

"Man, where on earth am I?" he said aloud to himself. He then got the idea of looking for the door that dropped him here and using one of his flyers to go back through it. But when he looked up to search the sky to find it, he saw something that shocked him. That something was the moon, or rather what was left of it. Almost a third of this moon had broken away with a few chunks floating over the damaged segment.

Ben starred at the broken celestial mass for about a minuet before he said aloud, "Ok I stand corrected. Where in the galaxy am I?". So apparently Gwen's spell had sent him to another planet, or at least a parallel version of Earth. Well at least there wasn't some monster made of microscopic machines trying to kill him this time.

Ben sat down on a public bench and held his head in his hands. How was he going to get home? None of the aliens in his Omnitrix could cross dimensions, and even if he had just been sent to another planet, he couldn't just fly around space as Jetray or Astrodactyl. If the Omnitrix timed out mid flight he'd be… "No! Don't think about." Ben told himself. "I'm sure that Gwen is, right now, doing everything she can to find you." He stated aloud, attempting to convince himself.

Ben managed to calm himself down. All he had to do was wait until Gwen managed to open another door home. But then another problem presented it's self. "What am I going to do in the mean time." He asked.

As if in answer, out of the corner of his eye, Ben saw a group of five men walking down the sidewalk on the other side of the street. four of them were dressed identically, wearing pure black suits with matching fedoras and red ties and sunglasses. The group wad headed by a man with bright-orange hair, with long bangs covering his right eye. He wore a black bowler hat with a red band, a white dress coat and black dress pants. He was smoking a cigar, and carried a red and black metal cane, though it was clear he did not need it.

Ben followed these men with his eyes as the made their way down the block. When they reached the corner, they made a left and continued out of sight. Ben let out a sigh. "Yeah, because I'm sure they are the neighborhood watch." He said sarcastically.

Ben got up and began quietly following the would be thugs. He had been doing the super hero job long enough to know how to spot a bad guy, and these morons weren't even trying to hide it. And even if this wasn't his own planet, there was no way he was just going to sit by and do nothing while the most obvious mob goons in the world decided they wanted to knock over a bank.

Ben subtly peaked his head around the building the Mafia wannabes disappeared behind. They were now walking down the center of the street toward a small, single story building that looked like some kind of shop with two large windows on either side with a single door between them. A plaque above the door read 'From Dawn till Dust'.

Ben made his way down to the center of the block and watched all five men pile into the small store, who's elderly balding owner was standing behind the front counter. From the looks of it, the leader appeared to be speaking to the old man.

'Maybe he is just placing an order for something' Ben thought to himself, giving the man in the bowler hat at least the benefit of the doubt. However any shred of doubt was discarded immediately when one of the generic thugs pulled an odd looking gun on the shopkeeper. "Or not". He marched straight towards the shop, cracking his knuckles.

When Ben arrived at the doorstep he stopped. The thieves were busy collecting things from around the shop to notice him. Ben gave quick glance around, the nameless guys in suits were draining what looked like colored sand out of cylindrical containers attached to either wall. And the boss was busy pointing out large, colored crystals that he wanted from beneath the glass counter.

Ben wondered what kind of shop this was, some kind of jewelry store? But then why were the jewels so big. He shook his head and dismissed the though. Whatever this place was, he wasn't about to let it get robbed.

Ben cleared his throat, "I hope you guys are planning to pay for all this."

All the look alikes almost dropped what they were stealing and turned towards Ben. The leader however, barely glanced over his shoulder. He gave Ben a quick look and let out an exasperated sigh.

"Oh, please tell me you are going to try to be the hero." He said dramatically.

"I'm not going to try." Ben retorted, challengingly. Bowler hat guy rolled his eyes.

"Hey boss," called generic minion number four, "there is someone else back here." He motioned to the back of the store.

Bowler hat guy face palmed, "Then deal with it." He said as if it was the most obvious response in the world. The henchman gave a nod and went to go 'deal with it'.

"And goes for the rest of you." He said, inclining his head towards the teen in the doorway. The men in red and black all pulled out weapons. Some had guns while others unsheathed red swords from their belts, and they all began to close in on Ben slowly.

Ben merely rolled his eyes and reached for the Omnitrix, he could beat guys tougher than these in his sleep. But before he could activate his watch something…unexpected happened. The thug who had previously been sent to the back suddenly came flying to the front of the store and crash through the right front window, followed by a red blur. This drew everyone's attention, even Mr. bowler hat. The thug came to a crashing halt in the center or the street, and the thing that threw him landed next to him.

Now that it had stopped moving, Ben could see it was a person, wearing a red cape with a hood obscuring their face. In the persons left hand was a large red sniper rifle, or at least that's what Ben thought it was because in a manner of seconds the rifle had actually unfolded and became a scythe with a large crescent shaped blade. The person then turned to face the shop and removed its hood, and Ben was a little shocked to find out it was a girl. She looked to be about 15, had silver eyes and short black hair with red highlights. She was dressed in a black blouse and a skirt with red trimmings.

The girl gave a smug grin and preceded to perform an awesome scythe twirl, ending in a 'bring it on' type of pose.

"Okay…" said Mr. bowler hat, sounding just as confused as Ben. He looked around to see his thugs just standing around with stupefied looks on their faces.

"Get them." Mr. bowler hat barked at his cronies. Ben heard this and turned back to face the thugs. He tried the Omnitrix, but before he could select an alien he felt someone grab hold of his jackets collar. He was suddenly yanked backwards, and found himself on the ground, about thirty feet away from the shops front door where he stood about a second before, the girl in red standing in front of him facing the oncoming thugs.

She then dug the tip of her scythes blade into the street, placing her hand on the handle, leaping over it and spinning herself in midair on top of the horizontal weapon so the bottoms of her feet collided with the face of the lead thug. Allowing her momentum to carry her, she dislodged her weapon from the ground and leapt into the air. She came down next to the second thug with her scythe over her shoulders. Pulling the trigger attached to the handle, the very top of the weapon fired a .50 caliber bullet. The bullet wasn't aimed at anything, but the recoil was so intense that it propelled the blunt end of the blade straight into the torso of the second thug knocking him for a loop. Remaining light on her feet, the girl retained her momentum by spinning to avoid the third thug who tried to attack her with a sword, and brought the blunt end of her weapon down on his head, KOing him on the spot.

She noticed the thug she had tossed through the window earlier managed to pick himself back up, and he was aiming a machine gun at her. She quickly aimed her scythe behind her and fired. The recoil managed to propel herself forward at blinding speeds to avoid being shot. She then made two right angle turns and shot back towards the remaining thug. When she was close enough she swung the blunt end of her weapon upward, knocking the poor sap into the air. She wasn't finished however, as she dug the blade into the ground and grabbed the very end of the handle. The blade twisted in the ground, redirecting her to crash feet first into the thug's body.

Ben's jaw could not hang any lower. This girl was amazing. She had just KOed four guys at least twice her size with a weapon almost three times her size. And she did it so fast. She could give XLR8 a run for his money.

The girl landed on her feet while the last thug landed at the feet of Mr. bowler hat, who just looked down at his battered henchmen with a disappointed look.

"You were worth every cent, truly you were." He said to the unconscious thug. He then shifted his gaze to the girl in red.

"Well, 'Red', I think we can all say it's been an eventful evening. And as much as I'd love to stick around, I'm afraid this is where we part ways." He said as he aimed the end of his cane at the girl. Suddenly, what looked like a red firework shot out of the bottom of the cane.

The girl aimed her scythe downward and fired her rifle while jumping at the same time. The recoil propelled her well over the bullet Mr. bowler hat shot, which exploded when it hit the ground. When the girl landed she saw that Mr. bowler hat had run away. She looked around and saw him climbing a fire escape latter to the roof of a nearby five-story building. Saw caught out of the corner of her eye, the owner of the shop fearfully step outside.

"You ok if I go after him?" she asked the shopkeeper. The old man just gave a small nod. The girl took off running. Ben who was still in a state of shock from the impressive display of fighting skill, finally snapped out of his stupor. When he saw Mr. bowler hat running with the girl in red giving chase, he decided it was his turn. He brought his right hand over to his left wrist and activated the Omnitrix. He ran his index finger over the faceplate and a green holographic wheel displayed above the device. Inside the wheel were the faces of the alien's Ben could change into. By sliding his finger over the faceplate, the wheel would rotate and display his other transformations.

Ben searched for a good choice. After deciding on the alien, he took his finger off the faceplate, which slid back to reveal a circular button with a green and black hourglass shaped insignia, which popped up.

"It's Hero Time!" Ben exclaimed as he brought his right hand down on the button. After which he was engulfed in a flash of green.

Mr. Bowler hat had just reached the roof of the building, and began running to make a jump off the other side, when he heard the girl in red land on the roof behind him.

"Hey!" she called to get his attention. He stopped, but refused to turn to face her.

"Persistent." He muttered to himself. The girl in red braced herself in case he tried to shoot at her again. But instead, from the other side of the building arose a large tiltjet aircraft. The design of the craft was simple, it looked similar to a Boeing V-22 with smaller wings and each wing had a large jet engine attached at each end which could change direction. The roar of the engine was deafening and the searchlights that shined down were blinding. The girl took a couple of steps back, the wind being blown from the downward facing jets almost knock her off her feet.

Mr. Bowler hat quickly climbed into the aircraft via an open hatch on the side. He then turned back to the girl.

"End of the line, Red!" he hollered over engines. He held up a red prism shaped crystal and tossed it over to her feet. He then aimed the bottom of his cane at the crystal and fired. The girl reflexively, held her scythe in front of herself from protection and closed her eyes, bracing herself. She heard the rocket hit the crystal and explode, but questioned why she didn't feel any pain or even the force of the blast. When she open her eyes she saw that someone had protected her.

That someone was a middle-aged woman that had very light-blonde hair tied back in a bun with a curl hanging down the right side of her face. Her eyes were bright green and she wore thin rectangular glasses. She wore a white long-sleeved suit that exposes part of her chest, and puffy sleeves that tighten near the wrist before spreading back out near her hands. Her lower body has a black business skirt with buttons running in a vertical line up the front of it and lighter black-brown stockings. On her back was a tattered cape that was purple inside and black on the outside, decorated by a row of diamond-shaped brown beads going horizontally across her cape. In her right hand was a riding crop.

The women looked as though she was casting a spell, which created a circle of magic that protected both of them. After the blast faded, so did the magic circle. The women re-adjusted her glasses and gazed at the aircraft, as if sizing it up. After a moment of thought, the women gave a sly grin.

With a wave of her crop, she sent several purple, what looked to be magic bullets flying toward the hovering ship. When the bullets hit the craft, they each gave off tiny explosions, which knocked it around in the air.

Inside, Mr. Bowler hat was having difficulty staying on his feet. "You might want to take off now!" he called to the pilot.

The airship began to gain altitude. The girl in red and the women became concerned, neither on of them was capable of bringing it down without destroying it. And that option was out of the question considering how much collateral damage that would cause. As those two pondered what to do the answer, the answer came when two elongated… objects flew over their heads and attached themselves to each of the aircraft's wings.

"Oh no you don't!" said a voice from behind them. Both ladies turn to face the owner of said voice and were utterly baffled at who it was. Standing behind them was some bizarre creature that resembled a gorilla composed out of children's building blocks. Parts of its body were separated by various colors, namely red, blue, and yellow. In the center of his chest was a peculiar emblem, a black and green hourglass. Its two front hands which seemed to be stretching longer than they should be, were currently the objects holding on to the wings of the airship.

"Sorry, but this flight has been officially grounded." Ben, in alien form said. The name he gave to this transformation was Bloxx. He had discovered Bloxx about a month ago, when he first met Rook. Ben rather enjoyed his time spent in this alien form, it made him feel like a kid. Ben struggled to try to pull the ship out of the air.

Ms. Magic, who was momentarily stunned by the appearance of this creature quickly shook of her bewilderment and refocused on the escaping criminal. This… thing, whatever it was, was attempting to assist her.

Mr. Bowler hat had also taken a notice to the plastic toy trying to pull him out of the sky and quickly moved into the ships cockpit.

"We have a problem!" he announced to the pilot. The women behind the controls said nothing as she got up and went to the hatch of the ship while Mr. bowler hat took the wheel.

Ben was using all his strength to keep the airship from flying away, slowly retracting his arms and pulling it down. He then saw someone other than Mr. Bowler hat step into view from the open hatch. While the upper part of her body was obscured by shadows, he could still make out part of her appearance. She was wearing a dark red dress that came down to just above her knees and black high heels. And though he couldn't make out her face, he could see a pair of glowing amber eyes.

When Ms. Red eyes got a look at what had been keeping her ship in place, she did wonder for a second what it exactly it was, but then decided she didn't care and began shooting fireballs from her palms at Bloxx's arms.

Ben let out an audible grown, while being shot at didn't exactly hurt, it was uncomfortable. What was worse however, was those fireballs were chipping away at Bloxx's arm. Ms. Magic noticed this and shot another spell. A single purple light flew from the tip of her crop above the ship. From it a magic circle formed and began producing dark storm clouds. From the clouds big shards of ice began raining down on the ship. One of the shards crashed through the cockpit and almost took out Mr. bowler hat.

Adjusting her strategy, Ms. Red eyes threw a fireball at the women who used a spell to block the attack. But bits of the flame landed on the ground and began to expand. Ms. Magic saw the inferno growing under her feet and quickly back flipped away. The growing fires suddenly exploded causing several large chunks of the roof to get blasted into the air. With a quick wave of her crop, the airborne pieces of roof suddenly began glowing purple and collected to form a giant spear like object. Ms. Magic then sent her makeshift battering ram straight toward the ship.

Ms. Red eyes quickly fired three firebolts directly at the oncoming object. However, instead of destroying it, the pieces that composed it simply scattered for a moment and reconstituted. This maneuver did, however, allow enough time for Mr. Bowler hat to angle to ship so the pieces bounced off the top harmlessly.

Ms. Magic waved her crop and the roof pieces split into three separate constructs, which began to circle the aircraft.

Ms. Red eyes, deciding she has had enough of theses delays crossed her arm, which cause a ring of glyphs to appear around her body. After a moment of buildup, she spread her arms apart and a sphere of fire radiated outward in every direction. The flames reduced the roof pieces to ashes and completely severed Bloxx's arms, freeing the airship.

"Hot! Hot! Hot!" Ben exclaimed as he retracted his arms, waving the stubs back and forth to shake off the heat. Once the pain was gone his arms regenerated. Ben flexed his fingers to make sure they were all there.

With her work done, Ms. Red eyes closed the airships hatch, and for Mr. Bowler hat turned the ship away and prepared to fly as fast as this thing was capable.

Ben who was never one for letting the bad guys get away, changed the shape of his hands to form giant rectangular gun barrels, and grew arching chains of bricks out his back which led into an opening on the top of each arm. Ben then proceeded to fire the bricks, which exploded upon contact, at the airship.

Following his example, the girl in red folded her weapon back into a rifle and began taking pot shot at the rising ship. Their efforts however were for naught, as the attacks did little to impede the craft as it reach its desired altitude. The two downward facing engines then turned and pointed backwards and propelled the ship away.

Bloxx shifted his arms back to normal. He considered taping the Omnitrix to change to Astrodactyl to give chase, but then the sound of the device running low on power rang in his ears, and after few seconds and a flash of green, Ben reverted to his human form.

'This isn't over' he told himself, staring at the open sky where the aircraft had been. He was never one to just let bad guys walk away. He would find Mr. Bowler hat and Ms. Red eyes eventually.

The girl in red holstered her weapon on her lower back, under her cape. She stood in silence for a moment. And when she finally spoke it was barley a whisper.

"That… was… so… COOL!" she squealed on the last word, in an admittedly cute high pitch voice. Within seconds she was directly in front of Ben, with a huge smile plaster on her face. Her silver eyes seemed to radiate unlike any star Ben had ever seen. She was bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet as she began bombarding Ben with a series of questions.

"Oh my God, that was amazing. The way you kept the guy from flying off was incredible. And that thing with the arm cannons was awesome. How did you do that? Is it like a special technique you can do? Can you teach me it? Or is it like some like, ultra rare weapon? Where did you get it? Is there only one, or are there more? Would you mind if I tried it out?" she said so fast and excitedly, that it took Ben a second to fully register what she had said.

Ben couldn't help but chuckle, she kind of reminded him of himself when he was younger. He was about to answer when he heard Ms. Magic clear her throat. The girl in red also heard and turned to face her.

"Oh yeah, you're a huntress right?" she asked with the same level of excitement. She bounded over to Ms. Magic, giving her the same bright expression she gave Ben.

"Can I have you autograph?" she asked eagerly.

After Ben's identity had been reveled to the public back on his world, there were plenty of people who wanted to get his signature. And while he didn't always indulges his fans, he usually turned them down in a polite manner. One thing he never did however was place someone under arrest after they asked him for an autograph. But that was the exact response the girl in red got from Ms. Magic. And half an hour later both she an Ben were in a dimly lit small room sitting at a small metal table being chewed out by Ms. Magic.

"I hope you two realize that your actions tonight will not be taken lightly." She said sternly, pacing around the table.

"But they started it!" the girl said, sounding slightly afraid.

"So wait, the two of us stopped a robbery, and we are the ones put on trial?" Ben asked in disbelief.

"The two of you put yourselves and others in danger." Ms. Magic said in response.

Ben rolled his eyes, "Of course we put our selves in danger, that's kind of what being a hero is about. Risking your own skin to protect other people. And who else exactly did we put in danger, there was no one else out in the streets." Ben stated in defense.

"Yeah, what he said." The girl stated half-heartedly.

"The two of you still needed to consider the collateral damages you could have caused. Also you both charged in recklessly, without giving any forethought to your opponents superior numbers and power." Ms. Magic summarized.

"Ok one, I don't think those four thugs could really be considered to have 'greater power', she took those guys out in seconds." Ben said indicating to the girl next to him, who gave a small smile in response.

"And two, you didn't seem to be too concerned with collateral damages to keep from fighting yourself Ms…" Ben indicating he never got her name.

"Goodwitch. Glynda Goodwitch." Glynda stated flatly. "And the only reason I got involved was to protect you two."

"Well Ms. Witch," Ben said, purposely miss pronouncing her obviously misleading name, inciting a harsh glare from the women. "Are you going to throw the book at us or what?"

Glynda gave a sigh while the girl in red tensed up, waiting for a verdict.

"If it were up to me, you'd both be sent home, with a pat on the back..." she said calmly, causing the girl to relax slightly.

"And a slap on the wrist!" she stated firmly, hitting the table top in front of them with her crop, causing the girl to let out a yelp in surprise.

"But…" Glynda added. "There is someone here who wants to see you two." She headed for the only door in the tiny room. "Wait here." She commanded, and quietly left.

Ben propped his arm on the table and leaned against it. This little adventure was just going so well so far.

"Well isn't she just a ray of sunshine?" he asked sarcastically, enticing a small giggle from the girl next to him.

"She didn't have to be so mean about it." She said depressingly. She then smiled at Ben "Thanks for sticking up for me by the way." She added.

"Don't mention it, it's what I do." Ben said simply. He then held out his hand.

"My name's Ben by the way, Ben Tennyson." He stated. The girl took his hand and shook.

"Mine's Ruby Rose. It's nice to meet you Ben." Ruby said with a warm glow.

"Did you really mean it when you told her about when I beat those thugs?" Ruby asked, with a small amount of excitement.

Ben gave a small chuckle, "Yep, I've never seen anybody beat henchmen like that before, it was awesome." He admitted.

"Really?!" Ruby squeaked excitedly. No one had ever really praised her for her fighting skills before.

"Yeah, aren't your other friends just as impressed?" Ben asked, noticing Ruby's eagerness for approval.

Ruby's shoulders fell slightly as her beaming face saddened a little. "Actually, I'm not all that good at making friends."

Ben was surprised, he would have thought that someone as cheerful Ruby would have at least one person to hang around with. Ruby mood did perk up however when she remembered something.

"By the way, you never told me how did that trick on the roof top." She inquired.

Ben sighed slightly. While he was sure he could trust Ruby, fully disclosing all of the information about the Omnitrix had come back to bite him in the past. Getting tricked into allowing all of his alien form to be scanned for what he though was a video game based around him, only to discover it was to create counter measures for a killer robot made by an annoying and sub par TV news reporter, was a prime example.

Still he could tell Ruby meant no harm (to himself anyway).

"Can you keep a secret?" he asked. Ruby quickly nodded yes and leaned in close.

"Well…" Ben began. However his explanation was cut off when the door to the interrogation room opened and through it stepped Glynda and someone new.

Said new person was a man, who looked to be middle aged. He had tousled gray hair and thin brown eyes. He wore shaded glass spectacles and a dark-green scarf with a small purple cross-shaped emblem on it. He wore an unzipped black suit over a black-buttoned vest, with a green undershirt underneath. He also wore black trouser shoes and long, dark-green pants. In his left hand was a mug of what Ben presumed to be coffee, basing that theory off of the steam rising from the cup. In his left hand was a plate of chocolate-chip cookies.

"Ruby Rose," he said identifying her. Ruby stiffened in her chair. The man leaned forward and looked directly into her eyes.

"You… have silver eyes." He noted.

"Uh…" Ruby was unsure how to respond to that.

"Is that somehow important?" Ben inquired.

The man shifted his gaze to Ben. "And I believe you name was Ben Tennyson?" he asked.

"Yeah…" Ben answered.

Glynda pulled out some sort of touch screen device and then displayed a video of both Ruby's and Ben's attempts to stop the store heist.

'That was being recorded?' Ben asked himself when he saw the video.

"So, would the two of you mind explaining how you were capable of such feats?" the man asked, referring to the video. Ben and Ruby glanced at each other for a second before answering.

"You might want to get her answer first." Ben said hitching his thumb to the girl next to him. He knew after explaining his own predicament, everyone else's brains would need a hard reboot.

The man turned his full attention over to Ruby who timidly answered "S-Signal Academy."

"They taught you how to use one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?" he asked. Ben was shocked when he heard this. While he didn't think wielding a weapon that big was easy, he had no idea it was so highly regarded. Kind of the same way with him and the Omnitrix.

"Well, one teacher in particular." She answered.

"I see." The man said cryptically. He then placed the tray of cookies he was holding on the table in front of them. Ruby wasted no time and started to inhale the baked goods one after another.

"It's just that I've only seen one other scythe wielder of that skill before. A dusty old crow..." the man said, causing Ruby to nod in response, her mouth stuffed with what was probably a total of three cookies.

"Faff miy uncll crof." Ruby attempted to say with her mouth full. She swallowed and tried again.

"Sorry, that's my uncle Crow. He's a teacher at Signal. I was complete garbage until he took me under his wing, now I'm all like…" Ruby said as she began striking poses like one would see in old kung-fu movies, to illustrate her point. Ben couldn't help but let out a chuckle, Ruby was adorable.

"So I've noticed." The man said sitting down across from them. He then asked a question that Ben admittedly had at the back of his mind.

"And what is an adorable girl, such as yourself, doing at a school designed to train warriors?"

"Well…" Ruby began, "I want to be a huntress." She said cautiously. Ben remembered her calling Glynda that back on the rooftop.

"You want to slay monsters." The man stated.

"Yeah, I only have two more years of training left at Signal, then I'm going to apply to Beacon." Ruby explained. "You see my sister is starting there this year, and she is trying to become a huntress, and I wanna become a huntress so I can help people. Our parents always taught us to help others, so I thought 'might as well make a career out of it'. I mean the police are alright, but hunters and huntresses are just so much more romantic and exciting and cool and …well ya' know?" she said getting really excited by the prospect of her career.

Glynda just rolled her eyes at Ruby's childish outburst.

"Do you know who I am?" He asked Ruby.

"You're Professor Ozpin, you're the head master at Beacon." Ruby answered.

Ozpin gave a small smile, "Hello." He said finally introducing himself.

"Nice to meet you." Ruby said politely.

Ozpin then looked her dead in her Silver eyes and asked, "You want to come to my school?"

"More than anything." Ruby answered. Ozpin looked over to Glynda, who just looked away, obviously she didn't agree but wasn't going to say anything.

"Well… OK." Ozpin answered. Ruby's face lit up as if it was Christmas. She had finally achieved her goal of being accepted into one of the best, most famous training academies in the world… and two years early.

Ozpin smiled at Ruby's excitement for a moment, before turning to Ben.

"So young man, what's your story?" He asked. Ben sighed and began drumming his fingers on the table.

"Well, my story is a little… crazy." Ben stated out right. And even then he thought he was understating it.

Ozpin simple folded his hand in front of himself, stared directly at Ben and said "Try me."

Ben gave a small smile and glanced over to Ruby who was now eating another cookie (though much slower this time), and looking at Ben with her silver eyes wide open in anticipation.

"Lets just say, I'm not from around here." Ben said trying to stall.

"Meaning?" Ozpin asked. Ben could tell this guy wouldn't settle for anything less than a straight answer. 'This is going to end well' Ben thought.

He took a deep breath, "I'm an alien." He stated bluntly, which resulted in the entire spectrum of reactions.

The extreme reaction came from Ruby who did something she never thought she would ever do, spit out a cookie. The minor reaction came from Ozpin whose eye's just widened slightly. And the dumbfounded reaction came from, of all people, Glynda whose calm, calculating exterior was shattered for a few seconds as her jaw just hung open.

"That's… unexpected." Ozpin stated simply.

"Yeah, see it's like this," Ben continued. "My cousin, who knows magic, was trying to open a magic door back on my world, and she made a mistake and I got pulled here by accident. And I don't even know where 'here' is".

"I see, so you're a being from another world." Ozpin clarified.

"That's what I'm sayin." Ben confirmed

"That is Awesome!" Ruby outright shouted

"That sounds ridiculous." Glynda stated, as if her opinion was the only one that mattered.

"That would explain a few things." Ozpin stated calmly.

"What?" Glynda asked in disbelief. She could believe her boss was actually taking this seriously.

"With all due respect Professor Ozpin, an alien. Really?" she asked. Ben knew that she was probably not going to believe him right away, but did she really need to be so judgmental about it.

Ozpin just smiled, "Then how would you explain the Boy's powers Professor Goodwitch?" he asked simply. Glynda opened her mouth to respond, but then realized she couldn't. She had never seen anything like the power Ben had in her entire life.

Ozpin continued, "Ben's power is clearly other worldly, would it not make sense that he is, in fact, from another world." Glynda bit her lower lip. While that blanket statement sounded like there could plenty of room to poke hole in its logic, it did make sense.

Ozpin turned back to address Ben. "So Benjamin, what purpose do you have coming to our world?" A very legit question.

Ben shrugged, "Nothing really. Like I said, the only reason I'm here is because of an accident. I don't even know how to get home, and the only reason I tried to stop those thugs was because it was the right thing to do." He explained

"Where do your powers come from?" Ozpin asked. Ben could hear Ruby's chair creak as she leaned in closer, finally she would get her answer.

Ben rolled up his green jackets left sleeve and displayed the Omnitrix on the tabletop. "This device is called the Omnitrix. It was created by the lead member of a super intelligent alien species called the Galvin. What it does is artificially rearranges my DNA to shape shift into every sentient species in the Milky Way galaxy." He explained.

Now even Ozpin's mouth was open in sheer shock.

"That is so cool." Ruby said breathlessly.

"Now I know you are making this up." Glynda said sternly. Ben just glared at her.

"You saw me transform with your own eyes." Ben said to prove his point.

"I don't know what I saw, but the idea that a device that small could be so powerful is ludicrous." She argued.

"Glynda, please," Ozpin interrupted. "What possible motive would he have for lying to us?" he asked, using simple logic. "What's more, if he was going to lie, don't you think he would pick a less obvious one?" he stated calmly.

Glynda just sighed in defeat. She knew what was coming next, but was powerless to stop it, no matter how much she objected.

Ozpin folded his hands in front of his face for a moment, then spoke. "I want to make a deal with you Ben."

"Uh, ok" Ben said.

"I want you to attend at Beacon." he said firmly. Ben was surprised… kinda. To be honest with himself, he thought was going to be part of the deal. Still with the way Ruby reacted to the thought of going to this school, clearly it was a exclusive place.

Ozpin continued, "And in return, I will do everything in my power to send you home."

Ben smiled, "Thanks, but I'm positive that my cousin Gwen is already trying to find a way to bring me back." He assured Ozpin.

"Do you know, how long that it's going to take?" Ozpin asked in response.

"Uh… not exactly, no." Ben admitted. Gwen was good with magic, but pulling someone out of a world she didn't even know existed would probably be a challenge.

"Well then why don't you enroll in the meantime? It could give you a chance to do something good with your time." Ozpin pointed out. Ben thought about it. While he had this nagging feeling that he was being pressured into going to some school for kids with awesome weapons to learn how to fight monster and grow up to be heroes… wait why was he still considering this.

"Well I guess I've got nothing better to do, or anywhere else to go, so sure I'll go to Beacon." Ben answered.

"Excellent." Ozpin said.

"Whoo, this year is going to be awesome!" Ruby cheered.

Glynda just hung her head in defeat.

Ozpin stood up, "Semester starts tomorrow, both of you will be driven to transports first thing in the morning. Until then, I would take the time to prepare yourselves." He offered. And with that he tuned and headed out the door, with Glynda tailing behind him, rubbing her temples.

"Wait classes start tomorrow?" He asked Ruby.

"Yep." Was her answer. Ben grimaced slightly.

"Uh would you if I borrowed some spare notebooks and pencils?" he asked.

Ruby was about to say sure but then a thought occurred. She then got a smug grin.

"Sure thing Ben… if you let me try on the Omnitrix." She bargained.

Ben chuckled, "Sorry Ruby, no can do."

"Awww, come on, pleeeeeese?" she begged, batting her silver eyes at him.

"I couldn't even if I wanted to, it's code locked to my DNA, so only I can use it." Ben explained, causing Ruby to pout.

"Well that's not fair." She grumbled.

"Is there any way to bring him back?" Kevin asked pacing the length of the garage for the millionth time.

"I don't know Kevin, I'm trying as hard as I can to find and answer, and you're not helping." Gwen snapped back. For the last hour since Ben disappeared, she had been sitting in front of the blasted doorway that had abducted her cousin and using her magic to keep half a dozen book levitating off the ground in front of her facing, skimming the pages as fast as she could trying to find a spell that could assist her. For some reason she was having a difficult time sensing his mana.

"Isn't there like some tracking spell you could use to find him?" Kevin asked

"I don't know" was Gwen's response.

"Perhaps you could alter you previous wording that opened the Door to Anywhere so it will not become a vortex?" Rook suggested.

"I don't know" Gwen said a second time.

"Is it possible he was just sent to Ledgerdomain?" Kevin asked

"I DON'T KNOW!" Gwen yelled, causing a sudden pulse of mana to radiate off of her, causing all small objects in the garage to go flying. All the books floating in front of her dropped to the ground. Kevin and Rook both took a step back and braced themselves for Gwen wrath, but it never came. Instead, after a minuet of silence, Gwen just held her face in her hands and began crying. Kevin cautiously, sat down next to her and put his arm around her shoulder.

"What did I do Kevin? It's all my fault. It's all my fault!" she sobbed.

"Of course it's not your fault, Gwen. You had no idea what was going to happen." Kevin said holding her closer. "If anything it's Ben's fault. It was his stupid phrase that caused this to happen." He stated.

"But I'm still the one who used it." She cried. She and Kevin just sat there for a few moments, Gwen resting her head on his shoulder.

"What if we never find him?" Gwen asked.

"Oh I wouldn't be too concerned with that." Said a cheerful voice from behind them. Kevin and Gwen both turned to see a tall middle aged man wearing what looked like a steam punk lab coat and black pants. In his left hand was a cane, and his right hand looked to be mechanical. He wore green tinted goggles around his neck and had short black hair, which was gray at the roots.

"Professor Paradox!" Kevin exclaimed.

"Hello everyone." Paradox greeted in his kindly way. "Gwen, how has collage life been treating you?" he asked with genuine care.

"Uh ok I guess." She answered. "Listen Professor, we need help. See one of my spells miss fired, and I accidentally…" Gwen began but was cut short when Paradox simply held his hand up.

"There is no need Gwen, I am already aware." Paradox said.

"Y-you do?" Gwen asked.

"Of course, I know everything." He said simply.

"So then that means you know where Ben is." Gwen said with hope in her voice.

"I do." Paradox confirmed

"So you could tell us where he is!" Gwen exclaimed happily.

"I could." Paradox said. Kevin had noticed the pattern in Paradox's answers.

"But you're not going to tell us, are you." Kevin stated.

"No Kevin, I'm afraid not." Paradox answered. Gwen didn't take this very well.

"What! Why not?" she demanded, enraged at the time traveler.

"Because Ben has just become a major player in a series of events on another world. His very presence could change this world for the better, and removing his presence would be irresponsible." Paradox described

"Irresponsible!?" Gwen exclaimed. "Well what about all of his responsibilities here? His hero work, his school work, his friends and family, what about all that?" she demanded angrily.

"I have already foreseen everything and taken care of it Gwen. Rest assured you will see Ben in time." Paradox stated. Gwen let out a sigh and composed herself.

"Then why are you here?" she asked in the kindest way she could.

"To alleviate your fears, of course." He said, as if obvious. "I'm here to tell you that young Ben is fine. He is safe and in good health. So there is no need to worry about him." Paradox explained.

Gwen just stared at the ground for a few seconds. She contemplated Paradox's words. After about a minuet, she sighed.

"Alright, thanks for the update." She said quietly. "But the second that anything changes I want to know about it." She demanded.

"Understood." Paradox said, and in a flash of blue light, he disappeared.

Gwen, Kevin and Rook simply stood in silence for a few moments. It was Rook who finally broke the silence.

"I shall inform Magister Tennyson about the information Paradox gave to us." Rook stated while headed towards the door.

"Actually Rook, I think I should be the one to tell grandpa." Gwen said pulling out her Plumbers badge and leaving the room to make the call.

Rook turned to see Kevin leaning on the closed garage door, with a look of intense thought on his face.

"Tayden for your thoughts Kevin." He asked. It took Kevin a few seconds to respond.

"Think he'll be alright?" Kevin asked, small traces of concern in his voice, though he would deny it.

Rook considered all the time he spent with Ben and came up with an answer. "While it is true that Ben can be something of a loose plasma rifle, he has also shown to be quite adaptable. I believe Ben will do just fine."

Kevin smiled, Rook had a point. Ben was always unpredictable. And that was what always allowed him to win. And hey, if Kevin couldn't beat Ben using his own powers against him, what chance did some other poor schmucks have? A thought that gave him comfort.

Wherever you are Tennyson, be safe.