Chapter 4: Who Let the Dogs Out
I honestly didn't expect as many people to follow this story in a single day as there are. Not to mention one of the authors of one of my favorite Ben 10 crossovers! You know who you are…heh heh.
Anyway, here is another chapter of "Fibers of the Universe," and in it we will finally be witnessing things from Ryuko's perspective as well as the official introduction to Senketsu.
In response to Guest: No, I don't necessarily think Ben will have to hold back in any of his fights, so long as his opponents are actually wearing Goku Uniforms. If you've watched Kill la Kill, then you know just how strong those things can make a person. I will admit, however, that there are at least three (possibly four) of Ben's aliens that WOULD need to keep their strength in check, but they will only be used against the heaviest of hitters.
As always, thank you to everyone who favorited and followed this story!
AlucardsBro OUT!
Ben 10 is owned by ManOfAction and Kill la Kill is owned by Studio Trigger
Ryuko was having a…peculiar…morning to say the very least.
Walking along the sloping streets of Honnou City with Mako prattling along at her side, the teenage girl's thoughts were fully dominated by the events that had occurred the previous evening. It all seemed way too surreal to possibly be true. I mean come on…ALIENS? It was such a ridiculous concept, but if Ryuko was being completely honest with herself she couldn't really come up with anything better to describe the creatures Ben had turned into.
Speaking of Ben…
Apparently they were in the same class; though Ryuko didn't feel to particularly bad about not recognizing him since he looked pretty ordinary, aside from the fact that he was obviously from America.
"Your blood is beginning to taste quite bitter…are you getting worked up again Ryuko?"
The dark-haired girl scowled.
Oh, and that was ANOTHER thing!
After getting the shit kicked out of her by Fukuroda and making her last minute escape, Ryuko had returned to her childhood home. Or at least what was left of it…
Anyway, while she had been searching through the remnants of her house, the floor had suddenly caved in underneath her and she'd fallen into some kind of underground basement.
After a series of events that led her to being stripped down to her underwear by a fucking SENTIENT SAILOR UNIFORM, the freaky thing had forced her to wear itself. That, in turn, had led to a rather embarrassing transformation.
"You do know that I can hear your thoughts, correct?"
"Shut up!" she hissed between her teeth.
The thing obviously didn't know when to keep quiet either.
"Did you say something Ryuko?"
Ryuko blinked in surprise, having momentarily forgotten that she was walking right next to Mako. "A-ah, no."
"Okie-dokey!"
…
While Mako was without a doubt the most spontaneous and random person she had ever met, Ryuko couldn't help but smile and relax and her new friend's innocent nature.
"Oh hey! I nearly forgot to ask you what you think about Benny!" Mako questioned cheerfully.
Ryuko merely raised an eyebrow. "Benny?"
"Well yeah, he's my second bestie now. So he's gotta have a nickname!"
The blue-eyed girl snorted at Mako's questionable logic before resting her hands in her pockets and thinking back on last night.
(Flashback)
"I guess subtlety is out of the question now anyways…it's nice to meet you. My name is Ben Tennyson."
Ryuko stared in surprise at the outstretched hand being offered to her, before looking up to meet Ben's eyes. Was he serious? She was pointing her Scissor Blade directly at him and the first thing he does was casually introduce himself?!
Realizing that this wasn't going to go as smoothly as he'd hoped, Ben sighed and retracted his hand. "Look, Ryuko right? I'm not going to try and fight you if that's what you're worried about. I wouldn't have tried to step in otherwise."
"How do you know my name then?"
Ben offered her a blank look. "Well, Fukuroda DID scream it at the top of his lungs on the PA System…not to mention that he called you by name when you showed up to rescue Mako."
Ryuko scowled and her cheeks turned slightly pink. "Oh, right."
Their discussion was spectacularly interrupted when Mako basically teleported from her place on the ground to right up in Ben's personal space. "WOW! That was so cool! You turned into that dinosaur-thingy right? I guess that means that you're Rath too huh, but between you and me I like Rath better than the blue one; he's really funny and loud!"
Ben chuckled nervously and stepped back. "Uh…thanks?"
Mako nodded with a smile. "You're welcome Benny!"
"Benny?"
"Well yeah! You saved us, which means you must at least like us! And if you like us, then that means we have to be best friends!"
Ben blinked dumbly before glancing over Mako's shoulder at Ryuko. "Is she always like this…?"
The blue-eyed girl sighed and gave him an exasperated look.
"Yeah, pretty much. But enough about us; I think its time you told us how you turned into those monsters." The way she phrased her statement made it perfectly clear that Ben wasn't going to get a choice in the matter.
Sighing and rolling up his left sleeve, the brown-hared teen held up his arm for both of them to see. "This device is called the Ultimatrix. Inside of it is stored DNA from over a million alien species all across the Universe, and it lets me turn into about a hundred or so of them at a time."
Judging by Ryuko's reaction, she was obviously having quite a hard time believing that everything he said was true. Mako, on the other hand, took all of the information in stride and nodded sagely as if it were one of the most obvious things in the world.
"RIIIIIIIIIIIGHT. Aliens. Let's say that I actually believe you; show us another one of these transformations of yours and maybe we'll call it even," Ryuko snorted, leaning her Scissor Blade across her shoulders.
Ben gave her a peculiar look before smirking. "Sure, I could even give you two a ride home if you'd like; but to be honest, you should probably change into something a little more conservative first." Even as he said this, his cheeks turned a bit red.
Ryuko blinked, before looking down and suddenly realizing that she was still wearing the thing that had attacked her in her dad's basement.
The red Scissor Blade fell to the street with a clang, and its owner let out a screech while sinking into a mortified crouch and covering herself up with her hands.
"TURN AROUND!"
Having dealt with strong-willed women for most of his life, Ben knew when not to question such a command. Spinning on his heel, the Ultimatrix-wielder faced away from the two girls and stared straight ahead.
"So…uh…do you have anything else to wear?"
While he couldn't see her reaction, he could almost FEEL the searing glare the unfortunate girl sent his way. "No…"
However, almost as soon as she'd said this, steam erupted from within her outfit before it suddenly converted back into a regular looking sailor school uniform. Still red with embarrassment, Ryuko slowly stood up and moved her hands back down to her sides. "Well that's pretty fuckin' convenient…"
Looking up at Ben, she noticed that he was still facing away from her.
"You can look now…"
The young hero turned around slowly, almost as if he were afraid to do so, before visibly sagging in relief on seeing that Ryuko's clothes now looked relatively normal. "So, uh, how about that ride home?"
Mako bounced over and danced around Ben in excitement. "You're gonna turn into another alien?! Aw let me see, let me see, let me see!"
Ben just chuckled nervously before raising his left arm and activating the Ultimatrix. Despite Ryuko's earlier embarrassment and Mako's uncontrollable enthusiasm, both girls leaned forward in curiosity as a green hologram of some kind of strange bug-like creature materialized into place over the watch's faceplate.
"Ohhhh! Are you gonna turn into that one?"
The teenage boy smiled at the brown-eyed girl's innocent astonishment, but shook his head in the negative. "Nope, I've got someone else in mind."
Continuing to cycle through his various available transformations, Ben eventually seemed to find the one that he was looking for. Looking up at his classmates, he gave them a mysterious grin.
"Alright, you two might want to take a few steps back."
Mako didn't appear to heed his warning, but nonetheless Ryuko pulled her friend back a respectable distance. Nodding once he was satisfied with their position, Ben raised his right hand over the selected hologram with the grin still on his face. "It's hero time!"
Slamming his hand down on the faceplate, Ben was engulfed in a flash of light; obscuring him from his audience's vision.
Once the light had receded. Ryuko and Mako looked back up to see what appeared to be a large orange dog with no eyes, ears, nose, or tail. It's posture, however, was somewhat reminiscent of a gorilla.
Its teeth were quite defined, and jutted out from its lower jaw in a jagged formation. Along its back and forearms, strange quill-like protrusions rose above the rest of its fur and pointed back and upwards. Three gills ran along the under and up to the side of its thick neck, and vicious looking claws were on each of its hands and feet.
And on its chest, was the green hourglass symbol that had been on Ben's watch.
The creature let out a bellow and loped up to the two girls; each of whom were reacting to what had just occurred quite differently. Ryuko, on one hand, took a couple of steps back and raised her Scissor Blade halfway, while Mako had a wide smile on her face.
"It's a giant doggy!"
Wildmutt cocked his head to the side, obviously having not been expecting such a statement. Shaking his head, sending bits of drool flying, Ben turned to the side and crouched down while still looking at the girls.
Ryuko blinked and lowered her blade. "You want us to get on…?"
Ben let out an affirmative grunt, although apparently Mako hadn't thought his reply was necessary, as she was already sitting just above his brawny shoulders and bouncing in place excitedly.
Hesitating momentarily, Ryuko took several tentative steps forward before eventually climbing up to sit behind her friend; grabbing fistfuls of the Vulpimancer's fur to hang on.
Once he was sure that both girls were securely in place, Wildmutt let out a bellowing roar and reared up on his back legs before galloping out of the alleyway and into the main street. Weaving around and jumping over cars and any other obstacles in his path, Ben continued to follow a scent that could not have possibly belonged to anyone other than Mako's family.
Leaping onto a wall; his claws dug into the side of the building as he climbed his way up and over the side onto the roof. Sprinting across the top of the building; once he reached the edge of the roof he took an enormous jump and landed on the next structure, before continuing his path across the rooftops.
Mako let out a cheering laugh of joy, waving her hands in the air as she enjoyed the ride without a care in the world. Ryuko, on the other hand, was painfully fisting handfuls of Wildmutt's fur as tightly as she could in a desperate attempt to stay in place.
Climbing down the side of the last building, Ben returned to the ground and came to a halt directly in front of a dimly lit shack in the poor district of Honnou City.
"Awwww…we're here already?" Mako whined, not wanting to end their joyride so quickly. Behind her, Ryuko all but fell off of the Vulpimancer's back and dragged herself across the ground with a pitiful groan. "Oh God, I think i'm gonna hurl…"
Completely ignorant of her friend's plight, Mako easily slid down and gave Wildmutt's thick neck a hug.
"Thanks for the ride Benny, see you at school tomorrow!"
Ben sat on his haunches and watched Mako disappear into the house before turning his head towards Ryuko, who in return was filling him with a baleful glare from her place in the dirt. "I hate you so much…" she growled without any bite to her words.
Despite his current form, Wildmutt's lips curled into something that suspiciously resembled a smirk before he stood back up and turned away; bounding into the darkness back towards Honnouji Academy.
Shakily rising to her feet, Ryuko shambled into the Mankanshoku household; ready to finally get a good night's sleep after such a crazy day.
(End Flashback)
She never had fallen asleep last night…
Between the freaky sailor-uniform attempting to talk to her every thirty seconds, and Mako's dad and little brother trying to perv on her, Ryuko hadn't been able to close her eyes for even a minute. Her bad mood hadn't lasted too long however, as Mako's bubbly personality was rather infectious.
As the two girls approached the entrance to Honnouji Academy, they spotted Ben reading a sign posted directly in the middle of the foyer.
"Hey man, what are you doing down here? Don't you live up in the dorms?" Ryuko questioned with a raised eyebrow.
Turning around, the Ultimatrix-wielder offered them a smile. "Oh hey you two; and to answer your question, I DO live in the dorms, but I heard about a Student Council billboard being set up and…well…just look…"
Coming up to stand beside their newest friend, Ryuko and Mako began to read the latest declaration from Satsuki Kiyuin's personal desk.
"To Ryuko Matoi and the creature that defeated Takaharu Fukurode: This is a declaration of challenge! I expect the both of you to have enough honor to accept; however, if you do not I will send someone to forcibly apprehend you."
"What the hell? Is the head-bitch really calling us out already?" Ryuko frowned before smirking smugly. "Heh, guess she isn't confident enough to ignore us after all!"
Ben shook his head.
"No, I may have only known Satsuki for a single day, but it doesn't seem like her to personally want to fight us when she acts so high-and-mighty all of the time…"
The blue-eyed girl just shrugged in response before continuing to walk into the school courtyard. "Whatever; I don't care when it happens, but I'll get the answers I need out of here sooner or later."
As the trio entered the campus, a volley of high-speed tennis balls suddenly flew in out of nowhere and impacted Mako directly in the face, drawing shocked looks from both Ben and Ryuko.
"What the hell?! Mako! Are you okay?!"
"Oh COME ON…now what?"
And there we go.
I'm sorry that there wasn't really any action in this chapter, but I still feel like the character development was still necessary.
Also, it has recently come to my attention that several people want Satsuki to eventually end up in the pairing as well. Is that something the rest of you guys would want to see happen?
Anyways, thanks for reading and reviews are always appreciated.
AlucardsBro OUT!