Hey guys, sorry this took so long. Life just kept getting in the way. Hopefully, you can find it in your hearts to forgive me for taking so long. Then again this is the internet.
A heads up, this is the first, meaningful chapter of completely original content, so I hope you enjoy it. Just know that I've been watching a lot of Sonic Boom lately, so my writing might be a bit more self aware than usual. Hopefully, I don't offend anyone with my jokes. Who am I kidding? This is the internet.
Without further ado, the disclaimer.
Disclaimer: The following is a crossover between Man of Action Studio's "Ben 10" franchise and Rooster Teeth's "RWBY" series. All characters and settings belong to their respective owners. The plot is simply a retelling of the original "RWBY" storyline if the cast had help from another dimension.
Chapter 14: Homecoming
Things had only been getting weirder for Ben, and that was saying something. Ever since his last encounter with Roman, Ben couldn't get their last conversation out of his head. Why was Roman so interested in Galvanic Mechamorphs? He said that he needed to know the name of the species so he could insult his co-workers. Did that mean he was working with a Mechamorph? It didn't make any sense.
"Hey, Ben, are you okay?" a familiar voice said behind him as he walked through the dorms.
Turning around, Ben saw Ruby, the rest of Teams RWBY and JNPR, as well as Sun and Neptune behind him.
"Yeah, I just have a lot on my mind," Ben said as he stopped at his dorm to go in.
"Mind if we come in? You look distressed," Weiss asked.
"Knock yourselves out," Ben answered as he went inside.
When he stepped through the door, Ben noticed he was receiving a call on his dimensional communicator. He quickly walked to his desk and answered the call, forgetting all of his worries when a very familiar face appeared on the holographic screen. The person on screen was an elderly human man. His hair was white from age and his eyes were squinted. He was a bit on the chubby side and wore a red, tropical shirt covered with a floral print. It was the man Ben admired most of all.
"Grandpa Max!" Ben cheered in excitement.
"Good to see you too, Ben," Max said with a smile," How have you been?"
"I'm great! Though, I have to ask, why are you calling?"
"Well, with you spending the last couple of months in another dimension, the Omnitrix hasn't been getting its usual software updates through wireless transmission," Max explained.
"Huh, I thought it has been mistransforming a bit more often than usual," Ben remarked.
"So now Azmuth has to come by to give the Omnitrix its updates manually," Max continued, before putting on a more serious express, "Also, there's something I think you need to see."
"Sure thing, Grandpa, but how am I going to get to Earth?" Ben asked.
"Don't worry, we have it covered. Just wait at the school's courtyard and we'll take care of everything," Max responded with a warm smile, "You can even bring your friends along if you want to."
"Sure thing, Grandpa. See you soon," Ben said as he hung.
"What was that about?" Yang asked.
"Grab your things, everyone!" We're going on a roadtrip!" Ben exclaimed.
"A roadtrip? Where?" Jaune asked.
"Home," Ben answered.
"Isn't that paradoxical?" Neptune questioned.
A few minutes later, Team RWBY, Team JNPR, Sun, Neptune, and Ben were all gathered in the courtyard. They stood there for a minute before a flash of light appeared in front of them. When the light dimmed, there was a white and green building with what appeared to be a giant smoothie cup acting as the center of the building with the words 'Mr. Smoothy' written across it.
"Of course, the cross-dimensional Mr. Smoothy!" Ben yelled.
"The what?" everyone else asked.
Before Ben could answer, the front door opened, revealing Ben's plumber partner, Rook Blanko.
"Ben!" Rook called out as he stepped outside.
"Long time no see, partner," Ben said as the two shared a fist bump before turning to the Remnant residents, "This is my partner, Rook. He's a bit weird, but he's cool."
"Must you say that every time you introduce me to friends whom I have not met before," Rook jokingly mocked him before addressing the others, "I am Rook Blanko. It is a pleasure to meet all of you. Thank you for putting up with my partner's antics."
"Okay, that was just plain uncalled for," Ben yelled as he held open the door to the Mr. Smoothy, "Everybody in."
Once everyone was inside, they were greeted by the owner of the cross-dimensional Mr. Smoothy, Professor Hokestar. He was a humanoid alien with green skin, red hair, a mustache, and four arms. He wore a red suit and matching top hat and had golden stars and goggles.
"Benjamin, my boy, it's good to see you again," Hokestar cheered at the sight of his semi-regular customer and occasional sponsor, "I it seems you brought customers. May I interest any of you in a smoothie?"
"Sorry professor, maybe later," Ben apologized, "We just need a ride."
"But of course, anything to my most loyal customer," Hokestar said as he went to the back where the controls were.
"Unfortunately, that is not saying much," Rook said off handedly.
After a few seconds, a pinwheel shaped, rainbow colored, aura could be seen outside the store's windows. The light soon faded, leaving the view of a moderately busy city street.
"What was that?!" Jaune yelled in a panic.
"There is no need to panic, that was simply a pinwheel inter-dimensional aura," Rook explained.
"What?" Nora asked obliviously.
"It just means we've traveled through dimensions," Ben explained in layman's terms, "Thanks for the ride professor! We'll be sure to buy something on the return trip!"
"And I await for your return!"
When the group stepped out of the store, they saw a city of multiple skyscrapers and surprisingly blue skies. The store itself was lodged in the corner of one of the skyscrapers despite looking like a standalone building. The streets were felled with people, all with a look of relative content on their faces. And the best part, not a single hint of a Grimm to be found.
"Everyone, welcome to Bellwood!" Ben cheered.
"Impressive," Ren complemented.
"I must say, this is quite a wonderful city," Pyrrha added.
"Well, when you don't have mindless monsters constantly attack your civilizations, it makes it pretty easy to build them big and wide spread," Ben explained.
"But Ben, Bellwood still gets attacked by mindless monsters, as well as common and alien crooks, on a fairly regular basis," Rook argued.
"That was after civilization was established and Earth had alien contact," Ben countered.
"Fair enough," Rook agreed.
"So, how do we get to this 'Plumber Base' of yours?" Yang asked.
"The honor is yours," Rook said with a smile.
"Thanks," Ben responded before bring the Omnitrix to his mouth, "Ben to Plumber Base, twelve to teleport."
No sooner after he spoke, the group found themselves enveloped in a green light. When the light faded, they found themselves in front of a large, metal sheet and faced with a device resembling a laser blaster operated by two Galvan. The Galvan, of course, were none other than Blukic and Driba, the tech-support crew of the Earth Plumber Base.
"You are now arriving at Plumber Base," Blukic read off of a Galvan sized clipboard, "Barf bags are on your right. Any lingering dizziness is perfectly normal."
Upon hearing this, Jaune (who was a dark shade of green at this point) quickly grabbed a barf bag and hurled into it like there was no tomorrow.
"There, there, Barf Boy," Yang said in a comforting manner as she patted Jaune on the back.
"I can't believe it!" Nora yelled as she pressed her face to a nearby window, "We're in a space station! In space!"
"That is what the name entails," Rook commented.
"Since when did you get so good at making deadpan jokes," Ben asked suspiciously.
"I am your partner and a Plumber assigned to Earth. It is only natural that I learn a few of the customs of this planet."
"Whatever," Ben said, waving off the topic with a free hand, "Let's just find Grandpa. I promised to give the guys a tour of the base and Bellwood after this."
As the group made their way through the base, Sun noticed something odd about Blake. She was quiet. Well, quieter than usual. He thought that she would have had some sort of reaction to all of the things they've seen in the last few minutes.
"Hey, Ruby," Sun whispered, "Does Blake seem a bit more dark and brooding than usual to you?"
"Well, now that you mention it…" Ruby started, but was cut off by Ben.
"Grandpa Max! Azmuth!" Ben yelled as he began to run.
However, his sprint was cut short when a barrier of pink energy appeared in front of him. Unable to stop in time, Ben crashed face first into the wall and was pressed flat against it.
"Don't we get a greeting?" a familiar female voice said behind Ben.
Turning around, Ben saw two people who he considered some of his closest friends in the Omniverse. One of them was a girl his age with a blue, cat tee-shirt, a blue plaid skirt, blue glasses, and short, red hair. The boy next to her was one year Ben's senior and had torn jeans, a black, torn tee-shirt with a grey long-sleeved shirt underneath, holsters, and a black mullet. They were none other than Ben's cousin Gwen and her boyfriend and his best friend Kevin.
"Kevin! Gwen!" Ben yelled as he ran up and gave them a group hug, "Any more surprises?"
"Guess who," yet another voice said as a pair of hands fell over Ben's eyes.
"Is that the future Mrs. Tennyson I hear?" Ben half joked.
"Wait, what?!" Ruby yelled in surprise.
"I thought you said you would stop saying that," the owner of the voice said as she removed her hands from Ben's face.
Turning around, Ben came face to face with a Native American girl his age. She had black hair pulled into a ponytail, dark skin, and brown eyes. She wore an outfit fit for an archeologist, consisting of a red and peach sweater, green shorts held up by multiple belts, a pair of brown boots, and brown gloves. It was not other than Ben's girlfriend, Kai Green.
"What? Can't a guy tease his girlfriend about an incident where a time traveler claimed that the two of them were married in the future?" Ben asked jokingly, "Besides, what are you doing here anyway?"
"My grandfather was a Plumber too, remember?" Kai explained.
"Kai here has become a leading member of the Plumber's Alien Artifact Analysis Agency, studying all of the prehistoric alien interactions on Earth," Max added.
"Really? That's great!" Ben yelled as he pulled his girlfriend into a hug.
Upon seeing this girl so close to Ben, the Remnant residents had varying looks of complete confusion and disbelief. Ben smirked at their reactions before he addressed their thoughts.
"What? Did you guys honestly think a guy as awesome as me couldn't get a girlfriend?" Ben asked mockingly, his arm still around Kai.
"Well, no…," Ruby admitted.
"We just never considered you actually had one," Ren explained.
"Is that so?" Rook injected, "Truth be told, Ben is rather popular with females of multiple species. Including Miss Green, Ben has had some sort of romantic attachment with seven humans, one of which was a much older married woman with a son only two Earth years younger than himself…"
"Ew," the Remnant residents said in unison.
"In my defense, it was nothing serious," Ben added.
"… a human construct generated by a prototype of the Omnitrix…" Rook continued.
"Long story," Gwen mentioned.
"… a Tetramand princess…"
"Who was Kevin's unwanted fiancée before he pawned her off on Ben," Gwen added.
"Another long story," Keven waved off.
"No it's not, the whole thing could be explained in twenty two minutes," Ben countered.
"… an Incursian Princess…"
"Who has tried to kill me multiple times," Ben defended.
"… and a Kraho Cheiftan," Rook finished, "Although, it should be noted that that most of the alien suitors were more interested in Ben's alien form of their respective species than Ben himself."
"Wow, talk about a Casanova," Neptune commented.
"This coming from the Casanova wannabe?" Blake enquired.
"And a retract my previous statement," Neptune said quickly.
"Ahem," Azmuth yelled, pretending to clear his throat, "As 'interesting' as this conversation is, can we please get to what is really important here? Mainly the Omnitrix's software updates and the important intelligence we called Ben in for in the first place?"
"Right, sorry!" Ben yelled as he ran over to Azmuth, who was standing on one of the nearby computers, and held out the Omnitrix.
"Rook, why don't you take Ben's friends on a tour of the base?" Max suggested, "These software updates are going to take a while. We'll call you back when Ben's updates are complete."
"Of course, Magister Tennyson," Rook saluted before turning to Gwen, Kevin, and Kai, "Care to assist me?"
"I don't see why not," Gwen answered.
"I guess," Kevin responded, though his eyes gave off a hint of suspicion.
"Sorry," Kai apologized, "I'm still on the clock. I'll catch up with you guys later."
"Understood," Rook nodded before leading the group through the base.
The group from Remnant saw many things they never knew existed. First was the command center, which was filled to the brim with aliens. Each species was unique with various shapes, sizes, and colors. Granted, there were still a good number of humans present. The strange thing was that many of the aliens looked similar to some sort of animal that could be found on Earth or Remnant, such as Magister Patelliday whose head resembled an anglerfish and Jerry from Inhuman Resources who resembled a mole with an admittedly fashionable mustache.
Other locations included Blukic and Driba's lab, which was currently a war zone, and the prison. In the lab, the two Galvan somehow caused a prototype laser cannon to start firing off randomly, leaving the two of them to run for cover. The good news was that Ruby was able to stop it with a single slice using Crescent Rose. The bad news was that Blukic and Driba had to rebuild the prototype from scratch. In the prison, there had a variety of prisoners behind reinforced glass cage doors. Prisoners ranged from the bad boy, human, gang leader Fisttrick to the alien, gang leader and servant-for-hire Psyphon. As they walked by the individual cells, Ruby tapped Rook's shoulder to ask a very odd question.
"Hey, Rook," Ruby asked, "How long have Ben and Kai been a thing?"
"Not long, actually," Rook answered, "The two of them only started dating a few months before we went on our intergalactic roadtrip."
"They do have a pretty complicated history," Gwen explained, "They first met when we were ten and it was pretty much love at first sight for Ben. Unfortunately, this was also around the time Ben got Blitzwolfer and Kai was only interested in that alien form. She wanted to train him like a dog."
"Ouch, talk about harsh," Jaune commented.
"Been rejected a few times yourself?" Nora asked jokingly.
"Why must everything I say turn on me?" Jaune yelled at the ceiling.
"Six Earth years later, the two of them met up again for Plumber business," Rook continued, "From then on, they grew to respect each other a bit more before tangling the string, although they were at each other's necks most of the time."
"I think you mean 'tying the knot,' man," Kevin interjected, his gaze not leaving the group from Remnant.
"Okay, what is your problem?" Weiss yelled, tired of Kevin constantly staring at them.
"I feel like I've seen you guys somewhere before," Kevin explained, stroking his chin.
"That's ridiculous, Kevin," Gwen said as she held up her hands in front of her, letting them and her eyes glow pink, "They're from another dimension. Plus, I'm sure I would have recognized Mana signatures as strong as theirs."
"Actually, I must agree with Kevin," Rook said as he held a his personal scanner to Ruby's face, "There is something oddly familiar about these people that I cannot comprehend."
After a few seconds of scanning Ruby, Rook's scanner displayed the results of its scan on its holographic screen. Its findings were surprising to say the least.
"Kevin, I believe I found the reason for our guests' strange sense of familiarity," Rook said as he put away his scanner and pulled out his personal, Plumber issue tablet.
"And?" Kevin pressed.
Rook simply kept quiet as he turned his tablet to face the rest of the group. On it was an internet page of a website known as Youtube with a video playing titled 'RWBY Chapter 1: Ruby Rose'. The video played the events that transpired when Ben first arrived in Remnant, with the only difference being that Ben was not involved in any of the events. When the video reached its end, it displayed both Teams RWBY and JNPR alongside Professors Ozpin and Goodwitch in an admittedly stylish sequence. To say that everyone was shocked was an understatement.
"I would appear that they are the very same individuals from the web show in you introduced to me last month," Rook explained as he put away the tablet.
"Okay, this makes like zero sense," Yang said as she tried to collect her thoughts.
Before anyone could even create a theory for this strange discovery, Rook, Gwen, and Kevin all noticed they received a message on their Plumbers badges. Ben's updates to the Omnitrix's software were apparently finished right as they made this revelation and they were being called back to discuss the other matter Ben was contacted for.
Once everyone was back in the command center, Azmuth prepared a presentation of sorts for them. However, everyone was still talking about the weird web show that apparently told of the events going on in Remnant. When Ben was told about this, he was as shocked as everyone else. Having enough of the group's foolishness, Azmuth decided to put their worries to rest.
"You humans and Faunus can really be dim, can't you," Azmuth huffed, "With infinite universes, there are infinite possibilities. If someone can imagine it, there is a universe where those events exist and vice versa."
"So, there is a very real possibility that this universe that we live in could very well be a simple television show in another universe?" Rook asked.
"Of course! And there is also a likely chance that that show has a rabid fanbase that criticizes everything that happens in and to it, from art direction to retcons to story events," Azmuth answered, "Now, can we please move on to the actually important matter at hand."
"Right, sorry," Ben said, rubbing his head in embarrassment.
Finally having everyone's attention, Azmuth pulled out a remote from his sleeve and used it to activate a holographic projector he had on the desk. On the screen was a video of a boy who looked like an eleven-year-old Ben sweeping the street of what appeared to be a miniature city, in which most of the buildings would only be suitable for Galvan. The boy had white hair, red eyes, and wore a red tee-shirt with a black strip down the middle and around the head and arm holes, as well as grey cargo pants and a brace on an arm and a leg. It was none other than Azmuth's former assistant, Albedo.
"So you called me here to watch Albedo do community service on Galvan Prime," Ben summarized sarcastically.
"Why does he look like a young Ben with reverse colors?" Neptune asked.
"Long story," all the Plumbers answered simultaneously.
"Is everything a long story with you guys?" Sun complained.
"Just keep watching," Azmuth insisted.
After a few seconds, a black and red meteorite crashed not too far from where Albedo was sweeping. Meteorite then changed shape, becoming humanoid. The figure was large and bulky, with clawed hands and a spiked, hutched back. Its body was covered in red markings that resembled a cross between circuits and tattoos, with one set forming a circle on the head, resembling an eye. The most disturbing feature had to be the cross shaped cavity just below the eye that appeared like a pair of fanged jaws thanks to the shape of the head. It was none other than the rouge Galvanic Mechamorph, Malware.
Malware approached Albedo, transforming his right arm into something resembling Rook's prototool. He aimed the weapon and Albedo's head and prepared to fire, but stopped when Albedo appeared to speak. When Albedo finished, Malware waited a second before blasting the camera, cutting off the video.
"What's Malware doing back? I thought Albedo turned his corpse into a set of Mechamorph Armor for Vilgax!" Ben yelled, slamming his hands on the control panel.
"It seems that your most recent encounter with Vilgax has revived him. Afterwards, he went after Albedo as revenge for turning him into a tool," Azmuth explained, "However, it seemed he managed to convince Malware that they have a shared enemy, you. The two of them then went off world to find you, but not before stealing some of my equipment so Albedo could repair his Ultimatrix."
"So now I have to stomp them, right?" Ben asked.
"Not exactly," Max interjected, "Neither of them knew where you were, so they broke into Plumber Base and stole a copy of your most recently updated Plumber File. When they found out you were in another dimension, they broke into the vault and stole the Quartz Cannon that sent you to Remnant. In addition, they broke out the best huntsman they know and stole his personal tool, the Nemetrix.
"As soon as they got the Quartz Cannon, Malware absorbed it and sent them straight to Remnant," Azmuth finished.
"Are you kidding me? Now Malware, Albedo, and Khyber are all loose in Remnant just to get at me!" Ben yelled in frustration.
"We know, that's why we contacted you and suggested you bring some friends," Max explained, "You need to know what to expect."
"I got it," Ben said after taking a breath, "Thanks, grandpa, Azmuth. I won't let you down."
"You rarely do," Azmuth said with a smile, "Not to say you don't occasionally."
"Yeah, I kind of deserved that," Ben laughed as he rubbed the back of his head.
"So, are we still up for that tour of Bellwood?" Ruby asked.
"Maybe another time," Ben apologized, "I think we could all use some rest."
"Can we please not use the teleporter?" Jaune begged.
"We can take my Proto-TRUK," Rook said as he led the group to the hanger.
"Ben," Kevin called out, "You be careful in the future. All these guys are trouble on their own, but their bad news together.
"Don't worry, I've got this," Ben said reassuringly.
"Just be safe, Doofus," Gwen said with a kind tone.
"Of course, Dweeb," Ben answered as he gave his cousin and best friend a last goodbye hug before catching up with the rest of the group.
Well, that's that. I hope that helped answer some of the questions that have been plaguing you since the end of chapter 10. Not to mention, that little tidbit about my Omniverse theory. I'll try to catch up with my writing, so please hang tight until then. Please leave a review if you liked it.