I do not own MHA or Ben 10, all rights reserved to their respective owners.

Well, hello there. To sort out the news, the fic isn't dead (luckily) and neither am I (unluckily). I am deeply sorry for not updating for nearly a month, but personal troubles came into the mix yet again and the chapters I wrote in that time just didn't cut it. I tried multiple times to rearange them so they make at least a bit of sense, but was unable to and now I have to make them from scratch now that my head is in the right place again. If you are deterred by the lack of updates and decide to leave, then I won't blame you if you decide to leave. But starting now, the chapters will be released at least once a week. I hope we can look past this little incident and get on with the show. This chapter might be not as good as the rest of the previous chapters and may come off as confusing to you regarding it's placement, but I ensure you it will make sense in the long run.

Chapter 15: Aliens & Dragons (Internship Arc Part 3)

Dazzled, on the chair in front of Ryukyu's desk in her office sat Izuku, holding his head in his hands.

Dazzled, and confused as hell.

Was this confusion related to the second trial?

It sure was.

But not because it was weird, or caused him to undergo a mental crysis.

But because he supposedly passed it while having no recollection of doing so.

He was pressing his temples as hard as possible, trying to squeeze his brain into remembering. But to no avail.

What added confusion to his predicament, was the fact that an additional DAY passed since then.

He started the trial on the second day of his internship.

And now, he supposedly completed it on his fourth day.

It was as if someone erased time between him coming to the trial and him finishing it. (KEKKA DAKE DA)

Not remembering the trial AND a whole day? That was something really unprecidented.

"Well, it's like I told you, kid" said the Dragoon Hero, sitting in front of him "Those guys basically work on their own"

"Huh?" asked Izuku, too focused on trying to force his brain into remembering to hear the heroine's words.

"Like I explained 10 minutes ago" continued the heroine, rolling her eyes as she noticed how her pupil was lost in his own mumbling "I didn't dictate how they were supposed to condunct their trials, they basically had free reign. All I needed of them was to ensure that you pass the trial while figuring out what they were supposed to teach you and that you don't die"

"B-but I don't even remember the second trial!" exclaimed Izuku "How should I know if I even learned anything!?"

"Midoriya, take it easy. Let me explain this to you another way" said Ryukyu, easing down Izuku "You have right to be confused or even angry about how this was concluded, but you have to understand that it was not done with any malicious intent"

"My agency was not built as a corporation, like many out there, in which we adhere to a strict code and people burn themselves out to create profits. In my agency, we are all individuals, with our own ideas and inventions. As ridiculous it might sound to you at the moment, I believe that your teacher's decision to keep your memories of the trial away from you was for your own good"

"My own good?" asked Izuku, even more confused "How?"

"Because for one, I know that your teacher wouldn't do that if he didn't have a reason to. He is not the type of person to act without reason"

"And two, I believe in results, not the method. Because I sure know that he wouldn't report that you passed if you didn't manage to live up to his explanations"

Izuku put his face on his right hand. He contemplated the heroine's reasoning.

True, he didn't remember one bit of the trial and the fact that he was not certain if what his teacher, whoever he was, taught his sticked in his brain.

He was also sure that if his memories were wiped, he must have at some point consented to it, because he remembered that it was stated in the internship contract he signed before attending it, that no possibly dangerous action regarding his training or anything that may affect him in physical and mental state may occur without his consent. So that means that he must have agreed to it at some point.

He pondered what must have occured for the mysterious teacher basically King Crimson two days of his life away.

"And regarding the "don't know if you learned anything" part" said Ryukyu, pressing a button on top of her desk "We will see about that"

Before Izuku had time to ask what she meant by that, a hole appeared under the chair he currently sat in. His seat begun to slowly disappear in the hole.

He jumped off as quickly as possible, only to notice that it was not the only part of the furtniture that was retracting; Ryukyu's chair and desk have started to disappear in their respective holes.

As they were disappearing, a heavy, metal-looking curtain fell over the exposed windows of her office, effectively shuting off every source of natural light away from them. They now stood in a barren room, lit by multiple lights in the ceiling.

"Well, a promise is a promise" said Ryukyu, cracking her fingers "I promised you that when you complete the trials our internship together will start"

As she said the last words, her body begun changing, morphing from the frame of a young woman into a large, white, scaly dragon with large, gale wings.

"I'll say we begin this by testing how much you actually learned" the Dragoon Hero exclaimed, in her much larger form "C'mon, show me what you got!"

Izuku was slightly taken aback. Not only was this so sudden, but he also had this weird fear in the back of his head that he had already forgotten what he has learned from both of the trials and he will fail miserably.

No, he needn't think like that. This was the way that scared little no-watch Izuku would think like. And he wasn't him.

But at least one part of his fear was rational; true, he learned how to use his senses in combat, but he was not sure if he really got ahold of his anger and the rest of the stuff that Ryukyu told him about previously.

Well, there was an easy check to that; just don't go Rath. Don't. Go. Rath.

He was the only alien that relied on anger as his primary fuel and if he didn't want to test his luck about what he learned, he needed to avoid him.

Izuku, calmly, pressed the button on the watch and twisted the shield a couple of times, circulating throught the aliens, as his mentor anticipated his next move.

He pondered who to choose. Well, not Rath obviously and obviously not Way Big, since he would literally crush several floors and people when transforming.

He needed something that would work well against Ryukyu. She was a dragon, so basically a large reptile. And reptiles tend not to like cold. So Big Chill it is.

He scrolled the grid to the spot in which the moth-like alien's DNA sample resided and slammed his hand against the shield.

After a flash of green energy, an alien stood in place of Izuku.

Not the one he wanted tho.

Quite the opposite, actually.

He blinked a couple of times, before turning his feline head towards the symbol on his chest.

"REALLY?!" shouted Rath "ONE TIME I ASK NOT TO GET RATH AND YOU GIVE ME RATH?!"

Of course, the watch has given him one of the two aliens he didn't want. Well, what a surprise.

But this time, something felt... different.

Like, don't get the wrong idea, being Rath still felt like being that one uncle who acts aggressive when he gets a little too much to drink at a familly gathering jacked up on anabolic steroids, but for the first time Izuku felt not like an arbitrary observer from the side, but actually like he was in control of the alien.

It felt... weird, but at the same time... amazing!

"Really, him again?" asked the heroine, rolling her (now rather big) eyes "Wasn't he the reason you lost the final round?"

"LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING, DRAGOON HERO RYUKYU OF THE TOP TEN HEROES OF JAPAN!" shouted Rath "RATH NEVER LOST ANYTHING! HE ONLY ALLOWED OTHERS TO BECAUSE HE DOESN'T LIKE THE FLASH OF THE CAMERAS OF THE FIRST PLACE!"

Well, Izuku was mostly in control of him. He still couldn't keep all those little Rath outbursts away.

He bent his legs, preparing a jump. He ejected towards the heroine with his right hand extended towards her.

"ARBURIAN CANNONADE!" he screamed, while flying towards her, Superman style.

But unfortunately for him, this manouver was quite predictable. It only took the heroine one swipe with her wing to repel back the Appoplexian back to where he stood previously.

"Really, just brute forcing your way again?" asked the heroine "Didn't Spring teach you anything?"

The alien didn't responed, instead he charged at the dragon head first.

The heroine swiped her wing at Rath, but he evaded it by jumping upwards. He then landed on the wing that was still on the ground and ejected himself himself like a cannon ball towards the heroine's face, landing a solid hit on her and forcing her to stumble a little.

Yeah, Spring taught him how important versitality and mobility are. And that was just one way to put his lessons to the test.

"Not bad, kid" said Ryukyu, cracking her neck "It seems like he can do something other than goof off"

Rath cracked his wrists and devised a new plan. He decided to try and copy one of Springs manouvers he had to previously deal with.

He reapeted his charge, trying to put his plans in motion.

But what he didn't account for, was the fact that instead of bashing him with her wing like before, Ryukyu smacked him to the wall with her strong tail.

"The first try was good" she said "But that was predictable. Too predictable"

"IF THE DAMN WATCH GAVE ME WHAT I WANTED IN THE FIRST PLACE WE WOULDN'T BE HAVING THIS CONVERSATION" retored Rath

"Kid, don't you see it?" asked the heroine, still holding Rath against the wall "This whole "random" element of yours is actually your greatest strength"

The alien turned his head to the side, looking at her confused.

"Being predictable is one easy way to go down" she continued "But when you do something completely different, or in this case random, contrary to what the enemy expects to encounter, you will get the element of surprise and eventually the upper hand"

Rath's eyes went wide hearing those words. Of course, why didn't he thought of that?

If he was up against a villain with a quirk that allows him to transform his body into a paper shredder, the villain would love for him to turn into Snare-oh and get reduced to little bits by him.

Whereas if he turned NRG, the villain would probably break upon contact.

And that's where randomity comes in. The watch doesn't give him what he wants, but in no case leaves him defensless. The alien he gets usually has a gimmick that let's him win in the end.

Well, time to test the theory out.

Rath clenched his fingers into a fist and slammed it hard on the symbol on his chest. A flash of green light ensued.

Izuku could feel his bones thinning and his skin turning into cold, solid metal. He felt substance lighter than blood coursing through his veins. His fingers turned into sharp claws and his head was put under a hood of red metal.

After the flash subsided, a new frame has entered the fray.

It was a creature of human posture, seemigly made out of red metal, with certain parts of it's limbs being of gray colour. It hard piercing, green, robotic eyes.

"Thank's for the advice" he said

Before the Dragoon Hero had any time to respond, the alien freed his hands from under her grasp. He aimed them at her.

"Lock & load" he said, as powerful blasts of concentrated water launched from inside his hands, knocking the heroine to the other side of the room with their sudden impact and freeing him from her hold.

"Wow" he said, looking at his hands, that were able to send a dragon-like creature flying "That's some Water Hazard"

The heroine quickly recovered from the sudden attack.

"Now you're getting it!" she exclaimed, spewing out water still left in her mouth from the impact "But surely you can do better than giving me a quick shower!"

The alien looked towards his mentor and back to his hands. Surely he could do other things than just spam Hydro Pump.

He concentrated his will while spilling water from his hands. Before he could react, a whip made of water appeared in each of his hands. Cool.

This time it was Ryukyu who attacked him. She charged at him, while blocking her front with her wings, suspecting another blast of water.

Water Hazard dodged her stampeding assault, rolling to the side. When she stopped the momentum of her charge, he swatted his whips, each of them extending towards the points connecting Ryukyu's wings to her back.

The water of which the whips were made of was surprisingly solid. It was as if he was holding her down with actuall whips only coloured to look like water.

With a great deal of strength and the heroine resisting, he slammed her into the wall next to which she stood. The thud of the impact echoed through the room (and probably other rooms as well). But at the same time, his weapon broke down, leaving the dragon laying in front of him soaked. Then he suddenly had an idea. An idea that given rational thought would be dismissed as too hazardous. But in that moment, he was anything but rational.

He hit the symbol on his chest, creating another blast of green light. He had to chance it, as there were only two aliens that he knew of that could pull this off.

Ryukyu, who was trying to get up, was blinded by the light. When she was finally able to open her eyes, she noticed that in place of Water Hazard stood a new frame, much smaller this time.

And before she could attempt another attack at the little creature, it put it's little hands next to the trail of water that lead to where she currently stood. Out of it's hand ejected a great number of electric jolts.

Her eyes went wide, before they went even wider when the electricity generated by Buzzshock travelled through her body, shocking her. After a while, she dropped motionlessly on the ground.

Buzzshock, initially, was happy with the Omnitrix's RNG blessing him with one of his two electric aliens. But after coming to his senses, his slit eyes turned wide, as the symbol on top of his head blinked red and eventually timed him out into his human form.

The weight of his action suddenly fell on him. He just electrocuted Japan's #10 Hero and she was just laying there, motionlessly. He might as well just killed her!

His anxiety level hit the roof. He rushed towards the fallen dragon to check her for damage.

She gave no signals of live and he couldn't feel her pulse through the scales.

He walked up to her head and with his shaking hands opened one of her eyelids.

It was... unmoving.

Untill it suddenly moved and locked itself with his gaze.

And just as suddenly as the eye moved, a loud chuckle came out of the dragon's mouth.

Before Izuku could exit his shocked phase, the heroine reverted back to her original form. Just as in her dragon form, she was cackling, holding back tears.

"Pfft, I scared you, didn't I?" asked the heroine throught her laughter "Oh, you should have seen the look on your face! It was priceless"

"B-but I thought that-" started Izuku, before being cut off by his mentor

"Kid, I've taken hits harder than this and got off with just a scratch, dontcha worry about me like that" she said "But real talk now, don't do that to anyone who you don't want to try and fry, got it?"

Izuku nodded in response, his anxiety quickly evaporating. Ryukyu's sense of humor was... peculiar.

"Well, it was a good first round, Midoriya. But for second-"

The heroine was suddenly interrupted by a loud phone ringing noises coming from a wall next to her.

She quickly got up and opened a crack in the wall, in which multiple phones resided, all labeled with different memos. The one that rang was labeled "Higher-ups".

She quickly picked up the phone.

Izuku only heard random collection of words coming from the other side. But he could hear what his mentor was, on the other hand.

"Yes, on the line" she responded with a bland face

"No, I'm having an intern over" she said with the same face

"What? What do you mean I'm the only top hero suited for the job?" her expression turned to slightly annoyed

Izuku could hear the word "transport" being used by the person calling her. He figured it was something bad, as Ryukyu's eyes went wide.

"WHAT? You can't be serious! This is too sudden! And I have an intern over so-"

She was cut off and this time her expression turned to anger.

"This is too reckless! It's too dangerous for him and-"

She was, yet again, interrupted, by shouting this time. Her expression turned to grim, as she slowly nodded her head.

"Yes, I understand. It's been signed already, I understand"

She repeated those phrases a couple of times, before putting the phone down and closing the crack in the wall.

She slid down to the floor and put her face in her hands.

Izuku saw her both angry and saddened for the first time in his internship. Whatever she heard must have been serious.

She removed her hands from her face. Her expression turned to a serious one.

"Midoriya" she said in a serious tone "I am sorry, but I have just received an order from the higher-ups. And it includes you"

"H-how so?" asked Izuku, unsure of why these "higher-ups" may be concerned about him.

"I won't ask if you remember the USJ Incident, because I sure as hell know you were there" she continued "Do you have any recollection of a villain named "Shigaraki"?"

Izuku gulped. She was refering to that blue-haired weirdo with hands all over his face that he captured with Ghostfreak. The one about who'se capture he was told not to brag to anyone and to keep secret. Why the hell was Shigaraki brought up so suddenly?

"Isn't that the important villain that got captured in the incident?" asked Izuku, trying to come off as clueless

"That's the one. For quite some time he's been kept in a specially secured prison and they were trying to force him to spill about his organisation. But to no avail. They have to relocate him to a location in which they have someone with a quirk suited for force interrogation"

"Why are you telling me all this?" questioned Izuku "What's up with Shigaraki and his prison and-"

"Because they want me to guard his transport from one place to another. And for some God knows what reason, they decided it would be best if I bring you along, for the "educational values" and "learning on the job"

Izuku felt shivers running down his spine. The villain was menancing for sure, and his aesthetic held a dark vibe, but just guarding the transport truck isn't that big of a deal, isn't it?

"But what's so bad about guarding a transport?" asked Izuku

"What's wrong with guarding a transport? I'll tell you what's wrong with guarding a transport!" suddenly shouted Ryukyu, losing her cool "Not only do we have to guard a transport, but we have to sit in that God forsaken truck together with that freak, because for some reason they thought it was a great idea to only put a single hero and her intern alone in a confined space with a villain that very well may be one of the leaders of the biggest villain organisation of this country!"

.

..

….

…..

If Izuku's quirk was to enlarge his eyes, they would probably reach the size of Way Big in a matter of seconds.

Just. What. The. Hell.

It's one thing to transport the dangerous villain you managed to capture.

But a whole different thing is to do just that while sitting in the same truck as him.

He really didn't like where this was going.

But he could not have prepared himself for how bad this would end.