"So how was your day?" His mom asked him as he entered the door. Kaminari froze for a second before realizing it wasn't one of interrogation. He just came back from helping that woman from the crook, which was a pain afterwards since trying to navigate the streets of his town when you have the physique of All Might or Endeavour and would at some point turn into a meek teen was a bigger issue than one would imagine.
At least he managed to solve it quickly.
"Ugh, what is that smell? Did you wade through the sewers!?" She complained. He glanced down at his shirt now covered in miscellaneous stains and his soaked pants.
Well, he almost got away with it.
"Uh.. maybe?" He quietly mentioned. His mom looked at him with a glare. Admittedly, finding a grate to the sewer from one of the rivers that passed through the town nearby and pulling it open and wading through as a giant hawk wasn't his best move, especially since he got lost rather quickly and waited for the time out so he could use his phone, as for some reason his clothes and all his stuff in the pockets disappeared when he transformed.
Luckily, his human form was small enough to go through the manhole covers this time.
"Well, go wash up! And actually wash this time. No spray." She reprimanded him before he even got to the stairwell. He sighed, and walked up to the stairs of his room, opening it and quickly grabbing clothing that probably weren't clean but they were better than he had on, no doubt.
"Also when you're done, fix up your room and finish your homework." His mom yelled from down stairs. He sighed with exhaustion. His mom was almost a neat freak when it came to rooms, which isn't something he got from her.
Well, the homework would be annoying along with cleaning his room. He had a lot of junk and he was a very guilty member of shoving it under the carpet and bed and calling it clean.
Sets of shoes, random stuff he got at comic stores and yard sales, and equipment and merch from video games and movies all littered around his room. Dirty laundry and other assortment of items were strewn about in the room as well.
"This is going to take me hours…. Or someone only a few minutes.." He grinned as he looked down at the Omnitrix and snickered.
He took the quickest shower he could before rushing back to his room and closing the door. Of course he stuffed the towel under the door and closed his blinds like he did when he tried Upgrade. He sported electric based pjs as he stood in the center of his room.
He took a deep breath as he dialed up Accelerate. Pressing down the core, he resumed his blue and yellow reptilian form with the yellow flash. He smiled as he clicked his claws together and looked at his bag.
Well.. that can always be saved for last.
He looked at his room and his visor popped down. He sped inside his room, items seemingly flying around as if they were carried by wind. The bed seemed to fix itself as the blue and yellow blur dashed from one side to another. The shelves filled with bobble heads and assorted manga became neater and more organized. Kaminari stopped to observe his handiwork.
Well, the clothing and under the bed needed to be cleaned but it looked better.
He picked up a basket and quickly collected all the clothing lingering around. The pile in the basket grew and he set it next to the door. He reached down to open it and take it to the washer before he remembered his current condition.
Homework it was!
He glanced at his chair and looked at his tail. It was a wonder that he didn't manage to knock anything over but he knew there was no way he could sit in his older desk chair with it.
He simply pushed the chair out of the way and stood over his old enemy.
Math.
"Ok… let's get this over with." He mumbled, trying to grab his pen. As he picked it up, it slipped out of his fingers. He grumbled, trying to get the pen to stay in his fingers.
Man, why didn't Accelerate make holding something feel natural like Kickin Hawk? The point on his "thumb" was really messing him up. He finally managed to get the pen to work in his favor so that didn't feel awkward and tried to write, but it looked all sloppy for him. He sighed in frustration.
"Why would learning penmanship be this guy's weakness?!" He cried in vain. To dramatically prove his point, he shaked his fists up in anger. He began to look around the room in an attempt to find a solution. He looked at his old claw toys, but decided against it quickly. He debated on his speed if he waited for the Omnitrix to time out and change to Upgrade to maybe print his work out with the answers.
He looked over his shoulder at his tail. An idea began to form as he stared at it. He looked back at the pen and grabbed it by the tip of his claws and held it out towards his tail. He focused on it moving towards the pen and wrapping around it. He wondered just how useful this could be, since it's size decreased to a point unlike Ojiro's tail. His tail seemed to obey him and it held the pen loosely. He slowly turned, which just felt like an oxymoron to him. He carefully placed his pen down on his desk and tried to pick it back up. His tail began to move it by slowly dragging it along the desk towards it.
He watched as the pen began to fall slowly off the desk due to him pulling it too close to the ledge.
He was confused on why it was falling so slowly until he remembered that his power was currently super speed. He simply thought of him wrapping around it again and caught it midair. He reached over and grabbed the pen and held it awkwardly in his hand.
He sighed. 'Maybe I'll figure this out at some point. In the meantime, Aizawa is going to have to deal with sloppy words.' He thought as his hand seemed to quickly scribble along the pages of homework. Sure it wasn't very accurate in the sense of formatting or correct answers, but they were at least getting done.
"Denki, you've been up there for a while now. You ok?" He dropped his pen as he looked at the door in fear. He heard the small creaks of his mom walking up the stairs. He glanced down at his dino form and did the nervous tick most would and slightly bite on his claw.
He glanced down and his mind raced. When did he become Accelerate? How long has it been? Can he even fit in the window? Wait, would he even make it away without shattering some ankle he has from the height?
A sigh of relief came when it started to beep when she seemed to reach the top stair. The door knob began to twist when the flash occurred. His mom peered in as he awkwardly stood in the middle of the room. She looked around with a suspicious look. Kaminari gulped with fear as he waited for his mom's verdict.
"Nicely done. But the bed can use work. And leave the laundry by the stairs so you can take it downstairs for the washer." His mom said before leaving. He sighed before his mom peered back in.
"Another thing. Whatever that red flash, don't do it again. Either sell that gizmo or turn down the settings on your game." He felt somewhat more relieved that he managed to get away from that short slip up. His mom walked out and closed the door behind her, leaving him to sit down in his chair.
He seemed to release a sigh of relief he didn't know he was holding. His secret that he has had for the past 2 days almost got out. He looked at his multicolored watch and groaned.
He should set the rule of no use of the Omnitrix in the house unless his parents weren't up or home.
…
"Ok.. are we ready?" Kirishima asked. Sero and Kaminari nodded. The trio began their trek up the path to the spot that they have been to several times before. Kirishima wanted to dub it "The Crater" but that didn't seem right to Sero. He proposed the name "Area 25" with a chuckle.
But sadly, it was a two to one vote on "The Crater" so that's what the group had dubbed it. It was the next day and the group all made their way to the place where Glenn and Eric said they were free to meet them for the tour of Undertown. Now they were just waiting for them, or rather their smell, for them to leave for it.
"It's weird aliens exist… but in the same case it doesn't." Sero randomly said. The other two looked at him for a continuation. He was surprised for the quick interest but resumed.
"Well, I just mean that we aren't alone in the universe. Just imagine how many species are out there, how many of them are as intelligent as us! Maybe even a few who are smarter. With the three aliens we've seen from Kaminari…" He led off, before Kaminari injected.
"Uh it's 4. I tried out a new guy yesterday." He explained his new transformation to his friends who didn't look too surprised. He might have left out why he transformed into him and the sewer bit but they got the idea.
Kickin Hawk was a strong and swift fighter. Most likely his go to for hand to hand or foot to foot combat from what he learned during that short conflict.
"Ok.. with the four aliens Kaminari has tried out, we know that most have abilities like quirks which is why it doesn't feel weird. I mean, look at someone like Ashido. She feels like she could be an alien." He explained his reasoning which led to the others to catch on.
In a world of quirks, anything is possible.
"Wait, would this also mean it's possible some aliens live with us?" Kirishima questioned. The trio was quiet as they processed it, slowly realizing that it was entirely possible. With mutant quirks and such, there might actually be aliens living in their society. But no one would know since they didn't know such species existed.
"Do you think we met one before?" Kaminari said.
"Besides Glenn and Eric.. I don't know. Your aliens and them are the only ones I know of." Sero reasoned.
"So if we met any Ampfibians, Upgrades or Galvanic Mechomorphs which is what I assume is their species name, Accelerate or Kickin Hawk, we know they are aliens." Kaminari chuckled.
"And what, you have 6 more guys in there, right?" Kirishima asked. Kaminari looked at it and nodded.
Electricity, technology possession, super speed and good fighter. His 4 powers so far. Maybe he could get a fire dude soon. Or someone who could fly!
Maybe someone who can make electric weapons. That one seems the coolest. He always wanted an electric sword from his quirk, but at this rate, it seems like an improbability.
"Yeah so maybe we can actually get tips on our quirks and stuff. Surely there are aliens with abilities similar to ours!" Kaminari self pleaded, as that hope for the thunder blade was now fresh in his head.
"Yeah, and I'm sure some aliens in the cosmos have the ability to shoot tape." Sero chuckled.
"Plus, how common is hardening outside of humans?" Kirishima asked.
"Eh, I can see some alien with a shell being helpful in that regard." Sero explained with a more upbeat tone to try and encourage Kirishima.
"Yeah, I can see that." Kirishima finally said. The trio began to talk more, until the rancid smell of methane filled their noses. This time they didn't gag and turned to the smell. They watched as Glenn and Eric emerged from the treeline but they didn't seem to have Mura with them.
"Oh ok, so you all came. Great! I assume you are ready for the trip?" Glenn cheered. They nodded and Eric nodded.
"Well before we go, I would recommend you might give yourself false names for uh.. Protection." He said with an underlying sense of danger in his voice. The group looked at each other with concern.
"Why…" Sero questioned slowly. Eric looked guilty as he scratched the back of his head. Glenn coughed into her hand awkwardly.
"Well you see, there are some unsavory people in Undertown. The less people that know your real names, the better." He informed them. The group looked at each other for a moment before returning to the alien flora.
"Is there like a gang down there?" Kirishima asked with concern.
"Uh, no! Maybe. Yes, but it's only a small one." Glenn didn't give much certainty when it came to that statement but the boys nodded with reluctance.
"So where is this place? I assume it's like in a hole or something?" Kaminari asked. The two looked at each other and smiled. They said nothing as they waved for them to follow as they walked back into the forest. They walked in silence as they marched on, seeing familiar trees from their day prior.
Were they really that close to the entrance?
It didn't take long for them to stop before a massive tree. It's trunk was massive in size, easily being wide enough to completely stop a truck in its tracks. The large series of branches spiraled from it's center, making up most of the canopy around them. What was weird is that there seemed to be absolutely no roots exposed beyond the tree.
"Well, let's go." Eric waved as he walked to the tree and just walked through it. The trio looked at each other with a small sense of shock as Glenn followed. Kirishima walked forward until he stood almost right next to the tree. He put his hand first and it sinked into the tree like their tour guides. They watched as Kirishima was engulfed by the tree as he walked forward.
"Did he just get eaten by it?" Kaminari nervously chuckled at his joke. He wasn't going to lie, the tree was freaking him out to a degree. Sero was on the verge of saying something as Kirishima's head popped back out.
"Hey, I think you guys are going to want to see this." He said with wonder. Sero and Kaminari looked at each other before nodding. Sero took the lead and walked in first, disappearing without a trace. Kaminari was next but he took the time to examine the tree up close. It didn't seem to smell like a tree that Kaminari was at least used to. He touched the tree and shivered at the weird ripple he caused. He sighed and closed his eyes as he walked into it.
And promptly fell down a few stairs before getting caught by Sero's tape.
He rumbled his head as Eric and Glenn chuckled a little bit deeper in the stairwell. Kaminari looked around and noticed how dark it was instantly. He stood up as Sero pulled his tape off and he held his hand out to use his quirk as a flashlight again. He looked back at the tree, which looked like a blank wall that circled around the entrance of the stairwell, which would explain its massive size. The stairwell itself was large too, with the five of them being easily able to walk alongside each other as they would descend into the earth.
He looked around them, and saw the crude and rough edges of rock. He looked down at the stairs themselves, as they only now began to show any sign of wear. He felt amazed that he didn't manage to injure himself when he fell down on them but he most likely would have if Sero didn't catch him.
"Ok, this was not what I was expecting." Kaminari mumbled. The couple ahead of them chuckled as they began to descend. The trio quickly started to follow, with only Kaminari illuminating the way.
"Uh, why is it so dark in here?" Sero decided to rapidly ask that question before Kaminari could.
"Well, the tree you see is a hologram, created using the tech that goes into a I.D mask.. Which you guys haven't seen yet but basically the main reason we don't have lights for a good portion of this stairway is to make the tree look somewhat more authentic." Eric explained. He gently waved his hand towards the lower part of the staircase and the faint glow of a light started to come into focus.
"I.D Masks?" Kirishima asked.
"Long story. You humans won't see those in your markets for several hundred years after you achieve regular space travel." Eric told them. The trio were left more confused than anything as Kaminari let his sparks die out for the lights as they illuminated the area better than he was at the moment.
"How far down is this place?" Sero questioned.
"The main part of Undertown is around a couple hundred meters down. It's quite large actually, with multiple layers and sectors." Glenn explained with the group.
The idea of Undertown being a camp with tents and such slowly became a fantasy. The sounds of chatter and commotion began to grow as the left wall seemed to open up down the stairwell. Light began to intensify as they got farther.
"Well, welcome to Undertown. Safe haven for aliens and our home." Eric said with bravado. The gang's jaws dropped as they looked over the massive cavern they were leading into. Along the floor were a bustling small city with markets and conventional stands and roads with normal trucks and futuristic vehicles. A river ran through the left most side, where a series of periodic bridges led to the other side where more housing was. There were side tunnels as well, presumed to lead to more buildings and homes.
To be honest, this place seemed larger than the city above.
"Ok, this place is a lot cooler than I had thought it was going to be." Kirishima said with excitement. The other two nodded with smiles on their faces. Glenn and Eric chuckled as they made their way further down the stairs.
"So, are you guys ready? It shouldn't take us too long to see most of Undertown." Glenn mentioned. They nodded in unison and they left the stairwell now, making their way towards a market. The trio slowly made their way closer to Glenn and Eric as they observed the alien life around them. There seemed to be a small sense of silence as they eventually made their way through the stalls as some residents stopped to observe them with curious glances.
Only Kaminari seemed bothered with this, as Kirishima and Sero were absorbed into Glenn explaining some of the bizarre plants, foods and miscellaneous items. He looked at several of the shop owners to see if they had any features similar to anything he had transformed into.
None of them seemed to fit the bill with appearance.
"Well, would you three be willing to see our abode before you explore on your own?" Glenn proposed. Eric looked surprised before shifting to a sense of a more stoic nature.
"Uh, I guess if it's fine with you guys." Sero said. The other two nodded in response. They waved for them to follow down the road of stalls. They soon left the area and traveled down streets of assorted buildings of varying design, with doors of different sizes as well.
As with UA, most likely to accommodate for aliens of different sizes.
"Uh, how long has this place been here for?" Kirishima glanced around at the structures, noticing some very distinctly human features with the buildings and such.
"Hmm, I think it's been here for several decades at this point? I believe it's been..uh.. 20ish years? That right?" Glenn asked Eric.
"Yes, Undertown was constructed 20 years ago." He answered.
"Wow, so it's barely older than us. What caused it?" Kirishima asked with curiosity.
"It just became a little safer in the world." Eric replied. The trio looked at themselves and nodded. The image of All Might filled their heads of heroism and power. Kaminari looked around at the more empty area that they were in now, and looked to his side. He barely had time to react before a ball entered his vision and nailed him in the face. He looked down at the rundown ball and turned it around. It's former skin had completely been worn down from age. It seemed to only be held together with fluffy strings along the hexagons that made it's form.
'A football?' Kaminari looked up at the people responsible for the kick. It was a group of what looked to be mediocre height but what interested Kaminari more was the fact that they were all blue velociraptor-like aliens.
"Hey, do you think I can stay with them for a bit?" Kaminari pointed to the group of speedsters as they stared with deep intrigue at the newcomers.
"Hmm? The Kinecelerans? Why do you wanna play football with them? They are a little faster than you." Glenn whispered to him. He slightly gestured towards his Omnitrix and it clicked for her rather quickly.
"Oh. I see. Well, I assume you might be a bit so why don't we have a change in plans and you guys go and explore on your own and we meet up by the river?" She proposed. The other two nodded as Kaminari walked up to the Kinecelerans.
"Do you think I could join?"
…
Sero figured he took a very wrong turn somewhere.
After the group broke off and Kaminari started to try the impossible at playing with aliens who can run as a blur when he didn't go Accelerate, Sero went to the left as Kirishima went to the right.
The prospect of aliens startled him more than what he wanted to show to Kaminari or Kirishima. When he saw Ampfibian when Kaminari first got the watch, he was scared for sure. It really opened up the world and made him feel a little insignificant.
The aliens that resided and gave him stares unnerved him so he tried to make as many detours as he could, turning and turning into more and more empty areas. Eventually, he started to walk along scraps of metal and destroyed items of couches and fridges.
Sero picked up a piece of scrap and looked at the serrated edge as it looked like it was ripped apart. He looked at the opposite edge, as three small indents were present. He quickly turned his head when he heard the clang of something farther in. He gently set the scrap down and began to quietly make his way through the scrap yard. As he did, he noticed that more and more bizarre machines were present. Some resembled what he would think were engines, some looked like weapons and others looked miscellaneous junk. All of them looked like they had collapsed on themselves and broke down.
"Argh Emmett! Where did you put our wrench?" A voice yelled out.
"We dismantled it for the super microwave, remember?" A different one said. Sero began to edge his way closer with curiosity taking the better of him.
"Oh yeah. Where did we set that thing?" The first voice started before there was a crash as the sounds of metal clanging made Sero shiver at the reverb. He edged his way closer, finding a clearing in the mountains of scrap. After hiding behind a somewhat large fridge, he looked into the middle of the clearing. Inside there was a small building and littered around the yards where random tools, with some looking familiar to Sero and some looked way more advanced for human's to make, along with randomly constructed machines. He saw there was a small form of movement in one of the piles before something popped up, holding a half crumbled microwave.
"FOUND IT!" Sero looked at the alien as it hopped down. He immediately noticed their red skin and small stature. He noticed this one had a red tail that resembled the classic devil one, with the spade at the end. They had frizzy hair around the edges of their head with a bald top and had black goggles on their head. A singed and dirty white lab coat was wrapped along them as they carried the microwave to another one that ran to them. They looked similar except the hair on the second was all on their face in an equally as frizzy beard.
Were those... goblins?
A maniacal cackle came from the two as they set the microwave down and began to rip it apart with ferocious speed. Screws and panels flew through the air as each one held a piece of a wrench and assembled it crudely. One of them whipped out duct tape and wrapped it around the wrench to secure it.
Huh, nice to know duct tape is still useful outside of Earth.
"Now, let's go make that cannon!" The one with the beard shouted in excitement. The other one cackled with enthusiasm.
"So what should it shoot? Acid? Ice? Fire?" They were quiet before they smiled with their toothy grins.
"PAPER!" They howled as they scrambled towards the scrap and began to throw it over their shoulders into another pile. Sero watched in fascination as they moved with quick speed, climbing along piles of garbage and debris and chucking things into a pile that might have even given him difficulty to pick up. When they were done, they began to scramble to their pile and armed with tools they picked up, began to assemble a large cannon at breakneck speeds. Sero's jaw dropped as he watched their red forms crawl around the rapidly constructed weapon.
"Now do we have any paper Emmett?" The one with the beard asked.
"Uh.. no." Emmett admitted.
"Well poop." The two hopped down and just tapped the side of the weapon. The weapon collapsed under its own weight and crashed into its original heap of garbage. Sero left his cover and walked into the clearing while the two dug through the pile of trash.
"What did you guys just do?" He questioned. The two looked at him with confused faces before they returned to their sneers.
"A human! Interesting! Oh and this one looks to have a mutant based ability!" The one named Emmett scampered to him and hopped onto his arm to look at his elbow, although Sero pushed off before he could.
"Aww. That wasn't very nice. I just wanted to see!" Emmett cried.
"You don't just crawl on someone to look at their body. That's wrong." He criticized the two goblins.
"Well, don't blame us for not knowing! You're the first human we have ever seen before!" The other defended his friend's actions.
"Well besides that, why did you guys destroy that cannon? It was pretty cool." He gestured towards the pile of rubble from their previous contraption.
"Ah! You never met a Planchaküle before, huh? We just make things all the time!" He explained to Sero.
"Although they don't necessarily last long!" The other cackled. Sero looked at the bizarre and crazy lunatics before him.
"So you guys just make and break things?" He asked.
"Yup!" The two said in unison.
"Well uh, something I wanted to ask. Your cannon was pretty cool. Mind if I stay here and watch?" He asked the two. They looked at each other before nodding.
"Watching? We could use your help even!" They claimed.
"What?!" I barely know how a drill works, let alone alien tech!" He cried as the two dragged him by his pants.
"Well one thing to learn about us Planchaküles, we are quite stubborn!"
…
"6 to 3! Our lead!" One of the Kinecelerans, named Nate, called out as yet another ball soared past Kaminari's head. He grumbled again as he rubbed his face.
'This was some kind of joke Omnitrix. I thought I selected Accelerate but nooo, I got Ampfibian instead.' He tapped the watch in frustration as he took another stance to see if he could get the ball again.
Again wasn't the right word actually. He hasn't actually touched the ball yet.
They had set the ball up again and resumed playing, becoming blue and black blurs again and the color's of their clothing also being visible. Kaminari sighed and readied himself. He could barely keep track of the ball as it moved across the field with intense speed.
"Coming your way!" One of his teammates called out. He took his gut reaction and moved his tendrils to the two corners but the ball went over him into the corner. He sighed as his teammates quickly grabbed the ball out of the next and set up another round.
He really wanted the Omnitrix to time out so he can switch to Kickin Hawk or Accelerate. Accelerate would have been preferred for his speed but Kickin Hawk seemed fine enough to use in this situation. He was fast and probably a great football player.
The teams went back to their game, zooming around and picking up dust. He tensed up. He was pretty adamant on getting the ball and saving the goal this time.
"Heads up!" He looked up and saw that one of them had kicked the ball high into the sky and it was soaring towards his goal. If he had a mouth, he would have smirked. He rose two of his arms up and they shot forward, extending out and wrapping around the ball. He brought the ball back to him and looked at the other players, who were mildly impressed by him.
He threw the ball back with a force he didn't recognize he had, only being intercepted about half way through the field. As they fought for dominance for the ball, Kaminari had an idea. He spread his feet out to try and get stable and his tendrils extended outwards, wrapping around the four corners of the goal. He focused on channeling electricity between them and his legs, effectively making a blue electric fence.
"Wow! That's cool!" One of his teammates stopped in front of him, one of the younger players named Emily. He couldn't look down to keep his focus on keeping the electricity up, which thankfully wasn't making him feel mentally strained like it would with his quirk.
So good, Ampfibian couldn't dumb out.
One of the opposing players kicked the ball between his tendrils, making it fizz and shoot back. They looked at him before they all laughed. He receded his tendrils and stopped his conduction of electricity in confusion.
"You know, you're actually pretty funny. Whatever you are." Nate admitted.
"Yeah well I actually have the ability to turn into a Kineceleran, but I misdialed this guy." He gestured towards Ampfibians form as they seemed a little more motivated.
"Wow, so your quirk isn't the ability to turn into whatever you are? You can turn into aliens?" Emily asked. He nodded, deciding to keep out his actual quirk out of the question.
"And you can turn into a Kineceleran?" One other, he believed was called Katie, asked him. He nodded again.
"That's so cool! You're definitely coming back to play with us again. I wanna see how fast you can get." Nate claimed.
"Yeah. I think going Accelerate will be fun at least." He claimed.
"Accelerate? Is that what you call your Kineceleran form?" Nate asked.
"Yeah. I just like to name them. It just seems fun." He said.
"How do you spell that? With a L? A X maybe?" Katie asked. He looked at her weird and she caught the hint.
"You see, it's just a Kineceleran custom to use brief names. Example my name is Katie, but it's spelt K8-E." She explained to him.
"Oh uh… oh, how would one spell Accelerate with your way of spelling? You said X and L so I assume something like XL.. R8? Does XLR8 work?" He asked the group of five, who all nodded.
"Nice, I guess that's it. XLR8." He said. They gave him a thumbs up and he tried to give one back, even though he lacked fingers.
"Anyone ready for another game?" Emily asked. The others and Kaminari nodded as they went off to start another game.
Before you ask, no I didn't forget about Kirishima. His interactions with the alien life forms in this chapter will be brought up later and used for story elements, much like the events here.