Sitting in our living room, which was to the left of our main entrance, I examined myself in a mirror while mom was in the kitchen, which was in the back and to the left side. She wanted to get dinner ready since dad would be home sometime soon, but while she waited for the pre-heating and preparations to get finished she would come back in so we could continue our discussion.

Surely enough, this form was just like I thought it would be.

The first thing to note was my skin was a very pale, bluish coloration, stitches running across the middle of my forearms, the left connecting a dark green hand, the right connecting a dark blue hand. My arms seemed disproportionate to my body, my shoulders, arms, and hands being larger than they seemed meant to, comparable to an alien like Upgrade or Gas Leak. My body was still rather athletic though, with muscles I would compare to Nana Shimura, visible against the skintight, grey top I was wearing under a black dress that almost seemed Victorian, if it weren't for the skirt which felt a bit too short for my liking. But it extended a little under halfway down my thighs, a pair of thick, metallic boots basically engulfing my legs from their soles to my knees, a little more of the substance, or perhaps what would be their equivalent of socks, persisting past my kneecaps while looking like futuristic thigh highs. My hands were seemingly bolted to a pair of leather gloves, fingerless and with black cuffs. Across my body, it seemed like my outfit was bolted to me through some kind of devices I would consider capacitors, since they seemed to glow when I messed with the charge flowing through me, they were embedded in my shoulders, the sides of my kneecaps, my chest, my arms, the back of my hands, there were even a coupe that looked like they were by my temples, nearly classic Frankenstein's Monster style. Jutting out of my back was a pair of devices I could only assume were conductors of some sort, given I remember them acting both like tesla coils that shot lightning, and things that Victor used to attach to machinery. My hazel eyes were basically completely that, little sign of pupils and no sclera, like the iris simply took up the whole thing. And lastly was my favorite detail, my messy hair had turned a faded, dark brown, a white bridestreak painted across it on both sides of my head, running down my bangs and my ponytail, which was being held together at the back of my head by a metal band of some kind with a wind-up key of sorts that ran through a lock on the side, apparently meant for releasing it and rebinding it.

"Crazy stuff… I like it!" apparently I wasn't the only one, as soon I found myself surprised by a bear hug from the side, mom nuzzling my cheek, "Oof! M-Mom?"

"I'm sorry… I'm just so excited for you!" She started, easing up just a bit, "When you didn't get your father's Quirk I was worried my bad genes had ruined your chances."

Come to think of it, did my mom have a Quirk? She sure made it sound like she didn't…

Shaking my head, I couldn't help but scoff at the idea, "Please, what bad genes? You're the best and you know it." sticking my tongue out, I patted the omnitrix faceplate on my chest, red light engulfing us as I returned to normal, "I have more than that too."

Raising my wrist, I lifted the faceplate and scrolled through, mother watching curiously.

"Twelve forms, but I can only use one at a time, and I can only maintain them over the span of forty minutes, after that I get turned back and have to wait ten minutes to recharge." I explained it as best I could, pointing out the three I used so far as I passed them, "These three are the only ones I've used so far, and something tells me I'm not even scratching the surface of what they can do, let alone what the others might."

"This is certainly no normal Quirk…"

"I don't think it is one, remember, I have that toe joint."

"I realize, but maybe… maybe it's my fault." looking up at her curiously as she released me, she shook her head, "I've been in contact with some strange stuff before, and there's a handful of people born with strange powers and no Quirk Factors."

"Come again?"

Unfortunately, as she stared back at my wide eyes, she eventually shook her head, "I'm not worried about them, but what about you? Do these transformations affect your mind in any way?" she asked, cupping her hands on my head, "Not really… I mean I had an accent as the form I call Gas Leak, and some instinctive chemistry knowledge, but other than that, all that's different is my body."

"Good...

I wouldn't get the chance to press her on what she meant, the timer on the oven started to go off, calling her attention.

"Ah! A-Akeru, you finished your homework before you passed out, right?"

"Nope!"

"You really are my daughter…" she chuckled, rolling her eyes despite her smile. Kissing me on the forehead, she disappeared into the kitchen, "While I get dinner ready, you should finish up your work before it's too late, there's a lot we're gonna need to talk with your father about."

I didn't argue, but as I was getting up I could feel a type of dread I hadn't felt since my school days, a sentiment that Akeru seemed to share with me, "Alright, but if you need me, you'd better call."

As I made the walk to the stairs, it dawned on me, Dustukhia said something about clues, but clues to what? It had to be related to my Omnitrix, yeah?

Either way, I didn't have a clue where to start looking, and before that came homework...

Turns out, Akerus was a slacker like I was, as searching her memories couldn't get me through all of this work. While reading from the notes, and books, and online, I could feel both of our wills to live shrivelling.

"Man… I'm reminded of my old failures."

Shaking it off, I made a note of why I wanted to give this new life a try to begin with, to overcome my faults from before, and hopefully improve myself. I wasn't going to be able to do that if I kept going the lazy route, though having something infinitely more interesting to worry about didn't exactly make that easy.

Sucking it up, getting my research in, and completing my homework to the best of my capabilities, shelving it with a sigh of relief. It wasn't going to be easy, but I had to change, and this was a good starting point.

Alright, that's done, but now I gotta find those clues...

Examining my room, lifting the various things in my collection, I began the process of seeking out whatever clues my Benefactor had mentioned, hoping they would be something obvious.

After checking drawers, my desk, the cabinets on the underside of the entertainment center, I then had the bright idea to check under my bed, and strangely enough, there was a black box taped to the underside.

"That the reason I fell and bashed my head? Because you were alluding to this?" annoyed as I reclaimed it, I opened it to find a map, with a location circled.

It seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, it was close enough to the city and all, but it was in a forest.

"Well that's not sketchy…"

Shaking my head, I put it back for now, committing it to memory before I climbed onto my bed, laying there as I stared up at the ceiling, deciding to take it easy for now. It's been a crazy day given everything that happened, to be honest, part of me still wants to think this was impossible, that it was all some delusional dream, but from everything I've felt to the fusion of my mind with Akeru's it just wasn't realistic for me to carry on like this was nothing.

But that just made it all worse.

This meant that this girl, Akeru, lost her body and being on a whim, and though it was a selfish, god-like creature that set it all up, and even made her for that exact purpose, it still kind of felt like I was the one that pulled the trigger.

Dammit, now I feel like shit again…

Sighing in frustration as guilt started to weigh on me, my interest in this new life was forced to take a back seat as I put my pillow down overtop of my face.

I took a bit, not to wallow in this feeling, but because I realized this meant I had even more reason to change, to make the most of this new life, as if that wasn't already made clear to me during the homework crisis. But this time I had something else to focus on, despite how synchronized I may have seen, I still didn't know that much about my "other half".

Alright, I'll sort through my memories while I still have some time to myself, maybe I can start feeling like one person instead of two.

…

Honestly, we weren't that different.

Kept a small but reliable group of friends, loved gaming, anime, and manga, wanted to draw or write but had a general lack of skill. The biggest differences between us were that she had a more stable income thanks to her families jobs, letting her have some stuff I didn't, the fact she was a girl, which was honestly not that big a deal since her memories were part of me, normalizing this, and the fact she liked heroes her whole life while I dropped off and only started to care about the genre again thanks to anime.

This got me thinking yet again, what if Akeru wasn't gone? What if I wasn't even wholly the person I thought I was, but was instead some amalgam of the two identities, only thinking it was one person in control because the other's influence on me really didn't make that big a difference?

Shaking my head, I removed the pillow from my face only to hug it as I stared up at the ceiling again, "And we go from an emotional and ethical crisis to an existential one. Nice job."

With my mental issues getting somewhat sorted, I came to a decision. I wouldn't investigate that clue of hers until I was a little more accustomed, both to this new life and the Omnitrix. Dustukhia was using me for entertainment so I wasn't wholly sure I could trust her plan was benevolent and I would rather have my transformations figured out before I take any unnecessary risks.

My other decision was that I was going to try to train, both my body and mind, rather than turn back into the lazy slacker that I was before.

"I won't go back to that. No matter what I end up choosing, I won't stay with something I end up regretting." I chanted to myself, mostly because I just wanted it to stick, "I'll get somewhere this time, just you watch…"

"Akeru? You didn't fall asleep did you?"

Jumping at the booming voice, the realization began to set in that I could have passed out early, without dinner, or having this talk with my family!

"Nope! J-Just a sec!"

Slapping my own cheek a bit to jolt myself back to full consciousness, I hopped out of bed and hurried down the steps, but as I turned the corner I felt a pair of arms grab me before I could get further, my face almost immediately buried in a white shirt, powerful muscles on the other side.

"You're usually not in a hurry like that, you were falling asleep, weren't you?" hugging him on pure reflex, I could only imagine how funny this scene must have looked as I tried to mumble something out. Letting his arms fall to my neck, he let out a laugh as I looked up, grinning, "Ah, looks like you had a good day, I mean you smile a lot, but that wide?"

This was my father, Chikata Rai, about the same height as mom but with a lot more muscle, comparable to Death Arm's build, his skin lightly tanned from time in the sun, or that's why I think it was, it could also be thanks to the electricity he stores up. His short, black hair was messy, spiking out in a way that almost reminded me of Bakugou. His green eyes had faint traces of yellow, like six yellow lines surrounding his pupils. He wasn't in his hero outfit, instead he was wearing a grey shirt, a vector of All Might's face printed over his chest, "Plus Ultra!" printed below it, but in Japanese. His blue jeans weren't that special, and his black shoes were put away. The last part of his appearance worth noting was an almost sun-shaped scar on his forehead, which was probably a story for another time.

"Yeah well, today's special. Good evening, dad!"

"Oh yeah? What's the occasion?" he asked, tilting his head. Grunting as we parted, he looked to the obvious difference on my left wrist, "A watch? That's pretty neat but that looks-"

"Expensive? Mom said so too, but it's not like that." I muttered, pouting a little, "But at the same time, yeah, this is the occasion." I pressed my right fist proudly to my hip, raising my left one to him to display the Omnitrix, "Your little girl isn't powerless anymore, I'm gonna work hard to be a hero, like you!"

Noting his confusion, I was about to transform when mom called from the kitchen, dinner ready. Given I hadn't really eaten anything since lunch, I figured this could wait.

"Hold that thought."

"No way, this sounds pretty important…" is what he tried to say, but right as he was finishing, his stomach grumbled loudly. Smirking, I watched as he rubbed the back of his head, looking away in faux defeat, "On second thought, maybe it's better discussed at the table."

"So you're saying that watch-thing lets you transform into one of twelve forms? And each one has its own powers?"

"Pretty much, for up to forty minutes, and if I run out of them it has to recharge for ten minutes."

"Huh…" dad seemed perplexed, "And it's not a Quirk…? In a way, it also reminds me of your mother's power."

He gulped as mom glared at him, making it sure that she didn't want that to be discussed. However, against better judgement, I did want to know what the big deal was, especially since she seemed oddly happy I didn't get it.

But then again, I also didn't want to risk hurting the mood of this meeting.

Alright, alright. I'll save it for later.

"Uh, that said, I was actually wondering if you'd let me use your training room to test my transformations." looking to the Omnitrix, my head shook, "I've only turned into three of them so far, so I still gotta figure out what's up with the other nine, and I figure it'd be a better idea than testing them out in the woods like earlier… sorry by the way."

"Of course you can, you're my little Akeru after all!" dad blurted out, "Plus, I'm kinda curious myself now as to what kind of power you have."

"One of them is pretty similar to you if I had to guess its abilities, but it also had my looks." mom hummed, looking a bit happier now that the focus was off of her, "Almost makes me think she based it on us.~"

"I would've, if that's how it worked."

Nodding, they seemed pleased for now, getting up from the table, "Then it's settled, we'll figure this out as we go, and see if you need to get that power registered like a Quirk would." my father nodded as he crossed his arms, "But since your mother didn't need to be registered, since neither of you have a Quirk Factor, I would guess you wouldn't need to be registered either."

"Uh, before you go, I had something else I wanted to ask."

This seemed to catch them both off guard, mom flinching since it would be obvious I would finally ask what this taboo power of hers was, but luckily for them I had a different question.

"So, you know how I've been stumbling my way through life with no real direction? I kinda want to change that." blinking, the two relaxed, almost seeming like they wanted to reassure me that everything was fine as it was, "What I'm trying to say is, could you guys help me? Help me be committed to being better? Like eating better, working out, stuff that could help me be more like you guys?"

Stunned into silence, it took a moment before dad smiled softly, mom smirking a bit.

"Are you sure you're not a shapeshifter disguised as my daughter?"

"She's probably tired, you know how she gets later in the day."

Pouting, my arms crossed as I let them tease me a little, not really annoyed, but it was kinda fun playing the role. Eventually they stopped poking fun at me.

"I'm being serious."

"We can tell, you look fired up." mom hummed, nodding, "This won't be easy, someone doesn't just change in a day."

Nodding, I did my best to give them a serious look, but inside I was thinking about how fitting that phrase was for today so far, "I realize that, which is why I need help."

"You know we'll help, but don't say we didn't warn you." dad's hand came down on my head, ruffling my hair, "Better get some rest, school aside, you have a long day ahead of you."

"R-Right." my voice shook a bit as the realization kicked in, that I was really going through with this, "Well, good night, I love you guys."

Arms enveloping me as I got up, I was trapped in their warm embrace, "We love you too, Akeru…~"

Relaxing, I could feel my throat getting dry, like part of me wanted to cry. This was my family, and it was just as loving as the one back on my original Earth.

"...Y-Yeah.~"

"Y-You lied…"

"I told you that you had a long day ahead."

"I-I meant you lied about loving me!"

It was after school once again, with nothing of note happening other than some classmates noticing my "watch", something I decided not to talk about. But now I found myself in a black tracksuit with green lines running down the sides of my shoulders and sleeves, my blue jeans feeling a bit tighter than I hoped for, and black tennis shoes.

Father decided to take off early today to help with training me to become the better person I desired to be. Naturally this had its ups and downs.

"Search your feelings, you know that isn't true." he wore basically his casual attire, but he did have his support items on him in case he needed to jump into action.

"That's not how that reference goes…"

"My point is that you haven't pushed yourself like this, even in gym, this is gonna suck until you acclimate." dad nodded, flexing one of his legs for emphasis, "I know you isn't gonna be fun, but you gotta think, you're gonna be in a lot of situations, and you can't guarantee that power of yours will be ready for it, you'll thank me later. Besides, you'll have more fun with those transformations of yours when we get home, so just think about how much better that'll be."

"See, I know that you're right, but it doesn't make it suck any less."

With a jovial laugh, he gave me a piggyback over to what seemed like a good break area. Holding onto him, I looked up to the sky, as if trying to address the one that brought me here to begin with.

Well, I guess this is my starting line, huh?