"Was that so bad?"

"Yes. But thank you for making me do it."

Mom watched with mild amusement as we entered the living room, and almost immediately I flopped onto one of the couch on the other side of the coffee table, dad sitting down next to her as he kissed her cheek.

"Tired out?" she asked, her left eyebrow raised, "I guess I can't blame you, I'll have to make sure to make you something with a lot of protein so you can rebuild those muscles."

"Rest first, food later."

"What about the transformations? Or are you too tired for that too?"

"Don't worry mom, I won't fall asleep." it was hard for me to say that with a straight face, we'd jogged along the coastline, did pull-ups and push-ups, squats, practiced how to throw a proper punch… my body ached all over, "How could I sleep when I've got something exciting lined up?"

"Hope you mean that, because you got us pretty interested." dad hummed, probably smirking while my eyes were shut.

"Hey, speaking of which, should I use one of the forms I already transformed into, or should I try something new, because as far as I'm concerned, the one I showed mom is my favorite and I didn't even use it any."

"I think that's something you'll have to figure out when you wake up."

"I'm not going to sleep."

…

Well apparently I lied, feeling my consciousness return to me, a warm cover over me while my parents watched television. Feeling slightly embarrassed as everything returned to me, I got up, an annoyed look on my face as I looked over to see them smiling smugly.

"Sleep well, Akeru?"

"...Do you wanna see me transform or not?" I asked, feeling the heat rushing to my cheeks as I looked away, embarrassed. Getting up, I was about to head that way, stopping when I realized I needed my notebook, "Meet you there!"

"Alright… which should I pick first?"

"Is it that big a deal?"

"Yes! This is my second time transforming in front of someone, I don't want it to be underwhelming."

Ah yes, father's training room, built to last and also built in our backyard, having its own building like a studio or something. The walls and ceiling were made of or covered in a tough, white material that seemed to be for absorbing impacts, it would make sense given his Quirk. The floor was covered in a type of blue matting that was honestly pretty comfortable, it seemed to have the same properties as the walls and ceilings but to a lesser degree.

In a gym area, a room over, there was training equipment, and thankfully there was a shower and bathroom that had its own part of the building on the opposite side.

Mom and dad were sitting on the mat, off to the side, mom held onto my notebook for me.

"It's a good thing you don't have school tomorrow, because it feels like this is going to take you awhile." she teased, "Heroes aren't usually indecisive, you know?"

"Not when it matters." I shot back, pouting even more as I scrolled through my Omnitrix's Playlist.

"Why's that one hunched over?" dad asked, the both of them having got up to see what I was looking at as they leaned over my shoulders.

"I don't know, maybe it's more animalistic?"

"That one looks like it has a big head or something…"

"Maybe it's armor…?"

"How about that one, that looks pretty cool?" dad had suggested as I stopped on the third alien in the list after the one based on Victor's species.

"You sure? It looks like someone with a bedsheet thrown over them if you ask me."

Signalling the two to return to their spots, I nodded, "Alright, how's this, dad picks one and then mom picks one?"

My mother shrugged, a smile on her face as she relaxed, "Sounds good to me."

"Wait, but that shouldn't count as my pick, right?"

"Too late."

Bracing themselves, my mother warning him about the flash of light, I pressed the faceplate in and felt that strange wave of change washing over my body, and this time the changes were immediately noticeable without even having to look down or at my hands, a hood of sorts almost immediately enveloping me.

I felt kind of cold, there was a weird sensation in my back, like I had a new set of limbs or something, which I could feel throughout the thing I thought was a cloak.

"Wh-Whoa, this one feels spooky…"

My voice came out deeper, raspy… It took a second to realize, but I also didn't feel a certain weight or feeling of there being something on my chest that I had strangely grown accustomed to, and surely enough I seemed flat as I looked down, but it was hard to tell through the blue cloak that enveloped me, black lining the edges, blue diamonds giving me a butterfly vibe.

My parents had jumped up in surprise, dad especially since this was his first time seeing a transformation like this, "Holy crap!" as they came over, they investigated me closely, "A-Akeru? How do you feel?"

Looking at them, I shrugged, "I want to say I'm cold, but something about this makes me think that's actually normal for this." as a frosty mist expelled with my words, that seemed to confirm it, "I guess this one has ice powers, how do I look?"

"Like a big moth person, large, hazel eyes, some grey-blue, faded fluff around your color…" mom hummed, crouching as she looked at my hands and feet, "Looks like you have some sharp claws too."

"And a poncho for some reason."

Raising my hands, I could agree that my three fingers and my thumbs did look pretty sharp, and upon looking down, my feet looked pretty alien, two toes on each foot, with another on the back.

"Yeah, I didn't get the robe at first either, but since I can feel through it, I'm guessing it's some kind of extension of my body… Maybe wings?"

The two adults backed up a bit as I looked over myself for any changes, trying to get used to this new addition to my form, which was like asking someone that just grew a tail to do a trick with it. But eventually I managed to unfurl everything, two sets of wings stretching out, and what felt like antenna extending above the top set.

Looking down, my body was mostly black and blue, looking somewhat athletic, certainly more than I was expecting. My body definitely seemed to lose much of its feminine shape though, not that it was a problem, but it made me wonder what was up with the species. My arms and legs seemed to have spots that seemed like ice chunks, and my Omnitrix faceplate seemed to have relocated to the center of my chest, popping up from the fluff that lined my collar.

"Whoa, that is not the body type I was expecting…" I gasped.

"Oh, uh, new observation." mom started, pointing at me, "You're bald."

Giving her a blank look, I eventually sighed, shaking my head, "Funny enough, this isn't the first time that's happened to me…"

They gave me a second to get used to this body before my dad scratched his chin, "So, wanna test it out?"

"Well yeah but is that alright?"

"It's a room meant for training, of course it's okay!" he laughed before bringing out one of the test dummies, setting it up in the middle of the room while mom backed up, "Since you have wings I'm guessing you have some kind of flight, but given your fear of heights I imagine you want to try that last. Kinda weird saying that, not used to someone having multiple powers."

Backing off, he watched with interest, mom as well.

Looking to the dummy, I thought over what my powers seemed to be and how they would work, considering I had a cold mist for breath I assumed ice breath of some sort, maybe even an ice touch, and then flight was probably my last non-generic trait since almost all aliens seemed to have enhanced strength and durability.

Taking a deep breath, I attempted to blow the frigid gust I envisioned, but no dice. It actually took a couple of attempts before I managed to figure it out, channeling the feeling I had got from using Gas Leak's power, and while the sensation wasn't the same it still worked at least, a large, frosty gust leaving my mouth and freezing a lot of the room in front of me, to my surprise and annoyance because I would probably have to be the one cleaning that up later.

"Uh, sorry." I muttered, rubbing the back of my head, "I think I blew a bit too hard."

"A-Akeru, that's amazing!"

"I haven't seen that kind of power output in awhile!"

Looking to the two in surprise, they looked impressed, even kind of proud.

"Also, don't worry about it, you'll have to clean up later, but that's why we're here, so you can figure this out." dad hummed, "Try it again, if you can."

"You know how it feels, right? Unless there's a limit to how many times you can do it, you should be able to figure out how to tone it down, right?" my mother suggested, "Also, you should have a form that'll make cleaning this up easy, right?"

"Beats me, but thanks."

Turning back to the dummy, and all the damned ice, I was a bit hesitant to try again without a good picture of what things were like before this next attempt, but after a few shots of trying to recreate the conditions in my body, I managed to breathe out a smaller ice gust.

It was likely going to take using this a lot more to familiarize myself with the mechanics of this, as was the case with most of these forms I imagine, but it was doable, practice makes perfect after all, right?

Deciding to press the Omnitrix and turn back, my parents looked confused. Smiling at them sheepishly, I shrugged, "I have plenty of time to learn more about that one, but flying isn't my thing, and I don't think it'd be a good idea to keep this up with all this ice, might make it hard to figure out what's going on." I rationalized, "Besides, that's what the notebook's for!"

"Fair enough… think you have some fire powers in there somewhere?" she asked as the Omnitrix went from red to green.

Shrugging, I started cycling through the options again, "I think, all these forms seem to have their own niches to fill so it would make sense." stopping on the one I thought looked like Heatblast, I looked back up to them, "I mean, Gas Leak has gas powers and seems pretty light since she has super jumps, Prismbreak is really tough and strong since she's made of crystal and rock, and she also seems to have light powers, and if I had to guess, the form I showed mom has lightning powers since it looks like Frankenstein's Monster."

"You're naming them?" mom blinked as she asked this, like she didn't get the reason, "Also, what about the last one?"

"Yeah, it's like I have different superheroes inside here, and it makes it easier when I have fans that wanna discuss my powers."

Dad couldn't help but chuckle, mom rolling her eyes, "Ah, thinking for the future, I like it."

"As for the last two, I dunno." answering honestly, I really didn't have any ideas for names that seemed neat or creative, "I was thinking something like Blizzardfly, but something about it feels off, and as for the other… I feel anything involving Frankenstein would be too on the nose or boring."

The two seemed to understand, "...How about… Frauminate?" mom suggested, "Frau means something like bride, fulmination relates to violent lightning… so it'd be like an homage to the Bride of Frankenstein, or roughly mean Married to Lightning."

Dad gave her a teasing smirk, "Oh? I thought you didn't like Hero Names, where's this coming from?"

Shaking my head, I gave them an eager smile because naming that one seemed like a pain, "No no, that's really good actually! Thank you!"

Mom shied away, probably because that name was on her now. Dad, however, seemed excited, "Alright, how about that last form. How does Mothoreal sound?"

"I don't get it…"

"Well, moths can come out in the cold, unlike butterflies, and it could have something like a double meaning." dad hummed, "Boreal or ethereal, boreal because of the cold, ethereal because it looks pretty spooky, yeah?"

"Actually, I like it! Mothoreal it is!" I chirped, but then my gaze shifted to mom, who blinked in confusion, "Come to think of it, why don't you like Hero Names?"

Pausing, she eventually let out a sigh, "I don't see the point, hero names were made to preserve a person's identity back before superheroes were commonplace, but nowadays you can learn everything about a hero by just looking up anything about them in the media." she started, "They're just celebrities now, their normal lives aren't some hidden thing."

"I feel like we've talked about this before, it's in the spirit of the thing, you know? It's like having a persona, or a nickname, it's something that sticks with people." dad countered.

"I dunno, I still think it's kind of cheesy." shaking her head, she eventually smiled, "But then again, I did marry a hero, so I guess it doesn't matter that much."

Shaking my head, I winked to them, "Yeah well, give me a little room, maybe I can clean up that mess."

As they backed up, I pressed down on the faceplate, thankfully not having ten minutes to wait since I turned back preemptively. However, I immediately felt that something was wrong, and not because the alien I was trying to pick might have just looked like Heatblast.

My collar felt… strange, like there was something there, and as I looked up, I could see a red hood of sorts that seemed suspended overhead like it was part of some kind of armor. Looking down, I saw a slim frame contained in a red and black armor, the red portion looking chitinous almost, like a crab, and the black part looking a little glossy by comparison, the red armor covering the majority of my form, the black armor only seeming present on most my arms and my midriff, but there were also some dark grey legs of sorts that seemed to emerge from my chestplate, latching onto that black layer of armor. Some dark grey, barnacle-like growths seemed to be attached to my shoulders, gauntlets, and legs, a green light emanating from their center, but a similar pair of lights glowed from my chestplate, almost like a second face. Similar to Mothoreal, this alien also had three fingers, looking fairly sharp.

"...Not what I went for."

"Looks like the silhouette that I thought had a big head…" mom grunted, "Kinda looks like a crab person."

Dad chuckled, "Ah, so we've gone from a moth to a crab, huh? The whiskers coming off your top pair of eyes are pretty cute, kinda like eyelashes."

Looking myself over, I tried to guess what this alien's powers could be when I noticed some holes in my palms.

Looking to the ice, I pointed my opened hands at it, "Okay, so given I have holes in my hands, I'm guessing that something comes out of them… anyone want to place bets?"

"Water." both my parents answered in unison, arms crossed.

Surely enough, taking my experience from similar abilities, I managed to stress my body in a way that triggered a response as gouts of water blasted from my hands, slowly causing the ice to melt as I kept it going. As I kept this up it was almost like I could feel a connection to the water I was blasting, almost like it was an extension of me…

"Okay, stand back, because for once it feels like I'm figuring out something a bit more advanced." I warned, trying my hardest to focus on this feeling.

Not much happened, obviously being a problem with experience, but as I tried to get a bit more simple with it, I waved my hand in a way that my water jets acted more like a whip for a brief moment, my eyes widening as I stopped my water blasts… Honestly it was probably a good thing, because there was no way for the water to drain and it was starting to form some pretty large puddles.

"D-Did you just manipulate your water?"

"Y-Yeah, I felt something strange, like a sort of bond or something." I muttered, looking to my palms. Looking back up, it had me wondering, I could shoot water, I could manipulate it… Could I absorb it?

Now obviously this wasn't the same as breathing, and there's nothing that said an alien had to be able to absorb their element, but aliens that seemed to be able to manipulate their elements also seemed capable of absorbing it… Except Diamondhead, but Victor, despite making lightning, couldn't shape it or absorb it from what I had seen, but Heatblast, an alien that I had been thinking about when making my selection, could do all of the above.

"Maybe I can clean this up too…"

Raising my hands again, I tried my best to think of how a power like this would even activate. I tried thinking of that strange bond I felt with the water I was shooting, I tried to think of what it was like as Gas Leak to breathe back in the gas I had made and diffused… Eventually I made a connection, the water starting to flow off the ground and towards my palms, rushing back through me as though I was breathing it in, though the initial shock had made me stop, the water almost comically falling back onto the floor.

"Water creation, blasting, manipulation, absorption…" mom muttered, gently punching one of my shoulderpads, "I would bet you can take a hit too."

Finishing cleanup, I nodded, "I wonder if I can breathe underwater too, or see clearly, maybe that could help me get over my fear of deep waters!" gasping as I turned to face them, part of me nerded out a little, "Hell, I wonder how far this water manipulation thing goes, like if I can do more than just whips of water!"

"Yeah, but that got me thinking, you're probably vulnerable to electricity like this, huh?" my father frowned as he looked at the Omnitrix, "I think it's great that you've got such an interesting power, and I'm glad you're learning your strengths, but you haven't looked into what your weaknesses might be, have you?"

Pausing, I then realized that he was right. I was so caught up in the excitement of all the things I could do now that I forgot that these aliens are almost entirely different from Ben's, so I didn't actually know their weaknesses,

"You're not wrong, I actually forgot that I should be thinking of stuff like that."

"Hm… well, for now we'll have to look out for signs of weaknesses, we might be able to confirm or deny it with sparring." he then patted my shoulder, "Don't worry, we'll figure it out…"

"Yeah… I'm just glad cleanup is a little easier now, this should come in handy if it turns out I do have some fire-using form." looking to mom, I tilted my head, "Oh hey, you want to choose my next form, right?"

"I don't have to, you like this one, right?"

"Well yeah, but it's like I said earlier, I have plenty of time to figure it out later." I stated before turning back, smiling at her, "So don't sweat it."

Holding my arm up, I pressed the button that raised the faceplate and turned away, dad pouting a bit as she scrolled, "Kinda wishing I actually got to choose." he grumbled jokingly.

"Not impressed with Mothoreal? You even named the form."

"Yeah but I picked it by accident, it's not the same."

"Picked, go for it." mom hummed after realizing the faceplate wouldn't go down for her.

Wanting to keep her choice a secret, I closed my eyes and picked it blindly.

"My, that's certainly an interesting one…"

"I almost regret this…"

Opening my eyes, I saw my parents were much bigger than me, my head must have been at least waist high for them. Looking down, I saw that I had a small, fat, blob-like body, with two fingers and one thumb on each hand, the fingers more looking like dull, black claws. Struggling to see past my form, I managed to get my leg just high enough to see an elephant-like foot with three nails… I was dressed in what looked like my normal attire, but with a belt that had the faceplate over the buckle.

"...Oh what the hell…"

My voice was obnoxious, it almost reminded me of the fat girl from Persona 4, I loved the game and somehow I still forgot her name…

"So… any guess as to what powers you have?" dad asked, shockingly just amused by this.

Pausing, I struggled, the closest thing that I could think of was Cannonbolt… Jumping, which I actually struggled with, I fell on my backside, thinking maybe this was going to be some offensive alien and that its weight might be its power.

Squeak!

I was wrong, all that happened was I landed on my butt and a squeak noise came out of me…

"What am I? An oversized stress toy?" I muttered, struggling to try and roll, and surely enough that didn't do anything for me either.

"This seems… incredibly silly…" mom sighed, "At least you shouldn't regret your pick anymore."

"Oh no, I'm a fan of Mothoreal."

"Well, this form's looking useless…" I muttered, standing up, "Unless it's like Fatgum, it looks like it's just a nuisance."

"Wanna test it?" dad asked, looking unsure, "I would feel kinda bad if I hit you though."

"No, it's fine… Lemme mess around just a little longer and if nothing happens we'll just have to call it a dud…" shaking my head, I continued to experiment, to get this alien to do anything…

"So that last one was a dud, huh?" mom hummed, "Sorry."

"Not your fault, but hey, I may have another form for my Top 3 in the form of Aqua Jet." I sighed, recording everything I had learned in my notebook. I had also started to use pages in the back to theorize the weaknesses of each form, though something told me those wouldn't be as easy to discover, especially in the case of things that are usually pretty lethal no matter who you are.

"Hmm… You still probably have enough time to practice after you recharge."

"Thanks dad, I probably will. Not sure if it'll be one that I already know, or a new one though."

Yawning, he nodded, "Well, I hope that works out, but after a long day like that I feel like I gotta sleep." getting up, he tossed me the key, "Remember to lock up, alright? And don't push yourself too hard, I know you're excited, but we still don't even know your limits."

"Alright, sleep well dad~!" humming, I looked over to mom, "You calling it too?"

Pausing, she seemed to struggle with a decision before nodded, smiling, "Yeah… I wanna see you grow, and see how excited you get, but I also realize it might help more if I gave you some space." walking over and ruffling my hair, she got to the door with dad, "Good luck, keep an eye on your time!"

"Thanks! Love you too mom!"

As they left I continued to write, still brainstorming some different ways to test my alien forms strengths and weaknesses. Obviously I could investigate that map left by my Benefactor, but something's telling me that might be a better plan for the weekend, when I have a ton of time… Plus I still wasn't as familiar with these forms as I would like.

Besides, I think I have another way…

Writing down a plan that I thought to enact tomorrow, I pulled up the internet again, trying to wait out the recharge mode. Pulling up different heroes and skimming for interviews, looking for any descriptions of how they used their powers, looking for anything that might help me recreate those feelings that I might uncover any other abilities my aliens had.

While I gained some insight, I wasn't terribly sure how useful it would be as my Omnitrix finally recharged.

Okay, last one for the night… I don't know how I got Aqua Jet earlier, but hopefully I don't get the wrong alien nearly as much as Ben…

Scrolling through, I lingered over the Heatblast lookalike and what I vaguely thought looked like Wildmutt with a less organic look. Pausing, I rolled my eyes, "Damn you indecision…!" loading up a coin flip in my search engine, I got heads, "Alright, now to finally see what you are…!"

Pushing the faceplate, change rushed over me again, and for the third time today I could feel that my clothes were gone.

This time I wasn't covered by wings or chitin, looking down I saw plant matter, a green material with an almost bark or vine-like look spread over most of my body, which seemed to be made of a black material. My figure was actually more feminine than some of my other forms honestly, shocking me since I figured this plant-like alien would be more ambiguous like the insectoid Mothoreal. Some weird buds made of the same, green plant matter seemed to grow along my forearms, red ones sprouted on my shoulders. Lifting my phone up, I used the camera function to look back at my face, gasping as I was greeted with almost frog-like, hazel eyes. My face was made of the black plant material, and my hair seemed to be red petals along the side of my head, yellow closer to the top, forming an almost vegeta-like haircut.

Genuinely surprised, I turned my phone off and put it down again, a hand on my hip as I cocked it to the side, "Huh… I was expecting fire, and I got almost the exact opposite." I mused, my voice seemed nasally, "Alright, now to think of what a plant hero might do…"

Turning to face the dummy once again, I started off by seeing if maybe my arms could stretch or something. Trying repeatedly to match the sensation or pressure I imagined from such a thing, I repeatedly tried to reach out.

"...Okay, I'm starting to think that's not a thing."

Looking back at my hands, I noticed a strange, circular spot on my palm. Thinking back to Aqua Jet, I decided to try blasting something out instead. Eventually I got some kind of green gas to vent out of them, but nothing seemed to happen.

"Alright, this isn't getting me anywhere…"

Scratching my head, I tried to think of all the stuff it might be able to do, and the most obvious was having something to do with plants. But I didn't feel like testing that in my backyard of all places, just in case something crazy happened.

Going through a mental list of all the stuff that might be possible, eventually I had a crazy idea… Picking off one of the buds on my arm, I winced just a moment, looking at the seed-like structure that had been attached to it. To my surprise, one grew back in its place almost instantly. Tossing the thing aside, I then gasped as it rooted itself into the mat, a vine shooting out of it, snaking around before going limp.

"...Okay, so how does that work?" I muttered, not actually sure that was what would happen.

Thinking about it, I did feel a certain strange sensation, like it had still been part of me, kind of like that bond I had with the water before. It took a bit, but after revitalizing the seed with the gas from before, the vine sprung back to life. Eventually I managed to get it to shoot forwards, extending and wrapping around the dummy.

After uprooting it, to clean up after myself, I decided to try this again, plucking a few from my arms and tossing them towards the dummy. As they embedded in the mat, focused by my intentions, they seemed to spring to life and entangle the target without the need of that gas, but I wondered what would happen if I applied it now.

But something very different happened. In my excitement I tried to use that gas generation a bit more forcefully, and before I realized it my gout of gas had ignited, turning into a fountain of flames that enveloped the seeds, the dummy, and my hand.

"!? A-Aaah!"

Not expecting to create fire, still very much thinking this was just a plant alien, I flailed my arm a bit before I threw myself to the ground, starting to roll in hopes of putting it out.

"...Wait, this doesn't hurt…"

Stopping in my tracks, I sit up, looking at my fire covered hand. My eyes were wide, and why wouldn't they? As a Pokemon fan I just was always in the mindset that grass is weak to fire, and yet this alien rejected that notion completely.

"Okay, I found my fire form…" I hummed, but my shock turned to panic as I looked up, noticing the burns and scorch marks, the charred dummy knocked clean over, "...Oh boy, dad's not gonna like this…"

Honestly, it's a good thing this place was built to take some real heat given dad's lightning powers, otherwise I might have accidentally burned this place down… But I still felt bad, I wasn't sure I was going to be able to clean this up.

I should probably stop now, this alien is no good for this place… I'll figure out a name later.

And with that, I decided to turn back, record everything I learned about that one. And write up a note for mom and dad, apologizing for what happened. Finishing up and deciding to call it a night, I did my best to mentally prepare myself for what would come tomorrow.

Sometimes to learn more about yourself, you need a good struggle… I get the feeling this is gonna hurt.