BEN 10: RISING OF THE SHIELD HERO
CHAPTER 6: DRAGON VS DRAGON
Some Author's message here. A little long, sorry about that.
Thanks for the Information about Eclair. I've only read Ch 15 or so in the web novel therefore honestly didn't know Seaetto had a daughter. But since Rex is there, Eclair's escape will be earlier, I guess. But Rex doesn't know where she is.
The idea of using an ID Mask to avoid his enemies is interesting and nice enough. I have already considered it but it needs to change some settings. I need an Azmuth for that.
Thank you so much for giving me info about Ascension and the Naofumi/Melty relationship.
According to canon chronology, Raphtalia suffered from mental illness because of her friend's death. But I changed a little here.
Then the question is who will be Ben's companions? I better make some research on that, first, not to miss any heroine.
Alright, everyone, thanks for reading and reviewing my story. I will try my best to surpass beyond, PLUS ULTRA!
When Rex was a veteran criminal who had to run away from his pursuers, he began to be able to sense them as they approached. Not a superpower though. It is an instinct of a runaway.
Now Rex is sensing something big is gonna happen, just that he can't say what that is exactly.
"Rex… I know you are not from this world."
The Brambila mistress is, fortunately, one of the close friends with Seaetto, his master. She shares some secrets and ideologies with him but Mrs. Brambila is more violent and straightforward than Seaetto. She prefers progressing and accomplishing things fast… If she has to, she does it at once. And otherwise, she backs off and gives no mind to something unconcerned with her.
Her explanation doesn't cover everything about the Brambila family but the mistress seems to care about demi-humans.
"Speaking of which, how is his daughter?"
"I… Don't know."
Rex doesn't even know where she is. The last time he saw her was… before the wave.
"Don't tell me… she…"
"She is alive. I know… somewhere… she is still alive somewhere in the country."
After the talk with the mistress, Rex walks out of the mansion.
The sun is still up. He has a lot to think about, he can't return for literature lectures.
I want to know what kind of person I was when that Ben boy met me.
Man, it's helpless to stand and see the cruel reality without doing anything,... no, no, I am incapable of doing something significant enough to make changes in society.
I wonder what kind of hero that Ben boy is.
Is he…. powerful enough?
" –GOUSAUR! GRRRR!"
Suddenly the earth begins to shake, which makes Rex think a quake is occurring. And the concrete in front of him is smashed into several pieces from underneath the ground and a bizarre orange creature jumps out of the place.
It is orange… and huge… at least 12 feet tall and has a tail. On top of it all, it is… 100% a DINOSAUR!
"WHAT THE–"
The creature has an orange shield on one forearm and another carries a girl with pink hair and pink animal ears.
"Get down and back off, Rifana. I have to retransform again."
Rifana is put down to the ground and the Humongous Dinosaur Man faces the hole he made in the yard of the Brambila Mansion.
"DRAGON! YOU ARE BACK!"
A feminine voice is heard and the orange dragon turns to see Aria running of the house.
"Oh, it's you. You called me a lizard monster two days ago and now I'm a dragon? Anyway…"
The so-called dragon taps the symbol on his chest with his massive palm.
And green light engulfs his whole body.
"~GRAVATTACK… Alright, everyone, this might make you feel a little nauseous. But… put up with it for now."
The green light died down to reveal a massive rock creature with… no head? The reddish-brown creature has a core in his stomach and the hourglass symbol is on his belt. The shield now has an exterior completely made of brown rocks and a core is in the centre.
Rex can't move from his spot because of the big surprises.
"Oh… it is… larger."
"I will take it as a compliment," responds Gravattack before he recognizes it is Rex.
" ~ Oh Rex, is that you? What are you doing here?"
"Yes, it's me. I am a tutor for the daughter of– Wait, how do you know my name?"
Gravattack facepalms and tries to smile with his massive teeth as he recalls he didn't tell anything about himself to Rex.
"Oh, never mind."
The Galilean's body begins to float in the air and he extends his hands in front of him. Consequently, a force field appears around every demi-human underground and carries them onto the surface.
"Tell me if anyone feels dizzy. I… I got some potions."
The demi-humans are fascinated by Gravattack's performance.
Even Aria is speechless.
Gravattack taps the omnitrix symbol again to return to his human form.
The green light dies down and Ben is stepped out of the rock alien's place.
"Are you guys alright? You look… pale."
Ben comments looking at Aria and Rex.
"O-Oh… BEN TENNYSON!" Rex shouts at the brown-haired teen.
"Dude, calm down. Uh… Aria… you need to clean your father's mess."
"Er… O-OK… Wait, what do you mean?"
Ben doesn't answer and walks towards the group of 9 demi-humans. But the only ones who can run into Ben are Rifana and Keel, since they are healed. But the others are barely able to move.
"Hey, take it slow."
Ben hugs the two little kids and looks at the crowd.
"Oh, I'm sorry that I don't have any more energy to heal you. Oh… I have some potions."
With a huge smile, Ben quickly takes out the potions and gives them to the hurt demi-humans.
"Wh-What's going on?"
Rex only notices the cuts and scars on the demi-human slaves and gasps.
Aria runs to the hole Humongosaur made in their yard to see what's underground.
"Mr. Salazar, there's something here."
Rex runs to Aria and looks at the hole.
"Oh, wh-what is that?"
"Brambila… Your father built that."
Ben answers while he is handing out potions.
"Wh-what do you mean? I-I don't even know this thing exists i-in my courtyard."
Aria stutters as she examines the underground facility through the hole in astonishment.
"Exactly."
"Do you think this is over? No, it's FAR FROM OVER!"
Brambila man climbs up the hole somehow and growls as he runs towards a stone in the courtyard.
"Idol Rabier…"
Ben mutters and he holds up his wrist and readies the Omnitrix.
How can this man escape the Icy prison?!
"BRAMBILA, YOU ARE DEFEATED! GIVE IT UP!"
Aria and Rex look at each other and then turn to face Ben as they don't know what's happening.
"No, no, no, it's just the beginning. I wanna see… how you will handle… THIS!"
The purple light of dark magic blinds everyone in the area and when it dies down, reveals a Tyrannosaurus rex like creature with spikes on all its body and exoskeleton on his face.
"REJOICE! TYRANT DRAGON R—"
The monster kicks the Idol Rabier's back and sends away from itself.
"FATHER!"
"I GOT IT, I GOT IT! COME ON!"
Rex summons his mechanical SMAKE HANDS and PUNK BUSTERS and then runs towards the flying Brambila to catch him.
"Alright, he's alright."
He pants heavily but assures Aria of her father's safety.
"And BEN! CAN YOU TELL ME WHAT'S HAPPENING HERE?!"
Ben scrolls the dial to search for the suitable alien for the job.
"SAVE IT FOR LATER, GENERATOR REX! GOTTA CLEAN THIS MESS FIRST!"
When he finds the right alien, his palm pushes down the core and the green light engulfs his body.
And Ben is now… basically a big dragon, standing on four, with dark green skin and bright green eyes. He has two large wings that are more than capable of carrying his body. The shield has transformed itself into a small shield covered by a dragonhide with a core in the center, attached to the right forelimb of the dragon-like creature.
"Rrrrr ROAR… Grrr"
Oh, I can't speak in this form. Kinda like Wildmutt.
"Grr"
The monster responds with a roar and charges into the dragon.
"Hey, can you please growl less and fight more?"
Generator Rex, not to be mistaken with Tyrant Dragon Rex, takes the demi-humans to a safer spot and yells at the Dragknight. The proud dragon answers.
"Grr… Rrrr…"
Let's intimidate it with some roar.
"Grrr…"
Green Dragon crashes into the monster with his head and the monster is left unbalanced on its two limbs and nearly falls back.
An energy ball is being concentrated in the dragon's mouth and it's blasted into the staggering monster.
"Grr…"
The monster roars and near falls onto the ground but again gets its balance back and growls glaring at the dragon with its red eyes.
"BEN!"
The dragon looks down at Salazar who is riding an orange hover motorbike that is formed out of his legs and reacts with a roar. Behind Salazar is Aria who is riding Rex.
"IF YOU DO IT HERE, THE TOWN WILL BE DESTROYED! TAKE HIM OUTSIDE! I WILL SHOW YOU THE WAY!" Salazar cried out as he drives the motorcycle out of the courtyard.
Actually, Aria will show him the way.
The Dragon-like alien flies and grabs the monster with his limbs, carrying him along the way he follows Rex and Aria.
"Turn left, Mister."
"GOT IT!"
" Rowwllll"
Dragon drops the monster into the lake and blasts an energy ball into it again.
Mrs. Brambila is hearing sounds while she is reading political books in the reading room.
First, it is a faint quake. She just regards it as a quake and ignores it. In 5 minutes, another sound is heard, this time it's intense. She will be feel like an ant watching two giants beating the crap out of each other.
"No, don't, Mrs. Brambilla. It's dangerous."
Just before she goes out, she is pulled by a mysterious hand.
Chris shoots his glance into the yard and places a finger on his lips, letting out a "sh…" sound.
"Just let's wait. Something big is happening. But it's more important no one will be hurt."
And so, Chris disappears into the thin air, leaving his mistress behind.
Hey Partner.
"Yep."
Rex shoots the solid bullets into the body of the monster, several times by Slam Cannon, but it does nothing much.
Didn't you say… universal translator can translate vulpimancers?
The holographic Azmuth appears floating in the air upside down, rubbing his chin like usual.
The dragon descends onto the water surface, concentrating an energy ball and preparing to blast into the monster again.
"Not that easy, yes, they are lacking vocal anatomy. But they just want to notify each other of themselves growling and—"
I don't want to know about that, now. Can you translate Dragon Language right now or not?
"Sadly no."
Alright, I am transforming back.
Right after shooting a blast, Ben is back to human form and yells at the seemingly rocket-shooting General Rex.
"Hey BUDDY. I WANT TO MAKE AN ATTACK WAY BIGGER. MOVE IT!"
Rex nods and runs towards the Aria, transforming his legs into a hover motorcycle again to move out of the way.
The green light is much bigger this time.
Standing in the place of Ben… no, it is about a hundred or more times larger.
He has white skin with green markings. A redfin is erect on his head and his eyes are green.
On top of it all, he has become… WAY BIG.
Overwhelming the monster in the difference of size.
His shield is exactly the same usual small shield but with white and red markings on the silver plate.
"WAY BIG! Oh yea, feel great."
The cosmic giant looks down at the monster with a smirk.
The natural instincts of the monster are telling it to retreat…
Aria is stunned at the sight of… Ben becoming WAYYYY BIG.
"Whoa whoa whoa, he made… a way big move."
Rex mutters looking up at the To'kustar.
The To'kustar forms L with his arms and the shield moves up onto his right arm, to make space for the concentration of cosmic energy on his forearms.
A green ray is shot out into the monster, instantly exterminating it.
As the green light glows, Way Big is reverted to human form and drops into the water.
Rex generates a jet pack with a pair of wide orange turbine wings and flies towards where Ben fell into.
"Now care to explain what is happening?" asks Rex as he carries Ben to the shore.
"Yes, I want to hear, too." Aria approaches Ben with an index finger pointing at him.
"Uh… well, I planned to tell you, too. But… this and that happened, so… first let's return to your house, Aria."
After a while, in the living room of the Brambila mansion are Mrs. Brambila, Aria Brambila, Rex Salazar, Rifana, and Keel sitting here and there on the chairs, waiting for Ben who is trying to heal the injured demi-humans and the Brambila man who has at least 4 broken ribs. Ben honestly doesn't even want to heal him to conserve energy rather than wasting for this… filth… but a kind Rifana specifically requested him so he gives up the idea and heals him, too.
If Ben didn't disallow them to question the two demi-human girls, Rex and his party would have already asked a ton of questions. But Rex and Aria now have personal respect for Ben so they don't cross the line. The usual impatient Mrs. Brambila is also struggling to restrain her urges to… speak up through the long silence.
"Thanks for waiting everyone. Hu… my energy is down. Idol Rabier has 3 or 4 broken ribs so I suggest you send him to the hospital yourself and thank Rifana for his present conditions."
Ben enters from the entrance gaining everyone's attention. He walks to the centre of the crowd.
"Now, are you gonna explain? My father is wounded and you act like you didn't care. What happened? Seriously."
"To be frank, I'd rather not heal him, you know. Not with my powers at least. You are just his family, not his victims."
Ben opens up. The mistress widens her eyes when she hears the word "victim."
"What do you mean?" she asks impatiently.
"I don't think you guys don't know, so you are not directly guilty but your ignorance… uh… Rifana, Keel, could you please…"
The girls understand Ben at once and stand up to leave the room.
"OK, I can speak more frankly and honestly now. Your husband and your father…"
Ben says pointing at the mother and the daughter.
" – has been enslaving demi-humans and torturing them for years. How come you don't know, huh? Did you ever question when that old man disappeared from your sight? Huh?"
"Wait, what? What do you say my father did–"
"All those demi-humans I saved are the only survivors down there. You can go check if you want. There are countless corpses and it's just a coincidence that I come to know he is a CRIMINAL. Well, technically, perhaps not, according to this country's filthy laws."
The two Brambila*s are speechless.
Rex wants to get up immediately and go punch the unconscious face of that filth.
If he were 5 or 6 years younger, he would have done it without a second thought.
"That's the story. I need to rescue their friend at the slave market. I warn you. Don't QUESTION any of them, they have been hurt enough, physically and mentally. Don't just make any stupid actions to traumatize them anymore, OK? I am leaving."
Ben doesn't wait for any response in return. He just transforms himself into Big Chill and makes his way out at once.
"W-wait!" The older Brambila calls out to him.
But he has disappeared into thin air.
Rex feels conflicted but he isn't a teenager anymore. He calms himself as well as possible and keeps his cool in front of a criminal's family.
What can he say?
Blame them for their ignorance all those years?
They will feel guilty, too. They might be questioning their innocence even now.
Rex Salazar reaches for his old jacket and gets out of the living room.
The slave trader of the castle town secretly received an order from Her Majesty through her special agents.
At first, he was surprised to see an instruction to sell the hero of the shield a slave, regardless of the slave's grade or price.
A few days ago, he tried to convince the shield hero when he passed by.
But it didn't work out. Well… whatever will be, will be.
Ben dislikes clowns. Mainly because of his Coulrophobia, the fear of clowns.
So Ben avoids circuses, too, because there might be any clowns in there.
Zombozo, a clown who eats happiness and joys of people, was one of the biggest enemies in his childhood.
He got two main reasons for not wanting to enter the territory of the slave market.
First, it's slavery. He doesn't hate slaves, but he dislikes how they are retained. He can't feel any worse with that.
The second is his clown phobia, obviously. The slave market gives off a circus theme, he can't help it.
The slave trader widens his eyes for a bit when he sees the bags of crystals brought by the shield hero. He doesn't want to lose cool before a legendary hero so he maintains his appearance by a fake cough.
"O' Sir shield hero, what reason has brought you here?"
Ben has to hold back his scowl.
"I heard I can sell rare crystals here, too."
The man takes a glance at the bags and his experience is telling him that the crystals are pretty valuable.
"Of course, sir hero. If you become a regular here and sell–"
"No thanks, I'd rather not."
Ben's tone is a bit intimidating, even for the slave merchant who is putting up a brave front.
Sir Shield Hero isn't your average warrior. He has defensive and offensive abilities and his invulnerability is… so powerful that it is creepy.
"And I want to buy a slave or two."
The slave merchant wears a bigger smile and gestures the hero to follow him.
"This way, sir hero. If you have any prefer–"
"The raccoon girl. She is my priority."
The merchant doesn't like it. It is… way too precise and specific. Perhaps… he assumes the hero has already sneaked into his market before. But he keeps his facial expression. This is one of the arts of merchants, too.
They stop in front of a cage where a raccoon girl is sitting.
"Ha! Doggy–" the girl shouts at Ben's face but…
Ben stops her with a wink and a genuine smile.
The merchant doesn't like her reaction… because it is indicating a glimpse of what happened.
He opens the cage and draws the chains around her.
The raccoon girl is more than happy to see the doggy man.
Ben kneels down and approaches her ear.
"Your friends are safe," he whispers.
The smile on her face becomes more defined.
"You said you'd take one or two slaves. How about one more? Would you like to see the cages with fully raised monsters, sir hero?"
Ben's facial expression is now relieved before the little girl but Ben doesn't want any more "slaves."
"Thanks, no thanks. I am plenty powerful by myself."
"You are powerful yet who will watch for your back, sir hero?"
Oh, I didn't see that coming.
Ben chuckled. How ironic it is, the powerful Ben 10 has no one to watch his back.
He always transformed into one of his durable or invulnerable alien forms, such as Diamondhead and Big Chill, to make up for the lack of teammates.
Well…
At the moment, something catches his attention.
"What's that?"
He asks pointing at a wooden box filled with eggs.
"Ahh, that is what we sell as our business front."
"What business is that?"
"A monster shop."
For some reason the man answers excitedly.
"Monsters? The one we have to slay?"
"No, these monsters are useful for people in daily life."
Basically monsters are… also animals of this reality.
"In that case, are there also monster tamers?"
"How perceptive, was Sir Hero not aware of this?"
This man… if I showed interest, he would try to sell them to me, right away.
Ben looks at the little girl.
She is a slave. But she's gonna be freed.
But if he buys a slave,... how will it effect her?
For him, of course, he doesn't want a slave but he doesn't mind having a monster as a teammate, either. Dilemma of the Shield Hero, huh?
The characters and numbers on the box read "One try for 100 silver coins, a monster egg lottery."
"There's probably no winners in there, right?"
Ben is a little frank. He is indecisive between the reasons to try one and to not do so.
"What! Sir Hero thinks that we would pull such a scam!?"
Ben ignores the merchant's reaction.
"So, what's the winning price?"
"Flying Horse Dragon. Kiryuu."
Oh, great. If it's something to ride, I don't need it. Honestly.
The little girl looks at Ben's dumbfounded face and giggles silently. He honestly doesn't know what a Kiryuu is.
"Other than… that kind, any monster that is suitable for combat?"
"I can't tell you that much, but I assure you that every monster in each egg is valuable. Try your luck, Sir Hero. If you don't like the result, you can sell the monsters back to us, many of them worth a high price."
Ben rubs the back of his head and thinks again.
"Alright, I will buy one. Just one."
The merchant smiles.
"Then, let me perform a slave ritual on the girl–"
"No need. If anything, I want you to remove the slave crest from her body."
Pope Balmus feels uneasy hearing the reports.
The information is… more than convenient.
Nevertheless, his information network is limited. He doesn't have enough spies to know what the Devil does outside of the capital.
He has already been assigned many shadows in the castle town. But he has little knowledge of what shield hero does outside the town. Melromarc is a wide land.
Not just that, the reports of the shadow are way too good to hear.
Like Ben never noticed the presence of spies around him… since THAT incident.
And the news about Ben transforming into Jetray or Big Chill came to his ears. This proves Brambila's claims.
This is… fishy.
But he can't help it. The Shield Devil is…
"What an unpredictable brat."
As soon as Ben and the girl got away from civilization, he transformed into Biltzwolfer form, which she calls Doggie.
No doubt his fur is so comfortable to rub and touch, plus the warmness of his, it's a lovable doggie. She feels like she can hug him all day long.
Biltzwolfer carries her in his arms on the long journey to the Brambila mansion. It's the place that caused her physical and mental trauma, but her friends are currently there. He didn't tell her where they're gonna go.
The girl has fallen asleep after a minute in the furry warmness of the wolf.
Rex is surprised to see the Wolfman walking under sunlight before his very eyes.
But sorry, it was Ben.
He thought a wolfman was gonna eat a raccoon girl and thus almost activated his SMACK HANDS.
"Hey, what are you doing out here?"
The loboan asks Rex. Rex answers the obvious.
"Moping…"
Silence for a moment.
"So this is the friend of-"
The loboan makes a shoo sound.
"Yes, don't disturb her sleep, please."
Rex stares at Ben. He doesn't know Ben long enough to question if Ben has always been this sensitive when comes to little girls.
Frankly, he doesn't need a pervert or a pedophile as his friend.
Aria walks out of the mansion and sees the wolfman with a familiar hourglass symbol and a wolf hide shield.
Seriously, how many forms does he possess? He is basically a shape-shifting demon, isn't he?
She brushes off the thought and runs at the wolf to hug the creature from behind.
Ben wouldn't normally allow anyone to hug him in this form. He has trauma with Biltzwolfer… Or Benwolf. That Kai girl once confessed to him that she only wanted to tame the werewolf, Ben, not his normal human form.
Damn, it hurts, doesn't it?
This guy has several girls fangirling or following him but still… What a dilemma.
Rex doesn't want to criticize Ben anymore. He glances at his weird-acting pupil and returns to the mansion.
"This feels very, very comfortable."
"Is that so? Let's get inside, Aria."
"Yes."
The wolfman himself moves uneasily as the Aria girl sticks herself on his back.
Then, he puts down the sleeping girl on the bed in the room supposedly for her friends.
"How come can you transform into… these creatures?"
Regrettably, Mrs. Brambila has two traits, impatience, and curiosity. How ironic she never found out what her husband committed. The wolfman chuckled at that thought.
"I have… Er… The abilities granted by the gods."
Ben can't come up with a better lie. For the time being. But… his lie works in many ways.
It still answers the question perfectly though Ben never was a religious type.
However, don't think the woman is convinced.
"You need to explain in terms I can understand."
She needs more.
"I don't know you that much."
Sounds rude but still is a good excuse.
"I don't really believe in Gods. Enough information?"
Benjamin has triggered a trouble.
Partner, are you there?
"I knew where this was going to, Tennyson." replies the AI though he doesn't appear on the screen.
"How about shapeshifting magic? Like taking over the bodies of monsters you defeated?" Azimuth suggests.
I don't like my alien forms being called monsters.
"Don't be so picky, Tennyson. Think rationally." Azmuth's voice concludes.
The woman is waiting for his excuses.
"W-well. It's some kind of superpower. As I said, the gods granted me this power, so I don't know how to explain. Probably I can transform into monsters I have slain."
Mrs. Brambila stares at Ben in disbelief for some seconds but she doesn't question anymore. She is too quick-witted to wait for Ben to explain the truth.
"Alright, whatever."
He can't blame her. The anxiety she gained recently… Ben is guilty in this case.
She has found out her husband is… a criminal, logically.
Ben continues his walk but… Aria comes out of a room. She seems to hear almost everything Benjamin and her mom talked about.
(A/N: Auto-correction feature is a little bugging me. I use a laptop most of the time but when I type on my phone, it is a downside.)
"Who are you, exactly?"
Aria queries Ben with an arrogant tone.
"Oh, great, don't you remember? I am one of the summoned heroes, the hero of the shield, Ben Tennyson."
Aria narrows her eyes and shortens the distance between Ben and her. Indeed she is a little shorter than Ben who is 5' 10" tall so she must be around 5' 5".
Her blonde hair is natural, inherited from both sides of the parents. She has an Italian beauty. Ben dare not look at her body, though.
"Not that thing. Hero blah blah… I want to know what kind of person you was before summoned!"
Aria can't endure it anymore.
"I was a hero before, too."
"Huh? You kidding me?"
Ben shrugs. But she isn't satisfied thus stomps her feet onto his.
"Ah! What's that for?"
He almost screamed.
"Is that true about being a hero?"
"Yes, it is. Believe it or not, it is yours to choose. I'm gonna find Rex."
He starts walking away but she grabs his Omnitrix wrist and stops him.
"Come on, what do you-"
She is looking down at the ground with an unreadable expression. He is plenty oblivious when it comes to women.
"You saved my life," she whispers.
"Why don't you take responsibility for my whole life?"
Ben is totally stunned like a sculpture. This is uncalled for.
Rex cringes at the romance of a dragon and a human girl.
Not like he discriminates against characters or living things.
But he can't stand the cringeworthy dialogs of the female protagonist.
She has lines like: "You saved my life. Why don't you take responsibility for my whole life?"
Goodness, it is a book.
If it were some kind of film, he might have been busy tapping the pause and play buttons.
It's been a long time since he used his "builds" before this day.
He doesn't think of what will happen to Idol Rabier.
That guy committed a toll on his villagers.
Rex puts down the book gently on the table and leaves the room to enter another.
To meet with demi-humans from his village!
But… What are those two doing here?
Rex notices Ben and Aria in the corridors.
From his perspective, Ben is turning his back at him and Aria's face is blushing. Rex hears Aria's voice but she doesn't notice his presence for some reason.
"~ Please be my dragon and I will ride you –"
Pfft.
Rex drops his plan to eavesdrop on them and quickly enters the room of Rifana and friends.
Back with Ben.
"Huh? What are you talking about? You wanna ride my dragon? Welcome, let's go at once. You will feel it! I guarantee your experience will be worth a shot! When I fly in dragon form, I feel like my bones on the back are stretching out and like someone is massaging them. It feels so– hold on, why are you angry?"
Aria doesn't know Ben isn't familiar with her favorite romance novels.
"Forget it. Maybe we will restart again next time."
She replies coldly and leaves Ben alone.
Ben sure has it rough.
"Doggie…"
The raccoon girl runs at Ben and cheerfully hugs his wrist.
"Oh, you are awake."
"Thanks for saving my friends, again."
"No need. I just did what I should."
Ben pokes her hair.
"Come to think of it, I didn't get your name. What's it, kid?"
"Raphtalia!"
"Raphtalia… Oh, a beautiful name. Mine is Benjamin. You can call me Ben."
Rifana and Keel approach the duo.
"She's been calling you Doggie all time. What is meant by Doggie?" asks the dog-girl.
"Yea, I've been hearing it for a while. I am jealous she found you first," says Rifana with a pout.
"It is OK you three are together now. Have you met with Rex?" Ben changed the topic before the war broke out.
"Yes, I remember him. He lived with that rich old man who was very nice to us. But… I am sad to hear he is dead." says Rifana looking down at the ground.
"But he said he will help us rebuild the village! That rich lady said the same thing, too."
Keel says cheerfully. Maybe it is a blessing for her to rebuild her village.
"Those things you summoned during the fight are related to magical engineering?"
Aria is curious what Rex did that evening.
Rex stretches his head and answers with a lie.
"Yea, something like that."
"They are awesome in their own way, you know! I am proud to study under you, Mr. Salazar."
Rex feels uneasy about lying to her.
"Say, Aria."
"Yes."
Rex has pinned some ambitions and priorities in his life.
It's better that way, he is determined.
"This is our first day but I haven't taught you anything particular, have I?"
"Oh, don't feel bad about it. Mom called you out in the middle of the lecture and that happened."
Rex takes some heavy breaths in.
"I am quitting this job."
Aria turns at Rex in surprise.
"Why?"
"I have to help my villagers. You see, those Demi-human kids are from my village. They need someone to rely on, someone who will stand up for them. Ben has done enough. This is my turn to do something for them."
His eyes carry a meaning. Maybe it's better that way, Aria sighs.
"Good luck, teacher."
"Yeah. Maybe I will come back here when I can find Eclair and hand the duties to her. It's not easy as it sounds but I want to try protecting people I love with the gifts I possess."
Rex looks down at his hands and legs.
"I won't wait for you, then."
"Umm?"
Aria smirks.
"I want to go on adventures with Sir Ben."
"Sir Ben?"
For some reason, Rex finds it an awkward way to address him.
"He has TONS of my respect, heheh."
Aria laughs out loud from the veranda she is standing on.
Rex facepalms and then decides to leave her alone.
"Removing slave crests isn't that difficult, but I don't have tools."
Ben says with a depressed tone.
"Can we just go to that slave trader?"
Raphtalia proposes the idea. But Ben doesn't like that man.
"Are you sure? I don't think you–"
"I am perfectly fine with that. And I can just leave out of the way since I have already had my crest removed."
Ben feels anxious and uncertain. That isn't the case.
Ben looks out of the window. The moon is up.
"For now, you guys take a rest. I will make plans for that."
In the early morning, Rex opens up to Ben that he wants to rebuild the village and then he will live there with these Demi-humans.
"I can't thank you enough for saving them, Keel and others."
"Saving and protecting everyone is my responsibility, don't cha'know? But this is just a very first step. I still can't protect everyone."
Rex sighs hearing that.
"You know, I am not a human, technically. But I look like one and act like one. As long as I stay human, I believe I am one. Appearance doesn't matter for one to have a heart. Or at least this is what I believe.
"You have several forms of yourself, basically every shape and size. But you are still you, whatever form you are in. Maybe their DNA affects your personality to go wild but there's still you. Don't blame yourself. You are a hero, not an all-powerful god. Even Gods make mistakes… you see this sh*tty world and learn it."
When he puts it like that,… well, I must stay firm so that I don't fail my tasks as responsibilities.
"Thanks, Rex."
"You will accompany us to Lurolona, huh?"
"Of course. I will also help you guys rebuild the village again."
Rex stares at the rising sun and thinks deeply for a moment.
"Can I request one more thing?"
"Sure, if it's something I can do."
"Is there even anything you can't do? Seriously."
Ben decided not to take Raphtalia to the capital, again. He left her to Rex and Aria and while he rented a ride for the rest of the demi-humans to set off for the capital in order to remove their slave crests.
"Rex, Aria, please take care of Raphtalia."
"Hey, don't act like a father leaving his daughter," Rex replies, with a nudge on Ben's shoulder.
Then Ben and the party of demi-humans get onto the cart, drawn by dinosaur-like reptiles that stand on 2.
"See you later, guys."
The vehicle sets off leaving Rex, Aria, and Raphtalia waving them off, behind.
Though the merchant doesn't show visible emotions, he is surprised by the group of demi-humans behind the hero of the shield. And the hero is carrying a weasel girl in his arms while a boy-like girl with dog ears is sticking herself on his back.
"O', if it's not the hero of the shield,... What brings you here, today?"
"Remove the slave crests of these people."
Ben says coldly as he puts down a bag of gold coins, he recently earned by selling crystals, onto the table.
"Tell me, if you need more." Ben orders.
The slave trader wears a creepy smile as usual.
After the rituals, Ben and the group return to the mansion.
The next day, Rex, Ben and the demi-humans set off for the trip to Lurolona Village.
For some reason, Aria Brambila sticks along.
The village has to be almost completely rebuilt. There is nothing in sight that can accommodate people.
"Hey, Ben."
Rex calls out.
"Yea, Rex. What is it?"
"Don't tell me you happen to have building alien forms."
"Sorry, I got some…. ARMODRILLO…"
When the green light disappears, standing in Ben's place is a yellow bio-mechanical creature with pistons in his elbows. The creature overall looks like an armadillo wearing a Greek Corinthian helmet and yellow metallic armor. He also has a tail. The yellow shield with black marks and a crystal core in the centre, exists on his right forearm.
The following three passages are just fan fic writer's theories.
Armodrillo is one of the Andromeda Aliens whose DNAs were captured by the ultimatrix. Armodrillo, NRG, and Water Hazard are aliens with extensions provided by the omnitrix…. I.e. Armodrillo's yellow armor, helmet and pistons, and tools are not biological nor organic. The ultimatrix scanned Andreas (A Talpaedan) perfectly and reproduced the armor and tools for Armodrillo.
As you know, NRG's species – Prypiatosian-B (evolved Prypiatosian) aren't born with armors. They are extremely harmful so Pandor has to wear an armor all time to reduce radiation.
Orishan (Water Hazard) is probably a species of humanoid mullusk-like aliens who can absorb water or water components from the air and surrounding and rescrete as high pressure water. Probably the pressure of water is improved by his suit. (However all this is only my theory.)
"Dude, seriously?"
The yellow alien transforms his hands into drills and starts destroying the rubble, to provide space and build new homes.
"You can really do everything, my knight."
Aria attempts to praise Ben. But the Talpaedan is in fact annoyed by "my knight" thing.
"I may look like a soldier but I'd prefer if you don't call me by that name, my lady."
After piling the rubble, the Talpaedan transforms again into NRG to melt the segments down to reuse in building new houses.
Rex and demi-humans are drawing blueprints for the building.
After about an hour, Ben comes to the group to take a rest.
"You sure work hard, huh? I advise them some modern houses from my world."
"Oh, that's great. I was gonna propose some ideas from my world, too. But… hah… later. I am tired now."
Aria moves fast to the side of Ben and grabs his arm to hug. He tilts his head and glances at Aria but says nothing. Because he is too tired to let out a word.
Rex feels awkward so he shatters the silence.
"Uh… are you OK with abandoning your adventures?"
Ben nods weakly.
"O-ok, I am level… 50 now."
"Oh, impressive. You are only a week here, aren't you?"
Ben can only nod in response.
"Maybe because you slayed that dragon blah blah monster."
Ben nods again.
"Rex, can you not ask many questions?! Sir Ben here is exhausted."
Aria interrupts the conversation because she wants some compliment from Ben.
But Ben can't respond. He has fallen asleep with his head on Aria's shoulder.
Rex sighs at the view.
"Now, now, I have something else to do."
He quickly finds an excuse and gets away to leave Ben and Aria alone.
Did Aria really fall for Ben? That Ben guy looks really dense. I hope he isn't a pedophile. This will just make poor Aria suffer.
Rex has a misunderstanding.
CHAPTER (6) ENDS.
This chapter is a bit short and too much fillers.
A bonus Ben 10 Power-up idea at the end of this note. Check it out xD
In conclusion, I thought about Rex becoming Ben's team member, but later I just assigned him to Lurolona Village maintenance, since there are not many capable villagers, and also he is a former villager, it makes sense.
The second reason is Ben alone is plenty powerful. He can take on Glass without Soul Eater shield since he has Whampire. Whampire is scary when comes to lifeforce draining.
I have to say sorry about keeping Idol Rabier alive. I don't want Ben feeling guilty for someone dying in his sight. But his role is over.
Thanks for the information on Eclair Seaetto, again. Ben will stay in Melromarc for a little longer after the wave, I will reuse canon story arcs in this version.
Green lights appeared on Ben's body. Then they disappeared to reveal three OMNITRICES. On his left hand was something that messed up his life, rather his DNA. It was an Ultimatrix. Ben didn't blame Albedo for the fact that Ultimatrix had vital flaws. Well, Albedo himself was messed up by this very device.
The second gauntlet was on his right hand. A watch… but you'd need some steps to actually see what time it is. The replica of COMPLETE Omnitrix. Rejoice! Although Azmuth denies giving this little gift many times, Ben somehow managed to get it. The main reason was the Ultimatrix. It made complicated effects on his DNA and his biological body was gonna break anytime soon. Azmuth let him use it to suppress the DNA-altering… disease? He reminded Ben not to overuse the Ultimatrix but he'd gone and done it.
The third one was on his belt. The green hourglass symbol was the most prominent feature, though there wasn't any out-of-place trait on the belt.
"Now… Omnitrix… Let's transform, buddy. After all,… IT'S HERO TIME!"
"[VOICE COMMAND RECOGNIZED]
[HEATBLAST], [SWAMPFIRE], [N R G]"
Three green holograms of different creatures, probably life-size, appeared in front of him. The left one was a humanoid living volcano. Though it was supposed to be a sculpture-like figure, the flame on his head was moving.
The right one was similar to the former. But he had no flame on him. His legs were big and studs.
In the middle of the former two was… weird. A large oven? Humanoid oven at that.
And then the holographic sculptures suddenly disappeared. To be exact, they returned to Ben as green beams of light.
"BURN! BURN! BURN!
SUPERNOVA BURN! SWAMPY STINKY BURN! RADIATORY BURN!
FANTISIZE: TRI -TRANSFORM!
MASKED RIDER OMNIX – BURNING FIGHTING FIGHTER!"
Several segments of dimensional armor appeared around Ben's body while Ben turned into a group of microscopic particles. He was still seen as a humanoid dark figure. In a second all of the armor pieces combined with the dust of Ben's particles. And formed a humanoid figure of Ben's height. Standing in Ben's place was an armored warrior… rather… a Masked Rider.
The helmet resembled NRG's armor head, but smaller and it's like it concealed Ben's head. Three red stripes existed on the face. At the top of the helmet existed a hole of the head's size. And flames started to rise up from that hole.
The grey metallic armor came down to the chest and met with two different colors from each side of the body at an angle. The chest armor was of triangular shape. The left side of Ben's body was covered in flames and lava and cracks though his forearms were covered in metal gauntlets. His right body was dark green, with cracks and in the cracks were lava. Like his forearms, his feet were covered in metallic boots.
After a moment, the stripes on the face glowed red, as if Ben finally had taken over the body.
I originally planned this for the ending of a multiversal war where Ben fights an army of villain bosses from multiple worlds. Based on Kamen Riders. The final bosses were Darkseid, Vilgax, and Thanos.
The power of Bi-Omnitrix and combining two DNAs in one body is not harmful, as there are hybrids of different species. But Tri-Omnitrix may have side-effects. For example, Ultimate Kevin. And as I explained, Ben's DNA is corrupted by a million foreign DNAs.
That being said, this idea isn't anymore. Because I have already chosen Ben with complete omnitrix which has little to no side-effects.
Thanks for reading and writing reviews.
Christopher Paradox Chronos