BEN 10: RISING OF THE SHIELD HERO
CHAPTER 7: AND THEN SHE HATCHED
I will shorten the author's notes, and don't want them to take too much space. But… whatever. It's too long. Sorry, again.
Paradox said this world is only medium-level difficulty, using the in-game terms. This means he has seen harsher realities like Akame ga Kiru, where people kill each other for their own definition of justice. Attack on Titans, where people are contained like cattle, and outside the walls are immortals that eat humans for no reason. I have plans to crossover with them, with the same Ben. Having a shield or not is another story. But this will probably take years and I have a bad habit of jumping from one story to another. I don't want to abandon any stories.
I agree politics is not something suited for Ben.
Also about Rex. Rex isn't a hero but when he was an adventurer, his level was at least 35. But he quit adventuring.
Thanks for your support and information. It's really a great help.
It's been three days since Ben is staying in Lurolona Village to help reconstruct the houses of Demi-humans. Some of them he saved weren't actually from this village but he recommended living here so that Rex can protect them. Rex is reliable though he isn't rich, or a noble. Ben provided Rex with bags of crystals to improve the village. Ben is even willing to buy Rex the whole village from whoever possesses this land.
Well, the boy has done it! The currency of this world has been corrupted by a single boy, lol.
For Aria, she has already returned home, escorted by Sir Ben since he doesn't want her mother to be worried about her. Aria didn't want to return for whatever reasons. Her beloved Sir Ben insisted she returned home and that happened.
For the time being, Ben has to restrain himself not to think about Aria, and act coldly with her. He also has trust issues with girls. Other than Ester, many girls he has encountered are… not too nice.
"Are you sure you are OK with this all? You have your occupation of… being a legendary hero. I mean, one of the infamous summoned cardinal heroes is working here as… a… er… construction manager. I mean don't you need to strengthen your weapons, upgrade levels, or something?"
Rex understands why Ben willingly helps his village. Ben is… too powerful. He can easily slay monsters that are several levels higher than him. But… still… he needs to care about his job, too. It is possible someone will be wishing to assassinate Ben for not doing his job.
"Yea, it's OK. I am already level 50."
Ben replies with a sleepy voice. Rex is aware that Ben has been using his alien powers continuously for some time.
"You said that three days ago."
"You know… I am strong, don't you? And the wave is still away. I can just kill another batch of a thousand monsters to upgrade my level."
"And your shield? Is it getting an Engineering Shield or Your Friendly Neighborhood Hero Shield, huh? I think we can manage it from now on, though it will take some time longer. But it is our issue, you know?"
Been weakly laughs at Rex's comment. But he can't disagree with or refuse it. What Rex said is true.
"I will consider."
"Sir Ben."
"Oh, you there, Raphtalia."
When Raphtalia learned Ben is not a DOGGY but the legendary shield hero, she immediately changed how she addressed Ben.
Benjamin learned that Raphtalia and her friends are only 10 years old.
He became a hero when he was 10.
When he told his story to the demi-human children, they started acting like Ben was a living legend.
This is… partially true.
"There are cracks on your egg."
Rex doesn't get what she really means. He turns at Ben with a suspicious look.
"I know, I know. It's only three days but… I don't know how it works. Hah!"
Ben isn't aware of Rex's eyes on him.
"Yes. I wanna see what kind of monster will come out of the egg."
"What are you guys talking about?"
Rex finally asks.
"An egg."
"An egg. What's that?"
"I mean an egg. I mean it."
Rex stretches his head.
"Let me explain, Rex. Sir Ben bought an egg from the monster lottery in the capital. Whatever monster will be born is still unknown."
Now Rex is finally enlightened.
"Oh, I wanna see that egg, too."
(If this were some anime, Ben would be dubbed as Ben-sama or Tennyson-sama. For Rex, it's Rex-ni-san or Rex-oni-san.)
Pope Balmus finally got the reports of the whereabouts of the Shield Devil days after his mysterious disappearance.
He is now working for those demi-human lowlives, as expected of the Devil.
However, he isn't aware of Idol Rabier being defeated and the Tyrant Dragon Rex ancient Monster being slain by the Devil of the Shield.
It will be an unhappy situation.
The Pope isn't a moron like the King who is blinded by the words of his own daughter and the Pope very easily.
He is a moron in his ways.
Lurolona Village is being rebuilt, a dozen of demi-human slaves are freed by the Devil. He may be forming a revolutionary army. Knowing the nature of the Devil, it's highly unlikely. That man would rather destroy the whole country by himself, without letting anyone else hurt.
Pope Balmus has to take advantage of that naïve nature.
"New transformations?"
"Yes, Your Holiness. Reports say he has shown at least three more transformations during our watch."
Pope Balmus feels uneasy. The more powerful the devil is, the more difficult it is to exterminate him and there is a high chance the devil will interfere with his plans. Till now, the devil isn't aware that he is being spied on by the Church of Three Heroes… His every movement is being watched.
The Pope chuckles. However many transformations and abilities the devil has, he will never surpass the–
"What do you mean? He had cleared and rebuilt the whole village in two days? Impossible! Someone has to be helping him!"
His disciple hands a report paper describing a nobody.
"Who's this?"
"We only know that his name is Rex Salazar and he was a close servant of Seaette. We don't have any information on him, Your Holiness."
"So why are you giving me this?"
"Your Holiness, he can transform his limbs and body into strange machines which are not powered by magic or any technology we have known."
"Rex Salazar, huh? Is he by chance related to Tyrant Dragon Rex?"
"We don't know, Your Holiness. All we know is he wore a pair of strange orange glasses and an orange coat of some kind."
Oh thanks, your information really helps me, you know?
"Now, he is protecting the village according to our spies."
Pope Balmus smiles with a satisfied look.
"Order the assassins to kill him at any opportunity. We don't need any hindrance in our way. I doubt such abilities will surpass our assassins."
"As you wish, your Holiness."
His servant leaves the hall and the Pope is left alone, trying to hold his urge to laugh out.
On the report, there were three illustrations. One was showing a large oven-like monster with heat-related powers. Other than that, it seems very vulnerable and slow.
The second figure is a monster with a large body and drills as hands. According to reports, it can transform its hands into drills and its silver elbow bones move inside out for no particular reason.
The last one is a fish-like monster with a large mouth and quadrupedal. It has fin-like spikes on his back and can blast ice from his mouth.
"Whoa… Ralph is true. It's cracked!"
Rex exclaims looking close at the egg on the table.
"Don't call me Raph!"
Raphtalia seems to hate that name.
"OK, Dalia."
Ben is examining the egg closely. At this rate, the egg can be cracked open at any time.
"I also wonder what kind of monster it will be, hah!"
"Since it is an egg, maybe a chicken or bird. Or some kind of reptile or amphibian."
"Have you ever seen dragons and filolials?"
"Yes. This world has monsters in place of animals."
Ben shrugs.
"Yeah. Sometimes I feel bad for killing them but… they are revived somehow. This world is weird in many ways."
"Says the man who can turn into a dragon and a giant, huh?"
"Well…"
Suddenly, the trio hears footsteps.
"Er… Rihanna, hey."
Been greets the entering weasel kid.
"Where is Keel, isn't she with you?"
Raphtalia asks.
"She said she is sleepy. And Sir Ben, what are you doing here?"
"Er… Doing some recreational activities."
He averts his eyes from Rifana and whispers into Rex's ear.
"Say Rex, wanna do something exciting?"
"What is it? Aw, that thing you said this morning."
He nods.
"They are here, huh?"
"I've been sensing them for three days. I ignored them because they were just watching us. A moment ago, I pretended to go to the toilet and spied on them. They don't even know that the instincts of my transformations can easily sense them. It's hilarious."
Raphtalia and Rifana seem to be curious.
"What are you two talking about?"
"Adult stuff. Children should ignore it."
Ben replies with a smirk.
Four shadows are sneaking around the village.
Two in each group.
"His Holiness has ordered us to kill that orange devil, too. Nice, they don't even know we are watching them."
The voice isn't from any shadow. It's just a random bounty hunter assigned by the Church to assassinate the Shield Devil.
"The bounty on their heads can allow us to live our lives to the fullest without working anymore."
The second one replies.
"Who's the orange devil?"
The third voice enters. But there were only two in their group.
"Don't you know? The orange devil is–"
The two turn around and see the orange devil.
"It's a lame name, you know. Call me Generator Rex instead."
The two hunters hold up their weapons only to be shattered by an orange big fat sword.
"Oh sh–"
A punch is introduced to each face and it knocks them out cold for good.
The two shadows watching at the scene communicate with each other through eye contact.
Their facial expressions become intensified, seeing the orange devil in the distance.
"Chill, bro, chill."
The shadow hears a freaky voice and tilts his head to check his partner. His partner is already chilled and frozen.
He widens his eyes.
"So, you too need a big chill?"
He turns to see the moth-man face. And then he became frozen in… ice, not time.
"Another target that's tracked down by out-rider Big Chill."
Big Chill mutters as he turns invisible and phases into the ground.
The remaining two shadow spies decide to retreat.
Who says it'll be a success.
They parted ways to confuse the devils but…
The orange devil jumps down from a branch and lands on the ground before the spy.
"You!"
The shadow gasps.
"Please don't call me Orange Devil."
Rex summons the punk busters and tries to kick the shadow. The shadow barely dodges and takes out his sword to defend himself.
"YAH!"
Meanwhile, the other spy is running in the forest with his all might.
"Hey, dude, slow down."
A citrakayah is walking alongside him because his speed is too slow for a cheetah.
The shadow tilts his head and watches Ben in horror.
"Can't be helped, huh?"
Citrakayah is a dark blue humanoid cheetah-like alien standing on 2. While his speed is nowhere near XLR8, his strength and flexibility make up for it.
"Dude, you got something on your face."
"Ouch."
Fast track casually punches the shadow man in his face… at super high speed. The poor man is sent away knocking into a trunk.
"Oh… It's gonna be… painful."
The citrakayah mutters at the view.
However, the shadow gets up on his feet slowly and tries to take out his weapon.
"Ta-da! illusions!"
The weapon vanishes and reappears in FastTrack's hand at a supersonic speed.
"I have to admit," Rex says waving his sword in the air, "for a normal human to be this fast! But… I am not your… AVERAGE HUMAN!"
The EVO boy swings his big fat sword at the shadow cautiously so as not to accidentally kill him. The shadow brings up his weapon but it's instantly shattered at once in contact with Rex's sword.
Far away from the orange slashes, a dark blue blur and a man are having a martial art tournament.
"Ouch."
The man went down after 3 seconds.
"This takes longer than expected. Hu… Hey, Rex, are you done?"
"Not yet!" Rex replies, exchanging blows with the spy.
The spy takes out another weapon that seems to be a knife but the punk buster attack kicks the knife out of his hands.
And another kick sends him flying into the tree and knocks him out.
"I am done, dude."
Citrakayah turns back into Ben. His expression looks pleased.
"Alright, let's tie them up. Six total. I am guessing 4 of them are definitely from the Church."
Ben lifts up the man he defeated. Rex does the same to the man before him.
"The Church? Aw, the Church of Three Heroes."
"Yes, last time I sneaked in, they were scheming something dirty. Should I live in this village and protect demi-humans, huh? Or I will gladly leave a clone here."
Though it is dangerous.
Rex doesn't talk back but smiles and drags the man to Ben.
"Now let's get back, dude."
And so, Ben leaves the way to the village.
"Who are they?"
Rifana asks Ben and Rex with a pouting face and her palms on her hips.
"Don't tell me you piss off random passerbys and fight them, huh?"
Rex pushes the question to Ben and runs away, leaving him with 6 tied people and a Rifana.
"Er, well, you know I'm not that kind of person. These men were... Er... Sneaking around the village for two or three days so... I was... annoyed... and gave these guys a lesson."
The pink-haired girl glances at the group of tied men and raises an eyebrow.
"So what are you gonna do with them? Eat them?"
"No, I am not a fan of cannibalism."
But Ben doesn't have any idea how to deal with these captured spies and assassins and whatnot.
He meditates, standing still in his place, deeply thinking about what he can do.
Rifana is watching his strange behavior with wide eyes.
"Alright, let's do it. We have an extra house, right?"
"You're gonna let them live here, huh?"
Ben smirks.
"No, I'm gonna "imprison" them. Rath!"
In an instant, after the green light, a bulky bipedal tiger creature with a long claw on each hand and no tail appears standing in the place of Ben.
"Show Rath the way, Weasel Girl! Rath's gonna drag their sorry asses around!"
Rifana facepalms and turns around.
"It's gonna be painful…"
"They oughta be grateful, hah! Rath is transporting them generously using his strength! This, proving Rath is the strongest to them!"
At the time, one of the two bounty hunters wakes up in shock because of Rath's voice.
"AHHHH! TIGER MONSTER! LEVEL 89!"
"Let me tell ya something, you MONSTER HUNTER! RATH IS NOT A MONSTER. RATH IS–"
"Enough, Rath," Rifana stops him. "Let's take them to the "prison". Waste no time."
"Of course, My Lady. And–"
Rath turns at the hunter. "You better be grateful! As my lady orders, I'm gonna transport you by dragging your sorry asses around only with my pure strength!"
"NOT MY ORDER, RATH! IT'S YOUR IDEA!"
And so the men are dragged by a rope to the prison.
"What do you mean they were captured!?"
Pope Balmus can't hold back his surprised voice as he shouts at the man reporting him.
"It seems like the Devil has some kind of sensing ability, Your Holiness. He knew they were watching him all along but he didn't act anyhow suspecting. Instead, he waited for the perfect time to set a trap for time. This is what we are reporting, Your Holiness. But, I'm afraid we didn't get any further details."
"It's OK. Just tell me about the new form."
In the "prison" of the Lurolona Village, the six men are tied with ropes. They are sitting on the ground,... rather made sit on the floor. Ben, Rex, and some of the older demi-humans are standing in front of us. A Demi-human has already processed to remove any weapon or tools from their body,... in case they would try to escape or commit suicide. The four shadows have some clean clothes gaged in their mouth. Ben and Rex didn't really understand why. But… the demi-humans say it is to prevent them from suicide. On top of it, Rex didn't know a person can commit suicide by biting off his own tongue.
"These four… don't need to be inquired anymore. Trust me. Let me deal with them."
For someone who has experience with the Church's spies, Ben brings up an offer, which the rest accepts. Ben sighs as he turns at the two Bounty Hunters.
He hasn't been to the capital for three days. But he remember what the bald man said to him.
The symbol of the Omnitrix is branded an enemy of the Church.
Ben doesn't really care about that.
But more importantly… the Orange Devil business.
He forgot to warn Rex to not use his abilities because they were spies around.
Now it's too late.
Perhaps, it has reached the Pope's ears. Rex will be definitely announced as a subordinate of the criminal if Ben does something wrong.
It could result in danger coming for the village.
Now I understand why superheroes in comics wear masks. Such is life!
"What about you? What is this ORANGE DEVIL thing?"
Ben asks with a slightly furious tone.
"We– We don't know w-what exactly it is, but the Church h-hired us to assassinate the D-Devil of the Shield and the Orange D-Devil of Strange Machines."
One of the hunters answers, trembling.
"Rex, I think I have involved you in this. Sorry."
"Not your fault, Ben. You can't take all the credit in this… rebellion, I suppose."
Ben has never thought about rebellion though. But he smiles back at Rex.
"Tomorrow, I will take them back to the Church, somehow. You guys needn't worry. Just consider the security of the village. I… I suggest you learn martial arts and buy weapons to secure the village."
Then he nudges Rex.
"And you, no rebellion. Don't hope such a big thing can break out any time soon."
"Aye." Rex answers with a depressed tone.
"Sir Ben, Sir Ben,..."
Raphtalia's voice is heard and Ben immediately responds.
"You can just address me, Ben, you know."
"That aside, cracks on your egg became larger and they look like the egg will break soon."
Ben widens his eyes.
"Oh…. uh…"
Though it isn't the best of his interests, Ben wants to keep his word with the three 10-year-old kid trio.
A bird? a dragon? Daddy is waiting heheheh!
Ben rushes himself out of the prison and follows the raccoon girl to the kids' house.
When comes to animals, Ben thinks his cousin is better and more patient. But it isn't like he doesn't like animals and pets. After all, everyone has strengths and weaknesses, hmm.
In this world, he doesn't really see any animal in particular. But so-called monsters have similarities to animals. And there are demi-humans and beastmen. They are literally combinations of animals and humans, by appearance. But biologically or not isn't a question he can answer.
Ben has asked AI Azmuth why the omnitrix doesn't scan the demi-human DNA. He has seen plenty of Demi-humans and come to be close with a dozen of them. But he hasn't seen any sign of omnitrix capturing their DNA.
"To be honest, the omnitrix did scan five or more variants of demi-human DNA. But I sealed them away because this isn't a world of aliens like your universe, Tennyson. From our perspective, demi-humans can be anything: extra-terristerial beings, or creatures born from the evolution of humans or animals. Or a result of a genetic experiment. There are even irregular living biological beings like To'kustars who are born in cosmic storms. Before we are clear about that, I won't allow you to use their DNA."
AI Azmuth answered with a serious tone.
But,... I can use their DNA as a disguise.
"Not until I have finished analyzing the genetic elements. You have seen Eon and Ghostfreak, right? These DNAs are part-animals, for us at least. If we are not careful with that, your mind will go wild and in a worst-case scenario, you can never return to human form. Ben Tennyson, I am doing this for your sake. Even if this is a success, these DNAs are nothing better than a slave level."
Ben thought Azmuth sounded insulting. Honestly, the Galvans look down on other species, because they have high intelligence and an incredibly long lifespan.
Ben is together with Rex and three demi-human children, surrounding the egg on the table as the cracks slowly appear on the egg.
"Sir Ben, stay close since you are the owner of the egg. When it hatches, its master must be present near it."
Raphtalia suggests.
"Dalia, don't call me Sir."
"And don't call me Dalia."
The egg looks like it's gonna break. The rest of the group pushes Ben ahead as they notice it.
A fluffy wing with feathers could be seen peeking out from within the cracks.
It's trying really hard to break free from its shell.
Ben is interested in what was going to hatch from the egg.
"Wh–What are you guys–"
The cracks noisily spread with a "Piki Piki" sound, the face of a baby creature emerges from the egg.
"IT HATCHED!"
Rifana gasps in astonishment.
With soft and fluffy feathers along with the lovely eyes, the pink fledgling looks at Ben with a piece of shell on its head.
It jumped cheerfully and collided with Ben's face.
"A bird!"
Rex comments but he isn't sure. It looks like a bird. It is… fluffy.
"A filorial."
Keel answers, looking at the mysterious creature.
Ben observes the newborn "bird"s body.
Her body seems more agile than the balloons.
"You know about them?" Ben asks as he puts down the cute creature onto the shell pieces.
"I have seen some of them, but I don't know much. Uh… others in the village would be more knowledgeable about this kind."
Rifana and Raphtalia are too occupied with sightseeing the newborn baby bird when Rex checks on them.
"It can't be helped, huh? Alright, I will go call a villager who knows about this."
Then he leaves the house.
"She is…. Really cute."
Raphtalia remarks, trying to rub the baby's furs.
"She…?"
"Apparently. She is too cute so she is a she."
LET ME END CHAPTER 7 HERE.
This was a short chapter. Sorry about that. I was a little occupied with other things while writing this chapter so the ideas didn't come up as expected.
CHAPTER 8 will be about recruiting travel companions or party members of Ben.
I considered Ben saving Eclair but this is a little early. Rex has no clue where she is so worse is Ben. But I will set up a story to let him know where she is imprisoned. While she is a potential member, Rex and his village are quite in a tight spot. With Rex and Eclair, it is guaranteed to be safe. This is what I think.
Anyway, thanks for reading and writing reviews. I will try my best to surpass beyond, plus ULTRA.
Some dialogs in the hatching scene are taken from original light novel.
I am also planning a fun anime/manga to crossover with Ben 10, though I haven't decided on the anime/manga side.
Something that will be fun to read… like Konosuba.
Christopher Paradox Chronos.