AN: Well, after a short break to prepare for the holidays, it looks like this little beauty is the next to get updated, if for no other reason, than to say that I've gotten a full set of four Meetings done before the end of the year.
Weiss: That seems like an understandable reason...I guess. Do you plan on resolving any of the other cliffhangers that your other stories may or may not have right now though?
AN: Yes, I do intend to try and update at least one other story before we finally say goodbye to 2019, so you don't have to worry about that.
Blake: Say, why did you go with this one anyways?
AN: Honestly, this one just recently came to me and is one of the more fresh ideas in my head. Sure, it's a little more haphazard than the other three we've seen thus far, but it does seem like it has potential to be something pretty good. That, and I just felt like it would be good to get through all four of the series that are alluded to on the cover art.
Ruby: Yeah, even I'm having a hard time believing that's the whole reason.
AN: Okay, fine. Straight up; it was all of that, but I was also debating whether or not I should do one or two other ideas that I had in mind, the others being a Justice League or Power Rangers idea that I had in mind, and in the end, I just flipped a coin to see if I would go with the series that's on the cover art, or one of those other two.
Yang: That makes sense, and since we've now officially established a pattern with how these Meetings are introduced, I guess that means it's my turn to do the introduction, right?
AN: Yes ma'am, it is, but allow me to clarify the details on this meeting first. Now, this one is a slight AU where both the world of RWBY and the visiting series are in fact part of the same universe, but the world of Remnant is actually a different planet from the one that the visiting series normally takes place. Meaning, no universe/dimensional jumping will be happening here. Just traveling to another world. So basically, it's similar to the last Meeting we showcased, just with a different line-up of heroes. The Meeting itself takes place in RWBY Volume 4, during...well, I'm sure you can all figure it out once we get into the meet of things. Alright Yang, take it away!
Yang: Awesome! Today, the heroes of RWBY meet Ben 10!
AN: Yeah, that's right. It's Hero Time!
Ben 10: [suddenly sticks his head in the room to shout] Hey! That's my line!
AN: I'm well-aware, now shut up! Be glad that I've finally gotten you into any of my fanfictions at last and be happy, boy! Ahem. Moving on to the disclaimer.
I do not own anything from any of the RWBY franchise or any other franchise mentioned in this story.
Ben 10
How had it all gone so wrong? That was the question that Ruby Rose had been asking herself time and time again ever since the Fall of Beacon, and rightfully so in both her mind and in the minds of many others. One moment everything had been going great; she had gotten into Beacon Academy two years early, she was not only on a great team with her sister but leading said team, made incredible, unforgettable friends, helped to stop a dangerous criminal and conspiracy against the kingdom of Vale, and her team had made it all the way to the finals of the Vytal Festival Tournament. The next thing she knew, things began spiraling out of control. Maybe it was the moment when everyone saw Yang "cripple" Mercury on live television that really started it all, and the way that it had driven a wedge between the blonde brawler and Blake, even if it was just a small one, but no one could deny just how insane things went after Pyrrha was tricked into ripping Ruby's best friend Penny apart in the way that she had. Before anyone knew it, Grimm were flooding every inch of Vale, the Atlesian army had been hacked by Cinder Fall and her gang, White Fang were attacking the school, and pure chaos had enveloped Vale entirely.
Sure, there were a few victories, like how Ruby managed to finally bring down Torchwick once and for all and his silent sidekick Neo as well. (She was well-aware that technically Torchwick was killed by a random Grimm, but it was during her final face-off with him, and she totally had him on the ropes. Ruby was counting that as her win, especially given her history with the annoying, smug bastard.) Not only that, but Ruby later heard that Weiss and Velvet were instrumental in clearing out a great deal of the enemies attacking her school so that everyone could evacuate, but what did one or two small victories mean in the face of such a crushing defeat?
Professor Ozpin was dead, Yang had lost one of her arms and was now a bitter shadow of her former self, Weiss's father had forced her to return home in the aftermath, Blake had ran off to parts unknown to all of them, and Pyrrha…Gods, Pyrrha…Ruby knew that Jaune and his teammates were all suffering a great deal over the loss of their redheaded teammate, the blonde knight especially from what she had seen, but Ruby had the unfortunate privilege of being the one who actually witnessed Cinder putting an arrow right through Pyrrha's chest. She was still having nightmares about that moment. Sure, it may have helped her to unlock some secret power she apparently had because of her silver eyes, and then turned that giant Wyvern Grimm into stone, but what good did that do anyone? The thing was still attracting other Grimm into both the city and the destroyed school, and no one had any luck getting rid of it for good last she heard. Besides, what did it matter if Ruby had stopped it from causing more serious damage if she had not been able to save not one, but two friends from Cinder's twisted plan.
All Ruby wanted at this point was to have things go back to the way they were, or at the very least, to get her team, her best friends and second family back together, but it did not seem like either of those were very likely to happen. So, she had to settle for getting some answers as to why the nightmare had happened in the first place, and thanks to her Uncle Qrow, she knew just the place to start looking for those answers: Haven. It made a lot of sense, seeing as that was the place that Cinder and her teammates had said they were from, so Ruby had no problem setting out for Anima as soon as she felt she had been rested enough for the long journey. She had been hesitant in bringing along the three surviving members of Team JNPR (Juniper), but Jaune, Ren, and Nora had all insisted that they knew what they were getting into when they volunteered their services to her.
So, here she was, miles from home, separated from her sister and best friends, crossing Anima while the rest of the world was gripped in confusion and fear after the loss of the Beacon CCT, and all with the help of a new team that was forged from the combination of her and the remaining members of JNPR; a team that had been dubbed RNJR (Ranger), despite Nora's protests. Sure, they came across a few destroyed villages, some odd Grimm here and there, and even took on some small jobs to keep money in their pockets and ensure that they always had a good amount of supplies, but Ruby still wished that she could have been doing this with good old Team RWBY (Ruby) at her side.
That desire was stronger than ever right now. After they had wandered into the abandoned village of Oniyuri, which Ren had described as Anima's version of Mountain Glenn, Ruby and the others had all quickly come under attack by a scorpion Faunus who was clearly not all there. His intentions were not too hard to discern though, given that he had announced them like it was not a big deal: this crazy weirdo was interested in taking Ruby somewhere with him by any means necessary, and if what her uncle had told her after she woke up in her bed all those months ago was any indication, Ruby had a feeling that it had something to do with the strange powers of her silver eyes. Not that it really helped her to make much more sense of what this guy's deal was, and it was even less help in making the fight easier for her and her friends.
It was not until Qrow had finally showed up to save Ruby at the last second that the tide started to turn in their favor, and even he was struggling against this crazy man who called himself Tyrian. Naturally this worried Ruby for a number of reasons, and not just because of how her uncle was risking his life against this crazy man that would make the nuttiest of nuts seem normal in comparison. Qrow was a professional huntsman, one of the best at that, had graduated at the top of his class along with her father and mother, and taught Ruby everything she knew about scythe-wielding, and he was having a hard time getting the upper hand on Tyrian. Sure, she was able to help out a little earlier, but even that just barely did much to swing things in her uncle's favor for very long.
Recognizing this, Ruby did not hesitate to jump in and rejoin the fight the next time she saw an opening, and managed to deflect Tyrian's next strike against her uncle before the scorpion Faunus ever even reached Qrow, much to the psycho's amusement. "Do you wish to be taken," Tyrian chortled in question.
"No, but I won't stand by and watch someone get hurt," Ruby retorted angrily, and like that, Ruby was rushing forward alongside her uncle to engage Tyrian in a ferocious dance of blades, her scythe locking with one of Tyrian's gauntlet-blades at the very same second that Qrow's sword had the other.
Qrow was soon kicked away from the other two, leaving Ruby to tangle with Tyrian on her own for a few seconds. Not that she had too much trouble doing so, given that a few easy twirls of her scythe allowed her to block, deflect, and parry many of Tyrian's attacks, even when he lashed out with his tail, but when she went for a counter strike, she found her blow unable to connect, and was left open for Tyrian's retaliation. Luckily Qrow had managed to recover and come to the rescue just in time, parrying the Faunus's strike and then pushing him back with his sword just in time.
Glancing over his shoulder, Qrow quickly shouted, "Ruby, I told you to stay back!"
"This is my fight too," Ruby argued before she charged around so that she could hit Tyrian from another angle. She vaguely took notice Qrow shouting something else to her when she next attacked, but really, you could not blame her. She had already committed to her next attack so much that by the time Qrow had next spoken up, the young scythe-wielder was unable to stop. If anything, Qrow's warning had probably helped play more of a part in Ruby being unable to avoid Tyrian's next strike on her.
Ruby was able to shrug off the blow and land her feet again easily enough, but what she had not realized was that she had landed right beneath an unstable beam from the destroyed house that Qrow and Tyrian had crashed through earlier in the fight, and that very same beam was now about to fall on top of her. Qrow was about to rush in save his niece from being crushed underneath the falling support beam, but something else beat him to it, and before he could even blink at that. The only real sign anyone had of someone rushing to Ruby's rescue was how the wind had suddenly picked up all of a sudden, and the fact they all heard the sounds of something moving past them at an incredibly high speed. Even Ruby was a little stunned about how it had happened, given that whatever had saved her seemed to be as fast as her, but what came as even more of a surprise was not the fact that she was a good few feet away from both Qrow and Tyrian afterwards, but the identity of her rescuer.
The red hooded huntress was not the only one stunned by the sight of this newcomer, as Qrow, Jaune, Ren, Nora, and even Tyrian were left gobsmacked by the sight of the thing that had just pulled Ruby to safety. There, standing over Ruby was without a doubt, the strangest creature that any of them had ever seen. If they were to use any kind of comparison, they had to say that it looked like a bipedal lizard of some kind with blue skin, black balls for feet, a long tail with blue stripes, sharp-looking black claws, and what looked like a black helmet covering a cone-shaped head. Said helmet also had a visor down to hide its face from view, and the only other distinguishing features that any of them could see was the green stripe running up his torso, with an odd dial on the center of his chest with an hourglass shaped emblem.
While everyone continued staring at him, the lizard-man turned to Tyrian and spoke in a high-pitched, scratchy voice. "Hey pal, didn't anyone ever tell you it's not nice to pick on girls and old men," the lizard-man quipped.
"Hey! Who're you calling an old man," Qrow demanded after hearing that comment, while Tyrian (shockingly) just chortled.
"Well, aren't you the surprising development," Tyrian said like he had made an incredible discovery. "And just what might you be, friend?"
"For one thing, not your friend, and for another, the guy who's about to accelerate you into a world of pain unless you beat it in the next two seconds," the lizard man corrected, his voice turning darker as he spoke his threat, sending a few shivers up the former Beacon students' spines.
"Well, as I told our dear huntsman friend over here earlier, I'm afraid that's not possible," Tyrian chuckled. "Her grace assigned me to capture that girl there, and that is what I must do. One mustn't upset the queen."
The lizard-man looked around to see Team RNJR once again giving Tyrian bewildered looks while Qrow just snarled at the scorpion man, until he finally said, "Yeah, I'm pretty sure that was English, or whatever you guys call the basic language you all speak here, but all I heard was 'blah-blah-blah, crazy, blah-blah, kidnap a girl.' So, what do you think I'm going to do now?"
Tyrian seemed to pause in his cackles and grinning to think that over for a minute, almost as if he had just been asked the meaning of life, until he finally said, "Perhaps, try and fight me and end up dying?"
"…Well, you got one part of that right at least," the lizard-man shrugged, and just like that, he was off again, disappearing into a black and blue blur as he ran at and around Tyrian, hitting the psycho at incredible speeds.
At first it seemed like the lizard-man was able to throw Tyrian off his game, and he clearly scored more than a few hits on him, but eventually, Tyrian did find some openings that he could exploit, and managed to dodge many of the stranger's blows. He even managed to throw the creature off-course by shooting a constant barrage from his gauntlet guns. Not that it ever seemed to slow the blue-lizard man down for very long, if at all, as he just changed course and continued to run as fast as ever. Eventually, the blur disappeared from view, and everyone started to think he had left, until Tyrian felt something tap him on one shoulder. Turning around, Tyrian was a little surprised to find no one there, and was soon feeling another tap on his shoulder from behind, prompting him to turn around again. This trend continued to repeat itself for quite some time, making Tyrian look more and more like a fool as he spun this way and that in an attempt to face the person who was tapping his shoulder. Ruby and the others eventually found themselves struggling not to laugh despite the seriousness of their situation; even Qrow was smirking a little bit at how ridiculous the nut looked right now, but Tyrian was just getting more annoyed.
"Will you stop hiding and fight me," Tyrian eventually shouted as he not only fired his guns by swung his tail around as wildly as he could.
"Who's hiding," the lizard-man quipped soon after as he came running at Tyrian from out of nowhere. When the two collided with one another, a loud boom echoed all throughout the area, while dust was flung up around the two fighters, indicating that Tyrian had just been hit by someone moving at supersonic speeds.
Qrow and Team RNJR were all sure that their crazy attacker had bitten it after that, but to their surprise, Tyrian had ended up managing to block the attack with his tail, and was now just grinning madly at the lizard man as he held back the claw the creature had thrust forward. "Okay, I'm pretty sure your bones should be shattered by now, at the very least," the lizard-man commented after lifting his visor up to reveal his blue face and green eyes underneath.
"Oh, should they," Tyrian asked with a mad grin before he finally sent the lizard-man flying away from him. "Perhaps you just aren't as strong as you thought."
"Yeah, maybe that is the case," the lizard-man confessed, and to everyone's further surprise, he actually smirked a little as he continued speaking. "This guy isn't really built for heavy-hitting, but luckily, I've got plenty of guys that are. So let's see how you handle my friend Humungousaur!"
What happened next was not something that any of the huntsmen and their strange, crazy attacker expected. The lizard-man tapped the emblem on his chest, releasing a bright green light across the entire area that forced all of them to close their eyes so they would not be blinded, and when they opened their eyes again, they saw that he had been replaced by an entirely different being. This one looked to be made of crystals, with his face, arms, and the spikes protruding out of his back and chest being pale green, while the rest of his body was indigo in color. The only features he seemed to retain from the previous creature were the hourglass emblem on his chest, and his green eyes, which were looking over his form in disbelief and annoyance.
"Diamondhead? Seriously, why did Azmuth even bother to give you a dial if you're just gonna give me the wrong guy all the time," the crystal creature grumbled at the emblem on his chest. He then clenched his fists, which seemed to give off a faint metallic sound as he moved, and said, "You know what? Fine. I can still work this."
If Tyrian was going to give some kind of retort, he did not get the chance to, as the bizarre shapeshifter raised his arms up and began firing off several crystal shards at the crazy man at a rapid pace. Since Tyrian was put so far on the defensive by the sudden barrage, he was not able to notice when Diamondhead lifted his foot up to stomp on the ground, creating a trail of crystal spikes out from said point. Tyrian was caught completely off-guard by this sudden tactic, and ended up running headlong right into the crystal wall, but he still managed to recover just enough to avoid Diamondhead when he tried to clothesline him. A sudden shifting of crystal served as additional sign of Diamondhead changing one of his arms into a huge blade which he then started swinging at the scorpion man as hard as he could, but like earlier in his fight against the huntsmen, Tyrian was able to dodge many of his swings easily, even when Diamondhead started using both arms as blades.
"Huh. Interesting," Qrow muttered. "His fighting style's completely changed from what it was before."
"What do you mean," Jaune asked, not quite seeing what Ruby's uncle had.
"Before, he was using his superior speed in hit-and-run tactics, similar to how Ruby fights with her Semblance, but now, he's just trying to outmuscle Tyrian," Ren explained for his friend.
"Makes sense. He doesn't really look all that fast anymore," Ruby noted. "But how'd he change like that in the first place, or what even is he?"
"Maybe he's some kind of weird Atlas experiment gone wrong, or an alien invader from another world," Nora suggested in a small show of her old randomness. It was pretty rare to see that from her these days, but it was always a relief to know that the old Nora was still in there.
"Somehow, I doubt that, Nora," Jaune deadpanned.
What none of them knew was that Diamondhead had caught a few snippets of their conversation, and had to smirk a little at both Nora's second guess and how quickly Jaune dismissed it and the first one. That distraction ended up causing him to falter a little in his next swing went wide, and missed Tyrian entirely, giving him a chance to try and hit back with the blades on his gauntlets. The only thing they ended up doing though was chinking Diamondhead's body a little, making the shape shifter quirk a nonexistent eyebrow at him.
"You were paying attention to the part where I mentioned that I call this guy Diamondhead, right," the shapeshifter questioned. "It's gonna take a lot more than your little blades to cut my skin."
"Then how about something with more of a bang," Tyrian asked, firing off several rounds from the guns on his gauntlets soon after.
Diamondhead did not even flinch in response. The small chink in his body did gain a few extra cracks, but those cracks were steadily repairing themselves soon after. "Honestly, that just barely tickled," Diamondhead admitted before slugging Tyrian away from him.
The crystal man then prepared to fire off a few more crystal shards at the crazy man, but just when he had raised his arms up he noticed how Tyrian's eyes did not really seem to be entirely focused on him. Sure, the crazy man was looking at him, but it was more like in his general area than right at him, and that gave him an idea that he wanted to test out. Slapping the emblem on his chest, he change once again, this time into what looked like a red manta ray-like creature with yellow horns and patagia. Spreading his arms wide, the shapeshifter took to the sky and shot out a quick energy blast from his eyes at the ground near Tyrian, prompting him to turn to where the shot had hit. The next few blasts he fired off where then blocked or dodged by Tyrian, and yet the scorpion Faunus did not ever seem to ever look in the shapeshifter's direction, much like earlier when Ruby was taking pot-shots at him with her scythe's sniper.
"Looks like that tail of yours isn't the only scorpion-like thing about you," the shapeshifter commented as he slowly flew about the area, while steadily maneuvering into a new position. "Guess that would explain why the old-timer over there was able to land a few more hits with his fists than he was with his sword earlier. So let's see how you deal with four different fists coming at you at once."
Tapping the emblem on his chest again, the manta ray then changed into a bipedal tiger, the same emblem from before still in the center of his chest, and judging by the angry roar he let out, he was not too happy right now. "Lemme tell you something new Omnitrix that keeps giving me the wrong thing! Rath is sick of you not working right! It's not even funny anymore," the tiger-man, who was apparently called Rath, shouted at the emblem.
The shouting drew Tyrian's attention to the shapeshifter's location, and he was soon on the attack again, rushing at the bipedal tiger as he fired several shots from his guns. The only thing he really seemed to do though was annoy the tiger-man, given how he was now growling as he turned to face Tyrian. "Oh, you want to take some potshots at Rath, huh crazy scorpion man? Well consider that another mistake you've made in a long list of mistakes you've made today. 'Cause when you shoot Rath, IT MAKES RATH MAD!"
Rath then charged at Tyrian as he shouted, "Cosmic Clothesline!" Despite the loud shout, Tyrian was still hit by the tiger man's attack, along with the several punches that he delivered soon after. He then grabbed Tyrian while shouting, "Opheiucus Supplex!" The next thing Tyrian knew, he was being thrown through the air until his head impacted the ground. Rath then scrambled to get up onto one of the nearby rooftops, while Tyrian was dazed, and shouted, "From the top rope! SIRIUS BUTT KICKING!"
That last one was coupled with a flying drop kick that sent Tyrian flying once more, until he hit a nearby wall. Rath was about to charge again when Qrow suddenly called out, "Hey, tiger guy!" When Rath spun to face him, Qrow could see that the guy had apparently calmed down a little, and figured he should be quick in what he wanted to say. "Was that Sirius like the star, or like something important?"
"Like the star," Rath replied as simply as he could.
"'Kay. Thanks for clearing that up," Qrow waved. "You can go back to doing our jobs for us now."
"Humph. Amateurs," Rath huffed. "Rath's just gotta do everything himself these days."
"Hey! Who're you calling amateurs, you overgrown kitty," Nora demanded, drawing Rath's raging ire onto her.
"Kitty? KITTY?!" Rath roared indignantly. "Lemme tell you something, strange, near-sighted girl with a big hammer! Rath ain't no kitty! Rath's the baddest of the bad! The king of mean! The cat who's all that…And about seventy other things." Before he could continue ranting, Tyrian came back in to land a sucker punch on Rath, and then slashed his stomach with his tail's stinger. The sting seemed to do more damage than the punch did, as Rath belted out a loud, pained roar before dropping to one knee and glaring at Tyrian as he muttered, "Cheap shot."
Tyrian's only response was to grin malevolently at this being who had so thoroughly humiliated him just now, even as a faint beeping suddenly started going off. When the beeping finally stopped, Rath had changed once again, but this time around, he changed into something that looked far more normal. In the place of the strange, bipedal, angry tiger, now stood a young Caucasian man who looked to be about seventeen or eighteen years old, with bright green eyes and brown hair. His attire was pretty basic overall, as it consisted of blue jeans, a black t-shirt, and a pair of sneakers, leaving only two things about his attire to really stand out: namely the green jacket with white stripes and a number ten emblazoned inside of a black circle on the left pectoral, and the weird, wristwatch on his left wrist. Said watch was mainly noticeable because it had a square-shaped, black and green version of the hourglass symbol that had been on each of his different forms up until now, and it did not take much for Tyrian and the others to start drawing some connections between said device and those forms he turned into.
Any questions that the various huntsmen had for this strange boy would have to wait, as Tyrian was already closing in on him, eager to finish him off. "Well, anything you'd like to say for yourself now," he chortled to the boy as he raised his blades.
The boy could only clutch his chest in the spot where Tyrian's stinger had slashed him as he glared up at the scorpion Faunus, panting heavily as he muttered out, "Aw man."
Just when Tyrian was about to strike, Ruby decided to pay the strange boy back for his earlier rescue of her, and latched the blade of her scythe onto Tyrian's tale. Upon pulling the trigger on Crescent Rose, Ruby's trusted sweetheart easily sliced through and severed the Faunus's tail from his body, making Tyrian howl in pain afterwards as he stumbled away from both his target and the strange boy. If anyone was terribly surprised by Ruby's sudden show of viciousness, they did not say anything, but the boy in green did give her a rather astonished look to showcase his surprise. For the most part though, everyone was just watching as Tyrian stumbled around a little, continuing to cry out in pain from having his tail severed in the way that it had been until he finally managed to work through the pain and face his targets again.
"You…You little bitch," Tyrian shouted at Ruby, struggling to just stumble towards her again as if he still intended to try and capture her. At least he was until Qrow suddenly stepped in between him and Ruby, with Nora, Jaune, and Ren on either side of him to form a defensive wall.
"Buddy, if you want to stop living, then I dare you to call my niece that again," Qrow threatened with a low growl that was oozing with a promise of danger.
Tyrian seemed to finally take note of how seriously the tables had turned against him, and just muttered to himself for a few seconds before he finally just scrambled away as fast as he could. No one let their guard down until they were sure he was gone though, but even so, their concentration was nearly broken when the boy in green shouted after Tyrian, "Yeah…you better run!"
Hearing the boy shout like that drew Ruby's attention back to him, and before anyone knew it, she was kneeling down next to the boy to check him over. "Hey, are you okay," Ruby worriedly asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. He just scratched me," the boy waved off. He then straightened up a bit as he added, "But just to be on the safe side, better dial in some extra help."
The others then watched as the boy tapped the dial of his strange watch, making a small green, holographic disk appear over it with images of faces on it that he steadily scrolled through. After coming to the selection he wanted, he tapped the watch again, and the ring disappeared while the face slid back, allowing a cylinder with the hourglass symbol on top to pop out. Upon slamming down on the cylinder, the boy was enveloped in a brilliant green light once again, and changed into what Ruby and the others could only describe as a weird, plant-like man with what looked like red and yellow flower petals sprouting out of his head like hair.
"Swampfire," the boy shouted loudly before turning his gaze onto the emblem on his chest once more. "Oh sure. Now you give me the guy I want," he grumbled. He let out a relaxed sigh soon after though, and after a few more minutes, he changed back to his human form, looking much better than he had before he changed. "Ah, that's better," the boy sighed in relief. "Never let it be said that it doesn't pay to be able to change into an alien whose regenerative powers are better than any hospital."
"Speaking of which, you've got a few things to explain, kid," Qrow stated in a demanding tone. "Starting with who you are and what those things you turned into were."
"What? You've never seen an alien before," the boy asked like it should have been obvious, drawing stunned looks onto all five huntsmen's faces. "Oh. I guess you haven't."
Nora just grinned at her friends with an obvious told-you-so look, while most of the others just gave the strange boy perplexed looks. Qrow on the other hand narrowed his eyes at the kid a little more and gripped his sword's handle tighter in preparation to attack. The guy may not be that much older than either Ruby or Yang, but given what they had all seen him do up until now, Qrow felt it would be stupid to not be ready to act in case he was a threat. "Last chance, twerp. Who are you," Qrow demanded.
"The name's Ben Tennyson. Some people back home call me Ben Ten," the green-eyed boy finally introduced.
"Would that be because you can turn into ten of those monsters in total," Ren guessed.
"Hey! One, they're not monsters; they're aliens. There is a difference," Ben snapped in retort. "And two, yeah, originally. Now though, I can turn into like…seventyish? I honestly stopped counting after a while, and that's without the fact that's not even all of them."
Now the group was stupefied on a number of levels. He could turn into at least seventy different creatures like the ones they had seen so far, and that was not even the total number? If that was true, then there was a very real chance that this one kid was likely more powerful than any other huntsman that had ever lived, if not anything on Remnant period. At another point in time, Ruby would likely have started having a little fan-girl moment over how it seemed like she had just met a real-life superhero, but right now, she was more concerned than anything else.
"How are you able to do that anyway," Ruby asked, taking a quick glance at his watch when she did while keeping her voice as even and controlled as she could. "Does it have something to do with that watch?"
"Try everything," Ben replied while holding his wrist up so that everyone could see the device on it. "It's called the Omnitrix, and it's one of if not the most powerful device in the universe simply because of how it not only stores DNA samples of every intelligent life form in the galaxy, but also allows the wearer to change into them."
"How'd you end up with something like that," Jaune asked.
"By accident, really," Ben shrugged, earning him perplexed looks. "It's a bit of a long story."
"Well then how about the reason why you're even here," Qrow asked, still suspicious of this kid.
"Oh, that one's easy. I'm here to help save your world," Ben shrugged like it was no big deal with a cocky smirk on his face.
"Our world," Ruby questioningly repeated. "You say that like you're not even from Remnant."
"That's because I'm not. I come from a planet called Earth, where humans and aliens have recently started living together in peace…Most of the time," Ben revealed.
"And the rest of the time," Ren asked.
"That's what my friends and I are for," Ben smirked in return. "Well, us, my grandpa, and an entire organization of space cops that really need to consider changing their name."
More wide-eyed stares followed Ben's statement, until Nora grinned and said, "This. Is. PERFECT! We can get to the bottom of all the mysteries, and then, we can head back to Vale with cute, miracle-boy, Ben here and have him use those awesome aliens to get everything back to normal!"
"Somehow, I don't think it would be that simple, Nora," Ren dismissed, while Ben just gave her a slightly flat look.
"It's not, and please don't ever call me that again. I'm trying to avoid attracting too much attention while I'm here, especially since this is a chance for me to start over on having a secret identity again," Ben informed them.
"What do you mean 'again,'" Jaune asked.
"Again, it's a long story," Ben replied.
"Is anything not a long story with you," Qrow asked. That drew a thoughtful expression onto Ben's face, and when he did not answer for a few more seconds, Qrow knew that he had his answer.
Ruby on the other hand still had some questions she wanted answered. "Do you know who that guy was, or why he was after me?"
"Sorry, but I'm just as lost on all of that as you are," Ben shrugged. "All I know was that some crazy guy was attacking all of you and it looked like you needed help, so I did what I do best: be the hero."
"I've got a few good ideas on why he was here," Qrow admitted, though he seemed more than a little hesitant to say much more than that.
Hearing him say that reminded everyone on Team RNJR of a few other questions that they had for the seasoned, professional huntsman, and Ren was the first to voice them. "How did you even get here in the first place?"
"And why did he indicate that there were other people after Ruby," Jaune questioned, especially worried about that detail. He had already lost Pyrrha, and he did not want to think of the possibility of losing one of his first and best friends too.
Qrow just glanced away, still just as nervous as before, until Ruby looked to him and asked, "Uncle Qrow, what's really going on?"
Looking to his niece and seeing the concerned look on her face did him in. Even after all these years, Qrow just could not say no to Ruby when she was making faces like that, and he was sure that it was another power that she had inherited from her mother. Summer had often been able to pull anything out of him just as easily with just a look, too, but now was not the time to be reminiscing about the good old days. Right now, he had to come clean on a great deal of things. So, he looked amongst the group, and asked a question that Ozpin always seemed to lead with whenever he brought someone in on these secrets. "What's your favorite fairy tale?"
The others all looked at Qrow for a few minutes, trying to figure out what that had to do with anything, while Ben simply muttered, "I'm starting to get the feeling that Gwen should've been the one to be sent here instead of me."
AN: Yeah, this one's a little shorter than the last few, but eh, what can you do? It's not like I was going to go all the way in on just what all would've gone down, and besides, even though this idea would include other characters and heroes from the Ben 10 franchise, the Meeting is titled as just Ben 10, so why include more than our favorite Omnitrix wielder in the first place, right?
Ruby: I thought it was pretty good.
Weiss: Of course you would. You were the only one on our team that was actually in it.
AN: Sorry Weiss, but like I said, the Meeting was only listed to be a meeting with Ben 10. Now, let me be clear on a few other things about this meeting before I bid you all ado for the moment. First off, this is just a basic rough draft of the idea behind a bigger story, and if I don't go forward with it, I certainly hope that someone will take this as inspiration for their own story. I know there's already a lot of crossovers between RWBY and Ben 10, but hey, what's one more, right?
On another note, you guys know what I normally see whenever I find a RWBY crossover on this, or really any fanfiction site?
Yang: Things get more awesome? One of us gets paired up with an incredible hero from another series? One or both groups get a cool power-up?
AN: Nearly all of them take place either right at the start or really at some point between Volume 1 and the ending phases of Volume 3. I mean, I get why that is; a lot of the really big changes and good that the visiting heroes can do tends to take place within that time frame, or more specifically, during the Fall of Beacon, but after a while, it starts to get a little tired.
Blake: You're not exactly innocent yourself in that regard.
AN: Yes Blake, I'm well-aware that I've done the same thing with Remnant of the Key, and I won't pretend like it's only because the original version of that story had started at that same point. In that case, it just made a lot more sense for it to start there than it did at a later point, but I'm just saying, it wouldn't hurt to break the trend every once in a while, you know? Especially in this case. I mean, aside from one AU where the two universes are basically fused together, the only time I can remember ever seeing Ben 10 entering the world of RWBY at a point that wasn't at the start of the series was the story Ben 10 RWBY Volume 1: Dimension Twist by "The Omni-Remnant". (Great story by the way). Let's mix it up a little bit more shall we? Like with this case here.
Now the idea I'm going for here, is (while a little tired as well), that Paradox appears before Ben and his team to tell them about the danger on Remnant, and basically sends them off on a mission to help Ruby and the others in their quest to beat Salem. That's right, it's not just Ben who would be on this mission, but good old Alien Force as well, meaning Kevin and Gwen are tagging along, and since everything in RWBY seems to come in fours, another one of Ben's allies would be right there along for the ride. I'm honestly thinking either Rook or one of the Plumber's Helpers, like Allan (you know, the Heatblast kid). This would be at a point that's follows after the end of Ultimate Alien, but it would include a few elements from Omniverse (as you may have guessed from the fact that Rook is a consideration for the fourth member of Ben's team).
As far the design of Ben and his aliens goes, I'd go with the stylings of Alien Force and Ultimate Alien, but Ben is using the Omnitrix from Omniverse. I honestly feel like those two series were some of Ben 10's better moments overall. Ben's a much more mature hero and takes things seriously a lot more often, but does still have moments where he's reckless, overconfident, and...well, you get the idea. I would include certain aliens that were given a debut in Omniverse (like Feedback, Gravattack, or Bloxx, just to name a few), but for the most part, unless I were to say otherwise, every alien Ben would use would be using the Alien Force/Ultimate Alien stylings, if they appeared in said series.
Yang: I'll admit, I do think that Ben himself looks best in those series.
Blake: Yeah, he does look pretty cool in those two from what I've seen.
Weiss: Even I have to admit that he looks much better and more mature in those two series than he did in Omniverse.
Ruby: Wait, what about aliens that he has in the newest series? Would they be included too?
AN: At the moment, probably not, because aside from the classic ones (some of which had gotten a terrible redesign [I'm looking at that new version of Stinkfly]) most of those seem pretty ridiculous from what I've seen, save for maybe one or two.
And since I know everyone's going to ask about this, the question of whether Ben would be able to go Ultimate or not is...actually a little undecided right now, but I'm leaning towards no, at least at the start. I've heard some pretty convincing arguments against that evolutionary function in the Ultimatrix, like how it goes against the reason why Azmuth built the Omnitrix in the first place, but at the same time, I doubt anyone can deny that it does have a few uses to it, and how it gave Ben some of his most powerful forms. If I do decide to add it in, there's a few ways that it could be done, like maybe the watch getting an upgrade, or it's a special function that's locked off from Ben at the moment. Heck, I've even seen a few stories where the Ultimate Forms are something that Ben can use because of getting his Aura unlocked and the Ultimate Form transformations are part of his Semblance. It's really all up in the air right now.
Weiss: Wait, if Ben's with Qrow and Team RNJR right now, then what about the rest of his team? Where would they be if you are including them?
AN: I'm glad you asked! At the moment, I've got it lined up so that Kevin is with Yang and Tai, helping the former get back into action again while teaching her a few things about how she be better prepared the next time she goes up against someone that fights dirty or in a manner similar to Adam's, while Gwen is sent to Atlas and goes on to help Weiss escape old Jerk Schnee, if not more quickly than certainly earlier, masquerading as a bodyguard for Weiss when she first appears before our favorite heiress.
Weiss: Ex-heiress, and...wait, "Jerk Schnee"? Don't you mean Jacques?
AN: I know what I said. The only thing I really know for certain about the fourth member of Alien Force for this story would be that they would be tag-teaming with Blake in Menagerie alongside of Sun, and most likely be disguising themselves as a Faunus via ID Mask. Now, any other questions?
Ruby: Nope. I think that covers it.
AN: Okay then! So, I guess that wraps things up for now. Let me know what you guys think of this one in your reviews, and if I should push forward with it sometime in the future. If I don't update post anything again at any time this month, then I'll just go ahead and say Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, or Quanza, or whatever holiday you celebrate, Happy New Years, see you in 2020, and of course...
Please read and review, Happy Holidays to all, and I'll see you again in the next colorful adventure!
