Ben 10000: Future Imperfect
Chapter 1
As Gwen hurtled through the space time continuum, protected only by a bubble of mana, she sighed. Professor Paradox did have a point. She had trivial reasons for messing with the multiversal equilibrium yet she was fairly certain this was the only way. And no, she wasn't thinking this just because of the oddly foreboding dreams she'd been having for nearly six months about her and Ben meeting their younger counterparts.
She couldn't talk him down. She'd tried that and that hadn't end well. Ben refused to listen to anyone, even Grandpa Max. Mind spells to calm him down enough to think things through would be ineffective as he could easily use some of his alien forms to easily break through the spells and besides, he was excessively paranoid about mind magic ever since the battle with Vilgax.
She had reached out to several wielders of time magic, including the time hero Bunnyx, who had taken her in her "rabbit hole", for lack of a better word, a pocket dimension that allowed her to see all of time and space as well as every possible timeline… She saw that her dreams were reverberations from other universes… apparently, meeting their younger counterparts was some sort of a multiversal constant in various universes, like her own. This needed to happen and she had to hope that it would finally bring Ben back to his senses.
She took a deep breath as golden glyphs appeared before her bubble, joining together to form a portal and she could see them through it… ten-year-old versions of herself and her cousin fighting over whose fault it was that they forgot to bring Grandpa's birthday cake. She missed those petty squabbles… She missed talking to her cousin.
She directed her bubble through the portal and as soon as it passed through it, the bubble popped and she landed on the grass, much to the surprise of the young Tennysons. They couldn't discern who she was, thanks to her hood and scarf that covered half her face.
"Who are you?" Ben asked, stepping protectively in front of Gwen and raising his watch. She forgot how cute he was but then again, she was almost always busy bickering with him to notice any sort of platonic love he'd to offer.
She didn't reply, instead flying straight at them, her eyes glowing purple.
Without wasting a second, Ben slammed his hand on the Omnitrix, transforming into his kinecelerian form. "XLR8!"
Gwen bit back a smile. Her Ben rarely called out his hero name anymore. While it was a bit juvenile, she did miss his antics now and then.
With a quick spell enabling her with a connection to the Speed Force, she dived past XLR8, grabbed her younger self and went back through the portal, XLR8 on their tail.
She appeared in the middle of her Bellwood or as it was now called, New Tech City. Having a Kinecelerian pass through the portal might have messed up the coordinates a bit. They were supposed to be back in her apartment where she could explain the situation to them coolly but right now, they were in the middle of the most advanced city in the city and with the entire world's eyes on them. Her Ben would figure out everything within minutes. Any chance of a peaceful and calm intervention was gone. But then again, when had any plan gone according to plan when Ben was involved? She figured she'd have to improvise.
Ben 10,000 … Something his fans had come up with after his valiant victories against inevitable odds like the full might of the Incursean Armada and the interstellar terrorists of the Black Order. And he hadn't bothered to correct them. The name was a step up from just Ben 10 and had a gravitas to it, which led to rumors like he was secretly ten thousand years old. He didn't confirm it yet didn't do anything to discourage these rumors. He had to have the public on his side. If enough people rallied on his side, he could overturn some of the more tactless and reckless rules the United Heroez enforced strictly, like not escalating a battle and confiscating dangerous artefacts from new heroes, even if they were a risk in the long run. The miraculouses for example, should be kept under lock and key. They had the power to rewrite reality, alter timelines and even destroy all of existence, yet Ladybug, Chat Noir and the heroes of Paris continued to use their limitless powers to tackle petty supervillains, even after the chaos Hawkmoth had unleashed. Magic was dangerous… too dangerous to be allowed to be given free reign in the universe. The plumbers agreed with him and with his support, commandeered several operations to recover and destroy several magical artifacts and talismans across the universe. Only Earth's government and heroes took a stand to the decree and with immense public support, mostly thanks to the various magical heroes that have protected the planet over the years.
He knew the insanity magic causes. The fight against Vilgax ended horribly, mostly because of the alien overlord's alliance with other supervillains, most notably supernatural ones like Diagon, the mysterious Arcane Order and the one he despised the most… Hawkmoth, the wielder of the butterfly miraculous of emotions, who can mind control innocent civilians into becoming generic supervillains on a whim. He and all of Earth's heroes had united to take the evil alliance down, however with Diagon's arcane energies flowing through him, Vilgax was near impossible to defeat. That's when Hawkmoth seemingly betrayed Vilgax and in a desperate bid to turn the odds, akumatised the Omnitrix and turned him into a champion called Omni. Now capable of channelling the abilities of all the aliens whose DNA was stored in the Omnitrix, he was able to barely defeat Vilgax, but that was only the beginning.
Hawkmoth took control of his mind and used him to fight the other heroes and acquire the ladybug and cat miraculouses. Even with all the heroes trying their best to stop him, he was too powerful and his mind was too tired for him to resist Hawkmoth's control. That's when the worst happened… Both Ladybug and Chat Noir were knocked unconscious. His fiancé, Kai Green and wielder of the Excallibur stepped in the battlefield. She transformed with both the miraculouses and got in close enough to catacalysm the Omnitrix but the entire west coast of America was a burning crisp, thousands died including the heroes who had fought beside them. She used the Ladybug's Miraculous Cure to bring back everyone and reverse the damage… She succeeded but at a terrible cost – her own life.
He saw her vanish in front of him, smiling one last time at him as she dematerialised. Only the earrings and the ring remained.
They had won but at a terrible price.
And all because of magic.
People may argue that magic can be good but even the purest of magic came with a heavy price.
The miraculouses were too dangerous.
He should have crushed those cursed infernal pieces of jewellery to dust that day but he was too shellshocked by his loss to realise the enemy who had taken everything from him… not Vilgax, not Hawkmoth, but magic itself.
Years later, long after he was reunited with his cousin, he was approached by Zelena of Akiridion-5, the Magistrata of the Plumbers, who told him of all the chaos magic had wrecked across the universe and how she needed his help in controlling the growing threat magic poses to galactic peace.
It started simple with missions to recover magical objects from minor villains but the list grew to include those from heroes too. He hesitated first but the Magistrata showed him how magic had taken everything from him… And he relented, accepting her viewpoint… For the greater good.
He became the commander of Earth's plumber bases with the Magistrata's full support. His attempt to negotiate the surrender of the miraculouses with Ladybug and Chat Noir went poorly and the miraculous heroes went into hiding and the public went into an uproar, blaming him and calling him a bigot even after all the sacrifices he had made over the years to ensure the constant safety of the planet.
His own cousin and grandfather turned against him, conspiring with the miraculous wielders, helping them escape all his attempts at acquiring the miraculouses and eventually convincing the United Nations to give all magical heroes and citizens of the planet full amnesty, preventing him from making any public moves against them.
While many turned against him, many more rallied to his and the Magistrata's cause, including other heroes who knew the dangers of magic.
When Grandpa Max and Gwen walked out on him, Zelena stepped in to support him and he found something in her, something he had not felt in a long time… not love, nobody could ever replace the hole Kai had left in his heart… But he shared a connection with her nevertheless.
He started seeing Zelena in a different light as they became close. She had lost loved ones to magic just like he had and together they vowed to fix the universe by ridding the world of magic.
"What has she done now?" he grumbled as he saw a hologram in the centre of the plumber base, showing Gwen in the middle of New Tech City with younger versions of himself and Gwen. He shook his head, extending his hand and preparing to transform.
"No, Ben. Wait." Zelena touched his shoulder.
He turned around to see her smiling, dark blue lips twisted into a wide grin. Her pale sapphire skin glowed with warmth and her white hair fell loosely on her shoulder.
"Why? She's messing with time magic now, of all things." He frowned.
"Exactly." Zelena smiled. "Let this play out. Let Gwendolyn make mistakes and when she does, the whole world will see what we know."
"You are willing to break the time space continuum to catch Gwen in trouble?"
"Don't worry, Ben. You can step in anytime you want, be the glorious hero right when she makes a blunder. No one will be in danger and we will get public approval."
"I guess you are right." Ben sighed, turning his head back at the screen, not noticing Zelena's eyes flash red for a quick second as her smile turned malicious. Nor did he notice the brief flicker of red in his own eyes in his reflection in the glass desk in front of him.
So, there was a bit more of Ben's backstory with quite a few crossover elements in it. As you guys can see, I am going to deviate from the original episode. From the next chapter, we will be referring to future!Gwen as Gwendolyn and Ben 10,000 as 10,000 to avoid confusion. While references to other fandoms like Miraculous will be frequent in flashbacks, the younger versions of our heroes won't interact with crossover characters and the main plot will remain the same – young Ben persuading Ben 10,000 to appreciate his family again.
Hope you guys enjoy the story and please review.