A/N: Sorry Anon, but Lullaby has already happened. Also, regarding Ben's pairing, i'll hold off on him finding someone until he settles down. He's too angry right now to care for anyone other than himself.
Chapter 4: Galuna Island Part I
Ben returned from his run to see a redhead girl in the guild wearing some armor, and everyone else scared to even acknowledge her. She was carrying a giant amount of baggage, as if she needed every single piece of it. Ben shuddered and got their attention. He stared the new girl down, noticing her mark and battle experience. She stared back at him, and wanted him to speak first.
"Ben Tennyson. You are?" He held out his hand and stared her down. Her look was battle hardened, as if she had faced off in so many battles before Ben ever had. He almost felt sympathetic to her. Almost. Unconsciously, his face softened as he turned his head away and cringed internally.
"Erza Scarlet." When Ben turned around to face her, he looked over to Natsu and Gray, and saw their faces as pale in her presence. "I assume you're the recruit after Lucy?"
His attention returned to her. "Not really. I don't have a mark like you guys do." He spun around slowly before facing her again. Her face felt like a sniper got him in its sights.
"So he's the wizard that beat Natsu with Take-Overs?" Ben hissed mentally at that one word, and began walking over to the cellar and take his stuff to leave the guild hall again. "Stay there, Ben. I want to talk to you." Ben stayed there for a sweet second, before he began walking again. He didn't care what anyone here thought of him, he only wanted to get home quick.
PARADOX, I SWEAR TO GOD YOU BETTER HURRY UP! Ben mentally raged. His eyes looked as if you stared at them, you would be buried six feet under.
"Ben, come back here." Erza threatened. She didn't play around with the threat. Ben turned and stared her down with such darkness in his eyes.
"Make me." He entered the cellar door and picked up his jacket, putting it on and selecting the perfect alien to transform into. A green light enveloped him, and he transformed back into the Merlinisapien.
"ChamAlien!" He vanished and began climbing up the wall, hiding just above the doorway in case Erza Scarlet entered. As if Ben himself had command of the universe, which he didn't yet, Erza had opened the door and left it open long enough for Ben to exit. The Merlinisapien continued scuttling on walls until Erza slammed the door open, to which he comically fell off and landed sideways; somehow ragdolling to hit his Omnitrix and return to human. Erza stared him down with anger. Ben picked himself up and fiddled through his watch, looking for one of the more better suited alien to run away in. He hit his watch once he found the right one, and emerald light filled the guild hall. He sped off to the job board, took a piece of paper, and ran out of the building.
"Why did he... No." Erza Re-Quipped into her Flight Armor, and chased off after Ben. After a few seconds, she returned without Ben, but pointed to Mirajane. "Find out what Ben Tennyson took. Once you do, tell the Master to send people to follow the request, so I can follow Ben."
...
Ben's Universe
Gwen and Kevin both entered the Lab, to find the Cube was there, completely devoid of light. Kevin walked up to the Cube and touched it, pulling his hand away immediately when a green spark shocked him.
"Ah, jeez!" He shook his hand as if it had touched some electricity. "It freakin' shocked me!"
"Kevin, stop acting like you're eleven again." Gwen simply scoffed at his childishness.
"You could really use a relaxing moment, Gwen." He whispered, but still managed to catch her full attention. "Okay, okay, i'll stop." Gwen used her magic to scan the box, and met the same results as the files, only more explosive. Her body shot to the wall of the room, and she ragdolled back into human form, unconscious.
...
Ben looked at the random piece of paper that he got from the job board on the rooftop of some random, inconsequential person's house. He looked at the request line and the reward line, seeing what was being given for it.
"Oh Jesus. What the hell...?" He squinted, paused for a second then switched sides as Erza passed by him without a glance. "Did I... Take an S-Class quest?" Seven million Jewels. Only something powerful awaiting me. He looked underneath the Jewel count, and saw a Gate Key there as well. The Mountainous Island, 'Help Us' and a Gate Key. My chance to be a hero. "What could go wrong...?" He had the sneaking suspicion that Erza was behind him, and immediately dialed up the Omnitrix, hitting it moments before Erza caught up to him. XLR8 ran fast, sidestepping every so often to irritate The Scarlet Knight.
"Damn it. I was so close!" Erza ran after him once more, waiting for communications.
...
Fairy Tail Guild Hall
"Oh no... He didn't..." Mirajane looked at the missing job poster, seeing one of the corners torn off. It had the word 'Na Island' on it, which made Mira panic some more. "Warren! Get a message to Erza as soon as possible, with these words!" The boy nodded, awaiting what message. "Galuna Island." The entire guild dropped whatever they were holding and went nuts.
"He's absolutely insane!"
"There's no way he can do this."
"How did he..."
Makarov looked at Mirajane with shock, anger, sympathy and confusion. "WHAT!?" He picked up the cane, and stood on top of the bar. "OKAY, SOMEONE ANSWER MY QUESTION!" The entire guild looked at him with fear in their eyes, forcing them to smile as if they won't notice. "WHO DID IT? WHO PUT AN S-CLASS QUEST ON THE LOWER JOB BOARD?" Nobody moved, and Makarov grew increasingly madder. "SOMEONE HAD TO DO IT! WHO DID IT?"
A professor wearing a lab coat and some science goggles appeared. "I did." He walked up to Makarov. "Professor Paradox. I'm here to guide Ben." Makarov looked at the newcomer with anger.
"You are guiding him to his doom!" Paradox only chuckled.
"Have more faith in Ben. He's got a 82.992% of success. 87% if the armored girl follows him, as well at the icicle, as Natsu puts it and the fire lizard, as Gray puts it." He sucked in a breath once he saw the faces of everyone else. "Oh yeah. Ben didn't mention me." He clapped his hands and rubbed them. "I'm from Ben's universe, except I can control Time and Space. Like Ben explained, normal humans cannot do these things. I just happen to be an exception."
"Wait, you can move through time and space?" One brave guild member asked. Paradox only nodded and checked down onto his pocket watch.
"Now, Warren. You have..." He closed the pocket watch and addressed him. "About 13.92 seconds remaining before Erza stops, so warn her before another one dies."
Warren was confused for a second, but began to recite Mirajane's words to Erza.
"Professor-" Makarov looked around for him, but he was nowhere to be seen. Damn it. Why is Ben acting like this...? He looked toward Natsu and Gray. "Natsu, Gray and Lucy, go find Ben before he does something irrational. Again." Ben's world must be a strange place, if this untrustworthy Lost Art user is helping him.
...
Ben looked around the port looking for a boat while also looking around to see if Erza was behind him. He stumbled upon the docks, and nearly fell, but managed to keep his balance. He wandered around the boats and asked if they could bring him to Galuna Island, but everyone buggered off, except for one person who was asking about his magic. I want to say so badly that I don't have magic, but the Scarlet Knight will catch up to me. "Take-Over. Now, I want to help you defeat this curse."
"Very well, sir." Ben boarded his boat and they set sail.
A couple minutes pass, and Ben nearly fell asleep due to the intense boredom. He looked towards the sailor, who he'd learned was Bobo, who was still covered up.
"Hey, Bobo?" He asked, doubting himself whether or not the sailor would humble an extraterrestrial like him. The sailor only looked back, and smiled. "Why are you covered up?"
"Why it's simple, mysterious wizard." He flipped through and looked at Ben with a horrid look. "The curse." Bobo's arm looked as if was part lobster, and Ben wasn't freaked out by it. He looked through the Omnitrix, and then slammed it down when he found the right one.
"Ditto...?" Ben stared down at the Splixson body, evidently displeased. "Definitely not what proves my point, but oh well." Ben stood up and cloned himself, looking at Bobo the entire time. "Yeah, this magic of mine has been a curse in disguise."
Ditto Beta looked at Ditto Alpha and scowled. "You actually meant blessing in disguise, moron." He huffed as Ditto Alpha merged back into one and hit the Omnitrix, returning to Ben.
"Yeah, my Take-Overs are unique." Bobo wasn't there anymore. "Huh, where'd he..." Ben turned, noticing the tidal wave. "Well, it was nice knowing everyone here." He was swept up by the wave, and everything turned to black.
...
Fairy Tail
Paradox chilled beside a wall on the second floor, and looked at his pocket watch, counting the amount of seconds. "There. Ben has somewhat restored the timeline." He looks up to Laxus, smiled and waited for the Legion leader to blink. Once he did, he vanished, and appeared back inside Ben's 'room'. He scanned around, but noticed nobody there. "Good, no nosy wizards to disturb me while I fix this somewhat."
"Fix what, Paradox?" Makarov looked at him with an untrustworthy glare.
"Figured you were there." Paradox was calmer than normal, at least in regard to Makarov. "If you want to know, it's your timeline."
"Our what?"
"Timeline. You know, the spectrum of events occurring within a time period?" Paradox sighed and put his hand to his head. "Look, Makarov. Ben has to fix this otherwise you'll be doomed. THAT is why I sent him there."
Makarov stared him down before replying. "Are you sure that's all?"
"My, accusing me of doing more than help?"
"You're the type of person that wouldn't do anything if it had no value to them."
Paradox considered this. "True, but I've seen so many timelines and loops of Ben occur, that fixing it to help Ben not die seems much easier."
"Why are you so concerned with Ben?"
"Because, Ben literally revolved around the future. If he didn't get his Omnitrix, everything would have been gone."
...
Somehow, Ben didn't feel on the island. He felt more as if he were in a lazy river, circling the edge of nothing. It was as if he was half asleep, and half awake; the distant echoes of a clock ticking nearby and far away. A twitch of his hands got him to slightly open his eyes; what he saw would have made both the most horrifying and unbelievable story. All of a sudden, he appeared back on the surface of Galuna's beach, trying to desperately remember what had occurred.
"Where am I?" He looked all around, picking himself up off of the ground. "Wasn't I..." All of a sudden, everything kicked back in. All the memories that he gained in this new universe were returned and picture perfect. "I've never really had a perfect memory. Also, there was only one village on this massive island." He had no need of that info, yet he somehow knew what was on the island. He his his Omnitrix, and transformed in the usual neon green light.
"...?" He stared down the new form and looked at it with wonder. what could this new ability do? "..." The attempt at speaking went over horribly. He gurgled out a bunch of sounds that no ordinary human could hear, possibly sounding like a higher pitched dolphin. He remembered Tetrax had a friend that looked like this, named Gluto. A string of high pitched gurgles and dolphin noises erupted from him. Another alien that could regenerate from next to nothing, and could do possibly more. Slapping the Omnitrix once more, he returned to normal and examined his surroundings.