Being a superhero can be problematic, especially in another country. Agreed, he wasn't dealing with any supervillains here. That also didn't mean he was having the greatest time ever. He didn't have any ground support, he didn't have his organization watching his back and using their connections to keep him out of trouble. The law enforcement here didn't recognize plumbers, they didn't even have any official treaty with the Japanese Government. DC made it look so easy; you fight off a hilariously weak alien invasion with a ragtag group of equally weird and OP friends and some multi trillionaire gives you a tower with unlimited wi-fi and cable, more money than you could even think about spending, videogames, movies, and fast-food, then the love and admiration of the entire town. It seemed so simple, almost idyllic in a sense barring the supervillains that came to wreck your day.
But no, being a superhero in real life meant living in your home with added stress and migraines, of completing your education, and keeping the world safe, having to work in a smoothies outlet to make ends meet in-between soccer gigs, and about half the country hating your guts and calling him a menace right to his face while the other half tried to ignore he existed; mostly right after he'd finished saving them from the villain of the month or protecting some distant planet in another galaxy from some intergalactic tyrant that normal people had no idea about even existing in the first place. He liked to think he wasn't conceited, but would a 'thank you!' rather than a 'stay away from me you damned menace!' or 'put your hands behind your head and get down on the ground!' have been too much? Hell, he would've taken the police or military not shooting at him the first chance they got!
In the end he made do. A crazy old guy mutated into some power draining hideous monster? Fine. A rival baseball team trying to assassinate the president? Odd, but nothing he hadn't learned to expect. bringing monsters to his house and school trying to harm his family and friends? Bring it on suckers. He'd learned to tune out all the craziness in his life when he needed to and whatever the world threw at him he could take it with a smirk and a quip.
What did he get in return though, people called him arrogant, overconfident, vain, and careless? Relying too much on the Ultimatrix? Huh, How else he was supposed to deal with supervillains then?
Writing their name on a death note?
Feh, sounded like a great idea at first. The implication though kinda didn't sit well with him. He was a frustrated teenager, not some psychopath with a murderous grudge against the entire world.
It was night time in Tokyo. Ben Tennyson, who apparently had nothing to do after completing his homework as Grey Matter, decided to don a green party mask with black, twirling lines near the eyes and tire himself in patrolling around the city using his good old flying hover board; otherwise, the feeling of homesickness and abandonment would have made his life living hell. Despite being a superhero, Ben was just your everyday seventeen year old and everything seemed to be against him now a days. A major amount of the male population hated his guts. Teachers were becoming unbearable as he didn't know what they were talking about, sometimes that ended up in him getting detentions.
Girls were also an obstacle, as he had no girlfriend. Ben didn't know what to do even if he got one, he had a hectic life and apart from the existence of his future self called Ben 10,000, there was no guarantee how he was going to survive all the craziness in his life. He didn't know if he was ever going to find someone who he could easily open up to and depend to support him throughout the weirdness in his life. He didn't find anyone who met the criteria, yet. On top of everything, he had to deal with his over affectionate child hood friend who could easily put Megan Fox to shame.
Yes, that wasn't an exaggeration. It was a simple fact. She was actually that much gorgeous.
It was pretty quiet in the city that night. Normally you had a few people lying in wait to snatch a purse or a wallet. There was at least one person with a gun trying to take advantage of some poor guy who wandered into the wrong alley; however, tonight there weren't any muggers. Things had been happening in that city for the past week to discourage them. A lot of people thought it was just a bunch of rumors making it to the supermarket tabloids, but just as many were getting confident they would be safe going out at night. After all, petty crime seemed to have dropped recently. It was only rumors, but people could tell that something was going on.
The tabloids read:
"Masked Youth Hunts Muggers!"
"Giant Tree Catches Crook in Giant Vines!"
"Half Wolf, Half Man Stalks the City!"
Whenever Ben Tennyson saw these headlines, he wanted to laugh. He stood atop a larger building overlooking the city. Naturally the headlines were talking about him, and as he looked over the city, he wondered just how absurd things sounded for him back home. If his cousin was here, she would die laughing. He had no idea how peaceful it was to not have Harangue hovering over you all the time. Strange voices started coming out of his smartphone and several text messages in red appeared. Ben just let out a groan, just a few hours ago he used Jury Rigg and Gray Matter to program his phone in a certain way to pick up emergency services related calls and messages, police radio, any sort of important news. Hell! He sorta was a police department and emergency services' server now. Well if he got rid of the stupid time limit, he would be damned to hell if he didn't make full use of it.
Besides, Ben always regretted having that handicap for years, it never allowed him to operate to his full capacity. Thank God the Plumbers finally understood it was the time to step up their game, especially with Gwen and Kevin becoming sorta semi-retired.
He was currently in the form of his Loboan alter ego, Blitzwolfer, which had the appearance of a classic Werewolf. Quickly he activated his smartphone and went straight inside the Google Earth app, trying to navigate his way around in the unknown streets of the strange city. After a while he reached the area, his eyes widened in surprise and horror as he found out the real reason of the commotion.
BOOM
An explosion occured in the grocery store, panic spread throughout the area and people started running and ducking. Ben jumped over a few rooftops and finally landed on a ground. He looked over the destroyed store and let out a groan.
"And here I thought I could go home and surf a bit on my Netflix account!"
Ben saw with stunned eyes as the cause of disturbance revealed itself to him. Ben shook his head several times as some hound sized reptilian creatures, who also had a pair of draconic wings, made themselves visible.
Holy crap! They were even breathing fire for crying out loud.
Ben narrowed down his eyes over the bio mechanical creatures wreaking havoc throughout the area. There eyes were glowing with creepy, red light and some were moving around while green light emitted from their back, as if they were little scanning lasers moving around. Ben winced as he saw them devouring a few security guards, while a rather large one was busy in chewing off the ceiling of a bus with all those passengers crying in fear and panic. Without wasting anymore time, Ben went into action mode. The four nuzzles of his animalistic mouth opened, unleashing powerful ultrasonic waves which sent the menacing creature spiralling backwards. The winged reptile let out a cry as it was smashed across the road.
The Ultimatrix bearer's fist clenched in fury as he jumped in between the reptilian menaces, causing them to turn towards him.
"If it's you Animo, I am throwing you in a party of hungry Appoplaxians!" Ben growled menacingly. The creatures let out an angry roar, which matched his own. One of them quickly jumped at him. Ben, using his amazing speed and reflexes, swerved out of the way in a very canine-like fashion. Another one came in from behind, attempting to chew his head off. Ben ducked and smashed it away using his claws. The force behind the attack made Ben stagger backwards, as if he was dealing with a rhino charging at him. The Ultimatrix bearer thought he had slowed down time and he turned backwards, only to see the huge crescents of fire homing on to him.
"Crap!" Ben muttered as he emitted a powerful ultrasonic wave from his mouth and propelled himself up in the sky. The flames made contact with a nearby wall. Instantly, the structure consisting of reinforced concrete shattered into pieces. Debris exploded from behind. The menacing reptilians didn't stop at that, the moment the smoke cleared revealing an unharmed Ben, all of them jumped at him at once. Ben tapped onto the Ultimatrix symbol, it was glaringly obvious that he couldn't take them out in this form.
A bright emerald glow engulfed his body as the brilliant galvan technology worked its magic. When the light died down, Ben's body had been transmodified into something else. In his stead, stood a muscular atletic individual in his early twenties, possibly twenty-one. A bluish mask with white lines similar to his last mask he was wearing covered his face, while what it appeared to be wings purely made out of water emerging out from his back. He was wearing his usual geeen flank jacket and white pair of sneakers. Apart from that he felt the connection with moisture and wetness around him, which probably meant he had something to do with water.
"So, a new guy huh! I hope its worth my time." Ben mumbled as his perspective changed instantaneously. Remembering his experiences with element manipulating transformations like Water Hazard and Heatblast, Ben took a long breath and brought forth his left fist. The young plumber blinked in amusement as the moisture around him came to life. The huge torrent of water appeared out of thin air and took the form of a gigantic elephant sized fist.
"Just like a fictional namesake of mine says, It's clobbering time!" With a smirk, Ben spun in the air, smacking the elephant sized fist onto his attackers. The draconic creatures cried in pain, as they were spattered onto the ground with impressive strength.
"Alright, who's next?" Ben stretched his arms with a yawn, gracefully landing on the ground. Another platoon of flying reptiles targeted him. Ben smacked his palms together, causing a huge tendril of water to emerge from his shoulders. A couple of the dragons charged towards him, emitting a huge stream of fire towards him. With an impressive display of speed and athleticisim, Ben performed a couple of backflips as his tendrils grabbed hold of the creatures, spun them around his neck, and smashed them on the ground multiple times.
"Okay, this is way better than Water Hazard, and the physical abilities are awesome too. Alright then, who wants to get splashed to the oblivion. I don't have all night here and there are other normal criminals waiting for some ass-kicking." Ben anounced while cracking his knuckles, the last one dashed towards Ben like a wild animal pounding on its prey. Ben took a step back, his enhanced perception allowing him to see everything in slow motion. Quickly, a huge sledgehammer made of water appeared in his palms, Ben jumped in the air and smashed it on the fire breathing reptile. The sheer force behind the attack caused the windows of nearby vehicles to shatter while a cloud of dust and debris exploded from within the ground.
When the atmosphere became more clear and visible, the solidified structure entirely made of moisture vanished in thin air, the same way it appeared in the first place. Ben glanced at the creature which was now buried inside what appeared to be a makeshift pit.
The creature began to twitch before it died completely.
"What the heck are these things? These just came out of nowhere. Talk about random." Ben muttered. Moisture solidified in the form of human sized fists which Ben used to grab the creature with and lifted it up. These things surely had some story behind them and he needed to find out what that was, as fast as he possibly could. First those scans he got at the academy and now these creatures which appeared to be based on mythical dragons. Ben's life was already filled with danger and mystery. He didn't need to add more to it. There were dangerous shadows lurking beneath this peaceful city, ready to strike it at any possible moment. But he won't let it happen. He will never let them succeed.
He wasn't sure what he was actually up against. He had no frigging idea about it. And just like people used to say, Human minds feared the unknown the most.
"I gotta get this to the Plumbers, only then can I get to the bottom of this!" Ben cursed under his breath, flapping his transparent watery wings in the air, he took off in the sky while carrying the dead mutated creature in his arms.
The night was a very ominous one. It was overcast. No clouds were seen. No stars were visible. The night was just exactly how Sekiryutei seemed...uncertain...dark...sad;however, within moments the scenery around him changed as he walked inside a glowing magical circle.
It appeared to be a place sitting above the clouds with a bright white ceiling high overhead. It was guarded by a large gate, and had a white stone path and stone buildings, which appeared to be floating.
"I wish I can be as bright and fierce as the sun again." Issei said in his mind. It wasn't even the first time he said that line though. There were countless times when Issei repeated that same sentence and nothing had changed. He felt a bit lost now. Despite being a Reincarnated Angel himself, there were times where he felt he wasn't doing as much as he should. He still recalled that fateful day, the time when he was just human. A very ordinary one.
Flashback Start
"Finally, it feels good to be home." A fifteen year old Issei smiled brightly as he opened the door and looked around, but his eyes widened when he saw the surroundings.
The tv was broken, the living room looked like a total mess, there were scratch marks on the wall, the stairs were broken, and all the pictures on the wall were brutally torn apart. Issei's mind started racing as he clenched his fists tightly. He felt the dread in the air. What the heck has happened here? Did somebody ransack his home while he was at school?
"Issei...Issei..." Issei turned around as he heard painful whimpers. He quickly raced towards the source where the voices where coming.
"MOM, DAD!" Issei yelled as he found his parents lying in a pool of blood and he quickly rushed towards them.
"Issei...please run away? He is here to kill you..." Issei's father said before losing his consciousness.
"DAD..DAD..." before Issei could understand what's happening, something grabbed him from behind and twisted his hand. Issei cried in panic and fear as the figure revealed six pairs of jet black wings from behind him, as if he was some sort of an angel.
"Wh-hat...a-are...y-y-you?" Issei stuttered out despite the pain and shock, while tears streamed down his face.
"I am your executioner! Sorry brat, but you can't be allowed to live any longer." The man smirked as he pinned the teenager on the ground, "don't blame me Brat! Blame the Dragon for choosing you!"
And before Issei could realize what he was talking about, a sharp projectile entirely made of glowing light appeared in his hands. With lightning fast speed, he moved to pierce Issei's heart with it; however, before he could do so...
SHIING...
Another sharp blade appeared out of thin air and shot towards the dark winged individual like a boomerang. Issei cried in pain as he saw the massive blade brushing against the psychopath, effectively beheading him? and the fallen angel's lifeless body fell on the ground, managing to create an even larger pool of blood.
Flashback End
Issei blinked as a very beautiful woman appeared infront of him, the same woman he saw all those years ago. She had twelve golden white wings growing from her back. Her body was extremely voluptuous and she had curly blonde hair. That was none other than Gabriel, one of the four Seraphs that ruled over Heaven.
And she had one of the finest breasts he had ever seen.
Soon, every Angel in the vicinity of first heaven immediately dropped on their knees, showing their respect to one of the rulers of Heaven and a Seraph. The Seraphs rarely ventured into the First Heaven, if they wanted to talk to some angel, they can easily summon them inside Zebel, so her walking inside the First Heaven wasn't an everyday sight. It was very obvious that every Angel and Exorcist was awed by her sight, apart from the Sekiryutei though. He was one of her Brave Saints afterall and knew her on a very personal level.
Alongside her, walked a woman in her twenties, she wore the standard attire of a Catholic Nun. She also appeared to be from Northern Europe, while she was nowhere near Gabriel's level, she too was really beautiful. That was none other than Gabriel's Queen, Griselda Quarta. She wore a "Q" printed on the back of her hand, symbolizing her position as Gabriel's Queen.
"Greetings Ise-senpai! How was the mission? Did you find those Dragons?" Griselda greeted with a bow causing Issei to sigh. He was hoping to avoid this question.
"Yes, I did, but I wish I didn't!" He explained with a frown. Gabriel narrowed down her eyes. There weren't many things which fazed her Joker. She knew him since the last twenty years. She had seen him grow from a weak human into heaven's strongest exorcist. She had seen him taking on the White Dragon Emperor of his generation and beating him with one of his hands tied behind his back. If Issei was disturbed, then it meant something really serious was going on.
"You are talking as if..."
"Yes, Lady Gabriel...they were dead and that's not the worst thing!" Issei huffed in annoyance, raising his voice a bit, "all I stumbled upon was a bunch of disfigured corpses which rivalled that of cruelties during the Holy Sword project and a crazy suicidal who nearly blew up the entire building!"
"But how is this possible Senpai? We had the perfect intel this time." Griselda asked dumbfounded, finding herself unable to believe everything Issei just said.
"There is no perfect Intel in the real world, Gri-chan. Its been months and we are still running in circles about this thing!" The Sekiryutei grunted in disappointment; however, before he could continue, one of his ears were pulled with extreme force, making him fall on his knees.
"Lady Gabriel..."
"Issei, you are not some highschool teenager, so stop throwing your tantrums at me. You are a father and husband now, you should act like one!" Gabriel chided while pulling the Sekiryutei's ear. Everyone around started laughing at seeing how Heaven's strongest exorcist was being manhandled against his will. Griselda also let out a few giggles. After what seemed like centuries to Issei, Gabriel let him go with a pout on her face.
Due to being suddenly released out of painful grip, Issei fell on the floor face first, however, he quickly jumped back on his feet.
"Don't do that Lady Gabriel, I am not some little kid anymore!" Issei whined while Griselda playfully stuck her tongue out.
"Even if you become a thousand years old someday, you will still be my idiot Joker who keeps staring at my breasts!" Gabriel deadpanned causing Issei to blush a bit.
"I d-don't do that...anymore!" Issei stuttered furiously, he really didn't like being made fun of like that.
"Well, you have gotten better at hiding that side of yours Senpai!" Griselda giggled causing Gabriel to smile a bit. She loved seeing those two exchanging banter. It had quite a family feeling about it.
"Can we please get back onto the topic Flat Chested-chan?!" Issei let out a groan. Griselda suddenly grew a tick mark on her forehead, she hastily jumped onto Issei's face.
"I am not flat chested, Perverted Monkey-senpai!"
"Would you prefer No-Boob-san then?" Issei continued with a smirk as he honked her nose, causing Griselda to blush in embarrassment and fury.
"I will get you back for this, Pervy-senpai!" Griselda threatened with a look that sent shivers through his spine, Issei laughed nervously. That woman was really touchy about her size. Unbeknownst to both of them, Issei spared a look at her moderately sized bust. His wife had bigger than her, not by much, but reasonably bigger.
He took a long breath and began with a sigh.
"Dragons are beings created from large masses of energy who act freely and selfishly. Dragons are creatures that represent power. As such, in all ages, Dragons are admired, respected, and feared by all. The Dragons are the only creatures whom, as a race, did not side with any of the three factions in the Great War, unlike the Youkai, European Monsters, Spirits, Fairies, and other supernatural races. Which is the reason we are still trading with Tannin despite him being a Reincarnated Devil and we are helping with the reestablishment of the Dragon race so they remain neutral and the balance of power remains equal in all three factions. But if Dragons are being targeted like this, right under Heaven and the Underworld's nose, something must be going on around here!" Issei concluded with a serious tone.
"Why would someone need Dragons?" Griselda asked dumbfounded
"It's the wrong question, the question should be: who is capable enough of performing such a task?" Gabriel folded her hands together, exposing her massive cleavage a bit. A perverted smile crept over his face. Granted he was married and he would never cheat on his wife, but a little show never hurt anyone.
"You are really an embarrassment to Heaven, you know that? I don't get it, how you are still an Angel despite having your mind always in the gutter!" Draig asked in a slightly annoyed tone, but he wasn't really complainimg complaining about the show either.
"I am not an ordinary pevert Ddraig, I am a badass one!"
"Maybe having some fresh blood would be a great help!" Gabriel suggested causing Issei to blink.
Issei raised an eyebrow and asked in return, "we do have enough forces Lady Gabriel. I bet Xenovia and Irina would make great exorcists some day. Dulio is a powerhouse who will rival me in a few years. I am not even counting old man Vasco and Crystaldi heren. I believe we are highly over compensated."
"We need a problem solver. Someone with natural leadership abilities and great promise..." Gabriel began speaking but before she could finish her sentence, Issei interrupted her.
"I know what you are talking about but he is not ready, not yet. He barely survived against the Cerulean beast of Apocalypse. He is not ready for this world!" Issei denied firmly. Matching the Seraph's sight with his glare.
"Even you weren't ready when we picked you up!" Gabriel reasoned with the Sekiryutei.
"You didn't pick me up, Lady Gabriel. You stumbled upon my family's murder which I was fortunate to survive. I didn't have anyone to rely on, I didn't have anyone who could protect me or take care of me. I was rudely awakened to this strange and cruel world with nothing but my desire to survive and become stronger. He is nothing like me, he has a family, he has me watching his back if any threats from our world comes in his way!" Issei remarked in a stern voice, leaving no room for argument.
"But Ise-senpai, the Diagon Slayer needs to get involved sooner or later. If we won't do it, someone else will!" Griselda voiced her objections.
"It's not Heaven's place to decide his fate and I am sorry to say, It's not yours either Gri-chan!" Issei continued in a firm tone. With a respectful bow to the seraph who protected and nurtured him for all those years, Issei left from the First Heaven. He still had to make a dosier about the missing dragons and what he found out in the lab, including the lightning freak who took out everything in a final suicidal attack. He had to send one to Tannin personally, who wasn't a very pleasant person now a days. He didn't blame him per say, Dragons were pretty much extinct and them being kidnapped and murdered like this was too much for the Dragon King. Issei had an idea how much Tannin sacrificed to keep his race alive, even going so far as salvaging his Dragon pride and becoming a servant, just so he could create a sanctuary for Dragons.
In short, he had a really long night today and from what he knew about Tannin and his tantrums regarding the whole ordeal, tomorrow was going to be a very long day.
A/N So here is the third chapter, hope you like it. I would also like to see if you guys would like to add in a Familiar for Ben.
As you may or may not have noticed, I write for fun. I like it when people review, but I generally don't care. One review a chapter is good enough for me. As long as someone is happy reading my story, I am happy and will keep writing.
So with that said, Have a great day and please review, if you want.
