Here we go. Another chapter for my fans. Sorry if this seems a little disjointed in places. As I was writing this and watching the episode to get a general idea on the events, I realised this needed some action. And I wanted to have Bri introduce Sakura to her parents. But hopefully, you'll all enjoy it.

Chapter 21: Family Troubles

So this was the guy that managed to beat him. Ben thought as he raised a hand over the Omnitrix. Sure, it was only because his body was too battered to keep going, but he still did more than the rest of the Club. And Issei's Sacred Gear seemed to be playing up, the way he kept clutching his left arm in pain. Ben glanced back to see his hand pulse red, before turning his attention back to this Vali guy. But she was shocked to see him right in front of her, his finger barely touching his forehead. Damn this guy was fast.

"You're both completely defenceless. A far cry from the other night." Vali said as he smirked at her. "Where is your mystical sword, Miss Tennyson?"

"I don't need a sword to kick your ass." Ben growled, moving to push down on the Omnitrix. But Vali grabbed his hands before he could finish it. Dammit. Why did Azmuth have to shut down the Master Control today of all days?

"Apparently, you do. I'll admit, you're not really what I expected when I heard of you. I imagined a goddess, raining fire and destruction upon your enemies. But you're not really that special, are you? I could use a magical spell right now, and you wouldn't be able to block it without touching your Sacred Gear." Ben was about to retort, when two blades appeared under Vali's chin. Ben stumbled back, finally seeing Kiba and Xenovia at either side.

"This joke's gone on long enough." Kiba said, holding his blade calmly. "I will not allow you to threaten my friends."

"We can't let you start a fight with the Emperor of the Red Dragon, or Bri." Xenovia added. "There are too many witnesses."

"Oh? And you two plan on stopping me? Even together you were no match for 'Diagon' here, much less against me. But by all means, you can try to stop me if you don't mind people seeing you us all fight." Xenovia and Kiba glared at him, but they both dissipated their swords and moved next to the three of them. Vali smirked, like he knew they'd do that. Jerk. "Now then, I have a serious question for both of you. Where do you think you stand in terms of power amongst the people of the world?"

Where do they stand? Was he asking how powerful they thought they were? Damn. This was always a tricky one. Rate themselves too low, and Vali would probably think they were weak. Rate it too high on the other hand, and all they'd do is make Vali laugh, right before he showed them they weren't as powerful as they thought.

"Why don't you tell us where people think we're ranked first, and then we'll tell you our opinions?" Issei said to him. That was actually pretty smart. If others said they were too low, then they could go and prove them wrong.

Vali smirked again. "Very well then. Issei Hyoudo. Your Balance Breaker, though incomplete, is four digits from the top. That means anywhere between 1 and 1,500. Though, given the strength of its wielder, it's probably on the lower side." He ignored Issei's glare, turning to face Ben. "You on the other hand, are seen as a much greater threat. Your Sacred Gear, your 'Omnitrix', is considered in the top 100. And with your blade, you're in the top 50. A good effort, considering you appeared out of nowhere. We can't find any mention of you anywhere. It's like you were made from thin air." He started chuckling. "A very fine catch. There are many who would be willing to go to war to obtain you for themselves. She certainly was very lucky, weren't you Rias Gremory?" They all glanced back to see Rias approaching, along with Akeno and Koneko. They didn't look very happy.

"Emperor of the White Dragon." Rias said firmly. "What are you after? If you are working with the Fallen Angels I'd suggest you…" She stopped talking as Vali chuckled again.

"In times past, the meeting of the Welsh Dragon and the Vanishing Dragon, have caused all they meet to lead miserable lives. Tell me, how are things working out for you?" Rias merely glared at him in silence. "In any case, I'm not here to attack right now. Even if she could be countered so easily, I'd rather not cause a scene with Bri Tennyson. I've got more important things to take care of. I merely wanted to meet them both when they weren't busy trying to kill each other. I have to say, they're not all that impressive." And with that, Vali just walked off like they didn't even concern him anymore. Ben wanted to go alien to deal with his attitude, but Azmuth ordered him to not use it any more than necessary. And there were all the witnesses around. It wasn't worth causing a scene.

He rounded on the others though, one thing still unanswered. "Alright, could someone explain what he meant when he called me Diagon?"

(**/*\**)

Issei laid back on the infirmary bed, clenching his left hand to ease out the numbness. It was finally calming down now after that meeting, but he hoped it wouldn't act like that every time they met. His gear didn't seem to bother him, so maybe there was a trick to it or something. He couldn't have Akeno sucking to the energy out of it during class all the time. Mind you, it was better than what was happening right now.

"Stop clenching so much." Bri said as she stopped biting down on his arm. She was now a vampire alien, dressed in a long green robe and spiked headgear. But instead of being a hot vampire chick like in the movies, she looked a lot more like that older vampire, Nosferatu. Her skin was a pallid grey, wrinkled and hairless, while her mouth was filled with razor sharp teeth. They were clearly designed to break the skin for the substance she needed. But curiously, she could feed on just his energy just fine. That said, her teeth and her claws were painful. "I don't exactly vant to tear open a vein in this form. Blood is not on my lunch menu today." She also spoke in a stereotypical Transylvanian accent, fittingly. Issei winced as her teeth jabbed another part of him, before she finally pulled away. "There. It is done. Now, I'd better change back before I start getting hungry." She turned back to normal in her usual green flash, sitting down next to him. She seemed to be still troubled by what they told her about her calling herself Diagon. She told them she probably saw herself as strong as Diagon, but it sounded to Issei like she was trying to convince herself more than him.

"That form he took to fight you. It looked a lot like the one we used against Arrivederci, or Vilgax, or even Albedo." Issei said out loud. "But it looked even more dangerous."

"Of course it did." Ddraig said to him. "He's complete. The form you and Bri use are not as strong as he is."

"Oh hey Ddraig." Issei said out loud, earning Bri's attention. "Hey, could you explain to us what's with the Red and White Dragons? I'm sick of going around in the dark."

"Fine then. Back when the War between Angels, Fallen Angels, and Demons happened, humans and monsters took side in the struggle. But we dragons were the exception. We didn't care about the war, and just went on doing whatever we wanted. But then one day, two stupid dragons started a petty fight."

"I guess hindsight is important." Bri said once Issei finished translating.

"Yeah. We didn't give a damn about the war that would decide the new rulers of the world. We just took our fight to the battlefield."

"Why were you two fighting anyway?" Issei asked.

"I can't remember. It probably wasn't that important then. But what was important was that none of the factions could keep fighting with us rampaging around the battlefield and generally getting in the way. So they all agreed to a truce long enough to eliminate us."

"Hold on. You're telling us that in order to stop you two, everyone had to work together? Just how powerful were you guys?" Bri seemed very shocked. So was Issei. He had one of these guys on his wrist?

"Strong enough that we got even more pissed when the 'petty' God and Satan got in the way of our fight. We pretty much lost our minds in rage. But eventually, we lost and were chopped into pieces. And while our flesh burned away, our souls were trapped inside Humans as Sacred Gears. Through them, we've met many times, and have always ended up fighting one another. There have been times when we haven't met, and our hosts died without fighting. But those were very rare."

"And now it's my turn." Issei frowned at that. Even if he disliked the insult, the fact that Vali managed to stop Bri meant he really was stronger than him. There was no way he could beat him right now. "You know what? Screw destiny. I'm going to become a high-level Devil and get myself a harem, and nothing's going to stop me."

"Good idea." Bri replied. "If you want, once Azmuth gives me the green light I could help train you again, like we used to."

"I'd like that. I'm going to need everything to take this creep down." It felt good to have things going back to the way they were before all this craziness. Him and Bri hanging out without having to worry about getting hurt. Maybe once he took down Vali, things would go his way even more. This thought excited Issei as he and Bri entered the main hall.

"Issei you bastard!" Matsuda and Motohama shouted as they tried to punch him. But Bri managed to flip Matsuda into Motohama, sending them both flying into the wall instead. Ah geez. What's with those two now?

"You… You thief!" Motohama was shouting as he got back to his feet. "You hoarder, you crook! I thought we were friends."

"Yeah, so how come you keep stealing away all the goods?" Matsuda asked as he got to his feet too.

"What the hell are you guys talking about?" Issei was confused. Did they think he stole their porn or something?

"Don't play dumb with us. What this about the new hot chick being a part of the Occult Research Club?"

"Wha… Oh." Now he got it. They were talking about Xenovia. They both got right up in his face, looking pissed off.

"You've got way too many smoking hot chicks dude. You need to share the poon already, man."

"Yeah. What kind of friend are you, anyway?"

"Uh, the kind that remembers that all that 'poon' are real people? Not some cartoon characters you can jerk off to?" Bri replied. "Seriously, grow up already. Issei's acting more mature than you guys. Maybe you should take a few hints." Bri grabbed Issei by the hand and dragged him along to class. Motohama and Matsuda were following close behind.

"C'mon man, you've been holding out on us ever since you joined that club." Matsuda was moaning.

"Yeah, could you at least give us those pictures we asked you for?" Bri seemed to be listening in, probably imagining what 'pictures' they meant.

"I told you guys, I don't have any. She doesn't exactly invite me along to her dates. But if you want to try and follow Bri, then by all means try. I'll make sure to have some flowers sent to your local hospital." Bri opened the door to their classroom just in time to see Xenovia on the other side.

"Ah Issei. I was just looking for you." She said as she let then move past her. "I wanted to apologize for what I said to you a while ago."

"Ah… Ok. But it might be better to have this conversation at a later date." Issei was worried. If she started talking about how she wanted to have his kid in front of the whole class, they'd never let him forget it. They'd see him as the worst of the worst.

Xenovia kept talking like he hadn't said anything. "That is why I think we should use these and practise first." She pulled a bunch of condom packs out of her pocket, holding them all in plain sight. Issei felt like vanishing as Motohama and Matsuda nearly fainted in shock.

"Ohh-kay." Bri said as she grabbed Xenovia by the shoulder, blushing like mad. "Xenovia, I think we need to have a talk about when something isn't actually appropriate to talk about." She led her away, whispering into her ear as Motohama and Matsuda turned on Issei, faces bright red in anger.

"You-you-you bastard! You've been holding out on us!" Motohama was breathing like a bull, he was so angry.

"I ought to kick your ass for that!" Matsuda wasn't any better. They both reared up, ready to punch him in the face.

This was going to hurt.

(**/*\**)

"…And that's why you can't just talk about this stuff like that." Ben finished explaining to Xenovia. Man, you'd think a member of the church would be more chaste than that. What did they teach them in the Church anyway?

"I apologise." Xenovia replied. "I didn't know. I always thought that if you desired a child with someone, you would tell them."

"Well yeah, but you don't tell them you want to sleep with them in public like that. Besides, I'm pretty sure you both need to be older before it could be seen as 'ok'."

"But I desire his child. And my body is at the right age to procreate. Why should I have to wait a few years before I can be allowed to bear children?" Why did he have to have this conversation? Why couldn't a real girl talk to her? Now he felt very worried about his own uterus.

"Look, just because you can have kids doesn't mean you should have kids. Aren't the church all 'Thou shall not bear a man's child until they are wedded' or something like that?"

"They do. But I am a Devil now. I should no longer follow the rules placed by God, for I am not one of His children anymore."

Ben sighed. He was ready to give up. "Look, just next time try not to ask him something like that until it's just you two alone, ok?"

"Ok." Ben was glad he finally got that conversation over with. He mainly led her away before she got the whole class hunting Issei, but he didn't really know what to say to her and just made it all up. Now he just needed to worry about Parents' day. He had Azmuth send a message back home, but he wasn't sure when they'd arrive.

"Excuse me, does this school have a student called Bri Tennyson attending?" He heard someone say from the front gate. Well, speak of the Devil, they were here. He rushed out of the hall he and Xenovia had been walking down, spotting his parents at the front gate. They were hanging around with other parents, gaining a few weird looks from being an American family in Japan speaking Japanese. Ben smiled as he hugged them both.

"I'm so glad you guys could make it." He said as he pulled away. "This really means a lot to me."

"I know dear. I'll admit, I was surprised when we got that message. But we made it just in time. And who's your friend?" Mom said to him.

"Oh. This is Xenovia. She was with the Church until she moved here. Xenovia, this is my mom and dad."

"Pleasure to meet you." Xenovia shook their hands. "Bri is a very capable woman. I am honoured to have her as an ally."

"Oh, she's so polite. Is this the girl that you like Bri?" Ben started blushing as people looked at them. Even though he acted like he didn't care what people thought of his relationship, he still felt self-conscious having his family talking about it.

"Ahem. No, she isn't. Sakura's elsewhere in the school. We'll probably meet up with her later on. Now, how about I show you guys around?"

Ben hoped today would go without any problems.

(**/*\**)

"Now then, for today's class I want you all to make whatever comes to mind with the clay in front of you." The teacher said to them. "Anything at all. You could make houses, animals, people… Whatever you want. Make whatever's on your mind. That's one way to communicate in English." Funny. Ben never recalled learning to speak through clay. But he supposed it was like a visual thing. Only problem was that he hadn't shaped clay into anything for years, not since he was 12. Oh well, he was just going to have to try. And he had something good in mind. He split the clay in front of him into four even lumps, making sure to put the others to one side as he worked. The first lump he stretched out until it was humanoid, before sculpting it into a more muscular shape. Then, he pulled at the face until he had a beard of tentacles, before modelling some of the finer details. He then broke off small pieces to stick on the arms like pistons. Once the first model was done, he then moved onto the next. He carefully teased out the shape of a fire, before carving lines into it with his nail. Once that was done, the third lump was moulded into a knight, making sure not to make it too top-heavy. Then, he broke off a small piece to make a sword from, sticking it into the hand. Finally, the last one was the trickiest. He slowly and carefully teased out spikes and claws over the figure, positioning the arms and legs carefully. He smiled as he put it back down. Looked like he gained an artistic bone on the way here.

"My, my Mr Hyoudo." The teacher said. "That is amazing. I've never seen such fine artwork before." Ben turned to see that Issei had – obviously – made a small statue of a naked Rias. The hair was tactfully positioned to cover her more private areas, but the rest of her was on display for all to see. While it was good art, why did he have to make that in front of his parents?

"So, your hands know every detail about her, do they?" Aika said with a smirk. Everyone else was glaring at Issei in anger. The guys started shouting about how dare he have Rias instead of them, while the girls were yelling about what a pervert her was and why would Rias hang out with him. Ben decided it would be good to disrupt this.

"Hey Issei. What do you think about my work?" He grabbed him by the hand, pulling him over to his desk. Everyone was now crowding around them, looking at the series of statues Ben had made.

"That's awesome." Issei replied. "You got every detail perfect. I'm really impressed Bri." It made him smile, seeing his friend enjoy his work. Who wouldn't be happy with a compliment?

"What is it supposed to be, anyway?" Someone asked, reaching out to poke it. None of them would recognise Vilgax, reaching out to punch someone; or Ben 23 as Heatblast; or him in a suit of armour, holding Ascalon; or especially Issei with his Boosted Gear. "Some kind of video game character?"

"Yeah. The knight's supposed to be me, the dragon man is Issei, and the flame guy is meant to be my cousin Ben. We're all teaming up to fight the dreaded Vilgax, conqueror of ten worlds." He looked at the back to see his parents smiling at him, snapping pictures.

This was one of the best moments of his life.

(**/*\**)

"Wow." Sakura gasped when she saw the statues. "That's so cool. Is this what your fights are usually like?"

"Not always. Mostly it's just one-on-one. I only need a team-up when facing people like Vilgax. He's really bad news."

"Yeah. I can tell." Ben noticed how she was busy clenching her hands, shaking like a leaf. He grabbed one hand gently, squeezing it. She was shaking less, but she was still nervous.

"It's ok." He said softly to her. "Nothing's going to go wrong. You and my parents are going to hit it off in an instant."

"But… But what if they don't like me? What if they think I'm shallow because I'm only dating you while you're a girl? What if they think I'm weird for dating a guy-turned-girl?" Poor Sakura. Ben guessed other parents wouldn't be so understanding of her being a lesbian. But his parents were different.

"They'll understand. Once they found out I was a hero that turned into aliens, their biggest problem was that I snuck out behind their backs. Heck, my mom grounded me while I was in one of my alien forms even. They're really easy going." By now, they were back where he left his parents. They turned to see them, smiling all the while. Sakura froze in fear, shaking like a leaf. Ben put the box of statues down, before grabbing her with both hands and gently, but firmly, pulling her along.

"Mom, dad. This is Sakura, my girlfriend." He said when they were closer. "She's really good at soccer, a good friend, and she's got a killer kick." Sakura was too busy blushing, so Ben gave her a little shove with his hip.

"Um…Um… Nice to meet you." She whispered, blushing like crazy. "I'm Sakura Orihime. And…And I'm dating your son… who is a girl."

"It's so nice to meet you Sakura." Mom said cheerfully. "You seem so lovely, and Ben told us how much he loves you. He only wished that you had met under different circumstances than this."

"Really?" Sakura seemed very shocked. "So… you're ok that I'm dating him… because he's a girl right now?"

"If Ben's fine with it, then so are we." Dad replied, clapping her on the shoulder. Sakura looked so happy that they accepted her, smiling and crying in happiness. Ben knew they'd hit it off, but it was a load off his mind to see it actually happening. As he stood back, letting them chat, he nearly got bowled over as a bunch of guys went running past. Ben was about to tell them off, but they were already gone, shouting about some 'witch-girl' in the gym. Ben wouldn't have given it much thought, except that he saw the others running that way too.

"I think something's going on in the gym, so I'd better go and check." He told his parents. They nodded, waving him on as they continued chatting with Sakura. He just knew they'd end up talkin about embarrassing things with him gone, but he had to see what all the ruckus was about.

He hoped it wasn't an attack.

(**/*\**)

Issei and the others arrived to find loads of guys snapping pictures of a buxom young woman dressed in a pink magical girl uniform with white highlights, and holding onto a long staff with a star at the top. Issei recognised it from the Magical Girl Milky Spiral Seven series that Mil-tan had him watch while Bri created a way to turn him into a real magical girl. He had to admit, it looked a lot better on a smoking hot chick than a muscle-bound guy. Whoever she was, she certainly seemed to enjoy all the attention she was getting.

"Hey!" They heard Saji shout as he got in front of the girl. "This is a school, not a photo op. Shoo! Party's over." Everyone started shouting about it, but Saji didn't change his mind. Eventually, they all finally left.

"Hey." Bri said as she came in through the door. "I got here as fast as I could. What's the problem?"

"Just some girl dressed in cosplay." Issei replied, pointing at her. She was spinning around and waving her staff, clearly not taking Saji seriously. They were all just walking over when Sona stormed in, looking annoyed. The girl looked past Saji at her, before smiling.

"Found you Sona-chan!" She shouted, causing Sona to freeze up. The girl jumped off the stage, before running towards her like someone half her age. "Sona-chan! Sona-chan, what's wrong? You're blushing like crazy. You've finally been reunited with your big sister. I think you should be much happier to see me. I wouldn't mind us hugging, and having some girl-on-girl action, and you would say Onee-sama and I'd call you So-tan, you know." Issei noted that her breasts bounced a lot from her motions.

"Her big sister?" Bri looked like she couldn't believe it. Hell, Issei couldn't believe it either. He thought she'd be some strict girl like Sona.

"That is Serafall Leviathan, one of the Four Great Satans." Rias explained to them, not looking surprised by the way she was acting.

"…One of the lords of Hell dresses like a magical girl. Sure, why not?" Bri was taking it pretty well now. Issei guessed she met her quota of craziness. As they watched, Serafall turned to face them.

"Ooh. You two must be Issei Hyoudo and Bri Tennyson. I've heard so much about you both." She said as she came hopping over to them.

"Surely you just mean Bri, right?" Issei asked. Compared to her, he was nobody.

Serafall shook her head. "I've heard great things about you too. Like how you managed to punch Arrivederci. Even I'd be cautious about fighting him. But you went ahead because he had your friend. If only Rias would agree to let me ask Bri to work for my Peerage." She sighed sadly. "But I'll just have to settle for seeing you in action again. You really managed to upset everyone when you pounded Riser like you did. That form was huge."

"Thanks, Lady Leviathan." Bri said politely.

"No, no. Call me Levia-tan." Serafall told them, spinning around before placing two fingers around her eyes. Issei and Bri could only gape. Guess they hadn't been fully surprised until now.

Were all the Satans this crazy?

(**/*\**)

"…And your parents were so lovely." Sakura said as they met up later. "They were really understanding and kind to me. Not like my last girlfriend. Her parents were all 'You're corrupting our daughter and she's a good girl who will marry a big strong boy and give us lots of grandchildren'. Pfft, like it's my fault I don't have the equipment, you know? And then they shipped her to this super-strict camp that was said to 'cure' people like us."

"Those actually exist?" Ben was surprised. He always thought that they were make-believe, something to tell kids to behave like the boogyman.

"Apparently. She didn't want anything to do with me after that. Whatever, I've got an awesome girlfriend now." She hugged Ben's arm, making him smile in contentment. Today was going great. "So, what was that whole thing in the gym about anyway? Was it a… you know?"

"Not exactly. It was just President Souna's older sister dressed in a magical girl outfit. All the guys were going gaga over her."

"…Was she hot?"

"Yeah, she was. But… Hey, wait! Why are you asking? You're not thinking of trading me, are you?"

"No. I was just… wondering." She had a bright gleam in her eyes, before leaning in closer. "Think you could wear a magical girl uniform for me?" She whispered.

"Uh uh." Ben shook his head. "It was bad enough being in a revealing bikini. I am definitely not wearing a magical girl outfit." He wanted to hold onto as much masculinity as physically possible. "Besides, do I really have to wear weird outfits? Can't we just go around in t-shirts and jeans?"

"…fine, T-shirt and shorts, but only because you've got good-looking legs and a cute butt." Sakura emphasized that by giving Ben a bump with her hip. He started blushing in embarrassment at that. He still wasn't completely used to being with someone so… forward. He was about to say something back when they heard screaming coming from the main building.

Dammit, he knew he had jinxed himself.

(**/*\**)

Issei looked on in amazement as something came slithering into the school hall. It was one of the strangest things he had ever seen. It had the upper body or a man, but the rest of it was clearly a snake of some kind. It also had snake heads for hands. Was this something else from Bri's dimension.

"Tremble humansss." It hissed at them. For I am sssSerpent, The sssSnake that Walks like a…" Whatever he was about to say was lost as Bri came charging into the room, screaming at the top of her voice. She jumped into the air and kicked Serpent with both feet, sending him flying to the ground. As the snake-dude got back onto his… tail, Bri grabbed a piece of the door that had been broken when he came in. Serpent hissed at her and attacked with his head-hands, But Bri got the plank in the way of the mouths.

"I…am not…in the mood… for this crap." Bri gritted out as she pushed against the plank. Serpent tried to get her with his main fangs, but While Bri had been distracting him, Xenovia and Kiba had grabbed their own planks and whacked him upside the head. Bri dropped the plank she was holding and grabbed another, slamming it into Serpent's chest before hitting him upside the head. Serpent hissed again and tried to bite them with his extra mouths, but Kiba and Xenovia managed to dislocate their jaws. He whimpered in pain, before trying a kamikaze attack against Bri. Her stick had shattered against the guy's body from all the beatings they gave him. She was defenceless.

"Hey freak! Get away from my girlfriend!" Issei heard Sakura shout as she slammed a soccer ball into his mouth. The villain gave a high-pitched whine, before collapsing to the ground. Everyone stared at him, wondering what he was. They did this even when Bri grabbed him by the tail and literally dragged him out of the room. Once she had left, everyone started whispering to each other.

What was he doing here anyway?

(**/*\**)

Serpent spat out a few broken teeth before looking back up at Ben. "sssShouldn't a pretty girl like yoursssself be making ssssomeone happy?" He wheezed. Ben wasn't feeling like playing nice.

"My parents were in there. You were threatening everyone for… what? Amusement? Because you could? Because here you thought you'd be able to hurt people without Ben 10 kicking your ass back to Incarseron? Well, that's not going to happen. But what I'm curious about is how you even got here. You're not that smart pal. So who helped you?"

"What makessss you think I needed help? I managed to nearly kill Ben 10 if it wassssn't for that girl of hissss." Serpent yelled in pain as Ben hit him over the head with another plank. Then he hit him a few more times to work out his anger over everyone being threatened. "Wait, wait! Ok, ok, I had help. He wanted to come here becausssse there wassss no one to sssstop ussss. Or at leasssst, that'ssss what we thought."

"Who is he?" Ben leaned down to look him in the eye. He looked as bad as the time Ben flattened him as Cannonbolt, and he was nearly a pancake then.

"You wouldn't have met him. A spike-haired guy by the name of Fissstrick." Wonderful. Now he was going to have another 'friend' in town. Why couldn't he have another week without any problems? As Serpent moaned in pain, Ben gave him another solid hit to knock him out, just in time for Azmuth and the others to enter.

"What?" Ben said innocently. "He was like that when I dragged him here." As Azmuth got him chained and ready to transport, Ben talked to the club members. "According to him, we've got another crook running around here and causing problems. He goes by the name of Fistrick, and he's pretty much a gang banger. Black-and-white face paint, spiked hair, a shirt with a skull on it, and purple tattoos. Oh, and he's probably carrying a weapon of some kind. He's a lot tougher than he looks, so don't underestimate him just because you're Devils. He's usually got some tech of some kind, so keep an eye out for anything like that."

"AAAHHH! A giant robot's attacking the city!" They heard someone screaming. They quickly dashed to the window to see a 6 metre tall orange robot attacking everything around it. It had spikes on its head in the shape of a Mohawk, and a skull painted on the front. Fistrick.

Everyone, get moving! We need to keep him away from civilians!" Rias shouted as she jumped out the window. Ben started tapping away at the Omnitrix, finding the form he used the other day.

"Shield Maiden!" He shouted as he jumped out the window after the others. Thankfully, his chest was covered by a glittering chestplate, and he was able to float to the ground instead of falling. Sure, his stomach was bared, but he learned to make do with what he had. Ben quickly set up barriers around Fistrick and the others, keeping everyone safe from the fighting. Things were going… pretty well, actually. Fistrick might've been inside a giant robot, but his size was working against him today. Xenovia and Kiba were too fast for the ponderous limbs to strike, and Rias and Akeno were short-circuiting anything they could reach. Even Issei was doing well, denting the cockpit severely. Hopefully, this would convince his crooks to stay home instead of trying their luck in other dimensions. But as he watched them going at it, he caught something from the corner of his eye. He turned to see a raven-haired girl in a purple shirt and black shirt combo walking closer, occasionally blasting something with mana.

"This is so much fun." She squealed, blowing up a car as she went. "My new homie is so cool."

"Sunny?" Ben couldn't believe it. Cousin Sunny? "What are you doing here?" Sunny looked at him strangely, before noticing the Omnitrix symbol on his chest. She looked him up and down before breaking into a hearty laugh.

"Well, well. If it isn't dear old cousin Ben. Like the new look. It just screams 'I'm a man'."

"What are you doing here? I thought Grandma Verdona was having a 'chat' with your parents about your behaviour. How do you go from that to hanging out with Fistrick?"

"Oh honestly. Everyone keeps going on like I was doing something wrong. I was just having a bit of fun."

"You tried to kill Gwen."

"Little miss Favourite shouldn't have tried to tattle on me. As for Fistrick, well he and I met at one of Antonio's friends' place. He was so fun to hang out with, and he seemed really interested in me after we talked."

Ben smirked. "Let me guess. He only got interested when you mentioned that you were my cousin."

"No." Now she seemed angry. "Not everything is about you, transvestite. Now let my friend go, or I'm going to make you. Maybe I should start with Uncle Carl and Aunt Sandra." That did it. Ben was seething with rage. No one, especially not family, was going to threaten his parents. Ben wrapped a barrier around Sunny, but she merely glowed brightly and shattered it. The shards were about to slice his parents, so he tried to concentrate on redirecting them with his powers. Hey, if he could move the barrier when it was in one piece, then he could probably move them while separate. He was right, as the shards turned into a stream of energy and went flying. Everyone who hadn't already left was running as the sounds of fighting and explosions echoed around them.

"Bri! What's going on?" Rias shouted as she flew overhead, only to get grabbed by Sunny's head tentacle thing and thrown to the ground.

"No one. Hurts. My. Friend!" Sunny shouted as she fired streams of mana at them all. Ben erected shields to block them, but the prolonged attacks managed to melt through them. Ben just kept making more or them for now, but it wasn't going to be sustainable.

"Ok, who's this girl?" Issei asked him. He was under the barrier Ben was hiding behind. "Is she one of Fistrick's allies? Or an arch-nemesis?"

"No actually. She's my cousin. And she's an Anodite."

"That explains the power behind her attacks." Akeno said, as she tried to blast her. But Sunny just deflected the attack like it was nothing. This was getting stupid. He had to do something. Something like…

"Issei! I want you to grab the dial and twist it to the left." He shouted. "I need to go Ultimate."

"Right." He responded. Ben focused on keeping the barriers up while Issei took the chance to paw at his chest. If he didn't hurry, he was going to kick his ass. Finally, after a few long seconds, Issei twisted the dial, and Ben felt himself changing again. The barriers he created changed from blue to green, and then to red. But instead of breaking apart like he thought they would, they fired a powerful beam straight back at Sunny. The Anodite could only watch in shock as the rebounded beams blasted her straight out of the sky. She screamed in rage as she got back to her feet, firing even stronger beams than before. But they were ill-aimed, missing Ben most of the time. Any that were about to hit him was absorbed and shot back at her. But as a tentacle managed to bat it out of the way, Ben instinctly reacted. Sunny screamed in pain as the tip of the hair tentacle was sliced off by a glowing green blade Ben was holding. He looked at it in surprise, wondering how he did that. Of course, the Ultimatrix evolutionary function was supposed to put a species though a theoretical million years of problems, and see what would survive it. It wouldn't be hard to imagine any species becoming more dangerous after that. But Ben didn't want to kill his cousin. He just wanted to stop her. He tried to concentrate on the blade, making it longer, thicker, and with a heavy head on the top. While he was busy with that, the others had been pummelling Sunny. She obviously wasn't used to fighting people capable of hurting her. But she was finally managing to create her own barrier, giving her time to think.

Ben wasn't going to let her.

Everyone looked up as he came flying overhead, yelling as he brought the hammer down on the barrier. It held at first, but the hammer's face glowed red and the barrier shattered with explosive force. Sunny went flying, smacking into the ground several times before coming to a stop. Ben panted as he stood in the center of a crater, the hammer dissipating. He got out of it in time to see Sunny's human skin reforming over her. Luckily, it also came with clothes.

"Help me get some cuffs on her." He told the others, noticing that his voice was deeper than before, yet still feminine. He looked around for a mirror, finally finding it amidst a broken shop. He was surprised by how… different he looked now. The theme was still a blue-skinned priestess girl, but he wasn't really in robes anymore. He wore what seemed to be a combination of leather and ornate armour, with sharpened gauntlets covering his arms, curved greaves on his legs, and the face of a stern woman for a helmet. And, he noted with resignation, it all served to accentuate his curves. But what was most interesting was the ring behind him. While before it had been a single circle broken into segments, now it was about three circles, with two spreading past him like wings. They had large amounts of alien script written on them, glowing with light and spinning slightly. Everything was so much more decorative than usual.

"Let's get this place fixed up before someone starts hitting on me again." Ben said as he turned into Clockwork.

(**/*\**)

"I'm so glad you could all join us for dinner." Mrs Hyoudo said cheerfully as she set all the food on the table. While Bri had been about with Sakura, it turned out that Issei's folks had met Mr Gremory. Or Lord Gremory. He didn't seem that much older than Sirzechs to be honest. "It's so nice to meet you all. Rias and Bri have been such nice girls."

"We're so glad to hear that." Mrs Tennyson replied happily, piling some food onto her plate. "Bri's always been such a lovely girl, but strange things always seem to happen around our family."

"Indeed. My family has a similar problem." Lord Gremory nodded. "Back home we always had people bothering young Rias. She was rather glad to go to Japan. Though I have to say I never really expected to come across such a sight. A super-heroine fighting a man in powered armour and a woman glowing purple. Even back home we never saw things like that."

Bri's always rushing around back home and helping fight back against those kinds of things. It worries me when she's out near dangerous people, but I suppose it's better than hearing that she's gone and done drugs, or gotten herself pregnant, or something horrible like that."

"Kill me now." Bri muttered, apparently trying to hide herself behind a plate of food. "I can't believe how easily my parents are lying about me."

"Well, it's easier than explaining to my mom about Devils and stuff. She has enough trouble accepting that you've met aliens back home." Right now, Mom was asking Mrs Tennyson how long Bri had been able to turn into aliens. Meanwhile, Dad was getting the video camera set up in the lounge so they could all see the footage for the day. Issei was pretty sure Bri didn't really want this getting back to her place. After watching it for a bit, Rias had rushed upstairs complaining about how embarrassing it all was. Issei wanted to check on her, but he wasn't sure she wanted him to. It took Bri stamping on his foot to get him moving. Guess being a guy-turned-girl helped him understand women better. He found her sitting outside the room she and Asia shared, moping about.

"Hey, Rias?" He said hesitantly. If you'd like, you could rest in my room." She didn't say anything, but the gleam in her eyes told him she was thankful as she entered through his door. She flopped onto the bed, allowing him a reasonably good look at her ass. "Well, it's uh… It's pretty good that everyone met up like that and got along so well."

"I know." She sighed. "It's still embarrassing though, having your parents watching you like that. Hey, Issei. Are you glad you met me?"

"Me? Of course I am. I'm glad as hell that we ended up meeting. If we hadn't, I'd still be the weird pervert in class that no one really liked. Hell, if there wasn't any magical stuff going on, I wouldn't even had gotten Ben as a friend."

"I'm glad. I'm glad I met you too." His heart started fluttering, but he knew that he didn't have a chance. She was one of the coolest girls around (With the exception of Bri) and she was also a Devil Lady. There were probably armies of Devils in Hell wanting her. And any of them would be better than he ever could be. He'd have to keep asking Bri to help him until the day she finally went home. Then he'd get his ass handed to him, and Rias would be with someone else instead.

Whatever else he was going to mope about was kindly interrupted by Rias moving in and kissing him. It was the long, deep, sensual kiss that he always dreamed of getting.

And then Asia walked in. "Hey!" She said, looking annoyed. "That's really unfair. I wanted Issei."

Rias merely smiled at her. "If there's one thing Akeno showed me the last few days, it's that if you want something you'd better get it quick."

"Well… Then… I'm taking him back by force." Issei was surprised as Asia grabbed him from behind, holding him close to her sexy chest. She was looking at Rias as though she was daring her to try and stop her. Luckily, they were interrupted by Sirzechs.

"Now, now children. Don't fight." He said as he entered. "I'm sure you can both come to an agreement. You don't want to get in a fight with Bri, do you?" Both girls looked away. Everyone in the club agreed that Bri was very tough, even with the limitations she had now. "In any case, I just had a thought. With so many powerful members in your peerage, and Bri having a form that controls time, I think it might be time to release your other Bishop."

"Other Bishop? There's another one?" Asia looked confused. So was Issei. He never heard the others talk about another Bishop before. Was this person too dangerous or something?

"My first Bishop had great power, but it was too uncontrollable for him or me. We were forced to seal him away until we found some way to help him control it again. You really think we can handle it now?"

"I do. After your battles against Riser and Kokabiel, battles that should've been out of your abilities, I believe that you're now strong enough to handle it."

"Very well then." Rias looked determined. "If that is the order of our Lord, one of the commanders of Hell…"

"Then I will obey."

There we go. I thought that Sunny would be exactly the kind of person that would join a hooligan like Fistrick for a fight. Ever since I saw the first episode that had Serpent (and the first appearance of Ben kicking his scaly ass like nothing) I always imagined him as the local punching bag. Especially after Ben kicked his ass as Four Arms later on. As for Ultimate Shield Maiden, I just imagined what a sexy warrior priestess would look like. I'm sorry if I can't explain it much better, but I did get a general idea from looking at Sakuyamon from Digimon Tamers. Hope that helps.

Oh, and I have something to say to all my Ben crossover fans. I am planning on writing two Ben 10/ Sword Art Online Crossover stories. They'll be somewhat similar, but I will try my best to have them be different enough that they're not just a rehash of each other. I want your opinion on which story I should do first.

One is involving Ben Tennyson. He will get a Nervegear in the mail, inviting him to play an exciting VRMMORPG name Sword Art Online. When he gets in about a month or two after the Kayaba traps every player inside, he will find that the Cardinal System accidently stole all his aliens and turned them into mobs. There will be a finite amount of each alien, and when they're all dead players will encounter a Field Boss version, which will be significantly stronger than the mob version. Once that is dead, then the data will return to the Omnitrix. Some (Like Walkatrout) will be easy to fight, and are therefore more numerous. Others (Like Way Big) will be far stronger and on higher floors, and therefore only a few of them will exist. In the meantime, Ben will offer his help as a bodyguard, officer of the law, and friend, going around righting wrongs and helping weaker players. He will encounter the Kirito and Asuna occasionally, but half the time he will be on his own. He will specialise in Two-handed sword and Heavy Armour, but will spec in one-handed and Shield as an emergency weapon. Oh, and he will start off helping Agil the shop-keeper.

Meanwhile, the other story is about Bri Tennyson, Ben's female counterpart from my story Bri 10. She's more wary of people ever since her first crush as a teen, Michael Morningstar. Also, villains were a bit more likely to treat her like a pin up model. When she enters Sword Art Online, before everyone even clears the 1st floor, she will have to learn how to play the game while under attack. And she will end up getting help from Argo the Rat, an information broker. After getting used to the game, she will go to help fight the floor boss, only to find that it's one of her aliens. They will be even stronger than the Field Boss version, causing problems for everyone. (It'll be a bit like this. Take Wildmutt. A mob version could have 400 health and deal 50 damage. A Field Boss would have 4,000 health and deal 250 damage. A Floor Boss version would have 12,000 health and deal 600 damage.) As she's the only one that knows how the new bosses fight, everyone will think she's a Beater (Beta Player + Cheater) thanks to a bigot. To begin with, everyone will be after her because of her knowledge, blaming her for people dying to them. Because nearly everyone's after her, she won't have time to level up, and she'll be forced to kill people. She'll hole up with Argo to hide from everyone and help release all the info she knows, but Argo will hire Kirito to act as a bodyguard to Bri. Oh, and there won't be any romance between them, because Bri's dating Kevin.

So what do you guys think? Which version should I do first? Let me know through the reviews by the 30th September, so I can make a choice.