A/N: Hello and welcome to Heroes and Hunters, the reboot-slash-reimagining of the failed crossover I once was a part of writing, RWBBYVerse Clash of Heroes. Now if you've read the sort of "introduction" on the previous page before this one, then I don't need to explain. In case you didn't, well. go check it out first to understand what this story is about and what happened behind the scenes.
With that said, please enjoy.
EDIT: Little easter egg hunt for you readers. The very first letters of every chapter's title, aside from the one before this, has a significance. Write it down every time a new chapter comes out.
"Legends. Stories scattered through time. Mankind has grown quite fond of recounting the exploits of heroes and villains, forgetting so easily that we are remnants, byproducts, of a forgotten past.
Man, born from dust, was strong, wise, and resourceful, but he was born into an unforgiving world. An inevitable darkness – creatures of destruction – the creatures of Grimm – set their sights on man and all of his creations. These forces clashed, and it seemed the darkness was intent on returning man's brief existence to the void.
However, even the smallest spark of hope is enough to ignite change, and in time, man's passion, resourcefulness, and ingenuity led them to the tools that would help even the odds. This power was appropriately named "Dust".
Nature's wrath in hand, man lit their way through the darkness, and in the shadow's absence came strength, civilization, and most importantly, life. But even the most brilliant lights eventually flicker and die. And when they are gone... darkness will return.
So you may prepare your guardians, build your monuments to a so-called "free world", but take heed... there will be no victory in strength."
"But perhaps victory is in the simpler things that you've long forgotten; things that require a smaller, more honest soul."
"Quite so. We've all done this dance in so many more stories, in so many more lifetimes. A clash of heroes, dimensional twists, adventures from the void, tales of gemstones and watches. There are so many different ways to tell a story, after all, but that's what makes them so interesting; you could never predict how they are going to turn out..."
Ayy, ayy, ayy, ayy...
Music began playing inside some headphones as within the confines of a simple house was a young man with short brown hair, beautiful green eyes and a fairly tall build. He's in a black shirt with a white line down the middle and as wells as a circle around his shirt's neckline, in addition to his green khaki pants. Beside him on the couch he is currently sitting on is a white jacket with green outlines as well as a big number "10" on the left side of the jacket's chest area.
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ohh (ooh)
The most distinguishable part of the young man, however, is the strange white watch with a green hourglass symbol on its faceplate.
Ayy, ayy
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
This young man is none other than the hero of the universe, bane of Vilgax, savior of the Highbreed, enemy of the Forever Knights and the Infinite End of Maltruant. Benjamin Kirby Tennyson, wielder of the Omnitrix, 18 years old and more experienced.
Needless to say, I keep her in check
She was all bad-bad, nevertheless
Ben is currently sitting on a couch in his own house as he plays his newest video game, Sumo Slammers: World, an online MMORPG he had been waiting for a long time. Armed with a controller and headphones connected to his phone for him to listen music to.
Callin' it quits now, baby, I'm a wreck (wreck)
Crash at my place, baby, you're a wreck (wreck)
While to many would wonder why a famous and powerful superhero like him is just at home, grinding his game avatar to level 109, to those that personally know him, it is because Ben has taken a well deserved break from all the threats he has put a stop to. It's been 2 whole years ever since Ben, his Revonnahgander partner, Rook, his Anodite cousin, Gwen, and his Osmosian best friend, Kevin, had visited nearly every planet in his universe, seeking adventure and more interesting things to see. Along the way, Ben met all kinds of people, got all kinds of souvenirs and kicked tons of evil butt. Ben even managed to come back to Probity's planet and resolve everything when everyone got back to war and restored Probity's faith in him.
Needless to say, I'm keeping her in check
She was all bad-bad, nevertheless
Callin' it quits now, baby, I'm a wreck
Crash at my place, baby, you're a wreck
But that was 2 years ago. Since then, it's been a really slow pace for the great hero of the universe. No threats to the universe, world or even just his neighborhood. It doesn't help that his partner, Rook, is now a full fledged Magister of the Plumbers, and had been receiving more operations directly under the Magistrata's orders, as well as Gwen had returned to college once more to finish the rest of her upcoming semesters while Kevin's mechanic job is doing well for him. Of course, he knows that's good for everyone, even him, as less threats means more peace for the citizens of the planet, human or alien. Still, Ben internally wished he had more things to do. Being a hero is all he's known since age 10, and saving folks and fighting bad guys is something he loves doing, in that specific order.
Thinkin' in a bad way, losin' your grip
Screamin' at my face, baby, don't trip
Someone took a big L, don't know how that felt
Lookin' at you sideways, party on tilt
For now, though, he's okay with what he's doing. Taking a break by sipping on his smoothies on the table, crashing on his couch and helping his Sumo Clan, the Positive Ten, fight against the raid boss of today, Calamity Kenko, a level 250 boss that is said to contain Legendary rarity level items. All this while listening to a new song he had just found out about.
Ooh-ooh, some things you just can't refuse
She wanna ride me like a cruise
And I'm not tryna lose
RING! RING!
Ben's music is interrupted as he perks up from his couch and grabs his phone to see Gwen calling him. "Aw man! You couldn't time it correctly, Gwen? I was just getting to the good part of the song!" Ben complained to himself. He was about to answer the phone and just talk to his cousin via the headphones and built in microphone while continuing his gaming session, but he sighs and knows that's not very mature. The last time he did something like this, he unintentionally broke up with Julie and felt irresponsible. So he hits up the menu for his game, hits the "Auto Attack" option for his character and lets his avatar attack and use abilities on it's own as he takes off the headphones and stands up from his couch to step outside of the house before answering his ringing phone.
"Hey, Gwen. What's up? How's the exam?" Ben asked his cousin, stepping out of the house and sits at the steps of the porch.
"I passed! 101 out of a 100!" Gwen excitedly exclaimed from the other side of the call.
Ben let out a very happy and genuine "Hah!" as he stands up from the excitement and pride of his cousin's success. "I knew you could do it! Wait, one hundred and one?" Ben backpedaled and double checked what Gwen had said.
"Yep! Professor Hex added a secret question at the end just for me to test my knowledge and I got it too!" Gwen happily responded.
"To be fair, the last question was just about if she deserves to be called a Grand Magus." Ben heard Kevin in the background of the call and even though he can't see them, Ben call definitely tell Gwen elbowed her boyfriend. "What? I'm just saying. It's pretty easy to answer that when you're now an entrusted apprentice of the second strongest magician on the planet." Kevin added, further proving Ben's hunch, which caused him to chuckle.
"We're on our way to pick you up to celebrate. I'd ask you where you wanna go, but you'll either say Burger Shack or Mr. Smoothies anyway." Gwen replies to Ben.
"Nah. I've had my fill with smoothies. Been playing Sumo Slammers: World for hours now and I've drank 5 strawberry marshmallow smoothies. Let's go get us some Burger Shack and I'll let you pick this time." Ben genuinely responded as he heads back inside his parent's house to turn off his console then the television before throwing his latest Mr. Smoothie cup into the nearby kitchen trash can on top of the other 4 cups he had thrown. Ben then grabs his white jacket that already contains his keys to the house and heads outside once more, locking the door before closing it behind him.
"Alright. Hey, want me to invite Rook too?" Gwen asked.
"I'll let him know where we are, but it'll be up to him to join. He's been really busy since last year so I don't want him to get derailed from his job." Ben responded before putting on his jacket atop his black and white shirt. "But hey, if he doesn't make it, we can go pay him a visit. Let's buy him meatball subs on the way."
"Alright. We're almost there." Gwen replied back before dropping the call, prompting Ben to put his phone in his pocket just as Kevin's blue car takes a turn and finally halts just in front of the Tennyson's front yard. The window of the passenger seat, the one Ben is currently facing, finally goes down and opens to show Gwen and Kevin.
Gwen now has short orange hair that has bangs in the front. She's wearing a blue and black spandex suit and the Charms of Bezel, which she had obtained over the years, on her right arm. She also has a blue scarf around her neck that extends to her back that make them look like two little capes. Finally, she a belt with a cat-shaped belt buckle on it, the same cat symbol Gwen wore on her shirt when she was ten.
Kevin himself had returned to his old outfit, now wearing a tight black T-shirt over a grey long sleeve shirt, blue pants, and black combat shoes. His hair, as usual, is still styled into a choppy mullet. The only thing different in his appearance now is he's wearing a padlock necklace similar to the one he wore when he was 11, but marked with an "11", as well as an X-shaped scar on his chin.
"Hey, dweeb." Ben greeted his cousin, half teasing and half genuine greeting.
Gwen retaliates by giving a smug smile before responding with, "What's up, doofus?"
"Go fuzz about your nostalgia later. I've been starving since arriving in Bellwood." Kevin complained as he places his right arm over his chair's arm rest while his left hand is still holding onto the steering wheel.
"Always thinking with your gut, eh, Kevin?" Ben teased his best friend before reaching inside to offer a fist bump, which Kevin reciprocates by bumping his right fist with Ben's.
Once done, Ben opens the door to the back seat but before he could even enter, something tackles him from inside and pushed him on his back at the sidewalk. Just when he thought he was under attack, his "assailant" suddenly started licking him in the face, especially his cheek. When Ben finally got back his bearings, he started laughing in delight as he sees that the "foe" licking him is Zed, the female Anubian Baskurr. "Hahaha! Okay, Zed! I get it! I missed you too, girl." Ben finally found a response as Zed stops and gives a happy bark as her form of greeting. "Man, I just can't bring myself to remember the fact that you once tried to kill me." Ben pointed out before scratching Zed under her chin.
"Are you gonna get in or will we leave you to take care of Zed while we wolf down some burgers and fries?" Kevin began complaining more as Ben stands up and leads Zed back inside the car before sitting beside her and closing the car door.
"Geez. If you're that hungry, you should've went on ahead and I could've flown to Burger Shack." Ben pointed out as well as he continues petting Zed.
"Yeah, well, who am I to leave a bro behind?" Kevin responds before driving off to Burger Shack.
Gwen scoffs at Kevin's remark. "Did you learn about that from Argit and reversed it's effects?" Gwen tried to fire back.
"Yeah, yeah. I get it. Never should have trusted him." Kevin finally said, his tone changing from a joking one to a much more stoic, serious one, as he puts one hand on the X scar on his chin.
Ben stopped petting Zed as he noticed how much Kevin is hiding his anger really well, but he can tell how much it really hurts his friend. Whatever Argit did, Ben wasn't there to see what caused it, as at the time, he and Rook were too busy saving all of time and space from Maltruant. Only stories from Gwen, and apparently, it had something to do with false information about Ragnarok still being alive, when it turns out he really was dead and it was ambush meant to capture Kevin and use his absorption powers for several illegal activities. Because of this, Kevin's gotten a lot more trust issues with people he doesn't know for very long, with the exception of Argit, who he's known for a long while and now, if he didn't trust him before, he sure as hell won't trust him regardless of the situation.
But all this dark and brooding moment is something Ben doesn't want staying for the whole trip. After all, they all got together to celebrate Gwen's new job as a Grand Magus. In an attempt to cheer up the mood, Ben exclaims, "Well, if I ever see Argit again, the next thing he knows, he's suddenly in the sewers, raising a bunch of Terraspins and suddenly gets turned into rat soup by a Techadon."
His failed attempt at a joke only caused silence, upping the awkwardness...
Until Kevin lets go of his chin and started laughing, to which Gwen and Zed looked at each other as the new Grand Magus shrugged while Zed tilted her head sideways in confusion. "I get that reference!" Kevin responded once he stopped laughing.
Gwen realized what she had just done to make Ben try to enlighten the mood, as she places a hand on Kevin's shoulder to say, "I'm sorry, Kevin. I didn't mean to bring him up."
Kevin, however, gave her a reassuring smile, and replies with, "It's fine, babe. I knew you didn't mean anything bad. Besides, I wouldn't want to ruin this day for you. It's about you today."
"Thanks, Kevin." Gwen responded with a similarly sweet smile.
Ben himself smiles at the sight of the two working it out quickly. He can't bear to see either or both of them upset, especially how much their lives have changed for the better for the past couple of years. He then starts petting Zed again, who smiles and starts wagging her tail in delight.
"Well, while we're here, how about some music?" Gwen says afterwards and turns on the car's radio. And almost immediately, the song that plays is the same music Ben had been listening to earlier, only, the song was already past the first verse.
"Wow! They're playing it on the radio too? I love this song!" Ben exclaimed, with Zed barking beside him.
"Me too! Oh, that song is great! And catchy!" Gwen agreed with her cousin, and before long, she and Ben began singing along to the music while Kevin bops his head to the beat instead.
Then you're left in the dust
Unless I stuck by ya
You're a sunflower
I think your love would be too much
Or you'll be left in the dust
Unless I stuck by ya
You're the sunflower
You're the sunflower
After almost a 10 minute drive, the trio finally reached Burger Shack, to delight of Ben as the smell of greasy food emanated from within the building and excited him, as well as his stomach. Kevin as well, as he felt like his gut was practically bouncing at the first whiff of the food inside Burger Shack. Gwen herself really doesn't mind. She's eaten here before and the food was great, so she can't really complain.
Ben offered to order for them while the two wait on a table outside with Zed. After a whole 4 minutes of waiting, Ben finally came back from inside, holding a tray of two triple beef burgers with extra cheese, a single grilled patty burger with cheese, a large basket of chili fries with extra onions and chili, another burger with extra onions as well AND... three large sodas.
Ben sets down the tray on the table before sitting on the bench parallel to Gwen and Kevin. "Alright. Two Triple Pounder with extra cheese, Special Grilled Burger with Cheese, their on the house special Half Kilo Chili Fries with extra onions and an additional half kilo chili, an extra Onion-side Burger just in case and 3 large Shack Sodas." Ben narrated the food he had ordered for their celebration.
Kevin immediately grabs one of the triple pounder and wolfs it down, his chewing and noises of delight being heard by the Tennyson cousins, which earned him a look from both of them. "What? I'm starving!" Kevin explained himself, food still in his mouth that slightly muffled what he said.
"Fair enough. I guess I'll take the normal grilled one." Gwen says before reaching out for the grille burger and takes a bite. Ben follows suit and grabs the remaining triple pounder and chowing it down.
"So Gwen, what will you do now? Being a Grand Magus and all that?" Ben asks while chewing his food before grabbing a chili fry and puts it in his mouth like a glutton.
"Well, for starters, I'm gonna go and try master some spells in the Library of Infinite Pages. That's gonna take a while. Whenever I don't do that, I guess I can try to master the Charms of Bezel." Gwen replies to her cousin right after swallowing what she had bitten from her burger. She then takes one of the large sodas and takes a sip from it's straw.
Ben perked up a bit as he looks at the Charms on Gwen's right arm, as he says, "Oh yeah! I never got to ask. When did you get the Charms of Bezel?"
"Ol' Skull Face gave it to her. Apparently, Hex trusts her enough that it's hers now." Kevin replies for his girlfriend.
"Man, now that you have those, you'd be one of the most powerful mages on Earth!" Ben points out while also simultaneously pointing at Gwen with his finger from the same hand he's using to hold onto his large soda.
"Not exactly. I haven't really mastered any of them yet. I just got them. Only one I know how to use right now is the Charm of Levitation and the Charm of Fire." Gwen explained, and as if to demonstrate, both Charms she had mentioned suddenly has their runes glow, and Gwen shows her left palm to conjure a small fire while her burger starts floating by itself. "Turns out, lightning isn't as easy to manipulate. It requires a lot of energy and can overtax an inexperienced user of the Charm of Lightning. And the Charm of Reincarnation is hard to test considering I, you know, have to actually die."
"Or getting knocked out only to wake up literal seconds later. Pretty handy if you ask me." Kevin points out as well.
"Well, you got plenty of time to do all that. Since you're done with college, how about we all go for another adventure together? Us three again! Rook's been pretty busy lately as a Magister so I can't exactly pull him away from duty." Ben says as he leans back on his chair while eating his burger.
Kevin himself finally finished his own and wipes his lips using his sleeve before replying to Ben, "Not that I'm not thrilled to team up with you again, since my car's indestructible now, except for magic..." Ben noticed the hint of venom in Kevin's mention of magic. He's still a little sore of what Charmcaster did to his car back then. Kevin continued, " But aren't you and Kai doing a team up thing too?"
"Nah. It never worked out. She and I agreed that if we just let some guy from the future tell us what we are, then, it's not exactly thrilling. We never became a thing anymore and she left to travel the globe, hunting treasure like she's Lara Croft." Ben explained, finishing his burger as well.
"And you got stuck voice acting because you don't have any more hero work." Gwen teases her cousin.
This was true, as during the time no major threat was going on, Ben really needed a job to keep himself steady and not just rely on being a Plumber-slash-superhero to get paid. So he took up voice acting, and to everyone's surprise, he was good at it.
"Hey, I'll let you know that voice acting is it's own adventure!" Ben justified his newfound work and love for voice acting. "I get to be so many different people and apply my dramatic talent! I get to be a Persona user, an intrepid reporter in love with a hair witch, a God Eater, a guy with spider powers, a fish guy AND an ice guy in the same show, an edgy ninja with eye powers, a French guy in love with a vampire police girl, another vampire who's in Smash Bros and even a guy who drill the heavens! My favorite role! It's like using the Omnitrix, except I don't have to transform!"
"Well, you did have that one role you refuse to acknowledge..." Kevin points out before chuckling to himself. From this expression, Ben could tell what he meant and he could only groans.
"Right... That weird cartoon based on my childhood adventures. They had me voice Vilgax in that... It felt really wrong so I stopped playing him eventually. Some guy named Yuri or something replaced me afterwards. The show wasn't even accurate anyway. They started taking liberties with my story and just made up villains on the go. They actually think the Forever Knights are just one guy named Forever Knight. It's... really weird." Ben admitted before sipping down his soda.
"Hey, at least you got a job now and you seem to be enjoying it. But as for your adventure idea Ben, well, we'd love to, but we also have to be just as successful as you. My job as a Grand Magus requires me to help out the magical balance found in our universe, so I have to attend a lot more seminars, meetings and gatherings." Gwen justified her case.
"Plus, I still got an auto shop to run." Kevin added his case.
Gwen talks once more after taking another sip of her soda then shrugs while saying, "Besides. It's not like adventure will just come straight for us."
As if on cue, an explosion occurs nearby and everyone at Burger Shack, including Ben, Gwen and Kevin, turn to see a Plumber tank get blow off to the side of the road, tipping to its side and falls down, unable to move. Then, a Plumber hover truck drives from where the tank and the explosion came from and turns a corner, driving away from something. And that something comes into view as well as a much bigger, 10 wheeler truck drives in and several of its passengers, comprised of alien criminals, open fired at the truck before one stray laser shot finally hits the hover pad of the hover truck, causing it to fail as it slightly falls to the ground before crashing into a building. This sudden turn of events caused every customer and employee of Burger Shack to run off, leaving only the Tennysons and Kevin to handle to situation.
"Those maniacs!" Ben yelled out before throwing away his soda and activates his Omnitrix. Scrolling through his gallery of aliens, he tells his friends, "I'll deal with those crooks. Gwen, Kevin, think you can save the people from the tank and the truck?"
"I'm on it!" Kevin responded as he dashes off, heading towards the crashed truck. As he passes by a light pole, he holds onto it for a bit and absorbs the material it's composed of, coating himself in a metal armor.
Gwen takes her turn as she says, "I got the tank then." She then uses her Charm of Levitation to fly directly at the fallen tank and conjures Mana from her hands to create tentacle-like constructs to full the tank back to it's normal state.
Meanwhile, the truck full of crooks all exit their vehicle as they reveal themselves to be Psyphon's gang. And the man himself comes out of the vehicle's passenger side. As per usual, his body shape is still slim and skeletal. He has a fin protruding from his head, like a spike, and is mostly black with one white strip. He has spikes on his left and right hands and a mark on his chin. His eyes still blood red and his pupils are as black as a void.
His gang is made up of his usual lackeys comprised of Bubble Helmet, Liam, Tummyhead, Thunderpig, Sweet-Eels Sparklefunk, some of Vulkanus' Pickaxe minions, Bug-Lite, a Piscciss Volann hunter, and a seemingly new addition to the team, a person underneath a red cloak, covering their face by using the cloak as hood.
"Well done boys. Now go grab the cargo before-" Psyphon tried to say in his deep and raspy voice, but his thought process was interrupted when he saw Kevin and Gwen heading off to both the crashed Plumber truck and the fallen tank respectively. "Wait, Levin? Tennyson? Here?! That means..."
"You guessed right, Psyphon!"
Psyphon and his gang heard from above and see that Ben had somehow climbed above their truck with arms to his hips, showing off his confidence. "It's hero time!"
Once he gently taps the dial of his Omnitrix, a lesson he learned after finding out slapping the watch too hard would cause him to mistransform, in mere seconds, in Ben's place is a magma-based lifeform whose body is composed of a bright yellow inner magma body covered by a dark red or brown rocks. As a fire-based entity, his body radiates high amounts of heat. His feet have a slight oval-like design with only two toes and one back toe. Finally, unlike his childhood and teenage days, he is now sporting two miniature volcanoes, one on each shoulder. And rightfully so, he has the Omnitrix symbol on his chest.
Ben is now none other than Heatblast, a Pyronite and his first ever transformation. "Alright Psyphon. Either you stop stealing... whatever it is you're trying to steal this time, or am I gonna have to ask how you want yourselves cooked today: fried, roasted or overcooked?" Heatblast gave off a quip to his foes.
"Get the package! Tennyson is mine..." Psyphon angrily ordered his minions as his claws began glowing red. Before he engages the shapeshifting hero, Psyphon noticed his new, mysterious red hooded lackey is staring at Heatblast rather intently. "If you want to join in, feel free to. Just don't get in my way!" Psyphon warned his recruit before he flies and dashes over to Heatblast, which causes the Pyronite to shoot out beams of fire from his hands. To the surprise of the hero, however, Psyphon is protected by an invisible force field that blocks his blasts. Psyphon takes this chance to slam into Heatblast before grabbing him by his arms and tossing him into the street below, causing debris comprised mainly of asphalt to scatter while Heatblast can be seen lying down in a crater made by his body.
"Did anyone catch the number of that supervillain?" Heatblast still found a way to joke as he rubs his head in pain before getting back up. And just for the universe making fun of him, a nearby pipe, that has now been unveiled thanks to Psyphon throwing Heatblast through the street, suddenly bursts and water sprays out, spraying on Heatblast's face. Not enough to put out the fire on his head but enough to create a steam.
"You think you're so clever now, Tennyson. But I'll have you know that I didn't spend months planning this heist just to get messed up by you and your pals! That's why I came prepared!" Psyphon boasted as he slowly descended from the sky before pulling a glowing, yellow orb from his pocket.
Heatblast immediately recognizes exactly what the former Vilgax toady was holding as he narrowed his eyes. "A Dwarf Star! I thought you learned your lesson by now, Psyphon" Heatblast mocked his foes before turning a joke into an on-the-fly sneak attack as he suddenly blasts the water pipe and caused it to burst harder, making it to spray even more water that covers his entire fiery body, which in turn makes more steam to come from his fiery body and effectively blocking Psyphon's sight of him.
"Oh, but I did! I'm not falling for the same trick twice, Tennyson!" Psyphon boasted more before placing the Dwarf Star on his chest, causing all the red buttons and lights on his chest to turn a glowing yellow while he is surrounded by a golden aura around him. "Your terrifying alien form won't work again! All I have to do is to not look directly at his face." He added before firing a beam of pure red energy with a golden outline directly at Heatblast's spot in the steam. However, when his beam pierces through the fog of evaporated water, the villainous crime boss is surprised to see that the Pyronite alien is gone.
"Then it's a good thing I'm not picking Toepick next."
Just when he thought Ben can't surprise him anymore, Ben reappears behind Psyphon as a completely different transformation. He is now a humanoid, moth-like alien with four wings and antennae. He has a black body with cyan patches on his arms, shoulders, legs, the back of his wings, and the back of his neck that resemble ice chunks. Each patch has thick blue outlining except for the ones on his wings, which are outlined in black. There is also a black line that runs on the edge of the outer margin on the back of each wing. On his torso are three plates. One resembling the chest, a shorter plate under the chest, and one resembling the stomach. On his face are blue cheeks and underjaw, a mouth that always shows bluish white teeth, and large green eyes with dark green spots. The top of his head also sports a blue Y-shaped marking that extends over his scalp. He has three pointed fingers and a thumb on each hand, and two toes on each foot and a third toe-like extension on his ankles..
"I don't think you and Big Chill have ever officially met." Ben, now as Big Chill, once again mocks Psyphon, which caused the supervillain to turn around and fire another red and gold beam, but Big Chill turned intangible in time to let the attack pass right through him with no harm. "My turn." Big Chill calmly fired back at his opponent, inhaling enough air before blowing out a large gust of freezing breath from his mouth at Psyphon.
Meanwhile, Kevin had just reached the crashed truck but just as he was about to grab the door to the driver's seat to pull out whoever was commandeering the vehicle, a couple of laser shots strike him and caused him to look to his left to be greeted by the sight of Bubble Helmet firing his laser rifle at Kevin before Thunderpig charges at the Osmosian whilst spinning his energy flail in his hand. Several of Bubble Helmet's shots had actually torn through Kevin's armor, creating patches that expose his much more fragile clothes while Thunderpig attempts to swing his flail at him only for Kevin to dodge and morph his right hand into a mace, complete with spikes, and punches Thunderpig in the face. However, all this did was move Thunderpig's head slightly to the side and caused the boar alien to start squealing and laughing in glee. "You should have picked a better metal to use against Thunderpig!" the alien mocked as he even proves his point by moving Kevin's mace fist away simply by moving his head back to face Kevin again.
Kevin gritted his teeth in anger at the boar... until he looks at Thunderpig's energy mace. While the "chain" connecting the spiked ball to the mace's handle is energy, the ball itself is still metal, which immediately gave Kevin an great idea. "You're right, whole hog. How about I show you how good your tastes are in metal?" Kevin taunted the pig man before dodging another swing from Thunderpig's mace, only this time, he tipped his hand slightly above his head so he can touch the mace's ball. This in turn made him absorb the metal and replaces the stainless steel he got from the light post to the alien metal Thunderpig's mace is made of.
Once coated in it, he changes his right hand into hammer this time and uses it to uppercut Thunderpig, striking his jaw and knocking him into the air. And just before he lands, Kevin enlarges his left fist and proceeds to punch the falling Thunderpig in his face and into a fire hydrant, completely knocking out the pig man through three successful blows to his head. Kevin the morphs both his hands to normal as he faces Bubble Helmet, who only has his jaw drop at the one sided beat down on Thunderpig. Once Kevin began approaching the blue suit wearing crook, Bubble Helmet panics and starts screaming as he runs away from Kevin. "Hey, get back here!" Kevin yelled at Bubble Helmet, but before he could even chase after the alien villain, an energy blast strikes Bubble Helmet from behind and knocks him on the ground. Confused, the Osmosian hero turns around to see the driver of the truck holding the Proto Tool in it's blaster mode aiming at Bubble Helmet from his seat and had shot out from the window. It is of course none other than Rook.
Like before, Rook is tall, with periwinkle-blue colored fur, black markings on his face, and pointed ears. The middle of his face, his chest and his stomach are white. He has black stripes on his shoulders, waist, lower legs and lower arms. However, what is different is that he has discarded his blue and black Proto Tech Armor for a more traditional Plumber suit.
Right now, he is currently injured after the crash but his aim did not falter at the slightest as shown when he took down Bubble Helmet seconds earlier. As he coughs from his injuries, Kevin heads to his spot and pulls off the vehicle's door like a can opener before pulling Rook away from the truck. "Hey, bud. We were just talking about you. Hope you like triple patty burgers." Kevin still found the time to joke as he carries Rook to safety by his arms.
Despite his injuries, Rook was still able to chuckle at the joke before placing his Proto Tool on neutral mode and places it over his left shoulder. "Perhaps another time. I had just eaten lunch with Rayona." Rook joked back, but also meant it, as he can still taste the Mycetean Swamp Hoppers he and Rayona got for their lunch before he headed out for this mission. Speaking of which...
"By the by, what are you guys transferring? Psyphon over there seems to really want it." Kevin finally took the situation seriously and places Rook on a nearby Burger Shack customer seat.
After a brief cough, Rook responds with, "A Galvan Omniversal Anti-matter Transporter."
"...GOAT?" Kevin took a second to realize the acronym but ignores in mere seconds as he goes back on topic. "You guys are carrying an actual portal to other worlds?"
"It is an experimental one. One that must be handled with care and supervised by scientific geniuses with a knowledge of quantum physics and the multiversal concept." Rook explains further. "We were going to get it transferred to the science department at the Andromeda Galaxy, but Psyphon and his gang ambushed us."
"Yeah. We can see that." Kevin snarked back at Rook, all the while Gwen suddenly comes up to them, holding the tank from earlier by using the Charm of Levitation and her Mana tendrils.
"Hey, Rook. We were just talking about you. Well, we were talking about you, then we started talking about Ben's voice acting career-" Gwen began saying as she gently places the tank down before letting the people inside of the vehicle out.
"That is great, Ms. Tennyson, but we have more pressing matters to attend to. Psyphon is after the experimental Omniversal Transporter and plans to sell it to someone who would pay for it." Rook politely stopped Gwen before attempting to stand up, only to end up falling back to his seat as he holds his left hip in pain.
Gwen then places a hand on Rook's shoulder to reassure him before looking back at Big Chill fighting Psyphon in the air, saying, "We got this Rook. You can take a rest for now."
"Besides, can't let you steal my thunder." Kevin adds with a smug grin.
However, Rook fires back his own snarky comment, as he replies, "Strange. I thought for certain Ben already does that on a regular basis?"
"...You know what? I ain't even mad. Nice to see you making your own witty quips." Kevin genuinely answers back with a much more genuine smile before heading off back into battle with Gwen.
"Who would be crazy enough to want an experimental and untested Omniversal Transporter? And stealing something that big would have to pay a lot for it. How much did they promise Psyphon?" Gwen began analyzing the situation while Kevin thinks about it too.
"Not a lot of the common crooks we fight have any large scale plans like traveling multiverses for them to want this thing. It'd have to be someone big, like Vilgax or Eon." Kevin added to their theories just a Big Chill is thrown their direction and Gwen catches him with a bowl-shaped construct of Mana.
With a groan, Big Chill rubs his head and looks around him to see Gwen had caught him and saved him from crashing into the ground... again. "Nice catch. Did I teach you that after playing baseball?" Big Chill joked.
"You can't beat Psyphon like this, not with a Dwarf Star powering his suit." Kevin warned him. "Unless, you know, you go Way Big or Atomix on him."
"And wreck the entire city with him? No chance." Big Chill corrects his friend as he gets off Gwen's Mana bowl as Psyphon hovers towards them. "And he's also made it pretty clear he's not falling for Toepick's trick again."
"I am right here!" Psyphon complained, disliking the fact that his foes are talking about him like he's not directly in front of them, before firing another beam at them from his hands, forcing Gwen to create a mana shield in front of them, blocking the attack as Big Chill turns intangible.
"I got an idea, but I'll need you to distract Psyphon long enough for me to execute it." Big Chill tells his friends before phasing through the ground, vanishing in sight.
"Are you gonna tell us what the plan i- And he's gone. Great." Kevin uttered under his breath as Psyphon is beginning to break through Gwen's shield.
Just before the shield could falter, Gwen then claps her hands together as red energy forms on both while her Charm of Fire glows. Once her eyes glowed pink with Mana, she yells in an echoing, booming voice that makes it sound like she's speaking with a much deeper version of her voice, and says, "Meena Goh!"
In near instant, a blast of fire erupts from between her clasped hands and pierces through her own shield, ending up in a beam battle with Psyphon's own beam, clashing into each other.
Despite the equal power they're both outputting, Psyphon has the audacity to laugh before boasting to Gwen, "Foolish girl! I am powered by a Dwarf Star! Second only to the Sub Energy in terms of destructive power sources! It has the power to stop star ships! This is used by Tetramand armies!"
"Oh yeah? Well I learned this from my grandma!" Gwen boasted against her foe as well before she suddenly flashes in a bright pink light and in her place is still her, but her skin has turned purple, her hair remaining the same length, which is now made of mana and is pink, just as her eyes glow with the same color. She gains a blue mask and now wears blue gloves while her shirt is a darker blue with a light blue stripe. Her shirt cuts off and reveals her midriff and naval. She also wears blue boots, a dark blue miniskirt with a light blue stripe and a belt. The cat logo on her shirt also becomes black with pink eyes.
Accessing a portion of her Anodite form, Gwen has now become her alternate persona, Lucky Girl. Gaining more power from her new form, Gwen's beam of fire grows larger and stronger and in mere seconds, overpowered Psyphon's own energy beam, blasting him into the sky as he flails about while deep in Gwen's beam of flame. To break himself free, Psyphon unleashes a shockwave of red energy from his body and blasts away Gwen's fire as he hovers in the air. "Enough! I am here for the Galvan Omniversal Anti-matter Transporter! He is paying a lot for that thing and I am not losing this score!" Psyphon yelled out in anger.
"And who's he, Psyphon?" Kevin asked as he grabs a nearby light pole and pulls it out from the street and throws it at Psyphon like it was a javelin.
The alien crime lord, however, was unfazed as he swats away the pole like it was a mere crumpled paper thrown at his way, before he replies to the Osmosian, all with a big toothy grin on his face, saying, "What kind of service provider am I to reveal information about my client and his identity? That's just bad business practice."
"So how much for the Dwarf Star, then, Psyphon?" Kevin suddenly asked, placing his hands on his hips in confidence, confusing the criminal mastermind.
As Psyphon reaches for the Dwarf Star on his chest, he berates Kevin, telling him, "The star is not for sale, you moro-" However, he stopped talking once he touched his chest and did not feel anything on that spot. He looks down to look at himself only to see that the Dwarf Star is gone. In a panic, he starts looking around only to suddenly see the Dwarf Star floating in front of him...
...until Big Chill reveals himself by decloaking and revealing that he is holding the power source in his right hand while he playfully waves his left index finger around, telling Psyphon, "Nuh-uh." Adding salt to Psyphon's wound, Big Chill then uses the Dwarf Star for himself by making it glow brighter and empowers his hand before punching Psyphon in his face using the same hand holding the star. The punch causes a shockwave that shatters every glass on the nearby buildings and completely obliterates Psyphon's gear, breaking apart his suit and his gauntlet weapons while also crooking his head fin backwards. However, Big Chill also made sure he didn't kill Psyphon either, and concentrated most of the blast onto Psyphon's suit while using mostly his own natural strength to knock him out via his face.
Once Psyphon is out cold and crash lands on the street, the rest of his gang that are still awake all look at their unconscious boss before turning their attention towards the heroes, as Kevin cracks his knuckles, Rook found the strength to stand back up and readies his Proto Tool in it's saber mode, while Gwen makes both her hands glow pink with mana and is capped off by Big Chill landing in the middle, turning back into Ben as he tosses the Dwarf Star up and down, catching it constantly to emphasize their advantage.
"The text book definition of surrender is 'cease resistance to an enemy or opponent and submit to their authority'. Would you guys like me to educate you further?" Ben threatens his foes with a smile. The sight of the four of them together again as a team caused the rest of Psyphon's gang to all drop their weapons and raise their arms, tentacles and whatever appendages they have into the air to, indeed, surrender. "Smartest thing you've all done. An A+ from me." Ben added.
After half an hour later, the Plumbers have arrested all of Psyphon's gang, including himself, as they all push the crooks towards the standard prison vans, Psyphon could only groan as he is transferred via a stretcher as he remains wounded, his suit damaged and his head fin still crooked, as his eyes are wide open and he is struggling in his straitjacket. "Is... Is that... Is that how the Dwarf Star works? I never knew what it's like being on the receiving end..." He muttered to himself as he is still in a state of shock from Ben's attack.
Speaking of which, Ben is now spinning the Dwarf Star on his index finger like it was a basketball while he and his team watch the criminals finally get in the vans and all drive off to put them back in cages. Meanwhile, several other Plumbers secure the transport truck from earlier using a tow truck to pull it off the building it crashed into. "Finally got some action after such a long time. Still kinda anticlimactic though." Ben commented before tossing the Dwarf Star to Rook, who managed to catch it.
"Well, we can go on a search for Psyphon's missing recruit. Whoever it was, they managed to slip away unnoticed. Simply being associated with lowlifes now makes them a lowlife as well, therefore must be arrested, even if at the very least just for questioning." Rook points out as a Plumber woman approaches him and opens a case with a circular slot for the Dwarf Star, which the Revonnah Magister places the source into.
All the while, the other Plumbers have successfully moved the truck off the side of the building before opening the hatch on the back to see if the Galvan Omniversal Anti-matter Transporter is still intact. The machine bares a resemblance to Paradox's Chronologger, being a circular device three times the size of a normal person with a hole in the middle, but the difference is that the device is not made up of quartz but of unknown metal instead, while still maintaining the metallic pipes attached above and below the circular device while wires stick out connected to a rectangular power source behind it.
"Hey, at least the GOAT is still usable... I think. I mean, you did kinda crash the truck while it was still inside." Kevin told Rook as he stretches his left arm before making it pop.
While Rook closes the case and the Plumber woman walks away with the Dwarf Star, he replies to Kevin, "It was unintentional, I assure you. One of the truck's hoverpads was shot out and lessened my maneuverability. I had no choice but to-"
Rook continued to converse with Kevin while Ben eyes the Plumber woman. He noticed that she's not heading towards any of the Plumber vehicles that arrived in the scene to take the Dwarf Star to safety at HQ. He also noticed that among all the Plumbers he's ever met, he doesn't recognize her. It doesn't help that she's wearing a helmet that completely covers his entire head. For crying out loud, he even knows Jerry from Inhuman Resources. If she's also a new recruit, why would a rookie be issued to transfer such a high priority device and not someone from Alpha team like Molly or, heck, even Hobble?
"Hey, Rook, do you know that girl?" Ben finally asks his former partner as he points at her.
Upon closer inspection, Rook realized what he had just done before responding, "No. I don't believe I do..."
"Hey!" Gwen yelled out to the mysterious "Plumber", which caused her to stop in her tracks as she tightens her grip on the suitcase. When no one else said anything afterwards... the woman then starts running. When Gwen fires off Mana tendrils to try and catch the escaping faker, the crook in the Plumber disguise suddenly opens her free palm and aims back at where Gwen is. To the shock of everyone, the woman creates a large rune of sorts from her hand. The rune resembles a black snowflake inside a similarly black circle and glowed with sinister black energy. Gwen's Mana tendril comes into contact with this "glyph" and they end up melting once they connect, like glass getting close to an extremely hot fire. Whatever this glyph is seems extremely harmful as once Gwen's mana melts, she suddenly felt a jolt in her body that caused her to fall to her knees, getting Kevin worried as he catches her before she could completely fall down on the floor.
The woman then disperses her first glyph before proceeding to create a newer, bigger and wider one right below her feet and, surprising everyone further, she summons what can only be described as pitch black werewolves. They have bone-like mask with red markings, as well as bone-like spikes protruding from their arms, back, and knees. Their hands and feet are also tipped with long, sharp, white claws.
These wolf-like beasts began growling and roaring at their new opponents as the woman walks away and suddenly headed towards the Galvan Omniversal Anti-matter Transporter. The Plumbers guarding it attempted to stop her but all she does is create more glyphs underneath each Plumber and suddenly bounced them into the air so high before eventually falling onto the ground, knocking them all unconscious. Ben, Gwen, Kevin and Rook then take matters to their own hands as Ben, without even transforming, runs after the Dwarf Star thief, dodging a claw slash from one of the monster wolves then sliding under another before jumping onto the next and using it's head as a platform to boost him towards the thief.
Before he could reach her, however, the woman suddenly creates a glyph inside the hole on the Galvan Omniversal Anti-matter Transporter and caused it to spin. After mere seconds, the black glyph spun and turned into a white one instead and it suddenly creates a portal directly in front of her.
"Get back here!" Ben yelled out once he reached her. However, it was too late as the woman creates another glyph that she uses as a wall to block Ben, with the shapeshifting hero accidentally colliding into it face first.
Shen then takes this opportunity to enter the portal and vanish from sight, taking the Dwarf Star with her. Gritting his teeth, Ben moved away from the glyph and activates the Omnitrix before pressing down the dial. After a flash of green light, Ben has become a gigantic, 12 feet tall humanoid reptile with dark brown scales on top of his lighter beige skin. He has a long prehensile tail, wears black briefs with a white waistband, and a green and black sash across his chest, going from his right shoulder to the left side of his lower back, containing the Omnitrix symbol. He has grey fingernails, a bigg chin, green eyes in the same hue of his sash and big scaly shoulders that make them resemble shoulder pads.
Being one of his most utilized forms, Humungousaur roars in sheer determination as he clasps both his fists, brings them over his head before slamming them down onto the glyph, breaking it apart like glass as he prepares to enter the portal. "You guys follow once you're done here! i'm going after her!" Humungousaur tells his team in an incredibly deep and hoarse voice.
"Ben, wait! Something's seriously wrong about that girl! Here powers-" Gwen attempted to warn her cousin but is ignored when Humungousaur decided to interrupt her.
"-Are not as dangerous as it would become if we let her use the Dwarf Star in whatever dimension she came to." Humungousaur tried to finish Gwen's sentence for her before entering the portal.
As Kevin and Rook take down each monster wolf that gets near, with Kevin using concrete from the sidewalk as his base for his armor and forms mallets for his hands to pound them, while Rook slices and shoots each one he sees using his Proto Tool, Gwen gets back up and blasts some of the beasts as she makes her way towards the portal.
But that's when Gwen noticed that the portal was beginning to shrink. Realizing she won't be able to get Ben in time, she makes a mad dash for the rift of space and time and attempts to enter before Kevin yells, "Gwen! Wait!"
"I'm not leaving him alone out there, wherever it is!" Gwen responded with zero hesitation before jumping in, the portal still closing in fast.
"Gwen!" Kevin could only yell before switching his mallet hands into blades and slices and dices every wolf creature he came across while running to the portal as well. Rook had no words himself but only a small grunt as he chases after Kevin as well, but not before blasting the last of the wolves to ensure they don't run amok if and when they're gone.
The two gear heads then reach the portal as Kevin jumps into it as well, with Rook following him by diving into it just mere seconds away until it finally...
...closed.
Ben, Gwen, Kevin and Rook are no longer on Earth. On this universe...
"Oh, I can't believe my baby sister is going to Beacon with me! This is the best day ever!"
"PleAshe sChtoP..."
Aboard some sort of ship, two girls seem to be hanging out as one is hugging the other in an affectionate manner while the other could only speak under gritted teeth from the discomfort of the tight hug she is receiving.
The uncomfortable one is a fair-skinned young girl with silver eyes and black, neck-length, choppy hair that gradates to dark red at the tips. She wears a black long-sleeved dress with a high collar and red trim on the sleeves, a black waist cincher with red lacing up the front and around her skirt is red trim. She also wears a pair of thick black stockings and black combat boots with red laces and trims around the top and red soles. Her outfit is topped by a red hooded cloak fastened to her shoulders by cross-shaped pins. Her rose-like emblem appears as a large silver brooch and is pinned to a wide black belt slung around her hips on an angle, which also carries bullets and a pouch.
The hugger, meanwhile, is a fair-skinned young woman with lilac eyes and bright golden hair worn loose that fades to pale gold at the tips with a cowlick sticking out at the top. She wears a tan jacket that bares her midriff, with golden brown piping and short, puffy sleeves with black cuffs that feature two gold buttons. Underneath this, she wears a low cut yellow crop top with her flaming heart emblem on the left breast in black. She also wears a brown belt covered by a pleated brown piece of material reaching from hip to hip around the back of her waist, with her emblem emblazoned on the right-most pleat in gold. Underneath this is a long, white, asymmetrical piece of material reaching to her knee on the right side, as well as a pair of black mini-shorts. She wears a pair of brown, knee-high boots and orange over-the-knee socks, with the right sock pushed down just below the knee. A gray bandanna is tied around her left knee. An orange infinity scarf around her neck and black fingerless gloves complete her outfit.
"But I'm so proud of you!" The blonde girl tells the other girl she had been hugging earlier, finally letting her go. Judging by her previous statement, they seem to be sisters.
However, the much shorter, dark haired girl could only reply to her sister by saying, "Really Yang, it was nothing."
"What do you mean? It was incredible! Everyone at Beacon is going to think you're the bee's knees." The much older one, apparently called Yang, responded with glee as she practically bounced, excited and proud for her little sister, named Ruby.
"I don't want to be the 'bee's knees', okay? I don't want to be any kind of knees! I just want to be a normal girl with normal knees!" Ruby constantly insisted as she hugged her own arms as if trying to hide something, in fear for herself.
"Aw, and here I am preparing you a new theme song! Come on, take a listen!" Yang suddenly chimed before clearing her throat to prepare herself to sing, apparently.
Ruby, however, was a little displeased as she practically winced at the thought of her sister singing, as all she could tell her older sister, "Yang, I-I don't think that's necessar-"
However, she could not do anything as Yang began singing,
"It started when a scythe-y girl happened upon the scene
And made some crooks regret that they get butt-kicked by a teen
Now she's on her way to Beacon, she's going to be pretty mean
She's Ruby Rose!"
"I..." Ruby responded, pondering on what to think of the song. It was cheesy, almost feels like it was haphazardly put together at the last minute, yet Yang managed to find a tune to it. All in all, Ruby could only comment, "It's... catchy, I guess..."
"What's with you? Aren't you excited?" Yang finally asked, noticing Ruby is becoming less and less enthused of going to Beacon, a prestigious school for huntsmen and huntresses in training like them.
The red hooded girl merely sighed upon Yang's point. "Of course I'm excited... I just..." She tells her but stopped to take a sigh. "I got moved ahead two years. I don't want people to think I'm special or anything."
Yang, frowning at the sight of seeing her little sister beating her self up for the situation she is in, goes over and gives Ruby a one-armed hug over her shoulder and reassures her by saying, "But you are special. You're not always going to be able to run away from your problems. People will judge you for getting skipped ahead. So what? Just show them exactly what got you here in the first place. Sometimes, you just have to stand your ground and fight, no matter what. Besides, I'm right here. Like I told you before... I've always got your back sis."
Yang's little speech was enough to give the younger sister a smile as Ruby responds with a hug towards her older sibling, which Yang quickly reciprocates.
"You still need to work on your singing voice, though." Ruby chimed, breaking the moment and caused her sister to start laughing and rub Ruby's head as revenge.
"And you need to work on your hand-to-hand skills! You're still sloppy!" Yang berated Ruby, who laughs and giggles as her sister continues the noogie on her head.
However, their moment is interrupted when a loud booming noise caught their attention, as well as every other student within the airship, as both sisters and the other passengers aboard look outside the window to see something glowing from the sky.
Their ship, alongside other similar ships, are already minutes away from landing on Beacon academy. But just above the school's courtyard is a strange glowing circle in the sky that seems to be glowing brighter and widening further.
And from this, a mysterious figure inside a white and black suit with a red circle on her chest and a helmet covering her face suddenly comes out, holding what seems to be a brief case. The figure in the white suit lands on the ground, cracking the floor beneath her as several students already at the courtyard run off in panic.
When she looks around, she sees no one coming to her, so she takes this time to run away. But just before she could, she suddenly found herself unable to move before she is lifted into the air and is mysteriously pulled towards a different direction. When she felt that she is no longer being pulled, she sees herself in the presence of a middle-aged woman with very light-blonde hair tied back in a bun with a curl hanging down the right side of her face. Her eyes are bright green and she wears thin ovular glasses. She has dangling teal earrings that match the hanging pendant on her collar. She wears a white long-sleeved, pleated top that has a wide keyhole neckline and gauntlet cuffs that flare in pleats at the wrist. Her lower body is covered by a black high-waisted pencil skirt with bronze buttons and black-brown stockings. She wears black boots with bronze heels and a cape that is purple inside and black on the outside. The cut of the cape is stylized to end in flames and arrows, with a row of diamond-shaped bronze beads on the back. Above this line of beads appears an emblem of a tiara that is her personal symbol.
To the students, staff members and on-the-know folk of the land, this woman is Glynda Goodwitch, a veteran Huntress and the school's combat professor.
"Who are you? State your business or you will be arrested for damage of school property and trespassing!" The newly arrived blonde woman demanded of the mysterious figure as she is seemingly lifting her using a crop on her hand and some form of telekinesis.
However, before the trespasser could even utter a reply, something else came from the doorway in the sky. Something larger. Like a meteor crashing from the depths of space, this new being lands on Glynda and her captured assailant, breaking the floor further and causing a large gust of dust to accumulate. In the mayhem, Glynda accidentally let go of the fiend as she and the huntress are knocked away from where whatever landed.
As Glynda coughed, she sees a dark figure emerge from the crater, with only a silhouette formed underneath the cloud of dust and rubble. Unbeknownst to her, the trespasser from earlier looks at what the huntress was looking at as well and sees that the case is still in her hands, she tightens her hold on it and runs off.
When the dust finally settled, Glynda sees the newcomer clearly.
Of course, it's Humungousaur, rising from the crater and approaching Glynda just as she stands back up and recovers... only to be shocked at what she's looking at. "Sorry if I scare ya, pretty lady, but I'm here for a Dwarf Star thief. So unless you're a partner of hers... or you're her..." Humungousaur suddenly spoke to the still surprised Glynda, before cracking his knuckles. "You're about to regret your humongous mistake!"
And that is the beginning of Heroes and Hunters. Hopefully I was able to make a good first impression.
Now to address several things that you may have questions about. From the additional dialogue I gave Yang towards Ruby and the removal of the news scene, I am taking several liberties to make this story a lot more consistent and cohesive. Additional dialogue to show more character, as well as adding some scenes that weren't in canon RWBY, will be placed to add to my own style while complimenting the story itself. The Faunus discrimination part will be a bit more subtle and a bit more "show" rather than that out of place news report in the first episode of the series, which is a lot more like "tell". It'll make more sense later on, I promise.
Also, yes, some parts of this is mostly inspired by Heroes United, but I assure, they're more like callbacks. I promise that the rest will be original or slightly inspired by other stuff but would still have original implementations later on.
ALSO also, yes. Ben is a voice actor now. I think it's just him adhering to the celebrity side of his status as a symbol in his universe. And yes, his VA roles are based on Yuri Lowenthal's roles in various games, anime and cartoons, like Yosuke from Persona 4, Luca from Bayonetta, Soma from God Eater, Spider Man from Spider Man PS4, Lagoon Boy AND Icicle Jr. from Young Justice, Sasuke from Naruto, Pip from Hellsing Ultimate, Alucard of Castlevania, but only in Smash Bros Ultimate and, of course, Simon from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Love that show!
As for who the mysterious woman that worked for Psyphon before disguising herself as a Plumber is, well, I can't spoil it, so you'll just have to keep guessing. :P
I would like to thank CaptainRex75 for his help and being my friend throughout this whole shebang.
Like any other author here, please leave a review and tell me what you liked and what you didn't so that I may improve upon in next chapters. Have a good day and I hope to see you all next time!