Ben10 & Digimon Tamers
Heroes and Humanity
Part 02: Humanity and Heroes
Another Myself – Chapter 94 Part 2
Originally Written: Thursday, October 12, 2017 710PM to Friday, October 13, 2017 241AM
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When Jenrya told him that Ben 23 had called up an ally, this is not who he was thinking of. He hid behind Jenrya, standing back to back. Fear filled his entire being, and he shook as he clasped his hands together tightly. Though he wasn't looking at him, he could still see the short blue eyed Galvan in his mind, dressed in a black and blue version of what Albedo assumed would be the standard plumber suit with time.
"So, we're um, having a bit of a misunderstanding." Ben 23 held his arms out to the side, "I have no idea what a Chrono-whatchamacallit is." He chuckled softly.
Silence filled the room for a lengthy amount of time. The group currently stayed in one of Ben 23's three living rooms, in this...condo. The thing was heavily decorated with blue. Too much blue in Albedo's opinion. It almost felt as smothering as the red of the alternative Fridge, Swamps & Hugh's home he just left what felt like a few hours ago.
"You have gotten ahead of yourself, little one." A Petrosapien who looked remarkably like who Albedo knew as Tetrax commented.
"Huh?"
Ryo laughed heartily. "I used to do that with my dad. He'd get so mad with me."
"Seriously?" Rika sounded annoyed. "How did you manage that? My mom would have never let that slide."
Albedo almost looked behind Jenrya in temptation. Jenrya held his hand. Warmth coursed through him.
"Do what?" Ben 23 sounded genuinely confused.
"The only reason he forgave me was because he recognized I was nervous." Ryo spoke through his own laughter.
"Do what?" Now Ben 23 sounded frustrated.
"You forgot to introduce us, shortstack." Albedo heard the smirk in Rika's voice. "You'd be surprised the amount of confusion that can stack up from not properly introducing yourself or others."
"Oh. Yea!" Ben 23 exclaimed. "Whoops." He spoke nervously, his voice quivering ever so slightly. Only those who paid attention to such details would catch it.
Albedo wished Tetrax, Rika and Ryo had left it alone. He certainly did not wish to be introduced.
"And who are they?" The small Galvan standing on top of the living room table questioned.
"That's Ryo, and Henry and Rika. Terriermon, Monodramon and the lovely Renamon." Ben 23 gingerly circled around Henry. Rika snorted. He locked eyes for a bit with Albedo.
Albedo looked at him wide eyed.
Ben 23 blinked at him in confusion.
Albedo slightly shook his head.
"And, this one's shy." Ben grinned sheepishly as he pointed to Albedo from the side. "Don't know why. He totally gave Bad Ben the ol' one two!" He gestured with his fists. "Was awesome!"
It took every nerve in his body to not rush out the condo, dig a hole for himself and crawl into it. He shut his eyes tightly. He felt warmth hot like lava filling his face.
"And what is this one's name? I would like to properly thank them for assisting young Tennyson."
He opened his eyes, and saw the Galvan standing on the beige couch in front of him. Goodness he forgot how fast he could be when he wanted to be. This one seemed a bit younger, which gave him a whole load of favors. They looked at him genuinely interested, if not a bit confused, by his presence.
He straightened his back, and breathed in softly. Jenrya ran a hand down his back. "My name is Albedo." He murmured. He quickly ducked his head again.
Still he saw the Galvan stroke his beard-like tendrils, "Albedo hm. I have a protege with that name. Are you indeed a Galvan?"
He nodded just a bit. It seemed this Azmuth caught onto things one shouldn't be able to unless they were as smart as Azmuth as well.
"Hm...Well, thank you for helping Ben."
"It's not a problem." He looked away. Anywhere besides those blue eyes studying him.
"I have a feeling you already know who I am, but I am called Azmuth."
Albedo stayed silent, once again feeling quite like the fool.
"I can't imagine what has happened to put you in such a form, utilizing the Omnitrix no less. I can't tell if it was you who was the bigger fool or your Azmuth, if he was the one indeed to implement such a situation."
He heard Ryo murmur 'Azmuth Prime', the slightest touch of a growl to his voice as this Azmuth murmured his own thoughts in a one person discussion. He felt Jenrya turn his head behind him.
"I do hope you can at least change your form. I don't see an Omnitrix on you. Locking someone into an alien form not their own." Azmuth shook his head, "I can't see how that would ever be a good idea. Perhaps it is more viable in your world. Hm..." Azmuth stroked his tendrils, lost in thought.
Albedo looked at him wide eyed. His frame shook against Jenrya. Jenrya held his hand tightly. He quickly ducked his head again.
"At any rate, there is much to discuss. Preferably before these alternate Ben Tennyson's return."
Albedo directed his eyes upward and blinked. Azmuth was already gone. He slowly peeked around Jenrya. He ignored this world's SevenSeven and Tetrax looking at him curiously. Terriermon crawled off of Jenrya's head and flopped onto his own.
"Do explain once more, Ben."
"O-oh!" Ben 23 nodded quickly, "Right right." He quickly fell into repeating the story once more, while they waited patiently.
"I see now." Azmuth nodded thoughtfully, "You need access to a Chronosapien to return home while this Eon is preoccupied."
"Right." Ryo nodded.
"I believe you call your Chronosapien form, 'Windy-Hindy'." Azmuth looked at Ben 23.
Ryo laughed a short laugh, "Heh heh, I like that."
Ben grinned at him, a wide smile that made even Albedo feel the slightest bit happier.
To Albedo, Azmuth looked like he was just forced to say 'Praise Vilgax,' or swallowed something equally unpleasant. How he managed to still look respectful and professional with that frown on his face still boggled his mind. His Azmuth was capable of doing such as well, but usually didn't see the need for doing so. When he did though, it was something truly awe inspiring.
"Oh!" Ben 23 raised his arm high.
"Not inside!" Azmuth scolded.
"I know. I know." He replied quickly, though a flush had made an appearance on his face.
He led them outside to the back yard where he transformed into Windy-Hindy, a large golden alien, covered in blue lines. Windy-Hindy looked at them with excited blue eyes.
Albedo folded his arms. "Have you ever used that form before?"
Windy-Hindy thought for a moment. "Not often. I rotate the forms around. Keeps my fans in suspense." He replied confidently.
Albedo sighed. He tried to ignore that he had indeed sighed at the same time this world's Azmuth had.
"Huh." Ryo looked at Windy-Hindy while nodding his head. "Consider using that element of surprise against anyone you recognize'll be causing you problems for a considerable amount of time. Like a recurring baddie. Should keep them on their toes too."
Windy-Hindy's eyes widened, and a large grin appeared on his face. He attempted to nod eagerly, as though he had just received advice from the messiah himself. If they were back home, technically Ben 23 might as well have for how many looked up to Ryo.
Azmuth looked at Ryo for a short time, then directed his gaze back to Ben 23, almost how Ben Prime had before Ryo had told him off.
Albedo shook his head. "I don't think we thought this through, Ryo."
"Yea?" The oldest tamer looked at him.
"With his inexperience, he won't sense Eon coming for him. The other Bens have Omnitrixes as well, so we can't rule out them having access to the Chronosapien form either."
"What do you mean?" Ben 23 asked, gears and little bits of machinery clinking and ticking in his current form.
"When you transform into an alien, there are parts of that Alien's DNA that are hard coded into you temporarily. These are what humans would identify as the alien's instincts and things they instinctively know. Like, how a newborn infant somehow knows how to breathe using their lungs and drink from their mother's breast. Similarly, for example, the first time you achieved your Methanosian form-"
"-Mr. Mucky,-" Tetrax quickly interjected. Ben 23 nodded in understanding.
"-You didn't know how you did it, but you were intrinsically capable of creating and throwing fireballs," Albedo continued. "However, because you weren't skilled at such, your aim was relatively terrible."
Windy-Hindy flushed blue under that face of black.
"The knowledge comes first, the skill later." Azmuth added. "Which is why you needed to practice extensively and still do with every new alien form you unlock."
Ben 23 focused on them both, looking at them intensely as he took in every word and all of their explanations. Albedo felt as though he were teaching his children once more. Then again, wasn't he technically teaching a child? It kind of felt nice to have a Ben Tennyson paying such respect to him, even if he was most likely only doing so because his Azmuth was standing right next to him...
He nodded in response to Azmuth's words. "When you utilize a Chronosapien's time powers, stopping time and hopping to different points in timelines are relatively easy abilities to perform and use, despite the difficulty you may or may not seem to have in the beginning. However, Chronosapiens can also feel the shifts in time that utilizing time manipulation powers creates."
"Whoa...so like, they can tell when someone else is doing it too?"
"Precisely." Albedo nodded, "Even now you should feel something, though you aren't the one doing anything."
"Nope!" He tried to shake his head, but it looked more like he was shaking his entire body instead.
"Which proves my point. Eon or the other Ben's more experienced than you can tell when you utilize your Chronosapien's powers. They would figure out you were trying to travel across timelines. In response, they'd follow the ripple effect created in the timeline straight to you. Then they would ambush you as you were traveling through the time space continuum to assist us, and you would wind up stranded, unable to return home until they got bored of nudging you in the wrong direction. You would be defenseless until you better understood Windy-Hindy's abilities." He shook his head, "I can't condone such risk."
"And neither can I." Azmuth spoke.
The others nodded and voiced their agreements.
The Hero Watch timed out and Windy-Hindy returned to his human form. Ben 23 held his arm up and looked at the device in earnest interest. "But, how are you going to get home?" A small frown marred his usually smiling face. "I can't leave you guys stranded after you helped me out."
"I do have some experience utilizing the Chronosapien form, as well as analyzing the time space continuum." He looked down at the green grass. "I should be able to tell if any of them are looking to sabotage my attempt and counteract it. However-"
"-No," Rika shook her head. "You heard what Ben 10K said: Transformations are dangerous in your condition."
"I did hear him, but we don't have much choice do we?" He pressed a hand to his shirt. "The sooner we get home, the sooner this ends." He felt the stitches underneath his fingers even though his clothes. Even now his ribs still felt tender. Bad Ben sitting on him had done him nothing good.
"My personal nurse said no strenuous activity for you. Lots of bed rest, preferably in a hospital." Ben 23 folded his arms. "She said she wasn't sure how you were even alive with your injuries." He looked off to the side, "Does transforming into aliens count as strenuous activity?"
"It does indeed," Azmuth's small form circled around Albedo. Albedo looked away from the Galvan.
"Well, I can't let you do it, then." He clenched his fists and stood tall, straightening his back and squaring his shoulders. "You'd get hurt, and Ryo would get sad."
He briefly saw Ryo rub the back of his neck.
"And that would make me even sadder. So-so there." He jutted out his bottom lip in quite the pouting face. "Find another way."
Albedo looked at him. This Tennyson was quite different from what he was used to. If he didn't know any better, he would think that this one actually deserved to wear the watch he did. He sighed softly, "If I were to heal up a little more, would that be acceptable to you all?" He looked around.
The group looked to be in thought, mainly the humans, Tetrax and SevenSeven.
'Chronosapien is not a stable transformation form. Risk of injury to self 99 percent.' Juggernaut informed him.
Jenrya frowned at him. He flinched. Jenrya chose the worst times to peek into his mind. Or was it due to him being so close to him? He couldn't tell. Either way, Jenrya hearing that didn't help his case. At least Juggernaut hadn't said 'risk of death'. Jenrya flinched against him.
SevenSeven said something Albedo could barely make sense of. He was certain no one else besides Tetrax, Azmuth and maybe Ryo had understood.
"Yes, we do have the technology to aid his healing." Azmuth gave him a hard look that made Albedo want to curl into a tiny ball, or apologize. "This could work. Foolishly risky, but doable."
"It would be greatly appreciated."
"Nuts." Rika muttered, "Absolutely nuts." She flung her hands out to her sides. "But what else are we gonna do? Wait for Ben 10K to show up again? Does he even realize we got shoved and didn't wind up where he intended?" She growled softly. "Or maybe this is where he wanted us to be, to throw Eon off our trail, but then why didn't he tell us?"
Ryo rubbed her shoulders and arms gently. "We can do this. We've been through worse."
She glanced at Albedo.
He nodded at her. "If I truly thought I would die, I wouldn't have made the suggestion." He assured her.
"I'm putting two bullets in Eon's head," Jenrya spat.
"Why just two?" Terriermon asked.
"That would make quite the mess." Azmuth commented. He walked forward, back towards the condo. "This Eon doesn't sound like he'd be worth the cleanup." He folded his arms behind his back. "Come. We've much to do, and I'm afraid not much time to do it."
. . . . .
A/N: I briefly considered having Dimension 23's Albedo be deceased, seeing as there was technically no "Ben 10" at the time of the Omniverse Episode "Trouble Helix" to save Albedo and the others when Malware attacked, (kidnapped Albedo at that), and subsequently when Albedo accidentally upgraded the darn guy. However I decided Albedo was being punished enough in this story, and I was too lazy to truly figure out if that would have made sense. Though from what I'm reading from the Wiki page, and remembering (since I actually watched this episode), this is a plausible, if not extremely sad, outcome.