Ben10 & Digimon Tamers

Heroes and Humanity

Part 02: Humanity and Heroes

Another Myself – Chapter 106

Originally Written: Sunday, August 12, 2018 1136AM to 234PM

Song: Gackt - Flower; Susumu Hirasawa - Narshisas Jiben Kara Kita Hito

. . . .

A/N: There will be a one to two week delay in updating Humanity and Heroes. So um, updating will resume at the end of September-ish. There is another chapter I could upload, but it starts the next arc, and I don't want a cliffhanger break within a story arc. I apologize for the inconvenience.

. . . . .

Jeri shook her head. A cool breeze washed over the desert. The data of destroyed Digignomes and Digimon floated through the air like morbid flower petals. In the distance, Vilgax sat tied up and forced to remain unconscious by some future tech restraints courtesy of Ben 10K Prime. Paradox watched over Eon, who was still unconscious and deathly still, despite having his physical form returned to him.

Ryo laid next to Jeri on the sand with his arms behind his head. He looked up at the cloudless sky. Monodramon sat next to him, keeping a sharp eye on both villains.

Beelzemon walked around the area, circling both Vilgax and Eon, fingers occasionally twitching towards his guns. His hands shook ever so slightly as he walked, careful of the small large portions of data still floating around.

Henry knelt a little off to the side in front of them, an unconscious Albedo in his arms. His eyes drooped as copious amounts of mana from Albedo washed over him. Albedo's laptop sat atop his bag laid out on the ground. It ran a familiar program that Henry wished he had paid more attention to. Even though he didn't know how to use it, Juggernaut did, and it was a great boon to assisting both Eon and Albedo to return to their proper forms.

The program quickly deduced and was able to determine which bits of data belonged to digignomes and other digimon Eon and the Bens had annihilated, what data belonged to Eon, and what data belonged to Albedo. Juggernaut spoke calmly and certain to him in his mind, coaching him to assist with pulling the rest of Albedo back together. Henry wished with all his might that Albedo wasn't feeling any pain in the process.

Terriermon gently rested his paws and long ears to Albedo's fizzling form. He wouldn't be able to tell you exactly how this helped Juggernaut to help them put Albedo back together, but it made perfect sense in his head. So, he did what he could, even though fatigue ate at him far more than he would have liked.

Leomon's village lay in disrepair a long distance behind them. The damage done to their village by Eon's and Vilgax's antics would take months to repair. Jeri suggested Swamps, Fridge, Hugh and most of the others return to the village to rest up and help with cleanup to get their minds off the previous events. Some however, were not as lucky, and needed to keep an eye on the results of the battle to make sure it didn't escalate again.

Jeri looked at Ryo and Henry for a quick moment. Then she rolled her eyes and shook her head before speaking.

"I'm starting to see why no one's willing to give Albedo an Omnitrix." She spoke softly, her eyes shifting about just in case the topic of this particular subject was a bit closer to consciousness than she was comfortable with. She cradled her digivice in her hands with such care and gentleness that it was dangerously close to slipping out of her grasp.

Henry ducked his head low. Ryo raised an eyebrow at her, but otherwise didn't say anything. Beezlemon scoffed quite loudly and deliberately.

"Aren't you?" She looked down at Ryo. "Or, would you give him one of his own?"

"I'm not touching this conversation even if I could control the tip of Azulongmon's tail from the top of his head and use that to touch it." Terriermon commented.

Henry huffed, "Stop it. He means well." He scowled deeply.

Terriermon looked up at him for a moment. "Still not touching this."

Ryo frowned. He sighed softly. "It's not something I think about."

Henry ducked his head once more and sighed. "Too well..."

"Silly," she shook her head, "you don't have to feel like thinking that is betraying him. Goodness knows you two are some of the last people who would."

"It's not like that." Ryo scowled.

"I know." She smiled a small smile.

"You know no one can tell if you actually know or are just saying that, right?" Ryo rolled his eyes.

"He's a wild card." Monodramon spoke up. "No different than a digimon who bio emerged to the real world or Ben Tennyson himself. The weak don't like the challenge of wild cards." Silence fell between the group for a short while. "When can we go home? I'm getting tired."

Ryo gently ran a hand down his back. "Staff at Hypnos are preparing a temporary holding cell for Vilgax, otherwise it'd be too easy for him to give us the slip once back on Earth. Ben 10K is taking the other Bens back to their respective timelines. He'll be looking for anything else flowing around the area that shouldn't be here, and taking that too. And, Henry and Terriermon are working on helping Albedo. When that's all done, we can go and nap and eat Guilmon bread until everything feels normal again."

Monodramon huffed, displeased. Henry huffed, but more because he recognized that normalcy didn't apply to people like them. Jeri giggled.

Ryo closed his eyes, "I'm getting rusty."

"Bullshit." Henry muttered.

"Don't be silly." Jeri added, "Fighting Vilgax is Ben's job, not ours. You're not expected to be able to recognize when he's pulling someone's strings."

Ryo raised her eyebrows at her again. "One day, you're going to do that and guess wrong."

A small smile donned her face once more. "You guys push yourselves too hard. You'll be visiting Heart Attack City if you keep it up."

Ryo laughed a short laugh. He pulled out his D-Terminal and sent a short text message to Kenta. An odd quiet had fallen upon the tamer since Nega Ben departed, leaving Ryo quite concerned.

Jeri looked down at her Digivice. Henry and Terriermon focused on fixing up Albedo.

Ryo fiddled with the D-Terminal in his hands, waiting for a response. He held it up to the sunlight. It reflected a small amount of light, shining like a dim beacon in the bright sun. "Hey...Jeri?"

"Hm?" She tapped the fingers of one hand on her knees. Golden eyes focused on Beelzemon who stopped to stare into the distance as though lost in thought.

"Why did you give Albedo the WonderSwan games?"

Henry jerked forward suddenly.

"Focus, before we put data from his arm in his head or something." Terriermon commented. "I don't want to do this again. Ever."

Henry laughed softly, "Alright."

Monodramon looked at him, eyes shining with curiosity.

"Are you sure you want to have this conversation in front of Eon and Vilgax?" Jeri questioned.

Ryo looked at them, his mind weighing pros and cons. "Yes," he responded after a while. "Eon can't touch what's not in Plumber Databases."

Jeri gasped mockingly, "Scandalous." She sang.

Ryo gave her a no nonsense glare.

She shook her head, a wistful smile on her face. "I was thinking he would realize that you see him as you do Ken. As a friend, an ally. I was thinking that it would distract him from his fears of not knowing who to trust. One time, I'm going to guess, and I will be wrong." She sang, staring at the digivice in her hands, screen lit up for all the world to see. A small egg pulsed slowly on the screen, a small diagonal line marking a crack in said egg.

Henry ducked his head.

Ryo looked away. "That's..."

"What's done is done, ne?" She continued in her sing-song voice.

"Guess so." He muttered.

"Hello Ben." Henry spoke so quietly he was barely heard.

Ryo jumped to a sitting position and partially turned around. Ben 10K Prime walked towards them, dragging two familiar robots missing their heads along the ground. In his other hand held a metal head of red hair, and a metal head of green hair, holding them by their hair.

"Ah, you found them." Paradox took a moment to look back at the muscular Omnitrix wielder.

"Right where you said they were." He called back. He dropped them a few feet behind the group, and shook out his cramping hands. "They're built with materials from your timeline, so I can't move them."

Jeri and Ryo looked at each other.

"We should remove their...motherboards." Henry spoke up. "At least that's what Ju-my-I would do…"

"Yea, normally I would..." Ben 10K rubbed the back of his neck, "I spoke to your HQ about that. They want them intact for analysis."

Henry slowly turned around, eyes narrowed.

Ryo sighed heavily and ran a hand down his face. "Seriously? Hypnos or..."

"Both. Took me twenty minutes before they let me even touch their heads. Each. You may have better chances at convincing them than me, but for now, you're stuck with them."

"Let's all laugh at an agency that never learns anything. Tee hee hee!" Terriermon sang.

Henry growled low in his throat.

"Terriermon." Ryo scolded.

"What? I know the right word is 'company', but 'agency' fits better."

"That's..." Ryo sighed loudly, "Nevermind."

"They lighten up a bit, you know." Ben 10K quickly shot back, the smallest hint of a frown on his face. He shook his head, "Whatever. How's it going with Albedo?" He walked around to get a better look.

"We'll be done in about another hour, but I'm concerned about this form he's stuck in." Henry gestured to the dark violet human shape of mana Albedo's body had taken. The same Anodite form that he transformed to before falling to pieces. Albedo's now blue violet hair floated from his frame as though moved by an invisible wind only it could detect. He was still missing most of his right arm, and a small portion of his right leg, but considering the situation, he was reasonably restored.

"He's a lot harder to put back together than Eon." Terriermon pouted.

"Ju-er," Henry's eyes shifted as though debating on something. "We're working to keep things stable, but I'm worried the second we finish, he'll just fall apart again."

"Damn," Ryo murmured.

"It's all this mana. It doesn't make sense to us." Terriermon whined. "We can't figure out how to do it."

"You guys are doing well." Jeri commented. Both Henry and Terriermon knew that she had her ways of knowing whether or not it was so.

"Hmmm." Ben 10K folded his arms in thought. "It'll take a bit but I can grab Gwendolyn, see if she can help any. He's probably stuck because he can't figure out how to change back even subconsciously."

Jeri glanced at Ryo for a moment. "We can call back Rika and Renamon too or MarineAngemon."

"Yea." Ryo replied after a short while. "Sounds good to me."

"Alright. It's a plan then." Ben 10K looked at Paradox. "Is Eon stable enough to move?"

"Yes, we'll be able to move him just fine. He'll be unconscious for quite some time as well." The time walker looked down at his pocket watch, "Which leaves you with more than enough time to say your piece."

"What?" Ben 10K shook a hand, "It's...not important."

"Dude, it's Paradox himself saying you should talk." Ryo looked up at the more experienced Plumber. "That's like a fate-given suggestion right there."

Ben nodded and shrugged his shoulders.

"I hear Swamps has been following you like a shadow, Ben." Jeri commented.

"Good boy." Henry muttered. Terriermon pouted at him.

"He really doesn't want me around Albedo." Ben 10K folded his arms and took a quick look around. "Almost as bad as my Swamps." He muttered as he turned back around. "It's good for him." He continued to himself as he took a seat near them.

Silence fell upon the group, save for the soft whispering sounds of mana flowing from Albedo. Eventually though, Ben 10K Prime started whispering or humming or singing something the group couldn't make sense of for a while. It wasn't the most pleasant sounding bit of words, as Ben was not one with a talent for singing, but it was enough to be able to tell it was some kind of song or poem.

Henry ducked his head low, letting the foreign words wash over him. Jeri focused on her Digivice. Even Beelzemon stopped to look at him.

"What language is that?" Ryo eventually asked.

"It's Galvan." Ben 10K took a slow deep breath. "Ben 23 is almost perfectly fluent in it." He looked at Paradox. The time walker didn't seem to be paying attention to anything at all.

Ryo looked at Ben, eyes focused and face scrunched up in confusion. "Isn't that spoilers?"

"A bit." Ben 10K grinned at him.

"Can I ask something? Since we're doing spoilers and all that."

Eyes shifted to Henry, as Ben 10K nodded.

"Does Albedo Prime get away from Eon?"

"Henry?" Ryo questioned.

"I just." Henry ducked his head even lower if possible. "Albedo, our Albedo, said he wouldn't stop until Albedo Prime got away from Eon. He promised it. Swore it. Said he would do everything he could to keep Eon away from him. I think..." He closed his eyes, "I think that's part of why he attacked Eon the way he did, even at the risk of his own life. To protect Albedo Prime, and Ryo. Albedo didn't do all this for nothing, did he?" He turned his head to look at Ben 10K Prime. "He didn't, did he? Am I undoing all he did by returning Eon to a physical form?"

"Eon would eventually reform regardless. Timeline shenanigans and all that." Paradox commented. "You are not more powerful than time. Neither is Albedo."

Ben looked at Henry, mostly emotionless. Even though this was an older version of Ben he didn't really know, Ryo recognized it as his Plumber business face. A face rarely seen, but always used when it needed to be. "I know you know that's a true and proper spoiler."

"I figured." Henry muttered. "Did you do anything?"

"Henry." Ryo scolded.

"You didn't see Albedo Prime, Ryo. Not like how I did." Henry shook his head. "You think Nega Ben is a mess. Albedo Prime was holding on by threads. Threads of his own sanity just tearing, snapping one by one. You saw a power hungry psychopath. I saw a ten year old boy so fucked up in the head he didn't know if he was coming or going, left from right, right from wrong. All because of that asshole calmly sleeping in front of us. Tell me someone besides Albedo at least tried to do something."

"I can't reveal that to you." Ben 10K continued.

"Then why did you start singing that song in the first place?" Henry spat. "I cannot believe or accept that he started off that way from the very beginning."

"To make you ask."

"What fucking for!?" Henry sharply turned back around to focus on Albedo. "You're just as annoying as your younger self!" He sighed softly, "Albedo doesn't trust the plumbers, and it's not just because of Eon's evil influences. I thought at first it was just that, but it's not."

"That's right."

"Then what is it!? The omnitrix?! Ben himself?! His mentor!? What!?"

"Henry, he can't." Terriermon whispered. They ignored the looks from Beelzemon, Jeri and Ryo. Beelzemon pursed his lips as though wanting to say something but unable to figure it out.

"You're farther than me." Ben 10K looked away.

"What?" Ryo questioned.

"You're farther than me. All of you are. Rook beat me by years. Even Ben 23 was farther than me. I didn't get it until he started singing that song. They're not friends by any means, but I couldn't figure out how he managed to even be in the same room as his Albedo." Ben looked up at the cloudless sky, "But seeing you and your Albedo, Ryo. It's obvious. It's hard to find your own flaws unless they smack you right upside the head, punch you in the gut, and spit on you sometimes."

Ryo lowered his eyes and shook his head.

Jeri looked at him. "Really?" She grinned, and her eyes widened. She looked from Ryo, to Ben 10K and back.

Ryo shook his head again.

"No way! I thought Kazu was pulling out another conspiracy theory, but he's right?!" She laughed, falling back on the sand. "Oh my goodness!"

"Yes, he's right for once." Henry muttered, "Stop making a big deal out of it."

"Is this an elephant in the room none of you will bring up?" Ryo frowned in confusion.

Ben 10K laughed heartily. "Elephant in the room you won't bring up." He quickly sobered, "But it's one the higher ups won't let you, right?"

"Isn't that a spoiler?" Ryo quickly replied.

Ben 10K shrugged. "Can't do any worse than I have already."

"Yes, you can. Easily in fact." Paradox turned his back still looking at that pocket watch as though it was the only thing that mattered.

Ben 10K huffed. "Thanks," he spoke dryly. He took a few moments of silence to compose his thoughts. "The song is called Flower. It's a companion piece to Narshisas." He eventually spoke again. "Ben 23 sings some version of it whenever...No, better not risk that."

Ryo narrowed his eyes. "Dammit." He muttered.

"Narshisas?" Jeri questioned. "Isn't that that depressing song Rika and Fridge are working on?"

"Yea..." Ryo looked down at Monodramon. "The hell is going on here?"

Monodramon growled deep in his throat. "This leaves a bad taste in my mouth."

"Break. First." Jeri placed a hand on his shoulder. "You all need your rest. Then we'll figure it out."

Ben 10K moved to his feet. "Five years, eight months, eleven hours, ten minutes and twenty-three seconds." He clenched his hands by his sides.

"What's that supposed t'mean?" Beelzemon questioned, looking at him.

"That's how long it takes me to speak to Azmuth again after solving the whole mess." He shook his head, "Please don't take that long." He jogged off to stand next to Paradox. "I'll bring Gwendolyn back to help fix up Albedo." He looked back at Ryo and nodded.

Paradox grabbed Eon, and engulfed the trio in a time portal.

. . . . .

A/N: The "song" Ben 10K is "singing" is the chorus of "Gackt - Flower". I originally had Albedo figure out "what's wrong" on his own, with no one else figuring it out, but that's not what the characters decided, and it will work well this way too. At least, it should.

' "Let's all laugh at an agency that never learns anything, tee hee hee!" Terriermon sang.' - A modified quote from Yahtzee of Zero Punctuation mocking the modern game creation industry.

'Ben 10K moved to his feet. "Five years, eight months, eleven hours, ten minutes and twenty-three seconds." He clenched his hands by his sides.' - Five years is half of ten, the age Ben was when his journey first started. Eight is half of sixteen, the age Ben was while fighting Albedo in Omniverse. Eleven for Kevin. Ten minutes is obvious and twenty-three is also obvious.