12 year old Ben Tennyson knew summer was only a few weeks away, but quite frankly he didn't care. He was tired and sweaty all the time thanks to soccer practice and sparring practice (not to mention puberty, that horrific disease). Middle school in general was full of unnecessary drama, and add in Ben's status as a superhero and he was stressed out.
In came 12 year old Ruby Rose with a fantastic idea; a camping trip to the nearby woods. It was nice outside, and it was going to stay that way all weekend. So why not take advantage of that?
They left immediately after school and made their way into a deep part of the woods, something they were sure they could handle (seeing as they often handled monsters and aliens on a regular basis). By the time they reached their planned campsite, it was starting to get dark. They set up a quick fire (fuck yeah, Heatblast) and decided to get to eating.
"So, where's Yang tonight?" Ben asked as he stabbed a hot dog on his cooking fork.
"Her arm needed to get some measurements, since she's growing and all." Ruby smiled as she assembled her perfect s'more. "Shame. She would've loved to come. We haven't gone camping together for a looooong while."
"I thought you two were outdoor girls," Ben snickered. "What happened?"
"Well, Yang's just been busy and stressed. High school is crazy, you know."
"Bullshit!" Ben, sweet summer child that he was, exclaimed. "Nothing can be more toxic and horrible as middle school."
"I agree. She's always been dramatic," Ruby said, rolling her eyes. "And she says I act like mom."
Ben paused. Ruby rarely brought up her mother. Usually when she did, it was in a quiet moment right before or in between battles.
"Hey, Ruby," Ben said quietly.
"Yeah?"
"...can you tell me about your mom?" he asked.
Ruby held her breath; she knew mentioning her mom would lead to this conversation, and while she felt ready to talk about her, it was still hard to get the words out.
"Her name was Summer Rose," Ruby said, after a long pause. "And she was, like... Super-Mom: Baker of cookies and slayer of giant monsters."
"Wow, you are her kid," Ben said, shaking off his slightly burnt hot dog.
"I barely remember her, to be honest." Ruby blushed, rubbing the back of her head. "But I remember the stories Yang and uncle Qrow told me. Both of them called her the Hero of Beacon a lot. She was really famous around there...she led Team STRQ, with my dad, my uncle and my aunt...or, something. I dunno, I feel wrong calling her aunt."
"Oh, is she the one that disappeared?" Ben asked.
"Yeah, that's her."
"Awkwardness noted," Ben said, biting into his hot dog.
"Summer Rose used her enemies' egos against them. They saw this little girl and underestimated her each and every time, but she was absolutely relentless. She was always the first to help, though. First to volunteer on a search and rescue. First to divvy up and share rations with others. That being said, she wasn't perfect. Sometimes she faltered. But, she was a queen, and was strong, and brave, and she loved us. And then one day she left for a mission and never came back," Ruby trailed off staring into the fire.
Ben felt the silence hit him like a punch to the face. He knew he had to change the subject immediately.
"...got anymore stories about her?" he asked.
Ruby smiled, easing Ben's worries a bit. "Well, there was this one time she managed to take down a Goliath..."
Ben and Ruby had drifted off a while later, just talking about whatever came to mind. Ruby had shared quite a bit of info about Summer, and now Ben had a perfect image of Summer in his mind; literally Ruby as an adult. Maybe with longer hair, and a bigger scythe.
Of course, something else crossed his mind, as he laid in his sleeping bag.
"...bathroom," Ben said as he sat up and ran deeper into the forest.
ONE BATHROOM BREAK LATER -
Ben sighed as he used hand sanitizer and shook his hands dry. And then he realized where he was. This was way deeper than he needed to go, and he didn't know why he didn't just go like a few feet from the campsite, but...curse his stupid puberty ridden brain. The darkness of the forest was really starting to skeeve him out...
"Everything she said about Summer is true."
Ben didn't expect to hear that from out of the dark. More of a "I'm gonna kill you, Ben" or an animalistic growl or something. Not the soft spoken voice of an older woman.
"She was...fantastic. In every sense. It's incredible how alike those two are."
Ben looked around again; he still couldn't find anyone. The voice echoed around him. "They have that same spark in their eyes, too. It's haunting. It's like she came back for a second chance to fight her..."
Ben heard the flapping of wings, and a thud on the ground. "Can you protect her?"
Ben turned around to see a woman in a Grimm mask, staring right at him. She wore a complex outfit, probably a Huntress outfit; it consisted of a shallow cut black and red dress with black shorts underneath, with a series of beaded necklaces and a wide belt that wrapped around her waist and carried her weapon's sheath. Attached also was a long black object that was either fur or feathers (Ben couldn't tell in the moonlight), with a red and white bandana hanging from behind her. Her forearms had red armored gauntlets that protruded outwards and solid black gloves. She wore black mid-thigh high leggings with red splatter patterns and black heels.
"What?"
"Can you protect her?"
"I mean, yeah, but can't she fend for herself?"
"She can. But she won't always be able to."
"Who even are you?" Ben demanded, reaching for the Omnitrix. "What, are you her stalker?"
"I'm just someone that's worried. That's all," The woman answered, drawing her blade. "Now, please...show me you have what it takes."
"W-what?"
"Use the Omnitrix, kid." The woman had fully drawn her scarlet blade. "I know who you are."
Ben was intimidated, but he slapped the dial on the Omnitrix down anyway.
Ben raised his arm as a bulb grew out from his hand. He raised his other arm out for the same to happen. He continued to round out his body, before he slammed his foot down on the ground. "Let's go, lady!" Ben ran at her to body slam her into the ground, but she quickly dodged the slow Cannonbolt; Ben flopped onto the dirt but quickly reacted by curling himself into a ball and rammed the woman into a tree.
Ben knew she'd be alright. She was a huntress, she had aura. But what he didn't expect was for the woman to be nearly unscathed. "Ow," she said dryly as she kicked Ben off of her.
Ben growled as he launched himself towards the mysterious foe. The lady blocked the alien with her sword, and overpowered Ben with a powerful slash that made him crash into a tree.
"Maybe I gotta tire her out before I can get a few good hits in," Ben muttered as he shook his head. He returned to his sphere form and barreled through the forest, kicking up dust and dirt into the lady's mask just to piss her off. The lady frowned behind her mask; she honestly was expecting more, but chased after Ben anyways.
Despite Ben leading most of the chase, the lady was fast enough to catch up with him. Ben made a quick u-turn to speed at her and quickly uncurled his ball form for a quick claw attack; the lady dragged her weapon back and forth, deflecting the onslaught, and then lashed out towards the alien with a mighty swing of her sword, sending him back. She quickly retracted her weapon back into her sheath and drew it again; the blade was longer this time, and a menacing shade of blue...
Ben blinked for a second, and the lady was gone. Then he blinked again, and suddenly a sword was slashing right through him, freezing him solid.
The woman drew her blade and sighed. "Perhaps I was wrong. You can't-"
"Yes...I...can!" Ben's arm broke free from the ice, and slapped down the Omnitrix symbol. Metallic skin formed around his left forearm, as his form shrank down and broke free of the ice.
"Interesting," she drawled as she drew her blade again. Clutching both hands together, Ben ran at her and jumped up into the air, swinging his hands downward so he hit the ground. The lady jumped back and drew her blade, this time green. She slashed the air a few times and conjured up a gale that knocked Ben back into a tree.
Big mistake. Ben grinned as his back made impact with the tree. In a flash of green there were two Slapbacks on the ground.
"What the-"
"Hey, you know what they say," The clone taunted.
"Two is better than one!"
The two Slapbacks ran through a barrage of air slashes, not needing to block them due to their increased weight. The woman hissed as they got close to her; she swung her sword at one of them, but it was ineffective. Her sword made a dull "THUNK" against Slapback's form, and suddenly the second one was jumping on top of the other one and punching the lady in the face, shattering her mask.
The woman dropped her weapon and stumbled back, clutching her face.
"Aw, don't worry about that," the first clone said, holding her sword.
"Getting a minor concussion is pretty much expected when you face off against this alien," the other quipped, sporting a shit eating grin.
The woman dropped her hands. The aliens stared in open-mouthed shock as they finally got a good look at her face. She had long black hair, red eyes...and a face that looked just like Yang's.
"Oh," she said quietly. "So you saw it."
"A-are you-"
"Maybe. Maybe I'm just some figment of your dream," the lady proposed.
"Uh, I know I'm not dreaming," the clone scoffed. "I think it would be pretty obvious, then."
The woman smiled knowingly. "If you were dreaming, could I do this?" She snapped her fingers; a lightning bolt suddenly struck the ground where the two Slapbacks stood, knocking them back. The two shared a confused glance before looking around.
"Where did she-"
"Or do this?" The two looked up to see a simple corvid flying above them...before the bird transformed into the woman and clasped both of her hands together; an icicle formed in her hand, and in a quick flash of light, that icicle became a massive katana. She smashed it into the ground, spreading ice across the floor, once more freezing the Slapbacks solid.
"You..."
The woman smiled. "Like I said, you're dreaming."
Ben once more broke free of the ice and slapped down the Omnitrix. Antennas grew from his head, as a tail with a plug grew from his back side. Plugs formed on his fingers, as his body elongated...
"Well, if I'm really dreaming," Ben said, now Feedback, "at least lemme fool around with this guy!" He ran forward, grinning madly.
The lady smiled appraisingly. "You certainly keep me on my toes." She sent another lightning bolt down from the sky, striking Ben on the spot this time. Ben yelped in pain, right before cackling madly. The woman raised an eyebrow in confusion as Ben's hands charged up with electricity.
Ben grinned. "I don't call this guy Feedback for nothing!" Electricity sparked around him just as blue energy swirled around the mysterious lady, charging her own final attack.
Ben shot first, releasing the strongest blast of electricity he could conjure up. The lady countered quickly with an opposite blast of magic, as the two beams collided and-
"Ben! Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey!"
Ben's eyes opened up as his nose detected the scent of bacon sizzling over a pan. "Geez, and you call me a heavy sleeper," Ruby teased as she finished scrambling their eggs.
"Sorry," Ben said, rubbing his eyes. "Just had the weirdest dream. I fought against this weird lady that looked like your sister..."
"Dreams do that to people." Ruby shrugged and she handed Ben his breakfast. "Now eat up! I wanna go hiking later!"
Ben stared down at his plate of bacon and blinked. Well, I guess that lady was right. It really WAS a dream. He was going to shrug it off and start eating-
Until a raven perched in a tree branch caught his eye.
It looked exactly like the corvid in his dream. The raven was looking directly at him, studying him.
And then it flew off.
"Hey, hurry it up!" Ruby's voice snapped Ben out of his thoughts. "I wanna get moving!"
"Uh, right," he said, putting it out of his mind.
