The Baddest Ben Tennyson's Special Guide to Superheroics
「悪のベン・テニスンの特別なスーパーヒーローガイド」
[Quick Header notes: I usually don't openly explain the text formatting, but now I will. Most of the time, I write in the first-person perspective, where inner monologues and the story share the same text format. This approach is common in many mainstream light novels, like, for example, Oregairu. However, for this story, I'll be using a hybrid style that combines first and third-person perspectives to handle a larger cast of characters.
For inner monologues and thoughts, I will use italics (E.g.: sometimes I don't know what he's thinking.) For the rest, i.e. story and dialogues ("..."), etc., will be in normal formats.]
Chapter 1: "The Butler I Hired Recently is Suspicious."
第1章: 「最近雇った執事が怪しい」
This story… didn't begin with an alien device that did what it did.
"... Mom, it's a meteor shower!"
It was somewhere in California. A campsite filled with camping vehicles like the Rust Bucket from Ben 10. A 10-year-old boy, eyes wide with excitement, pointed at the night sky as he dragged his mother outside.
"Wow, isn't it beautiful…" Remarked the mother, wiping her hands with a towel. "We don't see it that often."
So, yeah, this must be the beginning of Ben 10. The story of how a boy named Ben Tennyson somehow got the Omnitrix… Or not?
The old Asian man lounging in an arm-chair nearby suddenly sat up and lowered his shades, muttering something in Chinese. Another elderly man, who is definitely not Chinese, widened his eyes as he looked up at the night sky.
"That's… That's a freaking bullet train!"
He wasn't wrong. It wasn't a meteor shower they were witnessing. A bullet train, descending from who-knows-where, curved its path in the sky and headed straight for the campsite.
"Run! Get outta here!" "That thing is coming for us!"
As the people ran in fear, one brave, young, muscular man in a red-and-black tank top with an eagle symbol on his chest and military pants stepped forward. Instead of fleeing, he walked toward the incoming train.
"Hmph, I don't know why this is here," he said in a firm, masculine voice. "But I'm going to make sure everyone's safe!"
"Look!" The boy stopped in his tracks and pointed. "Top 55 Hero – American Tanktopper is here!"
Wow, are we in One Punch Man, now? No, this is still the world of My Hero Academia. This muscular man in the American Tanktop is a "Pro Hero," who goes by the name American Tanktopper.
His superpower is called Tanktopped Muscles. — whenever he wears a tank top, his muscles become exponentially stronger. But, of course, not strong enough to stop a freaking, flying bullet train from the sky!
Knowing the hero wouldn't be able to do sh*t, mother quickly dragged her kid. "Kenny, don't stop! We must run!"
Of course, that boy wasn't Ben Tennyson, lol. So this is not how Ben 10 started, perhaps.
Meanwhile, what's going on in the American Tanktopper's mind?
What the fk am I supposed to do? He cursed himself, glaring at the unstoppable train in the air, all while stopping his entire body from trembling in fear. How am I supposed to stop that fking train?! Give me a break! I'm here on vacation!
Gr, fk it, we ball!
At that moment, he enlarged his arm muscles and poured all his strength into the point they grew flaming red. He knew what he needed to do. But he wasn't going to be able to protect everyone at this point.
Only if Star and Stripe were here…
He prepared physically and mentally to crash himself into the train even if he wouldn't be able to stop it entirely. But…
It just flew overhead of everyone instead of crashing in anywhere at all. It happened so fast that the train disappeared in the horizon of the californian forests in a flash. All what's left on the scene was the American Tanktopper awkwardly standing, alone and speechless.
Nothing happened. But his day is already ruined.
Above all that, there was one question he forgot to ask due to all that embarrassment.
"What the fk… Just what the fk is that train?!"
It was Kenny's mother who muttered that necessary question. She didn't even care to avoid profanity anymore.
Ah, anyway, yes, like that, this story began with a flying bullet train that came from the stars, instead of an alien device that did what it did.
This world is somewhat unique and let me tell you why.
Its bizarre history began a few centuries ago when a baby that gave off light was born in the Qingping City of China. It marked the beginning of the Quirks — unique "biological" superpowers people of this world now possess. Well, most do, but of course, there also exists the "Quirkless". From the statistics, in this era, the Quirkless make up 20% of society.
Quirks vary in power, ability, feature and utility. Scientifically speaking, it's a bizarre form of genetic mutation, but don't sweat the details. No one really cares about its roots anyway. But you can make a guess what comes with those "superpowers".
"With great power comes great responsibility."
Yes, a choice. It's all about choosing what you're going to do with those abilities you were born with. Are you going to be good… or evil? As such, it gave rise to a profession once found only in comics and fiction — those who use their quirks to protect others are called the Pro Heroes, whereas those who misuse quirks to commit crimes become villains. That said, most of the population here just pass their days as normal civilians. Hmm, so, correction to self, not all quirks are superpowers. Very often some quirks are less useful than expected. Sometimes they might be double-edged, and sometimes they might be lethal to the user.
Nature has always been tricky anyway. Except, social classes are bound to exist based on individual prowess. Quite obviously, the quirkless and those with weak quirks are now somehow at the bottom of the list.
At any rate, that's the summary of it — how this world works in general.
"Ladies and gentlemen, breaking news from New York, USA. In a shocking turn of events, the Statue of Liberty, an iconic symbol of freedom, has been reported stolen overnight–"
Yay, we began with such a graceful opening, all right.
"But how?"
Momo Yaoyorozu is a 15-year-old girl of a tall and somewhat mature physique. She looks pretty overall, no doubt, and her long black hair was tied neatly in a graceful ponytail behind her head.
She leaned forward on the sofa, her attention captured by the news broadcast. The newscaster had just reported the theft of the Statue of Liberty!
"— Authorities are baffled as the beloved monument has seemingly vanished without a trace. The unidentifiable criminal behind this audacious act has left investigators puzzled, with no immediate leads on the whereabouts of the statue. —"
How could a statue weighing over 200 tons simply disappear?!
Puzzled by the news, Yaoyorozu decided to grab some snacks from a plate in front of her. But just before she reached it, someone else picked it up and took it away.
"Milady, I believe you have already had enough," said a clear and calm male voice.
Momo Yaoyorozu was a bit flustered, if not much.
The voice belongs to her caucasian butler who somehow could speak fluent Japanese with any hint of American accent. He had emerald green eyes and brown hair that is properly combed back for once. A young man of athletic build, who looked so cool in that black tailcoat.
This butler is no other than Ben Tennyson, the titular protagonist of the story.
The rich, flustered young lady – Momo Yaoyorozu – decided to argue.
"No worry, Ben, I'm going to burn–"
"Milady, you don't have any training session today," the butler interrupted her calmly. "You're going to gain weight if you're not careful. Also, this snack is…"
He inspected the plate with a frown. "The calorie content is scary."
It sort of hurt her pride to hear that from her butler, because she had always especially cared about her health and diet. Honestly, a single meal out of order shouldn't even matter, but for some reason, Ben refused to NOT make a big deal out of it.
Momo didn't know whether Ben was concerned about her health or he just made a fuss on purpose.
"A friend– I mean, a classmate gave me those as a farewell gift."
"Farewell gift" is a somewhat big word for gift exchange at the end of the school year. But Momo Yaoyorozu is an "ojou-sama" through and through — a daughter from a wealthy background so her school was also of proper and strict manners.
"Were you being bullied?" Asked the butler without a hint of hesitation, almost sounding sarcastic.
"What kind of question is that?"
"Okay, my bad. Let me rephrase; are they bullying you?"
"How did you reach that conclusion?"
Momo glared at Ben in response as she lowered the TV volume with the remote control.
"I mean, these just look cheap," he was blunt. "Not something you would eat at all."
"Leave me alone!"
With that, Ben quietly looked back at the TV. The newscasters were wrapping up the news regarding the disappearance of the statue. "— We will continue to update you on this unprecedented event."
Staring at her butler's back, the girl wondered how come she had decided to hire this boy as her butler. I mean, he's really skilled and … he has some crazy certifications in the "Butler Association" somehow. But sometimes I don't know what he's thinking.
Her family is wealthy and high-class, alright, but Momo Yaoyorozu is a growing, healthy teenager. For the past decade at least, she had always refused her parents' idea to hire a personal butler or maid for her. In Momo's perspective, it seriously made no sense. Having a personal butler or a maid around in this age and day would be lame, too! Yet…
She hired Ben Tennyson on a whim! It just happened. In fact, Momo Yaoyorozu doesn't even understand why she accepted him herself.
"Speaking of which, Milady…"
Ben's words broke the silence and snapped her back to reality, and her eyes quickly met his.
"... You are going to the U.A. High, right? For high school."
"Yeah. Through a recommendation, though," she shrugged. "Why?"
"Actually, I'm going there, too. To U.A."
For some reason, the girl felt somewhat happy to hear it from the boy, though she didn't express it. But it was the moment she also remembered another important question she should've asked much earlier.
What is his quirk again? Momo pretended to pay attention to the TV, stealing looks at her butler. It's not any mutation for sure. Maybe he has a powerful quirk? But isn't it rude to ask someone's quirk out of nowhere…
"Oh, maybe we'll even get into the same class," he jokingly said.
"That'd be great…"
The young lady's imagination went pretty wild for a good few while that she didn't even notice her butler giving her a weird look and then leaving the room to put away the snacks. From the conversation, she and the boy were going to go to the same high school, and Momo felt something nice about it for real.
But Momo, aren't you getting flustered too often lately? She reminded herself.
Correct, Momo Yaoyorozu had been feeling weird since she came in contact with this boy Ben Tennyson. She never could've told what had been going on in Ben's mind, but she could also never tell what she herself had been thinking lately.
Of course, she had to be careful about that, given her background as a dignified daughter. But unfortunately, she couldn't stop her creativity—
Yaoyorozu Momo, 15, Quirk: Creation! — allows the user to materialize different objects, such as weapons and tools, from any part of her body.
— That's right. Because of her quirk, she especially trained her creativity and had to remember a lot of material structures and production methods. But it's now showing her side-effects!
"Milady, I brought you coffee…"
The footsteps alongside the calming voice of her butler snapped her out of thinking yet again. But she had prepared herself for something else. Unrelated.
"Ben, what do you say if I promote you to a "live-in" butler?"
This young lady just came up with an outrageous offer for a boy her age! This is what happens when Yaomomo loses her brakes. However…
Unfazed, Ben put down the fancy cup on the table and gave it a serious thought before returning an answer in the next five seconds.
"I'm not particularly against it," short and honest.
"So fast!" Momo, in fact, didn't expect that. "But a-are you sure?"
"Of course, I mean… surely living in this mansion should be much better than going back and forth. My house is a den compared to this, too."
Not to mention how big and fancy it was. As always, Ben's answer was blunt and factual without hesitation.
But it couldn't make Momo happier.
"Then I will notify the Head Maid about that and prepare a room for you."
Ben Tennyson was left puzzled but he just shrugged in response without complaints. "Sure."
Rich girls have rich problems, huh. Milady must have been so lonely without friends. That must be why she's trying desperately to get me attached. Sigh… I don't mind tending to her even more. The pay is good, too.
Whether he reached the right conclusion, though, who knows?
Now then, what's the U.A. High that Ben and Momo are going to attend?
In the first place, why would Ben even transfer from America? The answer wasn't that simple. With Pro Heroes becoming a globally well-respected profession, the so-called superhero of everyone, aka the Symbol of Peace — All Might — is the No. 1 Pro Hero of Japan. So you can make a guess how far Japan has set a standard in this profession on a worldwide scale.
On the other hand, U.A. High is the top superhero-training high school in Japan. In short, this must be one of, if not the main, reasons why Ben chose to transfer despite all the hassles. But there must be more to it than meets the eye.
Not very long after Ben moved into Yaoyorozu household for his "live-in" employment, U.A. High held its annual entrance exams for the upcoming academic year. Momo was already accepted as a student of U.A. through references and a special set of exams. No joke, the young lady was a diligent and outstanding student so it was quite natural.
But when the school invited her and other recommended applicants, she found a fact that even surprised her.
"... So this means you're also here through a recommendation?"
Turns out Ben's also an applicant referred to by some North American bigshot.
Normally, "elite" top scorers with strong quirk backgrounds are given reference by their respective middle schools or educational organizations to get accepted in the U.A. as an elite. But for some reason, Ben had references from a Pro Hero agency and it just worked!
Momo also recognized Ben's green jacket she had seen at least twice before. It was his main informal getup. Momo herself simply wore her middle school uniform as it was just a final interview after all.
"Yeah, I didn't tell you?" Ben said as if it weren't a big deal.
"You didn't!" Momo almost exclaimed before reminding herself that they were in public. She had no intention to harass her butler, and quite frankly, she needed to act calm and dignified. On the other hand…
"Oh, sorry, Milady, I really thought I did."
… Ben lied to Momo as naturally as he breathed. The duo even drew unwanted attention due to how he addressed his mistress.
"Call me by my name at school, and don't be so formal," she whispered, noticing the stares.
A recommendation, huh… Given his quirk, it's natural he would get one easily. Momo recalled what his quirk was. Unlike her own quirk, it is far more suitable in combat and much more flexible as much as she hates to admit. She had to work really hard to reach where she was, and there wasn't any doubt cast.
Ben respected that, though.
"Speaking of which, I didn't see you at the exam?"
Recommended students will also have to take a separate set of tests and interviews to assess their capabilities and strengths in various fields. Momo and the rest were also the top four highest scorers from said tests.
"Oh, that's because I took mine in America," Ben whispered, apparently not wanting others to hear. "Maybe I'm more like an exchange student."
"No, I don't really understand…"
Momo had just realized that Ben must have kept a lot of secrets from her. But their relationship was nothing more than employer-employee, if not friends. She couldn't just expect him to tell her everything about himself. Momo wished he had been more open, though.
"Oh, sorry for having you kids wait."
With that voice, a tall, muscular man with spiky short white hair entered the lobby. He wore an orange mask over his eyes, and a dark-red skin-tight suit with a white three-piece belt around his waist, accompanied by white gauntlets and over-the-knee boots. His left gauntlet was connected to the back of his neck by a thin white wire.
From this getup and appearance alone, one could guess this man was a pro hero and not a cosplayer.
"I'm Pro Hero, Vlad King," he said, looking at the students. "We don't have much time so let's be quick. We have all five here, hmm, Todoroki Shoto, Yaoyorozu Momo, Tenisen Ben, Tokage Setsuna, and Juzo Honenuki."
Todoroki Shoto…? Upon hearing that name, Momo stole a glance at a certain young man with his hair evenly split between white on his right side and crimson red on his left. She acknowledged him as another outstanding candidate, but there seemed to be more to it.
"Tenisen, follow me. The rest will need to wait for a moment."
Vlad King then ushered Ben into the meeting room and left. Someone was already in the room. As the door closed with a decisive thud, the chair swiveled to reveal the "interviewer," though the term didn't quite fit.
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Tennyson," greeted the person in question. "I'm Nezu, Principal of U.A."
Nezu, a white, short-statured humanoid with mouse-like features, was impeccably dressed in a white shirt, a dark red tie, and a black double-breasted waistcoat and pants. Despite his unusual appearance, mutants like Nezu were not uncommon in this world. Yet, there was something more to him than mere mutation.
Quirk: High Specs. His Quirk grants him a high level of intelligence that surpasses that of humans.
"I summoned you here separately because I want to discuss with you about your reference letter… Please take a seat first," he gestured.
Oh, I thought it was a one-after-another interview. Ben took a mental note and obliged, settling into the chair before the desk.
"In short, I'm more than glad to accept you here, Mr. Tennyson," Nezu continued with a smile. "I also happen to personally know the one who referred to you so I have no issue with it. But… I do have a question."
"Hai?"
Nezu retrieved a document from the drawers and handed it to Ben.
"What did Mr Stark mean by… "just in case"?" Nezu's expression grew serious.
Ben skimmed the document, focusing on the remark that read "just in case."
Tony Stark may be someone who likes to joke around, but as a genius of similar level, Nezu knew better than to dismiss his words lightly. It was undoubtedly a message Stark intended for Nezu through Ben.
"I'm sorry to disappoint you, Sir," replied Ben, putting down the letter. "But he didn't provide specifics. He mentioned that you, the Principal of U.A., would understand."
Unfortunately, I do, which is troubling. Nezu kept his composure, masking his concern behind a calm demeanor. Just in case… Did Stark overestimate this kid? No, we're talking about Tony Stark here. If he considered Ben a contingency...
Discarding his frown, Nezu instead gave the boy a warm smile again.
"For the time being, you can leave. I'll be looking forward to seeing you as our student, Ben Tennyson."
"Uh, okay, sir. Then…"
As Ben took his leave, he couldn't help but ponder the relationship between Principal Nezu and Tony Stark, one of the top Pro Heroes of the United States. "Great minds think alike," he mused, remembering Mr Stark saying the Principal had a similar quirk to his own.
Nezu was now left alone in the room. He brought out another document that showcased Ben's quirk test scores.
"To fight a monster, you need a monster. Did you go insane, Stark?"
Meanwhile in the Director's office of the Stark Heroics in New York…
In the room, there were two people; a brown-haired young man clad in a skin-tight red-and-blue costume adorned with black web-like patterns all over his suit and a spider symbol on his chest, and a middle-aged businessman with black hair and a black goatee.
"Mr Stark, I've been thinking about this for a while now…"
"Hmm?"
Tony Stark the businessman set aside the documents he was reviewing and turned his attention toward his assistant, Parker.
Tony Stark, 55, Quirk: Brain Specs.
This quirk amplifies the user's cognitive abilities in any field. Thanks to Brain Specs, Tony Stark excels at anything he studies, making groundbreaking contributions to Quirk science and Pro Hero technology. He is the CEO of Stark Industries, the company that produces the finest support items in America and heads Stark Heroics, one of North America's top three Pro Hero agencies.
Tony himself holds the title of US Rank 16 Pro Hero, known by his alias, Iron Man.
"You readily agreed to provide Ben with a recommendation letter," Peter observed, a hint of curiosity in his tone. "It seemed almost... impulsive."
It wasn't really a complaint, but Peter Parker believed his boss wouldn't do something like that without a good reason. He was right, though.
Peter Parker, 21, Quirk: Human Spider.
Simply put, Peter possesses abilities closely tied with spiders. He can shoot silk, crawl and stick on the walls, etc. His hero codename is Spider-man. Simple, right?
Tony's lips curled into a knowing smile. "Perhaps it was. I had no reason to refuse anyway."
Peter arched an eyebrow, unconvinced. "With all due respect, sir, I don't believe it was just a whim. Frankly, I want to know your thought process."
Unlike Tony who relied on his quirk, Peter was a natural-born genius. The gap between these two was just simply too large for Peter to catch up, but even then he wanted to find out.
And Tony understood Peter more than Peter did himself. He leaned back in his chair, steepling his fingers thoughtfully.
"Kid, what's the one thing Japan has that the entire world fears?"
Peter's brain ran like a computer, searching through his memories to find the right answer. His brows furrowed as he mulled over the question.
"All Might?"
Tony waved a dismissive hand. "All Might is a legend, all right, but the answer isn't quite it. He's the Symbol of Peace, too. I see no reason to fear him."
Spider-man continued to look for the answer in silence.
"I'll give you a hint," Tony typed something into his computer, after which a few images appeared on the monitor. "Who was that someone… who rivaled even the unchallenged strength of All Might?"
Peter's eyes widened in horror upon seeing the images displayed on the monitor. A city filled with ruins, as if it were an aftermath of a great war. But he recognized what it was.
"... All For One…?"
His smile disappearing, Tony nodded gravely and turned off his desktop in silence.
"He's still alive?" Peter's expression was also filled with fear. "Then why would you…"
"... send just Ben?"
In fact, Tony didn't really know whether All for One was alive or not. But according to his calculations, if every piece just fell into place behind the scene…
As the room became engulfed in silence, Peter understood something else from Tony's smile. So that kid…
It kinda hurt his pride that his boss had put more faith in a high schooler than him, but he must admit he would hold no candle against the kid's quirk.
"Pete, you know how much I trust my subordinates, right?" Tony put on a pair of glasses and picked up the documents. "You will become my successor in the future, so don't feel too bad about it. Even if we're not strong enough to face the foes, we can use our pieces strategically to protect others."
"You trust him," Peter murmured, more a statement than a question.
Tony smiled, a glint of pride in his eyes. "With my life."
Is that so… If Mr Stark says so, maybe I should as well. Peter decided to cut off his overthinking and change the topic.
"Mr Stark… Did your eyesight get worse? I thought your quirk enhanced nerves in your brain, too."
Tony exhaled a sigh. "In our body, our brain consumes the most energy among the organs. I'm 55, kid. My quirk and body are starting to wear down."
Successor. Peter understood how dire it was for Tony. Even though he wasn't sure at all if he could maintain the connections and status quo across the world like his boss had done over the past few decades, it hurt more because his pride wouldn't let anyone inherit the agency except for himself.
"Sir, I won't let you down!" He declared out of nowhere, almost surprising his boss.
"What are you saying so suddenly?"
And so the first day of a new school year arrived briefly after those events.
"What are you doing, Ben?!"
It was a brisk 5:30 in the morning, and already the young lady was berating our protagonist. She had already changed into her school uniform whereas Ben was still in his butler attire for morning duties.
"We are recommended candidates, Ben. This means, we are considered elites!" Momo exclaimed with such passion. "We need to set an example for other students."
"But it's 5:30, Milady," Ben deadpanned. "That's setting an example nobody needs."
"Today's the first day of school," Momo retorted, tempering her tone. "Anyway, leave everything to the maids and change your clothes! We are leaving in half an hour."
"Excuse me?!"
This was how Momo and Ben found themselves arriving at school far too early at 6:15. Ben hadn't even had a chance to decline his mistress's offer of a ride.
The campus was next to empty, save for a few older students jogging around in the hallways. The canteen was even emptier. Ben couldn't believe Momo. She used to be a calm, dignified young lady and now, she always gets easily worked up over small things and tries so hard to act like a proper elite student. Perhaps it was probably that a delinquent like Ben couldn't grasp her mindset.
But Momo wasn't acting this way just for the sake of being an elite.
"Don't you think it's lucky?" Ben remarked. "We're both in Class A, Milady."
Momo had actually been flustered to learn that she and Ben had been placed in the same class. But she wasn't one to show it.
"It's not luck," she insisted, clenching. "It's fate."
Correction: Momo Yaoyorozu is already breaking character!
"Huh? — oh, look, the door is huge!" Ben casually deflected her words as soon as they approached their classroom.
He couldn't help but feel overwhelmed to see the door to their classroom, towering over 4 meters tall at least. But that was probably the least surprising thing about the school.
"Some people have size-shifting quirks," Momo mused. "That must be why."
"Oh, it makes sense," Ben agreed.
The duo stood in silence in the hallway before the door until Momo whispered something to Ben.
"Make sure you don't call me Milady at school."
"Understood, Milady," Ben shrugged.
"Seriously… let's go in."
They were greeted with a surprise as soon as they opened the double door. Someone else was already there!
It's 6:30, you bastards.
"Oh, he is…" Ben muttered, recognizing the half-white half-red hair of the boy already seated in the classroom.
"Todoroki Shoto," Momo whispered. "He's also a recommended applicant like us."
"It's kinda impressive. No, I mean, you guys are nuts," Ben nonchalantly commented as he strolled in.
Are all Americans like that? Momo was already annoyed.
The classroom had 21 desks. With a confident smirk, Ben chose the farthest seat from the whiteboard, close to the window, while Momo sat in front of him, conveniently beside Shoto. The half-white, half-red haired student didn't appear to mind at all.
"Now what?"
Having arrived too early in class, the trio had to wait over an hour for other students. Things got noisier as soon as they had more people in the room.
"Don't you think that's rude to the Senpai from U.A. and those who made this desk!"
This is the first day of school, and the class hasn't even started yet. An argument was already breaking out!
"What Junior High did you go to, you side character?!"
Momo secretly frowned at the scene until she noticed Ben giving her an alarming look. He himself casually observed the argument as if it weren't any big deal. In fact, it wasn't. They were just hot-headed high schoolers. Nothing serious could occur here, right?
"I attended Somei Private Academy," the kid with glasses gave away a serious answer. "My name is Iida Tenya."
This time, Momo was freaked out to see how intensely Ben was watching the two.
Iida Tenya… Tenya seemed to be a serious kid with a conventional attitude who took everything seriously. He got 6th place in the practical part of the entrance exam.
He was a tall young man with a wide frame, and his short dark-blue hair was so neatly combed that it reflected his personality, even. Not the type Ben could get along with immediately, but he wasn't that bad, was he?
At any rate, Iida Tenya came from a family of heroes. If I remember right, his brother is the Pro Hero, Ingenium.
"Somei? So you're a damn elite, huh?!"
On the other hand, Bakugou Katsuki, the top scorer in the practicals – he was… just a hot-blooded youth? Ben couldn't grasp his personality at all, but he certainly sounded disrespectful unlike the loud Tenya. No, Ben would claim Katsuki was the polar opposite of Tenya, which explains why these two were having an argument first thing in the morning.
Tenya was a bit taller and bulkier in comparison, but Katsuki still had an athletic build. That said, his voice was as spiky as his pale blonde hair.
"Looks like I'll have fun crushing you," Katsuki mockingly said.
Tenya on the other hand looked shocked. "Crushing? That's cruel! Are you really aiming to be a hero like that?"
We see all kinds of people at school. Ben internally sighed as he leaned back in his chair. That was when he noticed the young man hesitating to enter the room. He was somewhat short, his dark green hair was almost messy because of how fluffy and curly it was. He also seemed to be someone who would easily get flustered.
Hmm, if I remember right, he is… Midoriya Izuku… He passed the entrance exam just with rescue points. Got 7th, too, that guy is also nuts.
Indeed, Ben Tennyson had somehow taken a peek at the test results and the list of his gonna-be classmates. He knew it wouldn't hurt to try knowing his classmates ahead of time.
"You're…"
No sooner did Tenya react to Izuku standing at the door than everyone turned their attention toward the boy.
"Oh, um…" Izuku stammered nervously.
Without a second wasted, Mr Iida approached him to greet. "I am from Somei Private Academy. My name is–"
"Right, this is how high schoolers should act," Ben muttered under his breath, seeing how Tenya was already forging a friendship with Izuku.
This didn't go unnoticed by Momo.
"You should also make friends as soon as you get a chance," she nudged Ben. "You're a foreigner here."
Rather, Ben was being too critical and annoying lately, so the young lady wanted him to learn how to be nice.
"Not the only foreigner," he retorted, pointing at the blond gentleman seated close to the front door. "That guy's French."
"That's not the point," Momo shook her head in defeat.
"No worry, Mi– Yaoyorozu-san," Ben replied with a thumbs-up. "I'm not anti-social. At least I know how to make friends."
Meanwhile there was a new girl who just arrived at the door and started bullying the Midoriya kid already.
"Oh, that curly hair! You're the plain looking one! You passed just like Present Mic said!"
Uraraka Ochako… Her auburn hair was as bubbly as her personality. She also ranked third in the practicals.
She seemed to be social and outgoing, dominating the likes of Izuku in seconds. Dude couldn't even talk back properly…
"Oh, well, um, it was thanks to you speaking directly to him that I, uh…" (Izuku)
"Huh? How did you know about that?" (Ochako)
"Oh, uh, that's because…"
Things are getting really noisy in the front. Ben gritted his teeth, almost as if their overflowing passion of youth was eating him away.
"I wonder if today's just the entrance ceremony and orientation? I wonder what our teacher's like? Are you nervous?"
This looks bad. Ben felt uneasy seeing that. She's overwhelming Midoriya–
His thoughts were immediately cut off by a gravelly male voice that came from outside. He couldn't see the owner of the voice though.
"Go somewhere else if you want to play at being friends. This is the hero course."
Students in front of the class were taken aback as they looked down at the source of voice, which was on the floor. Followed by the sound of a zipper.
"Okay, it took eight seconds before you went quiet," said the same voice. "Time is limited. You kids are not rational enough."
Oh, I can see him now. Ben's eyes were now set on the gloomy middle-aged man with long black hair, standing at the door as he came out of a yellow sleeping bag.
"I'm your homeroom teacher, Aizawa Shota."
Aizawa Shota… How weird. He didn't participate in the entrance exam. Of course, he didn't. He's the homeroom teacher! Messy long dark hair and dark clothes, his facial hair is also stubbly and unkempt! His outfit is also all dark except for the bandage-like scart around his neck. Oi, oi, is it even okay to have this gloomy guy as our teacher?
"It's kind of sudden, but," Aizawa pulled out a gym outfit from his sleeping bag. "Change into these outfits and go out onto the field."
The U.A. P.E. uniform is a pair of dark blue pants with white vertical lines going up the legs and a dark blue short sleeve shirt with white lines that form the letters 'U' and 'A'.
Well, I'm getting sleepy here so… Ben yawned, stretching his limbs. It's better to do some physical tests in the morning.
For that, too, Ben had already made a proper research to prepare for what was coming. From his findings, Aizawa Shota was a difficult man who wouldn't hesitate to expel his students if he deemed them unsuitable. U.A. High's rules also allow that, especially because the Hero Course must be strict about qualifications. Heck, Mr Aizawa had a record of expelling the entire class.
Ben could only hope he wouldn't get caught up in some big mess just at the beginning of his high school career.
A few minutes later…
Now dressed in a short-sleeve gym outfit, Ben glanced at his wrist. There, a digital wristwatch-like device with a black square faceplate and two green stripes outlined an hourglass-like symbol. Momo's eyes widened as she spotted it—the Omnitrix, Ben's support item. It looked sleek and unassuming, but she knew its functions were far more complex than one would expect.
"So now, we're gonna have a Quirk Apprehension Test," announced Aizawa as soon as the class arrived on the field.
"A Quirk apprehension test?!" The class, most of it anyway, exclaimed in unison.
Some students including Ochako were the most shocked by the information.
"What about the entrance ceremony? The orientation?!"
"If you're going to become a hero," explained Aizawa-sensei. "You don't have time for such leisurely events. U.A's selling point is how unrestricted its school traditions are. That's also how the teachers run the classes."
Ben wasn't surprised at all since he had found out about it beforehand. Aizawa-sensei's quirk test consisted of eight parts. All of them were basic physical tests, but by letting them quirks, he could study how effectively the students could use their abilities as well as their immediate limits and weaknesses.
The problem wasn't the test, but Aizawa himself.
"You guys have been doing these since Junior High, right? Physical fitness tests where you weren't allowed to use your quirks."
Not to brag but Ben usually got above-average scores in such tests. The same could be said for Yaoyorozu Momo who has a private gym at home.
"Bakugou, you ranked first in the practical exam, right?" asked the teacher. "What was your best result for the softball throw in your Junior High?"
"67 meters," replied Katsuki Bakugou.
"Then try doing it with your quirk."
Aizawa-sensei handed Bakugou a softball and had him stand in a pre-drawn circle on the field as he gave him instructions.
"You can do whatever you want as long as you stay in the circle. Hurry up. Give it all you've got."
"Then, well…" Bakugou did a stretch and prepared himself.
Meanwhile our protagonist, Ben, was purposely hiding behind Momo, yawning. She wanted to smack him in the head, but decided not to.
"Die!" Bakugou spun himself a bit and threw the ball with all his strength, immediately using his quirk which exploded on the trail of the ball and boosted its momentum.
Bakugou Katsuki, 15, Quirk: Explosion. — allows him to secrete nitroglycerin-like sweat from the palms of his hands and ignite it on command, allowing him to create strong explosions.
"That is the most rational way to form the foundation of a hero," said Aizawa-sensei, raising his smartphone that displayed the numbers, 705.2 meters.
"705 meters? Seriously?"
"What is this? It looks fun!"
"We can use our Quirks as much as we want! As expected from the hero course!"
Kaminari Denki, Ashido Mina, and Sero Hanta. Ben recalled their names real quick.
Given how society works, no matter how amazing your quirk is, the laws restrict people from using quirks without license in public. Otherwise, with all these "super" powers, the world could've gotten even more chaotic.
"It looks fun, huh?" Aizawa-sensei interrupted them with a gloomy tone. "You have three years to become a hero. Will you have an attitude like that the whole time?"
Joining the hero course is like enlisting in a tamer version of the military. Ben mentally sighed.
Now Aizawa-sensei had a devilish smile. "Alright. Now whoever comes in the last place in the overall of eight tests will be deemed to have no potential and will be punished with expulsion."
"Huh?!" Everyone except a select few exclaimed in unison.
There he goes. Ben couldn't help but grin. If we don't do well, he's seriously gonna expel us. Though, I don't see myself in that position.
Ben Tennyson was feeling too big for his boots.
"Natural disasters, big accidents, and selfish villains," Aizawa-sensei went on and explained. "Calamities whose time or place can't be predicted. Japan is covered with unfairness. Heroes are the ones who reverse those situations. For the next three years, U.A. will do all it can to give you one hardship after another. Go beyond, Plus Ultra. Overcome it with all you've got."
Being a superhero is never easy. Ben recalled a certain old friend. I happen to know an idiot who did his hero work 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. It's all about resolve, I guess. People these days are nuts.
To Ben's surprise, Aizawa's words didn't gloom the class. In fact, he even motivated them for the better!
Since they're going to give it their best… he cracked his knuckles and walked out from hiding.
"All right! The demonstration is over. Here's the first—"
"Aizawa-sensei!" Ben called out.
"Huh?"
Not just the teacher, but the entire class turned to look at the brunet foreigner. As he had been purposely hiding his presence, he successfully surprised some students who hadn't noticed him earlier.
"Wow, he's a cutie," a girl with pink-colored skin commented quietly, which unfortunately made Momo want to smack her off-duty butler for some reason. But she resisted the urge and said nothing.
"Can I go first?" Ben asked. "I want as much time as possible before using my quirk again."
That kid… Ben Tennyson… Aizawa-sensei didn't show any prominent reaction but he recalled the information. He got a recommendation from some top hero agency from America. Maybe he has potential?
"Do what you like," he said in the same gravelly tone as he stepped back.
"Thank you, Sir."
"The first test is 50-meter dash. Get ready and stand at the start line. Hmm… since we have 21 students, Tennyson, you'll have to go alone."
"Fine by me."
Other students were rather impressed by how fluently Ben spoke Japanese. But no one just dared to interact with him right away as he was a foreigner. Even then they were curious about his quirk.
The most excited was Momo Yaoyorozu who already knew about his quirk. The variety it brought was just… entertaining?
There was a special camera set up at the place where the running test would be conducted.
"On your mark…"
With a proud grin, Ben walked over there and raised his left wrist to his chest. A tap on his wristwatch, and it summoned a circular hologram over it, displaying an array of non-human monster heads.
Aizawa was also intrigued.
"I wonder what his quirk is…" Midoriya thought out loud.
"I agree," Iida said, impressed by Ben's "support item".
Hehe, you guys are in for a surprise. Momo was staying composed, but deep inside, she wanted to enjoy so much how others would react when Ben…
Transform!
"Okay, I've found the right one for the job!" Ben exclaimed, removing his finger from the faceplace.
It slid down to the side, allowing something inside to rise up. Its green symbol was glowing bright.
"Henshin!" Ben cried out, pressing the device.
Even the usually aloof Todoroki Shoto covered his eyes as Ben was seemingly engulfed in several whips of bright green light.
I should've looked up his quirk beforehand. Aizawa regretfully thought as some supernaturally big orange dog replaced his student after a flash of light! This is intriguing!
"GRRRR!" Roared whatever creature that replaced Ben.
"Get set," the camera declared.
It only took the big dog four leaps to successfully land over the finish line, and he just did it with ease.
"2.32 sec." — declared the robot.
That was when Ben immediately realized he fked up. Crap, I overdid it!
"Grrr?"
The big orange dog Ben transformed into didn't seem to have eyes, ears or nose. Heck, he didn't even have a tail. His teeth were very defined and his bottom jaw stuck out of his mouth. That said, he had three gill-like nostrils located on each side of his neck.
"What the hell is that even?!" Bakugou couldn't help reacting to what just happened.
"So his quirk is…" Iida muttered.
"... a transformation type!" Midoriya commented.
He reminds me of Hound Dog. Aizawa grinned, staring at the result shown on his phone. But he has so damn potential.
But there were some who would take this chance without fail, to interact with him.
"Hey, can I touch your fur?" The pink-haired girl didn't even hesitate as she approached him with her hand ready.
The orange dog that was Ben, nodded with a quiet grunt, then lowering his head to let the girl pet him.
Ashido Mino. She resembled a fantastical alien girl due to her light pink skin and two horns protruding from her hair. Her hair was colored a different shade of pink, but her eyes were also somewhat square-shaped eyes with black sclera and yellow irises.
"Wow… um, this is so fluffy. These parts are stiff though."
Okay, this is getting weird. Ben noted as Ashido touched one of his spines on his back. Is this even appropriate to show on TV? She's touching me there—
"Ahem," Aizawa intervened as people began to surround Ben the dog. "We don't have time. Let's move on."
"Hai…" Ashido's voice was deflated.
With his warning, there was a flash of green light and Ben was reverted to normal.
Tennyson Ben, 15. Quirk: Monster Transformation.
By sending waves of specific stimulation to his DNA, he can transform into one of the nine non-human-like "monsters". It's said that he gains a new transformation every year since his quirk was awakened, but he has yet to unlock his tenth transformation.
Developed by Stark Industries, Ben's support item, the Omnitrix, can directly introduce specific stimulation to his DNA at command. But from the records, his quirk has a limit. Using it frequently can make him lose control and go berserk. It's possible he won't be able to transform back to human form if the Omnitrix broke after transforming.
On that note, Ben also has a tendency to name his forms.
"So is it like, you became a real dog?" Ashido asked with curious eyes.
"I didn't," Ben deadpanned. "I couldn't speak in that form, but it's still me."
"I'd like a big and obedient dog too!"
"Yeah, that's becoming offensive, Ashida-san."
That also reminds Hound Dog. Aizawa noted to himself. Though, in his case, he forgets human language when his emotions are intense.
That's the Monster Transformation quirk, huh.
But unbeknownst to the teacher, there were more surprises in tow than he expected.
Other students also took the first test in pairs, but the one who came close to Ben's record was Iida Tenya, with 3.04 seconds.
Iida Tenya, 15, Quirk: Engine. — grants him car-like engines in each of his calves, giving him incredible running speed and extreme kicking power.
So Iida's quirk was supposed to specialize in this field, yet Ben bested him somehow.
"That was amazing, Tennyson-kun," Iida's voice was so filled with passion and respect that it almost made Ben feel bad.
"You're pretty amazing yourself, Iida-kun."
"Okay, the next test is… Standing Long Jump," Aizawa announced. "I believe you don't need any break?"
Ben shook his head. His "time" limit was already up anyway.
For this test, there was a sandbox prepared in the field. The students would have to do standing long jumps to assess their distances individually. As promised, Ben was allowed to go ahead of others.
Bakugou looked pissed about it, spouting random nonsense at the brunet who didn't even bother.
"Then I will just use the same form," Ben said, activating his support item — the Omnitrix.
"The same form?—"
Before anyone could catch on what he really meant, he yet again transformed into the big orange quadrupedal creature, only to be interjected by Aizawa.
"Tennyson, that wouldn't do," he said, scratching his head. "It won't be a standing long jump anymore if you do it on four."
The dog growled in response before quickly transforming back to Ben.
"So this is a problem…" he looked quite troubled. Aizawa-sensei, on the other hand, was trying to make a guess at Ben's limits.
That orange doggie can't just jump on its hind limbs…
"Couldn't you make it an exception for him?" Ashido spoke up.
Bakugou exploded upon hearing her suggestion. "Huh?! Why would we—!"
"No need. Also calm down," Ben exhaled a sigh. "I have no choice but to use my other forms."
"Another form?!" Ashido was excited. Clearly, she must be hoping for another fluffy creature.
Momo gently shook her head in disappointment. Does he like toying with people or something? He could've just transformed into another creature right away without any drama. Why did I even hire a twisted person like him?
"Yeah, my quirk allows me to use different transformations," Ben explained. "Every year since my quirk awakened, I gained a new form."
"Why are you explaining it to us?!" Bakugou growled angrily. "Hurry the fk up!"
"Okay, okay…" Ben tapped his wristwatch again like before. "Since I have no time… Henshin!"
To the students, Ben's quirk might have sounded like a big deal, but to Aizawa, it was barely anything impressive. There were several known quirks that allowed the user to assume non-human form in one way or another. Like the current Top 5 Pro Hero, Edgeshot, who uses his quirk creatively to transform himself. The Top 9 Hero, Ryukyu, can transform into a large western dragon.
But it was something else that smelled fishy.
"Bullfrag!"
ブルフラッグ (Burufuraggu)
With that gravelly cry, standing where Ben used to be was a proud, tall, muscular gentleman in a bodysuit with the color scheme matching the U.A. gym uniform. He also wore dark green shades, the Omnitrix symbol glowing on his chest.
Aizawa raised a brow. This "monster" looked plain in comparison to the first fluffy dog. But there were some students who were astonished by the "manliness" of this form.
Kirishima Eijiro's eyes were sparkling.
"Okay, you can jump when you're ready," Aizawa reminded Ben.
"Got it, sensei," Ben sounded weird: his voice was deep and infused with a Kansai dialect.
He bent his knees where he stood, pouring strength into his legs. As he unleashed more power in his thigh muscles, he jumped into the air as high as a good few dozen meters before landing some meters away from the sandbox. Overall, funnily enough, it was more like a vertical jump.
"So how was that, sensei?"
"Good enough," Aizawa said curtly. "Okay, next, hurry up."
"Bullfrag, is it?" Kirishima approached him. "Do you name your transformations? Man, that was so cool!"
"You think so?" Bullfrag gulped. He could only imagine how goofy he was in this form. "Thanks, man."
Kirishima Eijiro. Quirk: Hardening. — allows him to harden his body parts or even entire body.
Kirishima is a muscular young man of average height, his long hair dyed bright red and left in a spiky style.
"Does this one do heavy lifting?!"
"I-I'm not sure? Wait, let me transform back…"
With a flash of green light, Ben quickly canceled his transformation.
"Shouting the names is also so cool, so manly!" Kirishima excitedly commented.
"Then, then, what was the first one called? That big dog?!" Ashido chimed in.
"That one's Wildmutt," Ben answered, proud of his naming sense.
"Wai… Wairudomatto? So cool!" (ワイルドマット)
Oi, stop, praising him would only send him over cloud nine!
"Next!"
In this test, those with quirks that could propel them forward got better results than Ben. It seemed Ben should've jumped forward instead of upward, but it was pointless dwelling it.
So naturally, Bakugou cleared the sandbox with the longest distance.
"Next up, long-distance run. Who wants to go first with Tennyson?" Aizawa looked at the crowd.
Silence and suspense took over. It wasn't that no one wanted to compete with Ben. It was the opposite and that was the problem.
And the one who makes the first move takes the win.
"Sensei, me," a serious Iida Tenya raised his hand. In the 50-meter dash, he couldn't exert his full power since the path was too short. But this time… he wanted to see how he fared against the beast.
"Good, the rest watch here. Follow me, you two."
As they arrived at the start line, Ben transformed into Wildmutt once again. Iida activated his quirk, smoke bursting from his silver exhaust pipes in his calves.
"This time, I can use my full power," Iida said with a serious expression.
Wildmutt only grunted in response as he stretched over the start line.
"Wait, don't tell me…" Iida noticed something crucial about his opponent. "Sorry if this sounds rude, are you… blind?!"
Wildmutt shook his head desperately as he took a step back, knowing the position of the line from the smell of the paint on the ground.
"I mean, your eyes–"
Their homeroom teacher sighed as Iida suddenly became noisy again.
"Get set," declared the robot.
The two participants started running.
Wildmutt had a slight edge over Iida at first, but as Iida picked up higher speed and shifted his "gears," the result became apparent. Well, it wasn't a competition in the first place.
But Iida Tenya had something else troubling his mind.
Is this even a fair race? He thought. Tennyson-kun's blind in that form, right? How is he even running along the marks…
Exactly, Wildmutt, that was Ben Tennyson, was running along the marks.
Wildmutt was blind, that is, in a traditional sense. He didn't have eyes after all. But the paints of the markings on the field had a faint smell no one else could catch on. But Wildmutt, who had gills for nostrils with strong olfactory senses, could clearly follow those markings without difficulty.
"That was a good race, Tennyson-kun," Iida grabbed Ben's shoulders before he could run away. "But tell me this one, is your Wildmutt form blind?"
"Wh-why do you think so?" Ben knew there was no escaping Iida's grip, though the latter didn't realize how threatening he looked right now.
"At first, I thought your eyes were hidden in the fur. But based on how you were acting…"
"Ah, okay, time out. Yeah, Wildmutt is blind," Ben sighed, trying to break free. "But I could sense my surroundings easily with smell and sounds, etc. It's my second transformation so I have a lot of practice with that one."
"I see. I'm sorry, Tennyson-kun. That wasn't a fair race."
"Are you even listening?!"
"It's not about being fair," Aizawa-sensei intervened. "It's to test how effectively you can use your quirks and grasp the respective weaknesses and strengths. Don't waste the time."
This teacher came prepared to be utterly disappointed. But so far, his new students have been doing well enough — it was unusual for him to see potential in each of them. Except one…
He wasn't satisfied at all with Midoriya's results in the previous tests. In short, that green head would have to injure his limbs to utilize the capacity of his quirk, which was obviously why he avoided using it in the tests. But of course, that won't do.
"Hai, I'm sorry, sensei!" Iida apologized passionately.
"If you're sorry, move out of the lane."
With that, Iida bested Wildmutt in the long-distance run, the latter still ranking 2nd in this test.
Later, Aizawa led the class into the gymnasium for other tests. For seated toe-touch and sit-up exercises, Ben didn't seem to have suitable transformations, so he did those tests in human form. He then did the repeated side-steps as Bullfrag, coming in second to a classmate named Mineta Minoru. He just bounced between the balls made with his quirk.
Now it's time for the Grip Strength Test.
"Are you using a new transformation?" A blond-haired classmate asked, approaching Ben.
Kaminari Denki, 15, Quirk: Electrification. – his quirk would be pretty useless for most parts of the test. Ben couldn't help but wonder how he could be doing by.
"Yes, I think this one will do well."
"Good for you," he sounds deflated.
Meanwhile a massive student with multiple arms used his three left arms to achieve a record-breaking grip strength.
"540 kilograms?!"
Shoji Mezo, 15, Quirk: Dupli-Arms. — grants him a set of tentacles alongside his arms. He can transform the tips of these tentacles to replicate other parts of his body (ex: mouth, ears, eyes).
Many students were amazed by his performance. Kaminari was looking down at his grip device in defeat before getting surprised by Ben's bright green flash.
"Henshin! Four Arms!"
フォーアームズ (Fō Āmuzu)
"You must be kidding me!" Kaminari exclaimed, seeing the 10-feet tall red-skinned muscular humanoid beast Ben became. "You have four arms now?!"
Four Arms has four eyes and four massive arms, while he is bald without any prominent nose. Ben himself doesn't know how Four Arms' extra set of eyes help his field of vision. What's funny was Four Arms was simply wearing a modified version of the U.A. gym uniform.
"Oh, look, Shoji," Mineta remarked nonchalantly. "Your character's not unique anymore."
"Why?" Shoji didn't seem to mind at all.
"Also red skin," Mineta continued. "He also took over your character, Kirishima."
"Tennyson can't stop being manlier and manlier today," Kirishima clenched his fist. "I, too, must work harder!"
"I remembered I could use this one, too," Four Arms grinned, picking up his gripper. "But I will just use one hand."
Aizawa wanted to say something about it but he gave it a second thought and decided not to. If he wanted to know the power of two arms, he could just make a guess from one. At this point, Ben had already been given a passing grade—
"2500 kg?!"
Aizawa flinched as he heard Kirishima exclaim.
"I think you broke it already, the device," Kaminari said, inspecting what became of the gripper. "Sensei! Ben broke his grip!"
It seems we've already found an interesting kid. Aizawa grinned like a devil when he approached the group.
"Sorry, I thought I perfectly controlled my strength," Four Arms' apologetic look was almost creepy.
"No need," Aizawa said as he quickly typed something into the notes on his smartphone. "Okay, you guys, too, if you're done, prepare to get out on the field."
"Again?!" (Kaminari)
"We need to wrap this up before it's too hot outside," Aizawa explained.
"Ah, we still haven't done the ball throw," Kirishima remarked.
After finishing the tests in the gym, Aizawa led the class outside onto the field again for the last test — ball throw, which Aizawa-sensei demonstrated with Bakugou earlier.
"You remember that, right?"
"Yes, sir," Ben said, activating his support item as he stood inside the circle.
Meanwhile, spying on them after afar was All Might, hiding behind a nearby building. He was just worried about a certain student after finding out how harsh Aizawa was when handling the students.
From the looks of it, the first two transformations are not suitable for this test. Aizawa judged. So the best one to choose is the last one.
After this flash of green light, Ben had been replaced by a brown-skinned 12-feet-tall humanoid reptile, resembling a dinosaur. He was massive and muscular, with a long tail, his arm looking much stronger and bigger than his legs. He was effectively naked, except for a sash across his chest going from his right shoulder to the left side of his lower back. The color scheme of the sash resembled that of the U.A gym uniform, but connected to an Omnitrix symbol on his chest.
"Humungousaur!"
ヒューモンゴーソー (Hyūmongōsō)
Humungousaur's voice was deeper and more masculine than Bullfrag's, though he didn't have any notable dialect.
"Should I ask him the secret to being this manly?" Kirishima muttered thoughtfully. "It takes more than courage to stand naked and proud."
"Ha, I don't think that's anything to do with it," Ashido sweatdropped.
"A new one again?!" Kaminari exclaimed. "I thought you were going to use that four-armed guy again…"
"Extra arms are kinda awkward to control," Ben quickly gave an excuse.
"He has a tail," Mineta whispered to a classmate with a tail. "He's threatening your character, too."
But Humungousaur's tail wasn't as flexible and prehensile as that guy's.
Ojiro Mashirao. A muscular young man with short blond hair… and a tail! His quirk was also that prehensile tail, that was built bigger than his limbs.
"Don't you get it?!" Bakugou yelled. "He's just showing off!"
Momo secretly agreed with that sentiment. She didn't have a strong quirk so she had to be creative when working around the tests. But Ben Tennyson here was just using different forms to "show off," no doubt. That's the kind of guy he was.
Logically speaking, each of his many forms would get different results in each test.
"I don't really know how to control my tail," Humungousaur admitted. "So can you move away?"
"Move if you don't want to get struck," Aizawa said as he himself took some steps back.
This is the fourth transformation. Aizawa made some quick calculations. Each form is vastly different from the other and they can provide different uses. The first two seem to excel in speed and agility while the previous four-armed one and this dinosaur provide strength.
"Booooomm!"
The ball Humungousaur threw broke the sound barrier, with the powerful whirlwinds blowing around him. The students were stunned into silence, the sheer power of Humungousaur's throw resonating in the air. Even Bakugou was speechless.
"1745.6 meters," Aizawa muttered, showing his phone.
"Whoa," Kaminari breathed, eyes wide with astonishment. "That's insane!"
It seems Young Man Midoriya's class has got a crazy strong kid. Even All Might was taken aback. Is Midoriya going to be okay?
"That's a super manly result!" Kirishima exclaimed.
Meanwhile, Bakugou could only click his tongue in frustration. Humungousaur's throw had more than doubled his own record.
"Ahh, are you even human?" Kaminari said, rubbing Humungousaur's knee.
"W-well…"
According to the logical explanation, Ben was supposed to transform on a genetic level whenever he uses his quirk. So Ben right now couldn't be called human anymore.
Though Ben's result was impressive on his own…
Uraraka Ochako, 15. Quirk: Zero Gravity — gives her the power to nullify the effects of gravity on solid targets (living and nonliving) by touching them with the pads on her fingertips, causing them to become weightless and float. She is able to cancel the effect of her Quirk by touching her finger pads together.
So yeah, that's how Uraraka got infinity and beyond. Plus Ultra.
Ben recalled how she used her quirk to make her clothes light during the 50-meter dash. Her quirk was almost scary, but thankfully, she seemed to be a nice girl.
But now I can't help but worry about Midoriya-kun. Ben looked back at the green head who nervously moved into the circle. It's half-certain he's gonna get—
His thoughts were cut off as Midoriya's softball softly landed on the ground just a few dozen meters away from the boy.
"46 meters…" announced the robot.
—expelled…
"I…" Midoriya got even more nervous, looking down at his hands. "I was definitely trying to use my quirk right now…"
This is…
"I erased your quirk," said Aizawa-sensei, his long hair and the scarf around his neck billowing dramatically in the air.
It was only then Ben remembered who their teacher actually was.
So this is… the power of Pro Hero: Eraserhead.
"The entrance exam was definitely not rational enough," Aizawa began his rant. "Even a kid like you was accepted."
"You erased my quirk?!" Midoriya the nerd also began channeling his nerdiness. "Those goggles! I see—"
Aizawa Shota, 30, Quirk: Erasure — the ability to nullify another person's Quirk by looking at the user.
"Eraser? Who?" "I've heard of him. He's sorta an underground hero."
"From what I can tell, you can't control your quirk, right?" Aizawa said with a pair of judging red eyes. "Do you intend to become incapacitated again and have someone save you?"
"Th-that's not my intention—"
Midoriya tried to retort but unfortunately, it wasn't a comedy sketch. Aizawa grabbed Midoriya with his bandage-like scarf and pulled him closer, shutting him up.
"Whatever your intention, I'm saying that's what those around you will be forced to do. In the past, there was an oppressively passionate hero who saved over a thousand people just by himself and became a legend. Even if you have the same reckless valor, you'll just be decked and turned into a ragdoll after saving one person."
Okay, sensei makes a good point. Ben nodded, sliding his hands into his pants pockets.
"Izuku Midoriya," the teacher continued. "With your power, you can't become a hero."
But then at any rate, he let go of Midoriya. "I've returned your quirk. You have two turns for the ball throw. Hurry up and get it over with."
So he still wants to give him a chance…
"This doesn't look good for Midoriya at this rate," Iida pointed out the elephant in the room.
Earning a yell from Bakugou…
"Of course not! He's a quirkless small fry, you know!"
"Quirkless? Are you not aware of what he did in the entrance exams?"
Ben somehow managed to get his hands on the entrance exam footage. He vividly recalled how Midoriya had single-handedly taken down a zero-pointer trap robot — a faux villain designed to be an "obstacle". That green-haired idiot had obliterated it with a single punch to save Uraraka Ochako, earning himself a well-deserved 60 rescue points in the process.
So he certainly wasn't quirkless. No amount of physical training is going to make you so strong that you could essentially destroy metal mecha that aren't even rusty.
"Huh?!" Bakugou seemed to be out of loop.
If that had come from anyone else, Ben would've ignored and moved on. But since it was Bakugou, it didn't sit right. According to the info he gathered, this hot-headed kid was not only Midoriya's childhood friend, but also a classmate in their last middle school year.
Is this a case of "late bloomer"?
No, it was still natural and convincing if Bakugou didn't know Midoriya's quirk. Quirks are supposed to be a form of evolution, so human bodies usually develop in the way they can contain the quirk capacity to a certain extent and make it functional. But from the looks of it, Midoriya's body was a case where he couldn't use his quirk without damaging himself. It's uncommon but not that rare.
So it would still perfectly explain if the kid didn't use his quirk as much.
"What do you think?" Momo whispered to Ben. "About his quirk."
"Yaoyorozu-san, I'm not a quirk specialist just because I have multiple forms. What I can say is… He's not going to have it easy."
"Stating the obvious."
"Please don't pry into their personal matters."
Ben the hypocrite, who had secretly researched each and every one of his classmates, had just said all that.
"SMASH!" — Midoriya's battle cry.
Ah…
All Ben could see was a series of powerful shockwaves and the ball flying out of Midoriya's hand. It soared several hundred meters through the air at an impressive speed until it landed on the ground.
"Grr, I missed it! All because you distracted me!" Ben looked frustrated as he didn't see how the green head threw the ball.
"Idiot…" Momo could probably never control this fool.
But at any rate, Aizawa seemed momentarily speechless as he looked down at his smartphone for Midoriya's result. The latter stood panting where he was.
"Sensei…" Midoriya gritted his teeth as he turned around. "I can still move."
"Midoriya Izuku… 705.3 meters," Aizawa announced with a devilish grin.
"His finger is swollen," Iida pointed out, only then did Ben fully grasp what had just happened.
"So Midoriya sacrificed his finger for that throw…" Ben muttered, which made Momo feel uneasy. Damn, it looks hella painful.
"Woah, that's pretty scary."
"I mean, broken fingers can be healed. —"
Wow, that Bakugou dude is looking really freaky right now. Even Ben flinched upon seeing the explosion boy's expression. But it didn't stop there.
Bakugou charged toward Midoriya with his quirk activated in his hands. Immediately in response, Ben tapped the Omnitrix, ready to transform in order to stop Bakugou, only to be stopped by Momo.
"Don't be rash," she said, grabbing his right wrist. "Look."
"Oh…"
Bakugou is now restrained in Eraserhead Aizawa's binding cloth scarf, while his quirk was also nullified effectively.
"These are capture weapons made of carbon fiber woven together with metal wire made of special alloy," Aizawa said. "Jeez, you problem kids, don't make me use my quirk over and over. I have Dry Eye!"
Finally something Ben hadn't known beforehand! A surprise!
Anyway, the dispute ended that way with Bakugou left frustrated and hella mad. Ben decided to keep an eye on him for the time being without intervening unless necessary.
But for real, Aizawa-sensei had earned Ben's respect on the first day for his ability to effectively stop any quirk fight with just a glance!
Soon after all students finished with the ball throw, the teacher turned on a holographic monitor displaying the assessment results. 21 students — Ben first, Momo second, with Midoriya at the bottom.
Well, that wasn't completely unexpected, though Midoriya did great in the last test.
Midoriya's getting expelled—
"By the way, I was lying about the expulsion," Aizawa nonchalantly revealed, before putting on his devilish smile again. "It was a rational deception to draw out the upper limits of your quirk."
"What?!"
Midoriya looked like his soul just left his body from the shock.
"Of course, that was a lie," Momo pointed out.
But it wasn't just Midoriya who had his soul leaving the body.
"You knew?!" Ben exclaimed.
"Hmph, it should've been obvious if you just thought it through."
"You should've… Hmm."
This time it was Ben who swallowed the urge to smack his mistress. Butlers do have a duty to set their master straight and need to use violence if necessary. But Momo wasn't completely wrong.
It was just, Ben had been so cautious that he relied too much on the information instead of giving it a rational thought.
What's going on? Aizawa-sensei didn't hesitate to expel his students.
"With that, we're done here."
Aizawa-sensei then handed a letter to Midoriya and had him visit the infirmary.
"Todoroki-kun got third place, and I can understand that," Ben looked back at Momo suspiciously. "But how the hell did you get second?"
"What, are you harassing me?" Momo barked back. "Sorry that I don't have an amazing quirk like yours. My quirk is all about cheating."
"Don't be like that," Ben tried to smooth his way out. "I was going to congratulate you, Yaoyorozu-san."
"You two seem to be friends already?" Ashido chimed in. Unexpected?
Momo and Ben both realized they had become too comfortable with each other in public. Ben didn't particularly have any issue with it, but Momo couldn't risk letting others find out about their relationship. Only if they were lovers, it would be much easier to explain, but they weren't! Ben being her employee was just another level of scandal for her.
"Uh, yeah, our parents are friends so…" Ben calmly answered. But immediately, the two realized what went wrong.
Wait, aren't you an orphan?! Momo said telepathically.
Oh, yeah, I'm an orphan. Ben smiled uneasily. That's how the story went. Well, fk.
"Wow, you two are friends already. That's so good! Can I be your friend too?"
"Yeah." "Yeah, of course." The duo answered almost in unison.
"Hey, you guys," Iida reminded them. "We need to change our clothes. Come on."
"Maybe you should try befriending him, too," Ben suggested.
"He's kinda scary, but I'll try."
"I get it…"
Iida sometimes reminded him of Momo. They both were "elite" kind of students, but Momo didn't always show her passion and seriousness. She was the type who believed in "Show, Don't Tell."
The afternoon went down uneventfully.
"Going to the station?! Wait for me!"
Uraraka Ochako caught up to the unlikely pair of Iida and Midoriya. Behind the trio was Momo and Ben.
"Do you want me to carry your—" Ben began.
"No, I'm not a little girl," Momo shot him down immediately.
"You should act like a real high schooler sometimes. Like that girl, Uraraka-san."
"That's your image of an average high schooler?" Momo looked both annoyed and disturbed.
Ben liked to use unfunny jokes whenever he interacted with people around him. Momo believed it was half the reason why Ben was so unsocial right now.
"By the way, I have to go somewhere else, so can you go ahead?"
Momo gave Ben a suspicious look, but she had no reason to pry into Ben's private matters. "Alright. Don't stay out too late."
"What are you, my mom? Anyway, maybe… we should act like strangers at school after all."
However, Momo couldn't help but want to have some control over her butler even if it sounds illogical. But he was the kind of bird she couldn't land a hit even if she had a hundred stones.
He went back to the school building and quickly disappeared from her sight, leaving her alone and silent. But at the end of the day, she still had to act dignified and composed. She wasn't just an elite young lady with a wealthy background anymore; she was a hero course student.
While leaving the restroom, Todoroki Shoto caught a glance of Ben who hurried into a stall, but due to his aloof nature, he didn't really care. He did notice a sudden flash of green light immediately afterward.
The stall door slowly opened, unlocked, but there wasn't any Ben anymore.
In the lower stratosphere airspace of Japan, there was a fast unidentified object flying over the clouds at incredible speeds. It was red-colored and resembled a manta-ray-like shape, with two prominent golden protrusions on its front. The wings were wide and smooth, and it was almost like gliding rather than flying.
What's interesting was the glowing green hourglass symbol on his chest. This was who he really was.
Ben Tennyson, 15, Quirk: none; Quirkless. — wields a super-advanced technology called the Omnitrix that allows him to assume the form of one of a million extra-terrestrial sapient species of various shapes and sizes.
The Omnitrix also does more than genetic transformation. Furthermore, the thing about mishaps of the Omnitrix was also a lie. Perhaps Ben Tennyson had much more secrets than Yaoyorozu Momo expected.
"Hello, uh, Tony?" Now Ben was using it as a communication device.
"Ben? How was the first day at school?"
The one on the receiving end of the call was Tony Stark, the head of Stark Heroics.
"Nothing to note," Ben jokingly said. "How is it in the US? Need backup?"
To Ben, Tony Stark wasn't exactly a mentor. More like a collaborator. They had known each other for a few good years, and Ben even had a hand in making Peter Parker the future leader of Stark Heroics. All that while he himself was 15. But Tony had eyes to pick out talents.
"Everything's under control," Tony said. "The Statue of Liberty went missing, but public safety's going strong…"
The disappearance of the statue was an outright challenge to all the American police organizations and even pro heroes. But since it didn't involve any civilians in the way of harm, pro heroes didn't want to get involved either.
Heroes are supposed to protect people and not statues, after all.
"It might be a warning or some sort of symbolism," Tony continued. "Do you have any clue?"
There was a pause where Tony could only hear the noise of strong winds that Ben passed by.
"Nah, I don't want to bother."
Ben was never good with investigations anyway.
"... All right! Enjoy your school life and also look out for villains. That's all."
"Okay, Mr Stark."
The type of villains Ben would have to look out for wasn't any small fry, but the real big shots that were going to expose themselves to the public. Or that was what Tony predicted according to his "calculations".
No sooner did Tony hang up than Ben was already in Arctic airspace. Ben's manta-ray-like form was that fast. Oh, it's named Jetray. He glided down tens of thousands of meters all the way to the surface of the sea and then flew up and down parallel to the side of the ice mountains. Upon arriving at one of the biggest mountains in the region, he stopped in the air and assumed another form.
The new form looked more otherworldly, as if it were a hybrid between a winged dark blue moth-like humanoid and a phantom from hell. He had four wings and two antennae-like wing folds that can fold up into a hooded poncho-esque robe, with cyan patches that resemble ice chunks on his arms, legs and wings. This is named Big Chill.
As weird as its appearance was, Big Chill also possessed borderline otherworldly abilities. Like, now he had just phased into the mountain somehow by making himself intangible. With intangibility, invisibility and flight, he was essentially a phantom.
Soon suddenly lights began to glow bright, and revealed to be in the mountain was a large but somewhat empty facility built out of metallic structures housing machinery in the immediate surroundings. The facility was easily a few hundred meters high. There were several large monitors on the tall metallic walls that displayed the state of the major cities of the world in statistics and graphs alongside graphics.
Ben landed on the floor and reverted to his human form. As he approached the monitors, a long keyboard-like control panel stretching to the side of the room slid out of the wall. The panel device was filled with all kinds of buttons and switches arranged horizontally.
"No direct contact today either," he muttered, observing the ups and downs in the graphs though there didn't seem to be any significant difference. "They must be staying really low."
Even though he thought "it" would've stirred a lot in the villain community.
"Now I want to see someone come and try robbing my trophy…"
There was something really tall a few hundred meters behind him at the center of the facility. It was the "missing"... Statue of Liberty.
- To be Continued -
Author Notes: This is my attempt at the Ben 10 X MHA category. This is hands-down the most crowded category among Ben 10 fanfics. But I tried my best to keep my approach original and refreshing. As usual, the protagonist is Ben Tennyson, but an A.R. one with a different set of personality. Because I believed there were too many about Ben Prime already, and I'm, uh, always giving some love to the AR ones. To give credit where it's due, frankly Ben's status as Momo's butler is inspired by My Omnium Academia by Emiyn. Sadly, it hasn't been updated since March 2019— I mean, sorry, I'm in no place to say that, lol.
"So you really did it, bastard!" Yeah, I really did. Six months of absence and writer's block, and now I decided to make a comeback with this. It wasn't easy at all, people. Anyway…
The first chapter is kinda chill, maybe even too chill! There were some interesting plot points and interactions but at the same time, no exciting thrills included. But the second chapter will be where it begins, I swear.
To be completely honest with you, Tony and Peter are there because I don't want to make OCs on the American side of things so I steamrolled that part. I mean, if they're going to be a one-time thing otherwise, I'd rather make them memorable. I also used to be a big Iron Man stan, by the way. Ben's secret base in the last part was also almost a direct reference to Superman's Fortress of Solitude. Big Chill's debut being in the Arctic is a coincidence, lol, if you know what I mean.
Alright, that's all I want to talk about in the first chapter. I kind of went all out writing the twists around Ben's "Quirk." This chapter is far from perfect, even after several stages of editing and improving. So I welcome any kind of critique or advice, alongside any words of praise that will get me on cloud nine.
Jokes aside, I really encourage writing reviews and sharing this story as it will really help me. Thank you all, and see you next chapter.
Chris Chronos.
(Discord: christopherchronos09)