Jolting awake from an odd dream and a falling sensation, Ben found himself in what seemed to be a circular room, lying on a single mattress over the floor. "This isn't my room..." his dizzy muttering echoed a little.
"Rise and shine, brat," Malware's voice crackled from the Omnitrix. "Enjoying your beauty sleep?"
Ben gritted his teeth, suppressing the AI's voice with a mental command. And just when he silenced the mutant, he was struck with the worst skull-splitting headache he had ever had. "How long have I been out for...?"
Holding his head in pain and rubbing his eyes, he stumbled out of the room with a dry mouth and a hand still on the side of his skull. Following the sound of frantic typing, he headed downstairs by a ladder he had just noticed after getting up. ' Is this the attic?' he thought as he descended to what looked like some shop's backroom.
There, he found the same green four-armed alien he had seen in his weird dreams, sitting by a large round table, typing quickly on two hastily put together computer setups, with many papers surrounding him.
'Wait, what does that mean?' he mumbled before getting interrupted by the working ginger. "Ah, my boy! You're finally awake." Hokestar beamed, not taking his eyes off the computer and documents he was working on. "As you can see, I got a bit busy since you dozed off last week." He continued rechecking whatever documents he was on, finally turning his head to Ben.
"Last week?! What are you talking about? And where are we?" Ben yawned by the end of the question, clearly still half asleep.
"Well... You've been asleep for a long time! If you can't remember what happened, I don't blame you, however." Hokestar held his word, reaching somewhere to show Ben something. "Does this refresh your memory?" he said, pulling the shop's dimensional travel machine and placing it over the table.
Finally, the light bulb lit up for him to reply, "Ah! I remember now. The dimensional travel thingamabob got completely toasted after I walked in here."
"Correct! Unfortunately, you visited my shop when my little contraption shut down..." Hokestar confirmed Ben's statement, although a bit ashamed of getting the boy into trouble because of his incompetence.
Ben, noticing the tired tone of Hokestar's voice, says, "It's nothing new, professor. I already got stuck in the Null Void before. I'm sure you can get us out of here soon," reassuring the conman.
"Thank you, Tennyson. And fret not! As soon as we get going here, finding parts and materials to fix this bad boy won't take too long," Hokestar cheered at Ben's oddly quick acceptance of the circumstances.
Ben tilts his head toward the alien's work. "So... What are you working right now? I mean, besides the machine."
Excited at the prospect of showing the Omnitrix wielder his work, "Ah, those forged documents. A perk of my profession! Some would call it... 'creative paperwork,' but you know how it is; we must have some sort of legal existence in this dimension."
Raising an eyebrow at Hokestar's revelation, "Huh, isn't that illegal? Pfft... also 'legal existence'? Yeah, right. " He mused at the prospect of committing a crime, himself being a hero.
"Of course not, my boy! Explaining our current standing to the local authorities would be just about impossible. Besides, we are making their jobs easier by making up these papers ourselves. Someone will have to do it either way," Hokestar rebutted, defending his profession.
He then stood up after putting all his work in a folder and then in his coat. "How about we go for some breakfast? You must be hungry."
Ben's stomach let out a loud gurgle as if on cue, and he couldn't help but nod in agreement. "Yeah, I could go for something to eat."
As they left the shop, the young man's eyes were glued on something else. For starters, the sun hit him like a baseball to the face! Especially his eyes, quite expected from someone who hasn't seen daylight in weeks. Another thing he noticed was that the smoothie shop he teleported into was awfully rundown. It was full of abandoned apartment buildings with visible cracks everywhere, and there was really no one in sight. All of that made their place stand out like a sore thumb.
Patting Ben's back caught him by surprise a bit. "Well then, first order of business: Breakfast! And then we deposit our new identities and property claims with the local postal service."
Looking forward to the Omnitrix wielder's approval, he asked, "How does that sound?"
Ben looked up at the steampunk-themed green alien "Sounds good to me... Wait what's that all about new identities? Who are we here?" he inquired, mainly out of curiosity.
Taking his papers out of his coat in a swift motion, he found their identity papers quickly. "How about this? You'll still be Benjamin Kirby Tennyson." Looking back at the kid with anticipation, he said, "However, you'll be my adopted son! How does that sound?"
Ben's eyes widened. "Wait, what? Your son?"
Hokestar waved a hand dismissively. "TECHNICALLY adopted son, and only on paper. It's merely a legal formality to ensure we don't encounter any... complications during our stay here. You understand, don't you?"
Ben hesitated for a moment, then shrugged. "Hmm... I get it, I thought there'd be an easier way to do this."
"Don't worry Ben, I thought this thoroughly so think like this; if you aren't adopted then that would mean that you have a family, and all of them need their documentation and such, meanwhile adoption papers processing here in Japan is as smooth as a hot knife through butter" He showed Ben the adoption paperwork, which is few in number and detail. then handing him some property paperwork "And these are the details about where we will live, property forums and such."
Upon reading more, Ben realized something. "Wait a second. Aren't these supposed to be in Japanese?"
"You're right, Ben! But to sell our 'foreign family' shtick, it has to be an immigrant form," Hokestar replied, taking the papers back from Ben.
Ben's head felt like it was steaming as he skimmed through the documents. "Man... I'm really bad at civics," he admitted, embarrassed.
As Ben lost concentration, the Omnitrix on his left wrist emitted a red glow, and a nasty robotic voice boomed. "How amusing. The great Ben Tennyson, reduced to a mere fraud!" Malware taunted.
"Shut up!" Ben snapped back, covering the watch. "I'm not a fraud!"
Unbothered by Ben's conflict, Hokestar smiled. "Don't worry about it, my boy. I'm the adult here. Now, let's get some food. All this legal talk must be exhausting."
Finally shutting down the Omnitrix's AI function, Ben sighed. "Yeah, I still have some questions, though."
"We should talk it over a meal then. How about... Let's see..." he continued after pulling a holographic map out of his pockets "Aha! You like 'French cuisine', Benjamin? I know very little about human food, but this one is nearby. We eat, then we deposit our papers."
As they finally sat face to face to eat, Ben couldn't help but squint at the alien, who was already filling the table with a couple of gadgets and mini-floating screens covering much of himself. 'So much for being discreet,' Ben thought at the professor's antics.
"Well then, Ben, let's go over the basics, shall we?" Hokestar said before turning off the monitor to face the annoyed boy. "It seems that the world we are in is a bit... further ahead in the future, at least compared to our own dimension."
Ben turned around and saw that supportive technology for heroes, robotics, and holographic screens are commonplace here despite most architecture and clothing looking just about modern "I couldn't have guessed" he said sarcastically.
In his confusion, Hokestar couldn't help but ignore Ben's comedic quip "But get this! Oddly enough, it isn't the technological level you'd expect Earth to be in the year 2166."
Widening his eyes in surprise "2166?" Ben's shock drew attention to their table, more than they already had at least.
"You heard that right! However, this dimension's earth seems... unrelated to ours." Hokestar mumbled the last part, still looking at one of the two-way holographic screens he has "It's been confirmed, I can neither connect to the Extranet nor find anything about Bellwood here."
Ben sighed in relief "At least it's not the future of our world, I think I've had enough of future versions of me."
Hokestar's stare was slightly surprised. "You've been to the future? That new information." Finally, closing the screens on the screen and putting his gadgets back into their pockets, Hokestar said, "One last thing about this dimension, as you've already noticed—" both looking around the restaurant they're in "-about 80% of people living in this dimension have supernatural abilities they call quirks."
Giving his menu to the waitress after ordering "Seems about right, but most people around here look like normal humans, so what's up with that?" Ben replied.
Clicking his fingers together, Hokestar said, "Good catch, my boy!" He also gave his menu to the lady. "These supernatural abilities are divided into Operative, Composite, and Heteromorphic. They are also called Emitter, Transformation, and Mutant, all in the same order."
A real headscratcher... "So that means only the mutant ones have powers that change their appearance?" Although slightly confused, Ben got the gist of what the professor is talking about.
Nodding along with closed eyes, "You've got that right, and the transformation ones temporarily change the person for power usage." Hokestar confirmed, which was just about when their orders came.
As they started eating, Ben couldn't help but wonder, "Has this place always been like this? Is this a new thing or natural?"
"As far as I've read, no. It is a relatively new phenomenon in the grand scheme of human history. The first known case of naturally born supernatural abilities occurred around 2021." The professor replied, surprising the boy yet again with his knowledge accumulation in such a short period.
"That's not far from when we left off, huh?" Ben said with a mouthful, barely comprehensible.
"Hold that thought until we finish our food, " he said as he was digging in, too. This was interrupted when a guy in a shining full-steel body walked into the restaurant and shook it.
Going immediately to the cash register, he suddenly grabbed the cashier by the collar with one hand, the other ripping the register off the desk with a swift destructive motion. "If you call the heroes for help, I'll crush your skull! YOU HEAR?!" He threatened the scared worker, throwing him away afterward.
"Hey tin-can man, why don't you pick on someone your own size?" The sudden shout caused the steel man to turn his head in a swift panic, thinking the heroes are already here. Only to see that his adversary is a just a little weird boy with a pitch black left hand covered in twisted red glowing lines; this texture was cut off from the rest of his arm by an odd-looking green watch.
Scuffing at the kid in front of him, "Kid, go play hero away from here or else-"
Suddenly, a blur of movement caught Ben's eye. A figure in a sleek, high-tech suit landed between Ben and the villain, the impact creating a small shockwave that knocked the criminal off his feet.
"Or you'll what?" the newcomer asked, their voice modulated through their helmet. They turned to Ben, and though he couldn't see their face, he could feel their disapproval. "Kid, I appreciate the spirit, but leave this to the professionals. You could've gotten yourself killed."
As the hero efficiently subdued and restrained the villain, Ben stood there, feeling useless and small. It was a feeling he wasn't used to, and he didn't like it one bit.
The hero approached Ben after handing the criminal over to the authorities. "Look, I get it. You want to help. But vigilantism would accomplish nothing. It's not just about having powers or good intentions. It's about knowing how to use them responsibly."
Opening his mouth to argue back, he realised he was wrong. what was he going to do against that villain? not transform, that's for sure. Feeling utterly useless against a guy he would've considered a small fry back then, he just nodded to the mech hero's words.
As the hero flew off to their next crisis, Ben felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Hokestar, his expression a mix of concern and understanding.
"Come on, Benjamin," the professor said gently. "I think we still have a lot to learn about this new world of ours."
As they walked away from the scene, Ben's mind was a locked in massive knot. He had always defined himself by being THE hero, by having the power to make a difference. But now, in a world full of superpowered heroes and villains, where did he fit in? And more importantly, who was Ben Tennyson without his aliens?
The Omnitrix buzzed on his wrist, and Malware's mocking laughter was just salt to the injury. Ben clenched his fist, determination setting in. He might not have his old powers, but he was still Ben Tennyson. And somehow, someway, he would find a way to be a hero again, even in this strange new world.