Disclaimer: I still don't own the media I got my proper nouns from. Enjoy...
Nexus HWR 20.9 Coincidence:
Knock knock knock-knock knock. Knock-knock. Dash hit his hand on the door a bunch of times in his usual knocking rhythm, and the taller boy next to him groaned. "What?" Dash asked.
"Couldn't just knock twice or something?" Ben muttered.
"Geez, you're trying too hard to be cool. It's not a big deal," Dash argued.
"I'm not trying to-" Ben began, then the doorknob started twisting in front of them and the taller boy stopped talking. Ben wore a plain white t-shirt and a pair of green pants, while the kid almost a foot shorter than him on his right side had on a blue tee and a pair of red gym shorts. The sun shining brightly over their heads bathed the two in warm light, but it was not too hot as the temperature felt just right.
The door in front of the kids opened and both of them widened their eyes in surprise. Their cheeks turned red too as they each focused on the girl who just opened the door. She was taller than both of them, and a girl so beautiful that Ben and Dash's lower lips fell a few inches. Her hair was chestnut colored and fell behind her all the way to her waist. She had a welcoming expression on her pale face that looked young enough that Ben thought she was probably in her late teens. "Come on in," she told the children at her door, and she stepped aside to give them space to enter.
"Uhh," Dash began hesitantly.
"We were, actually looking for..." Ben started as well.
"Ben? Dash?" The girl questioned. The two kids looked even more surprised as she really was expecting them.
Ben took a step forward, moving from the porch into the doorframe. Dash looked hesitant still, and he gazed behind him back down the path they took from the street. "You know us?" Ben asked, and Dash turned to follow his friend inside this house that they both had thought was the right place.
"Of course," the girl replied, a sly but still warm expression forming on her face. "The infamous Ben Tennyson, and Dash, well I heard about you but was not told how cute you were." Dash stopped in the doorway with bright red cheeks, but he had to continue inside as the teenage girl started closing her door.
"Th-Thanks," Dash mumbled, though he felt more embarrassed than appreciative over the comment.
Ben would have teased his friend but was stuck on something else though. "'Infamous?'" Ben asked with a lifted tone. He saw something out the corner of his eye and spun towards the entry to the kitchen where a man just stepped out of. "What have you been saying about me?!" The guy wearing a black long-sleeved shirt and matching black pants held up his hands defensively while smiling. Ben lowered the finger he pointed at the guy, then asked in a more hesitant tone, "Also, who is this? I thought you just invited Dash and me over?"
"I did," the teenager explained as he walked forward, wiping his hands on the sides of his pants. He then reached his right hand out as he approached the girl in front of him. He wrapped his right hand in her left and they brought their hands up together. "But I don't need to invite this one over, because the two of us," Dash and Ben gawked at the sight on one of the blushing girl's fingers. "Are married," Kirito finished. "I want to introduce you to my wife, Asuna Yuuki."
"Wife?!" Ben and Dash exclaimed.
"Isn't that Asuna Kirigaya now, Kazuto?" Asuna asked, giving her husband a sly smile.
"Kazuto?" Dash and Ben asked again, lifting their eyebrows while Kirito rose his free hand and scratched the back of his head.
"Heh heh, I never told you Kirito wasn't my real name? Weird, I thought I must have mentioned it..."
"Nope."
"Never," Dash agreed with Ben's instant denial. Kirito sweatdropped at the others' reactions, while Asuna giggled into their held hands and made the younger boys blush again at the sight of how beautiful she was.
"Alright you guys," Kirito said, "Asuna made us a feast, so I hope you're ready to eat."
Ben and Dash smiled as they could suddenly smell the delicious aroma coming from the kitchen. "Come boys," Asuna said with a motion towards the other room. "I'll show you where the fridge is so we can make some drinks. Sound good?"
"Yeah!" Dash said excitedly. "Do you have Coke?"
"I want a Capri-Sun," Ben added.
"I think we have both of those," Asuna assured them, making both of the young boys grin as they followed her away.
Kirito smiled as he watched them go, but as he started turning to the kitchen to follow them, his gaze lingered on the circular window on his front door. He stared through it into the world beyond, where he could see sidewalks and a street and the occasional passing car. He stared at the street and watched as a car went by. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine... Now.
Another car sped down the road in front of his house. This time it was a red truck instead of a black mid-size sedan, and there was a young couple in it this time instead of a single man in a suit who looked like he was on his way home from work. So close, Kirito thought, and he turned with a shake of his head and a dark look flashing over his face. But it can't fool me. It never could.
Three Days Earlier
Resistance HQ
"Ah, hah, ah, hahh, ahhh," Kirito sucked in hard and stopped panting. He lifted back up his swords and narrowed his eyes across the white room at his female opponent.
Lexa was not wearing her usual face paint, nor the traditional clothes of her home that she wore because of the pride she held in her own world. She wore the same baggy black training clothes that Kirito had on, and though the suits were meant for intense battling, both Kirito and Lexa had serious tears in their jumpsuits.
Kirito slid his swords up into his sheath quickly, and Lexa sprinted towards him as soon as he started making the movements to do so. He brought his hands back down fast to create hand signs, but Lexa was already making ones of her own and she slashed her arms across her body as she finished. "Wind Slicer Jutsu!" Kirito had to leap backwards to dodge, continuing his hand signs even while he backflipped. When he came out of the flip he had his hands in front of his mouth, ready to try a new jutsu that he just hid the hand signs of.
"Fire Style," he yelled, "Hellscape Jutsu!" When the word 'jutsu' left his mouth, flames followed and expanded out around the room. They did not fly forward as a single fireball, but several strands of flames that whipped around and encased the two warriors inside. Kirito's opponent ignored the flames around her, leaping up at the teen dropping to the floor. Kirito reached for his swords, but he was too slow to stop Lexa's double kick to the stomach.
The kick sent Kirito flying through the flame barrier he created. He hit a wall outside, indented into it, then got pushed back out softly so he dropped to the floor without major injury, though his stomach did hurt like a- BRRRRR Kirito froze as he was reaching up for a sword, and he lifted his gaze to a speaker on the ceiling.
Lexa jumped up in the air and did a flip over the tall flames of Kirito's new jutsu, making the teen who created it frown at the flaws in the move's design. I'll have to work on it. "What do you want?" Lexa called up in annoyance, still holding two swords in her hands like she was ready to get back to sparring any second.
The buzzer on the ceiling was replaced by a woman's voice, "Sorry Commander. We'd like the borrow Kirito from you." Kirito's eyebrows rose as no one from the Resistance had asked for anything from him since he arrived. He was using their training facilities, wearing their gear, and one of their top officers was training (with) him, but not once had they asked him for anything in return.
"Me?" He questioned, unsure of why they would want to see him.
"Yes," the voice replied. He could not pinpoint which of the Resistance leaders it was and wondered if he had met her before. "We have a mission for you, if you so choose to accept."
Kirito's surprise rose more and he thought about what she said. A mission? We're supposed to be training for this month, though right now it seems like only Goku and I are. "Well?" A harsh voice snapped at him. He turned his head and saw Lexa walking towards him, sheathing her swords over her back in a pair of dark sheaths.
"I don't," Kirito began, then stopped himself. He looked up and called out, "Why me specifically?"
No one responded for a few moments, then a man started speaking and Kirito wondered where these people were, "Well, we were going to explain it when you got here, but if you need a reason first..." Kirito heard the man hesitate, then speak in a more serious, lower tone, "One of your comrades set out on this mission over a week ago. We've since lost contact."
Kirito's eyes widened and he turned towards the door. Lexa did not say anything against it as he started walking away, but when he was almost at the exit, she said in a low voice, "Why do you leave?" Kirito froze at the door and thought about his comrades. He thought about Gray stabbing him in the back, Nami's treatment of her "friends," and how Goku and Timmy flew off as soon as they entered the most dangerous territory. Why? He wondered to himself. Lexa glared at his back, "You train to get strong enough to fight at the top level, don't you? You'll never be able to face a High Lord if you continue to live like this."
How many fighters does the Resistance have who can fight on that level? Are they relying on me to become one of that tier? If so, the leaders would not want me to go on this mission. Unless this mission takes priority? There must be an ulterior motive to them asking for me other than my missing comrade… Who is it? Natsu and the others left together, and Gray took an entire army. Is it Luffy? Rin? "I have to go," Kirito said without turning back to his sparring partner. "I'm sorry, Lexa."
"I am the one who's sorry," she replied harshly. "I actually thought the training was getting somewhere." She turned her back to him and finished, "Go."
Kirito bowed his head for a moment, then pressed his hand against the square next to the door that was a slightly different shade of white. The square registered his hand print and the door slid open for him. Kirito stepped out into the hallway that had a few people in it who mostly ignored him. "Goodbye," he whispered, and the door closed behind him.
"What did you just say?" Kirito asked. The teenage boy stood at a circular table with four Resistance leaders standing around it. Kakashi, Jura, Hiei, and Satsuki Kiryuin all focused on the teen they summoned, and all four of them started to feel strange at the look in the boy's eyes. Kirito's head was partially bowed, and his hands were clenched hard at his sides.
Kakashi was the only non-Commander there as only a General. The white-haired ninja lifted an eyebrow curiously at the sight of the boy's face, shadowed over with his lips quivering. Hiei did not care much for what Kirito was thinking though and just continued in a monotone voice, "He left on the mission without telling anyone, but we knew he had just heard about it before leaving, and luckily he took communication with him and told us what he was going to do when we called him." The demon saw Kirito lifting his head a little and continued to the teenager, "We told him that no one had returned from Paradis before, but he said he could do it."
"And this Paradis is," Kirito muttered, "a, virtual city?" He looked into Hiei's eyes, then around at the other leaders with him. "And you, want me, to go after him?" Kirito's hands unclenched and the corners of his lips curled up. "And you have no idea about my past right?" The blank and confused expressions on the Resistance leaders' faces was all Kirito needed to see to make him shake his head in disbelief. This can't be happening. This is too absurd. Me! They're sending ME!? To a virtual world, by pure coincidence?!
"Out of all of our soldiers who we sent previously to rescue those believed to be trapped in this virtual world, not a single one returned. We stopped sending troops, because thanks to some intel we gathered, we have come to the conclusion that these people are not trapped in Paradis, but like the name suggests, the VR world is so perfect that it became like a drug to those inside, so much so that they no longer wish to return to this world." Jura Neekis took a pause and crossed his arms in front of his chest, "There was talk of sending in a large-scale rescue mission, deep in the Emperor's territory, but many, including myself, have misgivings about bringing comrades back to this terrible world." Kirito's eyes widened and he looked around, seeing contrasting opinions in the eyes of the other leaders. Jura continued despite the looks Kiryuin and Hiei gave him, "We have very strong comrades there though who we would be very thankful to have back, should our conclusion about the virtual world be wrong. We also have no idea as to why those in charge of Paradis would create such a perfect world for us to escape to, and there is little chance that they are solely altruistic reasons."
Kirito stayed silent the whole time Jura spoke. He was so lost in thought that the older man's words were muffled in his ears. There's so much detail in this situation. But the whole time I've been here, everything's been just as detailed. But there are cracks in logic. Why? Why was Silva Zoldyck at the Lazarus Pit? That kid Stan appearing, and just happening to know who the Wizard King was. And this, this virtual city they're speaking of, how- why- He grabbed the side of his head and rubbed it hard with his hand. What am I thinking? It's just a coincidence. It's just, another, coincidence. "Alright," Kirito responded. The people around the table looked at him in surprise and he lifted his gaze, looking much more serious and focused, "I'll go."
"Wait," Kiryuin said, not liking these changes in Kirito's personality one bit. "What was that? Why did you mention your past in relation to this mission?" He glared into her eyes but the thin, beautiful woman, with long dark hair, glared right back and continued, "We need to be informed of our soldiers' prior experience, but from what you told us of your time on Nexus-"
"It was before Nexus," Kirito growled in a deep voice. "My world was one without powers, but inside virtual reality," his eyes became unfocused and he stopped looking at Kiryuin as he continued, "we could be strong, we could be whatever we wanted."
"Then this is not the mission for you," Kakashi said, snapping Kirito back to where he was and making the teen turn to the ninja in surprise and anger. Kakashi continued, "It sounds like you will escape into the virtual city and never return. You-"
"I would never," Kirito interrupted, shutting the ninja up instantly. "Never," he repeated coldly, "stay in virtual reality of my own volition. I got trapped inside VR for years. The only ones who could escape were the ones who died, but in the real world their minds were scrambled when they died in the game." The Resistance leaders stared at the teenager in shock, mainly because they chose him without knowing any of this and the coincidence seemed too crazy to be true. "And I am the best choice for this mission," Kirito continued, his voice getting darker, "because on my world, I was the one who beat the game and set everyone, everyone still alive, free. I guess I'll do it again," he rubbed the side of his head and thought as loud as he could, THIS IS REAL! THIS IS REALITY!
Hiei looked in interest at Kirito and could imagine what the teen was thinking. If his grip on this reality is already weak, then he's the most likely person not to lose himself in there. He's already questioning himself, and it's not hard to see why.
"Is this really wise?" Jura spoke softly. He could see what Kirito was thinking too, and he continued, "What if this, is what makes you," he didn't want to finish. Saying it would sound distrusting, but he had to anyway, "Lose your sense of what's real?"
It was not like Kirito was not already wondering that himself, but the boy started calming himself down and he looked into the powerful mage's eyes. "I know what's real. And if my, friend, and your soldiers, can't find their ways back, then I'll get them all out of there myself."
"Good," Hiei said, stopping any of his fellow leaders from arguing with the teen any longer. "Then it's settled. You will go to Paradis. The coordinates will be sent to your nav gear. We have put together a squad who will go with you as assistance, but you will be the one in charge of the mission."
"And," a voice said behind Kirito, one he recognized well and made him go wide-eyed once more. He turned around and stared at the figure walking into the room, shorter than him, looking tired with dirty clothes like he had only just returned. "I'm going with you too."
"Ben," Kirito said, his voice surprised as he looked the boy up and down.
"You," Hiei said from the other side of the table. He remembered the boy from Pon-Gatso and heard a report of what happened to him not long ago when he faced off against one of the Spriggans. "Where have you been?"
"Zodd," Ben replied darkly. The Resistance leaders who had heard a few things about Zodd recently looked at him in shock and Ben said in a very dark tone, "I thought he could help us against the King, but he can't. Meruem is too strong. The Kryptonians couldn't stand against him."
Kirito stared at the boy with his eyes huge. He was not thinking anything remotely close to the lines of the others' thoughts though. This is what makes Nexus real. Ben. Ben's been through so much, and I wasn't a part of any of it. He watched us all die. He got crucified. He went on his own journey last week, and I don't know anything about it. Kryptonians? Zodd? Meruem? I could ask him about it, or I could not, but either way, those things happened to him.
Ben turned to look Kirito in the eyes. "He's my best friend. I'm going to save him."
"Alright then," Kiryuin said. The woman stepped towards Ben, "As soon as you give your report on your mission to Zodd, you'll be equipped and sent-"
"We leave right now," Ben said. He looked into the woman's eyes and said in a steady voice even when she glared at him, "I wasn't on a mission for the Resistance. I went to Zodd because I thought it was the best chance we had. Now I know there is only one chance remaining for this world, and it's not the Resistance." He turned his back on the room and started for the door, and Kirito turned as well as it seemed like they would be leaving right away. The Resistance leaders thought about stopping the boy, and Hiei almost did but Kakashi put a hand on his shoulder signaling for him to wait.
Ben got to the door and he stopped for a second. The thoughts he had been collecting since Zodd had compiled into one conclusive belief that he spoke aloud, "Goku, Timmy, Sora, Riku, Kairi. Those five are going to save the world. I'll put all my faith in them, and maybe, we'll be able to win."
On a paved street in the middle of the suburbs, a yellow-shingled house with lots of windows and two stories stood with two cars in the driveway. Inside the kitchen, a middle-aged woman with short brown hair heard a ding on the oven and she put pot holders on her hands. Her left arm stretched out to the oven handle and pulled it down, while her other hand wrapped around the kitchen and got plates and silverware out of drawers and cabinets.
The next room down from the kitchen, a boy sat at a dinner table, ignoring his father and sister talking to each other on the other side. He sat there making faces at a baby in a high chair next to him, a laughing baby with a single strand of hair over his head. "Blaahhh," the older boy with blond hair stuck out his tongue and made noises, and the baby laughed even harder and started clapping his hands.
"Haha," Dash started laughing along with his little brother and he turned towards the kitchen as something delicious-smelling made its way out. "Wow Mom! That smells great!"
"Thanks for dinner, Mom," Violet added as their mother came around the corner with the main dish in hand.
Helen Parr leaned down next to her husband and gave Bob a peck on the cheek. "I thought it would be nice to make a family dinner to congratulate Violet on passing her entrance exams, and," she turned towards her son who she stretched an arm over to scoop food down in front of. Dash licked his lips and Helen continued with a smile, "To celebrate Dash's return, and maybe bribe him with food in exchange for him not going away again, at least for a little while."
"Mmm," Dash mumbled in agreement though his mouth was too full of food to respond correctly. He swallowed a huge gulp then turned to his mom with a bright smile, "Yeah, I don't think I'll be going on another adventure for a long, long time." He started laughing and his family laughed along with him. Dash gazed around at them all, laughing and smiling and happy that he was there. I'm home, he thought.
A/N Dash? What are you doing?! Hope y'all enjoyed the chapter. Ben returns from Zodd and immediately heads back out with Kirito on their new mission. The VR arc! Coming soon...ish. Lol, I want to see what you guys think the next arc is going to be. I've set up like 5 of them that we might jump to for the next chapter. This one was mainly Ben's arc, though with lots of other MCs' storylines progressing too. Ben really started the arc off I guess... Anyway! Yeah, I'd love to hear some predictions on who the next full chapter is going to follow! So let me know in a prediction below, as well as any comments, questions, or any other review you have for the story! We see a glimpse of that VR arc in action at the start here with that intro scene of Ben, Dash, Kirito, and Asuna, but we'll see more about how that comes to pass once the upcoming Paradis arc gets started! Until then, love to hear your predictions on what's going to happen there. Why the Sith set up Paradis in the first place. And who we might find inside the virtual world! Anyway, review response time:
Smlluffy67 chapter 138 . 16h ago
WE Finally see how tien met his end was nice to see he put a great fight and I also saw that the person 17 killed was from black clover so those characters are on nexas as well I imagine most of the black bulls are probably part of the resistance or at the very least asta and cool to to know more about how different the war was during the first year. and it seems goku is leaving to break his limits to find a new transformation cough ss4 cough.
Tien! ;( He's actually one of my favorite DBZ characters. Initially I think I wrote him to be in Aebrith thinking he would be a cool super strong character to have when we finally reached that Saga, like Zoro! But at some point I think I realized that it didn't make sense for so many powerful good guys to be alive on a continent that was so dark. That's why in other things Kakashi mentioned we hear about some of the powerful Fairy Tail, Bleach, Naruto, and My Hero characters who also fell back in those wars. Glad you liked hearing more about it, and I did hint that there were several Black Clover characters who disagreed with neutrality after the Magic King's death and continued to fight on the side of the Resistance! So nice catch! Some of them might even be in the upcoming arc... ;) ! We'll see about Goku's plans for getting stronger too as the month goes on... but no spoilers on that one! XD Thanks for the review! Hope you enjoyed the new chapter! And 'til next time everyone!