Here's Part 2 of Good Boy. Yes, Ship is adorable and I did that on purpose. Cover coming soon!
Anyways, here's your chapter. Here's the Discord: /cgFmXz3qJ5
"Oh, fudgesticks." Ochako said, as the robot began to fire at her. The energy beams were fast, powerful and destructive- the blast hit the ground and left a small crater. Ochako flew around the blasts, and grit her teeth. She attempted to freeze it solid, but the bot had some reinforced plating on it. The ice seemed to be melting off of it.
The machine scanned around for Ochako, locking onto her with reticles from its point of view. It raised one of its arms and a small weapon rose up from the armor plating and fired out what seemed to be a grapple cord. At first, the successor to the Omnitrix wasn't too worried...only for the cable to successfully wrap around and restrain her.
"Wait what?! Y-you can't touch me when I'm intangible!"
The robot didn't answer with words, instead sending a powerful electric charge into Ochako's body.
Ochako quickly transformed, and shifted into Chromastone. The jolt of energy that was meant to harm Ochako now empowered her.
"Nice try." Ochako said, as her horn lit up.
She smirked and fired off a beam of rainbow-hued energy, only for the drone to lift up its other form and block the attack with a golden, octagonal shield.
"What...are you..." Ochako asked in total shock. The drone looked down at her as two racks of missiles popped up from the drone's shoulders and fired, but they missed. The rockets jabbed into the ground without exploding, making Ochako raise a brow. The drone jumped back, the cord still coiled around its target. The rockets then opened up, showing purple cores, followed by vibrations shaking the earth and Ochako.
Ochako screamed as the Sonic Charges went off.
Ochako's body shook like it was in the middle of an earthquake. Her body felt like it was made of glass, and could shatter at any second. She weakly slapped down her Omnitrix, and shrunk down into Echo Echo.
"Need...help!" Ochako said, as she began to split up.
The drone noticed the new targets and then turned, picking up electronic signals from the city. It turned back to Ochako and fired off a barrage of laser blasts from weapons in its palms. It wasn't even really aiming for the Echo Echos, more so just to cover its escape.
"Oh, no..." One of the clones said.
"It's trying to make a break for it!" Another one yelled.
"We can't let that happen!" A third yelled. "Let's try and bring it down right now!"
Four of the clones stayed behind to deal with the sonic charges, while the rest chased down the drone. The drone itself paid little mind to its newly gained pursuers, sparsely firing back at them with laser blasts and knocking down trees to block the Echo Echos' path.
The clones took a deep breath, and unleashed a powerful sonic blast that hit the back of the robot. The attack was enough to stagger the robot.
It did stagger, but its balance wasn't toppled yet.
"Keep hitting it!" one of the clones yelled, firing off its own sonic screech at the drone. The back armor was again slammed into, forcing the machine forwards. It turned around and fired off more of a cutting beam at the chasing clones. The beam sliced through the ground and any trees in its path, throwing off the Echo Echo clones as trees fell all around them.
The forest began to catch fire, adding a bit more to the chaos. This alien war machine was tough. Ochako wanted to maybe wait for Ben, but...no. She could handle this by herself.
Somehow.
The clones broke Ochako free of the sonic field, as she collapsed on the ground. Her clones helped her up.
"That felt weird." Ochako shivered.
"You good?" one of her clones asked.
"Should be. Better than I would be if I stayed Chromastone...that might've actually shattered me."
"Well, now we have to shatter the big guy. It's heading to the city and I'm not sure if the others managed to stop it yet," another clone chimed in.
"Fine by me. I'd like to give him a taste of his OWN medicine." Ochako said, as Ship suddenly approached them. He was jumping up and down, and wagging his tail.
"Ship! Ship!"
"Um, I don't know if you want to play right now, but...kind of in the middle of something!" Ochako said.
"Ship," the Mechamorph said, almost deadpanning the delivery and its eye went to a single line.
"I'm sorry, I'm trying my best here!" Ochako defended.
"Ship! Ship ship ship!" Ship pointed at the mech.
"What?" Ochako asked, looking at her clones. They were ALSO very lost. Ship suddenly morphed into a small version of the drone, and suddenly caused it to 'explode'. Ship jumped up one more time, to empathize something.
"I think I get it," Ochako's clone said, "He's saying he can take it down. We just need to get him close enough!"
"I hope that's true." Ochako said, as Ship happily yipped. "Let's just overwhelm him with sound, try to keep him in place, and slip Ship in!"
"If that's the case, then we first need to catch up to him."
"XLR8 then back to Echo Echo, fair!"
Ochako shifted into XLR8, and picked up Ship. "Hold on! I can go PRETTY fast with this guy."
"Ship!" the Mechamorph said, before the duo raced off after the giant drone.
Speaking of the drone, it saw that all of its pursuers had disappeared, thinking they had given up. If a robot could have a sense of pride, that's what the machine would be feeling before marching on towards the city.
Ochako zoomed past all the fallen trees, expertly leaping over them or racing around them, following the path of destruction. She quickly caught up the machine, just in time to see it turn around and see her racing towards it. One of its sensors must've been tipped off by her speed.
The mech started to launch a bunch of missiles at XLR8- Ochako dodged all of them, letting them hit the ground. "Those were oddly easy...why doesn't that fill me with hope?"
Each and every one of the missiles that missed her opened up; they were all sonic charges.
"Oh no..."
Ship immediately jumped onto one of the missiles, and took it over. Ochako covered her ears, expecting the worst...but the missiles instead started to beep and turn off. Ochako looked over at Ship- somehow, he'd shut them all off.
"...okay, good boy!" Ochako grinned. "Dunno what you did, but I'm not complaining."
"Ship! Ship!" the Mechamorph called out happily. The drone was anything but, locking onto the small Mechamorph and preparing to fire a barrage of blasts.
Ochako exclaimed as she rushed over to Ship. She switched back into Echo Echo and duplicated herself.
"Don't even THINK of hurting him!" Ochako frowned- it wasn't her pet, but it WAS a cute animal. Anyone who targeted a small animal? Evil incarnate.
All the Echo Echoes reared their heads back before letting out a wall of sonic cries, slamming into the machine. The massive mech almost toppled over from the sheer force being thrown at it, denting the chest and arm plates that protected its interior components.
"Okay, so far so good..." Ochako said. "I think we got you a window to exploit, Ship."
"Ship!" Ship motioned to the machine- it was spawning something else now, not missiles.
Four smaller pods dropped from the larger mech and slammed into the ground. The pods unfolded, transforming into smaller and bipedal versions of the larger mech. Two were the same royal blue as the original, while the others were primarily white with blue highlights. The white ones had massive shields unfold from their forearms while the royal blue drones ignited laser blades from their palms.
"Well, that's inconvenient." Ochako remarked, as she cloned herself. The robots charged at the clones, the sword-wielding ones slashing and thrusting at them, while the shield-wielding ones bashed them.
You'd think Ochako's combat capabilities would be reduced, especially in a smaller form like Echo Echo. Contrary to belief, Ochako had some tricks up her sleeves. What she lacked in strength, she made up for in...numbers.
One of the sword-wielders tried to impale one of the clones, but it managed to leap over the assailant's strike and landed on the mechanical arm. The clone raced up to the machine's head and slugged it. The hit rang out and did sting the clone's hand a bit, but the machine still recoiled from the strike.
Ochako shook her hand, and frowned. "Okay- let's hope this next move works." She wasn't too confident on this one, but it'd be a good finisher. Ochako spun around, and tossed a clone at the robot. The clone duplicated itself several times, and wrapped around the robot's limbs.
"Here we go." Ochako said, taking a deep breath. She unleashed a powerful sonic blast from her mouth, which easily destroyed the robot.
"Oh! It worked! Nice!" Ochako cheered.
Another smaller drone was doing much better, slamming shields into the faces of any clone that approached.
Ochako grinned. "Well, I've got a confidence boost. I trust this one will work as well." Ochako lifted up her arms, and stacked three clones on top of her. The top clone created a few more- while it was hard to balance the load, Ochako had created...a hammer.
The Echo Echo Hammer SMASHED down on the shield drone, and shattered the shield.
The drone looked at the broke shield, almost shocked at what had happened if the curious head tilt was anything to go by.
The clones collapsed on the robot, and quickly tore off the robot's limbs.
"Easy." Ochako said, before she heard the bigger robot get back up. "...and now it just got HARDER."
Of course, with the distraction, the second shield-bearer slammed its defenses into Ochako's back before landing a roundhouse kick to make her stagger.
"Ship!" Ship yelled, leaping off the sonic charge towards the shield bearing machine, climbing up its leg and merging with the robot. The drone seemed to panic, jumping back and trying to peel Ship off of it.
Ship was brutal- despite that sweet exterior, there was a hidden sour taste. Ship was ripping apart his wires and breaking parts of the body.
"Good boy!" Ochako said, as she blasted the thing's head off.
The insectoid head flew off the drone's body, giving Ship an opening. He slithered up into the chassis of the machine through the vacant spot and that signature green and black color scheme covered the entire thing. Ship's eye appeared on the chest of the machine as he took over all the systems of the disabled robot.
"Ship!"
"Well, at least I won't have to do this alone anymore." Ochako said, as more and more robots began to pop out of the giant mech. She now understood WHY those Lewodans were so focused on getting this mech.
Four more drones, two of each type, emerged from the larger drone, readying their weapons. Ship formed up shields on his new robot body's arms, activating green energy rims around them to give them a bit of an extra kick.
Ship charged into battle with his shield up, ready to smash them. The shields bashed into one of the bladed drones. Ship then leaped and used his shield to uppercut his opponent, launching him into the air.
The drone then split in half mid-air, thanks to the energy rims on the shields.
"What else can you copy?" Ochako asked, dodging another blade strike from one of the other drones.
Ship morphed his hands into a blaster- the arm cannon quickly shot a massive hole through the drone that attacked Ochako. Ochako watched the drone fall over.
"Remind me never to let you near Mei's stuff." Ochako hummed.
"Ship? Ship!"
"Nooooo, no, no, no, Ship! No copying Mei's inventions!"
(Spoiler alert: he would.)
Ship and Ochako (and her clones) easily fought off the rest of the robots, and quickly turned their attention to the big robot.
"Alright. Just put EVERYTHING into this next attack- I'll scream myself hoarse if I have to!" Ochako said, as she and her clones got in a line. They all took a deep breath-
"SONIC-"
And exhaled.
"SQUALL!"
A massive blast of energy shot out of their mouths, and made a huge, deep dent in the front of the drone.
The armor buckled and groaned as the soundwaves slammed into it, making the machine jitter and spark. It tried to fight against the pressure, slowly moving closer and closer. Ochako and her chorus of clones screamed louder, putting more and more pressure on the robot's chest.
Come on...you have to have a limit! Ochako thought to herself.
Ochako felt her voice starting to go hoarse- all this screaming made her feel faint and woozy. Ship's eye narrowed, as he morphed his hand into a crossbow. He loaded a sharpened piece of metal (from one of the robots), aimed it at the robot's chest...
And fired.
The projectile was launched through Ochako's Sonic Squal, boosting the projectile's speed tenfold. With a cacophony of metal crunching and wires tearing, the chest of the massive drone was breached. The "bolt" Ship fired landed behind the machine, several wires and other smaller components impaled on it. The insectile eyes flashed a few times, as the drone struggled to stay active.
"Ship! NOW!" Ochako yelled, as she collapsed to the ground. Her throat felt SUPER dry right now. Ship jumped into action, and bolted towards the robot.
The dog-like Mechamorph leapt onto the machine's leg and slithered up towards the hole in the armor. The clawed hands tried to grab Ship as he climbed up, but missed each time. The little guy finally reached the hole and slithered in, merging with what systems remained intact.
Ship immediately began to 'implode' the system in on itself. Ship was pulling in everything it could, and shredding it into pieces. All tech was malleable in his hands—even stuff with Tadenite in it.
There was no Tadenite in the machine, but either way, Ochako watched as the massive drone began to crumple like a tin can pulled to the bottom of the ocean. The insectoid eyes shattered and sparked as the machine's head collapses in on itself.
Ship oozed out of the head, and happily slithered back towards Ochako. She reverted back to normal and began to rub the little blorpy up and down. "Gooood alien dog boy!"
"Ship! Ship!" the little Mechamorph called out, thankful for the pets and wagging his tail. What was left of the machine clattered to the ground after Ship had crushed it from the inside.
"You sure did a number on that guy..." Ochako said, picking Ship up. "Good thing, too. I don't even know what I would've done if you weren't here."
"Ship!" the little alien was gonna be riding that compliment for days.
Though, there was still one small problem.
Ochako suddenly heard something zip through the skies. She looked up to see a giant red mantaray, flying above her...its eyes were locked onto the drone.
"...Ben?" Ochako asked.
The manta ray-like alien swooped down and landed before turning back to Ben.
"How did that get here?" Ben asked, not a second wasted.
"Some...weird white aliens smuggled it and a few other robots on their ships. They wanted to use them in a war against...Phantophage, I think they said?" Ochako answered quickly. It was weird though. Ben was...more tense than usual here and his eyes never left the wrecked drone.
"And...you took that thing down. By yourself." Ben said, not breaking eye contact with the robot.
"Well...not all by myself," Ochako admitted, still holding Ship in her arms.
Ben looked very, very bothered. Ochako felt concerned all of a sudden. Ben was confident and easy going- why did it look like he'd seen a ghost?
Ben shook his head. "Y-you both did good."
"Ship?" the Mechamorph chipped, tilting his head to the side. Even the little guy could tell something was up with Ben.
"Ben...did I accidentally stumble onto something big?" Ochako asked.
"Somewhat," Ben said, walking towards the drone. "This drone you took down...they were used by my greatest enemy."
"They...they were?"
"The guy's reputation was so terrifying that no sentient being would work under him long term. Bounty hunters are in it for the money...but he wanted a dedicated army. So he made these." Ben put his hand to the head of the machine. "Swore I destroyed every last one of these as Atomix a few years back. Guess a few slipped through the cracks."
"If...if it helps, I think the lead guy could tell you where he got them," Ochako provided, trying to help a bit more.
Ben looked over his shoulder. "I think THAT would help me greatly."
The lead Lewodan smuggler was...well, terrified to say the least. Before, he still had some confidence in him. Now...not so much. He was handcuffed to a table in an interrogation room and right across from him were two people. One needed no introduction to him, Ben 10K. The other was a bit different. At first, he had no idea who this was, seemingly just another human. But then he noticed the two horns jutting out from the sides of their head. The shape and size of them were the telltale sign of an Archimedian.
Two dragons, one literal, one metaphorical, in the same room. This was like walking on a tightrope over fire without a net. One wrong move and he'd be done.
"Luhrud Ghaik, member of the Jahtpuft society on Lewoda- previous charges of aggravated assault, Sellers of ammunition, and... criminal impersonation." The Archimedian whistled. "That's quite the rap sheet. Don't know how they let you be a driver."
"And funny enough, you aren't." Ben said, producing some more evidence. It looked like a bunch of falsified info. "You don't really look like an 'Uddu'."
"...not the...best option," The Lewodan admitted. He could let that slip. After all, he had a good idea what these two wanted and he wasn't going to just give that up.
"So, let's set all of THAT aside and cut to the chase. You're on the end of a very, very serious 'bad cop, bad cop' situation. We can either grill you for hours and hours on end until you crack-" Ceres said. "Or, you confess to where you got your drones, your contact, and anything else useful. We can get you a reduced sentence that way."
"By what? A few years? Out of...I wanna guess thirty?" The Lewodan said, partly out of snark, partly because he genuinely didn't know the full sentence.
"Oh, cute. You think it's just gonna be thirty." Ben smirked.
"...well, I suppose it's better than nothing." Luhrud sighed. "My contact was through another buyer- an old Techadon weapon's master that had been banished. He said that he was selling 'prototypes' of an old model he'd made."
"Prototypes..." Ben frowned. That didn't sound good.
"...this guy wouldn't happen to be 'Inspector 13,' would he?" Ceres asked.
"Different inspector, actually. He refused to give me his number. People on the market just call him 'Weapon Master N'."
"N," Ceres repeated, "You're serious? What, is he trying to be clever? N for null?"
"I don't know. Aren't you supposed to be a race of geniuses? Figure that out." The Lewodan huffed.
Ceres took a deep breath. "And doesn't YOUR race sacrifice their young to a tyrannical overlord for the sake of peace?"
"That was one time and that was actually unsanctioned from what I heard!" Luhrud countered, "Those acted on their own, no input from the rest of the senate! Why do you think the war's still going?!"
"Yeah. When I think of a 'peace offering', I don't think 'exchanging pleasantries', I think about how those IDIOTS sacrificed a precious baby boy to the ugliest bastard in the galaxy, just so he could eat it." Ceres frowned.
"I mean, I broke his teeth." Ben countered.
"I know it was over 20 years ago, but I'm STILL not over it." Ceres said.
"At least we can agree on that," the Lewodan chimed in, "The drones were supposed to turn the tide so we could negotiate from a position of strength."
"You mean hold a gun to the head of the Phantophage delegates," Ben corrected, "They disagreed with what you put on the table, you let the drones off their leashes, right?"
"Don't pretend they don't deserve it!"
"They deserve it. They absolutely do, but a situation like this will no doubt worsen any and all relations with your planets. I don't like the Phantophage anymore than you do, but to sic an army of drones from the worst warlord in the galaxy on them?" Ben said. "I wouldn't wish that upon anyone."
"Say that with a straight face when an invading race has the motive of devouring your entire race," the Lewodan huffed.
"What sounds better, Luhrud? An end to the conflict with a special social worker intermediate/delegate approved by the Plumbers, or the the death of millions and making your planet open season for other warmongering planets?" Ben asked.
"Oh like anyone else would try. The reputation of the drones' master would be enough for them to second guess any war they'd wage on us. Take out the Phantophage and ensure that, even if someone does try something, they won't be able to make much progress."
"Wow, this guy's stupid. Did you not think that...maybe, I dunno, someone could hack them? Turn them against you?" Ceres asked, "Afterall, N's not loyal to you. He's loyal to whoever's got the deepest wallet."
Luhrud looked uncomfortable. "N-no. He wouldn't do that."
"Listen- you bought something from an arm's dealer. You have a 50-50 chance of winning or losing. He wins all the time because he gets a profit." Ben explained. "And someone could ALWAYS interfere with your plans. He could be holding out on you- these ARE prototypes."
"But...t-the money I paid should-"
"Trust me, with arms dealers, what you think should be enough will never be enough for him. If it was, then he'd retire from the arms trade and buy a private moon or something. Something tells me he's not exactly gonna do that."
"Besides. Techadon Weapons masters are always bastards." Ceres said. "We've had run ins with them plenty of times, and they're all the same script. Sell to the highest bidder, get your profit and screw them over. You are in the 'getting screwed' part. Chances are HE fucked with your engine so you'd be forced to make a delayed pit stop on Tennyson turf."
"But...why would he do that?!" Luhrud asked. Maybe he didn't think this through all that well.
"You said it yourself. Prototypes. This was a field test for him."
"You got played, son." Ben walked over and patted him on the back. "Sorry about that."
"But hey, you did still give us the info we needed so, you can at least shave some time off your stay behind bars," Ceres offered in consolation.
"...how long now?" the smuggler asked.
"Now we're closer to 30 years." Ceres said.
Luhrud was content with that.
Ben and Ceres walked out of the interrogation room. Ben stretched a little and sighed. "Great. Another thing to worry about. Seriously hoped Atomix wiped 'em all out all those years ago."
"You can't always be perfect on something. Not everything can be erased just like that." Ceres consoled him.
Ben rubbed his temple. "Was hoping Uraraka didn't have to take on one of those right now. I know I fought one of them when I was 10, but that was before their upgrades."
"I miss when we could just toss them around. When they started throwng up shields and sonic charges, it started getting annoying." Ceres joked.
"I'll give him that, at least. He never let his soldiers just be cannon fodder, always improving them somehow," Ben said.
"Yeah. But, hey, not invincible. I'll try and pull some favors with the Plumbers and some Archimedian patrols, see if we can't find anything else on N."
"Thanks, Ceres." Ben huffed.
"So...that kid's here, right?" Ceres asked. "Whatsername...Uraraka."
"Yeah, she's here. She's with the Mechamorph pup right now." Ben said.
"First question, what are you gonna do with said pup?" Ceres asked.
"Well, I'm hoping Penny can still make sure he's in good health. When she found out that he'd escaped, she was apologizing nonstop. Not her fault, of course, but she still insisted on a second chance."
"Typical Penny. Dunno how she can handle Azmuth, though. He's still a buzzkill." Ceres frowned.
"Yeah, I thought I'd see more of his point of view when I got older..." Ben paused. "...but nope. He's still a grumpy old fart."
"To be fair, you are still young compared to him. He's got...what? Couple thousand years or something on you?" Ceres asked.
"Something like that."
Ben and Ceres walked into an office, where Ochako and Ship were just sitting in. Ochako was stroking his back, and he was purring like a cat.
"Aw." Ceres said. "You're right- he IS cute." Ochako looked up- she didn't know who this person was, but she was reminded of one of her teachers from UA.
"Only when he isn't trying to take over a jumbotron." Ben said.
"Ship?" the small Mechamorph said, recognizing the word.
"So this little guy ended up causing chaos all over the city, looking for an Omnitrix, all so he could avoid a vet appointment. I'm getting Zwei flashbacks," Ceres admitted.
Ochako chuckled. "Haha...yeah." She shook her head. "I take it you're a friend of Ben and Ruby."
"Hit the nail on the dead. Ceres North, agent of the Plumbers." Ceres extended her hand, and Ochako shook it. Ochako didn't know much about the Plumbers, but she knew they were more 'secret' than the hero society. Ceres immediately saw the Omnitrix on the hero-in-training's wrist and smirked.
"How's it fit?" Ceres asked, gesturing to the watch.
"Huh? Oh! Pretty good. Getting a good hang of all the powers. Gravattack's easy to deal with since...y'know, my Quirk's the same," Ochako admitted sheepishly.
"Ben spoiled you with that form." Ceres laughed, sitting down next to Ochako. "He handpicked those forms- me? I would've given you a bunch of random forms and told you to make do."
"I mean the others are ones like XLR8, Echo Echo, Four Arms..."
"With Big Chill and Water Hazard," Ben defended.
"I'm shocked you didn't give her some of the forms you wished you had when you were younger," Ceres said, looking at Ben.
"That's for her second set, honestly." Ben said.
"Do I get a hint at any of them?" Ochako asked with a smile.
"Not gonna spoil that." Ben said. "I'll take it to my grave."
"So, you guys worked with All Might, right?" Ochako asked.
"All Might was a friend of Ben's grandpa, and he stepped in after...well, some complications. Great guy...but MAN, the public doesn't know how he really is." Ceres said. "He once thought his own reflection in a door was someone else."
"I...thought you were gonna say he's just nice in public," Ochako admitted.
"Oh, no, he's genuinely good, but..." Ceres stopped herself, trying to think of a good way to put it.
"He's good in the way a golden retriever is. Lovable, but they can be dumb." Ben said.
"Exactly! Thank you."
"Heh," Ochako chuckled, still petting Ship.
"Seriously though- Toshi's a good guy. Love and respect him to hell." Ceres said.
"I hope Izuku can be a good successor to him." Ochako sighed. "I would've thought All Might had a few more good years in him before he retired."
Ben and Ceres shared a look. "Did...Izuku not tell you?" Ben asked.
Ochako tilted her head. "Tell me about what?"
"Should we say? Kinda feels like Toshi's secret to tell..." Ceres admitted.
"Question is, would he though?" Ben countered.
"I mean...fair..." the Archimedian sighed, "I'll have to send Toshi a message- I'd feel weird info dumping all this personal stuff on you. Better to hear it from him than us."
"That might be for the best," Ochako admitted. Ship tried to cheer the hero-in-training up by nuzzling against her cheek, like a dog would when they see their human's upset.
"Shiiiiip."
"You know, he does like you..." Ben hummed. "You ever wanted a pet, Uraraka?"
"Kinda. Always wanted a cat as a kid, but my parents couldn't afford it." Ochako said.
"Ship? Ship!" the little guy called out, almost like he was saying that he'd take the spot.
"What about a Mechamorph cat?" Ben smirked.
"I think he's more of a...dog-cat thing, but yeah. I could take him in. It'd be fun to have someone else in my apartment!" Ochako said.
"Ship! Ship!" the Mechamorph called out happily, wagging his tail.
Ochako grinned, as she lifted him up. "Okay, Ship! Guess you'll be coming home with me."
"After his shots." Ceres added. Ship immediately compressed himself into a little ball upon hearing the word 'shots'.
"You know Penny's not that bad. You were there before," Ben said, trying to comfort the little guy.
"Who's Penny?" Ochako asked.
"Another old friend of ours." Ceres said. "She's...a bit of a handful."
"Energetic, used to be a robot, works as an assistant to the creator of the Omnitrix..." Ben listed off.
"...I'm sorry, what were those last two?" Ochako asked, needing to double-take.
"Oh, she works as an assistant to the creator of the Omnitrix." Ben said, holding up his bulky Omnitrix. "You'll...probably meet him soon, he wants to look at my handiwork."
"And she used to be a robot. Now she's not." Ceres said.
"...how...how long of a story is that one?" Ochako asked.
"Uh...depends."
"I'd rather not have it told right now." Ochako said.
"That's fair. Though...is he going back there or is she coming here?" Ceres asked.
"Considering how easily he stowed away, the latter," Ben answered, "I'll let her know, too."
"So, what are we gonna do with Ship? I don't want him to run away." Ochako frowned.
"Well, he shouldn't this time. After all, you'll be there to keep him calm. Penny's gonna fly over here for this," Ceres said.
"He is pretty slippery..." Ochako noted.
"Maybe, yeah, but considering how much he seems to like you, it should go over better this time."
"If you say so." Ochako said.
It actually took a few days for the ship to arrive, but a few days later, Penny came. Ben had called her Ochako over to his office, though she was a bit late. Ship was...defiant, to put it mildly.
"Oh, come on, Ship." Penny said. "It's just a few antibody nanites! It won't hurt."
"Shiiiiiip!" the little Mechamorph cried, trying to move away from Penny.
Ochako sighed. "Come on...it won't be that bad, Ship."
"Ship! Ship! Ship!" It was like he was trying to form a complex argument about why it would be that bad.
Penny shook her head. "Oh, you're so stubborn."
Even after all these years, Penny hadn't changed. Penny still had long, rather curly orange hair that came down to her chin with a small cowlick on top, and she wore a pink bow on the back of her head. Her outfit was a white jumpsuit with black stripes.
"Ship, please? It'll be fine! You won't even know it happened!" Ochako tried to convince him, but found little success in the tactic.
"Um...ok...what do Mechamorphs consider treats?" the gravity Quirk user asked.
"Hm. Do you have any bits of small technology on you?" Penny asked.
"Aside from my phone?"
"Batteries might also work."
"Batteries..." Ochako hummed. "Hm. Is there a TV remote around here?"
"Yeah. Got some spare batteries for it too if you're doing what I think you are," Ben said.
"Alrighty- hand them over. Ship needs food." Ochako said.
Ben nodded and got the TV remote, removing the batteries and tossing the two double-As to his successor. She caught them with ease before showing them to Ship.
"If you let Penny do this, you'll get both of these," Ochako offered her new pet.
Ship immediately straightened up, and stopped whining. Ochako sighed. "Okay, I think you can do it..."
"Thank you," Penny smiled before she got a small syringe filled with antibody nanites. She quickly injected them into Ship from the side and the little guy didn't even feel a thing.
"See. Was that so bad?" Ochako smiled, as she handed Ship the batteries.
The little Mechamorph happily absorbed the batteries and wagged his tail.
"Shiiiiip!"
"Just make sure to treat him well! Small Mechamorphs like this usually stay like this for a long time." Penny said.
"I will!" Ochako said, picking up Ship and hugging him again.
"Shiiiip," the little Mechamorph purred.