The V9 finale made me so hyped to write Gemstones. The JL x RWBY movie made me hyped to write an arc in Carry On. And MHA 386 made me hyped for what comes next.
I am eating good.
Anyways, here's your chapter. Here's the Discord: /cgFmXz3qJ5
Ochako and the others were hoping to regroup with the others, maybe they could find the real Ben and deal with him together. Well, if the others hadn't already beaten him. However, as Ochako was running behind Todoroki and Tokoyami, something unexpected happened. The faux city vanished and the gravity hero found herself in a ruined city, trapped in a simulated and never-ending rainstorm with heavy winds. Behind her, a bright portal closed, wiping away the remnants of the city zone.
"Oh...oh no..." Ochako muttered.
"Greetings, Uraraka Ochako."
Ochako turned to face Ben, in the form of an odd armored beetle/turtle-like humanoid alien. She had never seen anything like that before. He was on the top of a small building.
"I see my decoy has exhausted you and your companions. I was sick of waiting for you to come to me, so I resolved to bring you to me." Ben stated.
Ochako tightened her fists. "Ben! I'm not sure what's wrong or if you're being controlled by someone, but..." Ochako ripped her gauntlet off, revealing her Omnitrix. "I'll beat some sense into you!
Ben sneered before changing to human form. He leapt from the roof onto the hood of a car. "I'd like to see you give it a shot." Ben grinned. "I'll make this easy, actually. I'll only use the aliens you use- to show you how outclassed you truly are."
Ochako activated her Omnitrix, and scrolled to Four Arms' icon. "I'd love to see you try." She said, slapping down the Omnitrix.
"Ah, a classic. Alright then," Ben smirked and brought up Four Arms as well. He slammed down on the dial and soon, his own Tetramand form stood before Ochako. He cracked his neck to get ready before slamming his fists together.
"Your move," Ben grinned. With that, Ochako rushed in, rearing her two left fists back and throwing a powerful dual-hit when she was close enough. Ben sidestepped the hit, throwing a hit of his own into Ochako's side. She staggered a bit from the hit, but turned to strike at him with her right fists. Missed again, courtesy of a quick duck from Ben. He grabbed Ochako by the waist before lifting her off the ground and suplexing her. The successor to the Omnitrix gasped as she hit the slick concrete. Ben quickly recovered from the move and grabbed her by the ankle before throwing her into the nearest building.
Ochako grunted. "He's strong, yeah...but I've got a speed advantage." Ochako quickly rolled out of the way of Ben's next attack- it shattered the ground with ease. Ochako hopped back on her feet, and dodged a few more of Ben's powerful blows.
He's like Satou after he eats too many sweets. He doesn't aim all that great! Ochako thought, before throwing a powerful sucker punch at Ben's gut. Ben keeled over, and Ochako took the advantage to charge up an attack.
Sorry, Deku! But the move's kinda stolen from All Might, so-
"DETROIT-!"
Ochako's two arms smashed into Ben's chest, and sent him flying through the roof.
"SMASH!"
Debris rained down on Ochako from the hole Ben made on his way up. She waited for a few seconds to try and hit him on the way down, but he never showed up. That just put Ochako on edge.
Ochako cautiously walked towards the hole in the roof, peering down into the building. She couldn't see anything, but she could hear the sound of something moving around. She took a deep breath before leaping down into the hole, landing gracefully on the debris-covered floor.
"Ben?" She called out, looking around for any sign of movement.
Suddenly, something heavy hit her from behind, sending her flying across the city. Ochako crashed into a wall, groaning in pain as she struggled to get up. She looked up to see Ben standing over her, a wicked grin on his face.
"That was a good hit," He said, cracking his knuckles. "But it's going to take more than that to beat me."
Ochako gritted her teeth, feeling her anger and frustration rise. She couldn't let Ben get away with whatever he was doing, and she refused to be beaten by him.
"I won't give up, Ben!" She declared, standing up slowly. "Whatever's going on with you, I'll find a way to stop it."
Ben shrugged nonchalantly. "Suit yourself. But you'll have to catch me first." In a flash of green light, Ben disappeared.
He must've transformed. I'm not smelling any smoke, so he's probably not Heatblast...maybe Big Chill? Ochako thought to herself.
"Boo." The chilly voice of Big Chill rasped. Ochako spun around, one of her hands slapping the Omnitrix to transform herself into Heatblast.
"Burn." Ochako said, letting her hand pass through Big Chill's intangible face.
The hand didn't freeze over like one would expect, instead letting trails of cold mist rise up. Ben hissed from the heat and pulled back, spinning away from Ochako and phasing through one of the walls. A blast of fire followed him but was a few seconds too slow, only scorching the stone.
Ochako looked outside- the rain would surely put out her flames. Despite being the best alien to use against Ben, she was at the disadvantage in terms of environment.
"I'll improvise." Ochako said, clenching her fist to create a larger fist around it.
"I'd love to see you try," Ben called out, but his voice was different now. It wasn't a silent rasp, but more of a glassy echo. Two beams of energy blasted through the wall and slammed into Ochako's chest, knocking her back outside. The rain poured down on her, each drop sizzling against her fiery skin. She looked up to see Chromastone walk out of the building, energy already surrounding his fists.
Big Chill was just a bluff! Ochako realized. He swapped to Chromastone before I even realized it!
"No hard feelings, kid. You put up 10% of a decent fight." Ben said, levitating down to the ground.
"Does it look like I'm done?" Ochako snapped back, swapping forms from Heatblast to Water Hazard. Jets of water fired from Ochako's hands and blinded Ben for a few seconds.
"Water on rock, huh? Not the smartest move," Ben huffed.
"Maybe, but here's the thing about water," Ochako said. The jets of water stopped and Ben could see that Ochako was nowhere to be seen. His single eye widened as he quickly pieced together her plan.
"Ice still beats rock," Ochako rasped, before Big Chill let out a gust of icy air at the Crystalsapien. Ice quickly crept up Ben's body, accelerated by how drenched he was.
Ben yelled, before he was frozen solid. Ochako's hands became coated in ice, and morphed into spears.
"Snow Stabber!" Ochako yelled, flying forward at top speeds.
With unparalleled precision, Ochako jabbed the icy spears into Ben's prison. She took extra care not to stab him, even if she was sure the ice wouldn't penetrate Chromastone's body. More and more spears were stabbed into the chunk of ice, forming the literal bars to Ben's frozen cell.
"There. That should hold you." Ochako said, landing on the ground. She cloaked herself up and sighed. "I don't know what's going on with you, Ben...but I will snap you out of this!"
She could see Chromastone's eye moving a bit inside the ice. Question now though, was how to wake him up? If it was a Xenocyte, how could she tell? Should she call up Ultimo, have him bring that gear back and run a scan on him?
Chromastone's eye narrowed, before a flash of green light blinded Ochako. Crap! I forgot he had Master Control there for a second! Ochako thought, before Ben's new cragged form took his place.
"That...was cold." Gravattack spoke.
"Ohhhhh no," Ochako muttered in fear, gently floating away from the gravity-manipulating powerhouse that was Gravattack.
"Full marks for that one," Ben admitted.
Ochako frowned. Gravattack was the hardest alien for her- when she was first told about, she assumed the alien would be easy to control. Especially since she had 'synergy' with it.
"Now...let's see how well you handle your own power," Gravattack said, holding his hand out to crush Ochako under gravity's pressure.
Ochako collapsed on the ground, dazed by the pressure above her head. "U-ERGH!" Ochako screamed. Her intangibility was failing her. Necrofrigian intangibility possesses a specific organ that acts similarly to a fish's swim bladder. It controls its density, thus in order to maintain that density, rise, or descend...it required to be 'equal' with gravity.
This was not in accordance with gravity.
"Not that well. Shame that," Gravattack shrugged and, with a flick of his wrist, threw Ochako aside like a ragdoll. She went flying, slamming into another building. Ben continued the movement over and over again.
Ochako yelled, unable to interact with the Omnitrix. She wanted to transform into someone like Upgrade to counter the strikes, but Ben was outclassing her. This alien was nuts!
"I've had over 20 years to perfect every alien I have, and you can barely keep your 11 aliens in place right now!" Ben laughed as he pounded Ochako to the ground for the final time. "Tell me, youngster, what's your game plan now?"
Ochako strained to rise up, his body throbbing horribly. She wanted to stand down, to run away and accept defeat, but-
She just couldn't do that here.
"I'm...sorry. I'm sorry I haven't been giving you the results you wanted. Maybe whatever is controlling you is amplifying your doubts and worries, but...I'm still working on the type of hero I wanna be." Ochako said, hands trembling as she reached for her Omnitrix symbol. "But now I can say something with confidence."
Ochako's eyes lit up. "I know that I can go all out on you without ANY regrets!"
With every bit of strength she could muster, Uravity slammed down on the dial. In a flash, the form of Big Chill was replaced by the much more compact Echo Echo.
"Sound against gravity. Feels a little one-sided," Ben mocked.
Ochako extended her arms, and created a full army of clones. Gravity has no direct effect on sound, it can only effect sound by effecting the medium, if you had a material of theoretically infinite density, gravity would have 0 effect on the sound through that medium.
"Good." Ochako said, before inhaling. All the other clones began to inhale as well...
"Sound..."
Ochako unleashed a powerful screech, loud enough to shatter every window in the area- it should've been impossible, but she managed it.
"POLLUTION!"
The Other Echo Echos let out some delayed sonic screeches, and blasted Ben from all angles. The sonic attacks hit Ben dead on. His eyes went wide and his hands shot up to cover where his ears would be.
Gravattack- the alien was MADE of earstones, structures designed to help certain creatures hear. The alien could barely hear his own thoughts!
"That's...exactly what I wanna see!" Ben yelled.
Ben shifted forms, this time into XLR8. XLR8 quickly 'teleported' out of the sound wave epicenter, and began to rush around, kicking Echo Echos left and right.
But with gravity no longer pushing down on her, Ochako quickly sprang to her feet and changed forms. As Ben rushed to kick down his student, Ochako turned and held out her hand. Gravity slammed down into Ben as now, Ochako had taken up Gravattack herself.
"Gotcha," Ochako smirked.
Ochako began slamming Ben around the place, going into her planetoid form and slamming him around at the fastest speed she could muster. If she could take it, so could Ben 10k!
"Ok. Maybe! This! Was! A bad! Idea!" Ben said between hits. He quickly moved and slammed down on the dial and, before he hit the wall again, it looked like Ben phased through it. Big Chill again maybe?
But the way he disappeared sent a chill down Ochako's spine. For some reason, she was struck with some sort of dread. It didn't make sense. A second ago, it felt like she was kicking some serious butt, and her theme music was playing. But now...
It felt like Ben had stolen it with his next transformation.
"We're done playing fair." A voice rasped. It wasn't like Big Chill's cool and collected voice, this one was demented and insidious.
"What..."
"You've never seen this one before, have you? If Izuku was here, he'd be able to give you a crash course..." the voice whispered, "and he'd let you know how absolutely outclassed you are now."
Tentacles wrapped around Ochako's arms and legs, and a blue aura surrounded her body.
"This is one of my 'sleeper' hits." Ben proclaimed. "An alien so horrific and mysterious, I always was scared to use him myself."
An alien...he was -scared- to use? Ochako mentally repeated. A hooded figure rose out of the ground before her, its face looking at the ground.
"I always thought he'd come back somehow. He did so many times before...but now I know he's gone. So GHOSTFREAK can come back out to play!" Ben cackled.
Ochako's blood ran cold when she heard that name.
"Hey, Uraraka. I was curious." Izuku said one day. "Did Ben give you...Ghostfreak?"
Ochako looked at Izuku curiously. "I mean, I have a ghost like alien. Why?"
"Well...Ghostfreak's one of Ben's most problematic aliens. It's the first one that ever broke out of the Omnitrix," Izuku answered, hesitating a bit at first, but he needed to say it. After all, if Ochako -did- have Ghostfreak, she should be aware of the risks associated with such a form.
"Escape?" Ochako repeated.
"It wasn't disclosed publicly, but the rumor mill says that Ghostfreak had a 'mind of its own' and was involved in some big plot that Ben and All Might faced." Izuku said. "Ben's also gone on record saying Ghostfreak scared him, so...yeah."
"That's scary- I can't imagine one of my aliens going out of control like that." Ochako said.
"Let's hope you never have to."
Ochako looked up at Ben's hooded figure, and frowned. "You...you've got control over Ben. This entire time...Ghostfreak's been taking over his mind!"
"Well that's an interesting little theory," Ben hissed, tapping his chin with one of Ghostfreak's razor-sharp claws, "And you're right. But don't call me Ghostfreak. I always HATED that name. Maybe the name will stick with you instead, Uraraka Ochako. Address me as the High Ecto-Lord of the Anur System! ZS'SKAYR!"
Ochako felt a shiver go down her spine. She gulped but quickly steeled her nerves. "You're the one attacking us. I knew Ben wouldn't do this, even as a test or whatever."
"Of COURSE he wouldn't! He's much too soft for that. Though...admittedly, I would've loved it if you were all stupid enough to think he'd gone rogue of his own volition. The paragon of justice, second only to All Might, really, attacking a group of youngsters in their own school. Leave maybe only that...Mineta as a survivor. Survivor's guilt would crush him within a week..."
Ochako raised an eyebrow. "Okay, even for you, that's harsh." Zs'skayr released his grasp on Ochako, and she went plummeting to the ground.
"Ow." Ochako said, getting back up.
"What can I say? I'm back and I'm feeling a little..." Zs'skayr moved his hand around as he tried to think of the right word, "excited. Cruelty like that is what I revel in. But, don't worry. I can be merciful."
"What do you want from us?" Ochako asked, still feeling uneasy about the situation.
Zs'skayr chuckled. "Oh, nothing much. Just a little game of cat and mouse. I want to see how long you can survive against me and my army of ghosts."
Ochako's eyes widened. "Army of ghosts?"
Zs'skayr nodded. "Yes, I've been busy building up my power in the Anur System, and I've amassed quite a collection of loyal followers. They'll be joining us soon enough."
Ochako took a deep breath, trying to steady her nerves. She couldn't let her fear control her. "We won't let you win," she said firmly.
Zs'skayr laughed. "Oh, I like your spirit, Ochako. But you're vastly outnumbered, and you're facing one of the most powerful beings in the universe. I suggest you surrender now and save yourself some pain."
Ochako gritted her teeth. She wasn't going to give up without a fight. She looked around, trying to come up with a plan. No one around...she looks like she just had to run through her roster of aliens, until she found something that could handle him.
As Ochako rotated through her roster of aliens, she quickly realized that none of them seemed to be a good match for Zs'skayr. Echo Echo's sound waves seemed to have no effect on the ghostly villain, and Water Hazard's water attacks passed right through him. Heatblast's flames didn't even singe Zs'skayr's cloak, and Chromastone's energy blasts seemed to be absorbed by him.
Ochako was starting to feel a sense of hopelessness when she finally transformed into XLR8. Maybe speed was the key to defeating Zs'skayr.
Ochako quickly darted around Zs'skayr, trying to confuse him with his movements. Zs'skayr was fast too, but Ochako was faster. Ochako thought she might have found a weakness in Zs'skayr's defenses.
Suddenly, Ochako stopped moving, and Zs'skayr floated in front of her, a wicked grin on his face. "Nice try, little hero. But speed alone won't save you from me."
Ochako felt a cold chill run down her spine. Zs'skayr held out his open hand and the shadows around Ochako grew darker, almost liquid-like. The ghost clenched his fist and the shadows began to rise up around Ochako, like the hungry of some animal. A comparison that was even more accurate when the girl noticed fangs and jaws forming from the shadows.
"I'll spare you the sight of your classmates' bodies broken before me," Zs'skayr grinned and closed his hand. The shadow jaws slammed shut around Ochako before she could even react.
Ochako struggled inside the jaws before her Omnitrix returned her to human form. "No, no, no!" Ochako screamed, feeling herself sink into the darkness. She could still breathe the air around her, but her body was devoid of gravity. In contrast to other times when she removed her own gravity, this time it felt like she was underwater.
Ochako stared up at the way she came in, and sat in silence. "Ben's...in there. Struggling. And none of my 10 aliens can help him." She replayed the entire battle in her head.
Ochako didn't have it in her to cry.
...but she wanted to try.
Upon her reflection of the battle, she recalled something very interesting. Zs'skayr had said it in passing.
"I've had over 20 years to perfect every alien I have, and you can barely keep your 11 aliens in place right now!"
11 aliens.
11.
She only had 10.
Ochako looked at her Omnitrix, and activated it. Was this your cry for help, Ben? Was this my key to victory? She wondered, scrolling to the new icon. It was humanoid, and had spikes on their shoulders. It looked like they were wearing armor.
Ochako smirked. "Okay, number 11- let's see what you can do."
She slammed down on the dial and immediately she felt a surge of energy run through her body, like she was just hit by one of Kaminari's shocks but amplified a thousand fold. The only real difference was that this didn't hurt. In fact, it felt almost natural. Her body began to change from a solid humanoid look to one that seemed to be made out of condensed pink energy. This new form was taller and a bit bulkier, but not as bulky as Gravattack. Then came the armor she saw in the hologram. Patches of a rock-like material began to appear all over this form, merging together into heavy gauntlets, spiked and rounded shoulder pads, and heavy militaristic boots. A rock-like version of her own helmet appeared on the alien's head, though now it held elements of what might've been a gladiator helmet one would find in ancient Rome.
With the transformation complete, her first order of business was breaking out. With all that new energy welling up in her body, she decided to release some of it. She held her hands out to the side and concentrated, much like she would when using Gravattack. Instead of crushing someone with the gravity of Jupiter, a practical storm of pink lightning began to swirl around inside the shadow-maw. Bolts of energy fired out and began to tear through the shadow construct, before finally shredding the thing and blinding Zs'skayr!
Thunder sounded in the air, and the rain started to pour even harder. Zs'skayr's single eye recovered...and now, he was face to face with...
"A Fulmini!?" Zs'skayr yelled. "Impossible!"
"Yeah, that's what I am- I guess!" Ochako said, looking down at her hands. "Given your reaction, I'm bad news."
"Your inexperience with the form pales in comparison to a lifetime of mastery!" Zs'skayr yelled, as shadows started to arise from behind him. He forced the shadows to attack Ochako- but she held up her fist, and clenched it. She reeled back her fist...and extended it towards Zs'skayr's face at full speed.
The energy fist tore through the shadows as if they were paper, before it slammed into the ghost's face, making him spin mid-air from the hit. Ochako pulled her arm back and blinked a few times, surprised at the unexpected power. She clenched her hand a few times, before it morphed into a gladius sword.
"Ooooh, ok. Didn't mean to do THAT!" Ochako beamed.
This alien was filled with energy- it was like being Chromastone, Heatblast and Fourarms, all in the same form. The constructs were easier to hold, as opposed to Chromastone and Heatblast. Ochako leapt off the ground, enhancing her jump with electricity. She prepared to slam her sword blade into Zs'skayr's chest.
The ghost growled and summoned up a scythe made entirely of shadow. The electric blade slashed with the shadow weapon and sent sparks flying.
Ochako and Zs'skayr's blades clashed with each other- each blade was sharp and powerful. Zs'skayr's scythe had more of a reach, though. Ochako found herself having to constantly be on guard when he struck. As the two continued to clash, Ochako realized that she needed to find a way to gain the upper hand. She analyzed Zs'skayr's movements, looking for any weaknesses or openings. Suddenly, she saw her chance.
Zs'skayr had swung his scythe in a wide arc, leaving his side open. Ochako took advantage of the opening and slammed her foot into Zs'skayr's side, sending him flying. She followed up with a flurry of quick strikes, hitting him with her sword and punches infused with electricity.
Zs'skayr growled and retaliated with a blast of shadow energy, but Ochako was ready for it. She summoned up a shield made of condensed energy and blocked the blast, then countered with a blast of her own. The two blasts collided in a burst of energy, causing the ground to shake.
Ochako smirked, feeling more confident in her new form. She charged at Zs'skayr, her sword glowing with electricity. Zs'skayr swung his scythe, but Ochako deftly dodged it and sliced through the shadow construct with ease.
Zs'skayr's eye widened in shock as he realized he was losing. He tried to summon more shadows, but Ochako was too fast and powerful for him.
"I dunno why I'm sticking with this dumb sword, at this point." Ochako said, getting some distance between them. "I'm barely scratching the surface of what this alien can do."
"You can't have mastered an alien in just a few minutes." Zs'skayr scoffed.
"Oh, no, I'm still figuring out the basics." Ochako said, as stone formed around her hands. Her hands suddenly gained two massive chainsaws. "And the basics are AWESOME."
Zs'skayr actually paused at seeing the chainsaws. How in the hell did that work. Ochako rushed at the specter and began to swing wildly at him. Zs'skayr's scythe broke after a few hits, and Ochako thrust her blades at the ghoul. Zs'skayr's telekinesis caught her, and he telekinetically shoved her through a wall.
That only stopped her for about a few seconds. The energy quickly gathered up in her hands and two more weapons formed in her hands. From the hole she was thrown into, Ochako threw two energy boomerangs at the ghost. Zs'skayr's eye widened as he brought up a shield of shadow to block the projectiles, but they arced around the barrier and slammed into his back, shocking him.
"This alien's great! And this is just scratching the surface of what she can do!" Ochako slammed her hands together on the ground, causing electricity to shoot through it. The ground erupted in a massive pink explosion, swallowing up Zs'skayr.
Zs'skayr let out a pained scream as he was engulfed by the explosion. The energy surged through his spectral body, causing him to feel intense pain that he had never experienced before. With how bright that blast was, Ochako thought for a minute she might have vaporized the specter. Considering the yell of pain that echoed out from where Zs'skayr was, her best guess was that he was half-burned.
"Come on, Ben!" Ochako yelled. "FIGHT HIM! I KNOW YOU CAN DO THIS!"
The specter was thrown from the blast, slamming into the pavement and rolling across it a few times. Zs'skayr's form was smoking, giving credence to Ochako's idea of half-burning the evil ghost.
Ochako walked over to it, conjuring up a blade in her hand. "Ready to give up, or do I need to put you down?"
Instead of surrendering, the seemingly weakened Zs'skayr rose up off the ground, as if he were standing and began applauding.
"Bravo. BRAVO, Ochako!" The specter cheered, "Quite the feat, bringing me down like that. And such accomplishment deserves to be rewarded, don't you think?"
Ochako's Omnitrix suddenly timed out, and she was left at the mercy of the specter. Ochako took a few steps away, before falling back.
"Now...let me show you the TRUTH!" Zs'skayr yelled, lunging at her...
:) i love cliff hangers