Earlier.

The fact that Hope could fly was something that, ironically, flew over Ben's head. But she couldn't fly as fast as Jetray or Astrodactyl, nor did he want to turn into Stinkfly right now, so instead, he chose to turn into Big Chill. He did think of turning into Chromastone, but he wasn't even sure if that transformation could still fly or what.

The Ultimatrix still gave him headaches, even years later.

"Does flying help you?" She asked, right now not wearing her disguise. While Ben was a bit worried, he had to agree with her point, that it was the middle of the night and they could just stay away from downtown Bellwood, where all the major buildings were. Just as long as no one photographed them.

"It is like driving or riding my hoverboard." Big Chill answered, spinning in the air. "It does help clear my mind."

"It's the same for me. Although I prefer meditation." Hope said, looking around the city. "There, do you want to make a stop?" She pointed towards one of the tallest buildings, which was surprisingly just composed of residential apartments if Ben remembered correctly.

"Yes." Big Chill answered, diving towards the building, where, after a green flash, he returned to his human form. Ben sat on the edge of the roof, where Hope soon joined him.

"It's amazing how much the city has grown." The witch commented, looking at the avenues and stores below. "I remember it being a rather sparse place just a few years back."

"Probably my fault," Ben said. "I do miss how it was in the past. Though, it could be worse. Undertown compensates a lot."

"This all is very curious to me." Hope stated.

"What do you mean?" He inquired.

"You know, aliens, and all." She chuckled. "My realm is magic. Not space. When we first fought, I thought you were transforming into demons."

Ben didn't know if he should feel amused or horrified. "I..."

Once again, Hope laughed. "But the confusion went away quickly. All those news stories and evidence. People went nuts. But it took another six years so I could be sure."

"I still can't believe you thought I turned into demons. I didn't even know demons were a real thing."

"Would you blame me when you were turning into a four-armed red figure? Or a being engulfed in flames?" Hope argued.

Ben rolled his eyes. "Alright, I will concede. But still, demons?"

The witch shrugged. "What else would you call the Old One?"

He frowned. "You mean... the Dagon?"

The witch visibly shrugged. "Please don't say that name. It is... a sensitive topic."

Ben couldn't blame her. If she knew the tale of the Dagon, she knew the horrors Ben had to witness with his own eyes. "Sorry. For a long time, I never realized you... well... traded our souls with him."

Hope seemed embarrassed, which Ben was thankful for. He hadn't forgotten how he had died, "Yes... I made the deal with him... again, I'm sorry."

"It's okay." Ben still felt a bit resentful, after all, he did die, and all, but he was glad Hope genuinely seemed remorseful about the deed. "We've been through this. But it's fine, don't worry about it..." He trailed off as he noticed a strange collection of noises coming from the streets below. Screams... then gunshots? And finally, tires. Perhaps a robbery?

"It's curious how your expression changes," Hope said out of nowhere, making Ben's ears warm up a bit.

"Excuse me?"

"When you become vigilant. Your eyes are as sharp as that of an owl. Even your posture shifts."

"I... can't say I've noticed that." Ben awkwardly replied, getting up.

"I just think it's cute. And curious, as I said."

"Thanks." He really couldn't help but feel really embarrassed and taken off guard. He took a deep breath, calming himself down. "Wanna see something cooler, though?"

The sorceress raised an eyebrow. "Go on."

Ben smiled, letting gravity do its thing, pulling him away from the building. He heard Hope calling his name, but he was already falling to the ground. Quickly pressing the Omnitrix, he just hoped it wouldn't turn him into Grey Matter or something like that. But the watch seemed to be in a good mood since a second later Ben turned into Heatblast. Shooting flames downwards, Ben scouted for any suspicious cars or pursuits, and sure enough, a pack of 2 cars and one truck sped frantically through a highway, a single police car behind them.

It seemed weird that only one car was on the case, but Ben shrugged it off. Diving forward, he followed the vehicles, until something he was not expecting happened. From one of the windows of the truck, a masked man appeared, a gun akin to a rocket launcher in his hands. Heatblast widened his eyes as the criminal shooted a large blast of energy from the gun. It thankfully didn't hit the police car directly, but it did hit the ground in front of it, causing the car to abruptly stop and almost flip over.

Like it wasn't enough already, he heard cheering, actual cheering coming from the criminals' vehicles. Enough was enough. Ben got close enough to the ground and concentrated enough so he could shoot an immense blast of fire toward the road, melting it. The truck and one of the cars managed to abruptly brake, although the latter span two times, somehow.

But the other car wasn't so lucky, plummeting into the melted ground like it was sinking into mud. The ground quickly solidified, trapping the vehicle. Heatblast landed on the ground, and pressed the Omnitrix on his chest, returning to his human form. Ben walked forward, ready to turn into another transformation. From the car, some thieves in familiar attire came out, one of them even puking. From the driving seat of the truck, exited a criminal Ben hadn't thought of that much recently.

"Fistrick!" He greeted, wary of the rifle-like alien blaster the punk criminal had in his hands. "Couldn't you wait for business hours, man?"

"Not really, bro," Fistrick answered, recharging his gun. Ben brought his hand close to the Omnitrix. "We would have gotten away too if it weren't for you showing up."

"Oh, I've heard that one before, it's from-" Ben never had the opportunity to finish his sentence, since Fistrick fired, and Ben barely had time before he could dodge the first shot, and then press the Omnitrix. Feedback rolled away, trying to get into a position where he could perhaps absorb one of those blats, but Fistrick wasn't eager to give him an opening. To top it all, some of the henchmen started firing with regular guns at him.

So much for alien tech. Ben never had to test the durability of Feedback against regular bullets, and he really didn't want to find out. Blasters were one thing, but Earth guns... It really wouldn't work out best for him. Some shots from the alien rifle hit him, making him hiss in pain and almost lose his balance, but he at least managed to not receive a bullet to the chest or head.

"Going low budget, man?" Feedback mocked, still doing his best to dodge all he could, despite the pain.

"Ever heard of combined arms, bro?" Fistrick answered, looking back at the truck, where another one of his henchmen exited with the massive weapon. Feedback narrowed his eyes, waiting for an opening, and it came when Fistrick's goons had to recharge their weapons. Ben stopped and absorbed some of the shots from the punk criminal's alien rifle. Smiling, Feedback charged up, and fired at Fistrick himself, knocking him away.

He then attacked the ones porting the regular rifles and pistols, who tried to dodge his blue blasts, but Ben had predicted this, and they all flew away when his blast hit the ground. Feedback smiled, but there was still the launcher dude. Looking back at him, Ben cursed himself when he saw the massive blast coming right at him. Too quick for his reflexes. He prepared for the impact, but it never came.

Instead, he just now noticed the pink shields erected around him. Above in the sky, the figure of his 'cousin' glided downwards.

"Not nice," Sunny said, and to be blunt, the henchman was astounded, his mouth agape. Before he could react, in a twist of irony. Sunny fired a mana blast from her hands, hitting the man in the head, and knocking him unconscious.

Hope turned towards him, smiling. "I can't lie, this feels good."

Feedback sighed. "Not sure about this specifically." Ben changed back, noticing that the darkness was already going away. And because of the line of cars already piling up just behind the warzone. Traffic would be hell today.

"This is Ben Tennyson." Ben pressed the comms button on the Omnitrix, redirecting to Plumbers HQ. "I've apprehended the criminal Fistrick along with several of his goons, please send a ship to pick them up."

It took a moment, but Ben heard a response. "Understood. Three vessels are on the way. Thank you, Agent Tennyson."

"Isn't it weird that no Plumbers arrived until you called them?" Hope noticed, and to that, Ben had to smile.

"Well, that much destruction, either the world is ending, and there would have been previous warnings, or... well, it's me fighting a villain."

Sunny pursed her lips. "Fair? I suppose... How are you going to trap them? They might just wake up before the Plumbers arrive."

Ben once more sported a grin. "I have just the alien to do it."

Turns out, Ben had to think for a moment before he selected the alien. But Big Chill did the job nicely, freezing all the vehicles and the thieves as well. And it was also nice that he didn't even need to switch transformations as they made their way into the hotel. Hope chose to cloak herself with a spell since a Necrofriggian alone would cause a lot of attention. But Ben knew she was by his side, even if he couldn't see her.

They entered their hotel room just as they left it – through the window. Ben changed back to human just as he landed, and Hope became visible again, removing her mask to reveal her real face. The witch smiled.

"How are you feeling?"

"Actually better." Ben replied, and it was the truth. "Guess I just needed to kick some ass."

"Maybe." She removed her coat, and untied her hair, dropping onto the bed like Ben did when he jumped off the building earlier. "By Bezel, I am tired."

"Same." Ben sat on the bed, feeling his muscles sore and aching. The places where Fistrick had hit him were particularly bad. "Can you believe that low-level idiots are using guns now?"

"Hm. It seems fitting. They are what one would call street level, aren't they?"

Ben nodded. "Sure, but still. I've never had to deal with dodging bullets. It's easier when it's just blasts or plasma."

"I find weapons uncivilized." Hope stated. "Magic is inherently superior to technology, especially one so rudimentary."

"Eh, I don't know. There are things greater than magic."

"Not technology." Hope argued.

"But maybe what you can achieve through it." Ben showed the Omnitrix, to which the witch stared with an amused look.

"We're lucky that the Omnitrix didn't land near someone who would use it for bad intents, right?" Her blue eyes were fixated on him, piercing and analytical. "What's that transformation that makes you a god?"

"You mean... Alien X?" Ben carefully guessed.

Hope nodded. "Yes, Alien X. What's with that? Why don't you just turn into him in every fight?"

"Well, it doesn't make me a god." Ben started. "Thankfully. Alien X is just... I can manipulate reality itself. To cosmic levels. But it's not just me there?"

"Hm?" Hope was obviously confused. "What do you mean?"

"Every Celestial Sapien... Alien X's species, I mean..." He clarified when Hope seemed to get even more lost. "There are three voices inside of it. I don't know if it's the same for every single one, but in my case, there's Serena, she's the voice of compassion. Bellicus, the voice of aggression."

"And where does that leave you?"

"I'm the voice of reason." The witch was clearly surprised by that. "I know. We all have to come to a decision when it comes to any matter. So that makes using Alien X very stressful."

"Why? From what I heard, you're unstoppable as Alien X."

"I am." Ben didn't know to what extent that was true, but he was sure no other being in his universe at least could destroy him when transformed into the Celestial Sapien. "But I usually turn into him when I need to deal with... very bad situations. And those two, they're the most annoying pricks I've ever seen."

Hope seemed surprised. "Even Serena?"

"She takes compassion to another level." Ben snorted. "And Bellicus just wants violence. So, when I say, hey, let's maybe save the universe, they just keep arguing. It stopped for a time; you know?" Ben remembered his last time as Alien X. "But I made the mistake of trying to talk to them when me and Kai had an argument." Remembering Kai did not help. "And they decided to go back to the previous arrangement. So, when I do transform, I can only stay put while time passes, and I need to convince them to do what I want."

"Overall, it's not nice." Ben finished, tired of even thinking about the trouble he must go through.

"No, it doesn't seem like it." Hope agreed. "It's very much a double-edged sword."

"Yeah. On one hand, create universes. On the other..." Ben sighed. "There were times I wish I could just have gotten away with what I wanted, like..." He trailed off.

"Like what?"

"I... I don't think I should talk about it."

Hope moved on her bed, facing him completely. "Are you sure?"

"It's just that it's something that I try to ignore." Ben took a deep breath. "Two years ago, I got into a scuffle with some people. Long story short, everyone was trying to get the Annihilarrgh. It's a device that is used to destroy, slash create universes." He explained before she could ask. He didn't even misspell it! What a serious mood didn't do, right? "And it was activated."

"Oh." Hope looked with both concern and confusion. "And what happened?"

"The universe... the one where I lived before... it technically got destroyed. Permanently. I created a copy as Alien X. So... everyone here is not really their original selves... but copies."

"That's... that's horrifying." Hope truly seemed shaken. "But... wait... when was this?"

"Two years ago. Just a few weeks after I received this Omnitrix... maybe, like... May? April? Something like that."

Hope was silent. "I was not on Earth. I was in Legerdomain."

Ben wasn't sure he fully comprehended what she was saying. "So?"

"I can't say I can explain the Realm of Magic completely." She spoke. "But Legerdomain is outside the universe. It exists as its own dimension, not tied to anything apart from magic itself."

"So..." Ben was slowly starting to realize. "Ledgerdomain wasn't affected at all?"

"There was a day... when I noticed my connection to magic shrinking massively." Hope recalled. "Then it went away. I tried to investigate, but there was nothing to investigate. So, I moved on."

"Hope..." Ben said. "You... you come from the same universe as I do."

She widened her eyes. "I... Ben..." The witch found herself at a loss for words.

"Do you remember anything different with Mr. Smoothy"

"What kind of question is that?" Hope was really, really lost.

"Do you?" Ben insisted.

"I... yes." She confirmed. "The mascot. I thought it had simply changed. Was it that?"

"No, it changed when the universe was recreated. Don't ask me how." Ben said. "But it did. Nobody remembers it. But..."

"I do..." Hope finished. They both stood in silence for a while, staring at each other. Neither did know what to say. Ben was completely fazed. He thought... he had thought he was alone. He wasn't, of course, but deep down, the fact that his original family and friends were dead terrified him and gave him quite a few sleepless nights. But now... even if it was one of his rogues... Ben felt like he was staring into the past. He could remember the old taste of the grape smoothie. The moments before the explosion. The screams he heard while the universe was destroyed.

"Ben... calm down... You're hyperventilating." Hope shook him off his panic, bringing him back to reality.

"Sorry." He took a deep breath again. "It was just too much... but... I'm happy, I guess. I just didn't expect it."

"Neither did I. It's a lot to take in." Hope stated. The witch, often so confident and well-adjusted, seemed truly shaken. But... she also seemed, in a way, relieved.

Just at this moment, however, they heard the front door opening, just for it to close abruptly. Heavy steps were heard, making Ben almost want to go for the Omnitrix, but in the end, it was simply his counterpart. Bad Ben, however, seemed angry. Very much so.

Great.

Yeah, Hope is from the previous universe. You can have your own interpretations of Legerdomain, but this is mine. And it will be explored further next chapter. Big things coming soon. We're getting somewhere