(Me coming in with a new chapter.)
Me: "Hello there..."
I'm honestly still experimenting with what I want to do before the fic starts so, I put most of what I wanted to say in the Author's note at the end.
Let me not delay this any longer, here is Chapter 2.
I do not own Ben 10 or My Hero Academia.
Chapter 2
Technical Difficulties
Okay… When people came at him, asking about putting the Omnitrix back on, this wasn't what he was expecting…
It was now the next day. He was back home and now, at 10:30 in the morning, he was sitting in front of a table with several stacks of books and paper right in front of him.
"Now listen Ben, keep in mind that the entrance exams are in 8 months. There will be a written section for it, so you have got to brush up on maths, physics, chemistry..." Ben's mother goes on but Ben is really not in the mood to listen.
If this wasn't the summer time, maybe he could be a bit more inclined to pay attention but not when literally everyone else he knew was out there having fun.
"And U.A., despite being one of the most prestigious schools, only has classes in Japanese (except for English). Which means..."
"Oh no no no. Please don't. Anything but that. Don't make me..." Ben thinks but it's too late.
As she slams a couple more books on the desk, she says: "You also have to learn Japanese."
"I… would like to take my chances with Vilgax." Ben internally sweatdrops. He will really need to plan out his time if he wants to succeed. And planning… hasn't really been his strong suit.
With his 8 months worth of lecture literally piled up in front of him, he could practically feel the burnout and his mother was not about to stop: "And thankfully, we found the perfect tutor for you."
Ben internally screeches. "Tutor?! In the summer time?!"
With a hopeless grin, he thinks "They really won't let me live this decision down, will they?" Showing the Omnitrix on his wrist was enough to have her faint, so he wouldn't be exactly surprised if she was trying to get him back.
Leaning back on his chair, he sarcastically asks: "Well, who is this 'famous' tutor you found?"
At the edge of his room's door, he sees a tall and slender figure.
"Oh…" is all Ben can utter.
She was wearing a white shirt under a dark blue sweater, black stockings under a black mini skirt and black high heels. She also had red hair, almost down to her waist.
"What's up doofus?" Gwen says, with a smug grin on her face.
Yep, she WOULD be the only person to prefer staying inside and studying, to going out there and actually getting some sunlight.
"I asked Gwen to help organize your remaining days and coach you through all subjects." Ben's mom says however her voice then starts to sound a bit stricter. "If you are going to do this... I will make sure that you do it right."
"Yep, for 3 months it will be just you, me and all kinds of material. But when my school begins, it will mostly be afternoon lectures." Gwen says as she holds a timetable in her hand.
However Ben is just stuck on that "only afternoon" part. Finally something that he can be glad about!
But, just like she read Ben's mind, a smirk forms on her face. "And don't worry about me having school Ben, I'll be sure to leave you with enough homework every day."
Alright, did he say Vilgax before? What he meant was Vilgax and Kevin, with Animo ready to tag in! This is torture, TORTURE he says!
With a similar grin, Ben's mother says "Then I'll leave him to you Gwen." and leaves the room.
"You can trust me Aunt Sandra." Gwen replies as she closes the door behind her.
"And here I thought you were being genuine with me..." Ben says with a smile and a sneering tone. As Gwen sits next to him, he says: "It's color coded?"
"Yep, so that you won't..." Gwen starts and "...do the same thing two days in a row." Ben satirically finishes with Gwen at the same time.
But, as she sets the plans down, she says "You should be glad Ben. Imagine what would have happened if they found someone else."
He hates to say it, but she does have a point there. At least the two of them know each other so she might take pity on him… Or it will make everything worse. It really just depends on Gwen's mood.
"Well, why did you take this? You didn't have to be my coach." Ben briefly glances at the door. "Did you?"
"Who would want to miss this stuff Ben? Ever since the eruption of quirks, Japan has been the leader in anything related to heroics. Teaching you will be a great opportunity for me to properly learn about it as well."
"They are the leader because of All Might though. He's such a great hero that even America is kind enough to put him on screen consistently."
Even as Ben says this, there is a small spark in his eyes. Gwen can tell that even though Ben has been away from the job, he never stopped admiring the ones still in it and fighting the good fight.
"Yeah, but not only because of him. Japan is one of the few countries to make rapid and significant changes to its national education system that actually considers quirks as part of the curriculum."
Yeah, even here in America, they had two high schools in Bellwood and both of them were in favor of suppressing quirks rather than nurturing them.
"If you are such a fan, why aren't you coming along?" Ben asks.
"I'm not the one who got the invite and… I guess I want to spend a bit more time in the nest before I fly off for good." Gwen replies.
Ben would make a quip about Gwen's attitude but considering that she is his teacher right now… Maybe he should stay on her good side.
"Alright let's see what we got here..." he says as he drags that piece of paper in front of him. Science, Maths, Quirk history, English, Japanese…
"What is this blue part here?" Ben asks. It was right in the middle of Saturday and Sunday, covering up almost half of both days.
Gwen leans over and says: "Hero training."
"Hero training..."Ben repeats. "Wait a minute, hero training?!"
"Yeah, it is a hero school after all. I thought you would be rusty after that long of a break. Consider it your weekend." Gwen says with a smirk. "I'm not that merciless."
"Score!" Ben says, almost jumping out of his chair. At least there is something besides sitting in front of a desk and reading some lecture. Gwen, on the other hand, just shakes her head with the same smile. "You know, if I happen to see you stalling in your other studies, I will take it away."
"Yes ma'am." Ben says in a sneering yet acknowledging tone. He then glances back at the time table. As the first subject, he had... physics. "It just had to be physics..." He sighs. It was his worst subject after all.
And despite the initial reluctance from Ben, they get to work…
"Okay you two..." Ben's father says as he stops the car. "We'll come to pick you up at 8, until then don't go too far."
"Yes Ben, please be careful." says Ben's mother from the passenger seat.
"We will mom, and don't worry. Grandpa Max will be with us." Ben says as he opens the door and gets out of the car.
"Don't worry aunt Sandra, I'll keep an eye on him."
"Yes please Gwen, don't let him push himself too far." Ben's mother says worriedly for which Gwen nods and gets out of the car.
After the two sides wave at each other for a brief moment, Ben's parents drive off back home. It had finally been Saturday and it was time for Ben's combat training… or more rather brushing up on what he already knows. For his training, they needed a deserted place and what better place than...well… the desert.
The pair then see the Rustbucket across the road and run towards it. Since Gwen was mostly busy with preparing Ben for the written exam, his alien training was passed along to someone else.
"Oh, hey kids!" Max exclaims as he sees the two cousins approaching him.
"Hi grandpa!" Ben says as he stretches his arms and legs. After a long week, he had been waiting for this, just him and other targets to hit. He then takes a look at the training ground. With the use of excess materials like arrow targets, metal cans and tires all tied down with ropes and built with mostly wood, it looked similar to the area he used to set up for Diamondhead's practice, so maybe today was Diamondhead's day?
"So, you got an instruction manual for this lesson Gwen?" Ben asks.
"Nope. Since grandpa was more experienced when it comes to alien life, I decided to let him handle it. I'm just here in case grandpa needs my help." Gwen says casually. "I will keep watch but..." She doesn't complete her sentence as she heads inside the Rustbucket.
Once she comes out, she has a foldable chair in her hand and says: "I also plan on having my own vacation." as she unfolds the chair, sits and leans back. "Classic." Ben thinks.
"Alright sport, which alien do you want to try out for today?" Max says. "I thought after everything that happened, it wouldn't be right if I also chose this for you."
On the other hand, Ben already had his answer, ever since he saw the area that grandpa set up for him.
With a determined look he says, "I think I want to go with Diamondhead, grandpa."
Last time, he messed up in this course. It's time to see just how he would handle it now.
He gets in the center and grandpa, along with Gwen, get right in front of the controls. "You're ready Ben?" Gwen shouts.
"Yeah!" Ben replies but internally...
"Okay, I can do this… I can do this..."
His hand makes its way to the Omnitrix, only for it to shake briefly. He just… had some memories about the silhouettes he was about to see, or rather the silhouette that he wasn't about to see. But, he needed to push through it.
He closes his eyes to calm himself down and hits the button on the Omnitrix. He hears the faceplate come out and despite his hesitation, opens his eyes to choose his alien. What he sees however, is more than surprising…
He doesn't see Diamondhead, neither Fourarms, nor Grey Matter… The faceplate did indeed come out of the watch but there was no selection available on the dial.
At this point, Gwen and Max were also starting to get worried. Ben never took this long when it came to transforming, especially when he knew what to turn into. Leaving Gwen at the controls, Max decides to head on over to Ben.
"Everything okay champ?" Max says, only for Ben to turn around and show him the situation. Just like Ben, Max was also puzzled.
"What happened to the Omnitrix?" Max asks.
"I have no clue, it just… doesn't work."
He shakes his wrist like that's going to make it any better. "This never happened before."
"We should contact Azmuth about this. He would know what to do better than us." Max says before trying to leave for the Rustbucket, before Ben objects and says: "No. Maybe if I just..." and presses down the faceplate. What happens, confuses the duo even more.
The faceplate went down but the green hue that the dial had now left it's place for… blue?
"Okay Azmuth, really? Adding a blue screen to the most powerful device in the universe..?" Ben thinks as he starts tampering with the device. "Are you sure you didn't use any technology from Earth while creating this thing?"
He turns the dial, presses on the faceplate, hits the button on the side… basically anything that he thought that might bring the device back to normal but, the watch proved to be quite stubborn.
There were some noises coming from the device but nothing that signalled a return to normal. At that point Max puts his hand over the device and says: "Let's not mess with it any longer Ben. I'll go get my communicator and ask Azmuth about this. You stay put."
When he gets a nod from Ben, he takes his hand off and makes his way to the Rustbucket. However before he can reach it, a green light engulfs the Omnitrix.
"I didn't touch it this time grandpa, I swear!" Ben yells. Max rushes over to Ben as well as Gwen who had seen everything unfolding from afar.
Despite the light, Ben turns his head to look at the Omnitrix. The dial starts to turn on his own and the Omnitrix starts to change form. The faceplate gets slightly smaller and turns green & black rather than green & gray , the wristband starts to thin out and gets a more prominent green color rather than black, the button on the side completely disappears, leaving it's place for two buttons on the rim of the hourglass.
The green light fades out and Ben manages to see the new sleeker Omnitrix in all of its glory. It looks more like a smart watch now rather than a big wrist watch.
"It never did that before..." Ben says as he pushes down the rims on the Omnitrix.
The faceplate pops out, glows green and shows the hologram of a completely new alien. He starts to turn the dial and sees various new alien figures.
"I don't recognize any of these..." Ben starts before he's interrupted by some familiar silhouettes. But before he can ponder any longer, Gwen and Max arrive to his side.
"What did you do to the Omnitrix, Ben?" Gwen says.
"Nothing, it just… rebooted. And take a look at this." Ben says as he shows the holograms of his aliens. There were some that they recognized but a lot of them were new. It was back to the 10 alien set-up and from what he could tell, he could only recognise 3 of those transformations.
"Just when I thought I knew how to work this thing..." Ben pouts. He's glad about the new forms, he honestly is but… he wished it wasn't at the expense of some of his favourite alien heroes.
Max and Gwen on the other hand are a bit more cautious. They think about contacting Azmuth and informing him… after 1 test transformation. Just to see if it's still the Omnitrix they came to know and since they doubt Azmuth would pick up the phone just for a cosmetic change.
The trio once again take their positions and Ben starts scrolling through his aliens until he finally lands on a new one. With a smile on his face, he raises his hand and slams the dial and in a flash of light, morphs into this new alien.
Immediately, his body grows taller and skinnier. His skin hardens and turns indigo with several lines and spots, several magenta crystal shards come out from his body with one of them being from the top of his head, his eyes also merge into one and turn completely green, and the dial ends up on his chest.
With curiosity he looked at his hands and then himself, this was really bringing back memories… some good and some… questionable. He then turns to Max and Gwen and does a thumbs up to them, signaling that he's okay and ready.
Max is stunned. He had never seen an alien like this before… But, he seems to have a crystalline structure like Diamondhead so maybe he's up for the task? Maybe? But he puts the thought aside and nods at Ben's signal. He then immediately starts pulling levers and ropes, launching metal cans at Ben and rising up wooden targets.
As Gwen sees Ben getting into position with arms out and palms open, she remarks "Hmph, I hope he doesn't try to turn us into swiss cheese again."
Max says: "I think he wouldn't choose a similar alien, if he was going to repeat the same mistake."
But to both of their surprise Ben closes his hands back and, instead of crystals, he shoots a rainbow colored laser beam and destroys the cans, leaving only bits and pieces around.
Ben looks back at his hands and sees a brief glow before it fades out. "Rainbow Power?.."
He sees some other targets suspended by ropes…
"Here goes!" Ben thinks as he brings one hand forward and shoots. "That's what I'm talking about."
And as he looks at his hands again, he sees that the glow was specifically coming from the magenta crystals on his hands. Just how was he doing this?
But he doesn't have time to wonder, more dummies and targets spring up from the course. He raises his hands but…
"Come on, why can't I fire?!" He then just resorts to jumping over them.
Once he leaps up though, Ben discovers another aspect that makes this alien different from Diamondhead: Enhanced strength and by relation, enhanced jumping.
"Wow… This really is just one level below flying huh..." he thinks before landing back on the ground. But as he's back on the ground, he is spooked by a new cactus dummy rising from the ground and impulsively fires at it.
He looks at his hand one more time… He might be starting to get it now…
"Okay, let's try this again...Dodge once. Dodge twice. Wow, this alien is fast by the way." Ben internally monologues as he dodges some cans. "And, now shoot!"
He brings one hand forward and destroys the next wave of cans.
A smile slowly starts to form on his face, yeah he was really starting to get it. He then shouts: "Who wants some?!"
And like grandpa heard him, three wooden dummies spring up from the ground. "I wonder..." He opens one of his hands and tries to focus on his fingers. Any chance he could shoot multiple at the same time? However, before he can act, he gets hit with a tire from the back and finds himself face first on the ground.
"They do say that history repeats itself..." Gwen quips.
"Ha ha!" Ben sarcastically laughs as he gets up.
"Okay, not the time to experiment. Focus." He thinks as he gets back into position. It's his first time with this alien after all.
Max continues to pull and push levers and during one of them, he smiles.
The training area releases yet another tire, aimed once again at the back of Ben. But this time, Ben was ready.
He turns around and blasts the rope that held the tire. Once that's done, he just resorts to dodging it.
"Not a second time Grandpa!" Ben confidently remarks.
"Oh ho, there is still more where that came from Ben!" Max says like a proud father.
Gwen sees the enjoyment that both men were having and so says:"I'm glad that you're having fun with this grandpa. I really thought it would bother you."
"Nonsense pumpkin, I'm really glad that you called me for this."
As the two were talking, Ben blasts yet another duo of cactus dummies. "He's learning fast. How are the other studies coming along?"
Gwen crosses her arms and says: "Pretty good…Did you know that he had photographic memory?"
Max's interest is piqued. "Really?"
"Yeah but turns out, it doesn't mix well with his short attention span." Gwen cheekily adds.
"With his effort and your tutoring, I'm sure it will be fine. I believe in him."
The exercise continues and at first Ben had found himself mostly being able to do his lasers in a zen-like state, when he is just in the flow but it didn't take long for the young hero to learn to consciously concentrate the power on his hands.
In the meantime, Max and Gwen were just watching and noting down this display of new power. Adding onto the differences from Diamondhead, this alien had also proved to have faster reflexes and was just faster in general. And as Gwen was continuing to watch and note, she got an idea. "I'll be right back grandpa." and ran to the Rustbucket.
As the exercise continued, Ben showed no signs of slowing down and eventually, Max ran out of targets for Ben.
With Max signalling that it's over, Ben smirks. From his grandpa's expression, he did pretty well. In a cocky manner, he puts one of hands to his side and with the other blows on his finger. But, from far away…
"Hey show off! Catch!"
Gwen shoots a pink energy disk right towards Ben and it hits him square in the chest. However, Ben then emits a rainbow glow and shoots a laser right at Gwen and from what they can tell, this one is stronger than usual.
Gwen makes a barrier and blocks the attack but her surprise is still there. Did he just absorb her energy?
Ben times out from his form and Gwen, along with Max, run over to Ben.
"How was the first go around champ?"
Ben pants his place, apparently his exhaustion did carry over to his human form. "What do you think?"
"I think that was great. My only question is how you manage to move like that?" Max asks and...
"Yeah, if Cannonbolt was anything to go by, you aren't the fastest learner with new transformations." Gwen remarks.
"I don't know..." Ben says.
"And how did you know you could absorb my energy?" Gwen asks.
Ben briefly turns his gaze to the Omnitrix and says "I don't know that either, it just… came to me."
Max says "You just felt like you could do that?".
Ben says "Yeah..."
Max puts his hand to his chin and says: "Maybe since you transformed into that alien, you also got some of its instincts?"
Gwen then mirrors Max and says: "It's possible..."
Ben just glances back at the watch and smirks: "Guess the new rig came in with some extras..."
Gwen shrugs and says: "Guess so..."
Max crosses his arms, "It will make things interesting."
Gwen then remembers something. "What are you going to name him?"
It is now Ben's turn to put his hand on this chin. "Let's see… He's like Diamondhead so...Let's go with...hmmm…" It's been a while since he had done this and it was definitely showing.
"How about Chromastone?" Gwen blurts out and both Max and Ben turn their heads to her.
"What?" Gwen says in an embarrassed manner. "One meaning of chroma is the intensity of color and stone is to—"
"No, it's just that... That's a good name..." Ben replies, still a bit bewildered that Gwen came up with a good name.
"Chromastone it is then." Max says, giving his seal of approval for the name.
"Yeah, I like it too."
Gwen is touched that her name is accepted. She then says: "Well, once the watch charges up, are you going to go Chromastone again?"
Ben replies: "Yeah, I want to save the other ones for later."
" Then let me then go grab some stuff for Chromastone." Max says and makes a move towards the Rustbucket.
Gwen follows after him. "Let me help you grandpa."
Ben also. "Me too."
With the trio going over to the Rustbucket, Ben's grin only grows wider from there. With another 6 new transformations and 8 months worth of weekends to practice them, his anticipation was at an all time high.
Max then says: "Oh Gwen, can you remind me to make an appointment with Azmuth after training. Just to be on the safe side."
Gwen: "Sure grandpa."
Alright, maybe his anticipation wasn't high for that, but he was all for everything else that this 8 months entailed.
But, if there is something no one can anticipate, it's that time tends to fly by when you are having fun…
-(8 months later)-
"Quick Ben, we'll be late!" Ben's mother says as she sprints around the house, getting prepared to leave. Late at night, at 9 pm, the day had finally come and the Tennyson household was in complete overdrive. In stark contrast however, the star of the show just couldn't find it in himself to be that energetic…
His bag was prepared days ago and he just had a bite to eat, he should have been feeling fine… but he wasn't. As he was getting dressed, he circled around the house and took one long look at his childhood home. Sure, this wasn't him moving out, he was going to be back sooner or later but it was the first time that he was going to be this far from home.
He thinks Gwen mentioned something like that… 6700 miles? That's far… Sure, he had been to space but… it wasn't for 3 years.
He wants to continue circling around but from the perspective of his parents, all this walking around was just stalling in a nutshell. So with a well placed yell from them, Ben snaps out of his thoughts and actually finishes getting ready.
With the luggage right beside them, the trio waits by the driveway for a certain RV to show up and to their relief, it doesn't take long.
Ben's mom opens the door and the men of the house quickly load the luggage inside.
"Dad, you don't need to trouble yourself. Really, I can drive us to the airport just fine. " Ben's father says but Max just waves him off.
"Oh no son, there is no way we wouldn't see my grandson off for this trip."
As Ben gets inside the RV, he catches what his grandfather just said. He says "We?" before turning to see Gwen, sitting right opposite to his mom. "Ah..." he utters on the inside.
All jokes aside, he is glad to see Gwen coming along to see him off. So, with no quippy lines and just an embarrassed smirk on his face, he just takes his place beside his mom. Gwen notices this but doesn't partake in any quips either as she was downright drained due to school. Ben's gaze eventually falls to the window and to the passing by scenery, this was certainly the end of an era for him.
Sooner or later, they finally arrive at the airport and as they check in the two luggages and get the tickets… a goodbye finally comes into order.
Ben, at first, hugs his grandpa. And as he lets go, Max puts his hand to Ben's shoulder.
"I have no doubt you'll do great Ben. Just… make sure to also enjoy the time you have there."
"I will." says Ben as he then turns to Gwen. The two cousins also hug and Gwen says: "Smell you later dweeb."
"You too loser." Ben replies, still keeping that sincere atmosphere.
Ben then hugs his father. He says: "It's going to be pretty lonely without you here Ben. Just remember to call every once in a while."
Ben crosses his arms and sarcastically asks: "I mean, just what would you do without me?"
"Probably have some peace and quiet." Gwen cheekily remarks, which Ben throws a glance at. Yeah, he expected that one.
"Don't worry Carl, I'll remind him when we arrive." Ben's mother says.
"Yeah, you'll— Wait what?" Ben jolts up. Did he hear that right? Was she really coming with him? Now that he thinks about it, there were multiple tickets on the counter...
"What? You didn't expect to live all on your own when you are just 15 years old, did you?" Ben's mother genuinely asks.
Ben starts to consider it. It was true that should he get his own place, he would have to worry about food, cleaning, laundry… Yeah no, this might work out better actually.
Aaaaand since the ticket is already bought, he doubts he can change their minds even if he wanted to.
So, as the pair wave back at the crowd, the mother and son set out to passport control.
"So, ready to head into the unknown?" His mother teasingly asks.
Ben chuckles and says: "Nope… But let's do it."
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I can't put it into words just how shocked I was from the support. The joke between me and my editor was that this was going to get 10 views and just be buried under all the gems that other people did with this crossover. I'm glad that you guys proved me wrong, but I would be lying if I said I don't feel any pressure now. :D
So, yep, I did customize the aliens that Ben would have in this story.
6 of them can be anyone from the sequel series: Alien Force, Ultimate Alien and Omniverse while the other 3 are from the classic series.
I tried to work with the AF line-up but some aliens proved to be too good for some upcoming events and it was difficult to work around them without the aliens feeling nerfed. And then there was also the matter of Alien X. I wanted to utilize all the initial 10 slots in the watch and Alien X just wasn't built for that. And since changing 2 or 3 of them for the plot would feel convenient, I decided to change up all of them. But as you can see from Chromastone, I did keep some of the AF 10. How many? Well, in the immortal words of Mr. Incredible: "We get there when we get there!"
Feel free to guess who they are. In this story, the Andromeda aliens and all other aliens that Ben acquired later in the original series are also in the Omnitrix so anything goes.
For Gwen, she might not be going to UA but that does not mean she's out of the story. I do have a good amount planned for her as well.
Other than that, I saw that I failed to clarify somethings before diving into the story in my last chapter. So, I went back and edited some answers at the end of chapter 1 for the questions I frequently saw.
Also, according to what happened in the last 1.5 weeks, the schedule will probably be 1 chapter every 2 weeks from now on.
And lastly, I hope you have a good day again and I hope see you all on the next chapter!
P.S.: I do now see that Chromastone not being able to fire off his lasers freely was not a correct choice. It was originally meant to add some sort of feeling of progression to the chapter, like Ben getting reacclimated to hero work. But I now see that it breaks the logic of the Omnitrix, and I hope to amend that in the future chapters. And hence I want to clarify that, I won't be nerfing aliens. (That's the exact point of the new line-up for the Omnitrix.)
I apologize for the confusion and hope to make it up in the future.