Chapter 3
Let's talk
Ben is sitting in a small office, a small table with a coffee-machine is sitting between him and the space-themed hero. The only sound is the whirring and jittering of the coffee-machine. Thirteen is staring at Ben... He thinks... the heroes real face is hidden behind their visor, so you can't really tell. Ben has finally lost his patience.
"So... what did you wanna talk about? Detention? Grades? School-stuff?" Ben asks, slightly unerved by Thirteen's silence... they won't answer. As if they're not even listening. Now Ben is even more creeped out. "Hello?" Suddenly, Thirteen jumps a little, freaking out Ben.
"Oh, sorry, I zoned out."
"God damn it!" Ben falls backwards, landing on the ground.
"Sorry, I was like, very focused on the coffee maker. I'm very tired."
"I-it's fine... so... could you tell me why you wanted to talk to me?" Ben says, while repositioning his chair.
"Of cource." Thirteen says, while pulling out a strange, disc-like device, with a blue button in it's center. Thirteen places the disc on the table, and presses the button. Suddenly, a quiet, staticy sound comes from the device. A light blue light erupts from the disc, and a staticy image of Four Arms appears. "This is you, correct?"
"Yeah... correct. When was this taken?" Ben asks, slightly confused.
"It's from five years ago. The photo was taken during a villain attack in America." Ben's blood goes cold. His forhead begins to moisten from his sweat.
"Huh... that's odd. Must be a coincidence" Ben's keeping his cool. He's used to situations like this. Nothing could throw him off. He's hard as ste-
"Why's your eye twitching?" S*IT! Ben's left eye is twitching like crazy. Thirteen has found his one and only weakness. Damn.
"A... allergies."
"Allergies?"
"Uh-huh... someone must have eaten peanuts in here..." AH HAH! A fool-proof excuse. Let's see them beat that.
"Peanuts are banned on school-grounds."
...
S*IT! Ben's so screwed. First, he'll be expelled, then, he'll go to jail, and then, he'll drop the sope, and THEN, HE'LL-
"Listen... you're not in any trouble." The heroes voice is calm, and genuine...
"Huh?" Ben is dumb-founded. Relieved, yet confused. "But... I..." Before Ben can fully grasp the situation, the hero reaches into some hidden pocket, and pulls out... another disk? No... that's a badge... a familiar one. It's gray, with a red center. "Wait... no... are... are you a-"
"My name is Anan Kurose. Pro hero, and plumber."
"Oh... honestly, with the whole astronaut theme, I should have expected that."
"Y-your not surprised?!" The hero is clearly confused by Ben's unfazed demeanor.
"Not really. I've been in the alien-fighting business for a while now. You get used to crazy stuff like this."
"But... are you not worried about your illegal quirk usage? Crime? Vigilantism?!" Thirteen is now even more confused.
"Whenever I fought people, I did it in secret... or when the villain was an alien, which is strictly plumber's business... that's what my Grandpa said at least..."
"Ah yes... your grandfather, Magister Tennyson. I've heard of him. He's legendary among the plumbers. Well... I suppose you're a lot calmer than I gave you credit for... There's just one more thign I wanna kno-"
"You interested in my quirk?"
"HOW DO YOU KEEP DOING THAT?!"
"It's a talent of mine. So... I'm guessing that you didn't fall for the cover story?"
"No. What are the odds that some random kid's quirk gave him the power to turn into aliens, while also being related to one of the greatest plumbers in history?"
"Pretty small I'm guessing. Welp. I guess I could tell you. My real quirk is-"
"Advancement?" The woman asks.
"Yes. Your son's quirk is Genetic Advancement." The doctor answers.
"So... it's a combination of our quirks?" The man asks.
"Hmm. If i'm correct, your quirk is called adaption." The Doctor says, while pointing at the woman.
"Yes." Adaption... an interesting ability. It allows the user to weakly adapt to their environment. Like grow thin scales while in water, or increase heat resistance in... hot places...
"And... your's is... mutate?" The doctor asks the woman.
"Mmm." The Man answers. Mutate. A fascinating power indeed. Let's the person replicate certain features of any animal they come in contact with. Fairly weak ability without any training, but still an interesting one.
"Hmm... Genetic Advancement is a very unique power. It allows the user to replicate the DNA of creatures in his presence." The man says, as he retrieves a fish-bowl from his desk, and brings it towards the child before him. In the bowl is a small goldfish. "Go a-head. He won't bite." The boy dips his finger into the water, and pets the fish. "Now... do the thing..." The boy nods, and suddenly, the boys finger begins to turn an orange-tint, as scales begin to form. The doctor carefully grabs the boy's wrist, and pulls his hand out of the water. "As you can see, it's very quick to take affect."
"Well... that's... cool." The man says.
"The problem is, that this also affects his psychy."
"What." The woman asks, worried.
"It seems that the boy's mind is also affected by the animals' DNA. He seems to replicate their behaviour." As he finishes, he points at the boy. The parents look at him, and notice that he is completely out of it. His eyes are unfocused, and he seems to be shaky. "The affects are only temorary, but this power seems to be more of an inconvenience, then anything..."
"So... he can't... become a hero?"
"Not unless you find an animal as smart as a human."
"Well... what if he could copy other people's quirks?" The mother asks as she looks down at her son, who is now back to normal.
"Oddly enough, his powers do not seem to let him copy other human's DNA." The boy looks down at his feet. "Sorry kid. Maybe you should look into another career-choice..."
"Well, that's depressing." Thirteen says.
"You can say that again." Ben replies.
"So... I see where this is going. You can copy DNA... but how did you get access to Alien DNA? And if your quirk only modifies your body, how do you transform completely?"
"I'm getting to it!"
The clock is ticking, tacking and tocking. The sound is driving him crazy. The only thing that's keeping him sane is the paper plane before him. It was a fine piece of work. The quality was incredible, in Ben's opinion, but he was like 10, so his opinion might have not been very trustworthy. But it didn't look like a papery mess, so he's happy. 'Time for lift-off.' He grabs the plane, and reels his hand back, he aims, and... he throws it. It glides along the air, weaving and bobing as it's moving towards it's target. And it lands! WHO-WHO! The plane hits the back of his teachers head. What a perfect hit. Sadly... his pride is short-lived.
"Nice shot Tennyson." Ben's ice goes cold, as his teacher turns around. "Seems like you can only learn something if I speak to you, face to face... How about a physics question?" Ben's teacher was a scary lady. She was rather tall, with fairly elderly features. her hair is brown, and her eyes are tinted a light red. And- "What happens when paper gets set on fire?" Oh... right. She has a fire quirk. Suddenly, Ben's paperplane. His pride and joy, gets absorbed in flames. Within a second or two, the flames disperse, and in the plane's place is now only soot and ash. "Would you be a dear and clean this up?" He can hear his classmates snickering at him. Ben stands up bitterly and wanders over to the front of the class, and begins to scoop up the crap. Suddenly, the bell rings, making Ben jump, and drop soot he had collected.
"Ah, man!" Ben begrudgingly scoops back up the crap, and dumps it into a nearby trash can. "Thanks for the lesson, Miss J..."
"Have a good summer vacation Tennyson. Hopefully you'll be back with a better attitude." She says as she begins collecting papers on her desk.
'Dream on...' Ben walks out of the classroom with his hands in his pockets. The hall's wall were a light gray, with white lockers lineing the walls. Around him, he sees kids laugh and talk, while scooping out their belongings from their lockers. Ben begins walking towards his locker and gets ready to open it, when-
"Hand over the cash already!" Ben looks to his right, and sees the two biggest bullies of his school: J.T. and Cash. The two are terrorizing a younger, slightly chubby, boy. Cash, a skinny and tall boy, with an egg-shaped head and black hair, is holding up the short boy by his shirt. J.T. is shorter then his friend, but is bigger in width. He has a pair of round glasses, and his messy hair is brown. "If you want to get home without a black eye, you'll pay up!"
"I don't have any money, I swear!" The boy shouts frantically. Cash inspects the boy closely.
"Well... I'm sure you've got something... J.T.!" His partner turns to him. "Check him!" J.T. walks up to the boy, and begins to dig through his pockets. His back-pockets, leg-pockets and shirt-pockets... all empty. "Check his backpa-"
"Stop!" The kid, Cash and J.T., along with everyone in the hall, turn to the boy who called out to the bullies... Ben Tennyson. "Let him go." Cash and J.T. smile at eachother.
"Looks like someone want's to play hero! Oh, I'm SO scared. What are you gonna do? Grab some hair from your dog and pee on me? I'm so scared~" Cash mocks, while J.T. snickers.
"No... I've already done enough." Ben's face fills with a smug smile. Both the bullies look at him in confusion. That's when they realize that their victim had escaped. While Cash started mocking Ben, he had let go of the kid, at which point he snuck away silently.
"You cheating little..." Cash is looking at Ben with angry eyes. He then, starts running at the boy, his arms growing in size, altough, only slightly. J.T. follows close behind, while pulling out a small case. Ben panicks, and turns to run, but before he gets anywhere, Cash grabs him by the shoulder, turns him around and punches him in the face, sending him flying backwards. J.T. opens his case, and pulls out a marble, and throws it at Ben. Ben tries to dodge by ducking, but the marble twists in the air, and hits the back of his head. Ben kneels over, grasping and gripping at the pain. Cash grins, and gets ready to throw another punch when-
"STOP!" A blue force-field forms around Ben, blocking Cash's and J.T.'s path. Ben turns around, and sees a welcoming, yet annoying, sight. Before him is a girl, with short and orange hair. She's wearing a blue shirt, with the face of a cat printed onto it, in a darker shade of blue. "Don't you guys have anything better to do then beat up little kids?"
"I'm not little!" Ben shouts.
"I was actually talking about the boy from before, but now that I think about it, you're pretty little as well." She says mockingly.
"Shut up! Move this stupid wall!" Cash shouts while banging on the transparent blue wall.
"Sure!" The wall suddenly jolts, and begins to push the bullies away. "See you guys in 3 months!" She says while smiling at them, still pushing the forcefield further and further away. "How do you get into so much trouble all the time?" She asks Ben.
"I wasn't in any trouble!" Ben says while jolting up. "I had them right where I wanted 'em!"
"Sure... anyway, are you looking forwards to the road trip?" She asks while begining to walk.
"I did... until I knew you'd come along..." Ben says with a frown on his face.
"Ok... so you had a bad quirk, and summer vacation was going to be a roadtrip with some girl you hate." Thirteen says, trying to sort through Ben's story.
"Her name's Gwen. She's my cousin." Ben explains.
"I see... Can you continue?"
"If you stop interrupting me."
Ben and Gwen exit the school, and looks to the parking lot. Kids were flodding the area. Some where walking away, some where entering the cars lining the area, and others just stood around, talking to each other. Ben and Gwen look around for something in the parking lot, when they finally see it. Parked in the distance, is a light-peach RV, with a stained and rusty paintjob. It's width is lined with a red and blue stripe, that reaches around the whole thing. It's ceiling is covered in antennas and cables. The rust bucket. Gwen and Ben look at each other. Suddenly, they start running towards the vehicle. As they get close, they start pushing each other, trying to get ahead of the other one. As they reach the door, they start pulling and janking at each other's clothes, hair and limbs, fighting over who gets to open the door. Just as Ben is about to bite Gwen-
"Stop fighting you two!" The door to the RV is open, revealing a large, elderly man. His hair is completely gray, the only thing hinting to it's original color, are his thick black eyebrows. He's wearing a red hawaiian shirt, covered in a flower pattern. Actually, he has been wearing it for over 40 years now. His face is stern, and his eyes portray irritation. And yet-
"Grandpa!" The two children shout in unison, smiling at the elderly man before them. In respone, the frown on his face vanishes, as he grins at his grandchildren. The two jump at him, and he catches them, holding them in a bear hug. The trio smiles and laughs. Although the cousins disagreed on many things, both agreed that their Grandfather, Max, was the nicest man they've ever met. Hell, the nicest man they'll EVER meet.
"You kids excited for the best vacation ever?" Max asks with excitement in his voice.
"You know it!" Ben answers with a grin on his face, as he walks into the vehicle. The inside of the RV is a lot more charming then it's exterior. It's clean and tidy, with white walls. The floor is carpeted, with a checkered pattern, with a red, yellow and black color scheme. All the tables and cabinets are a light yellow, and the chairs are orange. To the left of the door, is a table and lethered chairs, built into the RV. There is a small kitchen in the same room, and in the back are the beds. and along the walls are large collections of radios and gizmos. And, of cource, are the actuall driving stuff in the front. The steering wheel, drivers and passenger's seats, and more stuff along those lines. Ben jumps into the dinner chair, and puts his hand behind his head, and leans back to relax.
"I'm sure it'll be a blast." She looks at her cousin with tired eyes. "Besides the obvious." She walks over to the table, and sits down in the seat opposite of Ben, as she opens her backpack, and pulls out a piece of paper and a pen.
"What are you doing?" Ben asks his cousin.
"Summer homework. Might as well get it over with as fast as possible." She says as she starts writing.
"Ugh, you're such a doofus."
"And you're a dweeb." She says, without looking up from her paper.
'This is gonna be an interesting experience.' Their Grandpa thinks to himself, as he sits down in the driver's seat.
Ben and Gwen are glaring daggers at each other. Their view is so focused, their eyes are almost popping out of their heads. their eyes are red, and watery. Their Grandpa is looking at them with concern through the rear view mirror. He's trying to ignore them, but it's so hard that he thinks he might drive off the road. Eventually, he can't hold it in anymore.
"What are you two doing?" The two jump a little in surprise, and making Ben blinks.
"Ah, man!" Ben shouts in dissapointment.
"I win!" Gwen shouts victoriously.
"Win what?" Their grandpa asks.
"Staring contest!" Gwen answers pridefully.
"Ah."
"Oh, how about a who can do the funniest faces contest?" Ben asks.
"You're on!" She answers with determination. Suddenly, she wrinkles her eyebrows, and grabs the sides of her face, and starts pulling, while sticking her tongue out. In responce, Ben crosses his eyes, and makes an O-shape with his mouth, while making monkey noises. After a few seconds of Ben monkeying around(please laugh), Gwen snickers, and Ben jumps out of his seat.
"YOU LAUGHED!" Ben shouts while pointing at her.
"What?" She leans back, trying to distance herself from her cousin's finger.
"You laughed, so my face was funniest."
"Hey, you didn't say that was the rules!"
"Yes I did!"
"No you didn't!"
"Did too."
"Did not!"
"Did too."
"Did not!"
"Did too."
"Did not!"
"Did not"
"Did too."
"HAH! I got you!" Ben shouts.
"Wait, No. That doesn't count!"
"Does too-"
"CAN YOU TWO SETTLE DOWN?!" Max shouts at his two loud-mouthed grandchildren. The two look at him in surprise. They are quiet for a few seconds.
"Sorry grandpa."
Max sighs. "It's fine. I think you two are just getting a bit restless. Maybe we could use a quick stop. I do need to refuel." He says, as he slows down to drive into a gas station. "While I refuel the Rust Bucket, you two can get some snacks from the store." He pulls out his wallet, and pulls out two 5 dollar bills, and gives them one each.
"Thanks Grandpa." The two shout in unison while running outside with their money in-hand.
The old man chuckles at his grandchildren, as he gets up from the chair, and follows his grandchildren outside. As Ben and Gwen run into the store, Max walks towards the gas pump, while pulling out his wallet. Before he even reaches the pump, he hears someone exit the store, and looks up at the shop. Exiting the building, are two men, both wearing masks. One looks like a gorilla, while the other one resembles a skull.
"Hurry up. We need to bounce before the Pros get here!" The skull-masked thug shouts at his ape-faced comrade.
"I know, I know." The two are carrying large bags, their contents being fairly obvious. They both jump onto a motorcycle each.
Max reaches into his pocket, and pulls out a very small jar, sealed with a cork. He runs over to block the criminal's way, while opening the jar and pouring it's content into his hand, revealing a hand-ful of dead crickets.
"Hey, move it oldie!" The skull-faced thug shouts.
Max crushes the jar's contents, and his arm suddenly begins to grow and deform, as armor-like casing begins to form around it, the color being a mix of green and a yellowish peach. The skull-faced thug reaches his arm forwards, and a large jet of... water? Some random blue liquid? Whatever, he shot something at Max, who blocked the attack with his armored arm.
The ape-faced criminal, digs into his pocket, and retrieves a pistol, and begins shooting at Max, who instead of blocking the shots, ducks, and rolls closer to the thug. He raches forwards, and grips the frontwheel of the ape-thug's bike, and throws it, sending the criminal and his vehicle flying.
The skull-thug takes aim at Max once more, while hopping off his bike. He blasts more liquid at Max, who blocks it once again. Max moves in close, and punches the criminal so hard, that he's thrown backwards, and hits the stone wall of the gas station's store. The sound of grunting and the rattling of a pistol catches Max's attention. Max turns around, and sees the pistol-thug, who's aiming his gun at the elderly man.
"Who the hell do you think you are?" The criminal asks, with a scowl on his face.
"A hero!" Max says nonchalantly.
The criminal scowls, and shoots at Max, who sidesteps, dodging the bullet successfully. He begins running towards the criminal. He shoots again, but this time, Max blocks with his arm, creating a small crack in Max's armor. He shoots again, and this time, Max rolls. Max jumps to his feet, and punches the criminal with his armored arm, knocking out the criminal. Max sighs, and stretches, making his back snap, crackle and pop. He turns around, and sees his grandkids, smiling like idiots, child-like wonder filling their eyes.
"That was awesome Grandpa!" Ben shouts with glee, as Gwen nods in agreement.
Max chuckles. "Thanks kids." The sound of sirens begins to close in. "Hmm... You get what ya' need. I'm gonna be a bit busy."
Gwen walks inside, while Ben stays in place for a few seconds, as his smile falters. After a second or so, he follows Gwen inside.
"So... he was a pro?" Thirteen asks.
"Yeah. He had the same power as my dad, but he had time to train it and enhance it. And unlike me, he didn't lose his mind whenever he used his quirk."
"I see... where does the..." Thirteen looks at the gadget on Ben's wrist. "watch... come into play?"
"Soon."
The moon was now rising in the distance, as the cold of the evening had finally arrived. Ben and Gwen are sitting on a picnic-table, opposite of eachother, as Max walks up to them while holding a bowl in his hand. He places the bowl infront of his grandkids. The two look at the bowls contents in confusion, fascination and disgust.
"Wha... what the heck is that?" Ben asks, pointing at the slithering, white worms.
"Marinated meal worms!" Max grabs one and puts one end of it in his mouth, and sucking it up, like it was a noodle. "You know, it's considered a delicacy in some countries!"
"And totally gross, in others..." Gwen stares at the slithering vermin.
Max chuckles. "Yeah, well. I thought the same before I tried it. It's summer vacation. You're young and full of life, you should be a little more adventurous." Max says. "I'll go and prepare the sheeps tongue." Max wanders into the RV.
"The what?" Ben asks bewildered. Max either ignores him, or doesn't hear him, as he just closes the RV's door. Ben looks at the creatures, and picks one up. Gwen looks at him, and then down at the bowl, and also picks up a worm, although hesitantly.
"Are we really gonna do this?" Gwen asks.
"You tell me." Ben answers. Ben looks at the RV, and then at the worm. Suddenly, the color of his fingertips turns white. Ben drops the worm, and grips his head, while grunting.
"Ben!" Gwen looks at her cousin with a worried expression. Ben looks up at her with a defeated expression. "You need to stop doing that."
Ben frowns, while looking down at the worm, which was trying to escape from Ben. "It's not fair... You and grandpa get great powers. You two could easily be heroes! But not me."
"My power isn't that great." Gwen rarely stayed humble while around Ben, but Gwen was honest. She didn't find her powers very special. Her quirk was called Mana, which allowed her to create blue formations and shapes using her vitality. If the shields get damaged, she looses energy and gets tired very easily.
"Sure, says the girl who saved me from the school bullies." Ben says begrudgingly while fidgeting around with his worm.
Gwen frowns at her cousin. Ben looks over at the RV, and stands up, still holding his worm.
"I'm going for a walk." Ben says as he starts walking away. "I'll grab a worm for the road."
Ben wanders through the dark forest, his hands in his pockets, head hanging, eyes on the ground. He grumbles and mumbles angerly, kicking every rock in his path, dragging his feet. The forest is damp and empty, the trees reaching high up into the air.
Ben's still holding his worm, looking down at the slippery thread-like creature. Ben slows down, and walks over to a nearby bush, and drops off the worm. "Have a good life you slimy freak." The worm begins to slither from Ben, as a little bird jump out from a twig in the buch, and snatching up the worm, and flying away. Ben sits down, curled into a fetal position. "I couldn't even save a worm." Ben stands up and kicks up a pile of dirt. "I COULDN'T SAVE A WORM!" Ben begins tearing through the bush's leaves and twigs, as he kicks up a dirt-storm. "AHHHHHHH-" Ben's tantrum gets interupted by an ear-killing sound.
Ben looks up, and sees... a shooting star! Ben looks at it in wonder. It's... big! Yellow, orange, green, it's beauty is hypnotizing. "I wish... I wish I had a useful quirk." The star, suddenly turns, and begins flying towards the ground and Ben. Ben looks at the once beautiful thing in horror, as he turns around and runs, he barely avoids getting flatened by the thing, a large explosion sends him flying forwards, as he lands face-first in the dirt.
As the dust and smoke settles, Ben gets up as he spits up the mountains of dirt he got forced down his gob. He gets up from the ground. He turns around, and sees a massive crater where he was standing just a few seconds ago. Had he been a second too late, he would have been flatened. Ben walks up to the crater, and the ground underneath him cracks, and Ben falls into the crater. Ben gets up and looks down to see a spherical metalic object. As Ben gets closer, it jerks, and opens up to reveal a... watch?
"What... what was a watch doing in outer space?" Ben smiles to himself, as he reaches for it, and suddenly, it leaps forwards, grabs onto his arm, and slides into place. Ben screams, his first instict is to start pulling and struggling to remove it from his arm. "What is this thing?!" Ben falls in the midst of his struggle, forcing himself to calm down. Ben looks at the thing strapped to his wrist.
It is dark in color, with light-grey lines going along the strap. On the center, wasn't any numbers or clock hands, but a large dial, with its center, glowing with a green hourglass symbol. Green buttons are lining the dial. Under the dial, is a large, green button. Ben looks at it, and presses it, and the dial pops out. The hourglass symbol changes into a diamond one, as the silouette of a large, four-armed creature appears. Ben looks around, and grabs the dial, and twists it. The silouette changes into a slightly smaller one, with a spike on its head and shoulders. Ben twists it again, and sees one with a flaming head. Ben looks around again, making sure no one was nearby, and presses down the dial.
A bright, blinding light, absorbs Ben's body. Ben's skin begins to crack and harden, as his caucasian skin becomes dark brown. His magma-like body is glowing, as his body enlargens and deforms. His once short stature, was now reaching up to an impressive 6,5 feet. Ben's rocky skull is engulfed in flames. The green light dims, and the transformation is complete. Ben looks down at himself.
"AHHH! I'M ON FIRE!" Ben starts to jump around and pat his body, in hopes of putting out the fire covering his humanoid figure. As Ben continues to jump around in an attempt to cool off, he looses his footing, and falls over. This was enough to get Ben to think a little more clearly and realize... "Wait... I'm on fire..." Ben sits up slowly. "But... I'm okay!" Ben grins. "I'm... totally hot. Eheh... heheheh..." Ben laughs at his joke, as he gets up. Ben looks at his large, glowing hands. His crusty, rocky skin. And the odd symbol on his chest, resembling the one on the watch... the watch! Ben looks at his wrist and sees that the device is missing from his arm.
Ben looks back down at the symbol on his chest. "So I'm guessing you're the reason I'm like this..." Ben looks at his hand, and concentrates. Suddenly, a ball of fire forms in his palm. Ben grins. "Guess my wish came true." Ben throws the sphere and it hits a tree outside the crater. Ben jumps out of the hole, and forms another ball. He drops it, and Ben catches it with his foot. He starts kicking it around, using it as a football. After a few kicks, he kicks it onto the air again, and as it falls back down, Ben punches it, sending it crashing through a tree. Bens grin settles, as he realizes his goofing has resulted in a forestfire. The trees are cracking and burning to ash, as the embers grow larger and larger.
Ben attempts to put out a small flame by stomping on it, but it only results in the flame growing in strength. "I am SO busted!" Suddenly, a tree behind him cracks, and begins to fall in his direction. Ben turns around, and jumps out of the way just in time to avoid getting crushed. "That was way too close." Ben gets up and looks around. The fire and destruction making Ben's heart heavy. 'This is my fault... I'll never be a hero... I can't save a worm... or a kid... a lot of people will get hurt... because of me...' Ben lies down, curling up in a ball of despair...
'So... he can't... become a hero?'
'Sorry kid. Maybe you should look into another career-choice...'
'Looks like someone want's to play hero!'
"No... no." Ben gets up. "I'm not going to let this go... I'm not going to leave people to die!" Ben's determination is making his body glow even brighter, and for his flames to burn even hotter. The flames surrounding him, begin to shift. They begin to spread, but in an unusual way. The flames are moving closer to Ben. The embers and smoke absorbing the forrest, begin to get pulled towards Ben. The flames covering the trees begin to creep and extend towards Ben, like hands reaching for something.
The fire that had spread far into the distance, ceases their advancement, and begins to move backwards, as dust and ash gets pulled along. The fire and smoke is forming a vortex, the center being Ben's body, the fire being forced into Ben's body via the vortex's pulling force. The forestfire is getting smaller and smaller, and Ben's body is becoming hotter and hotter. The flame's on his fire are growing, and fluttering, as if grabbing at the flames destroying their surroundings. The power of the fire-vortex is pulling at the dying trees, and leaves, twigs and dirt are pulled into the vortex, along with the flames.
The fire around him is growing smaller and smaller, until there are only a few embers left of the once large fire. The last few flames are pulled into the vortex... and the fire is dead. The vortex settles, letting the ash, dust, dirt and twigs fall to the ground, as Ben falls to his knees. Ben sighs and gasps as his bright body finally begins to cool off... as cool as a dude made out of fire can be at least. "That... was awesome." Ben gets up slowly. Although... he doesn't feel alone... He turns around and sees his family. Max and Gwen are standing not too far from him, with gaping mouths, both carrying a fire extinguisher each.
"Hi guys... It's me... Ben." Ben waves at his cousin and grandfather. "I have a real quirk now!" Ben grins. The two are still speechless. "I accidentally started a forest fire, but I fixed it!" Gwen and Max blink a couple times before they close their mouths.
"How... how did you get a quirk?" Gwen asks as she and Max walk up to the flaming entity, who is now about as long as grandpa.
"Well, while I was taking my walk, I saw this shooting star, and wished that it I would get a good quirk, and then, it changed direction, and almost crushed me. And then I realized it was this weird watch in a ball, that latched onto my wrist, and when I tried to get it off, it started glowing and turned me into this fire dude!" Max and Gwen look at each other sceptically.
"A watch?" Max asks.
"Yes."
"In space?" Gwen asks.
"Yes! You gotta believe me! I mean, what other explanation do you guys have?" Ben asks, angry that they won't believe him.
"You have a point." Max admits, as he cupps his chin. "We should get back to camp for now. We'll check out the... crash site later." Ben and Gwen nod at Max, as they follow him to camp.
Thirteen cups their chin as well... or, at least they're trying, they still have a visor in the way, but still. "The omnitrix huh..."
Ben nods. "So, you know about it?"
"I've heard about it, but I thought it was a myth."
"Everyone thought it was a myth... until they saw it in action!" Ben grins confidently.
"So the device transforms you using galvan technology and alien DNA."
"Well, it did." Ben says.
"Hmm... what."
"Well, after a while, the old omnitrix wasn't really up to the standers, so Azmuth-"
"You've met Azmuth?!" Thirteen asks dumbfoundedly.
"Well yeah, but it took a while, and it only happened because the universe was in dange- whatever, I'm trying to explain somethin!"
"Right, sorry. Go on."
Ben adjusts his tie, as a clears his throut. "Well, when I got this new Omnitrix, aka the completed one, Azmuth added a few failsafes. Originally, anyone could have used the omnitrix, but now, that I have earned his trust, he added a failsafe that made it so that only someone with my quirk can use it. Basically, it injects alien DNA into the blodstream, and forcefully activates my quirk, while using some kind of techno-mumbo jumbo to power up my quirk to the point where my entire body transforms."
"So it's like a quirk-enhancer, that uses alien DNA?"
"Pretty much, yeah." Ben says, as he crosses his arms and leans back in his chair.
Thirteen crosses their arms as well. "Well... Thanks for telling me everything." Thirteen says. They look up at a clock hanging on a wall in the room. "It's about time you head home." Thriteen leans forwards and pats Ben on the shoulder. Thirteen stands up and heads for the door.
"No prob." Ben smiles, as he follows them to the door. Thirteen and Ben exit the room, as they go in opposite directions, Thirteen heading towards the teacher's office, and Ben heads for the exit. 'That was interesting...'
Epilogue
"Magister!" Someone is sitting infront of a large bright monitor, with a very large keyboard along with it. They are shouting for attention as someone walks up to them.
"What is it newbie?" The "magister" asks the person sitting by the monitor, as they lean over their shoulder, trying to get a good look at the monitor.
"We have detected a large spike in energy-utilization in earth's orbit!" The person responds.
"Is it a ship?" The magister asks.
"The sensors can't tell. Whatever it is, it's cloaking tech is too advanced to get a proper read on it."
The magister cups their chin, as they looks at the monitor, which is displaying a large red blinking dot over a wireframed picture of earth. "Send a couple drones to try an pinpoint the source of the energy-spike. If you find something, notify me immediately!" The magister walks away, as the person by the monitor starts typing away at the keyboard. 'Let's hope it's a false alarm... if not... we may have a problem...'
Chapter 4
This is gonna be fun
As Ben is walking along the walkway leading back to the school, his thoughts are filled with memories of his convo with thirteen from yesterday. They seemed pretty swell, but now that Ben thinks about it, maybe he had spilled a little too much. He knows they can be trusted, they are a plumber, but still. He can't help but shake the feeling that he'll spill to the wrong person. He's so submerged in his thoughts, he doesn't even notice the large crowd standing in his way... or, he doesn't notice them until they notice him.
"ARE YOU ONE OF ALL MIGHT'S STUDENTS?!" A reporter shouts Ben out of his thoughts as she raises a mic to his face. "How does it feel to be under the guidance of THE #1 Hero?!" Ben looks at the microphone for a few seconds, and looks at the massive crowd of camera-men and reporters.
"Well, it is certainly an interesting experience." Ben rubs the back of his neck as he speaks. "Yesterday we had a training exercise-"
"What happened?!"
"Um..." As much as Ben doesn't mind attention, Ben wasn't really in the mood for an interview. But, he's in luck!
"Stop harassing my students!" A tired and annoyed voice calls out from behind the crowd, and Ben breaths a sigh of relief. Ben sneaks past the crowd as they're distracted and ends up with Aizawa on the other side. "Go pester someone else. I don't want you on School grounds."
"Thanks teach." Ben smiles at his teacher.
"Get to class." Ben nods and walks past Aizawa, as the tired pro follows close behind.
"Hey hey hey! Get back here! Can we at least get an interview with All Might?" The reporter attempts to follow them, but a large siren squeels as a massive gate made out of metal plates, bolts and screws appear, blocking her path, and nearly crushing her. "What the hell was that?!"
"The UA barrier. It's supposed to keep intruders off of school grounds." A camera man informs her.
As the woman begins blabbering on about how dangerous and insluting that is, someone behind the large crowd watches on. Their skin is pale, and their hair is a greyish blue. They look on with dry and red eyes with malice, as they chuckle to themselves. "This is gonna be fun..."
"You all did well during your combat training yesterday." Aizawa is standing in the front of the classroom, speaking to his students, who all smile at the praise... well, not really praise, more like acknowledgement. "I went over the film collected, and you all did fairly well for yourself."
Aizawa shifts his attention to Todoroki. "Todoroki, you need to learn to control your frustration." The ice-quirked boy is stunned by Aizawa's comment. "You tired yourself out by overusing your quirk, resulting in Tennyson winning the battle." Shoto scowls as he looks down at his desk.
"And Tennyson." Ben, who was looking at Todoroki, shifts his attention to his teacher. "You need to learn not to drag things out. Time you spent to quip and joke could have been used to battle. Although you won the battle, it was very close to ending differently." Ben nods, although he doesn't seem as dissapointed as Todoroki. He still won the fight. Aizawa notices, but doesn't comment.
"Anyway, let's move on to new business. Our first task will decide your future..."
'Is it another quirk assessment test?!' Everyone holds their breath.
"You need to choose a class rep-"
'Oh, it's just normal school-stuff.' The students breath a sigh of relief.
Suddenly, half the class jump out of their seats, reaching their hand into the air. "I wanna be class rep!"
"Vote for me!"
"VOTE FOR ME AND I'LL PUT DEKU IN A CAGE!"
"No, vote for- wait what."
"Vote for me! My glamour is magnifique!"
Everyone is either screaming or asking for the spot. Even Midoriya is shakily raising his hand, although only slightly. The only person who doesn't seem to care is Ben, who's leaning back in his chair. Suddenly, Iida emerges from his seat.
"Everyone settle down. There is only one way to clearly choose a class rep! We shuld vote for it!" Despite Iida's attempt to be mature, his arm is high above his head, clealry hoping to get the spot.
"But we've only just started out. How are we supposed to vote for a rep if we barely know eachother, ribbit?" The frog girl asks.
"Plus, most people will probably vote for themselves." The red haired boy adds.
"True, but that only means that the person who does receive multiple votes truly is the best fit for the task! It's the best way, right sir?" Iida looks to his teacher.
"I don't care who you pick or how you pick them, I just want it done by the end of the period." Aizawa slinks into his sleeping bag and lies down.
A few minutes have gone by, and everyone has placed their votes. Almost everyone has only gotten one or no votes, besides two people.
Ben Tennyson: 5
Momo Yaoyorozu: 2
Ben looks at the results in annoyance. "This is bull-"
"SHIT!" Bakugo shouts in fury. "WHY DIDN'T ANYONE VOTE FOR ME?!" Bakugo looks at his results, and sees he only got one vote: The one he gave to himself.
'You don't know why?' Everyone in the room deadpans, even Aizawa... I think... it's pretty hard to tell with him.
Ben and Yaoyorozu, the black-haired girl, are standing in front of the class now, one clearly more composed then the other. 'Why do I feel so out of place?' Ben asks himself.
Everyone seems content with the results, except Bakugo and Todoroki, for obvious reasons, and, surprisingly, Iida, who seems to be down in the dumps for not getting a single vote.
"This might not be so bad!" The frog girl comments.
"Ben is like, the strongest in class." The red haired boy adds. "And Momo is the smartest here."
As they finished with picking class rep, they went on get lunch. Ben, once again, sits down with the color-ful trio, as they start eating.
"I still don't really feel like this class rep thing works for me." Ben is crunching away at some tempura chicken and rice, dipped in soja sauce. "I don't have the patience to lead a class." 'Well, I could lead it into battle, but not into an exam...'
Iida stuffs a piece of chicken into his mouth. "Don't be silly... your incredible quirk and confidence would make you an excellent leader. That's why I voted for you at least..." Ben looks at Iida with surprise.
"Same here." Ben looks at Midoriya in surprise as well.
"I didn't vote for you, but I agree with their points." Uraraka adds.
Ben is completely thrown off guard. Ben sweats, but he appreciates their words of encouragement. Ben looks at Iida. "But, didn't you want to be rep?"
Uraraka looks at Iida as well. "Yeah. You do look the part. With the glasses and all." Ben snickers, and Midoriya looks at her in confusion.
"Wanting a job, and being qualified for it are two very different things." Iida takes a sip from his drink. "Observing the Iida family's Hero agency has taught me that much."
"Agency?" The three look at Iida in confusion. Iida realizes he's said to much. "What does your family do for a living?" Midoriya asks.
"Eh, well, it's nothing really." Iida tries to defuse the situation.
"Hey, Iida, there is something I've been wanting to ask you since we first met... You're filty rich, aren't you?!" Uraraka asks confidently. Ben snickers again, as Midoriya once again looks at her in confusion.
Iida is surprised by her sudden question, but he looks down at his food in defeat. "Is it really that obvious. I was pretty worried everyone would treat me differently if they knew." Ben, Midoriya and Uraraka look at him, waiting for him to continue. Iida sighs. "You see, my family has been pros for generations. It's in my blood."
"That's awesome!" The three shout simultaneously.
"Are you familiar with the pro hero, Ingenium?" Iida asks.
"Oh, I know all about him! He's a super popular pro, with a huge agency with over 65 sidekicks working alongside him at his Tokyo agency!" Midoriya jumps a little. "Don't tell me-"
"He's my older brother!" Iida exclaims with pride, pushing up his glasses.
"Wow!" Midoriya is barely holding back a fanboy explosion.
"Your brother's famous!" Uraraka is bubbling with wonder.
"That's so awesome, I don't even think there's a word to describe how awesome it is!" Ben shouts.
"Ingenium is an incredible hero, who honours the hero code." Iida says. "As his younger brother, and second oldest Iida son, I aspire to be just like him!" Iida calms down a smile still on his face. "Although, I don't think I'm ready to take on the role as a leader." Iida looks at Ben. "You however, have the confidence and power to be an inspiring leader, who can bring people to fight alongside you." The three look at him in wonder, as Iida is confused by their staring.
"I'm pretty sure that's the first time i've seen you smile Iida. You should do it more often." Uraraka smiles at him.
Iida's taken back by her comment. "Uh- What do you mean? I smile all the time!"
Ben looks at Iida with a smile. 'Inspiring leader huh... I'd say you're pretty inspiring yourself...' Ben smiles at his friend. Suddenly, an alarm begins to blare, surprising everyone in the cafeteria.
"Warning! Level 3, security breach! All studens, please evacuate in an orderly fashion." The alarm begins to repeat this message, as students get up from their seats and begin storming out of the room.
"What does a level 3 security breach mean?" Iida asks a student sitting next to him.
"It means someone has managed to get through the UA barrier!" The student anwsers. "This hasn't happened in my three years here! We need to get out of here!" The student gets up from his seat and runs off. Iida, Midoriya and Uraraka all get up, While Ben starts shoveling food into his mouth like a madman.
"Ben, stop, you'll choke!" Iida shouts at Ben, as he forces him out of his chair. "We have to go!"
"Alright, alright." Ben swallows the mountain of food as he follows his friends out of the cafeteria.
The hall is full of people, pushing and crushing eachother. People are pushed into walls, unable to move. Ben, Iida, Midoriya and Uraraka can't move.
"Talk about a mob." Uraraka forces out, struggling.
"They reacted quickly! As expected of UA students!" Iida shouts over the screaming of the crowd.
"Sure, but they're also causing a huge pani-" Before Midoriya can finish talking, he's elbowed in the face.
"Midoriya!"
"That's it! It's hero time." Ben activates the omnitrix, and dials through his forms, before stoping at a one-eyed guy, with a whispy head. The faceplate moves away, and the core pops out. Ben smashes down, as a powerful green light blinds everyone. Before his friends can get a good look at him, they're pushed away, Uraraka and Midoriya being pushed forwards, and Iida gets pinned against a window.
Out of view, by everyone's feet, a small, grey, frog-like creature with a very large head is jumping over people's feet. "Grey Matter? Ah man." Suddenly, someone steps forwards, kicking Ben in the face. "Owch..."
"AH. I think there's a rat here!" Someone shouts.
"Who you callin rat?" Someone steps forward, and tries to crush Grey Matter under their foot. Grey Matter... let's just call him Grey actually. Grey dodges just in time. Someone else tries to crush Grey as well, but Grey jumps over it, and lands on their foot. The person panics, and tries to shake him off, Grey holds on with his sticky hands and feet. "I'M NoT A RaT!" Grey shouts, dizzy by the shaking. Grey let's go of the person's foot and is thrown away.
"He can talk?!" Another student tries to kick him, but Grey jumps high into the air, avoiding it. He lands on someone's back, and grips on, climbing up their shirt. They notice and tries to grab him, but he jumps out of the way, and lands on their hand. Grey jumps off of their arm, landing on another person's shoulder. He jumps again, before the person has time to react, and lands on someone's head. He looks around, and spots Iida, who's still pinned to the window.
"Iida!" Ben jumps from the person's head, just as they try to get Grey off. Grey hits someone's arm, but sticks to it, and climbs up. He reaches their shoulder. And jumps again, finally landing on Iida's head, who notices, and tries to get him off. "Iida, it's me, Ben!" Iida stops his attempt to attack, and instead picks up the midget, and repositions himself to see him.
"Ben? This is an... interesting form." Iida looks at Grey, slightly confused.
"Yeah yeah, save it for later!" Grey says, annoyed.
Iida turns Ben, so that he can see outside. "Everyone's panic is unnecessary! It's only the media." Ben looks through the window, and sees that it is indeed the same crowd from earlier this morning.
Grey cups his chin. "We need to deduce a way to culminate everyone's panic, in a fashion that will surely result in the crowd dispersing enough for us all to return to our classes, without being crushed by our fellow students." Grey looks at Iida, who looks back at him with surprise. "Super-intelligence. There's a reason my head's this big." Grey says as he pokes his head.
Grey Matter
His small body lets him climb through small spaces, and his intellect is inimaginable, letting him outhink any human on earth. He can understand and build things he has never seen before! He can also climb walls and ceilings, and he can also breath underwater!
"I see." Iida looks around, and sees an exit sign by the end of the corridor, with a lor of spece between it and the ceiling. "I need to figure out a way to get up there." Iida points at the exit sign.
"And from there, you can call out for all the other student's attention!" Grey matter says. "Maybe if we can get Uraraka to make you weightless..."
"Then I can use my quirk to rocket myself over there!" Iida finishes. Iida and Grey look around, and spot Uraraka, who's not too far away.
"Uraraka!" Grey and Iida call out to her, and she turns around, and spots them.
"Iida!" She shouts. Then she looks at Grey. "And... Ben?"
Grey nods. Iida reaches out to her, and she immedietely understands, and she reaches for him as well. But just in case...
"Uraraka, make me weightless!" Iida explains in a shout. They're like an inch away from eachother. They try to get closer by making a slaping motion, but they miss. Uraraka pushes past the people around her, and touches Iida's hand, as a pink light flashes. Iida crouches, and jumps, floating up high, still holding onto Grey. Iida gets a lock on the exit sign.
"Uh, maybe you should let me gOOooOOooOOoo-" Before Grey can finish talking, Iida activates his quirk, making him spin around, as he closes in on the wall. Iida hits the wall, and crouces to fit between the ceiling and the sign, as he grips a pipe above him to get proper balance, while still holding onto Grey. "Ugh... I think I'm gonna hurl..."
"Sorry..." Iida whispers. He takes a deep breath. "EVERYONE!" The students stop pushing and screaming, and look up at Iida. "There's nothing to worry about! It's only the media outside!" Everyone looks outside, and see that a crowd of reporters and cameramen are lining up outside. "We are UA students! We need to remain calm, and prove we are the best of the best!" Everyone sighs quietly, as they begin to spread out, giving everyone time to breath and... well... not be crushed.
Grey looks down on everyone. He sees smiles, and relief. Some people are snickering at the fact that Iida looks like the exit sign guy, others are talking about how happy they are that the chaos is over, and that there aren't any villains here. Grey looks up at Iida and sees the determination in his eyes. 'Inspiring leader huh...' Grey smiles. But then, it hits him... 'How did a bunch of reporters get onto school grounds? Did they use their quirks? If so, will they be arrested.'
"Hey... Ben..." Grey looks up at Iida. "Thanks..." Grey smiles.
"Call me Grey Matter!" Grey points at himself with his thumb as he smiles.
As Iida thanks Ben, the police finally arrive, to remove the media from the school.
Ben and Yaoyorozu are standing in the front of the class. Ben is looking very bored, while Yaoyorozu seems a lot more profesional. Ben tries to straighten himself as he begins to speak. "So, now we need to choose who the class officers will be..." Ben looks over at Iida for a few seconds. "But before that, I want to step down as class rep." Everyone looks at him in surprise. Even Aizawa, despite being tired beyond belief, seems intrigued. "If any of you were in the hall to the cafeteria earlier, you saw what Iida did. Had it not have been for him, the panic would continue, and people could have gotten hurt. Hell, like half of the student in the hall tried to squach me!"
Half of his classmates snicker while the other half nods, none of them knowing how literal he is. "He was capable of getting everyone's attention, and putting an end to all the chaos, with a little help from Uraraka... and a rat." That last line confused the class, but some of them still laughed. "So I want Iida to take my place as class representative." Ben points a hand at Iida.
"Hey, yeah. He did take charge back there." The red haired boy says.
"Oh, and did you notice that he looked like the exit sign dude back there!" The yellow haired boy adds, making a few of their classmates snicker.
"Well? What do ya' say?" Ben asks Iida. Iida looks at Ben for a few seconds, stunned. Iida smiles brightly.
"Thank you so much Ben!" Iida begins to bow like a madman, going up and down.
"Can you guys hurry up and get your class stuff done... I wanna clock out..." Aizawa mumbles out.
Most people seem pretty happy with the change, except Yaoyorozu, who's disspointed to still be stuck as a vice president. "I got two more votes then him..."
"Oh... eh... sorry?" Ben says sheepishly
As the students happily celebrate Iida's "promotion", a group of the school's staff are surrveying the school's gate. The UA barrier, is missing, and in its place, is rust, dust and broken pieces of metal and scrap.
"How could they do this? They know the law... right?" A voluptuous woman cups her chin as she thinks out loud.
"They are fools to think they can tresspass on UA grounds without consequences." The school nurse is standing next to her, a large frown covering her face.
"Unless they got help from someone who couldn't care less about the law... like a villain." Thirteen says, their emotions hidden under their black visor.
"Hello heroes." Three of the group turn around to see a man walking towards them. He's wearing a brown trenchcoat and a hat in matching color.
"Mr Tsukauchi." Nezy says in a greeting, still looking at the destroyed barrier. "I'm guessing they spilled?"
"They did." Tsukauchi takes off their hat, and puts it to their chest. "They said that a skinny man said they would help them if they promised that the paper would have a good scoop by the end of the weak... And then..." Tsukauchi pauses, making Nezu slightly turn to him in slight curiosity. "He destroyed the barrier by touching it." The man says grimly.
The heroes look at him with worried expressions. "He turned it to dust..." Tsukauchi finishes.
Nezu scratches his chin, thinking.
"Do you think it was a villain?" Thirteen asks the principal.
"Possibly... even likely... but if it is... then I wonder..." The heroes and detective look at him in mild anticipation. "Was this a mere show of power? Or a decleration of war?"
"Todays hero training will be a little different." It's now the next day, and Aizawa is in front of the class. "You'll have three instructurs. Me, All Might and another faculty member will be keeping tabs on you." This catches the class' attention. No one says anything, but some of them are suspecting it's because of yesterday's break-in. However, someone does say something.
"Sir! What kind of training will it be?" The dude with the weird elbows asks while holding his hand up.
Aizawa pulls out a card, like the one All Might had the last training exercise. But unlike the last one, this one has the word rescue on it. "Rescue training!" Aizawa says tiredly. "You'll have to learn to deal with natural disastors, like fires, shipwrecks and storms, and learn how to help people stuck in them!"
The class lights up with excitement.
"Rescue training huh. Sounds tough." The yellow-haired boy saus, with sweat running down his forhead.
"I think it sounds fun!" The pink girl shouts energetically.
"This is real hero stuff. This decides if your a real man or a boy!" The red haired boy says to the yellow haired one.
"Shipwreck huh. Now I can finally show off a little! Ribbit."
"Well, I won't have any trouble with this. I have enough powers to deal with any situation." Ben says confidently. 'That is if the Omnitrix doesn't hate me today...'
"I'm not done." Aizawa says, making everyone settle down. "What you wear in this exercise is up to you. I know you all love costumes, but know that you'll be saving people, not fighting vilains, so some gear may get in the way!" Aizawa presses a button on a small remote, and the class' hero costumes come out of the hidden compartments in the wall. "And, this excercise will be held at a seperate facility, so we'll need a bus to get there. That was all. Get ready." Aizawa finishes as he exits the classroom.
Ben gets up from his seat. 'It's been a while since I've helped people. Let's hope I still got it.'
The class is waiting outside for the bus to arrive. Everyone seems to be wearing their hero costumes, but with some of them having parts of them missing. One of Bakugo's gauntlets are missing and Todoroki's ice mask is gone. And Midoriya is...
"Where the hell is your costume." Ben looks at Midoriya's choise of clothing in confusing. Midoriya is wearing the gym uniform, and some black replacement for his smiling mouth guard. The only parts of his previous costume that remained was his utility belt, gloves and boots.
Uraraka walks up to them. "I wanted to ask the same thing."
"Oh, well, during my match in the last training exercise, Jiro sent a sonic wave at me, throwing me against the wall. My mouth guard was cracked and my costume was torn. Still waiting for the support company to fix it up." Midoriya smiles sheepishly as he rubs the back of his neck.
"Oh, right. I completely forgot about that..." Uraraka says, as Ben snickers quietly, and Midoriya looks at her in confusion.
"Sounds like quite the specticle." Ben says, kind of dissapointed he missed everyone's matches. Midoriya kind of notices, but also notices something else.
"Speaking of our costumes." Midoriya points at the disk hanging from Ben's utility belt. "What's that thing? You didn't use it during the combat exercise."
"That's because I didn't need to." Ben pulls it from his belt. "I got it as a gift from a friend. I don't wanna spoil it, but i'll say this. It is very awesome!"
Before Midoriya can say anything else, the Bus drives up. "All right everyone, it's here." Aizawa shouts as he gets on.
Iida pulls out a whistle, and begins blowing into it to get everyone's attention. "Everyone! Line up in class nr, so that we can board the bus efficiently!" Iida continues to blow the whistle.
"He's really into this class rep thing." Ben mumbles as Midoriya and Uraraka nod in agreement.
The front of the bus had two rows facing eachother, completely ruining Iida's boarding plan. Iida sits somberly in one of the rows. To his left is Ben, who's patting him on the back, trying to get him back in a good mood.
"All that time I spent figuring out a boarding strategy was all for nothing." Iida hisses out with clampt teeth.
"Iida, you need to chill." Says the pink girl... ok, this is getting annoying. Says Ashido nonchalantly, who's sitting to his right.
"You, know, I've got a habit to say whatever comes to mind." The frog girl, or Asui, says as she turns to Midoriya, who's sitting on his left. "A want to ask you something Midoriya."
"R-r-really? W-w-what is it Asui?" Midoriya says, blushing.
'This dude needs to chill...' Ben and Ashido look at Midoriya with deadpan expressions.
"Just call me Tsu." Asui- err... Tsu, corrects.
"R-right... sorry." Midoriya apologises, still blishing slightly.
"Your quirk... isn't it a lot like All Might's?" Tsu asks.
Midoriya immedietely begins to sweat and panic. "I-i-is it?! Ehh... w-w-well I-I g-guess it's kind-a similiar, but-"
"Well actually, All Might doesn't hurt himself when he uses his quirk, so there's a massive difference there!" Red haired boy, Kirishima, says.
Midoriya breathes a sigh of relief, as he rubs his forhead with his shirt-arm.
"Still, it's a pretty cool power. Power augmentations are pretty flashy. My quirks powerful, but it's not much to look at." Kirishima says, as his arm becomes crusty and jagged.
"I actually think it's pretty cool! Definitely pro material!"
"Really? I'd think I would be more popular if I had something more flashy!"
"Well, if we're talking awesome quirks, then we gotta mention the elephants in the room!" The yellow-haired, Kaminari, states, who's sitting opposite of Kirishima. "Todoroki, Bakugo and Ben are like, way awesome."
Ben smiles cockily as he crosses his arms, while Bakugo tries to ignore it... and Todoroki is like... sleeping? Or meditiating? Kind of hard to tell.
"That actually raises the question. How many forms do you have?" Tsu looks at Ben, who drops his smile.
"Well... uh... I think it's nearing 20... if not a little more... it's been a while since I counted." Ben says.
Everyone in the bus looks at him with wonder.
"So, what powers do you have?" Asks Ashido. "We've seen super strength, super speed, cloning-"
"Rolling, grass... ing?" Kaminari adds.
"Fire, super jump." Kisishima adds.
"Super intelligence/Robot controll." Iida and Uraraka says simultaneously. Everyone, except Ben, looks at them in confusion.
"What?" Half the class asks simultaneously.
Before Uraraka and Iida have time to explain, Ben jumps in. "During the entrance exam, Uraraka saw me as Upgrade, who can controll and upgrade machines." Everyone turn to look at him. "And during lunch yesterday, I became Grey Matter to avoid the mob, who's super small and super smart."
"Can you show us?" Kaminari asks.
"I mean, I'll likely have to transform today for the rescue training. I'm sure you'll see something interesting." Before anyone can say anything else, Aizawa interupts them
"We have arrived. Quiet down."
"Yes, sir!" The class says.
"Welcome students!" As the class exit the bus, they see a large dome-shaped building, and someone standing by the entrance. It's-
"Thirteen?!" Ben, Uraraka, Midoriya and Iida shout in unison, as the rest of the class look at them in wonder.
Thirteen chuckles at the children's reactions. "That's right. Let's not waste any time. I'm really accited to show you all what's inside!" Thirteen walks into the building, as the kids follow close behind. As they enter the dome, they see something... well, awesome.
The building is huge. There are six huge areas in the building, two of them being conceled by more domes. Not as big as the building, but still very big.
One of the areas recembles a very large lake, with a huge waterslide, and a yacht-like boat in the water.
Another one looks like a mountain. There's not anything special about it, it's just a big mountain.
Another one looks like a building has been consumed by a landslide. Sand, concrete and moss liters the area.
There is a massive city-like zone, all buildings being cracked and burnt. It looks like someone with the strength of All Might had a tantrum in the middle of it.
One of the domes in the building is red with fire-like art on it's surface, while the other one is blue, with cloud-like shapes covering it.
The entrance leads onto a... platform? Kind of... It's a piece of concrete that reaches high up from the ground. It has a long staircase that leads to the center of the area, where a fountain is placed. A fancy one, and trees and small buildings loiter the area.
"This place is huge!" Everyone shouts. "It looks like Universal Studios Japan!"
"A shipwreck..." Thirteen shouts. "A landslide... A fire... A windstorm... Et cetera... This is a training ground, that I designed to train you guys to prepare for almost any possible disaster!" Says Thirteen with pride. "It's called, the Unforseen Simulation Joint, but you guys can call it the U.S.J!"
"Just like Universal Studios Japan..." Everyone mutters in mild confusion.
As Thirteen settles down, Aizawa strolls up to his fellow pro, and whispers something to them. Thirteen responds, while lifting up a hand, holding up three fingers. Aizawa reacts with a scowl.
"Now then, before we begin, I have one last thong to say... or two... or three... maybe four or five-"
'We get it!' Everyone thinks to themselves.
Thirteen lifts their arm, as to point everyone's attention to it. "I'm sure some of you know about my quirk, black hole. When I activate it, I'm capable of turning stuff in my way into dust."
Midoriya decides to throw in a little fun fact. "Yeah! You've been able to save a lot of people from disasters with that power!" Uraraka nods with excitement.
"That's true!" Thirteen lowers their arm. "But that power could also easily be used to kill..." Thirteen says it with a grim tone, as everyone is stunned by their statement. "And I'm sure some of you do as well." Everyone considers their words. "In our superhuman society, only those who are qualified may use their powers, so at first glance, the possibility doesn't really come to mind. However... never forget, that there are quirks that could easily end lives, if you're not careful. With Aizawa's physical fitness test, you learnt what your powers are capable of. With All Might's combat training, you learnt what your powers could do against other people. But today will be different. Today, you'll learn how to use your powers to help the innocent... to save lives! Your powers are not meant to be used to harm others. I hope you'll leave here today with the revelation that your powers can help people."
Everyone looks at Thirteen with determination, touched by their speech. Thirteen bows in a theatrical fashion. "Thank you for listening..." Everyone cheers, as they spout compliments and shouts. Even Aizawa seems to have enjoyed the speech, although he hides it very well.
"All right everyone, settle down. Let's get on with the lecture." Aizawa points down at the USJ's center. Suddenly, the lights lining the USJ's dome, begins to flicker as static electricity begins to creep across them. The water flowing from the fountain in the center of the plaza begins to flicker, as a purple mist begins to form infront of it. Aizawa's... hero instincts(?) kick in, and he turns around to see the mist warp and shift into a round shape, with the mist spiraling. The students look down at the plaza, and see the mist grow larger and larger.
'What is that?' Ben thinks.
Suddenly, a pale hand claws its way through the mist. A red eye reveals itself from within the mist, as a man with a decapitated hand covering his face, exits the mist, revealing his thin and brittle body. He's wearing a black shirt and pants. His shoes are red, and many other decapitated hands holding onto his torso, arms and legs.
"Now this... is gonna be fun..." The man murmers to himself.
"Thirteen! Protect the students!
Ben's classmates finally spot the portal, and look at it in confusion. "What is that?" As Kirishima asks, more people begin to crawl out from the mist, all with different appearences.
'Oh, boy.' Ben thinks to himself, as he readies the omnitrix.
"Has the training already started. I thought we were saving people today-"
"STAY BACK!" Aizawa shouts, making everyone flinch. Aizawa digs up his goggles from underneath his scarf, and puts it on, covering his eyes. "This is real. Those are villains!" Aizawa says as everyone, besides Ben, gasp.
Ben looks back down at the plaza, as a massive, bird-like villain exit the portal, along with someone in a red, robotic armor, with a skull-like graphic on their chest.
'This is gonna be fun...'
Epilogue
"What's happening?" The one on the throne his toying with a tendril resting on his face, as he looks down at the humanoid drones filling the room.
"We are working to get the camera systems online." One of the drones is tapping away at a keyboard, as it looks up at a large monitor, projected via some kind of hologram, which is showing of some kind of computery, mombo-jumbo. Suddenly, a large monitor in the center of a room, flickers to life, as static covers the screen. "We have successfully brought the camera systom back online. We are now connecting to the system." The drone turns to look at the large monitor. The static begins to warp, and flickers away.
The monitor is now showing off the feed from a camera, mounted inside a large building. The camera is showing a large area, filled with people, all with unique appearences. A large group seems to be composed of a bunch of children, one of which, brings great interest to the one on the throne. "Ben... Tennyson..." They begin to stroke their face-tendrils.
"There seems to be a breach in their security system."
"They must be under attack... I can sence her... she's among the intruders..." The one on the throne leans forward, as they cup their chin. "Send a few combat drones."
"Only one is currently at 100% functioning order. We can send a few scouts-"
"I don't care what you send!" The one on the throne slams their fist into one of their armrests. "Just as long as it stands as a threat to Tennyson and his new... friends..."
The drone looks at its master for a few seconds before- "Understood." The drone nods, as it presses a few buttons on its keyboard. "Sending four blast drones, one scout and a combat drone."
The one on the throne strokes their face-tendrils.
'This is going to be... Interesting...' The one on the throne grins under their respirator.