Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Quirks…

The power that turned the supernatural into the norm and gave birth to a superhuman society, with the profession of being a hero coming into life.

And in this world that turned dreams into a reality, there were 10 heroes, bound by one symbol, quickly rising in the eyes of America.

To some they were a new class of government issued heroes, to some they were a group of vigilantes, dealing out justice as they saw fit and to some they were just a bunch of misfits that did not let their power go to waste. But all of this only served to prove just how little the public knew about them.

Who were they? Where had they come from? What is their goal?

However when these heroes suddenly vanished into thin air, the questions didn't last long in this society infested by both heroes and villains alike.

3 years have come and gone since this event.

And even though this hero of heroes was far from ready, the world was ready to force his hand and give him one more chance to turn into a great hero of all generations.

This is his story...

The sun was shining, the clouds were giving the crowd the perfect amount of shade and the weather was just right at 68oF, it was as good a time as any for some good ol soccer in the small town of Bellwood.

In this match, there were two teams, one was supporting a jersey of vivid red, while the other was taking up dark green as the rival color. And a red particular player now dribbled the ball between his feet.

"Heh, amateurs." The player said as he got past three of the green teams' players. "Is this really the best that the Bellwood's got?"

However, it wasn't long before he found himself surrounded by the green team. He tried to look around for a way out but there wasn't much he could do if he tried to go forward.

He tried to turn to the left but nope, he would still be caught and to his luck, these ones didn't seem exactly slow.

Time felt like it slowed down but it was still ticking, he had to make a decision…

"Pass it to me! Pass it to me Cash!" He heard. It was his (Well, was friend really the right word here? Doesn't matter) "friend" J.T. and he seemed to be open.

"Hmph, yeah right I'll give the glory to you." Cash thought but he didn't seem to have many options as players were closing in from the back.

"C'mon I'm open!" J.T. yells out which Cash internally replies, "You know what, anything's better than losing to that stick in the mud." and passes it over.

The ball threads the needle between many green players and ends up before J.T. And with that, he starts running. Running like never before.

The ball was between his feet. The rival players were behind him. 20 seconds on the clock. And only one obstacle. The goalie.

The goalie had his arms open. His eyes on the ball. Ready to make a catch.

J.T. closes in. 10 seconds left.

Aims his shot. 5 seconds. 4. 3...

And he shoots it!

The ball flies toward the upper right corner. It's going to go in! And..!

The goalie makes the catch!

The timer continues to go down. 2, 1 and zero…

With a score of 2 to 1, the home team wins the match and the crowd goes wild!

The green team players lift up their goalie up high and going with the flow, the goalie lifts up the winning save in his hands.

"Tsk, what the hell were you doing J.T.?!" Cash roars. "Any man with two eyes could see that he was leaning towards the left! Why didn't you shoot right?!"

"I'm sorry Cash, m-my position wa-wasn't right, I took the best shot I could and…" J.T. tries to defend himself but Cash interrupts him.

"Save it. Here he comes…"

Now off from the arms of his teammates, the goalkeeper of the opposite team walks right over to them and lends his hand forward. "Good game Cash. And to you J.T."

J.T. shakes the hand while Cash continues to stare with disgust. "I'll get you back Tennyson."

J.T. tries to approach him but Cash just pushes him back and heads off to the changing room. J.T. regains his footing and even though he's taken aback, he still follows after the taller teen.

"Tennyson'' on the other hand, is just sad that J.T. even still continues to follow after that brat. To think that someone would get a hint by now…

Since he didn't bring a change of clothes, he heads off to his bike and unlocks it. As he gets on, he looks back at the field one last time.

He rides off with his bike through the uneventful streets of Bellwood and quickly arrives at Lot 4, a caravan park. He also sees a familiar face parking his car at the entrance.

He waves and says "Hello there, Mr. Baumann!"

A bit startled, Mr Baumann says "What!- Oh hi Benjamin…" (with as little enthusiasm as possible)

'What are you doing here, Mr. Baumann?'

'Oh just a delivery.' He says, showing the bag in his hand. 'How about you?'

"Just got back from the soccer game." Ben says as he gets off his bike and walks next to at the entrance. 'I thought I could visit my grandpa on my way back.'

"How nice." Mr Baumann says while keeping one eye on him and the other one on his car.

The two then start walking inside and Ben quickly goes on the lookout for the Rustbucket.

"So...' Mr. Baumann says. 'You sure have gotten tall Ben."

I mean, he wasn't off.… Last time he checked, he was 5'10 at the age of 15 but he would be lying if he didn't find the older man's attempt at a conversation funny.

"What's so funny?" Mr Baumann asks, apparently noticing Ben's small chuckle.

"Nothing. Yeah, I sure have…" Ben says as his eyes drift over to the bag in Mr. Baumann's hand.

"What is the package Mr. Baumann?"

Mr. Baumann opens the bag and immediately a frozen cold stench fills Ben's nose.

"Octopus eyes." Mr. Baumann replies.

Yep, there was only one man on this earth who would have these delivered to his doorstep. And to their luck, the pair had arrived at their destination.

Ben parks his bike next to the Rustbucket and knocks on the front door. He doesn't know what it is but he just feels happy to visit his Grandpa Max again.

With a brief pause, the door opens. However, the one to exit the vehicle isn't Grandpa Max. There were two figures. One was a tall, fish-like humanoid with mauve-colored skin and gills on either side of his neck. He had also been wearing a silver-black suit with a helmet, filled with water-like liquid. The other had the same outfit however, he had grey skin, purple eyes and an antenna on his head and gills.

"Stay safe, Max." "Yeah, take care of yourself Max." They say before walking away, one without so much as a glance to Ben or Mr. Baumann while the other waves at them before following his friend. After him, Max appears at the door and shouts: "You too, Labrid! Patelliday!"

And before he can get ready, Max is then immediately blindsighted by one of Ben's hugs back and says: "Heh, you sure seem lively champ. What's up?"

"Our team just won the soccer match and I caught the last shot." Ben says with a hint of cockiness. He wasn't lying, being the goalie and not running around much was nice but not being in the heat of the action meant that him being the clutch factor didn't happen a whole lot. So, he was going to get anything he could.

"I wish I could be there to see it." Max says as he puts his hand over Ben's head and ruffles his hair. He then notices Mr Baumann, waiting with the package he ordered.

"Oh Mr. Baumann, sorry for having you wait. Let me grab my wallet."

"Ah, it's no problem Max. I just don't want the eyes to spoil."

Max comes out with his wallet and pays for the package. In the meantime, Ben gets inside the Rustbucket and starts changing from his jersey. And just like he thought, 90 minute games and heavy sunlight from above, don't mix. Taking a shower was a must for tonight but now, he was going to spend some quality time.

As Max closes the door, Ben immediately takes his signature place on one of the couches of the Rustbucket. "Who were they grandpa?"

"Magister Labrid and Magister Patelliday from the Plumbers. They just came by for a chat."

Ben looks back at the door and says: "Magister Labrid (was that his name?) didn't seem like that at all.". He then puts on a smile and says: "But I guess not all Plumbers are so approachable."

"Yeah..." Max replies in an exhausted manner.

"So… What did you do today grandpa?"

"Umm, nothing much champ..."

Yep, something's wrong. Ben is all too familiar with his grandpa's dismissive responses, either something happened that he doesn't want Ben to know, or he's actually leading into something. "What is it grandpa?"

"Nothing, it's just…" he says before pausing at the sight of Ben's concerned face.

"Get your bike inside, I'll tell you on the way."

"Ummm, on the way to where, exactly?"

"To your folks's house."

Okay… Now this was weird. What could his grandpa have that would make him conflicted and want to share with Ben's parents. Whatever it is, it was surely going to be interesting.

"So pro heroes came by the Rustbucket... for a school offer?" Ben utters, in a confused manner.

"Yeah." Max confirms. "Apparently the little heroics we did during our cross-country trip garnered more attention than we realized."

Ben sinks to the front seat of the Rustbucket. Yeah, saying that his actions attracted attention was a bit polite considering the property damage that followed him with some of his heroics. Not even to mention the threats he unleashed... His first battle with Vilgax almost destroyed Rapid City, Kevin used the Omnitrix's power to commit all sorts of crime, His stunt... against the Forever King with Upchuck decimated Mount Rushmore… Hell, Ghostfreak's plan with the corrodium ended with a destroyed space station and a shuttle! No wonder the authorities were looking for him!

Max takes a deep breath and continues.

"From what they told me, people shared footage online, prompting the authorities to try to crack down your identity."

"Because, they didn't want an unknown vigilante running around all over America I'm guessing." Ben says, still feeling conflicted on the matter.

Yep, it was that stupid law about civilians not being allowed to use their quirks in public being at work here right now. He gets why that's there but… Argh, it's just so frustrating for him! If it's any consolation, it took them 3 years to do this, so he hid that cover of his pretty good at least.

"They told me some of the faults in your approach to the situation and just how risky some of them were."

In response, Ben turns his gaze out of the window. But, Max catches that.

"Ben..." He says. "I know it's hard to hear this but..."

"What was I supposed to do grandpa?" Ben says as he cuts him off. "There was no pro hero in sight, I had to do something. I couldn't just sit still and wait. I… just couldn't."

"And they aren't scolding you for that. Even though they were harsh on your methods, they praised your 'quirk' and your spirit. They know just as well as us, about the lives that would be lost without your intervention."

"I told them that you left the hero stuff behind, but they were still adamant about giving me this."

Max points to the business card he put on the front window which Ben reluctantly grabs and reads. Or more accurately, tries to read.

"U.A.?" Ben says as those are the only two letters he can read.

"It is a famous hero high school in Japan. They said that they had put a good word in for you in case you decided to change your mind."

"Japan huh…" Ben thinks. He had watched some anime back in the day so even though he might not go, he would be lying if he said he wasn't at least a little bit interested.

"Ben…" Max says, which has him turn back to look his grandpa in the face. And even though his grandpa has to look at the road, Ben felt like he was actually looking back at him.

"No one can force you to make a decision you won't like. So if you don't want it..."

Ben turns his gaze back on the business card. "How long do I have?"

"I looked it up and the next entrance exam should happen in about 8 months from now. But the school would probably want an answer before that."

As Ben continues to contemplate on the decision at hand, they park at the front of his house. And now, he had this to worry about…

"Do we really have to tell them?" Ben asks as he takes his bike from the Rustbucket.

"Even though it is just the authorities, what we did is no longer a secret… It would be better if they learned it from us before they get the chance to learn from anyone else." Max says as Ben chains his bike and walks to the front door.

As Max is about to knock, he turns to Ben again. "But... you must be tired from that soccer game.

Putting his hand on the back of his neck, Max says: "If you want, I can tell them while you rest up."

"Yeah… That would be great, thanks." Ben replies as Max knocks and Ben's mother opens the door.

Putting on the best fake smile he can, he says "Hi mom… I'll be in my room..." and makes a beeline to his room. He can hear his mom saying something after him but he just mutes her out. He has too much on his head right now.

Closing the door after him, he lies down on the bed and starts staring at the ceiling as thoughts flash by in his head.

Well, his family was now in the know but more importantly… did he really have another chance at the hero business? Should he even have another chance especially after what happened last time?..

He impatiently gets up from the bed and opens his closet. If he was actually thinking about it, might as well face it as well.

He takes out a relatively small box and opens it up. It was his souvenir box from the summer, filled with fun memories. His stack of sumo slammer cereal cards, an old walkman, his old video game controller… It was all here but, when he pushed the stack of cards aside, there it was… The Omnitrix.

He picks it up and wow this thing used to fit to his wrist, it was now at the size of his palm. But it was just as he remembered it. Black and grey color, green dial in the middle, button on the side… it hadn't changed one bit.

However, to be honest, it did feel… heavier.

He takes it out and puts the box back to where it was. He sits back on the bed and now with the device back in his hands, asks himself one more time… Should it be hero time once more?..

On one hand, he would love to go back. That feeling of saving people, stopping bad guys, occasionally saving the world. It made him feel like…he was actually making a difference, it made him feel special.

But… Some of the threats he stopped actually existed because of him and the watch. Without the Omnitrix, Vligax would have never attacked Earth, Ghostfreak would have never existed and without him… Kevin wouldn't be in the Null Void…

With the pressure he's feeling, he smiles. He really wasn't going to get anywhere, now was he?

And as he was thinking this, he heard a couple loud footsteps fast approaching his room. Yeah, there wasn't much guessing when it came to this but as the door knob was turning, it suddenly stopped.

Ben looked under the door and saw a shadow just behind there. Considering the additional silence of the footsteps, grandpa just saved his life… barely. Maybe thinking about this life decision with his parents in the other room wasn't such a healthy situation.

He then turns around and sees the closed window behind him. Maybe he doesn't have to.

He swiftly grabs a jacket, grabs his phone, gets outside through the window and immediately makes a beeline towards his bike. If he was going to decide this, he needed advice.

"I just can't understand it dad. Why? Why would you think letting Ben fight villains like that was a good idea?" Ben's father asks. He's not happy with having to reproach his father like that but he feels like he has no other option.

"Frank and I always knew that there was something you kept away from us but this is our son! You should have called us when his quirk awakened!" Ben's father continues.

"It's our fault. We were too permissive and what did we get? A 15 year old son needlessly committing crimes and getting shipped off to Japan."

"He is not getting shipped out. It is a school." Max says, while trying to be as composed as possible. Their family had always been rather against the concept of quirks, thinking that using them presents a danger rather unnecessary. And the fact that the family was quirkless just went to fueling that fire.

"If he takes this, under the guidance of those ex-pro heroes, he can better learn to control his power and become a hero himself."

"But why dad? Japan is already producing more heroes that it needs and according to the news, other countries like America seem to be on loose follow. There are already enough heroes roaming around in this world, why would our son need to become one of them?"

"He doesn't need to do anything. For the last 3 years, he didn't become a hero even once, because it was his choice to not become one. And it's going to be his choice whether he continues what he started."

Stressed by the outcome, Ben's mother stands up and asks: "If it's only his decision, why don't we go and ask him!" sarcastically.

Before anyone can even react, Ben's mother starts stomping off to her son's room.

"No Sandra, again, we shouldn't-" Grandpa Max can say before Ben's mother turns around and yells "MY SON WILL GO TO ANOTHER COUNTRY, MAX. YOU CAN'T EXPECT ME TO SIT BACK AND LET THAT HAPPEN!"

Both men were stunned in place. Even though Ben's father didn't do anything wrong, he was still petrified by his wife lashing out to his father. To be honest, he still wasn't sure on how to take these news but seeing his father getting yelled at like that… Even though he kept the truth from him, he didn't deserve THAT.

"Sandra, wait!.." He said as he sprinted after his wife. Max on the other hand, collapsed back to the couch. For years he wanted to keep his family away from danger… He battled, he helped, he lied... Just to ensure that all of them got to live their best lives…

Now what can he do? He already revealed some of his secrets… Does he tell them of aliens, the Omnitrix… Just to hammer in how crucial of a decision Ben was trying to make? Does he risk exposing his own past, his own double-life?

"AHHHHHHHHHH!"

A scream cut through his thoughts and brought him back to reality. With the fastest that his age allowed him, he rushed to the source and found Ben's mother and father standing before his grandson's room, with the door wide open. Inside, the door of the closet was wide open, the box of Ben's souvenirs was opened and some of them were on the ground, but most importantly, the window was unlocked and a cool breeze was coming inside.

"Where did he go Carl?! Where did he go?!" Ben's mother exclaimed as he turned to her husband out of desperation. Her husband however, was just as clueless as she is…

But it didn't take too long for the ex-plumber to put 2 and 2 together. He might have an idea on where Ben had head off to…

He then looks at Ben's parents, still panicked but mostly concerned out of their minds. He couldn't make this piece of information classified, he was sure of that.

Knock knock.

"Who could it be at this time of night..." Frank Tennyson thinks as he walks over and opens the door.

"Hi, Uncle Frank." Ben says, trying his absolute hardest to not make the situation more awkward than it already was.

"Ben? What are you doing here at this time of night?" He then looks behind Ben and says: "Are your parents here with you?"

"Nah, just me. I just need help with something. Is Gwen around?" he says, while also trying to keep an optimistic air around him. He worried enough people for one day, might as well not keep that streak going.

"Yeah, come inside and I'll call her." he says as he lets Ben inside and starts going upstairs.

Once inside, Ben takes off the jacket. It was a summer night for crying out loud, why did he bring this? He wouldn't have complained so much if this didn't combine with having to ride his bike all this way. Oh well, it doesn't matter now. As long as...

And there she was. With her hands on the handrails, she stared right at Ben.

"Hi Ben, What do I owe this visit for?" Gwen asks with a smirk on her face.

"What? Can't I just freely visit my favourite cousin?" Ben asks with an equally teasing tone.

"Not if you don't want something from me."

Yeah, part of the cat was immediately out of the bag like he expected.

Putting his hand behind his neck, he says "I've got a problem. I need advice."

"What's up? Stuck with the history homework again?"

As much as Ben wanted to do this discreetly, he knew that it wouldn't take long for his grandpa to find him if they discovered his absence. He could not afford to play around for much longer.

So, he reaches to the inner pocket of his jacket and takes it out…

"Gwen… I need your help."

Gwen's eyes are immediately stuck on the device in question and, combined with Ben's new melancholic aura, it didn't take a genius to know that the situation was serious.

She shouts: "Dad!"

"What is it sweetheart?!"

"I need to help Ben with his homework! Call me when dinner is ready!"

"Okay!"

She then signals Ben to follow her to her room.

Once inside, she closes the door behind them and asks "What happened?" and with that Ben tells her everything.

"And then I ran out the window and rode my bike here..." Ben says as he finishes his story. He then looks at her in desperation. Grandpa was busy dealing with his parents, he was going nowhere with this and she was the only other person to know the truth. What was her take on this?

"Ben… It's your choice to put it on again. You don't have to do it if you don't want to."

With his gaze fixed on the watch, he replies "It's just… I would love to do it all over again. Busting bad guys, saving people, (taking a bit of praise from the crowd)... With that watch, I felt like a hero from the news… I felt like a person who could make a difference."

Sensing his melancholic nature, Gwen, despite hesitating, says: "You know what, it wasn't the watch that was special, it was you."

Ben looks up, unsure about what Gwen just said.

Gwen, despite hating to stroke Ben's ego, continues…

"I mean… How many times did that watch give you the wrong alien? You would ask for Ripjaws and get XLR8, dial in Stinkfly and end up as Cannonbolt... Heck, you would dial in Fourarms and the watch would barely work."

Ben actually smiles when Gwen says that, when DID the watch work right?

"But, you would still manage to save the day..."

With that Ben's smile fades into surprise as he turns to his cousin. He… he didn't expect her to say that. And he guesses that Gwen didn't either as she didn't continue that sentence.

But the silence doesn't last long.

"You mean 'we', right?" Ben says as a new grin forms on his face, which has Gwen smile back, glad that Ben recognised her and grandpa's past help. She then chooses to continue her take on the situation.

"And after all that fighting, you earned the chance at a normal life. You put that back on and go to this school, that's it for normal."

"Yeah but…"

Ben looks back at the watch.

"The Omnitrix was originally meant for grandpa Max but I ended up with it. And then, when I had broken the Omnitrix and had a chance of getting it take away from me, Azmuth still left it with me, believing in that I'll make a difference using it."

"But did he really believe in that?" Gwen asks. "This is Azmuth we're talking about."

The thought does go by Ben's head but...

"I don't care about that, it's just.. I don't know. I just don't feel at ease, knowing that it just sits in my closet. At least not when there is also a chance like this."

"But?.." Gwen says. She knows there is something Ben is just not telling her. Ben exhales and says: "I just don't know if the difference I make will be a good one..."

Gwen raises an eyebrow at that. However, Ben doesn't notice. He gets up from the bed and looks at the night sky.

"I threw Vilgax to space..."

Gwen's eyes briefly go wide when she hears Ben mention Vilgax but Ben doesn't notice as he's facing the window.

"And we have not heard from him since…"

He turns his gaze away and starts circling the room.

"Kevin? We locked him in the Null Void and haven't heard from him since..."

"Ghostfreak?.. Sucked back to his own planet..."

"Malware?.. He… he..."

He can't say it. But, for the sake of his point, he moves on...

"Forever King?.. Cooked by Upchuck along with the rest of Mount Rushmore..."

At this point, Gwen gets up from the bed and tries to put her hand on his shoulder but Ben continues to circle around. She feels like he's stuck in some kind of trance.

"Animo?.. Locked away in Null Void."

"Charmcaster...missing."

"Sixsix, Hex, Rojo… all locked up."

He stops circling and looks up to Gwen. "Every villain I've ever fought has either been locked up or missing for the last 3 years."

"You are worried they might come back?" Gwen asks but Ben shakes his head.

"No, I think I would be able to take care of them if they came back… I'm worried that I might spawn more… More villains that are either after me or the Omnitrix or both."

He sits back down and hesitantly says "What if… the best way to be a hero… to keep people safe... is to not go hero?"

Gwen doesn't have an immediate answer for that. Truth be told, Ben did have a point. During these last 3 years, none of their older foes were seen again. She was still practicing magic in case something ever happened but nothing came up.

Just like her cousin, she also turns to the window and looks outside.

She really didn't expect this night to turn out like this. What should she say? What would be the right answer?

As she was thinking that however, a headlight across her house catches her interest. She looks down and sees the Rustbucket parking right in front of her house…

She takes a deep breath and turns around… Here goes nothing…

"Ben, you said you felt like a hero from the news… What about the villains in the news?"

"Just because you refuse to put on the Omnitrix, villainy won't just disappear. Big or small, you are still seeing it in the news. It still exists and it is the job of heroes, of the good guys, to protect the innocent against it. The question is, are you going to stand with them or watch from the sidelines?"

Beyond the door, Gwen hears the footsteps coming up the stairs...

"I know it may seem hard but it is not the easy choices that make heroes. At least… that is what you showed m—" Gwen says, as someone knocks on her door.

"Gwen? Is Ben there?" Frank says, but Gwen doesn't answer him.

"Our parents are waiting for us. I can face them with you, but only if you are ready."

Ben looks back at the Omnitrix's dial.

He continues to stare as their parents knock harder on the door. He closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and with a determined look in his eye, puts the watch back on his wrist.

With a sound that seemingly vacuums the area around his wrist, he gets up from the bed and says "I'm ready."

Chapter Text

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."

Chapter Text

"Yaaaaaaaaawnnnnnnn!" Ben exclaimed as the plane finally landed on Japanese soil. Honestly, he did want to go back to Bellwood for holidays and whatnot but he really wasn't looking forward to doing that 14 hour flight one more time.

"So… Where do we need to go again?.." Ben was exhausted to his limit and could barely remember the procedure his mother told him about after arriving.

"Uh… We need to… Wait, I think I had noted this down somewhere."

From the looks of it, the person in question wasn't fairing much better. His parents' jobs mostly had them stuck in Bellwood and travelling abroad wasn't a go to option for them to spend their downtime . He couldn't even remember the last time they went out of the country for a vacation.

Through sheer willpower and Ben's mother's notes, they managed to get out of the airport with their bags at hand. However, this was only the beginning of their problems.

"How is there not an english translation available in a train station?" Ben's mother says as she tries to understand the map.

While she's busy with that, Ben puts his hand on the writing and moves his finger along as he reads it. "We're going to Mustafu, right? Then we need to take… this train." as he points to a certain track.

Or at least it would have been the beginning of their problems if it weren't for some late night studying sessions.

Ben's mother is impressed. Seems like Gwen really worked her magic on his boy during those 8 months.

They arrive at the hotel room they booked and before they can even unpack, they collapse onto their respective beds.

"Ugh..." Ben groans as he lifts his head from the bed and tries to open his eyes as the sunlight overwhelms him. Was the sun always this bright?

He reaches out to his phone to check the time. 12 o'clock right on the dot, ah. So the hotel's lunch had to become his breakfast. Not that he minded too much anyway.

He gets up from the bed and after washing his face and having a change of clothes, Ben immediately makes his way to the hotel's restaurant. Apparently his mother was already here, currently struggling with the menu.

"Hey!" his mother signals him by waving her hand and Ben does notice her. He then takes a seat right across her.

"You sure took your sweet time."

"Yeah, but how did you wake up so early?"

Ben's mother shrugs. "Eh, work hours. Not all of us had the vacation you had kiddo."

"I wouldn't call it a vacation…" Ben adds sensibly.

"You didn't go to school now, did you?" Ben's mother remarks as Ben opens up his menu.

He lifts up his hand and calls for a waiter. As he arrives, Ben points to the dish and orders in Japanese. The waiter does ask for a repeat once or twice, but in the end, Ben seemingly gets his message across. And as the waiter walks away, Ben turns to his mother and says: "I don't think a vacation can do that."

"Ha! Maybe so." Ben's mother says with a smile. It was always nice for her to see Ben applying what he learned. However she didn't have the same luxury as Ben as she continued to struggle with the menu. There were English translations this time but she had barely any idea what the foods were, they were all Japanese cuisine.

"Maybe you should have studied with us. After all, aren't you going to go and see some houses today?" Ben asks concernedly. "How will you communicate with the seller?"

Ben's mother tries to think up an argument but she can't. She admits defeat and says: "Yeah, I might need your help with that but look on the bright side, we'll get to see the city before your school actually begins."

As soon as he hears of it, Ben's upbeat attitude slightly drops. It was just still so surreal to be in Japan, and to think that the school would begin… putting the Omnitrix to use once again for the public.

His gaze then falls on the said device. He then replies to his mother: "Yeah, it's going to start in a week, right?". At least he would see some other students, also aspiring to be heroes like him…

"Yep. Oh!" Ben's mother springs up like she had an idea. "What if we went to see your school this afternoon? We could sort of… get used to it beforehand, right?"

Ben's heart sinks but he does his best to not give it away. "I guess we could…" he says. "It would... beat staying in the hotel room all day."

And just then, Ben's salmon sashimi arrives at his table. As he's about to demonstrate the chopstick skills he acquired from Gwen, his mother interrupts him.

With an embarrassed manner, she asks "Umm… Can you order my food as well?"

With his enthusiasm picking back up, he says "Sure, what are you looking for?" as he grabs the menu from his mother's hands, setting it down on the table. Swiping the pages with one hand and eating the rice with the other Ben thinks: "I wonder if I can find an American restaurant here like I find an Japanese restaurant back home."

Inside the rental car they got, they go from house to house and as they drive by the streets, Ben thinks that maybe he would have been better off wishing for something else…

"KFC… Dominos… Oh look, McDonalds..." Ben says as he gazes outside the window.

Ben's mother briefly throws a gaze at him. "Don't even think about it Ben. I'm not letting you eat all that junk food while you have Hero courses. Remember, a healthy body is a..."

"...healthy mind." Ben says as he pouts. He was expecting more, you know… something else.

"Wait a minute, is that?.." Ben gasps.

"What is —?Oh no…"Ben's mother says as she also stops the car.

With big bold yellow Japanese letters on a blue backdrop in their view, Ben and his mother draw their attention to the English translation just below it and it spells out: "Burger Shack"

"Alright!" Ben thinks as he is about to celebrate the existence of his favourite chilli fries in the same city as him. However, he then notices the disheartened expression of his mom. If there was one fast food that his mother had a hard time limiting him on, it was chilli fries.

"You don't need to worry mom, I won't go there much." Ben says and then adds: "After all, no type of fries can beat your home cooking."

This line makes her smile. "Aw shucks…"

She then starts the car back up and gets on the road again. She then takes a quick glance at Ben though. Almost half the day was gone and unless they were on the road to the next house, Ben had to stick close and be the translator between his mom and the estate agent…

She was sure that he was tired. "I guess one pitstop couldn't hurt…" she thinks and starts entering another destination to the GPS.

"Destination: U.A. High."

Ben's ears perk up. "Wait...Where are we going?".

"To your school." Ben's mother says. "I'm sure you are sick of playing translator for me so we might as well do something you're interested in. There is only like… 1 or 2 houses remaining on the list so..."

"Yeah but…" Ben struggles to finish his sentence. "Let's just finish them first…" Ben finishes. "It's not like the school is going anywhere."

"Oh, are you sure?" she asks concernedly. Something was definitely up.

"Pretty sure." He swiftly replies, leaving little room for argument.

"Okay then, next stop is…" she says as she checks the navigation. "Somewhat close to the hotel. It is also in Mustafu."

"Great.". Ben says, trying his best to fake some enthusiasm.

"Can you ask the size of the living room, sweetie?" his mother asks.

"Sure mom…"

They had arrived at the final apartment and Ben was slowly getting burnt-out by all this travelling around. The sun was about to set and the sleep that he had gotten from the night before wasn't exactly doing him any favors.

He was yawning and stretching, just waiting to get back to his hotel room. The worst part was that he could see his mother not being satisfied at the end of each trip.

"Hey, sweetie..." His mother says as he taps his shoulder. "I just asked if they knew English and they said they did."

"When did she ask that?" He wonders. No matter…

"If you want, you can go and grab yourself some coffee." As she hands over some money to him.

"Huh…" he says internally. This was what he wanted, to get away from asking different people the same questions over and over again. But now…

"Oh! No no, I can continue." Ben says as he straightens up. "You don't need to worry."

"Sweetie. You are literally on the brink of sleeping."

Worst part was that she was right.

His mother ruffles Ben's hair and says: "You worked enough, now rest up and leave the REST to me." She says as she can't hold herself back from snickering.

Even the estate agent had his head in his hand. At least he now knew that he really understood English.

He fake laughs and…

"Alright, I'll go, stop…" Ben says as he tries to stop her and fixes his hair.

He then takes the money and goes out the door.

"Now, where were we?" Ben's mother asks the estate agent.

Thank Ishiyama, he was out of there. He didn't know if his mind could take another pun like that.

"Now let's see…" Ben mutters as he looks around for a store or…

"What are the chances that I can also find a Mr. Smoothy's around here?"

Turns out, not very high since everyone he asked around did not know what a Mr. Smoothy was. "So uncivilized…" he thinks as he shakes his head.

Well, coffee had to do then. He walks over to a grocery store, buys a bottle of ice-cold coffee and starts wandering in the streets. "Might as well explore the city of UA."

He takes a big sip from the bottle. "Yeesh!.." Maybe I should have gotten a diet cola after all.

As he walked around, he took in the experience of a Japanese city. It was honestly less crowded than the videos would lead him to believe. He thought that with this being the school of All Might, the area around it would be more populated. Guess not…

Everything seemed pretty familiar to him, except for a couple of things. Like the comparatively smaller buildings, the more frequent billboards, the sports car that was speeding right towards him… Wait what?!

"Hey!" He says as he dodges right. "Student drivers!"

However, as the car continues along by crashing left and right, Ben quickly realizes what's going on.

"That's no joy ride…" He says as he tosses the coffee to a nearby trash can and dashes to an alleyway. He pushes on the rims again but first, he takes a second.

This was not the USA, the regulations for heroes and quirks were far more up to date, detailed and consequential...

The sky had gotten darker and the sparkling moon was slowly but steadily rising to the big black sky. "It IS risky…" he thinks. Ben then looks back at the street he came from. "But it is riskier not to."

He then makes his selection and slams the dial.

Starting from his hand with the Omnitrix, a grey fur envelops his whole body and his fingers and toes turn into razor-sharp claws. Some parts of his elbows and shoulders get spiked up and his usual brown hair along with the area around his head turns into a dark-grey mane. A large bushy tail grows out from his rear end and finally with his mouth becoming akin to a dog's and with his irises becoming completely glowing green, his transformation is complete.

"Benwo — I mean… Blitzwolfer!"

He quickly jumps between walls, and as soon as he gets on top, he smells the air and perks up his ears. "Burning engine, crashing sounds… It's coming from… Right ahead!"

He gets on all fours and starts running on rooftops, jumping from building to building all in an effort to get to that car."If it's still going along the streets, then there's sure to be some bystanders and I can't risk being seen…"

He sighs in frustration: "Maybe I should have picked my flier after all. Anyway…"

He gets a visual lock on the car and his jaw then opens up in four directions, and just like his eyes, starts to emit a green glow. "I'm going to have to time this right if I don't want to hurt the passengers…"

"SLOW DOWN!" The man in the passenger seat cries out.

"I told you I can't! THE BREAKS DON'T WORK! AHHHHHHH!" as the driver makes a break left, dodging a car in front of him.

"Stop screaming!" The passenger shouts, however the driver does not cooperate.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

As the passenger gets ready to shout to his friend once again, he looks out of the windshield and realizes where they were about to crash … into a gas station!.

"HEEEEEEEEEEELP!"

"SOMEONE HELP US!"

Blitzwolfer's keen senses pick up on the screams. "Don't worry! I'm on my—"

Just when he was about to leap into action, two heroes from across the street act first.

"Backdraft, put out the engine!" One of them shouts as he gets ready to slow the car down.

"You got it!" replies a firefighter with hoses as his hands as he sprays the front of the car with water.

The other then grabs and stops the vehicle completely, preventing it from hitting the station.

The driver immediately gets out and grabs one of his hands. "Thank you so much Death Arms!"

And the passenger immediately follows suit. "Yeah, you saved our lives!"

"It is all in a day's work." Death Arms replies. "Plus I wasn't alone…" as he gestures to Backdraft.

With one hose behind his neck, Backdraft says: "Don't look at me, I just sprayed some water over your engine."

"Fair enough." Death Arms replies and… "Now if you'll excuse us, we have to go back on our patrol."

"Of course, thank you very much once again." The passengers then leave the car behind and start moving to the streets.

The two heroes then wave back and go back to their patrol as well. All the while, a certain lone wolf watches this unfold…

"Oh…" He thinks as he closes back his mouth. "They are okay…"

Blitzwolfer then takes a look around from the high vantage point. "Guess I'll…go back."

He starts hopping between buildings again and all the while, he feels… dissatisfied.

"I'm glad that they are safe…" he thinks. "And, on top of that, I didn't have to expose myself…"

He looks at his hands, or more accurately, his claws.

"But then why can't I shake this feeling?"

He had an itch in his claws. He should have jumped, stopped the car with his howl and gotten away without being caught at anyone's cameras.

He had taken a risk and it shouldn't have turned out so…so... meaningless.

Blitzwolfer sighs… Perhaps there was someone else that could use the help. Someone else... that could use the help of alien heroes once more...

The more he thought about it the more he got into it.. Maybe it was the feral DNA or the nostalgia getting to him but… alongside it all, he was feeling kinda excited. You know, the good old days, where… the world wasn't at stake and… he still had…

He shakes his head. "Focus, you're on a time limit here."

"The hunt…" he says as his eyes glow green in the pitch black darkness at night. "is on!"

He stops dead in his tracks and looks down to the streets. A store robbery, a car chase, hell even the good old stealing of a purse would do to justify his transformation.

However, the streets seemed safe, everyone was just going on with their lives. So, he turned his eyes elsewhere and saw… the beach.

"Huff… puff…"pants a greenette as he grabs and tries to lift-up an old TV while burrowing into the sand. "C'mon Midoriya…Just a bit more…"

He had messy green hair, freckles and… just a plain-looking appearance complemented with a blue jumpsuit and red boots.

"There is only a week left… I must do more…" he thinks as he goes up the stairs and tosses it onto the pile outside. "

He swiftly runs back down the stairs, grabs a pair of old tires and puts them around his arms. He then starts walking back to the pile, but he shortly turns around. Biting his lip, he additionally grabs a thrown-away weight. "If I am to get into U.A… If I am to become a he—"

"You want some help with that?" someone asks with a feral and ferocious tone.

"AHHHHHHH!" Midoriya screams.

"Wait, stop! I'm sorry!" says the same voice, begging him to calm down.

Midoriya then turns around and sees the giant werewolf standing right before him.

"I saw you struggling with cleaning the beach." He says as he gestures to the beach with his hand. "Just thought maybe I could help out."

"O-oh, sorry, umm…" Midoriya says as he struggles to put a sentence together. From the appearance, this person must be a pro-hero.

"No sir, I'm fine like this Mr.…" Midoriya can say before realizing one important detail about this hero: He didn't know him at all! Not even his name!

"Uh…B-Blitzwolfer." the lone wolf replies while having a struggle of his own.

When it came to his old hero work, he never had to talk like this before. Some one-liners and gestures were usually enough for the people whom he was helping. He never held a conversation this… awkward.

In the meantime though, Midoriya was having his own episode about the situation. For the first time in a long time, he had no idea who this person was. Unless…

"Are you a new pro hero in the area, Blitzwolfer?" Midoriya asks curiously.

"Well…" And this question was even harder to answer, considering the circumstance. But thankfully, he wouldn't have to.

The Omnitrix dial on his chest starts to blink and a flash of green suddenly engulfs the area.

Midoriya shields his eyes and when it subsides, he gets to see another teenage boy that had roughly the same height as him.

"Not exactly a pro-hero…" Ben finishes his sentence from before.

Midoriya's expression goes blank for a second before everything clicks into place.

"That's… so awesome!" Midoriya says, with a spark in his eyes. "Was that your quirk?!"

"Yeah, it was…" Ben says as he looks at his human body again. With one hand behind his neck, he says: "Guess that 'helping you' plan is out of the window now, isn't it?"

Before Midoriya can answer though…

"Speaking on that, why DIDN'T you want my help?" He gestures to the trash and… "It all seems too much for one person to do."

"Yeah, it probably is…" Midoriya says as he looks at the edges. The stranger was probably right. After all, he had cleared more than All Might wanted him to. "But, it's important for me… I must become stronger."

"Oh?" Ben grunts, as he notices the conviction in the greenette's voice. "And why is that?"

"I-I, umm…" He doesn't know how to quite say this. People HAVE made fun of him for it before…

But that doesn't mean he can just hide it forever.

"I'm... going to take the entrance exam for U.A. in a week!" He answers, trying to channel all the bravery he had.

He then looks up at Ben, to gauge his reaction.

"Same here." Ben says with an optimistic smile. He lends his hand forward and…

"Tennyson Ben. What's your name?"

Midoriya is surprised. Honestly, he wasn't expecting another examinee to drop down from the sky tonight…

He then shakes his hand and introduces himself: "M-Midoriya Izuku. Nice to meet you, Tennyson." In his head, he considers the name once again, 'Tennyson?'

"By any chance, are you a foreigner Tennyson-san?"

Ben was expecting this, after all his name and accent weren't exactly the most subtle when it came to the Japanese norm. "Yeah, I arrived yesterday from America."

"Oh really, from which part?" Midoriya asks with his curiosity piqued.

"Just a small town called Bellwood. You probably haven't heard of it."

Ben was right, the greenette hadn't heard of it but for the sake of continuing the conversation... "Why did you come to Japan then, Tennyson-san? I thought that America also had really prestigious hero schools."

"Well, U.A. is the best school when it comes to heroics and I don't remember America having any high schools that All Might went to. I kinda…" he starts as he holds his arm with the Omnitrix. "…admire him."

Midoriya knows the feeling. He adopts a hopeful smile and says: "Y-Yeah, me too."

As Midoriya then crouches on the ground to pick up the tires from before, Ben has a weird feeling. Almost like he had to meet up with someone…

"Oh shi—" Ben says as he hits his head. "Midoriya-san, it was real nice to meet you, but I have to go help my mom with one last house. I guess I'll see you at the exams."

Midoriya raises his eyebrow. "One last house?"

"Well, since we arrived from America, we have to look for a place to stay."

"Oh." Midoriya says. "O-Our apartment has a place for sale..."

"Really?".

"Y-Yeah…" Midoriya says. "Watanabe-san moved out last year and it has been empty ever since... It's close to here if you want to check it out."

"We'll think about it. Thanks for the suggestion!" Ben says as he runs for the stairs and makes his way back to his mother.

After running like hell for what felt like forever, he managed to get back to the car. And just in front of it, stood his mother with a particularly irritated gaze. One that could easily burn a hole on his forehead if he continued to stay still for any longer.

He walks to the car and his mom immediately says: "This might be a new record Benjamin…"

Yep, he was sure in trouble if his mother was calling him by his full name.

"I'm really sorry mom…" he says as he opens the door of the car but…

"Where were you this whole time? I was sure that you would be back in 5 minutes, especially while not having a Mr. Smoothy around!"

"Ah, so there really was no Mr. Smoothy here in Japan…" Ben thinks as he gets inside.

After his mother gets inside too and as they close the doors…"I was coming back but I met someone who was also attending the exam next week."

He had gotten his mother's attention. "A friend?"

She then asks with a smirk: "Oh, were they a girl?"

"No, mom!" Ben yells in an embarrassed manner which is met by laughter on his mother's side.

"Okay okay, what was his name?" his mom asks.

"Izuku Midoriya."

"Well, what is he like?" She asks impatiently.

"Let's see, he was a fan of All Might, he seemed hardworking, nice and umm…"

He twiddles his thumbs but nothing else comes to his mind. "That's about it. We didn't talk too much anyway. I guess he was also stuttering a lot."

"That's nice." She says. "Sounds like a good friend…"

"Guess so…" Ben says as he starts looking out the car's window, specifically... at the rooftops.

"Am I really going to ignore that?" he asks himself. "SHOULD I really ignore that?"

He had the most powerful device in the universe, strapped to his wrist, but he was sidelined by two common heroes?

And on top of that, he spent the rest of his time basically doing nothing… Was this really how it was going to be for the next 3 years? Him just taking the crash course again while others deal with the REAL problems?

That's just…no… He can't stand by and—

"So this friend of yours… I forgot to ask but what did you talk about?"

"Huh…" Ben replies, snapping out of his thoughts. "Oh, you mean with Midoriya and yeah…" he rambles briefly.

Guess that makes sense, without him talking, his mother must have been feeling pretty alone in that silence.

"Nothing much." Ben replies. "I told him I came from America and we talked about U.A. a bit…Oh, and also he mentioned something about an empty apartment space in his building."

"What did you say?" His mom swiftly asks.

Ben could feel that she had something brewing inside her mind, but didn't think much of it.

"I said maybe we could check it out."

"Did you get the address?"

"No, but he said it was close by to the beach. We could come and look, it shouldn't take too long."

Little did he know, his relaxed attitude would have its consequences...

...consequences that would favor him.

Tomorrow, with his son in tow, Ben's mother would search and actually find the apartment Midoriya told them about. It was a nice 45 m2 apartment with a kitchen, two bedrooms and one bathroom, originally designed for 3 people.

The cost was a bit less than ideal since it was fully furnished but they could make do with it. Especially since Ben's time here wasn't permanent.

As they looked around and Ben played translator for his mother and the real estate agent, the young hero quickly realized that his mother had her guard down way too much compared to her usual attitude.

"What's going on, mom? You seem… uncharacteristically carefree."

"It's just… I think we found the one."

"Huh?.." Ben replies. This was his mother talking… The one that tended to drag him through all the clothing stores in a mall just to buy him a pair of jeans…How could she decide on their home for the next 3 years so easily?

"Uh… alright. I should have said: 'extremely carefree'." Ben quips to himself. He then asks out loud: "But why this one?"

His mother just sends him a glare and Ben's eyes widen as he realizes the mistake he just made. He had just broken the golden rule of shopping with your mom: 'If you want something to get bought, you don't question anything.'

"I-I mean I'm not complaining or anything but I want to know how you decided so quickly." Ben rambles.

"Oh come on sweetie. It's close to your school, it is… a bit more spacious than the other houses we went to and the best part is that you'll have a friend as a neighbour."

"Ah, so that's what this is all about..." Ben thinks.

"Back home, I know you didn't really have the best of luck with friends. Especially with what happened between you and J.T..."

"Yeah, I get what you mean. We didn't talk a lot but I can tell. Midoriya is nothing like J.T."

"Exactly and I just… don't want you to have a repeat, okay? Besides sounds like he could use some friends too."

"Yeah." Ben replies. It was always nice to see his mother care about and help others like that even without having a quirk. With a smile on his face, he says: "Thanks mom."

With a similar smile: "As long as you make the money that's going to go for this place and your school worth it..."

He chuckles and replies. "I'll give it my best."

"Great." she says and tells Ben to talk to the real estate agent. Yeah, they were going to buy.

At the end, he didn't want to quite show it, but he was nothing short of overjoyed that the house hunting finally came to an end. With the estate agent leaving to follow the standard procedure, Ben takes this time to open up the window and look at the view.

Granted it was just the usual street view, his gaze was stuck on something else. Something that was much further off into the distance...

His right hand slowly makes its way to the Omnitrix, not to transform but to hold it one more time. "We really are finally here, aren't we..."

He takes a deep breath and tries to calm his nerves. This was what he had trained for, for 8 months and he had gotten a lot better with the omnitrix but…

...that didn't mean the weight decreased in the slightest bit from his wrist.

"Only 1 week to go..." he thinks. One week that would blitz on by...

"Before the start of... my hero academia. "

Meanwhile, on the other side of the planet…

A light brown humanoid figure with black hands and feet runs across a hallway towards a metallic door, with a metallic grey and blue disk in his hands. His brain was seemingly exposed, and only a small mouth hole and a green eye covered his face.

Inside he gets greeted by a giant machine with a mirror-like screen and dark-colored support beams that were structured akin to a web.

He kneels before it and soon a taller and more imposing figure shows up on the screen before him. Unlike the figure from before, this humanoid creature was mostly white in color with black hands and feet, purple face and red eyes.

"You may speak to me, half-breed vermin..." the figure on the screen says with a deep and commanding tone.

"Gratitude master." The first figure lifts his head. "F-For months now, our sensors have been picking up a new and unique energy signature from this planet."

"I have information of interest. Two of our agents from the area called Japan, have conducted an experiment by simulating the crash o…"

"I HAVE no interest in your full report..." the opposing figure says, uninterested by his explanation.

"Absolutely master. My apologies." He says as he bows before the screen. "We have finally found the source of it." He takes out the disk and pushes on the button on the side.

A hologram appears with Ben slamming down the Omnitrix and turning into Blitzwolfer in that alleyway.

"Our suspicions were true master, the legendary Ben Tennyson has wielded the Omnitrix once more… And is currently on active duty."

"Hmm..." The imposing figure says, clearly irritated by this recent development.

"Then let this be the final time he troubles us…"

The master points to him and says: "Proceed with informing the other pests…"

He puts his hands together and hardens his glare. "…and carry on with the plan as scheduled. "

Chapter Text

It was the morning of February 26th in Japan. The sun was shining, the birds were singing and no villains were attacking. It was truly a peaceful day...

...If you weren't in the Tennyson household that is.

"BEN... TIME TO WAKE UP!" Ben's mother yells from the kitchen. "YOU'RE GOING TO BE LATE!"

The star of the show however, can barely open his eyes. And even then, the sunlight dazzles him immediately. He rubs his eyes and does his best to get up from the bed. "I'm coming!"

As soon as he's on his feet, he can feel his eyes closing, begging for more sleep."What time is it anyway?" he thinks as he reaches over to his phone. "7.30? Why would she get up at…"

It all clicks into place. His eyes shoot open and he immediately sprints to the bathroom. Today was the exam day.

He washes his face, and then runs back into his room to get dressed. With his prepared backpack, he storms over to the kitchen and sits down at the table. An all american breakfast greets him as his mother slides one last bacon onto Ben's plate and takes her place across him.

"I didn't want you to be too full before the exam, so I only made eggs and bacon today. I did put a sandwich or two in your backpack though in case you get hungry."

"Uh-huh..." Ben grunts as he shoves a piece of bacon into his mouth.

"Don't miss any questions from the written exam, Ben. Remember that, you can still get points if you manage to write something, anything, down. "

"Mom." Ben says with an amused smile. "The exam is multiple choice."

"Oh…" She pauses and tries to get her thoughts back in order. "Well, then don't forget to guess whenever you don't know. You could always guess right and gain more points."

Her eyes fidget around and land on her son's backpack. "Are you sure you packed everything? Clothes for the practical, pencil case… Oh! Did you make sure to sharpen your pencils?"

"Relax mom. I got it." Ben interrupts her. "I won't let those 8 months go to waste."

He pulls back his sleeve. "And I have a good feeling about the practical."

Upon seeing the watch however, his mother turns her head. "Ben..."

He sees the concern in her face. As she puts her hand over her view of the watch, she says: "I don't…"

She can't complete her sentence. "Just be careful in the practical."

Ben rolls his sleeve back up. He knew that look. "Yeah, I will."

"Now finish your breakfast, you still have to go to school young man."

Ben checks his phone. It was 7:45. "Oh god..." He thinks as he starts blitzing through his breakfast.

"Not too fast Ben, you'll get a stomach ache!"

"I'm going out, mom!"

"You sure you don't want me to drive you there?" She asks.

Ben checks the time again, 8 right on the dot. "No mom, I think I can make it on my own."

"Alright, good luck." his mother says but she does give something to Ben.

He opens his hand. "Chocolate?"

"I heard it improves concentration before exams. Make sure to eat it at 8:30."

Ben laughs, he had never heard of something like that before. "I'll make sure of it. See you tonight."

"Bye!". She then waves after his son as he makes his way to the stairs.

"Alright Tennyson, you got 1 hour. You must not miss that train." He thinks as he runs down. "Oh! Actually, note to self, start looking for a new bike as soon as you get home."

As he reaches the ground floor, he sees another figure making a move towards the stairs. "Hey Midoriya!"

Midoriya almost jumps at the sudden greeting. "Oh.., I-It's just you Tennyson. Sorry for my reaction."

"It's cool." He waits for Midoriya to make his way down. "Didn't get a good night's sleep, I'm guessing."

With a slight sleepy expression, he says: "Something like that. Is it that obvious?"

"With that jungle of a hair you always have? Barely." he says as he grins at his own joke and Midoriya does the same.

"Come on, we'll miss the train." Ben says, gesturing to him to follow.

"Right!" And the pair run towards the station with all their might.

To their luck, they manage to make it with some time to spare. The two pause at the gates though. They need to take in the fact that… well… they were here.

"Well… this IS it… You nervous?" Ben says as he adjusts his backpack. However, when he takes a glance at his friend, he sees that Midoriya was, in fact, nervous. "Oh wow."

"W-wh-what?" Midoriya replies as he also gets a grip on his backpack.

"You're shivering like it is 30 degrees out here." Guess standing in front of the gates was different than talking about them on the way.

Midoriya then looks at his own trembling legs. "Y-yeah sorry, I just c-can't believe..."

"That it's finally here?" Ben completes his sentence. "Relax Midoriya, you told me you've been working for this for 10 whole months, and from what I saw, I'm sure you'll do great."

"I-I hope so..." Midoriya replies, still not fully convinced.

Ben thinks for a second: "Come on, don't you remember pushing that van up the stairs?"

"HAAAAAAAAA!" Midoriya screams out as he continues to push from the back of the open van.

"Are you sure that you still don't want any help?" Ben asks, while he continues to sit on a fridge and watch his friend endure hell. He had his aliens to do the literal heavy lifting for him so watching a human try to do this just hurt to watch.

"We must let him do this on his own young Tennyson." said a man that looked like a skeleton with skin. He had blonde hair and blue eyes but for some reason his sclera were colored black instead of the usual white. He was also right beside him and was watching Midoriya struggle. "Otherwise, he can't improve now, can he?"

"I know that but… sigh… It's always annoying to just be on stand by and watch." Ben says as he gestures to Midoriya. "Even in anime, how can people just stand still while there is someone clearly in need of help?!" Now that he knew Japanese, you could say that he was putting it to good use.

"That's good!" Toshinori says as he points to his heart. "It shows that you can't stand to see people struggling, you want to help them in whatever way you can. And THAT, makes for a great heroic spirit."

Ben beams. "Wow, um, thanks Mr. Toshinori."

"Don't mention it." Toshinori replies as Midoriya once again drops to the ground, panting from exhaustion.

"Okay young Midoriya, let's take a small break!"

"N-No! I- I can still do this!" Midoriya says as he gets up and exerts one last effort to push the van.

"That's enough, young Midoriya..." He pauses mid-sentence as he gets off the fridge and starts walking over to him, however he was about to see something most unexpected.

"I WON'T GIVE UUUUP!" Midoriya cries out as the van starts to budge from its original spot and moves a bit. "Huff...puff..." he breathes heavily right before collapsing to the ground.

"Midoriya!" The two rush to his side and while they check to see if he's okay, something else catches Ben's eye.

"Toshinori." he says.

"What is it, young Tennyson?.." as he follows his gaze and sees the back of the van.

It was filled with all kinds of trash that the greenette could get his hands on but not too filled that would make the pile visible.

Toshinori puts his hand over his face and shakes his head. "I really wish he would learn to not overdo it sometimes..."

"I think it's good..." Ben says which earns him a questioning glare from the blonde skeleton. "Not him passing out of course. But… I think it shows how much he cares about it all, you know… Becoming a hero." Ben adds. "You were the one that told me how much of a go getter he was."

Toshinori faintly smiles and thinks: "You're telling me..."

"Well, you got it outside the beach sooner or later at least..." Ben says as he tries to make the best of a situation. "Now c'mon!" he says as he walks through the gates and right at the three main doors.

Midoriya follows him shortly, but as he once again catches up to his friend…

"Yeah, I did… I know I did but, I-I don't know. U.A has one of the toughest entrance exams out there and I-I don't know if pushing a van will be enough." Midoriya says melancholically.

"Well, to be honest, I'm also very stressed about this.. That written part… I don't know if I can pass that." Ben then lifts his hands and says "But a bit of confidence can also go a long way, especially when it is backed up by hard work."

Midoriya lifts his head from the ground and says: "That sound...p-pretty reassuring."

"It should. It's what my grandpa used to say after all." Ben says with a faint smile.

As only one half of the walkway remained, someone came from behind them and had his shoulder hit Midoriya's.

"Outta my way, Deku!" he says as he continues to walk to the entrance.

The person in question had ash-blond spiky hair with a pair of bright red eyes to match it. He had also been wearing black clothes, similar to Midoriya.

"Hey!" Ben yells after him, only for the examinee to turn his gaze back to meet Ben's. His gaze was fierce and full of aggression, surprising Ben that even someone like him could apply for a HERO course.

"M-Morning Kacchan, l-let's do our best o-on this exam!" Midoriya rambles, trying his best to break the tension as he clearly looks scared of the ash-blond.

"Hmph!" Kacchan grunts as he turns around and continues on his way.

"Kacchan?" Ben asks Midoriya.

"H-He is my umm...friend, Bakugo. We go way back…"

Ben raises an eyebrow. "He doesn't seem like a friend."

"He plays a bit rough but, j-just believe that he has a good heart."

Unfortunately for Midoriya, Ben knew exactly what "playing rough" meant and wasn't about to let this go. "Let me guess, he is your bully?"

Midoriya stays silent, only confirming Ben's suspicions.

Ben sighs..."Look Midoriya, you don't have to take anything from him." "If I learnt anything from middle school, it's that guys like him don't have much going up here..." He points towards his head "...other than satisfying their large ego."

Midoriya looks at Bakugo and then back to Ben. "I-I… don't think you've met Kacchan, Tennyson."

"I guess we'll see." Ben says as he crosses his arms and puts on a stern expression. However, with a day as important as this, that expression doesn't last.

"Anyway, I think I need to head up to the transfer student area. So, see you at the practical exam orientation." Ben cheerfully says.

"O-okay. Good luck Tennyson!"

"You too, Midoriya!"

And the two friends part ways for the time being. Midoriya looks up at the entrance one more time. He shakes his head and hits his cheeks. "Focus, Midoriya. Remember what Tennyson said about confidence, remember the past 10 months!"

He puts on a confident smirk. "You are ready. Now take the first step..."

He takes one step closer to the entrance of the school, without Ben to stand by his side...

"...to being a hero!"

Only to trip up and start falling face first into the pavement. "This is it!" he thinks as his gaze is stuck on the door but his face is about to meet the ground.

But suddenly, he stops falling…

"Are you alright?" says a girl as she holds onto his backpack, preventing him from falling. Midoriya panics for a second. He was literally floating mid-air with a few inches between his face and the floor for crying out loud. The girl drags him back up and then presses her fingers against each other.

With a sheepish smile, she says: "It's my quirk. Sorry for using it without asking first." She then tilts her head. "But it'd be bad luck if you fell, right?"

"Just how big is this school?!" Ben thinks as he sprints around the building. He could swear that it looked smaller from the outside. The hallways were big, the doors were big and even the names of the classes were written big. Back in his middle school, the school seemed like it was trying to make use of every corner it had whereas U.A. felt like it was exploding with land. "So this is an elite school…"

In the midst of his internal monologuing, he had arrived. The exam area for American transfer students: Class 2-A.

"9:00 am for entry, huh…" To check the time, he instinctively looks at his left wrist… which now had the Omnitrix.

"Classic..." He thinks before taking out his phone from his pocket and checking the time there instead. 8.50 am. The exam was close but he still had a bit of time.

He sits down at one of the chairs set up next to the door and starts surfing the internet through his phone. Ben wasn't lying to Midoriya, even with Gwen's help, he wasn't sure whether he really had what it takes to pass. So he really needed to relax before going in.

To his "surprise" however, all that the country was talking about was the entrance exam. "Thanks for literally nothing, internet."

He puts his phone away and just settles for looking around and going over some formulas that he memorized, just in case. Those angular momentums and the simple pendulums weren't exactly… memorable.

As he was counting them down, a high-pitched feminine voice interrupts his thinking.

"Hi!" she says in English before sitting down next to Ben. "It didn't start yet, right?"

The girl now sitting beside him was short, had long blonde hair with two horns coming out from her head and big blue pupils. She also seemed to have a slender figure and hooves instead of feet.

"Oh no, not yet. It shouldn't have at least..." he says as he brings out his phone again. 8:56 am. "Yeah, we still have 4 minutes."

"Oh good." She replies in a relieved manner. "I really thought I was going to miss it."

"Heh, well, you didn't." Ben adds.

"I know right!" The girl continues with an upbeat tone.

"My name is Ben by the way, Ben Tennyson. What's yours?"

"Uh… Tsunot...no...Pony. Pony Tsunotori."

Ben catches Pony's brief pause and says: "Still struggling with the name & surname placement?"

"Yeah, to be honest it still feels a bit weird to switch between English and Japanese."

"Tell me about it… I still forget how to form some phrases."

"Then I hope they don't ask a lot of phrases!" She says with a humorous optimistic smile.

Ben liked her attitude and even though this was UA and they wouldn't send any easy questions their way, he wasn't about to bring Pony's mood down.

"Ha ha-Yeah, let's both pass this." Ben says as he palms his fist. "After all, us Americans have to stick together."

"Yeah!" Pony replies, as she mimics Ben's action.

"If both of you are finished..." a dead Japanese voice says from the door. "You have 30 seconds to take your seats..."

If the zipper of the sleeping bag was any less visible, Ben would say that a yellow caterpillar just talked to them. But before he could get a better look at the individual, Pony rushed inside so he opted to follow her.

"Let's hope the exam isn't too bad..."

"And that's it students! Pencils down and pass the tests forward." The teacher in the sleeping bag tells them as an alarm rings within the classroom.

Pony puts the exam aside and says:"Umm, Mr. Aizawa, right? There are only two of us here."

"Oh yeah…" Aizawa sleepily replies. "Then wait there, I will be right there to collect the papers myself." he says as he ditches the sleeping bag.

Out of it came a tall pale-skinned man with messy black hair. He also had black eyes but the thing that took Pony's attention were the bags under those eyes. Along with the unkempt facial hair, it was obvious that he wasn't getting enough sleep.

But Pony had bigger things to worry about right now. Did it really go well? She was shaking in her seat with anticipation. How was Ben doing?

As Aizawa collects her papers, she leans over to Ben and sees his head on the table, sleeping to his heart's content.

"Tennyson!" Aizawa raises his voice with a strict tone, which promptly wakes Ben up. "The exam is over!"

As he walks over to his desk to collect the exam, Aizawa eyes up this American transfer student with a stern glare and Ben notices it.

He had been on this side of the glare before and he had a real good idea of what it meant. But there was something else to it, curiosity maybe?

Aizawa then turns around and says: "The orientation for the practical exam is in 10 minutes. If I were you, I wouldn't be late."

Even though he was turned around, Ben could tell that the message was directed at him.

"So, can we leave?" Pony asks with an innocent expression.

"Yes, you can..." and as soon as the words escape from Aizawa's mouth, Pony rushes outside with her bag in her hand.

"Wow..." Ben utters. "Guess she really took your words to heart huh..."

"I doubt that, she's probably going to the bathroom. After 3 hours of constant stress, that speed is understandable."

Ben briefly looks back at the door before turning back to Aizawa and asks: "How could you tell?"

"She went left after exiting the room, didn't she? The stairs for the orientation are on the right."

"Oh..." Ben replies. That was… surprising. Throughout the entire test, he always felt like putting someone this sleepy to oversee the exam was just cruel. He wasn't dozing off or anything but it really felt like only the coffee he took this morning was holding him up and he used the term "holding up" loosely. Guess he was paying attention...

Anyway, he cleans up his pencils, water bottle, etc and manages to catch Aizawa before he leaves.

"Ummm...I wanted to say I'm… sorry for sleeping in the exam." Ben says with one of his hands on the back of his neck. "I was just… really tired from last night and—"

Aizawa lifts up one eyebrow and cuts him off: "Could you fill in all your answers?"

"...Yeah." Ben says, semi-unsure since everything from the exam was already starting to blur together.

"Then there shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"Yes..." Ben replies. He was just instinctively adapting to the intense aura of Aizawa at this point.

"But you better work on keeping your head up, if you really want to enroll here."

"Yes... Aizawa-sensei, I'll try my best."

"It's san, not sensei. You aren't a student here yet."

"Yes, sorry, Aizawa-san..."

With that little exchange, Aizawa just walks away with his sleeping bag on one hand and the exams on the other.

Ben then goes the other way, thirsty from just waking up. "I could really go for a smoothie right now..." He thinks as he descends the stairs.

He arrives at a big, well lit auditorium with many seats surrounding three big screens and basically a whole podium for the presenter. However a lot of the seats had already been taken. He looks around to spot Midoriya, he does… but he sees that nevermind the seats around his friend, the entire middle section has already been filled up.

"Then how about..." he thinks as he tries to spot Pony instead but sees that she hasn't made it here yet. "Guess, I'll have to choose myself."

He makes his way to the right side of the room and finds a seat next to another student. He asks "Can I sit here?"

The girl dismissively replies with: "Knock yourself out."

Ben takes his seat and sets his bag between his legs. He looks at the presenter coming onto the stage. Apparently the orientation was about to start.

"For all you examinee listeners tuning in, I am Present Mic and welcome to my show today!" a booming voice calls out to the room. "Everybody say 'Hey'!"

"Yep… I know I won't be sleeping during this one..." Ben sweat drops. The owner of the voice was a tall slim man with long blonde hair, a mostly black outfit, orange sunglasses but more importantly a stereo-like equipment around his neck.

He then looks over to Midoriya, sees him internally screeching and then turns his own attention back to the presentation. "He is a pro hero as well then..."

"What a refined response." the presenter replies, breaking the silence that fell upon the room ever since he last spoke. "Then I'll quickly present to you the rundown on the practical exam!"

"A 10-minute battle with 3 kinds of robots, huh…" Ben thinks as Present Mic continues to give the details. "It's almost like this was designed for me."

"Too bad I lost Upgrade to the reboot though… Let me see who would be best for this..." He thinks as he lowers his hand under the desk in front of him and hits the rims of the Omnitrix again. The dial immediately pushes back up and even though it is a bit hard to see, he starts to cycle through.

"Hey…" someone whispers as a slender hand taps on his shoulder. "Can you turn the brightness down on that?"

Ben immediately springs back up, it was the girl that was sitting next to him, guess he couldn't cover Omnitrix's green glow all that well.

"Sorry, I was…um. I was strategizing."

"Uh-huh..." The girl says as her eyes drift down to his wrist. "Cool watch by the way."

Ben nervously covers it up and says: "Thanks."

Before this awkward conversation can go on any further though, someone from the center of the auditorium pipes up. "May I ask a question?"

A light turns on above the examinee with the question and with permission from Present Mic, he says: "On the printout, there are four types of villains instead of three. If that is a misprint, then U.A., the most prominent school in Japan, should be ashamed of that foolish mistake!.."

"Okay , any chance for you to calm down?.." Ben mutters, which does garner a small nose exhale from the girl sitting next to him. "That was meant to be inside my head."

The kid continues.

"We examinees are here in this place because we wish to be molded into exemplary heroes."

"In addition!" He continues with no intent to stop. "You over there with the curly hair! You have been muttering this whole time. It's distracting! If you're here on a pleasure trip, then you should leave immediately." He says as he calls out Midoriya.

"Oh come on!" Ben thinks as his head falls into his hands. "Do you really need to do that?" He looks over to the now embarrassed Midoriya, covering his mouth and feels bad for him.

Ben turns his gaze to the examinee with glasses. "Please let me be in the same group as him..."

He then continues to listen to the rest of the orientation.

"So he's strict and lucky. That's rare."

After a decently long bus drive, Ben had arrived at his practical exam course: Battle Center J. He had also changed his outfit from a more proper uniform to a black t-shirt and jeans. "And can someone please tell me how much money this school makes?"

He stares at the giant gate standing before him. It would be tiny compared to Waybig for sure, but nothing else he ever turned into would come close to it, not to mention the whole fake city behind it. And to think there were 7 of these throughout the school grounds...

It wasn't looking like it before but U.A. had finally gotten his attention.

"Hey..." someone says from his side. It was the girl he sat next to during the orientation. "Good luck." She says nonchalantly.

"You too!" Ben replies with confidence in his voice.

He then activates the Omnitrix again. Despite being cut short in his thinking during the orientation, he already had an idea on who he wanted to try. He sets the dial, and then starts to stretch.

After the 3 hour long written exam and the orientation, he just needed to stretch those muscles if he was going to move around as much as he was thinking.

He then looks over to the girl. The alien hero hadn't gotten a good look at her during the orientation, mostly because he didn't want to stare so obviously. From what he could see now, she was pretty slim, fair-skinned, had short dark-purple hair and black eyes. But the thing that really caught his attention this time was the girl's earlobe. It was very strangely designed, it seemed like… an earphone jack?

However, what he failed to notice was that he was only seeing one of those earphone jacks. Suddenly, a burst of vibrations sprung up from his leg and spread to his entire body but it didn't last long.

"Sorry if that was a bit extreme, but I don't really like being stared at." the girl said unexpressively as she retracted her second earphone jack back from Ben's leg.

"You… could have… told me so." Ben says, still feeling a bit of the aftershock. "I'm Tennyson Ben by the way."

"Jiro Kyoka." She swiftly replies.

Ben points to her earphone jacks and says: "I'm guessing that is your quirk?"

"Yeah." Jiro says as she grabs the one on her left. "I'm guessing THAT is your quirk." Jiro then replies as she points to the Omnitrix on Ben's arm with an alien's hologram already present. "Is it a transformation quirk?"

"Yeah, it allows me to—"

"OKAY, START!" Present Mic suddenly shouts from afar!

"What's wrong?" Present Mic calls out. "There are no—"

He tries to continue but the boy in black and blue sprints forward, jumps into the air and hits the green dial on his wrist.

Just like the green flash enveloping the area, Ben's appearance also changes in a flash.

He suddenly grows in size and adopts a hulking appearance, with his arms and legs becoming more stubby and his fingers turning into blunt fangs.

A pure white short fur grows throughout his entire body, with orange armor-like plating also starting to spring up from his shoulders and completely covering his back. With black lines connecting the plating and the Omnitrix dial taking its proper place on his chest, his transformation is complete.

"CANNONBOLT!" he shouts, falls to the ground and rolls into action.

"What… was—?" Jiro says as her mind is blown. However she can't afford to waste time. She immediately follows after Ben and from what it sounded like, the rest of the examinees were also following after her.

It doesn't take long for some of them to either dash, jump, fly or even swing by her. "Show-offs…"

"They might have better mobility, but I've got the superior surveillance..." She thinks as she runs to an empty alleyway and plugs her earphone jacks to the ground. She closes her eyes, covers one of her ears and listens…

It was all barely in range but from what she could tell, a lot of shockwaves were bunched up in the center of the stage, probably because of the fighting that was taking place.

She could likely go there and snatch some points but she could also hear some other vibrations. They were really faint but they seemed to be moving to the center through the right side of the city. She would love to search the left as well but it was out of range.

She unplugs her earphone jacks and starts sprinting through the street. She jumps over a trash can and as she cuts the corner, a 2-point robot shows up right in front of her.

"Target acquired. I'll kill you!"

"Yeah, sure you will!" Jiro yells and immediately plugs one of her earphone jacks into the bot and disables it with a sonic attack.

She takes a deep breath. "That was… honestly a bit scary. But I can't afford to get hung up."

She then continues her run towards the right side.

"That makes 18, 19..."

She had arrived at the right edge of the city and the robots were now almost lining up in front of her. Maybe they were still deploying robots to the battle center…

"And that makes 20!" She yells as she's about to disable another robot.

However, an orange and black wrecking ball acts before her and smashes it to the side of the wall.

The ball unravels and the figure says "And that makes 45.". He then notices Jiro who seems pretty unhappy.

"Sorry, didn't mean to steal your kill there." Cannonbolt remarks.

"It is fine..." Jiro says with an irritated voice.

Cannonbolt scratches his head and says: "The fighting in the center is dying down, so everyone is spreading out to find more points."

He then nervously makes an offer, "If you want... I can give you a lift."

Jiro puts her hand on her chin and plugs one of her jacks into the ground.

From what she could tell, there were other participants coming closer to them, probably because they were also starting to search the edges and corners for points.

But what they weren't seeing, or more accurately hearing, was that the center wasn't exactly a ghost town. A good amount of the leftovers were on their way to the center and there were still some robots left in the main street corners.

"I think I'm goo—" Jiro can say before Present Mic interrupts her with his announcement.

"LESS THAN 5 MINUTES LEFT!"

Cannonbolt looks at his friend again.

"Yeah, maybe I'll take that lift—" Jiro says before being encased within Cannonbolt.

Inside, she can barely see anything, only hear the sound of the rolling, it's almost like driving a car in pure darkness. But there is something unique to travelling by Cannonbolt...

"Eww… Do you have any idea what it smells like in here?"

"Blame the form..." Cannonbolt replies.

She then notices the sound of sudden impacts coming every now and then. "By the way, what are these shockwaves?"

"We are...taking a detour… through the buildings."

"As long as it gets me there faster." Jiro thinks right before her alien ride stops in his tracks.

"We're here." he says as he unravels again. Jiro has to take a second to get her balance back.

With robot parts pilling up on the ground and the walls over every visible structure being damaged, the center had become a warzone. There were still some participants batting robots but there were substantially less people from both parties.

"You said your score was 45, right?"

"47… Yeah, two of those shockwaves weren't from walls..." Cannonbolt cheekily remarks.

"Real original..."

"Okay okay, fair enough. I guess I can go easy for the rest of this." Cannonbolt says before rolling off to another robot in his sights.

And before long, Jiro gets her own share of action too. One 3-pointer robot and one 1-pointer coming right at her. She takes a deep breath…

"I will not fail. I will get into this school."

"Well well, they are a promising bunch, aren't they?" Present Mic says as he leans back on his chair.

"Surveillance, mobility, discernment and combat… Seems like they did their homework before coming here." another teacher says, wearing a cowboy getup with an old-school gas mask. "These are all traits that heroes must have once they are facing the real deal. But they are not all that is to be a hero..."

"I agree, Snipe. Their true test is yet to come." another pro hero answers who looks like a block of cement.

The casing behind a red button opens and as he's about to press it, he turns to yet another pro hero. This one looked like a small mouse-like chimera with white fur and a suit.

The cement-looking hero asks: "Do I have your permission, Nezu?"

The chimera answers: "Yes, Cementoss. Give our young heroes a true challenge." And with that Cementoss hits the button.

"32..." Jiro exclaims as she has to sit down for a breather. All this moving around and exploding robots had depleted her stamina.

"53! You are falling behind, Jiro!" Cannonbolt exclaims as he goes by the exhausted Jiro.

Jiro scoffs."Yeah, well..." She says in between her panting. "I'm just... letting you w—"

Suddenly the whole city starts to shake and an explosion occurs not too far from where they were. Jiro tries to shield her eyes from the resulting dust, but in the process loses sight of Ben.

As the cloud disperses, Jiro notices the giant shadow now cast over her. She looks up and sees… the 0-pointer.

Towering above all of the participants with a height that exceeds the buildings, the 0-pointer looks down like it wants to choose its next victim. Jiro is petrified. "Isn't this too extreme?!"

The 0-pointer draws his fist back like a crossbow and sets its target to the ground.

Jiro gets up and starts to run back but the robot doesn't give her much of a chance. It punches the ground and the resulting shockwave and smoke cover the area. The ones closest to the robot were the most affected but Jiro was a bit further back.

However, this doesn't save her from being blown back and falling down.

The shockwave also breaks parts of the buildings and the debris starts to fall towards the street, the very same street that Jiro was standing on.

She tries to get back up and outrun it but it's no use.

As she closes her eyes out of fear, her remaining senses feel an impact on her side as if something covered her from her untimely demise.

"You okay?" Cannonbolt asks as he unravels and lays on his back.

They were now inside of a deserted building, with sunlight seeping into the room from the hole they came from.

"Yeah… Thanks."

"Don't mention it." Cannonbolt replies as he tries to get up but fails… "Can you help me now?" Cannonbolt cheekily asks which Jiro returns a disappointed glare.

She helps him up and Ben looks out of the hole. He sees the examinees running away from the giant mech, with none of them turning back to fight it.

He puts his claw on his chin and asks: "Jiro, can you check if anyone is stuck under the debris?"

"Uhh…yeah." She was still a bit stunned from that experience. "Let me check..." She says both of her earphone jacks plugged to the ground. She closes her eyes and tries her best to focus. "I don't think so but I can't tell… It's hard to properly listen with that thing stomping around."

Ben thinks for a second and says: "Can you check across the street as well then? I'll cover you."

Jiro walks over to Cannonbolt and first looks across the street, and then at the 0-pointer between them. "Do you really think sticking around is a good idea?"

"No, I don't. We should probably retreat like the others. But I have to make sure…"

He turns to Jiro and says: "Make sure that no one needs my help now."

She is taken aback by Ben's serious outlook. Where did he get this attitude from?

"Sure… I can check." she says.

"Thanks." He then rolls up and gets back on the street, facing the robot. He waves his hands and says: "Hey toaster! Over here!"

"You want someone to pick on? Try me!"

Almost like it heard Cannonbolt, the robot readies up another fist, this time with its left hand and punches but Cannonbolt rolls out of the way. "Strike 1!"

"Now!" Jiro yells in her head and rushes into the street. She runs as fast as she can and before she knows it, she's already on the other side. "Well, that was anticlimactic. Now then..."

She plugs her earphone jacks to the ground and listens. Suddenly the ground shakes a bit and some gravel falls from the ceiling. She can even hear Cannonbolt saying "Strike 2!"

"Can't you keep it down a bit, Tennyson? I'm trying to—"

Just then, she hears someone squirming. It is very faint. She gets up and plugs her earphone jack to the wall. Yeah, there is definitely someone up there.

She walks over to the way she came from to call Ben.

"Get back Jiro!" Cannonbolt yells out, sensing that she's coming towards him. "It's dangerous! I'll handle this one!"

"Welp, he's no help." She thinks and looks around to find a way up there. To her luck, she spots some stairs on the far left side of the building...which meant getting even closer to where the robot was…

"Let luck be on my side just this once..." she thinks as she runs up the stairs.

From the outside she can hear Present Mic's most recent announcement: "LESS THAN 2 MINUTES REMAINING!"

Meanwhile on the outside, Cannonbolt also hears the pro-hero's most recent announcement.

"Time to wrap this up..." he thinks.

"C'mon you bucket of bolts, punch the ground one more time..." He keeps his distance from the 0-pointer but still stays in range of his attacks.

And his wish comes true. Like he's trying to stomp a bug on the ground, the robot punches the ground yet again.

"Strike 3!" Cannonbolt arrogantly yells before rolling at his maximum speed to the robot's arm. Since he was sufficiently far away, the angle of the robot's arm wasn't quite as steep and allowed it to act as a ramp.

He rolls up, right towards the head of the bot. "I will not let you put people in danger any longer! Take this!"

"BATTER OUT!"

"Come on, come on… It's like a warzone out there..." Jiro thinks as she uses her earphone jacks to carefully break the rocks surrounding the participant.

"Is Tennyson really that stupid?! Taking on the 0-pointer by himself? Just what is he thinking? She rants in her head. "And why is he so serious? It's just an exam..."

She recalls Cannonbolt's attitude and starts to ponder, but as she's doing that the participant that she was saving raises his head and…

"Aha-haha-Yay, yay! "

With brief sparks of electricity and the dumbest expression, the examinee was doing a thumbs up with both of his hands which managed to get Jiro to chuckle...

"He-ha ha!-Guess HE really fried his brain, ha ha! Anyway, let's get you out..." she says as she helps the examinee up and get back to the street together.

As she gets out, her gaze then wanders off to find Ben. "Tennyson! Where are you?!"

"Ughhhhhhhh..." She gets a reply but it is very faded and is coming from… above?

"Wow..." Jiro utters as she sees the 0-pointer leaning back like it was headshot with a bullet hole-like crater on its face. She yells: "ARE YOU OKAY THERE TENNYSON?"

Right on cue, Cannonbolt falls from its crater back on the ground and uncurls up.

"How are you holding up? Those impacts gave you a concussion yet?"

"I'm beat..." Cannonbolt replies with his eyes starting to close.

Then suddenly, with a flash of green light, Cannonbolt leaves his place to Ben.

"TIME'S UP!" Present Mic shouts from afar, just before a siren confirms his statement. "THE PRACTICAL PORTION IS NOW OVER!"

Chapter Text

As the exam came to a close, people started to make their way to the center of the stage before leaving the exam area for good. There, they would notice the defeated 0-pointer and one sleeping Ben Tennyson.

"Dude, did you see that?!" One examinee from the center starts.

"Wait what happened?"

"BRO. You needed to be there! He just went up the 0-pointer's arm and crashed right into his face!"

"What the f—"

"I know right!"

"That's some transformation quirk!" as a third onlooker joins the conversation and glances at the sleeping Tennyson.

"So he already has a fan club going… Good for him I guess..." Jiro thinks as she sits down on one of the rubble piles, waiting for someone to come so that she could hand off the examinee.

"And what's wrong with you..." she thinks as she looks at the examinee with the dopey grin. She tries her best but she can't keep herself from laughing. "Ha ha-other than your face-ha ha!"

"Good work, good work..." an old lady says as she approaches the participants. "Here you go. Here are some gummies."

Her gaze then falls onto Ben who was sleeping inside the crater.

Jiro gets up with the examinee at hand. "He exhausted himself, Recovery Girl. I don't think he has any injuries though."

"Oh good. That means I don't have to do anything." She says with a satisfied grin. "What about him?" pointing to the blonde leaning on Jiro's shoulder.

"I have no clue." she exclaims. "He was like that when I found him."

"Then just in case..." Recovery Girl says and purses her lips.

"Kiiiiiiiss…!" and smooches the blonde examiner's forehead and all the while Jiro's snickering starts to break into laughter. However, the examinee does not return to normal and Recovery Girl sees this.

"Hmm… Then it's most likely a drawback of his quirk." She says and two robots with a stretcher immediately arrive on the scene. "He just needs some rest."

Jiro puts him down and manages to get a good look at him. He was tall, or at least taller than her and had golden eyes and hair to boot. There was also a streak of black hair within the gold that looked like a lightning bolt. Other than that, he also seemed a bit skinner compared to other examiners.

"Examinee identified: Denki Kaminari. Transport to infirmary: In-Process." The robots declared and slowly started moving to the infirmary.

"Thanks for looking out for him dearie." she then points to the building in which they came out from. "You really took a risk with the 0-pointer to do that, huh?"

"It was no problem, after all HE did the heavy-lifting." Jiro says as she points to Ben.

"Speaking of him..." Recovery Girl goes over and lightly smacks Ben in the face. "Hey, wake up."

"Huh?!" Ben springs up. "What did I miss?

"Nothing. But I can't have you sleeping in the middle of the school's battle center, young man."

"Oh..." Ben exclaims as he looks around. "Sorry about that..." he says as he lifts himself from the crater.

Recovery Girl goes back up and hands out some gummies before heading back. Jiro looks in her hand and sees the colorful jelly bears. "Thank you."

Ben gets up and, after stretching a bit, goes next to Jiro.

She asks: "You feeling okay?"

"Yeah, I've just been tired the whole morning, that's all…" Ben replies. After all, Cannonbolt didn't have that armor for nothing.

But he just wished that his stamina would get restored as well. "You just couldn't add that in, huh Azmuth?"

He looks at the watch again. "At least now, it works right..."

"Want some?" Jiro asks as she brings her hand forward with the gummy bears.

"Sure, thanks." He then picks up a red one and tosses it in his mouth.

The two then start walking back to the entrance of the battle center. "Sooooo… Was there even someone there?" Ben asks.

"Yeah actually." Jiro replies as she starts playing with her earlobe like it is a strand of hair. "His legs were stuck under some rubble or something so I got him out of there."

"Nice… I'm glad that it wasn't for nothing." Ben says in a reassured tone.

With that, Jiro's eyes widened. "Speaking of that, you want to tell me what came over you back there?"

Ben raises an eyebrow at that. "You mean Cannonbolt?"

"No, I'm not talking about your armadillo quirk or whatever. You were...just... acting so serious. Like this was life and death or something..."

"OH…" Ben exclaims. "Umm, about that…" Ben rambles as he tries to form an answer. "Sorry if I came off a bit harsh."

"Nah, it's cool." Jiro says as she scratches the back of her head. "I'm just glad to work with someone who can actually man up."

"Well..." Ben stretches again. "Glad that I could help..."

"You really better find some coffee before I find you sleeping in another crater." Jiro adds with a self-satisfied grin.

"Ha ha-" Ben sarcastically laughs.

But he does give credit where it is due. "But yeah, you're right. I knew I shouldn't have watched another Sumo Slammers episode..."

"Wasn't that made for children?" Jiro deadpans.

"No!" Ben remarks like a salty fan. "It can be enjoyed by kids but that doesn't mean it was made for them! And in the new series, Sumo Slammers Hero Generation, it has many adult themes! "

"Suuuuuuuure." Jiro says as she rolls his eyes while having a visible smile under all of it.

The two then make it to the bus and decide to hop on.

Ben then adjusts his voice and stretches his neck. "Anywho…" as he folds his hands behind his head. "I really hope both of us pass."

"Don't kid yourself Tennyson. You meant to say: 'I hope you pass.' and we both know it."

Ben gets ready to defend himself but as soon as he sees Jiro's satirical glare, he just stops. "Okay, you win..."

"Yeah, with 53 points, there is no way that you wouldn't pass. I'm just worried about myself."

"Oh come on, you got 32 points. You'll pass, we believe." Ben says assuredly.

"Thanks… I really hope you're right." Jiro says as the bus finally gets a move on with all the exhausted examinees inside.

Ben and Jiro had made it to the gates of UA, ready to part ways for now.

"Well, to meet again in the hero course." Ben says as he brings his fist forward.

Jiro looks at his fist. "To meet again in the hero course." she says with a faint smirk and fistbumps.

She then looks at the passing cars. "So, I'm going across the street from here."

"Oh, I'll go left but I'm waiting for a—" Ben utters as his gaze meets the greenette and sees him looking into oblivion. "...friend."

Despite not saying a word, the pair could easily guess what happened from that blank expression. As he passes by them, he continues to stay silent and immediately starts walking home. Both of them are left uneasy.

"He looks horrible..." Jiro remarks.

"Yeah... I better go after him, make sure he's okay."

"Okay..." she says as she pushes her hair aside. "I'll head out then. I hope he gets better.

"Uh-huh, thanks. I hope so too."

As she walks across the street, she waves "See you later, Tennyson!"

"See you!" Ben says as he waves back. "Now for the matter at hand..."

He then immediately turns left and runs after his friend. "What happened, Midoriya? You were fine during the orientation, so what did you do during the practical?" Ben wonders.

After catching up to the greenette, he taps on his shoulder and…

"Midoriya..."

Midoriya doesn't respond. "Midoriya..."

He still doesn't respond. "Midoriya!"

"Huh!" Midoriya blurts as he snaps back to reality.

"Are you doing alright?" Ben asks rather genuinely.

"O-Oh sorry! Yeah, I'm doing alright!" Midoriya replies with a jumpy attitude.

"Are you sure?"

"Y-Yeah, why w-wouldn't I be?"

"Call it a hunch..." Ben internally says as he stares at the fake expression on the greenette's face. "You just looked down, that's all..."

Midoriya doesn't follow up on that and neither does Ben. He didn't want to force a conversation if the other didn't want it.

Within silence that was only broken by the suburban life around them, the pair continue to walk home.

After waving goodbye at Midoriya, Ben exhaustedly goes up the stairs. "Why couldn't we have an elevator?.."

He opens the door and immediately starts taking off his shoes.

"Welcome back Ben! How did it go!?" his mother yells from the kitchen.

"It was good!" he yells back.

"How was the written part!?"

Before he answers, he comes into the room and instantly collapses onto the couch. With his face covered by the pillow, he answers: "It was fine too, I guess."

"I guess?!" Ben's mother asks rather aggressively. She didn't like it when you gave vague answers like 'I guess' or 'It was good'.

"Some questions were difficult."

"But you answered them, right?"

"Ugh..." He puts another pillow on top of his head. "Yeah, I did..."

"Good." she says satisfiedly. "How was the practical?"

"Crushed it with 53 points."

"What?!" Her mother angrily says. "You barely passed?!"

"No, it wasn't out of 100. We had to… "

"Then, how many points did Midoriya get?!" his mom cuts him off.

"UGHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Ben screams internally.

Trying his best to recompose himself, he says: "Mom, I'm really tired right now. Can't we talk about this later?"

She was still uneasy but…

"Sure..." His mother says as she goes back to cutting up some vegetables.

From what he could hear, and smell faintly through the pillow, it was another one of those "healthy meals" that his mom was fond of. "Yuck..."

As much as he was trying to go to sleep, his mind was still on Midoriya. "How many points DID his friend get?" He had no clue. Just what could make him upset like that?

He lifted his head from the pillow and rubbed his eyes. "Mom.."

"Yes sweetie?"

"Do you mind if I go out right now?"

"No, but be back by 7. I'm making your favorite for tonight."

"Okay." he says as he grabs his green jacket and puts on his shoes. "I might as well treat myself from that Burger Shack..."

He fell for his mother's "Your favorite" tricks one too many times to be tricked again. The golden rule was to always trust your nose first.

Ben walks out the door and quickly goes down the stairs.

Inside the Midoriya household, Midoriya's mother, Inko Midoriya, was trying her best to hold it down...

"The results should arrive in about a week, right?" She asks nervously.

"Yeah..." Midoriya answers with a monotone tone. His stare was locked to the coffee table and all he did was use a hand strengthener with his right hand while having his phone on the left…

"Jeez, I think it's amazing that you even applied to U.A.!"

"Yeah..." Midoriya says in that same monotone tone.

Her mother hesitantly leaves to go pickup the mail while Midoriya is left to his thoughts.

"What am I supposed to say..." he thinks. "What am I supposed to do..."

He places his phone on the coffee table and picks up a weight from the ground.

"All Might." He starts lifting the weight. "After you saw potential in me, I'm sorry I didn't live up to it..."

"But I did what I thought was right… Can that count for anything, by any chance?"

Just then, the door suddenly opens and a familiar figure with a green jacket enters the room.

"Tennyson? What are you doing here?"

"Hi Midoriya. Get dressed, we're going out." He then turns to Mrs. Midoriya. "If it is okay with you Midoriya-san."

"I think it is a wonderful idea." She replies as she brings her hands together in a relieved manner.

"Wait where?" Midoriya asks. He was still a bit perplexed from getting cut off from his thoughts.

"Outside. We might as well celebrate the end of that training from hell." He then asks: "Are you coming?"

Midoriya looks at his mother. Seeing as she seems happy by the prospect, he puts down the workout equipment and says: "I guess I am…"

"Great, I know just the place we can go..."

"Burger Shack?" Midoriya says as he reads the sign.

"Yeah." Ben then sees the blank look on Midoriya's face. "Wait...Don't tell me... You have never been here before?!"

"I am not really a huge fan of junk food..."

"Well, let me help your taste buds with a permanent revolution." as he opens the door and heads to the cashier. "I'll admit that the burgers are kinda average here but THIS!"

He points to one item in the menu above them. "THIS is an era-defining cuisine, an absolute delicacy!"

"May I take your order?" says the cashier with a dead tone in his voice, even kinda surprising Midoriya by the sudden intrusion. He had blue skin, tentacles instead of hands, a bald head but most distractingly a huge nose...

"Yeah, one large chilli fries with Cheese." Ben says with his mouth already watering. "You want some too?"

"No… I'm good." Midoriya hesitantly backs off.

"C'mon. It's already a 'sometimes food' Midoriya. You have to try it."

Midoriya was still on the fence though, the All-American Dream Plan wasn't so in favor of fast food joints and just because the exam passed didn't mean he should abandon the plan altogether...

However all of this gets ruined with Ben's next line: "It's my treat."

"Tennyson..." Now he feels like he has to order… "I'll have umm… no umm..."

"Are you planning on ordering today sir?" The cashier impatiently asks.

"Sorry umm... I'll have a medium chicken burger..."

"How original."

"And a medium soda." he adds.

"Daring today, aren't we?"

Midoriya feels kinda embarrassed but Ben quickly breaks the tension. "Oh, a medium soda for me too."

"Is that here or to go?"

Before Midoriya can say anything, Ben answers first: "To go..."

The cashier jolts it down to a notebook, rips the paper and hangs it before the small window. "One large chilli fries with extra cheese and a medium chicken burger to go!"

Midoriya throws a questioning look to Ben. "What's wrong with eating here?"

Ben sees it but doesn't reply. From across the counter, the pair hear the frycook going: "One cryin chicken and one set of flamin potatoes COMIN UP!" with a hyperactive and high pitched voice.

Perhaps in record time, their order was prepared and the duo left the restaurant with an entrancing smell coming from their paper bag.

Seeing as they had gotten a decent bit away from the restaurant, he asks: "So, Tennyson, why did we take this to go?"

"Well...We could eat our fast food at the restaurant, but I think I have someplace better in mind..."

He then points in front of them with his thumb.

Midoriya thinks: "In that direction, there is..."

"I was serious when I said we were going outside Midoriya. Plus I think the fresh air would do us a lot of good."

He was pointing to the beach… The very one that he cleaned up…

Ben goes ahead while Midoriya just looks at him from behind. Did he perhaps… choose the beach on purpose?

They arrive at the beach and sit down on the stairs.

Thoughts pass by Midoriya's head. "I… didn't expect to be back here so soon." He melancholically looks into the horizon. "Where I trained with the number 1 hero, All Might..."

Ben opens the bag. "Here is your burger."

"Oh, thanks." he says back as he gets rid of the wrapping.

He looks at the burger but his stare soon goes down to his muscles… To the very same muscles that he built up for One for All…

He exhales and wraps the burger again, putting it aside. "What am I doing here..."

"Now for the main course..." Ben says as he takes out the bag with the fries. And as the smell of the melting cheese made its way up his nose, Midoriya had to admit that it smelled good… but not good enough to distract him from his thoughts.

"I failed the exam, I failed All Might…"

"I didn't even get one point from the practical portion. So what was it all for?! Was it all to waste All Might's precious time!"

"And now…" he looks at Ben downing his portion of Chilli Fries. "Can I really just enjoy myself?"

"I knew something was wrong..."

Surprised by the interruption, Midoriya turns and sees Ben directly looking at him with his Chilli fries sitting on his lap.

"Seeing this place only got you more upset." Ben says as he tosses a fry into his mouth. "The exam didn't go well for you, did it?"

Midoriya turns his stare to the beach. He doesn't reply. He doesn't WANT to reply. But… "Yeah."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

He really doesn't… He didn't even tell his mom what happened.

But this feeling wasn't just going to go away… He knew… because he remembered…

11 years ago

"He's such a cool hero..." young Midoriya says, looking right at his monitor.

On it, there was his favorite video of All Might playing one more time…

Turning his chair to look at his mom, he points to the screen and asks: "Can I… be a hero too?"

The sorrowful answer of his mother after that... Apologizing to the best she can, trying her best to make him feel better. But the despair he felt then… never faded away.

But, maybe talking about it, taking the chance that was sitting right beside him, would make a difference… After all, what did he have to lose?

"I..." he starts. "I..."

He looks at the ground. It was high time to bite the bullet. "I got 0 points… from the practical exam..."

Ben's eyes widened but he was clearly trying to not give too much away from his shock.

"Why? What happened?" he asks.

Midoriya bites his lip but persists in sticking to his guns. "I-I don't know. When the exam began, I was so nervous. Seeing those robots up front… I just… froze."

Midoriya then looks to check Ben's reaction but he doesn't say anything. He was just listening.

"Other examinees were running, g-getting points. Time was counting down but all I could do w-was watch."

Midoriya squeezes his fists. "T-Then came the 0-pointer..."

This part was awful. Not because he regretted what he did but because of what he didn't do...

He was almost reliving it and from his face, Ben probably picked up that for himself. However, Ben's expression wasn't changing even slightly.

He starts with: "It was so tall, so powerful…" and refuses to stop. After all, this was the final stretch.

"I was supposed to run..." he admits. "But I didn't... I chose... to rush in."

Ben raises his eyebrows, probably out of curiosity to see where this is going.

"There was this nice person stuck under some debris…I jumped up and..."

He looks at his right hand and: "..smashed the robot."

"You did what?!" Ben says with a surprised tone in his voice . "Midoriya had that kind of power under his belt?!"

"I destroyed its head but…"

Midoriya makes his hand into a fist and sorrowfully looks at it. "You see Tennyson...every time I use my quirk… my bones break."

"And after jumping that high..."

Midoriya's friend connects the dots and realizes what kind of mortal danger his friend was in. "Oh no...Then how did you..."

"The nice person used her quirk to save me and then… the time was up."Midoriya quickly eased his worries.

As soon as he finished, both sides had nothing to say. Ben had his hand on his chin, probably thinking about what he could, what he should say in this situation. "Midoriya, I..." he starts but can't finish it.

"A 0 from the practical?.." Ben thinks. "What could I even say to that..." He couldn't just say: "There are other schools out there." Like he was his mother or something.

Lost for words, he looks over to his friend.

Midoriya was clearly torn up but, at least to Ben, he did seem… a bit relieved. "I guess… talking about your failures does help..."

He instinctively grabs the watch with worry but also lets it go pretty swiftly. "I have to help Midoriya's situation first..."

Ben crosses his arms, trying to think of something that would cheer Midoriya up. That's when he sees his answer…

"Midoriya… You destroyed that robot's head, right?"

Midoriya… wasn't expecting that. He is surprised that Ben would still ask about that but he answers nevertheless. "More like, I crushed it, but yeah..."

"Well." Ben says as he throws some more fries in his mouth. "So did I. Personally, I smashed its head but still, disabled the robot."

"I have no doubt that you could do it Tennyson. Your werewolf quirk is amazing."

That was the line that Ben was waiting for.

"Who said I was a werewolf?" and pushes down on the rims, revealing the hologram on his watch.

Taking a huge breath, he says:"I never told you about my quirk, did I?" and cycles through them, giving brief glances to Midoriya.

In the meantime, the greenette was super confused. Who were all these holograms? How did his watch make these holograms?

Everything clicks together, when he sees a familiar wolf in the selection...

"What?!" The person in question immediately got mesmerized. "But you transformed into… You have more than one transformation?"

"Ten to be exact, but yes."

"TEN?!" Midoriya made a move towards the Omnitrix. "May I?"

"Suit yourself."

Midoriya turned the faceplate and marvelled at the aliens that were before him. All the while, Ben sported a very satisfied smile. "He was pretty psyched when he saw one of my forms, so, might as well give him a sneak peak."

Midoriya raises his head to Ben, takes a deep breath and...

"What is your quirk?What is itcalled?How doesitwork?Istherealimiter?ohatimeoutthatmakessensebuthowlongareyoutransformedfordoyourparentsalsohavedifferentforms..."

"Uh..." Ben's brain freezes. "Maybe I should have started a bit lighter, like saying I had two forms or something..."

"Uh, Midoriya?" He waves his hand, trying to snap the greenette from his intense muttering. When he gets his attention, Ben says: "One at a time?" quippingly.

"Oh s-sorry." Midoriya says as he puts his hands over his mouth. "I-I'm just really into other quirks. It's a hobby of mine to learn about them."

"I can tell." He sees the anxious greenette continuing to sit next to him with his eyes still on that device. "Now what…"

"Well…" he scratches the back of his head. This was the hard part.

Back home, he, Gwen and Grandpa Max had put their heads together for a cover for the Omnitrix.

Since they barely knew how the watch worked anymore with it deciding to reset his aliens after getting put back on and all, they couldn't make it that elaborate. It was made to utilize their past knowledge but most importantly be flexible when needed.

But the idea of testing it with, practically a Quirk enthusiast, was less than ideal...

"It's called... Omni Gen and it allows me to go into one of those forms that you saw.

Like he forgot to add, he says: "But it's only for around 10 minutes. After that, I have to recharge before I do another transformation."

"But the drawbacks don't end there..." He then points to his wrist. "This watch here is a support item I need to be able to choose my transformation. Otherwise, I can't really control what I turn into".

"Yeah Ben, that was a great addition. The watch TOTALLY doesn't do all the work..." He quips to himself inside his head.

Thankfully the Omnitrix did not come off from him, because he really wasn't looking forward to seeing someone test that theory.

"And… that's most likely it… Yeah."

"That's an insane quirk Tennyson. And that wolf was one of them?"

"Yep, I call him Blitzwolfer."

With his eyes beaming with light, Midoriya asks: "Can you transform into something else?"

"I...could." He then looks at his watch where the holograms were still visible. To be honest, he didn't like to transform when it wasn't necessary, it didn't make him… comfortable.

At least not anymore...

But, he could let it slide just this once… for his friend. Ben starts turning the dial and he soon gets an idea.

"You know what?" He brings his wrist forward. "You choose."

"What?"

"You choose." Ben says nonchalantly. "Pick whichever one you want."

"O-Okay." Midoriya says as he scrolls one more time and really starts looking into each figure. "Which one, which one..." He was surely not going to pick Blitzwolfer so…

After landing at a new one, he says: "This one."

"Final answer?"

Midoriya looks at his choice again and nervously says: "Final answer."

Ben gets up and walks over to the beach and slams down the dial.

His skin turns black and a red armor-like suit starts to form over it, completely encasing him. On his hands, portholes appear on the palms and he is left with 4 fingers that now resemble claws. The grey part in his lower body gets concentrated into black and with the dial on his chest, he yells out: "WATER HAZARD!"

Hearing the yell, some people do turn their heads to see him and Ben does wave back. "Hi there… First time with the name shouting, I'm guessing..."

Midoriya stands up and runs next to his friend. "Wow, it's even cooler in person, Tennyson."

"Tennyson?" He moves his finger from side to side. "Nu uh, call me by my hero name now." he flexes his muscles.

"Oh, i-if you say so, Water Hazard."

"Thanks."

Midoriya impatiently starts to fidget around the alien, trying to catch every little detail. "So, this guy does...?"

"Exactly what you're thinking, probably." Ben attempts to complete Midoriya's sentence and puts his hands forward. Ice-cold water immediately shoots out from his palms and completely skips over the sand, landing into the sea and mixing into the salt water.

"Highly pressurized water. Trust me, you don't want to be on the opposite end of it."

"Uh-huh..." Midoriya says.

He gets back into his usual form and stops the water. "I can turn it up to boiling hot..."

"Uh-huh..."

"My shell protects me from attacks..."

"Uh-huh..."

With the third 'uh-huh', Water Hazard draws the line. "Alright, I give. What are you—?" That's when he turns around and sees a curious and excited Midoriya writing up a storm to his journal. There was even a rough sketch of him on there.

"Where did you get that notebook?"

"Oh, I always have one on me." He then shows the cover of it.

"Hero analysis for the future? No.13?!" Water Hazard thinks. "Yep, he's a hero geek alright."

"Can you propel yourself with that water? How strong is it's output?"

"Well, I tried once or twice but it doesn't do me much when I'm not close to the ground. Especially when I can also do this." He says and jumps relatively high into the air and does a superhero landing.

"Aha… So, he also has enhanced strength on top of that. Combined with the robust exoskeleton, hand to hand fights would be his environment. Also the pressurized water..." Midoriya tells himself as he continues to jolt stuff down into his notebook.

"At least someone's having fun..." Ben thinks to himself. He was glad that Midoriya was happy and all that but… using the watch for this... was frustrating him.

Yeah, it was to cheer up his friend but standing around and just answering his questions… it wasn't what he was about.

It wasn't what the watch was about...

Ben then looks over to Midoriya. "He said his quirk broke his bones, right? What kind of a quirk does that? Can he just not control it?"

Ben crosses his arms. It was weird, he had never heard of someone injuring themselves that badly as a quirk side effect. "It's crazy to think that he can kill himself just by using his quirk…"

"And from the sounds of the exam, he almost did."

He then cheekily thinks to himself… and aims one of his palms to near Midoriya's foot.

"Hey!" Midoriya yells and lifts up his notebook as Ben sprays water. "What was that for?"

Ben then squares up. "Hero training."

"What?"

"You said your quirk broke your bones, right?" He then throws a light punch that Midoriya barely manages to dodge. "Aren't you planning to do something about that?"

Water Hazard then shoots a stream of water, one that Midoriya dodges.

"I-I don't know about this Tennyson. If I hit you with my quirk, you might die."

"Then try testing that theory!" as Water Hazard shoots another stream of water. Midoriya dodges again but this time he hesitantly… goes for a counter.

Midoriya side steps the stream and aims a punch at Water Hazard's chest. "Don't let your arm break Midoriya! Control it!"

Midoriya can see his arm lighting up with red veins of energy...

However, before the punch can reach its target, Water Hazard grabs his arm, preventing the punch.

And the red energy dissipates immediately. Ben then asks him: "Did you use it? I couldn't tell."

"Yeah."

"That's good. Let's try that again then." Ben takes position.

"A-Are you sure that this will work Tennyson?" Midoriya asks hesitantly.

"Hmm, I don't know either…"

Water Hazard takes aim to the sea again and starts spraying water. "Maybe it's because of the form... but the way that I'm thinking about your quirk is like a dam."

He starts to change the output of the water, decreasing and increasing the pressure on a whim. "Just like my water and portholes. If we could get you a better control over the hatch, you can get better control over the amount of water (a.k.a. power) that you output."

"Rather than just opening or closing, we could try to get you to half-open it, kinda like stopping midway and keeping at that point."

Ben then stops with the water and looks over to his new found student. "However, since we can't get you to punch for real, we'll have to improvise… by having you activate it as you go in for an attack but then stop."

"Huh… Maybe..." Midoriya ponders, following his new teacher's instructions. The logic did seem sound.

"Also we need to work on your punching…" Water Hazard interjects. "I don't have a professional technique with it either but you just seem too inspired by anime."

"Manga..." Midoriya corrects Water Hazard. "And other pro heroes..." he embarrassedly admits.

"Well, trust me when I say we need to work on that too."

Water Hazard then gets back into form. "Now. Take the ready position."

The two start again but unlike last time Water Hazard wasn't taking it that easy.

"What happened to me just going in for a punch Tennyson?!" as he dodges another stream of water.

Water Hazard however doesn't stop. "I might have armor but I never said I would be your punching bag!" as he continues to take shots against Midoriya. "Now dodge left!"

"Dodge right!"

"Duck!"

"Jump!"

Water Hazard continues to spray water and Midoriya continues to dodge.

"I can do this all day Midoriya!" He then realizes what he said. "Well, more like another 5 minutes or so but you get my point!"

And Midoriya most definitely does. "I need to close the gap and get in close..."

"There!" He runs to Water Hazard and ducks under his blast. With his hand making a fist again, he goes in for the punch that Water Hazard has to grab.

And he does.

"That was really good, Midoriya." He lets go of his arm. "Maybe I should start taking things seriously." he says as Midoriya continues to pant.

"Please don't..."

Ben laughs. "Yeah you might be right."

Midoriya looks at his hand. "Maybe this could work…"

"Tennyson, a-any chance that we can go again?"

Seeing Midoriya getting into position, Ben smiles. "Sure."

"And the name is Water Hazard!" and shoots at his target.

Little did they know however, they weren't the only ones eager for a fight.

On top of a nearby rooftop, a well-built redhead was watching them. She had pale skin, black eyes and was wearing a high tech full bodysuit sporting a red and black color scheme and a skull symbol on her chest.

As she put down a mirror in front of her and refreshed her black lipstick, she pressed her earpiece.

"Report." says the person on the other line with an expressionless tone.

"Alright, but tone down the voice changer chief." she says quippily. "I got another one of Tennyson's aliens here. It has armor, can shoot water, uhhh… that's kind of it. It looks like a shellfish now that I'm thinking about it."

"Upload your visuals to the main computer, bounty hunter."

"Sure thing." The bounty hunter says and shares the feed from the camera in her helmet. Water Hazard suddenly appears before the master's screen.

"Biometric and the visual scan indicate an Orishan from planet Kisusana." a nearby underling states.

"Looks like a crab to me..." The bounty hunter continues to crack jokes and readies up her arm cannon. "Want me to put the brat down for good now?"

"Our orders are clear, bounty hunter. It's surveillance on the target, not action."

"Speaking on giving orders... " she says as she lines up her shot. "Why isn't the big man calling any of the shots?"

"We cannot have our master sully his hands in a trivial matter like this."

"Uh-huh, so I'm guessing he doesn't care if I do this." She takes careful aim and gets ready to fire. This could have been it, her moment, however fate had other plans.

Suddenly an electric shock envelops her entire body.

"We do appreciate your assistance, bounty hunter Rojo…"The voltage continues in full force and Rojo can barely keep herself from screaming."But you aren't a unique specimen in your field of expertise."

The voltage dies down and the light brown and purple figure continues to make his point.

"I think we made ourselves clear, did we not?"

It didn't take a genius for Rojo to know that his associate had his finger sitting on the shock button as he said that. "Yeah, I guess."

"For now, hold your position and keep watching him." the subordinate says.

"Okay..." Rojo saltily replies. "Now, about my payment..."

"Payment?" The voice on the other line asks.

"Yeah my payment. That's the 2nd Tennyson alien I've shown you this week and trust me I won't be doing this for free."

"I think you had our deal confused."

"What?!" Rojo asks in a fury.

"The Arburian Pelarota was a test of the quality of your services. Your full payment will be given once it has been proven that there is nothing further to observe..."

Rojo could see a scam when she saw one and this one was utter bullshit. She was about to raise her voice but… she just saw where that would get her.

Gritting her teeth, she says: "Understood..." and hangs up.

"ARGHHHHHH!" She yells and kicks a nearby vent with her foot going through it. ""If I don't rip open that brat in the next 2 seconds, I'll…"

What would she do exactly? Her suit was wired into their database. Any fight she gets into would shut her systems down, just like that.

She sits back down. Just when I was ready to go at this solo…" she looked down at her symbol. "While being free to do what I want to do..."

Seeing as Tennyson was continuing to have fun with Midoriya, Rojo gets an idea.

"They might be watching everything I do… But what if I called in a bit of support…" She smirks to herself.

She presses some buttons on her left arm brace and boots up the extranet. She tries to head into several websites but the screen occasionally goes static. "Right… Earth doesn't have a proper transceiver for Tachyon burst transmissions."

She continues to look around and surf the web with the shitty connection however her eyes do briefly glance down to Ben. "Believe me Tennyson. You deserve everything that's coming to you..."

Chapter Text

"We're going out mom!" Ben yells from the door.

"W-We'll try to be back on time, Mrs. Tennyson." Midoriya nervously adds.

Ben's mother shakes her head..."Alright alright, but remember! The curfew starts at 10!"

He shrugs in response. "Whatever..."

A week had passed since his first training with Midoriya and now, they were about to head off to another nightly session despite the limitation of his mother's house rules.

"How did it become a week already?" he thinks. "I guess time really likes to fly away..."

"Did you hear me Ben?" his mother asks back. As he's about to reply, his friend taps him on the shoulder.

Lowering his voice so that Ben's mother wouldn't hear, Midoriya says: "I-I won't be sprayed with water this time Tennyson." with a timid yet competitive spirit.

He wanted to laugh at that. Not because he was underestimating him but after seeing what came of him after the practical, it was great to see Midoriya cracking a smile and actually challenging him. It made him feel… helpful.

"Oh yeah? I guess we'll see."

Instead of being even more nervous however, his friend had a determined look in his eye. "I'm ready Tennyson."

"So am I."

The pair go out the door and close it behind them. However before they can get a move on, Ben notices something in the letterbox.

"I'm…" He thinks for a second. "...ninety-nine percent sure mom got the mail this morning." Inside, there was one white envelope with a seal..?

"Who even uses seals anymore..." At least he had the key to the mailbox on his key ring.

He took it into his hands and it immediately seemed heavier than the usual mail, like there was something inside of it.

"What the—" He saw the symbol on the seal. It was a giant A written inside an U... "OH… Yeah, it HAD been a week."

With the training sessions with Midoriya and binging the expansion pack on Sumo Slammers 4, no wonder he didn't notice.

"Maybe this isn't the time for this..." There was no doubt that he got in, the written exam could cut it close, but other than that, he had nothing to worry about. It was his friend's admission that was the problem. Speaking of which...

He then hears a whimper next to him. "Midoriya?"

His friend was clearly uncomfortable by this. Getting reminded of his failure, it stung. And it stung badly.

"I-It's okay Tennyson. H-How about we go look at our results instead?"

Yeah, Ben was feeling the stinging as well but he knew that delaying it would only be worse. "Sure..."

He went back inside with his letter and Midoriya started going down the stairs.

"Hey, what happened? I thought you were going outside." his mother says and notices the letter in his hand. "Wait! It's here?!"

"Yep..." She quickly gets up from the sofa and runs over to Ben. Someone was definitely excited…

He pierces the letter and rips the top of it in a line. Inside, there was no paper but a metal disk? "UA just has to flex its money..."

They place it on the coffee table and immediately, a holographic recording appears before them.

"I AM HERE! AS A HOLOGRAM!"

"What?!" Ben jumps from his seat.

"He's… All Might, right?" his mother asks while sitting next to him.

"Yeah, but what is he doing at UA?" He was expecting to see a teacher, maybe the principal but not the number 1 hero in Japan!

"AS ONE OF THE NEW TEACHERS OF U.A., IN MY HANDS I HAVE YOUR TEST RESULTS..." He has to take a look at the paper for a second. "...YOUNG TENNYSON. I APOLOGIZE AS I HAVE BEEN DOING THIS FOR A WHILE NOW."

He coughs in his hand. "FIRST, YOUR WRITTEN TEST RESULTS!"

Both family members were tense right now but this was especially the case for Ben. If he was going to fail this entrance exam, this was it.

"..." All Might continues to stare at the paper with his signature grin while also throwing glances at the camera.

"Tell it already!" Ben's mother gets up and yells. If only All Might knew that his mom did not deal well with tense situations…

Opening his mouth, he continues to bait Ben by continuing to wait a couple of seconds. Then, with his usual booming voice and throwing his hands in the air, he says: "YOU PASSED!"

"ALRIGHT!" His mother yells again and drops back down to the couch. "Oh my god..." She says with relief.

"I'M SORRY FOR THE WAIT, BUT I'M AN ENTERTAINER AS WELL AS A HERO!"

His mother laughs and starts to shake his son. "You passed Ben! This guarantees the general studies class!"

Yeah,the department of general studies was basically the top-notch UA education minus the hero stuff. No wonder she was excited…

"AND NOW, FOR THE PRACTICAL!"

In his mind, there was no way that he could have failed this part but… the stress was already there. This was the part that really mattered, whether he was going into the hero studies or not, whether he was going to be a hero or not!

"WITH A SCORE OF 53 VILLAIN POINTS..."

Ben grips his jeans . "All Might, please..."

"YOU PASSED!"

"Alright..." Ben takes a breath. All Might wasn't kidding. That was quite the performance as an entertainer.

He leans back on the couch and looks at the ceiling. He had done it… he did not let those 8 months go to waste. This… this was his starting line.

"BUT THAT'S NOT ALL!"

"You what!" He straightens back up. What else could there be?

"I COULD TELL YOU BUT WHAT ABOUT A VIDEO INSTEAD!"

A TV screen immediately comes on the screen and with the remote he got from outside the camera's lens, he presses play.

He recognises the recording immediately. The streets, the buildings… This was Battle Center J and the person in the center, currently on the ground… was Jiro.

Some dust falls through the front of the camera first and the whole debris of a building follows right after it but the teenage girl is saved right before that… by an orange&white creature.

"Ben? Is that you?" Back home, she had refused to see Ben while he was transformed and she still stood by that.

"Yep." he says as he continues to watch.

The point of view now changes to another camera, one that was inside the building where Cannonbolt unraveled after saving Jiro.

"You okay?" Cannonbolt asks.

"Yeah… thanks." Jiro replies.

"Don't mention it. Can you help me now?"

"What happened there?" his mother asks and Ben remembers how he forgot to discuss the exam after promising to do so a week ago.

"There was this giant robot during the exam, one that we were supposed to escape from."

"Supposed to?"

"Well..." Now how could he put this in a way that wouldn't result in a whole lecture…

"Jiro, can you check if anyone's stuck under the debris?"

"Uhh… yeah. Let me check." Jiro is then seen plugging her earphone jacks to the ground. "I don't think so but I can't tell… It's hard to properly listen with that thing stomping around."

"Ben, what did you do?"

His mother wasn't even watching the recording anymore, she had turned to look at Ben in the face and the young hero was nervous… to say the least.

"Can you check across the street as well then? I'll cover you."

Yeah, Ben's mother was reaching her limits. "You put yourself and your friend in danger?!"

"Mom, let me explain..."

"Do you really think sticking around is a good idea?"

"No, I don't. We should probably retreat like the others."

Ben's mother glances back at the screen.

But I have to make sure… Make sure that no one needs my help now."

Her expression grows softer...

"Sure… I can check."

"Thanks." Cannonbolt then rolls up and gets back on the street. "Hey toaster! Over here! You want someone to pick on? Try me!"

...But that doesn't last.

"You actually fought that thing?! What were you thinking?!" She yells.

Ben couldn't just sit still in silence. "We had to check if anyone needed our help!"

"This was a test Ben! You didn't have to be so reckless!"

Ben crosses his arms. How could she think of backing down from a chance to help someone?!

In the following scenes, bits and pieces of Cannonbolt's fight against the robot and Jiro's save were edited together and played. But, his mother wasn't watching anymore, she could guess what was happening from simply hearing about it.

The screen soon cuts back to All Might.

"A HERO'S JOB HAS NEVER BEEN TO SOLELY DEFEAT VILLAINS..."

He coughs again. "AND SO THE ENTRANCE EXAM WAS NOT ONLY GRADED BASED ON VILLAIN POINTS EITHER!"

"What?!" Ben was superbly confused now. "But the orientation said..."

"PROMPTING OTHERS TO ACT, CORRECT JUDGEMENT OF PRIORITIES, SELFLESS PLAN OF ACTION…" He counts down.

"THESE ARE ATTRIBUTES OF HEROES THAT CAN MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE IN THE NUMBER OF LIVES SAVED! SO..."

A scoreboard appears behind All Might, showcasing the top 10 of the practical exam.

"RESCUE POINTS!"

Ben's mother looks up and tries to find his son's name from the scoreboard. 10… 9… 8…

"THEY ARE GIVEN BY A PANEL OF JUDGES."

7… 6… 5…

"THIS IS A JOB THAT REQUIRES RISKING ONE'S LIFE TOWARDS SAVING ANOTHER. IT IS THE OTHER BASIC ABILITY WE AT UA LOOK AT!"

4… 3… 2…

"IT GIVES US THE MEASURE OF A TRUE HERO."

Her eyes eventually meet her son's score. With a 47 next to the villain score of 53, he was…

Number 1.

"TENNYSON BEN, WITH 47 RESCUE POINTS… YOU HAVE ONE HUNDRED POINTS!"

His mom was flabbergasted. She was stunned. She was… worried.

Ben looks through the scoreboard. At number 8, he sees two scores...

"AND JIRO KYOKA, 38 RESCUE POINTS!"

"So a total of 60 for her… Not bad." He thinks before his eyes meet the score of the second person… "Midoriya Izuku, 60 rescue points..."

He remembers what Midoriya told him at the beach. "There was this nice person stuck under some debris…I jumped up and..."

"You rescued her huh..." he thinks. "Good job Midoriya."

"YOU ALL PASS."

Ben's heart was racing. Midoriya and Jiro made it in too. How could this have worked out better?!

"I HOPE TO SEE YOU IN APRIL, YOUNG TENNYSON. FOR NOW, THIS IS GOODBYE."

And the transmission comes to a close.

Ben had a big grin on his face. He actually put the Omnitrix into good use. He was… satisfied.

His mother takes out the small amount of paper that was in the envelope, trying her best to hide her shaking. She says: "You are in hero course class 1-A, Ben. Enjoy…" She then gets up and goes to the kitchen.

Ben expected a response like this and there… wasn't really much that he could do. He was going to prove his worth with the watch… he had to.

And before he can get to really celebrate, he hears someone knock on their front door. "I'll get it."

He was truly beaming and when he opened the door, he saw a greenette who was in the same situation… just with some extra tears in his eyes.

"Ayyyyyy! Look who made it into the hero course!" he says and raises his hand.

Midoriya high fives and tries to leave the tears behind. "Yeah. We did it, Tennyson!"

"But how did you get 100 points?! Did you use Water Hazard? Blitzwolfer?"

Ben puts one hand on his hip and rubs his nose with the other. "Heh, I guess you'll see in class. Speaking of which, which class are you in?"

"Umm..." he says as he takes out a paper. "Class… 1-A."

"Yep, we are in the same class!"

A notebook appears in Midoriya's hands. "Then I'll be there to jot all of your forms down, don't you worry!"

"Where did you get the notebook?" Ben deadpans. "Are we sure that his only quirk is super strength?"

Midoriya looks at the notebook in his hands and notices Blitzwolfer and then Water Hazard in his pages. "That reminds me Tennyson. Will we still go for training?"

"Yeah,ummm..." Ben starts with certainty but soon ideas start appearing in his head. "How about we celebrate instead?"

Midoriya raises his eyebrows. "Oh."

He then puts a hand behind his neck, smiles and says: "Yeah, we can take it easy for one day, don't you think?"

"Of course, I guess we could do that..." Midoriya says. "Any ideas on what we could do?"

"To be honest, I just want to sit down and not do too much for a bit. How about seeing a movie?" Ben suggests.

"Sure..."Midoriya says, building up some enthusiasm. "I know one in a mall not too far from here. The theatre is gigantic."

Ah, the mall. He still remembered just how badly his mom or Gwen forced him to go there in the good old days. "Sounds good to me." Ben replies.

"1 p.m. tomorrow?"

"Deal."

"It is your turn to be shocked now Tennyson..."

The night passes right by and with the clock hitting 1 pm right on the dot, the pair find themselves at the mall.

"Behold Tennyson, to the Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall!"

"Wow…" Ben was just in awe. Maybe that was because he was just a Bellwood kid but there was just no way that this could have be the norm here. The mall was absolutely massive!

"Any idea on where to start?" he quips finally.

"Yeah, the theatre should be on the second level and third section."

"The what?" Ben says.

"But we still do have some time before it starts. So if you want, there should be some good stores in the fifth section we can check out. But the fourth section could also have..."

Ben sweat dropped. "Thank god, my mom doesn't know about this place..."

"Is there something wrong?" Midoriya asks, noticing Ben's expression.

"No, I was just wondering..." Ben gestures to the entire mall. "How are you counting the stores down from the top of your head?"

"Oh no, I just looked at this map before coming here." Midoriya says.

"Ah, can I see it?"

Ben flips through the pages. Yep, even on the map, the stores were promoted for what they sold…

His eyes then catch something else. "Ryloth, the Manga Storm?"

"It's a manga store in section 2." Midoriya then adds: "It also has some good merch..."

"All Might merch?" Ben quickly jumps on the topic which has Midoriya ending up nodding.

"Thought so. Want to stop by there after? Maybe there could be some new stuff." Ben asks.

"I was going to ask the same thing..."

"Cool. It's decided then. Now onto section..."

He turns to Midoriya for an answer and his friend completes his sentence with: "Three."

1 hour and 35 minutes later

"That… wasn't a very good movie." says Ben as he comes out of the theatre. "It was all very anticlimactic."

"Yeah..." Midoriya also joins in disappointedly. "I-Island is a metropol of top of the line technology. There is no way that they would get infiltrated and it wouldn't take 20 years for those scientists to come up with a vaccine for that zombie virus."

"The main hero also had a lot of plot armor." Ben notes. "Surviving a nuclear explosion? Yeah, not with that quirk."

Midoriya nods and while twiddling his thumbs says: "At least the effects were decent."

"And the costumes." Ben adds. "I can certainly give credit to them. Those things looked plain cool."

"I don't know about the visor." Midoriya says. "Maybe the main character would be better off without that addition."

"You know funny you should say that..." he starts while trying not to laugh. "As a kid, I always imagined a visor just like that in my costume.

"Really? Did you put one on your U.A. costume?" Midoriya asks.

"Nah." Ben waves. "But I might add one later, who knows."

The two continue to walk, still in the shock of the movie before they realize…

"So, what now?" Ben asks.

"Hmm…" Midoriya thinks and just spits out the first thing that comes to his mind. "We could always go to that manga store if you want."

"Sure." Ben shrugs.

The two go up the electric stairs to level 3 and walk to section 2. "Don't expect too much though Tennyson. It's just a small store."

He takes a look at the rest of the mall real quick. "Somehow, I doubt that."

"Oh look, it's over there." Midoriya points to the store.

"Ryloth, the Manga Storm..." Ben thinks. It was an average sized store with lots of merchandise from different anime and manga. "Guess the definition of small really changes in Japan…Let's see what we can find."

The pair head inside and quickly start walking by the categories.

As Midoriya passes by them, he points to every single one of them, making mental notes. "Okay so we have, action, drama, comedy, fantas— ah."

During his counting, he bumps into someone and stumbles, however thankfully Ben is there and prevents him from falling down. "Better watch where you're going, Midoriya."

"Y-Yeah, I should."

"Oh my, I'm so sorry about that." a high-pitched feminine voice says. "I didn't see you there."

"It's no problem—"

Before he can complete his sentence, Ben steps forward. "Pony?"

"Ben?!" She says excitedly. "You were here too?!"

"Yeah, we're celebrating the results from the exam."

"Really?!" Pony beams. "Me too. So, you two passed too?"

Ben nods. "Congrats to all of us."

Like he's reminded of something, he then steps aside. "And before I start to feel rude... Midoriya, meet Pony Tsunotori, she's also from the states and came by to take the UA's exam."

"O-Oh, nice to meet you Tsunotori." Midoriya nervously shakes her hand, which Pony finds funny.

"So formal..." she says in the middle of her brief giggling. "Just call me Pony."

Ben then carries on the subject. "So, what were you doing here, Pony?"

"Me? I was just checking out some manga, to treat myself with, you know."

Ben turns to the shelf Pony was in front of. "Oh nice, what were you—"

Gauntlet of Peril! Sumo Slammers: Hero Generation Chapter 6

Any pretense of cool headedness within Ben's mind goes out of the window right then and there. "You like Sumo Slammers too?!"

"Yeah! It's the best!" Pony says as she picks up the comic. "I kinda miss the classic series though..."

"I agree, everything used to have a lot more mystery..." Ben joins in.

"But I'm really liking the story arc."

Ben's smile grows larger. "Same! I'm dying to see the finale!"

Over Ben's shoulder, Pony notices the perplexed Midoriya. And Ben's gaze follows right after hers.

"Sorry about that Midoriya, we just sort of went on a whole tangent..."

"I-It's fine." he says nervously. "I've never seen him that excited before..."

"Oh, if you guys are down, can I join up with you?" She asks.

"T-That would be great Tsu-Pony." Midoriya answers, continuing to stutter.

She laughs. "You know what, just go at your own pace."

"O-Okay..." Midoriya clears his throat and asks: "Do you have any recommendations, Tsunotori?"

"Hmm… We could check out the fantasy section… I'm more familiar with those manga."

"Alright." says Ben and picks one of the manga up and starts going through the pages. It looked really cool. Who knows, maybe he could get used to sitting around and reading some manga with friends. What could even ruin this moment?…

Little did he know, conflict was brewing right above him.

Lying on top of the mall's roof, Rojo was cloud-gazing as a shadow got in the way of her view. "Oh good, someone finally showed."

It was a little man with a red and black color scheme, gray goggles with straight yellow lenses and a belt.

Rojo got up but he was clearly not the person she was expecting. However she rolled with it regardless.

"Love to see that the boss of yours is a no show. What happened, did the baby face get stuck in his feeding chair?"

Suddenly the man's grey belt-buckle lit up and a projection appeared right before her. He looked like a bulk, technological, heavy lifter with orange skin and two horns under his jaw.

"Hardy har…" He says with a rough and coarse voice. "Just be thankful that you can offer me something Rojo. If you really must know, I have some pretty important business going on here."

"Sure, sure." She shrugs it off. "I hope his excuses don't reflect on the product..."

"So, I expect your dwarf here brought the merchandise?"

"Of course." The man on the hologram orders. "Show her."

The little man takes out a small grey cube that was the size of his palm. He was mesmerized by it and as he was about to drool…

"HEY!" Rojo yells and grabs the product right from his hands. "Get your pet a leash, Vulkanus!"

The little man draws out a pickaxe from his back and points it to Rojo.

Hologram says: "Now for my payment..."

Placing the cube in her pocket, she takes out some money and extends it to the dwarf. However, it only makes him more angry.

"You know we don't do business with Republic Credits..."

"Yeah, I know. I just wanted to see if you were paying attention." She then takes out several rectangular, bluish-turquoise coins instead and tosses them into the henchman's hands. "We square?"

The boss counts the coins. "Yeah."

He then vanishes back into his henchman's belt-buckle and the dwarf puts back his pickaxe and runs away with his loot.

"It was great to do business with you too..." Rojo says monotonically. "Ugh, entrepreneurs..."

"At least they know how to deliver..." She then takes out the cube and picks up her water bottle. "Now then..."

"Time to open Pandora's box..."

"Do they have to be so flamboyantly dressed?" Pony asks, pointing at the manga she just picked up. "Like, they look too fancy to blend into the crowd, nevermind being part of the Italian mafia..."

"I get what you mean." says Ben. "But without the clothes… Are you really reading the same mang-?"

Suddenly the ground under the trio shakes and the sound of shattering glass follows right after.

"What the..."Ben springs up and immediately runs outside the shop. "Villain attack?.."

From what he could see, he was correct. Right in the center of the mall stood a large hulking humanoid robot that had no facial features and was dark-blue, black and grey. Ben's hand reaches for the Omnitrix but...

"Hey! You there!" a pro-hero calls out to the robot. "I suggest you stand down this instant."

The pro-hero's body seemed mostly wood, with only one of his eyes being visible from the outside. "This is your only warning."

"Oh yeah..." Ben sighs in relief. "The local authorities here were top notch."

He pulls his hand back. "They'll handle it."

Pony and Midoriya then arrive shortly to his side.

"What's going on Ben?" Pony asks.

"Looks like a villain attack..." he answers and then sees Midoriya's eyes beaming once again. "Oh no, here we go..."

"And Kamui Woods is on the scene!" Midoriya takes out his notebook and pencil, ready to write down any new move that he sees.

"Where did he get that notebook?" Pony deadpans. To be honest, she was kinda spooked.

"Don't question it, I never do." Ben answers.

In the meantime, the robot does not seem to respond to Kamui. It doesn't seem to even acknowledge his existence and the hero was very much curious. "You have an agenda, don't you?"

Despite not having a definitive face to speak of, he, step by step, observes the vicinity. It must have found its target, since it turns away its whole body from the hero and raises its head, looking at the familiar 15 year old with a green jacket.

The robot raises its hand and the wooden hero immediately follows its gaze. Seeing the situation, he stretches his arm to grab the robot. "No!"

He does grab the robot's hand and by retracting his own, gets in close and punches the robot square in the face.

The robot's head flinces but there was not even a scratch. "What..."

It's headpiece glows red and the robot then goes for a grab on his torso but the hero narrowly avoids it. However, his arm wasn't as lucky.

With one squeeze from the robot, it immediately snaps in two. He does manage to regrow it but the situation wasn't looking good for him.

"I didn't want to admit it but... I don't have the firepower to deal with this."

He yells to his partner. "Mt Lady! Evacuate the mall and call other pro-heroes, now!"

The blonde woman with the purple and pale-tan colored bodysuit responds: "Understood!"

"Let's see how much time I can buy..." Kamui then goes for swift attacks, mainly utilizing his speed and smaller size over the robot, whereas his opponent goes for heavy attacks that pack a lot more of a punch.

But seeing that it's having no success, the robot changes strategies…"What is it doing now?"

The robot's fingertips immediately light up and fire a blast right at him!

"Whoa." He dodges but then looks back at the point of impact. Thankfully no one was in the blast radius. "I need to prevent him from doing more of that..."

Like he's putting on a show. "Assault, property damage, and causing panic in the largest mall of Mustafu." His wooden arm slowly unravels. "You are the incarnation of evil and it is my duty to stop you!"

He rushes at the robot, swiftly closing the distance between them. "Pre-emptive..."

His arm rapidly branches out, and turns into a whole root of wooden construct. It grabs the robot by the arms, legs, torso and even the head. "...Binding Lacquered Chain Prison!"

His opponent finds itself unable to move. "Be still… We are getting a cell prepared just for you."

However, Kamui Woods had severely underestimated the robot.

Despite being tied up with some strong wood, the robot treated it as if it was just any regular-old rope and managed to bust through it, destroying the wooden hero's arm yet again.

In the meantime, our trio continued to watch this battle unfold with very different expressions.

Pony was despairing. "He's struggling. We better get out of here you guys..."

Midoriya put down his notes. He was shaky yet courageous. "No, w-we must help…We must keep the people safe!" After all, that's what All Might would do.""

"You guys need to go..." a third determined yet cheerful voice speaks out in the midst of them. It was Ben's and the Omnitrix was glowing green with a hologram displaying right before him. "I got this one."

Midoriya immediately realizes Ben's intentions but doesn't say anything. Pony, on the other hand…

"Ben! We can't fight that thing, we aren't pro-heroes yet." she cries out. However Ben doesn't waver.

After all, this was just why he put the Omnitrix back on his wrist in the first place: To save lives and defeat villains.

"And do what?" he asks. "Let him get snapped in two like a toothpick?"

He looks back at his soon to be opponent. "Besides, I have just the guy to deal with him." and starts scrolling through.

However it was all for show. In reality, he could barely pay attention to the holograms in front of him…

He was trying to play it cool to his friends but... he didn't miss that gesture, that aim.

This thing… was here because of him.

It was his responsibility.

It was hero time.

He stops on one of them but before he can slam it down, Midoriya catches his hand.

"What are you doing?" Ben says aggressively. Was he against this too? However, a corner of his mind did appreciate seeing Midoriya take initiative like that.

"If you are going to do this, I would suggest a more agile transformation..." he says with a determined voice. "The armor on him seems tough and I don't see a fist brawl being too effective..."

"A fist brawl..." he thinks as he looks at his selection again. It was one of his bulkier transformations but that… wasn't the problem. His pupils constrict in fear but he does his best to not give anything away. "Not that one… never that one…."

"Good point..." he says and scrolls to the right on the watch. "You guys should start helping with the evacuation. I'll be right back."

Ben then attempts to slam down the dial once again and this time, no one gets in his way.

"Just what hurts this thing..."

In the meantime, Kamui was on his last legs against this robot.

It wasn't enough that the robot wasn't taking any damage from him, he was also needing to regenerate his arms a lot.

At the beginning it wasn't that though but right now, after multiple regrowings,it hurt badly, oh so badly.

"Never mind me but could Death Arms even hurt this thing?.." He backs away. "The people that were around me have mostly cleared out so I can be a bit more free… but I must avoid all unnecessary damage."

Like it is in an enraged state, the robot runs right towards him and attempts to slap him away with his back hand.

He dodges of course, but as soon as the swipe motions complete, the robot turns its hand into a fist and punches the hero right in the face, getting him flown off to a nearby clothing shop.

Lifting his head from the pile of comfortable t-shirts, he says: "And he's learning…"

Whoever this is, they created some super strong tech. He could only hope that this was the only copy...

"I could just be their guinea pig… I don't know..." He touches his mask and can feel the cracks on it. "I am so outmatched."

The robot stands before its opponent and prepares the repulsor on his palm for one final blast.

He was down bad. If Mt. Lady's call was going to count, now was the time!

The blast grows but he refuses to close his eyes.

Just then!

"Hey Terminator! Catch!" yells someone from the side and a green ball of slime hits the robot right in the face.

Despite struggling, the slime doesn't last and the robot pulls it off from his head with his hands. "I don't know about doing that. Now, time for my favourite part!"

The slime lights up and explodes right on the robot's hands!

"Ugh..." Kamui lifts himself up. "Finally some help..."

But who was that? Mustafu didn't have a hero that had 'Explosive Slime' as their quirk. Maybe a passerby pro-hero…

"Down here pal..."

His thoughts are cut short by the very same quippy voice and when he looks down, he is slightly spooked by what he sees.

The "hero" was small yellow and insect-like. It had black eyes with green pupils, four stick legs, a beak, an antenna and lastly a symbol of green and black on his chest. "Talk about a mutation quirk..."

Looking down, he says: "So, I'm guessing you're the one responsible for the slime?"

"Yeah, and you're welcome." The hero answers. "Now let's blow up this guy to kingdom come!"

"Hang on a second…"

"I don't think we have a second."

Kamui Woods turns his gaze back on the smoking robot. The explosion of the slime had destroyed some of the plating on his hands and arms but…

"It can regenerate?.."

Sure enough, the plating built itself back up and the robot was once again coming right at them.

The little hero spits out another slime ball and dodges the attack while rolling on it.

Kamui dodges too but he had many questions about this new 'hero'.

"I've never seen a pro-hero like you before. Mind sharing your name?"

Like he was proud of it, the 'hero' says: "It is... Ball Weevil!"

"Ball Weevil?" Alright, it was official, he had no clue who this guy was. He better ask about it around the police station later.

The robot was coming around. This time, ready to blast them both with his lasers.

"Woods! Get behind me!"

He ran and did as he was told. Right as the robot fired, Ball Weevil got off from his ball and started enlarging it.

The laser went right into the ball but rather than going through, it got dispersed like salt in a glass of water.

The robot eventually stopped and when he was done, the ball was as large as Kamui Woods. And…

"Right back at ya!"

Ball Weevil kicked the ball right to the bot and exploded it at point blank range, with some of the slime splatting around.

"Watch it!" Kamui raised his voice. "We want to avoid collateral damage here."

"Sorry but I couldn't risk it by keeping the yield down."

He shakes his head. It was incredibly reckless of him to do that. What if there were still people there? "Just be more careful from now on."

"Understood and, I don't mean to be rude here, but you better get clear." Ball Weevil says. "Just, a hulking robot with pristine plating does not seem like your element, that's all."

"Are you sure that you don't want my assistance?" The small hero was right but still…

"Yeah." Ball Weevil nods. "I'm sure."

The explosion cloud was dispersing and through it, came the robot, ready for round 2.

His head piece was lighting up and the pair had no idea if it was possible or not, but the robot seemed… mad.

Ball Weevil turns to his opponent and creates another ball for himself to stand on. "I saw some people that still have not evacuated on the way, can you take care of those for me?"

Kamui Woods takes position. "I'll come back for you as soon as I'm done."

Yeah, he was. He had no intention of letting him leave without learning his identity.

However, instead of rushing, the robot starts to shoot at them from afar, keeping his distance from Ball Weevil.

Like the roles were reversed, it was now Ball Weevil that was rushing. "Go!"

Kamui nods and elongates his hand. He swings away, leaving the two of them to their fight.

"It's just you and me now, tin can." he thinks as he continues to roll his ball forward.

The robot lifts his hands up to block.

But the impact never comes…

"Look out, I'm coming through! Want some of this?!"

Turns out Ball Weevil had circled around instead, growing the size of the ball instead of attacking. The slime was now as big as the robot and it was coming right for him.

However, the robot wasn't about to be defeated so easily…

As the ball came towards him, it raised his arm and shot the floor right above him.

It came crashing down on him of course, but it almost gave him a decent shield for the upcoming explosion. Almost…

The right arm was almost ripped away from the main body, only hanging on by a thread. And everything else wasn't faring much better, with cracks and holes covering them due to the impact.

But it could still regenerate.

"If only I made the ball a bit bigger..." he instinctively thinks but he knows why that can't be. He was practically nuking the area already and if he continued to use more force, he would bring down the whole mall before the robot.

He couldn't muscle through this one… But that didn't mean he was out of options.

"If the outer shell is protecting him… then let's see what he will do without it…"

But before he can act, the robot throws out an attack which he dodges.

"Easier said than done though...and then there is the rapid regeneration… If only I could sneak an attack through..."

Little did he realize, he was thinking out loud, probably because of hanging around Midoriya so much.

And someone was hearing every last detail of it.

"Is anyone there?!"

"Midoriya, here!"

In the midst of Ball Weevil's fight, there were still some unfortunate souls that were caught in the crossfire. And during this instance, a whole store entrance was crushed, leaving a poor mother and her child stuck inside. However, a certain greenette and blonde was there to save them…

"You ready?" she asks and he nods in response. "Here goes..."

Pony then released two of her horns and they each lifted a big piece of the rubble respectively. Despite not using his quirk, Midoriya's job was to get in between, help hold the two pieces together and form some kind of doorway for the bystanders to pass.

As the two got out, the pair also released their hold.

"Thank you! Thank you so much!" The mother said while carrying her son in her arms.

Midoriya smiled. "It's no problem. Are you hurt?"

"N-No, we're fine."

Pony, pointing to one of the green signs. "Then, follow the signs and get to the emergency exit quickly. Police and the ambulance should be arriving now."

She nods and immediately starts running. However, a pro hero then lands right next to her. "Ka-Kamui Woods."

Groaning from the pain of the battle, he points to the exit, signaling her to go and then turns to the students.

"You too children, we can't have you staying any longer."

The duo look at each other and Midoriya says: "W-We can't yet, there could still be more people under this rubble!"

"And it is MY responsibility to save them from that condition, is it not?"

"Y-Yeah but!.."Midoriya can't take this in. He could admit that he wasn't too useful in this situation but his efforts weren't in vain. They had just saved 2 people together.

"Isn't it better if we work together though? We could reach so many more people!"

Kamui doesn't budge however. "There is no need for you to recklessly risk your lives like that..."

He then sees something in Midoriya. "Hey… Aren't you that kid from way back then? With the sludge villain?"

Midoriya tenses up and sweat drops. What an honor it was to be remembered by one of the rising pro-heroes of Japan…

...Too bad it was arguably at the worst possible time.

Out of options, he points to the heat of the battle. "Kamui Woods..."

The duo turned to watch the battle and Midoriya wasn't a pro hero himself but the battle was like an open book to him. Ben was holding up fine but that was all there was to it, fine. Ball Weevil couldn't fight back properly due to the property damage but he wasn't letting himself lose either.

He was dodging, weaving and exploding parts of the robot but sooner or later, he knew Ben would run out of time.

"If only we could put an end to their fight..."

Pony turns to Midoriya concernedly. "I agree but what would we even do?"

Midoriya hated to admit it but she had a point. Pony's quirk was to shoot the horns on her head. His quirk was definitely out of the question and the wooden hero's quirk proved to be ineffective. What would be the appropriate strategy for them?

"Kamui Woods!" says another voice as he gets closer to the trio. "Pant… pant… the inside..."

"Umm..."

"Sorry." The teen catches his breath. "I heard your partner talking, Kamui Woods. He's planning to get some slime inside of the robot but he can't get an opening."

Both Kamui and Midoriya put their hands on their chin.

"It's a simple plan but not easy." Midoriya mutters as he taps his chin. "Getting the timing right can be tricky even with the robot stopping to move what would they open his armorwith?Theycan'tuseslimeasBenwouldneedtoproducemoreandlagbehind...

Midoriya didn't realize it but he had started to murmur and all three of them were looking directly at him.

The teen asks Pony: "Are you getting any of this?"

Pony replies: "Every fifth word maybe?"

Kamui clears his throat. "Ahem… Well, thanks for the information."

He pats the teen on the back. "I'll go see what I can do."

Midoriya snaps out of his thoughts. "Wait, but we can!—"

But before he could protest, Kamui Woods had already swung away in the direction of the battle.

Midoriya was frustrated. He knew the hero was right but he couldn't just turn tail… That wasn't what he was taught…

And some people might have been feeling the same way.

His eyes drift to the teen that just arrived. The teen had made his hand into a fist and was shaking. He clearly wanted to join in and do something, anything.

Pony was unsure but seeing the two boys fired up, she couldn't back down either. So, breaking the silence, she says: "We are going, aren't we?"

Midoriya turns and says: "W-We have to, don't we?" and notices the horns on Pony's head once again. "And I might have an idea…"

"Here is a new special move!" Ball Weevil yells as he springs up and forward from the debris. "Because what else do I have left to try?.." He opens his bug-like mouth and a whip made of slime comes out.

"Woah woah!" With his whip sticking, Ball Weevil swings round and round on the robot's arm and finally lands on the ground like a performer at the circus. "Ta da!"

The robot is about to smash him for his showmanship but that's when Ball Weevil chuckles. "Ha-ha! No need for applause!"

Before the robot can do anything, the green slime on his arm lights up and explodes.

The impact of it blows the robot back and has him crash on a wall. "I already know I'm a blast to watch!"

He then ponders about his improvised move. "Detonation cord… Huh, guess you should try some stuff you see at home." Well, he wasn't exactly home but the point still stood in his head.

The robot lifted itself back up but felt unusually light on his right side. He turns and sees… his right arm blown clean off!

"Now's the chance!" Ball Weevil thinks. He prepares more slime but, despite the rest of the original arm sitting on the ground, the robot immediately patches up the hole to it's insides with a steel plate.

"OF! COURSE!" Ben screams in his mind. At least the arm wasn't growing back, that was a start.

All jokes aside though, he was really getting a run for his money. "I'm getting real close to the limit here… Maybe another minute or so?.."

He really needed to come up with something fast. Otherwise the robot was going to crack his soon-to-be-human skull like an—

"Hey! You… umm… bot!" a familiar voice comes from above.

"Pony?"

With a horn on each of her hands, Pony was flying right to the heat of the action!

"What are you doing?!" Ball Weevil screams. What was she doing? What was her plan? What was the logical thought behind any of this?!

The robot takes aim and Pony starts to shake, in an attempt for 'evasive maneuvers'. But Ball Weevil doesn't let it and jumps on his head, blocking his vision. "Oh no you don't! I'm the opponent, remember?!"

With no visual, the robot refocuses on Ball Weevil again before!—

"Catch!" Pony screams and throws one of her horns to the teen from earlier.

The guy catches the horn midair and he runs right towards the fight wielding it like a knife.

"Just what are they doing?.." Ball Weevil thinks before being grabbed by the robot. "Oh no...AHHHHHHHH!"

The robot does a fastball special with the bug and tosses Ball Weevil into the wall, with his crater getting formed behind him. Now with his hand free, the robot gets ready to deliver a mean downward punch.

Seeing it coming, the teen crosses his arms and takes guard to protect his left side. "BRING IT!"

Then suddenly, like it was on the flip of a switch, his skin becomes rock-like and jagged, almost like it hardened...

He plants feet to the ground and blocks the upcoming punch. "Owwwwwww!.."

The teen's head was absolutely ringing, and blood dripped down from his arm but he refused to waver. "Now! Midoriya!"

"Midoriya?" Ball Weevil thinks. "Don't tell me!"

Coming from behind the teen, Midoriya overtakes him from the left and leaps up to the robot's chest with the robot's gauntlet in hand!

"Even if it's a smash, I can't afford to sacrifice my arm! We got one shot!"

A red streak of energy covers his right hand and the robot's processing unit was still not done!

"Control it! Imagine… half opening the dam!"

"SMASH!" he yells out as he goes for a punch.

The gauntlet rips right through the armor and Midoriya turns back and yells.

"NOW TENNYSON!" and leaps off the bot.

"Midoriya, you!—" he says and leaps up.

He channels the biggest spit that he can in one go and throws it inside. "Everybody duck!"

"BOOM!"

In an explosion that barely doesn't knock them off their feet, smoke and dust rises into the air and a crater forms on the mall's floors.

"Did that get him?!" the teen asks and Ball Weevil would facepalm if he could. "You just had to ask, didn't you?"

But once all that clears, they see that the robot was no more…

"Nevermind actually..." as Ball Weevil transforms back to Ben and takes a deep breath.

But his back was still hurting from that throw. "Ow… I'm gonna feel that tomorrow."

He shakes off the dust on him and looks over to his friends. They were also pretty beaten up,which reminded him...

"You guys!" Ben shouts to Midoriya, Pony and the teen. "What were you all thinking?!"

Pointing to his watch. "I told you I got this!"

"Yeah, and look at how well I got it…" he briefly thinks but continues to push through. "I appreciate the help but still!"

Now, what he didn't know was that Pony's nerves were really strained...

Speaking in english out of frustration, she yells: "What were WE thinking? What were YOU thinking, jumping in like that?! Jeez, you can't just do that to us Ben!"

He was surprised by Pony's outburst as well. He really got a reaction out of everyone today huh... "W-Well, I was handling it!"

"Then why didn't you?!"

"I was waiting for my chance!"

From the side, the teen barges into the conversation. "Umm..."

"Oh..." Ben turns and realizes what he was doing.

He can't hold himself back from laughing. Oh, didn't this bring him back to the good old days…

The serious and aggressive attitude disappears from his face. "I'm sorry Pony. Thanks for the help."

She is initially caught off guard but Pony also gets back her cheerful tone. "No problem Ben! But… let's have a plan next time… when we are actual heroes."

"Sure." He then turns to the teen. "And you, thanks a lot for the help umm..."

"Kirishima." Pony introduces. "Right?"

"Yeah." and he holds up his hand. "I'm Kirishima Eijiro.

Ben takes a quick look at him for a second and then shakes his hand. He was a muscular young man with average height, red eyes and black hair with some short bangs. "Nice to meet you, I'm Tennyson Ben."

And by the way I think otherwise!" he says in a fired up manner and makes his hand into a fist. "Fighting the villain head on like that is just manly! And you can't argue against that! You just can't!"

"Thanks for that. But I just did what I thought was right though." Plus… the robot was probably his fault in the first place…

That small thought felt like a stone in his stomach…

What were the chances that it was a fluke? Considering his streak of luck with this device, not likely. He should be more careful from no—

"Wait a minute, Tennyson?" Kirishima repeats, snapping Ben out of his thoughts. He repeats it, almost like the name was familiar to him.

He looks at Ben again and it all seems to fit the bill. "You mean the 100 points Tennyson?!"

Ben had to do a double take on that. He didn't expect his fame to travel around so fast...

"Yeah I saw that on the scoreboard too! You are great, Ben!" Pony joins in.

"Did you use that bug transformation quirk to clear the bots?!"

"Well..." Ben scratches the back of his neck and his left eye slightly spasms. But before he can complete his sentence, he notices Midoriya being helped up by Kamui Woods.

"Midoriya! Are you hurt?" he crouches down.

"Ow… My hand hurts..." Midoriya replies.

Ben's gaze goes to Midoriya's right hand and he carefully removes the gauntlet on him and tosses it aside. Under it, Midoriya's hand mostly seemed fine… other than the jacked up fingers. His hand unfortunately was broken.

"Thankfully there seems to be no signs of internal bleeding..." Kamui reports. "I'll talk with the hospital and see what I can do but what you did was extremely reckless."

He looks at the other three. "That goes for you too! You might be future hero students but don't think for a second that the real world works like those mock exams!"

He continues without giving them a chance to breathe. "You might have been lucky now but there is a reason why we have those laws in place! To protect people from their own impulses, good or bad!"

Ben could understand that. And now… guess he… and his friends had to be reprimanded.

The wooden hero sighs and his conscience presses harder than his loyalty to the rules. "For the sake of your future… I will let this slide."

He crosses his arms. "Since the mall's nearby cameras are destroyed, I will give a speech to the news crew and tell you guys got caught up in all of this."

Midoriya was on the ground and was conscious enough to comprehend the news. It really didn't seem fair when you looked at it from afar, but considering the laws and the property damage… it could almost be seen as generous.

"But under no circumstances will you do this again!"

"Yes sir!" the four of them reply. However, after his answer, Ben's eye twitches ever so slightly…

The day passes on by with Kamui Woods doing exactly as he said and letting the kids off the hook as the press interviews him.

Midoriya had to be taken to the hospital to tend to his broken hand, but from how he was smiling, it seemed like he could hold back. At least more than usual…

"Good job Midoriya… We'll train a lot more later..." Ben tells him before parting ways. "If our moms don't kill us of course..."

After walking for a bit, Ben had to go to the subway. Kirishima was going to the bus stop and Pony seemed like she was going to continue to walk.

Ben turned back at them and said: "Guess, this is goodbye..."

The duo also turn back and Pony speaks first.

"Only for now!" Pony replies. "We'll meet up at school for sure!"

Turning to Kirishima. "Right?" she asks and Kirishima shares her energy.

"Yeah, I can't wait!"

Ben smiles, if his friends were this upbeat, this school could have been the perfect fit for him after all.

"I'm home!" Ben yells from the door and as soon as he enters the living room, he sees her mother watching tv… more specifically the news… breaking news… oh no.

She springs up from her couch, drops her phone and runs to her dear child. "Are you okay? I heard Midoriya went to the hospital? Is it serious?"

"He just broke his hand..." says Ben, trying to act as calm as possible.

"Oh Ben… Please be more careful from now on." She hugs him. "Next time, immediately run to the exits, just get out of there as soon as you can. Please."

Ben hugs her back and can immediately feel some tears on his back. And why wouldn't he? He made his mother worried sick and she didn't even know the whole story. How would knowing that make her feel...?

"Alright… I will." he answers but doubt was already in his mind.

From the couch, the pair could hear some noises, calling out to them. His mother says: "Your dad is on the line, you better talk to him."

"Uh huh..." He walks over and grabs the phone. "Hey dad- Yeah yeah, I'm fine, everyone's fine. We got saved by the local authority."

"Yeah- Okay- Don't worry dad, I'll be more cautious from now on. Emergency exits, I know."

While he reassures his dad, his mom sits next to him and asks: "Are you hungry?"

Ben did open his mouth to speak but no words came out. He already worried her, might as well grab his snack on his own. "I'll get it mom, you just sit back and rest."

"No, I'll-" she says but Ben doesn't seem to pay attention. "Ben..."

"I was at the mall for a celebration- along with Midoriya, you know the greenette I told you about..." Ben continues to talk on the phone, as he starts making a PB&J on the counter. "Nah, he's fine too. We're all-"

"Ben!" his mother accidentally raises her voice and immediately puts her hand over her mouth. She...didn't mean to yell at him like that.

His son freezes in place, and she can faintly hear her husband on the phone telling Ben that he will call back later.

"I'm sorry..." she says as she pushes her hair back. "I'm sorry again I just..."

Ben walks around the counter and sits next to her again. With that, his mother can't stop some tears coming out of her eyes.

"The hero on the news said you had nothing to do with it but I don't know..."

Ben puts his arm around her, but she can't stop herself.

"After what your grandpa said…" she says with her weepy voice. "Those villains… monsters even…"

"What if they know you're here… What if they are out to get revenge on you… or on us..."

Ben continues to listen, patiently. No quip, no happy-go-lucky comment, no heroic phrase.

"Are you…" His mother closed her mouth but then continued.

Looking Ben in the eye with desperation, she asks: "Are you sure this is what you want?"

Ben takes a second. He knew that this was his mother's concern speaking and this would be his last chance to give up the mantle.

He closes his eyes and gets up from his seat.

"It is not about being a hero mom… " Ben says calmly. "It is about taking responsibility..."

Grabbing his plate of food from the counter, he says: "I'll be in my room if you need me." and heads off.

"Okay..." his mother replies with a shaky voice, still trying to reassure herself. "Nothing happened Sandra… He is still safe… He is still with you..."

Ben closes the door behind him and goes directly to video call on his phone. "Please pick up..."

Within a few short seconds, the call goes through and a familiar grandfather appears on screen.

"Hey champ. Your mom sent us a message. Are you okay?" his grandpa Max asks from the other side, with a serious tone.

"Yeah, I'm fine..." Ben says but then pauses. "Yeah, HE was fine alright..."

"You went quiet." Max remarks.

Despite everything, Ben calmly reports: "I got caught in a villain attack today."

"It was giving the local authority a tough time..." he squeezes his fist. "...So I stepped in and took care of it."

It was Max's turn to go quiet but Ben continued on regardless.

"But there was something familiar, grandpa. Before the fight started… this one looked at me. Do you think they are back, my old villains? "

Sitting on the bed, Ben waits for a response but Max was struggling to say the least.

"I don't know sport, but I'll look into it."

Ben gets up. "I'll come and help you!"

"No, Ben. If they are really after you again, we can't let them find out that we know. You must act casual and go to school. In the meantime, I'll do some investigation on my own..."

From Max's line, another voice joins in. "From that, he means WE'LL look into it. Right, grandpa?"

"Gwen?" Ben asks, it should have been 2 am over there. "What are you doing at the Rustbucket that late?"

"It's the weekend, remember?"

"Oh yeah." Ben says. "His Grandpa Max's camping trips… Time just flew by when you were on one of those..."

"But, don't you have school?" he asks Gwen.

For which she replies: "I still have a bit of time after school, it's not like anything happens at the boring old town Bellwood."

He can hear Max laughing on the other end. "I guess you're right, pumpkin." However he was still worried.

"Are you sure you guys won't need my help with this?"

"We'll be fine Ben. I promise." Max says.

And Gwen follows up: "Yeah, we haven't lost our edge. We'll find who's responsible."

With a concerned face he says: "If you guys say so… Good luck." and hangs up.

He twiddles his thumbs. "I'll go with grandpa's advice and have fun while I'm here… but I also need to keep my head up."

Meanwhile...

Back on the battlefield, an armored lady was observing the police investigation from above. "Look at how cute they are, working like bees to find any kind of pollen."

She looks at the recording of the battle and sighs with disappointment. "We were on the verge of greatness, Vulkanus! We were this close!"

With her disappointment turning to frustration, she starts circling on the rooftop. "That robot cost me a lot too… I really need to start making some big bucks now..."

Her scanner then beeps with a flickering green light. "Yes! YES! At least something comes out of this!"

She excitedly jumps from the building, right towards the scene of the crime and landing on the ground with no sound generated.

"Shock absorbent..." she smirks and starts sneaking around. "I take this and that money won't be wasted, easy..."

"Aaaand bingo…" Thankfully it didn't take long for her to find her prize. "Now to get past the party poopers..."

She reaches over to a button on her gauntlet but the arm cannon catches her attention first. "I COULD do this the easy way… but what the hell."

Rojo leaps up to the second floor and with a swift yet accurate shot, blasts a car in the parking lot, causing it to explode instantly.

"Woah!"

"What was that!"

"Search the area!"

"Yeah yeah, 'SeArcH tHe ArEa' headass..." She approaches the target. "Before you know it, I'll be gone..."

True to form and getting what she wants, Rojo immediately goes back on her rooftop and lays down. Crossing her arms right behind her head, "Now… for some new business." and clicks her earpiece.

"Report." says the same stern, cold, alien voice.

"Tennyson battled again today. Won but he also flashed me a new alien."

Like it was already a routine. "Start uploading your visuals."

"Oh, I think I can do better than that." and takes out a vial. "You can't see it now but I have a sample of material used by Tennyson's transformation. Getting something from the field would be a lot more useful than any old test, right?"

The line goes silent for a bit. "Good, they are considering it."

"Terms?" the alien asks.

"Yup..." Rojo thinks. "30% of my money up front and the 70% after we're seems fair to me."

"Go ahead and decrease the percentage..."

"Aaaand." she adds as the opposite side falls into silence again. "Before you decide to electrocute me, I would like to say that this thing is highly volatile. So if you don't want this precious thing to go up in flames like that, you better-"

"We have already gotten the very same sample, human." The alien interrupts without a care in the world.

"What?!" She looks down from the roof and, "But the only ones here are the po-"

"Like we said." The alien increases the pressure. "Our mission is surveillance, not action. And fortunately, we specialize in stealth..."

He then opens up the footage of the car blowing up and the police scattering to find her. "You? Not so much..."

"So, for the time being, you are advised to stay low and not cause further trouble."

Rojo tosses the vial aside. She was upset but her curiosity was overwhelming. "Then... what could you need me for?"

"According to our intel, you are well advised to wait…until Tennyson begins his school."

Chapter Text

Tennyson residence, 40 minutes earlier

It was the 7th of April, in the morning.

"So, still no leads?" Ben asks, with the phone near his ear.

Gwen types something into her computer and hits enter. "Patience Ben, it's not like we're twiddling our thumbs over here."

Ben sighs. "I know... but it has been a whole month.". He circles around his room.

"Like we said..." She pulls up a video from the surveillance camera of the mall. " The thing you battled was a standard-issue Techadon robot.

The battle plays out right before her. The first scuffle with Kamui Woods, her cousin's intervention with Ball Weevil… "They are known for being vicious and persistent killer robots that do not give up unless they are completely destroyed. And there is the Weaponmaster-client privilege which…

"Which makes them impossible to track down." Ben finishes her sentence and collapses onto the chair with his face in his hands. And Gwen can roughly hear him. "Ughhhh..."

"We'll find them, Ben. You don't need to worry."

He stands back up with the phone still in his hand. "I know. I know we will..."

"Just be patient for now."

"I will." He picks up his backpack. "Make sure to keep me posted."

He takes a deep breath. If only he didn't have this hero stuff to deal with right now…

"It's fine." he thinks as he closes the call. "I should be able to deal with this. Now, I better go out and-"

"Ben!" His mother interrupts him as soon as he steps foot outside of his room. "I've been calling you for five minutes!"

"Sorry mom." Ben says. "Guess I lost track of time."

"Jeez…" Ben's mother says as she starts fixing up Ben's hair and uniform. "These people will be your classmates for the next three years, Ben. So it is really important to make a good first impression."

She brushes his hair back and says: "Be polite, make lots of friends, pay attention during the orientation..."

"Make sure to also enjoy the time I have there?" he asks quippingly. "Don't worry, I have already planned on that."

However she just settles for ruffling his hair. "Sure. Now get a move on, the last thing I want is for you to be late..."

"And of course I arrived early." Ben thinks as he takes a look at his phone.

He smiles. "I guess she got what she wanted..."

So, with a whole 7 minutes ahead of the class starting time, Ben found himself in these halls. He was just now realizing that since school started back up, he would need to get used to a couple of things besides a sleeping schedule...

"I wish I could ask who's idea it was to have a school uniform?.. Especially one with a tie..."

It wasn't too tight around his neck or anything but sitting in class with this on him for the whole day was less than appetizing. "I really hope the orientation spreads out the hero training well."

Because God knows his hero costume was ten times more comfortable than a freaking suit.

Looking at the signs next to the doors, he eventually finds it. His class.

"Was the door always this big?" He thinks as he looks at the giant door with the letters inscribed: "Class 1-A".

He had entered the written exam in class 2-A so he should have seen it before. "I really need to pay more attention..."

With no hesitation, he grabs the handle on the door. "This is my starting line."

And slides it open. "Let's see who we're dealing with..."

Inside, not to much of his surprise, there were only five students that had chosen their seats and—

"Good morning!"

…were waiting for the class to start.

Before he knew it, Ben immediately got blasted with a serious and too loud for the morning tone. Robotically coming towards him, the student introduces himself to the American newcomer. "I am from Somei Private Academy! My name is Iida Tenya! And I would like to greet my new classmate!"

Ben gives a dumbfounded answer. "Umm… Thanks?.." Maybe "strict" wasn't the right word for him.

Like he was programmed to answer. "Now, if you please choose a seat and wait for the class to start like the rest of us..."

"Okay." He takes a glance. "Let's see..."

As he was looking for the optimal seat, his eyes did drift to the "crowd", considering that they would be neighbors if they sat next to each other.

He did see Iida coming from the left side of the class, so… maybe a place on the right could be better. And, to his 'luck', the other four students had done just that.

One was a tall girl with a black ponytail on the far right, a boy with dual hair-colors of white and red was sitting right beside her. And lastly, there was another boy with a head shaped like a bird.

He would totally be down to sitting with them... IF it weren't for the intense aura around them.

"Yeah nope..."

As for the fourth, he recalled seeing this person before but not in his current form...

"Kirishima?" he asks.

"Tennyson?!" surprised to see him and raises his fist. "Hey man, guess we ended up in the same class!"

"Yeah." and fist bumps him. "Nice hair by the way."

He self-consciously fixes his new spiky, crimson red hair. "Thanks. New school, new me you know?"

"It looks good."

"Thanks. But..." he then pulls Ben closer and desperately says: "...please try to not mention it to the others."

He laughs. "You have my word."

Ben then takes his seat to Kirishima's left, just in front of that triangle of death. "So, what have you been up to since then?"

"Not much, it has just been me and the sandbags for the last few days to be honest. "

He hardens his hands. "I want to give my best when the battle training comes around."

"Fair enough." He replies and leans back on his chair. "Me too, I guess."

"I have no doubt you're going to dominate..." Kirishima eagerly says. "With that quirk of yours, it's gonna be real hard to hit you."

"I know..." Ben chuckles. "I would give you a free shot if you want..."

"No no, I want to get that shot in myself." Kirishima says. "I won't take any freebies."

Ben appreciates that, knowing that people don't want him to hold back at all. "If you say so, but I won't make it easy for you."

Kirishima makes his hardened hand into a fist. "Bring it."

"You have no idea what you're in for Kirishima." He was really starting to get competitive too. There weren't many things in life that rivaled his enjoyment from a good friendly competition.

But before all that, a blond boy with a black lightning bolt enters the classroom with a familiar student by his side.

"...Speaking of it, wanna grab a bite to eat after today?"

"I think I'll pass on that Kaminari." She says with very little care.

"C'mon!" he begs. "It will be fun. What do you like?"

"People that don't annoy me?" she replies before being seen by the American himself.

"Jiro?"

Hearing her name, she turns and waves. "Oh, hey Tennyson."

Ben gets up and tries his hand on some small talk. "So, you passed huh… Congrats."

"Thanks." she replies. "I should probably thank you for the rescue points..."

"Nah, that was nothing." Ben scoffs it aside. "Only thing I did was ram into a bunch of stuff."

"Now, that is true." Jiro says.

"Wait…" Kaminari says, barging into the conversation. "Are you THE Tennyson?!"

Ben can suddenly feel many new curious pairs of eyes being set on him, especially from the serious corner of the class.

"Why do people keep saying it like that?" He thinks but Ben can't lie…

After a whole year of being a 'vigilante' and not getting any spotlight, he sure liked the attention. "Yep, that's me."

"I asked Jiro about you. That's a super cool armadillo quirk you got there!"

"Heh, quirk, sure..." He thinks and replies: "Thanks."

"Armadillo?" Kirishima asks. "Tennyson, I thought you had-"

Suddenly, a student with ash-blond hair comes closer to the group with a death glare. "So, you're the foreign bastard..."

It was Bakugo and from what Ben knew about him, his anger wasn't from the seat he chose...

Ben stands up and looks directly at him. "Yes, and you are Mr Sparkles & Sunshine I'm guessing?"

"Listen here." Bakugo says aggressively but without shouting. "Those rescue points may have given you an edge for the practical exam… But I'll show you who's better than who here."

Ben, from off the top of his head, could name 15 aliens that would wipe the floor with him… But why bother? After all, he wasn't 10 years old anymore. "Sounds to me like you're desperate…"

"Hmph, don't tell me I didn't warn you. Side character..."

Alright, he was really itching to put this guy in his place now. But someone would swiftly snap him out of his thoughts...

"What are you two doing?!" Iida runs and stops by them. "Don't you think it is disgraceful to be fighting in Japan's greatest hero school?!"

Jiro deadpans. "There isn't much of a fight though, Iida."

"Yeah." Pointing to Bakugo, Kaminari says: "We are all getting to know about his crappy personality.

With Bakugo's anger boiling, Ben smiles at his expense.

Bakugo on the other hand: "HEY, YOU LISTEN HERE-!"

Even during this, Iida tries to not let up and continue through with his point.

With ever changing hand signs towards Bakugo, "I suggest you break this up. Even arguments on the first day of the new semester do not suit UA! We must act properly!"

Before he can say anything that isn't age-appropriate though, the door of the classroom slides completely open.

"Oh, um..." the greenette nervously tries to gather his thoughts after seeing that Bakugo was itching to rip Tennyson apart.

Unfortunately, the universe would give him no such chance...

"Good Morning!" Iida walks over to him. "I am from Somei Private A-"

Jumpily, Midoriya cuts him off, "I heard!" which has Iida pause right in his tracks.

He politely says, "I-I've heard some of the talking. I'm Midoriya. Nice to meet you Iida."

"Midoriya..." he says with respect. "You realized there was something more to that practical exam, didn't you?"

"I had no idea… I misjudged you!" he says and bows his head. "I hate to admit it, but you are better than me."

"At least he's being honest about it… and polite unlike some people." Ben thinks, trying his best to not turn his gaze back to Bakugo. "Guess Iida's just sincere… too sincere."

"Oh, that curly hair!" Ben hears from the hallway. "You're the plain-looking one!"

"Huh!" Midoriya turns with his levels of embarrassment going way up.

In the midst of the pair's rambling, he catches a line from the girl: "Of course you did! Your punch was amazing!"

"Ah, so she's the person you saved..." Ben thinks.

Seeing that this is going nowhere, Bakugo scoffs and walks back to his seat and Ben gets the chance to finally sit down.

However, he then notices something… "Wait, there were 20 people per class, right? Counting the trio by the door-"

Just like he thought, that was the whole 20. And he would be lying if he said his class didn't look interesting. "This will certainly be fun..."

In the meantime, Midoriya was just trying his best to form a coherent sentence while the girl continued to talk to him. "-Oh well, um, it was thanks to you going to speak with-"

However, the girl just did not give him any chance. "I wonder if today's just the entrance ceremony and orientation? I wonder what our teacher's like? Aren't you nervous?-"

"Go somewhere else if you want to play at being friends..." a dead, exhausted voice says, interrupting her.

She turns around and sees a tired yellow caterpillar with a face on the floor.

"This is the hero course." He says with bags under his eyes.

"Someone's in there?!" Midoriya thinks with a shocked expression.

The man gets out of his sleeping bag and reveals himself to the trio by the door. "Okay, it took ten seconds before you were quiet."

Getting inside his class, he says: "Time is limited. You kids are not rational enough."

Ben immediately recognises him and wants to wave… but on second thought that might not be a good idea. Right now, he couldn't tell whether the teacher was scolding them or not...

"I'm your homeroom teacher, Shota Aizawa." he introduces himself. "Nice to meet you."

"Maybe not." Ben thinks.

He pulls out some kind of uniform from the sleeping bag and continues, "It's kind of sudden, but put this on and go out onto the field. I'll be waiting for you there."

With him leaving, the students were left confused… There should have been an orientation, introduction, something. But among them, Ben couldn't care less. Honestly he was just glad to get out of this tie and uniform right after coming to school.

But he was certainly curious about what the teacher had planned...

As they were waiting for everyone to arrive in their dark-blue, white and red UA gym uniform, talks were already spurring up between classmates, getting to know each other a bit.

One such talk wasn't exactly about that…

"So, Jiro right?" Kirishima says as he approaches.

"Yeah, you were Tennyson's friend?"

"Kirishima Eijiro." He introduces himself. "I was meaning to ask..."

"Don't try to invite me for after school, someone tried that already..." she throws a look towards Kaminari.

"No, of course not. That would not be chivalrous!"

"Chivalrous?" she thinks however Kirishima quickly moves on.

"Anyway, I wanted to ask you about Tennyson's quirk. Kaminari was saying something back at the class..."

In the meantime, they had also started to get the names of other classmates.

"Yeah, it's something like an armadillo, right?" Jiro says confusedly. "He just turns into a ball and crashes into stuff?"

Kirishima tries to process this but he can't. He knows what he saw back at the mall. "Umm, so…"

He tries to gather his thoughts since Kamui Woods prevented the media from recording them, so literally no one had any idea of their involvement and the pro hero had asked them to keep it like that. "Are you sure that was Tennyson? The one we know?"

"Yeah." Jiro deadpans. "I saw him turn back."

"Huh…" Kirishima scratches his head in confusion. "I met Tennyson a month ago and he didn't seem anything like that..."

Jiro raises an eyebrow. "What do you mean? Didn't he yell out 'Cannonbolt' or something like that?"

It was now Kirishima's turn to raise his eyebrow.

"You know..." Jiro continues. "Big guy, orange & white color scheme, armor on his back?"

He was really confused. "No, he was a small bug. He called himself Ball Weevil..."

The two were perplexed and just then...

"It is most likely a composite quirk from both parents..."

The pair turn and see the tall, black haired, ponytail girl with thin and sharp eyes with also black pupils, speculating with them. "Oh, I'm sorry for interrupting. I was just thinking out loud."

"It's cool…" Kirishima says enthusiastically. "After all, the more of us think about this, the better!"

All the while, Jiro points to the easy way out. "I mean… we could just ask Tennyson, you guys..."

However, neither the girl nor Kirishima are onboard. "I must object, Jiro. I think this is a very intriguing problem that would be really fun to solve..."

"Yeah, we should figure out what it is on our own!" Kirishima then realizes the important step that he missed. "Oh, I must have missed it but can you tell us your name again?"

"Oh, that's right!" She says. Where are my manners?"

She slightly bows and says: "My name is Yaoyorozu Momo. I'm pleased to meet you."

The two try to bow back in a similar manner but fail miserably at doing it. Laughing internally at her situation, Jiro thinks: "She might be a rich girl..."

After all, that's what her manners were showing at least.

In the meantime, Kirishima was right back to the question at hand. "But, for a composite quirk… Don't they seem too distinct?"

"Not necessarily." Yaoyorozu tries to justify however upon thinking again: "But I do see your point. Hmm..."

She snaps her fingers."If the two transformations seemed like wild animals, what if he has an animal quirk?"

Just then Ben also exits the changing room, in his gym uniform.

Throwing a glance at the American, Jiro says:"So what, is he like… a beast boy?"

"That's the theory I'm currently pondering ab-"

Interrupting Momo mid-sentence, Aizawa exhaustedly calls out to all students. "Everyone listen up..."

All students turn to him and cease their talking.

"Now that everyone is here, we will hold a quirk assessment test."

The entire group repeats in surprise. "A quirk assessment test?!"

With how sudden these news were, some kind of questioning does break out.

"What about the entrance ceremony? The orientation?" asks the girl who was with Midoriya.

Jiro thinks: "Her name was Uraraka, right?" The girls had talked a bit in the changing room as well so Jiro was mostly familiar with the names.

"If you're going to become a hero, you don't have time for such leisurely events." Aizawa replies. "UA's selling point is how unrestricted its school traditions are. That's also how the teachers run their classes."

He turns to his students. "You kids have been doing these since junior high, too, right?"

Showcasing the list on his phone and the events written on it, "Physical fitness tests where you weren't allowed to use your quirks."

Jiro remembered them, especially the faces of his classmates that couldn't use their super strength or speed. They were especially upset whereas others, like her, were relieved.

"This country still uses averages taken results from students not using their quirks."

He then asks Ben. "My guess is that it is like that in America too, Tennyson?"

The American replies. "Yeah, everyone had to go through the standard procedure. No exceptions."

With disappointment, Aizawa pushes back his long hair. "I knew it. It is not rational and yet the ministries of education are procrastinating all over the world..."

"Anyway Tennyson, you also finished at the top of the practical exam, right?"

"Yeah..." Jiro hears him reply.

"What was your previous best result for the softball throw?"

"It was… 164 feet so… around 50 meters?" he says.

"Then, try doing it with your quirk. You can do whatever you want as long as you stand inside that circle."

"Alright." Ben replies, stretching his arm for the day's first transformation and then hitting the rims on his watch.

Yaoyorozu nudges Jiro and asks "Do you recall if his 'armadillo' could throw that with success?"

Jiro scoffs. "He could barely stand on his two legs. Throwing? Not likely."

Kirishima joins in. "His bug had these… slime balls that he could throw and explode but I don't know about a softball."

The trio watch him carefully mess with the watch on his wrist. And after finishing that he turns to his classmates and says: "Just a heads up everyone! Please don't provoke me until I transform back."

Jiro thinks: "What does that m-"

Ben slams down his watch and a green flash covers the area.

She opens her eyes. "Tennyson?"

Suddenly an aggressive, feline but deep voice starts to scream… for literally no reason at all.

"RAAAAAATH!" he screams and looks at the ball right next to his foot.

"WHAT?!" Kirishima and Jiro both yell, however theirs were a farce compared to the orange&white kitty cat.

Rath, pointing towards the ball with aggression, "LEMME TELL YA SOMETHIN YOU LITTLE SOFTBALL THAT'S NOT EVEN THE SIZE OF RATH'S PALM! RATH WILL TAKE YOU AND THROW YOU TO THE ENDS OF THE WORLD!"

"Did… Did he really just turn on his Bakugo mode?" Jiro quips inside her head.

"AND THEN! I WILL PICK YOU BACK UP AND THROW YOU AGAIN! HAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Rath swiftly picks up the ball and throws the ball like a professional baseball pitcher.

The throw was so intense that Jiro could swear she felt a breeze right on her. "Wow..."

"YEAH! AND KNOW YOUR PLACE!" Rath continues to scream.

With the ball immediately vanishing from his sight, Aizawa continued to drive his point. "Know your own maximum first...That is the most rational way to form the foundation of a hero."

And then showed them the result… of 2115.6 m.

All of them had their jaw-dropped… Tennyson threw that for 2 km?!

"Yeah! You see that! Hero time!" Rath pointed to the phone, continuing to gloat and roar with a signature look of superiority.

As he gloated, someone from the trio was left deep in thought by the results.

"Incredible…" Yaoyorozu thought and turned to the two other students. "Did any of you-" she starts to ask but it's pointless. Both students shake their heads. This… was a new one.

"Considering the input of Jiro and Kirishima, Tennyson has that, an armadillo transformation and another form akin to an insect… And there were also his mannerisms prior morphing as well..."

She puts her hand on her chin. "His quirk... might be even more versatile than my Creation. I wonder why he didn't get in through recommendations..."

As she was thinking, Kirishima tapped her on the shoulder. "Your animal quirk idea might be right, Yaoyorozu! Look at the claws on him!"

Snapped out of her thoughts, she haphazardly replies: "Yes, with the scheme of the fur and the claws, it certainly has a very tiger-esque design…"

Jiro remarks to Kirishima: "I'm guessing that's your favourite? Because of the whole strong physique thing?"

"Well, I don't know about the gloating… But everything else!" he replies. "So manly!"

Jiro then asks: "What's your take, Yaoyorozu?"

The creation girl says: "I think we should wait and see."

"Huh?" The two grunt.

"From how he spent his time, I suspect this might not be the extent of his capabilities..."

Then, from out of the corner of her ear, the trio hear something… or more accurately someone.

"consideringthatheaskedustostaybackthisformmighthavedependenciesonhismoodasitisshowntobequiteaggressivehisprimaryfiledwillprobablyberelatedtovillainattacksratherthanrescue..."

Kirishima is the first to turn. "Oh! Hey Midoriya!"

"What- Oh, hello Kirishima." Lifting his head from the notebook and stopping the muttering, Midoriya looks at his classmate. "I-I didn't see you there..."

"What are you writing down?" he asks. After all, this wasn't the orientation that they were expecting.

"J-Just Tennyson's new form… I'll have to detail it out later but for now..." he then shows some general notes like 'enhanced strength' and the doodle he sketched up swiftly to go along with that.

"Looks good." he replies, which Midoriya promptly thanks him for.

Jiro and Yaoyorozu follow after him and do introduce themselves but something else catches Yaoyorozu's eye as she gets a glimpse of the page. The title was…

"Tennyson Ben: Form 5?" she repeats and makes a move towards the notebook. "May I take a look?"

"S-sure." and passes the notebook to her.

"Incredible..." She turns the pages. "Water Hazard?.. Blitzwolfer?.."

"Huh, I don't see Cannonbolt anywhere..." Jiro asks. Apparently she and Kirishima were looking over Yaoyorozu's shoulder.

"Cannonbolt?" Midoriya asks before it all clicks inside his head. "Tennyson revealed another form?! Can you describe him?" Midoriya asks ecstatically, taking the notebook back from the creation girl.

"Yeah, it's..." Jiro starts but she doesn't get to finish her sentence.

Due to Tennyson's feat, everyone was getting in the zone to do their absolute best in these upcoming 'fun' tests.

"2 kilometers? Seriously?" Kaminari replies with nervousness.

With excitement, another girl with pink hair and skin, joins in: "What's this? It looks fun!"

"We can use our Quirks as much as we want! As expected from the hero course!"

"'It looks fun', huh. All right..." Aizawa says and his expression changes…

A smirk on his face forms. "Then whoever comes in last place in all eight tests will be judged to have no potential and will be punished… with expulsion."

Unlike most of her class, Yaoyorozu doesn't really react to that. Some were nervous, some…

"THIS ISN'T ALL I GOT!" Rath yells.

...were excited.

But her? She knew she would pass, all she had to do was play her cards optimally, simple stuff. No reason to get nervous... "I wonder who will end up as the one failing though..."

She then feels shaking on her hand or more accurately… on the notebook she was passing along. "Oh..."

Midoriya was absolutely terrified. His excitement over 'Cannonbolt' was completely gone and he was shaking in his shoes.

"Oh no...This is bad...In all eight tests?" Midoriya looks at his hand with concern, the one he punched that robot with back at the mall. "I can't dial One for All back yet…"

"At least, not properly anyway..."

Aizawa, with his smile turning more and more menacing, pushes his hair back. "We're free to do what we want about the circumstances of our students."

"Welcome to U.A. 's hero course!"

Test 1: 50-meter dash

"A test of speed with a 50 meter track..." Yaoyorozu thinks and takes off her shoes before the race begins.

She puts her naked feet on the starting block. "Seems simple enough..."

"Hey!" A pink girl with horns takes the place next to her. "You ready to do this?"

"Yes, I am." Yaoyorozu answers and looks ahead with determination. "Are you prepared, Ashido?"

Ashido also plants her feet to the starting block. "Yup, born ready! May the best gal win."

"Sure..." Yaoyorozu says, trying to be polite.

"On your mark…" says the camera-bot. "Get set…"

*Bang!*

Ashido immediately takes the lead, sliding on some liquid that's coming out of her shoes. "Yahoo! Let's go!"

She was almost halfway through the track. Ashido was going to win!

"I don't think so." Yaoyorozu leaps forth and steals the lead right under her nose! "I won't be making this easy."

She moves in a way that resembles Ashido's movements, sliding to the right and left to gain further speed…

Ashido looks at what's on Yaoyorozu's feet. "Are those-?"

"3.24 seconds… 3.26 seconds." The robot sequentially utters.

"Aww…" Ashido pouts. "I was so close!"

"Yes, you were." Yaoyorozu says as she fixes her ponytail. "If only the track was a bit shorter..."

"I know right!" Ashido says. "And where did you get those rollerblades?!"

Yaoyorozu takes a look at her feet and sees the shoes with wheels on her.

She calmly responds: "I made them."

"Really?! What else can you make?" Ashido curiously asks.

"Well, in order to create something, I must understand their molecular structure completely. And then, I use the lipids inside my body to..."

As the rich girl goes into explaining her quirk, the two hero training buddies watch on from the side.

"So...We know one of their quirks. What do you think the other one is?" Ben teasingly asks. He knew that Midoriya just loved doing this sort of thing.

"I-I don't know… P-Producing water?"

Ben shakes his head but still asks: "Final guess?"

"I-I don't know..." Midoriya repeats himself.

Ben then points at the scene. "See the steam coming off from the puddles? I'm no gardener but I know that water does not do that."

"A-Acid?" Midoriya says.

And Ben snaps his fingers in response. "Bingo."

"I-I s-see.." Midoriya goes into writing into his notebook and Ben chooses to pat himself on the back.

"All it takes is one keen eye, right? Grandpa?" Ben thinks. "I know it was pretty obvious but-"

Ben's eyes then land on Midoriya and the pages of his notebook.

The left side was all organized and the text was always kept between the lines but on the right…

Ben sees the shivering on Midoriya's hand.

"Midoriya..." he waves his hand in front of the greenette's eyes, taking his attention. "It's okay… You and Toshinori worked for this."

"Midoriya. Iida. Your turn." Aizawa shouts.

"I'm sure you'll do great." Ben finishes and Midoriya's shaking decreases.

"You worked for this too..." Midoriya says.

"Well, I prefer to be told that rather than say it." Ben says as he shrugs. "Now, go out there and prove it."

As Midoriya took his place at the track, his mind, just like his heart, was still racing. "Grip strength, standing long jump, repeated side steps… I'm sure everyone will use their Quirks to produce some extraordinary results..."

In the meantime, Iida takes a brief glance at his partner and fixes his glasses. "No wonder he's nervous, there are no rescue points here.

"It's a battle... to not be last."

Iida wants to get into position as well, but something in him just doesn't let go...

"Let us both do our best." he says as he lends his hand forward for a handshake.

"I'm his classmate and a hero student." Iida declares in his mind. "I should be of assistance when someone needs it."

"R-Right!" Midoriya shakes his hand and the two get into position, putting their feet on the starting blocks. "I won't disappoint. I can surely use One for All to increase my speed too... just like how All Might does it."

"Control… Control…"

A red energy spreads to his right leg. "I can't afford to fail, not on the first day!.."

If it was any hotter, sweat could start going down his head. Midoriya bites his lip and the robot starts his countdown. "On your mark…"

"Start small, Midoriya."

Get set…

"5% output… Only open that 5%..."

*Bang!*"

"You did it o- Woah!"

With a roaring shockwave, Midoriya immediately takes the lead as he launches himself forward with his right leg...

"Owwww!"

...crashes face first into the pavement. However, that was the least of his worries…

"Get up..." Midoriya screams inside his mind. "GET UP!..."

He leaned most of his weight on his left leg, but pressing his right foot on the ground still made it hurt like hell…

"5.32 seconds." the robot finally announces and Midoriya could barely prevent himself from falling to the ground.

"Ow! Ow!" He groaned as he bounced towards the audience. "All Might… You said the trick to controlling this was..."

"…the feeling!"

3 weeks ago

"Wow, that's All Might for you!" Back during the night of the entrance exam results being out, All Might in his skinny form went and picked up Midoriya from the hospital after the incident with the robot.

"You've already pulled out the 100%. And on top of that, you have been training with young Tennyson ever since."

Midoriya looks at his hand. "But, even with punching that robot, it still destroyed my hand."

"Aha, but you said this time there was no internal bleeding." He then points to his bandages. "What did you do differently this time?"

"Umm… I used the dam image that Tennyson gave me..." Midoriya tries to recall and then it hits him!

"I might have only used 50% of my power!"

"See!" All Might points out. "You are grasping the feeling of it!"

"If that dam the image you have in your head, then imagine opening less number of gates or a smaller gap of each gate. Anything goes, just focus on the amount of water coming out."

Pointing to his own head, All Might continues. "You have three weeks until school starts. Keep focusing on that image."

"Tennyson and I will be here to help you and with that I'm sure you will be able to do it someday."

"Even if I have the image in my head, when I have to actually use it..." Midoriya thinks as he looks at his broken leg and rubs his sore forehead. "After I get control, I must be able to transfer my power from one leg to the other as I run along..."

As this little broadcast continued inside his head, his class were surprised but also very worried…

Uraraka looked on concernedly. And while Iida shared the sentiment, he also had curiosity behind it. "His leg's swollen...There was the entrance exam too. His quirk is a strange one..."

"It is not very stylish." says another student with blonde hair and a very fancy belt.

"Not too handy either..." says Jiro. "No wonder he couldn't get any villain points..."

… at least most of the class was worried anyway.

"DEKU, YOU BASTARD!" Bakugo yells and dashes at the greenette with miniature explosions going off all across his hand. "WHAT'S THE MEANING OF THIS!"

"K-Ka-Kac-" Midoriya freezes at the sight of the murderous blond, completely unaware of the green flash that happens in the crowd.

"Hey!" a hulking white and yellow figure interrupts him. "Do you really think he needs that right now?"

"Who the fuck are you?!" Bakugo shouts.

Ben points to the dial on his chest. "Ring any bells?"

Bakugo does put two and two together. "You motherf-"

But before he can lash out further, two lines of grey cloth interrupt him. "What the-? These cloths are hard-!"

"They are weapons made of carbon fiber…" Aizawa calls out, immediately grabbing the class' attention. His hair had now spiked up and his pupils had become bright red. "...Perfect for keeping students like you in line."

A slight feeling of fear washes over them, so THIS was the intensity of a pro.

"And Tennyson! Don't spring up without being told to do so!"

Most of the crowd was getting whiplash effects one after the other. THAT was Tennyson? But his quirk was turning into a tiger, was it not?

"Sorry sensei! I was just getting ready for my turn, that's all." Ben casually responds.

Aizawa just shrugs it off, he really couldn't care less about it right now. "Whatever, This is a waste of time. Whoever's racing with him, get ready." before deactivating his quirk on Bakugo.

Cannonbolt throws the ash-blonde a glare that could outright say: "Move along."

Midoriya takes a deep breath and puts his hand over his heart to calm himself down. Even the power of One for All couldn't prevent the unease he got from seeing an angry Bakugo.

As he limps his way back, Ben pulls him aside. "Midoriya..."

The greenette immediately knew what that meant: "I know I shouldn't have rushed it, Tennyson. But-"

Cannonbolt covers his mouth. "I know what you mean."

He then looks back at Aizawa and continues to talk to him. "I want you to stay in this class too but... try to NOT kill yourself over it."

"Go to the nurse's office and recover a bit."

Midoriya was hesitant… but it was not like he could do anything else. "Alright."

Seeing his friend unhappy, Ben points to himself. "By the way, this one is Cannonbolt."

"Oh..." Midoriya replies in a surprised manner but his head was far too filled right now. "Cool..." And attempts to leave.

Cannonbolt still doesn't let go however…

"Keep trying Midoriya..." He puts on a friendly smile and continues to whisper. "I'll be waiting for you by the finish line."

Midoriya's response… was just a simple nod.

When he gets back, he is then immediately greeted by Uraraka's concern. "Is your leg all right?"

"O-Oh, y-y-yeah." he replies nervously. "So close-!"

"No it is not, Midoriya." Iida steps forth, and points to the ground.

Midoriya sees a faint trail of red from here to the track, all formed under his right leg. "You are clearly unwell and need to see Recovery Girl immediately."

"Permission rejected..." Aizawa says as he also joins the group. "No one will go to the nurse's office until the end."

The three were taken aback by this.

"Aizawa-sensei, Midoriya is in clear need of some urgent treatment." Iida tries to defend his friend, but…

"And could he get this treatment in a real situation?" Aizawa asks the group.

"Natural disasters, big accidents, selfish villains..." he starts. "Heroes are meant to be the ones who overcome those situations."

Looking directly at Midoriya, he says: "They can't end up on a hospital bed right after saving only one person."

And walks away. Midoriya sits on the ground.

Clearly his orders were final. But his situation wasn't hopeless.

"May I take a look at that leg, Midoriya?" says Yaoyorozu, stepping forth from the crowd. "I do not know much but I have read about first aid for a variety of situations."

The greenette looked at her with such gratitude and tried to roll back his gym uniform.

Uraraka and Iida helped and its look was less than pleasant.

She rolled back her sleeves. "Alright, first of all we need to stop the bleeding."

A pink glow appears on her shoulder and she suddenly pulls out two sterile bandages and two splints.

She turns to Uraraka and Iida. "We're also going to need ice to cool off the area."

In the corner, the ears of the student with two hair colors perk up, but as soon as he looks over, he dismissively walks further away.

And as he exhales, a chilling breeze comes out of his mouth...

After Iida helps with the blood and Uraraka tries to help with the splints, Yaoyorozu warns him. "I know we still have some tests to go but try not to move too much."

Midoriya looks sorrowful, but appreciates that his friends all came together to help him. "Thanks a lot Yaoyorozu, I really appreciate it."

She wipes the sweat on her forehead and pulls out a protein bar from her pocket. "No need. It is what us, heroes, must do."

Meanwhile, as Midoriya gets his treatment, Bakugo is still mad about what happened with that foreigner… Thankfully, someone was about to help him with that.

"Hey man!" someone calls out to him.

"What?!" Bakugo responds with the most aggressive tone possible without shouting.

"You really made an impact on the class, huh?"

"What do you know, shitty hair?!"

"It's Kirishima." the redhead laughs it off. "And man, were you aggressive?"

He crosses his arms and nods. "...I can respect that style though. After all, you aren't the only one." He was clearly trying to not point to Tennyson as he did that.

The ash-blond refuses to talk however Kirishima doesn't let up.

He adds: "But is there any reason for why you're so harsh on Midoriya?"

Bakugo turns to him and Kirishima tries to follow up. "I mean, the man broke his leg..."

"Hmph!" Bakugo scoffs, avoiding giving Kirishima an answer.

Bakugo squeezes his fist. "He's just a pebble at the side of my road… I WILL crush that weakling."

He then sees Ben as Cannonbolt, completing the 50-meter dash in 2.51 seconds. "And that freak show...once and for all."

For the next test, the class were brought to a closed gym and thanks to another generous act from Yaoyorozu, Midoriya was able to get a crutch and move along with that as well as a bit of assistance from Ben.

Once there, the second assessment begins...

Test 2: Grip Strength

Closing his eyes, Midoriya imagines the egg in a microwave again. But some memories get in the way of his focus...

"It won't be like those times, Midoriya..."

He squeezes the handle on his crutch with frustration.

"I need to get a handle on this now!.."

He gives the device one tight squeeze and the result is...

"60 kg..." Midoriya despairs. "That's not good..."

He looks over to his classmates and-

"540 kilograms, Shoji?!" a black haired student exclaims. "What are you, a gorilla?"

The person in question was a white haired, tall student with multiple arms that were connected on each side like a web. "I don't think it is special, Sero. Because of the design of the machine, I could fit multiple of my arms here."

"Speaking about multiple arms..." says Sero and looks around. "Where is Tokoyami?"

"Right here..." says the boy with a head shaped like a black bird as he comes back into the gym from the back door.

"Where were you at?" Sero asks.

Tokoyami looks again at the back of the gym. "Every little bit of shade helped… Thank you sensei." he thinks and comes inside.

"My device was broken." Tokoyami says coldly, hiding his weakness towards light in a lie. "Aizawa-sensei asked me to get a new one."

"That's cool..." Sero shrugs. "So, what's your score?"

"I hope it was an admirable effort..." Tokoyami says and a dark hand emerges from his stomach, grabbing the device from his hands and showcasing it to his friends.

"300?" Shoji curiously reacts. "Incredible, great work."

"Thank you." Tokoyami slightly bows his head.

"Seriously..." Sero deadpans as he looks at the two of them. "You two are too humble for your own good..."

Midoriya looks on. "Not good at all..."

He tries to put on a brave face, but the bad news just kept on coming from there.

On a separate corner..."HAAAAAAAAA!"

There was Kirishima that seemed like he was about to bust a vein just to prove himself from this test. "Got… Got a 214 here! Ahhhh..."

Sero runs over. "Alright tiger, leave some placements for the rest of us, huh?"

Thankfully the machine had saved his score.

"214, 300, 540 kg..." Midoriya sweat drops again. "And speaking of tiger..."

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAATH! LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHIN GRIP STRENGTH MEASURING DEVICE! 540 IS NOTHING BEFORE RATH SO BETTER PREPARE YOURSELF FOR A NEW RECORD!"

"Yeah, Rath! Come on! You can do it!" says a familiar voice.

"Uraraka?!" Midoriya says out loud, with the surprise taking him out of that hopeless mood just for a second.

"OF COURSE RATH CAN DO IT! RATH IS THE STRONGEST THERE IS!"

"YEAH!" Uraraka also accompanies Rath, equally fired up.

The machine beeps, signaling that the device was done measuring. He releases his grip and both the girl and the kitty cat look at the score.

"539?!

"That means… you couldn't pass Shoji, right?" Uraraka asks disappointedly.

Rath starts to take a deep breath, so much so that they think his chest is actually going to burst with the amount of air it has.

"LEMME TELL YA SOMETHIN, YOU FU-"

Suddenly, two binging cloths cover Rath's mouth. And Aizawa says: "Yeah, that's enough of that."

"Oh wait…" Uraraka says with the device in hand. "I think you broke it..."

She shakes it a bunch and some glass shards fall out. "That's why it's not increasing."

However, Rath was just too furious to comprehend anything that she said.

He was just burning with rage but as he was finally pinned down, he did manage to see something...

Midoriya was left thinking, looking at the device that has his own score with sorrow.

He put his hand over his heart and gripped the uniform ever so tightly.

And Ben… took notice.

Test 3: Standing long jump

It's Ben's turn once again and with his second transformation in the books, people were really taking in why he was number 1 in the exam.

"It is looking really good for Tennyson, if he continues like this..." Iida says. "He will probably come in first place."

"Huh?!" Bakugo overhears his words. " Not while I'm here..."

"I don't know, Bakugo." Kaminari joins in. "From what I've heard, he's pretty amazing."

"He had plenty of surprises too!" Ashido hops on. "I wonder if he has more?"

"I know, right?" Kirishima says.

In the meantime, Ben thinks about the given situation. "A standing long jump this time?"

Without hesitation, he dials up his choice and…

"Blitzwolfer!" he yells out, barely resisting the urge to howl away.

"Woah..." gasps Kaminari.

"Intriguing..." says Iida. "But, that is U.A. for you... Only enrolling the best of the best."

Bakugo, in the meantime, had a different expression. One of confusion, amazement but also anger: "What the fuck is he now?"

"A wolf? He looks so edgy." Ashido says.

"..." Koda still doesn't say anything but there is a small smile on his face. Maybe he likes this one...

"Though a true creature of darkness should only act in the night..." Tokoyami lastly remarks.

"Here I go!" Blitzwolfer leaps into the air, as high as he can and as forward as he can!

"52 meters." Aizawa reads from the phone.

Kaminari nudges Jiro on the shoulder. "Should we be concerned that THIS is the most normal score he got so far?"

Bakugo laughs under his sleeve.

"No no Kaminari. I need to- " Blitzwolfer responds from a good distance away. Turning to his teacher: "Aizawa-sensei, any chance that I can try again?"

Aizawa raises his eyebrow.

"He… wants to try again." Kaminari deadpans. "What's left to try?! He already crushed the test!"

"I have an idea to gain even more distance." the big bad wolf says with his claw on his chin. "Yeah, that can definitely work..."

With a deadly glare, Aizawa asks. "How do I know you're not wasting my time?"

"Hmm..." Blitzwolfer puts his hand on his chin. "How about...If I don't add on another 20 meters with the next jump, I'll fail and be expelled?"

He puts his hand forth. "Is that enough?"

Then immediately, the hardened gaze of two night creatures meet. It was Aizawa vs Blitzwolfer.

The teacher seemed irritated, and clearly looked determined to keep the tests going.

However the wolf was not backing down. He WAS going to do this.

The air immediately got heavier for the other students. Could Tennyson really get away with challenging this fierce teacher?

The answer would reveal itself in only a few intense seconds.

"Fine. I'll take up your deal." Aizawa gives in. "Just make sure to do it quick."

Ben gives him a thumbs up and runs back to the starting area.

"What do you think he will do?" Kaminari asks Jiro. "20 meters is a lot!"

"Don't look at me." She replies. "I haven't seen this one before."

Blitzwolfer's jaw ferociously opens up in four directions and-!

"Hooooooooooooowl!"

With the power of a green sonic howl, Ben flies up into the air and straightens his body according to the direction. "Reduce the wind resistance and get ready to land..."

Sensing that he's slowing down, he then lands on his hind legs. Seeing the amount of land covered and clearing his throat, he says: "That went well."

The distance he covered… was around 94 meters.

"What… was-" Kaminari slowly utters.

"Seems like a unique kind of a wolf." Yaoyorozu says, also making a mental note. "Maybe a mutation in his quirk? I'm going to have to discuss this with Midoriya later."

She was still insistent on her animal-quirk theory.

In the meantime, Koda's small grin immediately vanishes and he hides behind Tokoyami. Yep, he didn't like this one either. "..."

Aizawa steps forth and eyes out his student. However, Ben doesn't even flinch and continues to stand proud.

"Good job." Aizawa says and moves back. "But watch the confidence..."

Ben flinches at the last remark.

"Don't walk into deals if you don't know whether you can deliver on them. Regardless if you think the risk will pay off or not." Aizawa says with his back turned.

Ben nods. "I'll try my best."

He then returns back to the stances, still proud that Blitzwolfer could pull him through that bet and that his forms had good match-up's for the tests. "The next test was repeated side-steps, right? I wonder if bouncing between 2 plasma balls counts..."

"That was a great jump Tennyson." says a short and frog-like girl. "Your new form looks really agile, ribbit."

"Thanks. Asui, right?"

"Call me Tsu." she replies and Ashido comes over to join them.

"That was so cool Tennyson." she says with amazement. "But how did you split open your mouth like that?"

"Oh, this?" He opens his jaw again. A green glow emanates off just before he closes it back up. "It's just something this form has. I call it the Sonic Howl."

"Wow, you're really aiming to win, aren't you?" Ashido says to Blitzwolfer. "You know… You could have at least not done that second go."

"Yeah..." Blitzwolfer agrees and scratches the fur on his back. "Maybe that was a bit excessive."

"I mean ribbit…" she shrugs and says. "Everyone here is doing their best…"

"Why would anyone hold back and let others pass them?"

Ashido raises an eyebrow and looks over to the big bad wolf.

"Yeah..." Blitzwolfer agrees. "It's kind of like: 'If you had outsped Cannonbolt in test 1, wouldn't you be pissed if I told you I was holding back?'"

She replies with a cold dead stare: "I would melt you away..."

Blitzwolfer tries to laugh it off but she definitely wasn't joking…

"Don't worry! I didn't hold back in any of my tests!"

Like he heard them talking, Aizawa checks his list. "Asui! You're up."

"Wish me luck, ribbit."

"Good luck." says Blitzwolfer.

Ashido's mood immediately shifts back. "You go show them Tsu!"

She takes her position and crouches down.

"Whenever you're ready, Asui." says Aizawa.

"Ribbit." She nods and leaps into the air.

At her maximum height, she was still below Blitzwolfer's howling jump; however unlike her transformed classmate, she was staying in the air a lot longer and the angle… was much more favourable.

Ashido was amazed. "Is she about to pass you?"

Blitzwolfer crossed his arms but was quite surprised as well. "Yep… she just did."

Her distance… was 102 meters.

Without smiling, or her facial expressions not changing much, she hopped on back.

"Tsu, that was great!" Ashido fangirled over her friend's success.

And, as for Ben, he lent out his hand. "Very nicely done..."

"Thanks, ribbit." she smiles. "For being a good sport, unlike him..."

"Okay. Bakugo, you're up." Aizawa says with bare minimum enthusiasm.

Bakugo, with the most dull expression, spins his left arm and gets ready. Then, throwing one sadistic look at Ben, he smiles.

"See what I mean?" Asui says to Ashido, while gesturing to the ash-blond.

He pays no mind to this though. His eyes were dead set on the prize.

Immediately he leaps up and-!

"Explosive speed!"

Bakugo takes off from the ground and basically flies his way over the course.

"HOW WAS THAT, YOU EXTRAS?" He keeps yelling with a huge shit-eating grin on his face.

"Is that allowed?" Uraraka asks from the crowd next to them.

And Aizawa just shrugs. "As long as you don't touch the ground..."

Bltzwolfer turns. "Got an idea?"

"Well, we'll see..." Uraraka puts her hand to the back of her neck.

And even though Ben is trying to act all happy and stuff..."Yep, definitely should have picked my flier..."

After flying enough to utterly outclass Ben's score, Bakugo... just lands, looks over to Blitzwolfer and continues to smirk.

Ben knew that if Bakugo was allowed to do a middle finger here… he would.

After a humiliating test for Midoriya in the form of test 4, repeated side steps, here they were…

Test 5: Ball Throw

"Die…!" Bakugo yells, with smoke coming from the end of the ball.

"705.2 meters." Aizawa says, showing it off to the rest of them.

"Good hustle." Ben says surprisedly. However, he then notices Bakugo's scorning his score. "Guess it wasn't good enough..."

"Just good hustle Tennyson? Isn't that a bit-" Uraraka asks Ball Weevil, standing on her shoulder.

"I mean after what Rath did…" Ball Weevil shrugs. "Wait a minute, you're one to talk! You got infinity!"

Uraraka smiles. "Yeah, but I don't know if I scored much on the other tests."

"Nah, I'm sure you're fine-ah!" Ball Weevil lifts his stick leg to wave, resulting in him to fall.

But Uraraka swiftly makes the catch before he hits the ground. "I got you."

"Thanks." Ball Weevil says as he positions himself back. "Thanks again for this view by the way. I was worried that I would have to watch in Mineta mode for a second."

A faint "Heeeeeeey!" can be heard in the crowd, resulting in the two to snicker.

"No problem. " Uraraka says. "Plus, I think we both know what happened last time you tried to look at the action from above..."

The two then look off to the crater next to the repeated side step area. There were clearly some blast marks and some leftover green slime. "For the record, THAT right there… was an accident, alright?"

Uraraka raises her eyebrow and looks back at the bug.

Ball Weevil forfeits. "Yeah I know. I'll find a better way to get rid of that stuff..."

"Midoriya!" Aizawa calls out. "Your turn."

"R-Right, sensei." Midoriya tenses up and walks over to the ball.

Ben squints his eyes, like he was calculating something in his head. "Uraraka… Can you help me with something?"

"This is..." Midoriya thinks as he gets ready to take center stage. "Everyone's leaving at least one amazing score..."

He looks at the course, and then the ball. "Other tests won't amount to much. It's now or never to get a top score..."

"At this rate..." He remembers all of Tennyson's, Bakugo's, and even the results of other students in his class. "I will be exp-"

"Deku!" Uraraka comes over to him.

"Ka- Wait. Uraraka?" Midoriya stutters inside his head.

"Stop worrying..." She says, pressing her fingertips to each other. "And just give it your best."

The two pause there for a second. Midoriya trying to process what she said and Uraraka trying to process what to say next.

"Midoriya!" Aizawa calls out again.

"Yes sensei!" and Midoriya limps to the center.

Uraraka reaches out but pulls her hand back just as fast.

"Do my best…" Midoriya thinks. But as soon as his gaze meets the teacher, it's over for him. Midoriya can't look him confidently in the eye like Tennyson did.

"What do I-" He thinks as he looks back at the crowd and spots Ball Weevil.

The little creature however, doesn't do much. He just puts on a big smile and points to his head with one of his stick legs.

"You got this." Ben utters inside his head. "Put on a good show for all of us."

Midoriya draws his hand back with the ball.

"Izuku! You're really cool."

"You can become a hero."

"I'll wait for you at the finish line."

Red energy courses through his entire arm. "I'll definitely become one and catch up to you!"

The ball exits his hand and the result was nothing short of... disappointing.

"46 meters." says the robot.

"N-No… I-I..." Midoriya fearfully thinks. "I definitely used 100%..."

"I erased your quirk."

Midoriya turns and all he can see is his teacher, with his binding cloth floating in the air, his black hair spiked up and his pupils being redder than ever before.

"That entrance exam was definitely not rational enough." Aizawa says in a way that complies with his cold stare. "Even a kid like you was accepted."

"He erased… my quirk?" Midoriya thinks and after that, it doesn't even take one second to put the pieces together. "You're… The Erasure Hero: Erased Head?!"

Aizawa pays no heed that the kid recognised his hero name. "You can't control your quirk, can you?"

Midoriya's eyes widened with fear.

Aizawa looks him in the eye and says: "Do you intend to become incapacitated again and have someone come in with another charity work?"

Midoriya was frozen in fear. He was trying to be like Tennyson and look the teacher in the eye but… "T-That's not my intention-"

"Whatever your intention was..." He reels him close with his cloth. "I'm saying that's what those around you will be forced to do."

With his eyes, he gestures to Yaoyorozu. "Will she have to stay back and patch you up?"

He then gestures to Iida. "Or does he have to run you to a hospital just to keep you out of danger?"

"In short Midoriya Izuku..." he turns his gaze back to the greenette.

"With your power, you can't become a hero."

"It looks like he received some word of advice." Iida says with his hand on his chin.

"Advice? He probably just told him that he's expelled." Bakugo remarks with a dismissive face.

"I do not think that's the case… His quirk was sufficiently strong. His management was the only thing that seemed off..." Yaoyorozu comments. "What do you think, Tennyson?"

Ben, still transformed into Ball Weevil, comes by on Uraraka's shoulder. "I think he needs to have a big break right about now..."

He then looks at Aizawa. "Because our teacher is getting annoyed."

The five of them intensify their gaze, only then Uraraka feels someone touch her shoulder.

"Are you worried about him? I'm not… at all." says the same blonde student with indigo eyes and a stylish looking belt.

"Who are you?" Uraraka asks.

Just then, Midoriya lets his crutch fall to the ground…

"What is he..." Ball Weevil thinks but his question is shortly answered.

Midoriya, with a tight grip on the ball, steps on the ground for real and raises his hand.

"I'll do what I can now!"

Chapter Text

Dagobah Beach, 2 days earlier

"Come on Midoriya! You still haven't got a touch on me!" Water Hazard yells as he sprays whips of water. "Don't tell me you still haven't healed yet!"

It had been 5 days since the mall incident and with his fingers healed, Midoriya was right back to training.

Midoriya gets hit with some of them but continues to dodge. "I'm not done yet!"

He rolls under one of those whips and tries to get in close, however…

"That won't work anymore!" Ben yells and sprays the ground, propelling himself back several meters. "Try again!"

"I'm not the only one learning here." Midoriya thinks as he gets up from the ground. "He's gradually adapting just as well as I do. So, time to take it up a notch..."

He turns off the One for All on his arm and instead spreads it to his legs. "What about this!" and jumps into the air.

"Don't hesitate, just do!" Midoriya then activates One for All back on his right arm. "Ready or not, here I come Tennyson!"

Water Hazard reflexively raises his arms but doesn't fire and lowers them back down.

"What is he-" Water Hazard, with an invisible smile on his face, jumps up just like he did and uses his water to further propel himself right at the greenette.

"You did good, but I'm ending this!" Water Hazard says and gets ready to grab Midoriya's right hand. However, Midoriya grabs him instead…

Then, Ben notices Midoriya's other drawn back arm. "That was a faint?!"

"Imagine the egg not exploding!" Midoriya thinks and his left arm lights up. "Unleash the 5%!"

With a left hook, he punches Water Hazard right in the face!

"Ha-There!" he yells. "I got one!"

And better yet, his arm was not broken. It was completely fine! "How was that?"

But Ben does not answer… His eyes were closed. "Tennyson?"

He only starts to realize his situation after that. He… was falling.

"Tennyson?! W-Wake up!" Midoriya yells as he grabs hold onto Water Hazard's body. He couldn't have hit him so hard, right? His arm wasn't broken, so he managed to control it right?

Still no response. The ground was getting closer and Midoriya knew he was out of options...

"D-Do I have to save us?" Midoriya mutters and draws his arm back again. "Is 5% going to be enough to stop both of us? Can I really do this?"

The ground continues to get closer.

"Okay okay, remember your pla-" Midoriya thinks as water suddenly shoots out from under them and slows their fall.

"Good reaction Midoriya." Water Hazard says.

The greenette dials back the One for All on his arm and looks at his transformed friend. "Tennyson, you're back?"

"Never left actually." Ben says with a grin and then deadpans. "I just wanted to surprise you… like you surprised me."

"Y-You almost gave me a heart attack..." Midoriya says as their feet step down on the ground again and he collapses to the sand. After all that running around, his legs were killing him.

"And you almost gave me one with that faint and punch!" Water Hazard retorts. "I know I have a strong shell but that was plain risky."

He then asks: "Can you show me that hand?"

Midoriya raises it, showing the back and front of it. "It doesn't hurt..."

Seeing that there was no open wound, Water Hazard takes a closer look and asks him to try opening and closing it.

"Okay…" Midoriya slowly opens it. Please… Tell me that I can do it…"

There was no pain so far… Midoriya then closes his hand.

"It… It doesn't hurt!" the greenette yells. "It's not broken!"

Water Hazard nods in approval. "Looks like we finally got somewhere..."

In a green flash of light, Ben appears and lends his hand down to his friend. But then…

"Young Midoriya!.." Midoriya hears from afar. "Young Tennyson!.."

Letting the greenette sit on the sand for a bit longer, Ben waves his hand and greets the blonde skeleton running towards them. "Hi Mr. Toshinori."

"Hello..." he pants for a bit. "Sorry…(huff)... for missing…(puff)... the training."

"You have no idea what you missed Mr. Toshinori." Ben then points to his greenette friend. "Midoriya here, finally got a solid hit on me."

The greenette lifts up his left hand with pride and shows his mentor how it's not damaged.

"This is great, young Midoriya." He crouches next to him and throws him a certain sincere look. One that meant: "I'm glad to see you harnessing this power..."

Midoriya then turned to Ben and saw him giving a thumbs up too.

"Well..." he says. "...Ready for another round Tennyson?"

Ben was perplexed for a second. Was it just him, or was Midoriya having as much fun as him?

In any case, he liked it...

With a grin, he puts his hand over the Omnitrix, not even looking to see if it charged up yet. "Ready when you are."

Midoriya returns the grin and attempts to get up on his own but-!

"Owwww!" he groans, reflexively grabbing his leg. "What was-?"

He tries to step on the ground again but he's met with the exact same pain on the bottom of his foot. And both the friend and the mentor notices.

"Young Midoriya..." Toshinori says. "Can you show us the bottom of your foot?"

The greenette was hesitant but eventually showed them. "Is it bad?"

He could feel the pain but…

"Well, at least his arm is not broken..." Ben says, trying to keep an optimistic tone. However, he eventually notices Mr. Toshinori's concern.

As the watch blinks green, Ben pushes down on the rims. "No need to worry Mr. Toshinori, I can get him to the hospital in an instant."

And slams down the watch.

His skin quickly turns red and some kind of yellow patagia forms under his arms. The hands on the end of his arms distort to become 3 fingered instead of 5 and each of those fingers elongate in size. His facial features get reduced down to two green eyes, a mouth stretching over his face and two yellow horns extending from his nose. Waving his arms around, he was ready for takeoff.

"Jetray!" He shouts.

"Hospital?" the greenette asks Toshinori, who was still by his side.

"It is not lethal, young Midoriya, but the bottom of your feet… they are shredded."

Despite the warnings of All Might and the unbearable pain, the greenette manages to look under his foot.

The upper half of his foot as well as the under of his toes were bloodied and the wounds were all kinds of distorted, most likely because of his use of One for All. In the meantime though, the lower halves were normal. Was this still progress?

"In any case, you need to see Recovery Girl."

He picks him up and…

"I'll take care of him, Mr. Toshinori..." Jetray says as he picks up Midoriya with his tail. "I'll be back in a flash."

Before they fly away, Toshinori has something to say to his protegee. "Young Midoriya, with your quirk, you must not rush it."

"Tread lightly and be careful. It won't happen overnight."

Midoriya nods and the pair start flying to the nearest hospital.

As they flew, despite being hung over the ground by only a tail and not even holding onto Jetray's legs, the greenette was not panicking.

"Tennyson..."

"Yeah?" Ben then briefly looks down at his passenger. "Want to try flying on my back?"

"No, it's just that... you tend to give me pointers after each session." He begins. "What is your take on this?"

"You sure?" Jetray asks again and Midoriya nods in response.

Without reservation, Ben says the one line that Midoriya was not hoping for: "Well, I agree with Mr. Toshinori…"

Midoriya sighs and looks to the area down below. "Even if... the school starts in 2 days?"

If Jetray had eyebrows, he would be raising them with surprise. "Midoriya..."

"I should have gotten a handle on it by now Tennyson..." the greenette says, waving his hands in the air. "When our hero classes actually begin, I want to be able to fight in the frontlines..."

He remembers a certain hero's rescue of over a hundred people…

"...Like All Might."

Jetray stays silent for a second. "Yeah I get that but you have to go at your own pace..."

"And besides, there is more to fighting than punches, kicks and projectiles."

As his eyes locate the hospital, Jetray says: "No one is expecting you to be the best as soon as the sun rises..."

Present Day

"NO!" yells Midoriya inside his mind. "I won't be complacent here! If that's my only choice, then I have to go all out!"

He drops the crutch from his hands and grasps the ball with all he's got.

"It's just as Aizawa says. At this rate, there is no way I'll become a hero."

Kacchan, Tennyson, Yaoyorozu, Iida, Tokoyami… All his classmates that had incredible showings pass by one after the other in his mind.

"I have to work harder than a lot of people. That's why, with all my strength… I'll do what I can right now!"

As the ball escaped from his grip, the tip of his finger lit up with a red energy.

"I WILL CATCH UP AND EARN MY PLACE!"

"SMASH..!"

The ball, with a huge shockwave, pierces through the air and flies like a rocket launched into space!

The class was in shock because of that throw but Ben, who had just transformed back, was smiling.

Rather than his whole hand... only the finger he used for that throw was broken.

"Way to set your own pace..."

The ball lands on the ground and Aizawa reads the result: 705.3 meters…

He had a curious expression, but…

"Mr. Aizawa..." says Midoriya and as he turns to look, the greenette makes his hand into a fist. "I can still move!"

The erasure hero smiles and nods. "This kid..."

However, Midoriya doesn't last long in that pose. The bandages under his right foot were turning red and he was sweating bullets by the second.

"Woah woah woah..." Ben comes to the aid of Midoriya and catches him. "Okay champ, that's enough."

The smile of Aizawa vanished right after Ben had entered his frame; but the greenette had too much adrenaline to notice. "Finally, a hero-like result."

But his job wasn't done.

"Tennyson..." Midoriya looks him dead in the eye, with never before seen determination. "I set my pace… and I'm coming for you."

He then picks up his crutch and stops leaning on his friend.

Even though Ben tries to avoid showing it, his grin grows bigger like he's finding this all too amusing... "Yeah sure, Midoriya."

"I'll make sure to watch my back." Ben replies. "In any case though, you definitely made your impact on the class."

"Are you sure?" Midoriya asks as Ben looks back at a currently raging and absolutely livid ash blond.

"Yep, pretty sure."

As every other student took their turn with the ball throw and the other three tests passed on by, the time finally came for the results...

And to learn who would be expelled once and for all from class 1-A.

"Okay, I'll quickly tell you the results." says Aizawa. "The total is simply the marks you got from each test."

Some were fearful, due to their possible standing in the leaderboard.

Some were confident, and just eager to get this over with.

Ben, on the other hand, was smiling like a manga reader in a crowd of anime watchers. He was certain of his position and he didn't exactly conceal it.

"Granted, I couldn't use the watch during the sit-up and seated toe-touch tests." Ben thinks. "But, with the rest of my scores, this was a cakewalk."

"It's a waste of time to explain verbally, so I'll show you the results all at once." states Aizawa and immediately a hologram shoots out of his phone, displaying all the individual results.

Number 1 was, of course, Ben Tennyson.

"Of course." Ben shrugs. "Now to find Midoriya."

Because of the greenette's condition throughout the whole test, he skips the top spots and immediately starts from number 15.

15 Yuga Aoyama, 16 Hanta Sero, 17 Denki Kaminari…

"Oh..." Ben thinks. "Midoriya, say it ain't so..."

Others, like Uraraka, who came to know the greenette desperately hoped that there was some sort of miracle. But, in a quote that felt like something Aizawa would say, reality wasn't so kind.

Ben continued to skim through the leaderboard.

18 Kyoka Jiro, 19 Minoru Mineta and 20… was Izuku Midoriya.

The shapeshifter immediately turned to his friend, and could almost guess his thoughts.

"Last place…" Midoriya thinks. "...will be expelled?"

He looks to the ground and squeezes the hand on his crutch. Was his journey… going to end here?

The hologram disappears and Aizawa, in the most nonchalant manner says: "By the way, I was lying about the expulsion."

"It was a rational deception to draw out the upper limits of your quirks." he says with an almost creepy smile.

"Whaaaaaaaat?!" The whole class was shocked… except for a select few.

"Of course that was a lie." Yaoyorozu says as she stares at the group. "It should have been obvious if you just thought it through."

The low scorers were all sweat dropping. "I didn't notice at all."

"There are handouts with the curriculum and such in the classroom, so when you get back, look over them." Aizawa says with his monotonous voice again. "Also Midoriya..."

He then lends him a piece of paper. "Have the old lady fix you in the nurse's office."

Turning to the class. "Tomorrow will be packed with even more rigorous tests… Prepare yourselves."

With that, the class heads to the changing rooms while Midoriya makes his way to the nurse's office.

As he made his way back, Ben just couldn't help himself from cracking a smile. Not only his friend wasn't getting expelled right out from the first day, but he was on the way to becoming a legitimate hero.

"Goodbye looking for alleyways to transform in, and welcome freedom." he thought as he yawned.

This was what he wanted, freely using his powers and taking responsibility for anyone that came after him.

He was on his way… to make the world an even safer place.

"Oh!" Ben utters to himself, like he had just remembered something. And there was also the powers, or rather quirks, of his classmates...

"Some of them were basic and nothing I haven't seen…" he recalls. "But there were some that even the Omnitrix couldn't give me, negating the gravity on objects/people, being able to secrete acid, straight up talking to animals..."

"Even though I might still have... 9,971 forms to go." He counts with his fingers. "...What they are able to do naturally is amazing."

His eyes fell back down onto his watch and then the result on the scoreboard flashes by his eyes.

Ben was thankful... that one fateful day allowed him to stand above all of them, despite the duty that came with it.

As people began coming back to the classroom…

"That was a little nerve-wracking, huh?" Sero remarks.

"You said it..." Jiro tiredly agrees.

Ojiro puts his hand on his chin. "To be honest, it was weird… Getting challenged right away with tests like that."

"Yeah." Kirishima raises his fist. "But I'll take up the challenge anytime!"

"Speaking on challenge..." says Ben. "You still sure I shouldn't hold back, Kirishima?"

"Maaaaaan and then there was you! How could I know you had a one man arsenal like that?!" the redhead exclaims as he turns to the shapeshifter. "I thought you only had that one bug form!"

"You knew about the bug form?" says Sero from the side. "I was surprised when the 50 meter dash came along and you transformed into… Cannonbolt, yeah?"

Ben nods.

"I really thought you were going to become Rath over and over again."

"Nah, he isn't exactly fast." Ben says as he places the handouts into his bag. "And, excuse me when I say, I don't like being angry all the time."

Jiro asks: "So, for that, you have 3 other forms to go ahead and pick from when it's time to battle?"

"Yeah, more or less..." says Ben as he closes the zipper of his bag.

"Talk about a balanced quirk..."

Sato also joins in. "He does have a 10 minute time though… I would say that's a good restriction."

"Aren't you just saying that because you are also time based?.."Jiro retorts.

Sato shrugs. "Maybe?"

"Do you have more perhaps, Tennyson?" someone asks from the corner of the class and Ben curiously turns his head.

The question was asked by the one and only Yaoyorozu, also packed and ready to leave. "I mean, you did state 'more or less'. "

Throughout the duration of the conversation, she hadn't been paying attention too much and was focused on assessing the first year's curriculum just like how their teacher instructed.

But as soon as Tennyson's forms became the topic, her curiosity started to nag at her. Yaoyorozu had seen Water Hazard in Midoriya's notebook, and if Ben was comfortable with it, she would like to see more...

Sero says: "There is just no way, right?"

Ben was seemingly dodging the question.

So Sero asked again: "Right?"

To be honest, even after the mall incident and training Midoriya, he still wasn't too comfortable with sharing his powers like that… But he really wasn't seeing a way out of this one.

With Ben staying quiet, the class was taken aback. "Really?!"

Ashido then quickly grabs Ben's arm and takes a closer look at the Omnitrix. "Then, if not 4, how many guys do you actually manage?"

"Hmm…" Ben thinks and then shrugs inside his head. "Eh, what would be the point of hiding it?"

"10." Ben says with a slight hint of pride and then thinks of his old transformations. "... and counting."

10… 10 different forms… and that meant 6 that they haven't even seen yet...

It weighed on the entire class… at least for 2 seconds.

"Can you show us one more?" Ashido asks with a smile full of anticipation. "Just one more, please."

Ben looks at the watch and hesitates. "I don't-" But the peer pressure just kept on coming.

"Your forms are all interesting, ribbit." Asui says.

Shoji says as he sits back down to his chair. "I must say that I'm curious as well."

"I mean… if you are for real then we're just one below half." Kaminari says. "I would say, let's just complete the first set."

As the lightning boy speaks his mind, Jiro says under her breath: "Is everything just a game to you?"

"Okay, what the hell..." Ben shrugs and hits the rims of the Omnitrix.

Suddenly a mystical green glow appears in the classroom and Ben turns the dial, to select his next form. "Now who to pick..."

Everyone was itching to see what their American friend would turn into. What could be next? They had already seen a tiger with anger problems, a mutated wolf, a rolly polly and a bug that was a whole mile away from cute.

But no one was as anxious as Yaoyorozu. Looking at her classmate from behind due to the position of their desks. "What will you morph into this time?.. Will it be in-line with my animal hypothesis..."

Then suddenly, "Can it be a dazzlin' one this time?" the same blonde with the fancy belt says.

Remembering his name from the quirk assessment, Ben replies: "Not a bad idea Aoyama." and slams the dial.

A green flash covers the area, resulting in Yaoyorozu shielding her eyes. Once she opened them back up again, she was greeted by a sight… that she never expected to see. "What..."

"Chromastone!" Ben poses and slightly lights up his pinkish crystals. "Dazzlin' enough?"

Aoyama was pleasantly surprised. "Oui… It's amazing."

"Well, we lost him..." Ashido says jokingly but she also loved this tall fusion of rocks. "You're looking really fancy Tennyson."

"You think? It's most likely just the rainbow glow..."

"Yeah! The two of you, while Ben is in this form, could totally be a team!" she says enthusiastically.

The two foreign students look at each other.

"Oh yeah…" Jiro says. "And then you could form your own agency, The Twinkling Troupe."

"The Twinkling Troupe?" says Aoyama looks over and then spins around with an energy unique to him. "That's not bad! Tennyson, we have to do that."

"Uh…" Chromastone sweat drops. "How about occasional team-ups and you keep the name?"

"Deal."

"By the way, what else does he do?" Ashido asks.

"I'm glad you asked..." he proudly turns.

As Chromastone turns to Ashido to answer and turns off the lighting, Yaoyorozu catches a glimpse of the new form's front. "A silicone based structure… Different colored crystals sticking out like spikes..."

Now that she had a closer point of view, she also noticed one another thing on Chromastone and her eyes really went wide.

Swiftly picking up her backpack, she walks right towards the door. "It looks great Tennyson..."

"Where are you going in such a hurry?" Chromastone asks.

"My driver is waiting downstairs." and closes the door behind her.

The class is left staring after her. "She's a rich girl alright..."

But Ben was left the most curious. To him, Yaoyorozu looked visibly shaken. "Did I… do something wrong?"

With the sun shining behind her, Yaoyorozu quickly made her way to a black luxury car waiting for her. It was longer than the average car but a bit too short to be called a limo.

She opens the door and gets inside.

"Juuuuuust another day at school, eh, Little Miss Y.?" the driver asks in an overly cheerful way.

The driver was relatively tall and bulky with an athletic build. He had a huge chin, orange hair, black eyes. And despite the rich background, the driver was wearing relatively normal clothes like a leather jacket, yellow shirt and orange tie, but he still had a brown cap, proving in some sense that he was still a driver.

"Yes, it has been enjoyable..." she answers. "But there is something I want to talk dad about, so can we get home as fast as possible?-"

Her eyes then go wide… She should not have said that, but the driver had already heard it.

"Your wish... is my command, ha ha!" He stepped on the gas, making the luxury car roar forward and sticking Yaoyorozu's back to the couch.

"So…" He then looked back at her for some small talk. "You want to get back home that badly? Honestly, been there."

"Not really." Yaoyorozu said as she pulled herself out. "The teacher represented the U.A. very well and my classmates are quite capable."

There was just… this odd feeling in her heart. Was it relief? Fear? Curiosity?

Whatever it was, she couldn't define it on her own just yet. "So, perhaps shock-?"

The car suddenly swerved very sharply and the driver continued.

"It's been a while since I have been at school, but in some ways, the road is still my school."

"Hey… That's deep. I gotta write that down." he stroked his chin and immediately reached for a pen and paper, making the car swerve again.

"Gah!" she blurted out. "Keep your eyes on the road, Launchpad."

With a merciful tone, "You know mom will make every dent come out of your salary… again."

He then grabbed the wheel with both hands. "Absolutely. Hey, have ya read about the crazy goings on at the Shiromaru Mine? People are talkin about cold air coming from it in spring and while it's buried shut! Think it's haunted?.."

Even though he was just a driver, Launchpad's spirit always cherished anything mysterious and when he was going, there was barely a way to stop him.

And at that point, Yaoyorozu did something that she absolutely hated… She pressed the divider. "Sorry about that Launchpad, but for just this one time, I need to gather my thoughts..."

So, what was she going to say to her father when she got back? All she had was a hunch, not fact… But the appearance, the stance, was it not Te-

With 0 warning, the car suddenly stopped and without a seatbelt, Yaomomo would have been flung right towards the window.

"We're here, Yaoyorozu Manor." the driver said as the creation girl opened the car's door.

Covered by a whole forest, there stood a giant white mansion with multiple windows, a door that was far larger than it needed to be and two towers accompanying the entire structure on each of the sides.

She entered through the door, with her knees weak from the 'nice driving' by Launchpad.

"Greetings Mistress Yaoyorozu..." says the butler as the rich girl steps inside.

He was a relatively slim, elderly man with gray hair despite mostly being bald. On top of that he had a mustache and was wearing a three-piece suit, a black jacket, a maroon vest and a white long-sleeved shirt with a black tie.

"I see that the young mistress had an exhausting first day. Shall I prepare lavender herb tea?"

"No need Alfred." Momo waves it off. She really wanted to come in with a serious attitude, but that would only worry the people inside. "Can you tell me where my father is?"

"Surely." He then points upstairs. "Your father is currently busy inside his office. Shall I call him down?"

"No need, I can go up to talk to him. Thank you anyway."

"Understood. Now, if I may..." Alfred says and bows before leaving for the kitchen.

As soon as he leaves, Yaoyorozu's happy attitude vanishes and she starts making her way up the stairs, making sure to keep herself from running. "It can't be possible, right..."

She gently knocks on the door and waits for a response. "Our shares increased by 0.53% today…"

Momo calmly knocks again. "He is probably busy, documenting our current-"

"Come in!"

Opening the door, she says: "Hello father."

Inside, sitting behind his luxuriously large desk, was a middle-aged man of medium build and height. He had short black hair with a few locks of hair parted to one side and had a mustache. As for what he was wearing, he was wearing a standard business suit.

"Oh, Momo!" his father gets up from his desk and gives his daughter a warm hug. "How was the first day of school?"

"It was very pleasant, father." She embraces the warm welcome. "I made sure to meet many of my classmates just like you instructed."

The father raises an eyebrow. "Really? And what are their names?"

She sweatdrops. "So, there is Tennyson, Jiro, Midoriya, Uraraka, Iida, Kirishima, Ashido, Asui… umm… Bakugo?"

"That's only 9 people, pumpkin." He points out immediately. "Have you not met the other 10?"

Trying to meet her father's gaze."I… have not had the opportunity yet?.." she hesitantly answers.

Her father seemed stern and eager for an answer but… he just couldn't be tough on his only daughter.

"Ha ha, I understand. That's still plenty of people." He goes over the names inside his head. "And one of them is a foreigner?"

"Yes, nothing really escapes your Mind Mansion, father."

Her father's quirk is called Mind Mansion. In a permanent location of his own choosing, Mr. Yaoyorozu can keep a perfectly documented memory of everything that he perceived. However, the quirk works at one tenth of its power upon leaving the premises.

A perfect quirk for a husband to remember every single special day that exists! Also a perfect excuse to keep track of their ever expanding business right from the comfort of his home...

She would love to keep up with this idle chat, but the last thing Yaoyorozu wanted was to lose focus. "Say father, do we still keep our holiday souvenirs in your office?"

"Of course." Mr. Yaoyorozu walks over to a nearby cupboard and opens it. "Did you want to take a look at them?"

"Yes, specifically photos and videos of when we went to America..."

He looks at the shelves, with his finger wandering around an unlimited number of photos that were all neatly kept. "Which part of America are we talking about, pumpkin?"

Niagara Falls, 5 years ago

"How can you not admire the beauty and raw power of nature?.." Mr. Yaoyorozu says from a nearby path's railings, gesturing at the waterfalls in front of him.

"I don't know honey..." Mrs Yaoyorozu says, walking over next to her husband with her own raincoat. "I like the sights but…"

She gestured at the waterfall as well but couldn't really bring the end of her sentence. "I don't know… What are you thinking, Momo?"

Springing up from her position, the 10 year old Momo immediately gets on the railings and looks with awe inspiring wonder. The roaring sound of the water and the light reflecting off from it, not to mention the small droplets of water landing on her face.

"It's... really beautiful, dad." She gets off from the railing. "Thank you for bringing us here."

"It was no issue… After all, Alfred was the one who flew us here."

They then wave over to Alfred, who was waiting in the car for them.

"So, what do you want to go on first? The boat, the cable car… Potentially 'Journey Behind the Falls'?"

With that question, Momo's expression immediately shifted from excited to deep thought.

One thing she knew about his father was that, even if he was going on vacation and had one tenth of the capacity to bring with him, he would make sure to well verse himself in getting the optimal experience. After doing that in his work for so long, it was a habit of his at this point.

Like she had been waiting for this question, Momo's mother immediately: "I vote for the cable car."

The rest of the family looks over. "I mean… Looking from above with the cable car, it just seemed much calmer..."

His father crosses his arms and looks at his family. "I apologize… But I have to select the boat. Pumpkin?"

"Umm..." Momo says and then looks at both of her parents."Is it okay if I pick the cable car?"

"Sure…" Momo's father shrugs. "We can do the boat at a later time."

With a smile, she runs back to the car, and the two parents are left alone for a minute.

"Told you she would like it here." Momo's father says.

After a brief drive by car, they make their way to the terminal...

"Alfred." Says Mrs. Yaoyorozu. "Do you desire to join us?"

"Oh no, let me not intrude on your family vacation."

"It's fine Alfred, really." Momo says. "You would not be intruding at all."

The butler looks at Mrs Yaoyorozu's eyes, searching for her permission.

Seeing Momo's mother nod, he says: "Well, if the little mistress insists."

After purchasing some tickets from the ticket booth, they get onto a cable car that starts from the right side of the waterfall…

With a video camera at hand, 10 year old Momo takes her palace right next to her father. "Oh, look at you..."

"Not all of us have that pristine memory, dad." she answers and just does her best to capture everything.

The giant source of water under them, the greenery on the sides, the bright light coming from the opposite cart… Wait what?

She puts the camera down and rubs her eyes. "What kind of a mutant type quirk is that?"

It doesn't take long for them to pass by one another and all Momo can focus on is the tall cinder man with a campfire head standing next to a girl and an old man. "A pro hero maybe?"

"I don't know him." says the redhead girl as they get further away from each other.

However, just before they got out of range, both cable carts shook vigorously and stopped with an emergency.

Ripping the opposite roof open, a monster says: "But we do!" before another one grabs the charcoal man.

"And we know all of his secrets..."

In a red flash, suddenly the flaming figure leaves his place for a… kid?

"Ahhhhhhhh!" screamed Mrs Yaoyorozu and quickly ducked behind the cart's wall. "Come to me, Momo!"

"Villains..." Momo's father thinks and takes out his phone, but the expensive piece of tech immediately gets hit by a shiny green crystal.

"Not on my watch." The monster reforms his diamond arm and nags his finger. "Now sit still, this will all be over soon."

With a hardened glare, both Mr. Yaoyorozu and Alfred take cover with the rest of the family. In the meantime, Momo was doing her best to keep a cool head.

"Villains?! Here?!" She thinks, slightly panicking from all this. "Keep it together Momo, first… observe the situation."

She wiggles away from her mother's grip, just enough to pop her eyes out from the side of the cable car.

"Okay, one of them is..." She had no words for what she was seeing. It was a walking brute which was the mishmash of all kinds of body parts and textures available and had a weird device on his back. "... a monster. And the other… has an octopus on his head..."

Like fate was waiting for her to watch, a green flash came from the car and the kid in the black and white t-shirt was no more. Momo could only assume the worst. "No!"

The two villains immediately look at the source of the yell and then back to where the kid was.

Suddenly, in yet another green flash, a crystal fist uppercuts the octopus headed villain. "Oh yeah! Think again!"

The crystal hero almost knocks the octopus head off the cart, with him barely being able to hang on.

Seeing the other villain coming up, Momo yells: "Behind you!"

The hero ducks under the punch and counters with one of his own right to his gut! "Thanks."

Momo waves at the hero but is then immediately pulled back down by her parents.

"Stay close to Alfred all right, pumpkin?" Mr. Yaoyorozu warned and looked over briefly like an officer in a shootout. "You're too young to be this close to the action..."

Suddenly, the crystalline warrior was thrown right into their cart, passing above them, through the window.

He shakes his head. "Ow… Even I could feel that..."

Momo and her family look fearfully at the display in front of them… With cracks on his arms, the warrior laid in place.

She could also make out a symbol on him. "Did the flame person have that as well?"

"What's wrong twerp!" The hulking hero breaks into the cable car and steps on the hero's chest. "What happened to all that talk?! Being stronger than us?!"

"No! Get away from him!" Momo shouts, creating two bricks on her arms and freeing herself from Alfred's grip.

Making a steel staff, she then hits the giant in the back… to 0 effect.

"Hmph?" he notices the girl. "Oh, wasn't that cute..."

"Get away from her!" The crystal warrior deforms his arms and shoots several shards right at the abomination, managing to make him falter.

With the villain losing his balance, the crystal warrior gets up and tackles him.

Starting to close off the rest of the cart with diamonds, he yells out: "You won't harm anyone while I'm around!"

As part of the cart was getting sealed off, Momo continued to stare at the warrior's back. An unwavering green crystalline hero...

"Heard that kid?! HE will protect you from ME?! HAHAHAHAHAHA!" As the stand still continued, the villain continued to laugh. "You forgot the meaning of 11 or what, twerp? I got your powers, plus my own!"

Momo could not see any further and she felt the weight shift on the cart. So she made a move towards the window. "Don't lose, hero! Please don't lose!"

Her heart immediately sank.

All she could see was the hulking villain flying with the two wings on his back, while her hero hung onto the villain's legs. "Afraid of heights?"

The hero grins. "Not so much."

She sees her hero letting himself go, but before she can see more, another green flash covers her field of vision.

"Where did..." All she could make out after that, was the octopus-faced villain tackling something down to the steel barge on the waterfall, before suddenly being pulled away from the window.

"Momo!" Mrs Yaoyorozu yelled at her daughter. "Never ever EVER, do that to me again!"

"Are you alright little miss?" Alfred asks, equally concerned.

"Yes..." Momo takes a deep breath. "I'm alright… He protected me..."

"Good… That's good..." Mrs Yaoyorozu says, with adrenaline starting to leave her system, making her voice weaker by the second.

Holding onto tears, she says: "Y-Your father is calling the police and heroes now from my phone… We'll be alright..."

Scratching her head, Momo asks: "...and then the police came, am I right? What happened after that?"

Her father had his arms crossed, refusing to continue his story.

Momo asks again more emotionally. "What happened after that, dad?!"

"Later, the police and heroes arrived..." he says and after taking a deep breath, continues: "We testified for the attack, however the barge had fallen off the waterfall and neither the hero nor the villains were found… I'm sorry."

She could faintly remember hearing that police report as her mother and Alfred were trying to get her into the car… and the nightmares that came along with it.

Every night for the rest of their vacation, she would wake up in a cold sweat, dreaming of the monster's return and finishing the job he started all that time ago.

But, it wasn't the time for that now… She needed to keep her focus on the task at hand.

"Is there anything left from that time?" Momo asks. "A photo? Maybe even a crystal?"

Her father averts his gaze, but he knows his daughter…

So, he makes a move to his desk. "Make sure your mother never sees this..."

He opens one of his drawers, takes something out and slides it over...

It was her old video camera! Back from their trip. "He kept it all this time?"

She takes it and slightly bows her head. "Thank you."

As Momo was about to get outside, her father called out. "Momo!"

She stops.

"What's going on? Why did you bring this up now?" He questions her daughter… But for the first time, not a word escapes her lips…

"Momo!" he cries out again while the teen closes the door after her.

But there was no answer.

"She wasn't scared, so the monster can't have come back… So did the hero?-"

He could get only one glance of his daughter's face before she left. And all he could see… was resolve.

She entered the room, shut the door, tossed her backpack on her bed and without losing another second, plugged the camera into her computer.

After the hero's crash landing, it turns out she had briefly dropped the camera to the floor. The lens was scratched and the angle wasn't exactly favourable. But she had got it…

After rotating the image from the video and trying her best on photoshop, she immediately activated her printer.

The picture that came out was still a bit blurry but, to Momo, it was fine.

Staring emotionally at it, she thinks:

"This is not just a simple animal quirk, is it?.."

The picture was of the crystal hero's cracked body… and the hourglass symbol positioned on his chest.

She sat back on her computer and continued her research.

"What are you hiding Tennyson…"

Chapter Text

"Alright class!" Present Mic asks, getting done with his writing on the board. "Which of these English sentences is wrong?"

It was now the next day and the morning was jam packed with regular required classes. And naturally, many were either bored… or didn't feel motivated to participate.

"So normal..." Jiro thinks as she stares at the board. "Is this how U.A. is usually going to be?"

After that insane homeroom yesterday, this definitely did not have the same impact…

Jiro could definitely put it past them. After all this was still a high school but it still didn't mean she was going to answer.

"Everybody heads up!" Present Mic yells, in a slightly frustrated yet cheerful manner. "Let's get this party started!"

"So loud..." Jiro thinks and then sees the teacher's face beam even more. "Yaomomo will probably answer-"

"Okay, Midoriya, come on!"

"The relative pronoun is in the wrong place in number 4, Present Mic-sensei."

"Excellent!" the teacher says in English and the lunch bell rings just on cue. "And that's all from me! Remember to review the first chapter and enjoy your meal my listeners!"

"Thank you sensei!" the class says in unison and then starts packing their things.

"I heard that Lunch Rush manages the cafeteria..." says Midoriya and Ashido immediately looks over at him.

"Really, the Cook Hero, Lunch Rush?!"

Ben turns to Midoriya. "The cook hero?"

"I'll tell you on the way, Tennyson."

Kirishima then joins the conversation: "Just know that we have to go if we want to eat!"

Uraraka asks: "Jiro, are you coming?"

"Well…" she shrugs. "Why not?"

As she's about to head off with the group, someone calls at them from behind.

"Wait!"

Jiro turns first. It was Yaoyorozu.

"By any chance, may I join you?"

The group was a little perplexed… especially after how their friend ran off yesterday. But it was no problem for Ben.

"Sure."

Upon reaching the cafeteria, they quickly come to learn the first obstacle in their way to become a hero… the lunch line.

But on some good news, they get to find Iida.

"Awww! I knew I should have used my acid to get here!" Ashido pouts.

"We could not have done that, Ashido." Iida says with his varying hand signs. "Using our quirks besides class time is strictly forbi-."

"Tennyson... Don't you have someone that could get us in front of the line?" Ashido asks frustratedly.

"Ashido-" Iida tried to continue but the pink girl had quickly lost interest.

"At least we agree with you, Iida." Uraraka tries her best to comfort him and Midoriya joins in.

"Same here."

"Sorry." Ben replies. "If I transformed, I doubt I could go one step before being noticed..."

Kirishima hits him in the shoulder. "Yeah man, your forms are just too insane to not get attention."

Ben smiles. "If only he knew how wrong he was 5 years ago..."

"Speaking on that actually..." Yaoyorozu asks with her usual poker face. "How did your quirk manifest, Tennyson?"

Ben pauses. "Eh-?"

"Yeah, really!" Midoriya asks. "Which one of your 10 forms did you get first?"

"Now that's a story I could listen to..." Jiro states.

Everyone in the group now had their eyes set on Ben, demanding for his story.

On the other hand, the shapeshifter was nervous."Well, I'm going to have to wing some of this huh..."

After all, he did not have a lot of his starter lineup… and the fact that quirks don't manifest when you're 10 years old AND the fact that he fought villains with those powers… Damn, maybe he should have made a cover for this as well.

"Alright..." he starts. "From what I remember, I was on a camping trip with my grandpa and cousin."

Yaoyorozu knits her eyebrows.

"Oh man, the first time I transformed… " Ben laughs nervously. "I accidentally might have…"

"Yeah?" Jiro asks.

"...started a forest fire."

"You did what?" Ashido raises her voice. "What happened then? Did you call the fire department?"

"Yep, they came in and took care of my mess..." Ben scratches the back of his neck. "Thankfully the fire had not spread too far."

"I knew it…" Jiro says and the entire group turns to her.

Ben sweats a bit. She knew what exactly?

"With all those transformations…" She starts with a deadpan tone. "You are a safety hazard."

"Hey!"

Ben points to himself. "I'll have you know that I have way better control over my powers now."

Midoriya says: "I mean… Technically, you told me that the watch is helping you."

"That's different!"

Momo raises an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yeah." Ben then rolls up his sleeve, showing the watch in question. "It helps me select my transformations but even without choosing, all the guys I have can be helpful."

"We did see how manly they all were!" Kirishima excitedly says.

Midoriya joins in: "After all, breaking out of a tough spot is what makes a hero!"

With their loud talking, some others from the line had started to look at them, questioning what they were talking about.

Jiro slowly leans over to Uraraka and Ashido. "Maybe we should sit on a different table while we still have the chance."

The two girls snicker at the offer.

She then asks over her shoulder: "What do you say Yaoyorozu?"

But the rich girl doesn't answer. "Yaoyorozu?"

Jiro follows her friend's gaze and sees that it was stuck on Tennyson's watch.

She then waves her hand right in front of her gaze. "Yaomomo?"

"Huh?" she blinks and turns to Jiro.

"You were zoned out for a sec. Are you okay?"

"Yes… I am. " she then notices something. "Also, you called me… Yaomomo?"

Jiro shrugs. "It just sort of popped into my mind. I'm sorry if it offended you..."

"No." She calmly states. "I like it."

"Alright! We'll call you Yaomomo from now on!" Ashido energetically says, completely disregarding the fact that she has been eavesdropping on their conversation…

"I think it fits." Uraraka says and Ashido gives a thumbs up.

Yaoyorozu puts on a smile. "Okay, I will gladly accept this nickname..."

But her mind was ever busy with what Tennyson had said...

In the meantime, after a decently long line, the rest of the group also finally got their curry and rice from the one and only Cook Hero!

To sum up their reaction, while Midoriya marvelled at the hero that cooked for them, Ben marvelled at the food served in a school cafeteria...

"I am in heaven." he thought as he placed another spoonful of curry inside his mouth.

After the frozen foods served at his old school and the 'healthy' meals back home, it was a beautiful feeling to eat something tasty that was not takeout. "Thank you Omnitrix… for letting me live long enough to eat this."

As Ben's tastebuds experienced what he would call paradise, lunch time came to a close.

Following some afternoon classes, they finally had-

"I AM..."

The entire class turns to the entrance.

"...COMING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!"

With a roaring announcement that doesn't fit the anti-climactic entrance , the number 1 hero enters the classroom.

Eyes widen and Kaminari is the first to react, "It's All Might!"

Rest of the class catch up with the reactions as Kirishima, Asui and Ojiro make remarks:

"Wow, he really is a teacher!"

"That's a costume from the Silver Age,isn't it?"

"Its style is so different it's giving me goosebumps."

Just like the rest of the class, Ben was also excited. "The number 1 as our teacher… This is what I was waiting for."

"I TEACH HERO BASIC TRAINING. IT IS A SUBJECT WHERE YOU TRAIN IN DIFFERENT WAYS TO LEARN THE BASICS OF BEING A HERO."

"YOU'LL TAKE THE MOST UNITS OF THIS SUBJECT!"

"Oh… Then maybe it's a little unfair that I got a head start." Ben thinks. "But, I guess I could be a little rusty."

Taking a card from his belt, All Might hides the front of it. "Showmanship?"

"LET'S GET RIGHT INTO IT! THIS IS WHAT WE WILL DO TODAY-"

And then immediately reveals it to the entire class!

"COMBAT TRAINING!"

Instantly two separate grins form within the classroom.

One was sadistic...

"Combat..." Bakugo repeats inside his mind.

And the other was excited...

"...training!" Ben thinks.

"AND TO GO ALONG WITH ARE... THESE!"

Suddenly four slots open on the classroom's wall and reveal 20 numbered suitcases!

Flexing in his own costume with his signature smile, All Might continues. "AFTER YOU CHANGE, GATHER IN GROUND BETA!"

"Yes sir!"

People slowly start getting up from their seats.

"You coming, Yaomomo?" Jiro asks.

Closing the small notepad on her desk, she puts on a smile. "In a minute..."

"Your costume looks pretty cool, Iida..." Kirishima says as the class makes their way to ground beta. "You look like a motorized knight."

"Thank you for the compliment, Kirishima." He returns the gesture. "I see that you went for a more simple design."

"Yeah, you know…" He points to his exposed chest. "My quirk works better if less of it is covered by the costume."

"Seems like you weren't the only one with that idea."

The two look down to see the source of that comment and see Mineta, looking like a grape with a diaper, pointing to Yaoyorozu and her costume. "The hero course is the be- Ahhhhhh!"

The two boys were really confused, until they saw the small earphone jack sticking out of the little perv's head!

"You are so hilarious." says Jiro with a cold attitude and then scoffs at him. "Just who accepted you to the hero course?.."

"Thank you Jiro." Yaoyorozu says, sharing her sentiment.

"It's no problem, Yaomomo." she replies and then turns to the two boys. "So, how are you guys doing?"

"Fine." answers. Kirishima. "By the way, your costume looks really good as well."

Jiro looks at herself for a second. "I mean, it's just a jacket, jeans and a pair of speakers… But thanks anyway."

"Well, I guess great minds really do think alike." she hears from behind her.

"Of course..." she thinks.

It was Ben, rocking a black shirt, blue jeans and lastly a green jacket with white stripes as well as the number 10. "What do you think?"

"Of the pun on your chest or the costume?" Jiro asks in a coy manner.

Ben laughs regardless though. "Both. Both are good."

"I like it!" Kirishima says. "It is not flashy but it definitely works on you!"

"Thanks." Ben nods. "There was just no way that I would keep my favourite jacket out of this."

"You used your regular clothes as your hero costume?" Yaoyorozu asks.

"Yeah, I just had the company make them from a stronger material." Ben says as he adjusts his sleeve. "After all, whenever I transform, it will all just disappear."

"That is a fair point." Iida says. "So, it's almost like you have 11 different costumes, including your normal form."

Jiro shakes her head. "Talk about future marketability..."

Then suddenly, a bright light hits her in the face. They… were here.

"THEY SAY THE CLOTHES MAKE THE MAN, YOUNG MEN AND LADIES!" All Might calls out. "FROM NOW ON YOU ARE HEROES!"

"NOW, SHALL WE BEGIN, YOU ZYGOTES?"

"Sir!" Iida immediately raises his hand.

"YES, YOUNG IIDA!"

"This is a battle center from the entrance exam, so will we be conducting urban battles again?"

Ben cracks his knuckles. "Please say yes..."

"NO, WE'RE GOING TO MOVE AHEAD TWO STEPS!" All Might says and then points to one of the buildings.

"FOR THIS CLASS YOU WILL BE SPLIT INTO VILLAINS AND HEROES AND FIGHT 2-ON-2 INDOOR BATTLES!"

"Oh?" Kaminari asks. "But All Might, aren't the villains that do the most amount of damage usually appearing outside?"

"INDEED YOUNG KAMINARI! MOST OF THE TIME, FIGHTING VILLAINS DOES TAKE PLACE OUTSIDE, BUT IF YOU LOOK AT THE TOTAL NUMBERS, ATROCIOUS VILLAINS APPEAR INDOORS AT A HIGHER RATE!"

"IN THIS SOCIETY FILLED WITH HEROES, TRULY INTELLIGENT AND DANGEROUS VILLAINS HIDE IN THE SHADOWS!"

Immediately a storm of questions rained down…

"Without basic training, ribbit? How will wins and losses be determined? Can we beat them up anyway? Will the punishment be expulsion like Mr. Aizawa? Isn't this cape crazy?"

"UMM…" All Might was clearly not prepared for this. "I'LL ANSWER ALL OF YOUR QUESTIONS RIGHT NOW!" he says and takes out something else.

"A checklist..!"

All Might then proceeds by explaining the general structure of this exercise. The villain team will have a nuclear bomb hidden in the building.

The objective of the heroes is to either touch the bomb to secure it or capture the villains with the special tape that they have been given.

The villains, on the other hand, can either capture the heroes or just make sure the bomb is left untouched for a limited amount of time.

And the teams, as well as the matchups would be formed by drawn lots. Some people, Iida, had concerns about this method but it was soon made clearer.

"NOW, IF WE HAVE NO MORE QUESTIONS, LET'S DO THIS!" All Might yells as he puts his hand inside the box.

Team A: Hanta Sero & Ben Tennyson

Team B: Shoto Todoroki & Mezo Shoji

Team C: Rikido Sato & Koji Koda

Team D: Katsuki Bakugo & Tenya Iida

Team E: Momo Yaoyorozu & Tsuyu Asui

Team F: Kyoka Jiro & Denki Kaminari

Team G: Mashirao Ojiro & Minoru Mineta

Team H: Izuku Midoriya & Ochako Uraraka

Team I: Mina Ashido & Yuga Aoyama

Team J: Fumikage Tokoyami & Eijiro Kirishima

"Wow, it must be fate!" says Uraraka cheerfully towards her teammate. "I'm counting on you!"

On the other hand, this only made Midoriya more jumpy. "Seriously?! I have to talk properly, or else-"

"Same energy here Uraraka! Looks like I'll be getting some power as well!" Sero grins with excitement and walks over to the shapeshifter hero. "I'm looking forward to working with you."

"Thanks. I'm looking forward to it as well." Ben then shakes his hand. "But don't sell yourself short. I can't do everything by myself you know..."

Sero deadpans. "I'm pretty sure that you could."

In the meantime, Jiro was getting to know her own teammate. "Huh… The same city twice in a row."

"Must be fate, right?" Kaminari jokingly asks but Jiro's expression does not change.

"Can I get a do ove-" She thinks but her thoughts are interrupted upon seeing Ojiro with Mineta. "You know what, nevermind."

"NOW, THE FIRST TEAMS TO FIGHT WILL BE..." All Might says he dives his hands into two separate boxes titled 'villain' and 'hero'.

"...THESE GUYS!"

For heroes the letter was E!

And for the villains the letter was...A!

"Wow..." says Sato and looks over to his partner. "Looks like Tennyson's going right out of the gates."

"..." Koda nods nervously but says nothing. Maybe he was still on edge due to Blitzwolfer, or it was his usual timid manner. Nobody really knew…

"THE NECESSARY EQUIPMENT FOR BOTH TEAMS HAVE BEEN PLACED AT THE DOOR OF THE BUILDING. EVERYONE ELSE, HEAD TOWARDS THE MONITOR ROOM!"

"Yes, sir!"

As their classmates dispersed, Momo, with no change in expression, looked over to Ben from the corner of her eye. "It really must be fate..."

She clenched her fist, but thankfully her teammate was there to calm her down.

"Looks like we have a tall task ahead of us, ribbit." Asui says. "Are you nervous?"

"No no..." Momo shakes her head. "I am fine."

"You seemed tense, that's why I asked."

Momo continued to look at her friend's face and then chose to take a deep breath.

With a hand on her chest, Yaoyorozu says: "Maybe I am a little bit… Thank you for asking."

Asui nods. "No problem."

"VILLAIN TEAM, GO IN FIRST AND SET UP. IN FIVE MINUTES, THE HERO TEAM WILL BREAK IN, AND THE BATTLE WILL START!"

"Yes, sir!"

He turns to the villains. "YOUNG SERO, YOUNG TENNYSON, THIS MAY BE AN EXERCISE BUT THINK OF IT AS A REAL BATTLE."

Ben nods. "We need to go all out for this lesson to matter, right?"

"EXACTLY. AND LEARN TO THINK FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF VILLAINS. IF THINGS GET TOO FAR, I'LL STOP IT."

He thought so. Even if he hesitated against his classmates, the real evil wouldn't hesitate. Ben knew that much…

"Yes, sir!" and the pair head inside, immediately seeing the 'nuclear weapon' made out of paper.

"So..." says Sero. "I know All Might told us to not hesitate, but Rath is off the table, right?"

Ben looks at him, like if he really needs an answer for that.

Sero holds up his hands. "Just wanted to be sure..."

Ben sits down on the ground and Sero continues to ask. "So, what's your game plan? Chromastone? Cannonbolt?"

"Nah." Ben replies and puts his hand on his chin. "Both of them are utility based and we are probably being graded on collateral damage as well..."

Even as he said that, an old phrase was echoing inside his head.

"Your choice of warriors is based solely on brute-strength, without regard for any strategy. Do you ever pause to consider your actions at all?"

He stands up and hits on the rims. "Power isn't the answer here..."

As he rotates the dial, the train of thought just continues to race inside his mind. "As far as powers, we do not know their full extent. So we need the ability… to make a good guess."

"That's all well and good..." says Sero. "But that still doesn't answer what we will do."

"Don't worry." He cracks a smile. "I'll tell you in a moment."

And then Ben slams the dial.

"FIRST COMBAT TRAINING… START!"

Without missing a beat, Yaoyorozu skips the door in front of them and takes a quick turn to the right. Pointing to a window on the side, "Can you pull me up there?"

"Ribbit." Asui nods and quickly jumps up there. By using her tongue, she then helps Yaoyorozu up.

"Infiltration is successful." She pulls up the schematics. "According to this, this is a 5 story building with a basement. We are on the second floor and considering your quirk, they most likely placed the bomb to a lower level."

15 minutes on the clock, Yaoyorozu immediately goes for the stairs located at the edge of the floor.

Asui, on the other hand, doesn't move.

Keeping a cool head and putting a finger on her chin, she asks: "But, wouldn't they be able to predict that?"

Yaoyorozu pauses in her tracks and Asui continues. "They saw how I could jump in the quirk assessment, ribbit."

The bluff made sense… Taking the risk and putting the bomb upstairs despite her frog quirk… If that was their game plan, it would have almost worked.

"Tennyson also doesn't shy away from risks..." she thinks and remembers his little stunt with Blitzwolfer against their teacher and…

"Yes..." Yaoyorozu replies, cutting through her thoughts. "You might be onto something..."

The frog girl catches a shiver going down her partner's back as she says that. "Are you sure you're okay?"

However, she doesn't answer. They arrive at the stairs and find both of them covered in tape. Yaoyorozu takes a quick look at both of them and says: "Top floor."

The frog hero doesn't object and they rip the tape apart… only to hear a loud noise starting to come from above.

"What is that?" she says.

"I think I have an idea. Move!"

Several empty metal barrels roll down right towards them but the pair act fast and get in the clear before it's too late!

With silence settling back, the pair look back up.

"That… was too close." Asui says.

"At least we know it's the right way. Come on."

Yaoyorozu runs upstairs while Asui chooses to hop or crawl on the wall.

"I think we're getting close, we better slow down..." she says, but the sound of Yaoyorozu's steps doesn't oblige.

"Yaoyorozu?" she thinks concernedly. "What's going on?"

She recalls her friend's sudden departure from school. "What happened yesterday?"

They turn the corner and barge right into the top floor.

It was a giant clear room with no corridors, some pillars to hold it up, wooden crates, barrels… and, what looks like, a giant crab in the center.

"Aha!.. Just as I have envisaged…" he says as he snips his right pincer with his back turned against them. "Both of my allies yet adversaries in this current juncture in time, as they say in vernacular, took the bait."

Yaoyorozu looks around. "The bomb... isn't here."

"Neither is Sero!" Asui says.

"An astute observation!" He gestures at his own head. "For you see, the cranium that houses the greatest intelligence on this very terrain, has foreseen your most likely route of action and taken the necessary precautions."

"We must go downstairs." says Yaoyorozu but immediately, the exoskeleton on the crab's head opens up, revealing his brain.

"My most sincere apologies… But I cannot let that come to pass."

Lightning appears inside the room and mysteriously grabs the planks and barrels, throwing them at the door.

"We can defeat you Tennyson." Asui says as she gets ready to jump at him.

The orange crab then turns around, with sparks appearing on his head and his pincers.

"I would very much like to observe your attempt. Also, I would like to correct you on one particular subject.

"The proper apropos nom de guerre for this transfiguration of mine is... Brainstorm!"

"Yep, I knew it!" Kaminari says like he's filling up a checklist and lifts up his hand. "Who else wrote down electricity?.."

"It's a miss for me..." says Sato. "I wrote down ice."

"Same here man." says Kirishima. "I had fire & plant control written down."

Jiro turns confusedly. "What made you write that?" and in response, Krishima shrugs.

"Midoriya?" asks Kaminari, but backs down upon seeing the boy trembling in place.

With one eye on the screen, All Might asks Jiro: "Wrote down electricity?!"

"Oh well.." Jiro straightens up. "Yesterday, Ben told us that he still had 5 more forms. So we noted down our guesses for his powers and the winner gets the bragging rights."

"Jiro?" then asks Kaminari a bit suddenly.

The earphone jack girl looks away… but does end up high fiving the blonde.

"Yesss..." says Kaminari under his breath.

"I see..." says All Might. "But I hope that is not distracting you from the lesson."

"That is not the case All Might!" says Iida, continuing his hand motions regardless of what anyone says. "We are aware that the knowledge gained from this class is much more important than a bet we have made!"

Uraraka then leans over and sees Iida's list. "Magnetism?"

He swiftly covers it up. "I just wanted to be included..."

Ashido then walks over to her teacher. "They only have 15 minutes to get out of that room and to rush to the bottom, right?"

"Yes!"

"The heroes are clearly at a disadvantage here!" Ashido says with an upset manner. "Nevermind the fact that Sero is waiting right for them!"

"Heroes should be able to turn the tables on whatever predicament they're in." All Might looks at the screen. "Regardless of the difficulty… And besides, didn't Mr. Aizawa tell you?"

"Here we go-" He raises up his fist and the class instinctively follows suit. "Plus Ultra!"

However, that levity was short-lived...

"Monsieur, Yaoyorozu is-" Aoyama says and everyone's eyes once again become glued to the screen.

"Tremble before my electrolucutive power!" yells out Brainstorm and continues to spray the area with electricity.

In the meantime, both heroes were hiding behind a pillar.

"Are you sure this plan will work?.." Asui asks.

Her partner seemed a bit shaken after seeing Brainstorm's full appearance but she had long since regained her composure.

"I think so..." Yaoyorozu says as she finishes pulling a sheet out of her glowing arm. "Now to wait..."

Asui nods.

The two waited…

Just a bit more…

Until the lightning died down…

"NOW!"

The two heroes rushed at the exact same time and Brainstorm took another deep breath to continue with electricity. "I… won't permit this!"

"Too late!"

The electricity struck but nothing happened!

"It's called an insulation sheet, Brainstorm. Learn it, ribbit!" Asui then jumped up from her spot and went directly for the brain. "Yaoyorozu said that If we can shut down the exoskeleton, he might not be able to shock us anymore."

From what they had seen, it was a solid plan. However, Tennyson was never that basic.

"An admirable attempt!" He yells out and snips his right pincer, releasing an extra electrical current and shocking Asui midair!

"Asui!"

"You're next!" Brainstorm yells out but Yaoyorozu takes cover just in time. "Just get this charade over, hero. Acknowledge your defeat and surrender."

Yaoyorozu glances from the pillar she's standing behind. She had to be honest, Ben was seeping into his role and playing a mastermind villain perfectly.

Both of them had to know that she would never let that happen. She would turn this around, that is what a hero does. Be it practice or not!

Her hands started to glow pink, she had one more plan up her sleeve...

On the other front, despite having the upper hand and wasting her time as planned, Brainstorm was getting more and more impatient. He did not need the oversized head of his to know that he was nearing the end of his transformation time and when that hit, it would be all capture tape for him.

"Excuse my lack of civility, however I ponder that it is about time for you to come out!" He leaps towards the back of the pillar and as soon as their eyes make contact, Brainstorm fires his lightning bolts at full force.

However, the so-called-smartest-mind-in-the-universe had gotten baited for a second time…

With rubber gloves and a steel pole that was stabbed to the ground, Yaoyorozu grounded all that electricity. "Now Asui!"

His eyes went wide and in an instant, his body was covered in an insulation sheet.

"I was certain that I hit her with a low voltage electrokinetic strike." Brainstorm ponders. "Perhaps I underestimated the factor of her cape..."

Brainstorm seemed in shock from his misstep. But he quickly came to his senses with Yaoyorozus next words.

"Now, the tape!"

His eyes narrow. The crab was back in it. "The insolence! Haaa!"

With one final card, an electrokinetic bubble formed around Asui in a flash and captured her.

Yaoyorozu's fear was evident from her face but she had to keep her composure. It was not the time to freeze.

She managed to get back to the pillar again. All the time, she was playing support for Asui or acting as a distraction.

This time, she might have been truly alone. "That is really concerning."

"What should I do…" she repeated inside her head. "He now knows where I hide so it will only be a matter of time before he-"

"Now...to tend to…Ugh, may I ask for you to cease that?.."

She lifts her head and looks around the corner. Brainstorm was looking right at her but was practically tumbling in place while Asui repeatedly bounced inside the bubble.

Initially, the crab had his pincer out against Yaoyorozu like he was going to fire. Now though… he moved the pincer back on his head, like he was having the worst headache of his life.

And one's misery, would become another one's clue…

"His powers are concentration-based!.." Her stomach started to glow. "Don't worry Asui, I'm here!"

"Where… was the capture tape?" Brainstorm pondered as he looked around. But he would soon lose his chance.

"Hey, Brainstorm!" Out from the corner, came out Yaoyorozu, facing her opponent.

"Oh!.." looked over Brainstorm and tried to put on a brave face. "I admire your courage..."

He had started to speak, but Yaoyorozu didn't care! She rushed in like Asui with a plastic stick in her hand!

"Done with grounding I see… However, it is useless all the same!" Brainstorm blasted her with electricity.

"Is it?! Try something!"

She turned around and blocked it with the sheet hanging from her like a cape!

Brainstorm's eyes went wide and she pushed on forward. "I knew it. The lightning is only a shallow shell of its former self!"

She held onto the staff from the end and smacked her opponent like a pitcher hitting a homerun. However, the bubble was still intact.

"Tsk..." she rushed in again with a similar strategy before he could recover.

"Lucidly difficult to- ahh!" And, sure enough, it worked yet again! Brainstorm was just too preoccupied with Asui!

However, like before, the bubble was still intact...

Yaoyorozu smiled and went for her third hit. "This should break his bubble!"

She swung again, but Brainstorm, with one arm ripping through the sheet, caught the stick.

"Ha! You have severely underestimated my dexterity!"

But, Yaoyorozu continued to smile. "What is so amusing, may I ask?"

"This."

BWAAAAAAAAAAA!

Suddenly, the sound of an air horn filled the room, point blank on Brainstorm's face no less!

"No!"

The bubble broke apart immediately and Asui was now freed.

"Yaomomo!" Asui called out and Yaoyorozu complied.

"Right."

Asui started smacking Brainstorm around with her tongue. And in the meantime, she thought to herself: "Sorry about this Tennyson, but I won't have any mercy."

In the meantime, Yaoyorozu created a small explosive in her hand and tossed it to the door, blowing up the orange crab's barricade.

"Asui, I think that's enough, let's go!"

The frog girl looked back and as soon as she saw the door, Asui went to her partner.

However, Brainstorm persisted. "Huff...Puff… An aspiration of satisfactory levels… "

He was still mostly covered with the insulation sheet and with Asui's blows, despite the exoskeleton around his body, he was off balance. It was a miracle that he was still standing after that.

"Nevertheless... I will concluding thi-"

His brain opened up again, but the electricity was not shocking them… It was shocking himself!

"What kind of trickery..." he thought and looked at the heroic duo for an answer.

Yaoyorozu, smiling with her partner, says: "Guess Tennyson… You didn't know everything about us..."

The crab turns his sights to the creation hero's partner, and the frog girl shows her a small puddle of mucus in her hand. "You short circuited yourself Tennyson."

Ben lays there, exhausted. The dial, under the sheet, blinks green and he goes back to his usual human form.

Asui looks over to her partner. "Maybe I was overreacting..."

The creation hero, unlike before, seemed fine now.

No, more than that, she was relieved…

Asui put a hand on her chin: "Ribbit, Tennyson was the biggest wildcard so far, so maybe because of that?"

That made some sense but it still didn't completely fit. Just what was going on inside Yaoyorozu's mind?

In the meantime, the creation girl took a deep breath and gestured Asui to go on ahead, while she tied up this villain for good.

"Are you sure?" the frog girl asked but her partner nodded regardless.

"I guess that makes sense..." Asui thinks. In the heat of the battle, Yaoyorozu had used a good amount of lipids to create so she definitely could go on ahead and let her use the break.

Yaoyorozu follows up while turning her back to the frog hero. "I will make sure to not take too long. Call me if you run into Sero."

She gives her a nod and starts going down the stairs, as fast as she can to the basement.

As her partner hops away, Yaoyorozu's expression hardens. Like a police officer who just caught her first criminal, she looks down at Tennyson and then takes out the capture tape.

She took both of Ben's hands, placed them on his back, and started to tie them up. In the meantime, Ben chose to run his mouth with whatever he had.

"You know, I gotta say, that was some real good planning."

Yaoyorozu doesn't respond.

"Grounding me, insulating my attacks, using sound to distract and then short circuiting me? You guys really thought of everything in that short time."

Yaoyorozu still doesn't respond and even squeezes the capture tape a bit too tightly.

"Ow..." Ben groans. "Alright, alright, I'll shut up."

With finishing to tie up the knot, Yaoyorozu stands up. "I'm sorry for that, Tennyson."

With her towering over him, Ben gets a chance to see her face and… it was a mix of concern, curiosity and anger.

"I will be back… she says. "...to free you after the exercise."

In a calmer tone, he says: "Alright… I guess I will be waiting for you."

"Thank you." She then walks over to the stairs and tosses the rubber gloves aside. "I guess I will see you in a minute."

Ben raises an eyebrow. "In a minute?"

A competitive grin appears on his face. ""Who said you were going to win?"

Yaoyorozu opens her mouth, but suddenly a call comes in. "I'm listening, Asui."

"Sero is here." Asui tells the com. "He's trying to run from me now, ribbit."

"I will be right there." She hangs up and starts running down.

As she was moving, Yaoyorozu heard something from Ben. It was faint but she could make out what it was. "Good luck."

It did not take long for her to reach the bottom floor and to the entrance of the basement, however sweat was going down her forehead regardless...

"Okay." Yaoyorozu holds her left arm and has it glowing, ready to create anything on a whim. "Let's get this over with."

To her, it was time to help her partner to capture the final villain and wrap up this trial.

But, as soon as she took one step forward, a strand of tape shot out, missing the side of her face…

"Coming through!" Sero swung out and then pulled on the tape on his other arm.

Suddenly the entrance to the basement was caved in with barrels and planks! There was no other way in!

"I would love to fight, hero." Sero shoots out another tape. "But I gotta jet."

"Wait right there!" she yells and runs after him.

As he leaps over the corridors and makes it to the stairs again, she presses on her communicator. "Asui, are you down in the basement?"

"Yeah, ribbit." she says. "He had been expecting me..."

"Want me to come back and help you?"

"I don't know." she replies. "If you save me, he might give you the slip. But together, we would be able to cover more ground."

Yaoyorozu pauses in her tracks, stopping her pursuit. After a bit of time, she decides to run back. The answer was obvious.

Sero was much more agile than her in here, he was going to give her the slip regardless. Plus, if the challenge still continued, that would mean that the bomb was not in the basement either.

They needed to cover more ground.

She makes another explosive in her hand and tosses it down. "Get clear, Asui."

The pile blows up and a small hole forms inside the debris, one that Asui manages to crawl through.

She pants in place slightly.

"Are you okay?" Asui asks.

"Yes, I just ran around a little too much…" Yaoyorozu stands straight again and wipes the sweat away. "I am fine now."

The frog hero looks at her. "The last battle must have taken more out of her than I thought, ribbit… I need to carry more of the burden."

In all actuality, Asui wanted Yaoyorozu to take it easy but the creation hero was far from being in the mood to do that.

Right now, even if she told her partner to take a break, Yaoyorozu looked like she wouldn't comply, so there was no point in asking.

"Any idea on where he could have gone, ribbit?"

"I don't know if we should continue chasing Sero." Yaoyorozu takes out the building schematics again. "The bomb is more important but… I don't know where they could have hid it."

Asui takes a longer and harder look, both at the plans and at the person holding them. And Yaoyorozu was thinking, not of the location, but of the circumstances...

"Ben was already transformed by the time we had entered the building…" she thinks. And in that form, Ben was extremely different. "He was cunning like usual but his speech pattern was completely-"

Her eyes go wide. Her opponent saw this coming…

Ben's final words echo in her mind again.

"Good luck."

His quirk really made him that smart...

"We have been conned." says Yaoyorozu and in response, Asui tilts her head in curiosity.

Barely taking breaks per sentence, the creation hero then tells her of Brainstorm's massive plan.

Setting a trap on the stairs, then having each villain wait at one end of the building, sealing off multiple rooms, teasing Sero as a constant loose end…

It was all to waste their time!

"But, ribbit..." Asui asks. "Where does the bomb fit into all of this?"

That was the big question, wasn't it? Yaoyorozu puts her hand on her chin.

In their short encounter, Brainstorm seemed smart but equally petty and arrogant. He would hide it in a place that amused him the absolute most...

And that would be his downfall.

"Let's go." says Yaoyorozu. "We're going to the second floor..."

The two look back at the stairs.

"...The very floor we entered from."

Even Asui's expressionless face lights up…

The only audible thing after that was the running of a couple of young heroes.

Their eyes were on the target and they were nothing short of determined...

The heroes arrive at the window where it all began.

"We will need to fan out from here. He might be smart but I don't think he could have guessed the exact window."

"That would take too long." Asui says and leaps up to get on top of the labyrinth-like walls. "I'll search from above."

The words of "Sounds good." escape her lips before two strands of tape shoot down at the creation hero and pull her up to a wall from her arms.

"AH!" She yells out of shock but doesn't bother in asking what that was, the answer was obvious.

"What?" the figure on a nearby maze wall asks. "I figured that since Asui was going to join me on the high ground... Might as well bring the whole party here."

Towering above both of them, Sero had finished sticking the tape onto the wall and was crouching in place just like an all too familiar web-head. "So Asui, what do you say? Round 2?"

The two girls look at each other and without exchanging any words, execute their game plan.

"Ribbit." Asui's tongue shoots out right at the tape user, but he immediately swings away.

"A swing and a miss!" Sero quips and continues to move around as Asui continues to jump and launch her tongue to catch her target.

Yaoyorozu on the other hand, had closed her eyes. "This will not hold me..."

She announces "Creation." inside her head and her arms immediately light up. Constructing two braces over where the tape was on, Yaoyorozu frees herself and lands right back on the ground.

Her objective was to find the bomb and even though the maze-like structure was working against her, she would not be discouraged.

In the meantime… The chase between the tape-slinger and the wall-crawler raged on.

Asui, narrowing her eyes, launched her tongue one more time and it grazed Sero's arm.

"Whoa! Almost had me there... my turn!"

He lands on one of the walls and shoots back.

However, that was what Asui was waiting for.

"What are you-?!" Sero yells but it was too late.

The frog hero leaps between the strands of tape and threads the needle.

With her foot extended, she kicks the tape user right in the gut!

"Owwww!" He lands square on the ground and before he can act, Sero finds his torso enveloped by Asui's tongue.

His arms were still free, but now Sero would also have to lift up Asui if he wanted to swing his way out. But the hero gives him no such chance.

She lifts him up with her tongue. "We are not going to let you win, ribbit. It's over."

Sero however, from under his mask, doesn't immediately reply and starts to clap. "Yeah, very well played..."

Asui was surprised by the smirk but her grip stayed strong.

"Unfortunately though... We played it better." He then raises his hand, but rather than trying to pull himself to safety… Sero holds up three fingers.

In that moment, reality hits her in the face…

"Yaomomo! Have you found the bomb yet?!" she yells into the corridors, completely forgetting about the communicator that was in her ear.

Sero puts down one finger.

The frog hero takes out the capture tape. Even if her partner couldn't find the bomb, they would still win if Sero was rendered immobile!

Sero puts down another.

She reaches…

Asui reaches with everything she has got! But... It was all too little too late.

With a booming voice from the coms, All Might announces the end: "VILLAIN TEAM… WINS!"

"What a battle!" Kirishima cheers.

"That was so close, you girls!" Ashido shouted from the background. "You almost had it!"

Inside the control room, all the students were in awe. In their eyes, both teams had fought valiantly and more importantly, set the standards so god damn high!

Like, how were they supposed to match that?!

"Damn..." Sato says with wonder also emanating from his voice. "Leave something for the rest of us Tennyson."

"Hey Kaminari." Jiro nudges him and points to the tied up Ben on the top floor. "You better ask him for some moves."

He also takes a look at the screen and in his usual jokester manner, replies: "Why? I think I'm pretty decent in the electric business."

"I'm just saying." Jiro shrugs. "At least he can use electricity and keep some brain power to himself."

"Hey!" Kaminari annoyedly responds which only causes her to smirk.

As she was smiling at Kaminari's attempted tough guy act, another voice, devoid of any kind of familiarity, cut straight through the control room.

"All Might..."

The teacher turned around and looked at the student in question. It was the second recommended student of class 1-A, Todoroki.

The class suddenly went dead silent.

"YES, YOUNG TODOROKI?"

With his chilling aura intact, he asks: "Was the bomb really hidden on the second floor?"

All Might puts his hand over the main panel. "WELL, BEFORE WE REVEAL THE ANSWER, LET'S TAKE SOME MORE PREDICTIONS, SHALL WE?"

A couple guesses do rise up from the class, such as it being on the third floor, fourth floor, first floor, etc.

Jiro, on the other hand, doesn't rush into throwing out a guess. Instead, her mind ponders a different kind of question: "What's on your mind, Todoroki?"

"IF WE HAVE ALL THE GUESSES..." He presses the button. "THERE IT IS!"

The screen briefly turned static and what came out was the bomb's exact location, near a doorway.

"The bomb… was sitting at the beginning?" Ashido asked.

"THAT'S RIGHT!"

The bomb was sitting next to the entrance to the building all this time, where the hero team were originally expected to enter from.

However, since Yaoyorozu and Asui bypassed that and chose to enter from the side of the building, they had completely missed it.

"Like I thought, Tennyson flipped the script on the hero team…" Todoroki said.

With his usual unsympathetic tone, he continued to talk.

"In an exercise like this, you would expect the heroes to act and the villains to react in response. However, by keeping the bomb at the last place they would think of, he took control and played with their expectations until time ran out."

For preparing that kind of strategy, in 5 minutes of prep time, the user of ice and fire could only think of one thing.

"He's good..."

"So, can you..." says Sero, pointing to Asui's tongue. "Let me go?"

"Ribbit, oh yeah." replies Asui and lets him down. "That was a great first round, wasn't it?"

"You're telling me!" Sero replies as they head back to the control room. "When everyone started acting like it was life-and-death, I was freaking the f out."

Asui laughs, however as they pass by a corridor, they get to see how the other hero was handling their loss.

She was on her knees, looking at the ground, with her back turned at both of them…

"Yaomomo?" Asui asks and the young hero stands up.

Sero also tries to join in. "Are you good?"

"Yes..." she replies. "Thank you for your concern."

Her delivery was really reserved, gritting her teeth, almost like she wanted to continue holding something in.

The duo were worried for her, but the fact that Yaoyorozu didn't want to talk about it couldn't have been made more evident. So, after she gets up, the two just indulge in regular conversation as they make their way back...

"I was meaning to ask by the way." Sero says to the creation hero that was walking behind them. "Where did the nickname come from?"

Yaoyorozu misses a beat for a second. "Umm… Jiro came up with it."

"It is okay if you want to use it."

"Nah, I was just… curious."

He then turns to Asui and puts one of his hands on his forehead. "Also, sorry if I was being a jerk. We thought it would be a good idea to play the villain as well."

"It's okay, ribbit." Asui smiles, trying to alleviate the situation. "We were going for a heroic tone as well."

Yaoyorozu lifts her head.

"I..."

The duo turn to her.

"I… will go back and release Tennyson from the capture tape."

The other 2 students share a look and Sero jumps the gun first. "Sounds good... We'll see you back in the monitor room."

"Right." She heads on over to the stairs and makes her way to the top floor.

Once there, Yaoyorozu sees him, continuing to sit in the very same spot.

"So, I'm guessing you didn't like where I placed the secret toy surprise?" Ben quips, trying to have Yaoyorozu crack a smile to absolute no avail.

As she crouches down and unties her, Ben takes things seriously. "Look, I know I'm not on your best side right now. And I really want to fix that."

"I don't know where we got off from the wrong foot, so if I could have a hint-"

Yaoyorozu interrupts her. "I don't dislike you, Tennyson… I just can't understand you."

Ben is… decently surprised. "What do you mean?"

Yaoyorozu takes off the communicator and gestures to him to do the same.

After that, she sits down cross-legged. "Do you really not remember?"

Ben's expression was enough of an answer. He was absolutely clueless.

In response, with a pinkish glow, a steel staff appears in her hand. "How about now?"

He takes a close look at it and then Yaoyorozu who is currently holding it.

"I don't think so..." he shakes his head.

Yaoyorozu puts a hand on her chin. Figures, even if he really was the person she suspected, there was no way that would be memorable enough.

Then… There was only one thing left to try.

Taking a deep breath, she asks:"Did you forget the meaning of 11?"

Ben turns to her, curiosity in his eyes along with a small hint of fear. He doesn't care about the tape falling from his body and just listens to her.

Yaoyorozu sees the sudden shift and continues like she's asking a question. "I got your powers... plus my own?"

Ben opens his mouth to say something but instead bits his lip and stands up.

He turned around to walk away, but Yaoyorozu wasn't about to let up.

"Did you remember?" she asks again. She had actually got a reaction out of him. That had to mean something!

Ben, on the other hand, pauses and looks back at her.

Shaking his head, the shapeshifting hero remarks: "No Yaoyorozu, I don't."

And continues walking away.

With that response, Yaomomo stood up as well and wanted to follow after him.

She didn't want to accuse her classmate of anything… but she couldn't ignore what she had seen.

Ben's left eye… had twitched.

Chapter Text

The battle for the first combat trial was over. The villain team was victorious and all the students were either marvelling at the efforts of both teams, or eagerly waiting for their own match to take place…

…Except for two hero students.

"Do you remember?!" Yaoyorozu asks and in response Ben just looks at her.

He saw her desire for an answer. "Do I remember?" he repeats inside his head. Yeah, of course he did. How could he forget?

Those were Kevin 11's lines. One of his most formidable villains from back in the day…

A kid around his age with a powerful absorption ability, who tried to tarnish his reputation by using it for money and revenge… only to get turned into a monster.

His personality was so shitty and egotistical that it's hard not to compare him to Bakugo…

He was selfish, despicable and had his head completely in his ass… but even then, despite all the things that had happened between them, Ben had still dreamed of a world where Kevin could have been his ally… Where the two could fight side by side and benefit a lot from having each other around.

But that was all it was… a childish dream.

It's impossible... for a guy like that to change.

But, I guess the dream was sort of right, he taught him the importance of responsibility behind having power.

When he last saw him… It took everything that the Omnitrix had at the time to hold his own against him and his new ally, Vilgax.

In the mere minutes that he was stuck in the Null Void with them, he remembered this feeling of being almost animalistic, losing himself in the rush of adrenaline as he switched from one alien to the other...

Then the crash of relief upon seeing Gwen…

And the terror upon feeling Kevin grab her right out of his arms…

He held the brand-new Omnitrix in his arms to calm his nerves. "Do I remember?" Ben asks himself again.

After that rush from the past, he could barely keep himself from laughing without reserve.

But, this wasn't the proper time or place…

He turns back to the creation hero, tells her that no, it does not ring any bells and resumes walking away to the control room.

As their evaluation takes place and even when the other students start their own match, Ben's head was still busy, pondering the choices that he made.

"I'm doing this for the good of everyone. Please don't make it any more difficult than it already is..."

He kept saying that inside his head… So, the matter should have been closed, but even after their evaluation and during the other battles, the answer to that question continued to pull him back in… Or rather what else he could have said.

"Was that right?" Ben asks, considering his previous decision.

He was technically a hero during that time... Saving lives, fighting villains, the usual besides not having a hero license.

The only big difference was that… The villains he faced were usually above Earth's pay grade.

"Then, does that make it okay to tell her?"

What if she tried to dig in deeper? Why was he doing this, who were Vilgax and Kevin, what happened that made him stop for 3 years…

It was risky but wasn't it right?

These questions and just the decision itself ate away at him, making him feel more vexed by the second.

Right now, he really didn't need this, especially in class. So, Ben takes a deep breath. "I will put this thought away for now..."

He then takes a look at Yaoyorozu, who was staring at the big screen but lacked concentration. "But I promise… to address it later."

Ben then turns to the screen and lifts up his head. "Who was fighting in this round anyway?"

He then sees Midoriya in his fighting stance and, presumably, yelling at Bakugo with half of his mask already blown off. "Oh yeah… They were an unfortunate pair."

"Wow… the bundle of nerves actually put down Bakugo?" says Jiro. "Who expected that in the first lesson?"

"Manly move there, Midoriya!" Kirishima yells, palming his hand. "Very nice counter to a surprise attack!"

"A surprise attack is a strategy too." All Might says. "They are in the middle of a real battle right now."

Ben nods rather subtly and turns his gaze back at the screen.

"Huh..." he says to himself. There was something off about Midoriya's stance.

"That's not what he used during our training." he thinks. "Is he really planning to take Bakugo head on?"

Granted, they had made some progress with Midoriya's quirk. But a fist fight against number 2 of the entrance exam? It was his funeral and he was showing it.

The greenette was shaking in place and with his frown, he did seem courageous to Ben…

...But also equally desperate.

"There goes Bakugo!" Kaminari says and just like that the battle was really getting underway.

The explosive hero tried to kick and swung back at him again but Midoriya negated the first blow with his capture tape and the second by dodging.

"Pretty good there Midoriya..." Ben thinks but he was unaware of what would come next.

The greenette, instead of waiting, went on the offense instead and ran straight towards the ash-blonde!

"What is he doing?!"

Bakugo tried to trick him by coming at him with his left instead but Midoriya saw right through it.

With his hand pointed right at the explosive teen, Midoriya let out a powerful flick, sending his opponent towards the wall!

"Midori really used it again!" Ashido excitedly yells out.

"That guy's amazing..." Sato then adds on. "Boldly using his quirk like that."

Ben lifts his eyebrows. "Yeah, bold indeed..."

Even though he wasn't completely ready, Midoriya was still giving his best regardless of his situation. Ben, even though the reason hadn't hit him yet, felt just a bit small.

In the meantime, All Might also had his own share about the battle. "He was always good at reacting quickly in a crisis. While also spending years writing his notes and internalizing them..."

There was also their latest training at the beach.

"And with his recent training with Tennyson, not only has he been getting a better grasp on One for All, but his instincts were also unconsciously being sharpened."

He puts down the pencil and stares at the screen.

"That fanboy knowledge is working in tandem with his latest efforts... and propelling him forward!"

Bakugo manages to stop himself with explosions right before he hits the wall, but by the time he manages to look back, Midoriya is already long gone.

"Come back here, Deku! You won't defeat me with one fucking flick!" Bakugo yells out… or at least that's what Ben assumes from behind the scenes.

To him, and everyone else in that room, you could do without knowing the kind of insult Bakugo used, instead of trying to read lips.

He turns his head to another view point, where it shows Midoriya planning and recuperating after that blow.

The glove was destroyed, but in terms of real damage, only one of his fingers was broken.

"He really is doing the best he can..." Ben thinks.

The topic of the greenette's past with Bakugo had come up during their training sessions and he could tell that it was a tough spot for Midoriya to discuss… Didn't he relate to that feeling?

"He seems really angry. It's scary!" Kaminari thinks out loud.

And unfortunately for the hero team, Bakugo just was not done. After managing to find Midoriya, he unleashed the largest attack that the class had ever seen!

They could even feel the shockwave!

"Bakugo! What the hell are you thinking?!" Ben yells inside his head. He could understand the mentality of bullies but this was much more than that.

"This is supposed to be a class!" Kirishima says. "He's actually going to kill him."

"I agree, this is too much. We should stop this, teacher." Ben also joins in and backs up Kirishima.

Getting closer to All Might and lowering his voice, Ben says: "I knew there was bad blood between the two, but this should not be how they deal with it."

And the number 1 was not disagreeing with it.

"I should stop this..." he thinks. "But..."

Midoriya tries his best to dodge and land another flick but Bakugo does not give him a chance! He continues to land explosion after explosion and despite that, the greenette was continuing to get up.

"This is lynching!" Ashido also yells out. "He can capture him by just wrapping the tape around him!"

Some were trying to at least observe Bakugo's pitch perfect precision, but Ben was having none of it either.

"I could care less about the technique!" he says. "We need to get him out of there..."

Ben just couldn't tolerate it. He wanted to go hero and stop this right now.

And he would have done so…

...if he hadn't heard All Might accidentally letting his thoughts slip.

With his hand that held the mic shaking, under his breath, he said:

"I don't want to stop them, for his sake."

Number 1 hadn't noticed that he had said this out loud and even if you had asked him at that moment, he wouldn't have been able to give an answer...

Most of the class had missed that que, but the familiar shapeshifting hero, since he was sticking by his side out of concern for Midoriya, managed to pick up on it.

"What?" Ben thought and looked back onto the screen. "Why- What kind of good would come from any of this?!"

Midoriya had his back to the window and Bakugo was walking up on him, presumably for another beating. The greenette had his mouth moving, yelling and probably spewing whatever was on his mind.

"What good would come from it, Midoriya?" Ben continued to ask. "You don't have to explain yourself to him!"

Ben could see Midoriya yelling, with everything he had got despite the tears forming in his eyes.

"What's even the point…" he continues to ask.

In that moment, as Midoriya followed Bakugo on dashing against his opponent with his fist held up high, it clicked.

Midoriya's bravery… It wasn't just from facing a scary opponent… It was also facing his troubled past with Bakugo.

All Might was shaking his place and Kirishima was not letting up. "I said, this looks bad! Sir!"

Ben however, shakes his head. "No, this… is the best way, isn't it?"

He relaxed his fist and removed his hand from the rims of the Omnitrix.

Tears vanished from Midoriya's eyes as he faced down his long-time bully, and then... Ben didn't need to be able to read any lips to know what he said next.

"Smash!"

With an ingenious yet equally desperate move, the greenette aimed his fits towards the sky and with some quick thinking from Uraraka, their team secured the weapon, pulling the victory right under the ash-blonde!

Also with the shaking gone from his voice, All Might announced: "HERO TEAM… WINS!"

The shapeshifter took a sigh of relief. Granted, Midoriya was injured, but it could have been far worse.

He looked at the screen again. Both of the heroes were down in one form or the other, Iida was trying to tend to Uraraka and Bakugo… was frozen in place.

He wanted to feel good for Midoriya managing to make the ash-blonde like that. He honestly wanted to quip and have the rest of the class laugh, but his mind couldn't help wandering off to somewhere else.

"Would she feel like that as well?" he asked in his head.

Trembling, shocked, almost hyperventilating… If a simple punch from reality made the big bully Bakugo feel like that, then maybe there was a second take away from the greenette's lesson…

"I can't be rash like him..." Ben thinks. "Everything has a time and place..."

"Maybe after she gets her own license and faces a couple of villains-"

He shakes his head. Wouldn't that be too far away?

From what little they interacted, Ben learned that she was a smart and likable person. So, was he really going to let that weird tension exist between them for that long?

Ben takes a deep breath. "I'll talk about this with grandpa tomorrow..."

Now, he needed a break.

The matches from the rest of the class played out as per usual and now that they had changed back to their school uniforms, everyone was heading back to their classroom one by one.

"Yaoyorozu?." someone asks, waving his hand robotically in front of Momo's face. "Yaoyorozu?.."

"Oh." Momo shakes his head. "Hello Iida, how may I help?"

"Nothing, it's just that you have been silent since your match. We were wondering whether everything was okay."

She then sees Uraraka that was hanging around Iida. "Asui was asking that question a lot as well."

"I suppose…the battle against Tennyson took a lot out of me." she replies.

"That's understandable." Uraraka joins in. "All three of the beginning fights had that intense aura...It was getting really scary after one point."

"First three?" Iida asks.

"Well, Todoroki's fight wasn't exactly relaxed either. He must have been really fired up after seeing our fights as well."

Uraraka realizes what she just said.

"I mean, not literally of course, he he." she says sheepishly with a hand behind her neck.

Iida smiles at the joke and then asks: "So, what does Tennyson call his sixth form? We saw the two of you battle but only All Might was able to hear what was said."

"What was said…" she thought and immediately Ben's final answer popped into her mind. "No Yaoyorozu, I don't."

She couldn't believe tha. Not in the way of astonishment… but of trust.

"I would have usually dismissed the issue with this answer, especially since I don't want to intrude on the personal life of my friends, but..."

Tennyson's body language had spoken to her. He clearly knew something about those events five years ago but was hesitant to tell what it was.

"Now that I know it is there…" She says inside her head. "My next question should be… What is he struggling so much to hide?"

She would love to continue pondering about this, but for that to happen, she needed to get away from the audience.

"He calls it Brainstorm..." she brushes the question aside and puts her hand on the bridge of her nose. "I apologize but may I go on ahead?"

Iida looks on concernedly. "Sure..."

The creation hero accelerates her steps.

"What do you think is going on with her?" Uraraka asks.

"I don't know..." he says. "Whatever it is... I'm sure she'll tell us eventually."

After getting back to the class, Yaoyorozu sits back down to her seat and takes out the notepad.

Tapping the pencil to the side of her table, she dives back to her thoughts.

"I went over the footage from my camera over and over again..."

On the pages, there were various still images from that moment. The flaming figure being grabbed by the two monsters, a kid suddenly appearing in the midst of a red flash, the scared reactions of the elderly man and the girl…

"The likely scenario is that he is the hero that fought off those villains and saved my life but..."

There were just some things that didn't add up.

"The first flash of color being red instead of green, the dial being white&black instead of green&black and the kid not touching the watch on his wrist to transform… These are all inconsistent from what I know."

Could something have happened after the fall he took... and the fight that followed it?

"Perhaps he was injured..." She gasps. "Could that be it?!"

She flips over a new page.

That could be the reason for him using the watch on his wrist… Since he's now unable to do it on his own.

It COULD also explain why he didn't want to talk about what happened that day…

She was writing up a storm in her notepad… but the fact continued to stand in front of her.

She sighs and puts the pencil aside.

"It can be possible but it is still all just speculation."

Yaoyorozu looks down at her notes again.

"I need more information." she murmurs.

Without further intel, all she could do was speculate, create theories and hit more and more dead-ends.

Also, unlike her theories with Jiro and the others about Tennyson's quirk at the yard, this time she couldn't get intel from the source.

And other sources were scarce and untrustworthy…

"What do I do..." the creation girl asks herself, gathering her hands.

All of this was too important to her to let go. She had to know if he was the diamond hero. She had to know if… that warrior was still around and thank him for everything.

"I can't do this alone." she admits and with a glance falling on her notepad, she murmurs: "I need someone who would know about this… about heroes."

"It's late afternoon...?" Midoriya opens his eyes. The light from the fluorescent light initially dazzles his eyes but he slowly gets used to it.

"Are you awake?" Recovery Girl asks.

"Yeah, how long was I out?" he says as he lifts his head from the pillow.

"A couple of hours…" Recovery Girl answers in a nonchalant manner. "You missed all the afternoon classes."

Midoriya bows his head. "Is that so..."

"Well, that's all for today's treatment. Come back again tomorrow, okay?" she says.

Midoriya raises his eyebrows. "But… my arm still hasn't fully recovered?"

"I did the best I could but since you're completely exhausted, we can't do anything but wait."

"I see," he says. "Thank you."

"Thank me by not coming here so often." she waves her hand. "Jeez, one thing that I don't need is a recurring patient."

Midoriya nods and gets off to the corridor.

He had missed his classes and had to settle it by breaking his arm again…

"Mr. Aizawa's gonna wrap me in those bindings..." he nervously thinks.

Not only that but since his arm was broken, he would have to take a small break from training as well. "This really isn't my day, is it?"

At least he got to see another one of Tennyson's forms… and pull a win under Kacchan.

"A year ago, I couldn't even dream of doing that..." He thought as he looked down at his broken arm. "Because of you All Might… Because of the people that supported me..."

His mom… Tennyson…

With their help in all of this, he could move forward and he could already feel how his world was changing because of it.

In the meantime though, he couldn't help but be empathetic. "I wonder how Kacchan is feeling about it…"

He remembered his words, how he accused him of lying, and how he actually had a flashy quirk this entire time!

"No, that's not the truth!" he yelled inside his head. "I… got lucky."

He needed to fix this. He needed… to set it right.

Just when he was about to slide open the door of class 1-A, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

He turned and raised an eyebrow. "Yaoyorozu?"

"Midoriya, may I have a word?" The creation girl asked with a serious tone.

"Sure?.." he nodded. Midoriya had seen Yaomomo be serious, but it was usually towards being focused on the tasks ahead. This one felt like… it had weight.

"May I take your notebook for the night? Your hero notebook?"

Midoriya's eyes light up, alleviating the situation just a bit. "Is there a hero you would like to know more about Yaoyorozu?"

"You could say that..." she says, refusing to waver in front of Midoriya's optimism. "I assume a lot of Japan's heroes are written in there?"

"Yeah, but the one that I have right now is number 13..." he says with a hand on his neck.

And this one was not complete, it wasn't even halfway filled.

"The other 12 are back home and they have a lot more. If you want, I can bring the needed one-"

"So what about American heroes?"

Midoriya, in response, tilted his head. "I might have one or two but why-"

Yaoyorozu, with a heavy heart, then shows him her notepad.

On the page, there was a giant hourglass inside an equally giant circle "And how many of them have this symbol on them?"

Midoriya is stunned. "That's Tennyson's symbol, isn-"

Yaoyorozu closes her eyes, takes a deep breath and when she opens them again, she interrupts and says: "We need to talk."

The greenette was shocked, but his glance still shifted over to his classroom door. "Can it wait? Just a minute?"

Yaoyorozu nods and Midoriya dashes into the classroom, only to then get out and run towards the gate of the school.

She thinks: "We have a lot to do..."

Hours rushed on by and before anyone had realized it, the next day had arrived and with it, came a brand new school day.

The next day

"Hey, you!" a news reporter calls out to Midoriya as many of the cameramen and other reporters surround the greenette. "How are All Might's classes? Do you think he should have become a teacher? Or was he suited to crime fighting more? Can we get an opinion from you?"

"Uh, excuse me, I need to go to the nurse's office!"

Midoriya managed to retreat into the school but if there was anything that should be known about mass media… It was the fact that they are relentless.

Before he could even blink, the media saw Uraraka, Kirishima and Iida heading for the gate.

"Will you tell us about what the Symbol of Peace is like as a teacher?" the reporter immediately asks.

"Wh-What he's like?" Uraraka replies, equally caught off guard by the question as Midoriya. ""Um… He's very muscular!"

"Yeah!" Kirishima joins in. "And very manly!"

The reporters deadpan. "No, we want to know-"

"Well, I think I can answer that." Iida says seriously. "He made me recognise anew that I attend an educational institution..."

While Iida was replying to their question, Ben sneaked a peak from the corner. "That's… a lot of reporters."

From the side, he then hears someone respond. "You're telling me..."

"Ah!"

He turns around and sees Pony waiting with her bag. "Hey Ben! Did I scare you?"

"Yeah, a bit." he scratches the back of his neck. "I thought you were one of those reporters."

She laughs and looks over as well. "Yeah, they really have a great many of them huh?"

Right now, from where they stood, it really looked like they were going to hold up everyone, be it teacher or student, trying to get to their classes and desperately ask for their answers.

Ben smiles and rolls back his sleeve. "Well, they're going to need all of them if they want to hold me back. I got the access pass right here."

Pony claps and says: "Same here!"

Two horns fly off from her head and take position right under her foot. "I've been practicing skating with my horns-Whoa?!"

Suddenly though, the horn slips right under her right foot and just when she is about to fall, Ben grabs her shoulder, preventing her from falling. "You were saying?"

She pouts. "I was saying that I was practicing."

Pony gets back on. "Let's just do this."

Ben nods but he could feel that something was wrong. "Wait a minute..."

It was quiet… too quiet.

He sneaks a peak again. "Nevermind, my classmate took care of it..."

"What do you mean?" she gets off from the horns and looks as well.

Turns out Iida's interview made all the reporters fall asleep.

"That works too… I guess." she says.

The two Americans dash right at the gate and as soon as they get in the clear, Ben could faintly hear a reporter trying to approach him. "Hey! Just a little time is fine!"

Suddenly the lights above the gate turned on and with an ear deafening alarm, turned red. "Wh-What the…?!"

Walls of impervious steel rose up from the ground and quickly strengthened the walls and the security system was completely in effect. The only opening was from the top and the reporters doubted that anything that flew in there wouldn't be fighting for his life.

Pony turns around. "Wow… This is the world famous U.A. security barrier? It's so cool."

Ben looks at it as well. It didn't seem anything too special to him but that was mostly because he had seen Mount Rushmore getting back into shape after several years of absence.

"Now that I think about it, I wonder how the crew is doing back there..."

Maybe he should schedule a trip back during the summer break.

"For now though..." he shrugs and waves back at the reporters. "Bye bye mass media. Good luck getting past that!"

"Wanna get going?" Ben asks.

"Yeah."

The two walk towards the main door.

"So…" Pony says. "How have you been doing Tennyson? How is class 1-A?"

"It's pretty good." Ben points back at the door. "I mean, you kinda just had a sneak peak."

She smiles. "Yeah, they look like they could be fun to hang around with."

"Is class 1-B like that too?" Ben asks.

"Of course, they're great!" she enthusiastically says. "They are all super nice and our teamwork was great in the rescue training!"

"Rescue training?" Ben asks.

"Yeah, in the USJ? You guys didn't have that yet?"

"Nah..." says Ben. "We had battle training..."

Speaking of which, the doors of their classes were right up ahead. "Well, see you later."

"Sure!" says Pony. "Take care Tennyson."

The two wave at each other and go into their respective classrooms.

"Good work on yesterday's combat training." says Aizawa. "I saw the video and the results. And I have notes to give to some of you."

He then turns to class.

"Bakugo, you're talented, so don't act like a kid."

Bakugo knits his eyebrows and grits his teeth in response. "I know..."

Aizawa then turns his gaze. "Midoriya, you can't keep saying you can't help it because you can't control your quirk."

The greenette looks down.

"But, from what I've seen, if you can solve the control issue, there will be a lot you will be able to do."

Midoriya lifts his head. "Yes, sir!"

"And Tennyson..."

Ben straightens up.

"Your strategy was well structured, however the element of surprise was a notable reason as to why it worked this time. Make sure to not rely on it in the future..."

Ben nodded. That was fair. To be honest, he wanted to be smart in the exercise but there was also a part of him that wanted to show off, just to show off. "Understood."

"Now… Sorry about the late notice but today, I'll have you..."

"Take another special test?" Ben thinks.

"...decide on a class representative."

"Oh… That was anticlimactic." He then leans back on his desk. "Well, I'll let the class sort out this one. I'm sure there will be that one per-"

"I want to be class rep! Pick me!" Kirishima throws his hands into the air.

"Me too!" Kaminari raises his hand.

"I want to do it too." Jiro says.

"It's a job made for m-" Aoyama starts but gets cut off by Ashido as per usual.

"I'll be the leader!"

Ben then looks around and sees many of his other classmates raising their hands, wanting to be the class rep.

"What's up Tennyson? You don't want in on this?" Kirishima nudges him.

Ben waves his hand. "Nah, I'm not that interested. You can have it."

He then leans back again. In hindsight, he liked the idea of being a hero and working alongside others. Fighting against the same evil and towards the same goal was enough for him and you could do that by being a teammate.

Back home, in America, he already had his grandpa who could be a leader and Gwen, even though they joke about it, had the qualifications to replace him.

Himself though… Ben just didn't see it. Unless he was his own team and went at it solo.

"Silence, please!" Iida shouts. "It is an important job about leading others. It is not a job for anyone who wants it!"

"It is a calling that requires the trust of those around you. Therefore it must be decided with democracy and by votes that symbolize the faith of others!"

Everyone was left staring at the sudden commanding presence of Iida… almost everyone.

Ben asks from his seat. "So, long story short, we're holding an election?"

"Yes." replies Iida.

"Good good, I have another question."

"Which is?"

"Why would you suggest this… while you have your hand the highest?"

"Yeah, Iida. Sorry to burst your bubble but we only spent 2 days together." Jiro also adds. "This is just going to be a case of everyone voting for themselves."

Iida, lowering his hand, says: "That's why it will be a great opportunity."

Slamming his fist onto his hand, he continues: "Don't you think that is precisely why whoever receives multiple votes here can be truly considered as the most suitable leader?"

He then turns to the teacher but finds him getting into his yellow sleeping bag. "I, personally, don't care how you decide. Just make sure to decide before the homeroom is over."

"Thank you very much!"

Upon hearing that, Ben starts to look around. "Now… who do I give my vote?"

Someone that had good judgement and could keep up with him…

Iida had already started writing the names on the board.

"Yeah, I got it. Let's get this over with..."

And after a bit of time… when it came time to look at the results, something had not gone as expected.

"I got 2 votes?!" Ben raised his voice. "I just said I didn't want it so why-"

"Calm down Tennyson." said Jiro. "It's not like you're the only one."

On the board, apparently there was a three-way tie of 2 votes.

One was Tennyson…

Another was Yaoyorozu…

And the last one…

"Me too?!" Midoriya also shook in place.

"THAT IS IT!" Bakugo slammed his hand on the desk and stood up. "Who the fuck gave these votes?!"

"Language!" Iida warned.

"Shut it nerd! You don't even have a vote!" Bakugo said, completely ignoring the fact that his 1 vote came from himself.

Iida clenched his hands in sorrow and turned to the board. "0 votes..."

"Yeesh, low blow much Bakugo?" Jiro thought and then asked: "So, we're holding another vote among these three?"

"How much time do we have left, teacher?!" Iida asks Aizawa that was turning inside his sleeping bag.

"Enough, if you're quick." he replies.

"Alright class 1-A! Let's get this over with! Another vote between the three of them!" Iida yelled again.

"Don't vote for me this time!" Ben added in the last second before the voting actually began.

In the meantime, right outside of U.A., trouble started to brew.

"Is that it?" asked a blue haired figure from an alleyway. "Is that the school he attends?"

His outfit was incredibly plain with a long-sleeved black shirt, black pants and red boots except for one aspect… The white severed hand that was placed right above his face.

"Yes, Shigaraki." said a purple, misty man that was dressed like a bartender. "That is U.A. High that just employed All Might as a teacher."

Without warning, Shigaraki started to laugh.

"Shigaraki?" asked the purple figure.

"Ha ha ha ha ha, the school is just like him!"

Looking at the reporters, he says: "Look at them, flocking the gates like a bunch of headless chickens… just to get one word from him, the big man.

Changing his gaze to the school. "Center of attention and just as shallow..."

His hand goes to his neck to itch.

"Master." the purple figure says, grabbing his hand midway. "We should keep our focus on the matter at hand."

He shakes his hand free. "You don't need to tell me Kurogiri."

"Right now, I am thinking of nothing besides giving a scare to these noobs...". He takes a deep breath and takes off the hand on his face. "And showing them just how underleveled they are."

"Yep, I'm sure you are, pretty boy!"

As he was about to head out, the pair heard a third voice coming behind them. It was Rojo, with all of her red hair, armor, and glory, carrying a dark grey box in her hand.

Kurogiri immediately enveloped his body in mist, however Shigaraki refused to flinch.

Without turning around and focusing all of his bloodlust at the same time, he coldly asked: "Who are you supposed to be?.."

Rojo taps on her chin and laughs. "I'm just a fan. A fan of what you got going on here."

She takes another look at his face. "I guess you wouldn't get a lot of those with those crusty lips...

The facial expressions of the two don't even flinch from the joke.

"Don't insult my master." Kurogiri says, while Shigaraki turns to look at her.

"Oh come on! You're not thinking that I'm some sort of do-gooder, are you?" She points to the skull painted on her chest. "Does this really look like a flag of hope for you?"

He starts to walk up to her out of annoyance but Kurogiri manages to grab the shoulder of his master. "We should proceed, Shigaraki."

He takes a look at his yellow misty eyes.

"If she is not a hero, she is meaningless." Kurogiri justifies his intention. "We should get a move on before those news reporters do."

Shigaraki put his hands in his pocket. "I guess you're right..."

He turns around, facing the school.

Looking at Rojo from over his shoulder, he waves his hand. "You heard him."

"Now go on… scram."

As he was about to come out of the alleyway, he could feel something in the air.

A smirk, a cheeky smirk continuing to stare him down from behind.

Rojo's voice rose again. "I like the attitude, pretty boy. But that's not how this woman operates."

With her hands on her hips, she says: "If you know I'm not here to stop you, then you must have a pretty good idea of why I'm here."

Kurogiri looks back at her and with that reaction out of them, Rojo continues.

"Let's just say that my boss gave me my own shopping list and is being a real stick in the mud about it."

Kurogiri says: "If you want something from there, do it yourself."

"Oh come on… " She put her hands together in a cynical manner. "I really expected that gentlemen like you two would surely help a damsel in distress, like me."

"What is in it for us?" asks Kurogiri but Shigaraki scoffs at the idea.

"Don't bother Kurogiri. We don't deal with side quests."

In response, Rojo's smirk becomes a full blown smile. "Is that so?"

She walks next to Shigaraki.

"Then you wouldn't mind me coming along, would you?"

The two made eye contact but Rojo was continuing the smile.

"You would most definitely get caught." Kurogiri said.

"Oh I would but I'm resourceful enough to not get arrested." she responds.

"As for your agenda though…" She leans down to Shigaraki's eye level. "I hope you deal well with time trials."

Shigaraki, with anger on his face, makes a move towards Rojo with his hand and in response, she aims her arm cannon right at him.

This was a stand-off. But she kept up her attitude.

"What will it be, pretty boy? A side quest? Or a 'protect the payload' restriction?"

"Then, the class rep is Midoriya, and the deputy class rep will be Yaoyorozu." concludes Aizawa.

Midoriya was practically trembling in place by the new responsibility, while Yaoyorozu was standing as still as a boulder.

"S-Seriously? Me as t-the class r-rep?" he could utter before receiving a nudge from Yaoyorozu.

"A leader must show confidence in front of others. You shouldn't look like you're going to fall over."

Midoriya tried to straighten up. "R-Right!"

She then took her sight off him and sighed. "How vexing."

"That might not be too bad..." said Asui.

"After all's said and done, Midoriya can be fired up, anyway." Kirishima joins in.

Sero added: "And Yaoyorozu was cool during her battle with Tennyson's Brainstorm!"

In the meantime, Ben continues to lean back on his desk. "Yep, this works."

But there was one small thing nagging at him: the scoreboard.

After everything was said and done, in the second election, he still got 2 votes.

Ben raised an eyebrow. "Some people must really believe in me..."

Despite all of this happening in the homeroom, the discussions continued all the way up until lunch time.

Midoriya sighs as he takes his seat. "I don't know about it guys. Even though I have been chosen as the class rep, I don't know if I'm qualified for it."

At lunch, he was accompanied by Ben, Uraraka and Iida.

"It's fine Midoriya. Don't sell yourself short." says Ben. "After all, you thought you couldn't beat Bakugo in training and then you completely floored him."

"Well, that was because of technicalities… " Midoriya added. "If that was a real fight, it wouldn't be so simple."

"I doubt it." Iida cuts in. "Your courage and judgement at critical moments make you worth following."

"That is why I voted for you."

"One of those votes was you?" Midoriya asks again.

"Yes." He confirms. "But more importantly..."

Iida changes his sights to Ben who was eating his food in peace. "What I'm wondering about is why you were so against being the class representative, Tennyson."

Everyone turns towards Ben as Iida continues. "With your quirk, you have experience in handling many types of abilities. Wouldn't that make you better at coordinating teams of other pro-heroes?"

Tennyson puts his bowl down and scratches the back of his neck. "You're right Iida but I don't know…"

"I wanted to become a hero because I felt like it was in my destiny to be so, but becoming a leader?.."

"I guess… I just don't want it."

He already had enough responsibility as the wearer of the omnitrix.

"But…" He picks the bowl back up and recalls the 2 votes. "Two of my classmates believed in me. So, I guess, maybe I could give it a shot... "

After all, could he really handle everything on his own? He didn't think so.

As he was about to then finish his food, something caught Ben's eye and had him look at Midoriya.

He could swear that he saw the greenette just flinch with his peripheral vision.

"But, didn't you want to be class rep too, Iida?" Uraraka changes the subject. "I mean, you've got the glasses and everything."

Ben deadpans. "Uraraka really just talks without thinking..."

Taking the straw out of his mouth, Iida answers: "Wanting to do it and being suitable for it are different issues. I merely did what I judged to be correct."

"Merely?" asks Uraraka.

"You don't usually use that word..." Midoriya follows up.

Ben, on the other hand, asks the obvious: "Why? What's wrong with it?"

Iida sweatdrops.

"It's a fancier word..." Uraraka says. "I've been thinking as well..."

She excitedly asks: "Are you a rich boy, Iida?"

Ben could swear that he saw stars around Uraraka because of that enthusiasm.

"Rich..." he sighs. "I tried to change the way I talk because I didn't want to be called that."

"I mean, I think you did a good job with it." Ben says as he leans back with the empty bowl in front of him. "I met some rich people as well and you're nothing like them."

A quote pops in his head, making him smile. 'Buy them off, now that's the GrandSmith way.'

"Ha!" he thinks. "Is that really so Eddie?"

Once he was back to reality, he saw both Midoriya and Uraraka staring at them.

"My grandpa has a friend." he says, waving his part of the subject aside and joining in to peer pressure Iida.

And unfortunately, it doesn't take long for Iida to crack and tell them of his family and his elder brother, the Turbo Hero: Ingenium.

"I set my sights on being a hero because I want to be like my brother. However, I think it is a bit too soon for me to lead others and Midoriya has had admirable results for every endeavor he has faced so far."

"Therefore, I think he's more suitable for the job." he answers Uraraka with a smile on his face.

"Well said." Ben says. "I think we're in good hands as well."

Just when he utters that though, an alarm goes off, enveloping the mess hall!

A robotic voice then gave the following announcement.

"There has been a Level 3 security breach. All students please evacuate outdoors promptly."

Like a bomb had gone off, everyone jumped out of their seats and started to run towards the exit.

"What's 'Level 3 security'?" Iida asks an upperclassman.

"Let me guess..." Ben gets up from his seat. "A stranger is on the school grounds?"

The upperclassman nods and Ben grabs the dial of the watch. "Great… Good thing I went to school today..." he thinks rhetorically.

"You guys get to the exits." Ben says as he twists the dial. "I'll go see what's going on."

He slams the dial and transforms into Jetray right in front of them. A few people turn heads but they don't pay much attention as the crowd piling on the exit grows larger.

"Tennyson, we should proceed with the-" Iida says but Ben was having none of it.

"To the exits, Iida!" he points towards the door. "Now go! I'll catch up."

He spreads his arms and dashes through the corridor all the while leaving a yellow streak behind him. "Now… let me see if I can put a handle on this before it gets out of hand..."

A brief assist from Brainstorm would be nice to predict where the trespassers were going but, good old natural instinct had to do for now.

Midoriya was left staring after him, absolutely amazed.

He then looks elsewhere and makes eye contact with the deputy class representative, Yaoyorozu.

Her gaze was just as amazed as Midoriya's but there was a hint of worry that overshadowed most of it and in response, all Midoriya could do… was nod before following his friends to the exit.

Little that they knew… there was a third gaze that could quite literally make you freeze.

Meanwhile, the corridors were absolutely filled up by students, reducing the space that Jetray could pass through.

"Wow, does this school have a lot of people?.." he thought as he looked down. You would think that as restricted as the open slots are for this school, there wouldn't be much of a crowd but boy, would you be wrong.

There were 3 different grades, 11 classes per grade and if it was 20 people per class, there were 660 students in here!

Jetray then narrowly dodged between some of the taller students. "That was close."

Thankfully this was the moment where not holding back on the budget to make excessively large corridors at U.A. paid off. Even with a full crowd of upperclassmen, Jetray could slip right past them. "112 km should be enough to catch the culprit."

It wasn't long now, before he could reach the room he was looking for.

He knitted his eyebrows. "If they are in danger because of me alone, I can at least take care of it on my own as well."

Just then, Jetray reached the room he was looking for, the teachers' lounge!

"If I was the real aim, then they would have jumped the cafeteria… This is the only other place that makes sense."

He slid open the door and flew inside. However, turns out it wasn't empty.

"Woah!" Snipe got up from his couch, throwing down his book aside and grabbed the six shooter on his belt. "You have 3 seconds to explain what you're doing here before I take you apart."

Ben held up his hands. "Whoops!… Sorry Mr. Snipe, I'm Tennyson from class 1-A."

He raised his eyebrow through his mask. "Tennyson huh?.. The one with the transformation quirk?"

"The very same!" he answered.

"Then why are you here and not at the exits?"

"Well..." Ben started. "I thought this would be where the infiltrating villains are?"

"Villains?"

Ben gestured to the alarm.

"Oh, that." he takes his hands off the gun and tells him to come close.

Ben obliged and together they looked out of the windows… to where the news reporters and cameramen were.

"Oh..." he says and with a green flash, Ben goes back to normal.

"Yeah..." Snipe says and pats him on the back. "Nice reflexes kid, but Midnight just went to report the mistake on the speakers while Cementoss went to turn off the alarm."

Ben turns to face him. "Do these types of things happen a lot around here?

"You know, with me being an American and this being a hero school, I don't know much about this stuff."

"No. This really is very unusual." Snipe says confidently as he sits back down to read his book. "We will do a check-up on the security system later today, to find the glitch and make sure that it's not going faulty on us."

"I understand." says Ben and also looks at the students who had actually made it outside. "By the way, just to make sure, I'm not in trouble, am I?"

He technically disobeyed the protocol of this situation, even though it was a mistake by the system.

"I don't see a reason to reprimand you. After all, you acted like how a hero should." Snipe lifts his head and gestures to the door. "But I can't speak for my colleagues that are probably on their way."

Ben reads the room and thanks Snipe for the kind gesture before heading out for his class.

Honestly though, he didn't know about this. Coincidences like a glitch being in the security system and ONLY workers of the mass media managing to find it was a big red flag for him after fighting all those aliens.

But... he couldn't exactly be sure about it. After all, he was in a different place, a different land with a drastically different culture and coincidentally, people.

He reminded himself that he couldn't act like this was his cross-country road trip. This was the most elite hero school in Japan where THE number 1 hero went to teach. Who would be stupid enough to attack here?

A purple smoky portal opens up in a far away alleyway.

"Did you get it, Kurogiri?" says Shigaraki with an anxious yet equally cold tone.

"Inde-." says the purple wormhole before being cut off by the armored lady beside him.

"Awww! You do care!" she says teasingly. "I'm touched."

The two start walking away but Rojo doesn't let up with the teasing. "What did you guys get from U.A.?"

"It's classified." replies Kurogiri.

On the other hand, Shigaraki refuses to even bat an eye. "Let's head home Kurogiri. I don't want to spend another second next to this overgrown brat."

"Yes, young master." he says as a wormhole forms beside them.

As they were about to head inside, Rojo, with her own variety of annoyance, responded: "Oh, that little bar? Prepare a drink for me next time will ya?"

The two figures immediately freeze in their tracks.

Shigaraki turned around. "So, you know about our home base?"

But Rojo was prepared.

She crossed her arms. "That's it? Think deeper than that pretty boy. How do you think I knew about your little ambush today?"

From behind the hand, she could see Shigaraki's eye slightly widen and she was loving it. "You see, remember how I talked about my bosses and how they needed information and stuff like that? Well, we-"

"I don't care." he replies, cutting her off. "Get to your point..."

"We both want similar things. Besides… Wouldn't your little break-in be more fun with something like this?"

She puts her dark grey plastic box on the ground and opens it's lid.

Inside… there was nothing but yellow slime. However, their eyes caught a glimpse of something swimming inside.

Shigraki asks: "What kind of item is it?"

"I'll give you one pro tip." says Rojo with a sadistic smile. "You don't want to get it near your face."

Chapter Text

"So, wait just a moment... Are you saying that the news personnel, literally powerless people, managed to break through the school's security yesterday?!"

It was the very next morning of the false emergency at UA and Ben felt pretty comfortable with telling her what happened… with some edits.

"It was just a false alarm, mom. Plus, our teachers made sure to evacuate us outside in an orderly manner."

He really wanted to give the credit to Iida based on what he heard from Midoriya but this really wasn't the time for that, she was scared enough and his job was to reassure her.

"Mom, it was just a one time deal…" he says. "Plus all of our teachers are pro-heroes so even if there was a real break-in-"

Her gaze hardens. "This IS a real break-in, Ben. This should not have happened. You could have been hurt and I wish you would take this more seriously."

"I AM taking it seriously." Ben retorts swiftly and opens his arms to his sides. "But we had the number 1 hero with us."

"And do you really think anyone will even scrape their knee when he is in the building?"

His mother paused.

"You might be right but-" she says but Ben grabs her hand.

"The school told us that they are doing a check on the system. To make sure that this doesn't happen again." he says with confidence. "Trust me, there is nothing to worry about."

She pauses, with all sorts of emotions clouding her mind.

At that moment, Sandra wanted to keep Ben close, wanted to keep him safe by preventing him from going to this hero school. But… he was right.

Where was safer, than the side of Japan's number 1 hero?

She nods. "I understand."

"Well..." Ben says, gesturing to the empty bowl in front of him. "Maybe I should head out for school?"

"Yeah, have a nice day."

As he was about to leave, his mother yelled: "Ben!"

He poked his head from the side of the door. "Yeah?"

"Be careful."

Ben gave her a thumbs up and walked down the stairs as he looked at the Omnitrix.

"Yeah, be careful..." He knew that yesterday was a false alarm but he couldn't help but wonder…

The battle against the Techadon battle had come too close for comfort. If something else were to really come, would he be able to deal with it?

"For today's hero basic training, it's turned into a class with three instructors, All Might, me and one other person." Aizawa says as the clock hits 12:50 in the afternoon.

"Turned into?" Ben thinks. "Must be one of the precautions..."

"Excuse me!" Sero raises his hand. "What'll we be doing?"

And in response, Aizawa just calmly raises up a card, like All Might. The difference this time was…

"Rescue..." Ojiro read the front of it.

"Disasters, shipwrecks, and everything in between." he says. "It's rescue training."

"Now, this is the true duty of a hero!" Kirishima whispers to Kaminari and then raises himself. "My arms are ready to rumble."

"Kirishima, ever the macho man..." Ben thought as he was sitting right next to him and… agreed with the sentiment.

"Yeah, everything in a hero's day-to-day life comes back to this." he squeezes his fists. Battling against villains was fine, after all most of that summer was about punching bad guys in the face.

But that was only one way to save lives. In real life, there were a variety of situations, some he already experienced, and some he didn't…

This was a class where he could learn a lot.

"No one can beat me in water, ribbit." Asui said and Ben looked over at her.

"Don't mind me if I take that as a challenge..."

"Hey, I'm not done." Aizawa says in the most dead tone possible.

"You can decide if you want to wear your costume or not this time. Because there are probably costumes that limit your abilities, too."

The cases for the said costumes came out of the wall yet again.

"The training will take place off-campus, so we're taking a bus."

He made a move towards the door. "That is all. Start getting ready."

Ben stood up. "Rescue training..."

"It's another stepping stone to become the greatest version of myself." He rolled back his sleeve and then looked over to Midoriya.

"Hey Midoriya-"

As he turned around, he saw the greenette turned towards the creation girl Yaoyorozu, the one who was onto his identity…

"Yeah... Tennyson?" he turned around, with his mouth open like he had way more to say… but forced to hold it back.

"Nevermind." Ben moved along. He didn't want to be a part of the conversation, if she was listening in...

"Okay, so who is in the lead of the bet?" Kaminari asks as everyone had been assembled in front of the school.

The news of Ben using Jetray during yesterday's emergency had spread within Class 1-A due to Iida and Uraraka sharing what they saw in natural conversation.

"If my recollection is accurate…" says Tokoyami. "You, as well as Sero, Asui and Jiro have two points."

Kaminari crosses his arms in a cocky manner. "Yeah, and?.."

"And, the rest of us only have 1 point since flight was pretty easy to guess." Sato continued but his tone still held competitiveness. "You better not count us out yet, Kaminari. We still have 3 forms, so this can go either way."

"Don't tell him that, Sato." says Jiro as she comes out of the crowd. "We could at least let him have the victory for now."

"Hey!" Kaminari responds. "We won together in the battle trial! Don't you remember that Jiro?"

"I mean… I remember you getting captured and me needing to pull your weight as well." she says with a snarky attitude.

"To be fair, you guys didn't know that Mineta's hair balls conducted electricity." Ojiro says.

"Yeah and he still ran in there shouting, like that was a good plan."

"Shouting?" Sato asks and Jiro becomes beet red. "What did he even shout out?"

At that moment, the bus arrived.

"Get in." Aizawa said as he sat in the passenger seat.

"You honestly don't want to know." Jiro answered at the questioning glances. "Let's just go and..."

She then sees Sero, Ashido, Kirishima and Kaminari standing in a huddle. "Oh boy."

"What's going on?" Sato asks.

Jiro puts her hand on the bridge of her nose. "He's getting competitive again, that's what."

"I bet I can beat you guys to the bus…" Kaminari whispers and with that silence envelops the group.

All of them wait to digest that honest challenge and then...

Ashido says: "Alright chums! Let's do this..."

Together they shout out: "LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

And run straight in the bus.

*Tweet! Tweet!* Iida blows his whistle after them. "We need to form two lines by your student numbers to orderly board the bus!" *Tweet! Tweet!*

"I feel so sorry for you Iida..." Jiro says as she puts her hand on her head in an embarrassed manner.

However, for her, something felt missing from this...

"Hey Tennyson." Jiro hits the shapeshifter on the shoulder. "You still with us?"

"Huh? Yeah yeah..." he says, shaking his head.

"I thought you would charge in with that crew over there..." she points to the four that were currently laughing their asses off. "You know, since you like to run face first into this stuff."

"It was literally one time with Cannonbolt." he answered but Jiro was ready.

"Oh, so you're saying Rath wouldn't rush in?"

Ben thinks about it for a second. He could definitely see Rath in shining armor, breaking a team's huddle to be a hero and take all the glory...

He deepens his voice. "Lemme tell ya somethin our hardworking and prepared team, no one goes before Rath says they can go! Because Rath… GOES BEFORE ANYBODY! LEE- Like that?"

"Yep, I would say that fits within my expectation." Jiro says with a slight grin.

The two share a laugh.

"I have to admit though. I never thought that the top class of the first years would be so…"

"Stupid?" Ben asks cheekily but Jiro refuses to back down.

"You said it, not me."

"Yeah…" The shapeshifter started to reflect on his time here. Even though the classes were tougher than ever before, the days were feeling a lot more eventful and rewarding.

There were still some groups or lone wolves in class, but everyone felt a lot more connected, like they were really facing the challenges ahead of them together.

It was a feeling he never had before, at least in school. Back in America's school system, it felt like a battle royale to stay alive.

"When I heard that I would be going to an elite Japanese high school…" he starts. "I expected everyone to be… a Todoroki, you know? Cold-dead stare, not much of a fiery personality..."

"Hilarious." Jiro said as she rolled her eyes at Ben's subtle joke.

"I'm not sorry." he replied in an equally cheeky way.

"You are right though." She follows up. "He looks at everyone like how Endeavor looks at his criminals."

Jiro then realizes what she said. "Well, I say everyone..."

Ben raises his eyebrow.

"But apparently, he's mostly interested in the big shots."

"So, like people who scored high in the entrance exam?"

Jiro nods. The shapeshifter had hit the nail on the head. "Yeah, and Yaomomo since she was also recommended."

"I see… Scouting out the competition maybe?"

She shrugs. "That's what I think at least."

To check, the shapeshifter looked over to Todoroki in a less than conspicuous manner and unfortunately made eye contact as he was getting on the bus.

His eyes just had that very overconfident yet composed aura, almost like he was bored.

And for good reason since his showcase in the battle trial was nothing short of dominant. He had complete control all the way through and checkmated Ashido and Aoyama in a snap with barely any help from Shoji.

He was completely on another level compared to his other classmates and by the looks of it, Todoroki was just as aware of it as he was.

"I think I see what you mean..." Ben says.

"I'm glad." she responds. "Now we better get on the bus, before our teacher starts giving us that exact same look."

When they stepped on board, the pair quickly came to realize that the bus was severely different compared to how Iida planned.

So, they just sort of sat in whatever way they wanted and since Ben and Jiro entered last, they had to sit across from each other at the front of the bus along with Iida, Ashido, Kaminari, Midoriya, Asui and Kirishima.

As Jiro inserted one of her jacks into her phone and Midoriya took out his notebook, a conversation sparked among the rest of the group.

"Shoot. I didn't think it would be this type of bus… I should have prepared better for my duty as class rep!" Iida despaired and Ashido did not miss the opportunity to tease as he looked down on the ground.

"Yeah, there really was no point to the lines, huh?" She then turned to the rest of the group. "So, where do you guys think we're going?"

"Well, Mr. Aizawa did say shipwrecks, disasters and everything in between." Kaminari says, from his seat next to Tennyson. "So, I'd bet somewhere pretty big."

"And expensive..." Ben thinks, still not being able to come to terms with the fact that his school really could pay for all of this. "Unless it is out in the open, there is no way that the school fees are the only ones taking care of all of this."

"Wherever it is, I just can't wait to see what else they have in store for us." Kirishima responds.

His battle training against Sato and Koda was fine, but it wasn't exactly satisfying either. He knew he needed to learn more and this was his chance!

"I agree. " Iida says. "And since the theme is rescue, I think a lot more of our quirks will work better."

"I'm hoping for it! I haven't got one chance to use my acid for anything other than mobility!" Ashido says and Aoyama also joins in.

"Pareil ici! Everyone should see the power of my sparkling navel laser."

"Speaking on quirks..." says Asui and nudges the greenette sitting next to her. "Excuse me, Midoriya."

The greenette flinches from suddenly being ripped away from his thoughts. "Um, yes, Asui?"

"Call me Tsuyu." she immediately responds. "I hope you don't mind it but I usually say whatever comes to mind..."

Midoriya raises his eyebrow.

"But I noticed that your quirk… is kinda like All Might's."

Even though he was trying to not make a scene, Midoriya was visually taken aback and sweating. "Y-You really think so? Well, thanks, but I..."

"Wait a sec, Tsuyu." Kirishima comes to his aid. "All Might doesn't get hurt when he uses his quirk. They just look similar, that's all."

Midoriya breathes a sigh of relief while Asui's face doesn't change much just like every other instance they interacted with her.

"But it must be nice to have a simple augmenting-type quirk." Kirishima follows himself up. "You can do lots of flashy stuff!"

He raises his arm and hardens it. "My hardening on the other hand… Not so much."

However, always the optimist, Midoriya's eyes light up. "I think it's really cool. It's great for both offense and defense in a fight and it would work well in shielding bystanders from villain attacks."

With a similar light, Kirishima takes a look at his arm too. "I hope that's the case, Midoriya."

"But..." Kaminari opens his arms. "If we're talking about flashiness as well as power, just who can match these three behemoths?"

Ben, out of curiosity, slowly lifted his head from his seat. He saw one of his thumbs pointed at Todoroki and Bakugo, who had ended up sitting together, and the other… was pointed to him.

"I mean seriously! Super intelligence, flight, keen senses, super strength… Just what kind of a broken mess are you man?" Kaminari jokes around. "I can't imagine you going pro."

And the class couldn't do anything but agree.

"Yeah no kidding..." said Ashido. "And to think you still have 3 more!"

Ben nervously puts his hand behind his neck. "Yep, that's me alright."

Iida also tries to put a familiar smile on his face. "Are you perhaps planning on showing us the rest during this training?"

Ben leans over to look at him and tries to assemble the answer in his head.

"Well, maybe the last 2? I think I won't need anything other than the 9 I already got."

Midoriya raises his head, with a question in mind. But, after his talk with the deputy representative and the small interaction with Tennyson in the morning, he didn't know how to ask him.

Thankfully…

"What's wrong with the 10th one?" Asui blurted out and seeing that all eyes were suddenly on them, she tried to clarify.

"I mean… You have not exactly been subtle with your forms until now. So, why stop now?"

Maybe it was another result of his best summer ever or a lifetime of trying to discern his parents' mood, but regardless of the reason, Ben had gotten quite good at reading other people.

When he encountered Yaoyorozu, there was an obvious skepticism. She was definitely suspecting something and asking her questions appropriately, however Asui felt… different.

Even though her face was revealing extremely little, he could only sense one emotion from her and by extension the rest of the class.

Simple curiosity.

And if he didn't want another Yaomomo situation in his hands, Ben knew that he would have to use what he learned from Midoriya, and be honest.

"Come on Tennyson!" Kaminari joins in. "You're killing us here."

"Hey..." Jiro raised her head from the phone. "If he doesn't want to talk about it, we probably should respect that, don't you think?"

"Exactly." joins in Asui. "You don't have to tell us if it is making you feel uncomfortable Tennyson. We understand."

"No no, it's fine." Ben quickly takes the control back to his hands. "I can talk about it. After all, I can trust you guys."

Yaoyorozu raises her head for that last line and prepares her own notepad.

Without noticing the creation girl's reaction, he lets out a small chuckle, trying to alleviate the situation. "Hell, I shouldn't have built it up in the first place."

All eyes were on him, just like when he was explaining his "quirk" for the first time and the first time that it awakened on him.

He clasps his hands and leans back to his seat. "Well, everyone here knows how some of my forms affect my personality, right?"

"Yes, we have all met Whiskers the Wondercat." Mineta deadpans from the backseat which earns him an irritated gaze from Jiro.

"And like Brainstorm, right? Which increased your intelligence as well as your arrogance?" Asui rather innocently asks.

Ben nods. "Yeah, and well, not all of them turn out that vocal."

He looks to the roof of the bus.

"My 10th form is like most of my other transformations at first… He's super adept at fighting and he would do great in rescues as well."

Midoriya leans in closer with his pencil and notebook.

"But, the more that I use his powers, he starts to give me some bad tendencies…"

Yaoyorozu leans closer along with everyone else.

"It might not immediately show, but I feel becoming more ravenous, irritable and impatient. He messes with my instincts to survive and…"

Ben puts his hand over his face.

"Ugh... even thinking about transforming into him makes my stomach churn."

"Well, what's the difference between that and Rath?" Jiro asks.

Ben turns. "With Rath, I have to physically touch someone to hurt them which makes it easier to control. But he… doesn't have that same luxury."

To Midoriya, the message was clear. If Ben fought too long as him, everyone would be in the splash zone.

In the midst of this, Kirishima also loses to his own curiosity.

"So… Is it like, your most powerful form? How strong is he?"

Ben lowers down his hand to cover his mouth.

"I don't know exactly… But he is definitely the most dangerous."

At this point, they were like a group of Junior Woodchucks that gathered around a campfire, listening to a scary story.

Kaminari asks now. "Well, why is that? What is his power?"

Ben unclasps his hand. "Well, he-"

"Save the story time for later Tennyson." says Aizawa, interrupting him without mercy from the front seat. "We're here."

The group really wanted Ben to continue… but no one challenges the authority of Eraser Head.

"Yes, sir!" they said and broke the mood.

At the end though, before the doors of the bus open, Yaoyorozu skims through her notes one more time and narrows her eyes.

They arrive at a massive dome-shaped building, which upon walking inside, showcases eight main sections with six of them being devoted to various disaster scenarios and a small fountain in the center.

Ben just nervously laughed. "A whole lake, mountain range and destroyed buildings?! Yeah, sure, why not?"

Also, two of the disaster sites were covered with their own domes and by the pictures inscribed on them, one of them was for fire and the other was for heavy weather.

Under the hood, he was excited for everything but his sense of wonder was completely thrown out of the window ever since seeing the mock cities prepared for the entrance exam.

"Wow!.." Kirishima says. "It looks like Universal Studios of Japan!"

Ben looks around again. Yeah, he could see it.

Inside, they are also greeted by the other teacher Aizawa was talking about, named-

"It's the Space Hero, Thirteen!" Midoriya blurts out in true fanboy energy.

She had a white space suit-like costume with a puffy jacket, a black helmet with white eyes and a pair of yellow boots. Because of the costume covering all over her, they couldn't make much else of her appearance.

"Hello everyone, I've been waiting for you." she says, introducing herself. "Welcome to the training ground I made with all kinds of accidents and disasters in mind."

She takes some time explaining what each section will have in store for them and then says…

"I call it the 'Unforeseen Simulation Joint', or 'USJ' for short!"

Ben shakes his head as he notices the similarity of names. "Subtle… Really subtle..."

"Thirteen..." Aizawa calls her out from the crowd. "Where is All Might? He was supposed to meet us here."

She walks closer to him and starts whispering something.

Whatever they were talking, Ben was getting slight goosebumps. He hated being left out of stuff like this and he doubted that they were talking about the state of the weather or any other unimportant topic.

"Let's see..." she turns back to the students. "Before we begin, let me say one thing… er… or two, or three..."

"Or four… five… six… seven..."

"It's increasing!" Ben thinks, just like the rest of the class.

"Everyone, I am pretty sure you are aware of my quirk, Black Hole which sucks up anything and turns it into dust."

Uraraka repeatedly starts to nod while, as a response, Ben had to raise an eyebrow. That… was quite the quirk, even for the aliens he had before his reboot.

"You've been able to use that quirk to save people from all kinds of disasters, right?" Midoriya asks with a smile.

"Yes, but it is a power that can kill easily. Some of you also have quirks like that, right?"

Even though she wasn't looking at him specifically, Ben took the message personally. He had that kind of power alright… and he wanted to get better with it.

In the meantime, she continued her speech…

She told them how the certification and regulation of quirks do not take away their lethality, how Aizawa's fitness test showed their quirk's potential and All Might's battle trial showed them the danger of using that potential on another person.

It wasn't anything that Ben didn't know. Frankly, it was one of the things he had over the rest of the class, which enabled him to properly hold back during the battle trial.

But it was nice… to get reminded at least once in a while.

"This class is a fresh start. You shall learn how to use your quirks to save people's lives."

"You do not have powers so you can harm others, but for helping others that need it."

She then bows before them. "That is all. Thank you all for listening."

The entire class bursts into cheering and clapping.

"That was wonderful!"

"Bravo! Bravo!"

Ben also clapped in place. This school was certainly a good one, but it was now time for business.

"All right then, first-" said Aizawa pointing towards the course but was interrupted with a flash of electricity dimming the lights above them.

The students looked up obliviously, wondering what the problem was, but the pro-heroes could already feel the air of malice and dread that was falling upon them.

"Eraser Head!" Ben yelled out, taking his attention immediately and pointing towards the fountain in the center of the facility.

With the realization hitting him in the face and his eyes widening in response, Aizawa turned around and saw a small, dark-purple, swirling mist at the bottom of the stairs.

It slowly expanded to the absolute dread of everyone present and eventually erupted forth like electricity coming out from a busted generator!

And out of it, came a young adult covered with severed hands, a black hulking figure that was several times his size... and numerous other accomplices.

"Don't move!" Aizawa yells and warns his students. "And Thirteen, look alive!"

But the students still couldn't grasp the situation.

"What's that?" Kirishima says and tries to take a better look but immediately finds Ben's arm right in front of him.

"Tennyson?" He looks at his friend's face from the side and sees his hardened expression.

"If you're wondering, Kirishima. No, this isn't about paying the electric bill..."

There was still humor in his tone, but it was a lot more restrained and clearly done to put a bit of levity. If you ignored the line and just focused on the tone, you could even confuse him as angry.

Midoriya, despite being further back than Kirishima, could also see his shapeshifting friend.

With utmost anxiety, he watched Ben slowly lower his arm and roll back his sleeve, just like his teacher who was putting on his signature yellow goggles.

"Those..." he heard Aizawa start and even though Ben hadn't said a word, he could feel Tennyson finishing the sentence in his own head. "...are villains."

The class was appalled and even though most instinctively took a step back, there were still some that either composed themselves to stand still...

Or in the case of one special student, prepared themselves for an all-out brawl.

Meanwhile, in the center… the villain heads were having their own little chat.

"Thirteen and Eraser Head, huh?" Kurogiri spoke. "According to the curriculum we had received, All Might should have also been here."

Shigaraki couldn't believe what he was seeing either. However, his voice was riddled with disappointment, instead of shock.

"Is that really so?.. After all the trouble I went to assemble my party, too..."

"All Might… The Symbol of Peace isn't here?... Just how cruel can a man be?"

He then noticed something was missing.

"And our partner?"

Kurogiri swiftly responded. "She had requested to be snuck in with our man that disabled the alarms. She should also be in position."

"Alright." Shigaraki then narrowed his eyes and then switched his attention from what was missing, to the audience waiting atop the stairs.

"I wonder… just how many kids we'll need to kill before we draw him out."

Aizawa's binding cloths then suddenly rose into the air. "The trespassing from the other day were these scumbags too, weren't they?"

The majority of the group were barely coming back to their senses.

"Villains? There is no way..." said Kirishima.

"Just how would they break into a hero school?" continued Uraraka, equally fearful.

Among them, Yaoyorozu stepped forth as one of the composed students and brought up a good point.

"Teacher, what about the trespasser sensors?"

Thirteen answered first. "We have them, of course..."

"Did they only appear here, or around the whole school?" Todoroki continued the questioning, but Ben immediately answered it.

"Doubtful." He pointed towards the main warp gate. "See those three big shots waiting over there?"

"If they wanted to take over UA, they would have to bring more worthwhile people like themselves, similar to a league. All they have now..."

He looked down at the horde. "... are a bunch of grunts."

"This plan… clearly has a laser focus." the shapeshifter crossed his arms.

Ben wasn't holding back at this point with what he knew. His secret be damned. If villains had really infiltrated their school, he wasn't about to let anything get in front of their safety.

Todoroki then immediately took the word right back from Ben. "Either way, if the sensors are not responding, then they must have someone with a quirk for that."

He put his hand on his chin. "An isolated area from the rest of the campus, with students acting as collateral and extra leverage... "

"They might be fools, but they are not dumb." He finishes which colors Ben impressed.

Who knew that under an edgy persona like that slumbered an actual analytical mind?

"Thirteen, start with the evacuation and try contacting the school." Aizawa took charge. "Regardless of whether it is a villain or a device, there must be a range to it."

"What about you?!" Midoriya calls out. "Will you really fight alone?"

"Midoriya." Ben said. "If we want our teacher to concentrate on the battle, we need to make sure he doesn't need to worry about us and get out of here first."

Well, after getting out, Ben was definitely planning on coming back and helping out, but with these types of situations, it was usually one step at a time.

"I know Tennyson." replied Midoriya. "But Eraser Head's fighting style is capturing after erasing the enemy's quirk and a frontal assault is-"

"You can't be a hero with just one trick."

Right after saying that, Eraser Head took hold of his binding cloths and leaped right over the giant staircase of the USJ, into the mob of countless villains below!

"Shooting squad, let's go!" says one of the three grunts as they get ready to open fire on the approaching "..." , only to see that no bullets were coming out. "My quirk..."

"What the hell? Who is t-" he gets interrupted, as they get wrapped up by the cloths and are collided in the air by the pro hero!

"Idiots! That's Eraser Head! He can erase our quirks by- ah!"

The pro hero doesn't wait for the words to be finished though. He immediately starts going on a rampage, trying to erase, tie up and take down as many villains as possible in a short time frame.

"He's efficient." Ben says as he scrolls through his aliens. "And if he's really more efficient in one-on-one matches, I better pick someone to handle the masses. That should give him the breathing room to take down the big shots."

But first, he needed to secure the safety of his friends.

"Come on Midoriya!" He grabbed him by the arm and pulled him along. "This is no time to give the play-by-play."

The group sprinted towards the door and even though some of them had speeding quirks, they chose to stick together behind their teacher Thirteen.

However before they make it to the door..!

"I admire the attempt!" the same black and purple vortex opens up in front of them. "Though, no one's going anywhere."

Up close he really was just a dark colored mist with yellow eyes, standing before them with his arms stretched out, almost like he was about to hug the entirety of the class.

"Nice to meet you."

Ben immediately gets ready to slap the dial at a moment's notice. He definitely didn't want to act on impulse in front of a warpgate quirk who also happened to be one of the big shots besides the handy guy and jolly purple giant.

"We're..." he starts. "The League of Villains."

"It may have been presumptuous of us, but we have invited ourselves into the birthplace of heroes, U.A. High School, to watch as the Symbol of Peace, All Might, drew his final breath."

He clearly had a flair for the dramatic and Ben was just left staring at him…

"I believe All Might should have been-" He continued but Ben honestly could not listen anymore.

"League of Villains, really?!" He put his hand on the bridge of his nose and exhaled. "Ugh..."

Midoriya took notice. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Ben waved it off as he stood behind Shoji to not take the attention of the villain. "I'm just getting too much Dr. Animo energy, that's all."

Ben questioned his initial reaction. Maybe he had overreacted a bit… After all, he had taken down people many times more threatening than this before.

But, this didn't change the fact that they were dangerous. He had to keep in mind that they had still sneaked to the number 1 hero school and that, even though they had B-lister villain energy, was no small feat.

"...This is the part I am to play." Kurogiri says as Ben notices Thirteen remove a cap from her finger.

"She's going to use her quirk." Ben took note and noticed a fatal flaw in her plan. "Someone needs to prevent him from warping away."

He turned his gaze to the Omnitrix and pushed on its rims. "It's hero time."

Kurogiri raised up his arms and the mist grew even more wild than before!

As it was about to consume them, Thirteen raised her finger.

But, before the villain could act, several tendrils shot out from the ground and wrapped themselves around his arms and legs!

"Thirteen, now-" a deeper and raspier voice said but was shortly interrupted by two others jumping into the action.

"Get out of my way, freak!" Bakugo yelled out as he leapt up to the villain's face with Kirishima and blasted him away with an explosion!

"What do you think of this role?" Kirishima also taunted him as they landed back to the ground.

Smoke had covered the area and the heroes were left smirking with the surprise attack they pulled over him. However…

"You dumbasses!" Ben yelled behind them. "He's just going to-"

Kurogiri rises, losing that arrogant aura. "That... HURT!"

The mist grew even more unstable and started to spread at full tilt.

"No! Get back, both of you!" Thirteen shouts.

"SCATTER AND BE TORTURED TO DEATH!"

The entire area was immediately covered in a mystical purple fog.

As the screams of the students got silenced one by one, Kurogiri's laugh under his breath quickly filled the void.

"You may all have wonderful quirks… but in the end, you're all still just children."

Just as he was about to stroke his ego for a bit, a green hand shot out from the darkness and attached itself to the roof!

"What the hell?!"

"That… was too close." a brand-new green figure said as he lifted himself and three others out from the darkness. "You guys okay?"

"Yep, all good here." Kaminari replied.

"T-Th-Thank you." Mineta said with a jittery voice with tears also appearing under his eyes out of fear.

And Aoyama cheered with sparkles coming off from him. "Merci!"

The figure nodded and with the purple dome disappearing, he slowly started to lower them to the ground and Kaminari decided to look up to their mysterious savior.

From what he could see, he had a skin that had all the shades of the green color as well as a big blue eye in the middle of his face. Instead of five normal fingers, he had four vine-like ones and he and his friends were currently dangling off from three of his five tendrils which were equally vine-like.

On top of all of that, he had two flytrap-shaped flaps with teeth covering his head, and lastly several black pods on his back.

Kaminari knew he was no academic genius, but considering what he saw so far from this new school, he surely had a pretty good guess.

"Is that you, Tennyson? Your eighth form?"

The figure looked down. "Yep."

"S-So, what do you call this one?" Mineta asked, trying to distract himself from the current situation.

Ben answers nonchalantly. "His name is Wildvine."

"Wildvine?.." Aoyama repeats. "Sounds interesting but..."

He takes one more look at Ben's new form.

"I don't know if he's really that flashy."

Ben smiles and acts coy. "Well, he still got the job, didn't he?"

Kaminari jumps the gun. "Yeah... We really owe you big time."

"Don't sweat it." Ben replies as he lands to the ground. "Now, everyone off."

The three students get off from Wildvine's tendrils and get immediately bombarded with Kurogiri's attention.

"Hey, you! Overgrown weed!"

Ben looks over. His voice didn't harbor aggression. There was just... interest.

"We weren't expecting any more special forces.… Mind sharing with me your name? And who you are?" he continues but the shapeshifter refuses to answer.

If he really didn't know, leaving him in the dark would be their best bet. Now, to take stock of the situation...

Discounting the Kaminari, Mineta and Aoyama who were saved by him, there really wasn't anyone left...

Thanks to Iida's reflexes, Uraraka and Sato weren't teleported away either but… that was it.

Only 6 of the other classmates were left to stand alongside Thirteen.

"It's risky." he thinks. After all, they barely had any combat experience and he would be relying on a rescue hero to hold off a villain. "Well, we can't evacuate them now..."

He looked down at Eraser Head, giving his all against the horde of grunts, as well as the big brute and the man of 12 severed hands.

"What other choice do we have?"

"Thirteen." Wildvine called out and the rescue hero questioningly turned to him.

"Yes, Tennyson?"

With a grim expression, he asked: "Can I leave things here to you?"

"What do you mean?" She raised one eyebrow before both of her eyes widened with realization. "No..."

His classmates also stepped up.

"Definitely not!" Iida said. "Have you seen what's down there?"

"Yeah Tennyson, they will tear your plant form to shreds." Sato also worried. However...

"No, they won't." Ben opposed. "Wildvine has some crazy self-regeneration. Nothing will happen to me."

"But what will happen when you're not Wildvine?" Uraraka asked.

All this time, she had been trying to keep her composure, but she had to crack at some point!

"What will happen when you turn back?" She asks and Ben flinches for a second. However, this wasn't time to get cold feet.

"I'll make it up as I go." he says which only earns him more criticism.

"We have to stick close, Tennyson." She says. "That's the best fighting chance we'll have."

However, Ben shook his head. "No Uraraka… Remember that they came here to take out All Might."

He puts her hand on her shoulder.

"And now that they scattered our group around, I'm starting to doubt whether that's a bluff or not."

She was still uneasy, just like everyone else.

"It's too dangerous..." Thirteen still protested but Ben just couldn't spend more time easing worries.

"Very well then..." he put a confident smile on his face. "Let's get dangerous."

And then he leaped towards the action!

"Tennyson!" Thirteen tried to grab him, but it was too late. There were more pressing matters.

She turned around and faced the villain.

"You know, I have been tasked to keep you and your students in, Thirteen."

He narrows his eyes.

"So I allow you to have your chat with your students, even though I don't enjoy being ignored."

Thirteen opens the cap on her finger and tries to bluff. "Aren't you worried about what will happen down there now?"

Kurogiri however smiles under his sleeve. "Not even a little bit."

"HA!" Aizawa grunts as he entangles another villain while landing a flying kick at another one and knocking her out cold. "Damn…"

However, two more villains were nothing. They were just continuing to get up and fight!

"Just where did they find this many grunts… It's exhausting!" as he elbowed another one in the face and then threw him on top of three others. "And to think, I barely made a dent..."

His hair fell down again.

Normally, he couldn't care less about what the number one hero had going on with him, but this was not a normal time.

"It's typical of him to be this irrational…"

He knocked another grunt.

"...I just hope this teaches him some consequences."

But Aizawa didn't really have time to worry about how this would affect his colleague in the future.

He had to make it out of this fight first, and even though he didn't need it, it would be great to have just a bit of-

"Get down!" he heard from above.

Three small black pods flew right over his head and hit the villains behind them, making them explode right on impact!

"What was that?"

He looked above and saw a venus flytrap touch down the ground next to him.

"How are you doing, Mr. Aizawa?" the plant smiled.

"Tennyson?" he immediately asked back. He knew no one else looked like that and had that kind of attitude.

So, his expression hardened. "I thought I made it clear to you. You should have stuck with Thirteen."

However, Ben had that song and dance before.

"And leave you with this hungry pack of wolves?" He tripped up another villain that was rushing at them and threw them right at the wall. "I don't think so."

"I bet he really wants to shut off my quirk and give me a flight up the stairs..." Ben thinks. "Thankfully, even his erasure, can't help him with that."

The fact that Aizawa's quirk did not work on transformation types was definitely a big bonus here since this meant that he could help to his heart's content without the secret of his Omnitrix being on the line.

The only things he would be risking would be his life… and possibly his enrollment. He didn't know how hero schools were, but going against teacher's orders in a crisis were probably grounds for expulsion...

"Ugh… You're a really big piece of work, Tennyson. You know that?" Aizawa tied up two more and chopped them on the back of the neck for the knockout.

Apparently his teacher had realized the inevitable situation too, much to Ben's relief.

"Yep, I get that a lot..." he replied."So does that mean-?"

"Unfortunately yes..." Aizawa says as his hair falls one more time and he resists the urge to scratch his eyes. He knew that if he acted weak now, more could be inclined to jump in to overwhelm them both. "Stick close and be careful..."

The only thing that he could do now was defeat more villains than him and…

He looked over to the fountain.

...keep him far away from those two. In the meantime...

"What is that plant?.." Shigaraki pondered under his breath.

It was no other pro-hero that's for sure, the schedule didn't have-

"Wait a minute..." his hand made its way to the side of his face.

It was true that the curriculum they got didn't cover him. It had All Might, not some hedge. So... Could that have been a replacement for All Might? Were they... duped?!

It was possible for the principal of this school, Nezu.

"Duped… by a rat?!" he itched away at his face with volatile fury while also watching the two heroes slowly dispose of his crowd, taking care of multiple grunts each in the very same breath.

They had fallen for a bait?! SOME STUPID BAIT?!

He and his master had planned this for months! Was this a fucking joke?!

His fingernails finally drew blood.

"Did they know how much he-?!"

Suddenly a strong shockwave blew some of his hair into his eyes and knocked him out of his craze.

"What..."

He looked at the field. It was one of those pods that the plant was throwing around. It's explosion had slightly budged the hand on his face.

"What was I..." he stopped. It didn't matter.

"Don't just throw those around!" he heard Eraser Head shout which made the plant give a thumbs up.

"All Might is not here today…" he admitted at last.

But, he wasn't about to let this trip go to waste for that.

Shigaraki looked at the Nomu next to him and, regaining his composure, he made his declaration.

"I don't care who he is…" he said with a sinister tone. "He is messing with my toys."

His master had given him his chance.

"Today is your day of fate, Tomura. Pay those so-called heroes back for the suffering they have brought upon you." he repeated his master's words. "Let this be… your debut."

And he was right. Today WAS his day. And no one was about to mess it up.

He raised his hand again, however instead of continuing to itch, he touched a very high-tech earpiece that was given to him.

"Time is up. Get back here with th-"

As Shigaraki said that though, another explosion went off near him. This time though, it hadn't come from the plant.

It came… from the Shipwreck zone.

Like a geyser, an astounding amount of water had suddenly shot up into the air, with a boat right on the top of it.

"What is going on now?" he thought to himself and turned his gaze over. After all, today was filled with all kinds of surprises.

As it stopped ascending and slowly went down to crash, his eyes caught something…

Two students, with one having a hold over the other, were in mid-air… like they had jumped…

Shigaraki noticed the boat again that was now completely in pieces, and the villains that were coming out from that vicinity to look for their portion of the students again.

He narrowed his eyes and touched the earpiece again.

"Change in plans. Tell me when that little pet project of yours will be ready..."

However, what Shigaraki didn't pay attention to was that some curious eyes were also staring back at him… Or in this case, a curious eye.

"What are you doing handy buddy..." Ben thought as he smashed another villain's face to the pavement. "You're surely doing something more than just standing there menacingly."

Wildvine really couldn't quite tell what he was doing. The two were quite far away from each other and he still had some grunts to take care of.

The only thing he could tell was Shigaraki's hand, real hand, being on his ear and his head moving but what was he-!

Reality slapped him in the face. Of course he was communicating!

But with who? Another villain? Maybe to the purple mist up top?

And what was that shockwa-

"Tennyson!" he heard Aizawa's shout. "Finish up here and go to the shipwreck!"

Ben nodded as Eraser Head got blindsided by another villain!

"Take this!" he shouted and launched multiple arrows, all shaped like lightning bolts, right towards the hero!

"Another long range..." Aizawa thinks as he jumps back and dodges all of them, not knowing that he... made a big mistake.

Below him, the villain smiles under his mask.

With another lightning rod on the bow, he draws the string back. "You can't dodge mid-air, Eraser Head! We win!"

The villain lets it loose, however the pro-hero had no intention to give up.

Aizawa immediately grabbed his binding cloths, unraveling them and without wavering, swung them around and caught the bolt!

The villain couldn't believe his eyes. "No! No one's that good!"

But Aizawa kept his cool.

"Guess what..." he took the bolt in his hand. "...I am."

And as soon as Aizawa landed, he threw it right at another villain in the back, before running up and knocking out the first one!

"That's that..." he stretches his neck and then looks over. "Tennyson?"

"Right here!" Wildvine replies as he faces off against a mutant-type villain with pristine technological armor.

"Listen here, you horticultural terror." he pointed towards him with all kinds of bravado. "Your kind's time in the limelight has come to a close. With my rapid advancements in robotics, I will render your greenery here obsolete! Behold!"

His hands sink back into his armor and out comes two saw-blades that were larger than Wildvine's head!

"Saw-blades..." Ben thinks and then looks around. There were still two more who were, from what he could tell, looking for their opening.

"I think I have an idea..." He thinks and then returns to laughing. "Okay, if it means I can be quick with this, I'll gladly play this part."

"Let's see what you've got!" Ben yells out and cracks his whips towards the enemy. The villain on the other hand either allows them to hit or slices them off. He was clearly confident of this matchup.

However Wildvine then, instead of cracking it, he entangles his whip around one of the villain's arms!

Seeing the smirk on Ben's face, he lets out a roaring laughter. "What's that supposed to accomplish, you chloroplast-filled do-gooder?"

Just as he says that, thorns grow out of Wildvine's arms.

But, they fail to pierce the armor and in a moment, drunk on cockyness, the villain replaces his hand back and instead pulls him close!

On the ground, with a saw-blade over him, Ben yells out."Oh no!"

Eraser Head does turn to help, but soon finds Ben winking back at him, like he has a plan.

Or... at least he assumes that was a wink since Wildvine only had one eye to begin with.

"Time to end th-" he holds up the blade up high, to strike it down, but-

"One phrase..." Ben says.

"What?"

"I wonder if you have heard this one phrase, you overgrown weed wacker!" All of his seeds drop off from his back at the same time. "Now you see me..."

The villain turns around and sees the two villains rushing at them! "No, you buffoons!"

"...Now you don't!"

A smokescreen covers the entire area.

He tries to wave it away, but as soon as he does, he doesn't find anything. Wildvine was gone!

Shivers run down his spine as he squints his eyes inside the armor.

To cope a little bit, he yells. "Come out, come out wherever you are!"

There was no answer. The only noise made were the ones coming from the outside, as well as his spinning saw blade.

He takes a couple of steps forward and continues trying to regain his composure. And it doesn't take long for him to laugh at his initial fear.

"Heh! Of course you wouldn't come out!" He calls out as he continues to walk. "You know why?"

He puts his hand around his mouth for this one.

"Because you're just a little root! Just a coward!"

At that moment, two objects drop down from the ground right to the bottom of his feet.

He looks down and in that moment of realizing what those were, his heart skips a beat.

Those were the roughed up bodies of the previous two villains!

The villain's eyes frantically look around as he raises his head however...

"A coward, am I?"a chilling tone speaks from behind.

"There!" he turned around… but there was nobody there.

"There is just… no way." he despairs. "I'm pretty sure my sensors- AHHH!"

Tendrils rise up from the ground below and immediately encircle him!

He tried to cut them off with the other saw-blade but some vines had stopped the main motor from spinning!

"Then… Let me show you..." The main body of Wildvine rises up in front of him with his hand sharpened so much that it looked like a claw. "...What a true natural disaster is."

"No! No please!" he cries out, closing his eyes with fear.

When he opened them back up, he wasn't dead…

And by the looks of the smoke, he wasn't knocked out either. However, the back of his neck was feeling a bit breezy.

He tried lifting up his armor's arm to check but he couldn't. He was stuck!

"What!" he yelled.

It had just hit him. He didn't need no goddamn check, the armor's motor controls were offline!

"What did you do, you photosynthesising-" the villain cried out to Wildvine.

And, granting his wish, the hero appears before him and shows a part of his armor in the claw.

"Me?" he asks, acting coy. "I just took this out. It seemed important."

"My neural interface! You'll pay for-"

"Yeah yeah, put it on my tab." Ben ignores him and then walks out the smoke to meet up with Eraser Head.

"Was that everyone?" Ben asks.

"What? You wanted more?" Aizawa replies coldly and then cracks his knuckles.

"So, what was that about a shipwreck?" Ben asks and his teacher points to the shipwreck.

"The source of that shockwave was from there. If what you say about the students being scattered is true-"

Ben didn't have to listen anymore. He had got the message loud and clear.

"On it." Wildvine confidently replies and the flaps on his shoulders close, just before he sinks underground.

He still had 3-4 minutes or so. It should have been more than enough!

He drilled his way through the cement ground. Thankfully there were no conduits or water pipes because he just couldn't care about going around them right now. He only had his one goal.

"Come on..." he thought. "Please hang in there a little bit longer, guys…"

As he got closer, he could still hear the shockwaves' effects on the ground.

"If I were a betting man…" he thought. "That could either be Midoriya or Bakugo."

"But considering that we're near the water, I would bet on the former..."

To the greenette's credit, he was getting better at using his powers during training. The punch that he had thrown at him while he was Water Hazard was pretty solid.

However from what he saw during the battle trial, Midoriya still had a ways to go… which made this situation dangerous.

Suddenly, the cement ground made way for dirt and roots.

"Bingo..."

This was it. The little amount of grass between the center and Shipwreck area.

He immediately surfaced and opened the pads around his head. "Midoriya!"

There was no answer.

"This isn't good… Midoriya!" he called out again.

There was no answer again, however…

*Beep!* *Beep!* *Beep!* *Bee-*

Ben looked down at the dial on his chest. It was blinking green and making noise. "And now you had to breakdown on me, fantastic..."

Did that JUST recalibrate on him? Man, when he gets the chance to see Azmuth again he will-

His eye catches something.

"There!"

In the shallow parts of the Shipwreck area, there were Asui and Midoriya's bodies, face first in the water.

"I'm here guys!"Wildvine lifted them up with both hands.

With the way he picked them up, their backs were turned to him and he couldn't look at them face to face but Ben couldn't care less. With his tendrils, he could feel them breathing and their hearts beat.

And then there were also the two broken fingers of Midoriya. They must have saved themselves from the villains!

"Man, am I glad to see you guys!" he exclaimed. "I was so worried that you wouldn't be able to save-"

"Hey bastards! Don't think you could get away from us!"

Wildvine then saw a couple of villains running towards their location but he immediately used his tendrils to tie them up.

"Some people just don't know what privacy is..."

He picked his classmates back up and the Omnitrix immediately went back to blinking again.

"What's with you today?" he thought to himself. "You never did this before."

It was almost as if…

He turned the two classmates around to face him... and the sight that followed made his blood run cold.

"What did they do..." he uttered under his breath.

There were two small, purple and incredibly disgusting creatures just leaching off from them!

"I-I'll save you guys!" he said, trying to hide his surprise. "Don't you even worry!"

Ben definitely had never seen anything like them before. Trust me, if he saw a brain exposed octopus like that, he would know!

He grabbed the creatures. "Here goes nothing."

And pulled with all his might!

"Come on!" he yelled in the moment but all that followed was the agony-filled screams of the students.

"Oh! Sorry!" He retracted his arms. Brute force wasn't going to do it.

"I don't get it…" he said. " Who would do this to you?"

He asked like there was anyone around to answer. But to his surprise, someone did speak...

"I would."

And then punched him in the face with cold, unforgiving metal! It was Rojo!

"I've been waiting a long time to do this, Tennyson! Consider this my welcome back party!"

Then, like it was on the flip of a switch, Asui and Midoriya got up to their feet, and stood beside her.

"And don't worry… I made sure to fill the guest list."

Chapter Text

"Woah!" Ojiro slaps his tail to the ground, helping him dodge several consecutive attacks.

He was in the mountains zone of the USJ and was currently… fighting for his life.

"Let's squash them for good League of Villains!" A well-built crook with a white mask and electricity quirk yelled out as rushed towards the martial artist with a small group.

He tried to get into his stance and fight back but a sonic attack from afar just wasn't letting him!

"Damn it... Sero!"

His classmate appears from behind and launches both strands of tape. "I got her-AHHHH!"

He had spoken too soon as vibrations jolted up his body, stunning him mid-attack.

"hE He..." the girl smirks at his pain, and with an additional attack, she then pastes him right on the wall.

"Sero!" Ojiro yelled out and then turned back to the villain group.

With the sonic attack directed to somewhere else, he was going to take this chance. "Fist of the Tail! Form 6: Tornado Tail Dance!"

He spun around and knocked several opponents to the ground, perfect to make an escape.

Meanwhile...

"Oof..." Sero lifted himself up. Turns out the sonic attacker was about to fire again!

With his ears ringing, he mumbles under his breath: "I'm gonna feel this tomorrow, won't I?.."

Sero braces for impact, however something manages to trip her up!

"Hsssssss!.." She looks around and spots the grappling hook attached to her right foot. "HaAaaaA!"

"Sero!" Yaoyorozu called from afar. "Time to get clear!"

"Right!" He let out a strand of tape, tied up a villain coming at him and knocked it into the sonic attacker.

However, that didn't affect her much.

The attacker got back up, ready to fire all the while Sero struggled to find his footing to escape. The impacts he got from all the fighting were starting to have their effect.

"I got you!" Ojiro shouted as he tackled Sero and pushed him out of the way, to the back of a boulder.

"Let's fish them out!" A grunt said as a ball of water gathered between his fingers and turned to ice.

The sonic attacker smirked and took aim towards the boulder. However, the electric villain didn't let her.

"Wait..." he said as he looked up to the ledge of the mountain. Or more specifically, the extra amount of stone that was positioned right over them…

"Why should we play their game… when they can play ours?"

Back at the boulder...

"Thanks." Sero replies to Ojiro as he shakes his head. "Nice save."

"Don't mention it." Ojiro says with a pretty serious look. He was clearly preparing himself for their next move.

And Yaoyorozu as well, she seemed distraught but still capable enough to keep a cool head and come up with something that they could do.

I guess, maybe while her teammates were preparing themselves, it wasn't the best to leave their opponents unattended to.

Sero slowly popped his head from the side and stared down at the small group of villains leftover as well as the out of control sonic attacker. With her black leather jacket, salmon colored shirt , and stereo-attached boots, it was impossible to mistake her.

The one that was giving them so much trouble all this time… was Jiro with a disgusting squid attached right on her forehead.

"GrrRRRrrrr, HAAaaAAA!" a distraught and infected scream escaped her mouth while a creaking but intense wave of sound followed right behind it through her speakers.

"I don't get it." he says. "How are we expected to beat someone who can attack us by only using their heartbeat?"

"We could…"

Sero turns and sees Ojiro, also observing alongside him. "If that person wasn't our friend."

He nodded in approval. If it was any other villain, it would have been easy… However, when it came to a classmate…

"We need to help her." Sero said and Ojiro joined in.

"If only we could close the distance between- Maybe with your tapes?"

"No..." he shakes his head. "Her attacks are too wide spread. One of us would be sure to get captured-"

"And even if we make that sacrifice… We wouldn't know what to do." they hear someone else say.

The two look down and see the crouching Yaoyorozu, who had pulled her legs close to her chest and was staring down at the ground.

"I already took a chance and tried to pull that squid off. It didn't work." she continues. "What else could we hope to achieve by getting close to her?"

Ojiro raises an eyebrow. "I could knock her out? I do have this move where I could wrap my tail around her and-"

"It wouldn't work." She interjects. "For all we know, the squid could just be puppeteering her body, which means knocking her out would have no effect on the battle and you would be taken down for nothing."

Ojiro hears this and, even though he hesitates for a second, he bites his tongue and turns his irritated gaze back to the field. "Tsk..."

"Hey..." says Sero, nudging him on the shoulder. "Don't beat yourself up. I'm not really that good here either."

The frustration was evident from his tone, as he then pointed to his elbows. "Without any place to hold on, I can't really move around and even if it was just shooting at each other from a distance, I would probably lose."

Ojiro looked down. Sero... was right about his situation. But there must be something that they could do.

"And you Yaoyorozu?" the tailed warrior impatiently asked. "Do you have something that can maybe give us an edge?"

"Maybe." She replies. "Without knowing what to create, I would only be wasting lipids…"

"...and fail to help." She crossed her arms and continued to look down.

Sero couldn't help but feel bad. He had brought up these things to make Ojiro feel better but he didn't notice that Yaomomo was also struggling to hold it together.

"Think Yaomomo, you have to think..." Jiro was relying on it, however her mind was just too frantically jolting around from thought to thought. It was in chaos. "Deep breaths…"

She inhaled…

And exhaled.

The best strategy she had, for stressful times like these, was taking a couple of steps back… and looking at it one more time.

She imagined the situation before her eyes.

One moment they were laying out villains on their backs to the ground, on another their friend had turned on them… So, what changed?

"We all agree that it is the squid that's causing her to act like this..."

"But what is 'the squid'?"

She recalled the group's first encounter with the thing. How it dodged Sero's tape and then immediately made its way towards her.

Putting her hand on her chin: "Considering that it had its own reflexes before… taking a host, it shouldn't be created with someone's quirk..."

Plus, the only reason for the squid to change trajectory was because of Jiro attacking it next and actually hurting it.

"It has some kind of feral nature, almost like it is an animal in the wild..."

She shook her head. "No… that's not it."

Something was distinct about this one other than the appearance… The sounds…

"There were only screeches before and now, only the tone changed to be more like Jiro..."

The key detail was that it wasn't talking to her, or anyone else for that matter. Not even in grunts like 'Ow!'

"A mutant type quirk doesn't do that-"

"Hey Yaomomo?" Sero asked.

She turned her head, distracted from her thoughts. "What is it?"

"Yeah, can you create some kind of shield for us?"

Yaomomo tilted her head curiously. "Sure..." Her arm glowed as something metal emerged. "But wh-"

Immediately the boulder that they hid behind shook with intensity and small stones dropped on them from above alongside some dust.

"At this rate, we're either going to lose our cover..." Ojiro says, making sure no big boulders fell off. "...or have the mountain come down on us."

"We'll huff and puff and bring your cover down!" Electric villain laughed as he commanded Jiro to increase the output!

The shield emerged from her arm. "I made it using perforated metal. It should help a little with the sound."

"Thanks." Ojiro said as he took that into his arms and blocked another blast from Jiro.

Yaomomo tensed up at the sight. It wasn't an alarming moment of anything, but it sort of brought her back to reality.

The reality… where villains had cornered them with assistance from their friend.

"I... do not know." Yaomomo accidentally muttered under her breath.

She knew that they couldn't hide and think forever like this, but what other choice was there?!

This… felt so unnatural, so foreign! She had never seen something like this before! So, how could she stop something she didn't know about?!

What was she supposed to do?!

"It's okay." she heard.

Yaomomo looked up once more. It was Sero again. Perhaps, was she saying these things out loud?

"You don't have to know it." Sero said and his friend followed.

"Yeah." Ojiro said. "Other heroes, like All Might, will arrive here soon. And once they do, I fully believe that they will know what to do."

She looked down on the ground, her mind continuing to race. Yeah, the other heroes should know what to do…

After all, they have been in the field before…

You're right…" She replied to Ojiro. "The one with the necessary experience would definitely have to be-"

Her eyes widened. Clarity had finally struck at the young woman's head.

"Yaoyorozu?" Sero asked, however it became apparent that she wasn't listening when his classmate started to turn her gaze towards the edge that looked over the center, almost like she had just sensed something...

"...another hero." he heard her finish. "Sero..."

"Yes, Yaoyorozu?"

She turned to her classmates, her partners against this assault of criminals. "It is perhaps a long shot however… I have a plan."

Her arms glowed pink and small flashbangs came out of her arms.

"Sero and I will keep the fighting here. If they are exploiting our ability to hear, then this might be the only way..."

The tape user was confused. "Wait a minute, shouldn't we all take this chance to escape?"

"No…" Yaomomo shook her head. "We can't afford them to then go down to the middle as well and put their weight onto Mr. Aizawa."

"Plus..." She recalled Jiro. "We shouldn't leave her alone..."

The group immediately had gotten the message but something was left unclear.

"Then what do I do? Go to the entrance?" Ojiro asked and Yaomomo shook her head again.

"No..." She weighed the possibilities and looked over to the next zone over… The ruins.

"Find the others, Ojiro." She said, "And then..."

Meanwhile

"Midoriya. Asui." Ben said as his glance moved from one friend to the other. "What did she do to you?"

Rojo's grin grew even larger. It was just plain great, seeing the brat who put her behind bars with his tail between his legs.

She could even pity the poor creature… if it weren't for their history.

"Isn't it obvious, Tennyson?" she replied slyly. "I've decided to expand my friends list! And have my rematch for putting me in the NULL VOID!"

But, Ben didn't even flinch at the remark. He turned his gaze to the ground and emerged thorns all over his body.

"Trust me Rojo..." he said with a bone-chilling voice. "Considering what you did here, I won't make this much of a match."

Rojo continued to smile though. "Oh, I'm sure you won't. After all, you wouldn't hurt your frien-"

Before she could even finish her sentence, smoke immediately covered the area!

"ThIs tactic again..." she said under her breath. "I can't let him pick us off one by one."

"Minions! Back to back!"

The three of them came together and stuck their backs against one another. "This is the one weakness of that tactic, Tennyson… Having eyes in each other's blind spots."

And in case he tried to come up from below, she pointed one of her gauntlets to the ground. At the lightest tremor, she would fire.

"Now to locate him."

With her other hand, Rojo pressed a button on her head piece and a visor rolled down above her eyes. Immediately she pointed to the left.

"Frog girl! 8 o'clock!"

"RibBit!"

Possessed Asui shot her tongue and grabbed something hidden by the smoke.

"You really think I'm a newbie, huh?!" She aimed her arm cannon.

*Bang!* *Bang!*

She lowered her arm. "How's that?"

However, when the smoke cleared, all they saw was a wall of vines with a couple of more pods adding to the smoke.

"Crap..." she crouches again to be back to back with her group.

And silence takes hold of the battlefield.

No quips.

No clever comebacks.

Just pure silence.

Rojo thinks: "Oh, he's pissed alrigh-"

Her visor beeps. It had detected movement!

"Salad hair! 5 o'clock!"

But…

The referred 'salad hair' didn't budge.

Rojo was irritated. "Do I have to do everything around here!"

*Bang!* *Bang!* She broke formation and shot in the necessary direction.

However, it was yet another dud.

"Grrrr!" Rojo brought her gauntlets together and opened fire in all directions.

When she was done, the surrounding smoke's color had changed from a white mist… into dark grey.

She grabbed Midoriya by the collar. "Why didn't you move, huh!"

The greenette stayed silent.

"Oh, the silent treatment, eh?!" She smiled with nerves getting to her. "I forgot! That you heroes only understand one language!"

Rojo raised her hand and slapped Midoriya with the back of it!

"How's that?!" she asked with a resentful tone. "Loud enough for you brat?!"

"UgH..." the infected Midoriya groaned and with a muffled as well as corrupted voice said: "I-i-I cAn..."

But he couldn't continue it.

"What, brat?" she asked, continuing to shake him. "You can, what?"

The greenette's lips moved and eventually grabbed the arm holding him up, but no sound managed to escape him. All he had to communicate his message was the pitying expression in his right exposed eye.

Rojo did stop for a moment. Why was that, she didn't know, but the world wasn't so kind as to follow suit.

"Don't bother Midoriya..." A voice spoke from behind.

It was Wildvine.

Rojo immediately turned around to punch but it was caught midair.

"You know that pity..." Ben then stabbed through Rojo's armor. "...is the last thing she deserves."

He looked her right in the eyes as his vines crawled inside, covering and disrupting any and all forms of electronics!

"No!" she yelled. "You can't do this!"

Ben didn't reply. Instead he raised his hand the same way she had.

This time… his claws were sharpened.

As smoke dispersed, revealing the wall of plants that he had set up, Ben took in his victory.

"Like I said Rojo, not much of a match."

Ben, without hesitation, brought it down.

She closed her eyes.

But then… nothing.

There was no strike and when she opened her eyes, no Wildvine.

"What happened?" she gasped. Tennyson couldn't have de-transformed, he would have been right here.

She looked around and on her left, found a massive hole in what was Tennyson's plant wall. And following it through a secondary hole, found her target.

Slammed to a wall, with all of the wind knocked out of him, stood Wildvine and towering over him like a black, muscular version of goliath… was the Nomu.

And if anyone could make that pile of muscle move, it would be-!

"At last we meet…" Shigaraki said with Kurogiri following behind him. "The nerd who gave me so many delays..."

Without losing another second, Wildvine's tendrils went berserk, trying to get out of Nomu's grip.

But the only thing that earned him was a painful and slow squeeze from the creature until he stopped that.

"Give it up, will you?" Shigaraki's gaze then quickly fell on the exhausted female bounty hunter on the ground. He hadn't said anything to her, there was just the glance, but Rojo gets the message loud and clear.

"Get up."

"Already on it..." Rojo replies as she exhaustedly pulls herself back up.

First thing she noticed… was the amount of cracks and damage on her armor. "Great..."

She pointed her gauntlet to a wall and tried to fire. Sure enough, there was no blast.

"Focusing lens must be cracked." she thinks. "Those are always the first to go…"

And to think that there were no spares on her. If only she could get some pay from those butt-ugly-

"Focus." Shigaraki says as Nomu continues to pin down her rival. "You told me that you know this NPC."

"That I do..." she replies.

Getting the upper hand once again, she looks Ben in the face. He was clearly fuming with a similar anger, but there was also some shock and surprise.

"Probably looking for his teacher..." Rojo waved it off. This would have been a good time to gloat, but she didn't do it and instead got right down to business.

"It's been a minute since the Negative 10 and I last saw him." She said as Shigaraki's gaze followed her. All the way to the flickering green light coming from Tennyson's chest.

"But, looks to me like his weakness stayed the same."

She pointed at the dial and turned to Shigaraki. "He has a set amount of time like this. Once that's up, he will no longer be a plant and your boy here can crack him in two like a toothpick… if it wants."

To be frank, after that little jump scare from the hero, the wind was knocked out of Rojo's sails. She was exhausted and now, all she wanted to do was go home, get paid and lastly, get a brand new set of armor.

While for Shigaraki, a devilish grin was starting to form on his face.

"Don't bother..." he said to Wildvine, trying to squirm his way free. "This thing, my Nomu, was created for much bigger things than you."

He started to squirm even harder. and grew thorns that almost reached Shigaraki. "Doubt it now?!"

The villain leader… was amused.

"By all means hero, continue to wiggle around." he opened his arms. "...Just like your teacher."

In a crater, not too far off from the Shipwreck zone, laid the thrashed, broken, limp body of Aizawa.

"It's impossible..." he thought to himself. "That could not have been his natural strength..."

He was sure that he erased his quirk and yet, that 'Nomu' still broke his arms, like a pair of stray twigs freshly fallen from the tree.

"No one here can match that..." he thought, teamwork or otherwise. They just didn't have the tools necessary.

He tried to pull himself up, maybe if he could get an angle and erase his quirk… Just maybe-!

However, all the teacher got to see was the low number of villains gathering around his resting place.

"Oh no." Aizawa thought. "Not now..."

They looked on with blank expressions. By the looks of it, after how badly they were getting their ass beat, they hadn't thought that they would manage to get this far.

"What should we do?" one of the lower crooks asked and several of the veterans smirked.

"Isn't it obvious?" a masked four armed mutant asks. "We pay him back for what he did to us..."

He cracks his fingers. "...four fold."

"Thirteen…" Aizawa gritted his teeth and braced for the impacts.. "Tennyson… Whatever you do… Protect your classmates and yourself… from that monster."

Sequentially, Nomu strengthened his hold on Tennyson.

"Gah!" Ben struggled. It was actually starting to get hard to breathe now...

"I left him with my other party members. Thought that they deserved some kind of reward for their contributions. Isn't that nice of me?" he continued to tease Ben.

However, the victim continued to keep his silence.

"Well, I would say he's finished." the smirk becomes visible under the hand. "And the rest of your classmates?"

He glanced over to Midoriya and Asui.

"Not much of a resistance coming from them as well."

"So…What will you do now, hero?"

Wildvine tried to look at him defiantly in the eye. This wasn't over, it couldn't have been!

However, the Omnitrix was still beeping.

Shigaraki turns his back.

"I might have not gotten to the number 1 hero…" he says. "But this should make my message loud and clear."

Nomu strengthened his hold on his neck for a second time.

It's game over... for you."

Was this… it?

The noise of the beeping got faster, Intervals between each flicker got shorter.

Ben closed his one eye. If he was going out, he wasn't going to go out being scared.

He could feel the seconds passing by in his head, so much so that the world around him fell silent. Almost like nothing else mattered.

Until…

"DIE!" a yell came from above right along with steaming hot hair and the boom sound of an explosion.

"Bakugo?" he thought to himself as the ash-blonde swung in from above and pinned the bartender to the ground by the armor on his neck. "You thought you were hot shit, huh? Covering your body in mist like that?!-"

"You?!" Kurogiri grunted. The entire villain group was caught off guard. They were speechless by the fact that this student really just jumped into the midst of them.

Due to extra experience, Rojo recovers first.

"Gotta do everything around here..." She immediately moves in to kick the teen off their escape route. With several explosives of her own, she mumbles: "Oh, I'm not about to let that-"

However, the explosion boy doesn't stop. He raises his right hand in response. "I still have one hand left for you!"

As the distance between them got shorter, two others interfered.

"Fist of the Tail! Eagle Kick!"

"Acid Shot!"

Using his tail to leap forth, Ojiro spins around midair and lands one rising knee to Rojo's face!

All the while, Ashido appears from behind and follows up with two balls of acid!

One to Rojo! One to Shigaraki!

"Get away…" They shout in unison. "...from our friends!"

"Damn them-!" Bakugo says and switches his attack to Shigaraki while holding onto the mist.

"Nomu."

In the blink of an eye, Nomu releases his grip on Tennyson and blocks the attacks.

However, not everyone could get that lucky...

With both attacks having their impact, the exhausted Rojo was immediately down for the count. And considering how badly Tennyson had begun to shred her armor, this last impact from the pair finally did her in.

Even though the job was far from over and the other villains were standing right before them, Ashido took a second to think.

Her fist still shook from that move and she could hardly keep her Bakugo-style expression of utmost seriousness. "That was for Kirishima."

"Hey!" Bakugo called out to both of them. "We're not buddy buddies, you understand?!"

Ojiro however just couldn't listen to him though. He took a knee next to the gasping Tennyson.

"I'm fine." he said. "Just need to catch my breath, that's all."

Ben took this chance to look at his arm, to his entire figure.

Seeing his arm still be green and plant-like, he couldn't believe his eyes. The watch had stopped beeping… and yet, it left him as Wildvine. "Guess we're heading into overtime."

"Hey, you!" The explosion boy was about to snap again, but-!

"Now this took quite the turn..." Shigaraki joined in, sweeping the attention right under their feet. "Not only have they gotten past their own friends, but there is still no scratch on him."

He just had this sly and cocky tone under his voice. Almost like he had kept a smile under the severed hand.

"Kids these days can truly be amazing."

The trio gritted their teeth, he was clearly enjoying himself and in the face of it, Ojiro gets nervous.

"Don't try to underestimate us!" he says.

"Underestimate you?" Shigaraki opens his arms to his sides. "Oh no, I think I'm quite right in where you stand."

While Ojiro and Bakugo's gazes are stuck on the main villain, Ashido takes this second to look around.

"Guys..."

From zones all over the USJ, several individuals were running towards the group with an extra feral flare.

"You are just beginners in this game and yet, you overcame our exit and entrance, Kurogiri, and put us in a pinch..."

As they got closer, the three students saw for themselves… just what became of some of their friends.

Now, combined with Asui and Midoriya from before, stood Kirishima and Shoji from the Ruins zone as well as Koda and Tokoyami.

All… with the same parasite on their face.

"These things..." Ben thinks, still not back to 100%. "They really have made their way around this place."

Shigaraki continued his speech, pointing at the group.

"Unfortunately for you though…"

His blood shot eye glanced through the hand on his face.

"I won't let the League of Villains get a bad name."

"Well you didn't do a good job now, have you?" Ben quipped in the face of growing adversity.

"Get them."

"HaaaAaAaa!" The infected students let out an ear piercing scream and rushed with all they got.

"Racoon eyes!"

Ashido flinched by the sudden call out. "What- Bakugo? Don't do that when-"

"Switch places with me." he commands, not bothering to listen further. "You're not needed on the field."

Bakugo cracks his knuckles. "Just hold this bastard down while I take care of business."

Kurogiri tries to escape at that moment but Bakugo immediately puts him in check with a small explosion.

"Oh come on!" Ashido pouted. "You can't blow up our friends!"

"To hell I can't!.." He snapped. "I will keep them back! Besides..."

He looks at Nomu. "They aren't my targets."

"You're insane..." he hears from behind as he switches with Ashido. It was Tennyson, who had just gotten up. "...if you think I'll let you face that."

Bakugo walks up to him. "Don't try to get in my way, freak."

"Trust me, I'm not trying to." Ben retorts. "It's just that I have a very strict stance against suicide."

The ash blond replies with a scoff. "Of course YOU would think about dying, weakling."

Ben gets pissed.

"Bakugo. I'm going to spell this out very clearly for you so listen well." He points to the Nomu. "That thing was moments away from ripping me in half. With regeneration no less."

He crosses his arms. "What makes you think you can take it on? What do you think you have that I don't?"

Bakugo grits his teeth and growls, showing his discontent.

However they wouldn't have long to argue further.

"Incoming!" Ojiro said, right as Kirishima and Shoji dove face first in the midst of them.

"RaAaaa!"

The tailed warrior jumped out of the way and landed to his feet, instinctively taking a defensive stance. "I will be your opponent!"

He watched as the infected Kirishima slammed his fists together and hardened his body. Meanwhilethe infected Shoji created several more hands to battle.

"This is good," he thinks. "As long as I can occupy the close range fighters, we should be able to hold our ground."

He blocks the upcoming blows, especially with his tail and bides his time.

"Now!"

Taking advantage of a gap, he takes the chance to wrap the tail around the hardened wrists of Kirishima and tosses him to the ground before jumping away from Shoji's attack!

"The only thing we have to worry about now is..."

"DIE!" Bakugo screams as he hits Dark Shadow with an explosion that sends Tokoyami flying.

"Nevermind-Ow!" Ojiro finds himself getting sucker-punched in the face by three of Shoji's fists!

It made his head ring. And Kirishima didn't make it any easier with a punch of his own.

He tried to go in for a counter but Kirishima was always there, tanking the blows!

"Don't let your mind wander, Ojiro!" he hypes himself up. "Focus!"

He changes up his stance and with the next inflicted hit, he grabs Kirishima's hand with his left!

"Remember, this attack is fast as well as powerful..."

He raises two fingers to Kirishima's chest, setting the distance.

"...But everything… is in the execution!"

In lightning fast timing, Ojiro turned his hand back to a fist, and struck at his opponent's chest!

"One inch punch!"

Kirishima couldn't help himself but to be tumbled back, even with his armor on.

"One inch punch..." Ojiro said again under his breath and couldn't help but smile.

"It was my first one." he thought, full of giddiness. "Thank you master."

With a turn up in his mood, He then set his sights to Shoji. "He's also defensive… but also slower."

Ojiro jumped back again to gain some distance. Even though his enemy here didn't have his shield anymore, he still packed a punch.

"Here goes nothing. Tenth form… Tatsumaki Senpukyaku!"

The rest of the team wasn't messing around either. Despite the lack of animals around, the infected Koda was still doing his best and summoning bugs from underground while Asui was continuing to be a problem with her nimble movements.

Unfortunately, their opponent was far from being a pushover...

"In case you guys can still hear me in there..." Wildvine says as he crosses his arms. "Know that I'm sorry about this."

Immediately, he sinks down into the ground, vanishing from sight.

Asui attempts to jump and move along with that, but shortly finds herself unable to move!

"hUh?!" she looks down and hisses.

Tennyson really had sneaked in some vines to hold them down!

"Peek-a-boo!" he rose back up from behind and hit their backs with his elbows. "Should have kept the eyes on me!"

Without losing his chance, Ben unravels his arm and starts to tie them in a cocoon. "This should hold..."

Now that he was done, Ben took this chance to look at the battlefield.

"They aren't doing half-bad..." he thinks. "Hell, left alone, they could have a chance of pulling through."

The shapeshifter's eye drifts over to Shigaraki and then to the Nomu next to him. "But, then again, there is no way that he would play fair."

"Especially when he has his 'get out of jail' free card here." Through the side of his eye, he also checked on Ashido, still holding down Kurogiri.

"We have to press the advantage while we still have a chance-"

"I'm done."

Ben looks next to him and sees Bakugo, standing with his arms crossed.

"You're done?" he questions and then follows Bakugo's irritated changing gaze.

At the end of it, he finds a battlefield covered with blast as well as claw marks, and in the midst of it, he sees Tokoyami slammed into his original plant wall.

"Do your thing now and tie him up." The explosion boy commands.

Ben wasn't happy with this cooled off yet arrogant Bakugo, but he did end up raising a new weed under Tokoyami to tie him up. "That won't hold him for long."

"You're lucky then. Because I won't take long either." the ash-blonde said and immediately started walking up to the other 2 villains without waiting for a reply from Tennyson.

"Didn't you hear anything I-"

"Firepower."

Ben was surprised by this swift response.

"I saw enough of your fight out here." Bakugo confidently followed up with his arms crossed. "And definitely you can't even pack half the punch that I do."

He points to the two villains. "When you go in there, the moment your clock runs out, they will turn your ass into tumbleweed."

Wildvine leaned forward. "You make it sound like you have a better idea."

The self-proclaimed number 1 smirked devilishly. "You said something like having regeneration, right?"

"Right..." Ben confirmed and looked forward to Bakugo's next words very suspiciously.

He pointed to himself with his thumb.

"Become my sandbag..."

From what he should have been able to tell, Tennyson had many questions, but he couldn't care less about elaborating to some second-rate.

"While you tank his hits, I will fight him and cook both of them to oblivion! That's how we will win against those dumb villains!" He said, all fired up, with small explosions coming out of his hands.

Ben had to give it up to him. Considering the situation, it was a decent plan. But he was far from liking it.

"I can attack him just as well with my seeds, you know."

Bakugo's angry flare returned. "Don't even try to pretend that some seeds match me! I will kill you!"

"Yep, that's the Bakugo I remember."

"Now follow me!" The explosion boy flew ahead and as soon as he was far enough, his happier expression faded.

Ben didn't like this, not even one bit. Bakugo was too close to the action, right where he didn't want anyone to be, maybe except the teachers.

This was his problem. If he wasn't here, those new aliens and Rojo would have never interfered!

He sighed. Regardless, it was a done deed and Bakugo was too stubborn of someone to just simply get out of the way.

"At least I can keep a closer eye on him. It's better than having him come in at the last second and ruin everything."

"Wait for your… shield." Ben replied unenthusiastically to cover his tracks.

In saying that though, what was there to ruin?

He had no plan, Wildvine was as effective as wet sandpaper against this big brute and his friends were on the verge of being overrun.

"On the plus side, I'm still transformed..."

But to what end? If he HAD turned back, then he could have tried to buy time and then pick someone more classified for this.

Rath, Chromastone, Water Hazard… All of them would be better than freaking Wildvine!

"No..." he shook his head. "In the 10 minutes that I need to wait for another transformation, me or someone else would have gotten hurt."

"It would be too risky, especially with those new small mind controlling aliens."

He looked down at the Nomu as he was swinging. "To stop a problem, you need to cut off its source… "

Well, Wildvine wasn't going to be able to do that, that's for sure!

"Then again..."

5 years ago

At a forest nearby a highlight of "The Best Summer Ever": Mount Rushmore.

The place, despite the abandoned Plumber base it hid below, was quite peaceful in this time of night.

The crescent moon was shining, the stars had a soothing light to them that had seemingly sent all life into sleep-

"Come on Fourarms!" Diamond Head shouted into the night.

Well, almost all life…

"Heatblast!"

Far away from the Rustbucket and surrounded completely by nothing but wildlife, Diamond Head was trying his best to not go into a temper tantrum.

"Why won't it work?!.. Ahh!" He deformed his hand and shot his crystals at the trees. "I'm pretty sure that I did it right this time too!.."

He sat on a nearby rock.

As the sound of shaking branches and awoken wildlife faded, the hero's attention fell back to the matter literally on his chest: The Omnitrix dial.

"I don't get why it's not working..." he touched the symbol, slapped it, and tried turning it yet again. "Maybe it's different for each alien?"

"What's different for each alien?"

"Gah!" he jumped in his place with the sudden voice. "GWEN!"

His cousin showed her face as she made her way between several trees, with purple and blue pajamas instead of the usual clothes. "Caught ya again!"

Diamond Head however got over it and went back to his business without much care. "Whatever dweeb. Now buzz off..."

However Gwen wasn't about to let go of the issue. "What are you doing this late up?"

"Noneya." Ben replied.

"..."

"..."

Both sides fell silent.

"You know I'm not going to fall for that Ben." Her cousin replied as she made her way closer and closer to him.

And it was exactly like she thought.

"Didn't you mess with that thing enough times already?"

"You kidding?"

The dial on Diamond Head started blinking red and transformed him back to human.

"After the adventure this morning? How can I go to sleep after that?!" Ben replied, taking his head away from the Omnitrix for a second.

Gwen also thought about it. "Yeah, our future, right?"

The two briefly looked back on it, on the sneak peak they got of 20 years into the future literally just this morning…

Seeing Earth being a hub for Aliens as well as humans, every building, vehicle, even the Rustbucket being so decked out with tech, the Plumbers getting a "Galactic Headquarters" .

And to top it all off, they would become the Earth's greatest heroes.

To think that in just 20 years, the world would change so much…

"I still can't believe I do magic like that." Gwen says with her hand on her chin. "And you..."

She stops mid-sentence and directly looks at her cousin.

"...become taller."

Ben smirks and proudly poses with his hands on his hip. "Joke while you can, Gwen. Because we both saw that I ran you out of the hero business!"

He then puts his hand over the dial again and starts twisting and tapping on it again.. "And who knows, with what my future showed me, I might even do that tomorrow."

"Oh really?" she crossed her arms. "What gave your pea brain such a big idea?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Ben kept up his attitude and tried to mess around for a bit longer.

However, all that the red glowing watch could do was let out an almost depressing beep.

"Oh man…" he took his hand off again and shook his wrist. "Guess I won't be able to show it."

Gwen raises an eyebrow and Ben turns to explain.

"So, this was back in the Null Void Chamber..."

"Where Vilgax and Animo showed up, yep." Gwen reaffirmed.

"Right… My future self, Ben 10000, was thrown out through a wall and I went to help him." he says. "He was dangling over the edge and Vilgax was coming right at him."

Ben slowly starts to get into the spirit of the fight.

"I upgraded the hoverboard right under me..."

"Upgraded?" Gwen says. "You went Upgrade to fight the Future Vilgax?"

"Yeah, it was a strategic decision by me."

She however, wasn't that trusting.

"Watch didn't let you change into what you wanted it to, did it?"

"Not my point, Gwen!"

She snickered to herself. "Okay okay, continue."

Taking a deep breath, Ben sets the scene again.

"So, I came from behind him and threw the hoverboard at Vilgax..." he says. "And once my future self got up, he..."

Ben paused for a second, trying to get his sentences together. Which made Gwen lean forward with slight anticipation.

"While I was Upgrade..." Ben starts up again. "He touched the dial on my chest… and somehow turned me into Cannonbolt!"

Gwen's eyes slightly went wide. "He turned you from one alien to another?"

"Yeah! And then he did it again later and turned me into Diamond Head!" Ben says, unable to contain his excitement.

Gwen puts his hand under her chin. "And, let me guess, you were trying to do that on your own out here?"

"I thought if I tried it as an alien, it would work..."

Right as he said that, the dial of the Omnitrix lit up green.

"Oh good..." Ben pressed the button on the side. "Time for another one… This time Cannonbolt style."

"I don't know about it Ben." Gwen interjects out of concern. "While you're messing around, what if you get stuck as an alien?"

Ben shrugs and continues to turn the dial. "Then I could have more chances to try this."

Gwen… was surprised to say the least. His cousin finally seemed determined on something.

Ben showed his forearm with the Omnitrix. "You have to admit that the better I have control over this thing, the better I can help people."

"Now wait just a second, you say that, but who knows what the combination is for that command." She says. "It's going to be just like searching for the Master Control again."

Ben looks down. After resetting the Omnitrix, he HAD obsessed over that command for a bit, hadn't he?

"Now..." Gwen yawned and put her hand over his shoulder. "Like grandpa says, make sure to get a good night's rest for an even better tomorrow."

However, even when she said that, Ben didn't seem satisfied and it was easy to see why. Just the mention of turning from one alien to another was enough to sound revolutionary to the Omnitrix.

And the worst part yet, was that he had a taste of that power not too long ago, against Vilgax and Kevin.

"Alright…" She takes a deep breath, conceding at the sight of her cousin. "Do you want to know my take on this?"

In response, her cousin instinctively looked away, but he started to slowly backpedal.

"I admit." She says. "I also... can't wait to do magic."

She raises up her own wrist this time, and catches Ben off-guard. That bracelet was the Keystone of Bezel!

Ben tilts his head. "Didn't we drain it's power back in Las Vegas? Why did-"

"Yep, I know it's completely zapped." She interrupts. "But after seeing her, with the charms no less, I just thought... something could happen too."

"But now… I think I get something about these things." She held up the keystone again and it was now Ben's turn to listen.

"We should not overthink it."

Gwen crosses her arms again. "While you were out fighting Vilgax, my future self mentioned that I would get a black belt in Judo somewhere down the line."

She opens her arms to her sides.

"Well, now that I think about it, if I'm taking Judo now, so if I play that out to the end..."

"You think you would get it?" Ben asks and Gwen nods in response.

Her argument did make some sense to him. After all they were talking about 20 years into the future, a lot could happen. But, the questions inside his head were still not exactly satisfied.

"What about the magic then?" Ben retorts and points to the keystone. "We already pretty much destroyed the charms, then how does that happen?"

Gwen shrugs in response. "I don't really know-"

"You don't know and yet you're willing to just wait around?" Ben asks.

"Yeah." she says. "If I keep obsessing over magic, how am I supposed to enjoy the rest of the 20 years?

"I'll definitely be on the lookout for a third chance to do magic, but until then…"

She stops for a second on this sentence.

"I'll enjoy the time while I can."

"After all, we still have the keystone from before. Who knows, maybe I'm missing something."

"Well…" Ben says. "I'm literally stuck with my 'magic', what do you think I can wait for?"

Gwen looks down at the watch. "Maybe the Omnitrix..."

The one on Ben 10,000's wrist, did look a bit different compared to this one. Maybe something happened to that instead...

But she didn't tell Ben that. She was trying to make his cousin's obsession go away, not intensify it.

Meanwhile the young shapeshifter didn't know how to answer.

He opened his mouth to thank her, but after the last compliment she recorded and reran for almost a week, maybe it was for the best if he stayed silent on that.

"Maybe..." he eventually answered. "Maybe I am missing something."

But...

"Whatever it is… I hope it happens soon." he says with impatience.

He shook his head midair. "Let's try this combo first… I can't just-"

"Get here already, freak!" Bakugo yelled from the ground and crossed his sweaty arms, launching a massive opening attack!

Shigaraki, in response, just watched from afar, not even bothering to cover his eyes. "Let them have their fun."

"Nomu take care of this…"

The giant squealed in place with his master's orders and speedily jumped to Bakugo's position! It was almost as though he had warped!

"Don't worry! I got you!"

Wildvine let go of the roof he was swinging from and grabbed Bakugo, pulling him back, away from harm's way.

"Now let go of me!"

"Sir yes sir..." He let go but then cheekily reached for his back.

Nomu had landed back down to the ground.

"Hey Bakugo!" Ben said as his partner regained his balance midair. "Everyone should eat their vegetables once in a while, don't you agree?!"

Ben grabbed all the pods that he could find and threw them around. "Take a shot!"

"Hmph!" ash-blonde puts his hands behind and dives into the smoke straight as an arrow.

Nomu starts waving his arms around in quick succession, almost like he's trying to swat a house fly to wipe the smokescreen and then takes a second look. However, nothing comes into vision.

"Looking for me, bird brain?!" he emerges from the smoke with his hands crackling and being brought forth. "Improvised special move: Burning Decimation!"

Right as he got close to the beast, explosions one by one roared out of his hands, looking almost like a stream of fire while pushing him away from the danger at the same time!

Ben landed at the ground. "Huh, maybe I should have given him more credit..."

But in a single leap, the Nomu closed the distance and reeled back his arm. "Or not!"

"Stay the hell away!" Bakugo tried to cover Nomu's vision with more explosions, but his hand was already on the move.

Wildvine then shot it's claw at the beast's body, pulling himself up and taking the hit for his classmate just in the nick of time!

"Ahhhhhhh!" Ben reeled back from pain. He might have regeneration but it still hurts.

Regardless, they landed far away from the Nomu and eyed him up from afar. Meanwhile, Bakugo didn't smirk at Ben's pain, nor did he even ask about it at all.

"What was that back there?" Instead he questioned coldly. "I told you to take hits and nothing else, right?"

"I did hear that." Ben returns, not about to sit quietly. "But we can't keep any training wheels on against this thing."

Bakugo, initially, was looking at Tennyson from the corner of his eye. But once his sentence finished, he also looked for his opponent behind the dust and what he saw, shocked him to his core.

Even after that attack, Nomu was still standing. Hell, there wasn't even a scratch on him!

"Like I thought, even that big opening attack isn't that big of a deal..." Ben took stock of the situation and then turned to his partner. "See what I mean?"

Bakugo narrowed his gaze. It wasn't his full power… but it was close.

Regardless, he continued to be stubborn. "Just stay behind me..."

Ben didn't press it further. He saw Bakugo's reaction to the Nomu, and that was enough.

"Now, are you ready to go again?!"

"Hmph, don't fall behind!" Bakugo dialed the tough guy act to 11 and rushed again.

With his hands separate this time, he then rained down explosions on the Nomu in rapid succession.

The beast did attempt to grab him but as soon as he did, Bakugo spun on his axis and changed positions with Tennyson.

"Looking for someone else?" Thorns emerged and pierced through the beast's hands, sticking them in place! "Bakugo now! Hold nothing back!"

"Don't tell me what to do!" He launched another explosion and propelled himself to land on the beast's back.

With the glow on his hands now dancing over the brain, he smirked. "Leaving the weak spot open? How generous!"

He swiped his hand to drop some sweat, jumped off from the beast's back and lit the bastard up!

Wildvine immediately felt its grip weaken. "Strong on the outside, soft on the inside, huh big guy?"

And, without mercy, Ben moved to press the attack.

He dialed back his thorns, freed himself from the hands and pulled the monster's limp body closer.

"And a special delivery from me!" Wildvine grabbed three fresh new pods from his back and chucked them into his open jaw!

"You're welcome!"

As he swung away, the Nomu's body literally spasmed in place, before falling to the ground.

His head wasn't visible from the smoke, but there was a good chance that the top side… The part with the brain... was burnt.

Ben looked over to Bakugo with the side of his eye. He was clearly out of breath, probably not used to using his quirk with this intensity for this long.

"His body is filled to the brim with adrenalin right now, so it probably didn't click to him yet."

He closed his eye.

"The fact that he killed a villain..."

Bakugo however kept up a stone-like but also nimble stance, instinctively anticipating another attack from the downed brute and ready to act to it in any given moment.

However, seconds were passing, and yet he wasn't getting up.

His glance steered over to the other bastard, the one with the many hands…

Turns out the teasing smile on his face… had also faded.

Bakugo's pitch-perfect concentration broke and he took one more look at the brute.

"He he he…" the ash-blonde laughed out of his stress…

...His stress which was now turning into joy. "Ha ha ha ha!"

As he continued to laugh, Bakugo's battle-ready stance faded, his hands were made into fists and were raised up to the sky.

"HA HA HA HA HA!"

He composed himself. "Take that! The one who is destined to surpass All Might and become the number 1 hero is-!"

Ash-blonde's smile faded. The big brute was no longer on the ground...

His body froze with fear and his brain continued to stumble on words…

As the freakishly strong Nomu... stood right in front of him.

"Bakugo!" Ben screamed and tried to raise his hand to stop it. But was instead swatted away.

"The idea behind that wasn't half-bad." Shigaraki's smile returned. "But I never said strength was all he had..."

Right in front of their eyes, the burnt parts of the Nomu's head grew new fresh muscle fibers.

"This is his super-regeneration."

The monster then put his hand upon Bakugo's tank top and lifted him up to his level, almost like he was mocking him… Right before slamming him to the ground!

Blood escaped out of his mouth and the once arrogant hero fell silent.

Or so he expected…

"I'm not… gonna give in..." Bakugo reeled from pain and sent out some mynute blasts to his face. "Now wither-"

Without giving him a second, Nomu leaned forward and brought down his fist, crushing the self-proclaimed hero's elbow into pieces...

However, Bakugo couldn't scream.

He couldn't do anything.

The moment his nerves registered the pain, he had lost consciousness.

The wind was also promptly taken out of Bakugo's sails just like his teacher.

Seeing his prey conquered, Nomu then lets go of the beaten boy and lifts up his head in case of any more opposition to his master's will.

And he found it alright…

Gotten up from a nearby crack in the ground, half of him covered in a dust cloud, stood Wildvine, shaking profusely with anger.

He leaped up from the ground, launched two vines to the grounds next to the Nomu and pulled himself in a collision course to him.

One hand was opened up in front while the other was held back, close to his chest.

The Nomu looked to his master and saw him nod. This was his permission.

He reeled his fist back for an attack, kicking up dust even from that simple action.

However, if only he knew… how much that worked against him.

The brute first saw a spark of green…

And then a full metal hand hit him right in his face!

"What?" Shigaraki questioned as the cloud of dust left it's place for a comparatively smaller cloud of steam.

With his back on the ground, Nomu tried to see the figure that got the literal jump on him. Because the only thing he knew now was that he was big… and made of metal.

Granting his wish, three orange/yellow slits shined their light to his face as another hand creaked to wipe away the steam.

"So..." A new deeper voice spoke with a light Russian accent. "What do you say bird brain? Round 2?"

Chapter Text

The bird-faced brute looked up to this big furnace that sat on him with confused eyes. You could say that it was still trying to wrap his head around what happened to the plant and where this new opponent came from.

Kurogiri, from his position in the clutches of Ashido, was in a similar position.

Shigaraki, on the other hand, was more level headed… if anything.

"Oh, it seems like our friend here has a few aces up his sleeve." he eyed down the new transformation. "Multi-classing is quite rare though…"

The figure, however, refused to reply… refused to even look at him. His eyes, or whatever else he had now, were on his target.

"I let this go on for long enough..." Ben said, clearly trying to be more measured with his tone now that he was in this form.

But, with the fingers on his one hand continuing to constrict the creature's face and even slightly crawling over to its eye, his friends could see the rage consuming him from the inside.

His hands quickly started to turn red and steam rose up from Ben's body.

"Let's end this already…" he said with a heavy hearted tone. "With no one else getting hur-"

Not letting him finish his sentence, Nomu roared, grabbed Ben's arm and lifted the big metal hand off from his face.

"RAAAAAAA!" He then lifted his upper body back up and with his other hand making a fist, punched Tennyson's new form off himself!

Ben thankfully landed on his feet but struggled to find his balance at first. "Whoa..."

And then, he saw the Nomu quickly approach for another one. The monster raised his arm high and brought it down with full force!

"Not this time!" Ben instinctively blocked the hit and then went for a punch of his own.

To zero effect...

"Grrr..." He heated up his fists and then took a swing at the monster's jaw with his right!

And then with his left!

Right!

Left!

Right!

He gave his all to every punch, but Nomu didn't even flinch.

"Wait a minute..." He thought. "Didn't he-"

However, Nomu wasn't about to give him that minute. As soon as Ben took a small pause, he countered the next strike, knocked the armored Tennyson to the ground and started to beat the life out of him.

Punches, palm strikes, even smashes with both hands. He was absolutely just wailing on Ben like a rabid animal!

He even tried to stick his hands into the slits and bend them open!

"Tennyson!" Ashido cried out.

Shigaraki scoffed. "Hmph, like I thought, all bark and no bite-"

Suddenly, without warning, an energy beam hit Nomu right in the face, making the beast and his master stop in his tracks.

Ben, like he had gritted his teeth for this, said: "Get. off. Me!"

Following the initial blast, a whole stream of orange energy suddenly shot out of the three slits on Ben's face and washed over Nomu's upper body!

"ARGH! aAaAAaHH!"

"Nomu?.." Shigaraki muttered in his usual cold tone as his minion screeched…

The black skin of the Nomu started to get scorched and pieces of it broke off like a meteor entering the atmosphere.

"Final warning!" The intensity of the blast doubled in size.

Nomu tried punching him even harder to get Ben to stop, however the hero in question wasn't even budging and the blast, consequently, didn't decrease even one bit.

He wasn't reeling back with pain, not letting out any screams, not crying for help...

All he did… was lying there, completely still and firing his blast that made Nomu's skin and muscles deteriorate.

The monster, in response, tried to open a hand and lower it down at Ben's head.

However, it wasn't to attempt to crush or hit his head.

It was to cover the slits.

And with one last push...

"hAAAAAAAAA hAAAAAAA!" Nomu squealed as he got what he wanted and his super-regeneration kicked in to repair the damage.

What he did not realize though, was how slow it had become.

But it didn't care.

Now that he had a hand on top of those accursed blasts, the monster couldn't help but have a field day with continuing to wail on the head-piece of the armor-

"That… was a mistake."

Nomu looked down as soon as the muffled voice reached him but immediately, he found the blast going through his now melted hand, with double the intensity!

The monster had no choice but to step off from the furnace... and get some distance.

Ben ceased the blast and panted. "Ha ha..."

He rolled over, put his hands to the ground and stood up.

"Now that..." he mutters, putting his hand over his chest. "Might have been a bit much..."

His heart was absolutely racing from that sudden output, his breathing had gotten faster and steam had unintentionally started to rise from his suit.

"Okay, that was effective..." he thought to himself. Unlike everything else they had tried, his radiation beam had actually opened up some wounds on Nomu's skin, despite them getting recovered.

"I need to get him close…" he panted. "...and use it as much as I can. Overpower his regeneration..."

He tried to relax his nerves… but unfortunately, the effects on his body weren't just the result of being nervous.

His gaze slowly wandered off. Both towards the mountain zone and to the entrance.

Especially at the entrance…

He shook his head. "Not now Tennyson, you just made your first big move. Keep it together..."

"Tennyson!" Ashido yells. "Are you okay?!"

Ben turned to retort. "Yep! I'm fine!"

She was clearly taken aback. "You… You sure!?"

This slightly irked Ben on the inside. He was supposed to save them and be their hero...

And a hero doesn't make people worry...

"Please." NRG cracked a fake smile under the armor and gave a bit of a fake cheer to his voice.

Just like All Might.

"Nothing will crack this egg, Ashido. Now..."

As his opponent slowly recovered, he made both his hands into fists, slowly took something akin to a boxing stance and charged up another blast.

"I'll admit, you have quite the first punch..."

He then hits his hands together and heat radiates around them.

"But can you back it up?! Huh?!"

"HaAaAaAAA!" Nomu roared.

"Bring it!"

Then, in the blink of an eye, Nomu vanished and, with a gong sound, landed the first blow!

However, Ben had dug his feet into the ground.

The two clashed fiercely, throwing punches at their max speeds and not even taking a second to reel back!

"ARRRRRRRRR!" Nomu continued to wail on him, so much so that some of his hits weren't even fists anymore!

However, with one of his attacks, Ben caught on and blocked it.

He had found his chance.

Spending no time, he turned his two armed block into a grab and fired away at him from the slits.

"Too predictable!"

However, the monster then reached out and pushed NRG's head, effectively dodging the blast and getting away.

"Argh! He's playing it safe."

He took a step back and took a better stance. "Super speed as well... What happened you guys? Shock absorption, regeneration and strength wasn't enough?"

Granted, power wouldn't mean anything if you couldn't deliver it to your opponent, but this really wasn't the time to give the villain's credit.

He heated up his fists and upheld his guard...

"Strategy is the same though, Tennyson. Wait for him to come in close, trap him and then rain hellfire. Also, waste as little as possible, easy enough-"

He said before immediately getting hit in the back of the neck and losing his balance!

As he fell face first he fired a blast pushing him back up.

"Petty, so that's his..."

He reeled his fist back but immediately got met with another punch, in the face this time!

"THAT is his strat this time!"

Two more impacts came at him, this time from his sides and messed up his stance further.

He took a knee and bunkered down for the following hits. "Let's see if we can even out the playing field..."

NRG fired his beams, melting areas of concrete around him in an instant.

"Come on big guy..."

He looked at the sizzling puddles.

"Come on..."

He looked at the dodgy path, created in between of them.

"Take the bait, you stupid-"

The lava puddle split.

"There! NUCLEAR... BURST!"

He looked up to the wild face of his opponent and just let out the largest energy wave, completely enveloping his enemy's body and even devastating the ground they're standing on!

"Now you got what's coming to you..."

He watched the monster's shadow as it grew more and more skinny every second. "...you son of a bitch..."

He looked at the burning concrete and stone that wasn't overwhelmed by his light.

"The injuries you gave to my friends and teachers…"

"The trauma that you left the rest of them with…"

It reminded him about his own encounters with Vilgax.

"Don't expect to come out alive."

The blast widened in scope and Nomu tried to power through it like before.

He managed to lay a finger on Ben's armor, but that was it…

Whatever bone structure, nervous system, muscle fibers he had, were all turning to soot.

And, with the effects of concentrated radiation, his DNA was getting irreparably damaged, shutting down his super-regeneration.

If NRG stopped now, and if every medical supply under the sun were in the area, maybe there could have been a chance of him surviving this…

Despite him being a monster, there was a chance…

A chance towards mercy.

And the giant block of armor didn't take it...

The beam got even brighter and it pierced through the nomu, melting everything in its way.

As the blast died down, all that was left from the monster was a puddle of lava.

"Such power..."Ashido looked down at the remains. There were still a few cells forming muscles on the remaining body, so the pink's student's breathing was steady.

After all, Tennyson hadn't killed him.

He couldn't have.

"He took the super-regeneration in mind… right?"

In that moment, almost sequentially, the cells stopped.

The remaining muscles relaxed and the body stopped twitching.

Ashido was mortified. "Tennyson, what did you do..."

"Now..." NRG creaked and turned his head.

"Was that it?"

The master of decay was unable to digest what was playing out right before his eyes."What's going on..."

"He defeated a lot of our underlings and now my master's perfect creation, Nomu…

"This…" he raised his hands. "...wasn't how it's supposed to go."

He lifted his hands.

"HE… the number 1, was supposed to show up."

"WE… were supposed to fight!"

"THIS… IS... ALL WRONG!"

The young villain touched the sides of his face. And the inside of his nails slowly filled with dead skin…

"Nomu! would fight him!.."

"Kurogiri! would split him in two!.."

"And I! Would disintegrate his head!"

...blood shot out towards his palms.

He squeezed his hands.

"I WOULD be the predator of this hero society!"

He screamed that last part out, almost like it was for the whole world to hear.

"If only he didn't interfere..."

His flaming gaze turned to the hero in bright, shining armor, watching as his little pet with a tail approached him.

"Tennyson… You didn't-" started Ojiro.

"Tennyson…" So that was the name.

"I did..."the bastard in the armor interrupted his ally. "I did… what I thought was right..."

He put his hand on his head and looked down on the ground, conflicted in his own thoughts.

"But, that's..."Ojiro, interjected, despite struggling to find the right words. "It wasn't right… We should have left it to the police and the pro-heroes."

He regained a bit of composure. "You needed to have taken him down, not out."

NRG's head suddenly jolted up. "Really? And then what, waste my energy AGAIN on a second round?"

The martial artist was caught off guard.

"Like it's not enough that I'm not getting anymore in here... You would have me spend more of it on pointless exercise?!"

He looked at the dumbfounded expression of his classmate.

"Sorry..."NRG backed down. "I'm sorry..."

"Are you okay?"

"No." the armored alien said. "I really need… to feast."

"What does that mean?"

Without warning, his transformed friend shot down at the ground and dug a hole. In the bottom, laid six black cables.

"Perfect… A quick snack before I finish this."

Ojiro had seen enough. Tennyson clearly wasn't thinking straight. It was probably because of the form he was in, but regardless, he-

A figure suddenly blitzed onto the scene.

"You better… STOP IGNORING ME!"

He shoved Ojiro aside, jumped right onto NRG and cried out: "THIS IS REVENGE FOR NOMU!"

All five fingers then, without hesitation, lowered down to the hero's head.

"Wait don't!-"

The armor lit up with white energy and almost smacked his hand off, but he held on.

"I will make you hurt for what you did!"

The shade of green that the armor had started to desaturate and cracks appeared as the villain pressed his hand.

The once indestructible armor was crumbling…

"Stop, you need to get off!" NRG spoke up and tried to reach him but the armor just wasn't built for that!

"He he HA HA HA!" Shigaraki laughed with anticipation.

He was doing it. The pest that got in his way, the pest that took away everything from him, he was paying in kind.

HE was making HIM suffer.

And, the feeling of something like metal, becoming more and more like sand in his presence, just made everything so much sweeter.

Soon, a small piece of the infamous armor fell out of its place, turning to dust. And with that, most of the armor followed… starting from that accursed helmet.

"I have to give you credit, hero." Shigaraki said. "That little show you put on with my henchmen, the final act against my Nomu, made you look so invincible."

"It had actually made me doubt myself, even if it was just for a second."

The cracks continued on down and reached the shoulders as an orange light illuminated the fog coming from the inside.

"But, now I know. If you need to get something done, you have to do it yourself."

"Thank you for the final proof."

The parts attaching the arms to the rest of the armor gave out and with a clang sound, the transforming hero that promised to save everyone, was effectively disarmed.

Shigaraki looked at his hands.

The itch that irritated him all this time, that had got on his nerves and made him angry… had decreased ever so slightly.

And it gave him indescribable joy.

He was ready to bask in his own personal glory. But then...

"At... last."

The master villain's instincts kicked in with that response and immediately he chose to leap off from that armor.

A red-orange comet then soared into the air from within it and… started to speak.

"At last!" it cried out. "No longer bound by the shackles of that armor!"

"What's going on?!"Shigaraki demanded an answer but the new challenger was far from taking him seriously.

He was instead fixated on an old target of his. The cables.

"Finally, after all that fighting, I can get rid of this… This hunger, this craving."

A tingle goes up his body as his mouth waters.

"This emptiness will finally be satisfied."

He acts to fly towards his target, but a rock phases through his body.

NRG looks down and sees Shigaraki.

"Where do you think you're looking?"The villain tried to sound intimidating. He couldn't use his decay unless the hero came down to face him. "We aren't done here."

The flying comet, on the other hand, couldn't disagree more.

"We aren't done?" He muttered and descended down.

He still kept his distance in case of the radiation, but other than that, the two figures were standing face to face.

"I don't think you understand- This is your last chance." his fists glowed. "Give. Up."

Shigaraki was still disobedient. "You think I'll play along with?-"

A swift, stray blast fired and drilled into the ground. The blast hadn't scratched him or anything, but it was close.

"Try that again." NRG said with a chilling tone and steam coming out of his finger.

He felt like keeping that up more, to show the villain that he really was outmatched and to get this over quickly.

But the piercing feeling of others' gaze, truly made him regret that.

Regret taking that shortcut.

"Okay..." He made his hand into a fist and lowered it. "Let's try that again."

"The battle is over." NRG made it clear. "Your henchmen are down. "

"Your monster is… defeated."

"Your plan to turn us against one another failed."

"And your escape portal is closed for service!" a higher pitched voice yelled.

NRG turned and saw Ashido.

"Sorry!" she mumbled back. "I'm just really stressed right now."

"Point is..." he turns but, without warning, both of his eyes twitch and his fists glow again. "There is no place you can hide."

"You are finished. Surrender."

"NEVER!"

He held out his hand. "Kurogiri!"

"Yes master!" The purple/black fog's ears perked up.

"What do you say?" Shigaraki then put his hand on his earpiece. "You think your substitute got finished with his task?"

"Substitute?"

"I-I'm not really sure!" Kurogiri yells out before Ashido can shut him up.

"Well..." Shigaraki shrugged. "Let's find out."

NRG shook his head and readied up a blast. Whatever this man was planning, he wasn't waiting to find out.

But a twinge, like nails were piercing all over his body, stopped him in his tracks.

It was confusing at first. After all, he didn't see anything in the air and NRG's energy body was already supposed to be intangible against most attacks.

"What's wrong?"

Ben first looked back up to Shigaraki and after seeing his smile, looked at the ground he was standing on.

Without knowing, he had instinctively moved further away.

"Looks to me like we found you a suitable boss fight..."

From the entrance behind Shigaraki, sporadic and pointy pillars of ice rose up and covered the entire entrance in one fell swoop.

The hero, then sensing the change in the air, anticipated a second wave and blasted right through, before it ever reached him.

"Maybe not entirely..." Shigaraki shrugged.

Tennyson observed the pieces in front of him. This color, this glow it gave off under this light, the sudden breeze it gave off…

He knew what they were.

"Hasn't this fight scene gone on long enough…"

He put his hand on one of the pillars to make sure and pulled it back right away. The same pain had struck. Almost like this… this frost... was literally biting into his being.

"And this one actively saps my energy! Fantastic! Couldn't he shoot fire instead!"

NRG then changed his gaze to the entrance, where the attack came from.

And on the top of a descending pillar, found the person responsible for it.

Walking towards him with the scar and ice on the right, the xenocite on the left and the chilling breeze following his every step, Todoroki finally took center stage... as an ally to the villains.

"Well, I'm sure he wanted this fight one way or another..." Ben tried to justify it. "Bring it."

"Don't let me down." Shigaraki patted his 'friend' on the back and walked away towards Ashido once again. "Give me back my warp gate."

"I won't let you!"

Ojiro tried to take a defensive stance and get in between the two of them. But immediately found out that his legs were frozen in place.

"No!" He tried to punch the ice and free himself.

Ashido then attempted to act and throw a ball of acid in Ojiro's way, but with Todoroki tapping his foot one time to the ground, she also found herself to be immobilized.

NRG raised his hand to fire a beam, a beam that would melt the ice on both of them and solve the issue.

But he hesitated. "I can't let them get hit..."

The more he thought about it, the more that his hand shook, making it even riskier to fire. So Ben refused.

He then caught onto Todoroki's attempt at blindsiding him with another wave of ice, so he chose to redirect his hand to clash with the ice instead, similar to a beam struggle.

In the meantime, Kurogiri teleported to his master's side.

"Took you long enough."

"I'm sorry, young master." Kurogiri narrowed his eyes. "I won't let myself be caught off guard like that, not again."

"You better not."

"What is our next move?" Kurogiri asks.

Shigaraki doesn't miss a beat. "We keep fighting.

He especially stares at NRG. "We finish off whatever's left of their little resistance."

"I..." the warp gate says. "Understood."

Shigaraki noticed the little hesitation and looked over from the side of his eye.

Kurogiri was reluctant to answer. After all, unless it was THE master talking, Shigaraki wasn't usually open to suggestions.

But he had to do what he believed would be right for him.

"I… do not believe that it would be in our best interest to continue the attack."

Shigaraki had fully turned to him, ignoring the kids stuck in ice and ignoring the beam clash. His eyes were on his henchmen.

"Explain."

Kurogiri, as much as he is intimidated by the prospect of denying his master's request, pushes through.

"Right now, we have the hero fighting his classmate, who clearly holds a disadvantage against his friend, both emotionally and physically. Two others are frozen and none of the other teachers have arrived here yet."

He makes eye contact with the young master. "We have a chance to escape now and I believe attempting to fight further, will make us risk losing that chance."

Shigaraki, on the other hand, had already waved it apart. Just even hearing the word 'escape' didn't settle well with him.

"I'm not going anywhere," he says. "I'll make him pay for ruining our plans."

"I'll make him pay for getting in the way."

"He was an unexpected obstacle and he prevented us from getting what we want, I agree." the warp gate says. "But, and my ambition isn't trying to overstep, I believe that's what the master would want as well. Fail and live to try again."

"Live to learn from this experience."

"The master would want us to win!" Shigaraki tries to retort, but his henchman doesn't waver.

He doesn't say anything, he doesn't move, he just looks on with concern, waiting and probably hoping for his master to come around.

Shigaraki was still hesitant. To be honest, he wasn't exactly sure on what to do entirely.

Part of him still wanted to fight, wreak havoc and completely ruin these heroes for all their worth.

But, with Kurogiri's words, he tried to picture what his master would really say if he was here.

And what his mind came up... wasn't far off from what his warp gate said.

It wouldn't be worth it to risk everything here...

"Alright… Let's go home, Kurogiri-"

Suddenly a figure, moving so fast that he only looks like a red streak of light, launches forward right towards the corrupted Todoroki.

Shigaraki manages to catch a glimpse. A glimpse of a green haired kid.

With a fist reeled back and his gaze determined, he shouts: "SMASH!"

Throughout this battle, while all of this conflict was going on, one student had stayed unresponsive.

His ears could still hear the battle, his skin could still feel the change in temperature, his nose could still smell the burnt concrete…

But his eyes showed him a completely different site.

A site with a pitch black sky and a barren wasteland of a ground.

"Where… am I?"

Midoriya raised his head and looked up. Shrouded inside a pitch black dome, standing on a gray and roughed up platform… stood several empty thrones.

Some of them were knocked down sideways, some had the splat broken off, and some were quite alright besides some scratch marks. But they were still together and had circled him.

"What happened here?" he thought to himself and tried to take a closer look. Maybe the thrones could be a clue.

But he found himself unable to take a step…

"I… can't… move!"

His glance made its way down to his body… and saw it engulfed in some kind of green and black shadow!

"AHHHHHH! W-WHAT HAPPENED?!"

He instinctively tried to raise his hands and look at them, maybe his body was only covered but nope, there was none to speak of. It was all smoke and shadows.

"Okay, calm down…" Midoriya tried to reassure himself. "Just keep an open mind, try to analyze, figure out the situation…"

The throne right in front of him, the one that looked the oldest and most roughed up, started to shake.

Midoriya's pupils shrunk and his heart sank. "Why… Why does it… feel so familiar?"

He didn't know why but, something about that throne and what was happening to it, made him so nervous and distressed.

The throne shook from right to left, left to right…

"Stop it…"

The throne continued to swing.

"Stop…"

He tried accessing One for All, disregarding all the risks that came with it.

The smoke on top of where his hand should have been, turned static like a noise detector. But it, just as quickly, faded away.

"Come on… Come on…" He tried to force the power out again, but nothing was happening.

Or rather… nothing was happening to him.

Because something on the splat of the throne was starting to glow red.

"Why… Why am I feeling even weaker?.."

With the top of the throne starting to crumble, it couldn't help but fall on it's side, giving Midoriya just a glimpse of a glowing and growing, magenta-colored squid.

"You."

The little squid, realizing that he has been noticed, hissed to his face and got on the move from his original position, managing to dig and crack through stone each time it stepped forward.

Midoriya didn't lose any time in taking notice and paid more and more attention.

The vein-like paths of energy lighting up his small body…

The hint of red that sparked every other second from his magenta color…

By the time it had completely gotten to the top of the rubble, Midoriya had already gotten the memo.

"Is it… siphoning One for All?"

But there was no way for that to happen, right? I mean, after what All Might told him about–

It clicked inside his head. If this creature had gotten to his DNA…

Midoriya looked at the squid and could only watch as it grew in size, completely exceeding everything that he had seen.

Then, with the new found size, it grabbed its prey by the limbs and fixated the sole red pupil onto him.

As Midoriya felt the chill coming from the cold, slimy appendage, the idea that he was trapped with no way out, sunk even deeper.

"I don't know… if I can get out of this." He looked at the vein-like magenta trails on the creature and, still feeling a bit surreal, murmured.

"It has your power All Might… What can I– AHHHHH!"

The Xenocite, not respecting his prey one bit, started to squeeze down his opponent, already perhaps breaking some of his bones.

"I'm sorry All Might…" He cracked.

"I'm sorry that I failed… to be the hero–"

The sudden sharp pain of it threw him off.

"I'm sorry that I couldn't live up to your power–"

Right as he said that, right as he made some amends…

… something manifested from the smoke that hovered around him.

The shadows continued to obstruct his view, but the light of two bright green eyes continued to shine down upon him.

Slowly hovering in front of him, the smoke says…

"Live up… to his power…"

It sounded hopeful and filled with incentive, despite the tamed and muffled down tone.

Suddenly he felt a rush…

A rush that went all over his body, to every fiber of his being…

The squid's grip… started to weaken.

No, he looked down to himself.

It wasn't the squid, was it? It was his body!..

Not only did it feel healed, but stronger than ever before.

He looked up.

He could take him. He knew he could!

So, Midoriya gritted his teeth and shouted:

"Get. Off!"

He fought back against the Xenocite's grip, and made some headway.

"I won't let you win!" he yelled. "I won't give up against anyone that's trying to hurt me or any others!"

The claustrophobic tomb of the monster started to unravel.

So much so that he found an opportunity to break out!

But he didn't…

Because the squeeze from the monster suddenly… stopped.

Midoriya raised his head and looked the grimy monster in the eye and saw fear.

It wasn't shrieking and wasn't growing…

It was actually taken aback by the resistance.

"Did it understand me?" Midoriya thought, also taking a pause himself.

"Does it… actually have cognitive thought?"

The xenocite narrowed its eye on the struggling and yet winning creature in its grasp.

And after a brief pause, made its move.

It didn't make the tentacle that encompassed Midoriya didn't tighten around… but rather instead, lifted the tip of the appendage to the greenette's ear.

Midoriya spoke with an unfaltering tone: "Whatever you're doing, it won't work.", making small green sparks of electricity come out of his eyes.

"What did they do…"

"Huh?"

"Tennyson watch out!"

"Who…" He let his thoughts slip. This time it was a feminine voice, one that he recognized. "Ashido?.."

"I'm not gonna give in. NOW WITHER–"

"Kacchan?.."

Not only that, but other sounds were coming as well.

The heavily distraught screams coming from his friends, the sound of Kirishima's hardening, the sound of rocks lifting up from explosions, the sounds of punches being thrown, the deep, howling sound of… something he couldn't describe.

The cold and daunting realization dawned on him.

He wasn't the only one struggling with these creatures, was he?

"I remember…" he muttered and looked at the creature in a different way. "Right before I was caught, Asui had pulled me aside…"

"And she was…"

He couldn't say it.

"Right before I was…"

He interrupted himself.

The Xenocite observed the quiet little prey and thought that finally, it had cornered him.

Like the predator it was, he squeezed in from all fronts and went in for the kill.

But…

Unbeknownst to it, electricity has started to crackle around the area…

The instincts of this foreign and alien creature… were wrong.

"RAAAAAAAAAAGH!" In a blinding flash of light and force, Midoriya ripped through the flesh and burst forth from the Xenocite's grasp!

The anger he had bubbling up inside, had now risen to the surface with full force.

"I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU…"

Xenocite tried and amplified the screams of his friends, but it was no use.

"All Might gave me this power so that I could finally help people." Midoriya said to the struggling creature. "Just like I always dreamed."

He squeezed his fists tightly and pressed his foot to the ground.

"He risked it all because I told him that I would work hard!"

"I promised that I would take this power, make it my own, and help all those that need it!"

Midoriya looked the shaken monster in the face. "And I'm not going to go back on that."

Red trails of energy went up his hands.

"I will make sure to keep everyone safe… I'll make sure…" He recalled the screams that came to his ear.

"...THAT YOU NEVER HURT ANYONE EVER AGAIN!"

Midoriya ran straight in against the giant monster. He dodged right under the unbroken appendages and started to lay out everything he had.

Punches, kicks, even flicks of air in between. Without regard for any kind of risk or consequences, he continued to go ham on his opponent using everything he had learned.

All Might, Tennyson, Kacchan, and every other person with a quirk he ever observed… It was almost like Midoriya had brought all the people into battle alongside him.

The monster tried to fight back but with every hit, Midoriya could straight up rip chunks off from him and unlike someone else, he wasn't exactly a slow and big target. His size, as the battle went on, also started to shrink back down.

Midoriya dodged one more hit by doing a backflip and got some distance.

He riled back his fist. For a brief moment, his shoulders started to feel heavier, almost like there were the hands of others pressing against him, but it went away just as fast as it came…

For the first time since he arrived at this dark void, he was feeling powerful.

The monster on the other hand, considering the barely held size advantage and how little it had left in the tank, went for one final assault.

"YOU'RE FINISHED!"

Midoriya threw the punch and–!

*BOOM!*

In a flash of light, the squid that looked like it was growing redder by the second, exploded off from the greenette's forehead, making him open his eyes.

He felt a headache that could make any living person feel nauseous and his vision was slightly blurry, but that wasn't important. Where was he?

Midoriya exhaustedly rubbed his eyes and when he opened them, just for a second, he saw the world red, like it was on fire.

"What?" Midoriya rubbed them again and wiped something off with his hand.

"Oh, blood…" he sighed in relief and touched his eyes and then face again.

He felt the warm blood trickling down from his forehead, right over his right eye. "I must have hit my head…"

He raises his eyebrows with that last statement and completely touches his face.

Aside from a few cuts and bruises, Midoriya was… himself.

He got up from where he laid.

"Then where is…"

He didn't need to finish that sentence. Because the squid was also lying in the distance, blasted into several different parts, squished beyond recognition and a yellow slime left to ooze out of it.

"Guess… I scared him out of his skin…"

He tried quipping just like Tennyson would but, right now, all it did was make him feel just a tad bit more guilty, despite all the pain the creature made him feel.

"In any case, I should move forward–"

A strong light dazzled his eyes.

"Ah…" he raised his hand to block the light. "What did I miss?"

The greenette tried to look over as long as he possibly could and managed to see the clash of ice and fire… as well as another squid that took up residence on one of the strongest classmates he knew.

Midoriya raised himself up. "I… must help him."

"If I saved myself…"

He interrupted himself since the man in the jet black fog in his vision came to mind.

But the greenette didn't want to focus on that. Who he was, where he came from, how and why was in his mind.

"No…" He brushed all that aside. As the opportunity given to him here and now, pressed harder than any question.

He planted his feet firmly to the ground and took one more leap.

In the blink of an eye and a red streak of light, he found his fist firmly planted on the Xenocite, blowing Todoroki away and firmly knocking him unconscious.

With his ice cold adversary down, Ben, still transformed to NRG, collapsed to the ground but was still conscious.

He tried to lift his body and once that happened, all Ben could see was his arms shaking like a newcomer to the gym that did 100 push-ups.

"Please let it end…" he thought. "Let me stop… wasting my precious… energy…"

He looked up and saw Midoriya's also panting body.

"Hey…" Midoriya attempted to raise his arm to wave, but flinched once the pain of the broken arm surged through him.

"Hey…" Ben replied.

"So, was this the form you were talking about Tennyson?"

"More or less…" Ben looked over and saw that with the impact from Midoriya, the ice around Ojiro and Ashido had also crumbled.

Noticing this as well, the tailed martial artist broke out with a hail mary move, using the last of his energy.

He then tended to Ashido who had made some additional headway by using her acid.

"Cold cold cold cold!" Ashido said, still shivering in place and rubbing her hands to her arms. "Thank you!"

Ojiro couldn't help but smile. "Don't mention it."

"Where do you think you're going?!"

With that shout from NRG, Ojiro and Ashido turned, facing the villain with a purple portal behind him.

Shigaraki turns and looks, initially not intending to bother with a response and just heading on his own way.

The heroes, in the meantime, had no option… but to let him.

Ashido and Ojiro weren't equipped for it.

NRG barely had the energy to lift himself off the ground while Midoriya had the energy but not the body, as his right leg and right arm had broken with the leap.

"Can you move?"

Ben isn't sure. "If he makes a move on us, then sure I can whip up something. But…"

His glance makes way to the exposed power cables.

"...Need the power… I need it… the energy."

Shigaraki, in the meantime, had his eyes on the shriveled up energy body as well as the greenette who managed to resist his orders minutes earlier.

Both could have been fascinating in their own ways. If only he could keep his spite from bleed into his thoughts.

"Note that you two..." he spoke with one foot in the portal, and then pointed to the two heroes with green. "...just made it to my list, next to All Might."

"If you are found standing in my way again…"

"I will show no mercy."

The portal closed behind him, leaving only the battered bodies of the extras from before, one beaten up lady with alien tech and a whole bunch of classmates with face-hugging squids.

NRG caught Ojiro helping up Midoriya and saw Ashido walking over to him.

"No, stay away…" he said. "I can get up on my own."

The acid girl was more melancholic. "You did so much fighting for us Tennyson, let me–"

"NO!" he held out his hand, startling her. "I'm fine!"

Ben got back to his feet and looked down to his shaking hands.

"This isn't good…"

He shakily walked over, but someone got in his way, despite standing a bit further back.

"Midoriya?"

"What are you doing?" the greenette asked, a little skeptical.

"I need… to recharge." Ben replied.

"In the bus–"

NRG sensed the speech coming up. "I don't have time for this Midoriya!"

"In the bus!-" Midoriya started over. "You told us that this form was dangerous and it messed with your head, making you go a bit extreme. Am I right about that?"

Ben nods frustratedly.

"We want to make sure this isn't one of those things."

"After all, even with all those injuries,you are kind of the strongest in the class,the only thing that seemed to hurt you was

ourenergyactingasthermalenergytowarmuptheareacausingunnecessarywastemaybetherecouldbeanotherwaytorestoreyoutofullpowerbesidesthecablesand…"

While the greenette went off on his usual tangent, Ojiro felt pressured to talk. "We just want to look out for you."

"And that's appreciated!" Ben said with a burst. "But I'll only take what I need… Promise…"

His orange legs merged into one and even though it was more like hovering, NRG took flight, picking up what's left of his armor…

"Make sure to check up on everyone!"

…and landed over at the cables, starting to absorb power without a second thought.

"Yeeeeeeees, sweet pure energy."

He absolutely loved this. The lights of the whole compound flickered but it didn't matter to him. After all that hard work, after all that waste from before, he could finally take his time and enjoy it.

Even his withered body seemingly shared the same sentiment as it grew and grew, back to its original size while also becoming more refined.

Ben opened his eyes. "That should be just enough."

It was time to go back in the armor.

He took one of his hands off the cable and the lights went back to normal. But, his other hand wasn't as willing.

Despite it being lesser than before, he could still feel the energy pouring into him.

The joy that came from it, the satisfaction, the exhilaration, the pleasure…

How could someone just… get away from this?

Why would they get away from it?

Ben looked down to his arm and was just plain hesitant in his decision.

Maybe just a little more wouldn't hurt…

He turned to the cable and started to absorb more.

The lights spazzed out even harder.

He instinctively gripped the cable with both arms.

"YES!" he got to scream before–

"Threat level has reverted to standard levels."

"Hmm?" Ben raised his eyebrow and looked down at the symbol on him. "Omnitrix?"

"Shutting down crisis protocols."

He reflexively took his hands off from the crackling, supercharged power source and in a blinding flash of green, found himself in his human form.

Ben immediately rolled back his sleeve.

"Transformation regression completed— Error. Severe widespread genetic damage detected."

"Genetic damage?" Ben pondered out loud right before it hit him. "Oh no…"

He crawled right out of the hole and ran towards the battleground where his friends laid.

"Why didn't I see that before! Those squids are an alien threat."

And worst of all, it was one that he hadn't seen before.

Ben bit his lip. He should have known something was up from the extra time he grandpa used to warn him, warn him about playing hero before anything else…

"Omnitrix!" He held out his hand like he was trying to use a smart watch's voice recognition system. "Is there a way to heal them? You know, undo the damage?"

The dial of the Omnitrix glowed but suddenly went back to normal again.

"Error, operation failed due to distance from subjects."

Ben was surprised. "How about that…"

For the first time, the Omnitrix had "talked" to him.

The answer it gave was a bit annoying, but now it at least gave him a chance to undo all of this.

"Tennyson!" He heard a brand new voice and raised his head. "We are assembled over here!"

To his surprise, standing alongside Midoriya, Ojiro and Ashido in a huddle, were Iida, Kaminari and Mineta.

"Oh good… Looks like they came out unscathed."

He shook Iida's hand. "How are you doing class rep? I hope the entrance situation didn't get too out of hand while I was gone."

"It did." Iida said and squeezed his fist. "After you were gone, Thirteen was badly hurt."

"We tried to take our chance and send me out to call for help…"

"Yeah, you should have seen us!" Mineta yelled. "When Kaminari paralized the villain, Uraraka suddenly sent it flying and I then stuck him to the wall!"

"Sounds like an adventure." Ben replies.

"I was close to opening the door, but then Todoroki showed up and froze all of us."

Mineta crossed his arms. "Never liked him, for the record."

"I was really confused as to why our friend from this esteemed school would do such a thing."

The speedster points to the squid on Todoroki's face. "Now I know."

Ben nods. Yeah, without his own special set of circumstances from the past, he could see how off putting this all must have felt.

"So, what happened afterwards?"

Iida opens his mouth to speak–

"Perhaps the riskiest plan that you have ever seen! " Kaminari interjects, grabbing Ben's attention.

"After a while, I don't know if it was boredom or something, the purple misty guy called Todoroki back and left us alone."

Ben nodded.

"So we asked Aoyama to try to use his Naval Laser and he did drill through it, but it wasn't really enough for us to get out."

Iida joins back in.

"However, we did manage, as the laser was instead able to reach Thirteen and weaken the ice just enough for her to use her quirk. And as we broke free, we thought to tend to our other classmates who might have still been struggling with villains…"

Kaminari visibly tensed up with that sentence and it didn't go under Ben's radar.

"What happened?" He asked with a more strict tone and Kaminari, without his usual energetic self, just stepped out of the way and let Ben take it in for himself.

Next to Bakugo and the infected classmates, laid a badly hurt Yaoyorozu, Sero and an infected Jiro…

Ben immediately crouched next to them.

Kaminari spoke. "We found them battling in the mountain zone."

The shapeshifter didn't know what to say.

"Tell me you jumped in to help straight away."

"We did." Iida takes over. "But it seemed like the struggle had been going on for a long time already as they collapsed as soon as we were done."

"We moved them here in case those villains would try to pick another fight! You mess with one of us! You mess with all of us!" Mineta yelled, clearly a bit jumpy from the whole thing and it did make people smile.

But they weren't ready to laugh just yet.

"Alright, was that all? Where's Uraraka, Sato and Aoyama?"

"Clearing up the entrance." Kaminari said. "I radioed ahead and thought maybe the front door should be wide open once help arrives."

"Good thinking." Ben said and then stood back up.

"One, two…" He internally counted all the classmates assembled."Alright, yeah that should make 20. All the infected are here."

He rolled back his sleeve and looked at the Omnitrix's dial.

Like it was psychic, the dial in that moment glowed green.

"What are you thinking?" Midoriya asked from where he was sitting.

"Oh, um…" Right, he almost forgot about the secret identity thing.

"I think…" Ben starts. "I was thinking rather… About what happened to the rest of our friends."

He points to himself. "Before, I tried pulling them out with Wildvine."

"You had no luck, I'm guessing?" Kaminari joined and Ben nodded.

"I tried using my electricity. I thought maybe it would knock the little gremlin's off…"

Ashido nodded and crouched. "We tried acid as well but these things are all just so stubborn–!"

She tried touching one as she said that but it suddenly moved which made her immediately pull her hand back.

"Well, I might just have an idea." He shows them the Omnitrix dial. "All of you are familiar with my quirk?"

Kaminari answers first. "Yeah man, you can transform into 10 different forms 10 minutes at a time. All of us know this."

"Right, but it goes a bit more in-depth than that…Umm…"

Damn, it was going to be difficult to give a spin on this… If only Gwen were here to help out.

"When I first got my quirk.." he starts. "The doctor… said that my style of transformation was a bit different than the other kids around my age."

The student's looked intrigued and that only made Ben sweat even harder than he already did.

"Turns out… When I transform…"

Ben struggled to put this into words.

"It's not like putting on a costume and gaining new abilities, like Kirishima's hardening or Ashido's acid-tolerant skin."

"Instead, it is more like… I emit… some kind of energy that affects my DNA on the base level, forcing my body to adapt and change form."

And it turns out each has a different kind of energy signature."

"And is that why you have 10 different forms? Is the energy different each time you change?" Midoriya intervenes and Ben immediately takes his chance.

"Exactly! Exactly like that!" He snaps in his direction.

"That sounds more like an emitter quirk to me now…" Iida says.

Ben turns to him. "That's because it is."

"Heh, I just like thinking about it as a more mouthful version of saying I have 11 costumes stashed in one body."

"Yeah, but how will this definition help us turn everyone back to normal?!" Mineta didn't stop panicking.

Ben pointed to the dial.

"With all this kind of DNA changing energy in my body, it's impossible to concentrate on picking one and rolling with it. So, this kind of just does it for me…

"…and it got me thinking."

Midoriya raises an eyebrow.

"If it can manage my usual DNA, why not do a maintenance check on all the others? Can't we cleanse their DNA from whatever these squids are?"

"Like a gene cleanser?" Ojiro asks.

"Exactly like a gene cleanser!"

"That sounds good, but how do we know that the squids are connected to them on a DNA level?"

Ben's expression changes to surprise. The one who asked that question was Midoriya.

"Just a hunch?" he replied. To be honest, he was kind of out of responses after edging around his previous story for the Omnitrix.

"I'd say we try it."

"I don't know…" Ojiro says.

"But there is no reason to not try it, right?" Ashido retorts. "We technically are all out of options."

"No reason?! He says it messes with DNA! What if they all turn to a copy of Tennyson instead?! How can I live with half the girls of the class as–"

Ashido, with one swift kick, tosses Mineta away.

"Please tell me someone has a better argument."

"I would honestly place my vote on waiting for help." Iida says. "To me, it has less risk since doctors and nurses at the hospital can handle an issue like this better than us."

"I agree, Iida."

The class rep sees Midoriya sitting on the ground,

Midoriya isn't so calm about the situation though.

He takes a deep breath. "I would normally agree with you, but I… I'm sorry."

The greenette looks down. "I can't let them suffer from these things." the greenette shook his head. "If we have a chance to save them earlier, even if it's risky, I would like to take it."

Iida wanted to argue against that kind of brash logic, but from the looks of it, it was clear that Midoriya didn't want to argue on this.

He looked sorrowful for all of his friends, like he could relate to their pain.

And so the greenette seemed settled, no matter what.

Ben turned to the only able bodied person left in the huddle.

"Kaminari? What do you say? Go or no go?"

The electric boy was conflicted. Honestly, he kind of preferred to stay out of these bigger decisions if he could.

Buuuuuuut, it looked like he was the tie-breaker here.

"I mean…" Ben added. "I would ask the construction crew but I'd rather not waste anymore time than I already did."

"I…" he said and nervously tried to find a place to… direct his gaze to, for the lack of a better word.

"It's not going to be original you guys, but I don't know either."

He kept looking around, first to the ceiling, then to the floor, after that to the faces of his standing friends…

Kaminari briefly circles around and lands his gaze one the face of one of his infected friends…

He put his hands at his hip.

He murmured. "I know YOU would make fun of it…"

Kaminari shook his head but couldn't shake his thoughts.

"But, maybe a reckless move is what we can use right now."

Kaminari raised his head and tapped Tennyson with the back of his fist.

"Go for it buddy."

Ben nodded and then held up the watch close to all the knocked out and infected bodies on the ground.

The Omnitrix's green glow started increasing by the second.

"Well, here goes everything…"

In the clear empty road between the current melting pot of USJ and the prestigious UA High School, two cameras on light poles that are on opposite sides have a conversation.

"Do you see him?" the robot camera asked.

"Nope." the other camera deadpans.

And then a blur went right past them.

"Did you see him?!"

The camera however states the same. "Nope."

All Might, with a giant dust cloud following after him, speeds along the road, cutting corners like a mad man, all to arrive at the USJ as soon as possible.

"I'm making decent time…" He gazes at the scenery he's passing by. "But I have to admit… I really am slowing down."

*Cough!* *Cough!* He looks at the small sprinkles of blood on his hands.

"Not to mention cutting it close to my time. If there are any stragglers, it should still be easy for me to take care of them, but…"

He thinks about what his class could have gone through.

"Dammit… I should have been there with them."

He knits his eyebrows.

"The injuries of my juniors, the warp gate and decay villains, students fighting students…"

He squeezes his fists.

"I could have prevented all of it! IF I WAS THERE!"

Small craters start to form wherever he steps.

"Now… they're telling me almost half the class got those squid things stuck on their faces."

"After that, how will I look their parents in the face?! How will I tell them that I wasn't there to protect their children when I should have been?!"

All Might looks ahead and sees that the door of the USJ is extremely close now.

He plants his shoes to the ground as he breaks to stop. As soon as he does, he riles back his fist.

And in one strike, the doors of the compound barge right open.

"I RECEIVED THE CALL!" the number 1 hero yells and walks forth.

"All Might!" Uraraka immediately greets him with tears still in her eyes, but she's too late to be the first thing that takes the hero's attention.

The number 1 hero crouches down and inspects the bodies of his two colleagues at this teacher job.

"Eraser Head… Thirteen…"

Seeing the broken bones on the homeroom teacher and the laceration of the rescue trainer broke his heart. To think they had to fight this hard without him...

"Rest easy now. I'll take over."

He rises up to meet his student.

"NO NEED TO FRET ANYMORE YOUNG URARAKA. I AM HERE!" He tries to instill some reassurance. "NOW, HOW CAN I HELP?"

"Umm…" she wipes away her tears. "I-I think our teachers took care of most of the villains… A-and our classmates held their own against the ones they faced."

Her voice still couldn't help but shake ever so slightly.

"I SEE…" All Might said. "I'LL GO CHECK!"

Uraraka tilts her head. "I'm sorry, but go check wha–?"

Suddenly, disappearing into a yellow streak, All Might dashes off to the Downpour Zone, then Shipwreck Zone, after that the Conflagration Zone!

He just speeds between all zones, only staying for, at most, seconds at a time and Uraraka's eyes can barely keep up with the streak.

He then returns in front of Uraraka, while protecting her from the sudden strong wind he had caused.

"THAT SHOULD BE ALL OF THEM!"

"What?!" she exclaimed. "How many villains did you just take out?!"

"OH, I CAN'T TAKE TOO MUCH OF THE CREDIT." he said. "I ONLY CLEANED UP WHATEVER WAS LEFT IN THE RUINS AND LANDSLIDE ZONES… AND DEALT WITH EVERYONE IN THE CONFLAGRATION ZONE."

Uraraka couldn't help but be amazed. She knew it was All Might she was talking about but still! Seeing him in action was something else.

"HOWEVER, I DO HAVE A QUESTION."

Sato also walks over to the two's conversation.

"ON THE RADIO, YOUNG KAMINARI MENTIONED A WARP GATE VILLAIN ALONG WITH ANOTHER THAT HAD SEVERAL DISSEVERED HANDS." he said. "I CHECKED ALL THE KNOCKED OUT BODIES BUT HAVEN'T COME ACROSS ANYONE LIKE THAT."

"Oh, that…" Uraraka says.

"Yeah, the warp gate one attacked us All Might. Here at the entrance." Sato joins in. "But after a while, it just left."

"W-we were guessing that it's to fight in the center." Uraraka takes the word back.

"I SEE…" says All Might with a hand on his chin.

"After bringing Eraser Head here, we have mostly been at this spot. Clearing the path for heroes, police…" Uraraka continues.

The group then suddenly hears sirens coming from the distance. "Speaking of which…"

Police cars, along with ambulances and personal vehicles of the other teachers start arriving on the scene one by one.

"You should probably check in with the crew down there." Sato says. "They would know much more than us about those villains."

All Might nodded.

"THANK YOU. I'M SORRY I COULDN'T DO MORE FOR YOU."

Uraraka nervously waves her hands. "No no no, it's fine."

Sato crosses his arms. "We're just happy that you're here now."

He puts his hand behind his neck. "...And to be honest, I'm still trying to take in the fact that you're here as a teacher as well as a hero."

"IT HAS BEEN… A DIFFERENT EXPERIENCE." All Might nods. "WELL, I'M OFF TO CHECK ON THEM."

Uraraka and Sato wave after him as All Might jumps into the air, making sure to not hit the ceiling.

And then slowly lands, with his power and landing spot in check, at the center.

He sees the rest of the students helping each other up.

"HELLO THERE!"

"All Might?!" Midoriya, Ashido and Mineta's eyes immediately light up. So much so that Ashido accidentally lets go of Kirishima's hand and drops him. "Oops, sorry!"

"I ARRIVED AS SOON AS I HEARD. CAN SOMEONE CATCH ME UP ON WHAT HAPPENED?"

"Yeah… Guys, can you help him? I just…"

Midoriya answers first. "Sure, Tennyson."

Ben is a bit stunned from getting interrupted but still nods and turns away from the group.

After stepping away a little bit, he rolls back his sleeve.

"Program complete. All genetic damage has been repaired."

"Perfect." he thinks to himself and takes a deep breath. "I averted at least one crisis today."

Ben looks off into the distance…

"If they are really after you again, we can't let them find out that we know. You must act casual and go to school. In the meantime, I'll do some investigation…"

"Look how that turned out." He thinks of his grandpa's words and looks at Rojo's body, still fainted from the scuffle before.

"I should have known that they would come after me with all that they got, grandpa…"

He crosses his arms.

"Yet I still acted passive…"

"Left all the heavy lifting to you and Gwen, even though you weren't here and didn't see the threat…"

Ben doesn't say anything after that.

He just looks into the distance, contemplating on what he will do from now on.

And then sees something moving with the corner of his eye…

Crawling away, with his head down to the ground, was a Xenocite.

Ben's eyes widened. He turns around and yells: "Don't let a single one of them get away!"

As those words escaped from his lips, a thin layer of ice covered the floor they were standing on.

"Don't worry…" said Todoroki, with cold air coming from his right leg and standing up on his own. "I have no intention to do so."

All Might is surprised. Both at one of his downed students raising to his feet instantaneously and… seeing the squid twitching and screeching with his own two eyes.

"INCREDIBLE…" He looks at the thing from above.

The police at this point, starts to show up in greater and greater numbers, and one familiar figure to All Might finally shows his face.

"Is that what I think it is?" he says, pressing the button of his pen.

"OH, TSUKAUCHI." All Might turns his signature grin to him. "YEP, THAT'S ONE OF THE SQUIDS."

"I see..." he says and attempts to get closer as any detective would with some nitrile gloves in hand, but is shortly stopped by the other students.

So, he starts making a rough sketch of it from afar instead.

"Sansa!"

An officer, with a head that looked like a cat, ran forth and stood in ready position… with a barrel in his hand.

Tsukauchi looks him in the eye.

"I thought that we should start collecting the evidence sir! For further inspection at the lab!" he says frantically.

Tsukauchi narrows his eyes, and then says: "Make sure photos are taken beforehand, I don't want a single detail to be missed."

"Yes, sir!" he runs back to where he came from to get a camera.

As he's getting close to finishing it, paramedics also arrive and student's start helping them lift their injured friends onto the stretchers.

Tsukauchi then begins his exploration of the scene of crime and All Might follows right after him.

"WHAT ARE YOU MAKING OF THIS?"

The detective continues to distractedly look around. "I'm… making out that your students are still green… and that they are clearly not taking this well."

He puts a yellow marker with the number 1 next to a large smoking charred body.

"YOU CAN'T BLAME THEM." All Might replies. "THEY'VE ONLY BEEN ENROLLED FOR A COUPLE OF DAYS."

"Yeah well, I hope that the school has a plan about that, because I wouldn't be surprised if all parents right now suddenly decided to consider their backup schools."

All Might thinks before answering.

Tsukauchi puts another yellow marker with the number 2 down at the crater Rojo created as other officers take her away.

"I BELIEVE THAT THE SCHOOL WON'T LET THIS GO…" All Might then follows up. "WE WILL ENSURE TO INCREASE OUR SECURITY… AND AS MEMBERS OF THE STAFF, MAKE SURE TO AID AND SHOULDER WHATEVER OUR STUDENTS HAVE FELT FROM THIS EXPERIENCE."

Meanwhile, Tsukauchi also asked for another secure box for… a gauntlet that fell out of her gear?

"HOW IS THE SITUATION?" All Might asks.

Tsukauchi paused… and rubbed his eyebrows. "Came here with 13 different scenarios, considering and leaving with neither of them right now."

He exhales out loud.

"There are too many perspectives, too many variables, and if I want a clear picture, I'm going to have to listen to most of them."

"WILL IT… TAKE LONG?"

The detective shrugs. "Depends on what they tell me…"

"Because the evidence here seems demanding to say the least…"

All Might nods. "I GET WHAT YOU MEAN. IF I DIDN'T HEAR THE PANIC IN THEIR VOICE, I WOULD HAVE A HARD TIME BELIEVING AS WELL…"

The detective then pointed to some of the zones to nearby officers and then made his way towards the stairs.

"I wish we could have met up again in more opportune times, All Might." The two start going up the steps. "Maybe at a bar for a drink, those are always nice."

"HEH…" All Might doesn't waver in his smile. "YOU AND ME BOTH, TSUKAUCHI. BUT YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT I CAN'T DRINK."

"Oh right, I'm sorry about that." Tsukachi says.

"IT'S FINE. YOU HAVE SEVERAL CASES COMING IN EVERY DAY–"

"No no, I really gotta start paying more attention like you said." he admits.

Tsukauchi bears a faint smile after that.

Then, reaching the top, the detective gets to see the kids again, reassuring the ones just starting to come back to their senses from the infection or from their injuries.

Without waiting, he steps forth and starts to speak and get the attention of a select few of individuals…

"Tennyson Ben, if I presume?"

Ben, who had distanced himself from the crowd, turns around to face him. "Yeah?"

"I am Detective Tsukauchi." he lends his hand forward and Ben shakes it.

To explain what's going on, All Might cuts in. "FROM WHAT WE HAVE BEEN TOLD, YOU HAVE BEEN QUITE CLOSE TO THE ACTION."

But Tsukauchi follows up and takes the word right back.

"And since the cameras were apparently disabled during the event, we would like you to shed a bit of light onto things for the sake of our investigation."

Ben, despite seemingly pausing for a second, nods. "Sure, always happy to help the local police."

And after that, Iida, Ojiro, Ashido and Kaminari follow suit, in that order.

"Thank you for your cooperation."

He puts the notepad away and gestures to them to come with him to the school, all the while having his right hand man, Sansa, manage the place in his absence.

As the students leave, Uraraka decides to look back, still reflecting on all they just went through.

And as a result she gets to see the commanding officer pick up the xenocytes and stuff them into barrels filled with green slime.

"Must be coming out of those squids…Ew." she exclaimed before turning back again and leaving.

She was just glad that the assault on USJ… had finally come to a close.

Chapter Text

"Wow…" Ben exclaimed.

With the events of the USJ coming to a close, Ben and a couple more of his friends were taken in for questioning…

The shapeshifter had originally expected some casual conversation in Tsukauchi's office, perhaps a quick summary of what happened and then just be done with it…

But the detective had other plans.

He had brought him to a full-blown interrogation room!

"You guys really are being thorough with this..." he exclaimed as he sat down..

"It's almost enough to make me feel like a criminal."

"Of course." the detective replied. "It's an officer's duty to never slack off until the job is done."

The detective turned to look and Ben who, in response, briefly flashed a polite smile.

"So…" Tsukauchi sat down on his own chair and put a voice recorder on the table.

He looked up to the student's face. "Do you mind–?"

"Hm? Oh no no…" Ben said and waved his hand. "It's cool. Just a standard procedure?"

"Yeah," he says. "I just wanted to make sure since most people who are questioned see the room and then the recorder, get nervous."

"I'm fine." Ben replies.

"Okay…" he hits the button and tells the date of today outloud. "Now, if you could just state your name, age, occupation here…"

Ben sighs under his breath… before leaning over, making sure the device could pick up his voice.

"Umm, my name is Ben… Ben Tennyson. I'm 15 years old. And then I'm… a student in the U.A. High."

Tsukauchi nodded and gestured to him to lie back. "Then young Tenyson, can you give me your perspective on the villain attack that happened this morning?"

Ben nods. "Yeah, uhh…"

He scratches the back of his head, trying to recall everything. "I guess it all happened after Thirteen's speech."

The young transforming hero then told the detective about everything that he had done during the USJ.

And throughout all of it, despite the big empty room, the chains at the corner to restrain real suspects, the voice recorder, the one way glass… Ben never once felt nervous.

He even had an officer bring him tea before the questioning properly started.

The air felt very casual… and yet there was still some form of intensity, all coming from the detective who took notes as Ben talked and asked him questions to keep the conversation going

He was trying to piece a story together, making sure nothing was left out before the student was sent home, owning up to his rank as a detective and proving his swift, proper and most importantly, cautious nature.

The word that best fit him, his manners, his technique and his approach, was "professional."

And Ben would appreciate that more…if his mind wasn't somewhere else entirely.

"I really hope they're doing okay…"

As the authorities rolled into a warzone of a USJ, his friends who were "infected by the squid" were taken to the hospital to get checked, and the others, who had injuries due to all the fighting, were sent to be treated by Recovery Girl.

"I mean… The Omnitrix would report if they had something wrong, right?"

It was created by Azmuth for God's sake. Was there a better seal of approval out there than that?

"Hmm?" Tsukauchi lifted up his head and Ben changed his glance away, realizing that he had been making these impatient faces right in front of the officer.

However, he couldn't help it. The whole thing was his fault. He should not be sitting here. He should be at the hospital, checking up on them, being there for them…

"At least, they all looked okay." He tried to reassure and calm himself.

That had to count for something…

Then, flipping to another page, Tsukauchi suddenly took the attention of the teen right back.

"Okay, Tennyson, is there also anything you could tell us more about the 'squids'?"

Ben put his arms back on the table. "Not… really."

"I wish I did…"

"Are you sure?" Tsukauchi asked. "Because we just went over the fact that you guessed that the connection they made was rooted in their DNA."

"Well…" Ben says and shrugs. "Like you said, I just guessed."

Tsukauchi raised his gaze from his notes as Ben got lost in his thoughts…

"With punching not being an option, I felt like… I should do something." he said.

"I wasn't hearing any ambulance sirens at the time, I guessed that they hadn't got the news yet, and my friends really looked like they were in pain."

He crossed his arms.

"So I didn't want to wait around. And, with how my quirk worked, that was the only thing I could think of…"

"I see…" he takes a note and Ben takes a deep breath.

He honestly just wanted to go and–

"I believe that was everything. Thank you for your contribution, Young Tennyson."

Ben perks up from his seat and he looks back at the detective. He seemed relatively concerned…

Tsukauchi then gestures to him to answer the recording.

"Yes… umm… It was no problem." Ben replies and Tsukauchi hits the button, stopping the recording.

"You seemed really out of it towards the end there…" the detective then said. "Is there something that you wanted to talk about?"

Ben puts his hands on the back of his neck. "No, not… I… I don't know actually."

He didn't know how to say it.

"I guess… I just wish that I could have helped more with this…"

"The body snatching squids, the woman with high tech weapons, the mindless brute that was 'supposedly a match for All Might'... Not to mention a cheap villain name like 'League of Villains' getting a backing of over 50 villains…" He worded his thoughts carefully.

"It just feels like way too much to handle…"

Tsukauchi nodded and took one more look at his notepad… "I get what you mean."

…before putting it on the table.

"But I assure you Young Tennyson… It won't take us long to get to the bottom of this…"

"The people who have put you and your friends through this will be detained and their intentions, alongside the names of all of their supporters, will be snuffed out from them immediately."

Ben… was surprised. "Really?"

"Yeah, it's not the first time that we have faced a quirk like this…" he said. "...Well, that one was with bees, however if we consider it to be an off-shoot of that for now, it does give us some options and a few leads…"

The embers of hope in Ben, as soon as he heard that word, were extinguished out as fast as they formed.

"Oh yeah, 'quirk'... as in 'common criminal'." He laid back on his chair.

Tsukauchi however stands up and takes a sip from his coffee.

"The tactic that villains with these types of quirks have shown to act elusive, hide among the crowds and send their quirks on long distances." he says. "Quite the difficult one for us to deal with, especially if they have the assistance of someone with a warp quirk."

"But, with the detailed descriptions you had for their accomplices and based on data we will get from future attacks… It will only be a matter of time before we crack them down–"

"Wait, future– You'll let them attack again?" Ben asks, unable to prevent his impulse.

Tsukauchi tilts his head and puts his hand on his chin. "They are a force who can virtually attack from anywhere… Knowing what the quirk is gives us an advantage, but it is much harder to find a user of the quirk with that than the other way around… as groups like these are known to have members with no proper registration."

"Without a pattern, it will–"

"But what about the people that will be hurt?" Ben interrupts again, with the vision of his hurt classmates appearing right before his eyes...

"Not to mention the infected." he thought inside his head "Midoriya… Sero… and Yaoyorozu…"

They were physically hurt, with bruises and concussions for the latter duo and straight up broken bones for the former.

Granted, most of those were self-inflicted because of his quirk, but the point still stood.

"If you wait for attacks like that, won't many others be caught in the crossfire?" Ben says. "They might have attacked us in the school now, but what if it happened in the city?"

His control on his words slipped a bit, however Ben wasn't considering it. "What would happen if those same lunatics went out downtown?"

That took Tsukauchi's attention.

He opened his arms up and waved them around for emphasis. "Trust me, the guy with the hands was a seriously messed up fruit loop… "

"The second he gets another big brute and a second batch of interns, he WILL try this again and call for blood…

Ben waited on his words here. He didn't want to slip.

"…All Might's blood."

Tsukauchi wanted to object, saying that this should not be a careful organization's style… However, he also did consider the fact that Tennyson was the one who had faced them first hand…

Ben then continues. "That's why I think they should be given more importance… Because there won't be a Recovery Girl inside every hospital…"

"We–" he stopped himself and remembered…

This wasn't America anymore.

"You should not allow them to attack… and hurt others again."

"I'm aware." Tsukauchi says. "However…"

He takes out his hat and brushes his hair. "The fact of the matter is Tennyson, that I got a limited number of men here…"

It was his turn to open his arms. "... and when it comes to crime groups, they can be compared to diseases. I am aware that the new ones can add onto the damage that already exists within the body… However, this doesn't mean that I can act reckless, put all my antibodies into one single effort, and act like the other ones will just wait for me to be done…"

"This will be seen as a weakness and be exploited. And it's my job… my responsibility to not let that happen."

Then, in that instant, he made eye contact with Ben again.

He saw his evident gloomy mood… and most importantly, just who he was having this intense talk with.

The mistake that he had made, slapped him across the face.

"I'm sorry…" He lightly bows his head. "I shouldn't have started discussing business with you like that..."

Ben wanted to object to the response. However, it soon closed his mouth.

"And I'm supposed to be the professional here…" Tsukauchi said internally, but the student sitting in front of him had seemingly shrugged it off.

"It's…" Ben struggles to calm down for a second. "It's fine, Detective Tsukauchi, sir."

The detective doesn't say anything.

"I shouldn't have gotten too into it either…" Ben admits.

The detective notices that Ben was still upset, so he attempts to put on another polite smile and quip.

"Look on the bright side, now that makes the two of us who spoke out of turn…" He takes a sip from his coffee.

And Ben returned the kind gesture.

He took a sip from his tea. "I guess it does..."

Tsukauchi understood that Ben lacked any kind of stern attitude, rage, in that moment. He was speaking out of curiosity and compassion towards the situation… which kind of made him glad.

Since the future… really seemed like it was in good hands.

So, the detective just opened the door. "Can you ask your next classmate to walk in?"

Ben shrugs. "Sure."

As the shapeshifting American hero walked out, Tsukauchi added on at the last second. "Oh Tennyson!"

Ben looked around.

"We… have secured the evidence from this attack at the evidence room and…"

He reforms his words. "If it makes you feel any better, looking through them will be my number 1 priority today and tomorrow!"

Ben however, in response, did something that he had gotten, oh so very used to…

He put on a respectful smile, thanked him for his concern… and walked away.

Unlike other students, who had carried some sort of relief and reassurance on their way out from the interrogation room, all Ben carried… was a stinging pain in his chest, which was invisible to all… but to himself.

In the meantime, Tsukauchi continued to interview all the students one by one.

It took a while, and it certainly exhausted his mind and the pages of his notebook. However he could still make room… for one last visit.

"Hi Tsukauchi!" All Might, in his Toshinori Yagi form, poked his head from the open door.

Tsukauchi, with his hand over his face, looked over and quickly straightened up. "Oh, hey Toshinori…"

"May I come in?"

Tsukauchi looked in the room and said: "Umm… Yeah sure."

Toshinori nodded and pushed the door open with the side of his body… with two cups of coffee at hand.

"Your men had just made a fresh pot of coffee…" he said. "Thought you could use some."

The detective rubbed under his eyes and grabbed the cup from his hands, immediately taking a quick sip out of it. "Thanks. You're a lifesaver."

"I know." Toshinori smiled and the detective smiled along with him.

"So…" the pro-hero got into the business. "How did it go?"

Tsukauchi took another sip and then set down the cup.

"To be honest…" He flipped through the pages. "...I have to say that it went way better than I expected…"

Before All Might can say anything, the detective continued.

"Despite their… 'experience'..." Tsukauchi sighed. "Their statements still provided at least decent descriptions and the various points of view they had, does give me a… workable overview of what happened…"

"I see…" All Might said, but the detective wasn't done.

Tsukauchi put his other hand on his chin. "Except for one…"

He flipped over a new page and passed the notebook over to him. "The statement that one of your students gave was far in a way the most informative and well-structured…"

Toshinori picked it up and briefly looked at all the pages, seeing that Tsukauchi had made a title for every student he had interviewed.

And… when he went back… and the page that the detective marked…

That's when he saw.

"Young Tennyson…" Toshinori starts skimming through the page.

"I remembered you being curious about him."

"Indeed…" All Might lifts his head. "And from what I heard, he was an outstanding hero during this emergency…"

"He was…" Tsukauchi said, leaning back on his chair.

"It is still… quite something to take in the fact that a student not only took on the villain that almost killed Eraser Head and was designed to kill you…"

"...But it's the fact that he won, right?" Toshinori finished his sentence.

Honestly, he was flabbergasted as well by the results. "That quirk of his…"

"That level of capability… at such a young age…"

Tsukauchi then however pointed to the notebook. "Check his statement."

All Might looks down at the notebook.

"He said that, by the time he was done, the time-limit on his quirk was on the verge of running out."

Tsukauchi then crosses his arms. "And yet, in his voice, there was no sign of him feeling dread or shaken up…"

All Might puts a hand on his chin. Indeed, for a boy his age to come face to face with death like that and not sweat it, was unusual… and brave.

Tsukauchi continued. "He even had the will left to berate the tactics of the police… saying that they should be more active and not let this 'League of Villains' get away."

"You have to admit…" he took another sip. "...He has quite the character."

"He does. I have talked with Young Midoriya about him." All Might acknowledges, with his gaze stuck on the notebook's pages.

Specifically on where Ben confesses to jumping into action on his own and fighting the villains head on…

And as he read along, he could almost start to see the battle.

A kid with a very powerful quirk, just throwing himself in harm's way and fighting tooth and nail for others…

It kind of–

"It reminds you of yourself, doesn't it?" Tsukauchi said.

All Might was caught off guard. "Well, n– I mean, I don't know–"

Tsukauchi then replied. "This is what I'll say to you, Toshinori…"

"I haven't spent that much time with young Tennyson…" he says. "...However, from what I listened to from him and what I heard from others, I can say that he's talented…"

He leans forward to Toshinori.

"And as you know, talent and potential like this… can only come by once or twice in a lifetime."

All Might listened on.

"I would suggest not wasting this opportunity Toshi…" the detective says.

Toshinori nods. "I know I should…"

"...but how would I approach him… as All Might?"

"Oh, and also… Tsukauchi says. "We have something else to report…"

"Specifically about what we found… at the USJ."

Ben 10: Hero Force

Chapter 14

Cooldown

"Mooooooom! Have you seen my tie anywhere?" Ben yells from across his room.

His mom was washing the dishes, so he hoped she heard it.

He kept checking his closet, opening his drawers…

And as he was sitting on the ground, checking the bottom one with all of his Sumo Slammer dol– action figures, he heard…

"Have you checked the back of your door?!"

Ben paused… and immediately got up from the ground.

He checks it. Yep, it was hung on the rack behind it.

"Thanks!" he yells back.

"You're welcome!"

He gets it around his neck and as Ben is tying it, he notices his pants.

"Oof…" They were covered with a bit of dust from all the searching.

He patted them off to the best that he could. "Note to self, clean the room when you get back…"

He opened his closet again and looked back at himself through the mirror that hung on the back of the door.

Tightening his tie around his neck, he thought: "Okay Tennyson, this is your first day back since you-know-what…"

As he leaves the tie alone, his hand fidgets for a second.

He combs his hair. "All you have to do is try to not show up like you've lived like a homeless guy over the weekend and for another day or so, piece of cake."

Ever since the USJ, the school had closed down temporarily and it wasn't the easiest time to…well… take it easy.

But now that it was starting back up again, all with the chance to see his classmates once again.

He did one final check. "Okay, looks good…"

He closed the closet and picked up his backpack, before making his way to the living room.

He sees her mom taking the clean dishes out of the dishwasher and peeking at the open TV with the side of her eye.

Turns out she had found a channel that actually gave the news in English.

"I'm heading out…" he says, taking her attention.

"Alright." she finishes and makes a move over to the couch. "Have fun at school sweetie."

Ben smiles at that line as he takes a deep breath. He was still a bit on edge.

"Sure mom."

However, before he could step away, the news, who had been going over the weather so far, had switched back to breaking news.

"This is a follow-up report on the incident that took place in the U.A 's rescue training facility several days ago..." A female news presenter spoke up.

"...where students of hero course class 1-A were attacked by villains and two pro-heroes have been hospitalized."

Ben's eyes were immediately transfixed on the screen.

"According to police investigation, the criminals call themselves 'The League of Villains' and have been plotting to kill All Might, who has been a teacher at U.A. since spring of this year."

"Police have arrested 72 villains on the scene, however it is still suggested that the whereabouts of their ringleader are not kn–"

At that moment, the tv had turned off, and once Ben looked, he saw his mom holding the remote.

She had a worried face on for a second, and Ben looked down at his hand.

His fidgeting had gotten worse.

He managed to stop himself and his mom also recomposed herself. "So… you told me you were heading out?"

Ben shakes his head, blinking and snapping himself out. "Yeah yep…"

He checks his phone. "20 minutes until the train."

He runs over to the door, wears his shoes and runs off. "See you tonight!"

He speedruns down the stairs and once he does, he hits the rims on his watch.

"With Jetray, it will be easy to get to the station."

He had dialed him in, and as Ben lifted his hand in the air, the hesitation hit him.

He deactivated the watch.

"Right…" he told himself. "No powers in public…"

Without elaborating in his mind, he then quickly found the bicycle racks.

On the one plus side of the school being out, Ben had found himself time to go and buy himself a new light-blue bike.

"Good." he unlocked it. "I'll make it in time with this."

And indeed he did, with the bike making him go fast enough to get to the train station, and the train going fast enough to make it to school.

However, as Ben surfed the internet on the train, he had none of his usual glee…

It didn't take long for Ben to finally arrive at the door of his class after he got off the train.

He reached with his hand to slide the door open… but hesitated.

"Come on…" Ben thought. He closed his eyes and shook his arms and hands for a second. "You weren't nervous on the first day, why are you nervous now–"

He grabbed the handle and pushed the door to the side.

The sight that greeted him… was of complete silence.

"Oh…"

He slowly walked over to his seat, but as he did so, he saw his classmates sitting at their desks, mouth closed, silence at the forefront and sights set ahead, either at their phones, the desk, or their hands.

It wasn't the case, but… Ben felt as though their sights weren't necessarily set TO something, but instead they were set away…

Set away… from him.

He tried looking for a couple of familiar faces.

"Jiro and Kirishima aren't here yet…" he thought. "How is Midoriya–"

Ben's eyes widened as his gaze settled on Midoriya.

He looked fine on the outset, but…

"A scar…"

It was on the side of his right eye, in the form of a straight line, starting from above his eyebrow and going down to over his cheek…

He looked like that movie character with the laser sword or whatever.

If he had cut it just a bit closer, it would have been over his eye…

Probably blinding him… permanently.

Ben opened his mouth to say something. Maybe asking how he was, how that scar had happened…

However, everything that he thought… felt insensitive. So, he just moved along.

And as he found his seat, he looked at the place behind him and made eye contact… with Yaoyorozu.

She was the only one among the group that wasn't doing something. She was instead looking right at Tennyson.

"Yaoyorozu."

He hadn't forgotten their little incident back at the combat training and so, the memories quickly came rushing back to him.

How he dived into the action during the USJ, fought countless villains and destroyed that big brute…

"She probably got word of me curing everyone too." He thought, now feeling the weight of every little thing he did during the USJ.

"Well sayonara, secret identity…"

He saw Yaomomo open his mouth to talk, potentially about this subject, and it just… got on his nerves.

He didn't want to explain himself… not now, not to her, not to anyone.

So, before she could say anything, Ben put his bag down next to his desk and sat at his seat… the seat that was right in front of her, turning his back to his friend.

"I don't care…"

Now, he sat down with that idea, but actually acting according to it…

It just frustrated him further.

He closed his eyes for a second. He–

He needed to calm down.

He needed to clear his head.

Ben opened his eyes again and from the corner of his eye, saw the teacher's table.

"That reminds me…" he thought. "With Eraser Head out of commission…"

"Who will teach us?" He took a glance at the rest of the class.

The door slid open.

"Morning."

All of a sudden, a bandaged-up Aizawa had shown-up at their doorstep. The entire class was speechless!

"Now that's a pro." Ben stared in wonder alongside them. "I mean I have Wildvine to recover my injuries, but I have to admit… This is dedication."

As their teacher moved to the desk, Iida broke the silence.

He raised his hand. "So, you're all right, Mr. Aizawa?!"

Uraraka muttered in response. "Can you really call that 'all right'?"

"My well-being doesn't matter." Aizawa faces his class.

"More importantly, I have an announcement regarding what happened several days ago."

Ben's ears perked up.

Aizawa put his hands together and on the desk.

"In light of what happened at the Unforeseen Simulation Joint, the teachers have assembled for a meeting to make some plans on going forward."

He looked at the faces of his students.

"Plans that, seeing as you have been unable to rally by now, I am forced to put into place."

The door slides open once again and the guidance counselor of the prestigious U.A. Hero High School, Hound Dog… enters the room.

This caught Ben's attention. It was his first time really meeting this teacher.

He had the appearance of a dog, with yellow scruffy hair and an almost default expression of anger. The most notable thing he could say about his hero costume was that it had a muzzle right over his slightly pointed snout.

Aizawa turns to his side to gesture to him. "For the coming weeks, we have decided to conduct psych evaluation meetings, to provide a time slot for you to voice your concerns and lingering situations, if there may be any."

With that, Ben leaned forward. This… was unexpected.

Hound Dog then growled: "Hrrrrrrrr… You will set the pace. We will stop whenever you want… But, the first session is mandatory for all of you."

"Yes. At the end of each meeting, you will be asked if you want to keep going." The word goes back to Aizawa. "And, to cover all of our bases, we have also decided to let you pick another teacher to do the counseling with if you so choose, as long as they are not currently in class."

Hound Dog growled louder than last time with that last remark. Almost daring the class to go ahead and pick someone else.

Aizawa continues. "Naturally, this means the lessons will be slowed down a little to accommodate such a change…

He sighs.

"I highly think this is an irrational move, seeing as how when you become heroes, events that are of the same vein as this should be a common occurrence, but since I don't have a say in the matter, I suggest you make the best of this situation."

"Now…" Hound Dog steps forward with a clipboard in his hand.

He takes a look at it. "The first student… will be Tennyson!"

"Which one of you is Tennyson!" He barked at them, with the veins on the sides of his eyes popping out!

Ben, in response, rolls his eyes. "Oh come on…"

He then raised his hand, ensuring that Hound Dog sees him.

He gets up from his seat and exits the class alongside him.

"Now!" he said. "Which teacher do you want to be tended by..?!"

Hound Dog noted that the choices that Ben had were relatively limited, since a good amount of teachers were at their morning classes.

But, that didn't mean he was out of options…

As the two walked, he voiced his choice to the counselor and after a bit of walking, the pair reached the necessary room.

"In here!.." Hound Dog snarled. And as soon as the student stepped inside, the pro-hero closed the door behind him.

Ben took a look around.

It was mostly an empty office, with walls colored in white, the floor made out of wood, a small green plant in the corner and a blue carpet that complemented everything nicely.

The thing that immediately got his attention though… was the giant full-body window.

The full view of the greenery it gave to the room from outside of the campus but also within the walls felt quite pleasant as well as safe to the young alien hero.

Honestly, if this wasn't peaceful, he didn't know what was.

And lastly, at the two ends of the carpet, stood two black single seater couches that were directly across one another…

One of which… currently had someone waiting for him.

"Hello Tennyson…" She stands up and walks over to meet him.

"Hi…" Ben put his hand behind his neck. "Ms. Midnight."

She was a relatively tall and um…curvaceous woman, with blue eyes, spiky purple hair which reached down to her waist and a beauty mark below her left eye.

As for her hero costume, she wore a tight, skin-tight, white bodysuit with a black leotard over it. She also had black, thigh-high garter stockings, a leather belt with gold studs and a handcuff on each wrist.

"I would like to say I'm glad that you trusted me to be your counselor…" she said.

"It was no issue." Ben replied, trying to be polite.

However, internally: "Well, it was either you or Present Mic…"

"Now, if you are ready…" she gestured towards the seat. "Shall we begin?"

As the session between the student and the pro-hero continued, the rest of the class was busy with a science class, with every two students pairing up to do some sort of experiment.

"Remember to not be too close to the burner!" said Snipe, finishing passing beakers full of material and taking center stage in front of the class. "When pouring something into the beaker, make sure to do it slowly! Some of these materials are highly corrosive!"

"And never take off the safety goggles until I say so!"

Among the crowd, Kaminari piped up. "Don't worry, teacher, we got this being careful thing dow–"

As he was about to pour the beaker in his hand, Jiro quickly grabbed it.

"Kaminari, I don't even trust you to pour a glass of water carefully, nevermind what's inside this."

She put it back down on the table and then checked the instructions…

As the other students also start their experiments, she admits.

"Yeah… Apparently you DO put that…" She then picks the beaker back up and pours the contents back inside.

Kaminari looks over with concern. "Jiro…"

"I just…" she holds up her hand. "I want to be careful…"

She checks the list and continues. Kaminari, also calms down in response and pulls the notes closer in front of him…

Everyone then also does the same, pulling the notes in front of them, checking which beaker is which, maybe even preparing their strikers to light the bunsen burner…

All except one…

Midoriya was busy, looking at the window, not to the outside which had just been washed up with rain and the clouds had cleared out, but his reflection…

Specifically, at the new addition on his face…

He touched and followed along with his hand. It really started up from above his eyebrow and it just continued down… Skipping his eye entirely, by the lack of feeling of a mark on his eyelid, and ending up at his cheek.

"Does it hurt?"

He immediately turned and took his hand off his face.

It was Yaomomo, currently his lab partner. So far, she had been facing forward and carrying out the experiment as instructed… however now, she was looking over to him.

"Oh, no…" Midoriya relied, instinctively putting his hand on the scar again. "It's just… kind of hard to shake off…"

"...That we stood face to face against real villains…" He said.

"I know what you mean." Yaoyorozu replied. "It is probably not making it any easier on the class as well that this has been all the news-outlets covering for the past couple of days and actually showing footage of us…"

She rested her arm on the table and placed one finger on her cheek. "I assume it is all for well-placed intentions and is there to keep the public informed. However, it concerns me as the pain for our classmates is only getting refreshed from this."

"Y-Yeah…" Midoriya was surprised that Yaoyorozu covered what he was thinking that concisely and efficiently.

Just by being here, he could feel the air of the classroom not be anything like he felt when they were starting out. Everyone just hadn't recovered and…

It made him feel fortunate.

Since receiving All Might's power, he has been having these… inherent feelings.

What if he would get attacked by villains?

He did have All Might's power now, the power of the number 1 hero in all of Japan coursing through his veins, so there was definitely a reason. Even though most of the people didn't know it was All Might's.

He swore that he would become a hero just like him–

"No…" he thought. "Not just a hero. The greatest hero…"

The greatest hero… that could save everyone. And to deliver on that, to own up to this responsibility, he knew he had to accept the risks…

He had to put himself out there… to fight villains.

However, maybe because it was so early in his school year and that All Might was his teacher, he never anticipated that it would actually come true.

Now, despite not wanting to admit it, the requirement of mastering this new quirk and becoming a real hero… felt all the more real.

He scratched the back of his neck. "I'm at least glad to see that you're doing alright."

Yaomomo nods. "Of course. Truth be told, this wasn't my first time being on the news…"

As soon as she said that, Midoriya felt the reality slap him across the face. He heard her mention having a whole driver waiting for her at the end of school before.

Of course she was rich and of course she would be known for it.

"Not in this kind of light before of course, it was mostly with my mom." she said. "But I guess seeing everything in a more familiar medium managed to calm me down… despite the overall feeling still being quite surreal."

The greenette also got a chance to think about it.

"Yeah…" He instinctively put his hand back on the scar.

"I just hope that everyone gets better…" he sighs. "...And it doesn't take long for us to be a class..."

A small grin formed on Yaomomo's face before she got a grip on herself again. "I share the same sentiment, Midoriya."

"But, from my experience…"

"Traumas, by the nature of their composition, tend to linger."

Midoriya opened his mouth to talk more, but when she saw Yaomomo's face…

Her proper and careful posture was visibly withdrawn and her eyes were not facing neither the experiment nor Midoriya, but the classroom door, where Tennyson had been taken away, and still not returned.

"I can only imagine how devastating it was…" Midnight says.

"...being a witness to an attack of over 70 villains, seeing your teachers get overwhelmed, you and your friends being actively forced to fight.

"I'm sure…"Her eyes catch movement on Ben's part. She sees him briefly clench his fists, before releasing them.

"...it must have been horrible for you."

Ben, in response, tried to avert his gaze.

"Yeah…" he said. "It was tough… with the time limit as well and all that."

Midnight nodded. "Oh yeah, I remember your quirk being mentioned as having a time limit…"

"10 minutes." said Ben.

"10 minutes..." Midnight repeated curiously. "Considering what I've been hearing about your actions, would you say you were cutting it close?"

Ben leaned back on the couch and crossed his arms. He hesitated to answer.

"Yeah… I had to overextend myself a bit… but it was no big deal."

Midnight put a finger on her chin. "Interesting…"

She looked at the clipboard in front of her. "You seem pretty calm…"

"...At least… compared to your other classmates." Midnight felt the need to clarify.

She was going to go on for longer and mention how he even killed one of those villains… But the results of the question spoke for itself…

Ben had shifted from his position and bent forward, with his elbows resting on his knees.

With the light coming from above, his face was left in the shadow, with the gleam coming from the giant window being obscured with a semi-transparent curtain, not doing much to alleviate the effect.

"Like Eraser Head said, us heroes… have to be prepared for this kind of thing."

"Us…" Midnight observes him, and finds that line very peculiar, along with his current hesitation.

Maybe there would be a follow-up. Something that he wanted to clarify?

She wanted to give him time to answer on his own, without intervention.

She didn't want to alter his thought process…

But she was unsure as well.

There wasn't an answer from him yet and with the way that Ben had covered his face from her, she couldn't tell if Ben was carefully choosing his words…

…Or drowning within their context.

One thing was for sure though, it made her worried. She felt like she could see some of Ben's struggles.

And maybe it was her little bit of frustration towards getting such little information from the student also seeping into her thoughts…

Because she then said…

"I…" she pauses. "...understand."

Ben's overall posture doesn't change, but he does clasp his hands even harder.

"You are Tennyson. The strongest student in class 1-A. The 100-points in the entrance exam…"

She leans forward. "You feel like you're not supposed to have feelings of sadness, or vulnerability."

Ben's hands ease up, his nerves start to relax.

"You feel like you need to stand strong and reliable for everyone's sake… and I get that. It's a noble choice "

"It really shows that you… have a hero's heart." Midnight puts her hand on his knee.

"But the simple matter of fact is, you aren't ready for this."

She pulled away her hand, leaned back on her seat again. "You're only 15, a high school student."

She took off her glasses.

"It hasn't been that long since you've started UA and… you have not garnered enough experience but it will come to you. This is why we are here.

"So…" She put his hands on the arms of the chair.

"Until your time comes in the spotlight… leave the job to us… the pro-heroes."

Ben stood up.

"Tennyson?" Midnight said.

Ben wasn't listening to her however. He just made his way to the door.

He opened it himself and said:

"I think I'm done."

… before exiting the room without another word.

Midnight took off her glasses. She didn't know what set him off like that…

She rushed after him.

"Tennyson!" She managed to catch up before he got too far and hearing her, Ben stopped in his tracks as well.

She tried looking at him but Ben continued to hide his eyes. "I apologize if I said something wrong."

"No no…" Ben held up his hand and he raised his face. "I just… want to leave it here… for today."

"Oh…" Midnight couldn't really do anything about that. "Then, I need to ask: Will we be having another session?"

Ben put his hand on his chin.

Midnight read through him. He was conflicted.

Ben asked: "Could I ask for one… later?"

Midnight replied. "Of course!"

"Then… I'll ask when I need it."

Midnight disagreed. However, that contention remained internal.

After all, she couldn't force the student to take a therapy session again. He had to ask for it himself.

So, all she could do was let go…

And once Ben managed to walk away and get further and further away from her, he wondered…

How would she–

How would anyone on Earth… know the weight on his shoulders and act… like he wanted?

"They couldn't!" a roar was heard, echoing around the room. "They couldn't! They couldn't! They couldn't! THEY WERE WEAK!"

Inside a small, dimly-lit bar, with a wooden table, wooden floors and brick walls without a shade of paint, Shigaraki…

…The supposed leader of the "League of Villains"...

… finished screaming to his heart's content.

He slams his hand at the counter. "We lost completely..."

"They were weak…All the underlings!.. Even Nomu was defeated!"

He walked back and forth inside the bar.

"We didn't even approach the Symbol of Peace!"

Kurogiri, who stuck to observing from behind the counter, wanted to approach him and comfort his troubled master.

He was clearly feeling flustered, angry, upset, annoyed… all at the same time. Not to mention that these were his first words ever since he got back from UA a few days ago.

However… It was not his turn to speak.

Behind an old tv, with no visuals other than a simple "Sound only"...

"Is that so?"

It was delivered with a bone-chilling tone.

To the untrained and unfamiliar… it would have felt like a hunter tightening the cage around his captured prey, or a lawyer getting ready to crack the witness in front of the whole jury…

To him though… There was also a hint of softness. Like a father ensuring his son that everything was okay and it would all… eventually work out.

Whether it was intentional, Kurogiri never had a chance to ask.

In any case, Shigaraki continued, with his temper still at the helm. "My henchmen couldn't compare to them, Master!"

"If I had been given better ones, better minions, better henchmen, a better army!.. I would be able to squash them all..."

He clenches his fist. "Both that multiclass pain in my ass, and that green haired bastard."

With that, the voice that enveloped the bar for so long… dies down.

All this time, all these days, Shigaraki had stayed silent, thinking of ways why it went so wrong, what got in his way, who would have to be the one to pay… regardless of incompetence or opposition.

And all the while, he got to fester in his anger, imagining all the things he would do… once those "so-called" heroes show their face again in his presence.

For the time being though, the room descends into silence… or rather, it would have…

"That might be so, Tomura." The voice intervenes. "It is unfortunate that we have not prepared enough."

Shigaraki continues to clench his fists. "I do hear your regrets… "

The younger master with the severed hands relaxes. "However, never forget that you will always be able to try again."

"Over and over… Up until you get it right…"

Another voice speaks up from the screen. This one lacks the presence of the other one and just comes out… older.

"Yes, we underestimated them. It's a good thing we did it under that cheap 'League of Villains' name."

The same voice then asks. "Oh, by the way, what about Master and my joint creation, Nomu?"

The first voice takes the word. "He was not retrieved?"

Shigaraki can't bring himself to speak. He tried his best to not tense the nerves that his master just calmed down, by avoiding the question.

In response, Kurogiri steps forward, but he doesn't fare much better either.

"He was… murdered."

"What?!" The older voice spoke up.

"More specifically, he was melted away… by one of the students we encountered."

"Oh?"

"After all that we did to make him as powerful as All Might!" the voice said, like he was actually offended by what he heard.

Shigaraki also returned to the conversation. "I know… Now I have to continue to put up with that big grin of his on TV… All because that student couldn't wither away like I wanted…"

The Master acknowledges the atmosphere, and takes in everyone's frustrations… However, he refuses to be bent or shaken.

"Regardless of how I feel, I must admit…" the master said. "The fact that our Nomu didn't even get to face its intended target, is a surprising report to hear."

No one in the room, couldn't add anything.

"Kurogiri…" Master continued.

His face wasn't seen by anyone, but they just felt the master's head turn towards the purple mist.

"I need you to detail everything within Tomura's report…"

Shigaraki wants to pipe up and say that he can do that himself, but does not want to get in the way of his Master.

"...starting from the strange woman that you've met within that alleyway."

Kurogiri bows, feeling the pressure to fulfill one of Master's immediate orders.

"Well, I can't say that there was much to be worth mentioning about her… but, not for the reasons you might assume."

Kurogiri tried to recall to the best of his abilities. "In terms of abilities, she had a power armor of cutting edge technology, far more advanced…"

He considers his next words carefully.

"...far more advanced than anything I've ever seen."

He could feel his master leaning forward with intrigue and the pressure of the gaze increased on his body.

"Kurogiri…" the elder voice spoke up. "You have been to our lab… and have personally seen the current predicament our master is in."

"Yes Doctor Ujiko…" Kurogiri nods.

"And you choose to stand by your statement?"

Kurogiri didn't have a shadow of a doubt in his mind. "I do."

A separate, brief silence takes hold of the room. Shigaraki folds his arms, looking away…

"Incredible…"The doctor responds.

And as for Master… no response.

Kurogiri continues. "She told us that she wanted to assist our cause, using whatever she had… including a brand new weapon."

The small box with slime came before his eyes.

"She didn't know of the specifics herself, however she told us about a new weapon…"

The black eye, with the red iris of the small creature came to mind.

"An invasive and unstoppable parasite… called… Xenocites."

"They are unique and sinister beasts, teacher…" Tokoyami recalls, sitting at the exact same black couch that Ben was sitting on, with Midnight sitting right across him.

"Sinister beasts that are imbued with the ability to attach strings on the body and puppeteer them against their own will… akin to some sort of dark magician…"

"To also consider that we were conscious during all of it…"He closes his eyes. "I wouldn't wish for that even on my most ominous foes."

He opens them back up and puts a hand under his beak. "I assume that would have only lasted until our DNA's were changed, however, I'm grateful to Tennyson for saving us from finding out. That is all."

Midnight lies back on her couch and carefully considers what the student said, before leaning forward yet again.

There was a really awkward air in the room.

"That's… all very helpful, Tokoyami. Thank you…" she says.

Tokoyami bows his head slightly. "It's my pleasure to be of assistance to bringers of light."

Midnight nods. "But…"

Tokoyami looks up to her.

"This session… was supposed to be about how you felt while you were inside of the USJ."