Hey, did you guys know that Upgrade's name in Italian is 'Plus Ultra'? Isn't that just the funniest most coincidental shit ever?
...
What?
...
Okay, fine, I'll address the Way Big in the room.
So while the response to a certain story choice in Chapter 4 was near-totally positive, there've been a few people that've either reviewed or messaged me asking why the choice was made in the first pace. So I figure it'd be a good idea to explain the rationale behind said choice.
As much as I love MHA as a series (if I were to rank my top 15 anime/manga/LNs of all time, it'd DEFINITELY make that list, it can't be denied that it's not a perfect series. Most of what I have to say about the series' weaker elements can wait for another time, but the most relevant one for right now is that the cast is just full to BURSTING of potentially-interesting characters that just get next to NO FOCUS WHATSOEVER. Like seriously, in order to fully understand and appreciate a series and its universe, shouldn't one want to study ALL its characters and their paths through the story, not just the dogmatic narrow path of the main characters?
But I digress. I personally think the biggest example of that last particular problem I have with MHA would have to be Class 1-B. Like seriously, they're a whole-ass second class of hero course students, some with Quirks just as interesting and potentially strong as 1-A's... well, I won't say HARDEST hitter, because we all know Deku gets pretty damn busted later on, but some of the contenders for second place at least. Not to mention how some of them are just as interesting characters than a fair chunk of 1-A, even without the same development and focus. So just imagine how good they could get with that development and focus...
Hence the decision: Ben, the 'main' character out of the Tennyson duo (the series IS called BEN 10, after all), going into 1-B. With the express purpose of giving 1-B the extra focus and development they, frankly, deserve. Not that there's gonna be a role-reversal and 1-A are gonna get shoved into the background, hell no, why do you think Gwen's in 1-A rather than both she and Ben in the same class? The goal here in this fic (or one of the goals, at least) is rather than 1-A and 1-B's relative focus being something like 95-5, it'll be as close to 50-50 as can be feasibly made.
Tl;dr, LET US COOK.
Anyway, here's the alien transformation counter that made its debut last chapter. Reminder that these are the aliens (and how many times) Ben's transformed into them as of the end of LAST chapter, so don't expect any spoilers as to any aliens Ben might or might not transform into during THIS chapter-
Jetray: 3
Four Arms: 2
Humungousaur, Spider-Monkey, Diamondhead, Upgrade: 1
Anyway, once you're done with this chapter, which I seriously hope you enjoy, hope you've got it in you to keep leaving your thoughts via review, or if you want to chat with me (about the fic, Ben 10 or MHA in general, or something else entirely, drop me a PM or look me up on Discord (name for it is on my profile), or better yet join my server (link also in profile, just take out the spaces). Any of those methods works out just fine for me, and I hope to chat with you soon!
Now, LET'S GET THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD!
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"Chicken fried rice, Ben? Again?"
Ben shrugged. With a free hand, he shifted his bag off the chair beside his cousin and sunk down into it, carefully placing the tray he was carrying with the other hand down onto the other side of the table. Stretching and shrugging, Ben grabbed the fork he'd picked up at where he'd gotten his lunch from, dug into the bowl with it and scooped up a sizeable forkful of some of the same food as he'd gotten at the entrance exam.
"It's growing on me." He replied, after transferring said forkful to his mouth, chewing on it for a few seconds and then swallowing, grabbing a bottle of water he'd brought from home and taking a swig of its contents right afterwards. "Genuinely. Doesn't have anything on-"
"Chilli Fries?" Gwen cut across her cousin, before he could even finish. "That's what you were going to say, right?"
"…Maybe." Ben remarked, shrugging again and scooping up another forkful of food. "We've got to see if we can find somewhere similar to Burger Shack around here."
"Yeah, good luck with that." Gwen replied, spearing a small piece of fish, following up with a piece of mushroom, and then scooping some rice onto the rest of her fork, before transferring it to her mouth. After a couple of seconds' chewing, she swallowed her food and swigged on some water of her own, before reaching down and adjusting her skirt slightly. "Anyway, what've your classes been like this morning?"
Ben stuck his fork back into his bowl, leaning back in his chair and letting out a breath.
"Fine, I guess." He replied. "Had Social Studies, Science, Maths and English this morning."
"Oh, yeah?" Gwen remarked, leaning forward slightly. "How'd all that go for you?"
"Aside from Present Mic being kinda… loud," Ben replied, scratching the back of his head a little. "It's kind of strange, you know? I mean, English is our first language, and yet we're in a country- or an alternate version of a country- where it isn't… and we're taking classes in that language. Doesn't that strike you as a bit weird?"
Gwen let out a giggle as she picked up her fork again, stabbed at another chunk of fish, scooped some more rice onto the rest of the utensil, and raised it to her mouth.
"A bit, yeah." She replied, chomping on the food as she looked over at Ben, who was blinking a couple of times as he ceased leaning back on his chair and returned to normal.
"Wonder if this is how… how Julie felt about those Japanese classes she's taking." Ben continued, blinking a couple of times. Whatever Gwen was likely to have picked from the collection of sharp retorts she usually had stocked up in her head for anything her cousin was likely to say in any situation died on her tongue as she caught the look that had shifted into place on Ben's face: one decidedly more sombre than one would normally catch him wearing.
A moment of silence stretched between the pair of them, the general din of the cafeteria filling their ears as Ben scooped up another forkful of chicken fried rice, and shoved it into his mouth.
"You good, Ben?" Gwen asked, as he swallowed after a few seconds. She reached over, gently laying a hand on his free one as he moved his fork back down into his bowl, scooped up the last of the rice and raised it up again. "I know this hasn't been easy, but try and stay focused on what's ahead of us. Worrying about home- what's behind- is only gonna hinder us when it comes to getting back."
"Yeah, I know." Ben replied, pulling his hand away from Gwen's and blinking as he raised the last forkful of rice towards his mouth. "I've got this, Gwen."
"Yo, Tennyson!"
Ben and Gwen knew that the guy who had just said that was referring to only one of them. They knew that he either didn't know, or had been told by one of them or had forgotten, that it would really be easier if he called either of them by their first names. But they also knew going in that this exact situation that they'd suddenly found themselves in was going to happen sooner or later, that they had one and ONLY ONE chance to achieve maximum humorous effect with the best possible response to it… and they were gonna take that chance.
""Yes?""
"Wha-?" Kirishima blinked a couple of times, caught momentarily off-guard by the double response he'd gotten, before realising what had just happened and composing himself. Ignoring the muffled giggles of Jiro- who along with Kaminari, was walking with him- he let out a good-natured chuckle of his own and took half a step closer to their table. "Ben, sorry, forgot. Damn, does it suck that you're not in Class 1-A: you're the guy who broke triple digits on the practical exam! That's so manly!"
Ben let out a short chuckle, lowering his fork slightly.
"Thanks, Kirishima." He replied, grinning and giving the dyed-redhead a quick wave. "We can still talk outside of class, I guess."
"Sounds good, man!" Kirishima returned the wave, flashing a sharp-toothed grin. "Catch you later!"
The trio of Gwen's fellow classmates continued on their way, with Kaminari offering a wave in Gwen's direction, and Jiro a nod in the both of theirs as they followed the redhead. As Ben finally got to shovelling the last mouthful of his lunch into his mouth, the bell rang to signal the end of the period.
Grabbing his bag from the floor, Ben hoisted it up as he got to his feet, as did Gwen.
"Guess we're splitting again." He remarked. "See you in a couple of hours, I guess."
"Yeah." Gwen nodded, shifting her bag onto her shoulder as she nodded to her cousin. "Later."
Ben immediately walked off, making his way out of the cafeteria, up the stairs that took him up to the second floor, over to the west side where Class 1-B's room was, like he'd done yesterday. One classroom… and that was it, he mentally marvelled. A lot simpler than having to memorize a bunch of classrooms for a bunch of different subjects, like back at Bellwood Junior High.
He could definitely name a few things he didn't think he'd ever get used to about this world… but that particular aspect of school life definitely WASN'T one of them.
The door had already been slid open when Ben got to 1-B's door, and when he stepped through, he saw a few people already in the room and seated. The slim orange-haired Kendo and a short, chubby guy with ice-blue hair he was pretty sure was called Shoda, were seated at the back of the class, Honenuki at the front, the blonde-haired horned girl called Tsunotori that, he'd learned yesterday, was a transfer student from this world's U.S. was just across from him, and a few seats back from her-
"Hey, Ben!" Tokage, who'd been sitting on her desk with her legs crossed (which Ben's eyes DEFINITELY WEREN'T drawn to like oval-shaped magnets the second he'd clapped eyes on her! Nope, not at all!), slid off the table and raised her fist to Ben as he approached, which he happily returned with a fist-bump before tossing his bag down under his desk and taking his seat. "Lunch good?"
"Yeah, was alright." Ben replied. "Japan really likes its rice, doesn't it?"
That remark earned him a giggle from the greenette, as well as a chuckle from Honenuki when he turned around to join the conversation, which the three of them held before Bondo- the guy with a glue dispenser for a head- was the last to come in and sit down between Ben and Honenuki, at which point the rest of 1-B fell silent in anticipation for whoever was gonna be teaching them this afternoon.
They wouldn't be waiting long, though, as before a minute had passed since Bondo sat down, the door to the classroom was slid open again, and said teacher stepped in. Ben immediately recognised him from the day of the entrance exam: the horse's muzzle-shaped gas mask covering his face, brown cowboy hat with metallic plate on the front, a large 'S' stamped into it, red cloak buttoned up at the top, gun holsters (complete with guns) attached at his hips, that could only be the Pro Hero Snipe.
Seemed all the teachers at this school were Pros, he figured. Made sense, he had to admit, this WAS a school with a HEROICS program after all.
"Howdy, y'all." Snipe spoke, once he reached the podium at the front of the classroom, his voice carrying a cowboy's twang. Ben immediately got the impression that Gwen's initial assessment of the guy- that he was someone who was WAY too into cowboy movies- was pretty dead on. "Welcome to your first Heroics class, where we're fixin' to turn y'all into proper Pro Heroes. Now there are many aspects to what makes a good Pro, but fer your first lesson, we're gonna be startin' out with what y'all probably think of when you hear the word 'Pro', and doin' ourselves a lil' somethin' called a Battle Trial."
The second the cowboy hero mentioned 'battle', it was like an electric charge was unleashed and spread throughout the class, with murmurs immediately breaking out among all the students. Snipe let them linger for a moment before raising a gloved hand to silence them, as what looked like vertical drawers seemed to automatically open on one side of the classroom, lined with cases that had numbers and nametags embossed and attached to them.
"Here's the deal." Snipe continued, once everyone had quietened down. "Y'all are gonna head down to the lockers down the hall, get into them fancy costumes you requested before school started, and meet me over at Ground Omega, 'kay?" His hand still raised, he shifted it into a playful finger-gun gesture, a smile evident even under his mask as he turned towards the costumes, and fake-fired his gun-hand in their direction before turning on his heel and making for the door. "Now, scoot!"
As he left the room, everyone rose from their desks, making for their cased costumes. Ben grinned as he grabbed the one tagged with his name, sharing the rest of the class' excitement. A Battle Trial sure sounded right up his street, after the relative normalcy of the morning's classes.
After exiting the room, his case in hand, Ben trailed a bit behind the other guys of 1-B as they made their way to the second-floor changing rooms. The excitement in the air only seemed to heighten further as the boys all found places for themselves, opened their cases and began changing into their hero costumes. As he opened his own case, Ben looked up across the room, saw Kamakiri slipping on what looked like a dark-green rugged cloak over a pair of plain-black trousers and three-toed boots. Honenuki had to ask for help from Shishida with getting the chest section of the armour that went over his bodysuit that made up his hero costume into place. Tetsutetsu was fastening a set of metal straps over his shoulders and around his chest, before shimmying himself into what looked like part of a dark-green jumpsuit.
Ben could only let out a small chuckle as he stuffed his uniform into his locker, and pulled out his own costume: a green jacket with two white stripes around the right upper arm, one long stripe down the left side with the number '10' in a black circle, a black t-shirt and blue jeans.
Ben had considered just bringing the very clothes he'd arrived in this universe in, and passing them off as his hero costume. Let's face it, he'd remembered reasoning to Gwen when the topic had come up, it wasn't like he really needed anything all that fancy. He had all the fancy he needed in the multiverse's most advanced watch attached to his wrist.
But when Gwen had brought up the very REAL possibility of his favourite jacket- one that Max had bought for him soon after THAT summer five years ago- getting damaged, or out-and-out destroyed during training, or a fight with a Villain… Ben had had to think up something else. Well, maybe THINK was a strong word, he'd simply mailed his jacket, t-shirt and jeans to the company that handled the manufacturing of hero costumes for all U.A. Hero Course hopefuls, and asked them to make some more durable duplicates of the items of clothing, with THAT serving as his hero costume.
The sigh Gwen had let out when she'd learned what he'd done, though, was more than likely heard for miles around.
"Yo, Ben!"
Slinging one of his arm through the jacket's sleeve, Ben turned around while moving his other arm through the other sleeve. While adjusting his jawguard, Tetsutetsu blinked a couple of times as he looked Ben's attire up and down.
"Is that it?" he asked. "Just casual clothes? Doesn't look very hero-y to me."
Stretching slightly, Ben nodded. After wearing his regular 10-jacket for so long, he was able to tell immediately that this reinforced duplicate of it… felt just the SLIGHTEST bit heavier on his shoulders.
"This," He remarked, zipping up his reinforced jeans "doesn't need to be. You'll see why out in the field, trust me."
Tetsutetsu grinned, his pointed teeth glinting slightly in the lights as he got to his feet after getting his jawguard in place.
"If you say so, man." He replied, stretching himself as all the other guys finished gearing up. Once they were all done, with Rin being the last one to get the yellow gauntlets on his costume into place, they all made their way out of the changing rooms, down the stairs to the ground floor of U.A.'s building, following the signage to make their way outside, towards Ground Omega.
It was an expansive, circular wooded area with thick trees, rocky hills and uneven terrain, and a large Omega symbol could be seen hanging over the entrance. The girls of Class 1-B, all in their hero costumes, could all be seen standing outside the entrance: evidently, they'd been quicker than the guys at getting their things on. A few steps behind them, Snipe leaned casually against one of the gate-posts, watching the guys' approach.
"Took y'all long enough." He remarked to the guys, as he pushed himself off the post and walked over to the class. "Alrighty, listen up!"
As friendly as his cowboy-like drawl sounded, everyone still stood to attention immediately, gathering in a small crowd before him.
"Now before any'o y'all ask why I dragged ya out here, instead'a keepin' ya comfy in one of the nice, climate-controlled gyms we've got at our disposal," He began. "Lemme answer ya: if ya wanna be Pro Heroes, ya gotta know how to work with others. Teamin' up, watchin' each other's backs: it ain't just important, it's essential. Out in the real world, villains won't fight fair, and ya won't always have time to go solo."
He gestured to the expansive training ground behind him, stretching slightly as he did so.
"That's why today, y'all are gonna pair up for a lil' exercise I like to call 'Outlast'." He continued. "Here's the skinny: we're splittin' the class into ten teams of two, each of which starts out ino one of the areas I've marked out here in Ground Omega."
Snipe pulled up a holographic map of Ground Omega on his phone. Around the circular perimeter of the training area, there were ten areas marked out, each labelled 'A', 'B', 'C' and so forth, all the way down to 'J'. 'A' through 'E' were on the left side of the perimeter, with 'F' through 'J' on the right.
"The goal?" Snipe pushed on, after letting the class look over the map for a few seconds before turning the hologram off. "Outlast, heh, every other team by takin' both members down in Quirk-on-Quirk combat, or just makin' 'em surrender."
The students immediately began exchanging glances and murmurs with one another: some excited, some slightly nervous, though they quietened down and refocused their attention as Snipe continued, after a couple of seconds.
"Now, here's the kicker: if one member of your team gets taken out- whether they're knocked out, immobilized, or I just reckon they've had enough, the other teammate MUST come to their aid within a certain timeframe. Not gonna tell y'all what it is, but trust me: I'll be keeping watch from that there observation tower." He gestured to a white structure to the class' left. "If that timeframe expires and any downed teammates aren't helped, well, both members are out. Got it?"
There was a general murmur of ascent from the class.
"But don't let that stop ya from splittin' up with each other, if y'all think ya can." Snipe added. "Everyone's in their rights to do so, it's a free country. Just keep in mind the risks that come with doing such a thing, yeah?"
With that, Snipe held up his phone again.
"Now, while y'all were busying yourselves with your hero costumes- y'all look great, by the way-" he spoke. "I went ahead and plugged everyone's names into one'a them random generator websites. And I, for one, would like to see what it spat out for us."
He tapped the screen, and there was a moment's silence as everyone anticipated who they'd be paired up with. When the silence began to stretch out from anticipatory to uncomfortable, Snipe looked down at his phone again.
"Damn school Wi-Fi…" he muttered, under his breath, before letting out a breath. "Ahh, here we go."
Snipe then read off his phone, pointing to each student as he called their names.
"Team A: Tsuburaba Kosei, and Yanagi Reiko."
One of the boys, with short brown hair spiked up at odd angles, clad in a light-blue high-collared jacket and pale pants with grey kneepads, stepped forward and joined up with a pale-skinned grey-haired girl wearing a black mask over her mouth, neck and nose, and a blue knee-length kimono.
"Team B: Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu and Kaibara Sen."
Tetsutetsu slammed his fists together, activating his Quirk and turning his entire body into steel as he did so, causing sparks to fly off of his fists as he strode over to a guy wearing a white windbreaker, and a pair of spiral-patterned gloves that only covered his fingers.
"Team C: Shoda Nirengeki and Honenuki Juzo. Team D: Kuroiro Shihai and Fukidashi Manga. Team E: Kendo Itsuka and Kodai Yui."
Ben felt himself fidgeting slightly as Snipe called more and more names, and more and more students stepped away from the crowd to pair up with their chosen partners. Even if the list Snipe was reading off was randomly generated, and no-one had any control over what order the names of all twenty students of Class 1-B- including him- all came out in, it would still kinda suck- in a sense- if his name was the last to come up.
As Kendo and Kodai stepped away from the other collection of pairs and began whispering with one another, Ben cast his eyes over the other students who hadn't been paired up yet. With it only having been a day since he'd properly met them all for the first time, of course he didn't have much of an idea of their capabilities as fighters… though he supposed Tetsutetsu or Honenuki would've made good teammates.
"Team F: Awase Yosetsu and Rin Hiryu. Team G: Togaru Kamakiri and Komori Kinoko. Team H: Shiozaki Ibara and Shishida Jurota."
With there only being a few people left now, Tokage had finally caught Ben's eye. And once she had it, he found it rather difficult to look away. Not with the purple skin-tight bodysuit she was presently clad in as her hero costume, that looked like it was made out of freaking lizard scales! It was… eye-catching, to say the least: especially in comparison to all the other girls' costumes.
Huh. Now that he thought about it a little more, Tokage definitely wouldn't be a bad pick for his teammate, with what relative little he knew about everyone else. Though knowing his luck, it was more than likely he was gonna be fighting against her, and be paired with either Tsunotori or-
"Team I: Tokage Setsuna and Tennyson Ben."
Well. How about that.
Tokage let out a giggle as she jogged over to Ben. Neither of them really registered Snipe calling out the last team ("Team J: Tsunotori Pony and Bondo Kojiro.") as she stopped in front of him.
"Looks like we're a team, huh?" she asked, flashing the Omnitrix-wielder a sharp-toothed grin. "Hope you're able to keep up, Ben."
Ben let out a chuckle, adjusting one of the sleeves of his reinforced jacket and rolling his shoulders as he replied.
"Funny, I was gonna say the same for you."
Line Break
Gwen had put a little bit more thought into what her hero costume would be than her cousin.
To be totally fair, not THAT much more. She had mainly been thinking of that one time she and Ben had ended up going to the future (or was it an alternate universe that just happened to Big Bang into existence 20 years before her and Ben's home universe…?) and met alternate versions of themselves when coming up with the outfit she'd just finished putting on: a tight long-sleeved t-shirt that hugged her body, with the middle of it a lighter purple than the darker sleeves, similarly dark-coloured leggings with a belt- complete with cat shaped buckle- around them. A pair of black boots, a light-blue warmer around her neck, and a light-blue split-caped hood completed the outfit.
Stepping over to the nearest mirror, just as the green-haired Asui stepped away from it, having finished readjusting the goggles she had perched atop her head, Gwen pulled the neck-warmer up over her mouth and nose with one hand, while pulling up her hood with the other, and inspected herself for a couple of seconds.
She gave herself a little nod of satisfaction, pulling up her dark purple leggings a little before pulling the neck-warmer and hood down, returning both to their original positions and making for the door, stepping out of the first-floor female locker room with the other girls of Class 1-A, each in their own costumes and chatting with each other. They all stopped just outside the door, making their way to the other side of the hall to wait for the guys. They'd all essentially decided as a group that they'd head down to Ground Beta together, where they'd been instructed to gather for their Battle Trial by-
"-All Might!" Hagakure finished whatever she was exclaiming about, her gloves and boots the only visible signs of her presence. "I mean… who could've had any idea that he'd be teaching this year?!"
"The teachers, probably." Jiro replied, twirling one of her earphone jacks around her finger as she rested her headphones on her shoulders. "Had to have been a hell of a job, though, keeping THAT a secret."
"Definitely." Yaoyorozu remarked, reaching behind herself and adjusting the book that was magnetically attached to the holster on her back. "It surely would've caused quite a stir, had that information got out early. Though as the top Hero School in the world, I'm sure U.A. would've had the resources to make sure there weren't any leaks."
"Surprise was definitely worth it, though." Ashido chimed in, taking the white mask she'd put on over her eyes off for a second and rubbing at the bridge of her nose for a couple of seconds, before putting it back on. "I mean, he's the Number One Hero, he has been our entire lives, and now we get to be taught by him? This is gonna be awesome!"
Visibly resisting the urge to probably start bouncing off the walls from sheer excitement, Ashido's gaze shifted over to Gwen and her costume, looking it up and down.
"By the way, Tenny- sorry, Gwen? Your costume. I love it. The colours look great on you, and the cat's a nice touch too."
Gwen allowed herself a small giggle as she looked down at the cat-buckle on her belt, before back up at Ashido as she leaned against the window.
"Thanks." She replied. "Glad I don't look ridiculous in this thing, at least."
"Your hair might get messed up if you wear your hood a lot, though." Asui remarked, adjusting one of her wrist-guards. "If it were me, I'd think of getting it cut. Or maybe tie it up, kero."
"Huh…" Gwen reached up and idly twirled a lock of her orange hair around one finger, blinking a couple of times. "Maybe. By the way…" she turned her gaze towards Hagakure, or where at least she could guess her face was. "Is the gloves and boots… all there is of your costume?"
Hagakure jumped slightly at the question, waving her gloved hands in front of her. "N-no, no! I'm wearing a suit! It's just made up of my hair, I've had to keep a few years' worth to get enough material to use to make it! I'm not, like, an exhibitionist or anything… hey, that's not funny!"
There were collective giggles from the female septet, which only grew louder at Hagakure's attempt to rebut their humoured reactions.
"I guess it makes sense, though." Uraraka, in her black and pink suit, remarked. "Though you gotta admit, it'd be easy to see how someone would get the wrong idea about that."
"Gwen was just saying what we were all thinking, to a degree." Jiro added, her eyes shifting from Hagakure to Yaoyorozu. "Guess you've got us all beat on that particular front, Yaoyorozu.
Gwen could've sworn she saw Jiro's eyes flicking from Yaoyorozu's face down to her mostly-exposed chest and back up again, and her small dark-purple eyebrows furrowing the slightest bit.
"I guess so." Yaoyorozu replied, looking down at herself and back up at her female classmates. "There's a practical reason behind it, though: my Quirk lets me create any material or object I can think of from my body, so long as I know its molecular structure. My skin has to be exposed while I do it, though, otherwise my clothes would rip every time I created something."
As everyone let out a collective "Ohh," in acceptance of her explanation, Yaoyorozu lifted up her palm, out of which a small Russian doll appeared. She tossed it over to Ashido, who caught and looked down at it, before shifting her gaze back to Momo.
"Damn, that's cool!" she remarked. Before she could keep speaking, though, the door to the male locker rooms opened, and the boys of their class began filing out in their own hero costumes. All talk from both groups stopped as all thirteen of them merged seamlessly with the seven girls, and began making their way towards the nearest stairs.
Gwen couldn't help but glance at some of the costumes the boys had designed for themselves and were wearing. They were as varied as they came, definitely more so than the girls' costumes that- with the exceptions of herself and Jiro- all seemed to be some variation on the 'skintight bodysuit' idea. Iida's pale silver armour was definitely a standout to her, matching the exhaust pipes in his calves and prioritizing functionality over flair. Kirishima also wore his costume with confidence, with a wired guard around his face, a pair of dark red gear-shaped shoulder-pads that left his entire chest exposed, belted pants and dark red boots.
Definitely a 'manly' costume, as he'd mention whenever he got the chance to, Gwen thought to herself.
Todoroki's also caught her eye, with half of his white outfit rather strikingly clean and minimalistic. Gwen only said HALF, though, since a layer of ice and frost (or a material that certainly LOOKED like ice and frost) covered his entire left side, including both his face and the nasty-looking burn he had on that side of his face. She'd had a feeling yesterday that there was something more to his Quirk than he was letting on to everyone… and his choice of costume was only adding to her suspicions.
And then there was Midoriya's costume… which she could only describe as adorably endearing. His was the only one out of the entire class' that looked homemade. He kinda looked like a rabbit, with the green tufts extending out above his head, and she wasn't quite sure what those white things around his mouth were supposed to be, but there was still an earnestness to his costume that she couldn't help but slightly admire.
But before she could look over any of the other guys' hero costumes, the score of students arrived at Ground Beta: a large arena that emulated a city centre, complete with streets and buildings. Making their way through the open gate, Class 1-A clapped eyes on the Symbol of Peace himself, in the red, white and blue bodysuit with yellow belt, boots and gauntlets that made up his Silver Age costume, complete with blue and red cape.
"Looking good, Future Heroes!" He declared to the lot of them. "Now, it's time for your battle training to begin!"
"This looks like the arenas we fought in during our practical exam!" Iida, in his armour, spoke up almost immediately. "So does this mean we'll be conducting urban battles again?"
"Not quite!" All Might replied, raising up two fingers. "I'm moving you two steps ahead of what you've already done so far! You see, most of the fights between heroes and villains you see take place outdoors, but statistically speaking you're more likely to face villains INdoors! Think about it: backroom deals, home invasions, even the odd underground lair or two. The most intelligent villains are the ones that stay in the shadows, forcing heroes to adapt and think on their feet! Hence, for this Battle Trial you'll be split into ten teams of two, and face off against each other while taking on one of two roles: one team of heroes and one of villains!"
Murmurs and whispers broke out among some of the students at the blond hero's declaration.
"This sounds a little advanced for only day two, kero." Asui remarked, raising a finger up to her chin. "No basic training?"
"Practical experience is the best way to teach you those basics!" All Might replied, clenching a fist. "But remember, this time you're not just beating up pre-programmed robots. You're dealing with actual people now!"
"So how will wins and losses be determined, Sir?" Yaoyorozu spoke up. But before All Might could even reply, everyone seemed to speak up with questions of their own.
"Can I just blast everyone to kingdom come?"
"Are you going to expel whoever loses like with Mr. Aizawa?"
"On what metrics are you planning to split us up?"
"Doesn't this cape look très chic?"
"ONE AT A TIME, PLEASE!" All Might called out, before things could get too far. "I know my Quirk's a mystery, but here's a hint: it's not super-hearing! Now-" Reaching into one of the folds of his suit, he pulled out what looked like a few sheets of paper, and began reading off of them. "The scenario is this: the villains have hidden a nuclear weapon in their hideout! The heroes must try to foil their plans, either by capturing the evildoers or recovering the weapon within the allotted time! The villains, in turn, succeed if they protect their payload for the entirety of said allotted time, or capture the heroes!"
'Sounds like something straight out of one of Ben's comics.' Gwen thought to herself, as All Might picked up a box of lots that no-one seemed to have noticed sitting beside him before now.
"We'll choose teams by drawing lots!"
"Are you sure?" Iida called out. "That seems like a really haphazard method of deciding, sir!"
"Maybe, but think about it!" Midoriya called out in reply, from under his mask… which now that she was looking between it and All Might's face, Gwen was really beginning to see the similarities. "Pros have to team up with heroes with other agencies on the spot, don't they? That might be what All Might's trying to simulate!"
"I see, that does make sense." Iida replied, before bowing. "I got ahead of myself, sir, so excuse me!"
"No sweat!" All Might cried, offering the box of lots to everyone. "Let's draw!"
Everyone stepped forward, one by one, to pick a lot out of All Might's box. Gwen was one of the first to take hers, stretching a bit as she looked at the bold lettering on the slip of paper: Team B.
She nodded to herself, and joined the class that had drawn their lots in making her way around, trying to find who had drawn the other Team B lot. With how relatively few people and few teams there were, it didn't take everyone very long to find each other's teammates once everyone had drawn.
"Kero." Gwen's teammate, Asui, spoke, her own lot with 'Team B' written on it held in her hand. "Guess we're a team."
"Looks like it." Gwen remarked, smiling a bit as she looked around at the other teams: the tall Sero with tape-dispensers for elbows and the blackbird-headed Tokoyami, Bakugo and Iida, the tall six-armed Shoji and the muscular rock-headed Koda, Kirishima and Yaoyorozu, the muscular big-lipped Sato in a yellow full-bodysuit and the short Mineta with four ball-shaped chunks vaguely resembling a mohawk on top of his head (he looked somewhat depressed that he wasn't paired up with one of the girls), Todoroki and the blond Aoyama with a belt with blue crystal over his belly button, Jiro and the blond Kaminari with an open black jacket with white lightning pattern across his back, Midoriya and Uraraka, Mina and Hagakure.
"I declare that the first teams to fight, will be…" All Might continued, pulling out a second box and reaching into it with both hands, pausing for a couple of seconds before pulling them both out with his usual dramatic flair. "THESE GUYS!"
He held out a pair of balls with letters drawn clearly on them for all to see, with one ball having the letter 'A' on it, and the other with the letter 'D'.
"Team A will be the heroes, Team D the villains!" All Might declared, as Midoriya, Bakugo, Uraraka and Iida all seemed to visibly react to having their teams called out. "Team D, head into that building over there," he gestured to one of the large multi-storied buildings behind him. "And get ready! Team A, wait outside for five minutes for my signal to enter! Everyone else, follow me to the monitoring room, there are plenty of lessons to be learned from watching others in action!"
Bakugo and Iida immediately made for the building, heading inside without looking back. Midoriya and Uraraka remained rooted to their spots outside, watching them head inside. Once Bakugo and Iida were gone from sight, All Might led the other sixteen students into the building as well, and down towards a monitoring room.
Gwen and Asui shared a look with each other as they went.
Line Break
Snipe stretched slightly as the last of the groups he'd read out from his phone found each other, before clearing his throat.
"Alright folks, listen up!" he called out, pointing to his right along the border of Training Ground Omega. "Teams A, B, C, D and E, y'all're gonna head inside and along the border of the training ground, and follow it in a clockwise direction." He gestured moving in that direction with his hand as he spoke. "You'll find markers showin' where your startin' areas for this little exercise are."
He paused for half a second before pointing to his left, and gestured moving in a counter-clockwise direction.
"Teams F through J, same drill." he continued. "But y'all go counter-clockwise, and also find your startin' markers. Got it?"
There was a general murmur of ascent, with some nods. Ben looked out across the border of the training ground, which stretched out quite a long way. Seriously, just HOW big a budget did U.A. have if they could splurge on multiple training grounds as big- or at least as complex- as this, along with everything else he'd seen them capable of?
But oh well, at least this was a double-period, so he figured the class would have more than enough time to get to their starting markers, carry out the whole exercise that Snipe had planned out for them, and be ready for their seventh and final period of the day, for ten past three. That was probably the rationale of whoever had come up with this week's timetable, he figured.
Snipe reached into a satchel that he'd had slung over his shoulder the entire time, and stepped towards the class, handing out what looked like small earpieces to each student.
"Now, each o' you take one of these and get them in your ears." He spoke. "It'll let me keep tab on you from up there-" he gestured to the observation tower again "and chime in it need be. Don't lose 'em, and don't try to mess with the settings. Unless ya wanna hear static for the next hour or so. But if ya do, I won't judge."
He shrugged to himself as he handed off earpieces to Ben and Tokage, before moving over to the next team. Ben immediately inserted his into his left ear, watching as Snipe distributed the rest before stepping back, his hands on his hips.
"Y'all got… hm, fifteen minutes to get to your startin' areas." He spoke. "Use that time wisely, all of you: talk strategy, talk Quirks, figure out who's leadin' who, mentally prepare to start beatin' the snot out of real people rather than robots, whatever ya need to do. When I give the signal, y'all're on your own, and it's game time. Now, git!"
With a dramatic wave of his hand, Snipe turned on his heel and sauntered towards the tower he'd gestured to a minute ago, the spurs on the heels of his boots clicking against the ground as he walked. The students all shared glances with each other before beginning to head through the gate into Ground Omega, breaking off into their given teams and heading off in their respective directions.
Ben stretched a little, cracking his knuckles as he looked over at Tokage, who was brushing her hair out of her mask-covered eyes. Once she was done with that, she looked over at Ben and gave off a sharp-toothed grin.
"Excited?" she asked. Ben nodded, flashing her a grin of his own as he pulled up his pants a little. Like his jacket and shirt, they definitely felt the slightest bit heavier on his body than his regular pants… though he supposed that wouldn't exactly matter, once they got down to business.
"Yeah." He replied. "To kick ass and chew bubblegum."
"And we're all out of gum. Nice one." Tokage replied, letting out a giggle as she looked around. Seeing that nobody was in earshot of them, she stepped slightly closer to Ben as the two fell into step with each other. "We should probably talk Quirks, you know." she remarked. "You know, if we're actually going to be kicking ass together rather than just next to each other."
Ben blinked: well, this was it, he thought. Time to actually test his attempt at an explanation for how his 'Quirk' worked against an actual person, one not named Gwen Tennyson. All the planning and refining was done, now all that was left to do was just hope that he could actually sell the idea to someone, and it actually held up.
"I'll go first." Tokage continued, speeding up a slight bit so she was in front of Ben before turning around and stopping in front of him, a sly look on her face with her hands behind her back. "You know how some lizards can split some of their body off from the main part, to escape other animals that are trying to eat it?"
"I'm gonna pretend I've known that for longer than the ten seconds it took you to tell me that just now." Ben replied. "Go on?"
Just then, Ben felt a light tapping on his left shoulder. Jumping slightly, he turned around to look, and blinked a couple of times when he saw what looked like a disembodied hand waving in front of his face. He recognised the black fingerless glove on said hand, realising that it was one of Tokage's-
"BOO!"
Ben jumped again, letting out a slight squeal of surprise and whirling around, his right hand immediately jumping to the Omnitrix on his left wrist. His sudden surprise wasn't helped by the sight that greeted him once he'd fully turned back around: Tokage, without one hand… or a head.
Disembodied laugher met his ears a second later, and Ben looked up to one of the trees he heard it coming from, to see Tokage's head perched on one of the branches, watching him and her body and clearly LOVING the sight of it.
"You should see your face right now!" Tokage's head called out between her own peels of laughter, as it levitated off the branch, and lowered back onto the rest of her body, with her right hand rejoining her wrist. "Ohh, the old jumpscare-them-with-my-headless-body trick, it's ALWAYS funny."
Ben couldn't suppress a small chuckle of his own, shaking his head. She'd sure got him, he had to admit.
"But yeah, that's my Quirk." Tokage remarked, a lot more calmly. "I can split pieces of my body off from itself, and control them all remotely. I call it 'Lizard Tail Splitter'. Good for doing stuff in multiple places at once, if need be, but I can't keep my body-pieces away from myself forever. They'll stop functioning altogether if they're away from me for too long, but they regenerate after a while. Takes a good bit out of me to do, too."
"Probably best to keep as much close to you as possible, then." Ben replied. "How many pieces can you split yourself into, actually?"
"Forty, as of right now." Tokage remarked. "Was ten when I first awakened it, went up to twenty after a year, thirty during elementary school, and now forty since a couple of years ago, mid-junior high. I'll probably go up again to fifty sometime within the next few years." She then shifted a bit closer to Ben again, leaning forward. "Your turn now. What's your deal?"
Well. Here goes nothing, Ben thought, rolling up his left sleeve slightly.
"To be honest, it's been kinda hard to pin down the specifics of my Quirk." He began, as Tokage looked over expectantly. "But as far as I've been able to figure ever since it awakened, my body could transform into all kinds of different forms, depending on the stimuli- hope I'm using that word right- around me: some of it intentional, some of it- uh- reactive."
"Reactive?" Tokage repeated, tilting her head slightly. "Like, without you wanting it to happen?"
"Yeah." Ben nodded, scratching the back of his head. "I had some issues controlling it, to be honest. Hell, there was this one time," he paused for a fraction of a second, before filling the space with a chuckle as his mind worked rapidly to form up an anecdote that sounded convincing "I was nine, hanging out with my- my grandpa, watching some old dinosaur movie. I got… into it, like WAY too into it, and then next thing I know, I'm a dinosaur right there in the living room."
Tokage's eyes seemed to visibly light up, her sharp-toothed grin returning in an instant.
"By any chance, was that dinosaur movie you were watching Jurassic Park?" she asked. "That's like, my favourite movie EVER."
"Probably." Ben replied, with a smirk and mental sight of relief that Tokage seemed to be buying his story so far. "Must've been when the T-Rex was-"
"Attacking the car with the kids inside!" Tokage cut across him, excitement brimming in her voice as she let out a giggle. "God, I get chills just THINKING about that scene. But still…" she clasped her hands behind her head as she and Ben kept walking. "That sounds. Freaking. Awesome."
"Yeah, it would be if I had any control over my Quirk and didn't end up destroying whatever room I happened to transform in at the time." Ben replied. "I think it was after then that I realised something had to change. So… I think I was ten at the time. I, as one of my smarter transformations- each transformation gives me different powers and abilities." He cut across Tokage when he saw her opening her mouth to speak up again. "Humungousaur makes me really strong, and I can even make myself bigger if need be."
"Dinosaur that can become humungous..." Tokage let out a small giggle. "Fair enough, go on."
"Anyway, one of my smarter- and smaller- forms designed and built a device for me to wear in my regular human form." Ben continued, smiling a little himself. "It stores… well, I guess you could call them mental files, of all the forms I can turn into, and lets me select and activate said forms whenever I want."
He held out his left wrist to Tokage, showing her the Omnitrix.
"It's not exactly perfect, though." He continued. "How long I can stay transformed depends on how much it's charged up. When it runs too low, I get booted back to normal and have to wait a bit for it to charge up again. And switching between forms takes a good bit out of said charge, too. But, eh, it gets the job done."
Tokage suddenly stopped in her tracks, staring at Ben for a couple of seconds as he stopped himself, after a couple of steps, and turned around to face her.
"That's… insane!" the greenette cried, jumping towards Ben after taking a few seconds to process what he'd just told her. "Everything you just said… wow. You can transform into what sounds like any form you can damn well think of, each with separate powers and abilities? And you can select and turn into each of them at will, with the kind of Support Item that most heroes would probably turn Villain in an INSTANT to have, that you designed and built yourself, when you were TEN?"
"Well, I could only work on it while in one of my forms." Ben replied. "And I guess the insane thing is the lengths you'd go to to stop yourself from burning the house down every time you get too excited."
"True, true!" Tokage remarked, letting out a sharp laugh before taking a breath, her tone shifting to a curious one. "But then again, I suppose it isn't too surprising. When you stop and think about it, Quirks are pretty crazy these days. Way more so than they were when our parents were our age."
Ben raised an eyebrow, slowing down a little as he looked over at Tokage.
"What do you mean?"
Tokage gestured to herself as she and Ben passed a clump of trees.
"Just take me, for example." She remarked. "When you break it down, Lizard Tail Splitter is technically three abilities rolled into one. I can split my body apart, that's one. I can control my body-pieces remotely, which is essentially telekinesis, that's two. And any body-pieces I don't recover to myself for whatever reason, I regenerate. That's three."
She glanced at Ben, letting out a breath as she held up three fingers on one of her hands.
"And just a couple of generations ago, people's Quirks were way simpler." She continued. "Hell, one of my friends from junior high's grandfather had regeneration for a Quirk… as in JUST being able to heal himself whenever he got hurt. That should tell you all you really need to know."
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Ben nodded as Tokage put down her hand. He looked down at the Omnitrix for a couple of seconds, and then back at his teammate. "Hell, imagine someone having a Quirk/Support Item combo like mine, back then."
"Someone like that would probably be up there with All Might." Tokage remarked, giggling to herself as she said that. "Hell, if you play your cards right as a hero, YOU could be up there with All Might. I mean, you already broke the record for most points in the practical exam, didn't you?"
"True, true." Ben nodded, allowing himself a small smirk as they kept walking. It didn't take them long to arrive at their designated starting area that Snipe mentioned back at the ground's gate: a small clearing marked with a wooden post in the middle of it, with a large letter 'I' painted on said post.
Ben leant against a tree as he watched Tokage insert the earpiece Snipe gave her into her ear, before bending down to adjust her boots slightly. Though she (and Ben, to a smaller degree given how he wasn't bending down) jumped up slightly when they heard some static crackling in their earpieces for a second or two, before Snipe's voice came through loud and clear.
"Alrighty, folks! You've had your time to get to your startin' spots, and now the clock's tickin': your Outlast exercise starts now. Stay sharp, watch each other's backs, remember: teamwork makes the dream work. Good luck out there, all of you!"
Ben straightened, reaching out and cracking his knuckles as an adrenaline-fueled smirk began to form over his face.
"Guess it's go time." Tokage remarked, jogging over to him after finishing adjusting her boots, and moving past him. "C'mon, let's move. Wouldn't put it past the teams on this side of the ground to start going for the other starting areas immediately, so let's not do that."
Nodding, Ben lightly jogged away from their starting point, a couple of paces' distance behind Tokage, out of the clearing and back into the forest of Ground Omega. As she ran forward, moving between the trees and rocks with surprising efficiency and grace, Ben blinked as he saw one of Tokage's eyes detaching itself from her head and moving around so she was looking both forward and at Ben at the same time.
"So, uh, that Support Item you built for yourself." Tokage remarked, her floating eye glancing down at the Omnitrix and back up at Ben's face. "What did you say it was called, again?"
"I didn't." Ben replied, dodging around a tree that he almost ran straight into while distracted with the sight of a disembodied eye floating up in front of his face. "It's called the Omnitrix, though."
"Cool." Tokage replied, vaulting over a large log without much visible difficulty, before immediately slowing down as she saw Ben having to slow down himself to move around it. "Anyway, you think you've got a good transformation for this whole exercise?"
Ben let out a short laugh, rolling up his sleeve before reaching for the watch with his right hand.
"Heh! Do I?"
A couple of seconds passed between the pair of students, as Tokage's disembodied eye blinked in front of Ben.
"Uh, do-"
"Of course I do!" Ben replied, twisting the watch a bit before he landed on the alien he had in mind, and slamming his hand down on the watch. Tokage turned around, reattaching her right eye to the rest of her head as she saw the flash of green light, that illuminated the dim area in its glow. She found herself blinking a couple of times as she took in the sight of Ben, transformed before her very eyes into something that really didn't look like him at all anymore.
Standing before her now was a humanoid, plant-like creature with a mostly green and black-coloured body encrusted with muck. His head had a red and yellow flame-pattern atop it, and his feet looked more like roots than anything else, seemingly holding black rocks inside them. His green eyes were oval-shaped, with points at each end and with similarly-shaped pupils. His shoulders and head had red petals, and his elbows and legs had green frills sticking out of them.
"Way to alert everyone to where we are with that flash-" Tokage began, having had to take a couple of seconds to fully mentally acknowledge the… creature, Ben had turned into before her very eyes. But Ben cut across her, calling out the name of this particular alien he hadn't transformed into since before arriving in this new universe.
"SWAMPFIRE!"
Line Break
Some games, huh? What fun. Let's see how Ben and Gwen fare against youngsters with the same goal as them.
Speaking of, are you curious about how Gwen's going to explain her powers? I mean, I've already seen her do it later. Time travel, you know.