-Chapter 1: Not in Bellwood Anymore-
Ben Tennyson is a boy of many things: a hero, the savior of the universe, and the defender of Earth, but tonight, he is nothing more than a child lost in a forest. The young brunette with emerald eyes stands next to the DX Mark 10, a custom black sports car with a green accent over the size of the vehicle. On the hubcaps is a green and black hourglass symbol. The teen is holding the trunk open, looking at souvenirs and pictures from his past adventures, and lays down a green leather jacket with a white stripe on the left. He steps back and activates a white watch on his left arm.
"I guess it only makes sense to end it where it started," Ben mutters to himself while looking at a crater filled with plant life for the last six years.
A green hollow ring appeared when the watch was activated, with several head icons of various shapes and sizes across the top half of the circle. With a simple gesture, Ben scrolled through the available head icon, stopping at a flaming head. Removing his hand from the hollow wheel, the green and black faceplate slid back, revealing a circular power core with a green and black hourglass structure. Saving the power core back down, Ben was expecting to disappear in a flash of brilliant green light, only for him to disappear a much different color, blue.
When Ben opened his eyes, instead of being the Pyronite, Heatblast, like he was expecting, the boy was still human but no longer standing in a forest. Looking at his new surroundings, Ben could see he was now in a lavish office. There were two decent-sized sofas with a small coffee table in the middle of the room. A desk in front of a wall-sized window sat at the room's far end. The heavily cushioned chair behind the desk suddenly spun, revealing a white-furred dog, bear, mouse thing in a suit with a scar over its left eye.
The strange-looking creature suddenly spoke in an elegant, higher-pitched voice. "Excuse me, young man, how did you get in here?"
"Where is here exactly?" Ben questions the small creature.
"You would be in my office at UA."
"Right, right, your office at UA. What is UA again?"
"UA is one of the top hero schools in Japan, rivaling several schools worldwide." The mouse thing states with an air of concern. "Young man, before we continue, what is your name? I am Principal Nezu.
With the revelation of hero schools existing, several thoughts raced through Ben's head. If anyone could answer his questions, it would be the supposed principle. "I'm sorry. My name is Ben, Ben Tennyson. I believe I'm a little lost; if you don't mind answering some questions for me?"
"I don't mind answering any question you may have, only if you answer mine."
"Sounds fair enough. I bet you have several questions for me." The lost teen was doing what he could to gather as much information on what he believed to be a different dimension.
You'd be correct. The first would be how did you end up in my office?"
"That is a fair enough question, one that I currently do not have the answer to," Ben stated.
"Oh, I see. Did someone use a teleportation or portal quirk on you? You did arrive in a flash of blue light, after all." The principal said a little too cheerily.
"I'm unsure. The last thing I remember was being in a forest in America, and suddenly, I'm now here."
"I don't believe it was a teleportation quirk then because, to my knowledge, no one has a quirk that can reach that far."
"There's a word again, quirk. What do you mean by quirk?" Ben questioned.
"A quirk or meta ability is a supernatural ability that someone may possess. That should be common knowledge. Are you okay, Young Tennyson?"
Hearing that superpowers are commonplace and that there are hero schools all but confirmed Ben's suspicion of being transported to an alternate Earth. "Depends on what you mean by okay. I have one more question before I lose it. Do you know who Ben 10 is?"
"Sadly, no. Is Ben 10 your hero name?" Nezu answered tentatively
Taking a deep breath, Ben pinches the ridge of his nose. "Just to confirm, you said I appeared in a flash of blue light."
"Yes, you appeared in a flash of blue light. I saw your reflection in the window." The small creature confirms his earlier statement.
Ben started passing in the office and began to vent. "Damn it, Paradox, I'm tired of this shit! After everything I've been through, I am not allowed a moment to process; I just get thrusted into another-"
Cutting the young man off, Nezu hops onto his desk to get the boy's attention. "Young Tennyson, you need to calm down. Talk to me about what happened. I only wish to help." The small principal's tail wraps to the underside of the desk, hovering underneath a panic button just in case things get out of hand.
Taking a deep breath, Ben turns to Nezu. "Before I start my tale, do you understand quantum mechanics?"
"In fact, I am; my quirk gives me a heightened intelligence, making me one of the world's most intelligent beings.
"That makes things so much easier," Ben says in relief before pulling his thoughts together. "I believe I'm not from this dimension."
"That is quite the assumption to make. Care to explain why you believe that?"
"I have a handful of reasons, the first being this isn't my first rodeo with dimensional travel." The boy goes to sit down, his body just slumping into the seat. "Being an Intergalactic hero has its perks but also has its downsides. One of those is being away from home for a long time. I know I've been away from Earth for a couple of months, but I doubt in the time that I've been gone, every human being on Earth has developed a superpower and started superhero schooling."
"I see." Nezu was intrigued by the American's story even if he was being lied to. "You said you were an Intergalactic superhero, so you've been to other planets and dimensions before?"
"Yeah, I've been to a ton of different planets, and I've been to four other dimensions and a handful of pocket dimensions."
"That is fascinating. What were those other dimensions like?"
"Every Dimension is different in its own way. The first dimension I went to was one where I never existed, and a different set of history was put into play with these weird nanites. Another was post-apocalyptic, where I became a dictator. One dimension I didn't have Grandpa Max growing up, in the last, I never got my powers." As Ben mentioned the last dimension, he reaches subconsciously to his left wrist, rubbing the Omnitrix's band.
"I see. Before we continue, I would like to bring in one of my colleagues. His name is Psyclone. He's a counselor at the school and uses his telepathic abilities to help students here. If it is okay with you, I want him to go through your memories to help cooperate with your words."
"Assuming you let him into my head, what are you planning him seeing?"
"Psyclone will be going through your memories to confirm that you are from a quirkless world. I will also ask you some basic questions while he probes your thoughts so he can be a living lie detector." Nezu stated matter of factly. "There's no need to worry. You won't feel a thing, and it should only take a few minutes."
…
Five minutes later, a purple-clad hero walks into Nezu's office. On his head is a bubbled helmet designed after a human eye. When the man spoke, his voice was filtered, making him sound very static.
"Nezu, Sir, you requested for me?" Asked Pysclone
"Yes, this young man here," the mouse gestures to Ben, "has quite the tale. I hoped you'd be willing to corroborate what he's saying."
"Of course, sir," Psyclone then turns to the young man in the room. "Before we start with the questioning, are there any moments in time you wish me not to see?" The school counselor asks respectfully.
"Everything is free game besides the last week," Ben informs the telepath, almost as if he is done with everything.
Psyclone nods to Ben before gesturing for the team to lie on the couch. "Please lay down on the couch. This will only be a moment."
…
The moment the telepathic hero entered the teen's head, he instinctively dodged an incoming meteor despite knowing nothing inside the mindscape could harm him.
"I hate it entering memories mid-chance," Psyclone commented to himself as he rubbed his head while he stood back up. "Now, where is Tennyson?"
Looking at where the meteor landed, he could see a massive crater in the middle of a dense forest. On the rim, he could see a young boy no older than ten wearing a white shirt with a black stripe down the front and green cargo pants; he had fluffy brown hair and bright emerald eyes.
The child then spoke, thinking aloud, realizing the meteor that almost crushed him wasn't made out of rock. "Looks like a satellite or something." the edge of the crater suddenly cracked, causing the small boy to fall in, sliding next to the strange-looking pod. When the boy stood up, the top of the pod split down the middle with puffs of steam, and a green glow began to emanate from the pod.
Psyclone made his way down into the crater with the child. Inside the satellite was a bulky black watch with white tubing around the edges and a prominent green hourglass symbol instead of the standard watch face. "What in the world is that?" the student counselor said to himself.
"A watch?" the child spoke again. "What's a watch doing in outer space?" Being a curious child, Ben reached for the device. Right before he could grab it, though, it glomped onto his wrist, fusing itself to the small boy's arm. "Aah! Get off me! Get off! Get off!" Ben begins to scream in panic, swinging his arm wildly before trying to pull the strange device off his wrist, causing him to fall onto his back. Crawling out of the crater and running off in a seemingly random direction, Ben calls out for help. "Grandpa!"
Taking one last look at the pod, Psyclone chases after the small boy. "This is strange," the hero thought, "I thought I was going to be watching this boy unlock his quirk. He should be around five, not ten. He must be a late bloomer, then."
A little into the forest, Psyclone caught up to the panicking child. Ben was out of breath, forcing him to stop. Due to the initial panic disappearing, he decided to fiddle with the new device he was now attached to. The child first tries to wedge a stick underneath the watch, only for the thin branch to snap in half. He then notices a large green button on the side of the watch; pressing it, the device makes a beeping noise as the faceplate rises the hourglass, converting into a diamond, revealing the silhouette of a flaming human.
"Cool!" Ben calls out excitedly before cautiously pressing the core back down with a single finger. The child was then bathed in a brilliant emerald light, blinding Psyclone temporarily. In the small child's place stood a roughly six-foot-tall rocky humanoid with a head wreath in fire, with molten magma making its way through the cracks of the reddish rock that made up this creature's skin. The creature's hands were four-fingered and oversized, while its feet were two-toed with a small hook coming out of the heel. The same hourglass symbol was on the chest of the flaming being.
"Aah!" The newly transformed Pyronite called out in a deep, raspy voice. "I'm on fire! I'm on fire!" In sheer panic, the yet-to-be-named Heatblast was running around, not knowing what to do before a realization clicked. Hey, I'm on fire, and I'm okay. Check it out. I'm totally hot." He then chuckled to himself for his pun.
"Hmm, Interesting that device seemed to unlock his power. The stress of everything could have activated a latent ability," Psyclone comments to himself. "Looks like it's your standard transformation type mixed with fire."
Once Heatblast was done laughing at his own joke, he turned to face a tree in a typical gunslinger pose. The flaming alien "draws" his finger gun, shooting off a small fireball, blasting a branch off the tree. "That's what I'm talking about." He comments to himself before forming a bowling-ball-sized fireball between his hands, "Liking it," he then throws it through several trees.
Once the fireball blasted its way through the trees, they began to catch fire, starting a forest fire. "Ooh, I should've seen that coming," Psyclone comments as he watches Heatbalst attempting to stomp out the flame with his fiery foot. Making a circular hand gesture, the memory moves quickly until a young redheaded girl around the same age as Ben enters his vision. She used a fire extinguisher to put out some flames around her as she walked further into the forest. Unintentionally, she ends up spraying Heatblast with the fire retardant, causing him to turn around.
Slowing the memory down to normal speed, he heard the small girl scream as Heatblast attempted to explain what was happening: "Look, I know I look weird, but there is no reason to be scared." Sadly, the flaming being couldn't get another word out as the redhead suddenly smacked across the face with the fire extinguisher.
Physically wincing, Psyclone comments, "Ough, that gotta hurt. Does she have a strength quirk or something?"
Before Heatblast could get back up, the young girl soaks him again with the fire retardant, extinguishing the flames over his head, some getting into his mouth and forcing him to cough it back up. "I don't know what you are, but you'll stay down there if you know what's good for you." The girl demands while aiming the fire extinguisher at the alien's face.
Being the impulsive child that Ben was, he opened up his right hand before the young girl's shoe suddenly caught fire. This caused her to step back in panic to bring her attention down to her foot to extinguish the flames; meanwhile, Heatblast chuckled to himself.
"Aah! Arg! I warned you." In retaliation, she raised the fire extinguisher above her head to strike Heatblast again.
"Don't even think about it, freak." the now annoyed alien snarks at the child.
A look of realization came over the young girl's face for questioning the taller alien. "Ben, is that you? What happened?"
Not skipping a beat, Heatblast immediately started explaining what was going on. "Well, when I was walking, this meteor fell from the sky and almost smunched me, except that it wasn't a meteor or satellite, but it's cool watch thing that jumped up onto my wrist, and when I tried to get it off I suddenly was on fire only it didn't hurt when I accidentally started this mega forest fire!"
Just as Ben stopped to breathe after his rambling, an older, heavy-set man wearing a red Hawaiian shirt with blue jeans and brown work boots came running in, holding another fire extinguisher. "Gwen, are you alri- What in blazes?" The old man was dumbfounded at what he saw in front of him.
"Hey, Grandpa, guess who?" Gwen commented
"It's me, Grandpa." Heatblast waved like a child.
"Ben? What happened to you?" Grandpa Max asked in confusion.
"Hmm, Looks like fire quirks aren't common in this family if his grandfather couldn't recognize him." Psycole was trying to put the pieces of this memory together.
"Well, I was walking, and this meteor-" his cousin cut off Heatblast.
"Um, excuse me? Major forest fire burning out of control. Remember?" The redhead getting the conversation back on track.
"What do we do?" The Pyronite asks his grandfather
"Backfire, start a new fire and let it burn into the old fire." Max's voice had more experience than you would expect from the gentle old man. "They'll snuff each other out. Think you can do it, Ben?"
With nothing more than a shit-eating grin, Ben says, "Shooting flames, I can definitely do," before springing off into the flames.
…
The memory ended there, leaving Psyclone in a black void. In one hand, he held the previous memory he was in, and in the other sat several orbs, some glowing much brighter than the others. The more radiant the orb, the more important the memory was.
Reaching out with the force fire memory, he places it to the far left, letting it float in the void. He then reached into the pile of memories, grabbing one almost pure white; this was the most recent memory, and placing it as far to the right as he could. Once the two points were set, he threw the pile into the air and watched them as they settled in order.
"Man, I never get tired of watching this." He commented to himself as he looked for the brightest memories. Finding the next memory you wanted to visit, he reached out to grab the memory and, with both hands, forcing the orb to engulf him.
…
Mentally, Psyclone has been wandering through Ben Tennyson's mind for days, while externally, he's only there for five minutes. The man was almost like a statue standing in place with his hands on either side of Ben's head; suddenly, his fingers twitched as his body relaxed.
Principal Nezu, noticing this, asked a simple question. "How was your experience in his young boy's mind?"
"It was interesting, to say the least, Sir. I have all the information needed to back up this young man's answers to any question you may have for him."
"Perfect, Psyclone, then if you are ready, Ben." Nezu's beady eyes were almost staring into Ben's soul.
"Ask away."
…
As morning became afternoon, the slew of questions were finally over. "Young Tennyson, Since you are not from this dimension, I'm going to create a new identity for you. It wouldn't be the first time I've done this, and probably won't be the last."
"You've met other dimensional Travelers?"
"Heavens, no, I've helped a couple of people sneak to the country," Nezu said offhandedly, waving away the question. "Enough about my old life. This will take time, and you need a place to stay. Go down to Class 1-A, and there will be a man named Shota Aizawa. I need you to bring him to me."
...
When Ben left the room, Nezu turned to Psyclone. " I know I'm not the best at reading humans, but that young man was hiding something from us. Do you know what that is?"
"More than you know, Sir." Psyclone then put his hand on Nezu's head. "Do you mind if I import the memories?"
"Of course, how else am I supposed to know what's going through that young man's head." As memory transfer happened, Nezu's bright smile disappeared as a look of pure horror came across his rodent-like face. The image of a large, broad-shouldered creature with green skin and tentacles for a beard extending out a sword dripping with the blood of the innocent Was the only thing the Principal could focus on.