CHAPTER 7: The Trials Continue
- Monitoring Room -
After an incredible fight, both teams returned to the monitoring room to talk with their classmates and wait for All Might to return from the infirmary, hopefully with good news about Uraraka's condition.
Izuku was writing something on his notebook, probably to try to distract himself, while pacing back and forth, spotting a look of worry.
Tenya was sitting next to the door while grinding his teeth a little. Everyone could see that he was a little hurt from the battle, but it wasn't enough to go to the infirmary right away. And All Might didn't let anyone get out of the room for now.
Ben was also next to the door, but he was trying to hide looking at his watch, his sad face betraying him.
It had only been a few minutes since their battle ended, but everyone in the room could see that the boys blamed themselves for letting it go that far, and even though they tried to talk to them, the students decided that it was better if they had at least some time to think.
Well… not all the boys.
Bakugo, instead of realizing that he was the catalyst for the loss of his team, was standing in a corner looking straight at a wall thinking HOW could he have lost.
He was never good at teamwork, thinking that most of the time people would just slow him down. So in his mind, how could he have lost?!
It wasn't just pettiness, maybe something had snapped inside him, making him realize that he truly was competing with other people on this. His first ever fight at U.A. and he got a teacher scolding him for making his team lose.
And the worst part of it? It was against Deku. The useless Deku that he knew could not lift a finger to hit a fly. But he was different now. Ever since the Sludge Villain incident, Bakugo had noticed how different he was acting. Less scared about stuff, more confident even if just slightly so. And when they confronted each other in the corridor, Deku did something that Bakugo had never seen him do…
-'The nerd actually fought back…'
Katsuki was never a people person, but he could read Midoriya very well since they knew each other since they were little kids after all. And he saw the influence Deku got from that animal boy. Confronting him would be his next move.
He was about to close in on Deku, when All Might came back into the room. He didn't even need to say anything, his presence said it all.
All Might stood for a moment before being surrounded by the group of students, all asking the same question in different ways:
-"How's Uraraka?"
-"Is she gonna be okay?"
-"Is she awake?"
-"IS SHE GOING TO DIE?!"
All Might put his hands up to ease their worries, especially that last one coming from the purple-haired boy. -"Calm down students and do not worry, I wish to inform you that Young Uraraka is fine. While she was indeed injured it is nothing too serious that Recovery Girl couldn't heal with her quirk."
Everyone could breathe a little easier now. Izuku moved in front of the grupo to ask -"Can we see her?"
All Might addressed the boy -"I'm afraid that won't be possible for the moment. While she was healed, it took the rest of the energy she had left after the fight, so she's sleeping for the moment, but she should be fine to head home by the end of the day."
They may not be able to see her now, but it was good news nonetheless to everyone. Especially the ones who took part in the battle as they worried they might have seriously hurt her.
Clearing his throat to gain the attention of the class, All Might's expression turned serious as he turned to face the group of boys who partook in the exercise: -"Now, don't think that the day is over, we still have to analyze this fight before going to the next one. And I have many things to say to you four."
The group gathered in front of All Might who had his back facing the cameras showing footage of the battle. He fished out his clipboard from behind his back to start his review. And the boys were very much worried about what he had to say.
-"First up, Young Bakugou…" The boy tensed at hearing his name first, -"...you were far too aggressive in this exercise. Yes, I know you are supposed to act villainous for this but from what I've witnessed the aggression you've displayed in this battle is far too much and I would believe most of it is genuine. Am I correct?" He questioned looking up at the Fiery Blonde.
Bakugou snorted at the question -"Yeah what of it? Just because I got angry because I was losing?" He questioned refusing to look at the teacher.
-"I was afraid of that, I will have to tell Aizawa this." He said under his breath -"But it wasn't just your attitude. As much as I know that villains don't play fair in the field, I set the rule that as soon as someone is captured by the tape, they're out. You broke that rule." Sighing he shook his head -"You will be disciplined for that, but mostly the unprompted attack and I assure you that it will be severe as you could've killed someone." He said firmly.
The explosion boy was outraged by that -"But I warned Four Eyes to get out of the way!"
-"Even so, you warned him too little, too late. If Young Iida had taken a single second more to register what you said, he could have been caught by the blast, like the bomb you were meant to protect did." The Hero had a stern gaze on the boy -"Got it?"
Bakugou was silent for a second before grunting and saying -"Fine."
-"As for you three, I only have a few things to say. Though I do want to ask what happened during the confrontation between Young Benjamin and Bakugo. Care to answer that?"
-"Oh yeah!" said the yellow-haired boy -"It seemed like you were screaming at Bakugo more than he was screaming at you."
-"What did he say to piss you off Green Boy?" teased Jiro.
-"I admit Rath causes a bit of a shift in my personality. He's more prone to anger than my other forms, so I apologize." he said bashfully, rubbing the back of his head.
-"Your other forms? Like that big lizard one?"
-"How do you even do that anyway? Never seen anything like it!" exclaimed Izuku.
The teen hero took that as his cue to explain to the class his "quirk". It was in fact just a cover for people to not look into him too much.
-"Oh you see, my quirk allows me to take the traits of different animals and kind of… merge them with my body. That's why I was more violent when I transformed into Rath. Because he's a tiger."
-"That's amazing!" said Deku, already pulling out his notebook. -"That's such a powerful quirk! But how do you know which trait you're picking? And does it work with every kind of animal? Does it include insects? Can you do more than one at a time? And if it causes personality shifts, then are you still Ben? Because I heard you claim yourself to be Rath and as you seem to call your transformation different names-"
-"Wow Wow, easy there dude. Breathe."
-"Let's leave the questions for the end of the exercise please. I'm sure everyone would like to get to know each other's powers well since you'll be fighting alongside one another or against each other for the rest of the year."
-"Oh, right. Sorry All Might. Sorry Ben." apologized Izuku while rubbing the back of his head.
-"No worries dude, I'll be happy to talk once we're done."
-"Getting back to reviewing your fight Young Benjamin, you did good but some of your moves were reckless. I suggest you work to control that form of yours."
Ben just smiled, -"Yes sir."
All Might simply nodded and flipped the page on his clipboard, -"I shall skip over my review of Young Uraraka and share it with her privately later when she wakes up." He muttered before reaching the lines he wanted to say. -"Next is Young Midoriya, I have little to say about your participation in this exercise. You've displayed excellent hand-to-hand skills for a freshman student but please, you should have much more situational awareness and less reliance on running away, most villains will tend to follow a hero if they're inside their base." he praised.
While Midoriya had hinted at knowing some hand-to-hand skills, All Might didn't expect it to be of this level. While not at a professional level, he was certainly more talented than the average student.
Midoriya blushed at the praise. -"Thank you All Might! I'll do my best to improve!" The green-haired student exclaimed, eager to improve.
-"Ilda. You on the other hand, I have slightly more to talk about."
Iida slightly shifted when the hero said that.
-"First I have to praise you for your preparation. You took great care to remove all objects from the bomb room and you did admirably well against Uraraka despite your teammate going off by themselves."Bakugou scoffs at this -"But I'm afraid I'll have to take points off your scheme to defend the bomb." All Might said, looking up at the armored speedster.
-"Huh, what was wrong with it sir?" Ilda questioned, but still remaining respectful. All Might was about to elaborate when Yaoyorozu butted in unknowingly interrupting his teacher.
-"To be frank such a scheme wouldn't have been possible as an explosive of that size would be too heavy to move had it been real, maybe with the help of a group of villains it could be possible but you alone wouldn't be physically capable of moving it." she explained to the speedster.
Coughing, All Might said -"Yes Young Yaoyorozu, that is the case. Such a bomb would need a strength quirk or a crane to move in the fashion you've done, so while it would be viable had the bomb been smaller, as it was it was sadly impossible." he said simply.
-"Hmm yes, I understand. I will do better sir!" Ilda exclaimed, bowing to the hero.
-"It's quite fine Ilda do not worry." All Might then turned to both green colored students, -"Now before the next battle, Ben and Midoriya I wish to have a private conversation with the two of you while everyone stays here and continues to think about the fight we just saw." He gestured towards the door for the duo to follow him. Said duo were confused, but shrugged and left as the others went to prepare their plans.
After getting out of the monitoring room, All Might placed his hand on Midoriya's shoulder -"First I'll speak with Young Midoriya here then I will speak with you Ben. Alright?"
-"Yeah sure sir I can wait." Ben simply nodded and rested on the wall as the duo walked away.
– In a Separate Room –
All Might locked the door behind himself to ensure no one listened in on this conversation. And knowing he was safe he deflated to save a couple of minutes on his time as a Hero. All Might sighed tiredly.
Midoriya immediately got worried for his mentor and teacher, -"All Might is everything alright?"
-"Hehe nothing, I'm just tired, but I can still hold that form for a few hours more."
-"So then, what do you want to talk about ?" Midoriya questioned, now suddenly very nervous. Was All Might here to chastise him for not using One For All?
Knowing his student's proficiency in self-deprecation, All Might raised his hands to stop the upcoming mutterfest before it could begin.
-"Don't worry Young Midoriya, I only called you here to remind you of your duty as the next successor of One For All. You did great out there as a leader and a fighter, but I need to make sure you know that you'll need to train your quirk, and the only way to do that is by using it." Before the boy could say anything, All Might continued -"Now, I'm not asking you to break yourself, I… I guess I just need to know if you didn't use One For All because you felt unworthy or something."
-"I…" The boy stopped for a second. It has been more than 10 months since the Symbol of Peace had met him and asked the boy to be his successor, inheriting his powerful quirk called One For All, but even then, Midoriya was still rather hesitant to use to power since he only hurts himself and breaks his bones every time he uses it.
Still, Midoriya thought about everything that he had done to reach the level he is now. The intense months of training so that his body can handle such power, the talks he had with his idol turned mentor and the encouragement he got from both him and his own mother to finally achieve his dream.
-"I'm okay really. I didn't use One For All because… well I guess just because I felt it was better this way. Not because I think I'm not worthy or anything, but because with Ben there and me not being able to control it, I could have hurt him really badly, or was just strategy really."
-"Yeah, I noticed that! You would stop to think what could be disastrous against a more aggressive opponent like Bakugou" He explained sitting down his baggy hero's suit sagged around his deflated frame.
Shaking his head he focused on the aging hero "I normally don't have a problem multitasking. It's just the adrenaline of combat that messes me up, but I will do my best to fight and think at the same time. And I promise I will use the power you gave me right."
Toshinori smiled and inflated again -"It's quite alright Young Midoriya, I'm still very proud to see how well you did in your proper fight!", the booming voice of his Hero form burst out -"Now if you do not mind I need to speak with Young Benjamin, please send him in on your way out." All Might requested.
-"Alright." Midoriya left and a few seconds later the American teen entered the room.
-"You wanted to talk to me All Might?" the teen questioned looking at the buff hero.
-"Yes, don't worry it's nothing major, I just have a few simple criticisms." he said, digging out his clipboard.
-"Uh okay? Shoot." he said leaning against the wall next to the door.
Confused at the lingo he just decided to move on, figuring it was just an American thing, -"Anyways I see you have teamwork issues but you also say this "Rath" transformation of yours alters your personality. Is this why or do you naturally have problems?"
Ben sighed rubbing his neck awkwardly -"To be truthful I've always had issues working in a group. I don't know why, I've been doing hero work with a group for almost a couple of years, but some months ago we disbanded and… I guess I lost my touch a little." He admitted, deciding to be honest.
-"Quite understandable, a lot of heroes including myself prefer working alone so that is not the problem, it's just sometimes certain villains are too difficult for a singular hero. But to be fair you do have the Omnitrix and I'm unsure of the sorta aliens are within that thing so for all I know you could take on most villains I know of." He listed -"But from the cover story I know you are sticking with animal-like aliens and from what I can see they aren't too wacky compared to what I was imagining."
Ben chuckled at the comment. Not even he could have imagined that a lot of alien species would be remarkably similar to Earth's animals when he first got the watch.
All Might continued -"But still you need to act like an upcoming hero and not one with quite a history like yours, so you need to start learning about how to work together again so this doesn't happen again."
-"Yeah, I'm sorry about Uraraka. I hope she's fine." Ben said with a hint of worry and sadness.
-"She is, but it wasn't your fault. I'll have an extended talk with Bakugou after class. Just wanted to give you a warning because, like I said, you're much more experienced than most students here so you need to take it easy on the others." He remembered.
-"Yes I know. Rath is far more aggressive than any of my other transformations. Appolpexians, that's Rath's species' name, are all just like that. Super aggressive and with a VERY short fuse. Trust me Rath can go a lot more aggressive and before you say anything I'm working on controlling his rage. But don't worry, he's the only transformation that affects my personality that way." All Might was relieved and nodded at the received information.
-"Good, I won't keep you any longer. I think it's about time for the next matchup, if I am correct." He asked eyes glancing at the clock on the wall, the next matchup was in about 2-3 minutes. -"Let's go."
Ben nodded and both heroes left the room.
- Inside the Battle Trial Building -
After the three came back, All Might explained the rules again to the teams that were going to battle at the moment.
Everything was the same, except that of course, the bomb was in a duplicated same-but-different building and the teams now consisted of Momo Yaoyorozu, Ben Tennyson and Minoru Mineta as the villains and Shoto Todoroki and Shoji as the heroes.
To keep things fair, since it was a 3v2, the villain team didn't know which hero team they would go up against, so they went to the building first, while the heroes stayed in the room a little longer so they couldn't see who was coming.
Then the speakers inside the building came to life and out of it came the voice of All Might -"All right! Both teams are set and you now have five minutes to strategize! Good luck everyone!"
Ben looked at his teammates this time -"Okay, five minutes to prepare, so… what are your powers?" he asked them both.
Momo was the one who answered first, smiling -"My quirk is called Creation. Basically, I can create anything from my skin as long as I know the molecular structure of it. And have enough lipids in my body. Though I can't create living beings, only objects."
-"That's awesome! Will definitely be useful!" He then turned to the little purple-haired guy. -"What about you dude?"
The short teen tried to make himself look cooler by leaning on the bomb and speaking with a deep voice -"The name's Mineta, Minoru MinetAHH-!"
He failed and tripped on himself, landing face first on the ground.
-"Ouch…"
-"Uhh, you okay there Mineta?" Momo asked.
-"Yeah yeah, no problem girl." he did finger-guns, trying to flirt… and failing -"And to answer Ben's question, my quirk is sticky balls. So, my hair is made of purple balls that I can detach and throw. And then… they stick to people and to themselves, but not to me." he said the last part with some disappointment in his voice.
-"Hmmm…" Momo thought for a moment, -"Are they difficult to get off?" she asked.
-"A lot! And if I'm in good health, they'll remain sticky even after a day."
-"How many can you make?" Ben asked.
To that, Mineta detached one of the balls from his hair to demonstrate and stuck it in the wall nearby -"As much as I need. They grow back once plucked, but if I pluck too fast, I'll bleed."
-"I'm already thinking of a plan." the alien hero smirked.
-"I might have an idea as well!" exclaimed Momo.
-"Great! Now let's make it happen, team! Let's be villains!" said Ben, sporting a fake sadistic smile.
- 5 Minutes Later -
After the time to prepare was finished, both teams had done careful planning this time around, a nice contrast for Ben from the last fight.
Speaking of Ben, he was currently on the corridor of the first floor of the building, waiting for the hero team to make their move. When making the plan, he suggested that he tried to take them both out early on or at the very least delay them. This was the part he was going to play.
Of course, Momo and Mineta tried to argue against that, saying that without knowing the other team's quirk capabilities, a two-vs-one would be too risky. But he assured them that he would be fine.
They didn't even know about HIS true capabilities after all.
-'But I still have to be careful. As I saw in the monitoring room, there are cameras everywhere.'
The teen was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard the speaker from the fake city come to life. -"Everyone! The second Battle Trial starts now! Team B and Team C, you're free to act!"
The alien teen brought up his earpiece -"Alright guys, remember like we said: Stay confident and trust the plan."
He received "got it!" from both his teammates and went right to work.
-'Alright! Now I just gotta pick the right alien for the job.' Ben brought up the Omnitrix and started flicking through his current playlist. -'Maybe I should pick someone less destructive this time, like Spidermonkey or Terraspin. Or maybe-'
Unfortunately Ben never got to finish that thought, since not a minute after the announcement was made, the entire building was being quickly covered in ice from inside out. The walls, the floor, the ceiling, everything!
And it didn't take long to reach Ben and his allies, freezing all three of them in place in almost an instant.
And Ben got the worst of it.
It wasn't just his feet frozen, it was his entire body. Everything except for his head was encased in thick ice.
How had he not noticed it was coming? Did it just appear out of nowhere? -'No.' he thought. He was just too distracted with picking the 'right' alien so he was vulnerable. Like it had happened a ton of times in the past.
But right now he was worried if his teammates had suffered the same fate. He needed to get free to see them, but no matter how much he tried to break free, he couldn't even move a single centimeter. And his hand was stuck just above the Omnitrix's dial, which was just rubbing salt in the wound by now.
-'Well, now that's just great.'
-"I wouldn't try to move." a voice called out.
Ben looked up to see a white-haired boy wearing a plain off-white shirt with matching pants and boots, with two gold-colored straps going over his shoulders. But what the alien teen found really weird was that the entire left side of the boy was completely covered in ice, even his head, which creeply featured a red glowing eye, though it could be just a lens.
The ice boy stared down at the frozen Ben, his thin and reserved eyes looking right at the Omnitrix's wielder.
-"I saw you in the last battle, how you moved, your strength, your quirk." he moved in closer, but his face displayed the same stoic emotion he has had for the entire day -"Figured you'd be the biggest threat here, so I couldn't let you transform."
-"How did you know I was the one down here?"
-"My partner recognized your voice."
-"So did you come here to brag instead of going right for the bomb?" asked Ben with a hint of annoyance.
-"No, I came to see if you would break out and if I needed to freeze you again. But I guess I was wrong about your strength.", the ice boy moved back and went to leave, -"We're just on different levels."
And with that he left, leaving Ben alone to figure out a way to escape.
-'Now THAT was cold.'
- Monitoring Room -
The ice formed around the fake building was somehow even affecting the people inside the protected monitoring room! They were all freezing at the lower temperature now present, hugging themselves to try to stay at least a little bit warm.
But even in this cold, All Might still analyzed the battle as any good teacher would: -"He did not cause any damage to his teammate or the nuclear weapon, and on top of that, he weakened the enemy."
A student in the group shouted -"He's so strong!", while others simply stood amazed at such a feat.
But there was one student who sported not a look of impressiveness, but of shock and fear. He had just witnessed the guy that beat him in a fight and test get taken out of the battle in a single fast move.
It was at this moment that Bakugo realized… that this might not be as easy as he thought.
- Bomb Room -
When they devised a plan for this battle, Momo did not expect to be out of the fight THIS early on, but the ice that encased her feet and legs was proof she was wrong.
-"Oh no! I can't… escape" she said, as she tried to pry her feet out of the ice.
-"Me… neither!" said Mineta, trying the same thing.
-'Dammit! We got taken out not even 5 minutes in? Ben wasn't responding, so I must assume he's frozen as well.'thought Momo, already trying to find a solution to this.
But she was pulled out of her thoughts when both heard the voice of the ice boy coming from the door: -"Don't try to escape. Unless you want to risk ripping your skin off."
-"WHAT?!" exclaimed a now terrified Mineta.
Momo looked at the approaching cold boy with anger, but mostly… disappointment with herself.
-"Don't feel bad, you two." he said as he passed them, -"We are just on different leve-"
He stopped mid sentence, eyes wide. He didn't know what he expected to find, but this wasn't it.
In front of him, instead of the bomb, there was a large sheet of what appeared to be metal. It was clearly hiding the bomb but if he couldn't get past it, he would not win the battle.
-"What's the matter, ice guy?" mocked Mineta -"Can't touch it?"
The boy looked back at him with cold eyes, making Mineta shriek for a moment. -"You think a simple metal sheet can stop me? I'll just brittle it enough to break through."
-"I-I don't think you can." said Momo -'Remember, stay confident.'
-"Huh?"
-"That's low carbon steel. Unless your ice can reach temperatures below 100º Celsius, you won't ever defuse that bomb." she said with a slight smirk and a plan already in mind.
And true enough, the boy tried to freeze and break the steel, but it simply didn't work. The metal didn't even make a sound when under his ice. Then he tried pulling it away, but that didn't work either. This angered him more than he liked.
-"What did you do to it?" he angrily asked Mineta, getting close to his face.
-"We glued the sheet to the bomb, you won't reach it in time." answered the now scared boy.
It was then he realized he had to call for backup, -"Shoji, are you there?"
His partner responded almost immediately -"Todoroki? What happened?"
The boy, now identified as Todoroki, said with annoyance: -"The bomb is protected with some steel sheet that won't bulge, how strong are you?"
-"I don't have super strength but with six hands I can try to pry it open."
-"So get over here now." Todoroki demanded.
He could hear him sigh over the comms -"Coming."
CRACK!
Todoroki turned around in surprise to see that Momo had broken free from his ice by creating a staff from her arm and striking it with it.
-"I won't let you win this battle."
-"Then I'll just have to arrest you." Todoroki responded by trying to quickly freeze her again, but was distracted when a purple ball struck him on the side of his body and stayed there, -"What the…?"
-"Hey ice guy!" Mineta called out -"If anyone is going to catch that babe, it's me!" He then started throwing a bunch of his purple balls in Todoroki, but the boy created a small wall of ice to protect himself and the balls stuck to it.
Momo went by Mineta's side and broke him free. She then quickly tried to act by hitting Todoroki with her staff, but he was fast and kept dodging. It wasn't really a fight per say, just the ice boy dodging their attacks until he could have a chance to freeze both in place until his partner arrived.
-"You can't keep doing this forever, villains." Todoroki teased -"Eventually you'll get tired and won't be able to fight anymore."
-"And who's to say that won't happen to you too?"
-"Because I'm simply better than you." he said, his cold stare making Momo freeze in place without even having to use his power.
And when she did that, it was the opening Todoroki was looking for. He was already tired of this whole fight. -"ENOUGH!" He put his hand on the ground and spread his ice everywhere.
-"AHGR!" Momo called out in surprise and slight pain. Both her and Mineta were completely frozen in place with only their faces being out. Since her costume showed less skin than usual, she was freezing underneath it all.
-'Did I really just get taken out again?' she questioned herself -'Maybe… maybe I'm not cut out for this stuff…' she closed her eyes in deep thought and sadness. She started to doubt her ability and confidence, thinking about how she got into U.A. -'Maybe this wouldn't have happened if I had played fair since the beginning.'
What everyone failed to notice was that the ice was moving outside the room. In his rage, Todoroki had gone overboard and was freezing the entire building again. This wouldn't have been a problem if there wasn't already someone in ice a few stories below them.
- Back with Ben -
While all of that was going on, Ben was still trying to move at least his hand so he could activate the Omnitrix, -'Come on… come on!'
But no matter what he did, it felt useless. But just when he was about to give up, he heard a crack and saw that the ice around his hand was slowly breaking apart, since it was the lowest point of resistance -"Ha ha YES!"
But that moment was short lived, as he also heard and saw more ice coming through the hallway and reaching him. But since he was already frozen, the ice just started piling more and more until it reached his head
-'Come on! This can't be how I go out! I just…'
For each movement he made with his hand, his head was getting more and more covered in ice.
-'...a little…'
His fingers were moving freely, but he could taste the cold covering his mouth.
-'...more!'
At the very last moment, when his eyes were about to be frozen, he was finally able to push down the Omnitrix's dial and the boy was engulfed in the very familiar green light of his alien watch.
And when the light died down, another light was blast into the room. But this wasn't just light. It was fire!
A LOT of fire.
-"HEATBLAST!" screamed the current alien form of Ben. Contrary to some of his other aliens, Heatblast didn't resemble an animal, rather his appearance was way more… alien as some would say.
Heatblast was a Pyronite, meaning he was a plasma-based life-form whose body is composed of a super hot inner plasma body, covered by dark reddish brown volcanic rocks. His feet had a slight oval-like design with only two toes and one back toe and his collarbone resembles a volcano which generates a fiery "hair" that covers his head, leaving his mask-like face visible with no nose or ears. He was tall and muscular and his shoulder plates were slightly tilted up.
And of course, he wore the iconic Omnitrix symbol on his chest.
-"Damn, I haven't used Heatblast in a while." he commented with his now more raspy voice. -"Wait, the cameras!" Ben looked around afraid that the people seeing him would realize he lied about his power. But as soon as he laid eyes on one of them he saw that it was destroyed.
Turns out, when he broke free of the ice, Heatblast used way more power than necessary and accidently fried the cameras alongside everything in the room.
- Monitoring Room -
As soon as the green light appeared on the monitor watching the alien teen, All Might and the class switched to see what was up with him.
-"What do you think Ben will transform into this time?" the invisible girl asked Tenya
-"I don't know Hagakure, but I hope it can help him and his teammates in this situation."
Unfortunately, before any of them could see what (or who) he was now, a second bright light, this time yellow, shined and the cameras around the corridor all turned off and gave the monitors a "Signal Lost" message.
-"Wait what happened to the cameras, All Might?" asked the students.
-"I don't know, class. Looks like they're not responding. But do not worry, I'm sure young Tennyson is fine." he gave a thumbs up with his usual smile -'Or at least I hope.'
- Back with Ben -
-"Oops, guess the cameras couldn't handle how hot I am, Hehehe." he laughed at his own joke… even though there was nobody watching him.
Well, nobody he knew about.
Heatblast reached for his earpiece, but there was nothing there anymore -"Oh right, I probably burned it."
Thinking of a plan, Ben realized that he couldn't appear to the rest of the class like this, since it would blow his cover story.
-'Stupid secret identity. At least I don't have to deal with the paparazzi now.' He thought of what to do, -'I need to see if my team is okay, but I need to change forms.' his hand hovered over the watch -'I just hope it's something I can easily explain.'
He then slapped his Omnitrix symbol, hoping the watch would give him an alien he could work with.
And what he transformed into was not at all what he was expecting.
Instead of one of his known transformations, this one was new.
Thankfully for him, this alien looked like an animal. Well… more like an insect. Ben now resembled a mix between a grasshopper and a praying mantis with significantly large three-jointed hind limbs. Alongside green skin, he had a large segmented horn on top of his head and two smaller horns on the sides of his head where his eyes are. Each horn had three tiny spikes behind them. There were also three spikes on each forearm and the back of both tarsi on his legs. He had two sharp fingers, a thumb on each hand, and two light-colored claw-like toes on his feet along with one on his back. His chin was quite small with two lines, he has gill-like structures under his armpits, and his segmented neck extends from a green collar that is fused with the torso.
He wore a green suit with three black stripes and a green tip. The green stripe on his stomach had the Omnitrix symbol and a smaller white stripe.
-"New alien? Cool, but really bad timing." he now spoke with a thinner voice, -"At least I look like a mantis… or maybe a grasshopper? Doesn't matter. What can this guy do?"
Ben instinctively jumped and crashed his head on the ceiling, coming out on the other side, regretting asking.
-"Ughh… I get it now." Dislodging his head and dropping to the ground, he looked up to see the size of the hole he just made and an idea popped up in his mind, -"Huh, I think I can work with this!"
- Bomb Room -
After creating so much ice, Todoroki had to take a breath to, unironically, cool down. Noticing that his adversaries were frozen, he decided to call out for Shoji.
-"Where are you?" he said through the comms.
-"I got caught in your ice. In the corridor. Luckily it was just my legs"
Todoroki cursed himself for lashing out like that, -'At least they are all trapped, and all I have to do is free Shoji.'
Oh he would be in for a surprise.
-"I'm coming to get you out."
But before he could even take a step towards the door to leave, a sound echoed through the building. It sounded like a wall being broken multiple times, but each time it was closer and closer.
It lasted not even 5 seconds, but all of them heard it.
And soon, they all saw what was causing it, as it burst through the floor and landed right in front of the door.
-"Heh, nice trick you got there ice guy…" Ben spoke, -"...but I got some of my own."
-"Wait Ben?" Momo and Mineta called out in surprise -"Is that you?"
-"Hell yeah! And I'm gonna kick this guy's ass."
Todoroki's eyes narrowed, -"It seems I underestimated you. That won't happen again." He took a step forward and tried to freeze Ben in place, but the alien boy was quicker and jumped to the wall to escape…
…and crashed into it, again.
-"Ugh, I've got to get better control of this thing." he jumped again, this time landing on the opposite site of the room.
- Monitoring Room -
The students were once again surprised to see another one of Ben's forms, but this time All Might was as well since even he didn't know Ben had such an insect-like alien in his watch.
-"Man, Ben is really versatile! I won't be surprised if he has some piece of a rhino's horn in there with him!"
-"Yeah, but how did he break out of the ice again? We never saw that." another student questioned.
-"I guess he just transformed without us seeing it." Iida tried to explain.
All Might called attention back to the battle, -"Pay attention to the screens, students. You can chat and ask Ben about it later." Though he mostly said that so that everyone would not notice what he did. For a split second before the cameras stopped recording he caught fire being dispersed in the room. He assumed that Ben had used an alien they weren't supposed to see since this one was different.
- Bomb Room -
Back to the fight at hand, Ben kept dodging Todoroki's ice time and time again and this was angering the boy more and more.
-'He's just too damn fast! I can't catch up to him!'
What Todoroki failed to realize is that Ben was searching for the right angle to strike him down. And when he found it, Ben smirked. The alien jumped to a wall and adjusted to propel himself off of it.
Instead of hitting the ice boy right on, he passed just close enough to his face to throw him off balance, tripping and falling.
It was an understatement to say that he was furious! He thought this would be an easy fight! -'And now I can't even get a hit in on a new kid!'. He was determined to win no matter what! But when he got up with fury in his eyes, unfortunately the only thing that was coming for him… was Ben's feet.
CRACK!
The kick was so great that not only had sent him flying towards the wall, but it broke off his 'ice armor' on the side of his body, exposing Todoroki's red hair and leaving him planted on the ground.
Ben then took this opportunity and immediately went to free his teammates from the ice.
CRACK!
CRACK!
In two sweep moves, Momo and Mineta were ready to fight again.
-"My gratitudes, Ben." Momo thanked.
-"Yeah man, we would be fried without you."
-"Any time." he gave them a thumbs up and went into a battle stance, -"Now come on M&M, let's finish this hero fool."
-"M&M?" they both exclaimed.
-"You know, since both of your names start with M." The teens just deadpanned him and he sighed -"Just… go with it."
-"Urgh…" Todoroki tried to stand-up. The hit was far more than what he expected and he felt that. This was his first trial at U.A, he needed to win, he just needed it!
He noticed the pain that exalted from his left side, but only when he touched his face did he realize that his ice had been broken, exposing his red hair, and his blue eye along with the large scar over it. If the boy wasn't angry before, he was now. He thought of using a bit of fire to make his enemies confused but stopped himself -'No! I'll never use his power in battle. Not to become a hero.'
Thinking a bit more he came up with a solution -'I'll just freeze the whole building again, maybe he won't be able to jump off the walls if they're mostly ice.'
Unfortunately for him, the moment he turned around, ALL three members of the villain team were standing right in front of him, ready to fight.
-"So…" started Ben -"...are you ready to get your ass kicked?"
Todoroki wasn't dumb by any means, he knew that his chances of winning against the three of them AND disarming the bomb were low, but he wouldn't give up that easily, -"Not a chance."
-"I don't think you're realized it just yet."
-"Realize what?"
Momo smirked -"That you've already lost."
Todoroki was confused by that, but still scoffed at them -"What do you mean by-"
BAAMM!
An alarm sounded all throughout the building and all the speakers all came to life before he could finish it -"Time's up! And that marks the end of the second battle trial! The winners are… the villains!"
-"Alright! Way to go, team!" cheered Ben, who high-fived Momo and Mineta at the same time. Ben then transformed back in his usual flash of green light.
-"I can't believe we actually won!" exclaimed the short purple boy.
-"It was all due to your plan Ben." Momo pointed out.
-"No no no, we all contributed. We won as a team."
Todoroki simply stood there stunned, unable to speak for the longest time while they conversed. Until he asked what was on his mind, -"H-How?"
-"Huh?" They paid attention to him, how his eyes were fixed on them.
-"W-What was your plan here? You mentioned a plan. In the fight you sounded so… so certain."
-"Well, truth be told, our plan was more like a gamble than anything."
Now the ice boy was even more confused by this -"What?"
But it was Momo that explained it, -"See, I knew what your quirk was Todoroki, we took the recommendation entrance exam together and I saw how fast you were with your ice. Then I saw it again yesterday when we trained. While I didn't know how cold you could get and what your partner's quirk was, I figured it was best to protect the bomb in a thin sheet of metal that could withstand cold temperatures."
Ben then continued the explanation -"Then I split off from the group to try to take both of you in a fight and see if there was anything my teammates needed to account for before your team reached mine."
-"But how did you make the sheet stay in the bomb?"
-"They used my balls." said a proud Mineta nonchalantly.
-"WHAT?"
Ben coughed into his hand -"What he MEANS is that we used his sticky balls to kind of glue the steel into the bomb. And unless you had super-strength or completely knocked him out, I doubt they would let go today."
-"So… there was no way for me to win." Todoroki sadly concluded.
-"What?" Ben was surprised -"Dude, there were a ton of ways you could have won."
-"Ben's right. You could have gotten a lucky shot and frozen all of us in a way that made it impossible for us to escape. Or froze everything except our arms so that you could have used the capture tape. And we didn't know the extent of Shoji's quirk as well.
-"Oh right… yeah. I could have done things differently."
Ben noticed he still sounded kind of sad and mad about losing like that, so he extended his hand to get him from the ground -"Come on."
Todoroki looked surprised by the action, but nevertheless he accepted and stood back up again.
Ben had a few last wise words for him -"Dude, even IF we are on different levels, it doesn't mean we can't grow. This is why we're here after all."
Momo dropped in -"Also, this was just our first fight training, I'm sure you'll get better in the future Todoroki."
Todoroki thought a lot about it. He came to this school to train and be a better hero, except he expected to be much easier, not this. But after hearing the encouraging words of the very team that beat him, this brought a new perspective. Training WITH others, not AGAINST others.
-"Thank you."
-"Don't sweat it."
-"Hey" Mineta called out -"Where is Shoji by the way?"
-'Oh crap!' Todoroki immediately ran outside the room to free his teammate from the ice that he himself had trapped him in. He found him not much far away from the entrance to the bomb room.
-"I'm sorry for taking so long. And for making us lose."
-"Don't worry. It was just the first fight. But I do wish you had talked to me more and we had made some sort of plan beforehand. I hope you get better at that in the future."
-"Yes… me too." he then raised his left hand and touched the wall. Almost immediately everyone saw the ice melting away like it was nothing, FELT how quickly the air had changed from very cold to very hot!
None of them knew that Todoroki's quirk wasn't just generating ice, it was also generating fire. Each of them coming from each opposite part of his body.
-'So he has fire powers as well. That's interesting.' Thought Ben.
But the one more interested in him was Momo. She saw how he looked at them when Ben had broken the ice covering his face and there was something more to it. And the fact that he refused to use his fire quirk in the battle, even when he was angry about losing, just added more to her theory that something more was going on with him.
And she wasn't the only person that noticed all of that.
- Monitoring Room -
When all of them were back with the rest of the class, the winning team got swarmed by the other students all praising them and asking them questions.
-"You guys were amazing out there!"
-"Ben was crazy, hopping all over the place like that!"
-"I would have been taken out by that ice immediately!"
They were all flattered by the praise of course, except Ben who was kind of used to it, but this was a little different since he never had this many other heroes complement his work.
-"Hey Ben!" one of the students, the one with yellow hair with a black stripe shaped like a lighting bolt going over it, called out to him -"What was that thing you turned into?"
-"Oh, hey uhh…"
-"Denki Kaminari."
-"Denki, okay! So… I never actually turned into him. He's a grasshopper though."
-"More like Crashhopper with the way that you were crashing all over the walls." mocked Jiro from the side.
-"Oh wait, Crashhopper! That's a good name! What do you think, Ben? I'm Mina Ashido by the way." said a girl with light pink skin, darker pink hair with pale little yellow antennas and eyes that were pitch black, but her irises were yellow. Ben thought she had a really bubbly attitude.
Ben smiled, thinking about how great making friends this way was turning out to be -"I think it's great Mina!"
-"Now students!" All Might called out with his booming voice -"How about we review the battle so we can move to the next ones? There's still a lot to go!"
-"Right!" Most of them responded.
- End of the Day -
The rest of the fights had passed by fairly quickly and before they realized it, the school day was about to end. On the exit side of the front gate of the fake city, All Might addressed the students with enthusiasm.
-"Good work everyone! We didn't have major injuries other than young Uraraka, either! You guys took this seriously! You all did a good job for your first training!"
Asui responded -"To have such a proper class after Mr. Aizawa's class, it's kind of anticlimactic…"
And the rest of the class couldn't agree more.
-"Well then, it's getting pretty late. I must see if young Uraraka is awake and give her my review of her performance. Change and return to the classroom!"
And with that, he ran away with such a blazing speed that the students were left stunned again. All except Bakugo who was still in the shocked state he got after losing the fight.
And All Might noticed that -'Young Bakugo is a mass of pride and there's nothing more fragile than a heart that's swelled to bursting. As his teacher I must counsel him well. But not right now…'
The hero then quickly entered a room for school staff only and closed the door as fast as he could.
-'If I teach a class…'
He then immediately deflated back to his 'normal' self.
-'I barely have enough time left. Shit! I can't have young Uraraka see me in this form. I guess I could give her a review tomorrow.'
With that, he left for the teacher's lounge.
- Recovery Girl's Nurse Office -
-"Urgh…" The girl slowly opened her eyes to see the moving ceiling fan of a room she did not recognize. Looking away she saw the sun about to set outside the window, only then she looked down and noticed that she was in a hospital bed. Trying to sit up, Uraraka heard a gentle voice:
-"Oh you're finally awake, how're you feeling sweetheart?"
-"Where am I?" she said, rubbing her eyes trying to wake up properly.
-"You're in my office." She looked to her side and saw a very short elderly woman with gray hair styled into a netted bun wearing a lab coat, pink boots and a helmet around her head with a purple-tinted visor. She actually recognized her a bit, she was there when Uraraka had taken the entrance exam.
-"You're… Recovery Girl… right?" Uraraka asked.
-"Yes dear." the woman smiled. -"Are you feeling well?"
-"I… guess so. Just feel like I took a really long nap but I'm still a bit tired."
-"That makes sense, you were most likely exhausted from the fight."
-"The fight... THE FIGHT!" Uraraka finally remembered -"What happened?! Did my team win?! How did we do?!"
-"Oh don't worry dear. I think there are some people here that could answer that question better." Recovery Girl smiled. She grabbed her needle-shaped cane and opened the door to her office -"Come on in."
Immediately she recognized the three people who swarmed in.
-"Uraraka!" Deku called out to her.
-"Are you feeling well?" Iida asked worriedly.
-"You got us worried for a second there." said Ben, thankful that she was okay.
-"Thank you guys, for worrying about me." she said smiling. -"How did the fight end?"
-"Well… All Might had to intervene after you got, though he did warn us it was just a small concussion. Bakugo went too far, so All Might disqualified him and we won." explained Ben.
-"You should have seen Ben fighting Katcchan while you were with Iida, it was amazing!" Midoriya praised.
-"Aww… I wish I could have been more helpful, sorry guys."
-"Nonsense Uraraka," said Iida, trying to calm her nerves -"You were detrimental in that fight and a better opponent I could have asked for. It was great fighting you. I-In a good way I mean!"
-"Yeah, if it was a two-on-two, things could have ended worse, since Iida ww would have to split up more." Ben said.
-"Don't bring yourself down like that, you were great." complimented Izuku.
She smiled even more at that and even blushed a little at all the praise. Only after noticing Uraraka's blush did Izuku himself blushed
-"W-We s-s-should get g-going if you're feeling w-well. It is the end of the day after all." he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.
-"You're right, I'll just change later when I get my clothes."
- U.A. Entrance -
Walking towards the exit with a defeated expression was the one student who was not happy with anything he experienced today.
When he saw that ice guy freeze a whole building, he knew he wouldn't be able to beat him. But when he saw that same guy get thrown around by Green Boy, Purple Midget and Ponytail Girl working together, his confidence dropped to the ground.
So many powerful and helpful people… all saying how wrong he was, showing how weak he was. It was too much.
And of course, there was Deku. Claiming to be a hero, having a power that he didn't even show. The nerd must have been holding back the whole time!
This much of a reality check on the first day was destroying Bakugo's mind by the minute.
-'Tomorrow will be better. I'll show everyone what I'm capable of. I'm still going to be number one!'
But even though he screamed that promise in his mind with enthusiasm, no one could see the single tear going down in his face.
- Principal Nezu's Office -
Inside the office a very important conversation was going on between the principal, All Might and two other teachers.
-"So…" Nezu started -"How was training today?"
-"It was fine for the most part sir, besides the first fight." answered an uncertain deflated All Might.
-"That's an understatement." said a voice coming from a badly lit side of the room.
-"What do you mean by that Aizawa?" Yagi asked.
The voice was revealed to be the Class 1-A homeroom teacher Shota Aizawa also known as the hero Eraser Head. -"It was disastrous. Trusting that kid to put up a fair fight against students this early on was a risk."
-"Especially when you didn't tell us everything that he can transform into." A new voice made itself known.
-"Why do you think that, Kayama?" asked Nezu with his usual stoic face.
This time, it was Nemuri Kayama, the R-Rated hero known as Midnight who taught Modern Hero Art History at U.A.
-"You trusted me and Shota to keep an eye on him and intervene should he cause problems."
-"And do you understand why I chose you two?"
It was more of a rhetorical question, but Aizawa answered nonetheless -"Because of our quirks of course."
Indeed it was that. Midnight's quirk allowed her to put nearby people to sleep by exuding a sleep-inducing aroma from her body. And as a bonus, it worked better on men.
And in Aizawa's case, his quirk gives him the ability to nullify another person's quirk by looking at them. Though it deactivates if he blinks.
-"True, those are the tactical reasons. But I also chose you two for other reasons." Nezu revealed -"For you Aizawa, it is because you'll be close to Ben everyday, seeing that he's in your class." He then turned to Midnight -"And for you Kayama, it is because you can connect with students better than most teachers, you can get close to them."
-"Huh." Aizawa grunted in acknowledgement -"It still doesn't explain why you want us to do this."
-"Yes, I don't exactly feel comfortable doing this. I understand you said that he's from America, has fought villains before and is being taken care of by Detective Tsukauchi, but you still didn't tell us WHY does he need to be watched like this."
-"And there's also the thing that we saw in the second battle."
-"Huh? What thing?" said All Might in curiosity.
-"You both told us that his quirk is taking animal traits from small pieces of animals and merging them with his body, but what I saw was no animal."
They all listened closely to what Aizawa was saying.
-"After Todoroki froze that building the second time, I saw the green light when he transformed, but what he transformed into was more like… like a volcano. He looked like a walking rock creature with fire. And he talked like it was normal, like he had been in that form before."
All Might froze. The choice to not tell the rest of the U.A. faculty about Ben's secret was Nezu's and he agreed with it. The less people know about it, the smaller the chance of someone slipping or a student hearing it. But it was clear that that choice was being thrown out the window.
Aizawa narrowed his eyes at the principal -"So please, tell us why I need to spy on my own student and why did you let someone who you might think will do something dangerous into the school."
Nezu truly admired Aizawa's commitment and courage to confront him. He sat down his current cup of tea, -"Alright, it's true I haven't been honest with you two and it is only fair you know the truth."
-"HUH? Sir, are you sure you want to-" Yagi tried to argue with him, but Nezu had made up his mind already.
-"Yes All Might, I'm sure. Please take a seat, what I'm about to tell you is of utmost secrecy and must not leave this room no matter what."
- U.A. Entrance -
- 5 Minutes Later -
After all of Class 1-A was done talking about the fights, one-on-one they left the school to go home. The only ones left were Ben, Izuku, Momo, Iida and Uraraka, all of which were at the entrance of the school saying their goodbyes.
-"Well, it was nice meeting you all on the first true day of U.A." said Momo.
-"It was nice meeting you too Yaoyorozu!" exclaimed Uraraka excited about having already made friends on the first day.
-"Yeah, I… never expected to meet this many nice people already." said Midoriya, grateful for having the chance to meet them.
-"Me neither!" Ben said.
The arrival of a fancy car interrupted their conversation.
-"Ohh, that's my father's car. Well, goodbye everyone, see you tomorrow!" Momo flashed a kind smile at them and entered the backseat of the car.
-"Bye Yaoyorozu!" they all waved at her.
After the car left their line of sight, they started conversing among themself.
-"So, Do you guys have anyone picking you up?" asked Iida.
-"No, I have to walk to the station and go by train." Ochaco responded.
-"Me too." said Izuku.
All three looked at Ben, waiting for his answer.
-"Oh! Someone is coming to pick me up, but you guys can go ahead, you don't need to wait."
-"Are you sure Ben?" said Iida.
-"We can wait a few minutes." Uraraka suggested.
-"Nah, you all got a train to catch, don't worry about it." he said, already backing up from them.
-"Oh okay then, be safe! See you tomorrow!"
-"Hey Izuku!"
-"Huh? Yeah?"
-"Thanks for not letting my anger take control back there." he offered a grateful smile.
-"No p-problem." Izuku rubbed the back of his head again, he still wasn't used to having so many people support and compliment him like they had today.
-"Also, remember what I said okay? About Bakugo."
That made Izuku drop his head a little, -"Yeah…" but after a few seconds of thought, he recomposed himself with new found courage -"I'll think about it, thanks Ben." he then returned the grateful smile.
And with a nod, the three of them departed, leaving Ben alone with his thoughts.
Looking back at the school, the young hero realized that this was just the beginning of his new journey. But he was still somewhat… sad. Mostly because he didn't have anyone from his world to talk to or maybe figure things out. -'I wish Gwen and Grandpa Max were here. My parents too. I guess they would say they're proud of me.'
After a few minutes, the familiar car of Detective Tsukauchi arrived and stopped right in front of the teen. Said detective opened the passenger door for Ben.
-"Hey there kid, come on in."
The teen was even more grateful that he had someone nice helping him navigate this crazy world. Ben entered the car and closed the door.
When driving back to what he supposed he could call his 'temporary home', Naomasa started the conversation: -"So how was your first day at the best hero school in Japan?"
-"It was alright I guess…" he nonchalantly said.
Naomasa was dumbfounded -"Really?! That's your opinion on U.A.?"
-"Hey man, I've traveled through the universe, seen different dimensions, planets and realities and been trapped in a few, went to the future, battled supervillains that could destroy entire planets if they wanted!. One hero school kind of pales in comparison." he shrugged.
Naomasa rubbed his temples, already feeling a headache at all the things Ben just dropped on him -"What did I say about saying crazy stuff like that out of nowhere?"
-"Oh… sorry." he dropped his head again, feeling a bit alone.
The detective noticed that and mentally slapped himself in the face, -'He must be feeling pretty alone here, with having to hide his true self even from his classmates.'
But this gave him an idea that would be sure to get the teenager up and happy again -"Uhh… Ben?"
-"Yeah?" the teen responded with a hint of sadness still in his voice.
-"Would you like to do some… plumbing? You know, since you seem so acquainted with them." the detective asked with a slight smile.
This prompted Ben to look at him… and just burst out a laugh -"Oh man, that's not what Plumbers do on my Earth."
-"Hey! You never told me exactly what they are!" he said, letting out a quiet little laugh.
-"I mean, we DO have regular plumbers, but I'm a part of the other ones."
-"And who exactly are them anyway?"
Ben let out a bigger smile, like he was proud of the story he was about to tell -"Okay, so basically, they started as this group to oversee alien activity on Earth, but with time…"
The conversation went on and on, with Ben telling Naomasa about some of his adventures and the detective listening to every detail, happy to learn more and help Ben feel more fit in.