Townsville, Monday, May 18th, 2005
"Professor, we need your help."
High above the city, three girls flew into a haze of white clouds.
"Before we talk, find cover away from any cameras," Professor Utonium cut in before Buttercup could fill him in over the phone.
His fingers typed rapidly across the lab computer, pulling up a circulating image of the Powerpuff Girls freeing Bubbles from a rogue suit of armor that had captured her.
The camera zoomed in on the suit's disks and the marbles it released as it entered full attack mode—absorbing all the explosive drones and shifting into its second phase.
It stopped releasing drones, instead ingesting them. The temperature of the disks rose hundreds of times over. The two disks linked, reworked, rearranged, and shifted into a gun-like structure—
ZZZZZZZBRRREEEEEE!!!!
A magnetized marble drone fired out at near-hypersonic speed.
That was where the news clip ended.
The Professor tapped his keyboard, switching to another clip.
This one continued with an earlier clip of other robotic suits that had been helping—now abandoning their duties and flying toward a violet-and-gold sphere.
"We already are… and we need your help," Blossom interjected. "We don't really know how, but Ben went off the rails, forcing us to intervene to save the school."
"But we couldn't take them down fast enough before we were attacked by a third party—their robotics kept us busy until Ben got away. Now we need to find him before he does anything worse."
"Ben? You mean that Tennyson boy?"
The Professor frowned, quickly searching through clips, making sure his girls' faces hadn't been captured.
Thankfully, their auras had fully coated them, making it difficult for the rain-blurred cameras to clearly identify them.
He pulled up another clip—footage of the high school erupting in golden light after a cube crashed into it.
"My word… this really is serious," he murmured, rewinding the footage. He studied the four-part structure the cube had broken into, then mapped the trajectory of each piece.
"Are you girls sure you don't know what caused this?"
"I think… it was because of me, Professor."
Buttercup balled her fist.
"After school, I found him being bullied. By the time I got there, he was being held at knifepoint," her voice tightened. "Seeing that… I provoked one of them to attack me."
"It was supposed to be a small hit—so I could fight back and say they started it…" Her fingers trembled. "But that wasn't enough."
She bit her lip.
"For what they did to Ben… I wanted them expelled for violence."
Her body shook as anger twisted into something heavier. She tried to continue, but her voice caught—
Blossom and Bubbles each placed a hand on her shoulder.
"It's okay, Buttercup… take your time," Bubbles said softly.
Buttercup glanced at her, then at Blossom, who nodded.
"Mhm… go at your own pace."
Buttercup lowered her head slightly.
"Nah, don't worry. Just got a bit of sand in my eye," she muttered, wiping her tears. "Long story short, Professor—I did something stupid that got me hurt… and that's what made Ben snap at his bullies."
"…Becoming…"
Beep! Beep! Beep!
A warning signal blared across the Professor's screen.
His fingers froze mid-typing as the interface forcefully overrode his current feed.
A new window expanded—then another—then dozens.
Live satellite imagery.
Traffic cams.
Military surveillance.
All locking onto one thing.
A full military convoy advancing toward the city.
Rows of tanks rolled forward in formation, their treads grinding against the asphalt with crushing weight. Armored personnel carriers followed close behind, packed tight with soldiers in full combat gear. Missile trucks lined the rear, their launch systems already elevated—armed and waiting.
Helicopters circled overhead, sweeping the area with searchlights despite the daylight, their rotors thundering across the sky.
"This…?" the Professor whispered.
The convoy didn't slow.
It split.
Like a pre-planned operation.
One column broke off toward the docks.
Another moved toward the industrial sector.
The largest force continued straight for the city center.
Barricades were deployed mid-motion—portable walls slamming into place as soldiers fanned out, establishing checkpoints within seconds.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
Another alert forced itself onto the screen, overlapping the military feed.
A deep-sea camera trembled as something massive passed beneath it.
A shadow with deep red scales glided unnaturally—green gills flaring, with multiple spikes running along its length, uneven and jagged.
Oceanic thermal imaging revealed more of its form—
A massive distortion beneath the water, stretching, coiling, and shifting just below the surface.
The ocean itself seemed… wrong.
Currents bent unnaturally.
Waves rolled outward despite no visible force above.
It moved slowly—but with unstoppable momentum—cutting through the water in silence as it headed straight for the docks.
The sonar spiked erratically.
—
As the world began to devolve into chaos, Ben sat in a barbershop. His eyes were locked on the mirror, his body covered from the neck down as he ran a comb through his hair.
The scent of oils and hairspray filled the room. Clippers, scissors, and brushes were neatly placed within arm's reach of the barber chairs.
His hands angled his head left and right.
"This just feels wrong…"
Two voices overlapped as they spoke almost simultaneously.
Ben looked in the mirror—and saw himself standing right behind him, adjusting his head.
This was what he could do after his quirk finished integrating.
Not just create a clone—but a second body.
Both shared a portion of his soul, transferable between them. Even if his original body died, as long as a clone remained, his consciousness would persist.
"It's weird looking at yourself in third person," he murmured from the chair. "I almost want to cancel this split."
His clone spun the scissors in its hand.
"But that'd be a waste."
Snip! Snip!
The blades cut through the overgrown mess that was his scalp.
"I'm already in the seat, so I might as well put my barber skills to the test."
He tried to shake off the unease of having two bodies.
Instead, he leaned into it.
Closing his eyes, he focused on controlling his second body.
Snip! Snip!
He moved more efficiently this way.
[(My Hero Academia (World Key), Installation Timer: 0hr 41 min)]
He used the timer as motivation.
He trimmed carefully, cleaning the edges after shortening everything to an acceptable length.
When he was done, he took a comb and styled it.
"Looking good," he said to his seated body.
Then he checked the timer.
[(My Hero Academia (World Key), Installation Timer: 0hr 19 min)]
"With nineteen minutes to spare~"
Ben rolled his neck.
"Go me."
He chuckled, standing up.
"If I had any money on me, I'd tip."
He glanced at his haircut—kept simple for a reason.
Almost identical to how he originally looked.
He snapped his fingers, finger-gunning his clone through the mirror.
The clone shimmered behind him in swirling energy—mostly silver with faint traces of violet and red.
Then the energy snapped back into his main body.
"We don't have time for another haircut, so this'll do."
His body dissolved into a mass of swirling energy.
It split into two human-shaped silhouettes—solidifying as bones formed, organs stabilized, muscles thickened, and skin followed.
Two identical bodies stood there.
Just like that, he saved twenty minutes.
What should I do now?
There was still time to kill.
Didn't I see an arcade in this mall?
He could go for high scores.
He also needed a new outfit.
Without hesitation, he stepped out of the storefront into a massive open plaza.
[(My Hero Academia (World Key), Installation Timer: 0hr 14 min)]
He threw on a Mr. Satan shirt, trying out unfamiliar brands with price tags in the thousands of zeni.
[(My Hero Academia (World Key), Installation Timer: 0hr 9 min)]
He entered Interstellar Arcade, a massive game center—completely empty.
To him, it was heaven.
He and his clone split up, taking over multiple console stations.
5 minutes.
4 minutes.
3 minutes.
Time ticked down.
His mind barely registered it.
On one side of the arcade, he was landing combos in a fighting game.
On the other—
He was tearing through a dance machine, his feet never stopping, even as exhaustion crept in.
[(My Hero Academia (World Key), Installation: Complete)]
Would you like to send one of your clones into the first Episode Battle?
This will place you in the UA Entrance Exam under the identity of your quirk's original user.
"Huff… huff…"
Ben was drenched in sweat, still moving across the arrow pads.
"Yeah, yeah—send me there—wait!? Not ye—"
He froze.
His eyes snapped to the notification.
[Episode Battle (First Trial): UA Entrance Exam]
The world warped.
One of his bodies was pulled away—ripped into a star-filled void, surrounded by drifting asteroids.
"AAAAAHHHHH!"
He spun racing down onto one—
With a massive robot standing over an entrance gate.