A/N: Hello there! Welcome to my second fic. In terms of writing and planning, this one has been arranged much more throughly and has a majority of chapters pre-written (up to arc 3 in terms of writing).

So, just some details:

- This is a crossover AU between My Hero Academia and my other fanfic, Of Gemstones and Watches (A Ben 10 x RWBY fanfic). Context for situations is pretty open, so if you're not 100% familiar with it, no need to worry. I'll fill in some gaps and in-jokes here and there.

- There's a lot of story changes to My Hero, with some arcs moved around and some earlier moments of 'skills being used'.

- I wrote this To give Uraraka some love- I've read multiple stories where she's more on the sideline, including "My Huntsman Academia", where she ISN'T a hunter for some reason?

Also, you're probably asking- What's with the name? Yes, it's a reference to "Welcome to the Black Parade". Gerald Way said the track was about "The triumph of the human spirit over darkness. [It] was something that was kind of built into the DNA of the band from the beginning,"

"The self-actualization, the triumph of the spirit and things like that, getting through really hard things. There's darkness in the world. And I think overcoming that darkness, that darkness externally and internally, is a beautiful thing," Way added. "It's a challenging thing, but it is beautiful if you can do that, if you can kind of triumph over that. So that's a theme that's definitely in 'Black Parade', the song, and it's in my work."

The most commonly repeated line of the song, "We'll Carry On", refers to multiple characters carrying the legacy of those before them- Uraraka, Midoryia, Tenya, Shoto, Bakugo…a lot of characters.

I hope this one recieves a lot of love- I'm really happy to write this.

Timeline wise, this takes place after the Sports Festival arc.

Anyways, here's your chapter. Here's the Discord: /cgFmXz3qJ5

---

Her profile was pretty small, but she was still in training. The profile at least gave some details on her performance- laid back, bit of an airhead, can be exaggerated, but very warm and optimistic. Hidden fierce side that shows potential. More preference towards the rescue aspect of the heroics course.

The man looking over the profile hummed. "She sounds promising. What do you think of her?" He asked, as he pulled out a sheet of paper and began writing.

The other man coughed. "She's a bright individual. I was a bit shocked by her performance in the Sports Festival- had to be one of the most exciting first round battles I've seen. Sad to see her lose, though."

"The fact her opponent didn't hold back- and the way she echoed that. Impressive." The first hero said, tapping his pen- he was trying to think of some good words he could use.

"I'm shocked you chose her for a candidate." The coughing man said. "Especially after one battle."

"Well, it's also more based on the calvary battle- she was able to show some fantastic teamwork, showed she was open to stuff-" The man chuckled. "Hey, she was even with your successor. They seem like good friends."

The coughing man gave a smirk at that. "Indeed…but I feel you're jumping the gun on it a little."

"Please, I jump the gun 90% of the time. But, if she isn't the one? Fine. She gets some experience with a high ranking pro."

"And if she is?"

"Then we start the training process."

The man finished writing up his letter, and began to fold it. He pulled out an envelope and put it inside. He clicked his pen.

"Besides, I can't be too picky…I'm running out of time myself."

He finally wrote the name of his possible successor on the envelope- Uraraka Ochako. He pulled out a stamp, and pressed it down in the right hand corner.

"Here you go, Toshi." The man said, handing the letter off. "Get this to Eraser, okay?"

"I will." Toshinori Yagi smiled, taking the letter.

---

"Thanks for getting me out of there." The green haired young man said. He held his rain umbrella close to his friend, so she didn't get soaked. "I didn't realize how popular I'd be after the Sports Festival."

"Hey, no big deal. I've had a few people congratulate me, but those guys were acting like you saved the city or something." The shorter girl with bobbed brown joked.

The boy chuckled. "I guess…so, how was your day off, Uraraka?"

Ochako grinned. "Oh, fantastic! My mom and dad surprised me at my apartment, and we spent the rest of the day together. How about you, Deku?"

"Ah, I spent it resting my body. Rewatched a bit of the festival with my mom…" Izuku Midoryia recalled. "She started crying during my battles with Shinso and Todoroki, despite the fact I was right next to her…"

Ochako chuckled at that. "At least it shows she cares. So, how bad did your hand get messed up? You broke all your fingers in that battle against Todorki."

"Pretty bad." Izuku held up his right hand- the fingers on his right hand had become slightly deformed, and his hand showed some visible scarring.

Ochako shuddered. "Yikes."

"Yeah. Kind of lucky that my hand wasn't blown off." Izuku said, looking down at his now deformed hand. "It just shows that I need some time to really hone my own power."

Ochako nodded- Izuku was always someone willing to improve himself. Breaking his fingers over his arm was surprisingly an improvement for him, given that dangerous power of his.

"Oh, hey. Question." Izuku said. "Have you heard from Iida?"

"No, not at all. I texted him after hearing about his brother..." Ochako raised her head. "He might not even be in class today."

Ochako suddenly heard the sound of wet footsteps running through the rain- speak of the devil, there he was.

"Good morning, Midoryia! Uraraka!" The bespectacled young man yelled- he was wearing a poncho. He really went all out on the raingear.

"I'd recommend that you two pick up the pace!" He yelled as he rushed past them. "We'll be late!"

Ochako and Izuku gasped, as they raced after Iida. "W-wait! There's still five minutes until the first bell!" Izuku yelled, as they ran under the UA arches.

"UA students should always arrive 10 minutes early!" Iida responded, using his quirk to give himself a boost. Ochako and Izuku shared a look.

Soon enough, Ochako and Izuku were by the front lockers of UA. Izuku shook off his umbrella, as Ochako looked at Iida. Her worries were still very, very present.

Izuku looked over at Iida, who was taking off his poncho. "Hey, Iida-"

"If it's about my brother..." Iida began. "Don't be concerned. I'm sorry if I made you both worry." Iida turned to face the both of them- he looked alright. No visible signs of stress, no red eyes from crying, nothing. Same prim and proper Iida. "Everything will be fine."

Ochako and Izuku watched Iida walk to class, and shared a concerned look.

---

The required classes at UA was usually a mix of 'the fun stuff' and 'the school stuff'- Ochako leaned more towards the fun stuff, not because she wasn't interested in the academic aspect. She just liked doing the hero work more than she did problems on Linear Inequation. And after the Sports Festival? Something told her it was gonna be a while before she felt that rush again.

But let's first focus on her class.

Class 1-A was a very 'eccentric class', full of vibrant personalities and voices. All of them made it into the cavalry battle, and most of them had made it into the tournament round of the sports festival, which boosted their popularity amongst the people.

"It's soooo weird that people recognize us from TV!" Tooru said, as Ochako and Midoryia walked in. Iida had already taken his seat, and was organizing his desk for the day.

"Everybody tried to stop and talk with me. It was kinda neat!" Mina grinned.

"Same here!" Kirishima said. "Hell, some of my middle school buddies were all fired up from my battle with Tetsutetsu! Said it was the most hype thing they'd ever seen!"

Sero grimaced. "You won't believe what a bunch of elementary school brats yelled at me."

"Nice try?" Tsuyu guessed. Sero groaned in response- she was right.

"All it took was like, one festival and we're celebs!" Kaminari said.

"This school really is amazing!" Mineta added.

"Wonder how many people approached Bakugou." Kaminari joked.

"Are you kidding? They'd be too scared to! He'd bite their heads off!" Mineta joked- Bakugo spun around, pupils small and filled with rage. Mineta quickly shut up, and before Bakugo could yell 'I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!' or 'DIE YOU LITTLE PURPLE SHIT STAIN'.

The massive door to the classroom opened, and the shaggy sleepy scholar himself walked in- Mr. Aizawa. Everyone quickly quieted down.

"Good morning." Mr. Aizawa said, sounding a bit groggy- and not muffled by bandages, a good sign.

"Ribbit- Mr. Aizawa, you got your bandages off! That's good news." Tsu commented.

Aizawa scratched his face- Ochako took note of a new scar underneath his left eye. "The old lady went overboard." Aizawa cleared his throat. "Anyways, we have a big class ahead of us. Hero informatics."

That word combination sent shivers down the spines of everyone in the class.

"We need to get you code names."

The whole class exploded with joy. Aizawa quickly shot them a look, and they collected themselves in the blink of an eye.

"This is related to the Pro Hero draft picks I mentioned the last time we were in class together." Aizawa explained. "Normally, I'd tell you not to worry about the draft yet, but...your class is different. This is usually a second or third year thing, but because you're first years, pros are investing in your potential early."

Ochako took a bit of pride in that- some pro saw her and thought she had some potential? That was something to boost her self esteem.

"However, offers CAN be rescinded." Aizawa noted.

Andddd that lowered the boost a bit.

"Stupid, selfish adults." Mineta muttered from across the class.

"So, we'll still have to prove ourselves after we get recruited?" Tooru asked.

Aizawa nodded. "Correct. Now, here are the totals for those of you who got offers." Aizawa pulled out a remote, and pressed a button. The display overhead flickered on, revealing a bar graph of offers. Ochako wasn't shocked by the first four names to pop up- Todoroki, Bakugo, Tokoyami and Iida. They WERE finalists, after all. But, what did shock her was...the jump.

Todoroki and Bakugo had THOUSANDS of requests. Her jaw dropped after seeing that- she assumed it was gonna be in the hundreds, but...holy crap.

Ochako was at least satisfied to see her name amongst the top 10- twenty agencies, interested in her! Small victories. She liked that- a bit too much. She was shaking Iida with glee, and he allowed it.

Ochako noticed someone else was shaking Izuku- Mineta. But not in an exciting way.

"Midoryia- you got NONE." Mineta said. "Bet everyone was freaked out by your crazy fighting style. Bet people don't want a dude that crazy."

"Yeah, I noticed." Izuku frowned.

"In past years, it's been pretty spread out, but there's been a pretty big gap this year." Aizawa noted.

Kaminari groaned. "No fair."

"What about the real star?" Yuga huffed.

Jiro squinted as she read the names again. "Looks like Todoroki got the most." Jiro noted.

"Yeah, kind of the opposite of how they placed in the sports festival." Kirishima snickered.

"I'd assume they'd be less than thrilled to work with a kid that had to be chained up." Sero added.

"IF I SCARED A PRO, THEY'RE JUST COWARDS!" Bakugou yelled.

Momo turned to look at Todoroki. "You must be proud." Todoroki, the runner up of the competition, was a bit unsatisfied.

"These offers are just because of my father." Todoroki frowned.

"Despite these results." Aizawa said. "You'll all be interning with pros. Got it? Even those of you who didn't get offers."

Izuku perked up. "Wait, really?"

"I mean, let's think of this like the popular vote." Mineta said. "You still lost out on that, Mi-"

"Enough, Mineta." Aizawa frowned. "Anyways, you've already gotten some combat experience at the USJ, with the villain attack. But, it's still helpful to see pros at work."

The rest of the class was devoted to working on hero names- there were some fun ones, like "Froppy" or "Creati" or "Pinky", some cool ones like "Red Riot", "Tsukuyomi" or "Cellophane "...and then there was...

"King Explosion Murder."

"Yeah, no." Aizawa frowned.

"WHY NOT!?"

As if that was a question.

Ochako eventually settled on the name "Uravity"- a cute mash up of her name and quirk, right? Izuku adopted the nickname that had been used against him by Bakugou as his hero name...which was weird, but also kind of nice. Iida, however...just settled on his own name.

Ochako was very worried that he didn't choose Ingenium.

But, that was a fun class. Ochako felt that the work she did today was VERY fulfilling, and was worthy of a good, free lunch from the cafeteria-

"Uraraka." Aizawa said, as the class was leaving. "A word, please?"

Ochako shared a look with Iida and Izuku- she didn't know what this was all about, honestly. "Wait up for me, okay?" Ochako said.

Izuku and Iida left the class, as Ochako approached the desk. Aizawa was giving her a look- not one full of good or bad, just…a look.

"Is…something wrong?" Ochako asked, straightening herself a bit. Was this about her grades? She knew she fell behind a bit on one of the last tests, but a D+ was better than an F.

"No, actually. I wanted to talk to you about one of your offers." Aizawa said, pulling out a green envelope. "This one stood out to me. The top 4 got offers from some heroes in the hundreds area, with Bakugou and Todoroki getting some from the top hundreds. But you…"

Aizawa handed her the envelope. "Your performance caught the eye of someone big."

Ochako looked at the green envelope, and flipped it over. Ochako's eyes nearly bulged out of her head when she saw the name-

From the office of Ben Tennyson.

---

"Are you serious?" Izuku said, staring down at the envelope.

"I'm NOT!" Ochako replied, her eyes wide with disbelief. "I've pinched myself several times and haven't woken up yet! This is crazy!"

Iida gave a nod. "Of course this would feel strange. I'd have the same reaction if Endeavor or Hawks chose me."

"But…this is Ben 10,000!" Ochako said, shaking Iida again. "The hero of heroes! I-I-I…" Ochako nearly collapsed in the hallway, but caught herself with her own quirk. Ochako floated around for a few seconds, as Iida and Izuku shared a look.

Ben Tennyson- while not a Japanese hero, he was famous internationally, as he was one of the 'next big heroes' of the last 'generation' (born between 2000-2010) to pop up. He was an ordinary quirkless ten-year-old boy until he found a strange alien device called the Omnitrix, a powerful watch-like device that allowed him to turn into ten different aliens. Though initially immature and clumsy, Ben grew to be a true hero. By the time he was sixteen, he had become famous in not only his hometown of Bellwood but on Earth and beyond. And he just kept on growing from then on.

Iida pulled Ochako down. "Please do not make a scene in the hallways- I know you're excited, but…"

"I know, I know!" Ochako said. "Just…wow!"

"What did the letter even say?" Izuku asked.

Ochako's face fell.

"I haven't even opened it yet…" Ochako said, suddenly all blushy.

"Well, let's take a look inside, shall we?" Tenya said, as he took the envelope from Izuku's hand. He opened it up, and cleared his throat.

Dear Miss Uraraka Ochako-

Your performance at the Sports Festival was certainly fantastic. Please consider interning with me.

Thank you,

Ben Tennyson

Ochako blinked. "That's it!?"

"A man of few words, it seems." Tenya said, handing the letter back to Ochako.

"That doesn't fit with his character." Izuku mumbled.

"I mean, as excited as I am, I barely know much about him." Ochako said. "I just know maybe a few of his forms."

"I have some ledgers of notes about him." Izuku said.

Ochako looked over at him. "Wait, really?"

"Yeah. I had a phase where I was interested in learning about international heroes, and Ben was probably the BIGGEST rabbit hole I went down. There's…so much about him, and I took notes of a lot of his aliens-" Izuku said.

"Did you really make notes on all 10,000?" Iida asked.

"Well, I tried, but I got tired after around 100, so I simply made notes on the aliens he used more frequently after that." Izuku said. "I have them back at my house. If you're free after classes, maybe we can go back to my house and check it out."

"Oh, sure!" Ochako smiled. "What about you, Iida? Wanna come with?"

Iida looked conflicted for a moment. "Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt."

Ochako gave a mental sigh of relief. She was a bit more worried about Iida, and the fact that he took the offer was a good sign. But, her mind was wandering a bit, especially on Ben.

Why did Ben choose her?

---

Izuku's apartment was welcoming, thanks to Inko Midoryia. Ochako now understood where Izuku got a majority of his personality traits from and she had to wonder if the same applied to Bakugo.

(Yes. The answer is yes.)

Izuku's room was what she also expected- some All Might memorabilia that he shoved aside immediately, a desk with a laptop, a lot of books, and an entire bookshelf devoted to every ledger he'd made.

Ochako blinked. Holy crap. She thought, as she and Iida looked through some of the notebooks.

"These are fantastically well put together." Iida complimented, flipping through one that was oddly burnt. "It's like an almanac of heroes."

"I try to revise some here and there." Izuku explained. "To stay up to date."

Iida paused. "Is this All Might's autograph?"

"A-ah!" Izuku snatched it out of Iida's hands. "Sorry, can't let you look at this one! Kinda personal and like a family heirloom- now, where did I…ah! Here we go."

Izuku pulled out a few notebooks, and handed one to Ochako. written on them was 'Hero Analysis for The Future: Ben 10,000'. Underneath that was the title 'Book 1'. "I've never had to devote a notebook to just one hero, let alone multiple."

Ochako opened the book, to see a decently drawn picture of Ben 10,000- Ben 10,000 had a tall, thick and muscular build. He wore a customized skin tight outfit, and was clean shaven.

"Strange, I thought he had a beard." Tenya said, looking over Ochako's shoulder.

Izuku paused. "Note to self, edit that later."

Ochako giggled at that. She began to flip through some of the pages, and skimmed the aliens- Heatblast. Wildmutt. Diamondhead. XLR8. Those were the ones everyone knew. But Izuku also had some more 'obscure' aliens she'd never even heard of.

"Whampire?" Ochako squinted. "That's not a real name."

"Oh, it's real- I had to check with Vlad King about this one. Apparently, back in the day, he and Ben worked a case together, and Ben turned into Whampire. Vlad King said he went a bit crazy with that alien, since, well, alien vampire." Izuku explained.

"I have to ask- why do you keep such a meticulous collection of notes, Midoryia?" Iida asked.

Izuku rubbed his cheek. "I never thought I'd be a hero for a while."

"Because of your powers, I assume." Iida said.

"Somewhat, yeah." Izuku said. "But, back when my reality was just a dream, I wanted to study every hero there was, so that maybe I could take inspiration for some moves or attacks. I have to branch beyond All Might and everything, so," Izuku motioned to the ledgers. "It sort of just became a hobby."

"It certainly is a fascinating one." Iida smiled, as he flipped through another notebook. "I'd be curious to see if you have any notes on me."

"I think that notebook's on my desk, actually-" Izuku said, as he looked over to his work area.

Ochako reached the end of the first book, when she noticed the last page- there was a weird alien, a black silhouette with three horns. "Who's this guy?"

Izuku shrugged. "I heard about him from a rumor post online. I dunno how true it was, though. I'm pretty sure a few of those aliens are fake, too. It's why I started to use actual news sources to verify these aliens were real. I dunno if Ben would EVER name an alien Spitter."

Ochako gagged. "Gross. Still, you cataloged a lot of aliens."

Izuku nodded. "Yeah. I can't even imagine having to juggle all those powers at once. "

Ochako closed the book, and pulled out the letter from her bag. She hadn't really told anyone else besides Deku and Iida.

"Would it be wrong if I turned down his offer?"

Izuku and Iida looked up from the Class 1-A notebook. "What?" Izuku said.

"Like, don't get me wrong, I'm happy to be considered by him, but…I don't feel worthy of it, you know? I'm just a girl that lost in the first round." Ochako said.

"Don't say that." Iida said, a bit upset to hear his friend talk bad about herself. "When one door of happiness shuts, another one opens; yet, we frequently spend so much time looking at the closed door that we miss the one that has been opened for us. This could be a big opportunity for you, Uraraka."

"Yeah," Izuku said. "If Ben Tennyson notices you, then it could open a LOT more opportunities up, and you could get some more cash for you and your parents." Ochako hadn't actually realized that- she was so starstruck by the Ben Tennyson situation, she forgot about the money.

"I dunno. I'm worried I might mess something up." Ochako said. "I do have Gunhead as a secondary choice right now. Iida, what about you? Who did you choose?"

"I chose Manual." Iida said.

"Manual?" Ochako blinked. "I'm not familiar with him."

"He's a hero who does work in Toyama Prefecture." Iida explained. "Working in a big city like that has some opportunities."

"Yeah, but why'd you choose him specifically? Did anything speak to you about him?" Ochako said.

"Well, he is a kindhearted individual, has keen observation skills and is the type of hero I'd honestly like to be," Iida rattled off. "Honestly, he connects with my values."

"Ben's values are similar to yours, I think." Izuku said. "He's a guy who values rescue and safety. Maybe that'd work well for you."

Ochako hummed. "I suppose. I'll ask some more people tomorrow."

---

The next day came, and Ochako made sure to get to class early to have some time to talk with others.

"And that's how I'm kinda feeling right now." Ochako said, as Tsu looked over the letter. Tokoyami eyed it carefully. "Like Iida and Deku said, it's a once in a lifetime chance, but I dunno. Part of me is super nervous about it."

Tsu put her finger to her chin. "I agree with Iida on the 'work with someone that shares your ideology' thing, ribbit. That's a good way you'll know you'll get along. Plus, the opportunities from this are limitless- Ben does have bases all over the world. You could get offers from there as well."

"But I get homesick." Ochako pouted.

"I can understand your doubts." Tokoyami said coolly. "I feel the same way about one of my offers."

"Really?" Ochako said. "Who'd you get an offer from?"

"I got one from Hawks." Tokoyami said.

Ochako and Tsu's eyes widened. "Woah! You got the attention of a top 10 hero?" Ochako said.

Tokoyami nodded. "I'm not one to show excitement, but I am quite honored to have him extend an offer to me."

You don't really look excited. Ochako thought.

"I can see it, within the darkest pits of your soul…you find yourself unworthy to take this opportunity." Tokoyami said. "We are kindred spirits in that way."

"I guess." Ochako said.

"However. The mind that is anxious about future events is miserable." Tokoyami said, clenching his fist. "And miserable is something a hero cannot be. Grasp this opportunity, shove that unease elsewhere, and go forth!"

That sounds unhealthy. Ochako thought.

"You want my take on it?"

Ochako looked over at Bakugou's desk. He hadn't turned around to face her, but he was clearly eavesdropping in on the conversation. She hadn't even noticed him- weird, because his presence was almost always known.

"What do you have to say?" Ochako asked.

"You fought like Hell to get that chance." Bakugou growled. "If someone like you got a peek at the big leagues, you'd be an idiot not to take it."

…oddly enough, those words resonated with Ochako.

Even if Bakugou was an ass.

Ochako ended up taking the opportunity. Crass as Bakugou was, he did have a fair point. Taking this opportunity was something she fought for. Sure, Gunhead could get her in a more combat oriented mindset, or Violet Shield could teach her more about search and rescue.

Ben 10,000 was pretty much both of them combined. His versatility could teach her a thing or two.

---

"So, you decided on Ben?" Izuku asked, as they were leaving for the day.

"Yep!" Ochako smiled. "Talked it over with some people, and decided this is a once in a lifetime deal. Couldn't pass it up."

"That's great!" Izuku said, as he grabbed something from his locker. "I finally got an offer too- bit of a late entry, but, you know."

"Really? That's awesome! Who is it from?" Ochako said.

"He used to be a teacher here, back when All Might was at UA. He's pretty old, but All Might said he's still kicking. Beyond that description, I have no clue who he is." Izuku said, as he looked at Iida's locker.

"Iida already took off, I think. Saw him dart out of here." Ochako frowned.

Izuku looked a bit disappointed. "I kinda wanted to talk to him about his internship, but I guess I'll talk to him later."

"You noticed it too, didn't you?" Ochako said. Izuku nodded solemnly.

Maybe it was because it was all the news was talking about, but the Hero Killer Stain had been spotted a lot in Hosu- where Iida's brother was attacked. Ochako was worried that Iida might try to go all 'vigilante' and go after Stain, but it could've just been a dumb worry.

"Do you know who's interning with who?" Ochako asked, as the two walked home. "I heard there were some overseas offers."

"I heard Kirishima's going to go with Fourth Kind, Kaminari is going with the Thunderstruck Valkyrie, and Jirou with Night Cat." Izuku said. "Pretty interesting picks. Who'd you hear about?"

"Momo said she got a fancy invite to intern with Snowfall, and I think Tsu got an offer from the Sea Rescue Hero, Selkie." Ochako said. "Fitting for both of them. Tokoyami got an offer from Hawks, and he took it too. Though I heard he was disappointed that he didn't get one from Dark Crystal."

"Dark Crystal? That dude's kind of weird." Izuku said. "Then again, so is Tokoyami."

"I'm curious who Bakugou's gonna go with," Ochako asked. "He got a lot of offers, I'm curious on who he settled on."

"Dunno- he said he was going with the highest ranked hero, so, If we factor in Kacchan's preference for 'cooler' heroes that removes Wash, Crust and Fatgum." Izuku hummed. "I'm gonna guess he got an offer from Gang Orca or Shishido."

"Those two are both really intense heroes." Ochako said. "Fitting!"

"I guess." Izuku chuckled.

"Hey, Deku. Can I ask you sort of a personal question?" Ochako asked.

"Huh? Yeah, sure. What's up?" Izuku said.

"How have you put up with Bakugou for all these years?"

Izuku paused for a moment. He took a deep breath. "I'm not even sure why I still want to be nice to him. I'd find it easy to just blow him off and act like he isn't even here, but that's just too low of me."

"Always the loudmouth, I take it."

"Yeah- Kacchan was always really high energy when we were younger. We had this group of friends back in the day. We all just kind of followed him. Did what he wanted to do, whenever. It was kind of a lot…" Izuku said. "We grew apart over the years, especially after one of my friends moved away. And that high energy turned into some inflated sense of pride. He's been like that since middle school, and I kind of hoped UA would knock some sense into him. Deep down, I know he's a very powerful, very talented kid…but there are times I question why I still call him Kacchan."

Ochako tilted her head. "Why find respect in someone who doesn't respect you?"

"I dunno, honestly- maybe one day, he'll return the kindness." Izuku said. "That's what I keep telling myself."

"Honestly, I just can't see it happening." Ochako bounty said. "There's times where he just dog piles all over you, and it's not really okay. I think it's better if you just don't acknowledge him. Refuse to give him any more power over you."

Izuku chuckled. "You sound like a mom right now."

Ochako blushed, and looked away. "It's just still really weird that you have some respect for him. I think I'd be worn down after dealing with him for so long."

"I guess." Izuku sighed.

In the back of his mind, Izuku wondered one thing; Is it weird to be attached to someone who looks down on you?

---

The first day of Class 1-A's internships approached a lot faster than Ochako expected. The train station was busy today, especially with all the UA students leaving. Some people passed by them, whispering about how they were THOSE kids from the Sports Festival- looks like their fifteen minutes of fame hadn't worn off just yet. Ochako's leg was bouncing like crazy as she waited for Aizawa to dismiss them.

"Everyone has their costumes, right?" Aizawa said. "Remember, you don't have permission to wear them out in public yet. And don't lose them or anything."

"Gotcha~!" Mina said emphatically. She was bouncing up and down a bit- looks like she was super excited as well.

"Speak properly. It's 'Yes, sir.'" Aizawa corrected her. Mina deflated a bit.

"Yes, sir." Mina pouted.

"Make sure you mind your manners with the pros you'll be working with. Now get to it." Aizawa said.

"Yes, sir." The class said, all as one.

Ochako watched the group disperse, and wished each other some good luck. Her eyes soon caught a glance of Izuku, carrying a suitcase.

"I take it that's your new costume." Ochako grinned. Izuku's outfit had been partially ruined during a training exercise; it wasn't made of the best materials because it was handcrafted by his mother.

"Oh, yeah! I haven't tried it on yet, but it looks pretty cool. Besides, I'd look kinda weird if I wore my gym uniform as a hero costume." Izuku said, rubbing his head. Ochako giggled, before she noticed Iida, walking away.

"We should wish him luck." Ochako said.

"Yeah." Izuku nodded. "Iida, hold on! Wait!"

Iida paused, and turned around. Izuku and Ochako ran towards him.

"Heading off to Hosu?" Izuku asked. Iida nodded.

"Indeed. Not to sound impolite, but I'd like to be on schedule-" Iida said.

Izuku cut him off. "Hey, look. If you need to talk with us about anything, just let us know, okay?"

"Yeah, you've been really distant recently, and..." Ochako frowned. "We've just been worried and all."

Iida gave them a look.

"Alright." Iida said. "I'm sorry for worrying you both, but if anything comes up, I'll text or call you."

Ochako wasn't one hundred percent sure he was being honest, but the look he gave seemed honest enough. But there was a gnawing feeling that...maybe she should have tried harder.

She'd come to regret not being there for him.

---

Ben's hero office was posted in Chiyoda, and Endeavor's hero office was in Chuo. Ochako learned this because of the incredibly awkward train ride she shared with Todoroki.

Ochako didn't know how to feel about Todoroki. He was a bit weird to talk to, not because he was the son of the 2nd ranked Pro Hero, but more because it was like there was this barrier around him, because he was sort of dense at times.

Most of the time.

…all of the time.

Sure, Todoroki looked smart and he was (he had among the top 5 grades in the class) but there were things he didn't quite get. And Ochako was trapped with him in this train car until she got to Chiyoda.

Silence filled the air. It was suffocating.

Ochako coughed. "So, uh, you play Pokemon?"

"I don't know what that is."

"Right, right." Ochako said, looking away.

"You're nervous to meet him." Todoroki said.

"A tiny bit, yeah." Ochako admitted- she honestly wasn't, but having a conversation with Todoroki could be considered a little victory for her. "I am working with the Ben 10,000. What about you?"

"The only reason I chose to work with my father is to experience how a pro handles himself." Todoroki said flatly. "He expects me to surpass him one day, and I will."

Ochako sensed some contempt in his voice. Izuku did mention something about Todoroki not having a good relationship with his father- understandable, given how intense Endeavor was as a hero and person.

(Plus, his shouting at the Sports Festival was really, really weird.)

"Has your dad ever worked with Ben?" Ochako asked.

"Once or twice, I believe. He didn't talk much about it, but I believe they fought Vilgax once."

Ochako blinked. He said that so casually.

"All I know is that it was an overseas mission to stop some invasion in America, and that's about it." Todoroki said.

"Strange how aliens always attack America, right?" Ochako joked.

Todoroki paused to think. "Well, given how The United States is perceived to be the most powerful country, and has the world's largest economy and biggest military budget, taking it down would be the most strategic approach-"

Ochako's eyes widened again. This is what she meant by him being dense. She had to stifle a laugh- but, at least she had a small, brief conversation with Todoroki.

She valued the little things.

---

Sakura season made Chiyoda look incredibly beautiful- she found herself enamored by her environment. Ben chose a great place to put his hero office.

Ochako walked around the bustling streets of Chiyoda, occasionally stopping to ask for directions. She didn't have a fancy smartphone like everyone else, she was stuck to using a flip phone that could only call and text people.

3-7-2 Kanda Nishikicho, Chiyoda-ku. That was her destination. Ben's office was a lot more casual than she thought it'd be. A white office with a few windows on it, in the middle of a pretty hefty business area. The only thing that distinguished it was the giant painted emblem of Ben's Omnitrix.

Ochako took one more deep breath, as she stood in front of the door. Here we go. She had nothing to worry about.

Ochako opened the door, through a small hallway and walked into the front desk area. There was an adolescent woman working at the rounded desk, with around shoulder-length blonde hair and bright green eyes. She was typing something on her computer, when she noticed Ochako walk in.

"Oh! You must be the girl from UA." The secretary smiled. "Hold on. I'll see if Mr. Tennyson can see you right now- he's in the middle of a call." The secretary picked up the phone and pressed a button.

"R-right!" Ochako nodded, looking around. The office had green hexagon carpet, with white walls. On some of the walls were pictures of Ben shaking hands with some heroes, some casual pictures of him at some hero get together, and one that stood out to Ochako.

It showed a rather young Ben, around 10 years of age, with an older gentleman wearing a Hawaiian shirt. It was the largest of the photos. Ochako had no idea who he was, but he looked important enough to note.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." The secretary said. "Mr. Tennyson is in his office on the 5th floor. You'll find him there."

Ochako nodded, as she headed over to the elevators. She pressed the button, and popped herself inside. She punched in the 5th floor, and ascended to the 5th floor. Each time the indicator above the door pinged, she felt her stomach getting more and more nervous. She swallowed that fear, and recalled what Tokoyami said in a rather overblown statement- The mind that is anxious about future events is miserable. And Ochako couldn't look miserable to Ben.

The doors opened, and Ochako was greeted to a busy office full of some sidekicks, working around the clock. They didn't even notice Ochako walking out of the elevator. Ochako looked around, and slowly realized something.

She had no idea where Ben's office was.

"Uh, excuse me!" She said, calling the attention of a Kineceleran. The girl perked up, and zoomed over to Ochako. "D-do you know where Ben's office is?"

"Uraraka Ochako, right?" The Kineceleran asked.

"Yeah, that's me." Ochako nodded.

"Ben's office is down the way- then take a left. Third door down." The velociraptor gal instructed her.

"Ah, thank you!" Ochako said, as she walked down the hall. The other offices seemed to be workshops or something, because there were a lot of people making support tools or something- that Mei girl from the festival would've loved it here.

Ochako eventually reached the office- it stood out to her. The other doors were glass, making it easy to see through. This door, however, was more 'futuristic'- looked like one of those doors that slid in and out, like on a sci-fi ship. Ochako knocked on the door and it slid to the left, opening for her.

"Come in!" Ben's voice said, sounding warm and inviting. Ochako took another deep breath, and stepped on through.

Ben's office was pretty standard- portrait of some alien world, pictures of him with friends and family, and a work desk that had some neatly organized papers on it, with a framed picture near his computer.

"We finally meet!" Ben said, standing up from his office chair. He held out his hand. "Ben 10,000. Honored to have you."

Ochako happily shook his hand. God she hoped she wasn't sweaty or something. "I feel like I should say I'm honored to have been offered this opportunity."

"Hey, trust me. Your class had a lot of promising figures, but you were the one who stood out to me the most." Ben said.

"A-ah, thank you!" Ochako nodded.

"Hey, no problem." Ben said. "So- how about I give you a quick tour of the place, and then we can get on the street or, we just save that for later and get right to the fun part?"

There was something Ochako immediately liked about Ben- his personality and attitude. Ochako had only met a handful of pros, thanks to UA. The demure and downcast Eraserhead, the brash and energy filled All Might, loud and jokey Present Mic- there was a barrier between them and the classes. They spoke to them like they were still kids, and they spoke to them like they were adults.

With Ben? He seemed like a guy who could strike up a conversation with anyone, without any barriers. Most Pros would probably treat her differently, but Ben treated Ochako like she was a younger sibling or something.

"Nice costume." Ben said, as the two walked through the streets, by Hitotsubashi Hall. "Who did the work?"

"Oh, Tiger SleekHero." Ochako said, adjusting her helmet.

"Ah, nice. Heard good things about them." Ben grinned, as he looked around. "They give great care to those with some special emitter quirks. What'd they do for yours?"

"Well, since my quirk causes nausea, my costume was designed to minimize the negative effects of my quirk. My helmet reduces stimulation of my ear canals, my wrist gauntlet thingies stimulate some pressure points that suppress nausea, and my legs help break the fall of some of my moves." Ochako explained.

"That's pretty handy." Ben nodded. "I never had that complex of a costume. Mainly because, well," Ben motioned to the Omnitrix. "This is my costume."

Ochako hadn't gotten a glance at the Omnitrix before- she knew it was a wrist watch from some older photos, but it looked more like a gauntlet now. It had grown in size to cover Ben 10,000's forearm and knuckles, looking more like a gauntlet fusing with his arm. The faceplate is larger, with the rim slanting outwards. The white tubes now have connectors. The button was placed slightly lower, and had a fingerless glove type vibe covering Ben 10,000's hand.

"Pretty sleek, huh?" Ben joked. "It was a pain to explain this to the airport security guards back in the day."

"What's it like to transform?" Ochako asked.

"It's like a good stretch." Ben stated. "Plus, it kinda just happens instantaneously nowadays. It's like blinking and then- boom. I have four arms, eight eyes, no feet- something weird like that."

Ochako burst out laughing- again, Ben was so friendly. Ben laughed along with her, and they got some weird looks. The laughter died down, as Ochako decided to change topics.

"So, why did you pick me?" She was curious. Why single her out, out of everyone in Class 1-A.

"There are several reasons, but we'll talk about it near the end of your internship. Let's just take a look at how you function in the field for a while." Ben elaborated. "Like right now."

"Huh?" Ochako asked.

"10 o'clock." Ben said, pointing over near a shop- Ochako glanced over to see some masked men huddled around an ATM. Nearby was a tow truck, and one of them was holding the hook part…and Ochako slowly put two and two together.

"Ohhh." Ochako said.

"Yep. This is why my office is in a weird area- they'll always forget I'm literally a jog away." Ben said, as the Omnitrix lit up. In the blink of an eye, Ben had transformed- Ochako covered her eyes from the flash. Ochako lowered her hands to see Ben, now Goop. The form reminded Ochako of Mina's acid quirk- the alien had a green slime body, bright green eyes, and a gunmetal UFO floating above his head.

"Follow my lead!" The form gargled, as it zoomed off. Ochako ran alongside the sentient ooze, as it snaked down and swiped the legs of the robbers. Ochako quickly leapt in, touching their backs with all five of her fingers- the men suddenly started floating up, thankfully catching themselves on the ceiling. Ochako felt a tiny bit sick after doing it, but her costume thankfully made sure she wouldn't throw up.

One of the men Ochako hadn't tapped quickly hopped back up, threw off his gloves, and held out his hand- Ochako wasn't too sure, but it looked like it was made of corn?

Ochako was right- burning hot kernels started to scatter from the man's hands. Ochako jumped back, leaping out of the way. This guy's quirk was weird. She quickly took note of the projectiles. They looked red to the touch, and oddly tasty- especially with how the bullets turned right into tasty popcorn after landing on the ground. She needed something to block the attacks.

Ochako spotted a dry erase sign, the ones coffee shops used to advertise the special of the day- she dove over to it, and held it out in front of her as the kernels traced her movements. She heard the kernels weakly bounce off the sign, and the man grunt- Ochako could totally bash into the guy with this as a battering ram- but then she heard another flash, the crackling sound of electricity, and then popcorn popping and then a body hitting the ground.

Ochako looked out from behind her makeshift shield to see another one of Ben's forms- a blue jellyfish-like alien with white swipes on his body resembling lightning streaks, a main body with three-segmented skirt-like parts for his head, chest and abdomen, and six long tentacles that function as two pairs of arms and a pair of legs.

"Good work, rookie!" Ben complimented. "Excellent use of the environment to your advantage."

"R-really?" Ochako blushed. "I mean, all I did was-"

Ben reverted back to normal. "Hey, you captured 4 out of 5 guys. 80% of the job. That's pretty good." Ben said, as he handcuffed the corn guy. He threw some handcuffs over to Ochako. "Here. Might wanna get them down, and put them in some cuffs."

Ochako nodded, feeling pretty proud of herself.

The rest of the time on the street was relatively peaceful- Ben did have to stop a speeding car that was malfunctioning, but that was as exciting as it got. Ochako was still walking tall after her assist, and it didn't fade.

Ochako got to see what kind of hero Ben really was- down to Earth and friendly. People would occasionally stop to get pictures, and he was kind enough to take them. If he saw an older lady crossing the street, he'd guide them across. Even if it was something small, like a kid losing his balloon, Ben would jump into action.

It was like Ben had never really forgotten where he started. She'd always heard some rumors surrounding his person- "Ben Tennyson broke up with a girlfriend on the phone, called her the worst", "He turned down an alien princess", and some other insane stuff. She had no idea if it was true or not, as she didn't want to pry into her personal life but, then again, every hero had some rumor.

Eventually, the two decided to grab some dinner- Ben knew a good place called Crane's. It was a small burger shop that sold some American style burgers, something Ochako had never had before.

Ochako was practically drooling when their food was served to them. Ben chuckled a bit, as he thanked the waiter.

"This looks soooo good." Ochako said, holding up the burger.

"Yeah, a lot better than the stuff back home, honestly. Reminds me of an old food place I used to hit up when I was younger." Ben said, as he munched on a fry. "That place is a bit too greasy for me nowadays. Yeesh. I shoved a lot of trash in my body."

Ochako happily bit into her burger. It tasted divine, almost better than whatever Lunch Rush served in the cafeteria. Ochako sighed. "I deserve this." She grinned, before she felt her phone buzz- she'd gotten a text message.

Ochako set down her burger, and picked up her phone. There were a few texts from her friends, asking how her internship was going. She'd respond to them later, but she was hoping to get a text back from Iida. She'd sent him a 'good luck! :)' text earlier, but he hadn't responded.

There was one text she responded to- one from Izuku. Izuku had sent her a similar 'good luck' text, and she decided to respond by snapping a quick selfie with her and Ben. Ben, despite having no context for what was going on, flashed a quick peace sign at the camera.

"Oooh, he's gonna freak out about that one." Ochako said, as she sent the picture.

"Who were you texting?" Ben asked.

"Ah, just one of my friends from school. He was at the sports festival." Ochako said.

"Was he the bird kid or the kid that broke his fingers?" Ben asked.

"Finger breaker."

"Ooooh yeah, Izuku. Yeah, All Might's mentioned him a few times." Ben said, dipping his fries in ketchup.

"You know All Might?" Ochako asked.

"Know him? We worked together when we were still rookies." Ben joked. "I could tell you stories about him. I love the guy, but there was this one time he-"

Ochako's phone buzzed again. Ochako pulled out her phone to see a response from Iida.

Thank you. The same to you.

Ochako sighed. "Why won't you open up?" She mumbled.

"Something wrong?" Ben asked.

"Oh…yeah. Sorry, different friend." Ochako said. "Did you know Tensei Iida?"

Ben's face fell a bit. "Yeah, I did. He and I worked together only a handful of times, but he was super friendly and he had a cool costume. People called us the Tensei-Tennyson combo. The guy was young. Sad to see his hero career end so soon."

"I'm friends with his younger brother, and he's just been distant after the incident." Ochako explained. "I feel like I should be doing more for him, especially since he might be doing something stupid."

Ben paused. "Hm?"

"He decided to go to Hosu City, where Stain had been lurking around a bit. Part of me worries he's gonna try and go after Stain by himself." Ochako said. "It's a dumb fear, but it's been bothering me."

"In my experience, the people who close off their emotions are the ones you need to support the most." Ben said. "I've had a few friends go through that phase, and it is a hard wall to break down. There's times where you just feel like you need to quit, but deep down, you'll feel worse if you stop. If you're worried about him. Maybe I can make some calls, and I can do some patrolling in Hosu with a small group. Maybe you'll run into him and be able to talk to him. How does that sound?"

"Y-you'd seriously do that?" Ochako asked.

"Yeah, of course!" Ben smiled. "You're young, and the friendships you make here could be incredibly important. I'd be cruel not to."

"T-thanks!" Ochako grinned.

"Hey, no problem." Ben replied.

Ochako was very happy she went with Ben now.

---

It took a day to get something organized in Hosu- so, on Day 3 of her internship, Ochako found herself in a truck on the way down to Hosu City. It was honestly later in the day than she would have liked- but still, Ben was only able to pull so many strings.

Since Ochako was a defacto sidekick, she also had to meet the other sidekicks- they weren't properly sidekicks, at least not by law. They were agents from the Plumbers, the organization that Ben represented.

There was Alan, a very mature, easy going, and brave young boy. When not in frigid conditions, he could shift into a Pyronite (a Heatblast). He was laid-back, much like Ochako. Ochako found it easy to interact with him, seeing as they were around the same age.

Then there was Cooper, a well-meaning and affable character who can nevertheless be somewhat naïve. He appeared to be a little hesitant about the whole heroism thing, yet he was still bold enough to fight or deal with risky circumstances. Ochako had more respect for him than Mineta- at least this guy kept his hands to himself.

The Kineceleran Ochako talked to when she first came in was named Helen. Smart, bold, caring, cunning, and level-headed, but she often attempted to appear sensible and smart. Then there was Manny, her partner. Manny was abrasive and defiant, and he was usually eager to fight even...when it is not required. He loved fighting and could be harsh to his comrades at times, reminding Ochako of Bakugou. Manny and Helen had a love-hate relationship. When confronted with Helen's wiser nature, his hot-headed approach caused them to frequently argue.

And finally, there was Pierce- he was calm, severe, and tactical, and a natural born leader who keeps the squad together. In between all the sidekicks, Pierce was always the one who kept them grounded, and always the one who made sure they were cautious.

The four of them were to accompany her and Ben to Hosu City, while the rest of the office would take care of patrolling in Chiyoda.

"Alright," Ben said, halfway during the ride over to Hosu City. "So, because the Hero Killer has been seen around the area, I'm requesting you all stay in groups. I don't want any of you having a run in with that guy."

Manny scoffed. "So? I'm sure I could take him out in a few swings. He doesn't look that tough."

"You say that, and then he slices your insides out with his katana." Helen frowned.

"So? He got a lucky shot." Manny frowned. "I can take a hit."

"Are you really sure about that? He's taken out quite a hefty list of Pro Heroes already- only a few of them got lucky." Cooper said.

Ochako felt a bit sad after hearing that.

"Yeah, man. I don't think you should fight a dude who's ending careers left and right." Alan said.

"Cowards, all of you." Manny frowned.

"Manny, that overconfidence is gonna get the better of you, dude." Ben said, looking at him in the rear view mirror. "Tone it back a bit, alright?"

Manny curled his lip, but that got him to quiet down. Ochako sighed, as she pulled out her phone. She did end up texting Iida that she would be in the Hosu City area, but she didn't get a response- which was strange, because Iida always prioritized responding as soon as possible.

"Friend not responding to his texts? Don't worry. If he's serious about his hero work, he's not gonna let anything distract him." Ben said.

"Or he's looking for him." Ochako frowned.

"Doubtful- the guy he's working with, Manual? That dude watches his sidekicks like a hawk. He won't let your friend out of his sigh-"

BOOM. An explosion suddenly rocked the car, as Ben skidded to a halt. "Jesus! What the hell was-"

"LOOK!"

Ochako pointed her finger at a rising smoke cloud from the city. Ben's eyes widened, as he gripped the wheel.

"Okay, everyone buckle up- this could be a BUMPY ride." Ben said, as he transformed. Ben's form suddenly melted into his seat, as a black liquid overtook the entire car. Green lines formed all over, as the car suddenly began to hover off the ground.

"W-woah!" Ochako said, as the car suddenly began flying towards the city at full speed- Ben had turned the entire car into a jet of sorts. Ben's dashboard suddenly had a head poke out.

"Game faces, everyone. We could be dropping in a serious situation." Ben instructed.

Ochako's eyes were more focused on the smoke, and her mind began to wonder- what the hell could have caused this?

And then she saw something flying out of the smoke.

"Oh, my God-"

Ochako didn't see how horrific it was back at the USJ, but she saw the damage it left behind- the fight with that thing left Aizawa in a full body cast for a good while, and pushed All Might to his limits. Plus, the screams it made. It had haunted her dreams for a good while.

Out of the smoke came a new nightmare, death on two wings.

A Nomu.

"W-what the fuck is that!?" Manny cursed.

"It's one of those monsters made by the League of Villains- I believe they were called 'Nomu'." Pierce frowned. "Looks weaker than the one that attacked UA."

Pierce was right- this Nomu wasn't a jet black color, but rather a boring beige coloration. Ochako had played a handful of video games, and she figured the 'different colored enemy' logic followed suit here. Lighter the tone, weaker the enemy. Darker the tone, the stronger.

"All right, let's put that theory to the test." Ben remarked this as the plane suddenly got dozens of pieces of weaponry. The plane jolted slightly as a flurry of green salvo fired from the cylinders. Ochako clung to her seat as the Nomu was fired down and blown to smithereens. Ochako anticipated it to regenerate like the one at the USJ, but instead nothing.

"Looks like your theory was right, Pierce." Ben noted. "These guys are weaker, but that was just me going all out. Don't expect ALL of them to go down that easily."

Ochako nodded- she felt a bit comforted by the fact that these weren't the same nightmares she saw at the USJ.

Ben landed atop a random building, and quickly unmerged from the car- explaining how a random truck got here would be a funny story, but that could be joked about later. The sidekicks quickly unloaded from the car, as Ben overlooked the city.

"Alright- we're at Threat Level 8. People need to be evacuated from the surrounding buildings. You handle that, and fight if you absolutely need to. Don't go looking for trouble. Do I make myself clear?" Ben instructed. His tone of speaking had become serious all of a sudden, and his gaze was fixed on the city. Ochako had to remind herself that this was the same affable hero with whom she had previously gotten along with so well.

"Right." The sidekicks said in unison.

"Now, go!" Ben said, as he quickly transformed- his form was now a new form, one Ochako hadn't seen in Deku's notebooks- a hulking humanoid skeleton alien that easily reached All Might's height. His whole body was covered in a slimy blue substance, and he had four green eyes, with the top pair being smaller than the bottom pair. He had four fingers and a short horn on his head.

Ben leapt up, before surprisingly flying away. Ochako's shock was short lived, because the second Ben left, someone else was leaving to make a break for it.

"Manny! What the hell are you doing?" Helen yelled.

Ochako spun around to see Manny, leaping away, parkouring off of buildings. He didn't look like he wanted to really do any 'rescuing', rather more focused on the chaos on the ground.

"That idiot's gonna get himself killed!" Pierce looked very frustrated. "Sorry- I need to go after him. You guys handle the evacs!" Pierce leapt after him, leaving the four of them alone.

"You heard him." Cooper said, walking over to the truck. He touched it, and blue lines began to surround the entire car. Ochako watched in amazement as the car was deconstructed, and reformed into a giant, durable suit of armor for Cooper to wield.

Cooper Daniels. Quirk: Mechanization. He can turn any bit of technology into a weapon for his own gain!

Cooper grinned and flexed a little. "In this outfit, nothing can injure me- so come on! Let's get these folks out!"

The evacuations began at once.

The chaos of what was happening around them would have caused a number of individuals of any status to get worried, maybe even flee the battle entirely. But the stakes were already set and Ochako knew that she couldn't let Ben down as she got to work starting to lift pieces of debris and rubble off of various citizens.

Debris continued to fall around the group as the chaos of the Nomu attacks had set the city ablaze with fear and panic; luckily measures had been put into place to ensure that no extra issues occurred on the outskirts of the cities.

Having a gravity quirk certainly made this easier as Ochako continued rescuing multiple civilians from the rubble, taking a moment to report if there had been any sightings of other Nomu in the smoke. Occasionally, she could see a green flash in the skyline as Ben shifted from form to form. She didn't see the all of the forms, but she saw a majority of them- Ben was punching down the flying Nomu as Four Arms, with fisticuffs that rivaled All Might's own, having Heatblast throw fireballs that were on par with Endeavor, and flying faster than the human eye with Jetray-

"Woah." Ochako said, as she lifted up some more debris.

"Yeah- Ben's pretty hardcore when he gets serious." Alan said, looking for any civilians.

"Does he always get this serious?" Ochako asked before starting to glance back to Alan whilst trying to keep her focus on lifting rubble.

"Surprisingly not, but when he does you gotta see it in action." Alan said before starting to motion to the skies as Ben continued clashing with the Nomu, nearly ripping through its carapace with a strike.

Ochako shook her head- no time to be amazed. Only time for hero work. The Nomus were a non-issue to her and the others right now. Let the Pros handle that, and worry about Iida and-

Iida! Crap, Ochako was so caught in the moment, she forgot Iida was in Hosu right now- she had to wonder if her friend was okay, when she got a buzz on her flip phone. "Huh?" Ochako reached to grab her phone, but before she could open it-

FWOOSH. Something landed on the ground, close to a rubble pile.

The sudden arrival was enough to make Ochako's heart stop. Her face nearly turned white when she saw the hulking mass of the figure in front of her, she couldn't believe what she was seeing up close. It still freaked her out to even be near one of these things but to be within its range of attack was another thing entirely!

The Nomu that had just landed slowly creaked its head around to glance at the young heroine, its teeth bared and its eyes wildly moving as it roared, the air nearly shaking from how loud it was as it lunged toward her ready for the kill.

Before the Nomu made contact though, the temperature suddenly rose around the rubble...

Ochako flinched, and then she heard the sound of something soaring towards her- and then she felt the heat off of his fist. From seemingly out of nowhere, Endeavor had punched the Nomu across the way.

"Holy shit, it's Endeavor!" Someone yelled, but he didn't say anything- All Might would usually say something warm and awe-inspiring, or Mirko would yell some cool insult, but Endeavor said nothing. His eyes were trained on the Nomu.

Endeavor's eyes burned like the flames of the sun, he wasn't about to let this abomination live, as he quickly clasped his hands together and started to produce a sudden torrent of flames from within. As the flames condensed they started to form a condensed blue flame that seared the Nomu in a near instant.

Ochako watched, expecting the Nomu to regenerate- this one was jet black in color, like the one at USJ, so it had to have super regeneration right? Ochako instead watched as the Nomu collapsed on the ground, body scorched to death by the attack. Ochako looked back at Endeavor- what did he do to stop the regeneration?

"Up there!" Ochako and Endeavor's eyes went to the sky- a winged Nomu had a sidekick in its grasp. Endeavor's eyes lit up again, as he chased after the bastard.

This Nomu however seemed to be more adept at what it was doing, as when Endeavor tried to strike down the beast, it quickly evaded by swooping behind one of the other buildings. The flaming pro hero could only scowl as he quickly took off to try and take out this creature himself

Endeavor adapted quick to his situation- he ran up the side of a building, burning himself some sections for his feet to walk upon. When he was close enough to the Nomu, he lit up another powerful flame but this one shaped into a spear. Endeavor tossed it into the Nomu...

And the spear went right through its exposed brain.

The beast let out a sudden screech as it started to lose control in its flight, eventually slamming down into the ground as Endeavor quickly launched toward it, crunching its head underneath his boots on impact.

The creature fell to the Earth, as Endeavor grabbed the sidekick from the monster's weakened grasp. He landed on the ground, as the Nomu writhed in pain for a few moments.

"Pathetic." Endeavor said, stomping its head in like it was a bug on the sidewalk.

The sidekick profusely thanked Endeavor but the response was cut short as more sounds of screeching and buildings being torn into could be heard in the distance. Endeavor soon spied a green flash and found his face scowling in discontent

"Tennyson."

Ben walked forward, looking a bit displeased. "Enji." Ben frowned. Ben's face looked more disappointed- Todoroki mentioned something about Endeavor and Ben working together in the past, and from this interaction, looks like they didn't get along.

"This isn't your district." Endeavor said.

"Was about to say the same to you." Ben countered. "I was taking my sidekicks out. What brings you here?"

"I was dealing with these creatures the same way any pro should be doing. By not bringing inexperienced children into a battlefield." Enji just glanced at Ochako and found his eyebrow raising a bit. He had noticed the girl during the tournament, and did find her battle entertaining. But the fact Tennyson took her in was odd.

"Really?" Ben said smugly. "Then where's your kid?"

"He ran off." Endeavor grumbled.

"Reeeeally? And here I thought you were supposed to be dad of the year." Ben smirked as Enji looked ready to pile drive Tennyson through the asphalt beneath them.

Endeavor looked around. "There's more in the South District. Let's not waste anymore time bantering and just do our work."

Ben morphed into Heatblast and walked forward. "That I can agree with." The alien hero flew off, a trail of flames following behind them.

Endeavour just huffed before taking off, the two of them leaving Ochako and the other sidekicks started to look at the two pros as they hurried into the South District.

"Yeesh." Helen said, zooming on close to Ochako. "That could've gone better."

"Yeah. Didn't know Ben had a problem with Endeavor." Ochako said.

"Eh, it's more based on his principles. He'll respect him as a hero, but he's kind of a jerk at times." Helen said. "Funny, because their offices are so close to one another."

Ochako was about to say something in response, but she didn't get a chance. Something dropped out of the sky, and the impact was enough to send everyone flying. Ochako thankfully caught herself halfway through with her gravity quirk, and tumbled until she was able to land against a wall of a nearby building. Ochako looked towards the source of the impact, and there she saw it.

No eyes. Frothing mouth. Exposed brains, and four powerful arms. The Nomu was unlike any of the others...and the roar it let out would scare even the toughest of nerves.

The Nomu that had managed to strike at the group was definitely a stronger variant. It even seemed to be replicating the type of form that Ben might have taken with the alien Four Arms. The creature roared once more, and began to mindlessly destroy the area. The creature pulled back one of his fists before sliding towards Ochako and did a powerful punch, with his fist heating up and glowing red from the friction. Ochako's eyes widened, as she quickly leapt from the wall and landed on the ground, by Helen and Alan. The other sidekicks managed to get out of the way of the rampage, as Ochako tried to look for an opening.

Everyone else, on the other hand, began launching random attacks at it. Helen began hurriedly tossing rubble at it, inflicting the creature with considerable damage. Alan shot several burning hot fireballs at the four-armed Nomu, and Cooper began to blast it with missiles from his gigantic robotic form—where he acquired the missiles was a mystery to Ochako. Ochako glanced about for something she might use, and her eyes locked onto something she could use.

Ochako raced over a downed streetlight. "HOLD ON!" She shouted as she snatched it up and started swinging it about like a giant scythe. Everyone moved to the side. It seemed easy to her, especially when she slammed it into the Nomu.

But the creature caught the makeshift scythe and punched it hard enough to shatter. Ochako gasped, as the creature suddenly made a beeline for her, rushing forward and aiming to cross chop her with all four arms. Ochako didn't know how to respond, but something immediately swooped her up and whisked her away from the rampaging Nomu.

"You okay?" Helen asked, with Ochako cradled in her arms- despite her body, Helen was stronger than she looked.

Ochako blushed as she looked away. "Y-yeah. Thanks for the assist." She said, as Helen put her down.

"That thing is crazy!" Alan huffed. "There's no way we can take it down, right? We're gonna have to stall it out until a pro comes back."

It was a weird thought to pop into her head, but Ochako asked herself- what would Deku do? Ever since the sports festival, Ochako had been enamored with Izuku…Izuku's thinking skills! Hahah, his brain meats were good. B-but, uh, anyways, she was enamored with his critical thinking skills, especially in the heat of the moment. Well, first, he'd look at the situation, see if there was anything they could take advantage of, and evaluate her partner's powers to see if they could do something she couldn't.

Ochako returned her gaze to the Nomu, then to the rubble surrounding her, a street sign and finally to Alan. Her pupils narrowed. "Or we handle it ourselves."

"What?"

"Alan. How hot are your flames?"

"U-uh, they're pretty hot. I 've gotten so hot that I've melted gold."

"Can they seal a wound?" Ochako said.

"I'd think so, yeah." Alan said.

"Okay- just, follow my lead and hit it with some attacks so I can set up my attack." Ochako said, her voice full of determination. She ran towards the Nomu. She began to randomly tap bits of rubble on the ground, causing them to float up high. The Nomu was bombarded with more flames and random bits of wreckage, but it started to slowly power through the attacks and walk towards Ochako.

Ochako snarled as she furiously tapped more and more things- she was attempting to replicate her meteor shower maneuver from the sports festival, but she was on a strict time limit right now. That Nomu was creeping closer and closer, and it WOULD smash her skull in if it got the chance-

Ochako finally felt she had enough projectiles floating above her, when she finally released it. "Helen!" Ochako yelled, as Helen snatched her out of there once more- good thing, too. The Nomu was pelted by a nasty 'hailstorm' of debris.

"Okay, swing me back around!" Ochako said to Helen. "And grab that stop sign afterwards!"

"W-what!? Why?" Helen said.

"Trust me!" Ochako yelled.

Helen frowned, but trusted Ochako's decision. She swung Ochako back around, letting the girl slap the dazed Nomu on its back, removing its gravity. Ochako immediately felt sick- the Nomu was heavy as her limit, meaning she didn't have much time to hold it down. Helen set Ochako down, and grabbed the stop sign.

"What do you want me to do with this?" Helen said.

"D-decapitate it." Ochako said, trying not to throw up. "It should be sharp enough to do the job."

"W-what!?" Helen gagged. "That's gruesome! What the hell are you-"

"Chop off the head, and then have Alan cauterize the wound. It's how Endeavor stopped one of those Nomu beforehand- it can't regenerate from the burnt area." Ochako explained. Helen gave her a weird look, but quickly slid down helmet.

"You're lucky Ben's wife taught me how to decapitate someone just in case." Helen huffed as she sped off. The Nomu was floating helplessly in the air, flailing and trying to punch at something when Helen sped by, and sliced into the side of its neck.

And went through it all the way. The body immediately went limp, as the Nomu head landed on the ground. Ochako released her grasp on it, as the Nomu crashed to the ground. "ALAN! SEAL THE WOUND!"

Alan rushed into action, and immediately seared the headwound- the Nomu's profusely bleeding wound soon turned a charcoal black color. Ochako held her breath, just in case that head started to regenerate, but thank God, it didn't. Ochako breathed a sigh of relief.

And threw up a rainbow. Quirk side effects. Always fun.

---

Within an hour, the attack on Hosu was over. Ochako could've sworn it had been longer because of how chaotic that hour had been. The Hero Killer Stain had been captured, and the Nomu had been quickly defeated.

Ochako needed to visit the hospital to confirm she hadn't cracked or broken anything. She just came out with a handful of minor bruises and scrapes that could be bandaged and later healed by someone with a healing quirk. Ochako felt herself to be one of the fortunate ones; she wasn't the only one who had been involved in a significant battle with a Nomu.

Manny, who had fled earlier in order to have a piece of the action, ended up fighting a Nomu, and he severely underestimated its true might. One of his hands had been severely damaged during the attack, and no amount of treatment could save it. Ochako shuddered at the thought of someone's hand being removed. Ochako looked at the resting Manny, in his hospital bed. He didn't even realize what had happened, and he was in for a very, very rude awakening.

Ochako sighed- there was no real reason she should be hanging out around the hospital, especially with her injuries healed. But, she needed to make a visit.

The three heroes who had captured Stain were Izuku, Iida and Todoroki.

Well, that was the truth. Endeavor was taking the credit for it, Ben told her later. To hide the truth and keep UA from getting lambasted by the public.

Ochako paced outside of the boy's hospital room for a bit, with a basket of fruit for them as a 'get well' gift. Hospital food was always awful.

"-and at the very least, I, as a fellow man who keeps the peace, give my thanks. Rest well now, boys." A gruff voice inside the room said, as he opened the door. Ochako was greeted with three men leaving- two of them were Pro Heroes, one plain looking and the other short and grumpy, and the outlier was a police official.

With a dog's face.

Ochako took a look around as they walked away. She paused for a moment before approaching the door. She knocked on the door- she didn't know how bad their injuries were, but if they were anything like Manny's, she might cry.

"Come in!" Izuku's voice said, before Ochako opened the door. She stepped forward, and thankfully, everyone was in one piece.

"Heya!" Ochako said, a nervous smile on her face.

"Uraraka!" Iida said, a bit shocked. Ochako immediately took note of Iida's injuries. He had his left arm in a sling, and a few other bandages on his body. "Oh, my God- I almost forgot that you'd come to Hosu to-"

"Try and talk you out of something that already happened." Ochako sighed. "I was an hour too late."

"It's a good thing you weren't in the battle, actually." Todoroki had the least severe of injuries- just a bandage on his arm. "Did you see the text?"

"You sent a text?" Ochako said. "I didn't see it, actually! My flip phone got wrecked during evacuations or when that Nomu hit me." Ochako held up the remains of her phone. "I don't know if I have the budget to replace this."

"W-what!?" Izuku asked. To her shock, Izuku's injuries weren't the worst- just a few bandages on his hand and leg. No broken fingers, either.

"Yeah. I know it was risky, but, the pros left and I kinda played a part in beheading a Nomu." Ochako explained.

Everyone in the room went wide eyed- even Todoroki.

"I mean, it was the only way to get it to stop regenerating. Had one of Ben's sidekicks cauterize the wound, and-" Ochako explained.

"Uraraka…that's incredible, actually."

Ochako looked over at Izuku. The boy had a smile on his face. "I dunno what else to say, but wow."

"Yeah! Your friend here held her own against a Nomu with one of my sidekicks. It was pretty badass."

Ochako spun around to see Ben, leaning in from the doorframe. "Sup?"

"A-AHHH!" Izuku yelled, as Ben walked in. Ochako noticed he was still covered in some dirt, and had some tears on his clothes.

"So, you're those kids from the sports festival, huh? Nice to meet you." Ben said, walking over to shake their hands. "Ben Tennyson, at your service."

Ben walked over to Midoryia, who was visibly shaking with excitement. Ben grinned, and picked up Midoriya's phone. He snapped a quick selfie with him, and handed the phone back to the green haired boy.

"I can also autograph a print if you want." Ben joked.

Izuku fell back onto his bed, shocked at what just happened.

Iida saluted the elder hero. "An honor to meet you, sir! As class representative of 1-A, I-"

"Hey, hey. Skip the formalities. You can be casual." Ben chuckled.

"That is him being casual." Ochako said.

"...ah. Well, carry on then." Ben nodded.

Iida lit up- usually, his actions as class representative were shot down, but he'd never been encouraged to carry on. Iida cleared his voice. "As class representative of 1-A, we are humbled to have you here- and thank you for your service in Hosu!"

"Ah, thanks. Me and Enji took care of some Nomu, scared away the League of Villains, but you guys got the big one, honestly." Ben said. "Pretty risky, but, hey, I salute it. Reminds me of something me and the Outcasts would've done back in the day."

"The who now?" Todoroki asked.

"Oh, that's what we called my friend group." Ben said. "We took on some big threats back then and they were kinda super dangerous." Ben took notice of the bandages on the kids. "And looks like Stain banged you up pretty good."

"Yeah," Ochako said, looking at Iida's arm. "I still can't believe you went after him!"

"I'm just thankful Midoryia rushed in, or…" Iida shook his head. "No, no. I shouldn't ponder that."

"To be honest, I've heard a lot about you kids, ever since that USJ incident. I'm happy to see this next gen of heroes rising up right now. It makes me and every active pro right now feel like we're inspiring people." Ben said. "I know the job we do isn't always 'save the day' or the Hollywood glamor we're used to. But, I just wanted to say. Keep up the good work. I know the laws here a bit more tight, but I honestly believe you did the right thing. The streets are honestly safer without that Stain guy on it."

Ben smiled again. "Well, I have to take my leave- need to visit one of my sidekicks. Take as much time as you need, Uraraka."

"R-right!" Ochako nodded.

"But, after this." Ben said. "When you get back to the office and rest up a bit, we need to talk about something." Ochako felt her stomach drop- and Ben noticed. "Oh, shit- no, you're not in trouble! Sorry! I know it came off that way, but-! We just need to talk."

Ochako nodded. "R-right! Okay!"

Ben wiped some sweat off his brow. "Yeah. See you back at the office."

Ben took his leave, as the room was left in confusion.

"I'm starting to see why you took his internship." Todoroki said. "You two are too much alike."

---

Ochako relaxed for a while after leaving the hospital and returning to the Chiyoda office, having a shower and a power nap. Her body didn't feel heavy or sleep deprived at all, which suggested that the adrenaline from the Nomu battle was still rushing through her veins.

However, the entire time from leaving the hospital to now, Ben's request had been on her mind. What on Earth did he want to talk with her about? Ochako decided it was best not to keep him waiting after her nap.

Ochako knocked on the door, and it opened.

"Please come in." Ben said, his voice solemn. The door closed behind her as she observed Ben was looking a little more serious than normal.

"So, what's up?" Ochako inquired.

"We're having this talk a little earlier than I expected." Ben stated as he took a long breath. He returned his gaze to Ochako after looking down at the Omnitrix. "So I'm in a bit of a pickle right now. I haven't really announced this to the public, and I really don't plan on it...but, here goes."

Ochako held her breath as Ben took the photo from his desk and examined it.

"...my wife is expecting." Ben revealed the photo- it was his and Ruby's wedding picture.

Silence.

"What?"

Ben averted his gaze. "My wife, Ruby. She's pregnant. Almost six months in."

Ochako blinked. "O-okay! Uh, congrats?" She didn't see what this had to do with her.

"It came completely out of nowhere; we didn't even know about it until a month ago. We're super excited, but here's the catch." Ben returned his gaze to Ochako. "I'm considering taking a few years off to raise my child."

Ochako gave a nod. "Of course, that's the most important thing to you right now."

"But, if people understand I'm not going to be active for a long time, crime will surely pick up. Uraraka, I've made a lot of enemies. Both on and off the planet." Ben stated. "And I need someone to pick up my slack. I'd ask the other guy, but he's more crazy busy than me-"

Ochako's pupils widened. "Wait, do you mean-?"

"Yeah." Ben cracked a grin. "I believe you should be my successor."

Silence. Ochako stumbled back into a chair, and put her hand to her head.

"Yeah, I know, kind of random, but I see a lot of myself and my wife in you." Ben explained. "I didn't want to jump the gun, so I decided to see how you'd work for a while, and you exceeded my expectations."

Ochako still looked shell shocked.

"Do you need a glass of water, or-"

"No, just..wow." Ochako said, slowly gaining back a track of thought. "That kinda just rocked everything for me."

"I know, I know." Ben said. "But seriously- you're the best person for the job, as far as I'm concerned."

"So, am I gonna take your Omnitrix, or-" Ochako asked. "I think it's too small for me."

"What?" Ben held his wrist defensively. "No! I'm not gonna take this thing off. I'm more gonna make my own with my smarter aliens and then pass it off to you."

Ochako blinked. "Y-you can do that!?"

"Yeah, I've done that a couple of times." Ben stated.

"Okay, that answers that question but why me?" Ochako has been asking for this for a long time.

Ben inhaled deeply. "It started from the Sports Festival." Ben began. "I saw the way you were fighting- highly adaptive. Sure to have been a one hit KO if that humanoid chiwawa didn't blow it all up. You kind of reminded me of my wife back in the day - someone who wasn't fighting to show off, but with a purpose."

Ochako was flattered to hear that.

"Plus, that teamwork with Alan against that Nomu?" Ben continued. "You played it smart, waited to exploit a weakness. Used your powers fantastically. That's what I need for a successor. Someone who's quick to the draw."

"I see." Ochako nodded. "I'm flattered to be picked for this, but I don't…"

"I realize this is a lot for you to take in, kid." Ben exhaled with another sigh. "If you want to take some time to think about it-"

"I'll do it."

"Wow, that was quick." Ben said. "Any reason why?"

"Yeah. My parents."

"Go on."

"I know this is gonna sound selfish, but above all else, one of the main reasons I became a hero is to earn money in order to give them a comfortable life." Ochako said. "I know that sounds bad, but they've done so much to raise me, and they always looked so tired…and I wanna return the favor back. Being a hero like you may be my only shot at giving them that life as soon as possible."

Ben nodded. "I get it, I get it- repaying them for their endless love and kindness. Nothing to be embarrassed about. But what's the other reason?"

"The other reason?" Ochako repeated. "Well, this one is also gonna sound weird."

"Believe me, I know weird." Ben chuckled.

"When I was pretty little, I went out for the day with my parents—it was one of those rare occasions when both of them could take me out. I'm not sure where we were headed, but on the way, we witnessed an extraordinary sight of a pro hero in action." Ochako explained. "There was a massive audience cheering them on and everything. However, my attention was directed to the spectators rather than the hero claiming triumph. More especially, to the crowd's grins and cheers. They were so honest and supportive. The Pro Hero loved it. From then on, I believed it was only natural for a hero to assist people in need, and that a modest act may provide a lot of joy to someone else... and that's the kind of hero I want to be."

"A symbol of joy." Ben nodded.

"Y-yeah, I guess." Ochako blushed. "I just want to help anyone, anybody- even if I have to fight tooth and nail for it."

Ben grinned. "Then I'm glad we're on the same page." Ben stood up. "Come with me."

Ochako followed Ben out of his office and down the corridor, where there was nothing but a wall. Ben approached the wall and pushed his hand on it. As the floor suddenly lighted up, green lines began to spread over it, and a green square formed around them. Ochako nearly leaped as the floor began to collapse.

"Yet another reason I adore this office: I can conceal secret passageways in plain sight." The Omnitrix user said with a grin.

Ochako and Ben soon arrived at a secret level- a cluttered lab of sorts. It reminded her of the support lab from UA. The girl took note of a few things- a sports car, a motorcycle, and a weird furnace looking thing in the back of the room.

"This way." Ben said, turning on a light. Ochako followed Ben again, to a table in the back of the room. Ben looked down at a sphere on the workbench.

"Alright." Ben said. "Here's the rules. You get 10 aliens, handpicked by me. They're some of my classics, mixed in with some supporting aliens. You don't get Master Control until you graduate UA. And most importantly. One thing I want you to do especially with the Omnitrix- never compare yourself to others."

"Huh?" Ochako said.

"Years ago, a villain asked me some hard hitting questions- why don't I do more with my powers? Why limit myself? Why not be someone more like Superman?" Ben said. "And here's the thing. I can't be. I can't devote all my time to saving lives and stopping crime- I can't end wars or anything of the sort. If I extend my power too much, I fail. And that's not the point of the watch- it's not a tool for conquest or power. It's a tool of understanding, and how unique we truly are in this universe." Ben held up his own watch."

"You're not trying to be Ben Tennyson, you hear me? You're Uraraka Ochako, forever and always- unless you discover stuff about yourself. Then you're that name from then on. I dunno. I had a point with this."

Ochako nodded. "I got the idea."

"Good."

Ben stepped away, leaving Ochako to approach the sphere.

Ochako walked forward.

The sphere opened.

A pink glow suddenly illuminated itself from the darkness- it was beckoning for Ochako to put her hand forward.

And she did.

---

Given how you're adaptable, I don't imagine it'll take long for you to get comfortable. Ben said, a few days prior.

Ochako stood atop a building, eyeing the city below. The sound of sirens began to blare in a nearby corner of the city.

Like I said, I put some classics in there- some aliens I had when I was your age. We'll start with a basic one.

Ochako looked at the device again- her Omnitrix resembled a digital wristwatch. Its faceplate was square instead of round and has a white, pink, and black color scheme- it worked well with her costume. The faceplate was black with two pink stripes forming an outline for the hourglass. Ochako put her finger to the Omnitrix- a holographic interface popped up. A holographic circle was shown, with the top half having alien faces. Ochako tilted her fingers to the left, as she reached the icon of the alien.

He was my first transformation…and it feels right that'll be yours as well.

Ochako moved her fingers up, as she selected the form- the faceplate rolled back, and revealed the core of the Omnitrix. Ochako slammed it down-

Heat. It was rushing through Ochako's body, and changing it- Ochako imagined it'd be painful to have her skeleton change so drastically, but she was dead wrong. Her feet became more 'camel like', with two toes. Rocks began to grow around her body, and the heat rose once more- soon, her body had become engulfed in flames, but it didn't even hurt, nor did she feel it. Ochako was the fire.

Ochako, now Heatblast, looked down at the sirens. "Okay." She said, taking a deep breath. Her voice was so deep and husky. "Let's hope this goes well."

You won't nail the flying thing right away, but let me show you a trick I taught Alan.

Ochako pounded her hands into the ground underneath her, skillfully carving off a chunk of concrete for herself. As Ochako hauled herself up, she set fire to the concrete. She swayed a little, but quickly regained her footing. Ochako smiled, knowing she had things covered. Ochako soared away, following the sirens.

It's hero time. Ochako thought, as she flew through the streets.

Ochako followed the police sirens to the scene of the crime, an ongoing hostage situation nearby some jewelry store. There were two robbers. One of them, a bored looking man with no hair, had multiple glowing tendrils coming out of his fingers that were wrapped around some people, while the other one, a man with a very skeletal appearance, looked absolutely windstruck and had a 'glasgow smile'. The police quickly formed a barricade in front of them, and pulled out their weapons.

The windstruck man laughed. "Come on, fire. I bet I can catch all those bullets-"

"No. You can't." The bald man said, as he lifted up some of the hostages and put them in front of them- he was using them as human shields.

"Here's the deal!" The bald man yelled. "You let us go, and we'll let them go. Sounds good?"

Ochako heavily disagreed- her response to the deal? She quickly descended upon the man, and smashed into the man with her chunk of flying concrete. The man immediately lost focus on his energy whips, and tumbled backwards. The attack was so sudden and so violent, but it was effective.

The hostages quickly rushed off, and the police lowered their weapons. They recognized the fire alien as Ben, but the mistaken identity was excusable. Ochako gave them a thumbs up without turning around, before the whipman stood up again. Ochako was honestly surprised- that attack could've incapcitated any normal man.

"So, hero of heroes came to take us on." The baldie frowned. "Right." The man unleashed his whips again, and began to lash out at Ochako violently. Ochako jumped back with a burst of flames, as the whips took some chunks out of concrete. Ochako landed back on the ground, and grinned.

So, you got a Pyronite? Alan asked her, while she was training her powers. Lemme show you a neat trick I can do. Ben taught me the basics a while back too, y'know.

Ochako placed both hands on the ground and ignited her feet. "Special Move- Blast Off!" Ochako yelled, before rocketing forward and doing a powerful blazing kick into the man's stomach- the attack was hard enough to leave two red burns on his stomach. Ochako landed on the ground, before looking at the windstruck man.

"F-forget this, man! I didn't count on 10,000 being here!" The windstruck man yelled.

Really? Ochako thought. Ben's office was literally a few blocks away- how would you NOT expect that?!

The windstruck man zipped away- Ochako wasn't about to let him escape unpunished. She slapped the Omnitrix down, and morphed into a better form to keep up with him. Ochako felt her body morph once more. Ochako lifted her arm, and her skin went blue, while her hands morphed into black claws. She began sprinting as a helmet appeared on her head. Her legs sprang up into the air, and wheels sprouted from the soles of her feet-

Ochako zipped through traffic, keeping an eye on the skeletal wannabe villain. He was fast, yes, but also very, very sloppy. The man would almost trip as he ran. The guy was clearly frightened, but Ochako couldn't care less. She sped up and grabbed her villain.

"Hey. Nice speed. But lemme show you some REAL speed." Ochako lowered her mask, and rushed around the city while holding them. The man was in tears, and he kind of deserved it. Especially after holding others hostage.

Ochako dropped him at the feet of the police, saluted them and rushed off.

"Did Ben 10,000 look more feminine to you?" One of the officers said.

Ochako grinned behind her mask- that felt incredible. Most of all, it felt fantastic. Maybe, just maybe, the next time her friends rushed off into the heat of battle.

She could join them, rather than being on the sidelines.

---

Ochako was doing pretty great with the watch- it helped to have some extra help from the others. Especially when training.

Today's 'warmup' was tag. Sounded basic, but when you have aliens involved, it gets pretty crazy. Helen declared that everyone BUT Ochako was it, so that was plenty stressful. Thank God Ben gave her XLR8.

Ochako looked behind her to notice the two sidekicks catching up to her. Helen was obviously in the lead, but Alan was close behind. Poor Pierce was probably left in the dust by those two before they could even think up a plan. But this was mostly a speed game so, no real plan needed unless Pierce was gonna try and cut her off. But she could worry about him later. Helen was the immediate problem as she was very quickly catching up to Ben's successor.

Ochako needed to make a hard switch right now, and she needed a diversion.

"Let's see you touch THIS!" Ochako yelled, as her body started to vibrate. Soon, it looked like there were three XLR8s running ahead of Helen.

"What the-?" Helen asked.

"Helen...can you not do that?" Alan asked.

"O-of course I can! I just...need some time to focus!" Helen stammered a bit.

"Uh-huh, right."

"Alan. Shut up..."

The three XLR8s raced on ahead, quickly multiplying into six.

Okay- I'm at a safe advantage now. Ochako thought. Now I just figure out how to lose them...

"Ok, ok...how about I make this a little easier then?" Alan smirked as he summoned up two fireballs in his hands. He reared his arms back as far as possibly before throwing them. Surprisingly, with the boost of flames, they were able to fly ahead of Ochako and impact the ground, making a wall of fire.

"Can you not burn down the whole place?!" Helen asked.

"Like this is any worse than the time you and Manny forgot to muzzle a Loboan and half of us ended up deaf for three weeks."

Ochako looked behind her and cursed. Dang- they're using a slipstream to try and catch up! Ochako frowned. "Let's throw caution to the wind and hope this works..."

Ochako slapped down her Omnitrix, and morphed into the only other alien for the job...Big Chill.

Helen smirked when she saw the flash. Big Chill was nowhere near fast enough to outrun her. This was an easy catch for her!

Ochako looked at Helen and Alan, speeding at her.

"You think this is to get away from you, isn't it? Well, bad news." Ochako said, as she turned intangible and phased into the ground. "I call this technique 'cheating'." She grinned, as the ground froze over.

"Aaaand there's that trademark 'Omnitrix-'" Helen was about to say before the ice caught up to her and she began slipping all over it.

"Omnitrix-user sass is what you wanted to say, right?" Alan finished for her.

"SUUUUUUURE!" Helen yelled, as she spun away.

Ochako poked her head out of the ground. Alan noticed her head poking out, and he smirked.

"You know I can melt ice, right?" Alan asked. "Smart move, but there's some holes..."

"Oh, I know." Ochako said, diving back underground. "But that means I can do this." Ice suddenly exploded from out of the ground.

"Oh, hell!" Alan called out before going full Pyronite. The flames around his hands grew in intensity before he held them out to form a flaming barrier. The ice shards from the explosion impacted and melted when they hit the shield.

Alan was doused in water, quickly extinguishing his flames. Ochako had gotten good with these forms...hard to believe she'd gotten used to these things so quickly. She just got the watch a few days ago!

Ochako poked her head out of the ground. "Now...where's Pierce?"

"Sup?" Pierce said, making Ochako spin around to see him behind her, armed with a massive quill-turned-staff.

Ochako dove back underground, and popped back up behind him. Ochako dodged a quick attack from his spear, and tapped his hand.

"You're it," She grinned, as his hands started to become coated in snow.

"I thought we were all it," Pierce said.

"Yeah- but that just takes the fun out of the game." Ochako said.

"She's right!" Helen called back, trying to steady herself on the ice.

"So, new game." Ochako said, happy to have turned the table. She hopped out of the ground, and transformed into Chromastone. "Dodge laser. It's like dodgeball, but you dodge lasers."

"...is that even safe?" Helen asked.

"Probably." Ochako said.

"I mean...safe for me, at least," Alan said, "Pyronite's pretty durable."

"Yeah, so its safe for one out of 3 sidekicks here," Pierce shot back.

"Good enough for me." Ochako said, charging up a ball of energy. "Now, dodge this!" She quickly tossed the ball, and it exploded before the sidekicks' eyes, blinding them.

"Ochako!" Helen called out, "Little more warning next time, please!"

"That's the idea." Ochako said, firing a few weak lasers. She hit all of her targets with ease.

"Ok, that is cheating," Pierce said, slowly regaining his sight.

"Hey, if these two can use their speed powers like that, then so can I!" Ochako insisted.

"Different circumstances!" Hellen defended.

Ochako rolled her singular eye. "Unless you have a different idea for a fair, all encompassing game?"

"I might," Alan smirked.

"What is it?" Hellen asked.

"Easy. Basketball. No powers though."

"...alright, I can manage." Ochako said, despite never even having an experience with basketball. How hard could it be?

There was one small thing that Ochako didn't know that did tip the scales a bit.

Alan was a pro at the sport, practicing for pretty much all his childhood.

This was going to be a slaughterfest.

---

Ben walked into his gym area, and looked to the basketball court. Ochako was clearly struggling to dribble the ball with only four of her fingers. Since her powers relied on the pads of her finger tips, she didn't have much 'control', mainly due to the fear of causing the ball to float.

"Ya know," Alan said, still on guard, "I forgot you had to use all five fingers to use your Qurik. So, uh...yeah, that's my bad."

"You had to have known. You just HAD to have known!" Ochako yelled. "I'm sorry for freezing you!"

"Knowing him, he forgot in the heat of the moment," Helen smirked.

"You've been talking with Yang again, haven't you?" Alan took his eyes off Ochako to address the pun.

"Maaaaybe. But hey, puns work. As you just demonstrated."

Ochako had to take advantage of the distraction. She quickly threw the ball at the net, but it bounced off the rim. Ben easily caught it.

"Nice shot." Ben commented.

"Oh thank god, salvation," Ochako groaned.

"It wasn't that bad, was it?" Alan asked.

Pierce, Helen, and especially Ochako gave him deadpan stares that spoke louder than any actual answer could.

"So, how about this?" Ben said, throwing the ball up and spinning it on his finger. "You kids know the game 'keep away', right? Let's do a variant of that. Knock the spinning ball out of my hand. Abilities allowed."

Ochako raised an eyebrow. I feel like this is easier said than done.

"Well...ok?" Helen said, a bit unsure. She decided to try first, speeding at Ben to simply swat the ball away from him.

Ben tossed the ball up, and transformed. Goop took his place, and he dropped to the ground. Helen immediately slipped on his body, and went spiraling out of control.

"Oh not again!" Helen yelled before tripping and falling flat on her face. Pierce and Ochako winced in pain a little when she impacted, before Alan stepped up next. He fired a blast of flame to propel himself forward, hoping to exploit the few short seconds where Ben was distracted.

Ben melded his body around Alan's body, and whacked him to the ground with a simple goopy wallop. He reverted back to human, and caught the ball on his finger.

"Come on. I wasn't even trying there." Ben joked.

Pierce took out two quills and had them grow to the size of lances before he looked to Ochako. He didn't say a word, but the Omnitrix's successor got ready.

"Oh, two for one this time? Ok," Ben said, totally unphased.

Ochako had to think. Ben's going to throw the ball up again, and he's going to transform. Using that big meteor gal is too much of an indicator of my plan.

Ochako moved the selection screen to her only other option. She slammed down on the watch and, in a flash of pink, she became a humanoid mollusk-like alien. She took aim with her hands and let water-pressure build up before Pierce threw his quill-spears at Ben, intentionally making sure to miss.

Ben threw the basketball up again, and transformed again. This time, he took the form of some quadrupedal lizard looking alien, and opened his maw.

"Oh, crap-" Ochako said, as it inhaled.

A massive cloud of mist was fired at the duo as the lizard alien exhaled, freezing both sidekick and successor in place. Ochako couldn't use her water at all now, knowing it would more than likely freeze as soon as it left her palms.

Ben reverted back to human, and held up his finger to catch the ball.

...except it didn't come down. Ben looked up, to see the ball, floating around in a bubble. Ochako smirked, as Pierce looked up as well.

"When did you...slip that out?" Pierce asked.

"In the middle of my hosing." Ochako said, as the bubble floated down to the ground, and popped. It dribbled on the floor a few times, before rolling to Ochako's feet.

I couldn't do that as Water Hazard. Ben thought, as he watched the ball.

"Nicely done," Ben smirked, hiding his surprise a bit.

"T-thanks." Ochako said, shivering. "Now please...unfreeze us..."

"Right...sorry," Ben said with a nervous chuckle, before turning to Swampfire and thawing them out with a quick heatwave.

---

"I hope you don't mind, but we made another version of your costume." Ben said, as he led the unfrozen Ochako into a support lab. "Used tech that was similar to your main costume, for your quirk- just made it a bit more obscure so people can't tell its you."

Ochako looked at the costume- a white armored jumpsuit, along with a pink scarf and a white helmet. There were some equipment on wrists and waist, and it had the vibes of her own hero costume. The only difference was that it resembled the hourglass symbol on her new Omnitrix.

"Woah." Ochako said, picking it up. "I really gotta thank whoever made this."

Ben chuckled. "Funny you say that…" Ben turned to see someone else coming into the lab- he could always tell who it was, thanks to that signature rose scent she had on her.

"So, you're Ochako." A woman's voice said. "Hope you enjoy my handiwork!" Ochako took in the woman's appearance- silver eyes, fair complexion, and long graduating black-into-red hair and her signature red cloak.

Ochako's eyes lit up. "A-ah! I didn't know that you made this."

"Hey, no need to be so nervous." The older Ruby grinned. "It's nice to meet you, finally!"

Ochako nodded- she'd heard a lot of great things about Red Rose, the Huntress Hero. A lot of totally sort of spoiler-y things the author writing this couldn't mention since this runs semi-parallel to the events of her other work.

It may be lazy, but hey, spoilers.

"I'm not shocked you were able to do this." Ben said, as Ruby pecked him on the cheek. "Even with the nausea, dizziness and appetite."

"Hey, it helps me distract myself from that." Ruby said, before turning to Ochako. "Anyways Sorry I didn't meet you earlier. I was kinda busy building an extra suit we had lying around. The suit's pretty hard to break as well, but that doesn't mean it's invincible. It should last you the 5 minute recharge time."

"Oh, right." Ochako nodded. Ben had told her that the Omnitrix had a limit of how long it could keep her as an alien, similar to how he did when he was younger. When the Omnitrix timed out, it went into Recharge Mode. It took around 5 minutes to recharge, though it may take more time if tampered with.

"With your quirk, you can have some time to stall, but sometimes, it won't be enough." Ben said.

"Now! Quick question. Have you ever fired a weapon before?"

"N-no, actually." Ochako said, before Ruby grabbed her hand.

"No time like the present! Come on!" Ruby said, dragging the girl away.

Ochako would be lying if she said she wasn't excited to see the new suit, wondering what kind of crazy gadgets she'd gotten from Ruby's mad genius.

"Now...before we hand over the new suit...gotta be a bit serious for a minute," Ben started, "Remember how I said that there were other candidates I was thinking about?"

"Yeah. I never really gave them a second thought...why bring them up now?" Ochako asked.

"Well, since I'm using tech from potential tools they'd have..." Ruby said. "You have a right to know who was gonna get it."

"Was...there anyone I know?"

"...a few, actually," Ben admitted.

"When we were weighing out people, we searched all across the world. America, Japan, Africa, Europe...a lot of promising characters there. But, Toshinori mentioned a lot of shining stars at UA." Ben said. "Well, that, and he mentioned one potential candidate from Shiketsu...I forget her name."

"Her last name was...Kurokami or something. Stars and Stripes said some good things too, I think." Ruby said, looking at her gauntlet. "But, yeah. All Might snuck us into the sports festival without anyone noticing."

"So...the Sports Festival was less seeing what I was made of...and more of a general recruitment thing," Ochako summarized.

"Yep. Among the others from U.A were Kirishima himself, Mei..."

"Kirishima and Mei..." Ochako repeated. She couldn't really see Kirishima as a successor. He was so devoted to following Crimson Riot's path, so he would pass down Ben's request out of respect.

Mei...Mei was a 'mixed' bag. She had the brains, but her manic energy was a bit too much. Would a woman who barely got a full 8 hours of sleep be a good Omnitrix wielder? Heck, what sort of crazy mods would she make to the watch?

Ochako shivered when she thought that.

"You guys never considered Bakugou, did you?" Ochako asked, nervously.

"Never. That kid had enough." Ben frowned. "He's also just...intense."

"You're being very kind with that term." Ochako said.

"I know! My wording was a bit more accurate and a lot less kind," Ruby interjected.

"Maybe don't say that one." Ben said. "That Shinso and Momo were close. I respected Hitoshi's drive, but...we didn't get a good idea of how he would fight."

"The fact that we didn't go with Momo surprised someone we know," Ruby admitted.

"Momo with the Omnitrix..." Ochako thought. Honestly, she could see it...

"But...with that out of the way," Ben said, turning to Ruby and nodding, "I think it's time we brightened the mood a bit."

"Be glad I designed your costume." Ruby said. "Ben's designing skills are awful."

"My first costume wasn't that bad..." Ben showed a photo of it to Ochako. The image depicted a young Ben, about 10 years old. He was dressed in a somewhat greenish blue suit that went all the way down to his waist, white tights, and gloves of the same color as the suit, but lighter in tone. He also had a lighter blue triangular plate on his breast. His eyes were shielded by visors that match the color of his costume, as was his chin. He wore antennae that resembled headphones of the same hue. His hair was also exposed.

Ochako blinked.

"...this sucks, actually." She said.

"No offense," Ruby shrugged.

"I thought it looked good," Ben countered.

"Hopefully this one speaks more to your liking." Ruby said, holding up the costume. "I was able to quickly sew together a new one made of woven steel mesh consisting of unstable molecules, so it's sort of a 'one size fits all' deal."

Ruby held up her gauntlets. "These bad girls will both massage your points, and allow you to fire off rounded bullets that can easily pierce skin...if need be."

"Oh...they're not lasers?" Ochako asked, almost a little disappointed.

"Didn't want you to rely on them too much. Plus, you can use your Quirk in conjunction with them," Ruby explained.

"Zero gravity bullets that travel endlessly means you can ricochet off of stuff without losing any speed. And great power." Ruby grinned.

"Without losing any speed," Ochako repeated, and imagined herself firing off a shot that she had touched with her quirk at a horde of villains. That one shot took down every single imaginary villain, letting Ochako stand atop the defeated army like an action hero.

"Well, assuming it won't get stuck in something." Ben said. "All real-world things may be conceived of as billions of trillions of tiny linked springs. These springs do not deform or break easily in hard objects. Metal, glass, and crystal are examples of hard things. When they bounce, they do not lose power. It's a great advantage to have...and something you need to train."

"Just like all the other forms," Ochako nods, "Mind if I test it out?"

"Sure. Just wear these." Ben handed Ochako some goggles.

Ben's successor nodded and put the goggles on, taking the goggles and slipping them over her wrists.

"Do you have a shooting range here?"

"Yeah." Ben and Ruby began to walk towards a door, and opened it. Ochako stepped through into a room with a low ceiling but long width. Ochako could tell that, based off the bullet holes, this shooting range was mostly used by Ruby or anyone else in their agency that used firearms or projectile weapons. After all, Gang Orca's sidekicks used cement guns.

Ochako looked at her gauntlets, and tapped a button on the side. They began to slowly spin, picking up speed with each rotation.

"It can get up to 2000 RPM." Ben said. "We might amp it up when you get older."

"2000...as the base?" Ochako asked, a bit shocked. She took aim at one of the targets at the far end of the range and readied herself for the recoil. She took a deep breath and then tapped the "fire" button.

The rounded bullet flew from out of the gauntlet, and hit the outside the target. Ochako flinched when it fired.

"...yikes." Ochako said, as the gauntlets whirred to a stop.

"You'll get better with aiming," Ruby promised, "Letting you use the range whenever you need it. Though, anyone not in the know will have to see 'Spanner' coming in here."

"Right, right...secret identity, but to be honest...definitely thought there'd be more...kickback, I guess?" Ochako said.

"I'm a mad genius when it comes to weaponry so I know exactly how to counter the recoil issue."

Ochako looked down at the weapons again, before firing them up. "Okay...so, what's my method for aiming?"

Ruby walked over. "Use your dominant eye to aim. Unless you're someone like Snipe, it's hard to aim with both eyes." Ruby brought up Ochako's arm. "Now, you see those two 'bumps' on the gauntlet parts that aren't spinning? Those are your 'sights'. Align your eye with those two sights. We'll start you off by aiming with a center hold aim..."

Ochako followed Ruby's instructions carefully. The weapon's expert was so kind and clearly knew what she was doing.

The new Omnitrix user lined up the sights of her gauntlet with her field of view, closing one eye just to get a better visual.

"Ok...I think I got it?" Ochako said, a bit unsure.

"Well, let's find out if you did." Ruby said. "Fire it at the bullseye."

Ochako took aim with her gauntlet, and lowered her fingers down to fire it- the rounded bullet easily pierced the bullseye.

Ochako beamed when she saw the bullet go right through the target's middle.

"And look at that, you do," Ruby smirked.

"You still need some practice, though. Hitting bullseyes all the time isn't gonna always be a thing. Plus, you still have to learn trickshots and everything-" Ben said. "Oh what the hell. THAT WAS AWESOME."

Ochako beamed and decided to try again. She lined up a shot, following Ruby's advice and letting the mechanisms spin up, before taking another shot.

This one was a bit off, but it hit close to the bullseye. Ochako was pretty satisfied with this.

"Can we set up some cans or something?" Ochako asked.

"Wanna try out the Zero-G part?" Ruby asked.

"How do I do that?" Ochako asked.

"Well, you'll have to physically reload the bullet yourself." Ruby said.

"'How many can I carry with me?"

"Ten for each gauntlet. Small number of shots, but the zero-g compatibility covers for that," Ruby nodded.

"So, hypothetically...I could shoot one of these things and it will just travel forever?" Ochako said, holding the bullet.

"Assuming it doesn't hit anything." Ben said. "But it's incredibly useful."

"And if you touch them before hand, they became a bit easier to reload. Also made sure to give trackers for each shot so you can find 'em after the chaos," Ruby added.

"Or find whoever I lodged the bullet into." Ochako joked.

"That too. I wish I added trackers in my bullets a LONG time ago." Ruby said, setting up some cans. "There's also 'arcing' your shots. Hypothetically, you could fire them in arc and have them orbit around..."

"Ok...what's your advice for that?" Ochako asked as she loaded up the next shot.

"Well, my sister punches the air to arc her shots...but you have to release it like halfway through." Ruby said.

"Halfway through the shot...ok..." Ochako took a breath before trying it out. She punched forward with the gauntlet and fired...too soon, making the bullet go wide.

The bullet instead hit a nearby wall. Ben walked over to the bullet hole, and raised an eyebrow. "Huh. Weird...it's still spinning." Ben said, poking it with a pen. Ochako released her hold on it, and it dropped out of the wall and onto the ground.

"Ok. Let's try again, work on your timing," Ruby said. Ben made his way back behind the counter as Ochako loaded up another shot and took a breath. She threw a punch at the air and this time, fired too late, having the shot not arc far enough.

Ochako frowned. "You're right- this is hard."

"It took Yang ages to learn how to do it. Don't worry." Ruby said.

"I...still find that a bit hard to believe, but I'll take your word for it," Ochako looked over the gauntlets, still happy with how things turned out.

"We're just happy to revamp your costume a bit. I always found it a bit wonky." Ruby sighed.

"And if you ever need another upgrade, like how All Might went through two other suits over his career, you can always come back," Ben smirked.

"I mean it's kind of assumed. How any different suit designs did you go through before settling on this one again?" Ruby asked with a smirk of her own.

Ruby hummed. "Well, I changed my costume every like...few years or so? I dunno. Maybe like 3 years of wearing the same thing before I got bored of it."

"Yeah, same." Ben said. "I'd change every two or three years. So...this is, what, my 11th costume?"

"Give or take." Ruby shrugged.

"I-i'll try not to come back that often," Ochako rubbed the back of her head nervously.

"Don't worry." Ben laughed. "You'll be fine! I don't see you changing your outfit THAT drastically. Like...Ruby? She went through a LOT of outfits. All were pretty pricey..."

"Hey, you're the one who insisted on that ONE corset. You know the one." Ruby smirked.

"W-well, uh...It was cute." Ben said, looking away. Ochako looked at Ruby, confused.

"Boob window." Ruby grinned.

"Ahhhhh." Ochako said.

"Wha-you weren't supposed to say!" Ben said, absolutely betrayed.

"And leave her with that burning question? I don't think so," Ruby chuckled.

Ochako rolled her eyes. "I wasn't even gonna question it."

"It was gonna stick with you though." Ruby laughed.

---

Soon enough, Ochako's internship ended- Ben was generous enough to lend one of his chauffeurs to bring Ochako back to Musutafu. Ben helped her pack the two suitcases back into the trunk- one held her usual hero outfit, the other with the 'vigilante' outfit.

"Are you sure about the whole vigilante thing?" Ochako asked. "I could get in serious trouble if I get caught." She wasn't wrong- due to the hero regulations and Quirk restriction laws in Japan, people were not allowed to perform heroic duties out on their own and vigilantism is therefore illegal. Laws intensified after someone interfered with a hero's work, and nearly got the hero killed.

"Hence why your aliens are kinda gender ambiguous and the suit as well." Ben said, closing the trunk. "Unless someone sees you transform, they'll either think you're some Kamen Rider-wannabe vigilante, or me in alien form. You'd have to look hard to see the difference."

"Right, right." Ochako nodded.

"You'll do fine, kid." Ruby said, joining Ben. "I believe in you as much as he does."

"I can't tell anybody, right?" Ochako asked.

"I didn't say that." Ben said. "I said 'you can't tell anybody at first'. Someone's gonna put two and two together, especially if you start popping up in Musutafu after YOU just got done with your internship. I'd tell a few select people you trust. Like that fingerbreaker kid."

Ochako blushed. "I'll…consider it."

"And one more thing, too." Ruby said, walking forward. She took Ochako's hand, and clamped it tight.

"I know you're going to be in some risky circumstances, and it's going to seem like it's all up to you at times." Ruby said. "Well, forget that noise. It's NEVER just you. When I was your age, Ben and I needed support, especially after we were viciously beaten by some criminals. I hope you NEVER have to face yourself. Keep this near and dear to your heart, Uraraka Ochako – It's not how many times you've been rejected, how many times you've fallen down, or how many times you've been beaten up; it's how many times you've stood up, been brave, and kept going."

Ruby let go, and smiled. Ochako smiled back.

"Thank you." Ochako nodded.

"If you need anything, we're just a call away." Ben said. "Especially if you need some tips with aliens, life or if you just wanna chat. I'm always up for that."

"Gotcha!" Ochako said, turning towards the car door. "Hey, Ben!"

"Yeah?"

Ochako flashed Ben a great big thumbs up.

"I'll make you proud."

Ben smiled back. "I know you will, kid." He nodded. Ochako waved one more time, and hopped into the car. Ben and Ruby waved her off, as the car started to head back home.

"You were right to choose her, hun." Ruby said, as they watched the car round a corner. "She's got my infectious optimism, your spirit…and her own destiny to grab ahold of."

"Makes you wonder if our kid will be like that." Ben said, looking down at Ruby. "...we did a good job, making sure people had a future like this, right?"

Ruby nodded. "Then let's hope she can do the same for the next generation."

Ben beamed. "I know she will."

Ochako looked through the tinted windows, and then back at her new Omnitrix. So many secrets, so much power…it was hers now, and she was ready to carry on the legacy of her mentor.

Ochako looked forward to everything that would come her way.

…

…

…

…

But it's scary how fast things can change in the course of a few years.

---

There we go! First chapter down. Next chapter will release some time next week. I'll try to be more 'week to week' with this one. There will be tiny breaks in between arcs to arrange edits and what not, but that's about it.

Please leave nice reviews :3