As day finally broke over Musutafu Japan, Ben woke up feeling refreshed, yet groggy. The UA entrance exam, while in the morning, did not have check-in until 10 AM for oversea transfer students like himself. Factoring in the early bedtime he had, Ben could not figure out why his head was so cloudy and unfocused in one of the most important mornings of his life. With a grouchy puff, he forced himself into action, going out of his room to grab something to eat. To his surprise, he found Grandpa Max already in the kitchen, organizing some of the groceries he picked up the other day, and cooking what looked like eggs and toast. When did he get those?
"Morning sleepyhead! Excited for today?" The enthusiasm shown by the elder Tennyson was not shared by the younger.
"Mornin." Ben managed to utter back, pulling back a chair to climb slide into, slouching over until his head hit the table.
"Rough night? Sounds like you're dying inside." At the sight of Ben so down and out, Grandpa Max began to open a cardboard box filled with something unfamiliar to Ben.
"No, the bed was fine, but something is just wrong with me... it's like I'm underwater, and my stomach is not feeling too good." Ben had never been sick thanks to his quirk, but the way he was feeling now made him thankful for that fact. If being sick meant he would feel like this, then he loved his quirk more than ever. He just felt awful.
"I think I know what you are suffering from: Jet lag. I don't think your body is enjoying swapping time zones. Then again, no one does. Anywho, try this." At that, Ben raised his head to gaze at his grandpa, only to find his hand extended to his nose, a small white wrapper in between his pointer finger and thumb. Was this some chewy medicine? Those were nice.
"Oh, thanks Grandpa, I-" The moment Ben's voice rang out, Grandpa Max shoved the white paper roll right under his nose, causing Ben to breathe in sharply as a response. The result was immediate, and caused Ben to fling himself upright and away from the table, clutching his nose. A horrid, pungent smell broke through his foggy mind to only fill it back up with pain at the scent in his nostrils. Ben had experienced bad smells before, Stinkfly was among the worst things he had ever smelled, and while this smell was not quite as bad, it just would not go away, making Ben's eyes water. "What the hell! What'd you do that for?"
Ben managed a glare at his Grandpa, but only got a smile in return. He put down the offending white roll on the kitchen counter and picked up the cardboard box, and Ben could see the label 'Smelling Salts' labeled upon the box. "A small trick I picked up when I was traveling to different worlds with different day cycles: smelling salts! It's not perfect, or recommended either, as I don't think it will help your stomach. But your brain being foggy did worry me, so I chose to use it anyway."
Ben could not help but admit that his head was remarkably more clear than it was just moments ago. His stomach was still a bit queasy, but his mind finally had all the cobwebs lifted.
"Ugh, couldn't you have just told me what you were going to do?" Ben jabbed at his grinning Grandpa, as he took his seat again.
"And where is the fun in that? Your expression was hilarious! Stop pouting, that isn't a heroic face is it? I got some more groceries to get you a simple breakfast you could stomach, even with jet lag. Eat up, you have to go through the written exam before your lunch break." A plate of scrambled eggs, apple slices, and a slice of toasted bread slid in front of Ben, and he started to pick at his food. It was not that he didn't like his Grandpa's cooking, he enjoyed quite a bit of his creations during their roadtrip in The Rust Bucket. He just did not know if anything he forced down would stay there in his current condition. Ben managed to finish the eggs and apple slices, but left the now-cold toast slice untouched.
"Thanks Grandpa, but I can't finish the rest. I'm gonna go shower and stuff now." Ben retreated back into his room to access his bathroom and stayed a bit longer in the shower than he planned, the hot water feeling great on his jet lagged body. He eventually left the warmth when he realized he might start running late if he stayed too long. He dried himself off, and put on his attire for the day, a very special outfit chosen just for the entrance exam.
'I'm going to miss you after today. I promised Mom I would throw you out after the exam, that's how I got to keep you.' Ben thought mournfully as he brought out an oh-so familiar white shirt. It was pure white except for some black details: the collar around the neck, the cuffs, and a single stripe down the front. It was a bit small on him, and was thin in many patches and a little ragged. It was in far worse condition than in the previous summer, but he needed to have it on for today. A pair of baggy military green pants with two additional pockets sewed onto the sides, and a pair of black and white sneakers finished his look. It was the same look that he wore nearly everyday on his alien vigilante spree, and today would be it's last day.
'Lookin good Ben!' In a moment of vanity, Ben could not help but gaze into the mirror, and smirked at his familiar look. To the Japanese, he would be just some kid from the States, but to him, he was now back to Ben 10, kid superhero. A hero's return needed the proper outfit, and nothing beats the original.
As Ben walked out of his room once more, ready to take on the day, his Grandpa raised an eyebrow at the familiar clothing. "A bit obvious, isn't it? Aren't you worried about the 1% chance where someone recognizes you?"
"What can I say? I'm feeling nostalgic!" Ben felt excitement beginning to fan the flames of confidence within his heart, burning down his fears, and smoking out his insecurities. The combination of his old clothes, the smelling salts clearing his mind, and the chance to use the Omnitrix were culminating into a major confidence boost. Grandpa Max must have sensed this change as well, for he gave Ben a large smile before handing him a black backpack.
"Take this, it has all the papers and forms your parents and Coleson signed for admission. It also has some emergency pencils, erasers and such, but I don't think UA allows the examinees to bring anything with them. If that's the case, I'm sure they have a drop off area or cubbies. But, after you hand in the official documents, don't worry too much about this old bag. Nothing else it has is important, so go with the flow." Ben collected the backpack, noting just how light it was, confirming what his grandpa said.
"Just go out of the complex, take a left on the first street you run into, take another left and keep walking down until you see UA on your right. Then just take the proper right turn and get to the entrance. As a transfer, look for the overseas student application tents. As we are from the United States, look for the pro hero Present Mic, he's the one who will take your forms and direct you to your written test area." Ben couldn't help but raise an eyebrow as he slung the backpack over his shoulders.
"That's your choice of directions? Might as well just have given me a map Grandpa." He only got a chuckle for a response.
"Trust me Ben, UA is a one-of-a-kind campus. It is literally impossible to miss. If you do miss it, well, maybe you aren't cut for the hero business." Ben just threw his head back and groaned as Grandpa Max's chuckle grew into a full blow laugh. "Now, get out of here you rascal! I gotta take care of some Plumber logistics while you're gone, so don't finish too fast. My friend will be watching you closely, so make a good impression, alright?"
"You bet! I'm off!" And with that, Ben flew out the door, lept down the stairs, and landed with both feet on the ground as he exited the condo complex. He turned left, meandered down until the first major street, made another left and continued down, turning and looking right whenever there was a break in the buildings blocking his sight. Along the way, he saw a couple of other high school looking kids, around 4 years older than him, all walking the same way he was. Ben took this opportunity to ogle silently at the obvious mutation quirks two of them possessed. When the girl with vines as long as her body for hair in front of the informal group suddenly turned right on the next street corner, Ben hurried forward and turned the same corner, expecting to see UA. Now, Ben had seen all sorts of UA promotional material, but nothing could have prepared him for the real deal.
"Wow!" Ben breathed out, his eyes scanning the magnificent entryway to the prestigious UA high school campus. Towering steel walls with a gentle soft brown granite composition encompassed the entire perimeter of the campus, and only a single massive entry way let people in, and that was teeming with hopefuls. Just above the walls green leaves of trees were seen, giving away that the inside of the walls was much nicer than the urban jungle outside. A towering structure seemingly made in the shape of an H loomed above everything in close proximity, drawing Ben's eyes skyward. Even without stepping a foot into the campus, he felt awe from just looking at the pristine beauty. Maybe it was just that he was mentally comparing UA to the American schools he had seen back in Bellwood. It was not fair considering the differences in students and goals: one wanted to provide basic education and the other made heroes. Still, as Ben walked onto the path that took him under the arch of the open doors he felt giddy that a simple suburban boy like himself would end up at a prestigious high school in the big city, no matter his unique circumstances or being from out of the country. However, as he began walking up the path, a voice rang out.
A voice filled with venom and hatred, one that reminded him so much of a particular villain he thought was banished in the Null Void.
"Move aside, Deku!" As Ben and several others turned their heads towards the sound of such hate-filled words, two individuals stood out. The first, the one who made the disturbance, was a blonde kid a good half a foot taller than Ben, with a terrifying angry expression on his face. The other, the one being yelled at, with green hair and a nervous expression. "Get out of my way or you're dead!"
As the angry blonde pushed past the one with green hair, the latter managed to stutter out a response: "M-morning Kacchan! Let's both do our best..."
The voice of the smaller boy died out as the blonde made no motion that he heard, or even acknowledged what the other had said. Ben couldn't help but shudder at the venom he had heard in the blonde's voice; he hadn't heard that kind of disdain for an individual since his last fight with Kevin 11.
While Ben had no right to interfere with other people's business, especially considering he was here due to government orders, he immediately labeled the blonde haired kid as someone to avoid for now. Ben did not want to end up on the receiving end of such anger and he had no idea of what quirk he had, though no other student here probably could stand up to the might of his alien forms. Ben slapped the sides of his cheeks with his palms, trying to refocus himself. He needed to find Present Mic to register for the exams!
Ben hurried along, and upon crossing the walls of the campus immediately saw a group of tables set up with propped-up tents providing shade with various languages scribbled on banners put in front of each table. Ben turned from the stream of students going straight and went left. Ben couldn't identify many of the banners, but found the one with 'United States of America' on the far right in English, with the person manning the station having long tall blonde hair that grazed the tent fabric above, despite the man sitting in a chair. Ben saw the headphones, sunglasses, and microphone support gear wrapped around his neck and immediately recognized the hero.
"Hey hey little listener! Are you here from the States?" Ben was taken aback by the man's perfect-sounding english.
"Uh, Japanese is fine Sir Present Mic Senpai. But, yes I am. I'm Tennyson Benjamin, and here are my documents." As Ben took out the necessary forms and handed them to the waiting hands of the hero, said hero looked back at him with shock.
"Wow, your Japanese is really good! First one from the States today to be able to talk without stuttering or breaks! But, as a teacher, I gotta correct your use of honorifics: use either sir or senpai, not both! Just use sir- senpai makes me feel so old!" Ben felt a surge of pride as he was complemented by the pro hero. "Wow, only 11? I guess you must really be something to get government supported applications at that age! Bilingual, and you probably have a stellar quirk, so I ain't one to judge! Just let me take the backpack, we don't allow personal carry-ons for transfer student exams. Don't know what you guys may be packing!" Ben felt a little miffed at the discrimination he was subjected too, but handed over his backpack.
"Don't worry little listener, we'll store this with the others, and after your practical, you come right back here to pick it up! That's a hero's promise, and a hero never breaks their promises!" Ben couldn't help but smile at the hero's endless energy. It was infectious, and Ben felt hope seeping into his body instead of dread. "Alright, we group transfer students by country, so follow the red, white and blue cones, it'll lead you to your classroom! Writing tools and erasers will be provided, along with calculators and the like. Now get going, you got 5 minutes!"
With those final words, Ben remembered to give a bow in thanks, eliciting a laugh from the hero before booking it down the path the cones made. There were dozens of other cones, but each one had a different coloration and stylization. His path was easy to follow thanks to the easily identifiable colors. He made it into a building much smaller than the main building, and inside a labeled classroom, Ben found his test site. There were only three others, all girls. The one in the back had pale blonde hair, large round eyes, and two large horns sprouting from her head. The two near the front had much less obvious quirks, with the one on the left looking plain, just like Ben. The one on the right was also normalish, but had two large bumps on the back of her shirt, with feathers peeking out from the top and bottom. She obviously had wings. All three sets of eyes fell to Ben, and he felt a little self-conscious as his right hand went to cover the Omnitrix, and he collected his necessary writing and academic materials from the front.
No sooner had Ben taken a seat in the middle of the room, a man opened the door and made his way to the front with large packets in hand. His quirk was obvious with dark blue fur covering his exposed arms and the back of his neck, along with his face being wolf-like.
"I'm the proctor for the transfer students from the United States. I'm obligated to read you the rules before we begin. As per usual, any form of cheating will result in an instant fail..." Ben zoned out as the proctor droned on about the test. He knew all this already, and his nerves were beginning to eat at the confidence he built up over the last few hours. He just needed to get this over with! After a bit more monologue, the blue wolf man began to hand out the packets. When each student had a packet before them, the wolf man took out a phone, held a finger above it, and barked out that they could begin, while hitting the screen. Immediately, all four students turned the first page of the packet, which held their basic information, and began the first section, math. Ben saw the basic trigonometry before him, and grinned. He started to write.
Two and a half hours later-
Ben emerged from the classroom as the last among the four testees, and held mixed feelings about the exam. Sure, the first few sections had been a breeze, with the tutoring lessons from his Mom letting him effortlessly answer the vast majority of the questions with no hesitation. Some questions were unusually hard, and Ben wasn't sure if the answers he put were right, but he did the best he could. The math and science sections were the easiest, and Ben held confidence that he did well.
The next three sections gave Ben's confidence a shake-down.
Literature and modern hero art history were much more difficult for Ben, and that was due to the difference in accepted answers. Math and science appealed to Ben's brain well: your answer was either right or wrong. In those problems, the question wanted a single answer, and gave you all the tools needed to find that answer. That was not the case in hero history, and certainly not in literature. Both had their share of questions with a single sought answer, but most were up to interpretation. Literature had Ben scratching his head as he search for 'meaning' behind vague words and phrases, while hero history had him answering questions about motivation and ideology. Neither were fun, but leagues better than how Ben felt about the last subject: heroics.
This section was only open-ended questions, revolving around what-if scenarios, hero law interpretation, and self-evaluation. Ben was at a loss on what they wanted him to do. Did they want him to obey the laws to a T, like what Coleson wanted him to do, or to bend them if it would save a life? Should he save a single person, or take down a notorious killer who would kill again if Ben let him escape? What was the right thing to do in scenarios A, B, and C? Was Ben supposed to swear he was hero material, or admit his flaws? Would admitting flaws earn, or deduct points? All these questions, coupled with Ben's slower writing of Japanese characters led him to taking an hour on heroics alone, eating up his time until he barely finished the last question: what does it mean to be a hero? Even after the test was over, with Ben munching on a provided egg sandwich, the questions ate at his mind. They were similar to the ones Ben was asked by Coleson a year ago, in their first meeting. Was he hero material? Was he everything he said he was in his answers?
Ben's thoughts were interrupted by a general shift in the student body, who were waiting for the lunch break to end so they could enter the main building's auditorium to receive instructions on the long-awaited practical exam. As people began to move towards the H building, Ben took a last swing of his plastic water bottle, crumpling it up along with the plastic wrap his sandwich came in, and tossed it in a trashcan as he moved along with the crowd. As Ben moved with the mass of students, he couldn't help but appreciate the fact that no one was looking at him funny. No one at UA but the administration and himself knew his true age, but it seemed with the prevalence of quirks in Japan, no one gave him any flack. They probably just thought his quirk stunted growth and made him look younger than he was.
As the students filtered into the auditorium, Ben found that they were sectioned off by identification number, or Examinee number in this case. Ben found himself once more in the company of the three female American transfer students, and was the last one to arrive again. The two girls from the front of the classroom, obviously friends, ignored him, but the girl with the horns gave a small smile and waved. He responded in kind, but watched in confusion as she suddenly looked away. Maybe she was just shy. Ben didn't know much about girls, the most he knew came from Gwen who could kick his ass without his aliens, so that was not much to work off of. As he took a seat by the horn girl, the lights flickered, drawing everyone's attention to the main stage, where Present Mic stood behind a podium.
"Welcome to the live performance everyone! Everybody say 'Hey!'" With that, the hero turned his body to the left, sticking out his right ear with his hand cupped around it to bring in the response. Ben sucked in a deep breath, and was about to shout, but quickly noticed there was absolutely no one speaking. In the dead silence, Ben exhaled quietly, silently apologizing to Present Mic about his cowardice.
"Aight, that's cool too my examinee listeners! I'm here to give you the guidelines of the practical exam! Are. You. Ready!" Lifting his right hand and moving the rest of his body back, the hero adopted another power pose, and pointed his right pointer finger down. He certainly looked cool, especially to Ben who loved his energy, but this time he knew not to try. As silence once more took the room, the hero scoffed to himself, before resuming his energy filled presentation.
"This is how it's gonna work, my listeners! The practical exam is dubbed 'cityscape maneuvers!' There are 7 zones, each a scaled model city with buildings, environmental hazards like fire hydrants and glass, and most importantly, robotic enemies for you to destroy!" As Present Mic spoke, the screen shifted, from a large box with 'Current Location' inside with lines extending to seven boxes each labeled with a letter from A to G, to one that had multiple robotic outlines and numbers next to them, from 1 to 3. "Each city is full of faux villains, and they have three levels of difficulty! One-pointers are common and easy to beat, but only give a single point! Three-pointers are the opposite: tougher to find and beat, but worth 3 points! Anything goes to defeat these robots, and you have 10 minutes to go wild! You can bring any support equipment you may need, and use your quirks in any way to disable the robots to earn points!"
The hero suddenly lowered his head and tilted it to the right, and wagged his right finger. "But, remember, attacking fellow examinees is strictly prohibited! Each site has a pro hero watching and evaluating your progress, and if you are seen inhibiting someone else, you will be immediately removed from the exercise! Take note that you don't have to obliterate the robots to earn points, just disabling them will do the trick! It is the first person to disable the robot that gets the credit, so don't try to steal kills, we will be watching!"
Ben's confidence re-emerged as Present Mic explained the rules. He was initially concerned about his 10 minute time limit in his aliens, as if the test forced him to fight for any longer he would be forced back into his human form and the Omnitrix would go into recharge. However, with ten minutes being the maximum time given, his worries fell away. Now, he just had to make sure he selected the right alien for the job. They said robots, so maybe Upgrade would work, turning the robots against each other? That might be too slow, and he had no idea just how strong the robots were. Wildmutt or Stinkfly could work, but each seemed just not right for the job. Heatblast would probably cause more harm than good, as in a tight urban setting, Ben couldn't guarantee he could avoid burning other people. He was debating between Four Arms and XLR8 when a hand shot up.
"May I ask a question?" A stern-faced student with slick blue hair and glasses asked, his posture rigid and voice loud. He seemed like the studies and serious type, one that never broke the rules.
"Go ahead examinee 7111! The floor is yours!"
"You described three types of faux villains, but this handout has listed no less than four varieties of enemies we will encounter! This blatant error is unbecoming for UA, the greatest of Japan's top academies!" Ben's eyes widened at such direct criticism. This guy pulled no punches! The stern boy's head suddenly flicked to the left, turning nearly 180 degrees, and pointed with his left hand as he announced, "And you, with the curly green hair!"
Ben couldn't see for sure where he was, but he could just barely make out a familiar mop of forest green hair in the direction the stern boy was pointing in. Ben recognized the color and curlyness, from the incident with the angry blonde outside the gates! 'Deku,' the blonde called him- was that his name, or a nickname of sorts? "You've been muttering this whole time, a very distracting action! This is no time for games, if you are just here to district the rest of us, please leave immediately!" A small wave of snickers rolled through the crowd, and Present Mic began to call the attention back to him.
"Alright, alright! Nice catch examinee 7111, but I was about to get to that! The villain our friend 7111 was just describing was the zero-pointer! While worth 0 points, it is the strongest robot in the city, by a large margin! Think of it like a Thwomp, from the old retro video game, Super Mario! It's a gimmick villain that, while extremely dangerous, is very obvious and moves somewhat slowly! It won't be active until the last few minutes of the exam, so go wild in the beginning!" A super-strong robot, but worth 0 points? Ben couldn't help but want to take it on- he had taken on countless amounts of Vilgax's Omnitrix retrieval drones, and those were made of alien tech, so how strong could a human-made one be? Then again, it was 0 points, so maybe it wouldn't be worth the trouble.
"That's all from me, my listeners! Go break a leg out there, and leave with no regrets! This is it, there are no second chances, so do your best! I'll leave you all with our school motto as a reminder of what you are to do: go beyond, PLUS ULTRA!" With that, the doors of the auditorium opened, and several of the proctors walked in, including the blue-wolf-man, who walked up to the American students.
"Each of you will be in a different site; all groups are divided like this to avoid cheating." Ben couldn't help but see a frown cross the face of the girl with the wings, while the plain-girl seemed to panic a little, with sweat running down her forehead and posture stiffening. Looking at the horn girl, Ben noticed she hadn't changed at all, just gazing nonchalantly at the proctor. "Tennyson, you are in Section D, so go out the doors and go straight. Look for Cementoss, he'll guide you the rest of the way. Now, Tsunotori, you are in..."
Ben didn't stay for the others instructions, they were not going to be with him, so why bother? He moved straight out of the doors, and moved down the path leading straight towards the exit. As Ben made his way, he saw what looked to be a rectangular block of cement in a maroon uniform accented by yellow lines. Two small eyes moved in Ben's direction, causing his advance to slow.
"City D?" A mellow voice called out, with several lines of the 'face' of the cement block below the eyes opened up to allow sound to come out. Ben deduced that must be the mouth.
"Yes, Cementoss Sir!" Ben once again returned to his American roots of calling adults sir, or ma'am. While he knew it was Senpai, it just didn't feel right to him.
"Just follow the cement line to your right, it'll lead you to your practical exam site." Cementoss made no more comments as he turned his focus back to another crowd of examinees making their way towards the hero. Ben turned his focus to the odd line of cement sticking out of the grass, snaking its way around trees. Must be Cementoss' quirk at work, as he didn't remember seeing this on the way in. Making sure to stay near, or on, the cement line, Ben slowly made his way away from the H building, and into the back of the UA campus. In Section D, Ben was in the city directly behind the main building, smack in the middle with three of the 'fake' cities to his right and left. Although, fake was being generous.
'Holy smokes, this is what they call a fake city? And it's made just to be destroyed? How rich is this joint?' Ben was not in as much awe as he was in front of the UA gates, but this sight was enough to bring his jaw down once more. Now, Ben had been across many States in the US, and stayed in many areas, some good and some bad. Particularly when he performed his criminal escapades with Kevin, he went into the run-down areas of New York, and this fake city was far nicer than the slums of America's most iconic cities. While empty and devoid of life, advertisements, lights and noise, the solid craftsmanship of the buildings and realistic street lights, lamps and benches gave such a real feeling to the vanilla test site. Ben shook his head and turned his head down to the Omnitrix.
The Omnitrix had remained untouched for over a year now, and Ben was moments away from using it. He ran his fingers over the warm metal base, before sliding them over the faceplate. His index finger touched the button right below the faceplate, the button closest to him when he selected his alien. Oh, how he had longed for this day, when he could finally go hero once more, and take on the strengths of one of his 10 aliens!
While his head was down and his thoughts occupied, he failed to notice the strange looks and murmurs he was getting as people finally took notice of the small, thin, brown-haired boy.
"Who's that kid?"
"He's so small, and his arms are so thin! He isn't going to make it far!"
"You don't know that, what if his quirk is super strong?"
"If he was that strong he would be in the recommendation program."
"You think it has something to do with the weird watch thing on his wrist?"
Ben finally took notice at that last comment, as he was always alert to any comments involving the Omnitrix. As he finally lifted his head, he saw many eyes staring at him, and lots of talk revolving around as well. Probably all around him. Well, his age was going to catch up eventually, Ben was just glad it was this late into the exam. These thoughts didn't help him with the unofficial spotlight on him, and as he turned his head away bashfully, Present Mic's voice suddenly rang out from the sky.
"And... BEGIN!" No one moved. Everyone's head swung around and up, gazing at the top of the main building, where the voice had originated from.
"What's wrong? The test has started y'all! You all have less than 10 minutes now! The clock is ticking, go go go!" With those words, the student bodies across 7 different sites suddenly began to move. A mad dash erupted, as each student raced to be the first to start collecting points. With only 10 minutes and a limited number of robots in each zone, the students knew how important being ahead of the pack was. So, everyone pushed forward with all their might, their quirks out in force. All except for one.
Ben hung back, with his head hung to hide his smile. In such a rush no one would look back and he was forgotten. Just how he wanted, as he took Grandpa Max's words to heart, and wanted as little people to see him transform as possible. With that out of the way, Ben lifted his left arm and, for the first time in a year, pressed his right index finger on a small green button, and activated the Omnitrix.
With a robotic beep, the Omnitrix sprung to life, its gentle green brightening into a toxic-chemical green and the faceplate springing up. The dial left its outline, and soon the black interior of the watch was revealed, interlaced with dark green lines. The display of the faceplate changed as well, with the black triangles forming the middle of the green hourglass moving towards, then past each other, and forming a green diamond shape with the black filling in the edges. A black silhouette of a quadruped creature, with a massive mouth full of teeth.
'Sorry Wildmutt, but I think you'll scare some people off. I gotta go with something a little less feral than you.' Ben's right hand gripped the extended faceplate, and turned it clockwise, shifting the dial to switch to a slim creature with a tail. 'Sorry again XLR8, but I made my choice. Gotta do something flashy, and you're too fast for them to see. I gotta put on a show!' A single turn more had the Omnitrix now display a muscular humanoid figure, but with four arms instead of two. An ear-to-ear grin made its way onto Ben's face, as he uttered his favorite three words in all the world:
"It's hero time!"
Ben slammed his right hand over the faceplate, forcing it down, and causing a release of DNA into his bloodstream! In milliseconds, Ben's cells began to merge with the foerign DNA, adapting to it, and changing with it. Ben's body itself began to undergo incredible change, all in less than a second: his bones grew and extended, causing him to grow to an astounding 12 feet, and new bones grew to form his new pair of arms! Muscle cells began to rapidly divide and multiply, creating dense muscle tissue layered upon each other, in an inhuman amount! His face began to grow, his jaw extending and widening, and his eyes dividing to create a second pair as well! His legs extended, and his feet grew, with his toes fusing together into two protrusions!
In a dazzling flash of green light, Ben Tennyson had transformed from his human form into something literally unearthly! His skin, a brilliant red. His face, divided in the middle by a single black stripe, had four amber eyes, with the main set of eyes set above the smaller, lesser eyes. His chest had become so wide and muscular that it would put even a quirk-powered bodybuilder to shame! His main arms, where his human arms were, had become the size of his human form's torso, and bulged with raw power! His secondary arms, sprouting from his sides, shared the same, inhuman musculature, and all of his four-fingered hands were covered in fingerless black gloves. His feet were exposed, large narrow ovals with two toe protrusions instead of his human five. His clothing expaneeded with him, his white shirt with black stripes had grown to accommodate his new muscles and size, and his pants had changed to solid form-fitting black fabric, and he lost his shoes altogether!
The human Ben Tennyson was gone; instead, the immense 12 foot giant of raw muscle and power flexed his arms, and raised all four of them into the air in a fighting pose. His legs bent, chest pushed out, and eyes skyward, Ben let out a cry that shook the sky.
Omnitrix Form #2 - Species: Tetramand, Hero Name: Four Arms
Strengths: Four Arms is a Tetramand, a giant humanoid alien with double the arms, double the eyes, but far more than double the power! In this form, Ben has levels of strength unobtainable by humans, even with strength enhancement quirks! A single punch from Four Arms can destabilize a building, destroy military-grade materials, and obliterate foes. A Tetramand's four arms are extremely dexterous, and are capable of a wide range of movements and actions. A Tetramand's strength gives them other abilities as well: they possess great speed and reflexes as a result of their incredible muscular density. A Tetramand can clear buildings with a single leap, up to seven stories high! His high muscle density also gives him incredible durability and endurance, with Ben even taking a missile to the chest with zero injuries! This alien form's raw strength makes him a versatile fighter, and one that Ben has almost never lost during close-quarter battles, making him one of Ben's most well-practiced aliens.
Weaknesses: A Tetramand's strength is incredible but not limitless, as there are species that have shown greater feats of strength. Four Arms is also not invincible, and is vulnerable to blunt force trauma, especially to the head. Four Arm's size, while smaller than most physically-inclined aliens, is almost doubled that of a human, sometimes resulting in space issues where Ben can not bring his arms back enough to create a solid punch. Ben also has no ranged options other than flinging debris, or making short-ranged shockwaves by clapping, but he has little control over them. Even with enhanced durability, Ben still feels pain and exhaustion in this form. His 10 minute time limit prevents him from fully utilizing a Tetramand's heightened endurance as well. He is also vulnerable to anyone with mental abilities such as mind manipulation or possession, as a Tetramand's mind is nothing special.
Azmuth Note: Due to the nature of the Omnitrix, Ben will never achieve a Tetramand's full potential. Tetramands, are sexually dimorphic, like humans, which means Ben will always transform into the sex that most closely match his with any given species, not just Tetramands. While human males are generally stronger, the opposite is true for Tetramands. A new Omnitrix wielder is needed to fully study an Omnitrix female Tetramand.
Ben flexed his beefy arms once more before lowering them to examine with his four eyes. He couldn't help himself from spending precious seconds just examining his new body, relishing in the familiar sensation of power flowing through his body. After a series of quick stretches, Ben used his upper right arm to check the sleeve of his upper left arm to ensure the Omnitrix symbol, the access nodule, was still in the place he last remembered it. Feeling the metal disk lodged into the skin of his arm, and hopping in place a few times, Ben decided it was time to go and show UA just what he could do. Ben bent his legs and back, entering a crouched position as he built up tension in his leg muscles.
Then, with so much force that the ground shattered beneath his feet, he pushed up, performing a mighty leap that carried him high in the air! As he reached the peak of his jump, he scanned the city, noting that most of the examinees went straight and right, where the main streets gave easy access too. So, Ben turned himself left, and aimed for a tall building near the corner of the walled-off city. As the concrete approached, Ben held out his four arms, and braced for impact.
While not a species known for vertical mobility outside of their powerful leaps, Ben had found himself in many situations where he needed to climb as Four Arms. In those moments, Ben had found a simple solution to climbing walls that did not have anything to hold onto, and that solution was to make his own grips! Four Arm's muscle density was spread through his entire body, from his jaw that could output deadly bite force, the tips of his fingers, to the front of his feet. By simply slamming his fingers and toes into a wall, Four Arms could make grips to climb with on nearly any surface, and that was exactly what Ben did.
Bracing his arms out as he approached the building, Four Arm's four arms lodged deep into the concrete, and while Ben felt a bit of strain in his fingertips, his momentum was halted successfully. slamming his feet deep into the building's side to secure himself, Ben then dislodged his right side's arms and surveyed the situation below him in a Spiderman-like pose. On the street of the building he was hanging onto, he saw a large group of surprisingly large robots, varying in shapes, but coming in three distinct sizes. The one-pointers were supposed to be the smallest, but they were much larger than even the tallest of the examinees he could recall. As Ben's eyes narrowed, planning his attack path, a couple one-pointers led by a two-pointer turned a corner behind him. Ben was alerted to this new threat by the noise they were making, and turning his head, noticing the small patrol closing behind him. The robots must also have some sort of communication method built into them, as the other large mass of robots he was initially examining had lights flashing in their 'eyes' and also began to move. The time for thinking was over, it was time to fight!
Ben chose to eliminate the small group first, and dislodged his left arms from the building. As the robotic patrol neared his position, Ben forced his heavy red body off the building's side, and angled his body so that he fell with his right arms positioned downwards, and his body sideways; adopting the form for a devastating elbow drop.
"Take this you bucket of bolts!" Ben's deeper Tetramand voice cried out as two elbows crashed into an unfortunate one-pointer, pulverizing it into oblivion! The absolute destruction of their brother did not cause the other robots to falter, and swung their massive metallic arms with deadly intent. Unfortunately, their attacks did not have enough force in them to make Ben even flinch, as his enhanced skin absorbed their blows easily. Smirking at the pathetic attempt at an attack, Ben lashed out with his fists, catching four separate robot arms as they attempted to bring their limbs back after their attacks.
"Mind if I take these?" Pulling with minimal force caused the robotic arms to be yanked from their bodies, causing showers of sparks to erupt from the mainframes, and those that did not fall upon losing an arm fell to the ground in pieces as Ben used the limbs as makeshift clubs, bashing the rest of the patrol until he was certain they were defeated. The one-pointers were beaten down easily, but Ben had to force one of the robot arms through the 'face' of the two-pointer to take it out completely.
'These things look and sound dangerous, but one solid hit and they crumble like a cookie!' Ben stared at the patrol he had just dismantled in seconds, and couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed at the UA robots. Compared to the alien drones that had attacked him regularly in his summer adventure, these UA bots were child's play!
'Well, then I have no excuse not to set a record, don't I?' Ben turned to see the large group of robots had finally made it to his location, and judging by the five towering robots in the back, it included some of the strongest bots, the three-pointers. Ben crossed each of his set of arms in front of him, forming an X. Yet, he did not move, waiting patiently in his stance for the robots to come to him. As the hoard of one-pointers in the front of the crowd could almost touch him, Ben charged forward, using his arms as a riot shield as he bashed his way into the robot swarm's center.
Despite being surrounded by a mass of screeching metallic bodies, Ben focused on the larger forms of the two and three-pointers. He knew the one-pointers could be cleaned up easily, so he wanted to secure some big kills first. He dropped his guard, and drew back his right arms, preparing a punch! As a two-pointer charged him, he threw his arms forward with a yell, and the two bodies, one of metal, and the other red flesh, collided with incredible force! The moment the two forces collided, Four Arm's strength was made apparent by the sound of bending metal, and the sight of the two-pointer's arm being shredded. Ben did not let up his attack, and followed through with his punch by angling his punch upwards, and forcing his right arms through the metal frame. The resulting follow through ripped the robot's arm off, and sent the body of the destroyed robot through the one-pointer hoard. So powerful was the punch, that the one-pointers in the way of the robot corpse fractured the moment the empty metal husk collided with them, and upon hitting a building on the side, a crater formed as the two-pointer finally slid down, defeated!
Ben's next minute had him clearing out the entire robot hoard, breaking the heads and torso's of the one-pointers as quickly as he could. His large hands were the perfect size to get a solid grip on the robot's heads, and he used that knowledge to decapitate as many of the one-pointers as he could get his hands on, either crushing the metal or tearing it off. His four arms were a blur of red, sending out punches, grabbing, slamming, and smacking anything that was metal and coming his way. When a three-pointer attempted to grab him, Ben flung his arms up, and caught the offending appendage before it could wrap around him. He then crushed his fingers into the metal body, and with a mighty heave, lifted the massive three-pointer, and began swinging it around him rapidly in a defensive circle.
The remaining robots charged him, but met their swift end as the three-pointer's heavy mass removed everything above a robot's torso, leaving bisected robot bodies all around Ben, and scattering the upper-bodies all around. After tossing the wreaked three-pointer aside, Ben put his hands on his hip, and nodded in approval. 'Looks like that year off didn't weaken me a bit! I don't know how many points that was, but I should look for more.'
The glint of sunlight on metal caught Ben's eye, and he turned his head left to see another couple robots entering the street, unaware that they were walking into their deaths. With another leap, Ben threw himself into action once more. His upper left arm's fist crushed the body of one robot, his upper right arm punched a hole in the chest of another and his lower pair of arms caught a third, and tore it apart in one solid pull. Tossing aside the robot bits caught in his fists, Ben saw the rest of the patrol charging him. With a feral grin, and an earth-shaking roar, Ben charged back.
"Come at me, I'll take you all on!"
The UA observation room, somewhere on campus-
"What a promising batch of new talent this year. A shame only 36 of them will pass."
"Such a diverse array of quirks, and many of them are so proficient at wielding them, and at such a young age as well!"
In a dark room in the UA main building, a truly impressive gathering was taking place. Without windows, and the ceiling lights turned off, the only source of light were the many screens that made the entirety of one of the room's walls. There were over 50 individual monitors displaying the actions of various individuals across all 7 zones. The frantic actions of the examinees were contrasted by the cold, evaluating eyes of the people in the observation room. Most of them were sitting in the room's center, with eyes following certain screens, watching for foul play.
These people were no ordinary civilians: they were active pro heroes, and served as the UA faculty! Who better to teach the new generation of heroes than the generations before them?
"A large area to work in, a limited time frame, and lots of competitions will bring out the best in all of them." A hero in a space themed costume remarked, watching a student made of a hard material bash through a one-pointer.
"Indeed, who will rise to the challenge, and who will crumble under the pressure?" Responded a hero dressed as an American cowboy as he looked at a screen displaying the trembling figure of a girl with wings, fleeing away from a two-pointer.
"Yes, it seems that we have our work cut out for ourselves, choosing but a few from this ocean of talent!" Squeaked a voice from the biggest chair at the front of the group. A small, rodent-like creature lifted a paw, holding a cup of tea, and took a small sip. With an 'ahh' of appreciation, the beast set the cup down and turned his attention back to the wall of screens.
"We can clearly see the differences in how each child approaches the exam, depending on their quirk. Some assess the situation from afar, and make decisions from what they see: the intelligence gatherers." One student with many arms stood atop a building, spreading his limbs with what looked like ears and eyes on the tips in all directions.
"There will be those who choose to value speed over planning, getting to the robots faster than the others to secure points as efficiently as possible: the mobility experts." The stern blue-haired student who asked the question about the zero-pointer raced from bot to bot, using powerful kicks to destroy any robots unfortunate enough to run into him.
"Some have generalist quirks that can function in any situation, and just have to pick their fights carefully: the decision makers." A student with a laser from his belly quickly made short work of two one-pointers, before making a retreat as a three-pointer lumbered towards him.
"And then there are the natural-born warriors, who use their strength, ferocity, and quirks to attack everything in sight." Atop a large mass of sparking robot bodies stood a hunched blonde, with bruises all over his exposed skin, and hands smoking from use of his quirk.
"There are also the unfortunate ones, who think they are ready, but falter in the face of real danger." Everyone knew what the rodent was talking about, as they had all seen a terrified green-haired individual running away from every robot he encountered, only to look around in shock as the points around him were swiftly claimed by those who held no fear. A spectator more skeleton than man grimaced at the sight, knowing full well who that person was.
'Come on young Midoriya, where is that heroic spirit you showed me those months ago? I know you only got One for All hours ago, but you have yet to earn a single point!' The skeleton blond thought worriedly as he saw his student unable to acquire any points, despite running all around his test city. The silence prevailed, as the test approached its halfway point and though many of the teachers were impressed at what they saw, no one made any comment. Despite the overall talent of the year's examinees, it seemed no one student stood out anymore than the others. That was, until, a single outraged voice broke the silence in the room for good.
"What the hell is this? This-what? How can any one person do- I can't believe it!" The hero known as Powerloader exclaimed as he brought a small tablet as close to his head as his comically oversized helmet would allow. He had suddenly stood up, sending his chair crashing to the ground. This caught the attention of every hero in the room, even the rodent-hero, who was wearing the beginnings of a smile.
"What is it Powerloader? Something wrong with the machines in one of the cities?" The pro hero Cementoss asked, worried about his fellow teacher's sudden and very uncharacteristic outburst.
"No, it's the robots in City D! Over 60% of the robots have been destroyed, and their remains are barely salvageable!" Powerloader managed to get out, his helmet preventing the others from seeing his eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets.
"That's it? We've had that issue before. City D just has the best fighters, eh?" Present Mic said, before relaxing back in his seat, seemingly over the news flash. But Powerloader wasn't done.
"No! You don't get it! The vast majority of the examinees in that area account for only about 10% of the total drone kills!" If anyone in that room was not paying attention then, they were now. "It's this one guy-thing-person, he's demolished over half of ALL the robots in his city, and not slowing down at all! It's insane, I've never seen anything like it, and I've seen All Might take this exam!"
Eyes widened, curses were muttered, and talk began to generate. A single student, destroying over half of a city's robots? Sure, the bots weren't deadly, or really durable, but they were designed to give the examinees a reasonable challenge as they were carefully designed by Powerloader himself. A single student with such destructive capabilities was unheard of! A laugh broke out, causing the heroes in the room to snap their heads to the giggling rodent.
"Nezu sir, do you know about this particular examinee?" Asked a disheveled man wearing black, baggy clothing and some strange white scarf wrapped around his neck. While his voice may sound nonchalant, all those present heard the underlying disbelief in his voice at the news of a student single-handedly demolishing their practical exam.
"Oh, but I might Aizawa! Powerloader, if you would?" The hero now known as Nezu managed to get out as his paw gestured Powerloader to the wall of monitors. The rodent's laugh had died down, but in its place was a smile that Nezu could barely fit on his face. Powerloader began fiddling with his tablet, causing all the screens to go black. He then pressed something, and the monitors now worked together to display just one student instead of many individuals. The sight that followed caused everyone's eyes to widen and jaws to drop, and Nezu's laughter returned in full force, his body hunched over with his cackling.
The teachers at UA had seen many transformation and mutation quirks during their careers as both teachers and pro heroes, but had not seen something quite like this. The examinee in question was massive, red and had four arms and eyes. Muscles on muscles bulged out of the simple white shirt it wore, and the two-pointer it was in combat with was literally punched into pieces. The red behemoth then literally leapt through the chest of a three-pointer, somehow with enough force to exit to the other side, with vital wires and electronics clenched in its fists as the three-pointer collapsed, without power to sustain itself.
Another three-pointer loomed above the red humanoid, preparing to strike, but the examinee acted first. In an instant, its fists let go of the 'guts' of the previous machine, and all four hands bunched together as the thing charged forward, puncturing a hole in the robot's chest with its hands. The examinee then twisted its wrists, grabbed hold with each hand, and yanked each set of arms to the side, ripping apart the three-pointers chest, and tearing it in two. In less than twenty seconds, this 'examinee' had torn two three-pointers apart, and showed no signs of fatigue.
"He's been doing that since the exam started! He's unstoppable; he's definitely over a hundred points! That strength, it's-it's-it's inhuman!" At Powerloaders outburst, Nezu's laugh, if possible, grew in intensity, with him almost falling out of his chair, with his paw smacking the armrest as he fought to compose himself.
"Nezu, do you know this examinee? If so, who is it, and what quirk does he, she, or it possess? I find it absurd that someone with a quirk this powerful has gone unnoticed by the hero community!" A large man with a skin-tight red and white bodysuit demanded, tearing his eyes away from the spectacle that was Four Arms. Nezu stopped laughing and turned his grinning face to the man.
"While I'm not in a position to reveal the identity of this individual, I do admit to knowing who he is, and it is a he, as well as being close friends with his grandfather. I've had my eye on him for a year now, and am quite pleased with his performance. Wouldn't you all agree?" Nezu cackled again as he saw many of the heroes present did not even acknowledge what he just said, and continued to observe the Tetramand in morbid fascination as hoards of robots were torn to shreds with just a few punches.
'Well Maxwell, my old friend, it seems that your grandson has made quite the first impression on my teachers. He is everything you said and then some, but I have yet to administer the final test.' Nezu's eyes wandered to a red button covered by a protective glass shield. Confirming the time left in the exam, he once more called Powerloader.
"Powerloader, it is almost time. Let us prepare the last surprise, shall we? I reckon this will give even our red friend some trouble." The masked hero nodded and made his way to Nezu's desk, pressing his tablet to return the wall or monitors back to their original function of observing many individuals.
'Now Benjamin Tennyson, I wonder how you will deal with this?' The glass cover was lifted, and a paw gently pressed down on the button, activating the zero-pointers.
Back to Ben-
"Come on, make me try already!" Ben bellowed, as he raised the still-thrashing body of a two pointer above his head effortlessly. Clenching his fingers, he then tore the robot in half, closing his eyes as showers of sparks and bits of metal and junk clouded his vision. He cracked open one of his eyes, and seeing no more vision impairing debris in the air, tossed the two-pointer aside. He strolled forward, rubbing his wrists as he scanned for more targets.
Ben was so focused on finding more robots that he was unaware that the rest of the examinees had finally caught up to him, and were gazing at him with a mixture of shock, disbelief, and even fear. Ben made his way through the furthest areas of the city, leaving the streets and sidewalks behind him littered with so many robot corpses that in some areas, one couldn't even see the ground through the pieces.
"Holy crap, did that red guy do all this? I don't remember seeing him at the start!"
"There's so many robot bodies here! He must have taken out at least a hundred!"
"That's why there was so little where we were. This guy must have taken all the points."
"How am I going to pass now, there are no more robots to fight!"
"Screw that, I'm not even going to try anymore. I mean, how could any of us compete with that? Whoever that red guy is, he's got strength like All Might!"
"Let's go, maybe there's still a couple bots in the alleyways! We can- wait, what's that rumbling?"
The ground of each mock city began to rumble, and the examinees in each zone were very much aware of the sudden shift. Even Ben grew apprehensive, halting his progress to gaze at the ground, trying to identify where the rumblings were coming from. His posture widened, and his arms fanned out, trying to maintain his balance. Whatever was causing the tremors, it must be close. Then, he heard the sounds of sneakers on the pavement, and turning around, several students passed him, moving towards the entrance. While Ben didn't mind less competition, what worried him was the panic so clearly etched on their faces. Suddenly, a massive crash caused Ben and several others nearby to whirl around, only to stagger back a couple steps; even Ben was shocked at what he saw.
"Oh Kami, get out of my way! Out of my way!"
"It's the zero-pointer!"
"I didn't sign up for this!"
Ben hadn't given the zero-pointer much thought after the exam had started. After easily tearing through the one, two, and three-pointers with very little effort, he had written off the zero-pointer as a joke to keep people on their toes. He was now aware that this was not the case.
The zero-pointer dwarfed even the biggest buildings in the mock city; being almost three times the size of the tallest structures. An imposing figure of steel, blocking out the sun, and slowly moving towards the examinees, destroying everything in its slow, yet destructive, path. Ben had been in life threatening situations much worse than this, but the sight of such a massive threat still had chills running down his spine. He turned around with the others, but for different reasons. Those around Ben wanted to escape, but Ben wanted to use the opportunity to scrape together what little points were left. With everyone panicking, and the zero-pointer forcing everything in a single direction, it seemed to be a solid plan! As Ben crouched in preparation for another super jump, a voice suddenly rang out.
"Please, just go! Leave me, it's too close! We'll all die!"
Ben raised his head, straining to identify where the voice was coming from. Realizing the cry was further up the street, where the zero-pointer was, Ben leapt towards danger, and came across a painful sight.
The zero-pointer's initial movement had caused a domino effect, sending multiple buildings toppling down, and some poor soul had unfortunately been caught. A boy with chubby cheeks, darkened by all the dust and bruised from encounters with robots earlier in the exam, was pinned beneath several large blocks of concrete. From the looks of it, the boy's arms were pinned to the ground, meaning if he had a quirk to break himself free, he was unable to use it. By his head were two others, trying to break apart or lift the rubble to free him. A girl with orange hair, using her quirk to enlarge her hands to lift large chunks of concrete, and a boy with long, ragged silver hair with his skin made of metal was breaking apart large pieces of rubble to brush aside.
They were making good progress, but time was not on their side. The zero-pointer was almost upon them, and they were nowhere close to freeing the trapped boy. In a last act of sacrifice, the boy seemed to accept his fate and wanted the others to save themselves. While Ben was sure there was no way UA would let the robot crush the boy, there was no way to make sure, and no time to waste. Ben had to act, and act he did!
Rushing forward, Ben crashed in between the girl and boy working to free the trapped one, and ignored their startled cries. Bending down, Ben slammed his right arms into a massive concrete slab, and, with a little strain, lifted it. This allowed him to use his left arms to remove the other slab trapping the boy, freeing him.
"Get out of here! I'll slow that hunk of junk down!" Ben hoisted his right arms above his head, and took aim at the approaching goliath. He bent his right elbows, tensed his muscles, and took a couple steps forward to generate momentum to fling the slab at immense speeds, right at the head of the zero-pointer!
"RRRRAHHHGG!"
The slab exploded on impact with the metal frame, and while no damage was done, the robot's movement did halt. As its body slowly bent to give it a clear sight line on what had thrown the slab, Ben hefted his left arms, and chucked the other slab!
"HHAAAAAA!"
Now Ben got its attention! The one-two punch of concrete projectiles had made the zero-pointer identify the Tetramand as the greatest threat, and it began to march towards its new objective. Ben crouched, and hunched his shoulders, lifting his arms into a classic fighting position, readying himself for anything that would be thrown at him. He chanced a look back, to make sure the three others were gone as to allow Ben to fight with no possible casualties, only to see they were still there!
The chubby one had his arms flung over the shoulders of the girl with the orange hair and the metal man, but they were just standing there, with their jaws open, and not moving. Ben internally groaned. This was a common problem when he fought in his alien forms, people just stood around to gawk at the show while they were in real danger. He needed them out of the general vicinity, as soon as possible! As he opened his mouth to tell them that, the girl's mouth opened to let out a gasp, the short-haired boy's eyes shot open in panic, and the metal guy pointed behind Ben.
"Look out!"
Ben managed to turn his head around to see the fist of the zero-pointer racing towards him, ripping apart the asphalt of the street as it performed a punch. Ben flung his hand out and grabbed the metal fist as it collided with him, and began to force him back. This shocked Ben, as nothing bar Vilgax and Kevin had ever challenged Four Arm's strength, and the power behind this kick was enormous! He had really underestimated this machine! In response, Ben dug his heels in the ground, grit his teeth, bent his head, and pushed, forcing the foot to a standstill. Ben was faintly aware that the back of his left foot collided with one of the shoes of the three behind him, but Ben didn't really care at the moment. Without turning his head, Ben grit out one last order.
"Get out of here now! I'm going to take this thing down, and I don't want to have to dig you guys out when I'm done with this sorry scrapheap!" He felt the foot disappear, and heard the pattering of feet, telling him they had finally started to run away. He allowed a grin to grow on his face. Perfect. Now he could hold nothing back.
With a yell, Ben shoved forward with all his might, sending the leg of the zero-pointer so far back that it disrupted its balance, causing it to start falling forward. As its arms slowly spread out to brace for impact, Ben started to run forward, towards the leg he had just shoved back. He sprinted until he saw that he was at about the center of the falling zero-pointers head, and then halted his momentum. He counted the seconds passing as the metal chest of the zero-pointer moved ever closer.
One...two...three!
With a jump, Ben took hold of the chest of the zero-pointer and tore a hole open. Now with a way inside, Ben put his arms through the hole, and pushed himself up, and worked his way inside.
Ben continued to make his way in the vague direction of 'up.' Visibility was poor, but he didn't really need to see in here. Ben threw his arms around with no real purpose other than to climb while causing as much damage to the zero-pointer's interior circuitry as possible. The sparks and crackling of electricity he caused helped light up his way, and Ben took any opportunity to pull apart pistons, or crush any piece of equipment that looked important. He soon felt one of his fists collide with the metal frame that formed the zero-pointer's exterior shell. With a powerful punch, Ben tore open another hole and made his way onto the zero-pointer's back.
The zero-pointer had completely collapsed, and Ben used the opportunity to hurry to the head, running up its back. He must have done a solid number inside, as the zero-pointer was slow to do anything in response, and its limbs weakly thrashed, unable to put up a fight on someone already on its body. Ben got to the base of the head, and as he was about to start climbing, he suddenly felt movement! To his shock, the head began to slide towards Ben, onto the solid surface of its back! The sudden sounds of gears, pistons, and machinery at work alerted Ben that there must be some defensive system at work, trying to get rid of the threat on the machine itself. As the head slowly shifted positions, Ben clenched his fists. He was ending this now!
As the head began to move, Ben felt around the 'neck' trying to identify a weak point. He was not 100% sure, but UA seemed to give the robots human-like weak points: attacking the chest or head of even a three-pointer caused it to crumple and stop moving. So Ben now had an objective. He had to behead the zero-pointer before its personal defense systems came online. While Four Arms could probably handle whatever weaponry it had, Ben wasn't going to take any chances! He had underestimated the zero-pointer, once, and that was one time too many!
Satisfied with a particular point, Ben slammed his right arms deep into the connective area attaching the head to the rest of the zero-pointer. Turning his body, and adopting a running position, Ben tensed his right arms, and began to sprint, with his arms still in the machine! While ripping metal apart with nothing but flesh and force hurt Four Arms, Ben pushed through the pain. Running around in a circle, Ben re-arrived at his starting point, and slid his arms through the last remaining connective piece, and ripped his arms free. Then, sliding all four of his arms into the crack he had created, Ben got firm handles for his hands, tensed his back and leg muscles, and began to pull with all his might.
A Tetramand is terrifyingly strong, and Ben was calling a good portion of it with this maneuver. Four Arms pulled and pulled, ripping apart the finely put together parts that held the neck together and gave the head motion. As the head's last connective parts began to strain, break, and snap, Ben threw back his head and roared with one last heave!
"GRAHHHHH!" With that final, powerful surge of strength, Ben pulled the entire head of the zero-pointer out of its socket, and held it above his head, victorious at last! The moment the head left the main body, the remaining active lights and limbs of the zero-pointer faded and ceased action.
'That was awesome! It's a nice change of pace, going hero without being exhausted afterwards!' Cheered Ben, who still felt great thanks to Four Arm's enhanced endurance and threw aside the severed head of the mechanical giant to the side, and raised his arms in celebration. As the head hit the ground, a single command rang through UA, across all the sites.
"Time is up!"