Chapter 3

And here we are again! The long-awaited (not as long as OA&A Chapter 25, thank GOD) third chapter of And Then There Were Quirks! Thanks so much to everyone for the feedback, and for actually calling out some of the stuff I (and the IRL friend I'm working on this story with) actually didn't think about when coming up with this!

Hey, nobody's perfect, we both appreciate you all being able to point out stuff that we didn't catch.

Speaking of you guys, I appreciate the suggestions as to who Ben (and sometimes Gwen) should get with in this fic. Won't say who, but one of the girls that've been suggested for Ben (Momo, Mina, Itsuka and Setsuna) and one of the guys for Gwen (Deku, Kirishima, Tetsutetsu, Shoto and Mezo) ARE actually who they're going to get with... and no, I'm not saying who. You'll probably figure it out in due time.

Anyway, once you're done with this chapter, which I seriously hope you enjoy, hope you've got it in you to keep leaving your thoughts via review, or if you want to chat with me (about the fic, Ben 10 or MHA in general, or something else entirely, drop me a PM or look me up on Discord (name for it is on my profile), or better yet join my server (link also in profile, just take out the spaces). Any of those methods works out just fine for me, and I hope to chat with you soon!

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Gwen let out a slow breath as she was cleared to pass through the campus gates of U.A. High School. Slipping her fake ID- that had just been checked by the system set up outside before being given back to her- into one of the inner pockets of the dark-pink jacket she'd bought a few months ago, she slowed her pace to allow Ben to catch up to her a few seconds later, before returning to her normal pace and looking up at the building.

She remembered the picture of it that she'd looked at in that one book in the library she and Ben had been to, soon after entering this different universe… it really hadn't done justice to just how huge the building really was, especially in reality and up-close as she and her cousin were.

"Thank Azmuth for Grey Matter…" Ben remarked under his breath, as he caught up to his cousin. Once he'd done so, he looked over and actually caught the look on said cousin's face. "Gwen? You okay?"

His brow furrowed slightly as the two Tennysons took a couple of steps to the edge of the path that they, along with so many other hopeful students, had been walking towards the campus building.

"I'm fine." Gwen replied, her eyes following a plain-looking green-haired kid that had been directly behind herself and Ben for a couple of seconds, before she looked back over at her cousin. "Just pre-exam nerves. Happens all the time, it's just… what if we don't make it?"

"What?" Ben asked, blinking.

"I'm just worried that all we did, all that studying, it'll amount to nothing." Gwen replied. "We'll go in there, get our butts handed to us by the exams, and then all the planning about where to go once we're in, it'll all get thrown out and we'll be back at square one!"

Gwen blinked a couple of times as she tried to take calming breaths. Some of the particularly late nights that she and Ben had stayed up, cramming in as much knowledge for these exams as they could, be damned to whether or not they had work at Mekakohi's early the next day, flashed through her head at that moment. With the nerves rushing through her body, those memories at the front of her mind, and possibilities of how things could go wrong rushing through the back of it, suffice it to say that Gwen wasn't amused to hear Ben letting out a chuckle in response, rather than any words of reassurance.

"You helped save our world too many times to count, our whole UNIVERSE a couple of times, and you're worried about getting into a damn high school?"

Forcing down the chuckles when he saw the look on Gwen's face, Ben took a breath of his own, but he couldn't stop a smile from forming on his face. Though part of that might have had something to do with a plain-looking green-haired kid tripping over his own feet as he came towards the steps that led up to U.A.'s doors. He would've surely eaten dirt on the ground (and probably lost a couple of teeth) had a short, pretty-looking girl with auburn hair not reached out and touched him with one of her hands, seemingly halting him mid-fall.

Probably some kind of gravity-related Quirk, the Omnitrix-wielder thought to himself.

"U.A. isn't the ONLY high school with a hero course, Gwen." He replied, only slightly more seriously. "There are loads of other places at the very least CLOSE to how good U.A. supposedly is. We don't make it here, we can go to somewhere like Shiketsu, try our luck there?"

"Yeah, or maybe Ketsubutsu." Gwen nodded, taking a breath and swallowing as she let Ben's words sink in. "You're right. Sorry, I just get like this before important exams… we've prepared as much as we can. Just got to get in there, and do our best."

Ben grinned, reaching over and gently squeezing Gwen's shoulder, before taking a step back onto the path.

"And our best… is awesome." He replied. "We've got this, Gwen. Let's go."

"Yeah… yeah." Gwen let out a quick breath, following her cousin back onto the path. It didn't take them long to, as all the other hopefuls were doing, ascend the steps and head through the doors into U.A.'s main campus building. The immediate worry that crossed Gwen's mind that they wouldn't be able to find their way to the exam hall was immediately assuaged when she clapped eyes on a shining sign that stated, quite clearly in large text both Japanese and English, 'EXAM HALL THIS WAY.'

Though the fact that the teenagers alongside and around them were all heading in that direction anyway, and seemed to know where they were going, would probably have helped them a decent amount anyway. As Gwen felt herself jostled back and forth slightly among the sheer number of teenagers making their way through the maze of modern architecture that were the corridors of U.A. High, she found herself mentally taking note of how much quieter everyone was getting as the auditorium that served as the exam hall came into view. Seemed like the typical pre-exam nerves she'd been suffering from (and Ben had helped deal with) outside, were starting to set in for everyone else.

Feeling herself shifted between a couple of other teenagers, Gwen cast a glance at Ben as they moved closer and closer to the auditorium's open doors, which a couple of adults who she assumed where either Pro Heroes, U.A.'s faculty, or both, stood on either side of. A scarred, bulky man with grey hair in a skin-tight red suit with white belt, boots and vambraces, with a wire snaking from the left one up to back of his neck, and a more average-sized man (she assumed) who looked like he was WAY too into cowboy movies, like the ones Gwen's dad liked and her mum disapproved of.

Glancing at her cousin again as they passed through the doors to the auditorium, Gwen could only marvel at how outwardly calm he appeared, in contrast to how tense she (and everyone else, probably) was feeling. He seemed to catch the fact she was looking over at him, and looked over at that moment to flash her a confident grin, which she did her best to return before focusing on the room they were in now.

Rows of desks had been meticulously arranged all across the hall, each one spaced out to make sure that there was no chance anyone could peak at someone else's work and easily get away with it. The ceiling stretched high above them, the walls were adorned with banners that adorned the U.A. High's iconic crest, and the huge windows allowed all the natural light anyone could ever want to spill into the hall. There was a podium at the far end of the room, presumably for teachers to speak from.

As they took their seats, Gwen took a quick glance around at the teenagers at the desks closest to her. Ben was directly behind her, but to her direct left was a muscular guy with short blond hair, and a large muscular-looking hairless (save for the tip) tail that he had to move to the side so he could sit comfortably. In front of her was a decently tall guy with messy indigo-coloured hair with noticeably dark bags under his eyes. To her direct right was another tall guy, taller than the indigo-haired boy to her left, with pale-grey hair, wearing a blue mask over his face. His most distinctive feature, though, were his six arms that were attached to each other by a web of skin, though only the front two actually had hands at the ends of them, the rest ending in thin stumps.

So many people, so many different appearances that had just become the norm for her and Ben, ever since settling in this new universe.

The sounds of light chattering from most of the teenagers in the room died immediately when the sound of shoes hitting the floor sounded off across the room, and the sight of someone appearing at the podium… something?

Gwen blinked, rubbing her eyes a bit as she looked up at the podium, and the… creature that was looking across the hall at them. A small, stout creature who looked like a combination of a dog, a mouse, a cat… would that make it a chimera?

It had the head of a mouse with circular black eyes, and a large nasty-looking scar over the right one, relatively rectangular-shaped ears, and a small round nose. It had large dog-like paws and white fur, and a thin tail like that of a cat. In spite of its odd appearance, it was still dressed extremely formally: sporting a white dress shirt, dark red tie around its neck, a black waistcoat and matching dress pants, with thick-soled orange lace-up sneakers completing the look.

"Good morning, prospective students!" he called, into the microphone set up at the podium. Gwen noticed a couple of people around her jumping at the sound of the creature before them TALKING, she figured they doubted it actually would. "I could be a mouse, or a dog, a bear, though the only important thing here is… I'm Principal Nezu!"

Silence passed through the room in response to the introduction: whether from shock, or reverence at the authority that Nezu gave off as the principal despite looking less human than even the most out-there mutant-type Quirk possessors, or both… Gwen vaguely recalled a passage in a book on Quirk history about rare cases of animals that developed Quirks, but she never thought she'd actually see one with her own eyes. Never mind as the principal of the very school she and Ben were trying to get into!

"You all sit here," Nezu spoke, "with potential, potential to join a long list of illustrious heroes that learned everything they knew within the hallowed halls of U.A. High. To become walking the path that they forged. But before you can take your first step onto that path, you must first prove yourselves worthy."

Gwen could almost feel the ripple of anticipation that passed through the hall in response to Nezu's words. As he continued, she heard some people walking up behind her: turning around, she saw a few people- two of which she recognised as those standing outside the hall when she and Ben had entered, walking up between the desks that they were all sat at, handing out exam papers and pens onto each desk.

"In front of you, you will receive an exam paper." Nezu continued, undeterred. "Each one completely unique, with questions tailored specifically to challenge you. We recently implemented this exam-method to ensure fairness, and prevent any… attempts at collaboration." He paused, allowing himself a small smile as his eyes twinkled, clearly pleased with his own ingenuity.

Gwen swore she could hear Ben whisper "Aw, man!" from behind her as she received her exam paper from a tall, curvaceous woman with hair so dark-purple it could easily be mistaken for black, who rather than any flashy-looking costume, was dressed in what seemed like a regular business-suit, similar to Nezu.

That unique-exams idea was a good one, she thought to herself. It was a wonder as to why no schools in her and Ben's home universe (that she knew of) used that method… probably too much effort.

"You will have two hours to complete the exam." Nezu continued. "Between the hours, you're free to take a ten-minute break if you so desire. However, be mindful of the clock."

Once the teachers (Gwen assumed they were teachers) were done handing out the exam papers, and joined Nezu at the top of the hall close to the podium, a large digital clock on the wall behind the teachers (again, assumed) and Principal sprang to life, showing the time remaining- 2:10:00.

"You may begin." Nezu announced, after a couple of seconds' pause, and the clock began ticking down. The sound of hundreds of pens scratching against the exam papers filled the air almost immediately, with Gwen joining them after taking a breath. After signing her name on the front, Gwen flipped over the first page of the exam paper, her eyes zeroing in on the first question at the top of the page.

'What is the 'Golden Hour' in the context of rescue operations, and why is it significant?'

Feeling a slight bit more relaxed at the sight of such an easy question, Gwen busied herself with the answer.

Line Break

As he passed through the auditorium's doors, once it was all over and all the exam papers were collected, Ben rolled his neck, the tension and exasperation brought on by the exam ebbing away at the fact that it was now over… or at least some of it for him. Not so much for Gwen, judging by the satisfied look on her face as she came out of the hall a couple of seconds later, and immediately made a beeline for him.

"So?" Gwen asked, stretching her arms over her head until a satisfying popping sound could be heard from her shoulders. "How'd it go?"

Ben shrugged, letting out a breath and curving his lips into a half-smile.

"Is my brain smoking?" he asked, vaguely gesturing at his head as he and his cousin started to follow the flow of students away from the auditorium. The direction they were heading in yielded pleasant smells of food, so the pair of Tennysons assumed that they were probably heading for a canteen of some kind. "Because it feels like it's smoking."

"Uh, no." Gwen replied, giggling softly. "It's not. You found yours pretty hard, didn't you?"

"As much as you probably thought yours was a breeze." Ben replied. "Walking encyclopaedia."

"Did you at least give every question a go?" Gwen asked, resting a hand on Ben's shoulder as they followed the guiding direction of U.A.'s staff. The further away they got from the auditorium, the more that conversations between hopeful Hero Course students began to pick up, relief and lingering nerves on the air.

"Yeah, I did." Ben nodded, letting out a breath. "But hey, it's probably just the post-exam equivalent of what you were dealing with earlier. I doubt it was actually as bad as it seemed."

It was at that moment that Ben's stomach began to audibly growl, prompting a small chuckle from the Omnitrix-wielder.

"Man, I'm hungry." He remarked. "Who knew that two-and-a-bit hours of writing could do that to a guy?"

"Well, lucky you." Gwen replied, as they came up on the doors to what looked like a cafeteria, and entered alongside all the other hopefuls. It was a truly huge room: had to be around half the size of Bellwood Junior High on its own, at least!

Long tables and booths were dotted and lined around the cafeteria, with some of the seats on/in said tables and booths being taken up by the other hopeful students. The smell of various foods mingled with each other and wafted through the air, which seemed to serve to make Ben's stomach growl even louder than it had been a minute ago.

"I'm not that hungry, just grab me a sandwich or something." Gwen remarked, turning towards a free table. "I'll save you a seat."

"Yup." Ben replied, immediately making a beeline for where the food was being served from. He grabbed one of the trays and picked a tuna sandwich for Gwen, placing it onto the tray along with a chicken rice bowl, a bowl of plain noodles, a side of chicken and vegetable dumplings, and a small bowl of what looked like Korean BBQ sauce for himself.

Probably didn't have anything on Chilli Fries from back home, but out of everything available, it definitely looked and smelled the best.

After grabbing a couple of bottles of water, he made his way back to Gwen, weaving in-between the tables and moving hopefuls as he did so. Gwen could only raise an eyebrow once she clapped eyes on the amount of food Ben had gotten for himself in comparison to what she'd asked him to get for her.

"Did breakfast just… not happen, for you?" she asked, taking the sandwich off the tray and taking a bite out of it.

"I had breakfast!" Ben protested, grabbing the chopsticks provided along with the rice bowl, snapping them apart and stabbing them into the biggest piece of chicken he could immediately see. "It's just… I think I burned through it all."

"Fair enough." Gwen replied after swallowing, rolling her eyes a bit as she did so, before pausing as her eyes drifted to Ben's bowls of food. "Actually, you might have been on the right track with getting that much stuff for yourself. I imagine it's gonna be some kind of physical exam next: no way anyone would get accepted into this Hero Course without U.A. seeing how they handle themselves in action."

"Great." A more genuine grin spread across Ben's face, loading some of the noodles into his rice bowl and mixing the two foods together. "Something more my speed. I'll save your seat, Gwen, go get something more than just that sandwich."

Gwen nodded, taking a couple of gulps of the bottle of water Ben had gotten for her before getting up and going to get something for herself. Within a couple of minutes, she returned with a large bowl of ramen for herself, that she immediately began tucking into along with the sandwich.

"Just try not to show off TOO much, right?" Gwen remarked, after slurping down some of it. "Or is the whole mission of blending in gonna go out the window now that you've got a chance to do what you do best?"

"Hey, who said anything about showing off?" Ben replied, a mock-look of innocence crossing his face… though it only held for a couple of seconds before it collapsed into chuckles. "Hey, it's like you said, we've just got to do our best: is it my fault that my best is probably enough to… blow up a planet…?"

A slightly awkward silence passed between the cousins for a couple of seconds, before Ben cleared his throat, and imitated his cousin in taking a couple of gulps of his water.

"Yeah, maybe I shouldn't show off too much." He remarked, quietly. "Maybe just a little bit." He added, as an afterthought.

Gwen couldn't help letting a light giggle slip in response, which Ben himself joined in with before re-busying himself with the food he'd gotten for himself, too hungry to give any major responses beyond "Right…" and "Uh-huh." when Gwen started talking about some of the questions she faced in her exam: something about one particularly tricky ethical dilemma that had actually had her a little stumped for a while, or the number of questions about rescue operations that she'd breezed through with absolutely no trouble.

About fifteen minutes later, a long time after Gwen had finished her sandwich and ramen, and just as Ben was finishing up his chicken, rice, dumplings and noodles, the canteen's PA system crackled to life, catching everyone's attention immediately.

"All applicants to U.A.'s Hero Course, please return to the auditorium."

Exchanging a look between each other, Ben and Gwen stood up and made beelines for the door, heading back the way they'd come through U.A.'s halls. As they re-entered the auditorium, Ben had to blink a couple of times as the room- while he, Gwen and the other hopefuls had been in the canteen- seemed to have been transformed. What had been a brightly-lit exam hall not even half an hour ago now resembled a darkened indoor amphitheatre, with tiers of raised seating that offered everyone a clear view of the front, where a larger podium than the one Nezu had spoken at earlier, along with a much larger screen than before was. It was presently displaying the golden U.A. logo against a blue background, illuminating the darkened room as the hopefuls filed into the raised seating.

"How big a budget does this place have?" Ben whispered to Gwen, as they settled down in their seats, between a tanned boy with shoulder-length braided black hair and a slender girl with dark-purple hair and what looked like earphone-jacks hanging from her ears. "That they can do this on a whim?"

"It's the best place of its kind in the country, maybe even the world." Gwen replied, shrugging as she settled into her seat. "So… pretty big, I'm guessing."

Ben hummed, figuring that that was a fair answer as he settled himself, taking a breath as he looked over at the screen and podium, and the person walking up to said podium: one of the teachers that had been handing out and collecting the exam papers earlier. He was a tall, slim man with long blond hair spiked upwards in a large tuft above his head, and a small brown moustache. His eyes were covered by a pair of orange-tinted shades, and his ears were covered by a pair of over-ear headphones.

He wore a black jacket with very tall collar, upturned and complete with silver studs, matching black pants (held up by a red belt), knee-high boots and fingerless gloves. The shoulders of the jacket were covered with tan shoulder-pads, and his neck was covered by what looked like a speaker.

Ben had grown more than used to people's weird and wacky costumes in this new universe, but even then, said new universe kept finding new ways to surprise him.

"What's up, U.A. candidates?!" the blond man called out, cutting across the hopefuls' light chatter in an instant as the U.A. logo sparkled behind him. "Thanks for tunin' in to me, your school DJ! EVERYBODY SAY 'HEY'!"

Dead. Silence.

…

"Keepin' it mellow, huh?" the self-proclaimed DJ remarked, after a couple of seconds, before shrugging his shoulders. "That's cool: I'm here to present the guidelines of the practical part of your entrance exam, okay? ARE YA READY?!"

Dead. Silence. Again. The teacher at the podium had to let out little "Yeah!" of his own just to fill the void, probably not wanting to go two-for-two on being met with zero response.

"Here's how it goes!" the blonde teacher moved swiftly along. "Like your application said, all of you rockin' youths will be conducting ten-minute mock-battles in the middle of urban settings! After I'm done here, each of you will head to the specified battle centres on the cards that you all hopefully brought with you!"

The screen behind him displayed seven boxes, each with letters going from 'A' to 'G', and presumably representing the settings he was talking about, each of them linked to a box with the words 'YOU ARE HERE' inside, representative of where everyone currently was.

Slipping a hand into one of the pockets of his jacket, Ben pulled out the card that the DJ was talking about, noticing that it stated quite clearly that he'd been assigned to Battle Centre C. Shifting over slightly, he looked over at Gwen's to see that she'd been assigned to Battle Centre E.

So much for working together, he thought to himself as he slipped the card back into his pocket.

"Each site is filled with three different kinds of faux-villains!" the DJ called out, as the screen shifted to a retro video game-like simulation of him running through the city centre and attacking the faux-villains by rushing into them. "Points will be awarded depending on their size and difficulty, ranging from one to three per villain, which you'll earn by using your Quirks to shred these foes like a mid-song guitar solo! But check it: make sure to keep things heroic, playing the anti-hero and attacking your fellow examinees is prohibited!"

"Excuse me sir, I have a question!"

Another voice sounded off, as someone else got to their feet. They were a bit further down than where Ben and Gwen were sat, and closer to the middle as well. Glancing over as a spotlight shone on the person that had spoken up, and stood up, Ben (and everyone in the auditorium) got a good look at him: he was a tall, muscular boy with a wide frame, short dark-blue hair and red eyes, which were housed behind rectangularly-shaped glasses. He was dressed in a smart school uniform, and overall just looked smart to the point that had they not been sitting in a hero school, Ben would've had him pegged as a businessman in the making.

"Hit me!" the DJ replied, as the glasses kid held up a sheet of paper. One of which was in front of everyone else sitting down, but few of them seemed to have actually looked at.

"On the printout, you've listed four types of villains, not three!" the bespectacled boy called out. "Such a blatant error, if it is one, is shameful! We're all here today in the hopes of being moulded into exemplary heroes, so a mistake like this from Japan's top hero academy won't do! And you, with the unkempt hair," he turned around, pointing up at someone that Ben and Gwen couldn't quite see, from where they were at. "You've been muttering this entire time: stop it. If you're going to treat this like a game, then you should stop distracting the rest of us and leave immediately!"

Smatterings of laughter broke out from some of the surrounding examinees, as the DJ raised his hands for calm.

"Alright, alright." He called out. "Examinee 7111: nice catch, well done! There WILL be a fourth villain type in each field, but they're worth zero points. It's just an obstacle we'll be throwing in your way during the exam: if you wanted to, you COULD probably take it down, but… there's kinda no point!"

The video playing on the screen behind the DJ showed him running away from the zero-pointer faux-villain, as if to underline the point. Seemingly satisfied with his answer, the glasses-wearing guy who had spoken up earlier inclined his head before sitting down.

"That's all I've got for you today!" the DJ called out. "I'll sign off with a little present, a sample of our school motto! General Napoleon Bonaparte once said 'True heroism consists in being superior to the ills of life'. Now isn't that a tasty soundbite?" A wide grin crossed the blond's face as he continued. "Now, are you ready to go Plus Ultra?!"

Dead. Silence. For a third time.

"BREAK A LEG, EVERYONE!" The DJ yelled out, stepping off the podium and waving to the examinees. "Hope you've practiced hitting more than just the books!"

Once he was gone, the lights in the auditorium came back on, and everyone began to file out. Some of the examinees were dressed in their junior high school uniforms, and had brought bags with spare clothes in them. They got directed over to changing rooms by members of U.A.'s staff so they could change into stuff more comfortable for the practical exam.

Those that didn't on the other hand- like Ben and Gwen- were brought directly outside to a courtyard where several buses were located, each marked by the battle centre it was headed for.

"Well, see you in a bit." Ben remarked, stretching a bit as he got to the bus marked 'C' before raising his fist to Gwen. Grinning, Gwen returned the gesture and fist-bumped her cousin.

"See you." She replied. "Remember, don't show off TOO much."

Ben rolled his eyes as he watched his cousin heading over to the bus marked 'E', before getting onto his bus. As the first one on, he had free choice as to where to sit, and after a couple of seconds' thought, elected to take a window-seat near the back. After a few minutes, some of the other examinees who'd been assigned to the same battle centre as him made their way on, and started taking seats of their own.

The bus filled up quite quickly, with seats being taken and some conversations being started as people began sitting with each other. One of the last people to get on the bus was a muscular-looking boy with near-shoulder-length black hair, red eyes, and was clad in a dark-red t-shirt and brown pants. Scanning the free seats on the bus for a couple of seconds, he made for the back of the bus and took the free seat next to Ben, with the two boys sharing nods with each other as they non-verbally asked and confirmed that it was okay to do so, respectively.

Once everyone was in their seats, the bus started moving, and the black-haired boy next to Ben leaned back in his seat, letting out a sigh.

"Man, that written exam was tough…" he remarked, running a hand through his dark hair. "Hope I can make up for it in the practical."

"Same." Ben replied, nodding in agreement as he glanced over at the boy. As he did so, he noticed a small scar just above the boy's right eye. "Never taken an exam quite like that one. Just gonna have to cut loose in the practical, show whoever'll be watching us what I can really do."

The boy looked over at Ben, a grin playing across his mouth. Ben noticed his pointed teeth.

"Glad to know I'm not alone." He remarked, extending a hand to Ben. "I'm Kirishima, by the way."

"Ben Tennyson." Ben replied, shaking Kirishima's hand. "Or, uh, Tennyson Ben, I guess. Sorry, I'm transferring from the States, so the whole 'family name, first name' order thing's still weird to me."

"It's cool, man." Kirishima replied, waving off Ben's apology. "Your Japanese is pretty good, at least!"

"Thanks." Ben nodded, stretching the arm with the Omnitrix on it. "So, what's your Quirk? Got something cool lined up for the practical?"

"Eh… not really." Kirishima replied, raising a hand, which seemed to harden into a jagged rock-like shape before Ben's hands. "I call it Hardening. Pretty self-explanatory, really, I can harden any part of my body and tank pretty much anything. Smash through a lot, too."

"I bet." Ben replied. "Sounds like a good fit for this kind of exam. Won't be surprised if you get a bunch of points with it."

Kirishima let out a chuckle, adjusting his position in his seat.

"I guess so." He replied, deactivating his Quirk around his hand and lowering it. "It's handy, but that's about it. Not much room to be flashy with something like this, not against some of the higher-ranked Pros, with all their super-flashy powers."

Ben shrugged.

"I mean, that's not entirely true." He replied. "I mean, Mirko's what- sixth ranked in the country? Strip away all the jumps and kicks you see her doing on the news, and all you're left with is rabbit-ears, a tail, and higher strength than the average person. That's all she's got to work with, at the end of the day."

Kirishima blinked a couple of times, then nodded after a couple of seconds.

"You're not wrong, there." He replied. "Yeah, she makes it work, and then some! Huh… I never really thought about it that way."

"It's all in how you use it." Ben remarked. "Besides, I'm sure you've got this anyway. Some of us are just better in the field than in the classroom."

Kirishima hummed in agreement, as the bus came to a slow stop. The sound of its brakes hissed for all to hear as it pulled up outside Battle Centre C. Within a couple of minutes, the examinees had all filed out, and they all milled about outside the open gates to the battle-centre. From what the examinees, including Ben as he stretched his arms and legs, could see through said gates, the centre looked like something straight out of a cityscape, complete with towering buildings and narrow alleyways.

It looked quite decently-sized, too. Ben was really starting to wonder just HOW much money U.A. had in its koffers to throw around if they could just build MULTIPLE of these, and seemingly risk their destruction on a whim?

"Good luck out there, Tennyson!" Kirishima remarked, stepping up alongside Ben and stretching his own body a bit, a grin on his face and determination in his eyes.

"You too." Ben replied, giving him a thumbs-up. "May the best examinee get the most points… crap, that sounded cooler in my head."

Kirishima let out a chuckle, returning the thumbs-up as he made his way closer to the gate. Letting out a breath, Ben did the same, along with all the other examinees. Ben found himself passing a guy with green hair in a mohawk and praying mantis-like mandibles, a broad young man with an unevenly-shaped rock-like head, and a cute round-faced girl with blonde hair and a pair of tall horns atop her head.

"EXAMINEES… BEGIN!"

Everyone jumped a little bit at the voice of the DJ from earlier sounding out across the area.

"THERE ARE NO COUNTDOWNS IN REAL BATTLES!" the DJ yelled out. "GO, GO, GO!"

None of the examinees in Ben's group needed to be told twice: as one, they all sprinted through the gates into the cityscape-arena battle-centre. In the first few steps, Ben lagged behind at first, his focus more on the Omnitrix than keeping up: with a quick turn of the dial, he landed on the best all-around alien for a job such as this.

…Well, he hoped.

"FOUR. ARMS!" Ben yelled out as the large, red-skinned, white and black T-shirt-wearing, extremely well-muscled, four-eyed and… four-armed, alien took full form. Able to cover more distance with each stride thanks to being taller (by a LONG way) than all the other examinees, he easily breezed past even the fastest runners among his group of examinees, some of whom let out shouts of "Wait, what?" or "The hell?!" when he rushed past them.

Among the gasps and cries, he could hear someone calling out "So manly!", though he ignored it as he left the examinees further and further behind with every step he took.

'Should I make for the centre?' Ben thought to himself. 'There'll probably be a bunch of robots there… but how many of the others will be thinking the same thing?'

Ben quickly came to a stop and turned, making his way down an alleyway and punching through a wall to make a route onto another street.

'I'll stick to just outside the centre, to start with.' He mentally concluded. 'There'll be a decent amount of enemies here, and probably less people to take points off-'

Right at that moment, the sound of metallic feet slamming against the ground met Ben's ears. Looking up, he locked eyes with a faux-villain with four legs, each of which featured a plate of armour that had the number '2' spray-painted on them. Those four legs were all attached to its spherical body, from which a tail and a head on a long neck also protruded. Though none of that really registered in Ben's mind as he approached the faux-villain.

He'd suspected it, with how the DJ from earlier had been talking about the faux-villains they had to defeat, but as it turned its head towards Ben, focused in on him with what he presumed was a camera within its head, and called out in a distinctly artificial voice "TARGET ACQUIRED!", the Omnitrix-wielder could have laughed.

They were robots. And Ben had just the alien to deal with this kind of thing.

One flash of green later, the red-skinned Tetramand was switched out for a certain black-white-and-green Galvanic Mechamorph, with Ben calling out "UPGRADE!" before diving at the Villain Bot.

Line Break

Sending out a rope of mana from her hand, Gwen pulled a lamppost out of the ground with a sharp yank. Swinging it around her head a couple of times to build up momentum, she then threw it down a street towards a one-pointer. Though the metal object harmlessly bounced off the robot's metal form, it turned away from the boy it was currently chasing- a black-haired youth wearing a white and blue headband- to face her.

As the camera that served as its eyes zoomed in on the redhead, Gwen rushed forward, quickly closing the distance between herself and the robot as she raised her hands, conjuring spinning saw-blades out of mana that she threw at it with as much strength as she could spare while continuing to run. Before the robot could even react, the mana-blades cut through its form, destroying it in an instant. As the pieces of what used to be the one-pointer robot dropped to the ground, Gwen thrust out her hand, conjuring up a path of platforms over the robot's remains that she used to keep moving.

'Twenty-five.' She thought to herself, landing back on the ground and quickly turning down a street when she saw a lone three-pointer out of the corner of her eye. Her eyes widened slightly as it seemed to sense her, and swivelled around on its wheels towards her before suddenly beginning to charge at her. Undeterred, Gwen continued to run straight for it, a plan for how to deal with it rapidly forming in her head.

As it seemed like the three-pointer robot was just seconds away from running down her fleshy part-Anodite form, Gwen threw up a hand, forming a barrier of mana right in front of her that the three-pointer had no hope of avoiding with how fast it was going, and how close it was to her. Though she heard the squeal of its tyres skidding against the tarmac as it tried to come to a stop, it could do nothing but slide straight into Gwen's mana-barrier and bounced right over her head.

Immediately turning around, Gwen let out a yell as she raised her other hand in a fist, spawning a large spiked-ball and chain that she swung at the helpless robot with such force and strength that it smashed through the three-pointer's metal frame like it were paper, leaving only scrap in its wake.

"Hah… twenty-eight." Gwen whispered, taking a couple of breaths as the mana-flail she'd conjured up dissipated from her hand, just as the DJ's voice sounded out across the field "TWO MINUTES HAVE PASSED, EXAMINEES! EIGHT MINUTES REMAIN! KEEP IT UP, NOW!"

A pace of fourteen points per minute for the first two minutes… that really wasn't bad. But she had no idea just how much anyone else was doing, so she couldn't just rest on that many points, or even trust that more Villain Bots would be added to the field throughout the rest of the test. It was probably best to assume that there wouldn't be any more faux-villains sent into the field, so all she could do was give everything to finding whatever was left, and mopping up as many as possible.

Though it was likely that everyone ELSE in the battle-centre she was fighting in probably had the same idea, or at least a similar rationale, Gwen thought as she saw a pink-skinned girl with slightly darker hair and yellow horns gliding past her atop a grey liquid of some kind, towards a two-pointer.

Rolling her head around her shoulders and taking a couple of quick breaths to get the adrenaline flowing again, Gwen sent out thick mana-tendrils from each of her hands, that attached to the buildings on either side of her. Leaning back as far as she could physically go without either falling over or causing the tendrils to rip the buildings apart, Gwen took another breath… before letting herself go and launching herself forwards at speed, towards the two-pointer that the horned girl was chasing.

As her body flew past said horned girl, who let out a yell of mixed surprise and indignation as she did so, Gwen conjured a massive mana-fist around her own hand and slammed it into the two-pointer with enough force to reduce it to smithereens. Shards of metal flew in all directions from the attack, and Gwen had to twist her body to avoid them as she landed. Her feet hit the ground, but her momentum generated by the earlier slingshot-stunt she'd pulled sent her skidding across the pavement. Her reflexive attempts to regain balance proved unsuccessful as her feet slipped out under her.

Though rather than hit the hard ground and eat dirt, Gwen felt something soft beneath her, halting her fall. She quickly scrambled to her feet and span around to see… an enlarged hand stretched out, clearly having intended to break her fall, before it began to shrink.

"You good?"

Gwen blinked. As the large hand returned to normal size, she saw a girl with orange hair done up in a left-aligned high ponytail, and wearing a red-and-white t-shirt, jogging over. For a split-second, with all the adrenaline, Gwen vaguely registered how similar the girl actually looked to her, sans the obvious differences relating to how they wore their hair, and their respective outfits.

"I'm fine!" Gwen replied, coating her hands in mana again and taking off on foot down a street towards another two-pointer she'd spotted at the end of it. "Thanks!"

She didn't turn back, though she heard the girl's cry of "Anytime!" meet her ears as she ran, re-chronicling the total number of points she had.

'Thirty.'

Line Break

'Forty-two… forty-three… forty-five… forty-six…'

Crushing another one-pointer between two of the legs of the two-pointer robot he'd controlled and enhanced as Upgrade, Ben tossed the remains aside and dashed down the street, barrelling past the green-haired boy with the mandibles who seemed to have grown blades on his forearms. Another two-pointer robot in his sights, Ben (as the two-pointer) thrust out his tail and fired a powerful laser out of it at the robot, blowing it up immediately.

'Forty-eight…'

It was such an easy thing to add to this machine as Upgrade, he thought. Though he supposed U.A.'s faculty probably wouldn't want to put the students in any actual SERIOUS danger by giving these robots the ability to wreck them from a distance.

He'd been milling it over for the last few months, actually. Wondering why the Omnitrix had gone and re-allowed him access to the original batch of aliens that he'd been able to access the first time he'd put it on, along with the new batch he'd gained access to when he'd put it back on most recently. Was it the simple fact that he was in another universe now, and some subtle difference about it compared to his home universe had somehow messed with the watch?

Or was it the messed-up Null Void-like portal that the Highbreed had created with that busted projector, back in his and Gwen's home universe? Did that have something to do with it?

Whatever the cause, whatever the reason, it was just another in the LONG string of cases of the Omnitrix glitching out and functioning differently from how it was supposed to, for one reason or another. That was extremely common, Ben had long-since gotten used to it by this point. But a case of one of the Omnitrix's glitches actually proving pretty useful?

THAT was quite a bit less common. But like that one exploit in the first Sumo Slammers game that allowed you to get an infinite number of Akeni boxes, so you could immediately get the weapon you wanted right at the beginning of the game, and get it up to max power right out of the gate so the whole game was a breeze, Ben wasn't about to pass it up.

Max had told him about that exploit. Ben remembered him showing him some grainy video of it online, and he'd remembered staying up all night with his Grandpa to try and pull it off on his own copy. Just another in the long list of Ben's favourite memories of the legendary Plumber, and even more legendary grandpa…

…

"SEVEN MINUTES, EXAMINEES!"

Oh. Right. He was still in the middle of a practical exam. And another Villain Bot, a larger one than the two-pointer he was currently possessing, had just passed his robotic vision: a three-pointer.

Time for an upgrade for Upgrade, Ben thought to himself, immediately making a beeline for the three-pointer. Said three-pointer though, even when it was looking right at him, turned on its wheels and began rolling away, presumably towards one of the other examinees. Kind of annoying that he actually had to chase the Villain Bots down, rather than have them make a beeline for him the second they spotted him, like they'd more-than-likely do when in human (or any other alien) form.

But on the other hand, Ben supposed as he charged the three-pointer down, that would just make it too easy. Not like absolutely acing the practical was an impossibility without all the faux-villains coming to him, but still. Would sure have been nice…

Once he got close enough to the three-pointer Villain Bot, Ben made his move, de-possessing and jumping off of the two-pointer. He was close enough that, as the black-white-and-green amorphous being, he landed on the three-pointer bot and possessed it immediately. Turning it away from… wait, there wasn't even anyone there!

Whatever, he just turned it around and, with its much larger hands than the two-pointer's legs, grabbed the robot he'd been possessing two seconds ago, lifted it up and ripped it apart. Dropping its remains on the street, Ben turned and bulldozed away, taking out a passing one-pointer that Kirishima was duelling with one punch, without even looking in its direction.

'Fifty… fifty-one…'

Yeah, he'd got this.

Having reached the end of the street, Ben turned right, and clapped eyes on another three-pointer bot, this one sparking and twitching as if it'd been ran through with electricity, but still not quite destroyed. To the robot's right, he could see a guy with golden hair, standing and pointing at it.

That guy surely thought he'd got another three points in the bag, Ben thought as he started rolling towards the bot and blond. Not if he had anything to say about it!

Line Break

"THREE MINUTES, LISTENERS! NOT MUCH LONGER LEFT, NOW!"

Gwen only vaguely registered the announcement from the DJ in the back of her mind, dodging a swipe from a three-pointer's clenched fist before returning fire with a couple of mana-blasts from her hands, knocking the bot off-balance before swiping her hands across it in a cross-formation, sending a couple of sharp mana-waves that cut through and destroyed the robot.

If she was keeping count correctly, and she probably was, that brought her points total up to forty-five. Around six and a half points every minute on average, that was still an alright pace to go at, she thought. But with so little time left, everyone else was probably going to be giving it EVERYTHING to go after whatever Villain Bots there were left.

And speaking of, there probably WEREN'T that many Villain Bots left. Ever since the announcement had come out that there was four minutes left, she'd been seeing more remains of Villain Bots than intact versions.

As the remains of the bot she'd just gotten done slicing apart clattered to the ground, Gwen took off past it, coating her hands with mana so she could quickly react to any intact Villain Bot she came across… and almost tripped over herself immediately as the ground, no, the entire battle centre began to rumble around her.

The buildings' windows shattered with the movement of whatever had been unleashed onto the battlefield, which Gwen instinctually looked up at when she saw a large shadow being cast over the street she was on. Her eyes widened slightly as she took in the sight of the ENORMOUS robot that had made itself known to her, and probably the entire battle-centre with how much noise it was making. It towered over the buildings, crushing the top of one of the ones it was holding onto in one of its hands- which was probably twice the size of Gwen herself.

'Zero-pointer.' Gwen thought to herself, taking off through an alleyway and out of the robot's direct path. When she got to another street, she infused her legs with mana and jumped up into the air, clearing about half the height of the nearest building in one bound. Just as she reached her peak and felt herself beginning to descend again, Gwen casting a mana-platform beneath her feet, lightly landing on it before pushing off again, vaulting onto the rooftop with ease.

Taking a couple of breaths as she straightened up, feeling a light breeze across her face and body, Gwen looked over at the zero-pointer in her battle-centre, before casting her eyes out across the way. She could see the other six battle centres from up here, and faintly hear the sounds of battle coming from all six of them, as well as the one she herself was stood in. More noticeably though, she could see all the other zero-pointers in all the other centres, rumbling about and probably causing all manner of chaos within said centres.

'Okay, seriously, HOW can U.A. afford all this?' Gwen thought, turning back around to look at the zero-pointer within her own arena. MIT, back in her and Ben's home universe, probably had more funding than some whole countries, and yet she'd never seen or heard the most prestigious university back home doing anything as crazy as this! And this was a HIGH SCHOOL, for God's sake!

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a faint green flash and turned around, back towards one of the other battle-centres. A faint black speck rose from the buildings of one of the battle centres, towards the head of the zero-pointer in the arena, and after a couple of seconds, seemed to collide with it.

With a BOOM that would have probably deafened anyone in that battle-centre with sensitive hearing, that Gwen could hear even from where she was now, the zero-pointer in that arena was thrown backwards, before falling out of sight as smaller booms, likely explosions from the destroyed robot, sounded off.

'That better not have been Ben.' Gwen thought to herself, turning around and sighing. 'That DJ guy said really damn clearly that taking on the zero-pointers was a waste of time! …Wouldn't put it past him to ignore that, though.'

Glancing across her own battlefield to check where the zero-pointer was, Gwen cast a series of mana-platforms that led in the opposite direction from it, and took off running across them. After a few seconds' of running across the top of the battlefield, she looked down and spied another three-pointer, which was stopping at the end of a street to turn right.

Grinning to herself, Gwen broke out into a sprint, turning right slightly from where she was in hopes of cutting the villain-bot off. Quickly mentally estimating where the robot would be, assuming its current speed, by the time she got to the street it was turning onto, Gwen leaped off the last of her mana-platforms, conjuring massive mana-fists around both her hands this time around.

As she descended, she looked down to judge exactly where the three-pointer bot was… pretty much exactly where she'd estimated it would be. Sending a couple of small bursts of mana out from her feet to turn her around, Gwen raised her mana-coated fists and slammed them down on the robot. With the speed she'd already been falling plus the speed her mana-coated fists had been travelling at, her fists flew through the robot like they weren't even there, easily destroying it and slowing her descent JUST enough that she was able to land on her feet without hurting herself or losing her balance.

'Forty-eight.'

Line Break

'Seventy-one… seventy-two… seventy-five, six, seven…'

Spinning around on the wheels of the three-pointer he was currently possessing, Ben locked onto another three-pointer and immediately unleashed a barrage of missiles at it. Each one struck a different point of the robot with pinpoint accuracy, dealing irreparable damage to it and reducing it to scrap within a couple of seconds.

'Eighty.' Ben thought to himself, mounting the pavement with one of his wheels for a couple of seconds as he came out of the turn he was making, before continuing at speed down the street. He didn't even blink (not that he could, in this form) as he ran through a lamppost. Even with his assumed middling (in comparison) performance in the written exam relative to Gwen, he was pretty sure he'd more than made up for it with his practical performance.

He knew there wasn't long left: about thirty seconds by his estimate. If there were any more villain bots left intact, he could just-

"Oof!"

Ben let out a grunt of surprise as he felt himself suddenly flung airborne. Twisting himself around to try and see just what could have caused that, the three-pointer's camera-eye landed on a piece of metal embedded in the ground. Ben vaguely registered that it looked like some of the remains of a one-pointer before cursing himself for not looking where he'd been going, doubly so at the speed he'd been travelling.

He could only turn himself to face the direction he was currently headed in time to register the enormous leg of his arena's zero-pointer robot, right in front of him. And at the speed he was travelling, Ben very much doubted that the three-pointer bot he was possessing would survive the attack if it made contact.

With no time to react or reinforce the bot as Upgrade, Ben instinctually launched himself from the three-pointer as it was about to make contact with the zero-pointer, and landed on the ground in a green flash, returning to human form. He immediately raised his hands and arms to cover his face as the three-pointer made contact with the zero, blowing up on contact.

When the dust settled, Ben immediately looked down at the Omnitrix, noticing that it didn't have much charge left. It probably had one transformation left in it before needing to fully recharge… and even then, he doubted he'd be able to get much use out of whatever he picked.

At that moment, out of the corner of his eye, Ben noticed another robot, a two-pointer, rushing past on its four legs. It was going fast enough that it didn't even notice Ben standing in the street as it went… but that didn't matter, the Omnitrix-wielder thought as he span the watch with his free hand, and slammed down on it.

"FOUR. ARMS!" Ben yelled out again as he, having returned to the red-skinned alien he'd initially picked at the start of the exam, gave chase towards the two-pointer. With his longer legs and adrenaline still pumping fiercely throughout his body, he easily closed the distance to the two-pointer and leapt on it, grabbing its head and neck with two of his hands and tearing it apart. As the robot temporarily thrashed around without the use of its head, Ben leapt off the robot, landing just behind it and lifting all four of his fists up, before bringing them down on the robot with a colossal SMASH, destroying it.

"And that's that!" the DJ's voice rang out across the arena. An alarm blared up from somewhere, loud enough to be heard throughout all seven battle arenas, and as if to underline the point, the DJ called out again "TIME'S UUUUUUUUUUUP!"

At that exact moment, Ben returned to human form in a flash of green light, taking a couple of breaths as he stepped out of the wreckage of the two-pointer he'd ripped apart.

Eighty-two points, if the score he'd been keeping was right. Yeah, he thought, that should do it.

Pulling off his jacket and using it to wipe some sweat from his brow, before loosely tying it around his waist, he followed the mill of examinees as they headed out of the battle centre they'd spent the last ten minutes fighting in.

"I think I got seventeen… crap, do you think that'll be enough?"

"I got twenty-one! …Well, there's always Shiketsu, right?"

"Did you see who possessed those robots? That was insane!"

"Lucky bastard, it's like his Quirk was MADE for this exam!"

Ben resisted the urge to smirk as he heard the chatter of other examinees, made his way through the open gates of the battle centre, and back onto the bus that had brought them here in the first place.

"Hey, Tennyson!"

Looking up, he saw Kirishima waving over at him, looking like he was saving him a seat. Nodding to the dark-haired black-haired hardener, Ben made his way over and flopped down into the aisle-seat next to him, taking a couple of breaths.

"You good, man?" Kirishima asked, looking over at him with a grin on his face while stretching himself a bit. "Jeez… I'm gonna be feeling some of this tomorrow."

"Same." Ben replied, relaxing himself as he heard the bus' engine starting up, and the vehicle beginning to move. "You think you made up for the written bit?"

"Hopefully!" Kirishima sighed, leaning back in his seat and relaxing a little himself. "Thirty-nine points, if I counted right… how many did you get?"

"I, uh…" Ben blinked a couple of times, before shrugging. "Lost count." He remarked. "Was too focused on taking out whatever I could find."

"Fair enough." Kirishima nodded. "You probably got loads, what with that four-armed guy you turned into! Makes sense, what you were saying earlier, if you've got a Transformer-type like that."

"Trans…?" Ben began, before his mind caught up to what Kirishima was talking about. "Oh, yeah. Guess we're pretty similar on that front."

Kirishima nodded, glancing out of the window for a couple of seconds, looking back at the battle-centres that the busses moved away from, before looking back at Ben.

"But maaan… what about that guy who was possessing the robots?" he asked. "Did you see them? They were rolling around like nobody's business!"

"Yeah, I saw them a couple of times." Ben nodded. "Wouldn't be surprised if they got, I dunno, sixty points? At the very least?"

"For sure, man!" Kirishima replied. "No way U.A.'s gonna turn down someone with that high a score!"

Ben let out a hum, allowing himself a small half-smile as the bus rolled on, back to U.A.'s main campus.

Line Break

Taking a breath and stretching a little in the aftermath of such exercise, Gwen leaned against the fence just outside U.A.'s campus grounds, turning to glance through its gates before returning to her position just outside. The adrenaline from the practical exam had long-since worn off on the bus ride back to campus, but that didn't quell the need for a nice long shower… which she would ABSOLUTELY fight Ben for the right to have first, if it came down to it.

Even though she'd just done it half a minute ago, she turned to glance through the gates once again, scanning over the continuous line of examinees exiting the building and heading down the path that led to the exit. Some where chatting nervously with each other, others were quiet, and there were a rare few that looked nothing less than smug, like a boy with spiky sandy-blond hair and sharp red eyes who had his hands in his pockets as he turned out of the school gates and continued on his way.

Or despondent, like the green-haired boy with a rather plain face that appeared out of the gates a moment or so later.

Soon after the green-haired boy, however, Ben came sauntering out of the building, his jacket slung over his shoulder. His eyes narrowed slightly in reaction to the sunlight, but when he looked over and spied Gwen, he immediately quickened his pace through the crowd, out the gates to reunite with his cousin.

"Took you long enough." Gwen remarked, when Ben got close enough. Almost immediately, the pair of them began walking down the street, towards the nearest train-station in hopes of catching the next train back to their apartment… Gwen REALLY wanted that shower.

"Just had to make sure the bots knew who was boss, is all." Ben replied, stretching. "Ahh… that was a cinch!"

"Yeah, I bet it was." Gwen resisted the urge to roll her eyes, but couldn't resist grinning in response to Ben's remark. "Though to be fair, it's like that practical was MADE for you."

"Or Upgrade, to be more specific." Ben remarked, looking down at the Omnitrix before shoving the wrist carrying it, as well as the other one, in his pockets as he and Gwen walked. "How many points did you end up getting?"

"Fifty-one." Gwen replied, running a hand through her hair and taking a breath of her own. "I mean, I think. More than anyone else in my group that I heard from, so I guess I did pretty well… I just hope I did well enough."

Ben gave her a sideways glance, stretching himself some more before crossing his hands behind his head.

"Gwen. Come on." He replied. "With how well you probably did on the written bit, you probably could've just taken a nap by the gates for ten minutes, and you'd still have been fine overall."

"Not that I'd want to. The area didn't look very comfortable." Gwen retorted, before letting gout a breath. "Though you're probably right, to be honest. But still, better to not risk it… what about you? How many did you get?"

"Eighty-two… I think." Ben replied, a self-satisfied smirk crossing his face. "Like I said, total cinch."

"Of course." Gwen rolled her eyes. "You probably barely left any left for the others, did you?"

"Hey, I left enough for one of the others to get thirty-nine!" Ben protested, mock-hurt in his voice but the smirk remaining. "That's… nearly half of what I got!"

Gwen shot him a sideways glance.

"Nearly half… I'm glad you were able to show such restraint." She remarked, sarcasm creeping into the last bit.

The cousins shared a laugh with each other before falling into companionable silence, as they continued their walk down the street. When the station came into view, Ben spoke up again.

"Hey, do you know when we're getting our results?"

"Yeah." Gwen replied as they entered the station, retracing the steps they'd taken at the start of the day as they headed to the platform their train would be on, as it was arriving in a few minutes. "We'll be getting them in a week. One of the teachers told me while I was heading out. The cement-looking guy."

"Ahh, okay." Ben nodded, putting his hands down and slinging his jacket back on, as the cooler atmosphere of the station proved a bit too chilly for just a short-sleeved shirt and nothing else. "Some time to kill before we know whether all of this was for nothing, or not."

Ignoring the dirty look Gwen shot him for a couple of seconds, he continued.

"We could probably take more shifts at Mekakohi's, in the meantime. Keep busy."

"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing." Gwen replied, as they got to the escalator and rode it down to their platform. "Good idea."

As they reached the bottom, just as their train pulled into the station, Gwen shifted slightly closer to Ben, her voice lowering slightly as they made their way through one of the train's open doors, getting on and taking seats.

"Hey Ben… you didn't blow up that zero-pointer, did you? Near the end of the exam?"

"Zero-pointer?" Ben replied, blinking a couple of times. "Someone blew one of those things up?"

Line Break

Glad to see the young Tennysons' years of heroic adventures have paid off for them. Never had any doubt at all that something like this would be zero challenge. I'm sure they'll get along swimmingly in their new school, and who knows?

Perhaps they'll leave it- and the new friends they are about to know- in a better place than they found it.