The world changed for Mankind in the early years of the eighties when the Golden Man was first discovered, giving rise to the Age of Parahumans, now a new bell tolls the start of a new era as a small device is discovered by a young girl, and humanity starts to learn that they are not alone in this vast universe.
The sun slowly sets, its last rays painting the sky a beautiful collage of brilliant golds, shining oranges, and deep purples - all the while, the nearby snow topped mountain is dyed an almost silver in the light. The soft scents of pine and fresh loamy soil mix together into a comforting, calming haze, wrapped in the lightest touch of fog that rolls across the gathered lodges and tents of Camp Crystal River.
One would call it a picturesque evening.
In fact, with this being the last evening of this particular camp session, you didn't have an responsibilities as a Councillor in Training, and so you were planning on spending the evenings taking as many pictures as you could of the beautiful sunset, the campers that you had spent the last week teaching, and your friends among the staff.
At least... it had been a picture perfect evening, and that had been the plan, but all of that went out the window when the screaming started.
So here you stand, a fourteen year old girl by the name of Taylor Hebert, standing among the roots of a ancient oak tree, staring up in frustration and horror at what was high above you.
One of the repeat campers, a twelve year old boy by the name of Micheal Chadwich (who had been at the summer camp both of the last two years back when you were just a regular camper) was stuck, high up in the topmost branches of the ancient oak, without any idea of how to get down.
Now Micheal being stuck up there was a bad enough problem, but he wasn't the only one in the tree. Another camper heard the screams, and had started climbing up into the tree before you, the other CiTs, or the actual Councillors had arrived. You're pretty sure that this was the ten year old's first year at the camp, and you think his name might be Ben or something like that.
So there are two different kids up there in the branches of the tree, both high enough up that if they fall, at best they'll have a bunch of broken bones, but more likely than not, a fall from that height would kill them.
Naturally, all of Micheal's screaming had drawn the attention of the rest of the camp, of course... leaving you and the other CiTs trying to keep the rest of the kids calm while Miss Lilliana Snyder, the Head Councillor, left to go and get the massive emergency rescue ladder that the camp owns just in case something like this happens.
"Oh god, Ben!" You hear a horrified voice cry out. Glancing back for a moment, you spot one camper in particular, a girl about ten staring up into the tree, her pale face making her red hair seem all the brighter. "W-what is he thinking?" She whimpers out, voice cracking.
Looking back up at the duo in the tree, you can see the younger camper pause for a moment, but only just a moment before he continues to push upwards.
You hate this.
You hate how trapped you feel.
You hate how all you can do is stand and watch.
You hate how the winds nip and pull at the boy's shirt.
You hate how scared the red headed girl seems, staring up at Ben.
You just hate everything about this horrible situation, and you wish so hard... harder than you have ever wished before that you were a cape.
You wish that you had super powers. The ability to fly, or super strength, or the ability to like... climb up walls or just...
Just anything, any kind of super power that you can use to save those two idiots and untie the knot of horror and desperation that weighs heavily in the depths of your chest. But you don't have powers, and all you can do is continue to watch as a ten year old climbs higher and higher.
You watch as the boy reaches Micheal, and you watch as he talks with the boy. The words are lost to the winds, but you can see as Micheal puts on a strong face, nodding to whatever it is that Ben says. Ben slowly shifts and moves, bracing himself against the branch he is on, and allowing the other boy to use him as a step in order to help he start to descend.
Little by little, the two make their way down through the branches, with Ben often stopping to help Micheal whenever the older boy freezes up, unable to reach the next branch. It only takes a couple of minutes for Miss Snyder to return with the ladder, and already the two have made it a decent way down the tree, so it takes no time at all for the Head Councillor to set up the ladder and get the two down.
As Ben and Micheal's feet finally touch ground, you let loose a long sigh of relief, though one that does turn into a bit of a laugh when you watch the red headed girl first hug Ben, then almost leaps off of him with an embarrassed shout, then smacks him over the head. "What were you thinking?" She cries, trying to wipe the tears from her eyes, "You could have died! Wh-what would I have told Mom? What would I have told Aunt Sandra?"
The boy grumbles, but there is a smile on his face as bright as the sun. "Ow... Gwen, there's no need to hit me, I'm fine. I'm me! I'm not going to go and die, so it's all good." The look of almost apoplectic rage that crosses the girl's face does bring another laugh out of you, but you still step between the two to make sure that Gwen doesn't end up killing her... brother? cousin? Whatever the two are to each other.
"Hey now," You say with a bit of a laugh as you step between the two. "Cool it you two, I know that you were worried about him, but everything turned out for the best, so let's not go and kill him now, alright?" The girl grumbles, but there is a smile on both their faces.
"I am proud of you, Ben, even if you are a dweeb." Oh, right, you do remember these two now. Gwen and Ben, a pair of cousins who (according to the other CiTs at least) have essentially been at each other's throat all week. If nothing else, this bit of madness might have helped them de-
Never mind, he's sticking his tongue out at her, and she's chasing after him, as the two get back to bickering. Even so, there's a smile on both of the younger camper's faces, so you just roll your eyes and shake your head as he head back to camp. The sun might have set, and the best sunset you've seen over the week is gone, there's still plenty of light. Grabbing your camera and a lantern, you give a wave to Miss Snyder as start up the trailhead.
While you don't really need the light, since you've been coming to this camp for close to a decade now, and you know the trails like the back of your hand, taking one with you at night is camp policy, and as a CiT it's your responsibility to give a good example to the campers. Plus, you never know when a bit of extra light could come in handy. The last dregs of evening slowly fade into night, as the stars slowly start to twinkle in the velvet sky, and you plan on trying to get at least a few good pictures of the night sky.
Cresting the first big hill of the trail, you turn towards the camp - from here you can see the whole of the campsite as it sprawls outwards from where Crystal River feeds into Black Meadow Lake. In the center of the camp, shadows wriggle and dance from where the campers are celebrating their last night at the camp in front of the Bonfire that's been lit.
Settling atop a nice, flat rock, you take a couple of quick pictures.
A few more of the lake, and the river, and a few of the forest for good measure, before you pop back up to your feet, storing your camera. But before you can start to head back towards the camp, you spot something high above the warm lights of the bonfire.
It almost looks like a star, it twinkles brighter and faster than any star you've seen before - Once, twice, it seems to sparkle, before you start to realize something far more interesting. The star is... moving, slowly idling it's way across the sky... Oh.
You realize with a smile that it's a shooting star, and you quickly pull your camera out again, snapping picture after picture as you try to get a really good shot to show your dad when you get back home tomorrow evening.
Snap. Snap. Sanp. It takes you a moment, as you wonder why the star isn't moving nearly as much as you expect it to, but after glancing down at your camera and back up, you realize why. The star hasn't moved much horizontally, but it certainly looks bigger than it did when you first spotted it.
Now, it's not actually bigger, it just looks bigger. That's how things work when they get closer to the thing they see.
As in, the falling star... it's falling towards you.
That realization nearly sends you into a panic, as the object continues to rip through the sky closer and closer, but the training you've gotten at the beginning of the summer helps you keep a level head. You start back down the trail towards the camp, but barely take a hundred steps before the world kicks up, throwing you off your feet.
KRAKABATHRROOOM
Laying there on the ground, everything hurt, and you groan into the dirk before you slowly start to push yourself up, and stumble to your feet. Turning. you look over where you had just been a few minutes ago, only to see your favorite sitting rock is gone, and the ground cratered, trees burnt and bent back with smoke wafting up from the crash...
Yet...
Even with the smoke rising up, there is something distinctly...
Wrong.
Whatever it was that fell from the sky doesn't look like a stone, it's spherical. Not like, you know, a rounded stone, but instead it was a perfect sphere. One would argue that it looks almost artificially so. Carefully you creep a bit closer, and it doesn't take long at all for the smoke to start to clear, allowing you to finally take a good look at the thing in front of you.
Turns out you are right, because whatever this thing is... it's pretty obviously not natural. It's a pod of some kind, a perfect sphere made of overlapping plates, and it's nearly as tall as you are. After a moment of thought, you hop down into the crater, and carefully approach the thing. You've no idea where it comes from, and it was probably made by some sort of Tinker, but you have no idea why a Tinker would send this thing to a summer camp. You take one step more, and with an affirmative beep, the sphere suddenly starts to unfurl, its plates sliding back to reveal that the center of the thing was hollow. Well, hollow other than the thing sitting in its center.
There in the center of the pod was some kind of bulky grey and black watch. It had some kind of silvery piping that went along it, and it's face was black and green. "What?" You ask, more baffled by what you see more than anything else. Your eyes slide back up, tracing along the skyline as you try and see if you can... well, to be honest, you aren't sure. See if you can see anything in the sky that might explain where it came from, and who it might belong to.
You don't see anything, not that you would have any idea of what you should be looking for as it is. A ship, or a Tinker, or any number of things - you don't see any of those though. Just the open sky. Really, something like this - a strange pod that falls out of the sky and opens up to reveal a watch - that's something that someone like you should just leave alone. It would probably be for the best if you just back away and leave this thing for the superheroes to deal with.
You take a step back, away from the strange pod, but as soon as you start to move, the watch suddenly coils up on itself, almost like some kind of liquid, and then shoots forward, slamming into your wrist with enough weight and force to knock you back off your feet.
You can't help the scream that rips from your throat as you scramble back away from the pod while you try and pull the thing off of you. It doesn't work. You have no idea what the thing is, other than the fact that it looks like a watch, and that it can move on it's own, so it's probably some kind of Tinkertech. You spend several minutes trying to get the thing free, before you slide down to your knees, gasping. You can't even get a fingernail under edge of the thing to try and pull it free, which is really odd because you don't feel like it's clamping down on your arm. In fact, you can barely feel the thing at all. At this point you're more swing your arm out of frustration than out of any real expectation to actually get the thing off.
And as you expected, it still refuses to come up, so you slowly stand back up with a grumble, before looking down the crest of the hill towards the camp. The shadows dance about as you watch the Campers all gather to one side of the fire. It takes a moment, before you realize that you know what you are looking at - The Councillors would be gathering up everyone after the impact to make sure that no one is missing...
That means that they are going to be looking for you too, so it would probably be best if you start heading back to camp so that they don't have to worry about you.
Switching the little pocket lantern on, and clipping it to your pants, you start to jog back down the strangely quiet trail, wracking your brain for what you should say if anyone mentions the strange new watch that you've gotten stuck on your arm.
...
...
...
...Yeah... You can't think of any kind of explanation that probably won't end up with you locked up in a cell or in a lab or something... so maybe it's just for the best if you don't mention the watch to an- You come to a stop, glancing around. Something is wrong, but you aren't sure what... It takes you longer than you would like to admit, standing there in the silence before you realize that it is the silence itself that is wrong. The crickets and the cicadas have all gone quiet... Everything seems to be fine, bu-
A chill runs down your spine as the hairs on the back of your neck stand, and you suddenly dive forward.
KAZAP
The air tastes of ozone, as there is a bright flare of red light that passes overhead. Rolling forward, you spin, facing the source of... you think it might have been a laser. There, bobbing silently in the air was, a huge brown and red looking machine.
The thing was silent, with a half dozen wickedly sharp looking pincers, and it did just try to flash fry you, so you have a feeling that this thing is probably not friendly. The thing sweeps it's largest claw around towards you again, before it fires off another crimson laser. Yeah. Definitely not a good robot.
You feel the dirt and stones skitter out from under your feet as you rush off the trail and into the woods, bobbing and weaving between the tress as quickly as you can, trying to put as much distance between you and the robot as you can. On the one hand, you are really tempted to continue heading down hill, so that you would eventually reach the campsite - there is safety in numbers after all.
On the other hand, that means that you could possibly be leading that thing towards the other campers, and there is no way that you would do that to them. Of course, on the other other hand, it's likely as well that there are more of these things, and that they might go after the campers...
Spinning around one of the trees, you slowly slide down to the ground, gasping for air. You know that you aren't in as good a shape as you would like, so you are going to need a moment to try and collect your breath. If only there was a hero here. Someone who could do... something, anything, in order to help everyone at the camp.
Bringing your hands together, you take a breath, then drop them in your lap. You feel something under one finger...
A button, on the inner side of the watch. For a moment you sit there, before you realize that you really don't have much to lose. Sure, you might put your life in danger by pushing the button, but it's not like there isn't a giant killer robot around as it is.
You press the button. Then face of the watch pops up, revealing a dial and as you slowly start to turn the dial... ten different strange images.
Which image do you choose?
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Making a decision, you slowly push down the face plate, and your world is consumed by a flash of green.
Welcome to Would You Look at the Time?
I've had this idea percolating in my head for a good while, longer than even A Day Unlike Any Other, particularly because I liked the idea of throwing the Omnitrix into the Worm universe... Or, perhaps more accurately, putting Earth Bet into the Ben 10 cosmos.
In a way this story is going to be smaller scale than ADUAO... primarily because there are no other crossover elements, but also for a handful of other reasons.
Simply put, ADUAO is an adventure genre quest, while WLYATT is going to be a city scale super hero quest...
Mostly, there will be times when it goes beyond that, but yeah.
Your Genetic Structure is particularly resilient, reducing the amount of genetic damage that the Omnitrix's use causes, thus reducing the amount of Genetic Upkeep the Omnitrix has to before allowing the user to transform again
Inherently Aligned
There is something about your genetic structure that allows the Omnitrix to bond your molecular structure and genetics much easier than was originally intended - this means that you start with in sync with the Omnitrix, with all the benefits that grants, it also means that removing the Omnitrix is harder.
Natural Operative
The design of the Omnitrix makes sense to you. The way that certain features are implemented are the same way that you would think to implement them, meaning that it is far easier for you to find features, because that is how you would set it up if you were creating it.
Unsteady Fighter
Being a fighter just isn't who you are, and it takes extra time for you to pick up on different ways to fight.
Physical Disparity
From a genetic level, you just aren't as strong as other humans, and in turn, your alien forms aren't as strong as they could be.
Name
Type
Description
Name
Type
Mastery
Description
Omnitrix Activation
Learned
100%
You have learned how to activate the Omnitrix
Voice Activation Mode
Learned
100%
You have gained access to the Omnitrix Voice Control system
Quick Change System (Manual)
Learned
100%
You have learned how to access the Manual Quick Change system
One of the twelve power classifications, Blasters are parahumans that have ranged offensive options. The majority of these powers are damaging, but this is not always the case.
Breaker
One of the twelve power classifications, Breakers have the ability to alter themselves to a different state in which they maintain different abilities, although Breakers with permanently altered states also exist.
Brute
One of the twelve power classifications, A Brute classification typically indicates enhanced strength or durability, often both.
Cape
a slang term that refers to people with powers, and was inherited from the universal costume symbol of superheroes and supervillains - the cape. It applies to most of the parahumans in North America and is applied to other parahumans outside it. Regardless of how closely those parahumans fit into the "suprehero" paradigm.
Changer
One of the twelve power classifications, Changers can alter their form, appearance, or natural abilities through some form of manipulation of their own bodies
Endbringer
A Trio of inhuman creatures who attack civilization every three months
Grabbag
A colloquialism for those capes whose have multiple minor abilities to go along with a primary ability
Hero
A Parahuman who acts to help others
Kill Order
A government mandate order that allows for the killing of an individual with no legal repercussions. Normally only granted to the worst of the worst
Manton Effect
A common tendency among powers to affect either living targets or inanimate objects, but not both. This seems to be a manifestation of a more general tendency of powers to be limited to facilitate their use by humans; more specifically, powers tend to have in built controls to avoid harming the parahuman using them.
Master
One of the twelve power classifications, Masters are parahumans that are either able to manipulate others or to create minions to do their bidding.
Mover
One of the twelve power classifications, Movers have the ability to transport themselves or others to other locations, using a variety of different methods to accomplish this
Parahuman
The classification of those humans who have awakened to super human abilities
Power Classification
A system of understanding the different abilities of Parahumans, there are 12 different classifications currently in use.
Rogue
A Parahuman who does not act as a superhero, nor as a super villain.
S-Class
The Highest Ranking of Power Scaling, signifying threats to massive numbers of human lives.
Shaker
One of the twelve power classifications, Shakers are parahumans that can affect a broader area, asserting some degree of control over the battlefield.
Stranger
One of the twelve power classifications, trangers have powers related to stealth, distraction, infiltration, or subterfuge.
Striker
One of the twelve power classifications, Strikers are parahumans that have powers that are touch-based or melee ranged
Thinker
One of the twelve power classifications, Thinkers have powers related to knowledge, skills and enhanced perception.
Tinker
One of the twelve power classifications, Tinkers have the ability to fabricate alien or advanced technology
Trump
One of the twelve power classifications, Trumps have powers that can manipulate powers in some capacity; altering, granting, strengthening, weakening or removing them entirely.
Villain
A Parahuman who uses their abilities for their own selfish gain, breaking the law to do so
Technology
Containment Foam
Containment Foam
Creator
Dragon
The Primary means of containing Parahumans used by the PRT
Omnitrix
The Omnitrix
Creator
Unknown
A mysterious alien watch-like device that allows it's wearer to transform into ten different alien forms.
Organizations
Guild, the
The Guild
Leader
Narwhal
A Canadian-based superhero team that focuses on international threats.
Medhall Pharmaceutical
Medhall Pharmaceutical
CEO
Max Anders
A pharmaceuticals company based in Brockton Bay
New Wave
New Wave
Leader
Lady Photon
A family group of heroes operating in Brockton Bay. It's one of the only teams to not draw a clear line between civilian and cape identities.
Parahuman Response Team
Parahuman Response Team
Leader
Director Coasta Brown
A paramilitary organization that also encompasses police and/or emergency functions, they are trained to deal with parahumans and the fallout of their actions.
Protectorate
The Protectorate
Leader
Legend
The Primary Government Sponsored parahuman superhero team of the North Americas
Wards, the
The Wards
Leader
???
The Under eighteen subdivision of the Protectorate, an organization dedicated to the rearing of teenage superhumans, teaching them how to properly use their abilities, and when they should use them
Gangs
Archer's Bridge Merchants
The Archer's Bridge Merchants
Primary Crimes
Drug Trade
Leader
Skidmark
A territory-less organization of drug users who primarily deal in the drug trade. They are nominally considered the weakest gang in the Bay, however they are also the oldest.
Azn Bad Boys
Azn Bad Bois
Primary Crimes
theft, protection rackets, peddling contraband, prostitution and sexual slavery.
Leader
Lung
The Youngest Gang in the City, the Azn Bad Boys are formed from a wide number of Asian gangs that crossed into the United States following the sinking of Kyushu. The gang is lead by what is considered to be the single strongest Parahuman in Brockton Bay, Lung.
Empire Eighty-Eight
The Empire Eighty Eight
Primary Crimes
Hate Crimes against non whites, theft, protection rackets, dog fighting rings, white collar crime, peddling contraband, dealing drugs, and prostitution
Leader
Kaiser
A generational White Supremacist Gang that has existed in the bay for over twenty years. The Leadership has passed down from the former leader to the current
A duo of Parahumans who commonly have assistance either setting up their schemes or in the form of non powered back up. More focused on spectacle than actual crime, but they have no interest in following the law. They stream their actions online, and the majority of their actions are Video Game Themed
You are Taylor Anne Hebert, and during your most recent stay at Camp Crystal River, where you were acting as a Councillor in Training, you discovered a strange and mysterious alien device known as the Omnitrix. It has attached itself to your wrist, and after some experimentation, you have discovered that it allows you to take over ten different forms... Based on the encounters you had that night, and the being who is hunting for you... a creature known as Vilgax, you believe that (as crazy as it sounds) The thing on your wrist transforms you into different alien species.
Name
Hero Designation
Home Planet
Description
Galvanic Mechamorph
None
Unknown
Humanoid Technorganic creature, seems to be in colors of Green and Black.
... I just realized how utterly hax the watch is in worm. Literally 1 of our forms isn't utter bullshit and even that is just because it's not really unique.
Also I just remembered why galvans are my favorite and boy oh boy is it gonna be fun.
edit: Also did some checking and if I eyeball correctly To'Kustars are actually bigger than the simurgh so that's going to be fun.
... I just realized how utterly hax the watch is in worm. Literally 1 of our forms isn't utter bullshit and even that is just because it's not really unique.
Also I just remembered why galvans are my favorite and boy oh boy is it gonna be fun.
Stinkfly is really durable, has the blades, and emits special fluids useful for a myriad of purposes. Slightly weaker as a brute than rath without the combat thinker ability and with weak wings but echanges this for a lot of versatility and some unique features than make him stand out.
Also my statement was less to the effect of power levels and more sheer power of unique tbh.
In the original draft of this idea, it was post Omniverse Ben who ended up getting dropped into worm via that singularity bomb that Bakuda uses.
It quickly became apparent that the over 70 forms available to Ben would essentially give him a 12 in every rating other than Trump, which would either be an 8 or an infinity depending on how the power is explained.
It was while trying to figure out when to throw Ben in that the idea of just having the Omnitrix land on Earth Bet came up in my head, which would allow for not just the Omnitrix, but things like Vilgax and the Incurseans and the Highbreed and... well, the rest of the Galaxy to end up potentially showing up, which I thought would be a lot more fun.