New York, Manhattan
The scratching of a pencil was the only sound inside the small dorm room.
Afternoon sunlight streamed through the window, painting long golden streaks across the desk where Amelia Sandra Tennyson sat finishing the final questions of her homework. Books, notebooks, loose papers, half-disassembled electronics, and enough scattered tools to concern any responsible adult occupied nearly every available surface.
Amelia herself looked nothing like the organized students advertised in college brochures.
Her dark chestnut-brown hair was tied into a high ponytail that swayed whenever she moved. Sweeping bangs framed her face, occasionally falling into her bright emerald-green eyes whenever she leaned too far over her work. Despite spending most of her time studying, gaming, researching, or taking things apart just to see how they worked, she maintained a slim athletic figure with narrow shoulders, a defined waist, and wider hips.
A few seconds later she dropped her pencil onto the desk.
"Done."
The word echoed through the empty room.
She stretched her arms above her head before letting out a groan.
For a brief moment her eyes drifted toward her left wrist.
The Omnitrix.
Even after ten weeks she still wasn't completely used to seeing it there.
The device looked almost identical to the recalibrated Omnitrix Ben wore. The overall shape was unmistakable.
The difference was the color scheme.
Deep violet formed the primary armor plating.
Black sections wrapped around the bands.
Gold decorated the faceplate.
At the center sat a dark dial marked with a purple insignia.
It looked familiar.
Yet completely different.
Amelia rested her chin on one hand.
Should I head back to Bellwood soon?
Her fingers tapped lightly against the desk.
Then again, Ben's probably already put the Omnitrix back on.
That thought brought a small smile to her face.
By now he's probably tracking down Plumbers' kids, dealing with DNAliens, and stumbling his way into a war with the Highbreed.
Some things apparently happened no matter which universe you were in.
Her gaze shifted back toward the Omnitrix.
Ten weeks ago she'd gone to sleep watching Ben 10: Alien Force.
Ten weeks ago she'd been a completely normal guy.
Then she'd woken up here.
In another universe.
Inside Amelia Sandra Tennyson.
Ben Tennyson's twin sister.
And with an Omnitrix attached to her arm.
Honestly?
The watch had been easier to process.
At least alien watches existed in Ben 10.
Multiversal reincarnation wasn't supposed to.
A sigh escaped her lips.
The body thing still felt weird sometimes.
Not nearly as much as it had during the first week.
But every now and then she'd catch her reflection and remember she wasn't supposed to look like this.
At least she'd gotten used to it enough to function.
The Omnitrix, however?
That remained complicated.
At first she'd only had Grey Matter.
Just Grey Matter.
One alien.
One.
Meanwhile Ben's Omnitrix had dozens.
Even worse, her version lacked a ridiculous number of functions Ben's possessed.
No Master Control.
No useful settings.
No obvious upgrade systems.
Nothing.
Which meant she'd have to improve it herself.
Eventually.
Her eyes narrowed.
I really need to get my hands on some proper alien technology.
Then another thought appeared.
Or maybe I should just find Azmuth.
A few seconds later she immediately shook her head.
"Nope."
That sounded like a terrible idea.
Azmuth already dealt with enough nonsense.
Showing up and explaining she was a reincarnated fan from another universe sounded like a fast way to give the smartest being in five galaxies a migraine.
She stood from her chair.
"At least I don't have to manually unlock anything."
The Omnitrix remained silent.
Amelia pointed at it anyway.
"One alien every week. That's actually pretty generous."
She grabbed her phone from the desk and checked the date.
A grin spread across her face.
"Tomorrow's number eleven."
That immediately improved her mood.
Eleven aliens.
Not bad.
Although…
"I'd really appreciate a heavy hitter."
Her expression flattened.
"Four Arms. Humungousaur. Something."
Grey Matter was amazing.
Brainstorm was amazing.
Jury Rigg was amazing.
But sometimes she wanted the solution to a problem to be punching it through a wall.
She slipped on a hoodie and pulled the hood over her head.
Another thought entered her mind.
A dangerous thought.
The kind that usually led to questionable decisions.
"I wonder what would happen if my Omnitrix got close to Ben's."
Silence.
Amelia stared into space.
Then immediately pointed at herself.
"No."
A pause.
"…Maybe."
A longer pause.
"…Definitely maybe."
⸻
Night had fallen over Manhattan by the time she reached the scrap yard.
Towering piles of rusted metal stretched toward the sky.
Broken televisions.
Old computers.
Discarded machinery.
Vehicle parts.
Batteries.
Motherboards.
Wires.
Mountains of forgotten technology.
The air smelled faintly of rust, oil, and rain-soaked metal.
To most people it looked like junk.
To Amelia?
It looked beautiful.
She climbed over a pile of scrap and stopped near an abandoned workbench.
"Alright."
Her hand moved toward the Omnitrix.
"Let's see if today's experiment ends with success."
A beat.
"Or an explosion."
Another beat.
"…Hopefully success."
She pressed the dial.
Purple light erupted upward.
A holographic menu appeared.
Alien silhouettes rotated slowly above the device.
Amelia immediately selected one.
"Grey Matter."
She slammed the dial down.
Violet energy exploded around her.
Her body rapidly shrank.
Bones compressed.
Limbs shortened.
The world expanded around her as she became smaller and smaller.
Human skin shifted into smooth gray flesh.
Her eyes enlarged dramatically, becoming frog-like and bright purple.
Her clothing transformed alongside her, becoming a fitted purple-and-gray outfit.
A small Omnitrix emblem with a purple-and-black dial materialized on her stomach.
The light faded.
A tiny Galvan stood where Amelia had been.
The moment the transformation finished, information flooded her mind.
Calculations.
Engineering principles.
Mathematics.
Possibilities.
Thousands of possibilities.
A grin spread across Grey Matter's face.
"Oh, I missed this."
She immediately got to work.
Circuits.
Processors.
Motherboards.
Energy regulators.
Power storage systems.
Anything remotely useful disappeared into an increasingly large pile.
Eventually she slapped the Omnitrix symbol on her stomach.
Purple light engulfed her.
Her tiny body rapidly expanded.
Gray skin disappeared.
Orange armor-like plating spread across her body.
Her torso widened.
Multiple crab-like limbs emerged.
Her head enlarged dramatically as black and gray stripes formed across the shell.
Sections of her cranial armor opened.
Violet electricity crackled between them.
When the transformation completed, Brainstorm stood in the center of the junkyard.
Electricity danced between her claws.
Her enlarged mind immediately began sorting through possibilities.
Blueprints formed.
Failed designs were discarded.
New ones took their place.
Components floated through the air under controlled bursts of electricity.
Metal bent.
Circuits fused.
Connections formed.
Hours passed.
Transform.
Work.
Timeout.
Recharge.
Transform again.
Failed prototypes littered the ground.
Burnt processors.
Melted wiring.
Cracked circuits.
Several unfortunate explosions.
One particularly impressive explosion.
Amelia refused to talk about that one.
Five hours later she stared at two completed chips resting in her hands.
Silence.
Then:
"…Please work."
A violet flash returned her to human form.
Amelia carefully opened a compartment within the Omnitrix.
The two chips slid into place.
The device hummed.
Lights flashed.
Then a voice echoed from the watch.
[Battery duration extension successful.]
Amelia's eyes widened.
"YES!"
The Omnitrix continued.
[Recharge time reduction successful.]
Her grin became even wider.
[Lifeform lock mode acquired.]
"Oh that's cool."
[Transformation instinct feature acquired.]
Amelia blinked.
Then blinked again.
A laugh escaped her.
"Master Control would've been nice."
She tapped the device.
"But honestly? I'll take it."
The Omnitrix remained silent.
Amelia looked toward the stars above Manhattan.
"Fifteen-minute transformations."
A grin appeared.
"One-minute recharge."
A bigger grin.
"And instinctive knowledge of alien abilities."
She nodded in approval.
"Yeah."
For the first time since arriving in this universe, things were starting to come together.
Tomorrow she'd receive her eleventh alien.
And after that?
Bellwood.
Time to go home.