Nick’s heart dropped slightly as he gulped, “w-what about Erebus?” He asked as Twilight looked at him, finally learning the royal stare. “Before we allowed you to sleep you mentioned Erebus, but we couldn’t get the full story while you were dazed.”

Nick looked at her sweat rolling down his face as the alicorn sighed, “Nick we’re in this together. You need to tell me...what is he..?”

Nick took a deep breath, feeling a tightness in his chest before taking another deep breath then exhaling. “He is human like me...at least I think...from what I could gather he had the same physical traits of a human but, he was a monster on the inside I could tell.” He said moving forward and sitting in front of Twilight who was listening intently.

“Before I even saw him I looked around and saw the Manticore that he used to attack me then a mutated Timber Wolf and...just both of them looked horrible! Bones protruding from their bodies and literally the Manticore had fucking fire circling around it 24/7!” He said as Twilight loosened up on him, Nick’s heart was going a hundred miles an hour before he felt the gentle wing of Twilight wrap around him.

Calming down he continued, he was clearly scared and anxious but refused to shed a tear. “Erebus himself. He wanted me to join him, and when I refused he said no matter what I did that the outcome would be the same, he has something planned for Equestria but he didn’t say...but after that and before I was knocked out he told me. ‘Don’t get too attached to the ponies of Equestria, I’ll let you live for now to have some fun.’ Or something along the lines..”

Twilight looked at Nick before leaning into his shoulder nuzzling him softly, “I’m sorry Nick I just..needed to know that...are you ok?” She asked, concern in her eyes as Nick rubbed her mane with his hand before looking down at his Omnitrix.

“I just don’t know if I’ll be able to help stop Erebus…” He said looking away and to the side, “Nick. Everyone is scared when faced with a new challenge.” Twilight said putting a hoof on his cheek and moving off him. His eyes locking with her’s, “I was scared when I had to face Nightmare Moon, but it’s overcoming that fear that makes us stronger...that makes us heroes.”

“Yeah...makes YOU heroes...I still anxious in the fucking dark by myself!” He said chuckling a bit before standing up, Nick gulped slightly as he walked toward the door a magical aura surrounding it. “Nick…”

The human looked at his wrist clicking the faceplate of his watch and pushing down on the dial, turning into the Ectonurite Ghostfreak he phased through the door before reverting to his human form. Then saying to himself, “I’m sorry…”

Nick sulked for a while, his walk took him up to the entrance of the Everfree Forest as he sighed softly. Looking at it he sighed softly taking one step forward before a melody filled his ears. Raising an eyebrow he listened closely attempting to pinpoint the origin of it, going in between a couple of trees in the open field he then saw it a stone. “That’s playing a song? Pft, now I’ve seen everything.” He said chuckling to himself approaching the stone carefully.

Placing his hand on the top he looked through the hole of it, the cravings on it reminded him of a wolf paw. It’s sweet melody kept playing in his ears as he then softly hummed along, finally giving in and attempting to repeat the song softly. Closing his eyes and moving his head to the tune. Finally fully repeating it.

A familiar fanfare melody filled the area as if something was unlocked, a fierce howl filled the air as the wind magic within the eye of the stone began to swirl around. Suddenly, a strange red, grey, and green wolf apparition leaped out from the eye of the stone and landed in front of Nick.

Nick jumped back in surprise, landing on his ass as he looked at the wolf. “FUCKS SAKE DON’T DO THAT!” He shouted aggressively as he panted softly before standing on his feet. “I’m assuming you’re displaced? Never seen anything like you before? Then again I haven’t seen much.” He said as he looked at the wolf apparition intently.

“Fuckin ghost wolf, like this is Skyrim or some shit heh.” Nick chuckled softly.

The wolf made no response, except him shaking his head at Nick. It knelt down before suddenly leaping towards Nick’s head. He was blinded by a bright light before he finds himself high above equestria, Nick noticed he was standing on a solid cloud, yet he wasn’t using a cloud-walking spell.

“OK WHAT THE FUCK! THIS IS TRIPPY AS FUCK!” Nick said his legs shaking a bit, a voice drew his attention, making him look up.

“Not familiar with the scenario, huh?” A red cloak and hooded person asked with his arms crossed over his chest. At a glance, he didn’t seem recognition, but those white tights and leather boots hinted of who he is.

Nick stared at him rather blankly at the cloaked figure, “uhhhh no not really.” He said crossing his own arms, “nice leather boots by the way.” He said not knowing who he was, even with the hint.

He reaches up and pushes the hood back, revealing a pointed eared man, one of his ears looked like they were attacked by a timberwolf a long time ago, especially the scar on his left cheek. He looked just like the man of legend, except he had some facial hair. “My name is Link.” He introduced himself as. “Or Jeff if you wanted my real name. I can only give to fellow Displaced my real name, just don’t ask me why the merchant restricted me to that only.” He said with a shrug of his arms.

“My name Jeff? Dead memes?” Nick replied grinning softly, “so Link huh?” He asked rubbing his chin.

“Never really played Zelda myself, too busy with other fandoms heh.” Nick said as he narrowed his eyes at him.

Link raised an eyebrow at that. “Even after being Displaced or were you just joking?” He asked with a soft chuckle.

“After.” Nick replied as a smiled a bit, “but I’m surprised. He completely turned you into Link or whatever? Huh.” Nick rubbed his chin.

“A fusion of four to be exact, except I’ve grown a mustache and a goatee over the years.” Link said.

“Aaaaah. Well I just got displaced with this little joy.” Nick said raising his arm and pulling down his new jacket sleeve, showing his Omnitrix.

“That’s quite a lot of power there. How long have you had it?” Link asked as he studied the alien-tech watch.

“I’d say maybe a few weeks. I can’t really tell,” he said shrugging. His Omnitrix chirped, “uncatalogued DNA detected.” A yellow beam then scanned over Link as Nick chuckled softly. “Believe me, I know the Omnitrix is VERY powerful.”

Link blinked as the thing scanned his body. “Hopefully it’ll just turn you into a hylian instead of a copy of myself.” Link said joking. “Mighty impressive it can scan despite being in a temporary mindscape.” he said.

“Uh,” Nick looked around slightly as he shrugged. “I don’t know the full functionality of this thing, I am a big Ben 10 geek but they didn’t really show what this Omnitrix could do fully, aside from have a kickass failsafe and possible AI.” He said rubbing the back of his head.

“So what did you even pull me into my own head for anyway?” He asked raising an eyebrow.

“Safety precaution of my token so I can determine if your good or evil. So far, you’ve been alright.” Link explained with a smile.

“Well yeah, be happy I didn’t transform off the bat heh.” Nick said shrugging a bit, “so have I passed your evaluation?” Nick asked raising his eyebrow giving Link a puzzled look.

“Judgement has been passed.” Link said as the area started to brighten and blind Nick, the young omnitrix user is returned to the real world, except with Link standing before him.

Nick dusted himself off as he stood up, shaking his new jacket. “That’s better.” Nick said chuckling a bit as he looked at Link. “Well...uh..” He rubbed the back of his head, “what are we gonna do?” He asked looking at Link intently.

“I don’t know the history of this world, i’m just here for anything you need help with, even if it's just us hanging out. I don’t get to meet many of my fellow Displaced, but you can’t really blame them from how I made my token.” Link said with an amusement chuckle.

“Pft, yeah.” Nick said as he rubbed the back of his head looking to the side, that familiar feeling of distraught falling over him again as he sighed softly. “Yeeeep.”

“Something wrong?” Link asked due to the lack of interacts from Nick.

“Nah I’m fine.” Nick said chuckling softly as he looked at Link, “what makes you think there is something wrong?” He asked raising an eyebrow.

“The look in your eyes tell me.” Link pointed out. Nick sighed softly, “just I sorta...I sorta almost got myself killed fighting a mutated Manticore and...I just don’t know if I’m cut out for this hero stuff even though I want to help…” Nick said as he looked down at his Omnitrix, “maybe somebody better could’ve gotten this damn thing…”

“You remind me of myself when I was first Displaced, I didn’t want to be Link, I wanted to go home. I had eventually accepted my fate and decided to those powers for something worth living. I may not be the original, but I worked hard to get where I am. A hero’s mission is never done.” Link explained as he held out his hand. “I can help you become a better hero.”

Nick looked at his hand and took it into his own, “yeah that’d be great…” the hylian man gave it a firm shake.

“We just need a place I can teach you, somewhere we can practice without harming anyone, anypony, or anything.” Link said as he let go of Nick’s hand.

Nick nodded as he took a deep breath, “well...I know the basics of combat from another displaced named Jason and magic...I’d like to learn swordsmenship, advanced magic and better hand to hand combat fighting..”

“I can teach you my sword skills and my magic spells. As for hand-to-hand combat, my Goron Mask and Zora Mask might help you out with that.” Link explained.

Nick rubbed his chin and nodded, “yeah. And hopefully they stick and I can put them to good use.” Nick paused before then looking at Link, “Well? What are we waiting for?”

“Are you sure about this?” Nick asked, they had moved a bit farther away from Ponyville. Link having asked him to show him what he already knew, “I mean I may not know much in human form but alien forms I’m still a force to be reckoned with.” He said a hint of confidence in his voice.

“Trust me. I’ve been through alot, whatever you show me will be no different than the past bosses I’ve fought in my world.” Link said in minor annoyance at Nick’s trust in the hylian.

“Alright then, no holding back than.” Nick said as he clicked his Omnitrix as he then clicked down on the core, his human form being replaced with his kineceleran form XLR-8. “Gonna give you a RUN for your money, or...bits…” He said as his faceplate slammed down.

Dashing forward toward Link he reared his taloned fist back for a punch to the gut. The hylian man didn’t even flinch, but he was knocked back a few feet. “Swift. Tell me, have you ever fought anyone who can control time?” Link asked as he took out a blue ocarina, he started playing a melody before the speedster could ask. Nick doesn’t see anything different, or so it would appear to the hero-to-be.

Nick looked around trying to see if anything changed, “uhhhh. What?” He asked in his raspy bug like voice before shaking his head and dashing forward again going in for a swift kick to the gut. Link, with sudden quickness, has raised his Hylian Shield a lot quicker than usual. Nick was then suddenly hit on the back of the neck by the hilt of a sword.

Tumbling on the ground he rubbed the back of his neck with his talons, “ow...fuck that hurt…” He said growling slightly before standing up. Quickly dashing forward again he jumped up, then quickly tapping the Omnitrix on his chest shifting into the Pyronite Heatblast and unleashing intense flames upon Link.

Link suddenly changed shape in a flash of light, now appearing as some sort of creature made of rock. He raised his arms and blocked the blast, he wasn’t even burned or even scorched by the attack. The way Link moved was as if he was moving as fast the form Nick was in, at the last few moments as Link pulled his arm, his body slowly returned back to normal speed. However the fist was still coming straight for Nick.

Nick didn’t react fast enough the fist colliding with his rocky face as he was sent onto his back groaning softly. “Ok... that hurt…”

“Goron form, slow but powerful, I can survive extreme heat. I used my ocarina to slow down the flow of time around me.” Link explained in a deep voice.

Nick stood back up as he took a deep breath, “ok ok...let’s try something new…” Nick said as he tapped his Omnitrix one more time, his flaming body shifting as he was then replaced with the mummy Snare-Oh, “Snare-Oh?” He asked himself before shaking his head sending his wraps at Link’s legs another pair jutting from his stomach as he wrapped them around Link’s waist yanking him forward. Link crossed his muscular arms and raised an eyebrow at what Nick was trying to do.

“Ok fuck this is heavy…” Nick said tugging a bit. Suddenly, Link grabbed onto the bandage and gave it a firm yank, Nick finds himself being spun around in circles before being thrown far.

“FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK!” Nick shouted his bandages shaking in the wind as his Omnitrix let out a small beeping noise, “OK PUT ME DOWN NOW!” He shouted reverting to his human form and rolling against the ground. Dirt in his mouth. “Fuck…” He grumbled spitting it out.

“Like I said, I’ve been through alot. ” Link asked as he reached up to grab at his face and with brief flash, he returns back to normal with a mask in his hand.

Nick rubbed his hair as he stood up, “ugh I suppose so…”

“Hey, don’t worry. Once you’ve lived in Equestria as long as I have, you tend to learn a lot of things, either from others or yourself. That omnitrix of yours is unlimited as long as there is DNA to scan.” Link said as he put away the goron’s mask into his pouch.

“Well yeah I know, I already have mutated Manticore DNA and all three ponies.” Nick said as he gagged a bit. “But what’s the point in having all this power, if when it runs out I can’t do shit.” He said as he looked at Link. “I would like to learn swordplay first…”

“Heh, I suppose you don’t remember what happened at the season final when Ben managed to tap into something that allowed him to change shape by using his own will. So keep ticking with it till you find the combination, just don’t break it. Afterall.” Link said as he looked at nick. “A sword wields no strength unless the hand that holds it has courage.”

Nick looked at him before smiling softly, “I suppose so. And you mean the Master Control? For this Omnitrix it’s probably voice activated but I could unlock it with my Galvan form.” He said shrugging a bit, “but thanks for the words of encouragement dude...I needed it. Now! Let’s get this shit rolling!”

Author's Notes:

Thank my good friend Displaced Writer he has been REALLY excited for this crossover XD

https://ben10.fandom.com/wiki/Ghostfreak

https://ben10.fandom.com/wiki/XLR8_(Classic)

https://ben10.fandom.com/wiki/Heatblast_(Classic)

https://ben10.fandom.com/wiki/Snare-oh