The birthday party was well under way by the time Ben and Gwendolyn got there. They had been delayed by a trouble maker but had made short work of him. Ben tossed a null void egg to Grandpa "Here Grandpa, put this in the null void chamber."
"Will do Ben." Max said as he caught the egg.
Ben and Gwendolyn kissed before they walked into their son and daughters birthday party. The party was already in full swing. The kids were playing some kind of board game. Max and Jenny were playing together of course; they refused to play on opposite sides ever, even when their Karate instructor wanted them to demonstrate some techniques they refused. It made their parents very happy to see that their children stuck together so well. Of course it was further encouragement that it seemed when they worked together they never lost.
Max and Jenny ran to hug their parents. Gwendolyn leaned down and asked, "Well, what's first, cake and ice cream or presents."
The twins looked at each other and in unison said "PRESENTS". Gwendolyn laughed, "Somehow I thought you'd say that."
The kids ran to the table where all of the presents were. They opened the gifts from their friends. They all laughed when one of Max's presents was a watch the same color as the omnitrix. It was a very nice watch; in fact it that could do almost anything, except turn him into an alien, and he also got a copy of the new space slammers video game. Jenny got a new set of books form her favorite author, Theodore Ward. They were based on her favorite television show, "The Adventures of St. Anger"
Then they got the presents from their parents. Max opened his and found a leather belt pack for various magic tools. He also got his own spell book.
"Wow, cool" Jenny exclaimed when she saw the gifts.
Max opened the book…and found that it was blank. He gave a questioning look to his parents. Gwendolyn smiled knowing the questions before it was asked.
"That's for you to write your own spells. I'll let you copy some of the more useful spells from some of my books, but mostly I want you to fill it with your own ideas."
Then Jenny opened her gift and found a sphere, she had heard enough stories about her dad to know what it was. She'd never been so excited. The problem, she didn't know how to open it.
Ben smiled, "Max, maybe she could use a little help."
"I don't know what I can do dad. But I'll try."
Max looked at the sphere, he didn't see any obvious seam or hinge. How was he to open it? Then he remembered how he had opened his moms spell book. He placed his hands over the sphere and spoke the word open.
He thought that it was funny that it didn't have to be in Latin, or some other ancient language. His mom had told them that it was the intention in the words that conveyed the power. When he had learned the skill well enough he wouldn't need to speak the words at all, he would just need to concentrate on the spell.
But for now he needed the words, he spoke them and the sphere opened revealing an exact duplicate of the one his dad had. He held it out to his sister and she reached for it. Just like their dad's had all those years ago it seemed to leap out at her and attached itself to her left wrist.
"Well sis. Let's go see what you can do."
She laughed softly. "Alright, let's go."
The twins and all of the kids at the party ran out to the training field to see what the twins could do. Ben and Gwendolyn followed just in case they needed help. On the way out Gwendolyn whispered to her husband "That was a clever lesson in cooperation."
Ben smiled. "Thanks, but let's not fall behind." He pointed to the party already in the training yard.
Jenny turned the dial on her omnitrix and slammed down on it. She turned into wild mutt and ran toward Max knocking him down and licking him. Max did his best Fred Flintstone imitation.
"Ha Ha, down dino, down girl." Then he moved his hands, not quite touching her and she was magically lifted off of him and was set back on the ground, maybe a little harder than Max had intended.
Some of the kids got on Jenny's back and she took them for a ride. When they heard the sound of the omnitrix about to time out Max used the same spell to lift the kids off of his sister, he didn't want her crushed under all of those kids. Then in a green flash she was Jenny again.
One of the kids then said in what sounded like joking terms. "Wow Jen's a real dog" Max shot a look at him that shut him up quickly. "Just kidding man" He added quickly.
"Okay, let's see what you can do." One of the kids said to Max. Max took several objects out of his pack, they looked like small stones, he through them on the ground and they turned into some kind of attack animals, only stone versions. They went after the kid who had made the 'dog' comment and soon had him pined. "Dude, call them off, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
"Max," At first Max thought it was his mom chiding him but it was Jenny, 'man their voices sound alike' he thought.
"Okay," Max called his creatures off and returned them to the pouch. "Watch how you talk about my sister"
"Alright, I said I'm sorry, gee."
"The omnitrix has recharged. " Jenny said. "Let's try something else." She turned the dial again and slammed down on the device.
This time it was heatblast. Max couldn't help it…"Guys, check out my hot sister." They all started laughing, none louder than Jenny. "Funny brother, really funny."
"Max, you'd better watch it." One of the girls piped in. "With your background people might get the wrong idea about that comment."
Jenny didn't like that. She shot a small flame at her feet. "Yipe! Watch it"
"You too." Jenny said.
"Alright, let's cool things down." Max used another spell that had fascinated him since they had done some family history research. He started a little snow flurry around the training yard, the flakes steamed off of Jenny.
Benjamin Grandsmith turned to Max. "Okay, that steam is too weird. You can stop it now Max."
But Jenny was having fun with the steam. "No Max… let it go... It'll keep me from burning anything up."
Unfortunately, in a couple of minutes the omnitrix timed out. Max stopped the snow but had to get some help from his mom to dissipate it. Still got some things to learn, Max thought to himself.
"Alright," Gwendolyn called out. "Let's all go inside, it's time for cake and ice-cream."
The kids couldn't run fast enough. Ben turned to his wife. "So, what do you think, a couple of weeks of training and then we'll let them start working with us."
Gwendolyn gave it some thought. "Alright, but on a part time basis only, school comes first."
Ben nodded; "Sounds good to me."