Zeke's eyes snapped open and she grabbed the back of Gwen's shirt, pulling her to the side as they barely dodged the shadow's attack. Gwen's eyes widened, "What the hell!?" Zeke released her, pulling her sword out from her scarf, "Found it. Or... It found us."
"What is that?!"
"The concentrated magic."
Gwen's eyes widened even more, "It shouldn't be moving like that! Is it alive?!" Zeke's eyes narrowed, "Don't know, don't care." The shadow rose to its full height, towering a good 3 inches over Zeke. She spun the sword once before tightening her grip on the hilt. Something seemed off. The shadow lunged forward, causing her to take a step back and to the left, the side of the shadow sliding against the sword. Zeke shoved the sword into the shadow, pushing it away from her before striking, slashing through the shadow's middle. The two halves reconnected and it became a small twister. Zeke prepared herself, unsure when the shadow would attack again. From the center of the twister, the shadow shot forward, slamming its head into her sword. It shoved her back at wild speeds. But, where its head touched the blade, orange flames flickered, burning the dark away. With a final jolt, the shadow knocked Zeke away and into a tree. Gwen ran towards the Ninja, "Ze! Are you alright?" Zeke groaned, pushing against the tree into a sitting position, "I'm fine... Are you sure you can't do anything..?"
"I already tried."
"Really?"
"But it was wasted. Not a thing happened!"
Zeke swore quietly under her breath, glaring at the shadow as it waited patiently for her. Gwen frowned lightly. What had been with that fire? The shadow sure didn't like it, whatever it was. Zeke rose to her feet, grabbing her sword with both hands before wincing, dropping it to the ground. Both she and Gwen stared in shock at her hands - Her left hand, well, the suit over it, was ash gray, as if decayed. From under the material, smoke escaped. Gwen looked at the hand then at Zeke with concern, "Are you oka-" She stopped, staring with wide eyes at Zeke's angered face. Swearing again, she grabbed her sword and rushed forward, towards the shadow.
(Normal P.O.V.)
Kevin and I sat at the picnic table, Grandpa Max cooking something. Seriously, we didn't even know what it was. All seemed fine. Except for the fact that Gwen and Zeke were still gone. Suddenly, Grandpa Max stiffened, looking towards the trees. Kevin and I did the same. Only to see Gwen running towards us, panting for breath as she ran, "Ben! Kevin!" She didn't even acknowledge Grandpa Max - Did she forget he was there? We both stood up, "What is it?" I asked. She pointed in the direction she came from, "I-I can't do anything..! Ze needs help! Hurry!" Well, that was all we needed. Kevin absorbed the wood of the table and the three of us booked it in Zeke's direction. I heard Grandpa Max call for us; "Ben? Gwen?! Where are you going?!" We kept running, stopping when we saw a black and red figure dashing in all directions around a tall shadow. Zeke sprung up and swung her sword into the shadow's neck, only to be launched backward by a hit to the chest from the shadow. Gwen shot blue magic - because that's what it looked like when we were young - from her hands, making a Jell-O cube beneath Zeke, cushioning her fall. But, because of the suit, the cube disappeared. Kevin's hands became mallets and he rushed towards the shadow. Gwen looked at me, "Fire hurts it!" she announced, running towards Zeke, "Go HeatBlast!" I grinned, activating the old Omnitrix, "Man, I haven't used him a long time!" I slammed down on the Omnitrix, hoping it would work instead of picking an alien I didn't want, like it usually did. "Success!" I shouted, running towards the shadow as my feet burned the grass. Normally, I would've shouted my name, but not back when I first got the Omnitrix. Sticking with the times, thank you very much. Kevin's attacks weren't doing anything to the shadow - It just re-formed. So, hopefully Gwen was being serious. I brought my hands up and shot blazing fire at the shadow. It screeched in pain, shrinking to the ground. Grandpa Max finally caught up to us just as the shadow burned away.
All seemed fine. Notice the word "seemed". I looked at Kevin who gave a thumbs up, shedding his wooden armor. "Um... Guys?" Gwen called. We ran towards her. "What's going on?" Grandpa Max asked. However, we all ignored his question, running over to Gwen to see what was up. Then we saw it; the little kid she was helping to sit up. The girl's dirty blonde hair was up in pigtails with bows and she wore a sky blue dress. I crouched in front of her, "Um... Ze?" She lifted her head, blinking at me. Gwen looked at Kevin, "She's actually kinda cute with pigtails."
"Pigtails?" little Zeke questioned. I extended a hand, "Come on, stand up." She took my hand, hardly reacting to the fact that I was still HeatBlast, and I pulled her to her feet. We were almost the same height now (Except she was a little shorter). Her eyes widened, "No. No freaking way." She looked at her clothing and facepalmed, "Great..." Gwen paled, "Wait... Ze? Where's the scarf?" Panic pulsed through my veins as we all looked around. "If... I'm now 5 years younger..." Zeke said slowly, "I don't have the scarf..." Gwen looked at me, "If Ze can't be the Ninja... We can't get out... We'll be trapped." The Omnitrix timed out and I looked at the ground in pure shock. Were we really going to be trapped in the past? Forever?