Chapter 9

It had been a couple weeks now since anything out of the ordinary had happened. Gwen was still unhappy about Charmcaster being on their side, but things hadn't gotten out of control and she was back to fighting at her full potential. Now, they seemed more like they stood a chance of going over there and beating Vilgax and Psyphon.

"I think we're ready," Kevin told them one night. "You sure?" Gwen asked, "If we fail, then we may not get another chance-because we may be dead." "That's a risk we take no matter what," Ben pointed out. Gwen shrugged. "Charmcaster? You ready?" Ben asked. She nodded. "Then let's do it tomorrow evening. Vilgax won't know what hit him."


The next evening, Ben and Charmcaster went ahead of Kevin and Gwen in the first wave to take out Vilgax's preliminary forces guarding the way in. Once again, Charmcaster had put a transparency spell on herself, and this time Ben had turned into ChamAlien. Kevin and Gwen were following close behind, ready to help them at a moment's notice.

There were a few robots guarding the entrance to the gigantic spaceship in the middle of the city which stood as a "fortress." Charmcaster stepped forward, and whispered "Somnus," and they instantly fell down, slumbering. They then went in, with Kevin and Gwen close behind. It didn't take long before they were met by more robots-which were either taken out by Charmcaster's spells, or by ChamAlien.

"Vilgax must be at the bridge," Ben whispered to the other three once they had fought off the robots who were patrolling the area. "You're probably right, but Psyphon might be there too, so we'll have to deal with him." "I can take care of that," Charmcaster replied dismissively, "You and Ben should both be using the Omnitrix against Vilgax at the same time." "That was the plan," Gwen replied, annoyed with Charmcaster telling her what to do.

"With any luck, we'll be able to sneak up on them and take them out more easily that way," Ben added, "They don't even seem to know we're here yet." "That wouldn't make any sense," Kevin replied uneasily. "I kinda smell a rat here."

Ben shrugged, and they headed for the bridge, which had automatic doors. "Ready?" Ben whispered, hand over his Omnitrix dial. "Ready," the other three replied. They all jumped forward and came face-to-face with Vilgax and Psyphon on the other side.

"Welcome back, boy," Vilgax smirked, "I've been expecting you." "How did you know we were coming?" Ben yelped, a little surprised that they were this prepared. "Idiot humans," Vilgax sneered, "We've been tracking the Omnitrixes ever since you stole that one from us. We knew you were planning to strike back at us."

"So why didn't you attack us yourself?" Charmcaster asked boldly. "Why waste the bother?" Vilgax replied. "We knew you were going to come, so it didn't matter-we knew that we'd kill you when you showed yourselves, although I'm a little surprised you took this long." "Keep the enemy guessing," Ben replied.

"Well, it didn't work!" Vilgax snarled. "Your plans are going to be all for naught. Because all four of you are going to die here tonight. You couldn't beat me by myself-and with Psyphon here, that just makes your odds all the more unfavorable."

"Never tell me the odds," Ben smirked, and slammed down the Omnitrix button and turned into... "CANNONBOLT!" he yelled. Gwen turned on her Omnitrix as well and turned into Diamondhead. Cannonbolt rolled up and charged for Vilgax, who simply swatted him away. Diamondhead then fired away at him, who actually then appeared fazed by the Taedenite crystals. Vilgax snarled, and went for her. She punched him across the face, sending him sliding across the room. Cannonbolt went for him again and made contact this time, but it did not seem to leave a mark. "Kevin!" he yelled, "A little help here!"

Meanwhile, Charmcaster was facing off with Psyphon. He fired plasma beams at her, which she dodged with ninja-like skills, landing on her feet, and then firing one of her energy bolts at Pysphon, which hit him directly in the face, leaving him to shake his head, dazed. Charmcaster then yelled "Meton Weights!" and started to lift him up off the ground with telekinesis, and then slammed him to the ground over and over again.

"Psyphon!" Vilgax snarled, still dealing with Diamondhead and Cannonbolt. "Do not let the sorceress beat you! She is only a mercenary!" "I'll show you who's a freaking mercenary," Charmcaster snarled, and then used her powers to throw Psyphon across the entire bridge. Vilgax, enraged, then delivered an uppercut punch to Diamondhead, bashing her head into the ceiling. Gwen then reverted back and fell to the ground. Vilgax then kicked her away, and went for Cannonbolt.

Pysphon got back up for more, and Charmcaster threw an energy bolt at him, knocking him backwards. She turned to help Cannonbolt with Vilgax, but Cannonbolt yelled, "No! He's not done yet!" Charmcaster turned around just in time to see Psyphon firing laser beams out of his eyes and blasting her into the wall.

Gwen groaned and blinked her eyes, and saw Charmcaster lying helplessly on the floor while Kevin and Cannonbolt where getting tossed about by Vilgax, who clearly had the upper hand. Vilgax seemed to be tough beyond belief-just about any hit that got to him didn't seem to affect him much, save for Diamondhead's Taedenite crystals.

Cannonbolt reverted back to Ben, and he yelled, "Gwen! We need some help over here!" "I've got an idea!" Kevin yelled, and grabbed one of the nearby Taedenite crystals and absorbed it, making his skin Taedenite. He then jumped up and punched Vilgax across the face, who almost fell backwards. "Not so tough against Taedenite, are ya, squid face?" he taunted. That was a mistake-Vilgax then grabbed him and threw him upward into the ceiling.

"Guys! This isn't working!" Charmcaster called out with Pysphon cornering her, "We should retreat!" "You can't be serious!" Gwen yelled back, "This is our only chance, we said!" "Well, we need to find ourselves another chance somehow!" Charmcaster replied, "Because we're going to get killed out here!" "I'd rather die facing him right now," Gwen replied firmly. Charmcaster stared, and then replied coldly, "Then do that." "Charmcaster's right," Ben added as he dodged Vilgax, "We're getting killed out here! We gotta leave and find some more allies!"

Gwen stared at him. "You're taking *her* side? She's bewitched you!" Then she turned to Charmcaster and yelled, "I knew I couldn't trust you!" and then charged for her, tackled her and they both crashed through the window and started falling towards the ground while Ben and a returning Kevin watched in shock.

"Looks like we're done here," Vilgax smirked. He was right, Ben realized-the plan was failing. Their efforts so far had been for naught.