Chapter 10

Gwen and Charmcaster crashed to the ground below, with Gwen forcing Charmcaster to take the force of the blow. She groaned, and just lay there for a while. Gwen then got up, shook herself off, and glared at her. "I don't know why they even bothered letting you stay. Suggesting to retreat showed you couldn't be trusted-not that I didn't know that already," she snarled, walking around her. Charmcaster didn't respond, still unable to move.

"Well?!" Gwen yelled, holding up a ball of mana. "What do you have to say for yourself, witch?!" She added before striking her with the mana.

Meanwhile, back up in the ship, Kevin and Ben were at a standstill with Vilgax and Psyphon. Vilgax smirked as he watched the fray below. "You wanted to try and defeat me, and you couldn't even keep your little team together," he laughed evilly. "I will burn this world soon, child. But I have a couple matters left to take care of first. He raised his first to deal a deadly blow to them, but Ben pushed down the Omnitrix button, turning himself into... "JETRAY!" he yelled, grabbing Kevin and flying out of the window.

"You can't run forever, boy!" Vilgax snarled, "One way or another, you *will* die-whether it is at my hands or when this world is turned into a worthless piece of rock!"

Jetray ignored him-they had another matter to deal with first. Once they got down to the ground level, where Gwen was pummeling an already severely injured Charmcaster, Jetray dropped Kevin safely and then tackled Gwen, driving her away from Charmcaster. "Stop, Gwen!" he yelled. "What are you doing?"

"Eliminating someone whom you should never have trusted, Ben," Gwen replied, and went for her again. This time Kevin was there to keep her from attacking. "What are you doing?!" he asked, shocked, "She's defenseless! She can't even fight back!" "So?" Gwen shrugged angrily. "She deserves what she gets!"

"Guys?" Ben interrupted them. "More immediate problem!"

Then Vilgax landed onto the ground with a *THUMP,* Psyphon not too far behind. The nearby civilians, who were already freaked out, began running away screaming.

"Do not worry, citizens," Vilgax bellowed in a commanding voice. "These belligerents will be dealt with... quickly." He then stepped forward, heading for Ben first. Ben then adjusted his Omnitrix and turned from Jetray into... "FOURARMS!" he yelled, and then charged to face Vilgax, who met him with a punch directly to the head that sent him flying across the street.

Fourarms got up quickly and dismissed it, charging once again for Vilgax, this time blocking the first punch and delivering one himself. Vilgax barely flinched, and grabbed Fourarms' two upper arms, and Fourarms yelled "Hey! Let go!" punching him repeatedly with his two lower arms. Vilgax laughed, before replying, "Is that the best you can do, boy? Because I do not feel a thing." Then he lifted Fourarms up off the ground, lifted him high over his head, and then smashed back into the ground three times, leaving a crater. Fourarms then reverted back to Ben.

"Gwen?" Kevin asked nervously, as Vilgax advanced. Gwen nodded, and began "Eo Recen..." "Wait!" Ben yelled, making a quick charge to grab Charmcaster, and after he did so, he turned around to his horror to see that Gwen had already activated the teleportation and was already leaving with Kevin. "NO!" Kevin yelled, and Ben could her Gwen snarling, "Get her out of there yourself."

As they disappeared, Vilgax turned and smirked at Ben, who was holding a barely conscious Charmcaster in his arms. "Looks like it's just you and me now, boy. This does not look to end well for you..." "Shut up!" Ben yelled, and then transformed into... "TERRAPSIN!" he declared in the monotone voice that the turtle-like alien had. He then flipped Charmcaster onto his back, and then flew away. Vilgax watched, but did not give chase.

"Shouldn't we go after them, Master?" Pysphon asked. "No," Vilgax replied calmly, "That won't be necessary. They may not attack us again, but if we see them again, we'll kill them. Soon they'll be dead anyway, along with everyone else on this planet."

Once Ben and Charmcaster made it back to the house, they found Kevin and Gwen waiting for them. "Sorry about what happened earlier..." Kevin began, but Ben shrugged it off. "I know it wasn't your fault," he replied, directing a glare towards Gwen, who was standing there with her arms crossed. Ben gently laid Charmcaster down on the couch, and then turned to face Gwen.

"What were you thinking?!" he yelled. "I could have been killed out there!" "No," Gwen replied calmly, "I knew full well that you would escape one way or another. You always do. I was just hoping that she wouldn't come back with you."

"What is your deal with her?" Ben demanded. "She's not the same Charmcaster you know from our world. She's different!" "Even if that's true, that doesn't mean that she can be trusted!" Gwen retorted. Kevin broke in and added, "What was up with you beating the crap out of her while she was defenseless? You're better than that! I know you are!" "I was merely eliminating someone we couldn't trust," Gwen replied angrily.

"Just like you murdered my boyfriend?"

Charmcaster's weak voice startled them. They turned to face her. "What?" Ben asked, turning to Gwen. "Is what she says true?" "I didn't kill him," Gwen retorted. "But you were responsible for his death," Charmcaster replied stonily.

Ben and Kevin stared, shocked, at Gwen. Gwen glared at them all, before replying, "Yes, I was." Before Ben and Kevin could reply, she asked Charmcaster resignedly, "How'd you figure it out?" "I didn't know at first," Charmcaster admitted, "But when you attempted to kill me back out there, I knew it was you. I know that it's possible to create illusions with magic-such as somebody wearing an Omnitrix that's not supposed to be there."

Ben stared at Gwen in shock. "How could you?!" "He wasn't exactly going to be our ally, was he?" Gwen replied with her arms crossed. "Besides, we were kinda in deep trouble there when Vilgax attacked us. You could say I kinda saved your butts by letting the anti-Ben take the fall." "That's no excuse," Ben snapped. "It's never okay to do something like that! We would've fought Vilgax together! What do ya think? He might have joined us later. But now you ruined that. And now you tried to kill Charmcaster."

"Only what she would deserve," Gwen muttered. Then Kevin stepped forward and looked Gwen straight in the eyes, took a deep breath, and then told her, "Gwen. You need to go." "What?" Gwen replied, taken aback. "Y-you're kicking me out?" "You're jeopardizing this operation too much," Kevin replied calmly. "Maybe this dimension is messing with your mind. I don't know what it is, but we can't let you stay with us anymore while Charmcaster's here. We'll contact you once we've defeated Vilgax and found a way to return home."

"Fine!" Gwen snarled, "You do that! Oh, and by the way, I'm pretty sure there is no way to return home, so you guys have fun messing with her, 'cause I'm *not* coming back."

"Gwen..." Ben began, but Kevin stopped him. Gwen glared at them one last time, and then stormed out into the night.