Happy Thursday, everyone! It is Christmas this next Friday, and as an early Christmas present, I finished this chapter for you all today! However, due to the Christmas season, I will not be uploading another chapter until after the new year. (So for two and a half weeks. Plan on a new upload on the 4th of January.) I'm going to be taking this break to spend time with my family, and encourage you all to do the same! I'll still be writing away, so I hope to have two or more chapters up on the 4th! I hope that you all enjoy the Christmas Holliday, and have an awesome New Year!

Only one trigger warning applies for this chapter.

WARNING! There is an instance of implied self-harm. It is implied, and not stated directly. If this may affect you in a negative way, PLEASE be careful, and skip the section. If you are struggling with depression or self-harming feelings, please private message me, I would love to listen to you! If not me, please talk to a friend or family member you trust!

The above scene is during Julie and Cooper's scene in Cooper's garage. It is told from Julie's perspective. If this scene bothers you, please skip to the next section starting with, "The next evening." I will summarize the chapter below for anyone that chooses to skip this section. This is the darkest that I expect to ever go in this story, so it will get better from here on out! I promise!

The soundtrack for this chapter is "Keep Holding On" by Avril Lavigne. You can listen to it on youtube. Go to youtube watch?v=J2u3i2ba_ME.

Enjoy the chapter!

The Ultra 10 Chronicles: Volume 1: The Beginnings of Ultra 10

Chapter 17: Look For the Light

Cooper's house

'Get out of my garage!'

'I choose to help him because he helps people.'

'Cooper! Stop it!'

'Ben! Cooper! Stop shouting at each other!'

'Help me!'

'And what do you do? Sit in here and play scientist?'

'I refuse to allow you to keep him in there like an animal!'

'Cooper! Drop it! Do it!'

'Cooper, please just talk to me!'

'I just wish that you two could put aside your disagreements and see that.'

Cooper woke up in a cold sweat. He sat up in his bed, the darkness of his room surrounding him like his thoughts and regrets.

"So do I… So do I," he muttered, his eyes wet with tears. He got out of bed and switched on the light. The cold, uninviting light filled his room. Cooper exited and walked down the hall and into the bathroom. Leaning over the counter, he turned on the faucet and splashed some cold water onto his face.

"So do I…" His life as of late has been little more than bad memories and regrets. He had a chance to make a difference in the world. Team Ultra was making that change. Yeah, they weren't perfect, but it was something. They were trying to be the good that the city so badly needed.

'I know that it wasn't all me,' Cooper thought to himself. 'Ben sure wasn't blameless, but he doesn't carry all the blame. I can't control him, but I can control myself.'

He was doing so much good, but his pride got in the way. It always seemed to come in the way. His pride and his fear. His fear of being known, of being ratted out. His fear of people hurting him, or hurting his mother. He didn't want people to take him away, like they had his dad.

He knew that it was paranoia. That his father had come back, but it had stuck with him. It terrorized him, that some men in black suits would take him away and force him to work for them. Force him to do things he didn't want to do. Things that, unlike his father, he could do. Those men had been disbanded long ago, and were nothing more than a ghost story he told himself when he was scared.

But how could he go back? How could he undo what he had done? Could he humble himself enough to beg for Ben's forgiveness? No, not yet anyway. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't. It was just too painful, the hurt that was left. How their friendship had ended.

"So many regrets," Cooper said. "So much pain."

Gwen's house

Gwen woke up in her bed to her alarm ringing. She grunted as she rolled over to stop the infernal beeping. She sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"These late nights are really taking their tolls," she said out loud. She grabbed a new set of clothes from her dresser and made her way to the shower to get ready for school. After a hot shower to wake her up, Gwen got dressed and made her way downstairs.

"Good morning, sweetie!" Natalie greeted her. She was collecting her notes on her patients that she'd see today.

"Morning, Mom!" Gwen greeted her. She made her way over to the kitchen and got herself a muffin and a glass of orange juice. "Aren't you usually at your office by now?"

"Normally, yes," her mother replied. "But I wanted to take you to school myself today. Your birthday is only a few weeks away, and you still haven't confirmed what theme you wanted to go with this year." Gwen sighed. It seemed that there just wasn't enough hours in the day to do everything that she had to do, especially with her night life.

"What are the options?" Gwen asked, taking a bite out of her muffin.

"Sweetie, this is your party, and I don't think that it's appropriate for me to make all of the decisions," Natalie replied. She buckled up her briefcase. "You tell me what you want, and I'll make sure that it happens." Gwen sighed again. She really wasn't all that interested in a birthday party, not with the possibility of her not being able to get away to protect the city.

"I would really like a minimalistic party this year. You know, only a few decorations? Some balloons or streamers?" Gwen took another bite of her muffin. "And don't you think that "themed" parties are kinda of a little-kid thing?"

"Sweetie, there's nothing wrong with a princess or fairytale themed birthday party! I think that they're cute!"

"They are, but I'm almost twelve, Mom. And I kinda want to seem a little more mature to my friends." Gwen finished her breakfast, and placed her plate and cup into the sink. Natalie sighed.

"Alright, sweetie. We can have a simpler birthday party this year."

"Thanks, Mom," Gwen smiled. "Now I need to get to school."

"Hold on a minute, little lady," Natalie stood up. "I said that I'm going to take my daughter to school today, and that's what I'm going to do!" She smiled back at Gwen. "Head to the car, I'll be right there."

Thanks to her mother giving her a ride, Gwen got to school a few minutes earlier than she usually would be walking. So she took advantage of the time to get some homework done. A year ago, she would have never had to catch up on homework. But ever since her "nighttime adventures," she had to use almost every spare moment studying and doing homework, just to keep her grades up.

She was so focused on her homework that she didn't even notice when someone approached her, until they started talking to her.

"Excuse me?" The girl startled Gwen. She shot her head up, her Lucky Girl instincts telling her to fight for a split second before she suppressed them. "You're Gwen Tennyson, aren't you?"

The girl had long brown hair, reaching about halfway down her back. She was wearing the school uniform, just like everyone else; but she somehow made it look absolutely adorable on her.

"Y-yeah, I am," Gwen closed her book and stood up. "I'm sorry, but I don't seem to remember who you are."

"Oh, that's alright! I'm Ellie! Ellie Pattens! You and I have karate class together!" Ellie introduced herself.

"That's right!" Gwen shook Ellie's hand. "I thought I had seen you somewhere! So, what's up?"

"Well everyone here says that you're the smartest person in school," Ellie started.

"I'm not sure about the 'smartest,'" Gwen replied modestly. "But I do seem to do alright in my classes."

"Well I'm from Bellwood Elementary," Ellie said. "And Bellwood Elementary wasn't as… advanced as Riverview. And I was wondering if you'd… well…" Ellie looked obviously embarrassed by her situation. Gwen felt pity for the girl.

"If I could help you study?" Gwen finished the question. Ellie nodded. "I'd love to study with you!" She moved the chair, indicating for Ellie to sit down. Ellie smiled and sat down, pulling out her backpack. Ellie took out her literature homework.

"Shakespeare is really confusing, it just doesn't make any sense."

"Well the first thing to remember is that it is old english, so it's pretty different than what we speak today," Gwen said. She spent the next fifteen minutes helping Ellie make sense of the old play, before the bell rang, indicating that they should get off to their home room.

"I'll see you in karate then?" Ellie asked, putting away her papers.

"For sure!" Gwen replied. "I'll see you in class!" They made their way to their separate home rooms. Gwen sat through her home room period, before heading to her next class. She sat down in her usual desk and got out her science textbook. Next to her Ben sat down in his desk. Out of the corner of her eye, she could tell that Ben was obviously very sore as he sat down. Against her better judgement, she just had to ask.

"What's wrong with you, Dweeb?" Gwen asked. Ben tried to hide his stiffness.

"What? I don't know what you're-"

"Save it, Dweeb! I can see that you're as stiff as a board," Gwen accused. "So who's the jerk that beat up on you?" Ben got a sheepish smile.

"I went downtown last night to play some street ball with some guys. They really can get aggressive when the game's on the line. I guess that I'm not used to playing so hard," Ben fibbed.

"You expect me to believe that you were downtown playing basketball?" Gwen asked. "With how short you are? C'mon, who do I gotta beat?"

"Believe what you want," Ben said. "But there's no bullies to beat." He leaned over to reach for his backpack on the ground. Gwen sighed and reached down to hand it to him.

"You really should learn some karate," Gwen suggested. "Even if I did believe you, it would still teach you to avoid taking a beating. Be more agile on your feet…"

"You mean to take a beating on a regular basis?" Ben suggested. "No thanks, Cootie-queen, I'm not going to get a regular beating appointment."

"I'm serious, Ben. As much as I would enjoy seeing you get your butt handed to you, I still don't want a Tennyson getting beat on," Gwen insisted. "The semester is almost over, and you could sign up for next semester."

"I'll think about it, alright?" Ben said. "That's all that I'm giving for the time being." Gwen nodded. Their conversation was cut short by Mr. Cheng's lesson starting.

Several classes later, Gwen was in the girls' locker rooms, getting ready for karate class. School karate class was super lame compared to taking karate last year. In school, they didn't want anyone actually making any strikes unless a waiver was filled out first. That didn't stop Gwen, she'd signed the waiver, but there were still so many regulations. To keep the school from really hurting any of the students.

It just felt like they wanted her to pull all of her punches. But she didn't have much of a choice. Between going on patrol and catching up on homework, she just didn't have time for karate class at the dojo.

'At least I'm getting more than my share of practice at night,' Gwen thought. She finished changing into her Gi, and made her way out into the gym. There were still a minute or two before the class started, so Gwen looked around for a sparing partner. She spotted Ellie, and made her way over to her.

"Hey Ellie!" Gwen greeted her.

"Oh hey, Gwen!" Ellie responded. "Are you looking for a sparing partner?" Gwen shook her head.

"Yeah, wanna join up?"

"Sure!" She said, and the two found an empty corner of the gym to practice in.

After school, Gwen made her way home, ready to suit up and go on patrol. With how much of a beating that Ultra 10 had taken last night, she wasn't sure it would be smart for him to go on patrol for a few days, at least. She entered her room and dropped her backpack on her bed.

"Ostendo!" Gwen said, as her clothes were replaced with her Lucky Girl suit. She slipped out of her window, and headed out into the city. She pressed the call button on her bluetooth, it automatically calling the only number that it had programmed.

"Hey, Lucky Girl," Lukas answered, his voice distorted by the voice changer.

"Hey, remind me why your computer distorts your voice when I call?" Gwen asked. "I've heard your voice in person."

"The computer disguises every call it receives," Lukas supplied. "It's not personal, it's just-"

"A precaution, I get it," Gwen finished. "Maybe I should find a way to do that to my bluetooth?"

"I'm sure that we could work that out," Lukas finished.

"Anyway, I was just wondering if Ultra 10 was thinking about coming on patrol today, you know, after the beating he took last night."

"I think that we've talked him out of it," Lukas answered. "He was pretty beat up, so it'll be just you for the next week or so."

"Good," Gwen replied. "I was hoping that he'd stay in for the next little bit."

"Of course, we'll be in touch, if you need any surveillance," Lukas offered.

"I appreciate it," Gwen said. "Well I'm starting my patrol now, let me know if whatever surveillance system you've got picks up anything odd."

"Of course," Lukas ended the call.

"Well, I guess that means that I'm on my own tonight," Gwen said to herself. "I guess that I can start with the downtown." She took off towards downtown Bellwood.

Cooper's house

Julie rang the doorbell to Cooper's front door. She waited for only a moment before Mrs. Daniels answered.

"Julie!" She greeted her. "It's always so good to see you!"

"Hi, Mrs. Daniels! It's good to see you too!" She hugged the older woman. "Is Cooper here?" The woman gave her a skeptical look.

"Do you even have to ask? The only time he leaves is to visit you!" She opened the door wide to let Julie in. "He's in his bedroom right now."

"Thanks!" Julie said, as she made her way towards Cooper's bedroom. "Cooper? It's me, Julie!" She knocked on his door.

"Hey!" Cooper tried for excitement as he opened the door. "How has your day been?" He gave her a quick hug.

"You know, the norm," Julie responded. "I was wondering if you wanted to hang out?"

"Hang out, as in the family room, or the garage?"

"Well, if we head to the garage, then we can hang out in the family room later. It's not too much." Cooper sighed.

"Alright, I guess that it's the least I can do…" Cooper shut his bedroom door behind him, and the two made their way to the garage. Cooper opened the door and turned on the lights, letting Julie into the garage first.

"So, what is it today?" Cooper asked. "Is Ben needing more nano-mech?" Julie pulled Ben's suit out of her backpack.

"Think you can fix it?" She asked.

"I made the tech, of course I can fix it," Cooper took the suit from her. "It actually looks worse than it is. I just need to reprogram some nano-mech, and it'll be as good as new." Cooper headed over to a drawer and pulled out a handful of nano-mech. His eyes glowed blue for a bit as he programed the new mech.

"Thinking of it, I've been working on some new nano-tech. It's probably time to update this mech." Cooper placed the suit under a scanner of some sort, which started to scan and add the new updates to the suit.

"You seem to be in quite the mood to help Ben today," Julie said, coming closer to Cooper. "What's all that about?"

"It's nothing, I've just been thinking lately," Cooper responded. Julie noticed that Cooper's long-sleeve shirt was pulled all the way down to his wrists.

"Cooper, I thought that you hated long-sleeve shirts? You said that they always get in the way of work?"

"Well it's just a bit chilly in here today, and I haven't been doing all that much work lately," Cooper said. Julie didn't buy it.

"Cooper, we've known each other for almost ten years, and I can tell when you're lying." Cooper tried to focus on the mech updating in front of him.

"Julie, it's nothing." Julie tried to push up his sleeve, but Cooper pushed it down again.

"Cooper, what's going on?" Julie asked him. She turned his face towards her. She looked him in the eyes, and saw a deep sadness in them. A sadness that scared her. Cooper nodded, and rolled up his sleeve.

Up and down his arm were scratches and cuts. Some were old, scabbed over and almost healed. But some were new, and were just starting to scab over.

"Cooper, what's this?" Julie asked him. Cooper tried to cover then up with his sleeve again.

"Cooper, please just talk to me!" In an instant, Cooper saw that moment. His fight with Ben. Julie pleading for him to open up the door. All of the emotion of that night.

"Cooper, please just talk to me!" The memory sounded in Cooper's mind. It was all too much for him. It was too much to bear in one day.

"I… can't…" Cooper broke down. "It's just too painful. Too many regrets… So much pain."

"Cooper, let me help you!" Julie tried to reassure him. "I want to help you. Where did all of these cuts come from?"

'I have to try. I have to set aside my pride,' Cooper thought.

"Most of them are from working with the nano-mech. They went haywire the other day," Cooper let out. "I couldn't focus, and I screwed up."

"And the fresh ones?" Julie asked.

"I… I just…" Cooper tried to explain. "I just lost control."

"Lost control of the mech?" Julie asked.

"…No. I lost control of myself…" Julie hugged him.

"Cooper, you are one of the best men that I know," Julie said. "That is why I chose to date you. Why I am here now."

"If I was so good," Cooper asked. "Then why do I screw up so much?"

"No one is perfect, Cooper. Not Ben, and not you," Julie reminded. "But that is why we need to forgive and move on. We all need to grow and be better than we were."

"How's Ben?" Cooper asked. "Has he struggled?" Julie paused hesitantly for a brief moment before giving in.

"Yes," Julie confirmed. "Not like you, he's struggled in different ways. But he is growing. And I know that he regrets your fight." Somehow, that affirmation made Cooper feel not-quite-so broken.

"He's lucky, you know," Cooper sniffled. "To have you and Lukas."

"I think that we can add you to that list," Julie said. "Maybe not today, maybe not next week. But I believe in you."

"Thanks, Julie," Cooper said. "You always bring out the best in me."

"That's because there's good in you to bring out," Julie kissed his cheek.

"Now how about we change the mood with a movie?" Julie asked. "I'm thinking about Tom and Jerry, what do you think?"

Cooper chuckled ruefully. "You really have a way of changing the subject, don't you?" The two of them left the garage for the family room.

The next evening

Gwen had started her patrol almost an hour ago. It was strange not having Ultra 10 to patrol with. Not only because it took her a lot longer, but because she didn't really have anyone to talk or joke with. Just the silent night and herself. Honestly, it kinda felt lonely. However, she was still of the opinion that it was better for her to patrol alone, then it would be for Ultra 10 to risk injuring himself again by coming out with her. Yanking her from her thoughts, her bluetooth rang.

"Hey, what's going on?" Gwen asked.

"Hey Lucky Girl!" Julie replied. "One of the cameras picked up something that landed in Ross Park that shouldn't be there."

"That's not too far away from where I'm at," she replied. "I'll go check it out!"

"Let us know what it is when you get there," Julie said. "Lukas mentioned something about a drone before we went official as a team."

"I'll be careful," Lucky Girl reassured her. She started sprinting towards the park. A few minutes later, she arrived, and started combing through the park, looking for anything that was out of place. Nothing in the fields or playgrounds was out of place. So she decided to comb through the miniature forest. Her luck charm usually led her pretty quickly to any crimes that was going down, so she was hoping that it would lead her to whatever this was.

True to its name, the charm led her right to it. "It" was a giant metal bullet-shaped thing that was stuck into the ground about a quarter of the way. She called up the team on her bluetooth.

"Hey, Julie, I got to the park, and I found whatever your cameras picked up," she said.

"What is it?" Julie asked. "The cameras only picked up a large metal object."

"That about covers it," Lucky Girl said. "It's just some large metal capsule or something that's stuck into the ground." Lucky Girl picked up a rock and threw it at the object. The rock bounced off it like a pebble. The object didn't move or do anything, not that Gwen was sure that it would do anything.

"Alright, so rocks don't do anything," Gwen said. "I could try my magic."

"Whatever you do, be careful," Julie cautioned. "Strange metal objects appearing out of nowhere isn't exactly normal. It could be anything." Gwen took the advice with a grain of salt. She was more than capable of taking on more than "normal."

"Interrogo!" Gwen cast the spell, the blue magic coming from her hands surrounded the capsule. In another second, the main faded away and dissipated.

"Hmm… It's not alive, that's for sure. I still can't tell what exactly it does, though." Gwen stretched forth her hands again. "Interrogo magnum!" The blue tinted magic again engulfed the capsule, this time imbedding itself into the object. And that seemed to have woken it up. A hiss of steam escaped, as a hatch opened in its side.

The same happened on the other side, and two appendages came out, looking like arms. Out of the top, a hatch opened, revealing some control center that looked a lot like a head. From the embedded area, three appendages folded out, resembling legs. The thing "stood up" on the three legs, and rotated the head around until it found Gwen standing there.

"Umm… Hello?" Gwen tried for a friendly waive. "I hope you come in peace!" The object responded to her by bringing one of its arms down where she was standing, trying to smash her. Her years of karate training kicked into motion, as she rolled out of the way of the fist.

"Ok? I guess that you're not the talkative type," She leapt backwards, pushing off of her hands and landing on her feet several more feet away. "Good, because neither am I! Incendio!" Fire sprayed rom Gwen's hands, wrapping around the robot's arm, which was still imbedded in the ground. The fire burned hot, but it appeared to do nothing to the robot.

"I guess that that one's a no go…" Gwen noted as she dodged out of the way of the robot's swing. "Let's try this one! Terra bombarda!" Several large boulders broke away and rose up from the ground, and hurdled towards the thing's face.

The first one struck it, spinning the head around. The second one hit the head as it was spun around, denting the top dome.

"Take that!" Gwen shouted, as the robot temporarily seemed to flail around. It decided to turn around its entire body to attack from the back, so that it's head would be facing Gwen. It raised one of its arms, and shifted it into a barrel.

"Oh crap!" Gwen leapt out of the way, as a laser blasted where she had been standing. She leapt again, narrowly avoiding the second shot, and rolled to avoid the third blast. "Whew! That thing's fast!" Gwen noted that it appeared that the gun was reloading, or recharging or something.

"Got it, three shots, and then a break! I can make that work!" She summoned a couple more boulders and hurled them at the drone. It shot one of them out of the air, it exploding into rock fragments and dust. However, the other boulder slammed into its head, denting it again. The robot fired again, towards Gwen's location. However it shot a dozen feet or more away.

"Must have damaged the targeting center," Gwen figured. She spun around from the tree she was hiding behind and ran towards the robot. It fired again, Gwen easily dodging the blast.

"That's my queue!" Gwen said. "Fulmen!" Lightning crackled from her fingertips and struck the robot's head, currents of electricity sourcing through the robot's metal body. After several spasms, the robot regain control of it's laser gun-arm, and aimed it at Gwen.

"Fulmen Maximus!" She shouted, as lightning crackled in the sky. As if pulling it down, Gwen dragged her hand down from the sky, the lightning following the movement. It struck the robot, just as it was starting to fire the laser. The lightning sent even more currents of destructive energy through the drone. The laser gun-arm backfired, exploding the arm apart.

From the top of the robot, smoke started to arise, followed by a loud pop! Then the second shot started to build up power, it exploding inside the body of the drone. The sound was deafening, and Gwen crouched down, covering her ears.

The robot exploded in every direction, sending bits of shrapnel and fizzing wires everywhere. Luckily, Gwen avoided getting hit by anything. Slowly, Gwen uncovered her ears, and approached what was left of the robot. It was little more than a scrap heap of burnt and twisted metal, with wires and gears scattered here and there. The entire mass was incredibly hot, as the heat waves prevented Gwen from getting too close.

"Did I just take it down?" Gwen asked herself in amazement. "Yeah! I took it down! Who's bad? That's right, I am!" Gwen fist-pumped the air. After a moment of celebration, Gwen's adrenaline subsided enough for her to think about what to do next. She dialed up on her bluetooth.

"Lucky Girl, how did it go?" Julie asked.

"It was a giant drone of some sort. I took it down, no problem!" Gwen bragged.

"That's awesome to hear!" Julie congratulated her. "Is there anything that you can bring back for us to analyze? We'd better figure out what it was doing there."

"Ha, about that…" Gwen said. "It's kinda all melted into a giant pile on the ground. I kinda toasted it…"

"Wow, remind me not to get on your bad side," Julie remarked. "Ok then, if there's nothing salvageable, then there's no point for you to stay there. You'd better call it a night."

"Good idea," Lucky Girl replied. "Let me know if there's anything odd going on before tomorrow's patrol, alright?"

"You know that I will," Julie replied as she ended the call.

Earlier that evening

Maddisen couldn't believe what she'd seen. And she had to get to the bottom of it. If not for her cousin's safety, then for her own sanity. She dialed up her cousin's cell phone number on her phone.

"Hello?" The girl responded.

"Ellie! Hi, it's Maddi."

"Oh hi, cuz! What's happening?" Ellie replied.

Hey, I thought I saw you studying with Gwen Tennyson this morning? Before school?"

"Yeah, I was. Is there anything wrong with that?" Ellie asked. "She was nice enough to help me with my Shakespeare homework."

"Not wrong really," Maddisen said. "It's kinda complicated. Could I come over?"

"I'm actually out and about with my mom right now, she could drop me off at your house in like ten minutes?"

"Sure, that will work," Maddisen said. "I'll see you then." She hung up the phone, and took a deep breath.

"The curse isn't real, Gwen told me so herself," she told herself, trying to get her courage. "I can do this."

Ten minutes later, Ellie's mom dropped her off, and the two girls went upstairs into Maddi's bedroom.

"So what was it that you wanted to tell me about Gwen?" Ellie asked, not even picking up on Maddi's apprehension.

"I don't think that it's smart for you to hang out with her. Or anyone to hang out with her for that matter, it could be dangerous."

"What do you mean, 'it could be dangerous?' Like she's unpopular?" Ellie asked. "Maddi, I already know that she's not super popular, but that doesn't really matter-"

"That's not what I mean," Maddi said. She took a deep breath. "Ellie, what I'm going to tell you, I need you not to tell anyone, alright? Not until I say that it's alright to tell someone."

"Ok?" Ellie said, questioningly. "I promise."

"Gwen is more than she looks like," Maddi started. "I saw her do something that no one should be able to do…" Maddi spent the next hour or so explaining to Ellie what she had seen, as well as all of the things that she'd had on her mind the last several months. It felt so good to be able to confide in someone, and Maddi felt better than she had ever since she had first seen Gwen in the bathroom all that time ago.

Ellie surprised her with the seriousness that she was taking in the new information. Maddisen had halfway expected her to call her crazy, or say that she was making it all up. But to her credit, Ellie was nodding like she understood all of it.

"So that's why you should stay away from Gwen," Maddi finished. "Because if she really is this 'Lucky Girl' that runs around with Ultra 10 saving people, then I don't want you to get caught up in that. It could be dangerous."

"Hmm…" Ellie thought for a minute. "I had a couple of classes with Gwen last year, and she seemed really nice. That's why I went to her for help with my homework. She didn't seem the kind of person to turn me away or make fun of me."

"Yeah, she is usually really kind," Maddi agreed.

"And it sounds, from my perspective, that Gwen was panicked when she cast the fake spell on you. She even found you later and apologized. That must have been frightening for her."

"But it took her months to fess up," Maddi interjected. "She probably just did it hoping to keep me quiet."

"No, I don't think so," Ellie responded. "The fake curse was doing that just fine. She came to apologize, because that is what a good person does. Besides, if you were in Gwen's place, and someone found you doing as different or wrong as magic, could have you worked up the courage to apologize for scaring them?" Maddie thought on that for a while.

"Besides, it would be horrible if she were to get hurt, and our knowing her secret could have helped her," Ellie reasoned. Maddie hadn't really thought of that.

"What are you saying?" She asked.

"I think that we should confront her, together. Maybe we can help her? Like cover for her if she has to run off and do some hero work. It would be cool to help her and Ultra 10 do some good in the world…"

"I'm still not sure of it…" Maddi said. "But I trust you… Let's confront her tomorrow." The two girls hugged, before heading downstairs for dinner.

A/N:

That's where I'm ending it this time. Sorry for the darker chapter, but the chapter title is a good reminder for this chapter. When "In the Darkest Times," always "Look For the Light." This chapter is meant to inspire us, that however bad things can get, they can always get better. One of the main points in this chapter is that everyone has suffered from some kind of trauma, and there is no reason that we should suffer alone. Trusting each other is how we grow, heal and become stronger.

Summary: Cooper is revealed to be regretting his fight and break with the team, and with Ben. Later, Gwen gets a ride to school from her mom, who is excited to plan her birthday with her. However, Gwen is less than excited for a "childish" birthday party, and wants a simple, quick party so that it doesn't interrupt her night life as Lucky Girl. Gwen gets to school early, and connects with a former classmate, Ellie, who she helps with some homework. Gwen has a class with Ben, and notices that he is really stiff, and Gwen shows that she does actually care for Ben, even if he still annoys her. Gwen and Ellie also have karate class together, and start to form a friendship.

Julie visits Cooper, and convinces him to repair Ben's suit, as it was damaged by Vlad. He shares some of his insecurities with her, and she assures him that he is a good man, and that she believes that he will come back to help Team Ultra in the future. Later, Gwen goes on patrol, and runs into another Vilgax drone. Using her magic, she eventually zaps it with lightning, which blows it up. Later, it is revealed that Maddi and Ellie are cousins, and Maddi is concerned with Ellie becoming friends with Gwen. She is afraid that Gwen's alias of Lucky Girl could put Ellie in danger, but Ellie convinces Maddi that she should forgive Gwen and support her as Lucky Girl.

That's the end of the summary. What are your thoughts about the chapter? Did anyone see Maddi (and Ellie) becoming Gwen's version of Team Ultra? Any ideas on how Gwen's team will work with Team Ultra? What are your thoughts about Cooper? He has gone through some trauma as a kid, which explains some of his insecurities, especially his fear of being "found out." His working with Team Ultra again will help him heal from his trauma, but like everything, it will take time. Any ideas on when Vilgax is finally going to make an entrance? Or will he send bounty hunters first, like he does with Six-Six, Tetrax, etc. in the tv show? Any other ideas, thoughts or comments? Leave them in a review, along with a favorite and follow! Thanks for reading, have an awesome week, and a very Merry Christmas!

Review Responses:

UchihaNaruto247: Thanks for answering my question last question, it painted a clearer picture in my mind, plus looking it up gave me a better image that what I had in my mind while reading this. I gotta give Ben lots of credit this chapter, his willpower is certainly one of his most admirable traits. He was basically fighting two battles, both physical and mental and overcame both, albeit with some help. As for Ultra and Lucky Girl's relationship progression, of course I'm happy about it, it's honestly adorable how Lucky Girl is so affectionate with Ultra. Did you imply that Vlad is coming back? I thought when he turned to ash he was basically gone forever, although it's true that villains never stay dead for a long time. So I'll wait and see.

Thanks for the review, Uchiha! As you said in a previous review, if Gwen had the Omnitrix, she would have figured it out much more than Ben has. In fact, most people would probably have figured it out better than Ben has, but Ben's will power and determination is what keeps him going, and is what will make him the "Hero of Heroes." As for Vlad, I imply nothing. (Mwahaha!) Our Vlad is dead. However, we know of beings in the Ben 10 Universe that have come back from a single strand of DNA (Ghostfreak). And Vlad's DNA is now in the Omnitrix. Vlad, of course doesn't have Ghostfreak's regenerative ability, but a host of things could happen. Anywhere from a clone, to dark magic, to alternate universes, or he may not come back at all. Whatever does happen, Gwen will have her chance to go toe to toe with some vamps in the future.