I don't own Ben 10.
This is a different timeline where Charmcaster successfully swap body with Ben. If you readers don't like this story, then get out!
Chapter 1: A change of face
Ben Tennyson mumbled a few choice words to himself as he tugged at the white collar of the shirt that his grandpa had forced him to wear. Still in the process of their summer vacation trip through the United States, the Tennysons' latest stop brought them to the town of Salem, Massachusetts.
The young hero had initially been rather interested in the stop, but that interest quickly turned into disgust and embarrassment when Grandpa Max had them dress up as pilgrims. The excuse for this had something to do with it not being a proper learning experience in Salem if they didn't dress the part for the 'local history'.
So here he was, walking around a city while dressed in an old timey black pilgrim's shirt, complete with the most embarrassing and dorky hat. This was only compounded by the fact that his cousin had a witch hat, and don't even get him started on how their grandpa was dressed. They all stood out in the worst possible way.
"C'mon Grandpa," he whined with frustration and disdain evident in his voice. "Can I please change now?" He tugged at the white collar of his shirt for emphasis. Behind him, there were two kids snapping away with their cameras in order to get every single embarrassing shot they could get out of him and the others. He would give anything right now if it meant having the opportunity to either destroy those cameras or get out of the situation.
As if there existed some kind of higher power listening in on him and deciding to toss him a bone, a building not too far away from them promptly exploded into a great big mass of fire and debris. While this was indeed a horrible and dangerous thing to happen, what followed next filled Ben with excitement and almost giddiness.
"Ben," Max's voice broke the group's silence, "you can go ahead and change now."
"Yes!" The 10-year-old let out, wasting no time in activating the Omnitrix around his wrist and cycling through his collection of aliens. Which one did he want to use for this occasion? Definitely not Grey Matter. Quickly deciding on his choice, he slammed the dial back down. After a quick bit of transforming and a flash, Stinkfly was revealed in all his smelly glory.
"It feels good to be cool again!" He shouted, clenching his fists in victory. Without another word, he zoomed off towards the fire, leaving his cousin and grandpa behind.
"I wouldn't call a giant, ugly, and horribly smelly bug cool." Gwen snorted, rolling her eyes. "But Ben has always been a little weird like that."
"Now's not the time for snark." Max berated, earning a quick nod from his granddaughter. The duo then broke off into a run to try and help get people to safety in the chaos.
Bouncing from one area to another around the building that had caught aflame, Ben, as Stinkfly quickly fired jets of slime from both his eye stalks and mouth to extinguish the blaze. Upon clearing away the entrance, he managed to help a bunch of people that were still inside to escape to safety.
"Nothing like a little bit of action to no longer feel like a dork again!" He boisterously called out as he extinguished some more flames. It may have not been the most exciting of tasks, but he was able to at least get away from that ridiculous outfit.
Another explosion knocked Stinkfly out of his reverie, causing the young hero glance to his right and see a wall of fire advancing mysteriously from the end of the street towards him. "That's kinda weird."
Wasting no time, however, he darted for the flames and quickly extinguished them before landing on the ground to rest for a moment. Turning to his left, he caught sight of his reflection in the glass, and to his disgust, noticed that he still sported the pilgrim hat on top of his head. "Oh great, now I look like an alien dweeb!" Grumbling to himself, he shot the hat off with a couple of slime streams. Good riddance to that eyesore. It was probably his greatest deed of the day.
Before he could take off again, a familiar figure appeared from within the smoke and stood before him. It had been a while since they had last met, but the transforming hero easily recognized the girl with her long grey hair, magenta and purple coat, and purple bodysuit. "Hey, you're Charmcaster."
"Transfera Identica!" It was all she responded with as she waved her hand about in an arc. "Transfera Identica!" It was repeated quickly, and a purple sphere of magic formed into existence around her. Within her hand, a second sphere formed, and without missing a beat, she tossed the magical energy out of the barrier at her victim.
Wary of whatever spell it was, and definitely not wanting to stick around at all. Stinkfly shot off backwards into the air and attempted to get away from the attack. However, as he would quickly find out, he was incapable of getting away, and the sphere slammed into his backside as a force dragged him inside of it.
Struggling inside of the bubble, Stinkfly could only grimace and squirm. Something was going on, and he didn't like it at all. It felt as if something was pulling and pushing on his body as a tingling sensation spread throughout his body, especially around the area of his head.
Turning around, which was the only thing he could really get his body to do right now, he could only watch as his bubble prison drifted back towards Charmcaster via purple-pink bolts of electricity that connected both bubbles. He would have considered this to be kind of cool if it weren't for the fact that he was in the situation he was in.
A loud screaming distracted the transformed hero, causing him to turn his head to see cousin riding on the back of a stampeding horse drawn carriage. Hey, maybe she could do something to get him out of this stupid bubble!
In another timeline at another time, this likely would have occurred, and Ben would have found himself free of the bubble. However, this was not that time, and instead of being tossed off of the horse, Gwen managed to hold onto the reigns as it charged on by and away from the bubble.
"Whew," Charmcaster muttered to herself in relief. "That was close, but now there's nothing that can go wrong! Victory is mine, Ben Tennyson!"
Before Ben could make a comeback, the two bubbles of magic collided together, and the inhabitants of both bubbles were slammed into each other. Both of them could feel as if something was forcefully being pulled away from them. It was as if their minds experienced an empty feeling for a brief moment.
This feeling didn't last all that long before the bubble, and space between Ben and Charmcaster, exploded, separating the two and sending them flying several feet apart before crashing to the ground. In the midst of the backlash, the Omnitrix timed out.
"Ooohh… what happened?" Ben asked, placing a hand to his head as he unsteadily got back to his feet. Something didn't feel right, and he couldn't help but notice that his body seemed a little off. He felt a bit… heavier? "What did she do to me?" As the words left his lips, he blinked. Was that his voice? It didn't sound right. It sounded weirdly higher and less like the one he was used to at all.
Wobbling back and forth, he placed a hand to his face to quell the horrible tingling that still seemed to linger. As he did he couldn't help but notice that his face felt much softer than it should have, and the skin tone of his hand also seemed a bit off. In fact, why were his fingernails painted black.
It was then that he could feel a strange weight on his chest, causing him to tilt his head downward to see that his chest pushed outwards, being covered by a very familiar outfit. Panic started to creep in as he glanced to the side at a broken shop window. Within the reflection of the glass, Ben could see the form of Charmcaster staring back at 'her'.
"No way." She said silently as she moved an arm. "No way!" She exclaimed much louder while making several facial expressions, which only mimicked what she did. "This can't be happening! I'm Charmcaster?!" The shout came out rather high pitched, causing her to place a hand over her mouth with a surprised squeak. "Th- That means I'm a girl!"
Reaching down, she gave her chest a poke, and quickly realized that yes, those were indeed a pair of breasts." Nononono!" She pulled her hands away from her chest and quickly felt the rest of her body. This wasn't right at all. This was the worst possible thing ever. Yes, even her lower parts were gone.
"Will you stop touching my body like that?!" A voice, which sounded a lot like 'his' own, called out in clear annoyance. Raising her head and turning her attention towards the direction it came from, Ben saw his own body staring back at him from the corner of a nearby alley. "Do you know how uneasy it is for me to see you do that?!"
Ben's mind raced. She was staring at her own body. She was now Charmcaster. Her own body was shouting that this was his body. That could really only mean one thing in this situation. "Charmcaster! What did you do?! Give me my body back!" She broke off into a charge at what used to be her body. Though in the process, she found herself stumbling due to the unfamiliarity of her new state.
"Now why would I ever do that?" Charmcaster's voice had a patronizing tone to it as he worked on keeping out of Ben's way. "It's my body now, and with this watch, along with my magical powers, I'll be incinvible! So how about I give you a taste of your own former power?!" He slammed his hand down onto the Omnitrix, but nothing seemed to happen at all.
"What gives?" He tried to activate the device, but he couldn't get it to do anything. The light on the color display, which had initially been red, had changed to a flashing grey and white. "How do you even work this stupid thing?"
"I want my body back!" Ben shouted, managing to grab hold of his former body's omnitrix-covered wrist. "I don't want to be a stupid girl! This is gross!"
"Who are you calling gross?" Charmcaster took obvious offence to this. "I told you that this is no longer your body. You should be happy. It's not every day that someone can say they get to experience what being the opposite sex is like." Chanting under his breath, the magic user attempted to summon up a spell to knock his own former body back. However, much to his shock, he found that Ben's body didn't possess any substantial magical capability at all. "You have got to be kidding me."
As the two struggled and jostled the Omnitrix about, the device began to let off some questionable sparks. Somewhere within the AI of the watch, it had sensed that something was off and very wrong about Ben. The sudden change in brain and mentality patterns, as well rather less than savory ideals, resulted in it enacting a programmed counter measure that sent it into lockdown mode. Azmuth had designed such a feature as a precaution in case of the possibility that the wielder of the Omnitrix suffered from extreme possession or body control in order to prevent horrible misuse.
As if by strange luck, the jostling and twisting of the Omnitrix managed to shift it into re-calibration mode, causing the light to turn a deep blue color. Within this mode, the device sent out some scans to see if it was safe to exit lockdown, and to go ahead with re-calibrating. Its sensors indicated that the one wearing it was still unfamiliar and foreign, as well as possessed rather… unfavorable interests and goals.
However, at the same moment, it sensed the familiar mental scans of its actual user, and the one it had grown accustomed to all this time. It desired this familiarity, and to be away from the one that it found felt 'wrong' to it. The Omnitrix sparked, and the blue light flashed brighter.
Both Ben and Charmcaster stopped in their struggling, caught by surprise at seeing the alien device sparking up a storm.
"What did you do?!" Ben shouted with a hint of worry and annoyance. This definitely wasn't his fault.
"Me? I had nothing to do with this. You're the one who wouldn't let go!"
Before either of them could say another word, the Omnitrix sparked with another bolt of static before lashing out Ben's wrist and seemingly oozing towards her. Once around the wrist of the boy-turned-teen girl, it shifted its appearance.
No longer did the device look rather bulky and awkward. The change it had gone through gave it more of an actual watch look. It was smaller and took up less space around Ben's wrist. The dial rested on top, and was attached to her wrist by a green and black strap.
"I don't know if this is a good sign." Ben turned her wrist around to get a better look at it. "But the new look is really cool." Her fear of her current body momentarily forgotten due to being distracted by the changed Omnitrix.
Charmcaster, meanwhile, felt his jaw drop as he stared at his former body. "You have GOT to be kidding me!" All of the planning for this moment turned out to be nothing more than a waste. His attempt to gain absolute power was dashed to bits, and now he found himself stuck in the body of a 10-year-old boy without the item he did all of this for in the first place. Not only that, but he had no access to magic, and so he couldn't reverse this whole thing. Could it get any worse?
"Ben!" It was the shout of Gwen, who had finally arrived alongside Grandpa Max after managing to get the horse from earlier calmed down. "Did you manage to- is that Charmcaster?!"
Charmcaster's eyes darted back and forth. He really had no way to deal with this situation at all. If he attempted to fight, it was highly likely that he'd get easily subdued. If anything, he needed to cause a good distraction. "I- yeah! She's the one who caused this mess, and she managed to get the watch!" He pointed directly at his former body.
This caught both Gwen and Max off guard. To learn that someone had actually managed to successfully swipe the watch from Ben and now had access to it filled the both of them with vast amounts of dread.
Gwen was the first to speak, looking ready to get involved. "How could you let her get the Omnitrix?! We need to stop her!"
"Wait!" Ben held up her hands. "I'm not Charmcaster; I'm Ben! She's, I mean, he's Charmcaster! Our bodies got switched!"
Charmcaster shook her head quickly. "Don't listen to her! She's just trying to confuse you to give her time to do something." He tried to put forth an innocent, cute look.
"Gross! I'd never make a dumb look like that. Stop making me look like such a dweeb. I thought being hypnotized into doing things in my sleep by that watch dork at the mall was bad enough, but now I'm not even in my body."
"... okay, that definitely sounds like my cousin."
The teen girl-turned-young boy let out a curse. How could he forget that he was a boy right now, and that making such an expression would likely be horribly out of character for how Ben would act?
Max placed a hand to his head, looking lost. "Wait a second. Let me get this straight. Ben is no longer Ben, but you are Ben?" He points at the teen girl, who nodded. "And Charmcaster is no longer Charmcaster, but is in my grandson's body?" He points to the 10-year-old boy, who was attempting to get at the magic bag around Ben's waist, but is prevented in doing so by the bag biting his hand. "This is really confusing and disconcerting."
"It's the worst!" Ben whined before giving a rather cute pout. "Look at me! I'm now a dumb girl!"
"And what's wrong with being a girl?" Gwen and Charmcaster both asked, looking a bit miffed at the statement. They shared a look of annoyance and discomfort at being on the same track.
"Duh, it isn't what I'm supposed to be. Look at me! I look like some kinda weirdo freak with- OW!" Ben winced and rubbed her leg, which had been kicked by a rather annoyed little boy. "What was that for?!"
"Nobody calls me a freak and gets away with it." Charmcaster appeared ready to deliver another kick if needed.
Hoping to try and distract the two from getting into a fight, Gwen pointed to Ben's wrist. "So why did the Omnitrix hop wrists, and why does it look so different?"
"How should I know, doofus?" Ben asked, crossing her arms. "We both know the thing makes no sense at all. It did some weird stuff stuff when we were fighting, turned blue, sparked, and then jumped over to me."
"So once again, it was all down to just dumb luck."
Max scratched his head. "Well, at the very least, the Omnitrix is safe, and isn't in the hands of someone who would use it for ill intentions." He glanced between Ben and Charmcaster, and then stared at the wreckage of the street they were on. Authorities, fire crew, and rescue workers were making their way around and asking questions.
"Though it might be best to get back to the Rust Bucket to discuss this." Hopefully nobody actually saw Charmcaster when she was causing her mayhem.
The former witch in question turned and attempted to sneak off. "Yeah, you all go do that. I need to be somewhere else- Hey!" A sudden headlock thanks to Gwen halted his attempts to escape.
"Don't even think about it. You're coming with us so we can figure this out."
Charmcaster squirmed within the headlock. "Ow! Fine, just knock it off!" He couldn't begin to describe just how much he regretted and despised this entire event.
Charmcaster crossed his arms as he sat within a seat in the RV that the Tennysons apparently referred to as the 'Rust Bucket'. Looking around, he was rather surprised at just how nice it actually looked on the inside compared to the outside. Sure, it was a bit on the cramped side, but it was liveable.
"So…"
The 10-year-old's eyes darted to the speaker, who was easily identifiable as the grandfather to the cousins. The older man - Max he believed - had his arms crossed, but seemed rather relaxed. At least, he assumed so, but it felt like there was a commanding presence within his stare.
Looking around some more at his captors, Charmcaster noted that Gwen had taken to sitting next to him besides the window, and his former body containing the mind of Ben Tennyson sat across from him. All in all, it was clear that he would be screwed in any attempt he made to escape.
Max chose that moment to continue. "Since we're all in a better place to talk, I think it would be a good idea to explain yourself. I'd honestly like to know more on why you decided it would be a good idea to switch bodies with my grandson."
"He- She obviously wanted the Omnitrix!" Gwen supplied quickly. "But I can't believe that you'd do something like this. Switching bodies with Ben?!"
"Yeah! Seriously not cool." Ben crossed her own arms, blushing momentarily at having to deal with her new chest.
Charmcaster snorted and waved a hand. "Settle down, princess." The dismissive attitude earned him quite the look from Gwen. "You have to admit that the plan sounded good in theory. I bodyswap with hero boy and gain access to that lovely little device that lets him turn into all manner of creatures. Not only that, but combined with my magic, I'd be pretty much invincible."
"But this clearly didn't go as you had planned." Max supplied.
Ben let off a laugh. "Yeah, because I still got the Omnitrix!" She waved her wrist about while blowing a raspberry. "Score one for Ben Tennyson! Even when I lose I win!"
Ignoring her cousin's immaturity for the moment, Gwen decided to switch to another subject that caught her attention. "...wait, does this mean that Ben now has access to magic?"
Charmcaster's fist clenched and unclenched as he glared at his former body, but he managed to answer the girl's question. "Yes. 'She'," he put emphasis on this, causing Ben to balk, "now has access to what was my magical aura. I, on the other hand, don't have access to one while in this body."
Max decided to sit down across from Charmcaster, Ben moving over so he could. "So in other words, Be- Charmcaster, you assumed that Ben would have a… magical aura."
Ben, meanwhile, was lost in thought. "Oh man, I can use magic! How do I do it? Can I do a bunch of awesome stuff? Can I- Ow!" She winced due to Gwen kicking her leg from under the table. "What was that for, doofus?" She proceeded to kick Gwen's own leg in retaliation. Though before it could escalate further, their grandfather cleared his throat.
Charmcaster's expression turned sullen. Fear, worry, disappointment, sadness, rage, and a plethora of other emotions flashed across his features. "I did, but it turns out that this body's magical aura is nearly nonexistent. Well, that's not true. Everybody has at least some amount of magical aura to them. I should say that this body doesn't have enough USABLE magic. There's not enough to even do the simplest of spells, much less something that's more advanced like the body switching spell." He glanced at his hand, frowning as he attempted to summon up at least a little magic. All that could happen was a very tiny static spark.
"You'd still be able to switch our bodies back, right?" Ben asked, clearly hopeful even though she already knew the answer. She had a sinking feeling within the pit of her stomach.
The former witch shook his head. "I have no ability to switch us back." Before the group could retaliate with a response, he continued. "But since you have my body and my magic, then it'll have to fall onto you."
"In that case, you both may as well be stuck forever." Gwen deadpanned, earning a look from her cousin. "Hey, doofus, I don't like this whole situation either. Though at the very least, you could have been stuck in a much worse body."
Charmcaster begrudgingly agreed. "She's right, Tennyson. You should be honored to be inhabiting such a cute and powerful body. I mean, what if it was my uncle who got the idea to bodyswap with you? You'd be stuck in the body of a middle-aged old fart." There was quite a bit of venom in his words as he talked about Hex.
Ben grumbled out a response. "Yeah, well, maybe I don't want to be cute. I'd rather be awesome and handsome."
Max cleared his throat. "So, as you were saying about Ben being able to get you both back to normal?"
"Oh, right." Charmcaster turned his attention squarely on Ben. "You have my magical power, so we have a way out of this. However, there's one tiny problem."
"Uh, what's the problem?" Ben asked
"How much do you know about magic? About how to channel and use it?" Charmcaster asked as all he got in response was a blank look. He sighed deeply and leaned back. "I thought as much. You have no prior training and know next to nothing about it. The chances of being able to pull off a Transfera Identica spell right now are slim to none."
Before anybody could utter a word, he let out another long sigh. "Looks like I'm going to have to train you. I might not be able to use magic any more, but I still know everything there is about how to teach and learn to use it."
"Teaching and learning? Aw man! I shouldn't have to be worrying about schooling during summer vacation!" Ben grumbled something about it not being fair. "This shouldn't take long, right? I learn how to do magic, do the body switch spell, and then we're back to normal."
Charmcaster's lips twitched. "I love how simple you think this will be, Tennyson." The amount of naivete being shown would have been hilarious if the current situation was any different. "How long this takes depends solely on how long you take. Transfera Identica is a complex, multi-step spell that can be considered rather advanced."
"Can you at least give us an estimate on how long it could take?" Max asked, having a sinking suspicion that the answer wouldn't be good.
"As I said, it depends."
Gwen's lips transformed into a frown. "Depends on what?"
"On how long it takes for Ben here to learn. If I were to guess right now, despite having access to my magic, she would need to learn from scratch. If I were to make an estimated guess based on these factors? Well…"
"Spit it out already!" Ben growled out.
"At the very least, it could potentially take a few months." There was some silence. "Maybe even a year or two at the least? I mean, as I said, it all depends on how long it takes Alien 'Girl' here to grasp it all."
Ben slammed her hands onto the table. "I can't be like this for that long! Summer vacation doesn't last that long! I'll be back home by then. Oh jeez… what would my parents think about this?"
Max let out a nervous laugh as he scratched the back of his neck. "Carl and Sandra will definitely give me an earful for this." This was originally supposed to be a nice, relaxing summer trip, and he had hoped that his son and daughter-in-law would have never learned about some of the… stranger experiences.
"This can only end badly." Gwen groaned, a hand to her face.
"Then you better hope that you're a quick learner, Tennyson." Charmcaster responded as he crossed his arms. "And we may as well get started right now. Also, we're going to need to collect a bunch of ingredients." Despite all he said, he was confident that they could get this done quickly. Even if Ben was a total novice, that body's magical aura should be enough to do the deed with just a little teaching. It shouldn't be that difficult.
"You are hopeless!" Charmcaster raged, frustration etched upon his features as he glared daggers at Ben. His former body was leaning back against the Rust Bucket with a bored expression. "You're barely even paying attention to a word I'm trying to say! Weren't you all gung ho about wanting to get your body back?!"
Ben yawned. "Yeah, but listening to you talk is just boring. I thought learning magic would be fun, but it all sounds like a total chore." It's like she was back in school, and it honestly felt too early for that. "This magic bag of yours is pretty neat, though." She rubbed the head of a small rock golem that sat next to her.
"Well at least you got the hang of animating the golems down.." The 10-year-old sneered. He felt rather annoyed, as all of his stone golems, and even the bag itself, only recognized his former body. "But that still doesn't excuse you from being so bloody difficult! I mean, look, your cousin has been listening!"
She motioned over to Gwen, who had managed to create a small magical aura between her hands. It wasn't much in the long run, but it was definitely progress for a beginner to manifest a little of their power.
"All you have to do is listen to what Charmcaster has to say. It's not so bad." Gwen let go of the aura, losing concentration on it.
Ben rolled her eyes. "Teacher's pet."
"Well this teacher's pet is actually learning magic while you sit on your butt." The redhead blew a raspberry at her cousin. "But I guess it might be a bit too difficult for a dweeb like you to figure out, so I understand. I'll just go ahead and learn to do a bunch of crazy and amazing spells."
Ben glared back, getting to her feet. "Hey, I can so figure it out. It's just boring to sit and listen."
"Oh yeah?" Gwen asked, proceeding to egg him on a little more. "Prove it."
"I will!" The silver-haired teen shouted as she placed her hands together and concentrated on forming some magic. She didn't have to wait long, and she did manage to bring forth some magic. Only, the problem was, she tried forcing too much, and the magic between her hands exploded into a very bright orb, which extinguished just as quickly as it occurred. "Aww"
"You were putting too much into it." Charmcaster placed his hands on his hips. "It was a good try, and actually some progress, but you need to try and not force it as much. Just let it flow into your hands and envision it."
"Right, right…" Ben muttered as she attempted again. She definitely didn't want her cousin showing her up so easily and making her look like a fool. Giving a sigh, she placed her hands together and tried again. She envisioned the magic going into her hands and relaxed. Soon enough, a small glow was visible between her hands.
"Ha! I got it! In your face, Gwen!" The magic fizzled out once her concentration wavered. "Aww man."
"Part of your plan, Gwenny?" Charmcaster whispered, leaning towards the redhead.
Gwen whispered a response. "You just need to know how my cousin ticks. Ben can do a lot of interesting things when he sets his mind to it. He just doesn't try to apply himself to a lot of things besides what immediately interests him."
"Uuuugh, sitting here for so long has me all tired out. I need to do something exciting!" Ben shouted as she turned to the Omnitrix. She actually hadn't touched it yet since it changed appearance. "Wonder what's changed." She proceeded to activate it, and to her surprise, the device displayed a holographic green image of her aliens. "Oh wow, awesome! It's like some kind of upgrade or something."
Turning the dial, she decided to go with XLR8, and pushed the dial down. In one quick flash and a transformation, she was once again XLR8. Only something was a little bit off. "You've gotta be kidding me."
Gwen pointed out the obvious. "Looks like your aliens have changed appearance as well."
True enough, XLR8 was female now as well, but the bigger difference was the color of the outfit the alien wore. Instead of black and white, the coloring was now a dark purple with lighter purple secondary colors. Her eyes were still green. (1)
"I guess it makes sense. The device is using my body's clothing as a basis instead of yours." Charmcaster had to admit that he definitely liked the outcome. "You look good." He felt a bit jealous.
"Well I guess it should have been obvious. Whatever. I need to go have a little fun." She was off in less than a split second to do her own brand of cooling off.
This left both Gwen and Charmcaster alone, a rather awkward silence shared between the two. "So…" Gwen began, still finding it awkward that she was talking to her cousin, but he wasn't her cousin at the same time. "When did you start studying magic?"
"From the moment I could walk." The boy answered quickly. "I've studied magic my whole life. It is, or was, my life. No matter what, I intend to get it back. I need to get it back."
"Why's that?"
"As if I'd tell those I consider my enemies my life story, princess." Charmcaster huffed, turning his head. "Don't assume that just because we need to spend an indefinite amount of time together, it means that we're friends in any way. We're just acquaintances with similar end goals."
Gwen glared at the one currently residing in her cousin's body and crossed her arms. "Well it's not like I wanted to be friends with a criminal like you anyway."
"That's fine with me."
"Good!"
"I know."
Max, meanwhile, could only scratch the back of his head as he watched the two argue. This was going to get confusing, and he was certain that this vacation was about to feel a lot longer than it should because of this. "Oh boy…"
"Well whatever." Charmcaster casually placed his arms behind his head, stretching. "Though you're both nothing more than novices, maybe we can at least try to do a Transfera Identica." It was against his better judgement, but he was feeling incredibly impatient. Either it was the body, or he just really missed his magic and hated being weak.
"Really?" Gwen was surprised by this, but if it meant getting rid of Charmcaster, then she was all for it. "You said we needed a potion, right?"
Charmcaster nodded. "Though we need to wait for your cousin to get back, since she's in possession of my spell book. Where did she even get off to-"
"Did I hear you asking about me?" XLR8 asked, standing directly behind the boy, causing him to let off a rathe girly squeal. "Dude, don't do that. It's embarrassing and makes me look uncool." The Omnitrix flashed red for a moment before timing out, returning her back to normal.
"As if you looked cool to begin with." The former witch mumbled, causing Gwen to let off a small giggle. "Anyway, you have my spell book in your sleeve."
"Wait, I do?" Ben reached her hand into the sleeve, pulling out a few golem eggs. Trying again, she found herself with some other magical doodads. On the final try, she pulled out a small spell book. "How did all that fit in there without me knowing?"
"Magical storage spaces. Maybe if you're lucky, I'll tell you more about them later." He snatched the book away before heading into the RV. A moment later, he returned with a pad and pencil and started jotting a list down. "This is what we'll need for the spell."
Feeling curious, Max moved over and took a look at the list. "A lot of the stuff on this list appears rather exotic." They could see his eyes shine. "I bet it'd all make a really tasty dish."
Charmcaster's expression turned blank. "You what?"
"Grandpa has really odd tastes." Gwen supplied.
"You really don't want to know." Ben added. "But if we're stuck like this long enough, you will."
"Right… well, we should probably get out there and obtain the ingredients for the potion."
"A bunch of this stuff is kinda expensive, don't you think?" Ben asked, tasked with carrying the bag full of ingredients as Charmcaster led the group through the shops alongside the pier.
"It's the price you have to pay sometimes for advanced potions." The former witch inhabiting her old body answered with a shrug. "We just have one final thing to get, and since we're near the ocean, it shouldn't be too hard."
Ben turned her head to Gwen, who had the list in her hands. "What's the final ingredient?"
"Sea urchin eggs."
"Ew, that sound gross." Ben replied, making a face.
"Actually, it's quite the delicacy." Max looked to be lost in thought. "It's also called uni, and has an amazing flavor. Very popular ingredient in sushi, too. Though it's constantly in high demand, and can be a bit on the expensive side depending on various factors."
"Still gross."
Arriving at one of the many stalls, Charmcaster poked and prodded at the wares. There was definitely a variety of different sea creatures, but he didn't see any sea urchin in sight. "Excuse me, but you wouldn't happen to have any sea urchin eggs, would you?"
The vendor raised an eyebrow. "Sea urchin eggs?" He scoffed. "What do I look like? A seafood gourmet? Whatcha see is what I got, kiddo."
The 10-year-old glared, but without any magic, he couldn't do anything in response. "Well thanks anyway." He answered tersely before turning around. He hated not having magic. If he did, he would have taught that upstart a lesson. "We're not going to find anything useful here. Let's go somewhere else with."
"Kids these days." The vendor muttered.
It took some more searching, but the group finally happened upon a shop that carried the final ingredient that they were searching for. It was a small fishing shop positioned much closer to the water. However, they ran into another small problem.
"$25 just for some sea urchin eggs?!" Charmcaster asked incredulously. He knew that it could potentially be expensive, but the last batch he obtained? Well, okay, he actually stole them with magic. Though now that wouldn't be possible. "That's too high!" It also didn't help that the shop's selection was rather… paltry.
One of the men running the shop shrugged. "Hey, what can I say, kid? This isn't exactly the best year for sea urchin farming. Water conditions are kinda causing a problem with stock, and there's also the costs of getting it here. I think it's rather fair."
"But I need the uni!"
"Then pay up." The other man said, yawning. "Supply and demand at work."
Charmcaster glared, but turned around and made his way over to the Tennysons who were waiting outside. He turned his attention to Ben. "How about you do something? Transform into an alien and just swipe what we need?"
"No way am I going to become a criminal for a bunch of fish eggs."
"Sea urchins aren't fish, Ben." Gwen supplied. "But I agree. No stealing them."
"Whatever. They live in the ocean." The teen grumbled. "Still doesn't change the fact that I ain't using my aliens to steal."
Max nodded. "Exactly. It'd be irresponsible to do so, and if you are going to be stuck traveling with us, Be- Charmcaster, you'll have to understand this."
The young boy's face turned into a look of disgust. "Gross. Look at you three and how worried you are about the law and what's right. If I had my magic-" He stopped himself. "Fine, whatever. Look, we still need the sea urchin."
"Don't worry, I got this handled." Max made his way into the shop. The group watched as the older man talked to the two men, who seemed to laugh along joyfully at whatever he was saying. Eventually, he returned with a small container of uni. "Got it, and only for $15 too."
"What?" Charmcaster asked in surprise. "How'd you manage to do that?"
"When you've been around as long as I have, and dealt with as much as I have, you learn a thing or two about haggling and shooting the breeze. Now, let's get going."
Ben laughed at this. "Alright grandpa! You rock!"
Charmcaster just stared in surprise, jaw slack as the group walked off. Realizing they were leaving, he ran after them. "Hey, wait up!"
"Okay, that should do it." Charmcaster finished stirring the contents of the large pot and stood back. The smell of all of the ingredients mixed together wafted about, causing both Ben and Gwen to scrunch up their noses at the horrible odor.
"Ew, gross! Magic potions are so not something I want to get used to being around if they're going to smell like this." Ben held onto her nose.
"It smells worse than your socks." Gwen shivered at the mention.
Hearing this, Charmcaster turned his attention towards the redhead. "... this body has horribly smelly feet?"
"Like you wouldn't imagine! I don't even think Ben washes his socks."
"Hey, they're only going to get dirty again, so what's the point?"
Charmcaster stared at Ben for the longest time, looking as if he was going to get ill. "Okay, Tennyson? If this doesn't work out, we are so going to make sure that you learn how to properly take care of my body. Come hell or high water, I will make sure that your disgusting habits do not defile my precious body." He glanced down at his feet. "And these socks are so going to go into a washing machine."
Ben opened and closed her mouth at that, while Gwen gave off a small snigger. "Yeah? Well… don't you do any weird or dumb stuff to my body!"
"Noted." The former which turned back towards the pot. "We only have one shot at this, so we need to get this right. If we don't? Well… at least we gave it a try." Though it's possible they could have a second chance since there were still some ingredients. His attention focused on both cousins. "So… one of you gets to try this. Honestly? After what I saw earlier in regards to your current levels of control, I'd likely have to go with Gwen on this one."
Gwen let off a nervous gulp. It was up to her to get this right. Up to her to help get her cousin back to normal. Only one chance at it, and it was only today that she had started practicing magic. Not to mention the spell was an advanced one as well. No pressure, right?
"Eh, I guess that's fair." Ben stretched a little, glad that the pressure was off her for this. She was certain Gwen could do it. "I wanna be able to be able to go to the bathroom normally again." A tinge of red surfaced upon her features as she remembered the embarrassment earlier of having to deal with her new plumbing.
"Whenever you're ready." Charmcaster held the spell book out to Gwen with the page open to the instructions for casting the incantation.
Clearing her throat and nodding, the redhead held up her hands and began to concentrate. From within the pot, the magic rose up and over to her. It was clearly unsteady and lacking in proper control. "O- Okay. Transfera Identica, Transfera Identica, Tran…" The circle of magic wavered and dimmed, signalling that Gwen was losing control in trying to maintain it.
"Focus!" Charmcaster shouted with some annoyance. "Keep your mind on the spell!"
Ben crossed her arms. "Hey, she's trying. You're the one who decided we should try and risk doing it now."
"I know that." He couldn't help it. He just felt impatient. "But maybe it was a mistake."
Gwen frowned at the conversation, and the statement of it being a mistake. She was trying her best here to fix the mess that Charmcaster had caused. If it wasn't for the witch, this nonsense wouldn't have happened. The least he could do right now was be grateful that she was possibly his only real chance at the moment to get back to normal.
Though another thought came to her. What if Charmcaster got her body back right now? There was no guarantee that she wouldn't attack them, or do something horrible. Not only that, but she would have the Omnitrix as well, and could easily run off with it.
Various emotions and thoughts played through Gwen's mind as she considered all of these options, and her focus dimmed some more. Noticing that she was losing control on the spell, she quickly attempted to force more power into it. However, in the process, the magic twisted and squirmed.
"What are you doing?!" Charmcaster cursed under his breath. It appears that he had expected too much at this stage. He figured as much, though it didn't make him feel any better. Though right now, his worry was that Gwen was turning the magic into something different in her attempts to keep it going. "Stop feeding it!"
It was too late, and the magic exploded, causing the pot to knock over and spill the contents over the remaining ingredients that they did have. Some of the magic shot over to Ben and enveloped her.
"Ben!" Gwen shouted in panic.
As she was assaulted by the magic, the Omnitrix beeped to life and started to spark up. After a moment, it activated, and Ben found herself caught in a transformation flash that blasted the magical energy away.
"Ben!" Her cousin shouted again as she ran over to her. Charmcaster and Max were not far behind. "Are you okay?!" She couldn't help but blink at her cousin's appearance.
"Uuuuugh… that was a rush. What happened?" The teen asked as she rubbed her head. She had transformed thanks to the Omnitrix, though what she ended up as was definitely new.
Her body was rather slim with smooth, green skin. She was humanoid, but only had three fingers on each hand, and two toes on each foot. The sclera of her eyes was yellow while her eyes were still pink. The top of her head was bald.
"...congratulations, Gwen. I think you just turned your cousin into a frog alien." Charmcaster deadpanned. Well, it was more like the Omnitrix transformed her, but clearly responded to the magic. "You'd fit right at home with classical witches turning people into frogs."
Gwen let loose a relieved sigh. Thankfully the Omnitrix activated, or otherwise who knew what would have happened. Ben might have actually become just a frog!
"Oh cool. New alien." The teen simply stated, looking herself over. "Wonder what this one is capable of."
Max, meanwhile, crossed his arms as he affixed the trio with a rather stern look. "Okay, as of now, I'm putting my foot down. Until somebody gets more experience and control at using their magic, no more body swapping spells. I don't want any more potentially horrible accidents. You all got this?"
Both of his grandchildren nodded, looking to the side. "Yes grandpa."
"Yeah, yeah," Charmcaster muttered, looking rather resigned. "I figured this would probably be the end result anyway. I'm stuck like this with no power of my own for I don't know how long. All those years of work. All that effort. Now I can't do anything about that monster."
"What's this about a monster?" Gwen asked, while Ben tested out her current powers by extending her rather long tongue. "Ew…"
"That's none of your business." The former witch snapped before turning and heading into the Rust Bucket. To Gwen, it almost seemed as if he was trying to fight back a torrent of emotions.
"Wonder what that was about…" She muttered, only to suddenly get a long tongue to the cheek. "Wh- Gross! Ben! When I get my hands on you!"
Her cousin could only laugh as she bounded around the area. Their grandfather, meanwhile, sighed, realizing things were definitely going to be confusing.
(1) Look up in DeviantArt: A Charming Group by UsaRitsu.
This idea pop in my head to have Ben in Charmcaster body with the power of both magic and the Omnitrix.