Kid Stuff! This is an episode I feel like I've seen a few times. A few years ago, when I still watched Saturday morning cartoons (are those still a thing?) I swear this episode would play a few times, I'm not sure, it just feels like it did. Honestly, I liked this episode, nice little bit of fun and it was the obligatory de-aging episode. We don't get a lot of that nowadays, do we?

Now to reply to a review!

Omnisaurus: Again, thanks for the review, it really does help me keep this story going. Next chapter will show what I do with the scanning thing. For this Wonder Woman I think I'll lean towards the demigoddess form, which will give Eric a demigod form, 'cause your examples are really good, but when I think of a hybrid scanned by the Omnitrix, Nanomech comes to mind, so it'll be along those lines, though he won't have a Homo Magi form, that'll be explained later.

It's funny, I originally wasn't planning on introducing other Ben 10 elements, but when I looked at the history Eric would have, I knew it had to happen. And I've gotta ask: what's the other story that implements Ben 10 elements seamlessly?

I won't lie, Eric was originally going to be an overprotective older sibling, mainly because he knows how demanding life as a superhero can be, but then that never happened, and here we are now. Gotta say, their relationship definitely does seem better if he were overprotective. Also, Silencio is based off of Nightcrawler, just no tail or teleportation powers.

Ben 10 Fun Fact 2: Gwen was originally a classmate with no familial ties to Ben, she also wasn't supposed to be on the road trip in the original series, instead she would have gone to a summer study program.

Well, that's all from me up here, on with the story!


Kid's Stuff

Within the crumbling ruins of a long-gone civilization, two figures walk among the ruined pillars and run-down paths as they come across a temple, long since ravaged by the merciless sands of time. One of the two, a young boy with blond hair wearing purple and gold clothes, is far less interested. Whereas the woman, wearing clothing of similar colors to the boy and an exquisite mask that covers her face, is far more interested. They walk inside the entranceway of the old building, the boy sighs indignantly.

"This better be worth it, Mother," he huffs to himself. The boy is Mordred, son to the infamous sorceress Morgaine le Fay. "I mean it," he presses, not looking up from his video game.

Underneath her mask, Morgaine le Fay smirks. "If the legends are true, it will be," she then heads up the stairs, Mordred rolling his eyes in annoyance.

"You've been saying stuff like that for, like, centuries. Nothing ever changes," he whines.

"Everything's changed," his mother replies impassively. "Except you, Mordred, and that's because I want you to still be young when I give you your kingdom."

"But I want to be king now!" Mordred yells before noticing Morgaine has stopped moving. He sees that she's standing in front of a statue of a six-armed creature, an amulet clutched in its lower left hand. "What's this thing? Another stupid charm?" He asks, the amulet glows a bright pink, as if responding to his question.

"It's the Amulet of First Magic," Morgaine answers. She then stands in front of her son in case something goes wrong. "The source of all earthly sorcery."

"Huh, shiny," Mordred simply says. He then climbs the statue, sitting on the hand next to the one holding the amulet.

"Be ready, Mordred," Morgaine commands as she waves her hands, magic circling them before she fires a beam at the statue, its own hand uncurling from around the hand, letting Mordred catch it.

"At last. Mordred, give that to me," she demands. Mordred instead gives her a smug grin.

"Why should I?" He asks.

Morgaine shakes her head. "Silly child, you're not-"

"Not what? Ready!?" Mordred interrupts. He puts the amulet around his neck with a furious look on his face. "Not big enough or old enough? None of that matters, Mother! Because now…" he laughs before the energy crackling surrounds his hands, electricity flying to his eyes. "I'm strong enough!"

"Mordred!" Morgaine barks, half in fear, half in rage. She casts a bolt of magic in an attempt to stop her son, but Mordred lazily casts aside the attack before swapping his purple tunic for a suit of gold and black armor, a three-pointed crown on his head.

"I'll have my kingdom, and without anyone telling me what to do!" He declares before pointing an accusatory finger at his mother. "I never want to see you, or anyone older than me ever again!" He announces before raising a hand, casting a wave of purple and golden energy that quickly spreads out over the globe.

"No!" Morgaine cries before the wave strikes her. Morgaine then vanishes from sight, the wave continuing to wash over the world.


Eric

Gotta say, fighting villains definitely helps to get you out of a funk.

Right now, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and I are fighting a group of villains attempting to break into a federal gold reserve. These villains are Blockbuster, a brute wearing an orange shirt and purple pants (horrible sense of fashion if you ask me), Cheetah, a cat like woman with an unhealthy hate for Wonder Woman, KGBeast, Russian assassin with a gun for a hand, and Copperhead, he's a dude in a snake costume. Might be related to Ssserpent.

I smirk and dodge a strike from Blockbuster, I then run up his arm and kick him in the face as hard as I can, forcing the brute to take a step back in pain. Wonder Woman then dashes forward and tackles Blockbuster into Cheetah, slamming both villains into the wall behind them.

Superman walks up next to me as the two of us watch everything going on. "So, I heard Zatanna stayed with you over the last week."

"Yes, she did," I answer curtly. "Seriously, why does everyone think something happened?"

Superman shrugs. "Because everyone can see the tension between the two of you. You should go for it. Don't want to leave anything to regret, you know?"

"Oh, you're talking to me about regret?" I counter. "What about a certain Lois Lane?"

Superman smiles and shrugs. "You forgot the Kent at the end. You know, our son knows your sister."

"Wait, you got a kid?" If I remember correctly, DCAU Superman wasn't with Lois around this time, wonder why it's different.

He nods. "Yeah, calls himself Superboy. Friends with Batman's son too, the current Robin."

"Huh, Esmeralda's never mentioned him," I mutter as I rub my chin. "She's never actually talked about her time on the Teen Titans now that I think about it."

Superman has a sly smirk on his face. "Maybe she has a crush on him and is scared to bring it up to you?"

"Dude, if he even wants a chance with her, he's gotta talk to me and my Dad. And trust me, he's not gonna like it," I warn.

He still has his smirk. "Okay."

I glare at him. "I'm serious. I don't care if you're my higher up, I will threaten your brat if he makes a move on my sister."

"I understand, Eric," Superman raises his hands in surrender. "If I had a daughter I'd be in the same boat. Come on, let's go help the others," and with that the two of us rejoin the fight.

While he's distracted with Batman, I stand behind KGBeast. I then tap his shoulder, once he turns around, I hit him with a single punch that knocks him out, leaving Copperhead as the last villain standing.

The five of us surround him as he frantically looks around, trying to find a way out. "So," I crack my knuckles. "Who's taking out Ssserpent's cousin?"

"We aren't related!" He shouts.

"You sure?" Green Lantern asks. "I mean, why else would you both have a snake thing going on? What if you don't know your related?"

"Point," I say.

"It doesn't matter! Besides, I won't go down so easily!" Copperhead shouts before lunging towards Green Lantern.

Green Lantern just creates a brick wall that Copperhead slams into headfirst, knocking him out. "Sure you won't," Green Lantern dryly replies. We then bring the other villains over for him to subdue with a constructed rope. "And that's a wrap."

"Seriously?" I ask as the rest of us look at him with questioning glances.

"Sorry, been hanging out with Flash too much," he admits.

"Trust me, I know exactly how that feels," I admit as the others—minus Batman laugh—but suddenly a wave of purple and gold washes over us, blinking us out of the bank.


WE'RE GONNA TURN INTO KIDS TODAY! NO!

The others look around puzzled once they realize we aren't in the federal reserve anymore. We find ourselves on a floating chunk of rock, a white sky with red and black lines going on as far as the eye can see. There were other rocks as well, these ones also have people on them.

"I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore," I mutter.

"You think if we click our boots three times, we'd return home?" Superman quips back.

Copperhead suddenly wakes up and looks around in a panic. "It was Judgement Day!" He shouts. "And we got sent to the bad place! The bad place!"

Cheetah stops his vocal freak-outs with a slap. "Snap out of it, Copperhead!"

"And if this was the bad place, why would we be here?" I point out.

"Have you noticed something odd about all of this?" Batman interrupts.

"You mean how there aren't any kids?" I ask, leaning over his shoulder.

He nods. "Exactly. There are only adults here."

Wonder Woman looks around, becoming confused. "They're right; there aren't any children here."

"That's because a child is responsible."

We all look up to see Mother of the Year, Morgaine Le Fay floating towards us. The five of us get into fighting stances.

"Morgaine Le Fay," Batman growls. "I should have known."

Le Fay raises a hand in a calming gesture. "Calm yourselves; I mean you no harm. My own son, Mordred is responsible for this treachery, banishing all adults to this shadow-realm-"

"That's why you don't give kids the Blue-Eyes White Dragon," I remark. Le Fay and Batman turn to glare at me. Well, I think Le Fay glares at me, can't really tell with that mask of hers. "Sorry."

"As I was saying. And after I spent millennia feeding him, bathing him, preparing him to be king. Where did I go wrong?" She wonders as she looks in the distance.

"You'd think a sorceress helicopter mom would see this coming. Guess anything's possible," I whisper with a roll of my eyes.

"Bet the mask limited her field of view," Green Lantern whispers to me. "It's why I don't wear 'em."

Wonder Woman shakes her head in amusement before smacking the both of us upside our heads. "You're a sorceress," she says to Le Fay. "Can't you just undo his spell?"

Le Fay shakes her head. "No, he has the Amulet of First Magic; he's too powerful."

Great, first the Books of Magic, then the Charms of Bezel, and now the Amulet of First Magic. Something's up, I can feel it.

Le Fay then looks at us. "But if we all work together…"

"You want us to defeat your own son?" Batman finishes her sentence.

Even with a mask, Le Fay's smugness is clear to see. "So don't trust me. Let him rule the world and all your children Here we will stay. Forever."

"How can we get back to Earth?" Superman asks. "I don't see any exits around here."

"You won't need one. The spell banishes adults," Le Fay points out.

I really don't wanna do this.

The others catch on quickly.

"I don't like where this is going," Green Lantern admits.

"It's the only way," Le Fay points out.

Superman sighs. "We have to do it."

"Excellent," Le Fay practically hisses. No, not at all ominous. "Milugu sagaroth, raboth tanaabu, kathuta!"

She fires green beams from her fingers that surround us. After a moment everything goes dark.


Funseyland Amusement Park

We can see again, and right in front of us is a large castle, Mordred's mana signature radiating from there. There's a mass of children entering the castle, if any of them looked behind they'd notice five members of the Justice League, now de-aged to ten-year-old children.

"This better be temporary," says Batman (Batboy?) as he looks down at his much younger self.

"You sound weird," Superman (Superboy? Nah, that's already taken.) points out. His eyes then widen in surprise. "Whoa. So do I."

I shake my head and sigh. "You haven't gone through puberty yet, remember?" I cringe at the sound of my own childish voice. I can't believe I used to sound like this.

"I kind of like this," Wonder Woman (Wonder Girl? No, that gets taken as well. Twice.) says with a smile. She also quickly notices she's the tallest of the group, she even rests her arm on my head, much to my annoyance.

Another thing I hate about this, I was a short kid, making me the shortest of the group.

We then turn to a squinting Green Lantern (I've got nothing for him. "Green Lantern" doesn't really say his age, does it?) "What's the matter?" Asks the Dark Knight.

"I wore glasses as a kid," Green Lantern answers. "Guess I need 'em again," a pair of square, thick-rimmed glasses then appear over his eyes. "Wow! I didn't even try to make these!"

"I hope not," Batman says as the three of us try not to laugh. Green Lantern then focuses hard, his glasses becoming a mask that looks a lot like Kyle's old mask.

"Nice," Superman compliments.

"Would you stop messing around?" Wonder Woman asks, slapping the Last Son of Krypton upside the head. "We gotta find Mordred!"

"Bet the little punk's in there," Batman points at the castle. "Triumph, can you transform into Icarus and scout ahead?"

"Gladly," I bring up the Omnitrix and dial through it. I scroll through for a moment.

Wonder Woman and Green Lantern share a glance as I scroll through the touchpad again. "Uh, Triumph?" The former asks. "You okay?"

I nod. "Yeah, I'm fine. It's just that…" I dial through again, Icarus nowhere in sight. I then sigh and deactivate the Omnitrix before dropping my arm to my side. "Her magic did more than just make us ten, it made us as we were at that age."

"Meaning?" Batman questions.

"Meaning I only have the original ten as well as Pinball, Wildvine, and Argus. But that's not all. I only have ten minutes as an alien, and there's a ten-minute recharge, and I can't transform from one alien form to another by slamming the crest," I explain. I then lower my head in shame. "Sorry guys."

Wonder Woman puts a comforting hand on my shoulder, and I look up to see a soft smile on her face. "It's no problem. Besides, with your skills and thirteen aliens at your disposal? You're still a force to be reckoned with."

"She's right," Batman agrees.

I smile and dial through the Omnitrix, slamming it down to become Heatblast. I look almost exactly like my older self, the only differences being that my shoulder volcanoes are now gone.

"Come on!" Batman orders as he runs towards the castle. The four of us just fly past him, grinning as we go by. "It's not a race!" He whines.

We then cross a drawbridge over a moat; Superman then draws back a fist and knocks the door open, revealing Mordred, a kid with blond hair and purple clothes sitting on a throne surrounded by children. For a moment he stares at us in shock before breaking out in laughter. "The Justice Babies! Ha!"

Batman's eyes narrow. "What are you laughing at, precious?"

Mordred's laughter ceases and he glares at us. "So, Mother sent you, huh? She shouldn't send a boy to do a man's job!" He then grasps the amulet around his neck before sending waves of purple and gold energy at some action figures in a boy's arms. Once the wave passes the toys become twenty-feet-tall and alive. And they very much want to kill us. Hooray.

We watch in shock as the toys stand over us before getting into battle positions. Superman flies for the red one with a spiked mace, but he's then slammed into the ground, a beige one with a hammer goes in for the kill, but a fire ball from me and a blast from Green Lantern distract it.

I then barely avoid a swing from a green, armored brute with a very large axe. Using my flames, I propel myself forward, just barely flying above the ground. I then fly around the creature, eventually enveloping it in a flame tornado. Once the tornado hits an optimal speed, I skid out of it, I then extend my hand out towards it.

"Burn."

I clench my fist; the tornado moves in melts the brute before becoming a small ball of fire that winks out of existence.

I then notice Batman go for Mordred directly. While he goes for the little mage, a thin, purple cyclops with large claws intercepts him, but Batman just leaps over it and fires a grappler at Mordred. The kid ducks, the claws slamming into his throne. "Ha!" Mordred mocks.

Batman smirks and pulls the line towards him, knocking the throne on to Mordred. His smirk quickly goes away once Mordred destroys the throne in a showy explosion. The childish mage then fires a bolt of magic at Batman, the Dark Knight dodges it, causing the bolt to hit the cyclops behind him, the creature disappearing.

I then look over to see Green Lantern staying out of range of his opponent, the problem is that he's trying to figure out what to use to defeat it.

"I'll make a laser cannon! No, no, a missile launcher! Oh, I know-" he muses.

"Just pick something!" Batman and I shout.

Green Lantern pouts before creating a green boxing glove that absolutely destroys the creature.

Meanwhile, Superman's got it pretty easy, even though these enemies are magic based. He just gets rid of his creature with a blast of heat vision. Wonder Woman, on the other hand, wasn't having such a good time. Her opponent, some weird creature with a spear, managed to keep her pinned down to a pillar, limiting her chances of a counterattack. Batman jumps on the head of the creature and stabs it with a batarang, which does nothing more than bring its attention to him. It reaches up and grabs him by the cape. And that's why I don't have one, even if I've fantasized about it a few times.

Seeing him in danger has Wonder Woman fly forward and smash her fists as hard as possible into the thing, cracks appearing all over its body before it shatters. Batman then falls to the ground, but the Amazonian Princess manages to catch him.

"You okay, tough guy?" She asks.

"Let go, I'm fine!" Batman struggles out of her arms, then sulks off.

Wonder Woman watches him walk off with a small pout, she then notices me staring. I just wave at her; she smiles and waves back.

The two of us then join the others as they stand in front of Mordred.

"That's not fair!" The boy whines.

Holy crap, he's annoying.

"Get 'im!" Batman orders, all of us then rush Mordred.

Mordred then raises his hand, blocks of ice encasing the others and a block of stone around me. "Playtime is over," he gloats as he holds the amulet. "You'll share the same fate of all my enemies: execution."

The floor opens up and the five of us fall into a dungeon below. Once we hit the ground the ice around them and the stone around me disappears. Superman then flies up, but Mordred creates a web of magical energy that manages to knock him back, crashing into the floor. I create a ball of fire in my hand, but the old sound of the Omnitrix powering down and the dial flashing red catches my attention.

"Oh, I did not miss this," I mutter before transforming back to normal in a flash of red light. Great, just great. Right, we're about to have company, aren't we?

One of the gates in the dungeon opens up to reveal a pair of red, glowing eyes in the shadows. I can sense the mana of this thing as well, it's a demon, a really familiar demon as well. From the shadows comes a short demon, yellow skin, fangs, fan-shaped ears, and two small horns. He wears a red suit with a purple cape. He'd be more intimidating if he wasn't literally half my size.

"What did he do to the demon?" Green Lantern asks.

"Etrigan?" Batman asks in shock. As a response, Etrigan fires a stream of hellfire at us. Wonder Woman pulls Batman out of the way as I hide behind a shield from Green Lantern.

As the shield begins to crack Superman flies forward and lifts Etrigan up.

"No!" Batman yells. "Don't hurt him!" Scanning Etrigan, I can sense Mordred's magic touch on him. Looks like the little boy king has our friend under mind control. Nothing a little stern talking to won't fix.

Etrigan then chomps down on Superman's arm, and because he's a magically based being, his fangs sink into Superman's arm, drawing some blood as well.

"Ow! Tell him that!" Superman shakes his arm, which launches the demon across the dungeon. Etrigan, while in the air, blows a ball of fire into Superman's face.

Green Lantern then tries to put the tiny demon in a cage, but Etrigan just crawls out of it. He then slams into Green Lantern, knocking him out.

I run forward and manage to dodge a blast of fire from Etrigan. I then jump over the demon and manage to grab him by the cape with one hand. I grab him by the forehead and pull his head back, if I can hit his throat, I can stop his fire spitting, taking away one of his forms of attack. My hand goes down, but Etrigan's head breaks free and he manages to chomp down on my hand. I scream in pain as he tosses his head around, my body flailing in the air for a moment before he lets go, sending me flying into the dirt next to Green Lantern.

The moment Etrigan tosses me aside Batman jumps onto the demon, his cape flung over Etrigan's face. "Etrigan, cut it out!" Batman demands.

Instead, Etrigan reaches up and grabs the cape, he then throws Batman over his head and tosses the Dark Knight to the ground, onto his back. Etrigan then stands over him, but Wonder Woman then approaches the de-aged demon.

"Etrigan, you stop right there! I mean it!" She shouts. Etrigan looks at her in confusion. "You naughty monster! Bad, bad Etrigan!"

As expected, tears well up in the demon's eyes, he then begins to cry.

Wonder Woman picks him up and rocks him in her arms. "Hey, little guy, it's okay," she coos. "I won't hurt you."

Batman rolls over onto his stomach. "You've gotta be kidding."

"It's like that scene with Esidisi in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure," I comment.

"He's just a baby," Wonder Woman pats Etrigan's back until the little demon burps out a small ball of fire. "That's all he needed."

A scent hits my nose, causing me to cringe in disgust. Green Lantern does the same. "Aw, man, that ain't all he needs."

Batman backs up. "Now that is a job for Superman."

Green Lantern nods. "I'm gonna punch a way out of here."

Wonder Woman hands Etrigan to Superman. "I'll help."

Superman looks at me with a pleading look.

"No," I then walk to join the others.

"Traitor," I hear Superman mutter.

As I walk away, I notice him try to hold Etrigan out as far as his arms could reach. I let out a chuckle and shake my head in amusement before going to join the others.


It takes some time to escape, and during that time I think things over.

First, I think about the first year here, the summer road trip and me fighting crime all over the United States, I even fought Rojo and her gang back in California. Well, I didn't fight Rojo, but the meaning still stands. Now that I think about it, would I count her as my first villain? I mean, at the time she didn't have that power armor of hers, she was a just a normal person, but I did fight her before Animo or the Forever Knights.

And by thinking about the Forever Knights my mind then goes to the Charms of Bezel and the Books of Magic. While they have most of the Charms and Books, I can bet with one hundred percent certainty that a confrontation is inevitable, I just hope we're ready for it. Especially Zatanna, this got pretty personal for her.

My thoughts then go to her. Well, more us. I tend to do that a lot, go on a tangent when not in life threatening situations.

Every now and again the Black Mercy's world comes to me in my dreams, and whenever I wake up, I'm reminded it isn't real, definitely the worst pain I've gone through in quite some time. But then I think about the week she spent at my house to make sure I was okay. Sure, I was awkward for the first few days, but eventually things got normal between us, then they got more…intense. After coming back from Chong-Mai she said she needed some time, but it's nearly been two months, how much time does she need?

The six of us end up in a courtyard, bringing me out of my thoughts. As expected, without adults the area is in utter chaos. There are kids climbing up to dangerous heights, I see two boys chasing a girl around with a rather large spider on a stick, another group of kids are trying to break into one of those booths with the prizes in them, even though they could just have one of them climb over the counter and open the door from the inside. All in all, it's hectic out here.

Wonder Woman's eye twitches dangerously, so I move over to the other side of the group, Etrigan hanging on my back in a piggyback ride. "THAT'S ENOUGH!" The Amazonian Princess shouts.

Crap, that was loud, good thing I got away when I did. I snicker once I notice Superman rubbing his ears.

The kids freeze. One girl steps forward. "You can't tell us what to do! You're not our mom!"

Wonder Woman glares at her, the girl shrinking in response. "No, but I promise we will find all your moms," she then glares at the other kids. "And I'm gonna tell!"

"Thank the gods she mellows out," I say.

Green Lantern chuckles. "Really? You must know a different Diana."

Wonder Woman points behind us. "Go outside and wait for your parents," the kids don't react, they just stare at her in fear. "Now!"

Wonder Woman then walks up to Batman with a hand on her hip and winks, surprising the rest of us. Well, except for Superman, 'cause he's Superman.

"Your girlfriend sure is bossy," Green Lantern comments.

"Shut up," Batman replies.

"Smooth," I say. I then turn to Green Lantern. "Do they have a history or something?"

He nods. "Oh, totally; Bats just won't admit it. It's kinda sad."

I look down in thought. "Yeah," I whisper.

We sneak back into the castle, and funnily enough, there aren't any guards. Mordred probably thinks we're dead, so he won't need any. Big mistake. Even bigger mistake, he's asleep and he's got headphones on. Oh, it's going to be like taking candy from a baby. Magic candy. From a magic baby. Our lives are weird.

"We can take him," Wonder Woman whispers.

"I'll make a giant lawnmower and chew 'im up!" Green Lantern says excitedly. We just stare at him.

Batman's the first to recover. "I say we get the amulet away from him, then we can take him down. Triumph, can you turn into Phantasmality and take it away? Once we do that, we should be able to stop him," he then looks at Green Lantern. "But no mowers."

"Why?" Green Lantern asks with a pout.

"Because it's stupid," Superman answers.

While the three have a small argument, I scroll through the Omnitrix and slam down the core once I get Phantasmality. Even after using him for years I'm still careful, so I flex my claws and rotate what would be my neck before nodding. "Let's do this," I say in that creepy voice of mine.

Batman nods once the argument ends. "All right. While Phantasmality is doing his thing, the rest of us split up, two on one side, two on the other."

"I'll go with Clark," Wonder Woman says, but then a sly smirk comes over her face. "Unless you want me to go with you, Bruce?"

"Whatever," Batman responds.

"I'm cool to go with Diana," Superman says with an easygoing smile, completely unaware of what's happening.

"I changed my mind," Wonder Woman suddenly says. "I'll go with Bruce, and John can go with Clark," she then grabs the Dark Knight by the arm and drags him off to their position.

Superman turns to us with an arched brow and points a thumb at them as they walk by. "What's with them?"

I roll my eye. "And here I thought you understood romance. Guess I was wrong," I drawl. "Honestly surprised you know about me and Zatanna," I then float towards Mordred.

I move my eye behind me to see Superman look at Green Lantern confused. The Emerald Knight just rolls his eyes with a snicker before flying off.

"What am I missing?" Superman asks before flying after Green Lantern.

As the others get into position I float above Mordred, a claw out as I reach for the amulet. Once it's in my grip I carefully lift it up, intending to become intangible with it once I've gotten a good grip on it. Almost got it…

"What are you doing?"

"CRAP!"

My eye quickly moves behind me and I see a little girl somehow snuck up behind me. Great, a ghost startled by a little girl, that's a first. At least Wally or Victor aren't here, I'd never hear the end of it.

My startled shout and dropping of the amulet wakes Mordred up.

"Get the amulet!" Batman shouts.

While Mordred's waking up, I quickly tear off the protective skin around my head, revealing the Ectonurite's true face, an upside-down skull with a singular eye, and get in his face. "BOO!"

Mordred shouts in fear and surprise before falling off his throne, landing on the ground in a heap. The others than jump on him, and I jump on top of the dogpile.

"We can take him! He's just a little kid!" Batman shouts.

Mordred decides to take that seriously. His eyes glow and then he begins to grow, eventually becoming bigger than even Tyrantosaur.

"Man, I hate magic!" Green Lantern complains as we're all thrown off of Mordred.

"Eh, you find a way to see the beauty in it," I reply. "Just takes some time is all."

"Now who's little?" Mordred boasts. He then tries to stomp down on me as I quickly fly over to the little girl.

Seeing it coming, I wrap my arms around her (Don't worry, I made sure to fix the protective skin) and make the both of us intangible. Mordred's foot stomps down, the two of us phase through it. He glares down at the two of us and tries to stomp again, getting the same result.

Superman then comes flying in and uppercuts Mordred. The hit knocks Mordred off balance, the kid then drops down, the impact causing a shockwave that sends Batman flying into the air. Green Lantern comes on a constructed surfboard and grabs Batman. I give the girl to Superman, never know when I could time out while flying.

We then quickly fly out of the castle. Moving my eye again, I see Mordred fire blasts of magic from his eyes; the blasts then hit two stone dragons that come to life from the magic. The two dragons then take flight and chase after us.

"Oh, dragons are so cool," I whisper. I then look up at the group. "We've got incoming!"

The others turn around to see the dragons coming at us. "Superman! Get the girl down to safety!" Batman orders.

Superman nods and flies down. Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, and I turn around to face the dragons, Green Lantern turns the surfboard around for Batman. I clench my fist in excitement. "Time to slay some dragons," the Omnitrix blinks red. "Oh come on!"

I transform back to normal and begin to plummet down quickly as the dragons fight my friends. I look down at the rapidly approaching ground, and my heart leaps to my throat. Even with my enhanced durability a fall like this will surely kill me. And I can't use my grappling hook, there's nothing high enough for me to latch it onto.

During the fall I notice one of the dragons shoot past me, it then collides with the ground and explodes, stone flying everywhere. Great, that's gonna be me, just less stone and more meat and bones and blood. It's gonna be fun.

My fall is suddenly halted by two hands grabbing me under my shoulders. I take some calming breaths and slowly look up to see Wonder Woman smiling down at me. "Sorry I took so long, had to slay a dragon, you know?"

"Y-yeah," I shakily reply. "Just wish I could've helped."

Wonder Woman squeezes her hands in a comforting manner, I give her a smile in thanks as the two of us fly down to Superman, the girl still standing next to him, one hand clutching his cape next to the castle. We then turn around at the sound of shockwaves getting closer to see Green Lantern and Batman followed by a giant Mordred. We all quickly enter the castle and barricade it shut.

"Come out of my castle!" Mordred's voice booms. "Your king commands it!" He then bangs his giant fists on the door, trying to break into his own fortress.

We all huddle together, brainstorming plans. Now of all times to not have Brainstorm.

"I got a plan," Green Lantern enthusiastically announces. "I'll make some giant handcuffs and-"

"Forget it," Batman interrupts. "We've gotta focus on…" he trails off once he notices Green Lantern's crestfallen face, he then sighs lightly and reconsiders. "Never mind what I just said, we'll take care of everything else; Lantern, you go crazy."

Green Lantern's grin comes back. Batman then has Superman punch a hole in the wall for us to use as a possible escape route. Me, Wonder Woman, and Batman hide behind a rock, and I put a sleeping Etrigan down behind it. I then turn to Batman. "You sure this plan of yours is gonna work?"

"Hopefully," Batman says. "Just hope the Omnitrix won't time you out before we can get it done."

I look down at it and nod. "I hope so too. But if it does then I can use my skills," I say. "Besides, I know how to fight against magic, Zatara taught me."

Batman looks at me for a moment before he nods and looks at Green Lantern waiting in the center of the castle. "Get ready, Mordred's gonna break through at any moment now."

It takes some time, a few punches later, and Mordred's knocked the doors down. He then looks around, looking for us.

"Hey, junior!" Green Lantern shouts.

Mordred looks to see Green Lantern in a giant willpower constructed battlemech that's almost as tall as he is. "How 'bout pickin' on someone your own size?" Green Lantern taunts.

A sadistic smile comes over Mordred's face as he cracks his knuckles. "You're so dead."

Green Lantern grits his teeth and creates missile launchers on his mech's shoulders, firing a volley at the boy-king. Mordred doesn't even move; he just tanks the attack. Once the smoke clears, we see Mordred standing unharmed, a bored look on his face. But now his purple tunic is replaced with plate armor, a massive poleaxe in one hand. He then smiles and charges. Green Lantern tries to slow him down by firing from the cannon on his mech's arm, but it doesn't matter. The axe goes straight through the mech's stomach, knocking it down to the ground and pinning Green Lantern to the ground.

You'd think Green Lantern constructs would be sturdier than that, especially ones from John Stewart. Then again, Mordred is powered up by the Amulet of First Magic, that definitely gives him a boost.

"Did you really think you could beat me in that piece of junk?" Mordred taunts as the construct fades away.

Green Lantern shrugs with a smile. "Wasn't really trying," and that's why they weren't sturdier.

From behind Mordred we can see Superman tugging at the amulet. Mordred turns his head and glares. "Treachery!"

As Superman finally yanks off the amulet, Mordred grabs him. Seeing that he can't get away, Superman tosses the amulet to Batman. Thanks to his size, Mordred's able to capture Batman with his other hand before the Dark Knight could get far. So he quickly throws it to Wonder Woman, who makes a beeline for a group of rocks. Mordred sends a blast of magic from his eyes that act like a tractor beam that pulls the Amazonian Princess to him.

I quickly dial through the Omnitrix as soon as it turns orange and slam down the core, becoming my Opticoid form, Argus.

I become a tall alien with dark yellow skin and a lighter yellow chest, inside of my arms, hands, and feet, as well as most of my face. My face is also mainly two giant bat ears. But the main attraction is the amount of orange eyes with black pupils around the top half of my body. I wear two orange bands, one around each wrist, and I have black pants with an orange and white belt and orange bands on my thighs, on my shins, and on the cuffs of my pants. The Omnitrix crest is on the center of my belt.

Wonder Woman quickly throws the amulet in my direction, I jump out of cover and catch it, a rush of energy hitting me. Once I land Mordred bursts out laughing. "What disgusting form is this?"

"I call this guy Argus," I extend a palm towards him, the eye on it glowing. "Three guesses as to why," a powerful blast of energy from the eye sends him flying back, freeing my friends. But the blast is more powerful than expected, so it also sends me off of my feet, flying into the rock behind me. Good thing I closed my eyes before I hit it, that would've hurt otherwise.

I stumble a bit, but Superman and Wonder Woman help me up, some of my eyes letting me see them smiling at me as Mordred's smoking form lays on the ground. "That was stronger than I expected."

"But it wasn't strong enough," Mordred says as he gets up, his armor smoking, but he looks unharmed otherwise. "I've already absorbed too much of the amulet's power."

Suddenly we're lifted into the air and held upside down. Mordred holds out a hand, purple energy then gathers to form into a spiked sword. A little too much if you ask me, a simple sword's more than enough, no need for the spikes.

"Now," he brandishes the sword at us, smiling at the sound it made as it cut through the air. "I'll take care of my kingly duties myself," he walks forward, but the little girl from before stops him by getting in his way. "What?"

"I'm scared," she whimpers. "I want my mommy."

"You don't need a mommy," Mordred replies with a roll of his eyes. "You're better off without one; trust me."

The girl begins to cry.

Oh, this is perfect. And I have multiple eyes to see this with. Even better.

"Stop it," Mordred demands. "Stop it!"

"Some king," Superman sarcastically says.

Even upside down, Wonder Woman shrugs. "I'm not impressed."

"What'd you expect?" Batman asks. "He's a boy, doing a man's job."

"You don't know what it's like," Mordred says, approaching us. "Being stuck as a kid."

"You don't know what it's like to be an adult," I counter. "Medical bills, paying for gas, keeping up with your friends, taxes. It's a pain, honestly."

"Since you got all that power, you could've been a man any time you wanted. Without having to worry about everything Triumph pointed out," Batman smirks. "I'll bet you're too chicken to grow up."

"Yep, big chicken, that's what you are," Green Lantern taunts.

"Hey, I can see your point," I shrug. "I wish I got to be a kid a little longer," one of my eyes looks at the Omnitrix crest on my belt. "Sadly, life had other plans," I whisper.

Mordred grits his teeth and clenches his fist. "I'll show you! I'll show you all!" One flash of purple light later and kid Mordred's replaced by adult Mordred, a muscular man in his twenties. "I'm older than you now," he says in a superior tone.

"You sure are," Batman agrees, his smirk still going strong.

Mordred quickly realizes his mistake as his body becomes transparent. In a few seconds Mordred disappears entirely, and with him gone the magic holding us up fades away. We all land on our feet, some with more grace then others, but none of us fall flat on our faces. We then walk over to where Mordred just was.

Mordred, you were a third-rate duelist with a fourth-rate deck.


Shadow Realm

Mordred looks around, realizing he's trapped in the same realm he had just trapped the adults within. He grits his teeth upon realizing he was tricked into being trapped within his own realm.

"They cheated!" He shouts. "After I fix this, they're toast!" He tries to summon more magic, but nothing happens, much to his confusion. "What's wrong with me? Where's my power?"

"You've used it all," a familiar voice says from behind him. He turns around to find Morgaine Le Fay. "Don't you realize what you've done?"

"What?" Mordred demands as panic begins to settle in, his face becoming frantic. "WHAT!?"


Earth

I look around, the first thing to catch my attention is that the sky's back to normal. The second thing to catch my attention is that adults formerly missing are now hugging their children.

The six of us are then approached by Morgaine Le Fay, still in our child forms. She stares at us for a moment, bet she's thinking about killing us now, wouldn't be surprised.

"A bargain is a bargain," she waves her hand, green energy washes over us and then transforms us back to our current ages. For the others it's obvious to see, me (still as Argus), not so much, but I can feel the change. I then slap the Omnitrix dial and transform back into twenty-two-year-old Triumph.

Wonder Woman looks down to see the adult version of Etrigan resting in her arms. "Mommy," the demon says. Wonder Woman quickly drops him.

Morgaine Le Fay nods before turning around to leave with a magic portal.

"Wait," me and Batman say. I nod for him to speak first.

"What happened to Mordred?"

"My spell granted eternal youth," Le Fay explains. "But now that he's broken it, all he has is eternal life," she then looks at me. "And you?"

"The Charms of Bezel," I begin explaining. "The Charm of Resurrection and Keystone of Bezel are the only ones missing, as I'm sure you no doubt know. I was wondering: would you happen to know where at least the Charm of Resurrection is?"

Le Fay looks down as a small globe appears in her hands. "Northern Italy," she then walks through the portal.

Northern Italy, it isn't much, but it definitely narrows down the search by a lot. Gotta tell the others about it. I clench my fist. Finally, we've got the upper hand on Necro. You're going down, bastard.

I turn around to join the group, walking by Etrigan as I do. "So, how're your pants?"

The demon just glares at me as we stand with the others.

I notice Batman look around at the rejoicing families reuniting after today's ordeal. His eyes narrow.

"Circumstances aside," Wonder Woman says as she stands next to him. "It was actually enjoyable to be a kid again."

I smile and nod. "It actually was, yeah."

Batman doesn't even look at us. "I haven't been a kid since I was eight-years-old," he then walks off without another word. We understand what he's talking about and follow him in silence.

As we walk, I look down at the Omnitrix, the cause of much of my pain.


That line from Batman at the end was definitely one of my favorites, Kevin Conroy's delivery definitely helped. This chapter also has some insight into Eric's character, one about why he is who he is now, and another that will come into play later. Like, waaay later. Y'know, I was totally tempted to call Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, Superboy, Batboy, and Wonder Girl this entire chapter, but I decided against it.

So, next chapter's gonna be an original about the battle for the Charm of Resurrection, after that we'll get the second flashback chapter before hitting "This Little Piggy", which will push Eric and Zatanna's relationship forward.

Well, that's all from me. If you have any questions or want to leave a constructive review you know where to leave 'em! Remember to stay awesome and see you next time you beautiful people!