What Magic Does To Us, Part II
Gwen
The training room was very big, about 32 feet long. Magus Viridis was at one end, while at the other end there was an apple placed on top of a stool.
"Accio!" Magus shouted, his arm stretched out towards the apple. His hand flashed in a green light, and the apple flew through the air to him until he was able to catch it.
Before Gwen could congratulate Ben on his successful spell, Charmcaster anticipated this and cheered him on first. "Way to go, Ben!" She kissed the palm of her hand and blew Magus a kiss.
Gwen rolled her eyes. Charmcaster was always looking for a way to tease her. The infamous insinuation that Gwen's mother was Hex's daughter had been her main "weapon" until now, but, since she had discovered that Gwen liked Ben, hitting on Ben had become the new hobby of the silver-haired witch. The best Gwen could do was ignore her, and expect CC to get bored with the joke after seeing that Gwen wasn't caring about it.
"Thanks, CC…" Magus blushed a deep red and smiled sheepishly. Ben was such an attention hog, he always loved to have people noticing him - especially when said people were attractive young women, like Charmcaster. Gwen was definitely burning with jealousy even though she tried her best not to show it.
The Omnitrix timed-out and Sorcerer Ben became Human Ben again, so the training had to be interrupted.
Ben approached the two teenage witches. "We have to figure out a way to make Magus Viridis my new default form!" he said excitedly.
"Of course that wouldn't be possible, but would you really want to permanently change your own species, Doofus?" Gwen asked, arching her eyebrow.
"Why not, Dweeb? Magic is awesome!" Ben said. "No one would notice the change, not even my parents, since Magus Viridis and normal Ben have the same physical appearance and everything else. The only difference is that Magus has a pair of magical genes that normal Ben doesn't! Only pros, no cons."
"One 'con' for you to think about: We couldn't even hug each other without getting intoxicated with magic," Gwen said.
"Ah, but ... er ... this is only a problem because, as your grandmother said, we are both repressing certain things ... This is... solvable … if we just… you know… " Ben said sheepishly.
"You don't need to repress anything with me, Ben. Come here and give me a hug, handsome," Charmcaster said, taking a step toward Ben. Gwen quickly stretched out her arm in front of CC, making a barrier between her and Ben.
"Let's make a deal, CC. You can hit on Ben all you want, but no hugging and no kissing, okay?" Although Gwen was trying not to show jealousy, there were limits. She definitely wouldn't let CC rub herself all over Ben.
Suddenly, a purple portal appeared out of thin air in the middle of the room.
There was a very strong mystical energy coming from that portal, an aura with which Gwen was not familiar with. But Grandma Verdona apparently was. "Everyone, behind me!" Verdona said. "And change your looks!"
Gwen casted the 'Transfigura Apparentia' spell that made her turn into Lucky Girl. Ben used his device to turn into Watch Boy. Charmcaster was the exception, as Charmcaster she used her real appearance and when she wanted to do something normal she used a spell to disguise herself, so she did nothing.
From the portal came a big gray ogre and a woman that Gwen could only describe as a version of Lucky Girl in her late-twenties. Long black hair, violet eyes, and even her face looked like Lucky Girl's and Gwen's face.
"Verdy, my dear sister, how long…" The woman said with a grim smile. "Oh, I liked that girl's look." She stared at Lucky Girl. "Is it a tribute to me? I'm flattered that you replaced me with someone else after sending me to jail. "
Gwen remembered that the first time she had changed her appearance, it was actually Verdona herself who had casted the spell. Had she done it based on her sister's looks? And the facial similarities made a lot of sense considering that this woman was Gwen's great-aunt.
"Sunny," Verdona said apprehensively. Sunny's magical aura was even stronger than Verdona's, in a way that didn't even seem natural. "You want revenge, I know. But these kids have nothing to do with it. Let's keep things between the two of us, okay?"
"Oh, actually, Verdy, your presence here is just a coincidence. I came here tracking the energy signature of that white-haired boy's watch." Sunny pointed in Watch Boy's direction. "I have a partner who is very interested in this so-called Omnitrix..."
"This ogre with you?" Ben asked confused.
"Oh, no, this is Antonio, he's more of a minion than a partner." Sunny chuckled. "I'm talking about another guy..."
From inside the portal came a gray big-headed alien with three red eyes flying over a small hovercraft.
"Albedo!" Watch Boy shouted.
"What ugly thing is that?" Charmcaster asked in surprise.
"He's a Galvan, but the ultimate version of a Galvan," Ben said, "You have to go out more with us, CC. You'll get used to seeing a bunch of ugly things out there. "
"I'm not really interested in seeing 'ugly things out there' but I still accept the invitation to go out with you," Charmcaster said.
"Watch Boy is NOT asking you out!" Lucky Girl intervened.
"I liked the name... ultimate. That's exactly what I am." Albedo smiled.
"What we are," Sunny corrected him. And then she took off her own skin and turned into a purple energy being with long pink mana 'tentacles' replacing her hair. That was why Sunny's magical aura was so powerful. That was definitely not natural.
"Surrender now or else," Albedo said with an evil grin.
"Going hero!" Ben slammed his watch, and turned into Four Arms. He charged with everything he had towards them, but when he was just about to hit Albedo and Sunny, Antonio threw himself at him.
"Antonio loves Sunny!" The ogre punched Four Arms, "Antonio protects Sunny!"
"Antonio will get his butt kicked!" Four Arms repaid him with a punch of his own. The two huge aliens engulfed in a brutal and violent struggle.
"Petrus vita!" Charmcaster shouted. She took many small magical pebbles from her bag and threw them at the floor. The pebbles turned into stone dog-like creatures that rushed to attack Albedo and Sunny.
Albedo destroyed one of the 'dogs' with an energy blast from his third eye, while Sunny destroyed another one with mana beams.
"Like we trained, girls, the three of us together against Sunny!" Verdona said.
"Mercuta Verditis!" Lucky Girl, Charmcaster and Verdona shouted together, and conjured a huge beam of blue, magenta, and pink mana and aimed it at Sunny. At the last second, Sunny conjured a mystical shield to defend herself from the attack. A combined triple attack like that would destroy any shield of a normal sorcerer in less than a second, but thanks to her evolved powers, Sunny's shield was taking the hit. But it wouldn't hold forever.
"It's breaking! Keep going girls!" Verdona said, so the three of them remained focused on the attack.
But Albedo was able to get away from the stone 'dogs' and shot a blast from his third eye at Verdona.
"ARGH!" The veteran witch screamed in pain, shifting the focus of Lucky Girl and Charmcaster, which stopped the attack against Sunny.
Sunny took advantage of that and used her mana to gather the remains of some of Charmcaster's stone dogs that had already been destroyed. She put together a creature much bigger than the others, and under her full control.
"Crap!" Charmcaster said, as Sunny's new creature began destroying hers.
"Segma Sofom!" Lucky Girl shouted, using a spell to try to take control of Albedo's floating hovercraft. The evolved Galvan focused, using his mental powers to maintain control of his locomotion. He saw that the disruptive spell was coming from Lucky Girl and fired an energy blast from his third eye at her. Lucky Girl used her agility - the result of several years of karate - to dodge.
But unknowingly to Lucky Girl, Sunny also fired a blast of mana at her. Thankfully Charmcaster defended her by casting a magenta shield.
"Thank you!" Lucky Girl said.
"You owe me one!" Charmcaster replied with a smirk as she took from her bag a mana mini-bomb to throw at Sunny.
Sunny's stone creature ran toward Charmcaster, and would hit her, but Lucky Girl conjured a spell, "Tornare Ventus!" creating a small tornado that diverted the creature away from CC.
"I just paid my debt." Lucky Girl smiled back to Charmcaster.
But the two teenagers were suddenly immobilized by the telekinetic powers of Albedo. "I'm sick and tired of you," the big-headed alien said.
"Ignis sphaera!" Verdona shouted, throwing a fireball at Albedo. He screamed in pain, and released Lucky Girl and Charmcaster.
But soon afterwards Sunny wrapped Verdona's neck in her mana hair-tentacles. "I won't lie, breaking your neck is going to hurt you a lot more than it hurts me, Verdy."
"NO!" Lucky Girl shouted desperately.
Charmcaster put her hand inside her bag, but Sunny said, "Don't even think about it, child." She tightened her grip around Verdona's neck.
Four Arms, in an impressive display of strength, was able to lift Antonio and throw him at Sunny's stone creature, destroying the creature and getting the upperhand on the ogre. But when he saw that Verdona was at Sunny's mercy and could be killed at any moment, he didn't know what to do either.
"Don't ... mind ... me ... keep ... fighting ..." Verdona said, struggling to breathe.
"Nobody needs to get hurt," Albedo said. "Just give us what we want."
"You already tried to take the Omnitrix off me once and failed, Albedo. Quit it," Four Arms spoke.
"I have a backup plan." There was some kind of technological red gauntlet on Albedo's wrist. "Since I parted ways with Azmuth I've been working on a replica of the Omnitrix. But I still need your contribution to make it work."
Four Arms glanced at Lucky Girl, as if asking her what to do. She didn't want Albedo to get his own Omnitrix, of course, but she didn't want her grandmother getting killed either. With a heavy heart, she nodded for Four Arms to stand down.
Verdona kept several iron restraints at her house in case she had to use it against evil sorcerers. Antonio used Verdona's own iron chains to immobilize her. Sunny handed her sister to the ogre and said, "Crush her skull if anyone tries to save her."
The Omnitrix timed-out, turning Four Arms back into Watch Boy. Sunny and Albedo approached the teenager, and Sunny placed one hand on Watch Boy's Omnitrix and the other on Albedo's replica.
"TRANSFERA POTENTIA!" Sunny shouted, and a reddish green light momentarily blinded everyone in the room.
A few moments later, Lucky Girl saw Watch Boy lying on the floor unconscious, and standing next to him there was another Watch Boy - same red eyes, white hair, and identical face - only older, looking to be about 30 years old, and a lot stronger. She knew that this older Watch Boy was Albedo.
"No, no, no, no, no ..." Albedo whined, desperate. "I became a filthy human. This was not supposed to happen... "
Less than half an hour ago, Gwen was telling Ben that changing your own species was impossible, but Albedo had just done that. Even though he clearly wasn't pleased with it.
"You got your Ultimatrix, Albedo," Sunny said. "This is a win. We can solve this little problem later."
Albedo nodded in agreement, and dialed his gauntlet to temporarily turn back into his Ultimate Galvan form.
"The boy?" Albedo asked.
"I can still sense some life within him, but he's not well ... probably in a coma," Sunny replied.
"NO!" Lucky Girl shouted, immediately regretting the decision to comply with Albedo and Sunny. She rushed toward the villains to attack them, but Sunny easily restrained her inside a mana bubble. Charmcaster tried to help her, but the Ultimate Galvan quickly held the silver-haired witch using his telekinetic powers.
"What do you want to do with your sister and her two protégés?" Albedo asked.
"A quick death would be too merciful," Sunny grinned darkly. "I'm going to do with my sister the same thing she did to me. We give an anonymous call to S.E.C.T. and let them have them. Verdy has committed many crimes in the past using fake identities, but as soon as the authorities check her fingerprints on the system, they will find out. This silver-haired girl, Charmcaster, is notoriously in league with one of S.E.C.T.'s most wanted criminals, Hex. I don't know who the third one is, but surely my teenage look-alike will be arrested for being associated with the other two."
"Verdy," Sunny grinned at her sister, "I'm sure S.E.C.T will make you and your sidekicks a part of their secret 'Dark Squad' just like they did to me before. Just as a warning, the mortality rate among the squad is very high and all members are expendable. I hope you enjoy the experience."
Sunny, Albedo and Antonio restrained Lucky Girl and Charmcaster with iron chains together with Verdona. Then Sunny opened a portal and the three villains left.
"Ben..." Lucky Girl sobbed, looking at her fallen cousin.
"Don't worry, our boy is tough," Charmcaster said, trying to cheer her up. "You told me he's pulled through things like this before. I'm sure he'll be fine. "
"We'll help him," Verdona said confidently. "The three of us together, with a spell to restore his health."
"We can only help him if S.E.C.T. doesn't arrest us," Lucky Girl said. "Maybe they'll let us go. You two are just wanted for stealing some stuff here and there, right? You aren't wanted for murder or anything like that."
Both Charmcaster and Verdona remained silent.
"What?" Lucky Girl was taken aback. "Grandma, you said that killing is wrong- "
"I said that killing innocent people is wrong, there's a big difference. I've killed a lot of people, Gwenny." Verdona said in a whisper.
"Me too," Charmcaster said.
"We're all screwed ..." Lucky Girl sighed.
"Not if we're lucky." Charmcaster smiled.
The three women tried to free themselves for several long minutes, but this time they were not lucky. Until they heard footsteps. Certainly, it was the agents of S.E.C.T. who had been tipped off by Albedo and Sunny to arrest them.
The agent who entered the room, however, was well known to Gwen.
"Ben!" Grandpa Max yelled, running towards Ben. "What did you do to him? WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?!" He shouted at the three of them, enraged especially at Lucky Girl, probably thinking she had betrayed Ben.
"Grandpa Max, it wasn't us..." Lucky Girl said.
"Grandpa?" Max asked confused.
"It's me, Grandpa, Gwen." Lucky Girl revealed her identity. "And this is my maternal grandmother, Verdona."
"Hello, handsome," Verdona said. "Maybe you remember me. We met at our children's wedding and two or three times afterwards. I didn't age a day, I know. Please, please, get us out of here and don't tell your friends about us."
Grandpa Max blushed when he recognized Verdona - Gwen couldn't understand why - but the older Tennyson was still confused as to whether or not to believe them. "Charmcaster," he said, voicing his obvious concern about the third member of the group.
"It's hard to explain, but she's on our side. Please, Grandpa, free us so we can help Ben. I need to save my baby cousin," Lucky Girl sobbed.
"Gwen!" Grandpa Max finally accepted that she wasn't trying to trick him and freed them. Immediately, Charmcaster and Lucky Girl ran towards Ben, while Verdona looked for a knife.
Verdona came back a few seconds later. "Okay, girls, today's lesson is going to be about blood magic. We're going to use some of our blood," she said, making a deep cut in her hand, and passing the knife to Charmcaster, who without hesitation did the same. Lucky Girl also repeated the procedure immediately.
The three of them laid their hands on Ben and repeated all the Latin words that Grandma Verdona spoke. A few moments later, Ben woke up suddenly, gasping for air.
"Baby cuz," Lucky Girl hugged him tightly and covered his cheeks with kisses. She only let go of the hug after almost a minute.
Soon after, Charmcaster hugged Ben too. "Stop scaring us, Ben. Our cousin almost worried herself to death over you... And even I was a little concerned too," CC said sheepishly and then planted a kiss on Ben's cheek.
Before, Charmcaster was throwing herself at Ben to annoy Gwen, but now Lucky Girl realized this was different. CC was being sincere. She cared for Ben too… Lucky Girl just hoped that whatever feelings CC had for Ben were purely platonic. But that was not the time to worry about this. Ben was recovering, that was all that mattered.
"Maybe I should get hurt more often..." Ben said, still weak, but also grinning from ear to ear, certainly happy with being kissed by both Gwen and Charmcaster.
"You get hurt often enough," Lucky Girl said, wrapping her attention hog cousin into another hug.
Verdona looked at Max. "So, handsome, can you keep our secret?"
"This is Agent Tennyson ..." Grandpa Max turned on his comms. "The anonymous call we received before was a hoax. There is no one at this address. You guys can go back to the base. I'll be there with you soon."
Then he turned off his comms and looked at Gwen. "We need to talk."
Author's Notes:
* Albedo and Sunny are now essentially ultimate older versions of Watch Boy and Lucky Girl. Hope you liked it.
* Thanks to Aurora Nightstar for beta reading, and thanks to all who are favoriting, following and reviewing! Please, keep it up, folks, I definitely wouldn't be writing this without your support!
