If I don't own Ben 10... and you don't own Ben 10, then that means (insert dramatic music)

Opposing Sides

Chapter 9

Sometimes Gwen wished she listen to her stepsister. Not often, but sometimes. When Charmcaster told her to get rid of someone, she didn't listen. When she told her to attack without warning she didn't listen. Now however was one of those precious few times she really, really wished she had listened to her elders.

After acquiring the dagger of Bizel they had transported everything they had acquired to the final location for the ritual. This however presented a problem that no one had really thought much of. It seems that when objects of power, especially ones that resonate with one another, are gathered together they can cause a sort of ripple. This ripple can cause any number of things to happen. It can throw the laws of probability out the window, it can cause temporal fluctuations, or it can cause reality to alter itself. Gwen was now experiencing the latter.

They had only been in the city for a day when things in the city started to go haywire. Small things at first, places known for being haunted becoming more so, and things that went up sometimes stayed that way. This however was only the tip of the iceberg. When something from a child's storybook started to destroy the downtown area of the city Gwen had felt so bad about it that she had decided, against the wishes of her stepsister, that she would go and stop it.

So now standing in the middle of Main st. the young sorceress found herself face to face with a living breathing dragon. Her clothes were tattered and torn, and she was nearly out of breath. The dragon however seemed no worse for wear. The fact that it looked exactly as it would if a child had drawn it, only added to the embarrassment that Gwen felt at the moment. Its rounded face and big eyes belied its destructive nature.

"why doesn't anything work on this stupid thing." the sorceress said through gritted teeth as she narrowly avoided its tail. "id better think of something fast, or I'm going to end up being a damsel in distress." she thought out loud.

The Dragon reared back on its awkwardly shaped back legs and took a deep breath. Gwen dove behind the nearest car as flame passed where she had just been standing. As she went to stand the dragons hand swiped the car away with little effort. Now the young witch stood fully exposed with no place to go.

As the dragon considered her, as all monsters do before dealing the final blow, Gwen threw two crackling orbs of blue energy into the dragons face. When the light and smoke of the resulting explosions cleared it seemed the dragon had made his decision, as its mouth opened and it lunged toward the scared young girl.

How clichéd can you get. The princess getting eaten by the dragon. Was her final thought, as she braced herself for the inevitable. Final that is... until her next one.

"Need a hand." she heard a rough voice yell from in front of her.

She was still in the classic, don't eat me pose taken by every person to ever stare into the mouth of something bigger than a city bus, when she cracked one eye open to see exactly who was talking. Her stance changed from "don't eat me" to a open mouth "oh my god" when she beheld the Giant four armed creature in front of her. It stood head and shoulders over most full grown adults, and had a dark red color for its skin. It was holding both the top and bottom of the dragons mouth open with two hands on either side, with what looked like little effort. It looked back at her for confirmation.

"Well?" it asked sounding slightly annoyed. So she shook her head. "Good cause I got four of em right HERE!" he punctuated his last word by letting go of the dragons lower jaw and giving it a classic uppercut.

The creature was sent flying to the other side of the street. Gwen didn't know what to say. This thing had just thrown that dragon like it was nothing, which was beginning to worry her as the dragon didn't really seem to care. The hulking red...thing turned to her.

"do you know any transmutation spells." he said in his gruff voice.

The young girl once again stood baffled. Not only was this thing strong but it knew about magic as well, and for some reason she could feel a minuscule trace of familiar magic from within it.

"a couple of simple ones." she said a little unsure of what the creature wanted.

"Good." the four armed behemoth said as it ripped a nearby parking meter out of the ground, and threw it at her feet. " can you make this look like a sword." he said pointing toward the object. At this point the dragon had made it back on its feet and was preparing to assault the two once more.

"Why?" she asked incredulously. She had no clue what this thing was thinking.

"Because its cooler that way." the red monster said sporting a exited grin.

"I can give it a try, but you have to keep that thing away from me while I cast it. If I cant concentrate this wont work." Gwen said as the dragon began its charge.

"Done" And with that the crazy four armed man ran off to do battle with the terribly illustrated dragon.

Gwen knelt down in front of the parking meeter, and slowly extended her aura over it. She began to concentrate on every facet of its existence. Every nook every imperfection. When she had taken the entirety of it into her mind she slowly began to change what she knew as "parking meter", into a knightly sword. With her mind she pushed and pulled, molded and stretched it until in her mind she had changed the existence of "parking meter" with that of "sword."

when she opened her eyes what lay before her was exactly what she had pictured in her mind. A great and knightly sword with which to slay evil. When she turned to inform her... acquaintance, that the task was complete. She beheld quite the sight.

The four armed monster was gripping the dragon by the neck as it flailed about, thrashing its prey into nearby buildings and cars. Her savior was starting to look a little ragged. So without waisting any time she hefted the sword with a levitation spell and called out to the red creature currently trying to strangle the dragon.

"Hey Four arms. Jobs done!" Gwen yelled as she used a force spell to launch the sword over to the battleground. It flipped rapidly in the air until it came to rest in the wall of a nearby building. The giant four armed man smiled as he released the dragon and ran over to pulled the sword out of the wall.

"Time to say good knight." The hulking red creature yelled as it made a clean slice through the dragons neck. However instead of the blood Gwen had been expecting, Green ink began to pour fourth from the dragons wound. As the ink began to cover the street the Dragon began to wither and fade, until it was no more.

The young witch stood transfixed. She had tried numerous spells that would cut clean through cars and other such objects but they had no effect on this thing. She had tried fire ice and all manner of elemental spells. So why had this worked. Was that four armed monster really that tough. She thought hard as the hero of the day walked over.

When he made it about halfway she figured it out. If that thing existed it had its rules defined by its reality. In its world only the sword wielding knight could harm it. So when it hopped into this reality the only way to kill it was to play by its rules. She began to wonder if the four armed monster knew that to begin with.

As her train of thought pulled into the station her hero stood before her.

"Alright now that thats over with. I have to talk to you." the creature said glaring at her with all four of its eyes. It drove its sword into the ground as two of its arms rested on the pommel and its other two on its hips.

Gwen grew scared. Had she been saved from one monster only to face another. She started to back away from the hulking behemoth.

"Why would you want to talk to me." she said rather sheepishly.

"I want to know what you did to me." it stated flatly. Still glaring at her.

She couldn't remember ever meeting anything like this creature, but something about it seemed oddly familiar. Like she had heard of it from someone or seen a picture somewhere. There was also that faint wisp of magic about it that she couldn't for the life of her figure out.

"what do you mean." she asked trying to avert her gaze. "I've never met you before." she suddenly became very interested in her shoes.

"What do you mean you've never met me before." He threw up his arms in disbelief, as he approached her.

When he had halved the distance in between them. A small device on his shoulder that she had previously mistaken for a pattern on its clothing, started to beep and glow red. Something she had definitely seen before. Then as he made it right in front of her there was a sudden red flash, and before her stood a very familiar brown haired, green eyed twelve year old.

"Ben!"