Im running out of ways to say it. I don't own Ben 10

Opposing sides

Chapter 13

"And just where have you been, Gwendolyn." Charmcaster said her voice filled with suspicion. It was nearly 9 at night and she was supposed to have reported in at around 7. "if you cause uncle any trouble, I wont be so inclined to convince him to keep you around." she said taking joy in taunting the younger girl.

"I was taking care of those rouge bends in reality caused by the fluctuations of the Trinity of Bizel." Gwen said nonchalantly. As she made her way into there current residence. It was a small abandoned factory in the middle of the industrial district of the nearby town. Needless to say that Gwen couldn't wait to get this over with.

"Really, then I suppose that when I saw you walk off with that brat in tow it was because that too was a bend in reality." The older witch's voice was laced with a threat. "or have you decided to help that insufferable little wretch." Charmcaster began to move forward slowly cornering Gwen. "did you give up on your parents that easily." she said in her most sickeningly sweet voice.

For her part Gwen just took the accusations head on. She wasn't going to let Charmcaster get to her, not when she was so close to what she wanted.

"I was just trying to convince him to leave us alone. I told him the Sob story about my parents and he said he would wait until after the ritual to make his move." She said completely blowing through Charmcaster's defenses. "what have you been doing. Waisting time instead of preparing." she said calmly.

"So you convinced the little punk to attack after we obtain ultimate power. He wont stand a chance. You know for someone who isn't a full time bad guy your quite devious." she said almost proudly. "however, he fancies himself a hero. He may show up to stop the show anyway." She said in an offhand manner. "the truly troubling thing is...how did he know we were here." she said scratching her chin.

"it must be all the disturbances transporting the artifacts has caused." Gwen said a little too quickly. She didn't want Charmcaster to know that Ben was more vulnerable than usual.

"it is possible. There have been many strange things occurring since we brought the trinity together. Well in any case we have to be prepared , if that brat decides that he has to stop us anyway we need to be ready." Charmcaster turned on her heel and began to walk down the corridor. "Im going to have a talk with uncle. You go start the preparations." she said waiving back at Gwen dismissively.

The younger witch couldn't help but feel apprehensive. What if Ben did break his promise. She knew that Charmcaster and Hex were up to no good and that something had to be done, however she had hoped that would come after the ritual. But he was a hero and they were supposed to keep there promises right.

There was also the flip side to this. If he did keep his promise he would be destroyed by Hex and Charmcaster. She didn't want that to happen. He was the first person to actually talk to her in the last year or so. Sure her stepsister and...step uncle?... had taught her things and been around but they had never truly engaged her in conversation. It was always orders, demands, or threats. He was also the only person other than them that knew she could do magic. She thought that if anyone ever found out now, that she would be considered a freak, and with his....unique fashion accessory he had no room to call anyone that.

So she headed toward the room where they had gathered all of there artifacts, and more than one thing began to bother her. The "what ifs" tore at her mind. There was also one thing that bothered her to no end.

"why is it called the Trinity of Bizel if we have four artifacts." she said to herself as she entered the ritual chamber.

"Uncle... I'm not sure if she can be trusted." Charmcaster stated flatly to the Master magician in front of her.

"I told you NOT TO CALL ME THAT." Hex bellowed as a maelstrom of power tore trough the old office. "YOU WILL REFER TO ME AS "MASTER"" the aged Sorcerer said as his eyes blackened.

"Yes master." Charmcaster said immediately. She really didn't like this whole dark Jedi thing he was pulling these days. He used to be more lenient if that was possible. Now he made them refer to him as their master. Like they were just minions he could order about.

"who cares if the girl is trustworthy or not we only need her for the ritual after that it wont matter anymore." Hex said it in such a way that Charmcaster's skin began to crawl. "Unless you would like to take her place." the grizzled old sorcerer said staring at her with a smile on his lips.

"no un....master" she said more quickly than anyone has ever responded to any question. "however the Tennysons are nearby. They may try to interfere, and we cant have the ritual disturbed." she sad trying to steer the conversation somewhere else.

"ahh.. the child is here. Good when the ritual is complete we will Torture him...for the rest of eternity." he began to laugh with a madness so intense the young witch could swear the walls were trembling. " now go, and continue the preparations. All runes must be in place and aligned properly, if even one is out of place then you shall be the first to pay." he said as he stopped laughing..

"yes master." Charmcaster said as she swiftly ducked out of the room.

"Ahh...Ben, it will be so good to see you again." Hex said calmly as his eyes blackened once more.

"we only have half a day left until the full moon is at its zenith, they have to be around here with all the crazy things that are happening." Maxwell Tennyson said rather hurriedly.

For the past day and a half they had been running about town trying to stop all of the ridiculous things happening in the city. Silent movie era monsters had taken to the streets, appliances started to attack there owners, cars would suddenly vanish, then suddenly reappear hundreds of feet up stuck inside of buildings, peoples shoes would suddenly disappear from there feet. It was madness, it was chaos, it was bedlam....it was magic.

Ben and his grandfather had been working overtime, and for the most part it was Max who was picking up the slack. Ben couldn't concentrate. Not only due to his frequent attacks, which he fought against hard enough to stay awake (most times anyway.), but also because he was worried about Gwen, and the fact that he still had not told his grandfather the truth of what was going on. He felt like he was betraying him.

"if we look at this map." Max said putting up an map of the city onto there tv screen. " and we mark the location of all the major disturbances in the area, there epicenter is the old industrial district." he said like a detective getting close to finding the culprit. "after excluding all factories in operation, there is only one abandoned one close to the center of all the previous incidents." he said pointing to one of the buildings on the map. Ben shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"Are you sure your alright." the man said looking down at his grandson.

"Yeah." he said very unconvincingly, however to divert his grandfather he pointed at the map."i think we should go here first. If we can get on the roof we can get a better look at what they have going on." the building he was indicating was facing the abandoned factory from the back." he said putting on a serious face. He wasn't going to let this go any farther than it had to... he was going to stop them.

"thats a good idea Ben if we get there early we can get a feel for the area and plan our next move." Max said positioning himself in the drivers seat. "are you sure your ok.... something seems to be bothering you. Your not acting like yourself." the older man said again, in a grandfatherly tone. Though he thought he was starting to sound like a broken record.

"I told you I'm fine. Its just so hard to concentrate when I cant think like myself." Ben said truthfully.

When he had the strange attacks now, Gwen's "mind" was strong enough to actually see what he was thinking instead of the other way around, and it was not pleased. It shrieked at him, pleaded, cried. It didn't want him to try and stop herself. Which was also troublesome, at first it was just the thoughts themselves, There was no personality to them. However now the thoughts were aware, and as time wore on it became more and more human, more willful. It was driving Ben crazy.

" alright then. Preparations complete." Gwen said to herself, as she looked around the old factory floor. It was riddled with runes, and small pieces of paper. Several metal poles had been inserted into the ground at varying intervals. In the center of the room was the altar of Bizel. The runes and poles were spread out from it in every direction, and the dagger securely in its center.

Hanging above the alter on a chain was the crystal that they had taken from the museum of geology. It hung with the sharpest point directly down over the center of the alter. The mirror of Bizel stat parallel to the alter. Above it was a hole in the ceiling to let in the moonlight, and it was positioned to ricochet the light into the crystal hanging above the alter when the moon reached a certain point.

"now for the amulet." Gwen said taking it out from the bracelet she usually wore. "wait... where does the amulet go. I thought..." something suddenly hit her from behind. As her vision faded. She heard Charmcaster's voice.

" Don t worry about that. I have everything under control." and with that Gwen's world went black.