I think therefore I don't own Ben10

Opposing Sides

Act 2

Chapter 19

"Why are you here." Ben said almost breathlessly. "I had never met you before that day at the museum... so why are you in there." he said turning to face Gwen. They had both collapsed to there knees outside the RV after getting a good look at themselves.

"We must be in a parallel universe, instead of in the past." she said more to herself then to Ben. "That has to be it. But why would I be here" again she was really talking to herself.

"wait so your saying were not in the past, even though the wedding is still taking place... and I can see the younger version of myself through that window." Ben said trying to keep his voice down. " it seems like the past to me, everything is like I remember. Accept for you." he sidled closer to Gwen. "Wait you said you knew a way to get us back if we were sliding between dimensions, right." as he said this, there were voices from inside the trailer, then a thudding sound.

"No I said that I knew slightly more about inter-planer travel as apposed to temporal displacement." she whispered back. "though I do have some theories on how we ended up here most of them are pointless unless there was a way for the energy be refined, and I don't remember there being a vessel big enough to control and release that amount of power." Gwen looked at Ben in the darkness. Though he was only a foot or two away it was still hard to read his expression.

"what do you mean by vessel?" he asked rather sheepishly, Gwen cocked an eyebrow at him as she explained.

"Something like the alter of Bizel, it was designed to hold that massive amount of energy and convert it so it could be placed inside a human body. When you took me off the alter you stopped the flow from me to the alter so the energy would have dispersed naturally. That however would have killed all of us. Since the raw energy would just tear through everything, something was there that absorbed the power and refined it before sending it back out." the young witch explained quietly.

"Would say... a giant crystal..oh, about the size of a man, be able to do that." Ben said trying to sound as innocent as possible. Gwen narrowed her eyes and moved closer to the boy.

"Yes...Why?" she asked suspiciously.

"Well the alien that turned into when I saved you was Diamondhead, he is a giant living crystal." He explained calmly. Gwen looked into his eyes for a few moments and considered what he said, before deciding not to hurt him.

"thats most likely it." she said with finality. " when you turned into that thing and absorbed all the magic that was flowing through me. With you being a crystal and all its like you became a object of power yourself. The energy you emanated most likely is what saved me, it was what healed my wound. The only downside to it is that as an object of power on a prominent Ley line with a previous resonance with the mirror of Bizel you basically sent all the highly refined energy back to the mirror causing a dimensional tear." her voice became more soft near the end of her explanation. She sat staring out at the forest around them and sighed. "see you really did save me." Gwen said as she purposefully leaned on Ben's shoulder.

The young hero looked down at her but he couldn't see her face. As he leaned over to get a better look the lights in the RV went out and it became impossible to see anything. Ben was about to say something when Gwen spoke softly.

"i don't know if I've said this yet, but..." it was barely a whisper. " thank you."

"are you crying?" Ben asked inquisitively. To which Gwen suddenly and violently nudged him with her elbow.

"way to ruin the moment dweeb." the young girl said, but she remained leaning against him.

As the two looked down at where the wedding ceremony was being held Gwen explained the plan once more.

"alright. So we wait for the brides parents to reveal there true intentions, then you turn into Heatblast and jump in to help. While I back you up from somewhere unseen. Once the parents, and their goons are taken care of we use the fact that we helped them to make sure they don't attack us on sight." She said trying to get Ben's attention. "Then we explain the situation and ask for there help." the witch said finishing up the details of there plan. When Ben didn't answer she poked him in the shoulder. "hey do you got that." Gwen said expecting an immediate answer.

"Yeah yeah, I got it." he had heard her. He was just having a hard time facing her. They had stayed the entire night sitting against one another. Ben had felt that same...almost fearful feeling the entire time. It made it hard to breath. When they had woken up everyone was getting ready for the wedding, and he had found Gwen practically wrapped around him. He had managed to wiggle his way out of her grip and make it to one of the caterers tables and without being seen, he borrowed some breakfast.

After Gwen was fully awake they began to formulate there plan. It mostly consisted on earning there counterparts trust, that and hoping that the ten year old Ben wouldn't freak out and attack himself.

Suddenly the father and mother of the bride began there assault on the "Tennyson family" near the lake.

"alright, lets do this." Ben said turning to look at Gwen for confirmation. As he pressed the dial on his wrist down, his friend noticed something strange in his eyes. It never touched his lips or his voice but it was tangible none the less. It was fear, she knew it was because of what happened during the ritual. To not be able to save someone was the only real thing that scared him...that and clowns.

There was a bright green flash, and Ben Tennyson was transformed into an alien hero. As he got a look at himself he cursed his luck. Gwen being both concerned for him and confused tried to take his mind off of things.

"That doesn't look like something one would call "Heatblast"" she said staring at his new alien form.

"Thats because its not....This isn't going to go well." the young boy turned alien said as he saw the battle going on down near the alter. "this thing is out to get me I swear."Ben said as he cursed the Omnitrix. He then began running to the fight and motioned for Gwen to follow.

Ben Tennyson was fighting for his life against Two very large Sludge beasts, his grandfather and cousin were also at odds with one of the creatures. The young boy was in one of his most destructive forms, Heatblast. Though he couldn't seem to get the upper hand, on his gelatinous enemies.

"two against one. Sounds a little uneven to me. Your gonna need a lot more than that to beat me." the cocky child said, as he shot a flaming ball of magma at the closer sludge. However instead of making contact with its target. The monster suddenly opened a hole in its body and the ball passed through harmlessly. "i didn't know they could do that." he exclaimed as one of the goo beasts suddenly turned a tendril of its slime into a sledgehammer and proceeded to attack.

"would you stop goofing off and help" His cousin yelled at him as she shot a volley of blue energy bolts at what had once been the waiter. They barely made a scratch on it as the creature moved in for an attack.

"hey I'm fighting two over here, lets see you do that." as Ben turned his attention away from his enemies, he was hit squarely in the chest by a massive spike ball that one of the Sludge puppies in front of him had produced. He was sent reeling, however just as he was about to be thrown into the forest away from the rest of the fight something suddenly caught him. As he recovered from the blow he looked up at his savior.

"VILGAX" he said as his body suddenly let out so much heat that the larger alien was forced to let go.

"No, I'm not Vilgax, you just have to listen for a sec..." but before the squid headed alien could even finish his sentence two balls of fire were sent his way. "listen matchstick I don't think you want to fight me while your family is in danger over there." hulking newcomer said, pointing to the rest of the fights participants. "I'm here to help"

Ben took a moment to consider this, this might not be Vilgax. If it was he would have started off the conversation with "TENNYSON...or GIVE ME THE OMNITRIX". He did look familiar for some reason, However he was of the same species as Vilgax, and unfortunately for him the evil alien warlord had already ruined there first impression. After taking a second to think he shook his head.

"alright, I have more important things to attend to anyway. But you make one wrong move and ill kick your butt" the fire-powered kid said as he ran back to the fray. The Large green alien simply shook his head, and rolled his eyes.

The battle by the alter had escalated. The Three Sludge monsters had fused together and were now relentlessly attacking anyone within reach. Gwen tried to hold it off by throwing large chunks of earth at it but no matter how much she whittled away at the monster it didn't seem to have any effect.

As one of the slime tentacles was about strike her, a wall of stone suddenly erupted from the ground absorbing the blow. The young sorceress who had expected to take a short flight, looked around for what had caused that. However before she could find who had helped she saw something terrifying. Vilgax was here and he was chasing Ben out of the woods. She yelled to warn him.

Ben LOOKOUT!" she cried as she sent a rock hurtling toward the alien overlord. When she yelled the strangest thing happened. Both of the aliens running reacted to the call, each narrowly avoiding the boulder. As her cousin made his back to the wedding area the giant amalgamation of sludge monsters suddenly engulfed him. However instead of the triumphant looks the monster should have had it suddenly started to scream and trash as every part of it began to harden under Heatblast's scorching power.

As Ben emerged from the solidified beast he looked back at his handiwork. The symbol on his chest started to beep and with a red flash he was back to his ten year old self.

"thanks for the centerpiece, its going to look great at dinner." the bride said jokingly. However as she said this, what appeared to be Vilgax stepped out from behind the statue.

Max, Ben, and Gwen all took up defensive postures.

"What do you want squid face." Gwen said as she readied some energy in her palms.

"Vilgax I didn't know you had stooped to being a wedding crasher." Max stated calmly as he aimed an energy pistol at the green alien.

"Careful guys, I'm not sure he is Vilgax. He hasn't said word one about the Omnitrix since he arrived, and he helped me out back there." Ben said looking at his useless watch.

"you should listen to him." the alien said in a rather friendly way. " hes a smart guy, who knows what hes talking about." it said as if trying to convince them.

"I'm not taking any chances" Max said as he fired his energy weapon at the large green alien. However instead of dodging or moving to block it just stood there as the beam got closer, and just as it was about to hit, a solid wall of magical energy blocked it.

"Gwen! What are you doing." both Ben and Max said at the same time.

"it wasn't me" she said trying to defend herself.

"oh yes it was."

"but you just said you didn't." Ben turned to look at his cousin, and stood slack jawed at what he saw. Standing not four yards away was another Gwen, but she looked different somehow. Older was the first word that came to mind.

As the three Tennyson's maneuvered to face both foes at once. The alien adversary spoke once more.

"I already told you, that we are not here to hurt you. Actually we need your help." it said raising its hands in a placating manner.

"Why is there another me?" the younger of the two Gwens said finding It hard to look away from herself.

"like I need a second Gwen around, because One wasn't bossy enough." Ben said looking back and forth in between the two.

"Grow up, Ben." both Gwens said with annoyance, at the exact same time.

"make me" Ben said, however at the same time the Vilgax like alien said the same thing as well.

"wait a minuet." the younger Gwen said. "if thats me." she said pointing to her older variant. "then that" she pointed at the alien. "must be you." she said pointing at Ben. The older Ben let out a sigh of relief, and turned to the older Gwen.

"thank god you were smart when you were ten." the alien said as the small omnitrix symbol on his back blinked red and he returned to himself once more. "that could have taken a while if it was just me and grandpa." he said pointing at the two mentioned. He turned to face them. "no offense."

"None taken." Max said as he walked over to the older version of Ben. "So. Whats going on. Have I finally gone senile."

"Not yet, but you might after we explain everything to you." the older Gwen said as she walked over to stand next to Ben.