I don't own Ben 10. and now on with the show.

Opposing Sides

Act 2

Chapter 22

"Whats taking them so long." Gwen said looking at her watch. After the two girls had left the book store they had gone to take a look at clothes for a while. When they didn't find anything they liked they decided to go wait in the predetermined meeting place. However they had been there for about an hour and there was little indication that either Ben was going to show up. "There probably goofing off somewhere, while we wait here bored out of our minds." the younger girl said looking to her companion.

"There probably just lost." Gwendolyn said as she sat down on a bench near the malls center. "With both of them together they may never be found." she said as she stretched her arms.

"Wouldn't that be nice." Gwen said taking a seat next to the older girl, as a devilish smile touched her lips "Though that means you would lose your boyfriend." she said making a gagging gesture.

"I said, maybe a little....MAYBE" The older girl said slightly nudging her younger self. "Can't you let it go." She pleaded.

"No way, its to bizarre. Even if its "Maybe a little" its still hard to imagine. I mean hes Ben...even if hes a little older." Gwen said said with a revolted look on her face.

"Well I didn't grow up with him like you did. I'm sure if I had things would be like they are with you two." Gwendolyn retorted, becoming slightly defensive. "besides, I'm pretty sure that once we get back to our world I wont see him much after that anyway. So it doesn't matter." the older witch turned away from the younger girl.

"what do you mean?" Gwen asked eying her older variant questioningly.

"i mean that when we get back I have no where to go, ill most likely end up in some kind of foster care far away from him anyway." Gwendolyn said, there was a hint of distress in her voice.

"Maybe you should tell him then." the younger girl said trying to help her....self. "if you might not see him again after you get back."

"Thats a terrible idea. I'm not going to tell him and thats final." as Gwendolyn was about to go on about how bad an Idea that was someone spoke up from behind.

"Tell him what?" a small voice said.

The two girls looked behind them to find Both Bens standing behind them. Well the younger one was standing, the older one however was sitting precariously on Ben's shoulder in the form of Graymatter. Both girls eyes went wide, as there brains tried to come up with a suitable answer.

"We weren't going to tell you... about the...awesome ice cream place we found... as punishment for showing up so late" Gwen said putting on her most convincing look of disapproval. "Why are you Graymatter?" Both girls asked at the same time.

"i was trying to show him Waybig. Don't worry, thats what took us so long we had to get away from populated areas...but it didn't work." Benjamin said jumping down on the bench in between the two girls. "i know I say it all the time, but sometimes I think this thing has a mind of its own...and what ice cream shop, I'm hungry." the small gray alien.

However the girls were saved from answering by screams from one of the upper floors of the mall. As the scream subsided something came crashing down in front of the children. Panic ensued.

"Aww, man why does this stuff always have to...happen...to us." Benjamin said from his place on the bench. However when he got a better look at what had fallen he found it hard to think. He suddenly grabbed his head, as the Omnitrix emblem on his back began to blink between red and green. There was a sudden flash of light and practically pushing the girls off the bench sat a strange alien creature. It was sort of awkward looking, it had a large white body and small eyes. Across its back and arms it had strange looking pads that seemed both soft and durable at thee same time.

"Cannonbolt?" the rest of the children said with the same inflection, As the alien suddenly rolled up into a ball, using all of the strange pads on its body to cove it completely. It then began to peel out and shot forward, ricocheting off of a display and up to the next floor of the mall. The rest of the children were left completely confused.

"How did he do that...i thought that even he couldn't change more than once." Ben said looking to the upper floors. It was then that Gwendolyn looked down and got a good look at what had fallen in front of them. It was one of Charmcaster's stone guardians.

"We have to stop Ben. Benjamin...whatever." she said, her voice held a slight inflection of panic. "He might do something really stupid." the two cousins looked at her confusedly.

"what do you mean...stupid." Gwen said eying her older self.

"well he had a severe traumatic experience, it was Charmcaster who stabbed me. He must still be effected by that event." she said hurriedly, as she began to cast a levitation spell. " we need to stop him fast, he didn't seem like himself." she said motioning to the others to follow, they started running after the older girl.

"Its hero time!" Ben yelled as he slapped down the control mechanism on his wrist.

Charmcaster, couldn't believe how well everything was going for her. Since she had escaped from the maximum security juvenile detention facility, it seemed that she had avoided going In the same direction as that troublesome family. However after a while she had run out of funds, and was now rectifying that problem by "asking" the local shopkeepers to "donate" to her charity.

"Now if you would be so kind as to place your donations into this bag." the evil witch said as she held her Bag of tricks out to the people lined up in front of her. They stood at complete attention.

After one of them had gotten lucky and caused one of her guardians to fall over the side of the railing, she had been holding him upside down, with a number of guardians surrounding the remaining store owners.

"Thats right...just place it all in the bag and we can all..." As she was about to continue her generic robbery jargon, someone called out to her.

"Charmcaster! Get out of here." the witch would recognize that voice anywhere. It was often accompanied by a ten year old brat with a tacky looking watch.

"You two again. I can never get away from you can I." Charmcaster said as she turned to face the heroes she knew had come to stop her. However before she ever made it halfway round she was hit squarely in the back, by something heavy, and fell to the ground. While she was there she heard the female half of the hero duo say something strange.

"Ben you make sure those people get out of here, Gwen you take care of Charmcaster." Gwendolyn said to the two cousins.

When Charmcaster looked up from her position on the ground she was confused. There were three brats now, and the new one looked exactly like Gwen... but older. The other Tennyson brat was one of his alien freaks, some short looking thing with stupid looking fins on its head. However at the older Gwen's order. It suddenly split up into multiples of itself and began to attend to the injured or captured. This all raised one question in Charmcaster's head. Who had hit her?

"Alright you little runts. I don't know whats going on here." she said as she tried to stand. "But Im going to.." before she could say another word she was struck from behind once more. The sorceress barely managed to stay standing. As she recovered from the blow she saw the strange rolling alien come to a stop and unfurl. It turned to look at her.

Charmcaster was both confused and slightly unnerved. First of all there was a second alien creature about.. that wasn't the child she was used to. And secondly it was looking at her with a strange empty expression. However even in its emotionless face she could sense something coming from it. Whatever it was she didn't want to know. As she was about to start throwing some spells at it The older Gwen's voice called out to her.

"Charmcaster. I said get out of here." Gwendolyn said as she turned to her younger variant. " I don't care what you have to do. Just make sure she gets out of here." the older of the two Gwens said before getting back to business.

"And why should I listen to you. You little brats need to learn your place." the guardians around the room sprang to life and began to go for the heroes. It was then that Charmcaster heard what sounded like a tire peeling out. Before she could even react she was sent flying into a nearby shop. After a few moments she came stumbling out of the boutique. "alright whats up with.." but again she was toppled over by the rolling yellow alien. The now very sore witch slowly rolled over onto her back, and saw the creature plummeting toward her far faster than she would have liked.

As the ball of death came at her she found herself slightly regretful of the life she had led. It almost made her feel bad...almost. However instead of being turned into paste like she had expected, something suddenly grabbed her and moved her out of the way. Two tenths of a second later and she would have been crushed.

"Gwendolyn said you need to get out of here, I agree. Hes not trying to catch you... hes trying to destroy you." Gwen said as she pulled the limp sorceress away from the battleground. "oh, and don't think I like doing this." She continued as she tried unsuccessfully to move Charmcaster any faster. "Get over here dweeb and give me a hand..or four." The youngest sorceress said to her cousin.

Two of the smaller alien creatures stopped escorting people away and split into four. Two of the aliens continuing to help the bystanders and two going over to help Gwen move Charmcaster, who was almost completely out of it.

"aww man why, do I have to listen to you and Gwendolyn." one of the aliens said. "yeah why." the other one seconded.

"because as ditto you could split up and help me carry, and escort the bystanders, plus she is older." Gwen said sounding annoyed. There was a sudden crackling sound back where Benjamin and Gwendolyn were. When the two cousins turned around they saw something astounding. There was a large orb of energy sitting in the middle of the floor. Caught inside of it was Benjamin as Cannonbolt.

He was rolling around inside of it so quickly it seemed that there was a solid yellow ring inside. As he continued to gain speed inside of the orb Gwendolyn tried talking him down.

"Ben, You have to snap out of it... thats not the right Charmcaster." she said trying to maintain the spherical barrier. "She hasn't....well she has done bad things, but you don't have to destroy her." As the young girl watched the alien swirling inside of the orb an idea came to her. She slowly began to turn the orb so that the spinning alien in side was moving vertically, she then waited patiently. When the moment was right she let down the barrier and Benjamin was sent hurtling into the floor at an unfathomable speed. He hit so hard that he went straight through the floor, then through all the subsequent floors.

Gwendolyn jumped over the railing and down to the ground floor. There she found a modest crater with the rolling alien inside it. She carefully walked over as Benjamin unfurled himself, however instead of staying put, he was already trying to make it out of the crater. But before he could get anywhere Gwendolyn was already on top of him.

"BEN..STOP." she yelled as she sat on the aliens wide stomach. "Snap out of it." she yelled. Then she noticed the small omnitrix insignia on his forehead was still blinking in between red and green. As the unwieldy alien tried to get up Gwendolyn decided to try and calm him down a different way. She placed her hand on the insignia and began to channel some magic through it into Benjamin.

Whatever the spell was supposed to do...it didn't. As Gwendolyn was suddenly racked with pain.

When she opened her eyes she was in a completely black room. She looked around nervously. After nothing happened for a few moments she decided to try moving around.

"Ben....where are you!...where am I!" Gwendolyn yelled as she moved around in the black space.

"Thank goodness your here." a voice said from nowhere in particular, which made Gwendolyn jump a little.

"who's there!" she said suspiciously. The voice sounded familiar, however it seemed distorted..warped in some way. However instead of a voice answering her there was suddenly someone standing in front of her. It looked exactly like she did...but different. The hair wasn't the right length or color, she wore clothes that Gwendolyn wouldn't be caught dead in, and her eyes were completely white. "alright...i give up...whats going on." The sorceress asked in a strangely calm manner.

"Well when Ben saw that thing fall, once he recognized it something happened. Almost like post traumatic stress disorder. And that thing on his wrist activated because of his strong reaction to what he saw." The strange doppleganger said "and now he wont come out, saying something like "i couldnt save her." or something like that." it continued on. " and when I talked to him he just shouted that I wasn't you. I think I scared him a little." it looked at Gwendolyn expectantly. "but now your here, you can talk some sense into him."

"ok...but who are you." Gwendolyn said with great confusion.

"What you think that something as powerful as the mirror of Bizel's magic would just instantly disappear after it was broken." it said putting its hands on its hips. "I'm what he was calling the Mirror thoughts, you guys stopped them to late...I'm a byproduct. I have no actual power over Ben without the mirror from your world, in fact I can barely relay thoughts to him normally, but I could kick you out of here no problem." it said sporting a genuine smile. All Gwendolyn could do was stare. She had put this thing in Benjamin's head.

"So will you dissipate over time or something." she said pointing to the mirror thoughts.

"Maybe...i don't know." it said still looking way too happy. "anyway you have to help Ben, with that watch thingy in control he might hurt someone, its in defense mode or something." the doppleganger said taking a defensive pose for a second and then dropping it to show what she meant.. "i cant snap him out of it. If we could just get him to see reality... but his mind is stuck watching that ritual Over and over and over and over.."

"I get it." Gwendolyn stopped the doppleganger witch seemed to be stuck in a loop.

"Sorry about that, I was never completed so I have a lot of defects." it said with its happy grin. Which just Creeped Gwendolyn out...however it did seem to want to help.

"alright then...where is Ben." the young sorceress said looking from left to right.

"what do you mean where." the doppleganger said looking around "this is him." it said pointing around. "but if it helps you." the strangely eccentric creature suddenly made a move like a magician revealing his lovely assistant and there in the darkness with them was Ben. He was crouched down on the floor. "He cant seem to break out of that loop...he just sees that event over and over and...sorry."

Gwendolyn walked over to the scared looking boy. And knelt beside him.

"Ben...its alright. You saved me remember." She said in a soft voice. "You don't have to punish yourself like this." she put one arm around his shoulder and brought him closer to her. His eyes became slightly more focused as he felt her arm on him. "just let it go...and come back with me." she whispered to him.

The boy that she was holding looked up her and smiled. A moment later he vanished into thin air.

" Thats not fair. I tried forever, and still that little guy wouldn't listen to a word I had to say...think....something." the awkward doppleganger said approaching Gwendolyn. "he should regain control of himself now, at least I think he should." it said giving its now signature smile.

"so how do I get out of here." the young witch asked feeling slightly awkward to be talking to something that so closely resembled her, like young Gwen did, but who's personality had been warped.

"Oh I can handle that, remember I said I could kick you out of here no problem." and before Gwendolyn could even respond she was...

Awake and straddling a very confused looking Benjamin, who had returned to normal. They sat looking at each other for a moment, both too confused and too focused on the other. Until there was a coughing noise from somewhere to the side. Gwendolyn jumped off of Benjamin and looked to see who was there.

"Soo.....what was that all about." Ben and Gwen said, looking both confused and a little embarrassed. It was awkward to watch what was essentially themselves sit there on top of one another with someone ...who was essentially there cousin.

"nothing." Gwendolyn said quickly as she reached down and helped the boy in the crater off the ground. "I got it covered."

"what happened?" Benjamin said looking confused, and unsteady. " last thing I remember was that thing falling in front of us... what was that anyway." from slightly behind him the older witch was making a face that said "LIE TO HIM!".

"it was some lowlife making trouble,. Nothing important, but the shock of that thing falling must have done something to the omnitrix...well tell grandpa about it. Maybe he knows something." Gwen said bending the truth enough to please Gwendolyn .

"in any case lets get going your grandfather should be here any minuet." Gwendolyn said taking Ben's hand and pulling him along behind her, To which Gwen raised an eyebrow. Benjamin straggled along behind her for a moment, being almost completely pulled by her. "come on, you dweeb. Lets go before someone shows up wondering what happened." The older girl said as she pulled on his arm. As the two older children left the two cousins stayed put for a second longer.

"Does she like him?" Ben said disgustedly, as he watched them go through the mall exit. Gwen just started following the older children.

"when I asked her she said....Maybe a little." The younger girl said sounding slightly disgusted in her own way.

"Gross."