Although the drive was very long and silent for a majority of it, the Tennysons and their tagalong had finalky reached New Orleans, Louisana as their next stop on the cross country roadtrip. This time it was a change of pace as they were on a guided musuem tour, Ben was messing with the masks on display before rejoining the group, he took a quick glance at Alex to see him just completely zoned out and not paying attention as the guide rambled on.
"...And behind this impenetrable glass is the recently discovered, and only known existing copy of the Archamada Book of Spells.", the elderly tour guide gestured to just that, it was a large navy blue book detailed with darker blue patterns with gold corners, and a rune etched into a gold seal on the front.
"It contains ancient witchcraft and rituals from the later sixteen hundreds.", the tour guide and Gwen said simultaneously... though the elderly woman glared at the young girl. "Maybe you should here, dear.", she snides before walking off.
Gwen frowned in disappointment, Ben quickly took noticed and elbow jabbed her lightly. "Don't let "mummy-face" get to you, she's probably older than that spellbook.", he whispers before quickly snapping into a mummy's pose and facial expression in their tomb, to Gwen's laughter.
The lighthearted moment is broken when rumbling begins, with everyone in the room soon lifting to the ceiling but none of the looser objects, almost as if the gravity on them just turned off. It wasnt slow either as they were sent slamming into the ceiling "Something tells me this isn't on the tour.", Max grunts as his back was yelling at him in pain due to the force.
"I wish it was, this is awesome!", Alex exclaimed actually excited due to how bored he was from all of this.
The glass bursted at the force of a cloud of red smoke rushing into the room, as a foot touched the ground, the glass shards slowly became grains of sand. The smoke whirled around before being sucked back into a bizarely shaped animal skull attached to a wooden staff.
The wielder of the staff was a man, he was taller than average and very muscular, his skin was grey and what was exposed of his torso showed off black tattos around his body, with the most peculiar one being a skull tattoo on the mans face with completely black eyes with white pupils. His attire is like that of a tribal or a nomad. He wears an orange and black dress along with a hood draped over his head, he wore black lants that were tucked into black wrapings around his knees, these wrapings extended to his feet. His right arm was adorned with the very same black wrappings with his left adorning a gauntlet made out of some sort of rock.
Most peculiar were the strange items on him, located on both of the black and orange bands covering his chest were four strange, grey charms with one being located on a brown sash he wore around his neck.
"The Grimoire of Archamada, what a pitiful sight to behold. No matter, its power will be mine soon.", the strange man's black and white eyes glowed into a solid yellow just as the bottom left charm glowed yellow as well. "FÄĦTÄ-MË-GØØF!"
Seconds after he speaks, the glass encasement erupts in a burst of orange energy. The glass shards falling to the ground as the book floated off the podium and towards him, opening itself and showing off its contents.
"Yo, Alex!", Ben hissed as Alex looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Time to go Hero.", he nudged towards the sorcerer.
"And what makes you think that, Sherlock?", Alex remarked sarcasticaly as he activated the Omnitrix and began scroling through his aliens.
With his task finished, he slammed the end of his staff onto the prestine marble ground with a heavy thud and with that, gravity suddenly existed in this room. Unfortunately, those still airborne had begun plumetting to the ground quick.
Alex quickly slammed onto the dial the moment they began falling, transforming into Deepcut with wide eyes. "Eh, I can make this work.", because of his weight he fell faster, so quickly extending his arms to punch the ground, two curved clusters of crystals erupted above the ground.
The two structures managed to catch most of the people falling, sliding down the smooth surface and onto the ground. Those who just missed it managed to grab onto some of the imperfections, the crystals sunk into the ground and allowed those who hung from it to safely make it back to the floor.
"Scram.", Deepcut lowered himself, planting his feet on the ground as he pulled his fists out. There were no objections as those who partook in the tour along with staff sprinted out of the exit.
"Be careful, Alex. He might have a few tricks up his sleeve.", Max muttered to the teen as he went off to safety with his grandkids.
Deepcut popped his neck as a sort of battle mask with a teal V-shaped lens over his eyes. "Y'know, I can look past the disturbance to this really boring your, not so much on dragging random people into it though.", he formed a hammer-like weapon from his right hand.
The sorcerer paid no mind to Deepcut before his eyes glowed again, the same top left charm glowed yellow as his eyes did the same. "BËTHÏ-MÖRDÖ-NÄTTA!", the skull of his staff glowed to life before unleashing a beam of fire at him.
Deepcut charged at him at a surprisingly quick pace, lunging at the man who simply dodged and unleashed a barrage of red crystals at him. "Hm?", the sorcerer's eyes widen as he was suddenly met wirh the blunt end of a crystal hammer that sent him tumbling backwards.
The sorcerer quickly caught his footing before realizing another issue, his feet were entrapped by crystals. "What?!", he was then met with a strong jab to his stomach which was followed by a left hook to his left cheek before being uppercutted.
Deepcut continued his onslaught before being blasted back by an invisible force, the crystals exploding into shards and releasing his feet. "To think there were creatures of any note here.", the sorcerer mused with his right hand raised and the top right charm parallel to the previous charm was now glowing.
"Nice jewlery ya got there...", Deepcut strains, he felt the pressure being increased second by second. Struggling, he managed to slowly prop himself on the wall as the sorcerer kept applying pressure. "Too bad it ain't gonna save you."
"I have other methods-", the Sorcerer was going to follow with a chant but was immediately knocked forward by a packed up trash bin followed by a second empty bin. "You DARE?!", He turned around quickly, unleashing an eletric wave of energy as he turned, Max dove onto the floor as Ben and Gwen did the same.
"Awh man! How come this guy get to look so cool?", Ben grimaced.
"Now's not the time for that, Ben!", Max and his grandkids scramble onto their feet and back away from the man.
"We got his attention at least!", Gwen exclaimed.
The Sorcerer's eyes widened as he turned around to apply his telekinetic force onto Deepcut but was already sent skidding back by a push kick to his chest. Followed up by Deepcut drop kicking his face, sending him to the floor unconscious with the charm on his brown sash falling and rolling along the ground, to which Ben picked it up.
"Cool, was looking for a new souvenir.", Ben flipped the charm like a quarter.
"Great work, Alex. You better get on outta here before you time out though.", Max nodded to the tall creature of crystals.
Deepcut's battle mask split apart before sliding back into his skin. "Don't worry, I'm one step ahead of you.", he said confidently before opening the front door, his eyes widened as he was bombared with camera flashes before he quickly closed the door. "... Maybe just go through the back exit?"
"Dont need to tell me twice.", Gwen sighed as she and her family walked towards the back to one of the rear exits.
The Rust Bucket drove through the dark streets of Louisana as Alex was once again, looking through the fridge for a snack that he knew wasn't there. "Y'know for a guy with a time limit, you REALLY took your time taking those photos.", Gwen remarked with a furrowed brow as she vividly remembered the sight of Deepcut flexing his arms.
"So, Ben... what the hell is that thing?", Alex completely ignorged her, much to Gwen's annoyance, and looked at the plain box Ben had taken out from the back and placed the charm.
"Oh its a box of some stuff I snatched up.", Ben said as he tilted the box to show off its content. It had the broken Transmodulator, La Grange's goggles, a picture of the Kraken, the pictures they took in Sparksville and finally, the charm he collected recently. "Y'know? In case you get all famous and get a museum based after you."
"Thinkin real far ahead, aren't you?", Alex mused.
"I'm surprised he's even thinking at all.", Gwen said still obviously annoyed. "The only reason you're a big hero is because of that watch, if I had gotten it, I'd get all the attention and cool souvenirs."
Gwen slumped into her seat and just looked out the window, Ben glanced up at Alex who nodded at the non verbal idea. Ben plucked the charm and slid it towards Gwen, who looked at them with a rasied eyebrow.
"Really?", Gwen sat up again.
"Yeah, its not like I'll be using it for anything important.", Alex sighed before lightly flicking Ben's head for no particular reason.
Gwen had a wide smile on her face as she slid the charm off the table and into her hand. "Gwen? Don't you have something you want to say to em?"
"Thanks, doesn't change the fact you have a stupid amount of dumb luck, but thanks.", Gwen said with a smile.
"I'll take it.", Alex shrugged before going to the far back and just laying down as he usually would.
One of the main reasons Max wanted to come down to Louisana was this specific restaurant further down. Which leads to the four of them being seated at a table for four, just eating crawfish... besides Alex, he was just eating steak.
Gwen swallowed her crawfish and looked at Ben with a glare once she noticed there was one left. "Don't even think about it, you've had eleven but I've had nine."
"You're keeping track?", was Alex's response.
Ben shrugged. "Guess I'll make it an even dozen.", he sneered as he reached over with his fork only for Gwen to smack it out of his hand.
"I don't think so.", she hissed as unbeknownst to them a very... strange set of occurrences happened.
The fork Gwen slapped had stabbed a waitress in her foot, throwing a glass hich gets sent flying from the chandelier into the kitchen where it hits a chef in the back. This makes him knock a wheeled-tray with a bowl of crayfish back into the restaurant where it knocks into the Tennyson's table, smacking right on top of Ben's head.
Gwen took this opportunity to take the last crawfish and just devour it. "There, now I'm full!"
"Good for you.", Ben snides as one of the crawfish from the bowl on the top of his head crawled into his nose, causing him to jump back at the sensation of something wriggling around in his nose. Max and Gwen got a good laugh as Alex just shook his head with a slight smile on his face.
Gwen then noticed the charm she had started to wear as a necklace had been glowing a bright blue before it suddenly ceased.
At the Witchcraft Musuem, the security had been increased to no avail as all of them were suspended stiff in the air. The Mage had long since regained consciousness and once again returned to the musuem, his face appearing completely unscathed from Deepcut's dropkick.
He closed his eyes for a second, a red and yellow energy aura flared around him appearing similar to a face. "VÄĦÐÄR ÄVÏVÏ MØNÄ RÄTÄH!", this incantation caused the energy around him to lunge forward and into the metal itself, causing it to erupt violently.
"Thank you for keeping it in safe keeping, maybe you worms are smart.", The Mage stated towards the security knowing they cant respond, his upper right charm glowed yellow as the book floated towards him and displayed its pages. "Finally, soon my power will be LIMITLESS!"
Thats when he realized something the moment nothing happened... the charm on his brown neck sash was gone. "What?! No, how could it have vanished?!", thats when the mage further looked back. "I see, during that battle with the Golem..."
Regarding the location of his dear missing charm, the Tennysons and their guest were just walking tnrough a street market. "Y'know in all my travels, I never actually saw a craw-fish climb in someone's nostril until today!", Max said still laughing at Ben's expense.
"Glad I could make your day.", Ben rolled his eyes in annoyance, it was already humiliating having to get that thing out of his nose in public.
Gwen looked at the charm before looking up at Alex. "By the way, thanks again for the charm. I feel like I should get you something in return."
"That's... not really needed but okay.", Alex remarks with a raised eyebrow.
Gwen completely brushing this off, of course, quickly walked over towards a hot dog cart. "Two please.", she politely said to the vendor, fully knowing Alex would not be satisfied with one.
"Help! They stole my purse!", what sounded like an old woman cried out in distress.
The culprit appears rather quickly, being a street thug with two of his friends. "Thats far enough.", he said holding his prosthetic hand out to stop the group of teens with a punk asthetic.
"Oh yeah? Are ya gonna make us, pops?", the leader of the teens mocked not at all intimidated. Alex looked at the teen who was very skinny and compared him to the larger man that was Max.
"Whats with thugs having a punk asethetic? That's like the second time this week.", Alex muttered to himself as he quickly side stepped and crouched behind the hotdog cart. The way it was positioned alongside another booth selling what looked like masks made him very obscured.
Alex lightly press the button... only for it to not work, he tried again and still didn't work. "This shit again? Right now?"
The three teenagers slowly inched their way towards the three Tennyson's, one of them pullng out a crowbar from his back. "Nice necklace you got there girlie.", he said with a very disturbing glare aimed right at her charm.
"Alex, hurry up over there.", Ben whispered, though it was more like a silent yell towards Alex.
"Having some performance issues, gimme a bit.", Alex did the exact same thing back... though he seemed more ready to pick up the nearest object and throw it at someone due to his sheer annoyance.
"Stay away from me.", Gwen backed away, and almost as if it responded to this, the charm once again glowed blue.
Right as Ben scooted closer towards Gwen, he accidentally tripped over an untied shoelace and fell into a man juggling bowling pins still. This caused the man to fall off and launched the unicycle forward and crashed into one of the thugs, the crash into the ground knocking him down.
"Wuh-", the one wielding the crowbar was met with Ben's shoe followed up by Max putting him into a headlock.
The third remaining one walks over to Ben, and seeing this Gwen runs to intervene. As she does so, she steps on a bottle of mustard, spurting it out and hitting the hot-dog vendor in the eyes, who himself knocks his trolley into the remaining teen. The first to be knocked down finally scrambled up... only to be met with Alex holding the crowbar his friend had dropped, swiftly smacking him in the face hard with it and fully knocking him out.
"Ow.", Alex rubbed his elbow. "Really fucked my elbow up with that swing, sheesh."
Gwen looked around genuinely baffled at how this unfolded, she looked at her charm and caught a quick glimpse of it glowing blue before returning to it's default state. "Cool!"
"This little girl's a hero officer.", the elderly woman who had her purse stolen said to a female police officer pointing at Gwen.
"Oh, uh, I'm just lucky I guess.", Gwen said sheepishly, though she did catch her eyes drifting towards the mask-stand and smiled to herself.
The night had came and went, the Rust Bucket being stationary in a lot parked alongside other RV's, while inside Max was snoring so ungodly loud that Ben had to bury his face in his pillow. He tosses over to see Alex was sleeping in his designated spot just fine... with earmuffs.
"Lucky.", Ben murmured as he yawned. "Gwen, you got a mega sized cork on you?", he leaned over to find Gwen was not in her bunk at all.
So out of curiosity, he hopped out of his bunk and walked outside just to find is her at the basketball court with the charm active, tossing a basketball at the hoop behind her without looking. The ball does not even hit the basket, but yet another series of improbable events lead it directly to the net.
"Nothing but the bottom of the net, again.", Gwen said confidently as Ben looked confused as he caught the ball.
"Okay... we are definitely not playing horse.", Ben said as he noticed the charm stop glowing.
"Gimme the ball!"
"No, not til you tell me what all that was about.", Ben hissed, generally confused since if she could've done this before it wouldve been VERY helpful.
"What can I say? I'm charmed. It's like every time it glows, everything just goes my way.", she said looking at the charm she was gifted.
"Awh man, why couldn't Alex knock off another one of those things.", Ben cursed the universe for somehow making it so Alex just knocked off one of the charms the sorcerer had.
Max stepped out, still adjusting his prosthetic arm after he had just woken up yawning. "Nothing like a goodnight's rest! Now, who wants breakfast?"
Alex peered out with the earmuffs dangling off his neck. "Pass, those crawfish are really kicking my ass right now.", he groaned as he stepped out, tossing the earmuffs back.
Just then, at a nearby construction site a sudden explosion causes the cables on a lift to snap, which left the two construction workers who were on it stranded high above the ground and hanging by a thread. "Help!" One of them screamed out in very justified distress.
Gwen smiled at the opportunity presented to her. "I'll be right back!", she ran right back into the Rust Bucket, leaving the three confused.
"Moving on.", Alex activated the Omnitrix and quickly transformed into Watchdog.
"Seriously? Why not Bugbreath?", Ben questioned as Watchdog slowly turned his body to face Ben. "... kidding, uh, Watchdog could work!"
Watchdog nodded before running off, using his beastial strength to scale up the building in construction. Max gasps as he sees the construction worker trapped in a truck, a metal beam having crushed the doors as sparks from the overhead lights begin to cause flames. "Please! Help me!", the man trapped in there exclaimed.
"What do we do?", Ben looked at his grandfather for guidence.
"I got this!", that was when Gwen dramatically leapt out of the RV, she now wore wears a purple and black outfit with purple wrappings around her legs, a scarf around her neck with a cat themed mask and the charm hanging around her neck and under the scarf.
"Uh... Gwen?", Max looked on in genuine confusion.
"Its Lucky Girl, Grandpa.", Gwen corrected as Ben looked at her annoyed.
"Seriously? Like the TV show?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about!", Gw- Lucky Girl quickly responded before sprinting off and towards the truck. "Stay calm! You'll be out soon.", once she arrived her charm glowed blue.
Gwen does a running jump onto a plank being cut, which sends the other half flying into a wrecking ball machine's controls, causing the ball to drop onto the truck, causing the metal rod to fly off hitting a control board. This sent a functioning elevator shooting up out of control which smacked into Watchdog whilst saving the two workers hanging on for their lives, sending Alex high into the air.
"Uh oh...", Lucky Girl cringed at the unintentional outcome.
As he plummets, Watchdog quickly tore through thr elevator that was still coming at him with ease but caused debris to fall to the ground. "Gwen- i mean, Lucky Girl, move!", Max shouted.
Gwen darts for cover into a nearby vehicle. Causing it to reverse and knock a chute-structure into Watchdog who was hanging onto a rope, which knocked him right into a large batch of cement mixture.
With the usage of his prosthetic arm along Ben using his entire bodyweight to get it to move, Max and his grandson managed to maneuver it to where the two construction workers were just above it. "Slide down the chute!", Max exclaimed.
With no other option, the two let go one after other and slid down the chute and onto a pile of now dirty mattresses. On Alex's end, it took him a minute to crawl out of the cement mixture and took a second to shake the substance off, using the back of his hand to remove it from his neck.
His senses now cleared up, he could see a crowd of news reporters surrounding Lucky Girl. "How did you pull of this amazing rescue?", one of the female reporters asked the young heroinez
"With style of course.", Gwen said with a smug smile on her face before gesturing at the camera. "Who's your hero?"
"You heard it here first. -Live.", Watchdog heard all of this and felt a mixture of emotions, he decided to do the logical thing and hide away so he could bring it up later.
Somewhere else in New Orleans, several passedby's were steering very clear of the tall man that was floating down the sidewalk. His black eyes staring off as if he was actually looking at something tangible, which made him tende up.
["This morning, here's an exclusive snd on the scene interview with our city's very own...", the reporter trailed off as the camera focused on Gwen in a pose
"Lucky Girl!"]
The sorcerer had stopped at the TV display, quickly analyzing the frame of Lucky Girl and immediately spotted his missing charm. With this, his eyes glowed a bright yellow...
An entire day had gone by after all that excitement, the Rust Bucket now crusing down the motorway with the intent on heading to their next stop. Gwen on the other hand had frantically been on her computer.
"I cross-referenced the Archamada Book of Spells with dark magical charms, and look. It's a part of a set called the Charms of Bezel!", she turned the computer over to Ben who was fiddling with her mask and Alex still scratching dried cement out of his hair, the two looked at said set in curiosity. "I have the Charm of Luck apparently."
"Those are the same charms on that other guy I fought at the museum.", Alex noted.
"Totally kicked his butt by the way."
"Why thank you."
Gwen turned the computer back go her. "That's why he wanted the book of spells. But it says all the Charms of Bezel must be used for the spells to be at their full power. Oh well. His loss is my gain.", she shrugged.
"More like was, we need to turn that charm into the museum.", Max sternly stated looking at them in the rearview mirror before turning his gaze back towards the road before he began fiddling with his radio.
Gwen and Ben immediately perked up. "Thats not fair! Not before I-"
"-Try it!", Ben smirks as he swivels the mask around his finger. "Its only fair I get a turn with powers."
"Uh, no, the world needs the power of Lucky Girl again. You're just gonna use it to blow stuff up or something!", Gwen snapped and snatched her mask away.
"Uh, newsflash! We already got our very own superhero!", Ben gestured toward's Alex.
"No.", Alex flatly said as he ruffled his hair to double check. "Look, we can't JUST put the charm in a museum. That dude blew up a fucking bullet proof glass casing, there's no way we can just do that.", he spoke specifically towards Max. "It'd be better if we carried it on us until we find a spot where nobody can find it."
Max took a second to register what he said, he couldn't help but agree with Alex as the Plumber facilities most definitely had better equipment and defense systems. "... I'll have to think about it more."
"Wait really? I'd thought you'd want this charm gone as soon as possible, y'know, solo hero act and all.", Gwen said looking up at Alex.
"Its really fucking exhausting to just do all the heavy lifting.", Alex stated in a very calm voice before sliding into the booth. "Just, dont let it get to your head. I know the attention is nice, but you're already getting an ego."
"What? No I'm not!", Gwen pouted.
"Pfft, as if, what happened to "who's your hero"?", Ben mocked as Gwen quickly snapped her head at him. "And Lucky Girl? Seriously? That's the best you got?"
"It's my favorite show! Not like you have any room to talk, Mr. Sumo Slammer time!", Gwen huffed.
"Its a good catchphrase!"
"Is not!"
"Is to! Times ten!"
"Eh least they're getting right back at it.", Alex comments as he just went to the front and sat down in the passengers seat. "You and Ben seem to be getting better huh?"
"I guess.", Max sighed as he looked at his grandkids going through the motions of their usual arguments, but he noticed it was much less hostile. "He's my grandson, there's nothing he can do that would make me any less of his grandfather. Its just... what he did made me so... disappointed, it made me question myself again. And after what Gwen showed off today, I'm worried for her too..."
"Yeah, but they're both still ten years old. Its not like we can't pull em in when they go too hard into stuff, they're still learning.", Alex let out a yawn as he stretches his legs. "We still got a pretty long roadtrip ahead, so you got plenty of time."
While Max had been flipping through the radio to find anything good to listen too, he quickly went back to one he briefly skipped over. {"And in the news of the weird, reports are coming in that the city's famed haunted history mansion has come alive, trapping dozens of visitors inside."}
Ben and Gwen quickly stopped arguing as Alex popped his knuckles. "Grandpa!"
"On it!", Max quick stepped on the gas pedal and changed directions quickly.
It didnt take long for the Rust Bucket to stop at the mansion attraction, it was a towering building that seemed to have been recently restored with the exceptions of broken class at certain windows.
Gwen in her Lucky Girl attire was the first to jump out. "I'll handle this!", she exclaimed as she sprinted to the building.
"Ugh, we literally JUST talked about this.", Alex groaned as he, Max and Ben leapt out, with Ben holding a very specific item in his hands.
Once they got inside... it was almost as if it was a horror movie, the walls and furniture had sprung to life and were thrashing violently like caged animals. Near the flailing curtains, it was almost as if he simply stepped out of the solid black they briefly made. "Figured you couldn't resist, Lucky Girl.", he says with a sinsiter grin.
His staff lit up as people in the mansion were screaming in genuine fear. Some of them hanging onto loose objects on the ceiling as they were propelled up there previously. "I'm afraid of heights."
"This whole place is gonna collapse! We need to get these people put of here!", Max exclaimed.
"Don't worry! Lucky Girl is here!", Gwen exclaimed with her confidence beginning to waiver at the situation before her. Quickly bolting to the stairs as her charm lights up, the top right charm the sorcerer held lit up as well. As she ran up the stairs, the stairs flew right off mere seconds after she passed them.
Ben quickly layed his hoverboard down and hopped on along with Max, quickly flying into the air as Alex ducked underneath by throwing himself backwards. It took him a second to pull himself back into a standing position. "Phew... they make it look so much more seamless in the movies.", Alex panted as he ducked behind a wooden pillar and activated the omnitrix.
With the aid of her Charm of Luck, Gwen had managed to hop onto a pillar yet struggled keeping balance. With the usage of his hoverboard, Ben and Max helped one of the civilians down onto the floor. "That thing is amazing! Where'd you get it?" The woman with apparently poor timing asked.
"Uh, science project?", Ben shrugged as he genuinely did not know how to answer that.
A part of the catwalk that was falling rapidly was suddenly propelled forward and thrown at Ben, Max and the woman they just saved. They were prepared to duck until Pummel leapt forward and easily grabbed onto it. "I got you!"
"But who's got them?", Gwen noticed the opposite side to the second floor was beginning to collapse, and the pillar begins to shake. Quickly losing her balance, the charm glows once again as she jumps off grabbing a chandelier and barely securing herself on the strut next to the civilians. "Everybody grab hold!"
The people grab onto the chandelier, with them swinging away as the strut Alex was holding onto had begun to move, within tne same motion he released his grip and jumped back as the floor collapsed now with no one on it. After that, the chandelier begins to lose it's integrity, sending Gwen and the others plummeting down, right until her charm glows, and it re-secures itself, tightening right before they hit the ground, allowing them to flee to safety.
Gwen suddenly felt an immense pressure weigh her down as the door slammed shut by itself before she was tossed across the room. Lucky Girl frantically looked around until she saw the shadows had begun to move. The sorcerer seemingly rising above the shadows as if it were just a body of water, his eyes burning with rage. "Give me my charm back."
Gwen managed to save herself as the charm glowed once again, grabs onto a curtain, causing it to fall down over the Mage, and as she drops safely to the floor, also topples a case of amour on him as well. "You should have said please!", Lucky Girl taunts as she sprinted away.
Lucky Girl ran through the large mansion frantically, bursting into a room and let out a gasp as she had entered what used to be a study, but was currently occupying a few antique ornaments. "Which one?"
She rests her hand on a bust's head, revealing a button underneath. She quickly presses the button which opened up a hidden passage, Lucky Girl took a deep breath before running straight through it.
On the other hand, Pummel had ripped his way inside once more with Ben now armed with a signed metal baseball bat he had along with Max who quickly noticed an open doorway. "They must've went that way!", Max exclaimed as the three ran down the hall.
After entering the passage, Gwen had quickly found herself passing by snakes, rats, bones and spider webs. She quickly figured out that the location she was currently in was the catacombs underneath the mansion.
"I believe we got off on the wrong foot.", the grey man's voiced echoed but she couldn't see where it had been coming from... but it was close. "Give me that charm and I will let you live... for a while at least."
Gwen slowly stepped forward as she swore it was coming from the otherside of the wall to her left. Putting her ear up to it, until suddenly his hand bursted through the solid rock, her yelp of surprise caused her to stumble back and onto yet another button, this time causing the wall to collapse and pin him down.
Her eyes widened as the rocks had been suspended in the air, his charm of levitation flowing yellow as the rocks suddenly fell as he thrusted his staff forward and shooting out bolts of energy. The charm of luck glowed as Gwen began running away, barely missing a bolt that tore right through the spot she was in previously.
She immediately dove in and landed into the mansions courtyard. "Who the heck is this guy?", she muttered to herself before running into the trees quick hiding behind one of the many present.
"You. Want. My. Name?", The sorcerer slowly said each word as if he was trying to understand the question correctly. "That's something those other weaklings wanted to know as well. Something as trivial as a name is so unimportant when you're about to cease to be... yet its so important to those who face their doom. It's almost as if they believe it'll make a difference in battle, or act as some sort of conclusion before they experience their demise."
Lucky Girl peeked from her hiding spot but was quickly slammed onto the ground and being lifted up by a series of roots that had came. "My name is Hex. The Master of the Dark Arts."
"Hey! Let me down!", Lucky Girl yelled in defiance as her charm was snapped off by the root which handed it to Hex. "Give that back!", Gwen yelled as she started squirming in place.
"Was my name important? Was it worth it?", Hex coldly states as he slipped the charm right back into its original placement as roots began to cover Gwen's body. "That name will bring the same terror you've felt onto others.", were the last words uttered as Gwen was met with pitch darkness.
There she was, left sitting there incapable of breaking free of the restraints and trapped in darkness. Gwen attempted to remain calm but couldn't stop her body from letting out heavy stressful breaths as the panic of being left there to die began to settle.
The ginger ten year old began breathing quickly as she heard multiple pairs of footsteps, her relief came quick as the roots were torn away to show Pummel was standing above her with Max and Ben. He quickly released her of her restraints allowing Gwen to regain her composure properly.
"Thanks...", Gwen sat up and looked away, taking her mask off. "He got the charm... its all my fault."
"We'll talk about that later, for now, where'd he go?", Pummel asked with a very angry look in his eyes as Ben helped Gwen up, now tapping his bat against his hoverboard.
"What a terrible sight to behold"
Hex was hovering above the graveyard and looked out onto New Orleans. "To think these pondscum consider sights like these to be the pinnacle of exellence, they think they're the center of the universe. Banishing us here, leaving us in this swamp! It's infuriating! Leaving us stranded with filth that are complacent with mediocrity, it's pathetic."
The Archamada Book of Spells suddenly spilled out of the mouth of his staff, floating in front of him and turning to a page in itself as his eyes and charms glowed a bright yellow. "But I, Hex, will change it... by reducing it to an old memory!"
A swirling vortex of clouds began to appear above the city as red, orange and yellow energy began to spill from the book. "ŘÄVÄ BÏLÄTÏŠ GÄLÄMËTRØ!", Hex exclaims this incantation as the effects immediately took place. A lightning bolt strikes the middle of a street with unnatural amount's of intensity, bolts repeatedly rained from the sky as the civillains down below ran for cover.
Heavy wind pressure followed, those still outside struggled before being swept off their feet yet were saved by others. Cars, trucks and many other objects flew into the air before being dropped down, causing a multitude of fiery explosions.
"ĊÏTÄRØ MÄCØR-", Hex was interrupted by a thundeous battle cry before being met with the heavy object that was Pummel. This tackle both ceased the horrific weather and sent Hex crashing onto the roof of a nearby mausoleum.
Ben on his hoverboard along with Gwen and Max came across where the two landed as Pummel gestures to them. "Get back!"
"You... you are... familiar.", Hex mutters as his body twisted and popped in unnatural ways as he stood up. "I can sense it in your energy... yes.", Hex began grinning. "You are the golem I fought previously, a changeling no doubt."
"Yeah, I'm ready to kick your ass again!", Pummel grinned as he popped his knuckles.
"I accept your challenge, but they are not excluded.", Hex made a few handsigns that were too quick to register, he brought his hands to his face before unleashing a cloud of red smoke. Traveling into the nostrils of three gargoyles and a minotaur, red markings forming on the stone before they all roared to life.
"Get them.", Hex commanded as the smaller gargoyle rushed at Pummel at nightmarish speeds, slapping him back with its tail before leaping on and biting down on his shoulder. The red goliath quickly threw it off before being tackled through several headstones by the minotaur.
"Awh thats totally not fair!", Ben looked over to the mausoleum but... Hex had completely vanished. He quickly took to the skies and batted the flying gargoyle with his aluminum bat. It roared and attempted to tackle him off the board but he quickly ducked down and sped off with it trailing after him.
"That leaves this one.", Max popped his neck as he picked up a large pipe with cement attached to it with his prosthetic arm. The moderately sized gargolye roared.
"Are you sure we can handle it?", Gwen asked nervously as the gargoyle rushed at them, Max furrowed his brow as Gwen ducked the moment he swung the pipe with incredible force with his artificial arm. The collision it had with the head of the gargoyle completely shattered its head along with snapping it in half, leaving it as a pointed pipe.
"Yeah, of course we got this.", Max winced, rubbing his shoulder. "Can't put as much weight behind it like I used to."
"Coming in hot!", Ben exclaimed as he sped along the ground with the flying gargoyle hot on his trail.
"Duck!", Max exclaimed as Ben fell flat onto his hoverboard as Max threw the pipe with as much force as he could exert, breaking the upper half of the stone gargoyle and causing the rest of its body to shatrer onto the ground.
"Who knew eating worms can do that to ya!", Ben remarks with an amazed look in his eyes.
"Hey, just because I'm old doesn't mean I cant stay in shape.", Max said proudly as his grandkids looked at each other and shrugged.
On Pummel's end, he kept his arms up as the minotaur kept beating on him with increasing intensity. That was until Pummel grabbed one of its arm and vaporized it with his grip, launching the minotaur back as he got up. "Are you done?", Pummel rolled his eyes as he quickly swiped at the smaller gargoyle with so much force it was reduced to nothing but dust.
The Minotaur roared as it charged at him, Pummel grinned as he launched himself forward and crashed right through its torso, finishing it off. He looked at his arms and noticed some scratches there, nodding at the slight battle damage. "Hell yeah."
The moment Pummel tried to rejoin the group, he was immediately went with an unnaturally strong kick to the back of his neck that launched him right into the mausoleum.
"I can feel myself getting stronger, yes, much stronger. NÄMÄLÄ.", Hex grinned as he casually flicked his hand towards the Tennyson's that attempted to run over to him. Black tendrils rose up from the ground to restrain them.
Pummel groaned as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Stronger than he looks I guess."
"ËXŻËUS ËGØ TË VÏŇĊULÄ...", Hex began to recite a new enchantment, Pummel growled before launching himself at Hex, only to he met with an invisible barrier that appeared to have stopped him in his tracks.
Purple energy mixed with his red and yellow energy, wrapping around his body as he began to grow in size while Pummel tried breaking through with punch after punch. "ËT ŁEGBØT TË ÏN FØTĦEIN AŇÏMÄË MÄYÄH DÄ MÏĦÏ PØSTÄTÄÜMØT TRËGØT!", a resulting energy wave knocked Pummel away as Hex's transformation was finished by the incantation.
Red smoke escaped his mouth as Hex let out an exhale. "Throughout Heaven and Earth...", this transformed state generally retained his features, such as his tattoos, hood and the sashs that held the Charms of Bezel which werw now constantly glowing yellow. Otherwise, the sorcerer gained an increible amount of muscle and height, his lower body becoming that of a grey snake. "I alone am the honored one."
"He can do that? Thats wicked awesome!"
"Not the time, Ben."
"Eh, it's pretty cool.", Pummel nodded with Ben's assessment as Hex opened his mouth and an electrified beam of fire knocked bim back before being caught by a telekinetic force then launched into the trees.
The red brute quickly got back on his feet and blocked a swipe from Hex's tail, grabbing the end and whipping him around and through multiple trees. His tail suddenly elongated further and grabbed him by the neck, yellow electricity erupted from Hex snd enveloped Pummel.
"That all you got bitch?!", Pummel powered through the stinging sendation and yanked the monstrous Hex towards him and attempted to land a corkscrew punch to his temple but was immediately met with Hex unhinging his jaw and grabbing his fist, slamming him onto the dirt.
"Oh save me the false bravado, it's ridiculous.", energy built around his fist as Hex punched Pummel in his jaw, grabbing his throat and dragging him face first through the dirt and tossing him in the air as bolts of red lightening strikes his body.
Pummel's eyes snapped open as he corrected his position mid air, Hex cocked an eyebrow as he let out another red mist. "METON WEIGHTS!", he exclaimed as Pummel fell like a rock and into the dirt by a red aura.
"Its such a shame so many others with such viliant spirits make such foolish decisionssss.", Hex hissed as he slithered towards Pummel, who seemed to he struggling against the pressure. "And in such a horrendous, pitiful realm such as this. You should be glad I'm ending your misery first."
Before Hex could deliver any finishing blow, he was met with Pummel grabbing him by the mouth. "Jesus Christ, shut the HELL UP!", Pummel exhaled sharply as he punched Hex with all three of his free arms knocking the wind out of him. He backed away and backhanded him hard, purple energy dispersing from Hex and leaving him in his regular form.
"What?!", Hex looked down at his sash's to see three charms had vanished
"Womp womp bitch.", Pummel showed off the three Charms he held, those of Luck, Levitation and Reincarnation.
"Give those back!", Hex exclaimed as his energy flared up.
"Nah. Heads up!", Pummel used his fingers to launch the charm of levitation at the Tennysons.
Ben managed to wriggle his arm free and used the tentacles holding him hostage as a boost to just barely catch the charm in his hand. "Nice catch, Ben!", Max exclaiming as Ben rocketed into the air the moment it started glowing green and lifted Max and Gwen out of their restraints.
"Yeah! I'm ULTRA BEN!", Ben did a sumersault in the air as Gwen looked at him annoyed.
"And Lucky Girl is bad?", she sighed.
Hex let out a scream as he unleashed a beam of energy that knocked Pummel back, raising his hand towards the sky, a bolt of lightening strikes his palm as he grabbed onto it and threw it at Alex. "As if I need those charms to end you!"
Somehow, he summoned his staff in a flash of energy. "KÄLËCKŸ ERUPT!", Hex exclaims as a beam of brown energy bursted from his staff and erupted the ground with a powerful explosion that enveloped Pummel.
Hex's hands began to glow with a yellow energy as his eyes glowed once again. "ÄWÄKÄTËLO-", before he could finish this incantation, he was suddenly knocked forward by a rock thrown to the back of his head by Gwen. "You little-!"
"I think it's time for this magician to disappear!", Hex spun around and attempted to cast his barrier as Pummel threw both of his leading arms forward. This barrier immediately shattered as he was jabbed in the face with so much force he was knocked back into the graveyard and sent crashing into a tomb with his eyes rolled up to the back of his head and his mouth hanging open.
Max heaved the tomb shut, dusting his prosthetic arm off. "Theres my cardio for the week!"
"That was AWESOME!", Ben exclaimed as he zipped through the air excitedly.
A red flash lit up the area as Alex held the remaining charms of bezel. "Alright, lets get the hell outta here before the police arrive. I saw them when I was up in the air, not a bad view though."
Gwen smiled as she took off her Lucky Girl mask finally. It didn't take too long for Max to pull the Rust Bucket up closer to the graveyard, which allowed the three to quickly scramble inside, Ben using the charm of levitation to summon his hoverboard to him as the RV sped off the moment a few police cruisers pulled onto the scene.
"Y'know, we made a pretty good team out there.", Max remarks as he drove at a comfortable speed down the road.
"Yeah, too bad we'll have to bury those charms somewhere.", Gwen sulked as Ben sat next to her reading a Captain Nemesis comic book.
"Eh I dont know about that, I mean, whats the harm of keeping the charms a little longer right?", Alex shrugged as he put the charms in a plastic bag and placed it in a cabinet. "Gotta say, for a first outting with actual powers you didn't do too bad."
"Really?!", Gwen perked up cheerfully.
"Yeah... but you could do better.", Alex managed to secure the charms before closing the cabinet. "Theres always next time."
End