If you asked Ben what he would do in New Orleans it wouldn't have been to visit a museum, (no surprise it had been Gwen's idea) but he had to admit it wasn't totally lame.

The museum was filled with "mystical" artifacts that actually caught both young heroes' interests, even if the guide was a little…snooty.

"..and behind this impenetrable glass case is the recently discovered, and only known existing copy of, the 'Archamada Book of Spells'!" The guide explained, as Gwen eagerly leaned forward for a better look.

"It contains ancient witchcraft and rituals from the late sixteen hundreds" Gwen and the guide spoke simultaneously, the guide shooting Gwen a disdainful look.

"Perhaps YOU'D like to work here instead, dear?" she asked snidely, Gwen looking down in embarrassment as the guide moved to continue to tour.

"Don't listen to mummy face there" Ben said, earning a smirk from Gwen "She's probably older than everything in here" he continued, Gwen laughing as he pretended to act like a stereotypical 'mummy'.

While Max enjoyed the heartwarming moment it was sadly short lived, as everyone in the room was suddenly lifted off the ground by an unseen force. As the tour group cried out in alarm, everyone now finding themselves pinned to the roof, a trail of red smoke burst through a nearby window as a robed man with a beaked staff and skull makeup appeared from the cloud.

Approaching the case containing the Archamada Book of Spells, the man pointed his staff at the glass and uttered a strange incantation. As the 'impenetrable' glass shattered and the book began to float towards the man, Ben brought the Chaquetrix up and prepared to activate it.

"Time to call in some backu-" just as he was about to make his selection, whatever force was keeping them aloft disappeared "-uh oh"

Now in freefall, Ben hurriedly slammed the dial down twice with Heart's Fire and XLR8 appearing beside him.

"Hey Be-what the heck?!" Heart's Fire yelled, seeing the floor rapidly approaching. Acting quickly she unleashed a wave of flame, forming a flaming cyclone that gently ferried everyone to the floor.

"I still don't understand how THAT works." Gwen said, earning a careless shrug from Ben.

Unsurprisingly the firestorm caught the attention of the robed man, who turned and held his staff at the ready before pausing at the sight "What's this, a pair of demonic concubines?"

"Hey 'Skeletor' they're superheroes, not concu-whatevers!" staring down the sorcerer, Ben missed the exasperated looks from Gwen and Max.

"At least I've got a heads up this time" Max thought wearily. If Ben's vocabulary kept increasing like this, his parents would never let him visit again.

The sorcerer sneered, one of the charms around his neck beginning to glow "You think I am threatened by these 'playthings'? I am Hex, master sorcerer and soon to be rul-" in a blink he found XLR8 in front of him, fist inches from his face "Wh-GUH!"

Hex was sent back into the far wall and the tour group finally realised the danger, taking cover as Heart's Fire rushed forward to assist.

While the battle raged on Gwen noticed most of the tour group hadn't run for safety, instead they were crouched behind the exhibits for cover watching the fight intently.

"Why are you all still here? Go!" Max tried to usher them out, a man nearby scoffed and turned back to the fight.

"And miss out on seeing 'this'?" he said as Heart's Fire hammered Hex with a volley of fireballs, her chest bouncing with each throw "I don't think so"

"Man these guys must really like superheroes" Ben commented in surprise, as XLR8 slid beneath a storm of exploding crystals, the position highlighting her toned legs.

"Oh they 'like' them alright" Gwen snarked, glaring at a few who were openly leering while taking photographs.

XLR8 blitzed Hex. The speedster raced around the sorcerer and delivered a flurry of punches, one blow even catching the central charm around his neck snatching it up in her claws.

In a move of desperation Hex unleashed a telekinetic pulse as XLR8 went for another swing, unbeknownst to them both the charm caught in her claws began to glow. Her fist collided with his jaw just as the spell activated, knocking the villain and the 'hero' away.

As Gwen stopped her glaring and turned back to the fight, she was just in time to see the now rapidly approaching 'hero'.

"Look out!" dropping to the floor she looked up to see if Ben had caught her warning.

He had not.

XLR8 slammed into him and sent them both crashing to the floor in a tangle of limbs, the charm slipping from XLR8's hands in the process and going dark once more.

Pushing herself up and retracting her mask, XLR8 briefly wondered just what she had landed on as a dazed groan from beneath her drew her attention, revealing just what (or rather who) she was straddling.

"Ooh, nice catch coach~" she giggled, "Best of all, I can actually focus enough to enjoy it this time. Lucky~" she thought, with a happy wiggle.

As a very winded Ben gave a weak thumbs up in reply, Gwen and Max deadpanned at the 'hero' who seemed in no hurry to get up.

"Getting some 'deja vu' here" Gwen griped, before realising that they weren't alone. Hesitantly turning to see the other tourists' reactions...she felt her faith in humanity drop.

"Lucky brat" one of the tourists grumbled, several others seeming to share his sentiment. The only one to share 'her' sentiment was the guide, who looked away with a scoff and a scandalised look "How indecent!"

"Really, only her?" Gwen thought flatly, as Heart's Fire noticed the situation.

"Hey, no fair!" she pouted, her distraction allowing Hex to blast her back with a storm of explosive crystals.

"Uh oh. Sorry coach, we can pick this up later ok?~" the speedster winked, only to cry out in panic as she began to lift into the air.

Before Heart's Fire could recover the alien beauty found herself also lifted into the air, the pair now struggling against invisible bonds as Hex leveled his staff at XLR8.

"ENOUGH! You will not keep me from my prize any longer, I-OOF!" his rant was cut off as a pair of trash cans struck him in the back.

Turning to face his attackers he glared down at Gwen and Max who quickly began to back away

"Ok we got his attention, what was step 2?" Gwen gulped, Max moving in front of his granddaughter as Hex's eyes flashed ominously.

Unfortunately for the sorcerer his lapse in concentration was just enough for Heart's Fire to aim her hand in his direction, launching a fireball at his feet and blasting him into a display case (the tour guide promptly fainting at the sight).

Now free XLR8 wasted no time in rushing down the villain, punching him into the air before smacking him towards Heart's Fire with her tail. Hex let out a pained gasp and the fiery 'hero' landed a solid punch into his stomach, driving him down into the floor and kicking up a cloud of dust and splinters.

"And stay down!" Heart's Fire warned, letting out a sigh of relief as Hex slumped back unconscious.

As Ben made his way over to congratulate them he spotted the fallen charm on the floor, deciding it would make a good souvenir he pocketed it before continuing on his way. As the tour group hesitantly approached the superpowered pair, Ben frowned at the lack of cheers for his 'partners'.

"Hey come on, they just saved us from a wannabe wizard and you're not even going to say thanks?" his genuine disappointment guilted the crowd into action.

"Aw thanks coach" XLR8 blushed, pulling the surprised boy into a hug "You're always in our corner!"

"Hey, I wanna 'thank' him too" Heart's Fire whined, joining in on the hug and placing his head practically between their chests, much to the crowd's jealousy.

"What a waste" "I should have spoken up.." "Lucky bast-" the crowd muttered as Max (strongly) suggested that the heroes put Ben down now.

"Lucky? More like embarrassing." Ben thought in confusion, as the 'heroes' reluctantly broke the hug "How can they be so cool, but so sappy at the same time?" unaware of the charm glowing faintly in his pocket or Gwen's building frustration.

-Later that Day-

After Hex had been loaded into an ambulance, our heroes continued their trip.

In the Rustbucket, Ben pulled out a box filled with 'souvenirs' of his previous adventures. The dial from Dr Animo's Transmodulator, Captain Shaw's photo of the Krakken (which he probably didn't mean for Ben to keep now that he thought about it), photographs of him and Gwen in Sparksville and a ticket stub from Zombimbo's circus.

Holding up the charm that XLR8 had knocked off of Hex, Ben smiled "Chalk up another win for the heroes" before noticing Gwen staring at him frustratedly. "What's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you?!" she snapped, Max casting a worried look back "How can you stand in front of all those people and call those…women…heroes?"

Ben sat back stunned, where had THIS come from? "What do you mean? They save people from bad guys all the time"

"Oh sure… when they're not too busy flirting with you or trying to impress you to earn some praise" she shot back, Ben rolled his eyes.

"This again? I told you dweeb they're not flirting with me, I think I'd notice that" he replied, Max gave Ben a flat look.

"Also what's wrong with letting them know they did a good job? They kicked butt today" Ben continued. Now it was Gwen's turn to roll her eyes.

"Yeah they totally deserved those cheers…after needing our help to escape, because they were too busy arguing over your attention"

"Why are you so hung up on that…" he trailed off, Gwen did not like the smirk on his face.

"Why are you-"

"You're jealous!" Ben grinned as Gwen's mind stalled "You're jealous of them getting all the attention and thanks for stopping the bad guys"

"That…I…huh?" as Gwen struggled to understand how Ben had come to that insane conclusion, he looked thoughtfully at the charm in his hand.

He might make fun of her for being a dweeb, but she did help out a lot with their hero team. Her research on the bad guys gives them useful information, she figured out the Limax's weakness to water, heck she even came up with the plan to trap the Megawhatts.

Making up his mind he held out the charm to the still stammering Gwen who, upon noticing the offering, looked back at him surprised.

"Here" Ben became slightly embarrassed as Gwen continued to stare silently at him "I don't say it a lot (or at all really) but you are a big help, and you DID save them today so…here"

Gwen accepted the charm in stunned silence, brain still stalled over how he'd gone from teasing her about her imagined jealousy to giving her a gift "I…I don't know what to say"

"Like I said, you saved them. You were a hero today too" Ben admitted, unsuccessfully trying to appear nonchalant "Besides I've got plenty of other souvenirs, and you like all that magic stuff right?"

Gwen shook her head bemusedly "He can notice when he's taking me for granted, but not that his 'partners' are basically throwing themselves at him" she thought, letting out a weary sigh before offering a faint smile "Thanks Ben" she could always try convince him of he truth another day.

Despite his kind gesture, she found herself unable to resist making one last joke "You know if your 'partners' knew you were giving away jewelry to another girl, THEY'D be the ones getting jealous"

"Give it a rest dweeb"

-Later that evening-

Having escaped the ambulance, Hex returned once more to the museum in search of his prize. Tearing apart the displays the sorcerer snarled in frustration, the book was nowhere to be found.

Turning his attention to a terrified security guard, Hex telekinetically pulled the man towards him.

"The Archamada Book of Spells, where is it?!"

The guard gulped, pointing shakily towards a large vault at the far side of the room. Leaving him helplessly floating in the air, Hex aimed his staff at the vault door, easily tearing it from its hinges and revealing his prize.

"At last…Now my power will know no limits!" Raising his hands to the sky he began to chant as the book glowed,before abruptly stopping and falling to the floor.

"Impossible! How could..?" looking down his eyes narrowed in realisation "One of the charms is missing, of course… the battle with those harlots"

Grabbing the book once more Hex stormed out of the building, determined to hunt down those foolish enough to deny him his destiny.

Meanwhile, blissfully unaware of the approaching danger, the Tennysons were making their way through a street market after a meal at a local restaurant. The meal was enjoyable, but the unlikely series of events that led to Ben being covered in live craw-fish and losing the last bite to Gwen on the other hand…

"Heheh, I've travelled a lot but I've never seen a craw-fish climb INTO someone's nose. Hah!" Ben sulked while Max chuckled, with Gwen trying (and failing) to hide a grin of her own.

"Glad you found it funny grandpa" Ben replied sarcastically.

"Oh come one Ben. Didn't you once say 'funny is funny'?" Gwen teased, stifling a giggle as Ben huffed and looked away. Spotting a hot dog cart nearby she gently tapped him on the arm. "Hey, I still owe you a thanks for this" she gestured to the charm, now fitted to a necklace "C'mon, I'll buy you one"

Suddenly a scream rang out followed by mocking laughter, the trio turning towards the commotion as three punkish teens attempted to flee with a stolen purse.

Stepping in front of the fleeing thieves, Max held up his hand and ordered them to stop.

The lead punk snickered, pulling a large metal pipe from behind his back ("Where was he keeping that?" Ben whispered to an equally confused Gwen) "You gonna try and stop us all by yourself, gramps?"

"He's right, how about we even the odds" Ben muttered, pressing down on the Chaquetrix's dial and…nothing "Really, you're doing this now?" he hissed in frustration at the unresponsive device.

As the other two thieves moved to confront Max, the armed thug took notice of Gwen "Hey now, that's a real nice necklace you got there"

Seeing him reach out towards her, Ben abandoned his attempts to activate the watch and pulled Gwen behind him. He pulled too hard however, sending her into a street performing juggler on a unicycle, causing him to fall back and send his unicycle flying towards one of the thugs.

As the thug was knocked to the floor he shoved his armed partner forward, Max easily restraining and disarming the young man. The final thug attempted to charge at Ben when Gwen accidentally stepped on one of the juggler's fallen bowling pins, making her fall against the hot dog cart and push it forward.

The runaway cart slammed into the remaining thug, carrying him into a nearby building with the impact causing a potted plant to fall from a balcony and land on the first thug just as he was recovering, rendering him unconscious.

With all of the thieves taken care of Gwen's attention shifted to the charm around her neck, the stone emitting a faint glow.

"Oh thank you dear" a kindly old voice said, as an old woman approached with a police officer to retrieve the stolen bag "This girl is a hero officer"

The crowd began to cheer for, in their eyes, Gwen's intentional shoving of the hot dog cart. Flustered at the praise, Gwen bashfully waved them off.

"Thank you, but I was just lucky really" as she noticed a surprised Ben nearby she realised something, he hadn't needed to summon one of his 'heroes'.

As she mused on that she spotted a stall selling masks, her eyes fell on a black and purple cat styled one and a crazy idea began to form.

-The Next Morning-

Ben's brow creased in frustration as he futilely attempted to block out his grandpa's snoring. Rolling over he tried to get Gwen's attention.

"Ugh! Hey Gwen, you got any industrial sized ear plugs?" he asked half jokingly. At the lack of response he checked her bunk only to find it empty.

Getting dressed he exited the R.V, finding Gwen making blind shots at a nearby basketball hoop.

As she carelessly tossed a ball backwards it bounced off a variety of nearby objects, improbably landing directly in the hoop.

"Nothing but net…again" she bragged as Ben caught the ball.

"OK, so we're not playing 'Horse' anytime soon" Ben dryly commented, pulling the ball away as Gwen went to grab it "Nuh uh, not until you tell me how you did that"

"It's probably because of this" she traced the carvings on her charm, which he only now realised was glowing.

"Whenever this thing glows stuff just…goes my way" she explained, Ben quickly recalling the unlikely events from yesterday.

Before he could reply, a cheerful Max exited the Rustbucket "Well this is a surprise seeing you two up early. C'mon, let's get some breakfast"

The food would have to wait however as the sound of an explosion shattered the early morning quiet. The trio soon spotted the cause, a construction site down the road with a cloud of smoke rising from a work lift near the top of the frame.

They watched in horror as the platform jerked violently, one of the cables snapping and leaving the two workers aboard clinging on for dear life.

"Looks like they need a hero!" Ben said, already cycling through the watch.

"Yeah, me!" Gwen replied, hurrying into the R.V as Max and Ben shared a confused look.

Shrugging it off Ben went to select Stingwing…and summoned Wild-Gal. Frowning but holding his tongue he tried again, this time summoning Ultra-T.

"...Ok we can still work with this" he mutters, quickly explaining the situation to the 'heroes' as they rush towards the site.

As Max made to follow he heard a panicked voice cry out for help, drawing his attention to a workman trapped inside a van by a fallen steel beam. To make matters worse the engine began to spark, a small fire beginning to spread.

Preparing to help Max was stopped in his tracks as a new figure appeared beside him, a figure in a black gymnastic bodysuit with black gloves and a cat themed half-face mask.

"Gwen?! What are you wearing?" Max asked in concern "Oh god, please don't tell me this madness is spreading" he thought.

She smirked back, tapping the charm around her neck "It's Lucky Girl, grandpa. Just leave this to me" spotting a plank of wood balanced between two work tables, she smiled as her charm began to glow.

Meanwhile, Ben directed his 'partners' into action with Wild-Gal taking the direct route of climbing up the scaffolding while Ultra-T took control of a wrecking ball crane.

While the technopathic alien attempted to move the arm to support the unstable platform a chunk of timber smashed through the crane's cab, striking her in the face just as she was melding with the vehicle, overloading the controls and activating one of the levers.

The wrecking ball dropped, removing the steel beam from the destroyed truck allowing the workman to escape. It sadly also caused the beam to strike some work-lift controls, the malfunctioning lift rapidly ascended and collided with Wild-Gal, who barely managed to grab one of the snapped cables to save herself while also causing debris to rain down…right towards Ben and Gwen.

"Ben! Gwe-Lucky Girl, look out!" Max yelled, sighing in relief as Gwen managed to pull Ben to safety.

The pair dodged the debris and took shelter inside the cab of a cement mixer, as the two tumbled into the driver's seat Gwen's arm caught the gear stick, letting the truck roll back into a disposal chute hanging from the scaffolding and breaking part of it loose.

The chute struck Wild-Gal as it fell, knocking her into the cement mixer below before coming to rest against the building just underneath the two dangling workers.

Seeing the now perfectly positioned chute, Max called out to the workers to use it to slide down to safety. As the crowd of onlookers that had formed during the incident cheered the rescue, A frazzled Ultra-T and cement covered Wild-Gal shamefully regrouped, embarrassed that Ben had to see them fail so miserably while 'Lucky Girl' was eagerly swarmed by reporters who had just arrived.

"Miss, how were you able to pull off such an AMAZING rescue?" one of the reporters eagerly asked, as Gwen posed heroically for the cameras.

"With style of course" she answered playfully, she noticed Ben was still too stunned at this turn of events to notice his 'partners' and grinned. "Huh, this might actually work" she thought.

-Meanwhile-

Hex stalked the streets, growing frustrated with the lack of clues as to his lost charm. Passing by an electronic store a certain news story caught his eye.

Hex watched as the reporters interviewed some child for her foolish heroics, pathetic, what truly captured his interest was a familiar charm around her neck.

"You heard it here first folks, a miraculous rescue by…" the reporter held out the mic for the girl to give her name.

"Just call me Lucky Girl" the charm glinting in the sun.

"Lucky indeed" Hex chuckled, raising his staff as he vanished into red smoke. Time to set some bait…

Back in the Rustbucket, Gwen was once more doing research. This time on her new (literal) lucky charm.

"So, I cross referenced the Archamada Book of Spells with dark magical charms and I found this" she turned the screen, revealing pictures of 5 familiar charms "They're called the 'Charms of Bezel', and this one right her (she flicked her necklace) is Luck"

"So that wizard guy back at the museum was using 'magic' rocks?" Ben asked sceptically, before shrugging "Meh, if aliens are real I guess magic could be too"

"It says here that, according to legends, using the book with the power of the charms will bring out their full power" She grinned smugly "Unlucky, for him"

"I'm sorry to rain on your parade, but I think we need to hand that back to the museum" Max said, drawing protests from both of them.

Gwen raised a brow at her cousin "Why are you complaining?"

"Duh, I don't want to give it back without having a go first" he replied shamelessly.

"Uh huh. Grandpa, can I have a quick word with you?" she asked, making her way over to the drivers seat before whispering into his ear "We can't give this back. One, it didn't come from the museum (Max gave her a flat look) AND two, it's the answer to our problems"

Max gave her a skeptical look "And what problems would those be?"

"Our alien 'hero' problem" at Max's surprised look she continued "I took down those thieves yesterday, meaning Ben didn't need to call them. Today, they didn't get a chance to flirt with him ONCE"

Gwen gave him an excited look "Think about it, no more inappropriate comments, no more babysitting their 'dates.' (she noticed Max 'hmm' thoughtfully at that) What do you say grandpa? Please, for our sanity"

Max was conflicted. "Well..maybe it could be worth a try"

His deliberation was interrupted by the radio crackling to life "Breaking news. Reports are coming in that the city's famed 'haunted history mansion' has come to life, trapping dozens of visitors inside"

"Let's go!" Ben and Gwen said in unison, Max pulling a sharp u-turn before gunning it to their destination.

After arriving at the mansion, 'Lucky Girl' rushed out the R.V, passing Ben as he prepared to activate the watch. Seeing this, Gwen made sure to 'accidentally' brush past it, her charm glowing as the watch became temporarily unresponsive.

"Gwen, wait up! You'll need hel-What? Ugh stupid watch!" Ben angrily smacked the device, unaware of Gwen's smirk.

AS Gwen rushed inside she failed to notice a certain sorcerer watching her from the upper floor, raising his staff as he magically sealed the door behind her. Turning on her heel at the loud 'slam', Gwen found herself lifted into the air.

"Wait…this is just like at the museum" she thought, a cold realisation washing over her.

"No"

Hex chuckled darkly as he stepped into view, Gwen glared back defiantly as he aimed his staff towards her "So nice to meet you, Lucky Girl"

Max barely managed to step back as the doors slammed shut in his face, fearing for her safety, he attempted to force them open as Ben rejoined him.

"Grandpa, what-?"

"Gwen's trapped inside. I'm going to try to break the door open, stand back!" once he'd moved far enough back, Max spirited forward ready to shoulder charge the door…and bounced back.

As Max hobbled back holding his aching arm, the Chaquetrix chimed as it came back online "Yes! Now 'that's' what I call luck!" Ben cheered, scrolling along to his first pick.

With a familiar flash Armizon appeared beside him, taking in the scene she gave Max a worried look "You doing ok?"

"Yeah (ouch), just having trouble with the door" he grunted, Ben jumping in to explain the situation.

Smirking, Armizon flexed her arms as she approached the doors "Don't worry there short king, this looks like a 'pull' door" taking hold of the handles, the muscular 'hero' pulled…and ripped the doors from their hinges.

As she tossed the ruined doors aside, they were greeted by a dozen startled faces of the guests that had been trapped inside. Hurrying in. Max and Ben looked for any sign of Gwen.

"Did anyone see a young girl here? Red hair, purple mask" Max asked, he soon realised the guests were a little too…'awed' by the crimson beauty before them to listen. Rolling his eyes he snapped his fingers in front of one man's face, who flushed at having been caught staring.

"Uh sorry. Yeah she was here, and it was crazy! First she…"

"Yeah yeah, crazy luck and everything worked out. Which way did she go?" Ben cut in, much to the man's annoyance.

"Watch the attitude kid, I-" his anger quickly evaporated as Armizon moved to stand behind Ben, crossing her arms under her chest as she glared down at him.

"(gulp) I mean, they went that way" he pointed down the hall, a mixture of fear and arousal showing across his face much to her disgust.

"They?" Max asked, a bad feeling forming in his gut.

"Yeah, her and this crazy skull-faced guy" he replied. Max and Ben exchanged worried looks before hurrying after them.

As Armizon went to follow the man called out "Hey! I-uh, maybe we got off on the wrong foot there and-"

She held up one hand disinterestedly "Sorry, but I prefer my men to have some backbone"

"Like who?" the man asked, embarrassed at being shut down so quickly.

"Hey Armizon, let's go! We've got a dweeb to save" the man turned to see the young boy waiting at the entrance to the corridor with the older man and…a literal bombshell.

"Right behind you, short king~" she grinned, easily catching up with the trio as they went deeper into the mansion.

While Armizon was rasing red flags for the stunned guests, Gwen had her own troubles. She'd put up a good struggle for a time, the charm setting off chain reactions to delay her pursuer. But even mystical luck can only get you so far, and she'd finally been caught as she attempted to escape through the graveyard behind the mansion.

Now trapped in a vine cocoon and robbed of her charm, Gwen admitted that she 'might' have gotten overconfident in her plan.

"At least things can't get much worse" she thought just before her bindings were torn away, revealing the concerned faces of her family…and Ben's 'heroes'.

"Gwen, thank god you're alright" Max pulled her into a hug that she gladly returned.

"What are you wearing?" Heart's Fire asked, taking in Gwen's costume.

To Gwen's horror Ben answered before she could "Oh, she wanted to be a hero like you guys. Shame you never got to team up"

"Wait, that's not-!"

"Wow, I didn't know you looked up to us that much" Armizon said, looking bashful "I always thought you didn't like us"

"I-"

"Nah she was just jealous" Ben replied, mistaking Gwen's anger for embarrassment as she tried to 'shh' him.

"I get it" Heart's Fire said, posing in such a way as to highlight her figure "There's a 'lot' to be jealous of, right partner~"

"Totally" Ben agreed carelessly, the 'heroes' grinning back while Gwen hid her face in her hands.

"Aaand this plan completely blew up in my face. So much for luck"

"Don't worry Gwen" Armizon said, misunderstanding her worries "We'll take this creep down, and hey maybe we can get you that charm back!"

Ben scanned their surroundings "Speaking of skull-face, where IS he?"

A blinding flash of lighting and the deadening 'boom' of thunder came from the otherside of the treeline. As our heroes pushed through the foliage overlooking the graveyard, they found Hex standing in the air with the book floating before him.

Holding his staff to the heavens he continued to read out his spell, a colossal storm forming as he directed its power at the defenceless city below.

As he prepared to call down another wave of lightning, he became aware of a rapidly growing shadow over him. Summoning a shield, Hex turned to face the threat…and got spiked into one of the larger mausoleums by Armizon.

"Sorry, but your little magic show is over!" dropping down in front of him, she was soon joined by Heart's Fire as she charged up a flaming sphere between her palms.

"Remember me?" she taunted, thrusting her hands forwards and bathing the tomb in a stream of fire.

The shield held however, Hex's eyes flared with power as he flew up and out of the flames "It doesn't matter how many you send, or what for them take. I will not be denied my destiny by your infernal harem!"

"Give it up, we've already kicked your but once. You can't beat us all by yourself!"

Hex sneered down at them "Then allow me to even the odds" his staff flashed as lightning struck several statues around the graveyard.

The sound of scraping stone echoed as a trio of gargoyles tore themselves free of their perches, letting loose animalistic roars as they charged.

"I'll take care of these guys!" meeting their charge head on, Armizon drove her fist through one of the stone fiends as the others swiped at the legs. Aliens and golems tumbling across the graveyard as they grappled.

"Now, begone!" Hex aimed his staff at the melee, ready to strike the muscular beauty while she was distracted, when a volley of fireballs finally shattered his shield.

"Sorry Mer-lame ("Hah, good one" Ben snickered) but it's time I make 'you' disappear"

As the sorcerer and 'hero' traded fire, the Tennysons took cover behind a stone sarcophagus.

Peeking out from behind cover, Max frowned as he saw her struggle to land any hits on her aerial opponent.

"We need to give her an opening, time's not on our side here"

Taking notice of the rubble from the mausoleum, Ben grabbed a piece while passing another to Gwen.

"We'll it's not a trash can, but it should do the job" he joked, the cousins taking aim before letting loose.

Hex staggering as they collided with the back of his head, and Heart's Fire wasted no time letting loose another steam of fire at the dazed sorcerer. Plummeting from the sky, he hit the ground hard, a pained wheeze escaping his bruised face.

As Hex struggled to his feet, he was almost instantly knocked flat again as Armizon landed beside him, the last of his golems being crushed underfoot. Weakly raising his staff, Hex stabbed forward in one last desperate move…and it simply hit her ample chest and snapped cleanly in two.

Looking up at the unimpressed 'hero', Hex could only shut his eyes as Armizon pulled her right arms back. Her fists struck his chest dead centre, the Charms of Bezel shattering on impact while he was launched through the air, landing in an empty sarcophagus.

While Max placed a stone slab over it to keep him contained ("That's kind of dark, grandpa" Gwen commented), Ben went to congratulate his 'partners'.

As she watched Ben gush over their fight she noticed him suddenly turn away to search the ground. Curious, she made her way over as he picked up a chunk of rock, noting his disappointed frown.

"What's wrong? You'd think we lost with how down you look"

Ben tossed the stone aside, and she realised it was actually a shattered Charm of Bezel "I was hoping some of the charms survived. It would have been cool if we could have used them to help out later"

"Wait we?" Gwen asked in surprise.

"Yeah, you weren't actually that bad as a hero…but I'm pretty sure I could have done better" he playfully teased.

"Sure you could have" acting on impulse, she pulled him into a hug much to his shock "Thanks for thinking of me" she risked a peek at the two 'heroes' secretly hoping she'd kept him busy enough that they had timed out.

Hey, heartwarming moment or not she was still going to do her best to keep him OUT of their hands.

Sadly luck was no longer on her side, and she soon found herself caught up in a bone crushing hug alongside Ben.

"Aw Ben you're too sweet!" Heart's Fire gushed, much to the boy's embarrassment.

"Hey Gwen" Armizon began, catching her attention "You don't need to be jealous, I'm sure you'll be a fine woman one day"

"..What?" she asked flatly, hoping she misheard them.

"Yup, and who knows? Maybe you'll find a great guy of your own~" Heart's Fire added, Ben rolled his eyes and tuned out the mushy talk while Gwen felt part of herself die.

"You're….too kind"

-Canon Omake-

Ben stared at the charm around Gwen's neck, pondering the new bit of information she'd just discovered.

"Luck huh?"

Acting fast, Ben managed to lift the necklace over her head before she could react.

"Hey, give that back!" he hoped back as she attempted to reclaim her charm.

"I will, I just want to try ONE thing…" as the charm lit up in his hand, he blindly pressed the buttons on the Chaquetrix.

"What are you even-"

"Command code accepted. 'Party Mode' unlocked" an automated voice projected from the watch.

Gwen and Max froze. "No…."

Grinning, Ben tossed the charm back to Gwen before slamming the dial down.

"NO!"

In a blinding flash the Rustbucket suddenly became VERY crowded, as all ten 'heroes' appeared.

"YES!" Ben cheered, as the 'heroes' soon realised their situation "BEN~"

"NOOOO!" Gwen screamed, sitting up from her bunk. After a few tense seconds she realised that it had simply been a terrible nightmare.

"Oh thank god" she breathed, falling back onto the bed "It's not real…it could NEVER happen"

And yet as she drifted off back to sleep she could swear that somewhere, someone was laughing mockingly at her.