Short story
Alternative ending to 'Where The Magic Happens.' Where Ben brings a smoothie into Legerdomain.
Ben throws empty cup at Addwaitya and the straw gets lodged in his nose and he's choking to death.
"Give us the rune or we let you die." Gwen says.
He throws it to Gwen and Ben pulls the straw out.
"Can't believe the universe was saved by a smoothie." Gwen said.
"Man talk about chekhov's gun." Kevin says.
Charmcaster reaching for the discarded straw and charging it with magic glaring at the alien.
Pizza parlor
Ben, not being famous enough in this universe, couldn't get smoothies at this hour but knew of a pizza place open.
Getting a corner booth Ben and Charmcaster took a seat.
"You a vegetarian or anything?" Ben asked.
"A what?" Charmcaster asked tilting her head.
"Do you have any food restrictions?" Ben asked.
"No." Charmcaster said.
"One medium Ultra Meat with a side of chilli fries." Ben said.
"Out of chilli tonight dear." The waitress said "what can I get you to drink?"
"Water for me and uh vanilla shake for her." Ben said.
When she left Charmcaster said "What's a vanilla shake?"
"It's vanilla ice cream blended with milk." Ben said "In my universe you seemed to enjoy it so..."
"Your universe?" Charmcaster asked.
Ben took a deep breath "Ok here's how it was explained to me. You ever hear the phrase 'Time is a River?'."
"Duh it's why no Mage can time travel." Charmcaster said.
"Yeah uh...its not a river it's a freaking tree." Ben said "Look how it was explained to me."
[Pay attention this is how it works for this.]
"The Universe itself is a tree." Ben said "A very wet tree. Now each branch is a history."
"And your just like a monkey that jumped from a different branch." Charmcaster said "Well since you have my true name it isn't that far a stretch. I haven't uttered it since-"
"Spellbinder gave his life getting you out from Addwaitya boot heel." Ben said.
"So in your universe-"
"Me, Gwendolyn, Kevin and you confronted him and kicked his ass?" Ben asked as the pizza was put on the table "Thank you ma'am."
"Did I-" Charmcaster started.
"Use the souls of the entire dimension to bring him back?" Ben said putting a piece on his plate "Yes."
"What?! No!" Charmcaster said disguised "Did I use the Alpha Rune to...oh shit what in the 9 hells happened to the rune?!"
"A guy stole it to make a map to abort a God fetus and become the most powerful being in existence." Ben said passing her a plate.
Charmcaster jaw went slack. Ben took a bite of his food "We stopped him but the rune was destroyed when the map was formed."
Charmcaster suddenly realized why Ben was talking to her. "You're planning to stop whoever it was that destroyed the Alpha Rune!"
"I'm planning to stop it from getting that far in the first place." Ben said "I've got the Plumbers already sending word about him and he's already guilty of kidnapping charges."
"So what purpose are you even talking to me?" Charmcaster asked putting her chin in her hand.
"Because as I've said your the kind of wild I want in my life." Ben said "But I know eventually I'd get around to dealing with you so since your here..." Ben gave a shrug.
Charmcaster looked down at the white mixture in the cup.
She drank it and her eyes widened.
"Yep still likes ice cream." Ben said.
"So what exactly is different between this branch and yours?" Charmcaster asked looking at the piece of pizza and matching Ben's folding method.
"In this universe my head was splattered by the first Omnitrix being launched to earth." Ben said "Gwen lived 5 years with it on and never ran into a few villians that changed a few things."
"Om-ni-trix." Charmcaster said "So that's the true name of the watch."
"Yeah and word of advice." Ben said "That's little body swap thing you wanna try. Not gonna work on Gwen since her mana spark never happened and if you try it on me that sound you heard in my chest is gonna scan your consciousness the second it's in my head and rip out everything of value then delete the rest."
Charmcaster froze mid bite. "What do you mean 'Of Value'?"
"The thing in my chest will load all your magic knowledge and years of practice into it and then make it so I can turn into a copy of you with ALL your memorized spells as if they were natural Instincts." Ben drank his water.
Charmcaster went pale "Does...Does Gwen's do that?"
"No but now that you mention it I could add that as a safety feature instead of the Universal level self destruct." Ben said as Charmcaster started choking on her pizza.
"The what?!"
"There is enough power in the Omnitrix that if you charge the Self Destruct for 4 days it could rip apart the universe." Ben said as if you were calling grass green.
Charmcaster felt a weight in her stomach. "That kind of magic power would take the Alpha Rune just to start."
Ben took her hand and said "Any Significantly advanced technology is Indistinguishable from magic. Nothing I do involves Magic except you."
Charmcaster had actually laughed a little at the joke.
"But I can explain how it works since I know you magic types like knowledge." Ben offered.
Charmcaster was looking directly in Ben's eyes. "Tell me. Please." Charmcaster said "I need to know."
Ben held out his arm.
Charmcaster traced the glowing lines of Ben's tattoo. Trying to find anything that seemed unusual.
"Press the circle on the wrist." Ben said.
Charmcaster looked at him and slowly did. Under his skin felt nothing different but when the spot was pressed she felt the arm start to rumble slightly. So Slightly she'd not feel it if Ben wasn't completely calm his pulse could have overshadowed it.
The lines began glowing as a black slime seem to coat the arm from the lines.
"This material..." Charmcaster ran her hand over the cloth like material. The texture was the same as Ben's hands and just as warm. "I can't feel any difference between it and flesh."
"Nanites." Ben said "Millions of Machines smaller then a blood cell able to disperse themselves in my blood. Ultra compact and stored in the hollow of my bones when not in use."
Hope had been pressing the button again making the entire thing disappear back into a tattoo "a Demon Cyborg." Charmcaster said holding his hand.
"These were made by men. Not God, not the devil, not the Eldritch beings beyond our universe." Ben said "The Green glowing part is the only part made outside of earth."
"If you can actually explain without magic how you and Gwen can change shape let me know."
[This is Ben's understanding of how it works since his only idea is from Gwen and Kevin guessing Azmuth just laughs whenever he asks how exactly it does this]
"It scans the wearers entire body down to the Quark and then uses the DNA of another species to construct a new form around your nervous system." Ben said.
Ben's eyes flashed "The scanner from it I moved into my eyes so all I need to do it look at a species that is just Sentient enough or not my species enough" a hologram popped up "And it makes a brand new form using the DNA."
Charmcaster pressed it down and a Green flash of light just like Gwen's blue one.
"Dr Wicked." Ben said looking at the new form.
Charmcaster jaw fell as she was looking at the Male Her. Looking behind him she saw the bag. "Did...did this thing just make a copy of my bag?!"
Ben reached into it and found his whole arm could fit into it. Feeling around it seemed mostly empty till he found something.
He pulled out an egg and it broke in his hand forming a stone bird like Charmcaster's only a green line pattern.
"Cool." Ben said before changing back "And it can access over a million different species from a place called Primus."
"Primus." Charmcaster said.
Ben grinned as he displayed a hologram from the arms without the dial popping up.
A volcano with glowing green lava was shown to her.
"All this...without magic?" Charmcaster asked.
"His name is Azmuth." Ben said "The creator of all this in an attempt to make up for the weapons he has made to bring the universe together so the love of his life will return to him."
Charmcaster ate and listen to the tale of a man smart enough to make things that her own father would call impossible and how he had fallen to the point of willing to let the universe die with a child being the ground zero.
"So yours is different then Gwen's because it was 'recalibrated' right?" Charmcaster asked.
Ben shook his head. "I stole this one off my my Universe's Albedo. The red version of you at the trailer."
"Wait does that mean her Omnitrix-" Ben stopped her.
"There are only 2 ways for that watch to work for you. Being a Tennyson or being Azmuth. It was made for my grandfather and the only reason Gwen or me could put it on is because we were his direct decendents."
"Don't pout like that." Ben said "You couldn't even turn on the Betatrix without permission from either me or Gwen anyway."
"Such a powerful weapon and I can't-" Charmcaster looked at her hands.
Ben snapped his fingers "Hope Spellbinder listen to me. The Omnitrix was not made to be a weapon. Do not confuse it for one. This was and I use it to work for the peace that the true Omnitrix was made for."
Charmcaster's eyes had turned purple when Ben said her full name and her response was robotic "I am sorry Master. I will not make the same mistake again for thinking such a thing."
Ben's eyes widened and he reached over and lightly shook her.
"Uh H- Uh Charmcaster?" Ben asked.
"What?" Charmcaster asked tilting her head.
"You just... Zoned out." Ben said.
"Yeah it's kinda the reason you don't say my true name dipshit." Charmcaster said "If you spend enough time learning enough spells and magic exposure your name becomes a spell on you." She scratched her cheek as if nervous. "Most of the time Mages try to wipe that name out of anywhere in the universe so...that won't happen."
"Are you telling me that-"
"You basically have my entire soul at your control...yeah." Charmcaster said.
"I'll uh...I'll keep that in mind." Ben said "So does the thing only kick in saying your full name?"
"Yeah." Charmcaster said "Shit how do you even know?!"
"Gwendolyn." Ben said "She was kinda in a dick measuring contest with you and kinda kept sneaking into each other's homes and stealing shit."
"Wait you call Gwen in your universe Gwendolyn..." Charmcaster said "She's reached the point hasn't she?"
"I don't know. Gwendolyn just out of the blue started demanding I call her that. I knew she'd start in college but she just said she's matured past the nickname." Ben said.
"So what else has Ben Tennyson done?" Hope asked.
"Wanna hear about the time Gwendolyn opened a portal and went back in time to stop me from becoming a workaholic?" Ben asked.
Charmcaster was listening to the story of an Arch-Mage saving a Druid by traveling back and seeing her younger self.
"The charms of Bazel." Charmcaster said looking at Gwen 16 years older then her.
"Apparently Gwen traveled there and remaking them." Ben said "I didn't really understand much of it I was kinda...not all there so..."
"The realm of Bazel name has been lost to time." Charmcaster said "To even recreate those charms would take..."
Charmcasters eyes glazed. "The power of a Goddess."
Ben accessed his memory revealing his grandmother.
"If Gwendolyn body was destroyed...that would form." Ben said showing his grandmother removing her skin.
Charmcaster took a deep breath. "Shit I've been fighting an ant. Gwen was an insect compared to...that!"
"Yeah. The Omnitrix took so much more from this Gwen and I need to make sure she doesn't lose anymore." Ben said "Gwen's mana is recovering and she's getting her grades back up. Gwendolyn would be pissed if I let a Gwen from any dimension actually fail a school year."
"So what exactly were we?" Charmcaster asked.
"Well in between cartoon villain and arch-enemies your about a 4 when it comes to Me vs You level of hatred, I think. You were Gwen's Arch-Enemy but just another wacko after the Omnitrix." Ben said "But we would not have had this conversation or gotten close enough for that night in the sack."
"So you're not afraid of me?" She asks eyes glowing but her face not showing any maliciousness.
Ben's glowed and said " Hey I'm a Plumber. Extra Sensory, Extraterrestrial and Extraordinary is our Motto."
The side of her mouth turned up "So wanna repeat of last week?"
"As the Dragon or the Witch?" Ben asked with a raised eyebrow.
"That's upto you." She smirked "I'm game for any damn thing."
Ben grinned and Grace walked over with a pizza box and a smirk "I'll start a tab. Go lay some pipes Plumber."
Ben set a twenty on the table and Charmcaster set a gold coin on the table before both rushed out.
"Damn the boys definitely has Max Tennyson's genes." She said looking at a black and white photo of Max and a group of airmen out of uniform and another of Max with a different group that were undercover Plumbers.
Hey!
Here's some art
"I stopped the Annihilarrgh by building a box and pushing the universe out of it."
First attempt at Ultimate Sucker Punch.