Gwen Tennyson, All Grown Up

Chapter 2
The Amplification Spell

Chapter Description: After looking through her book of spells, Gwen discovered a spell that will multiply her powers. Will it work?

It was dark outside a national park, miles away from Fort Knox. At a trailer park camping area, Max Tennyson’s Rustbucket was sitting peacefully in a vacant spot, not letting everyone know what’s going on in the inside. In the RV, both Ben and his grandpa were doing their own thing. Max was working on the latest in Plumber tech while Ben was watching something on the TV. What’s on the TV was a news broadcast discussing about what happened at Fort Knox today.

News Anchorman: “In other news today, Fort Knox was attacked by a dangerous woman who goes by the name of Rojo. From what we could tell is that she was going to steal all the gold in the building and is willing to steal it no matter what the cost. But thanks to this alien hero who is called Diamond Head, Fort Knox is safe and this criminal’s behind bars.”

There was a video feed from a security camera showing both Rojo and Diamond Head fighting each other within the building. When Ben saw it, he turned his head to see his grandfather and told him to come.

Ben: “Hey Grandpa, come over here and see this! I’m on TV!”

But Max was a little busy working on his latest weapon, that he didn’t have time watching some television.

Grandpa Max: “Not now Ben. I’m in the middle of something right now. Maybe later.”

Ben shrugged his shoulders and rolled his eyes around, sighing at his gramp’s decision.

Ben: “All right, whatever you say Grandpa. But you’re going to miss out on the good stuff.”

The boy looks back at the TV and watched on as the anchorman continued talking about the incident.

Anchorman: “Though the damage was extensive, it will be repaired and the building will be as good as new in the later weeks. But what makes this report interesting was that this Diamond Head had some help defeating Rojo. According to reports from eyewitnesses is that a girl around ten with orange hair and green eyes help the alien hero with from what we could tell, magical powers.”

The video feed showed the same fight; only this time someone else was fighting Rojo instead. Though the image was a little fuzzy, Ben could get a good view on who this person is by the way she dresses and moves. His eyes suddenly grew wide and realized whom this girl is.

Ben: “Gwen?”

News Anchorman: “Eyewitnesses said that this girl managed to save people and help the alien stop the crook from taking all the gold in Fort Knox. Two of the victims that were saved had this to say.”

The TV then showed the two kids Gwen saved at Knox and they appeared to be happy at the rescue.

Kid 1: “So we were watching the battle in Fort Knox and a huge pile of debris was coming down at us. At first, we thought we were goners, but that was when the unexpected happens.”

Kid 2: “Yeah. This strange girl formed some kind of tornado out of her hands and stopped those rocks from falling on top of us. She was like some kind of magician of this generation or something.”

The first kid looked at the other and wanted to make something clear to him.

Kid 1: “A magician. She wasn’t no magician, she was a hero!”

Ben was completely surprised at what he had seen and heard. He then thought that Gwen should see this for herself so he yelled out loud to make sure she hears it.

Ben: “Hey Gwen! You gotta come here and see this! You’re on TV!”

He waited for his cousin to respond, probably in the not so nicest of ways. But for some strange reason, there was no response what so ever. Not even a peep. So he called her out yet again.

Ben: “Hello?! Gwen?! Are you there? Don’t even think about giving me the silent treatment again.”

He still waited for Gwen to say something, but still nothing. After this much waiting, he turned his head back to his gramps and wanted to know about his cousin.

Ben: “Yo Grandpa, do you know where’s Gwen at?”

Without even looking at his grandson, Max answered Ben’s question while working on his weapon.

Grandpa Max: “Your cousin said that she wanted some time by herself. To get some fresh air. Though it’s kind of strange she’s taking much longer then normally. I think I saw her at the picnicking area a couple of trucks down reading.”

After hearing all that, Ben got off the dining room chair and headed to the door to exit.

Ben: “Thanks Grandpa.”

He opened the door and left the RV to find his cousin. While he was searching, Max was putting the finishing touches on his latest weapon. He put away the tools and looks at the latest plasma disintegrating rifle, picking it up and holding it like it was battle ready.

Grandpa Max: “Hmm... Not bad for a day’s work.”

But he didn’t expect himself pulling the trigger on the gun as a big green energy beam came out of the hole and hit the passenger seat at the front of the RV. When the beam hit the seat, the top section got disintegrated to nothing but a melted mess. Looking at the now destroy seat, he look down at his invention and sighed miserably.

Grandpa Max: “But it looks like we need a few bugs to work out.”

Outside of the Rustbucket, Ben was passing through one trailer park after the next searching for Gwen.

Ben: “Gwen! Gwen, where are you?”

He continued searching, only to find nothing but families having a real good time. He then stopped in the center of the trailer park parking area and was about had it with the whole search.

Ben: “Jeeze, where could that girl get to?”

He pondered about that for a minute or two, until he remembered his grandfather saying that she could be at the picnic area reading. So he decided to head down there and check it out himself. He walked past the RV parking center and entered the picnic area where people would eat and hangout. After looking around the place, Benjamin spotted a familiar person that had short orange hair. The person was of course his cousin, Gwen.

Ben: “There she is.”

He walked straight to the picnic table where Gwen was sitting and sat next to him. When he did that, Gwen took a quick peek to see Ben and look back at her book she was reading.

Gwen: “What do you want?”

Ben: “Nothing, I was just looking for you. You haven’t come back to the trailer ever since we’ve parked. What are you reading anyways?”

Ben took a quick peek to see what his cousin was reading. What he saw was pages of bizarre languages in English words and pictures of mythology and stuff like that. That’s when he noticed that this book was in fact Gwen’s book of spell. He immediately looks back at her and had his eyes wide in shock.

Ben: “You’re reading your spell book? In public? Out in the open!? People will see that book if they get too close to you. Are you even aware of what you’re doing?”

Gwen looked at her cousin and had a really stern look on her face.

Gwen: “Of course I know what I’m doing dofus. Besides, no one is around here tonight and it will give me some time to myself. Not only that, but if people saw me reading this, they would think I’m just reading some mythology or something.”

She went back to her reading, looking at each and every spell she could do. There was very little silence all around the picnic area until Ben wondered what she was really doing. So he asked her another question.

Ben: “So, what are you doing anyways?”

Ben’s cousin stopped reading and banged her fists on the table, asking herself why he’s still there. She then looked a Ben once more and answered his annoying question.

Gwen: “Isn’t it obvious dweed? I’m looking for a spell that could make me more powerful.”

Hearing that made Ben’s eyes open really wide, quite surprised of what Gwen just said.

Ben: “More powerful? Is that the reason why you haven’t return to the RV yet? Because you want to become much more powerful then before?”

She put her nose back to her book and continued on reading while at the same time answering his many questions.

Gwen: “Yeah, you could say that.”

Ben: “Why do you want to be powerful anyways? I mean, you mysteriously have magic within you and the spell book you took from Charmcaster is helping you learn a lot about yourself. What more do you want to know?”

That’s when Gwen couldn’t take it anymore and immediately stood up and stare down at the dewfus of a cousin, pointing to her book and screamed out loud to him.

Gwen: “Don’t you get it, do ya? I know that I have some kind of magical aurora inside me and this spell book is helping me improve. But after what happened back at Fort Knox, after fighting Rojo, I come to realize that I wasn’t really powerful enough. Not only that, but you yelled at me for what happened after the fight. Maybe... Maybe I’m not that strong as I use to be.”

She sat back down and lowered her head and started to shake it, knowing she won’t be as good as her cousin. Ben listened in on what she was trying to say as he noticed Gwen shedding a tear. Ben knew he was upset at Gwen for screwing up one of her spells, but she didn’t have to take it personal. And from what he heard, he felt incredibly sorry for what he did. So he decided to make it all up and make Gwen feel a little better. He first placed his hand on top of Gwen’s shoulder and started to apologize.

Ben: “Look Gwen, about what happened today. I’m really sorry for yelling at you when you got us out of the building in time. You see, I wasn’t trying to be mean to you in the first place. I just wanted you to learn a lesson that’s all. Besides, you did a pretty good job out there, saving my life and all.”

Gwen lifted her head up and looked at Ben in an odd expression, wiping the tear off her face.

Gwen: “You really mean it?”

Ben: “Of course I mean it. You have been a big help to me on all the adventures we’ve been through together. You always come up with ways into helping me with taking down baddies when my Omitrix shuts down. Whether it’s your magic, your brains, or your fighting style, you always get me out of tough situations. Now I know you want to be as strong, powerful, and tough as me, but that wouldn’t work. Sometimes being what you want to be would come with a price. But if you want to be as strong as ever, sometimes you just have to be yourself.”

Gwen listened on to Ben’s words and couldn’t believe what he was saying. At first, she thought he was nothing but a complete dork but now he’s acting like a grown adult.

Gwen: “Wow Ben... I never thought you would be this serious before.”

Ben lowered his head down to see the alien watch he has wrapped around his wrist and smiled.

Ben: “What can I say? I guess since I have this Omitrix for so long I seem to have more of a responsibility with it then before. So I believe I learned about this by experience.”

Suddenly, Gwen came up to him and gave him a deep hug for those words of advice. Ben didn’t expect something like this to happen as she gripped tighter on her hug, thanking him for the advice.

Gwen: “That is the most sweetest thing you’d ever said to me! Thank you!”

Then unexpectedly, she kissed Ben right on the cheek. Ben immediately got off the picnic bench and back away from her, letting go of the hug and wiping the kiss of his cheek.

Ben: “Ek!!! That’s so gross!! You don’t have to be too personal about it! I’m going back to the Rustbucket to take a really long shower. Gotta wipe the cootie stuff off my face. You should come back too since it’s getting really late.”

Gwen: “Sure, just give me minute.”

Ben then left the picnic area and headed back to the RV to take a shower for real while Gwen sat there, watching him leave. She shook her head and snickered about the sudden reaction from the kiss she made to Ben. She believed it was kind of strange that her cousin went from being serious to extremely dorky.

Gwen: “Aw well... Boys will be boys as they say.”

She went back to her book and was about to close it. But before she could do that, she noticed something about one of the pages. There was a spell that had ingredients, an incantation, and some kind of story. There was a title on top of the page that she had to read out loud.

Gwen: “The Amplification Spell?”

She looks down at the title to read the story about it.

Gwen: “The Amplification spell involves making the person or persons gifted with magic the power level to that of an adult magician. It requires both ingredients and a spell to make this ability work. Once the ingredients are in place and the spell is casted, he or she drinks the concoction that was created and his or her power will multiply ten fold.”

Reading all of this, Gwen was completely in awe at this type of spell. That’s when she knew this spell she saw is her only ticket of becoming more powerful. She smirked at the thought and wondered what would happen if she performs this incantation.

Gwen: “Hmm... Maybe this spell might work.”

She quickly closes her book and headed back to the Rustbucket, thinking that she might conduct this spell tomorrow. What she didn’t know was that she didn’t read the little warning on the page, stating the consequences. By tomorrow, this spell she would perform will change her life.