Grief, it was something I was becoming incredibly familiar with. Sure, I've had my fair share before. I've been to funerals for family taken too soon, for homes I was abruptly separated from, to my best friend for nearly ten years. Not that long ago I was even taken from my entire life and the woman I was going to spend it with.
That one was harder, especially since I didn't fully know what happened and I had no one to talk to about it. The one person that I might have been able to, who had given me hope that I could get it back, she was shot and died in my own arms.
But now, there were two more that had found their names on my ever growing list. Ones that I wasn't even sure where they were or if they were even ok.
Children, Kevin and Ben.
But my only company was aware of the one, not their own family having vanished to the mystical void.
Constructing the fire pit at our newest campsite, I made sure to assemble it so that the heat would be centralized for cooking. We were in one of the hottest deserts in America in the middle of summer after all. Our bodies didn't need any more reasons to sweat. This was the best I could do to help out Max and Gwen, who were moving through their own assignments, lost in their own heads as their bodies went through the routines of helping to set up camp.
I didn't want to interrupt by asking for a match, so grabbing some of the tinder, some string, and two sticks, I went to work on igniting the flames. Just as I saw some sparks, I was quick to give it gentle breaths of air before they began growing into something more.
Now that my task was finished, I glanced over to where Gwen was staring at the yet to be assembled tent, rubber mallet in one hand and the stakes in the other. Looking over to Max, I saw that he was at least able to function and start prepping a meal.
Honestly, as much as I appreciated Max still being able to work through the sudden loss I wish he would have let me take over cooking. Still, with nothing left to do I went to assist Gwen.
"Hey." I nudged the girl who jumped at my touch. "I can help."
After a moment of contemplation, she held out the mallet to me before leaning down to start putting one of the stakes at the corner of the tent. "I know. Thanks Ben."
"You're welcome." I was cautious not to accidentally hit her hand. Though I could do this part on my own, I nevertheless allowed her to do what she could at the moment. Give her some feeling of being useful. This Gwen, compared to the one I saw on television, had a lot harder of a time with her confidence ever since, well I melted an alien disguised as her aunt right in front of her.
Just as we were moving to the next corner she spoke up. "Kevin wouldn't have helped."
Trying to study her emotions more carefully, I silently hammered away while giving her a chance to speak more openly.
"I mean-" Gwen continued as I slowed my taps to give her more time. "-Kevin would probably be looking for another gross thing right now and try to slip it into my shirt. He was a jerk, and he deserved what happened."
That made me stop mid swing, looking back up to see Gwen wince at her own statement.
"No, I guess not." She sighed, before a sudden anger overtook her. Swiping the mallet from my hand, she began striking the stakes with harsh swings. "Just, what was he thinking?! We helped him out, put up with all that crap, and then he decided to just…..I thought he was getting better."
Sniffling the building moisture away, Gwen wiped her eyes with her wrist before peeking up at me. "I thought maybe, he changed like you did."
I know she meant well, but it did nothing to alleviate the growing pit of guilt in my own chest. Gwen, never got to see the better side of Ben. The one that needlessly threw himself into harm's way to protect them, who saved me from whatever fate he now was burdened with. "Was I really that bad?"
"We don't know what was going through Kevin's head." Max suddenly spoke up, both of us halting our work for a moment as he softly gave us his wisdom. "He was already struggling with his priorities. Maybe he thought that he was stopping Charmcaster after she disarmed us, maybe he thought he could use the charms in a better way, or maybe it was just wanting to prove he was capable of handling things. Either way, he went too far."
He came up, kneeling down in front of us before clasping his hands around us. "None of us realized what Kevin was doing, and we will never know for sure. It's unfortunate what happened, and while we can reflect on what we could have done differently it won't change the past. I know that you kids wouldn't have chosen Kevin's fate, it's something that we're dealt with and decide what to do with it. Kevin, as much of a friend as he became, chose a path none of us agreed with."
"Like Phil?" I blurted out, regretting my choice of words immediately for how insensitive the comment was.
But Max, with a sad but understanding nod agreed. "Like Phil. Hopefully one day, Kevin and Phil will realize what they did was wrong and try to do better. But we can't choose for others. We can only choose what we do next, and you kids so far this summer have been choosing to do the right thing, and I'm proud of you."
Gwen went for the hug, pulling me in alongside her as I fell into their embrace. Half of me wanted to throw myself out of it, the other half to just freeze and not respond. Yet, a sliver of myself I didn't even know was there accepted it, holding onto them as if they were family of my own.
We carried on in the daytime heat, the scorching air rolling off the ground in waves along the road. The Rust Bucket carried along, most of it still functioning despite the intense heat. Let me reiterate, most of it, because one of the vital functions to keep its inhabitants from boiling alive was currently useless.
Gwen was laying with her back against the fridge, hoping to siphon the cold within to her own skin while Max and I were left to sit in puddles of our own sweat in the seats.
Even if the heat was something I had grown up with, even I had my limits. Not even music served as a decent distraction at the moment, I needed to do something, or at least talk to someone.
"Hey Gwen." I pivoted in place to point myself towards her. "You got a spell that can make some snow or something? Snow cones sound really good right now."
"You want me to use magic-" Her exhausted face rolled itself to the side. "-for a treat?"
"I could go for one." Max voiced behind the wheel, an ally in my attempts of persuasion.
The way Gwen smacked her lips made me believe she was going to cave into the idea as well. "I don't know any ice spells. Why don't you try one Ben?"
"Latin has always been the bane of my existence." Was just one excuse I had. To be honest, the idea of using magic didn't settle well with me for multiple reasons. It was using forces I didn't understand, ones that conflicted with my mechanical mind. Too many unknowns, namely what I might gain the notice of if I attempted to tap into magic.
It revolved around using your own personal energies from what I've gleaned, and the fact of the matter was that I was some cosmic anomaly. Anytime I think back to the eclipse, how magic began to interact with the air around it, I remembered how despite not having a direct spell casted on me my very soul reacted poorly.
Magic and I did not get along, and if I should expose myself directly to it I might face a similar fate to Ben.
"I'm going to try and fix the AC." I declared, being cautious not to touch the metal of the seatbelt radiating heat as I unbuckled myself.
Activating the omnitrix, I began scrolling through my options. Upgrade and Gray Matter were obvious choices and….wasn't there a point in the show Ben tried fixing the AC for the Rust Bucket?
"Hey Ben." Max peeked back at me as I deactivated the omnitrix and went to find a particular notebook I had been working on. "I've been meaning to ask about the omnitrix."
"What about it?" I flipped through the pages, trying to find a particular episode that I noted down that was linked to this particular issue.
"Did it reset at some point? You don't seem to have as much control over it anymore."
I nearly slapped myself over that. It was a detail they should have been made aware of but usually whenever I have gone alien it's during a crisis, so the topic was pushed to the side to handle the emergency. "Hey, when I released Ghostfreak from the omnitrix it-"
"You WHAT?!" Gwen screamed out, her voice's pitch grating my ears. "When did this happen?! Why did you do that?!"
"Let me start with this, sorry for not telling you two earlier." I found the page, folding in the corner before setting the notebook down so I could focus on sharing this tale. "I was, having a lack of dreams for a while, but there were a couple dreams I did have where he was speaking to me. I thought it was just nightmares at first, until I started hearing him, seeing him when I was awake. There was a chance it was still in my head so I didn't want to say anything until I confirmed it. That's what I was doing with most of the drone parts, trying to make something to figure that out. By the time I did, with Ghostfreak's help, I made something to free him. Turns out his species can be conscious in a single cell, so his sample was trapped in the omnitrix. Once I got him out, the device I made ended up switching off the master control. At that point it was late at night, and the only evidence I had of any of it happening was the omnitrix no longer having the sample, it being reset, and a burnt out project I spent weeks on."
Gwen stood up, baffled by the revelation while Max was seemingly lost in thought.
"Ok, what?!" Gwen kept trying to wrap her head around it all. "So all that time, you were just keeping it to yourself?"
"We could have helped Ben." Max offered too late. "If something went wrong, I don't think we would have been able to do anything in time. I'm glad it worked out-"
"Worked out?! He lost full control of the omnitrix!" Gwen pointed right to my wrist. "Ben's lucky he didn't blow himself up!"
I was growing annoyed by the beratement, and while I recognized I deserved it there was part of that story I don't know if I could reveal yet. I still had no evidence to prove I wasn't even Ben, so if I told them my story I might come across as insane at best or simply telling an interesting lie to entertain myself.
Sitting down, I flipped back through the notebook and resumed reading about what notes I had of remembrance of the cartoon storyline. Just as I was about to continue at the broken AC part I saw Gwen examining me with, a new detail hidden in her gaze.
"What?" I asked as she sat across from me, holding the staff of ages that enhanced her own magical abilities. "You going to try that cold spell?"
"When you had me look at your aura before, you wanted me to see Ghostfreak didn't you?" Gwen continued to stare closer at me, making me feel a little more self conscious about what she might be looking at.
"Yeah?" I wasn't sure what she was getting at, or what she was looking for.
"You were, entangled before. Two parts, with a third lingering over you and connected to the omnitrix. If Ghostfreak was the third, then what was the other one?"
Gwen really was smart, picking up quickly on things that I had forgotten about. I didn't even get to answer her before she looked at her own hand, then over to Max before staring back at me.
Was she, seeing how I compared to her and Max?
No, hold on, I was so distracted by what she was doing I completely forgot about a detail I overlooked. Something I should have noticed way earlier.
Max was fiddling with the dials up front, more specifically trying to turn down the very AC that shouldn't be working right now.
"It's cold." I spoke up, slamming my hand over the notebook as I tried to read ahead into our immediate future.
"Ben, Gwen." Max saw frost building up along the edges of the windows, now moving to try and turn up the heater. "Did either of you change the temperature?"
The girl had stopped focusing on me and began looking around at our now freezing RV. Fog rolling over the windows as the outside world became hidden to us. "Grandpa, we're not doing this."
"THERE!" I shouted, slapping my finger over the only possibility. The Christmas episode, now granted I haven't seen it in a while but I knew enough. I think. Honestly this was one of the episodes that I could only remember a couple scenes for, the details muddled in my mind.
Hidden Christmas town in the middle of a desert that would turn kids into elves and an older elf that tries to make Max into Santa. The specifics, lost to me but I do know that the kids were supposedly vanished from a previous time and everything went back to normal.
My biggest take away on if my memory was partially accurate, was how if things went the same way then the children would be displaced in time. Able to live out lives in the present but unable to return back to how things used to be, to their families until it was too late. I'm not sure if they fully went back to normal, the show sometimes had issues wrapping things up.
There was no risking it though, because the show didn't always show the full scale of the consequences. I shook the memory of the many camp attendees rotting, used as a food source by parasitic spores out of my mind. I wouldn't be so naive as back then, I wanted to change that things I could, allow them to not go through a pain I was still struggling with.
I wanted my old life, if I could wish for it I would but I was starting to accept the fact that I couldn't get it unless a literal miracle happened.
Max was forced to pull off to the side, all of us moving out to investigate the bitter chill that had frozen over Death Valley. Regret immediately came to my skin as goosebumps rushed over my bare arms. Coats, I don't think we packed anything heavy enough for this.
"Hold on." Max went back inside. "I've got a couple thermal blankets inside that should help. I'll grab your coats too."
"I don't think that will be enough." Gwen said as she held up the staff she had yet to let go of, pulling a small book from her pocket as she went over the various spells. She muttered something as I stared out over the horizon, searching for something that I knew would be there.
Aha! There it was, a wooden structure in easy walking distance. But the dark clouds swirling overhead with a thick haze surrounding it, wasn't as familiar.
"Ahhhh." Gwen sighed in pleasure as I could feel a pocket of warmth around her. There wasn't any heat, more like a bubble of ideal temperatures now surrounded her. "Much better. Here Ben, you've got to let me cast this on you."
"No thanks." I turned it down despite my jaw already clattering. "The last time I was even touched by magic, I didn't do so well."
"Ah, right." Gwen dropped the subject, recalling the event just days prior. Then confusion danced on her face as she focused back on me, yet again staring intently at me to figure me out.
"Here Ben." Max handed me one of the simple hoodies that was packed in my bag alongside a flexible sheet of reflective cloth. "These should help you out."
"T-t-thanks." I sputtered before wrapping myself in the outfit and rolling the thermal blanket over me like a poncho. Now I looked more like some space western character.
We journeyed not far from the RV, getting closer to the source of the biting chill with winds that nipped at our noses. Yet, just before the main doorway was close enough to touch, some very startling details were made known.
The two nutcracker statues that should have been guarding it, were left in pieces, scattered around the frozen dirt. That's not all that was lying there, for my foot had discovered something foreign.
Picking up the metal underneath me, I held up a sword. An actual, metal sword with chips along what was left of the blade.
Forever Knights? Here? Now?
I almost wrote it off until the symbol in the pommel made it too obvious to ignore as part of the nutcracker weaponry. Comparing it to the damage, it was clear what had happened to the guards.
Didn't make me any warmer. Man that desert heat sounded so much better right now.
"What is this place?" Gwen pushed aside the broken gate/doorway, revealing inside what should have been a charming and friendly Christmas town. Instead, what we saw was desolation in ice. Buildings with scorch marks, various toys broken and laying in the snow, and pieces of armor dented and abused abandoned in the seemingly empty town.
This wasn't at all what happened in the show.
Yet, there was another detail that was being completely overlooked. Taking a step back outside, I saw that the only thing in the desert was a large wooden shed. Placing one foot inside though, brought me into a wide remains of a village.
Huh, bigger on the inside.
"Seems like an abandoned amusement park." Max took in the sight, his own body heat paired with a hefty coat keeping him warm. "Looks like it's been ransacked."
"It looks more like a battlefield to me." Gwen ventured in with Max as I followed in their shadow, my eyes whipping back and forth to every corner and alley because I swore I could hear something. "How come it's so cold?"
"Must be a snow gimmick malfunctioning." Max theorized as he put his hands into his pockets to keep his fingers from freezing. "Though I can't imagine what they could be using to power it despite the-Ben?"
I couldn't resist the moment I spotted a cup of hot chocolate sitting in a nice little row alongside the others on a stand. I was FREEZING, and this was the only thing I could find to keep me warm. Uncaring if I burnt my tongue I guzzled it down, just resisting the urge to splash another steaming cup onto myself.
Ok, was that stupid to just drink a random cup of hot chocolate in this setting? Yes, absolutely, but I was too cold to care.
"Woah Ben." Gwen came up, her bubble of warmth grazing my arm before I violently jerked away.
I felt, something. It wasn't as bad as the ritual I was exposed to but it was similar. Either way it was clear that as much as I wanted the same spell she casted around herself to keep warm I didn't dare risk the consequences.
I'd rather be cold from frostbite than face the cold void that resided between realities.
"Um, Ben?" Max approached as he seemed to squat down to me. "Are you, feeling alright?"
"Yeah?" I replied, my voice sounding a little off but I probably just burnt my tongue. "Why?"
"Um, you really can't see why?" Gwen spoke from below. Below? And why did it look like there was pink glitter around her cheeks?
"Why are you so short?" I asked before looking back to Max, who was not in fact squatting but standing up straight.
What?
We didn't have time to think before we heard crying, panicked, almost screaming. All of us rushed to find its source, kicking up the snow under our feet before we saw an elf, a classic little elf…hugging an ice statue?
They were crying painfully, clutching desperately to the legs what looked like a man made out of ice standing rigidly still, the two surrounded by snowmen.
"Hey!" Gwen called out to the weeping elf as we got closer. "Are you alright?!"
They didn't even look up, the Tiny elf's lip quivering as it looked up towards the face of the sculpture, whining something we were just too far to hear.
That noise, that distant noise was getting louder, building up my anxiety because it felt wrong. As my mind searched for a reason why, my eyes landed back on the snowmen, all standing, all facing the elf.
Then the ice sculpture's hand moved down to the elf's cheek, caressing it gently, before dissolving the elf into snow.
Snapping my attention up, I saw that we too, were now surrounded by snowmen. My hand surged to the omnitrix, slamming on the dial as its energy doubled my arms and increased my muscles to bulge out under my red skin.
"W-what just happened?!" Gwen shouted as we examined our opponents.
"Whatever it was, I don't think it was good." Max stated as he pulled out an energy pistol from his pocket and aimed it at the ice sculpture.
"State your origins and intentions!" I demanded through gritted teeth, clutching my fists as the snowmen did….nothing.
Were they facing us now? Yes. Were they moving? No.
They just, stared at us. Unmoving, unblinking, and that was more unnerving than if they openly attacked.
"Grandma?" A timid voice came from Gwen's lips, and when I turned around I saw that standing amidst the front of the snowmen was an ice depiction of an aged woman.
"It, it can't be." Max lowered his gun, the two of them approaching the statue cautiously. Yet, the longer they stared at it, the more they seemed to lower their guard, their eyes watering, and I refused to let it go any longer.
Grabbing a hefty clump of snow off the ground, I balled it up in my palms before tossing the man sized snowball right at the ice statue:
It wasn't lethal, but it still knocked it on its butt.
Max and Gwen blinked, the spell having been broken for now as they flinched back and retreated to my side.
Now it was starting to piece itself together, snowmen that turned into missing loved ones that hypnotized folks to get close enough to touch. That touch, was potentially deadly, only leaving a trace of snow of its victims.
But where did they come from? Were they alien or something else? And what did the Forever Knights have to do with this?
My questions were interrupted by a blast from Max's side arm, shattering the ice of his wife's head that was covered in snow. A firm and daring glare was under his brow, examining the fallen pieces of the attacker.
"Come on kids." He kept his aim steady, keeping as close of an eye on the snowmen as much as they were watching us. "We're getting to the bottom of this, now."
It's been maybe fifteen minutes, and we had plowed through several bodies of snow and ice. None of them made a move, none of them resisted, and none of them directly attacked. The only change we could see was that they would appear out of the corner of your eye, some taking on the appearance of a loved one (usually one that they hadn't seen for a while), and were always watching.
Taking temporary shelter in a winter sports store, we boarded it up with skis and snowboards to give ourselves a moment to breathe.
"There is no end to them." Gwen knelt down, putting her staff to the side as she kept an eye on the windows. "What even are they? Aliens?"
"Maybe, but I don't know." Max answered as he scratched at his chin before looking through the available supplies present. "They don't talk, at least in a way we can understand. They might have some intelligence but they seem more, simple in function."
Honestly, they reminded me of two things, both of them related to my favorite show. "It's like the Snowmen combined with Weeping Angels."
"What?" Gwen stared incredulously towards me.
Oh, right. Guess those episodes haven't come out yet. Stretching my four arms, I had enjoyed this body's ability to handle the cold, at least much better than my own. It wouldn't last any longer though, so as I went to the coat racks to find something that might fit me, the omnitrix began to time out.
In a red flash, I was standing in my human self looking through the children's section, but quickly found they were too small for me. Was this a store for elves? I moved to the adult section, finding a decent looking maroon jacket with some kind of white fur lining on the inside, the cuffs, and the collar. Man this was nice quality. Slipping it over myself, I enjoyed the newly found warmth it provided and began looking for a warm hat, and probably a neck gaiter.
Deciding to play to the holiday theme, I grabbed a white neck gaiter with sprinkles of snowflake designs, and a very fluffy santa hat that easily went over my cold ears.
Turning around, I was about to join Max and Gwen until I saw a change. Gwen's ears were more pointed now, her eyes noticeably smaller, and that pink glitter on her cheeks now full blown blushes. Her staff, now a red and white striped candy cane with a snowglobe at the top.
That's right, this place would change people. Gwen was becoming another elf. Speaking of which, I wonder if there were any left around this place.
Still, I had appearances to keep up with.
"Woah Gwen, what happened to you?" I fiddled with my throat, because by the way my voice sounded I hoped I didn't burn my throat too bad.
She glanced over, double taking at my own appearance. "Ben? Is that you?"
"Like the new outfit?" I tugged at the jacket. "Figured it-"
"Why are you so tall?!"
Tall? I thought she was getting shorter, and that this store was for elves. If that wasn't the case…
I ran to the nearest mirror, finding a full body one near the boots and gaping at what I saw. That was me, albeit a sixteen year old me but undeniably me.
Oh how I hated all the teasing the universe did to me, dangling the life I used to have right in front of me despite never letting me have it.
But, wasn't I supposed to be turning into an elf? Why was it changing me to be, myself?
"Grandpa!" Gwen shouted for the old man, who hurried into the room. "Look at what happened to Ben!"
I met his gaze as he came into the main area, at eye level.
"Ben? Gwen?" He seemed to take our odd transformations in equal weight. Though, Max himself had not transformed at all. "I don't know what's happened but we'll find a way to undo it, alright?"
Undo it? I guess, that was inevitable wasn't it? Brushing my hand over the omnitrix on my wrist, I noticed how it adapted to my new size. It served as my constant reminder, of the role I had to play now, of who I had to be despite my own wishes.
"Ok." I resigned myself to just moved past it, trying not to let it distract me from our investigation. There was just, one thing I needed to confirm. "Have either of you been hearing a noise? It was barely audible before but it's been getting louder."
We were all quiet now, our breathing shallow as Max and Gwen searched for that same chiming that had been in the distance for sometime now.
"I don't hear anything." Gwen stated in a whisper, still searching for it.
"What does it sound like?" Max asked as I focused a little more.
"It's, like a ringing but paced, following a slow yet constant beat and scratchy. Like, broken-"
The sudden shuffle in the store made us alert, Gwen gripping her staff while Max held up his…cork gun. Great, now we were down a weapon.
A thump above with a small ringing followed, all of us attentive as something was shuffling through the ceiling, right above the foam tiles that-
"AAHH!" They crashed open, as a midget dressed in reds and greens fell through the ceiling panels until crashing into a rack filled with fluffy coats. Their head popped out of the mess, their prominently pointed ears revealing they too, were one of the elves that had survived.
It didn't take long for them to regain their composure, practically throwing themselves out of the coats before grabbing Max's hands. "Please! Help us!"
"Woah now." Max knelt down to his level, still towering over the poor thing. "Tell us what happened."
"Knights attacked, and tried to take the Jingleator but something happened to it when one of them tried to take control from Mr. Jingle! Then the snowmen came, and started turning everyone into snow! No matter what you do, if you look at them too long they turn into people you know and then turn you into snowflakes and-"
"Hold your horses now." Max tried to slow the elf kid down. "What's important about this Jingleator?"
"It's what Mr. Jingle used to fill Holiday Village with Christmas magic. It controls just about everything, including all the toys, reindeer, and the nutcrackers that tried to defend us. It even made all of us into elves."
The elf, now calming down from his panic was able to reexamine us, locking eyes on Gwen. "If you help us soon, she'll be an elf forever!"
"What about Ben?" Max pointed towards me, the elf quirking his head at my own towering frame compared to his own.
"It doesn't do anything to adults. Mr. Jingle always got rid of them for not believing in Santa."
Max, more confused than before looked over my changes. I was just happy at this point that it didn't pick a slightly younger me that had a face full of acne. I shrugged towards Max, a way of avoiding any further inquiry.
"Sounds like that machine is the source of all of this." I said to steer the direction of the conversation. "We should go find it and, sorry what was your name?"
"Elsgood." The small elf stated, his eyes continuing to flicker towards the windows.
"It looks like the coast is clear." Max peeked out the window, confirming his suspicion. "Let's get going before they come back. Lead the way Elsgood."
The elf happily obliged, having us follow him out the back and away from the main street. I turned back to Gwen, who was lingering behind, continuing to clutch her staff as she kept staring at me with uncertainty.
I hope my face didn't weird her out too much. I guarantee it was stranger for me, more conflicting for me. I wanted to run around and jump for joy to have this small victory, this one chance to be back in my own skin again despite the fact that I was supposed to be accepting being in Ben's body.
Maybe I would never accept it fully, but I just had to not linger on it. Whether I was in Ben's or my own, it didn't change who I was really or what I would do….but….at least this way they could actually see me for who I really was.
I could pretend they accepted me, I could drop the whole falsehood of being Ben and they wouldn't know after spending half of the summer with me instead of him.
The guilt continued to eat away at me the further I thought about it, so grabbing a candy cane that was sticking out of a life sized gingerbread house I stuck it in my mouth and let the flavor indulge my tastebuds.
I immersed myself in the now, walking in the brisk snow with a cozy outfit with Christmas lights strung around us and remnants of festivities everywhere I looked. Christmas, it was one of my favorite holidays, arguably my very favorite. It had a special place in my heart despite some bad memories of a couple bad ones.
I loved those Christmas specials for some of my favorite shows, the activities, especially the lights, but mostly the special feeling that came with it that made the whole world just a little more kind.
I got to share that feeling with someone before, my first kiss with my fiance was when I was dropping her off home after a night out for Christmas fun. I even remember the Christmas Waltz, audibly playing in my car when we shared that special moment.
"Hey Ben."
I almost didn't even realize Gwen was trying to get my attention. Glancing down to where she barely stood taller than my waist, I found it amusing how she had to really crane her neck to look up to me. "What's up?"
"How come you haven't been hypnotized by the snowmen? Or, ice people. You know what I mean."
I had my theories. One, whatever anomaly I was it didn't work on me. Two, I never met a mentalist or hypnotist, no matter how good manage to actually work on me. Huh, now that I remember it, the last mentalist who spent twenty minutes with me and failed was also during a Christmas party. Three, they prioritized Gwen and Max, turning into people they both knew but none of which I did.
"Probably the same reason I'm getting taller and more grown up instead of turning into an elf like you." I put a little teasing tone in my voice, unable to get over the enjoyment of being my tall self again.
Gwen merely rolled her beady eyes before attempting to adopt a more serious expression. "Ok, you sure it's not messing with your head in other ways?"
"Like what?"
"Like being so happy right now?"
"I just like Christmas, a lot." Wow, was I really unhappy and serious for so much of this vacation that being happy is being suspicious? This summer has been rough. Though maybe I should be having a more somber mood, given the killer snowmen, the danger, and the signs of a battle torn through the town.
Stepping over another chunk of armor, I paused, seeing a hilt laying in the snow. Grasping it with a hand that could actually wield the weapon properly, I examined the 'blade'. It wasn't really a blade, more like a thin chunk of metal that had some kind of tech in it. Wait, hold on. No way!
Clicking the button, it thrummed with power as a projecting of the actual blade materialized in a stream of light. It hummed with every small swing, making me embarrassingly giddy. "Oh this is definitely coming back with me."
"Please don't let this Christmas be like two years ago." Gwen made sure to give me a wide range as I twirled the blade around me.
"What happened two years ago?" I absent mindedly asked as I continued to relive my Star Wars obsession from my youth.
"You, don't remember." Gwen stated, as if she wasn't surprised by it at all. Something about that concerned me, enough to put away the weapon and collect the scabbard from the snow nearby and sheath the deactivated blade.
"No." I affirmed, clipping the sword to my waist as I made eye contact. "I don't." Christmas two years ago for me I do, but not the one she was referring to.
"Come on you two!" Max called out to us from up ahead at a bridge looking over the frozen pond. "We don't want to get seperated."
The further we walked, the closer we came to the central part of town. We had to be more careful, the density of snowmen increasing as we ducked behind buildings and other stands. Occasionally swiping at another conjured mug of hot chocolate Sitting in one of the empty stands.
Did hot chocolate just not get cold here? That was probably my favorite thing about this place, not that it had much of anything left to enjoy.
"Over there." Elswood pointed out to the large structure, that was still too far for our liking. "That's the workshop where most of us work at. The Jingleator is inside."
"The place is surrounded." Gwen quietly gestured to the army of snowmen, all packed closely around the nearly frozen building. There were too many to count, but I could only guess their numbers were in the hundreds.
"I don't think we can fight our way through that." Max glanced back over to me. "Unless maybe Heatblast could melt them before they knew what was coming."
Nodding in agreement, I dialed up the alien, somehow the omnitrix feeling more like a toy rather than a complicated alien device on my wrist. It just, didn't seem right for those two parts of my life to exist simultaneously still. Seeing my own wrist with the omnitrix on it, felt off.
Nevertheless, I pushed down on the image displayed in the dial, feeling myself shift and change in the blink of an eye.
When I stared down at my tentacles, I really wished I still had master control. "Guess Psywave will have to do."
With his abilities, he was probably the best flyer I had that could also grasp onto multiple things at once. Not just with eight different limbs, but his telekinetic powers.
"Ah!" Elswood didn't take as kindly to my rather frightening change. "Don't drop that without tooting unless you want me to throw a joe!"
I, what? Were those words supposed to mean something?
"Ben!" Max yelled out, making me look up to see that our cover was blown.
"Hang tight!" I wrapped my tentacles under their arms, letting a short pulse from my mind carry us up above the frozen heads. Soaring above them, I thought that maybe we could simply avoid a fight now that we were out of range. I was wrong.
Candy canes blasted out from nearby, nearly piercing my armor as they shattered against my armored helmet. Dipping and diving out of the way, I was forced to keep close to the ground just above the line of white heads with cold coal eyes staring up at us.
"What's shooting at us?" Gwen demanded as she swung her staff around to aim at whatever or whoever the offender was.
"The toys!" Elswood pointed towards the distant warehouse, where I couldn't make out anything besides the basic structure from this distance that stood at the back of the town, where all of the streets converged to.
"Why are they attacking us?!" Max yelled out as I had to fly under an archway, where I sent out a short burst of mental power to blow away the snowmen laying underneath.
Elswood couldn't answer as I had to come to a sudden halt, just avoiding being blasted by a bowling ball shot out of a cannon. The artillery barrage continued to grow in intensity, detonating snowmen and any cover I attempted to shield us with.
With little options left, I pooled all of my focus into grasping onto as many snowmen as I could, crushing them together to form a brute shield. My mind screamed as I charged ahead, feeling the snow before us being repeatedly pelted with various candies, toys, and other choking hazards.
I've multitasked before with Psywave, testing his limits but never towards how much weight the alien could handle. This was a lot, between the massive wave of monstrous snow that I was plowing against a barrage of detonations.
Rushing with one push, turning the wall into a cone I literally thought my way through the issue. With our shield falling apart with every foot gained, every chunk blasted off, I just had to press forward and hope that we made it.
With an eruption of the remaining snow and the boarded up front gate, we crashed open the building's door with splinters and ice flying everywhere with cries joining them. Shaking myself off, I hovered back into the air to quickly regain my bearings.
Dozens of little elves were cowering around in a hallway, large stuffed bears now marching their way around the debris to investigate. "I'll uh, fix that."
"Elswood!" A few of the elves ran up to our company. "You're ok!"
Looking further at the damage done, it was obvious I wasn't the only cause. Pieces of ice still clung to walls and beams, while slash marks and other shattered areas carried scorch marks. A battle occurred here, but I assume both parties were unsuccessful given the Jingleator was still operating at…was it? Did one of the groups succeed?
Either way, we needed to get to it in order to inspect the damage.
"Figure out as much as you can." I said to Max and Gwen as I floated back over to the front entrance. "I'm going to fix up that door so no more of them follow us."
Now that I wasn't pressed to carry the weight of an army, I could actually relax as I extended my many limbs, grasping onto fallen beams and other nearby objects to barricade the opening I had created. Just as one of the mechanical claws at the end of one of my tentacle's clicked, I heard a voice hitch nearby.
Turning around, I saw one of the elves still cowering in my presence. Not surprised that this alien's appearance was rather frightful with the robot claws and the metal skull like helmet. "Sorry, I'll do this outside."
Floating through the gap still present in the broken doorway, I began finishing my work on fixing up the main entrance, making use of some of the Forever Knight technology laying around to weld some of the metal framework together.
Just as I was finishing the task, hearing that weird noise louder than ever, I felt the air get a little colder. The omnitrix timed out, leaving me standing outside in the frozen wasteland of ruins, but I wasn't alone.
Daring to look behind me, I saw that the snowman had finally found something for me, or it was trying. I looked up at Max, or a frozen depiction of the man with his form cracked, not fully put together with his head quirked at me.
In a blink, it was now Gwen. Same fractured state, looking at me curiously as if trying to figure me out.
"So what is it?" I asked, trying to understand it because I knew there was some hypnotic force that it could use on others. Scratching my chin, I discovered that I now had stubble. So, from my mid teens to just about twenty years old. This place was only a year or two off from how I was before waking up in this world. "Is it based on memories? Having a hard time getting in my head since it doesn't belong to me?"
In another blink, I saw Charmcaster. "You're not someone even close to me. Why her? Getting desperate? Thought some teenage girl would somehow woo me?"
I was bantering to an alien snowman that might not even be listening. The whole thing was absurd, a laugh building up in my throat until it died the moment I looked back.
Andrea stood there, the cracks in her personage starting to seal themselves the longer I stared, her head no longer quirked but certain I would keep my eyes on her. I couldn't look away, not because of some hypnotic force that propelled me to go embrace her, but for the fact that I simply missed her.
When I noticed where the last of the cracks remained spreading out, right in her torso where she was shot, I felt the brief warmth in my heart turn icy. "How dare you."
"Ben!" Max's voice shouted out nearby. Turning over I saw he was calling out from one of the ground floor windows. "Come back inside!"
Not taking any more chances I ran after him, in case the creature somehow cracked the puzzle and pulled me into its grasp. Leaping through the window Max had open for me, I only had a moment to throw myself through but I took it.
Grasping the bottom of the window, I slammed it closed. Just on the other side of the frosted glass, I saw the frozen depiction of Andrea staring back at me. I didn't feel that, otherworldly pull that it had on the others still.
But it lacked Andrea's song….speaking of which.
"Can literally anyone else hear that noise?!" I yelled out to the collection of elves, their guards and-Rudolph?!
This might be one of my most odd adventures so far. The unnerving snowmen, the desolation, and a Christmas theme to conflict with the whole atmosphere.
"You're still hearing it?" Gwen approached, and I can't tell if she got shorter or I got taller in comparison.
"Yeah." It was definitely present, that very high pitched clinging metal that continued in a simple pace. Call me crazy but it sounds like, jingle bells.
And they were coming from underneath us.
"How do we get downstairs?" I asked Elswood standing near us, or, wait, that wasn't him. I didn't bother to say any part of that out loud in case I came across as racist to the halflings.
"This way!" Two of the elves quickly brought us through the main hallway, where various photos littered the walls, mostly burnt or wrecked, signs of the intense battle more prominent here than anywhere else.
Stepping on one of the photos, I picked it up, seeing it was black and white, depicting a grandfather with their grandchild that looked remarkably similar to a certain elf.
"A lot of these elves think it's 1932." Gwen came up, eyeing the photo in my hand. "Some of them are from different times but all of them between then and now."
"What about their families?" I asked, looking over to where I now identified Elswood amidst the crowd.
"We don't know." A depressing mood set over them as we traveled further into the building, where a pulley system awaited with a wooden platform.
Getting on it, one of the massive teddy bears squeezed a lever before pushing it, letting us slowly lower into a chasm with broken railways filling the air. Were we in some kind of mine? A pit of some form that brought us closer to the ringing in my ears that, I technically didn't hear with my ears.
It was, like I could hear it with my very being, something that I only sensed twice. When I met Andrea, and when the Keystone of Bezel was activated. Whatever this was, it was ringing from a source that could reach the very edges of reality.
Arriving at the floor of the workshop, where toys and assembly lines have long been abandoned, it was impossible to miss the heart of it all, connecting it and fueling the very air we breathed.
It was made of various cables, almost tentacle like with bits of coral like vents along the outside of it. The knights didn't get this far, no signs of them anymore but ice covered everything.
"This is the heart of Holiday Village." Elswood announced, pointing up at the foreign machine. "It's what gives this place its Christmas magic."
"I don't think it's magic." Gwen said, holding up her staff to peer through the glass orb and reached out with her senses. "It doesn't give off the same energy as mana, but it's definitely powerful."
"I think it's alien in origin." Max declared, reexamining how far down we were. "This mine, it must have unearthed some tech that became active after it stretched itself thin through the ground around us. Maybe it also latched onto the nearest town, Holiday Village, and assimilated it as part of itself."
If this was covered in ice, then how come the snowmen aren't popping up around us? They clearly were involved but I still didn't know how.
I felt a tug at my jacket, one of the elves gaining my attention. I could see their hesitation, their worry, through all of them. Kneeling down, I put on my best comforting smile. "Don't worry, we're going to fix this and get you all home safe and sound."
"Home?" Gwen reiterated with doubt. She leaned in to whisper into my ear to not shatter the hope I was giving them "Ben, they're from the past. How are we supposed to time travel?"
"I'm working on it." I whispered back, trailing my eyes over all of the ice that covered this place to see if there was some entrance into the heart of this place I missed. I saw something, some of the tentacle like cable leading up to one of the tunnels with a large mass of frozen icicles coming down from it.
But it was still an opening, and my first clue.
"What's up there?" I asked, pointing to the entrance that wasn't necessarily to the source of the power but to something connecting to it.
"It's just a tunnel to gift storage." Elswood answered. "That's where the perfect presents approved by Mr. Jingle are stored."
"Where is Mr. Jingle?" Max posed the next question as I continued to eye that particular pathway.
It was a delicate subject for the elves, many of them hesitant to directly answer.
"The Knights hurt him when he tried to stop them." One elf finally answered, a slight crack in his voice. "Then, the snowmen got him."
"In here?" I asked, getting a nod in return. So the snowmen can come in here, but they're choosing not to. That answer I suspected was coming from that very tunnel I couldn't keep my eyes off.
Holding up my wrist, I was greeted with red, making me realize I would have to do this the old fashioned way. Standing back to my full height, I clenched my hands as I felt the calluses around my palms. Good, my body was now at a point where I had picked up my favorite form of exercise.
"Got a harness or any kind of climbing gear Max?" I asked the man, who reached into his pocket to pull out something that looked like a sticky hand toy.
"I did." Max sighed, reaching into his pockets and finding more of his gear was converted into toys. "Sorry Ben."
"Wait!" One of the elves shouted, running over to one of the many piles of gifts and rummaged through it. After a minute they returned, holding up a rope and a harness.
I smiled in return, accepting the gift and starting to equip it. "You know, last Christmas I actually asked for this exact kind of gear. A good belay costs a lot of money but it was worth it."
"Last Christmas?" Max scratched at his head, trying to recall that day. "I thought you got that new Sumo Slammers game you bothered your parents about for months."
Just as I finished tying the knot, throwing it over the cable that led into the mouth of the mystery tunnel, I turned over to them, seeing Gwen giving me that same look again.
"Here." I held out the other end of the rope to Max with the belay device now connected. "You know how to use one of these?"
"We used similar ones as a Plumber." Max said, raising a brow to me. "Did you parents sign you up for climbing lessons recently?"
I signed up for them myself. Instead of getting into a whole mess of confusion and misdirection, I elected to instead grab onto the cliffside, swinging my feet up and keeping my arms straight as I pivoted from side to side as I ascended. No need for anything fancy or risking tiring myself out too soon. I would do this right, and discover whatever was at the top.
Given how tall I was, how long my limbs could reach again, I made short work of the climb and hoisted myself inside before untying myself. I made it, a terrifyingly cold tunnel where an odd light poured out from the walls with fog flowing in between them.
I reached to my side, acquiring the sword I had looted just earlier and ignited the glowing blade to better light my way. This tunnel, it was more like a metal hallway with several glowing chambers along the walls. They were big, the size of large doors that curved outwards and a thick layer of frost covering them.
"What are they?"
I spun around with the blade, seeing Gwen flying in. Literally, flying in on the staff like she was a witch.
"You can fly now?"
"Not without the Staff of Ages." Gwen clarified, but as she stepped off she did enjoy twirling around her magical item that she was quickly gaining mastery over.
We investigated the closest glass doorway, standing side by side as I reached up with my sleeve and began wiping away to try and see inside. Nothing, just more ice, until I looked down and saw it.
One of the elves, hugging onto a dog made of ice, both of them frozen in place.
"There's a number here." Gwen stated, brushing the snow off of a metal plate next to the chamber. "It's a date, and coordinates."
"It's a memory?" I guessed, moving to the next chamber, wiping away at it again to see inside. It was one of the Knights now, cheering with a man who wore a rather ridiculous jester outfit.
The date, checking it made me realize it was fairly recent. Only about a week ago.
Checking more and more of the chambers, the Knights all had the same date but different locations. What few elves that were here, all had dates around Christmas, and most of them in 1932.
These weren't the dates of their memories, it was when they entered Holiday Village.
"Where do the coordinates lead?" I asked, Gwen doing a rough calculation off the top of her head.
"The elves from 1932 are all the same, and it's a spot in the desert, I think here where the village is. But the Knights and the rest of the elves are from all over, some in America, others Europe. Why are all of them here anyways?"
"It's the snowmen." I realized as we traveled further down the mechanical hall. "They're taking everyone here that was attacking, or outside, or….hurt."
We stopped, seeing the missing character in the last chamber, injured with ice over his wounds suspended in the tank right in front of us. Looking closer, the injuries didn't seem that bad, but given how ruthless the Knights were they should have been worse.
"They're cryo pods." Was my best guess. "The snowmen aren't monsters or soldiers, they're nurses and doctors."
"What about the elves?" Gwen tapped her staff against the nearest one, who was frozen yet happily hugging an adult of ice that had some resemblance. "How come they're being taken if they're not hurt?"
"The ones that are trying to leave, they're probably in a lot of pain and acted out on it." I theorized, looking on at each one of the frozen children clutching onto someone taking form of a loved one. "The snowmen realize this, but they don't know how to help other than to give them what they want, what eases the pain."
"So, they're not bad." Gwen began to nod along with my logic, making the connections herself. "But what about Grandpa and I?"
"We just lost Kevin just recently didn't we?" I made her remember, a pain pinching at my chest recalling it myself. "It's probably that pain we're still feeling that the snowmen are detecting."
We began walking back in silence, having collected our information and returning to Max to report what we found. In the quiet, and the cold, it was just Gwen and I. It gave her a chance to ask a question.
"Andromeda said it before, that you miss someone a lot." She said, making me halt for a moment as she looked up at me. "She said a lot of things about you that, didn't used to make any sense."
I didn't let my face even twitch, Gwen running her eyes over me and my face, really looking at me.
"When was the last time you saw that person she was talking about?" She asked, and I could recall the time of year perfectly, the number of days that had passed, and every second that continued to tick on.
"About two months ago." I let out in a shaky breath, a well of anxiety dumping over me. I shook it off, quickening my pace to quickly latch the harness back around my waist and waiting for Max to give the thumbs up before belaying back down to the ground.
"So what did you find?" Max asked as Gwen flew down on her swirling staff of color.
"They're all there." I answered, honestly relieved that everyone was still alive. "The snowmen took them to some kind of medical bay where they're all fine. Even the Knights that attacked."
"Well that's good." Max smiled as the elves that were circled around him chattered away. "So the next question is, how do we get them out and change everything back?"
All of us turned over towards the source of all of this, the heart of all of the Christmas magic, where the bells continued to ring out. A short beep from the omnitrix, alerted me that it had recharged just in time for the next step.
"I'll use Gray Matter and see what we're working with." I clicked the button on the omnitrix, rotating the omnitrix as I went through my options. "This machine, if it can just reshape reality, creates all of these things just from the ideas of a man in the early nineteen hundreds, it's got to be able to be redirected to get everyone back home in their own time."
There was also that music, that simple melody of bells that only I could hear. I was almost absolutely certain that this technology was from Andrea's species.
"Be careful Ben." Max said, Gwen coming to his side as I had the alien ready on the omnitrix. Pressing it down, I didn't shrink, instead I got taller. My body became the liquid technological wonder that was Upgrade.
"Really annoying me omnitrix." I glared down with my single eye at the dial on my chest, considering just using my time to tamper with it instead of the Jingleator. Maybe I could also change its name, make it something much better than what it was used as.
First to figure out what it was.
Slithering into one of the cables, I quickly followed it to the source of its power as data flowed through me. The reality around it was constantly shifting, gears and cogs of the machine floating through the expanse as its infinite engines turned. I knew it, the same remnants of Andrea's stasis pod had the same, flavor. It was impossible to translate the senses I had as Upgrade into words I knew but I quickly arrived at the power source, integrated into its telepathic interface as the bells chimed brighter.
First, I made sure of one thing. That bright star in the center of it all, it may have a mind but it wasn't another alien in hibernation. I could hear it though, it wanted to fulfill its function but didn't know how, latching onto the thoughts of others, the wishes of others, trying its best to make it happen.
It just needed direction, this machine, this…ship. It was a ship.
A ship that was rooted in the cords and songs of creation, one that could take everyone home.
I connected myself into the interface, understanding it, reshaping it according to its function and my desire. The entire thing was stretched out through the town, it had been the village for decades now, pulled by so many wishes.
Now it would heed my wish, one shared by everyone in one way or another.
They wanted to be home for Christmas.
It sang out with renewed functionality, the bright and shining star that was the center of it all creating a hexagonal console around itself as a tube erected itself in the center. The spinning cogs floating aimlessly around us now fit themselves together to be the walls of this new command center, the heart of the ship.
By the time I was finished, my vision materialized before me, the omnitrix timed out.
"Ben?!" Gwen and Max came running out from one of the hallways in this rejuvenated vessel, pausing as she entered the console room and looking around in awe.
"This is, certainly different." Max looked over to the door, the wooden door with square panels and two windows looking outside. He looked out one of them, seeing that the Rust Bucket was just outside sitting along the side of the road. "So did you figure out what the snowmen are?"
"A basic care interface experiencing an error." I answered, starting to run around the console while recalibrating the ship by hand. The knowledge of the ship was starting to announce itself, in a tender song that only I could hear.
"What, the town just, how did it all turn into this?" Gwen leaned over the main console, briefly surprised when all of a sudden a gentle warm glow left from her hands and her face, feeding back into the main rotor that rang out in the central tube. Immediately her hands went to her ears, relieved to find they were back to normal.
"The town has been incorporated into the ship for decades." I answered, standing fondly before this beautiful machine humming its tune. "It just, reshaped itself. Everyone in the town is here in one of the corridors, or rooms. Most should be in one of the adjacent rooms, the ship will lead them back here to the console room."
"Hello?" One of the elves walked in, peeking out of the entrance to one of the halls and spotting us. The moment that her eyes landed on me, they were suddenly filled with wonder. "Santa?"
"Santa?" I looked over towards one of the screens, rotating it my way so I could see my reflection. My beard was back. I always kept it under an inch but, I guess between the outfit, the blond beard, and how my Dad was always being asked to play Santa.
Giving a smile towards the elf, I held out my hand for her to grasp it. "You worked on a lot of toys for children over the years. Were there any of them that you liked a lot?"
"Um, yeah."
"Are you thinking of it now?"
"Yes."
Standing up, I quickly clicked one of the buttons among the many of them. The underside of the console opened up, a neatly wrapped gift presented on the panel. She looked at it, and back to me, silently asking permission.
"Merry Christmas." I said, the elf smiling brightly before reaching out to accept the gift. The moment she touched it, that same warm light escaped her, changing her back from the dutiful elf to the young girl that she was.
"Now then." I said as I focused on the console. "Let's get you home. All of you."
Seeing the recent input of data from her, the same energy used to keep her an elf now filling the engines, I listened to know which buttons to press, with dial to turn, and finally, the lever to make the ship sing its glory.
Across time, across space, each child and man left with a present. All of them sought to be home, to be with loved ones again, and no one dared to disturb the peace brought by the night. Not even the Knights, who arrived with greed in their hearts and sought glory and riches, forgot that special feeling that arrived every time each year.
We did it, all in one night, traveling across the world and returning them home.
Now standing in the snowfall on a particular day back in 1932, in a theme park resting in the middle of one of the hottest deserts on Earth, we watched as the last of them walked towards the anxious family members speaking with the cops, now distracted by the unusual weather that shouldn't be possible.
It was, a miracle.
"Mom!"
"Dad!"
Choruses of the children rushed to their parents as the town was draped in a blanket of white, clutching onto one another with a little goodbye gift for all of their hard work.
Finally, an old man with a cane stepped out of the ship, his grandson holding his hand as they looked onward to have a second chance.
"Thomas Jingle." I called out to him before he was out of earshot. The man looked back, healed of his wounds and fully human again. "Don't be so obsessed about giving the perfect gift that you lose the spirit of the holiday."
Or, the quote went something like that. We waved him off, standing next to the disguised ship as he rejoined the mundane yet magical experience of life.
"This was a lovely Christmas." Max said as he came to my side, giving a pat to my back. "You made a fine Santa Ben."
"Who's to say he's not Santa?" Gwen teased as she looked up at the snow that continued to fall. "I mean, giving out all those gifts to all those kids in a single night all over the world? Sounds like Santa to me."
"It was fun." I admitted, cherishing the sight I had, of everything that I had at the moment. "But I think we should get back to enjoying the summer. Today has been freezing."
"You changed the ship right?" Gwen asked for clarification before I went back inside. "Any reason you made it into a wooden blue police box?"
"It felt appropriate." I had spent many Christmases watching those holiday episodes, and the ship's telepathic circuits had responded to those happy thoughts as I was fixing it.
Going back inside, I took off the Santa styled hat and placed it on the coat rack. Letting out a sigh, I ran my fingers along the fine metal that sang a little higher at my touch. Then I saw it, the golden trail of energy seeping out of my hands.
It was my turn now, to give back what it gifted to me. I lingered, hesitated, because I didn't want to change and be Ben again. I wanted to be me. But this wasn't about what I wanted, it was about returning Gwen and Max home.
Putting in the coordinates, adjusting the necessary settings, and wrapping my fingers around the lever, I savored the last inhale of winter air before pulling it. The power flowed through it, the enchanting noise of the engines pulling us along the strings of eternity.
All while I felt myself change in more ways than one.
"Thanks for fixing the AC Ben." Max called out from the front seat as we continued our summer journey in the Rust Bucket. "Now we don't have to worry about getting too hot while heading towards our next destination."
"You're welcome." I spoke up from the back, sitting at the table with my box of various trinkets I've collected so far. The Forever Knight sword, a piece of Animo's tech, Vilgax's claw that continued to disgust me, and now its most recent addition.
"That's the ship?" Gwen pointed at the ornament I held, still shaped like that memorable blue box. "You shrunk it that much?"
"It's in power saving mode now." I answered, putting it away and back in the ten year old body of Ben Tennyson. "It spent a long time doing so much to keep that village running the way it did. While we gave a little bit of that back, it just barely allowed us to get back here. Who knows how long it will take until it's refueled, or how to even do that."
"I thought you had some kind of mental connection with it?" She questioned, to which I gave a shaky motion of my hand.
"I can understand its intentions, and Upgrade let me get a peek at what's under the hood, but that doesn't mean I know where to get the parts or where an appropriate alien gas station is." It was probably for the best. Time travel is a huge responsibility, and I had no idea what the rules were for that. I was just glad that we managed to avoid a paradox by arriving at the Holiday Village not long after the ship became active and hid itself away from the public, only to resurface years later when it was already considered abandoned.
"Ok then." Gwen tapped her fingers along the table, whatever questions in her mind throughout the experience seemingly satisfied.
Everything seemed jolly and good as I put the box away next to my collection of drone parts. Stretching my arms, I hung around the kitchen as I debated making something for dinner before Max got any ideas.
"So-" Gwen began with her voice low, delicately approaching the subject out of Max's hearing range. "-there's just one last thing I wanted to check, to make sure I got everything right."
"Shoot." I said casually, getting back into the rhythm of things and thinking that maybe I could pull off the whole life of being Ben.
"That's what you looked like before, right?" She started, making my brow arch in confusion as I turned back around.
"What?"
"Oh, nothing." Gwen smiled with innocence, staring back out the Rust Bucket's side window. "I think I've got it all figured out anyways."
"Figured what out?" I opened up the fridge, just to see what I was working at.
"Figured you out."
I nearly hit my head on the door as I jerked up, spinning around wide eyed back at her. Gwen didn't say anything, merely giving a small wink before getting up and looking inside the fridge herself.
"Think you know how to make eggnog? I've been craving it almost all day."
Gwen changed the subject, moving on as I thought I had just started to do the same.
I ended up doing the Christmas chapter, sorry if it's a day late but I think it's still appropriate the day after. Hope you liked my spin on it, and yeah the part about technically having a TARDIS was more of a self fulfilment but it's not going to be a thing for the story. I just thought between my own connection between Doctor Who and Christmas it would match my feelings for it.
If you're worried that I'll pull off more things like that in the future, don't be. While this chapter does move the story along it is just a bridge to the next big plot points.
REMINDER! I won't be using any content created outside of the original Ben 10 show. No content from Alien Force, Ultimate Alien, Omniverse, or reboot will be used. That includes aliens, abilities, plot points, lore, and just about anything not seen in the OG show.
TDL126: I don't, and I don't think the story is popular enough to warrant it. I've also never run a discord server before. I'm not against the idea, if enough people would use it I would put forth the effort to try setting one up.
Planar-Walking-Entertainment: Yep, OG Ben is gone, leaving SI-Ben all alone to deal with the consequences.
STAS74438258: Glad you felt the weight of emotions that I put into the chapter.
Chronosign: I know which episode you mean, but I'm putting it off for at least one more. I've got some other desert stories I want to visit on and a little more build up before the fight between SI-Ben and Max. Hope you enjoyed the Christmas chapter I wrote.
adamcipher0: I'm saving something like that for the Charmcaster body swap episode.
Guest: I can see logically why SI-Ben would want to learn some magic, but how would that actually benefit the story?
BetweenTheDragonsAndMe: There's too many things going on with Eon that I don't think would benefit the story. I don't have any plans for him.
Maybe a special or something.
Lucius Walker: He did yes, but just a multiverse counterpart so not really him.
Some1call4MR-E: I'm not going to be using Eon, maybe in a special but not as part as the main story. I think you'll enjoy this Christmas chapter compared to the episode.
Shisui No Akatsuki: Yes, there may be some logical reasons that Ben would normally try to learn magic. As you might remember from the last chapter, SI-Ben's nature gave him an adverse reaction to magic. I've explained it more in this chapter.
But also, what actual benefit would giving Ben magic apply to the story? Not just convenience or 'it just makes sense' but how it would serve to move the plot along in a better manner.