Omnitranyl (Ben 10 Alien Force)

Gwen didn't decide this on impulse. She went over everything as carefully as time would allow, but unfortunately there was no way. If there was anything beyond the boundaries of science that could help Ben, it would be in the library.

"Hi, Charmcaster."

Gwen waited for some response from her arch-nemesis. However, Charmcaster remained seated, with her back to Gwen, concentrating on her notes.

In movies and cartoons, it is common to depict the voices of conscience as two opposing figures who counter-argue with each other. In Gwen's case, at this moment the voices of her conscience could be represented by a huge organized crowd shouting "Don't do it! It's going to be trouble!" and holding a banner written "It's going to be wrong and I told you so!"

Still, she felt she needed to try.

"Charmcaster, it's me-"

She interrupted her speech just as the image of Charmcaster began to fade into a violet haze. An illusion! Just as suddenly, Gwen felt a presence behind her about to attack her.

Gwen leaped forward, followed by a somersault, dodging the violet beam that passed over her. As she completed the movement, she stopped with one knee on the ground. She turned to the corridor with the bookshelves and watched the villain approach with a staff in hand.

"Gwendolin... Haven't you ever been taught that it's rude to break into other people's houses?"

"Charmcaster, I didn't come here to fight!"

"You should have thought of that before you entered without permission!" Charmcaster points her staff toward Gwen and fires another bolt of lightning.

Gwen again dodges the projectile, just inches short of hitting her shoulder. The organized crowd of her conscience was in a frenzy: We told you so! We told you so! They were never more right about her being wrong!

Charmcaster takes out of her bag two small spherical statuettes and throws them on the ground, then invokes:

"Petrus movidious!"

The statuettes begin to grow in size and change shape, like an armadillo ball unfurling, until they become two stone golens about two meters tall.

"Charmcaster, listen to me-"

"Finish her off," she said at last.

Gwen began to run away through the corridors of the library. The golens followed behind, destroying tables, chairs, bookshelves, books, everything in their path.

A table was thrown in front of the girl, forcing her to change direction at the last moment.

A golem comes out from behind one of the bookshelves and sets up a punch against the floor. Gwen slips and passes under the creature's legs. The impact of the punch makes the whole ground shake.

She quickly gets up and goes on the run. The creatures roar makes the air vibrate violently.

Damn! thought Gwen. If I had my magic, these monsters would be rubble by now! But, wait a minute...

Gwen stopped running.

She turned and faced the creatures that were chasing her. Like huge tractors, they were leaving a trail of destruction behind them. Yet she didn't move.

The ground trembled.

The roars made the whole structure of the library vibrate.

The golens bumped shoulder-to-shoulder, competing with each other to see who would win the race and crush the human once and for all.

And Gwen didn't move.

They were getting closer and closer.

Closer.

Gwen stood her ground, not showing a single trace of hesitation.

Closer.

Closer!

And they went through Gwen's body without doing her any harm.

If you think about it, you will see that it makes perfect sense that Gwen cannot use magic. Magic is a physical thing. An interaction between energy and the surrounding environment. Except that she is not in the surroundings, much less in the library. At least not physically.

The creatures looked strange, expecting more screams, blood or at least some broken bones, but there was none of that. On the contrary. Their victim remained standing as if nothing had happened. The stone golens again started to attack the teenager. They punched, kicked, slammed into the ground and made craters in the library floor, but the feeling was that they were always hitting the air.

Gwen walked towards the Charmcaster calmly, while the stone creatures insisted on trying to hit her. The girl's image vibrated like a hologram with interference with each attack, but that was all. A few meters short of reaching the villain's position, Gwen stopped and faced her.

"Stop!" shouted Charmcaster. It was a waste of time trying to hit an astral body.

The creatures ceased their futile efforts and positioned themselves behind their mistress, still not understanding what was happening.

"What do you want, Gwen?"

"I need your help."

"No." And she slammed her staff on the ground. A violet light covered the room.

Gwen put her hands to her eyes because of the excessive brightness. She could see nothing but violet. When her vision returned to normal, she realized that she was back in the Medical Wing of the Plumber Headquarters.

"Argh, how I hate her!"

Gwen fixed her posture again for meditation, disciplined her breathing, and concentrated again.

Her mind went back to the Charmcaster Library.

The enchantress was using magic to reverse the destruction in the library. One golem was lifting a bookcase, the other was carrying a pile of books back and forth.

"Charmcaster!" said Gwen.

"You again, girl!"

"Yes, I'm not happy about it either, but I need your help!"

"I already said no."

"You haven't even heard what my request is!"

"You're right. Go ahead."

"Thank you." Gwen smiled faintly. There was hope! "There are two da-"

Charmcaster taps her staff on the floor. Violet light. Gwen is back in the Medical Ward.

"Aaaah, how I want to break her face!" Gwen paced the room from side to side. "Make her swallow that staff!"

"Young lady, excuse me" A nurse appears at the door of the room "We are in a medical area, I'm going to ask you to please control the pitch of your voice."

"I'm sorry..." she said embarrassed.

The nurse nodded and closed the room door.

Look at the kind of humiliation she puts me through! - she thought.

With the silence, Gwen heard the beeping of the medical equipment again and looked at her cousin. Calm was needed. There are more important things at stake right now than her pride.

Gwen sat back in her escort chair and resumed her astral projection magic. Position. Eyes closed. Concentrated mind. Space. Time. Dimensions.

***

"Come on creature, lift that bookcase!" Charmcaster was coordinating the repair work. "No, I said, Terka magic books on that bookshelf!"

With her staff, she repaired the craters on the floor, moved objects back to their original position, made shattered vases go back in time and "un-shatter" themselves. In a matter of a few minutes, the library was back to its natural state.

"Perfect!" She looked at the fruits of her labor with pride "There, my children, now come back."

The golens began to reduce in size and to twist their own shape back into the appearance of a stone sphere, big enough to fit in one hand. Encantriz picked up the two spheres from the ground and placed them in her bag. As she closed the zipper, she said:

"You just don't give up, do you, girl?"

Behind her, Gwen stood watching her.

Charmcaster looks at the young woman. Her gaze wandered over Gwen's face, analyzing every inch of her face: the closed and tense mouth, the beads of sweat running down her temple, her eyes... She knew those eyes.

The villain revisited her memories. For a few moments, as she looked at Gwen it was as if she was looking at a younger version of herself. She knew that expression. That look. That pain.

"Okay, whatever," she said, turning her gaze and waving a hand as if to scare away thoughts. "You can use the books. Just point to some and the library will help you read them."

Gwen smiled.

"Thank you," she said.

Charmcaster didn't answer. She just walked down the corridors of the library to continue her studies.

You should give up, Gwendolin, she thought, believe me, it's less painful...