Chapter Text
Charmcaster grinned as the watch beeped red. If he's human, she's got a better chance of the spell working.
"Aww man." Ben Tennyson groaned, as he looked at the watch. "Couldn't have waited for five more seconds dude?" A soft buzz and a spark or red electricity danced on the top. "Ok, ok, I get it. Time Out is Time Out. Urgh, at least Charmcaster isn't around." He muttered. Said teenage girl smirked from the alley. She then shouted, "Transfera IDENTICA!" She yelled, and in a flash of pink magic, she was looking up at her old body, and the watch was beeping back to green.
"Yes!" She cheered, raising up her left wrist. "Alright, now. What to turn into first? That Bug thingy, or the speedy one."
"Their names." She heard a voice speak up, but it wasn't hers. It sounded like that purple pony from that damn kid's show. Mind, Charmcaster's voice sounded like that little orange and purple pony from the same show. That's weird. Why did the voices change? "Are Stinkfly, and XLR8. Now. GIVE THEM BACK!" Ben yelled, reaching for the watch, fear in his new voice.
"Mine now~" Charmcaster teased, and went to turn into something, the weird shape it had was weird and almost humanoid, but also blobby. When she slapped it, the watch just turned blue. "Uh... Is it broken?" She asked, shaking her arm.
"... You broke..." The look on the ten year old boy turned teenage girl was... Murderous. "YOU BROKE IT!" Ben reached out their left hand, as if to grab Charmcaster's left wrist, and check the watch, and then something strange happened.
"Brainwaves scanned. Transferring to Ben Tennyson's new form." The watch said in a weird voice. And then it jumped onto Ben's wrist.
"WHAT! NO!" Charmcaster yelled in defeat. "All that planning for nothing!?"
"Wh- Oh this is so not good." Ben said, looking at the now slimmer and pink watch. "I have a bad feeling about this..." He then pressed on the two buttons on the sides. "Yep, this is gonna be hell." He muttered, placing a hand to the side of his new face, as the pink glow showed one of the alien forms, but more feminine.
Ben couldn't believe his luck. First, he had to deal with all the fires and everything happening, and before that, that stupid outfit! Urgh, why did Grandpa make him wear that! Plus, now he's stuck in Charmcaster's body! HE HATES TODAY!
All that was needed was Vilgax sending some drones to try and destroy him.
"HAHAHAH! TAKE THIS MODERN WORLD!" Or a crazy nutjob that sounds like Animo's weird twin cousin. "OR I AM NOT! STEAM! SMYTHE!"
"More like Steamed Nuggets." Ben muttered, before activating the new watch. "Urgh, why do these all look girly!"
"Hello, idiot! You're in my body!" Charmcaster said, smacking Ben's new leg. "Of course you're going to get girl things!"
"But I'm not-"
"You are. At least, now you are." Charmcaster said with a shrug. "Now give it!"
"No!" Ben said, yanking his arm back from the outstretched hand. "Urgh, who's who?"
"Really? One has a tail, another has four arms, and one looks like she's made of rock. And you can't tell?" Charmcaster drawled.
"Hey, rude." Ben said poking his tongue out.
"Get to heroing, before you get us both killed you stupid girl!" Charmcaster scolded.
"Hey! I'm not a girl!" Ben huffed, pouting. "And right now, you're a boy."
"So? I don't care, this won't last for long. Once I build up my magic again, this form shall be mine to mold." Charmcaster shrugged. "You're the only one stuck."
"Urgh." Ben just shook his head, (Why did he like the feeling of the longer hair?) "Ok, eeny, meeny-"
"Do not. Do that with my body." Charmcaster said with a glare.
"Ok, ok. Fine." Ben decided on Heatblast. "At least he looks normal."
"STOP TALKING AND GET TO FIGHTING!" Charmcaster shouted. "Before we become more outdated than that man's style!"
"Yeah, yeah. It's hero time!" Ben said, before slapping down.
"Please, for the love of all Magic, never say that again."
Heatblast took off like a comet towards the villain, and Gwen blinked.
"Is it just me, or... does Heatblast look different?" She asked, as the flames seemed slightly lighter, and the watch's dial seemed to be pink instead of green.
"I wouldn't know." Grandpa said. "Too far away."
"Yeah..." She nodded. "I'm just gonna assume it's an issue with the lighting on the TV." She muttered. She watched as Ben decided to use more fire constructs rather than just firing off blasts, or punching. "It's weird, it's like..."
"He's weaker." Grandpa finished the thought. "Something's wrong."
Ben was having a hard time. Steam Smythe was just... Weird. His mech was steam-punk, but a lot of the parts were made with modern factories.
When Heatblast pointed it out to him, the man just scoffed. "A small price to pay to rebuild the world to the glory days!"
"Then it wouldn't be the glory days." Ben said confused, dodging away from a weird robot of a wolf. "It would just be the present, and nothing would be unique about it?"
"Shu- SHut up!" The man yelled, his voice cracking, and his hair frizzing out. "AND JUST GET STEAMED!" He yelled, and a weird metallic robot with a giant water-vat on its back walked forwards, and pointed one of its arms at Heatblast, and some high-pressure water shot out at him, forcing him to roll to the side.
"Idiot! Change forms!" Charmcaster yelled from the side.
"I would if I could!" Ben yelled back with fear in his voice. "But I don't know how!?"
"Tap the watch again! Go that weird Techno-guy!" Charmcaster suggested.
"OH, fantastic idea!" Ben hollered back. "Let me just, boop!" He slammed his palm onto the watch, and he changed.
Into Upgrade.
"WHAT THE!?" His voice was back to the one he had when in Charmcaster's body, but with the weird Techno-filter that often went over it. "Woah..." He glanced at himself.
Despite the body being slightly feminine, it... wasn't bad? Upgrade now had a mostly purple body, and the green lines that covered his body were now pink, as was his eye. While the figure of his form was now a little more curvy, it was pretty much the same. "Upgrade?" He asked. "I mean, I guess so!" He smiled, and the eye went anime-esc in how it curved into a happy eye.
"What in the steamworks!?" The man asked, and Upgrade melted into a puddle to dodge a blast of water, and then went along the ground to a motor-bike, and absorbed it.
"Now get ready for the modern day!" Ben laughed, as it transformed.
In it's place was a feminine and humanoid shape. (Which... Urgh, more girly things? But Ben wasn't complaining this time... Too much.) There were some wing like spikes out her back, and her arms were pretty normal, with some of the plastic body almost like armor, and some gears and sharp edges exposed, and her 'hands' were like claws. She couldn't tell you where everything came from, so don't ask. Her torso was pinched near the waist, and her head was slimmer, and she had a helmet on, and a face that shoes her one eye in the middle. Her legs were pretty slim at the top, with more plastic armor at the bottom near her feet, with the tires in them, and some big spikes on the knees, giving her more protection and a weapon.
"Now this is an upgrade!" She laughed.
"What the-" Charmcaster blinked. "You know what? I'm suddenly glad I didn't get that watch. Seems like a headache." She muttered, and Ben turned his attention back to Smythe.
"DON'T IGNORE THE PAST!" Smythe yelled, making his weird squid-mech thing try to attack Ben.
"AND DON'T FEAR THE FUTURE!" Upgrade yelled back, as they raked their claws against the side of the tendril, as she ran towards the carriage. She dodged the weird water-robot thingy, and went back into bike-form, and drove up another tendril that tried to crush them. "Missed me!" She laughed, before going over the squid's head, ad turned back into the bot form. "Here we go!" She punched down, as she started to fall, breaking the vat on the back, and a lot of steam started to escape.
"No! No! No!" Smythe yelled. "I WAS SUPPOSED TO WIN!"
"Yeah, let's just say. You're outdated." Upgrade said, before rushing away.
Ben breathed heavy as he transformed back, and looked at Charmcaster. "Give me back my body." He said again, more desperate this time.
"I can't." Charmcaster shook her head. (His head. His body. He wants it back!) "Your body is... It's weirdly Anti-Magic." She said with a shudder. "I'm needing to detox it, then after a few weeks, maybe even a month or two, the magic build-up would be enough to change us back, or if there was more of the ingredients for us to use, then we could. But there isn't."
"Urgh." Ben groaned, and then sat down. "I hate you."
"Feelings mutual, Ben." Charmcaster muttered. "How do you even know how to use those forms?" She asked.
"It's easy, it's just me." Ben grinned. And then heard a certain man shout.
"STAY AWAY FROM MY GRANDSON!" Grandpa yelled, and then punched Ben in the face, causing him to tumble into a crate.
"Ow." He muttered, rubbing his jaw. "You hit hard." He blinked, steadying himself on the crate. "Wow." He muttered. And then got another punch, and then slammed into the crate. "Can you stop, please?" Ben muttered with a whimper.
"Hey, don't-" Charmcaster spoke up, but then Gwen held up the left (Bare, it's so weird to see it. It's slightly less tanned now. Weird) arm. "Oh come on." She muttered.
"She stole the watch!" Gwen yelled, pointing at Ben.
"Wait, I didn't-" Ben said, waving his hands in front of himself, before Grandpa picked up a crate, and chucked it at him. "Aww man." He muttered, before it hit his face, and shattered.
Ben blocked another punch, and then dodged another. "Hey, Grandpa! Stop!" He pleaded.
"Give my grandson back his watch!" Was all Grandpa said.
"I've never seen Grandpa like this before." Gwen breathed.
"I'm not wanting to fight you." Ben said, and then raised his left arm. "But you're not giving me much choice!" He went to turn into Four-Arms just so he could restrain Grandpa without hurting him, but said old man grabbed the watch before Ben could press the silver buttons on the side, and suddenly a giant flare of pink light washed over everyone, and Grandpa was thrown back.
"Grandpa!" Two feminine voices yelled, and the white-haired grandchild reached him first.
"Why are you-" Gwen blinked at Ben. "Wait..."
"Yeah, we swapped bodies. No, neither of us are too happy about it." Charmcaster spoke up. "Now we better go before the cops show up and arrest... Well, me." She muttered, gesturing to Ben.
"Fine. But you're explaining soon." Gwen seethed, as Grandpa was now leaning on Ben's shoulder.
"How in the hell are you doing that?" Charmcaster muttered staring in wonder. "I wasn't that strong."
"No clue." Ben muttered. "Come on."