Can You Stand The Rain

Author's Note: Hello everybody! Welcome to my first Ben 10 fanfic! I've been a major fan of the show ever since the original series aired. Honestly, I'm surprised it took me this long to finally write something about it. Hope y'all enjoy! (Side Note: This is set in the original Ben 10 timeline, not the reboot. We don't do that here, lol.)

Intro Music: Ben 10 Original Theme

Chapter 1: Nobody

To say that it's been the summer vacation of a lifetime for Ben Tennyson, Gwen Tennyson, and Max Tennyson would be an understatement. Probably the understatement of the century, to be honest. It seemed like they had a 'villain of the week' all the time these days, but hey, that's one of the reasons why this summer has been so fun. Dangerous too.

Let's just say that today was another one of those dangerous days.

The three were enjoying their time in Miami, traveling downtown and planned to make a trip to the beach. I mean, who goes to Miami and doesn't visit the beach? Unfortunately, those hopes and dreams were crushed by the sound of a massive explosion, instantly causing the civilians to scream and run for their lives.

Time to check up on our three heroes and see how they're going to handle the situation.

"It's Hero Time!" the 10 year old Ben proclaimed, seeing the icon of Four Arms and immediately slammed his Omnitrix, a green light appearing around him. Yes, he was transforming, but…

Well, instead of becoming Four Arms, he was becoming a walking flame instead.

In mere moments, as the green light would fade away, the result of the transformation would prove that the Omnitrix would once again not listen to Ben.

He let out a groan of frustration, looking at his hands. "Heatblast…" he trailed off, sighing deeply. This has happened to him more times than he could count. "Ugh, stupid watch!"

"I'd rather trust the watch's opinion instead of your opinion any day, Doofus." This was the voice of Ben's cousin, Gwen. As far as the two getting along with each other, at least in this point of the timeline, that rarely happened.

Naturally, Ben would fire back.

"Can it, Dweeb!"

This causes their grandpa, Max Tennyson, to be the ever so peaceful bridge between the sometimes unbearable attitudes from his two grandchildren. "Guys, remember what we're doing here!"

The foe in front of them was a powerful silver haired girl called Charmcaster, who was specifically a sorceress. Seeing the group she was facing caused her to laugh out loud, shaking her head in the process. "Looks like I don't have to do any damage to you guys. You're already doing it to yourselves."

"Oh, I'll show you damage!" Heatblast decided that he's had just about enough of this, using his fire powers to make himself shoot off like a blazing rocket that headed straight for Charmcaster.

The young sorceress could only continue to shake her head in disapproval. "Charging in like that won't get you anywhere, Tennyson." She had a wide smirk on her face as she said this, beginning to unleash her counterattack. Extending her arms forward, she shouted, "Tempestus!"

As Heatblast was still heading straight for Charmcaster, he noticed that she was now able to control a large amount of water from her spell. His annoyed face described his feelings well, knowing exactly what was about to happen next. "Oh crap…"

Shooting the water at Heatblast, Charmcaster directly hit her target, sending the hothead crashing to the street and skidded across it. Looking at this whole thing transpire made Gwen's palm meet her face, while Max could only sigh.

"Nice going, Ben! You sure showed her!" The sarcasm was practically dripping all over the street with Gwen's tone, and the worst part about it was that Heatblast couldn't even say anything back to that. He made a complete and utter fool of himself. Wouldn't be the first nor the last time either.

Gwen's shouting made Charmcaster turn to her, the two rivals now getting into a stare down.

"Hope you're gonna give me more of a challenge than your cousin." Charmcaster told her, getting into a stance as her hands started to be filled with purple electricity.

Gwen got into her own stance as well. "Trust me, I plan on it," she replied seriously, her hands being charged with blue electricity.

In unison, they would shout out the same spell. Great minds think alike, it seems.

"MERCUTA VERDITIS!"

The purple and blue electric beams were shot out of Gwen's and Charmcaster's hands. It only took a few seconds for the beams to clash with each other, creating a major shockwave around Downtown Miami, the windows of the buildings beginning to crack. Eventually the glass started falling to the street, which only caused more of a ruckus with the civilians.

"Gwen! The energy from your beam and Charmcaster's is causing a lot more damage than needed right now!" Max yelled, but it pretty much fell on deaf ears since Gwen couldn't and wouldn't dare stop her attack now. That would give Charmcaster the upper hand.

"Working on it, Grandpa!" While that was true, the outcome that Gwen was seeking wasn't coming to fruition at the current moment, because both beams proved to be dead even with each other.

Charmcaster gritted her teeth, knowing that she had to add more power somehow if she wanted to come out victorious. It might drain her, but hey, the logic here was no pain, no gain. "I'll give you this much, you've actually gotten better."

At that very moment, that's when Charmcaster's lightning beam became more chaotic, adding more power as she began to push Gwen's beam back. "But I'm still more powerful than you!"

Gwen had other ideas, though.

"Maybe in your dreams!"

Just as Charmcaster pushed Gwen's beam back, Gwen retaliated by doing the same thing. Now the two were just back to square one again.

"H-Huh?!" Charmcaster surely thought she had the upper hand, but here goes Gwen showing off how much she's truly grown with her magic abilities in such a short amount of time. "There's… There's no way!"

A smirk formed on Gwen's face. "Oh, there's a way."

Knowing that the two of them weren't going to let up soon, Max knew he had to do something. These kids will be the death of him one day, he's sure of it. That's when he came up with a plan. If Charmcaster was distracted with Gwen, then that would mean there would be an opening to strike. While trying to not make it too obvious, Max would position himself to the side of the beam clash and brought out one of his Plumber guns. If he could catch Charmcaster off guard, he and his grandkids would then be able to win the fight. The Plumber gun wouldn't be used to kill Charmcaster, but it would bring a sting to her.

"Steady… Steadyyy…" Max told himself, aiming to make sure he had the perfect shot. Once everything was in order, he was about to fire.

Until his grandson decided to ruin the entire plan.

"I'm not through with you yet!" Heatblast said, coming in from the opposite direction to where Max was trying to shoot. This caught Charmcaster's attention immediately, now seeing that she would have to deal with two nuisances at once.

She would have to come up with a solution rather quickly. There was this one spell… No, she couldn't use that. It would be way too risky to try out, especially considering that it would be her first time actually using the darn thing.

Then again, her Uncle Hex did say to only use the spell during emergencies. This situation definitely fits in the emergency department.

"Guess I don't have a choice…" Charmcaster thought to herself, her face visibly getting more serious. She prepared herself for the spell that she was about to unleash, her eyes now glowing that signaled an increase in power. Ben pulled his fist back, now being centimeters away from hitting her with a fully charged flaming fist that probably wouldn't feel too great.

It was now or never.

"MEMENTOS ECALAP!"

Just as the spell was said, Ben did make slight contact with Charmcaster's face, but it wasn't enough to register as a punch. A few seconds after that, a large explosion ensued, blowing away Gwen and Max as a bright light surrounded all around Miami. Clouds of smoke followed, but as soon as they cleared, it showed a baffled Max and Gwen.

When they got back on their feet, they looked around and found out that Charmcaster was nowhere to be seen.

That was a good thing, right?

"Looks like she disappeared." Gwen said, putting her hands on her hips. Max continued to check the area to make sure she was indeed gone. Gwen did a double check. Yep, her, Max, and Be-

"Wait, where's Ben?" Max asked, his eyes and Gwen's eyes now widening at their realization. They just assumed that Ben was with them, when in fact he's disappeared too.

"Ben! This isn't the time for your stupid pranks!" Gwen called out, but when she didn't get a response, that's when she started to speak with worry. Aw, so she does care about her cousin. "Ben, I'm serious! Ben!"

Max would try his luck, but it ended in the same result as Gwen's attempts. "Ben!" he shouted.

No answer.

Max started to replay the events in his head, remembering that Charmcaster was able to spit out a spell right before Ben was able to hit her… wait…

Without a doubt, it was the spell that Charmcaster said.

But now the real question was this.

"Where could they be?" Gwen asked aloud, the two now being more confused than ever as they had a look of fear on their faces.

Ben's eyes started to flutter, groaning as he held his head. He sat up, not knowing what the heck just happened to him. "Geez… Feels like I got hit by a truck…" Though, when more of his senses started coming back to him, that's when his eyes got super big, noticing his surroundings.

One thing's for sure, he most certainly wasn't in Miami anymore.

"WHAT IN THE WORLD?!"

Ben shot up, looking around at this seemingly endless abyss he was now in. It's like he was in space, except he really wasn't. What makes this whole thing even stranger is what was keeping him up. There was one glowing path that flowed like a magical stream of water. All things considered, it looked pretty, but looking at pretty things isn't what Ben was concerned about right now.

"Can you ever shut up?" Charmcaster asked in an annoyed tone, holding her own head as she stood up. Ben turned to the sorceress, immediately pointing at her in an exaggerated manner.

"You! I know you and your magic have something to do with this!"

Charmcaster folded her arms, rolling her eyes. "And what would you do if that was the case, Tennyson? Turn into another one of your little aliens?" she taunted, Ben gritting his teeth at the response.

"So, I'm right? It was another one of your spells, huh?"

"Considering the circumstances, what else could it be?" Charmcaster was snarky with her response, groaning in frustration. "Great. You were the one that was supposed to be stuck here, but you got so close to me that my spell ended up taking both of us."

This still wasn't helping Ben in the slightest. "Yeah, yeah. I figured that out. The real question is where are we, though?"

Charmcaster took a long pause, looking at the endless abyss before them. "According to the spell, or at least what Uncle Hex told me… We're trapped in the desires of someone's heart."

Ben raised an eyebrow, his head spinning all over the place at that explanation. "Wait, wait, wait. Desires of someone's heart? Trapped? What the heck are you talking about?!"

"Can you shut your mouth for 5 seconds and listen for once?!" Charmcaster clapped back, trying to regain her composure to explain further. She was going to lose her sanity by the time this was over. "This is my first time using the spell, so even I can't say what's exactly going to happen while we're in here. But what I can say is this; I was trying to trap you in your own desires, or a better way of saying it, your own heart."

Saying this, Charmcaster pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes. "However… with us being so close to each other at the time when the spell was casted, there's a 50/50 chance that we're either inside your heart, or mine."

Judging by Ben's face, he looked like he understood more, but there was another question he had. "I mean, okay, but can't you just like… I don't know, get us out of here by saying the spell again?"

"It doesn't work like that."

"THEN HOW THE HECK ARE WE GETTING OUT OF HERE?!" shouted Ben, his blood pressure shooting through the roof.

"Did I not just say that this was the first time I ever used this spell?!" retorted Charmcaster, her blood pressure being about the same as Ben's at this point. They began to argue, but during their little argument, the pathway they were standing on suddenly became wider, showing a clearer way to take.

Charmcaster and Ben both noticed this, almost like the pathway was assisting them. Ben took a look at the path, then back at Charmcaster. "I guess if we're stuck together… Then we gotta work together."

Charmcaster instantly shot down this idea. "Nope, nope, nope! I'm not going down this path with someone as irritating as you!"

"Hey, I don't like the idea either, but since there's no clear way out, along with the fact that we have no idea what could be waiting for us, it's best if we team up for now." Ben told her, Charmcaster looking away.

This was probably the first time he's made sense all day, and Charmcaster knew that. Maybe she was overcoming the shock at him actually being logical for a change, except this is the one time where she didn't want to hear logic.

With a loud sigh, she was trying to mentally prepare herself for the journey ahead. As much as it killed her to say it, Ben was right.

With reluctance in her voice, she was able to force out her words. "Fine… But don't you dare get in my way."

Ben smirked. "Sounds good enough to me."

Agreeing to team up for now, they followed the direction the path was taking them. Getting closer and closer to their destination, the abyss slowly started to get brighter. The passing seconds and the once dark abyss turned into nothing but light, the only thing being able to be clearly seen was Ben and Charmcaster entering the unknown.

Ben and Charmcaster were transported into another area, the once dark abyss now turning into a dark purple. The glowing path they were walking on now turned into stone, and by the looks of things, Charmcaster already had her suspicions growing, her thoughts now running wild.

But that would be interrupted by Ben. "You know what would be good for us right now?" Ben paused, adding dramatic effect as they kept walking. "Since we're stuck together, we might as well have a team bonding session!"

"No." Charmcaster said, her voice being flat and having no interest in this so called 'team bonding' thing.

"Aw, come on. You know you wanna do it. Might as well get to know each other since we're here. Me and Gwen bond by throwing insults at each other."

Charmcaster would turn to Ben, her eyes and tone being cold. "Do I look like Gwen to you?"

"Uhhh… Is that a trick question?"

"Oh my God…" Charmcaster was losing it. It took every bone in her body to not unleash her unadulterated rage upon the Omnitrix wielder, especially since he compared her to Gwen in his own little way. "Please, deliver me from this hell…" she muttered, her purple aura constantly appearing and reappearing. The only thing that could be worse in her eyes right now is if she were stuck with Gwen instead of Ben.

"Alright, you're just being a grouch. I'm the one that's trying to make things less awkward around here, yet you still have this high and mighty wall up." Much to the credit of Ben, he realized how he was acting at the beginning and is now trying to make things right, even with someone that's considered his enemy.

But Charmcaster still had her own issues.

"I am not here to talk, I am not here to bond, I am only here to get out of whoever's heart we're in so we can go back to our usual lives, and I am only teaming up with you since it offers the best chance to get out of here. So, with all of that being said, if you would please shut u-!"

Before she could completely finish her statement, the path they were taking started to shake, signaling the arrival of more than a few people. Or in this case, things. As Ben and Charmcaster looked on, they saw three stone creatures appear. These were like the things that Charmcaster had, but they were a whole lot bigger compared to her dog-like ones. The ones in front of them were golem creatures, having pink and white magneta runes in their skin.

Ben was now scratching the back of his head at the sheer size of these stone creatures. "Those are yours, right?" he asked, having an uneasy laugh in between. "I don't remember em' being that big."

Charmcaster's aura was now fully lit, getting into her stance.

"They're not."

"Oh."

With the confirmation that those weren't Charmcaster's stones, Ben's hand slowly but surely made its way to the Omnitrix. Pressing the butting and turning the dial, he stopped himself until he saw the figure of Diamondhead. Slamming down on his watch, a bright green light would blind Charmcaster's and the stone creatures' eyes. The flash came and went, but when it was done, it showed that Ben had successfully transformed into Diamondhead.

"Diamond against stone. Let's see how that turns out." said Diamondhead, extending his two hands and began to fire multiple crystals at the stone creatures. Charmcaster would go on the offensive as well, shouting out, "Emocha Objectia!"

Her hands fired out two beams at ones, combining with Diamondhead's crystals as it struck the three stone creatures. With their attacks hitting right on the money, Diamondhead and Charmcaster at the very least expected to have dealt some major pain.

Unfortunately, that would be the exact opposite.

It was odd that that stone creatures only stood there and took their attacks in the first place, but the two fighters would soon find out why. The stone creatures had absorbed their attacks, which is something that the 'regular ones' in the 'regular world' shouldn't be able to do. Their colors grew brighter, and they got even bigger as a result.

Diamondhead and Charmcaster looked on in shock, officially not knowing what to do. "Could they always do that?!" Ben asked.

Charmcaster nodded. "Not to my knowledge!"

They wouldn't have much time to discuss it, though. One stone creature shot the same crystals that Diamondhead shot at them, only this time they were stronger than the ones before. Charmcaster and Diamonhead did their best dodging the crystals, but the stone creatures would continue their assault. One crystal hit Diamondhead straight in the stomach, sending him back and almost made him fall off the stone path he was traveling on. "Woah there!"

Thankfully, he regained his balance in time. When he looked down, he basically got visions of a never-ending fall, something that he doesn't want to experience anytime soon.

As for Charmcaster, she couldn't keep up her dodging forever. To her credit, she was putting up an admirable effort dodging the crystals, but the stone creatures didn't just absorb Diamondhead's attack. They absorbed her attack as well, and that would prove to be problematic for the young sorceress.

All of the stone creatures charged up an attack, their own Emocha Objectia if you will. Combining all their powers together, a large beam attack came right for Charmcaster and struck her hard. Her entire body hit the pathway, yelling in pain as Diamondhead's eyes widened. "Charmcaster!" he yelled.

But then… something would snap for the sorceress. After taking that hit, she started breathing heavily, but it wasn't because of exhaustion.

Oh no, definitely not that.

BGM: Pantera – 10's

She got up, starting to laugh in a psychotic manner. It was in a quiet tone at first, but as time passed, the laugh got louder, louder, and louder. Her eyes turned fully purple, erasing her pupils with her power continuing to rise. The entire area started to shake from Charmcaster's sudden power increase, even shocking Diamondhead to an extent. He knew that she was powerful, but this? This was a whole new level.

Her aura exploded, her body sending out a massive explosive wave of energy that pushed the stone creatures back. "TENNYSON! FOLLOW MY LEAD!" she commanded, Diamondhead being scared at the strength of her voice. He would do the right thing, nodding quickly.

"Yes ma'am!" he said, Charmcaster now speeding off with Diamondhead following her. He would jump into the air, his arms turning into crystal swords and sliced one of the stone creature's heads, slicing it in half along with the body.

Charmcaster didn't want to see any trace of that stone creature remaining, so she blasted the last bits of the body Diamondhead sliced up into smithereens. Now focusing on the other two, Charmcaster fired two ultra-powerful magic beams, striking the stone creatures with pinpoint accuracy. Clenching her fists, she forcefully made the beams explode, causing an explosion for the ages.

And this all came from Charmcaster losing her marbles.

There was nothing left of those stone creatures. Afterwards, Charmcaster's eyes returned to normal, her aura going away as she panted. That was a lot of power she put out, and it showed. Heck, it was power she never knew she had. At least, not to the lengths she showed it.

This made Diamondhead make a mental note. "Alrighty then. Rule number 1, don't make Charmcaster angry. Good to know."

It was at this moment when Diamondhead noticed something was off, however. He looked to the sky and saw a small, yet dangerous piercing beam attack headed straight for Charmcaster. All of the alarms were going off in Diamondhead's mind, running as fast as he could to her position. "CHARMCASTER, WATCH OUT!"

Charmcaster looked behind her to see the same beam that Diamondhead saw. Though, that was all she could do. Look. She didn't have the energy left to move as quickly as she wanted to.

With the girl seemingly being in a trance, she felt somebody push her out the way. That person was Diamondhead, taking the piercing beam for her straight into his chest. This immediately made him fall on his back, a red light flashing as Ben returned to normal. He was holding his chest in pain, his breathing becoming more difficult. When Charmcaster got her senses back, and saw that Ben had taken the blow for her, this caused her mind to go into overdrive mode.

Honestly, her first instinct was to check up on him, believe it or not.

"Tennyson!"

She ran to his side on full adrenaline, getting on her knees as she saw an in-pain Ben. She looked around to see where the beam came from, but there was no trace of the person or thing that shot it. Naturally, she would be on guard, but her attention would switch back to Ben. "How bad is it?"

"I've been through wor-" He couldn't even finish, grimacing while still holding his chest. When Charmcaster took Ben's hands off his chest, she was seeing some blood show through his shirt, making her eyes widen. Whoever shot this had the full intention of killing. If Ben had taken the shot while in normal form instead of being Diamondhead, then this could have turned out a whole lot worse.

"Hold still." Charmcaster told him calmly, putting her hands on his chest, trying to use the rest of her remaining power to make the pain more bearable. She wasn't a medic by any means, but she could help.

Ben's body started to have a purple aura come around it, courtesy of Charmcaster. The pain was still there, but it was decreasing. It eventually got to the point where Ben could almost sit up on his own. The almost part comes from Charmcaster helping him sit up, her hand being on his back. There was a silence between the two, but Charmcaster would ultimately be the one to break it.

"Why, Tennyson?"

Ben raised an eyebrow as he looked at her.

"Why what?"

"Why did you save me?" she asked, clarifying the question. "We're enemies."

Ben, still going through a form of pain in his chest, ever so slightly laughed at Charmcaster's curiosity. "I could ask you the same question, heh heh he- ow." he replied, referring to her helping him just now as he was still in some pain. That response made Charmcaster silent.

"But since you asked first, I couldn't let my teammate be blasted like that. What kind of teammate would I be if I let that happen?"

And here Charmcaster thought Ben was going to go on some long hero monologue. Sure, Ben being a hero was part of the reason why he saved her, but him bringing up the teammates aspect when they've only been teammates for like, 40 minutes at the most, showed a glimpse of his good nature.

He tried to stand up, but was unsuccessful without Charmcaster supporting him. "Come on, I know a place where we can rest." As she was helping Ben, she heard a voice go through her head.

"I'll see you soon."

Charmcaster stopped at the sound of the voice, catching Ben's attention and made him a bit worried. "Everything okay?" he asked, Charmcaster still trying to pinpoint the voice.

Charmcaster stood still, breaking out of her trance and focused back on recovering for both of their sakes. "Yeah. I'm fine."

With that, they walked away from the battlefield.

After their battle, Ben and Charmcaster went to a secluded area, the two now sitting down after a long, long, long day. The silence between the two continued for a bit, but something was tugging at Charmcaster to explain more to Ben. Like, she actually felt the need to talk.

"Ledgerdomain." Charmcaster spit out, catching Ben's attention. "We're inside my heart. This is a version of Ledgerdomain, my original home."

"Your original home?" Ben repeated. "What do you mean?"

Charmcaster looked down, and for the first time, Ben noticed that her eyes became quite somber. "Ledgerdomain is where Uncle Hex and I come from. It wasn't always just the two of us, though. My father and mother were still around, once upon a time. They were the best parents ever. They loved me, and I loved them."

BGM: Persona 4 – Reincarnation (Traumerei)

Charmcaster paused, replaying the events of when she lost everything in her mind. Ben noticed that this was getting tougher and tougher for her to talk about. "But one day, a threat called Addwaitya called for war against our planet. I still remember my mother's cries, the day she got murdered in cold blood, and how my father made the ultimate sacrifice for me and Uncle Hex to escape."

She didn't need to explain the ultimate sacrifice part. Ben knew what she meant.

"I lost everything that day… I wish I could take it all back and fight alongside my father. But… but…"

"Charmcaster," Ben began, "If you stayed, then you would've died too."

"You don't know that!" Charmcaster shouted, her aura appearing out of anger. "My parents put their life on the line for me, and all I could do was watch!" This is when the tears started to flow, Ben now feeling extremely bad for the girl.

"And it's not like my life turned out any better after I got to earth! I spent time in Juvenile Hall, where I got bullied every day. I had nobody. Ever since that day, I had no childhood. The only person I can rely on, the only family I have left, is Uncle Hex." As Charmcaster was venting, the tears continued to stream down her face. She noticed that she was talking to Ben about her most personal issues. Why, why was she doing this? He's her enemy!

The young Ben tried to figure out what to say. He never knew how much Charmcaster has truly gone through until now. Now all of her actions, her being with Uncle Hex, her family darn near being extinct, everything was starting to make more sense.

"I'm sorry, Charmcaster." he told her honestly. "All this time, I thought you were some typical evil person that knew magic, but now… I realize that you're not a bad person. Not in the slightest." he said, catching her attention. "You're not a bad person… You just had bad luck."

Charmcaster shook her head. "Call it whatever you want."

"I'm being serious." Ben told her, his eyes being about as honest as they could be. Charmcaster noticed this. "Even before this, I started to think you were a good person because of how you helped me. You can call yourself evil or however you want to identify yourself, but now, I understand you. Underneath all that high and mighty attitude is someone that has a good heart. You gave me proof of this when you made sure I was okay."

Charmcaster listened to Ben, but looked away when he was talking about her being a good person. She's never really had talks like this since her parents were still living.

"I'm gonna be honest, I don't want us going back to being enemies when we leave this place."

Charmcaster turned to Ben in shock. "What?"

"I feel like if you had at least one friend, that would've been the difference in your life. I want to be your friend, Charmcaster. Not your enemy. You showed me a lot about you today, and I feel like I can help. I was lucky enough to have my Grandpa and Gwen be my support when things got real tough, and it's been that way this entire summer." Ben said. "We can give you the childhood you missed out on."

Ben's statement was making Charmcaster's mind go all over the place. First of all, she never realized how kind he could be. Second… he wanted to be her friend? Wanted to be her friend? Third, was he offering her to join their group?

"Tennyson… you know I can't do that. You've made your choice, and I've made mine. Our choices put us on opposite sides. Beyond that, I can't leave the only family I have left."

"Ben," he replied with a small smile. "Call me Ben, even if you don't accept my offer."

Giving her permission to say Ben, eh? It's not like she didn't know his first name. She just simply never used it. As a matter of fact, Ben doesn't know her real name…

Eh, not the time for that.

Maybe sometime down the line.

Whether or not she noticed herself doing it, she was smiling. Ben saw this, a smirk appearing on his face. "Oh, is that a smile I see?" he teased.

This quickly made the smile go away, Charmcaster now deciding to hide her face. "I… Uh… Have no idea what you're talking about."

"Riiiiiighhht."

Ben tried to sit up, looking at all the purple that surrounded him in Ledgerdomain. Well, the Ledgerdomain in Charmcaster's heart. Not like he has anything to compare it too, anyway.

As he was looking, he heard a beeping noise. He looked at his wrist and saw that the Omnitrix was beeping, catching the attention of Charmcaster.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"I dunno. Though, what I do know is that it's annoying me when I'm trying to re-WOAH!"

The Omnitrix glowed a brighter green than usual, electricity coming around it as it engulfed Ben and Charmcaster, leaving no trace of them behind in Charmcaster's Ledgerdomain.

"Ben! Ben!" Grandpa Max and Gwen were shouting in unison, still trying to search for Ben. Well, they would certainly get him, apparently falling out of a portal and crashed landed onto the street. Gwen and Max turned around, immediately running at the sight of Ben.

"Ben! Where the heck did you go?! You had us worried sick!" Gwen yelled at him, giving her cousin her two cents.

Ben got up and rubbed his head, smirking. "Aw, you do care."

That's when Gwen punched Ben on the shoulder, giving him more pain than what he needed. "Ow!"

"Thank goodness you're alright." Max told him, sighing in relief.

Still, there was one other thing that's been bugging him too.

"Where's Charmcaster?"

Hearing that question and name made Ben quiet. As a matter of fact, how did they get back to the real world? Did the Omnitrix bring them back? Wouldn't be the first time it's done some weird crap.

"I… don't know." Ben replied, Gwen taking a look at him, her eyes widening in shock.

"And why is blood showing through your shirt?! Did Charmcaster do this?!"

Ben looked down, but then looked to the sky.

"It's a loooong story…"

He would explain it on the way as he, Gwen, and Max got into the iconic Rustbucket RV. Little did they know that somebody was watching them drive off.

Charmcaster.

"You did well today, Charmcaster. Played the distraction role perfectly, if I do say so myself." A voice said, the man having grey skin, red and black dress hood, while his face resembled a skull.

"You got what you needed, Uncle Hex?" asked Charmcaster.

"Indeed I did." Hex confirmed. "Those Tennysons didn't cause you too much trouble, did they?"

Charmcaster took a long time to reply, knowing the real answer to the question, especially with one particular Tennyson.

"Nope. Never broke a sweat."

Liar.

END OF CHAPTER 1: NOBODY

BGM: Ben 10 Credits 2005

Ben: Oh, it's preview time?

Kevin: Sure is.

Ben: Alright! On the next chapter of Can You Stand- WAIT, WHO ATE MY CHILI FRIES?!

Gwen: Ben, be focused on the preview!

Next time on Can You Stand The Rain!

An Old Flame

Charmcaster: Of course I ran into you people…

Author's Note: Well, there goes the first chapter. We're gonna be doing a bit of a timeskip and go straight to the Alien Force timeline. This is where things are really gonna kick off. As always, if you guys like what you read, leave a follow and a favorite. Don't forget to READ AND REVIEW! See ya guys next chapter!

Oh, and be sure to check out my other stories too. I have a Sonic/Avatar crossover, More Than One Lifetime. A Sonic/Legend of Korra, crossover, Don't Think Twice. A Persona fanfic. That should help in holding you guys over until the next chapter, if you're interested in those things at least, lol. Just click on my profile and start reading!