23rd Times a Charm?

Fourty-six Divided by Two

"What's with all these grand entrances, man?" Prime scoffed. "Who are you? Have we met?"

"What up?! It's Ben 46, I ain't here for no tricks! Imma counterpart of Ben 23! That's why we look the same, ya see?!"

23's face lit up and jumped out of bed. He fist bumped his counterpart and smiled, leaving Prime in utter confusion.

"It's you! Oh man, it's been five years, dude! Been high-key missing ya all this time, no cap!" 23 laughed.

"Just decided to see ma bro, man. I mean, fourty-six divided by two is you, man! How's you been since we met? I hope you been doin' okay, homie." Ben 46 lowered his voice in concern. "I heard not-so-good so I came da check. Ben X did a number last time, but we can take 'em. By the way, you be lookin' different."

"Yeah. You're right. And yeah, things sorta change. But not to Ben X. He's back and he's after my Omnitrix." 23 said bluntly. "Oh, and here's Ben Prime, my mentor."

"You got a mentor, man?! That's lit! What's up, brother?" Ben 46 reached in for a warm handshake. "Call me whatever, even 46. Benjamin Jaxon Tennyson, atcha service!"

"Um, the pleasure's mine?" Prime hesitantly returned the handshake, growing a crooked smile.

"So like, why after your Omnitrix, man? Doesn't that numbskull have his own?" 46 flipped his long, curly hair out of his face. "And also, you okay man? You look like you came back from the dead to take a walk in the park!"

"Uh..." 23 looked at Prime, who immediately understood what he meant.

"Gotcha. I'm gonna go tell the others before Paradox thinks I messed up the timestream again."

23 watched his mentor walk out of the door and close it. Then 46 focused his attention onto 23, who seemed to hesitate to talk.

"You know bro, you ain't alone. There was this time a mega-crazy dude went wild and attacked my aunt!"

"Oh man, s'she okay?"

"I hope so bro. Where ever she is."

23 fell silent at 46's reply. He took a long, frustrated sigh, and then opened up.

"Remember when you helped Gwen fight Ben X after...I was down?" 23 looked at 46, who responded with a nod. "And it was when I had lost grandpa and I didn't see what happened later. I thought I didn't remember."

"Yeah, homie. The Docs said you didn't remember nothin', but he also said something could trigger your memories to...oh man. Don't tell me."

"Fine. I won't. But Ben X is after me, and it's dragging everyone into this mess. How d'we stop 'em? He came back as if he's had the best vacay in the world!" 23 yelled, but almost laughing at his last remark.

"Beats me. Hey, how 'bout we talk about this with your...uh...?"

"Counterparts."

"Yeah, those. And-"

46 jumped when the door creaked open and within a millisecond, all of the "counterparts" fell out of the door on top of each other in the most crooked manner.

"Uh...hey?" The 10-year-old 23 widely smiled with a crooked grin, which was almost spine-chilling.

"You...have been spying on me? What gives?!" 23 scolded. 

"You spied on yourself. But get real! You're not telling your friends something. You're hiding something from them."

"Why would- ngh!" 23 held his head and clenched his teeth.

"Ben?" Prime ran to the young teen who seemed to have the worst migraine in the world.  He grabbed his younger counterpart by his slim shoulders and gently shook him. "Dude, what's wrong?"

23 kept his eyes tightly shut before opening them to reveal his eyes. Cyan. Glowing.  After a few intense minutes, 23 closed his eyes. He then opened them to reveal his reverted, sapphire blue eyes. He looked at Paradox, then to Azmuth, who had just walked in on the scene.

"Azmuth! Gwen needs help! She sent me a telepathic message! And-"

"Woah woah woah, hermano. Chillax. You do realize ain't no body got a clue whatch'you goin' on about except me! ...And the... pequeñito you over there." 46 pointed his thumb at the younger 23. "You gotta take it easy and explain it to 'em. That way, they could help ya!"

"Alright so...don't freak out..." 23 lowered his head to think. "But..."

"Like we haven't been freaking out already, doofus." Gwen 10 scowled. "Surprise us."

"Fine." 23 scoffed and turned his head away, as if he were offended. "My Gwen just sent me a message through her powers, but here's the deal. She's an alien, I'm a hundred percent human, but after our encounter at this cursed temple we saw when I was 8, before I got the Omnitrix, I started to get powers too. But like, I can't use my powers because somehow the Omnitrix malfunctions when...when...Ben!"

23 grasped 46's shoulders and tightened his grip on them as he spoke, which startled 46. "Do you know what this means?! The...the dude! Ben X! He's not after my Omnitrix! He's after my powers! He can only get to my powers if he removes the Omnitrix! He saw what my powers could do that day!"

Everyone else fell silent, but the "pequeñito" 23 spoke up. 

"Psh! These people drop their jaws on the ground like they've never heard anything more strange."

"Wait. So Ben X is after your powers. Then what was the "telepathic message" you were talking about? And why isn't Ben X after Gwen's powers instead?" 10k folded his arms. "What is it that your powers have that Gwen's doesn't?"

"I dunno, maybe common sense." The younger 23 hissed.

"Well maybe if you weren't such a doofus and threw it into a river!" Gwen 10 clenched her fists and frowned.

"And the noble peace prize goes to Gwen Tennyson, for being the biggest dweeb in ancient history!" 

"Since when do little hamsters get to talk? Science experiment gone wrong on this rodent?!"

"Enough!" A deep voice roared and echoed through the room. It came from 10k. 

"Right?! Did you even think to notice Ben 23 leave the room? The chico's mega angry, dudes! This is just gucci!"

Everyone's heads darted back and forth to look for the 15-year-old. He was nowhere to be seen.

"Maybe if...huh? The door...?" The younger 23 shook and banged the door. "It won't budge!"

"Things just couldn't get any-"  Prime stopped to think about what he had just said. All eyes fell on him. He knew exactly what he had said, and what would happen next. So did everyone else.

...

"Worse?"