Lucky Girl


 * This article is about the episode. For the character the episode is named for, see her alter ego Gwen Tennyson.

Lucky Girl is the tenth episode of Ben 10.

Plot
The episode starts in a witchcraft museum. Ben is looking through a tribal mask while Gwen and Grandpa Max are with an old, female tour guide. The guide is describing a book in a display case called the Archamada Book of Spells, said to contain exceedingly strong and powerful ancient spells,rituals, witchcrafts, and incantations dating back to the sixteenth century. As the guide explains this, Gwen repeats her word for word. The guide says that maybe Gwen should work at the museum. After she walks off, Ben makes Gwen feel better by saying that she's probably older than the book itself and makes a face to illustrate that fact. Gwen laughs at this. All of a sudden, everyone is suddenly lifted off the ground and pinned to the ceiling. Grandpa Max makes the obvious observation that this isn't part of the tour. From a window, a stream of red smoke passes through and materializes into a man wearing a red-and-black-colored robe. He carries a wooden staff with a bird's head and a necklace with dozens of magical, and mystical charms on it. As he breaks the bookcase with a verbal spell and calls the book to him, he says that all of its immense power will soon be his. With the magician focused on the book, Ben prepares to activate the Omnitrix. Before he can do so, however, the man cancels whatever force was pinning them to the ceiling, causing them to plummet uncontrollably. Luckily, Ben is able to transform into XLR8 and get ahead of them. He ties off a large hanging banner to act as the slide, catching everyone before they end up on the ground. He orders them all to go outside. Grandpa Max warns him to be careful, since he does not know what the magician could be capable of.

Running off to fight the magician, XLR8 finds that he is quite dangerous. The magician's name is Hex, but this is never mentioned aloud. By speaking a few words, Hex is able to light the banner on fire and have it chase XLR8. He also fires a barrage of red-colored crystals from his staff at XLR8. Neither succeeds in stopping him. When XLR8 tries to face Hex head on, he's met with a bright light from Hex's staff, causing him to slide by and slam into some cases on the wall. As Hex turns to finish him off, he's hit with a couple of trash cans. Gwen and Grandpa Max are the source of them, though they regret doing so in hindsight. He uses his power to throw them across the room. Luckily, XLR8 gets back up and surprises Hex, encircling in a blur of motion and hitting him until he loses consciousness. During the fight, one of the charms is knocked away. XLR8 collects it as a souvenir. When Grandpa Max congratulates XLR8, he says he only did what he needed to do and kept it low key. He then does the complete opposite of the latter by allowing people to film him outside the museum while he calls himself a hero. As they take pictures, Hex is carted off in an ambulance.

In the RV, Gwen is complaining about Ben getting all the attention when she had helped. Ben tries to say that being a hero isn't about getting attention, but Gwen points out his earlier display while in front of the cameras. Grandpa Max says that he noticed Gwen, but he's family so he doesn't count. Ben points out that throwing a trash can doesn't exactly qualify as hero work, but Gwen says that the Omnitrix is the only thing that makes him a hero and gets him all the cool souvenirs. She'd be the hero if she found it. As a peace offering, Ben gives her the charm he got from Hex. Grandpa Max hints at Gwen to thank Ben, and she does, but she still calls him just plain lucky.

In the ambulance, an EMT is monitoring Hex. One of his charms suddenly glows bright yellow and wakes him. Upon regaining consciousness, he blows out the back of the ambulance and floats off, claiming that his destiny will be fulfilled.

In a restaurant, the trio are eating crawfish. By this time, Gwen has made the charm into a necklace. Down to just one crawfish, Gwen claims that Ben has had more than her. When he tries to take it anyway, she knocks the fork out of his hand, causing her charm to glow bright yellow at the same time. What happens next is a completely improbably series of events. The fork hits a waitress in the foot, causing her to toss the glasses on her tray in the air. One of the glasses catches on a chandelier, causing it to spin. The glass is then tossed into the kitchen; disrupting the cook and making him run into a cart with a bowl of raw crawfish. The cart then rolls back into the table that Ben and Gwen are sitting at, sending the bowl of crawfish straight to Ben's head. Gwen collects the last crawfish and eats it. As Ben tries to clean the other crawfish off, one crawls up his nose. Gwen and Grandpa Max get a good laugh out of this. Gwen also notices her bright yellow glowing charm, which goes dark just afterward.

At the witchcraft museum, Hex is sorting through all of the books looking for the Archamada Book of Spells. While he does this, the guard is stuck floating in the air. Unable to locate it, he questions the guard. The guard points him to the vault. With little effort, the door is torn from its hinges. Hex then takes the book and tries to absorb its immense powers and abilities into himself, but cannot. He then realizes that one of the charms is missing, stolen by XLR8 during their battle.

At a street market, Gwen and Grandpa Max get a good laugh at Ben's expense. Gwen thanks Ben for the charm again, and then decides to get something for him, so she walks over to a hot dog cart. Before she can get anything, she hears a old woman saying that someone stole her purse. The culprit appears fairly quickly, being a street thug with a couple of buddies. Grandpa Max stops them in their tracks. They aren't intimidated and close in on him. One of them also focuses on Gwen's charm. Ben is behind the hot dog cart, trying to activate the Omnitrix and turn into Diamondhead. Unfortunately, it won't cooperate. Since he can't use it, he pushes Gwen out of the path of the thug. Her charm lights up again, and another sequence of improbable events follow. Gwen stumbles back into a juggler on a unicycle. He falls over, sending the unicycle into one of the thugs. The distraction allows Grandpa Max to grab the one that was after Gwen and get him in a headlock. Getting up, Gwen heads back to help. She steps on a mustard container, spraying mustard in the hot dog vendor's face. He in turn pushes his cart away while grabbing at the mustard, causing it to hit the other thug. One of the thugs attempts to get up, but a flowerpot on a balcony above suddenly falls over and lands on him. With the incident over, the old woman calls Gwen a hero. She's not quite sure of that at first, just calling herself lucky, but gets an idea when she sees a mask shop.

At the RV, Ben and Grandpa Max are sleeping, even though it's the middle of the day by now. Grandpa Max is snoring rather loudly, so Ben looks to Gwen, who happens to be missing. She is in a basketball court with the charm active, tossing a basketball at the hoop behind her without looking. The ball does not even hit the basket, but yet another series of improbable events leads it directly to the net. Gwen implies that she's done this several times already. Ben takes the ball and asks how she managed to do the earlier trick. She says that the glowing charm caused it. Grandpa Max wakes up at this point, asking them if they want breakfast. Just then, at a nearby construction site, an explosion causes the cables on a lift to begin to break, leaving two workers stranded high above the ground and hanging by a thread. Ben figures that it's time to help, but is interrupted by Gwen, who figures she should help and takes off. Ben ignores this and transforms into Wildmutt.

As Wildmutt heads off to save the workers, Grandpa Max finds another person trapped in his truck by a giant steel bar. Gwen then shows up, dressed in a purple jumpsuit and a strange mask, calling herself Lucky Girl. Using the incredible power of the charm, she's able to rescue the man simply by jumping on a nearby wooden board. The board hits a demolition crane which drops its large wrecking ball, knocking the bar away. The bar sets off an elevator in the process. Wildmutt has made it to the workers by this point, but the elevator catches him and sends him flying. He breaks it into pieces when he falls back down, which heads straight for Gwen. She is warned by Grandpa Max and dodges the falling debris, eventually finding her way to a cement truck. She accidentally releases the brake, causing it to roll back and hit a large metal chute. The chute hits Wildmutt, who's clinging to a rope, and sends him into the cement. At the same time, the chute lands in the perfect position for the workers to slide down it. There's a nice cushion already in place for them to land on.

With everyone saved, Wildmutt climbs out of the cement and shakes himself off. Gwen is being interviewed by reporters, who're asking her just how she rescued everyone. She's not the least bit modest about it, saying she did it with luck. She then repeats XLR8's earlier statement while waving at Wildmutt. Wildmutt just walks away disappointed. Meanwhile, in another part of town, Hex is searching for his charm. He catches the report about Lucky Girl on television, and sees his charm around her neck.

In the RV, Gwen has cross-referenced magical mystical charms and the Archamada Book of Spells. She finds that her charm is one of the five Charms of Bazel, specifically, the one for luck. The others are fire, levitation, reincarnation, and one other unnamed charm (which could for lightning and electricity). It is said that all five charms are required for all of the spells and incantations to be used all their full power and potential. Upon hearing this, Grandpa Max thinks that they should turn the charm in to the museum. Both Ben and Gwen would rather not, though for different reasons. Ben wants to try it out for himself. Gwen wants to remain a superhero.The two get into a quick fight about how it is not really them doing the work, but rather their respective items. A news report cuts them off. It seems that a famous haunted house museum has come to life, trapping dozens of visitors inside. The trio head there at once.

At the haunted house, Ben gets ready to help. Once again, he's cut off by Gwen. As the three head inside, things are exactly as what the reporter said. Most of the house is alive by this point, moving about randomly and endangering the people within. Hex is there too, having set up the whole thing to lure her. He continues to bring the house to life in an attempt to get the charm from Gwen. His efforts only end up badly for Ben, who indirectly becomes the target of most of the debris flying about. Ben gets under the stairs and transforms while Gwen tries to rescue the people on the balcony. Hex continues his magic, causing Gwen to be stranded on a pillar. The people on the balcony have now been moved to the middle of the room and are about to fall. One actually does, but Grandpa Max catches her. Fourarms then shows up to catch the balcony before it tips over completely. As he holds on to it, Gwen goes to save them, rocking the pillar so she can grab onto the chandelier in the middle of the room. She then swings to the people so they can grab it, as well. As they swing back to safety, Fourarms is tossed away by the swinging balcony, nearly hitting the woman that Grandpa Max saved in the process. Meanwhile, the chandelier that Gwen and the others are hanging from collapses under their weight. Again, the charm keeps that from being a problem, since the wire that is connected to it stops it just before they hit the ground. The last of the people run out of the house just as Hex seals it.

With the house sealed, Hex restrains Gwen with yellow-colored magical mystical energy and tosses her across the room, demanding that she give up the charm. As is expected, the charm turns the situation in her favor, causing her to land on a curtain. The curtain then falls on Hex and tips over a suit of armor. With him out of commission, Gwen says that he should have said please and runs off. Hex gets up right after and follows. Gwen eventually ends up in a study with no way out. Again, the charm guides her, leading her to a switch for a secret door. As she heads down the passage, Hex follows. Meanwhile, Fourarms and Grandpa Max are following them shortly behind.

Within the passage, Gwen and Hex end up in the catacombs of the house. Hex finds her rather quickly, but the charm once again allows Gwen to escape. This time, she leans on a stone and knocks it out of place, dropping the roof on Hex. He shields himself and continues to chase her. As he tries to blast her, Gwen's charm drags her to the floor, making an opening for her that leads into the graveyard.

In the graveyard, Gwen tries to hide behind a tree. Unfortunately, Hex has thought ahead and uses some branches to restrain her. Her charm does no good this time, and Hex takes it from her. He then completely seals her within the branches. Fourarms pulls them off of her after a short period of time. They then look for Hex, who's floating in the middle of the graveyard. With all five charms now in his possession, as well as the Archamada Book of Spells, he starts attacking the city with lightning and a rather large swirling vortex in the sky. Fourarms interrupts before he can do any major damage, tackling Hex into a nearby mausoleum. Annoyed, Hex brings some of the animal statues to life - two gargoyles (one small, one large) and a Minotaur - to attack Fourarms. The statues prove to be somewhat effective, succeeding in taking Fourarms away from the scene. As Hex starts to recast his earlier spell, he's hit in the knee with a rock. Gwen and Grandpa Max are on the ground. Gwen tells Grandpa Max that luck only takes you so far, and then throws another rock at Hex. This one hits him directly between the eyes, knocking him unconscious and causing him to fall to the ground below.

Even with Hex out cold, his magic persists in the stone creatures. The smaller gargoyle tries to attack Gwen and Grandpa Max. Grandpa Max lifts up a large pipe with some cement attaches and hits the creature with it, reducing it to dust. Meanwhile, Fourarms is tossing around the two larger ones. The larger gargoyle is tossed into a wall, destroying it. Fourarms then gets the Minotaur in a headlock. He squeezes until its head breaks apart. With the creatures out of commission, Gwen retrieves Hex's charms. When Hex finally wakes up and notices this, Fourarms grabs him and throws him into a coffin. Grandpa Max then shuts the lid on it. Gwen, still holding the charms, thinks that she could be literally unstoppable with the five Charms of Bezel. She then goes back on that, saying that she could just be herself. She picks up a nearby shovel and smashes the charms, releasing blue-colored energy into the sky, creating a short light show.

When Hex is finally let out of the tomb, the police are there to arrest him. As the trio drive off in the RV, Grandpa Max says that Ben and Gwen make a good team. Gwen isn't happy that she lost her powers, and asks Ben to tell her that she did a good job. He does so reluctantly, and then says he never will again. Gwen says that he no longer has to, and then plays a recording of it over and over for him. She laughs as he tries to cover his ears and the episode ends.

Major events

 * Hex is introduced.
 * The first appearance of the Arcamada Book of Spells & the Charms of Bezel.

Characters

 * Ben
 * Gwen
 * Grandpa Max

Villains

 * Hex

Aliens used

 * XLR8
 * Wildmutt
 * Four Arms

Errors

 * There are only four charms seen in the computer screen.
 * Although Grandpa Max quickly corrects himself when calling Lucky Girl by her real name, he never does so with Ben. In fact, aside from the first episode, Grandpa Max always calls Ben by his real name regardless of the situation.
 * Even though Ben only says it once, the cassette recording plays continuously "Gwen...you did a good job." This shouldn't happen as cassettes only record what they hear as its said.
 * When Hex revives in the ambulance, the stone to the right of the glowing Reincarnation Charm is the Luck Charm - which Gwen has at that time. Therefore it should be missing from the necklace, but there it is.

Trivia
1. Minotaur: a half-man, half-bull monster 2. Gargoyle: a demonic-like winged-creature 3. An unnamed horned demon, possibly a Chimera: a fire-breathing monster with the heads of a lion and a goat, and a snake for a tail
 * Running gag: Hotdog carts are always knocked over
 * The three stone creatures that Hex brings to life are:
 * The trio's tenth stop is New Orleans.
 * All of the souvenirs and gifts Ben has received previously throughout the season reappear in this episode, including Dr. Animo's Transmodulator, the hoverboard Tetrax gave him, and the pictures that he and Gwen took at Sparksville.
 * This is the first episode where Ben hasn't transformed back into human form on-screen. Also, the Omnitrix doesn't give a warning signal at any time during the episode.
 * This is the first time in the series Ben has went alien three times (although he was trying to go Diamondhead).