Greetings and salutations once again, man-sters and ghouls! I am back once more from the dead, this time time bring you the wonderful one-shot series I have promised you.
Now, everytime I post a chapter, I will reset the poll on my profile asking for which ghoul I should write about next; the winner of the previous poll will not be deleted from the list, meaning you can vote for that same ghoul again to get another one-shot chapter starring them.
I will post the chapter containing the winner of the poll within a couple of days, but I believe some explanations are in order.
So sit back, enjoy the story, and leave your comments, reviews, suggests, and requests down below!
Onwards!
C.A. Cupid sighed as glumly stirred her tea with a spoon; most passerby would assume that the young deity in training was merely bored out of her mind. The long school hours of Ever After High had finally ended after what seemed an eternity and released its student populace to go about and do as they pleased while the teachers rested after a long day of educating the next generation of Fairy Tales and graded papers. While most students were either working in their dorms on the mountains of homework that had been shoved onto them, shopped around the Village of Book End, or worked at their various jobs and positions in the village. What was really eating away at Cupid however, were the couples.
Everywhere she looked, she saw couples talking, eating, even kissing every now and then; Hunter and Ashynn sat at one table, somewhat oblivious to the outside world as they starred lovingly at each other and shared a cup of organic coffee together as Daring showed off his bright and dazzling smile to a group of girls that all fainted at the sight while the young Prince Charming admired himself in a mirror. It seemed everyone was having luck at finding love of some degree; even Dexter and Raven had gone on a few dates together, just to try it out. And this was what was bugging Cupid.
She knew that, as the Daughter of Eros, her job was find and make others fall in love with one another. But was it so much to ask for someone to fall for her, to tell her that they loved her and be held in another's arms and feel their lipss brush against hers as they kissed? Appearently, it was a little much to ask for, because no one had even taken notice of her; even her crush, Dexter Charming, had only acknowledged her as a friend at the most and not something more, something that tore her heart in half. She couldn't really hate Dexter nor Raven for her heartache, but it just hurt her even more when she saw Dexter talking to Raven in the hallways or caught sight of the two all dressed up and on their way to another date.
The sad thing was, even though she had given her heart to Dexter on True Hearts Day, Dexter didn't really see as anything more than a best friendship; and was even more sad was that she couldn't tell him how she felt. It was almost ironic how she could effortlessly give anyone else in all of Ever After dating advice that was guarenteed to work on nearly all parties, but she herself couldn't even muster up the courage to tell her one crush how she felt.
Yes, irony had reared its ugly head once more.
"Ms. Cupid?"
Upon hearing her name, Cupid moved her head up to look at who was speaking to her and thoroughly confused by what she saw. Standing over her at her table was a tall man with considerably pale skin and a slight, quirky smile on his face, as if he knew something she didn't. He had black hair and white side burns and dark, black eyes that actually twinkled like stars in the night sky, as if he was aware of something Cupid had no hope of understanding. In addition to his odd appearance, he wore a white labcoat trimmed in gold with a pair of shoulder pads trimmed in tassles of the same color. He wore a pair of brown boots and black pants with knee pads and a pair of green, tinted goggles around his neck; he leaned on a cane and where his right hand should have been, there was a large, metal counterpart that was similar to a gauntlet with a clock on the back of his hand.. In short, he had a rather Steampunk general look to him.
"Who are you?" Cupid asked, slightly curious and slightly depressed at the same time.
"I am known by many names, Ms. Cupid," the man greeted her with a warm smile. "But most referr to me as Professor Paradox."
"Are you a professor visiting from another school?" the young deity asked.
"Not even close." Paradox shook his head with a smile. "May I sit down?"
"I guess." Cupid sighed as the professor took the other chair across from her and sat down while leaning one hand on his cane and resting the strange, metal gauntlet on the other. "So if you're not from another school, what are you?"
"To put it quite simply, I am a Time Traveler." Paraodx said with nonchalant.
"Yeah, and I'm destined to be the next Evil Queen." Cupid rolled her eyes with a slight laugh that only briefly brought her out of her depression.
"Take a look around you." was all Paradox said as he stole Cupid's tea and took a sip. "Mmmm. Ice tea. Not a particular favorite of mine, but it shall suffice."
Cupid barely even noticed the time traveler stealing her drink or even heard what he had said; she was too busy starring at her surroundings with wide eyes of shock. To put it quite simply, everything was frozen. The birds and small dragons in the air above her were stopped in midflight, their wings thrust down or up in midflap as a jet of fire that was aimed directly at an unfortunate pigeon from a dragon's mouth stopped just a foot away from the fleeing bird. The customers of the Beanstalk Bakery were frozen as well, gridlocked into place where they stood or sat; a waittress was motionless as she poured Hunter a new cup of coffee, the stream of hot liquid frozen right in midpour, not even touching the bottom of the cup. Tiny the giant was stopped in midstep as he carefully lumbered through the village, walking along the very center of the main street so he wouldn't accidentally crush anything or anyone as he walked along.
"How did you that?" Cupid was at a near loss for words.
"My dear goddess, I told you! I'm a Time Walker!" Paradox chuckled. "I have total and complete access to anywhere and anywhen I want. Within reason of course." he added, as if Cupid actually knew what he was talking about in the first place. "I sense that you are still confused, so I shall elaborate. Roughly fifty years ago from this moment in time and in another universe entirely, I partook in an experimental time machine of my own design; unfortunately, through a series of events that will leave absolutely mad, I was thrown out into the event horizon and remained there for a hundred thousand years where I was displaced outside time; I didn't age, I didn't sleep, I didn't eat. All I had to do was simly exist. I went completely insane for a while, ut I eventually got bored of that and became sane once more. I gained a complete understanding of the space-time continuum, and now have a mental map of all of reality." he explained. "Understand?"
"I . . . I think so?" Cupid guessed.
"Do you think so, or know so?" Paradox questioned her with a smile. "Now, in order to understand where I come from and what I am doing here, I will have to explain paralell universes to you. Do you think you can handle it?"
"Do I think or do I know?" Cupid countered.
The Professor actually laughed at this. "Oh my, it has been a while since I've heard such a good joke!" he chuckled before getting down to business. "Imagine that your universe and all that is within it is like the trunk of a tree; all of the branches, twigs, and leaves represent other realities similar to your own, but with slight or major differences."
"Okay . . . I think I'm getting this . . ." Cupid nodded.
"Think or know?" Paradox cocked an eyebrow with a smirk. "Now imagine that your tree is standing in a forest, surrounded by other trees. Each of those trees represents another universe entirely that is completely different than yours and protected by a Time Walker all their own," Paradox went on. :You have the Danny Phantom timeline, the Generator Rex timeline, the Ben 10 timeline, the one I am from, and . . . the Monster High timeline." he finished with a smile, his grin broadening when he saw Cupid visibly perk up at the name.
It had been so long since Cupid had even remembered her short time at Monster High. It seemed so long ago, that she hardly even remembered it, but everything was coming back to her now; the dark colors of the hallways, the terrifying teachers, the disgusting food of the Creepateria, and all of the friends she had made and left behind. Did they even remember her now that she was gone?
"I know what you are thinking, Ms. Cupid; afterall, I've replayed this sencario almost a hundred times before this moment," Paradox smiled. "A lot has changed since you have left Monster High, and it's all thanks to a wonderful lad: Ben Tennyson."
"Who?"
"I can understand your confusion, Ms. Cupid, so I shall elbaorate." the Time Walker smiled. "In a nutshell, your universe no longer exists because of him. But then again, neither does his. To put it simply, they have been fused together, as if put into a blender." Paradox reassured her before catching sight of her utterly confused face. "I can imagine your confusion, so allow me to give you something." he said before reaching into his jacket and digging around inside for longer than it should have taken before pulling out a clear, crystal-like ball about as big as a basketball and set it on the table.
"This will allow you see your old home once more. All you have to do is rub it." Paradox smiled as Cupid cautiously set her fingertips on the smooth surface and rubbed it slightly, gasping when a swirl of colors suddenly started to form inside of the ball and formed an image. She watched, awestruck as she caught sight of Frankie and Clawdeen running down the sidewalk after a boy with pale skin and dark, brown hair with bright, green eyes and a confident smirk on his face. He wore a pair of brown jeans and a black T-shirt with a green stripe down the center and a white 10 in the center of his chest; fixed to his wrist was a strange, watch-like device.
"Wait for it." Paradox smiled as Cupid watched the boy tap his watch with a finger and hold it down on the watch face for a few seconds before raising his hand up and slapping it, suddenly being swallowed in a brilliant, green light. His skinny figure suddenly swelled as hundreds of muscles piled on top of each other, sending his growing form upwards until he was more than twice as tall as his previous self. His fingers pulsed as thick veins appeared on his arms, sending alien blood through them. A second pair of eyes appeared above his own and every hair on his head disappeared. A short beard appeared on his than ran up to his disappearing earlobes as his jaw jutted out. Suddenly, a second pair of smaller arms burst out from under his own, still just fresh muscle and bone; Cupid felt like she was going to be sick until a tough, red skin covered them. His toes melded into two, large claws as a row of small spikes appeared on his head and shoulders. A black undershirt with a green stripe down the middle as a pair of black pants appeared while two pairs of black, finger-less gloves materialized on his large, hands, finishing the sudden transformation.
"What is-" Cupid gaped as Frankie cupped her hands together and fired off a concentrated blast of electricity at something before she and Clawdeen each turned to their own watches and repeated the process, engulfing themselves in flashes of gold and blue light and being changed into more of the strange creatures; Frankie had been turned into a large, humanoid creature that seemed entirely composed out of crystals and diamonds as she wore a black jumpsuit with a cyan stripe down the middle while Clawdeen had been turned into something resembled a large crab with a massive head that opened up to reveal a gigantic brain underneath. The scene changed slightly as the three creatures threw themselves at a bizarre man with a green labcoat and an exposed brain inside of a glass dome with anteanne sticking out from the top riding on the back of what she could only guess to be some kind of mutant bat or something.
"What happened?" Cupid wondered.
"To put it quite simply, several of your friends and other ghouls have fallen for Ben Tennyson and have formed a harem together," Paradox explained. "Ben possesses a device called the Omnitrix that allowed him to turn into an imnumerable number of alien species; eventually, the ghouls he had fallen in love with received an Omnitrix of their own, albeit with some restrictions placed by the Omnitrix's creator, Azmuth."
"I don't believe you." Cupid shook her head, rubbing her aching temples.
"I just froze all of time for us. Aliens don't seem any stranger, now do they?" Paradox chuckled.
"But why come here? Why give me this thing?" Cupid wondered.
"To put it in terms you will understand, I am here to prevent your death," Paradox answered. "You see, approximetly a year from now, you will kill yourself at noon in front of everyone at Ever After by launching yourself from the roof of the Mirrornet Tower and commiting suicide. You simply not take the heartache anymore."
Cupid whimpered slightly as she leaned back in her chair and folded up on herself slightly, cupping her hands over her heart. She watched as the three aliens fought with the strange and appearantly insane man, easily beating him and his massive pet before they swallowed in various flashes of colorful light, returning Frankie, Clawdeen, and Ben to the world; she nearly felt tears fall from her eyes when she saw the three of them embrace and share a quick kiss before walking down the road towards a building that looked lika giant smoothy cup.
"Don't worry, dear. You'll find love," Paradox comforted her with a smile. "Just watch your old friends."
"But . . . what if I get bored?" Cupid wondered.
"The ingenius thing about this device is that it allows you to also view alternate universes, all of which feature Ben and the student body of Monster High and where anything is possible." he winked.
"Al . . . alright . . ." Cupid nodded, gently taking the crystal ball in her hands and holding it close to her. "Can you please start time again?" she asked.
"Certainly," Paradox nodded, hauling himself up to his feet as Cupid herself stood up and out of her chair. "And thank you for the tea. It has been a while since I've had the chance to eat something. Gumball?" he offered her with a smile, pulling out a paper bag of colorful orbs.
"Thank you." Cupid smiled as she reached into the bag and pulled out a bright pink ball and popped it into her mouth. "Mmm. Bubble gum." she giggled.
"I shall see you again, Ms. Cupid. Or for the first time? I say, time travel is so confusing at times." Paradox cracked as a bright, blue portal opened up in the air behind him. "Toodles!" he waved farewell as he stepped through and out of sight, the swirling vortex snapping shut after a few seconds. Afterwards, it was as if someone had pressed the play button on the universal TV remote, starting time once more and returning everything to normal; the dragon managed to catch its tasty meal while Hunter then took a sip of his fresh coffee as Tiny continued on his way down the Village of Book End.
Cupid sighed as she glanced at the crystal ball in her hands and made her way back to her dorm, a smile on her lips as she walked along with the ball underneath her arm; it seemed like a dream to her, but if that crazy professor knew what he was talking about, then things just might turn out alright.
And there we go!
Let me know what you thought in the reviews, and if you have any ideas or suggestions for how one of these one-shots might work, do not hesitate to tell or suggest me.
Hasta Luego!