newbienovelistRD asked for this one. Here you go, Amiga! Enjoy!
Ben 10 belongs to Cartoon Network and Man of Action. Scooby-Doo And The Ghoul School belongs to Hanna-Barbera. I only own Rachel and Sasha.
Even Famous Monsters Have Hearts
"You be careful, my love," said Rook as he held Rachel in a loving embrace.
She chuckled. "Honey, I just going over to Miss Grimwood's place," she said reassuringly. "I'll be fine."
"That's not what we're worried about," said Whampire as he held Sasha protectively. "The Knights have been a bit too quiet lately and they might be out in the forest planning another ambush. To be honest, they're getting way too close for comfort."
Sasha rested her head on Whampire's shoulder, smiling. "Way Big and Ultimate Way Big combed the forest earlier and found it was clear of the Knights," she said reassuringly. "I'm sure Rachel and I will be fine. We're just going to return these books that Miss Grimwood was generous to lend us and we're taking over some brownies for her and the girls."
"There's some brownies for you guys too," said Rachel with a smile, knowing how much the aliens loved the brownies she and Sasha had baked earlier. "Now, if you don't let us go, we're not going to get over there and back in time before you start missing us."
At her gentle teasing, the two aliens smiled and Whampire kissed Sasha lovingly. "Hurry back, my angel," he said, his hand cupping the side of her face gently.
She held his hand to her face. "We will," she promised.
Rook kissed Rachel again. "See you went you return," he said with a smile.
She nodded. "We won't be gone long, I promise," she said as she grabbed her keys and followed Sasha out to the car. "Those two are so protective," she complained, but her smile showed she wasn't serious.
"But that's what I love about Whammy," Sasha said as she let out a loving sigh. "My handsome, shining knight."
Rachel silently chuckled as the smile on her face grew, because she felt the same way about Rook.
It wasn't too long before they found themselves at Miss Grimwood's place and knocked on the door, which was opened by the kind headmistress herself. "Why, hello, girls," she said pleasantly. "Do come in."
The sisters nodded in thanks and stepped inside, noticing the house was decorated a bit. "Oh, we haven't interrupted anything, have we?" Sasha asked worriedly.
"Oh, dear. We should have called you first," Rachel added apologetically.
"Oh, no. You two haven't interrupted anything at all," Miss Grimwood said reassuringly. "We're simply getting the school ready for a party tonight. The girls' fathers are coming."
That made the two sisters smile as they remembered how their father would always make it to see his daughters in the school plays or dance recitals, even when his sickness got worse. Rachel wiped away a few tears, as did Sasha.
"Oh, I hope I didn't offend you," said the headmistress.
Rachel shook her head. "No," she said reassuringly. "We were just remembering when our father would come see us perform in school plays or our dance recitals, despite his sickness."
"He never missed one of our performances, even if he was having trouble breathing, he always came, telling us he wouldn't miss any of our performances for anything," said Sasha with a smile.
"He was a good father to you two," Miss Grimwood said with a smile as she remembered they had told her their father had passed away a few years ago. "Why don't you two stay and meet the girls' fathers? Phantasma and Tanis expressed to me that they wanted their fathers to meet you two."
The girls were touched. "That's so sweet of them," said Rachel with a smile before turning to Sasha. "What do you think, Sasha?"
The brown-haired girl nodded. "That's fine with me," she said.
Miss Grimwood smiled. "Most of the other girls will be out with their fathers, but Tanis and Phantasma wanted to stay here and show their fathers their accomplishments," she said.
"I can't wait to show Daddy my new song!" Phantasma said as she suddenly appeared, slightly startling the sisters, who smiled at her. "Want to hear it?"
"Sure," said Rachel as Sasha nodded.
Happy to have an audience, Phantasma began playing, but then stopped midway and looked sad. "What's wrong, Phanty?" Sasha asked gently.
The ghost girl looked at them. "I can't get that note right," she admitted as she played the part again and the two sisters heard the note that didn't sound quite right. "I don't know what to do."
Rachel, who played the piano often for fun, placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. "May I?" She asked gently.
Phantasma looked at her hopefully. "Would you, please?" She asked.
Nodding, Rachel sat down and began playing, testing out a few notes before finding one that sounded right. "How about this?" She asked them and played the part of the song with the new note.
Sasha nodded when she heard it. "I think that's the one," she said with a smile. "Give it a try, Phanty."
At the encouragement, the ghost girl did so and smiled hugely as the song now sounded perfect. "Thank you!" She exclaimed happily, hugging them. "Thank you so much!"
"You're welcome," they said in unison as they hugged their friend back and watched Phantasma fly off to watch for her father.
Tanis came out, holding a homemade card in her hands. "Do you think my mummy Daddy will like the card I made for him?" She asked. "It's his birthday today."
Smiling at the little girl, Rachel and Sasha looked at the card and smiled again. "Yes, he'll love it," Sasha said with a smile. "Do you know how we know?"
"How?" Tanis asked.
"Because it's from you, his pride and joy," said Rachel with a smile as she gently tweaked Tanis' nose, making her giggle cutely.
Phantasma suddenly appeared. "They're coming!" She said happily.
"They are?" Tanis asked eagerly.
Miss Grimwood answered the door. "Welcome," she said warmly. "Please come in."
Tanis suddenly saw something else. "I've never seen a vehicle with a sideways figure 8 on it," she said.
"Sideways figure 8?" Sasha asked before looking horrified. "Tanis, get down!"
With that, she ran towards the little girl, grabbing her and hitting the deck, becoming a human shield for Tanis as a laser shot came through the window, shattering the glass. Rachel ducked and rolled quickly towards the door, which was still open.
"We've got them now, men!" A voice said. "Forever Knights, attack!"
Rachel saw Phantasma was beside her. "Who's that?" She asked.
"Some very dangerous people," the older woman answered. "Get behind me."
The ghost girl did so as Rachel looked at Sasha. "How's your aim, sis?" She asked.
Sasha looked up at her. "Not too good, but I can throw stuff a good distance," she said.
Rachel nodded. "Can you control the plants and trees outside?"
Seeing what her older sister had in mind, she nodded. "Got enough air for a wail?" She asked.
Rachel smirked. "Been saving a big one for this creeps for quite a while now," she said before another laser shot came in through the open door, hitting the wall and leaving a scorch mark right where Miss Grimwood had been standing just a moment before she ducked. That angered the two sisters and Rachel moved to the open doorway. "That's it!" She said. "You Knights have made me mad!"
With that, she took a deep breath and unleashed her loudest ghostly wail, forcing the Knights to cover their ears as the scream was very high-pitched, rattling their heads even after the attack ended.
Seeing the Knights were confused, Sasha made her move and the plants shot out of the ground, grabbing the Forever Knights and their van before throwing them far away from the school and into the horizon. Rachel whistled in surprise. "You weren't kidding about the 'good distance' part," she said to her sister as she pulled out a pair of binoculars and looked through them. "Those creeps are still airborne."
"They will be for a bit," said Sasha. "I contacted Swampfire."
Rachel nodded and let out her breath in a sigh. "Everyone okay?" She asked. "Miss Grimwood?"
"I'm alright, dear," she said. "A bit surprised, though. Who were those unscrupulous scoundrels?"
"The Forever Knights," Sasha answered. "They were after Rachel and I because of the aliens in our family."
Phantasma looked horrified. "You mean, they hunt you to get to the nice aliens that we've met?" She asked.
Rachel nodded. "Unfortunately, yes," she said. "Since Sasha and I refuse to tell those creeps where the aliens are, they hunt us in hopes of bringing our friends out into the open."
"But because of our friends and our powers, the Knights always end up retreating," said Sasha as she got up and picked Tanis up too. "Are you okay, Tanis?" She asked. "Those creeps didn't hit you, did they?"
The young mummy shook her head and hugged Sasha. "No," she said. "Thank you for protecting me."
Rachel turned to Phantasma. "You okay too, hon?" She asked.
The ghost girl giggled. "It's pretty hard to hurt a ghost," she pointed out gently. "But yes, I'm alright."
Nodding, the sisters turned around, only to scream in horror.
A tall mummy was behind them and his eyes were glowing red. A ghost was beside him and something about his attire told them who he was. "Run!" Sasha screamed and took off. Rachel didn't hesitate to do the same.
Tanis giggled a little. "They act just like Scooby and Shaggy," she said.
Phantasma giggled too. "Humans are so silly," she said. "No offense, Miss Grimwood."
"None taken, dearie," said the headmistress. "Why don't you, Tanis, and I finish getting the preparations ready while your fathers search for Rachel and Sasha?"
The girls agreed, wishing their fathers luck. Both fathers chuckled and headed off to search for the two girls.
Sasha ran out of breath and collapsed, trying to catch her breath as she weakly stood up, using the wall for support. Something wrapped around her waist and gave a gentle tug, causing her to nearly fall down again, but she managed to keep her balance as she turned to see the mummy was right behind her and had her snared in one of his bandages. She let out a scream and her knees buckled sharply, causing her to fall down.
"No need to be so alarmed," he suddenly said, making her look at him in surprise. "I simply wanted to hug you."
Sasha blinked. "Um…what?" She asked in confusion.
The mummy chuckled warmly. "I simply wanted to hug you in gratitude for keeping my daughter safe when those villains appeared," he said. "You didn't think about yourself at all."
She was surprised at his kind words and saw him hold out a hand to help her up. She hesitantly placed her hand in his and let him help her up before he pulled her into a warm hug a moment later.
Sasha couldn't help returning the hug as she realized the mummy's hug was similar to Snare-Oh's hugs. "I…I just don't like when the Knights put innocent lives in danger," she said. "And Tanis is so young."
"Yes," said the mummy, pulling back a bit to look at Sasha. "You're not only thoughtful, but very brave too."
She looked a bit bashful at that, making him chuckle. "Come," he said. "Why don't we go see how the preparations are going? I also need to give my little girl a big hug."
Smiling, Sasha nodded and saw him offer her his arm in an act of chivalry and she accepted it, curious as to how her older sister was doing with Phantasma's father.
Rachel was currently in one of the upstairs rooms, breathing deeply to try and get her breath back and calm down, but just then, a ghostly laugh sounded behind her and she let out a sharp yelp and jump forward a few feet, turning sharply to see the trench coat-wearing ghost behind her. She quickly backed up and then dove under the bed, seeing him follow her, but she slipped out from under the other side of the bed and ran out of the room, hearing him chuckle, but she noticed how it sounded like an amused chuckle. Despite that, she continued running before looking back and seeing him following her as he then dove down closer to her, making her duck away as she ran into another room, seeing him dive down closer to her again. As she went to duck again, she collided with the bed in the room and bounced a moment before getting stuck between the bed and the wall. She squirmed to get free, but she was stuck with her arms and legs flailing about and she grunted for a moment before going still to try and catch her breath.
The Phantom, who was watching her, cocked an eyebrow in amusement and chuckled again. "A little stuck there, aren't you?" He asked, sounding very amused as he came closer.
If she wasn't so frightened and stuck, she would have glared at him, but she renewed her efforts to get free, but ran out of breath once again, coughing a little, which forced her to stop struggling.
She suddenly felt the Phantom grab her legs with one arm and she immediately began struggling to get her legs free, but she immediately noted how strong he was. He just chuckled again as he removed her sneakers and socks. "Better not squirm now," he said, chuckling. "Or you'll lose your breath before I even begin."
Rachel looked at him fearfully. "Begin what?" She asked, managing to make her voice steady as she also noted that for a ghost, his touch was warm, which puzzled her since ghosts were supposed to be cold to the touch.
His huge grin made her gulp. "Why so frightened?" He asked. "Didn't you know ghosts love a tickle torture?"
She wasn't given time to ponder it as the Phantom began tickling her feet.
"No! Stop!" Rachel begged through her laugher, but he just smirked at her as he tickled her feet a bit longer and then tickled her knees, laughing as she tried to get free again.
"You're as ticklish as Phanty," he said as he hovered over her, watching in amusement as she tried to pull herself free again, but then, he reached his hands out, wiggling his fingers into her underarms. Rachel let out a squeak that had him laughing as she fell into laughter again.
She was about to beg him to stop again when he saw she was having a hard time breathing and gave her a break, watching her catch her breath before he gave her another grin. "I happen to recall Phantasma telling me that you're very ticklish on your stomach," he said, seeing her eyes widen in fear.
"She…She did?" Rachel asked.
In response, the Phantom reached down and lifted Rachel's shirt up a little to reveal her tender stomach before his gloved hands started tickling her stomach.
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The young woman laughed out, unable to speak through her laughter as her sensitive stomach was tickled unmercifully by the ghost, who even blew a few raspberries into her stomach, to her surprise. "STOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOP!" she begged. "THAT TIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHICKLES TOOHOOHOOHOOHOOHOOHOO MAHAHAHAHAHAHAHACH!"
The ghost laughed heartily at her laughed-out plea. "I can tell," he said, stopping to allow her a breather before he tickled her chin. "But I'm having fun tickling you and I can tell you're having fun being tickled."
Rachel giggled as she tucked her chin down into her neck, which she scrunched up a moment later into her shoulders when the Phantom tickled her neck a bit before giving her a chance to recover, as he noticed her face was getting a bit red. As she took some deep breaths, she felt the ghost gently grab her chin in his hand and gently force her to look at him. "If you allow me, I'll help you get free," he said with a smile. "If not, I'll tickle you again."
Seeing he was serious, but also teasing her, like her father used to do long ago, Rachel took a minute to get her breath back and looked up at him. "You're the Phantom of the Opera, right?" She asked.
He bowed to her. "The same," he answered. "You've no doubt heard my story?"
She nodded. "I…I didn't think…well," she began before pausing a minute and looking at him again. "No offense, but I never would have pegged you for a kind ghost."
"That's because the story only revealed my dark side," he said, but she noted his voice got darker as if he was angry. She swallowed hard, which he noticed and wiggled his fingers again into her stomach, making her laugh again before he stopped the tickle torture and she felt gloved hands slip around her shoulders to behind her back. "Wrap your arms around my neck," he said to her.
Though wondering how she could do that as he was a ghost, she did as she was told and found that she was able to touch him as if he wasn't a ghost, but before she could ask how, she felt him lift her up into his arms and she tightened her grip on him and heard him chuckle as he floated downward so that her feet touched the floor after a moment. She slowly released her hold on him and stepped back. "Um…how…?"
He chuckled again. "Not everything they say about ghosts being transparent is entirely true," he said. "Now then, you know my name and I believe I know yours. Rachel, isn't it?"
She nodded. "Yes," she said. "Miss Grimwood said Phantasma had told you about my sister and I."
"She did," he said with a smile as he floated around her, coiling a little around her like a snake. Rachel was a bit surprised and wondered how he could do that when she felt his hands on her shoulders. "I've been looking forward to meeting you two ever since she told me about you and your sister."
"You're not…um…disturbed that your daughter has human friends?" Rachel asked.
"Not at all," he said. "I saw how you kept Phanty safe earlier. You and your sister have good hearts, just like Shaggy and Scooby."
Rachel giggled a bit. "They must have given you guys a run for your money," she said, feeling him tickle her neck playfully in response.
"Yes, they did," he answered. "Now that I think about it, I should have tickled them then. Although, are they ticklish?"
That made Rachel laugh. "Oh, yeah," she said with a grin. "More so than Sasha and me combined, I think."
"Speaking of your sister," the Phantom said. "I would like to meet her. Will you accompany me downstairs, Rachel?"
"Of course," she said, feeling him wrap an arm around her shoulders and guiding her downstairs. Sasha saw them coming and looked a bit startled to be coming face to face with the Phantom of the Opera, but she warmed up to him fast when she saw how kind he was. Rachel warmed up fast to the Mummy, who thanked her for protecting them earlier.
After the delightful party, the sisters expressed regret that they had to go home. Phantasma and Tanis hugged them. "Come back soon, please?" Tanis asked hopefully.
"You bet we will," said Sasha with a smile.
"My next song I compose will be for you two," Phantasma promised them.
"That's very sweet of you, hon," said Rachel, smiling as she accepted a hug from the ghost girl, warmly hugging her back before she and Sasha headed out, waving goodbye to the girls, their fathers, and Miss Grimwood.
When they arrived at the Mansion, Rook swept Rachel into his arms and Whampire did the same with Sasha. "Are you two alright?" Rook asked. "Swampfire told us what happened."
"We're alright, my love," Rachel said reassuringly. "Those Knights didn't stand a chance against my powered-up ghostly wail and Sasha's plant powers."
"You should have seen those Knights tumble," said Sasha as she kissed Whampire lovingly on the mouth. "Their skulls will be ringing for quite a few days."
Whampire smiled. "I believe so," he said in agreement. "But right now, I'm taking you prisoner for the night, my angel."
She laughed as his joking words before looking at him mischievously. "Don't be so sure that I'll be your prisoner, honey bat," she said playfully. "You just might be my prisoner instead."
"We'll see about that," Whampire countered as he began chasing after Sasha, who ran up to his room and he followed close behind.
Rachel chuckled as she snuggled into Rook's arms. "Battling the Knights, meeting Phantasma's and Tanis' fathers and learning that despite behind monsters, they have hearts, and coming home to my hopeless romantic of a fiancée," she said. "Life's a day-to-day adventure."
"I couldn't agree more," said Rook as he kissed her deeply, making her knees buckle as he held her upright and close to him as she returned the loving kiss.
Please leave a review, but no flames!
GoldGuardian2418