Chapter 7: A Chill from the Past

Omarnosian10: Hello, readers. I don't have any questions from you, so I'll just cut this short. ON WITH THE SHOW!

(Ben's room)

Ben would never admit that he'd been scared before in his life. But there were those times when he'd been absolutely terrified. Like, when he faced Zombozo for instance. That had been scary. But, like any other hero, he faced his fears and saved the day. But, he was a little scared whenever he was late for school, which was why he was in so much of a hurry to get ready for school.

"My tie! Where's my tie!" panicked Ben as he slipped on his jacket while looking around frantically. His hair was a mess and his shirt was not tucked in and wrinkly.

"Oh, found it!" said Ben in relief. He then stared at the clock.

"Darn, I'm late! Ms. Nekonome is SO gonna kill me!" panicked Ben. It had been awhile since Ben had come to attend Yokai Academy on a special exchange program. Finding out it was a school of monsters didn't surprise him. He himself had faced various monsters, like Vilgax or Kevin 11 as well as a myriad of villains, all from Earth, beyond Earth, and other Earths. He still came up on top with a little help from Gwen and Max and his Nicktoon allies during the Morphoid must miss having him around… Ben didn't have time to reminisce when he realized he only had 5 minutes before the bell rang. So, after setting the Omnitrix to the alien he wanted to become, he slammed down his hand and in a flash of green light he changed.

"Fasttrack!" cried the Citrakayah before he ran out of his dorm room in a blur. He then came back.

"Almost forgot! (picks up his bag.) Now I'm set!" smirked Fasttrack.

(Outside the Academy)

He then rushed right towards school and made it to the gate with only a minute to spare. He reverted back to normal and with a sigh walked towards the main building. Ben suddenly shivered.

"A draft?" guessed Ben. He shrugged and then headed to the school, hoping to meet his friends. Nobody at home would believe his luck with girls here. Speaking of 'luck with girls', a cute girl in a sweater and purple striped stockings with long purple hair peered at Ben from behind a tree.

"Jiiiiiiii…" uttered the girl as she smiled wistfully before retreating.

(After class)

Ben scratched his head as he walked out of the school building. He was actually relieved when he finally remembered that he'd purposely put his alarm clock 10 minutes early, so he was actually early and not late. It had taken some time, effort, and one sleepless night, but the newest edition of the Youkai Academy school newspaper was ready to be distributed tomorrow. The actual handouts would be during the next day. Ben was just glad that the work was over and he could take a break from it for a moment. The Newspaper club had been sending out editions since Gin managed to stay behaved. Having his butt handed to him by Ben, Zack and several VERY upset girls finishing the job helped changed his attitude. With everyone on board, the Newspaper Club managed to start actually making newspapers, much to Ms. Nekonome's delight.

"Well, hopefully we'll do as well as we did before." sighed Ben. Truthfully, he knew why they sold so many papers. Most of their customers were boys who wanted to talk to Moka or Kurumu. Chief among them were the three fanboys of doom. The other reason is because some of the boys were victims of the Swimming Club incident and they were grateful for Ben when he revived them. Snapping out of his thought, Ben felt a chill run down his spine. Looking around, he didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Deciding to ignore it, Ben rubbed his arms to try and get some warmth on them.

'This must be how Danny felt when he unlocked his ice powers.' thought Ben, remembering the adventures the Nicktoons exchanged before their departure. As Ben continued walking, he didn't notice someone stepping out from behind a tree. This person was a girl with long violet hair who was wearing a sweater along with the skirt for the Youkai Academy's girls uniform. Her sleeves were long enough to partially conceal her hands. Her eyes were a pale blue and a lollipop was sticking out of her mouth.

"Jiiiiiiiiii." sighed the girl softly as she watched Ben walk. A fond smile came over her face.

"Ben! Wait up!" called Moka as she ran up to Ben and hugged his arm.

"Let's walk home together!" suggested Moka.

"OK, Moka." smiled Ben.

"Hey, I wanna walk home with him too!" snapped Kurumu as she suddenly appeared and grabbed Ben's other arm. It soon turned into a tug-o-war with him in the middle. Finally, Yukari leapt onto Ben's back.

"Big Bro, can you change and fly me back to the dorm?" asked Yukari. Ben groaned.

'Why me?' mentally complained Ben.

(The next day)

The next day, before school started, the Newspaper Club was out in front selling the latest issue of the Yokai Academy Newspaper. With Kurumu and Moka helping to sell the papers, the boys fought over to buy copies while the girls were also fighting over to buy papers from Ben. Ben was becoming quite popular with the girls because of his ability to become a variety of strange and powerful monsters, and not to mention some girl in the Swimming Club incident took a photo of Ben's bare upper body and showed the others, while being envied by the boys for having the friendship of the hottest girls in campus. The bubblegum pink haired vampire and blue haired succubus were his closest friends here because they knew his secret. It was the same with Yukari and Zack. Once in a while, the pre-teens flirted with each other.

"Wow, we sold out!" exclaimed Moka in amazement. Ben wiped the sweat off his brow. It was hard work but still worth it. Oddly enough, but actually expected, was Gin's absence whenever any REAL work was involved. With no more papers to sell, the Newspaper Club began to pack up. They had to get the stuff for the club put away before they could head into class. Yukari and Zack set to work with boxes while Kurumu and Moka went through the paperwork that they brought with them to keep track of numbers. Ben was delegated to the task of folding up the table that they had brought out to help them. Suddenly, Ben felt another chill run down his spine. Looking up, he saw someone approaching. From first glance, the person approaching was an attractive girl with long purple hair. She wasn't wearing the complete uniform and she was eating a lollipop.

"It's strange. You people can get along so well. I don't get it." spoke the girl softly, stepping up to Ben.

"Are there anymore papers left?" asked the girl.

"Uh…" blinked Ben, but quickly came to his senses. Checking all his pockets, he managed to produce a copy of the newspaper. He had bought it earlier for articles he wrote so he could send it back to his family. Still, this girl had asked for one.

"Just one. Here you go. It might be a little wrinkly though." warned Ben. Indeed the paper was a little wrinkled from being in Ben's pocket, but that only served to make the girl's eyes light up. With a gentle smile, she took the paper and held it close.

"Thank you. (nods) You are very kind, Ben Tennyson." complimented the girl.

"Huh, you know who I am?" asked Ben.

"Oh, everyone knows who you are, and who could forget the boy who made a summer Christmas 5 years ago?" asked the girl with a mysterious yet cute smile, making Ben's eyes widen.

"I'll see you later." waved the girl. She then glided away without another word.

"Ben, who was that girl? Do you know her?" asked Moka jealously.

"No, but maybe I unintentionally saved her before since I saved millions of lives and can't remember them all." admitted Ben.

"Well, whoever that girl is, we probably won't see her again." said Kurumu hopefully. She already has a rival for Ben's heart already and didn't want anymore competition.

"OK, but we better hurry or we'll be late for class." said Ben.

(Academy Classroom)

As Nekonome was about to begin the day's lesson, the door slid open and the girl from earlier walked into class, causing Kurumu, Ben and Moka to stare.

"Huh? She's in our class?" commented Ben with a questioning gaze.

"Sorry I'm late." apologized the girl.

"Ah, Shirayuki-san. I'm glad you finally came. Please, take your seat." ordered Nekonome. The girl bowed and went to her seat, which was at the front of the last row that Ben sat in.

"Mizore Shirayuki-san was ill so she couldn't come to school. I'm glad she's feeling better now." explained Nekonome.

"I am." nodded Mizore before looking over her shoulder at Ben. The boy blinked.

"Now, as I was saying…" spoke Ms. Nekonome as she started the lesson.

(Academy Hallway)

The classes ended for the day and the students were milling about, minding their own business. At the moment, Moka, Kurumu, and Ben were meeting up. To celebrate being completely sold out, the Newspaper Club was going to be hosting a party in their club room. Zack and Yukari was already collecting party favors and the three remaining members were talking details.

"So we'll meet up in the club room after we finish buying everything. Is that okay?" asked Moka.

"Hey, Ben. I'll bake my special cookies for you. You'd like that wouldn't you?" asked Kurumu. Kurumu's statement was punctuated by her pressing herself against Ben, making sure her breasts were pressed tightly against him.

"Kurumu-chan! You're doing it again!" huffed Moka before she grabbed the amorous succubus by the shoulder and began dragging her away.

"Hey! Wait! I wasn't done!" cried Kurumu as she was dragged away.

Ben heaved a sigh. He was probably not going to get used to Kurumu's ways of showing her affection. Most guys he came from would welcome such attention but that just proved they were hormonal perverts. Rubbing the back of his neck, Ben suddenly got the feeling that he was being watched. Turing around, he looked for some sign that someone was there. He found it when he spotted someone's shoulder sticking out from behind a pillar. Frowning, Ben's arm turned into the Bloxx Cannon before he aimed it at the pillar.

"Whoever is there either comes out or gets a load of blocks." threatened Ben. Things were silent for a moment. After a breath, the familiar form of Mizore Shirayuki poked her head out from the side with a friendly smile on her face.

"Hi." greeted Mizore.

"Ah, Mizore. How are you?" smiled Ben as his arm changes back.

"I am well." nodded Mizore as she walked closer to Ben. Reaching into her pocket, she withdrew the copy of the paper that Ben had given her.

"I read your article. As always, it was very good." complimented Mizore.

"Oh, thanks." smiled Ben. He had been slightly worried that no one liked his articles. He was mainly writing about some of his adventures since coming to Youkai Academy. He wasn't very experienced in journalism so he only wrote what he knew about. He also did current events which kept the interest of the student body.

"You always read my articles?" asked Ben.

"Yes." smiled Mizore. Reaching into her sweater, she pulled out a blue book with an ornate silver heart on the back and a white rabbit on the front.

"When I was away, I asked Ms. Nekonome to send me copies of the School Newspaper. I found your articles interesting so I kept them in this scrapbook." complimented Mizore as Ben takes the book.

"Oh, thanks. I'm glad somebody likes them." smiled Ben. Opening the book to see what articles Mizore had kept, Ben was surprised to see that the odd young woman had been writing comments next to the articles. There were so many of them Ben had some trouble reading them all. Some were pretty tiny so he wasn't sure what they were saying. He could use Eye Guy's enhanced sight, but he doesn't want to freak Mizore out.

"I made some comments of my own too." added Mizore. She began to smile gently as she drew a circle on the floor with her right foot.

"You always write your articles from an outsider's point of view. I can really relate to that." nodded Mizore. To Ben's surprise, Mizore almost seemed to glide over to him before she wrapped her arms snugly around one of his own and contentedly rested her head on his shoulder. Ben blushed at the contact. Mizore seemed to be a little cold, which Ben reasoned was why she was wearing a sweater instead of the standard uniform jacket.

"I can't help but feel that our personalities are the same. You must be pretty lonely too. With a good family, but no friends. I know how that feels." sighed Mizore.

Ben frowned a little at the declaration. He did feel pretty lonely sometimes. Moka, Kurumu, Yukari, and even Gin were all good friends, but it still felt lonely a little when he couldn't hang out with them. He was also the only human/alien hybrid and American in the entire academy. He tried not to think about it and instead he focused on the good things he had since coming to the hidden school. He had made a lot of great friends and was having lots of fun too. But then again, if she knew about the Summer Christmas incident 5 years ago, then maybe she also saw his grandpa and cousin.

"I do feel lonely sometimes. I miss my family, my cousin and grandpa the most, but I don't feel it as often. I do remember how it feels, though." admitted Ben.

"Then we do understand each other. Do you want to hang out? I know a nice place." smiled Mizore.

"Well…actually…" hesitated Ben. He still had to head to the party with Moka, Kurumu and the others. Still, he did have some spare time and he could use it to get to know Mizore better. She looked like she really wanted to be friends.

"I guess…we could hang out for little while." smiled Ben, along with Mizore. She began tugging Ben's arm so he could follow her.

"This way. I'll show you where I like to spend my time." informed Mizore.

(Academy Pond)

"See that? It skipped 5 times." pointed Mizore after skipping a stone across the lake. Ben applauded, returning the smile she was giving him. She then placed a pebble into his hand.

"Now, you try." said Mizore. Gripping the pebble, Ben looked across the lake and tossed it at the lake, skipping it on the water until it escaped their sight.

"Impressive. Not even I could skip it as half as far." complimented Mizore.

"Football practice helps." informed Ben.

"My favorite sport is hockey." smiled Mizore before Ben remembered something.

"Mizore, there's something I want to ask. (Mizore nods) How did you know about the Summer Christmas incident 5 years ago?" asked Ben.

"I was one of the elf victims, along with my mother and father." answered Mizore before she hugged Ben.

"But you saved us from the curse, along with everyone else. I never got the chance to thank you." added Mizore. Ben started to shiver a bit but then he remembered something.

"Hey, Mizore, I'm really sorry to cut this short but I really got go. My friends are setting a party at the Newspaper Club Room. You could come if you want." offered Ben. Mizore pulled back and frowned.

"You want to see those girls, don't you?" questioned Mizore.

"Those girls? Are you talking about Moka and Kurumu?" asked Ben. Mizore smiled placing a hand against his cheek.

"But don't worry, I've taken care of them and soon you won't have to worry about them trying to kill you ever again…" sighed Mizore.

(Club Room)

Moka was in the club room, snacks and drinks on the table, sitting in a chair as she waited for Ben.

"He's late. Where could he be?" mumbled Moka before she heard the door slide open. Smiling, she looked up to see if it was her friends.

"Ben?" frowned Moka when she saw that it was that girl in class. Mizore Shirayuki.

"Shirayuki-san?" asked Moka.

"Moka Akashiya. You are an eyesore." said Mizore as she stalked towards Moka. Moka backed away in fear as she felt the temperature drop.

"Shirayuki-san, what's going on? What are you doing here?" asked Moka.

"I think it's better for Ben to live if you just…" paused Mizore. She lunged forward and covered Moka's mouth. Moka struggled to remove Mizore's cold grip from her mouth.

"Disappear, you blood sucking parasite." insulted Mizore.

(Academy Hallway)

Kurumu is currently carrying a basket of freshly-baked cookies. Kurumu made sure to not put any love potion on them since Ben can sniff them a mile away, because of his training.

'Maybe if we go to the human world one day, I could be his crime-fighting girlfriend, but Ben might disagree. Even if he wanted me to be his girlfriend, he won't want me in any danger.' thought Kurumu, unaware of someone following her until she got one arm hugged from the waist.

"Ben?" asked Kurumu as she turned her head back only to notice Mizore.

"Mizore, what are you doing here?" asked Kurumu before she felt her stomach go numb.

"Kurumu Kuruno, the succubus that suffocates Ben every morning half to death. Well, not for long." said Mizore as she covers Kurumu's mouth.

(Academy Lake)

"What do you mean? What did you do to Kurumu and Moka?"" questioned Ben as he backed away from Mizore.

"Nothing…yet. But they're not going to be a problem anymore." said Mizore dangerously.

"They're my friends!" growled Ben.

"I'm sorry, Ben, but you can't leave." said Mizore

(Club Room)

Moka had smashed a stapler against Mizore's head and gasped (tried to since her mouth is covered.) when she saw the part she'd hit break apart and turn into ice.

"Sorry, but I'm not the real Mizore. The real Mizore is out there with Ben. Now, Moka Akashiya, die quietly and take your blood sucking fangs away from Ben." demanded Mizore soullessly.

(Academy Hallway)

Kurumu has extended her pink nails before she slashed against Mizore's face, only to try to gasp when it felt cold and the cut became sliced ice.

"I'm just an ice clone. The real Mizore is protecting Ben at the lake. Now Kurumu, die quietly and take your overgrown breast suffocation pack with you." demanded Mizore soullessly.

(Academy Lake)

"I cannot let you leave yet." spoke Mizore softly as the lake froze over with a thick sheet of ice. Ice claws covered her hands while her hair turned to ice as well.

"I suppose you can tell I'm a yuki-onna now. I will make you mine and protect you with all my heart." said Mizore.

"Protect me?" asked Ben confused before he felt something cold and solid around his feet. Grimacing, he looked down to see an ice cocoon forming around his feet.

"Oh you got to be kidding me!" snapped Ben.

"Don't worry, I'm only covering, not freezing. Then we can be together." smiled Mizore gently.

"I'd rather not be a ice caged tiger!" growled Ben before his eyes turned into a fiery yellow, without hurting him. Fire came out of his eyes as he melted the ice that tried to surround him.

"Too hot." mumbled Mizore as she shielded her face from the heat radiating off her target's eyes. Yuki onna were very sensitive to high temperatures. In other words, Ben's Pyronite eyes were something out of a nightmare for her.

"And it's about to get a whole lot hotter!" growled Ben as his eyes turned back to normal. Mizore sighed in relief before Ben's arms turned into red cracked stone with fire surrounding them. Ben clenched his fists as he flared, making the fire around his arms even larger. The high temperatures were causing the ice to crack all over the lake.

"Stop it!" gasped Mizore, backing away from the heat. Waving her hand, Mizore sent waves of ice at the flaming Pyronite-armed Tennyson, hoping to extinguish his fire. Ben wasn't having any of that. Pointing Heatblast's fingers, Ben fired two continuous streams of fire. The two opposing elemental forces hit each other, creating a huge cloud of steam.

"Too hot, too hot." mumbled Mizore as she recoiled from the steam. She knew that Ben could choose his form and change his limbs at will, but she never expected him to be able to take such terrifying limbs such as the fiery arms in front of her. If Ben completely turned into Heatblast, Mizore's claws and hair would instantly evaporate.

"Seems a little on the cool side to me." commented Ben as he walked through the cloud of steam. Mizore trembled and tried to shield herself from the heat radiating from the alien arms in front of her.

"Oh, sorry." apologized Ben he stepped back and allowed his arms to turn back to normal. Mizore gave a soft sigh of relief, happy to be free from the flames that threatened to harm her so. Still, the heat had weakened her somewhat. It would take considerable effort to make her ice again.

"Okay, if you wanted my attention you could have just said so. (sighs) You didn't have to try and make me an ice shell." informed Ben.

"I wanted to keep you safe. I guess I can't." said Mizore.

"Great. Another girl crushing on me. (sighs) Gwen is not going to let me hear the end of this because of the strike 3 and you're out thing." mumbled Ben.

Ben was a little unsure about what to do next. Obviously Mizore was holding a crush on him. The problem was that she had gone to extremes to try and make Ben into her man. A little extreme, but Mizore didn't seem to be very experienced in the proper ways of getting a boy's attention. Or maybe that was how yuki onna got boys they liked. And she didn't try to freeze him exactly. She was only sort of giving him ice armor.

'That's it! Mizore must've saw Moka suck my blood and Kurumu suffocating me with her affection. She was just trying to protect me from blood and air loss, but Yukari's already doing that... sometimes.' mentally realized Ben.

"I honestly don't mind you hanging out with me and trying to protect me. But you can't just force me to be your boyfriend or something by 'getting rid of the competition'. That isn't the right way to start a relationship or make one work." explained Ben.

"But how else will I get you to pay attention to me?" asked Mizore.

"Well, you had my attention when you got a paper from me, and recalled an old memory of mine. Go with that. In the meantime though, could you not attack my friends?" asked Ben.

"…Okay." nodded Mizore before she snapped her fingers.

(Academy Clubroom)

Moka struggled with the attacking ice clone. Its hand had turned into razor claws and was about to pierce her head. Just when it looked like the clone would actually kill her, it suddenly shattered.

"Huh?" blinked Moka. She got up and brushed the ice off of her. She suddenly gasped as a thought hit her.

"Oh no! Ben!" cried Moka as she ran out of the room.

(Academy Hallway)

Kurumu has her nails crossed against the ice clone's ice claws, both struggling for dominance until the ice clone shattered.

"What was that? (remembers something) Oh-no, Ben!" cried Kurumu as she enters her succubus form and flew out of the hallway.

(Academy Lake)

Mizore stood up after dismissing her ice clones. Her eyes were on the ground, refusing to meet Ben's gaze. She felt too ashamed to be worthy of looking at him. She just tried to trap him in ice, and he managed to defeat her. Instead of destroying her, he changed his arms back and got her to stop her attack. He didn't seem mad at all. Instead, he was staying calm and trying to get her reasons. She didn't deserve such kindness. An ice crystal dropped from her eyes, which had been a tear a moment ago.

"Mizore? Hey, are you okay?" asked Ben.

"I don't deserve you." sniffled Mizore. Rubbing her eyes, she ran away with a loud sob.

"Wait! Mizore!" cried out Ben, but Mizore was already long gone.

"Aw…man!" complained Ben.

(Faculty Room)

"Where Shirayuki-san lives?" asked Nekonome curiously. It was after class the following day and Ben was visiting the faculty room where most of the teachers got their paperwork done. It had been pretty easy to find where Ms. Nekonome's desk was. She was the only one who had cat ears sticking out from her head.

"Yeah. I want to check on her." answered Ben with a nod.

"Oh, how nice of you! I know exactly where she stays so I can give you the room number." smiled Nekonome.

"You sure you wanna do that?" asked a rough voice from behind.

Ms. Nekonome and Ben looked up to see who had been talking. They found themselves looking at a man who was wearing track suit pants and a sleeveless shirt. His skin was tanned and he had red hair. He appeared to be someone who thought they were slick. There was also something in his eyes that Ben somehow finds familiar.

"She's dangerous, you know. A really unstable girl." warned the redhead.

"Kotsubo-sensei?" blinked Nekonome.

"I'm just saying she's trouble. (shrugs) You know why she was gone so long, kid?" asked Kotsubo.

"She was sick because of a long-lasting virus, wasn't she?" asked Ben.

"That's the cover story. (chuckles) You see, she attacked a teacher, apparently for no reason. She just snapped all of a sudden." informed Kotsubo. Ben simply raised an eyebrow. That didn't sound right. Sure, Mizore seemed to resort to violence, but only when there was a real reason. She didn't attack for no reason.

"Are you sure about that? Maybe it was a case of mistaken identity, with her thinking the attacked teacher is someone else?" asked Ben.

"Heck yeah I'm sure. (chuckled)You see, I was the teacher she attacked. Put me down for a while too." admitted Kotsubo. Ben observed that he didn't look too badly hurt for someone trying to play off being injured by Mizore. But then again, there's a possibility that he made a full recovery and the incident occurred a few weeks ago, give or take a month. He also seemed to be enjoying telling the story about how Mizore had attacked him. He was also leaving out a lot of detail from his story. Like where he was attacked and what he was doing there in the first place.

"She's escalating too. Two students were attacked last night. They got frozen in ice and looked cut up pretty badly. They might have died if we didn't find 'em." added Kotsubo.

"WHAT?! But…!" gaped Ben.

"No mistake, kid. (snickers)The ice was pretty unmistakable. There's talk of Mizore Shirayuki getting expelled since she's so dangerous." informed Kotsubo.

"But…but, how are we sure it's her?" asked Ben.

"The ice. Who else could it be?" answered Kotsubo.

"She can't be the only one here who uses ice. There must be…hundreds of monsters here. Mizore can't be the only one who uses ice." defended Ben. He knew this to be a possibility. With so many students here, Mizore couldn't be the only one to have ice powers.

"Ohhhh! That's a good point! It could be someone else who uses ice. She's just the only one who we know who can!" gasped Nekonome.

"And all this starts up the night of the day she gets back here? Sorry, but I know a troublemaker when I see one." frowned Kotsubo.

"Well…it could just be a coincidence. Weird stuff happens here all the time." said Ben.

"You know…" spoke up another teacher, Ririko Kagome. She had been overhearing the conversation. Ririko was a sexy teacher who wore short skirts and let her cleavage show. She was also incredibly beautiful with full red lips and always with a sway in her hips as she walked.

"He has a point. Plenty of odd things happen out here with so many different monsters grouped together." nodded Ririko.

"And there's a chance that someone did this at the exact time to frame her. I'm talking first hand experience since I was framed for being the peeping tom until my friends found out about Gin's 'hobby'." added Ben, remembering the first time he got framed when Kevin used his first 10 aliens to give him a bad name before he mutated to Kevin 11. Kotsubo started to become agitated.

"Hey, are you forgetting that she attacked me? Can we really let that go? The fact she hasn't said anything speaks for her guilt!" asked Kotsubo.

"She won't talk to you. Maybe she's afraid to for some reason. I might be able to get her side of the story." suggested Ben.

"Oooh! You're right!" smiled Nekonome brightly. She quickly scribbled on a piece of paper and handed it over to Ben.

"Here you go! I wish you success." nodded Nekonome.

"Thanks." smiled Ben. He eyed Kotsubo for a second before he headed for the exit of the room. He was starting to feel that something was up and if he didn't do something soon, Mizore was going to get seriously hurt. After training in the Wind Ninja Academy with each of the original Ninja Storm rangers, Shane, Dustin and Tori, he learned to always trust his instincts, like Dustin did when Marah was depressed for being called stupid by Lothor and his generals. When Marah tricked the rangers, she regretted it for the rest of the battle because she had a crush on Dustin since they met. Now, Dustin and Marah are boyfriend and girlfriend, thanks to Ben talking them into admitting their feelings for each other. As he was leaving though, Kotsubo was staring at his back with a frown.

"He's going to be trouble." frowned Kotsubo.

(Mizore's room)

When he was young, Ben would often jump to conclusions and it was up to either Gwen or Grandpa Max to set him straight. He wanted to believe he was right and didn't listen to anybody else. After losing Feedback he managed to learn how to listen to the perspective of others so he wouldn't be making such mistakes again. Now, as far as he could tell, Mizore wasn't a bad person. She was just lonely, misunderstood and overprotective of Ben. He hadn't told his friends that he was going to see Mizore. They would freak if he had so he decided to go at it alone. It was probably best that way. Mizore may not want to see so many people at once since yesterday. Ben stood at Mizore's door. It had the name plaque 'Shirayuki' hanging at the front. His hand went to the knob when he slightly cringed from the sudden cold before taking a deep breath, glad that Tori's training helped him increase his temperature endurance since her training involved staying underwater on extreme temperatures. Well, she was a yuki onna so it was probably normal for her door knob to be cold. The doorknob turned easily.

"It's unlocked." observed Ben. He pushed the door open and an arctic breeze greeted him. The entire place was covered in ice.

"Mizore? (went inside) Are you in here?" asked Ben as he explored the place and ended up in her living room. He heard a crack as he stepped onto something and looked down to see a framed photograph. He picked it up and despite the layer of ice covering it, he could see it was photo-shopped picture of him with Big Chill and Articguana.

"Guess she's been crushing on me for awhile because of my ice aliens. I gotta try and find her." muttered Ben. He exited the room and closed the door behind him before going on his search.

(Academy Lake)

Mizore was just standing at the edge of a cliff that was overlooking the large lake. It would appear that she was alone once again. Ben didn't want to see her anymore. Heck, she doubted anybody would want to see her ever again. She'd done some thinking. Maybe she shouldn't have attacked Moka and Kurumu and maybe she shouldn't have tried to cage Ben. But, she was just so lonely and well he seemed the same way too. Too bad she was wrong.

"Well, well, well. Alone again, huh, Shirayuki?" said an unwanted voice. Mizore spun around and saw the gym teacher, Kotsubo.

"Kotsubo…sensei?" gasped Mizore as she backed away from the grinning teacher.

"You know, it's funny what kind of card life deals you. (approachs her, grinning lecherously) You said you liked me and then you attacked me." chuckled Mizore.

"You were taking advantage of me. I didn't like it." defended Mizore.

"Well, nobody was going to believe you anyway. I mean it's a teacher's word against a student's. That's why you were hiding yourself and now you're doing the same thing." chuckled Kotsubo. He then lunged at her and pinned her to the ground. She struggled against him.

"Let me go!" demanded Mizore.

"Oh, don't be like that.(he licked his lips.) Just let me do whatever I want and I'll put in a good word for you. How's that?" grinned Kotsubo. Mizore's eyes blazed with fury and she was about to attack him when all of a sudden a large rock smashed into the back of Kotsubo's head. Mizore blinked and then looked up to see Ben.

"Stay away from her, creep!" growled Ben.

"Ben?" blinked Mizore in confusion. He'd come for her?

"Mizore, get away! I'll take care of this pervert!" growled Ben. Mizore nodded and was ready to run when all of a sudden a red octopus' tentacle wrapped around her ankle and tripped her.

"Not so fast!" said Kotsubo as he sneered. His entire formed change and now he was in his true form of a Kraken. He looked to have a red octopus attached to the back of his body with the octopus' head acting as a cowl over his head and the tentacles swinging about his own harms had turned into tentacles with suction cups and he looked really pissed off.

'That's what a Youkai Kraken looks like? It doesn't look anything like the Kraken I faced 5 years ago.' thought Ben, remembering his research on individual species during the first day of the Newspaper Club.

"Mizore!" shouted Ben as he ran over but then a tentacle smashed into him and sent him to the ground. Not giving up, Ben got up and ran to Mizore. He grabbed the tentacle holding her and pulled it off.

"Get out of here!" shouted Ben.

"You little imbecile!" roared Kotsubo. His tentacles lashed out and wrapped around Ben's body.

"Ben!" shouted Mizore. Ben was slowly being crushed to death as Kotsubo's tentacles were squeezing the life out of him. The red haired Kraken who happened to be the school's teacher was trying to kill him.

"You Gaijin monsters are so weak. What's the matter, Tennyson-kun, lost your breath?" asked Kotsubo.

"That's it! Time to try out my new guy!" cried Ben as he bathed himself in green light, forcing Kotsubo and Mizore to cover their eyes before Kotsubo felt like he's holding a cactus in the tentacles that wrapped around Ben.

"YYYEEEOOOUUUCCCHHH!" flinched Kotsubo as he unwrapped Ben, who has been replaced by a ice-made humanoid with blades on the elbows, spikes for hair, at least a dozen spikes on the back, and is wearing a black/green short-sleeved jumpsuit that ends in his thighs, and a black gas mask covering the mouth. The Omnitrix symbol is on the black stripe on the chest.

"ICEPICK!" cried the icy humanoid.

'Never seen that ice form before.' thought Mizore while smiling as Kotsubo grits his teeth in anger.

'Time to find out what this guy can do.' thought Icepick before Kotsubo lashed out his tentacles on him. Icepick crossed his arms in front of him to defend himself only to be surprised as his arms turn into thin blades.

'This guy can make weapons out of his body?! AWESOME!' thought Icepick as he uses his blades to cut off each tentacle coming at him while he runs around Kotsubo, heading to Mizore. Kotsubo retracted his tentacles to let them regenerate.

"You okay, Mizore?" asked Icepick as he checks on Mizore while his arms changed back. Mizore nods before her eyes widened.

"LOOK OUT!" warned Mizore as a few of Kotsubo's tentacles slapped Icepick from behind, only to be frozen upon contact.

"WHAT?!" cried Kotsubo as he looks at his frozen tentacles in shock.

"You can freeze stuff when they touch you?" asked Mizore as she stands up, along with Icepick.

"I can? (Mizore blinks) I mean, of course I can!" grinned Icepick under his mask.

"RRRRRRRAAAAWWW!" roared Kotsubo as he runs toward the ice users before he slipped on the ground and face-planted, which became frozen thanks to Mizore.

"Thanks, Mizore." nodded Icepick, making Mizore blush.

"I will do anything to protect you, remember?" reminded Mizore with a smile. Icepick blushed as he turns away from Mizore.

"Time to finish this!" cried Icepick as he skates toward Kotsubo with his blade arms on the ice.

"Oh-No!" grimaced Kotsubo as he weakly stands up before everything went slow motion.

"As a few heroes of mine once said, FINAL STRIKE!" cried Icepick as he slashed Kotsubo with his left blade before spinning in mid-air and slashing him with his right blade before cross-slashing Kotsubo as he kneels behind Kotsubo with his blades spread as Kotsubo limply kneels down before face-planting unconsciously. The slow motion stops as Icepick stood up and changed back to Ben and looked behind him as Mizore runs toward him.

"Darn it! I was expecting an explosion!" frowned Ben as he stomps on the ground before Mizore hugged him, making him blush.

"Thank you for saving me from him, Ben!" thanked Mizore. Gin, meanwhile, was in the bushes with a camera in hand.

(Academy Clubroom)

In the days after the fight, what Kotsubo did to Mizore was exposed, turning his reputation to mud. Under normal circumstances, he might have been fired, but after the thorough beating he had received, his sentence was lightened. Of course, he had lost respect with most of his fellow teachers. And Yukari discovered that the frozen students were frozen by liquid nitrogen that was 'borrowed' by Kotsubo from the Chemistry Club, cleverly trying to frame Mizore. Those in the Newspaper Club were celebrating their victory and good deed.

"Kampai!" cheered the entire Newspaper Club.

"To a major scoop!" smiled Gin. He hadn't had such an incredible story since he first joined the Newspaper Club in his first year.

"And we have Ben to thank for it! (leans against said American's shoulder.) Without him, we never would have found out about it!" smiled Kurumu, making Ben blush.

"But how did you know where to go in the first place Ben?" wondered Moka.

"Well, there was something about that Kotsubo guy that rubbed me the wrong way. He seemed to almost be amused with telling how Mizore attacked him. He was also leaving a lot of details out of the story. Not to mention he was getting mad when I started defending her. So I called Gin and asked him to help me find Mizore." explained Ben.

"If there's one thing I'm great at, it's finding cute girls. (snickers)When I got on the trail of Mizore, I called up Ben and let him know. Of course, when we got there Kotsubo-sensei was already attacking. So Ben went to do the hero stuff and I decided to collect evidence." added Gin.

"How noble." said Kurumu.

"But did you really have to do that 'Final Strike' thing?" deadpanned Gin.

"I wanted to try something new, what with my new form and all." replied Ben before he suddenly felt a chill.

"I think someone should turn off the air conditoner. There's a draft." said Ben.

"Dude, we don't have an A.C." informed Zack as he pointed at the door. Ben and the others turned to see Mizore at the door. Kurumu and Yukari backed away from the yuki onna who entered. She now sported a shorter hairstyle. Standing up, Ben went to greet her.

"Mizore, what brings you here?" asked Ben.

"Do you like my hair?" asked Mizore.

"Yeah, it makes you look cuter." smiled Ben, along with Mizore.

"I'm glad to hear that. (she hugs him.) I'd like to thank you again for before, for sticking up for me, my beautiful snow warrior." thanked Mizore as Ben endured the cold.

"Hey, get off him!" shouted Kurumu but suddenly she was frozen in a block of ice.

"Mizore!" gasped Ben.

"Sorry, but old habits die hard." said Mizore. She then turned her attention over to Gin, but she didn't release her grip on Ben.

"Also, I wanted to join the club." added Mizore.

"You do?" blinked Ben. He and everyone else were surprised at Mizore's sudden desire to join a club.

"It's very lively and…I don't want to be alone." informed Mizore.

"Well, welcome to the club! We welcome anybody!" grinned Gin. Moka frowned, not liking how Mizore was hanging off Ben, but she knew what Ben was like so she allowed it. He was just too nice sometimes. Ben, however, was just more glad that Tori's training helped him endure the cold. Without it, he would've been a Popsicle. Ben made a mental note to thank Tori again for the training, not knowing that the Ninja Storm Power Rangers will meet the Newspaper Club sooner than he thought.

Omarnosian10: Done.

Moka: What does the last sentence mean?

Ben: It's a foreshadowing of a future chapter.

Omarnosian10: Now to welcome the new member of the announcement family, Mizore, please introduce yourself.

Mizore: My name is Mizore Shirayuki, and I am proud to be a member of Ben's harem and the announcement family.

Yukari: You weren't supposed to say the harem part.

Mizore: My bad.

Kurumu: By the way, why did you choose Icepick instead of Big Chill or Articguana?

Omarnosian10: Because unlike Icepick, they can only use freeze breath.

Yukari: Icepick doesn't have freeze breath, you know.

Omarnosian10: Okay, okay, it's because I was looking for an excuse to use OC aliens in this fanfiction.

Kurumu: You already made an OC alien 2 chapters ago.

Yukari: Kurumu, that was a mutant, not an alien.

Omarnosian10: Thank you, Yukari. Until next time!