Imagine for a second, ladies and gentlemen, a first draft of the chapter you are currently reading . . . imagine toiling away for hours upon hours, days upon days, weeks upon weeks typing away at writing what you believe to be one of the best chapters yet as you relentlessly pause and unpause videos and rewind them to the point where they could be considered a time machine to make sure you have all the correct dialogue down . . . imagine thirty pages . . . some thirty-thousand words . . . weeks or work . . .

And imagine all of that gone within the span of ten minutes.

That's right, my dear readers. The reason why this chapter was so goddamn late was because I had to restart all the way from SCRATCH when my /censored/ word processor decided to EAT MY CHAPTER! Literally, every single goddamn paragraph, sentence, word, and letter, every last single character on the document was DESTROYED, gone and LOST FOREVER! And when I try to get help and see if there's any way to retrieve my lost work so you guys won't have to endure another month of waiting, they have the GALL to give me the most UNSYMPATHETIC RESPONSE I HAVE EVER HAD THE MISPLEASURE OF READING!

'That bad, eh? Tell how us how you really feel.'

I just did!

'So you're mad you lost a chapter to some /censored/ who decided to /censored/ around with their company's customer by programming in the problem in the first place?'

Words can not describe how much I hate this ASCII option on Open Office.

Maybe now is a bad time to mention that we've gotten one-thousand reviews?

Oh, what the Hades. I could use the distraction.

Ahem?

Oh, right.

ONTO THE REVIEWS!

'WHY ARE WE YELLING?'

I DON'T KNOW! HA HA HA HA HA!

LegionnaireBlaze – To be fair, we don't entirely trust Slappy either, but he keeps Deadpool in check so that's good, right? And on a related note, I recommend leaving Pinkie behind . . . she's more trouble than she's worth, let me tell you.

ajjr12 – Highly unlikely. Problem a few jokes at how crazy Wonderlandians are, but I highly doubt anything related to drugs will be involved.

Jeptwin – Thank you! Anyway, monsters such as the Erymanthian Boar and Nemean Lion are actually a species in EAH instead of individual monsters; given how big they are however, they're quite a rare species due to hunting and limited food sources, to the point where one might believe them to be individual monsters.

1985 – Yes, Kitty and Ben are a couple. They started towards the end of Spring Unspring Pt 2, and there will be more Ben x Kitty moments later on to establish and strengthen their relationship. No offense to you, but it's times like this you can tell your readers are skimming instead of reading . . . although considering the rush everyone's in these days, I can't blame them. Hades, I've done it more than once.

'Ah, HA! So you admit it!'

Quiet, you.

Numbervania – Compared to other characters of similar nature (Daring, Faybelle), Duchess will receive little character development simply because she's a spiteful person in general; even if she had a decent destiny and wasn't forever doomed to be trapped as a swan like her mother, she'd still be just as nasty and bitter as she is now. On an unrelated note, glad you liked the dreams; I intend to try and give each girl (the ghouls already had theirs in my previous work) their own dream sequence with Ben and possibly other members of the harem just to give a glimpse at what might have been had Ben not had a harem in the first place been a single.

Believe it or not, this Tetramand is an expert on an animals and I can safely assure you that there are two species of camel. The most commonly known and the same one that one Milton Grimm was briefly turned into is in fact the one-humped Dromedary of Northern Africa, Middle East, and Austrailia (they were imported and have surprisingly adapted fairly well to the point where they're hardly considered an invasive species compared to the other animals and plants that plague the Land Down Under *cough* rabbits *cough*). The two-humped camel, better known as the Bactrian camel, is a more rare and endangered species of camel that wanders the freezing sands of the Gobi desert in Southern Mongolia and China; unlike it's more warm climated cousin, they have a shaggy, woolly coat to keep them warm.

And yeah . . . we're not entirely sure what to call Maddie's evil twin . . . doppleganger . . . clone . . . whatever . . .

She's evil! Evil, I say!

Case in point.

Warprince2000 – As stated before, I IMMENSELY apologize for the incredibly long period it took for me to get this out. This would have been out far sooner had unlife not decided to throw me for a loop and MESS WITH MY TECHNOLOGY AND WRITING!

'Dang, Four-Eyes! You sound like you're up for a yodeling contest! OH-DELAY-HEE-HOOOOOOO!'

Closet!

'AAAAHHHHH!'

Thanks, babe.

Anything for you, Creaty! Mwah!

Maddie, not while the readers are reading!

StrongGuy159 – Hopefully the wait hasn't been too long!

masterart – While I can't release that bit of information concerning Courtley or not (especially since she has yet to debut). And no, I have not heard of a guy named randompandaattack (with a name like that, you'd think I would have), but I'll be sure to take a look into it . . . when time permits that is.

Wolvenstrom – To be fair, Rosabella was genuinely considered for Snow White among others during the whole chase and only actually got all defensive when they relentlessly attacked it even though it was down. And exactly how would you react if you suddenly attacked by some lunatic? I imagine the results would be similar (ignoring the fact that you probably aren't a gigantic boar the size of a house).

Menatron the Angel of Ideas – Sadly, I think once OUAT is over (after a while), I think I'll cut this version of Ben's adventures off there. On that note, I have the promised/expected EAH one-shot and lemon series, Ben 10/Big Hero 6, Ben 10/Percy Jackson, and Ben 10 DC Nation Xovers (even though that last one is a one-shot series), so it might be a while before I come up with anything brand new that hasn't been planned prior.

Codecrash – Considering Jane, Robecca, and Venus' shenanigans, I highly doubt Ben would be offended otherwise. And you're right, that is going to make sharing a bed together very interesting, especially should Ben ever leave them all to their devices and sleepover in another dorm . . . I'm not hinting or insinuating anything, I swear!

Zachery Hance – Considering this is Wonderland we're talking about, the fact that I'll be dealing with fairy tales, monsters, aliens, and the Omniversal Laws of Karma, plus the fact that his chapter is probably a month overdue, I'm going to have to say a firm 'NO' to that one. On a side note, I (and Maddie and Deadpool as well, but the later's irrelevant in any situation or matter that doesn't involve running omniversal errands) don't really appreciate reviews telling me what to do unless I ask for the suggestions. I'm not mad or infuriated (it actually takes quite a lot), but this is the kind of thing I don't like waking up to find lurking around the review section of my stories.

mechazard01 – As I've previously stated above, it takes quite a bit for me to get really ticked off (technology taking a random turn in making my unlife a living hell one of them), so I'm hardly mad at all. As I've also previously said in a PM, as long as you give me credit for the transformation sequences, you can use any that you like (if you plan to use Phobos however, you'll have to contact me about that once more).

starravenwolf – I'll take that last suggestion to heart. Oh, Deadpool!

'Deadpool's not here, Four-Eyes! Leave a message at the beep!'

Oh, darn. He's not in!

Ah, well. We'll lure him out with a chimichanga eventually. Anyway, the narrators are currently taking a break and cowering in fear of Maddie's evil twin (clone, doppleganger, we don't entirely know yet), and the O'Hair sisters will eventually come into play; how, I'm not entirely sure, but it might involve Ben somehow getting ahold of Holly's fanfiction (probably by Kitty or Maddie's means).

Darkness Rissing – I thank you immensely for the EAH one-shot series idea, and plan to definitely use it when I eventually get there . . . eventually. As for your suggestion for how Cerise can reveal her feelings to Raven . . . this is why I /censored/ love you guys. I swear, half the stuff that ends up in the story is all because you guys help anchor me down to reality and pick out the little random thoughts and ideas I have buzzing around my head before knitting them together. This is fantastic, this is phenomenal, this is . . . surprisingly lacking violence. That's easily fixed, but the initial idea is so cool, so pure, so absolutely awesome that I'll keep it that way until right up to the kiss . . . before, you know, they get interrupted. Because that always happens!

Ooh, you like me bare-legged, hmmm?

I didn't say anything *whistles awkwardly*

Marshman101 – Believe it or not, I was actually kind of rooting for the Raven x Maddie (not my Maddie, just to clarify) pairing to win out when I put up the poll for the next yuri couple, but Raven x Cerise works out just as well, if not better (because of all the sideplots it gives me to explore).

As for your question, I don't think it would count as masturbation, since that only applies to yourself and not some clone or copy or doppleganger . . . as if we didn't have enough of those already. So how about it, Maddie? If you did happen to meet a genderbent version of yourself (there's probably more than a few of them and a couple transgenders out there in the omniverse) would you /censored/ him?

Maybe . . . if he likes tea, that is! Tea is a necessity! Tea is life! The turtle can't live without its wings!

What she said.

Isom – First off apologies for being so late on the response. With the time dilation down here and the technical issues it's a wonder I was able to get back to you guys at all. That being said, the nanite-enfused Omnitrix is absolutely awesome: the Perfect Deadpool Smashing Machine!

'Excuse me?'

Regardless, I'm glad you picked up on that little detail during Grimm's mental monologue as that will come into heavy play later on. And yes, I was originally going for Jigsaw to play croquet, but I made a promise to at least feature each alien at least twice so the little mistakes that Omniverse made wouldn't happen (Jetray, ChamAlien, and Fasttrack never appeared, even though two of them were 'requested' by Ben before dialing the Omnitrix and the former two were actually originally scripted to be used in two episodes).

And worry not about Savara: I have done a rework of her beast form and I am much more happy with the design, so I'll leave that up for you to decide on how she looks. Now addressing Deadpool's favor-

'Favor? What favor?'

Did you think getting a date with Lady Death was that easy, schoodle brain? Thanos is on the other side of the omniverse thanks to you, and that ain't an easy thing to do, let me tell you!

'So what? Not like I signed anything!'

*Creaturemaster glares and taps the Nanitrix strapped to his left wrist and presses down on the activation core, swallowing himself in a blast of yellow light. His tough, red skin started to bubble and crack violently like drying mud on a hot day, separating into individual islands that oozed and crashed into one another to form continents. His skin thickened and hardened even further, fading into an inky blackness as rock-encrusted plating began to pop out one after the other as his fingers trembled and twitched before bloating to nearly three times their original size. The Nanitrix appears in a flash of energy in the form of a watch around the wrist, completing the transformation* I don't think you understand the gravity of the situation.

'Puns? Really? WAH!' *Creaturemaster raises his Galilean arm and a hazy field of yellow energy appears at his fingertips as he thrusts his hand down. Deadpool is instantly flattened to the floor as a result*

I believe you owe Isom a favor, Deadpool. Unless you'd like me to begin writing your orbit-tuary?

'Make it stop! The gravtional pull is bad enough!'

You also missed what me and Creaty were up to last night.

'What!? Seriously!? What'd I miss!?'

Now that would be telling, now wouldn't it?

'At least there wasn't a pun.'

I dunno. I could always take this new gravity power of mine for a little spin. *Raises hand up and grins as he's encompassed in a flash of yellow light and his other arm shifts and morphs to take on an opposite duplicate of its brother. Creaturemaster than raises both arms over his head and watches with a grin as Deadpool follows and begins to helplessly orbit around in the air* Omniversal Law of Karma, dude. Omniversal Law of Karma.

'I'm . . . gonna . . . hurl . . . chimichangas!'

DracoAngelus17 – Well . . . at least we know where she is now . . . sorta. On the bright side, she hasn't turned into her creepy spider form (yet) so there's still hope for you. Usually people that end up having that happen to them are never heard from again. Your best chance at survival is to avoid getting killed, get slashed, getting tangled in any silk or webbing she might throw at you (don't know if she can do that, but better to be safe than sorry), and whatever you do, do not get bitten by those fangs! On that note, try to subject her to Wonderland torture: put on the most dull documentary you can find and try to get her to stay in one place long enough for it to catch her attention. If she doesn't smash the screen, you might be able to sneak away/kill her.

'Maybe.'

Not helping, Wade!

'What? I'm just being realistic here!'

Fair point. Best case scenario, she gets bored of you and lets you go with severe injuries. Worst case scenario, she gets you to impregnate her and her offspring will the proceed to slowly devour you alive once you have been marinated in a tea for a few hours. That's what we can figure out at the moment, so try not to die . . . maybe we should lend him one of our weapons?

'Ooh! Ooh! Universe smashing hammer! Universe smashing hammer!'

Earth-bending ring! The fire cloak! The tap dancing rhesus monkey wearing a powdered wig!

. . . I'm not even going to ask about that last one.

black shadow 120 – It would be up to Blazorna, but other than the appearance of Rath, the obvious new forms of the Queen's Blade world he's acquired, and the potential of Gravattack and several other aliens appearing sooner than canonically (spoliers), they're pretty much the same Ben. The one that is, quote on quote, "A buzzkill".

Blackstriker94 – The reason why the fairy tales seem to orbit around a European background villain wise is because that's where most if not all of the original fairy tales written by the Brothers Grimm originated from. Looking at Ever After High itself, there isn't a single character from a fairy tale in another culture (yet. If Monster High can have Skelita, Jinafire, Batsy, Lorna, and Marisol, then there's probably a few race diverse fairy tales farther down the road). And to be fair, my readers came up with the majority of the villains that have appeared so far.

KittyWolf – Yeah, things are pretty crazy down here, too. Either way, glad you noticed that little detail involving the genies, especially since that will come into play later on. As for Rosabella, that's practically her entire character: she loves animals and the beast students of the school, such as the Three Little Pigs, the Three Little Pigs, and that one aardvark that attends for some reason and fights for them to have the same rights as she and her others do. By extension, she's also an animal right's activist, though I'm not sure if she's a vegetarian like Hunter and Ashlynn. At the very least, I think she avoids eating meat in front of her beast friends.

Curtis Payne – Well, some aliens happen to suit the situation better. One problem with Omniverse was that Ben continued to keep on getting the wrong alien. It would have been more amusing if he didn't get the alien he dialed in every now and again instead of 90% of the time. And even when we do find out the reason why Ben continues to get the wrong alien, it still happens. In this case, he's wised up and it only happens every so often.

Malchior the Bad – Uh, okay? I honestly didn't expect anyone to take up the torch of fan art (if you could call it that), even with all the shameful hints I dropped during my first story (not my finest hour), but by all means go ahead! Send me a link, too! As for your request for an Autobot form, I'm going to have to decline. This would require another crossover and not only is this story crazy enough as it is, but I don't do crossovers with other stories unless asked by the author themselves (like I was with Blazorna. More on that later). And even if I did give him something akin to an Autobot form, it would called Roadhog and look like this (course, I'd have to get the artist's permission first. As for the link, copy, paste, and remove the spaces to get the full address. Believe me, it works): illuminate01 .deviantart art/ Roadhog -191757576

Royal Rebel – Until I run out of accepted OC villains to draw, every one that made it into the story will be drawn out on my Deviantart account just like I did with the Nemetrix predators.

Smaug – Yes, I am aware that Cerise has a sister. It's actually one of those 'long lost sibling' plots that actually works, though only because of their heritage. And yes, I have to say that she is quite a looker . . . unfortunately, she's not going to join the harem. Not only do we have one set of sisters already (I'm trying to diversify things here), but the O'Hair sisters will eventually join (I may change my mind on Holly later . . . maybe). On top of that, once Daring's reformed into a much more likable guy instead of the narcissistic prince he is, I have feeling Ramona might take an interest in him. After all, if Cerise initially had a crush on him, there's a possibility that Ramona might, too. And as a little spoiler, there's more than one thing that Ramona's hiding other than her heritage . . . XD

Titanzilla – Luckily for you, Whisp is crazy enough to do it! Not every time mind you, because that would be flanderizing and that is bad, but definitely enough to be a reoccurring gag.

The Question – Wonder no more, mi amigo!

Narufuu Forever – Hunter is still Ben's roommate, but with how crowded the dorm is getting that's bound to change soon *cough* this chapter *cough*

maverickmoxey2000 – Thanks (too bad that was more than a month ago)! And yeah, Teacher Tennyson will be down right hilarious to right, simply by how easy Ben'll be able to beat his students. And let forget the little wager between the harem girls about who can beat the most students within a week (cue evil cackling) ;)

As for Lizzie and Ben for a WLGL: EAH edition, I actually have a little something quite similar planned for Ben and a ghoul for the Monster High portion . . . I let you see if you can guess who. And yes, I'm pretty sure you did jinx it. Have you learned nothing!?

Your request for another interview with Ben will be coming up fairly soon, once Way too Wonderland is over, Cerise and Raven become a couple, and every one starts to pick and choose how they want to live their own destinies. I imagine that would make for a fairly interesting segment on Blondie's newscast, especially since our blonde reporter will most likely be dying to know how Ben feels about having mini-harems within his own harem.

Kaiju Fan – Yes, I suppose I am asking for you help.

'Loser!'

Quiet, you. Anyway, what are you talking about? This is phenomenal! This is why I ask you guys for help, but you and every one else who reviews are awesome as Hades! And yes, Alien X in a suit of armor wielding Ascalon up against a space dragon would be absolutely badass. And yes, I have seen the Tarkatan Xenomorph . . . not that impressed.

Soos – Gracias, mi amigo! Good luck running the shack!

Love you, Soos!

Fanfic Fan – You know what's really eerie? That you practically described everything that happened right down to the finest detail. The only difference was that Deadpool was wearing a tutu and party hat, Mr. Nibbles slept through it all and only woke up when Lady Persephone brought down fresh chimichangas for Deadpool (I think he's getting a craving for them), Mr. Nibbles once again trying to bite of Deadpool's face over the last chimichanga, and a herd of Triceratops seemingly randomly crashing through one of the walls and out the other side with the Indominus Rex giving chase . . . yeah, things get weird down here.

Dragonic Rex – Ben will not receive an Anodite transformation, simply because that would eventually make Gwen redundant and that Anodites do not possess DNA. While they do have a genetic code of some kind, it's not something the Omnitrix would be able to pick up and copy down like it's done with Whampire and some of the other aliens. That, and we don't know if male Anodites are even capable of existing, that the Anodites might possibly be a race of genderless beings that just happen to look female (sort of like the Crystal Gems from Steven Universe. They're technically genderless by look feminine in appearance).

Writing Warrior – Compared to the other ghouls, Jane is the most interesting in Blonde's opinion because of approximately three things: one, she's highly reclusive and camera shy and thus Blonde knows very little about her compared to Clawdeen, Skelita, Venus, and especially Whisp. Two, her ability to shape-shift is like nothing Ever After has seen before (yes, Ben and the ghouls can turn into aliens, but Jane can already do this naturally and without the use of a device). Three, Jane has perhaps the most interesting back story out of all of them other than Ben, and the fact that she is bisexual and is in a relationship with Ben and another ghoul in his harem is practically making Blonde pull her hair out at trying to get an interview. It's not unheard of in Ever After, but's highly rare in a school that promotes strictly men and maiden relationships.

Dud88 – Aww, thanks! It's nice to know my writing's good enough to change someone's mind :)

Slappy – And as usual, you know how to make an entrance my marionette amigo (I hope that's not as offense as the P-word). As for why the staff hasn't noticed the unusual decline in the number of girls that should be asleep in their dorms, anthropomorphic suits of armor patrol the halls (they are unable to talk) and they are relatively easy to sneak by. Plus, the girls usually sneak out at late hours and sneak back in early in the morning. Basically, Grimm's absolutely oblivious to what's going on.

Killer Croc – Jane is the most interesting in Blonde's opinion because of approximately three things: one, she's highly reclusive and camera shy and thus Blonde knows very little about her compared to Clawdeen, Skelita, Venus, and especially Whisp. Two, her ability to shape-shift is like nothing Ever After has seen before (yes, Ben and the ghouls can turn into aliens, but Jane can already do this naturally and without the use of a device). Three, Jane has perhaps the most interesting back story out of all of them other than Ben, and the fact that she is bisexual and is in a relationship with Ben and another ghoul in his harem is practically making Blonde pull her hair out at trying to get an interview. It's not unheard of in Ever After, but's highly rare in a school that promotes strictly men and maiden relationships.

Jane technically doesn't have a harem of her own that's as big as Ben's, but her relationships with Venus, Robecca, and Ben himself qualify for a relationship large enough to be considered a small harem of sorts. Whisp's relationship with Nefera and her habit of messing around with other members of the harem is more of Whisp just being playful and mischievous, although she does have a more permanent attachment to the Egyptian princess.

At the moment Jane is incapable of transforming into mythological creatures such as dragons, griffins, and unicorns simply they're a bit more complex than the animals she usually takes on, such as elephants, big cats, and snakes. She is also unable to create hybrids of said animals, such as blending a giraffe and a kangaroo together into some bizarre new animal, but the ability to transform into mythical creatures (dragons specifically) will eventually rise in the near future (and no, it has nothing to do with Dragon Games. I'll leave it up to you to see if you can guess when).

Lord Dominator – Who knows? Maybe Lizzie will want to keep their lessons private so Ben can have some . . . hands on experience ;)

Killer Instinct – The Ever After harem is still subject to change, but a fair amount of the selected candidates will remain (still unsure about Rosabella yet for a reason I'm pretty sure you might be able to take a guess at). As for Holly and Poppy, I'm not sure if anyone else other than her sister even reads them (which should make Ben stumbling across one of her stories all the more interesting) and Poppy's little downward spiral to the dark side will be touched on when Ben's 'sights' (more like my invisible hand and words) to the O'Hair sisters.

Discord – Hey, don't worry about it, dude. And just because I'm undead doesn't mean I'm a rotting corpse! I mean, theoretically I can remove parts of myself as effortlessly as Frankie can, but-

'Then lets test it then!'

How about not and I don't grow a pair of Transylian conductors and give you the shock of your life? That being said, the loss of the bed hardly compares to the loss of the original copy of this document. So there!

Luciayshadow – Wait, if Sombra is inside your head . . . and you're talking to her . . . you know what? I'm an undead Tetramand locked in the dungeon of the God of the Underworld with the Daughter of the Mad Hatter, the Merc with a Mouth, and some bizarre, alien abomination as my roommates and watching wrestling with the Queen of the Underworld every Thursday . . . or what passes for a Thursday down here. Who am I to judge?

And no, the guy that Snow use to date is not a male version of the Evil Queen. I unfortunately do not have the honor of doing a crossover with Sigmu's work like I have with Blazorna Ibara's (we actually just finished the first half. I suggest taking a look at it if you enjoyed We Are Monsters. More on that towards the end of the author's note). In other words, keep guessing!

Yeah, I've seen Ramona and I'll admit she's starting to grow on me. Unfortunately, Ben won't have the privilege of gaining her affections until the inevitable Ben 10/EAH one-shot series (in other words, Holly's been busy). On the other hand, Daring might get a chance (after a major rework in personality. The prince needs to be humbled and taken down a few notches and who better than the kid who slugged the Lord of the Underworld in the face without hesitation?) if Ramona doesn't break him in half first. Something tells me she's going to be wearing the pants in that relationship.

Way too Wonderland will be coming soon (in fact, it's this chapter if you didn't catch the title) and I'll admit there are a few webisodes that could written in once that little project's done and over with; at the very least it'd give Ben something else to smash XD

Unknown – Yes, I have been keeping tabs on Ever After High and I have an inkling of an idea of what I can do with Farrah's webisode (I don't think I'll pair her with Ben simply because of how big the harem's getting, but he'll definitely be a good friend. At the very least, Daring seems to becoming a little more decent since I saw that webisode and finding out that he's not Apple's prince . . . even that already happened here . . . oh, the amount of reworking I'm going to have to give Dragon Games). As for Apple learning 'White Magic', it's a decent thought but then again it's been done by the amazing Sigmu. As for the link you tried to send, it didn't come through; try putting spacing between certain words. That seems to work better.

Imagi – Yeah, I know Venus and Jane have kind of stolen the spotlight and I've been working on rectifying that little problem, but the truth of the matter is that they're just so much fun to write. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I might have created a pairing that can't be considered crack!

Yeah, sorry about Lorna, it's just that she just didn't seem to fit the bill. To be fair, none of the ghouls with the exception of Whisp seem to fit the bill of falling into Wonderland (they'll still be involved in the story, however. They shall not be forgotten!), but who knows? Maybe I'll figure out a way to work them in without overcrowding the cast.

Sadly, your request for Luna still wouldn't work simply because Boo York, Boo York never actually happened in We Are Monsters. Everything up to Haunted occurred, but everything afterward never happened, so a meeting of Luna, Mousedes, Elle, and Astranova is out of the question; I'm quite aware Robecca and Elle know each other (heck, Elle's already Cooper's ghoulfriend), but they met at the Plumber Academy similar to how Rook met Scout. Mousedes is still in Boo York, Luna has probably made her way there as well (truth be told, I have yet to actually watch the movie but I get the gist), I'm not sure where Catty would be about right now, and Astranova . . . well, you'll find out eventually.

In other words, the ghouls don't know Luna, Mousedes, or Astranova and thus would not know of their existence, thus making any mishearing by Apple null and void since it could not occur. Plus, at this point, I think Apple knows not to mess around with magic unless she has an extremely good reason (in other words, a reason that won't get her disciplined by her mother again and get her a one way ticket out of the harem without a way back in).

As for Courtley, her character will receive a little reworking as well (not so much so that she;s unrecognizable but just enough that Lizzie won't be likely to try and execute her the next time she sees her).

Your pairing problem . . . I'm just as confused as you are. All I can tell you is that Venus/Jane/Robecca/Ben are all an item and Cerise/Raven/Ben will be an item in the near future. Anything with Whisp is purely for entertainment purposes only, though I will admit she does have a somewhat permanent attachment to Nefera, not that the Egyptian princess has any actual feelings for her other than that of a sister.

Yep! Duchess is standing on top of Jane. Lesson number one, kids, never use an alligator or crocodile like a bridge, no matter what you see in cartoons or much they smile at you. That means they wanna eat ya with their crumpets and tea!

For a couple reviews I almost forgot you were here!

'Couple? Sounds like you really do need glasses, Four-Eyes. I can call you Eight-Eyes instead!'

Do it, and I'll Arachnichimp web sling you to the ceiling for a week.

'Or not . . . sheesh. Party-pooper.'

And finally, your guess . . . I'm not exactly sure if that's to my challenge on who can guess who Snow White's former boyfriend was, but I can assure you it was not of anyone of grand or omnipotent power. That can wait for the one-shot series where our steadily growing in popularity queen can get a chance at the Tennyson.

Ooooooh!

Deadpool, stop drooling. And Maddie, I can't believe I'm saying this, but that smile is starting to creep me out.

Fee Fye Foe Fumm – Something tells me that you likes giants . . . either way, Ben might potentially end up fighting giants of some kind one way or another. I've got two options and either one could work if executed properly . . . in other words, sit tight and hope for the best!

JawsonYou67 – You can't tell from my red, Tetramand skin, but I'm blushing-

'And you can't tell from my red suit if I'm bleeding or not!'

You will be if I put you on the business end of a pair of Appoplexian claws.

'Alright, alright! Point taken. Hah! Punny!'

Someone kill me now. OH, WAIT-

'For the hundredth time, we know you're already dead, Four-Eyes! We're not deaf!'

You might as well be, considering how little you listen to anything Maddie or I say.

'You say somethin', Four-Eyes?'

And thus my point is proven. Anyway, I don't exactly consider We Are Monsters to be my absolute best work compared to Once Upon a Tennyson, but once I go back over and adjust and realign the chapters to the standards I've risen to now, I'm sure they will be. Unfortunately, as interesting as the character is, I've already got one too many shape-shifters; every last one of the ghouls is one practically, whether they possess it naturally (some of them will in time) or with the Omnitrix that Ben gave them. The way I actually describe the transformations, whether it's one of Jane's Nemetrix predators or animal morphs or Ben or the ghouls' aliens, I based them all on the Animorphs series and how K.A. Applegate wrote the individual transformation sequences; it was one of and still is one of my favorite book series. Why an Animorphs movie hasn't been made or revamped TV series is beyond me, especially with all the better technology we have compared to the one that aired on Nickeloden sometime in the 1990s (they jumbled up half of the story lines and mixed and replaced various morphs to the point where it was a pale imitation of the books).

To be honest, Ben isn't massively muscled like the Hulk or even as muscled and well built as Ben 10,000, but he's put on a few more pounds muscle-wise to the point where it's noticeable. I'd say he's a nice blend between his most recent look (not counting the Reboot artwork) and Eye Guy's build; not too massive, not too scrawny, "just right" as Blondie would say. I suppose the main reason why a lot of stories don't feature the big muscled guys as the harem leaders is because those are the kind of guys that always get the girls; as cliché as it is, it's far more amusing to watch the scrawny, possibly nerdy guy get the chicks and leave the lugnut jock in the dust. I suppose that makes some people feel better about themselves.

Anyway, I don't really answer reviews unless they ask an immediate question, like if someone is asking if they can use one of my characters (technically, this is only Phobos at the moment, but still), if they want to write a story together, that sort of thing. General responses are usually saved for the review answers that I've set up-

'Yeah, get in line, kid!'

Wade, I've got four words for you: Galvanic Mechamorph Tachyon Cannon. You don't shut up right now, I'm using it to put a hole through your head, got it?

Maybe you could aim farther South? I'm sure that'd bust his coconuts up!

You are devious, you know that? Anyway to close off, yes, Godzilla and Way Big duking it out would be awesome. Fortunately for you, I have the Ever After equivalent of that somewhere in the future (hopefully. Honestly, everything's jumbled up at the moment).

storygirl99210 – Hang, don't worry about it. Trust me, I haven't had much free time on my hands either since I've been practically retyping this chapter from scratch, which was a lot. And yeah, Whisp is crazy, ain't she?

'We done here?'

I think so. That's about all the information out of the reviews I can gather. And now onto the actual story itself . . . oh, boy. Note to self, save to external flashdrive every three days after saving.

The turtle pulls its head in its shell and even the hare wises up to run away when the Jubjub bird comes to play.

What she said. Anyway, I have a huge announcement, y'all-

'WARNING! WARNING! FOUR-EYES HAS SOMETHING EXTREMELY BORING BUT PROBABLY IMPORTANT TO- you did not just say 'y'all'.

Ignoring! Anyway, me and another author by the name of Blazorna Ibara have made a Xover between his story, The Troubles of a Misplaced Hero and We Are Monsters (both of which are Ben 10 Xovers) and the first chapter is out and ready to be read! If you enjoyed my first story, head on over to Blazorna's page and take a look at the most recent chapter! It's worth it, I promise! Deadpool and Maddie will be there, too!

With plenty of tea!

'And against our wills, I might add!'

Ignore him. He's a loopy in the head, and that's really saying something coming from me! Hee hee hee!

I'm surrounded by loons. Anyway, the only other thing I have to say is if you read my one-shot series Cupid's Crystal Ball then be prepared to vote on the poll that will be up as soon as this chapter is posted! Your vote matters and will decide the future of the story, so don't hesitate and vote as possible!

'Or we'll put a bullet between your eyes!'

Threatening the readers is not recommended, Deadpool.

'What? Always works for me.'

Whatever. I guess the only other thing I have to say right now is my usual monologue. As always, comment, review, suggest, and request down below! And for the love of Galvan Prime, don't forget to back up your files all you writers out there! You hear me!?

Onward!

I've given up by now.


"And this here is our main control room!" Magister Patelliday exclaimed dramatically to his tour group.

The small crowd of Monster High students 'ooed' and 'ahhed' appropriately at the large, open space that was clearly well beyond anything located on Earth technology-wise. The floor was a thick, yet well shined plexiglass green that glowed faintly in its hexagonal tiled pattern surrounded by several monitors stations and computers that attentive Plumber agents sat at; most of them either ignored the tour group or only gave a small passing glance at the students wandered about under Magister Patelliday's watchful eye.

As requested by Headmistress Bloodgood and talked over greatly with the Magistrata herself, the Plumbers' Headquarters had agreed to start giving small tour groups to certain students that showed great potential at Monster High to have a future as a Plumber agent or to those that were simply curious enough to see what all the fuss was about. There had been a great deal of arguing among the Plumber's Counsel about letting a bunch of teenagers wander about unsupervised on a highly advanced and highly sensitive satellite full of busy Plumbers and dangerous criminals, but in the end it didn't matter; the Magistrata firmly believed it was a good way of advertising the Plumber's mission and gather new recruits, especially since most of their forces were spread dangerously thin in keeping the law and order that had been put in place by a certain wielder of the Omnitrix.

Nefera sighed and leaned up against the elevator that ran up a vertical tube through a majority of the Plumber's base, watching as Jackson Jekyll immediately ran over to an empty terminal and excitedly began buzzing about how much more advanced it was compared to his laptop back home; Nefera still couldn't understand why Frankie had found the dual-personalitied nerd attractive in the first place, especially when he started asking eager questions towards a pair of Plumbers that looked as if even they didn't have the slightest idea at what they were talking about.

"Heath!" the mummy heard Gigi's voice bark sharply. "Don't touch that!"

The fire elemental jerked back his hands from a very big, very red, and very shiny button located on one of the empty computer stations. "What!? I wasn't going to touch anything, I swear!"

The genie raised and eyebrow and placed her hands on her hips. It was a look that she had developed after Ben had suddenly disappeared into thin air, and Nefera knew that when that look came out of the djinni's closet of emotions, it was time to stop and quit fooling around with whatever shenanigans were about to transpire. Heath wisely decided to heed Gigi's warning and scoot off over to go see what his cousin was yammering about that was giving one of the Plumbers a headache while the other simply tried to keep up with what Jackson was saying.

Nefera felt the corners of her lips tug up into the slightest of smiles when Gigi tense posture suddenly went slack with a loud, tired sigh of weariness. It was over Ben's disappearance that the genie start to act less like a cautious and nervous box turtle and more like a territorial cat that didn't take kindly to trespassers, and it had come in handy several times when a certain fire elemental did not seem to understand the concept of keeping his fingers away from big buttons and switches that should not be pushed or pulled unless he knew exactly what they did (and just because he didn't know what they didn't do did not mean it was a good idea to push or pull them to find out what they did).

"Somethin' wrong, mate? Yer lookin' a bit green around the gills, if ya catch my drift." Lagoona Blue wondered with concern as she strode up to Nefera. Under normal circumstances, the Egyptian princess' presence would have made even the generous and accepting sea monster bristle and wary after seeing the sinister schemes she often came up with. That all changed when Ben had wandered into their lives and turned Nefera's prickly personality into a total one-eighty; true, she was nowhere near as selfless or as kind as Frankie was, but it was a definite improvement from her previous self.

The Egyptian princess sighed a second time, shifting her shoulders into a more comfortable position. "I still miss Ben." she replied lamely.

One might have taken the ghouls longing for their missing boyfriend to be obsessive or even bordering insanity, like one of those Japanese school girls in certain video games that were so possessive of certain boys that they were fond of that they didn't tolerate any other females coming near them, whether they were even in a relationship or not. Those people however, (such as a certain anchorman) didn't even fathom what Ben had done for his ghouls and the people's whose lives he had touched. Some stubborn people would have seen as nothing more than an immature kid that had been accidentally granted great power and was wielding in foolish and endangering ways, but those were the people that didn't bother to look closer.

Nefera didn't see her future pharaoh like that at all. She could never even begin to thank Ben enough for turning her life around, for giving her a wake up call to reality. She understood that some monster still despised her, and she honestly couldn't blame them for such accusations; the statements that she was just a spoiled brat and was only with Ben for his fame and apparently substantial fortune still stung and made her furious when they didn't let up under what Whisp had playfully referred to as "The Stone Gazer", but she knew that they held a small amount of truth to them. She had been a spoiled brat and she had horrible things under her father's request to increase their fame and fortune and secure their place in the world and she had never regretted a single moment of it up until she had felt those warm, comforting hands . . .

"I know, mate. We all miss him." Lagoona smiled sadly as she took a spot next to Nefera to relax. Ben was one of her closest friends, having since each other since they were ten years old; they met in San Francisco during the summer almost five years ago during a trip to the beach. She had originally thought he was one of the more brave or foolish sea monsters that made their home close to shore and probably would have continued to believe so had her new acquaintance not suddenly been replaced by a scrawny, human boy. Ben would have almost drowned from the sudden change in species had Lagoona had not sacrificed her own safety to swim back to shore and perform what little CPR she knew back then to fully revive him.

After that, the two of them had become fast friends during Ben's short stay at the beach and spent nearly all their time together swimming, building sand castles, and scaring the locals witless with their antics. Eventually though, those good times had come to an end when he had packed up and never came back, leaving little Lagoona dishearten for several days before she eventually got over her loss, reasoning that he belonged on land and she belonged in the sea. It wasn't until five years later that her television set had accidentally picked up a newscast from somewhere called Bellwood did she hear about him again; about a week after that, Ben had transferred to Monster High in an attempt to avoid the stares and rumors that surrounded him from his classmates.

They had picked up right where they had left off the last time they had met relatively quickly. Ben was something like a brother to her and even the boyfriend she never had; she still adored and loved her little guppy, Gil, to absolute pieces, but there was a fire within Ben that matched her own. They shared the same love of having wild fun and if they weren't having fun they shared a similar, laid-back attitude and could sometimes be found stretched out on a pair of lawn chairs by the pool taking in the sun's warm rays. Those moments were often interrupted by someone splashing them from the water or a crisis that required Ben's skills and Lagoona held those close to her heart for those exact reasons.

The sea monster was interrupted from her thoughts when she heard Gigi give an exasperated sigh and plop herself down into an empty hoverchair positioned at one of the monitor stations, pushing back with her feet as hard as possible. The genie went sailing across the floor on the chair and came to a slow stop on the other side of Nefera, rubbing her temples and leaning back to the fullest extent the chair had to offer.

The mummy pushed herself off of the wall and moved over to get behind Gigi, placing her hands on the genie's shoulders and upperback to rub her thumbs in slow, firm motions. At first the djinni went tense at feeling Nefera's perfectly manicured fingers press into her tight muscles and create some uncomfortable moments before she relaxed with a low hum and fell back into the chair.

"Tired?" Nefera guessed.

"More like stressed," Gigi sighed with a hint of weariness. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it."

Lagoona raised an eyebrow at the small scene before her as she had never known Nefera to be much of an affectionate person, with the exception of her fellow harem ghouls, particularly Whisp, and Ben; veritably, the shadow genie could often be found doing such things that a great deal of the male and population of Monster High and a few ghouls would only dream about and Nefera would hardly bat an eye. The Egyptian princess had grown so accustomed to finding a head of black and midnight blue locks and small, strong hands cuddling and groping her at five in the morning that she hardly thought anything of it; in fact, she had come to expect it. The mummy had grown so habitual to Whisp's tradition of climbing into bed with her that she was mildly surprised that the djinni hadn't up and decided to move in with her; she probably knew what boundaries she could and could not cross.

That had all changed the moment that Whisp had been sucked through the malfunctioning Null Void projector with Clawdeen, Venus, Jane, and Skelita, and Nefera had been greatly surprised to find herself so crushed. Since her reformation, she had begun to notice that she was a little more sensitive to what happened around her, as if all her emotions had finally been released from their mental prison and were running riot in her body trying to find someway to escape or relieve themselves; she had mildly startled when she felt a near crushing feeling well up in her chest whenever she hugged her Ben and Whisp plushies to herself beneath the covers of her bed as she tried to sleep. As much as she saw Whisp as an adoptive sister of sorts to her, she greatly missed her and could hardly remember a day without waking up to find the shadow genie snuggled up to her like she was a giant stuffed animal.

That was where Gigi had come in.

The two of them had some rather limited (and awkward) bonding to get to know one another, but it had been enough to bring the two of them under similar circumstances. The genie filled the gap that Whisp had occupied, more than willing to dial things back a bit and simply lie down and nap with the mummy whenever she was particularly exhausted, bringing Nefera to some sort of peace that helped sooth her snappish temper. In turn, Nefera would act as a stand in for Ben, running her fingers through the djinni's hair, hugging her, holding her, and simply providing someone to be near in times of greater depression or stress; in a way, both of them acted as a crutch for the other.

"You two sure have connected, eh, mate?" Lagoona smiled brightly.

"Is that a problem?" Nefera narrowed her eyes with suspicion. There had been some backlash and some rather highly offensive content made when word of Robecca's relationship with two others ghouls that all shared a boyfriend with nearly a dozen other ghouls got out to the public, and Nefera couldn't even begin to count the number of pornographic images she had stumbled across when surfing the internet. Now there were rumors surfacing of an intimate relationship going on between her and Gigi now that Ben and Whisp's disappearance left them to "explore each others horizons", as some sources had called it; the mummy was more than capable of reading between the lines of what they were hinting at.

She was not a amused in the slightest.

A soft and slightly timid sounding voice spoke up. "I don't mind . . ." the owner of the voice said as she approached them with a slightly skittish gait, as if she were ready explode into a burst of speed and energy at a moments notice. She was a ghoul of average height, perhaps a head shorter than Nefera, and seemed to be bestial in nature if the short layer of soft, chestnut brown fur that covered her body was any sign; it was so smooth one might have mistaken it for skin at first glance. Her wide, hazel brown eyes were surrounded by flecks and speckles of white spots that highlighted a deer-like nose, a set of full, slim lips, and a pair of pointed ears that poked curiously out of a mane of bright blue hair that reached down to her waist. Her attire was greatly intricate in color and design, borrowing breath taking colors and patterns that seemed to be Native Scarmerican in origin; feathers and beads were looped in necklaces around her neck and hung from a headband around her head that sported a pair of small, faux antlers to tie the outfit together with her open hoof pumps.

Gigi gave a low groan as Nefera's magical fingers hit a particularly tight knot of muscle and easily straightened it out. "Hey, Isi- HAH!" the genie gasped when a sharp spike of pain stabbed itself way through her back before smoothing out with a satisfied croon. "Enjoying the tour?"

Isi shifted awkwardly, unsure of how to explain it. "I . . . um, yes." she quickly lied, shifting on her hooves awkwardly. Truth be told, she was enjoying the tour quite a bit but hadn't signed up for it because she was interested in becoming a Plumber; based on how haggard some of Ben's ghouls looked walking into school after a sudden fight, it was a very stressful and painful job. She had intended to become a dancer when she grew up to help spread the culture of her people to others, but that dream had been halted when she had been granted with a vision.

Her head was hurting from what had occurred only mere hours ago, almost immediately as soon as she woke up and rose from her bed (her grandmother had arranged for her to stay at Ms. Kindergrubber's rather spacious house, and the kindly, old hag absolutely adored her recipe for honey-dipped apples); she had only recently gotten out of the shower and was drying her hair when she was hit with a vision right then and there in the bathroom.

Her family had a reputation of seeing things that most other monsters could not, and would often receive visions or dreams that hinted at future events that had yet to transpire. Those usually involved a spirit guide of sorts leading them to a certain destination or place in time that the universe seemed them to want to be at, and Isi had yet to have any vision of her or her family's ever be wrong or misinterpreted, no matter how confusing or strange it was (only one of her ancestors had not decided to heed the vision of her spirit guide, an osprey with glowing, crystal eyes, and that had turned out very badly).

Her most recent vision had started off as they usually did, surrounding herself in a thick, green fog that cut off any and all involvement from the outside world; according to witnesses, it usually made her appeared as if she were talking to the imaginary friends most monsters usually lost when they were a little less than ten years old. The deer spirit's spirit guide had appeared as well, a graceful and delicate fawn that seemed to move faster than the wind itself without ever touching the ground. The deer had led her through the void of swirling, green fog for what felt like a short distance to Isi before it vanished from her line of sight and images began to flash across her eyes; Gigi Grant receiving a massage from Nefera de Nile; Magister Patelliday giving a group of Monster High students a tour of the Plumber Headquarters; a large exosuit smashing a massive hammer into an elephant's face.

Two out of those three things had happened already and Isi had yet to see any gigantic mechanical suits of armor doing battle with pachyderms. The vision that had brought her all the way from her New Hexican home had led to her realizing that there was so much more that the world had to offer her than just her family and friends back home and that were always new friends and places to meet and see as well; her latest vision however, didn't provide such easy answers, and she wasn't sure if it was wise to try and consult one of her friends for any theories on what it meanings. Her closest confident on such things had always been Twyla since the shadow ghoul had always known a thing or two about how dreams worked, but the Boogeyman hadn't shown her face in a long time. All that Isi would see would be a set of pale fingers reaching out of the shadows to grab food for sustenance when they thought no one was looking.

"Hey! Hey! Over here! Eyes on me!" Patelliday yelled loudly to grab the attention of his tour group. When that didn't work the Piscciss Volann drew a pair of webbed fingers to his lips and gave off a wet, shrill whistle that Isi only just barely managed to cover her sensitive ears from. With a slight cringe at the sudden, loud noise, the ghouls made their way over to where Patelliday was gathering the students all up, making sure to do a quick headcount to ensure no one had wandered off; even Nefera was accounted for, though it was mostly just so Patelliday didn't lose track of his assistant.

Nefera had yet to convince him of giving her a different title.

"Now then," Magister Patelliday coughed before recomposing himself. "Follow me into our elevator system and I'll show you where our brilliant technicians are hard at work on the latest in alien combat technology!"

Nefera held back a snicker of amusement while Gigi clapped her hands over her mouth in an attempt to hold back her laughter. Isi raised an eyebrow at the two Omnitrix wearing ghouls and wondered just what they were getting into as Nefera finally calmed down long enough to help Magister Patelliday usher the group of students into the elevator car and pressed the button for a floor a few levels below them. The deer spirit was even further confused when Nefera and Gigi were quietly snickering together as Patelliday gave a short speech about Plumber Tech Support's greatest achievements, most of which went over Heath's head as he fantasized about all the cool weapons he would to test out (before Magister Patelliday told him there would be no weapons testing if he could help it).

Patelliday nodded proudly. "Yes, sir, without Tech Support, Plumber HQ would be worse than a feedin' frenzy on Incarcecon! Why, I bet they've got somethin' special cookin' up in that lab of theirs right now!"

"Don't count your gargoyles before they hatch." Nefera chuckled to herself as the elevator doors opened and they stepped out onto the floor. Patelliday then led the group down a hallway with pride in his step before turning a corner and continuing on from there. The tour group of students paused to wave at a group of technicians doing a manual inspection of a seemingly clogged air vent, only to find that the source of the obstruction was none other than another escape attempt by Dr. Animo; despite being caught and quickly apprehended, the mad geneticist was actually quite friendly towards the students for the few brief seconds they shared together before Nefera and Patelliday ushered them along, if for no other reason than to gawk and drool at the thought of putting them through a glorious mutation.

Magister Patelliday finally came to a stop outside of a closed door and grinned a confident smile. "Here we are, Plumber Tech Support Headquarters! A headquarters within a headquarters, now that I think about it." he added with a soft chuckle to himself; none of the students found the joke funny as the Piscciss Volann quickly typed in a series of numbers to the keypad positioned outside of the locked door. "Behold the wonders within!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"'Wonders' he says." Lagoona tried to hold back a smirk.

Patelliday did a double take and ducked just in the nick of time to avoid being aerial assaulted by Driba as the Galvan hung on for dear life to an out of control drone that promptly crashed against the opposite wall and clattered to the floor. The drone viciously smoked and smoldered as Driba hacked and coughed from his rough landing; the flying device could be compared to a hovering, blue ball with a pair of adjoined wings for gliding mechanics. Blinking spotlights were positioned at the front to increase viewing performance and thrusters for lift and propulsion were placed at the back on either side of a sort of tail that curved down and forward, almost like that of a stinging bee.

"What in taration is going on here!?" Magister Patelliday demanded to know.

Driba groaned and rubbed his aching skull before responding. "It was all Blukic's fault! He didn't program the R.A.D. properly!"

The taller of two Galvans rolled his eyes but immediately protested form inside the lab. "Nuh-uh! It was your fault! You wanted to take it for a test drive when I wasn't finished tuning up the engines!"

"It's your fault!" Driba barked angrily.

"No, it's your fault!" Blukic shot back.

"Is not!" Driba defended himself.

"Is so!" Blukic argued.

"Is not!"

Is too!"

Is not!"

Is too!"

Magister Patelliday could do nothing but sigh with embarrassment and disappointment as the two Galvans argued and screamed at each others face. "Cooper, son, please tell me you have something special to show us." the old Piscciss Volann practically begged; the students couldn't help but snicker at Blukic and Driba and Heath was starting to take bets on who was going to win the lengthy argument.

A tall boy with a well built figure swiveled around in a hoverchair stationed at a desk where a mess of mechanical parts and a computer sat to look at them with a pair of bright blue, intelligent eyes that seemed to sparkle and shimmer like circuits. He had sharply cut, blonde hair that ended in bangs hanging just barely over his face and a wore an old, purple football jersey with a yellow number three stenciled to the front and a pair of tan cargo pants with pockets that clinked and clattered whenever he moved. A tool belt filled with alien devices and tools sat tightly clipped around his waist and his right hand was wrapped in a large, chrome and black gauntlet with green ports on the palms and sharp, metallic claws tipped with sensitive green spikes; a couple of the ghouls in the group found themselves blushing and unable to take their eyes off Cooper as he approached them.

"Well ain't he a looker." Lagoona jokingly nudged Gigi in the ribs.

The genie had to admit that, while Cooper was handsome, he was not her type. "I still prefer Ben."

"Good thing, too. Otherwise we would have some serious complications." Elle Eedee gave a playful smirk as she strolled up to her boyfriend and wrapped an arm around his shoulders to plant a quick kiss on his cheek. Her skin was a metallic silver and her movements were somewhat jerky and arrhythmic despite the fact that her joints and sockets were far more complex than Robecca's. Her long, flowing, black and blue hair was pulled back into a luscious ponytail that reached down to the small of her back, framing her slender figure against a black curtain and accenting her dazzling optical sensors that reminded Gigi of the endless night sky.

Cooper fought back a blush of embarrassment. "Elleeeeee, not while we're working!" he hissed with shame when he caught sight of the playful and mischievous looks directed in their direction. The chrome robot merely laughed and kissed him on the cheek once more, ignoring his protest and forcing him to surrender; she knew that he loved it anyway. Cooper sighed in defeat and wrapped an arm around her waist to pull her a little close much to the delight of a few catcalls. "Come on in. We'll give you a briefing on what we've been working on lately."

". . . did not!"

"Did so!"

"Did not!"

"Did so!"

"Did not!"

"Did so!"

Magister Patelliday sighed wearily. "Great Sandrippers of Khoros, what're they arguin' about now?"

Nefera shrugged; whenever Blukic or Driba got into a fight with one another, the issue sometimes went on for hours at a time and could jump between a multitude of topics and subjects before the two Galvans either came to a conclusion or got so fed up with one another that they refused to speak to the other until they apologized . . . which would sometimes take days at a time considering their rather large ego. Nefera instead decided to focus on whatever Elle and Cooper were about to show them, if for no other reason than a distraction from Blukic and Driba's endless arguing.

The lab was not large by any means, but it was spacious enough that individual projects were not precariously stacked up on one another or crammed into the room's corners. Blank and dead screens dotted the walls, receiving and transferring megabytes of data and information to and fro through various computer consoles through Plumber Headquarters just above a strip of bright yellow and black hazard lines that ran the circumference of the room. Terminals and monitors were sat against one wall with a testing station position directly in from of a target boars spray painted on the wall towards the back of the room. Assorted tables littered with the occasional smoothie cup sat about the place with all manner of tools and oddies on them, everything from mannequins wearing fancy hats to broken droids that had been cast aside and brutally assaulted with power tools when the large metal shelves pushed against the walls couldn't hold them.

Heath and a majority of the other students were quickly warned not to touch anything, especially any buttons and switches, no matter how shiny, big, and red they might be.

The group and Magister Patelliday were led towards the back of the lab, leaving Blukic and Driba to their petty argument, and the students were then given a chance to gaze upon one of the latest technological wonders the Plumbers had to offer. It was absolutely massive, standing almost ten feet tall and weighing nearly a ton, though Isi could not give an accurate estimation on that. In simple terms it was a humanoid exosuit that looked like it could have knocked over an entire tree with a solid punch and chopped the logs in half with a single strike of its hand; the deer spirit didn't even want to think about how painful it would be to have the gigantic feet step on her hooves; the suit was bulky and cumbersome, clearly meant to take a lot of hits and deal a lot of damage at a considerably slow pace, if the gigantic, dome-shaped shoulders, bulging, metallic arms and legs, and masculine chest were anything to go by. The head was laughably small compared to the rest of the body and sported a single horn at the front of its helmet that fell back into two, smaller spikes a little farther back along the head. The eyes were represented by a single, golden slit across the face that was oddly shaped similarly to that of a knight's helmet that seemed to fit quite well with the massive, metal fingers and powerful figure.

As if that weren't enough, sitting on display hooks adjacent to the exosuit was a hulking hammer that was a good three or five feet longer than the gigantic suit of high tech armor was tall. The head was gigantic and particularly well designed for smashing through even the most resilient of armors and walls . . . and there even seemed to be thrusters or rockets of some kind attached to the back of the head to maximize the pressure and strength behind the swinging blow. Isi found that particularly odd, but couldn't argue that it was going to definitely hurt.

"What is it?" she starred with wide eyes.

Cooper grinned proudly as he walked up to the tremendous exosuit and lovingly patted the well armored chest where a dimly glowing power core sat humming softly. "This ugly brute is Project: Blitzritter, Project ID 3945_47."

Elle nodded as the small lens on her forehead fluttered a bright blue before blinking to life and casting out a shimmering, blue hologram of the gigantic, mechanical suit of power armor that gently spun around an axis and shrank or grew depending on how she manipulated it. "Project: Blitzritter is based on the German words for 'lightning' and 'knight' and will allow the wearer to leap into a full frontal assault thanks to the layers of Talpaedan impact resistant armor we have stratified over the initial skeleton. This allows it to take multiple hits with hardly a scratch and even survive a sizable explosion should the need ever arise." she lectured lightly, pointing specifically towards the chest and back of the hologram for emphasis. "It runs on a biofeedback system that allows the wearer to exhibit forms of inhuman strength roughly ten times of that of their normal body strength."

"And the hammer?" Jackson asked eagerly, clearly enthralled while a majority of the students only found it mildly interesting. Heath just wanted to see it smash stuff.

The group of Monster High students Magister Patelliday all gave startled yelps and screams of surprise when the titanic suit of armor suddenly and very slowly lifted up one gigantic, metal leg and took a lumbering step forward with a dull boom! against the floor. The other leg then followed with another impactful landing as the Blitzritter exosuit then raised its arms above its head with a low groaning noise as if it were stretching before the heavy fingers wrapped around the handle of the tremendous hammer and easily lifted it off the hooks and gave an almost experimental swing of it like a child would with a rattle; the hammer alone must have weighed as much as Isi.

And then the suit of gigantic, mechanized armor actually giggled humorously. "I could do this all day. Really!"

Elle rolled her eyes at the sweet sounding voice with a harsh, mechanized tinge to it due to the audio systems of the Blitzritter. "Kjersti, please stop fooling around. At least open up the suit a little bit."

"LOL!" the owner of the taunting voice gave a deep, reverberating laugh that was greatly distorted by the suit. A few seconds passed as the Blitzritter set the hulking hammer back on its display hooks and raised its arms to grab hold of its knight-like helmet to pull it off with a soft hiss of stale air and expose the head of its pilot; the armored pectoral muscles slid back like paneling and the glowing power core popped lose and folded down to allow ease entry and exit to a comfy, soft padded chair located within the chest cavity of the suit where a ghoul that Isi could only vaguely recall meeting sat with a wide grin on her face. The ghoul was small and petite, standing perhaps two heads shorter than Isi, and had light purple-pink skin and hot pink, curly hair with dark blue highlights that stood out when stuffed under a light blue, wool skull cap meant to resemble a Viking's helmet. Her shoulders were well rounded and her figure rather scrawny and a little small and compared to a few more well rounded ghouls like Lagoona, her hands and feet were noticeably quite large alongside a pair of pointed ears and pixilated correction glasses. She wore a black shirt with pixel patterns for the sleeves, a fuchisa shirt with light blue ruffles, and pastel blue socks with periwinkle boots ringed in bright, pink fur.

Magister Patelliday looked greatly baffled and confused as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, metal rod of sorts that flashed a shimmering, green hologram akin to that of a sheet of paper with a list of words and names engraved across the electronic display. "Lemme see now . . . Kjersti . . . Kjersti . . . ah, ha!" the Piscciss Volann explained. "One Kjersti Trollson! I was wondering where ya went to!"

The Gorewegian troll smiled sheepishly as she adjusted her glasses. "Apologies, Magister. Tech Support wanted me to come in early for a test run after the latest additions to the software, and I simply couldn't pass up the chance to beat my high score."

Nefera raised an eyebrow. "High score? This is a game to you?"

Cooper coughed awkwardly. "Well, due to Kjersti's rather . . . um, comparative stature," he winced under the troll's harsh glare, as if she were daring him to even consider using the word 'small' to describe her. "And her unsurpassed gaming skills and lightning fast reflexes, she is the only person suitable to pilot such a complicated piece of weaponry . . . at the moment at least."

Patelliday raised a fleshy eyebrow. "And I'm gonna assume she's had no proper Plumber training?"

Elle took over for her floundering boyfriend as the dulled lens on her forehead fluttered weakly for a few seconds before blinking to life and creating the holographic image of an official looking document written in an alien language that Isi couldn't even hope to begin deciphering. Magister Patelliday however, seemed to read it just fine as he gave a quick puff and polished his glasses before leaning over to read carefully for the document with careful scrutiny; his beady eyes, perfectly adapted for seeing in the dark depths of his homeworld, bugged out considerably when he caught sight of the official looking stamp printed at the bottom of the document, the ever familiar intergalactic symbol for peace that was stenciled on a majority of Plumber technology and, more famously, the Omnitrix that several of its agents-in-training wore proudly. "This here says it was signed by the Maggie herself!"

Elle smiled sheepishly as the hologram fizzled and shimmered before blinking out. "It took a lot of convincing and the project was almost shut down. It wasn't until the Counsel saw Kjersti in action did they approve future funding and the founding of a new Plumbers branch that will employee intergalactic professional gamers to pilot and operate the Blitzritter and future designs once a complete design has been decided upon."

"On the grounds that I get to stream!" Kjersti added excitedly.

Cooper rolled his eyes with a hint of amusement. "Yes, in addition to piloting the Blitzritter, Kjsterti has been authorized to post footage of her efforts to Earth's internet and the Extranet as a whole in order to promote the Plumber's goals." he explained. "And yes, she'll receive proper training once the Blitzritter has been perfected."

Nefera coughed loudly to catch Magister Patelliday's attention, impatiently tapping her Omnitrix for emphasis that they had a limited time before the tour group was to take the next Plumber ship back to Earth in order to be on time for their next class, a majority of which who had Mr. Hackington for their teacher and thus were on a very narrow time scale if they didn't wish to spend the weekend cooped up in the classroom with a man who could groom himself for lice and ticks despite lacking a surprising amount of hair on his head.

"Yes, well, thank you for show around, Cooper. Elle." Magister Patelliday nodded as he snapped his holographic checklist back together and stowed it away in his pocket. "Ms. Trollson, if you'll finish up here, kindly meet us on the prison level. I'm sure you'll be able to find it."

Kjersti beamed excitedly. "Gotcha! I am so ready to PWN some n00bs in this thing for the LOLs!" she laughed as she tapped a button from within the depths of the suit and quickly recalled the suit up feature; the power core hatch raised and shifted back into place as the heavy, armored paneling slid and snapped back together tightly. The troll then placed the horned helmet back on her head and gave it a few twists to secure it before a set of small pistons and screws locked it into place. With that well and done, Kjersti than gave a loud battle cry and experimentally flexed her titanic, metal muscles before striking a heroic pose after yanking the Thor Hammer off of the wall and resting her foot on the heavy head to complete her posture.

"This'll take some getting use to." Elle sighed with a slight smile.

"Just be glad Rivet's too busy hunting for cookies in the kitchen." Cooper whispered out of the corner of his mouth as the group turned to leave and shuffle out of the laboratory with Magister Patelliday and Nefera ushering them out. Blukic and Driba, as expected, were still arguing and somehow had gotten onto the topic of whose fault it was for forgetting that Vulpimancers lacked any eyes and that the latest Plumber of said species was now seriously offended whenever anyone tried to hand him a document of any kind, even if it was written in a braille specifically modified for their claws.

Cooper sighed warily and rubbed his brow. The tour had been an unexpected but pleasant surprise, but now he was getting a rather painful headache from the two Galvan's nearly endless arguing and wished for nothing more than a roll of duct tape as he proceeded to close and lock the door behind the leaving group of students with a few quick presses of the keypad. The lab was now locked in silence, save for the faint muffling from outside as Blukic and Driba continued to bicker.

"My sensors indicate you're feeling stressed." Elle remarked with a playful smile as she wrapped her chrome arms around her boyfriend's waist and rested her metallic chin upon his shoulder. Most would have found the rather intimate contact rather uncomfortable coming from an artificial being as apposed to an organic life form, but Cooper hardly thought anything of it when Elle pecked him on he cheek and nuzzled him lovingly. Her programming allowed her to behave like an organic being and that was more than enough for Cooper to accept her. After all, if Ben could be in a lengthy and continuous relationship with Robecca, a far more primitive robot in comparison to Elle, then so could he.

Kjersti then briefly wondered if it was worth risking Cooper and Elle's wrath to tell them that the Blitzritter's optical sensor cameras were currently recording as the young couple proceeded to share a few heated kisses between themselves.


The prison level was a lot bigger than Isi had ever expected to be, rows upon rows and levels upon levels of octagonal cells positioned one right above the other. Each cell was filled with a bed, toilet, and sink with mirror, all of which was exposed by durable, Bombardian blast resistant glass that allowed little to no privacy for the prisoners within; escape methods were wild and varied among the many occupants and many security measures had to be made in order to prevent jailbreaks.

Even so, Isi was greatly discomforted by the way the criminals locked away in their cells glared at them all, as if feeling insulted that they were being put on display like animals in a zoo. The deer spirit could sympathize with them that much as she herself was not a ghoul that liked being in the spotlight, but as far as she was concerned they were behind that wall of strong glass for a reason and she was on the other side for another reason.

"And this here is our prison level," Magister Patelliday continued to lecture on the tour. "The tightest and most secure place in all of Plumber HQ! Nobody gets in or out without our twenty four hour surveillance team knowing about it! Yes, sir, sharp as hawks they are!"

Heath leaned back to whisper to Jackson. "Five bucks says they're playing table football out of boredom, dude."

"Heath!" Jackson hissed before turning his attention back towards the tour like the dutiful student he was. The fire elemental rolled his eyes but remained silent as the group of students continued to shuffle along the catwalk in amazement at the sheer size and space of the prison level when they weren't starring at the criminals imprisoned in their cells.

Lagoona casually peered over the edge of the catwalk and winced. "Crikey, that's a long way down!"

Isi hardly heard the sea monster as she faded back into her thoughts, wondering what all of this meant. Her vision had shown her the Blitzritter, that much she would grant it, but she was nowhere closer to figuring out what any of it meant; what was she supposed to do? What was she supposed to see? Why was she here? All she was asking for was a sign of some kind, any sort of sign that would explain why she was surrounded by alien technology and currently orbiting around the Earth at who knew how many miles per hour. Was that too much to ask?

Thankfully, as if her prayers had been answered, the corners of her vision began to deteriorate and her other senses began to numb and dull. It was similar to the feeling one got when they were slowly lulled into slumber after an exhausting day, but this was more fast acting. Sooner than she realized, Isi had left the mortal plane.


The deer spirit patiently waited for her spirit guide to appear, growing more and more concerned when the faithful fawn that had led her through many adventures did not appear. She only grew more concerned when the ghostly, green mist around her flashed and crackled like lightning and a thunderous roar soon followed after as if she was in the middle of a gigantic thunderstorm; Isi instinctively pinned her ears back and made an attempt to run as she was not fond of thunderstorms or very loud noises that filled all her senses and rattled her to the core.

Images began to flood her mind and vision, everything faded and tinted an otherworldly green as shapes began to take form; the absence of her spirit animal continued to unnerve Isi as she tried to make sense of what she saw. She was once again in the hallways of Monster High, surrounded by the little, coffin-shaped lockers she had grown accustomed to and the various students of a myriad of races and species that she shared the classrooms and halls with. There seemed to be something off however: everyone seemed listless with themselves and the halls were filled with an uncomfortable silence that Isi was not use to. Depression seemed rampant here and even Isi's woefully pathetic nose could sense a change in the air that shouldn't have been there.

The deer spirit glanced around for sight of her friends and caught sight of Frankie Stein leaning against her locker with a heavy sigh as she hugged her books close to her chest as if she were trying to force the pain from her body. Heath Burns sat woefully opposite of her with a sullen expression while he snapped his fingers every few seconds out of boredom, a small spark of flame igniting and extinguishing with every flick of his wrist. Hoodude Voodoo aimlessly shuffled down the hallway with Ghoulia Yelps, kindly carrying an enormous stack of papers and books for her before he absentmindedly tripped and fell into a trashcan; the stack of projects and reports went flying in all directions but neither the zombie or the voodoo doll seemed to care.

Isi was greatly discomforted by this and awkwardly made her way down the hall, feeling the need to remove herself from this much abjection and get some air to clear her thoughts. The cool, fresh outdoor air always allowed the deer spirit to think more easily and the courtyard positioned outside the main entrance of Monster High was a sufficient area; granted, the off putting odor that the swamp water fountain gave off when too many lily pads and marsh grass rooted themselves in the water didn't help at time, but Isi had learned to ignore it. Isi instead chose to focus on the sounds of nature to sooth her mind, things like the sweet songbirds and chittering gargoyles or the way the wind whispered and rustled the leaves of ancient oaks and creeping willow trees.

The gentle sound of water trickling into the fountain calmed Isi's nervous nerves, allowing her scattered thoughts to gather and becoming easier to pick through. With a final sigh, the Native Scaremerican ghoul began to contemplate just what exactly her vision meant; why were all her friends sad? She didn't understand the reason why they were so depressed, but it felt like something was missing . . . like there was a missing piece in the gigantic, complex jigsaw puzzle that made up Monster High that no substitute would ever fill. Every last student and teacher that made her new school their home was unique in their own right and would never be replaced by anyone else; it just didn't seem possible.

So what exactly was missing?

Isi tried to recall anything of importance that could be missing from Monster High's normally lively atmosphere when a sudden noise broke her out of her thoughts; it sounded vaguely like a roar. The deer spirit cracked open an eye in search of the source of the sound and immediately tensed up when a rather large shadow swiftly pass over her head with the sound of great wings flapping against the wind accompanying it. The Native Scaremerican ghoul then became very uncomfortable when she fully opened her eyes and tilted her attention upward to see a very large, very powerful, and very big dragon flare it's wings and slowly descend down to the ground with a few flaps to prevent a rough landing.

The beast was enormous, easily the size of an elephant with about a foot or more on height and several yards on length if the tail was included. Isi had seen several dragons in her time, being so close to the natural world around her and all its inhabitants, but never had she seen this species of dragon before. Most wild dragons could be classified into several groups, usually starting with the Western dragons that had two or four limbs and a pair of broad wings, and the Eastern dragons that possessed no wings but harbored a long, serpentine body with fur and whiskers that only accented how old they could become given enough time. Even so, the groups could usually then be divided further on whether they had feathers or scales, horns or antlers, and even baleen and teeth for the sea-fairing species; the thing that made this dragon unique however, was that it was clearly of the Western variety, covered in thick, purple scales and lavender scutes all rolled up in a package with twin rows of short spikes over the eyes, flap-like wings, and silver, runic patterns, but it also possessed feathers.

Isi knew that South Scaremerican dragons had wonderful and colorful manes and plumes of feathers around their necks and at the end of their tails, but they lacked the famous, muscular, bat-like wings that sprouted from most Western dragon species' backs. Feathers or fur were usually found in Eastern species of dragons, but those lacked both wings and horns but possessed a serpentine body in comparison to the armored and muscular physic of Western species. In short, the dragon before Isi was a true enigma, as if two species from both hemispheres had been mashed together into some sort of hybrid; the deer spirit didn't know what to make of it other than to be very cautious and respectful, as dragons of any species were known to be rather temperamental when not treated properly.

Most of them were also infamous carnivores.

So it came as a great surprise to Isi when this mysterious, new dragon that seemed to defy everything she knew softly lumbered forward on its tremendous feet with nary a sound; the deer spirit briefly compared that little feature to the cushioned pads that allowed elephants and mammoths to walk so carefully wherever they went. What surprised Isi even more was when the dragon regarded her with great sagacity, looking at her with a remarkable intelligence that she couldn't quite compare to any animal she had met before. And then, just when she thought she couldn't be any further surprised than she already was, the dragon did the most extraordinary thing.

It purred.

Well, it wasn't exactly a purr. It was more like a low, guttural growl that was in a far more friendly tone than one might expect from an absolutely furious dragon that wouldn't hesitate to incinerate everything within range of its fiery breath. Instead, the gigantic, purple dragon snuggled its head up to Isi like a affectionate pet might do when they wanted to be petted or scratched in a particular spot to satisfy a particular itch that had been bothering them. The deer spirit didn't know exactly what to do considering the dragon's head was easily nearly as big as her entire body give or take a few feet, and those jaws, no matter how gentle and tame the dragon was behaving, were filled with rows of spike-like teeth and were the entrance to a torrent of searing hot furnace that worked nonstop at the dragon's core.

The purple dragon gave a shiver of its jaw and flattened its belly to the ground, assuming a Sphinx position as it starred intently at Isi with those bright eyes. The deer spirit had seen many things in her life time, but she had never seen a dragon of this size be so friendly; usually they snarled and snapped and breathed fire at anything they considered a threat, yet this one was acting like it was someone's pet.

Was that what it was? A tame, pet dragon? Isi had heard of such things, but those dragons were usually smaller and only got to be about the size of an average horse as larger dragons were not only harder to keep in an average household, but were both temperamental and had a nasty habit of setting fire to anything they considered theirs. With a tentative hand, Isi reached out and gentle stroked the dragon's, earning a satisfied growl in response that increased to a continuous purr.

The moment Isi scratched under the dragon's chin however, the beast collapsed to the ground as if it had just fainted.

"Oh, my ghoul!" Isi yelped in shock.

Any students that lingered in the courtyard seemed absolutely oblivious to the dragon and deer spirit as the former gave a pleased groan and lifted its head back up to look at her. Isi relaxed with a sigh, screaming with surprise as the dragon gave a long and very wet lick with its tongue up her entire body, like an affectionate dog might with its master or someone they particularly liked. Before Isi could ponder the moment any further however, the dragon gave a sudden roar and snapped its head forward, thrusting between Isi's legs and tossing her up into the air with one swift movement. The Native Scaremerican yelled in fright as she fell back down and landed with an "Oomph!" on the dragon's back right where the muscled wings connected to the body.

Isi barely had any time to even scream for help as the dragon gave a mighty roar and a single, massive flap of its wings that dispelled the air in all directions as it took to the skies. Higher and higher they ascended into the sky with great, almost frantic flaps of the dragons wings that nearly sent Isi tumbling with every movement had she not hung onto the row of dull spikes running down the animal's back; finally however, the amount of movement decreased greatly and the deer spirit realized that they were now soaring in a wide, almost lazy circle around Monster High's tallest towers and belfries on a warm updraft that kept them aloft.

A short sound caught her attention and Isi dared to take a glance back to see the plume of feathers at the end of the dragon's tail flick open like flaps, twitching ever so slightly against the wind and changing the dragon's direction in a wide bank. The deer spirit tightened her grip for security as the winged reptile beat its wings faster to propel them on, the wind whipping in their faces. Isi didn't know where this dragon was taking her or if it had any intention of letting her go; maybe it was only carrying her to its lair where it would eat her? She didn't know what species of dragon this was and, while not as well versed in the behavior of animals and creatures as Jane Boolittle, she didn't know how it operated or what went through its head. Did it see her as food? A companion? A potential adoptee? Maybe even a mate?

Isi's thoughts were dispelled before she could contemplate how far fetched that last one was by a sudden blast of cool, wet air against her face and she looked at her surroundings to find herself and the dragon high in the clouds above the world, the ground just barely visible when the sun's warm rays curiously peered through the fluffy, white cotton balls. Even with the sun high in the sky, Isi could feel the chilled wind rustling through her fur; the dragon barely seemed to notice as it gave a proud roar and flew through a large cloud without fear, allaying the mist in all directions.

The deer spirit coughed in response and wiped the moisture of the dissipated cloud from her eyes before a wonderful sight caught her attention. Isi gasped in amazement as she looked down to find a lush and nearly endless forest beneath her that stretched in all directions as far as the eye could see. Pointed mountain peaks poked proudly from the carpet of green to stab defiantly at the underbelly of the sky and wide and expansive valleys yawned forth from the expansive forest. The mighty dragon gave a thunderous and ostentatious roar that seemed to unceasingly echo, as if the dragon was glad and announcing that it had returned home.

"Is this your home?" Isi wondered to herself; if it was, it was very beautiful.

The dragon gave a piercing shriek as if to answer her question and suddenly tucked in its wings to swoop down low towards the ground; Isi cried out in surprise and hung on tightly as they descended, the powerful wings snapping open at the last second to curve them into a wide swoop that let them glide low over the treetops; the deer spirit found that she could trail her hand through the canopy if she reached far enough. A low growl that sounded something almost like a cough to gain her attention returned Isi's focus away from the forest and up towards a tall and imposing cliff face. She felt her jaw drop in amazement at the sight of the mighty, white wash castle that loomed bravely over the edge of the cliff to look out on the wide valley below like some sort of mighty protector.

For what seemed to be the tenth time since she had been monsternapped by this mysterious dragon, the winged reptile dove down through the canopy of trees without warning; branches clawed at the deer spirit's skin, leaves slapped at her face, and vines got entangled in her faux antlers before they finally landed roughly on the forest floor. The dragon grumbled and shook its head before tucking its wings back against its body and lowering itself back down into the sphinx position, singling it wished for Isi to dismount. The Native Scaremerican decided not to attempt to push the dragon's patience and promptly hopped off the winged reptile's back, landing softly on the forest floor with hardly a sound.

Isi half expected the dragon to leave her right then and there and was quite surprised when it growled and slammed its tail into the ground to cut her off; it was not a threatening gesture, but it was definitely firm. The dragon didn't want her to leave.

The deer spirit was greatly confused by this. "What? What is it?"

The dragon shivered its jaw and gestured with its head towards a whitewash gazebo situated at the center of a clearing through a stand of bushes. It had suffered through trials and blessings, feast and famine, and yet it had always stood tall and strong through anything the elements had to throw against it. A glint of something metal tucked away in the gazebo caught Isi's eye and she felt the dragon's tail press gently against her back to urge her forward; the deer spirit didn't require much more coaxing and approached the gazebo, cautiously peeking inside and feeling the breath leave her lungs as she starred with amazement.

Sitting purposely at the end of the gazebo railing was a strong and mighty shield of incredible craftsmanship. Even though Isi was far from a metal expert, even she could tell that this shield was made of the finest metal the world had to offer, intricately and carefully made by the most tender of hands and the strongest of hammers to forge into the powerful relic that it was. Stenciled with great care upon the front of the shield was a large, wide circle colored a bright green with a sharp, green hourglass figure positioned square in the middle from top to bottom of the green ring to complete the figure.

Since she had arrived at Monster High Isi knew she had seen the symbol at least once, but she couldn't remember where exactly . . . it was on the tip of her tongue, but she just couldn't reach it.

"Do you know what this means?" Isi asked the dragon as she stooped down to lift the shield up with effort; no matter how glorious it looked, the shield was still heavy enough to topple her over if she was ready for its weight.

The dragon lowered its head to her level and took a few, curious sniffs of the shield before giving a snort that blasted hot smoke from its nostrils while it shook its head. Isi tapped her chin, taking the dragon's response as a 'no'. Just what did this symbol mean? Where did this shield come from? And . . . why did she suddenly feel better? The deer spirit was confused when she realized that she suddenly felt . . . better . . . more confident . . . happy . . . unafraid, even. Isi starred intently at the shield, wondering just what she had been led to before glancing back at the dragon and wondering just why she had been led to it. If the dragon knew any answers to her questions, it refused to say anything to help alleviate her confusion.

Isi sighed tiredly. "I wish my grandmother was here." she mumbled to herself.

The dragon gave a soft snort and nuzzled her head lovingly as if to offer her comfort to her problem. Isi reached to stroke the dragon behind its horns with her fingers when the shield began to rattle and quiver ever so slightly in her hand; at first, the deer spirit thought it was simply wobbling because she had failed to keep a firm grip on it. She then began to think otherwise when the shield started to shake and tremble more violently , forcing her to hold it out at arms length to avoid getting hit in the face as it attempted to tear itself away form her grip, as if it were almost alive. The dragon curled its lip at the sight of cracks forming at the shield center that began to radiate outwards into an elaborate labyrinth steadily widening gyres and crevices. The shield was steadily being broken apart into large chucks and fragments, small pieces clattering to the floor of the gazebo as Isi tried to save them.

More and more pieces began to fall apart faster than Isi could attempt to catch them until the shield itself suddenly seemed to explode with a kind of energy or magic that the Native Scaremerican had never seen before. Isi yelped and shield her face as the fragments of the shield went flying in all directions, clattering noisily to the floor of the gazebo. And now she was even further confused and greatly uneased when she saw the pile of lifeless shards and pieces lying at the center of the fine destruction, leaving her to wonder what all of this meant.

Isi looked to the dragon for answers hoping the winged reptile would give her something to go on. The beast did nothing but gaze at her with its intelligent stare, as if it were contemplating on whether it should reveal its secrets to Isi at all; the deer spirit sighed, knowing she had been reaching. Her heart clenched a little tighter when she realized that her senses were beginning to dull and fade away once more as the world around was slowly wrapped in the familiar embrace of the green fog.

"Looks like this is it." Isi remarked, giving the dragon one last scratch behind its horns when she received a fiery snort in response. The gazebo and shield fragments faded away in the green fog and the surrounding forest became dimmer and harder to make out the individual details. The dragon in all of its mighty glory gave a final puff of its nostrils as its massive figure became more transparent to Isi, the powerful wings and terrible jaws vanishing before Isi's very eyes; even so, she could see something else start to appear before her, a much smaller figure buried within the dragon's fading shadow.

The Native Scaremerican gave a playful smile. "So this is your doing." she smirked when she caught sight of the familiar figure of a fawn in the place where the dragon once stood. The deer looked at her with its wide, innocent eyes, as if it didn't know what Isi was talking about and the deer spirit merely rolled her eyes as her spirit guide gave a twitch of its tail and suddenly bounded away into the depths of the abyss of green fog.


"ISI!"

The deer spirit startled out of her nearly inert state, her heart pounding in her chest at the sudden, desperate scream for her name. Seconds later however, she could feel every part of her body suddenly ignite into a hot flame of absolute terror when she discovered that she was falling very quickly; somehow she had fallen off the edge of the catwalk and was currently plunging towards the near bottomless void where the landing and loading dock and doors sat far, far, far, far below her. She was mentally cursing herself for not asking someone to hold onto her the moment she realized she was having a rather vivid vision and was mentally cursing her future-probability cognition for allowing her body to wander and move about in response to her dreams while her mind was otherwise preoccupied.

At the moment however, Isi was more concerned with how she was going to survive the fall, if at all. There was the chance that she might be able to 'swim' herself through the air and over to one of the many catwalks crisscrossing over one another through the empty void, but that would take time. There was also the possibility that she might get lucky and have a passing ship or spacecraft might break her fall, allowing her to survive with injuries, but she didn't see any of the ships docked below moving.

As if that weren't bad enough, a loud, blaring alarm was pounding her sensitive ears, bathing her surroundings in a harsh crimson every few harrowing seconds. The sound of hundreds of feet unrhythmically pounding against the catwalks and halls among a chorus of yelling and orders caught her attention and, based on the sheer amount of panic and chaos all around her, Isi couldn't surmise that she would not be noticed until all the carnage died down.

Given the circumstances, Isi had a right to shriek as loud as possible.

Even so, her terrified screams went unnoticed by the swarm of distracted Plumber agents scurrying about like mindless ants; all but one that is. The deer spirit's frantic eyes sight of a ghoul fluidly darting and weaving through the crowd with the grace of a swift serpent, her movements so fast that Isi didn't get a decent look at her until the ghoul did the unthinkable and promptly threw herself off of the catwalk just as Isi fell past.

Now the Native Scaremerican was able to get a better look at what seemed to be her fellow death partner. It was a ghoul perhaps the same height as her covered in thousands of golden-colored scales that glittered like thousands of gold coins, marking clearly as reptilian in nature if the long, serpentine tail that snaked out from the base of her spine was anything to go by; despite this, a flume of bright, jade green fur or feathers sprouted from the very tip. Her features were angular, yet soft with fiery, golden eyes, a pair of edged, pointed ears, and her long, fluid, jade green locks streaked with black were pulled back into an unstable ponytail that would have reached the small of her back had it not been currently flapping in the wind above her as they fell. She wore a white, sleeveless top with a black trim that curved around her neck like a collar and bore faded, lavender markings that bared resemblance to Chinese writing with a black belt around her waist. Her earrings were shaped like miniature Chinese lanterns and she wore a pair of bold, red pants that reached down to her ankles where a pair of jade-colored pumps sat with a pair of Chinese lions acting as the heels.

"Bié dānxīn!" Jinafire Long yelled over the rush of the wind. "Do not worry!"

"I have a right to worry! I'm about to die!" Isi shouted back with fear.

The Chinese dragon actually seemed to smirk at that remark as she quickly righted herself and tapped what looked like a watch strapped to her wrist that Isi had failed to notice. The deer spirit was then quickly thrown for a loop when a blast of jade green light suddenly consumed Jinafire as she slammed a hand down on the watch, her features and genetic code warping and shifting into something new.

The first noticeable change to Jinafire's body was through her scales; the thick layer of organic armor was softly peeled back slightly from their interlocking positions, steadily growing thicker and more three-dimensional in appearance. The golden colored scales along her forearms crackled like fallen leaves underfoot as they were divided into hundreds of tiny bristles attached to a thin, horny rod at the center of each scale, effectively turning them into feathers that turned a shimmering blue in color. The feathers exploded along Jinafire's wrists, racing up her arms and across her shoulders before simultaneously crossing down over her breasts and back, smoothly transitioning from a dark blue to a vivid green. The dragon could feel the layers of firm muscles and taunt tissues pack themselves tightly onto her stomach and upper chest; her arms bulged and swelled with strength as a pair of razor-sharp blades popped out of her elbows. Jinafire's skeleton snapped and crunched as it realigned itself, putting special emphasis on the spine and limbs as strong tendons and muscles strung themselves along her thighs and ankles. Her hands and feet trembled and crunched violently as the once golden scales that coated her ankles and wrists turned a deep black in color and thickened greatly while her fingers and toes molded together into strong digits tipped with razor-sharp talons that looked like they could have easily sliced through flesh. The feathers finally began to travel up her neck and across her face where her nose and lips proceeded to melt together like butter into a hard, horny, gray beak as a series of long, flowing feathers colored a bright green grew from her scalp and slicked back. The transformation came to a completion as her neck elongated a few more inches and she was wrapped in a tight, jade-colored, sleeveless body suit trimmed in black with cuffs at her wrists and ankles and a winged mask to cover her face.

The avian-like alien grinned with what could be compared to amusement. "Not if I have anything to say about it." she said in a rough, feminine voice.

Isi could do little else but scream as the dragon-turned-alien pinned her feathered arms to her sides and shot through the air like an arrow towards her; the Native Scaremerican flinched in preparation for what she expected to be a collision, peeking through her fingers to watch as the avian screeched and suddenly spread her arms wide. At the same time the large and long tail feathers snapped open like a fan and allowed the bird-like extraterrestrial to grab the edges and hold it open and wide to slow her descent just as she swung her powerful legs forward and hooked her sharp talons through the cloth of Isi's shirt as she clamped tightly around her arms.

The deer spirit nearly felt her breath leave her lungs as they were suddenly yanked upward on an updraft through the Plumber Headquarters' life support systems, soaring higher and higher back up through the air. Isi's heart was hammering in her chest and her pulse was pounding in her head not from fear, but from relief; she had narrowly escaped death, but just as importantly she had figured out where she had seen the odd symbol from her dream before.

"I would recommend preparing yourself for a landing. And a fight." the fowl-like alien suggested, breaking Isi out of her thoughts.

"A-Alright." the Native Scaremerican nodded with shaky breath. "Um . . . I never did catch your name."

The avian extraterrestrial gave a playful smile at that. "My name is Jinafire Long. I call this form Fenghuang, the Chinese word for phoenix," she introduced herself. "You may refer me as either title."

"Jinafire's good." Isi smiled sheepishly before she became aware of the blaring alarm once more. That, and the sound of gunfire and screaming, not to mention several sickening noises that were coming from above; this did not exactly put the deer spirit at ease. "What's going on up there?" she wondered with worry.

Fenghuang grimaced as she tilted her body upward to slow their ascent ever so slightly. "There . . . was a prison break."

Isi cringed that and could feel her palms start to sweat as she instinctively held her breath the higher and higher they climbed. She had never been in a fight in her entire life, and while there was reassurance in that the Plumbers would never willingly put her or classmates in danger, there was always the threat of something going horribly awry in some manner of other. For all she knew, she could have narrowly avoided death only to watch it rear its ugly head once more and snap her up in its deadly jaws; the very thought made her shiver.

Fenghuang could feel the deer spirit trembling in her grip. "Do not worry, Wǒ de péngyǒu." she reassured Isi. "I will not allow any harm to come to you. Not if I can help it."

The Native Scaremerican decided to take what little comfort she could get as the two of them finally reached the climax of their ascension and Fenghuang set Isi back down on the catwalk as gently as possible before landing next to her. The deer spirit opened her mouth to say something before she was drowned out by a shrill and loud trumpet that was absolutely deafening to her ears. She turned to look down the catwalk and nearly felt her heart stop when she saw a massive, elephantine figure barreling through the army of Plumbers, brushing off anything they threw at them like he was being pelted with mere ping-pong balls instead of cartridges of hot energy. The figure was clearly alien in origin, unless a large elephant had decided to skip ahead several million years and evolve the need to travel around on two legs and knock Plumber agents aside like rag dolls; the alien seemed a tad overweight in appearance, but that hardly accounted for his tremendous strength as he grabbed an unfortunate Plumber by the leg with a meaty fist and used them to beat their comrades over the head. His ears were fan-like and his tusks seemed to have been dulled or cut at the end, but the most noticeable feature was the mouth at the end of a trunk-like appendage that sprouted from his face where the nose might have been on most species. He wore a pair of black briefs held up by a thick, purple belt with a giant lock as the belt and heavy straps over his broad shoulders to increase the security.

"Keep movin', Jumbo! We make it to the escape pods, we're in the clear!"

"Call me that again, and I'll personally send your pod into the sun." Trumbipulor threatened as he wrapped his trunk around a Plumber's blaster and yanked it out of their grasp. The weapon went over the pachyderm-like alien's shoulder before he thrust a hefty hand forward and slugged the Plumber in the stomach knocking them back and knocking them into several more agents. With only a loud trumpet to give warning, Trumbipulor brought his beefy arms up in front of his face and charged forward like a runaway train as he plowed straight through a sizable platoon of Plumber agents, stepping on a few with loud crunching noises as their armor broke and their bones snapped under his tremendous weight; a few went tumbling over the edge, thankfully managing to grab onto the ledge at the last second to prevent a fatal fall.

Fistrick rolled his eyes and caught the fist of a beefy, Tetramand Plumber that managed to escape Trumbipulor's wrath before slugging the four-armed alien in his, kicking him twice in the knees, and then nearly effortlessly judo-flipping the Tetramand over his shoulder to throw him roughly to the ground; the alien attempted to get up, only to be roughly slammed back into the floor and out of commission by another escaping prisoner that bared a high resemblance to a boar. The alien was covered in a coat of short, shaggy brown hair, save for a mane and sideburns of a darker shade; two pairs of tusks thrust themselves out from the alien's jaw underneath a sensitive snout with a nose ring buried in the nostrils.

The alien swine grinned as he snorted with approval. "You will know the wrath of Thunderpig!"

"Whatever you say, Porkchop." Fistrick rolled his eyes a second time as he clocked another unfortunate Plumber across the face and sent them down for the count. "Yo, Chicken Legs, keep it up, bro! We didn't break you out just so could fry yourself up and call yourself dead meat!"

A loud crow like that of a frantic rooster echoed through Plumber Headquarters' prison level followed by the pained cry of a Plumber that had received a slash of dagger-like talons to the face and would now undoubtedly forever bare the scars. Her assailant could only be described as a humanoid chicken with sharp blades thrusting out of his elbows whose choice of attire consisted of little more than two bandoleers that connected together on his chest. "BRAWK! I'm comin', I'm comin'!" Liam grumbled under his breath as he spun around and dealt a rather flimsy roundhouse kick to a charging Plumber's gut that sent him flying off and into his partner, taking the two of them out.

It had been a miracle that their cells had been partially left unlocked after they had been returned to their private containers upon being released from the Plumber's Medical Wing; a certain centaur-hybrid had been far crankier than their previous encounters and had dealt each of them a swift and painful beating before finally being subdued by her compatriots.

It was actually the one time Liam was glad the Plumbers were fairly decent at their jobs.

The plan had been made up on the spot but was fairly simple in design: let Trumbipulor lead the way, take out whatever Plumber agents had been lucky enough to avoid getting hit by the rampaging pachyderm, and make it to the escape pods as fast possible before anyone wearing an Omnitrix got wind of their getaway. It was every man and alien for themselves and if anyone got left behind, that was it.

No acts of sentimentalism.

No distractions.

No honor among thieves.

Or 'bros', as Fistrick had a habit of calling it.

Liam honestly didn't care as he could taste sweet, delicious freedom on the tip of his tongue as he rushed forward and clotheslined a pair of Plumber agents when they charged at him; freedom was just as sweet, if not more than the oh, so delicious jewel that was bird seed. He honestly hated Earth and found very few things to like about it, including the inhabitants. He candidly only found Fistrick to be the one human he would tolerate the most, but Earth had others thing that couldn't be found on his homeworld that he absolutely adored and quite frankly couldn't live without.

Bird seed was chief among them.

Then there was bread, especially when it was broken up into pecking-sized crumbs and buttery popcorn that he simply couldn't get enough of despite the way the artificial, butter flavoring made his stomach rumble uncomfortably; he knew he would get use to it eventually. Then one had to take into the consideration the sheer amount of birds that Earth had to offer, and Liam found them to be the only creatures on the miserable planet worth hanging around a fair amount of time.

Except ostriches though. And swans. To be fair, he had seen a considerably larger amount of swans than ostriches, since those could only be found at the Bellwood Zoo, but both were temperamental and did not seem to take kindly to his presence as easily as the other birds did. The chickens at the petting zoo were far more docile and accepting of him and he felt more comfortable around them than with some of his fellow criminals down in Undertown.

The only problem was that zoo visitors, especially young ones, sometimes mistook him for one of the attractions. Then the zookeepers themselves would get involved before the Plumbers would come swooping in, no matter how many times Liam tried to explain that it was entirely in self defense and that one of the kids had yanked too hard on his tail feathers when he wasn't looking.

He didn't find it as a amusing as his fellow criminals did.

The fact that the Plumbers occasionally arrested him with resisted smirks and chortles did not help either.

All of this however, was quickly forgotten when his eyes laid their sights on her. Liam felt his beak drop wide open when he caught sight of her, the way her feathers seemed to shimmer like a thousand crystals, the way she held herself poised and regal as if she was above everyone else, those long, scaly legs that looked like they were powerful enough to punch through concrete. Her figure was slender yet powerful, but what really caught the alien fowl's attention were those full, jade green eyes; Liam could swear his heart stopped when she glanced over at him. He was absolutely stunned by her beauty, absolutely transfixed on her elegance, and he wondered if he was even looking at a mortal being.

He soon got his answer when she gave a shrill screech and rushed at him in a flurry of movement he hardly saw coming. She swept down low with her arms thrust behind her for minimal resistance before she bunched up her legs and fluidly leaped onto Trumbipulor's shoulder, using that as a spring board to nail Fistrick in the face before proceeding to push off of the back of Thunderpig's head and sail directly at Liam with a bone-crushing kick to the gut that knocked the wind out of him.

And she was feisty. Liam liked that in a chick.

What he didn't like however, was the Omnitrix disk fixed securely to her belt.

That gave Liam pause as he doubled over in pain and attempted to catch his breath. Full colored eyes? An Omnitrix fixed to her person? Her sudden aggression towards him when he hadn't even said a word to her? The chicken-like alien felt his heart clench in sorrow and anger when he realized that his peacock-like counterpart was not a true member of his species, but none other than one of Ben Tennyson's wenches in disguise.

On one talon, they were sworn enemies and she would not hesitant to pound his face in if he ever got out of line.

On the other talon, she was hot like crispy chicken.

Fenghuang cocked her head with a confused chur at Liam's expression. "Nǐ hái hǎo ma?Are you alright?" she asked with slightly concerned. Her oddly bird-like opponent was acting far more hurt than he should have been; she hadn't kicked him that hard, had she? While she did strive to ensure that the criminal underworld was kept in line and behind bars until the off chance that they reformed like Kevin and Charmcaster had, she wasn't as ruthless as Avea came to be. At first the centaur-hybrid had just been temperamental and a lot more grouchy than usual at the loss of their boyfriend, but now that had worked up to full on aggression that was thankfully diverted towards any criminals that were unfortunate enough to cross her path.

Unsurprisingly, the criminals that they faced developed a healthy fear of Avea.

A few even surrendered the moment the harpy-hybrid walked onto the scene.

Fenghuang's thoughts were snapped away from her when Liam gave a harsh caw and thrust his clenched fist at her face, wincing when she effortlessly caught in her talons. The peacock-like alien gave him a quizzical look that quickly turned to aggression as she proceeded to nail him with a roundhouse kick to the face that sent him skidding back several yards, his talons raking the floor. With a loud crow like that of a rooster Liam charged forward with hands tightly clenched and ready to pummel Fenghuang's face into oblivion, drawing back a fist as he neared her.

At the last second however, Fenghuang's whipped around and snapped the fan-like tail feathers up in his face, briefly startling and dazzling Liam with the bright patterns and large, eye-like dots. This enable her enough time to snap the feathers back down and roughly nail her opponent across the face with a swift kick. Now dazed, Liam made a clumsy swing at her in an attempt to throw her off, only to find that she had closed her toes tightly around his wrist and effortlessly hauled her entire body weight up onto his arm before proceeding to stab him twice in the face with a jab; Fenghuang then backflipped off of him and delivered a sharp kick to his jaw in the process, landing on her feet.

Liam was seeing red by now as he all but blindly charged forward with a tightly closed fist in an attempt to at least hit his false love. At the last second however, Fenghuang dropped to the ground and landed on her back, catching his wrist in her foot before yanking him forward and placing her talons underneath of him. She then proceed to shove them as hard as possible into Liam's gut, sending him flying up into the air as he squawked and crowed with fear while feebly flapping his arms in a fruitless attempt to fly.

It would have been hilarious had the fight not been all but one-sided.

Fenghuang waited patiently for Liam to fall back to Earth before she expertly flipped herself back up to her feet and spun around to deliver a painful roundhouse kick to the gut that knocked the wind out of him and sent him flying back. The avian alien roughly skidded to a stop on his face with a squawk of defeat; Fenghuang softly laid her fist against her palm and bowed respectfully.

"You have fought well, Gōngjī. I would suggest working on your technique before our next encounter." she advised.

"Braaaaawk . . ." Liam groaned.

If any of the avian's fellow prisoners noticed his defeat, they didn't bother to look back. Trumbipulor continued to lead the escape, roaring and trumpeting loudly at every opportunity as he dropped down to all fours and lowered his head before surging forward like a runaway freight train. He plowed straight through another platoon of Plumber agents as they shot at him like bowling pins, sending them flying in all directions.

He was in his element. He was in his prime. He loved nothing more than the sound of panicked screams and the crunching of Plumber armor beneath his heavy feet. He was mighty. He was powerful. He was Trumbipulor, the Galaxy's Biggest Evil Genius! With this in mind, the elephant-like extraterrestrial continued his awesome assault, taking especially pleasure in how he raised up a mighty fist and brought it down like a mighty hammer on a Plumber's head, knocking them out with a single blow.

There was nothing that could stop his unbridled aggression as he got vengeance on those that imprisoned. Absolutely nothing could-

"Ooh, a new challenger! Lets see you beat my high score!"

Trumbipulor paused in his rampage just as he was about to step on a Plumber's head, allowing them to ooze out of harms way just as a massive tremor rocked the catwalk. The alien pachyderm looked up to meet his new challenge, narrowing his eyes when he found that it was a gigantic mechsuit of titanic proportions; it was easily the size of him, perhaps a couple feet taller. It was vaguely humanoid in appearance and bared slight resemblance to the ancient suits of armor humans had used to where in what they had called the Dark Ages. Spikes that curved backwards slightly rose from the helmet whose face and eyes were represented by a single slit of light and the shoulders were broad and powerful, the hands strong and meaty, and the figure tall and imposing; and that wasn't even taking into the account of the gigantic war hammer that the wearer of the suit pulled from their back.

Trumbipulor snorted with irritation as Kjersti patted the hefty hammer in her hand before promptly raising it over her head and smashing it as hard into the floor as possible, causing everyone currently standing on the platform to stumble and lose their balance from the tremendous tremor. Trumbipulor barely had any time to react when a pair of thrusters popped out of the Blitzritter's shoulders and propelled her right towards him. The suit collided right into him, knocking the wind out of him and carrying him all the way down the catwalk, unable to pull himself loose as his fellow escapees and Plumber agents instinctively ducked beneath them to avoid getting hit.

Before he knew what was happening the pachyderm was finally released and could have very nearly earned a painful landing had it not reached down and dug his thick fingers into the flooring to skid to a halt before quickly bringing up his arms to his face; Kjersti swung the Thor Hammer at that exact moment and connected it with his thick skin, sending Trumbipulor straight into a wall. The pachyderm gave a low rumble as he slid down to the floor and rubbed his aching skull before ducking just in the nick of time to avoid getting clobbered by the mighty Thor Hammer again.

Now the elephant was seriously ticked. With a loud bellow Trumbipulor charged forward and slammed into the Blitzritter like a sumo wrestler, hugging her into a tight bear hug as he all but blindly charged forward and sent the two of them plummeting over the edge of the catwalk, tumbling end over end as they exchanged blows and punches all the way down.

If anyone screamed her name, Kjersti didn't hear them as she drove her gigantic, metal fist into Trumbipulor's face and blocked a swing of his own huge fist with her arm. The troll was sweating furiously inside of the suit, her thumbs and fingers burning as she hurriedly tapped and pressed the various buttons; she was mentally chanting to herself that she was in a video game, a video game that had been set onto the hardest settings, paired her up with the worst online teammates the game had to offer, and sent them all charging blindly against the final boss that would grant them sweet victory if they managed to not waste their single life.

This was what she had trained for. The feeling of adrenaline pumping through her veins was nothing new and the way her eyes seemed to slow time down so that she could see every move and calculate the best form of attack or defense in a matter of nanoseconds came almost second nature to her as she grabbed Trumbipulor by the shoulders and headbutted his skull with the Blitzritter's helmet; she knew that was going to leave a dent and leave Cooper very unhappy, but the feelings of a technician was the least of her problems.

After all, the first scratch was always the hardest.

"Nerf this, noob!" Kjersti cried as she cupped her fists together and brought them down on Trumbipulor's head, The exosuit then proceeded to deck the pachyderm across the face twice before driving a powerful fist into his gut and blasting him back away from her in their free fall with one another. The very hard floor was fast approaching and while Kjersti was sure Trumbipulor would survive the fall with perhaps a few injuries, she wasn't quite sure how much faith she had in the Blitzritter's durability. With a deep breath she quickly began to hammer and tap away at the buttons and switches inside of the suit, checking over gages and the Blitzritter's internal thermal reader before she rerouted the power from the rocket turbine on her back to thrusters located in the bottom of her heavy feet. The troll quickly pressed the final button and yanked up and back hard on the controls to slow her decent as the rockets fired off and began to cushion her fall.

She carefully aimed for one of the quickly approaching walkways, already making plans and calculations on what was the best way to get back up to the main battle before she was suddenly slammed into from the side and into the wall with the loud shriek of metal grinding against itself. Kjersti was thrown in her seat and became disoriented from the attack as she tried to make sense of what had hit her before warning beeps and flashes of light suddenly filled the suit. A quick diagnostics check revealed that she had suffered damage to her shoulder and that the amount of repair it was going to take was steadily increase as Trumbipulor's thick fingers tore through metal paneling and wires in an effort to render her defenseless.

Kjersti gritted her teeth as she cracked her knuckles and popped her fingers to allow the blood to flow back into them before she took hold of the controls again. "Alright, Peanut-Breath. It's hammer time!" she cried as she clocked Trumbipulor across the face with a quick movement of her fist and pushed herself off of him. The troll then quickly grabbed hold of the Thor Hammer from its special holding place on her back and swung the blunt instrument in a wide arch before bringing it down on Trumbipulor's skull and sending him shooting down towards the nearest platform.

The Blitzritter landed moments later with a loud clang! and immediately slumped to its knees as Kjersti initiated the escape sequence and watched anxiously as the suit slowly opened up and allowed her to step out. She was hot and sweaty from the battle and the suit was starting to stink from the amount of adrenaline pumping through her arteries, but she loved the feeling; she wouldn't trade it for anything else.

With heavy panting she turned to see Trumbipulor's big girth embedded firmly into the steel walkway, effectively trapping as he slumped over to the side, disoriented and dazed; a grin of relief and satisfaction crossed Kjersti's face as she pulled off her skullcap in an effort to cool herself. "GG, Jumbo. GG."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Kjersti looked up just in the nick of time to see Hobble come hurtling at and crash right into her, knocking the troll to the floor and sending the two of them sprawling. Other than a few bruises and a full scale panic attack on Hobble's part, the two of them were relatively alright.

"What's going on up there?" Kjersti wondered.

"Chaos, that's what!" Hobble yelped as he trembled and instinctively covered his head with his hands. "I don't know why I even signed up for this job! I mean, do you know what happened to the last Alpha Squad team? They were killed, that's what! They got killed, and here I am risking my own butt in a position I was never meant to be in constantly putting my life in danger! I mean, maybe if I got lower scores at the Plumber Academy I wouldn't be in this position, but still! It's not like I want to die! I have so much to live for! I-"

At that point, Kjersti had tuned out Hobble and just let him ramble on in the hopes that he would calm down enough to become rational once more (or at least, as rational as Hobble could be). She instead chose to take the time to rest and allow the Blitzritter to cool down, wondering and hoping things were alright up above them.

Nefera growled as she whipped out her katana blades and quickly positioned them just right to block the blaster fire aimed directly at her, mentally cursing the creators of the standard Plumber weapon for putting a lethal setting on it. Then again, one could never fully ensure the outcome of a battle with a criminal or intergalactic super villain and Nefera was quite sure that the Plumbers would have never made it to where they were now had a few lives not be executed in the process. What really annoyed her was that Fistrick and Thunderpig had managed to swipe blasters off of fallen Plumbers and were slowly pushing their way along the platform and towards the armory where a collection of confiscated weapons was placed.

If they got there, the chances of the two criminals escaping was substantially increased, and Nefera wasn't going to let that happen.

"C'mon, Ham Slice! We're almost there!" Fistrick yelled.

The swine-like alien snorted. "My name is Thunderpig! Thunderpig!"

"Whatever you say, bro! Just keep pushin'!"

The Egyptian hissed as Thunderpig got a lucky hit on her shoulder just as she managed to block shot from Fistrick aimed directly at her head; the wound have put a hole right between her eyes had she not reacted in time and she owed her fast reflexes to the relentless training sessions Ben had put her through. At first she had thought he was being a bit over dramatic on the topic of fighting, but after several sparing matches with Rook and Diamondhead, Nefera realized just how sloppy her form of attack was, constantly leaving openings exposed for enemies to take advantage of. She was by no means an expert swordsman after that, but she had improved greatly and was always looking for ways to continue improving now that her father had eased up the necessity to behave like a future ruler.

All that had taken was nearly successful assassination attempt on her father's life from Kraab to convince him that she was fully capable of defending herself and defeating a cybernetically-enhanced Piscciss Premann bounty hunter for hire.

"AAAGH! You mother-" Nefera cried out, hissing as she clutched her burning wrist. Her sword was knocked out of her hand from a lucky shot from Fistrick and forced her to drop the other blade while she fell to one knee to recoil at the smell of burnt flesh; another part of mind was naturally panicking over her perfectly tanned skin being burned, but the majority of her brain wanted to get even with Fistrick as soon as possible.

And what better way than to return a burn with a burn?

Nefera narrowed her eyes and tapped the Nile blue Omnitrix that Ben had given to her out of concern for her safety and cycled between her two available transformations to select that she wanted; the mummy flickered a playful gaze up at Fistrick before she slammed a hand down on the activation button and swallowed herself in a blast of bright blue energy.

Her skin squelched and bubbled and stretched over her figure as her bones cracked and ground heavily against one another, slowly dissolving and merging with her fibrous muscles; her tissue bent and stretched, threading around and through one another as her perfectly tanned skin darkened and took on a light shade of green the color of new leaves. Her bones and skeleton had finally vanished, allowing some of her tissue and muscle to wind tightly around one another to form a lose support system while her feet, now nothing more than hempen mops of flesh, stretched and warped into root-like growths that functioned as feet while they wrapped around one another and sprouted a single thorn from the tip. Her figure shifted and molded like clay, increasing the her height by a foot or two as her shoulders broadened slightly and green plant fibers snaked and slithered and weaved themselves around her widening hips and swelling bust, cupping her breast-like tubers quite nicely. Nefera's head was suddenly swallowed in a mound of squishy plant flesh, blinding her as blue and yellow thorns popped out of her forearms and shoulders, twisting her delicate fingers into sharp claws; her head was finally released with a wet squelching noise as her skull shifted and suddenly exploded into a head of bright Nile blue and yellow petals with vibrant oranges thrown in here and there. Several more creepers and vines curled themselves around her breasts and wove their way across her midriff and farther down south until the Omnitrix appeared on her toned stomach, completing the transformation.

Fistrick and Thunderpig paused long enough to stare the female Methanosian as she drew up to her full height, standing an imposing few feet over the two criminals.

"Bro . . . you stink!" Fistrick gagged horribly, pinching his nose with disgust as he resisted the urge to vomit.

Pyrofight however, didn't seem as annoyed with the insult as some might have been. "Really? Smells like victory to me." she grinned wickedly as the ports on her palms suddenly released a small leak of methane gas. The soft hiss instantly turned into a sudden roar as the Methanosian's palms suddenly burst into flame, making Thunderpig jump in surprise.

"Don't go chicken on me now, Hambone! Keep goin'!" Fistrick barked before instinctively jumping back when Pyrofight chucked a ball of flaming gas at his feet that promptly exploded in a small cloud of fire. The Methanosian then ignited her hands and charged angrily at the alien tech smuggler and bounty hunter with a loud battle cry that made Thunderpig hesitate for the briefest of seconds. This gave Pyrofight to slam her fists down in a wave of intense flame that blasted out in a harsh cone of fire, knocking Thunderpig back with a squeal of panic as his fur caught fire; this was also in part due to the fact that Fistrick quickly dropped his blaster and jumped back to use the bounty hunter's face as a spring board and launch himself over the flame, leaving Thunderpig alone in his suffering.

Fistrick felt a malicious grin cross his face as he landed a heavy foot to Pyrofight's face, knocking her back and using her skull as a foothold to throw himself over the stunned Methanosian. "Later, bro!" he briefly called over his shoulder.

Pyrofight wanted to give chase and at least take down the tech smuggler for the unpleasant burn she had received, but her thoughts and motives were soon other wise preoccupied when Thunderpig slammed into her full force with smoke curling form his fur. "You tried to turn me into crispy bacon! Thunderpig will have his vengeance!" he snorted loudly.

"And while we're at it I can make you some knuckle sandwiches!" Pyrofight snapped back delivering a swift uppercut to Thunderpig's jaw to get him off of her. "I think that last one might have been a keeper." she grinned to herself before she rushed at Thunderpig and tackled him to the ground. The sound of screeches and caws accompanied their grunts and squeals as Liam and Fenghuang went back at it, talons locking and scrapping shrilly against the catwalk as they clashed time and time again.

This allowed Fistrick more than enough time to make his getaway and he was more than happy to take advantage of it. Sure, the rest of his fellow convicts had or would mostly be captured and returned to their cells with a possible addition to their sentence time for disorderly conduct, but he could care less about their fates; the Plumbers could throw them out into the empty void of space like garbage and he wouldn't have bat an eye. As long as it wasn't his butt that was getting captured or kicked out into the never-ending, icy, cold, soul sucking darkness of space, he would continue to look for what mattered the most to him: himself.

With that in mind he rushed on down the hall, swinging his muscled arms as he ran and mentally patting himself on the back for keeping himself fit and in shape while remaining locked up in an arguably cramped prison cell. This didn't mean that Fistrick was all brawn though; no, he kept his wits about him and kept the notion in mind that he could very well be surrounded by fully armed Plumber agents at any moment and that, no matter how overconfident he was in his ability to take on more than one opponent at a time, he could very well be captured. And that was not something he was willing to go through again, especially since his contract with Chadzmuth had expired and had yet to be renewed.

Fistrick knew he needed an incentive of some kind, some sort of blackmail that he could use to make his escape back to Earth. Thoughts of threatening to bomb the Headquarters came to mind, but he had no idea where the red spots would have kept explosives on their space station, if they kept explosives on it at all. No, if he was going to be making threats he needed lives at stake and that would require hostages, be they Plumber agents or, even better, an innocent bystander that happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

He quickly rounded another hallway and slammed himself against the adjacent wall, panting heavily as he dared to peer back around the corner to see if he was being followed or not. Thankfully, his fellow convicts still remained useful to him by acting as distractions for his own escape, and Fistrick made a mental note to reward them for this with a free round on him at the Black Hole the next time they met up. By then they would have forgotten his betrayal to him, as they were not entirely bright; then again, Fistrick hadn't worked with them in the first place for their intellect.

Working with idiots who didn't question his leadership or motives were far better than geniuses that did question his leadership or motives.

A sharp breath suddenly caught his attention and he glanced back out of the corner of his eye to see a ghoul crouched low against the wall in an almost pathetic attempt to avoid being spotted; did she seriously believe that he was incapable of distinguishing a ghoul of her species and color pallet? He supposed he couldn't be entirely annoyed with her now though, not after she had just given him the ticket he needed to make his grand escape.

"Hey there, beauty. How you doing?" Fistrick grinned evilly.

Isi gulped nervously, immediately tensing up when Fistrick approached her like an anxious animal, hands up and fingers spread wide to make a sudden grab at her. Deciding that her survival instinct was being sensible the deer spirit scrambled to her hooves and made an attempt to make a get away; her ancestors had long since been preyed upon by predatory spirit animals and had thus developed strong and lean leg muscles that allowed them to run outrun their prehistoric predators for miles on end before stopping to rest. Isi had no doubt that she would still be able to do such a thing, but she had clearly underestimated Fistrick's reflexes when he lunged forward and grabbed her by the wrist, spinning her around and pinning both her hands behind her back with a sinister grin.

"Let me go!" she cried as she fought.

Fistrick merely leered at her. "Struggle all you want, brat! You're comin' with me."

Isi would most certainly not go with Fistrick, not if she could help it. She quickly let him know this by driving the sharp edge of her heel and hoof into his foot, eliciting a surprise yelp of pain from him as he momentarily left her go to hold his throbbing toes. This was more than enough time for Isi to make a quick getaway, her breath short and ragged as she sprinted down the corridor with the heavy footsteps of her captor behind her. She was fully confident in her ability as a runner and her swift agility to evade the angry tech smuggler's grasping hands as she dashed down the hall.

She did not however, expect to suddenly run into something that felt like a brick wall when she took a few seconds to glance over her shoulder and see how close Fistrick was to her.

One moment she was on her feet and then the next thing the deer spirit knew she was lying flat on her back with a killer headache surrounded on all sides by not only Fistrick but three very haggled and irritated women dressed in varying colors of body armor that looked like they wanted nothing more than to either hurt her or leave as quickly as possible.

The first was a woman with pale, peach skin and bright blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail beneath a gray face helmet that cupped and sheltered most of her face, leaving only room for her cold, blue eyes and sharp, pale lips. She wore a slim bodysuit with glowing, pulsing yellow lines tracing their way up her legs and arms to join with the multiple spikes that sprouted forth from Amarillo's body and interlocked with a white skull on the front of her chest.

The second woman had earthy brown skin and navy blue locks pulled back into a ponytail that highlighted her cold, ivy eyes. She wore a suit of body armor complete with spike-studded shoulder and knee pads interconnected with shimmering blue lines that criss-crossed their way across her body before intersecting at an identical skull to that of Amarillo's on her bust.

The third and final member had pale, ivory skin almost as white as bone and had eyes as cold and empty as frozen earth under a set of long, flowing green hair that was shaved off on one side and swept over the other to her a sort of punk look. A piercing plugged itself into her nose and she had chosen to wear an all but identical suit of durable armor to that of her compatriots save for the fact it was the color of lush grass in the afternoon sun and tipped with spike-studded boots for extra traction and crushing potential.

"Back off, Fistrick! We saw her first!" Azul snarled.

The alien tech smuggler gritted his teeth and clenched his fists tightly. "Oh, no you didn't! I saw her first, bro! She's mine!"

Verde scoffed and placed her hands on her wide hips. "As if! How can you see with all that muscle in the way, three-watt?"

Isi gulped nervously, eyeing the two sides with worry. While Fistrick was just as strong, if not stronger than the three female bounty hunters before, they had the advantage of numbers on their side and it was only a matter of time before both sides lost their temper and either went for each others throats or after her in an effort to carry her to home territory. Not that there was any home base for Isi to be carried back to; she could easily tell that the three bounty hunters had escaped their own cells in the panicked fray and were making their own escape, deciding to use Fistrick's plan to their advantage.

This also most likely included trying to use her as a hostage and this was not a situation the Native Scaremercian was entirely fond of, especially if it got into their heads that the best course of action was to play a brief game of tug'o'war with her body to see who could hold onto the biggest portion of her the longest.

And Isi had no intention of being treated like a freshly killed carcass among wolves.

"She's mine!" Fistrick roared, jerking a thumb at himself as the veins in his neck bulged out in anger.

"She's ours!" Amarillo snarled. "Finder's keepers, losers weepers!"

Fistrick gritted his teeth and slowly cracked his knuckles with a single flex of his fingers. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't hand each of your asses to you on a silver platter right now." he threatened in the low, cold tone he used whenever he was at his wits end and was losing his patience very quickly.

The three bounty hunters snarled and hissed venomously as they took their stances and balled their hands into fists, refusing to step off and hand over their prisoner, regardless of what she thought. Isi instinctively covered her head and curled up into a ball on the floor in an attempt to protect herself from the inevitable skirmish as tempers finally flared and erupted and both sides had given up on being diplomatic about the situation (or as diplomatic as criminals could be).

Before the four criminals could attack each other and possible injure Isi in the process there came an explosion of deep pink smoke that had a sweet smelling scent to it that caused all parties to hack and cough at the unexpected interruption. Eyes were narrowed, teeth were clenched, and fists were tightened considerably when all eyes moved towards the source of the disruption, Gigi Grant.

The genie blinked and quickly glanced around to evaluate the situation before she noticed Isi cowering beneath her as she floated a few feet off of the ground on the wispy tail she had decided to trade her legs in for swifter travel. "There you are, Isi! Magister Patelliday's been worried sick about you! He's practically pulling his scales out looking for you!"

"Sorry." Isi apologized, feeling somewhat safer now that someone else she knew was here with her.

Gigi sighed with relief. "I'm just glad you're alright." she assured the deer spirit before she took notice of the four criminals that seemed to have suddenly set their differences aside long enough to make a mental alliance to first take out the intruding djinni before they argued over who would be taking Isi hostage and ensuring their escape route would thus be flawless. "Um, on a side note . . . hold your breath."

Before Isi could wonder what that meant Gigi tapped the pink and blue Omnitrix upon her wrist and selected the first transformation that became available to her before slamming a hand down on the activation button and swallowing herself in a blast of magenta energy. Her skin hardened into a texture that was crusty to the touch yet very smooth as it turned a blueish-purple in color, a few dark spots and blotches appearing on her rounding shoulders. Muscles and tissues squelched and slapped against each other as Gigi's figure swelled in size; her bones crunched and ground heavily against each other as they became thick and designed to support a considerable amount of weight, made evident by her bulky, yet feminine form. Forearms and connected to a special circulatory system that was forming inside of her body, safely away from the veins and arteries that allowed her blue blood to flow through her body and eight-chambered heart. More nozzles embedded themselves into her body as her toes melted together into single digits that were quickly obscured by the sudden appearance of a black containment suit that traveled up her legs and back and moved to cup her rounded breasts firmly while a deep blue open cape-coat combination materialized on her body, hooking up perfectly to a sent of hoses that embedded themselves into her shoulders and inserted themselves to a breathing device played securely over where her respiratory sensors would be located. A pair of large, white gloves fitted themselves around her grubby fingers followed by heavy, blue gauntlets as a few more nozzles sprouted from her bald head and a glass pane appeared in her gut, allowing a dull view of a variety of unusual and mysterious chemicals that swirled and floated around inside of her intestines.

Stinkerbell smirked mischievously (Isi couldn't be sure with the gasmask in the way). "Now, now, that ain't any reason to make a big stink about things."

"Laugh all you want, bitch! I'll still crush you like a bug!" Fistrick threatened, socking his fist into his open palm.

"Not if we do it first!" Verde growled.

All the while, Isi noticed how the open panel that allowed a finite view of Stinkerbell's innards seemed to slowly become distorted as various chemicals and ingredients were mixed together, turning from a disgusting green in color to hues of orange and purple before finally settling on a light yellow in color that could only be compared to the color of infected puss. The deer spirit had a good idea at was coming next and quickly crouched back down to the ground and curled up into the tightest ball possible. She then tugged her shirt up over her nose and mouth and pinched her nostrils shut and held her breath for good measure as the criminals continued to argue over who would be killing who and who would be taking who prisoner.

Stinkerbell coughed. "Hey, uh, excuse me?"

"WHAT!?" Fistrick, Amarillo, Azul, and Verde all yelled at once.

The chemical-based alien didn't say anything and promptly tucked herself up into a tight ball before she fired jets of hot gas from the nozzles and ports that decorated her body, dotting her arms and shoulders and running down her spine, and even having one unfortunately placed in her ass. The location of the openings hardly matter though as the gas was working just as Stinkerbell had hoped; cries of surprise and disgust filled the air as Fistrick and the three bounty hunters were subjected to the effects of the gas, most which included horrible coughing and wheezing and an immense amount of tears. Even Isi could smell faint traces of the horrible odor that made her want to throw up her lunch.

Fistrick was furiously rubbing his nose in an effort to get the pungent odor out of his system. "Bro! What was that!?"

Stinkerbell seemed to smile as she stood back up and folded her arms over her bust. "Sulfer dioxide. Smells bad, don't it?" she chuckled.

"No shit!" Azul snapped between the tears that streamed down her face.

Having a somewhat cynical sense of humor, Stinkerbell was enjoying this very much. "But wait, there's more! For this month only and at fifty-percent off, you can get your very own mixture of Sevoflurane today!" she cracked just as the noxious chemicals in her guts finally finished mixing together. With a flex of her arms Stinkerbell launched out a second blast of deep green gas that was expelled outward in all directions. The cries of irritation as the chemicals flooded the criminal's systems and brought a multitude of unfortunate side effects soon came to Isi's ears and dared to crack open an eye to see Fistrick heavily leaning against the wall, coughing furiously as he attempted to breath before his body finally gave out and fell to the floor with a groan. Azul and Verde were hacking and wheezing, struggling for breath as Amarillo covered her mouth and waved her in front of her face in an attempt to clear the air, ultimately failing as she and her companions crumbled to the floor, unconscious.

"How's that for some fluoromethyl-hexafluoro-isopropyl-ether up in yer face, eh?" Stinkerbell chuckled with satisfaction.

"Broooo . . ." Fistrick breathed.

Isi dared to open her eyes fully and sit up with her shirt still pulled over her face on the off chance that there were still traces of the noxious chemicals still lingering in the air. "Are they alright?" she asked.

Stinkerbell shrugged. "Eh, who can tell?" she seemed to say in an almost careless manner before bursting out into laughter when she caught sight of the horrified expression on the Native Scaremerican's face. "Heh, I'm just kiddin'! Other than a little headache and a little memory loss, they won't smell a thing! Especially me kickin' their butts." she chuckled.

Isi supposed there was some comfort in that and carefully climbed to her feet, sucking in a breath of fresh air once she was sure that she was not going to suffer any unfortunate side effects. "Is it that simple?"

"With any luck they won't even remember how they escaped in the first place." Stinkerbell nodded before she slapped the Omnitrix fastened to her gasmask as it beeped and blinked in warning. A blast of magenta light consumed the chemical-based extraterrestrial and returned Gigi to the world in her place; the genie then proceeded to snap her fingers and summon four pairs of energy cuffs that quickly snapped themselves around the criminal's wrists and set their hands behind their back to restrict any movement. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, just a little shaken." Isi reassured her as the djinni's fingertips glowed a bright light when she raised them towards the ceiling. The unconscious bodies of Fistrick, Amarillo, Azul, and Verde slowly levitated into the air, a dull pink aura surrounding their limp forms as Gigi pointed her finger down the hallway, sending their bodies gently floating in that direction.

Gigi caught sight of the deer spirit's odd look. "What? Just because I'm no longer a genie of the lamp doesn't mean I don't have any powers. I just can't anything bigger than a person."

Isi nodded and slowly followed the genie back down the hallway in the direction the floating fellons had been sent down, silently hoping that Magister Patelliday would be more relieved that she was safe than angry that she ran off instead of sticking with the group (although the details were a little fuzzy before that). She mostly however transfixed by the Omnitrix fastened securely to Gigi's wrist, memories of her vision flooding back to her . . . the dragon . . . the shield . . . the strange world . . . she didn't know what any of it meant, but she had a feeling that they were all connected somehow. And now she knew how.

They were all linked to Ben Tennyson.


F.N: Honestly, I don't understand why you are obsessed with him.

B.P: I'm not obsessed! It's . . . it's just . . . he's so interesting! And cool! And dreamy . . .

M.N: What was that last part?

B.P: Oh! I, um, said 'steamy'! No . . . uh, seamy! No, wait! That's not right! Uh . . .

F.N: Brooke . . .

B.P: Alright, fine! I'm crushing hard on Ben, happy!?

M.N: Brooke! You know-

B.P: That we're narrators, and as narrators we aren't allowed to interact or talk to any of the characters in the story.

F.N: Exactly. So why don't you-

B.P: But I can't, Mom! No offense, but everything was just so . . . boring before Ben got here. I mean, almost every fairy tale out there involves some dumb princess of some kind getting herself trapped in some stupid, easily avoidable situation that some random prince she's never met has to save her from! And in the end, they get married! Without ever dating or anything!

M.N: Well . . . uh, when you put it like that . . .

F.N: Dear . . .

M.N: *Ahem* Um, your mother's right, dear. I can understand that Ben can be a little . . . exciting . . . but he's not really fairy tale material-

B.P: And yet, it turns out that he activated the Storybook of Legends and that he has a destiny that will change all of Ever After as everyone, including us, knows it! That practically screams fairy tale!

M.N: Eh . . . she has us there, dear.

F.N: But look at all the trouble he's caused! Look at what he did to Dexter Charming! Look at what he did to the school! Even his own 'harem' isn't left untouched; he turned Lilith Van Hellscream into a monster-

B.P: And Lilith chose to stay a monster rather than live with her horrible uncle! And it's not Ben's fault he causes so much collateral damage! If you had the most powerful weapon in the entire universe, maybe even in several universes, you would have all sorts of nasty villains trying to steal it from you for their own, diabolical purposes! I've read comic books! I know what the villains do! And to top it all off, Raven Queen made her choice between Dexter and Ben! Honestly, you're just as bad as Harangue!

F.N: . . .

M.N: Dear, at the very least try to portray Ben in a better light? He is the main character of the story, and this is his story, after all. As narrators, we are to give an unbiased opinion to either faction or side that the story has laid out, no matter how much we might dislike it. At the very least, do it for Brooke?

B.P: Yeah, do it for me! Otherwise I'll grow up to be this horrible narrator who doesn't know the beginning from the end and the Once Upon a Time from the Happily Ever After!

M.N: That's laying it on a little thick, don't you think?

B.P: Maybe?

F.N: *sigh* Alright, I'll try.

M.N: Hexcellent. Now then, where were we?

F.N: I think I've got it from here. *Ahem* Why, look! It's breakfast time at Ever After High. That important time when students fuel up to face the day! As usual, Blondie Lockes is enjoying a nice bowl of porridge that's 'just right'.

M.N: Humphrey Dumpty's eating an omelet . . . wait, is that weird? Cannibalism? Anthropophaginian? Aboriginism?

B.P: Two things: One, you sound like you swallowed a thesaurus. Two, stop before you offend someone important or otherwise.

F.N: It's vegan-soy-tofu omelet anyway. Hardly weird.

B.P: 'Weird'? You want to know what's 'weird'? 'Weird' is starting the story here! What about Wonderland!? And the bandersnatches . . . and the jub-jub birds . . . and the mole-rats . . . and the-

M.N: Brooke! You know better than that! After what we just talked about! No spoilers!

F.N: To be a narrator, you need to understand that we always begin at the beginning.

B.P: B-but! But . . . *sigh* alright. It's breakfast time, nom-nom-nom . . . I bet Ben would have let me narrated from wherever I wanted . . .

F.N: We really should work on that sarcasm of yours . . .

M.N: In due time, dear. Right now lets just focus on getting her to start at the appropriate place.

B.P: Hey, look! It's Apple White! Sorta? Kinda? What in the kingdom . . ?

F.N: Something wrong, Brooke?

B.P: The text . . . it's all wrong! Apple's not even here!

M.N: What!? Let me see that . . . why, it looks as if a five-year old tore out random pages of the book and stuck them back together with a glue stick and stickers! And . . . is that glitter?

F.N: Eeergh! This driving me mad!

M.H: Did someone say mad!?

B.P: Maddie!

M.N: Ms. Hatter! What are you doing here!?

M.H: Well, silly, I heard someone say the word 'mad' and, well, here I am! Mad as a Hatter!

F.N: Do you know anything about this?

M.H: Other than that it needs more glitter and tea-scented stickers? Nope!

M.N: You did this, didn't you?

M.H: Maybe . . . hey, have you ever noticed that my initials on the side of the page share the same letters as Monster High?

F.N: Stop breaking the fourth wall! If there's even any of it left to salvage!

B.P: At this point, I highly doubt it.

M.N: *sigh* Dare I ask why you committed such a crime?

M.H: Weeeeeeeeeeeell, the new narrator wanted to add a little more zip into the script, and I waved my little magic wand and pair of safety scissors and took the liberty of rearranging some parts into some more interesting! Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo to you!

F.N: Wonderful . . .

M.N: *sigh* Well, there isn't much other way around it. Brooke, just give it your best shot. This isn't hexactly what we had in mind for today's narrative session . . .

B.P: It's alright, Dad. I'll be fine. *whispers* Thanks, Maddie.

M.H: No problem! Now then, I must return bed! Or at least Ben's bed! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

F.N: Oh, are they still-

B.P: Sharing a bed? Yes. It's really cute! In fact, if you look now . . .

F.N: Oh, for ancestors sake!

M.N: They always say the magic of marriage wears off in a few years . . .

F.N: What was that?

M.N: Nothing! Um . . . oh, look! Ben's waking up!

B.P: Maybe I should call a narrator marriage counselor . . ?


Ben shifted in his sleep, drawing in a slow and deep breath that forced his chest to swell before he expelled it all back out. He was so comfortable right now, snuggled deep beneath the warm covers of his bed and he wanted to see someone actually try to tear him away from this moment of stillness. Ever since he had found the Omnitrix he had very few moments where he could truly relax and just take a moment to sit back and enjoy life without the threat of some criminal lunatic disturbing the peace; the ghouls had since helped ease this, but Ben would want nothing more than to simply spend more moments like this together with the ones he loved.

With a second breath he stirred and allowed his eyes to slowly blink open. He had slept well last night and his body felt more rested than ever, if not a little stiff from his deep sleep; he felt like, for once, that he could take on the day and tackle any of the challenges it might send his way.

Sphinx, the world could end right then and there and he'd still be ready to tackle it head on.

But he did not want the world to right then and there. All Ben wanted to do was simply lie back and enjoy the few minutes of peace had been granted before he would be forced to get up and take on the day. With a content sigh, Ben began to take in his surroundings a little more and he almost instantly noticed the slight weight on his chest; he rolled his eyes down to see Kitty Cheshire curled up contently by his side with her head placed upon her chest. He wasn't sure what had drawn the crafty cat out from her spot beneath his head as his pillow, but he had a sneaking suspicion it had something to with the tremendous, king-sized bed that now took up a decent sized chunk of the dorm.

The gigantic bed had been a gift from Hunter as a way to thank Ben for giving him residence to his dorm. That, and Hunter had gotten the idea that the dorm was starting to get very crowded with several girls sneaking of their dorms, past the dimwitted suits of armor that patrolled the hallways at night, and into the bed of their shared boyfriend with a slowly increasing number of ghouls. Another factor had been a combination of Hunter feeling safe enough to room with Dexter once again and that Ben had been kind enough to craft Ashlynn a key to sneak into her boyfriend's dorm whenever the thought suited her.

The young couple was eternally grateful for that.

A soft murmur caught his attention and he glanced to his other side to see Cedar Wood cuddled up to him with a pleasant smile on her lips, as if she were having a nice dream; the wooden girl was clothed in an oversized, tye-dye T-shirt that enveloped her as if she were wearing a poncho and completely obscured the pair of pink panties that she wore underneath. It had admittedly taken time getting use to sleeping with someone who could be compared to a wooden log, but Ben had found that Cedar's skin was of a softer quality than that of average wood. All it took to adjust to sleeping with Cedar was wrapping the puppet girl up in a warm, wool blanket and slowly weening off of that before he was fully comfortable around her.

Ben gave a slight smile and reached with a gentle hand to thread his fingers through her brown and purple locks, earning a slow hum of appreciation from Cedar as she scooted closer to him in her sleep and settled her head in the crook of his neck; her arm moved to wrap protectively over his chest and just barely flick the tip of Kitty's nose. The Cheshire screwed her face up at the slight irritation and moved in her slumber to tightly hug Ben and wrap her legs around him as if were a python trying to constrict him.

Ben wasn't quite sure what to make of it.

Another check of his surroundings revealed that not all of the girls in his harem had decided to join him for the night; he usually got the total count sometime in the morning, as the girls took great care in not disturbing him or his sometimes temperamental ghouls . . . namely Clawdeen, who did not appreciate being woken up in the middle of the night without good reason. Raven and Apple were currently missing and Cerise seemed to have decided to spend the night in her own dorm, unlike her roommate. Maddie had decided that she missed sharing a dorm with her Wonderland friend and had bedded down next to Kitty with her ever present teacup hat on her head and Earl Grey curled up snugly on her chest right over where her hear might have been; the dormouse and Skurd's soft snoring could hardly be heard despite the stillness.

The bed was finally big enough that it allowed all the ghouls to share with enough room go around for inevitable future recruits to Ben's harem; the ghouls had accepted a long time ago that their boyfriend just wouldn't be able to stop attracting members of the female species and were quite open to anyone that joined their ranks . . . most of the time. Clawdeen now slept on Cedar's other side with a sleep mask to cover her eyes and a pillow over her head for extra measure and Venus and Jane were practically armlocked in each others embrace with the plant monster ghoul once again functioning as Jane's mattress and pillow all in one. Whisp was fast asleep on Maddie's other side with an arm lazily draped over the Hatter's face and Maddie's hand resting on the genie's stomach; Ben honestly wouldn't have been surprised if Whisp found another partner with Nefera.

Ben did not see Skelita however.

Now he more alert and slightly concerned. He knew his skeleton ghoul was capable of defending herself if necessary, but Ben still felt he had a right to worry. A lot of his enemies had decided to had his ghouls to their list of people to off at some point in their careers and they didn't have as much experience nor available transformations to help against that, though that didn't mean they didn't have abilities of their own; another thing to consider was the dangers of their current world. His dreams were still haunted by warnings of Vanity's return and Krampus' ominous message, and he feared the day that he might not be able to act like the unstoppable brick wall his ghouls and friends had come to see him as.

But right now he at least needed to know where Skelita was. The bathroom was quiet save for the leaky faucet that Ben had all but given up on trying to fix and he couldn't think of a decent reason why his skeleton ghoul would want to wake up and leave the dorm at such an early hour; suffice to say, her appearance did not exactly translate well with the rest of Ever After High and she therefore had little to friends outside of the harem. With a grunt, Ben sat himself up in bed and carefully extricated himself from Kitty's strong hold and Cedar' tight grasp on him. He then began to navigate the labyrinth of tangled legs and twisted covers, wincing when Maddie stirred in her sleep and suddenly rolled over mumbling something about cupcakes with legs dancing the conga.

Ben wasn't quite sure what to make of that.

He finally made his way to the edge of the bed and stood up to stretch, freezing up when Clawdeen let out a tired growl from beneath her pillow; the werewolf had an uncanny sense of smell that Ben had a healthy fear and respect of an hearing that would have made even the most skilled of assassins absolutely useless against her. Thankfully she did not stir and fell back into slumber and Ben relaxed with an exhale of breath that he hoped was quiet enough to avoid Clawdeen's radar. Now he glanced around the dorm for any sign of Skelita . . . it wasn't very hard.

The balcony doors were wide open to let in a warm, morning breeze and fresh air that felt nice after the several days of rain that had forced Heroic 101 into the Grimmnasium; the Headmaster had not exactly been very pleased with all the damage that followed. Skelita was standing there at the railing with her back to him, simply admiring the nice morning and warm rays of the sun. The skeleton ghoul was dressed in a soft, beige top with a marigold flower at the center that hung slightly loose around her shoulders and exposed her vertebrae in a midriff-like fashion. Her leg bones were wrapped in a warm pair of blue sweatpants that hugged her pelvis enough that they didn't slip down; it's not like there was a lot to stare at otherwise.

Skelita felt a smile grace her lips when she felt those familiar arms wrap around her from behind, hugging her waist as she felt those strong, warm muscles press against her vertebrae. She could feel shivers travel down her spine when she felt his hot breath on her collarbone and his chin on her shoulder blade. "Buenos dias, Ben."

"Buenos días. ¿Duerma bien?" Ben asked with a gentle kiss to her cheek.

The Hexican ghoul felt her face turn a rosy red at receiving his affections. She had to confess that she had always believed she would find another skeleton some day that she would fall head over talons in love with, get married to some day, and possibly even start a family, too; she knew her mother would have pressed into grandchildren regardless. Never in her wildest dreams did she ever think someone with flesh, organs, or a beating heart would ever find a romantic interest in her and yet here she was with the boy she loved. With a bright smile she reached back with her hands to wrap her arms around his head and give him a soft hug, inhaling his sharp scent despite the fact she had no nose or lungs.

"Si, Ben. My dreams were pleasant." the skeleton nuzzled him lovingly.

Ben gave that war, goofy smile that she loved seeing. "Lo siento mi amor," he said. "Lo siento que no era capaz de pasar tanto con usted como me gustaría."

Skelita felt her eyes widen as she craned her head to stare at him with amazement. "How do you know Español? You only knew a few sentences the last time I checked."

Ben's smile broadened ever so slightly. "When one of your aliens is a Spanish-spouting luchador with a temper, you tend to pick up a few things here and there." he chuckled jokingly. He then had about three seconds to react before Skelita curled a bony finger under his chin to prop him up to a more respective level and tenderly pressed her lips to his; it took even less time for Ben to adjust to the situation. His grip on her was just a little tighter as he took her lips in his, keeping a nice steady rhythm for her to keep up with at her own leisure.

Some might have called Ben a pervert for slowly drawing his hands up across Skelita's chest where her breasts might have been if she was of fleshling origin, even if it was brief and only so he weave her skeletal fingers through his; Ben would have ignored those comments since there wasn't even anything to grope, much less oggle if he ever got the chance and that was just fine with him. He already knew what she would looked like with a set of wonderful breasts and long, elegant legs and dazzling, sparkling eyes that seemed to have absorbed some life back into them . . . but he accepted her for what she was. If were the kind of person that couldn't see past that nonexistent outer beauty of wonderful skin and muscle, then he would be a jerk.

And Ben didn't want to be a jerk if he could help it.

Others might have called their relationship 'barbaric' or even have called Ben a necrophiliac (namely Headmaster Grimm considering how uptight the portly man got whenever relationships were not according to the fairy tale), but Ben again chose to ignore those. Sure, he was in a relationship with a good 3 ½ ghouls of the undead variety (Bonita was only half undead), but he was also in a relationship with several ghouls and girls that were very much alive and not expected to make their journey down to the Underworld anytime soon. As such, Ben saw himself more as an 'omniphiliac' if such titles had to be given.

Even so this did little to stop Ben from letting Skelita know how much she meant to him. Even without lips or a body like his own he still adored her, regardless of whether they could commit the ultimate act of love or not; it didn't matter to him right now and he doubted it would matter to him much in the future either. All that mattered was the skeleton knew how much he loved her.

Eventually however, Ben's need for oxygen forced the happy couple apart where they settled into a warm hug. In this way Skelita could rest her head against Ben's strong chest and hug him affectionately; she loved every part of her boyfriend like he loved every pretty bone that made up her, but the part of him that she appreciated the most was his heart. The beating organ was like a mighty drum trapped inside of an iron cage and it brought comfort to her when they bedded down for the night together. There was absolutely nothing more that Skelita loved than snuggle up to Ben with the two of them wrapped up in a warm, comfy blanket on the couch in front of the fireplace during a rainstorm to lull them to sleep, with perhaps a couple mugs of hot chocolate that created a warm feeling in the pit of her stomach (metaphorically speaking).

"Te amo, Ben." Skelita mumbled snugly into his chest.

"Love you, too, Belleza. Don't ever think I won't stop." Ben purred into her ear with another soft kiss. Skelita felt her cheeks turn a rosy red in color, which was odd sine she didn't posses blood vessels, as she gave her boyfriend a final, affectionate hug, and proceeded to saunter back into the dorm with a pleasant smile on her lips. "Where you going, hermosa?" Ben asked.

The skeletal ghoul allowed a teasing smile grace her lips as she placed a bony hand on her hip. "¿Qué? You think these bones are bleached on their own?" she winked at him before turning to head into the bathroom.

Ben starred after her for a few seconds before shaking his head. "Glad I took a shower last night," he rolled his eyes with a grin; a tiny, yet sizable snore caught his attention and he glanced down to see Skurd fast asleep and firmly attached to the Omnitrix even when he was unconscious and should have been as limp as putty. "And somehow the booger sleeps tonight." he shook his head in amazement.

"At least I do not feel the need to insult someone while they are trying to catch up on some much needed beauty sleep." the Slimebiote grumbled as he slowly began to wake.

"You were asleep for gazillion years!" Ben rolled his eyes.

"And your point being? Other than the fact that you feel the need to create fake numbers in order to sound intelligent?"

Ben decided right then and there that he had better things to do than be arguing with a gelatinous, genetometaphomorphic parasite, such as getting ready for the day. He then went about his business as quietly as possible, lest he disturb his girls as he quickly combed his hair free of the snarls it had absorbed from his pillow and pulled on a fresh pair of pants; he had been meaning to find some night clothes in what Apple had claimed to be a somewhat limited style, as he only ever seemed to fit in things that were black, white, and green in color. Ben eventually settled on wearing his iconic white and green sweatshirt over a black T-shirt with the Omnitrix stenciled in green on the front; it had been a gift from Apple and technically Lizzie as well, as the Daughter of Snow White had some rather poor sewing skills.

His thoughts drifted back to his apple-loving princess and the Princess of Hearts as he slipped out of the dorm as quietly as possible and jogged down the hall; he hadn't realized how hungry he had been when he woken up and the delicious smell of breakfast wafting through the air was the wake up call he needed. Apple was a beautiful girl, if the way a multitude of boys gazed longingly at her was anything to go by, and she quite smart and very logical as well . . . the only problem was that she was a tad naive about the world and that once her head was filled with ideas it was quite hard to get her to see the truth.

It was one of the many reasons she was still forced to sleep on the floor whenever she slept over, a rule that Clawdeen was quite strict in reinforcing with a vicious growl that always made Apple's hair stand on end.

But Apple was starting to change for the better, albeit slowly. She wasn't as pressing in the idea of destinies as she was before and a phenomenal amount of progress had been made in getting her to except that she was just one of the many harem girls that Ben would inevitably come to fall for, but she still had a fair amount of time to go before Clawdeen would no longer deem her a mild nuisance.

Lizzie on the other hand, was a little more simple to read. The Princess of Hearts was a firm believer in following the destiny that had been laid out for them, but that was mostly because she was the heir to the throne of a mighty and powerful realm that depended on a strong, future leader such as her; and when in comparison some of the other destinies out there, a prime example being the unfortunate circumstance of being turned into a swan for the rest of your life that Duchess faced. After all, a majority of the Queen of Heart's time was mostly spent playing the day away and drinking tea when times didn't call for more drastic and more serious measures.

With a grin, Ben came to skidding stop at the top of a grand staircase and gave a leaping jump before he landed on the railing and slid down like he was on a skateboard, utterly terrifying Skurd at the thought of falling (it wouldn't have been so bad had his host had wings). The wielder of the Omnitrix soared off the end of the banister and landed on his feet before he continued to jog down the hall. It took a few more twists and turns down several corridors and halls before Ben eventually found his way into the second level of the Castleteria, but the delicious smell of breakfast was well worth it.

The sight of his sweet Caramel Apple was considered a bonus as well.

Apple White looked down upon the nearly overcrowded Castleteria, taking in all the rush and controlled chaos like the future ruler she was to be. Her current position standing high and mighty over her fellow classmates vaguely reminded her of the childhood memories she had of ruling over a kingdom of stuffed animals and dolls from within her impenetrable fortress of pillows and blankets that no one could get into . . . unless they had the welcome offering o peanut butter and apple slices; in those days she had also imagined she had been married to Daring as well.

That little thought brought a slight frown to her lips.

While she still considered Daring a friend and a loyal supporter of the Royal faction, Apple couldn't deny that ever since she had found out that Ben was her True Love and thus the prince that was to awaken her form her slumber, she couldn't help but notice that his negative qualities stood out more than they had before. The princess knew that Daring loved to primp and prime himself each and every morning to look his best, but she had never noticed how much time he would spend simply posing and admiring himself in any reflective surface available; even someone's teeth or glasses were not safe. Apple also knew that Daring that a capable warrior when the time called for it, but she never realized how absolutely pathetic and helpless he was in an actual fight in comparison to Ben.

And the whining! She admitted that from time to time she would give a scream of disgust if she was suddenly covered in an excess amount of mud or something of equal sliminess, but Daring absolutely broke down like a baby whose bottle had been taken away from them when his precious face was so much as grazed by a spot of filth that dared to try and assault his good looks.

Apple could hardly believe this was the person she was originally supposed to spend the rest of her life with!

She was soon however, greeted by the person that she did want to spend the rest of her life with. Apple felt her heart flutter and a bright smile when Ben came up by her side and gave her a morning kiss; it was just oozing with cheesiness, much like the romantic movies that Cupid sometimes managed to coerce her into watching, but there was something about experiencing it rather than watching it that made it more than worthwhile.

Skurd rolled his eyes. "And cue the inevitable, sappy, teenage love scene . . ."

Apple ignored the Slimebiote flashed her boyfriend the sweet smile and batting of eyelashes that she was renown for. "Morning, Ben!" she beamed brightly.

Ben couldn't help but brighten up a little more upon seeing that pleasant face. "Morning, babe." he grinned smugly when Apple flushed a light pink in color at the nickname. She wasn't quite sure why, but she kind of liked the feeling when she was called affectionate names that were not becoming of a future ruler; it gave her little butterflies floating around in her tummy. "Sure is crowded, huh?"

Apple had to agree with that. For whatever reason there had been a sudden influx of new students that were being admitted to Ever After High, some whose stories hadn't been fulfilled in several generations if Apple understood half of what her mother tried to inform her about the subject. She glanced down like the tentative queen she would grow to be and took note of how some of the new students were acting; they were relatively easy to spot, as they hadn't found that particular niche that they quite fit into just yet. Like scavengers at a kill they ringed around the outskirts of the apex predators that were the bookball team and cheerhexing squad.

They were at the bottom of the unspoken food chain of Ever After High and as such they never bothered with anyone at the top for fear of being social destroyed; Apple was actually both a little hurt and amused by this little thought, as she was quite sure that she was anything but scary. Unless one took into the account the time she had gotten so sick after eating a few bad apples that she could hardly even look at food that didn't exclude soup without throwing up in the bathroom; Raven had helped as best as she could during that time and Apple had been far too weak and focused on her churning stomach to even bother in trying to protest against the helpful witchling.

According to said witchling, the princess had turned rather nasty the moment she was confirmed well enough to eat a decent meal and had all but stuffed her face like an animal the moment food was placed before her. Raven could hardly believe how fast Apple had wolfed down the meal and to this very day the Daughter of Snow White shamefully still held the record for speed eating at Ever After High.

A record that would most likely be broken if the way Ben was eyeing the various breakfasts spread out throughout the cafeteria.

A loud puff of sweet smelling smoke that tickled Apple's nose and made her screw up her face at the slight irritation came from her left and she turned to see Whisp floating there on a ghostly, wispy tail in place of her legs. The genie look slightly haggard, as if she had just woken up moments ago despite her attire; then again, all it would take would be a simple snap of her fingers to change her appearance. Apple knew Briar would have loved that ability so she could spend less time getting ready for the day and more time actually enjoying it and spending it marking things off of her bucket list before she would fall into a century long slumber.

There was a reason, after all, that the tale of Sleeping Beauty was one of the least reenacted fairy tale destinies out there. It was so long before the next heir would be ready to follow in their parent's footsteps, and yet they looked like they had hardly aged a day since they fell asleep.

Apple knew her mother, despite her nearly ageless appearance, would have loved to seemingly be resistant to the effects of time, if for no other reason than to get rid of the few gray hairs that she was starting to get.

"Morning, Apple Pie." Whisp yawned with an exaggerated stretch. "You get to third base with Raven yet?"

The Daughter of Snow White practically jumped out of her skin and flushed a bright crimson in color upon hearing that single, teasing question. And from the way the shadow genie was grinning from pointed ear to pointed ear, the expression on her face was absolutely priceless. "Wh-What is t-that supposed to mean?" Apple swallowed nervously.

Whisp merely folded her arms over her bust and drifted down to Apple's level. "Oh, c'mon, don't deny it. Everyone knows you and Raven were made for each other." she purred in the princess' ear. "I see the way you look at her, wondering how soft her skin is, how gentle it would be to have those fingers touching you all over, those lips pressed against yours . . . and you know what they say about opposites and how they attract . . ."

Despite finding the embarrassed look on Apple's face to be highly amusing, Ben kindly decided to put her out of her misery. "Whisp, stop teasing Apple with your wild fantasies." he rolled his eyes while trying to hide a smirk.

"I can't help it if Holly O'Hair and all of the readers out there ship Apple and Raven together." Whisp huffed with a childish pout, as if to emphasis her point that she wasn't going to budge on the subject. Instead, the djinni snapped her fingers and summoned a megaphone into Apple's hands without an expression to read off of; the device was even decorated with little apple patterns. When she was given a pair of confused and raised eyebrows by the princess and Ben, Whisp merely shrugged her shoulders and said, "The author said you were going to try and make an announcement."

"Thanks . . ?" Apple was more baffled than ever.

"It's best just roll with the chaos." Ben whispered to the princess.

With a final, skeptical look in the genie's direction Apple clicked the megaphone on and cringed slightly at the loud crackling of the speaker. She then gave a slight cough to clear her throat and tapped the speaker one last time to make sure it was working before speaking; the princess was oblivious to the way Whisp squeezed her eyes shut and jammed her fingers into her ears, quickly followed by Ben when he caught sight of what the djinni was doing.

"HEXCUSE ME!"

Ben could have sworn that every window in the room was going to shatter as the deafening boom echoed throughout the Castleteria causing general chaos; Tiny the Giant yelped in surprise and dropped his tremendous breakfast on the Three Billy Goats Gruff, flattening them beneath a pancake the size of a parachute and nearly drowning the O'Hair sisters in syrup had Hunter not managed to snag their hands and pull them out of the sticky mess with Ashlynn's help; Cerise howled in agony as the near sonic boom assaulted her ears while she crumbled to the floor; Lilly Bo Peep's flock of sheep were all over the place only adding to the chaos as the sheperd tried to get them all back under her watchful eye; Dexter Charming ended up flipping his bowl of milk and cereal all over his older brother's head with Cupid only adding to the mess when she accidentally dropped her tray of . . . well, the goddess was none too sure what it was, but Sparrow Hood seemed to like it if the way he was scrapping off spoonfuls from Daring's head was anything to go by.

Whisp meanwhile was rolling around on the floor with laughter, her legs kicking sporadically as she held her aching sides. "Oh, Kitty was right! That was hilarious!"

"Great Scott!" Skurd yelped. "And I thought the Big Bang was loud!"

All Apple could do was blink in complete shock, almost oblivious to the pandemonium below as she gripped the railing and pulled herself up shaky legs. Her face was deathly pale with stupefaction and her entire body was trembling as she glanced down at the smoking remains of the megaphone, which seemed to have simply exploded from the sure magnitude of the sound. She could feel Ben's hands and fingers raking their way through her hair in an attempt to smooth it down and defeat the forest of tangles and snarls, which she was greatly appreciative of; she was currently occupied trying to recompose herself into a sensible appearance to address the crowd that now had her undivided attention like the future queen she had been practicing to be since the day she had been told about her family's legacy.

Once she was sure she wasn't going to fall over at the slightest breeze, Apple sucked in a deep breath to calm herself and began to address the crowd of confused classmates. "As editor of The Griffin, our beloved school paper, I am pleased to announce that I'll be doing a special feature. And the theme is . . . A Time of Wonder! It will feature stories about Wonderland and all the students from Wonderland who are here now!"

Incomprehensible murmuring made its way through the Castleteria crowd and it mostly sounded positive if the way a good majority of the students were smiling and grinning at one another. Alistair Wonderland and Bunny Blanc seemed particularly interested; it seemed like so long ago since they had been expelled from their homeland and came to Ever After, only to find themselves right in the middle of a horrible curse from the land they held dear to their hearts. And while Ever After was a nice place (Bunny was pleased it had a steady supply of carrots that didn't try to talk back to you), there was just something about Wonderland that continuously made them long for their childhood days when they would play tag on the checkerboard grass and chase after the flocks of dodo birds and keep the caterpillars up all night with their antics.

"I think Apple's idea is awesome!" a loud and abrasive voice cut out over the chatter, nearly silencing everyone. All attention turned towards the back of the Castleteria, specifically behind Alistair, Bunny, and Kitty as the frisky feline flashed into existence in a shower of shimmering sparkles and a cheeky smile on her lips. The owner of the voice was a girl perhaps a few inches shorter than Alistair with pale, silvery skin, periwinkle gray eyes framed by an intricate eye makeup design, and platinum blonde hair styled into a wavy side fringe streaked with teal and a high ponytail. She wore a blouse over deep blue leggings colored a myriad of colors between the ranges of black, blue, and gold that seemed to have no end or beginning; what caught the most attention however, were the four shimmering fairy wings that sprouted out from between her shoulder blades and the cocky, mischievous smirk on the fairy's face.

Apple beamed brightly. "Thanks, Faybelle!" she smiled before she realized exactly what the Daughter of the Dark fairy had just said. "Wait, you do?"

"Something smells fishy." Ben frowned with suspicion.

Skurd coughed awkwardly. "Are you sure those are not your socks?"

"You don't even have a nose."

"I don't require one. Your socks are foul enough." the Slimebiote huffed with disgust, pinching a tentacle over the place where a nose might have been if he had one.

If Faybelle heard the bickering between Ben and his irritating parasite of a partner, she didn't say anything as she gave her wings a flutter and rose up off of the floor. The Castleteria was waiting with baited breath as the dark fairy buzzed over them and up to the balcony where Apple was firmly rooted in place; Faybelle took a small amount of joy in knowing that someone of Apple's class and stature would never be able to fly and would forever be earth bound. "Sure, it'll give you a chance to rehash how these Blunderland brats got stuck here in the first place!"

Whisp seemed confused as she finally managed to get a hold of herself and stop laughing. "What do you mean?"

Faybelle allowed a dark smirk cross her lips as she glanced at the genie out of the corner of her eye. In all honesty, she hated Ben's little group of monsters if for no other reason than the wasted potential they practically oozed forth from their pores. By now they could have been ruling the school with their frightening abilities and powers and yet they chose to remain loyal by Ben's side and roll over at his slightest suggestion like some kind of lap dog; at least the genie had a mischievous streak in her and wasn't afraid to play a prank or two to lighten the mood. That alone spared Whisp from Faybelle's general hatred towards her friends and eased her into what Faybelle might call 'apprentice' or 'competition'.

"Oh, you don't know?" she seemed to purr darkly. "You don't know the reason why the Wonderlandians are here in the first place? It's all thanks to Raven's mom, The Evil Queen!" Faybelle explained with flare, dramatically pulling her Mirrorpad from her pocket and tapping a button on the screen.

What followed was something Ben hoped he would never have to hear again. He had faced down Vilgax the Conqueror and the High Ectolord Zs'Skayr and even taken on Zombozo of all the villains that haunted his dreams. But that laugh, that sinister cackle was something that he knew would forever torment him in the deepest corners of his mind, forever at the edge of his dreams and nightmares just out of reach to be snuffed out and forgotten. It was the kind of thing that had complete disregard for any and all life, seeing as the helpless innocents that they slaughtered as little more than playthings and the lands they burned and conquered like toys; at least Vilgax was loyal to his people. The owner of this voice, the kind that would give even Zs'Skayr and Zombozo nightmares, didn't sound like she cared for anything at all but herself and her endless lust for power.

It seemed no one else in the Castleteria could forget it either as chaos reared its ugly head once more. Lilly Bo Peep's sheep were once again sent off running in all directions, though the shepherd made no move to try and round them all up as she tried to hide behind her shepherd's crook like it were a weapon; the Three Little Pigs and Three Billy Goats Gruff made a break for it, jumping on the tables and running for the doors while sending food flying in all directions in their mad attempt to escape, thus splattering Daring with a plate of eggs and bacon on their way out; Tiny promptly fell to his knees with a tremendous tremor that threatened to take down a good portion of the Castleteria while Cupid instinctively wrapped her wings around her and Dexter as if they would provide some kind of comfort; other than that, the general reaction was that of screaming and panic.

A loud smack! rang out through the Castleteria as Raven all but slammed her lunch tray down on the table, no longer feeling hungry as she pushed herself away from the table and stood up in annoyance; the entire Castleteria fell dead silent. "Hey, that's not fair!" she protested angrily. "It's not my mom's fault that Wonderland is sealed off from Ever After!"

The witchling received deadpanned and accusing looks in response that made her cringe inward slightly. "I mean, okay, maybe she poisoned Wonderland's magic and sure, because of her Wonderland is even more topsy-turvy than ever and, yeah, thanks to her the Queen of Hearts is a total wacko-screwball-"

A loud gasp of shock radiated through the crowd at the young witch's words as all eyes darted towards one specific location at the center of the Castleteria. Sitting by herself with a tray of heart-shaped tea cakes, pastries, and a steaming kettle of Wonderland tea sprinkled with cinnamon for extra flavoring was Lizzie Hearts. Normally such insults would have turned the future ruler of Wonderland on her head and sent her on a rampage that was just as dangerous as it was loud and it was a wonder she hadn't worn out her vocal cords and fingers already from all the screaming and slicing she made during her legendary tantrums . . . and yet, Lizzie was quiet as a mouse and oblivious to the outside conversation.

She hardly even looked up from her crestfallen posture (hardly becoming of a future ruler, even one from Wonderland) when Faybelle descended down from above to rub salt into the wound by saying, "Uh, hello? Raven just totally insulted your mom!"

Raven flinched just the slightest. "Sorry, Lizzie," she apologized. "It's just . . . I'm trying to point out that if you're gonna look for someone to blame . . . blame Headmaster Grimm!" the witchling came up with what she supposed was a compelling argument as she knew she'd never be able to live it down if she didn't at least come away from her sudden speech with a tie. "I mean, he's always like, 'You must always follow your own story!' and, 'Lets trap the Evil Queen in a mirror, forever!', am I right?"

It was then that Raven finally took notice of the anxious and horrified expressions on her classmates faces. Glancing up out of the corner of her eyes revealed Ben and Whisp making exaggerated cutting and slicing motions over their throats in a desperate attempt to silence her while Apple covered her eyes, fearful of what was to come as she dared to peek through her fingers. Another curious thing she took note of was that something seemed to be blocking the light all of a sudden; whatever it was was not so much big and imposing as plump and in possible need of an exercise program.

Raven had a feeling she knew what her boyfriend was trying to warn her about.

"He's standing right behind me, isn't he?" she guessed with worry.

"She's doomed." Skurd murmured as he facepalmed himself.

Raven flinched as she heard the harsh cough and turned around to smile sheepishly up at the Headmaster as he glared at her with a poisonous look, as if trying to peer into her soul to see what mischief stained her. "Correct. And you may be seated." he snarled gruffly before turning to address the Castleteria. "As for the rest of you, understand this: the Wonderland Curse is dangerous and no one must be allowed to have contact with that world for any reason! It has been sealed off for your own good."

Grimm glared almost threateningly at the Castleteria crowd, his stern expression boring itself through each student like dragon fire through a pitiful wood sword; it was so hard to make the students, especially the dreaded Rebels, that he was only doing these kind of things to them for their own protection. Wonderland was dangerous, even without the curse threaten to descend down on whatever remained of the realm, and that was only the tip of the sword. With the Storybook of Legends still missing, there was a chance that the world as they all knew it would end if the stories were not followed as best as possible and destinies fulfilled to their fullest extent; after all, even the best laid plans of mice and men went awry, and Grimm had no reason to believe that such a thing would be merciful in rearing its ugly head.

After all, they already had Madeline Hatter as the next Mad Hatter and it had been a near constant tradition that the next in the Hatter line to fulfill the destiny was to be a boy; even if there was a girl at the right age to attend school and learn all that was needed to play their part in the story, they would always be skipped over for the next available boy who was sometimes a fifth cousin whose mother had been twice removed from the family and been remarried three times. Only now, when every other boy in the extensive Hatter clan was either too old or far too young to the play the part was young Madeline inducted to be the next Mad Hatter.

But it was more than keeping up with tradition. Grimm felt his brow furrow when he caught sight of young Dexter Charming and Cupid sitting a little closer than they should have in his opinion. He had been headmaster of Ever After High for nearly two centuries after taking over the position from his father as the eldest son and never had he seen such a near blatant disregard for relationships; princesses were allowed to interact with other men from different fairy tales in a purely platonic way and only ever build intimate relationships with the heroes and princes of their stories. The last time he had ever had to deal with such a case was when Snow White IV herself had been a mere princess and was struggling to understand the complicated manner of Kingdom Management.

Headmaster Grimm however, walked on the side of caution in this case. With Dexter's nearly unpredictable ability to change into wild and unruly Beast form, he had a safe theory that it would take more than a stern speech to break him apart from Cupid and send him off in the right direction, unlike Snow White's former boyfriend.

The headmaster turned on his heel to make his exit and paused when he saw Ben leaning against the railing with an expression that looked like he was struggling not to laugh and trying to take the warning seriously. This was quite difficult when Whisp was currently wearing an oversized jacket, ascot, and a curly mustache scribbled onto her upper lip while seemingly having just finished mocking him; the way the genie had stuffed several pillows underneath of her shirt was not appreciated either and Grimm would have sent her straight to his office for a stern talking to had he not had flashbacks about being turned into a camel and having to replace the door to the Healer Sternum's office.

What was more annoying however, was that she was even here in the first place. He had thought he had seen the last of the infernal, wish-granting creatures years ago.

"Oh, oh! Headmaster Grimm!"

The portly man gave a slight sigh as he slowed his pace at the sound of that warm, positive voice. Grimm had to admit that Apple was a well behaved student, if not a bit reckless in choosing a proper boyfriend, and when he was having a particularly nasty day when his coffee was always cold and he slipped on every wet floor in the school and he was relentlessly battered by stray bookballs that shouldn't have been thrown in the hallways in the first place, he could always count on the young, perky princess to somehow brighten his day just the slightest. Sometimes he would find her supervising the Study Hall he had to watch over in place of the usual teacher or reading off the morning announcements when he was still groggy and only half awake from a night of reading over a near endless stack of papers; Hex, she had even provided him with an entire breakfast buffet on his birthday (Ginger Breadhouse had a hand in that, though).

Some might have regarded that kind of behavior as creepy or going a bit too far, but the headmaster greatly appreciated the small thing Apple did for him when she sensed he was in a foul mood.

This however, was one of the rare times he was not willing to return the favor to Apple for all her hard work.

"As part of my article for The Griffin, I was hoping to ask you about the curse and what hexactly it-"

"Enough." Headmaster Grimm held up a hand to cut Apple's chattering with a cold expression to follow up. This was one of the few times he needed Apple on his side; she was after all one of the most influential students in all of Ever After High. And he had a hunch that if she were to show caution around the subject of Wonderland, there was a chance he would be able to keep even Raven and Ben from putting their noses and/or tentacles, claws, and flippers where they didn't belong. "The world's must remain separate and that is all you need to know." he said curtly before walking away.

A sudden thought occurred to him and he glanced over his shoulder to give one last glare at the Castleteria crowd, specifically Ben and Raven. "I hope I do not have to remind you, Ms. Queen, of the last time one of your relatives ventured beyond Wonderland's borders?"

Raven swallowed nervously though she was inwardly growling at the portly man for practically singling her out. Sure, she was the unofficial leader of the Rebel faction but was there really any need to rub salt into the wound? The sound of her own mother's malevolent crowing set her own nerves on edge and she unconsciously hugged herself as faint, almost forgettable memories flashed through her head; the glint of a blade; the horrible odor and crimson color of blood; words and incantations she could only remember bits and pieces of; a being so massive and horrific in appearance she could hardly remember it; the harsh caress of cold, clammy fingers across her burning skin; and above it all, that endless, menacing laughter that worked its way into the darkest corners of her mind and made her stomach tie itself in knots in discomfort.

And that wasn't taking into the account that the silvery scars marking her body seemed to be burn just a little hotter in the presence of the twisted cackling.

"No, Headmaster Grimm." Raven shuddered. Ben instantly took notice and returned the harsh glare sent their way with full force; starring down a potbellied headmaster was nothing compared to starring down the likes of a predator that wanted nothing more than to feel your flesh between its teeth and yours scream of terror down its throat or planet conquering super villain that burned whole worlds simply because he could and would stop at nothing to do it. It was no small surprise then when Whisp caught sight of a small smirk of satisfaction cross Ben's when Headmaster Grimm seemed to cringe the slightest of degrees that hawk-like stare and made his way back to his office.

Ben then turned his attention to the distant witchling. "Raven, is there something you're not telling me?" he asked with a concerned tone.

Raven sucked in a deep breath and calmed herself before looking at Ben with a look that he couldn't quite identify but would definitely peg under the 'touchy subject' area. "It's . . . complicated, Ben." she sighed. "It's just-"

"Tell me when your ready, Rae, okay?" Ben cut her off, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I don't know entirely what's going on, but I want to help in anyway I can. Whenever your ready to tell me, just let me know, alright? It'll be our little secret, too."

The young witch felt her tense shoulders relax at that calming voice and the comforting touch he gave her. It was unfortunately settled right on one of the many silvery scars that lurked around on her body, but the burning sensation seemed to be cooling under Ben's touch; she couldn't quite figure out why, but she would take this over the uncomfortable feeling any day. "A-Alright." she nodded with a grateful smile.

Ben grinned. "Good. Now we should probably get to class." he said just as the bell rang sharp and true through the air, sending students scattering in all directions. "And here I was hoping I would get breakfast."

"I've already eaten." Skurd announced proudly.

Whisp rolled her eyes. "That's because your meal is portable." she retorted before she snapped her fingers and summoned a delicious French toast stick in her hand; a cereal bar and a plastic cup of orange juice appeared in a puff of black smoke in Ben's hands and the wielder of the Omnitrix gratefully chugged it all down. "Oh, and Apple? Just ask Raven out already!" the djinni teased before vanishing in a puff of sweet smelling smoke.

Raven raised a curious eyebrow at the comment as she shared a look with Ben. "What is she talking about?" she wondered. The young witchling took note of the way Apple's cheeks had flashed a fierce red in color.

"You probably don't want to know." Skurd told her.


Apple hummed cheerfully to herself as she laid her books on the front desk and slid out the chair to take a seat in. The Study Hall was a quaint, if not slightly dim room that was tinted a light red in color when the crimson curtains were lazily drawn in front of the windows. Book shelves that stretched from ceiling to floor lined its walls with hundreds of books in various languages and tongues coming from all over Ever After among which a few artifacts had been amassed as well; a few ladders allowed access to shelves that stretched almost twenty more feet up in the tube-shaped room and this briefly made Apple wonder if some of the architects that had built the impressive boarding school had not come from Wonderland to offer their unique designs of structure.

Her last class, Science and Sorcery with Professor Rumpelstiltskin had been simple for her and a disaster for everyone else. If one just remembered all the formulas and the mohexular valence crossed referenced with the periodic table of elements, it was just logic! Raven of course, had found her own way to do it just as well and Apple wouldn't have imagined it any other way; she still wished Raven would have at least refrained from apologizing for interrupting her speech to get up on her soapbox, as it still wasn't becoming of a future Evil Queen. That, and remembered how to turn a poor Dexter back to normal after his experiment had accidentally turned him into a sheep and earned him a quick adoption by Lilly Bo Peep to escort him down to the healer's office.

After that experience, Dexter could give a full on account on the lives of Lilly's sheep and had strongly urged her to stop using the same brand of shampoo that his brother did; according to him, the smell made the sheep queasy after bath day, even if it did make their wool coats all the fluffier.

"I, Apple White, hereby call this meeting to order," she began proudly as she banged a small gavel down on the desk to draw attention to herself. "All here, please state your name for . . . the . . . record."

It was then the princess glanced up from the desk and noticed that the Study Hall was completely empty. No desks had been moved around by friends wanting to sit closer together, no chairs had been moved to allow more leg room, no books were being taken off the shelves to pass the time, it was all empty and quiet as the grave; this made Apple droop slightly. She had at least thought the Wonderlandians would be here to help her spread their culture and way of life to the rest of their classmates, but it seemed they had better things to do. Even Raven and Ben, the two closest people in her lives, had failed to show up and lend her a hand.

"Um . . . Darling Charming?" a small and frail voice spoke up from the front row. Apple studied her fair, tan skin and her wavy, platinum hair with blue streaks tied back into a small bump that cascaded back down as curls. Her eyes met the same, sparkling blue that she usually saw in Daring and Dexter and took note of the charming, if not shy smile the princess gave her. Her dress was a simple silver in color with a second layer of blue decorated with pink and navy swirls; a denim jacket covered her top and Apple raised an eyebrow at how the shoulder pads almost resembled the suits of armor that silently patrolled the hallways and always tightened their grip on their axes whenever Ben walked in range of them.

Apple was honestly trying to remember where she had seen this girl, if ever, and was honestly coming up empty on that. The closest lead she had was the last name and the Daughter of Snow White instantly pegged as the two Charming brother's youngest sibling; now that she was with Ben, she honestly didn't have a lot of good experiences with members of the Charming family and had quickly learned that a lot of what they did was for show. Hex, there was even a tradition among the family where they would each try their luck at wooing and charming the person most resistant to their charisma during any one of their grand balls and meetings, just for the sake of it!

Even so, Apple was willing to give the girl a chance. "Okay, only one person, but we'll make it work!" she tried to give a positive smile. "Thanks for coming, Darling. Is there some special interest you have in Wonderland?"

"Oh! Um . . . who isn't interested in Wonderland?" the young Charming princess seemed to shift awkwardly at that question and Apple raised an eyebrow. She didn't think she was that intimidating; sure she could get really irritated at times when people weren't listening to reason or were only making a situation worse by running around like cockatrice with their heads chopped off. Hex, she couldn't hold a grudge for more than a good thirty minutes!

"Especially what secrets it might hold . . ." Apple blinked in surprise at that slip of the princess' lip before Darling seemed to catch onto what she may or may not have said. "Not that I like secrets! Or have any! Or . . . uh . . ." she shifted uncomfortably. Apple merely gave a mild, suspicious gaze, wondering if the princess was one of the new students to arrive. Yes, that had to be it because this girl was acting far too stressed and nervous to be anything but at the bottom of the pecking order of Ever After High's food chain.

Despite, Apple was not about to turn down a lending hand. "Well, I'm happy to have your help. Now since it's just the two of us-" she started to put her quill pen away before the door to the Study Hall creaked open and Lizzie shuffled through. "Oh, Lizzie! Glad you could make it!"

The Princess of Hearts hardly seemed to hear her as she raised a hand to beg for a moment of silence from the Daughter of Snow White. Her head was hurting and her heart was suffering from a poison far worse than anything the jabberwocky's of her homeland could ever offer. "Apple, I'm so sorry, but . . . even talking about Wonderland is . . . difficult for me right now . . ." she sighed miserably. "You see, today is my mother's birthday."

"Oh, but that's wonderful!" Darling smiled cheerily.

Lizzie only sulked deeper at that. "Not really. She sent me this invitation." she said as she pulled a rolled up scroll from out of the folds of her dress to the two princesses.

Apple took the piece of parchment in hand and unrolled it to come face to face with official royal seal of the Queen of Hearts, a set of heart-decorated playing cards beneath a pair of flamingos whose hooked bills touched ever so slightly above the image of a curled up hedgehog. Beneath that were a pair of lips that seemed to have perhaps a tad too much makeup on and Apple nearly dropped the scroll right then and there when the lips began to move and speak.

With the Queen of Heart's voice nonetheless.

"Your presents are requested at the Queen's Birthday Bash," the lips spoke in a commanding voice sprinkled with shreds of madness and Wonderlandian kindness (not to be confused with the usual kind of kindness that everyone took for granted). "Yes, it has been far too long, and I cannot wait to bask in your presents. Yes, don't forget the presents."

Apple had to hold back a smile at that. "Your mom sure does like presents, huh?"

"PRESENTS!" the lips suddenly screamed, nearly sending Apple into dropping the paper.

The corners of Lizzie's mouth barely tugged the slightest. "I would so love to be there to help her spellebrate, but . . . with the entrance sealed . . . I can never go home." she whispered with a sniff, almost on the verge of tears as she tried to forget her wondrous Wonderland in the hopes of keeping it all together; it did no good though. She could still feel the warm rays of sun on her impossible-to-tan skin as she and her friends chased each other across the checkerboard fields and through the playing card groves. She could still hear the flocks of dodo birds that flew overhead and the thunderous roars and deep, ancient voices of the jabberwocky's that sunned themselves on the river banks. She even still remember the way the Mad Hatter's tea would always taste like hot soda in the Wonderland air, the flavor having dulled to something just a little lackluster now that they were stuck in Ever After.

Lizzie missed home.

Apple felt her heart clench upon seeing the Wonderlandian so miserable. Before her mother had arrived to take over as a teacher at Ever After High she had missed her parents dearly and would videochat with them on her Mirrorphone at least once a week to keep updated on everything happening back home; Lizzie on the other hand, couldn't even make a phone call to her dear mother, as if the Queen of Hearts was put under lock and key with absolutely no contact from the outside world allowed. "Sorry," Apple apologized sympathetically. "That must be so difficult-"

She was interrupted by a harsh cackling of amusement as the piece of parchment was yanked from grasp and fluttered up through the air as if on a breeze. Before Apple could try and get the invitation back a puff of noxious, black smoke exploded from the air and revealed none other than Faybelle Thorn in its place with the most mischievous and irritating grin on her face Apple had seen in a long time.

The dark fairy proceeded to rub her success in the princesses' face. "Hah! An invisibility spell! BOOYAH!" she crowed.

Darling and Apple glared suspiciously at Faybelle as she fluttered down on delicate wings only to mock them even further. "Sorry, but I had to pull the brakes on that sob story. We were only one pun away from waterworks, and I don't think the foundation is flood-proof!"

Lizzie snarled and snatched away her mother's invitation, trying to ignore the way Faybelle knew just how to get right under her skin in the most infuriating way. "So, little miss 'I Heart Wonderland' wants to go home and see her mommy?" Faybelle ridiculed the Princess of Hearts. "Sounds like you need the help of a dark fairy."

Apple watched with disdain as the Daughter of the Dark Fairy shoved the scroll back into Lizzie's hands before almost casually buzzing over to the front desk and roughly sending her books and papers tumbling into the wastebasket with a flick of her finger. "Yep, you need some pretty powerful magic to get to Wonderland, and clearly I'm the most powerful one-"

The fairy suddenly started hacking and coughing as she held her throat like she was in pain; while she suffered from no injury, she knew exactly what was going on. It was a sort of evolutionary leftover from the days her prehistoric ancestors had used their magical capabilities to track and stun larger prey before finally injecting it with a lethal venom from their fangs and young fairies that had just been birthed had to constantly be on the look out for much larger and powerful, but slower adults that had a nasty habit of cannibalizing any young fairies not of their own blood. Faybelle's species had long sense lost use of the sacks of venom that they had once used to hunt down prey, but they still have the sharp, pointed, piranha-like fangs that once used to inject the deadly poison into their food and a sort of early warning system that warned the young fairies of sources of powerful magic that was best to flee from.

The dark fairy's warning system was going haywire as her vision was encompassed by smoldering, purple tendrils of energy and gas that seemed to spring forth from thin air. Her senses were swamped and overwhelmed as a sudden weight was placed upon her and forced her down onto the desk as she gasped for breath; just as fulminant as it had come, it was gone with a dying roar that finally allowed Faybelle to regain her senses.

The first thing that she noticed was that someone was sitting on her.

"Finally! I got us to the Study Hall!" Raven cheered excitedly as she dared to crack her eyes open. It had been by no means easy to transport herself, her boyfriend, Madeline Hatter, Alistair Wonderland, Bunny Blanc, and Briar Beauty all at once to their desired location, and they had been everywhere and all over the school; one mishap had summoned them to the middle of the Beanstalk Bakery and another had released them almost a thousand feet in the air just above Ever After High's tallest and pointiest spire before Raven had managed to safely teleport them down to the ground (albeit in the school's fountain, but it was better than plummeting to ones death, even if Briar wanted to try it again with a parachute).

Apple grinned brightly. "You guys came!"

"Of course we did!" Ben rolled his eyes with a light scoff from the floor where it looked like he had just been thrown into the desk. "We just took a wrong turn at Albuquerque."

Maddie giggled as she hung upside down from the chandelier, her gravity-defying hat stuck firmly on her head despite her dress flopping down and giving them all a decent look at her polka-dotted leggings before she expertly swung herself down and landed on her feet. "We should have taken a turn at Here instead of going There and then got all turned around at This Way and That Way and Ever Which Way There Is." the Hatter explained in her nonsensical logical.

Raven shook her head at Maddie's sense of gumption. "Sorry, Apple." she apologized before she realized that the desk she was sitting on was rather lumpy and a little too warm to be made of wood; glancing down she realized that she and Bunny had the misfortune of landing right on top of Faybelle. "And I'm sorry I . . . smashed . . . you, Faybelle." the witch added. "I'm still getting the hang of this 'magic spell' business."

The dark fairy let out an annoyed grunt that turned into a wheezing gasp when the furry, white rabbit perched on top of her head gave a small hop and disappeared in a puff of glittering, purple smoke to be replaced by Bunny Blanc, who proceeded to land quite painfully on the fairy's back. "Don't worry. You'll get use to it."

"Get. Off. Me." Faybelle gave a predatory hiss. It was bad enough her roommate left carrot stems all over their dorm, but now this? Bunny was just lucky Faybelle was too concerned about her delicate wings to care much about striking the Daughter of the White Rabbit with white lightning.

Alistair grunted as he extricated himself from a bookshelf and jumped down to land behind Apple. "Has the meeting started yet?" he asked as Bunny quickly hopped off of Faybelle and uttered a quick apology.

"Of course it hasn't! You can't start a meeting until you've had tea!" Maddie laughed as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. The Hatter then proceeded to take off her hat and reach down up to the elbow and rummaging around for a few seconds before she finally came up with a teapot full of steaming, hot tea just waiting to poured; it was then that Maddie realized something. "Oh! But you can't have tea without scones! And you certainly can't eat a scone without jam! And I would never eat jam without butter! And you can't spread your butter without-"

Skurd was absolutely baffled to how the Hatter pulled out all of the aforementioned items and foods from the teapot, her shoe, her tiny, teacup-shaped top hat once again, and even her dress, respectively. "How the dickens does she do that?"

"It's best not to question it." Briar shrugged.

Lizzie hardly heard the Slimebiote mulled over the many possibilities to Maddie's deviltry and merely rested her head on the desk with her arms encircling to form a protective wall of sorts to shut out anyone and any noise that might try to get in; she had originally come to the Study Hall in the hopes of having some quiet time to herself so that she could mourn in peace, only to find that it was already occupied by Apple and Darling. Her princess training and common sense both told her that it was not only rude to leave a gathering unannounced, even if it was unexpected, but that if she suddenly left without explanation only after opening the door it would definitely raise some questions.

The Princess of Hearts only shifted when she felt someone carefully tap her on the shoulder, as if they were cautious yet respective of her. When the tap came again Lizzie rolled her head up to see Ben crouched down to be eye level with her, a look of concern and understanding on his face. "You need a shoulder to cry on?" he asked kindly.

Lizzie allowed a slight curl of her lips as she sat up and relaxed back in the comfy, velvet-seated desk before her fingers found their way into the folds of her dress and pulled out a stack of playing cards that she absentmindedly began to shuffle to keep her hands busy. "I suppose," Lizzie sighed. "It's just . . . Wonderland is the only home I've ever known . . . I miss it dearly. It's not that I don't like Ever After, it's just . . . I . . ."

Ben placed a hand on Lizzie's ruby gloves, ceasing the constant flipping noise the cards made as they were twisted and stacked and shuffled in an array of tricks that the princess had probably memorized from her younger years. "You miss your family, don't you?" he guessed.

Lizzie nodded, noticing just how small her petite fingers were compared to Ben's calloused digits. She missed her mother dearly and she had realized a long time ago that while her friends all missed Wonderland in their own right, she was the only with family still there; Maddie still had her father to look after her and check up on them every now again as a service to his majesty, and even Kitty was able to keep in contact with her mother on a rare basis. Bunny and Alistair had at least managed to say their good-byes to their parents before they had managed to find a way into Ever After, but Lizzie was left with no one to care for her. "For all I know, the curse has ended Wonderland as we know it."

Ben frowned at that thought. "Tell me more about this curse. Exactly what does it have to do with the Evil Queen? And why does Not-so-slim Grimm want us to keep away from it?"

The future ruler of Wonderland was silent for what seemed the longest time and Ben feared her had dwelled on subject that best remain untouched. It wasn't until he felt her fingers thread themselves through his and her grip tighten did Lizzie give a weary sigh and sit back in the chair to speak. "The Evil Queen . . . she wanted to bring all the realms under her evil rule; she first completed her task as the villain for Snow White's story before proceeding to take over Sleeping Beauty's own tale and send her into a century long slumber and . . . travel to Wonderland. She cast a dark spell of chaotic magic upon my homelands . . . 'From good to bad and bad to worse, on Wonderland I cast this curse' . . ."

Ben held back a squeak of surprise when he felt Lizzie's grip tighten to the point where she was starting to cut off the circulation. Her throat was dry as she fought back tears of fear and regret for not trying to save her mother from what had soon followed; the memories haunted her nightmares almost weekly and it often surprised her without how much strength she had to get through the day without suddenly collapsing from grief. "With the curse cast and Wonderland descending into chaos, only I and a few of my subjects were able to escape to Ever After, leaving all that we loved and held dear for this place . . . that was the last I heard from my mother." she whispered.

Ben pressed his lips in thought. "Lizzie, if you want-"

The princess cut him off with a wave of her hand. "No, Ben. It . . . i-it feels good to tell someone all this after so long . . . Maddie, Kitty, Alistair, and Bunny already know the full story."

Ben could do nothing but nod and wiggle his hand around in Lizzie's surprisingly strong grip until he had managed to ease the pressure on his fingers. He could tell the way he was slowly rubbing his thumb in slow, soothing circles was helping Lizzie to stay emotionally anchored as she continued the treacherous tale. "Upon hearing of the Fall of Wonderland, the Brothers Grimm and Madame Yaga took action against the Evil Queen . . . 'We cast this spell out to protect, while upon your deeds you shall reflect . . . you've failed this world to overwhelm, and are cast into the Mirror Realm' . . . ever since her imprisonment, the Evil Queen has been doomed to walk the space between the real world and our reflections . . . forevermore."

"My, how . . . dramatic." Skurd remarked in awe.

Ben resisted the urge to flick the Slimebiote and gave Lizzie's hand a gentle, comforting squeeze. "So . . . she's trapped behind a mirror?"

"All mirrors." Lizzie nodded grimly, her eyes flickering with aggression towards the back of the room where a full-length mirror had been installed in the bookshelf. The Wonderlandian narrowed her eyes as if she could almost imagine the Evil Queen, the vile woman who had turned her life and world upside down for her own nefarious purposes without care for the consequences, materializing behind the glass and mocking her; Lizzie wanted nothing more than to nail the horrible hag between the eyes with a razor edged playing card.

At the very least, she could smash the mirror to make herself feel better.

"-off with her head!"

All eyes snapped to attention as they focused on Maddie. The Hatter was tightly cuddling her pet dormouse, Earl Grey, to her chest as she starred almost blankly ahead with what had to be the most fearful face that Lizzie had seen on her friend in a long time. The last she had ever seen that expression, that was devoid of the usual naivety and endless wonder for the world around and instead replaced by one of unyielding fear and terror, had been the day that Wonderland had fallen and the world as they knew it, the world as they had loved it, had ended.

"Maddie, what are you talking about? That's Lizzie's line." Briar raised an eyebrow of confusion.

The Hatter snapped her head to look at the narcoleptic princess and Briar immediately tensed under the frightened look. Wonderlandians as she knew them, were supposed to cheerful and whimsical and generally just mad and happy all at once; very rarely did they ever get angry (the Queen of Hearts didn't count), and if such occasion ever occurred it was certainly a force to be reckoned with. Even more rare were moments where they stupefied into absolute trepidation beyond all reason and if they were scared of something, one could only assume that they should be fearful as well.

"The salamander can grow a limb but the cabbage can't lose its head! Playing cards without kings and queens don't make a full deck! The bandersnatches without an alpha fall into disarray! YOU CAN'T GO FISHING WITHOUT BAIT!" Maddie practically screamed at the top of her lungs, madly running all over the place with her arms flailing and threatening to smack someone with the force of a thousand fists until Alistair got up and hugged the Hatter from behind. He had to admit that it was quite hard to hang onto a squirming Maddie, even with her arms pinned to her side, and he very nearly let her go when her heels painfully bounced against his legs and shins in her sudden panic attack, but he managed to hang on.

"What the hex is wrong with her!?" Faybelle yelled.

"I don't know!" Ben yelled over Maddie's senseless babbling. "I don't speak Riddlish!"

"How do we get to her stop!?" Darling panicked.

Lizzie pressed her lips in frustration as she analyzed the situation. The craziest Maddie had ever gotten was that one time she had accidentally eaten too much sugar-related sweets and pastries of Ginger Breadhouse's own cooking and gone on the loudest sugar rush Ever After High had ever seen; it took Headmaster Grimm, Professor Badwolf, King Charming, and Madame Yaga an hour to catch her and even then she had managed to elude their grasp for an extra half hour before she abruptly crashed and promptly fell asleep on the floor. Daring had carried the exhausted Hatter back to her room with Kitty to open the door and tuck her roommate in bed and the party had resumed at near normalcy after a majority of the sweets had been confiscated just in case.

That whole mess would have ended a lot sooner had someone stepped up as leader and not let everyone run around in a near mindless pandemonium, and that was exactly what this current mess needed. With a sigh and her hand still clutching Ben's in a tight grip, Lizzie rose out of her seat and dragged him with her up to the panicking Hatter before she raised her hand and promptly slapped her across the face.

A heavy silence filled the room as Lizzie glared at Maddie, expecting an answer to her sudden irrational answer. "Maddie, what is the meaning of this? I hexpect a calm and collective answer, please." she added when the Hatter sucked in a deep breath; the last thing they needed was more insanity.

Alistair increased his grip on Maddie just a little tighter as she nodded and proceeded to take a few calming breaths before answering. "A dragon without its wings is like a kingdom without its king." she replied.

Ben could swear his hand was turning a deep shade of purple with tightly Lizzie was squeezing his fingers to the point he thought he could hear his bones breaking. The future ruler of Wonderland's face was absolutely drained of blood and was several shades paler than it normally was a result; if Ben could compare it something, he would have to say she was terrified beyond all reason before meeting a swift death that kept her horrific features in place long since rigor mortis had passed.

"Lizzie? Lizzie!" Apple bit her lip, waving a hand in front of the Wonderlandian's face to try and get a response. "Lizzie, what did Maddie say?"

The Daughter of the Queen of Hearts swallowed nervously before speaking, her entire body trembling as she managed to spit out the words. "M-my mother . . . at her birthday party there is a plot to overthrow her . . . a-and kill her . . ."

As soon as those words had left her lips Lizzie all but collapsed to the floor on weak legs. She could hear the distorted voices of her friends as her head spun from such dire and revealing information that she could just barely comprehend. Why was there a plot to dethrone her mother? Hadn't the Hearts family been kind and just rulers over Wonderland? Had they not proven that they were a powerful family? Had they not proven time and time again that they were willing to give their lives for their homeland and its citizens? Apparently not enough if there was a plan to oust her mother from her royal position, and that only made Lizzie's head hurt even worse as she tried to even comprehend who would even think of such a thing.

Her grip was shaky and her breathing shallow and nervous as she tried to tell herself that everything was alright. Lizzie was at least thankful that Ben had helped ease her down to the floor and let her seat herself upon his lap and lean into his frame to help put her mind at ease. The firm grip he kept on her hand and the hushed, calming words that she hardly heard whispered in her ear were soothing just enough that she was able to think more clearly; her heart was still beating fast and rapid and her mind was still racing at a hundred miles per hour, but her thoughts were more clear and organized.

"Lizzie? What do we do?" Ben asked her in a calm voice that helped ease her pumping pulse.

The Princess of Hearts blinked as she was swiftly brought back to reality with an almost painful snap with how silent everything was. She glanced up in slight confusion when she noticed that everyone was looking at her expectedly for an answer, even Maddie now that Alistair deemed her calm enough to be released. "If . . . If my mother is in danger, then. . ."

"We'll find a way to help her." Alistair nodded firmly.

Bunny decided now was probably the best time to address the elephant in the room. "But how? If we can't even get back to Wonderland?" she wondered.

"There's gotta be some way! A weak spot or . . . a secret we don't know about?" Raven suggested desperately. She was grasping at straws here, but this was a situation of dire consequences with the fate of Wonderland as the prize. This wasn't something they could simply take to the Headmaster or even the Grand Council, as everyone would believe them to be absolutely nuts if they came to them with stories about voices telling them of a plot to dethrone the ruler of Wonderland; even if the evidence, such as the Wonderlandians talking to the air too much or knowing things they shouldn't, was compelling enough to make a convincing argument.

"Maybe we should look at what's been written about Wonderland before?" Darling suggested a little bolder than she had initially appeared to Apple. "I mean, we're surrounded by old research, aren't we?"

Raven nodded as she turned around and picked off a promising book from the shelf behind her. "Everybody, grab a book. Look for whatever you can find out about Wonderland or, I dunno, how to get back or anything!" she instructed.

"Typical." Faybelle grumbled grouchily at being ignored so easily. Nonetheless she opened a book casually misplaced on the teacher's desk in a minimalist effort to look busy. The fairy tales quickly split up to cover as much of the towering library the Study Hall had to offer, peering into books and snapping them shut before reshelfing them and repeating the process all over again. Alistair pulled off a book easily the size of his hand that was crammed at the back of the shelf and squinted as hard as possible in an attempt to read the almost microscopic print while Bunny just barely managed to pull out a book that was almost her size and allowed her to sit comfortably on the page when she got it to finally open. Maddie was more than happy to simply attack the shelves themselves, yanking off books that looked promising and tossing them almost carelessly over her shoulder where they landed safely in stacks on the desks with surprising accuracy; Darling was more organized in her search and simply dropped down any books that had potential to them into Apple's waiting arms.

The princess was just about ready to collapse under the sheer amount of books that Darling had managed to stack in her arms, the tower at east twice as tall as her.

"Ergh! This is going too slow!" Ben sighed tiredly when he saw how many books they had managed to pull out compared to the amount they had actually had the chance to look into.

It was then that an idea struck him.

"You have an idea, don't you?" Skurd leered suspiciously.

"Don't I always?" Ben teased.

"Yes, but they're not all very good ones, if you catch my drift, m'lad."

Ben ignored the Slimebiote and tapped the Omnitrix on his wrist and cycled through the roster to select XLR8 before slamming a hand down on the activation button; a blast of bright green energy washed over him as his genetic code was morphed and changed. Ben's fingers hardened and snapped into three sharpened blades that acted as digits while his spine arched and bent, forcing a long, whip-like tail out from the base of his spine. Black and blue stripes themselves over the cracking appendage as tight tissues and muscles wove and threaded themselves across his arms and chest, packing particularly tightly in his thighs and legs. Powerful tendons and ligaments connected joints together while his bones shifted and his ankles were forced back into a new joint; his feet tore through his shoes as his toes melted together into a pair of curved toes. The ball of his heel shifted dramatically and ground itself forward, eventually separating from the entire foot itself to form a bony, black sphere for Ben's toes to hug and rest on. Aerodynamic bone spikes thrust themselves out of his elbows as his head was pulled back into a pointed crest while his jaw crunched loudly and his teeth took on a more pointed appearance. The final piece of the transformation was the addition of a black and green jumpsuit, a helmet with a slide-down visor, and the Omnitrix and Skurd placed upon his chest.

The Kineceleran grinned as he clicked his claws experimentally. "Now this is what I call speed reading." he quipped. Raven and Apple had enough sense to grab onto their crowns and hold down their skirts when XLR8 took on a pitcher's stance and suddenly sped off in a black and blue blur of speed and energy, zipping back and forth between stacks of books and rapidly flipping through the pages at such high speed that Faybelle was pretty sure she was getting a headache just by watching him.

"Exactly-" Bunny asked when XLR8 dashed past her nearly threatened to yank away her father's stopwatch from her belt. "-how fast is he going?" she wondered when the Kineceleran came to a screeching stop right in front of her.

"Fast enough to break every single speed limit Ever After has, toots." XLR8 grinned, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively at her before blasting off in another rush of speed; at such a high speed, when even time itself seemed to slow down and even come to a stop at the highest velocities, he could easily see the jealous look on Alistair's face and the way Bunny was blushing furiously.

Perhaps if he pushed just a little more it would get Alistair to finally admit his feelings to the Daughter of the White Rabbit. Or he would receive a punch to the face. Either one was a better option than watching the two clearly have an interest in each other but never openly admit it.

XLR8 instead opted to steal a few promising books from the teetering tower in Apple's hands, grabbing the whole stack and setting it down on the teacher's desk before it could fall, and come back to a stop next to Lizzie on the floor. The princess seemed to be a bit more focused before, but she was barely making any progress with how often she would go back to shuffling her deck of playing cards while starring blankly at the book in front of her.

The future ruler of Wonderland only moved when the Kineceleran curiously peered over her shoulder at the book in front of her, placing a gloved hand on his odd looking feet and tapping one of her fingers on the bony balls beneath his toes. The visor to XLR8's helmet slid upward as he looked at her curiously, unable to read the expression on her face from his angle; it didn't take a genius to figure out what she wanted though. Without a word he shifted his feet and legs into a more comfortable position before squatting down and finally taking a seat on the floor behind Lizzie. The Princess of Hearts let out a long, drawn out breath as she sat back into the Kineceleran's frame and allowed her tense muscles to relax while put her cards away and picked up the book before her.

Raven instinctively perked up at hearing Maddie giggle, as that usually meant the she was in some kind of mischief that the witchling was going to have drag her friend out of. Thankfully though, the Hatter was merely giggling and jumping up and down while clapping her hands for joy when she caught sight of Lizzie and XLR8 curled up on the floor together; the Kineceleran's tail was slightly curled around the princess's feet as she sat back against his chest and casually looked through a book before clapping it shut and picking up a new one. Raven had to smile at how her boyfriend once again managed to work his passive charms and calm the high strung princess and the witchling had no doubt that if it were her father, her family, her kingdom, or all three on the line that he would be there for her as well.

Raven quickly glanced over at how happy Maddie seemed to be and mentally began to clock how long it would take for Lizzie to the join the harem: she guessed at the least, three days. The most would be a week, but she wouldn't be surprised if it was sooner than either option. With the way Maddie was bouncing up and down like a rubber ball, it would inevitably be sooner.

With that in mind, Raven turned back to the book she had been currently looking through and raised an eyebrow at something she had found buried in the text. "Well, here's an interesting thing fact." she announced loudly for everyone to hear. "Maddie, is it true that school in Wonderland is only held one day a year?"

Maddie bobbed her head brightly. "Yeah! But we have to cram a lotta, lotta, lotta study into that one day!" the Hatter explained, swinging her finger up in a spiraling fashion for emphasis.

"It was a great place to live." Alistair sighed fondly.

"And your mom really is a good queen, Lizzie." Bunny added from her spot on the floor next to Alistair and her future ruler. "I think the curse just stressed her out."

"Thanks, Bunny." Lizzie sighed. "It must be so hard for her, all alone with a whole queendom to take care of." she sulked slightly. A faint smile crossed her lips when she felt XLR8's claws give her a gentle pat of comfort to her shoulder.

Raven sighed regrettably as she laid a stack of books on a desk and sat down in one of the seats. "I'm sorry, Lizzie. Despite what I said in the Castleteria . . . this really is my mom's fault." she frowned. Her thoughts were still lingering back to the little spectacle she had put on in a nearly futile effort to defend her family name. The Queen family had once been a highly respected family line of powerful witches and warlocks and wizards whose bloodline stretched back generations all the way back to the very beginning of recorded history; in fact, they had once been one of the first fairy tale families to urge the creation of and the tradition of signing the Storybook of Legends in order to preserve their world from what Apple had claimed to be an all powerful dragon of unspeakable power,

Raven hadn't delved that far back into her family's history to confirm that, but she knew being a member of the Queen clan had once been a highly respected honor; even honorary members who did the proud family of magic users enormous favors or were married in were treated with high respect both from their in-laws and other residents of Ever After. Sure, there had been a few bad eggs that sometimes took their roles as villainous masterminds a bit too far, but not every family was perfect and the general public had come to accept that.

And then came Raven's mother, the latest official Evil Queen.

Raven remembered very little of her own mother, her memories reduced to mere wisps of images and sound that she could only faintly remember. Her own father, the Good King, had actually remembered her quite fondly and spoke of times during the evening when their daughter had been put to bed that the two of them would simply relax in the living room in front of the crackling fireplace and enjoy each others company. But that had sudden changed very quickly and suddenly; no one had seen it coming, not even her own father.

Now to be a member of the Queen clan was something to ashamed of and greatly feared and despised for. The White Kingdom had severed most of their trade routes with the Queen's lands, only keeping the vital resources that they required while looking elsewhere for the other goods; the territories that belonged to Sleeping Beauty had closed off their borders to anyone traveling from the land of the dreaded witches and regular threats and warnings were passed between the two kingdoms almost monthly; Wonderland had suffered a heavy blow and Raven was surprised the Queen of Hearts hadn't outright declared war on her family's estate; but worst of all was the Thorn clan.

According to her father a week hardly went by when the Dark Fairy didn't send him packages or letters that insulted him and his family to the highest degree, as if she wanted to declare war with his lands just to prove that she was fully capable of wiping him out with a mere flick of her finger. The Dark Fairy was a highly respected and very powerful magic user that was known to hold grudges for centuries on end; even if Faybelle was the latest fairy to be born after nearly nine decades without an heir, the Dark Fairy took the insult the Evil Queen had thrown at her by casting the sleeping spell on Sleeping Beauty very seriously.

It was a wonder there hadn't been any attempts made on Raven's life.

"I almost wish she were around. I could at least try and reason with her." Raven attempted to sound convincing. "She'd be powerful enough to open the worlds again."

The young witch tried to not look depressed when her friends and boyfriend gave her a look that she knew all too well, a look that said it was a nice idea but the odds of it ever succeeding were slim to none. Raven had seen that look all too much on her own father's face whenever he would tuck her into bed as a little witchling and she would want to know what her mommy was like and if she ever loved her; she had always been assured that she did and that she missed her very much, but by the time she had entered Spellementary school and had begun to suffer from the constant screaming and fleeing in terror at the mere sight of her, Raven had started to believe otherwise.

If her mother truly loved her she wouldn't have put her darling daughter in this horrible mess where she couldn't even take a step into a crowded classroom without her classmates nearly jumping out the windows and hurting themselves.

A heavy thump! drew Raven's attention toward the back of the Study Hall where a thick manuscript had fallen from a shelf next to the full-length mirror positioned towards the back of the room; she wasn't entirely sure of the mirror's intentional purpose, but the book seemed to beckon to her. The young witch bent down and opened the book to the pages it had fallen open on and was greeted by haphazardly sketched images of spiraling checkerboard illusions and imposing cards with wiry arms and legs and pointed spears for weapons. A carefully detailed drawing of the White Rabbit beckoned her to the bottom of the page next to scribbles and markings that didn't look like anything but nonsense to Raven but could have very well been some kind of lost Wonderland language. What caught her attention the most however, was a picture towards the top right of the second page.

It was a black and white ink drawing of a statuesque woman who sat tall and imposing in a throne of some sorts whose room Raven could not see; no symbols or family crests could be seen otherwise, but she didn't need them to recognize who the woman was. She had seen the scandalous news articles posted about her on the Mirrornet, those same high cheek bones, ivory pale skin, pointed features, and unbearably dark aura were more than enough of a bell ringer to her. The head of raven black hair swept back into a crown-shaped updo and those cold, abyssal black eyes that seemed to stare right into you and figure out exactly what you feared the most were icy and calculating ad Raven knew she would recognize them anywhere.

"What is it?" XLR8 piped up from behind her before the blast of bright green energy and light swept over him and signaled to Raven that Ben had returned to the world. She hardly noticed though with how hard she was focusing on the picture before.

"My mother . . ." Raven swallowed nervously, her grip turning white knuckled.

Maddie was instantly by her side as everyone else crammed around her in an effort to take a look at the book for themselves. "But this book is about Wonderland. Why would it have a picture of the Evil Queen?' she wondered with great concern.

Apple immediately took action. "Good question. Here, set it down." she instructed, directing to a desk. "I'll try my new hexamination app." the princess said as she pulled her Mirrorpad out from her stack of belongings and supplies.

"And you just happened to have that?" Ben raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, yes I did. A princess is always prepared." Apple smiled proudly.

"She's your spouse, dear boy." Skurd gave Ben a look that he couldn't quite identify.

Apple ignored the Slimebiote as she tapped her Mirrorpad and opened the app, scrolling down through the selections until she found the voice activated option she was looking for. "Scan photo." she instructed the device, watching proudly as the program did as it was told and locked in on the picture of the Evil Queen.

"She's got a book in her hand." Briar observed.

"Can we see what's in it?" Alistair pressed as he planted his hands on the desk beside Apple, his detective skills now going into overdrive.

The Daughter of Snow White nodded and turned her attention back to the Mirrorpad. "Move up and to the right . . ." she instructed it.

"Look! In the mirror!" Raven pointed from over her shoulder.

"Zoom in on mirror." Apple annunciated clearly for the program to hear.

"There's writing there!" Bunny noticed.

"Can anyone read it?" Alistair asked as he peered at the fuzzy image; all eyes instinctively turned to Ben for a solution to the impossible and were greeted when he gave them a shrug of his shoulders and turned back to looking over Apple's shoulder.

"I got this." Apple assured them as she swiped her finger across the blurred screen. "Reverse image. Enhance one-hundred percent." she instructed, watching with satisfaction when the obscured picture became crystal clear once more.

The princess yelped when the Mirrorpad was suddenly yanked out of her grasp by Ben just as she was narrowing her eyes to try and read it. "It's the Wonderland Curse," he blinked in amazement. "'From good to bad and bad to worse, on Wonderland I cast this curse' . . . it's all there!" he realized loudly before he caught sight of how everyone flinched and looked like they were ready to bolt for the door. "Oh, c'mon! It's not like I can perform magic!"

Raven gave him an apologetic smile. "Sorry. Words tend to have power, especially if they're in a spellbook."

"Yes, that would be the obvious yet again." Skurd narrowed his beady, little eyes at Ben for almost blowing them up.

"Ooooh! If we know the curse, you can reverse it!" Maddie exclaimed excitedly as she stole the Mirrorpad out of her boyfriend's grasp and shoved it eagerly into Raven's hands.

Apple seemed to catch on to what Maddie was saying. The curse will be broken, and Headmaster Grimm will remove the seal between our world and Wonderland!"

"Is it really that simple?" Lizzie seemed skeptical, yet hopeful.

"Only one way to find out." Alistair pressed his lips before turning to Raven. "Can you reverse the spell?"

The young witch seemed very uncomfortable with all this information and all the sudden pressure placed upon her. She didn't like how all eyes were suddenly on her with her expressions of hope and pleading; she supposed she should have been use to it by now considering how she and Apple always seemed to be the ones to solve every problem that managed to find its way into Ever After High and their classmates would always turn to them first for answers instead of actual professionals and teachers, which always confused Raven to no end. Ben as well had managed to earn a spot right between his girlfriends, though with how often trouble seemed to center around him specifically and now seemed to leave Apple and Raven well enough alone, she was glad for the welcome change. "I don't know guys. I'm still getting the hang of my magical powers."

"But you transported to this meeting, right?" Apple reminded her.

Raven gulped and rubbed her arm awkwardly. "Um . . . kinda?" she gave a very uncomfortable look. She had indeed managed to transport herself, her boyfriend, and four of her classmates to the Study Hall within a reasonable time, but she also nearly killed them all by dropping them from the top of Ever After High, embarrassed them by appearing right in the middle of the girl's locker room and narrowly escaping by the skin of their necks, and aggravating her classmates to no end (Raven was pretty sure Daring was still upset that she somehow got his brother to spill chocolate pudding all over him). "Magic's not that easy."

As if to somehow prove her point wrong, the air right next to Raven shimmered and wavered ever so slightly before an ever familiar set of pearly whites materialized out of thin air. The well-known face of Kitty soon followed after by her slim shoulders and lithe arms placed upon her rounded hips and long legs. "Hey, guys. Sorry I'm late." she smiled with her usual, teasing smirk.

"Except for some people." Raven chuckled sheepishly at the almost uncanny timing. "If I try reversing a spell like this, who knows what could happen?"

"Even I don't go messing around with magic." Ben added for emphasis. "Aliens are more my thing."

"So is smashing property and causing collateral damage, my boy." Skurd quipped, earning an irritated flick upside the head by Ben in retaliation. "Besides, what's the worst that could happen?"

"We could get turned into a two-tailed squirrel, or something."

"Oh, brother!" Faybelle scoffed as she rudely shoved Raven aside where she stumbled into Ben's arms. "Step aside, Wannabevil! I got this from here. You've just gotta do it backwards!"

Skurd didn't deem this to be a very sound idea. "Oh, dear." he sighed warily.

Faybelle didn't seem to notice the Slimebiote's suspicion as she eagerly stole the Mirrorpad from Apple's hands and took a step back to give herself some room; likewise, everyone else took a step backwards as well. "Ready? Okay!" Faybelle exclaimed before she began to recite the spell. "Curse this cast I Wonderland on . . ?" the dark fairy stalled just long enough in her cheerhexing-like speech for her to suddenly be swallowed in a puff of magic dust and smoke.

Lizzie couldn't resist from giving an amused smile when she saw that Faybelle had been turned into a flying sheep completely with her own set of fluffy wings. "W-W-W-What!?" she bleated in distress upon seeing her new form. "This is all your fault! I am so outta here!" she jabbed an accusing hoof at Raven before buzzing away to the healer's office.

"That's actually the second time I've seen that happen today." Briar shrugged casually.

Kitty purred. "Never gets old, does it?"

Darling hummed in thought as she tapped her chin. "The Evil Queen's curse must have it's own protective magic, a counter spell of some kind to prevent anyone not of the Queen's family from reversing it properly."

"And since Raven is destined to be the Evil Queen-" Apple realized.

Raven frowned. "Apple . . ." she gave a warning tone. She had long since hoped that roommate was willing to drop the subject of following in her mother's footsteps, and she was appreciative of how the princess was kind enough to dial the constant reminders back a good deal. Unfortunately, this meant that whenever the subject of destiny was brought up, Apple was relatively persistent in lecturing Raven about how it was their responsibility to protect their world and prevent its end, even if that meant committing a diabolical deed in the act.

Raven would then counter this by explaining very carefully to Apple what would happen if she so much as approached her with a rotten lemon once their tale had begun, and in great detail as well for extra emphasis and that would usually get the princess to clam up about the subject long enough for Raven to relax and forget about it until the subject reared its ugly head once more. It would have been far easier had they not been roommates, but that was something Headmaster Grimm was not willing to budge on, even if Apple had taken Raven's side in the matter.

"Well, you're sure creative enough to figure it out." Briar placed her hands on Apple's shoulder and pulled her back from Raven as the witchling unconsciously pressed herself a little deeper into Ben's frame for comfort; she sighed when Ben slipped his arm around her shoulder. If there was at least one deterrent to Apple's persistence, it was always the presence of their boyfriend and the young witch was once again thankful that he managed to work his passive charms again.

Raven rubbed her temples to calm herself before looking at Apple with an expression said that what she had to say was just as important as the matter at hand. "Here's the thing. Spells, charms, curses, and magic in general are as much of a science as an art. I come from a long line of very powerful magic users, and if even one thing goes wrong, I could do anything from turn us all blue for a week to outright killing us in a bolt of lightning or something."

"I don't know about any of you, but I would like toe live." Skurd huffed.

"It'll work for you, Raven!" Lizzie pleaded with tightly clasped hands. "I know it will!"

The Daughter of the Evil Queen mulled over the subject in her head, unconsciously curling her fingers in thought as she did so. Her magic had always been uncontrollable and chaotic, even when it wasn't her father trying to teach her before they invested in a private tutor. She had always struggled with casting spells when she was a but a young witchling and it hadn't been uncommon to hear nearly half a dozen explosions erupt from anywhere in her father's castle almost daily, and her magic only ever seemed to work when she was using it for something only vaguely villainous, such as swatting at pesky mosquitoes and flies that managed to find their way in her room.

That was more than enough to convince her tutor that she was incapable of doing anything remotely good, thus explaining her sudden and abrupt leave of the King estate.

Her magic had always been unpredictability and Raven deeply cared for all of her friends, even if Apple could tend to get on her nerves every now and again. She didn't want to put any of them in danger through something that she couldn't control and she was even worried that Ben, perhaps the most indestructible and resilient person she knew, might be absolutely helpless with the dark power that coursed through her veins like a virus.

Raven cast a glance up and was both overwhelmed and unsurprised at the same when she still saw the hopeful and eager looks on her friend's faces. Darling through her a thumbs up, Bunny and Alistair nodded with approval, Apple only beamed brightly at her, Briar shrugged her shoulders, and Maddie . . . well, Maddie looked like she had just received the best unbirthday present in all of Ever After with the way she was bouncing like a rubber ball and clapping her hands with excitement. Raven then unwittingly met the begging expression that Lizzie was giving her; the fact that the witchling knew how hard it was for Lizzie to actually ask this hard for something did not help matters.

The young witch finally turned to look up at Ben, sighing with defeat when she saw the look on his face that said it was up to her, but he was willing to take the chance to help the greater good. "Okay," she surrendered. "Here we goes nothing."

Apple eagerly handed her roommate her Mirrorpad and took a slight step back as everyone else crowded around her, awaiting excitedly as Raven began to recite the spell backwards. "Curse this cast I Wonderland on, worse to bad and bad to good," she read off, oblivious to the ominous tendrils of her dark magic curling around them in a cold, meticulous manner like the tentacles of some deep sea beast waiting to drag them down into its abyssal layer. "From cruel most fate a be shall yours so rule my defy dared have you!"

Ben felt a chill shiver down his spine upon seeing how Raven's features almost instinctively tightened as she cast the spell, her voice seeming to echo in an endless void while her eyes glowed a chilling, crimson red in color. The fact that a gust of wind had suddenly started to pick up inside of the Study Hall was also quite chilling as the swift breeze swept papers and books around them in a swirling vortex. He could sense the unease quickly spreading through the group when Lizzie dug her nails into his arm and he had to admit that he was put off by the sudden change in atmosphere; the room seemed darker and more sinister in nature, ribbons of smoldering hot energy whipped and snaked through the air among malicious tentacles of magical residue, and a multitude of books and papers and even a chessboard and its pieces were at the mercy of the maelstrom.

"Wait, no! That's not right!" Raven panicked.

"Raven . . ?" Apple gulped nervously.

"What's happening?" Kitty wondered.

Raven continued to reprimanded herself. "You don't just reverse this curse just by saying it backwards! This is something different!"

"What exactly does that mean!?" Ben asked fearfully over the roar of the wind as he tapped the Omnitrix upon his wrist and cycled through his transformations, hoping there was an alien of some kind that could either help dispel the sudden storm or at least help them all survive the impending doom; aliens like Ditto and Walkatrout were quickly bypassed and Ben was just about ready to even select Alien X despite the possible risks it posed.

"I don't know!" Raven panicked. "Brace yourselves!"

Alistair instinctively wrapped his arms around Bunny and pulled her close to him, hugging her tightly as she embraced as closely as possible. Ben gave a grunt as Raven, Apple, Maddie, Kitty, and even Lizzie instinctively clamped tightly onto some part of him as Darling and Briar settled for awkwardly hanging onto each other in hopes of at least having someone to be around if anything bad happened to them. Whatever was happening, Alistair couldn't see or make sense of as he squeezed his eyes shut while Bunny buried her head into his chest, the loud and furious roar of the storm of chaotic magic filling all of their senses. He couldn't see anything, he couldn't hear anything, hex, he couldn't even smell or taste anything if that mattered in some capacity.

By the time the chaotic hurricane of energy and magic had finally come to a stop, Alistair wasn't quite sure where he was or what he was or anything really. All he knew was that Bunny was still thankfully within his grasp; he could feel her pounding heart as she dared to crack open an eye and release a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. The Daughter of the White Rabbit suddenly coughed at the large amount of dust that had been blown free from the ancient bookshelves.

"Are you alright?" Alistair asked her, somewhat relieved that they were still in one piece and still the in the Study Hall.

Bunny nodded, too worried to even care much about being this close to her crush. "Yes, but . . . what about everyone else?" she gulped nervously. Alistair looked up in curiosity at what she was talking about and realized with a sudden chill that they were alone in the Study Hall surrounded by discarded papers and books and artifacts that had been dislodged from the shelves during the harrowing storm.

Everyone else was gone.


Raven was feeling a lot of things right now, and none of them particularly pleasant. She couldn't decide on whether she should be scared, mad, confused, enlightened, baffled, frightened, or even hungry if that somehow made sense. The young witch then decided she would go with disoriented and dizzy as she tried to make sense of the fiery hot ribbons of energy as they swirled angrily around her among a cyclone of papers and debris that didn't seem to have any origin or the way her voice echoed and distorted in an expansive void of bright, checkerboard patterns that didn't seem to have any start or end. "Where are we!? What's happening!?" she yelled in confusion.

"I dunno, but I think I'm gonna hurl!" Ben exclaimed as he flew past the witchling. Raven instinctively watched as her boyfriend was pulled down by some sort of invisible force before she soon followed like water being poured down a drain; Raven however was more focused on screaming at the top of her lungs as she plummeted an unknown amount of feet down with only Maddie's excited giggles and Briar's yells of terror to keep her company.

Random objects began to appear, tumbling endlessly end over end in the expansive void that seemed to have no end or beginning; a dining table with lit candles that rolled over her head, a full tea set whose cups and saucers were scattered about that zipped and flew past and under her arms, and an unusually large amount of clocks and stopwatches were but among a few of the items that Raven could make sense of.

Maddie didn't seem to be concerned in the slightest as she casually snatched one of the teacups out of the void and took a sample sip before tossing it over her shoulder. "If I didn't know any better, and I don't know better, I'd say this is a rabbit hole!" she giggled.

"A rabbit hole!?" Apple yelped.

"Sure! How else do you think Alice got to Wonderland?" Kitty purred before giving a startled meow as she plunged downward.

Lizzie screwed up her face in determination as she hastily planted her feet down on the back of a large stopwatch and quickly dashed forward as fast possible before leaping off in an effort to keep up with her friends. "I wonder where it leads to?" she said aloud.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Briar screamed.

Ben swiftly dodged a frying pan that barely missed his head. "Alright, Omnitrix, give me anything that can fly!" he pleaded as he tapped the device and selected Astrodactyl before slamming his hand down on the activation button. His bones groaned and cracked loudly as they grew larger and thicker, hundreds upon thousands of small support beams forming inside of his bones to strengthen them as his arms swelled and bloated in size. His skeleton crunched loud as it grew bigger and bigger, increasing Ben's frame until he was more than twice his original size. Thick nails covered the tips of his tremendous fingers as his toes shrank back into his foot, becoming more elephant-like in appearance and structure as a powerful, reptilian tail sprouted from the base of his spine. His neck stretched a lottle longer relative to his body size, his skull crunching loudly as it was reconfigured and his lower jaw was thrust out into a slight underbite; his skin thickened into tough, brown armor as a lighter colored plating covered his chest and stomach. A pair of black briefs and a green sash with the Omnitrix and Skurd on it materialized on his body, completing the transformation.

"What the- the one time I don't want Humungousaur!" the Vaxasaurian bellowed loudly, grunting when a table smashed against his head and promptly broke in two. He wildly flailed his arms in an attempt to steer himself or at least propel himself along like he had seen Jane do many times whenever she took on an avian form.

Skurd rolled his eyes. "Oh, please, dear boy. You look absolutely ridiculous." he mumbled as he oozed part of his cool, gelatinous body over Humungousaur's back and tapped into a genetic sample of the Omnitrix. A soft crackling sound like that of crinkling tissue paper caught the Vaxasaurian's attention and he stopped his panicked attempts at flight to look back over his shoulder to watch as a pair of comically small Nemuina wings sprouted from his back. The wings instantly began to buzz excitedly in an effort to pull their weight, but did little more than just make their host silly.

"Boogerface . . ." the Vaxasaurian glowered. Before Humungousaur could begin another argument with his parasitic partner, Briar's loud scream for attention caught his focus and he looked to see what looked like the end of the rabbit hole, or at least a barrier of some kind. The alien sauropod was entirely sure how he knew this, but a gut instinct of some kind was telling him that it was imperative that they break through that barrier and to the other side if they wanted answers.

Given little other choice, Humungousaur frantically flapped his tiny Nemuina wings as fast as they would go to get him far enough to land on the side of a gigantic stopwatch and launch him off the side and through the air. The Vaxasaurian sailed ahead of Lizzie, drawing back his fist as did sot before he thrust it forward just as they all collided with the barrier. The impediment exploded in a chaotic eruption of smoke and energy, leaving after trails of the oddly soft and sweet smelling stuff in their wake as they all tumbled head over head in a white and empty void.

"What's going on!?" he looked around for any sign of anything, only to be met with a blast of bright, green light as the Omnitrix timed out and returned Ben to the world. Before he could try and get a good look at where Raven, Apple, Briar, or any of the Wonderlandians were at, he suddenly became aware of several tendrils of glittering, pink and white light that slithered and shot down towards him. Ben instinctively brought his hands up to shield his face from them only to realize that they weren't attacking as far he knew; rather they instead chose to swirl around him in a downward spiral, steadily encasing him in a cocoon of light and energy that quickly erupted in a loud eruption.

Ben glanced down at himself to see if anything had changed and was quite surprised to see that something had changed indeed, possibly for the better. He found that his white and green sweatshirt had been replaced with a green tuxedo suit trimmed in white at the collar and sleeves with a pair of fingerless white gloves on his hands. His T-shirt had been replaced by a brown and green diamond-patterned sweater vest with a green bow tie around his neck and pants seemed to have retained their usual color. What was the most noticeable however was the fact that instead of just the ever familiar Omnitrix fastened to his wrist there were multiple Omnitrix disks that acted as buckles of sorts to multiples straps that began to criss-cross over his arms and legs and stomach just as a blue streak of color peeled itself through his chocolate brown hair beneath a large green tophat with playing cards stuck firmly in the black brim.

Looking around he watched as Apple's dress was encompassed in a flash of intense light and was suddenly tied closer around her thighs to accent her curves while taking on wild striped patterns of bright and dazzling colors. Her top was cut down to half expose her breasts before being yanked back up as her sleeves swelled to puffy, red proportions and a pair of faint blue leggings coated her legs. What was the biggest attention grabber however, was the monstrous and oversized bow of a crimson shade that fixed itself perfect in her blonde curls.

Maddie giggled happily as she was swallowed in a light, blue trench coat that quickly split down the middle to open up into a wide dress and skirt rimmed with puffy, lavender lace and a massive, purple, polka-dotted bow tied firmly around her waist. Her usual white and blue spotted leggings became red and white striped like candy canes while a massive, blue top hat fixed with intricate ornaments that held playing cards and teapots alike appeared on her head, making the Hatter laugh all the merrier.

Briar tried to grab back her signature pair of pink sunglasses as they were pulled away from her, only to draw back her hand when she realized that her hazel brown and magenta pink locks were starting to take on a kiwi green hue and allow what looked like a gigantic strawberry of sorts as her hair was pulled up in a swirling bun that almost made it look like a cinnamon roll. The narcoleptic princess glanced down at herself and watched in awe as her dress was encompassed in a blast of bright, white light and suddenly seemed to bloom outwards like a blossoming rose, rowing little green fringes that were almost like leaves at the trim while vine-like ornaments wrapped themselves around her lithe figure.

Kitty watched her hand in fascination as a black glove with a shaggy, purple sleeve was tugged over each wrist and a small collar with a bell attached was clamped around her neck before the overly furry collar of a dress appeared around her shoulders. The familiar Wonderland magic that all members of her species used to teleport around at will began to travel downwards from that, turning her usual school attire into a fabulous and flamboyant dress of jagged, purple and lavender lines and a daffodil-colored underskirt. Kitty's periwinkle locks were pulled out of their twin tails and instead quickly tied into the longest braid Kitty had ever seen as a seemingly broken clock was placed around the crook of her tail.

Raven gulped nervously as a gold crown materialized in a shower of sparkles on her head followed by two, bright cyan streaks through her otherwise abyssal hair. She cringed with worry when her feather-patterned collar and top suddenly started to grow feathers at an alarming rate that almost suggested that it was in fact alive and might very well suddenly take off in flight and leave her topless for all to see; thankfully however, that was hardly the case when the feathers suddenly molted all at once to take on brightly colored top of various blues with an intricate collar and cape like that of a spider's web with a skirt that hugged her thighs quite well in a fashion similar to Apple.

None of the transformations in attire were more extravagant and captivating, in Ben's opinion however, than that of Lizzie. The Princess of Hearts seemed to revel in the refreshing bath of the Wonderland magic she had missed dearly, a bright smile crossing her lips and a warm laugh of delight escaping her throat when she felt it wash over her and course through her veins. She hardly registered how her usual, card-themed attire was replaced by a seemingly simple, blue dress and black leggings that accented a pair of gold-colored pumps before the real transformations began. A wide and open skirt encircled its way around Lizzie's waist and tied itself into a bow to hold it in place as placing cards marked with aces and jacks and jokers flashed into their random pattern upon the fine, silk garment. A high collar of bright purple playing cards attached itself to the back of Lizzie's dress like the spread tail feathers of a peacock and a golden crown with what appeared to be a stuffed flamingo of sorts nestled snugly in the crown was placed upon her head as a river of violet ran itself through her black and red locks.

Maddie laughed happily as she clapped her hands. "Here we go! Everyone hold on!" she beamed as glittered balls of energy or magic, Ben wasn't sure and wasn't sure he entirely cared when they wrapped themselves around them and began to roll along some kind of hidden tunnel or road that Ben couldn't see. He suddenly felt very much like a hamster inside of one of those plastic hamster balls and instinctively began to jog along for whatever reason he couldn't comprehend. Maddie simply chose to allow herself to bounce and roll around inside of her own ball as Kitty dropped down to all fours and began to run along after Ben, as if the two were racing.

Before either of them could make some witty comment, the tolling sound of a great grandfather clock caught their attention and everything that they could see or senses was suddenly gone before them, vanished in an intense flash of bright light that Ben swore was going to have some horrible after affect on his eyes if this kept up. As to add to his mental list of things to complain about he promptly had the air thrown out of him as he landed roughly on his back, only taking slight pride in noting that Briar didn't have as smooth of a landing either and landed flat on her backside while everyone else seemed to land successfully on their feet.

"Stop the world, I wish to get off!" Skurd moaned deliriously as he held his aching temples.

"You and me both, Snot-Pocket." Ben groaned as he sat up and rubbed his head.

Kitty hummed in thought as she studied her claws and glanced at their surroundings. "Curiouser and curiouser." she mused.

"Where are we?" Raven gaped in wonder. She was met with wild, colorful fields that seemed to stretch on for miles in all directions, a sky tinted a bright, friendly yellow, and grass patterned in a checkerboard style of pinks, purples, reds, and oranges. Tall acacia trees with bright red and yellow leaves formed shady groves across the open plains among gigantic flowers and tulips that offered shelter to what looked like flocks of flying dodo birds overhead and playing card-patterned hippos that made their way towards a rainbow-colored waterhole in the noon heat. Butterflies with disproportional heads giggled mischievously as they flitted about through the air taking turns in startling herds of grazing animals that resembled origami gazelles and impalas.

Lizzie gasped with intense happiness and pleasure. "We're back in Wonderland!" she practically cried for joy. "After all this time, I'm finally back home!"

"Nice place. A few curtains, some shag carpeting, and it'll clean up real nice." Ben joked, yelping when a loud snarl like that of a cross between a chimpanzee and a lion cut through the air and an animal that looked vaguely like an overweight Tasmanian Devil bounded through the grass.

"Who knew there was a dress code?" Briar grinned as she caught sight of everyone else's new clothing. If there was even a remote chance of keeping her dress, she was going to fight tooth and nail for it and see if she couldn't get a smaller more compact set to wear the next time she went bungee jumping off of the school's tallest tower.

Raven shifted awkwardly as she examined her own attire. "I wish I could, but I can't take credit for the dresses or tux. In fact, I'm not even sure how we-" she was promptly cut off as Lizzie threw her arms around the young witchling and proceeded to give her a bone-crushing hug that all but threatened to cut off her much needed air supply until finally, mercifully the overjoyed princess released her hold on her.

"Oh, Raven, you broke the curse! And brought us to Wonderland!" the future ruler of the domain proceeded to hug Raven tightly once more. "Hex, I could just kiss you right now!"

"Please don't." Raven squeaked nervously. "But listen, I don't think-

"You've totally made up for what your mother did!" Lizzie cut off excitedly.

"Um, yeah, except the thing is-" Raven tried to say once more.

The young witch was once again cut off by Kitty once the Cheshire cat suddenly had a realization. "Hey, now that we're back in Wonderland, we can find the Storybook of Legends!"

Briar shifted uncomfortably at the mere mention of the artifact that would doom her to forever her forget her friends and send her into a century long slumber from which she would be waken up by a total and complete stranger she had never met before and whisked away to a kingdom she had never heard of to then produce an heir that she was certainly not ready for. Honestly, even with the hundred-year long break, Briar's fairy tale moved along at too quick of a pace for her own liking and there were multiple dangers that came with it as well; she had heard stories of some of her own ancestors waking up almost nine months pregnant with their first child or not waking up at all from the century long slumber, having succumb to diseases for the bites of venomous creatures that managed to invade their sanctum. Neither of the aforementioned options were particularly pleasing or ideal to Briar. "Um, yeah, about that? I've been meaning to tell you guys about this for a while, and-"

"Can it wait, Briar? My mother's party is at tea time!" Lizzie almost jumped for joy. "Hurry everyone!"

Raven sighed in defeat as everyone quickly hurried after Lizzie through the tall, pink grass with nary a second thought to their current situation. "But something isn't . . . right . . ." she feebly tried to say before giving up with a surrendering sigh.

The witchling felt a hand on her shoulder and smiled fondly at finding Ben loyally by her side. "If it's any consolation, something seems fishy about all this to me, too. And it isn't just the fact that I suddenly have more Omnitrixes than I know what to do with . . . Omnitrixes? Omnitrices? Omnitrici?" he played around with what he hoped were plausible plurals to his phrases. "Either way, something seems to be off about all this."

Raven gave a slight laugh at her boyfriend's attempt to cheer her up. It aggravated her to no end when nobody ever listened to her, a common problem whenever the subject of destiny was brought up by Apple pr the Headmaster on numerous occasions, and it annoyed her even more when those same people that didn't listen to her would come crawling back to her, begging for her help in fixing the problem she had warned them about. It was like the time she had tried to warn Sparrow against mixing Kraken ink with powdered phoenix ashes in an attempt to speed along a very slow experiment in Professor Rumpelstiltskin's lab, and the Son of Robin Hood ended up creating a highly flammable concoction that ignored any futile attempts to be put out.

"Thanks, Ben. We should probably catch up." she added with a slight smile before grabbing a hold of his hand and pulling him along while Skurd tried to make sense of the all the latest additions to the Omnitrix family that suddenly adorned his host.

Briar sighed contently as she took a deep breath breath of the Wonderlandian air, noting that it smelled oddly like fresh cotton candy and then like assorted jellybeans and cashew nuts all at once. "I can't believe we're really in Wonderland."

"I know! I've dreamed of coming here!" Apple grinned excitedly.

"Those must have some dreams if the Well of Wonder wasn't enough for you, Applesauce." Kitty grinned in an almost suggestive manner. "Perhaps while we're here we might find the source? I'm sure you'd be interested in finding out the effects of Wonderland's Flow of Wonder on Ever After."

Apple had to admit it was a tempting offer, but they had bigger priorities right now, namely stopping the overthrowing and possible execution of the Queen of Hearts and Lizzie's mother. "What beautiful, silver archways!" she admired a large structure that they passed under.

"Indeed." Lizzie smiled with bemusement. "It seems we've come to a fork in the road." she gestured towards the splitting path. That, and the giant fork that they had passed under with hardly a second thought, as well several spoons, knives, and sporks of gigantic proportions that were big enough to be almost classified as buildings.

"Which way is the Queen of Heart's castle?" Raven asked as she and Ben caught up with the group.

Maddie stepped forward and took a glance down each of the three pathways, trying to remember which was both the safest and fastest path to travel since her last time back home. "Well, you do not want to go down Bandersnatch Blvd," the Hatter pointed down the path farthest to their right where it descended down into a valley full of jagged peaks and spikes and thorny shrubs swamped with fog; a loud howl echoed through the canyon and made everyone take a step back out of concer.

"And Dirty Dish Drive is way too icky." Maddie shuddered towards the path in front of them and down a ways where a lake of disgusting, brackish water gave off several unpleasant odors among towering cooking utensils and dishes that looked like they hadn't been scrubbed in thousands of years.

Ben scratched his head. "Just why would anyone set this kind of thing up?" he wondered, gesturing towards the disgusting muck that hung off of a rusting fork that size of a redwood tree.

Lizzie gave a slightly mischievous and sheepish smile. "Uh, remember how I told you that Wonderland has its own, unique type of magic compared to that of Ever After? Well, it's a little more complicated than that."

"Complicated how?" Skurd raised an eyebrow.

"Complicated as in Wonderland is alive." Kitty replied, earning skeptical and confused looks from those not accustomed to the odd nature of the realm. "We don't build a majority of what Wonderland has to offer, we just build around whatever it decides to pop up!"

"It's like a gigantic body!" Maddie laughed.

Ben thought over the possibility that an entire realm that seemed to stretch on forever, or at the very least lay several hundred miles beneath the Earth's surface from its many access points, was in fact a gigantic super organism of epic proportions. He had once been coerced into a conversation with Rook about the many planets that the Milky Way had to offer, specifically the ones that his aliens originated from and how what he called 'super powers' were in fact evolutionary transformations for survival. One of these was about the planet of Sightra, the homeworld of the Opticoids that orbited around a single sun without a moon; according to Rook, the planet's consistency was more like that of gelatin than rock, and its native fauna had followed suit. The fact that those that were not native to Sightra often had the misfortune of disappearing without a trace the moment they stepped foot onto the planet's surface drew to the conclusion of many that the planet was in fact a primitive organism that had allowed the many plants and animals and the native Opticoids to evolve to take care of it and act as antibodies of sorts.

The idea that they were currently walking on an animal the size of a small planet buried beneath Ever After's surface made Ben and the others a tad uncomfortable; he was glad to notice that the others almost unconsciously tread a little softer than before. The Wonderlandians didn't seem bothered by it in the slightest.

"Ooh! Watch Wonder Way!" Maddie pointed down a third path that snaked through a grove of gigantic, discarded clocks and stopwatches.

Lizzie nodded with approval. "I do believe you're right. This way everyone!" she gestured for them all to follow her through the grove of ticking, tocking clocks that seemed too baffled or confused to properly tell the correct time; some even traveled backwards!

And the wonders didn't stop there. A slight rumbling caught their attention and they all turned to their left to watch as a stampeding herd of origami antelope sped across the savanna towards them, gracefully giving leaps and bounds as if they couldn't be chained by the earth's cold grasp. What looked to a female of the herd, made evident by its lack of paper antlers paused to curiously sniff and invest Briar's dress as if wondering if it was edible. When the animal deemed that the princess' attire was not suitable for eating, it instead shuffled and folded its paper physiology to take on the form of a tall, slender, origami giraffe to browse on the heart-shaped leaves of a towering acacia tree.

"I've heard of a waterfall, but . . . it's flowing up into the clouds!" Apple gazed with amazement at a stream of water that clearly decided it didn't want to obey the laws of gravity and and chose to instead flow upwards at a leisurely pace. The marine life didn't seem to find it strange as they backstroked up the water spout or partook in what Apple could only guess to be a miniature boat race among fishes.

"So, would that be swimming upstream?" Ben cracked with a smile, earning groans from the girls.

"Someone kindly put me out of my misery." Skurd pleaded.

"Well someone had to say it!" Ben defended himself as they crossed over a rock bridge that stretched across an expansive river. Glancing down would reveal the waters to be a myriad of colors and hues when they weren't flowing upwards into the air, and Ben was quite sure he saw what looked to be swimming sandwiches lazily propelling themselves along with peanut butter and jelly tentacles trailing behind them in the current.

Jellyfish, indeed.

Lizzie gestured for them to hurry along. "Come now, we must press on! There'll be plenty of time to smell the roses after we save my mother!"

"Huh. I would have thought in Wonderland that the roses would smell you." Briar joked as Lizzie led them through a field of small, budding blue flowers that popped open every few seconds and realized small, little midges that looked like tiny hearts with insect wings. Despite the irritating whine that they gave off when they buzzed a little too close to someone's ear, they seemed relatively harmless in appearance and were actually quite amusing to watch as they almost idiotically bumped and crashed into one another like they couldn't see where they were going.

Despite the fact that Apple found them greatly entertaining, the Wonderlandians had fallen eerily silent as they quietly passed through the fields on tender feet, their eyes always glancing back and forth across the ground.

"This place sure lives up to its name." Apple giggled as a tiny midge rested itself upon the tip of her finger.

Lizzie sighed and waved her hands to shoo a particularly persistent cloud of the little insects away from her. "Looks can be perceiving, Apple. Wonderland can be both a wondrous and very dangerous place to live. There is a reason, after all, that members of the royal Hearts family are taught to wield bats and blunt instruments from the moment we can walk."

"What are you so nervous about anyway?" Raven wondered as she carelessly stepping on a root. She paused when her step was followed quickly by a loud squelching sound and she looked down to see sticky, green plant juice coat the bottom of her foot in a slimy residue that smelled oddly sweet like honey. The young witch glanced back up to see the tense expression on Kitty, Maddie, and Lizzie's face as a low, chittering growl that sent shivers down her spine caught her attention. With slow and deliberate movements, Raven turned around to watch as a thick vine rose up from the ground like a sleepy serpent that had just been disturbed; she bit her lip nervously when a large purple head ringed in bright, pink and purple petals attached to the stem emerged from the field of little, blue flowers and seemed to glower hungrily at her.

The witchling made a move to take a step back before Kitty's raspy voice told her otherwise. "Don't. Make. Any. Sudden. Movements." she whispered in an anxious tone. Raven rolled her eyes about as far as they would go and watched with fear as more of the clearly carnivorous plants rose up from their stasis upon the ground and seemed to glare hungrily at them for disturbing their slumber.

"Any idea how to deal with these things?" Ben asked quietly as he slowly glanced at his arms, trying to find anything that bore resemblance to the Omnitrix that he was use to.

Maddie nodded. "First, act like a plant and hope they think your one of them. Second, hope you can run fast enough!"

Raven tensed up with unease when the first of the enormous, mouthed plants slowly lowered its head down to her level and seemed to regard her suspiciously with a few puffs of whatever respiratory system it might have had. The young witch shivered with discomfort when the huge jaws yawned open and she was met with a faceful of disgusting breath accompanied by slime green insides that traveled down the throat and into the stem. She could feel a shiver travel up her spine when the monstrous plant sent out its long, slimy tongue and gave her a drawn out lick up her entire figure; Raven barely held back a whimper of disgust as the carnivorous plant withdrew its tongue and gave a sample lick of its chops.

Even if it didn't have eyes, Raven could easily imagine the ravenous look on the plant's head.

"Raven. Take slow steps back." Lizzie instructed the witchling softly.

But Raven could not as she swallowed nervously and watched as the monstrous plant reared up to its full height of more than a dozen feet. She was completely transfixed on the titanic flower, and she had no idea why her eyes seemed to focus on the jagged thorns that sprouted along the plant's thick stem. Her vision was suddenly swamped with faint images of pointed spikes in the darkness, silently sitting there in the shadows for a split second before suddenly snapping towards her like the outstretched claws of some savage beast.

Those vines, those thorns . . . Raven couldn't keep her eyes off them.

A dark cackling filled her ears, drowning out the screams and howls of a frightened child that echoed endlessly in the night.

Those thorns . . . that laughter . . . that glint of a blade in the darkness . . .

"Raven!" Apple shouted loudly as the jaws of the carnivorous plant swiftly downward to snatch her up and slather her in its corrosive digestive juices. The fact that its decidedly delicious prey had the decency to stand still was an added bonus, especially after it had the gall to tread upon one of its more sensitive roots after it had just regrown it from a bandersnatch that didn't take the threatening growls and bellows as a sign that would soon find out what the plant's insides looked like. At the prey was being kind enough to stand where it stood without so much as twitching a muscle; its soft, wet flesh would aid the plant in healing over the destroyed root, and the process would be even faster if the other prey stuck around as well.

Raven could hear Apple's screams for her to run and she could see the deadly jaws of the monstrous plant lunging for her, but her feet refused to move. Her heart was hammering her chest and every instinct within her was yelling at her to move out of the way and avoid getting eaten, but she simply couldn't tear her eyes away from those thorns.

That laughter . . . that insane, twisted laughter . . . she couldn't get it out of her head . . .

Ben was panicking as he looked over the multiple Omnitrix disks placed all over his body. "Which one is it!?" he shouted.

"Pick a watch, any watch!" Skurd yelled. "We don't have the time!"

Ben did as was suggested and picked the Omnitrix placed upon his wrist, slamming a hand down on it and swallowing himself in a blast of green light. A coating of light, blue fur raced over his body, covering him from head to toe as his spine and arched and forced him down onto his hands. His fingers molded together like hot candle wax into three, firm digits designed to grasp and swing as his toes lengthened and became three, digits suited specifically for gripping and holding. Ben's skin flashed a dark blue as his shoulders swelled slightly and became muscled and furry while his chest expanded and muscles and tissue piled themselves up onto his body. His skeleton crunched and snapped loudly as he was compressed down to the size of a large dog, his spine arching and cracking nosily before a long, prehensile tail snaked out from the base of his spine, cracking back and forth with anxiety as several special organs formed at the base of the appendage. His lower jaw was thrust outwards as the warm fur covered his face and his eyes split into two more pairs of green orbs while the shaggy hair on his head flipped to form a pair of furry horns. The most dramatic transformation however, was when a pair of identical arms to his original pair suddenly burst forth from his sides from underneath him; two, green sashes formed across Ben's chest with the Omnitrix at the center, completing the transformation.

With a loud screech Spidermonkey sprang forward and slammed into Raven as hard as possible, knocking her out of the way just as the jaws of the gigantic plant clapped shut on the spot where she had been mere moments ago. The young witch, while startled and lacking in breath from the sudden tumble, was nonetheless unharmed; the plant itself however, was still very much hungry and annoyed that one of its roots had been severed by a careless trespasser.

"Oh, this isn't gonna be fun." the Arachnichimp sighed when he heard the massive plant give a loud and echoing screech that set off all the other plants into a murderous rage. With a quick flick of his tail he spat out a jet of strong silk at the flesh-eating flower's jaws; a special muscle in his tail drew the line taunt and quickly pulled him up to the plant's head like a grappling hook, furiously driving his fist into the plant's lower jaw and relentlessly pounding and beating it over the head in a hyperactive manner.

The plant barely reacted with the exception of an irritated shake of its head that dislodged Spidermonkey long enough for the flesh-eating trapper to pull a thick, thorny tendril out of the earth and snap it sharply at the Arachnichimp, curling it snugly around his ankle. The plant then roughly slammed him down into the ground once, twice, three times before tossing the disoriented primate high up into the air and yawn its jaws wide open.

The prey was too dazed to fight back. It was an easy meal for the plant, and even if it wasn't the pale prey he had been originally after, this prey had the bravery to fight back and let the plant know it was fit and healthy and a prime specimen for consumption; a meal was a meal after all, and after living off the tiny midges for years on end, it had learned to snatch up any larger meals that were foolish enough to wander into its territory as soon as possible.

Spidermonkey screeched loudly as he plummeted back down towards the ground. "Skurd! Ook! Ook! Hammer time!" he chattered.

"And away we go!" Skurd exclaimed as as he slithered and oozed his slimy body over Spidermonkey's arms and tapped into the extensive collection of genetic samples that the Omnitrix held. The Arachnichimp's limbs swelled and pulsed as new, powerful muscles layered themselves over the arms. The shaggy, blue fur was shed and done away with and replaced by tough, red skin several centimeters thick and superimposed over steadily thickening bones. A loud cracking noise filled the as a third finger forced its way out of Spidermonkey's hand to bring his digit count to four while fleshy growths formed along his arms and completed the genetic upgrade.

The Arachnichimp howled at the top of his lungs as he swung his new Tetramand arms and brought them down on the open jaws of the carnivorous plant, using his tremendous strength to smash it right into the ground. The plant roared as it irritably shook its head, annoyed that this prey was fighting back; why could it have followed the example of the pale prey? The flesh-eating trapper roared and lunged forward with open jaws to try and catch the alien primate in its teeth, only for Spidermonkey to suddenly spit a jet of slimy webbing at its jaws and then proceed to deck it across its trapper.

Spidermonkey sighed with relief as he watched the plant raise its head again and attempt to open its jaws, only to find that the mucilaginous silk had hardened into a near concrete-like substance and held firm and fast. "Looks like you got yourself into a sticky situation. Ook! Ook!" he cracked.

"And I thought that upstream joke was bad." Skurd sighed before his eyes widened with fear. "Look out!"

The Arachnichimp screeched in surprise as a pair of vines quickly coiled themselves around all four of his wrists, tying themselves into firm knots around his Tetramand arms to restrain him as he fought and struggled. A third creeper quickly snared itself around Spidermonkey's ankle and yanked him to the ground with a grunt, holding him firmly in place as roots and brambles burst out of the earth and threw themselves over him to pin him to the ground.

"A little help!?" Spidermonkey cried.

Before Skurd could tap into the Parae Cortarix of the Omnitrix a sharp whistling noise caught his attention and he just barely jerked to the side to avoid get sliced by a razor-edged queen of spades whose edge cut through the vines with ease. A second and third card whizzed and flew through the air to severe the tendrils restricting Spidermonkey's arms with a boomerang movement that sent them hurling back to cut the second vine they missed. The Arachnichimp took the opportunity to bite through the creeper around his ankle in one swift movement before backflipping to avoid getting smacked by one of the plant's larger roots.

Spidermonkey panted heavily as he watched the gigantic plant try to give a furious screech as it flailed whatever remained of its roots and vines, the sticky ebbing holding its jaws shut preventing any noise escaping. The carnivorous trapper thrashed its roots about and raised one to bring it crashing down on the Arachnichimp, only to have the limb severed in a spray of sticky plant juice that sent it crashing to the ground with the muffled howls of the plant. The tremendous trapper turned towards the source of the sharpened projectiles and felt a growl escape through its jammed maw upon seeing Lizzie standing defiantly before it with a playing card between her fingers.

"As mother always says, 'A fool and his head are soon parted'." she grinned with a a sadistic smile as the playing card in her fingers glowed an ominous red in color. Spidermonkey watched in amazement as the Princess of Hearts threw the card straight at the monstrous plant like a spinning buzz saw, his jaw nearly dropping to the ground in shock as the card sliced about half way through the main stem of the carnivorous trapper before suddenly detonating in a puff of ashy, red smoke. The dying screeches of the gigantic plant filled the air as plant juice splattered everywhere, staining everything within range a slimy green in color, including Spidermonkey, Lizzie, Raven, and Apple.

Apple slowly opened her eyes from the sudden spray and quickly wiped the juice from her face, shivering in disgust at the arm feeling. She had managed to break free of Briar's tight grasp and try to get Raven out of range of the plant's vines and jaws, only to end up in the splash radius and covered from her face and down her front in what could be considered the trapper's blood. Raven had managed to avoid a majority of the blast radius, save for a faceful green slime to wipe off at a later time, and seemed to be recovering from whatever mental trauma had suddenly decided to plague her at that precise moment.

The Daughter of Snow White wasn't sure what had made Raven freeze up like. She was completely unresponsive to any of the warnings she and the others had shouted at her and even the primitive survival instinct of fight or flight had failed to even trigger. It was like Raven had completely left the world behind and her mind was transported to some place that Apple couldn't hope to comprehend.

Biting her lip nervously, the princess crouched down and hooked her hand under Raven's, thankful that the witch was starting to become more antiphonal than before. This was most notable when Raven wiped off a handful of the wet slime from her face, regarding her fingers in disgust before giving them a slight shake. "Apple? What happened?" she asked in a slow, confused tone.

The princess raised an eyebrow of confusion. "You don't remember?"

Raven shook her head. "I do, but . . . it's hard to explain. It's like I was there, but I didn't know what was going on, if that makes any sense. Like watching Dexter play one of his video games but not know how he's doing it?" the witchling winced.

"Well, let me refresh your memory." Spidermonkey shook his himself dry of the wet slime before the Omnitrix timed out in a blast of green light and returned Ben to the world. "I had pretty much everything handled until Lizzie decided to take the meaning of 'an ace up your sleeve' to a whole new level."

Lizzie shrugged as she carefully wringed some of the plant juice out of her dress. "I specialize in card magic. There have been numerous people out there who are foolish enough to think that they are able to beat me at a game of cards." she smirked as she made a motion of her hand and summoned another playing card into her fingers. "And is being tied up like a spider's lunch what you consider 'handling it'?" she asked Ben.

"When I do it, yeah." Ben half joked.

Raven gave a smile at the wisecrack, but remained silent. She couldn't remember why she had frozen up like that upon just seeing thorns of all things, or more specifically the reason behind what bits and pieces her mind seemed to remember or pick up on. It was like she was suddenly experiencing parts of her childhood that she had long forgotten ago, but Raven wasn't quite sure how she felt about that. On one hand, there was the pleasant feeling of not knowing what to expect, but on the other there was an unease about to what she had experienced so far and just what else she might encounter.

Skurd coughed rudely. "Yes, well, while you were 'handling things', my dear boy, I made a rather interesting discovery that is rather-"

The Slimebiote was cut off by a horrendous screech that seemed to echo on for miles, sending the clouds of little, heart-shaped midges scattering in all directions as all eyes turned to pan around them. Raven nearly felt her heart stop when she saw the rest of the monstrous, carnivorous garden become increasingly more agitated as the pheromones of their fallen brother came to their senses, growling and snarling viciously vines and creepers slithered across the ground in their direction.

"Can it wait, Skurd?" Apple whispered.

"Yes, well. Quite right." The Slimebiote coughed awkwardly. "Now, what's that word I'm looking for?" he wondered to himself.

"Run?" Ben supplemented as he took a step back from the encroaching plants.

"That's the word." Skurd agreed. "RUN!"

The girls didn't need to be told twice as a massive root covered in venomous thorns slammed down just mere inches behind them before rising back up to repeat the process but a few inches closer. Apple tightly grabbed hold of Raven's wrist and bolted for it as fast as possible, her other hand hiking up the hem of her dress to allow her legs run even faster while Briar, Kitty, and Maddie fled. Ben quickly jumped back as a thick vine slammed down right in front of him and he quickly dashed under the tendril to grab Lizzie's hand and all but drag the princess through the field of very angry and very hungry plants.

"You got anymore of those cards on you!?" Ben yelled over the bellowing of the plants.

Lizzie shook her head as she pulled her hand free from Ben and hiked up her skirt to run alongside him. "I only have one, but it's not going to be enough!" she shouted, yelping when a heavy root came crashing down right in front of them, barely missing them as the two of them ducked under the snap of heavy jaws.

"Every little bit helps!" Skurd yelled.

"Speaking of helping!" Ben cried as he grabbed Lizzie's hand and pulled her out of the way just in the nick of time to avoid the clap of sharp jaws on the spot where she had been mere seconds ago. Skurd hastily slithered his slimy body around Ben's left arm and tapped into one of the Omnitrix's genetic samples before the changes began. A pair of thick, carbonfiber cables wrapped around his arm and slithered in two different directions, with one end snaking its way towards Ben's shoulder and jamming itself into the side of a durable, black, turtle-like shell that was forming on his back; three icy, blue fins thrust themselves out along the spine while the other end of the cable wrapped around Ben's arm and into his waiting hand. A black handle and blue trigger quickly sprouted out into a large, black cannon that the cables attached into from the bottom and back of as three more blue fins grew from the back of the canister. A pair of glowing orbs on either side of the barrel took form as a rounded, reptilian head with jaws similar to a steel bear trap formed on the opposite end beneath a pair of dysfunctional eyes and above several barbels and growths on the chin.

Ben sucked in a quick breath before he whipped around and pulled the trigger of the Arctigun. "Freeze!" he yelled as a blast of arctic air came firing out from the Polar Manzardill jaws right at the open jaws of a ravenous plant. Ice crystals instantly took form from the moisture in the air and formed a thick casing of glacial ice the encompassed the entire trapper.

Lizzie then pulled out her last card and lined up her shot as the playing card flowed a familiar crimson in color. With a quick flick of her wrist the card went buzzing through the air straight at the block of ice that tightly trapped the monstrous plant, slicing a thin crease into the frozen surface before the razor edged card became tightly embedded. Mere seconds later, the card exploded in a puff of scarlet smoke and sent ice crystals and snowflakes flying in all directions as the now dead plant fell limp to the ground.

"Come on, Raven! Run!" Apple tugged tightly on the witchling's wrist, all but dragging her roommate through the fields and sending clouds of midges and flies scattering in all directions. The princess ignored the swarms of tiny insects and focused on the back of Briar's dress to guide and pull her through the sudden round of terror, all with trying to keep hold of Raven's wrist. While the young witch was definitely more receptive than before, Apple wasn't taking any chances and kept a constant and constricting hold on her wrist; she wasn't about to lose what had surprisingly and quickly become one of her most confidants.

They were almost to the edge of the field where Briar, Kitty, and Maddie were already waiting with anxious expressions when a sudden scream snapped her attention back behind her where her face turned a considerably paler shade than normal. A thorny creeper had managed to evade the threat that were Lizzie's dagger sharp fingers and wrap itself tightly around her wrist and yank down hard enough that another root was able to ensnare her hand easily enough that she was now defenseless and at the mercy of the vines no matter how much she struggled.

At the sound of Lizzie's enraged scream Ben whirled around with the Arctigun at the ready, leaving his backside open and defenseless to attack. A creeping bramble took advantage of this and quickly looped itself around his ankle before pulling itself taunt and tripping him, allowing more vines and creepers to quickly restrain his arms and leg, crawling up his body to slowly begin to smother his face; he was the more troublesome prey and would be dealt with first to avoid interference when the time came to devour the prey that threw explosives.

Apple was panicking as she herself didn't know what to do to. From the day she had been told about her destiny, she had been taught things such as simple etiquette and manners and how to look ones very royal best each and every day, but that didn't include combat of any kind. Apple liked to look at any situation with as much logic as it would allow and whenever that came to fighting, it was always the most logical thing in the world to simply leave that to the boys and men. Her classes at Ever After High had further proven this point, as it was strictly forbidden for any maiden to take the Heroic 101 classes and was considered an amusing joke if they tried out for the bookball team (that is, until Cerise hood had the guts and temper to join, succeed, and kick anyone's butt that so much as snickered behind her back).

The princess' panic stricken thoughts were interrupted when Raven tore her wrist free of Apple's tight grip, startling her into watching with an almost dumbfounded expression when the witchling seemingly blindly rushed back into the mess. Before Apple could yell for Raven to come back, the young witch clapped her hands together and opened them up slightly as her eyes glowed a deep crimson in color. "Interdamoto Laborator!" she shouted loudly.

Apple watched with awe as a twin beams of intense heat and dark flame suddenly erupted forth from Raven's palms and sliced through the taunt vines holding Lizzie in place with a loud sizzling sound. The Princess of Hearts saw her chance and quickly ran over to Ben, raking her razor-sharp fingers through the thick creepers and brambles with ease to pull him free just as the head of a furious plant clamped its jaws shut on the spot he had been moments before.

"Meena Goh!" Raven's voice was loud and echoing as a single beam of purple fire erupted forth from her hands and blasted the flesh-eating trapper square in the face, earning a horrifying screech of agony as the sinister, violet flames ate it alive and allowed Lizzie and Ben to make the last stretch of their escape out of range of the plant's grasping tendrils and roots. As if he weren't taking any chances, Ben quickly aimed the Arctigun at the ground and pulled the trigger, firing off a blast of subzero vapor that froze upon contact and built up a thick layer of ice; he quickly moved the weapon back and forth, layering sections over one another to form a towering and impenetrable wall of frost and ice several feet thick and several feet high that effectively cut them off from the field of enraged flowers.

The three of them, Lizzie, Ben, and Raven simply stood there for several seconds to catch their breath, their movements jittery from the harrowing experience as Skurd returned the Polar Manzardill DNA back to the Omnitrix and all but fainted against the device from an overwhelming near death experience. Silence was the chosen form of communication as Ben stooped down into a crouching position while Raven opted to rest her hands on her knees.

Eventually, Ben spoke up. "Th-That . . . that was not fun . . ."

Skurd panted. "I concur."

"Is . . . is everyone alright?" Raven sucked in a calming breath.

Lizzie nodded but checked over herself to make sure that she still had her limbs and digits. "I believe so. My mother did always say it was best to avoid the Flower Fields under limited firepower." she sighed with relief before recomposing herself back into a regal position and air of authority. "But now that the curse has been lifted and the border is . . . open . . ."

"Lizzie, I don't think . . ." Raven trailed off, catching sight of what had to probably be one of if not the most heartbroken expression Raven had ever seen. The Princess of Hearts seemed to be going through a range of emotions as of late, everything from depression and fear and a small shred of joy, to sudden and complete despair upon seeing what lay before her.

Briar cringed at seeing the barren and dusty landscape that stretched on for miles with nothing to disturb the sand. River beds that had once been filled to the brim with rainbow water and stocked full of fish of wondrous species and variety were now dry and bare with only fish skeletons and puddles of toxic, bubbling, black liquid to remind passerby of past days. Cavernous holes and pockets yawned forth from the landscape and spewed out jets of hot steam from beneath ground, giving the air a hazy tone that was only interrupted by the harsh calls of scrawny jabberwockies that had been too stubborn to leave the wasteland behind. The ruins of structures and the dried bones of magnificent creatures dotted the landscape beneath the husks of long dead acacia trees, only offering mild shelter with the sand swept winds of waste.

The sky had turned from a pleasant yellow to a sickly green hue and Apple glanced up with concern when she saw a hurricane of ominous clouds and chaotic energies swirling madly overhead, stretching over the whole of the expansive landscape that she was unsure of whether or not if it had an end. "Those clouds in the sky? What are they?" she asked fearfully.

Lizzie felt her voice crack as she gave an answer. "The curse . . ." she whispered. "I . . . I-I thought it was lifted . . ."

"But what does it mean?" Maddie wondered, taking a moment to be serious. The Hatter was usually never serious about a lot of things, it was just the way her family was and had been for as long as they could remember. But there were times where the wondrous madness of Wonderland had to be put aside and her tea-related antics had to be put on hold to take care of things that were far more important than being on time for tea; looking after Raven's wellbeing and the safety of her homeland were of but a very few things that could get Maddie's ever present smile to turn upside down.

Raven sighed miserably. "I'm sorry, but . . . I just don't know."

"I know what it means," Ben grunted as he stood back up and stretched, grimly looking towards the sky as he stood behind Lizzie like a protective bodyguard. "It means when we get this fixed, I am going to kick the Evil Queen's teeth in . . . um, no offense, Raven." he winced.

"None taken, I suppose." Raven sighed, uncomfortably rubbing her arm. Her relationship with her mother, the mother that she knew at least, had always been strained with the few times the young witch had ever had the opportunity to speak with her. Their conversations were always brief and almost always went the same way, with her mother asking her how she had been recently and if she was still friends with Charlie's little girl and if her father was still the idiotic man she had married years ago; the conversation usually took a turn for the worst at the mere mention of the Good King and would usually descend into the Evil Queen telling her daughter of the wonders of being evil and how fun it was to seek vengeance on those that had wronged her. While Raven had to admit she had occasionally thought about playing a nasty trick on Sparrow Hood (the howling musician always brought out the worst in her), she stood strong in her beliefs that she was capable of and had a right to be good.

The Evil Queen would then often screech obscenities at her, quickly ending their visits with one another.

Lizzie narrowed her eyes in a snarl of disgust as she tightly clenched her fists. "I will gladly help you, Ben. Right after we save my mother from this scheming villain . . . whomever they are. Then it will be off with their head instead of hers!"

A bright whinny sounded on the wind and they all turned their heads back towards the ice wall that protected them from the ravenous appetite of the carnivorous plants. Ben raised an eyebrow when the howls and bellows of the monstrous trappers came from the other side, possibly more furious and enraged than before if that was even possible; these were quickly silenced by loud and wet noises that sounded very much like a sharpened blade slicing through something squishy and unprotected, making Apple and Briar share nervous glances with one another. The party of fairy tales all flinched when the ailing sounds of the plants suddenly stopped, filling the air with total and uncomfortable silence.

CRACK!

Kitty jumped at the sound of something smashing into the thick wall of ice and watched with a worrisome stare when thin, hairline cracks radiated out through the frost. More cracks and heavy blows soon followed after, making the ice groan and growl like a wounded animal as snowflakes and crystals came scattering down under each destructive blow. Ben stood his ground and balled his fists, ready to slam the Omnitrix disk on his wrist and fight off whatever was on the other side of the wall if necessary. The barrier of frost and snow shudder and split open along the glacier's face, making Maddie jump at the sudden growl, watching as the crack widened and snaked along the glacial wall's height before sustaining a few more heavy blows. Whatever was on the side seemed very determined to get through and this greatly worried Lizzie; what if whoever was out to hurt her mother decided she was a liability and try to take her out before executing the main plan (and her mother)?

It was not an uncommon war tactic.

The glacier trembled and withstood another heavy blow that rained ice and snow down on the ground before it finally gave up and succumb to the might of the intruder. A section of the frost barrier crumbled with a loud rumble and clattering of ice chunks, creating a large tunnel of sorts to the other side of the wall. Ben tensed up upon seeing a tall figure with broad shoulders dressed in a powerful and white suit of armor with a large broadsword clipped to their side marched through the glacial tunnel; a mighty, white stallion whose legs were fused to a wide disk of sorts accompanied the knight, hopping briskly at their side.

"It's the White Knight!" Kitty sighed with relief.

Ben raised an eyebrow. "So, I shouldn't smash him?"

The white suit of armor coughed awkwardly. "No, I would appreciate that you don't smash me." he replied before he hurriedly scrambled onto his mount's back, as if clearly distressed about something. "But that isn't important right now. You must come with me! They're coming!"

"Whose coming?" Apple asked, a little bit frightened at the knight's urgency.

"There's no time! Follow me!" he gestured desperately before he snapped the reins of his horse and started to ride off as fast as possible, expecting them to follow. The fairy tales shared looks with one another and with nothing but the reassurances of Kitty and Lizzie to go off of, they reluctantly began to follow their new guide straight into the barren wasteland that had once been Wonderland.

Raven couldn't help but feel both disheartened and ashamed at what her mother had done to the world that was Wonderland. Where colorful acacia trees that offered sheltered to flocks of dodos and flying fish once stood now lay mummified logs that looked like they would crumble to dust at the slightest touch. Where luscious fields of grass that supplied food for the great herds that once roamed and migrated about to the rhythm of hungry predators now stood desolate desert and bleached bones. Wonderland was on its last legs with only a fraction of what it had once been and it was all her mother's fault.

The young witch honestly wouldn't have been surprised if she was arrested or at the very least threatened if someone figured out her identity. Hex, the Queen of Hearts had a legendary temper and was a terror on the battlefield from the history books she had read up on; thus far, only the Dark Fairy had a temper to match, though Raven wasn't eager to find out which woman was more likely to try and execute her for her mother's actions.

A sudden change in light drew Raven out of her thoughts and cast a glance up to find that they were traveling through the ancient, yellowed bones of a monstrous animal easily the size of a small whale. The rib bones were enormous compared to her body and they were easily able to pass under the ribcage like a tunnel along the path the White Knight led them; to think that her mother had caused the death of that beast, a full grown jabberwocky if Raven identified the nearby skull correctly by the double jaws, was quite unnerving. Especially if one let their thoughts drift over to what might happen if the Evil Queen selected a significantly smaller target.

The group mostly traveled on in silence across the wasteland and Raven soon found herself traveling by Ben's side with Lizzie on his other. The young witch was grateful that he being so supportive of her right now, especially with all the reminders of what her mother was capable of and had done. He hadn't blamed her for any of this and he didn't seem the slightest bit afraid of her, if only very upset with her mother's actions; Raven couldn't blame him for that. It was his duty as a hero to protect the innocent from harm and to see this much destruction to such a wondrous place was definitely unsettling.

This brought up thoughts of how Lizzie was fairing so far and Raven had to admit that the Princess of Hearts was probably the one suffering the most out of all of them. While it was greatly disheartening to see their homeland still under such an enormous threat that could end them all without warning, Kitty and Maddie had the reassurance that her parents were safe for the moment and not under the threat of being beheaded after being dethroned. That alone was enough danger for Lizzie and Raven was wondering what the Daughter of the Queen of Hearts even thought of her now; was she still upset with Raven for her link to the purger of her homeland? Did she still feel that Raven had yet to make up for her mother's mistakes? All the witchling could be thankful for was that Ben was being the noble hero and good boyfriend he was and extending a comforting hand to the ailing Wonderlandian.

They soon came to an old, scarred bridge that extended itself over a stretch of deep, black liquid. The smell it gave off was highly unnerving as it smelled strongly of decay and death and Raven was highly discomforted without much chaotic magic and energy it radiated forth; all magic users were sensitive to the flow of magics and energies that they used and were thus quite erogenous to large amounts of untouched deposits.

"Quickly! They are almost-"

"Stop right there!" the White Knight was cut off by a heavy, booming voice. The white chessman yanked back on the reins of his horse and brought his mount to stop to seemingly glare at another knight blocking the way off of the bridge; it was difficult to see under the helmet. The sudden intruder was colored a deep crimson and various hues of red in contrast to the White Knight's armor, sporting black and red feathers in comparison to the White Knight's blue and white. He rode a red horse chesspiece with a heavy broadsword and shield clipped to his side and his voice was more threatening and booming then his counterpart. "Men, deploy!" he commanded.

Briar raised an eyebrow of disbelief as a single card guardsman charged forward at them and came to a screeching halt, almost as if he believed he could take on them all without even a weapon. This was quickly proven wrong when the dozens upon thousands of black and red jacks, clubs, aces, spades, suddenly spat out from behind the lone guard and quickly snaked around his commander. The chain of cards continued to swiftly travel down into the black muck and back up the other side before closing the loop behind them, effectively forming a barrier of guardsmen around them all. As if that weren't bad enough, all ninety-nine cards quickly drew a pointed spear and thrust it inward, forcing the group of fairy tales into even tighter quarters than before.

Lizzie immediately turned on the White Knight. "Why didn't you do anything!?" she asked in disbelief.

"Well, I couldn't do anything." the White Knight answered sheepishly. "It was his turn."

Raven frowned and angrily balled her hands into fists. This was not the time to be slowed down, especially not with the Queen of Heart's life at stake! The chance to right the wrongs her mother had done to her best friend forever after's homeland was too tantalizing to pass up and she was not about to let any bad memories or red knight's stand in her way. "What do you want with us?" she demanded to know.

"I am the attendance officer for Wonderland High School." the Red Knight replied in a matter of fact tone as he dismounted his horse and approached them with a commanding presence. "Unless you have a hall pass signed by the vice principal, I am bound to deliver you back to class."

"Deliver this!" Ben snapped angrily as he raised a hand and brought his left wrist up.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Skurd warned.

The Slimebiote's warning came too late as Ben slammed a hand down on the Omnitrix disk on his left wrist and swallowed himself in a blast of green light. The first he was aware of was how his seemed to be pulled in two different directions, as if it couldn't make up his mind about which parts of should be what size; he could feel his finger bones crack and grind together loudly as they were stretched out and out, farther and farther until they were nearly as long as he was tall. His arms split and snapped awkwardly as his wrists were pulled into a permanent position that directed them downward at an angle, allowing his ulnas and radius to lengthen and hollow. Ben's skeleton crunched and popped loudly as bones were dramatically shifted about, forcing the organs into new positions and out of existence altogether in some instances, reducing Ben's height severely until he was perhaps the size of a large tennis ball. His ears rotated to the top of his head and took upon a pointed appearance while his eyes widened greatly and his nose was pressed back against his face, lessening it into a pair of sensitive nostrils; his jaws cracked and crunched noisily as his teeth sharpened into pointed fangs and his tongue grew a thin grove down its middle. A long tail tipped with a webbed growth snaked out from the base of his spine as his toes molded together to form three, dull claws just barely sharp enough for gripping and holding onto surfaces. Ben could feel a horrible inching sensation come across the whole of his body as fluffy, white fur sprouted from every pore of his skin and turned him into the equivalent of a walking cottonball while a light and expansive membrane swiftly formed between his fingers; the final piece of the transformation was the addition of the Omnitrix and Skurd upon a belt-like strap that wrapped around his waist and back.

Had the situation not been so serious the girls would have most likely burst out laughing or immediately start to gush and coo over the notoriously cute, little Xenocubus that kept itself aloft by flapping its wings. The fact that he had a severe scowl upon his face did not help matters as even the White Knight had to hold back a slipper snicker.

"Fluff Luv. It had to be Fluff Luv. It couldn't have been Four Arms or Brawn or even Pesky Dust. It had to be Fluff Luv." the Xenocubus pouted to himself in a high, squeaky voice; Maddie found herself hardpressed to hold back her giggles and squeals of adoration.

Skurd sighed. "I tired to warn you, dear boy. The Omnitrix has been split apart into multiple Omnitrices that decorate your body, each one carrying the genetic code of a single alien. Every time the Omnitrix times out and you resume your woefully average human form, the location of the genetic samples are all randomize, thus making it a complete toss up as to which alien you will get no matter which Omnitrix you try to use."

The bat-like alien frowned heavily. "I'm beginning to understand why Wonderland is so frustrating to some people." Fluff Luv grumbled under his breath, giving a few more flaps of his wings to turn around and fly over to Apple's shoulder. He shifted about and batted her gigantic bow out of the way before digging his little claws into the fabric of Apple's dress and it took every last ounce of the princess' willpower not to just scoop up the Xenocubus right then and there and give a tremendous hug.

"Don't worry, Lizzie! I'll go warn your mom!" Kitty thought up of another solution to their problem; by nature, her species were natural teleporters and were able to manipulate such a powerful magic quite easily from their younger kitten years, albeit with some difficulty in ending up safely in the correct location. With that in mind, Kitty's face split into her usual, cheeky smile as it usually did in order to activate the magical energies at her command and she could the tickling sensation of her body start to disintegrate and disappear bit by bit as it usually did. By all accounts this should have been a successful teleportation, but by the time she opened her eyes she still found herself rooted to the same spot.

The Daughter of the Cheshire Cat gave it a second try, grinning like she had been taught and letting the magical energies flow through her, ready to transport her to a new place of location, only to be abruptly cut off by some kind of canceling power of energy that Kitty wasn't familiar with. "Something's wrong with my magic! I can't teleport out of here!" she panicked.

"Maybe it's . . . part of the curse?" Maddie suggested.

"This day just gets better and better." Fluff Luv grumbled sarcastically from Apple's shoulder.

Lizzie however, didn't seem as bothered by the current situation as she probably should have been. "it doesn't matter," she waved it off. "We'll all be at the palace soon enough. Once we get to the vice principal, I'll just explain our situation."

"Are you sure that will work?" Briar asked skeptically.

"Of course it will." Lizzie seemed unphased by the Daughter of Sleeping Beauty's lack of faith in her. With a cough for attention she turned back to address the Red Knight. "How long before we get to the school anyway?" she asked.

The Red Knight replied in as kindly of a tone as his echoing helmet would allow him. "It's not far today," he reassured them before gesturing outwards with his arms. "Because you're already here!"

Fluff Luv was nearly thrown from Apple's shoulder when she jumped in shock at their sudden, new surroundings and the Xenocubus had to admit he was quite baffled as well as to how they had suddenly got from standing on a bridge over a river of black magic residue in the middle of a barren wasteland to the middle of what looked like a courtyard of some kind, similar to how Ever After High and by extension Monster High's layout was. Was was usually warm cobblestone or brick walk was instead a multicolored checkerboard-pattern path that wound and twisted its way rather crazily across the school grounds, worming its way under a small bridge and through three gigantic croquet wickets and past a large hedge maze adorned with clock sculptures and hourglass art pieces until it finally made its way up to the steps of a tall and imposing building. Towers bridged together thrust themselves up into the sky and doors and windows seemed to be placed without rhyme or reason with a gigantic clock that told time backwards stationing itself on the school's clock tower, which was placed on the lowest building available instead of the highest.

In a word, the school screamed Wonderland.

Maddie pouted sourly. "Of all the days we just had to come here on school day!"

Lizzie however, was still not budging on the subject of attending Wonderland High for the day and from the way her face was starting to turn a faint scarlet in color, Raven could easily tell that the Princess of Hearts was beginning to lose her temper. "School or no school, you realize that my mother is the queen? I don't have to stay here." she said with an aristocratic tone, turning swiftly on her heel to walk back towards the main gates. "Come along, my friends." she commanded.

The girls all shared nervous glances with one another, their eyes flickering up towards the guard towers that were placed at the corners of the walls and every couple of feet or so to provide extra cover. The card guardsman all readied their spears or crossbows, aiming them directly at their future ruler without hesitation. Fluff Luv was quite sure Lizzie was going to become the human equivalent of her beloved pet hedgehog, Shuffle, with how close she was cutting it before a pair of card guardsman at the gate quickly cut her off with their heavy and very sharp poleaxes, blocking her escape.

"B-But . . . but . . ." Lizzie tried to protest.

The Red Knight shook his head with a sharp squeaking noise. "Sorry, man, but you're on school grounds now. You follow school rules and none of you is going anywhere until you graduate." he said firmly, snapping his fingers loudly. A loud crash filled the air as the iron bar gate came crashing down and blocked off their only escape, trapping them within the confined walls of Wonderland High.

"You are so lucky I can't turn into Shocksquatch." Fluff Luv growled irritably.

"If only, Ben. If only." Lizzie sighed sourly.


Well . . . that's finally done and over with.

'And after so long, too, ya young whipper-snapper! I had time to grow a beard since you last updated! I had to get an artificial hip! I yell at kids daily for them to get off of my lawn! And on top of that, I haven't been laid in years!'

Did you really have to grow the beard?

'Get me my teeth, woman!'

Yeah, he's been like that for the past few months. So once again, apologies for the incredibly long delay, but I have heard your pleas (and threats) and have finally returned with the chapter that took so long to recover and perfect. Which is now why I am backing up all my files after every time I save a document to prevent this disaster from happening again, because you guys. Believe me, it lights up my day (or whatever passes for a day down here) when you review and tell me how well (or bad) I'm doing with the story, what you liked and didn't, and of course the ever constant flow of ideas and suggestions that give me.

Because of that and in all honesty, I like to think of this being a community effort where everyone has a say and a right to pitch in ideas to perfect the story as best as possible. I offered the spine and everyone else just kept on adding bones and muscles and organs to create something beautiful and amazing to look at (and hopefully with clothes depending on what it is).

On a side note, I bet you're all wondering who Fluff Luv is. In short, Fluff Luv is an alien that Ben gained during mine and Blazorna Ibara's Xover event with both our Ben 10 stories (this only involves WAM and it is considered canon). For a better explanation and description as to what the latest addition to the alien roster looks like, head on over to my Deviantart account and take a look! And hey, maybe while you're there, leave a comment as well?

Okay, that last part was Maddie's idea.

'Enough of the poetry! It's four in the afternoon and I wanna go to bed!'

I'm not going to be the slightest bit surprised if some of the senior citizen shades come down here and beat you senseless with their canes for mocking them. And I am going to laugh about it, record it, show it to Lord Hades and Lady Persephone, and then post it on the djininternet for all the genies and imortals gods and beings to see and laugh at alongside with me. And you, gramps, are going to have to deal with it as your cane-shaped wounds heal over.

'Stop yammering and get me some prune juice, woman!'

. . . Maddie?

'Yes, Creaty?'

Is Mr. Nibbles hungry?

'Well, mommy hasn't fed him yet, but he's spent the better part of the chapter chewing on the couch. Why?'

Good. Oh, Mr. Nibbles! Lunch time! *point at Deadpool*

'GAH! No! Please! Have mercy!'

Lost it a long time ago. I think I last saw it somewhere in the Boohamas.

No, it was in Doombai, silly!

Are you sure it wasn't Barcelgroana?

Hmmm, maybe it was in Boo York?

'Hello!? AGH! My face is being eaten off here!'

Yeah, yeah, hang on. We're trying to remember something important.

'And my beautiful face isn't!?'

No. In fact, something's wrong with it.

'What!? Was it is!? AAAGGH! It's got acid spit! It's got acid spit!'

Of course it has acid spit. Why wouldn't?

As for what's wrong with your face Deadpool . . . it's still there! *proceeds to high-five Creaturemaster while Deadpool screams*

That's my girl! Now then, I suppose that's just about everything! As always, comment, review, suggest, and request down below! And don't forget to vote on the poll for those that enjoy and read my one-shot series! And don't forget to swing by Blazorna Ibara's profile for our Xover event!

Hasta luego!

Adios!