Monster From Another World

by LittleLagoon

When a quiet girls' night becomes an experience from another world, four young monster girls must help a visitor from another world to hide on Earth, but not everything is what it seems with that strange monster, his appearance brings with it great changes that nobody could foresee

11. Chapter 11

I have done my best to avoid those grammatical errors and changes of... He, she, they, believe me when I am proofreading I usually overlook many of those things because I read too fast and sometimes, as I already know everything that happens, I skip some words unconsciously.

Ben 10 and Monster High belong to their rightful owners

Grammar issues ahead

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Being called to the principal's office before the bell rang to signal the start of school was never a good sign.

For Spectra Vondergeist that sign went from red to black in a single second as she arrived and saw Headmistress Bloodgood standing outside her office talking to three police officers.

All three were humans and given their expressions, none of them were happy to be there. To the left of the headmistress was Miss Crabgrass who seemed to be annoyed at the presence of these humans.

As she got closer she got a better look at these humans. Two of them were young, perhaps in their mid-twenties, or perhaps near the end of their twenties. They were a man and a woman, black and light brown hair respectively. Both were dressed in standard New Salem security force attire.

The last human was a man, brown hair with a gray lower part, a clear sign of his age. He had a bushy mustache and a stocky build. Like the other two, he had the standard attire except that he had a distinctive badge on his chest. He was the sheriff of the town.

She had to get very close for them to notice her presence, which was a strange thing for the headmistress to do. She always knew if a monster was approaching, the situation must have had her too focused.

The first to speak was the Sheriff, who looked at her with a critical eye for a few moments before turning to Bloodgood.

"It's her? "

"She is, Miss Vondergeist was responsible for that publication." replied the headmistress calmly.

The mention of a publication made Spectra's eyes widen. She posted a lot of things on her blog, she couldn't understand why some cops would be interested in something like that, it was mostly gossip.

"Let's take this conversation to my office." Bloodgood asked as she pointed to the door behind her. "Miss Vondergeist, wait here for a few moments."

The spectral teenager did not respond, merely shook her head in the affirmative.

She watched them pass through the door, and slowly the seconds turned into minutes. Minutes of tense waiting that were figuratively killing her.

The tense wait was over when the door opened again, revealing the black-haired human, who looked at her with boredom and a bit of annoyance, then nodded for her to enter the office.

She floated over the threshold of the door, which was shortly thereafter closed by that human.

Her eyes fell on the headmistress, who motioned with her hand for her to sit in the seat on the opposite side of her desk.

The ghost moved silently, out of the corner of her eye she looked towards the humans, she saw that the Sheriff was reading some files without paying attention to her. While the black-haired human and the light brown-haired human walked towards where she was headed, standing parallel to her.

The girl chose to return her gaze to the front, she then noticed the presence of a bright blue mare with a mane of blue, pink, and violet. The animal was looking uneasy and did not wish to be there, even trying to hide behind Bloodgood's seat, a sign that hoped not to attract attention.

When she sat down in the designated spot, the two policemen stood to her right and left with their arms crossed behind their backs. This action made her nervous, if the movies had taught her anything, it was never a good sign when something like this happened. It didn't help that no one was saying anything and only the occasional noise of the Sheriff turning over a leaf in those files could be heard.

Without realizing it, she was beginning to lose control of her powers, gradually separating her body from the seat and rising a few centimeters.

This action did not go unnoticed by the police officers who functioned as her escort.

"Don't you dare to escape." the warning was given by the woman, while her companion looked at her seriously.

For a second her body became invisible, her nerves played a trick on her. And both agents became tenser, but fortunately for the girl, the director intervened.

"I would appreciate it if you don't speak to one of my students like that." Her words were calm but forceful, her displeasure clear at the tone the policewoman had used. With more calm and a kind look, Bloodgood turned her attention to Spectra. "Miss Vondergeist, please control yourself, you are not in trouble and no one is going to hurt you."

"It's not like we can either." the black-haired policeman commented with a sarcastic tone, earning an annoyed look from the headmistress, but he was not affected.

His companion on the other hand chose the path of eloquence and spoke with a certain kindness.

"No one is going to accuse you of anything, nor have we come to send you to the world of ghosts." that explanation, although vague, managed to make the ghost girl calm down momentarily. "It will be just a few questions and you can go to class."

Moments later, the Sheriff approached Bloodgood's desk and placed in front of the director the files he was reading, and then pushed them towards the woman. She took them and began to leaf through them, it was a report about what happened last Friday.

"I hope to have your cooperation, in this case, Mrs. Bloodgood." The horsewoman looked up for a few seconds and then returned to the file. "As you can see, there is everything that is known about the unfortunate event that occurred in the Mall that our city has." Crabgrass frowned when she heard him say that, or rather, by the way, he said it, it was clear that man didn't care what happened to a monster. "Event in which two unknown monsters decided to transform the Mall into their playground."

Bloodgood did not respond immediately, her eyes scanned intently over the images taken after the event. She was shocked at all the destruction. It was well known to all that certain types of monsters could cause a lot of damage if left unchecked, strong emotions were usually a trigger for their abilities to get out of control and in a society like the one they lived in, that was never well seen.

Seeing the debris, the burns, the strange crystals, and those stones coated with a black and red substance were amazing, but at the same time disturbing.

Not to mention that all that damage had miraculously disappeared to the next day.

"Let's get down to business, Sheriff." she asked as she looked away from the report and focused on the man. He looked at her with slightly narrowed eyes. "I received a visit from your agents on Sunday morning, they already gave me that speech, be quick, it's Monday and I have a meeting with a possible new student."

For a few seconds, the tension was palpable, which once again made Spectra nervous, causing her to shrink slightly in place. The idea that she had been brought in for one of her publications and that the Maul was named, was a clear indication of what was going on. Simply put, she was a key witness, and that she had managed to record much of what had happened.

"All right." The Sheriff cleared his throat and spoke once more. "Since your student here, Miss... Wonder?"

"It's Vondergeist." corrected the girl, but she remained silent when she saw how that human was looking at her.

"Of course, that." The Sheriff returned his gaze to Bloodgood and continued. "She photographed the green monster in the woods next to Monster High." the man was silent for a few moments, allowing the headless horsewoman to analyze those words. "Given this, we have a suspicion that the monster might be here." Once again he looked at Spectra, the young ghost if she could have swallowed her saliva would have done so. "Or that You are hiding him."

"That is a serious accusation, Mr. Sheriff." Bloodgood's response was calm, but she was not appreciating the implication that she, her institution, or, failing that, her students were complicit in the attack. "I assume you have evidence to back up such an accusation."

A sly smile appeared on the Sheriff's face. With one hand he motioned to his subordinates. The black-haired man quickly pulled out a cell phone and then showed the screen of the cell phone to the director.

The woman frowned at what she saw. It was the publication that Spectra had made. A publication that claimed that this mysterious monster had not only entered Monster High but had also attacked two students. If she had been able to scowl, even more, Bloodgood would have. The idea that her beloved students had been attacked by that monster infuriated her, after all, aside from her beloved pet and friend, her students were the most valuable thing she had.

Her gaze flicked momentarily to her student. She knew how prone she was to not check the sources of information she possessed, but this time there was some hard evidence. The dents in the lockers and that both students involved, Heath Burns and Manny Taur were found in a hallway in an unconscious state.

Still, she decided to risk asking.

"Miss Vondergeist, would you be so kind as to tell us what you saw?"

"Yes, headmistress." The girl took a deep breath, she needed to control her nerves to be able to speak. After a few seconds, she succeeded and started with her story. "During Friday I heard a rumor that Nefera was seen back at school, I wanted to have that gossip on my blog so I started wandering the halls looking for her."

"And that's when you found our mystery monster, right?" asked the light brown-haired woman as she jotted that down in a small notebook.

"I heard a knock and went over to look, I didn't expect to find that... thing." that the young woman didn't call it a "monster" caught the attention, not only of the policemen but also of Bloodgood and Crabgrass.

"Now even among monsters they call each other "things"? Oh how low we have fallen!" commented the black-haired policeman sarcastically, but his face reflected seriousness. "If it wasn't a monster, what did you see?"

"I..." The girl kept silent, the answer eluded her. She had some theories about the origin of both creatures, among them, that they were aliens. After all, the red one had fallen from the sky like a meteorite, while the green one was possibly responsible for what had happened a week before. "I don't know." she chose to say that, she didn't need to be called crazy, it's enough that everyone considered her a liar. "I saw him put Manny and Heath in some lockers, merge to a phone and release Jackson."

"That sounds like a regular bully." commented the Sheriff, his smile only grew as he turned his gaze to the headmistress. "I think you should choose better who you accept in this place."

The provocation was obvious. The rider noticed she was not unfamiliar with the type of person this Sheriff was. Someone tied to the past, who chose to keep humans and monsters apart, and who, given the chance, would unjustly imprison any monster. Since they arrived that man had tried to test the limit of her patience, a futile attempt, she was much older than him, the time came with wisdom and at the same time, patience.

That didn't stop her from wanting to punch him.

But she had to keep her composure.

Her gaze returned to her student, who was fiddling with her ICoffin, her thumbs moving erratically over the device's screen.

It would be best to get it over with quickly so the poor girl could relax.

"What happened after that?" she asked kindly.

"When Jackson left, I went over to investigate, I heard that thing moving around the ventilation ducts so I followed him." she explained but was interrupted by the Sheriff.

"We know where to look." The man looked at the headless horseman and gave her a condescending look. "Mrs. Bloodgood, I'm afraid I must ask you to close your institution indefinitely until we find this monster."

"Excuse me?" the principal's eyes narrowed, that man was just looking for an excuse to annoy the monsters? Was this all a stupid ploy to sabotage her? It was not unknown to her that many were against her idea of unification through Monster High, but to use vague excuses like that?

"Uh... excuse me." the director and the sheriff turned their attention to Spectra when they heard her speak. "He didn't stay there, I followed him, I thought it would be a good gossip, I'm... I mean, I'd like to be a reporter someday, I thought it was my chance for that, I didn't get into two classes that day for following him, it was in the woods when I take those pictures that I uploaded to my blog."

The Sheriff said nothing, his attention was directed to his subordinate who was writing down everything, she nodded towards him, before continuing to write.

"Adorable." commented the Sheriff sarcastically. "But it doesn't matter, I think we'll have to close this place until we manage to find that monster."

Bloodgood almost exploded on hearing that, he suddenly stood up and slammed his palms against the table, which caused several reactions, first, his mare became alert and let the fire out of her nose, and second, it caused the policemen to step back and hold their guns.

She looked with extreme seriousness at those humans, she was not going to allow something like that to happen.

But before she could speak, Crabgrass did.

"What the little ghost says is true." The old woman searched through her clothes and took out some papers, which she handed to the Sheriff. "That is Friday's attendance list, as you can see, she missed that class, which fits with her story."

"This doesn't prove that the thing isn't here." replied the Sheriff.

"I don't think she's here." Seeing herself under the policemen's watchful eye, the ghostly girl shrank even more in her place, that wasn't the kind of attention she enjoyed and that annoyed look from the policeman got on her nerves. "I went to the Maul that afternoon, and recorded what happened, I saw what they were capable of, if they were here, I would know, the walls have ears here."

"Conveniently, you were present, not only when one of those monsters appeared here." The young woman was forced to look in another direction with every word the Sheriff said. Bloodgood on the other hand felt her temper being tested, she could imagine where the man was headed. "You were also present when the Mall was attacked, are you an accomplice?"

The ghost looked at him with wide eyes, whether it was her nerves, her anger at being treated like a freak, or that accusation, it provoked an almost spontaneous reaction in her.

"I have nothing to do with those things!" she shouted, some things shook slightly, a clear sign of a poltergeist effect caused by the young ghost.

The policemen tensed at this and reflexively brought their hands to their guns, a futile act against a ghost.

The tension shot up at that. Nightmare, Bloodgood's mare became erratic and some flames emerged from her nose. The rider tried to calm her down, but it was almost useless.

Crabgrass clenched her fists and looked sternly at those humans, if it wasn't for a stupid deal she made with a human, she would have wrapped them in roots.

Realizing what she did, the ghost girl quickly returned to the seat and lowered her gaze, and spoke again.

"I was with my friends..." she whispered, but loud enough to be heard.

The Sheriff's subordinates looked at each other and slowly moved their hands away from their weapons and the woman resumed her notes.

The sheriff on the other hand kept a neutral expression, although it was minimally audible the chuckle that escaped his lips, almost had the girl.

"Is this how you educate your students?" he asked with a mocking tone as he looked at Bloodgood, who did not appear that comment. "And tell me, girl." Spectra cringed again when she heard him use that word. "Can you tell me the names of your friends?"

The young woman hesitated for a few moments, she did not want to get any of her friends in trouble, but it was the only alibi she had.

"Lagoona Blue, she works at the Coffin Bean part-time, then Venus McFlyTrap appeared with a human called Ben Tennyson." that new information not only surprised the two female monsters but also caught the humans off guard.

The girl was confused at the expressions the adults had, they were not the expressions she had expected.

"Do you say that a human was with a monster?" repeated the brown-haired woman, seeing how the teenage monster nodded she was even more surprised.

"She's getting into it now." commented the woman's companion. "Who in their right mind would go into a place full of monsters?"

"Someone who has much better values than some people." was Bloodgood's response, a radiant smile had formed on her lips and her gaze was directed to the Sheriff, who still seemed to be evaluating everything. "Don't you think so? Sheriff."

The Sheriff did not need to be a genius to realize that this woman was criticizing him, criticizing his way of acting and thinking. Something he did not like. But before he could say anything, his subordinate spoke.

"This... Ben Tennyson, right?" the ghost nodded. "Can you tell us what he was doing with you?"

"Uh... what's that got to do with it?" she asked confused.

"Answer the question, monster." ordered the Sheriff.

Bloodgood's expression became much sterner, her patience was already at its limit.

"He was lost, Venus helped him and took him to the Coffin Bean, we spent the afternoon together, he didn't mind us being monsters." that explanation again startled the humans, Crabgrass between closed her eyes and Bloodgood, well, her scowl dropped and she allowed herself to smile.

After all, Ben Tennyson would soon be attending her school, and with the information just obtained, she couldn't be happier, at last, a human who saw beyond appearances or species.

Could this be the beginning of something much better? She already wished she could witness it.

"What's more, he told us that he was Frankie's cousin since his cousin's left hand was used to create Frankie."

And that explanation alone, although well-intentioned, only aggravated the situation.

"What?" the black-haired policeman asked, clearly disturbed.

"Oh my god, that sounds too sick." added the brown-haired woman. "Poor guy, to think that the corpse of a relative of his was used to create a monster."

The policeman with the mustache looked at Bloodgood. The rider noticed that a condescending smile had returned and didn't like it.

"That sounds like something illegal, Headmistress." The horsewoman looked at the policeman, not intimidated by him. "I think I'm going to have to talk with this girl, Frankie, and her parents."

"I would appreciate it if you didn't harass any more of my students." she replied calmly, a facade that was slowly breaking down. "Miss Stein and her family are not the abominations you think they are."

"I would never dare call them that." The sarcasm in the man's voice was more than obvious, his smile was maintained throughout, which increased Bloodgood's anger. "But who knows what they might do to that poor child."

"Nothing bad, I assure you." The Sheriff was confused to see that the rider was wearing a big smile. "After all, if they did anything to my future student, I would personally bring them to justice."

"Excuse me?" questioned the Sheriff, unsure if he had heard correctly. "Your future student?"

"That's right, Mr. Tennyson approached me on Sunday when I while enjoying an iced tea, asked me to enroll him here, and since theoretically the Steins are his guardians, I granted him an interview, in fact, he should arrive any minute, so, I'm afraid to say it, but our pleasant meeting has to be over as soon as possible."

The officer said nothing, kept silent and his eyes narrowed. He saw that woman smile smugly, arrogant that she had beaten him at his own game, at least for that occasion.

Satisfied at that reaction, the rider looked at her student, who seemed to be as surprised as those humans at the news of the new student.

"Miss Vondergeist, would you please finish telling us your story?" she asked politely.

At the sound of her last name, the young woman came out of her stupid and with a slightly trembling voice spoke again.

"Yes, Headmistress." the girl took out her ICoffin and looked for something in her gallery, and then showed it to those present, there was playing the video of the attack on the Maul that she had recorded. "I recorded this shortly after the green one appeared, I... I'm not sure if they are normal monsters."

"What do you mean?" asked the brown-haired policewoman. She approached the ICoffin and looked attentively at the video, she had to admit that watching those things fighting was amazing.

"They both had this... laser eye, the green one was able to detach a part of his body and fuse to the Coffin Bean's coffee machine, the red one managed to cut off his arm and turn it into stone, but the green regenerated almost instantly and according to some guys from the vampire academy, he also fused to a guitar and turned it into an energy ax."

"Okay, I admit, that sounds cool." commented the black-haired policeman.

"How did you get accepted into the police force?" asked his partner.

"For my great charisma."

Hearing how his subordinates were totally off the subject at hand exasperated the Sheriff, next time he would not bring in the recruits.

But ignoring the pair, he returned his attention to the video and subsequently to Spectra.

"And what kind of monster has that kind of ability?" he asked.

"Those don't sound like the abilities of a monster at all." Crabgrass commented with some intrigue, the woman had her years and had never heard of a monster with such abilities as those described by Spectra. "I heard they were slimes, but now, I don't even know what they could be."

"Even I can't identify what kind of creature they are or even if they are conscious." Bloodgood commented, the woman didn't bother to mask her astonishment, they were all just like her, after all. "But this proves that this monster, whatever it is, is not here and my school has nothing to do with it."

"Uhm, you're lucky." he commented, but he was not happy. "But don't think you're not under the spotlight, this place gathers all kinds of freaks, who knows what thing could be hanging around here."

That was more than enough for Bloodgood, a throbbing vein showed on her forehead and she looked with an irritated expression at the man.

"Get out of my office, now!" she ordered.

The agent let out a laugh at that and walked toward the door, followed by the other two.

"Thank for your cooperation, you can keep that copy if you see those monsters, I hope you call us." The agents left the office, leaving behind them an uncomfortable atmosphere.

Nora dropped into her seat shortly after and let out a deep sigh, her headache had returned.

Shortly thereafter he looked at Spectra, who didn't know exactly what to do.

"You may leave, Miss Vondergeist, I appreciate your cooperation." The girl nodded shyly and floated off the chair in the direction of the door. "Another thing Miss Vondergeist, I would appreciate it if you wouldn't publish the information you just heard, it is something I would like to announce in person."

Though hesitant at this, Spectra nodded and walked through the door shortly thereafter, leaving Bloodgood next to Crabgrass at the scene.

The old woman had an annoyed expression on her face, knowing that a human was about to enroll in school did not please her at all, so she decided to question her.

"Miss Bloodgood, are you sure bringing a human to Monster High is a good idea?"

The horsewoman didn't bother to look at her, she was not unfamiliar with her assistant's dislike of humans, but she was going to stick to her guns on this one.

"I know it's a risky move on my part, but I won't back down, Monster High was built as a way to break all barriers, and so far, the only one that hasn't been broken is the barrier with humans."

"You're not serious, right?" she questioned again. "This is simply madness, they see us as beasts, why accept one here?"

"Don't question my decisions, Miss Crabgrass." she asked politely, but it was clear that his patience was beginning to border on the limit. "The decision has already taken." the old woman frowned at that but said no more, simply walked to the office door and went out.

Being alone, Nora let out a deep sigh, only to have her friend and companion, Nightmare, come up to her and rest her head against her cheek. That small action caused the woman to smile and stroke her gently.

"I hope I'm not making a mistake, old friend." The mare whinnied and shook her head.

At that moment, after knocks sounded against the office door. The woman put on a neutral expression once again and spoke.

"Come in."

When the door opened, two figures familiar to her were present. They were Viveka Stein and the mysterious human boy, Ben Tennyson, both advanced towards her desk and the first to speak was Viveka.

"It's good to see you, Nora." Frankie's mother looked at Ben, who seemed distracted by Nightmare. "Ahem."

"What? Oh right, hello Director, I came to get my papers and brought my "guardian"" that last thing she said, making quotation marks with his fingers, which earned an arched eyebrow from his friend's mother and a small chuckle from Bloodgood.

"Please take a seat, I have your papers ready, I just need some extra data and your signature Viveka."

---

Floating aimlessly and as if she were a soul in pain was something Spectra did not do often. She preferred to stay hidden so she could catch the best gossip without anyone noticing. Except now, that same passion for fresh news put a bull's-eye on Monster High.

Her gaze lowered to her ICoffin, the video of the fight between the two aliens was still there, only paused.

Was it worth all those visits? She was no sure.

Plus, now she had a new tidbit she couldn't post! She was going to say some things to Ben when she saw him, he had never said anything to her about signing up for Monster High. She would be furious with him if he wasn't so nice.

"Why're you so down?" asked a female voice from somewhere.

Spectra recognized it and turned her head, her gaze swept down the hallway until she saw a shadow projected by a waterer and knew that was where she should go.

As she approached, a pale figure came into view, it was a rather young girl, with bluish-green hair. Her choice of clothing made her look like a "little lady", mixed with a gothic style, consisting of a baggy shirt with ¾ dark blue sleeves, a small skirt covering the upper half of her thighs, navy blue heeled boots.

"Hi Twyla, what are you doing there?" she asked kindly. She knew her, after all, they shared some things, for example, shyness, although Twyla was much shyer and reserved than she was. They managed to form a friendship thanks to the fact that they didn't have many friends, and while it was rare when they met, she appreciated the young monster.

"I'm waiting for a friend." When she heard that she opened her eyes in surprise at hearing that, but then a smile appeared on her face and she decided to tease her a little.

"Are you changing me for someone else? Twyla, I thought we were something special." her dramatics earned an arched eyebrow from the younger monster, which made the ghost let out a defeated sigh. "Just kidding, sometimes you're too serious."

"I just didn't find your joke funny." she replied, then looked at her with some concern. "Spectra, what's wrong? You seem down, you're floating too close to the ground today."

Hearing that, the ghost girl dropped her shoulders and put on a resigned expression. She floated next to her friend and crossed her legs in the air to make herself more comfortable.

"It's about that post I made, the human cops think that monster is here at Monster High and all because I wrote that I saw it here." she explained, her friend nodded and evaluated her words, while Spectra let out a deep sigh. "I think I made a mistake."

"You tried to inform about a mysterious monster, your intention was good Spectra, don't be mortified." the ghost gave her friend a half-smile, but her mood didn't improve much, so Twyla tried something else. "Dad punished me for scrapping his work last week, he took away my ICoffin so I haven't seen your blog yet, what was it you posted?"

She hesitated a bit but eventually passed her ICoffin to her little friend, who took it and began playing the open video.

Her eyes widened in surprise at the sight of the two aliens fighting each other, it was like a science fiction movie, only it was real.

"The one I saw was the green one." began Spectra. "I saw him hit Manny and Heath and then release Jackson, it was strange."

"Did he release Jackson?" At that question, the ghost nodded. Twyla evaluated that information for a few seconds before speaking again. "You says he beat up Manny and Heath, but he released Jackson, is it possible he saw them do something to him?"

Spectra put a hand on her chin, what the girl said was true, she knew that both bullies were harassing Jackson, was it possible that this monster saw them doing something to him and acted accordingly?

"You mean that monster was protecting Jackson?" she questioned.

"It's just an idea, looking at this video it's clear that, if he had wanted to do it, Manny and Heath would be in the hospital or the morgue." the ghost girl evaluated those words, it made some sense. She then remembered what happened at the Coffin Bean, how he had stood by watching them, not showing aggression, until his red counterpart again attacked him, even not hurting the students of the Vampire academy when he had the chance. It was very contradictory considering how destructive he could be.

"You mean, green wasn't someone bad?"

"I don't know, it's a possibility." answered the younger one, her gaze returned to the video, that's when she noticed something strange. "Spectra, what's that on its chest?"

Hearing that, the girl was confused and came closer to see. As Twyla said, the green monster had something attached to its chest, she couldn't identify what it was.

"It looks like an hourglass." commented her friend. "To tell you the truth, I have no idea what kind of thing they are, look at that black body and green lines, or the black, white and red, they almost look like suits of some kind."

"Now that you mention it..." Spectra sharpened her gaze, something about the green monster began to look familiar. Those lines, she had seen them before.

But before she could remember where she saw them, a female voice was heard.

"Twyla! Sorry, I'm late, I had to run away from my brothers." A young monster came running towards her, Spectra looked at her for a few seconds, she was young, possibly the same age as Twyla, she had curly and light brown hair, along with a somewhat extravagant outfit.

The wolf girl noticed Spectra and looked at her a bit confused and then looked at Twyla, who wasted no time in introducing them both.

"Spectra, this is Howleen, the friend I told you." Spectra raised her hand and gave her a little wave. "Howleen, this is Spectra, one of my few friends."

"It's a pleasure." said the wolf woman kindly. "Come on, I have to show you something I managed to get from my sister! You won't believe it! I don't know where she got it from, but it's incredible!" Before the girl could say anything, her friend grabbed her by the arm and dragged her away.

"Howleen, wait, my arm!" she asked but was ignored.

"No! We mustn't waste time, if Clawdeen finds out that I took this thing, she will kill me!"

Spectra let out a small laugh at that, it was good to see that her friend was also slowly coming out of her shell.

Her gaze returned to her ICoffin, the video had stopped once again, but she couldn't shake the feeling that there was something she was missing. Her friend's words made her think, was it an evil being? Or was it just a bad coincidence?

---

Enrolling in Monster High was less complicated than he had originally imagined. He had expected to be asked for his documents or something similar, he planned a countermeasure if this was the case, after all, having an Alien capable of merging to technology made it much easier to hack and create fake files. It was fortunate that Bloodgood didn't ask for much more than his full name, place, and date of birth, his parents' names, and little else.

He easily deduced that the woman was possibly desperate if the conversation he had unwittingly eavesdropped on between her and the old plant woman was any indication. He would be a wild card for Bloodgood, a way to show this "Council" that she was getting results. He could help her with that, after all, it was her plan, she just needed to avoid being too obvious that he possessed such information.

But leaving his plans for later, his eyes traveled over the place he was in. A spacious classroom, the walls painted gray with several windows on the opposite side from where he was. The place was full of students, only, instead of teenagers, they were young adults, all monsters.

Because he did not possess a key to enter the Stein house, and they did not want to leave him unsupervised in case he did something foolish, again, Viveka had taken him to the university where she was teaching with Viktor.

Hours passed since he arrived there and he could already tell that the gap between species was bigger than he thought. The building itself was normal, classrooms, students, teachers. Both humans and monsters. Only, instead of sharing classes, they all avoided each other as if they had the plague. He failed to understand how such a system could work, wouldn't it be simpler to bottle them all up regardless of whether or not you had horns or an extra pair of arms? Whether they wanted to or not, they were going to have to live together, they shared the same planet after all.

"Who is that normie?" he heard someone whisper, he arched an eyebrow at that, if they were trying to be subtle, they weren't succeeding.

He wisely chose not to pay attention to whatever they said about him, his temper and ego would not let him go unanswered if he continued to listen to them.

His eyes focused on Viveka, the woman was in front of everyone, explaining something about monster biology, after all, it was her Biteology class. He was still surprised about the puns that were used by the Monsters, no doubt it would generate some dissonance with humans, but again, puns! He loved them, so getting used to them would be simple.

The sound of the bell marking the end of that period was heard. Slowly, the students gathered their notes and belongings and left, but not before looking at him as if he were a freak. He stood up and walked towards his friend's mother, he had kept to the sidelines of the class, as far away as possible so that no one would focus on him and interrupt the woman's lesson. The results were mixed, even so.

"Your class was very interesting." he began when he got close enough to the woman's desk. Viveka took off the glasses on her face and focused her attention on the boy. "I didn't know that silver caused allergic reactions in some monsters, I always thought it was only good for killing werewolves."

"Hollywood tends to exaggerate some things." she clarified, while Ben put on a thoughtful expression for a few seconds.

"So, vampires don't die with wooden stakes?"

"Anyone would do it." a soft laugh escaped the boy's lips, he had to admit that made sense. Viveka was silent for a few moments, she didn't know exactly what to say to him, she noticed during his class that the young man was bored, listening to the same class three times in a row must have exhausted him, not to mention that now that she knew his real origin, she couldn't help but feel a bit nervous and excited in front of him.

"How long before we leave? No offense, but I've been listening to something half the day that's not for me."

"Learning never hurts Ben, isn't that your reason for attending Monster high?" she questioned, she noticed the boy momentarily look in another direction, but his eyes returned to her.

"Something like that, I thought it would be good for me to resume those studies I left, at least for the time I'm stuck here." he explained. Viveka nodded in response, but couldn't help but think that something was out of place in his words. "Anyway, do you think I could go for a walk? I need to find a place to put Malware, sleeping near the guy who wants to kill me isn't exactly pleasant."

At that question, the woman let out a deep sigh and brought a hand to her face to massage the bridge of her nose. The day before, after the boy in front of her told them his whole story and answered many, really many questions, he disappeared all night, she wasn't sure what he did, but that same morning, she found the truck that was a ship in disguise, the young shapeshifter with a big smile and enjoying his last rations of junk food and inside the vehicle, the fearsome villain known as Malware.

She and her husband almost ran out of electricity at the sight of the sinister figure of the alien, even though he was trapped in diamonds, it was more than clear that he was still conscious. Her daughter looked very frightened before him, especially when the villain's lines glowed. Her motherly instinct made her hug her to calm her fears.

After a long explanation and many reasons why it was not a good idea to turn Malware over to the police, they came to an agreement that they needed to hide him somewhere.

"I still don't think you should sleep in a truck." a nervous laugh came out of the young hero's mouth. For her part, she looked at him neutrally. "Ben, it's not healthy, you know you could sleep on the couch, it's better than sleeping on the floor."

"I know, and I appreciate the offer, but I don't want to be much more of a bother than I already am." she was about to reproach him for saying that, but the young man continued talking. "Besides, Viktor doesn't want me around Frankie, you saw how he got last night just because Ditto called Frankie "pretty"."

The woman put on a blank expression at the mention of that event, she loved her husband above all things but hated when he got like that, the scolding the monster received was quite long.

But Ben was right, maybe the idea of him living indefinitely with them was not a good one, after all, they had a daughter, and teenagers are very prone to make certain mistakes. Like creating a boyfriend without informing their parents first.

"I know someone who might be able to take you in." Ben looked at her carefully, he knew the woman well enough to know that she was speaking from logic, and having evaluated the possibilities. "Her name is Kindergrübber, she is a teacher at Monster High and owns a boarding house, she no longer receives clients, but maybe she will accept you there, a Simulacrum created by Frankie lives with her."

"A what was created by Frankie?"

"Simulacrum, created monsters are called by that name." she explained, a sly smile appearing on her face which made Ben a little tense. "If you had studied instead of running off and causing chaos on Friday, you'd know that."

"You're not going to let me forget that easily, are you?" he asked as his shoulders slumped and his head dropped. "Sounds good, besides, I think I like the idea of having my bachelor pad."

"You will not do anything that damages the property, and you will obey the rules of Kindergrübber." her voice was calm but serious, this reminded the young hero of his cousin, who always scolded the damage he caused.

"I think that can wait, the priority is to find a place to hide Malware, away from everyone and out of prying eyes."

Viveka evaluated those words for a few seconds, places like that were not many in New Salem, many monsters inhabited the forests, the lakes, and even the mountain ranges near the city, maybe a cave would be the closest place to that description, but she didn't know of any.

Her eyes widened as she realized that there was another such place, and it was just below them.

"I think I know a place." The woman thought carefully about her words, it was risky, and finding the place she was thinking of would be difficult, but it was the perfect place. "It's an old laboratory, it belonged to Doctor Frankenstein while he was studying at Monster High, it's in the catacombs."

"Catacombs?" he repeated a little confused. "You mean those places where the dead were buried?"

"No, the catacombs here are different, is system of caverns just below the city and much of the surrounding area." she explained, Ben was surprised to hear that, he couldn't help but compare that place with Undertown, a small alien city just below his hometown. "Some areas were used a long time ago, but nobody goes down there anymore, some disappearances occurred and the monsters that inhabit the place aren't exactly friendly."

"Sounds like a good place to take a walk." he joked and then turned his attention to his left wrist and activated his watch. "I'll go take a look."

"Before you go, I have something to ask you." The woman looked at him with extreme seriousness, a sign that what she was about to tell him was not to be taken lightly. "Promise me you won't take Frankie to that place."

That earned the young man's confusion, it was a place that belonged to a relative of the girl, wouldn't it be right to allow her to see the things that were there? He decided to question that.

"Any reason for that?"

"Just an old rule, two hundred years ago, when Doctor Frankenstein created my parents, Adam and Eve, he told them that when the third generation of ours is created, to avoid at all costs to tell her anything about the family, that she should do it alone." Ben frowned at that, he couldn't believe that Frankie's great grandfather would do something like that, Viveka noticed his angry expression and hurried to speak. "Frankenstein was a strange man, he never explained, but it was what he asked for on his deathbed, Adam and Eve passed this information to Viktor and me before they both stopped talking to us."

"Frankie's great-grandfather didn't want her to know about him or the first generation?" he questioned. "No offense, but your grandfather sounds like a jerk." The woman said nothing, she too had her own opinions about the man, but she chose to keep them to herself. "It's okay, I won't say anything, besides, you saw how she got this morning, I don't think she wants to be around Malware."

"Thanks, Ben."

"Well, I'll get going, no offense, but hearing you teach the same class three times is boring." the boy activated the clock and looked for a specific transformation.

Viveka covered her eyes when a powerful green light covered the young human, when she regained her vision, the boy had been replaced by a strange figure.

A slender humanoid, covered by a blue-colored robe with black patterns of some kind was there. This one possessed two huge green eyes that are hidden behind the hood of the robe and a strange mouth that almost looked like a grating.

The being looked at his body for a few seconds before speaking, his voice was whispery and spectral, and for some reason, he felt the surrounding temperature drop.

"Azmuth was right." he said with some regret. "I must not slap the core."

"What is this alien?" Viveka asked intrigued.

"I call him, Big Chill." he replied, his robe unfolded at that moment, revealing that they were four wings, similar to those of a moth mixed with those of a bat, two small sections rose above the alien's head giving an appearance of antennae.

The woman looked at him in surprise, he was a full-fledged Mothman of sorts, except that his wings didn't have that ability to fold back on themselves.

She analyzed his body, he was thin, not too thin, similar to an adult human, his chest was broad and he possessed three armor-like plates or exoskeleton covering his chest and abdomen. In addition, he possessed a sort of green belt with the Omnitrix dial on the waist.

"Your aliens look like monsters." commented the woman. "But how will you go to the catacombs? The known entrances are in Monster High, and you will attract attention if you go, Nora is already in a lot of trouble, you shouldn't cause it anymore."

"It wasn't my plan, you said it's directly below the city, right?" she nodded, although a little confused. "I'll go through the sewers, this guy has the skills I need to get there fast."

"It's okay, just, don't cause trouble, the last thing Bloodgood needs is to explain why a mysterious moth monster was haunting the place."

"Understood." The alien got ready to leave, but stopped for a moment and spoke again. "Don't let Viktor into the proto truck, I don't want him to activate the weapons system by mistake."

The woman nodded in response, her brain took a second to process that information, and then her eyes widened in horror.

"That truck has wep...!" her words died in her mouth as the moth alien became translucent and sank to the ground. This unexpected action perplexed her.

She quickly stood up and walked around her desk. It was then that he noticed that there was a thin layer of ice on the spot where Big Chill had been standing.

"Intangibility and ice powers?" she whispered as she bent down and touched the floor. "Unbelievable." Even with that, she got a rather annoyed look on her face. "When he comes back he's in for a long talk for not telling us he had guns in that truck."

---

The catacombs were large, mysterious, and full of places that were once used.

One such site was an ancient amphitheater.

Despite the years that the place had been hidden and forgotten, the decoration and construction, in general, remained stable, almost as if the native magic of the place prevented the passage of time from affecting the structure.

As grim and gloomy as it looked, it was used by a young monster as her little corner of the world to play her music.

She was a girl with purple skin that contrasted sharply with her red and black hair. Her attire seemed to be inspired by the '50s, consisting of blue jeans folded to below the knees, black and white high heels with a spider web design on them, a purple and white sleeveless jacket. On her face, she possessed a monocle-like mask with a musical note design.

The girl played the organ there with mastery and elegance, letting her emotions run wild as she touched each key.

Until suddenly, he played several at the same time, generating a horrible, out-of-tune sound.

"Ahg! This is impossible!" complained loudly, from above, a spider, which curiously had hair and combed in a topknot, descended thanks to a silk thread and rested on the girl's left shoulder, then rested one of its legs on her cheek, making her smile. "Thank you Memphis, but a caress won't be enough."

Her beloved pet watched her with concern since a few days ago, his owner had been a little down, even her music seemed to reflect some sadness. He knew the reason for this.

A few days ago, his owner had a little crush on a boy named Deuce. The two had hit it off almost as soon as they met, even though her owner's plans were quite cruel, in the end, she chose to help him solve the problem he had with his girlfriend. Cleo de Nile, a girl Operetta didn't exactly like, but she didn't consider her an enemy either.

At least not anymore.

Hearing the girl sigh, worried the little arachnid, who jumped off her shoulder and landed on the organ. Seeing that, the girl gave him a small smile, but the spider was not going to just stand by and watch his owner be sad.

It was then that he took out a small instrument similar to a bass perfect for him, the girl looked at him for a few seconds and he took advantage of this to strum a chord.

After this, she looked at her owner and wiggled her eyebrows. Something that always made her feel better was to play a little Rock'N Roll. And he knew what artist would cheer her owner up.

Without wasting any time, he began to play. The young woman looked at him for a few moments, before smiling knowingly and starting to play the keys of the organ.

"All right, Memphis, let's raise the spirit a little." Her pet smiled back and continued to play.

The monster, on the other hand, took a deep breath and began to sing.

---

Big Chill landed at an intersection and assessed where he was, it was some sort of junction of two waterways. He was sure that in the confines of that water route there was a waterfall, there was always one in places like that.

"I think I'm lost." he commented with some resignation, he was impatient and forgot to ask Viveka exactly where the lab was, it was going to take him hours to find it, even using his intangibility.

Moments before reaching that point, he had traveled a considerable distance, through the sewer and then through several destroyed sections and strange passages, but with no sign of anything resembling a laboratory. This made him question the actual size of the place possessed, Viveka said an entire cave system, but never specified how big it was.

---

Elvis Presley – Burning Love (Female Cover)

---

He is ready to leave but stopped when he heard something, it was an echo of a female voice coming from somewhere.

Lord Almighty

Feel my temperature rising

It had taken a while for the voice to reach him. His eyes widened in surprise as he heard the singing.

Higher, higher

It's burning through to my soul

For some reason, he felt the need to find the singer, and without wasting any time he took flight.

He was guided by the echo, its origin was against the current, so, if he followed the channel, he would reach the origin of that voice.

Girl, girl, girl, girl, girl

You gonna set me on fire

My brain is flaming

I don't know which way to go

His flight was fast. He didn't mind almost being caught by tentacles that emerged from the water, he had his intangibility continuously activated, in case he had to go through something, so those things missed his attack.

Your kisses lift me higher

Like the sweet song of a choir

You light my morning sky

With burning love

He arrived at an area with a small dock. This confused him a bit as he was not expecting something like that in that place.

There was a small gondola-like boat there and the music seemed to originate from somewhere following the tiled path there.

I feel my temperature rising

Help me, I'm flaming

I must be a hundred and nine

Burning, burning, burning

He wasted no time in following it. Until he came to some sort of building, something that definitely shouldn't be there, but the music was originating from inside. So he walked through the entrance and followed a red carpet.

And nothing can cool me

I just might turn into smoke

But I feel fine

Seeing an amphitheater in a place like the catacombs was strange, but it was even stranger to see a young woman playing a large organ while singing and accompanied by a spider with an exotic hairstyle.

None of them noticed his presence, they were too focused on their little act.

'Cause your kisses lift me higher

Like a sweet song of a choir

And you light my morning sky

With burning love

He watched as the girl moved the upper half of her body slightly and her head swayed from side to side following the rhythm. While the spider skillfully played his miniature instrument.

He on the other hand began to feel strange, almost as if his mind was relaxing and without realizing it he began to float towards both of them.

It's coming closer

The flames are now licking my body

Won't you help me

Feel like I'm slipping away

His eyes focused on the girl, something was drawing him to her. Was the music? Or was the beauty that the singer possessed? He wasn't sure, but he wanted to get closer. He wanted to get closer to her.

It's hard to breathe

And my chest is a-heaving

Lord, have mercy

Burning the hole where I lay

When he was a few meters away from the young girl, he leaned his body slightly forward and extended his hand. It was then that the little spider saw him and opened his eyes in surprise and looked frightened towards his owner, who continued to play and sing with a big smile on her face.

Your kisses lift me higher

Like the sweet song of a choir

You light my morning sky

With burning love

With burning love

Memphis stopped playing his instrument and tried to warn his owner of the danger, jumped toward her, and tried to beckon her to pay attention, but to no avail. The young woman continued to sing, too caught up in the song to even pay attention.

I'm just a hunk, a hunk of burning love

Just a hunk, a hunk of burning love

Just a hunk, a hunk of burning love

Just a hunk, a hunk of burning love

Just a hunk, a hunk of burning love

That thing was already on both of them and the little arachnid covered its eyes in fear.

But suddenly a strange sound was heard. Three consecutive beeps, each one had a lower pitch than the previous one and suddenly, the whole area was illuminated by a flash of green light, and soon after the dull sound of a thump and a groan were heard.

Operetta opened her eyes and turned quickly. Her eyes scanned the amphitheater, but she saw nothing strange. Memphis on the other hand jumped to her shoulder and mimicked her, but unlike his owner, he looks down.

Her small eyes widened in surprise as she saw a humanoid figure on the floor next to the podium. It slowly rose to its feet, revealing that it was a young brown-haired human boy. This confused the arachnid, that boy was not there before, and more importantly, what happened to the strange and terrifying green-eyed monster?

"Okay, the music shouldn't cause that." Hearing the young man's voice, Operetta looked down. Her eyes widened like saucers at the sight of the boy.

The young monster girl froze at his image and was quickly overcome with worry. How was it possible for a human to be down there? What was he doing down there?

She swallowed nervously as a particular question crossed her mind.

Had that human heard her singing?

It took a while for the young man to fully reposition himself, and then he shook his head as if trying to come to his senses.

Seconds later she looked up and they both exchanged glances. She didn't know what to do at that moment. Her song was dangerous, almost as dangerous as that of a siren, she could hypnotize both monsters and humans, and if the boy had heard her, as he now under her control?

You're not going to charge me admission to your show, right?" She blinked in confusion at that question, saw the boy put on a goofy grin and scratch the back of his head, before speaking again. "I'm warning you, I don't have any money."

Somewhat confused, but at the same time concerned, the young monster jumped down from the podium and landed next to Ben. The proximity allowed her to get a better look at him, both his face and his attire.

Not knowing exactly what to do, she opted for the most logical thing to do, to approach him and help him sit in one of the nearby seats.

After sitting him down, she stared at him, the young man did not seem to be under any effect from his music, except for the dizziness he seemed to have, although that could also be the fault of the blow he took.

Now that she thought about it, how did he get there? She heard a thump, had he fallen from somewhere?

When She looked up, she saw nothing out of place, no cracks, no missing pieces. Besides, the height would certainly be enough to kill a human, so he dismissed that idea.

Her eyes returned to the boy and She decided to go the logical route and simply ask.

"So what's a human doing down here?" She questioned, the boy groaned a low moan and settled back in the seat. "Uh, sorry about that, but you shouldn't have heard my singing."

"Can you blame me? You have talent there." he replied. "I was looking for something."

"In the catacombs? That's never a good idea." the boy massaged his forehead, trying to keep away the pain he felt. "What could be so important for you to come down here? besides alone."

"Funny you should say that you're here, too, all alone." he replied, with a touch of humor, but earned an annoyed look from the young woman.

"It's different, you, on the other hand, could die down here and no one would find you."

"Did anyone ever tell you that you make a very good first impression?" he asked sarcastically.

Operetta frowned, even more, the human was already beginning to dislike her. Ben noticed this, but before he could correct his mistake, she spoke.

"Can you walk? I'll get you out of here."

"I still haven't found what I was looking for." he replied, but that earned a hard look from the girl.

"I don't care, you get out of here, now, the last thing I need is to be accused of brainwashing a human with my music." Ben was surprised to hear that, but if he thought about it, it made sense, he felt almost hypnotized with the song, she had hypnotic or mind-control powers, which was never a good sign, so his mind started to raise red flags against the girl.

The young woman on the other hand walked towards the exit, but before leaving she stopped and looked at Ben.

"Are you going to stay there? Come on, I don't have all day."

She has too similar an attitude to Cleo. He thought and then got up from his seat and walked towards her. "Okay, I'll follow you, by the way, my name is Ben."

The girl hesitated for a few seconds whether or not to give her name, but decided to give him this token of decency.

"Come on, it's a long walk and a boat ride." the young hero was confused when he heard that, but he went after her.

Both teenagers walked in silence. The only audible sound was their footsteps and an occasional drop of water falling from the ceiling.

This made Ben a little uncomfortable, it was clear that this girl wasn't a big fan of his company, but that didn't stop him from trying to break the tense atmosphere.

"So... what kind of monster are you?" the boy asked, earning a somewhat annoyed look from the girl.

"It's rude to ask that question." she replied a bit aggressively.

Ben raised both hands in surrender. Operetta for her part rolled her eyes and chose to concentrate on her path.

"I'm just trying to make small talk, you know, walking around this place is boring." he replied as he crossed his arms behind his head. "What were you doing under there anyway?"

She didn't answer right away, she debated whether or not to answer his questions, but she had to agree that walking in silence was boring. She glanced sideways at Ben, who seemed to be looking around the surroundings with some curiosity.

She saw nothing wrong with a little small talk, so she decided to grant him that.

"I come down here to play music when I need to relax." Both young men arrived at that moment at the canal, and Operetta headed for the gondola. "Help me get this thing loose."

"You know, I've always wanted to kayak in a sewer." he commented clearly in jest as he jumped into the boat, causing it to rock from side to side. "Woh, this thing doesn't look very safe."

"And go down into the catacombs alone you thought it was safe?" she questioned.

"Touché."

Operetta jumped into the boat and grabbed the only oar it had, then started rowing, they had a long way to go.

Ben on the other hand looked at her with some curiosity, wondering what kind of monster she was, unlike all the other monsters he had seen, she looked human, except for that strange shade of skin.

His eyes fell on the strange mask she had on her face, it didn't exactly look like something she would wear just because maybe it had some meaning.

His mind tried to remember some masked monster, but without realizing it, he had been watching. The girl noticed this and frowned slightly and then spoke.

"Why are you looking at me?" her tone was aggressive and loud enough to snap Ben out of his stupor.

The boy had to clear his throat to speak properly.

"Sorry, I was trying to guess what kind of Monster you are." that explanation earned an arched eyebrow from the girl.

"Why do you care?" she questioned.

"I'm just curious." the boy looked away and observed the surroundings, arched an eyebrow as he saw a group of tentacles emerge from the water for a few seconds and then disappear. He was definitely not going to take a dip in those waters.

He chose to return his mind to Operetta, she seemed annoyed with his presence and his plan to engage in a normal conversation did not go as he wished.

A light bulb went off over his head as he had an idea, maybe he needed to try a different approach, something more artistic. He looked momentarily at Operetta and decided to take a chance.

"So, you like rock, do you?" he asked. Operetta looked at him out of the corner of her eye, but didn't answer him, she just continued rowing. "I liked that song you played, was an Elvis song, wasn't it?"

She was surprised at that. A reaction that made Ben celebrate internally, he had caught her attention, he just needed to keep it up.

"I liked the way you played it, Rock N Roll baby." he commented with amusement.

The girl looked at him rather surprised, and almost automatically spoke.

"Do you know Elvis?" he asked, an interest reflected in his voice, which was not overlooked.

"Who doesn't know the King?" he replied, earning a laugh from the girl. Again she celebrated, she had managed to break the ice with yet another monster and confirmed one of her theories. They were not very different from humans in terms of tastes or hobbies.

"Good answer normie." she looked in the direction of her guitar case, a dreamy smile formed on her face which caught Ben's attention. "I love music, especially Rock and Country, it makes me feel... free." a small laugh was heard and the young woman arched an eyebrow as she looked at the human, who was looking away. "What?"

"Sorry, you sounded so corny." his response came in the form of a blank stare. "I also like Rock, do you know AC/DC or Green Day?"

"Do you like Rock too?" the girl gave him a bright smile and his interest increased. -

-Like it? I love it, I even took guitar lessons because of it." he said with amusement, earning a laugh from the girl. "Let me tell you, I have a lot of rock albums."

The girl looked thoughtful for a moment and touched her chin with her index finger.

"You know Blackhearts?"

"They are good, the singer is amazing." a smile escaped from the young girl's lips when she heard that, apparently the boy and she had some tastes in common. "Do you know Sum 41? Their songs do know how to reflect some things about adolescence, don't you think?"

"I love those guys, I love The Hell Song, those chords are amazing."

Without realizing it, Operetta began to talk fluently with the boy. Ben on the other hand almost triumphantly celebrated that small victory, he had made it through the barriers with another monster, in the most normal way possible. Sharing a chat about his musical tastes.

"It's a little strange that someone listens to the music of the '50s these days, but I'm passionate about it, I wish I could share that same passion, but because of my powers, I cannot." The boy expected Operetta to put on a sad expression when he said that, but it wasn't so, she was smiling with more energy. "That doesn't stop me from continuing with my music, luckily my powers don't work on a recording so I can record without problems."

"Wow." the boy let out a whistle at this new information, he was impressed by everything the girl had told him, although he had a doubt. "So your father is The Phantom of the Opera, does that make you... The Phantom of Rock N Roll?"

Operetta let out a small laugh at the comparison but denied it.

"No, rather, The Phantom of the Opry." she noticed the young man's confused expression and continued talking. "Opry, you know, those places where play live country music."

"If you ever do a live performance, I want a ticket."

"If I did that, you and everyone else would end up brainwashed or something." she replied with some amusement, she turned her attention to the front, she noticed they were approaching a dock.

When they arrived at the old structure, she jumped out of the gondola, followed by Ben, who picked up the rope and looked for a place to tie it off.

Operetta looked around for a few seconds, she had to find a way to get Ben out of the place and she wasn't sure if using the Monster High exit was a good idea. Besides, she didn't want any rumors to be created because she was leaving that place with him either. That it happened once was more than enough for that century.

The boy approached her and noticed her thoughtful expression, so he decided to leave her to it. He chose to direct his thoughts to the reason that had brought him to that place. He found no trace of the lab, he had wasted an entire afternoon exploring the catacombs before he found Operetta. He wanted to find the damn place, bring the idiot Malware and waste his time playing some of the video games he found among the stuff in the proto-truck before starting the next stage of his plan.

AAAAAAAAAAAAH!

The thoughts of both youngs were interrupted when a powerful scream echoed throughout the place. It came from somewhere above them both and was so loud that it shook the place a little and forced them to cover their ears.

"Oh my God, who can shout so loud!" complained the young hero.

"I have some ideas!" answered Operetta. "If is Cleo the one who's screaming, I'm going to shove her pom-poms in her mouth!"

Ten seconds later, the rumbling stopped. They both stopped covering their ears and Operetta looked around for any sign of danger.

The catacombs housed many creatures, some passive, some neutral, or other aggressive, that scream might have angered one that belonged to those last two categories and if being in that channel, they were too easy a target.

Ben noticed her look, which confused him a little, and decided to ask.

"Something wrong?"

The girl did not respond immediately but continued to look around. Some distant shrieks and growls were heard, which made her and Ben, who unconsciously brought his right hand to the Omnitrix, alert.

"This isn't good." she whispered, then grabbed the human's arm and began to move.

This took him by surprise, his hand moved away from the watch and he was dragged away by the girl.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked confused.

"Problems." Ben decided it would be best to imitate her and began to run along with him. "That scream surely woke up the Scargolyes."

"Scargoyles?" he asked confused.

"A wild monster, gargoyles with a body like a lizard, wings like a bat, face like a squid." she explained quickly.

"That doesn't sound like a gargoyle."

"No, but that's what they're called."

A sound similar to the flapping of a bat's wings began to be heard in large quantities. Both young's turned their heads back.

Their eyes widened in horror at the sight of a large number of small creatures no bigger than a cat that exactly fit Operetta's description.

"Run!" shouted the girl, speeding up her pace even more.

"You don't have to say it again!" exclaimed Ben.

The Scargoyles shrieked wildly and lunged at them.

Running was not something Ben did. He was someone who faced things head-on, even if it scared him. He could easily transform and show those things who was boss, but with Operetta there, that wasn't a good idea.

He looked at her, the girl was running a few steps in front of him, and now and then she turned, either to look at him or her pursuers.

Running blindfolded was not a good idea, but he trusted Operetta to get them to safety.

As they turned right, the large flock of monsters passed them by, which gave them a window of time to get away from the place. Even so, moments later the monsters returned and continued to chase them.

They both kept running, Operetta went from left to right, passing several corridors until, to their bad luck, they reached a dead end.

The girl got nervous at that and looked around, there was supposed to be a way out! She was sure of it!

"What now?" questioned the boy, seeing the monster's expression, concern invaded him. "Please tell me you didn't bring us to a dead end."

"I'm-I'm sure it's not! I should exit here!" her nerves began to rise and her eyes looked in all directions, she couldn't have been wrong.

Right?

Ben on the other hand kept his cool, he could defend them both, but if he transformed he was going to destroy their cover too quickly and would no doubt make things more difficult.

He looked around for a way out until he looked up.

"Operetta." the girl turned to him, only to see how the boy was looking up and pointing at something. "I think I found the way out."

When she looked up, she had to restrain the urge to slap herself.

There was a way out.

About two meters off the ground was a metal grating leading to another section of the catacombs.

It was clear to her now, that section had been built as a trap, there was no real way out. She had brought them to a slaughterhouse.

"Well, we have some time before those things find us, you go first." The girl's eyes widened in surprise at that and she looked at the young human, who was looking around for something to climb on.

"What?" she questioned.

"You go first, climb up, then help me up." he replied, finding nothing, he simply walked until he was under the railing and clasped both hands in front of him. "Come on."

The young woman kept silent, simply looked at him, confused and amazed.

But Ben had no plans to wait forever.

"Operetta!" he exclaimed, snapping her out of her stupor. "Quick! Those things could get here at any moment!"

The ghoul blinked at that and chose to obey him. SHE approached him and rested her hands on his shoulders to propel herself, but before doing so, she looked him in the eyes.

This caught the young man's attention, he noticed how afraid she was, so he decided to lighten things up with a joke.

"You're not going to kiss me, right?" he asked in a playful tone, which earned a rather annoyed look from her.

"You have a big mouth." she replied, the boy let out a low laugh and helped her climb up.

She managed to climb up to a section that had three stone steps leading to the gate. Without wasting time, she tried to open it, but the rust on the hinges prevented her from doing so.

"The damn thing is stuck!"

"Kick it." advised the young man as he looked in the direction of the hallway, cursing under his breath as he heard the fluttering approaching. His eyes turned momentarily to Operetta, who was still trying to open the gate.

He doubted he would make it in time to help him up, he could leap and climb, he was quite athletic after all, but he couldn't leave yet, not without hitting that Lab. His attention returned to the dark hallway and he made a decision.

"Operetta." At the sound of her name, the young woman turned to the human, only for her eyes to widen as he was ready to run down the hallway. "I'll buy you some time, okay?"

"What?" she questioned perplexed. "Are you crazy? Those things are like piranhas, you can't face them, you're a human!"

"Calm down, I'm not going to face them." the monster perceived that her voice was full of calm and security as if the situation wasn't bad at all. "Besides, I still have to find what I came for."

"Are you crazy?! Those things are going to make you their appetizer!"

"Relax, I'll be fine." a chuckle escaped the boy's lips, she heard him whisper something about them not being the first squid faces she had faced, but she wasn't sure what he was referring to. "It was nice to meet you Opry girl, but here we part ways."

She was about to say something else, she wanted to claim to him how stupid he was and that he shouldn't act like a hero, but the boy had already bolted down the hallway.

He heard her shouting in the distance, drawing the Scargolyes' attention.

She stood static, not knowing exactly what to do, whether to go down and go help him or to open that gate and leave.

Maybe if she was fast enough, she could get around that whole area and hit the young man from the other side, but she was going to have to be quick.

She turned to the grille and took a deep breath, her lungs filled with air, and then she made use of one of her monstrous abilities.

AAAAAAAAAH

Banshee's scream was unleashed and the ancient grating was torn from its hinges.

Without wasting time, the girl began to run down the hallway, if she was not mistaken, ahead there were two stairs, one going up and one going down, the first would take her to the basement of Monster High, the second on the other hand descended to the next level. When she reached these, for a second, she watched the ones going up, she could leave and no one would find out that she had ever met Ben, it was logical. But she wasn't going to.

"This is the stupidest thing I've done in a long time." was her complaint before she went as fast as she could down the stairs.

She advanced quickly, she knew that route by heart, going through two empty rooms, followed by a small gate to a kind of chapel with strange designs, and finally through a small wooden port until she reached the place where she usually disembarked her gondola.

Soon she could see the water channel. She stopped when she reached the dock, her breathing was labored, her chest was rising and falling exhausted, but she didn't waste much time recovering.

She ran along the shore, he had to move towards the small dock where she left the gondola, maybe she could hit Ben there and use her scream to collapse a part of the roof and lock the Scargoyles in.

But before he got there, she heard someone shout.

"Yeeeeeeehaaaaw!"

Seconds later, several Scargoyles appeared in her field of vision, and what was more surprising, some kind of blue-furred monkey.

This one was perched on a Scargoyle larger than the others, holding on with its two pairs of arms.

She stared perplexed at the monkey, or, rather, a monster of some sort that she did not recognize.

It jumped off the Scargoyle when two others tried to attack it, but they hit the first one, causing all three to fall into the water and be swept away by the current. The monkey on the other hand pirouetted in the air and from its tail shot out a white substance similar to the web of a spider, grabbing another of these cephalopod creatures and pulling itself towards it.

One of his fists closed and struck the monster, throwing it into the water as well.

Operetta watched the fight with astonishment and disbelief, the large number was gradually dwindling, all thanks to a primate monster, who fought with skill, agility, and a big smile on his face.

In her bewilderment, the girl did not notice that one of the Scargoyles moved away from the group, changing its target for her.

This one flew at high speed and raised its tentacles from its face menacingly, revealing a mouth with a sharp beak.

She barely managed to come back to reality, but it was too late, that thing was already too close to dodge, so, without hesitation, she unleashed her Banshee scream once more.

AAAAAAAAAAAH!

The little monstrosity was launched into the air.

The sound caught the attention of the primate monster, who turned his head towards her, his six eyes widened in surprise as he recognized her, but he chose to focus on the fight.

For her scream, she was detected by the other Scargoyles, which split up to attack her as well.

She darted to the side, narrowly dodging the initial attack, but they came back. She tried to crawl out of the way, but before those things could get any closer, a net caught them. A net caught them. She turned her head towards the one responsible for this, that spider monkey monster was upside down on the ceiling and its tail was pointed at the now prey Scargoyles. Because they could not flap their wings, the monsters fell to the ground, they still tried to tear the web that wrapped around them, but it was deceptively strong.

The monkey jumped down from the roof and landed right in front of Operetta, she could see a few more features, he wasn't very tall, maybe reaching her shoulder, although his posture was that of a primate, so if he stood on his hind legs he would certainly be taller. He had two straps or rather belts of green on his chest. The hairs on his head were pointed, almost giving the appearance that he had sideburns, and the sides were grayish.

The monster approached the net and kicked it into the water, letting the current carry it away.

"Ooh-ooh that's will teach you not to mess with me Vilgax spawns!" he joked arrogantly as he pounded his chest like a gorilla. After that he turned to her, his six eyes looked at her, she got a little nervous, but it was clear he wasn't going to hurt her, otherwise, he wouldn't have helped her.

Operetta was about to say something but noticed a small detail, the cloth was still attached to the monkey's tail and from one second to the next, the monkey was dragged into the water.

"I Forget cut the web!" he exclaimed as he was swept away by the current.

Perplexed, she watched as the monster disappeared into the distance, not exactly sure what to make of what she had just witnessed.

Reality hit her soon after, she still had to find Ben. So she quickly got to her feet and continued on her way, unaware that Ben, right now, was fighting against the current. Literally.

---

And there goes another chapter.

Some quick things, first, uh, thanks to those of you who talked to me about... you know. It made me feel better, your Reviews and all pretty much helped me rewrite all of chapter 11 as well (It's just that I'm trying out some narrative styles to give this story its own voice). Second, I know the chapter at the beginning takes on a pretty serious tinge, but, face it, something like that would happen. The classic, Cause, and Effect will happen a lot.

Quick explanations, in a world like this there have to be certain rules to follow, as in any society, so I made up that, if a ghost living in the world of the living does something bad, legally is returned to the world of the dead, logical.

The university, it sounds logical that such a place exists, "mixed", but not quite, and everyone avoiding each other.

As I said before, I'm taking several things from the books, Viktor Frankenstein is Frankie's great-grandfather, and Adam and Eve's names come from them being the first ones created, Adam is named Frankenstein's monster while his wife is never named in the movies, but it sticks well.

The silver thing and the allergic reaction I got from The Witcher (if I suddenly disappear, it's the game's fault) since the only thing that harms the monsters are Silver, logical? Logical.

The catacombs and that "magic", eh I won't say anything, but there is one responsible for this.

Operetta and her feelings for Deuce, she had them, as Deuce hit it off very quickly for her, and I liked the idea that she hasn't gotten it out of her head yet.

Operetta is a tough girl, she has that personality similar to Cleo but mixed with Clawdeen, adding things of her own as well, writing her certainly was something I enjoyed. Her powers, on the other hand, are a bit... inconsistent, she's not a full-fledged ghost, she's more of a Phantom, what is that exactly? No idea, but she doesn't have the same abilities as a Ghost, as long as she's in the OverWorld (let's call the human world that to avoid confusion).

While talking to HelplessLemon about a few things, he mentioned that Phantom of the Opera, the original story, is about a man's obsession with a singer. One of the powers that Operetta can't control is that, if she sings directly in front of someone, her voice gives her control over that person, like a mermaid, both bird women (not to be confused with Harpies) and fish women.

What I did was something similar, Big Chill was affected, yes, but Ben is very strong-willed (As he proved by resisting Lord Transyl's control when he was Whampire), so controlling him mentally is not very easy, except with Rath, too stupid. So wondering how exactly is Operetta's control and remembering Lemon's words, I said to myself...

"She controls the mind, yes, but it's not total control, it's like her music pushes others to do what she wants, obsessing to please her."

Obsession after all is what represents her father, so I think it makes sense that she would generate something like that. For that reason, when I narrated Big Chill, I made it as if her mind started obsessing about reaching out to the singer for no apparent reason, and when she saw Operetta, she reached out to her and wanted to touch her.

If you think about it, it makes sense. Venus does something similar with her pollen, she doesn't directly control people but conditions them to be more docile to her influence. There is a whole scientific explanation behind this, but it is long and very boring, I will just say that hormones play an important role, Dopamine, Serotonin, those things.

None of them are Whisperers, so mind control is far from being their ability, but, beware, don't mistake that there is no one with that ability. So-called "Whisperers" is a case of mind control, and possibly magic can do that too.

Aside from all this... hmmm, maybe mention that now Ben and Operetta know each other, what can I say, I like seeing them together, they would clash quite a bit on some things, agree on many others, an interesting duet. Possible couple? Too early to tell.

I think that's it... well, as always, it's a pleasure to entertain you with this story, I look forward to reading what you think and stuff.

By the way, I'm 1 away from reaching 100 favorites and I already surpassed 110 followers, woooow, thanks, guys.