First of all, I was late because I'm stupid and I didn't make a backup of what I was writing and because of a mistake of mine I lost about 3000 words, the whole final part to be exact. Honestly, that was better than what it is now, but, it's not that bad either, it leaves some things, links others, leaves some possibilities. It serves its purpose all in all.
Ben 10 and Monster High belong to their rightful owners.
Grammar issues ahead.
XXX
Frankie's eyes stared at the ceiling of her room, she had not been able to sleep much the night before because in her mind she was still thinking about the argument Ben had with her parents. It was confusing to her, Ben did something good, he stopped a robbery, but in her parents' eyes, it was something bad, something he shouldn't have done contradictory no doubt.
Added to that was what she heard the hero say, he was alone in a world that was not his own and where his family did not exist. She couldn't even imagine how it might feel to go through a situation like that.
She turned to one side and then the other, trying to get her body settled on her bed. The feeling the mattress gave her was not to her liking, it was almost as if her body failed to find comfort there.
She decided it would be best to get up. So she looked at the clock on the bedside table.
5:43 AM
Seeing that it was almost six in the morning, the young woman stood up and went to her closet, without wasting any time she changed her pajamas for a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt and quietly left her room, then went downstairs. She made sure not to make any noise as she picked up her keys and left her home. She needed to walk around a bit, clear her head, she had a feeling that the cold morning air would help her do that.
The young woman walked through the suburbs, making sure not to go too far, she just wanted to take a little stroll.
Living in a residential neighborhood, the girl could see many adult monsters keeping to their schedules, either leaving home to start their jobs early in the morning or returning home after a night's work.
She began to think about everything that had happened in a span of a few days, the attack on the Maul, seeing Upgrade put himself in danger just to protect Cleo. Finding out that Upgrade was a shape-shifting human boy. Things seemed to get stranger as she lived with Ben.
The boy was contradictory in many ways, cheerful, sarcastic, with a lot of egos, but he was also serious, aggressive, and with a maturity that was rare to see in boys his age.
She remembered the things that happened the day before when Ben confronted Manny to defend an imp. She, like the boy, confronted Manny on previous occasions, she knew how to keep the minotaur in his place, she only had to mention his sister and the boy would become quite submissive but would return to his bully attitude eventually.
Ben instead struck with his words, he used his maturity to point out Manny's faults, point out to him that what he was doing was wrong, and that he was just behaving like a child. She was impressed, the human really could be more eloquent than he let on, which made her wonder a few things. The way he reacted was as if he had done it before, perhaps at home, he defended other people. He claimed to be a hero, so it made sense.
Then there was the fact that she stopped a robbery where her beloved mother was involved as a hostage. She saw that video, as did every other person with access to the internet. She watched as Ben fought, she wasn't an expert in such things, but she was sure the hero had some kind of training, he didn't seem to throw random punches.
As she crossed under the light of a street lamp, a shiver struck her, for a second, her peripheral vision caught a silhouette nearby, her eyes darted to the roof of a house, she was sure she saw a figure there, but there was nothing there. She turned her eyes in all directions making sure she was indeed alone.
She looked around carefully, despite being young, she knew the world was not a kind place, especially to monsters, let alone simulacrums. She did not wish to have an unpleasant encounter at that point, so she decided that was enough walking and set out on her way back. Still, the strange feeling of being watched persisted.
The young woman walked at a fast pace and without stopping looking around, she felt that someone was chasing her and every second, the sensation increased.
She stopped for a second under the light of a street lamp and turned around, she just wanted to make sure the street was empty, she looked up at the sky and scanned the rooftops, but she didn't see anything either.
If she had looked down, she would have noticed that the lawn was slightly covered by a thin layer of ice.
She exhaled all the air from her lungs, she needed to calm down. A slight amount of steam came out of her mouth and gradually a cold sensation went up to her back and made her shiver.
At the edge, she turned and tried to run home, but hit something.
The girl froze in fear and slowly looked up, meeting a strange face covered by a blue and black robe, behind that hood, she could see a huge pair of green eyes looking at her.
The monster in front of her raised its hand and tried to bring it closer to her, this made her think that he was to try to hold her, so instinctively, the girl threw her arm forward and while her fist closed, the nerves made her momentarily lose control of her electricity and her whole arm was covered by it, causing the blow to the face of the entity to be much more powerful.
The being was thrown towards a tree, the sound of his body hitting against it was heard, and then an agonizing moan.
"That blow..." the girl was ready to run when the body of the mysterious monster glowed green and changed shape. "Hurts." To her surprise and horror, it was Ben. The boy held his nose in pain and let out some low moans.
Horrified at what she had done, she quickly approached him and tried to help him. The hero staggered a little, the blow had left him dazed and with a bloody nose.
"I'm sorry! Really! I didn't know it was you!" the concern she showed made the boy let out a small laugh, followed by a groan. "Are you all right?"
"It only hurts when I breathe." he replied and despite being sore, he took the situation with good humor. "You and your mother hit like boxers."
The girl looked at him confused, he wasn't being at all angry about what had just happened, instead, he was making silly jokes, she failed to understand the reason for this, but her concern for the human's wellbeing was greater.
"Let's go to my house quickly, I think I can give you something for the pain, oh ghoul, I'm sorry, you scared me."
"Frankie." The boy tried to move away from her, which worried her. Was he angry? Would he tell her to stay away? "Calm down, your bolts are sparking."
The young woman once again looked at him in confusion, noticed some sparks jumping from her neck, and brought one of her hands closer, the sensation of a mild electric shock hit her as she did so.
"Have you thought about practicing yoga? They say it helps you relax." commented the boy with amusement and tried to laugh at his joke, but only let out a groan. "It hurts when I laugh."
"I'll take you home, I'm sorry, really." The girl tried to help him walk, but the hero was uncooperative.
"Relax, I can walk, you only broke my nose." She looked at him with some concern, she didn't know if he was telling the truth or just acting. The hero noticed that look and spoke again. "I'm telling the truth, I've taken worse beatings than a girl's punch."
For some reason, that comment bothered her, but she said nothing.
The first thing she did when she arrived at her home was to leave Ben on the couch and run to the upstairs bathroom to get the first aid kit. It was rare for her family to use it, but it was there for cases like that. Well, not like that one exactly.
"Stay still." scolded the girl while she tried to clean her friend's nose with a cotton ball, it wasn't bleeding anymore, but it had a small cut on it and some red spots. "Ben, stop."
"Ouch, be careful with that." complained Hero. "Seriously, stop, it's just a bruise."
"But I have to disinfect the wound and..." The girl kept silent before the hero's expression, he didn't seem to want to cooperate with her.
"Frankie, this is nothing."
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to hurt you, you took me by surprise." Ben noticed her friend's sorry look as she pushed the cotton away.
"Remind me not to do it again." he replied good-naturedly to try to cheer her up a bit. His gaze went down to his sweatshirt, which was in his lap, thanks to his nose starting to bleed from the blow, that thing now had red stains on the front. "And there goes my last item of clothing, I'm starting to think I should have packed more before traveling between dimensions."
Hearing that, Frankie clenched her fists and bit her lower lip. She looked at the boy's face, saw that he was smiling, despite everything, he still had a smile. She didn't understand how he could be so calm about his situation, not only because he was far from home, but also because it was possible that her parents would kick him out of the house for what he did the day before. In his place, she would be a nervous wreck.
The hero, for his part, tried to touch his nose with his right hand, but let out a whimper as he barely brushed it with his fingers. He was sure that the pain was going to persist for a while.
His friend observed with some uncertainty the bruise that caused the boy, a doubt formed in her head, so she decided to ask.
"Why did you get hurt too?" the curiosity in her words was obvious. "I hit that transformation of yours, why is your real body hurt?"
"It's complicated." he answered, for a few moments he tried to think of a simple way to explain it, both for the girl and for him, he didn't know all the details. "They literally are me, if they get hurt, I get hurt, but to a lesser extent, it depends on the transformation."
"So that's why you want Upgrade back so badly?" she asked. "Because he's part of you?"
"Exactly, in a way losing one is like losing a part of myself." she noticed that his expression changed to a more serious one, he seemed to be remembering something, but she didn't dare to ask what. "Do you think you can bring me my shirt? It doesn't matter if it still smells like squid, it's better than being half-naked."
Because she had been concentrating on healing the young man, Frankie overlooked the detail that Ben was without the top part of his attire. The young monster's eyes lowered to the young man's bare chest, it was no big deal, many students at the school were in better shape than he was, but she could still tell he worked out, but nothing exaggerated.
In some ways, the boy resembled another one she knew who curiously could also shape-shift, Jackson Jekyll. Both were slim, but with an athletic enough build, they didn't stand out much in that, though she found them cute. She thought Ben was cute?
She took a closer look at the human, he was... normal? He didn't stand out much, he was just like Jackson in that respect, of course with radically opposite personalities. Ben was much more self-assured, he was more like the second personality Jackson possessed in that respect, Holt Hyde. Ben embodied both personalities, but added to that was something else, he was kind and certainly cared about others. He reminded her of Deuce in that aspect, another boy she considered cute and who in her early days at school was her momentary crush.
Thinking about all that, she didn't realize that she was staring at the boy, who was starting to get a little nervous at that.
Ben wasn't a prude, and it wasn't the first time he had been shirtless in front of a girl, the problem lay in the fact that someone, possibly Viktor, might show up at that moment and misread the situation, and he didn't want to have to face the wrath of a jealous father. Not this early in the morning. And added to the fact that he was tired from his surveillance rounds the night before, he had the odds stacked against him.
Almost as an omen, muffled footsteps were heard from the upper floor, these were then heard from the stairs and next came a female voice.
"Frankie, is that you?" asked Viveka's voice from the stairs. The girl snapped out of her stupor at that moment and, together with Ben, turned to the source of the voice, just in time to see her mother reach the top step. The woman looked sleepy, a clear sign that she had just woken up.
She stopped as she saw both teenagers on the living room couch, she saw that they were both too close to each other and not to mention that the human was shirtless.
Ben looked at her, then looked at Frankie, and for once in a long time his brain cells did their job.
"Oh no, I've seen enough anime to know what will happen now." the boy hurried away from his friend and pointed to his nose. "No clichés, she was healing my face."
Both monsters looked at him in confusion at this strange reaction. But by that point, Viveka was beginning to believe that the boy had his mind somewhere among the stars.
"Ben, I just want to know one thing, why do you have blood on your face?" Viveka's question made both teenagers look at each other. "Please tell me you didn't do the same thing you did yesterday and this time you got hurt."
"Not exactly." The answer he received did not satisfy Viveka at all, besides, it was too early to deal with such things. "It was an accident, Frankie decided to give me plastic surgery with her fist."
Faced with this statement, she was very dismayed and did not hesitate to throw the absorbent cotton she used to clean the wound.
"I apologized a hundred times!" the girl defended herself.
"You ruined my beautiful face, keep apologizing until you reach ten thousand."
Wisely, Viveka chose to head for the kitchen and let the two young men continue their discussion. It was too early to deal with Ben's eccentricities.
As he set foot there, her eyes widened in horror.
Upstairs, Viktor Stein slept peacefully, dreaming of his next Nobel Prize, delivered personally by one of the famous superstars he helped to rise to stardom.
"VIKTOR!" his wife's scream was enough to wake him up, make him turn over in bed, and fall face-first to the cold floor.
It was too early and I was already in trouble.
"This is slavery." said a male voice, it sounded as if it had gone through a synthesizer, besides having a slight reverberation.
This belonged to a small entity of almost one-meter high. His body seemed to be a kind of white suit, his head had connections similar to headphones and on his back, he had a square black box with a number ten on it, it was glowing green, this object had a certain resemblance to an MP3 player. His eyes were green and had a shape similar to a slit, but what stood out the most was the dial on his forehead, which had a green hourglass symbol.
The little guy was washing some dishes, and given his small size, he had to stand on a chair to reach the sink.
"Why do I have to clean all this up?" asked a second creature exactly like the first, but this one was sweeping.
"We should make a rebellion! Rebellion! Rebellion!" exclaimed a third who was standing on one of the chairs at the kitchen table, in his hands was a tablecloth, which he was waving back and forth.
"Rebellion! Rebellion! Rebellion! Rebellion!" exclaimed two others, only to fall silent when they heard someone clearing their throat behind them.
The group of five turned their attention to the source of the sound, finding Viveka there. The look the woman gave them was enough to make them nervous.
"Yes, they usually do that." a sixth appeared walking behind the woman, who looked at him with an arched eyebrow. "What? Having clones is useful."
"Remind me to take my complaint to human resources." commented the first of them. "Why do we have to clean up after Viktor?"
"Because you…" The woman looked at all the clones and, with some hesitation, asked a question. "Who should I talk to?" The six of them looked at each other and then pointed to the one next to her. "It's your punishment for running away from school, fighting against four thieves, and giving me the scare of my non-life."
"But I already apologized, besides I saved you and those people's asses." the sixth tried to reason, but the woman was not going to accept that. "Are you still mad about what I said last night?"
"We still haven't decided what to do Ben, and it's too early to discuss it, finish cleaning up so we can have breakfast and go help your clones, remember you have to go to class."
"But..." The sixth wanted to reply, but the woman's gaze silenced him again. Resigned, he approached the third and fourth and began to help them clean up.
Viveka on the other hand looked at them for a few seconds before letting out a deep sigh. That was not the way she had planned to start that day.
The woman made her way back to her living room, only to freeze when she saw a seventh clone sitting on the couch, playing with a digital phone. He turned to her for a second, gave her a little wave with his right hand, gave her an arrogant smile, and returned his attention to the device's screen.
"This game of twins will give me a headache." she muttered as she headed for the stairs.
"I understood that reference." she heard the seventh clone say. She stopped for a moment and turned her attention to him, from her position she saw him playing some kind of video game, she did not know what exactly it was, but that was not what had her surprised, but the fact that he had listened to her. "Come on Charmander, incinerate that purple rat."
"I'm beginning to see a practical use for your transformations." Viktor commented as he looked around the completely clean kitchen, the six white beings, on the other hand, were looking at him angrily, which he noticed. "What?"
"Nothing." said all six at the same time.
"Hey guys, guess what? I caught a shiny." commented the seventh clone as he approached. As if they were a group of elementary school children, the six approached their equal and surrounded him, carefully watching the phone's screen. Viktor was curious at that and went over to see, maybe it was something advanced in technology or something.
He arched an eyebrow when he saw that it was just a game, one he recognized.
"Where did you get that phone?" he asked with some curiosity and concern.
"It's mine." answered one of the clones. "I had it with me before I ended up here, I managed to carry it thanks to Frankie, same system, curious, don't you think?" the others nodded.
"And that game, did you download it here?"
"Pokemon?" asked another. "No, we already had it at home."
"Here it also exists, it is comforting to see something familiar."
The man parsed those words. As a scientist, he had heard of string theory. A theory that according to Ben was not just a theory, but a reality, an entire multiverse existed out there, the evidence the boy showed was not much, but in a way, it explained some things.
"Ben, about yesterday." Hearing that, the seven clones stopped paying attention to the phone and looked at the monster. "I'm sorry things turned out this way, this is all new, we're not used to it, and you said it yourself, I want to protect my family."
"We have that in common."
"Yes, we want to protect our family, that's why we need to go back."
"But we don't have any way to do it."
"Your world is primitive."
"It would take me years to build a portal, and even then, I don't know if it would get me back."
"Do you always talk like that?" he questioned, it was strange that each sentence was said by a different clone. The little beings looked at each other and then nodded. "What is this alien's name?"
"Echo Echo." they all said in unison.
The man had to massage his ears after hearing those words, he even felt as if his internal organs had slightly changed position.
"Sorry, sonic powers." apologized for one of them. "Guys, it's time to come back."
The rest of them nodded in response and almost from one second to the next joined the one holding the phone in his hands. Then his body glowed green and he went back to being Ben, who was staring at the screen of the device.
"You know Viktor, next time you try to make dinner, make sure you don't throw the food on the ceiling." the human started to walk away in the direction of the sofa, still wanting to continue playing.
"Maybe I should build a robot to cook." commented the man as he looked around.
"As long as you don't build Ultron, I think we'll be fine." the man looked confused at the teenager who momentarily looked away from his phone. "You know, Ultron, the evil AI created by Hank Pin, there are Marvel comics here ¿right?"
Ben and Frankie's walk to class was a little strange for the girl. Maybe it was because she still had in mind the things she heard the night before, maybe because she had mentally recorded the image of Ben with his shirt off. Or maybe because Ben was wearing another one of her father's T-shirts, this time, a black one with a lightning bolt print.
"Your father needs to lose weight." commented the boy as he looked at the new garment. "There's room for two more people in here."
"Why didn't you use one of your aliens to change it?" she asked, the hero kept silent for a few moments, he had never considered that idea, but he didn't have the necessary sewing skills, and he doubted very much that any of his aliens knew how to do it.
"I am a hero, not a seamstress." he replied. "Tell me, how are things at Monster High? I think I earned everyone's hatred for what I did."
Hearing that, the girl was a little embarrassed, not having helped him for fear that he would transform there still made her feel ashamed. But there was one thing she could say, and that was that what Ben had said was not entirely true.
It was strange, really strange.
After what happened, rumors exploded, social media was to blame for this and possibly Spectra as well. Some claimed that Ben defended a student, others that he attacked Manny without provocation, and that he insulted all the monsters. Only those present at the time could tell the truth, but she was sure not many would. They were not going to defend a human.
Of course, not everyone was like that. She knew from Lagoona that Abbey, the only monster who intervened during the encounter that Ben had with Manny, had gone to talk to the principal, all to advocate for Ben's innocence, also that some students agreed with what he said about Manny, even admired his bravery. The bad thing was that he had no idea who those students were, possibly they preferred to stay hidden so as not to be the focus of harassment by the minotaur.
Seeing the boy who had saved her from that villainous alien show a downcast expression made her feel strange. She gathered some courage and decided to do what she didn't do the day before. Give him some support.
"I wouldn't be so sure." Hearing those words made Ben look at her a little confused. "You have me here, don't you? I don't hate you, and I'm sure Lagoona or Gil don't either, much less Clawdeen and Draculaura."
A smile escaped the hero's lips, hearing that lifted his spirits.
"Thank you, Frankie, you're great." The girl smiled back. "Cleo hates me, doesn't she?"
"No, but I wouldn't count on her being nice."
"I can live with that." They both shared a small laugh after that comment.
When they reached the school grounds, Ben stopped before crossing through the entrance gate, several students passed by, sending him some rather aggressive looks, but none did anything else against him.
Frankie noticed his friend lagging and turned to look at him, he noticed that he had a slightly nervous expression on his face.
"You know, I could always switch to the human school." his words made his friend look at him with a blank expression. "What?"
The young monster could only look at him, she saw those green eyes, they were reflecting a certain nervousness and doubt, something that made her feel a little bad. Maybe things would be different if she had interfered the day before.
"Nothing, I just... I just thought of something is all."
"Come on Frankie, what's the matter? Somebody bothering you for being friends with me? I'll kick their ass, you just point."
For a few moments, neither said anything. The hero noticed that her friend's expression changed a little as if she was debating whether to speak or not. The girl wanted to say a few words to him to make him feel a little better, but she didn't know what to say to him.
"Ben, I heard your discussion with my parents." When he heard that, the boy's expression turned to one of surprise. "I heard you tell them that you have a family that doesn't exist here, that you are alone-"
For a few seconds, neither of them said anything. Frankie saw the boy's eyes momentarily lose their sparkle and sadness came over them.
The girl bit her lower lip when she saw that, she found it strange that the boy had such a downcast expression. She was lonely at first too and made mistakes that made her become an outcast, but unlike Ben, she managed to make great friends who helped her sort that out. She, even if she wanted to, couldn't help Ben, she couldn't bring him back home.
If only I could help him with something else. She thought
Her eyes widened as she realized something, she might not be able to send him back, but she could make him feel a little more comfortable.
It didn't take her long to find the right words to say to him, and without showing hesitation, she spoke.
"Ben, I want you to know you're not alone." Frankie took advantage of those seconds to approach him and take one of his hands. "We're friends, aren't we? You saved me, you saved my friends, plus you're a pretty nice human, the least I can do for you is to give you support."
At that last part, the boy's lips curved into a smile. Frankie knew how to motivate people.
For a few seconds, neither of them said anything, they just stood there, looking at each other. Frankie for the first time looked closely at Ben's eyes, they were green, a pretty color, and somehow they made her feel strange as if they motivated her just by looking at them.
"Frankie."
"Yes?"
"Can I have my hand back?" he asked as he pointed to his hand. "Unlike you, I can't separate myself from my body parts."
She then noticed that she was still holding her friend's hand, almost as a reflex, she let go and stepped back a little. She hadn't noticed that, she was distracted in a very silly way, although she didn't understand why that happened in the first place.
Ben on the other hand downplayed that and focused his attention on the building that was Monster High, he watched the students milling around the campus. His plan was already in motion and this was no time to back out, he was going to help that world, and one slip up wasn't going to stop him.
"You know, this can't be so bad." he said as a fun-filled smile crossed his face. "A whole school against me, sounds like a fun experience." He was ready to move forward, but a feminine hand rested on his shoulder and stopped him.
"Mr. Tennyson." hearing the headmistress's voice sent a shiver up his spine and he slowly turned his face, meeting the woman there with a very serious look on her face. "I want you in my office, now."
"I spoke too soon, didn't I?" he asked.
"Yes, I think so." Frankie replied with a very nervous smile. "Oh look at the time! I have to go to Clawculus class if you survive, look for me during lunch."
"What?" he exclaimed as he watched her walk away. His gaze returned to Bloodgood, who continued with a serious expression on his face. "How dead am I?"
A frown was all he received.
As she walked away from them. Frankie had a determined look on her face, she wanted to make Ben feel comfortable, Monster High had a motto that everyone was accepted, no matter how strange they were, and she was going to do something to make her friend feel at home.
The question was... how to do it?
For several minutes, Ben sat in front of Headmistress Bloodgood's desk, the woman was there in front of him, but she was concentrating on some files, reading them, arranging them, and signing them. The boy was beginning to get impatient, it was already late for his first class of the day, and the principal showed no signs that she was going to scold him. It looked more like she was signing the papers for his expulsion.
It was a possibility, after all, most likely thanks to the rumors she believes he is a racist. That he lied to her about sharing ideals. That he was just out to cause trouble.
In a way, it caused a problem, but it was for a good cause.
Without realizing it, his right foot began to tap the ground impatiently. He didn't remember when was the last time he went through a situation like that, the uncertainty was killing him.
"I'm sorry to keep you waiting, I must have these papers ready for this afternoon." The woman's voice brought him back to reality and he shook his head hurriedly, he wasn't upset, in a way, it was good not to be in class. "What do you think of my school so far?"
At no time did the woman looks away from the papers. Ben wasn't sure if it was some kind of test or perhaps his final sentence before being expelled, so he chose to just be him.
"It's a nice place, I like the Halloween stile, but I would add fries to the cafeteria menu."
"I see." For another minute, the woman said nothing, and the hero was beginning to lose his composure, he had never been in such a tense situation before, with a teacher at least.
When he was a kid and got in trouble, they usually punished him, sent him to detention without a lot of speeches, or made him write an essay on why he was a fool for doing what he did.
Was it bad that he wished Vilgax would suddenly appear and get him out of that situation?
The headmistress put her pen down on the table and focused her attention on the human. When he saw the woman's silver eyes, he could almost feel the look of penance or something. The woman could be terrifying if she wanted to be and she wasn't even doing anything to scare him. Was that even possible?
"Did you know that you are the second human to come to this school?" The headmistress folded her hands in front of her face and looked at Ben carefully. "In two hundred years, you are the second."
"The Second?" he questioned. "What's with that guy, Jackson? I thought he was human."
"Half-human, he's a hybrid and he's not the only human-monster hybrid in my school." The boy was surprised at that revelation, but he kept his composure, he wouldn't be the first human hybrid he knew after all. "In two hundred years my school has only had two pure humans, you and Dr. Frankenstein."
"Frankie's great-grandfather?" the woman nodded in response.
"He was a great boy, crazy ideas were always in his head and he had a dream, he wanted a family of his own." Ben listened carefully to that, that information to some extent was new to him, back home, Dr. Frakenstein was a character in a story, a mad scientist who wanted to play as a god and create life, of course, it was just a story that had been mixed up with an early sighting of a Transylian, there he existed and apparently he wasn't that crazy. Although he was still of the opinion that he was a bit of a jerk for that rule Viveka commented to him.
"Why are you telling me this?" he asked. The woman reached into one of her desk drawers and then placed it in front of her. It was an ICoffin. Ben looked at it in confusion, watched her do something for a few moments, and then showed the screen.
The young man focused his attention on the device, a video was there, it was a video recorded at the exact moment he was confronting Manny to stop bothering the imp. Because of the angle of the recording, this had to be taken from somewhere over everyone's heads, not many could do that, which ruled out some monsters.
Ben raised his eyes and looked at Bloodgood, the woman continued with a neutral expression. He wasn't sure what the woman was thinking, so he decided to take a chance and make a joke.
"That's definitely not my best angle."
"Yesterday you did something that could be considered crazy, standing up to a minotaur while being a human." The woman raised the sound of the recording allowing the words that were spoken there to be heard clearly.
"Look at you, you're embarrassing, bullying others, are we in the fifth grade? Why don't you grow up?"
"Do you see? They think the same thing, what's the need to be a bully? Does it make you feel good? Is that it? Man, you're pitiful."
"You have the power to do good and you waste it being a bully."
For a few moments, Ben said nothing, no longer sure exactly what was going through Bloodgood's mind. The woman, on the other hand, turned off the screen of the device and rested her hands on the desk, then spoke.
"You said something very mature." The woman waited for a response from the young man, but he remained silent, so she continued. "Do you know what the purpose of my school is? Create a connection, first between monsters and then with humans, something impossible according to many, the dream of a desperate college girl according to others, what do you think?"
"I think it's a good dream, what do you expect me to say?" he asked. The answer made the woman change her expression for a few moments to one of some disappointment.
"When we met, you said you wanted to help with my ideal, I honestly didn't believe you, then you showed up with Viveka and I started to think you were telling the truth." the woman paused, with the index finger of her right hand she tapped the ICoffin screen and continued speaking. "Yesterday, you proved something to me, you are not here to support my ideal."
Ben let out a resigned sigh upon hearing that, it was to be expected that the principal did not wish to have someone they called a racist in their school and was ready to accept his expulsion, it would be a new record no doubt, expelled on his second day.
"Before we continue, I would like you to answer something, why did you do it? Did you have something against Manny? Or maybe it was overconfidence because you were human? Monster attacks on humans are heavily punished after all." the boy said nothing, he simply kept his gaze fixed on the headmistress' eyes. The woman tried to see through the boy's green eyes, after all, with enough experience one could get to read a person just by looking into their eyes.
The eyes were a window to the soul and that boy's soul was shouting out to the four winds something she wanted to confirm.
Ben relaxed completely, he was a bit of an idiot, he accepted that his plans were horrible, he accepted that too, but even with his limited capabilities, he was someone smart, he knew how to act accordingly to many things, something that many people would point out to him as recklessness and immaturity, he firmly believed it was his moral compass pointing out the right thing to do.
"I hate bullies." the boy's words were accompanied by a small laugh, which made the woman narrow her gaze. "I hate them, I don't care where they're from or what they look like."
"That doesn't answer my question, why?"
"Why not?" he asked in response. "He was abusing his power." The woman tried hard to conceal it, her expression remained poker-faced, but inwardly she was beginning to get excited. "There is something I learned, and that is that it is better to do something than to do nothing."
"I understand, but Manny could have hurt you, didn't that scare you?"
"Are you kidding? I was terrified." A smile full of amusement crossed the young hero's face. "For a second I thought he was going to break me in half."
"Yet you interfered, I admit you are brave."
"Or very dumb, my cousin Gwen says I'm a bit of both." Bloodgood allowed herself to let out a small chuckle at hearing that. "When I was a kid I suffered from bullying, so it wasn't hard to put myself in that kid's shoes, unlike many, I stood up to my bullies, you can't run forever, eventually, you run out of places to hide."
The woman looked at him with some astonishment, it was a mature thought, it made her wonder exactly how the boy in front of her was raised, whoever his parents were, they raised him well.
"You're right, you can't run forever, we, the monsters know that better than anyone." Ben noticed the woman's look, it was one full of melancholy, he wondered what kind of history that world could really have, the internet only had a few things, but his experience told him that history was always distorted.
Washington fighting zombies, who would have guessed, right?
"It was thanks to the isolation, the persecutions, and the fear, that we were living in secret for centuries, hiding among humans, escaping, and as you said, in the end, you run out of places to hide." For a few moments, none of them said anything, Ben could empathize more with the monsters than Bloodgood could imagine, he had a secret life until everything came to light.
He still remembered perfectly how it happened, the things that happened afterward, all the hatred he received just for being the way he was, for having a gift that no one else had. His actions were labeled as crimes, they called him a threat, a public danger, they cried out for him to be arrested and he wasn't even a monster, he was a human with super technology. But humans always acted this way, in fear, afraid of what they didn't understand and what was different.
The parallels between the two worlds were somewhat curious.
The difference was that he became a celebrity, a superstar. The biggest superhero in the universe. His fame and his fans, although they could be annoying, were an important pillar for the aliens to be accepted, he showed that they were not to be feared, they were people just like humans and that their powers could be used for good. He wished to apply that same logic to that world.
"I know what it feels like to be bullied." Hearing that, the boy looked at the headmistress with astonishment, it was not something he expected to hear. "Not only that, I know what it feels like to have the door slammed in your face, to be underestimated for being young, or to be singled out for being different."
"Did you also have bullies?" he asked with some interest. The woman arched an eyebrow in response. "It's a fair question, I told you my life and now you're telling yours."
"I'm pretty sure that's not how things work." she replied as a half-smile escaped her lips, the boy in front of her was cunning.
"A school for all monsters shouldn't work and here we are." his answer made the woman laugh openly, yes, he was more cunning than he let on. "We're not so different, except that my head is attached to my shoulders."
"And that's why you defended the little devil? Because to you, he was just another kid being bullied and in need of help?"
"I would have helped him, even if he wasn't being bullied, if he had stumbled I would have held out my hand to get him back on his feet, it's better than just laughing at what happened."
Once again, the office fell silent, the woman had to admit she was impressed and was glad to have her suspicions confirmed. As she looked into Ben's eyes she saw something she hadn't seen in a long time. Someone with the eyes of a hero. Someone who would stand in front of another person just to take a punch. Ben was not only a good way for her school to show results, he was what she needed to make those results real.
"Thank you, Ben." The woman gave him a friendly smile, which confused him a lot. "For telling me this."
"So... I am not expelled?" he asked with some doubt in his voice.
"What made you think that?" the smile that was enough to make the young human put on a blank expression, she had obviously only wanted to make him nervous with all that act of seriousness and silence at the beginning. "But you're grounded, you'll go to detention during lunch and after school, you ran away yesterday and I won't overlook it."
"Sounds fair." a doubt appeared in the boy's mind, something Bloodgood said left him with some uncertainty, so he decided to ask. "Why did they bully you? You are very kind and don't get me wrong, very beautiful, it's like the perfect combination for absolute popularity or something."
A small chuckle escaped the woman, she knew Ben was just showing innocent curiosity, so she could give him an answer to that.
"For several reasons, it took me longer than other riders to get my Nightmare, but mainly because of my ideals, I always believed that coexistence could become real, but no one listened to me, it wasn't until I was given the opportunity to run Monster High that they started to take me seriously." The woman momentarily recalled the early days of the school, in short, almost chaos and it took time to fix it. "Even after being chosen as principal many underestimated me for being young, a librarian just graduated and with no experience in the real world, it was an assured failure."
"And here we are, in possibly the coolest school I've ever been to, I'm sure those idiots who picked on you are very sorry, you've become a beautiful and important woman."
"Your kind words will not save you from punishment." Ben looked away quickly, he couldn't believe he was caught out so easily. Bloodgood on the other hand laughed at that reaction. "Nice try, but you're not the first to do it."
"You can't blame me for trying?" he replied, then stood up. "Talking to you was great, but I think it's time for me to go to my first class."
"Go ahead Mr. Tennyson, you may go, thank you for answering my questions, I expect great things from you, don't you dare to disappoint me, I think you can do much more for my school than you believe."
"I'll try, but no promises, I like to cause a fuss and attract attention after all."
"One thing before you go, can you tell me, what happened to your nose?" hearing that, the boy brought his left hand to his face, the pain at the contact was brief, he was not sure if there was a bruise or not, it was not as if he cared.
"I gave a monster girl the scare of her life." he replied with amusement, then headed for the exit.
As the boy left and the office door closed. Bloodgood began to laugh. It took her a few moments to calm down and wipe away a tear that escaped from her right eye.
"The council is going to go crazy when they find out about this kid." Her gaze then shifted to the left wall of the room and she spoke again. "I know you're in there, Spectra, you can come out."
Slowly, the ghost girl began to emerge from the wall, her face wore an expression full of sorrow, like that of a child who was caught stealing cookies from a jar after her mother told her not to eat them. The girl floated up to stand in front of the headmistress, waiting for some reprimand for peeping.
"How much did you hear?" asked the woman kindly.
The girl hesitated on what to say, she knew that lying would bring no good, maybe the truth was better and would keep her from being in a lot of trouble.
"I may have heard just a little bit." the headmistress arched an eyebrow, clearly not believing it. "All of it." she said, completely embarrassed.
Bloodgood let out a sigh at that, she knew this particular student had a knack for gossip. As the principal she was, she supported her students in expressing themselves, following their dreams, and learning as much as possible along the way. Still, they didn't always make the right decisions, they were kids after all. And thanks to this, headaches were never in short supply.
"You recorded it, didn't you?" the girl nodded. "Would you mind giving me a copy?" the ghost was surprised at that question, but once again she nodded, if it was Bloodgood who asked her, she could do it. "Well, I want you to keep everything you saw a secret for the moment before you protest, I want you to trust me, I know Mr. Tennyson has a bad reputation now, but I want to see how much he can accomplish on his own."
"Do you want to use Ben?" she asked in surprise. Bloodgood was quick to deny.
"Not at all, the boy is special, I just want to see how special he is." An idea crossed the woman's mind and she decided to ask her student a question. "What do you think of him?"
"Well, he is strange." commented the girl. "When I knew him he didn't speak and he had a very strange outfit, even stranger than the clothes he wears now, according to Venus, he helped her to recover her stolen money, but when that attack happened in the Maul, he disappeared, I thought he was just acting with us, I... I really don't know what to think now."
Bloodgood analyzed his words carefully, apparently Ben was already doing things for the monsters even before they met, and to know that one of his most troubled students and the young human had a friendship was impressive and promising.
"You may leave Spectra." The girl nodded and prepared to leave, but Bloodgood spoke again. "And try not to peek again, or I'll make you clean the pit." the woman noticed how the girl shivered at that. Her lips curved into an amused smile, she was kind and loving, but she also knew how to be strict and apply punishments accordingly. "And remember, let this be our secret."
"Yes, Headmistress Bloodgood."
Frankie walked through the halls of Monster High with a thoughtful expression on her face. Lunch had started several minutes ago, but instead of going to the creepyteria as she usually did, she went to her locker, she had to get some things ready for the next class after lunch and prepare her Fearlanding uniform for practice.
A sigh full of exhaustion left her mouth at the thought of that, she liked being part of that team, she was with her best friends, it was a quick way to fit in too, they were cheerleaders, everyone loved them, or well, almost everyone.
But the bad thing about being on the team only became present a few days ago, now, Nefera De Nile, Cleo's older sister was her coach, and if she didn't think her friend's sister just wanted to annoy her, she would be sure she was sabotaging them.
Added to that, she was still thinking of some plan to help Ben, she wanted the boy to integrate, and maybe that way he would be distracted from thinking that he was in a very unfavorable situation. But given his new reputation and the that most of the school believed the rumors, it would be difficult to integrate him. First, he was going to need to improve the image they had of the boy.
Upon arriving at her locker and opening it, the young girl began her work of changing her books for what she would use in the last periods of classes. As she moved some of them, she noticed a small notebook there and curiously took it. It was the notebook she used to write down all the things she was learning from Upgrade, at that moment it was a bit obsolete since, if she wanted to know something, she could ask him directly. She was about to return it to its place when she remembered a small detail and opened it. On the first pages were written the things she learned that first night she and her friends met Upgrade when she and her friends made him watch TV.
He likes action shows, comedy, music, and cartoons. She read mentally. On a side note, it was written that the boy behaved just like Clawd, Clawdeen's brother. Among other things.
She flipped through the pages, there were some drawings of the mechamorph, crudely and childishly done, along with small notes about his height and abilities.
She paused when he found something else, the mention that the alien possessed an anti-gravity skateboard. This gave her an idea if as an Upgrade, Ben had such a device, that meant that, as a human, he might have skateboarding skills.
That was a good start, and she knew a guy who also liked that sport.
Of course, she would now have to hope that the boy didn't believe the rumors, but she had a good feeling. And maybe Cleo could help convince him. That was if she managed to convince the mummy to help Ben first.
With a plan now in mind, the girl set about returning that notebook to its place, but unbeknownst to her, something else was there. A small object fell from her locker and caused a crystalline noise as it hit the floor, then three bounces were heard and it ended up hitting another student's foot.
Frankie looked in the direction where that object had fallen, she saw a monster girl there, one she knew and had spent some time with Ben. Venus. The monster plant bent down to pick up the object and examined it. The Frankenstein girl's bolts went crazy when she saw that it was the Tayden gem that Upgrade had given her, she completely forgot that she had put that gem among her things.
Venus on the other hand looked curiously at the gem, her gaze then shifting to Frankie, noticing in the process that the young woman was not exactly calm.
"Okay, now we're robbing jewelry stores?" she asked with a smile as he approached. Without another word, she held out the object.
"What a joke, hahaha!" Frankie forced a laugh at that joke, then quickly grabbed the gem and hid it. That reaction took Venus by surprise, who stared at it in confusion.
"You know, I'm beginning to think, you robbed a jewelry store, let me guess, Toralei talked you into it." even though it was just a joke, it only made Frankie even more nervous, after all, that thing was hard to explain without pointing the finger at Ben. "Hey, relax, I'm kidding, was it a gift from Cleo or something?"
"Eh... yes! Cleo gave it to me." The girl kept the gem in her outfit and tried to look calm, but it didn't seem to convince Venus, so she cleverly chose to change the subject. "And what are you doing here? I mean, I know what you do here, at school, I mean, what brought you here with me."
"Well, I heard rumors." Venus leaned back by the lockers and crossed her arms over her chest. "Rumors that Ben was a racist jerk."
"Yeah, I heard them too, but they're not true!" the monster plant was a little surprised when Frankie raised her voice, although she deduced that it was because she and Ben were cousins by a hand.
"Calm down, I know they are just rumors, Ben is not like that, he is an idiot, but not a racist." After saying that, the girl let out a sigh. "I wanted to see him after what happened in the Maul I was worried, I still haven't paid my debt with him."
"Debt?"
"You know, when he recovered my mom's money." At the mention of that fact, Frankie just nodded, that happened when Ben was still Upgrade and wore the ID mask, it was interesting how the guy from the first day already seemed to be helping people. "I treated him a little bad that time, that's why I wanted to look for him and tell him that he has a friend in me and that I don't believe in those rumors."
"And that's why you came looking for me?" To her surprise, her companion denied.
"Not exactly, you see, I've been working with my club to take care of the environment, I want to try to raise awareness so that more kids do it, could you help me? Your reputation is better than mine." The young Frankenstein girl noticed the pleading look on her friend's face.
Frankie was aware that not everyone in the school had a good reputation, some more than others, and among those was Venus, all because the girl possessed certain powers that she did not hesitate to use so that others would follow her environmentalist ideas. Venus was someone with a good heart and who really cared a lot about the planet, but she had a personality that clashed with others, and this sometimes led her to use her pollen. But for Frankie, this girl needed help and that was all that mattered.
A little idea crossed her mind. Ben needed to fit in and what better way than joining a club and Venus was always on the lookout for new members.
"I'll see what I can do, but could you do me a favor in return? It's about Ben." Hearing the human's name, the plant girl paid attention. "You know he just... moved here recently, he doesn't know many people, and I think he's a little lonely."
"Say no more, I've got it, when I see him, I'll invite him to my club."
"Thank you, Venus, you're great." The monster plant put on a smirk when she heard that. "I'll talk to my friends, I want to help Ben feel at home."
"Count me in, but if we're going to be seen together, tell him to get another outfit, his clothes are hideous." Both girls shared a laugh at that.
After all, the photos taken of Ben wearing Frankie's father's T-shirt were all over the net.
Their conversation was forced to end there as the bell marking the end of lunch and the beginning of the last class periods rang.
They said goodbye and went their separate ways.
When she arrived at her classroom, Frankie saw that several students were huddled in one place, among them were Gil and Heath, along with others and she could also see a green hair and composed of scales and nine snakes. Another of her friends was also there.
"Frankie, here, I saved you a place." The girl turned to the source of that voice, she recognized him quite easily, it was Jackson Jekyll, the boy greeted her with a hand and a slightly nervous smile.
"Hi Jackson, thank you." she said as she sat down.
For a few moments, neither said anything, it was a bit of an awkward situation for both of them, after all, they had an almost relationship that didn't end very well.
"How cool, man! Deuce, you never told us mummies could do that stuff with their bandages!" Heath exclaimed. "And I thought you knew Cleo inside out."
"Hey, watch your tongue or I'll turn it to stone." warned the snake-haired boy in reply.
Frankie had to hold back the urge to let out a sigh, she still couldn't believe that the video of Ben acting to stop a robbery went so viral, it was everywhere, Critter, Instagrimm, FrightTube, the list was a bit long, but, in short, that pharaoh mummy gained a lot of visibility thanks to the out of control that was the networks.
"Crazy, don't you think?" hearing Jackson, the girl turned to him, the boy was looking in the direction of the group of teenagers. "First, the Maul is attacked by two unknown monsters and now we have a mummy who stopped a robbery, it almost looks like a movie."
"Yes, crazy."
After that simple answer, they were both silents again. Frankie looked sideways at the boy, he still felt bad for leaving him to his fate with his problem and wanted to help him as much as he wanted to help Ben, but Jackson's problem was something only he and his brother could solve.
"Frankie." When she heard him call out to her, the girl almost jumped, she had lost her concentration for a second and was caught off guard. When she saw him, she noticed his expression of sorrow. "I'm so sorry that all that happened, really, I didn't mean to..."
"Calm down, it's all right, a sibling fight can happen to anyone."
"I know, but we both put you in a bad situation, I'm sorry, Holt too." With some hesitation, the boy rubbed his neck and held out his other hand. "So, friends?"
Frankie gave him a small smile and accepted the squeeze.
"Friends." a new idea popped into her mind. She knew Jackson was a pretty Geeky guy, and from what she knew, Ben seemed to be into all things comic books and superheroes, if she introduced them, it was possible the two of them would get along quite well. Not only that, Jackson didn't have many friends either, all because he was a human, at least, half-human, so she could kill two birds with one stone.
Having Ben make friends and having Jackson make another friend was a perfect plan.
"All right, students, please take your seats, the class starts now." said the teacher as he entered the classroom.
Frankie was forced to stop talking to her friend and turn her attention to the front, but in her mind, she was beginning to map out a plan to make Ben feel at home.
XXX
Slow chapter, I know, but I'm trying to put something together, I want every piece in place before the bad guys show up.
I also started with a little bit of romance, although it's not really romance, don't judge me, I suck at that stuff, but I'm looking into giving it a more... realistic feel, especially with the idea of multiple girls. I have an idea in mind, have you ever seen Spectacular Spider-man, did you see how in that series Peter has Gwen, Liz, and MJ interested in him? Not to mention Betty Brand and Felicia Hardy but does his own superhero life prevent him from having a thing with any of them? Something like that. It will be very difficult to work on, Spectacular Spider-man is a work of art, I'm a novice at all this, but I'll do my best.
I also try to keep that Monster High feel, I don't want to throw away what that series-books-movies represent, normal life for not-so-normal people. People who existed before Ben came along and have lives of their own. Let's just add to this equation a few more things, like villains, superheroes, etc. So far I think I'm getting it right.
I enjoyed writing Bloodgood, I did some research on her and everything I read I tried to reconfigure here and I want to give her a mentor vibe, that woman who guides her students down the path of right, but has her agenda, nothing evil, but it will cause some stumbles.
Narrating Frankie is also a very funny thing, she is very pure and kind, she won't hesitate to help anyone and with Ben, there is a certain connection, he saved her and her friends' asses and then her mother. No, she's not in love just because of that, I'm clarifying that now, there will be time to properly extend things, I don't want to fall into anime clichés just like Ben said. Yes, that was a meta-comment. It makes sense that she wants to help him, even if she doesn't know how really.
I have something planned regarding Venus and those ecological things she professes, but it will be for later.
In the next chapter I hope to give you a taste of the villains, they will do a lot more for the plot than you can imagine and I will try to squeeze in one more villain, but this one will be from the world they are in now. If you are interested to know, she rivals Eon in terms of evil and power.
Well, that's all for now. Thanks for making it this far and see you in another three weeks. Or maybe four, I have exams again.