Ben 10 Alien+Vampire

Chapter 11: Arts and Crafters; Happy Birthday… or Modeling Day

It was a slightly dark setting in a castle-like ballroom. The place seemed gothic in its design, and the windows were stain-glass in a church design as well. The only sources of light was a full moon that reflected off of a beautifully yet scary crafted chandelier that hung from the roof of the massive ballroom. And on both sides of the room, two statues stood straight up in position; one was a sort of a fellow reminiscent of a vampire, and the other, was obviously a werewolf.

Moka, the real Moka, didn't know where she was or why she was here, as she stood in the center of the room. She looked around slightly confused, but not as confused as she realized what she was wearing. She was wearing a sleeveless red dress that showed off a little cleavage and had a black lace line going down from the chest to the bellybutton, a black skirt that covered her feet, and a pair of fingerless red gloves that stopped at the elbow and went up to the shoulder. She also had a black bat choker and her hair was slicked back, but to her this scene didn't make sense.

"Okay," she thought out loud as she looked around, "What's going on here?"

But just as she turned around slightly, she saw a figure standing at the window. She couldn't get a good look at him considering he was shadowed by the moonlight, but she could definitely tell the guy was male and wearing body armor from the look of it. He started to walk towards her, much to her fright on this, but she couldn't move an inch much to her confusion, but saw he was a boy around her age due to his height and physical features.

The boy stopped only a few inches from her, nearly startling her by this. And then he brought up one of his hands up to her face as he cupped her cheek, slightly startling her. Yet it was odd, even though this person's hands frightened her a bit, he was gentle with her as he cupped her face, and being careful not to cut her with them. And it was then that she saw it was the right hand, wearing the Omnitrix as it was not activated, but the lens glowed green.

She realized who it was as he leaned into the light, and revealed himself to her, "Ben?"

But before that could be answered, he closed the gap between them quickly, as he planted a kiss on her lips. At first, Moka-sama was surprised beyond end by this, as her ruby red eyes went big with shock. But then, before she would punch his lights out, she forgot all about that, as she relaxed and just went with it. As she placed her hands on his shoulders, and just enjoyed the moment.

However, that moment was short lived as she pulled away from the kiss. Moka-sama, being a little too relaxed from the kiss, blushed and moaned as she still had her eyes closed from the kiss. And then without him noticing, she grinned exposing vampiric teeth as she lunged at his neck….

"BEN, NO!", Moka screamed as she bolted from her sleep, and held her chest where the Rosario was in place, while sweat was padding her skin all over her body, making her clothes cling to it. She breathed heavily in deep pants before she breathed a heavy sigh and began to relax a little, "Whoo! It was only a dream," she sighed in relief.

However, she looked down on her bed for a moment, remembering the dream that she just had. And blushed a little, both from the kiss and the near-death hickie her true self gave to Ben, but mostly it was because of the kiss. She then crashed back on her bed, covering herself with her blanket and laughing like crazy. This in turn woke Ship up as he groaned out, looking pretty groggy. "SHIP?" he then scurried out from under the bed, then pulling on the blanket, climbed up as he spotted Moka laughing, "Ship, Ship. SHIIIP?"

"Oh, Ship," Moka stopped laughing as she wiped away the tears she had of laughing a little too hard, and looked to Ship, "Sorry about that. I think I just had one of those dreams girls have," Ship had a clueless look on his face as she answered, "You know, those dreams all teens have in their lives as soon as they've reached the hormonal stage, and you're thinking about either boys or girls?"

Ship turned his head in confusion towards her, as Moka just playfully rubbed Ship on the head, "I was dreaming about a boy, in case you're wondering."

She then looked out at her window, and her smile disappeared as she saw what was out there. She picked up Ship had held her like a stuffed animal, with him latching on to her as she walked towards her window. She stopped as she pulled back her black curtains and saw the night sky; the moon was starting its full moon cycle and the light dimly lit her room with its lunar glow.

But the full moon wasn't what was bugging her, it was the dream she recently had. She knew the guy in the dream was Ben, and she also knew that the silver-haired girl with him was the real Moka. She blushed at thinking that he looked pretty cute with that tux on. But then she went bug-eyed as she shook her head, 'Sheesh. What's the matter with you? He's your friend… not a boyfriend,' but then she looked up at the moon and remembered the kiss in her dream. She got a little flustered at that memory as she shrugged, "Ah, it was just a dream." She then looked a little longing, "But then… Ben is…"

Ship looked up at her in confusion as he asked, "SHIP?"

Moka shrugged as she put him down back on the floor gently, "Ah, just some Romeo/Juliet kind of business," she then walked over to her bed and sat down.

Ship shrugged as he scampered back under, "SHIP, SHIP, SHIP."

Moka smirked at the little Mechamorph's retreat, but then looked slightly confused by what she dreamt. She then took her hand, the one that Ben had kissed and looked at it. She then asked herself, "It was just a dream… wasn't it?" She then sighed in exasperation and crawled back into bed, "I'll worry about it in the morning."

But then she turned to look at her calendar, and saw a particular date circled on the calendar for the month of May. The day was the fourteenth, and written on it was Ben's B-Day, as Moka smirked, "I can't wait…"

That Day

Classroom 3-A

Unofficial Newspaper Club Room

Ben and his friends were working in the empty classroom which the Newspaper Club called home. Things had been relatively calm since Kurumu nearly tried to get even with Moka on the supposed 'date' she and Ben had been on. Still, for a school filled with monsters, Ben was beginning to get a little bored. Well, until Gin called them all in to discuss recent events in which the Newspaper Club could report about. As usual, the core (and only) members in attendances were Ben, Gin, Moka, Yukari, Kurumu, and assumedly Ship, seeing as now the little unconfirmed alien, was allowed on Campus, and was made both mechanical repairer, and cute mascot of the Newspaper Club. However, a while ago, Gin was chasing the little Mechamorph puppy around, after it had merged with Gin's computer, deleting all his 'awesome photo collection' and with no way to recover them.

However, after the chase, Ship was recovering on Moka's lap, panting from exhaustion, much like a dog would. As she gave him comfort, Moka looked to Ben, who was hard at work on an article about the Human World. She smiled, thinking about the day to come. 'Only a few more days, until…'

The two stood side by side, looking one another, with Ship hopping around them. Moka placed her hands on Ben's shoulders, as she leaned in, whispering, "Happy Birthday, Ben."

"Thanks," Ben smiled, wrapping his arms around her, "So… what's this gift you wanted to give me?"

"Well…" she leaned in, closing a gap between their lips, "It's… this…"

"Huh? Missing Students?" Ben asked in confusion, making Moka snap out of her daydream.

"That's what we've been hearing," Gin nodded from his book of notes. He had finally calmed down from that little chase with a now exhausted Ship. "Since the new semester started, a few students have gone missing. Not entirely unusual given how many monsters come here, but the rate is much higher than usual."

"So, you want us to investigate," Ben stated.

"Well, yeah," answered Gin. "I mean this is a huge scoop, and maybe we can find out what happened to all those missing students."

There was an obvious catch, though. Gin may be a reporter, but he was still a bit of a pervert. "OK, you're being more gung-ho than usual. Is there something else here you're not telling us?"

"Well, all the students who were missing were attractive female students," answered Gin. A perverted grin was already spreading across his face.

"Thought so," Ben nodded. Of course, as a hero, it was Ben's responsibility to get to the bottom of this. He'd dealt with similar cases before so this wouldn't be too hard. "OK, I'll find out what happened to those girls."

GLOMP!

"Don't you mean 'we', darling?" purred Kurumu.

KLONG!

A wash basin knocked Kurumu out as Yukari latched onto Ben.

"Me and Ben make a better team!" said Yukari.

Moka frowned and said, "I think it's best we ALL work together." She commented as she was prying Yukari off of Ben. It was becoming common practice to keep Yukari off, she she didn't have much restraint on her powers when someone upset her. Let alone wanting to hold Ben on as much as Kurumu did.

"Yeah, Moka's right," agreed Ben. "Let's make this a team effort, girls."

Afterwards

Ben sighed as he scratched his head. So far the leads were leading straight to nowhere. None of the missing students left even a fraction of a clue behind. It was like someone had just swept them up from nowhere. He was half considering the idea that aliens had entered the school and was kidnapping students for some reason or another. After the fight with Malware and Kraab, before he and Moka-sama had left for the bus stop with Ship, they tried to find the two. Though they found no trace of either the bounty hunter or the Mechamorph rogue. Although they were determined to get him, he doubted they would immediately start causing trouble at Youkai Academy, let alone know the school's location or find a way to get in here without the bus. Still, usually aliens were prone to leaving obvious tracks.

The friends were meeting out in front of the school after they made their hunt for the missing girls. Ben was looking through his notebook while Moka had some papers with her own notes on it. Ship was playing with a chew toy that Moka had gotten him, while Kurumu and Yukari seemed to be empty handed.

"Man, this is way harder than when I was a kid," Ben grumbled as he crossed off the name of another possible lead. He had been keeping a small notebook on information regarding the current case.

"You've done this sort of thing before?" asked Yukari with budding interest.

"A few times," Ben nodded. "Still, the people who would do the kidnapping usually left some kind of obvious clue. So far, all we know is that all seven of the missing students were girls."

"Mnn," Moka frowned sadly. She hadn't had much luck hunting down information either. "Kurumu? Yukari?"

"No clue," Kurumu huffed.

"Sorry Moka," Yukari frowned sadly.

"SHIIIIP," Ship spoke up as he hopped onto the table.

"Huh?" Ben blinked as he turned to face the puppy Mechamorph. The little Mechamorph looked at all the files, almost scanning them. "Did you find anything out, Ship?"

"SHIP," Ship yipped, and created three laser point marks with his circular eye pattern, pointing at several different files, but at one word.

Yukari looked at the laser points, and noticed to where Ship was pointing at. "All of the girls who disappeared were all part of Ishigami-sensei's fanclub."

"Ms. Ishigami?" Ben blinked. Hitomi Ishigami was the school's art teacher. She was a certifiable babe in Ben's opinion too. Of course, everyone else who had a class with her tended to agree. She had a huge following of girls who loved her for some reason. She likewise was passionate about art. In all, she was a very popular teacher. "Okay, beyond being part of the same fanclub, is there anything else which connects these girls? From what I've learned, the kidnappers usually know what they want when they take a victim."

"SHIIIP," Ship sighed in sadness.

"No, this is a good start," Ben frowned. "We have a lead. That's more than what we had beforehand. Since all the girls were part of Ms. Ishigami's fan following, I'd say we had better talk with her if we want any further clues. Maybe she saw someone suspicious following her fans or maybe even herself." But before he started out on the lead, he smiled to the little Mechamorph, "Thanks, Ship."

Moka petted him, as she encouraged, "You did really good at your first day in the club, Ship."

Even Yukari pointed out, "Yeah, I mean for a mad scientist's experiment, you're a lot smarter than Kurumu. Maybe you should take her place."

"WHAT?!" Kurumu shouted, getting the duo into another squabble with one another.

Later that Day

"Oh my, someone may be stalking my fans?" Ms. Ishigami blinked in surprise and slight apprehension. "How terrible."

It was easy to see why many boys lusted after Ms. Ishigami. She was slim and wore a red top which just barely showed some of her midriff and a pair of tight jeans which accented her hips. She wore it under a white coat which housed some splotches of clay or paint. Her blonde hair was done up in dreadlocks which she kept under a bandanna. Of course, she was also very attractive and had this radiance of wild beauty around her. All in all, Ben would have been smitten if the situation wasn't so serious.

"Yeah," Ben nodded, tying not to blush at how close they were. The Newspaper Club had gone to the art classroom and found the teacher there, working with some papers for tomorrow's lesson. She happily greeted them and soon the conversation took a turn for the subject. "We just have to ask, have you seen anyone suspicious when you met with your fans?"

"Well, no one immediately comes to mind," Ms. Ishigami frowned thoughtfully. "Although, now that other people suspect it, I may not be imagining things after all."

"What do you mean?" asked Yukari curiously.

"Well," Ms. Ishigami frowned as she seemed to recall a memory. "Sometimes when my fans would come to say to me or just talk about my classes, I would feel like as if someone was staring at me. I'd look around but I didn't see anyone suspicious. Still, if my students vanishing are connected to me in some way, I'd love to help."

"Any kind of lead would be helpful," Ben sighed.

Art Class

Within Ben's short time in Youkai Academy, he's always noted how some of the teachers were popular. Then again, he had to remember that said teachers were monsters in disguise. There was the math teacher, Ririko Kagome, who just oozed with sexiness since she wore a blouse with her cleavage exposed and short skirts. Ririko-sensei had a lot of male fans. It was like Kurumu's harem, but Ben knew that Ririko was no succubus. She did give him the creeps too when she offered him private tutoring lessons. Ben's grades were also average since of course he had trouble reading the kanji. He could read it, just not all of it. She did say he could do better though…

Hitomi Ishigami was another popular member of faculty. Her students loved her art classes and students from other classes even visited her. She welcomed the attention, really, and was well liked. She was also very pleasant to be around for one reason or another. Of course, she was never without at least one of her fan club members hanging around chatting pleasantly. Of course, since all members of her fan club were attractive girls the boys just found another reason to adore the hot art teacher, she attracted more hot girls.

Today, Ben's class was having a class with Ms. Ishigami. Each student sat before canvas set up on an easel. Ms. Ishigami told them to paint whatever came to mind.

Ben decided to go with one of his alien forms, one he hadn't used in a while…Wildvine. He had several copies of Wildvine, intersecting each other with their vines, making it a bit gothic of sorts. But it still retained the alien's shape and form. The plant-like alien was easy enough to sketch out. Ben knew the image off heart since he had changed into that form enough times. Of course, that one time he practiced making faces in the mirror of his alien forms, back when he first got the Omnitrix helped cement the image in his mind. Now the paint though…that was a little harder since the school only supplied the basic colors. The color of his eye was just as good, but if Ben wanted to get the right shade of Wildvine's skin, he'd have to get creative.

"My my, that's such an eye-catching subject, Mister Tennyson."

Ben blinked and turned around, almost getting a face full of Ishigami-sensei's cleavage. Blushing and blinking, he looked up to see the look on his teacher's face. She seemed to be almost admiring the way Ben had sketched the Wildvines' twisting and curving around tree branches while the tips of his tendrils were buried in the bark of the tree.

"I've never seen such a monster like this before," the sexy art teacher pondered. "Did you make this one up?"

"Nope," Ben answered as he tried for a darker shade of green. "I've seen a few back home in America. Their real names are Floraunas, but I call one of them Wildvines."

"Floraunas and Wildvine," Ishigami-sensei pondered. "Truly fitting names for such an artistic creature. I hope I can meet one personally."

'Oh, You might,' thought Ben as he gave a glance to his Omnitrix. He wondered what the others were doing, though. Yukari wasn't in his class so that only left Kurumu and Moka, who had Ship with her, disguised as a backpack.

"I'll leave you to your work," said Ishigami. "I'm eager to see the finished product, Tennyson."

"Alright," Ben nodded as she sauntered off to check on the work of the other students.

Absently working on his painting, Ben tried to take a look around the classroom to see if there was anyone suspicious nearby. It seemed like a normal enough class. The boys were working and lusting over Ishigami-sensei as usual. The girls were idolizing her while they got their own works completed. There were also several other girls hanging through the windows from outside, having skipped their usual classes to come talk to her. All in all, it seemed like another average day. If someone was stalking Ishigami-sensei and removing her fan girls out of jealousy, Ben didn't doubt that they were probably already watching her at the moment.

As he sighed and returned to his painting, Ben didn't notice a dirty look being aimed at his back.

After Class

Dorms

At the end of the school day, Ben headed back to his dorm room. Of course, as he was walking along the path, he felt like he was being watched by something or someone. In all his years of experience, he knew when to trust his gut. Normally it might have been Ship following him around, hoping to play with him, but Ben knew that Yukari and Kurumu were doing something in the club room and were unable to stalk him at the moment. And the odd thing was, Moka was asked by Ishigami-sensei to see if she could model for her.

"Oh, don't worry," Moka reassured him. "I'll still be going to the club."

"You won't get too lonely, will you?" Ben asked, teasingly.

"Oh, don't worry, Ben." She picked up Ship, as she nuzzled him, "Ship'll be with me, so I won't be too lonely." But then, she blushed a little, as she asked, "But Ben… well, would you… let me suck your blood?" the boy cocked an eyebrow as she explained, "Well, it might be a while before we see each other again, and I… well…"

Ben just smirked, knowing Moka was doing her usual habit, as he pulled at his collar, "Okay. Go ahead with the usual hickie or two."

Moka blushed a little, getting thee joke, "Oh, come on, Ben." She ran to him, embracing him, as they smooshed Ship in the middle, and went for the neck, as usual, "Here I go… CHU!"

He thought about that for a moment, "Modeling, huh? Well, either Moka has the looks and figure for modeling." But he pondered aloud, "But what kind of modeling? I mean, I've heard from my cousin, Ken, that in college art classes, the only modeling is… nude modeling." He blushed at that for a moment, with Moka posing, in nothing but her… He shook his head on the thought, as he blushed from such an image, 'Okay, push that thought aside.'

But putting that aside, he decided to get to the matter at hand: the strange stalker hunting him down now.

"OK, whoever you are, come out!" he demanded.

He didn't get the anticipation when Moka would bite him, or when Kurumu would glomp him. He saw a figure walk out from behind a tree. It was one of his classmates, and a girl to boot. Somewhat non-descript in terms of appearance, although she had blondish hair that reached to her shoulders on the right side, braided in a ponytail. She looked like a completely average schoolgirl, which probably meant she was reasonably tough since the strongest monsters could produce the best disguises.

"OK, why have you been following me?" he demanded to know an answer.

"I don't care how good-looking you are in either human or monster form, Ben Tennyson!" she growled angrily at the boy, obviously flushing about something. "I won't let you get close to Ishigami-sensei!"

She then began to change form causing Ben to go on high alert. Despite the rules of remaining in human form, the students would ignore them to get what they wanted. The girl in front of her, who was changing, was no different as she started to assume her true form. Her sleeves became tattered as her arms became wings. Her shoes were also ruined as her feet turned into talons.

"Why do these things keep happening to me?" Ben wondered aloud as the girl finished her transformation. She had transformed into half-bird and half-woman creature known as a harpy.

The harpy rose into the air and let out a loud shriek before diving at Ben with her sharp talons. Her skirt rode up, revealing her panties, but Ben had not the time nor the desire to admire the view. He quickly rolled out of the way as the talons slashed the ground where he once stood.

"Going hero!" Ben announced as he pressed down on the Omnitrix, as the harpy came down to attack him again. His body became bathed in green light, and when the light died down he'd assumed the form of…

"Wildvine!"

His body was green all over with a single blue cycloptic blue eye. His head was nestled between two flaps that resembled a Venus flytrap and he had five vine-like legs. His arms were skinny but hid immense strength. On his back grew several pods which only enhanced his alien looks. And on his chest, rested the Omnitrix symbol in place.

Omnitrix Encyclopedia

Florauna A.K.A. Wildvine

Hailing from the planet Flors Verdance, these people hold numerous abilities which make them so well-known and employed as guards by some. The seeds on their backs are explosive, but can be made either lethal or non-lethal by the individual Florauna's thoughts. Their limbs are very elastic, allowing them to stretch and absorb impacts, and also allow the growth of sharp thorn spikes to act as a weapon. They can burrow underground quickly and also meld into other plants, making it easy for them to spy on others. However, if they are deprived of water, sunlight or exposed to the cold, they quickly wither up.

Ben encountered a whole tribe of them on Zeron, as he was searching for Azmuth to help fix the Omnitrix, as they nearly cost Gwen her life trying to save Ben.

Looking up, Wildvine saw the harpy coming down. But before her talons could rip him to shreds, he burrowed underground to escape her assault. The Harpy hit the dirt talons first, digging claws full of soil out as her rage increased tenfold.

"COME OUT AND FACE ME!" she screeched, clawing at the surface where the plant-like alien had burrowed to escape.

In truth, Wildvine wasn't underground for very long. He had actually merged with a nearby tree and was spying at his opponent from behind. "You asked for it!" Wildvine answered, vanishing into the soil again. Suddenly, vines burst out of the ground and wrapped around the now thrashing harpy. The vines tightened, pinning her wings to her side, as she screeched.

Wildvine emerged from the ground with his vines still in the ground, as his main body stretched over to meet the harpy eye to eye. "OK, what is your problem!?" he demanded angrily. He did not appreciate getting attacked, ever!

"You're going to take Ishigami-sensei away!" the harpy snarled. "I saw you! You were eyeing her all the time, asking her questions!"

"What?" Wildvine blinked. "You're attacking me because I asked her a few question?"

"Stalker!" the harpy snapped. "I know you're stalking her! You're a disgusting stalker!"

"Like you're one to talk, if you keep such a huge profile on everyone she comes in contact with," Wildvine hissed in annoyance. His eye narrowed dangerously, as he lifted her off the ground, holding her up in the air. "You know, I'll bet you're the one who's been making Ishigami-sensei's fans disappear! What happened? They get a little too close for your liking?"

"What are you talking about!?' the harpy demanded.

"I'm talking about all those girls who've disappeared!" Wildvine shot back. "The way you're acting makes you the prime suspect in this whole thing!"

The harpy glared at Wildvine in disgust, "Do I look like a kidnapper? Where would I stash all those girls!?"

"There are plenty of places for you to hide them on campus!" Wildvine shouted. "What about that abandoned former school building not too far from here? Nobody would ever suspect a place like that!"

"Listen to me! I didn't kidnap anybody!" She shot back, "And besides, that area's for Monstrels! No self-respecting purebred monster would ever show up there! Unless they wanted to pick a fight with them!"

Wildvine was not convinced, but without any evidence he could not really do anything. Not that he wasn't within his rights to let this girl have it for trying to kill him just because he was talking to her favorite teacher. Deciding to find a way to restrain her, Wildvine was about to see to the trees for help when the Omnitrix symbol on his chest began to flash red. "Oh, you've gotta be kidding me! Now of all times?"

FLASH!

The harpy rose into the air as the vines that restrained her vanished. Looking down, she saw Ben back in his human form looking less confident than before. Grinning, she let off a battle screech before swooping down to take the pest out once and for all. However, she didn't get too far before she was bombarded by a meteor shower of bath pans.

"What the-?" Ben blinked as he looked to the source of the bombardment of pans, only to find a familiar little witch. "Yukari?"

"Are you okay?" Yukari asked, as she ran towards him.

"Yeah. Thanks," Ben sighed with relief. "Of all the times that the Omnitrix had to time out though," he sighed, looking to the item attached to his wrist.

"Ben!" the American boy looked up to see Kurumu coming in for a landing. "I saw that harpy in the air and came here to see what was going on."

"She was trying to find you, so she could follow you and saw the fight," Yukari commented as she walked towards the pair. She then blushed, and cupped her face as she mentioned, "But I got here first to save Ben first."

"Thanks, Yukari," Ben smirked.

"Anyway!" Kurumu hissed, her plan to look like the loving maiden foiled yet again. "Why did that girl try to attack you?"

"I think she's the one that's been kidnapping all those girls for getting too close to Ishigami-sensei," Ben explained. "Apparently she noticed me asking her questions, and keeping an eye out for suspicious people around her. I think she thought I was stalking her or something, and she decided to try and 'put a stop to me'." He groaned, rubbing his face to get rid of all the intensity in him, "Honestly, what kind of fans does Ishigami-sensei have?"

Yukari groaned and nodded in agreement, after witnessing such a fan service for the sexy art teacher, "Yeah, tell me about it."

"Who cares? This is great!" Kurumu beamed. "We've cracked the case!"

Ben shrugged as he looked to the frozen harpy. Something was telling him that this case was far from solved. It just seemed too easy. Even while they escorted the unconscious harpy to the club, a shadowed figure watched them leave. A figure with snake-like glaring in their eyes.

Three Hours Later

Newspaper Club Room

"So, she denied everything?" Ben asked. Gin nodded. They were in the Newspaper Clubroom after handing the harpy to school authorities. It had been a full day since the girl's attack and Gin was relaying the information to his club members as to what had been discovered. As Ben had just said, it seemed that their initial assumptions weren't as accurate as some of them had been hoping. In fact, they were completely wrong.

"No matter how much she was questioned she denied having anything to do with the missing girls," said Gin. After dealing with the authorities who took care of this sort of thing, Gin was very confident that the girl was telling the truth. The interrogation techniques were…effective.

"She has to be lying!" Kurumu snapped.

"I doubt that," Gin said. "I mean the best she can do is fess up but she hasn't even cracked."

"Something isn't right here," Ben spoke, his instincts still bothering him. Looking around, he noticed that one of their number had yet to make an appearance. "By the way, where's Moka?"

"Dunno," Gin shrugged. He had been looking forward to seeing the pink haired vampire as well, but she had been AWOL since the final bell ended. "She didn't turn up."

"Oh, she said that Ishigami-sensei asked her to be a model for her!" Yukari informed Ben.

Ben nodded, "Yeah, she told me all about that."

"Wait! Moka, a model?" Kurumu wondered aloud.

Well, Ms. Ishigami was an art teacher. Maybe she was looking for a new subject for a masterpiece. Moka was beautiful. Of course, the thought of Moka modeling just made images of what kind of modeling the vampire might be doing. Once again, Ben banished the ecchi thoughts, and got to his feet with a sigh. "Guess I should go look for her."

"Why not stay with me?" Kurumu purred, using her patented 'chest bounce' technique to try and capture Ben's interest. "I could model for you, Ben. I could model in one of those maid outfits, maybe even a skimpy bikini." She then leaned in, tickling Ben's neck with her breath, "Or if you want… we could go to my room, and there, I could do any position you want… "

"Tempting," Ben laughed, "But I gotta tell Moka about this. Maybe later."

Kurumu pouted, "Oh, man."

Friday

One More Day Before Ben's Birthday

Art Class Room

The next day, Ben decided to check on Moka to see if she was alright. Lately, she had been spending a lot of time with Ishigami; there was nothing wrong with it, but if there were other students like the harpy chick, she might have been in danger. But the whole week, he had yet to get even a chance to make contact with her. Too many distractions with the girls, or with Gin chasing after Ship from deleting his files once again. But today, it was gonna be different; this time, he was going to meet with her with no distractions. Ben went into the art classroom, looking for Moka, but there was nobody in the room.

"Guess they went home already," said Ben.

He was about to exit when he heard something. It sounded like faint crying and it was coming from a door inside the art room. The room in the back was used to keep the art supplies, from the looks of it. Curious and without fear, Ben went to investigate. Placing an ear at the door, Ben could indeed hear sobbing on the other side. And it sounded like a girl sobbing just as much. Now concerned, he gripped the door handle and opened the door wide. His eyes widened in shock.

Inside of the room were several statues. Each of them depicted a teenage girl, completely naked, and striking a pose that you would normally see a model do for any kind of artwork. However, there was only one thing that was odd about them that caught Ben's suspicion. Each statue's face depicted pain, fear, and a sense of betrayal. Even stranger, each of the statues was crying actual tears. That alone was shocking enough, but what made it worse was that Ben recognized the statues as well. Each one was a perfect match to the missing students. Having seen the profiles of the missing girls, Ben recognized them immediately. They were the missing girls.

"Wha…who could have done this?" Ben asked bluntly.

"Ben?" Moka suddenly appeared behind him, startling the poor boy. He whipped around to see her, almost shocked from what he discovered, and was about to tell her. But he noticed the look of startlment, almost like she was hiding something, as well as a slight annoyance. "You shouldn't be here, Ben," she stated, ignoring what he was about to say, and pushed him away from the room.

"Wait, Moka! Something's not right," Ben persisted.

"Ben, just go," Moka shot out.

"Moka, I'm trying to tell you something," Ben persisted, "I don't care about the whole modeling thing right now, but I think something's…"

"BEN, IT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS, SO BUTT OUT!" Moka finally shouted. But she stopped herself, as she realized what she ahd said was hurtful. Ben looked a little startled from the outburst, but Moka immediately apologized to him, "Ben, I'm so sorry, but this isn't a good time. Ishigami-sensei, she's…"

"She's hoarding a bunch of crying statues in the art storage room," Ben interrupted, as he led her back to the room for her to see. She was startled by this discovery, as Ben continued, "And they all bear a resemblance to the missing girls."

Moka looked to Ben and asked, "But I don't get it. Why would she make statues like this?"

"Moka, that's just it. I don't think these are statues," Ben answered, as they both looked at them, "I think these are the girls."

"Oh, so you two found my collection," a female voice spoke up. Ben and Moka instantly whirled around in shock; Ben's instincts keeping him from being caught totally by surprise. The two students found Ms. Ishigami standing in the doorway to the classroom, but her face looked nothing like the caring, enthusiastic teacher he had come to know. In fact, she looked downright sinister.

Moka stepped back a little, easily frightened by the look on her face, "Ms. Ishigami? I don't…"

"So, you're the one behind all this!" Ben shouted as he glared at Ms. Ishigami. "You kidnapped these girls and turned them into statues! Didn't you?!"

"Oh, you've caught me," said Hitomi with a frown before it shifted into a wide grin. "You're a smart one, Mister Tennyson. Perhaps too smart for your own good."

"At least tell us why," Moka asked. "We at least deserve to know that much."

"Why? Why, it's for art, of course!" Ms. Ishigami proclaimed walking past Ben and Moka, and towards her 'works'. "True beauty needs to be preserved. I'm doing these lovely ladies a favor by helping them preserve their natural beauty!" She gently caressed a petrified girl's face. A whimper was heard through the stone lips which could not move at all. "I was going to add just you to my collection, Moka. But it wasn't the right time…yet."

Moka backed behind Ben, in fear for what was coming to her. "You are sick," Ben spat, his eyes narrowing as the teacher revealed her plans for his friend, "And your taste in artwork methods suck!"

"And you're dead!" Ms. Ishigami snapped as her hair transformed into many, many snakes.

Her skin cracked and turned a slight shade of green on her cheeks, revealing it to be similar to a snake's. Her eyes turned yellow with a slit for a pupil, giving a more reptilian look. She had revealed her true form to be that of a gorgon, much like the legendary gorgon Medusa of Greek myth.

With a hiss she lunged at Ben, as he pushed Moka away, and he rolled out of the way. However, one of her snakes lunged out and managed to bite into his arm. Flinching, Ben pulled the snake out of his arm and got some distance between himself and the deranged educator. However, he felt the area around his bite beginning to turn cold and stiffen. Fearing venom from the snakes, Ben yanked up his sleeve and gasped in horror to see the area around his bite slowly turning gray…like stone.

Seeing what happened to him, Moka rushed over to his side, "Ben, no!" She gently supported him, holding him as his arm became petrified into an obtuse angle. A positing he wouldn't be able to operate the Omnitrix in. "Ben, just hold on!"

"AHAHAHAHAHA! Now you'll be joining my collection, Ben Tennyson!" laughed Ishigami, as she mused at the American boy. "I must admit though, I've never added a male subject to my work, but you're just too much not to pass up!" She then decided to taunt the two some more as she explained the situation before them. "That bite injected you with a dose of Gorgon Vemin, which will slowly turn you into a statue as it courses through your very being. That stiffness in your arm is just the beginning. Soon, you won't be able to move at all! I usually prefer girls, but variety is the spice of life." She licked her lips. "Odd… you taste like a human, though…"

Moka nearly paled at that fact; if she found out about Ben's secret then. She couldn't think about that right now, as Ben was in danger. Grimacing, Ben couldn't waste time as he tried to activate the Omnitrix, but he couldn't bend his arm the right way. But Moka did it for him, as she activated the Omnitrix, making the holographic display appear as she chose Diamondhead. With his arm quickly turning to stone, he didn't have much time left at all, as it was closely creeping up to his neck.

Miss Ishigami took notice on how fast the petrification was getting, and cackled, "HAHAHAHAA! Guess you'll have to be in a near death pose, considering once the petrification reached your throat, you suffocate to death! AAAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!"

"That won't happen to him!" Moka resisted, as she looked to the dial, preparing to slam it down for the wheezing Ben. "If you love stone so much! Then you can deal with Diamondhead!" shouted Moka as she slammed the lens down. However, at the very last second, like half a second before her palm hit, the form of Diamondhead shifted into a similar yet leaner form.

Ishigami had to shield her eyes from the green light and when it died down she was staring down at a kneeling Moka, as well as a new yet revived Ben Tennyson.

"Chromastone!" he shouted, as he stood up, like nothing happened to him.

"Interesting…" murmured Ishigami as she took in his new form.

His body was made of dark purple crystal with skinny arms and legs. He had a pair of pink crystal spikes jutting from his chest and several pink spikes on his back, like he would if he was a Petro Sapien. His hands were also pink. His face was a pink plate that would open and close when he spoke light a real mouth and he had a single green eye. A pink horn jutted from his head. On his chest was the Omnitrix emblem.

Omnitrix Encyclopedia

Crystalsapien A.K.A. Chromastone

Hailing from the planet Mor Otesi, these silicon-based life forms have the ability to absorb ambient energy and redirect is as attacks of various intensities or just as ambient light if they need to see in the dark. They have superhuman strength and are nigh indestructible to conventional forces. They can be shattered, but it is believed that they can regenerate from such wounds. However, this theory has not yet been proven and since no one wants to be on the bad side of a Crystalsapien should it fail, no one is willing to test it out.

But one rumor has been legend, as one Crystalsapien may have originated from the Petro Sapien's home world, and was the key to restoring it, should it was ever destroyed.

Chromastone looked himself over. "Woah…a new hero." He clenched his fists. "Looks like it's time for a field test!"

Just as the gorgon and the Crystalsapien were about to begin their fight, the sneaky snake woman was quick, as she disappeared. Chromastone looked around, hoping to see where she would strike. But nothing.

"Moka!" Chromastone shouted. "Get out of here! Fast!"

"What!?" Moka exclaimed.

But suddenly, he was violently thrown into a wall, striking a power line, as his body danced with electricity. Moka was about to run over to help him, but Ishigami suddenly appeared in front of her, hissing sadistically.

"Not exactly how I had planned this. A pity. I guess I have no choice but to turn you both into stone!" Ishigami hissed lunged towards Moka with her snakes baring their fangs, ready to dig into Moka's flesh. The pink-haired girl screamed in fright, which made Chromastone go into action.

"Moka!" Chromastone shouted, as he pulled away from the electric lone, and reached out to get the insane teacher before she could even lay a hand on his friend. Suddenly, rainbow colored light burst from his hands and struck Ishigami, sending her crashing against the wall. "Whoa… Sweet. I can absorb energy and shoot it out with prism beams."

Ishigami hissed and rose to her feet. Her front was covered in dust, paint, and clay smudges from previous class projects which had been set out to dry. She looked absolutely murderous as she got back to her feet. No doubt about it, she was a tough opponent. "You'll regret that, Tennyson," she snarled at Chromastone.

"Bring it on!" Chromastone challenged.

The two combatants lunged at each other, but Chromastone's muscle easily overpowered the teacher, and sent both of the crashing through the wall before the landed outside and on the dirt. Ishigami's snakes lunged at Chromastone, but their fangs just scraped across his rock-like skin, not finding anything which they could dig into and inject their venom. Angry at what this so-called teacher dared to do, Chromastone grabbed her by the lapels of her coat and raised her into the air.

"What and where's the antidote to the venom?!" Chromastone demanded hotly. "Tell me! Or I swear to every girl you've done this to, I'll break every bone in your body! Every tiny little snake-like bone in there!"

"There isn't one, and there never will be," Ishigami coughed, all dusty and dazed from the impact she had been dealt by the flying tackle that the alien had put her through. She smiled at seeing the shocked defeated look in her transformed student's single eye, "You spat about protecting and saving those girls, but you're no closer to helping them." She then saw the despair writing on his face, as she cackled, "Ah, that look of despair, Tennyson. It's so perfect for a masterpiece; not one of my students could ever match yours. Truly, you would have made the centerpiece of my work. But it will avail you not, those girls are MINE! ALL MINE!"

Chromastone growled, his eye gaining a dark glare, "Then it's pretty obvious now that I don't need you."

Raising his arm, he unleashed a powerful punch which smashed into the teacher's jaw. The force of the blow sent her skidding across the dirt before she crashed into several tombstones which had been littering the area. Dust flew in all directions as she was buried underneath the pieces of gravestones. She gave off one final groan before passing out from the punch. Chromastone stood tall, panting, trying to get his temper back under control.

"Ben!" Moka cried, running over to her friend. "Ben, are you okay? Did her snakes bite you?"

"I'm fine," Chromastone sighed, tapping his chest with a fist. "I'm already made of crystal and stone. Her snakes couldn't even dig into my skin much less inject their venom. Are the other statues… I mean, are the girls still okay?"

"They're fine," Moka reassured her friend. "But what are we going to do?"

"I'll keep watch on her," Chromastone replied, pointing at the pile of broken tombstones where the crazy woman was currently sleeping off her loss. "You get back to the club room and get the others down here. Maybe Yukari knows a spell or something which can help."

"Oh! Right!" Moka nodded. With a nod from Ben, Moka dashed off towards the main building, hoping that their friends hadn't gone back to the dorms yet.

But as she did, Inner Moka thought through the Rosario about what Ben had done a while ago, 'To block an attack from a Gorgon… just for me. He's something else, I guess. He's growing, even a little.'

An Hour Later

Back in the Art Room

Yukari frowned as she examined the statues. "Well?" asked Ben.

"I'm sorry," Yukari shook her head. "I don't know any spell that can fix this!"

The Newspaper Club had come to the art room after Moka came hurtling inside, proclaiming that Ben had been fighting Ishigami. They were understandably shocked after hearing the true story from Ben and Moka. Everyone had come running with Gin hauling his camera to take photos of evidence. He didn't even try mooning over the nude statues like he would normally have if the situation was any less serious. However, gorgon venom was a very potent substance and any magic which could stop it was hard to use since the first gorgon named Medusa had venom created by powerful divine influences.

"Great…" groaned Ben depressingly. He put his hand on a statue's shoulder, trying to offer at least a little comfort to the petrified girls. How was he going to fix this? How could any of them fix this? Maybe he could call Gwen over on the phone to help or inform the faculty. They must have someone who could help. As his hand made contact with one of the petrified girls, the Omnitrix glowed briefly.

"DNA damage detected," spoke the Omnitrix.

Ben blinked.

Yukari blinked.

Moka blinked.

Kurumu blinked.

And even Ship and Gin blinked twice, as the wolf boy pointed to the Omnitrix. "Did your limiter just talk?" Gin questioned.

"It… never did before…" spoke Ben as he examined the Omnitrix.

"Never?" Moka questioned. Ben shook his head.

"I wonder…" Ben murmured.

"Would you like to restore the damage done to DNA?" the Omnitrix asked.

"Um…OK?" answered Ben. "Sure, restore the DNA."

The Omnitrix released an ominous green glow before unleashing a bright flash of light that forced the Newspaper Club to shield their eyes. When the green light subsided, all of the statues which were really Ishigami's victims had been restored to normal flesh and blood. They seemed confused, dazed and disoriented…and naked.

"Woah!" Ben gasped, flushing red as he quickly turned around to look at a painting on the wall. "That is one incredible picture. Wow! I don't think I can turn my eyes away from it!"

"Oh, I see a work of art right before me," Gin grinned as he began to raise his camera, only to be smacked upside the head by Kurumu, knocking him face first into the floor.

"This isn't the time to be a letch!" the irate succubus cried in exasperation. "Let's get some clothes for these girls!"

"Right!" the remaining girls nodded.

"Ehh…right," Ben nodded, managing to leave the art supply room without having to look at the collected group of nude girls who were still trying to get their senses together.

A While Later

Ben's Room

The Newspaper Club reported the truth of the female students' disappearances. However, when Ishigami was to be arrested, she'd vanished. Ben just hoped that was the last they saw of her. He was just relieved that things were back to normal…well as normal as it could be in a school of monsters, for monsters and run by monsters. Ben checked his Omnitrix, wondering what more mysteries of it he could unlock. "Well, it's not like I can call Azmuth on the phone or anything."

The creator of the Omnitrix would be a good help, but all he told Ben was to learn on his own. Some help. Judging from how the guy acted, he probably forgot how to use the lesser functions.

"Ben?" Moka appeared behind him, as he turned around. He also noticed that she was holding on to a clothed covered canvas behind her. Ben had given her a spare key to his dorm room, just in case she ever wanted to come over. He didn't dare tell the others about it, considering she'd be hounded and attacked by the others for the key.

"Moka?" he hopped up, with Ship sleeping on the couch. "What are you doing here?"

"Well…" she placed the item on a chair, and uncovered it, revealing a well-done portrait of himself. A startled Ben looked at the picture, as Moka explained, "I hope you like it; I worked hard on it for your birthday present." Ben still looked confused by this, as she explained, "I'm sorry I worried you, but in order to draw your portrait this good, I took private lessons from Ms. Ishigami in return for being a model. The portrait's title is, What's Important to Me." She then smiled to Ben, "And you're important to me, Ben. Happy birthday."

Ben cocked an eyebrow, as he asked, "Birthday?"

"Yeah," Moka answered, "Your birthday's on May 14th."

Ben shook his head, as he explained, "Um, Moka, my birthday's on the 14th… but it's in August."

Moka jumped in surprise by that, as she asked, "What? But then, who's…"

"May 14th is my cousin Ken's birthday," Ben answered, but smiled, "But thanks for the portrait anyway. I guess this means that you've got some more time before that."

She smiled, "Yeah, and next time…" she walked over to him, as she hugged him, "I just hope I have a better gift next time."

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BEN!" Yukari and Kurumu busted into the room, with gifts of their own. Even Gin showed up with a gift. But they all stopped, as they saw Ben and Moka, hugging one another, as they all shouted, "WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU GUYS DOING?!"

Once again, it was another crazy day. A villain of the school was busted, a new alien form awakened, and another goofy moment between friends. But Moka just sighed, thinking that next time, she'd give Ben a better gift. But maybe at that time… she thought that just maybe… they would be more than just friends at that time.

Next Chapter: The Girl of Snow; Loneliness Lifted by an Angel