I'm back! Hopefully with a better chapter than last time. Anyway, I have read your reviews, and am swamped with ideas! I also have an announcement from a friend of mine.
Menatron the Angel of Ideas has posted a "plot bunny" about a Danny Phantom/Avatar: the Last Airbender crossover, and would be very happy if someone would write about it. Obviously, I feel the same way about more Ben 10/Monster High fanfics. If you are a huge fan of this story, do not hesitate to write your own story.
Now, pitiful begging aside, the story can begin!
"Who the heck is Hoodude!?" Frankenstrike yelled as the earth shook again.
"He's a voodoo doll made by Frankie," Cleo explained, using Frankenstrike as a support. "Basically, if he has a bad day, everyone has a bad day."
"Is he normally this bad?" Frankenstrike asked. Draculaura shook her head. "No, usually it ends up with an entire hallway of the school be obliterated, not the entire school." she explained before something dawned on her. "Quick! What day is it!?" she asked in a desperate tone. Clawdeen pulled out her iCoffin and looked it up, a look of horror crossing her face. "Friday the 13th." she gulped. "Aaaand that's bad, right?" Frankenstrike asked. Every ghoul jerked their heads up and down. "Well then, it looks like I'm gonna have to take care of it. Spectra?" he asked turning to the ghost. She gave him a thumbs up and followed him as he towards the school, the ghouls each sharing confused looks.
Frankenstrike rushed into the school, smashing right through the front doors with ease. On the bright side, if anyone were to question the damage, they would assume it was Hoodude at fault. Spectra was following close behind, iCoffin at the ready. The school was a mess, locker doors ripped off their hinges, lockers ripped from the walls, walls ripped the school. Frogs hopped freely among the mess of books and papers that spilled forth from lockers, and something with tentacles was lurking just around the corner. "One kid did all this? Geez." Frankenstrike marveled.
"Hello? Anyone there?" a voice called out.
"Who said that?" Frankenstrike called out, following the sound of the voice down another hallway, avoiding a small fire on the left side of the hallway. "Keep talking!" Frankenstrike yelled as he skidded to a stop outside of a bathroom door marked "Ghouls". That is, if you could see the door behind the mound of rubble that separated them. "Of course." he sighed as a flash of green light engulfed him, changing him back to his original form. "What was that?" the voice asked from the other side of the door. "Uh, power shortage?" Ben tried, making his voice deeper than it originally was. "Just give me a sec." he said as turned the Omnitrix on and cycled through the list. "What do you think? Humungousar? Heatblast?" he asked Spectra shrugged. "I don't know. I can at least go in and see who's on the other side." she said before floating right through the wall and into the bathroom beyond. Ben sighed and continued to cycle through his list. At least it was something like when he was on missions with Rook.
"Hello? Who's in here?" Spectra asked as she moved her full body through the wall with ease. The lights in the bathroom were dim, making the shades of pink and purple all the more creepy. A soft light caught her eye towards the back of the restroom, towards where a couple of the sinks were. She floated down to see a girl hiding under the sink, a small pile of plaster and wood burning at her feet as she hugged herself tightly. "Spectra? Oh, thank goodness! I was worried we might be trapped in here for eternity." the girl said with a sigh of relief. She was dressed in a violet qipao with scale like patterns. She wore a pair of dull yellow high heels with a sort of headdress in her green and black hair. A golden scaled tail curled around her knees, clearly marking her as a Chinese Dragon from Fanghai, Jinafire if Spectra remembered correctly.
"What do you mean "we"? Aren't you in here by yourself?" Spectra asked. Jinafire shook her head sadly. "Unfortunately, no. Venus was unfortunate enough to be in here as well when disaster struck, and she was struck on the head by a piece of falling ceiling. To make matters worse, the heating system in the school has been damaged, and no longer works. She is incredibly cold." the young dragon said, touching the arm of an unconscious green monster next to her. The girl had bright green and hot pink hair shaved on one side and combed over to the other wrapped around her like blanket. Smalls vines curled around her arms, legs, and neck. Small, sharp teeth curved over her ruby red lips. She wore a blue vest over a multicolor shirt and skirt, wearing a pair of hot pink boots with a row of sharp teeth at the front. She moaned and turned over, away from the small fire. Jinafire moved her closer to the flame, careful so she wouldn't catch fire.
"What is that smell?" Jinafire asked, sniffing the air. Spectra sniffed nearly gagged, having noticed a repulsive smell coming from somewhere in the room. "I sure how that isn't what I think it is." she said with a worried voice when there came a sudden explosion towards the front of the bathroom, the door and wreckage from outside smashing into the wall in front of it. The girls covered their eyes and starred into the sudden haze to see a tall figure walking towards them. He was tall and muscled, and was surprisingly plant-like. Large red thorns dotted his arms and shoulders, a large, leafy green collar sprouting up from his neck. He had thorn like objects on his feet, and a bright red, yellow, and orange face that looked like a fiery flower in bloom. "Is everyone okay?" the being asked.
Jinafire shook her head to clear her thoughts. "Yes. We are fine. Most of us anyway." she said, gesturing to Venus. The plant creature nodded and reached under the sink, carefully lifting the unconscious monster off the floor and slinging her over his shoulder. He then helped Jinafire to his feet, and she noticed that he was unusually warm. "Why are you so unusual warm?" she asked politely as the small gang exited the bathroom. "I have a natural ability to create fire," the monster explained, holding out a hand and lighting it ablaze, a ball of hot flame appearing. "They don't call me Swampfire for nothing." he chuckled. "That explains the smell." Jinafire said, waving a hand in front of her face. Swampfire was about to retort when a movement caught his eye. He turned to see through a cloud of ash a thin figure approaching them, a mop of yarn like hair in his head and two different colored buttons for eyes. He wore a Monster High letter jacket with a stitched heart over his right chest and needles and pins sticking out at random intervals. He had a sullen look on his face, his stitch covered mouth turned into a frown. Several piranhas were clamped onto his hands, a bear trap around his shoulder, a bucket jammed onto his foot, and what looked like an electric eel wrapped around his head.
"Is that who I think it is?" Swampfire whispered.
"Indeed. That is Hoodude. I would caution you to careful around him." Jinafire warned the Methanosian. He nodded and gently lay Venus on the floor before igniting his hands, waiting for the voodoo doll to strike. The monster ignored him, moping as he walked by and kicked aside a piece of debris. "Ow!" Swampfire cried, clutching his foot and hissing in pain.
"Sorry." Hoodude mumbled.
"What's wrong, Hoodude?" Spectra asked.
Hoodude sighed and turned to face them. "I don't know! Everything and everyone is against me, I tell you! It's such a tragedy! " he cried, spreading his arms in an over dramatic fashion and accidentally knocking over a ladder. The ladder crashed into a door frame with a horseshoe nailed into it, tilting it upside down as a black cat suddenly came out of nowhere and ran past them, dashing down a hall and out of sight. "I'm going to assume that's bad, right?" Swampfire asked, extinguishing his hands. The girls bit their lips and nodded as the entire school began to shake and cracks began to form in the floor.
"RUN!" Swampfire cried, grabbing Venus off the ground and grabbing hold of Hoodude, throwing both monsters over his shoulder and running down the opposite hallway with Spectra and Jinafire close behind, away from said trembling and quaking. A low, hollow roar echoed through the school and the ground shook even more violently, if that was even possible. "What's going on?" Swampfire asked over the roar, turning a sharp corner and running towards the Creepateria.
"I pray it is not what I think it to be." Jinafire shouted as they all dived behind an upturned lunch table. Hoodude groaned and sulked with his back to them, Venus lying asleep next to him. They peeked over the edge of the table, expecting something horrible to come at them and trying to devour them with salt and pepper. But nothing close to that even happened; the shaking and the bellowing just continued on without stopping. "What are we up against?" Swampfire asked Jinafire. The young gulped nervously, her hands nervously playing with her hair. "I fear it might be the Kraken." she nervously.
"Who with the what now?" Swampfire asked confused.
"Rumor has it that there's a huge sea monster that lurks in the pool of Monster High," Spectra explained. "It's the deepest in the world, almost never ending." she added when Swampfire just looked at her with a confused face. "So, where is said terrible beastie?" he asked. He soon got his answer when the floor in front of them suddenly exploded, massive purple and black tentacles spilling forth and filling the Creepateria, smashing lunch tables and everything else as it seemed to be searching for something, most likely food. "Uh, should we be running?" Swampfire asked.
"YES!" Spectra yelped as she suddenly disappeared in flash of greenish light. Swampfire just stared at the spot where she had been, but his attention was quickly ripped away by a shadow cast over them, a massive tentacle dripping with slime and covered in razor sharp hooks preparing to smash down on them and rag them kicking and screaming to the depths. "Run!" Swampfire yelled for the second time, grabbing Venus and Hoodude and leaping out of the way just as the tentacle came crashing down, smashing the lunch table to bits. Jinafire lay at his side, dazed but unhurt otherwise. "How do we get out of here?" Swampfire asked her, and the young dragon pointed toward a large hole in the wall leading out to what appeared to be an outside dining area. Swampfire didn't question and dashed through the hole, ducking his head as a withering tentacle chased after them, thrashing as anger when they escaped just out of his reach. A loud roar shook the grounds, and a dozen more tentacles suddenly ripped the top most tower of the school off, sending it plummeting to the courtyard, where it was smashed into hundreds of pieces. Students continued to run about in a mad fashion, screaming and yelling in panic as Swampfire and his small posse took cover behind a large oak tree. The Methanosian gently leaned Venus against the trunk of the tree before returning his attention back to the Kraken.
"How do you stop this thing!?" he cried over the noise.
"I am not sure," Jinafire admitted. "If I remember correctly tough, sea creatures are not all that fond of fire." Swampfire grinned when he heard that, running off to with hands ablaze to do what he did best. Jinafire raised an eyebrow; this was not what she was expecting from someone like him. While he did look like the brave type, she pictured him as more of the guy that would run away from a fight instead of dive head first into it.
Swampfire raised his hands and let loose a wave of fire on a nearby tentacle, grinning with satisfaction when he heard the monster scream in pain. The tentacle rose up into the air and came crashing, sending a labyrinth of cracks through the courtyard grounds. The tentacle swept across the grounds, forcing Swampfire to jump over it as it came at him. He slung another fire ball at the tentacle and watched it withdraw back into the school. "One down, almost a dozen more to go." he sighed. This was going to take forever, especially since none of the students possessed adequate fire abilities. Technically, that wasn't true. There was always that one guy, Heath Burns, but he had a habit of setting fire to things that weren't supposed to be burned, or shouldn't have been able to burn in the first place. Just like that one time he had set fire to the school's pool when it was full of water. Not even Headmistress Bloodgood had been able to figure that one out.
"Move!" Jinafire cried, crashing into him and sending both of them to the ground as a rogue tentacle swung over their hands. "Thanks." Swampfire said with relief at not having to regrow a head. "It was my pleasure. Now, shall we dispose of this horrid creature?" the young dragon asked with a sly grin. Swampfire smiled and pulled him and Jinafire up as they faced the monster together when an idea struck him. "Hey, Hoodude!" he called, grabbing the voodoo doll's attention. "You wanna be helpful for once!?"
Hoodude vigorously shook his head. He had spent the better part of his undead life trying to avoid hurting someone. The other half had been trying to woo Frankie, but that had proven to be virtually impossible. She had made it clear that while she did like him, she just didn't like him that way. That didn't stop him from trying though. Impossible not to; he was programmed to love Frankie in every possible way. He was literally made for her, by her. So, if there was ever a chance to make himself look like a hero, especially to Frankie, now was the time. "See if you can use your freaky voodoo stuff on the Kraken! Aim for the tentacles!" Swampfire cried as a jet of flame was fired out of Jinafire's mouth, singing a cracking tentacle with ease. The tendril rose up into the air and came smashing down, Swampfire catching it in his hands and holding it up just before it crushed her. He then focused his anger and felt the fiery sensation in his hands that signaled the methane in his body had been lit.
A disgusting smell filled the air as flames consumed the writhing tentacle, the Kraken squealing in agony as the fire raced up the arm and back towards the head, where it would most likely be extinguished in the churning waters. The odds of that same tentacle returning however, were slim. For the next couple of heart rushing moments, Jinafire and Swampfire worked as a team, simultaneously working to push the tentacles back with hot coals and jets of flame that made the air smell like fried calamari. Hoodude, always happy and ready to help, focused on turning his horrible luck on the Kraken, using every trick he knew. All he had to simply do was touch a cracking tentacle without getting caught and then subject himself to horrible amounts of pain he could fortunately not feel. Occasionally, a stray ember would meet his cloth skin and burst into flame, but this usually worked in their favor as long as it was put out fairly quickly. Soon, the trio of mismatched heroes were down to just half a dozen giant tentacles after what seemed hours.
"Why won't this thing die!?" Swampfire cried as a tentacle suddenly wrapped itself around him.
"Venus?"
Someone was calling to her. She moaned and rolled over, silently wishing for the voice to go away. Her head hurt like crazy and all she wanted to do was sink back into the soft, warm bed of unconsciousness.
"Venus!"
She moaned again and cracked open her eyes to see a pair of large, bright, violet colored orbs only inches away from hers. She gave a startled yelp and jolted backwards, hitting her head against the trunk. She hissed in pain and clutched the sore spot as her vision came back to her. "Sorry!" Spectra apologized, backing up to an appropriate distance. Venus moaned again and sat up. She looked around to find herself out in the courtyard. How had she ended up there?
BOOM!
And what was all that racket? She struggled to her feet, leaning against the trunk for support, and peeked out behind it to see half a dozen giant tentacles slithering across the courtyard, smashing through things and knocking them over with ease as three figures fought against them. The first, she easily recognized as Hoodude. She felt a pain of slight irritation toward him. After all, he had caused most of the trouble in the school and was the entire reason why her head was pounding like a giant drum set. The second figure took her a bit longer to remember. She soon figured it to be Jinafire after she blew a wave of fire from her jaws at a giant tendril. The third figure however, was a complete mystery to her. And why did she feel a sort of attraction to him?
"Who is that guy?" Venus asked Spectra, her face turning an incredibly light shade of red. So much so that if you didn't look closely, you wouldn't have known it was there. Spectra however, had seen several times ever since Ben had shown up and identified it easily. The young spirit grinned as she looked over Venus's shoulder, pointing with a near translucent finger. "That's Swampfire," she said with a slight smile. "He rescued you and Jinafire from the Kraken, and from the looks of it could use your help. You up for it?" she asked, pulling out her iCoffin to take a picture of the fight. Venus slowly nodded and staggered out into the open. She had an idea of what to do, but she wanted Swampfire's attention before doing it. While she normally wasn't one to flirt or impress a boy, she somehow couldn't resist with this one. It were as if she had somehow used her own Pollen of Persuasions on herself.
She stabbed both fingers to her lips and blew a shrill whistle. All three heads instantly whipped around to look at her, and even the tentacles seemed to pause for a bit. "Heads up!" she cried as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a handful of seeds that she cast on the ground. She quickly reached into her other pocket and pulled out a spritz bottle containing some kind of liquid. She then quickly squirted the seeds she had thrown on the ground and watched as roots began to grow and sink into the ground, stalks and leafy tendrils reach for the sky. Seconds passed before the plants were taller than the surrounding trees and topped with razor sharp thorns. In the center of each plant was a large cavernous mouth ringed with sharp teeth like a Venus Flytrap. The plants let out a loud, animal-like roar and engaged the Kraken's tentacles with fleshy tentacles of its own. The Kraken bellowed and wrestled with the plant monster's tendrils as Venus climbed up the large stalk to direct her creation's movements.
"Hey, don't start the party without me!" Swampfire cried as he flew open his hand and let a dozen seeds fall to the ground. Without anything to jump start them with, the seeds began to sprout. They too, grew into giant monsters with large, pumpkin like heads that sat on large, fleshy shoulders and a thin, stalk like body. It's large hands were sharp branches that resembled claws. The half a dozen monsters roared and attacked the remaining tentacles, biting savagely into them and clawing at them like mad men as Swampfire yelled at them, flinging fire balls from his hands whenever he could. One tentacle drew back within the skeleton of the school after a savage bite from Venus's plant monster. Another retreated when Jinafire gave it a good smack with a tail followed by a savage kick.
"Keep going! We're almost through!" Swampfire yelled as he jumped up and stopped down on the tip of a tentacle as Hoodude ran up to a tree and gave it a quick kick, a large branch falling out of the tree and smacking him on the head. Swampfire was pretty sure he saw the tree smirk with satisfaction as the Kraken roared in pain again and withdrew the tentacle he was currently attacking back into the school. Venus gave a thumbs up as she finally made it to the top of her monster's head. She pointed with a commanding finger and the sound of the earth being ripped up filled the air as the monster pried itself out of the ground and stood up on its root-like legs. The monster roared and took a step forward, fully engaging the Kraken. It drew back a strong tendril and punched a stray tentacle and watched with satisfaction as it retreated back into the school. Venus smiled as the monster bit into another tentacle, actually biting it off and watching as it fell to the ground. The monster bit off another tentacle and head butted a third until there was only one left. "FIRE!" Venus commanded. The monster bellowed and opened its mouth, unleashing a sudden wave of fire that laid waist to the fighting appendage. The Kraken gave a final cry and whipped out its tentacle, slicing straight through the stalks of Venu's plant monster! The tentacle gave a sudden jerk and pulled itself back into the school as the plant monster's head plummeted to the ground.
"AAAAAAA-HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Venus cried as plant bits fell around her. Now she knew exactly how Robecca felt when her rocket boots failed on her. And she was nowhere near ready to die! The ground was ever approaching. She squeaked and covered her eyes and curled herself into a ball, hoping that the injuries would be minor. She fully expected to fell cold, hard stone, but instead she heard a slight "Oomf!" and felt cool flesh. She cracked open her eyes to see two almond shaped, green eyes looking at her with concern. She fully opened her eyes to see herself in the arms of Swampfire, exactly where she was hoping to someday be. She smiled as her face turned red. "I'm fine. I can't say the same for my poor friend, though." she said sadly, pointing to the remains of her monster. Swampfire nodded and set her down, to the slight disappointment of Venus. He wiped his brow and winced as he felt his bones (did he have bones?) crack. "I'm gonna feel that in the morning." he said with a pained voice. Venus merely laughed when a thought occurred to her.
"Um, Swampfire?" she asked in a timid voice. The Methanosian paused and looked at her. "Yeah?"
"I know we just met and all, but . . . . . . would you, um . . . . . . . go to the dance with me?" she asked suddenly, deciding to get it over with. Swampfire raised an eyebrow. "Who with the what now?" he asked, completely confused. "I don't have the foggiest idea what you're talking about."
Venus laughed. "Every year, our school has a Ghoul's Choice Dance," she explained. "I unfortunately didn't have a date for last year. So, I was wondering if you could be my date for the dance?" she asked. Swampfire blinked. He could feel his heart racing as sweat poured down his forehead. He did have to admit, Venus was hot. Smoking hot, pun totally included. But, if he messed up, how would Frankie feel? She would surely hate him if she found out about everything.
Unfortunately for him, his lips had a mind of their own.
"Sure. Why not?" she said with a shrug. "When's the dance?" he asked.
"Halloween night." Venus said with a smile. "I'll see you there, okay?" she said.
Swampfire merely nodded as Venus smiled, blew him a kiss, and walked away.
"Oh, man. What did I get myself into?" he whined to himself. Suddenly, Spectra appeared out of the ground in front of him, blinding him with a quick camera flash. Swampfire jerked back in surprise, rubbing his eyes. "Hey!" he complained. Spectra smiled. "Sorry," she apologized. She then called for Hoodude and Jinafire to come over, asking for them to pose for a group picture, which they gladly did. After a couple shots, Jinafire turned to Swampfire. "I will admit, I was unsure about fighting along someone who has no clear fighting style," she began. "I will say however, that you have clearly impressed me and that it was an honor to fight alongside you." she said, bowing to him. Swampfire grinned and returned the bow before Jinafire walked off with a friendly wave. Swampfire then turned to Hoodude, who had been awkwardly standing off to the side. Swampfire sighed. "Look, um, Hoodude? Do you wanna go grab a pizza with me and some friends some time?" he asked, feeling sorry for the poor voodoo doll. Hoodude's eyes lit up and threw himself at Swampfire, giving him a big hug. "Oh, yes! Anytime!" he cried happily, bouncing off with a spring in his step. He no longer felt blue, a relief to everyone.
Swampfire merely chuckled as he and Spectra watched the happy voodoo doll run off, content as one could be. "You just made his day, you know." Spectra said after a few moments. "Yeah. I know. I guess I felt sorry for the poor guy. Not his fault he's cursed. Besides, I'm Ben Tennyson! I can handle anything anyone throws at me!" he said proudly, putting his fists on his hips as he struck a pose. "Frankie and friends at 10 o'clock." Spectra suddenly said.
"What!? Where!?" Swampfire cried, nearly losing his balance as Spectra laughed. He turned to see a shaken Frankie, Cleo, Clawdeen, Draculaura, and Ghoulia making their way over to them, though they didn't seem to have noticed Swampfire yet. "Oh, geez!" he cried as he ran behind a tree, slapping the Omnitirx symbol on his stomach and letting the green light encase him, changing him into Frankenstrike. He let out a sigh of relief and peered out from behind the tree to see Frankie and her friends talking with Spectra.
"Have you seen Frankenstrike anywhere?" she asked the ghost. "I wanted to ask him something."
Before Spectra could say something, Frankenstrike stepped out from behind the tree, pretending he had been there the whole time. "What did you want to ask me, Frankie?" he asked, walking up to the group. Frankie jumped in surprise before latching onto him with the biggest of grins on her face. "Oh my ghoul! I thought you were gone again!" she cried, hugging him tighter as her ghoulfriends watched with smirks on their faces. Frankenstrike chuckled. "Ahh, don't worry about me. I was down in the catacombs, fighting the beast from the source. From what I've heard, a friend of my mine was handling things here on the surface and scored himself a date for the dance." he said with laugh. Frankie then let go of him, suddenly feeling nervous about something. "Um, speaking about dances . . . . ." she said nervously, twisting a lock of hair between her fingers. Frankenstrike raised an eyebrow, urging her to go on. "Would you, um, go to the dance with me?" she asked nervously. "If you don't want to, that's still okay!" she interjected quickly.
"I'd love to go."
"What?" Frankie asked, not quite believing what she was hearing.
"I said, I'd love to go to the dance with you. Halloween, right?" he asked. Frankie nodded, not quite processing as Frankie took her hand and gave a quick kiss. "Consider it a date, then." he said, giving a friendly wave as he walked away, Spectra trailing behind him.
"You just dug your own grave, you know." Spectra said as the sounds of girls screaming with joy could be heard behind them.
"What have I gotten myself into?" Frankenstrike wondered, putting his face into his large hands.
And there's the chapter! I'm sorry if it got kind of off at the end, but I just wanted to get it over with before I right the big one; the Halloween dance. What will happen when Ben has two dates, one night to impress them, and an Omnitrix with a mind of its own? Nothing good, that's for sure.
As always, please comment and review below. And feel free to send me your suggestions and ideas for this story, because next chapter is going to be the biggest and longest one yet.
Hasta luego!