And here we are again! Me with another chapter, and you here to read it! Huh. What a coincidence.

As usual, I have several people to thank for the success of this story. I would like to thank Sallem Cortez 004 for giving me a creative and awesome idea for the use of Robecca's missing gear.

DJ Rodriguez. What more can be said about the guy, other than the fact that he is the coolest ever. This story would have seriously never progressed as far as it did without his help. And as such, I shall shamefully advertise his Xover story Monsters and Magic. I've read it myself, and it's a pretty good read for all you bored readers out there.

As always, comment and review below and PM me your ideas, comments, requests, and thoughts.

Enjoy!

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

Ben groaned in frustration and sat up from his bed on the couch. With a yawn he crawled out from under the warm blanket Spectra had lent him and shuffled to the door, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he grabbed the door handle and opened the door on squeaking hinges. Standing there, glancing up at the old house with worry, was a police officer. Behind him stood a pair of deputies, blank looks on their faces.

"Good morning, Mr. Tennyson," the officer said, recomposing himself as Ben looked at him with blank eyes. "We're going to need you to come down to the station to answer a few more questions regarding the attack on the New Salem Maul, as well as the disappearance of the monster girl." Ben's brow furrowed as he frown deeply. "Is that all you see her as? Just some random monster?" he growled.

"No! No!" the officer said quickly. "We just, uh, never caught her name."

Ben's glare deepened. "Frankie. Her name was Frankie Stein." he hissed. "And don't you forget it."

"Yes, well," the officer cleared his throat. "If you would be so kind as to gather your friends so we may ask them some questions as well." Ben shot the officer and the two deputies another glare before turning back to the house, slamming the door behind him. The authorities waited patiently for a few minutes before the front door creaked open and Ben, Charmcaster, Bonita, Spectra, Venus, and Robecca reappeared. The authorities visibly flinched at the ghouls in their sleep wear, the deputies quickly pulling out pistols and training them on the ghouls as Ben quickly jumped between them and his ghoulfriends. "What the heck are you doing!?" he yelled.

"Following standard procedure, Mr. Tennyson," the officer swallowed, very aware that he was treading on thin ice. Tales of Ben's heroics had quickly passed through New Salem, as well as the rumors and confirmed facts that he had several monster girlfriends. Now the officer could confirm it for himself. "All Monsters must be restrained or accompanied by a Human when entering New Salem."

That was the straw that broke the Nightmare's back. "Skurd? Bring in the heavy artillery." he growled. The Slimebiote saluted and ran his tentacles over the Omnitrix, cycling through the aliens before settling on the one Ben was refereeing to. With a furious look on his face, Ben slapped the activation button, letting the green light work its magic. Alien blood flowed through his veins as muscles piled themselves on him, everywhere to his arms and chest to his neck and legs, every part of him was getting bigger and stronger with each passing millisecond. His skin hardened into plate like armor that turned brown as large scales traveled up his legs and chest. His legs became thick and pillar like as his feet began to match those of an elephant. A thick tail sprouted from the base of his spine as he was forced to hunch over slightly. His neck became a little longer retaliative to his 20 foot frame and his lower jutted out his fingers swelled with power. A pair of black briefs and a green sash appeared on him, completing the transformation as the Omnitrix symbol appeared on the sash.

"Then what are you waiting for? Put me in restraints," Humungousaur growled, bending down so he was level with the officer, his hot breath blowing his hair as he glared at him. "I dare you."

The officer was now shaking like a leaf and the deputies were training their guns on the angry Vaxasaurian before them that barely fit on the porch. The ghouls caught a glimpse at the situation from behind Humungousaur's massive bulk and quickly got into an attack mode; Charmcaster summoning swirling balls of mana, Robecca activating her rocket boots, Venus, commanding several large and thorny vines to sprout from the ground, and Spectra extending her nails into long claws. Even Bonita was frowning heavily at the officers, taking a spare lead pipe she had found and smacking it lightly in her hand, daring the officers to make a move.

"Here's the deal," said Humungousaur after a few strained minutes of silence. "We go down to the police station. We answer you're questions. And then we come back home. But here's the catch: no restraints, no extra guards, no trouble. Because if there is, I will fight you to the very end. No matter how many officers or cars or whatever you send down here, I will fight them. Comprendo?"

The officer gulped and quickly grabbed his walkie talkie. "Um, uh, boss?" he asked nervously.

"After a few moments of static, a voice came through the other end. "What seems to be problem, Squad Car 8?"

"We're having some trouble bringing Mr. Tennyson and his friends down to the station."

"Why is that a problem? Just put those no good monsters in cuffs or something!"

"That's just it, sir; Tennyson won't let us. He's turned into some kind of huge dinosaur and refuses to go down to the station unless we bring in the Monsters; without restraints of any kind."

The walkie talkie fell silent for what seemed an eternity as both sides faced off, each preparing to take out the other without mercy. And if any passerby came across the situation, they would quickly deduce that Ben and his ghouls would be the victors without eve trying. The walkie talkie then crackled and spoke.

"Bring 'em in. No restraints."

"Well that was exhausting." Ben yawned, stretching and wincing as he heard numerous cracks in his back.

"I know. I thought that guy would never stop glaring at me," Venus sighed as she, Ben, and the rest of the ghouls from the Maul Debacle made their way out of the station. Bonita had decided to fly home instead of riding in the squad car with Ben, finding the intimidating officers a bit too scary for her. The ghouls were tired and none too happy about being woken up so early in the morning, all of them still happened to be wearing their sleep wear, which was not exactly appropriate clothing to be out and about in. It was then that Ben noticed a couple of officers carrying numerous plastic bags over their shoulders and towards the back of the police department, towards a room marked 'Evidence'.

"What's in those bags, officers?" Ben asked.

"Leftover bits and pieces from those bombs planted at the Maul," the officer answered without even looking up. "Wait a minute, why do you want to know?" he asked, setting his bag down and looking at Ben suspiciously. Ben frowned and turned to the Omnitrix, cycling through the aliens before finding the one he was looking for. He then slapped the activation button and let the green light wash over him, letting it pump alien DNA into his blood stream. His skin began to harden into a rich, brown exoskeleton as his teeth fused together into two tough plates. His fingers began to crunch and grind together until they were a single digit, forming a sort of pincer with his thumb as both digits became larger and sharper. His legs bent into long joints as his toes all melted together into a single claw. There was a sickening grinding sound as Ben's legs split in two, forming a second pair of crustacean like legs. The most noticeable change for Ben however, was his head. It simply exploded in size, growing to be almost five times bigger than his human head had been. Whiskers sprouted from his disappearing eyebrows and chin as Ben felt his brain getting bigger and bigger. He could soon see the world more than just a TV show he could interact in. Rather, he literally began to see how the world worked. Complex equations mapped out the quickest and safest escape routes, analyzed the stunned officer's face and body language, cataloged the different ways it could improve the building's circuity. A green and black neck brace and loincloth appeared around his body, the Omnitrix at the center of the neck brace. The transformation was complete.

"I have my reasons," the Cerebrocrustacean simply said. "If it please the authorities, I may be able to help in this investigation." Before the officer could object, Brainstorm skittered over to the bag and lifted it up in his claw, dumping the remnants of the bomb's shell onto the floor. He began to analyze them, noting the distinct smell the remains gave off, as well as their shape and complexity. After a minute, the Cerebrocrustacean turned away from the bomb shells and back to the ghouls, who had watching the whole thing with confusion.

"Well? What did you find?" Clawdeen asked as the Omnitrix timed out and reverted Ben back to his human form.

"The bombs are made of a certain metal," Ben began. "Zyconian Arite can only be found in one place in the world: New Salem. And, if we track the smell of a certain alien ghost, it will lead us right to Frankie." The ghouls now had looks of happiness and anger on their faces; they had the information they needed, and they were willing to do anything to get Frankie back now. And if the police weren't going to get involved, then they were going to have to do it themselves.

"Woah, woah! I know what you punks are thinking!" the officer suddenly said, having finished sweeping up the pieces Brainstorm had dumped all over the floor. "Stay out of this! This is a police matter. You teenagers would get yourselves killed." the officer said smugly, not feeling the least bit fearful as the ghouls and Ben glared at him.

They sure did enjoy beating him up.

It was later in the day. Beneath Monster High, deep within the maze of the catacombs, hidden within a secret lab, Ghoulia, Ben, Jinafire, and Robecca worked. Having full knowledge (plus a sliver of bomb shell to work with) they now knew where Zs'Skayr was hiding. The only problem was that Ben couldn't fight all of his henchmen at once, and the girls were itching for a fight. So in a sense, Ben was killing two birds with one stone. They just needed to outfit the ghouls with some weapons and armor.

"Ben, luv, hand me that screwdriver, please." Robecca asked, hand outstretched as she tinkered with a prototype weapon. In many ways, the weapon bared resemblance to Rook's Proto-Tool, but Ben didn't let her know this. They were only a couple hours away from storming Zs'Skayr's hideout, and now was not the time to get sappy. Now was the time to stay cool and concentrate on being ready. Ben handed her the tool without a word, handing a blow torch to Ghoulia as she worked on some sets of armor. Jinafire was working on a pair of katana blades she had fashioned herself, using her own fiery breath to shape and mold the blades to her liking as she worked at the forge, occasionally asking Ben to hand her tools. Ben had to really admire her work; the blades were flawless, sharp enough to cut air with a sickening slicing sound, and were beautiful to look at, bronze dragons coiling around the handles.

Being Ben, he had almost no experience in building technology by himself, the closest he ever came to was when he was in alien form. Ben then mentally smacked himself. Why hadn't he thought of it before?

"I know that grin on your face," Skurd sighed, and he moved aside to let Ben use the Omnitrix. With a grateful smile, Ben turned on the Omnitrix and cycled through the aliens until he came across the one he was looking for. He quickly slapped the activation button and let the green light wash over him and change his DNA. His skin became more loose, almost a liquid, but not quite. His bones dissolved into nothingness, and even his organs seemed to disappear; but Ben knew they were still there, just a lot more squishy and modifiable than they had been before. His skin turned a shiny black color, racing to cover his everything. His feet molded together into a single, wide toe as he lost a finger on each hand. More mass piled up between his head and shoulders until there was a smooth, slope-like transition between the two. Ben's mouth and nose vanished all together as his eyes crashed into each other and became one. The final additions to the transformation was the Omnitrix in the center of his eye and the appearance of a bright green, circuit like pattern on his skin.

Robecca had noticed the transformation and looked over at her boyfriend with curiosity in her hazel eyes. "What's this form of yours called?" she asked, looking up and down at his form.

"I call him Upgrade," he answered in his own, human voice, though there seemed to be a mechanical tinge to it. "I'll show you why." he seemed to smile. Before Robecca could react, the Galvanic Mechamorph seemed to dissolve into a puddle of black and green circuitry before it quickly oozed across the floor of Hexiciah Steam's laboratory and over to the weapon Robecca had been working on. Robecca nearly jumped when she watched Upgrade suddenly jump up onto the table and splash all over the artillery, covering his body with it. The arm suddenly began to shift and change shape before Robecca's very eyes, becoming more efficient and effective in structure and use.

"Anything else need an upgrade?" Upgrade asked, his small head appearing out of the weapon's barrel. Robecca nodded and pointed towards what seemed to be an old, rusted robot assistant of some sort that bared a striking resemblance to a Chronosapien, minus the windup key-like protrusion. The Galvanic Mechamorph jumped from the modified weapon to the robot and repeated the process as Ghoulia and Jinafire watched with amazement, adding extra blades and a pair of gauntlets to the arms, as well as adding extra armor and upgrading the firing system and processor. The four teenagers were so busy building and tinkering, that they didn't notice when Jane Boolittle entered the laboratory with a small creature in her arm and a slightly larger creature perched on her shoulder.

"What's all this then?" she asked suddenly, causing Ghoulia to drop the blowtorch she was using and Upgrade to fall free from another weapon he had been working on, collecting on the floor before the Omnitrix reverted him back into his human form.

"You know I never really liked that Galvanic Mechamorph form of yours," Skurd commented. "Too slippery if you ask me."

"Noted," Ben grumbled, rubbing his head. "But ignored away. What brings you down here, Jane? And how did you find us in the first place anyways?"

Jane smiled and folded her arms over her chest, the small animal in her arms jumping free and running up her body to perch on her head. "Simple. My skills of tracking are unmatched. Also, you've sprung an oil leak, Robecca." she added, the robot girl sighing with exasperation. She quickly excused herself from the room and went off into a small room to fix the problem in privacy.

"Anyways, I came to see if you knew who this little fella was," Jane said, gently pulling the creature sitting on her shoulder free and setting it down on the ground. A small, pale yellow dragon curled itself around her feet, giving a small hiccup that let a small flame lose from its jaws. "His name's Smokey. He claims to have been given instructions by you to come find me."

Ben nodded and picked himself off the floor. "Yeah, I remember him. Found him outside of Mr. Rotter's room in the air ducts."

"Well, it's a good thing you did. Turns out Smokey's been frozen in stone for almost ten years. And judging by the collar around his neck, I'd say one Mr. Deuce Gorgon will be happy to have him back." she grinned, scratching the small dragon behind the horns and earning a low growling that sounded like a purr. Ben smiled at the sight and turned his attention back to the other creature sitting on Jane's head. It was red in color, covered from head to toe in rust covered fur, except around the eyes and tail. It had five surprisingly human like fingers on each foot and hand, the ones on the feet more adapted for gripping than holding. The animal wore a black and green aviator's outfit with a pair of yellow tinted goggles on its head. It had a a pair spiked, imp-like ears under its aviator cap and had smart and mischievous gold colored eyes with a black mask-like appearance around them. Several sharp teeth protruded out from the upper jaw while it's furry, black ringed tail frisked about as it eyed the wondrous machinery around the place with a hungry look in its eye. "What about him?" Ben asked, pointing a finger towards the strange animal.

Jane smiled and took the small creature off her head and gently set on the floor, watching as it scurried about, grabbing small and seemingly random bits of machinery and looking them over before stuffing under his arm and moving to the next. "You remember the fusion experiment Mr. Hack assigned to us?" she asked, watching the animal with amusement.

Ben nodded and Jane continued. "Well, I managed to find all the fusion animals a good home, the New Salem zoo for the more exotic creatures and Monster homes for the more domestic. Sadly, no one exactly wanted this one," she said lamentably. "His name's Rivet. At least, that's what he calls himself."

"Looks like a combination of a raccoon and Jury Rigg." Ben noted as he watched Rivet dump all his treasures into a pile and begin to rapidly reassemble them into something, all the while yelling "FIX! FIX! FIX! FIX! FIX!". After a couple minutes of tinker, Rivet presented Ben with a small gun-like device. Ben took it his hand, the small weapon made for Rivet's size and thus rendered useless in Ben's hands. "Uh, nice work, Rivet." Ben smiled.'

"I think he likes you," Jane laughed. "I was wondering if you would like to take him in?" she added as Rivet stole the weapon back from Ben and began to shoot it wildly around the shop, more than once singing Ghoulia's hair as she tried to ignore the small animal. Eventually it became too much for her, and she blocked another shot with her welder's mask, ricocheting the shot back at Rivet and blowing him up in the face. Rivet suddenly burst out into laughter, completely ignoring the fact that his face was covered in soot. Even Jinafire had to crack a smile.

"Fine," Ben sighed. "Lets just hope he's less annoying than Skurd."

"I resent that remark!"Skurd argued.

Robecca finished welding shut the small hole in her ankle that dripped oil, after making sure that the small hole was clear of oil of any kind and that the section of her limb was cut off from the rest of her circulatory system (fire and oil did not mix very well, and Robecca had no intention of being consumed in a fiery explosion anytime soon). She was putting the welder and mask away in its proper place when she came across a small box of her father's journal's that she had never come across before. Curious, she grabbed the box and sat down on a small work table, digging out one of the books and holding it up to eh light to read the cover after blowing a layer of dust free.

"Robecca 101: Vol.3." she read. That was odd; as far as she knew, there were only two instruction manuals that described how she worked and function, as well as a set of blue prints her father and drawn up himself. Never had she ever thought there to ever be a third volume. And who knew how many more there were? If this was not the last one that is.

Nevertheless, Robecca happily flipped through the book, holding the spine and thumping through the pages. She immediately noticed something odd: the pages were all blank! Had her father forgotten to write down something about her? What if it was important? She quickly discarded the idea. Her father, while often distracted with his work, never forgot to write something down. Eventually. Humming to herself, she opened up a drawer on the work bench and pulled out a small iron. She plugged it into the wall and waited a few minutes for it to warm up before she gently moved it over the pages of the journal, smiling happily when she saw words and images appear. She kept going through the book before she noticed that nothing else appeared. Shrugging, she turned off the iron and set it down to cool before she would put it back in its drawer. She then focused on the first page, where there was a journal entry of sorts, followed by a detailed drawing of a gear of sorts.

September 02, 1814

Through a mysterious letter signed "you're daughter", I have had the sudden urge to make such a thing: to construct a daughter of my own. Obviously, this has never been done before, but who am I to quit in the face of Science?

The construction of my daughter, Robecca as I have dubbed her, is almost complete. Her boiler and gaskets are all in working order, as well as her processor (though it couldn't hurt to do a double check on that. You know what I say: if you're always prepared, you'll never be scared!). However, I have been contemplating what were to happen if I were to perish somehow and Robecca were to grow up (in a manner of speaking). Surely, she would want a family of her own. For ages, I have been experimenting with artificial organs and the likes, but I never successfully made a working reproductive system. It seemed my daughter was doomed to never understand the joy of having children!

At this, Robecca paused. What was her father talking about? She was a robot of all things. Of course she couldn't have children, even if she wanted to! Could she?

The answer, for once in my many years, seemed to be a inaccessible. That is, until I got a visit from a mysterious stranger. He was a 'Normie', as the Monster teenagers dub it, about in his middle ages, maybe a bit older based on his hair color and such. He claimed to be a Time Walker, to have the ability to go and back and forth between the time lines of almost every dimension imaginable. He called himself "Paradox". He presented me with a gift, a cog wheel of sorts. At first, I was confused; I had hundreds upon thousands of them in my workshop. Why was this one so special?

Paradox claimed that the gear was of alien origin. As he claimed to be a Time Walker (and thus proved it by saving me from a minor explosion that I did not see coming) I was inclined to believe him. He claimed that the cog wheel had the ability to construct an army of organic beings of any DNA structure. Paradox stated the disk to be a failure, to be nothing more than a prototype in an experiment that would eventually create beings called "Galvanic Mechamorphs" (Bizarre Creatures I Encountered Vol. 6, pg. 107). He stated that, while a failure, the gear still possessed the power to literally destroy the universe, should it fall into the wrong hands. He explained why he was giving it to me, believing that I would use it for a wondrous purpose (at this point, he stopped himself, claiming that he couldn't explain further).

He then handed me the gear and turned to leave, commanding a time portal of sorts to appear before him. He then told me to be on the lookout for a "scrawny looking boy with messy brown hair and the most powerful device strapped to his wrist". He said that this boy, this hero was to be my daughter's future husband. He then left without another word, though not without offering me something called a "gumball" (delicious little things if you can get past the sudden hardness at the beginning).

I had found a way to give my daughter a family! I quickly installed the gear without hesitation, satisfied that I had given my daughter the chance to enjoy life to its fullest with her mysterious lover. Ben Tennyson, whoever and wherever you might be, may you have eternal happiness with my pride and joy.

Hexiciah Steam

Thick, black, oily tears were now dripping down Robecca's face, little black spots dripping all over the pages of the journal. She set the book down and thought about what she had read. Her father had met Paradox all those years ago. She was destined to meet Ben. It wasn't just some accident, she literally destined to be with Ben for eternity. And she even had the ability to have a family of her own, thanks to the special cog wheel her father had been given. She could hardly believe it; she, nothing more than a knock off of life itself, had the chance to make new life. Not just more robots, but actual, organic life. She quickly stripped herself of her vest and shirt and pulled out a full length mirror from the closet (her father had kept many things down in his lab) and opened up the hatch that allowed access inside of her. She was so happy, she could hardly believe what she was doing. With shaky fingers, she reached inside herself and began to gently search for the special cog wheel.

It did feel slightly odd to be actually reaching inside herself to do such a thing, but after years of doing self repairs in the absence of her father, she was quite used to it. According to the book, the special gear was located somewhere near where a Normie's reproductive organs would be. Robecca's face turned red and another jet of steam escaped her ears at the thought, but she continued to search around inside herself. She only prayed that nobody, especially Ben of all people, would come rushing in and see her like this. She eventually found it the space, located just beneath her Biological Processor Unit (BPU), and felt around for the special gear that would give her the ability to create life, a family.

Except it wasn't there.

She felt around inside herself once more, checking the book a second time to make sure she had gotten the location right. It still wasn't there. Peering in closer to the mirror, she looked within herself to find the spot where the gear would have been to be completely empty. And she knew for a fact that her father hadn't forgotten to put it in there; when he wrote that he did something, it meant he did it.

That meant someone had stolen it from her. And she had a sneaking suspicion she knew exactly who it was.

She was feeling a mix of emotions right now; shock, violation, utter despair, and complete rage. She quickly closed the hatch to her insides and put her shirt and vest back on, taking one last glance at the journal entry to make sure she hadn't missed anything. With the book in hand, she let out a heart wrenching sob of despair, thick oily tears streaming from her optical sensors. She hugged her knees tight, sobbing uncontrollably at the thought of being violated and deprived of true happiness.

It was only mere seconds before Ben burst into the room, hand over the Omnitrix and ready to kick butt. When he saw no butt to kick, she relaxed slightly, still ready to transform at a moments notice should the enemy be invisible (you could never tell with Merlinisapeins, unless you happened to be surrounded by a lot of light). He quickly forgot about the nonexistent attacker when he saw Robecca crying on the work bench, clutching a small journal to her chest and trying to keep oil from damaging the pages. Unsure of what was going on, he quietly sat down next to her and put a comforting hand on her back.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

Robecca didn't answer and merely shoved the book she was holding into Ben's hand. Confused, Ben cracked open the worn pages and squinted to read the pages, his face twisting from mild curiosity to confusion, to shock, and even to slight amusement. When he was done, he set the book down on the table and turned to Robecca, who was looking at him with tear-stained eyes.

"Is it missing?" Ben asked quietly.

Robecca jerked her head and suddenly pulled Ben closer to her, burying her head into his shoulder and sobbing. The result would stain his shirt, but Ben didn't care as he lightly wrapped his arms around his future wife and held her tight, whispering reassuring words into her ear.

"It's okay. I swear on my Omnitrix that I will get that gear back for you." he told her, running his fingers through her blue and black locks. Robecca sniffed and looked up at him and felt most of her worries wash away. The disappearance of her special gear still worried her, but Ben's reassuring smile made it all right. Another thing she knew about him was that he was never a breaker of promises.

Ben was confused; he had received an anonymous note in his locker telling him to meet in the Monster High pool. The pool room itself was wet and warm as usual, and the smell of chlorine was intoxicating. Ben stood there in a pair of black and green swim trunks, a towel slung over his shoulder. Considering where he was asked to meet, he decided to dress appropriately, and after a few seconds of looking around was glad he did.

Sitting on the edge of the pool was none other than Gigi Grant, dressed in a skimpy black one piece with golden scorpion designs. Ben felt himself get hotter, and he had a feeling it had nothing to do with the room's temperature. He walked over to her, his footsteps echoing in the large room and sat down, sliding his feet into the warm water. "Any particular reason it's just you and me here?' he asked, unconsciously touching Gigi's hand when he sat down. The genie blushed and slowly pulled her hand away so as not to make Ben suspicious.

"Oh, we're not alone; Twyla's over there in the corner." Gigi said, pointing to her left and into the shadowy corner. Ben could just make out a pair of smokey eyes as a pale hand came out from the shadows and waved shly. Ben waved back and smiled, patting the ground beside him. At first nothing happened, but Twyla eventually crawled out of the darkness. Right behind Ben.

"Hey." she said meekly, startling Ben as she sat down beside him. Ben recomposed himself, flashing a goofy smile as Skurd sighed and rubbed his beady little eyes. "Are we still friends?" she asked quietly.

"Of course. Why wouldn't we be?" Ben asked.

"Well, uh, my dad's kinda the Boogeyman? You know, famous for making people quiver and scream in fear? Ring a bell?" she asked, though Ben seemed unfazed. Rather, he seemed kind of annoyed. "Twyla, do you seriously believe I would judge you because of what your dad does for a living?" he asked, Twyla shaking her head.

"Good. Because I have have more than a few friends of alien lineage. One of my best friends continually tried to kill me when we were younger. Now we're tighter than family, especially since he's dating my cousin." Ben joked, Twyla cracking a small grin. They were interrupted by a small cough, and both of them turned to face Gigi.

"So why did you call me here?" Ben asked.

"You owe me a favor," Gigi answered, and Ben groaned, both girls smiling. "I need you to help find my sister."

"And this involves the pool, because?" Ben wondered, Twyla gladly explaining now that she was out of her shell. "Last time we saw Whisp, her lantern was accidentally dropped into the Deep End, the deepest, darkest, most savage spot in the world. Even Lagoona and Gil don't go dare that often."

"And you want me to help you find it?" said Ben, summing things up. Gigi nodded eagerly, knowing that Ben would do it even if he didn't have to repay a favor. Ben jokingly sighed and stood up, cracking his back before accessing the Omnitrix. He cycled through his aliens, quietly mumbling to himself. "C'mon, c'mon, where's Ripjaws? What the- fine, Jetray it is." he sighed, slapping the activation button and letting the green magic wash over him.

Ben's skin turned a gelatinous white, becoming softer and squishier as light blue blotches decorated his arms, making him look like he was wearing a lava lamp for a skin. Webbing began to form between his arms as his bones began to dissolve and disappear altogether. Ben's now limb arms split in two, creating a second pair of tentacles as all the digits on his hands fused together. His legs became long tendrils as his body became segmented into three skirt-like sections. His eyes became black and beady as the Omnitrix symbol with Skurd on it appeared on his face, near where his mouth would have been.

"AmpFibian!" the Amperi cried. With a sudden twist of his tentacles, the alien belly flopped into the pool with a splash and began swimming about below the surface, waiting for Gigi and Twyla to join him beneath the water. The pool itself, was built like any normal pool near the top, but it began to give way to carved stone stained with algae before giving way to rough, limestone walls that opened up into huge underwater caves lined with corals and seaweeds. Colorful fish and small shrimp flitted in and out of small holes in the walls as eels and octopuses prowled the ledges and reefs looking for food. The majestic beauty was interrupted by a dull splash and cloud of bubbles. Gigi soon appeared along with Twyla, who was wearing a large, heavy, old time diving suit. AmpFibian would have cocked an eyebrow at the sight, confused as to why Gigi didn't need a suit.

It's because I'm a genie, Ben.

AmpFibian blinked and blew a strand of bubbles. How had she been able to hear him and understand his thoughts?

Gigi smiled. You're an Amperi, Ben. Apparently they can detect the electrical currents in a person's body, allowing them to read their mind, she thought to him. As to answer you're question, genies don't technically need air to live. We're immortal in every sense of the word.

AmpFibian blinked but let it pass. With a swift move of his body, he angled downwards in the water, towards the deep end with Gigi and Twyla close behind. They passed forests of kelp, shoals of silvery fish, fearsome sea monsters that snapped at them from within their lairs, even the occasional treasure chest guarded by a skeletal pirate. "How deep does this thing go?" AmpFibian wondered.

Supposedly forever," Twyla answered. "Gigi, I normally don't want to be a downer, but how are we supposed to find Whisp's lamp in all this water?"

Gigi shrugged. "I honestly don't know how it works, but I just sorta have this sense. It's kind of like a tracking device that helps me keep in touch with Whisp. And we're getting close by the way." The genie then closed her eyes for a second, simply just staying a float in the cool water as AmpFibian and Twyla waited to move on. After a few moments, Gigi pointed downwards and to the left, towards a large cave with fearsome looking rocks that looked like jagged teeth. The trio swam towards the cave, Twyla being careful to avoid the sharp rocks so as not to rip her suit. Gigi led the way, Twyla and AmpFibian trailing behind as they went deeper and deeper into the cave.

"There!" Gigi excalimed, pointing towards a rusted golden lantern that on a large pile of gold doubloons. She swam to the lamp, quickly picking it up in her hands, smiling as she held the lamp close. If Amperi had mouths, AmpFibian would have been smiling too, though Twyla seemed a bit uncertain. "Um, guys? We should probably get going. Like now." she said anxiously, as if expecting something horrible to give chase after them.

Before Gigi or AmpFibian could anything, a long and large tentacle wrapped itself around Gigi's waist and quickly dragged into the darkness of the cave, kick and screaming all the way as Gigi lost her grip on the lantern. AmpFibian quickly moved his body and caught the lantern with a tentacle before it could be lost again, handing it to Twyla for safe keeping as he rushed after Gigi's capter. "Head for the surface," he instructed. "No telling what else is down here. Get Lagoon and Gil if we're not up in 15 minutes." Twyla nodded and took off as fast her flippers would move as AmpFibian gave chase after Gigi.

He found her in the clutches of an old enemy of his that was still making its retreat.

"You!" AmpFibian yelled, now furious. The attacker turned around to gaze at him and growled. With an almighty roar, the Kraken changed direction and charged right at the Amperi, murder in its eyes. Indeed, it had seemed like forever since AmpFibian had seen the monster, the memories just starting to come back to him, though the Kraken didn't seem to suffer the same fate; one could still see the scorch marks and bite wounds on its tentacles. AmpFibian could even swear he saw several half healed stumps amongst the fully healed ones.

With a quick pulse of tentacles, AmpFibian rocketed through the water towards the Kraken, twisting and turning to avoid the Kraken's tentacles. A large tentacle came up from his right to swat him. The Amperi caught sight of it and dove low and under the tentacle, wrapping his own around it and letting lose an electric shock. The Kraken bellowed and whipped AmpFibian around like a rag doll, throwing him into the side of the cavern. AmpFibian shook his head and shot through the water at the Kraken once more, using his mind reading abilities to dodge and roll past the Kraken's attacks. After a few heart rushing seconds, he was near the head of the beast, where Gigi was being held captive.

"Hold on! This might hurt a little!" AmpFibian warned her as he jabbed all four into the Kraken's flesh and cracked up the voltage. The Kraken howled in misery as it lit up like a Christmas tree, Gigi screaming at the top of her lungs. The pain was almost unbearable! It seemed that the shock was frying her nerves to the core, melting her brain! And then it stopped.

The Kraken was breathing heavily before succumbing to unconsciousness and sinking into the black abyss. The tentacle hugging Gigi tight went limp and went down with its master, releasing Gigi of its hold. AmpFibian swam over and grabbed Gigi's limp form in a tendril before making his way towards the surface. Gigi was barely able to comprehend what was happening, the colorful reefs and shoals of fish just a blur in front of her eyes as AmpFibian pumped his body furiously. While severely dazed and teetering on the edge of consciousness, the genie was not seriously hurt. Sure, her vision was failing her at the moment, but she had succeeded in get Whisp's lamp back. That was all that mattered.

"It's been fifteen minutes, mate." Lagoona said worriedly. Twyla bit her lip and peered down into the water of the pool. Behind her, Gil was taking off his helmet, preparing to dive into the depths of the pool and rescue Ben and Gigi. Lagoona had her pink swim suit on and was climbing up to the diving board, preparing to dive in when the when the entire pool seemed to simply explode. Water rained down from the ceiling, as if a hurricane had decided to form inside the school. Lagoona, Gil, and Twyla were completely soaked to the bone as AmpFibian broke through the waters surface and set Gigi down on the pool ledge before diving back down into the pool. There came a sudden bright light, and an unholy screeching before the Amperi floated back out of the pool and landed on the floor, the Omnitrix timing out just after his tentacles touche down.

"That's what you get for endangering innocent students, you DIRT BAG!" Skurd roared, waving a tiny tentacle in the air at the pool. Ben ran over to Gigi and pulled her up from the floor, waving his hand in front of her face. "Gigi! How many fingers am I holding up?" he asked, holding up four fingers as Lagoona and Gil rushed over.

"Five," she mumbled. Ben cursed under his breath and gently lay Gigi down on the floor, rubbing his temples as Twyla nervously stepped out of the shadows with the lantern in her pale hands. The four of them, Ben, Twyla, Lagoona, and Gil, just stood there for a few silent moments as Gigi slowly began to regain her senses once more. After a few minutes (it felt like hours to Ben) Gigi was strong enough to stand on her shaky feet, using Ben's shoulder as a support.

"So, what do we do now? Do we rub it or somethin'?" Lagoona asked.

"Probably." Ben mumbled as Gigi pulled him forward to take the lamp from Twyla's hand. The Boogey monster gladly handed it over to the genie, who propped herself up against Ben as he snaked an arm around her waist to keep her from falling over. Gigi then began to rub the golden colored lamp with her hand, shutting her eyes tight when a bright light exploded outward from the piece of furniture. The light got so bright, that everyone was forced to cover their eyes, Twyla quickly stepping into what remained of the shadows to hide; while light couldn't technically kill her in any way, it didn't make it any less painful at times like this. Once she was sure the light had died down, she stepped out from the shadows again and back into view.

Standing in the middle of their little circle was a girl that was almost identical to Gigi in every way possible, with the exception of her color scheme. Where Gigi wore pink, she wore blue, where Gigi wore blue, she wore pink. The colors seemed a bit more faded compared to Gigi, as if they had been shut in the darkness for a long time. Twyla remembered how Whisp had felt about that, only existing for Gigi to see alone. But that time had passed, and Gigi's sister was much nicer than she had been before, and was certainly a lot more fun to around then before.

"Ah, feels good to finally be out of there," Whisp sighed, stretching and cracking her back. "I now have a new respect for you, sis." she smiled before she caught sight of Ben and a slightly delirious Gigi together. "Seems you've been up to things while I was gone," she added with a sly smile. Ben took a glance at where she was staring and turned red as Gigi rubbed her pounding skull. Whisp took notice of this and gently put a finger to her sister's head, closing her eyes for a moment as a short burst of golden light came from her fingertip. Gigi jolted for a second, as if being electrocuted a second time, before stopping, looking much better now.

"Thanks." said Gigi, shaking her head.

"No prob, sis. Now then, why have you summoned me? Not that I'm complaining," she added. "You would not believe how boring it gets inside a small, cramped lamp after a few years. Or is it months? I can never keep a calendar long enough to find out," she mumbled to herself before Ben coughed loudly.

"We were wondering if you could help us with something," he said, before launching into a short version of his entire story, skipping to Paradox's appearance upon learning Whisp could see the world through Gigi's eyes whenever she wanted to. "It's kind of like TV for me," she explained. "Anyway, I'd love to help. Beats sitting in a lamp for another millennium." she grumbled. Gigi smiled and grabbed her sister, pulling her into a hug against Ben, who face was turning even redder now that his arm was pinned between both of their bodies.

Lagoona, Gil, and Twyla watched with amusement and suppressed smiles and chuckles.

Nefera sat on her bed, rubbing her aching temples. She felt like her head was going to explode, despite finally giving a good night's sleep. She knew Ben would be back later that night, to help her sleep just in case the dreams returned. And he would keep returning until her nightmares were gone for good. But it was only 4:00 in the afternoon, and it would be at least another four hours before Ben would come back. Her sister and her boyfriend were down in the living room, sitting on the grand couch watching a movie from the De Nile's extensive collection, but Nefera had no desire to go down and bug them. She felt as if someone had reached inside her, taken her soul, and taken it apart like a puzzle piece before putting it back together in a way that clearly didn't fit. She felt like her soul's pieces had been put back together in an odd way, like a careless child stomping on the pieces to get them to fit when they clearly didn't.

With what seemed the hundredth sigh since she woken up, she reached for the note that lay on her bed spread and opened it, having memorized it by a heart after the 50th read. That didn't stop her eyes from tracing over the words, wondering what they meant despite them clearly being in English.

Dear Nefera,

Hope you had a good sleep! I know this might seem to weird to you, but I think I might like you? I mean no disrespect when I say that I might love you, but are clearly too old for me. Serious, you're what, 5,000 years old? And yet, you look like you haven't aged a day since high school.

I don't expect you to see me as nothing more than a friend, or even a counselor of sorts when I say that I love you. I don't expect you to sudden fall head over heels for me like a nut job just because I wrote you this note (why am I even writing this?).

Either way, I need a favor. And I'm asking this as a friend who you don't own anything; I need an army. I know you probably can't spare any Anubis Guards since the Toepick Incident, so I need you're help recruiting an army of a different kind. I need you to send out a school wide email to every student in Monster High. Tell them that Frankie is in danger, that she needs our help. That we're the only ones that can save her while the adults sit back and do nothing. Do not send this to any teachers, facility members, or Headmistress Bloodgood. Especially not Bloodgood.

I need you to do this. Frankie means the world to me, and to many others. She may not like you, but Frankie always managed to see some good in everyone, even nasty people like you and Toralei (I still doubt she saw anything in that corrupt calico, though). She's the reason I'm supporting you while nobody else will. So, if you're reading this, please send help. If not for Frankie, then for me. If not for me, then for you.

Because only you get to decide how you run your life. Not your father, not some high official, not even a shiny trophy with your name on it. You get to choose who you get and want to be. It's all up to you.

Ben

Nefera folded the note again and fell back on her bed, staring at the canopy that hung over it. Did she feel the same way about Ben? Did she really believe that he loved her, when he was already in several relationships? Even if she did return his feelings, could it work? She was far older than he was, older than anyone in the school really. And there was the ghouls to concern. Would they accept her with open arms into their harem, or would they turn their backs on her like so many had done in the past? She sighed and closed her eyes, reaching for her iCoffin that sat on the bed.

She paused, considering. The letter had asked her to do it. Should she do it for Frankie, the girl that she barely knew? Would she do it for Ben, the only who had truly ever shown her genuine kindness when so many others didn't? Was she doing it for her, knowing that it was just the toll booth on the highway to a better life? Why was she doing it? Was she going to do it?

With a sigh, she grabbed the phone in her hand and began to scroll through her list of contacts. The she realized that she only had the numbers of celebrities and officials who helped make her carrer a success before it came crashing down.

With another sigh and a mixture of feelings in her eyes, she heaved herself off the bed and went to go search for a phone book. She didn't bother to call a servant to bring one to her. It was time she started doing things for herself.

Nefera De Nile had finally started to grow up.

And there it is! The chapter's finally complete! Next chapter, the battle begins! Who will win, who will suffer, and will good triumph over evil? I'm not telling!

I would like to thank Sallem Cortez 004 once more. I seriously never would have gotten Ben's pet, Rivet, without you, and he shall appear in the future to annoy Ben! Being a great harem writer themselves, they've given me advice on how to remain within the invisible rules of the harem game, and have given me multiple ideas and suggestions to make this story a hundred times better. While I appreciate the applause and recognition I deserve, this writer deserves it more.

If you are a fan of the Ben 10/Monster Xover's on this site, stayed tuned for a story to come out later by Sallem Cortex 004. The story's still in the works, but it can be said that it will be released soon. So, stayed tuned for Ben 10: Omniharem High, featuring characters from both Monster High and Ever After High.

Although I can say I officially had the idea first ;)

Hasta Luego!