And here is the promised New Years chapter! And before midnight as well, imagine that. And yes (I'm not sure if I mentioned this on this story or not. It's so confusing sometimes), I found my missing iPod! And now I will be able to function as a full member of Fanfiction!
Ah, anyways, I would like to thank Sallem Cortez 004 for the wonderful idea for this chapter in particular. And for those of you wanting for the special "blush and kiss" moments between Ben and your favorite Monster High characters, be patient! And no, Ben will not be dating every available girl in Monster High. Gotta leave some of the ladies for the rest of the guys!
And no, Frankie and Robecca will not stay dead or barely alive. I love them too much for that.
As always, comment and review below, and if you have more ideas for how the Ever After High sequel begins, please let me know. I got a wonderful and very lengthy review (which I simply love) from Kaiju Fan that gave me a wonderful idea to work with, but I still love hearing input from other readers.
And please, if you really enjoy this story, please review and tell me how much you love it. I love hearing reviews from you.
Onwards!
The ghouls were currently nibbling on some rations in the Mess Hall, still getting accustomed to the steely eyed guards that didn't react to anything they did, when Twyla and Ben entered the room holding hands. Immediately, every guard in the Mess Hall leveled their guns at the pair, or more specifically, at Ben; the Omnitrix Wearer didn't even twitch as Twyla gave the signal for the guards to lower their weapons and exit the room. The guards did so without complaint, filing out of the room in neat lines before the doors slid shut behind them.
The Boogey girl and Ben walked over to the table the ghouls were sitting at, setting themselves down next to each other as the girls gave them odd looks, with the exception of Spectra who had a sly smirk on her face.
"Do I even need to say it?" Ben asked her. Spectra's smirk deepened as Twyla cleared her throat to speak.
"I assume you have questions to ask?" she said, awaiting for the many questions that she knew were to come her way.
"Yes. How is Frankie?" Draculaura asked nervously.
"Fine at the moment. Still tired and asleep, but the medics have set her bones, redone her stitching, and given her fluids last I checked. She'll be back on her feet in no time, in which case I will probably have to explain everything a second time," Twyla added with slight annoyance. "And we haven't yet figured out how to repair Robecca, but we've got our top scientist figuring it out."
"Where is everyone else from the battle? Are they here?" Jinafire inquired.
Twyla cringed at the question, but answered it anyway. "Ghoulia, Deuce, Lagoona, Skelita, Clawdeen, Clawd, Avea, Bonita, and Sirena are currently enlisted in the Rebellion. Bloodgood's become the lead general and Charmcaster works for us as a spy," she told them. "Everyone else . . . ." she trailed off. The entire table bowed their heads for the fallen members of the Rebellion out of respect for their service and sacrifice. After a few minutes of silence, they began speaking once more, Draculaura asking the most questions out of the group; mostly about Clawd of course.
"He's currently away on a mission to get us supplies," Twyla told the vampire. "I am sure he would love to see you again after 50 years of being alone. He's stayed loyal to you, always telling himself that Ben would never let anything happen to you," Twyla added with a smile, leaning into Ben's frame. "And that's why I love him." she said, pecking him on the cheek without fear or embarrassment. Before the ghouls could squeal with joy and the likes, there was a sudden loud whine as a red light filled the room, blinking on and off for a few seconds before shutting off.
"What was that?" Ben asked.
"Fire alarm," Twyla sighed, pinching her brow. "Five bucks says it's Heath."
She was quickly proven correct when Heath, Gil, and Hoodude were shoved into the Mess Hall by a large Minotaur guard who had an incredibly irked look on his face, directing the hostile glare mostly at Heath as the boys joined the ghouls at the table, all three of them sopping wet.
"What happened?" Twyla sighed.
"Heath set fire to the pool!" Hoodude blurted out.
"Dude, how did you set fire to a pool full of water?" Gil sighed as Heath grinned sheepishly and shrugged under Twyla's hostile glare, her single eye pulsing in its socket and looking it might pop out at any second. Before the Boogey Girl could say anything else, her ear piece crackled, signaling a transmission coming in. Twyla quickly put a finger to her ear and expression turning from relief to shock to worry and then to depression as she then slowly withdrew her finger from her ear, a grim expression on her face.
"Clawd's team has returned," she began. "Unfortunately they were ambushed at the Pass and only escaped with a portion of the supplies we need. To make matters worse," she added, glancing nervously to Gil before continuing. "Lagoona's been injured; a hidden mine got her and she's barely holding on. If she's to have any chance at surviving, she needs to get to the med bay as fast possible." Twyla didn't even need to say anything as Ben quickly turned on the Omnitrix and cycled through his aliens, coming across the one he desired, slapping the activation button and letting the green light work its magic.
His fingers hardened into sharpened blades as a long, whip-like tail sprouted from the base of his spine and stretched out a couple feet. His toes ripped out of his shoes and melted into four claws, two in front, two in back. The ball of his heel crunched forward, moving under his foot bones and becoming perfectly round and smooth, suddenly separating itself from his foot and held there by his curved toes. Ben felt his skull stretch back into a sharp point and his legs bent backwards. A pointy, black helmet with a slide down mask materialized on his head and a tight, black and green body suit appeared on himself, the Omnitrix and Skurd appearing on his chest, completing his transformation. Before anyone could stop him, XLR8 zoomed out of the Mess Hall and down the hall towards the entrance.
Except he didn't know where it was.
Never the less, the Kinceleran zipped and zoomed about the underground base at high speed, running off the walls and ceilings to avoid startled guards until he eventually found the main entrance. By running right into it.
The Kinceleran slid down the closed door and shook his sore head, rubbing it with his claws before jabbing them in between the doors and prying them apart as hard as he could, succeeding in making a space big enough for him to pass through before the doors clanked shut. XLR8 then sped across the snow covered ground, kicking up waves of white as he raced across the base. Within seconds, he came across Clawd and the rest of his team; an injured Lagoona was being carried in Clawd's arms as XLR8 whizzed in a tighter circle around them.
Clawd quickly drew a blaster from his belt, trying to aim it at XLR8 as he whirled around them.
"Stop! Don't shoot, Clawd! It's me, Ben!" he yelled rapidly. While the Kinceleran could easily dodge every laser blast Clawd might throw at him, the risk of hitting something explosive in the base was too high. Clawd cocked an eyebrow and lowered the weapon slightly as XLR8 came to a stop in front of him, holding still to show he wasn't a threat.
"Ben? Is that really you? After all these years?" Clawd asked bewildered. XLR8 quickly jerked his head up and down.
"Yep! But now's not the time, Clawd! We gotta get Lagoona into the med bay!" he cried, quickly racing under Clawd and jerking upwards so that Clawd was riding on XLR8's back with Lagoona in his arms. The Kinceleran raced back to the base and skidded to a stop in front of the door, remembering what happened when he hadn't opened it first. Clawd quickly punched in the code before the doors slid open and the Kinceleran zipped through, zooming and whizzing around like an out of control pinball. Eventually, he found his way back to the Mess Hall where the guys and ghouls were still waiting and deposited Clawd at the table before zipping out of the Mess Hall once more.
Clawd blinked and glanced around before being slammed to the floor by a force from his right. He heard a high-pitched squeal of delight as a thousand kisses peppered his face excitedly.
"Clawd!" Draculaura cried happily, holding her boyfriend close.
"Draculaura!" Clawd cried, hugging the vampire tightly.
"Twyla!" XLR8 cried, zipping in through the doors again. "Which way to the med bay?"
"Down the hall and to the left," Twyla directed. "We'll be there as soon as we can pry these two lovers loose." she added slyly. XLR8 nodded and dashed out the doors again, zipping down the hall and hanging a sharp left before running through the automatic doors to the med bay. The floor was bare white tile, the walls painted a drab, gray color. Ten hospital beds lined either wall opposite of each other, a door in the back leading to another room.
"Hello? Anyone here?" XLR8 cried out, clutching Lagoona tightly in his arms. The sea monster looked worse for wear, her body covered in ugly looking bruises and marks as her legs hung limply from her body. A large and bloody wound took up nearly half her skull, almost every strand of blonde and blue hair being burnt off. The Omnitrix timed out and changed the Kinceleran back into a human form, Lagoona still in his arms as the door in the back opened and a figure stepped out.
The figure was a girl with even paler, gray skin than Twyla and had light blue and white hair draping down her back. She wore a drab gray leather top and black, fingerless gloves on her hands and a pair of cherry, red glasses over her somewhat lazy eyes. The odd thing about her however, was that the waist down from her was missing and was replaced with a metallic band with six spider-like legs sprouting from it and clicking loudly across the tiled floor.
"Aieeeeee-yahhhhhh?" the girl moaned, taking off her glasses, cleaning them, and putting them back on as if she could quite believe what she was seeing. Before the girl could moan anything else, her eyes cast over Lagoona and she visibly winced. She silently beckoned for Ben to carry Lagoona over to one of the hospital beds and promptly and shooed him out of the med bay, gesturing for him to remain right outside the door until she was finished.
Ben jerked his head up at the feel of a soft hand on his shoulder. He yawned, not realizing he had dozed off to look up at the strange girl that seemed to act as the doctor as well. The girl gestured for her to follow her into the med bay. Ben stood up and followed her into the room, walking past a white curtain that surrounded one of the hospital beds. He could see the faint shadow of Lagoona lying there, her chest rising and falling faintly as almost a dozen hoses and tubes snaked to different parts of her body from their origin points; IVs, monitors, computers.
Ben glanced around to see another figure lying on the hospital bed across from Lagoona. He almost collapsed when he realized it was Frankie, looking much better than she had been during the past few days. Her mint green skin was darker than before, her hair now combed and straight and no longer reeking of smoke. Her legs and arms were no longer twisted at odd angles, and she seemed to be breathing easier than before. She still remained asleep, as if in a coma of sorts, but Ben knew Frankie would hang in there; he knew her and loved her enough to know she wasn't a quitter, and wasn't about to quit anytime soon. With a small smile on his face, he continued to follow the strange girl through the door and into the other room, stopping to gaze upon the interior.
It looked very similar to Hexiciah Steam's old lab, the walls painted hues of gray and bronze. Amazing inventions of every shape and size hung from claws from the ceiling amongst the bright lights that made their home there. Work benches, converter belts, tables with bubbling chemicals and wild experiments decorated the floor and walls, as a small, rust colored creature wearing a green aviator outfit bounced and scurried around the room. The animal paused and regarded the new comers before pouncing upon Ben and knocking him to the floor screaming, "BEN! BEN! BEN! BEN! BEN!" at the top of his lungs.
"Rivet?" Ben asked bewildered as he managed to pull the half breed off of him. Indeed it was the same raccoon/Jury Rigg hybrid Jane had given him fifty years ago, and the little creature looked like he hadn't aged a day.
"Eeeee-aahhhhhh! AA-aaaaieeyaaahhh!" the strange girl moaned, smiling as Ben stood up with Rivet sitting on his shoulder. Ben blinked and studied her for a moment before realizing exactly who she was. How could he have not seen it before, the constant moaning, the lazy eyes, the pale skin, the incredible brain power?
"Ghoulia!" Ben cried as the two embraced happily, Rivet scurrying over the both of them, chittering happily as he picked something from Ghoulia's pocket. The zombie took notice and slapped the animal's hand, and Rivet scurried off elsewhere into the work shop.
"So this is all yours?" Ben asked, walking down the stairs that led down to the main floor. Ghoulia nodded and walked forward on her spider legs, pointing things out she had invented to Ben. Though he didn't fully understand the Zombie lingo, Ben had quickly caught onto the language and could even speak a few sentences in Zombie if he wanted to. Sure, he couldn't understand everything Ghoulia said, but that was to be expected when one was blasted fifty years into the future.
"Not to be rude or anything Ghoulia, but what happened to your legs?" Ben asked.
"AAA-aaaaaaaiiiiiiiiieeeeeeee-ayah."
"Oh. Uh, never mind." said Ben. What Ghoulia had described to him seemed both a bit personal as well as disturbing. The pair walked past a large display case with a metal suit inside. It was roughly the size of Ghoulia and was painted gray, white, and cherry red. Looking closely, Ben recognized it as Ghoulia's Kinceleran Suit, the very one she used on the night Ben and friends disappeared, complete with artifical tail, wheels for feet, and the sharp face mask.
"Remember this?" Ben smiled, walking up to the case with Ghoulia behind him. The zombie smiled, putting a hand on the glass and staring at the suit lovingly, remembering the short amount of time she got to use it. When she wore that suit, she felt invincible, powerful, as if not a single thing alive could catch her if they tried. She felt like she could do almost anything in that suit. And then it ended like that, faster than she could process it. She had spent weeks in the med bay, treating her own injuries with Gigi and Slow Mo's help. And then Slow Mo . . . .
She pushed the thought away and focused on being in the present. Ben was looking at her funny, but shook it off when she began to show several more of her inventions, all of which were based off Ben's aliens; a set of gauntlets that mimicked Astrodactyl's energy beam and whips, a Ball Weevil Plasma Ball Launcher, Galvanic Mechamorph armor, Vaxasaurian Exo-suit, and even a set of Petrosapien swords and shields. It was quite clear that Ghoulia had missed Ben over the years, using every alien available to her in the Omnitrix to base her inventions off of. She was even working on a pair of Galilean gloves that allowed the wearer to manipulate gravity just like Gravattack.
"Need some help with those?" Ben asked her. Ghoulia eagerly jerked her head up and down, having not seen a transformation in more than half a century. Ben grinned and accessed the Omnitrix, cycling through the aliens before finding the one he needed and slapping the activation button. A green light encased him as Ben's arms swelled as his veins popped out, alien blood coursing through them as muscles piled themselves on top of each other. His legs became muscled as he stretched upward, growing taller and taller until he was a good six feet taller than Ghoulia. Fur began to sprout all over his body, turning white on his chest, gut, hands, and feet, turning orange everywhere else. A few black stripes stretched across his broad back and shoulder, a handful of whiskers sprouting on his face. His eyebrows turned black and became longer as they grew up and off his head. His jaw jutted out as his teeth became sharper. His hands became larger and muscled as a single, black claw grew out of his wrist. The final piece of the transformation was the appearance of a green and black luchador outfit and belt with the Omnitrix on it.
Lo que el- déjame decirte algo Omnitrix que mantiene en convertirme en algo equivocado! ME MANTIENES CONVIRTENDO EN ALGO EQUIVOCADO!" Rath roared in anger, Ghoulia just barely managing to stifle her laughter at the Appoplexian's frustration.
"Aaaaaaa-yaaaaahh?" she suggested.
"Déjame decirte algo Ghoulia aullidos, persona más inteligente de todos Monster High y el apocalíptico futuro Gobernado por Zs'Skayr! Rath tiene ni idea de lo que has dicho, pero a él le gusta!" Rath growled before slapping the Omnitrix on his belt and letting the green light work its magic, briefly turning him back into his human form before injecting another alien's DNA into his system, changing him at the molecular structure into something he was never meant to be, and yet could. His skin went from being soft and warm to hot and hard as concrete. Rocky bumps formed on his wrists and shins. His shoulders became broad and massive, so large that he had no neck at all; his face face was stuck right in the middle. His mouth became wider and almost forever stuck in a toothy grin. His fingers swelled in size, and Ben could feel a slight tingling sensation at the tips. He felt a strange feeling as his guts all move upward into his chest as a swirling, hot magma center filled their space. His toes melted into one smooth, rounded foot. A pair of black shorts with green stripes appeared on him as the Omnitrix suddenly appeared on his forehead, completing the transformation.
"Ah, finally! Gravattack!" the Galilean cried happily. Ghoulia politely clapped before leading him over to the lab table the gloves sat on, pulling them and a kit of tools towards her. She then gestured for Gravattack to levitate something for her, so she could study how he did. The large alien obliged by bringing up his hands and casting them over a set of Pyronite gauntlets, manipulating their gravity so that they floated in the air just over Ghoulia's head. The two of them worked like this for a few minutes, simply manipulating the gravitational field to their will until a red buzzer on the wall began to flash, lighting up the room and filling it with a loud buzzing sound.
Ghoulia began to panic, skittering away from the table and towards the door that separated the med bay from her laboratory with Gravattack right behind, dropping the gauntlets to the floor. They quickly ran up the stairs, Ghoulia slipping through the door and Gravattack manging to shove his way through when the wall itself wrapped and grew in size to accommodate him; he would have to ask Ghoulia about that later. He turned to see the curtain around Lagoona's bed yanked back, Ghoulia furiously typing away at consoles to and monitors to try and stabilize whatever was bothering the sea monster. Lagoona was now wide awake, staring straight up at the ceiling with a blank expression as Ghoulia cursed under her breath and slammed her head onto a key broad, giving up; nothing she could do was working, the monitors refusing to repair and manage Lagoona's body.
"Ben? Ghoulia?" she managed to croak. Gravattack quickly stepped into her line of view, blocking out most of the light in the bright med bay.
"I'm here, Lagoona." the Galilean said, a green light washing over him and changing him back into Ben. He visibly winced upon seeing Lagoona in the state she was in; while most of the nasty cuts and bruises had been cleaned up and taken care of, and the large wound on her head had been bandaged, the most noticeable change had been the reduction of her limbs. Ben had been sure Lagoona had four, albeit broken, limbs last he had seen her; now she was reduced to her left arm, bandaged stumps being all that remained of Lagoona's right arm and legs.
"Ah, finally good to see you again, mate," Lagoona smiled weakly. "If only it weren't under the circumstances."
"You mean you kicking the bucket?"
"If you have ta put it that way," Lagoona rolled her eyes. "I just want ta say a few things before I go," she sighed, coughing as her lungs started to fail her. "First off, tell Gil I loved him. Second, you were the best friend I ever had. Third, kick Ghostfreak's butt for me," she said with a smile.
"Finally, I kinda always had a small crush on ya, mate," she admitted, her cheeks turning pink. Ben blinked and processed that information as Lagoona continued. "I obviously still love Gil, but you managed to net my heart as well, ya bloke." she smiled as her eyelids started to drop shut. Ben took Lagoona's hand and held it tight as Ghoulia got her head up from the key board to gaze upon her friend one last time.
"Nice knowing ya, mate." were Lagoona's last words before she faded away. Ben then felt her hand go limp and lifeless in his own, becoming cold and clammy as he gently rested her hand back on her chest. Ghoulia bowed her head as Ben remained silent, pulling the bed sheet up and over Lagoona's corpse before silently and slowly walking out of the med bay to tell the others. Ben meanwhile, sat on a chair next to Lagoona's bed, not quite being able to grasp the concept that Lagoona was gone forever. Unlike Frankie or Robecca, there was no possible way for Ben to even try and bring back Lagoona. Sure, he could turn her into a Franken-creature like Frankie with some help from Ghoulia, but that seemed both a bit rude and morbid for Ben. Instead, he silently wept for the loss of his friend, for the first person to ever welcome him, his real self, into Monster High with open arms and without judgement.
"Depression detected within host. Transformation sequence activated." the Omnitrix beeped suddenly.
Ben jerked up his head, his eyes stained red as he gazed upon the watch that resided on his wrist, watching as the it spun and beeped, flashing bright green. "Skurd! Turn it off!" Ben yelled, but the Slimebiote was gone, seeming to have vanished completely from Ben's wrist. Ben shielded his eyes and cried out as the green light washed over him and began to do its work. And unfortunately, unlike the normal transformations, this one was painful. Extremely painful.
Ben felt every fiber of his being being ripped apart at the molecular, maybe even the quantum scale, becoming lose and separated. In a way, it was similar to being Goop, but this time it was beyond painful. He felt a darkness within him, like a vile serpent that was curling its way around his heart as the dark fibers began to condense back together into a somewhat more solid form. He watched from what seemed like a third person view as the black fibers, shadows seemed to be the more proper term, twisted and turned and molded together, forming the standard body shape for a four legged creature, complete with four muscled legs that ended in sharp, black hooves, and a tail that consisted mostly of stray hairs, much like a horse's. The sequence didn't stop there as the shadows began to form what seemed to be the head; except they didn't. Instead they morphed themselves into a muscled torso, Ben watched as four thin, yet muscled, arms formed on the torso and chest, two on either side. A small, somewhat human-shaped head formed on the end of a thin neck, elf-like ears forming on either side of it as white orbs took the place of the eyes. Dark, midnight colored hair sprouted from the scalp, tightening and condensing into long, wavy black hair tied into a ponytail. Ben then felt himself get sucked back into the lifeless body, his essence taking residence within the core as clothes began to form on the body; a dark green colored chest plate that contrasted nicely against the being's shadowy skin that swirled and whirled about with little control; arm and wrist guards with black stripes against dark green; spiked shoulder pads that framed a Roman style helmet with a bright green plume of feathers running down it. The agonizing transformation was complete when the Omnitrix appeared on the center of the chest plate, the green light fading as Ben looked over his new form.
"Varjoain Transformation complete." the Omnitrix beeped, falling silent as usual.
"Aw, man." Ben sighed in a raspy voice, just as the door to the med bay slid open.
Twyla had expected many things to happen when she opened those doors to the med bay. She expected to find Ben, weeping silently by Lagoona's bedside, Frankie possibly awake and joining him in mourning. She expected Ben to be filled with rage, to turn into an alien and begin to tear the base down board by board. She even expected Ben to do the logical thing at a time of war and act like it was almost nothing, something to take care of later.
What she did not expect however, was to find the scene before her. The hospital room was a mess, beds laying haphazardly around the room, even broken in half. Huge dents and holes decorated the walls, IVs and monitors smashed and broken to bits as papers littered the floor. Several rows of the white lights hanging overhead had been smashed or torn down, one of them squeaking as it swung back and forth from the ceiling, sparking and flickering in and out. What concerned Twyla the most however, was the amount of blood in the room; it looked like a bomb of red food coloring had exploded in the room, but the intoxicating stench of bodily fluid was unmistakable. Twyla's eyes widened as she saw Frankie's body crushed under a smashed hospital bed, her fingers still twitching even with the life already drained from her; Lagoona's body was torn in half, her head nothing more than a gooey mess of bubbling, red blood, red stained blonde locks, and blue scales; even Robecca made an appearance, her gears, tubing, and paneling scattered about the room. Twyla nearly tripped over the copper girl's head, every strand of blue and black hair messily torn out. What she did not see however, was Ben.
As the Boogey girl quietly stepped into the room, the sound of a low snarling caught her attention, coming towards the back of the room and from the right, where the light was dimmest. It sounded like some large animal rooting through something, accidentally knocking over fragile things and papers in the process as the unmistakable sound of something soft and squishy being messily torn into met Twyla's ears. Drawing her breath, Twyla grabbed her pistol and held it in her shaking hand, quietly sneaking around an overturned hospital bed and sneaking a peek to gaze upon a scene that horrified her.
There was Ben, his skin a sickly palish, green color with random purple splotches here and there. He was missing most of his dark, brown hair leaving nothing more than just a few wiry, greasy locks that stuck up haphazardly as he grunted to himself. His teeth were crooked and uneven, his eyes no longer their brilliant green and instead a sickly violet that highlighted what seemed to be insanity. He was incredibly thin, as Twyla could see the veins in his neck and feet; his arms were obscured by a evil-looking green and black straightjacket, the many locks and straps now broken and hanging free as the sleeves hung limply from his hands. His feet were twisted into beast-like claws as he snarled and growled. What horrified Twyla the most however, was the fact that he was snacking on Frankie's right arm, messily tearing off bits of flesh, chewing them, and either swallowing them or spitting them back out to go in for another bite.
The Boogey girl's breath caught in her throat at the sight of her lover reduced to this animal-like state, no longer seeming to have a mind. Before she knew what was happening, her trembling hands dropped her pistol to the floor, the weapon clattering loudly against the tile. Ben paused and spat out his most recent mouthful of flesh, tossing the Frankie's arm over his shoulder as he silently regarded Twyla, slowly climbing to his feet; Twyla noticed he seemed to stand with a hunched back, as if a heavy weight was strapped to him.
"You food?" he asked in a deep, raspy voice.
Twyla quickly shook her head no, no words coming out of her mouth as Ben's eyes narrowed and he sniffed her a bit, his expression twisting from one of confusion to anger.
"You lie!" he roared. Twyla watched with horror as Ben raised up his left arm and head butted what looked like darker, more twisted version of the Omnitrix that was strapped to his straightjacket, just where his wrist might be. A dark, purple colored light washed over him, fading away after a few seconds to reveal a hideous creature that Twyla had seen more than a few times from her past in the shadows. The creature looked incredibly similar to Wildmutt, but Twyla knew it wasn't close to the one her love would turn into. The normally coarse and orange fur was matted and greasy, colored a disgusting green color as she could see hundreds of parasites crawling around within the furry jungle. The claws were larger and uneven, as if some of them had been carelessly broken and not allowed to heal enough. The teeth were yellowed, the gums bleeding dark blood as a rotting stench wafted from the alien's jaws. Twyla could the yellow ribs of the creature, the skin around that area rotting and barely hanging on to the bare, red muscles. Parts of the leg bones could be seen on either limb of the alien, the rotting smelling hanging over the Vulpimancer like a heavy cloud.
Twyla then decided it would be a fine idea to run away when the zombie Vulpimancer rushed forward at her, colliding with a hospital bed as Twyla ran away. Her heart was pounding, her breathing quicker and more raged, her pulse racing as sweat poured down her face. She had never experienced much fear before the Rebellion, and now she could say she had experienced true terror as her lover chased after her, leaping over her and cutting off her exit from the door. The beast roared and lunged forward again, determined to tear her limb from limb without care. As far as it was concerned, Twyla was nothing more than lunch, a mere pest whose life would soon end. The Boogey girl ducked down and slid under the Vulpimancer while it was airborne, making her escape to the door and running through it, locking it behind her as the alien roared in anger. After a few minutes of near silence, the zombie Vulpimancer snarled and lumbered over to the hospital bed that was crushing Frankie's body, deciding to work on the leftovers until something else happened.
"Well that was odd," Ben noted. Seconds after the Omnitrix had changed his form, Twyla had come in and paused at the door. She had looked around with a stunned look on her face, not even turning to look at Ben in his new form hanging over Lagoona's death bed. The Boogey girl had then tip toed forward, drawing her gun as she ducked behind an empty hospital bed, as if hunting something. This rose confusion in Ben; was this how the Rebellion dealed with rats?
The confusion continued as Twyla crept out from behind the bed, gasping and trembling as she gazed upon Ben. She then dropped her gun, silently watching as Ben crept closer, concern and confusion on his shadowy face.
"Twyla?" Ben asked.
Twyla shook her head vigorously.
"Are you alright?" he asked, drawing a shocked gasp out of the Boogey as she shielded her eyes before gazing upon him, her body shaking as her eyes traced over his form. He walked closer, his hooves clopping loudly on the tiled floor, and Twyla suddenly dove to the right. Ben quickly ran forward to catch up with her, only to slip on the tiled floor and crash into a hospital bed, turning it over. He moaned and quickly got up walking faster to catch up with Twyla before going into an all out bound, leaping over Twyla to cut her off at the door. "Twyla! "C'mon, speak to me!" he cried. Twyla continued to look at him in fear as Ben trotted at her. The Rebellion leader quickly dove to the floor, sliding under Ben and making her exit, the automatic door locking behind her as her boots echoed in the hallway.
"Aw, man, what'd I do wrong!?" Ben cried to the ceiling, as if expecting an answer.
Of course, the ceiling remained silent.
With a sigh, Ben walked back to the back of the med bay, deciding to mourn with Frankie, waiting for someone to come back in. It was strange, being whatever alien he currently was. He was used to have multiple limbs, though never this many; four arms and four legs was an awful lot for an alien, having even more than Four Arms or Spidermonkey. That wasn't what bothered him though. He kept on getting this somewhat dark and evil feeling in him, similar to the first time he had turned into Ghostfreak; he had felt cold and creepy at the time, as if being an Ectonurite were unnatural (despite of course being able to turn into other aliens).
What also worried him was the disappearance of Skurd. Sure, the parasitic Slimebiote was annoying, constantly degrading him in front of the ghouls and giving out snarky comments at the times, but ben had actually become attached to the little creature; the feel of being even more powerful than before unimaginable, being able to change into an alien and then get a sort of upgrade through Skurd. Plus, the Slimebiote could always come up with the rudest of insults when Ben couldn't, which was enjoyable when one was rubbing in a villain's latest defeat. Ben had lost Skurd, and he wasn't about to lose him again.
He jerked his head up at the sound of the automatic door unlocking, the sound of worried and desperate voices reaching his ears. He glanced up just in time to see Spectra's head disappear through the ceiling with a frightened squeak; the sound of weapons clicking met his ears, and he knew he was in for a heck of a fight.
"Are you sure?" Twyla pressed further. Spectra gave a frightened nod and tightened her grip on her katana blades, a pair that Jinafire and Ben had worked together on to allow her to use them without a thought, so she wouldn't have to concentrate so hard being solid enough to hold them. Twyla was about to ask another question when she felt a hand on her shoulder, and she glanced up to see her second in command, Skelita Calaveras. The skeleton wore a tight leather suit similar to Twyla's and had chosen both a gun as well as two rows of throwing knives that were strapped across her chest as weapons.
"You are pushing her too much. She's just as concerned about Ben as you are," the skeleton told Twyla, and she had to sadly agree. It did not however, make a lick of sense; Twyla saw Ben change into a zombie version of Wildmutt inside of a trashed med bay. Spectra however, saw something completely different. Instead, she saw Ben change into Ghostfreak, the one alien that truly gave her the willies despite being similar to each other, and steal her iCoffin before proceeding to delete ever text, conversation, and photo she had. Then he promptly crushed it with his talons before rushing after Spectra; the odd thing was that Spectra still had her iCoffin with her, and was clutching it tightly with a white knuckle. Another odd thing that Spectra claimed to be true was that the room was perfectly clean and that Frankie and Lagoona were both still intact, though Lagoona unfortunately was still dead.
With a sigh, Skelita pushed past them and let herself into the room, the door sliding shut behind her. She stayed in there for exactly two agonizingly long minutes before Skelita came back out, her bones a whiter color than they had been before. When she was asked what had happened, she claimed that her family and Ben had been there, Lagoona and Frankie nowhere insight. As if things couldn't get stranger, she stated that Ben had changed into Clockwork and had mercilessly begun to age her family into fine ash and dust before her very eyes, freezing the time stream where she stood so she couldn't move and was forced to watch.
"Pft. Is load of yakwash. Abbey be brave." the yeti snorted, pushing past them all roughly before entering the room alone and weaponless. The group, Spectra, Twyla, Skelita, Clawd, Draculaura, Gil, Heath, Hoodude, Venus, Jane, Ghoulia, Nefera, and Jinafire remained outside, fearing the worst. Minutes felt like incredibly long hours to them when Abbey didn't come out after a while. Not a sound followed, and a few had begun to suspect that she was killed on the spot and was slowly being digested when the doors slid open and Abbey came strolling out, suppressed fear on her face.
"Is fine. Ben back to normal," she reassured them as she led the group inside the med bay to find it perfectly fine and free of dust, damages, or blood altogether. The smell of death however, still filled the room when the group found Ben uncomfortably standing over Lagoona's bed, his head bowed down so that they couldn't see his face. Skurd had returned to his wrist, but was uncharacteristically silent. The group all shared confused looks as Gil pushed his way to the front and over to his girlfriend's bed, pushing Ben out of the way to tear the bed sheet away and gaze upon her deathly beauty. Ben quietly left the med bay, the group following with confused expressions as Gil mourned.
The wind was rushing past his face, running over his beak and arms, whooshing past his jet pack and wings. He been assigned by Twyla to recover and rescue Gigi by any means possible. Ben knew he was probably going to have to do it at some point, but he had some suspicions when Twyla had given him the mission; she had seemed jumpy and skittish whenever Ben came close to her, her eyes filled with fear. He knew she still loved him, it was easy to tell. But he also knew that she had a fear of him, from whatever had happened in the med bay.
To make matters worse, Spectra was starting to avoid him too, phasing through walls whenever he came in sight and always staying as far away as possible from him whenever they were forced to be in the same room. Skelita, the girl he had fallen in love with and only reunited with recently, was also shunning him, quickly walking away and glancing back at him with forlorn eyes whenever she came across him.
And just to add insult to injury, he was forced to be put on a team for this mission with the Rebellion's top agents; Clawdeen and Toralei. The duo had apparently become partners during the war and were nearly inseparable despite their past. And while Clawdeen had treated Ben somewhat nicely in the past after befriending him, she was now as stone cold and as heartless as Toralei was. She had complained and whined with her partner the instant they were told by Twyla that they were to join forces, claiming they could get the job done faster than any "silly teenager with a fancy watch", as Toralei had put it.
Which was currently why Astrodactyl was flying a fair distance above them, the two partners traveling by snowmobile on the snow covered ground below them. The trio had remained silent for the whole long trip to one of Zs'Skayr's bases, neither side talking to the other. Astrodactyl sighed and pushed forward, the wind whistling louder as he picked up speed. It seemed his life was once again falling apart at the seams again; couldn't the universe ever give its greatest hero a break for once? Despite making friends and lovers ever since he came to the Monster High universe, it seemed it was determined to make the hero suffer as much as possible.
After a few more hours of quietly thinking and ignoring Toralei and Clawdeen's comments from below, the trio came to a halt at the base of a large mountain, the top of which was replaced by a large, grand, and thoroughly intimidating fortress of mass proportions. The black and gray walls were tall and thick, topped with spikes and turrets as Corrodium infected guards patrolled them. Towers stood tall and grim at each corner, a sort of large cannon mounted to the top of each one. A large building stood smack in the center of the fortress, topped with spiked spires and twisted chimneys that screamed hopelessness.
Astrodactyl gulped and angled downward, landing in the soft snow as the Omnitrix timed out and the two ghouls pulled up, annoyed looks on their faces as they dismounted and drew their weapons. Without a word, as if they could care less whether Ben was shot or not, they ducked down into the snow and crept as quietly and quickly as they could to the base of the wall where the guards couldn't see them. Ben sighed and dove into a snowbank, the snow briefly turning green as he activated the Omnitrix. An unseen force then quickly burst out of the snow and skittered over to the base of the wall, climbing up the barrier with ease and leaving the two cold ghouls behind.
"Does he always have to show off?" Clawdeen grumbled as she took a grappling hook out of her belt and began to swing it, gathering up momentum. The werewolf wore a dark purple top covered by a leather jacket decorated with spikes and chains; her earrings remained where they had been for years, but the scar over her left eye was new, a constant reminder of what being childish and carefree did to you in this dark world. She wore leather pants and boots, twin guns waiting to be used in their holsters. Her partner seemed to have suffered a little more than she had however; half of her tail had been cut clean off and been replaced with carbon fiber, the tip replaced with a mace for maximum damage. She wore fingerless gloves that allowed her to use her claws and an outfit that matched Clawdeen's. Instead of guns however, a large chain with a sharp blade on the end was curled around her waist, and her scarlet colored hair had been combed over into a Mohawk that covered her cybernetic eye. Toralei quickly used the implant to scout for guards as Clawdeen tossed the hook up and giving it a few tugs when it tightly grabbed the upper wall. The ghouls then quickly scaled the wall and prepared to fight the guards, only to find them unconscious and stripped of their weapons by a satisfied Chamalien.
"I gather you ladies are done discussing fashion?" the Merlinisapein joked. Neither of the ghouls laughed as they shot him an angered look and jumped down to the ground far below. Chamalien followed, scaling headfirst down the wall and sidling up to them, grumbling under his breath about they needed to lighten up for a change. The trio clung to the shadows, freezing whenever a mutant human or Necrofriggian walked by. The fortress seemed to be dominated by these two species, the humans lumbering past on their uneven limbs and the Necrofriggians floating past on shattered wings and twisted claws.
Toralei quickly glanced around, her cybernetic eye calculating every contingency that could possibly happen if they moved at a certain time. After mere nanoseconds, she suddenly rushed forward out into open space, Clawdeen rushing behind him and Chamalien instinctively blending into his surroundings to race after them. They quickly pressed themselves against the wall of the main building, just as guards passed on the walls above, still not noticing their sleeping comrades. Chamalien quickly took the risk and slapped the Omnitrix symbol on his chest, the green light washing over him and briefly changing him back into his original form before injecting him with new DNA. He felt the skin around his skull slowly vanish, as if some flesh eating parasite were eating at it. His skull slowly turned upside down as the bones ground and shifted with a sickening sound. The teeth became sharper as new, thicker skin covered his face and his eyes molded into one. His fingers turned into dagger like claws that felt like they could slice through someone's soul. His legs wrapped around each other into a sort of ghostly tail as thick, green chains formed around his neck and wrists. The Omnitrix appeared on his chest, the chains all meeting together at the same spot as a dozen writhing tentacles suddenly spilled forth from Ben's insides. The transformation was complete.
Toralei and Clawdeen looked upon him in disgust as Ghostfreak each grabbed a hold of their shoulders and quietly phased through the thick walls of the main building, pulling the two ghouls with him into whatever room they appeared in. Thankfully it appeared to be an evil janitor's closet of sorts, which was empty at the moment. The Omnitrix timed out and changed Ben back into his human form, just as Toralei and Clawdeen decided to let him have it.
"How dare you turn into our worst enemy!" Toralei yelled.
"What were you thinking, going in without back up!" Clawdeen roared. "And don't you dare crack a joke! This is war, not play time!"
"Do we look like we want to be babysitting your sorry behind!? We can do this without any of your help!"
Ben took it all, and much more and worse, in silence with a straight, peeved look on his face. If the two ghouls in front of him were going to act like jerks, why should he be working with them? They clearly resented and hated him right now, believing him to be nothing more than a stupid kid. Even Clawdeen, someone he had become friends with in the past, was getting on the action, berating him over simply doing his job. Naturally, like any little kid would do, Ben decided to prove them wrong.
"If you don't like me, fine. I'll get Gigi myself without any of your help. You seem to enjoy hating me more than actually doing your job." he growled, activating the Omnitrix before the ghouls could argue and allowing the watch to do its work. His skinny figure suddenly swelled as hundreds of muscles piled on top of each other, sending his growing form upwards until he was more than twice as tall as his previous self. His fingers pulsed as thick veins appeared on his arms, sending alien blood through them. A second pair of eyes appeared above his own and every hair on his head disappeared. A short beard appeared on his chin that ran up to his disappearing earlobes as his jaw jutted out. Suddenly, a second pair of smaller arms burst out from under his own, still just fresh muscle and bone. Skelita felt like she was going to be sick until rough, red, skin covered them. Ben's toes melded into two large claws as a row of small spikes appeared on his head and shoulders. A black undershirt with a green stripe down the middle as a pair of black pants appeared as two pairs of black fingerless gloves came out of nowhere on his large hands, finishing the transformation.
"And of course, the Omnitrix never gives me what I want," Four Arms grumbled. "But, unlike you guys, I am adaptable."
"Now wait just a-" Clawdeen started, but the Tetramand didn't want to hear it.
"You guys don't like me, fine. Do your own thing," he said. "I'm going to do what I do best and hope that I can do it right. If either of you to actually stop being jerks, I'll be rescuing Gigi."
And with that, the Tetramand turned around and punched clean through the door and out into a dimly lit, stone hallway, turning towards the right and leaving without a word.
"For the first time since we started this war, we just screwed up big time, didn't we?" Toralei asked Clawdeen.
"Yep."
"We're screwed then, aren't we?"
"Yep."
"Good. Just wanted to be sure." Toralei grumbled before following Four Arms against her will, Clawdeen trailing behind her. Two things drove the pussy cat and werewolf forward, the first being that they could not deny an order from their leader, which was to bring back her boyfriend alive. The second thing that drove them forward was that they unfortunately knew they would get nowhere fast without Ben's help, which meant they had to play by Ben's rules.
Gigi coughed and desperately tried to reach the glass of water that so tantalizingly close. She knew however, that it would be useless; she had tried many, many times to reach that glass that taunted her so, but it was always out of reach. Plus, she knew she was only entertaining her tormentor even more with her futile attempts. Her throat was parched and she was desperately dehydrated. Aching bruises and cuts dotted her dull, pink arms and legs from the many beatings she received if she didn't tell something her tormentor didn't like, which of course was all the time. She would never give up the secrets of the Rebellion, even if her life was on the line.
And the sad part was that it would most likely be ending soon; Zs'Skayr was getting increasingly impatient with her questions, demanding Kuphulu draw out the information of Whisp's whereabouts by any means possible. This usually meant even more grueling, more painful torture sessions than usual, and the genie was already wishing she were dead. She was now chained to a large, metallic ring, her limps spread eagle and and shackled to the wheel by large chains. She barely had the strength to even lift her head as Kuphulu quietly walked up to her, a smug grin on his face (if he had a mouth that is). Being loyal to Zs'Skayr had done him good. He was much more fit looking, and was entitled to dress in much more extravagant and expensive robes than he had worn before. He wore a bigger headdress, and seemed to be more full of himself and showy, though he still retained his pathetic kissing up to Zs'Skayr. It would have disgusted Gigi if she could see him; during a torture session in which she was subjected to getting whacked repeatedly by electrified pistons on the head, the force increasing with each blow, she had lost her vision, making her completely blind.
Fortunately since the incident, her other senses had heightened. She could hear the soft scraping of Kuphulu's feet walking across the smooth, marble floor, followed by the sound of his bandages walking into something wet and of Kuphulu's disgust. Her nose told her that he stepped into a drying puddle of her own blood, her ears catching the sound of blood tricking freely from her ankle where a large knife had been stabbed into her; the blade had not been removed, being twisted deeper into her burning flesh every hour or so. She had been strong so far, but she was starting to weaken. She couldn't even use magic to ease the pain, as not only was Whisp gone, but Zs'Skayr had put up magic shields of sorts, devices that jammed her ability to grant wishes and such, rendering her powerless.
"Shall we begin, foul parasite?" Kuphulu asked, eagerness in his voice. Gigi couldn't even answer, her throat was so dry and swollen, devoid of any liquid. The glass of water taunted at her, lying just out of reach on the table she knew was in front of her. She heard the sound of knife being drawn out of its scabbard, knowing what was coming next. White hot, fiery pain erupted in her other ankle, making her symmetrical once more; another thing she hated about the Thep Khufan was that he had a habit of performing one act of torture to one side of her body, only to do the same to her other side next torture session.
"We can stop this anytime, Ms. Grant," Kuphulu stated in an eerily calm voice. "And don't go into another one of your "The Rebellion will stop you and Ben Tennyson will personally come to my rescue" rants. It will not happen. Not now, not ever."
KA-BOOM!
The entire floor shook and rumbled as something large busted down the door to the torture chamber in one swift move. The door banged loudly on the marbled floor and Gigi cringed slightly. From the frightened and surprised yelps of Kuphulu, rescue had apparently come; she could smell the earthy scent of fur, meaning Toralei and Clawdeen had been sent to rescue her. There was another scent there as well, amongst the smell of smoke, splintered wood, cold stone, sweat, and rage; something somewhat earthy, but also dry and sort of sweaty as well. The unknown smell also lingered of smoke, but not the kind that resulted from a fire or from guns. She had smelled that smell before, and she had been dreaming that she would once again meet the person it belonged to.
She could hear Kuphulu's frightened cries as he was heaved up into the air and tossed across the room, the same thing that lifted him into the air leaping at him and landing (painfully) on him, crushing the Thep Khufan under his bulk. There then came several sickening sounds as large fists slammed into Kuphulu's body before silence came from that area, Toralei and Clawdeen using their guns to take out several Lepidopterran guards that had been alerted by the noise. Gigi could sense a large figure looking up at her, his face just a foot lower than hers. The metal wheel vibrated four times as four fists grabbed onto four different sections of the wheel, pulling four opposite directions and tearing the wheel apart with ease, free Gigi. She hung there in midair for a brief second before falling, landing in the warm embrace of Four Arms.
"Ben?" she managed to croak out. She felt one of the four large hands disappear from her senses, only to return and press something smooth and cool to her lips. The genie parted them slightly, letting the cool water slide down her parched throat.
"I can't believe that thing was unscathed," Gigi heard Clawdeen grumble as the last of the water went down her throat and the glass went away.
"Gigi, this is gonna hurt," she heard Four Arms say. She only nodded her head as she felt herself being lifted into the air by two strong hands, the knives embedded deeply into her ankle shaking slightly as the Tetramand grabbed onto them. She braced herself for the pain as one knife slid out easily, clattering loudly against the opposite wall. The other one did not come out so smoothly, Gigi unwillingly screaming in pain as Four Arms quickly tore it free, apologizing professedly. "It's gonna be okay, Gigi. We're gonna get you out of here." she heard Four Arms say.
"I-I-I . . . . can't . . . .can't . . . ." she tried to say, but the words wouldn't come out of her mouth, she was so tired, the loss of blood making her mind spiral. She felt Four Arms large chest heave, as if he were going to say something, but it never came. After what seemed ages, the Tetramand's chest heaved again, words coming out this time.
"What did he do to you, Gigi?" he asked quietly. She actually heard not only concern and hatred in his voice, but the unmistakable sound of Toralei and Clawdeen lowering their weapons to gaze at her wounds. "Gigi, how many fingers am I holding up?" Four Arms asked, holding up an arm in front of her face; no matter what her senses told her, the genie could not pick out the number Four Arms was holding up.
"One?" she guessed, and she heard Four Arms say more than a few choice words that would have gotten him banned from several different countries had he mouthed them off to their leaders. Maybe even have war declared on him. The sound of rubble being moved caught Gigi's attention as she heard Toralei pull out something metallic from the pile. Her senses told her nothing, but her mind was reeling; Toralei had found her lantern, her home so to speak. She felt another of Four Arm's arms leave her presence as he took the lamp from Toralei, holding it close to Gigi so that she could feel it against her skin.
"Gigi, I'm going to put you back in the lantern. I'm not sure if you'll heal there or something, but the danger of you being hurt even further on our way out is too great," Four Arms told her. "Just know that you'll see daylight again."
Gigi didn't want to argue, but she wanted to remind Ben that she couldn't see anymore. She found she didn't have the strength however, and simply nodded her head with what little strength she had left. Another arm left Gigi's presence as it lightly rubbed the lamp, a dull redness echoing through her eyes as the lamp exploded into light, lightly sucking its occupant back in. For once in over 1,000 years, Gigi didn't fight it; she simply let the lantern pull her back in, to suck her back into the recesses of the lamp and deposit its occupant, its master onto a bed of silk pillows. Gigi let the blackness come, welcomed it even as it provided her with a way to escape from the world and its troubles.
And hopefully, she would see Ben's smiling face once more.
And done! I could probably go on and on and on about how I would really like to see fan art for this story sometime soon or something like that, but I'm not really in a begging mood.
Instead, I shall leave you with these questions to think: Will Gigi make it? Will Robecca be put back together? And just what is up with Ben's new form? Find out next time on We're! All! Monsters (yes, I went with a Total Drama ending. If you like Total Drama, check out my OC story sometime. I promise it to be a pleasure)!
As always, comment, review, suggest, request, and more down below. If you want to get a little more personal or just don't like it when other people can read your thoughts, go ahead and PM me. I always get back to my readers.
Hasta Luego and HAPPY NEW YEARS!