CLOSE ENCOUNTER OF THE TENTH KIND
An awkward silence had formed between Frankie and the alien. She stared with a mixture of confusion and surprise at the Martian entity in front of her. The space monster stood motionless, patiently waiting for an answer, only she had no idea what to say. Was Tennessee a planet somewhere in the far reaches of space? He couldn't be referring to the state of Tennessee. Right?
Hoping that one of her friends could give her some help in this strange situation, she turned to look at them. They always remarked to her about her inexperience in life, by the rule of three, they should have some idea of what to do in that situation, shouldn't they?
This was clearly not the case. Cleo and Draculaura were hidden behind a Clawdeen armed with a frying pan who had her eyes fixed on the alien, she really didn't want her appearance to be stolen.
"I think... he wants to make a phone call." Saying those words out loud was far more surreal than the situation itself. The whole situation was already very surreal on its own. Four teenage monster girls were trying to talk to a Martian who wanted to call somewhere in the state of Tennessee.
Those snacks they ate had expired and now they were hallucinating because of food poisoning?
"What does he want what?" questioned Cleo perplexed, her gaze shifting from her friend to the alien, who in turn returned her gaze. She shivered at the sight of that lonely, expressionless eye. What kind of creature was that thing? It didn't even look like a monster.
"He's not going to eat us or steal our appearance?" With trepidation, Draculaura asked that question as she peeked over Clawdeen's shoulder and like Cleo, looked at the alien, who had a rather curious reaction upon hearing that question.
One of his feet recoiled and his whole body leaned back, he was clear that the very idea horrified him.
"Those stereotypes have yet to be eliminated." Commented the alien to himself, the use of the Mechamorph language, which was also shared by their "mother" species, the Galvan, was like listening to a series of cybernetic shrieks and sounds that made no sense at all to the young girls. He opted to simply shake his head, he wasn't going to argue anything, he simply wanted to call home and leave.
Frankie took a deep breath, relaxed her body, and focused her attention on Cleo. It was confirmed that the alien didn't want any trouble, he just wanted to make a call.
"It's your ICoffin, can you lend it to him?" asked Frankie. Cleo looked at her, looked at the alien, who seemed to be very focused on Clawdeen's ears, and then looked back at Frankie.
"What do you expect me to say?" she questioned terrified at the whole situation. "Make it quick!"
Frankie nodded at that answer and looked at the alien once again, she saw him leaning forward, with one hand on his... where his chin was supposed to be, he was rubbing that area and his eye had narrowed, he seemed to be analyzing in detail Clawdeen, who looked quite uncomfortable. The girl might be brave, but that space monster was huge, she didn't want to provoke it.
"Those things don't look like a costume..." he muttered, his eye was focusing on the ears of the girl, who shivered at those unintelligible words. The alien opted to put aside his curiosity and focus on the "Transylian". "Can I make the call?" he asked as he used his right hand to make a signal, a signal which could be interpreted as a telephone.
Frankie was surprised at this, impressed that this creature shared certain mannerisms with the teenagers of earth.
"Th-The call, right! Uh..." Frankie was hesitant, she didn't know what to do, hand him the phone or wait for him to give her some number to dial. She finally opted for the first option and handed him the ICoffin.
The alien was quite happy about this and quickly did what he had to do.
They watched him. The curiosity of seeing this entity was equivalent to their fear of him. His physical form was not attractive in the eyes of the young women, but in a certain sense it had its own charm, it was soft and curved and had a kind and peaceful aura, it was this very aura that began to calm them.
When he was ready to make the call, he finally stopped. He realized that if those girls couldn't understand him, then his mother wouldn't understand him either, he needed someone to speak for him. Fortunately, there were four volunteers. Well. He hoped one of them would volunteer, it would speed things up a lot.
He put the phone down and looked once again at Frankie. Frankie tensed up as she found herself under the scrutiny of the Martian, who soon began typing something on the phone and handed it back to her.
"My translator is damaged, I need someone to speak for me." That was what was written.
"What's he said?" questioned Cleo. "He changed his mind and is going to eat us right? For your information...!" the girl hid behind Clawdeen. "My meat is not tasty, I offer you Clawdeen."
"Hey!" complained the brown-haired girl at being delivered like that.
"He just wants someone to speak for him." Frankie's response silenced her friends, they looked at her as if she had grown a second head and then looked at the alien. "I think we can help him."
The alien nodded, confirming that this was all he wished for. After this, Draculaura began to peek out once more behind Clawdeen, she looked curiously at the space entity. The alien looked at her, seeing the girl so fearful and shy before him, her attitude, appearance, and clothing gave her a look that he couldn't help but find very adorable. His eye curved upward and he waved with one hand. He wished to appear as friendly as possible so as not to frighten them any more than they already were.
Frankie handed the ICoffin back to him and asked him what he needed them to say. They watched him write, or, rather, partially fuse his hands to the ICoffin, greatly speeding up the writing process.
Several minutes later and after making several calls. They were all once again in a state of nervousness. The alien was standing by the kitchen entrance, one of his hands was resting on his "chin" and he seemed to be thinking.
He was confused. He had given them his mother's number, his father's number, his home number, his cousin's number, but at every attempt, either the number didn't exist or someone else answered. She even tried calling her best friend or her grandfather's plumbing, she even tried calling Kai, but neither answered. Something wasn't right, besides, he was sure he didn't make a mistake, his memory was too good to fail at something like that. What was going on?
His mind began to work. The species he was currently transformed into was intelligent, almost as much as the Galvans, but only compared to the standard lower limit of the latter, while the Galvans were scientific geniuses, the Mechamorphs were mechanical geniuses, their computerized mind could perform an in-depth analysis of any machinery to make use of their enhancement abilities, assessing their situation was child's play. He did so carefully. He recalled the events that occurred before he woke up in the crater and did not like the conclusion he came to at all, but he was not going to take this as the truth. In front of him was a Transylian, which meant she might have been still at home.
His thoughts stopped when his vision caught something. On the refrigerator, that kitchen possessed and attached with a magnet in the shape of a bolt was a calendar. This was like any other calendar, the top had a picture of... a saber-toothed tiger cub? He chose not to question that and focus on what was important. The date that was written there.
"Two thousand eleven?" he read in his mind.
That date was strange to him, not because it was strange in itself, but because it was incorrect. The calendar that his mother put by the refrigerator at his home showed that it was already two thousand thirteen, March to be precise, but this calendar showed that it was two thousand eleven and it was the middle of June.
As if it were a revelation, he realized a possible answer to this strange detail and that at the same time would explain why those girls acted so scared in front of him and did not recognize him.
When his body moved, they all backed away, fearful that the result they got from those calls would not be to that space monster's liking. Clawdeen clutched the frying pan in her hands even tighter, ready to defend herself and her friends if the thing tried anything. But that was not the case.
The alien raised his right hand and pointed to the ICoffin in Frankie's hands. Frankie understood that he wanted to communicate again. She handed it to him and stepped back quickly. They watched him write and soon after he returned the object and they all read what was written there.
"Where am I?" was the first question that was written.
This aroused Frankie's curiosity. That alien wanted to call somewhere on Earth, but didn't he know where it was? What was really going on there?
"You're in Salem, Oregon." To the surprise of her friends, Draculaura was the one who responded, the friendly aura the Martian emitted had calmed her enough and since he wasn't aggressive, she risked interacting with him. "This part of town we call "New Salem", nice name isn't it?"
Seeing the girl's smile, the alien felt almost as if his sugar levels had skyrocketed. It was like seeing a small, helpless, and very adorable creature, those big eyes shone with absolute innocence. It didn't compare to his transformation called "Ditto", but it could compete with it.
"She's too adorable!" she thought, but instantly dismissed those thoughts. Now was not the time to let himself be controlled by hormones he did not possess as a Mechamorph.
He shook his head and focused on the current problem.
Salem, Oregon, was a state in the United States, which meant he was on the earth and not on a similar planet. He dismissed the possibility that he was cast to the far reaches of the universe and pointed to the phone again, he had written down several questions that would give him the answer he was looking for.
The girls read the following question.
"This is Earth?"
"Yes, this is Earth." Frankie replied.
This caused the alien to frown. With each passing second, he feared more and more the answer he was going to get, but he could already figure out the result.
Yes, he was on Earth, but not on his Earth.
Seeing that her response seemed to have angered the alien made Frankie nervous.
Did she make him angry? Did he not like what she said? Would he attack them for it?
When the space monster finally put his thoughts and theories behind him and focused on them again, he pointed to the phone again. There was one more question and it would confirm the reason why none of them seemed to have recognized him.
"Does anyone know Ben Tennyson?"
This last question took all four girls by surprise. Ben Tennyson. That was a human name, and that space monster was asking for him, which gave them a clue as to whom he was trying to contact. But, if they answered in the negative, would they make him angry? None of them were sure, and they didn't want to take the chance.
What none of them could foresee was that the alien had already arrived at the answer thanks to the expressions they all had. Ben Tennyson did not exist there or failing that, the Ben Tennyson of that world was not a public figure like him. That was going to make things difficult.
He once again brought his right hand to his "chin" and began to think. He was in Oregon, which was on the east side of the country, he was going to have to cross half the country to get home and look for his version of that reality. But this made him question something else.
His gaze was directed to the graceful-looking "Transylian". He observed that girls did not meet at all the standards of "beauty" that race had. Rather, she seemed to fit human standards, she was a beautiful and rather tall girl, she possessed a soft and kind face, a perfectly proportioned body, her inhuman appearance could pass as a Halloween costume. If she was on Earth, therefore, the Plumbers had to know about her, they were not going to let an alien of that category run loose and unsupervised.
Continuing with that line of critical thinking, he focused on the other three girls, each one was different, but always respecting the resemblance and human beauty, the one with the wolf ears was quite strong, he could tell, he could see that her abdomen was a worked one, she exercised constantly. An observation on the side, she had a lot of body hair. He was not someone who criticized appearances, but it was something almost inevitable to point out.
Then there was the adorable little girl that reached his waist, this one was too pale and with a slight pink tinge, her ears had a pointed shape as well. His eye arched at the sight of the fangs this girl possessed, they did not appear to be fake. Added to this the brown-haired girl also possessed fangs emerging from her upper lips and did not appear to possess human ears, only those of a wolf, which twitched occasionally.
The last of them was the closest to a human, no extra appendages, no fangs, just those strange bandages, she was a full-fledged human. But for some reason, something about her told him she wasn't normal.
His eye opened as he realized something else. These girls fit something he was familiar with. Monsters from horror movies. A vampire, a werewolf, and finally a mummy.
He looked again at the "Transylian", the conclusion his cybernetic mind gave him, is that this girl was not an alien as he believed, she was a real Frankenstein's Monster.
Four classic horror movie monsters were in front of him.
He could have his autographs!? Oh, he was going to rub it in Kevin's face.
His excitement died at that instant. This confirmed it. He was in an alternate timeline. The chance that he did not exist there was 50-50. He remembered previous trips like that. The closest to something like this was when he traveled to Rex Salazar's world. Rex was a modified human, his body possessed mechanical microorganisms called "Nanites", something like his current form. In that reality, Ben Ten did not exist and even his hometown had many changes. For starters, there was no Mr. Smoothie, which was synonymous with hell for him.
"I needed more information, I needed to confirm that there was a place I could go for help." Almost without thinking he pounced on the girls.
They all let out a startled cry at that sudden action and Clawdeen tried to hit him with the frying pan she had picked up sometime before, but the impact only passed through the gelatinous body.
Contrary to what they believed, it was not an attack. He had lunged in the direction of Cleo's ICoffin, once again fusing to the device and causing Frankie to drop it in fright.
The shape it had taken some time ago returned, the mechanical legs braked the impact and dug firmly into the ground, the device's screen began to display lines and lines of code, then switched to images. He accessed the internet through the device and his first discovery was that the phone did not have the Google search engine he was familiar with, instead, the name of the search engine was "Boogle". A bad feeling appeared in his mind and he accelerated his search.
Critter, Monsterpedia, FrigthTube, Instagrimm, hundreds of pages went by in an instant due to the processing speed that the device now possessed.
Finally, it stopped, the image now showed a satellite map, it began to move, it went across the country until it reached the state of Tennessee and began to zoom in.
When it stopped in a place with no trace of civilization, the device began to shake.
The girls looked at each other, not knowing what was going on, and amazed at this strange ability.
The black liquid that made up the body of the alien began to separate from the phone, it dripped until it formed a puddle, leaving the ICoffin behind. Then he moved away from them and reformed once more, but unlike before, he looked worried, his left foot began to tap the ground, while with his right hand he rubbed his chin. The information he had obtained was not encouraging.
"Bellwood doesn't exist here..." he whispered, but no one understood. "I don't exist here..." his body began to shake and his eye curved downward.
This was a problem, a big one. He was in a completely different timeline, one where "Ben Ten" didn't exist, comparing it to Rex's timeline would be accurate, but even there, his home existed. Here it didn't.
His gaze shifted to those monster girls, who were frightened before him. He realized he was acting in a very rash manner and relaxed his mind and body. His head swung from side to side, he couldn't get upset so easily, he had friends more than capable of going after him, it was only a matter of time, but he wasn't sure how long it would take them and he had no place to stay.
His eye focused on Frankie and a slightly crazy idea popped into his mind.
"Maybe they can help me..." he thought, his mind gathered all the information he possessed up to that moment, they believed he was an alien, so they had to deduce that he was not from earth and did not know their customs and if his experience watching movies with a plot similar to this one told him anything, it was that good-hearted people would never leave a poor and adorable alien stranded. He had no desire to take advantage of them, but he needed the help.
He stood up straight and tried to look as polite as possible and then held out his hand, asking for the phone once again. Cleo had picked it up some time ago and was holding on to it tightly, unwilling to give it to him again, of course, Frankie and Draculaura's insistence made her relent. The huge Martian figure also had something to do with that decision.
"I need help." Was the message he wrote. "I am lost and could not contact my home."
The four girls looked at each other and then at the alien. What exactly are they supposed to say to the creature?
The four monster girls were sitting in the living room of Frankie's home, the place was large enough to fit a sofa for three people, two sofas for one person on the sides of it, a low table in the center, adorned with a vase and in front of that a large wooden furniture on which there was a large flat-screen TV.
The girls were sitting on the sofas, Frankie was on one of the single sofas, while Draculaura and Clawdeen shared the larger one and Cleo was on the other single sofa. The alien, too, was there, only he was sitting on the floor and a cushion, his legs were crossed and he was looking with interest at everything around him.
None of them had any idea what to do in that situation. He asked for help and they weren't sure if they should help him or not, he was an alien, he could be dangerous, but if they went by movie stereotypes, they would be no different than humans, who acted that way with monsters and didn't even bother to really get to know them. Not all of them, but mostly.
Contrary to what they believed at first, he was kind and respectful, keeping that aura of calm around him, he did not act rashly again, he was just looking at the things around him as if trying to understand every single thing.
"It's a very nice house." Commented the alien as he surveyed the surroundings.
While he was distracted, the girls began to argue about what to do.
"I say we call the police and not get rid of him." Cleo suggested, she was brutal and cold, she didn't care about a stranger and didn't trust him, why would she help him?
"That would be cruel, he said he is alone, we should help him." Draculaura replied, as usually happened, she was the most emotional of the group, going by what her heart told her. "If we threw him out on the street we would be no better than humans."
"I have to agree with Cleo, Draculaura, he's an alien, we don't even know what he's saying when he starts mumbling, he could be planning something bad!" Clawdeen followed the logic, just like Cleo, she didn't trust the alien. "Although, in the movies they always try to dissect the alien, I don't want to have that on my conscience."
Finally, Frankie, remained silent, assessing things. He was strange and not at all like a monster, which could create problems for him. But, he was a living creature, which meant he was a conscious being and understood things and felt emotions just as she did. His appearance was different, but was there a difference? Wasn't he just another monster who wanted to find his place in the world?
Frankie, since she was created has absorbed a lot of knowledge, all thanks to her parents, she was an intelligent and curious girl, which led her to spend a lot of time reading magazines for teenagers, either human or monsters. She read and understood many things, and one of these was to accept yourself as you were, and understand that everyone was also different and special in their own way. A good message, but one that no one seemed to want to live up to, be it monsters or humans. And she was among those people. Her first day at school was a disaster and it only got worse until it caused Cleo's current relationship to suffer. Of course, it all worked out in the end, she made the necessary apologies and made friends with the most amazing girls, they even formed a cheerleading squad.
All of this, however, was thanks to being given the opportunity.
He was a mysterious entity, but he did not prove to be someone evil, he just seems to be slightly exasperated by his situation. She could empathize with him.
Also, his body was green, they both shared that and green was the color of those times, "Go green!" away many had to express their passion for the environment.
"I think we should help him." Frankie finally voiced her opinion. This earned the attention of her friends, Clawdeen and Cleo looked at her with wide eyes, Cleo especially, couldn't believe her friend said that. "He's a monster, just like us."
"That's not true!" exclaimed the mummy. "Do you have something in your eyes! That thing is like six feet tall and bigger than the door! What do we look like that thing!"
"Cleo, he is lost and needs help."
"I think that's a bad idea." Clawdeen joined the discussion. "We don't know anything about him, he could be dangerous."
"But if we let him free and they catch him they could hurt him." Draculaura also gave her opinion. "Besides. E.T. stayed, why can't he?"
"E.T. was a movie!" replied Cleo in exultation. "This is real life!"
"You have E.T. here too?" asked the alien, but he was ignored, which made him pucker his eye. "Stupid watch..."
The discussion continued, neither gave in, guided by both logic and morals, each had a different idea of what to do.
"If he was someone dangerous he would have hurt us when he had the chance." Draculaura also gave her opinion, she agreed with Frankie. "If we judge him by how he looks we would be no better than humans. Clawdeen, please, he is a living being, and he said he was alone, how would you feel if you were separated from your family?"
Clawdeen bit her lips at that answer. She would die if she wasn't with her family and friends, she was a werewolf, after all, social monsters and kept in very large packs. Imagining herself in that situation made her empathize more with the Martian.
"Are you crazy!? We mustn't help him!" Cleo once again tried to make her friends understand. That alien was an entity out of this world, a mysterious and unknown being with a very strange ability to bond with ICoffins, besides, they didn't even know his name.
The fuss that had been made caught the attention of the alien, who rested his head on his right hand and tapped the fingers of his left hand against the carpet with boredom. He understood why that mummy girl wasn't open with him. He was a stranger. But calling the police? That was a bit of a stretch.
He wanted to say something, to tell them that he wasn't going to cause trouble and just needed a little help, just to hide it until either he could transform back, or his friends would show up and rescue him from that reality. But since he was forced to return that strange phone, he was cut off from them. The conversation would only be one-sided, and his mimicry was horrible.
His gaze swept over the place once again, looking for something that might be useful to be able to communicate with them, only stopping when his eye focused on Frankie, who was watching him. Once again, their gazes had crossed and he cocked his head to one side. Why was she looking at him now?
Unbeknownst to him. Frankie was thinking about what to do. She was beginning to be conflicted. She really wanted to help the alien, but her logic was screaming at her that it was a very bad idea. At the same time, her heart was telling her to help him, that he was alone on a planet she didn't know and that they were the closest thing she had to friends, he reminded her of herself again, on her first day of school, like him, she had made a very bad first impression, had screwed things up with Cleo and had publicly humiliated herself. Still, she had managed to make friends with Draculaura and Clawdeen, both were very nice girls and accepted others quite easily.
He remembered the motto of his school, Monster High, where everyone is welcome, even with their flaws. he was clearly the one with the most quirks, he was an alien, he could merge into things, but, that just made him spacey in his own way, he couldn't just judge him for being the way he was.
"He's alone on the planet." Frankie finally spoke, she tried to find the right words to make herself better understood and continued. "I can understand what he's going through, I mean, I went through something similar myself when I first started attending Monster High."
"You mean when you tried to be someone you weren't and ended up causing Cleo to break up with Deuce?" asked Draculaura innocently, Clawdeen couldn't hold back the urge to laugh at the memory of that, Cleo for her part was quite annoyed.
"Yes, that." the girl replied embarrassed. "But I managed to fix it thanks to you." the girl looked at the alien, who seemed to be perplexed by the anecdote they had just heard. "I'm sure he has no bad intentions, maybe we should give him a chance."
"Frankie, listen." Cleo rubbed the bridge of her nose and looked at her friend in the most condescending way possible and spoke. "I understand you're new to this whole unlife thing, I know you're very pure of heart, but we're not talking about a normal monster, we're talking about a freaking alien!" this last she said almost shouting and pointing at the aforementioned alien.
Once again, the discussion reached an impasse. Cleo was against it, Draculaura was in favor of helping him, Frankie wanted to do it too, and Clawdeen couldn't seem to make up her mind.
"Clearly we can't let it loose on the world, it might hurt someone." Clawdeen added her opinion, she was basing that on the alien movie they saw to say that. The alien for his part was offended by that comment, he would never hurt anyone. No one who didn't deserve it at least.
"Why don't we work to hide it together?" suggested Draculaura "I remember in E.T., a group of kids helped him call home and he was finally able to leave."
"I remember that, we watched it when I was a kid and you were our babysitter." Clawdeen added.
"Don't say it that way!" the vampire shrieked, her face tinged a deeper pink. "You make it sound like I'm old."
"You're almost sixteen hundred years old." Clawdeen replied.
The alien looked at the pink and black-haired girl in shock and disbelief, she didn't look much older than him in her human form. Was she really over a century old? Vampires really did keep well.
"Don't say my age! It's embarrassing!" the girl complained and then crossed her arms and pouted.
"There's no way she's sixteen hundred years old!" he thought exalted, that behavior was that of an ordinary fifteen-year-old girl.
"They're seriously going to rely on a movie to help this... thing?!" exclaimed Cleo, she stood up and pointed a finger at the space monster. "We don't even know what is his name!"
"Now that you mention it, we never introduced ourselves." Frankie looked in the direction of the alien, he patted his face, how could he have forgotten something so basic? This action surprised her, it was a very common reaction on Earth ¿was it also in space?
"I say we call him E.T." suggested Clawdeen, the girl held up a finger and imitating a strange voice said. "E.T. phone home."
Her bad imitation caused Draculaura to laugh, but, to everyone's surprise, the alien imitated her.
"Upgrade phone home." He raised his index finger on his right hand and pointed to the ceiling, the green lines on his body glowed as he said that, as if he was mimicking a scene he already knew.
For several seconds, none of them said anything, they were surprised, he had just imitated to perfection what Clawdeen said, and not only that, he also imitated what was happening in that scene of that movie, only, instead of illuminating his finger, the lines of his body were illuminated.
"He just imitated me?" the werewolf questioned perplexed. Her eyes were wide as saucers and her mouth hung, slightly open.
"Wait!" Draculaura stood up suddenly as if she had figured something out. "I read about this for the Biteology exam, babies of many species when they are born follow the first thing they see as if it were their mother! Maybe he's a baby and thinks Clawdeen is his mother and that's why he imitated her!"
Upgrade's eye arched. No, that was nowhere near the reason he did that. He was just wanting to refer, nothing more.
"Great, now not only do we have to deal with a huge alien, but we have to deal with a huge alien and it's a baby!" the frustration in Cleo's voice was obvious. "I'm not changing his space diaper!"
"I'm too young to be a space mom!" exclaimed Clawdeen pulling her hair out.
The scene went from serious and slightly uncomfortable, to a quirky and humorous situation. If this wasn't happening right in front of him. Upgrade would have considered it a sketch from a comedy show.
He didn't try to clear up the misunderstanding for that reason, the whole situation was beginning to entertain him.
Gradually, and with comments about alien motherhood in between, things calmed down. It was Frankie who had to act as the voice of reason until Clawdeen stopped babbling.
"These girls are starting to grow on me." Upgrade commented as he looked at them.
"What do you think he's saying?" asked Clawdeen. "He didn't start calling me Mom, right?"
"Why don't we give him an ICoffin so he can communicate?" suggested Frankie. Instantly, all eyes, including Upgrade's, turned to Cleo, who frowned.
"No, I won't let him touch my ICoffin again, it's new!"
"You're just saying that because you have pictures of..." Clawdeen was silenced by a powerful cushion-shaped projectile that struck her face.
Cleo had thrown a cushion at her. Her face showed how irritated she was with the whole situation and she didn't have the patience to put up with Clawdeen.
"That I don't have those kinds of pictures!" she bellowed angrily.
Upgrade looked away, hiding his laughter. His ability to merge to technology allowed him access to all components, both hardware, and software, he accidentally saw the things that girl had there, they were nothing like what Clawdeen claimed, but he wasn't going to clear it up, Cleo blowing up like that was funny.
"And what are you laughing at!?" Despite his, very vague, attempt to hide his laughter, Upgrade was spotted and Cleo wasn't exactly happy that he was laughing. "I'll say it again! We should call the police! Or maybe the army!"
"You mean the men in black." Clawdeen corrected, but once again, a cushion flew at her, but this time she dodged it.
Frankie shook her head at this childish quarrel, her friends were the best without a doubt, but those two, in particular, had a friend-enemy relationship. Immature? Yes. It was. Funny? Definitely.
Her gaze fell on Upgrade once again. She didn't understand what he said, but she did understand one word. Upgrade. It was a verb, but the way he said it sounded different and it was the only word she managed to understand. Was that his name? She decided to take a chance and ask.
"Your name is Upgrade?" the alien turned his attention away from the mummy and the werewolf woman and focused on the Frankenstein girl and then nodded. "My name is Frankie, nice to meet you." Upgrade nodded in response. "Do you understand everything I'm telling you?" once again, he nodded.
Frankie stopped this conversation there and evaluated these new insights. It was funny how he could understand them, but they could not understand him. She then remembered him saying that "his translator wasn't working". Her gaze went to the gray dial he possessed on his chest, it was a strange contraption and that, in her eyes, was something extremely advanced, she wasn't even sure what it was.
"Is that your translator?" he asked pointing a finger at the dial. Upgrade looked down and then nodded. "Is it damaged?" he nodded again.
"Frankie, what are you doing?" asked Draculaura curiously. She had overheard her conversing with the alien which got her attention, she was impressed that her friend could communicate with him. "Can you understand him?"
Frankie denied and explained to him what she believed was happening and which at the same time could serve as an explanation as to why he was on the earth and wished to contact someone in Tennessee. Soon after, Cleo and Clawdeen joined in, paying attention to what their friend was saying.
"So, you think he's some kind of emissary?" Clawdeen was rather skeptical at that looked at the Martian, who was distracted with the Television, as if analyzing it.
"That's why he can understand us, he learned our language, but he can't speak it and since his translator is damaged, he can't speak." Explained the young Frankenstein's monster. She wasn't sure about that, but it was the most logical explanation.
Upgrade for his part, even though that was not the truth, chose not to correct it, as long as they believed he was a stereotypical movie alien then they would help him.
"Well, at least he's not a space baby and I'm not his space mom." Clawdeen allowed herself to let out a deep sigh of relief. Upgrade, hearing that, picked up a cushion and threw it at her, he wasn't a baby and it was starting to irritate him to be called that. "Ouch!" the girl complained at the impact.
"He seems to have learned something from Cleo." Frankie commented intrigued. "Do you think he thinks that some kind of greeting?"
"Great, now we'll have a cushion-throwing alien running around here." Cleo wasted no time in showing her displeasure, while Draculaura proceeded to scold Upgrade and tell him not to do that.
Upgrade largely ignored Draculaura's words, he already knew better than to do that, but that wolf-eared girl was asking for it, he wasn't a space baby, he was a space superhero! He wasn't going to let that girl go unpunished.
After stopping Clawdeen from attacking Upgrade back, and after Frankie kindly explained to him that he shouldn't do that and that Cleo was a very bad example of kindness. Which he had already realized. The situation returned to its previous point.
The girls decided by a majority vote, three to one, that they should help Upgrade. Clawdeen was convinced by Draculaura to help him, she had a great effect on the werewolf woman.
"I think the first thing would be to explain the rules to him, he can't go throwing pillows at people." Frankie gave her an idea and her friends nodded.
"It's just like in the movies, we should show him the wonder of television!" suggested Draculaura, her gaze then shifting to the alien. "What do you say, you want to watch TV?"
Usually, he would have said yes, that was a great way to waste time after all, but right now he didn't feel like it. Although he wasn't going to deny that he was curious about the programs that might exist there.
"I wonder if there are Sumo Slammers here..." he muttered, his one eye focused on the flat-screen television behind him. "Maybe..."
"He seems to like the idea." Clawdeen commented.
"Are we really going to show the Television to an alien?" Cleo questioned, it was a pretty stupid idea for her. "That thing is an alien, aren't they super advanced? Why would he want to..." the girl's words died in her mouth as she heard a very familiar sound.
They all turned their attention to the front, saw that Upgrade had the TV control in his right hand, and had turned on the TV. Surprised by this and dominated by curiosity, they just watched him. The alien began to change channels, several programs passed in front of his single eye, all of them caught his interest to a greater or lesser extent. He zapped steadily until he stopped on a news program.
He didn't do it because it caught his interest, but because the presenter was a human. He believed that in that reality monsters existed, but humans did not, seeing one took him by surprise.
"So they coexist. Interesting." He muttered, he was about to change the channel once more, when the presenter started to give a note.
In that program was a newscast, which belonged to the local news channel, the woman narrated that, during the early hours of that night, a meteorite had fallen on the outskirts of Salem, in the vicinity of the part of the city called "New Salem". Several images captured from mobile devices were shown, which in turn were already circulating on the web.
"Hey, isn't that near here?" Upgrade heard Draculaura ask that, but paid no attention to it. His mind was more focused on analyzing what was being shown.
A video where several police officers, both humans, and monsters, were prohibiting entry to the forest was shown. Onlookers came from all over to see what was going on, but the whole area was already cordoned off with police tape.
A spark of concern was present in Upgrade. This was beginning to have a very familiar pattern, almost like something out of an alien movie. And to his misfortune, he had been through something similar a while back.
The video switched to a live broadcast. There was a young woman with orange skin, her hair seemed to be on fire, but she did not show any problem with this.
"The mobile of our channel is already present in the area, with you our reporter, Harmony Burns." The channel anchor spoke up. "Tell us Harmony, what's going on over there?"
"As you will see." The reporter pointed behind her back. "The Salem police force is here, preventing onlookers from entering the woods, while it is not uncommon for such measures to be taken to prevent crime scenes from being distorted, it is here, the Sheriff of our city, Officer Gordon, has not given statements."
"It is a very strange event, along with this, it is added that in the national chain news channels reported that an unidentified object destroyed one of the telecommunications satellites orbiting our planet." Added the program host.
The news continued, the field reporter began interviewing those present, humans and monsters alike, all of whom to a greater or lesser extent were very confused by what was going on.
A bad feeling flashed through Upgrade's mind, and he stood up and walked to the door leading to the backyard.
The girls watched this reaction with confused expressions. What was wrong with him now?
Clawdeen turned his gaze to the TV again and could only say one thing in the face of what he saw.
"This is not good."
At the impact site, about twenty police officers, both monster and human, were working in the area. Two of them, a human woman and a human man, were looking with complicated expressions at the crater and the spacecraft inside.
It was around four-fifty in the morning, and they had been there for about two and a half hours, without understanding what the hell was going on there.
"Do you think it's some kind of top secret government ship?" asked the man, this one had the standard police attire, which consisted of blue pants and shirt and black sneakers. His face showed he was in his late thirties, his hair was black and short. "Some kind of test gone wrong and ended up here?"
"Perhaps, but this begs the question, where is the pilot?" the woman, unlike her black-haired companion, was blonde, pulling on light brown, her hair was short, rising an inch above her shoulders, she too possessed the standard police uniform as her attire.
"I heard the guys in forensics say that this thing might be a UFO." The black-haired man added, his voice showing that he was interested in the thought, but he maintained his professionalism.
"Little green dwarfs? They should stop watching so many movies." Replied the woman.
The man did not respond to that comment, he simply returned his gaze to the crater. That thing didn't look like a flying saucer, so it couldn't be a UFO, it looked more like a new kind of aircraft.
"Should we call someone else?" he asked. "Like the CIA or the FBI?"
"You should stop watching so many movies too." Was his companion's reply.
Nearby, a black and green entity moved stealthily. Upgrade's body had transformed into a shapeless viscous mass, this was one of the born abilities of the mechamorph species, it could alter the structure of its nanites, compressing or expanding them at will, allowing them to take impossible shapes at will, which, added to their high rate of nanite regeneration and replication, allowed them to merge with objects without a set size limit.
Of course, this ability had other uses, such as escaping or infiltrating through pipes, in short, the mechamorphs were techno-organic slimes capable of altering their shape at will.
Upgrade reformed behind some bushes and observed the area where the crater was. He counted the police officers on the scene and then analyzed the entire environment in detail.
His computerized mind, comparable to a high-end computer, allowed him to make a general survey of the environment, he detected the policemen who functioned as guards, they were a group of twelve, while the rest were collecting the materials and two were analyzing the ship.
This began to worry him. An established rule that all civilizations had to respect was that any civilization below level 2 could not have contact with other civilizations until they entered the "stellar" level, that is until they could actively leave their home planet.
Earth was considered a level 2 civilization, just bordering on the lower limit of this classification, and was still several decades away from obtaining the technology to go up to level 3. His Earth was already at level 3, all thanks to the fact that some authorities decided to look the other way after certain events, which was a great technological leap. But this Earth was different, they were still backward and if their knowledge told him anything, they still believed that aliens were myths.
"Come to think of it, did Roswell happen here too?" Upgrade made a mental note to research that later. He was aware that Area 51 was an illegal prison and was later transformed into a junkyard. Was it possible that reality shared the same beliefs of "They're aliens, they're bad, catch 'em and dissect 'em"? The very idea disgusted and troubled him in equal parts.
He returned his attention to what was happening in front of him. He noticed that a new group of agents arrived at the place, in front of all of them was a man, maybe in his late forties, brown hair with gray hair on the sides, a sign that age was beginning to take its toll, he had a bushy mustache and a rather annoyed expression on his face. This other group of agents was led by a human woman, quite young and with long black hair, both she and those following her were dressed in black suits.
"And there's the men in black, great." He muttered with some anger. Informally known as "Men in Black", those people in suits were in charge of clearing the area and giving a "report" that covered things up. It sounded like a conspiracy when said out loud, but they were part of the usual rules and procedures. "If they see me, I'll have a nice cell waiting for me in the Area 51."
He watched as some agents, all of them human, approached the man with the mustache and began to say something to him that he could not hear.
He ignored this and focused his attention on the ship. He needed to get to it, merge, and go hide it somewhere else, he couldn't let that technology fall into anyone's hands, first, it was something illegal, second, that truck had weapons and he was sure someone was going to kill someone if they tried to use them and lastly, Rook was going to kill him if he found out he let a group of humans take the Proto Truck.
He was ready to move forward and put his plan into action, when something took him by surprise, a sound of someone panting behind him, so he turned around.
His one eye opened in surprise to see that there were those four monster girls he knew.
"Until we caught up with you, for such a big guy with such short legs, you're pretty fast." Clawdeen commented as he wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"Girls, are those cops?" asked Frankie looking toward the impact site.
They all turned their attention to the place, then crouched down and hid next to Upgrade, who couldn't be more exasperated at the situation. What were those four doing there? He hadn't asked them to follow him!
"Great, this is just like one of those movies, now the government will show up and clean everything up and then they'll say it was a testing exercise for a new plane and cover it all up." Four gazes focused on Clawdeen, who looked at her friends and the alien with a confused expression. "What? That's what happens in the movies."
"This is not a movie!" scolded Cleo.
"Believe it or not, she's more right than she should be." Upgrade didn't miss his chance to comment, but none of them understood. He shook his head, this was no time for nonsense, he had to get them out of there, if he tried to get the ship back, that meant there would be hostility, he couldn't risk any of them getting hurt.
His gaze shifted back to the ship. It would take some time before they could remove it completely and tow it somewhere else. His plan could be postponed.
Resigned, he turned and pointed a finger in the direction in which they had all come.
"Do you want us to leave?" questioned Draculaura. He nodded. "But what about your ship?" he denied. It wasn't important, he had the capabilities to retrieve it later as long as they didn't take it too far, the important thing was to make sure they were all safe first.
"You mean we went through the whole forest for nothing?" Cleo showed her annoyance at that situation. That space monster was beginning to displease her more and more. "Great."
The four girls heeded Upgrade's request and began to walk away from the site followed by Upgrade.
Before he left long enough, a white light focused on Upgrade, who turned around. His eye met the golden eyes of a grayish furred werewolf, who looked at him in complete bewilderment.
"What the..." were the words that came out of that werewolf's mouth.
"I told you that helping that monster was a very bad idea!" shouted Cleo as they all ran through the forest. White lights could be seen behind them, all of these belonged to the police officers' flashlights.
The whole situation turned against Upgrade from one instant to the next. When that werewolf saw him, the girls were already out of sight range, leaving only him exposed, so everyone had to run to avoid being caught.
The five of them running, or in Upgradre's case, sliding like a shapeless slime across the ground.
"Shut up and run!" scolded Clawdeen.
"Isn't anyone going to point out that Upgrade knocked out a police officer!" exclaimed Frankie very concerned.
Yes, that had happened too. It was a reflex action on the part of the alien. When the werewolf blew his whistle and alerted everyone, he had rushed forward with his fist, hitting the officer in the stomach knocking him completely out of breath, and knocking him out, this gave them time to get much more distance.
In his defense, he was nervous and it was the first thing that came to his mind.
While running Draculaura caught her right foot on a root, which caused her to fall to the ground. The others noticed this and were ready to go back and help her, but the shapeless slime that was Upgrade at the time stepped forward. This one got under the girl and as if she was a wave and she was a surfer, carried her on her back.
Neither questioned that, he was helping her friend, and it was better than being caught by the police.
"Any sign of the suspect(s)?" asked a human police officer over his radio, this one had reached the edge of the woods, stopping a few meters before the white wooden fence that bounded Frankie's house. The man looked in all directions as he spoke into his short-range radio.
"Negative, fall back and regroup and keep raking the area." Replied a male voice from the radio.
"Roger." The officer took one more look around and returned to the forest, unaware that all that time he was being watched by two curious onlookers. A Frankenstein girl and an organic techno alien.
Frankie and Upgrade were slightly peeking out the kitchen door, making sure they hadn't been seen entering the house. The girl looked at the larger monster, curious at the reactions it had when faced with that situation, it was quick, was aggressive, and helped Draculaura when she stumbled, which allowed them to go faster and without worrying about the girl suffering a decline due to anemia.
"Why do I always end up being chased by the feds?" questioned Upgrade aloud, of course, Frankie didn't understand.
They both went to the living room, where Clawdeen and Cleo were checking Draculaura's ankle, the area had taken on a darker color, the girl had sprained it.
"Ouch, that hurts!" complained the vampire.
"You're a big girl, hang in there." Scolded the wolf woman, even with this, her voice sounded concerned for her best friend's wellbeing. "What do you think nurse?"
"First, I will never work for you, second, it's a kink." Cleo replied with annoyance.
Frankie and Upgrade entered the place, which caught the attention of the three girls.
"We're safe." Frankie said, as soon as she finished saying that, she let out a deep sigh of relief and she wasn't the only one, all the others did. "How is Draculaura?"
"It's okay, it's nothing serious." Cleo replied, she had some knowledge about those kinds of injuries, after all, she was part of a cheerleading squad, mistakes always brought bumps, bruises, or sprains. "A bandage, some ointment and they should be fine in a few days, vampires are tough after all."
At these words, Draculaura was quite proud.
"I'll go get the first aid." Upgrade gestured towards the stairs as he walked. Neither understood him and watching him move only confused them more.
"What do you think he's doing?" asked Clawdeen.
Seeing the alien start to climb the stairs, Frankie became nervous and went after him.
She followed him several steps behind, careful not to interfere. When they both reached the top floor, he began walking down the hallway that led them from the stairs and ended at a single window. There were three doors in the place, two were facing each other, and the last one was at the end of the hallway. Upgrade made his way to the latter, guided by how the rooms were usually arranged.
Frankie watched this curiously, she couldn't help but wonder what he was doing or why he was heading for the bathroom. Until she saw him enter it and then leave carrying a white box with a red cross on it.
"Ouchy..."
"Sorry." Upgrade said as he bandaged Draculaura's injured foot, all before the watchful eyes of the latter's friends.
"How does he know what to do?" questioned Clawdeen in a whisper, Frankie shrugged, she hadn't the slightest idea.
When the alien finished his work, he turned away from the girl and went to sit in front of the television, which was still on, and continued to show the news. In the upper corner, there was a clock in white numbers, which indicated that it was almost six o'clock in the morning.
"Almost six am... I wonder if..." Upgrade took control once again and changed the channel. The girls, though still surprised at this knowledge, let it be, they were more focused on their friend.
Clawdeen sat down next to Draculaura and looked at her worriedly. She was aware that her friend possessed certain symptoms of anemia, all this due to her being a vegetarian vampire, iron insufficiency from not consuming blood always took its toll on the girl, causing her dizziness and fainting spells. Both knew each other since Clawdeen was a child, she practically grew up with Draculaura, she was her closest friend and her greatest confidant, she could not help but feel very worried that she was hurt.
Cleo was also worried, although she knew how to hide it. She never showed it, but she worried about her friends, it was the most important thing she possessed, but because her father constantly pointed out to her that she had to demonstrate the superiority of her family, all because millennia ago they were members of a pharaonic lineage. To her it was nonsense, but she dared not go against her father.
She looked out of the corner of her eye in Upgrade's direction, the alien had its back to them and was focused on the TV screen. Cleo couldn't help but feel confused when she recognized what that space monster was looking at.
"That's Tom&Jerry?" asked Draculaura in surprise.
"What?" questioned Frankie, Clawdeen was about to answer her, but interrupted her, "Pop culture, I get it, stop repeating it to me."
The wolf woman let out a chuckle at that but then focused her attention on the alien. This one had opted for a rather peculiar posture, almost like a small child enjoying Sunday morning cartoons. He had crossed his legs, his elbows were resting on them and both hands were under his chin, serving as a support for his head.
They were all perplexed, he really was very interested in that cartoon and the pose he adopted was undoubtedly a very common one among children.
"Are you sure he's not a space baby?" asked Clawdeen. The alien ignored that comment and continued to look at the cartoons.
Frankie was about to add something, but the sound of keys and the subsequent sound of the front door opening alerted her. And not just her. Her friends also tensed and looked over at Upgrade, who was too focused to bother paying attention.
"Frankie, we're back." A soft, delicate, feminine voice was heard, followed by two pairs of footsteps, one was delicate and sounded like it had heels on, and the other was firmer and heavier.
The girl moved quickly and went to the entrance. Before entering Living there was a small hallway, which divided the place into several parts, so the first three steps on both sides there were walls that obstructed the peripheral view. Frankie stopped in front of the living room entrance and with a nervous smile looked at her parents.
"Mom, Dad! Wh-what are you doing here?" her bolts released several sparks, a clear sign that she was nervous.
"We live here." Replied her father as he hung by the coat rack his coat. Frankie's father was a huge and scary man, his voice was deep and masculine, but he had a personality that contrasted a lot, he was a kind and friendly man, but he could also be quite strict in many things, like any other father. His overall appearance was very reminiscent of a certain movie actor who played a certain robot from the future who wished to kill John Connors. Deep blue eyes adorned his face, his black hair was short and bank-colored on the sides, whether it was gray or just his natural color was not easy to tell. Like his daughter, he possessed two studs on the lower half of his neck, these were clashing slightly with the lapel of his attire.
His clothing consisted of formal attire, an oversized white shirt with dress pants, and black shoes.
Her mother on the other hand was quite the opposite in appearance. She was a beautiful woman, the kind of woman you would expect to find in a modeling magazine and not stop admiring for hours, long black hair with white highlights flowed down her back like a waterfall, her body had the perfect proportions and along with her long legs and height, she had a beauty that could not be hidden. Her face was identical to Frankie's, only she looked older, not much older, if one were not careful one would mistake them for the same person, only she had bright green eyes, unlike her daughter. Like her husband and daughter, she also had bolts in her neck.
The woman's attire was an elegant violet dress, accompanied by a small jacket that she was taking off and handed to her husband to put on the coat rack.
"How was your girls' night?" the woman asked, her soft voice at odds with her height of almost one meter and ninety centimeters tall, this left a rather contradictory impression.
"It was good! Everything was perfect!" the sound of some things moving and the unintelligible whispers of Frankie's friends were heard, which caught the attention of the adults.
"What's going on over there?" questioned her father. Both adults noticed that their daughter's expression was becoming more nervous and her bolts were releasing more and more sparks.
"Hey! Stop that! No! No! No!" Cleo's voice came through clearly, along with what sounded like a cybernetic screech.
Frankie's nervous smile only got bigger and bigger, in contrast, her parents' expression became more serious.
"Frankie, what did you do?" the woman questioned.
"W-well..." Frankie was in a bind, she had no idea what to say or how to explain what was really going on.
Without waiting for an answer from their daughter, both adults moved forward, their expressions were serious and they were already psyching themselves up to punish their daughter, again, in case, she had created another monster.
Arriving at the Living Room, they both stopped, the whole place was as they had left it when they left. Clawdeen was on the floor, sitting next to Draculaura, both were playing cards.
"You have a two?" asked Draculaura in confusion.
"We're playing poker." Clawdeen corrected.
Then there was Cleo. The girl was lying down by the biggest sofa, her whole body was stretched out across the entire area and she was holding her ICoffin in her hands, it looked the same as always, only it had a black casing and green lines that seemed to glow. They couldn't see what she was doing, but she was very focused.
Finally, the television was showing cartoons and there was nothing out of the ordinary.
Frankie peeked behind her parents, fearful that Upgrade had been discovered, but to her surprise, he was nowhere to be seen and everything looked normal.
Finally, the girls noticed the presence of both adults and greeted them.
"Hello Mrs. Stein." Clawdeen greeted. "Mr. S."
"Hello Viveka, hello Viktor!" greeted the vampire excitedly, then returned her gaze to the cards. "Uno!"
"It's not that game either Draculaura."
"Oh..."
"Good morning Miss and Mr. Stein." Unlike her friends, Cleo was more formal, but as soon as she said that she returned her gaze to her phone.
Both adults and their daughter were confused, they were sure they heard there was trouble, but apparently, it was nothing.
"Black Jack!"
"It's not that one either."
"You're cheating!"
Finally, both adult monsters decided to downplay that and focused on their daughter, who was wearing an expression of utter confusion.
"We'll go change and fix you some breakfast." Said her mother. Viveka. "In the meantime, you can stay with your friends."
"Thanks mom." She replied.
The adult couple retreated up the stairs and when Frankie was sure they were no longer nearby, she sped off to her friends. Almost at the same time, we're able to let out a sigh of relief.
"Get out of my ICoffin!" growled Cleo as she waved her belongings, Upgrade's eye was on the screen and it was bouncing back and forth.
"I think I'm going to throw up..." said the alien in his language.
XXX
Howdy folks, another chapter of version 2 is ready and served! This time encompassing chapter 3 and part of chapter 4.
Now I will give you context to many things that are going on, because, as I said, I am using several different canons, merged into one.
A quick warning. Keep in mind that many supporting characters (not part of the main cast) will be parodies of recognizable characters from sci-fi movies, horror movies, or anything to do with Aliens. It's a little game I wanted to keep. In the previous version, they were references, here, apart from references, there will be parodies. Catch them all if you can.
Let's go with something I came across while researching the Mechamorphs, apparently, their average intelligence is equal to that of the Galvans, but I decided to just focus on the mechanics. Upgrade is a mechanical genius and has a great intellect, which also explains their ability to improve anything. Aside from that, they can "scan" technology to know what to upgrade and in what form they should upgrade it (Also, when they come of age they get a software "Upgrade" and it allows them to take whatever form they want without the need to merge to machines). It is quite an interesting detail and gives them more personality to the Mechamorphs beyond being simple "slimes that improve technology by touching it" and that girls find their form beautiful is because the Mechamorphs are considered one of the most beautiful species in the galaxy, they are also very exotic, apart from being extremely kind and very peaceful.
Something that I added to the previous version, besides the fact that Ben tried to call home without results and that he thought carefully about his situation before arriving at the answer, is that each girl receives a little more lore. Something that was left pending in the previous version. Cleo for example, although she looks like a bitch, has quite a sad background and that made her distrustful of everyone, she loves those close to her very much, and Upgrade being an unknown entity, represents a potential danger. I could say the same for Clawdeen and Draculaura, the two have known each other since Clawdeen was a child, and it caused me to laugh that they had those interactions with each other. In fact, much of what I wrote is information I pulled from the journals or comics. For example, Draculaura does have anemia and iron deficiency from not eating blood or meats, so she often has fainting spells and must take iron pills and supplements.
Every little thing I'm writing about them either came straight out of the character's diary-biography-book or is a reinterpretation of the same thing. Nice huh? Each one is different in its own way with its pros and cons. It's the same with Ben, by the way.
About how Upgrade sees Frankie, well, Ben is a hormonal teenager and I wanted to elaborate a bit on that. Besides, in the book, they describe her like that and... I don't know if this was a translation mistake or something, but they describe her with "a muscular body", now I can't stop imagining her as if she was a JoJo. And speaking about descriptions, it's the same with the descriptions of Viktor and Viveka. In the book they are shown as adult monsters, Viktor standing six feet tall and Viveka standing over six feet tall. Both are described as "beautiful and eye-catching" and if that wasn't clear, I was referring to Arnold Schwarzenegger. Don't look at me, I just went by those descriptions and I can say they looked good. And yes, also with the "you would stare at her for hours" part, apparently Viveka is very beautiful. Thinking about it... it makes a lot of sense since they are beings created to be "Perfect", either that or Doc Frankenstein had some kind of fetish.
Leaving that aside, I also added the part of Upgrade returning to the impact site and discovering that the whole area is under police surveillance, at first my idea was to put more government stuff and the men in black (The parody of these, rather), but I'll do that a little later when Upgrade recovered the truck, well, the remains of the truck. Does anyone else besides me like Transformers? Bumblebee is great.
And as I said, I added more interactions between all of them and Upgrade. Accompanied of course by a silly sense of humor like that of both series, but without losing the sense or at least I think so and I think it also serves to let people know what kind of things should be expected from this story.
I don't think I have anything else to point out... Maybe that Draculaura says they are in Salem and that part of town is called "New Salem", I think this is easier to write, besides, it allows me to use real locations and I won't have to break my head thinking of puns with monster stuff. I'm a genius, I know, I know, I know, thank you, I teach on Thursdays and I don't charge much.
Something else... hmmm... Oh, right, I've been reading too many light novels lately so my writing form will be affected by this, I'm sure.
I think that's all. If you have doubts regarding anything, feel free to leave a comment and I'll eventually explain it. And to the guys who commented on the previous chapter, hey, you're great. And relax, this story will keep the same line as the previous story, I'll just place it better in time.
If you want to already have a location of exactly when this is happening... Well, we are in the week before classes end and during the week (which I won't show, but there will be nods to this) these web series chapters will occur: Fear Pressure, Fear the Book, Desperate Hour, and Miss Infearmation.
Everything will happen in a span between chapters three and four and will cover Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Friday? We all know what's going to happen that day. I will say no more.
Following this will be the two weeks of summer vacation which in the web series encompasses the episodes: Hyde & Shriek and Nefera Again. The episode Daydream of the Dead I take as something that happened some time ago as there are many incongruities in that episode.
By the way, this is supposed to be summer break and Friday is senior year graduation. I made a mistake writing 2 weeks and it was actually 2 months. According to the calendar, those vacations span from June 18 to August 31, but in the series, very little time passes, or at least, they do not show everything that the girls do during their vacations so let's pretend that I wrote 2 months and not that I'm a clueless idiot. Well. What do I plan to happen in those vacation months? Well. Simply put, have you ever tried putting Mentos or milk in a bottle with Coke? Ben is those Mentos and the world is Coke, by the way, do not worry, these 2 months pass in 1 chapter, I am not going to extend the plot so long, it will also serve to familiarize Ben with the environment
Everything will happen in a span of... 3 chapters at the most and finally Ben will be back to his old self. Three whole weeks told in about six or seven chapters, much longer than the previous version and with far fewer chapters. I think it's a good trade-off and will also allow Ben to relate to the girls and Frankie's parents in a better way.
By the way, the Upgrade reveal to Frankie's parents will be different and I have some things planned for this.
Does anyone else like Muscles cars, or is it just me who's a fan of those cars? Again, Bumblebee rules.
