Hey everybody! Looks like we've got another chapter up and ready! Hopefully you all enjoy this. There's going to be one more chapter of this little confrontation after this since I decided that what I had planned wouldn't be satisfying if some more things weren't put in place. Either way, big things are happening now and I hope you all enjoy it!

Also, if any of you have questions about this story, you can feel free to send them to me on my Tumblr. I usually only post updates of the chapters there, but I wouldn't mind doing other stuff that involved answering your curiousity.

Link's here: blog/the-helpless-lemon

I'll see you all at the end!

"This is insane." Double D rocked back and forth on his bed as Ed set up shop on a couch. "This honestly can't be happening."

"Kinda too late to deny everything now, Sockhead. This is happening." Eddy shrugged, though he definitely understood his friend's panic. He had to take off the suit so his magic didn't cause anything to explode since they got the news. "Ed, are you sure that wasn't Bloodgood? Maybe she was having an off day."

"If I'm wrong, then she's really out of it." Ed shrugged, plopping down on the couch with a huff. "She got the answer so wrong. There's no way that's her."

"Great." Eddy flopped onto his own bed, the panic setting in slowly. This wasn't going to be easy. "This is probably going to be the only time I suggest this, but should we go to some magic cops to help sort this out."

"We don't have any solid evidence. We only have the words of some students and Badwolf only implying he was being blackmailed isn't enough." Double D continued rocking back and forth, not looking up. "Unless we get a recorded confession or something proving Hellscream's intentions, the only thing we'd accomplish is getting attention to ourselves."

"That and he probably already knows about us from Fake Bloodgood. She has access to our files and probably told him about our questions." Ed adjusted himself so he could look at his friends. "…Are we in trouble here?"

"Probably." Double D let out a deep breath, grabbing a pillow as a way to anchor himself. "I do believe Bloodgood is fine, though. They probably trapped her somewhere so she could take the fall."

"Oh." Ed deflated, staring at the floor this time. "That's good to know."

"…screw this." Eddy growled, jumping up. He grabbed his notebook filled with his notes on magic, flipping through it. "This scam ain't ending yet."

"What are you talking about Eddy?" Ed sat back up, questions clear on his face. "You have an idea?"

"Yes, no, maybe? I don't know." Eddy shut the book before grabbing another one. Schematics were pored over before closing them again. "This is just stupid. Who does this guy think he is, trying to destroy our work here? This is the best scam we've pulled off yet and some hunter isn't ruining that."

"I'd say that there's plenty of lives at stake because of him too. Some of them including our friends." Double D was able to stop rocking to look at his friend in confusion. "If you're thinking about trying to stop him, Eddy, I wouldn't go forward with that. We don't exactly know what he's got planned."

"Yeah, yeah, I don't want to either. It's definitely above our paygrade." Eddy waved off the concerns haphazardly. He didn't want to either, but he wasn't one to admit defeat. "But I don't want to go on the streets again. This has been a nice gig so far, but if they investigate Bloodgood, they'll find us too."

"I really don't want to leave here too. Or have my memories erased." Ed got up too, moving to grab some of his notebooks. He didn't have any idea what Eddy was doing, but he'd jump on it. "There's a lot of cool people here!"

"Alright, stop for a second here." Double D got up, grabbing his friends before they could do anything rash. He shook them to get the point across. "If what I'm assuming is true, then you're planning on fighting two grown adults with unknown magic and technology at their side. We haven't fought anything other than the Evil Queens familiar and that was a good while ago."

"So? We know at least one of them is human." Eddy shrugged off Double D's hand, frowning. "It's Fake Bloodgood we need to worry about. We don't actually know what she is or what she can do."

"Come on, Double D. This is our call to action!" Ed grabbed the hatted boy by the shoulders, shaking him too. "We could be hero's! Y'know, like the people in comic books."

Double D opened his mouth to argue further that this plan wasn't only dangerous, but almost borderline suicidal. It wasn't like they were built for fighting, especially now. Besides, the adults were supposed to be taking care of this, not them.

But then he got a good look at Ed's pleading face and Eddy's frustrated scowl as he pored over notes. Adults failing them was what brought them here in the first place.

He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Okay, fine. But we're not going into this halfcocked." Double D didn't even need his blueprints to figure out what he wanted to make next. "If we get to work now, I suspect we'd be able to make one project from each of our notebooks into reality before getting a couple hours of sleep. We need to determine how to take down Fake Bloodgood and Hellscream with as little collateral damage as possible."

"We can get the girls to help with that! Maybe they can even find the real Bloodgood." Ed pulled out his iCoffin, already typing things up. It'd been quiet after the news about the Fake Bloodgood had been put out there. "The Catacombs would be a good place to hide someone, right? That isn't weird to know, right?"

"Tell Queenie to get the fearleaders and maybe Gory and Romulus to evacuate the school somehow. A fake party maybe?" Eddy shrugged, closing his notebook. He already knew what he wanted made tonight. "You sure we should only make one thing? We might need more depending on Fake Bloodgood's power set."

"I think we'll be fine. We do need be well rested if we're doing this." Double D went to the door of the room, opening it before they could argue. "Let's get started now. I want to be prepared for this."

"Aye aye, Double D."

"Hell yeah, let's do this!"

Double D really wished he hadn't agreed to this. He could already feel the dread building up in his gut.

Victor Van Hellscream felt very odd this morning and he didn't rightfully know why.

The man would readily admit to others that he had good instincts and he tended to follow them. His gut was usually the reason why he got out of admittedly tight spots, such as time he almost got caught by a witch's coven in New York and a den of vampires in New Mexico.

He wasn't sure why, but his gut was telling him that something was going to happen today, but not exactly what.

Hellscream went over the profiles of the students that had been asking questions to Ms. Crabgrass yesterday. He figured that must be the source of it, especially since he couldn't find anything on one of them outside of this.

This thought process was bowled over when a knock on his door threw him off completely. Hellscream put as many of the files away before putting on his 'counselor' smile. "Come on in."

Much to his simultaneous delight and suspicion, it was the boy from yesterday. He was pretty sure his name was Ed or something else horribly simple.

"Mr. Hellscream?" Ed put his head through the door first, checking to see if it was empty. When it was found to be deserted, he smiled and walked on in. "Sorry to come in without setting up anything. I just wanted to talk to you about some stuff."

"Well, that's what I'm here for." Hellscream smiled warmly, thanking whatever was looking down on him for presenting such an opportunity. "I was hoping you'd come in. I was wondering how this whole situation was affecting you."

"Oh, good. I was hoping you'd know what I was talking about." Ed seemed appreciative of the talking point. Guess he was really worried about this. "I've been pretty stressed over it since I got back from the cheer camp. One of my friends actually almost got attacked for dating a vampire."

Ah, yes, he'd heard about that. Dracula's daughter went here, and she decided to date a werewolf of all things. He'd found it almost ironic. Hellscream only nodded at the information. "I did hear about some incidents occurring. Did this happen at the movie theatre in town?"

"Yeah, actually." Ed rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed. "I think I scared Bram a little too much. He's been avoiding me since then and I kinda feel bad for doing it. Even if he was going to interrupt their date like that."

"Well, it wasn't like he was being peaceful about his intentions." Hellscream was starting to tire of this conversation. He needed to get some information out of the boy and fast. "I was just wondering about some other stuff related to that. You were asking Headmistress Bloodgood about-"

The sound system screeched before he could finish. The voice came out tinny, but it was obvious who it was.

"Mr. Van Hellscream, can you please come to my office?" The voice of Bloodgood was unmistakable, even if it sounded a bit dead. "Mr. Van Hellscream, can you please come to my office?"

The man's face screwed up in annoyance and confusion. "What in the world is she calling me for?"

"Probably something important if she wants you right now. Maybe another fight started?" Ed shrugged, looking at the speaker nervously. "I really hope not. We've had enough fighting the past couple of days."

"I'll go check it out." Hellscream got up quickly, moving to the door. "Stay here if you like. I'd still like to talk about a few things."

"I will!" Ed doubted Hellscream even heard him as the door shut roughly behind the guy. He got up immediately afterward, rubbing his hands together as he got behind the desk. "I definitely will."

Ed thanked the fact that he got the simpler part of the plan. The main thing he had to do was to distract Hellscream long enough so getting to Fake Bloodgood would be easier, while also trying to find any clues to the real Bloodgood's whereabouts.

Any other evidence he found proving Hellscream was at fault was basically an optional objective, but he always did those in video games. That's how you get the good endings!

He started pulling out random drawers brazenly, not knowing how long the man would be gone from view. He tried to find anything that would help this investigation, anything that would put Hellscream behind bars.

If this didn't work, he could get expelled. Ed got bad endings in video games before and he was pretty sure that was a bad ending.

Ed found a folder simply labeled "Badwolf" on it, along with some loose files in it. He didn't bother opening it, putting it on the table so he could respect the man's privacy. They might have to burn that later just in case too.

Another drawer showed several files that came from Ever After High, which he immediately pocketed. The boy recognized a few names, making him feel sick. Going over them briefly, he noted that some of them were notedly big names in the Royal/Rebel conflict. The sick feeling increased.

The real prize came up in drawer number three. When Ed opened it up, the singular item within banged against the sides, causing him to freeze where he stood, as if expecting Hellscream to come back in.

Nothing happened for a few seconds, causing Ed to sigh in relief. He delicately picked up the small box, making sure the lid stayed on. He brought it close to his face, checking it out slowly before reading the label.

"Powdered Gorgon Tears?" Ed turned the box every which way with a curious expression. "Weird. Cool, but weird."

Ed mentally went through the list of Monster he knew, discounting everything he figured out wasn't real. Gorgon's were known for turning people to stone, especially if they happened to look them in the eyes. That's why Deuce wore the sunglasses, mostly as a way to protect everyone from turning into statues.

And if gorgon tears had that same effect as looking them in the eyes…

Ed was ripped away from that though process as he heard footsteps moving back toward the office. He took his iCoffin out, desperately pressing apps and pulling up Raven as a contact. When she picked up, he held the box of Powdered Gorgon Tears up to the phone, a bright light transporting it away. Hopefully, the girls would know what to do with it.

Before the door could open, Ed moved to sit in Hellscream's, throwing the file with Badwolf's name on it to the desk. He stretched, leaning back into the seat, and putting his feet onto the desk. His hands moved behind his head.

"Show time." Ed muttered to himself.

Today was going to be hell. But it'd hopefully be worth it when it's over.

Apple would deny that she was tapping her feet onto the floor impatiently, but that was what she was doing. This wasn't exactly something she planned on doing today, much less any other day, so she had right to be nervous.

She felt an immense amount of relief when she saw Cleo walk up and out of the school, followed closely by Romulus and Gory.

"Thank goodness." She moved to meet them in the middle, taking a look behind them to check if they were being followed. "How's everything going inside? Is everyone leaving?"

"They should be. Everyone one of the fearleaders are contacting every clique and currently getting them out of the school with some excuse or another." Cleo jerked her head at the two following behind. "And these two have their own working to get it all done smoothly."

"I'm getting most of the old Crescent Moon High crew out of there claiming we're patching things up with the Belfry prep. Not sure how much they believe it." Romulus rubbed the back of his neck, looking at the doors with trepidation. "Now, I'd certainly appreciate being told why you want us to evacuate school."

"Does it have something to do with Hellscream? You talked an awful lot about him yesterday." Gory was ignoring her iCoffin to avoid the confused texts she was getting from her own friends. She'd need an Aspirin after this for sure. "If so, why isn't he being apprehended yet? And why does the school have to be cleared?"

"Collateral damage isn't exactly okay unless it's property, Fangtell." Cleo checked the messages from the fearleaders, counting things up in her head. "This should be done fairly quickly. I don't suspect anyone actually wants to be in school today."

"Other than Ghoulia." Apple still felt her stomach turn at the thought of what was going to happen next. "I made sure to call the guards before this and they should be here soon. Monster High maybe Monster territory, but they'll listen to someone from my family."

"Okay, is the entire school going to be seized or something?" Romulus really didn't like how they were being left out of the loop here. "I don't want to assume anything, but…"

"I've been around long enough to know something isn't going right and I'm frankly ready to run if needed." Gory was really getting agitated too. "Is there something we need to worry about?"

"As long as people are out of here, nothing. Except maybe the school itself depending on some things." Apple tried to run over that with her words. She could tell that it didn't satisfy them at all, so she just continued. "You were able to get some guards from your father to join you, right?"

"He didn't like that I had to do it short notice, but yes." She motioned for some of the Anubis guards to get into position. It was rare she was allowed to use them, but at least this would make them count. "At least if I get some notoriety from this, he might let me use them more. If this goes well."

"I'm sure it will. Just as long as everyone does their part." Apple sighed, grabbing a handkerchief to wipe away any sweat. She honestly felt like they were going to war here, and she wasn't exactly happy about it. "Is there anything you'd like to say before this starts? Especially if this doesn't exactly go as planned?"

"…I should've kicked my sister off the throne as soon as I could?" Cleo shrugged. "I am concerned about all of this, but I am immortal. If this doesn't end great, I can shrug this off within fifty years or so. You do remember that, right?"

"Ah, true. Not much can really hurt you." Apple leaned back and forth, rocking where she stood. "Though, seriously. Anything you want to actually say?"

"Only that this better work. I'm not putting my trust in Eddy lightly here." The mummy looked around as she noted more people were leaving the school. None of them were close enough to eavesdrop on their conversation. "I suppose I am glad that things smoothed over between Clawdeen and I before this. I don't think anyone will actually get hurt, but I suppose I can admit that."

"And I'm glad that we were able to actually help things along here today. Hopefully, we can continue making progress in the future." Apple felt a little more assured at the admittance. At least she knew something about that. "You know, Briar did suggest doing this banned party. I'm thinking it would be a good idea to maybe hold it here."

"If this works, I'll pull some strings." At least there was something to look forward too after this. "May I ask what this party is about?"

"True Hearts Day. I hear it's a great party for couples or people looking to date." Apple sighed. "It'll be a nice way to forget about all of this after it's over."

"That it will. That it will." Cleo looked beyond the blonde, noting the arrival of several soldiers on the horizon. They marched with impunity, though she could see many of them looking around, as if expecting a trap. "Looks like the calvary's here. Time to get to work."

"Good luck." Apple turned and headed straight for the soldiers. Some of them were already stopping, having noticed her in the distance. "We're going to need as much as we can."

They certainly weren't wrong about that.

If anyone had been present within depths of the Catacombs, they would've heard plenty of footsteps, along with the slamming of doors. Thankfully, due to the rush of the school being evacuated, there was no one to hear it.

Something Ghoulia was particularly happy for.

"Make sure to check every room thoroughly. Just because they might look empty doesn't mean they actually are." Ghoulia checked over what they already looked for in the Catacombs. It was only a fraction, but it was a start. "You hear anything yet, Clawdeen? Sounds of distress maybe?"

"Nothing so far. I'm pretty sure if she's tied up, she would've called out by now." The werewolf looked inside another room before growling and slamming the door. "Dammit. Maddie, Cerise, you got anything for us?"

"Nada." Cerise moved carefully across some of the more dangerous walkways, expertly checking each crevice or bunker before moving on. "I haven't seen Bloodgood anywhere. Maybe they separated her body from her head."

"No, if they wanted to frame her after this, they'd want to make sure it's quick." Raven really hoped that theory wasn't true, otherwise they'd be here for a lot longer. This place really did give her the creeps. "Mom always that you need to keep the person you're framing close, so it'll be a lot harder for people to find out who actually did it."

"Your mom really should've said something else." Maddie, as casual as you can be, moved from pillar to pillar nearby, keeping a bird's eye view of the place. "Though, maybe we should really start checking shelves or other places where her head could be. Just in case."

The group shuddered at the thought. If they did really separate the body and head, then this would be a lot harder than they thought. It drove everyone into a tense silence that many of them didn't really want to break.

Raven was the one break it first, though. She nudged Ghoulia with an elbow, subtly pointing at their hooded friend.

"Do you think Cerise has been acting weird. I mean, other than because of all of this." The sorceress said quietly, waving her hand around to encompass the situation. "She's been pretty tense after the Badwolf thing and she's been pretty worried."

"She did say that Badwolf is technically a friend of the family. She might look up to him, despite being a storybook villain." Ghoulia talked quietly too, though her eyes stayed onto her computer. "Besides, his entire schtick does revolve around being big and bad. Seeing him in trouble would be a rattling experience."

"I can hear you guys." Cerise shouted back at them, annoyed. She mumbled something under breath before following it up. "It's not that complicated. Anything that can shake up the Big Bad Wolf isn't exactly something to be messed with."

"I'm still ticked that the Ed's made us do search and rescue while they get to take them down. I guess they got the hardware for it, but I'd like my own shot at them." Clawdeen may have sounded peeved at the notion, but it did give way to worry. "And they'd have some backup. You hear anything from them yet?"

"Double D and Eddy are about to do their part of the plan. Ed should be messing around in the counselor's office by now." Maddie grabbed a vine, swinging over to the others. "If he finds anything important, he said he'll call-"

As if on cue, a loud ringing coming from Raven's pocket interrupted them. The sorceress grabbed her phone as fast she could, pulling it out and facing the screen up. A hand alight with magic, she reached towards the screen, grabbing onto something before pulling it out.

Raven turned it over carefully before raising an eyebrow. "A box?"

"Hand it over." Ghoulia was promptly given the item before looking over it with care. She straightened up as she read the label. "Powdered Gorgon Tears! I can't believe it, that actually makes sense!"

"What makes sense?" Cerise was happy to see the zombie excitedly doing something on her laptop as it meant it was a lead, but she didn't necessarily know what she found. "Did Ed find something worthwhile?"

"Wait, I think I actually get it." Clawdeen raised her hands. Her eyes were wide as she the line of logic came together. "We were thinking that Hellscream and Fake Bloodgood knocked Bloodgood out, but that was wrong. She would've woken up and somebody would've found her by now."

"But if Gorgon Tears can turn people to stone like gorgons can…" Maddie gasped. "We're looking for a statue! They must've petrified her and put her in the Catacombs to hide it!"

"And since statues made by gorgons have a different makeup to regular stone…" Ghoulia finished up the last of her calculations before grabbing something out of her pocket. She attached a wire to three disks, downloading something onto them before handing them off to their main searchers. "Put these on. These should be able to detect any magically created stone within a certain radius, making this much easier. When it detects something, it'll start beeping until you find it."

"Roger that. We'll split up to make up for lost time." Cerise pulled out her own MirrorPhone, pulling up a map of the Catacombs. "Call if you find Bloodgood's statue. How do we reverse the petrification when we find her?"

"Applying the powder on the statue should help get her back on track." Clawdeen ran down another hallway, not making any stops this time to check anything. "Cerise goes low, Maddie goes high, and I'll head down the middle!"

"Sounds good to me!" Maddie ran ahead to some stairs, climbing up them with ease. "This shouldn't take long!"

"We'll check out the places we've already been, just in case!" Raven shouted at their retreating backs. She didn't receive any affirmative, but she figured that they heard her. "Alright, let's go save a principal. Didn't think I'd be doing that this year."

"Not like we could've prepared for it." Ghoulia laughed mournfully, moving behind the gothic girl with a chuckled. "No one could."

Crabgrass didn't exactly know what someone was pulling here, but she was certainly ready to law down some punishment for it. Seriously, she was in the middle of a meeting.

She made sure to dress herself up in full Bloodgood garb before heading to the office, intent on catching someone in the act. She was already playing as the headmistress herself, there didn't need to be any more imitators right now.

Rounding a corner of the hallway, Crabgrass immediately stopped as she noted somebody was standing outside the headmistress's office. She was wondering if they were either too stupid or too cocky to run when she noted exactly who it was.

Eddward, otherwise known as "Double D," calmly checked his watch before noticing her. "Ah, Ms. Bloodgood! I was hoping to talk to you."

"It's good to see you here, Eddward." She kept her tone even, though something in Crabgrass's mind was telling her to be alarmed. This was one of the kids Hellscream had told her to avoid. "You wouldn't have happened to see anyone come out of my office, have you?"

"Ah, sorry, the only other person here was me." Double D smiled, rubbing the back of his neck. He seemed to think of something, raising a finger. "Oh, Eddy's been out here too!"

Crabgrass would've asked who that was. She also would've asked why he was standing out here so long and didn't decide to just leave a message.

However, those questions died on her lips as a crackle of electricity suddenly went around the walls of the room. With everything it touched, the stone around it began to shift and started closing off doors leading into the offices and classrooms, only leaving the hallways open.

Crabgrass almost lost control right there while Double D still smiled. He gave a quirked eyebrow to something behind her.

"Couldn't do that without showing off, could you?" The hatted boy rolled his eyes, leaning casually against some lockers. "Though, I do have to say, the ring is pretty impressive. I was doubtful about the school you chose, but I can't say it isn't effective."

"I'm full of great idea, Sockhead. You just don't take the time to listen." Crabgrass turned around to face the smirking face of Eddy, who flared his magic up as he flipped a quartering his grasp. "Besides, Transmutation is a pretty awesome school when you mess around with it. Just wish I had more materials."

"What is the meaning of this?" Crabgrass did her best to put on a tough voice, though the surprise of this threw it off, made it useless. "Boys, I want an explanation now."

"You want the long one, or the short one?" At the glare, Eddy cackled a little, moving to stand in her direct line of sight. "We know you're not Bloodgood. You're a pretty terrible actor for someone that can apparently shapeshift."

"Not to mention that you're colluding with what we believe is a monster hunter." Double D still sounded formal, though it was less out of politeness and more out to cause unease. He got up from his position, copying Eddy. "We'd suggest that you turn yourself in to the authorities. They're on their way and we've made sure to empty the school, so no one can be hurt for this."

This was not part of the plan. This was so far away from the plan that Crabgrass was sure it had fled several states away by now. But it's not like these kids had actual proof. Maybe she could fool them before they did something stupid.

"Look, boys, I don't know what's gotten into you," Crabgrass did her best to look put off and scared, anything to trigger a guilt response. "But whatever you think Hellscream and I are involved in, you're mistaken. I wouldn't do anything that would actively hurt Monster kind."

"Then how did you know we were talking about Hellscream?" Double D tilted his head, eyes narrowing. Crabgrass twitched, realizing her error. "We certainly didn't say that. Pretty strange that you could immediately guess who we're talking about."

"Like I said, really horrible at lying." Eddy chuckled, though it came out darker than last time. His stance changed, as if he were getting ready. For what, she didn't know. "Why are you doing this? Seems like a lot of work for something that's going against your own kind."

Crabgrass stilled, hangs gripping the clipboard. Her eyes deviated from one boy to the other before taking in a deep breath and letting it out.

"Because you were trying to branch out towards the Legends. I can't have that happen." Crabgrass felt her form shift, her bile rising and twisting in her gut. "Legends are backstabbers that only want their own happy endings. And you want to reach out to them again and change that."

Crabgrass smiled cruelly, the look alien on Bloodgood's face. Especially in how wide and cruel and looked.

"They only view us as tools for their own stories, you know. Even the ones with the smallest parts have bigger egos, thinking it's all about them. That their stories are the only thing in the universe that matters." The Monster shifted, a part of her real face showing. The potion was wearing down due to her instability. "I'm not willing to play a part for some prissy princess in a dress can get all the glory. So I helped him. And I'm sorry to say this, but I'm not going with you."

The two Eds sighed. They figured that would be the case. At least they were proven right.

"Well, I got that on tape." Eddy put his hand in his pocket, turning the recording function off. "Doesn't look like she'll go in easy. Want to do this the hard way Sockhead?"

"Yeah," Double D didn't look happy about this, but the metal arms on his back started drawing themselves out. They opened up, arcs of electricity going through them. He'd perfected the taser function that night. "Let's do this the hard way."

And with a crackle of magic, fizzing electricity, and the ripples of a useless disguise, the final phase of the plan went into action.

Sorry to end this on a cliffhanger, but like I said in the beginning, the stuff I have planned can't be condense into one chapter. At least the next one will be action packed and keep you all on your toes.

I would've liked to have ended this a bit better, but I think I did a good job otherwise. Hopefully you're all okay with. Again, if you want to ask me questions I can answer, either message me here or on my Tumblr. Links in the top notes.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy and I'll see you all next chapter!