

Copyright © 2016 by Celeste Irizarry

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval systems, without the expressed written consent from the publisher.

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to Permissions: DreamcatchersPublishing@gmail.com

Dreamcatchers Publishing

North Carolina

The Misadventures

of a Young Dark

Magician

By: Celeste Irizarry

Illustrations: Sarah McLaughlin

Episode 1

"Somewhere, in a dimension far off into space, lies a planet, a pathetic one that they call 'Earth.' On Earth, there are square shaped buildings with soft looking beings called humans. They walk, talk, prosper, and live their daily, annoying, and mostly dull lives. However, way below the very lands they walk upon, comes a place that no human ever knows: The Monster World.

"Here in The Monster World, there stood an Academy, called Streterra, where non-humans would go to study and train. There was a purpose in studying and learning all kinds of magic. Students there thrived on being a master level in their class of whichever subjects they've chosen. And when said people succeed in them, they can use their full-fledged powers for good, evil, or even a bit of both.

"Earth also plays an integral part in this. As you pick your side, good, evil, or neutral, you could even fight alongside like teams; again, if you wanted to, it's entirely optional. Also, you can compete with others to gain the right to control a planet of your choosing and even defend it against others who plan to take it for themselves with teamwork or fighting by themselves by using magic, combat, strategy, skills, etc.

"Legends say that whoever can conquer all the planets of all worlds and defend them off from others the longest would reign supreme. "However, no one in any team has done such an impossible task for the longest time. A new champion might bestow someday, but it is unlikely that would happen soon.

"And that, to put it simply, is going to be me!" Shouted a young dark magician named Benjamin, who read the book that laid upon a big brown podium in the center of the vast library room.

He slowly turned around and assumed a pose of importance, with the chin raised, and hands on his hips, as he announced his mission to his loyal animal sidekicks and no one else that was in the Mirage Library.

He allowed those final words to echo throughout the grand library. The resonating boom of his voice against the tall stacks of books and endless rows of dark shadows and dust sent chills through the animal's fur.

"Woo-hoo! Bravo master, you have such a way with words" Harry, the talking hamster, exclaimed, trying to clap with his tiny little paws.

"Yeah, I agree!" The smaller guinea pig named Chi-Chi added, hopping up and down on the table.

"Hey, where did you learn about all that info and make that amazing speech of yours?" Harry asked, beaming with curiosity.

"Why from this book, of course." Benjamin explained while holding up the book, "They mostly tell about the history of our academy and its traditions surrounding them."

"But master, don't you already know that stuff? Why are you even rereading it?" Chi-Chi asked, raising her furry eyebrow.

"Isn't it obvious? The reason I'm even reading this is to check and see if there's a quicker way to get to Earth!" Benjamin responded with impatience in his voice. "There was supposed to be an individual book in this library that holds magic portals that can lead to worlds beyond my imagination or so I've heard..."

"Oh, well now that makes sense." Chi-Chi wasn't sure what it did, but she knew her master would get upset upon repeating himself. Best to go along with the plan for now.

"Wait, you mean the planet Earth? How will you exactly get to your goal master?" Harry pondered, leaning on top of the countertop.

"How should I know? If I knew, I would have done it already!" Benjamin raised his hands in disbelief.

"Oh yeah, that's right." Chi-Chi snickered.

"Isn't this against the rules though to read these without permission, however?" Harry whispered, unsure if they'd get caught and in trouble or not.

"Nah, I doubt they'll find out." Benjamin waved his arm as if to dismiss any notion of wrongdoing.

"Well, ok, if you say so." The hamster glanced at Chi-Chi, wondering if she would say anything when-

AWOOOOOO!! A loud howl, acting as the school bell, bellowed through the room, startling the trio off their feet. When the sound stopped, the three got back on their feet and sighed collectively.

"That sure was scary, huh?" Chi-Chi looked over at Harry in exasperation.

"I know right? It gets me every time." Harry got embarrassed that the sound caught him off guard.

"Uh oh, I better hurry to my night class!" Benjamin said in a rush as he collected his books and ran for the nearest exit.

"Of course, go do your best sir!" Harry and Chi-Chi exclaimed.

.-.-.-.

Down from the hall in the classroom, a teacher with curly gray hair wrapped in a bun; wearing a black and white dress with laces had already started the roll call for the class.

The lady picked up some sheets of papers and read them out loud. "Sebastian..."

"Present." A blonde-haired boy raised his hand and spoke.

"Bridget..."

"Here Miss." A girl with shoulder-length light brown wavy hair raised her hand and replied.

"Lauren..."

"Here, I guess." Another girl, having long mahogany hair and matching sunglasses, raised her hand. She muttered without looking at the teacher in an almost non-caring matter.

"...And last but not least, Benjamin" Silence followed after. The teacher glanced in the student's direction's chair as it was unoccupied.

Now, where could he be?

Before she had time to ask the classmates, the doors to the room swung open, and everyone's attention turned toward the guy that entered the classroom.

"The dark magician and future ruler of the Earth has arrived! You may now tremble in fear by my presence, everyone." Benjamin announced as he opened the classroom door.

He stood right beside the doorway for a brief moment to let the effect of his arrival sink in with his classmates. A collective moan of disapproval and quiet laughter came from the students, while the teacher stayed unfazed by her theatrical student.

"Ah, there you are. Hurry and take your seat; we're about to start class now."

"Will do ma'am," Benjamin replied with a bow and grin.

He headed toward his seat near the corner of the class. Even though this was his first time in the class, he could easily recognize all of his classmates that were there.

She must be so jealous of my talent that she doesn't want to admit it yet. I'll pass the class in no time. Benjamin thought to himself.

He couldn't help but smile at the thought, knowing that he stood out from the rest of them by the flashing purple cape along with his magician-like appearance. What's not to like?

The teacher introduced herself as Ms. Glenda before beginning her class.

"Now, you probably already know this, but for those who don't know, you four are the only ones who are ahead of class so far." She motioned toward Benjamin and his fellow seatmates. "You've all taken your beginner courses, exams, and tests and seem to know quite a lot. Which is why we are now going to move on to the next phase: mastering your weapon of either peace or destruction."

As the word "weapon" hung in his ears, Benjamin watched as Glenda reached into her dress pocket. She pulled out a small remote looking device and aimed it straight at her desk. In an instant, a giant translucent hologram of the planet Earth appeared hovering above her desk.

All the kids in the classroom gasped and sighed a collective "oooh" at its massive appearance. The teacher continued to discuss how important it was to learn about the Earth to either help or conquer it.

Benjamin liked the sound of the latter, to be in charge of the entire Earth and other planets, and have all the inhabitants bow to his every wish, what a fantastic way to live. He hung onto every word, scratched the short brown hair on the back of his head as he wrote as much as possible for later review.

He had to learn all he could about this place, and that grown-up was the way to do it. As Glenda continued to speak about weapons and how to use them, Benjamin couldn't help but smile,

Now we're talking.

As she handed out the weapons and spheres to each of the kids, Benjamin looked on, awaiting whatever tool of mass destruction awaited him. Whether it could destroy cities, bring down mountains, control minds, or best of all – do all the above and more! His hand coated in sweat from the anticipation.

The Earth hologram then gave way to a large scale demonstration, which covered the entire back wall in the classroom. Several older students used their weapons and spheres in showing how to attack, heal and defend.

One student had set himself on fire but didn't get consumed by the flames. Another created a brick shield to defend against a student's sword attack. Lastly, a third student healed the wounds of an unfortunate onlooker that got too close to the action. Benjamin got so engrossed in the presentation that he thought he had forgotten to breathe.

Ms. Glenda mentioned to the class that attacking yourself or others was not allowed at their stage in training. Everyone else in the classroom acknowledged the instruction, everyone except Lauren, that is.

"So, does attacking on accident count?" Lauren asked in a sarcastic tone.

Glenda stared down at her from the rim of her glasses, glaring at her vocal student.

"Yes," She replied curtly.

"Can mayonnaise be used as a vital weapon?" Lauren chimed in.

The teacher ignored the sarcasm and answered with a stern "No."

Lauren continued without missing a beat. "How about horseradish?"

Glenda's patience dwindled. "No," She repeated, this time, more forcefully. She groaned out loud and rolled her eyes at the thought of having to deal with this kind of ignorance for the rest of the year. Hopefully, the Principal will see her in real favor for all that she is sacrificing for their cause. "Ok, moving on."

She walked over to her desk beside the chalkboard, unlocked, and opened the bottom drawer. The drawer creaked as it pulled open, almost as if it complained about being called into service after so many years. She took out a large glowing spherical ball of glass.

Everyone gasped, amazed, except for Lauren, who continued to appear disinterested in the whole affair. It became hard to tell if she was even awake as her eyes hid behind a pair of dark sunglasses.

"This is a crystal sphere;" Glenda explained, "the one you will receive will differ depending on what supernatural being you are and what type of class you choose..."

However, as she discussed how to use the sphere along with a weapon, Lauren sat up a little straighter in her chair. Now she grew interested in the subject. Benjamin grew annoyed at her fickle behavior.

She wouldn't be a better student or a stronger magician than him. He was the destined one to conquer the Earth, not her. He quietly contemplated what he would do, and could be necessary, should she get in his way.

As Glenda explained that the sphere was something no one should take lightly, Lauren lost all hope of patience. She wanted the teacher to get to the important stuff and stop wasting her time. Lauren already hated school and didn't want to spend time on trivial stuff. She wanted to learn the basics so she could move on to more significant and more important things. She had a plan and didn't want to divert from it.

Benjamin found Lauren's intrusion into the presentation annoying. Glenda moved on with the demonstration, much to Benjamin's delight and relief. With a wand in one hand and a crystal sphere in the other, she joined them with a slight of hand that left everyone dazed and confused as to how she did that. Benjamin wished that he recorded the moment so he could watch it and analyze it in slow motion.

He was about to raise his hand and request repeated demonstration to get a better understanding of what happened when the teacher swirled the tool over her head. It made a whooshing sound that grew louder and louder like an oncoming hurricane.

Books, papers, and other school supplies flew around the room, posters tore off the walls forcefully. A strange glow manifested around the teacher and twisted into a maniacal deformation of her original calm and gentle smile.

It felt as the air expanded and forced the classroom walls outward. For a split second, Benjamin contemplated running from the room for fear of his life, but his pride stopped him from appearing cowardly in front of everyone else. Ironically, the other students were struggling with the same thing.

When the energy surge became almost unbearable, Glenda threw the device down against the floor, with a loud and resonated "boom." Items on her desk fell to the ground as it shook the very building under their feet.

Benjamin's mouth gaped open. He thought for a split second that maybe he would have to change his underpants, but fortunately, nothing was out of place. That was a close one. This sphere was just what he needed to realize his plans for domination. Ready to receive his weapon of power, Benjamin quickly got out of his chair the moment Glenda asked them to form a line. But Lauren beat him to it.

Lauren accepted her weapon and sphere and looked at the teacher with a mischievous smirk on her face. The teacher dismissed her with a look that declared a stable "no." She didn't have the energy, patience or time to deal with any more of Lauren's shenanigans. Benjamin was next in line. He grasped his wand and sphere in both hands and waited for the surge of energy to consume his body.

Benjamin closed his eyes and focused on the image within his mind. He imagined himself atop a mountain raining down fear and misery to all that would oppose him. After a few minutes of nothing, he opened his eyes and realized that everyone was staring at him. Embarrassed by the whole event, he quietly approached the teacher to ask how the two were supposed to interact and create the spectacle that she demonstrated.

"Hey, uh, how do I merge and make them more powerful?"

"Well, that's part of the assignment," Ms. Glenda replied.

"Really? It is?" Benjamin couldn't believe his ears. Much to his shock and dismay, he soon discovered that this was a part of his assignment.

"There are a ton of different ways to do it depending on you and your weapon," The teacher continued. "You just need to discover it."

"But—"

"You have a week, good luck." She dismissed him.

Benjamin sighed. Well, this task was going to be a lot harder than he thought. .-.-.-.

Benjamin still contemplated his dilemma during lunch. As he ate his black clouds, strips of raw chicken legs, and sipped grape flavored mermaid tears, he stared at his sphere in distraught.

"Did you figure anything out yet?" Harry piped up, resting near the tray.

"No, not even close," Benjamin replied sourly. "I mean it doesn't make any sense! How did she do it!?"

Benjamin laid his head down on his folded arms as he rested atop the table. The crystal sphere rested so perfectly translucent, yet if he stared hard enough, he felt as if there was an endless depth to it and would reach out and swallow him whole. It was mesmerizing to look at.

"Well gee, that sure looks impossible." Harry glanced from the sphere to the wand and back at Benjamin.

"At least it's all pretty and shiny~!" Chi-Chi chimed in trying to lighten the somber mood that took over the table's atmosphere.

"I know right?" Benjamin replied distracted by the comment.

"Who were you replying to?" Harry questioned, confused.

Did he agree with Chi-Chi's remark or his? Before he got the chance to repeat his question, Benjamin got up to leave the table.

His loyal familiars may look like small animals, but their abilities were far-reaching. Benjamin didn't even take notice that they instinctively knew what he would do next. It was as if they could predict his movements. His attention was elsewhere in the cafeteria.

"Don't eat my food while I'm gone." Benjamin commented without looking at them.

"We won't," Chi-Chi reassured her master.

"Good luck," Harry whispered.

.-.-.-.

Not knowing what to do next, Benjamin went to check up on one of his classmates, wanting to see how their progress was going. His pet sidekicks stayed behind to look after the sphere while he was away.

Benjamin walked over to Bridget's table to see how her progress went. As he approached the table, he soon spotted her walking off to throw her tray away and called out her name. Unfortunately, the cafeteria was so loud and noisy that she couldn't hear him at all. Benjamin picked up his speed as he tried to catch up to her.

Benjamin passed by Sebastian's table as he ran to get Bridget's attention.

He appeared to be talking to himself as his 'friend' Troy showed up carrying a mud-flavored popsicle in one hand and a carton of potion milk for Sebastian in the other.

Benjamin shot a nasty glare at Sebastian as he passed him, who noticed and scowled back at him. The two had always acted like bitter rivals towards one another, Sebastian was almost as big at bragging about his abilities as Benjamin. They disagreed over who the superior one was, which would always lead to a lot of arguments and non-physical fights.

The two glared at one another for what felt like hours; Troy left again to get another carton for himself. Benjamin jolted back to reality and realized that he had almost forgotten about his original objective - Bridget. As he walked away, Benjamin failed to notice spilled milk potion on the floor and stepped into the puddle. He slipped and fell to the ground. The entire cafeteria went quiet; they everyone seemed concerned about the spectacle.

"WHOOOOAAAAA!!" Benjamin screamed, as his feet flew out from beneath him.

Luckily he didn't fall or get hurt, but he still got his favorite outfit all covered in juice flavored potion milk.

Phew, that was a close call, but now I have to clean this up. Benjamin thought as he stared down at his now ruined clothes.

"Hey Benny, orange and white look pretty good on you, maybe you should wear it more often," Sebastian sneered as he yelled across the crowded cafeteria. "and also watch where you're stepping of course," He added, in a more serious tone.

"Why that son of a banshee..." Benjamin muttered as he stormed over to Sebastian's table, all soaking wet.

"Hey, you, why'd you put your drink over there to trip me up and ruin my outfit?!"

"What? I would never do such a thing!" Sebastian raised a hand to his chest as a sarcastic plead to his innocence.

"Hey, I'm back." Benjamin's loud and sudden accusation cut off Troy's words in an instant.

"You liar!"

"What? How dare you call me a liar! My drink is still right here!" Sebastian retorted, slamming his fist on the table. He motioned his drink, still intact on the table in front of him.

"Oh yeah? Prove it!" Benjamin countered. He stood straighter so he could make himself appear taller. He leaned forward to try and intimidate Sebastian. To a bystander, they looked more like theater performers acting out a bad play.

Neither appeared very menacing from across the room.

"What-? I just did you, peasant!" Sebastian raised his arms over his head in desperation.

"Then if you didn't do it, who the devil did?" Benjamin glanced around the room for another suspicious character to blame. His gaze caught Troy's.

Troy shuffled at Benjamin's excusing glare. "Um, I just remembered I forgot my book. Be right back."

"How should I know!?" Sebastian answered with annoyed sarcasm.

"Let me think." Benjamin rubbed his chin for added effect.

"Well gee, that's new." Sebastian continued his sarcasm. He couldn't resist an opportunity to jag insults at his classmate.

"That's it. You are going down!" Shouted Benjamin as he took out his wand and aimed it at Sebastian. Sebastian, shocked and in fear of Benjamin's intentions, instinctively raised his hands in defense. The cafeteria became quiet once more at the show of a bouquet abruptly popping out of his wand's end, hanging off in such a pitiable display.

"Really?" Sebastian chuckled in surprise.

"Oh sh-shut up!" Benjamin stuttered, his face glowing red.

As they still argued, Bridget walked back to her table, passing in front of them. She interrupted the two. Bridget held a cup of Pegasus pudding in one hand and a fancy looking spoon in the other.

"Uh, what are you guys fighting about this time?" She asked as she ate a generous spoonful of pudding into her mouth.

"Oh, Bridget!" Sebastian's face glowed even redder as he realized how foolish the two of them must have looked. "We were—"

"Sebastian ruined my outfit!" Benjamin pulled at his jacket trying to get her to understand the seriousness of the situation. "Not to mention, this jerk made fun of my magic!"

"Well duh, even I could—"

"Oh, speaking of magic, I kind of already did my assignment," Bridget interrupted in a casual but sweet tone. "I didn't think it was all that hard."

"No way..." Sebastian gasped, genuinely surprised at the remark.

'Talk about a perfect Segway' Benjamin turned his attention to Bridget now. "Hey Bridget, I was wondering, maybe after school, you could teach me how to..."

"Too late, I already asked her." Lauren interrupted him, her gruff, tomboyish voice killing what Benjamin had to say in his throat.

Her dark sunglasses created a strange contrast to her bold, red hair. Benjamin always thought that she looked like a giant crayon with her outfit. He would never dream of saying anything like that to her face, though. He was admittedly, a bit fearful of the teenage girl.

"What? Are you serious!?" Benjamin turned to her only to meet his reflection in her dark shades instead.

It occurred to him in that brief moment that despite having known her for a couple of years before coming to this school, like with Sebastian and Bridget, he couldn't even see the color of her eyes.

"Yeah, we're going to practice after school," Lauren replied curtly and without expression.

"Aw fang it!" Benjamin couldn't believe his luck. He slapped his arms against his side with a loud smack as the remaining juice spurted from his pockets.

This day is only getting worse. He groaned in defeat.

"Do you mean the assignment involving your weapons?" Sebastian asked, curiously.

"Duh, what else could I have meant?" Lauren crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow at the obvious question he asked.

"Oh, forget this; I'm leaving!" Benjamin had had enough of this ridiculousness for one day. He turned abruptly and stormed off, making a point to make each step resonate on the linoleum floor.

"That was quick," Lauren muttered under her breath.

"I wonder what happened..." Bridget glanced up from her pudding cup at Benjamin's retreating, not paying attention to the exchange between the rest of the group. Her mind was elsewhere today.

"Beats me." Sebastian shrugged, puzzled at his counterpart's, abrupt, exit. It wasn't like Benjamin to give up an argument much less one involving him.

"Aw, disappointed?" Lauren followed his gaze to Benjamin and knew there was more to the story than what she heard at first hand.

"Shut up; you jerk" Sebastian growled softly under his breath.

He immediately regretted saying those words for fear of being punched in the head. Thankfully, she wasn't currently in a bad mood.

"What? I was asking." Lauren teased playfully. She thought boys were such easy targets for her taunts.

"Uh, master? What's wrong?" Chi-Chi asked, concerned at her master's downward gaze and severe expression as soon as he came back to his table.

"Don't ask." Benjamin's voice cracked for a moment.

The animal's exchanged worried glances. They had never seen their master act like this, at least, not in a long time. Benjamin needed to stay engaged in their plan, otherwise, they'd be in serious trouble. They had to get to the bottom of Benjamin's troubling mood and return it to normal. But how? Back at Sebastian's table, Troy returned from retrieving his so-called books.

"I wonder if I missed anything while I was gone..." A small grin spread across his face as his curiosity peaked.

Episode 2

Glenda had a paramount meeting to attend to, but no one could find out about it, or there would be far more explaining to do than she would be ready to share. She glanced in both directions down the hallway outside her door.

Good, no one in sight.

She quietly shut the door to her classroom before locking it, trying to draw as little attention as possible to her actions.

All the while, she knew that what was about to happen had severe long-term consequences. What they were, Glenda had not figured them out yet. Her heart pounded, and her palms sweated as she stood outside the large double doors before pushing them open and stepping inside.

An eerie glow appeared in the room, followed by the disembodied head of the Principal, floating inside a jar. She was an odd-looking woman with wavy, blonde hair inside a substantial murky green fluid filled glass jar about the size of a milk jug. There was much to discuss and little time for pleasantries.

"Welcome," The Principal greeted.

"Thank you, Mistress," Glenda replied with a curtsy. "I received your call earlier today. What was it you wished to discuss?"

"Hmm, I can't seem to remember now. Oh, my memory is not as good as it used to be." The headless Principal looked around the room, as Glenda stared in confusion for a moment before speaking up.

"But, if you can't remember, then—"

"Oh, wait; I remember now." The Principal piped up peacefully. "It's about the assignment - did you give it to them?"

"Why, yes, I did," Glenda replied, still not sure where she went with this.

"Excellent work." The principal turned to face an unknown point of interest, "It's always nice to see our school, tradition, and students thrive and prosper." She spoke calmly.

"But of course," Glenda replied with a soft smile.

The Principal turned her attention back to Glenda. "I'm proud, do keep up the good work, ok?"

"Certainly." Glenda's smile grew wider.

"Oh, and before you go?" The Principal called out to Glenda as she turned to face the unknown point within the dark room.

"Hmm?" Glenda waited for her to speak before leaving.

"I want you to make sure that they all succeed... and no cheating either," She ordered with a devilish grin. "Understand?"

Glenda gulped and let out a sigh. She wouldn't dare want to talk back to the principal, regardless of what she thought. "Yes, I do."

"Very well, that is all I want to talk about for now. Thank you so very much for your time, Miss Glinka."

"It's Glenda." She corrected, "But you're welcome, I'll be sure to keep in touch with you." She added as she reached for the door once more.

"Indeed, I'll see you later." The principal chimed in before Glenda closed the door behind her.

.-.-.-.

Meanwhile, after getting a clean pair of clothes, Benjamin walked through the school's front doors, with his shoulders slumped and head lowered. He had received these fantastic gifts but couldn't figure out how to use them, and figuring out on his own would take time. He couldn't conquer the Earth without these tools working, something he didn't have.

Chi-Chi and Harry followed along exhibiting similar faces of concern for their Master, Benjamin, once again fearing that his plans for world domination would be in jeopardy, that wouldn't help their policies either. They had to cheer him up and encourage that spark of evil again, but how?

"Come on, master, cheer up!" Chi-Chi squeaked.

"But how can I?" Benjamin asked dejectedly, "The teacher was no help at all; what good are they if none can tell me the basics of wizardry and magic?"

"Didn't she say it was part of the test?" Harry reminded him.

"Well, I guess she did..." Benjamin muttered and sighed.

"You shouldn't get all bent out of shape. I mean, it's only been one day out of seven."

"You have a point, guess we better keep trying when we get back to our dorm. "Benjamin replied, a little calmer now.

"That's the spirit master!" Both Harry and Chi-Chi chirped at their Master's renewed will.

Both parties grew lost in their thoughts as they walked away from school, while on the way down the stairs, a shadowy figure lurked in the tree line behind them. Benjamin paused at the edge of the tall hill. He stood near the brink of the school property and looked out over the town and pastures below.

This world and the next will all be mine soon, He thought, with his vigor returned. I just have to figure this sphere out.

He lifted his orb out of his pocket and held it in his hand. That was when a force hit him from the back, as if something shoved from behind. A shadowy figure used dark magic to push as if commanding the wind itself.

After he picked himself up from the ground, Benjamin watched in horror as his sphere slipped from his hand and rolled down the hillside, picking up with every second. Chi-Chi and Harry leaped into action and hurried down the slope after it.

Benjamin followed close behind, trying hard not to lose his balance and fall face first down the hill. His earlier sadness turned to sheer terror, for if he lost or broke his magical sphere, all his dreams would be over in an instant.

He couldn't let that orb fall into anyone else's hands. He tried desperately not to lose sight of the rolling ball as it bounced over rocks and through trees on its way down the large hill. Unfortunately, it disappeared over a small ledge.

As Benjamin, Chi-Chi, and Harry reached the ledge and looked down the ridge at the ground below; they were stunned to find that the sphere was nowhere in sight, it had disappeared.

That's impossible, Benjamin screamed to himself. I saw it go over this very ledge just a second ago. It has to be around here somewhere!

The trio searched the bushes, rock crevices, and gulley. No sphere. Benjamin sat down on the cement stairs beside some brick walls and exhaled loudly in sheer frustration and disappointment. This day was not going well so far, and now this!

Chi-Chi and Harry were also exhausted from the quick run and day-long search. Harry plopped down on a nearby stone in an exaggerated and theatrical 'I can't go on' way, with Chi-Chi falling right on top of him.

Just then, the stairs Benjamin had been sitting on shook violently. Benjamin was unable to find his feet fast enough to stand. The stairs raised, caught him squarely in the back of the head, and knocked him back onto the ground.

"Benjamin!!" Chi-Chi and Harry cried, getting up from their position and ran over towards him. "Are you alright?!"

"I'm okay, I'm okay," Benjamin repeated as he rubbed his head and blinked his eyes to clear his sight.

Within the space opened up by the stairway, Benjamin could see a vast graveyard in the distance and the center of the gravestones, he saw it.

"My sphere, there it is!"

Benjamin took out his wand and tried to conjure a spell that would draw the crystal ball off from within the graveyard. No effect. Chi-Chi and Harry immediately went to retrieve the crystal for their Master. However, as soon as they reached the opening of the staircase, it rolled off again.

"No!" Benjamin shouted as he sprinted toward the graveyard.

The crystal ball moved along the ground without the aid of wind or gravity. Benjamin didn't understand how this was possible, as it should have stopped a long time ago, seeing as it was on relatively flat ground.

What is making it roll so fast? He thought to himself as he followed after the ball through the scattered and varying gravestones and tombs.

Soon, the sphere disappeared once more. Benjamin ran up to the edge of a dark, vortex, swirling within the darkness of the graveyard and discovered more stairs. Benjamin, Chi-Chi, and Harry were unable to see what lies below.

Two large torches next to the opening burst into flames, providing light to their surroundings. Grabbing one of the torches, Benjamin descended the stairs, with Chi-Chi and Harry following close behind. They tried to stay in the glow of the flames in fear that the darkness may consume them entirely should they fall out of the protection of the light.

There's evil in here, I know it. Chi-Chi shared telepathically, to her counterpart, Harry.

.-.-.-.

After what felt like an eternity, Benjamin realized that there were no more stairs. He was at the bottom of the secret passage, but where did the sphere go? Before them, the torch's light revealed a large dragon-shaped roller coaster car, floating within the space without a visible track beneath it.

The car had a big blue duck body for the front with black horns and an orange beak, complete with red central wings, and a green dragon-like tail stacked onto yellow wheels. The new surroundings utterly mesmerized Benjamin, as if being drawn forward by an invisible force.

"Hey, guys, come check this out!" Benjamin called behind as if the others weren't keeping up with him.

"I don't know... it looks weird if you ask me," Harry replied under his breath.

"But what is that? Is it even operational? And if it is, then where would it even take us?" Chi-Chi asked.

"Stop asking so many questions at once!" Benjamin ordered.

"Well, only one way to find out... right?" Harry brought up.

"Exactly," Benjamin confirmed.

He boarded the coaster in the front seat. Chi-Chi and Harry looked questionably at each other before following their Master into the coaster. Abruptly, the coaster lurched forward and propelled through the air, as if they weren't moving at all, and if the very space around them melded around their bodies. The car took them in many directions: up, down, diagonal, and even loop de loops. Benjamin and his sidekicks got nauseous as their stomachs churned and pondered when the crazy ride would end.

Eventually, the ride slowed down, catching them all off guard, Benjamin and the others noticed something in the distance, but couldn't quite make it out. The coaster then came to a screeching halt, bringing them closer to what they saw.

.-.-.-.

A bunch of doors in a variety of different colors and sizes floated as they dangled from a string, made for dancing around like puppets in a play. It all appeared new and surprising to Benjamin, yet deep down, he felt that he had been here before, but when? Benjamin saw a glowing sign above the many doors that read A-B-C-D.

Chi-Chi and Harry questioned their master about the sign. Did he know what it meant? Benjamin stared at the letters for a while until he realized that he lost track of things.

"Where did that come from?" Benjamin said aloud. Chi-Chi and Harry did not understand what their Master referred to.

"What was that, Master?" Benjamin could no longer hear them. He had a difficult time trying to take his eyes off the glowing, colorful doors. What was behind them, and how could he use this incredible discovery to his advantage?

As they watched them with awe, Benjamin couldn't help but wonder: Why was he brought here? What do these things do? Where do they take you? Benjamin wanted to step out of the coaster and get a better, closer look at them, but he nearly lost his footing. He looked down below and saw there were no visible paths below.

Great, He thought in disdain, Now what do I do?

Chi-Chi, on the other hand, wanted to check the place out. She quickly jumped out of the coaster without looking down at what was below her. Benjamin and Harry, noticing that there is nothing below that she can land on, tried to stop her and reached for her.

However, much to their surprise, it turned out that she landed on the floor beneath them. Fortunately for Chi-Chi, as she landed on the platforms, they slowly revealed themselves in full color, a path for them to walk across. As Chi-Chi hurriedly ran along the road, with Harry following close behind her, Benjamin stood confused as to what was happening.

He eventually got over the shock and followed the hamsters to where the new path led them. The trail eventually stopped at the center, where they could see all the doors up close, and reached it in no time at all.

"Well, we're here," Benjamin sighed, catching his breath from the long walk.

"Now what?" Chi-Chi questioned.

"Well, isn't it obvious?" Benjamin looked up and pointed. "The sphere is probably in one of those doors. We'll have to split up and try to find the right one!"

"Good idea." Harry chimed in.

Not trusting his wand magic, Benjamin used a magic spell using his hands, to allow him to float up in the air so he could find it no problem. He did the same thing to his sidekicks so they could help him with the search.

The first door Benjamin opened had a strange planet filled with aliens who were just about to chow down on some weird kind of cereal. No crystal sphere in sight. The second door he opened had a lot of trees and bushes. A dinosaur walked over and stared at him with ill intent. Benjamin quickly shut the door and leaned against it, hoping that the creature did not figure out how to follow him.

He crept to the next door, within it was a ship surrounded by water and lightning. He closed the door, but then water poured out from underneath. Still, no sphere, he sighed in disbelief.

As he opened more and more doors with no progress, Benjamin slowly grew agitated. He felt that not much time had passed and was already sick of this. Eventually, the hamster and guinea pig called out to him about a door they found. Thinking they found the one with the sphere, Benjamin quickly went over to take a look.

"Hey, Master, come here!" Chi-Chi exclaimed excitedly.

"We got something to show you!" Harry motioned with his small paws for him to hurry over.

However, much to his dismay and their delight, it turned out to be a land made out of cheese.

"What the-!?" Benjamin grabbed both sides of his head in exasperation.

"So, what do you think of it, Master?" Chi-Chi and Harry questioned, happily grabbing cheese wedges from inside the door.

"Seriously!? Now is not the time to lollygag! Did you forget what we came here for in the first place already!?" Benjamin glared at the two critters with his arms snugly gripped to his hips.

"Oh, yeah, the crystal sphere, right?" Chi-Chi mumbled through a mouthful of cheese.

"Exactly, so hurry up and get moving already! My patience is already waning as it is!"

"Sir, yes, sir!" They both shouted as split up and dashed off to search once again.

As the two left in a hurry, Benjamin walked over to close the cheese door and sighed heavily. This day had not been going well at all since he had lost the sphere, now he had to deal with crazy cheese furry partners. A little while later, Harry and Chi-Chi called for their Master yet again, to inform them about a different door.

"Master, come quickly!" Chi-Chi shouted excitedly.

"You're not going to believe this!" Harry added.

"Oh, great, now I wonder what it could be this time! Maybe a land made of milk and cookies?" Benjamin replied in a mocking tone of voice. He was not in the mood for any more of this and just wanted to find his sphere and go home.

"No Master, we found it this time. Have a look for yourself." Harry pointed through the door toward the floor.

"If you say so..." Benjamin murmured as he approached the open doorway.

He went to take a peek inside the door — blue skies and white clouds everywhere on the other side, but no sphere in sight. Chi-Chi told him to look down to see it. Benjamin looked to where she pointed at a weird alley with red cemented walls.

"I don't believe it..." Benjamin muttered, nearly speechless.

"Neither can we Master." Harry and Chi-Chi stood alongside his legs as they all looked down through the doorway at the strange world.

The floors were dirty, filled with trash, flies, and a bunch of other useless junk that got thrown in. It was right next to the dumpster where Benjamin finally saw it: His Crystal Sphere!

"Hey, wait; it looks like someone is trying to go after it." Benjamin thought he saw someone or something out of his peripheral vision. "Hey, you, stay away from that; it's mine!" He yelled.

Benjamin leaned in too much through the door to the other side while trying to get someone's attention, slipped, and fell into the new world. Benjamin fought to float back up using his magic, but for some reason, he was unable to do so.

Just what is going on? He thought, puzzled. Luckily, he landed safely on top of the dumpster with no significant injuries.

"Ow! That stings!" He exclaimed as he rubbed the pain on his backside and legs from the fall.

"Wait for us, Master!" Chi-Chi cried out, alarmed by the abrupt exit of her Master.

"We won't leave you here in this place!" Harry added.

The two critters jumped from the open door frame into the new strange world below. Once they landed in the dump alongside their Master, the three just rested in the garbage and sighed in defeat.

"This is the second worst day of my life." Benjamin groaned.

"Yeah, tell me about it," Harry said as he rolled onto his side to inspect his rumpled fur.

"Um... hello? Are you alright?" Someone's voice broke through the darkness.

As Benjamin heard the voice, he turned to see a girl standing right beside the dumpster, looking very concerned for him. She adjusted her yellow glasses, which contrasted with her long pink hair.

"Huh? Y-yeah, I'm fine. Why do you ask?" Benjamin quickly tried to appear as natural as possible, considering that he just fell out of the air onto a dumpster.

"Well, I did see you fall from the sky not too long ago. What were you doing?" The girl pointed toward the top of the building. Benjamin looked up, and his eyes widened upon finding there was no longer a door there.

"Oh, that. Sorry, but I can't say why that was the case." Benjamin straightened his jacket and brushed off his pants, trying to stall for time. He didn't know how he would explain this to anyone, much less this stranger.

"Oh, could it be that you are on a top-secret mission for something important?" The girl inquired with a hint of intrigue and inquisitiveness in her voice. She seemed to be fishing for more information.

"Yeah, that's it!" Benjamin exclaimed, then realized that it wasn't a good idea to make it sound like a secret plan if he wanted to keep it like that. "I mean no, of course not!" Benjamin turned and gazed at the girl. "What do you want from me?"

"Nothing, but who are you?" The young woman smiled sheepishly. She knew there was more to this story than what he was telling and wasn't about to let it go so quickly.

"You want to know, huh?" She nodded in agreement. "I am Benjamin, the all-mighty dark magician, and the prophesized overlord!" Benjamin stood up and spread his cape behind him for added dramatic effect. "And these are my deadly sidekicks: Chi-Chi and Harry!" He swung his arm toward the hamsters for their introduction.

"Cheep!" Chi-Chi replied with her long lashes fluttering for added cuteness effect. Harry did the same thing.

"Aw, but they look cuter than deadly." The girl stroked Chi-Chi short soft fur along her neck, then moved over to do the same thing with Harry.

"Well, that's just what they want you to think!" Benjamin replied, "And we have a goal of conquering all planets and galaxies that we can find and come across." He announced. "Now how's that for a story?"

"I think that's a cute story kid." The young girl commented, glancing up from petting the hamster and guinea pig.

"What do you mean 'cute' and 'kid'? Are you saying you don't believe me at all?" Benjamin's blood boiled at the young girl's disbelief. How dare she not believe his story?

"Hey, Master..." Harry pulled on his master's pant legs, trying to get his attention without revealing their ability to speak in front of the stranger.

"Well, for starters I can't see anyone doing something like that in that weird get-up." The girl chuckled as she pointed at Benjamin's clothes and hat.

"What-? How dare you say that!"

Furious from the mockery of his outfit, Benjamin showed off some magic of his own to prove to her he's not making the whole story up. He tried with all his might; the critters wondered why he wasted his time on this girl. That's when they noticed something in her bag. They tried telling Benjamin about it, but he was so fixated on trying to show off his magic that he paid them no attention.

As the girl stood there, waiting for him to do or say something interesting, Benjamin continued to try and create magic, but nothing came out from his hands. Eventually, he gave up and didn't know what to do next.

Why can't I use my magic here? Do I rely on my stupid wand from now on, even though I still didn't know how to use it properly?

"Aw man, this stinks." Benjamin sat down on the ground in disgust. "How am I going to conquer Earth at this rate?"

"The planet you're on right now is your first one?" The girl asked. Realizing by Benjamin's expression that he was serious about conquering this world, she added: "How unoriginal."

"No way, that explains so much!" Benjamin exclaimed, taking a step back.

"Master, look at the bag she's carrying!" Harry, again, tried to get his Master's attention quietly.

"My Crystal Sphere." He whispered, finally seeing it with his own two eyes.

"Well it's been fun, but I got to get going before it gets dark." The young girl turned and started walking down the alleyway toward the street. "See you; I got some research to do when I get home!"

"No, wait, come back!" Benjamin yelled after her. "Cheep Cheep!" screamed Chi-Chi and Harry trying to add their sense of urgency for her to return without revealing themselves.

Episode 3

Meanwhile, back in the monster world, Ms. Glenda went to her homeroom to rearrange and clean things up. When she finished, she returned to her desk and sat down in gloom. Now that Glenda had given away all the spheres and wands she had, she felt the room was emptier without them. A shadow appeared at the door to inform her of something urgent that required her immediate attention, jolting her from her daydream thoughts.

"Huh? What?

When the shadow walked into the room, light reflecting the helmet, it turned out to be the Counselor Clause.

"Miss Glenda, I'm afraid I have some terrible news!"

"Counselor Clause, what's the matter?" Glenda asked in an alarming state.

"I have come with foreboding bad news."

"Uh, yeah, I know. You stated that seconds ago." Glenda glanced at him from over her metal-rimmed glasses.

"Oh, right, my bad." Clause wrung his hands as he collected his thoughts.

His gray hair and thick mustache always appeared odd and out of place for someone dressed up as an astronaut, as upon his head he wore a glass bowl.

Glenda hardly noticed the contraption nowadays, but early in their relationship, she couldn't help but laugh at the older man in the fishbowl. If he only knew how many times people made jokes at his expense.

"Can you hurry? I have stuff to do." Glenda told him, hoping that the message was not as awful as Clause led her to believe. She had had a busy morning and had a rough day from the previous events. There was so much left to do to prepare; this was not a welcomed part of the plan.

"Ok, to put it simply: 'It' has returned." That one word hung in the air like some foul odor. Glenda caught her breath.

"What?!" Glenda couldn't believe her ears.

Is that true? Clause had been wrong in the past, but never about something this important. Then again, which piece of information could he be talking about still?

"You know, the Howler Coaster that opens every ten thousand moons?"

"Wasn't it 9,352, though?" Glenda, always the teacher, couldn't help but correct Clause's inaccurate assessment of the time that passes between its last appearances. She felt embarrassed that she said it.

Oh, what pettiness, Glenda thought. Why do I always do that?

"Yeah, but ten thousand sounds more mystical, don't you think?" Clause brought up with a smile.

He knew Glenda well and came to respect her over the years. He didn't mind her correcting him on the statistical data. Clause tried to lighten the mood, but Glenda still processed the news brought before her.

"Oh no, if what you're saying is true, then we need to leave right away!" Glenda forgot all about the sphere, wands, and kids for a moment. She grabbed her keys and leaped from the chair. There was no time to lose.

.-.-.-.

Meanwhile, outside of the school, Bridget and Lauren attempted to learn how to practice their magic together out on the fields. Bridget had brought her spell book and tried to read them all out loud while sitting on a large rock in the schoolyard. Lauren copied the enchantments to make the magic come out of her wand. Bridget didn't have much of a problem with using her wand to cast out random types of spells; however, Lauren wasn't as lucky.

Bridget had already meshed up her book and sphere together after she got the assignment and made the words in the book readable; Lauren, on the other hand, still had a hard time pronouncing some of the phrases out loud and enchanting them, even with Bridget's guidance and help.

Bridget herself got puzzled by this. They didn't seem to be that hard for her, so why is her friend having trouble casting certain spells? Is she not good at twisters and speaking in different languages, even in her head? There had to be another way.

"Hey Lauren, is there something wrong? You haven't been doing well since we started practicing." Bridget mentioned, tilting her head.

"I'm not sure. Maybe I'm just having an off day?" Lauren murmured and shrugged without moving her gaze from the book's pages.

Hopefully, that's the case; Bridget thought to herself as she observed her friend's expression.

In the distance, Glenda and Clause ran out of the school as fast as possible without breaking their necks running down the steps. They both knew they had to hurry and not waste any more time, for if what Clause said was true, then there could be more trouble than even the two of them expected.

"Hey, are you bothering us?" Lauren turned abruptly to face Sebastian, who had been watching them from nearby. "Were you the one distracting us from our duties?"

"What?" Sebastian asked, startled by the accusation. "But I just got here!"

Lauren glimpsed of Clause and Glenda running toward them out of the corner of her eye. Sebastian didn't seem that unusual anymore. She stepped into their path to draw their attention.

"Grandmaster Glenda? What's the matter?" Lauren asked, giving her words the best attempt at the concern that she could muster.

"Oh, Sebastian, what perfect timing!" Glenda exclaimed as she saw Sebastian standing behind Lauren. She walked around Lauren without even acknowledging her presence. Blood rushed to Lauren's face in anger.

"Can you come with us for a moment?" Glenda asked as she held Sebastian's shoulders.

"But why?" Sebastian inquired with a genuine look of concern.

"Think of it as another part of your assignment." Glenda tried to calm his fears by downplaying their urgency, but he was not buying the act.

"Hmm, I don't know," Sebastian muttered while turning away, but Glenda still heard it.

"Please, Sebastian, this is crucial, and you're the only one I can count on for this." Glenda pleaded with him as she clasped her hands and bowed her head to express her desperation even further.

"Well, if you say so." He replied hesitantly. Sebastian was still not 100% confident that this was a good idea, but if his teacher needed him that badly, he felt compelled to help.

"Excellent, let us leave posthaste!" Glenda smiled and patted him on the arm. She turned toward Clause and nodded.

"Hey, what about us?" Lauren stepped up and motioned toward Bridget.

"You stay here and continue to practice your magic spells," Glenda replied as she turned to walk away.

Sebastian couldn't help but smile at Lauren as he followed close behind. It wasn't every day that he could show off in front of Lauren, and it felt remarkably good.

"What? That's not fair!"

"We won't take long; we promise," Glenda called out over her shoulder as the three walked hurriedly toward the edge of the parking lot together. Unbeknownst to Sebastian, they had to find the Howler Coaster that had shown up once more.

"Hey, let's go follow them to see exactly what they're doing. We can continue practicing later" Lauren leaned over to Bridget and whispered.

Bridget looked up from her book and directly into her friend's eyes and crossed her arms. "Lauren, you heard her! We got to stay here!"

There was no convincing her today, Lauren thought. Like she was going to stand idly by while those three had all the adventure.

After taking a quick stroll through the graveyard, Glenda, Clause, and Sebastian made it to the cave in no time at all. Sebastian could not believe such a place existed and that he did not know of it sooner.

"So, is that the cave you guys were talking about?" Sebastian pointed toward the small opening on the side of the hill. It looked like a giant gopher hole to him, and he realized that he would have never noticed the opening had someone not pointed it out to him.

"Yes, the one very few people know about." Clause replied. "And it's open too. Shall we head inside?" He asked while motioning his hands to let them go first.

Each of them crawled on hands and knees through the dirt-rimmed opening onto the stairs landing made of stone. Before their eyes laid hundreds of steps leading downwards towards a bottom that wasn't visible from their vantage point, Sebastian could feel the sweat building on the back of his neck as he contemplated walking down all those stairs and then worse, back up. Glenda and Clause had other ideas for a quick descent, however. They summoned an advanced flying spell so the group can traverse down the stairs faster.

Glenda reached out and held Sebastian's hand, warning him not to let go. For if he did, she cautioned, he would plummet into a world of darkness and end up somewhere else entirely, with no certainty if he'd make it back to his world. Sebastian gripped her hands tightly and tried not to look down as they floated to the bottom of the stairway. When they reached the end of the stairs, they found the Howler Coaster had disappeared!

"Oh no, where could it have gone?" Glenda turned to look at Clause and saw the same worried look on his face. "If what you said was right Clause, then that must mean someone else has already been here!"

"Hopefully, it wasn't one of our students that got down here, or we'll have a problem." Clause shuddered at the thought.

"So... I guess that means we're pressing forward then?" Sebastian questioned.

He had zero clues on what they meant by Howler coaster or whatever the problem was. He never heard of this place, even with all his connections at the school. What made them think any other student would have been able to find this place, much less steal the coaster in the process?

They eventually found the coaster parked up next to a pathway leading to a pedestal where a bunch of doors floated around. Clause explained to them that the place was called the Abstract Bizarre Colorful Dimensions or ABCD, which Sebastian immediately chuckled under his breath, thinking to himself how dumb that sounded. He got back his composure soon after though; this thing is dangerous, so there must be more to the story than he was told. Best to keep his emotions in check and treat it serious too, but what a stupid name for such a cool place.

As the light from the torches reached the doors, they noticed that most of the entries were now colorless, like something had sucked the life out of them. They got to the center to further investigate when Clause found a door that still had some color left. He flew over to open it, but the door was locked. These doors shouldn't have locks on them. These doors shouldn't have locks on them.

"Hmm, I wonder what's going on here." He tried it again, puzzled by the inability to open it.

Realizing that Clause couldn't open the door, Glenda felt the room swirled around her. She had a feeling she would faint and quickly rested her hand on Sebastian's shoulder to steady herself.

"Oh no, it's worse than I thought!"

"What's wrong, Glenda?" Sebastian looked at her, concerned with her pale appearance.

"What if the one person who got here is trying to destroy our very ecosystem and school? Or worse...?" She whispered the last part of the sentence. "That's always a possibility here."

"What can we do, though?" Clause returned to her side and grabbed her hands in his.

"Clause will stay here and make sure no one else enters here beside us," Glenda said out loud, regaining her strength and focus. "I'll investigate how to get in the door and find out more info about its existence at the school." She turned toward Sebastian. "You find out who the traitor is; it'll save us a lot of time if you can do that." Without taking her eyes off Sebastian, she added: "One more thing. Tell no one about this, especially the Mist- I mean Principal. Can I trust you with this important task I'm giving to you?"

"Yeah, sure. You can count on me!" Adrenaline rushed through Sebastian; excitement filled his body. He got to be on a mission to save his school and further his agenda with the teachers.

"Good luck, my grandson, and you too, Clause." Glenda smiled weakly. "If any of you find out anything, let's call each other from our hologram phones, ok?" She handed Sebastian and Clause hologram phones.

"Ok!" They both replied.

However, Glenda, Clause, and Sebastian weren't the only ones privy to the plan. Standing beside the abandoned coaster was a small figure of a girl. In the shadows, you could barely make out the dark sunglasses and red hair.

Lauren smiled as she gripped the neck of the Howler coaster. It's sizeable duck-like beak and black jeweled eyes staring down at her as if it awaited her next command. She wouldn't tell anyone either, she whispered to the coaster, no one at all.

.-.-.-.

The girl with pink hair almost left with the crystal sphere still in her bag, but Benjamin called out to her again, impeding her process.

"Hey, wait just a moment! Come back!" Benjamin exclaimed, running after her.

"Yeah, what is it, sir? I need to go back home quickly, so can you make this quick?" She turned and gripped her bag a little tighter against her side.

"Uh, it's that shiny thing in your backpack. Where exactly did you get that?" Benjamin pointed toward the glass orb that was barely perceivable in her purse opening.

"Oh, you mean this? It fell out of the sky not too long ago, I have no idea what this is, but doesn't it look so cool?" She tried to play it off as if it wasn't that important. It was just a trinket; after all, there was nothing more to this thing, right?

"Yea, it is. And it's also mine." Benjamin said, "I... dropped it. I need to fuse it with this wand to make it powerful." Harry slapped his forehead when his Master revealed his plan. What was he thinking!?

"You... dropped it from the sky?" The girl looked at Benjamin puzzled by the change in the story.

"Yeah, I was, uh, skydiving." Harry and Chi-Chi now bowed heads in disbelief. This plan hadn't been going well, but there was nothing the two of them could do about it now.

"Skydiving? In that weird outfit?"

"Uh-huh, and—" Her taunting on his clothing choices and her disbelief of his story became apparent to him. "Hey, that's not funny! Why do you not believe me? What are you even going to do with it anyhow?" Benjamin started growing impatient with this Earth girl.

"Why study it of course!" She chirped.

"Don't interrupt me! Just hand me the ball of power already, it's dangerous!" Benjamin yelled at the girl while holding out his hands for the sphere.

"Well, I still don't know if I should trust you..." She smiled, "...though I admit you have a weird sense of humor."

"I'm not trying to be funny!" Benjamin could feel the rage and heat on his face. This day was taking too long.

"But, if you are trying to rule the world as you say, then good thing I took this from you... Sorry but finders' keepers I suppose."

"Oh, that does it!" Benjamin thundered and grabbed the purse straps in an attempt to free the bag from her hands.

"Hey, what are you-?" She desperately gripped the bag with both hands and struggled to rip it out of Benjamin's hands.

"Taking back what's rightfully mine, that's what I'm doing!"

Tired of her nonsense, Benjamin grew determined to snatch the bag from the girl by force. Chi-Chi and Harry tried to help their Master by pulling his coat. The pink-haired Earth girl struggled with all her might to hold onto it as best as she could. They fought over it for a while; time seemed to pass in slow motion. The young girl then let go of the bag, sending Benjamin flying and falling onto the floor.

As he and the critters tried to get up, the pink-haired girl ran off before they could get their composure and tried to stop her yet again.

"Nice one Master!" Harry patted his Master on the leg.

Benjamin, now realizing that he had her purse in his lap, checked and searched through it in hopes of finding and getting his sphere back. Unfortunately for them, it had only contained simple things such as money and candy. The orb wasn't there.

"Aw man, I could have sworn the crystal sphere was there." Benjamin threw the purse to the ground in disgust. "What the devil is all this useless junk? Where'd the device go?!" He got up onto his feet and looked around the area. "Fang, she must have gotten it while I was distracted. There's no way I'm letting that son of a banshee get away with that sphere!"

Having no time to waste, Benjamin kicked the purse aside and went after her, not realizing that he had left Harry and Chi-Chi behind.

Benjamin gave chase and tried to catch her and the sphere, but got stopped by a passing car, throwing his concentration off course. As more cars passed by, he lost sight of the girl in a crowd of people waiting to cross the intersection. Harry had plenty of time to catch up to his Master and see if he could be of any help in the whole fiasco.

"Hey, Master, how's it going?" Harry panted as he approached his Master's side.

"Not so great. I lost the girl and couldn't get through this crowd of people." He pointed at the massive wall of humans waiting to cross the road, blocking his view of the sidewalk behind them.

"Oh, well, my sister went on ahead using her 'special power' and I couldn't keep up with her."

"What? How come she can use her powers in this world, but I..." Benjamin sharply turned his head toward Harry as he realized his mistake.

"Uh, she didn't. That's why I added sar—"

"Hey, maybe that'll help us find them easier!" Benjamin stopped listening to Harry as he put his full attention toward a nearby building. Harry breathed a sigh of relief. His Master's short attention span was a blessing at times. "That ladder, how do we reach it?" Benjamin pointed.

"I dunno, with magic?" Harry contemplated the height that they would have to go to reach the fire escape ladder and wondered how they would create a diversion to avoid being seen floating up to the ladder. "But how will-?"

"That's it! I'll create a distraction with my wand!" Benjamin picked up on the messages sent by his sidekick without even realizing it. "And when everyone is distracted by that, we'll jump up and grab the ladder. Since the monster world and the human world are different, maybe the wand will work when you're specific and talk in their language!"

"Sounds brilliant but also confusing," Harry smiled in agreement. He thought Benjamin was so easy to influence.

Benjamin said the words 'smoke bomb' in his head multiple times to make sure the wand would register and to make sure no one else heard him. A smoke bomb then showed up and landed on the palm of his hand. He looked around and prepared to throw it.

When he confirmed that there was no one else looking their way; he threw the smoke bomb on the ground. The two then jumped toward the ladder and climbed it once they had their grip on it. Benjamin and Harry made it to the top and searched for Chi-Chi and the girl with the crystal sphere from their view.

"So, any sign of them at all, Harry?" Benjamin looked in all directions while shielding his eyes from the sun.

"Hmm, no, not really," Harry replied. "Oh, wait, there's Chi-Chi, she's over at the cheese shop! She's probably waiting for that girl to come out of the store."

"Come on, Harry!" Benjamin exclaimed as he ran toward the ladder to return to the streets below.

Benjamin and Harry hurried on over as fast as possible to the cheese shop. When they got there, they found that Chi-Chi had lost sight of the girl. Truthfully, she had gotten distracted by the shop with all the cheeses in the world. Imagine all that cheese inside this one little shop. Benjamin did not take the news very well, at all, and started to growl as if possessed by a giant bear.

Benjamin was about to scold her for losing sight of the girl, but Chi-Chi reassured him that they'd probably find her soon. The guinea pig reached out with an envelope and said that she had found it inside the girl's bag. It supposedly contained the girl's home address. Benjamin took it and tore it open, but not before patting Chi-Chi on the head, complimenting her on a good job well done.

He took a good while reading it, then rushed off to find the address, with the talking animals following close behind him. He finally saw the girl with the sphere walking towards what looked to be her house. Benjamin and his sidekicks quickly hid behind a nearby trash can, which was next to the planter wall. They needed time to contemplate what to do next.

Episode 4

Seeing as though they had little time left before the girl entered her house, Benjamin, and his animal sidekicks tried to think up a plan to get the sphere back from her.

"Alright, so what's the plan?" Benjamin turned toward his companions and asked.

Harry looked puzzled at his master's inquiry. "But I thought you'd be the one to—?"

"Why not jump at her and kidnap the girl?" Chi-Chi chimed in.

Harry and Benjamin looked at Chi-Chi with amazement. Had she of all beings said that?

Benjamin liked the idea and rolled with it. He would wait for the right time to strike and, with the help of his wand, to do the deed. After a while, he rushed out from behind the planter wall and noticed that the girl had already gone inside.

Now, what should we do? Benjamin thought aloud.

"Aw man, we were too slow..." Harry scratched his head.

"Not to mention too late," Chi-Chi added.

"Hey, uh, Master?" Harry pointed toward the horizon. "It's starting to get late. Soon it will be close to bedtime, where will we stay and sleep?"

Benjamin noticed the sun getting close to setting in the distance. Harry had a point. He would draw suspicion if he were out roaming the streets after dark.

"Hmm, I'm not so sure actually..." Benjamin scratched his chin in thought, "Perhaps we can stay at someone else's house?" Benjamin muttered, his face brightened up. "Hey wait, why go to someone else's house when we can just make our own?"

"What do you mean by that?" Chi-Chi inquired, blinking in confusion.

"I'll just make a house appear right beside the girl's so we can watch her carefully and not come across as creeps!" Benjamin replied with a smile. "And with my new technique, it'll be done in a cinch!"

Benjamin shouted the word 'house' in his head multiple times so the wand could fully register that and make the place appear. It took a lot longer than expected to complete. Surprisingly, it appeared beside the girl's house as he wanted. It was a good thing that beside her house lied an empty lot and not an actual house or there really would have been a problem.

Surprised and ecstatic that it worked, even making a rather lovely looking house, Benjamin, Chi-Chi, and Harry all ran across the street, but not before looking both ways for oncoming cars as Chi-Chi insisted. Benjamin turned the doorknob and discovered that it was already unlocked. He opened the door and eagerly walked inside, his sidekicks following him shortly after.

.-.-.-.

After entering the place, the gang marveled at how normal and not suspicious looking the house had turned out to be from the inside. The walls had a beautiful light-colored blue; there rested a yellow-orange chandelier hanging from the ceiling, and a red-violet staircase that could lead to more bedrooms and bathrooms. Hanging on the walls were mint-colored picture frames, which have no pictures inside of them yet, and a jade green carpet beside the door when you'd first enter that would be hard to miss. The place may have looked lovely, but the color choices could use some work.

"You guys can sleep there." Benjamin motioned toward the living room, pointing at a regular-sized light green couch.

The hamster and guinea pig already got settled in on the cushiony couch that adorned the living room. Another sizable colorful rug spread across the floor decorated with large potted plants on both ends of the chamber.

"I'm going to go sleep in a nice comfortable bed in the next room," Benjamin said over his shoulder as he heard the critters arguing over who would get the most massive cushion.

Benjamin went over to the chamber next to the living room to check out how the bedrooms looked. When he got there, he found a 'shocking' discovery. The bedroom looked cute and girly looking, with flowers on the bed sheets, a rainbow on the rug, and a stuffed bunny on the chair. It was everything a young girl could ask for in her room, not a dark magician such as himself.

"Ugh, not even if it was the only bedroom on this planet!" Benjamin exclaimed as he left the room to head back to the area where his sidekicks were. "Hey guys, I changed my mind. I'll call the couch for tonight."

"Aw, but where are we supposed to sleep, the floor?" Harry looked pitifully at his Master while hugging the large cushion that he had enlisted from his sister.

"Sure, why the devil not?" Benjamin shrugged. But then he scratched his chin as he noticed something that didn't occur to him until now.

"Wait, we're next to the girl's house, right? Let's go see what she's up to."

The three went over to the window and peeked at the girl's house from a distance. Unfortunately, the house lights were off, and they couldn't see a thing inside.

"Ugh, just what is she up to and what's she going to do with my sphere?" Benjamin whispered under his breath. "I won't leave until I get it back from her, no matter what."

"So... what now master?" Harry asked, yawning and stretching his back.

"Let's call it a day, I'm tired," Benjamin said as he returned the contagious yawn.

"Good idea," Chi-Chi chimed in.

Benjamin slept on the couch while Chi-Chi and Harry slept on the rug next to the sofa. It was almost as comfy. It had been a long day for the three of them, and hopefully, it would be better tomorrow as they dreamt the night away.

The next day, Harry and Chi-Chi woke up early and tried to wake up their Master in a hurry. When they finally got Benjamin up, he yawned and stretched as they pulled down on his coat, agitating him to some extent.

"Master, Master!" Harry and Chi-Chi exclaimed in unison.

"Ugh, what is it you two?" Benjamin tried to rub the sleep from his tired eyes.

"There's no more food in the fridge!" Chi-Chi said, pointing toward the kitchen.

Harry lightly punched his sister in the arm.

"And the girl already left her house!" He finished.

"Oh... what?!" Benjamin woke up in a flash. He grabbed his coat and hat, which were laying down on the couch arm, and headed for the front door.

"Wait for us!" Harry and Chi-Chi exclaimed, following him toward the exit.

"You guys stay here and watch the base for me."

"Yes, sir- wait what?!"

"I'll go find them myself. Don't want to be conspicuous." Benjamin said as he opened the front door. Having no time to waste at the start of this new day, Benjamin rushed out of the door of his new house in search of the girl.

.-.-.-.

He felt a rush of excitement and worry in his body as he ran down the sidewalk.

While running and looking for her, he almost bumped into another girl. This girl seemed to look like her, but was taller, older, and had yellow streaks in her hair.

"Oh, sorry about that. You looked like someone else I knew." Benjamin said as he held his hand up in apology. "Say, have you seen a girl that looks like you come around here earlier today?"

"I have." The female replied, "I think she went inside that school over there." The lady pointed toward a massive two-story schoolhouse in the near distance. Its sidewalk led to the school entrance.

"Oh wow, I'm glad I asked," Benjamin replied. He tipped his hat and bid the girl a good day as he continued running down the sidewalk toward the school. The magician noticed a small group of students entering the front door. Otherwise, the courtyard appeared empty. He feared that classes were already in session.

Benjamin rushed up the stairs to open the door, determined to find out if the girl was inside. Almost immediately after going inside, the girl from yesterday talking to some tall guy in the nearby hallway caught his attention. His dark sunglasses that reminded him of Lauren and her icy stare. Benjamin hid behind the wall and tried to eavesdrop on the two.

"Hey Nicky, hope I wasn't late." The young female with spectacles said as she walked over to him.

"Not at all. You're about three minutes early." The large framed young man replied, checking his watch.

"Ooh, how neat!" She appeared intrigued that she was early for once.

"So, was there a reason you wanted to talk to me? You look like—" Nicky started before the girl cut his words.

"I need to tell you something shocking and exciting..." She whispered, pausing for added effect.

Benjamin heard his heart beating in his chest. Oh no, could they be...? He thought, holding on to his breath.

"It might seem hard to believe, but you're the only one I trust with this who won't backstab me." She told the young man.

Benjamin didn't dare peek around the corner, but he convinced himself that she would show him the crystal sphere. That would be a disaster! He'd have to deal with two earthlings knowing his secret weapon.

"Of course, so what could it be? The suspense is killing me here!" The young man leaned in closer, hoping that she would share her secret with him, but to his surprise, she walked away.

"Where do you think you're going?" He called out after her.

"I'll tell you during lunch. It's not safe to talk about it here." She glanced back over her shoulder.

She couldn't shake the uncomfortable feeling of being watched, but that wasn't possible. At least, she thought so. How could that guy know where to find her? The girl grew careful when she returned home yesterday, trying not to get caught. Still, she had a sick feeling that she had not seen the last of that magician fellow.

"Alright then, I'll be looking forward to it." The large, framed, teenager turned and headed toward Benjamin.

The magician contemplated overpowering the young man with magic; perhaps taking his place at the lunch meeting. Could he transform himself into looking like him? It'd take a lot of high magic to turn his small framed body into that massive muscle-laden one, but was it worth a try?

He looked over to reach for his pocket to the wand handle out. Wait for it.

"What do you think you're doing?" Benjamin jumped at the sound of someone behind him. "Don't try to explain; I know what you're going to say."

"Wait, you do?" As he turned to face the new voice that startled him, the young man passed him. Benjamin watched as his golden opportunity walked down the hallway and disappeared out of sight. Benjamin had to come up with another way to retrieve his sphere from her, but how?

"Yes, come with me for a moment, ok?"

The lady appeared too old to be a student, yet she dressed like a typical teenager. Benjamin recognized her as the young woman that directed him toward the school. It was that look-a-like from the sidewalk earlier today. Why was she in the school now?

The look-a-like led Benjamin away from the hallway of green walls, red flooring, and yellow doors. One of them had a sign on top, which looked to be the principal's office. She told him to wait here while she went inside. He wondered why he got called at a time like this. After a short while, a voice told him to come in; he slowly opened the door.

Much to his surprise, a different lady stood next to the desk. The look-a-like hung her previous clothes on the wall, while a mannequin with a wig sat on the bureau. He already got weird vibes from this room and desperately wanted to hightail it out of there and try to find the girl that had his sphere.

"Ah, hello there. I've been expecting you." The young lady remarked. She had short purple hair and a long flowing sweater skirt. She didn't look like the young woman that he was pursuing anymore, as her age was more apparent now that she was dressed more like an adult rather than a teen.

"Y-you have?" Benjamin was at a loss for words. He directly pointed at the wig on the desk with a puzzled look on his face.

"Oh, I sometimes dress up differently to learn more about my students here."

"Uh... ok?" Benjamin wasn't entirely sure why that was relevant, but earthlings were rumored to have strange customs. 'Why am I here again?'

"Here's your application, sir." She said, giving him a piece of paper from the top of her desk. "All you have to do is sign here, and you can be in that girl's class."

"Oh, so is that what this is all...? Hmm." Benjamin couldn't believe his luck. He looked down at the standard form that read 'Substitute Teacher Application Form' across the top. It never dawned on him to inquire why the principal knew about his intention to find the young girl or, more importantly, why she was helping him to accomplish this.

"You did want to be a substitute teacher for this school, right?" The principal empathized the words in a taunting tone of voice as if questioning his intentions.

"Uh, yeah I do. Just sign here?" Benjamin took the pen from the principal's hand and wrote his name across the signature line at the bottom of the page. "Ok, this shouldn't be too hard." He said aloud.

"That's right." The principal replied. "Alright, Mr... Benjamin? You're all set." She pointed toward the door as she rolled the application form into a cylinder and tucked it into her desk drawer. "Your class should be on the fifth floor, second door on the right."

"Awesome, nothing's going to stop me now," Benjamin muttered under his breath and got up from the cramped student desk where he had been sitting.

He headed out when the school bell rang, announcing that everyone should be in their class by now. It caught him off guard, and hurt his ears by the loud noise. He touched his head with both of his hands and grunted.

"What's wrong, have you never heard a school bell before?" The principal looked at him while tilting her head, but Benjamin paid her no mind.

He was on a mission and wasted time by staying here. He hurried up the stairs to the fifth floor, now with a new plan in mind.

Just you wait whoever you are because soon I'll be coming for you and my crystal sphere!

In the classroom, the students grew impatient with the absence of their assigned teacher. It was unfortunate enough to have a substitute teacher, but to sit and wait for them to get there, now that was equivalent to torture. The large, framed young man slumped down in his seat and snored quietly. The young pink-haired girl held her book bag closer to her legs. She trusted Nicky to protect her but also knew he wasn't always the brightest tool in the shed.

"Ugh, I wonder what's taking the teacher so long." She groaned out loud. Her eyes opened wide in fear as she held her breath. No. It couldn't be. It just couldn't. There's no way.

Episode 5

Back in the monster world, Sebastian read a couple of books he checked out from the library. He plopped himself down in the middle of the hallway and on the aqua green floor, surrounding himself in a section where the wall was a pale shade of white.

He had remembered spending most of the night trying to figure out if there was a sure-fire way to know who the culprit was and what their motives could be. So far, he seemed to have no such luck. But Sebastian didn't want to give up and let poor Glenda down. He had to keep on going, for her sake.

Just as he opened another one of the books, a familiar voice spoke up and jolted him from his concentration. Sebastian turned to find Troy walking over towards him, seeming to have heard him mumble to himself.

"Hey there, uh, what are you doing?" Troy asked.

"Reading, of course, what does it look like?" Sebastian replied, turning back to the book on his lap.

"But in the middle of the hallway, why?" Troy continued to pester him; his curiosity just wouldn't let up.

"Look, I got nowhere to—" Sebastian started, when the bells rang loud again, causing him to jump. "Oh, goodness, I didn't realize the time! I got to hurry!" He sprung up from his feet, picked up his books, and sprinted down the halls.

"Hey, wait!" Troy called out to him.

"My apologies, Troy, but I don't have time to chat right now!" He shouted without looking back. The last thing Sebastian needed right now was to get a tardy for class.

.-.-.-.

To his relief, Sebastian had made it just in time, and well before the bell rang for the second time. He breathed a sigh of relief as he went over to his seat, his perfect attendance secured, and Benjamin and Lauren won't make fun of him either.

Glenda had walked into the room; after some greetings, she went over to do the daily attendance. Roll call went on as usual, at first. Glenda called Bridget and Lauren's names, and they responded the same way as last time. However, when she came to Sebastian, he didn't respond. Sebastian had trouble straightening himself out. He got so tired and busy from yesterday that he couldn't concentrate on anything she said.

Remembering how he didn't get a lot of sleep last night, his eyes drifted elsewhere. His eyes drooped as he plummeted into a deep slumber. As Glenda called for him once more, Lauren nudged him on the shoulder to get him to wake up.

Sebastian jolted over from his seat and shouted: "I AM A PRESENT!"

Glenda just stood there blankly at him for a while before saying: "Uh, ok then?"

Sebastian placed his head down on the table and sulked quietly to himself.

Oh man, I can't believe I just did that, and in front of everybody, no less. I'd rather have been late for class...

Before saying the last name, Glenda looked over and couldn't help but take a glance at Benjamin's desk. It appeared to be dusty; no one seemed to have noticed about the dead silence without his loud demeanor, energy, and somewhat a lousy attitude.

Glenda bit her lip as her eyes darted across the room, was there already an absent student? They were just about to get into the real meat of the program too. Should she wait for him to arrive before continuing the next lesson? She remembered the principal telling her that all the students should succeed at the same time, and if he were to fall behind- no, she can't take that risk, it wouldn't be worth it. But where had Benjamin gone?

Now that she also thought of it, he did also arrive late yesterday too, so maybe he'll show up at any time soon? But how much longer until he showed up? Then, she thought up an idea to pass up the time.

"We will be postponing our lessons until further notice (or until Benjamin finally shows up)."

"What?!" The other students complained.

"No complaining, you guys do whatever you want until I get back from something, just as long as it isn't stupid or harmful. I'll be right back..." Glenda finished as she got up and left the area, leaving the students inside.

"Uh, what just happened?" Sebastian asked with a yawn.

He raised his head, rubbed his eyes, and looked around, noticing that the teacher was now nowhere in sight.

"Yeah, what was that all about?" Bridget added, "I just hope it's not something too terrible..."

"Eh, who cares?" Lauren shrugged.

Well, I, at least, can finally nap without much consequence. Sebastian thought with a sigh, as he placed his head on top of the desk and closed his eyes.

.-.-.-.

Meanwhile, back in the world with the humans, Benjamin still headed on up to the fifth floor. Slowly, but evidently, he tried to press on, but it grew tiring for him, as the muscles in his body tightened around him and beads of sweat rolled down his body.

How can ordinary humans put up with this tripe? As the magician continued to climb, he looked over and saw that it was only the third floor. How much longer will this go on?! He feared his legs would pass out!

But before Benjamin could potentially think of a way of finding the person who invented the stairs and casting a spell on them, a ding noise caught his attention as he glanced across the hallway.

Huh, did I hear something beneficial for me?

He turned to notice two guys coming out of some weird contraption that took them to this floor with no requirement of walking around. Now that's something a real magician should ride!

"You there," Benjamin spoke to the two of them. "That thing you were on earlier, what is that? It looked like a teleporting magic box."

"Uh, an elevator?" The guy in the wheelchair replied.

"Do you not know what that is?" The other guy who pushed the chair, questioned.

"No, of course not, I demand an explanation!" Benjamin shouted at the guy doing the pushing.

"What's the magic word?" He asked.

"Magic? Do you guys know magic?"

"No, it shouldn't be that hard to—"

"But I can't think of anything like—"

"It's please."

"Please?!"

"Sure, since you said it, but try it in a better tone next time?"

"Huh?"

"An elevator takes you from one floor to another in seconds, push the buttons you see when you come in. However, only those who need it may go inside."

"Wait, then how come you can go in there with no problem?"

"Because I'm with someone who needs it. Lazy schmucks like you can go to the one beside it, or take the stairs; it's good exercise, ya know." The guy snickered as he walked off with the other guy in the chair.

I don't like that guy. Benjamin thought as he glared at him until they both entered a room.

Benjamin decided that it was no time to think about destruction, yet, he had to hurry to class, and that elevator was his ticket up to the highest floor without having his legs sprained. Of course, Benjamin could always use magic, but he didn't want to risk getting caught by someone of little worth.

He turned his head in both directions of the hallway to make sure no one looked before reaching for the elevator button stuck on the wall. It took a while, but it eventually came down with a loud ding sound. As the door opened and Benjamin stood right in front of it, he found himself looking over, some stairs? You have to be kidding! Who puts stairs inside an elevator? And how did they do that!? Would these humans be desperate enough to pull this card!?

Fortunately for him, Benjamin looked over, a guy with crutches headed into an actual looking elevator, which had already opened up. He remembered that the other guy went in with someone who needed it, and so Benjamin decided to follow him inside before the doors closed. Benjamin pushed the five button for the fellow elevator man, as he had to go to that floor as well. He thought this couldn't be a coincidence, but saved time and helped both of them as they waited.

Gravity pushed him down as the elevator rose up two floors. Benjamin wondered what kind of magic caused this. The other guy just looked at him with a confused look on his face. Eventually, the doors opened, and they both got off, heading towards their classes. The dark magician noticed that the guy was a door closer to where he needed to go and struggled to open the door. Benjamin decided that since the boy was of help to him, being the magician that he was, he would open the door for him.

As he did that, however, complete with the man thanking him for his kindness, Benjamin realized something was amiss.

Wait a minute; what am I doing? I shouldn't be doing this; I have a crucial task to do! Benjamin paced the halls in a state of panic. What kind of a dark magician am I? I'm the worst!

He desperately needed to hightail it to class; Benjamin ran but then stopped upon realizing that his room was next door. He got ready in position and smiled before opening the door. Now it's time to show them what he's got; it's showtime.

"Are we going to have class?" The girl with spectacles tapped her desk with a pencil rather roughly.

"Hey, I think I see him outside." A classmate brought up, pointing at the door.

"It's about time," The black-haired boy yawned and rubbed his eyes through his sunglasses, "I was just about to leave." He straightened himself out before the door swung open, and smoke appeared out of the door. "Wait, how-?"

"Hello there class," A voice echoed, "I will be your new substitute teacher for the day!"

That voice. The pink-haired girl thought as her eyes widened. Oh no, what is he doing here!?

As the smoke cleared and the door and curtains shut, a light shined down on the guy standing on the teacher's desk, acting as if he was doing a little opening performance before starting the main event to his captivating audience.

"My name is Benjamin, and I look forward to knowing you personally, as well as your weakness- I mean personalities!"

"Ok, but could you write your name on the board?" A classmate asked.

"Why? I just told you who I was, didn't I?"

"Yeah, but all the teachers I know do that sort of thing. And what if we forget who you are?"

How could they forget who he was? He's the great dark magician; he could blow up this classroom in the blink of an eye if he wanted to! However, Benjamin didn't want to get on anyone's bad side and say something he shouldn't, so he played along for now.

"Fair enough, I suppose." These species are known to be stupid and mindless, so I've heard. It figures that they need a reminder to such a simple thing.

After picking up a piece of chalk and writing his name, he checked at the desk for what they call in the Monster World, a magic scroll (which has people's names inscribed on them) for roll call procedures. And so, the magician finally pulled out a stack of papers with poorly drawn handwriting and plopped them on top of the desk.

As his eyes squint at trying to read them, he called the names out one by one, with each student raising their hands once they heard them. Benjamin's eyes shifted between the book and the classroom, waiting for the two that are on his radar to lift their hands. It didn't seem like it was going anywhere until he got to their names at last.

"Nicholas..." Benjamin called out.

"Here." The same tall guy with the dark shades raised his arm.

"Isabelle..." Benjamin continued.

"H-here..." The pink-haired girl with glasses slowly lifted her arm before quickly putting it down and staring at her desk.

A-ha, so that's what her name is! Benjamin thought with a big smile on his face. Now that he finally knows the name of his upcoming opponent, his next step can now commence. "Alright, that's enough roll call for today." He concluded as he put the papers back in the desk while some other students glanced at each other in confusion. "Now let's see what we can do next..."

Benjamin looked over at some exciting books near the shelves and pulled them out one by one. He flipped through each of the pages to find anything interesting to talk about with the class. So far, none of them seemed to pique his interest.

He wasn't sure if the students would mind these or if they've already learned about them, but there wasn't a point if it didn't catch the eyes of the great magician. Eventually, he gave up searching. He realized, by looking at the clock, that he was wasting precious time doing nothing.

Is it a first for these students? He thought. That was when he had an idea.

"You know what? This book looks dull. So how about for today's assignment, you guys do an essay about Japanese wars, and in Japanese?"

It seemed impossible, which was why everybody booed at the thought of actually trying it. Benjamin calmed the students down by saying that there is an alternative that they could do instead; they leaned in closer, pleading for him to go on with the details. With a smirk on his face; knowing full well that they had fallen into his trap, Benjamin decided to press on.

Now having the attention of all the classmates, Benjamin went up to the board and took a blue marker.

"Tell you what; there's something else you guys could do for me," He explained to them, "I lost something imperative while coming here, and I need you guys to find it for me." Drawing a circle, Benjamin stepped aside to give everyone a view of what he was referring to. "It's called a Crystal Sphere, and it looks like this."

"Oh, no..." Isabelle murmured under her breath. Nicholas turned his head in confusion to what she just said.

"And the first person to find that and bring it to me does not have to do the essay." The dark magician finished.

The words rang in the student's ears as they took their stuff and ran out the door. Everybody seemed to rush after it. Everyone, that is, except for Nicholas and Isabelle. Benjamin got out of his seat to lock the door, turned to Isabelle, and walked across to her table.

"What do you want?" Isabelle hissed, her hands gripped to her chair.

"Well, well, Isabelle, was it?" Benjamin asked with a smug smile on his face.

"Yeah, I already told you that." She got up from her table and took a few steps away from him.

"Why didn't you go with the rest of them?" Benjamin questioned, leaning a little closer.

"Because I know, you're up to something..."

"Me? Why I'd never—"

"I don't believe you, so why don't you just leave us alone already?" She retorted while shifting her eyes to him, Nicholas, and her bag.

"Aw, that's not very nice." He fake pouted.

"Like I said earlier, what do you want with us?"

"Oh, you know what I want, it's the crystal sphere, the one you took from me yesterday!"

What the heck is going on? Nicholas thought as he listened and watched the two argue back and forth, moving his head to the one currently talking.

"Look, I don't know what you're talking about... Benny" Isabelle rolled her eyes.

Ooh, why that little— "I know you have it. I saw you take it from me with my own two eyes!" Benjamin roared.

"Oh yeah? Where's your proof?"

"Proof? What is wrong with you humans and—?"

"Yeah right, like I'd even tell you, regardless! Why should I?"

"Well, I'm your teacher for one, and being the superiority, you have no choice but to listen to me and do what I say!"

"I could, but I have a right not to. Besides, why would I have that thing you were talking about right now? I mean it's not like I hid it in my locker or anything- oops!"

As the words escaped from her mouth, Isabelle covered them with her hands as Benjamin smiled and reached for the exit door. "I'll be back; don't you two go anywhere now!" He unlocked the door and shut it from behind them, leaving the two all alone.

"He's gone, and not a moment too soon." Isabelle sighed, as the tension of the area died down.

"Yeah, I'll say," Nicholas added, getting up from his seat. "Say, is that device inside your locker?" He turned to ask.

"As if!" She cackled to the response, "Do you think I'd be stupid enough to pull that card?"

"Well, no, of course not! But then where could it be?"

"This is what he was talking about." Isabelle took her bag and unzipped it, pulling out a small aqua green ball with a matching glow and light reflection.

"No way, so he's not talking crazy, then! But, Izzy, how did you...?"

"It's a long and complicated story, Nicky. I wanted to tell you at lunchtime but..."

"Well, I have all the time you need."

.-.-.-.

Meanwhile, back at the Monster World, the class ended, and Sebastian went back to the library to check up on more books. That nap he had earlier refreshed him right back up. But there was no time for any real celebration just yet. He still had to continue his research.

That was when some loud footsteps startled the boy, causing him to nearly trip and drop his books.

How rude! Sebastian thought, after gaining his composure. Had that person never been to a library before?! Whoever's that needs to be silent! Sebastian turned to see Troy, who once again, bothered him while he [Sebastian] was busy with something else.

"Hey there, Sebastian, what's up?" Troy asked.

Sebastian put his finger to his mouth and shushed him. "This is a library; did you forget?" He hissed, "Now whatever do you want? Can't you see that I am a busy man over here?"

"Oh, sorry," Troy whispered back. "But I wanted to bring you a message."

"From who, Bridget or Glenda?"

"Neither, it's from Lauren."

"Really? But what could she want?"

"She wants you to meet her at the P. E. fields after school today. You know where it is right?"

"Yeah, besides the gym. But, do you know why, though?"

"No, I'm just a messenger."

"But what if you're lying to me?"

"Have I lied to you before?"

"No, I do not recall..."

This confused Sebastian, why did she of all people want to meet him there of all places? Was it a prank? Did Lauren want to mock him this morning? He was uncertain if he should follow this, but at the same time, this left Sebastian curious. Why couldn't she ask him upfront instead of having a messenger tell him to meet her there?

Maybe it's something important after all. So important, that she wanted to speak to only him about the situation at hand. After much deliberation, Sebastian decided to go see what the fuss was all about. He took all of his books and headed out.

"Eh? Are you leaving already? But it's not—"

"I don't see why not," Sebastian interrupted, "Besides I don't think it'd hurt to head out early."

As he headed down that way, he nearly bumped into Glenda, and the two (silently and secretly) chatted about the progress that they had made so far.

"Good afternoon, how are things going for you?" Sebastian greeted.

"It's fine. How about you? Found anything interesting?" Glenda asked.

"Going great, as a matter of fact, I'm going to investigate outside."

"What an excellent idea! Don't let me stop you now."

As the two waved their goodbyes and parted ways, Glenda thought about contacting Clause, since she hadn't heard or seen him in quite a while. A man calling out to her interrupted her thoughts, as she turned around and Troy dashed across the hallway in her view. She called him over shortly after.

"Troy, what l did I tell you about running in the halls?" She pointed at him, waving her finger in shame.

"Um, to not do it?" Troy answered.

"Precisely." She wasn't sure how to respond to that but decided it was best to keep an open mind while she could.

"Hey, now that—"

Before Troy could finish his sentence, Glenda's hologram phone started going off as she reached into her pocket to check who was calling.

Clause? What could he want now at a time like this? She placed her phone back into her pocket.

"Sorry, Troy, but this will have to wait. I have an urgent call to take, and don't let me catch you running again."

Glenda went off in a hurry, leaving Troy all alone in the halls. As he turned and went the opposite direction, a smile crept on his face.

Ah well, it's her loss. Not like I have to tell her. I might as well see what they're up to...

Episode 6

Sebastian made it out of the school to meet up with Lauren, who waited beside a tree humming to herself. She turned to find him standing there and gave him a 'warm welcome.'

"Huh, was wondering if you'd ever show up, by the looks of things I thought you'd have refused," Lauren said.

"Uh, hello to you, too?" Sebastian didn't know if he should take offense to that statement or not. What was her deal? But regardless, he should get straight to the point. "So, I got your message from Troy. What is it you want?"

'Wow, rude much?' "Um, how do I put this...?" Lauren scratched her chin to that statement.

"You're not here to pick a fight with me, are you?" Sebastian jumped to conclusions and placed his arms on his hips. "Because if it's a fight you want..."

"Look, I don't want to fight you."

"Oh, so did you just want to insult me in how—?"

"No, not yet. Just listen to what I need to say, alright?"

"Alright. Wait..."

"I want to help you... well, find the traitor, of course."

"Hmm, sounds reasonable." Sebastian nodded his head in agreement before letting what she just said sink in. "Wait. What?! How did you know about that? I don't remember—"

"It doesn't matter."

"It does for me."

"Well, it'd be shameful if Glenda were to find out you let a student follow you. Not to mention let her sneak into the magic room to eavesdrop and use the information as blackmail..."

"Are you kidding me!? What the devil—?"

"I want in. Got it?"

"Childish demand much? And what do you even have to gain for this? You're usually the type who expects a serious reward for—"

"What do you take me for?" Sebastian paused when he heard Lauren say that. Was he seeing a new side of her? She didn't seem like the type that could act this way. Then again, he judged her from the outside and her attitude in the past, which made him feel bad.

As Lauren walked off, with her hands behind her back, she continued her speech. "Don't get the wrong idea, I'm not doing this for you, or the school." She stopped for a moment to twist her foot on the ground, "It's something more... personal, that I got to sort out." She turned back to face him, "You're doing this for a good cause too, right?"

Sebastian was at a loss for words. For the first time, in a long time, he was speechless. Unsure of how to adequately express his thoughts on the matter. Of course, he was doing it for the greater good, his teacher and grandmother said so herself, but was he? Was that his only reason for reporting 'yes' to her?

As Lauren waited for an answer, Sebastian, for now, just nodded. "It's also personal for me." He looked up to her, finding she now smiled at him, "I had no idea about you, though, my deepest apologies."

"It's okay." She replied, "I'll forgive you if you pay up your bargain. So what do you say?" She extended her arm for him to shake. "Partners?"

Sebastian noticed the hand and made a small grin. "Yeah." He went over to shake it. "Alright, just don't tell anyone about that secret either, ok?"

"You got it; the secret is safe with me."

After shaking, Sebastian clasped his hands together in excitement. "We should let each other know what we've done and found so far. That way, neither is lost and—"

"Nah, that's too time-consuming." Lauren waved her hand in disagreement. "Besides, what I got is hard to explain."

"Oh, I see..."

"Rather, why tell you when I can just show you instead?" She pointed next to the tree beside the windows. "You stand behind that tree, and don't move, no matter what, alright?"

"Okay?" Sebastian had no clue what was going on, but maybe he should trust her and wait and see what happened next.

Lauren walked to the center of the fields and tapped her foot in some rhythmic pattern.

.-.-.-.

Meanwhile, inside the school, after Glenda had received a call from Clause, she hurried to a room and locked the door so no one else could hear them. Surely there must be some reason he called outside, outside of being lonely and stopping to say hello or make stupid jokes again. Glenda sighed and answered the phone. Then again, she thought about calling him earlier, so maybe it'll be okay. This had better be good.

Glenda pressed the dial button, and enabled the hologram feature, and he appeared in the light blue somewhat static-like screening.

"So, how is your progress going so far?" She adjusted her glasses, ignoring the weird exchange earlier.

"Progress? Oh, yes, right, progress!" It took a while for it to register for him. Maybe this wasn't a good idea to leave him in charge of watching after all. "Well, about that... I haven't made much since no one else has come by since you left, and considering how worried I was that something bad might have happened to—"

Yep. "Well, I appreciate the concern, but worry about your goals at the moment." Glenda pointed out as politely as she could, to which Clause nodded. "To be honest, I haven't made much progress either..."

"Is that so?" He inquired, raising his eyebrows.

"But, I have been doing some process of elimination on who could be the one behind all this, including who the traitor is working for!"

"You mean there's a chance there could be more than one!?"

"Of course, but it could be anybody, however..."

"But they all seem to like—"

A loud, rumbling noise interrupted them. The hologram got more static, and the ground shook to the core.

Nearly losing her balance, Glenda grabbed onto a table and headed toward the door while Clause almost lost connection to her. "W-what's going on?!" Clause asked.

"I don't know, but I'm going to check for myself!"

"W-wait!"

"What?!"

"Should we at least tell Sebastian that—?" The device cut off before he could finish, and the phone floated back into Glenda's pockets. The earthquake soon settled down. Glenda looked down at the phone, and, clenching her fists, she headed out of the room as fast as possible.

.-.-.-.

Outside the school, Sebastian lied on the grass with his eyes shut and his head spinning as grass crunched beneath him. When he came to, Lauren walked over and helped him back on his feet. He had tried to keep his balance during the quake, but failed.

"W-what happened? What's going on?" He asked, nervously.

"Come see for yourself..." Lauren responded, pointing over to the giant, gaping hole that had appeared within the ground.

The two walked over as the ground had split in two, a giant glowing staircase had also appeared and run down. Eventually, the Earth stopped shaking.

A secret passage? I never knew we had one here this whole time. Sebastian thought as he stared down, wondering where the stairs led underneath the black abyss. How did she find this place?

"It's a little hard to explain like I said," Lauren replied, almost as if she read his mind, or she knew what he would be thinking. "Come on, shall we head down before it closes up again?"

"I've yet to know where this will lead to, but I'm sure it's important, so..."

"You'll see when we get there."

As they left, a shadowy figure looked over from a window, while another from a tree nearby; one with confusion and worry, the other with mischievousness and delight.

.-.-.-.

Sebastian and Lauren walked down the stairs as the ground behind closed in on them until it was completely dark. There's no turning back now. Some bright lights appeared from the previously black ceiling as it shone and moved like a planetarium in 3D. Shooting stars danced around and fell. Sebastian's mouth gaped as he the whole spectacle.

Lauren told him to watch where he was going, as they stumbled across some floating blocks above what appeared to be a light blue bottomless pit. One by one, Lauren jumped on each different colored one, like it was hopscotch. Sebastian, on the other hand, carefully tried to follow suit, like it was some obstacle course, without falling off.

Eventually, the two made it to the other side and continued to walk down the merry path. This time, Sebastian and Lauren got on some weird looking space train tracks. Sebastian looked and saw that he and Lauren were now upside down somehow. He looked up and saw a familiar-looking path, almost as if it was the same one that led to the ABCD.

"Hey, I was wondering..." Sebastian began.

"Will you stop it with the questions?" Lauren retorted. "We'll get there soon enough, and your answer will surely come!"

"That sounds real—"

"Is someone there?" An older voice shouted, "I can hear you from a distance, and you look familiar, show yourself!"

Sebastian widened his eyes and covered his mouth. He remembered that Clause was here, waiting in case someone suspicious were to show up. Maybe the man would keep a secret? Then again, he's not a great liar. Sebastian asked Lauren to lie low for the time being as he used his magic to float over to where Clause was.

Hmm, was I hearing things? Clause thought, Man, it sure is boring with no one to talk to, and just when things were starting to get—

"Hello, Counselor Clause." Sebastian interrupted with a greeting.

"Oh, goodness!" Clause turned back and got spooked.

"A-apologies if I scared you, sir." Sebastian frowned at the guy's cowardice. What would he have done if the traitor person did show up?

"Me, scared? Not at all dear boy!" Clause came back to his senses and exclaimed. He didn't want one of the students to think an adult was a useless wimp, but wasn't sure how to convey it. "I was just about to call you on my phone."

"Why is that?" Sebastian placed his hands on his hips, not convinced by what the older man was saying.

"For you see, I think I have found out who's behind all of this!" Clause added proudly.

"But do you have any proof?"

"Um..." His trail went off after hearing that, "No, not really..."

"Then how can you be so sure?"

"Yeah, I suppose you're right."

"Also shouldn't you be in your post? What if someone was to, you know..."?

"Oh, that's right, my apologies."

As Clause walked away, Sebastian turned and looked down, only to notice that Lauren wasn't there anymore, even though he told her to stay put.

"Would you like to accompany me?" Clause asked him.

"Oh, sure thing sir," Sebastian replied and hurriedly followed him without looking back.

.-.-.-.

Meanwhile, back in the human world, Benjamin snooped around to find the sphere. While looking around, he stumbled across a calculator inside one of the opened lockers and stares at it. Remembered learning a particular spell like this back in the library (while still finding a way to get here), Benjamin reprogramed the device to make it more of an analyzer, so it'd be easier for him to search for the sphere. After getting it to work, he went to each locker one by one, trying to see what each one contained, and if any of them had the sphere, he sought.

So far, no such luck. As Benjamin wandered floor to floor, inspecting every big and small locker that there was, he questioned the possibilities of finding one sphere among so many cabinets and how many of them there were. Why were they all the same color? Benjamin didn't remember them all being blue before; maybe he was on a different floor?

There had to be a more straightforward method of doing this; he got sick and tired of seeing everyone's books, clothes, and a bunch of other garbage that these humans have, but where could this magician find it? He knew her name, but they don't show names on there at all? Wait, of course!

.-.-.-.

In a nearby office, the Earth Principal checked something out on her computer.

A loud knock on the door startled her, who could it be? The Principal with purple hair closed off all the tabs she had on before replying to the loud banging sound.

"Come in; whoever you are." She said as the door swung open.

Benjamin stepped inside and closed the door behind him.

"Hey, lady, I need some help with..." Benjamin started with his hands raised; his voice trailed off, looking over to see the computer the lady was nearby.

"Yes, Mr. Benjamin, what is it?" She asked in a cheery tone.

"Ooh, what's that thing you got over there?" He inquired, pointing at the device.

"Um, a computer? You do all sorts of things with it." The human Principal raised an eyebrow. Did he not know about computers?

"Oh really? And by any chance, could it also—?"

"It could, but you are not allowed to."

"Can you stop interrupting me? How will you know what I'm saying if—?"

"You want to know who each locker belongs to, correct?" The principal asked, this time, in a more serious tone.

"H-how did you know?" A shiver fell down Benjamin's spine. He couldn't believe this, was he afraid? No, it can't be. "L-look, I need to find something critical and—"

"I don't care for excuses; your words are meaningless. Why do you even want to do that?"

"Maybe if you stop interrupting—"

"Don't you have a class to teach, Mr. Benjamin?"

"I..."

"...You're not planning something, are you? Why are you here?"

"I'm not doing anything suspicious at all!"

"Do you mean it?"

"Y-yes, I swear."

The human principal examined him before responding again. "Get out."

.-.-.-.

Phew, that was a close one. Benjamin thought as he rushed out of the door, his heart pounded across his ribcage. After taking a couple of breathers and calming down, it occurred to him.

Wait, why am I acting scared? That's not like me at all! He turned to the principal's door and felt a dark aura surrounding it. If that scary lady's going to be like that, then so be it! We'll see who comes out on top, cause two can play it that game!

.-.-.-.

Back in the Monster World, Sebastian and Clause had made it back to the Abstract Bizarre Colorful Dimensions. Only this time, it appeared a lot different from the last time Sebastian was there. All doors lost their color, including the one they had looked over before.

Even the path leading up to here had lost all of its colors. As if it sucked up by a black and white vacuum, looking like it was falling apart. The two guys stood there in the middle of the room, unsure of what to do next.

"Hey, Clause," Sebastian started, "Is it alright if I look around?"

"Certainly, dear boy," Clause replied, "Go and explore as much as you like!"

"But wait, before I go, I'd like to ask: who do you think is the culprit?"

"Well..." Clause pondered, "By deductions not too long ago, and the process of elimination, I believe the chances are it could be one of your classmates. Or someone in this school."

Great. Sebastian couldn't see it being someone who wasn't a part of the school, but one of his classmates?

"I'm not sure..." He started, when a faint sound rang through his ears.

"Sebastian, come over here." The mellow voice called out to him.

"I too am uncertain, they seem like nice people, the lot of them." Clause said.

However, Sebastian could not hear the man anymore as he was too fixated on the soft voice that told him to go down below the central area. He checked and followed the sound of it.

That voice turned out to be coming from Lauren as she appeared floating around. Tired of her nonsense, Sebastian was just about to ask what she was doing; that was when she opened a magic door out of thin air.

"If you want most of your questions answered and discover the way to the culprit, then you better follow me," Lauren told him before stepping inside, leaving Sebastian behind, speechless.

Sebastian was about to gasp, but he covered his mouth and tried to keep it all in. His eyes fixated on the door. After a gulp, he went forward without looking back or hearing any other sounds as the door closed behind him.

"I mean, we cannot judge by appearance, after all." Clause continued, "It could be anyone so it might be best not to trust anyone because if you let your guard down—" He turned around and finally noticed that Sebastian disappeared from his sights, cutting his speech short.

"Huh? Where did you go?" He looked around the area and saw that nobody else there. "You're not hiding from me, are you? Did you go back to the academy or are you still here?" There was no response. "Can you at least say something and not give me the silent treatment?" Again, no reply. Clause felt uneasy with this unnerving atmosphere and didn't know what to do next.

He heard some breathing sounds from behind him, and a shadow towering over him. "Sebastian, is that you? I was so worried for a minute that—" As he turned; however, he gasped in shock. "—you!"

.-.-.-.

Glenda went outside of the school to investigate the strange earthquake. To her surprise, she couldn't find anything of note.

Huh, I could have sworn that there was a vast chasm here when I looked out of the window. Am I going crazy now? She thought while standing in the middle of the field. She reached into her dress pocket, pulled out her phone, and dialed Sebastian's number, to be on the safe side.

When he did not answer back, she tried to call Clause instead; the phone picked up this time. The hologram that popped out of the phone appeared distorted and static-like, and the voice sounded a bit off-putting as well.

"Ah, Glenda," The voice on the other side greeted her, "I see you were trying to call a particular someone."

"What—? Who is this?!" Glenda asked.

"Aw, don't you recognize me? It is I, Clause."

"Really? You're acting a bit weird. You also don't sound so good either..." Glenda scratched the back of her head in retaliation to that.

"Oh. I must be getting tired; I didn't have a good sleep last night." He yawned. "But, if you're concerned about Sebastian, then don't worry, he's with me."

"Hey, how come Sebastian didn't answer my—?"

"Well, to answer your second question, I think he forgot to charge it the other night. And as for the first, well, let's say that I kind of dropped my phone."

"You, what?"

"I said—"

"I heard what you said, but why did you drop it in the first place?"

"I guess out of shock? I mean someone sneaked up on us and—"

"Wait, could they be...?"

"We're going to find out now; you can talk with Sebastian when we finish up if you want. We'll figure this out in no time at all!"

"Excellent, glad to hear that."

"Oh, I have to go. I should give the boy a hand."

The boy? "Yeah, you go do that..."

"See you later."

Glenda turned off the phone and sighed in relief. I guess I shouldn't worry too much now. At least things will be over before it gets bad...

.-.-.-.

Laughter echoed throughout the chamber. "Oh man, I knew the voice changing spell would work someday, but I never thought it would work that well!"

The person who wore a black cloak tossed the phone on the floor and threw some purple magic at it. The device soon exploded and dissipated into thin air.

"Wait until the Boss hears about this, we'll finally—" Before the cloaked figure could finish, they heard some grunting noises and turned around to find, "Oh, awake already?"

"I... can't believe you're doing this." The mustachioed man said weakly, as he tried to get up on the floor. "You... won't get away with—"

"Zip it, old man." The figure retorted as magic flowed from their fingertips, "We're going to be done with this before you know it. We're going to take over soon enough regardless..." They walked closer to him. "Now, why don't you sit back, relax, and watch your world slowly crumble?"

Episode 7

Lauren and Sebastian stumbled around in the darkness. Lauren used fire magic to help them see better, but it still wasn't enough to get a good view of this new room that they found themselves. The two looked around for a better source to brighten up the whole area.

Before Sebastian could complain; however, Lauren's eyes caught a chandelier. She used her magic to light it up, and could see the room. Sebastian finally saw what she had been mentioning right before they went through the door.

He couldn't believe what was right in front of him. A bunch of rainbow-colored doors floated about and circled him and Lauren in a rhythmic pattern. After a while, the doors stopped and continued to float in mid-air amidst the endless void.

So, what do you think?" Lauren turned to Sebastian, wanting to know his opinion.

"Well, it looks cool," Sebastian started, tilting his head. "But what separates these from the other doors, besides the color?"

Lauren rolled her eyes. "For Goblin's sake, do I have to spoon-feed you everything now? I thought you were smarter than that..."

"Well, excuse me for having a different mindset as you!" Sebastian retorted, "Don't expect me to get everything right away, your highness..."

Lauren took a deep breath and calmed down, as she knew arguing wouldn't get either of them anywhere.

"My mother once told me that these doors can only open by using specific magic on them." She explained, "Not only that, but a person's thought can influence them too. Depending on what you think, you'll end up in a different location."

"Ah, I see..."

"Allow me to demonstrate."

"No thanks, I think I got the gist of it by—"

Lauren, ignoring his retort, readied her magic to test it out. A weirdly colored aura surrounded her hands as she reached for the doorknob.

Focusing hard on a specific location she knew, Lauren opened the door. Within it was a big blue void with white clouds surrounding it. She told Sebastian to inspect the place.

Sebastian shrugged it off and went to see why she was so forceful. Lauren moved to the side and gave him some room. He looked over at the view in front of him. Strange, Sebastian had never felt like this before.

Sebastian looked around; it looked simple, but something about it touched him inside. He almost wished that he could get a closer look at it. A force pushed him forward, straight through the door as he fell through.

Lauren slammed the door behind her, making sure that he wouldn't get back up. When she turned around, a small black ball with light blue eyes, floated beside her, as if it had waited for her the whole time.

"Oh, hey, there, Aoguro." Lauren greeted. "Did You-Know-Who send you over here to check up on me? Well, no need to worry, because I got it done. Speaking of, I think he's done and is probably waiting for me, better not dilly dally any longer." She motioned for the ball to follow her.

.-.-.-.

Still at the ABCD, but out of the dark, rainbow room, Lauren and Aoguro reached the center of the room filled with black and white doors. A person in a cloak stood there, menacingly.

"So, you're still here?" Lauren asked.

"Have you finished already?" The person in the black cloak asked in a deep, menacing voice.

"Uh huh, wasn't as hard as I thought it'd be..." She replied.

"Excellent work."

"Will you knock it off with that voice-changing spell?" Lauren complained, "No one is around here to listen to that."

"Aw, but I like this voice..."

"Well, did you at least do your part?"

"Yeah, it was so much easier than I thought it'd be." The figure responded, reaching up and unveiling his hood.

"I see, and what did you do with him... Troy?"

"Why, the same thing you did with Sebastian, of course." Troy placed his hands on his hips with pride.

"How would you know what I did with him? Is that why this little guy is here?" Lauren asked, pointing at Aoguro.

"Aw, come on; what's wrong with making sure things go to plan without getting caught?"

"Fair enough, I suppose."

"See?"

"Three down." She muttered, "If only they could see me now..."

"Uh, Lauren?"

"I'm all right; let's just hurry and leave before we get spotted."

"Alright, then." Troy pulled his hood back up and headed out with Lauren. Sorry, Sebastian, I didn't want anything bad to happen to you, but that's what you get for messing with us...

.-.-.-.

Back in the human world, Benjamin had devised a plan and had now set out to put it into motion. He placed a soda can beside the principal's door and knocked on the door a few times. Then, he hid behind a convenient crevice within the wall to peek from and wait until she eventually came out. Once she opened the door and took the can of soda, Benjamin would use his rod to— wait, why wasn't the wand in his pockets?

Oh no, don't tell me... Benjamin thought, his eyes widened in shock.

.-.-.-.

At their secret base, Harry and Chi-Chi lied down on the yellow-green couch watching TV. The show right now had some gorgeous high-class Butler trying to solve a murder mystery at his new job. He worked in a mansion called The Grace Bourne Manor, and tried to protect his 'Master' all while not losing his sanity in the process (with the help of his mentor of course).

The episode played a rerun where the main character dealt with a warp inside a cookie jar and a spell book that belonged to one of the residents of the Manor.

Harry and Chi-Chi got invested and tried to hang onto every word, but whenever the commercials pop up, and they played a stupid ad regarding sitcom tropes and hair or makeup products, the two would get bored.

"I don't like this," Chi-Chi mumbled, slumping against her seat.

"No worries sis. I'll keep changing channels until they stop and return to the program." Harry replied, hitting some buttons on the remote.

The two hit the device on accident while playing around as the remote switched the program on the TV.

Curious and intrigued, they both went over to inspect, wondering if it was magic or not. Eventually, it hurt their eyes and heads, so they watched from a distance farther away, on the couch.

They said nothing to each other for a while as they kept switching channels until Harry found a cooking channel and Chi-Chi told him to stop there.

"Hey, Chi-Chi," The hamster said, breaking the brief silence. "Do you feel like we forgot something?"

"Like what?" The guinea pig asked while continuing to stare at the television.

Harry turned and pointed to a wand that rested right beside the couch. "Well, that wand down there, wasn't Master supposed to take that with him?"

"Was he? I don't remember..." Chi-Chi replied, this time turning to face her brother.

"Well, shouldn't we go and give that—?"

"Harry, didn't you hear what he said earlier? We're supposed to stay here and make sure no one finds out about our new secret base. I'm sure he'll be okay without us getting in his way..."

"I suppose you're right; this is Master we're talking about here."

"Exactly! Now check and see if that Butler show is back on..."

"Oh, you're right; it should be by now!"

.-.-.-.

Aw man, this sucks! Benjamin slapped his forehead in frustration.

And he worked so hard on getting that blasted soda from the vending machine too! Why didn't it occur to him earlier to check for the wand? Benjamin should have, at least, had a Plan B before this.

But before he realized it, the door to the Principal's office creaked open. He hurried back to his wall, crevice to avoid getting caught by her. The Principal exited the room and noticed the drink on the floor.

"Hmm, I wonder why this is out and about..." She sighed with a smile. "Oh well, guess it's mine now." She said as she walked over to pick it up. "Though I should hurry to the bathroom before drinking this. It'd be awful if someone were to break into my office." She mumbled to herself as she walked in the bathroom's direction. Benjamin snuck over to the room at a breakneck pace.

He entered the room as the Principal's footsteps grew weaker, he could not believe what had happened. His plan worked. He made it! But he had no time to relax, for this was the start of his newly awaited scheme!

Benjamin turned to find a computer on her desk. He reached over and got the screen working. Hopefully, he'd be able to find Isabelle's locker before the Principal returned.

Alright, time to find out what I've been missing!

Looking at the screen, it appeared to have multiple small icons with arrows next to them. Frankly, Benjamin wasn't so sure as to which was the one to click, especially since he can't waste time.

Scanning over the names and what the icons depicted, he moved the mouse over to where a particular letter, which was separate from the other symbols and clicked it a bunch of times.

A large window opened which made him jump from the seat but was more surprised to see what he saw on the website. It had a plethora of weird information on the front and side of the main screen. Benjamin scrolled down until something piqued his interest: Locker Intel.

He rapidly clicked on it until the screen froze. Benjamin shook the computer and searched for a way to make it work faster. Eventually, he gave up and waited until the screen fixed itself and showed a password mechanic.

It took a while for Benjamin to crack the code as he guessed until he got it right by pure chance.

.-.-.-.

Back inside the classrooms, Isabelle whispered what she knew, how she and the strange boy met, and all the complicated stuff surrounding it. Isabelle pressed against the door to listen in and see if anyone was nearby.

It seemed like no one was there, not yet anyway. Isabelle walked over to the teacher's desk and cleared some things out of her way to make room for her laptop and the shiny object.

"Alright, now to see how this thing works," She said while placing her stuff down on the desk to inspect.

"Do you need some help with that?" Nicholas asked while raising his hand.

"No thanks, I'm good." She replied. "But observe your surroundings for anything suspicious."

Isabelle placed the crystal sphere to the side and tried looking it up online to analyze whatever she could find. Nicholas waited in his seat; he slid beside the door to listen in on anyone that came by.

She couldn't find much regarding the purpose of the orb, so Isabelle picked it up and gazed at it through her glasses. What is it about this object that intrigued the magician so much that he'd steal it back from her? Could there be a clue within the texture, size, and color?

As she placed it back down on the desk to take notes, an electric surge came through, causing the computer to crash and shut itself with the sphere inside.

Nicholas got up from his seat and jolted over to where Isabelle was, who backed up from the desk in shock at first but then reached over to open it up, though it seemed to work with no sphere in sight. It was gone, and so was her save data.

.-.-.-.

In the hallway, a custodian minded his own business doing his job, when he turned a corner and saw something coming out of the door. Not sure what to do, the custodian rushed downstairs hoping to call for help.

However, the person was unaware that the principal occupied elsewhere at the moment. Benjamin, still inside the office, continued searching for the crystal sphere. To his shock, however, the information he found had nothing of interest.

What's going on here? Did that girl lie to me? If so, where was the sphere then? Has everything I've done so far all been for nothing? Why...?

Benjamin's thoughts were interrupted when he looked down at a speaker in one of the slightly open drawers. After seeing it, a small smirk appeared on his face as he had thought up another idea.

.-.-.-.

"What's happening?" Isabelle asked upon noticing her laptop moving around going haywire.

"I don't know!" Nicholas replied, taking a step back.

The device threw sparks around the area; the two ducked for cover underneath their desks until it died down. After falling on the floor, the two looked up as the chaos stopped. The laptop floated over to where Isabelle was, sitting on the floor, shocked, and gently fell onto her lap.

"That... was weird. What happened?" Nicholas asked, rubbing his head.

"Beats me." Isabelle shrugged. "But that doesn't matter now; we need to go somewhere more secure and discuss this at a later time." The two got up as she placed the now glowing laptop back into her bag. "I'm sure no one is out—"

"Attention, may I have your attention everyone?" The speakers had turned on as a familiar voice shouted through the speakers. "Wait, is this thing turned on right now? Am I doing this right? What do you humans say to, uh, testing? Ah, whatever."

That voice, oh no. Isabelle thought as beads of sweat fell from her face.

"Regardless, this is your new principal speaking with a special announcement. I'm more than willing to give anyone a paid week off; all they have to do is one thing for me.

Find the girl with pink hair and yellow glasses and steal the crystal sphere from her by any means necessary. Bring it to a good looking man in a purple cape and hat, and I'll reward you handsomely. You have until the end of the day..."

"Shoot, we can't stay here any longer. What are we going to do now?!" Isabelle cried.

As Isabelle panicked, Nicholas comforted her and told her not to worry, as he had an idea, albeit a semi-stupid one. He pointed out toward a fire escape that they could use to get out quickly.

But they'd have to traverse outside the building via the windows. However, they didn't want to risk getting caught by any of the students or teachers that would be lurking around.

At first, Isabelle hesitated to respond, but she eventually, gulped and nodded in agreement as they hurried over to the windows with her bag and laptop in hand. He was coming, and they had to get out of there as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, Benjamin, noticing the door locked from the outside, tried to use magic to open it and get out. When it didn't work, he feared that his time spent on Earth had caused his powers to grow weaker.

Enraged and petrified at the thought of becoming like those human scum, Benjamin tried to force open the door.

It had worked a little too well as he fell along with the now knocked down door, but Benjamin didn't have time to think about that; he had a sphere to collect.

To his surprise, almost nobody was out in the halls. Where could they have gone? Has everyone gone outside already, or were they somewhere else, like the gym or emporium, not taking into what Benjamin had said?

Oh well, it didn't matter now, it might be easier for him to catch the girl for himself, but it might not scare her out of the classroom. He had a feeling there'd be no way she'd stay there after that. Maybe he should've thought the plan through.

Benjamin noticed from the corner of his eyes Isabelle and Nicholas climbing out of the windows trying to escape. He wanted to give them a hard time as revenge, but that wasn't what he had in mind!

No matter, the great dark magician will go all the way down to meet up with them. After all, there's no way they could ever get out and sustain minimal damage without encountering him. Right?

Such a shame Benjamin didn't watch where he ran, and yet again, slipped on something that caused him to slip and slide across the hallway. A few people moved out of the way as his foot got accidentally stuck in a bucket and tumbled down the stairway just ahead of him.

He crashed through one of the emergency exit doors and landed outside the school. A little hurt by the landing impact, Benjamin rubbed his head and brushed the dust off him that made his nose itchy.

He got up and looked around, wondering where the heck they could be and if they had gotten out-of-school property yet. Benjamin looked up to where he was, as two familiar figures walked across the school building like they were wall climbing a mountain of some sort.

Benjamin waited on the side of the building for them to enter the other room with the fire escape pole. He slid down with their belongings before catching them and taking it back. He opened the door next to them like it was a secret passage to some underground basement. The backpacks look thick, and Benjamin figured he'd be prone to excel at running.

Benjamin waited until they walked far enough ahead so they wouldn't see him before he dashed towards them. He successfully caught up to them, catching them by surprise and knocking Isabelle down on the ground.

As Nicholas asked if she was ok and with her replying, Benjamin noticed something - The backpack had glowed violently.

Was it supposed to do that? He thought as he stared down at it, trying to take a closer look. He was never able to get it to do something like that before. What did this girl do to the sphere to make it react like that?

Episode 8

Sebastian didn't believe what had just happened. Why would Lauren push him like that? Did she not know how dangerous this place could've been?

Sebastian tried his best to use some magic to at least float so he could look around and see what this place has to offer. However, he couldn't conjure up anything, no matter how hard he tried to do so.

Not much seemed to have happened as he floated in the air for quite a while. Perhaps it would give him a chance to think and ponder about the inevitable. But wait, what was the reason Lauren did that? Could the traitor be somewhere here?

But if that's the case, why didn't she join him also? Or tell him of such? Just as he thought about it, Sebastian noticed that he was about to hit the ground. Unable to do anything about it, he braced himself and blacked out.

Miraculously, he survived the long fall and significant impact, when he came to view and awakened, Sebastian got up and looked around, finding himself in some construction site.

Piles of colorful murky junk lying all around the place, with bugs looming over the higher mounds, worn-out tires bounced and rolled to where his feet were. Street lamps stood tall, Sebastian didn't know if the lights worked or not.

Where the devil am I now? He thought, scratching the back of his head.

He looked around the site and tried not to get his shoes dirty from all the filthy dirt and water. He came into view, a big gap where there was no trash nearby. Around the area, a bright orange stood out amongst the location. Sebastian drew closer and saw that it was a person, wearing a green shirt and light blue overalls. It was tricky to tell what their gender could be, but the voice gave away that gender is a male.

He soon noticed the blonde boy and walked closer toward him with a confused look on his face. This might be a good time to introduce himself to the other.

"You there, citizen of this realm, can you please explain to me the current location I'm in?" Sebastian asked.

"Uh, you're at the junkyard, sir..." The one in overalls replied with uncertainty. He tilted his head upon meeting this man.

"'The Junkyard Sir,' What a weird name for this place..."

"Um, what? That's not at all what— are you alright, sir?"

"Whatever do you mean?"

"Well, I saw you take a nasty fall for starters. Did you bump your head and get amnesia or something?"

"Oh, you saw that? I'm sorry I didn't mean to cause—"

"No, it's fine." The orange-haired boy waved it off, "But you need to get yourself checked."

"Really? Honestly, I don't think or feel like I need any medical attention, so that won't be necessary..." Sebastian stated.

"After a fall like that and with no parachute? Unless you're some strange creature disguised as a human, I don't see that being possible! You should hurry to my trailer. Laura will get you better in no time."

"Did you say, Lauren?" That comment took Sebastian aback.

"No silly, Laura. She's my little sister." The orange-haired person corrected him. "Come on; I insist we go before it gets too dark. I don't want to keep her waiting inside by herself for too long..."

As the person pointed over to where the trailer was, Sebastian looked up at the sky as the sunset. How much time had passed? And he had no other place to stay either.

"Well, if you say so, then lead the way please," Sebastian replied.

The two walked over to the trailer; the boy in the overalls went to check on the door. However, it swung open as a little girl stood right between them. Sebastian noticed it was much easier to tell her gender than with her big brother. The hairstyle and voice were also a dead giveaway.

"Alex, you're back!" The girl cried.

"I sure am," Alex replied cautiously. "But how did you know I was coming over? I didn't use our secret knock so I could have been anybody..."

"I'm sorry, but I saw you through the window and got excited."

"Fair enough, I suppose..."

"You suppose? What's that supposed to—?" Laura was about to ask, but then looked over and noticed Sebastian standing beside the trailer. She moved to inspect him with a grin on her face. "Ooh, who's that pretty lady you got with you?"

"Where?" Sebastian turned, wondering who she was referring to.

"Uh, actually, that's a male you're talking about." Alex corrected her.

"Oh, is that it? My bad, I just assumed, cause of—"

"Don't do that either ok? Look, could you perhaps treat our guest over here?"

"Really? What could be the reason that you're inviting this strange—?" Laura went over to touch Sebastian's arm. He yelped and writhed in pain without realizing it.

"Oh my gosh!" She exclaimed, "Alex, why didn't you say something sooner? He's severely hurt; if we don't give him proper treatment soon..."

"I know, and I was going to say that, but you didn't let me!" Alex complained.

"Ok, come on Mister; let's hurry and get you inside the trailer!"

Laura grabbed Sebastian by the sleeve and led him over to the trailer as soon as Alex joined them shortly after. Laura told her brother to lay Sebastian down on the couch and wrap him up in a blanket like a butterfly in a cocoon so he doesn't escape and avoid getting the treatment.

Alex just rolled his eyes and laid the blanket down on Sebastian while he rested his head on the couch pillow.

Sebastian tried to make himself comfortable; he looked around the room; it's unlike any house he had seen before. Basic looking compared to what he was used to back at his home.

He turned and peeked into the kitchen where Laura was in. She seemed to take a lot of stuff out of the pantries and placing most of them into a big, plastic colored bowl. She took out a weird-looking blender with a spoon attached to it. Laura poured the contents of the container into the blender and mixed the ingredients into a strange concoction before pouring into a frying pan and then danced around the kitchen. Sebastian turned over to Alex, who responded that she was performing a chant to improve the medicinal effects, at least according to her.

That's the medication!? Sebastian thought and gulped.

"Hey, you almost finished with the Ethosys?" Alex asked from across the rooms.

"Almost, just putting a few more finishing touches to it," Laura shouted back.

Alex turned to Sebastian with a reassuring look. "Don't worry, that concoction won't kill you, quite the opposite..."

"Well, I guess I shouldn't judge it yet..." Sebastian mumbled to himself.

"Make yourself comfortable. I know this place doesn't look like a lot, but it's what we have..." Alex said.

"I think it's fascinating..." Sebastian replied.

"You think so?"

"Ok, it's done." Laura entered the living room with a white bowl filled with colored liquids inside. A hard lump lingered in Sebastian's throat. "Now drink slowly, it should kick in a couple of minutes. Do you understand sir, um, what was your name again?"

"Oh, dear, where are my manners? I cannot believe that I forgot to introduce myself to you. I must apologize."

"No need, at least you're nice about it," Alex replied.

Sebastian cleared his throat and introduced himself. "My name is Sebastian; how do you do?"

"I'm Alex, and—"

"Wait, where did you come from?" Laura interrupted, "I've never seen you around here before."

"Sorry, but I cannot tell that to you..."

"Perhaps if I guess your origin story or make it up for you, you can tell me if I'm getting hotter or colder." Laura scratched her chin and made a big grin.

Alex felt uneasy. "I don't think that sounds like a- hey what did you do with your bowl?" He asked, pointing at Laura's hands.

"I gave it to Sebastian so he could drink it up and I could ponder using both of my hands."

Sebastian quivered inside his blanket with the now-empty bowl sitting right beside him. Alex mouthed an apology to him without his sister looking.

"So, did you gulp it all down?" Laura asked as she placed her hands behind her back.

"Well, yeah, but it tastes awful... no offense." Sebastian replied, weakly.

"Well, that's medicine for you," Alex stated, "It may taste bad, but it really can get the job done if it—"

"I got it!" Laura interrupted. "What if you were a creature that looked human and came to our planet to learn from—?"

"Wait, how did you—?" Sebastian started but stopped himself. He hesitated and stumbled over his words a bit before asking a different question. "I mean, what made you come to that conclusion?"

"Aliens wouldn't know how human fashion sense would work for starters..." Laura explained.

"Laura, don't be rude," Alex said.

"But I wasn't trying to be." Laura tried to defend herself.

"Uh, pardon me, is it alright with you if I ask some questions?" Sebastian brought up.

"Not at all, go ahead." Alex replied, "What exactly do you have on your mind?"

"Are you guys' humans? What planet are you from that has 'The Junkyard Sir' in it?"

The question, in particular, made Alex chuckle. "Ok, are you trying to act like some creature from a D- list movie now?"

"I don't understand?"

"Well, allow me to enlighten you, mister," Alex said with a tease. "You're on a planet called Earth of course."

"E-Earth!?" Sebastian almost ran out of breath when he heard that. "You mean you're... and I'm...?"

"No offense, but you're a little weirder than I thought, are you alright?"

"Yeah, but could you excuse me? I need to rest up a bit longer..."

"Sounds good." Alex turned to his sister. "Hey, Laura, let's go and cook up some dinner."

"Yeah, on it, Alex," Laura replied.

As they left Sebastian to think for himself on the couch, he stared at the ceiling for a bit before turning his attention to the two siblings, who were taking random fruits and veggies and placing them into a blender.

Sebastian never thought he'd be able to find the planet inhabited by ordinary creatures, especially not before his classmates, but what should he do now? And why did Lauren push him here in the first place?

How he wished to ponder some of these questions and think up some reasonable deductions to answer them, but alas, his head burned hot, and his whole body ached. So Sebastian, instead, pulled the cover over his head and shut his eyes tight, only hearing the sounds of his stomach and the oven.

.-.-.-.

Back in the monster world, Bridget had finished her classes and headed back to her room. She solemnly walked back, worried that something terrible was about to happen, and didn't know what to do.

She had no idea where her classmates were or what they were up to, nor did she know if something was going on that she didn't know. Then, to her surprise, she came across Lauren in the hallway.

"Hey, Lauren, what's up?" Bridget put on a big smile and waved over to get Lauren's attention.

Lauren rushed over with a worried expression on her face. "Oh, Bridget, hey, sorry I couldn't make it to practice today..."

"It's ok. You were probably busy like—"

"But I swear to you, I'll make it up today. Is that ok?"

"Alright, see you then?"

"Yeah."

The two walked off toward separate directions as Lauren slowly walked back to her dorm room.

Lauren made it to her room and sat on her bedside with a picture in hand. Her room had a bookshelf with a variety of colored textbooks plus a stuffed bunny on top of one of her books. The bed had an aqua green pillow with matching sheets as white mattresses placed within the chocolate banister atop the matching wooden floor surrounded by ivory-colored walls.

There was a single small desktop that had many pictures on top of it, all of them facing down, and drawers shut tight. Lauren picked up one of her photos and sighed heavily.

Someday. Someday, they will all pay...

Episode 9

"Ah, how I love this atmosphere..." The Principal said, calmly.

She relaxed in her office, counting the bubbles that appeared and disappeared within her jar. A bright light appeared out of nowhere and created a door with a sign that said, 'DANGER: DO NOT TRESPASS' on the front.

A headless figure walked out with a cup of tea in hand and closed the door behind him as the door disappeared.

"Horace, you brought my drink!" The head in the jar's face lit up. "Did you get the Cherry Earthquake, flavor as I asked?" Horace gave her an 'ok' sign with one hand and held the drink with his other hand. "Great, now could you set it aside and get—?" A light knock on the door soon followed. "Oh, before you do that, go check and see who that is."

Horace saluted and walked over to unlock the door. He hid behind the door, making sure he wouldn't get noticed by anyone other than the Principal. He used a disappearing spell on himself as the door slowly creaked open.

"Um... hello? Did you want to see me, Mistress?" Glenda asked. She closed the door behind her and paced over to the blonde in the jar.

"Yes, I did." The Principal said in a more serious tone. "I heard rumors about your classroom as of late. Some of your students are missing; is that correct?"

"What? I assure you, that's not the case at all." Glenda quickly explained, "For, you see, they're just sick... after doing a hard assignment in the rain... and fending off a creature in the dark."

"My, it sounds like they had a hard time." The floating head went back to her natural tone in response.

"But, of course."

"Hmm, you wouldn't be hiding something from me now... would you?" The Principal asked while raising an eyebrow.

"No!" Glenda jumped a little too quickly. She calmed down and tried to regain her composure. "But why do you ask?"

"Oh, nothing. It's just that the students have been sick for a while and couldn't catch up on work like the other students. They'd be at a disadvantage. I sure hope they get better by tomorrow..."

Glenda gulped hard. "Uh, don't worry, I'll do everything I can to help them catch up. You can count on me!"

"That's great to hear! In that case, you're free to go." The Principal stated.

"Is... that all?"

"Did you need something?"

"No, sorry. I guess I'll take my leave then. Thank you for your time."

"Not a problem, and thank you for taking time out of your schedule to meet me and have a little chat."

"You're welcome."

After Glenda had left, the monster principal turned to look at a wall. "Horace, could you come over here? The coast is clear." Horace re-appeared within the room. He removed his invisibility spell and walked to the Principal for further instructions.

"You might be right. I think Glenda is hiding something from us and doesn't want us to find out. I want you to keep a close eye on that woman and make sure she's not lying to us." The Principal ordered.

Horace saluted once more and headed out, but not before putting the Cherry Earthquake flavored drink to the side of her desk.

Oh Sebastian, Clause, please hurry, both of you... Glenda pleaded as she left the Principal's office, for she feared things wouldn't be so easy after all...

.-.-.-.

Bridget stared at her ceiling in distraught and got lost in thought.

Ugh, first Benjamin, then Sebastian, and now Clause too? Just what is going on here? Why is everyone disappearing at random? Will Lauren be next? Is there something going on that I'm not aware of? I have to get to the bottom of this, fast. I know nothing good will come out of just lying here in my room doing nothing!

She stretched her arms and got out of bed.

Bridget peeked out of her door and glanced from both sides. Nobody in sight at the moment. She slowly closed the door and snuck around the hallway to leave her dorm and get to the monster school. She might know where to search for the others and the reason behind their disappearances.

Bridget finally made it to the gates of the magic school: Streterra. It felt eerily quiet and dark with the school closed and empty. She leaned over to push the spider gate, and to her surprise, the gates opened.

Good thing the gates are already open for me. That seems a little too suspicious. I wonder why the people working here forgot to lock this. Oh well, can't stand here too long, or I'll get caught...

As Bridget walked down the hallway, it occurred to her she never thought about how different it was when no one was around, and in complete darkness with a few lights flickered on. It felt like she was somewhere else away from her school. Just as the uneasiness got to her, she came across the grand doors that led to the Mirage Library.

She stepped closer and reached for the doorknobs; a faint noise came from the other side of the door. Bridget looked down and found that a slight crack had opened the door.

Curiosity got the better side of her as she took a peek through the cracks without making a sound to get a closer look at what was making those strange sounds or if it was just her imagination.

Books and papers scattered everywhere in the library, bookshelves toppled onto tables, and all of them were out of place! Sparks of what seemed to be magic fly around as well.

One bookshelf shook and slid to the side, revealing a secret passage. A person in a dark cloak came out with a spell book in one hand and a conjuring spell sphere in the other.

"So, this is the power that they hid away all those years ago..." The cloaked one muttered to himself. "If this is the one, then I can use powerful spells beyond imagination!"

What...? Bridget shook her head, confused as she tried to listen in without getting spotted. Was this a good idea, after all? She couldn't make out who was speaking softly to themselves. The person uncloaked himself. Troy? What's he doing here!?

Troy flipped through some pages in a black book with a purple pentagram on the cover until he found one he was content with and placed the book on the table. He reached into his pockets and pulled out a purple hat, placing it on top of the book's page. He chanted incomprehensible words resulting in the other books surrounding him, rising and circling his body.

He closed the book, with the hat still inside, as it glowed ominously with lightning shooting out. He shut his eyes and raised his arms as high as he could and threw the book into the air.

Bridget wiped her eyes as the smoke subsided, but when she tried to get a better view of what laid within, she couldn't believe her eyes, Troy and the book disappeared from her sights! Was her mind playing tricks on her? Even though he wasn't there anymore, she could still hear him talking to himself.

"No way, it worked, I can't believe it! It's just like the old man said, to think they would try to hide it from us until now. Oh man, I can't wait to tell my boss about this.

With this book in our possession, we can do anything we want, and perform any spell we please! Including..."

Oh no, I need to tell someone about this! Bridget thought in a panic.

The library doors closed in on itself. Bridget stepped back and rushed off, as a dark shadow slowly formed from within the cracks at the bottom of the door, moving across the floor. It shot out quick as lightning, zigzagging until it had caught up with Bridget, stopping right at her feet.

The shadow rose and took the form of one of her classmates, Benjamin. Despite the similar appearance, something about this version did not look right, and she wasn't sure what it was. The different colored hat? The voice? The eye color?

"Hey there, you didn't happen upon the library by any chance, did you?" He asked.

"Ah!" Bridget exclaimed, then stammered. "Look, I don't know what you're talking about Troy- I mean..."

"You're a horrible liar, aren't you?"

"So what if I know? What are you up to?"

"Tell you what, if you keep this a secret between us..."

"I refuse; absolutely not!" Bridget thundered quickly.

"I didn't finish. If you promise not to tell any soul about this, then I will spare you."

"What if I still say no? What will you do about it?"

And just like that, Troy disguised as Benjamin, threw dark matter orbs at her. Bridget dodged some of them. However, a force hit her from behind, causing her to tumble across the floor. Troy disguised as Benjamin leaped into the air and went to punch at her, but she blocked him with her hand.

Troy tried to go for another hit, but Bridget blocked that too and pushed him away while trying to regain her composure.

He sprayed a sickly colored mist in her direction. Bridget crouched onto the floor, holding her nose, and rolled away from it until she hit a wall.

She got up and noticed him running on the wall, defying gravity. She used an ice spear and propelled it like a missile. Troy threw down some lightning grenades that caused the ice missiles to explode, making the shattered fragments fly across the room.

Bridget encased herself in a bubble-like shield to prevent herself from getting encased and closes her eyes. Just when she thought the ruckus had stopped, Troy spewed out shadow mines onto the floor, prompting her to back up against the wall.

Troy created a spiked ball and threw it over like he would throw a bowling ball. Bridget fired a magic projectile at it, but it continued to roll as if nothing happened. The ball went over the mines, causing a chain reaction as they exploded into the shadowy fog.

She jumped out of the way, trying not to get hit by the spike ball, but noticed the fog catching up to her. Bridget covered her mouth while coughing, trying not to breathe in the mist as she squinted her eyes trying to see where he went and how she could find the exit. Suddenly, Bridget felt something grab her by the feet and found herself pinned to the floor. She looked down as thorny vines tangled around them her legs.

As a purple light headed toward her, Bridget prepared a magical barrier to protect herself from the incoming laser attack with one hand and tried to fend off the vines by freezing them with the other side. The vines froze over and broke into glittered fragments as Bridget attempted to escape.

She had to tell somebody, anybody, about this imposter on the loose. Troy threw some heat-seeking orbs down on the ground near her to trap her. He lured Bridget inside, holding her tightly as he dragged her down into the dark void.

"Why?" Bridget cried as she tried to break it off and pull herself out using energy magic. "Why are you doing this, Troy?"

"It doesn't matter; you wouldn't understand, but don't fret, you'll join the others soon enough..." As the spell he cast on himself depleted, Troy grabbed the cloak and covered himself with it, leaving her to fall into the darkness.

The void disappeared without a trace, as a shadow of another man, witnessing the whole thing, rushed over to save Bridget but was too late to do anything about it. He pounded his fist on the floor as his body quivered in silence.

Episode 10

"I wonder what's taking him so long, did he get caught already?" Lauren looked over at her watch; Troy had yet to return. She took a peek out of the windows to see Streterra from afar, wondering when the doors would ever open. Should she go over there and help? No, that would give a lot away.

Just as she grew doubtful, the front doors to the monster school swung open as a shadowed man in a magician's outfit rushed outside. He looked around for anyone else nearby before heading off for the big blue building a significant distance from the school, which was also next to the big pink building.

Lauren closed the windows and shut the blinds as she went over to relax on a lime green chair and footrest, knowing that she wouldn't have to wait much longer. It was easy for Lauren to sneak into the boy's dorm without getting spotted. She smiled as she thought,

If Troy had to hide in the girl's dorm, it might not have gone over so well.

Just as well, Lauren wanted some away time for a bit. The room had a blue coat rack that looked like a lamp, a green lava lamp, some black dumbbells and other exercising equipment, and a firm bed with a red blanket placed on top of it. She could tell it was Troy's room instantly.

Sometime later, the door opened, and a man in shadows entered the room.

"I have arrived at last."

"What took you so long?" Lauren complained.

The man uncloaked himself. "Took me a while to find it, and also had to be sure nobody spotted me." Troy went over to turn on the lights.

"Nobody saw you with that book, right?" Lauren stood up from her seat to examine the book.

"Nope, as if I'd let anything like that happen."

"Good work, Troy, let's see it then." He gave her the black spell book with purple streaks surrounding it; the book title said: 'Hysteria, Codex of Darkness.'

Lauren took out another book called 'Blood at the Ocean' to compare and contrast the two, looking at the front and back of both covers. "This is fascinating, so we found both of the journals he made."

"Yeah. However, there is a catch to using these spells..."

"You mean you tested one out already?"

"These spells only last for a short while, so we need to make use of it while we can..."

"Is that so?" Lauren muttered.

"But don't you see?" Troy lightened up, "This is great! Our efforts, all these years, didn't go to waste!"

"That is great to hear, but..." Lauren looked down at the floor with the two books in hand.

"What's wrong?" Troy asked.

"Oh, nothing, it's just... do you think they'd be proud of—?"

"Of course, we're doing this for a good cause." Troy placed his hand on her shoulder to reassure her. "Don't worry; we will get our revenge. I promise you; they will pay for their insolence."

Lauren stayed speechless for a short time; she'd never seen him this upset since that day when they met. "I... I already know that you dunce." Her words slipped out of her tongue.

"Great to see that you're back in reality," Troy chirped. "Now, let's get to practicing."

"But you go first and demonstrate, so I don't get hurt, in case a spell doesn't work out well..."

"Certainly."

.-.-.-.

Time passed by as Glenda waited in her office, tapping her foot impatiently for Clause and Sebastian to respond or, at the very least, show up.

What's taking them so long? Oh no, did they end up getting caught by—? She shook her head. "No, I must calm myself, they said they had it all under control, so I should trust them. Yeah. But for how much longer, though!?'

Just as she was about to pass out from worry, a knock came from the door. Glenda went over to answer it.

To her surprise, Sebastian, wearing a different shirt than the last time they met , stood there, next to someone covered in tarp and rope.

"Sebastian, boy, am I glad to see you!" Glenda exclaimed.

"I am most glad to see you too." 'Sebastian' replied with a bow.

"And you have someone next to you too?"

"It wasn't easy, but I pulled it off."

"What about Clause?"

"Oh, well, you know, he's not the best fighter in this school, so..."

"I understand," Glenda replied.

"Oh, and he's at the infirmary in case you were wondering," Sebastian added.

"Thank you for telling me that, I'll go check up on him later after I deal with this perpetrator, of course."

Glenda advised Sebastian to escort the mysterious person to her room and lock the door. He told her that whoever was under the tarp was supposedly responsible for everything that happened and he caught them while inspecting.

Glenda wasn't so sure yet, thinking maybe this perpetrator was an accomplice and that the real mastermind was still out there somewhere.

"Well, only one way to find out," Sebastian pointed out, "Do what you got to do, I'm going to rest up since that battle drained me."

"Ah, go on ahead." Glenda waved off while holding the guy in place so he didn't escape. "I'm proud of you, Sebastian; I think you will do well at this academy."

As he was about to leave, a vision flashed before 'his' very eyes, a flashback that had occurred in his past.

.-.-.-.

Two blurry, ghostly images appeared, shown of two red-headed females, one tall, wearing a yellow dress; the other smaller, wearing a scarlet shirt with a chocolate-colored skirt. They lied on the floor, drawing stick figures and rectangles on a piece of paper.

"I'm so proud of you, darling." The red-headed woman said in a soft voice. "I know you'll be wonderful at the academy."

"Really, mommy? You mean it?" The young girl looked up from her paper and asked.

"Why yes, you're smart, talented, and not to mention good looking."

"I want to join Streterra, just like you and dad!"

"Oh, you..."

.-.-.-.

"Sebastian?" Glenda asked, pulling 'him' out of the moment. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, it's nothing." 'He' replied, "Sorry to bother you." 'He' bowed and walked away in a hurry.

'Alright, things are going according to plan, and she's not suspicious of it either, no one is!' She kept walking until there was nobody else around in the middle of the hallway; she was all alone. She hurried back to her dorm before her spell wore out.

Glenda turned to the person still inside the tarp and tied in the rope. "Alright, now let's see who you are!" She walked over and pulled the tarp out to reveal who it was. "No way!" Glenda gasped, "It's you... Benjamin!?"

Silence spread throughout the office; neither of the two would say anything. Glenda clenched her fists and broke the silence.

"Ok, now what are you planning?" She asked.

"You think I'd tell you?" 'Benjamin' retorted.

"But why are you doing this? What do you have against the school?"

"Tch, you wouldn't listen to me even if I told you, or understand." He muttered the last part to himself, much to Glenda's confusion. But she still pressed on.

"Well, whatever it is you're doing, it's still wrong and illegal in this establishment,"

"How would you know?" 'Benjamin' murmured.

"Using that magic is prohibited at this school!"

"Well, what if I don't want to follow the rules?"

"Is that the only reason you're doing this? You did it to be a troublemaker? Answer me!!"

He still didn't respond.

Glenda sighed. "Alright, fine, since you won't answer me, perhaps you'd listen to someone else?"

"What? Who?" 'Benjamin' asked.

"Oh, are you finally going to speak and answer me?"

"Um... no."

"It's getting late. We'll talk tomorrow whether you want to or not."

Glenda pulled the rope wrapped around 'Benjamin' and headed over to a wall. She moved her hand over it and tapped her knuckles on it, causing it to open and move to reveal a big, metallic door. Knocking on it specifically, the woman gripped the doorknob, and the door slowly creaked open.

What appeared before them was a strange-looking room, with walls covered in grey bricks, the floor looked torn up, and the cells seemed as if they blended in with the cold, dark, and dank environment. A small plank attached to the wall as if it'd be some bed. Glenda pushed 'Benjamin' in the cell and turned to face the door.

"You'll be staying here for the time being." Glenda proclaimed. "And don't bother trying to escape either, because this cell is immune to all magic. See you tomorrow, traitor." And with that, Glenda shut the door and left.

Time passed as the man walked around the room, trying to find a way out. She seemed to have been right as magic couldn't work here, he couldn't get out as she locked the steel door tight. The bars outside the window looked too small for someone to pass through without the help of magic.

Soon, the spell cast on himself had worn out, Troy gave up and went to lie down on the plank that was the closest to resemble a bed.

When he closed his eyes, a glimmer appeared along with a bright light. When he opened his eyes again, Troy looked up to see a familiar floating face.

"Aoguro? How'd you get in here? Did you go through the wall or those bars over there?" Troy asked. After a small silence with no response, "Well, yeah, I guess that makes sense. Then again, I think you probably shouldn't count as- hey, actually, since you're here, I want you to do something for me..." He leaned over to whisper something. "Now, go, hurry."

And just like that, the ball of energy took off without looking back. He zoomed through the school building hallways, and then, eventually, the graveyard, unseen. Going into the caves, he saw a purple blob moving around the floor and followed suit. Aoguro soon found his destination: The Abstract Bizarre Colorful Dimensions.

.-.-.-.

Benjamin stood over the area in shock as the laptop drifted across the ground.

"Hey, why is that thing glowing?"

"Uh, why do you care? It's just a new feature I gave it." Isabelle quickly picked it up and held it close to her chest.

"But I know that glow; it's very similar to the crystal sphere I..." His voice trailed off after mentioning that.

It soon hit him. Why would this girl try to protect her laptop when it was the crystal ball that he wanted and that she needed to keep away from him? Putting two and two together, he figured it all out.

Benjamin asked, "Excuse me, but did you merge my sphere with this device?"

"Um, about that..." Isabelle hesitated. "Well, it was more like, your sphere got consumed by my laptop."

"Hey, is that guy ok?" Nicholas asked upon seeing Benjamin's reaction.

"No, no...! That sphere was the only one I had!" Benjamin said, his hands trembled, and his eyes widened. "I needed it to merge with my weapon and take over this stupid place, but you, a human, somehow did it no problem!?"

"Are you saying you're helpless now? Without your magic?" Isabelle asked, her face brightening up.

"Thank goodness," Nicholas added with a sigh of relief, "I was worried over nothing."

The pair gave each other high fives as Benjamin fell to the ground. Enraged, the magician pounded the ground with his fists. Sure, it hurt like crazy, but he didn't care, not anymore at least.

"It was the only chance I had to find my way back home, and now I'm going to be stuck here forever!" Benjamin choked on his words.

Nicholas and Isabelle stopped cheering and glanced towards the magician.

"Oh yeah, that is a problem, isn't it?" Nicholas asked.

"So, did we do the right thing or not?" Isabelle tilted her head in confusion.

"Well..." Nicholas wasn't sure how to respond to the question.

"So, you think I'm no threat anymore, huh?" Benjamin interrupted the two. "I may not have my magic powers or my crystal sphere... but I still have my agility and strength!"

As he charged over to knock the laptop out of the girl's hands, Nicholas jumped in front of Isabelle. The laptop glowed brighter, and when she opened it, Isabelle accidentally pressed a key on the keyboard. A robust aqua-colored force field grew around her, causing Nicholas and Benjamin to fall back and land on the grass. Fortunately, they didn't get hurt nearly as bad as they thought.

Benjamin got up in quick succession and sprinted at her again. Panicked, Isabelle pressed a button on her keyboard, which caused a ray of light to come out of her laptop.

Benjamin had to stop in his tracks and cover his eyes from the brightness.

"What's going on?" Nicholas asked, throwing his arms in the air. "How are you doing this?"

"I don't know!" Isabelle replied, hands gripping on the device. "I think it has a mind of its own or something! Either that or I unleashed its power on accident..."

"Well, whatever that is, it's awesome!" Nicholas exclaimed.

"I know, it's insane!" Isabelle added.

Benjamin trotted on his feet again. "Be careful!" Nicholas warned her once he found out.

"On it, just need to find something else to drive him back!"

Isabelle looked over and pushed 'H' twice on her keyboard as fast as she could. The ray of light stopped, which allowed Benjamin to see again, but when he looked up, two giant hammers lingered over him, both the same aqua color, coming out of the laptop.

Isabelle moved the touchpad mouse to control the hammers, and whenever she clicked, they would strike down at the ground. Benjamin ran and barely dodged them.

Nervous, Isabelle quickly tapped the arrow keys, wondering what they did. Little hovering arrows appeared and made a beeline for Benjamin. They hovered from the ground, so he leaped at them. However, some of them zoomed up to where he was still in the air.

Benjamin tried to air dodge through them all as best as he could, but some of them zipped through the air, and tore his cloak and scratched the side of his face.

Benjamin dive-rolled to safety and wiped the blood dripping from his cheek. He glanced up and gasped as more approached him and ducked to avoid them altogether.

Just as Benjamin thought he could relax and take a quick breather, the ground he stood on shook to its core and ripped out of the land. He found himself on a moving platform made of grass, dirt, and rocks.

Before he got too far off the ground, he held on to his magenta hat and jumped off the platform, trying to take down Isabelle and the laptop. Isabelle pushed 'S' on the keyboard and composed a shield that blocked his attack. It pushed Benjamin back as he landed on his backside, again.

Ugh, she's too good. Benjamin thought while grinding his teeth. How am I supposed to beat them at this rate?

I don't know what I'm doing, Isabelle thought while panting. I hope I can pull through, but this guy just won't quit!

.-.-.-.

Back at Benjamin's base of operations, Chi-Chi and Harry continued to watch that Butler show. They began marathoning the start of an arc that had the main character that got suspected of murder for his image and social class. The Butler had to help clear his name and avoid capture by the Organization, while also trying not to get replaced by someone else.

"I'm telling you, it's the newbie trying to steal his job." Harry insisted.

"That would be too obvious," Chi-Chi waved it off. "The real guilty party has got to be the Duchess."

"What would she have to gain from framing the poor guy?" Harry questioned.

"I don't know?" Chi-Chi shrugged, "But she's acting too weird."

"That's how she always acts, do you have something against—?"

"No, I'm not saying that at all! I think there's something off about her; like she knows more than she lets on. You know?"

"Well, ok, if you say so..."

"Hey, bro, let's make a bet and see who's right, and the winner gets a reward."

"Alright, you're on!"

The two kept watching as they got to one of the quieter scenes in the episode.

"Hey, Harry?" Chi-Chi whispered.

"Yeah?" Harry whispered back.

"I have to go to the bathroom."

"Oh, ok. Do you want me to record for you?"

"Yes please," Chi-Chi said as she hopped off the couch and headed for the restroom.

Harry wondered which button was the record button. He leaned over to push a button to adjust the volume but accidentally pressed the button that took him to the news station, where a shady broadcaster appeared in front of the TV.

"We have more breaking news."

"What the- how did I get to here?" Harry questioned upon seeing the news show up out of nowhere. "It was getting right to the good part too!"

"A group of individuals, who appear to still be in high school, have been spotted fighting against each other. The young girl and the young boy, who seems to be her friend, have been seen using a remote device against a different young boy. It is still unknown if this is a performance or not, but the police and authorities don't want to take any chances."

The news showed the battle between Benjamin and Isabelle as they brought their fight over to the streets. People looked on, rooting for the person they thought would win the match as if a video game tournament was underway instead of a street fight. The magic never went outside the immediate area the two were fighting in, not that the audience minded either way.

Harry caught on fast and gasped. "No way, the Master is on TV? That's unbelievable!" He jumped up and down on the couch in excitement, "I got to tell Chi-Chi when she gets out!" He paused for a moment and pondered, "Wait, how'd he even get himself in—?"

"We don't know what the resolution will be, but we'll keep you posted on further occurrences."

"Wait, where are they? Don't go!" Harry got off the couch and dashed over to the TV right before it cut off and switched to a commercial about shampoo and conditioner. He slumped on the floor and sighed.

"Oh man, what should I do now? Master looks like he's in trouble, but how can I help?" He looked over to the side of the couch and saw the wand still lying on the floor.

.-.-.-.

Isabelle and Benjamin panted, nearly out of breath as the battle continued. Both of them looked as if they were about to pass out at any minute. The people watching were on edge, wondering who would win, while some were becoming sweaty from standing out in the sun so long, and others had gotten bored with how things had progressed so far.

"So, who do you think will win?" An older teen asked their friend.

"I don't know; it could be anyone's game." Their friend replied.

"You think they'll get in trouble for fighting?" A young girl pondered aloud to herself.

"Maybe we shouldn't stay too close to where they are..." An older woman commented worriedly.

"What if the fight ends in a draw?" An even younger boy suggested.

"Aw man, that'd be like every movie I've ever seen." An older man complained.

Tired of hearing the constant bickering and whispers discussing their fight, Isabelle threw a curveball at Benjamin. "Do you want to give up now Benny?" She asked.

"Are you kidding? I can do this all day..." Benjamin said while panting. "You won't be so lucky."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that your weak, human body will collapse at some point."

"I won't, I can't! I won't let you take over my world!" She retorted, slamming keys on her keyboard to see what would happen.

Dozens of sparks came out and went for Benjamin's feet. The dark magician tried to jump over and side-step as many as he could, but they just would not let up. They kept going! Not to mention, it made it look like he was doing a little jig.

"Where's your magic now?!" Isabelle taunted.

Benjamin wasn't sure what to do, being stuck in a tight spot.

"Master, over here!" A familiar voice cried out. Harry's voice prompted Benjamin to turn and find the critter running at him with something in his paws. "I've come to your rescue. Catch!" He threw the wand as Benjamin jumped up to grab it.

After making a touchdown, the magician looked at the wand now in his grasp. A big smile grew on his face.

"Yes, oh, yes!" He laughed. "Oh, you guys thought I was weak, huh? But now, I will show you the true power of the dark magician!"

Benjamin lifted his wand in the air as the white clouds in the sky turned dark. Once they heard the rumble of thunder, the spectators ran for shelter. Isabelle and Nicholas huddled together as they looked up, shaking uncontrollably, as lightning flashed briefly.

"H-how is he doing all this!?" Nicholas panicked.

"I don't know!" Isabelle exclaimed.

"Alright, time to summon more lightning!" Benjamin shouted.

Lightning cracked against the dark sky, striking Benjamin where he stood, causing him to collapse onto the ground. Isabelle and Nicholas both gasped in horror and rushed over to where his twitching body laid. Benjamin opened his eyes and turned to his wand, surrounded by a yellow aura.

"Are you ok?" Isabelle asked upon seeing Benjamin in an awakened state.

"Oh, I'm fine, never been better actually..." He got up slowly with a wicked smile plastered on his face. "Especially, now that I have accomplished some synergy with my wand."

"Um, you probably shouldn't overdo it." Someone commented worriedly.

"Hey, have you noticed something... strange about him? Compared to before?" Nicholas whispered to Isabelle.

Before she had time to answer, Benjamin shot out dozens of lightning bolts from his wand. Isabelle deflected them off with her shield, causing them to hit fences, nearby signposts, and trees in the distance. She flew back because of the sheer force of the bolts colliding with her shield. She landed on her bottom a few feet away, along with Nicholas.

"Look out, Isabelle! He's more powerful now!" Nicholas ran close as he warned her.

"Yeah, I know." Isabelle replied, "But you have to get out of here; it's too dangerous!"

"No way, I'm not going to just—"

"Hey, think fast!" Benjamin shouted in a condescending tone. "Lightning spark!"

A plasma of lightning shot out of Benjamin's wand immediately after. However, Isabelle pulled a fast one and pressed 'P,' which unleashed a plasma beam of her own. They collided with one another.

Isabelle's plasma beam dissipated, while Benjamin's sparks rocketed straight up, breaking through the clouds. Soon after, rain fell, and Isabelle hurried to create an umbrella to protect herself and Nicholas, and from getting wet using the laptop's power. Benjamin just stood there with the wand still in his grasp, silent.

"Benjamin, won't you give it up? This whole battling thing is getting ridiculous!" Isabelle cried, trying to maintain.

"You can't tell me what to do!" Benjamin retorted. Despite his words, he stopped for a minute to think about the outcomes. Ugh, we seem evenly matched, so how can I possibly win? Even with my newfound strength, I- wait, that's it! Of course, I can call in for some help. Why didn't I think of that before?

"Uh, are you going to say something?" Nicholas asked.

Benjamin ignored him. With his eyes getting twitchy, he held the wand close to him and whispered: "Come now, I summon you to fight alongside me." "Morph into something strong and defeat your enemies!" He shouted, extending the wand as high as he could go.

Another blast zoomed out into the sky, this time, colored yellow-orange. It went straight through the heavens; the gray clouds disappearing as everyone looked on, the light went higher and higher until it disappeared from view.

Benjamin still wore a huge smile on his face, waiting for the creature to come and help him, but it didn't show up. His smile grew weaker as he dropped his wand and fell to the floor, landing on his knees. Isabelle and Nicholas weren't sure how to feel. It seemed like the magician finally gave up, but they didn't feel accomplished, especially with how their enemy reacted to the whole thing.

Harry looked over through the fence and frowned as tears formed in Benjamin's eyes and slid down his cheeks. He said nothing for a moment, and the only word his Master mustered up after all that was a quiet, somber, "Why?"

Episode 11

Sebastian had woken up from a dream and couldn't get back to sleep. Alex and Laura had brought sleeping bags of their own to sleep next to him. The kettle shut off, and they put the fire underneath out. Empty bowls and cups lingered around the room.

Sebastian couldn't remember much of what happened before sleeping, only that they talked and laughed at corny jokes they told around the living room. Whatever they had talked about, seemed lovely; still, something wasn't right. He couldn't put his finger on it.

Sebastian sighed and looked out the window. Perhaps a walk outside and getting some fresh air can help him feel sleepy again? He got up from the seat, tiptoed past the two siblings, and headed for the door.

Sebastian rubbed his eyes and took a long look around the junkyard. He tried his best to watch where he walked and avoid knocking anything over, trip on anything or worse, wake up the two back inside.

Barely lit, he could only see a few feet in front of him as the lamps above didn't burn very far, not to mention there were only a few of them. As he swatted some bugs that buzzed around him, he glanced over to find one of his arms bandaged up. They had to wrap up his arm while he slept.

Sebastian looked up at the sky. The clouds cleared up, giving way to bright, shining stars. He stood there for a while watching them glisten, wanting to capture the sight in his memory.

It was nothing like he had seen back home, at least as far as he could remember. He thought it was so mesmerizing; he could watch it forever until they eventually disappeared, and the sun came again.

Sebastian figured that he would take a short walk around the place and then head back inside so Alex and Laura wouldn't worry too much at his brief absence, but a loud voice caught him by surprise.

"Hey, Sebastian!"

"Whoa! What?" Sebastian jumped and turned around, only to find Alex walk over and yawn. "Oh, Alex, it's you."

"Yeah, the one and only." He replied.

"Did I wake you up on accident?" Sebastian asked.

"Maybe..." Alex pouted.

"I'm sorry, my apologies."

"Nah, it's alright... but that'll be 100 dollars."

"What?!"

"I'm just kidding." Alex laughed as he raised his head. "So, what are you doing out here?"

"Well, um, I wanted to explore the place on my own for a bit. This planet sure is odd." Sebastian replied.

"It is, there are bad and good things all over the place that happen all the time. Earth is far from perfect, but there are still so many amazing things, you'll want to remember them forever."

"Hey, is that one of the good things you talked about?" Sebastian asked as he pointed up at a shooting star.

"Yeah, it is!" Alex clasped her hands together and closed his eyes as Sebastian watched in confusion.

"May I ask what you are doing?" Sebastian whispered, not wanting to break his concentration.

"Oh, just wishing upon a shooting star. You can't say what you wished for out loud, or chances are it won't come true."

"Ah, I see..."

"So, are you feeling any better?" Alex asked.

"Yeah, I think so." Sebastian nodded. "Perhaps, I—" He reached over to pull the bandages off his arm, but Alex stopped him.

"No. Don't do that until you're fully recovered, understand?"

"Alright, alright."

"Hey, speaking of which, we should go back inside the trailer before Laura gets worried again."

"Yeah, you're right; let's go."

As Sebastian and Alex walked back to the trailer, they heard a faint noise. As it got louder and louder, a yellow-orange light streaked across the sky, contrasting to the white stars, and shot down at the ground like a comet. The Earth shook, leaving the two boys struggling to keep their balance.

"Are you ok?" Sebastian asked.

"Yeah, I'm all right," Alex replied while brushing the dust off.

"What was that?"

"I don't know..." Alex gasped. "Oh no, I have to go check up on my sister and see if she's alright!"

"You do that; I'll explore the crash site!" Sebastian added as he ran off.

Sebastian walked around the site for a bit, when some burnt gurgling noises that came from behind a pile. He turned the corner and saw a gaping hole in the ground, surrounded by strange-looking goop. As he went to inspect, the globs of goop showed up and moved closer to the hole in the ground.

The hole filled up as it rose and grew, overflowing like a hotcake cooking. Sebastian looked up as it took the form of a giant blob monster that turned into a sickly beige color as black holes appeared for eyes and a mouth showed up. The beast from the junkyard roared as Sebastian stepped back and gripped his sheath.

Oh man, it's a good thing I brought my weapon with me in case of emergencies. Sebastian thought while he pulled out his magic sword.

As the monster leered closer, he closed his eyes as the weapon glowed brightly. The light orange sword slowly lost its colors until it turned to white, while Sebastian's hair turned bright orange.

"Alright, whatever you are, do your worst!" Sebastian, now with flowing light orange hair, pointed his sword up at the creature.

Sebastian shot out an aqua light from his sword and hit the blob, but it grew arms and blocked the attack. Sebastian leaped into the air and tried to slice the monster in half, only for it to split in two and then re-formed into a bigger blob.

He then went to strike the monster through its heart, but ended up going through the blob's gooey skin. In disgust, Sebastian rushed over to make a sneak attack from behind and cut off the creature's arms without it noticing. The body parts fell off but formed into smaller versions of the blob.

Sebastian had backed himself up against a pile of junk, as the slime monsters came closer to him. A large TV on top of the pile shook and tumbled down the mountain of trash, crushing one of the mini blobs. Sebastian backed away just in time to avoid being crushed himself.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he spotted another smaller TV and tossed it at the remaining blob. He sighed in relief until he heard screaming in the distance. A blob didn't escape from his sights, did it?

Alex made it back in the trailer, right when Laura still slept through the noises, until the loudest sound shook the grounds and startled them both.

"W-what is that?" Laura jolted out of her sleeping bag and checked out of her window to see a giant blob coming straight for the trailer.

"I don't know, but we need to get out of here!" Alex shouted as he pulled her arm and dragged to the exit.

"But where to?" Laura asked, standing her ground and dragging her feet across the floor, demanding an answer before leaving her home.

"It doesn't matter where, as long as we go away from that thing!"

"But what about our home? And all of our stuff?"

"Forget about that; we need to hurry before it— get down!"

The trailer continued to shake violently as the two siblings grabbed furniture to keep from falling. Alex turned and noticed the door continuing to open and close. He slowly took Laura's hand and headed to the door; they were so close. The ground became further away, as Alex couldn't see the fields anymore, replaced with high piles and skies. It didn't take him long to figure out that the trailer held up in the air, and he and his sister had to leave fast.

"Come on, Laura, you go first," Alex ordered.

Laura looked down and noticed how high they got and panicked. "No way! I can't do it!"

"It's not as high as it looks, just trust me."

"What will happen to you, though?"

"Ok, look. We'll go together..."

"I said no, I don't want to! Go on without me!"

"I'm sorry, but we don't have any time left!"

Without thinking, Alex pushed Laura out of the trailer as it got closer to the monster's mouth. They didn't have much time left to argue the point. She jumped and landed safely.

Alex, on the other hand, fell back as the front door shut in front of his face. The creature lifted the trailer high into the air again and shook it. Laura could hear Alex screaming as she ended up trapped inside the mobile home.

"Alex!" Laura cried.

Sebastian turned to the source of the scream and ran back as fast as he could.

"Laura, are you alright?"

"Yeah, but...!"

"Where's Alex?"

"Up there..." She cried, pointing up at the trailer.

The blob lowered the trailer and used one of its arms to reach in the door to try to grab Alex. Alex backed away from the hand and faced the back of the wall. His heart pounded all over his ribcage as he clutched his chest and tried to control his breathing.

"Hang in there!" Laura shouted from below.

"You don't have to tell me twice!" Alex exclaimed.

"How do we get her down?" Laura asked Sebastian.

"I'm not sure..." Sebastian replied.

"That thing looks like it might throw the trailer along with—"

"Not on my watch! You need to lie low, now!"

"Okay!" Laura ran behind a rock and watched as Sebastian charged at the blob-thing.

The monster grew more arms, which reached over to grab Sebastian. He ducked and jumped over the limbs that charged straight at him and ran up on an arm. He leaped from one arm to the next, keeping them from following him and drawing the monster's attention until he jumped off the beast.

Sebastian looked over; the monster had tied itself up with its arms, just as he planned. He used the opportunity to stab its right eye with his sword, then went over to jump up on each of the junk piles, each one larger than the last, until he got a good view of the trailer and the blob itself.

Sebastian backed up for a good head start and ran to the edge. He jumped and landed on the blobby creature again, then climbed, using his hand and sword for traction, until he reached the top of its head. From where the position he was at, the trailer didn't seem too far from his position.

"Hey, Alex," Sebastian said as soon as he entered the trailer and saw Alex in a fetal position.

"Huh? Sebastian, is that you?" Alex turned and asked, quivering in fear.

"Yes, it is, and I'm here to rescue you."

"Uh..."

"What's wrong?"

"Don't tell her this, but I'm scared too, especially of heights!"

"Calm down!"

"B-but, I don't even know how we can get down..."

"The same way I got up here."

"What?"

Oh man, I wonder what's taking so long. Laura thought as she looked on from afar. I hope they make it out okay. If only I had listened and jumped alongside— Her thoughts got interrupted by a loud sound, as she looked up and saw Alex holding onto Sebastian like a piggyback ride.

"Don't let go," Sebastian ordered.

"Don't drop me!" Alex shrieked.

Sebastian hopped down onto the junk piles, each one smaller than the last until they both made it to the ground. The blob couldn't keep up withholding the trailer any longer; it uncontrollably shook as it came crashing to the ground; crushing the creature.

Alex got off Sebastian and went over to hug Laura, but stopped as the two developed leg cramps.

"You guys alright?" Sebastian asked.

"Don't worry; we'll be fine," Alex replied.

"Are you sure?" Laura asked. "After what happened, you're not deeply hurt?"

"Well, I guess I'm not one hundred percent sure," Alex admitted, sheepishly laughing.

"Let's get back inside to treat the wounds okay?" Laura replied.

"Okay."

"Yeah, and considering the defeat of the monster, we should be safe now," Sebastian added. His powers disappeared as his hair and sword swapped colors once again.

"Thank goodness for that too..." Laura and Alex sighed happily.

.-.-.-.

Alex took Sebastian's spot on the couch as Laura went over to place a cloth in a bowl filled with cold water. Sebastian watched from the sidelines, waiting to help when needed.

"Look, I'm sorry about all this..." Sebastian said, sadly.

"Don't go blaming yourself; it's not your fault," Laura reassured him as she placed the wet cloths on Alex's forehead and legs. "You did what you had to do, and we're both very grateful for what you did. So thank you."

"You're welcome."

"But, if you don't mind me asking, how did you do all of that?"

Sebastian found himself in a tight spot. It seemed like he could no longer hide this anymore. So, he sighed and decided to confess.

"I know it'll be hard to believe, but I'm not from around here..."

"You mean that guess I made earlier was correct...?" Laura commented, her eyes perking up.

"And I think that creature was sent here by the traitor to try to get rid of me..."

"What? But why?"

"I'm from another dimension, and that the world is in danger of being taken over by someone. That someone is also from that world. Whoever the traitor is, they must have known I was trying to put a stop to their plan and sent that monster to keep me from defeating them."

"That's—"

"Do you know who that could be yet?" Alex opened his eyes and asked Sebastian.

"I'm not sure. But, even if I knew, I have no proof." Sebastian replied. "All I know is... I cannot stay here any longer."

"Do you have to leave?"

"Yes. It is for the best that I find a way back so I don't put you guys in any more danger."

"Go get that map over there." Alex moved his head to move the drawer from across the couch. "It should help guide you out of the junkyard. I use it to go out, sometimes, to gather resources."

"I see. Thank you." Sebastian went over to open the drawer and took out the map. "Thank you for everything; both of you."

"We'll miss you, Sebastian." Laura murmured, sadly.

"I won't forget this experience ever," Sebastian replied. He gave the two side-hugs and then walked to the door.

"Good luck on your journey," Laura said.

"And good luck getting back your world," Alex added.

"I will do my best. Fare thee well." Sebastian bowed and walked away without looking back.

.-.-.-.

"Hey, Bridget, are you there?" A young student with freckles quietly knocked on the door and paced the halls, wondering how to approach her. 'Maybe I should wait until tomorrow...'

"What do you think you're doing out here this late at night?" A voice startled the girl.

She turned around and as Glenda stood right there in front of her. "Oh, Miss Glenda, I—"

"It's late; you should be in your room, young lady. Why are you not there?"

"Well, you see... I wanted to return something to Bridget after I finished borrowing them." The girl replied as she showed the teacher a makeup compacts and a spell book.

"And why didn't you give those to her beforehand?"

"I'm sorry, but I didn't find the right time to do that. I know I should have—"

"She's probably in the bathroom or sleeping soundly." Glenda guessed. "You can always try again tomorrow..."

"Hey, wait, can't you do that for me?"

"Are you sure you're okay with that?"

"Yeah, she's in your class, unlike me." The freckled student said solemnly.

Glenda smiled at her. "I'm sure you'll be in similar classes with her if you just study hard and think positive as she would."

The student smiled back and handed the older woman the book and compact. "Thanks, I'll be heading back to my room now."

"No running."

"Got it!"

Meanwhile, Lauren peeked out from a corner of the girl's dorm. She had left her room and escaped down a few floors when she noticed Ms. Glenda out on patrol, making sure no one was out and about. Lauren hid with her back against the wall.

"That's odd." Lauren said to herself, "Bridget is usually a light sleeper, especially with that much noise, and is never one to leave in the middle of the night. This whole thing seems suspicious."

Aoguro floated right beside her and nudged the girl to get her attention.

"Oh, hey." Lauren greeted with a whisper, "Did you come to help me out? It won't be easy, but I feel like with you by my side, we can get this done in a cinch."

"Is someone there?" Glenda called out.

"Come on; let's hurry," Lauren whispered. "We don't want to get caught, or keep him waiting any longer!"

Lauren ran down to the ground floor and checked if anyone else walked out here. When she saw the coast was clear, she went over to open one of the windows and jumped out.

Closing the window, Lauren snuck over to the boys' dorm, making sure nobody noticed her through any of the windows. When she arrived at the dorms, Lauren sat on Aoguro so he could lift her to the floor that had Troy's room.

Lauren opened the window and rolled inside. She and Aoguro searched around the area for a while.

"Let's see, where could it be? If I was a missing page that got ripped out of a spellbook, where would I be?" Lauren said to herself.

She glanced and saw a portrait just lying there on the table and went over to pick it up and inspect it. Aoguro nudged her to look at a piece of paper that got stuck to the side of the closet.

"Ah, you found it; good work." Lauren patted Aoguro on the head before taking the paper and reading it to herself. "Awesome, that'll be helpful for what we're about to do next." She muttered.

Just as Lauren was about to leave, however, the doorknob to Troy's room moved. Lauren rushed over to hide under the bed while Aoguro followed suit. She held her nose as the linger of dirty gym socks filled the area. Horace opened the door and searched around the room for a while. Lauren then heard the door close.

"Hey, could you go check and see if he's still there?" Lauren whispered. Aoguro turned invisible and slowly moved out from under the bed over to peek. Drat, if only I remembered what that invisibility spell we learned back in class is... Ao soon came back and nodded as Lauren got out from under the bed breathing a sigh of relief. "That was close; let's get back ASAP."

.-.-.-.

Troy slept on the jail bed in his cell. His body shivered as he tossed and turned in his sleep.

'Hey, Troy, I'm back.' An older man said as he opened the door.

'Oh, boy, you're back!' A younger Troy cheered, getting up from the floor and walked over to him.

'Welcome back.' A tall woman next to Troy bowed.

'Thanks for taking care of the boy.' The older man gave the woman a tip.

'No problem, see you tomorrow.' The older woman waved before leaving.

As the door closed, Troy asked, 'Um, Dad, why do you always come back late?'

'I'm sorry, but I have to provide for ourselves.' The man replied.

'B-but it gets lonely without you here,' Troy said solemnly as tears formed around his eyes.

'Please, don't cry, can you imagine what would happen if I didn't have...?' The response only made him sadder. His father then gave him a small smile. 'Hey, kid, you want to see something cool?'

Troy wiped his eyes and nodded. His father held out two purple lights hovering over his hands. He gave one to Troy to experience it floating over his hands.

'No way, this trick looks amazing!' Troy exclaimed, no longer in tears. 'How did you do that?'

'It's hard to explain and pull off.' His father replied.

'What's it called?'

'Dark magic. I can teach you someday if you'd like, but you must tell no one. Understand?'

'Mm-hmm.'

'I have a book I made long ago; it's hidden somewhere in the school library. No one knows it but me, but I'll tell you the location it's in.'

'Cool, what can this dark magic do?'

'Pretty much anything you want to, if you think about it, you can get it.'

'Even bring back, mommy?'

The man paused for a few seconds before replying, 'Yeah, even that.'

.-.-.-.

"Oh, dad..." Troy woke up and wiped his eyes. A knock came soon after, and Lauren stepped into the room.

"Hey Troy, it's me," Lauren whispered.

"Lauren, is it daytime already?" Troy asked while stretching his arms.

"No, not yet, but I got the spell."

"Oh, that's good to hear."

"It's time we finally put this plan into motion," Lauren stated. "Are you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be." Troy nodded. "Let's do it."

.-.-.-.

Glenda looked through almost all the hallways and floors in the girls' dorm; it seemed as if there was nobody out in the hall.

Back at her office, she opened the door and saw Horace standing there, about ready to knock.

"Oh, wow, you scared me for a second there," Glenda said in an exasperated tone. "So, what do you want?" Her eyes widened. "Wait, you're not here to check up on me and my work, are you? I assure you that everything is fine. I swear on it! I'll even show you some proof—"

A noise interrupted their conversation. The two looked over at the primary school building. The pictures on the walls of Glenda's office fell off; the vases tumbled to the floor and broke apart.

"W-what the devil is going on!?" Glenda exclaimed. "Don't tell me the traitor could have gotten..." She mumbled to herself before looking over at Horace. "Go check and see if everyone is alright; I got to hurry and find the source of all this!" She rushed out of the girl's dorm, leaving the confused Horace behind.

.-.-.-.

Glenda ran over to the door that led into the dungeon. She slammed the now opened door down as Troy fell on the ground, now tied up in some rope.

"Troy, what happened to you?" Glenda asked as she went over to untie the boy. "Why are you tied up? And where did Be—?"

"It's a trap!" Troy shouted.

"Wait; what?"

The door behind them slammed shut as someone in a dark cloak stood in front of it with their hands crossed.

"You thought I'd be locked in that dungeon forever?" The person spoke.

"Let us out!" Glenda exclaimed. She pushed them out of the way and banged on the door.

"Hey, don't ignore me, you hag!"

"You, get us out of this mess right now." Glenda turned around and ordered.

"Oh, but I'm not in that 'mess.' You are." The figure pointed out.

"What are you talking about?"

Without her question answered, Aoguro showed up from thin air, causing Glenda to jump back.

"Alright, Aoguro, do it." The cloaked one ordered.

He glowed into a ball of light, causing Glenda and Troy to cover their eyes as their bodies rose in the air until they blacked out and disappeared.

"Alright, it went as planned without a hitch, and it's all thanks to you." The figure said as it looked over at the black marks where the pair used to be standing. "Now let's check and make sure you-know-who doesn't escape, shall we?" Aoguro nodded and looked at the black marks on the floor as he floated behind the cloaked figure.

Episode 12

Harry and Benjamin went back to their base of operations as Chi-Chi stood there and waited for them to return. Benjamin plopped himself onto the couch and buried his head in a nearby pillow. Chi-Chi asked what had happened while she left. Harry explained the events while Chi-Chi was in the bathroom.

"...And that's the gist of it." Harry finished the long story.

"Really?" Chi-Chi asked, lowering her head.

The two looked over at Benjamin, who now sat on the couch. His head hung low, and his hands covered his face.

"Poor Master's been like this ever since we came back," Harry added.

"Man, I wish I had seen it..."

"Chi-Chi!"

"What? Those parts before the anti-climax sounded awesome!" The guinea pig tried to defend.

"Yeah, and it was," Harry said confidently, before realizing what he was saying and shook his head. "But that's beside the point."

"How can we cheer him up?"

"I don't know, but, I mean, we have to try it, eventually!"

"Poor Master..."

Benjamin pulled his hands away from his face and sighed, wiping the tears from his eyes.

"What am I doing?" He mumbled to himself.

"Uh... sulking?" Chi-Chi said bluntly. Harry scowled at her. "What?"

"I don't know what to do anymore..." Benjamin continued.

"What do you mean, Master? You always have a backup plan." Chi-Chi said.

"Yeah, don't give up just yet," Harry added.

"Did I say I would give up?" Benjamin asked.

"Well, no, we just assumed..."

"Then again, maybe I should do that at this rate..."

"No, don't do that!"

"Uh, well, you said the crystal sphere was in her computer, right?" Chi-Chi inquired.

"Well, yeah," Harry replied, having no idea where she went with this.

"Maybe if we steal the device or interrogate her to help us get it out of the laptop..."

Harry smiled and chipped in too. "...we can get our revenge, get the sphere back, find a way back home, and complete our assignment on time!"

The two animals cheered, but Benjamin did not react.

"How did you think up something like that so quickly?" He questioned.

"It... just came to us," Chi-Chi replied. "Do you not like the plan?"

"No, it's not like that. It's a good idea, but I don't know where to start."

"Really? But that should be obvious. We break into her house to steal something from her she finds precious and use it as a hostage."

"Or an alternative," Harry added, "We kidnap the girl and the computer and threaten her to make her help us or else."

"Huh, that sounds rather evil."

"We learned from the best!" The animals shouted in unison.

Benjamin couldn't help but smile at that response. The two siblings told him to wait there as they headed to the kitchen. When they came back, Benjamin noticed that they brought some flour with them.

The animals threw it in the air, causing the flour to go everywhere when it landed on them. Benjamin smirked and snickered at seeing their little stunt.

"Ok, I'll admit, that's funny," Benjamin replied, as he got up and smacked his cheeks. "Alright, the dark magician is back!"

"Hooray, that's our Master!" Harry and Chi-Chi cheered after seeing the magician back on his feet again. They shook all the flour off them before joining him.

"I may be down, but there is no way I am out!" Benjamin declared with a pose. "And as long as I'm here, I'll make Isabelle's life miserable." He turned to his sidekicks. "Battle stations, you two, it's time to prepare, and we have a lot of business to do."

"Yes, sir!" The two animals shouted and saluted.

As the three headed off, their motion got interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Who could it be now?" Benjamin complained.

"I have no clue, but I'll go get it," Chi-Chi said while going over to the door.

"Wait, at least check and see who it is first."

"On it." Chi-Chi jumped up on the doorknob and peeked through the security peephole. "Hey, Master?"

"Yeah?"

"Forget about that plan earlier."

"What? Why?"

"Why even bother going to her, when she can just come to us?"

Benjamin's confusion slowly turned into a horrid realization. "Oh, no." His eyes widened as he extended his arms upon seeing Chi-Chi try to open the door. "Wait, don't open the door!"

"Don't worry, I'll let you in," Chi-Chi chirped.

"Hey, what did she mean by—?" Harry started.

"See? Mission success!" Chi-Chi got off the door and opened it, revealing Isabelle, who she invited herself in shortly after.

"W-why did you let her in?" Harry asked, his eyes widened in surprise.

"More importantly, why is she here?" Benjamin pointed out.

"Oh, did I show up at a bad time?" Isabelle asked, adjusting her glasses.

Benjamin said 'yes' while Chi-Chi replied, 'no.'

"We were just about to head out though..." Harry moaned.

"Oh my god, I knew it." Isabelle walked over to the critters and bent down to get a closer look at them. "You guys can talk; I can understand you!"

"Wait a minute; you can?"

"Or did you guys fake it the whole time, and I didn't notice it until now?"

Benjamin fake coughed. "Did you come here to gloat or something?"

"Of course not... yet. I came to say hello, and to also keep an eye on you, Benny." Isabelle replied with a grin.

"W-what do you mean by that?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"No."

"I had a feeling you'd break out of your crushed shell, eventually, and that you wouldn't have given up so quickly, even though you have no powers or skills." She muttered the last part of her sentence.

"I heard that!" Benjamin exclaimed.

"But just in case, I'll stay by your side and make sure you don't succeed." Isabelle did a pose similar to the magician. "So prepare yourself for—"

"Get out of my house!"

"Master, what are you doing?" Chi-Chi whispered to him.

"What do you mean?" Benjamin asked as he and his sidekicks go into a group huddle.

"We got her here, so let's get the girl to help us with our goal."

"But how?"

"Trick her or something?" Harry suggested.

"That won't be easy," Benjamin said.

"Um, hello?" Isabelle called out to them. "You know I can hear you guys in your little huddle, right?" Isabelle pointed out.

The trio broke out of their huddle and turned to face her.

"Alright, we'll let you stay here," Harry explained.

"But on the condition that you have to be an assistant to our Master and help contribute to certain stuff," Chi-Chi added.

"Alright, fair enough." Isabelle shrugged.

"And I won't take- Wait, what!?" Benjamin exclaimed. "Are you serious?"

"What? I think it's interesting..."

Benjamin massaged his temples and sighed. "I don't get you at all."

"Let's make this world a better place." She stated, completely ignoring his remark.

"That's not at all what—"

"Hey, where's that other guy who was with you before?" Harry interrupted.

"Oh, you mean Nicky?" Isabelle questioned. "He'll monitor you from a distance using a new unique program he made. I helped him too, of course."

"So, are you saying that was your idea?"

"Uh-huh, I figured he might be useful. Outside of battles, he'll be in look-out mode for me."

"Where is he, and when will he show up?" Chi-Chi asked.

Before Isabelle could answer, a loud tapping sound came from the windows. Turning their heads, a robotic fly buzzed and tapped the glass.

"What is that, and what's up with those eyes?" Benjamin asked, utterly disgusted by the appearance.

"That must be him, right there," Isabelle replied. "What's going on Nicky?"

"I'm having trouble controlling the new prototype." Nicholas' voice replied; his that came out of the robot. "I'm sure once I get the hang of it, it'll all go smoothly."

"Hang on; let me open the window for you."

"Uh, how about we leave the window closed for the sake of our sanity?" Harry suggested.

"Don't be ridiculous; how will Nicholas do his part otherwise?" Isabelle walked over to open the windows and let the robot enter.

However, immediately after the fly entered the room, bolts of magic shot straight at it. The robot dodged most of it, but one of its wings got hit and as it fell and landed on the dresser.

Isabelle turned to Benjamin, who shrugged. The two then looked over to Harry, who took the wand from him and used it on his own.

"Harry, what did you do that for?" Chi-Chi asked.

"K-keep that thing away from me, please!" Harry shouted in panic.

"Hey, never mess with my wand without my permission!" Benjamin exclaimed as he snatched the wand away from the hamster.

"Sorry, Master."

"Is he at least ok?" Chi-Chi asked.

"Yeah... I'm ok..." Nicholas replied.

Isabelle sighed in relief and looked over at the wreckage. "You know, it's sad."

"What is?" Benjamin asked.

"Your powerful device can't even destroy something like a robot fly. Pathetic, if you ask me."

"Well, sorry for having a lame excuse of a 'device' then! If only, if only, I could go back to my world, get a new sphere, and power up my wand!"

In frustration, Benjamin threw the wand across the room. It hit the wall and shot out a bolt of magic, which bounced all around the room. The magic headed towards Benjamin, and Isabelle ran over to push him out of the way. The beam ricocheted off the window and hit the TV.

The screen now showed a magenta and aqua-green colored swirling image. As everyone got up from the incident, they dusted themselves off, before hearing a strange beeping sound.

"What's that?" Harry asked.

"Uh, I think it's coming from that pink thing," Chi-Chi said, pointing to the computer.

"Oh, that's my laptop, and it's magenta." Isabelle corrected her.

"But why is it acting up?"

"Beats me." After looking over the laptop, Isabelle gasped. "Guys, check this out. According to this, I think that's a magical portal you just created inside the TV."

"Wait, so in other words..." Benjamin started.

"Your wish came true!" Isabelle exclaimed happily, bouncing up and down. "Now you can get your stuff back!"

"Huh?"

"Aren't you glad I came here to help?"

"But I could have figured that out myself—"

"I can't wait to check out this new world, too." Isabelle rushed over and placed her hand on the TV; it went through the screen.

Soon, she had worked her whole body inside the television. Benjamin watched as she disappeared from sight. Looking down at his hands and clenching them, he rushed over and went inside the TV after her. Harry and Chi-Chi looked at each other with worried expressions before they hopped in to follow the two.

Episode 13

"What the- who is this?" A female voice asked.

"I don't know." A male voice replied.

"Whoever she is, she came out of nowhere..."

"...and she's also pretty."

"Really? Hey, do you know if she's even alive?"

"Maybe? Why are you asking me?"

"Oh, she's waking up."

"Already? Oh, man, I'm nervous. What should I say?"

"Calm down, you."

The young female opened her eyes and looked around the area. As she rubbed her eyes, the girl looked up as two floating ball-like creatures appeared before her eyes. One was green with brown eyes, and the other was pink with red eyes and wore a matching bow on top.

The one with the red bow greeted the girl. "Welcome traveler—"

"Calm down, you." The green one interrupted.

The pink ball glared back at the other, who looked confused as to the reason why.

"Where am I? And what are you guys supposed to be?" The girl asked them.

"We could say the same about you." The pink one replied. "But since you asked us first, I'll let you in on the—"

"Oh, ho!" A boisterous voice interrupted the pink one. The floating creatures turned as a figure exited out of one of the purple domes.

"Clause? What are you doing out? You haven't recovered yet." The green one stated.

"But I'm feeling better," Clause replied, "And besides, I can't just ignore that noise from outside."

"Well, that is true."

"So what was that noise I just heard—?" The man started, but when he walked over to where they were, he gasped. "Oh, Bridget!"

"You know her?" The pink one asked.

"Why, yes, she's at my school."

"Oh..."

"What's the matter? Can you not stand up?" Clause asked, extending his hand out. "You'll catch a cold if you stay on the floor like that."

"Yes, I'm aware, thanks." Bridget picked herself up and brushed herself off. "I'm just shocked and speechless about this situation; that's all."

"I see; it is hard to stomach at first."

"So, do you know what those things are?"

"Of course, what you're looking at are creatures called Pilkon." Clause explained, "They may be small, but they're a pair of intelligent, dependable, and unique species."

"My name is Akapin, a pleasure to see you." The one with the bow introduced herself.

"And I'm Midoricha, pleased to meet you" The green one greeted.

"So what brings you here, Bridget?"

"Me?" Bridget questioned. "I'm not sure myself..."

"Really?" Akapin asked.

"All I remember before passing out was getting into a fight with Troy..." Her voice faded, as it dawned on her.

"Oh no, Troy..." Clause muttered in realization.

"Uh, you alright?"

"Come with us; we should discuss this inside. I'll tell you everything I know and more!"

"And more?"

.-.-.-.

Bridget, Clause, and the two Pilkon set off to their place. Their Pilkon village comprised small and large colorful domes, with bridges that connected to each of the different domes, some lifts operated like a cable car, and a spiral staircase with signs plastered in front of them.

Bridget and the others kept walking until they reached a purple dome with a dark blue door. Once they entered the place, they went over to sit on the multi-colored changing carpet.

"Please, make yourself at home," Midoricha said politely.

"Uh, you know that this isn't your home, right?" Akapin stated.

The two Pilkons made their guests Cinnamon Enigma and Gooseberry snacks. Bridget took a sip from the drink and then asked Clause himself how he ended up here.

The older man explained what happened beforehand, including when he came to, he ended up on a desolate planet called Cleon B, which collided with an unknown object. The aliens looked over to Clause and displayed to him a big, blue bowl with little gray puffballs inside. A portal appeared, and Akapin and Midoricha came out of it. The two asked the aliens if they had the trading goods, and the aliens presented them with the bowl and Clause.

The Pilkons hesitated at first as they weren't sure what to do with him, but when the two noticed his badly hurt body, they took him back to their home planet to treat his wounds and fix his broken helmet.

"Wait, your helmet broke?" Bridget asked.

"Why, yes, I don't seem to remember why or how, though..." Clause replied. "Maybe it was after that fight with Troy, and he whisked me away to this place? I didn't even know it happened until the Pilkons told me, no wonder I was feeling sick on that alien planet."

"Now that I think about it, Troy was using some strange magic during the fight I had with him. It wasn't anything I'd seen before. And he mentioned something about a book that was locked away...?"

"Oh no, could it be he has the spell book which allows him to use dark magic?"

"Dark magic? What's that?"

"Something terrible, if we don't hurry back to Streterra and put a stop to the boy..."

"Isn't there a way to get back there from here?" Bridget asked the Pilkons. "That's possible, right?"

"Well, it is," Akapin mentioned. "It's called dimension-hopping."

"We've done that ourselves beforehand," Midoricha added, "But we shouldn't do that."

"Uh-huh."

"But everyone in my world is in danger, and I have to help them out. Please help us!" Bridget pleaded.

Clause sighed. "I already asked them beforehand, but they both said it's dangerous, and they don't want to risk getting into any trouble."

"Trouble? With whom?"

Just then, the door to the dome slammed open, and a gray Pilkon with orange eyes floated to where they were, along with some larger Pilkon, who formed a straight line across the door, blocking the way out.

"A-ha, there you are!" The gray Pilkon proclaimed.

"Gurenji, what are you doing here?" Akapin questioned.

"Well, I heard you were doing some illegal things," Gurenji replied with a superior tone.

"You mean without the Queen's permission?" Akapin corrected him.

"Exactly! And look what we have here..." The gray Pilkon leaned over to inspect Bridget and Clause. "Not only were you two dimension-hopping, but you also brought unwanted people!"

"Yeah, and? So what?"

"You of all Pilkon should know why it's not a good idea! Are you following the footsteps of your brother now?"

"Y-you leave Aoguro out of this!"

"I believe it's time we pay Murasakiiro a little visit." Gurenji turned to the other larger Pilkon. "Take them away, guards!"

As the other Pilkon swarmed them, Bridget blocked their way, standing in-between the guards and her newfound friends.

"Leave them alone!" Bridget demanded.

"Bridget, what are you doing?" Akapin whispered.

"I don't know, but I can't just—"

"Actually," Gurenji interrupted, "Why don't your new friends come with us too? After all, the more, the merrier."

.-.-.-.

Gurenji moved the 'Do not pass' sign from the front of the gate and ordered the strangers to move onto the bridge that spiraled upwards. As everyone walked along the path, the sights down below became smaller and smaller with every passing minute.

The Pilkons had no problem keeping their brisk pace. However, Bridget and Clause grew tired and nauseous from the long and fast walk, feeling like they're just about to pass out.

"Can we take a break?" Clause asked.

"Be quiet." Gurenji retorted.

"Yeah, I'm getting a little sleepy myself," Midoricha stated.

"From doing what? You don't even have any legs!"

"How do you even know what legs are?" Bridget asked.

"No more questions!" Gurenji shouted. "Less talking, more walking."

"Do you know how much longer this path is?"

"Don't worry; it shouldn't be too long now miss." One of the guards told her.

"Man, it's a long way down."

Clause looked down and panicked. "Why did you say something, Bridget?"

"Hey, get a move on!" Gurenji commanded.

"Hey, can I ask you something gray ball?" Bridget turned to ask.

"No." Gurenji bluntly stated.

"Aw, but why not?" Bridget whined.

"Stop talking."

"But I want to know more about this culture."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, like, what's so great about this 'Kii' lady?"

The Pilkons gasped in shock at the question.

"Wha- how dare you speak of her like that!?" Gurenji shouted. "Oh, that does it, when we get there, you are so going to get it!"

Gurenji and Bridget glared at each other. Sparks flew between their eyes. Bridget finally understood what Benjamin and Sebastian felt every time they had a bickering contest.

Clause asked, "Uh, get where exactly—?"

"I said, no more questions!" Gurenji screamed.

"Hey, Gurenji." One of the guard Pilkons piped in.

"What? Now?"

"We have reached our destination."

"Oh, good."

They stopped in front of their destination, a large castle. It had light blue windows, a silver plaque on the front, a purple roof, and some magenta doors.

"This is Perlington Castle." A guard spoke up.

"Whoa, I don't want to believe it, but I can see it right in front of me!" Bridget exclaimed in awe.

"Me neither." Clause added. "But, why couldn't we have gotten a lift to get here?"

"The path we took is the only way to get here." Another different guard explained.

"You guys are in big trouble now." Gurenji warned, "Especially you!" He said as he turned to Bridget. She and Clause rolled their eyes in disgust as the Pilkons pushed them closer to the front gates. "Come now; let's hurry. We don't want to keep her waiting!"

.-.-.-.

Gurenji opened the large doors and let everyone inside before entering.

"Murasakiiro-sama, we have arrived," Gurenji called out through the echoing hallways, "We, also, brought some prisoners with us."

"Mura-what?" Bridget tried to repeat, tilting her head," I thought you said her name was—"

"Oh, for the love of—"

"I go by many names." A voice spoke from across the halls.

"Who said that?" Clause asked.

"I did."

A red throne appeared before them in record time. The walls moved closer, the throne turned around, revealing a purple Pilkon with yellow eyes wearing a crown with colored jewels, hovering over the throne. The other Pilkons bowed before her, as did Clause, while Bridget stood there, confused.

"Hello there." Murasakiiro greeted.

Gurenji looked up and greeted her back.

"Oh, Queen Murakiiro, I—"

"Don't call me that!" Murasakiiro exclaimed. "You know my mother is still alive!"

"Yes, I know, but—"

"And why did you bring these people here?"

"Well, Akapin and Midoricha were dimension-hopping without your permission and—"

"But we did it for a good reason." Akapin insisted.

"Silence!" Gurenji demanded.

"You be quiet!" Murasakiiro retorted, Gurenji gulped and kept quiet. She turned to Akapin. "Explain to me your reasons, please."

"We just wanted to provide for ourselves as we have no other way to support the livelihood," Midoricha explained. "We're destitute, and there's not much we can do."

Akapin stepped in and added, "We trade in stuff we don't need and sell to others who do. It's a win-win for all of us, right?"

"I see." Princess Murasakiiro replied. "And what about those two over there? They don't look like Pilkons at all..."

"Well, you see..." Midoricha started nervously.

"It's not their fault!" Clause exclaimed.

"Yeah, won't you please let us explain properly?" Bridget begged the Princess.

"No," Gurenji stated bluntly.

"Alright." Princess Murasakiiro replied.

"What?"

"Let's hear what they have to say," Murasakiiro repeated.

"Alright, I guess..." Gurenji eventually gave in.

Bridget and Clause both took turns explaining how each of them got here. When they had finished, the Princess Murasakiiro nodded.

"So, now you know the whole story," Bridget concluded. "We want to get back to our world, that's all we ask of you. Please your Highness?"

"It's your majesty," Gurenji mumbled. He looked over and saw that the Princess pondered over her decision. "Well, what's it going to be?"

After much deliberation, Princess Murasakiiro concluded. "Alright, I'll help you."

"Really?" Bridget and the others asked, surprised.

"But, on one condition." The Princess added.

"What's that?" Bridget asked nervously.

"Follow me, if you would." She beckoned.

.-.-.-.

Princess Murasakiiro led the group to a door that led into a secret room, filled with magic floating portals in every corner, all of them identical in their aqua color and oval shape. The only differentiating feature was the name-plates on top of each entrance.

"Wow, what is all this?" Bridget questioned.

"They're dimensional portals; they take you to specific locations." The Princess explained.

"So they're kind of like the doors back in the Abstract Bizarre Colorful Dimensions, a place where our world resides." Clause added.

"Something like that?" The Princess Pilkon said in agreement. "Except, these will take you to the same place every time. The name-plates above the portals showed the location inside. So, unless you read them, you wouldn't have any idea what's on the other side until you step through."

Curious, Bridget looked over some name-plates and read them in her head.

Hmm, let's see here, Glimmer Grove, Admis Abyss, wait, is that Cheese World?

Midori interrupted her thoughts as he rushed over and commented on how one portal had an 'out of order' sign on it. The Princess explained that the portal underwent some maintenance and that the others wouldn't be allowed to use it until it was complete. She then mentioned that her single condition for them is on the other side of the hallway. The group went over to the door at the end of the halls.

.-.-.-.

Once they entered the room, they noticed a large-sized bed in the middle of the room. The group went over to check it out and surrounded the bed. A peach-colored Pilkon rested in bed with her eyes shut.

"Mother, we're back. How are you feeling?" Princess Murasakiiro asked with worry and concern.

There was no reply.

"Hang in there, please." Gurenji murmured.

"I beg your pardon," Clause said sadly, "And I don't mean to be rude, but, whatever happened to her?"

"Murasaki's mom, the Queen of the Pilkons, is sick," Midoricha explained.

"She's been like this for a while now," Akapin added.

"No way. Is there nothing we can do to make her better?" Bridget asked.

"Why, yes, there is." The Princess replied. "I heard that there is something that can cure her, but it's in a dangerous place. But still, I want you guys to get it for me."

"What!?" Everyone else gasped, taken off guard.

"No offense, but are you crazy?" Akapin questioned.

"Didn't you say it was dangerous?" Bridget added.

"We could get ourselves killed!" Clause exclaimed.

"I agree with everyone," Midoricha replied nonchalantly.

"Did you think it'd be a walk in the park?" Gurenji raised an eye as Murasakiiro dropped hers. "Unbelievable..."

"Um, Miss Murasakuro?" Bridget asked.

"Call her Your Highness!" Gurenji barked.

"Your Highness?"

"If you have trouble with my proper titles, then I give you permission just to call me Saki if you'd like," Murasakiiro stated.

"Oh, ok, then." Bridget cleared her throat and tried again. "So, Saki, I was wondering, where exactly is this place and what does this look like?"

"Well, I'm not sure where it's at exactly, I've never been there before..."

"So you've only heard about it, is that correct?" Akapin asked.

"I've seen someone bringing it before long ago back when I was sick; it was a red plant with orbs surrounding it if I can remember correctly..." Murasakiiro explained to the group.

"Is that all you know?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"What? Are you getting suspicious of her?" Gurenji questioned, "You don't believe her?"

"No, of course not!" Clause exclaimed, "We know this is important to you, but we're not sure if we can pull this task off..."

"Is that so?" The Princess mumbled.

"I hate to admit it, but..." Gurenji muttered to himself.

"Gurenji?"

"Yes, what is it, Your Highness?"

"I would like for you to accompany them on their dangerous journey they'll be taking."

No way? Gurenji thought, his eyes widening. "You got it, leave it to me, Your Highness!" He shouted proudly.

Clause skeptically narrowed his eyes, however. "Um, how will he help us...?"

"Are you doubting my skills?" Gurenji looked over at them and questioned. "I'm going to make sure you guys don't slack off and do your work properly!"

"Uh-huh, like we would do something like that?" Bridget scowled at the gray Pilkon.

"Hey, you stay out of this—"

"Enough!" Princess Murasakiiro shouted. Everyone went silent and turned to her with worry. "Are you guys going to help or not?"

"We're sorry..." Bridget and Gurenji said with their heads hung low.

"I don't want to hear that! I want to hear you say that you'll work together, understand?"

Bridget and Gurenji straightened up and exclaimed, "Yes, ma'am, we'll work together and co-operate!"

The Princess Pilkon sighed. "Alright, let's get a move on then..."

.-.-.-.

As everyone left the Queen's bedroom, they returned to the portal room, Murasakiiro went over to a portal that had a nameplate above it with nothing but question marks. She explained to them that she had asked for some information from some other sources where the cure could be.

It was through this portal. Although she'd never been there before, Murasakiiro had heard that it appeared through this one and that it was dangerous.

She turned to face the others and asked in a booming voice, "So, who will step up and retrieve the cure for the Queen's sake?"

"I will." Bridget raised her hand and replied. "If you'll take us home for this, then I'll do whatever I can to help."

"Well, if you're going, then I'll go with you!" Midoricha added.

"Thank you," Bridget responded kindly.

Midoricha cheeks grew a light shade of red as he didn't know how to react.

"Uh, I think I'll stay here." Clause decided. "I'm not an adamant fighter, and I get scared easily—"

"You wimp!" Gurenji shouted, "How can you say such—?"

"Calm down!" Akapin interrupted.

"If he goes, he will probably be a burden to everyone. That's why he's choosing to stay behind." The Princess Pilkon deduced. "You can stay behind, too, if you want Gurenji."

"What? No way!" The gray Pilkon exclaimed.

"Then don't be a burden to anyone, got it?"

"But... Murasakiiro..." Gurenji's muttered.

"Come on, let's get going. We have little time left!" Midoricha proclaimed.

"Yeah..."

Bridget glanced at Gurenji and noticed his expression.

"Do your best everyone," The Princess cheered everyone on as Clause waved them goodbye.

"Make sure you make it back safe, ok?" Akapin added.

"Don't worry; we will," Midoricha replied as Bridget waved back at them before heading into the portal.

Midoricha and Gurenji soon followed suit and went inside the portal.

"Now all we have to do is wait for them to return." The Princess stated.

"Um, do you think they'll be alright?" Akapin asked, nervously.

"But, of course, I have faith in them." Clause said.

"Well, ok, if you say so..."

Episode 14

A magic portal opened up, dropping Benjamin, Isabelle, Harry, and Chi-Chi onto the grassy ground.

"Are we... alive?" Harry asked, weakly.

"I think so..." Chi-Chi responded sickly.

"Well, it seems like we've finally made it out to our destination. Wherever that may be." Benjamin concluded as he stood up, put his hat back on, and brushed himself off.

"Did we at least make it to the right place?" Isabelle wondered.

Benjamin looked around the area as it felt familiar to him. When he turned around, he saw a building that he recognized immediately: It was the Monster Academy, Streterra!

"Aw, yeah, now that's what I'm talking about!" Benjamin exclaimed, raising his fist in the air. Harry and Chi-Chi jumped for joy. "Now let's go get my crystal sphere!"

He marched off, along with his furry companions, toward the school. The magician looked back and realized Isabelle didn't follow suit and stopped to face her.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Harry asked her.

"Well..." Isabelle said, looking up. "I wasn't expecting the school to look so normal, especially compared to the ones I've seen in shows and books."

After a moment of silence, Benjamin and his sidekicks turned to face the school and walked away, leaving Isabelle behind.

"Hey, wait for me!" Isabelle cried as she ran over to catch up to them.

.-.-.-.

Benjamin opened the front doors, nobody in sight.

Alright. He thought with a grin.

"Wow, talk about fancy hallways!" Isabelle caught up with Benjamin and shouted, interrupting his thoughts.

"Be quiet!" Benjamin hissed at her.

"Why?"

"It's nighttime, and I need to sneak into my classroom."

"Why?"

"To get the crystal spheres from inside the desk!"

"But, w—"

"You're stalling, aren't you?" Benjamin asked, getting fed up with her nonsense.

Isabelle and Chi-Chi tried to contain their laughter while Harry merely rolled his eyes.

Benjamin, Harry, and Chi-Chi went back to their search for his classroom as they sneaked around the school, trying not to get caught. Isabelle, on the other hand, strolled along without a care, taking pictures of different things with her camera along the way.

"This'll be perfect for my research." She chirped to herself.

"Stop lollygagging and focus; we didn't come here for you to look around all willy-nilly!" Benjamin retorted, "You're just lucky that no one has noticed us yet."

"That's strange, is everyone in their dorms?" Isabelle questioned.

"No, there should be some people out at their night classes or something, but why the Devil is this place so quiet?"

"They could be in their dorms like Isabelle said, you never know." Chi-Chi guessed.

Benjamin turned to face his classroom's door. He tried but couldn't get it to open. He then peeked through the window as Ms. Glenda's desk caught his eye.

"Hey, help me out here." He asked as he turned back to Isabelle.

Isabelle, however, wasn't so sure. Something felt off. "But—"

"Don't ask me why and just do it already!" Benjamin commanded, getting impatient.

A loud gasp caught them off guard. The two turned and saw a panicked, freckled student standing there.

"What's she so shaken about?" Benjamin pondered.

"Maybe she's shocked by that outfit you're wearing." Isabelle teased.

"I don't want to hear it, especially coming from you."

"Uh, Master, you ought to look behind you," Chi-Chi whispered.

Benjamin turned around, and to his surprise, another person who looked exactly like him stood beside him! How did he not notice that sooner?

"W-was he always there?" Benjamin asked nervously.

"I-I'm not so sure about that." Isabelle stuttered.

"I hope you don't mind me causing a little trouble." The other Benjamin said.

He summoned plasma balls and threw them at the classroom door, utterly destroying it. The other Benjamin entered the class and, soon, came back out with the desk drawer which held the crystal spheres inside.

Benjamin walked over to him and gasped in awe. However, Isabelle and the freckled girl watched, stunned in horror.

"No way, you got them? That's amazing!" Benjamin exclaimed.

"Yeah, I know." The clone Benjamin replied with a smug smile.

"To think you will serve me a lot better than—"

"'Serve'? Who said I was helping you?"

"But you're me; you're not supposed to be superior and greedier than me!"

"If you want these spheres, then come and get them!" The fake Benjamin taunted.

Benjamin rushed over to grab the drawer from his imposter's hands, but he dodged.

Bored with Benjamin, the fake threw a smoke bomb onto the ground, causing an extensive array of smoke to appear and subside as the figure had disappeared.

"Fang it! When I find the son of a banshee—" Benjamin coughed.

"I don't believe it..." The freckled student muttered. "You're the one she was talking about."

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Benjamin stopped coughing and asked, his eyebrows creasing.

"Are you the one who was making clones and plans to doom us all, the school, and all worlds?"

"Well, the first one is a hard no, but, yes, two out of three is—"

Isabelle smacked Benjamin upside the head. "You idiot, do you have any idea what you're saying?"

"What? Isn't it a school tradition to work on either side to—?"

"You just don't get it, do you?" The freckled girl clenched her fists. "Well, we won't let you succeed and get what you want, you traitor!"

"Traitor?"

"What do you mean 'we'?" Isabelle tilted her head in confusion.

Just as she said that, more students popped up from the sides and stood right behind the freckled girl in a formation; the girl pointed as the other students readied their firearm.

"So, what do you suggest we do now?" Isabelle asked.

"Run." Benjamin murmured.

"What?"

"Run for your lives!" Benjamin then shouted as he dashed off away from where the others were. Isabelle didn't take long to follow suit.

"You'll pay for what you've done! Get them!" The girl with freckles yelled as the students behind her shot orange laser beams from their hands.

Benjamin and co. rushed out, jumped, ducked, and side-stepped every single one. They soon came across a fork in the hallways with three paths. Down one had more students were hunting them down, the second had students marching to them while getting their magic bows ready. As they shot fire arrows, Benjamin and Isabelle ran over to the third path to avoid their attacks.

More students came from the classrooms, this time yielding maces. They swung their weapons, spewing out lightning to strike the group down. When that didn't work, the students just tossed their maces like a boomerang at Benjamin and co., hitting the walls behind them and creating cracks.

During the commotion from behind a corner, Lauren peeked out to watch the ensuing chaos. She could hear the students cry: "They're getting away!" and "Stop them!"

"Well, how about that? These clones are doing a better job than I gave them credit for..." Lauren murmured to herself. "But there's no time to be impressed. Now that everyone's distracted, I can head on over to the final Boss' lair with no problems at all."

Benjamin and Isabelle continued running up and down the floors to avoid the heat-seeking ice meteor rocks sent out after him.

The two hid inside the empty cafeteria. Wondering what to do next, Isabelle and Benjamin crawled underneath a table, hoping nobody would see them.

"How long do we have to stay here?" Isabelle asked.

"Until we know that the coast is clear," Benjamin replied.

"Hey, Master?" Harry, who was hiding in his Master's magenta hat, called to his attention.

"Yeah, what is it?" Benjamin questioned.

"We got to go back."

"I know, that's my crystal sphere that cretin took."

"Not that, well, not only that but I think he took my sister."

"Chi-Chi?"

"Now that I think about it, where did she go?" Isabelle pondered. "Did we leave her back there?"

Before Benjamin had time to reply, the café's doors swung open, and a small group of people walked in and looked around. Fear of being spotted if staying any longer, the group snuck out from the back door and headed to another hallway.

Benjamin and Isabelle continued on their merry way. They sighed in relief, knowing that they lost the others, for now.

"Ok, now, how can we find Chi-Chi while avoiding these goons?" Benjamin questioned curiously.

It didn't take long for Isabelle to point out the clone that leaned his back against the wall with a smug grin on his face.

"There he is, after him!" Benjamin shouted.

Benjamin and Isabelle gave chase as the clone dashed away to the higher floors of the school. Benjamin had a hard time catching up to the imposter as he ran too fast.

When they had finally made it to the top floor of the school, he seemed to have disappeared. When they checked through the windows, to their surprise, it seemed like there were plenty of clones running amok and causing mayhem everywhere they turned.

"Where did they all come from?" Isabelle asked, holding her hands over her mouth in disbelief. "Why, and how, are there so many of you!?"

"Aw, man, how are we supposed to find the one that took Chi-Chi at this rate?" Benjamin wondered, feeling down on his luck. "And my crystal sphere too!" He added. "Wherever he is, he will pay!"

Harry looked over and noticed flashing lights outside the window. He got up and took a peek out of the windowpane and gasped.

"Guys," Harry called out to his Master and his assistant, "I think I found the culprit!"

"You did?" Benjamin and Isabelle exclaimed in unison.

"Yeah, come and see for yourselves!" Harry cheered.

The two went over to the windowpanes and gasped at what they saw. Benjamin clones swarmed and surrounded the three as it backed them up against the window.

.-.-.-.

Back outside, the doors lead to an underground basement opened up. Troy headed out and sealed the doors shut with his magic. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and stared off into the horizon, amidst all the mayhem surrounding him. He placed his hand behind his ear, listening to all the chaos ensuing inside Streterra.

"Sounds like Lauren's done a fantastic job over there. I like the sounds of that."

Just then, Aoguro showed up again to give Troy a report.

"Aoguro, weren't you supposed to be watching over Glenda?" Troy asked. Aoguro whispered in his ear, and he nodded. "I see, so that's how it is. Well then, I guess it's time to stir up more chaos!"

Troy made a portal appear on the ground as a bunch of Benjamin clones marched in a single file line towards the school.

"By the way, do you still have that spell book I lent you?" Aoguro summoned the book from thin air, landing on his head. "Yeah, that's it." Troy reached over and took the book from him.

Just as he was about to open it, however, the windows behind him broke. Two people and a hamster jumping out got his full attention. He didn't have time to react as the trio landed on him, knocking the book from his hand.

As everyone gained their composure, Harry looked over and ran over to get the book. "Hey, look, Master!"

"Oh no, my book!" Troy exclaimed.

"Your book?!" Benjamin cried.

"Ao, get my book!"

"I don't think so; Harry get to it!"

Harry and Aoguro rushed to snatch the book away. As they jumped towards it, the object moved away and levitated.

An aqua-colored arrow attached to the book slowly moved over to Isabelle, who stood there the whole time. She got out her laptop and re-activated it just in time.

"I got the book!" Isabelle declared proudly.

"What? No!" Troy shouted.

"Way to go, Isabelle!" Benjamin cheered. The boy then realized that he never thought he'd say something like that in his life, especially not to a human like Isabelle. Benjamin turned and noticed the girl gave him a silly wink as a response.

"So, this is the book that Troy guy's been using, huh?" Isabelle said to herself as the book drew nearer to her with a more serious expression on her face.

Aoguro floated over to sneak up on her and steal the book right back. Harry looked over and noticed what he was about to do and pounced on the Pilkon. Aoguro moved to the side and caused the hamster to topple over.

Harry got back on his feet in no time and leaped from behind, trying to stop the Pilkon, but only ended up dragging him and impeding his progress.

"Give me back my book!" Troy exclaimed as he shot dark matter at the girl.

Isabelle quickly pressed another key on her laptop and deflected the magic with her shield. Benjamin stepped in and blocked the way, so Troy could not approach Isabelle. The arrow disappeared, and the book fell onto Isabelle's lap.

"I wonder what's in this book that's so dangerous..." Isabelle set the laptop down gently and opened the book.

"No, don't—!" Troy tried to stop her, but he was too late. The girl had opened the book, and a purple aura scattered around the area.

"What's happening to her!?" Harry panicked as Isabelle screamed in pain.

"I don't know!" Benjamin shouted. "What's the book even—?"

"Her human body cannot contain the dark magic in the book," Troy explained. "There's no way she can handle all that power by herself. She's weak, and if she tries to hold all of it in..."

"Isabelle, no!" Benjamin hurried over and pried the book from her hands before anything terrible could happen to her. The spell book fell to the ground, right near Troy's feet.

"Benjamin?" Isabelle looked up, her eyes watering. "You saved me?" She rubbed her eyes and smiled. "T-Thank you."

"Yeah," Benjamin muttered and looked away, unsure how to respond. "Well..."

"Are you alright?" A familiar voice asked through the laptop, temporarily breaking the tension.

"Yeah, I think so... Nicholas?" Isabelle went over to the laptop and saw he was on the other side of the screen. "How are you doing this? Are you communicating through—?"

"Never mind that," Benjamin interrupted, "Do you know how we can beat this guy?"

"You're seriously asking him?" Isabelle asked.

Sparks shot at Benjamin and Isabelle from the laptop, which they both dodged. They both looked up and saw Troy, with the book in hand, being carried into the air as the weather went crazy around them. More Benjamin clones showed up and surrounded the two.

"We gotta get out of here; it's way too dangerous!" Nicholas cried. "Hurry and create the portal again, stat!"

"On it!" Isabelle replied.

Troy spewed out darker synergy magic as Isabelle used her force shield to reflect it off. Benjamin and Harry hid underneath it while the girl got worked with the keys to see which button did what.

Benjamin helped too by trying to use telekinetic magic for his wand, which was back at their base of operations. Finally, Isabelle activated the portal, and the others scrambled to try and get out.

Before Harry could escape with them, he heard some banter between Troy and another Benjamin clone. He turned and noticed the clone had two different things in his hands; the hamster couldn't recognize the second thing the guy had.

"Oh hey, there Nimajneb, what's up?" Troy greeted the clone, "Did you get them?"

"Sure did." Nimajneb showed him the drawer with all the crystal spheres.

"Excellent!" Troy complimented.

"Also, what should I do about this?" Nimajneb had also gotten a magenta floating orb behind himself and brought it to full view for his Master to see.

Harry squinted his eyes and noticed what was inside the bubble. "Chi-Chi! Can you hear me Chi-Chi!?"

There was no reply, Chi-Chi just floated there with her head hung low, and back turned on her brother.

Benjamin stopped and turned to see that Harry didn't follow him to the portal. "Hey, Harry, something wrong?"

Harry knew they wouldn't stand a chance and didn't want to put his Master and friend on the line. But he didn't want to abandon Chi-Chi when he had finally found her at reach.

"Sorry, Master, I'm not going back."

"Uh... what?"

"I can't leave Chi-Chi behind! Go on without me!"

"But—"

"Just hurry and go, before it's too late!" Harry pushed his Master inside the portal just as it was about to disappear.

Benjamin screamed for his name, but his visions grew fader, and soon the location disappeared from his sight.

Episode 15

Meanwhile, back in the portal realm, Clause, Akapin, and Murasakiiro all waited for the others to arrive with the antidote. Akapin floated around the room nervously. Clause twiddled his thumbs and tapped his foot in session. Finally, Princess Murasakiiro closed her eyes and prayed. None of them had any idea how long it would take, nor did they know if the others would make it out unscathed.

"This is nerve-wracking." Akapin murmured weakly.

"Why?" Clause asked. "They'll do just fine; all we have to do is put a little more faith in them, you know?"

"That's saying a lot coming from you," Akapin replied.

"Well, I—"

"They seem to be taking a while..." Murasakiiro interrupted. The two stared at her, confused. "Oh, did I say something?" She said in a playful tone.

"Yes, you did." Clause stated bluntly.

"Isn't there something we can do while we wait?" Akapin asked.

"For them? Of course." Murasakiiro replied.

She went to the other room and pulled out the blanket from under the Queen's bed, revealing a hidden crevice with a ladder leading down. Before descending, she advised the two companions to follow her inside. Clause and Akapin weren't sure at first, but reluctantly followed the Princess, regardless.

.-.-.-.

Heading over to the Queen's bed once again, the Princess revealed another room hidden underneath. Floating pink bubbles danced and floated around the room; some even had images of pictures inside of them. However, it was impossible to distinguish them from so far away. In the center of the chamber, there lied a red cauldron with bubbling water inside.

"Wow, I had no idea there was another room under your mother's bed," Akapin said.

"Yeah," Murasakiiro added. "It's a very sacred room, something we only use for the last resort."

"I say, what are these bubbles floating within the room?" Clause asked.

"These bubbles represent the worlds inside of them," The Princess explained.

She plucked a bubble out from the air and dunked it into a cauldron, causing the water to shoot out like a geyser. The remaining bubbles moved to the center and formed a pattern, turning into rainbow colors.

The water in the cauldron stopped erupting and swirled around like a whirlpool until an image appeared at the water's surface. Clause, Akapin, and Murasakiiro gathered around to look at the picture.

The image showed blood-red walls, dull gray flooring, torches along the walls, and piles of bones and skeletons in every corner.

Akapin nodded, impressed with the scenery. "No way. You can see places from afar and watch them...?" She turned to the Princess and asked excitedly.

"Mm-hmm."

Clause shivered and grew petrified. "My word, is that The Scorching Tombs? Why are we looking at this terrifying dungeon?"

"I'm sorry, would you like for me to change it?" Murasakiiro offered. "Let me just change to another world—"

"No, wait, there's someone in there. That person looks familiar..." Clause interrupted. He squinted his eyes and leaned over against the cauldron to investigate. The person on the floor was blurry, but he quickly recognized the black dress and gray hair. "Is that Glenda?!"

"Whoa, be careful!" Akapin and Murasakiiro shouted. "Don't fall into the cauldron!"

.-.-.-.

Glenda rubbed her eyes and opened them, noticing that a tall person in a black cloak stood in front of her, waiting for her to wake up.

"Oh, hello there. I see that you're awake now." The person in the black cloak said.

"Say what?" Glenda mumbled. She got up, looked around, and adjusted her glasses before, finally, shifting her attention back to the unknown person. "Where am I? What happened to Troy? And why are you wearing that?"
"Doesn't matter; all you need to know is your life will end in this room." The cloaked person wrapped their magic around Glenda, lifting her into the air and making it difficult for her to breathe.

"I know you're using a cloning spell..." Glenda weakly said while gripping the magic around her neck tightly.

"Oh?"

"But why? Why are you using dark magic to cause havoc at school?"

"Will you stop talking? It'd be much easier for me to—"

"No, never! Try as you'd like, but there's no chance in—"

"Won't you just shut up already!?" The person in the cloak exclaimed.

Glenda said nothing more, closed her eyes, and muttered something to herself. The cloaked person tilted their head in confusion, wondering why she gave up the fight just like that. She didn't seem to care about their threats, especially now that she was about to die.

When Glenda opened her eyes again, however, they had turned white. The dark purple aura suffocating her changed to a bright aqua color as her magic forced the cloaked person away from her.

They flew across the room, connecting with the walls behind her, causing them to tumble down. The impact nearly caused the hood to fall off. As they got up from the rubble, she noticed Glenda safe and alive on the ground, now with a weapon in her hands: the nunchucks. She looked up and found that their hood slipped up and revealed their identity.

"Bridget?" Glenda gasped. "No way, you're on their side too?"

"Does it matter? You'll die before you get the chance to stop our ultimate plan!"

Glenda's blood boiled. She's had it with all this nonsense. "Just try to stop me now if you can then!" She boasted.

'Bridget' clenched her fists, pulled out a magic pocket knife from thin air, charged up with dark magic, and ran towards Glenda.

Their weapons clashed together before jumping and ducking to avoid getting hit by the other person. They threw magic at each other to catch the other off guard.

Some time had passed before Glenda, and 'Bridgets' body ached from all the fighting.

"Is that all you got?" She mocked. "I've fought pebbles that were tougher than you."

Glenda couldn't help but tilt her head in confusion. "What? But pebbles are—"

The ground shook as a faint explosion occurred faintly in the distance.

"What's going on? What's happening?" Glenda questioned.

'Bridget' smiled. "Seems like the plan is coming together..." She cackled.

"You mean, you distracted me? It was a trap?"

"Don't say it like that; it's more like I distracted you, making sure you don't get in our way, and it worked too!"

Oh no, I have to get out of here! Glenda's eyes darted across the room and panicked. Where's the exit? There's got to be an exit, but how can I escape without her chasing after me?

"Don't even bother trying to escape, you're not going anywhere, old lady..."

"Why you—!"

Before the two could resume fighting, however, a man's voice echoed across the room. The two looked around, searching for the source of the sound. Glenda recognized that voice.

"Glenda, can you hear me?" The voice cried out.

"Clause? Yes, I can!" Glenda called out.

"Oh, you can hear me? That's splendid!"

"Where have you been all this time?"

"I sadly cannot say, it's very complicated, but you're fighting a fake— look out!"

The fake Bridget shot beams at Glenda, blocked them all off with her nunchuk without even looking.

"Uh, never mind." Clause said. "What about you?"

"Same here really," Glenda replied unhappily.

"Oh, wait a minute, there's something important I'd like to tell you. I know who's behind all this!" Clause exclaimed.

"Really? You do?"

"It's Troy; he's working with the clones, including the one you're fighting! You need to get out of here now!"

'Bridget,' finally got sick of her ignorance, her grip tightened, as she charged at Glenda with her magic knife, but Glenda twisted the knife and pried it off from her hands, again.

"Thank you for telling me this." Glenda said proudly to Clause, "I'll head out now." She walked away and threw the clone against the wall, dropping the knife to the floor. After that, she used a teleportation spell, and left, leaving the clone to rot alone in the cell.

.-.-.-.

Clause watched sorrowfully as the image in the cauldron dispersed and returned to plain water.

"You've done all you can," Akapin said.

"You think so?" Clause replied, doubtfully.

"Yes," Akapin reassured him.

"Guys, I got it," Murasakiiro told them, bringing another bubble over and, slowly dropping it into the cauldron.

"About time. I mean, yay!" Akapin exclaimed.

"Step back." Murasakiiro cautioned.

"Certainly!" Clause replied.

"Will do, ma'am," Akapin added.

As the bubble sank into the cauldron, the water erupted once more, like a geyser before settling down.

"Uh, pardon me," Clause inquired, "But why does it keep doing that?"

"Oh, that? I don't know." The Princess answered.

"...Wait; are you serious?"

"Not everything will have an answer, and maybe it never will."

"But—"

"Ah, the projection has finished," Murasakiiro commented.

The water's reflection showed a new image. This time, however, the location was much more unclear. Despite this, Clause, Akapin, and Murasakiiro found Bridget, Midoricha, and Gurenji walking around in the area.

"It's them." Akapin deduced. "We can see them now!"

"That's great." The Princess replied. "Now, all we have to do is wait and pray for them to succeed..."

.-.-.-.

The ground was bone dry and cracked as sun-baked skin. The red sun contrasted the pale, yellow sky above. There were barely any signs of life out here. Wherever this place was, Bridget knew she couldn't stay here long.

Gurenji and Midoricha looked around, trying to sense any signs of the cure around here. Gurenji was serious about finding the treatment, no matter what. Midoricha, on the other hand, wasn't as determined.

"Man, this place is freaky," Midoricha started. "Also quiet, hot, and oh-so-tiring—"

"Will you shut it!?" Gurenji thundered.

"What? I'm just trying to lighten the mood..."

"Well, then do it better!"

"Ok?" Midoricha coincided.

"Ugh, we mustn't fail, you know."

"I do know; that's why we're here."

"So you say, just don't get in my way." Gurenji huffed.

As he went ahead of the others, Midoricha looked at Bridget with confusion.

"What's his problem?" He asked. Bridget could only shrug in response.

"Hey, aren't you guys coming?" Gurenji called from a short distance ahead, "Could you be any slower?"

"Maybe he's trying to get in good graces with the Princess?" Bridget whispered to Midoricha.

"What was that?" Gurenji overheard the last bit of their conversation.

"What? I thought that was the case, am I wrong?" Bridget asked.

"Now that's just absurd! What made you think that?"

"Well, you seemed kind of down in the dumps before we left."

Gurenji's eyes widened with shock. He looked over at the floor sorrowfully before sighing.

"I just wanted her to approve of me, or even..." He murmured faintly. "I mean; I've been trying to make this kingdom a better place for all of us, but why doesn't she trust me?"

"I know I shouldn't be saying this since it's none of my business..." Bridget said, scratching the back of her head, "But I don't think that's the case at all."

"What do you mean?"

"Yeah, maybe if you mellowed out and listened to her feelings..."

"I do listen!" Gurenji exclaimed. "But me 'mellow out'? That's a weakness that I don't want to have..."

"Weakness? But how can—?" Bridget started.

"They're all scum."

"Now, how would you know that? Do you know them personally?"

"You just love talking and asking questions, don't you?"

"Don't tell me you've tried to know or talk to someone without yelling or belittling them!" Bridget retorted.

"What, are you saying that I should change?" Gurenji questioned.

"No, I'm not."

"Then..."

"What I'm saying is... I know not everyone in the world is friendly, and yeah, they can be scum like you said, but that doesn't mean you have to assume or take it out on everyone around you.

"You should give others a chance at least, especially those that want to help you. Don't you think the Princess would want that too?"

After much deliberation, Gurenji sighed once more. "You're right. I need to learn a thing or two, after all..."

"That's what I like to hear!" Bridget exclaimed ecstatically.

"But that doesn't mean I need you to tell me that!"

"Yeah, yeah..." Bridget said, rolling her eyes.

.-.-.-.

Glenda appeared back at her school at last. However, noise rang through her ears, she turned a corner, and found that what Clause said was true! Benjamin clones roamed everywhere, spawning from the hallways to the outside of the school!

"What the devil is the meaning of this!?" She roared.

The lady turned and noticed some students fighting back. Amongst them, she called out to the one out of the dorms the other day, the girl with freckles.

"Ms. Glenda, is that you?" The freckled girl noticed and asked.

"What's going on here?"

"To be honest, I don't know." She replied. "Seems like an all-out war is going on, we're trying to fight them off the best we can but—"

"It's Troy." Glenda interrupted.

"Troy?"

"When I find that boy..."

Glenda spun her Nunchuk like a helicopter, propelling herself into the air for briefly. She then slammed the weapon down to the ground, causing the floors to shake, getting everyone else's attention. She twirled the weapon, and a faint glow appeared around it. Once the aura around the nunchucks got big enough, Glenda chucked it at the clones like a bowling ball, making a large group of clones disappear with a single strike.

"...he will pay." She finished her sentence.

"Wow, that was awesome." The freckled girl said in awe.

"Guys, we have bad news!" Another student came down the stairs to call out.

"What is it?"

"Those aren't all the clones; there are much more on the top floor, causing havoc!"

"That's where the Principal's office is!" Glenda shouted.

"What should we do now?" Another student asked the teacher.

"Split up, find, and take down the clones; I have to make sure nothing bad happens to the Principal!" Glenda ordered.

"Yes, ma'am!" The students replied and hurried off.

If she finds out, Glenda thought as she hurried to the top floor of the school, I'll never be able to forgive myself!

Episode 16

Back in the Principal's office, the blonde Principal relaxed contently in her jar's green liquid, with Horace standing guard. She watched as many bubbles rose from within the jar as she felt a soft thump resonating from her desk, and a knock came from the door.

"What's all that racket?" She yawned. "Could you go check and see where it's coming from, Horace? I'm trying to get some shut-eye..."

Horace saluted and walked over to open the door. However, before he reached it, the door slammed open, nearly hitting him against the wall. The girl standing in the doorway stomped her way inside, shutting the door and locking it behind her.

"Hey, Principal!" Lauren called out loud.

"Lauren, what are you doing here?" The Principal's floating head questioned. "Did you make that noise?"

"No."

"Do you know where it came from?"

"No..."

"Then, why are you here?"

"I'm here for a different reason: Revenge. I came here to defeat you."

.-.-.-.

Glenda searched all over the top floor, but couldn't find anything. No wandering clones, or any signs of destruction. Could that student have been lying to her? Was it a trap? Why was this area so quiet? She finally made it to the Principal's office, overhearing a loud and heated argument. Glenda tried to open the door but found it locked.

"But why?" The monster Principal asked.

"Simple, I need to put a stop to these school teachings," Lauren responded.

The Principal tried her best to keep up an innocent facade, but with each word that passed through Lauren's lips, she found that task harder and harder to accomplish.

"Why would you want to do that? Our teachings make our students more powerful, and they can even make lots of friends and discoveries with their powers—"

"Liar!" Lauren interrupted, as her blood boiled while listening to the Principals' speech she found to be self-righteous.

"Excuse me!?" The Principal questioned. Her mouth gaped, practically stunned silent at her student's outburst.

"It doesn't bring happiness at all. It's the exact opposite!"

"Why do you say that?" The Headmistress dropped the act. "Perhaps if you warmed up to others and stopped being such a cold—"

"My parents died because of your stupid teachings!"

The Principal gasped. "R-really? Is that so? I'm sorry; I didn't know..."

"You, what?" Lauren inquired, her face a flurry of emotions.

"I don't remember."

"How could you forget? Weren't you there?" Lauren murmured. After fidgeting for a minute or two, she finally spoke: "Fine, let me enlighten you on my troubled past, as well as my justified rage."

"Very well, please go right ahead, Lauren."

"I think it's been a decade since then; I can't remember that well, but everything else I'm pretty sure I know..."

.-.-.-.

"On the day that it happened, my parents took me to an open house to try to enroll in your school. I was so excited the night before that I couldn't even sleep. I wanted to be great at studies just like them. As we talked about the tour, I saw a young boy peeking from the side of the building. I said nothing, though, because I thought I had imagined things.

"When we entered the building, a tall woman immediately greeted us. It was Glenda.

'Hello there.' She greeted me with a wave.

'Um... h-hi?' I tried my best to say something but ended up choking on my words. I ran behind my mom's legs and shook uncontrollably.

'Long time no see, so you're here for the tour, correct?' Glenda asked my parents. 'You know some areas of the school are off-limits because of an accident yesterday.'

'Yes, we're aware.' My dad replied.

'I see.' Glenda then turned to me and squatted down to better talk to me on my level. "I hope you enjoy your time here and end up liking the school."

"Well, I hope so too..." I replied.

"I didn't want to hurt her feelings, so I lied and gave her a weak smile, even though we had just got here.

'There's a lot of neat stuff around the school. I want to show you if you don't mind.'

'That sounds wonderful, Glenda.' My mom replied.

'I can even introduce you to the Principal—'

'Uh, let's not.' My father interjected.

'Why not? I'm sure she'd be delighted to see a fresh, new—'

"At that moment, I drew my attention to a shadow watching us from the corner of the hallway. I was about to tell my parents about it, but before I could, the shadow ran off and curiosity got the better of me, as I chased after it.

"I ended up in a dimly lit room. I heard the door close behind me and panicked. Backing up against the wall, I accidentally knocked over a skeleton that had been standing in the corner, causing it to fall on the floor. I looked over and saw boxes tumbled across the floor with a boy on the ground. Said boy noticed I was staring and tried to run away.

'Hey, wait, where are you going?' I asked.

'Why are you following me?' The boy asked back.

'What are you doing?'

'Why do you care?'

'Um...'

The boy sighed in disbelief. 'Ugh, look, if I tell you why, will you keep it to yourself and not tell anyone else? You don't seem like the type who'd do something like tattletale, but I want to make sure...'

'I won't tell. Your secret is safe with me.'

'Alright.' He took a deep breath and exhaled before explaining. 'I'm here to save my dad. He was supposed to teach me how to use dark magic this week.'

'What happened to him?'

'He got captured and taken into custody by this school.'

'Well, dark magic does sound creepy...'

'Creepy, are you kidding? It's the coolest thing ever like you would not believe!'

'Oh, but do you know why they took—?'

"Before I could finish my question, lightning struck the space between us. We turned around and saw a tall man with no head standing beside a window looking all menacing. We screamed and rushed over to pop open the air vents and went to crawl inside.

"I couldn't believe what I was doing, I wasn't thinking straight at all, and assumed that he wasn't either. We soon ended up at the Vision Library and exited the vents. To our dismay, Horace had been waiting for us there and grabbed the boy by his shirt collar. I ran over to hide behind one of the back bookshelves and saw the boy struggle. I tried to push the bookshelves down but wasn't strong enough.

"Horace eventually found me as he dragged us to your office, and that was when I first met you. You had been talking with two other adults so you could ask who we were, Glenda and my parents showed up. Horace let go of us, and I reunited with my parents. The boy, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky.

'That was troublesome.' I heard you say under your breath.

'We're so glad you guys solved that little issue.' The older woman chirped.

'We should go.' My mom said.

'Why not stay here and chat?' The older man suggested.

'We'd rather not.' My dad insisted.

You then said, 'Now that you mention it, there is something I'd love to discuss with you two.'

'What about the kids?' Glenda questioned.

'I don't need your pity!' The boy retorted.

After thinking about it, you decided that the boy could stay, but I had to wait outside with Glenda.

"Glenda and I sat on a bench, staring at the office door in front of us. Both of us wondered what they were discussing. However, no matter how much I strained my ears, I couldn't hear what they were saying. I felt terrible; all that boy wanted to do was save his father. Could I have gotten in his way?

'Hey, Miss,' I turned to Glenda and spoke up, 'do you know dark magic?'

'Dark magic?' Glenda questioned. Her eyes widened. 'Why do you know about that?'

'I, well, I heard about it from...'

'A dangerous man is being held in this school who conjures up evil spells. Thankfully, he lost, and there should be no way he can ever—'

'Is... dark magic evil?'

'Well...' Glenda paused, unsure of the answer to give me.

"We heard a strange, loud noise as we turned toward the door. The door blew off its hinges, and an explosion consumed the room. Glenda and I got thrown back, and I landed on top of her. We watched as the fire spread out of the hallway. Another explosion occurred, as Glenda jumped in front of me to block the blasts.

'What's going on?' I asked, having trouble breathing.

'I don't know!' Glenda exclaimed, panicking. 'But I have to get back and make sure everyone is ok!'

'I'll go too!'

'No, it's much too dangerous for you!' Glenda used her magic to encase me in a sphere.

"With a snap of her fingers, I got whisked away back outside the school. The bubble popped, and I fell onto the grass. When I got up, I looked and saw the whole building got caught up in flames. I could hear the sounds of screaming and anguish coming from over there. Just then, I heard a familiar voice.

'I... failed.' I heard a whisper. It came from the boy from before. 'I wasn't able to save him.'

'I'm sorry.' I apologized, something occurred to me. 'Wait, what about my parents?'

'They... didn't make it either. I'm sorry.'

"I couldn't believe what I had heard. I wanted it to be a nightmare I could wake up from, but it was no dream. My parents were gone. I failed to hold back my tears and cried with all my heart. That was the last time I cried in front of someone.

"The boy explained to me that the adults that had been talking with you, the Headmistress, were my parents' allies in the past and that they had been fighting over who could control a planet. Those adults attacked them out of rage and jealousy. The boy's father escaped and ended up dying to protect his son, who could not fight back. And now, everyone had to pay the price for his betrayal.

"The boy walked over to me, tears running down my face, and said, 'Hey, I remembered something, dad said that dark magic could do anything.

'If we find his spell book, that contains all of his spells, we can use that to bring our folks back to life, and get our revenge on the ones that took them away from us.'

'But, how? Won't we get caught like your dad?' I asked, choking on my words.

'Well, when we're older, we're going to enroll here. We can find it easier that way.' He extended his hand. 'I need your help, though, you want to save your parents, right?'

I wiped my eyes and nodded. 'Of course.' I took his hand and stood up to look at him face to face.

'Name's Troy, what's yours?'

'Lauren, nice to meet you.'

Ever since that day, we have been planning, day after day, waiting for the right time to strike you down."

.-.-.-.

"And is today that day?" The monster Principal asked.

"Yeah, it is. Do you still not remember?" Lauren inquired.

Horace walked over to the Principal and signed to get the Head Mistress's attention. She caught on and realized what he was trying to say.

"Ah, right." She said finally, "I remember now, but it seems you made some errors in your story."

"What?" Lauren asked.

"Allow us to explain, from our point of view, if that's ok with you."

"Go ahead."

.-.-.-.

"It happened during the time you waited outside. I chatted with the grownups while Troy had been waiting impatiently on the sidelines. Just then, I heard some strange sounds.

'Does anyone else hear that?' I had asked the others.

'That must be my dad,' Troy commented, getting pumped up, 'he must have escaped and is coming to get revenge!'

'That man is your father!?' I asked, shocked at his revelation.

'Yep, and I came here to—'

'Everyone hide!' I shouted, not allowing Troy the time to finish.

"Before we had time to do anything, though, a Cosmic Electron Grenade appeared and exploded, spewing out electricity and allowing fires to spring to life and spread.

"I know Troy and Horace hid behind my desk to avoid the impact, but I, someone stuck inside the jar, had no way of avoiding it. The pot broke, and I was on the verge of death.

I faintly heard Troy saying something like: 'He must not know that I came to save him.'

"I saw a glimpse of Horace as he picked me up, as a ray of purple light shot out from the corner of my eye. I turned in Horace's arms over and saw Troy's father, Trevor, with dark energy surrounding his hands and body.

'You again?' I asked weakly.

Trevor grinned as he walked closer, 'At least you now know how I feel, being all helpless.'

'Aw yeah, now I can see the action!' Troy exclaimed quietly to himself.

'Troy?' Trevor looked over and noticed that boy coming out from behind my desk. But when Horace turned to him, he became hostile once again. 'Hey, stay away from my son if you know what's good for—'

"None of us had expected it to happen, not even I saw it coming. A green ray of light shot through the air and hit the man in the chest as he collapsed to the ground. Standing in the doorway, Glenda stood beside the entrance as smoke rose from her fingers.

She looked down at her hands and gasped. 'What... what have I done?'

'Dad? Dad!' Troy cried. He rushed over to his father, who writhed in pain.

The father looked into his son's eyes, his voice weak. 'Son, I'm sorry... but you need to get...' He wasn't able to finish his sentence before he had drawn his last breath.

Troy glared at Glenda; there was a dark fire in his teary eyes. 'You... monster! You'll pay for this!' He dashed out of the room in record time.

'What happened?' I asked in confusion.

'We'll explain to you later. Right now, we need to get out of here!' Glenda exclaimed.

"She, Horace, and I were the only ones that made it out of the school. We couldn't save anyone else in time, as everyone else had laid restless on the floors of my office, and the school burned to ashes. It took another couple of months to fix everything, but there was nothing we could do to fill the holes in our hearts or bring the others back..."

.-.-.-.

"So, there's our story." The Principal finished.

"That's it?" Lauren asked. "Even if you didn't kill them as you claim, you still left them to die! You didn't even try to get them out of the burning building!"

"We had no choice; we didn't mean to—"

"Lies, all lies! How can I believe someone like you?"

"Don't you realize who the real enemy is? Troy is deceiving you!"

"How do I know you're not lying to me?" Lauren pointed out. "And besides, I still have the goal of saving my parents in mind, and there's no way I'm backing down! Not after all these years..."

"You can't. Dark magic is dangerous. If you try to bring someone back to life via magic..."

"Try me."

"I see." The Headmistress spoke in a chilling voice, "Then you leave me no choice. I am sorry for what you had to go through, but I will not allow your plans to succeed!"

She called for Horace to take her head out of the jar. He then placed her head on top of his body. Her hair went from wavy, blonde to straight, and purple. Her eyes turned red and took complete control of Horrace's body.

"Now that's messed up," Lauren said as she scrunched her nose in disgust.

"Are you ready, Lauren?" The Principal asked.

"Yeah, I am," Lauren confirmed, determined.

Episode 17

Meanwhile, outside of the school, Troy and a Benjamin clone watched Streterra burn to the ground once again. They had Harry and Chi-Chi, both encased in a magic bubble.

"Everything is going according to plan..." Troy said, aloud, to himself as he looked down at his black and purple pentagram.

"So, how is the spell coming along?" The Benjamin clone asked.

"It's almost complete; soon I'll be able to conjure up this new spell."

"Great to hear."

"Hey, wait, why go for only this world? Why not use dark magic to conquer all the worlds? I mean, the real Benjamin and his allies are still on Earth somewhere."

"Not a bad idea. Anything I can do to help?" In response, Troy whispered into the clone's ear. "I see; you got it." He nodded in agreement. "I'll finish this before your spell is complete."

"Ok, get to it."

The fake Benjamin created a portal to hop into it.

.-.-.-.

Once the fake Benjamin arrived at the portal realm, he chanted a magic spell, which caused black blobs to appear. He ordered them to go into the portals laid out before them. The clean, pristine portals got contaminated, spreading across the areas and regions.

"Now this is more like it!" He exclaimed.

"Hey, who's there?" A female voice called out from afar.

"I'll go check..." Another person chimed in.

"Uh, oh... I got to hurry and leave..." The Benjamin clone muttered to himself.

"Hey, stop! What do you think you're doing?" Princess Murasakiiro came into the room and asked.

"Just giving you guys a little present before I go. See you, suckers!" The Benjamin clone taunted before jumping back into a portal.

"No, wait!"

"What happened, Saki?" Akapin came over and asked.

"A man put a curse on all our portals, affecting each of the worlds they represent!"

"He did what?"

"Yes, and whatever it's doing, they'll all—"

"Girls come quickly, there's trouble!" Clause ran into the room and exclaimed.

.-.-.-.

The two Pilkons headed back to the cauldron room, only to find that all the world bubbles had turned black and stopped moving.

Black blobs spawned and came to life, running around and causing havoc in each of the worlds represented. Princess Murasakiiro floated to the cauldron and realized that the water had become a pitch-black tar. She didn't know what to do.

"This is bad; this is awful!" She panicked.

"What should we do?" Clause asked.

"I, uh, we need to tell Bridget and the others to come back here as fast as possible!"

"But what about the antidote?"

"Their safety is also important, but... I don't know anymore!"

"We have little time left." Akapin mentioned, "If they don't get it soon..."

"Let's hope they do then; time is running short." Clause replied.

.-.-.-.

Bridget, Midoricha, and Gurenji made it to a part of the region where the green had resided. They went through the odd forest in search of the antidote.

"There's so much green in this place, too much of it!" Gurenji said in a disgusted tone.

"There's also a lot of bugs around here too," Midoricha added.

"Well, yeah. There are a bunch of crazy and different worlds out there. You never know what happens in each of them..."

"Huh."

Just then, a familiar female voice called out to them.

"Guys, can you hear me?"

"Was that Saki I just heard?" Bridget asked.

"I think I heard it too," Gurenji replied.

"Please, listen to me." The Princess pleaded. "You must leave this place at once."

"But why?" Bridget questioned.

"Yeah, why?" Gurenji and Midoricha added in unison.

"It's dangerous; more enemies have invaded the world. If you don't make it out of there—"

"But what about your mom?" Gurenji asked, "Weren't we going to—?"

"I know, but..."

"No, we'll take our chances." Bridget interrupted. "We promised to get the antidote for you, right, Saki?"

"Yeah, we won't give up!" Gurenji agreed.

"Well, ok, I trust you guys," Murasakiiro replied.

"Alright, let's get going then!" Bridget declared.

"Yeah!" Midoricha and Gurenji nodded in agreement before heading off once again.

"You know, that's the first time I've heard you agree with me on something." Bridget pointed out.

"Well, of course," Gurenji responded proudly. "What you said was 101% correct."

"I, also, agree," Midoricha added.

"You've been quiet lately, Midoricha..." Bridget commented.

"Well, I didn't want to get yelled at by Gurenji again."

"Look, about that..." Gurenji began. "What I meant by that is you shouldn't state the obvious all the time."

"Oh, now I get it."

A rustle in the bushes got the group's attention. Bridget turned and watched as a strange creature jumped out from the bushes. It had heads and limbs attached to one giant flabby blob with red eyes, purple arms, and a black swarming torso.

As it walked towards them in an unsettling way, Bridget, Midoricha, and Gurenji all made a break for it and sprinted away.

They ran for their lives, trying not to trip and get caught by the strange creature until they came across a cliff. Stuck in a tight spot, with little time to think of a way out of their mess, the blobs inched closer to them. The Pilkons could probably float away, but what would that leave Bridget?

"What should we do now?" Gurenji asked.

"Jump!" Bridget yelled.

"What? Are you out of your mind?" Gurenji doubled back in shock.

"That's a fantastic idea; let's do it!" Midoricha exclaimed.

Without looking back, Bridget leaped off the cliff, with the other two Pilkon following right behind her. Gurenji and Midoricha grabbed on to Bridget's feet so she could float down safely onto the ground.

After separating from her feet, the three looked up as the creatures didn't follow them. Then again, considering how steep the cliff was, they couldn't be sure if it wasn't following them.

"Man, that was a close one." Bridget sighed in relief.

"My head hurts," Gurenji complained.

"And that's a long way up from here," Midoricha commented. "Guess there's no turning back now."

"Tell me about it," Gurenji muttered bitterly.

"Let's get going then, hopefully, we should be almost there..." Bridget proclaimed.

She continued to walk the path in front of her, with the Pilkons not too far behind.

.-.-.-.

Back at the base, a portal formed within the TV, Isabelle and Benjamin flew from it and landed back on the couch. Benjamin rubbed his head before opening his eyes, realizing what had happened.

"Chi-Chi! Harry!" He shouted as the portal within the TV disappeared. Benjamin ran to try and make it through despite this, while Isabelle just watched, unsure what to say in the situation.

"Hey, Isabelle?" Nicholas communicated to her through the laptop.

"Yeah, I'm here. What's up, Nicholas?" Isabelle asked.

"Thank goodness. You're alright..."

"I know, but how are we supposed to defeat that guy? Not to mention, save Benjamin's animal buddies?"

"Well, er, I—"

"What have I done?" Benjamin mumbled sorrowfully, burying his face in his hands. "If only I hadn't—"

"Benjamin, don't blame yourself..." Isabelle said as she crawled over to place her hand on his shoulder.

"But, I got arrogant and careless. I ended up caring more about the sphere than Harry and Chi-Chi's safety, I left them behind, because of my—"

"Don't worry; we'll get them back!"

"I don't know how, though..."

"I'm sure we can find a way."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Benjamin muttered.

"No problem." Isabelle chirped.

Nicholas screamed, "Oh, shoot!"

"What's wrong, Nicholas?" Isabelle turned and asked.

"Save the talking for later; look out the window!"

Isabelle and Benjamin peeked outside, and to their horror, mutant blob-like creatures roamed the streets from the reflection of the window glass. They had dark green faces, purple bulging eyes, dark red veins, and black limbs loosely attached to their bodies.

People screamed in fear as they ran from the monsters. The things headed towards Benjamin's house, as the pair dashed back inside blocked the doors and windows.

Once they finished with that, the two backed up to the center of the house and exchanged worried glances.

"Where do we go now?" Benjamin asked.

"Uh... up! Let's go up!" Isabelle replied, pointing toward the ceiling.

Benjamin decided not to question how; he didn't care as long as they got out of their current situation. Isabelle typed up as fast as she could on her laptop, creating an aqua-green platform for the two of them to stand on.

Benjamin grabbed his wand from the ground and hopped onto the platform before it took off. As they reached the roof, Benjamin used his magic to create a hole in the ceiling and have the remains hit the creatures, who had just now broken in.

.-.-.-.

After pausing their ascent above Benjamin's roof, the two see that the strange creatures were everywhere they looked.

"Oh man, this is horrible!" Benjamin exclaimed, watching the chaos unfold.

"Nicholas, where are you right now?" Isabelle asked through the laptop. "We can pick you up!"

"Well, I'm kind of on the roof," Nicholas replied.

"You too?"

"Yeah, but I'll try to manage until you guys get here."

"You shouldn't be too far, though; just hang in there!"

Isabelle moved the platform to fly as Benjamin held on for dear life. In no time, they found Nicholas fending off some creatures which climbed up to his house.

Just as Isabelle waved and shouted for Nicholas' attention, the platform slowly disappeared. Having nothing to stand on, Benjamin and Isabelle fell, Nicholas grabbed Isabelle and pulled her up onto the roof with him, but Benjamin wasn't as lucky and fell straight onto the ground.

He rubbed his head, brushed off his clothes, and saw that the creatures were gaining around towards him. Benjamin tried to brace himself, but when he shut his eyes and opened them again, the beings soon became ash.

Benjamin saw a guy fighting the monsters back with a sword. Even from a distance, Benjamin recognized him almost instantly. Isabelle and Nicholas noticed him, too, and watched as he sliced the creatures up with his sword and zapped them to ash with magic.

"Who's that guy?" Isabelle whispered.

"I don't know, but he's not bad," Nicholas whispered back.

"Man, these things just keep coming," Sebastian said to himself. "I hope I can handle them all."

"Hey, you there!" Benjamin called out as he walked over to him.

"Benjamin?" Sebastian paused in his fighting.

"Sebastian?" Benjamin couldn't help but stop in his tracks as well.

"What are you doing here?" They asked in unison as they pointed at one another. "You're asking me?"

"Guys pay attention; they're still in the area!" Isabelle called out to them.

Nicholas looked over at his friend's computer and saw it had grown a sickly purple aura around it. The atmosphere had spread out and formed into a beam of light, zooming past him and instead, hitting Benjamin and Sebastian, making them disappear without a trace.

Isabelle and Nicholas both gasped in shock.

"What the— What happened?!" Isabelle asked, frantic.

"I don't know; I'm so confused!" Nicholas exclaimed.

"What's going on? Where are they now!?"

Episode 18

Benjamin and Sebastian woke up and found themselves in an empty, white void. There were no objects, no doors, no people except for them. It felt like being trapped in a giant, white box with no way out.

"Hey, where are we?" Benjamin asked.

"Why are you asking me? I have no clue." Sebastian replied.

"Well, this sucks, do you have any idea what happened back there?"

"Not really, what about you? Do you know what was up with those things?"

"No way. I mean, I remembered summoning a monster to help me, but it never showed up, and I don't believe it's any of those guys."

"Wait, say that again?" Sebastian asked.

"Say what again? That I tried to—?"

"So, you're the one that summoned that monster in the junkyard?"

"Whoa, hey, hold on... did the spell work after all?"

"Tell me something, Benjamin. Why are you here? How did you even—?"

"Wait, I wanted to take over worlds, but I didn't want to destroy them," Benjamin told him. "And besides, Troy's the one that put me through all this mess! I'd be in my dorms if it weren't for—"

"Troy? Are you blaming it on him? Now I can't believe what you're saying..."

"What's gotten into you?"

"You're the one responsible for all this, aren't you? Is the traitor you of all people? I can't believe it, but with this opportunity, you leave me no choice."

"What are you saying? Why would I—?"

"You know, I've been thinking," Sebastian muttered, lowering his head. "What do I want to do with my life? What is my goal in life? I wasn't so sure at first; in fact, I didn't want to decide, but, after spending time on this little planet, I..."

"Let me guess; you want to help Earth, as well as humanity?"

"No, I only want to protect those that I care about... and I'll start by killing you! Prepare to die!"

Sebastian's hair and sword changed to the color orange as he charged at Benjamin. With every swing of his sword, he threw some beams of magic at Benjamin, who focused on dodging.

Sebastian didn't understand. They've been fighting and arguing for as long as they've known each other, proving who's superior. This spar could be the best chance to settle it once and for all. But, for whatever reason, Benjamin didn't fight back.

"Why aren't you fighting back?" Sebastian asked, fuming.

"As much as I want to," Benjamin started, "you're not my real enemy here."

"But who else could you be targeting, besides...?"

"Can't you see I'm not the one you fight? You never told me why you were even on Earth to begin with!"

"Me?" Sebastian stopped attacking. "Well, Lauren pushed me to a portal that led me here so I could find the traitor. I don't know why she did that; I mean, she could've easily told me or..." A wave of realization hit him as his face dropped. "Oh my gosh, she set me up."

That took you long enough. Benjamin thought. "It seems that she and Troy are working together. They must have sent us both here so they could take over the school without having to worry about us trying to stop them. They probably did the same to the teachers, I think."

"What— How do you, of all people, know—?"

An echo of clapping interrupted their conversation. Sebastian and Benjamin looked up and saw a familiar face.

"So, you finally figured it out?" The Benjamin clone questioned with a smug smile.

"Is that... a clone?" Sebastian guessed.

"Wow, I guessed that too." Benjamin admitted, "Thanks for confirming it for me, you loser!" He shouted.

"Man, you're irritating." Fake Benjamin muttered.

"But even so, you showed up again..."

"So are you the one who sent us here? Why would you do that?" Sebastian asked.

"So it'd be easier for me to kill you both. No one will help you either."

Sebastian clenched his teeth; he didn't know how to react or what to do. Benjamin, on the other hand, glanced at Sebastian's weapon before snatching it and lunging at the clone, cutting his cheek, as a trickle of blood ran down on his face. This took Sebastian by surprise.

"What do you think you're—?"

"This way, it'll be easier for you to tell who's who," Benjamin answered, handing back Sebastian's sword.

"No way, that's surprisingly brilliant of you! When did you—?"

"Now is not the time to talk about this. We have a bigger problem in front of us!"

"Hey, are you guys done talking?" The Benjamin clone asked as he readied his magic orbs. "Are we going to fight or not?"

"You ready?" The real Benjamin asked.

"Yeah, I'm ready," Sebastian replied.

"Let's do this."

Benjamin's clone threw magic orbs at the duo, and they dodged them as best as they could. Sebastian blocked the shots with his sword and fired some beams right back at the clone. Fake Benjamin blocked them off with his fists, like an audition for a Kung-Fu movie.

Benjamin shouted 'aura beam' and blasted a beam from his wand, trying to catch his clone by surprise, but the impostor swallowed it, licking his lips afterward.

"Mm, that was tasty." The fake Benjamin commented.

"Hey, give that back!" Benjamin shouted.

"Sure thing." The clone replied while he blocked another one of Sebastian's attacks and inhaled deeply.

As he exhaled, Benjamin's aura beam reappeared, his mouth right towards Benjamin. He got out of the way, just in time, with the beam connecting with the wall behind him and exploding.

Sebastian went in for another attack but got countered by a sword the clone materialized.

Benjamin gave another battle cry as he attempted to strike the imposter in the back. The clone created another dark sword, blocking his attack and knocking Benjamin's wand out of his hand.

"Benjamin, you need to stop shouting and giving away your position!" Sebastian pointed out.

"Well, at least I'm trying here!" Benjamin exclaimed.

"Are you saying I'm not?"

"Whatever happened to 'no time for arguing'?"

"I never said that, and you started it!"

"I did?"

"Hey!" The clone called out to Benjamin, "You don't have to try if you don't want to."

"What?" Benjamin asked.

"Why not give up and stop fighting altogether?"

"No." Benjamin calmly replied, "Give me back Harry and Chi-Chi, and then we can talk!"

He whispered to his wand as it commanded it to summon water. The water rose, flooding the room at an alarming rate. The imposter soon caught on, but Sebastian had no clue what Benjamin's plan was supposed to be.

"Ah, I see," The fake Benjamin commented with a smug grin, "But there's no way you'll ever beat—"

Sebastian went in for another attack, but the clone blocked his sword once again. This time, Sebastian surprised the clone by kicking him in the stomach, causing the clone to fall into the water. Sebastian snatched the dark sword before it fell. Benjamin flew over to where his companion stood. They both performed lightning spells directed at the water. Once the enchantments finished, the two high-fived one each other.

"Great teamwork!" Benjamin complimented.

"Wait, we don't know if he's dead or not." Sebastian pointed out.

"What? But how could he survive something like—?"

The water quickly rose like a geyser. Using it as a distraction, the clone Benjamin snuck up behind the real magician and tackled him to a nearby wall. They punched and kicked with all their might, eventually falling into the water, leaving Sebastian floating above them, panicking. Unsure who was who anymore, he grabbed his sword aimed carefully at them.

In the water, the two Benjamin's struggled, keeping themselves from drowning. The clone grabbed Benjamin by the neck and started choking him. However, he let go and backed away, barely missing several energy beams as they sliced through the water.

Benjamin's unconscious form sunk into the water, as his life drained from his soul, and he couldn't move anymore. Out from the fading darkness of his mind, a soft voice spoke to him.

Don't give up. Don't be discouraged. You can make it out of this, please keep trying...

Benjamin slowly opened his eyes. Within the water's reflection, he saw many people he's met throughout his travels list some of them. Benjamin clenched his fists, knowing he shouldn't lose after coming this far, and he wouldn't back down either.

"Where did he go now?" Sebastian asked as he looked around the waters, "Was that even the right one?"

"Surprise, suckers!" The fake Benjamin jumped out of the water and headed straight towards Sebastian.

Sebastian tried to stall him by blasting magic at him, but the clone brushed them off with ease. As the clone readied a kick, Sebastian shot magic at his face, pushing him back. The water rose again. This time, the real Benjamin leaped out and grabbed his imposter's legs, dragging him down into the water.

They struggled more until Benjamin kicked his clone in the head and swam to the top. As he reached the surface, he closed his eyes and imagined the area turning cold, hard, and white. Thanks to the power of his magic, the water became completely encased in ice, trapping the faker underwater.

"Phew, that was close." Benjamin sighed in relief.

Sebastian, however, wasn't sure who won the fight.

"Hey you," He drew his sword and pointed it at the magician, "are you the real Benjamin?"

"Of course, I am. Who else could it be?"

"Hmm..."

"Seriously? Ok, look, remember this?"

"The scar, it's not on your cheek!"

"Yeah, but it dried up now, since the water—"

The ice broke, and Benjamin's imposter slowly surfaced from the water, confronting the two.

"Why... you..." He hissed at them.

Sebastian and Benjamin had no clue what to do; at this rate, the fight would never end. A portal appeared and swallowed the pair before vanishing. The clone rushed over to try and follow them, but he was too late.

His body slowly weakened as they left him behind in the white box. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to fall back into the icy water.

I'm sorry. The man thought, his mind fading away, but I wasn't able to— He died alone, sinking to the bottom of the empty, white room, unable to finish his last sentence.

.-.-.-.

Benjamin and Sebastian got out of the mysterious portal and fell into a room with even more entrances, surrounding them everywhere they turned. However, ones before them appeared tainted with strange darkness.

A female voice broke the silence from a distance as they got up from the ground.

"Oh, what now?" The voice drew closer to the boys. "Oh, and who are you? Are you here to cause more trouble?" Murasakiiro hissed.

"No, wait, we mean no harm!" Sebastian proclaimed.

"What is that thing?" Benjamin whispered.

"Seriously? That's not a nice thing to say. And don't change the subject!" Murasakiiro retorted.

"Saki, what's the holdup?" Clause came over and asked.

"Well, these two showed up out of nowhere," Murasakiiro explained.

"Benjamin, Sebastian! How odd to see you two here!"

"Clause?!" The duo exclaimed.

"You know them?" The Princess Pilkon questioned.

"Why, of course, it's the same case with Bridget..."

"Bridget? Is she here too?" Benjamin and Sebastian inquired.

"Afraid not right now." Clause replied, shaking his head.

"I see," Murasakiiro said, then turned to Benjamin and Sebastian. "I apologize for the accusation," Murasakiiro told them with a bow.

Once they returned to the cauldron room and introduced the duo to Akapin, they took turns explaining crucial information to one another.

"Big news, they're around the area where the cure is being held!" Akapin proclaimed.

"They're not far off then? That's great news!" The Princess Pilkon responded, zooming around, trying to contain her excitement. "Now Bridget and the others need to find the cure, retrieve it, and leave the area immediately after that! Once they come back, and we'll administer the treatment, we'll get you guys back to your worlds, as promised, no questions asked."

"Can I touch the pot?" Benjamin asked, raising his head.

"No. If you mess with the water, you can easily distort the world there, and your friends will be in a much worse situation than ever before." Murasakiiro explained. "We must redo the connection if that's the case."

"Oh, so all we can do is wait, huh?" Sebastian muttered as he hung his head.

"Let us wish them the best of luck and have faith in them." Clause comforted and reassured the two. "Hopefully, they'll be able to make it in time..."

Episode 19

"Mistress, are you alright in there?" Glenda called out. She leaned against the door and heard disgruntled cries and things breaking.

"Yeah, I'm fine..." The principal confirmed weakly.

"But not for long, though," A familiar voice commented.

"Don't worry; I'll help you out!"

Glenda reached for the door handle but backed away as a spark shot out. She looked down at a seal which locked the door. Touching it made her fly to the ground by a powerful shock.

"Ow!"

"Glenda, are you alright?" The Headmistress asked from afar.

"I'm fine, but why won't this door work?"

"It's magic proof; it won't work," Lauren responded. "Only the one who summoned the spell can reverse the effect."

"Lauren, is that you?!" Glenda gasped. "What are you doing in there, and why are you—?"

"None of your business!"

"There's got to be a way to get inside..." Glenda pondered, pacing the halls.

.-.-.-.

Inside the Principal's office, Lauren and the Principal continued to duke it out. Lauren threw in some punches at her, but the Principal backed up and dodged all of them. When returned to a corner of a wall, the purple-haired woman blocked the punches and threw Lauren across the room.

The two backflipped and landed in a roll as they faced each other. They both jumped into the air and collided with one another, trying to push the other one off.

"Why don't you just give up?" The Principal taunted. "There's no way you can beat me."

"Oh, yeah? Well, I'll try my best regardless!" Lauren shouted.

She kicked the Principal in the shin, grabbed her by the neck, and tossed her across the room on her desk, making her tumble onto the floor.

The Headmistress got up, removed her head, and threw it at Lauren. Lauren grabbed the head out of the air and spun it around before throwing it back at Horace's body, forcing it back a foot.

She ran over and attempted to kick him. Horace threw the Principal's head into the air and backflipped to avoid Lauren's attacks. He ran up the wall behind her desk and reattached himself to the Principal's head.

United, once more, she kicked at Lauren in the air. However, the red-headed girl grabbed her foot. The Headmistress slammed their heads together before kicking her across the room.

"I got to admit; you put up a good fight." The Principal walked over to her and said, "However, it still won't be enough to defeat me. Now, let's finish this."

Before the lady could do the finishing blow, more noise occurred, and another earthquake rumbled across the area at a rapid rate.

Lauren laughed without warning. "It's finally finished, at long last."

"What are you laughing about?" The Principal asked.

"Don't you see? I distracted you from the real threat. Troy's spell is complete! They'll be coming any time now..."

"You witch! Did you just...!?"

"That's right," Lauren muttered.

"Uh, are you—?" The Principal inquired.

"Yeah, I'm okay, especially since I can see my parents again, and we're going to get vengeance on you after our little reunion!"

"Oh, no, you won't!" The Principal protested as she tackled Lauren.

"Hey, get off me, you—!"

"NO!"

.-.-.-.

Troy watched as the pentagram turned black. He closed his eyes and said one more chant. The black pentagram slowly transformed into a sickly red color as it opened a hole in the ground. A magic pillar shot up into the sky. The field split in two, and two hands rose from the abyss.

"Now, it's time to reunite, finally." Troy said, looking up, "Welcome back, Dad."

The figure pulled himself out of the ground as it closed back up, letting out a sickening screech before stopping, realizing where he was.

"Huh? Troy, is that you?" His father, Trevor, asked, "Are you the one that resurrected me...?"

"Yep," Troy answered proudly. "Well, I got help from... a certain someone."

"I see. Hey, do you remember what I said about teaching you dark magic?"

"Yeah, but I already know—"

"Oh, trust me; you've seen nothing yet!"

Trevor summoned two more purple orbs from his hands and placed them on the ground. The ground shook once more, and a giant tombstone rose from the ground underneath their feet. Troy looked down, finding how high they were, basically the same height as Streterra itself.

"Whoa, how are you doing this?" Troy asked curiously. "The book never said that—"

"Ha! There are some things a measly little book can't, and won't show you!" Trevor gloated as he set the book on fire, reducing it to ashes. "No one will try to use it against us now. Let's get our revenge on the school!"

The tombstone grew arms and legs and began marching towards Streterra. Troy's father used more magic to make his minion, and the school, float in the air. He ordered it to grab the school and tilt it. Screams and cries echoed throughout the halls as people tumbled around inside.

"This is unbelievable!" Troy exclaimed, astonished.

"I know, and that's just the beginning." His father replied. "So, what do you think? Should we wait here and watch everything play out?"

"Hmm, why not taunt them?"

"Good idea, son."

Glenda fell out of the windows. She tried to hold on, clutching the window, despite the broken glass.

"Hello there, Streterra!" A voice called out to them.

Glenda turned up and saw a tombstone rise to where the highest floor of the school was and couldn't help but notice two guys standing on top of it.

"How's it going over there?" Troy's father asked.

"Trevor?! What do you want?" Glenda stood shocked.

"I just wanted to watch you suffer, that's all. You're the reason I suffered all these years ago. Do you think I forgot about that?"

"Um, well, I..."

"Tell you what, if you surrender to me and become my servants, then I'll spare you and this school. That sounds good, right?"

"No, never! Besides, you wouldn't spare me, regardless!"

"Alright then, suit yourself. But if you don't change your mind soon, I will kill you and destroy this pathetic school of yours."

.-.-.-.

Bridget, Midoricha, and Gurenji continued walking as they knew they've come this far and couldn't give up now. They noticed the trees spreading out and getting thinner before opening into a clearing.

At first, it looked as if a bright light emanated from the ground in front of them; however, as they got closer, a red plant stood, encircled with glowing orbs in their sights.

"Hey, could that be it?" Murasakiiro cried out to them. "It fits the descriptions I've gotten from my sources."

"Really? That's the antidote?" Gurenji asked with narrow eyes.

"Well, it looks pretty," Midoricha commented.

"Whatever it may be, we should get it and hurry back," Bridget said.

"Alright," Gurenji replied.

"Wait, doesn't this seem odd?" Midoricha asked worriedly.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it's out in the open with nothing guarding it..."

"We don't have the time to stop and check. You heard what the Princess said, didn't you?"

"The Queen needs this antidote."

"You should be careful, just in case," Bridget called out.

"Yeah, I know," Gurenji replied.

"What if it's not the real one?" Bridget whispered.

"Who knows?" Midoricha replied.

As they got closer to the plant, the orbs surrounding the plant made a brighter glow. Midoricha stayed back, worried he'd get in Bridget and Gurenji's way. He noticed what seemed to be teeth sticking out from the ground.

"Look out!"

Bridget and Gurenji turned around, looked down in time and backed away. The teeth broke through the ground, revealing a large mouth as it swallowed the red flower. The jade-green creature had what looked to be a poisonous tongue with large amounts of tentacles.

"What is that?" Gurenji questioned in horror.

"I'm not sure..." Midoricha answered.

"Well, whatever it is, that thing ate the antidote. We have to get it back!"

"Now who's saying obvious stuff?"

"What!? Oh..."

"Not the time you guys," Bridget mentioned, breaking the two up before they got into another heated argument.

The monster dug downwards; the trio jumped out of the way just as the ground erupted, and it lunged towards them.

It used its arms to attack Bridget, who jumped, ducked, and rolled out its way. More arms broke from the Earth, attempting to grab the Pilkons. However, they freed themselves from its grasp.

The monster summoned thorny vines, along with its many tentacles. Bridget tried to use fire magic to attack the creature, but the vines blocked it.

Not a single burn mark in sight? But how?

She readied her lightning magic while the monster charged an attack itself. She aimed and fired, but her magic got overshadowed entirely by the creature's hyper beam.

"Watch out!" Midoricha cried as he dashed over to stand in front of Bridget.

He created a shield of protection surrounding them, causing the beam to part around them like the red sea. When the monster's attack finished, neither of them could believe their eyes.

"What the—? How did you do that?" Bridget asked.

"No way, it's the Pilkon Pact!" Gurenji exclaimed, "A Pilkon can choose their Master and become their guardian!"

"So, we can better work together and defeat this enemy?"

"That's right," Midoricha confirmed cheerfully.

"Uh oh, we have to do something!" Gurenji yelled as the monster roared and chased after him.

Bridget thought for a second before coming up with a plan. "I have an idea, but I'll need your help."

"You got it," Midoricha replied.

"What about me?" Gurenji asked, while still being chased.

"You distract the monster!" Bridget ordered.

"Are you kidding me? Ugh, hurry!"

More arms appeared from behind the monster, moving toward Bridget. She jumped to avoid capture and even froze a few tentacles with her ice magic, leaving them hovering in the air. She slid across one of the frozen limbs to where the monster's body was, freezing any tentacles along the way.

When Bridget got close enough to attack, she leaped into the air and told Midoricha to encase a protection bubble around her. Bridget went inside the monster's mouth, interrupting it while it tried to unleash another hyper beam at her.

Gurenji gasped as he watched the monster stop moving.

"Bridget!"

The monster grabbed Bridget from inside it and threw her onto the ground before escaping. Gurenji and Midoricha rushed over as the shield around Bridget dissipated. She laid on the floor, coughing.

"Ugh, my head feels weird..." Bridget groaned.

"Are you ok?" Gurenji asked.

"Yeah, I'm all right."

"That was intense, and also gross. It took a lot of guts to do that."

"I wouldn't want to go through that ever again, though."

"So, uh, did you get the antidote?"

"Yeah," Bridget replied weakly, as she took out the red plant from her pocket.

"Awesome!" Gurenji cheered. "Now all we have to do is find a way out of here..."

.-.-.-.

"They did it!" Murasakiiro cried out, causing everyone else around her to cheer. "Now, all we have to do is teleport them back."

After a while, Bridget, Midoricha, and Gurenji walked out of the portal and greeted everyone.

"Welcome back, you guys." The Princess greeted.

"Good to see you again." Benjamin and Sebastian greeted Bridget.

Bridget gasped upon seeing the two. "Whoa, what are you two doing here?"

"Well, it's a long story..." Sebastian replied, scratching the back of his head.

"And we don't have time for that," Benjamin added.

"That's right; we have to save the Queen!" Bridget exclaimed.

And so, they worked together on getting the cure done. Bridget sprinkled in little bits of the red plant into the bowl. She ground it up while the Pilkons had left to get the other ingredients.

They came back and plopped them into the bowl. Sebastian used a spoon to stir concoction and a knife to chop them to little bits at the same time. Finally, Benjamin created fire under the bowl to boil the contents.

With the cure finished, Murasakiiro informed Bridget, who held the bowl, to place it beside the bed. Sebastian and Benjamin, meanwhile, picked the Queen up and gently dipped her into the container where the cure resided.

After following orders, they simmered down and waited for the Queen to show some change. The group heard coughing and groaning coming from the bowl.

"What?" A female voice questioned weakly.

Princess Murasakiiro gasped. "Oh, Mother, you're alive!"

The Queen opened her beige-colored eyes and looked at her daughter, smiling with tears in her eyes.

"Oh, Murasakiiro, thank you, and I'm so sorry I made you worry." The Queen replied.

She got out of the bowl and hugged her daughter while the others watched them with delight.

"You have these guys to thank for that, as well," Gurenji stated proudly. "They're her Highness' friends, and they're the ones who got the cure for you."

I see. The Queen thought for a moment before turning to the rest of the group, "In that case, thank you, everyone."

"Don't mention it." Clause replied, looking away.

"You wanted to go to your world and save it, correct?"

That voice. Benjamin could've sworn he'd heard it somewhere before, recently, but where?

"Yes, but how did you know?" Sebastian asked.

"It's rather complicated." The peach Pilkon responded, "But never underestimate the powers of a Pilkon."

"She is the Queen, after all." The Princess added rather proudly.

"So, if everyone is ready to go, then I shall fulfill your promises and"

"Hey, wait!" Benjamin interrupted.

"What is it, sir?"

"I... I would like you to summon some of our friends here if possible."

"Sure thing, who exactly do you have in mind?"

"Just two people... Isabelle and Nicholas."

"Alright, here I go."

The Queen closed her eyes briefly, then opened them as her body and eyes emanated a faint, white light. The glowing soon stopped, and two humans appeared, yelling at the top of their lungs.

"Isabelle, if we don't make it out of here," Nicholas said, his body quaking. "I just want to say that I- huh?"

The pair stopped screaming and looked around the place.

"Hey, we're alive!" Isabelle exclaimed, breathing a sigh of relief.

"But where are we?" Nicholas questioned, adjusting his shades.

"Are those creatures from Earth?" Clause asked under his breath. "They look just like us, too."

"Just what is Benjamin thinking?" Sebastian whispered.

"Wow, this is incredible," Isabelle commented, astonished.

She went to inspect each of the Pilkons. They trembled around her and tried to move away from the girl.

"Stop that, whoever you are," Gurenji ordered. Isabelle ignored him, however, and continued her examination.

"How did we get here?" Nicholas asked.

"Hello there, we don't have time to explain, but it is I who summoned you here from your impending doom." The Queen interjected to the two newcomers, "It was Benjamin's idea though..."

"I see. Wait, just a minute, Benjamin? Really?" Isabelle and Nicholas stopped with what they had been doing and turned to face the dark magician, who stood there and watched them.

Wow, late reaction much? Benjamin rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"But why?" Isabelle asked him, "I figured you hated me, and all humans."

"Well, I know, but—" Benjamin inhaled and then exhaled before continuing. "Look, what I'm saying is, I need your help," Benjamin admitted. "The more potent allies we have, the higher chance of winning the battle, right?"

It caught Isabelle off guard at first with his response, but she eventually gave him a warm smile. Benjamin cleared his throat and looked away, blushing.

"Don't get the wrong idea. I won't protect your world like a superhero or something. I'm just looking out for myself, and me alone. Plus, I need to take out all the competition to stop them from impeding my goals."

"Right." Isabelle teased, not buying a single thing he said.

Bridget and Sebastian watched Benjamin in confusion. He acted a lot different than usual, but why?

"Are you all ready?" The Queen asked.

"Yeah!" Everyone cheered in response.

"Alright, then." The Queen closed her eyes and opened them again.

Her cream-colored aura surrounded her as she spoke the incantation. A magic portal appeared in front of her, a mix of aqua and cheese colored.

"Be careful." She warned them, "Once you go through the portal, you'll be out on a battlefield. At that point, they'll be no coming back until we win the battle."

"Alright, let's do this!" Benjamin declared as he marched off.

The others followed suit too, but Sebastian turned and noticed that Clause continued standing there, lost in thought. Before he could ask him what the matter was, however, Clause answered, knowing what he would ask.

"I don't know. I want to be brave and help Streterra, but a guy like me will end up as unnecessary baggage..."

"How can you say that?" Sebastian pointed out. "Did you forget what Benjamin said?"

"No, I did not."

"Then let's go, you're an expert at magic. Don't you want to help save the school? What would Glenda say? Doesn't she trust you?" Sebastian inquired.

"Not really..." Clause muttered bluntly.

"Then, why not try to prove her wrong? Show that you can be a—"

"Glenda trusts you more than me, though..."

"You're not very good at this, are you?" Gurenji commented.

"Zip it." Sebastian retorted.

"Well, the reason I'm going to your school is to stop my brother." Akapin declared. "So, go because you have something you want as well!"

"I see... You're right." Clause nodded. "Alright, I'm ready."

Sebastian nodded in agreement. He didn't mind that Akapin could get Clause into a confident mood and not him. Sebastian was just glad to see his teacher back to his old self.

"Good luck." Murasakiiro, Gurenji, and the Queen said in unison.

"Thanks, and thank you for everything." Everyone else replied.

"You're welcome." The Queen and Murasakiiro nodded.

"Alright, this is for our school and our worlds!" The rest of the group cried out. They hopped into the portal without looking back.

Episode 20

Glenda hung onto the windows with all her strength. But she found that she couldn't keep it up forever.

"I can't hold on much longer..." Glenda said weakly.

Troy and his father, Trevor, watched as she struggled when Troy broke the silence.

"Uh, hey, dad?" He glanced at his father and asked, "Are we going to make these people... you know...?"

"Well, it depends..." Trevor replied.

"On what? Doesn't this seem a bit too much?" Troy asked while clutching his chest tight.

"Something on your mind? It sounds like you don't want them to die?"

"Uh, yeah. If the hag Glenda and her companions are alive, the rest could easily make a comeback and turn against us."

"Hmm, that is true..."

"So, perhaps, maybe we can kill everyone slowly and painfully?"

"Ooh, now that is evil, that's my boy!"

"Well... I learned from the best." Troy chuckled and scratched the back of his head.

More noise threw them off guard — Troy and his dad both spotted a group of three people standing at afar. Benjamin, Sebastian, and Bridget were on top of a blob creature with Akapin and Midoricha floating by their side. Meanwhile. Isabelle and Nicholas flew on a platform made from her laptop as they all headed toward the school.

"Uh-oh, that doesn't look good." Troy said, his body froze in place, "We should take care of them."

"No, we don't." Trevor snapped his fingers, summoning black bats with purple wings and red eyes.

As they chased down Isabelle and Nicholas, the platform split in two as the pair moved to avoid the bats and their poison saliva.

"Man, am I glad that I finally got this monster summoning spell working." Benjamin aforementioned aloud.

"All you did was say its name, pray, and point to the ground." Bridget pointed out, giving out an exasperated sigh.

"Now is not the time to gawk over how awesome you think your spells are." Sebastian groaned.

Benjamin clones grew and appeared from thin air, surrounding the blob. Benjamin and co. wondered what was going on as the clones just stood around the group. That was, until they started screeching.

Benjamin, Sebastian, and Bridget all covered their ears.

"Gob, won't they all just shut up!?" Bridget tried to scream over the noise.

"How dare you make my friends suffer!" Midoricha exclaimed as he charged at the clones with his full body.

When no more showed up, the giant blob pressed forward with the group hanging on.

"Let's hurry!" Akapin cried.

Without warning, even more clones showed up. This time, they rushed together and formed a light blue blob. The two blobs broke into a fight, throwing punches at each other's heads.

"Hang on!" Benjamin shouted as Sebastian and Bridget nearly fell off.

"No way, they're getting closer..." Troy panicked, "We got to stop them! Isn't there anything else you can do?"

"This is your big chance to impress me, boy," Trevor replied with confidence, "You go take care of them, while I stay here and deal with these two."

Troy thought about it before reluctantly agreeing. "I won't let you down." He said as he flew off.

While Trevor didn't look, Glenda used the opportunity to let go of the window and leap off. Unfortunately, a pink book fell out of her dress pocket and hovered in the air. Trevor noticed and went to grab the novel.

"I'll be taking that!"

"I won't let you!" Glenda exclaimed, zooming towards it.

They grabbed the book, pulling it back and forth.

"Stop, you're going to rip it!" Glenda cried. "Let it go already!" She exclaimed, ready to cast a fire spell at him.

He pushed Glenda away with magic and held the book close to his face to tempt her to try the fireball now, causing her to hesitate. A shadowy figure flew in and snatched the novel off his hands.

"I'll be taking that back, cheerio." Clause waved as he disappeared and reappeared, returning the book to Glenda.

"H-how did you—?"

"Teleportation spell, my good lady." The mustachioed man winked.

As the three floated in the air, they noticed Trevor spew out more magic to stop them in their tracks. Glenda and Clause dodged them as best as they could.

Trevor then threw out some dark matter energy discs that chased the others down. Glenda and Clause ran across the walls before jumping off to avoid their collision and impact.

As they leaped off and Trevor snapped his fingers and created an explosion, pushing the duo back. He smiled, satisfied with himself until something struck him from the back of his head.

As he fell, Nicholas stood on a pink platform throwing stones, Trevor turned and ordered more bats to attack the boy. Nicholas flew off while attacking some of the bats from behind him. Isabelle created more platforms for Nicholas to use to avoid the bats, attacking them with their magic.

"Oh no, we gotta hurry!" Benjamin cried out.

Getting up, he turned to find more clones creeping up from behind him and blasted them away with his magic. He backed up into the blob and got sucked up inside of him, along with Sebastian and Bridget.

The three looked up and saw Troy float to where they were. Enraged, they telepathically ask for the blob to erupt them out like a volcano towards where Troy is, to which it agreed without question.

Aoguro appeared above Troy's blob's head as he gave Aoguro a signal. Akapin watched as her brother went inside the blob, changing its color from blue to black with light blue eyes.

"Big brother?" Akapin gasped.

The two blobs continued their fighting.

"Aoguro, please stop! Both of you need to stop fighting!" Akapin cried out, getting in-between the two of them. "Big brother, please tell me why! Why are you doing this? Won't you listen to me?" Her brother stopped fighting and heard his sister speaking to him. "You didn't make a Pilkon Pact with that boy, did you? Did he blackmail you? Threaten your life? What was it?"

Aoguro said nothing as he looked to the ground with saddened eyes.

Troy watched the fighting in the distance until he noticed Sebastian charging at him. He backed up, avoiding Sebastian's attacks.

"Troy!" Sebastian exclaimed. "How could you do this!? Why?" Sebastian questioned.

"Wouldn't you like to know...?" Troy retorted.

Troy sent dark beams after Sebastian, but he dodged them all before charging at Troy, once again, to fight hand to hand. Benjamin fired from a distance while Bridget rushed to attack Troy up close. Troy pushed Bridget out of the way and deflected Benjamin's magic from afar.

Sebastian wondered if they could beat him when Troy stopped fighting. His attention drew to Aoguro, who didn't fight anymore. He just stood there.

"Hey, Aoguro, snap out of it and fight!" Troy called out to him, but no response came from Ao. "Aoguro?" He called out again, this time softer.

Without warning, Bridget punched Troy in the face, followed by Sebastian kicking him. Benjamin readied a spell and aimed straight at Troy's head.

"No, wait!" Troy shouted. "Have you forgotten something?" He summoned two bubbles in front of him.

Benjamin gasped. "Oh no! Chi-Chi and Harry?"

"That's right, and if you dare to try anything funny, I won't hesitate to kill both of your precious pets!"

As they thought up ways to get out of their predicament, Isabelle rode on her platform and knocked Troy on the back of his head, causing him to drop the bubbles and fall to the ground.

Benjamin and Bridget caught both of the bubbles before they hit the ground. Bridget gave Benjamin her bubble before they popped them, dropping the critters in his hands.

"Chi-Chi, Harry, please, wake up..." Benjamin pleaded while trying to hold back the tears in his eyes. "I'm sorry you guys ended up like this, I promise never to leave you guys again! So, please, wake up!"

The animals squirmed and, slowly, opened their eyes. "Huh?

"You guys... you're both okay!" Benjamin exclaimed excitedly.

"We heard your voice," Chi-Chi explained.

"We were sleeping for a while," Harry added, "but we're okay now!"

"Thank you for worrying about us." They said simultaneously.

"You're welcome," Benjamin replied as they group hugged.

"Guys, I'd hate to ruin this sweet moment, but the others are still in danger." Isabelle pointed out.

"Then we better hurry!" Sebastian responded as he and Bridget hopped on Isabelle's platform.

"You're going nowhere!" Troy thundered. A laser pushed him back, and when the boy got up, he noticed that Aoguro still did nothing. "Hey, don't just stand there like an idiot; help me out or else!" He rushed over to try and grab Akapin, but she moved out of the way.

"You can't tell him what to do! Even if he gave up his Pilkon freedom to work for you!" Akapin retorted.

Enraged that Troy tried to hurt his little sister, Aoguro attempted to attack Troy, with Akapin joining in. Troy ran to get away from them, screaming in a panic.

Glenda and Clause appeared and hid behind Streterra, hoping that the coast would be clear and that they could think up a counterattack.

There were also dark star beacons that headed towards them. The three flew around as best as they could try to avoid them, but alas, they found them to be heat-seeking.

Glenda and Clause found Trevor and manipulated the beacons so they would hit the man instead. Trevor wiped off the damage taken from him and threw out more. Only this time, Glenda hit them with spells of her own, destroying the orbs.

"This is bad," Clause murmured under his breath, "How do we beat him now?"

Trevor readied up a spell called Void Wave and directed it in two different directions, both times. However, Clause made shields and blocked the attack just in time.

"Clause, are you alright?" Glenda asked.

"Yeah." Clause nodded, "Do you still have the spellbook?"

"I do." She took it out of her dress pockets and looked over at the title. Future of the Light? Mages of Gold? What kind of names are these? Glenda opened the book and frantically flipped through the pages.

She said one spell to herself out loud and then got encased in a bubble. A Sun Fire Storm hit the balloon, causing it to bounce around the place, and hit Troy and his dad, until it hit the blobs down below and popped, making Glenda land safely.

"Are you alright, grandma?" Sebastian hurried over and asked.

"I think so." Glenda rubbed her head and groaned. "Why do we have spells like that again?"

"Enough!" Troy shouted.

He and his dad inflicted themselves with a spell and made themselves grow large until they became giant-sized and towered over Streterra and everyone else.

"We got to stop them!" Glenda exclaimed.

She and Clause flew with Sebastian as one group, Bridget and Isabelle went as another group on the floating platform, and Benjamin took to the skies by himself as they all circled the tower the school was in to get face to face with Troy and his father.

As Benjamin and the others zoomed around them using magic on them, Troy and Trevor swatted them like flies as the spells didn't seem to affect them.

Furious at seeing as Trevor went over to rip out the school roof, Chi-Chi and Harry grew large themselves and charged towards them.

"Hey, you, leave the school alone!" They roared at them. So they fought back, but the hamster and guinea pig got a surprise attack and couldn't sustain for much longer.

"Guys!" Benjamin exclaimed.

"Shoot," Clause muttered nervously as the group headed for the cover, "If we don't do something soon..."

"I got it," Glenda interrupted," I'm going to try the book again!" She took the book out of her pocket and flipped through more pages.

"A different spell, I presume?"

"Of course, I have no other choice, but I might need some help with this." Glenda took a glance at Bridget as she motioned for her to come over. "Hey, Bridget, could you do me a favor?"

"Wait, is that my book?"

"Yes, I want you to help me pronounce this spell." Glenda replied, "I'm not sure myself, but I'll try my best."

"Ok, but which one?"

"This right here." Glenda pointed at a particularly long word. "It looks powerful."

"Alright."

As they did the chanting, Trevor stormed over to reach and grab the two while their guard was down. They tried to leave; the others wanted to protect them but were too late as Bridget and Glenda ended up caught in his grasp.

Trevor laughed, but then a sprout of light shone out of his hands and hit the guy squarely in the eyes, Bridget and Glenda soon broke free and flew off.

The words came out of the book and formed into the light as it shot up into the sky, breaking away the dark clouds and letting off a heavenly form of light.

Lauren and the Monster Principle continued to struggle and get in each other's ways; they only seemed to stop when they heard some strange noise and noticed the ceiling up top collapsing. Lightning struck as a voice called out to them.

Lauren, can you hear us?

"No way..." Lauren gasped. She got up and floated to the top of the now damaged roof and out of the school. "Is that you?" As the girl looked around, a flash of light shone down from above as two figures walked out of it. Lauren recognized them immediately. "M-Mom? Dad!?"

"It's time to put an end to your evil deeds." Lauren's mom said, pointing at Troy's father.

"Do you think you can beat us?" Trevor gloated.

Lauren gasped, seeing her parents fight with Troy and his father. She couldn't believe her eyes at all. Eventually, even the power of her parents didn't seem to be enough as they fell to the ground. Troy looked over at them and raised his hand; however, his body and hand trembled as he hesitated to do the finishing blow.

"What's wrong? Why don't you attack him?" Trevor asked.

"Troy, no! Don't you dare hurt my parents!" Lauren exclaimed.

Troy looked over and saw Lauren across from him, making a nasty glare; he couldn't see through the shades, but even then, he knew she was deeply hurt.

"Wait, Lauren I—" Troy tried to explain. His words cut short upon getting a sharp pain in his chest. He clutched his chest tight and ground his teeth. What was this feeling inside? And why wouldn't it stop? It hurt badly.

"How could you? Why would you do this to me?" Lauren asked coldly.

"Ah, I see." Trevor said, "So that's why you won't attack? No matter, I'll finish the job myself—"

"No, dad, don't—" Troy tried to stop him but couldn't due to the continued throbbing pain inside.

Troy's father looked down and found his feet got stuck as it got trapped by the two blobs, making him unable to move to get them out using magic.

"Now's your chance to deal with the finishing blow!" Lauren's father yelled out.

"We'll send you the boost you need. It's the least we can do." Lauren's mom added.

The two sent their energy to each of them: Clause, Glenda, The Principal, Nicholas, Bridget, Sebastian, Lauren, Isabelle, Benjamin, and even Harry and Chi-Chi.

They were all fueled with such unbelievable power, as their bodies moved on their own as they charged forward at Troy's dad, turning into periwinkle lights and forms none of them could believe. A purple explosion occurred after making contact, and soon everyone scattered across the area, while Troy's dad disappeared and was no more.

Episode 21

Lauren's sight ended up bathed in warm light in a place away from everyone else.

This warm feeling. Did I die? Is this heaven? No, it can't be. I don't deserve this.

She looked over and found that she wasn't the only one in this strange white world, Troy floated a few feet away from her. He looked over and frowned, knowing full well that she would want an explanation for all this.

"Lauren, I'm sorry." Troy said, "I don't know how to face you or the others again."

"I trusted you, but you used me." Lauren thundered. "What were you doing behind my back, and why?"

"I'm sorry for lying to you about who killed my parents." Troy apologized as he bowed his head. "I just wanted to help my dad. It was selfish, I know. I didn't even think he was evil, but he promised to teach me dark magic. Why else would I ask someone I didn't know for help?"

"You mean me?"

"Yeah, you didn't question why I asked you for help specifically."

"I don't remember..."

"Well, I didn't care for anything else, but as we spent time together, I felt sorry for—"

"Quit lying!" Lauren interrupted. "How can I believe what you're saying when you've been lying to me all this time?"

"Lauren, I know you're upset, understandably so, but I—"

"Get out."

"What?"

"I don't want to see you ever again." Lauren turned her back.

Tears in his eyes, Troy gave up trying to excuse his actions to her. He turned and walked away, but not before leaving her some small words. Lauren spun around; however, Troy had already left and a brighter light overcame her and covered the area.

.-.-.-.

Opening her eyes, Lauren found that she returned to Streterra, still destroyed, just like all those years ago, when she lost everything. This time, it was all her fault. She looked around and realized that, despite the state of the school, nobody had died.

She wasn't sure how many ended up injured, but one thing was for sure, she felt betrayed — putting all her time and efforts into helping Troy's selfish desires come true.

The Principal was right, wasn't she? Why didn't I...? She thought as she stared at the ground. "I'm sorry, mom, dad, I failed you both."

"It's alright." A male and female voice told her.

Startled, Lauren looked up and saw that both of her parents were hovering in front of her. Was she dreaming? Was this a figment of her imagination? Lauren felt her face and realized that her shades were missing. Glancing to the floor, she saw them, now broken. She was seeing crystal clear now.

"You... forgive me?" Lauren reiterated as she looked back up to face her parents for the first time in years. "But after all that I did, how can you still—?"

"It doesn't matter." Lauren's father interjected with a shake of his head.

"All that matters is our love for you. And that will never disappear no matter what." Lauren's mother added. "Besides, you've learned your lesson, right?" She placed her hand on Lauren's head.

"Mm-hmm?" Lauren nodded slowly. Her eyes got watery as she rushed over to embrace the two. "I wish I could be with you guys, just a little longer..."

"Don't worry; we'll always be with you right here." Lauren's mom gave a reassuring smile and pointed to her daughter's chest.

The three said their goodbyes as her parents slowly vanished, Lauren watched from the heavens and waved. Once they disappeared, Lauren collapsed to the ground. She buried her face in her hands and sobbed quietly to herself. She then heard someone walk up behind her. Lifting her head, the Principal approached her as she extended her arm towards her.

"I am so, so sorry." Lauren choked on her words as she took the Principal's hand, pulling herself up to her feet.

"I am too." The Headmistress replied. "Unfortunately, you won't get away with this. You were still an accomplice and committed crimes, and for that, you'll receive a punishment, understand?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Hmm, I wonder where Troy is now..."

"Oh, I wouldn't worry too much about him..."

"Why do you say that?"

On the other side of the school, Benjamin laid down on the grass and closed his eyes.

"Master, Master!" A pair of squeaky voices cried out in unison.

Benjamin opened his eyes and glanced over to see Harry and Chi-Chi standing next to him.

"We were awesome, weren't we?" Harry asked.

"Yeah!" Chi-Chi chimed in.

Benjamin smiled as he got up to dust himself off. Bridget and Sebastian walked over to congratulate him.

"I hate to admit," Sebastian commented as he scratched the back of his head, "but, you were cool back there."

"Really? Thanks." Benjamin smiled softly, relaxed after the chaos. However, he realized who he talked to and changed his tone. "I mean- Of course, I am the great dark magician after all."

Sebastian rolled his eyes. "Regardless, I still won't lose to you." He warned him.

"We'll just have to see about that," Benjamin said.

Bridget watched as sparks flew between the two. This time though, it didn't seem to be malicious, much more like they were having a friendly competition. She couldn't help but smile to herself.

A clap soon interrupted the conversations. The three turned to see Glenda walk up to them.

"Bravo," Glenda complimented them, "you all showed the powers of teamwork and magic wondrously." She returned the notebook to Bridget before continuing. "I just wanted to tell you one thing: You all passed your assignment!"

"Hooray!" The students cheered.

"But, wait," Benjamin said as he pulled out his wand from his pockets, "I still don't have my wand fused with my crystal ball..."

"No need to worry about that." A voice assured him.

The others had joined in to congratulate each other, including the Principal.

"Headmistress, what are you—?" Glenda was about to ask when the Principal pulled out a crystal sphere and handed it to Benjamin.

"No way, you're giving me another one?" Benjamin asked, his eyes widened.

"But, of course, you more than earned it." The Principal replied.

Benjamin looked over and couldn't help but smile again. "Hey, do you think you could teach me how to fuse the two and make it more powerful?" Everyone laughed. "I'm serious."

"So, what do we do now?" Nicholas asked.

"Beats me." Isabelle shrugged.

"Well, now you can continue onto the second step: Finding partners/teammates." The Principal replied. She looked at Benjamin. "However, it feels as though groups got formed during this adventure."

"Huh?" Benjamin and Isabelle questioned, tilting their heads in confusion.

"I hope you two get along well."

"Huh!?"

"I've been watching you guys for a while now, even while stuck in the human world."

No wonder her presence in that office room didn't feel right. Benjamin thought as a shiver ran down his spine.

"Wait, are you saying that I can enroll here?" Isabelle asked.

"Yes." The Principal nodded.

"Awesome!" Isabelle jumped up and down, squealing. "Wait until I tell my mom about this!"

"But what about our school back in...?" Nicholas mentioned.

"Don't worry; I'll take care of that." The Principal replied.

"Guess we'll need to find partners ourselves," Bridget said to Sebastian.

"Well, about that..." Sebastian muttered.

"Hey, miss," Midoricha said to the Principal, "I would like to stay here, just a little longer, if that's ok with you."

"But, we were supposed to go back to our world, remember?" Akapin mentioned.

"Yeah, I know, but I want to protect Bridget and stay by her side. I mean, we made a Pilkon Pact."

"Oh, is that so?"

"Is that wrong, though, to think like that?"

"No, it's not, the choice is yours, but ask Bridget and make sure it's ok with her."

"Is, is it ok with you, Bridget?" He turned to ask her.

"Yeah, I don't mind." Bridget chirped.

"I see." Akapin said as she watched Midoricha cheer in joy, "Then, I guess it's time we part ways."

"Yeah, goodbye. I'll see you soon." Midoricha said.

A small portal opened up as everyone said goodbye, Akapin and Aoguro floated through it before it closed up and disappeared.

"So, what was it you were going to say?" Bridget turned to ask Sebastian.

"Nothing, just that, I think I'm better off going solo," Sebastian replied with a smirk.

"Not to worry," The Principal replied, "you still have plenty of time to decide on one if you change your mind." She turned to Benjamin, Bridget, Isabelle, and Midoricha. "and as for you guys, we'll get your assignments ready, so please be patient. For now, though, we need to fix the school and treat the wounded."

"Affirmative." Glenda and Clause responded, saluting.

No one was sure what happened with Troy. Where he went off, or if he'd ever return, seeking new vengeance or not. Regardless, hopefully, the people at the school can rebuild their lives in peace.

Benjamin, himself, couldn't believe what had happened in the school's first semester. Without his knowledge, it appeared the person he that antagonized him (besides Sebastian) was now stuck with him, not an enemy, but as a partner.

The Headmistress gave the students permission to use the ABC doors again, allowing Isabelle and Nicholas to head back to their human world before the place got blocked off for good. She'd let them know there'd be another way of transportation back to the monster world in record time.

.-.-.-.

After saying their goodbyes to everyone, Benjamin, Isabelle, Harry, Chi-Chi, and Nicholas headed back through the portal to enter the human realm once again.

Clause and Glenda got back on good terms with the Principal and Horace as they worked on getting the school back in proper order, good as new.

Sebastian trained back at home, before going to the Headmistress later, asking if it was all right to go to the human world. When she said yes, Sebastian used the portal and went back to the human world to visit friends and study the world more closely.

Bridget stayed back at her home to continue practicing her magic with Midoricha supporting her.

Akapin and Aoguro returned to the Pilkon Kingdom to apologize to the Queen and Princess, they quickly forgave Aoguro and welcomed him back.

Lauren had to clean up Streterra and assist the supervisors in helping the students to make up for her misdeeds.

As for Benjamin and the others, they walked down a sidewalk in silence as they headed back to Nicholas and Isabelle's houses, respectively, before making their way to their base of operations. After they dropped Nicholas off, the group continued along their paths in silence, watching the sunset behind them.

"So, Benny?" Isabelle broke the silence.

"Yeah, Isabelle?" Benjamin asked.

"Why did you save not only your world but also mine?" Isabelle asked.

"Why do you ask?" Benjamin answered with another question.

"Well, I didn't think you were telling the truth. What was that all about?"

"Yeah, well, I meant what I said back there. I'm the prophesied dark magician, and I'm the one who will take over not just this puny world of yours, but also all worlds! I won't let anyone else take what's mine, because if anyone will rule Earth, it'll be me!" He lifted his wand in the air triumphantly, while striking another strange pose.

"Sure, keep telling yourself that." She muttered, rolling her eyes.

"Say what? Are you saying you still don't believe me?"

"Maybe, maybe not."

Benjamin stopped walking for a moment and turned to Isabelle. His expression grew serious, much to her surprise.

"Look, this path from here on out won't be an easy one. Since we're now partners and all, you'll be sharing the quest to total domination alongside me, and I'll take any chances, no matter how dangerous, to achieve my goal and dream. What about you?"

"Yeah, it'll be an interesting experience. Even though it won't be easy, let's make the most of it and get along." Isabelle said with a smile.

That hopefulness in her eyes left Benjamin a bit confused.

"Wait, you're not hesitant? Your life will change; once our real assignments start, you might never get your normal life back, or be able to return home in a long while. Now would be the time to step away."

"Are you kidding? No way, this is an excellent opportunity, I don't think I'll ever get another one like this. The experience will be worth it."

"You mean it? Even though we're opposites in almost every category imaginable, you'll work with me. Are you sure—?"

"Yeah. Hey, maybe that could change." Isabelle replied. She extended her arm out to Benjamin. "So, what do you say, partners?"

Benjamin looked at her hand for a moment with eyes widened. He then returned her smile with an even larger one, before reaching out and shaking her hand.

"Yeah, partners. But, remember, you work for me, ok?" He pointed at himself and reminded her.

"Yeah, I know." The two separated and stared at one another. "Let's make this world a better place, ok?" She chirped excitedly.

The sound of a record scratched inside Benjamin's head.

Wait, what did she say?

"Um, this could be a problem," Harry whispered.

"I don't know; I think they can handle it just fine," Chi-Chi replied.

Benjamin could only sigh. What a long journey this will be, but I'll still do my best! I'm always up for a challenge, even if it's stuff like this.

"Yeah, same here!" Isabelle chimed in.

"What— wait, are you secretly an Esper or something? How'd you know what I was thinking?"

"Well, you were thinking out loud."

Harry and Chi-Chi giggled, while Benjamin groaned in disbelief, but still kept his optimism in check.

"Alright, let's do this!"

