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 reached 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 was in sight.

All right. 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 strolled along without a care, taking pictures of different things with her camera along the way.

“That'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 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 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 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 firearms.

“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 will 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 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 out 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 watched 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 was no time to be impressed. Now that everyone was distracted, she could head over to the final Boss’ lair with no problems.