Lord Death stood looking in his mirror deep within his Death Chamber. He watched the image of a bus that was projected onto the glass with grave concern. Just then, he heard two people entering the Death Room. He turned to see his star pupils Maka Albarn and her partner Soul Eater coming in to see him.

"Hey, hiya, how ya doin'?" he asked, "So glad you could make it."

"Scythe Meister Maka reporting, sir," Maka answered, "You wanted to see us?"

"Yes, yes, I'm well aware of that," the Reaper said, "First of all, congratulations are in order. You've managed to recollect the 99 kishin egg souls that you needed to transform Soul into a Death Scythe. Now all that's left is to collect the soul of a witch."

"Yeah, we know," Soul told him, "I've been looking forward to this for a long time now."

"But we haven't taken any missions yet," Maka added, "We don't want a repeat of last time. Can you please recommend a good job for us?"

"Of course," Lord Death told her, "That's why I called you in here in the first place."

Soul and Maka looked relieved when they heard that. They knew this would be an easy task. They've already defeated one witch, and even a kishin, so defeating another witch should be no problem.

"Now then," Death continued, "I'm sure you've heard of the Witch Hill incident before?"

"Yes," Maka answered, "There have been reports of people disappearing from a sunflower field in Japan. Rumors have suspected that a witch was responsible, but no one could prove it. Eventually, the disappearances just suddenly stopped."

"Yes, that's basically the gist of it," he told her, "The rumors all point to a witch by the name of Ruby Tojo. She had ruthlessly attacked any human who approached her hill. She had almost destroyed it at one point. But suddenly, she just disappeared without a trace. We had assumed that she was dead, but we have received word that she has reappeared. If she were to resume attacking humans, it would certainly be disastrous. And that is why I'd like you two to find her and defeat her."

"All right," Soul asked, "But what if this turns out to be yet another wild goose chase?"

"Don't worry. Since I am personally giving you this mission, if something like last time happens, I won't take away the other 99 kishin souls. You have nothing to worry about."

"Then we'll take it," Maka said, "Just tell us where to find her."

The bus shown on the mirror was actually the bus to Yokai Academy. It was taking the Newspaper Club out on their annual club trip to the Human World. Once the bus finally got out of the Tunnel of the Fourth Dimension, its passengers looked out into the bright world of the humans.

"I can't believe we're finally back here," Tsukune Aono, the academy's lone human student said, "It feels like ages since I've been back home."

"I know," Moka Akashiya told him, "It must be awful for you to be so far from home."

"Well, whatever," Kurumu Kurono said, "What matters now is that we're here."

"Totally," Yukari Sendo added, "This is going to be great! It'll be just like last time!"

"Well, not exactly," Ginei Morioka told them, "Since this time I get to come with you guys."

"Oh, you're still here Gin?" Mizore Shirayuki asked, "You haven't molested anyone yet, so I thought you left."

"Now, now," their teacher, Ms. Nekonome, interrupted, "Let's not ruin this trip by arguing all the time."

"She's right," Ruby Tojo added, "We've come all the way to the Human World. We should enjoy every moment of this trip."

"Oh, that's right," Tsukune told her, "I almost forgot that this is a homecoming for you too Ruby. How did you convince the Director to let you come on this trip anyway?"

"Well," she began, "It's a long story. A really, really long story."

"There she goes again," Moka said as Ruby told her long story without anyone listening, "Anyway Tsukune, Ruby's right. We should try to enjoy this trip as much as possible. It'll be great as long as we're together."

"Oh, Moka…" Tsukune sighed.

"Oh, Tsukune…"

"Moka…"

"Tsukune…"

"Moka…"

"Tsukune… You smell good…"

"Huh? Wait, what?"

"Sorry…" she told him, "I can't help myself… because I'm a vampire!"

CHOMP! Sluuuuuurp…

"Stop it Moka!" Kurumu yelled, "You can't keep sucking poor Tsukune's blood like that! Ruby, stop her!"

"So you see," Ruby said, still in her story, "It's such a very long story."

The bus reached its stop and the Newspaper Club all got off. Tsukune was the last one off. He gathered his things and prepared to leave.

"Everything's going to be all right," he thought to himself as he stepped off the bus, "This time, nothing is going to get in the way of us having a good time. It'll be great."

"Heh heh heh… don't fool yourself kid."

Tsukune turned to face the bus driver who seemed to be reading his mind.

"Yokai Academy is a school of monsters, by monsters, and for monsters," he explained, "But if you think that this is the only dangerous school around, you've got another thing coming."

Before Tsukune could ask what he meant, the doors closed and the bus drove off.

That night, the Newspaper Club was setting up their tent on the beach. They agreed to go to the same spot they went to on their first trip. As they were setting up camp, Ms. Nekonome came to check on them.

"All right everybody," she told them, "I trust you've got everything under control here? In that case, your teacher is going to go out and get us some nice yummy fish!"

"Um, Ms. Nekonome," Tsukune began, "Is this why you wanted us to come to the Human World in the first place?"

"Mreow? Uh, I'll be right back! Don't wait up!"

"Wait Ms. Nekonome!" Kurumu called, "Your tail is out!"

Ms. Nekonome looked down at her cat tail that was now exposed. She quickly covered it and ran off.

"I'm getting some serious déjà vu here," Yukari commented, "Does this have to happen every time?"

"Well, I don't mind," Kurumu said, "At least she's out of our hair now."

"I know what you mean," Gin said as he grabbed Kurumu's breasts, "Now we can do whatever we want."

"I'm impressed he held off for so long," Mizore observed as Kurumu beat the crap out of Gin, "He might have actually been showing some restraint."

Moka started to laugh, but stopped as she looked amongst her friends. "Hey guys?" she asked, "Where did Ruby go?"

While the rest of her friends were back at the camp, Ruby had snuck off to the hill nearby the beach: Witch Hill. She thought back to when she once called this hill her home. She used to hate humans so much, killing anyone who came to her hill. But once she met Tsukune, her point of view has changed considerably since then. She gazed out over the field of sunflowers as she considered her past and present.

"It's amazing," she said to herself, "I've changed so much since then, and yet this hill is still exactly the same. I was so wrong back then. But now…"

She didn't get to finish her thought as she became aware of someone approaching her from within the shadows of the trees.

"Who's there?" she called out.

As an answer, a scythe swung out of the shadows aimed directly at Ruby. She managed to avoid the attack and backed away from her assailant.

"Who are you?" Ruby asked, "What do you want with me?"

"My name's Maka," her attacker told her, "I'm a scythe meister, and I'm here to take your soul."

"A meister?" Ruby thought, "Then that means…!"

She drew her wand to defend herself. She couldn't bring herself to kill Maka after what Tsukune showed her, but she still had to fight. Her wand glowed and her six black wings appeared behind her.

"Be careful out there, Maka," Soul told his partner from within his scythe form, "We're still dealing with a witch here. It's not going to be easy."

"I know," she answered, "I'm sensing that she's a very powerful witch too. But something about her feels different from the other witches we've seen before. She seems almost harmless somehow. But still, we can't afford to take her lightly."

Maka rushed at Ruby and tried to slice her in half. Ruby blocked the attack and took flight. On a whim, she cast a spell on a nearby bush, revealing the Garigari plant that had been hidden there. The plant monster tried to devour Maka, but was quickly dispatched by the meister.

"No, I can't do that," Ruby thought to herself, "I can't use the plant monsters in this field to fight. I might get carried away and slip back into my old ways. But what can I do? I don't want to kill her. Please help me Tsukune!"

As if on cue, Ruby heard Tsukune's voice calling her name. She turned to look and saw Tsukune and Moka coming to find her.

"There you are Ruby," Tsukune said, "we've been looking all over for…"

He stopped as he saw Maka standing there with her scythe. She was looking at the newcomers as if unsure of them.

"Um," Moka began, "What's going on here?"

"Never mind that," Ruby told her, "I'll explain later. But first, we'll have to find some way to stop her."

"What's going on Maka?" Soul asked, "Why are you just standing there?"

"Those two over there," she explained, "There's something strange about them. The guy is just an ordinary human, but he seems to be close friends with Ruby. But that girl… there's something odd about her soul."

"What do you mean 'odd'?"

"I don't know," Maka told him, "But it's hard to tell exactly what she is. She's not a witch, and she's certainly not a human, but she doesn't seem to be a kishin either."

"Then what the hell is she?" Soul asked, "What's left?"

"I'm not sure," Maka answered, "But I'm afraid we might have to find out. You two!" she said turning to Tsukune and Moka, "Why are you defending her? Do you realize that girl is a witch?"

"'Why are we defending her?'" Tsukune asked, "It's simple: we're friends, that's why. But why are you fighting her in the first place?"

"I'm a meister," she explained, "That means that I hunt down souls that have strayed from the path. That witch is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people, so it is my duty to defeat her. I won't let anyone stand in my way!"

Maka slashed at Tsukune. He managed to jump out of the way, but he lost his balance and started to fall down.

"Tsukune!" Moka rushed to try to catch Tsukune, but his hand grabbed the rosary seal around her neck. The cross was removed, and Moka became enveloped in a bright light.

"The rosary," Ruby observed, "It came off! That means that Moka's inner vampire is being awoken!"

From within the light, they saw Moka undergo her transformation into an S-class vampire. Her hair turned from pink to silver, her eyes from green to red. And more frightening of all was her overabundance of incredible monster energy flowing out from her body.

"What's happening?" Maka asked, "Her soul, it's changing form! It's turning into another one altogether!"

"What do you mean?" Soul asked, "How is that possible?"

"I know what she is now," she answered, "We've run into one of those legendary monsters; a vampire!"

Moka's inner self looked directly at Maka. "So then," she said, "I assume that you were the one who woke me up?"

"Maka, calm down," Soul told his partner, "Your soul wavelength is getting out of control. You can't let your fear get ahold of you here."

"Easy for you to say," she answered, "You can't feel the kind of power that she's giving off."

"Why don't you come over here," Moka began, "And experience this power firsthand?"

Maka rushed at her opponent and attempted to slice her. Moka seemingly disappeared as Maka's blade missed its mark completely.

"Too slow," Moka said from behind her, "I think it's time for you to learn your place!"

She gave Maka a powerful kick in the back, sending her flying. She hit a nearby tree which splintered on impact. Soul transformed back into his human form and held his meister in his arms.

"Are you all right Maka?" he asked, "Say something!"

As a response, she struggled to get up, only to fall back into Soul's arms. She glared at the monster that defeated her so easily.

"Now listen up you two," Moka told them, "If you want to get to Ruby, you'll have to get through me first; and not just me, but there are more of us who would give our lives to protect each other. That's how we roll around here."

With that, Moka took the rosary from Tsukune and headed back to the camp with him and Ruby. Maka and Soul just stared in awe at how easily they were tossed aside.

"Damn," Soul remarked, "What are we going to do now? We can't give up on this just like that."

"Get the mirror," she told him, "We have to tell Lord Death about this."

Soul took out a small hand mirror and handed it to Maka. She breathed on it to fog it up and began writing in it.

"42-42-564," she said to herself, "Whenever you want him, knock on Death's door."

The mirror began to glow as it gave off a ringing sound, much like a telephone. Soon, the image of Lord Death's mask appeared on the mirror.

"Whassup? Whassup? Whassup?" the reaper asked, "Well, how's it going? Did you collect the soul of the witch Ruby?"

"Not yet Lord Death," she reported, "The witch seems to have some very powerful friends surrounding her. We can't get close to her." She hesitated before saying the next part, "One of them is a vampire."

"A vampire you say?" Lord Death asked, "Well, I can imagine that must have been quite a nasty surprise. Vampires are very powerful S-class super monsters; the strongest of all monsters. They are capable of transforming their overwhelming energy into pure power. I'm impressed that you've managed to survive that encounter."

"Even still," Maka told him, "We can't give up. We've already come this far. If we can defeat a kishin, then we should be able to beat a vampire."

"Kishin or not, from what you've told me, this vampire isn't alone. You may find it difficult to defeat so many powerful foes at once."

"In that case," Maka answered, "We'd like to call in some backup."