Hey, IamtotallyKewlio here. Here's the long awaited chapter one of ... what are we calling this story? Hey, SJB, what's it called?
What are we calling this story?
I guess we could call it...
Um...
Grand. Well, hopefully we'll come up with a name by the end of the chapter... see ya'll there.
Beast Boy rolled over and looked at the clock. "Ts 10 clock awreny?" (Morning talk for 'It's ten o'clock already?' Try saying it out loud) he mumbled. He rolled again, this time falling out of bed and landing on a putrid pile of clothes.
"So, finally you awaken." The voice came from above him. His mind quickly ran through a list of people it could be in split second, starting at Santa Claus and going all the way down to… no, it couldn't be him… He looked up, surprised to see some random albino kid standing over him, looking down at him with purple eyes. Standing up, he thought of something extremely intelligent to say, and let it fly:
"Huh?" The white-haired boy shook his head, then got to business.
"You will come with me. We have some… tests we need to run." If there was one thing Beast Boy knew, it was not to go with random strangers who said they wanted to run tests on you.
"Look, dude. If you thought I was coming with you before, there is no way that I'm going now. Tests and me don't mix." The pale boy shook his head again before lunging at Beast Boy and pinning him to the wall.
"Two things, Garfield," the word held vicious poison in it, but the boy wasn't done yet. He drove his fist into Beast Boy's stomach, at the same time moving a hand around his throat, choking off a call for help. "One, never call me 'dude.' And two, you do not have a choice." Beast Boy dug his elbow into the boy's stomach, then broke free and darted toward the common room.
Cyborg's eye twitched as the scene before him unfolded. No one else had volunteered for the task of making lunch, so, Star had readily jumped on it. The result: a heaping plate of something that resembled a cat that had attacked a lawn-mower and lost, then gotten shoved into a ditch just for good measure. With a gulp, he underwent the second hardest thing that anyone can do: he complemented Star's cooking.
"Looks… tasty?" Though it came out as a question, it was greeted with a level of enthusiasm that only the Tamaranian princess could attain. She whisked him into his chair, followed closely by Robin and Raven's arrival. Raven was next, taking the third most unwanted task before Robin could steal it: finding out what exactly they would be attempting to eat.
"So… what is it, Starfire?" Seeing as Raven's voice rarely held any emotion anyway, the disgust wasn't noticed.
"It is clesternauctch, friends!" she answered gleefully, sprinkling a sickly neon-green substance onto said "food". "It is most delicious!"
"Hey," said Cyborg, looking around, "where's the grass stain? If we have to eat this stuff, Beast Boy should have to…" he bit back the word 'suffer' as he saw the joyous look on Starfire's face as the Boy Wonder attempted the worst task of all: finding something edible on his plate and finding the guts to eat it. Realizing he had left his sentence hanging, he finished it: "To enjoy it with us."
"Just to be curious," Robin said after eating a spoonful or two off of his plate, "What was that green stuff?" The response made him wish he hadn't asked.
"It is a kind of mold particular to my home planet," she answered. "It is harvested when the smell matches rotted glorgan, then stored in the stomach of a sporkan, transferred to sulfuric acid for a moment, and then left to brew in-"
Robin, attempting to keep the small amount of the sporkan stomach mold he had eaten from making the guest appearance on the table, cut her off, changing the subject. "Where is Beast Boy?"
"I haven't seen him for hours," commented Raven. "He's probably trying to come up with a prank or something."
"I don't think he'd be dedicated enough to miss breakfast and lunch, though," Cyborg pointed out.
Just then, there was a very loud bang in the hallway. Everyone froze.
"That was… unexpected," said Raven after a few moments, breaking the silence. The doors to the commons room flew wide open, then the Towers' resident changeling went flying through them and crashed into the far wall. He picked himself up and exclaimed:
"Dude! That was my freakin' SPLEEN! I mean-" His eyes had wandered to the table. "Why is there roadkill on the table?" A boy walked in, cracking his knuckles. His skin was eerily pale, his hair white, and his eyes a pale shade of lavender. He shook his head.
"I gave you a chance to come with me," he began, his pale eyes locked on Beast Boy, "but you declined. So, I shall have to take you by force." His voice was soft and rather peaceful sounding, not the kind of voice you would expect someone to make a threat like that in. Unsure of what to think of this new stranger invading their house and attacking her friend, Starfire went with the first question that popped into her mind:
"Who are you?" she asked, starbolts forming around her hands.
"My name is Shift," he said. "But I might be…" he paused, and suddenly, where he had been standing, Beast Boy was now. "… Beast Boy. Or maybe…" he changed again, "… Raven," said the double of Raven standing in front of them. "Or possibly even…" he changed once more, "Starfire."
Starfire gave a little yelp as her look-a-like melted back into the albino boy. A small smile crossed his face at her confusion as he changed back.
"So, you're a shape shifter. Hence the name. But why are you after Beast Boy?" asked Raven, standing.
"We have… special plans for him," Shift replied. "Although, now that I have found all of you, I could include you as well."
"Sorry," said Robin, also standing, "but none of us are going with you."
"Sorry," said Shift, copying Robin's voice exactly, "but none of you have a choice." Robin lunged at him, only to fall forward as his target became thin air. Ten feet away stood Kid Flash, looking down at the fallen Boy Wonder with dark green eyes.
"Impressive," groaned Robin as he got up off the hard floor. "But Kid Flash has blue eyes."
"Oh," said the look-a-like, blinking. When he opened his eyes, they were a startling shade of blue. "Perfection is difficult." Beast Boy struck a pose.
"I know, but I manage." Shift's blue eyes glared at him for a few seconds, before becoming purple as he returned to his own form.
"That is not what I meant. Besides," he added nonchalantly, "you are far from perfect."
Beast Boy's jaw dropped so hard it almost hit the ground. He put a hand over his heart and said in a high, fake voice, "That hit me, right here."
"This is pointless," Shift sighed, dropping a circular object on the ground. Before anyone could ask what it was, the thing exploded, filling the room with white light. When it faded they were standing in a dark street, surrounded by men wearing black. Robin turned to ask Shift what he had done, but the albino shapeshifter was nowhere to be seen.
"Sir?" asked a man behind him with brown hair and green eyes. The chief turned to face the man.
"I know it's you, Shift. That metal band on your shoulder isn't there for nothing." The man changed, getting shorter, thinner, and paler, as well as changing his hair and eye color. "Thank you. Are these the ones?" Shift nodded stiffly. "Why did you bring all five of them at once? I believe that your orders specifically stated that you were to return to the future with only one of them," the chief stated, his voice getting dangerously low.
"I-I" the boy stuttered, fear of the man painfully evident.
"Never mind that," he said, waving his hand as though to brush it away. "We'll deal with it later." There was an audible gulp from Shift, but the man paid no heed. "Which one are we after for now?"
Glad to have the spotlight off of his mistake, even if it was only for a moment, Shift responded quickly, pointing out Beast Boy. "Him. As far as I have noticed, he seems to be the least responsible with his ability."
"Very well. Return to HQ. We should be along shortly with our prisoner in tow."
Cyborg looked around, using both his robotic and human eyes, one noticing the large number of people, the other scanning for any traces of meta-human DNA. "Yo, Robin," he said quietly, "What do we do? There's too many of them, and my scanners indicate they're all regular people." Robin opened his mouth, about to respond, but lost the opportunity as the sea of people attacked. He slipped out his bo-staff as a man easily twice his size came at him, fists swinging. He jumped into the air and whacked him with the staff, easily knocking him out. He continued weaving in and out of the crowd, attacking anyone unfortunate enough to attack him. The men were like Sladebots; they went down easily, but it seemed that two more sprang up to take their place. Robin let out a frustrated groan and jumped again, taking out another two.
"Azarath, metrion, zinthos!" shouted Raven, her dark energy taking out ten men at a time. Seconds later more had swarmed in and taken their place. She sighed, growing annoyed. She reached out with her power, grabbing every box barrel, and anything else within her reach and hurtled it at them, causing a good number of them to run.
Cyborg was having a difficult time. He couldn't use his sonic cannon for fear of seriously injuring someone, so he had to use his fists… which, truthfully, was just fine with Cyborg. He smiled as another one bit the dust. They kept coming, and he kept hitting.
Starfire picked up a wooden crate and tossed it at some men. One of them didn't move in time, and it landed on top of him. Starfire gasped and floated over, apologizing the whole way. She pulled it off of him and helped him up, only to knock him out by hugging him too tightly. She half shrugged, then turned to her next opponent.
Beast Boy was starting to panic. He had seen how easily, his friends were taking down their attackers, yet he was seemingly doing no damage. He had attacked them with every animal he could think of, and they simply wouldn't go down. Worse, they were closing in on him, forcing him backwards with every step they took. He was beginning to feel like a caged animal, and his instincts were demanding that he get away from the men. Just as he was contemplating which animal to change into to get away, someone grabbed him from behind. A thought flashed through his racing mind: get help. He opened his mouth to shout, but whoever had grabbed him clamped their hand over his mouth. If he was afraid before, now he was all out terrified.
The boy the chief had instructed them to capture was small, but strong. He struggled hard and fast, desperate to get away. If it hadn't been for the fact that Powerhouse was holding onto him, he probably would have escaped. Teeth gritted, Powerhouse forced the boy to tip his head to the side, exposing the soft skin of his neck where they would inject the tranquilizer. He then motioned to an officer, who brought out the needle. Upon seeing it, the boy's struggles started anew, so much fiercer that even Powerhouse was having trouble holding on to him. His desperate attempts at escape were now accompanied by muffled cries of terror.
The needle slid under his green skin easily, drawing out a stifled yelp, followed by a soft groan as the drug took affect. It took a few seconds for him to stop fighting against his captor, but his body finally relaxed. Once the boy was safely stowed in the back of the police van, the order was given to let his friends win.
Robin hit another man and took him down. He looked around, panting. The few men left standing were running away. Starfire floated into the air, ready to round them up. Robin put up his hand to stop her.
"No, just let them go," he said. "We have to check on the others." Just then, Cyborg came running over. He was smiling.
"Man, I forget how much fun hand to hand is!" he exclaimed. "I should do that more often!" Raven floated over, rolling her eyes.
"I'm just glad that's over with. I'll probably need to meditate for an hour-" she was cut off by a series of Raven induced explosions. "-make that two…" she sighed.
Suddenly, Starfire looked around, confused. "Friends, not everyone has shared in their vigor of battle. Where is Beast Boy?"
Heh, heh. Cool. I just figured out how to put in those lines... schweet.
Seeing as I forgot these at the top:
Dedication: This chapter is dedicated to goldmark25, seeing as (s)he kicked my butt up and down the street to get me to put this up. Thanx much.
Character usage: Shift is mine; Powerhouse belongs to my little brother, Gunshow7 (his new profile).
Disclaimer: We don't own Teen Titans. Not even a little. Though we wish that we did.
And, our story's name is the one cure to RULE THEM ALL!!! -gets Gibbsed by ImtK-Owwie... Sorry, couldn't help it.
SJB, if you're not gonna help me, QUIT STEALING MY LAPTOP!
Eep! Sowwy...
-Growls at you- It's new name is Our Troubled Future?
SJB! THAT... actually works. Cool.