Hey folks, sorry this story's been dragged out for so long, but I've had to deal with things for my other story, along with having to go through writer's block for so long. I've been thinking about doing this story a million times over. And it's going to serve as a better explanation as to how Ben leaves the Titans after this whole fiasco. Now, I won't be getting too into character descriptions, like with Ben's aliens. I'm going to assume that all of you that read this will know them throughout this whole story. With that said, let's take a look at "Stay The Same"!
"Ergh!" Water Hazard groaned as he flew into pipes on the wall, causing steam to billow out, clouding his vision of the fiery creature.
"Ben, are you all right?!" Robin cried out as he ran into the steam.
"Robin, watch out!" Raven called out as the creature was directly behind the boy wonder, its flaming body quite visible to everyone in the plant. The creature threw his fist down as Robin jumped to the side, avoiding its attack.
"Here, I got this!" Water Hazard exclaimed as he held out his hands, ready to blast the creature with a spray of water.
"Wait!" Starfire exclaimed as Robin was continuing to avoid the creature's attacks while Cyborg and Raven were trying to help subdue it. "If you blast the creature, it will end up escaping as it did the first time!" she explained.
"Well I can't just stand around and do nothing!" Water Hazard replied.
"Well, you can start doin' something by getting this dang magnet offa' my back!" Cyborg screamed as his robotic hand formed into his sonic cannon. He then shot a few blasts at the creature, which merely just went through it as he kept backing away from it. The giant magnet was still stuck to his back even as he tried to blast it off.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Raven exclaimed as her eyes began glowing white along with a black aura forming on her hands. A few oil barrels began to float in her dark aura, and then ended up being flung by her telepathically towards the creature. However, it merely jumped out of the way as each barrel was thrown. Robin then jumped behind the creature as it avoided the last barrel Raven had thrown, and pulled out one of his grappling hooks. He fired it at the creature's arm, wrapping around it's flaming surface. He then pulled on the line as hard as he could, causing the creature to fall down in a heap.
"Cyborg, Starfire, now!" Robin commanded. Cyborg readied his sonic cannon while Starfire flew over with her eyes glowing a bright green. He then launched a massive sonic blast while she shot star bolt lasers from her eyes, each attack striking the creature and sending it flying into the wall behind it, over Robin's head.
"Aw, yeah man!" Cyborg exclaimed with a pump of his fist, "Now that's what I'm talking about!" Raven and Water Hazard both came over to them, while the creature began to get back up from the attack.
"Titans, be ready…" Robin said as he readied his bo staff. Everyone else got into position with Cyborg still having his sonic cannon aimed and ready, Starfire having her star bolts all set, Raven with her magic energy, and Water Hazard with his palms aimed at the fiery creature. "And Ben, no water," Robin added, "We don't want that thing to get away like it did the first time…"
"Ugh, fine…" the Osorian groaned as he put his hands down. The creature rose up from the floor, staring down at the five heroes while they waited for it to move. Suddenly, all of them heard the sounds of giant footsteps making the ground rumble before a green tyrannosaurus rex smashed through the recycling plant walls, ramming into the fiery creature, sending it crashing into one of the recycling machines.
"Yo!" Cyborg exclaimed in surprise. The tyrannosaur then shrunk down, revealing that Beast Boy had finally arrived.
"All right Beast Boy!" Water Hazard exclaimed.
"Duuude!" he cried out, turning to the group with his nose looking very red, "Why didn't you guys tell me that thing was on fire?!" he asked angrily.
"Good to see you too Beast Boy," Raven said as she floated over, "And by the way, it's not on fire, it just took the form of molten metal," she explained.
"Molten metal?" Beast Boy asked as he rubbed his burnt nose.
"Questions later, Beast Boy," Robin replied, "Right now, we're all glad you're here to help us out." The creature arose from the busted machinery, and suddenly began sprinting towards Water Hazard.
"Huh?!" he exclaimed as the creature knocked him down, avoiding contact with the other Titans.
"Whoa, what?!" Beast Boy said as the creature continued to assault the Osorian, and not the others.
"I do not understand…" Starfire said, "Why is the creature only attacking Ben?" she asked worriedly.
"Don't know," Robin replied, "But we better make sure he doesn't get too beat up against that thing." He then took a few birdarangs out of his belt, flinging them at the creature, who noticed the weapons coming its way. It stuck out its hand, catching the birdarangs, melting them with the hot surface of his body. Robin growled as he knew he needed another plan.
"Okay, that's it!" Water Hazard yelled, making the creature turn to him. He then threw his palms out into the creature's face, ready to launch a powerful water blast.
"Ben, don't!" Robin commanded. But Water Hazard immediately took action, blasting the creature straight in the face with an intense blast of water. The creature then began to take the form of the flowing water, with the molten metal form disappearing from his body.
"That's not good…" Beast Boy realized as he saw the creature now in the form of water. It then stared down at Water Hazard, before jumping into the air, morphing its water body so that it would move faster.
"Oh no you don't!" Water Hazard exclaimed. The Osorian quickly slammed the Omnitrix dial on his chest, transforming his body as he went down on his arms and legs. His red shell became black clothing and blue fins on the exterior while the interior of his body was now a white shell with the Omnitrix symbol in the center of it. His head was blue, like an iguana's with spikes on his chin and black lines falling from his green eyes.
"Let's see how you do on ice!" Articguana exclaimed. He then breathed his icy breath onto the watery creature as he hadn't realized that it was coming towards him. The other Titans watched in shock as the creature began to freeze while it was inching closer to piercing Articguana while his eyes were closed from breathing so hard.
"Ben!" Cyborg exclaimed as the mist from Articguana's ice breath went away.
"GAH!" Articguana yelped as he opened his eyes. While he successfully froze the creature in solid ice, it had been just inches away from spearing him. He hyperventilated as the creature had almost pierced him if not for his quick thinking.
"Ben!" Robin called out as he ran over with the others, "Are you all right?!"
"I-I think so," Articguana replied, still in shock.
"Dude…" Beast Boy said as he looked over the frozen structure the Polar Manzardill created, "That was way too close."
"Yeah…" Cyborg agreed, "But thanks to you getting here when you did, I don't think there's gonna be any more close calls," he said, patting the green skinned shape-shifter on the back.
"No problem," Beast Boy replied, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. Raven then floated over to the two.
"So Beast Boy," she began, "how'd things go with Terra?" she asked. Beast Boy then put his hand down, looking away in response to the question.
"I don't wanna talk about it…" he admitted with a sad look on his face. Raven was slightly surprised by his answer.
"Sorry…" she apologized, "I guess things didn't work out after all…"
"It's all right Raven," he said, "I'll get over it…" Cyborg then gave him a sympathetic pat on the back as the green shape-shifter wiped his eyes.
"Now that this epidemic has been resolved, I suggest we partake in the night of the pizza!" Starfire suggested excitedly. The whole center was silent as she made the situation a little awkward. "Or perhaps not…?" she said with a nervous laugh.
"No Star, that sounds like a great idea," Articguana replied in his icy voice as he tapped the symbol on his chest, transforming himself back into Ben after a green flash of light.
"Then, what is wrong?" she asked kindly. Ben raised a finger to his chin as he came up with a quick thought.
"Well," he began as he looked at the frozen structure, "why didn't the creature just escape as soon as I blasted it with Water Hazard?" he asked.
"Yeah," Raven agreed as she floated, "That's how it escaped the first time…"
"And there are drains all around here," Robin added as he looked around at the floor beneath them, with water drains galore.
"Maybe it has something to do with the fact that it tried to attack Ben?" Beast Boy suggested as he scratched his head after wiping his eyes.
"But why would it want to attack him?" Starfire asked. Ben then walked over to the ice structure again. While frozen, the creature's red eyes were still apparent as Ben peered into the ice.
"Do you have any idea who'd wanna attack you, and look like that?" Cyborg asked, gesturing towards the structure.
"Its powers are practically the same as Kevin's," Ben noted, "but it doesn't look like it can turn back into water though…" he added, putting his hands at his hips.
"Huh?" Beast Boy said in confusion, getting a knock on his head from Raven. "Ow!" he exclaimed, rubbing his head.
"He means that the creature can't freeze or evaporate like water normally does," Raven explained.
"Oh," Beast Boy said, "I knew that," he lied, getting an eye roll from Raven.
"If that's the case, then the creature stays in the state of matter of whatever matter it touches," Robin added, "I'm surprised you kept track of that," he said to Ben.
"That's another thing," Ben said, looking back at the ice structure, "I'm getting this strange déjà vu vibe from seeing this thing's eyes."
"What is the 'déjà vu' that you sense?" Starfire asked.
"He means that it feels like he's already seen something like this," Cyborg explained, "But why?" he asked.
"Those red eyes…" Ben said, noticing their movement inside the ice, "They look like-"
Without warning, the ice structure blew up in a red flash of light, blowing the Titans away. Cyborg and Robin crashed into the conveyor belt, while Beast Boy and Raven crashed into the oil barrels. Ben was knocked onto the ground as Starfire flew away from the sudden explosion.
"Is everyone all right?!" Robin asked as he rubbed his head in pain.
"We're good!" Beast Boy shouted in reply as Raven moved the barrels beside them with her telekinesis.
"Yeah…" Ben said, "But what just-?!" Ben stopped talking as he saw something emerge from the mist the explosion left. It was no longer the white creature the Titans had originally seen, but a fiery humanoid with a flaming head, its bright magma body covered by dark red rocks.
"Dude!" Beast Boy exclaimed in disbelief, as the other Titans were.
"That looks like Heatblast!" Cyborg added as he got up. The Pyronite stared down at Ben, who was completely stunned seeing the alien that was one of his own.
"No way…" he said as the Pyronite smirked. Then, its left hand produced a fireball, aiming it at the white containers that were placed in the corner of the center.
"Propane tanks!" Raven said, recognizing the structure of the containers. The creature then threw the fireball, directly headed for the tanks.
"Titans, move!" Robin called out as he and Cyborg grouped back up with Raven and Beast Boy. Meanwhile, Ben acted quickly as he selected an alien on the index of the Omnitrix, sliding the lid open, and then slamming the dial, creating a green flash of light.
BOOM!
END PART 1
Think of this as a commercial break you guys. This is now going to be divided into six parts so that it isn't jumbled into one long one-shot. But now things are starting to clear up, and it's only get more interesting if you stay tuned to find out what happens. So until then, I'll see ya next time!