In a church, a young man dressed in all black sat on the right side bench in the far front. His black trench coat covered his entire form as he fingered the silver crucifix that was hanging around his neck via a golden chain.
He gazed upon the beautiful stained glass windows and large crucifix with the crucified statue of Jesus on it. He sighed again and let out a silent prayer.
A priest walked up to him and asked. "What is wrong, my son?"
The youth with shoulder length black hair and sunglasses looked up to be priest, "Father, I think I have sinned."
"The Lord is always forgiving to his children. Please, tell me."
Should he? Maybe it would be the right thing to do. Of course, even if it was sin, he had to lie. The original story would be too unbelievable. Maybe he could omit a few things. Holding onto the small silver cross in his hand, he told the priest of his sins.
Kat was in the middle of detention and was bored out of her mind. Barkin was watching her like a hawk. Suddenly, her cell phone beeped. She took it out and inspected the screen. Her blue eyes went wide.
"Hasuma, turn off that phone!" Barkin yelled.
"Sorry, Mr. Barkin!" Kat yelled as she ran for the door, "I have to go! Emergency!"
"FEAR NOT, FOR THE ADVENT KNIGHT OF BYAKKO IS HERE! CALL ME…" he paused for dramatic effect, "…PLUTO!"
The Titans had no idea how to react. The Beast Spirits then turned their attention towards the Advent Knight, shrugged, and attacked him instead.
He cracked his neck and said, "This is gonna be fun." He aimed his gun and fired.
Episode 11: Conflict
The three Beast Spirits circled around the Advent Knight of Byakko and started their attack. The Mole Beast Spirit tried to punch Pluto in the head, but the gun-slinging Knight reacted quickly and shot it in the chest. The Zebra Beast Spirit tried to attack him from behind, but, without even turning around, he fired a perfect shot at its head and then whirled around to perform a roundhouse kick that hit it again in the head. The Dragonfly Beast Spirit flew at him at high speed in an attempt to clothesline him. Pluto dropped and rolled away before kneeling and firing 5 shots at it.
The Titans watched. This Knight seemed to be holding his own against the three Beast Spirits. Even though the Titans couldn't exactly defeat the Beast Spirits, they could at least lend a hand.
Robin shouted, "Titans! Go!"
Starfire and Raven dealt with the flying Dragonfly Beast Spirit, Cyborg and Beast Boy were taking care of the Mole Beast Spirit while Robin and Pluto fought with the Zebra Beast Spirit.
The Dragonfly Beast Spirit was an ugly sight to behold. Large compound eyes and a brownish body made up its look as long sharp claws were ready to strike down the two flying girls. Starfire, with a cry of righteous fury, fired her eyebeams at it. It dodged out of the way but met with her fist and later got a face full of starbolt energy. Starfire, despite her caring nature, was going to kick this thing's butt since she now knew that these creatures were irredeemable. With another cry, she punched it again in the face and the gut before grabbing it by the head and head-butting it. Starfire was proving her words of coming from a proud warrior race. She was fighting like she should be, as a Tamaranean warrior princess.
The Dragonfly Beast Spirit let out a buzz as it freed itself from Starfire's grasp. It flew at her and was able to dodge her eyebeams and starbolts. It was close enough now to claw her face off, when suddenly Raven chanted her three famous magic words, "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" Her eyes flashed white as black energy escaped from her hands. Several nearby benches were carried into the air and flung into the Dragonfly Beast Spirit. It eyes bugged out, pun not intended, and it was slammed into the ground by several benches. Raven quipped, uncharacteristically and smirked, "Someone call the exterminator."
The Mole Beast Spirit was black and brown in color with silver armor plating on its forearms, upper legs and chest. It appeared to be wearing brown leather pants and claw toed boots. Its hands looked like the webbed forelegs of a mole as did its head that looked like a mole, except with a drill for a nose. Cyborg smashed his fist into the Beast Spirit as Beast Boy leapt up and morphed into a gorilla. He dropped down upon the Beast Spirit, grabbed it by the shoulders and hurled it onto the ground. Beast Boy then attempted to pummel it, but the Beast Spirit's drill nose spun. It then began drilling into the floor, creating a dust cloud to hide itself in. Beast Boy and Cyborg coughed. When the dust cloud subsided, Beast Boy morphed back to human form and asked, "Where'd it go?" There was a hole in the floor and Beast Boy peaked into it.
Cyborg scanned for it. Suddenly, the floor behind him shattered open as the Mole Beast Spirit leapt out and up, kicking Cyborg square in the back and causing him to fall. It then got on top of Cyborg and attempted to drill him through with its nose.
"GET OFF ME!" Cyborg yelled as he grabbed the Beast Spirit by the neck and threw it into one of the support pillars. It got up, made a few sounds, and attacked again, only to be rammed by Beast Boy who had assumed the form of a mountain goat.
The Zebra Beast Spirit had a zebra-like head and a humanoid white body with black stripes. It also wore leather pants and boots with pointed up toes. Around its wrist were studded black bracelets. Pluto fought it hand to hand as Robin aided him with his Bo-staff.
"Thanks for the help," Pluto said as he punched the Beast Spirit in the chest, before delivering a powerful uppercut.
"No problem," Robin replied as he swung his staff and hit the Beast Spirit across the face. Both of them then kicked the Beast Spirit in the chest and sent it crashing into a window display. It got up and huffed before showing off its power. Suddenly, another Zebra Beast Spirit appeared, shocking Robin.
"It duplicated!" Robin said in shock.
"No duh," Pluto said as he drew his gun and spread out his cards like Draco did with his sword. He drew out two cards and slashed them through his tiger gun. "FIRE! BULLET!" the cards were absorbed into his gun as he aimed and shot a few fireballs at one of the charging Zebra Beast Spirits. The other one fought with Robin with its pronged blade weapon. Robin dodged to the side and threw some explosive discs at it. It kept coming and slashed down with his weapon. It kicked Robin in the chest and the Boy Wonder was sent sprawling, his Bo-Staff knocked out of his hands. Pluto was preoccupied and couldn't help as were the other Titans. The Zebra Beast Spirit raised its weapon high and swung down.
Starfire was the only one who noticed during her fight with the Dragonfly Beast Spirit and shouted with horror, "ROBIN!" she could do nothing as the Zebra Beast Spirit was ready to slice Robin's skull open.
Suddenly, the water from the nearby water fountain burst to life and smashed into the Zebra Beast Spirit that was ready to kill Robin. It got knocked into another one of the store windows. Robin got a few drips of water on him and was fine. He blinked, bewildered, "Huh?" he sat up, "What just happened?"
Shadow stepped into view, clad in his black and green turtle armor. He gripped his battle staff and charged at the Zebra Beast Spirit, running past Robin, and going into battle.
Another shot from Pluto destroyed the Zebra Beast Spirit he was fighting, revealing it to be a fake duplicate. He turned around and his eyes went wide under his helmet as he saw the Knight of Genbu. He said in disbelief, "Can't be." The Zebra Beast Spirit got speared by Shadow and thrown at Pluto's feet. Pluto looked up to see him go after the Mole Beast Spirit Cyborg and Beast Boy were fighting.
Pluto looked down at the Zebra Beast Spirit that was getting up and sighed. "Oh well," he said before he drew card and slashed it through his gun. "DROP!" He jumped up and performed a powerful and deadly drop kick that smashed into the Zebra Beast Spirit. Now knocked out, Pluto dropped a card on it and sealed it. His attention turned to Shadow. "Who is he?"
Starfire, relieved that Robin had been saved, now had her own problems. The Dragonfly Beast Spirit was only getting faster and scored a few hits on Raven as it avoided her attacks. Thankfully, she had only minor injuries. Seeing this, Starfire got back into the fight and smashed her fist into its chest again. It grabbed her around her wrist and shoulder and then kicked her in the stomach hard. With the wind knocked out of her, the Dragonfly Beast Spirit revealed the sharp blades hidden in its elbows and was going to use them on Starfire to slice her head off.
Suddenly, a block of ice smashed into it and sent it hurtling into a wall and creating a crater. Starfire looked to see who had saved her.
It was Kat and she had her Suzaku Advent Buckle on. "Hey Starry, mind if I help out?" Starfire nodded and this made Kat grin. She slid in her transformation card and shouted out, "Henshin!"
"CHANGE SUZAKU!"
The Advent Knight of Suzaku summoned her Suzaku Arrow with her card reader attached and ran into battle, shooting at the Dragonfly Beast Spirit with her arrow. However, it was able to fly out of the way. Mimic shot energy arrow after energy arrow at it, nearly shooting at Starfire and Raven who were in the air with it. It was to fast. A few windows and shops got hit by her arrows, though.
"Watch where you're shooting!" Raven yelled out as she tried a dark energy blast with limited effect.
"Please, you almost shot at us!" Starfire yelled out. Mimic stopped shooting. If she tried to shoot at the Dragonfly Beast Spirit who was moving too fast for her arrows she might risk hurting Starfire and Raven. Also, she couldn't fly…
Or could she?
"Time to show them why I'm called Mimic!" Mimic yelled out as she detached her card reader from her bow and reattached it to her belt buckle.
"What is she doing?" Raven questioned with some of her attention still on the Dragonfly Beast Spirit.
Mimic drew a card and slashed it through. "TORNADO HAWK!" Now, usually when an Advent Knight slashes a card through their reader they gain a power up for themselves or their weapons based on the sealed Beast Spirit's power. Well, in Mimic's case, with the card reader attached to her belt buckle it was a little different.
How so?
A pair of brown hawk wings sprouted out of her back! She flapped them and was in the air.
This was why her codename was Mimic.
The Dragonfly Beast Spirit looked shocked as Mimic flew at it at high speeds. Her left fist was engulfed in flames as she punched it in the jaw. She then slashed it diagonally on the chest, twice, making an X-slash and then flipped up to deliver a kick to its chin. She then aimed at it, point blank, and fired an ice arrow that pierced through its body. "EAT THIS!" she shouted as she banished her weapon and delivered two flaming punches and icy kicks that sent it falling back to the ground.
Mimic landed, drew a card and threw it at the fallen Beast Spirit. It was sealed and flew back into her hand. She detached the card reader from her buckle and the wings disappeared. Mimic grinned as she looked up at Starfire and Raven, winking at them. Of course, this went unnoticed since her red visor covered her eyes.
Shadow fought with great intensity, not letting Cyborg and Beast Boy interfere. This was his fight and his fight alone! He stabbed with his staff and then kicked the Mole Beast Spirit to the ground. The Beast Spirit scrambled on all fours and then drilled itself back into the ground. Shadow peered into the hole. He snapped his fingers and suddenly the Mole Beast Spirit was flushed out of the hole with the water shooting up like a geyser. It seemed that Shadow had unleashed the water from the pipes underneath the mall.
Shadow looked up and drew two cards before slashing them through his staff. "BLIZZARD! STAB!" He struck with his staff and the Mole Beast Spirit was frozen and he merely tapped his card onto the Beast Spirit to seal it. It was a simple win.
The Titans shouted out in victory. Pluto walked over to them to thank them for their help.
"Thanks you guys," Pluto said to them.
"Hey, you helped out too," Robin said to Pluto. "So you're an Advent Knight, huh?"
"Yep!" Pluto said proudly. He then turned to look at the two other Advent Knights in the mall. "Uh-oh. Not good."
Shadow and Mimic were staring each other down. Mimic gripped her Suzaku Arrow as he gripped his Genbu Staff. Mimic glared at him angrily, remembering how he humiliated her in combat and nearly cost her otouto-chan his life. This man would not go unpunished.
"So, you want to fight me?" Shadow said calmly, not showing any emotion in his voice.
"That's right," Mimic said. "You hurt my otouto-chan so now I'm gonna hurt you."
"We'll see about that."
Mimic and Shadow charged at each other. Shadow swung with his staff but Mimic ducked in time before she jumped up and performed a flip kick that caused him to drop his staff. Landing back on her feet, she dashed forward and unleashed a flurry of flaming and freezing punches. Despite being based on a turtle, Shadow was surprising fast as he dodged her punches before grabbing her by the wrist and throwing her onto the ground. The force of the impact caused the floor to cave in slightly. Shadow went over to his staff and picked it up. He turned and got an arrow in the chest. Sparks flew as the energy arrow hit.
"Shouldn't we try to stop this?" Beast Boy questioned.
"You really want to get into the middle of that?" Cyborg commented. Beast Boy fell silent.
Pluto silently observed as did Robin.
Starfire wanted to help but was held back. Raven said, holding Starfire's arm, "We can't interfere, this is their fight."
"But…" Starfire began.
Mimic got back up, recovering from the blow, and went on the offensive once more. Using the blades of her bow, she slashed at him. He blocked with his blade and kicked her hard in the chest. He then slammed her in the gut with the snakehead end of his staff before twirling it up and hitting her in the jaw. She staggered back, messaging her jaw. She reached down to her card holder and drew two cards. Shadow saw this and drew a card as well. Mimic slashed her cards through.
"TORNADO! CHOP!" the bow announced, "SPINNING WAVE!" Tornado winds swirled around her as she charged at Shadow who slashed through his own card.
"GEL!" As Mimic executed her attack, Shadow's body melted into a sort of gelatin substance. The Titans grimaced in disgust as Mimic's attack went through him harmlessly. Shadow reformed and spun around to strike downwards with his staff, striking Mimic in the back. She dropped down to her knees. Shadow drew two cards from his the card holder on his belt and slashed them through.
"BITE! VENOM!" The properties of the cards were absorbed into his body, "VENOM CRASH!" He jumped up, preparing to finish her off.
The Titans went to stop this, but something beat them to it.
"RAIJIN!" they heard someone yell.
Suddenly, a streak of lightning pierced through air and struck between the Knight of Genbu and Knight of Suzaku. Shadow was thrown back by surprise and Mimic was dumbfounded. Could this be a message from Kami/God? No, it wasn't. It's a message from a really pissed off Knight of Seiryu. Leo walked in with electricity crackling all over his body and tornado winds whirling around him. His hair stuck on ends and rose up as his braid flailed around. Mimic gulped as she had never seen her otouto-chan so mad before. Leo shouted out, his voice booming, "ENOUGH!"
Pluto whistled. All the Titans were stunned to silence.
Leo shouted, "If you mess with my onee-chan, you mess with me!" he shouted out, sliding the Change Seiryu card into his buckle, "Henshin!"
"CHANGE SEIRYU!"
Draco drew out his sword and slashed Shadow across the chest. He then shouted out, "FUUJIN!" and threw Shadow back with a powerful wind blast. Shadow recovered and used his powers to control the water in the fountain and unleashed it upon Draco. The water was frozen into ice as Mimic raised her hand.
"TAKE THIS!" she shouted as she fired several ice arrows at the Knight of Genbe. He leapt up and made a gesture with his hands. Various thorny vines erupted from the ground and went for the twin Knights. Draco slashed a card through his sword.
"SLASH!" Draco then sliced through the mass of vines and went for Shadow who created a water shield and leapt out of the way. Draco turned around to look at him and drew three cards before slashing them through his sword to activate them.
"KICK! THUNDER! MACH!" Draco's green eyepieces flashed as he stabbed his sword into the floor. Three giant projections of the cards he just activated appeared above him and then were absorbed into him. "LIGHTNING SONIC!"
Draco yelled and ran at blinding speed. He leapt up and performed a powerful electrifies flying kick. This time, it hit its mark and sent Shadow flying. Draco landed and took a deep breath of fresh air. He quoted, pointing to the sky and then to himself before making a slashing motion with his sword, "I cannot be defeated for I am the man that walks the path to destiny created by the slash of my blade." He turned to say to Shadow, "Gomen, but that was for my onee-chan."
Shadow got up. He stared at the twin Knights with his blue eyepieces. He said, "You are quite powerful." It was a compliment. Draco nodded. Shadow started to walk away.
"Hey! Stop, you!" she yelled out at Shadow. He stopped and looked at her over his shoulder. "We're not done yet! We haven't even started yet!" Apparently, Mimic had forgotten the piercing glare she was getting from her twin brother.
Shadow shook his head and rested his staff on his shoulder. "Whatever," he muttered as he walked away.
Mimic would not let him walk away without having the last word. She shouted, "Get back here!"
He only scoffed and continued on his way. Mimic fumed but didn't go after him. She crossed her arms angrily.
Shadow walked by the Titans and stopped. He turned to regard them. He said, "I hope you five don't decide to interfere again. This is none of your concern." He added, "Leave the Beast Spirits to those more capable."
Robin narrowed his eyes. How dare Shadow say that to him? "This is our city and it's our job to protect it."
Shadow's eyes fell on Pluto for a second before he turned away and said, "Then go after those criminals you fight and stay out of my way." He continued to walk away. He drew a card, slashed it through his staff, "SMOG!" and disappeared into the smog cloud.
"Jerk," Beast Boy stuck out his tongue. "Who does he think he is telling us that?"
"Actually, he's right," Pluto said. He got a few glares from the Titans, "Sorry, but it is the Advent Knights' job to seal the Beast Spirits and we can't endanger other people. Thanks for the help, though. It was really appreciated."
The energy fields stripped off Leo and Kat's armors. Kat turned to look at her brother. He didn't look so angry anymore and she smiled. Leo smiled back. "Arigatou, otouto-chan," she thanked him.
"I was only trying to help, onee-chan," he said. "Besides, you would've beaten him without my help anyway."
"You got that right," she flicked her own nose with her thumb as she grinned proudly. The twins walked to the Titans, noticing the Knight of Byakko with them.
"Long time no see, Tiger-boy," Kat said to him.
"It's been a long time, Pluto-san," Leo greeted.
"It's been awhile, hasn't it?' Pluto said.
"What're you doing here?" Leo asked.
Robin decided to interject, "Wait, you two know him?"
"Hai," the twins answered in unison.
"He was the one who helped out when we started at Advent Knights awhile back," Kat said. "The other Advent Knight we told you about."
"He taught us what we needed to know about being Knights," Leo added. "We wouldn't know what to do without his guidance."
"I wouldn't go THAT far," Pluto said bashfully as he rubbed the back of his head. "So, I see you've made friends with the Titans." Pluto turned to regard the Titans, "You people saved Tokyo from that dirty Commander Daizo. I always knew he was too good to be true."
"Thanks," Robin said.
"Hey, it's what we do," Cyborg added, grinning.
"Besides, it was all worth it," Beast Boy grinned widely.
"New friend!" Starfire yelled as she embraced Pluto. Thankfully, his armor protects him from getting crushed.
"Down girl," he said and Starfire let go. He asked, "Does she always do this?" He received numerous nods.
"What brings you here, Pluto-san?" Leo asked.
"HQ sent me to deliver something to you two," Pluto said.
"Really, what is it?" Kat asked.
"It's…" Pluto began to say before he realized, "OH NO! I LEFT IT BACK AT THAT RESTAURANT!"
"NANI?" the twins shouted.
Shadow staggered as he walked, his armor now off. He went back into the church and sat down. Taking the crucifix out from under his shirt, he began to pray silently.
'The Dragon is stronger than I realized,' he thought. 'His sister, the Phoenix, is also a threat to my plans. Now the Tiger is here too. I can't let them interfere, I just can't.' He suddenly began coughing. He covered his mouth with his gloved hand as he continued to cough. When he removed his hand, he took a napkin out of his coat pocket and wiped his glove clean.
'I must collect all the cards, I must,' he swore mentally. 'It's the only way I can…' He looked up at the ceiling and sighed. He touched the centre of his eyes, his stomach and both his shoulders to draw a cross. 'God, please forgive me…but there is no other way…'
The napkin in his hand…had blood on it.
A/N: The plot thickens. Wonder what's wrong with Shadow? What does he wants the cards for? What did Pluto come to give Kat and Leo?
Preview of next chap: Pluto reveals his true identity as they return to Café La Salle to retrieve the briefcase he was carrying. Pluto then becomes an honorary Titan and visits the Tower with Leo as Kat has to continue her detention. Raven goes off to look for Shadow and finds the 'Man in Black' in a flower shop. Will she discover his secret?
Beast Spirits/Cards Sealed:
3 of Clubs: Screw Mole
9 of Diamonds: Gemini Zebra
4 of Hearts: Float Dragonfly
New Cards Used:
Pluto:
2 of Diamonds: Bullet Armadillo
5 of Diamonds: Drop Whale
6 of Diamonds: Firefly
Shadow:
7 of Clubs: Gel Jellyfish
New Combos Revealed:
Spinning Wave
Used by: Mimic
Cards used: Chop Head and Tornado Hawk.
Fire Bullet
Used by: Pluto
Cards used: Firefly and Bullet Armadillo
Blizzard Stab
Used by: Shadow
Cards used: Blizzard Polar and Stab Bee
Venom Crash
Used by: Shadow
Cards used: Bite Cobra and Poison Scorpion
Lightning Sonic
Used by: Draco
Cards used: Kick Locust, Thunder Deer and Mach Cheetah.