Season 4, Episode 4

Memoriam

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The sky is tearing. Before your eyes, the world is cleaved in a scar of darkness.

You can't look away.

In the roiling and broken clouds, a rift is growing- swiftly, a great clawed hand emerges. Shining in black and white, crackling with energy, it stretches down to the battlefield. Monstrous. Impossible. Like the arm of a god. The apparition descends, and monsters howl and clamber over one another as it nears its target.

Your breath freezes in your lungs. The traitor's voice rasps, "Your champion."

He's caught in its grasp. The hand rears back, tearing him away from the ground below. You're not sure, but it sounds like he's yelling, calling your name. Fearful.

The world of magic and mystery brought you this hero. Now, it seems, it is reclaiming him.

You try to move, to reach him, but Krall holds you tightly. Hands roughly pull you, dragging you until you're being held up in the air and your feet scramble to find solid ground. Armored fingers strain to crush your throat. Your head is spinning- the mist, green and heavy, stings in your eyes, as your helmet has been long lost.

"Look," Krall says with a scornful laugh. "My victory."

You follow the direction of his vicious smile, gazing in the distance. Cyborg is... gone. The tear in the sky, the giant arm, and the tribe's hero are all vanished, as if they had never been.

"You have failed, Sarasim." Krall's eyes gleam. "Now die, knowing that your people will bow to me."

To concentrate at all is a struggle. Cries and growls echo from the fighting all around, and the stench of death is inescapable. The thought appears in your mind, briefly, that he may be right. Perhaps this is the end. But his heinous form leers at you in triumph, and you think of the courage and resilience of your tribe's champion.

The battle is not over.

There is something else, something that you can use. Your sword is gone, but... you try to remember, fighting the pain and clouded thoughts that slow your mind.

Not a sword. But another blade- the short knife in the armor's glove. Krall's grip grows stronger, and it takes every ounce of your strength to raise your hand to the level of his wrist.

Cyborg is gone, but you are still the tribe's leader. And you will save your people.

The metal springs forth, cutting deep into Krall's inhuman forearm. He roars in pain and lets go on instinct; falling to the ground, you activate the other blade as well, before rushing forward with twin daggers protruding from your hands.

He stops one blow, but can't avoid the other as steel slices his skin. You dart back, wary of any furious counterattacks, and wait for him to lumber forward in a rage before moving. You slide quickly under his first swing, and the next punch only lands on the ground behind you as you run. Finally, turning, you leap upward, letting the momentum of the fall drive both blades into Krall's back.

The traitor falls. His mutated body crashes to the ground, and you rest in the dust of his defeat.

"Sarasim!" You look up to see one of your soldiers, staring at you in shock. The corpse beneath you shudders as you step on Krall's head to descend. Nearer, you can see beyond him- the battle continues, with numerous casualties of both armies lying in the dirt. Several other warriors have gathered near, clearly looking to you for guidance.

The man tries to stand straighter before addressing you. "Where is Cyborg?"

...

Hundreds of monsters remain, killing your men and women. And the hero of the tribe- one of whom legends have already been told- is gone.

...

How to answer?

You turn to face each individually. "Our champion has been struck down."

Shock and worry are written on their faces. He saved us once, you think. Now he shall save us again.

Your voice rises. "Who will honor him? Who will take his place?"

The words have the effect you hoped- slowly, uncertainly, the warriors before you begin to stand taller. They hold your gaze firmly. They hold their weapons with a steady hand.

"Who will fight as he did?"

With the final cry, a great shout rises up from the soldiers.

Cyborg will not be forgotten.

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Second-person, for the first time in this entire project, I think! Might try using it again in the future. I dunno.

This one's fun. There are a lot of really cool elements, both visually and story-wise, and Cyborg gets a lot to work with. There are a few things I don't really get, but not in a distracting or detracting way.

The biggest part of this one is the setting, obviously. The show has dealt with futuristic stuff (although Jump City is already kind of futuristic in its feel), and it's switched things around once in a while, but it's never had something as wildly different as this. 3,000 B.C. was a pretty strange choice for a backdrop, but it really works! The bizarre combo of prehistoric and medieval ideas is a lot of fun. The tribe/knight dynamic is pretty sweet, too, since it provides a strong emphasis on the community-based things, like the feasting and bond among soldiers, as well as individual sacrifice. It just seems like a really neat group of people to hang with, is all I'm saying.

We get some very unusual choices, from a plot perspective. The ending in particular is really fascinating to me. The final fight has been going for a while, Krall has Sarasim literally in his hands, Cyborg's about to use his cannon (which is set up nicely, with a couple of references to only having enough power for one attack, so it REALLY seems like he's going to do it)... And then he doesn't save the day. The Titans pull him back to the present.

I loved that. I was absolutely sure I knew how this story would end, and I ended up completely wrong. For a few minutes, the episode became very somber and unusually reflective- not at all what I expected. But all the same, it's good to have the little moment with the history book, showing that Sarasim was able to win.

The other thing that seemed a nontraditional choice was the romance. One moment especially made me pause- Sarasim tells Cyborg that, underneath the armor, they're the same, and she's completely undeterred by his machine-hand. He almost kisses her, then leaves the house, telling himself, "You may be from the future, but you don't know a thing." I truly don't know what he means by that. And... I'm kind of okay with it? Like, it's as if not knowing the complete explanation for what he's thinking or feeling is alright, somehow.

Of course, later she does kiss him- but right next to his mouth. Like the very edge of his cheek. It's weird.

In fact, everything about the romance is a little complicated. They're from different time periods, Cyborg literally can't survive there, they hardly understand each other half the time... but they're still kind of likable together. I don't know exactly what I think about that whole aspect yet, but it definitely has me thinking, as does Cyborg's mysterious quote about not knowing anything.

I only have one quibble with this episode, and it's nothing major. Or, at least, it didn't bother me too much. What the heck was Krall's plan? He brings Cyborg back to the past with magic (for reasons I don't understand at all), but hates him as soon as he becomes the hero. So he tries to get him to leave through the portal again. But then he decides to try to kill him instead. That scene gets Cyborg kind of confused, too; when he has the chance to leave and go home, he ignores it, instead trying to use all his power to launch a single laser that will kill Krall? Why? Basically, everything relating to Krall confuses me. I don't understand you, giant magic bad guy.

But for the most part, the characters are awesome. Sarasim is a total boss. Cyborg in armor looks intimidating as anything I've ever seen. And the aliens (Monsters? Creatures? Mutants?) look really cool, too! The design on the green-black bodies with the weird exaggerated limbs and stuff gives a real Ben-10 feel.

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Comedy Hour:

-When Cyborg unboxes the Gamestation XL, Beast Boy floats upside-down across the screen, whispering, "It's... beautiful..."

-"Evil beware. We have waffles." I've heard that quote before! Literally just that line. I don't know where I heard it, but I was trying to find it for a long time, and now I finally know what it's from!

-Cyborg reaches to start the equalizer, and with a giant smile on his face, gets struck by lightning and vanishes. For some reason, I found the timing of that really funny.

-"Don't do anything, don't TOUCH anything... Sci-fi rule number one: you start messin' with the past, you end up with monkeys rulin' the future."

-Okay, Cyborg has a moment of worry, where he doesn't want to change the past. Then he instantly changes his mind and murders every single monster with his lasers. All of them. It's fantastic.

-When Cyborg has to cross the field of warriors and monsters, we don't see it. Instead, we get a Frogger-style screen of a pixelated guy hopping between enemies. I love it.

-Cyborg just punched a monster so hard it exploded!

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*does a quick Google search to get the spelling of the names right*

*DODGES SPOILERS FOR FUTURE EPISODES, YIKES, DISASTER AVERTED*

I'm really glad so many people are psyched about this season! And I can't wait to see more episodes about Raven and Slade and whatever's about to go down. Thanks for all the encouragement and feedback, you guys.

(If you're wondering, I'm actually getting a lot done on 'Hemlock'. Writin' all kinds of grandiose monologues, having characters argue nonsense about who's really to blame and the nature of power and heroism and punching each other in the face and stuff. Gonna be lots o' fun. Still no timetable for the update, because there's a ton to finish yet, but that is definitely coming along!)

Next up: 'Employee of the Month'. That's... interesting. Now that I think about it, do any of the Titans have any kind of day job? Probably not. So maybe it'll be about somebody else? Eh, I have no sarcastic or cheeky predictions for this one.

Later, dorks! (I mean that in a good way. I consider myself the dorkiest.)