Author note I decided to push back 'Changes and Training' for the next chapter, as this one will be an introduction for it next. So, l hope you enjoy it.
Disclaimer: I don't own Ben 10 or Teen Titans
Chapter 6
The Changeling Awakens
"T-three months!? I've been in a coma for three months!?
Beast Boy at this point was panicking, that much Cyborg and Raven could see, and it was reasonable response to anyone in his situation, so they decided to give him a moment before continuing.
"Yeah man, its been hard-"
"Three months, my show that l was watching! Are Castle and Beckett a couple yet!?"
"I mean it was little touch and go for awhile-"
"My comic book issues!"
At this point both him and the empath were starting to get a little annoyed, this wasn't the kind of reunion they thought of when they had their friend back.
Raven, having enough, walked up to the breaking down green shifter.
"The movies that l missed, Spider-man 2! I had tickets to see the thing and then l was going to compare it to the first-"
"Beast Boy." The voice of one of the people he hadn't heard in a awhile gave him pause, as he turned his emerald eyes to stare in ones of deep violet, as she raised her hands and rested them on the sides of his face, channeling her power and pushing it into his mind, just like when he was becoming wolf-like.
"Calm down."
Slowly, his breathing was synchronizing with hers and his heartrate was slowing down as he stared at her. To lost in his own mind to be embarrassed at his open gazing at Raven. Noticing things, he hadn't before. There was a small trace of bags under her eyes from lack of sleep, hair looking slightly ruffled from under her hood by getting out of bed in hurry, and a slight biting of her lip in concern of any mental injury he made had encountered.
All of this he registered in the spam of seconds once she began to calm down his mind into thinking rationally again, and not focus about the negatives of waking up. Once she let go of him and stood back, he took the time to close his eyes and calm down more.
"Thanks Rae, l needed that."
"Your welcome Beast Boy, but its Raven, not Rae." Earning herself a small chuckle from him.
"So, you good now?" Asked Cyborg. Getting a nod from the Titan. "Good, so before the others get here l need to-" That was all he got out before the door suddenly banged open to reveal a shocked looking Starfire, with a panting and equally surprised Robin close behind her, staring at Beast Boy like they just seen a ghost.
The tearful look on Starfire's face cause the changeling to take a step back in slight fear, as much as the look made him want to comfort the space princess and reassure her he was now fine, he also didn't want to fall back into one from lack of air due by one of Star's infamous hugs.
"Hey Star, its me…" This was all that was said before being wrapped up in Star's hug of pure joy.
Turns out, there is no escape once she has you in her sights.
The rest of the titans sprang forward to the reborn titan, to hopefully help him stay in the realm of the living instead of going back to Morpheus'.
"Whoa! Careful there Starfire, he just came to, it would be really bad if he went back to sleep so soon." Explain Robin, ready to catch him if he had to.
'GASP!' "Oh my!" Exclaimed Starfire, as she immediately released her friend, who then tried to catch his breath. "Many apologies friend Beast Boy, l was overcome by my overflowing joy of your awakening. I did not mean to further injure you!" She said, her eyes full of tears, no for a different reason. Her body slowly floating back to the ground.
Recovering from his temporally hug faster than he thought, he turned his attention back to his crying teammate. "Don't worry about it Star, I'm just glad you held back on the hug when you did."
Relieved she didn't hurt her friend, she then thought about what he just said. "Held back?"
Confused, she addressed her friend. "What do you mean…"
"AHEM!"
Everybody turned their attention back the Titan's medical examiner that was Cyborg, feeling a little miffed that he was being cut off multiple times now.
"Everybody done with everything thing they wanted to say?" Getting a nod from everyone. "Good, now-"
GGgrrr!
The focus of the titans once again shifted as they slowly turned to the source of the growling noise, which turned out to be the green residential titan's stomach. Said titan had the decency to a least turn sheepish and rub the back of this head. "Hehe, sorry dude."
Robin and Raven both let out small smiled (Ravens' being more hidden) at the display, and Starfire let out soft giggle, even Cyborg had a smirk plastered on his face, not even 15 minutes has gone by, and the moral of the team was already beginning to rise slowly.
"Maybe we should move this conversation to the ops room? Where there's food and then, we can start debriefing him on what's been going on." Said Robin.
Cyborg signed but agreed. "Yeah, that sounds like a plan, and l can show the green bean some of those tofu recipes I've been preparing for him."
Eyes wide, Beast Boy's grin turn bigger. "Oh sweet! Thanks dude, I can't wait. I feel like a could eat a months' worth of food." He said while patting his stomach. But doing that made him pause.
Now, for people who have been in a coma for a longer than month, they tend to start losing body weight; body becoming thinning due to lack of protein and substances to keep the body functioning so the body naturally starts to take the hidden body fat within and turning into broken down energy to keep it functioning. So, Beast Boy assumed he would feel his rib cage and the hollow cave that would be his stomach. Instead, he felt a pack of muscles he was certain he didn't have before.
The rest of the Titans watch him carefully, as a look of confusion spread about his face. Patting his stomach until looking down. The only one not looking at him with concern was Cyborg, with a knowing smile spreading across his face as Beast Boy started to slowly move his hospital gown to the side to reveal their unspoken question.
What they didn't notice before-due to the happiness of seeing their friend wide awake again, was his body being more muscular from before; his arms and legs more refined and had a body structure like Robin's. But, with more upper body strength of a wrestler (Disney's Tarzan). But what stood out the most them; making Starfire and even Raven blush under her cloak, was the sudden six pack the green shifter had now. Leaving Robin with a gaping jaw, which Cyborg took a quick picture of for future blackmail material; the T-car sure looked like it needed some new shark tank bullet-proof glass.
"Uh dude. Can being in a coma give you abs?" Asked the very confused coma patient.
Cyborg let out a slight chuckle. "We got a lot to talk about. But, first thing first: food.
_Gar 10_
Luckily for the emerald titan, when Cyborg found out his best friend could be waking up any day, he already pre-made the food and put it into the fridge for safe keeping, with Starfire making sure Silkie knew that the food in there was not for him and it was off-limits, which the little larvae obeyed.
Which was good, because as soon as the food was presented to him, Beast Boy started to eat, and was now barley listening to the others as they explained what has been happening since his absence. The titans on the other side of the counter watch, fascinated and disturbed on how fast and how animalistic he was eating, except for Starfire; to her it reminded her of her own home planet and how they celebrated events such as this one.
Beast Boy didn't say anything for the first five minutes, focus only on quenching his hunger that had consumed him since he woke up. He was just so surprise by the passage of time, it didn't register until it made itself known. It was a giant hurdle to avoid smelling and eying the frozen bacon and baloney left on the kitchen counter, the pull was much stronger then before, but he chalks it up as to not having been around it for so long.
After finishing up a modified Tofu Pad Thai, Beast Boy was feeling much better than before, he felt like he was a bear and ate twice his body weight to store for hibernation, but he still felt like he could still eat something else.
Turning to his astonished friends he asked Cyborg. "Is there anything else to eat?"
Cyborg looked surprised. "Man, that was all the dishes l looked up, and for now on, your making them yourself! I'm ain't never touching fake meat ever again!" He said with an exaggerated shudder running through him.
"Ooohh!" Screamed Starfire as she flew back to the kitchen to grab something, while the others casted nervous looks between themselves until she came back with a bowl of what looked like round purplish-blue wild berries. "These are the Zorka-berries l have been saving for such an occasion, you are much happy to partake in some."
Growing nervous, Beast boy tried to talk himself out of it. "Oh gee, thanks Star but-" That's when he took a sniff and learned that the scent of the berries smelled…good.
Now growing more curious, Beast boy looked down at the berries as he slowly let his hand move towards the bowl and gently lifted one. After another sniff to confirm it came from there, he popped it into his mouth. The rest of the team's horrified expressions were barley concealed behind their concern for their friend as they watched him consume the berry, slowly chewing it as he closed his eyes, as if testing the flavor and texture, before swallowing it.
"That was-" The team slowly leaning in to hear him.
"Great!" He exclaimed before reaching for more, with Starfire looking extremely proud and the others looking in disbelief that he ate another one of Starfire's foods without turning a darker shade of green.
Seeing now that the changeling was full and he himself trying to get the conversation and his brain back in order. Robin supposed it was time to fill him in on what has been happening to him and the city.
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"So…" Beast Boy started after a 30 min rundown of the past events. "…l got a symbiote?"
"No, not a symbiote-" He paused for a second. "Unless your hearing voices in your head?" Getting a no from him. Unknowingly, releasing some minor tension that was starting to form around the rest of the team. "Then you're in the clear, it basically bonded itself to you, or rather your D.N.A. As you probably know, it was already unstable to begin with, but whatever this is, it added itself onto it and is now somehow, brought a certain balance to it to help itself and you in term, without breaking everything down on what makes you you. Granted, its not perfect but it shouldn't cause you any harm now."
"As for side effects, we already know of a couple: one would be your new height and strength; probably to better prepare your body for new transformations it may carry. And two, I believe would be your senses; we already know your sense of taste change (Cyborg barley suppressing a gag). So, its safe to assume your other senses may have changed with you, most likely to a higher level then before."
At this point, Robin took over. "We still don't know a lot on just what that watch is or how it even functions. When you were under, it only seems to turn on when you were transforming, analysing your stress levels on what you could take, making adjustment has it went and making sure it didn't cause you unnecessary pain when reverting you back. So, l thought of some ideas."
"What do you have in mind?" Asked Beast Boy.
"When you feel up to it, l wants to do some training and see what you and that watch are capable of. Also, to see if it will let you have control once you activate it."
Beast boy looked down at the object in general as he absorbed everything that was told to him. What they were saying was true: ever since he woken up, the lights hurt his eyes, he could hear his friends' heartbeats better and clearer then before and their individual scents were stronger then ever, he's been slowly able to dull them out before he got to overwhelmed by them and collapse. And what they said and what he watched was true, it could really help the team to have a much better all-around fighter and it could also help him stop being described as the teams' comic relief, and be seen as a actual super hero.
When he looked back up at Robin, he had newfound determination in his eyes.
"I'm in." Getting a nod from Robin.
"Okay, but remember you're still in recovery, even if you do have a healing factor. You just got out of a coma. We'll give your body a couple days to get reacquainted with itself, and to make sure your back to 100% after Cyborg and Raven check you over again."
"Cool." Nodded Beast Boy. It made proper sense; if his senses were turned up, who to say that this strange new watch did anything else to him. "I'm mean, it couldn't have done anything too weird to me?" He thought. Looking down at the softly green glowing watch.
"Right?"