Author note: Sorry for the long delay, work has consumed my entire being. To make up for it; expect a Titan Halloween one-shot from me soon. Inspired by the Prankster story- by 'tnemeleeht' and the recreation by 'the long walk'.
See you soon!
Disclaimer: I don't own either Teen Titans or Ben 10
Chapter 7
Changes And Transformations
Things around Titan's Tower were slowly getting back to the way it was before the verdant titan' unfortunate visit to the God of Sleep.
Each of the titans kept an eye on the green teen, to make sure he didn't have a random attack or collapse somewhere. They tried to be discreet about it, so not to worry him, but it was hard not to when said person's senses were abnormally turned up to the max.
The first one to notice something different was Robin.
It was two days after Beast Boy woke up. As usual, he was the first one awake in the morning due to his habits he picked up from his mentor. And with that habit, also brought the need for black coffee first thing in the morning to fully wake up and ready for the day.
As he drank and read the morning paper, the hiss of the doors opened, announcing someone else entering the room.
"Morning." He murmured, going for another sip of his drink.
'Yawn!' "Morning dude." Came the sleepy reply.
Robin looked up, surprised. "Beastboy?" Sure enough, the titan was awake, yawning into hand as he used the other to scratch his lower back.
"Sup."
"Your up early." He declared, as the shape shifter started to rummage through the fridge for tofu eggs and bacon for breakfast. Once he got the items, he headed to the stove, not realizing that Robin shifted his focus on something behind the changeling's back.
"Well, I have been sleeping for the past 3 months, so it figures I would be an early riser for awhile." He replied with a small chuckle while putting the stuff on the counter and reaching for the pan. A frown appearing on his face when he realized he forgot the butter.
"I didn't know you had a natural tail." He said, a look of surprised and interest slipping into his face when he realized he made the changeling freeze up.
"What?" He turned to look at Robin. It was then he noticed something from the corner of his eye from the left side. A long green monkey tail was slowly rising to him, and in its grasp, curl within it was the butter he forgotten.
He stared at it for a good ten seconds before slowly raising his hand towards it, as the tail uncurled and released the butter in the waiting hand, before lowering behind him once again and disappearing back into his body.
"Suddenly l lost my appetite, maybe I'll try and get some more sleep after all." Said Beast Boy in a low voice with a nervous smile, trying to hide how freaked out he was feeling inside, as he put the ingredients back into the fridge and left the room, leaving a concern Robin behind.
As the doors closed behind him, he let out a shaky breath as he uses one hand to brace himself against the wall and called upon his tail again, and he did so with ease. It waved around frantically, like a dog waving it in excitement to see him again.
"I haven't seen my tail since l told myself l needed to look more human. Not since…" He stopped the memory before it could take shape within his mind and decided going back to sleep was not going to happen anytime soon.
_Gar 10_
An hour later, Starfire was up and clothed after her morning sunbathing in the morning sun. Ready for the day ahead.
As she was passing by the gym, she was hearing something from within. The sound of something being strike against. Upon getting to the door, she slowly opened the door, surprised to see Beast Boy in there, going hard at a punching bag, his body entirely focus on keeping a rhythm only he knew about while his mind was free to wander.
"Friend Beast Boy?" She called out, trying not to startle him, however it seemed he didn't hear her. So, she slowly floated over to him, careful to avoid being hit by one of is elbows. She called to him again, but slowly put her hand on his shoulder.
What happened next, happened within a span of two second: One second, she saw a glimpse of verdant eyes, glazed over and not really seeing her at all as he turned left. The next second was her seeing the roof of the gym as her body flung in a shoulder toss, with her arm in the grasp of her teammate.
"EEP!" Escaped her mouth before her body connected with the floormat below.
And it was with this, that snapped him out of it and notice what he had done. "Oh my god!" Letting go of her and getting on his knees to examine her. "I am so sorry Star, are you okay?"
"I am most fine friend Beastboy." Starfire replied, easily getting up after a quick lost of breath. Although the upper part of her back did sting a little, it quickly passed. She was more surprised by just how fast she was flipped and the power behind it. Even Cyborg mostly had trouble doing that unless he was using at least using 65% power in their sparring matches.
"Guess l was a bit to lost in my head there." He said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. Glad that his friend was alright.
"May l ask of you of what was the problem you were thinking about?" She asked, showing concern for him. The look and attitude he displayed mirrored that of Robin when it came to a case he was stuck on or, if it was something Slade was involved in.
A thoughtful look overcame his face. "Oh…just something from my past decided to show itself when l least expected it." His tail to him, became a symbol of his past with his parents and, also part of the training from his old team and leader.
"I see, I can understand that." She said a little sad. The reminder of her sister's visit coming to mind.
"I was just mostly here to blow off some steam." He said getting up from his kneeling position. 'Gurgle' They both looked down towards his stomach as he blushed. "Guess l also worked up an appetite too." He chuckled.
'GURGLE'
Beastboy and the now blushing Starfire both looked down at her own stomach. They looked back at each other, before bursting out laughing.
"Guess we both should get some breakfast."
"I do have the nine stomachs." She explained, a little embarrassed.
"Hey, you don't see me complaining about it." He clarified, before turning towards the doors. "Come on, I kinda skipped breakfast today and l could use a pick-me-up…" After a quick thought he added. "…And maybe you could let me try one of your dishes." Making Starfire's face light up with joy. "Just a small one, with not a lot of different ingredients in it okay?" He quickly added.
"Oh! That would be most wonderful experience, I shall make it with the freshest of ingredients for your satisfaction friend Beast boy!" She yelled out, as she instantly started to fly to the doors and into the kitchen.
He let out a laugh out of amusement as he followed her out at walking pace before stopping and thinking of what she just said.
"Wait, what do you mean when you say freshest? It isn't anything alive is it! I won't eat that Star!" He yelled as he started to chase after her.
Looks like his breakfast is gonna have some extra kick to it.
_Gar 10_
"Woo-yoo!"
"No way!"
Cyborg couldn't believe it; the green bean just beat him at Street Monkey Fighter 4. The speed that Beastboy displayed while putting in combos was fast, and how he memorized them after only seeing the combo list once, usually it took him about 4-5 minutes to remember 3 of them.
That was only the second weirdest thing he seen him do. When he walked into the kitchen earlier today to make one of his famous meat loving breakfast. He walked in to see Raven in her chair, her tea mug beside her, pretending to read one of her books while discreetly looking into the kitchen. And Robin was sitting on the marble island, his breakfast in front of him half-eaten, looking a little green around the edges.
The reason for that was displayed just after he turned his head to find Beast Boy once again partaking in another one of Starfire's meals, but, a smaller portion next to his own. He arrived just in time to see him take a sip of mustard as Starfire waited for his thoughts.
"Not bad, but not something l would eat daily."
Starfire was overjoyed she had someone else who liked her cooking. She would have preferred the resident junior caped crusader, but she would take what she could get.
An hour and a half after that and another lost round for Cyborg. Robin arrived back to the ops room, after reviewing any new leads to the disappearance of the Fisherman's and the arrival of some new villain; taking zoo animals in the middle of the night. So far, it was just small animals like frogs and bats. They'll have to investigate that later; Beast boy was better for tracking down animal scents.
Speaking of Beast boy.
"Hey Beast Boy." He called, getting his and Cyborg attention. "How are you feeling today?"
"Other then trying to get a taste of mustard out of my mouth, I'm feeling pretty good."
He nodded. "Then, how about we move up the timetable for your field training?"
That got everyone's attention, even Cyborg hit pause on his game, as three heads turned their attention on their leader and green teammate. They all seen the once comatose titan mid-transform while he was under, but never fully. And they were all curious as to what he could do conscious wise. Either; talk, use new powers, or for worse, lose himself completely, they would like that question to be solved now, then be a problem later.
As for Beast boy, he was also thinking about these thing, if all these changes he was going through become a minor or major issue when he does use the watch(Because lets face it, even if Robin forbade him to use it, he would still anyway in a pinch.)
"Sounds good."
"Alright, be in the training room in ten." He ordered, as he glance at techno-titan and gestured to the door, needing his help to set up obstacles for him when needed. As he was getting up, all the Titans shared the same thought.
This will be very interesting
_Gar 10_
Ten minutes passed and all the Titans were already in the room. Raven and Starfire on the side lines with Cyborg in the control room to monitor his best pal and control the targeting system. While, Robin was with Beast Boy in the centre, giving a last-minute pep-talk before they began.
"Ok Beast Boy, from what Cyborg scanned and found out about it; the watch serves as a safeguard for you. We don't know how many alien samples you have in there, so…try and not pick something that looks dangerous ok?"
He gulped and let out a nervous chuckle. "I'll try my best Rob." Before bringing the watch up to his face to look at it. "So, um…how do l use it?" He asked.
"The outer ring surrounding the faceplate seem to let it function on a rotator, kind of like one your fighting games on the Gamestation. So just move to the one you want and press down." He explained, before turning to join the girls one the side. "Whenever your ready Beast Boy!" He called.
If that done, Beast Boy turned his attention back to watch, he slowly brought his other hand to it, while he did that, the watch started to light up in green. The face plate popping up and making a sound, getting a flinch out of everyone.
Beast boy took a second to re-center himself before continuing; taking three fingers around the ring and twisting right. It was then he saw the shadowy outlines of creatures he never seen before; some skinny, some huge, plant-like and ripped.
He then stopped on one that looked kinda cool, the build looked humanoid and bulky, which looked like he was made of stone. What caught his attention was his head, it had the skull of someone on fire.
"I know Rob said not to do something terrifying, but we are literally on an island surrounded by water. I'm sure it'll be fine." He thought as he made his decision. 'I hope.' He gulped.
"Whelp..." He said. As he raised his hand into the air, taking one last glance at his friends for reassurance, getting mix looks of encouragement, nervousness, with a bit of doubt. Taking one more deep breath. "…here goes something." And slammed his palm down.
To the perspective of his friends, all they saw was a bright green light engulf their friend, so bright, that they had to shield their eyes from it.
For Beast Boy, the experience happened immediately. As soon as he pushed down, the green coil energy started to travel into his veins and up in his body. His morphing felt like when he usually transforms into an animal, but a whole new experience; his skin started rippling as red stones started spreading up his arm and consume his body. His mind wanted to freak out but, his instincts told him that this was natural, and he wasn't in any danger, so he let it happen. When the energy reached his mind, he felt hid nerves endings and instincts connecting with what he was becoming. Once the molten rock cover him from head to toe, he started to feel warm; starting from his core and flowing flames escaping from any opening it could find, feeding him with what felt like never-ending energy from what felt like an active volcano. His face molding into a mask surrounded by the open flame, arms growing at the hands to look like mini clubs with four red hot fingers.
The faceplate of the watch, laid at the center of his chest and, with that the change was complete.
For the others, the change only took seconds, as the light finally died down enough for them to look at their friend. To find him staring down at his hands in awe, before considering that he was taller in general. However, they didn't know if he was in control of himself or not.
"Beast boy, is that you?" Asked Robin, his hand slowly going for one of his freeze discs, behind him, he could feel Starfire' soft hum of a low power Star bolt, a brief chill from Raven activating her magic, and a whirl of Cyborg getting the level 2 artillery weapons ready if needed.
"Dudes." Called a deeper voice that all of them were not expecting to come from him, as there now fiery alien friend turned his attention to them with a cocky smile on his face. "Check me out, I'm l hot or I'm I hot?" He laughed out loud. In turn, getting a groan from everyone, except for Starfire who was just happy that their friend was still his same goofy self.