Note: So, the one shot is taking a back seat for a bit until maybe after this chapter, and maybe a Goblin Slayer one-shot around the same time; very last minute. So, for now on with the next chapter!
Disclaimer: I don't own any Ben 10 or Teen Titans Characters or references.
Chapter 8
Target Practice
"Woah!" Beast boy exclaimed, still taking in his new body he found himself in. He could the volcanic flames within, ready to erupt on his command. He felt his skull on fire, but it felt like a gentle caress its embers flickering like a campfire flame. "I'm taller too!"
The rest of the Titans were taking him in to, slowly lowering their guard, but still had the weaponry trained on him just in case this was a diversion. Robin slowly advanced towards his flaming teammate with calculated steps, analysing for any weak points and thinking how long one of his freeze disks would hold him down for.
"Beast Boy?" He called out, getting him to freeze after doing numerous turns checking himself out to look over at Robin, who now had his arms cross giving him a look of mild disapproval. "Didn't l say to not turn into anything that could be dangerous?"
Even with the new face, Beast Boy still managed to look sheepish and rub the back of his new flaming head. "Sorry Rob." He said. His new deeper voice still catching his friends off-guard. "I don't know how to explain it, but it just felt like l had to start this off with this guy, you know?"
Robin signed but chose to accept his answer for now. "Well, since you decided to turn into something flammable, we'll have to move this to the outside training area instead." Turning to address the others. "Move out Titans, we're going outside!"
With that, Cyborg powered down the weapons and went to join the girls heading to the elevator. Beast Boy was starting to head over there as well, before Robin raised his hand in a 'Stop' gesture.
"You, on the other-hand, have to take the stairs down to and meet us below."
"What!? He shouted, before slouching over and putting on a whining face. And since it was displayed on a flaming skull, it scared the heck out of Robin. "Do I have to?"
"Considering; you're basically a walking-talking fire hazard and could set off the sprinkler system at any moment, which why it hasn't gone off yet is a miracle in itself or from faulty equipment…"
"Hey! Everything in the tower is state-of-the-art l'll have you know!" Exclaimed Cyborg.
"I would very much not have the water in my hair please!" Pleated Starfire. After finding out earth had hair products that can have her hair keep its natural shine and smoothness, without using bug slime and other things. She rather not have to use them again so soon, as the taste of it was rather horrible and nothing like that of strawberries.
"And l rather not drag around a damp heavy cape all day or have soggy books." Said Raven, putting a mild glare towards the walking matchstick. Even in his new form, he couldn't help but wither under her gaze.
"Okay, okay." Raising his hands up in defeat, he then turned and started to make his way towards the stairway. "See you guys down there."
With that done, Robin turned and began to jog to catch up with the rest of the team, where they were waiting by the entrance to head to the elevator.
"So…" He said as they started walking. "…what do you guys think?"
"I gotta admit, l was a little worried when the little green dude suddenly turned into a mini- volcano, but since he didn't start lobbing lava as soon as he saw us, I'm willing to give him the benefit of a doubt." Explained Cyborg. He was just as shocked as any of them; as one second, he saw his green buddy in the middle of the gym and then the next moment he was staring at a naked alien Ghost Rider with Beast Boy's humor.
He was just happy he didn't sound like Nicholas Cage. (Note: Love me some Cage movies, except the bees)
Robin turned his attention to the fiery, friendly redhead. "What about you Star? Any information on what he is?"
"Yes indeed. He has become a Pyronite from Pyros. Though, there is not much of the information of them, due to their nature of isolation with very little connection to the outside to better perfect their abilities in private."
Robin nodded along while just reaching the elevator and everyone getting in.
"You said abilities right? With how Beast Boyis now, it stands to reason there're probably fire-related."
"So, now he's literally a hothead, what else is new?" Raven said sarcastically, getting a chuckle from everyone.
Robin turned his attention back to cybernetic titan. "Cyborg can you-"
"Already on it Rob." Replayed Cyborg, using the keypad in his arm to remotely manual the program for the outside training area.
Ding!
With that, the elevator opened, and the Titans made their way to the cove of the island. When they got there, the weaponry was set and primed for use whenever they started.
After checking everything out, Cyborg turned his attention to the others. "Alright, now we just have to wait for-" He was interrupted when a side door opened, getting all their heads turning towards the sound.
"UUGH!" Exclaimed the irritated fire hazard as he made his entrance outside. What was more bizarre then him, was the faint sight of smoke pouring out the stairway behind him. After he found a big enough rock to jam the door open. He made his towards his friends.
"Sorry about the smoke guys, can't help that." Before, turning his attention towards Cyborg, looking a bit more sheepish. "And l may have left some scorched footmarks and handprints on some of the floors." Earning a frown from him. "But, the good news is l don't think none of the smoke got into any of the hallways, so no mess to mop up!" He spoke cheerfully.
Cyborg let out a sigh. "I'll take what l can get bean sprout…" He paused after looking at his teammate. "…or maybe l should start calling you fire flower instead Mario." He chuckled.
"Fire flower?." That nickname got Beast Boy thinking, as he brought his hand up. The team watching him, wondering what he was doing.
'l wonder?' And then he snapped his fingers.
SNAP!
And a small flame flickered to life on his finger.
"Hehe, now that's cool!" As he continued to snap his fingers, turning the flame on and off again.
"Let me guess, from a movie?" Asked Raven.
"Yup!"
"So." Began Robin, gaining the attention of the hothead. "Now that we know you have fire abilities; we can focus on the next step of your training." As he finish speaking, a faint sound of wiring came from below as red and while target boards started to appear and started to move around randomly.
"Target practice."
_Gar 10_
Unknown to the titans, far away around the ocean sky. A figure was spying on the teen heroes from afar, more accurately at the flaming figure that was throwing fireballs at the moving targets surrounding it.
The person was a hulking figure, covered in all black; wearing dark blue looking military boots, belt with glowing tea energy eloping it. Its shoulder pads having a giant triangle on each side, huge gloves completing the look. The figure was wearing a helmet, starting from it's back and surrounding its head. Within the place of its face was a small downward triangle, matching the color of energy that connected through its suit. Using it to zoom in on its target.
The most standout detail, was the fact it was hovering above the water, using what looked like a hoverboard.
Beep! Beep!
The communicator on his wrist started beeping, indicating an incoming message. Pressing a button and bringing up a transparent screen, only showing a wavelength line for an audio-only call.
"Tetrax report, what has become of my Omnitrix."
"Sir, it took some digging and some searching to pin-point an exact location to who could have taken the Omnitrix especially when the signal failed and it took awhile before the transmitter started up again."
"Yes, it started back up for me as well about a week ago, and since then its been at the same location. Tell me, who has possession of it now?"
"From l gathered." The now named Tetrax began. "During a thunderstorm the Omnitrix crashed down here on this cities' beach during the night. Where it was found by one of the resident Teen Titans; heroes of this city named Beast Boy For reasons unknown, he's been missing for the last three months and, now that I'm seeing a Pyronite interacting with said Titans. Its safe to assume he's taken possession of the Omnitrix."
The voice at the other end of the call let an annoyed sigh.
"While it is better than a child getting their hands on it or even Vilgax, did it have to be a teen hero that had to find it." At this point, the voice didn't speak, as if thinking about something.
"You say he was missing for three months?"
"That is correct."
"Hmm, interesting…and this 'Beast Boy', what are his powers?"
"From what l gathered, his power is transformation based; turning into any of this planets' creatures on this planet; from the biggest to the smallest, even back into this worlds' prehistoric past.
"Really? That interesting." The tone of his employer's voice surprised Tetrax.
He sounded fascinated; it was something he had not heard since he started the creation of the Omnitrix.
"Should l confront him now and take the Omnitrix?" He asked.
"No…observe for now and wait until Vilgax makes his move and calls upon bounty hunters to try and collect the Omnitrix, there you will start your own test and see if the kid is worthy or not to keep it. Besides, if what you say about that boy's powers are true; l think that the true power of my Omnitrix will be seen sooner then l could've realized or upgraded for."
"Understood."
_Gar 10_
FHOOM!
The burning of the target was a hole was made in the middle and a smirking Pyronite was seen in front of it.
"And that's that." He declared, blowing off the flame on his hand, after getting 16 of 20 targets.
"That's good, Beast Boy." Said Robin, walking up to him as the targets were being put away, as the rest of the team joined them.
"So, we know you have some fire abilities, anything else you two can think of that's something you can do?" Robin asked the two comic and sci-fi nerds.
"Hhmm." They both started thinking about other heroes from comic and real Superheroes.
"Ah." Exclaimed the Pyro, getting the attention of the rest of the team.
"Thought of something BB?" Asked Cyborg.
"Well y-yeah." He said kind of sad. "Its something I've seen someone do before; I'm just wondering if it will still work with fire involved." He explained. Getting confused looks from the team.
He walked a little away from the team to the rocky area near the training ground; from there he kneeled and placed one hand on the ground and closed his eyes, took a deep breath and focus.
It took a minute to feel something happening beneath his palm as he felt the fire burning within him slowly push through and break into the ground. With the image of what he wanted to do in his mind, the flame obeyed. First, with digging into any cracks within a metre wide and deep, then making the bottom of the structure hotter, and ready to for its master command.
When Beast Boy felt the completion of the flames task, he commanded it to push.
While he was doing that, the rest of the team observe him; the only things they could see was the upper top of the ground surrounding Beast Boy started to crack and glow a fiery red, slowly turning black, looking more like molten rock. Then, it started to be raised with Beast Boy in the middle. He created his own flying hovercraft. It was at this moment they figured out the sadness in Beast Boy voice from before.
This kind of move was Terra's way of transportation.
Beast Boy let out a breath of relief when he realized that it was working, he also felt that the flame needed to be fed continuously for it to function. So, he focus the movement of the flame from his hand to his feet, once he was sure enough, he slowly let his hand go and moved to stand up.
"Okay…l think I'm good." After finding his balance and making sure he was still powering his floating device.
"Ahem, well it's a nice thought BB." Said Cyborg, knowing it was tough for the green bean to make a move based upon the fallen titan.
"Thanks Cy." He said. It was true, using this kind of travel reminded him of Terra a lot, it was what she was proud to show off when she could, even though it was a variant of it, like with Raven using her magic to create a disk for when he was tired using his wings or Robin when he couldn't use the R-cycle.
"Well, now that that's out of the way, l think its time for a name!"
Raven raised a brow under her hood. "Really?"
"Well, l can't really just call this guy 'fireman' can l? It's lame, plus there could be other guys that have similar powers just like him, so he should be unique in someway, hence a name."
"Ooh! That is a wonderful idea. A name can bring out one's strength and great character, from fear and respect on my planet." Proclaimed Starfire.
"I like fire-flower." Said Raven, earning an annoyed from said 'fire-flower'.
"I was thinking more of…Heat-Blast!"
"Heat-blast; short, and to the point, I like it." Robin said.
"Cool, now-?!" Heat-Blast cut himself off as he sense something in the distance, turning towards the source brought him in the direction of the city.
"Beast Boy, what's wrong? Asked Robin, the rest of the team, following suit.
"I'm feeling something, more like sensing it…a fire, happening somewhere in the city, l think…downtown?"
Beep Beep!
Just then, the watch's faceplate on his chest started beeping and flashing red, getting faster by the second, as if counting down.
"What the-?" That was all Heat-blast got out before a bright red light engulfed him and suddenly Beast Boy was back to normal.
Hovering metres off the ground on the slab of rock that now no longer had its power source to keep it afloat.
"Oh crap!" And with that, he jump off as the slab began its fast-decent back to the surface.
Thump!
Gasp! "Friend Beast Boy, are you the O.K?" Starfire asked, as she flew over to make sure he was alright.
"I'm fine Star, now we know that the watch has a time-limit now." If he was counting correctly, the estimation is roughly 20 minutes; looking down at the watch and seeing the faceplate red instead of green indicated that maybe it needed recharging before being active again. Wonder how long that will take?
"You said something before you transform back, something about a fire?" Wondered Cyborg
"Oh yeah, there was this feeling inside me, it felt like l could feel the flames started to build and burn brighter, it felt like it was coming from downtown."
Bi-Beep Bi-Beep!
AT that moment Robin's titan communicator went off.
"Trouble!" He shouted out, taking it out and seeing what the emergency was, only to raise his eyes(mask) in surprise before looking at Beast boy and back again. "There's a fire happening downtown that's engulfing a building, some residents are trapped on the upper and middle floors."
The rest of the team turned towards the ani-morph in amazement.
Beast Boy just shrugged. "One with the flame dude."
"We'll have to figure it out later, right now there's trouble. Titans Go!"
With that, Starfire flew over to Cyborg to grab him and fly ahead. While Raven made a platform with her magic for herself, Robin and Beast Boy, right after they all headed downtown to the fire.
Author note: To quote one of my favourite movies: 'Work was murder.' And I'm soon going to get started on some other stories in the background and some one-shots. This still will be my focus; updates will just take a little longer to come out (or depending on how big l make the chapter).
Next time: Four Arms? No Problem