Titans: Elemental

Chapter 19: Switched, Part 1

We see a closed stage curtain illuminated by a spotlight. It opens, revealing a backdrop that depicts Titans Tower and the city proper behind it on the shore. A wooden Dick marionette drops into view and hangs before this scene, and the voice of the puppeteer speaks for it.

Dick puppet, "Titans! Go!"

The figure leaps across the stage, then looks back the way it came. It is alone.

Dick puppet, "hey!"

Figures in the likenesses of the other seven are clustered at the other end. The same person provides all eight voices, taking on the appropriate inflection for each. While the boys' puppets have hinged mouths, similar to a soldier-shaped nutcracker, the girls' puppets do not.

Dick puppet, "aren't you guys coming?"

Raven puppet, "what's the point? We can't possibly defeat the Puppet King."

Blackfire puppet, "yeah, he's unstoppable."

(Just think a gloomier version of the Starfire puppet.)

Starfire puppet, "he is too clever and powerful, not to mention good-looking."

Rose puppet, "anyone would be lucky to have him."

(Think the Raven puppet, but with an eye patch, white yarn for hair and the armor.)

Jack puppet, "it's hopeless to fight him."

(Very much like the Dick puppet, but with a hoodie and brown pants and a cute little staff.)

Vic puppet, "yeah. We should probably just surrender now."

BB puppet, "dude, I think we already have."

The green puppet gestures upward on the end of this line, and the entire group of puppets throw up their arms. Up top is the puppeteer, a short, squat fellow in a military dress uniform and sash. His head is in shadow, obscuring a clear view of his face, but protuberant eyes and a small crown can be seen.

This is the Puppet King, (his natural voice is reminiscent of Peter Lorre.)

Puppet King, "bravo, bravo. But enough rehearsal", he drops the cross pieces to which the strings are attached, "time to start the show."

The eight marionettes fall in a jumble, and the curtain closes.

….

Raven is floating in the air, meditating, feeling nothing around her.

Raven, "Azarath Metrion Zinthos… Azarath Metrion Zinthos…."

Starfire, "Raven?"

Raven is slowly pulled from her peaceful state.

Starfire, "Raven?"

Evans is brought out of her train of thought as Starfire continues.

Starfire, "please forgive my interruption, but have you seen Dick?"

Raven, "no."

Starfire, "oh. Perhaps you have seen Victor?"

Raven, "no."

Starfire, "Beast Boy?"

Raven, "no."

Starfire, "Jack?"

Raven, "him I wouldn't mind."

Starfire, "Rose or my sister?"

Raven, "my eyes are closed, Starfire, I haven't seen anyone."

Starfire, "they must be doing the hanging out someplace. Perhaps we should do the hanging out. We never have before, and conceivably it could be fun. We might journey to the mall of shopping, or perform braiding maneuvers upon each other's hair, or…."

If Raven was annoyed before, she is now absolutely ready to explode, her face set in a fierce grimace.

Starfire, "you wish to be alone?"

Starfire backs off.

Raven, "how could you tell?"

She calms down again.

Raven, "Azarath Metrion Zinth-"

Suddenly, the door opens and Vic yells, "MAIL CALL!"

Raven lets out a long, shocked yell as she hits the floor with a thud, she winds up in a heap before the others, who have just come in. Vic is carrying a crate.

Starfire, "Richard! Victor! Sister! Jack! Beast Boy! You are back! It was…. Quiet while you were gone."

Raven stands up and dusts herself off, "not that quiet."

The crate is set down on the kitchen table; it bears a label reading; To The Titans-Titan Tower.

BB, "check it out. This was sitting by the front door. Fan mail, probably a gift from one of my many admirers."

Raven rolls her eyes.

Blackfire, "right…."

Rose walks in, "what's going on?"

Jack spoke in a cheery voice, "we got mail."

Dick, "only, it doesn't say who it's from."

Vic reaches into view and grabs the lid.

Vic, "well, one way to find out."

Jack, "if it's a bomb, I ain't trusting our mail anymore."

He yanks it up, and they all peak in.

Vic, "whoa!"

Dick, "cool!"

Starfire giggles.

BB looks in and says, "honestly, I was kinda hoping for chocolate."

Rose, "kinda creepy."

Vic brings up the puppet copy of himself seen before.

Vic, "aww, isn't that cute? Puppet Cy has a light-up eye."

It does indeed.

BB and Dick have found their duplicates.

Dick is pulling his puppet's belt buckle as he says, "yeah. They got all the details just right."

BB pulls his puppets pants around a bit before saying, "speak for yourself. I'm way better looking than this, and taller."

Rose, "and they got the eye patch on the wrong side of mine."

Raven, "someone certainly has a lot of time on their hands."

As she says this, she pulls back the puppet's hood and finds that her hairline has also been recreated. Starfire giggles as she looks hers over and works it around a bit.

Starfire, "I have never seen such a whimsical device."

She makes it bow and speaks for it.

Starfire, "hello, Starfire", she leans into view to shake, "hello, tiny wooden replica of Starfire!"

Jack simply stared at his puppet.

Blackfire looks at him as she holds her own and asks, "you alright?"

Jack, "I just think it's odd. Someone left these extremely detailed puppets for us?"

Rose, "I've got a box we can lock ours up in, until we find out who sent them?"

Jack nodded in agreement as Rose went to get her box.

BB's puppet jumps over behind Dick's.

BB, "dude", it delivers a kick to the rear, "my puppet is totally kicking your puppet's butt!"

Dick, "not for long."

Shifting his voice into kung fu mode, he makes his marionette strike BB's with a chop that sends it crashing into the wooden Vic.

The Vic puppet shakes its fist, "you want a piece of me, little man?"

The BB and Dick puppets keep taking swipes at each other as their operators provide good-natured fighting banter. Vic soon gets into the act as well; his replica swings into view to join the Three Stooges-style fracas.

Raven watches with obvious contempt.

Raven, "boys."

Jack, "speak for yourself babe."

Raven chuckles at the term of endearment.

Starfire comes to Raven, working her own puppet.

Starfire, "shall my tiny replica do battle with your tiny replica?"

Raven, "knock yourself out."

She tosses hers to Starfire and walks away, leaving only the latter's puzzled stare.

Rose came back with her box and key, unlocking it. Rose and Jack place their puppets inside.

Jack, "I ain't playing with that thing until we figure out who sent it."

Rose, "amen to that."

She then locked the box up and placed it on a shelf.

….

Later that night.

Not a soul is seen in any of the empty halls or the living room. After a few moments of the last area, a hand shoots into view, accompanied by a few wisps of straw and the sound of splintering wood. We see the hand reaching up from the crate. Next, the other hand emerges, and both brace against the crate's edge as a shadowed figure hoists itself out. The crown on the overly large head gives it away as the Puppet King.

….

We see Starfire asleep in her room. Her bed is circular, with pink sheets and blankets, and she is sleeping the wrong way around on top of the bedclothes, feet on the pillow, head hanging off the opposite edge. Her puppet lies nearby on a round stool.

Suddenly, the door slides open. We see the Puppet King pop up just behind her, then duck away and come up at a different spot. He drops out of sight in a flash; she awakens and sits up a moment later as the door closes.

Starfire, "gasp, who is there?"

….

We see a screen flashing, "Game Over", showing a dead monkey that clutches a flower to its chest. Ghosts rise from the body. We see BB sleeping in his bed, clutching a sock as he talks in his sleep.

BB, "ladies…. Please…."

His puppet hangs from the headboard.

BB, "... One at a time. You'll all get to take your picture with me."

He makes as if to kiss the unwashed footwear. The Puppet King has climbed up to the bunk, and he holds out a wooden cross piece such as the ones attached to all the puppets. This one has no strings, but a green spot begins to glow on one of the six arms and BB is briefly surrounded with light of the same color. He shudders in his sleep, then relaxes, and a ghostly copy of the teen emerges from his body and enters the puppet.

….

Jack suddenly wakes up, hearing something enter his room, but then runs out.

Jack was quick to grab his staff, jacket and shoes and walked out of his room. He sees Starfire's door open; she steps out, now in her usual clothes, missing the Puppet King's shadow as it passes at the far end.

Starfire, "hello? Hello?"

Jack walks over to her.

Jack, "you heard something too?"

Starfire, "yes, as if something entered my room and left."

Jack, "I don't think we're alone."

….

Vic is lying on the inclined table seen in his room. One big hand grips his plaything to his chest. The intruder's hand pops up nearby, holding that crosspiece; a blue-white spot now appears on one of the arms, and the big man is enveloped in that color light. He jerks awake with a sharp gasp, but his head soon rolls to one side as a specter of himself passes from his body to the puppet. The little red eye lights up.

….

Blackfire's room opens, and she too finds herself being enveloped with a dark purple light that went to the puppet that sat by her lamp, which moved its head to look at her.

….

We go to the stairs. The door opens and Starfire and Jack look out, just as those short legs clamber up the stairs.

Starfire, "is someone there?"

They hear someone approach and see Rose there, in her jacket and her sword strapped to her back.

Rose, "I saw something in my room. I think it took that box I put our puppets in."

Jack, "what the heck is going on?"

….

In Dick's room, his supine form is already swathed in red light. He drops as his ethereal form escapes its physical shell and passes to the puppet sitting atop some nearby bookshelves.

….

Back in the hall again; Starfire and the others look along it, as a creepy chuckle echoes in the darkness; the same voice from before. It gets louder.

They turn to the source of the noise.

Starfire, "huh? If this is a joke, it is not-"

They all turn to Raven's door as it opens, and Raven is looking out at Starfire. Both scream in sheer terror and surprise, their hair standing on end briefly.

The others were startled as well, but mostly from the girls screaming.

Starfire, "Raven! You have also heard the strange noises?"

Raven, "the strange noises of you talking outside my door? Hard to miss."

Starfire, "oh. Forgive me, I thought there was someone-"

This time, the thing that cuts her off is a blast from Vic's sonic cannon that just misses all of them. Turning toward its source, they find the other four Titans charging down the hall. Dick leaps for a kick as BB turns into a dinosaur and charges ahead. The former nearly takes Starfire's head off with the sole of his boot; the latter tries to get at Raven, but she creates energy barriers to slow him down a bit. The eyes of both aggressors are glowing.

Raven, "Beast Boy, it's me! Don't make me hurt you!"

He breaks through the shield she has put up and snaps at her.

Blackfire starts blasting at Jack and Rose, who are quick to start dodging the starbolts.

As Starfire flies over Dick's head, he gets three discs ready in one hand and hurls them. She shoots them down with starbolts; the first two fizzle out, but the third explodes with great force when shot and she is thrown downward. Vic catches her, and we see that his eyes are glowing like those of the other two boys.

BB has continued his advance against Raven. A swing of the tail knocks her down the hall, where Vic catches her as well and pins one girl under each arm.

Raven, "let me go!"

Dick and Blackfire approach.

BB suddenly turns into a squid and grabs Jack and Rose!

Starfire, "friends! Why do you attack us?"

Jack, "is this because I forgot to take out the trash? I'll remember to do it from now on!"

Puppet King, "oh. They're not your friends anymore."

He steps up, revealing himself in full detail for the first time. The head is quite large, with slick black hair parted in the middle and a hinged mouth just like the boys' marionettes. He is a wooden figure brought to life.

Puppet King, "they are my puppets", he pulls out the figures from behind his back, "these are your friends."

He has trapped their souls within his wooden creations and taken control of the bodies. Now the puppets speak with the respective Titans' voices, sounding a bit muffled and very strained.

Dick in Dick puppet's body, "Starfire!"

Vic in Vic puppet's body, "Raven!"

Blackfire in Blackfire puppet's body, "Jack! Rose!"

BB in BB puppet's body, "help!"

Raven, "release them!"

Starfire gasps.

The Puppet King swings the puppets behind his back, "sorry, but you're not in charge here. You don't command me", he holds up his crosspiece, which now shows lights on its arms, "I command you."

BB and Dick raise the Raven and Starfire marionettes, respectively, and each girl groans as she is wreathed in her own color light, the beginning of the same process that took the souls of the boys and Blackfire.

Jack, "Raven! No!"

Rose, "let them go!"

Puppet King, "and with the Puppet King pulling the strings, the Titans will command the entire city. I just need to unlock that box, and I'll have all of you!"

Raven, as her soul and Starfire's escapen, manages to say, "Azarath…. Metrion…. Zinthos."

Both pass out as a black starburst emerges from her forehead and flares over the entire hall, knocking everyone silly. The crosspiece spins away from its master's hand and skids along the floor.

Puppet King, "my control!"

Beams shoot from the ends corresponding to the two girls, and their souls float free of the wooden receptacles and flash into the bodies of the prone girls. By the time the Puppet King has his control device back in hand, they have made it upright and sprinted off down the hall. Jack and Rose were knocked out of BB's his and quickly followed their friends.

Puppet King, "after them."

The boys and Blackfire half-stand, half-float up to their feet, ready to pursue.

….

We go to a darkened section of the basement; a grate in the ceiling swings open, and the three girls and Jack jump down through it. Only their eyes are visible as it swings shut over their heads and the chasers' feet are seen passing.

Starfire, "the boys! My sister! Raven! What are we going to-?"

Raven reaches over and switches on a hanging light bulb, and the two girls get a good eyeful of each other in their new situation. Each one's face shows the kind of expression she might have if she were still in her own body, and they give each other a long and very bewildered look.

Raven in Starfire's body, "Starfire?"

Starfire in Raven's body, "Raven? Gasp. You are me! Gasp. And I am you!"

Black energy crackles from her forehead and shatters the light bulb, putting them into near-total darkness again.

Jack, "oh grape nuts."

….

It is now early the next morning. BB, as a falcon, pulls into view with a cry and moves ahead, searching for the four runaways. At ground level, his shadow passes over a manhole, and the entire street shakes briefly as its cover blows sky-high thanks to some out-of-control telekinesis. The steel circle slams back to the pavement, rattling loudly as it settles until Starfire's hand reaches up and pushes it aside. She climbs out.

Starfire in Raven's body, "oh, Raven! This is awful", Raven emerges, "terribly, horribly awful!"

Raven heads down the sidewalk, pulling Starfire along behind her.

Jack and Rose follow along.

Jack, "you're telling me. My girlfriend is in your body, and you're in my girlfriends body. This is gonna make the whole dating thing quite complicated."

Rose, "let's worry about that later."

Raven in Starfire's body, "tell me about it."

Starfire in Raven's body, "very well. Dick, Victor, my sister and Beast Boy have been trapped inside tiny wooden bodies, while a nasty creature called the Puppet King has taken control of their real bodies, which he is using to hunt us down, and you and I are in the wrong bodies and-"

Throughout all of this, the powers of the body she has borrowed manifest themselves in the following three ways. A couple of parking meters bend themselves double, newspaper boxes spew their contents in all directions, and a mailbox melts down. The only thing that stops her flow of words is Raven's hand on her shoulder, startling a gasp out of her.

Raven in Starfire's body, "Starfire! You have to calm down. My powers are driven by emotion. The more you feel, the more energy you unleash."

Starfire in Raven's body, "but what if they find us? What if our friends are doomed? What if I am stuck looking like this forever?"

Her head practically spins on her neck several times, alla The Exorcist.

Raven in Starfire's body, "we'll fix it. I don't know how, but we will rescue the boys and we will get our bodies back... What's wrong with the way I look?"

Starfire in Raven's body, "nothing."

A pedestrian crossing signal above their heads explodes, she is still very much on edge.

Jack, "for the record babe, you look stunning in your own body."

Raven in Starfire's body smiles, "thanks sweety. Let's try to hold off on kissing until after we get our bodies back to normal."

Jack, "noted."

Starfire in Raven's body, "I will try to calm down. Sigh, peace…. Quiet…. Tranquil-"

A car parked next to them is launched straight up and crashes back to the ground, upside down, nearly two seconds later. Its alarm goes off.

Raven in Starfire's body, "we are so doomed..."

….

Reviews:

raven 2012: glad you loved the chapter.

Ushindi: I'm glad you really liked the chapter abd what I put in it.

Gry25: well, I'm glad I got ya hooked.

….

How are our heroes gonna get outta this one?!

If you've seen the episode, you know how.

If someone sent me puppets of myself, I would have locked it up until I figured out who sent it, so I had Jack and Rose do that.