Chapter 7 — Becoming Anew

The next morning, the Legendary 12 sent the New 12 on their first duty as a team. They were to live and train together on unknown territory for a month so that they could get accustomed to each other, not just grow. They were dropped off at the Antarctic Base, and from then on, matters were in their hands.

Getting inside the base below the ice, the New 12 unpacked anything they needed to... at least, a couple of them did. Mooch and Lucy were already ready to go in the Danger Room.

"Everyone else is kind of slow, aren't they?" Lucy questioned.

Mooch opened one of his mahogany eyes to her, while sitting Indian-style, meditating. "Kind of?" he replied.

"Yeah, you're right." she said. "Does that help? Meditating?"

"Try it and see." Mooch said.

The goose sat like Mooch and closed her eyes. "Ohmmm..." she hummed.

Mooch lowered one of the corners of his mouth. "You don't have to that..." he told her, smiling lightly.

Meanwhile...

"I'm going." Christina told her brother, after unpacking in a room together.

Sly just looked at her as she walked out of the room. He thought back to yesterday, after Sweet congratulated the New 12.

Flashback

"Sweet." Sly called the leader.

"Yes?"

"I know you put a lot of thought into choosing us, but can I know why I wasn't the leader?"

Sweet paused. "I'll admit that you have the most experience leading a team, and it's not that Mooch is any better than you either. Here's the thing: remember when we said that we were judging on everything?"

"Yeah...?"

"The thing that got you was Christina." Sweet told him, closing his eyes.

"What do you mean?" Sly asked.

"Let me get to the point. You have to treat her better. Scaly, believe it or not, was right long before he turned against us. You're the older brother, and you have to take better care of your sister more... no ifs, ands, or buts about it."

End Flashback

"How do I start...?" Sly asked himself aloud. He never really took care of Christina much, let alone treat her the right way. The two of them were always distant from each other.

"By following me." Megan said, after watching Sly daydream. "Come on, we gotta get to the Danger Room."

Sly solemnly followed her.

"It's too cold in here..." Ewey murmured, shivering while inside the Danger Room with the rest of the team.

"This is Antarctica." Bonnie pointed out, standing nearby with Felix.

"Yeah... what else is new?" he followed.

"I guess." Ewey said. "Wait... you guys aren't cold?"

"I'm not. In fact, I'm loving this view!" Ears claimed, while laying down and benching Hoppity.

"You know, I actually could sleep like this." Hoppity murmured.

"Forget sleeping... I'm pumped right now!" Bongo shouted, eager to get started.

"Finally! That makes two of us!" Slowpoke said. He and Bongo continue to pep each other up.

"This is getting nowhere..." Lucy stated.

"You're right about that." spoke Gigi, who entered the Danger Room uninvited.

"Gigi? Why're you here?" asked Mooch.

The poodle sighed. "I was sent to monitor you all. At first, I just wanted time to myself... oh well, I guess it's my punishment for sucking so bad."

"Don't take it too hard." Mooch told her, before turning to his group to start their first session. "You heard the Legendary 12, guys: we have to train to be the next best group, so that means we'll have to get used to each other."

"And how do we arrange that?" Christina asked.

"Spar with people that we aren't used to, and that includes couples. Me, I'm already used to Sly and my brothers."

"...I still don't get it." the skunk replied.

"It's simple. We pick a match with someone that we haven't really been against." Megan explained, walking towards Slowpoke. "Like so..." she then said, punching the sloth in his gut and then kicking him backward.

"Well, don't mind me... I just stay out of the—" Gigi paused, before being hit by one of Bongo's fireballs. "—way." she finished, getting up and out of the Danger Room.

Bongo rolled on the floor, laughing and nearly screeching like the chimpanzee that he really is at what he did.

"Jerk..." Bonnie murmured. She then manifested a magical yellow aura, which signified that she knew Time Magic such as Haste, Slow, and Stop. "Someone needs to shut up. Stop." she said, as a few rings of pale green light span around Bongo and stopped within a few seconds, halting Bongo's sound and motion altogether. Bonnie then went up and kicked him in the back of his head once.

"Is he gonna feel that?" Felix asked.

"When the spell wears off." Bonnie answered.

Christina walked up to her brother, knowing that she was not used to sparring with him.

"Um, what are you doing? I'm used to you already." Sly told her. He was then slapped by her tail.

"No you're not... you're just avoiding me. You don't even know that I'm a saboteur."

"I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS!" Sly responded, raising his voice.

"It's in her stink bombs, dude." Ears clued him in.

"Those? Does she pull them from her ass?" Sly questioned, before he was punched in the face by his sister; he flew back about ten yards.

"I FORGE them, you dipwad!"

Mooch sighed then reassumed his meditant position. "We're still getting nowhere." he mentioned aloud.

Chaos was about break loose in the New 12 until...

"HEY!" Gigi yelled from the entrance of the Danger Room. Everyone stopped and looked at her (except Bongo, who could not at the time). Her French accent kicked in as well (shown by bold and italic text). "I'm no expert on this, but I do know that training ain't the only way to build a team. If you guys keep going like this, you're not just gonna disappoint the Legendary 12... you're gonna disappoint every last member of the entire Titans League. It's hard to admit, but I believe the Legendary 12 when they say that they aren't gonna last too much longer. And who'll be there to lead the Bean Titans? Certainly not me, and definitely not you twelve, in the state you're in right now. How about stopping the noise and just communicate like normal heroes?"

The New 12 were silenced by Gigi's message, after she left. The one Bean Titan that could be dubbed as the weakest link in the organization had just made a very valid point to the new team. There was no way that they could assume leadership if there is no solid foundation between the twelve of them.

"That came... from Gigi, of all people." Lucy murmured, utterly speechless from the sudden lesson.

"And she's right." Hoppity added.

"So what say you now, leader?" Ewey asked.

"Gather in... and someone use a Chronos Tear on Bongo." he requested. Bonnie used the Stop-curing item.

"Hahahaha... wait, what's so funny?" Bongo questioned himself. He felt the sudden pain from the kick that Bonnie previously gave him.

Slowpoke grabbed him by the back of his shirt. "Get in here!" he said, pulling him into the conference circle.

"We've already established this, but Gigi's right guys: we need to suck it up, focus, and become a real team. I have a plan for our time now, so that things can go a lot better for us. For this week, we talk it out and see what it's like to be around each other. Next week will be our training week. For the week and a half after that, we'll improvise and work on whatever else we need to. Is that clear?" Mooch decreed.

"That's more like it." Felix said first, before the other ten members agreed with him.

"So who's speaking first?" Mooch asked, initiating their quest on building the New 12.

/-/

And that's where this episode of BTA will end. Part 9 will [sort of] follow these events. For Parts 10 and on, the New 12 will slowly begin to take over. Continue to tune in to see what becomes of the Titans as they move into Crisis Central.

Until next time!