A/N: Yep, I'm back! Sorry this took so long (school and other things), but I hope it's worth it. A special thanks to the reviewer "noone" for giving me an idea for a little quibble in the middle of the story.
WARNING: Possible spoilers ahead for non-U.S. readers. Read at your own risk.
Chapter 4: Incoming!
Six heroes ran down the halls of the castle, two of whom were lighting the way.
"This way," called Robin, pointing left. "Just to the—wha?"
He stopped in confusion, and the others did the same.
"Dead end," grumbled Kevin.
"Their signals headed this way; they actually went through here!"
He pointed to the wall one their left.
"Don' worry," Cyborg told him. "I'll punch it down!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" said Kevin. "First, how'd'ya know they went this way? And how'd'ya know it's just a wall? And how'd'ya know it's not booby-trapped?"
"Tracked them on my T-Phone," Robin pointed out, showing Kevin.
"Oh. And you?" he said, turning to Cyborg.
"Well…I will in a sec."
The first step of Cy's plan of action started with placing his hand on the wall, but that's as far as it went.
It turned out the brick he pressed was a button!
"Whoa!" he shouted as the wall suddenly rose up.
He fell with quite a bit of noise. The others flinched at the clangs. The hall ahead had torches on the walls and a door at the other end. Star and Gwen let their fists dim.
"Ow," Cyborg groaned.
"Shh! Everyone, quiet!" Ben urgently whispered.
There was an uneasy silence for a few seconds. No one else showed up ahead in the hall, good or bad.
"So that how," Kevin remarked.
"Shut up, wise guy," Cyborg grumbled, getting up and dusting himself off.
"Is your boyfriend always like that?" Star asked Gwen.
"'Fraid s—whoa-ho-ho-ho!" she said, her eyes getting large and indignant. "He is NOT my boyfriend!"
Star seemed a little confused.
"But he is a boy, and—"
"Hold the discussion," Ben told them. "We gotta free the others."
Star looked even more confused.
"Is it possible to hold a discussion?"
"That just means we don't talk about it for a while."
"Oh," was the rather giggly reply.
"Anyway," said Robin, extending his bo, "we'd better go prepared, might be trouble—"
CRASH.
"—oh, no."
A Knight had suddenly landed in front of the six heroes to make sure they did not pass.
"Ah, MAN!"
Ben, Gwen, and even Kevin—the first having spoken—most definitely knew this guy. However, he was somewhat bigger—and uglier—than he had been five years before.
It was the Forever Knight Ninja.
Man, I didn't think it would be this hard.
Beast Boy was strapped to a tilted table once again. Raven was right next to him, and she had been gagged again.
I still think it's a good look for her.
"Now, you two," said Albedo, who was standing in front of them, "I assume that your accommodations are…comfortable, are they not?"
Comfortable…waaaait a sec…why have I been so stupid?
"Well," Beast Boy said confidently, "they're about to become a little more comfortable!"
The shapeshifter tried to turn into his gorilla form, but that didn't work out so well. As soon as he tried, he felt an electric shock all over his body. Raven winced.
"YEOUCH!"
This caught everyone's attention. Some of the Knights thought it was funny.
"I hope that current stimulated that brain of yours, Beast Boy," said Albedo, coolly. "Yours is special designed to keep you in, no matter which animal you attempt to become."
"We'll see about THAT!"
The next tried form was a mouse, but this ended even worse. As soon as he began to shrink, bolts of electricity forced him to stop and return to normal. Raven looked away after a few seconds of this; although she often grew tired of his antics, it was terrible to see such a thing happening to him.
No no no no no… he thought, nearly in panic.
He tried one shape after another, but try as he might, he just couldn't escape! Finally, dizzy and tired, he gave up. He let his tongue flop out of his mouth, so tired was he. Unfortunately, this actually gave Albedo an idea.
"Quick! Take a swab of his tongue!"
One of the Knights went forward with a swab, grabbed BB's tongue, and did as commanded. This was not very pleasant for the hero, as the gauntlet didn't taste very good.
"Plah plah plah!" he sputtered. "What was that for?"
"You ought to know this, both of you."
The captured Titans looked at Albedo.
"When I saw your tongue, Beast Boy, I was merely reminded that human saliva contains white blood cells, which, in turn, hold DNA. And that little is enough to activate the Imitator!"
"Wha—?!"
"Now we shall test its DNA copying abilities. If it works, she will be next."
"NO!"
But amidst this, Raven knew something that the others were unaware of.
Think you're so clever, Albedo? Well, you're not giving it my powers, even if you get my DNA. I know that for sure.
Out in the hall, no one was moving, not even the Ninja.
"They're serious, all right," muttered Kevin. "That guy's the one'a the worst."
"What do we do?" whispered Star in fear.
"We're gonna take him down," said Robin. "No matter what!"
"Knew you was gonna say that!" grinned Cyborg.
The Ninja reached back and drew his swords.
"Titans! Plumbers! GO!"
Robin and the others charged past Ben as he turned the Omnitrix on.
Definitely not! he thought as he turned the dial from a three-horned alien.
The next alien, however, was one he didn't think he had seen before! It almost looked like a human.
Wait a sec…who's—WHOA!
He had looked up just in time. As he dodged one of the Ninja's stars, he instinctively slammed down the dial. There was a green flash of light.
Oh, man, that was close…
He looked down at his hands.
Wha—?
They had become a golden hue. His clothing had changed as well. It looked similar to Star's, but it looked more designed for a guy.
Wait…the Omnitrix said, "New form acquired." Could I be…
At that moment, Star flew backwards, screaming.
"Starfire!" Ben shouted in a deeper voice than his own.
He ran behind her and caught her before she hit the ground.
"I thank you—" she started to say.
She took one look at his face, gasped, and jumped to her feet. Her eyes grew very round.
"What?"
"You…you are me! I did not know you could do such a thing!"
"Oh…uh…well…neither did I," he replied with a chuckle.
"Star? A little help, please?" called Robin.
He was struggling to hold back against the Ninja's swords so it didn't hit him or Gwen, who was throwing pink balls at the Ninja's head. Cyborg and Kevin were unsuccessfully to smash said weapons, as they were constantly moving.
"Let us go!"
"Yeah! Let's!"
Star took off; Ben just ran.
"All right, Forever freak! Try this!"
Ben swung his hand, attempting to throw a starbolt. Nothing happened. The Ninja stopped to stare blankly at Ben as one of the former's parries sent Robin flying.
"Wha—? What did I do wrong?" Ben asked.
He tried again several times but had no success. Meanwhile, the others saw this as an opportunity. They charged at the Ninja, but he was ready for them even though he was putting his swords away. With a single swipe of his arm, he sent Robin, Kevin, and Cyborg flying. Gwen got on one of her platforms to get a better shot at the Ninja. Starfire flew to join her, but the Ninja shot out a metal cord from his hand, entangling the two screaming girls.
Starfire! Gwen!
The Ninja grabbed the chord and gave it a swing. The girls went flying over Ben, landing near the others.
That was a mistake on the Ninja's part.
"That's it," Ben growled. "NOW I'm mad!"
He clenched his fist—which, unbeknownst to Ben, was glowing green—and swung his arm.
A green bolt of energy hit the Ninja in the face. He stumbled back slightly.
Did I just—? thought Ben. I got angry, and then I could throw those energy bolts! Maybe that's how it works!
"Want some more?" he asked the Ninja.
The response was the Ninja drawing his swords.
"Okay, you asked for it!"
Meanwhile, the others were recovering from being hit or thrown. Kevin was the first to realize what was going on.
What the…is that Ben attacking the Ninja? How's he throwing those bolts? He couldn't a second ago!
"Hey, guys! Look at Ben!"
They all looked with wide eyes.
"He is doing it!" cried Star, happily.
"I could use a little help over here, please!"
Ben didn't even look back them, knowing that would make him vulnerable. He was throwing starbolts at the Ninja's face, but that was barely slowing said villain down! He was continuously trying to block the attacks with his swords, but he was slowly approaching Ben.
"C'mon, let's go!"
The other five ran or, in Star's case, flew over to join the fight.
"Would you care for some more?"
Star threw her starbolts the bad guy's face as well. The second barrage forced the Ninja to stop advancing and drop his swords. He continued to try to block, this time with his arms.
"Here I come!"
Gwen ran up on her platforms to throw her energy bolts. The Ninja started to back up again.
"Let's take him out!" shouted Kevin.
The three who were throwing energy stopped just before the stone-covered hero delivered a devastating uppercut. He actually knocked the Ninja's helmet clean off the armor, revealing a somewhat-stunned bald man inside.
"Comin' through!"
Robin ran past the others and behind the stumbling villain. He threw a device onto the powered armor similar to that, which had used on Gizmo's backpack quite some time before.
"My turn!"
Cyborg had the honors of running up and delivering the final blow, square on the Ninja's chest.
CRASH!
The Ninja fell backwards, landed on his back, and groaned.
"Booyah!" shouted Cyborg.
"You said it, Cyborg!" Kevin replied, looking at stunned Knight in the now-powered-down armor.
The former reverted to normal.
"So THAT'S what it meant!" said Ben, still in Tamaranean form. "I can turn into a…a…I gotta get a nickname."
Star looked puzzled.
"Just a thing I do with all of my aliens. I give them some nickname like Big Chill or Swampfire."
"Ohhh!"
"One thing, though; how do I look?"
Gwen pulled out a makeup container with a mirror inside it from her pocket to show Ben.
"Whoa…"
He looked almost like himself except the following. First, his skin had turned the same golden color as Star's was. The whites of is eyes now had a greenish tinge to them. Finally, his hair looked a little redder than normal.
"So now that I'm one of you, Star," he said, turning to her, "what can you do?"
"I was somewhat hoping that you would ask!" she giggled. "In order to use your starbolts, you must feel righteous fury. But I think that you have already figured that out as you were using them before."
"Yeah, seeing Big Ugly throw you and Gwen away like that really got to me. So how about flight?"
"Unbridled joy will enable you to take flight. A joyous memory can help you in this way."
"Let me think…"
Ben closed his eyes and tried to think of what Star had suggested.
Which one should I—oh, I know!
In this one, Ben was in cave. A cloaked figure sat in from of a fire. Ben started to talk to this man, who in turn, much to Ben's surprise, offered a bowl of his "famous centipede gumbo", lowering his hood to reveal his face. A face Ben knew very well.
I can't believe it! He's alive?! But that Null Void grenade…
"Wonderful, wonderful!"
Ben opened his eyes to see what Star was talking about.
He was hovering.
"This is so cool!"
"You are amazing! You have mastered those powers faster than when Raven and I were switched!"
Hearing the word "Raven", Robin suddenly remembered why they had come that way.
"Oh, no!" shouted Robin, his eyes widening. "Raven and Beast Boy!"
"They coulda used their powers on that Imitator thingamajig while we was fightin'!" realized Cyborg. "We gotta get it there!"
"So what'r'we waitin' for?" asked Kevin. "Let's do it!"
He touched the side of the wall and then charged at the door.
A/N: Okay, left at a cliffhanger...again. This chapter really went through rewriting; I actually was planning to make this chapter longer, but 2,000 words is long enough, don't you think? Feel free to tell me what you think, and be ready for the next chatper.
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