AN* see previous chapter for disclaimer
Pie
For five days since the Titans had come to terms with the approach of the end of the world Shinku trained them relentlessly and the signs were showing.
On the first day he had called the four to the training room where he ordered them to individually attack him. Cyborg went first and showed Shinku how much he had improved, with lots of new weapons that kept Shinku on his toes. When he finished defeating Cyborg he began his battle with Beast Boy, ordering him to fight in his most powerful form. His new form was that of a monster with shaggy fur and horns.
'If he had a whip like tail I'd say he was a devil.' Shinku thought as he dodged a clawed fist. He then slipped through all of his openings and pummeled him into the ground. After BB was Starfire who tried to blast him but Shinku simply blocked all of the starbolts. Once she paused he used the Demon Joust technique with the sheathe still on, which caused the sheathe to go flying into Starfire, sending her sprawling. Finally Robin came up to fight, creating the sword that he had used against Malchior. Shinku tested every ounce of swordplay that the Boy Wonder had and after he had seen everything knocked the weapon out of his hands, bringing the point of the Magus Sword to his throat.
"Dead." Shinku said as he lowered the blade "Overall not too bad, however far from where you need to be. Beast Boy, from now on I want you to train in that form with one hundred pound weights on each limb. This will increase that forms strength and speed. Cyborg, I want you to bring me all of the files on your systems; we are going to give you an upgrade. Starfire, I want you to practicing charging the starbolts, to learn how to increase their strength and destructive power. Robin, you and I will be practicing swordsmanship; staff fighting, and hand to hand combat. My hope is to expand upon your knowledge and make you a deadly force. Once I feel that you have mastered each of these areas we will move on to some more deadly techniques." The next four days were filled with hard training that they all thought would kill them, but none of them ever complained and hoped that they could grow strong enough to stop the end of the world.
One night Shinku went out to search for some parts that he wanted to have Cyborg use to update his systems with when he sensed magic being released.
'Odd. Magic is a rare gift, not many should be using it.' He thought as he walked through the town. Shinku spent the entire night and most of the morning going from building to building, gathering what he deemed necessary for the training that he had planned. By mid afternoon he heard the sounds of robbery taking place and went to observe how the titans would fight. He arrived to see that they were dressed oddly and were far from the level he had left them at.
'What in the world has happened?' he wondered as he watched them getting beat up. Sighing loud enough for the Titans and the criminals who had identified themselves as the H.I.V.E.F.I.V.E. to hear he stood up and leapt down to the ground to fight.
"Pitiful Titans. Apparently the past five days of training have left your skulls" he sighed as he faced the enemy.
"Who are you?" Gizmo shouted.
"Shinku." He grinned as he set aside the Magus Sword "And I am your worst nightmare." With that he struck, relying only on his normal hand to hand combat abilities he began to destroy the H.I.V.E.F.I.V.E. before they even knew what was going on. First he grabbed Mammoth and sent him flying across the market place while he dodged a missile from Gizmo. Leaping into the air he round housed kicked See-More into the rising Mammoth and landed in front of Jinx who was shocked at quickly he was moving.
"What are you?" she asked in shock.
"That would take too long to explain." Shinku grinned as he grabbed her and tossed her into the airborne Gizmo. Finally Private Hive attacked with his shield which Shinku avoided easily and finally, getting bored caught the shield and used it to flip him over his head and into the ground. Turning to look at the Titans he saw the T-Car being pulled up and some ugly three eyed, green skinned monster come out and heard all of the Titans but Starfire call her mother. She looked at him and seemed to contemplate something.
"You were the one that helped my children?" she asked.
"Yes. They are my friends, and students." He said as he picked up the magus sword.
"Well they haven't mentioned you." She retorted looking at the blade "And my children will not play with such a violent young man." With that she told the Titans to get in the car and to head home. Using his magic he tried to mentally contact Raven but was blocked by some odd pink haze.
"So that was the magic. This also explains why they aren't themselves." Shinku muttered "Starfire seems free though, so maybe I should help." With that he took to the roof tops and made his way to the tower which he saw had been transformed into gingerbread, with the ground as fluff and had candy cane and lollipop trees everywhere and a rainbow plastered to the sky.
"Magic. That must be the witch Mother Mae-Eye." Shinku said as he made his way into the tower, using every ounce of his sneaking skills to get through. He finally arrived to see the Titans being trapped in a large oven with gingerbread men coming to make sure they stayed in there. Waiting to see if Starfire would do something to help he sat down on the gigantic counter edge and waited. Though not for very long because soon the upper portion of the oven was sliced off and the other Titans started singing that Starfire was going to be in trouble.
"Allow me." Shinku said as he leapt down. Using the sheathe he smashed each one of them on the head, breaking the spell.
"What was that for?" Robin asked as he rubbed his head.
"Yeah… Hey why am I in a Bunny suit?" BB asked clearly confused.
"WHY AM I IN A DRESS?" Raven raged as Shinku used the Magus Sword to cut her out of it.
"Yellow is definitely not your color." Shinku grinned as he kissed her cheek "Good to have my beautiful demoness back." Once they were all prepared they made their way through the tower and learned how the witch had made her way in.
"Cyborg, when this is all over I am going to teach you why you never buy things from gypsies." Shinku sighed. Once they entered the living room they saw thousands of gingerbread people and Mother Mae-Eye.
"What naughty children." She tutted.
"Leave her to me. I need a good work out." Shinku grinned as he set his sword aside "Blaze" With the black flames burning he charged at the gigantic witch, deciding that he wasn't going to play nice. Leaping into the air and somersaulting multiple times while channeling the flames into one hand he struck while coming out of the somersault with his right hand extended out with a long extension of flames smashing down upon the ugly witch.
"Dragon's tail." He growled as she stumbled back. Then striking with all of his precision he prepared the Dragon's Fist to strike her full in the face. As he leapt up to her long nose he noticed the wooden spoon she carried, which seemed to glow with magical energy.
"Dragon's Fist!" he roared as all of the flames smashed into her face, causing her to disappear in a puff of smoke.
"Is she dead?" Raven asked.
"No. Only disembodied for the moment. But I know her weakness, the spoon she carries is the source of all her powers." He said as he leaned against the gigantic refrigerator to catch his breath.
"Alright. Then I have a plan." Robin said as he led the them out of the living room to where there was a gigantic pie, with the covering crust missing. Robin then explained his plan while Shinku moved out of sight to try and recover in case Robin's plan backfired.
Not five minutes later Mother Mae-Eye returned with hundreds of gingerbread and saw the Titans acting like her children again. As she leaned down to give Starfire a hug Beast Boy transformed into a bear and grabbed her face as Cyborg and Robin knocked the spoon from her hands and into the pie which caused the tower and the area around it to return to normal.
"So what should we do with it?" Raven asked looking at the pie.
"We should eat it." Cyborg said as he looked at it hungrily, causing everyone to glare at him "I'm just kidding."
"Actually I have an idea." Robin said as he handed Shinku the pie and whispered to him what to do.
"Robin, you evil genius." Shinku laughed as he teleported off. He appeared in front of the H.I.V.E.F.I.V.E.'s hideout. Knocking on the door and leaving the pie he teleported off letting them realize what had happened. As he returned he gave each of them a stern look.
"This is what happens when you buy things from Gypsies." He said "Since you managed to beat her I'll let you all off of training for today, but tomorrow expect to be puking up blood." Leaving the four with that chilling thought he walked off to his room. As he opened the door he saw Raven standing in his room staring at him.
"Yes?" he asked as he walked over.
"Why aren't you training me?" she asked, looking annoyed.
"That's what's bothering you. I already gave you your training regimen."
"What?"
"I told you to keep training to master the advanced form of your power. Once you do, then we will begin your true training." Shinku explained as sat on his bed "Your training can't begin until you have mastered that." Raven then walked over and kissed him.
"Thank you. What exactly will be my training?"
"That would be telling." Shinku grinned as he kissed her one more time "Now go get some rest. I'll see you in the morning." With that she left his room, pondering what her training that required her to master her advanced magic.
AN* Yes I know that this was mostly irrelavant but I like this episode since it was hilarious. So don't yell at me for putting this in.