Friendship is Failure #8: Teen Titans HSM V: Ways of Life

by DakariKingMykan

Act 13: Power Hungry!

The prisoners were still unable to free themselves from their bindings, and just as the villains had promised them, they had been sucked dry of all their magic.

“Those crazy fools!” snapped Sunset, “They’re meddling with powers they don’t understand! They could cause all kinds of trouble!”

Pinkie struggled and struggled to make the magic burst out of her, but she only looked like she was going to make her head burst.

“It’s no use, Pinkie. We have no magic.” said Applejack.

“Oh, I wasn’t trying to summon any magic.” said Pinkie “I was just trying to force out a sneeze stuck in my nose! AH-CHOO…!! There it goes.”

The others sighed irritably.

Suddenly, they could hear the sound of tapping along the celing. “What’s that?” whimpered Fluttershy.

Rainbow began to trembled, “Maybe… maybe its ghosts!”

Rarity, overwhelmed by the dramatics fainted softly, even if she was chained to the wall.

The tapping seemed to be coming from the vent shafts hanging from the ceiling, and suddenly… a grid panel fell from an opening in the middle of the room, and it fell to the floor. Everyone felt frightened, until Spike popped his head through the hole.

“Spike!” cried Twilight. Her little dog leapt through and landed with a thud on the floor, “Ouch!” he groaned, but he wasn’t really hurt. “Are you all okay? I heard everything.”

Celestia and Flash struggled to get Spike’s attention.

“Spike…” said Sunset “Go free Celestia and Flash-- chew through their ropes.”

Spike nodded and rushed over, “This isn’t going to my teeth any good.” He groaned, nevertheless he jumped into Celestia’s lap and began to gnaw at the ropes that bound her.

It was certainly rather careless of the villains to bind the girls with thick-chains while Celestia was bound with just plain ropes.

The villains were so blinded by their lust for power and dominance, they didn’t seem to take much notice in their obvious faults; they were too busy ogling the magical energy stored in the big tank in the main engine-room.

“All set…” said Janene “The weapons systems are linked to this energy.”

“Good…” said Jason “Then let’s see what this stuff can really do.”

The grownups allowed their daughters’ to have a shot at the controls, almost like a video game with joysticks that controlled the weapons-- like lasers

Meanwhile, Garfield was nearing Canterlot City, flying much higher than ever before. The winds were really starting to get at him. “I wish I hadn’t left my helmet and goggles behind.” he groaned to himself, and he thought back to the others chasing him, “Those dweebs are really gonna get it if I ever see them again!”

Suddenly, he thought he saw a flash of light in the distance. “What was that?” He knew it wasn’t lightning, there were no storm clouds.

There was another flash of light, and another, and as he got closer and the clouds departed from his view he could see a rather large zeppelin, firing multi-colored glowing balls of some strange energy towards the city below!

Everyone in town was just going about, minding their own business, when out form nowhere, these colored lights just shot at them creating mysterious happenings.

One little boy got struck by a beam of light that froze him still. He couldn’t seem to move an inch!

Another little girl was skipping down the street holding a balloon, when a beam shot the balloon and expanded it to giant size lifting the poor child off the ground. She let go of the string just in time before floating away but couldn’t understand it.

Other people whom were sitting in the city-park on a lovely sunny day were in quite a surprise…! A beam of light struck a single cloud above the park, which turned it into a huge and thick storm-cloud, and all at once it began to pour rain… only all over the park, but not anywhere else in the entire city; it was still perfectly sunny and warm.

Jackie and Jillian laughed hysterically at the effects they had caused. “This is too cool!” said Jackie. “Hey, let’s see what else this stuff can do.” said Jillian.

“Take it easy, girls.” said Joseph “We don’t want to overdo it, we’re just observing. Once we get the hang of this magic, we’ll use its power to ultimately gain control the world.”

His wife shuddered in delight of the aspects! “Just imagine it… all over people will quiver in fear at us. We’ll possess the power to manipulate weather, transmissions, even public health unless our demands are met, and even their best weapon defenses will never hold a candle to our power!”

Jason and Janene were finding it hard to contain their own excitement; they just had to break into song… and their colleagues and the girls joined in as well.

They were so busy singing, dancing and cackling away with their aspects, they didn’t realize that Garfield had landed his moped on the helicopter pad atop the zeppelin.

“I don’t know what’s going on here, but this is weird, and I’m going to find out what it is.” he said to himself.

He came to the only elevator lift that was only way inside, but it required an access-card to open.

“Ha! I was expecting something harder.” he chuckled. He got out a small toolkit from the moped’s seat compartment and hacked his way into the control box. Then, using his knowledge of computer systems and electronics, he was able to bypass the codes and activate the lift.

No alarms sounded either, “Very careless… and pathetic!” Garfield sneered as he hopped into the lift.

The villains were still too wrapped up in their own silly aspects and the song to even begin to guess of the infiltration.

They all shared a round of wicked laughter before returning to their own devices-- abusing the magic they had absorbed.

Meanwhile, all the prisoners were free-- Spike had freed Celestia after chewing through the ropes that bound her to the chair. Once she was free, she freed Flash from bondage. Then the both of them used the keys, which the villains had foolishly left behind in the brig, to free the girls from their chains.

“Whew! It feels great bein’ out of them chains, but now we gotta get outta here.” said Applejack.

Rainbow tried to slide the door open, but naturally as it needed an access card, it wouldn’t budge. “Um, Rainbow…” Twilight said holding up a tinkering kit she kept in her pocket, and she began to work at the key-lock “The sooner I can bypass the systems the sooner we can get out of here.”

“Uh, Twilight…” Flash said with a hint of negativity in his voice, “Even if we do get out of this room… we’re on a zeppelin, high up in the air, remember? How are we supposed to get off?”

“We can worry about that later.” said Sunset “We really have to stop the Ambers and the Dionnes. I really don’t think they understand what they’re getting into with all the magic.”

“Sunset is right…” agreed Celestia “The last time the magic was abused, there were terrible consequences we almost couldn’t control.”

Twilight looked regretful, remembering it was her fault that it happened, but she didn’t let it stop her completely and continued working on the lock, and all the more faster fearing what the villains were up to this very second!

Indeed, the villains were up to no good at all; firing more magical beams down onto Canterlot city and causing more messed up scenes and horrors!

Making a man and woman exchange heads on their respective bodies…

Changing the water network so people’s faucets spouted sand instead of water…

The news reported all the strange happenings occurring all across town, which alerted the United States Airforce to investigate!

A squad of jets flew in the vicinity of the villains’ zeppelin, and saw the beams of light being launched, which were the very source of the magical mishaps below.

“Attention!” the wing-leader called through his speaker at the zeppelin, “This is the U.S Airforce! You have been classified as a hostile craft. Cease your firing and surrender willingly!”

Onboard, the villains just laughed as they viewed the monitors of the squad. They wouldn’t dare shoot them down, not while they were soaring directly above the town-- it would cause major damage.

“This is your last chance!” shouted the wing-leader “Surrender, or take the consequences!”

“Ooh… I think they mean business.” hissed Jason “Girls, why don’t you show them that we mean business as well.”

Jackie and Jillian snickered and aimed their cursors at the jet fleet.

The wing-leader was about to order a warning shot to be fired, when the zeppelin fired several magic blasts at the squad, hitting each jet and causing different effects.

One jet turned into a giant butterfly, and the poor pilot found himself flailing all over trying to keep control.

Two more were teleported to the arctic, much to the pilots’ confusions and shocks!

The fourth jet’s weapons were replaced with trick weapons that spouted out confetti or banners that went “Bang”

And the wing-leader’s jet faced an actual attack magic, shooting the jet down and forcing the pilot to eject while his jet crashed down below forcing the citizens to flee.

CRASH!! The jet hit and exploded sending flaming debris all over the place!

The girls cackled and slapped each other a high-five. “This is too easy…” laughed Jackie. “Like taking candy from a bunch of no good kids.” added Jillian.

“…Well you’re no better!” shouted a voice. It was Garfield, holding a gun he had snared.

“YOU!!” the girls shouted.

“Hands up, all of you!” Garfield demanded! The villains did as they were told, and all six of them were most outraged. “How did you get in here?” snapped Joseph, “For that matter how did you even get in here?” added Jamie.

Garfield grinned cheekily, “For a bunch of rich snobs, you don’t pack enough strong security. I have a bigger challenge fighting the wolves than I do your guards.”

The adults viewed the monitors and saw their few security guards were unconscious in the hallways and lying on the floor, after Garfield had beaten them up, and stolen one of their key-cards and a gun.

“Huh!” said Jason “You certainly grown a lot over the years, young Garfield.”

Garfield, “Yeah, I remember you guys now. You worked on the same scientific expedition my parents did-- a bunch of no-good, sleazy scoundrels, always trying to bum other people off of their findings; especially my parents.”

The adults felt livid at the insult!

“Hey, you can’t talk to our folks like that!” snapped Jackie.

“Well, well, well…” snickered Garfield “So you two are their girls, huh? Like parents like daughters… you’re all pathetic!”

Everyone gasped, and Jillian looked ready for a brawl, “Why you stinking little--”

“Shut up!” Garfield snapped as he held up the gun. The villains were all backed against the wall with their hands up.

Janene suddenly noticed a small oilcan near her foot, used to help service the engines, and she formulated an idea. “You really are your parents’ child.” she said to him, “It’s pity that they perished in that flood, and you didn’t.”

Garfield reached up and lowered his shades, revealing his, still, bagged and burning eyes. “How do you know that? You and the rest of these clods were sent home from the basecamp for causing disruption in the camps! I remember it!”

Jason caught on to his wife’s plan, “Yes, I remember… your parents were working on that new substitution rocket fuel. Something we had been trying to create for years, and once again we were beaten to it!”

Joseph remembered that well, “We weren’t about to let anyone get ahead of us this time. We tried to buy it off your parents! We offered them a fortune for their formulas and secrets, but they wouldn’t budge! We continued to try and bargain for it, but were thrown out of the camp for our attitude!”

Garfield was beginning to get a sickly feeling in his stomach at where this was leading.

Jamie took over explaining, “Your parents made us laughingstocks, and we weren’t willing to let them get away with this. Fortunately they took you on that expedition into the Amazon to further their experiments. The perfect chance for us to get rid of them… so we took over construction of the new dam that was happening up river, and with our cunning and planning, the dam never stood a chance and burst, creating the massive torrent that swept through the jungle and hit your camp.”

Garfield felt his insides quivering, “You… You people…?! You’re the ones who caused that flood… and killed my parents?!!”

The adults all snickered. “It’s a pity you didn’t die either.” said Janene “It would’ve save you so much heart break and years of hardship.”

Overcome with rage and devastation of what he had just heard, Garfield was shaking in stun, shaken by his emotions… which gave Janene the perfect chance to kick the oilcan by her foot…!

The can struck Garfield hand hard, causing him to drop the gun-- while also spilling blobs of oil all over a covered engine unit-- “Get him!” shouted Jason, and the girls lunged forth, tackling the boy to the ground.

Within the brig, the prisoners heard all the rustling and smashing happening, echoing through the walls. “What’s that?” cried Fluttershy.

“It sounds like an army of cattle being hustled.” said Applejack. Of course that wasn’t likely, but the team felt they had to get out of the brig faster than ever. “How much longer, Twilight…?” Pinkie asked “I don’t think I can take it much longer!” she wasn’t kidding, she was shaking madly.

“I’ve almost got it!” cried Twilight, and suddenly, “There!” the control box bleeped, and the door swung open.

“Way to go, Twilight!” cried Flash.

She looked up at him and almost got lost in his eyes.

“Come on, let’s get out of here!” said Sunset “We’ve got to find our magic and get it back before something really bad happens!”

Everyone agreed and dashed out into the halls, but Twilight stopped a moment and grabbed one of the smashed lockets from the room, feeling it would be most needed!

“Hold him!” shouted Jospeh!

The girls punched Garfield hard and kicked him a few times to render him harmless, and then stood him up holding his arms tightly and stepping on both of his feet to hold him still!

Garfield fought valiantly against the two girls, but his outrage upon hearing the truth of how his parents died slowed him down a little, as well as his slight bit of weariness from his lack of sleep catching up to him.

The adults grabbed their own firearms from holsters in their jacket pockets. “Hold him!” shouted Jason.

The girls punched and kicked Garfield hard to render him harmless. They then forced him onto his feet, holding him by the arms and standing on each of his feet so he couldn’t move.

The villains snickered wickedly all pointing their guns at him.

“You murderers…!” Garfield shouted “…Megalomaniac Monsters!”

The villains didn’t seem to mind the insults this time, now that the tables had turned. “Any other words you’d like to dish at us…?” Jason acted, “No, really, go ahead… they’re going to be your last.”

Garfield suddenly realized, the wall behind him, and he knew the type of platting that was used and the kinds of pistols the villains held. “I wouldn’t shoot if were you, because even at that range, the bullets will pass right through me and ricochet off the metal and go all over the place!”

“He’s lying!” snapped Jackie.

“Yeah, blow his brains out!” sneered Jillian, but the parents realized Garfield was right, and they began to hesitate, much to their daughters’ anger. “Come on, shoot him!” shouted Jackie.

“We can’t!” snapped her mother “He’s right… we may damage the equipment!”

The girls, still not believing or even caring of such consequences, were growing more irate and Jillian saw the gun Garfield had dropped by her foot. She hastily grabbed it, “If you won’t shoot this geek, then I will!”

“Jillian!” snapped Joseph, “Don’t do it!” cried Jamie.

“Do it! Do it!” shouted Jackie.

“So long, Brat-Boy…!” Jillian sneered, holding the gun to Garfield’s chest, and she FIRED TWICE, striking him hard. Garfield SCREAMED in pain… but just as he promised, at such a close range, the bullets passed right through him, and bounced off the platting on the walls, flailing all over the room.

One of the two bullets struck the oily engine panel, resulting in a huge explosion, while the other bullet bounced along the walls and struck the glass of the container of magic…!

The magic BURST through the glass in a straight forward wave, straight at the teens. The girls screamed and dashed off; dropping Garfield’s dying body where it was as the magic struck him hard… and he screamed as his body was enveloped by the strong lights and the power began to infuse into him! “WHAT’S…HAPPENING…?! WHAT IS THIS?!!! NOOOOOO…!!!”

The villains all huddled together and watched in awe and horrors as he began to change shape and grow in size… Growing bigger and bigger…!

The ship gave a violent shake, nearly knocking everyone in halls about. “What was that?!” cried Rainbow.

“It felt like some kind of explosion!” cried Rarity.

A chill ran down Sunset’s spine, “Please… don’t tell me…!” she cried, but she and the others heard the sounds of the villains screaming coming from way down the hallway.

The villains were all backed into the corner of the engine room, face-to-face with a huge, snarling dragon! More than thirty feet tall-- being enough to near reach the celling of the engine room-- A wing-span of forty feet! He had dark green and black scales, razor sharp claws and fangs, large devil-like horns atop his head, spines upon that ran down his back, a scaly tail with a trident pointed tip!

He stepped forth, and let out a ferocious T-Rex-like roar that echoed all over the ship!