//------------------------------// // Act 1: Depression Deepening // Story: (MLP-TEEN TITANS) We're Moving On. // by DakariKingMykan //------------------------------// ACT ONE The next morning, Spike stretched out over his basket, yawning and scratching his rear, “Morning, Twilight.” he said groggily, but then he noticed Twilight was not in her bed. “Twilight…?” He got up and figured there was only one place she could be: in the chamber where the mirror gate was, and she was checking all its systems to make certain everything was a-okay for her big trip. “Honestly, Twilight, not again…!” “Oh, good morning, Spike.” she said to him “I was just… um… making sure the calibrated matrix was… um… charging electrically.” Spike raised an eyebrow “That doesn’t make a bit of sense. Look, I know you’re excited about our trip coming up, but you don’t have to go all overboard about it.” Twilight sighed, “You’re right. I’m sorry… but sometimes I worry about this gateway. Sure, we can transport to Canterlot High whenever we want, but anything could still go wrong.” “Like what?” “Well, what if something strangely happened while we tried to use the gateway, and we found ourselves in a strange new world?” Spike felt that WAS a possibility, but he didn’t seem to concerned “Well something like that hasn’t happened, and if it does, it just means a new world to explore and understand, maybe make new friends.” Twilight’s eyes sparkled at the idea of such possibilities, but she decided not to go crazy about it and went off to get breakfast with Spike. Beast Boy finally emerged from his room and came into the lounge with the empty pizza box. “Friend…! You have emerged from your room.” cried Starfire, “And you have eaten all your pizza I see.” Beast Boy shook his head, “I didn’t know it was there until just now. It was empty was when I picked it up.” That’s when Silkie slumped forth, looking a little pudgy, and he belched and a few pizza crumbs flew from his mouth. “Anyway, I just came to get a bit of toast.” The others thought it was good he was out his room and eating again, but the sadness still remained on his fast. As he just stood there, buttering his single piece of toast with his back turned, the others decided to go for it. “Beast Boy…?” Robin said softly not wanting to sound pushy. “Look, I know you must be depressed and all, but it’s not good for you to stay like this.” Beast Boy sighed rather irritably. “I really don’t want to talk about it. I’ve already let Terra go, and I’ll try to move on, okay?” He then turned to head for the stairs and Starfire caught up to him, “Friend… we realize that this girl you may believe to be Terra has broken your heart, but you must realize that you are not alone. We wish to help you.” “Star… please, not now. I can’t take it.” Beast Boy said and he walked past her to head back to his room. Starfire hung her head low, and Robin comforted her. Cyborg and Raven shook their heads pitifully. “I’ve seen my shares of heartbreak,” said Cyborg “But somethin’ tells me, this ain’t like the rest.” Raven said nothing, not knowing what to say. Suddenly, the alarms went off, and Robin checked the console. “TITANS, MOVE OUT!!” he shouted, and they all dashed out of the lounge and down the hall. Beast Boy heard the alarms too, and decided to help his friends and not ditch them this time. “Are you sure you want to come?” Raven asked. “I’m The Teen Titan… that’s Who I Am.” was all he said. Raven thought it strange for him to say it like that, but she didn’t have time to question it. The Titans soon arrived on the scene, where a bunch of armed thugs were robbing from the bank during a shipment. The police and guards had all been stripped of their weapons and were now bound and gagged. “The Titans!” shouted the leader. “Titans, Go!” thundered Robin, and the Titans rushed into action. The men loaded their machine guns and began to fire all about, but the Titans scattered about and Robin threw his boomerang, knocking all the guns away. “Oh, yeah…?” thundered the leader, and he leapt forth with his knife ready to take on Robin and his staff, and he proved to be quite a skilled fighter, nothing for Robin to take. Starfire flew past two more thugs, zapping their knives out of their hands, and then flew back to give the two thugs a good kick, sending them hurling to the wall. BAM!! They were out cold. Another thug hopped into a huge fork lifter for hauling the gold and drove straight at Cyborg, “I’ll crush you like a tin-can!” He rammed on the acceleration, ramming Cyborg with the front of the lifter and heading straight for the wall to crush him, but Cyborg, grabbed the ends of the lift and bent them downward, catching the ground, and grinding the vehicle to a halt. “Ride’s over, pal!” Cyborg taunted at the thief, and then he leapt up and over to the cab and tackled the creep out. Two more thugs picked up two huge battering rams and charged at Raven like knights jousting, only for Raven to use her might power to bend the solid rammers and bind the two thugs together. Then there was Beast Boy, taking on the biggest, burliest, and nastiest of the thugs. “Come on, Greenie!” he taunted at Beast Boy. Beast Boy snuffed and began to charge, taking on the form of an elephant. The two brutes collided together-- this thug was actually strong enough to match the strength of a fully grown pachyderm-- the two continued to push against one another, until suddenly, right before Beast Boy’s eyes, he saw an image of Terra, and heard her utter those awful words! “Things Change, Beast Boy.” He began to go numb inside, and this allowed the thug to gain the upper hand and actually turn the elephant over on its side. Beast Boy changed back to his normal form, panting softly in anguish, but just as the thug tried to pounce on him, he changed into a leopard and dashed out of the way, then skidded to a halt and dashed back towards him a triceratops. But as he got nearer, Terra and those words bothered him again… “Things Change, Beast Boy.” “Things Change, Beast Boy.” “Things Change, Beast Boy.” He slowed down, and the thug punched him hard in the face, again in the side, and then actually grabbed the dino by the horns and actually threw it at the wall. Beast Boy changed into his normal self just as he hit the wall hard and fell flat on the ground. “Beast Boy!” cried Robin. “Somebody, help him!” shouted Cyborg, unfortunately, he and all the others were still dealing with the remaining thugs to get over and help him. Beast Boy lay on the ground, very numb and sore both inside and out as the huge thug stomped his way towards him. “Look at the so-called “hero.” he taunted “This isn’t going to look good on your resume. I bet even the most desperate of girls would love to dump you!” Beast Boy’s eyes snapped open at the mention of girls dumping…! “If any girl was dating you already, I bet this is why she dumped you, because you’re a sad and pathetic little runt!” Beast Boy, completely livid, bolted up right, and before the thug could react, Beast boy, as a T-Rex, had tail swatted him hard, sending him across the room. Beast Boy then turned into an angry bear, and with his rage now fully showing, he jumped on that thug and began to beat him to a pulp! “BEAST BOY…!!” Robin called to him, but Beast boy continued to mercilessly beat the thug up. Even the Titans could see he was going much too far, and Cyborg armed his Sonic Cannon, “Sorry about this, man.” and he fired, blasting the bear hard, knocking him off the unconscious thug and sent him crashed into wooden crates. All the thugs were beaten, and Robin freed the guards and police to apprehend them, but the Titans dashed over to the broken crates and found Beast Boy, in his human form, flat on his back, and crying with a look of intense fury and misery on his face, but again, it was all relating to his problem with Terra. “Beast Boy…” Starfire cried as she knelt down next to him. “I’m sorry…” he sobbed “I’m pathetic… useless… idiot!” “Oh…!” Starfire held him close, letting him cry. Cyborg joined in, holding both his friends close. “It’s okay, man… it’ll be okay. You’re not pathetic, don’t you believe that!” Beast Boy only wanted to cry his little heart out. He kept his eyes shut tightly, almost afraid to open them and face the world, but his tears continued to fall. Robin and Raven hated to see the sight of it, and yet looked at each other with looks of concern and dismay. Robin even shook his head pitifully. That night, when the Titans went home, Beast Boy was sleeping quietly on the sofa, but everyone knew he couldn’t go on like this. They all stood together by the lounge door. “I don’t know what to do with him.” said Robin “He’s just not getting over Terra, and I don’t think he’s in any condition to fight.” “And still he will not even speak with us of what has troubled him so.” said Starfire. Cyborg sighed “I can’t believe he thinks he’s so worthless. I don’t ever wanna hear him say that again.” “Maybe… we should get some professional help?” suggested Raven. The Titans were very skeptical and uneasy about that. “Look, we’ll give him just a little more time.” said Robin “and if he doesn’t show any sign of improvement, then we’ll call someone.” Starfire felt a turn in each of her nine stomachs. “They will not… lock him in the room of the white, with the cells which are padded?” Robin gave her a remorseful look, which suggested it was possible. “He needs help, Star. We can’t let him go on like this, he’ll hurt himself.” For now, everyone just left him to sleep alone in the lounge. Late in the night, Beast Boy awoke. His head aches, his eyes were burning, and he felt really hot. “I’ve gotta get some air…” and he went to the back windows, opened one up, changed into an eagle, and flew off towards the city. The night was calm and quiet, and he didn’t feel so hot anymore, but he still felt plenty upset, especially when he looked down and noticed he was flying over the Murakami School where Terra attended. The school was all quiet and closed up for the night, but looking at it brought on those bad images yet again. So he flew away to find someplace else to chill. Meanwhile, Raven tossed and turned in her bed. She couldn’t seem to fall asleep; too worried about Beast Boy and the way he was behaving. Now she herself was starting to lose it, and she knew that was dangerous. “I need to meditate.” She decided the best place to go was in her own mind to be alone with her thoughts and think of how to deal with Beast Boy’s troubles. She crossed to her dresser and took out the magic mirror from a drawer, which was the portal into her mind. As she chanted her spell to activate the mirror, the light of the full moon shone through her window and hit the mirror itself, making it glow mysteriously. “Huh?” At the same time, Twilight and Spike were getting ready for bed. “Tomorrow’s the day.” Twilight said with giddy. “Yeah, yeah… you’ve only reminded me so many times.” Spike grumbled to himself. On their way to their shared bedroom, they passed by the doors leading to the mirror chamber, and Twilight noticed odd lights shining from the crack under the door. She opened up the door, and gasped…! The mirror gate was glowing rather oddly. “What’s happening to it?” she wondered, and she tried and tried to shut it down, but it wouldn’t stop glowing. Spike came into the room, “What now?” he asked. “Something’s wrong with the mirror gate.” Spike then noticed out the window that full moon was glowing, “Hey, how many full moons has it been since the last one?” “I don’t know, about thirty I guess…” Twilight then suddenly realized and remembered, “Of course! Every thirty moons the gate way opens up automatically.” She also realized that perhaps because of all the equipment and gadgets she had attached to the gate was messing it up. Raven couldn’t understand what was going on with her mirror, and she set it down on the floor. “That’s it! I’ve got to stop this… whatever it is. Azarath… Metrione… ZINTHOS!!” She blasted at the mirror with all she had, but the force seemed to go straight into the glass and didn’t shatter it. At the same time, the gate’s glass began to glow and eerie darkness, which came out and grabbed Twilight as she was in front of it. “Hey!” Twilight cried “Let me go!” “Twilight!!” cried Spike, and he watched to his horror as he friend was pulled back, through the mirror, “SPIKE…!!” “Twilight!!” cried Spike, and he dashed straight at the mirror, only to crash into the solid glass hard. The gateway was no longer glowing, and he knew nothing how to activate it again. Poor Spike pounded at the glass. “Twilight…! Twilight…?!! …TWILIGHT!!!!!” POW!! A bright flash flared, sending Raven tumbling backwards and landing on her bed, and got tangled up in the covers. She pulled herself out and caught her breath, but what she saw next made her eyes bulge and her mouth drop open! There, on the floor, was a large horse-like creature, with a lilac coat, a dark navy blue mane with pink streaks, a strange sparkling mark on her rump near her tail. She also had a pair of wings and a horn. Raven rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn’t dreaming, “A unicorn… in my room?” she said softly to herself. The creature began to awaken, and she groaned and called out, “Spike? Spike…?” Raven was even more amazed that this creature could talk too. “Where am I?” the creature wondered. “Um… in my room…” Raven answered. The creature turned and looked at Raven, and then all around the room. It was dark, in a creepy way, not just because it was night, and the looks of all the creepy artifacts, shelves of books, and how oddly the girl on the bed seemed. “I’ve got a feeling I’m not in Equestria anymore.”