A Certain Powerful Teen Titan Book One; Dawn of the Dead (Old Version)

The Spellcaster

I do not own ACMI, ACSR, or Teen Titans

Ari was sitting on the couch watching TV. Thier pet maggot (Ew- disgusting) was resting beside her. It was drooling green dribble. She curled her lip in disgust, and scooted away. She turned to back to the massive television screen in front of her. 

It was some sort of soap opera. Ari hated soap operas. She fixed her gaze on the remote, and  telekinetically lifted it and sent it soaring towards her. It hit her in the head, and she winced. Then blushed, hoping nobody had seen her. Nobody-except the maggot- had seen her.

She picked it up, then pushed the channel+ button. With her mind. It turned to a cartoon, and Ari leaned back with her hands under her head. This was her kind of show! 

Ari remembered what Slade said;  Do something drastic

Ari looked around. Drastic, hmm? She grinned sinisterly. She had something drastic in mind. She used her telekinesis to bring a butcher knife into her hand. She then walked towards the maggot.

 “Um, Ari?” A voice said uncertainly. “What are you doing?” Ari turned around to see the confused face of Misaka Mikoto. Ari waved. “Hello, Railgun! It seems you caught me in the middle of my work.” She smiled evilly as her features began to change. Mikoto’s eyes widened in disgust as Ari’s breasts shrunk considerably, her lips grew thinner, her hair decreased in length and turned into a lighter shade, her eyes changed from their oval-shape to circle, and changed in color. Mikoto choked on her own breath, or so it seemed, as Ari stood in front of her.

 Well, you could hardly call her Ari anymore. There, standing in front of the Railgun, was a perfect copy of Mikoto. Every feature was just right. Suddenly, the fake Mikoto let out a screech.

 The other Level 5s and the Titans rushed in to see what was the mat6ter, and froze in shock. The fake Mikoto had a fear struck look in her gaze. “Ari turned herself to look like me!” she said. The real Mikoto shook her head wildly. “N-no! I didn’t!”  

 The others were watching with helpless looks on their faces. What do they do? 

One Mikoto turned towards Misaki. “Go on! Use your Meltdowner to get rid of her!” The espers froze as they realized her fatal mistake. The other Mikoto’s face filled with relief. Misaki grinned. “Sorry, Ari.” She whispered. “Wrong esper.” Mikoto/Ari’s face filled with true panic as she realized this was Mental Out.

 She turned tail and ran for the window. As she broke the glass with her fist, she changed back into herself. Ari looked back once to see a pained looked Gunha, then leapt out the window.

 _____________________________________________

“Tell me again why I have to do this?” Ari asked impatiently. She was on a plane to Academy City, talking to Slade on her communicator. She was out of Mikoto’s uniform and was in her usual skull attire; a purple sleeveless shirt with a black skull covering most of it, ripped black leggings with a purple mini skirt and black combat boots. Her hair was pulled into a side french braid, toes with a skull hair band.

 Slade sighed through his end. “You need to go pick up a magician. He’s from another dimension, and knows nothing of this world. We need him to cast the spell to put my plan into action. With his spell and Robin’s power, it will work.”

 “And one of us can’t cast the spell because….”

 “I can’t do it because when an esper uses magic, their blood vessels burst. And you can’t do it because whoever casts the spell dies instantly.”

 Ari rubbed her eyes with her spare hand. “Fine. But you said he has no idea why he’s here; how do I find him?”

 “Oh, trust me, you'll know.”