"Just because you're evil on the inside, doesn't mean you can't look pretty on the outside." Mother said, pinching Raven's cheek. While Raven giggled happily, Naruto felt something snap in his mind.
"Mother!" He shouted angrily. "How could you say that?!"
Mother Mae-Eye blinked innocently. "Say what sweetie?"
"You- she- Raven's not Evil!" He managed. "She's not- You can't-" Mother, deciding enough was enough, thrust her spoon forward at lightning speeds, sending a large chunk of pie towards Naruto mouth. A split second before it passed through his lips, her form shimmered, revealing a grotesque green form beneath her kindly visage. In that moment, realized what was happening. She wasn't his mother, Kushina was! How dare she claim otherwise? She was using some sort of mind control on them, and he'd bet anything it had something to do with the pie.
He knew that, in these restrictive clothes, he would be unable to dodge in time. But there was something he could do; something he'd mastered to a degree no one else had. It was close, but he managed to pull it off right before he swallowed the foul food.
"Is everyone ready?" Mae-Eye asked.
"Yes Mother." The six Titans answered happily.
A flash of pink light transported everyone into the T-Car, with Mae-Eye at the wheel. Suddenly, the car started floating on a cloud of pink magic. "Weeeee!" She squealed as they flew out of the tower.
Back where the T-Car had been parked, the magic cleared, revealing someone laying on the floor. *Cough* *Cough* "Note to self: Do not breath in mysterious pink smoke." The figure said, sitting up. 'Kurama, what the hell is going on? ' C-Naruto thought. In Naruto's moment of clarity, hecreated a shadow clone hidden under the T-Car. The clone had remained hidden because he had no way of knowing how strong Mae-Eye's hold on the Titans was. What he did know was that she'd controlled him despite Kurama's presence, which should have made him immune to any form of mind-control. If he had to fight her, the boss, and his friends, he would lose. 'Kurama?' He asked again. The only response was that banging sound. With a sigh, C-Naruto entered his mindscape. "Are you… ok…?" He trailed off.
Before him stood a giant gingerbread dog kennel, with the door made of vertical candy cane bars spaced maybe a foot apart from each other. Kurama, the mightiest of Bijuu, had been stuffed inside the cramped space like a misbehaving puppy. He even had a black licorice muzzle. The most amazing thing though was that his fur was styled like a poodle's. "Phffff-" C-Kurama growled in warning, and Naruto tried to contain his laughter. "Are you- heh- are you okay there buddy?" C-Naruto asked as he approached the cage, only somewhat successful at masking his mirth. C-Kurama's only response was to growl louder, but he got the message. "Right, stupid question. Just- heh -just hang on. I'll get you out of the-" He snorted,"-candy." He walked to the side of the kennel to find that there was no latch. Instead, it was the remains of Kurama's original seal. As soon as he unlocked it, the door swung open.
Watching him wiggle out of his tight cage was funny enough, but when he pulled himself completely free to reveal that nine frilly pink bows adorned the tips of his tails, Naruto absolutely lost it. "HAHAHAHAHAHAH!"
Now that he could properly move his arms, C-Kurama angrily ripped off his muzzle. "I'm going destroy that bitch!" he roared. "She thought she could trap and humiliate ME! Well, she has another thing coming!" His roar would have been intimidating... if he didn't look like he was about to enter a dog show.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!" C-Naruto continued.
"SHUT UP BRAT!" He didn't. It took him about five minutes (two seconds in the real world), and much shouting to calm down. "Are you done?" C-Kurama asked, his curls and bows now gone.
"Yeah, I think I am." C-Naruto said, getting up.
"Finally!
"Now what happened to you? How did Mae-Eye trap you?" C-Naruto asked.
He growled. "When you first ate that horrible pie, I was… not prepared-"
"Sleeping." C-Naruto supplied.
C-Kurama ignored him. "- And before I could snap you out of it, she'd already made you reactivate the seal, which she then reinforced with her own magic. And then she had the audacity to muzzle me! The only thing I could do was ram the doors to get your attention! Which, I might add, you completely missed."
"Heh, sorry."
"Whatever, it's over. If you want to make it up to me, then use my power to go kill the witch. I don't care that we've been saving it; I will not stand for this humiliation! With my original still locked up, Naruto won't be able to stop you."
C-Naruto shook his head. "It won't work. Boss might just dispel me before we can do it. Besides, we don't kill anyone unless we have to."
"Then what do you suggest? Because Mae-Eye is not going to get away with this."
C-Naruto sat down to think. Only Boss shared the link with Raven, so that wasn't an option. Dispelling himself wouldn't work, it was clear the pies affected memory. What he needed was a way to talk to Boss without him knowing it was him, so that he could have time to talk some sense into him without being dispelled. C-Naruto snapped his fingers. "I've got it!"
C-Naruto exited Kurama Chakra Mode as he landed on the Mall roof, catching sight of the T-Car in the distance. 'Good. We beat them here.' He thought, sitting down.
'This is stupid. It will never work.' C-Kurama noted.
C-Naruto became completely still as he prepared to enter Sage-Mode. With all his practice since arriving her, he could gather enough Natural energy within ten seconds, even without Kurama's help. 'Of course it will.' As he gathered Natural Energy, he frowned. 'Kurama, do you feel that?' C-Naruto asked after he completed the process.
'I do, but you can't worry about it now. You're running out of time.'
He knew the Bijuu was right, the Titans were almost here. Still, it didn't mean he liked it. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." He said, creating fifteen clones. Then, everyone henged into someone C-Naruto knew was associated with the Hive but was currently absent: Billy Numerous. Due to his ability, Naruto had paid closer attention to him than most villains. I mean, come on! The dude ripped him off. As such, he was pretty sure he could impersonate him well enough. "You guys know what to do." They all nodded and jumped through the open ceiling to the mall courtyard. Five went directly to Jinx while the rest scattered into various stores on the first floor. As for C-Naruto, he snuck into an abandoned clothing store on the second floor and hid. The lights were off and the windows were tented, so no one was likely to see him,
The plan was simple. As long as the other clones didn't let boss enter Sage Mode, they would have the upper hand. Then, all they had to do was goad him into creating his own clones before throwing Boss to him. From there, he'd snap Naruto out of Mae-Eye's control.
While he waited, he thought about what he'd felt. Something was polluting the world's Natural Energy. This wasn't from car emissions or landscaping or anything like that. No, it was a faint, almost undetectable trace of demonic energy. It wasn't like Kurama's purified Chakra, or even his hateful Chakra from before they had become friends. This… this was pure evil. Thankfully, between small amount of it and his training with Kurama's Chakra, especially at the falls of truth, he'd been able to purify what he'd absorbed with relative ease.
His contemplations were cut off as Boss came flying through the open door, crashing into a rack of bikinis. Seriously, bikinis? He shook his head. 'Focus.' As soon as Boss stood up, C-Naruto tacked him to the ground and pinned him there with his superior strength by pressing his forearm against his neck. Luckily his arm was tied up by that ridiculous outfit Mae-Eye put them in. He had to wonder why Naruto hadn't just henged out of it.
"Who are you?" Boss ground from beneath him. "You aren't Billy."
"Well, aren't you the smart one." C-Naruto said, still using Billy's accent. 'Now Kurama!'
'On it!'
The original gasped as C-Kurama channeled his energy into him, disrupting his Chakra network. "Ugh." He groaned
'Did it work?' C-Naruto wondered. "Are you back boss?" If he wasn't, he had a very small window to knock him out and try again before he was dispelled.
"Yeah, I'm ok. Now, can you please get off me?" C-Naruto sighed in relief and did so. "Thanks for the save. Now-" Boss winced. "What is that banging! It won't shut up!"
C-Naruto grinned. "Oh, that's probably Kurama. I'd go let him out if I were you."
"Let him out?" He asked in confusion.
"You have to see it for yourself."
The original still looked confused, but complied and closed his eyes. Seconds later, he opened them and doubled over. "Sweet Kami! That's the best thing I've ever seen!" He got out through his laughter.
"I know right?" They both ignored the growls of their respective tenants.
"Anyway," Boss said as he calmed down. "Let's go free our friends."
C-Naruto froze mid-nod. "Too late," he said, dropping his henge to reveal that he was still in Sage-Mode. "Mae-Eye's on her way, and she's not happy."
They both frowned in thought. Going against an enemy who they knew could manipulate reality on a whim wasn't something they wanted to do while their friends were in the way. Suddenly, the original's eyes lit up. "Ok. Here's what we're going to do."
As soon as his clone hit the pavement, Naruto dispelled all of the non-Billy clones. With his Sage strength, C-Naruto had been able to rip that cursed suit off him. Fortunately, he still had his normal clothes on underneath it, though he was stuck with the boots until he got his sandals back. C-Naruto then henged to look exactly as Naruto had, including hiding his Sage-Mode. After that, it was a simple matter for Naruto to throw him out the door, and Naruto was free.
He may have thrown him a bit too hard, but C-Naruto had endured thanks to his increased durability. He watched through the tinted windows Mother swooped in and abslutely wreck the Hive Five, which Naruto found hilarious. At least he did, until his Billy clones dispelled once out of sight.
'This is bad.' Naruto thought as he received their memories, as well as their Sage Chakra. 'This had to be Trigon, right?' He'd only met the demon in Raven's visions, but the pollution felt similar enough to Slade's power that Naruto was confident in his assumption.
'Probably. Look kid, for now, focus on saving your friends. We can deal with this later.'
'I know, it's just-' He stopped when he noticed the fear on Starfire's face as Mae-Eye kissed her head. 'Does she know?' Naruto wondered.
'We're about to find out' Kurama said as Mae-Eye
They watched was Mae-Eye gave everyone a pie. Everyone but Starfire ate theirs, including C-Naruto and Raven. Now that his Kurama was prepared, C-Naruto was protected. As for Raven, Naruto had already tried to talk to her through their link, but to no avail. Kurama couldn't send chakra through the gate, and Naruto couldn't get close to it without being affected himself.
Starfire, though, didn't eat hers. Instead, she snuck over to the nearest trash can and threw it away. Thinking quickly, Naruto created another clone. It didn't wait for orders, immediately Henging into Starfire and substituting with her before anyone looked in her direction. He immediately clamped a hand over her mouth to prevent her from giving them away. "Stay calm. It's just me. Naruto." He whispered and was relieved when he saw the tension leave her. "I'm going to take my hand away now. Please don't yell." She nodded, and he did so.
"Friend Naruto?" She asked quietly as she turned to face him. "What are doing?"
"I'm saving you from Mother Mae-Eye." He gestured towards the window, where the six Titans, two of whom were clones, entered the T-Car and drove off. "Now we have to figure out have to save everyone else."
Starfire eyed him. "So you also know that the Mother Mae-Eye is not really our mother, but an evil witch that invaded our home and stolen our boogers and special books with the help of her enchanted pie?"
"Yep!"
"Phew." She sighed in relief.
That relief, however, was short lived. "What 'special books'?" Naruto asked.
"Nothing!" She said hastily.
Naruto considered her before shrugging it off. Knowing Starfire, she was just overreacting. For reasons that alluded Naruto, Kurama found this hilarious.
As Mae-Eye left the room, or in this case giant oven, C-Naruto had to wonder what her game was. So far, all Mae-Eye had done was feed them pie, and now she was tucking all of them into a giant pie-pan bed together. At least her nickname for him was Naru-berry, and not fishcake.
He nodded at fake-Starfire, and they each created a clone. Moving quietly so as to not wake them up, they each placed a hand over a Titan's and pulsed Kurama's Chakra. As they did so, all four had the same thought. 'I really hope Raven doesn't think we put her in that dress.'
"You know, I've seen a lot of crazy things, but this has got to be in the top ten." Naruto whispered to Starfire, who holding him by his hands. Titans Tower had been, for lack of a better term, candyfied. The island was made up of some sort of solid cotton candy, the trees were lollypops, and the tower was one giant gingerbread house. They were floating up against the ceiling, which had to be at least ten times its normal height, looking down at the kitchen.
They watched the giant Mae-Eye roll out an equally giant chunk of dough as she, like so many bad guys before her, explained her evil plan. "Love, love, love. I love love. Love keeps children close, and love keeps Mother strong." Naruto shuddered at her creepy laugh. "And now that they couldn't possibly love me more, I can extract all their sweet, nourishing affection by baking them with love." She laughed again, only this time with more crazy thrown into it.
"What are we waiting for?" Starfire whispered urgently. "We must free out friends!"
Naruto received a rush of memories and looked at her with his toad-like eyes. With whatever Trigon was up to, he didn't want to use Kurama's chakra unless he had to. Kurama had reluctantly agreed, as long as he promised to make her hurt. Naruto had no problem with that. She'd both insulted Raven and impersonated his mother. "Don't worry. They should be escaping right about…" The oven grate was crushed by a burst of black energy, before it shot out like a cannon and hit Mae-Eye in the back of the head.
"Hey!" She shouted.
"Now." Naruto finished in his normal voice. Starfire nodded, and hurled him down with all her strength.
"Who threw that?!" Mae-Eye shouted as she rounded on the oven, to see the four Titans standing there in all their glory. "Why I ought to- ARG!" She was cut off when Naruto slammed his heal down on her head.
"Take a nap!" Naruto shouted, flipping to his friends while she staggered back. "Hey guys." He greeted as Starfire joined them.
"YOU LITTLE BRATS!" Mae-Eye shouted. They all looked up to see her pointing her ominously glowing spoon at them.
"Titans! Go!" Robin ordered. They scattered, just barely avoiding the pink beam that shattered the oven.
Beast-Boy morphed into a Pterodactyl and flew right in her face. "No pets in the house!" She swung her spoon at him, which turned into a flyswatter. However, Beast-Boy was able to change into a hummingbird and fly through one of the holes. Instead of attacking her though, he flew over her head. While she was distracted, Starfire, Raven, and Cyborg launched a barrage of attacks at her, driving her back. "That's no way to treat your mother!" She demanded and swung her reformed spoon towards them, sending an arc of pink magic at them, forcing them to dodge.
She was still backpedaling though, and stepped right where Robin threw down several ice pellets. "Ahh!" Mae-Eye cried as she slipped. As soon as she began her decent, the Titans got out of there. Up on the massive table, three Naruto's stood, supporting a giant screeching orb of energy, bordered by four large blades of wind. "Ōdama Rasenshuriken!" They yelled in sync as threw the attack at her. As soon as it got close, four purple walls of energy burst into existence, trapping her with it.
"Noooo!" Mae-Eye screeched in pain as the attack hit her and expanded in a giant dome of countless microscopic blades of wind. The barrier bulged, but the four clones maintaining the Shishienjin held strong.
Eventually, the light faded, revealing a swirling cloud of pink smoke. "Dudes, I don't think it's over!" Beast-Boy warned.
Indeed, as the smoke began to coalesce within the barrier, which the clone thankfully hadn't released yet, Mae-Eye's voice echoed around the room. "It will never be over children. Mother will always be here for you."
When Naruto jumped down to join the others on the floor, Robin pounded his fist against his hand. "We need a new plan. Naruto, how long will the barrier hold?"
He shrugged. "I have no idea. If they were proper sealing tags, Kurama and I could keep it going indefinitely, but since all of my ink was turned into Chakra-conducting icing, it could fail at any time.
"I don't even know how we got into this mess." Cyborg said.
"It was that pie you brought us last night." Naruto told him. "According to Kurama, we released her when we ate it."
"Cyborg?" Robin asked slowly. "Where did you get that pie?"
"I was walking past a dark alley last night, and there was this weird, old gypsy who says, 'Mystical items at reasonable prices.' So I'm like, 'Cool! What should I get? Brain in a jar? Monkey's paw? Ooh, pie!'" Everyone stared at him in disbelief. He shrugged. "Seemed like a good idea at the time."
Robin looked over the group "All right, Titans. We know how Mother Mae-Eye got into our we need to think of a way to get her out."
Naruto was contemplating actually using Kurama's help, much to his glee, when Beast-Boy spoke. "How? It's not like we can stuff her back into a pie."
Robin smiled. "That's exactly what we'll do."
"I see it!" Beast-Boy yelled. Everyone followed his gaze to where Mae-Eye's wooden spoon had just reformed. Unfortunately, the rest of her had almost finished as well.
"Starfire, go!" Robin ordered. She nodded and flew along the ground at top speeds towards the barrier. Right when she was about to hit it, the clones holding it released it, allowing it to drop. She snatched the spoon and flew it over to the other side of the kitchen, where Raven had a giant pie suspended in midair.
But the barrier wasn't closing, and the pink ghostly form of Mae-Eye began to move after her. "Narutos, close the barrier!" Robin ordered.
"It's not working!" C1-Naruto yelled, gesturing to the blackened icing on the floor. "The release fried it!"
"Don't do it Sweetie! Just give Mother back her spoon!" Her voice echoed throughout the room.
"You are not our mother!" Starfire shouted, and plunged the spoon into giant pie.
"NOOOO!" Mae-Eye shrieked. Everything under her influence started spiraling towards the pastry, from the gingerbread walls to the oven, and even herself. "NOBODY LOVES ME!" She got out, before she was completely sucked in.
"So… she's trapped in the pie?" Beast-Boy asked as they all crowded around the normal sized pastry in ops.
Raven gave a noncommittal shrug. "Yeah, sure, why not?"
"And what are we to do with this evil confection?" Starfire questioned, concerned.
"We could eat it." Cyborg suggested. Everyone glared at him. "I'm just kidding!" He sniffed. "Mostly."
Robin grew a devious grin. "I have a better idea." He laid out his plan, but Naruto wasn't listening. Instead, he was focusing on the Natural energy around them. That Demonic energy… it had grown stronger. Not a lot, but it was definitely noticeable. And, now that he could feel more of it, he noticed that it wasn't trying to corrupt the everything. Instead, it was almost as if it was only attached to a part of the Earth's Natural Energy. It certainly wasn't here yesterday. Yesterday, when Robin wanted to tell them something important. Yesterday, when… a sinking feeling grew in his gut as everything clicked into place.
Someone placed a hand on his shoulder, bringing him back to the present. "Naruto, what's wrong?"
Naruto was about to tell her, when the sound of a bell rung over the speaker system. "Is that... a doorbell? We have a doorbell?" Beast-Boy asked.
"Of course we do." Cyborg hit several buttons on his arm monitor. "It's just no one ever uses it. Now let's see who's come to visit." The large monitor blinked to life, and everyone was left speechless as they saw who was at their front door.
There, ringing the Teen Titans doorbell, was none other than Harley Quinn. "Hey! Anyone home? I hope your creepy candy-land party's over, 'cause we've gotta talk!"