Hey, all. Just a story I've had for a while and finally got around to publishing. Enjoy! It's a bit Paper Mario-ish (but not a crossover!) just in the way that the chapters are set up just like the "chapters" in the story book (you'll know if you've played the game). R&R please.
I don't own Teen Titans, but I was thinking the other day about how mighty cool it'd be if I did...
Sunlight gleamed brilliantly in the bright, baby blue mid-afternoon sky. It was a beautiful day at Jump City. The sound of summertime ball games and children's laughing and playing filled the air. A gentle breeze blew amid the hot day and through the vivid emerald grass, creating a relaxed, easy-going, lazy atmosphere.
The Teen Titans were no exception. Seeing as Slade was gone for good, all other villains they had encountered were safely locked away, and they had gotten no new trouble alerts, they had decided to take the day off and go to the park for a picnic. Cyborg was busy making food for everyone on the portable grill they had brought. Starfire was telling a long, drawn-out tale from when she lived in Tamaran, her home planet, to Robin, who had an extremely bored look upon his face but was listening nonetheless. Raven was, as always whenever they went out, sitting quietly under the shade of a tree, reading a book. She occasionally tore her glance away from the book just long enough to throw some sort of sarcastic insult or another at Beast Boy, who was using a blow up beach ball and his changeling powers to entertain a group of small children before turning back into normal form and waggling his eyebrows at a couple of blonde teenaged "babes". Apparently, he was under the impression that "the ladies" liked men who were good with children, a philosophy to which Raven took no mercy in scorning upon. Yep, an ordinary and relaxing day for the Titans.
Cyborg began walking towards the picnic bench where Robin and Starfire were seated next to one another, a full plate of steaming hot food in one hand and a large bag of barbecue potato chips in the other.
"...And we were covered from head to foot in the grenthax's glorp! The smell was most revolting, of course, but the entire ordeal simply fascinating..." The innocent young alien girl continued to tell. Robin threw Cyborg a pleading glance. Cy took the hint and placed the food and chips on the table.
"C'mon, y'all! Lunch is ready!" He bellowed to the group, particularly Beast Boy and Raven in the short distance, who were now engaged in a heated argument and were tossing loud and offensive and sometimes vulgar insults back and forth. "We got burgers, hot dogs, and my personal favorite: Baby Back Ribs!" He said, hungrily eyeing the dishes in front of him before digging in.
"Hey Cy, did ya make those tofu dogs like I asked?" The green changeling asked just as hungrily, approaching the table and taking a seat next to Cyborg.
"Oh...you mean those ones over there?" Cyborg said slyly, gesturing over to the nearest trash receptacle. You could just barely see the package of tofu dogs brimming over of the top. BB turned pale for a second before turning his attention back to the large metallic man seated next to him.
"What the he—Dude! What was that for! That's a waste of perfectly good tofu! Now what am I supposed to eat?" BB yelled angrily.
"You could always have some real hotdogs...C'mon, you know you want 'em." Cyborg said in a singsong voice, holding the steaming plate to him temptingly, obviously satisfied with his shorter friend's reaction. BB turned greener than usual while waving his hands desperately in front of him, attempting to shoo the food away.
"Get it away from me! Are you kidding? There is no way I am going to eat that s—"
"Would the two of you give it a rest, already?" Came a low monotone from behind them. They turned around to see Raven walking toward them, her book tucked under one arm. "It's impossible to even think about getting any reading done with the two of you constantly acting like the idiots you are!" She snapped irritably before taking a seat on the other side of Cyborg.
"Well, we wouldn't have to argue so much if tofu-boy over there would just eat some normal food for once!" Cy said, more to Beast Boy than to Raven. BB glared at him heatedly.
"You call that stuff normal? Do you know where that's been? Do you know what that's been?" BB yelled indignantly.
"Guys..."
"At least it's not that over-manufactured soy crap." Cyborg retorted.
"Guys..."
"Fine, don't blame me when you die of a heart attack when you're 40."
"Why you little...YOU'RE GOING TO PAY FOR THAT YOU LITTLE GRASS STAIN!"
"GUYS!"
They both immediately fell silent and turned to Robin, who was looking at the small screen of his communicator, pushing buttons at a mile a minute. He looked up from the screen for a moment to glare at them.
"Now, if the two of you would ever can it every once in a while, you would have heard me say that there's been a break-in at the bank." Robin announced to the group professionally.
"Have the police any idea as to whom has performed this break-in?" Starfire questioned curiously, staring intently at Boy Wonder.
"No," Robin started, still madly punching away at the buttons on his communicator. "But we're going to find out. Titans, go!"
Mere minutes later, the T-car skidded to a halt in front of the bank. Robin immediately hopped out of the back seat first and bolted toward the entrance door, followed closely by Starfire, and then Beast Boy. Raven stepped out of the passenger's seat and ran to catch up with the rest of the team. Lastly followed by Cyborg, who had just finished securing the wheel lock on the steering wheel of the car and was now checking to make sure all the doors were locked. Raven turned back to see where he was, but rolled her eyes when she saw what he was doing and kept running to catch up with the others.
"Everything's going according to plan. The Titans—including the girl—are all in the building. They've fallen right into the trap." Came a voice from the shadows, speaking softly onto a communicator.
"Good." A deep, smooth voice on the other side replied. The voice was greatly distorted by static but comprehensible nonetheless. "Begin phase two."
The first man turned off the communicator and hid it before running through the back door into the building.
The five superheroes burst through the main entrance doors into the darkened museum, lead by Robin. A little off they saw a dark figure moving through the shadows.
"Listen here," he began, "we don't care who you are, but if you think you can get away with stealing, you obviously haven't met the Teen Titans." Robin started to call out to the moving shadow. The shadowed figure stepped under one of the dim overhead lights.
The man they saw wore a black spandex suit, covered mostly by silver-plated chest, leg, and arm armor, gloves, and boots. A glowing pale yellow button rested on his right glove. He had a mane of long black hair flowing down his back and framing the sides of his pale face. His expression was that of a smirk as he saw the Titans approaching him, ready to attack.
"Save your useless attacks, I'm not here to fight, nor to steal. There's no thing of any importance to me in this world." The man droned. His voice was dry and quite monotonous, but it had a cunning cut to it. "I've been sent here by the ruler of my world, and there is only one thing here that he wants. And I'm not leaving until I can get it for him." He said, his piercing glare directed intentionally right at Starfire. She emitted a loud gasp as Robin stepped protectively in front of her.
"You come anywhere near her, and I'll...I'll...AARG! Titans, Go!" Robin growled venomously, frustrated, and charging forward into the fight. Robin fought ferociously, aiming punches and kicks at the armored man. He simply projected himself a large yellow shield that surrounded him like an orb to avoid all of the attacks. Starfire and Beast Boy came up from behind him. Starfire started hurling Starbolts at the villain, while Beast Boy turned into an elephant to attempt to break down the shield. Cyborg and Raven were not too far off, Cyborg shooting energy blasts at him and Raven hurling pieces from the floor at the target. The shield was not in the least bit phased. After all of the attacks, a cloud of dust had formed from all the explosions. Out of the dust, five laser beams of bright red light shot out at each unsuspecting Titan, causing each of them to collapse on their knees in excruciating and blinding pain.
As the dust cleared a few seconds later, they could see the man emerge and approaching Starfire. He pushed the pale yellow button on his suit, opening a portal in the middle of the air. Starfire looked weakly up at the villain in front of her. She attempted to shoot him with her laser eyes, but the shiny armor only reflected the attack back on her. She shrieked in pain as her own attack backfired and hit her, before falling to the ground, unconscious. Robin's and everyone else's attention had been snagged by the shrill scream and he turned his head to see the unconscious Starfire being dragged into the portal.
"STAAAAR-FIIII-RRRRE!" He yelled furiously as he lunged and grasped onto one of her shiny purple boots. The others quickly rushed over and began to pull on Robin as well, but the force of the portal was too strong. They were all beginning to get sucked in. The last Robin saw of her was her slippery vinyl boot slipping itself from his grip and disappearing out of his sight by being swallowed in the light of the portal.
"NOOOOOOOOO!" Robin cried desperately. He gave up trying to resist the pull and dove in to where he had seen her moments before. The other three unsuspecting Titans who were tugging onto Robin at the time fell forward when he jumped, sucking them in as well.
The world turned into a whirlwind of swirling, blinding yellow light. The gravitational pull was throwing them downward into the endless tornado of yellow. Robin's spiky hair whipped violently around his face as he squinted his eyes open and attempted to see if he could make out any of the other Titans. He saw Cyborg a couple of feet away, struggling to hold out his hand to Robin. Robin grabbed onto it and saw Raven and Beast Boy, also struggling to stay connected against the violent, tornado-like wind. The four of them formed a chain, clinging desperately onto each other's hand for dear life. Below them, a small black hole appeared, growing wider and wider with each passing second. The group let out a chorus of differently pitched screams as they were sucked mercilessly into the black oblivion forming below them.
I hope you liked this little intro. After this comes the prologue, then the chapters. I've got my work cut out for me. I hope you all have liked this so far. I'll update ASAP.
Another note: If this villain did seem a bit like Warp from How Long is Forever, than, yes, in my first write he was going to be associated somehow with Warp. You will find out more about him in later chapters.