Not A Second Time Chapter 1: New Beginnings
Moon Comix: Here is the newest Story from MOON COMIX! Hello new time readers and hi to the everlasting fans!
Robin: please don't mind him; he ate A LOT of sugar!
Starfire: yes, he is, as Robin said, above the clouds on sugar
Moon Comix: CHEESE! HAIL THE CHEESE!
Robin: we should take over, Comix here doesn't own Teen Titans, except Sonic, Dark Reflections and Dark Reflections Songs and other things that aren't in the show
Starfire: he also wished to say that he does not own Maroon 5 but he does own the 'wik-ed' gwee-tar in it
Robin: don't even try to think about it
Moon Comix: WHO LET THE DOGS OUT!
Robin and Starfire: sigh
Summary: Friends, that's what Sonic needs. Trust, that's what Sonic had. Music, that's what Sonic's about. Sonic's the newest Titan and he has a good life, but he also has big secret. One that will ruin his life forever and his life is darkening with every step he takes towards his goal. His goal, that's the one thing on his mind. And he won't go back. Not a second time.
Robin: Enjoy!
A/N: This is in place of Season 5 and it's a few months after Trigon.
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Four sets of footsteps pounded in the large puddles left by the torrential rain. One was ahead of the others, his footsteps softer than the others; the other three were about ten meters behind the other one. The first one, who was younger than the others, growled as he saw them out the back of his eye and spun round on the spot, his arms out in front of him, wrists together, and a determined look on his face. Facing him, the three others didn't notice what he was doing until they were basically in his face.
"TAKE THIS!" the boy cried and the air in front of his hands rippled. The men were thrown back, not too far, and one of them grasped their ears. By the time they had gotten back together, the one they were chasing had run on.
"Come on!" cried the leader, extending a long pole and running after, the other two followed.
The boy looked back; cursing at the fact they had regained their speed, and spotted what was ahead. He grinned and grimaced at the same time and jumped.
Water rushed around his entire body. Cold waves lapping over him, the currant pulling him under and it felt like the cold was slapping him in the face. His eyes then burst open and he felt the air in his face. It was a marvelous feeling but then he looked back. A big mistake. The three men were staring at him, growling and one of them threw something at him. The boy dived down and the item skimmed the soles of his feet, causing him to expel a couple of bubbles from his mouth.
Again he rose up for air and began to swim over to his destination, far away into the distance.
Back on the shore, the three men were discussing what had just happened, one of them with a worried voice.
"He will surely drown," one of them said, "we must leave him!"
"NO! He is heading for the Titans; we could head him off and capture him…. Or face the consequences!" cried the other with a scared sound to his speech.
"We will do neither. If we left him, he would reach the Titans and if we go after him, the Titans will surely stop us… they ARE powerful, even if they do not look it. I know from experience. We must report to the master," the last one, the leader, spoke and the other two had to follow suit.
They didn't look at the small figure of the teenage boy swimming in the lake. They didn't look back once.
---
"Stupid Cyborg and his non-non dairy waffles…. Now HE will be the one to pay, heh, heh, heh," a green boy with pointed ears and black hair was walking in the lounge, setting up his best prank yet. He was getting back at Cyborg for feeding him REAL waffles at breakfast, causing him to throw up in the bathroom. Beastboy knew that every Saturday morning, Cyborg would get up and play the Gamestation with his own controller. And when he did, the control would be stuck to his hands and make him smell like the rear end of a warthog.
"IT'S THE BEST PLAN EVER!" Beastboy cried in his mind, so not to wake the others and he was about to pour the glue over the back of the control when there was a great BANG at the door, "awwwwwwww man! ROBIN? DOOR!"
There was no answer, except for an exceptionally loud snore from Starfire.
"CYBORG?"
Again, no answer.
"STARFIRE?" Beastboy yelled, but was answered by a snore.
"RA….."
"Yell one more time and I will blow you out of the Tower," said the monotonic voice of Raven, causing Beastboy to jump.
"Oh… Raven! Heh, heh, heh, nice to see you!" Beastboy chuckled weakly, "oh look! The door! I'll just get that! Bye!"
The green boy ran as fast as his legs would carry him and when he was in front of the front door, he sighed and said, "man, does she had a temper. And who would be calling at three in the morning!"
The changeling pressed a button and the large doors opened, revealing nothing and no one. Beastboy was about to leave when he was hit with something, causing him to fall over.
"HEY! WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA!" he cried, before he saw movement in the water and a boy floating about half a mile away, apparently unconscious, "oh my god!"
Beastboy jumped into the water and swam as a dolphin to the boy, picking him up on his back and swimming back to the shore. He then tried to empty the boy's mouth of water, hoping he didn't have to use the CPR he knew. Beastboy was about to do the un-imaginable when the boy coughed and said three words.
"Help… me…. Please…." The boy managed before he passed out. Beastboy registered this and dragged him into the Tower, into the elevator and onto the couch. Then, he ran around the other Titan's rooms, knocking on their doors and getting them up.
When Starfire had been dragged out of her bed by the others, Beastboy explained exactly what had happened. Five minutes later, Robin nodded knowingly.
"So, he asked for help? It does sound a bit strange… so what do you guys think we should do with him?"
"We could lay him in the hospital, that way we can make sure he stays safe AND we can keep a watch on him," suggested Cyborg.
"And we could take it in turns of guarding the new boy," said Starfire.
"PLEASE! Can we help him?" begged Beastboy, on his knees, "and in turn, keep him?"
"I dunno," said Raven and Robin at the same time.
"We'll see what he wants when he wakes up," said Raven and walked away.
"But he might just be pretending and hack into our computers while we sleep," Robin said cautiously.
"No, dude, he seemed pretty sincere when he passed out," said Beastboy and started shaking the boy, "WAKE UP! WAKEY WAKEY! See, out like Raven's light bulbs."
Beastboy began to choke as a black ring appeared around his neck.
"I'm sorry," he croaked and he massaged his throat when the ring vanished, "koo, koo!"
"For that, Beastboy can take my shift in guarding," Raven said from the door to the bedrooms.
"DAMN IT!"
"You know what BB," said Cyborg, "for the glue prank you were gonna play on me, you can have MY shift too!"
"But Raven has a reason for me to do more than one shift!"
"Why thank you, friend Beastboy, for suggesting to take all of our shifts," said Starfire as she flew off to her room, followed by Robin.
"The least you dudes could do is help me move him!"
Cyborg held the new boy over his shoulder and carried him to the hospital, "here, I'll set the door to lock on the outside, thanks again BB!"
"I hate you all."
---
"WHAT! You didn't get him back!"
"We're sorry, master, he evaded us once again."
"SILENCE!"
One of them couldn't take it. The one that had wanted to go to the Titan's island made a break for the exit and then….. there was a bright flash of light and the cloaked man was on the ground, dead.
"Search his place!"
"Of course, master," said one.
"Do not fail me, or you will join him," was all the master said and the other two ran over the corpse of their fallen comrade, afraid they would end up the same as him.
---
The boy woke up in a panic. He was lying on a hard bed, not knowing where he was, and struggled to get out of the blankets and when he was out, he looked around. There were many machines that looked like they were used for medical things. And he spied a small mirror near the door, so, being a normal human, he looked at his reflection.
He had shoulder length brown hair with a bit of fringe which covered his blue eyes. His ears were barely visible because of his hair and he had a small, pointed nose. The boy was tall and had a thin, long sleeved t-shirt on his chest, over a white vest, and on his legs were a pair of jeans that were slightly faded. After finding his black trainers and putting them on, the boy picked up his sleeveless jacket and slipped it over his t-shirt.
The boy then walked over to the door and pushed on it. Nothing. There was no handle to pull so he looked for a control panel. He found it beside the door and after pushing a few buttons… nothing.
"Damn, that should have worked," muttered the boy. There was only one thing to do. He stepped back, put his hands out and concentrated. There was a noise, a few milliseconds of waiting and then the door exploded.
Outside the door, Beastboy woke up with a start, "LADIES! THE SIGNING ISN'T OVER! I mean, what just happened?" Then he saw the boy, "hey, you're awake! And you just busted our door!" Beastboy realized what had just happened and clenched his fists, ready to fight, "are you gonna try and kill me now?"
"Um… no," said the boy, scratching the side of his face, "how did I get in here?"
"Oh, so Rob was wrong… I'll go get the others, wait here, don't move and DON'T destroy anything." The changeling left a confused boy standing in the now destroyed doorway, only to pop back a second later, "remember I was right!"
Five minutes later, everyone was staring at the new boy, scaring him slightly, "um…. I AM a normal human you know… does anyone have any manners," he said this in a way that should have been more sarcastic but he was too tired to do that.
"So, you have no idea how you got into the tower?"
"No."
"Okay then!" said Beastboy, "introductions! I'm Beastboy, the lovable mean, green, changing machine!"
"Raven," was all the goth said, leaving the boy thinking that he had done something wrong.
"Hey, y'all! I'm Cyborg!" smiled the giant, metal man and the new boy shook hands with him.
"Salutations! I am Starfire, nice to meet you! Will you be my new friend?"
"Uh…. Sure, why not, can't have too many FRIENDS!" the boy yelled the last word when Starfire swooped down on him and pulled him into a back-breaking hug, "thanks, I just got that hip replaced."
Beastboy laughed at this with Cyborg but Starfire just let go and stood beside the other girl.
"And I'm Robin, how do you do?"
"Fine…. Thanks," the boy stared at Robin, a small smirk playing on his face but then the expression changed into one of recognition and shock.
There was a long silence before BB said, "so…. Who are you?"
"Yes! Please tell us who you are, where you came from and why you knew and preformed the ancient Tamaranian ritual of marriage?"
"What?" asked Robin.
"Covering yourself in water and sleeping in a pond!"
"Okay….. so who are you?" asked Cyborg.
"Oh, right!" the boy came out of his trance and rubbed the back of his head, messing up his hair, "could I tell you over a drink of water, or something?"
Robin nodded to Cyborg and the two boys led the way to the living room, followed by the new boy and the others. Cyborg opened the fridge and pulled out a small bottle of water, after moving some sodas and Starfire's Drink of Robnikch, throwing it to the boy.
The boy took a long drink and when he finished, he opened his mouth to tell his tail, "My name is Sonic, and I have a power, I love my power but I've hurt too many people in my past for me to be found by them," said Sonic and the others looked at him, amazed by this opening sentence, except for Raven who looked uninterested, "a couple of months ago I escaped from these people who were forcing me to work with them and ever since that time, I have been on the run. There were three of them, all in cloaks, and they all had weird weapons. Last night, I was in my apartment around midnight and the door burst open, the three guys came in and I had to jump out the window to get away. After climbing down the fire escape, I ran through the streets, they followed me, and I tried to use my power to throw them back but I got too tired. Later, I arrived at the lake that separates the mainland and your island and jumped in. I don't know how long it took for me to pass out, but with my last bit of energy I fired at your door. I fired again but I didn't hear it hit the door. The last thing I saw before I passed out was him," Sonic pointed at Beastboy, "then I woke up here. That's my story. But now that I think about it, I left some of my stuff back in my apartment, could you give me a ride?"
Beastboy was about to nod when Raven said, "you pass out on our front yard and now you think we're your chauffeurs! Whatever you want, I'm not going to be a part of it," she walked away to her room.
"Don't mind Raven, she's got issues," whispered Beastboy and Sonic sniggered.
"Yeah, we could take you to your apartment, but why don't you tell us more about yourself?" asked Robin.
"Dude, when we first met Raven, we knew NOTHING about her, let's just take him to his place!"
"Um… technically it's my old place," muttered Sonic and Starfire grabbed his arm, dragging him towards the rest of the tower.
"Come, friend Sonic, I shall take you on a tour of your new 'place'!"
"HOLD ON!" Robin jumped in front of the door, blocking the alien girl, "we don't know him!"
"Now Rob-Rob, we must help friend Sonic because he is in trouble!" smiled Starfire and Robin literally turned to jelly.
"Fine……….. Star-Star."
Starfire dragged Sonic through the door and Cyborg followed, saying something about showing him the security system.
"Uh…. What was that Rob-Rob thing about?" asked Beastboy.
"It's just a nickname…" said Robin, nervously.
"When Starfire calls him that, he turns to mush and she gets her way," came Ravens voice and she walked into the room, carrying her empty mug, "common knowledge Beastboy."
"Come on Rob-Rob, let's play some 'Mega Turbo Super Monkey Wrestling 3: Kick Your Tail'" smirked Beastboy and the two boys picked up the Gamestation controls.
One hour and three dead monkeys (all of them Robin's), Starfire and Cyborg returned to the lounge.
"And that concludes our tour," said Starfire and the three sat down on the couch, "what do you think, friend Sonic?"
"You have a nice place," said the long haired boy as he sat nervously, "um…. Can we go to my place now? I have some stuff that's really important to me there and if we wait too long, they'll trash it."
"I'LL DRIVE!" called Cyborg and Beastboy at the same time and the two raced down to the garage. The other four walked down at a slow pace to see Cyborg in the driver's seat and BB in the passenger seat, playing with the stereo system.
"Remember the deal, Cy," they heard the changeling say as they got nearer.
"Yeah, yeah, I can drive without you annoying me and I'll build you that moped," sighed the metal man as he tested the lights, to see if they were working.
"Score one for the green guy!"
Raven sniffed as Sonic walked past and Robin held the car door open for him, followed by Starfire. When Robin was about to say something to Raven, she interrupted him.
"I'm going no where with him," she said, "I'm staying here."
"Fine, but I just got that new Dark Reflections CD that you wanted installed," smirked Cyborg and he started the car, "see ya Rae!"
"Bye Raven!" called Sonic, not so loud because he was very tired but he was answered by a grunt.
"Do not mind friend Raven, she is….. complicated," smiled Starfire and Sonic just thought about the harsh look on her face, "she has had a….. how can I put this?"
"Bad situation with newbies," said Beastboy, after finding a CD he liked, "alright! Maroon 5!"
While Beastboy sang to one of his favorite songs, 'She Will Be Loved', everyone but Cyborg clamped their hands to their ears; the metal man in question turned his hearing off. After almost three minutes of terrible singing, Sonic tapped Cyborg on the shoulder and pointing into a street.
"There! Turn there!" cried the boy and Cyborg spun the wheel, "my apartment building is the one at the end."
In thirty seconds, Sonic was walking through the busted door of his old apartment, looking around at the wreckage.
"That's weird, the cops haven't been here yet," said Sonic and no one bothered to ask how he knew, "okay, could you guys help me look for a guitar, it's hopefully still on one piece!"
The apartment was small, but it looked as if it may have been cozy if it wasn't falling apart. There were sections of the carpet pulled up, tables in two pieces, chairs up-turned, a cracked TV and lots of ruined books. BB and Cy took the lounge and Rob and Star began to look in the study and bathroom, Sonic walked into the bedroom. He saw his bed that was cut in two, the drawers on the floor and clothes all over the place.
"Our search was unsuccessful," said Starfire as she floated into the room, "what is that, friend Sonic?"
Sonic hastily stuffed some black material and a strip of metal into a bag and turned around, a shocked look on his face, "um….. it's just a… a… blanket! Yeah, I've had it for ages."
Starfire smiled at him and flew back to Robin as Sonic blew a mushroom cloud of relief. Cyborg walked in a second later, holding a black electric guitar, "is this it?"
"YES! Thanks Cy! I can't believe they left it!" cheered Sonic and he clapped Cyborg on the back, "that's everything, unless…" Sonic trailed off as he stared at the drawers, his eyes widened as he saw a spark of gold, "thank God, it's here."
The others joined him in the bedroom and watched as Sonic picked up a small guitar key ring, "besides my guitar, this is the only material possession I care about."
Starfire looked at it, confused, "so… you cannot play the tunes on the miniature gwee-tar?"
Sonic laughed at this question, "no, Starfire, it's just for you to look at."
"Oh!" chuckled Starfire and they all began to laugh when there was a giant bang outside the window.
"What was that?" asked Sonic and Robin lead them all down the stairs. His question was answered by a second bang and sludge flying beside them, drenching the T-Car, "a mud monster?"
In the middle of a main road was a giant monster made completely of mud. It had no legs, it sailed along the ground on a trail of mud, it was extremely tall and had very long and very thick arms. Its face consisted of two large eyes and a very wide mouth, which was screaming.
"Azerath, Metrion, Zinthos!" came Raven's cry as she flew into view, "take this!"
"She must have seen it on the computers," said Cyborg before running out into the battle, "BOO-YA!"
"Beastboy, distract the arms, Starfire, go help Raven, Sonic," Robin paused when he got to the new boy, "stay here, you're too tired."
"But I can help!"
"No, just stay here and… I dunno, play your guitar, just stay safe."
Sonic growled as the masked hero jumped into the battle, not bothering to slip the guitar over his head and play. He ran over to the T-Car, moved some of the mud from a door and placed his guitar inside.
"Titans, GO!" cried Robin and he jumped into the air, punching the monster and getting his arm stuck. He shoved his other fist into the thing in an effort to get the other one out, after that failed, he kicked it and groaned.
"Didn't you ever read 'Brer Rabbit'?" cried Cyborg as he shot at the place Robin was stuck, the mud gave way and Robin fell to the ground but was caught by Starfire. Raven then floated to the mouth and tried to seal it with her powers but was knocked away by a flailing arm. Beastboy caught her on his back as a pterodactyl and flew her to the top of a building.
"Everybody off!" chuckled the changeling as he changed into himself and took off as a humming bird. Robin was now standing on the ground, firing his disks at the monster, causing it to freeze and harden in some places but it did no big effect.
Cyborg grabbed a street lamp and threw it in the things face and shot it along with Starfire but the mud creature swung at them and threw them into a wall.
"Stay away from my city of residence!" cried Starfire as she flew from the wall through the creature. Everyone cheered at this, including Sonic, but the monster laughed and sealed the hole with more mud.
"Why won't it go down?" yelled Raven as she lifted up a few cars and threw them at the creature, only to get them thrown back at her. She set up a shield but was still thrown back from the force. Beastboy would have caught her but he was too busy with one of the arms, "help!"
"I got ya!" Raven found herself in Sonics grip, on the ground. She sniffed as she pulled herself up and flew back into the fray, "no prob!"
Starfire had picked up Robin and dropped him on a hardened place on the head. There, Robin had drawn out his staff and was hitting the creature's head and was soon joined by Cyborg's shots.
The mud creature had suddenly shaken his head and the two teens had flown off it, landing on the ground in a heap.
"I got the Sonic," said Cyborg, grinning.
"And I got the Boom," smirked Robin. They called Starfire over to melt a couple of street lamps over to form a bit of a semi-circular roof.
"SONIC…" began the two, running up the sides, "…BOOM!"
Robin unleashed one of his disks as Cyborg took a shot at it. The disk exploded, shaking the monster, but after the explosion there was another gigantic BANG. The smoke cleared and the five teens saw Sonic standing there, panting heavily and holding his hands out in front of him. Then they looked at the monster and saw a bigger hole in it.
"Keep blasting it!" called Robin and Sonic fired up again.
"GIVE ME MORE NOISE!" yelled Sonic and Beastboy changed into a whale, using its song to Sonic's advantage, "time to make things go boom!"
Cyborg shot at the hole before it could close with Starfire and Raven while Sonic charged some more.
"TAKE THIS!" cried Sonic and he threw his hands out in front, sending ripples through the air and causing all of the people standing by to cover their ears. The monster roared in pain as the blasts hit its mark and Beastboy hit it with his tail. Robin threw some more disks as the other four shot at it some more.
"We did it!" yelled a now human Beastboy when all that was left of the monster was a couple of puddles and the mess on the T-Car, "way to go Son…"
The changeling was stopped in his tracks as the boy in question's knees buckled and he fell to the ground. The last thing he saw before it went black was Starfire's worried face.
---
"Did you find anything new?"
"No, master, but we will hunt the boy down, even if the Titans are protecting him."
"You must find him soon, or I WILL destroy you."
---
"So you DO live," chuckled Beastboy when Sonic walked through the door to the lounge, "you feelin' okay, dude?"
"What? Yeah, I'm good," said Sonic, still feeling woozy, "we won, right?"
"Yeah, thanks to you," said Cyborg, watching TV, "you pack some punch!"
"What did actually happen?" asked Robin as Sonic sat down, "soda?"
"My powers convert sound into physical mass so the more sound I have, the more powerful the shot is! But it tires me out a lot… so that's one thing I need to work on, and sure" said Sonic, taking the soda that Robin threw to him.
"Well at least you have SOME control," said Raven before going back to her book.
"Don't mind her," said Beastboy, "you have something else to worry about…" all of the remaining Titans, spare Raven, smiled as Robin held out a small, yellow device.
"Welcome to the Titans!" cheered Starfire as Sonic looked at the communicator.
"We could use a force like you," said Robin.
"And I need a new test subject," smirked Cyborg as he gave the new boy a nuggie.
"And I need a new subject for my amazing pranks," laughed BB.
"Just stay out of my room," said Raven as she walked away.
Sonic felt crestfallen at that last remark and asked if he had someplace to store his stuff.
"Try your room."
"I HAVE A ROOM!" yelled Sonic
"Yeah, it's right next to the gym," said Robin.
"WE HAVE A GYM!" he cried as he rushed into the dorm area. He found a door with the words 'Sonic' etched into it and opened it. Inside was a large bed, a wardrobe, his guitar and the bag that he took from his apartment. Sonic walked forward and heard a crinkling under his foot, it was a folded piece of paper. When he opened it, Sonic found a couple of words written.
It said, "Welcome to the team."
"Wow," said Sonic, half smiling, "I'm a Titan."
---
Outside, on a high hilltop looking down on the bay, two cloaked men jumped down, ready to go after their pray.
---
Robin: there, the first chapter done
Starfire: I enjoyed it! But Comix got some things wrong! The Tamaranian ritual of marriage isn't sleeping in a lake, it's sleeping in SLUDGE!
Moon Comix: NO! Starfire got my sugar! THE WORLD IS DOOMED!
Moon Comix and Robin run out of room screaming as Starfire flies around on a sugar high
Moon Comix: for the record, I got the ritual right!
Robin: Don't forget to review or you won't get to see the next chapter featuring an interview with Beastboy and Cyborg…… that should be funny, but to read it, you need to review!
Moon Comix: do what the masked weirdo says!
Author's Note: Hello, it's the sane Moon Comix here. I'm just here to tell you about a competition I have set up for this story. There is a link between the story title and the chapter titles. They are all song names, whoever reviews and tells me the most information (name of band or performer who sang it) will get mentioned in the last chapter of this story. This applies to every chapter, except the last one. Have fun and good luck!
Comix out!