Husky was able to ignore the man after a while. All he did was sit there and read, occasionally glancing over and smiling, but not really doing anything. Before he knew what he was doing, the young fish +anima was letting his mind wander. Wander back to what had happened... when? The day before? Several hours ago? It didn't seem like it'd been that long, but then he'd been unconscious, he was sure of that much.
"Tell us what happened," ordered Robin, watching the three strange children carefully.
"Well, we were on our way to visit Senri's uncle…" began Cooro.
—Flashback—
Cooro, Husky, Nana, and Senri were traveling again. It was nice staying with some of their friends, but the year they'd spent wandering, just the four of them, to places foreign and mysterious, had instilled in all of them a small bit of wanderlust. Nowadays, they went traveling at least once every few months. This time, they'd decided to visit the Kim-un-Ker, maybe spend some time with Senri's uncle. They hadn't parted on the best of terms, and Cooro said they should make up for it, though Senri didn't seem to care much.
After a long day's hiking through the mountains, they settled on a nice place to camp. Surrounded by forest, a large lake alongside, plenty of firewood, stones, and berry bushes. They quickly set to their own tasks, each with an experience brought on by months upon months of fending for themselves.
Senri and Nana went hunting. Nana would stun the animal with her sonar and Senri would quickly and effectively kill the animal and prepare its meat for dinner. They usually stuck to small game, like squirrels and rabbits, occasionally a snake or bird.
Cooro would gather fruit, nuts, and berries. He'd usually be done first, so afterwards he would collect firewood and get a nice campfire going, ready to roast whatever meat and fish they'd end up with for dinner, as well as keep them warm and safe overnight.
Husky undressed down to the tight black undershirt and pants he wore when diving. They didn't get in the way when he was swimming, and moreover the fabric they were made of dried quickly. As usual, he went spearfishing, armed only with a 3-foot spear(*) and his quick reflexes.
Cooro was just getting the fire started when a strange blue and green circle appeared in the sky. To Cooro's surprise, and delight, a door appeared in the center of it and creaked open. A man peeked his head out. As usual, when Cooro saw something interesting, he went to see it closer. He spread his black wings and leapt into the sky, flying over to the man, who was watching in awe.
"What is this thing?" asked Cooro excitedly, running his hands along the edge of the circle.
"A portal," said the blond-haired man. "I'm from another world."
"Why did you come here, then?"
"I'm a collector, and I've already obtained everything I want in my world."
"Cool! What are you looking for?"
"I don't really know yet. Can all people in your world fly?"
Cooro laughed. "No, just +anima with wings."
"+Anima?"
"Yeah! There's all sorts of us! We're usually kids. I'm a crow +anima!"
"How interesting! Would you like to come with me?"
"No thanks. I have my friends."
The man frowned. "What a pity." He glanced downwards, and noticed the lake below. And swimming in that lake, some sort of enormous fish. It broke the water, revealing the most beautiful child he'd ever seen, but when the child dived, he very clearly saw a beautiful fish tail instead of legs.
The collector's eyes grew huge and he stared. "A mermaid…" he whispered.
"Yeah, lots of people call Husky that. He really hates it, though."
The man from another world was no longer listening to Cooro. He turned around and leaned behind the door, pulling out something very strange looking. It was long and rounded, like a spear or javelin, but without a head, and it appeared to be hollow, of all things! Some sort of strange mechanical device was attached to a part that fit into the man's hand.
The man aimed the hollow end of the thing, and just about the time Cooro realized this was something bad, the man fired. A loud crack echoed through the forest for miles around.
Something struck Husky's back, and almost instantly the fish +anima floated to the surface, unmoving.
Cooro screamed and lunged at the man, but the man swung around the thing in his hands and cracked it against Cooro's head. The man was much stronger than he looked, and Cooro flew the good 20 feet or so to the land, banging painfully to the ground.
"NO!" Cooro screamed again, as the man set the weapon at his side and pulled out what looked like a fishing net. He dropped it into the water and quickly snared Husky, pulling his unconscious catch over to him. Cooro struggled to get up, but his arms trembled and his head swam.
Nana and Senri came running out of the forest and quickly saw the situation. Nana screamed in rage and took to the sky, her bat wings flapping. Senri helped Cooro up and glared at the man, who by now had pulled Husky up and settled the child in his arms. He pulled out something that looked like a much smaller version of the weapon he'd used on Husky and aimed it at the crazy bat-girl flying at him.
"Nana!" called Cooro desperately, shaking his head roughly to clear it. He quickly spread his wings and jumped into the sky. He grabbed Senri's arm and struggled to lift the much larger boy.
The man fired and Nana cried out as something that felt like a knife flashed past her leg, leaving a long scratch. She dodged quickly when the man aimed at her again.
"NANA!" called Cooro again. The man was backing up into the portal, and they'd lose him soon!
Nana realized what Cooro meant and flew back to help him carry Senri. The man aimed at them, then frowned and hefted Husky into a more secure position in his arms, casually tossing the small weapon to the side and turning back through the door. The portal started to shrink, and the door slowly began to shut.
The three children reached the door, and Senri lunged at it, his arm now a bear's, and used his brute strength to shove the thing open and hold it there, while Cooro and Nana swept through the door and after the man.
Senri growled dangerously and slammed the heavy door all the way open. He charged into the strange room, running quickly. Cooro and Nana had already disappeared from sight. He didn't pay much attention to the strange man, all covered in a strange outfit and with this stringy moustache, no matter what the man screamed at him while he pounded away at some blinking metal table.
Cooro and Nana ran after the man, but it was hard to fly inside the narrow hall of the building they were in. Running would still be slower though, especially with all the strangely dressed people running below them, staring and pointing and screaming. Some of those strange people even brought out more strange weapons, which Nana and Cooro had to dodge and weave to avoid.
They managed to just barely stay on the man's tail until he left the building. Thinking they'd finally have the advantage outside, Cooro and Nana dashed after him, only to see the man, Husky unconscious and resting in his arms, getting into some sort of… what was it called? They'd seen something like it in their travels before, and the man who'd built it had called it… a car, yes, that was it. But what they'd seen wasn't so pretty, and not nearly as big.
This 'car' was long and shiny black all over, even the windows! The door slammed shut behind the man, and the car took off at unimaginable speeds. Cooro and Nana flew after it, Senri charging out of the building and spotting them. He ran after them, his bear claw swinging at anyone who got in his way.
They couldn't catch up. In only a few minutes, the car turned onto something that a sign called a 'highway' and was out of sight in seconds.
Nana and Cooro sunk to the ground and cried, letting their anima forms disappear. Senri frowned, turned his arm back, and stoically gathered the children in his arms. He followed the highway all the way into the place called Jump City.
It was a very long walk, through a very strange place.
—Current—
Robin frowned at the children's story. This was a very serious situation, if someone had indeed crossed into another world and kidnapped a child. While strange, there was nothing about the children's story that was unbelievable, nothing they really hadn't come across before. It was not unknown for children with special abilities to be captured by collectors of various sorts.
"Your friend is a mermaid?" asked Beastboy, excitedly.
"A fish +anima," replied Nana. "But he's really, really pretty. I even thought he was a girl for a while."
"So +anima is what you call those with animal abilities in your world?" asked Cyborg.
"Yes," said Cooro, and gestured to his shoulder. "We get markings like this when we get our anima. Each person's is different." Senri held up his hand, and the Teen Titans saw he had a similar tattoo on it. While Cooro's tattoos vaguely resembled feathers, Senri's was a stylized version of a bear claw. They glanced at Nana, who blushed.
"Mine's on my back," she said, in embarrassment. "And… it's not pretty like Cooro's."
"Weren't you shot at?" asked Raven, her voice cold, but her eyes holding a trace of concern.
"Just a scratch," answered the cute girl, lifting her skirts just a little to show a long bloody line along the outside of her calf. "It's not bleeding anymore."
"Let me take a look at it," said Raven, leaning down next to the brave girl.
Robin turned to Cooro and Senri. "The man you described as the collector doesn't sound familiar at all, but can you describe the man in the control room a little better?"
Cooro frowned. "Where the portal led to? I just noticed a man with a weird moustache. I was too busy following the man with Husky."
Senri frowned and gestured with his hands, looking like he was shaping some sort strangely shaped hat, goggles, and stringy moustache.
"This suit covered his whole body?" asked Robin.
Senri nodded.
Robin scowled. "It sounds like Professor Chang. An interdimensional portal sounds like something right up his alley, especially if someone paid him for it."
Robin turned to look at the Titans. "Starfire, with me. We're going to go check out this warehouse. Cooro, if you could lead us? I'd like everyone else back at the Tower. Take care of Nana and see if you can narrow down a list of who this collector could be. Someone tall, blonde, with lots of money and too much time. Keep an eye out for any blogs or articles about a mermaid being discovered."
No matter how much Husky thought about it, the last thing he remembered was fishing for dinner in that lake. He was completely lost as to what had happened to his friends, to himself. Now that he was thinking better, he realized his back stung, but he couldn't see the spot, directly between his shoulder blades. He couldn't quite reach it either. Well, at least he didn't seem to have anything sticking out of him, or it would've smacked into one of the glass walls by now.
It wouldn't have helped if he could see. The only trace of his experience was a small red dot, a tiny trace of a dart gun that would fade inside of a day.
Husky licked his lips and forced the panic down. They're alright. Of course they're alright. Why wouldn't they be? The man doesn't seem too dangerous. He wouldn't… kill them. Surely not. I just have to focus on getting out of here. If I could just get some sort of weapon. A staff would be great. The man mentioned he'd open the top if I was good. I can pretend to be a good little pet for a while. I've done that before. And I only need to do it long enough to get him to open the lid…
His eyes scanned the room, looking for a weapon he could use when he escaped the tank.
(*) Note 1: Not a harpoon. I researched it and found out harpoons have barbed and usually detachable heads. I'm pretty sure Husky just uses a simple spear when he fishes.
Author's Note: Please review! This is my first crossover, and between two 'worlds' that I love very much, and I'd like to do it justice! Please help me spot any OOC moments/comments, and anything else that doesn't fit in with either world. This story will be taking place in the Teen Titan universe, not +Anima's, so I'm going to have to clear up what's foreign to our little +Anima heroes and what's familiar. Reading the +Anima series, there is some degree of mechanical technology, so I think most things short of TVs and computers they should be fine with.