Disclaimer: You know I really wish I could say I owned the Teen Titans...but you know dreams only last for a night.
(2 Months after the Events of the First Chapter)
"Alright team! It's training day! First we will have hand-to-hand lessons, then we'll have two people team pairings on the obstacle course!" Robin jeered in an excited tone. Starfire was tired but didn't let it show, Cyborg and BeastBoy simply fist bumped at the 'two people team pairings' part. With six members it was always him and Cyborg as partners now. Raven sat in front of the large landscape window meditating, while Arde was sitting on the sofa reading. "Everybody out!" Robin yelled as he headed for the elevator. Arde put down his book and walked towards the door, Raven followed soon after.
(Outside)
"Alright, Cy here made a new program that will match up the competitors for the hand-to-hand practice. So. Who's first?" Boy Wonder asked his cybernetic friend. Cyborg pulled out a small handheld device and pushed a button. Whirring and clicking could be heard as everyone awaited the results. "Looks like the first match is Arde versus Robin." Cyborg said trying to hide the excitement in his voice. During the two months that he had been here, Arde had not had to fight one villain hand-to-hand. He had decommissioned Cinderblock in under 10 minutes, which was quite the feat. Not only that but during a fight with Billy Numerous he had destroyed all of them single handedly with his bare hands. "Alright Arde, are you ready to beg for mercy yet?" Robin asked mockingly as he took his stance. The other Titans backed away to give them room. Arde kept quiet, as he took his own stance. His apparel had changed quite drastically, he still wore red, but they had insisted that he get rid of his coat. Now he wore black spandex like pants and a shirt of the same material that had a large wicked looking 'T' emblazoned on it. On his left hand was a black glove, on his right was a similar red one. He still wore his black combat boots. Starfire had insisted he get a haircut, so now instead of his usual mop of hair he had a simple cut. His hair only slightly draped down into his eyes. Robin waited a few moments before charging his friend. Arde didn't move as the Boy Wonder quickly closed the distance between them. Robin had begun to raise his fist to punch him when he fell to the ground. He couldn't feel his arm anymore. "Hey! No magic Arde!" Robin fumed holding his limp arm, "I didn't use magic." he muttered offended that his friend thought he would disregard the rules. "Cyborg?" Robin said looking for a conformation. "I understand what you must think dude, but the video replay doesn't show him using any form of magic..." he replied walking over to Robin. "Look." he said giving Robin the device. Robin peered down at the video that was playing before him. There he was charging Arde like he remembered, he glanced over the image of Arde expecting to see a red flash that would be magic but he didn't. All that was seen was a sudden blurry movement by Arde and Robin was lying on the ground. "What the..." Robin muttered under his breath. "How did you do that? Show me." he stated. "Alright." Arde had Robin stand in front of him. "Raise your fist." he instructed, Robin did as he was told. "Like this." Arde took a step forward with his right leg and slid it into his left, while Robin was confused from his sudden loss of balance Arde took his right hand slammed it into the joint of his shoulder causing his arm to temporarily go numb. "I get it now. Thanks for teaching me that, it could come in handy later." Robin said. "Alright, Cy, who's ne-" Robin began but was cut off as a shadow enveloped the entire island. "Hello again duckies!" a voice called from what seemed to be nowhere. "Mad Mod." Raven muttered beneath her breath. "Mad who?" Arde asked looking back at the empath. "He's a crazy guy with a cane BeastBoy answered from near Cyborg."Oh. "Arde said accepting the simple minded answer. Robin looked up expecting to see Mad Mod hovering above them somehow. Instead of this he saw instead a large Gothic style building. "Guys move!" Robin yelled as he saw the building began to drop down on top of them. BeastBoy tried turning into a cheetah and running to safety before he realized that the building was just as large, if not larger than the entire island itself. The Titans could do nothing but try and shield themselves as the giant building came down upon them.
Arde groaned as his eyes began to blink open. "Keep them closed." he heard a voice command him. "Raven? Why?" he mumbled forcing his eyes shut. "Hypno screens" she said in monotone. "What?" he asked he couldn't help but open his eyes. It took him a second but eventually his eyes adjusted to the bright lights in the room. He seemed to be in a classroom of sorts, both the floors and the walls were white. In front of him there was a strange screen in front that swirled around. Arde tried not to look away but his head was held in place. By what he did not know. He looked down to see that he was in a chair but his arms and legs were being held down by wooden restraints. "Raven?" he called looking for his comrade. "Up here." she muttered from above him. Arde struggled with his head restraints but eventually managed to look towards the ceiling, Raven was hanging by her feet like a bat from the ceiling. "Oh. Well ummm how's it hanging?" he tried with a laugh. "Jokes are not your strong point. You're worse than BeastBoy." she said in monotone. "You're right, but anyway shouldn't we be getting out of here?" he said not liking the closed space. "I can't move. Whatever Mod has me hanging from is restricting my powers." the empath explained. "Oh. I could probably break these if I tried..." suggested the red clad boy. He tried to break his arms free from the restraints but found that the wood was stronger than it seemed. "Why can't I move?" he asked no one in particular. Raven shrugged and tried to blow the hair from her face. "I have an idea." he muttered before closing his eyes. "Melvorak-" Arde began. His mantra was cut short when a booming British accented voice called out from a speaker in the room 'Oi! Come now my little duckies! We can't have you skipping class so early can we!?" no sooner than the voice was gone did the classroom burst to life. The screen began to open from the middle, from where two large statues baring resemblance to Mad Mod emerged. Raven gritted her teeth as she watched the statues slowly approach them "Get on with it." she told Arde. "Melvorak Vertith Sendros!" he yelled out as the chair along with his restraints exploded in a wave of heat. "Right then. Can we leave now?" he looked up at the blue clad girl. The statues had finally reached them and had begun to attack the teens. Raven could do little more than try to swing out of the way as Arde dealt with the troublesome blocks of stone. He charged the closest creation and tried to overpower it with strength alone. The statue turned to face him and lashed out at him with what appeared to be a cane. Arde dodged and raised his hand it glowed red and the statue began to float cloaked in a red aura. He swiftly moved his hand and sent the statue flying into his stone companion. "Hurry up and get me down before they get up." Raven called to him impatiently, Arde took to the air and looked for the source of Raven's restraints. All he could see was a brightly glowing ring of light around her ankles. "Hm..." he pondered looking at the object, "They're getting up!" she yelled back at her friend. "I'm going as fast as I can!" he replied as he muttered his mantra. The white object glowed red for a brief moment before dissipating back to its neutral shade. "It's not working!" he yelled as the statues got back to their feet, unable to think of another plan Arde removed his gloves and grabbed it with his bare hands. The ring was unbelievably stretchy but it was also rather hot. He pulled on it until the ring had grown enough for Raven to escape. "Alright move!" he ordered her as he let go. Raven did as she was told and dropped to the ground. Arde dropped down next to her as one of the statues threw a punch. He jumped backwards out of the way and raised his fists to fight. Raven had begun to attack the closest statue, leaving the remaining one for him to deal with. 'We don't have time to drag this fight out. We have to find the others.' Arde thought to himself as the statue approached. "Iudices, invoco perflammasexquiretiudicatur" he chanted. The floor began to shake before fire exploded from its surface. Arde gritted his teeth as he tried to keep the spell in effect long enough for the statues to be destroyed. The flames sought out their targets and soon the statues were consumed entirely by the raging inferno. Raven stood stunned as the flames began to seep back into the ground having turned the statues into piles of ash. Arde leaned forward on the edge of consciousness feeling entirely drained. "Let's get out of here and find the others." he panted as he began to walk towards the only door in the room. He walked outside to find himself inside of what looked like a castle. "Great." he muttered as Raven slipped his arm over her shoulder trying to keep him standing. "Well. We had better start walking." she said pointing to the stairs on the other side of the landing.
(In another room of Mod's Castle)
"Dude where are we?" BeastBoy mumbled as he walked around a giant black and white library. "Inside of another one of Mod's tricks." Robin replied looking about the room. "This no trick friend, simply another effort to teach you Titans a lesson!" the mad character stated from atop a high bookshelf. "Where are the others!?" the Boy Wonder demanded to know as he took a birdarang from his belt. "There in the middle of class my ducky! Ole Moddie is going to turn them into respectful students!" The villain laughed twirling his cane. Robin charged the villain and began climbing the bookshelf with ease. BeastBoy shifted into the form of a hummingbird and began to fly towards Mod, he had made it halfway up when a hypnoscreen appeared in front of him. "Wha-" BeastBoy began before he fell from the sky hypnotized. Mad Mod laughed as he lay drooling on the ground," Always was a good student that one" he prosed. Looking back down at the quickly approaching Robin he tapped his cane against the top of the shelf. Robin's eyes widened beneath his mask as he realized what was happening, the room had shifted causing everything to flip horizontally. Robin quickly sent his grappling hook into the side of the book case and launched himself at Mod. "Snotty little brat." Mad Mod stated as he observed the teen flying towards him. He dropped to the floor evading the boy wonder and ran out of a door at the back of the library. Robin landed on the back of the bookshelf and slammed his fists into it yelling in frustration. BeastBoy still lay on the ground mumbling. "Great. Now I have to get him to laugh." Robin muttered grabbing the green changeling and dragging him towards the door. The black haired teen looked around as he stepped into the hallway. Turning his head to the right he saw someone disappear around a corner. Throwing the dumbfounded shapeshifter over his shoulder he dashed off after the figure hoping it was the villain he was after. He turned the corner and immediately threw explosive disks at his target. Waiting for the smoke to clear he expected to see a stunned Mod. He was shocked when all he saw was to very clearly upset empaths. "Arde? Raven? Where were you guys...and Raven why you are holding him like that?" the confused Boy Wonder asked his friends hoping he hadn't interrupted anything...private. Raven immediately let go of her friend and allowed him to fall to his face realizing what Robin was thinking. "Ow..." mumbled the pained Arde as he stood up, "We got attacked by some of Mad Mod's minions in a classroom on the first floor." he said looking at their red faced leader. "What's up with you two?" he questioned seeing Raven's face held a similar expression. Robin shook his head and disregarded the thought, "Have you guys seen Cyborg or Starfire anywhere?" he asked hoping they had seen the Tamaranean girl. "No, I was about to ask you the same thing. What's wrong with BeastBoy?" he asked looking at the drooling changeling. "Hypnoscreen." the blue clad girl and Robin said in unison. "Know any good jokes?" Robin asked before tossing the disoriented shapeshifter at him. "Hmmmm..." Arde struggled trying to think of something BeastBoy liked. "What do you call a dumb carnivore?" he blurted out, suddenly the changeling jumped up laughing "a MEATHEAD"! He yelled "Dude everyone knows that one!" the changeling gloated. "Who cares? It worked didn't it?" Arde said in monotone before walking off. 'There's still two missing, the sooner we find Star and Cy the sooner we can get out of this ' he thought as he stalked down the hallway. "What's his problem?" BeastBoy questioned looking at Raven. "Apparently you." she muttered before dawning her hood and heading after him. Robin walked after her "C'mon BeastBoy, we still have to find the others." he stated looking back at him. BeastBoy shrugged it off and continued down the corridor with his friends. Arde was still walking down the hall when a bright green flash illuminated the area. "That has to be Starfire!" Robin exclaimed racing ahead of the team to find the source. Arde ran after his leader and prepared for battle once again, he was still pretty drained after using so much of his energy on the statues, he knew he wouldn't have the strength to do something like that again without some serious meditation first. They turned another corner and a luminescent green light could be seen from underneath a door at the end of the corridor. Robin raced towards it and kicked the door down without hesitation. "Starfire!" Robin yelled in terror, the Tamaranean princess was cornered with several of Mad Mod's robot henchmen surrounding her. She was destroying them with ease, but new ones were taking their place as quickly as she was dismantling them. The Boy Wonder raced toward the horde that was slowly overtaking his friend. "Titans Go!" he gave the command with a mixture of terror and urgency. BeastBoy charged ahead taking the form of a rhinoceros and head-butting a mass of the robots into a wall. Arde ran into the fray knowing he would be relying on his physical abilities for this fight. Raven looked at him as he ran away 'He's to fatigued to continue throwing around magic, it could kill him.' she thought sensing how drained he was. She could feel Timid worrying about him as she raced to Starfire's side in the middle of the crowd. Her friend was beginning to tire there was a longer interval of time between her starbolts. Raven grabbed a single robot using her powers to knock the others back. While the girls were fending off the robots from the inside, the guys were trying to destroy them from the outside. Robin was destroying them as quickly as possible using his bo staff as a lance and piercing them relentlessly. BeastBoy in the form of a Yeti was crushing them one by one with massive fists. Arde was still blocked off from using magic, even his heat magic wouldn't work. Eventually he found himself being approached by three of the massive robots. "Well this is just great." he muttered taking his fighting stance as they approached. The first robot raised its mechanical arm and Arde flinched as it folded back on itself. 'That's not a gun.' he tried to reassure himself as the cavity where its arm used to be glowed red, 'Well maybe it is a gun' he corrected himself as he dodged towards it, in hopes of evading the blast. It was then that he remembered the other robots, glancing at them he saw they had their guns aimed at him as well. "Shit..." he muttered knowing there was no way he could shield himself in time. Awaiting the inevitable he shut his eyes. He waited...and waited...and waited...nothing. Nothing happened. Either death was painless or...he wasn't dead. Arde dared to open his eyes and witnessed something that was quite possibly the most amazing thing he had ever seen. Raven was standing above him and they were surrounded by a dark shield. "Raven?" he muttered still confused. "Get up." she said in a slightly demonic tone. He did as he was told, seeing he was back on his feet she let her shield fade from around them just as BeastBoy had finished taking out the last of the robots surrounding them. Raven faltered on her feet as the effect of her overuse of power began to take its toll. Arde walked over to his comrade and let her fall into his side. "C'mon Raven, you shouldn't of done that. It takes you longer to recuperate than me and you know It." he said to the limp girl in his arms. "Shut up." she muttered to him trying to be rude, but her heart wasn't in it. Robin was checking on Starfire and bombarding her with questions like 'Are you okay' and 'anything broken?' The orange-skinned girl tried to keep up with his questions but eventually she just began to look irritated. "Do we not need to be looking for friend Cyborg?" she said trying to get Robin back on track. "Oh right." he stuttered beginning to re-focus. "Alright team. We're still missing a Titan. Starfire, you and BeastBoy try flying up the stairs and look for an exit, it looked like there were about two floors left. Arde, if you can look after Raven and still manage to fight you can go with me to search for Cyborg and Mod on this floor. If you two run into Mod on any of the upper floors, immediately call for back up." Robin gave his orders only looking away from Starfire when absolutely necessary. "That's it. Titans go!" he commanded realizing they were wasting time. BeastBoy, in the form of a hawk, flew towards the stairs with Starfire close behind him. Raven was now leaning her entire body into Arde's side. Her arm was draped over his shoulder and her face began to redden as she felt the heat from his hand on her side. Robin looked at the two and let a small chuckle escape his lips. He hadn't seen Raven this happy since the incident with Malchior. Although that had been very short lived, he hoped this would last much longer. They slowly searched every room on the corridor as they worked their way to the stairs. Cyborg was nowhere to be found. "I'll call Starfire, maybe they found him." Robin said taking out his T-Phone. Arde moved toward the black and white wall and let Raven sit down. "Do you feel any better yet?" he asked her standing in front of her. She nodded slowly not wanting to look at him. "You know you really didn't have to do that you." he told her running his hand through his dark hair. "You were in trouble. It's not like I could just let you die." she replied slightly annoyed at the gray skinned teen. "I wouldn't have died. I just didn't have enough time to put up a barrier. You didn't have to endanger yourself to save me." he told her sensing the change in her tone. "I didn't have a choice!" she yelled at him rising from the floor. Robin put his communicator back in his belt and looked over at Arde and Raven. "Starfire said that BeastBoy found Cyborg. His systems are shut down so they're guarding him while he reboots." he stated before pausing as he noticed how Raven was looking at Arde. It seemed as if she was trying to stare a hole through him. "Guys?" he mumbled before being met with a loud 'what' from the both of them. "Err, I was saying that the best plan of action would be to look for Mod while they wait for Cyborg to reboot." he finished as Raven started marching up the steps fuming at her friend. Arde sighed as he headed up after her. Robin shook his head as he followed the two with a confused expression.
"How long is this going to take!? I haven't eaten since breakfast!" BeastBoy groaned as he realized just how long they had been trapped in the mad villain's castle. "I am sorry friend BeastBoy, I will make you a traditional Tamaranean meal as soon as our home is back to the normal" she apologized to the green boy. "Um. Thanks Star but I think I'll just have tofu." he tried to break it to her as gently as possible, cooking for her friends made Starfire happy. BeastBoy looked over at his friend he looked dead but BeastBoy knew better because his robotic red eye was flashing. "C'mon Cy. I'm ready to eat so just hurry up and wake up already!" BeastBoy yelled at his still friend. "Friend Robin and the others are going to look for the Mad Mod" Starfire said half-heartedly. She was worried about Robin trying to fight someone so dangerous without her. BeastBoy began to grin as he noticed his friend beginning to move, it started with his arms. Soon Cyborg was standing straight up and grinning as well, "Booyah!' he yelled pouncing on BeastBoy and delivering a Wet Willy to his ear. "Dude! Not cool!" he retaliated running to Starfire. "Oh joyous day! Now we can go and help our friends defeat the Mad Mod!" she said rising even higher in the sky. Starfire was still jumping up and down when a loud explosion came from above them. Starfire's eyes widened as she imagined Robin being blown apart. She took of down the hall with Cyborg and BeastBoy who were trying to keep up with her without getting hurt.
Robin threw more explosive disks at the crazed villain. The more he threw the more the castle shook. "Careful you snotty little brat! Anymore of that and you'll take down Castle Moddie!" Mod yelled dodging the exploding projectiles. "That's the point." the masked teen replied taking more of the disks from his belt. While they were looking for Mod the three teens had come up with a plan to stop him. 'I'll attack him head on, that'll get him to flee.' Robin had said to Arde and Raven. 'While he's concentrated on me, Raven you trap him in a barrier. Arde since you can use magic you could probably manage to break through and grab the cane. If we have it we can catch Mad Mod and save the tower.' he finished explaining the plan. Now he realized the plan was slowly starting to fall apart. Robin was starting to run out of explosive disks and Mod was still not tired. 'We need the others here...but I can't risk going for the communicator now' Robin muttered under his breath, "Did someone call for back up!?" a loud obnoxious voice called from the door way. "Guys!" Robin exclaimed looking at the three other Titans. "Alright! Forget the plan! Why don't we show Mod what we learned guys!" Robin gave the order with renewed confidence. With the team now fully assembled it took seconds for them to get Mod cornered. "Well. It looks like you've caught old Moddie then doesn't it?" the villain said with a smile. "One thing I've learned about being in your traps, Mod, it that nothing is ever as it seems." the masked Titan replied to the villain. "Oh now we're starting to learn, aren't we duckies!?" he laughed with a crooked smile. Arde noticed something odd and began to take a closer look at the villain. There seemed to be a light coming from his head. He followed the light with his eyes to the ceiling of the castle. Upon further examination he noticed a small hole in the castle roof. "Guys look!" Arde called out to the team. Robin looked at the ceiling and eventually noticed what Arde had been talking about. "What!? No no no! Look at me duckies, look at me!" he yelled trying to distract the Boy Wonder. "BeastBoy go for it!" Robin called to the green changeling. He nodded at his leader and took off for the ceiling in the form of a humming bird. Mad Mod could do nothing more than watch as the changeling flew into the hole before shifting into a Tyrannosaurus Rex causing the castle to collapse around them from the ceiling down. "No!" Mod yelled as he began to dissipate revealing him to be a holographic replica. "Team let's get out of here and catch the real Mod!" Robin exclaimed. Starfire flew into the sky having grabbed Robin because of his absence of wings. BeastBoy turned into a Pterodactyl and latched onto Cyborgs shoulder carrying him into the sky. Raven and Arde simply flew after them. Soon the Titans found Mad Mod in a control room just outside of the castle that was hidden beneath the waves. Robin allowed the Titans to take a break after the events of the day. "Sooooooooo who wants burgers!?" Cyborg exclaimed to the team, "What?! No! First Star wanted me to eat her 'cooking' but now you expect me to eat meat!? I have been most of the things you eatbefore! Do you know what that's like?! It's like canon- canibla- can-" BeastBoy struggled for words. "Cannibalism." Raven finished. "Yeah! That! We're having tofu!" BeastBoy finished. "No one even likes that tofu crap!" Cy replied in a yell. "Wait. Friend BeastBoy, you do not like my cooking?" Starfire asked on the verge of tears. Arde walked off heading to his room, the last thing he heard was BeastBoy's desperate attempts to get the emotional Tamaranean to forgive him.
A/N: Wooo! Second chapter. Thanks to those who reviewed/favorited/followed. If you hated the first chapter I understand. It was written out of a sudden feeling of nostalgia and was meant to be a oneshot. Then I went back and watched the first two seasons (yes the first TWO seasons) of my favorite childhood show and realized how badly I messed it up. I realized how OOC Raven was. I realized how I totally botched the overall personality of the team as a whole even. I hope I managed to fix that in this chapter, it's more action-y and I dedicated myself to redeeming my mistakes. To those of you who loved it. I am glad you did and your reviews made me a happy snowman! I hope you will review on this chapter as well. Raven may be slightly OOC this time. The next chapter will be partially in Nevermore. So that was a spoiler like thing I'm sorry.
As for those who criticized my OC. Dedication takes a lifetime. (Or in this case 3 hours) He was not the best executed character of all time, but I did spend almost three hours thinking about what my character should be. I wrote down so many ideas before settling on the idea of Arde. So yes. It was 'arde' coming up with what you called rubbish. The name Arde was not something I merely pulled out of the dimmer recesses of my mind. If you cared to know the name Arde was a play on the latin words ardeo or ardere, which mean burn. I thought that would be a good name for a superhero who's abilities revolved around heat. Character construction is still in the process nonetheless, this character will be worked on throughout upcoming chapters. Those of you who would like to have an input in how he turns out feel free to PM me with your ideas. I would really appreciate it. Thanks for your time
I will be needing a main villain for an upcoming chapter so if you can tell me what All Time Low song I referenced you can pick the villain (it can even be an OC villain of your own)