The Coolest Thing To Happen:

The Teen Titans/DragonBall Z Crossover

By

Teen Tyrant

Dedicated to all fans of Teen Titans and DragonBall Z. Thanks to Roeboot for letting me use her story as a foundation for my own.

Disclaimer: Teen Titans and DragonBall Z do not belong to me. If they did, there would be some major improvments. Not that there is anything wrong with them now, but I know of a few changes that would significantly boost their already phenomenal ratings.


Prologue

"Titans, Go!" With that shout, the five teenage superheroes sprang into action.

It was the middle of the day in Jump City, in the center of town. The greatest criminal in the city had sent his latest invasion of forces to destroy the city's protectors. All the people in the area had already run for shelter, knowing that these battles always ended in great destruction. They had become so common over the last couple of months that the citizens were beginning to become accustomed to them.

Facing the army of super robots marching down the middle of the street, each hero picked a target and began to attack.

Robin extended his staff and began to swipe away at one of the robots. The staff banged on its metal hide, but did not do any damage to it. Raising its large metal fist, the ten-foot tall black and copper robot swung down at the Boy Wonder, who managed to leap out of the way just before the fist slammed into the ground, breaking through the asphalt.

Robin landed on the hood of a car that had stopped at the street light, its occupants having abandoned it at the first sign of the army of robots. Looking at the result of the robot's attack, Robin gauged its strength to be roughly twenty times that of the ordinary kind of bot that they usually fought.

"Great. This is going to be fun." This of course was a sarcastic remark; this would be anything but fun.

Cyborg aimed his sonic cannon at the robot he faced and fired. The powerful combination of energy and sound waves slammed into the robot's chest, making it rock back on its metal feet. Cyborg ceased his attack, but the robot, instead of falling down, simply regained its balance. The robot opened its hand and faced its palm at Cyborg. With the sensors in his artificial eye, the cybernetic teenager knew that the robot was about to fire a blast of energy at him.

As he predicted, a stream of golden, superheated energy shot from a hole in the robot's palm. Using his own enhanced reflexes, Cyborg ducked to the side before the beam hit him. The beam continued on its way until it struck a parked car. The vehicle exploded into flames instantly.

Using the momentum from his dive away from danger, Cyborg rolled on the ground, hopped back up, then ran right up to the massive robot. Leaping into the air, he punched the robot right in its black and copper face with all his enhanced strength. The robot's face, split down the middle by its colors like the mask of the man who had created it, and it folded in. A crunching sound was heard from inside the robot's head.

Dropping to the ground and backing up a bit, Cyborg watched as the robot staggered on its feet, then finally called it quits and fell on its back, its programming fried.

Cyborg pumped his fist in the air. "Boo-yah!" he shouted in victory. But he knew better than to get cocky; there were plenty more of those bad boys around to deal with.

Raven focused her power, her eyes glowing white, her hands held out in the air.

"Azarath. Metrion. Zinthos!" she chanted, flinging her hands forward. Immediately, a robot was surrounded with a black energy substance which acted like a solid material. The robot was lifted into the air and thrown back, where it slammed into two more of its brethren. As Raven watched, the robots regained their footing and stood up again, a little dinged, but still very combat effective.

Cyborg shouted over to her. "Hey Raven! Hit them in the face next time! It's their weak point!" Raven nodded in understanding.

"I'll do that!" she shouted over to him.

Beast Boy stood his ground against one of Slade's super robots that was speeding up and coming straight for him.

"Come on, I'm ready to rumble!" the green skinned boy challenged the machine. When the robot came close enough, Beast Boy transformed into a green triceratops. Snorting, the dinosaur charged forward and slammed the two horns growing from its forehead into the robot's abdominal area. The horns pierced through the metal and exited the other side.

Beast Boy shook his dino head, trying to dislodge the machine from his horns, but the robot stayed fastened to his skull. Raising its metal arm, the robot smashed its fist into the dinosaur's head, causing Beast Boy to change back to normal and drop to his knees.

Holding his pounding head, Beast Boy looked up to see the huge black robot raise its fist again, about to bring it down on him.

"Umm…" Seeing it about to strike, Beast Boy turned into a large green gorilla. Bringing up a hand, he stopped the robot's punch… barely. The robot raised its other arm and tried to punch him again. Again he stopped it and kept both of its arms at bay. He tried to push its arms back at it, but Slade had made these things a lot stronger than his old style of robot. He'd had a great influence to design them on, after all. Beast Boy could barely hold its arms back, much less throw the metal creature away from him.

Flying above this battle scene, Starfire charged her starbolts, prepared to start hurling them at the robots attacking her friends. Seeing that Robin was having the most difficulty with his opponent, she targeted the robot he was fighting, deciding to destroy that one first.

Before she could fire a shot, three new robots jumped up into the air from behind the small army of robots on the ground. These ones were special. They were coated with the strongest armor Slade had at his disposal. They possessed incredible strength, specifically calibrated to counter Starfire's own Tamaranian might. They could also fly via the anti-gravity generators built into their bodies. In addition to all that, they came equipped with powerful electrostatic blasters that functioned by pulling electrons right out of the air, then focusing and magnifying them significantly.

"Arrraagh!" Starfire screamed in righteous fury as she flew at the robots and began to do battle with them. Punching one right in the face, Starfire felt the pain travel up her arm. It felt like punching a building!

"Ouch!" she yelped in surprise at the toughness of her opponents.

The three robots proceeded to throw punch after punch at the beautiful alien, and Starfire could barely dodge, their attacks were so fast. Twisting and turning in the air, Starfire managed to make her way below one of the robots. She quickly grabbed its leg and slammed it into another robot, knocking them both away for a moment as she thrust out her right leg and kicked the third robot in the stomach.

A loud clang reverberated through the air as Starfire's attack all but bounced off of the huge robot. Clutching her sore leg, Starfire backed away, flying a little higher to get away from her metal attackers.

The robots regrouped and looked up to her. Raising their hands to her, their palms began to glow a light blue color. The air took on a shimmering quality as the electrons were pulled from it and concentrated into the hands of the three robots. But gathering energy in their hands wasn't the only effect the pull of electrons from the air had. An unforeseen effect was triggered by it as well. Little did Starfire know that in the air above her head, a large portion of the sky began to swirl.

Their energy charges reaching their peak, the three robots fired their beams as one directly at Starfire.

"Eep!" Starfire squealed, a sound which would have been adorably cute at any point other than a life-threatening situation such as this. Starfire dove out of the path of the beams just in time. She felt the superheated blasts of electrical heat cut the air around her.

Starfire turned and watched the blasts travel higher into the air, and she finally noticed the swirling effect on the sky. When the beams reached that point of the sky, there was an eruption of light that could be seen from any point in Jump City. Starfire watched in awe as the swirling grew more intense. Finally, the sky seemed to open itself up, and there was suddenly a swirling blue vortex in the sky. Looking like the formation of a hurricane, the vortex turned clockwise in the air, surrounding a hole that seemed to lead to somewhere beyond the sky.

Starfire stared in shock at this sight. No. she thought. The portal. It has opened again!

Starfire had no time to ponder this further. She felt an extreme pain in the side of her face at that moment. The robots had resumed their attack and one had just punched her in the face.

Turning to them, Starfire began punching, kicking, and blocking their attacks, using every form of alien martial arts she had ever learned. As the robots continued their relentless assault, one delivered an uppercut to her chin. Starfire was propelled further into the sky, right towards the swirling vortex.

Down on the ground, the robots continued to press forward with their attack. Robin and Beast Boy were too busy dealing with their mechanized opponents to really wonder what was putting off that blue light, but Cyborg and Raven both looked up in time to see something they never thought they would see again. The portal was back.

As they watched, three flying robots drove Starfire right into the center of the vortex. They watched in horror as she disappeared inside, the three robots following right after her. NO! they both thought. There was no time to do anything about this, however, as more robots began to attack them. The battle resumed.

------

Inside the portal, Starfire continued to battle with the robots. All the while, she noted the blue light, the bubbles of energy and the material of time, all swirling around her.

No! It is happening again! It is happening exactly like last time! My friends! she thought in despair.

Turning around and flying towards the opposite end of this tunnel of dimensional fabric, Starfire attempted to out-fly her assailants. She would reach the other end and be ready to fight.

The light on the other end of the tunnel grew larger, until finally, Starfire broke through to the other side, feeling atmosphere around her once again.

Looking around the area, she saw that she was in the middle of a city with many buildings shaped liked domes. Many of the sky scrapers were all shafts that had a large round portion on top. Familiar. She knew where she was now. Turning around, Starfire watched the robots emerge from the portal. To her dismay, the portal closed once they were through, cutting her off. Again.

It was not surprising. It had happened like that the last time as well, and she had expected it to do the same this time. But it was still distressing. She was cut off from her friends once again. From Robin. There was no way to know how or when she could get back, and they needed her to help them.

Knowing that she could do little about it now, Starfire charged her starbolts, her eyes glowing green as she waited for her robotic attackers to reach her.

------

Inside the Capsule Corporation Headquarters building, three women were gathered in the kitchen. Chichi was showing Bulma and Number 18 some of her finer recipes. Having spent over twenty years cooking for Goku, then later for Gohan and Goten as well, she had learned a skill of cooking that was neigh unmatched. Neither Bulma nor 18 could cook anything halfway decent, and it was a wonder that either of them were able to sustain their families.

The men were outside on the balcony, talking about past battles no doubt. Vegeta and Krillin both had beers. Goku and Gohan had never really aquired a taste for beer, and so settled for fruit punch.

"And so the next thing I knew, I was standing in front of King Yemma's desk, and he's telling me that I'd been turned into a bar of chocolate and eaten by Majin Buu! As you can imagine, I was freaked. I mean, I'd been there before, several times, but never by being eaten." Krillin said to his companions.

Goku and Gohan started laughing. "Well," Goku began, "that was a lot less painful than the way some of us went out, you know." he said.

Vegeta nodded. "Yes. You had it easy. I had blow myself up to get to that damn office. And Yemma dared to keep me around for help. Hmph." Vegeta huffed, negative as always.

Gohan shook his head. "I didn't think I'd ever die in battle. I mean, you guys all died fighing Frieza and Cell, but I never got anything more than a broken bone here or there. When Buu blew up the earth, I was out cold. I didn't even feel it." he said to them.

And on they went, talking about their past experiences with life and death on the battlefield.

Inside the kitchen, Chichi was pulling the turkey from the oven.

"And viola! Its done. Now we just let it cool for a little bit and it will be ready to eat." she said. Bulma looked over the cooked bird carefully.

"And you're sure that it will come out alright if I follow those steps exactly?" she questioned.

Chichi nodded. "Oh yes. I've done this a hundred times, and Goku and the boys always enjoyed it."

18 smirked. "Your guys would enjoy eating anything short of the fungus that grows on a rock. And I wonder about that as it is." she said sarcastically.

The three women enjoyed a light giggle, thinking about the appetites of the Saiyans in Bulma and Chichi's families. 18 was just glad that Krillin and Marron didn't have stomachs like theirs.

Suddenly, from the living room, came the sound of the news anchor on the television. "Attention. In late breaking news that has reached this anchor's ears only a moment ago, we bring you live footage from the south district of West Capital City, where only moments ago, a disturbance was reported in the air above that section of town. Freddy, are you there?" the anchor asked.

The sound of another man's voice came over the speaker. "Yes, I am. I'm coming to you live from the south district of West Capital City and behind me is one of the most incredible things I've ever seen. It seems that there is some kind of a battle taking place in the air over town. What looks like a young red-haired woman is actually hovering in the air. This young lady seems to be fighting what appears to be a trio of flying robots. There have been reports of flashes of green light coming from the young woman. We'll zoom the camera in so that viewers can have a closer look."

The women in the kitchen all looked at each other for a moment, then headed into the living room to see what was going on.

A moment later, Bulma stuck her head out the door to the balcony. "You guys need to come in and see this." she said seriously to the four men.

Soon, all seven of them were standing in the living room, watching the TV. On it, the camera had zoomed in to show what looked like a pretty teenage girl fighting three robots. She was punching and kicking them with what was obviously considerable strength, taking into account how sturdy those robots must be and how much they moved back whenever she struck them.

Then she started shooting at them with green energy from her hands and eyes. While the blasts were obviously powerful, they seemed to have no serious effect on any of the robots.

None of them watching this were really shocked to see a flying girl who could summon and shoot energy. They had all seen that, and most of them had even done that themselves countless times. But this did raise some concern. Who was this girl? What were those robots? Did this mean trouble for them? And how panicked was the public over this spectacle?

Goku cocked his head to the side. "Gosh. I don't think that girl is going to win." he said, voicing concern.

Krillin nodded. "Maybe we should go help her?" he suggested.

Bulma turned to them. "That's a good idea. You should all go. Maybe you can find out what this is all about." she said.

Goku nodded. "Alright then. C'mon guys. Let's go see what's up." he said. Going over to the balcony door, Goku opened it, stepped out, then took off into the sky. Gohan, Vegeta, Krillin and Number 18 all following him.

------

At West Capital City Elementary school, the news had reached the ears of the faculty. A message was going around for all teachers to turn on the television sets in their classrooms, which all schools had started to do to be kept up to date on any emergencies that might arise in the city.

In one fourth grade class sat a young girl with blue eyes, which looked dark in the wrong light. She had golden hair done up in pigtails tied with red ribbons, and no nose that could be seen on her face. Although this was an odd feature that made her stand out, she was very pretty, and her lack of a nose only seemed to add to her cuteness. This was Marron, the one and only daughter of Krillin and Number 18.

Marron was the living, breathing definition of a miracle child. Her mother, being mostly machine with very little of her biological human body remaining, had been certain that having a child was beyond her. And yet, she had given birth to this adorable little girl. Marron was a person who, by all rights, should not exist, but did, and it made her all the more special to those who knew her.

Marron was bored this day. It was Thursday, and the universal rule of schools was that nothing important, exciting or special happened on Thursdays. Her teacher was at the door to the class, talking to another teacher who had knocked. Finishing their conversation, the teacher turned back to the room.

"Class, we're going to stop for a moment to take a look at the news. Something strange is supposed to be happening on it." She reached up and turned on the TV set affixed to the wall. Turning it to the right channel, the teacher stepped back to watch. On the TV, the news team was focused on a flying girl who was in battle with a pack of robots.

When the camera zoomed in to get a closer look, Marron instantly recognized the person on the screen. She sat up straight in her desk.

"Starfire!" she exclaimed, drawing the attention of the whole class.

------

In one of the fifth grade classes, a ten-year-old boy sat in his seat, bored for the same reasons Marron was. This boy had black eyes, wild black hair that stuck out in all directions, and a face that seemed to have never known sadness or anger, only perpetual happiness. This was Son Goten, the second son of Goku and Chichi.

Goten was the surprise child of his family. Not so much because of his arrival in this world, but because of the timing. His father had been killed in the battle against Cell, and Goten was born nine months later to the day. His father had left him with his mother the night just before the Cell Games. Yet despite not knowing his father until he was brought back to life seven years later, Goten was exactly like him in almost every way, from his physical appearance to his behavior, to his lack of knowledge about almost everything. Goten was the truest definition of someone who's stupidity only made him more loveable.

"Children, we are going to take a look at the news now. I've heard that something exciting is supposed to be happening over the city." the teacher said to the class. Turning on the TV, Goten saw what the news was showing, and his mouth dropped open. He slammed his hands down on his desk in surprise.

"Starfire?" he said in shock. The other students in the class all looked around at him.

------

In one of the sixth grade classes sat another boy, one year older than Goten. This boy had light purple hair, blue eyes, and a face that was incredibly handsome even at his young age. This child was the cutest, most adorable child to ever live, on this or any other world. Despite his youth, this boy was already sought after by almost every girl who had ever taken a look at him. His looks, voice, behavior and the fact that he was rich were all in his favor of making him the envy of everyone around him. Girls all loved him; boys all wished they were him. This was eleven-year-old Trunks Briefs, labeled and forever to be known, for better and for even better, as the Son of Vegeta and Bulma, a fact which Trunks never ceased to be proud of.

Trunks was purest example of a boy who was simply better. It didn't matter what you did, Trunks was better. Whether it was sports, school work, music, videogames, meaningless things like seeing who could hold their breath the longest, it didn't matter. The answer was always the same; Trunks was better at it than you.

On this day, however, even Trunks couldn't think up a better way to distract his mind from the ceaseless boredom of Thursday at school. He watched as his teacher reached up and turned on the TV set. Something about late-breaking news that could be an emergency that they should all be ready for. Whatever. There hadn't been any real emergencies around here since the defeat of Majin Buu. Well, other than that little incident four months ago, but that hardly counted as an emergency around here, didn't it.

But as Trunks watched the news, as he saw what was taking place in the sky over the city, he was suddenly taken back to that time four months ago. Déjà vu settled in as he saw a familiar girl with long red hair, throwing green energy bolts at a group of robots. Trunks stood up suddenly, his chair falling back.

"Starfire!" he said, unbelieving. Every eye in the room turned to him. Realizing the attention he had called to himself, Trunks blushed slightly at his sudden reaction. He needed to get out of here, fast.

He looked to his teacher. "I, uh… need to use the restroom." he said. His teacher nodded, and Trunks left the room, not running until he was out the door, his yellow and black boots hauling it once the classroom door was shut behind him, the legs of his jeans swishing against each other as he ran.

As he ran down the hall, heading past the lower grade classes, he saw two other doors open in front of him. His two best friends in the world, Goten and Marron, both stepped out into the hallway, turning to look in his direction as they heard his running footsteps. Trunks slid to a stop in front of them.

"Starfire's on TV!" the three kids shouted to each other.

"You guys saw her too?" Goten asked. Trunks and Marron nodded.

"What do you think she's doing here?" Marron asked her friends. Goten shrugged and Trunks shook his head.

"I don't know, but I bet it means trouble. She looked like she needed help." Trunks said to them.

Goten looked at him. "Maybe we should go help her." he said.

Trunks frowned. "Our parents are all supposed to be at my house today, right? Maybe they the news already. If they did, you can bet our dads went to find out what's happening. I'll call my mom and find out. If they haven't gone already, we can have them go now. They'd get there before us. Come on, let's go to the service phone."

The kids ran down the hall to the wall at the end, where a phone hung for students who needed to call their parents for transportation. Trunks took out a coin and slid it in, pushing the buttons for his home phone number. After a few rings, the other line picked up. It was his mother.

"Hello?" Bulma answered.

"Mom, its me. Listen, there's something happening on the news. Have you seen it?" Trunks asked.

"Yes, we were just watching it here. You're father went with Goku and the others to check it out."

Trunks turned to his companions and gave them a thumbs up.

"Good. Goten, Marron and I will be there soon to help them." he said, preparing to hang up the phone as soon as she said goodbye. He did not expect what he heard.

"Now wait a minute, what do you mean as soon as you get there? You're not going anywhere. You kids are going to stay there at school and finish your day like you're supposed to."

Trunks' mouth dropped open. "But Mom, we have to help them. You see-" he began, about to tell her why they had to go.

"They don't need your help Trunks. You kids go to school for reason and you are going to stay there until it lets out, do you understand?" Bulma said strictly. Trunks knew that there was no reasoning with her. Once Bulma Briefs made up her mind, woe be to the one who dare try to stand in her way.

Trunks sighed in irritation. "Fine. Can you at least call them and tell them something for me. Gohan has a cell phone, right?" he asked. He heard his mother turn away from the phone and ask Chichi if Gohan was carrying his cell phone.

Back on the line, Bulma answered. "Yes, he does."

Trunks sighed in relief. "Good. Call him and tell him that he and the others can't hurt Starfire. Attack those robots only." he said.

Bulma asked him, "Who's Starfire?"

Trunks groaned. He wasn't prepared to answer that whole question over the phone.

"She's the girl on the TV. The one fighting the robots. Look, Goten and Marron and I, we know her, okay. We've met her before. Don't ask about it right now, it'd take to long to explain. Just tell Gohan and the others to help her and then get her back to Capsule Corp. safe, okay?"

Bulma sounded confused. "Okay, I'll tell him, but you are going to have some explaining to do when you get home, mister." she said.

Trunks groaned again. "Sure Mom, we'll explain the whole thing then. Bye." He hung up the phone. Marron and Goten were staring at him intently.

"Well?" they asked. Trunks shook his head.

"They won't let us go help. We have to stay here until school is done." he told them.

"Oh, man." They both said, let down. This day was going to go by even slower now.

------

The five adults were flying over the city to the spot where the battle was taking place. They were flying a little high, so as not to draw attention themselves. A sudden ringing sound made them all stop in midair. Looking at Gohan, from whom the sound was coming, they watched as he pulled a small cell phone from his pocket. Opening it up, he put it to his ear.

"Hello?" he spoke into it. "Bulma? Yes, we're almost there now. What? He did? They do? How? Are you sure? Well, okay. Thanks, bye." he said, closing the phone and looking puzzled.

Goku tilted his head. "What is it Gohan?" he asked his son. Gohan looked at him and the others, frowning.

"Bulma just got a call from Trunks. The kids all saw the news report at school. Trunks told Bulma that they know the girl we saw on the news. He called her 'Firestar' or something. He said we have to help her and get her back to Capsule Corp." he informed them.

Vegeta frowned. "What? How does Trunks know this girl?" he demanded. Gohan shrugged.

"He didn't tell her. Said he'd explain it when he and the others got out of school."

Krillin crossed his arms. "Well, that's weird." Everyone nodded. Goku looked serious again.

"Well, whatever the deal is, we need to hurry up and go help that girl. Lets go." he said, and they flew off again.

------

Starfire was beginning to tire. These robots had been exceptionally well made. Slade had learned how to make them specifically to battle a Tamaranian. Every starbolt she threw did no damage that she could see, and her strength seemed to be ineffective against the special armor that they were made of. Still, she refused to give up.

Continuing to punch and kick at the three robots, she found herself surrounded on all sides by them. All three drew back their fists and threw their punches at her from three different directions. Starfire was able to get her hands up in time to block the punch from the first robot, then the second, but she did not have time to block the third. The robot's fist connected just under her chin, knocking her into a dazed state.

Starfire began to fall. She did not fall far before she felt herself be caught in a pair of strong arms. Looking up, she saw the face of a young man a few years older than her, looking down at her with concern. Although her vision was blurry, she could not help but think that there was something familiar about him. Did she know him? He then spoke to her.

"Don't worry, Miss. We're here to help you."

Gohan looked down at the girl in his arms. She was about 15 or 16 years old. She had long red hair and strange green eyes that had no white in them, only green. She wore a purple top, purple miniskirt, purple boots that went up to her thighs and strange gloves with a green stone on the back of them. She appeared to be exhausted from fighting. Looking up, Gohan watched the others as they battled the robots that had been attacking her.

Goku was dodging the punches from the robot he faced easily. It moved way too slow compared to what he was used to fighting.

"Come on, is that the best you can do?" he asked the robot, not really expecting an answer. The robot threw another punch at him, but this time, Goku stopped it and countered with his own. His fist hit the robot in the chest and he felt the bone in his hand reverberate from the impact with the metal.

"Wow. Guess I'm going to have to hit a little harder." Making good on his promise, Goku punched again, putting a great deal of force behind this one. The robot shattered from the waist up, its metal pieces falling to the ground below like a pile of junk dropped from a plane.

"Well, that was a letdown." he complained, not really getting as much of a fight as his Saiyan blood had been anticipating.

Vegeta wasn't having any more fun than Goku. He'd been blocking the attacks of this pathetic robot like it was nothing. He was getting frustrated.

"Come on! Can't you give me a challenge you hunk of junk?" he questioned. Finally tired of this child's play spectacle, Vegeta stopped the robot's latest punch and shoved the thing back.

"Hell with this." he grunted. Putting his hand forward, he summoned his energy. The robot also raised its hand and began to summon its own power.

The air around Vegeta seemed to waver from the energy the robot appeared to be drawing in. Hmm, maybe this thing was going to put up a fight after all. Vegeta and the robot blasted at each other at the same moment. Vegeta's energy blast tore right through the robot's weaker attack and hit the metal thing squarely in the face. Its head torn off, the robot fell from the sky.

"Humph. That was ridiculously easy." he grumbled.

18, having analyzed the weaknesses of this robot she was facing, flew around and grabbed it right arm.

"Krillin, get its other arm." she ordered. Krillin kicked the robot in the chest again to keep it off balance, then spun around and grabbed its left arm. He and his wife both pulled with all their might in two separate directions. The ten-foot robot was ripped in half, its innards spilling out as they dropped it.

All three robots destroyed, the group turned to the girl in Gohan's arms, who was now coming around. Goku flew up close to her.

"Are you alright, Miss?" he asked her.

Starfire shook her head, starting to come around. Gohan released her and she righted herself in the air.

"I am not suffering any severe injuries. I have been beaten much worse before. But I thank you for your kindness." she said. Shaking her head one more time to rid herself of the ringing in her head, Starfire looked around at her rescuers. Five adult faces. She had never seen any of them before, but there was a familiarity about them that she recognized. The similarities in their features could not be ignored.

Starfire turned to Goku. "You are Son Goku, Goten's father, yes?" she asked, although she was quite sure that he was.

Goku nodded. "Yeah, good guess." he said, smiling at the girl's over-polite way of speaking. Turning around to the one who caught her, Starfire noted the similarities here to.

"And you are his older brother, Gohan, are you not?" Gohan nodded, bewildered.

Turning to an angry looking man with spiky hair that was swept up like fire, Starfire looked closely at the set of his face, knowing who he was immediately.

"You are Vegeta, Trunks' father." she stated, no doubt in her mind. Vegeta just glowered back at her.

Ignoring his angry stare, she turned the two remaining people. A man who was short with small black eyes and lacking a nose, and a woman with cold blue eyes, fair skin, and neck length blonde hair. Their features were just as recognizable.

"And you are Marron's parents. Krillin and Number 18, yes?" In response, 18 crossed her arms as she stared at the strange girl.

"It would seem that our daughter has been keeping secrets from us." she said.

Krillin nodded. "Yeah. Marron never mentioned you. How do you know our kids?" he asked the teenager.

Starfire, realizing that none of these people knew about her, figured that the kids must have never told them about what happened.

"I have met your children before, several months ago. I see that they have not told you about our meeting. Please, where are the children?" she asked them.

Goku answered her. "They're still in school right now. They saw you on the news and told us to come and help you. They want us to take you back home with us."

Starfire smiled in delight, her separation from the other Titans momentarily forgotten.

"Oh, that would be most wonderful. I do wish to see them again."

Goku smiled, liking the innocence of this teenaged girl.

"Alright, we'll take you to them. By the way, what's your name?" he asked her. Starfire blushed in embarrassment as she wondered where her manners had gone.

"Oh, please forgive me. I forgot proper introduction. My name is Starfire. Well, that is what my name means in your language anyway." she said, smiling.

Goku shook her hand. "Nice to meet you, Starfire. C'mon, follow us." he said. The group flew with Starfire back to the Capsule Corporation.

------

Back at the Capsule Corp. building, the adults were gathered in the living room, curious about the strange, red-headed girl sitting on the couch. It was clear to all of them that she was not human, and when asked about this, she had said she was a Tamaranian, from the planet Tamaran. Everyone had looked at Vegeta. Having lived most of his life in space, he knew more about other planets than anyone else in the room. But he had never heard of any such planet.

Starfire looked to the ground and responed to this. "Well, there is a special reason why you have not heard of it. When the children get here, I shall explain what I mean and why I am here." The girl looked sad, making the adults wonder if her being here was something that was not supposed to happen.

Gohan was curious about something. "What were those robots attacking you for?" he asked her. Starfire looked at him.

"They were created by a bad man who wished to use them to destroy me and… my friends." she added, now looking sadder than before.

Bulma looked at the clock. "Well, I guess the kids should be getting out of school right about now. Goku, why don't you go get them and bring them back here." she suggested. Goku nodded.

"Right." he said, putting two fingers to his forehead. Goku had been using his Instant Transmission teleport ability to transport Goten and Marron to West Capital City Elementary school for the last few years, since they both lived so far from it. Trunks had always opted to walk home, since the school was only a few blocks from his house. Today however, he would probably want to hitch a ride with Goku to get home faster. In the blink of an eye, Goku disappeared.

Starfire stood up, excited about seeing the three children again. She had never thought that she would see them again so soon after their last encounter. At most she had expected a few years to go by before she might see them again, if ever. But only a handful of months? It seemed that fate intended for her to always come across them.

Suddenly, Goku appeared in the middle of the living room. Trunks, Goten and Marron were holding on to him for the transport. Letting go, they looked around to see where Starfire was. Upon seeing her, their faces lit up with joy. Starfire beamed as well.

"Kids!" she squealed.

"Starfire!" they squealed back. The adults quickly moved out of the way as their offspring charged towards the girl, all but throwing themselves at her as the three wrapped their arms around her in a group hug. Starfire put her arms around the three of them and hugged them as one.

"Oh, it is glorious to see you all again!" she exclaimed. She released them and stepped back, looking down at each of them one by one.

Bending down to Goten on the right, she smiled at him.

"Goten! How is the spiky haired one?" she asked, running her hand through his spiked hair playfully.

Goten giggled. "I'm doing great Star. I'm glad to see you. I didn't think I ever would again." he said, his never ending grin spreading even wider.

"Nor I you." Starfire said to him, laughing as she saw his expression turn to confusion over the word 'nor', but still smiling.

Turning now to Marron on the left, Starfire patted the girl on the head.

"And Marron, how is the little sister I never had?" she asked, her voice full of affection. Marron smiled back with no less affection for the teenager.

"I'm fine. I've missed you a lot, Starfire. How's the big sister I never had?" she asked. Starfire's smile faltered slightly, but regained its brightness almost immediately.

" The situation has been better, but it has also been much worse." she answered vaguely, not wanting to ruin this moment with the details of her coming here.

Turning to Trunks, who stood in the middle, Starfire stared down at him for a moment, her expression softening even further. Kneeling down until she was almost eye-level with him, she put her arms around his shoulders and rested her cheek against his forehead, hugging him like a little brother that she had not seen in ages.

"Trunks. Oh, I have missed you most of all, Grakooachi." she said softly. Trunks put his arms around her and hugged her back.

"I've missed you too, Grempnen." Trunks said to her. Starfire pulled back and squealed in delight.

"You remembered the correct word!" she said excitedly. Trunks grinned and tapped a finger to his head.

"Of course. All your memories. I have the entire Tamaranian language, remember?" he said.

Starfire blushed. "Oh yes, that is right. I have not looked into your memories in so long, I nearly forgot that I had them." she said, slightly embarrassed.

The parents stood around them, watching this reunion of their children with this strange alien girl, their curiosity growing by the second. Standing up, Starfire clasped her hand together.

"This is so wonderful, being able to see your adorable faces once again."

Trunks smiled up at her. "We're happy to see you too Starfire." His smile then faded to a frown. "But, how did you get here? And what were those robot things you were fighting?" he asked her.

Starfire's smile faded as well, a look of sadness coming to her face. She supposed that now was the time to fill them in.

"I shall tell you what happened. But first, I am thirsty. May I have something to drink before I begin?" she asked.

Trunks put up a hand. "Oh, I got it."

The adults watched as Trunks left the room and headed into the kitchen. He came back a moment later with a bottle of mustard. He held it out to Starfire.

"Here you go. Freshly opened too." he said with a grin. Taking the bottle from his hand, Starfire smiled at him.

"Thank you." she said. Putting the mustard bottle in her mouth, Starfire tipped her head back and drank deeply of the wonderful yellow drink.

The jaws of the adults dropped at this spectacle. Even Goku, who had a habit of eating everything in front of him when in feeding frenzy, would never have drank pure mustard like that. Seeing how the adults were reacting, Trunks put up a hand.

"Don't ask. It's a Tamaranian thing. Mustard is like wine to them." he said.

Her thirst quenched, Starfire sat back down on the couch.

"It was Slade." she said to them. The kids gathered around her on the couch immediately.

"He's back?" Goten asked. Starfire nodded.

"He has been making his robots more and more deadly. He has declared an all-out war against the Titans, and Jump City." she said, her fist clenching as she spoke. Trunks moved up close to her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Tell me everything that happened." he said.

------

Looking around the remains of the area, Robin finally allowed himself to relax. He was cut and bruised, but alive. All his friends were beaten up, but everything was okay. The robots had been defeated, but Robin knew that this was the closest battle ever. The street, the cars in it, and many of the building along the side of it were in ruins.

Beast Boy walked up to him. "Dude, I think I chipped a tooth." he complained. With the tension leaving his body now, Robin couldn't help but chuckle at Beast Boy's well-timed remark.

Walking over to one of the fallen robots, Robin reached out and pulled on its black and copper face. Underneath, as he had guessed, was a small screen. The screen flickered to life, with Slade's image on it.

"Well done, Robin. You've managed to defeat my armies once again. Although, this battle seems to have cost you more than the others." the madman said to him. Robin glared back in defiance.

"I may be a little banged up, but so are your robots. You're never going to win Slade. I won't let you take this city. The Teen Titans will always be here to beat you." he told the evil man.

Slade chuckled. "Maybe so. But not all of the Titans." he said smugly.

Robin frowned. "What do you mean?" he demanded.

Slade's single eye narrowed. "Count the heads Robin. You seem to be one short." he answered.

"Robin." he heard Raven say behind him. Turning around, Robin saw that she and Cyborg were looking at him in a weird way.

"Its Starfire." Raven said. Starfire? What about her? Looking around, Robin noticed that he didn't see Starfire anywhere.

"Where is she?" he asked. Cyborg sighed and took a step forward.

"Look, Robin-" he began. Now Robin was getting really worried.

"Where is she I asked!" he demanded an answer.

Raven looked down at the ground for a moment, then back up at him. "She was fighting some of Slade's robots in the air. I saw… I saw the portal open." she said.

Robin frowned. "The portal? What portal?" he asked. Cyborg stared hard at him.

"The portal, man." he said, hoping that Robin wouldn't take it as hard as he feared he would. Robin's eyes widened as it suddenly clicked.

"What? No." he whispered.

Raven nodded slowly. "Starfire… was driven into it. It closed on her." she said gently. Robin stood still, his mouth hanging open in shock.

Beast Boy looked pale. "Not again. There's no way that it could have happened again. Could it?" he asked rhetorically.

Fist clenched, Robin turned back to the screen in the robot's head. Even with his mask on, Slade seemed to be smirking.

"Sorry Robin. You're precious little alien friend has left the building. I'd say your chances for victory next time have just taken a plunge." he mocked. The image shattered as Robin's fist smashed the screen. Robin looked up into the sky.

"No." he said to the endless blue.

------

"No!" Trunks said as he pounded his fist down into his palm.

Number 18 placed a hand on her daugher's shoulders as the girl struggled to keep from breaking down at this news.

"Slade will destroy them all." Marron said, her voice almost dripping with despair. "Without you there, its only a matter of time before he makes a weapon strong enough." she said to Starfire.

Trunks turned to her. "No Marron. Slade may have access to our kind of power now, but the Titans will not give up. They'll find a way to beat him. Slade will lose, just like he lost last time." he said to her, absolute confidence in his voice. Marron looked a bit happier, hearing this from him.

Goten nodded. "Yeah. There's no way old Metal Face can beat them. You remember how tough they are." he said excitedly.

Bulma raise her hand. "Excuse me." she said. Starfire and the three kids turned to look at her.

"Yes. This is all very interesting, but could you please tell us what you are talking about! What's going on here?" she asked impatiently. The others nodded in agreement. It was time that their kids explain themselves.

Trunks gulped, realizing that the time for secrecy was over.

"Starfire isn't from this dimension. She comes from another one, an alternate dimesion. Another universe a bit different from our own. She's part of a team of superheroes called the Teen Titans." he explained.

The adults' eyes went wide at this information.

"But, how did you kids find out about all of this?" Krillin asked. Trunks blushed, knowing that the next part was going to be embarrassing for him and his friends. They might even get in trouble for it.

"Well, you remember four months ago when you all went on vacation and you left me and Goten and Marron here with Grandma and Grandpa?" he asked. The parents nodded. Trunks continued.

"Well, Starfire came over here while you guys were gone. She was stuck here, but Dende helped us open the portal that led back to her world. We went over into her dimension with her." he said.

"What!" the adults all shouted. Chichi put her hands on her hips.

"Goten, you mean you went over into a strange world without any supervison?" she asked. Goten blushed and tried to hide behind Starfire.

"Why didn't you kids tell us about this?" Goku asked.

Bulma scowled. "Yeah, Trunks. You told us that you kids had wondered into the forest that day. You got grounded for two weeks because of it." she reminded them.

Trunks continued. "Well, we didn't' think you guys would believe us if we told you the truth. We thought you'd just accuse us of telling lies to avoid punishment and that you'd punish us anyway. So we just made up a lie about what we did to skip the whole thing. What we were really doing was helping the Titans out."

Bulma raised an eyebrow. "Well, you were acting kind of strange that week when I got back. I thought you were just bored from being grounded to your room." she said. A single drop of sweat rolled down Trunks' head at this. He and the others had been pretty bummed out when they'd had to say goodbye to the Titans. They were all so cool, and none of them had wanted to leave so soon.

Starfire decided that now was the time to let the adults know what the kids had really done for her and her friends. Standing up, she clasped her hands in front of her chest and smiled at the parents.

"Friends, your children are responsible for saving my life and for helping my friends and I save our world from the evil Frieza." she told them. All the adults' jaws dropped again at the name.

"Frieza!" they shouted.

Goku put a hand to his head. "How did this happen? He's supposed to be dead." he said, stunned to know that one of his greatest enemies was still causing trouble.

Trunks stepped forward. "Dende told us about what happened. You guys remember Babidi? That wizard guy who freed Majin Buu?" he asked them. They nodded. Trunks went on.

"Well apparently, down in Hell, he was casting some kind of a magic spell to make a portal leading out of there. It worked. But it also created a portal up here in this world leading to another dimension; Starfire's dimension." Seeing that he had everyone's attention, he finished.

"The Hell guardians tried to stop him and there was some kind of big battle. Frieza managed to get to the portal and escape Hell. He got out into our world and saw the other portal. He went through it and went into Starfire's universe. At the same time, Starfire was being thrown through the portal on her side, into our universe…"


Are you hooked? This story is going to take quite some time to finish. There will be updates as soon as possible, but between work, summer classes, and two other multi-chaptered Titans fics that I'm doing, everyone will just have to be patient as they wait for updates. The next chapter will go back four months to when this whole thing started like how Trunks was telling it. This story will have four arcs, with an interlude between each one that will keep up on how Starfire is doing trapped in the DBZ world in the present time. I hope you all keep reading. See you at the next update, whenever that is. Bye now.