Element and the Gamer

By

Teen Tyrant

Thanks to TitanGirlzRox and Death Jester, as always.

Gamer Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil: Code Veronica, Halo: Combat Evolved, or War of the Monsters. Nor do I own Teen Titans.


Chapter 7: I've got a date with Starfire!- Gamer

A week went by. The Gamer felt that it would be best to ask Starfire to go to the videogame convention with him the day before it took place, which was tomorrow, Saturday. So he had not asked her yet, and no one knew it was on his mind.

Robin was walking down the stairs from the roof, Starfire at his side. They had been sitting side by side, watching the sunrise. Robin had woken up this morning with the intent of asking Starfire out today. He had watched her and Gamer get closer and closer over the last month and was now determined to make his move and ask her on a date before Gamer did.

So far, he'd had plenty of time and opportunity to ask her, but had chickened out each time he thought about doing it. He had noticed, however, that on the roof this morning, she had sat much closer to him than she had in the past. They had nearly been touching shoulders. This had made him very nervous, making it even more difficult to ask her what he wanted to. But it also gave him some courage as well. Surely it was a good sign that she felt comfortable sitting so close to him, right?

As Robin and Starfire entered the living room, they both looked over to the kitchen. Beast Boy and Cyborg were not preparing breakfast, as they usually did. Instead, they were on the couch playing that new fighting game that Gamer had bought. Apparently it was make-your-own-breakfast day in the tower.

Robin noticed that Gamer was not playing. He was sitting on the far end of the couch, reading one of his gaming magazines.

Terra was on the other end of the couch, flipping through a sports magazine of all things. Terra was a bit of a tomboy.

Looking at the kitchen table, Robin couldn't help but smile a little. Raven and Element were sitting across from each other, drinking herbal tea and talking about something. He couldn't hear what they were talking about, but it didn't matter. The fact was that the two of them were actually having a conversation, where as they always seemed to try to be quiet and out of the way whenever they were by themselves.

Robin had noticed over the last few weeks that Raven had been getting a bit closer to Element, little by little. He was really happy that Raven had finally found someone to converse with about any little thing. She had always been so quiet and distant from everybody when there was nothing to do but hang around the tower, but now that Element was living with them, she seemed to be opening up a little.

And Element, he was even more of a case. While none of them knew very much about him, Robin could tell that it was doing Element good to finally have someone to relate to as well. He was not aware that he and Gamer agreed completely on this subject. If they ever got together romantically, Raven and Element were going to be very good for each other. Robin was the last person in the world to have read the book on love and romance, but even he could see where their future would be headed if they ever did hook up. But as it was, even now as mere friends, they were clearly enjoying each other's company, and that was good for both of them. He decided not to bother them.

Starfire also noticed Element and Raven and smiled as well, thinking the same thoughts Robin was. But Starfire could see something that Robin could not; Silkie was worming his way under Raven's chair and was going to bite her cloak. That would not only halt her conversation with Element, but she would also have to leave the room and replace her cloak, and there was no telling when she and Element would get a chance to speak to each other so casually without anyone else around to bother them. That scenario simply could not be tolerated.

"Silkie!" Starfire shouted to her grub worm. Silkie closed his mouth, which he had opened to bite Raven's cloak and looked over to his "mommy". Starfire stood with her hands on her hips and a stern expression on her face. She pointed her finger towards the hallway door, giving Silkie the command to go back to her room where he belonged. Lowering his head in guilt for having been caught misbehaving, Silkie slinked away.

Raven and Element looked down at Silkie's retreating form, looked up at Starfire, who smiled brightly at them, and then shrugged and turned back to each other, picking up where they had left off.

Wanting to leave them alone for now, Starfire decided that she would come back to make herself something to eat later, when Raven and Element had finished their conversation at the table. She walked to the entertainment area and stood in front of the window, gazing out at the view of the bay, the beach and the city. It was a beautiful day outside. She really hoped that she and her friends would get a chance to go out in it at some point today. Little did she know, she would get just that, although not quite in the way she expected.

Seeing Starfire standing away from the others, who were all occupied at the moment with their own things, Robin decided that now would be as good a time as any. Seeing Raven talking with Element seemed to give him a little bit more confidence in his desire to ask Starfire out on a formal date. After all, if those two could begin showing interest in each other with everyone else around to see, and not be bothered by it, what excuse did he have for being held back? He still did not know the answer to that, but he wasn't going to let it bother him any further. Now was the opportunity, now he had the courage; now was the time.

Gulping back his nervousness and taking in a deep breath of air, Robin took three steps in Starfire's direction… and stopped when he saw Gamer put down his magazine and stand up from the couch, walking up next to Starfire. Robin stood in place and watched, ready to read his lips to see what he was going to say to her, but there was no need; everyone in the room was able to hear what Gamer said.

"Good morning, Starfire. How are you today?" Gamer asked with a pleasant, although somewhat nervous smile. Starfire turned to him and smiled as well.

"I am very well this morning, Gamer. Thank you for asking." she said brightly, her smile shining like the sunlight coming in through the window she stood in front of.

Gamer nodded. "That's good." He paused for a moment and shifted on his feet, seeming uncertain about something he wanted to say. Finally, he looked back up at her face, his sunglasses, which he wore almost perpetually now, reflecting her gorgeous face on their lenses.

"I was wondering, are you planning on doing anything important tomorrow, say from 10:00 to 2:00?" he asked, almost hurriedly. Starfire tilted her head in curiosity, and thought about the question.

"I do not believe so. Why do you ask?" she responded.

Gamer took a deep breath. "Well, it's just… there is a videogame convention being held tomorrow at the mall. I was going to go to it, and I was wondering… would uh, would you like to go to it with me?" He let out a breath as he finally let the words escape.

Robin's mouth fell open. Everyone in the room looked up from what they were doing and turned their eyes to Starfire, although pretending like they were still going about their business. Even Element and Raven at the kitchen table paused in their discussion for a moment, their eyes quickly darting over to Starfire and then back to each other. Everyone felt like they were on the edge of a cliff, waiting to hear what Starfire's response would be, no one listening more intently than Robin.

Starfire stared at the Gamer in shock and surprise. Her eyes widened a little and her mouth opened slightly as took in a sharp breath. Gamer stood there, looking alternately from the ground to Starfire, although only his eyes moved. With his sunglasses hiding his eyes, it appeared that he kept looking only at her the whole time. Gamer realized that she was only staring at him and became discouraged, certain that she would not accept his offer.

Finally, Starfire responded with a question. "Gamer, are you asking me to accompany you on… a date?" she asked, making sure she used the right word.

His hands shaking, Gamer simply nodded, this time lowering his entire head to look at the floor, embarrassed and nervous.

Finally, Starfire's surprised expression slowly changed into a small smile. She blinked her eyes a few times and turned her whole body to face Gamer.

"I would very much enjoy that. Yes, I will go with you to this convention." She said simply.

Gamer looked up at her sharply. "You will?" he asked, more surprised than he thought he would have been if she'd said yes. He couldn't believe that she'd accepted and needed to hear her confirm it one more time.

Starfire nodded her head in the affirmative, and then giggled that wonderful giggle of hers.

Gamer blushed immensely and his face broke out into a grin that could only be described as ecstatic. "Alright! Wow! I mean, uh, cool heh. I guess we'll head over to the mall tomorrow at ten tomorrow, then?" he asked, making sure the time was convenient.

Starfire nodded again and happily floated away from Gamer across the room, through the twin doors and into the hallway, twirling in the air at her sudden excitement. She had been asked out on a date! True, it was not by who she expected her first date would be with, but it had happened nonetheless, and she just couldn't have said no to it. Starfire floated into her room and flopped down on her bed, thinking excitedly about how she would have her first date tomorrow. She could definitely learn many things from such an experience, and perhaps it could help her in the future on… another date. Should anyone else ever ask her that was.

Back in the living room, the eyes of all the other Titans turned to Robin, who still stood in the middle of the room. No one was even bothering to pretend they hadn't been listening in, as they could tell that Robin wasn't noticing them at all at the moment.

Robin stood there, staring at the spot where Starfire had been standing. He had been about to ask her. He had finally summoned up the nerve to do it. That had been his moment. He couldn't have been any more than, what… twelve seconds from talking to her, leading him into finally asking her on a date. And then Gamer…

Robin realized that Gamer was looking at him now too, and despite the eye-obscuring sunglasses, Robin could tell by the look on his face and the set of his shoulders, just what he was thinking. Robin had waited too long. He'd had his chance, plenty of them, and they both knew it. Gamer had waited a month, intentionally giving Robin all that time to make his move, willing to be sporting enough to give Robin a chance first at agame he was almost certain to win anyway. And now Gamer's generous patience had run out. Robin had lost his opportunity now, and Starfire was going on a date with Gamer instead of him.

Robin clenched his hand into a fist and shook in place at the anger welling up inside of him. He tried to direct all that anger at the Gamer, but he could not. The only anger he could put to Gamer was jealous anger. The real anger he was feeling, he felt for himself. He'd had all this time, over a year before Gamer even came along, to let Starfire know how he felt. Then, even with Gamer's competition with him, he had held back. Why, he knew not.

But it didn't matter now. He had blown it. Starfire was going on a date tomorrow with another boy and he had no one to blame but himself.

Now starting to feel the eyes of the others on him, Robin turned and headed to the elevator, ready to take it down to the training room. He was going to take out his frustration on a punching bag, and it was a sure bet that the dinosaurs had been dealt a much kinder fate than the one Robin was about to bestow upon that bag.

Just then, the alarm went off. Perfect. Maybe Robin wouldn't need a bag to take out his frustration on after all.

Terra put down her magazine and got up off the couch. Raven and Element stood up from the kitchen table. Starfire flew into the living room from the hallway.

"Oh man!" Cyborg yelled, throwing down his game controller. "And I was hoping that we wouldn't get called today." he said, standing up and pressing a button on the TV, changing it to the alert screen. On a map of the city, a flashing light came from an electronics store downtown. A flashing 'H' was shown next to the spot.

"The Hive Five. They're back." Robin said, cracking his knuckles in anticipation.

Beast Boy was also anxious. "Let's go kick their butts! And no hogging all the fun this time either, E & G." he said to the brothers, before turning with the others to head to the elevator.

Element and the Gamer looked across the room at each other, raising their eyebrows in confusion and disbelief.

"E & G?" they both asked each other.

------

Electronics Now was the most well known electronics store in the city. Today, it was being robbed by a group of teenagers. Now, in today's world that would not seem like anything new, except that these teens were gifted with super abilities, ones that they were using to wreck havoc instead of help others.

"Hurry up! We need to get this stuff out of here before the Titans show up!" Gizmo shouted to his comrades. Gizmo was calling the shots today, as this was really his mission. He had loaded all kinds of microchips and small hand-held devices into his backpack already.

Mammoth was carrying out the large televisions and other heavy items. Kyd Wykkyd was making off with large quantities of CD players and videogames. See-More was using his eye to scan the interior of certain electronic items to see if they held the components that Gizmo said he'd be needing, then pointing them out to Mammoth and Kyd Wykkyd.. Jinx stood outside in back of the store, where a large pile of equipment had already been stacked, counting off what they had and how much of it. Gizmo had said that he didn't know what he'd need or how much of it, so they were all pretty much just grabbing everything they could so as not to take chances. If Gizmo did not have enough supplies to complete his assignment, the penalty for it could be gruesome.

Looking at a clock that extended from his backpack on a mechanical arm, Gizmo saw that enough time had passed since the alert had been raise that the Teen Titans would show up any time now. It was time for them to leave.

Withdrawing the clock, he spoke out to his team. "Okay, that's enough for now. We'll take what we got from here and hit another place on another day." He jumped down from the counter, behind which a clerk would normally be ringing up orders. But the Hive Five had already chased everyone out of the store, not wanting any distractions.

As Gizmo prepared to exit through the back door and help carry some of the stuff they had lifted and piled back there, he heard Robin's familiar voice.

"Hold it. You're not going anywhere, except to the nearest jail." Turning around, Gizmo saw all the Titans standing in the doorway, having just entered the store. Gizmo was abit surprised that Robin had not used a one-liner like he usually did, but closer examination of his face seemed to hint that Robin was reasonably frustrated about something at the moment; too frustrated to be making a joke of his team's intent at apprehending the Hive team.

Gizmo also noticed that the two boyswho had defeated them so easily before were now among the other Titans, confirming the stories to be true. The boy who had worn a gray shirt now wore a gray spandex suit with a black mask, a black 'E' on his chest, and bands at his knees and elbows, depicting earth, fire, wind and water.

The other boy, who had worn a red shirt, now wore a red spandex suit with The Gamer in small black italic over his heart, a belt that held that infernal game controller, and apair of rather cool-looking sunglasses, with an elastic strap wrapping them around his head.

The other Hive members closed in and backed up Gizmo, ready to fight, but not wanting to, clearly being outnumbered and outmatched.

Cyborg cracked his metallic knuckles and smirked. "Since when do you guys resort to robbing TVs and stereos? Loosing your ambition?" he mocked them.

Gizmo smirked back, displaying much more confidence than he felt. They weren't prepared to battle the Titans now. "Oh, we have a lot of ambition left. Just wait. Someday soon you'll see what all this stuff was for. Then you'll know how far back your doom was set in motion." He said, rather lamely, remembering that he was not to reveal the nature of the project.

Robin took out his staff and extended it. "I don't care what your plan is. You're not taking that stuff anywhere. Titans, Go!" Robin shouted, before planting his staff on the ground and using it to swing forward.

Jinx immediately turned and ran for the back door, wishing to fight the Titans even less than her male assistants. She had a very good reason for not wanting to fight them. Robin ran after her down the alley that ran behind the store, determined not to let her get away. Terra, preferring to be outside where she would have access to dirt, followed after him, in case he needed help.

Gizmo extended a pair of mechanical wings from his backpack and took to the air, flying around the store to avoid the blasts from Cyborg's sonic cannon.

"Stay still so I can zap you!" Cyborg shouted at him, firing one sonic blast after another and scorching the ceiling.

"No way, barf-brain!" Gizmo retorted. Beast Boy turned into a Pteranadon and began flying after Gizmo, snapping his dino beak at the midget the whole time.

Kyd Wykkyd flew up to Raven and wrapped himself around her, making her and himself disappear. They reappeared outside, high above the store's roof, where Raven would not have access to very many objects to throw. Raven smirked at the silent villain.

"Thanks for giving me some room. Ayah!" she shouted, before beginning to fiercely kick at Kyd Wykkyd with the martial arts skills she possessed. Her mute opponent began dodging and blocking her attacks.

Back in the store, Starfire and Element had trapped See-More, who had been trying to sneak down one of the aisles in the back. Both of them stood at opposite ends of the aisle, ready to grab the cycloptic criminal and put him down until the authorities arrived.

See-More looked back and forth between them, knowing he was trapped. Getting an idea, he turned and looked at Starfire, suddenly developing a perverted grin.

"I never did get a very good view of you last time." he said with a peculiar tone in his voice. He switched his eye over to X-ray vision. Starfire immediately gasped and ducked back out of the aisle. Had Robin or Gamer been there when See-More had done that, they would have smacked the daylights out of him for it.

Switching his sight back to normal, See-More turned back around to face Element, recognizing him as the boy who had harnessed electricity during their last battle and easily defeated Jinx and himself.

Element called out, "Don't worry Starfire, I'll take this guy. Why don't you go see if you can help Cyborg and Beast Boy catch Gizmo."

Not daring to step back into the aisle, for fear of See-More looking through her clothes, Starfire called out her response to Element. "Very well, friend Element. Be careful." She then took the air and began flying after Gizmo, who was still trying to dodge Cyborg and Beast Boy all over the store.

Facing down Element, See-More knew that he had a better chance of beating him if he attacked before he absorbed anything. See-More fired a laser from his eye, which cut through the air and smacked into Element's face, with non-lethal but very stinging force.

"Oof." Element said, before falling down flat on his back. But the second he hit the tiled floor, he vanished into it. To See-More, it looked almost as though he had fallen right through the floor.

Suddenly, there was a cracking and a popping sound. Then, right before See-More's bewildered eye, the tiles on the floor began to pull off of the floor and rise into the air. They clacked together, like they were connected on their edges. As a number of them broke away from the floor, he could see that some of them branched out, seeming almost to form arms. And the ones still connected to the floor, looked almost like legs. And that one at the top... a head?

Incredible as the idea sounded, it seemed as though Element had absorbed himself into the tiles and wrenched them from the floor, using them as his body parts. He now stood as a non-symmetrical being made of tile,his body now composedof squares and flat when looked at from the side.

Element swept his arm forward, flinging a tile from himself towards See-More, who reacted quickly, zapping the tile out of the air, shattering it. Element sent another tile and another, walking forward as he did, pulling more tiles out of the floor and into himself as he walked, giving himself an indefinite amount of ammunition against See-More.

Meanwhile, Mammoth had face down the Gamer. "Show me the Tyrant again, scrawny one. I will not be caught by surprise this time." he said in his gruff voice. Gamer pulled out his game controller, twirling it like acowboy twirling a pistol.

"Okay then." he said, beginning to push buttons while rotating the thumb stick. After pushing START and being consumed in the white light, Gamer stood as a Tyrant once again. But this was not the Tyrant he had used to beat Mammoth with a single hit the last time. This one was different. This one, while having a similar structure to the previous Tyrant, had no exposed heart, did not have its lips removed, and it did not have hands.

Instead, its arms came to rounded stumps, small claws along the outer edges. Four on the left,five on the right, with one in the middle of the right stump. Lifting this arm, the small claw in the middle suddenly shot out of the game monster's flesh, becoming a long blade made of bone. This was Tyrant T-078, from Resident Evil: Code Veronica.

"Man, I love using these things. I'm a Teen Titan Tyrant. I'm a… a Teen Tyrant, hahaha!" Gamer said in his telepathic voice. He looked down at Mammoth, who was much smaller than he was now, at ten feet tall. "You asked for it, so you get first try. Give me all you've got." he said to his opponent.

Mammoth grinned and charged forward, ramming into the Tyrant's gut with his shoulder, then pulling back and delivering two concrete smashing punches to its midsection. Then he pulled back his hands, linked them together to form one fist, and swung his arms as hard as he could, up at the Tyrant's pale, hairless head.

Gamer's Tyrant head turned with the impact, but showed no other reaction to that attack or any of the other blows Mammoth had delivered. Pulling back his left arm, Gamer pushed out, slamming the end of his club arm into Mammoth's chest, sending the goliath flying back and smashing into the back wall of the near-empty store, where he slid down the wall to the floor.

Gizmo spun around in the air and sent a small missile at Starfire. The small rocket struck her in the forehead and exploded, not really harming her, but knocking her out of the air with asmoking black mark on her forehead. As she was falling, Beast Boy flew right into her, knocking them both for a loop.

Gizmo ducked under another sonic blast from a frustrated Cyborg, and called out, "We don't have time for this! Retreat! Grab the stuff we came for and retreat!" Sending another missile down at Cyborg, who ducked out of the way with a "Whoa!", Gizmo flew to the back of the store and right out the back door.

Mammoth pulled himself up off the ground and looked at the Gamer, who was slowly walking toward him. The one drawback of his game forms was that Gamer inherited every weakness of his characters, and for this Tyrant, he could not run, only walk slowly forward.

Mammoth used this moment to run out the open employee's back door and grab as many of the TVs and other electronic equipment that he could in his massive arms. He then began running down the alley at the back of the store.

See-More had backed away as Element pressed forward, and once he reached the end of the aisle, he spun out oftheaway as Element's tiles continued to be flung at him. He too headed for the back door.

Outside, in the air, Kyd Wykkyd ducked another blast of dark energy that Raven sent his way, then teleported right in front of her and punched her in the face, knocking her back a little. Looking down, he saw his teammates retreating. He teleported down to the ground and wrapped himself around the remainder of the items left lying at the back of the store, then teleported the items and himself away to an unknown location.

"Drat." Raven said, rubbing her cheek where she had been punched.

Robin and Terra were still chasing after Jinx, who continued to run through the alleys behind these buildings. Turning around another corner, Jinx saw that this way led to a dead end. She turned around and ran back the way she came, prepared to go around the next corner instead. As she re-entered the alley she had just left, she was suddenly struck from the side and pushed against a building wall.

Robin had slammed into Jinx as she came running back out of the alley she had just entered. He was surprised to be sure, but used the opportunity to grab Jinx's arms before she could recover, holdingher armsbetween them. He pushed her back against the brick wall of the alley and held her there. He heard footsteps and looked back down the alley, seeing that Terra was following after him.

Turning back to Jinx, Robin scowled at her. "Why were you trying to steal the stuff from that store? What good could it possibly do you and the others?" he demanded.

Jinx's pinkeyes darted all over, looking for some way out of this. She could not tell Robin what he wanted to know, what she wanted to say. Her teammates were close by, and if one of them happened to run by as she exposed the truth, it would mean failure for her mission. But she couldn't let Robin and the other Titans apprehend her either, as that would also mean failure. She had to think of something, and before Terra finally got here to assist Robin.

Suddenly, her eyes sharpened as an idea came to her. She didn't want to resort to this, but she didn't see that she had any other choice. She had to get away and reveal the truth to the Titans in a more appropriate setting, where prying ears would not hear.

Reaching out and putting a gentle hand on Robin's neck, Jinx leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. Robin's eyes snapped open, his jaw dropped and his body recoiled. Jinx held her lips against the side of his face for a few more seconds, Robin too stunned to push her away. As she did this, Jinx reached with her other hand and grabbed Robin's belt, and pushed her hand between his belt and his body!

Now Robin did push her away, shocked beyond comprehension at this behavior of Jinx's. Terra, having gotten closer to the two now, stopped her running and froze in place as she saw all of this, raising up her goggles and staring wide-eyed and jaw-dropped at the scene.

Looking at Robin's astounded, almost horrified face, Jinx whispered, "Sorry.", and then pushed passed the stunned Robin, running like mad down the alley, making her escape.

Robin stood there and watched her go, too freaked outto move. Hearing Terra's running footsteps again, he turned to her as she came to a stop in front of him.

"What the heck was that all about?" she asked, almost as confused as he was.

Robin placed a hand to his cheek, his mind drawing a blank. "I have no idea." he admitted.

Looking at his belt, Terra pointed and said, "What's that?"

Looking down, Robin saw something white stuck between his belt and his body. It looked like a piece of paper. As he reached to pull it out, his communicator started beeping and flashing, signaling that an alarm had been raised.

He pulled out his communicator and called up Cyborg's image. Terra leaned over him to see. Cyborg and the others were still back at Electronics Now.

"Robin, another alert signal has been raised. This one's coming from the beach. We'll have to let the Hive Five go for now. The people at the beach are under attack." Cyborg informed him.

Robin frowned. "Attacked by what?"

Cyborg pause for a moment before answering. "Giant crabs."

------

As people ran screaming from the beach back to their cars, the Titans arrived. Cyborg drove the T-car of course, with Robin in front while in the back sat Terra, Element and the Gamer, both now back to normal. Starfire, Raven and Beast Boy all flew to the location.

Stepping out of the car, and being joined by their flying friends, the Titans looked down from the beach parking lot to the spot where land met ocean. Down below were about a dozen creatures that looked exactly like seven foot king crabs. Because they were in fact seven foot king crabs. There was nothing about them that looked extraterrestrial or mutated, the just looked like normal earth crabs, save for their large size. More of them kept coming out of the water every few seconds.

Cyborg gulped. "Okay, I'm not usually one to turn down meat, but I really don't feel like eating crab cakes again for a while." he said with a massive sweat drop rolling down the human portion of his face.

"I don't know how they got so big, or why they are coming here, but we've got to get rid of them." Robin declared.

Gamer nodded. "Gotcha. I'm on it." he said, lifting his controller, Gamer punched in the code for the game form he desired and pushed START. When the light faded, he stood as aman six and a half feet tall, covered from head to foot in a futuristic green combat armor. His face was shielded by a helmet with a golden visor in the front for him to see through. He held a large automatic rifle. Looking at his friends, he spoke with the voice of man in his early thirties, coming through the helmet.

"Master Chief, from Halo: Combat Evolved." he clarified. "This should get the job done." He then lifted the rifle in his arms and sighted down on the giant crabs below and opened fire. Rounds poured out of the weapon and slammed into the crabs. A few screeched inhuman protest to the assault, but most of the rounds ricocheted off of their hard shells.

Robin held up a hand and shouted "Whoa!" over the gunfire. Gamer stopped shooting and looked at him.

"Gamer, we don't use guns. It's just not right." Robin said to him.

Raven nodded. "Yeah. It's not exactly an honorable thing to do." she said in her monotone.

Looking back and forth between them for a moment, Gamer nodded.

"Yeah, okay. I guess you're right." He was then consumed in the white light again and changed back to normal, where he immediately began pushing buttons on his controller again. Hitting START and being covered in light again, Gamer changed into the Pur-linn Juggernaut, his favorite battle form.

"Is this better?" he asked.

Robin nodded. "Much. Teen Titans, go!" Robin shouted and the Titans headed down to the beach to do battle.

Gamer was the first to leap into the fray, blasting at the crabs with the plasma blaster in the hilt of his massive sword, before charging in and slicing and impaling left and right, slinging crab meat and limbs everywhere.

Terra summoned up great clouds of sand and rained them down on many of the crabs, burying and crushing them under the wait of all the sand. She also summoned large boulders up from deep in the earth and hurled them at the crustaceans like missiles.

Beast Boy morphed into a green lion and leaped at one of the crabs. The thing screeched at him in its inhuman voice. Skaaaaarrr! Slashing with his lion's claws, Beast Boy scratched large bloody marks across the crab's broken, ugly face. It snapped its main pincer claw at him, taking a large chunk out of his side. Rrrrooooaaaaarrrrr! Beast Boy roared in pain and anger, whirling his feline head around to bite the crab's arm. It shook its clawed arm, but could not shake the lion away.

Robin began bashing away at the ugly things with his staff. Each time a crab tried to snap at him, he blocked with his staff and kicked the crab's ugly, black eyes which swiveled around on stalks. He also threw his birdarangs, slicing off their antennas which waved around.

Cyborg blasted a few crabs to smoldering seafood with his sonic cannon, and bashed others with his metal fists. The crabs tried to snap at him with their pincers, but his metallic body was harder than their shells, and they could not penetrate him. Lifting one such brute over his shoulders, Cyborg threw the creature into two others, like knocking down milk bottles at a carnival.

"Azarath. Metrion. Zinthos!" Raven used her powers to lift one crab and throw it at another, impaling the two ugly beasts with their own claws. Hovering above the scene, she was not in any danger from the crabs.

Of all the Titans, Element and Starfire seemed to be the most effective against the giant crab invasion.

Starfire flew overhead, blasting at the crabs with her starbolts. Although many of the orbs of green energy hit the crabs in their shells, the explosive result penetrated the shells and blew the crabs into globs and piles of seafood gunk. Very nasty, but at least it was quick. These creatures were dangerous and had to be destroyed, but she did not wish to cause them any unnecessary suffering.

As she flew low over the carnage, a crab suddenly grabbed hold of her leg with its large claw, stopping her in mid-flight. Starfire reached down and pried the pincer claw from her leg. She then pulled the creature into the air and spun around with it, hurling it through the air and sending it several miles out to sea. The crab would live, but it would be far away from human settlements, and would cause no harm.

Element used a single spark from one of Starfire's attacks and absorbed the element of fire into his being, standing now as a being of fire. Element ran from crab to crab, actually running right into them. The crabs would ignite in an instant and begin shrieking and scuttling all over the place as they burned, while he would reform his fiery self and move on to the next target.

And the crabs kept coming. They crawled out of the ocean and up onto the beach, meeting the Titans in battle, getting in some licks but ultimately getting put down. The Titans felt bad for having to destroy these seemingly random freaks of nature, but it had to be done. It was agood thing they had managed to stop them here at the beach, as there were enough of these monstrosities to storm the whole city.

After about a half hour of fighting, the Teen Titans, all exhausted, managed to surround the last group of crabs, pushing them into a single group in the middle of a circleteenaged superheroes that surrounded them. Robin pulled out a disk from his belt and flung it at the group of crabs. An explosion of liquid nitrogen issued forth, causing all the Titans to step back.

When the vapor cloud evaporated, the remaining crabs were shown to be frozen in place as still statues. Gamer lifted his massive Pur-linn sword and swung it forward, shattering all the crabs into a thousand pieces.

All the Titans immediately fell on their backsides, resting on the beach and breathing heavily from the battle. Beast Boy and Gamer both changed back to normal. As all the Titans took a breather, Cyborg, who was at the part of the circle to where he was looking out at the ocean, suddenly raised his arm and pointed, his eyes growing wide.

"Uh, g-guys." he stuttered.

All the Titans turned and looked out at sea. A part of the ocean surface seemed to bulge and bubble, a sign that something big was coming up from below.

All the Titans stood up and turned to face this sight. Beast Boy walked up next to Terra and moaned, "Aw man, what now?"

Suddenly, what was below the ocean surface revealed itself. It was the mother of all crabs. At least one hundred feet in size, brownish red, the edges of its shell jagged with five foot spines. The Titans' jaws all dropped at the sight of this abomination.

Starfire gulped. "I believe we have really… 'stepped in it', this time." she said, shaking with fear as the monstrosity began to head for shore.

"You can say that again." Raven replied.

The enormous beast scuttled its way onto land, shaking the ground with the footsteps of its many legs.

Robin turned to the Gamer. "I don't suppose you've got something to handle this, do you?"

Gamer thought for a moment, then grinned, the sun reflecting off of his sunglasses. "Actually, I do. War of the Monsters. Hang on." he said.

Stepping forward, Gamer once again began putting in the right code. This would be his fourth change in less than an hour, the most transformations he had ever done at one point. A record.

He finally pushed START, and was enclosed in the white light. The light brightened and got bigger and bigger, until it was aglowing light one hundred feet tall! The Titans below were all forced to run further away, not wanting to get squashed by whatever Gamer was becoming.

The light faded, and standing there was a giant monster. It appeared to be made from still-cooling lava, as its skin was blackened earth with cracks of glowing red heat running along its body. It had a large jaw filled with very sharp teeth, and multiple eyes, with a hole on the very top of its head like the rim of a volcano, steam and glowing heat rising out of it. The most amazing characteristic was that the creature had four arms on its sides, one set below the other.

Element nodded at his brothers' choice. "Magmo. Nice one, fire works best."

Roaring, Gamer attacked the giant crab, swinging all four of Magmo's arms left and right, delivering punch after punch. The crab squealed in reply and began snapping and slapping him with its claws, and scratching him with his legs.

Beast Boy looked at the others. "Shouldn't we, you know, do something?" he asked.

Robin looked at him. "You want to get close to that thing? We'll all get crushed. It'd be best to let Gamer handle this one. He's the only one of us that become big enough to hurt that thing."

Element frowned. "Who says we need to be big?" he questioned. Element ran forward, towards his brother. Gamer was trying to hold back the crabs arms, so he was not moving for the moment. Touching his brother's enormous leg, Element re-absorbed the fire element into himself and traveled up his body in seconds. He then flung himself at the crab's face.

As the crab's face lit afire, the crab backed away from Gamer and started scuttling sideways, leaving the beach and heading for the docks, screeching the whole way. While it was distracted, Starfire took to the air and began blasting it with her energies, although the crab appeared not to take notice.

The crab scrapped its claw against its face and flung Element through the air. Element changed from fire back to normal in the air, before he slammed into the side of a condemned building across the street from the beach parking lot.

"Element!" Raven shouted, as she watched him hit. Enraged, Gamer bounded after the crab, shaking the ground, and began punching it with all four arms wildly.

Then there was a terrible ripping and clashing sound. The Titans on the ground and Gamer turned to the building Element had hit. The entire decrepit building shook and cracks began running up its side. The whole frame broke away, and pieces of brick, concrete, sheetrock, plaster, old furniture and iron girders all began to move, to clack together randomly. The entire pile of debris took on a humanoid shape, although vaguely so.

"Unbelievable." Cyborg whispered. Raven would have agreed, had she heard him. Element had formed to the entire building and was wrenching it away, using all of its pieces as his new body. He was a giant walking junk pile.

Standing as tall as Gamer and the giant crab, Element walked his massive debris-filled form towards the battle. Gamer grabbed the crab's claws in two of his own and moved around behind it, pulling the crab's arms behind its back. The crab shrieked in pain and protest.

Element stood in front of the crab and began extending all the steel girders in his body through one side, making them all link together into one long piece of metal. Pulling this steel baton back, Element smacked the giant crab across its ugly face again and again, determined to put this thing down before it could move into the city and begin leveling the place.

After the crab stopped resisting so much, very dazed and severely injured by Element's attack, Gamer hoisted the grab in the two arms on his right side and lifted it up off the ground. He threw it into the air, and then took a deep breath, about to deliver the final attack.

Opening his mouth all the way down to his stomach area, he used Magmo's volcanic attack to finish the crab off. Ten fireballs shot out of his mouth and sliced through the air, hitting the crab's falling body. Each fireball exploded against the crab, driving higher into the sky and farther away. After the tenth fireball hit, the crab started to fall. It was more thana mile in the sky now and had been pushed all the way over the city. The Titans all watched as the crab fell from the sky and crashed into the forest somewhere, kicking up an enormous mushroom cloud of dust and sending a tremor throughout the city. There was no way that the monster survived.

Walking all the way onto the beach, where he would not crush any property, Element released the debris of the condemned building from himself. The pieces of building fell in a pile, kicking up a cloud of dust and sand, which settled to reveal Element standing at the top of it with his arms crossed.

Magmo was consumed in the white light, which shrunk down to human size and disappeared to reveal Gamer normal once again.

Raven hovered over to Element and stopped in front of him on top of he debris pile.

"I'm glad you're okay. I thought that…" she said hesitantly, making it clear what she had been worried about. Element stared at her a moment, and the corners of his mouth actually tugged upward in a smile.

Starfire floated down to the ground and landed in front of Gamer, throwing her arms around him in a large hug.

"Gamer, you have saved the day yet again!"

Gamer blushed and chuckled. "Only because that crab was so huge. If it had been smaller, we would have all done it together." he said, trying not to make it seem like he and Element were trying to take all the tough assignments. He and Element really had only been able to take the monster themselves because they just happened to be capable of becoming that size too. If there had been time to go back to the tower and fetch the T-ship, the others would have joined in the fight and blasted at the crab.

The other Titans were now joining them. Beast Boy and Terra ran up to them hand in hand, Robin had a scowl on his face at the hug that Starfire was giving Gamer, and Cyborg simply threw a fist into the air and shouted, "Boo-yah!" triumphantly.

Stepping down from the debris pile, Element moaned, "Are we done fighting evil today? I'm worn out."

Beast Boy shrugged. "Well, unless you guys want to go chasing after the Hive Five team now, we could all go back to the tower to rest. Fighting those crabs was pretty tiring."

Terra nodded, then her eyes suddenly went wide. "Speaking of them, Robin, what was that paper Jinx gave you?" she asked.

Robin turned to her with wide eyes, surprised that she remembered. He himself had forgotten all about Jinx kissing him and slipping that paper into his belt, because of the battle with the giant crabs.

Reaching down to the paper that was still stuck in his belt, Robin unfolded it.

"It's a note." he said. The others all crowed over his shoulder to read it.

Teen Titans,

We have to talk. It is urgent. There is something you do not know, and it is time you were made aware of it. Things are not what they seem. Meet me at the food court at the mall in two days, at 5:00 pm. This is not a trick and not a set up. It is very important that you come, and please come discreetly. I need to let you in on what is going on. Again, this is no joke, it is very serious. Please be there, and don't be late. I'll be waiting.

-Jinx

The Titans all read the note again, bewildered.

"What do you think it means?" Cyborg asked Robin.

Robin shook his head. "I don't know. But Jinx did go to some, uh, serious lengths to give me this note." he said, blushing a little. Seeing his blush and remembering that the note had been in his belt, Starfire put her hands on her hips and began wondering to what lengths Jinx had gone to accomplish this deed.

"So, what are we going to do about this?" Raven asked.

Beast Boy scratched his head. "Well, I don't think Jinx would be dumb enough to give us this in order to lure us into an ambush and expect us to believe that it's not a trick. So she is either expecting us to go there ready to fight while she's really somewhere else, or she's telling the truth."

Element stepped up to Robin. "So what are we going to do?" he repeated Raven's question.

Robin frowned down at the note. "We'll meet her there. Slade sending Cinderblock and Plasmus to fight Element and the Gamer, Dr. Light and Control Freak robbing banks and jewelry stores for no logical reason that I can see, and now the Hive Five robbing TV sets at an electronics store. I think its about time we figure out just what's going on around here. Maybe Jinx does have something important to say about it. Either way, we need to figure out what she's up to. So we go." he stated.

------

The next morning, after the team had eaten breakfast in relative silence, everyone made their way to the living room and waited until 10:00, waiting to see if Robin was indeed going to let Gamer take Starfire on a date to the game convention at the mall.

Gamer remained at the kitchen table, ready to leave as soon as Starfire came back from her room, where she had gone after breakfast. Suddenly, the door to the hallway opened and Starfire came out. Turning to Gamer, she smiled.

"I am now ready to depart." she said happily. Smiling widely, Gamer stood up.

"Hey, great. Lets go then." he said eagerly, holding out his arm to her. Starfire giggled that wonderful giggle of hers in response to his gentlemanly gesture and hooked her arm through his. They began walking to the elevator.

Gamer took one last look over his shoulder to Robin on the couch, as did all the Titans sitting with Robin. Robin just stared straight forward, ignoring all the stares and crossing his arms even tighter than they already were, raging at himself and his stupidity on the inside.

Starfire and the Gamer entered the elevator and the doors closed.

------

A little while later, the two entered the mall and headed for the main lobby area, where the convention was being held. When they got there, they were awed by how many people had attended. Long tables had been set out all around the place, covered with game boxes and consoles and TVs to plug those consoles into to play on, and everything else you'd expect to see at a videogame convention.

Gamer walked Starfire along the tables, pointing out certain games and what they were about, and whether or not he had played them yet. Starfire smiled at all of this in excited interest.

Gamer sat down with other boys who boasted themselves as great players and challenged them all to one game after another. He beat them all of course, and the word spread through the mall that the Teen Titan known as the Gamer was not merely known by that name because he could become the characters in them.

Starfire cheered Gamer on at all of these matches, although she knew that she did not need to; Gamer was undefeatable. Gamer let her try a few games against challengers and coached her through them, directing her to victory each time, each time earning himself an appreciative hug in return.

The fact that the Gamer was there with Starfire was not lost on the other attendees of the convention. During the time they had been in Jump City with the Titans, many of the young ladies of the city had developed fangirl crushes on Element and the Gamer. Seeing Gamer here now with Starfire, on what appeared to be a date, many girls felt kind of low, their dreams of maybe attracting his attention shattered. But at the same time, this also helped spring new confidence ingirls who were fans of Robin. After all, if Starfire was dating Gamer, did that mean that the rumors about her having a secret relationship with Robin were false, and that he was now available? Depending on who they were a fan of, Gamer's date with Starfire seemed both good news and bad news to the ladies of the crowd.

Some of the guys who were fans of Starfire were still let down, because it didn't matter which Titan Starfire was dating, she was still taken. Many of them wanted to at least try talking to her while she was here, acting like a regular girl. But they all knew what the Gamer was capable of, and if he really was on a date with her, then they did not want to anger him. The last thing they wanted was for him to turn into someone like Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid and start shooting up the place.

After a few hours had passed, Gamer decided to look at some of the up-coming titles and then he and Starfire could go for lunch. He walked hand in hand with Starfire threw the tables that held the games that would be released soon. God of War 2, Madden: NFL 2007, Destroy All Humans 2, oh he was really looking forward to that one.

Suddenly, Gamer spotted something. A game that was situated on one of the tables for recently released titles. When he saw the game, he was amazed that neither Cyborg nor Beast Boy had ever mentioned seeing a commercial for it, as much as they watched the TV. He knew he had to get it, and he knew that he could use it. Not wanting Starfire to see it and ruin the surprise, he turned to her.

"Well, I guess that's everything there is to see. Why don't we go over to the food court for some lunch?"

Starfire nodded, smiling. "That sounds like a great idea, Gamer. I am famished."

As they started to leave the lobby and head for the food court, Gamer turned back and looked one last timeat that game he had seen. When they came back here tomorrow to rendezvous with Jinx, he would duck into the Game Stop for a moment and buy it, then show it to his friends when they returned to the tower.

------

Starfire and the Gamer were walking back to the tower after lunch, taking their time to enjoy the sights around them as they went. Neither spoke, as neither really knew what to say to the other. As they finally made their way to the beach that was across from the tower, Gamer decided that this was as good a time as any. It was sink or swim time.

"Starfire. Wait a moment." he said, turning to her. Starfire stopped and faced him, a questioning look in her eyes.

"What is it, Gamer?" she asked.

Gamer shifted nervously, then decided that the sooner he said it, the sooner he'd stop being nervous, as he'd know the answer soon enough.

"There's something I want to tell you. Something I've wanted to tell you for a long time now. Since before I even joined the team in fact." he then reached out and took her hands in his, deciding that a little show of affection through touch might be in is favor. Starfire immediately blushed, wondering why he would take such an action, but willing to listen to him.

"I... um… I really like you, Starfire. I mean I really like you. I've liked you since I first saw you on the news." he said. Starfire's eyes widened, her mouth fell open and her cheeks turned from pink to full red as she realized what this meant, what this was all about.

Gamer continued. "You are beautiful. I don't know if anyone has ever told you that, but you are. You are the most gorgeous girl on this planet. That's your most obvious quality. You are also an incredible fighter. You are very caring too; caring more about other's feeling than your own. You are always happy. All the time I've known you I've never seen you be anything but happy around me; and being around you makes me happy. Starfire… if it's alright with you, well… I'd like you to be my girlfriend." Gamer exhaled after finishing this speech. There, it was out. It was all out. Now, only the response was left.

Starfire stared at the Gamer, completely at a loss for words. She had meant that much to Gamer? She'd had no idea. All this time she'd thought that she was simply a deep friend to him, that she was the one to whom he chose to confide his thought in. But to have these kinds of feelings for her? She was completely unprepared. And saddened. Saddened, because she could not return his feelings.

"Gamer, I…" she started.

Right there. It was over. He knew it was over. It wasn't going to happen. Gamer could tell by the hesitation in her voice that she did not think about him the same way he thought about her, the same way he felt about her. He let out a sigh, knowing now his defeat had been inevitable. Though Robin didn't know it, she had always had eyes and feelings only for him. Gamer decided to let her finish anyway, out of courtesy.

"I am sorry, Gamer. But I do not have such feelings for you. You are one of my deepest friends… and I hope that we can continue to be so, even though I do not care about you as deeply as you care about me." she said, looking down in sadness, afraid that she was about to lose a good friend because he would not want to be around her anymore, knowing that he could not have her.

She was surprised when Gamer placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, Star. We will still be friends. To tell you the truth, I didn't really have much hope that you would like me that way. It was a long shot to begin with, but I felt that I had nothing to lose. Thanks for at least letting me get as close to you as I have. Me, your second best friend? Not many guys get to say that. And thanks for going with me to the convention today. At least I got to have one date with you, not many guys get to say that either."

He then placed a finger under her chin to tilt her eyes to look at his. Or at least to look at his sunglasses, which he now realized where still covering his eyes. He lifted them up with his other handso she could see his eyes. Though he enjoyed being able to touch her face like this, he didn't let his thoughts get carried away. Not that they could much anyway, as he couldn't feel her skin through his black gloves.

"Don't worry. We'll find you a boyfriend yet. I'm pretty sure you'll have the perfect guy for you… real soon." he said, now knowing that Robin would be taking that position in her life, since he was clearly no longer an option.

Starfire smiled at him. "Do you really think so?" she asked hopefully, a certain name already in mind.

Gamer nodded. "I know so." he said, lowering his sunglasses back over his eyes.

Starfire threw herself at him and gave him a monstrous hug. Ignoring the pain, Gamer allowed himself to scent her lovely hair, imagining one last time that she was hugging him out of love. Like he had always wished she would.

Seperating, Gamer took her hand again. "Come on, lets get back." he said, and Starfire floated into the air, carrying Gamer by the hand across the bay to the tower.

------

Robin was in the training room, punching and kicking the punching bag like a wild man. He was very close to busting it open, and he wouldn't stop until he did.

He heard the door open behind him and turned around to see the Gamer standing there, looking at him. Robin relaxed the fighting stance he'd been in and turned to face him. He frowned at him, seeming angry.

Gamer walked up to him, standing an even distance from him. A few moments passed and neither said anything. Finally, Robin ventured, "Well? How'd it go?"

Gamer sighed and looked down. "I failed."

Robin raised an eyebrow. "You failed?"

Gamer nodded, then looked up at Robin. He held out a hand, obviously meaning for Robin to shake it. "Congratulations man. You win. She's all yours. I get to be her best friend now. You get to be… something even better." he said, a small ironic grin spreading across his lips.

Robin looked at Gamer's hand, stunned. Finally, he slowly put out his hand, took Gamer's grip in his own and shook.

After letting go, Gamer turned and headed for the room's exit. He had lost. For the first time in his life, he had actually lost at something. Something important. And you know, it didn't feel as bad as he thought it would. In fact, he actually felt a weight taken off his shoulders. Besides, he was bound to lose at something at least once, and who better to lose to than someone as cool as Robin?

As Robin watched the Gamer exit, he thought about what he had said. How Robin would now get his chance to be more than Starfire's best friend. The competition was officially gone. And Robin now possessed the courage to tell Starfire how he felt. All he needed now was the right time.

Sudden excitement and joy building up in him, Robin leaped into the air as high as he could an pumped his fist towards the ceiling. "Yes!" he shouted.


Man, what a chapter! My hands are sore from writing this one. I hope you enjoyed it.

Yeah, I know that I've kind of made both Element and the Gamer into Mary Sues or Marty Sues, as I prefer to call male OCs. They will seem so for this story, as this really is just my attempt at imagining what it would be like if I became a Teen Titan. But since I'm planning at least one sequel to this story when it's done, and probably one more after that, I will take the focus off of the brothers and onto all the Titans equally, to make up for having such a big focus on them in this story. The next few chapters will focus more on the brothers' interaction with the canon characters, so that should balance it out for now.

In case you were wondering about the giant crabs, there was no real point or logic to that. You know how sometimes on Teen Titans arandom monster will show up with no explaination of how it got like that or where it came from, like that beast in "Stranded"? Well, that's what the deal was with the crabs in this chapter. I just wanted the Titans to fight an army of vicious monsters with no explaination of where they came from or why.

Now that Starfire is no longer an option for the Gamer, it is time to look to the future. The story will go different from here, focusing on Robin and Starfire's relationship, as well as the adventures of Element and the Gamer while they are with the Titans.

In the next chapter, the Titans meet up with Jinx, who gives them important info on just what is taking place. While she doesn't have all the details, the Titans will get an idea that major trouble is headed their way. And after an intense and rather surprising battle with Red X, Raven and Element will be left alone in the tower, for several hours. Bonds will be formed, feelings will be expressed, and a secret will be revealed: how Element and the Gamer got their powers! You are not going to believe the answer! Fans of the growing Element/Raven romance will finally be satisfied in the next installment of Element and the Gamer, Chapter 8: Origins, confessions and soul-mates.

See you guys then!