A/N: hey there! i took some headache pills (even though i dnt like using meds unless necessary) and now i got to do a new chap really quick. there's a chance that i'll update the next chap later this day too (my time zone.) thanks for the nice get well soon comment aquaray8.. it inspired me to write fast.. and aquaven11's unending support/comment just always makes my day..=D but i don't know if trident really has a trident... o.O
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Part 9: Giant Squids, Black Auras, And Kisses: Aqualad Must Decide
Raven told Aqualad about the story of Trigon the terrible, the other-dimension demon who wreaked havoc and destruction. She told him about how her mother was tricked by the demon to go to bed with him. She told him about her demon heritage. She told him about the pacifist monks of Azar who took her mother in. she told him how she was taught by Azar, herself taught her how to control her emotions and how to become an empath. She told him everything she knew about how her powers are suppose to work. She even told him the original reason as to why she went here to Earth. She told him how her father had contacted her when her powers got out of control… She wanted to tell him everything but she couldn't bring herself to tell him about "The Prophesy" and how she almost brought Earth to its destruction…
"That's all I can tell you…" she looked away. It took the Atlantean a couple of minutes to digest what he just heard. All he wanted to know why she couldn't control her powers. He wasn't expecting to hear her whole life story.
"Wow…."
"Not exactly your typical story, eh?" the girl gave a weak smile and laugh.
"Well… that's to be expected since we're not exactly typical people.."
"Yeah.. But everyone's lives weren't made just to lead to destruction…!" Raven covered her mouth. A Freudian slip… the boy looked at her questioningly.
"What do you mean by that? Is there something else I should know..?" the girl looked away…
"Well…. The thing is… I was born so that I could… become a gate…" she looked at the Atlantean before continuing. "It was prophesized that I'd become the gateway for my father to cross this world and destroy it…"
"When!" the boy stood up.
"You don't have to worry about it! It's… already over…" the both girl tugged him to sit back down.
"What?"
"The prophesy was fulfilled but Robin and the others were able to stop him.. so.. you don't need to worry.." the boy sat down and faced the half-demoness.
"How?" his eyes were stern. "How did the world almost end without me knowing?" the goth girl didn't like the look in his eyes… she turned away once more.
"I don't know… my memory of that time is foggy…. I only know that Robin and the others helped me… especially Robin…" the girl gave out an appreciative smile as she remembered how the Boy Wonder helped her when she lost all her memory and became a young Raven. The Atlantean let out a pained sigh.
"Can't believe that the world almost ended… but if you guys did defeat your dad… then how-?" the girl's smile faded and a frown replaced it.
"I don't know… he said that he's much a part of me as I am to him…" the girl clenched her fist. She didn't like the thought. Just when she had the notion of being free from her father's grasp for the past few months… he comes back like cancer. The boy placed his hands on her shoulder.
"Well… I guess we have to find out how to stop your father…" with that, he decided. "I guess I'll be going." The boy stood up and started stretching.
"What do you mean you'll be going? And why are you stretching?"
"Robin called earlier… he said that Trident is in the area right now… so I'll just go and say "hi" to him before I ask Bee to pick us up."
"What?" the goth girl stood up. "What do you mean you? I'm coming along!" to boy frowned.
"You can't. You said it yourself that you're afraid that your powers might go crazy again.." the girl bit her lower lip.
"This is unfair!"
"You can look it that way.. or.. you can say that you trust me in getting the work done." The goth girl glared at him. The Atlantean gave her a smile,"You still don't trust me..?" the girl pouted, turned around, walked a few feet away from the boy, and sat.
"Go ahead and kill yourself, for all I care!" the boy smiled.
"Thanks Raven…" the boy took out the transmitter and began looking for Trident.
The cavern was huge and it took the Atlantean a couple of hours until he was able to locate Trident. On the way, the story that Raven told him played on his head. The story of a child born to be a key/gate for great evil to come… a pacifistic cult… a child hated and unwanted by many… that story sounds oddly the same and somewhat familiar… heh… we really do have a lot in common. The prince was finally able to findthe villain's base. The place looked strangely the same, the last time they met the fish man. There were numerous trident look alikes and they were moving some crates onto a submarine at the aqueduct opening.
"Can't this guy think of anything original for once?" the Atlantean complained. "I better make this quick. I promised Raven." The boy started doing some guestures with his hands and the water surrounding the submarine started to whirl around. The whirling water gulped the submarine… and spat it out to the ground. The Trident copies started running around like confused ants. The boy started to snicker then the real Trident came out.
"What's all this ruckus!" the villain scanned the area and saw the disheveled submarine. "What happened to my submarine!" the Atlantean made a big wave and swept half of the area before he made his majestic entrance. The ranks of the trident clones were instantly cut by half. The real Trident was fuming mad.
"Hey there!" the boy waved at the fish man.
"You!" the villain pointed his spear at the Atlantean and scowled. "I see you're still irritating as ever. Wait…. Why does your face look like that..?" The boy didn't comment on his still healing face but merely smiled.
"And you… you're smell is still as bad as your face." Trident didn't like that comment much. It hurt his feelings. He's always been mad at the fact that he and Aqualad are supposed to be somewhat the same since their both humanoid amphibians. But Trident couldn't understand why the prince of the deep is so hot while he, on the other hand…. Is not.
"Attack him!" the clones started to attack. The Atlantean gracefully evaded each and every attack and countered by hitting them with a strong stream of water from the aqueduct.
"Tch. This is too easy! Looks like your clones are getting a little bit soft!" the villain grinned evilly.
"Yes… they are… that's because they're not clones.."
"What!"
"They used to be humans…I injected some of my DNA into them." Hearing this made the boy lose his focus and the clone tridents were able to pin him down.
"Rarrgh!" the prince tried to break free but couldn't. "Shit… Raven's gonna be so mad at me…" Trident came closer to the Atlantean and kicked him. "Agh!"
"I was lying when I told you they were humans... why would I let any of those inferior beings get my wonderful powers! I just had to…. Change my clones a little bit so that last times incident won't ever happen again.." the Atlantean glared at him. Trident scowled and thought, It's no fair! Even with all those burn marks on his face, he still looks better than me! Yes…Trident has other issues aside from that big ego of his. Trident raised his er… trident, ready to do the finishing blow on the prince of the deep. Just when he was about to swing, the trident clones holding the Atlantean got hit by flying crates.
"What the!" both Aqualad and Trident said. They traced the direction of the flying crates and saw more of them surrounding the half-demoness. "You!" yes… they also said that at the same time.
"Can you please not speak in unison? It's weird…. And annoying.." The goth girl deadpanned as she sent the other crates flying to the remaining trident clones. The Atlantean got to his feet and went to the goth girl.
"What are you doing here! I told you to wait for me at the camp!" the girl raised her brow.
"Why yes… I saved your life. You're welcome…" the boy pouted and grabbed the goth girls hand.
"You're going back to camp!" the girl swiped her hand off the prince's grip and glared at him. "Don't you give me that look young missy!" The two started arguing and forgot about Trident's existence. This didn't make the villain happy.
"You dare ignore me! I shall unleash my beast at you and you will know fear!" Trident slammed his trident on the ground and pressed a secret button on it.
The two were still arguing when suddenly, something began to emerge from the water hole. Out from the water, giant tentacles broke out! Trident was laughing like mad.
"WAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HA! Now both of you will fear me!" he expected the two to gasp in horror and run for their lives. Or maybe do little curses at the villain and gallantly try to slay the beast. But… as I have said before waaaaayyy back in chapter 2: strange things have been happening. So one must expect a strange reaction from the two.
"A Kraken?" the goth girl's voice was fairly annoyed. "Ooohhhh… like I haven't seen that before.."
"Yeah… Fought one of those one time at Brother Bloods base… so, unoriginal.." Trident's jaw dropped.
"What's up with you people and making giant squids look bad? Almost in every movie I see it's always a giant kraken..! Can't you use something else like killer whales?"
"Or penguins!" the goth girl stared at the Atlantean. "What? Penguins can be scary, too?" before Raven could retort, the giant squid slammed its tentacles to the ground. It was getting bored waiting for its master's command. And it could somehow feel that it was being made fun of. The ground shook and the two lost their balance. Trident stopped jaw dropping and saw that the two Titans were in trouble.
"Wahahahahahahahahahahaha! You dare make fun of my pet! You shall suffer for that! Kraken!" the villain commanded and the giant followed. It grabbed the two Titans and began dragging them underwater. It would be fine for the Atlantean since he's better underwater but for Raven…
"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" the goth girl was able to levitate scrap metals from the broken submarine and lunged them at the tentacle holding her. The giant let out an ugly pained scream and let go of the goth girl. She was able to land safely on the ground. The girl concentrated once more. "Azarath, Metrion-"
"Raven! Behind you!" the Atlantean's warning was too late and Trident sent the girl flying. The boy was now submerged underwater and was being rapidly taken out of the aqueduct. In just a few minutes, the prince came face to face with the giant squid.
"I have no time for you!" he tried to communicate with the squid but it did not heed his wishes and started squeezing the Atlantean.
Back in the cavern, Raven was recovering from the blow she received from the villain. When she got her composure back she realized that majority of the Trident clones were now conscious. They began surrounding the goth girl. The young girl cursed.
"Azarath.. Met—"the first clone attacked. She quickly avoided it but the other clones started to attack as well. She couldn't evade all of them and she got hit back and forth for a couple of times. She began countering by letting out powerful bursts of her dark energy. She was able to chant and levitate three clones and used them as a bowling ball at the incoming clones. Strike! And the clones all fell down after a while. The goth girl started panting heavily while searching for any more enemies. There seemed to be none. She quickly turned her attention to the Aqueduct where the prince got pulled into.
"Aqualad!" unknown to the girl, Trident was hiding somewhere, waiting for a chance to attack. When he saw that the goth girl was putting all her attention to the pool of water he swiftly attacked. That's the second time he sneaked attack the girl.
Raven was once again on the ground. And she was very pissed. Her concern for the Atlantean and her hatred for the fish villain merged. Trident was coming up to the girl ready to attack once more. The villain was shocked when he was pushed back by a dark force of aubergine and black.
The villain was then scared shitless when the half-demoness form started to change. Her eyes became sharper and it became a mix of red and dark purple, she grew larger and her cape seemed to have merged with her body. Black and aubergine root-like tendrils started to crawl from the edge of the cape and it began covering the whole room. If you've seen the episode where Raven almost ate Dr. Light in Nevermore, this is what she looked like, only 500x scarier.
"Aaaahhh!" Trident was crawling away from the tendrils that were slowly nearing him. "Noo! Mommy!"
As this horror scene was happening, Aqualad had just finished punishing the Kraken. Don't worry kids, the giant squid is still alive. It's just sleeping right now… the boy was pleased with his work (even though he was badly injured again) and turned to the entrance of the aqueduct.
"What the?" the prince saw the familiar aubergine/black energy emanating from the entrance. "Raven!" without thinking twice, the boy rushed to where the half-demoness was.
"Stay away from me! You! You! Monster!" Trident was feebly poking—I mean fighting back the evil aura coming near him.
"Whatsss thisss? Monssssterrr yoouuu sssaaayyy..?" the voice that came out from the goth girl was eerie and slithered like a snake.
"Aaaaahhhhh!" The fish villain squeeled. The goth girl grabbed the villain's neck using the black aura shaped like a hand with claws.
"Whhooo aarree yooouuuu toooo ssssaayyy…. Moonssssteerrrr?" the girl pulled him closer so that they'd meet eye to eye. "Weeee aaarrrreeee a beetteerrrr beeeeiiiinnnnggg tthhhhaaaannn yoooouuuuu…"
"Please let go of me Raven!" the villain pleaded. The goth girl gave out a bizarre chortle.
"Rrrrraaaavveeeeennnn yyooooouuu saaaayyy? Weeee arrreeee nnooooottt… Rrrraaaavveeeennnn iiissss oouurrrrr crrrreeeeaaaattoooorrrr…. Yeessssss…." Trident didn't quite understand what the girl was talking about… maybe it was because air wasn't getting through his strangled throat. The being that claimed not to be Raven raised the villain higher and planned to throw him when the prince of the deep arrived. He was horrified at the place that was now completely covered with the ghastly aura and he almost lost his breath when he saw the transformed Raven.
"Raven!" the Raven being turned to the Atlantean. It grinned evilly and dropped the fish villain to the ground.
"Aaaahhh…. Thheee booooyyyyy…. Foooolliiisshhhh boooyy…" the voice that came out started to vary. It was like different people were talking in a disgusting and eerie voice. It started to come closer to the Atlantean.
"Raven? Is that you?" the boy found himself slowly retreating.
"Raaavvveeeennnnnn….Raaavvveeeennnn….shhhheeeeeesssssss nnnooootttt heeeeeeerrreeeeee…."
"What the hell are you talking abou—" the boy was interrupted as dark claw like hands started to attack. He barely escaped them. The boy looked at the Raven entity. What in the hell happened while I was gone! The claws came back and the boy started evading once more. The Raven entity started to let out an ugly cackle. It made the boy's stomach churn. He felt that the Raven he was facing wasn't her.
"Where are you Raven! Answer me!" the entity laughed once more and lunged at the Atlantean. The boy was able to do a reversal with the entity's tackle and manage to pin it/her to the ground. "Answer me Raven! dammit! If you don't, I'll kiss you! Raaaghh!"
The boy was sent flying by the dark aura. He slowly stood up and came up with a strange idea. He didn't know what divine providence made him say that he'll kiss her but… he saw it. It was just for a split second, but he saw the original Raven's face and eyes return. And her face showed a mixture of surprise and… Was it me or did I just saw the real Raven's face showing disgust at the idea of me kissing her? I don't think this idea of mine will make her happy… but then again if I don't do anything, I'll get killed… hmm… go through with this plan and face Raven's wrath later or just let things slide and I get killed? *sigh* both choices spell doom and death… I shouldn't have gotten up this morning…
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decisions...decisions... hmm... i wonder if the episode nevermore was right...? *sigh* truth be told... i only got to watch only a few episodes of teen titans animated..