Tales of Chaos: God of Luck

by Gobeul

When the Titans are actually asked to take in a new member, strange things start happening...starts off lousy, but gets better with influences from Invisibles and Hitch Hiker's Guide. Chap27: The Titans crash on an alien planet that seems oddly familiar. Late status update: on extended hiatus, may be presumed cancelled. Blame excessive scope and lack of planning.

25. Battle of the Robin Clones

Author's notes 1: Six months… it's been six months since my last update… In those six months, I've managed to pass every course in the first year of college, plus a few of the second year, and I have started my second year in earnest, minus the two courses I passed on my GIT. I'm not dead. I'm not quitting this fic, nor the Digimon one. I think it's fairly obvious the Hecatomb one is dead, along with Hecatomb itself. Shame, but that's what happens. I shall continue this story, until the end. Of the story, not me. I plan to outlast this story by a long shot.

Author's notes on the chapter: This is one of those filler episodes the series has/had. It's all about identity, and how you deal with having people who take you as a rolemodel, or rival, and turn out looking a lot like you. It also involves the importance (or lack thereof, perhaps) of being aware of your past and staying true to it. But that's not all. This isn't just a deep, thought-provoking chappie as I'm prone to produce, it's also my view on the whole 'Robin's identity' thing, as well as my guess at Red X's identity, though you'd probably disagree with me. I will say this, though: the person who I think is Red X, that guy's father, was a movie character (my not owning them is coming up shortly), and I saw that movie just a while ago again, and I noticed something odd… at the start of the movie, he steals a car and then stops near a van to get some equipment on it. That van had a chaosstar on it. Not just the Red Hot Chilli Peppers non-pointy thing but an actual chaosstar, with the arrows. How weird is that?

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans, nor do I own any of the characters depicted in this fic. If you want to use Juro, be my guest, just be sure to drop me a line and don't forget to explain how in blazes he got to your continuum, because I really don't want to get people confused about continuities…well, not unnecessarily so. I don't own any of the Robin clones depicted in this chapter, though I do take credit for coming up with two of them… well, I'm sure they've shown up somewhere as Titans or Titans enemies, but I haven't seen them in those versions, so excuse me. I also don't own Batman or the Penguin, but I do have a maths professor who looks a lot like him. The Penguin, that is. I add that because there was going to ba a piece in this fic parodying him, but seeing as I have no reason to do so, I won't unless my fellow students read this story and ask me to.

And now, to business!

Chapter 24: Attack of the Robin clones.

A long time ago, in a Galaxy far, far away… there lived a man. While this is not the most shocking of revelations, it should be noted that he was no normal man. Of course, the Galaxy in question did not really have any normality to speak of, but this abnormal person was special in his normal abnormality. He had grown up bearing a grudge against all forms of evil, his parents having been murdered before his eyes when he was a child.
He was known as the Batman, the Dark Knight of Gotham. He fought evil as best he could, using his martial arts expertise and several varieties of weapons. At one point in his crime-fighting career, he joined a team of superheroes: the Justice League. While he did prove his worth as a superhero many times, he never became a permanent Leaguer due to his views and convictions.

In his mind, he was an avenger. He felt it was his duty to set right the wrongs for anyone who could not do it for themselves. Put bluntly, he did not belong to the Justice League, because Justice wasn't his primary motive, despite telling himself otherwise.

This story is not about him. It is about someone like him. Like Batman, he was an avenger. He had martial arts skills like Batman's, though slightly different, used weapons that resembled Batman's a great deal, but he was younger than the Dark Knight.
He went by the name of Robin, and at one point, he had been Batman's sidekick, his ally, his apprentice. However, something happened between the two, and they had a falling out.
Not long after, Robin would make his way to Jump City. At that point the city also harboured a group of five Invisibles, namely Ravager; the daughter of an assassin, Max; a one-eyed pop magician also known as Mister Peggy, Celia; his dead wife who'd been revived with a massive dose of creative energy, turning her into a muse, Absinthe; a former porn-addicted otherkin girl with faerie powers, and one temporary member who'd later be kept in reserve and brainwashed to forget the whole thing, as he was one of those rare people that seemed to have pure randomness following them. For the record, this group would later recruit someone who looked a lot like him, but was sucked into a hole leading into an alternate timeline. Anyway, to ensure their survival, for these five knew that Ravager's father was on their trail, they performed a ritual to alter chance events, thereby leading Robin to discover four other heroes in a very, very unlikely event. This, of course, led to the formation of the Teen Titans. They elected Robin to be their leader, or rather, he took charge and they followed, because they all knew him and his formidable reputation. However, like Batman, Robin felt that he was an avenger. His determination to find and neutralise criminals like Slade, who mistook the Titans for his targets, quickly degenerated into an obsession. Nevertheless, in time he got over it, and the friendship among the Titans ensured that they would see things through regardless of what happened.

But that was only because they didn't know what would happen. A sixth Titan found her way to Jump City, a drifter named Terra. Her tragedy and the subsequent grief caused Robin to think about himself. It brought him a startling conclusion.

He'd forgotten who he was.

It didn't really strike him as odd at first. After all, he was a full-time hero. He just didn't have time to stop and think about anything else. But it gnawed at him in time. He tried to see what he looked like in regular clothes, but that didn't help. He simply couldn't remember who he was, who he'd been before he'd become Robin. And after that, of course, the problems he had about his feelings for Starfire only got worse; if you can't remember who you were, you can't be sure of what kind of girl is your type. If he cared for her with the mask on, would that change in normal life? It was a big problem. But his biggest problem was revenge. It just didn't sit right with him that he felt the way he did and couldn't explain it. He knew he'd been wronged, but not what wrong had been committed. Was someone close to him murdered? Had anyone survived? And most of all he wondered: Had he ever gotten back at whoever it was he was supposed to get back at?

Then some time after, Juro came into the team, by a coincidence that now, it seemed, never occurred. All this messing with realities and alternate timelines gave him headaches. What had happened and what hadn't overlapped the way oceans overlap continents. It wasn't his cup of tea, and never had been. He was never the one to save the universe by some planet-enveloping spell or a limit break that made him push past his body's limits, or even a new weapon that saved the day from some new and strange foe.

Nope, his superpowers were nigh-on non-existent. If he saved the world from anything it involve either pushing a button or hitting something with a stick… very hard. But that didn't mean he couldn't try. So there he was, contemplating all of this, as Raven and Terra prepared the special sparring match just for him. While Raven would work on his peripheral senses, Terra would work on his speed. She was actually getting used to the moves Kai had taught her, though where the turtle thing had gotten them in the first place was a question best left unanswered. Another week or two and Juro would restore her memory full. Robin stopped his train of thought and focused on the task at hand.

Time to start.

Terra stomped on the ground, causing her sandbags to shake a little. Apparently Kai wanted Terra to work with sand so she wouldn't tear up the landscape every time she tried something. Her current move, however, caused a few pebbles to shoot up from the ground, after which she pelted them by punching the air. The mechanics of the thing eluded Robin, but he noticed Terra's long range projectiles were a lot faster than before Kai's lessons. Five little rocks shot towards him, and he tried to get into the right frame of mind to dodge them the way he should, but in the end he just went on reflex. He cocked his head to the left 'one,' letting the pebble shoot past, sidestepped the one aimed for his thigh 'two,' lifted his foot for the low shot 'three,' ducked under the one going for his skull 'four,' and rolled away before the last one buried itself in his stomach.

'Five,' he thought. Too much reflex action. He was supposed to have insight, not a knee-jerk reaction.

Raven's routine was easier for him. The idea was that he be able to strike at the floating arm paddings while they were out of his line of sight, basically the same thing he'd done with the Guardian of the Cave. Even though he couldn't see or hear the things in Raven's soundless grasp, he could feel them out and perfectly hit every one of them. When it became clear he had the hang of it, Terra did her trick again. He still couldn't feel out things that moved too fast to see. It got even more frustrating when Terra actually DID make her rocks too fast to see, at Robin's request, of course. In the end, it proved more of a test for Terra not to hit him than for Robin to dodge her attacks. His partial success only frustrated him, even more so than a complete failure would.

TTTTTTT

Meanwhile, in the Titans Tower East…
"Well, officer Trudeau, that certainly sounds like a predicament," Bumblebee spoke to the phone," if you follow up on the lead that gypsy gave you, you're likely to lose your job. But if you don't and she's right, there'll be an explosion big enough to send Gotham to the Stone Age."

"Right, and even if I find proof, nobody'll believe me, I don't think even Batman could help," the officer replied," I mean, gremlins aren't exactly recognised as pests, and they certainly aren't the same thing as fighting supervillains, so that rules out the Justice League. But if you could get here, that'd work. People would believe you; you're used to dealing with these weird situations."

"True, but even though we're closest to Gotham City, we can't go out in full force. Random got this call for an add-on to her watch, the twins are over at the airport, and I've got to hold the fort back here. I'll try to phone around, see who I can get, but if I were you, I'd keep this quiet and try and do it solo."

TTTTTTT

He finished training, feeling as if he still had a long way to go and no time to go in. Still, at least it was something. When he felt he'd done enough, he asked Raven if she could translate some of the texts he'd been given by the True Master. Some of the instructions were in English, but he felt like they didn't convey something… something important. And it was a form of magic, kinda, that he was trying to accomplish, and Juro was better at coming up with new languages than reading ancient ones, so…

"'The Humming Bird technique consists of amplified bursts of energy launched at high speed,'" Raven translated,"' the aim is to hit structural weaknesses in any target and let the energy spread through the cracks made thereby. This effectively destroys the entire target, given enough energy is used. The result, depending on technique and intent, can be paralysis or fractures in a living object, and shattering of inanimate objects, however hard they may be'… sounds impressive. I wonder why the Master didn't translate this?"

Robin couldn't think of a satisfactory reply either, but then he wasn't used to dealing with mystics. Never was, and never had been.
"Well, at least now I know what I'm trying to do here," Robin spoke," but where do the sight exercises come in?"

Raven leafed through the booklet.
"Ah, here. Listen to this:' in order to accomplish technical proficiency in this art, one must first learn to perceive in two ways…'" Raven continued," that's strange, I thought this language made the difference between 'seeing' and 'perceiving', but it says here 'perceive'…anyway: 'The first and arguably easiest form to master is Overvision. Through this, the warrior perceives everything around him gains deeper understanding of the forces surrounding him. It is this that allows the user to target certain structural weaknesses in both living and dead targets, as well as letting the warrior sense his own energy to better steer them. It is this mastery and control that allows for great feats while using up only a slight amount of energy,'" Raven recounted," so I guess this lets you see all the weak spots in stuff. Even Juro couldn't do that in his space samurai persona."

The idea of his team mate having powers borrowed from TV now bothered Robin to no end. How he could have felt it was normal at one point was beyond him. Nevertheless, he was past feeling strange about things. He'd gotten past feeling strange when Starfire was about to marry a blob and the tofu invading the city a few days ago had reminded him of this sentiment.

"Okay, but does it have any details on how to train it? Anything the pictures aren't saying?" he asked.

Raven shook her head.

"No… it's strange, though. There's a phonetic here that doesn't seem to belong," she quietly answered.

"A what?" Robin stammered.

"This language… it's like Japanese. You have things that mean entire words, and phonetic scripts that only say things about the syllables. These markings here… are phonetics that don't make sense. They spell words that have separate symbols, so either they mean something other than the actual words, or they refer to a family name."

"And what does it say?"

"'White', this one here, then I think 'Blood', followed by 'Spin', or 'Turn', might even be 'Circle' or something. Then 'Seal', and 'Lie', or 'Untruth.' It's like these signs were supposed to stand out in the text."

"Anything more?"

"'The second perception is Clearvision. It allows the user to predict and counter any attack made, even copy the attacks before they are executed, effectively letting the user become as one with his enemy. This is a crucial skill, as the Humming Bird is dangerous without it; at the speed it is being used, failing to predict a counter or a dodge can result in death,'" Raven trailed off at that," are you sure this is something you want to learn, Robin?"

"Yes, Raven, I do. I thought you would understand me that much by now."

It was true; there had been a time when Robin and Raven were the only two people in the Tower who were completely human and, as such, had a modicum of compatibility. But they'd always been too different to be more than friends, not to mention Robin's ever-complicating relationship with Starfire. Still, they understood one another. Raven had learned that Robin, or even boys in general, always need to have some sort of affirmation of their existence. It was just the way nature had made them, and in abnormal situations it only became stronger, sometimes overwhelming every other impulse. Robin simply needed to have a goal that he could reach, some kind of trophy ability that nobody could ever match. Juro had taken an important role as a fighter, his wopping ability combined with… whatever it was he used as a martial art. Then there were the special knives… again, going down that train of thought led to headaches. The point was that the Titans' group dynamics had been shaken up a lot, and Robin had trouble adjusting to it, being the leader and all. If he wanted to keep up, he needed to elevate his level, and he just couldn't do that if his entire repertoire came down to 'swing something, anything'.

"I do. It's just that you're trying to do something you don't even understand. Maybe Juro…"Raven was cut off.

"Juro can't help me with this. This isn't a reality-altering blast, or a death wave from a TV-show, or even a style of fighting from an outer galaxy. This is just… the next step for me. And I'm pretty sure he can't read that writing, either," Robin interrupted.

"I'm just saying that this is going to be dangerous if you try it. Extrasensory abilities can be a good thing, but if you rely on them too much, there's a chance you won't survive when somebody manages to surprise you. Besides that, you're going to try and hit things with energy. You're a great warrior, Robin, but you're a layman when it comes to the supernatural. That doesn't mean you're not stronger than me, or Juro, or even any one of us. You probably are. But you're trying to achieve a high level ability without any real advance training, and even if you get it, you're potentially risking your life using it. I trained extensively before I could meld my energy into shadows, and even more before I could make them physical. I fasted for weeks, months, just to get the right feel of the energy, and I still need to be able to clear my mind completely at a moment's notice. Juro… you don't even want to know what kind of formal training he underwent."

Robin decided to add to the conversation again.
"Uh… actually I was kinda curious about that."

"Think strenuous yoga. Think addiction. Think self-induced unconsciousness and general border-line insanity. He still does the Death Posture three times a day."

Robin, at this point, realised he wouldn't win the argument if it kept going this way.
"Look, everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. Everyone has their way of doing things. My way of doing things involves fighting hand to hand. There's just a lot of things I can't do that way… so will you please just tell me what this text says?"

"Okay," Raven conceded," there's a set of phonetic symbols for this one, too. It's identical, except it replaced 'White' with 'Red'. And there's something else, too… but I doubt if it means anything."

"What is it?" Robin asked.

"'Man', that's how it's pronounced, but there's no such word in that language with any meaning, then… I think it means 'Lizard'. Some kind of lizard, anyway. Or it's pronounced like the word for lizard, but a little different. But there's no exercises for it, no real training to prepare for it… if I had to guess, I'd say the True Master put these in for people who knew exactly what it meant, who actually had some innate potential for this, instead of trying to reach it. Or it's some kind of code you figure out by meditating on the signs; occultists have been known to do that. But then, she would have explained it in detail while you were there. Unless, of course, she knew someone near you who did know its meaning, and she expected you to look that person up. Did she say anything out of the ordinary when you were there?"

"Now that you mention it, she did seem to know a lot about the Legend of the Eight Immortals, and the Ninth."

"You mean the one about Drunk Boxing?"

Robin nodded.
"Yeah, that one. It's strange; she asked me what the Eight Virtues might be, and I knew them all. But nobody ever told me, not that I know of. Does it say anything else?"

Raven went to the last page.
"'This work was made in secret, and can be attributed only to the… School of the Unseen,' I think,' for more information, seek out the… Knight that cannot be seen?' I can't make sense of this, the language is bad enough, but the handwriting's just terrible."

That was all Robin needed to know. Unbelievable. To think that guy would go through all that trouble… the School of the Unseen was what Bruce's shinobi academy was called, and the word 'Knight' was a dead giveaway. Then, of course, the handwriting. While the man could chuck a Batarang and split a flower petal from a city block away, Bruce's fingers had never been accustomed to pens. It was unlikely, but it was also the only thing that was actually possible. It had to have been the Batman.

Why not? He still had some time to go to Gotham, hop in, ask for an explanation, hop out. And maybe Bruce would be able to tell him who he'd been once. Batman had a secret identity in Bruce Wayne; it's not unreasonable to think Robin had a secret identity, right?

TTTTTTT

Red X was on the run. It wasn't that he was scared, but he couldn't risk any surprises from his latest victim. He'd stolen a device that would be able to fabricate Xinothium from the neon and carbon dioxide gas particles in the air, in other words let his suit run on air. The bad news about it was that the guy who'd invented it was not only the proud owner of a secret lab, but also a superhero wannabe, and not a bad one at that. Then, of course, there were the security droids to deal with, but those were a push-over. The biggest problem was that the machine took forever to produce even a slight amount of the compound he needed, and even if it did, his suit could only produce a fraction of its normal firepower without the utility belt Robin had taken. And now, he was still in the damn lab, but an older, abandoned part of it. There were no security droids on patrol here, but he knew that would change soon, and the owner would show up as well. He would never be beaten by this guy; not in a million years, but he couldn't both fight and operate the huge disk-shaped device and make his escape. Then there was the possibility of two against one… this guy's sister was a ballerina dancer, and she had some connection to the Titans East, but he couldn't quite remember what… something distant, but not distant enough for his tastes. While she'd be useless in combat, he knew she was certainly a nuisance to anyone who ever met her, and she was capable of snatching the thing… and randomly pushing buttons to make it explode. That much he knew. So… he was left with but one option. He had to call his reinforcement. As much as he hated it, he had to call on… him. But then he'd have to find someplace neither of them could be detected… first things first.

As the droids circled overhead, Red X whistled.

Their master caught wind of the escape, and promptly vowed that Red X would not escape his almighty wrath.

Then again, he had been playing Beasts and Barbarians that day, so he was feeling a little overconfident at the moment.

Narrator's Voice from the Powerpuff Girls: Who is this mysterious scientist/superhero? Could it be a chemistry wiz, taking Trapster's knowledge and using it for good? Might it be another physics ace like Robin and Speedy, with freezing projectiles and other neat gadgets? Or is it someone more familiar?

And who might be Red X's accomplice? Who could get him out of a heavily guarded lab that easily and why would he have to relocate to remain undetected? All these questions and more shall be answered… eventually.

TTTTTTT

The ride to Gotham was uneventful, and the sun was setting by the time Robin got there. He rode his R-cycle through the city, trying to find a place that stirred his memories, but nothing came. He rode on to Wayne Manor, via a little-known route that ended up at the back of the villa. He punched in his ID at the hidden door panel, went through the hidden door, then waited for a full scan of his vital systems. The computer confirmed that he was 'Robin', and let him through to the main part of the Batcave. At a far wall, he could see Batman's trophies. Scarecrow's gas pistol, Dr. Freeze's helmet, one of Harley Quinn's toys… every item a memory, but none of his normal life.

An old man in a butler suit came to greet him.

"Alfred," Robin said. Surely this man could shed some light on it? Robin knew that this man was a trusted ally, a friend, but for some reason he couldn't remember talking to him about anything other than fighting crime.

"Ah, master Robin," Alfred replied," good to see you. Master Bruce has been alerted of your arrival and will be coming back from patrol shortly. May I ask, what is the nature of your visit?"

"Uh, I have some texts from a martial arts master I wanted him to look at. That and… well this is going to sound strange," Robin wasn't sure what to say. He wasn't even sure of what his question was.

"Strange, sir?" Alfred inquired.

"Well, I can't remember who I am. And I can't even remember remembering who I am," that was as far as he could explain it.

"You are Robin, are you not?" Alfred asked, confused at the youth's problem.

Robin took off his mask to clarify. He knew he had blue eyes, and his face wasn't really ugly, but he wasn't anything to write home about. Not that he knew where that home would be if he was, but that's beside the point.
"I mean before I became Robin. I know I had a name before I came here, I know that I had parents, a family, but I can't remember them, I don't even know what happened to them."

"Oh, I see. Well, I'm afraid I can't help you with that, master Robin, sir. Things have become quite… complicated lately, and many people have come and gone in a short time. I'm sure master Bruce can explain it better than me," Alfred remained cryptic, but Bruce was just driving in and parking his BatMobile in the usual spot, so maybe it didn't matter.

The Dark Knight came out, took off his mask, and asked the one question Robin really, really didn't want to hear.
"Robin? Is that really you?"

At this point, the poor young man was beginning to doubt it himself.

Alfred left to prepare dinner, Robin politely declined, settling on a sandwich, and then Batman explained himself.

"So… you don't remember who you are… in normal life?" Bruce asked.

Robin shook his head, taking another bite from the sandwich Alfred had made. It was something the man prided himself on: that no superhero enter his doors and leave with an empty stomach. His own bit to keep the world safe, and nobody could argue with him.

"Well, that's really, err… tough, I imagine" he continued.

If his mouth hadn't been full, Robin would have replied something terribly clever and on-the-mark, but as it was, he just glared at his former mentor.

"Well, I guess I can tell you why you can't remember. A few months ago, the Justice League came into contact with beings from another dimension, evil ones, bent on enslaving the human race using everything from nano-technology to magic to mass media. They were almost impossible to defeat, and the entire League might be dead or brainwashed by now if it hadn't been for their natural enemies."

This sounded familiar.

"The League fought the Archons," Robin said," and they were helped by the Invisibles."

"Right. I hear your new friend is a chaos mage. He's not…"

"He is. Or was. The Invisibles kept him in reserve, because he was unstable or something," Robin replied to unfinished question.

"Ah. Anyhow, the Invisibles warned us that our coming into contact with them had unbalanced the world we lived on. It gets complicated from there on in. When I say 'world', I mean a complete universe of things that… basically, all come down to different 'what ifs'."

Robin swallowed another bite from the sandwich.
"Uh-huh, I think Juro mentioned something like that. Improbability, right?"

"That's right. You see, they believed that every world, the world as we know it, is actually a kind of hologram, an overlap of different spheres, layers of reality. These Archons had made a rupture to try and break other worlds, to contact the Archons that lived in other 'what if' universes. As a result, things that threatened other worlds now threatened ours as well. There have been ruptures opening up all over the world, but mostly in Japan, that lead to a different layer of reality, and one that makes it easier to pierce through the fabric of time."

"So you've got holes leading to different layers, holes leading to different 'what ifs', AND holes in time?" Robin was trying to keep up.

"Pretty much. But wait, the most important bit is yet to come. One of the things that came through was a device meant to align all the 'what if' universes our Earth is in, then to destroy it. Apparently if someone just blows up the Earth, another slightly different one immediately replaces it. But when it came to our world, it needed to weed out a lot of people who didn't exist in its reality. Basically, it had to force these people to become what they were in other realities, or it had to erase them. But to erase them, it had to follow certain rules. A person who died in an accident would be replaced, just like the Earth would replace itself every time. The only way to completely erase a person, was if that person engineered their own demise. They had to make several choices, of a high improbability, that would eventually kill them."

"Just out of curiosity, how do you know all this?" Robin suddenly asked.

"The Justice League's mages explained it, of course. Them and the scientists. And the Invisibles cells that contacted us. So, anyway, it started killing people that way, but again the Invisibles picked up on the threat. They concluded that because this… thing had to operate within a rigid set of rules, their chaos mages could somehow disrupt it, even destroy it."

"But that's not what happened, is it? Juro ended up against that machine, he destroyed it."

"True, the Invisibles never got hold of the machine, but that's not all. When the Archons of the other universe were defeated, the Invisibles of that world had returned home, but some, from other worlds still, have snuck into our continuum. The hole was still open. Somebody had kept it open, and actual rifts started appearing, letting events flow into different worlds like sand in an hourglass. Look up on the monster attacks in Japan from a few years ago; those weren't always in our history, but yet they happened in this perspective. One of the major rifts appeared in a region called Odaiba, and events from a different universe now apparently happened in this one as well. The Invisibles managed to close the holes, but they lost a lot of people doing it, and they never found out who had kept them open in the first place. This is where it gets interesting: the big rifts and the machine that tried to destroy the Earth are connected. Because that thing tried to exert an immense order on several worlds, something else, a force of complete disorder, was given a chance to manifest. It kept those rifts open to create the right atmosphere, and triggered an event that was felt through the entire continuum. The tremors of the event were tracked, by the League's mages, to an event now sixteen years ago. The profile, they say, suggests that it was the birth of a demi-god. Do you know anyone who has gods in their family, Robin?"

Raven. It had to be… It made sense; Trigon was the avatar of evil and chaos. Bruce apparently read his face.

"That's what they said," Batman broke the silence," put simply, the Archons from another universe broke into this one, that weakened the veil enough for the Guide Mark 2 to enter our reality and pull it along with rest of its victim worlds, and that thing's actions allowed for the death of countless unique lives, and their replacement with something that was done to death. People who would become exceptional were suddenly destined to be mediocre, dreams were shattered or undone, rifts were opened and closed, making our world a confusing tangle, and in return, it allowed the devil himself to bring a mortal child to this Earth."

"But that still doesn't explain why I can't remember anything," Robin persisted.

"Of course it does. The reason you can't remember having a normal life is because in this probability, in this reality, you never had one. A lot of people are having this problem as we speak, most of them mages or superheroes, or chaotic attractors."

Robin decided it prudent not to ask what that last one meant.

"Besides, you haven't exactly been on a straight track, anyway. You're too diluted, Robin, that's the problem," the boy's mentor chided him.

"Say what?" Robin was outraged, the sandwich now no longer in the way of his protests.

"Everyone who's been affected by this the way you are is somehow unstable; they acted very differently from their normal selves on a regular basis. I've only seen other people take the effects of this whole mess, because I've always remained much the same person. You, on the other hand, have been a criminal and you've gotten obsessions, not to mention all the other superheroes who follow your lead. The more people who have an identity like yours, the less value yours has."

"You're saying this is all my fault? I didn't want this to happen to me, Bruce! And if you aren't affected, why don't you just tell me my old name so I can be off?" Robin yelled, venting some pent-up frustration.

Bruce, in reply, calmly went to a compartment in the wall, and took out some photos. He showed them to Robin, but the boy didn't know what they were about. All of them showed Bruce with some dark-haired kid, on conventions, press conferences, or just days off. The weird thing was, they were all different people. Every single one of them had a different face, a different expression. There was no doubt that none of these boys were in any way related, save for the fact that they were with Bruce.

"All of these kids are Robin, or were Robin. I do remember some of them, but not all the details. And there are probably many more I just can't remember. They all existed in the same perspective as me, at one point. But with everything shifting the way it did, they probably just disappeared and got replaced every time. It's only after someone tells you how it works that you realise it's happening. So you see, Robin, there's absolutely no chance that I can tell you your real name. Nobody can, I'm afraid."

"If you couldn't help me, then why did you leave these books with the True Master?" Robin asked.

"The True Master?" Batman asked," never heard of him."

"Her. These booklets are supposed to show a special way of fighting. They specifically refer to the School of the Unseen. That's you, isn't it?"

"Sounds like it," Batman took the little book and leafed through it," energy punches? But you don't have any powers that let you do that…"

"I know, I'm trying to get them," Robin was fuming at this point," so you're saying you had nothing to do with any of this?"

"No," came the sullen reply," I didn't. If anything, this sounds more like a practical joke someone played on you. You don't have any aptitude in these things, Robin. All this… magic," Bruce rolled his eyes at the thought," is meant for mages, not us. Besides, why would you want it? Why would you need it? Is that chaote guy getting to you?"

Given the fact that Batman had apparently dealt with the Invisibles' chaos mages, he probably understood how incredibly annoying they could be, just by existing. The fact that they did things, or even just acted, in ways that didn't seem to follow any rules at all, be it social standards or otherwise, it just got confusing sometimes. But that wasn't the problem.
"I need to get stronger. A lot stronger. And just learning how to kick harder and faster won't cut it, not this time. And if you can't help me, then I'll just have to find someone who can," Robin replied, taking the booklet and making for the exit.

"Before you go," Batman stopped him in his tracks," you should know that the League can't help you with that demon coming to Earth."

"I know. It's out of your jurisdiction. The only reason we're allowed to protect our city is because people are too scared of you Leaguers and that huge gun you have in the sky. Now that I think of it, whatever happened to that satellite of yours?" Robin asked.

"It disappeared when your friend made another change in the continuum. Everyone just got dropped back on the ground. Apparently, the kind of technology we had couldn't exist in this world, for some reason," Batman replied. He leaned back in his chair, as if he was in deep thought.

"So that's the kind of power he has, huh? Just like that, history changes, your weapons never existed, and space/time gets another blow?" Robin was feeling the pang of jealousy.

"Actually, I think he stabilises things every time he does that. I'm not sure how, but… the one you have there… he seems to act like a force of nature. A chaotic attractor with a chaos mage's powers… I wouldn't be surprised if he turned the moon into cheese," came the reply. He looked at his protégé, for despite everything, he did think of Robin, any Robin, as his protégé, or at least a fellow crime-fighter. He made up his mind.

Robin made to leave again.

"Wait," Bruce stopped him again. Robin could tell there was something he wanted to say, but he was having doubts about it. Maybe it was something dangerous?

"There's one thing that might help," Bruce slowly started," there's a cave just outside of Gotham, in the swamps where the zombie Brundy came from. It's been a place of initiation for many religions, and the Invisibles sometimes use it to break in new members. Events, they say, tend to flow towards it for everyone who decides to enter. The energies there are supposedly very primal, and very powerful. If there is anything that can reveal your original past, it'll be there."

TTTTTTT

"Now, my Reaper, do you know your task?" Trigon asked his youngest minion.

"Get to that cave, kill Robin, and feast on his entrails. And in return, I'll have a real existence, not this… haunting feeling."

"Good. Now… go," Trigon bade him.

When the tulpa clone was gone, Slade tried to clear something up.
"Master, if he is only part real, even with Red X's belt, why do you not give him your Mark? Wouldn't that sustain him enough?"

"No. He is still only a collection of emotions, a ghost with a physical body, doomed to live with all the memories he is made of. If he were to become completely real, he would be free, yes, but we cannot do it with my Mark. He is a different kind of demon than me, lower. With my Mark, he would become too much like me."

"And then the chaos mage would only need to defend against one thing," Slade concluded.

"Do not speak to me of that blight, Slade!" Trigon was obviously angry; he never addressed Slade with his name," he will not stand in my way. He will be destroyed. There are legions of allies I can summon even if my own creations are overcome. But for now, let's see how the little Reaper does against your old apprentice."

TTTTTTT

Finding the cave was easy enough, hidden though it was in the old swamp. This place had been the site of the rituals that birthed the zombie Brundie, a creature not even the entire Justice League had been able to defeat, save Hawkgirl and her anti-magic mace. It made him wonder whether that said something about the swamp or the people who'd done the raising. He let that thought go. He was here for answers. He found the entrance: a hole in the ground that lead to naturally carved out stairs. He descended slowly, taking in all the strange pictures on the walls. He recognised Roman script, but that was impossible on this continent. He also saw Egyptian, which was just as befuddling, as well as Arabic and a few marks he might have caught glimpses of in some of Raven's spellbooks. It seemed as though the entrance was meant to tell the beholder that this place did not discriminate based on past, but embraced any and all heroes from all cultures. Or it just meant the graffiti-spraying kids who had visited this place had a surprising interest in history. Occam's Razor pointed to the latter, but something made him think about the other option. Something he couldn't place his finger on…

He came to a large opening, marked by a sign overhead. Robin was sure he'd never seen those symbols before, yet he knew what they meant:

"Destiny's Bowels. Where warriors learn their place in the Multiverse."

He also detected 'The buck stops here', but he really wanted to ignore that for now. The day had been weird enough as it was, and his gut told him it could only get worse. He stepped into the main chamber of the cave.

It was an amphitheatre.
Like the Romans had made them, this was most definitely a naturally carved out amphitheatre. Behind him, the chamber curved out into a perfect circle, revealing a set of stairs eclipsed by the wall that housed the entrance. Stepping ahead, he saw that he was facing more stairs, again in a circle. There were several entrances, apparently, some leading into darkness, some into light, and he was pretty sure there was one leading into pinkness. He was definitely not going through that one. Putting his attention on a different level now, he looked up. There were stalagmites hanging from the ceiling, pointy ones at that, but something seemed odd. Taking in the makeshift arena, he noted the stalactites that formed another form of stairs on the arena itself; a series of platforms just flat and wide enough for close combat, and evenly spaced. He noticed that only someone with a very weak physical condition wouldn't be able to jump from one to another, and it made him wonder if this place really was an arena of Fate herself, or just some old set from a TV show he'd never seen? Again, Occam and his razor said this was probably the case, but that little knife couldn't account for the wretched pinkness of that one mysterious door. What was it, though, that seemed so off? He looked around again.

He looked, and he saw, or rather, he realised that he could see. The sun had been setting when he came in. He was deep inside the cave, yet he hadn't needed to light anything. There were lights coming from the walls, cool yet also neutral. He could stare straight at them and not be blinded. Then there were the stones. If this was naturally carved out, there should be limestone, yet nothing he'd seen even remotely resembled limestone. He'd been into a few caves in his day, and he knew what a cave wall was supposed to feel like, or even look like. It never looked like this.

This wasn't an ordinary cave. The stones here seemed hard yet flexible… beyond anything natural. What's more, it was too dry to be just a normal cave. There was no water dripping. And TV crews would have left some sort of mark on the scenery, a scratch, a food wrapper, anything, but this place was clean. Finally having analysed everything in his head, Robin could only conclude that this place felt like a battle ground, but a holy one nevertheless.

"This place is alive," Robin heard himself say. He wouldn't have minded normally, but the voice came from behind him. He felt the words more than he heard them.

"Can you feel it, Robin? No, of course you can't. This place… lives. It's a portal arena, to alternate timelines. A relic of world-altering magicks. And all I have to do to get it is kill you."

Robin turned around, slowly taking his bo staff.

"This is going to be so much fun," Reaper Robin readied his scythe, which he seemed to conjure out of his hands.

TTTTTTT

"Hey, BB," Juro greeted the shapeshifting teen," hope you don't mind I took out some of your mangas again. You've got an awfully big collection, you know."

"I know," Beast Boy replied, sagging into the sofa and flicking on the TV," man, I hate social stuff. Not that I didn't have fun at the zoo's new platypus section, but why doesn't anyone else have to go to these things?" BB started channel-hopping, ignoring the creases he was getting into his fancy tuxedo. He only ever wore the dratted thing for formal occasions anyways.

"Not much media attention, I suppose," came the reply.

"I mean, just once I'd like to see Starfire go to the space museum and see if she gets as bored as me," the green teen was sulking.

"You can always ask her; she's sitting right there," Juro looked up from the book and pointed towards the alien, who was staring at the view of the city.

"Starfire? Didn't notice you there. What's wrong?" the pointy-eared hero inquired.

There was no reply. Starfire just sat there and looked out the window.

"Apparently when Tamaraneans are feeling down, really down, it affects their body. First they lose their ability of flight, then their strength, then the bolts, and after a while they can't hear anything in the human speech spectrum. She can't tell you spoke to her," Juro narrated.

"So what's eating her?" Beast Boy stopped changing the channel and looked at Juro in full. He also noticed the book he'd borrowed from the manga-fan.

"A colony of extremophile bacteria capable of digesting trinitrotoluene. It's in her fifth stomach. Or was it the sixth? What do you think? She's confused about Robin. It's the same problem every time he says he cares. He can't get to grips with his feelings, and they're both worse for it," never once did the former pop magician look up from the little comic book.

"Bummer," Beast Boy solemnly added," so what are you reading, anyway?"

"Naruto. I like the ninja hand signs; it's a little like chaotism; some mages launch sigils with just their hands as well…" Starfire stood up and walked over to the boys. She spoke with no anger, no sadness, no emotion but frustration.
"It is in my eighth stomach, not the fifth," she walked on a bit, and answered the boys' stare with," I can read lips just fine."

"Dude, even in a reflection?" Beast Boy asked incredulously, but Starfire had already turned around, so the comment never found its mark. Just as Starfire came out of the main room, Terra came in, with the two sandbags on her back.

"Hi, guys. Back from the zoo, BB?" she joked. She was always smiling nowadays.

"Uh. Tell me about it," the boy groaned," they kept trying to feed me seaweed snacks. I'm a vegetarian and even I think those are gross," he wailed on.

"Oh, hey, if you want to take your mind off of it; Raven and Cyborg asked me to help fix the T-car. Cy says a sand sheering with make her even shinier," she referred to her new and still developing skills in using the sand in her bags.
"Yeah, sure," Terra never had to ask him anything twice," you coming too, Juro?"

"I think I'll just finish this one and join you later," he answered. He'd spent most of the afternoon practising his hyperventilating trances, so sitting still was sounding very attractive right now.

At that, the two ran, just for the fun of running. Beast Boy had to change into his regular attire first, but Terra went on ahead for the super-powered buff job to commence in full. When Beast Boy did catch up, he found Cyborg and Raven looking very interested at Terra, who manipulated some of her sand to spin around, using a hand sign that looked awfully familiar to the green teen. She basically had her fingers curled into a tiger claw, and curved her wrists ever so slightly. It was hauntingly familiar, but the reason eluded him, his brain shutting it out just because it was the idea of it was silly.

Meanwhile, Juro continued reading. He'd read this one before, of course, he just liked to brush up on it. The issue he'd borrowed detailed the hero's adventures in something called the Forest of Death, but it also gave a nice idea of what to expect of his enemies. One such enemy was Gaara, who carried a very large gourd of sand with him at all times. The page Juro was on right now showed Gaara overtaking a few unfortunate people using just sand. He took and hardened the sand into a fist that clenched around his victims, and basically squeezed until their entire bodies popped. Like all characters in this series, he did this with a hand sign. His fingers were curled into a tiger claw, and his wrist bent ninety degrees.

Juro really did begin to take a liking to this series…

TTTTTTT

The demon boy's lunge, or cut, actually, was met with Robin's bo staff in mid swing. The blade had come fast and hard from Robin's upper left corner, and the block left them both pushing their weapons against each other, the staff blocking both the scythe's blade and the long handle. It took Robin all of his might to prevent the thing getting any further. They broke away, both readjusting only their hind foot, to get a good swing at their opponent. Reaper Robin drove the scythe into the ground, the exact same swing he'd done before, but this time Robin didn't block it, he just let it slide past. When it did, it caused a tremor to go through the ground, lighting the walls a little more. Were the lichens on the walls reacting to their fight? Were those even lichens? Robin didn't think long about it, trying to push Reaper Robin away with the tip of his bo staff. He'd underestimated the sheer strength and speed of the attack; he wasn't in a good position to launch a counterattack. He tried to drive the tip of his bo into the Reaper's chest, hoping to get more breathing room, but the tulpa clone had completed the swing, driven the blade deep into the ground behind him. He twirled around his own weapon, swinging one leg, then the other, up and into the real Robin's chest. The first only tapped him, the scythe not stable enough on its own, but the second bore the full weight of the demon, needing only one foot to push off of. Again, as the two blows landed, the walls glowed more brightly.
(A/N: if you want a visual of what just happened, look at Naruto, Assassin in the Mist. When the guy with the sword twirls around and kicks the other guy… same thing.)

'He's just as fast as Red X…' Robin thought,' he doesn't have the technology, but he moves exactly the way I pictured that character would. It must be the belt…' then he landed on the ground, his weapon dropped on impact. It finally dawned on him that this really wasn't some nightmare he and he alone could defeat. He'd thought so, but dealing with him in combat, from what he could feel, he knew now that this was far, far worse. He realised what he was dealing with; a being made of pure agony, hatred, and shame, with his own memories and experiences as a mere skeleton. He felt it. This was how Tom felt when Helen said she was breaking up. This was the embarrassment Haley felt when her deepest secret was smeared all over the school newspaper. There was a paralysing aspect to it all, a sense of helplessness, a reverberation. And it was enough to allow this thing to hit him physically. It was enough to torment this demon into obedience, to create the perfect fighting ghost machine, bent on carving out a real life free of the pain his sustenance brought with it. And he'd do it one dead body at a time.

Robin was thinking all of this at a faster rate than he could remember being capable of. Only a split second had passed, and Reaper Robin had used it to pull out his scythe and charge headlong. Robin, still prone, realised he wouldn't be able to defeat this enemy alone. But he could not, would not allow Reaper Robin to hurt anyone when he could stop him. He decided, right then and there, that he would fight or die, or both. But he would not walk away; he would not feel sorry for himself for not having powers, for an instant nothing mattered but this one fight.

Reaper was too close to block the blade now. Still down, Robin took one of his Birdarangs, the razor sharp kind he only used when fighting steel robots or golems. If he couldn't stop the last attack, he could at least kill the guy as a last act.

Robin shot up, rolling his legs under him with the blade in hand, taking a crouching position in the blink of an eye, so he could drive the blade down real deep when it happened. Reaper Robin's scythe was ready to kill, an upward swipe about to cleave the Boy Wonder in half. Robin breathed out, for the last time, he reckoned, tensing up to pounce.

Then his whole idea went down the drain as he heard and saw Reaper Robin getting hit in the head by an arrow with a photonic charge. It sent the Reaper careening over the floor, giving Robin plenty of opportunity to pick up his bo staff, himself, and put away the blade he was about to plunge into the guy's chest. Robin was still thinking. Obviously, this was good, but he still didn't feel like he'd won. Nevertheless, he greeted the friend who had saved his life.

"Speedy, good to see you. What brings you here?" for someone who two seconds ago had resolved to die in a stalemate, he certainly sounded cheerful.

"Gremlins. And I think a pair of white mice with cows. What about you? You okay? Not like you to take a hit like that," the archer replied, keeping his bow trained on the now recovering Reaper Robin.

"Be careful," Robin urged," he's not… normal."

"Well, well, another Robin clone," the not normal Robin clone mocked," okay, I can do a two on one."

Speedy let loose another arrow, which was cleaved in half. Even getting hit in the head hadn't caused this guy to drop his weapon. The arrow exploded into a net, giving the two heroes an opening to attack, but Reaper Robin conjured two smaller blades in his arms and cut through it, meaning they were in melee again. Speedy used his bow as striking instrument, never getting the time to take another arrow, and he had to be careful to let the blows slide past his weapon, rather impact on it. He lost an awful lot of bows that way. Robin hammered as hard as Speedy, but Reaper Robin was just too fast. He'd barely sideswiped a bow and he hacked at the owner already, never actually getting a decent blow in because some retard on his left was trying to beat him with a stick. The violence pumped through his veins, more fuel for his existence, his curse. He kept hearing voices, cries of agony that enraged him and fuelled him. Still faster he went, not caring who he was hacking into, not caring who was hacking into him, just that he was winning. And all the while, the blows triggered the walls to glow more brightly, creating a pattern of muted flashes, definitely there, but not distracting. Did this place want them to keep fighting?

They broke away, Robin on Reaper's left, Speedy on his right, and two little scythes in both hands. The demon boy wasn't even breathing hard. Speedy got a good look at him now; a costume that seemed like a bastard version of Robin's apprentice costume (it had been on the news, after all) and his Red X costume (only a few people knew, but the suit had also been on the news). Black and grey were the dominant colours, but the outline of the body was definitely the apprentice model. Plus, the 'R' symbol somehow resembled a scythe crossing with a blade. Other than that, the two Robins might be twins.

"How did he get so fast?" Speedy asked.

"I'm not sure," Robin replied," but he can't keep this up forever."

"I don't need to," came the reply," just long enough to kill you."

"How?" Robin asked, though Speedy was probably wondering about the same thing," if you're that tough; you could've fought all the Titans when you first showed yourself."

"True, but I needed the belt first," Reaper didn't ease his fighting pose one bit," as a hero, you are defined by your belt, the same way Speedy is by his bow and arrows. It's all about ideas, you see," his face took a mad look then," I am the next generation of Ama Geddo Mon, and by having this belt, I may not copy the tech you made for the Red X suit, but I do own all of his traits. All of the strength you wanted to have, all the power you took from being that person, is mine now. Every little wet dream, every boyish fantasy flows through my mind, along with all the haunting energies that empower me. This persona that you created is now a part of me. I am every bit the fighter you dreamed of being. I am the real Red X," while saying this, he never broke eye contact. In fact, none of the fighters had so much as batted an eyelid since the last blow had landed.

If they had, they would have noticed the figure sneaking up on Reaper Robin and very quickly undoing his belt, putting it on himself.

"Actually, I'm the real Red X," Reaper Robin heard someone say behind him. He could feel the tendrils of connection between himself and the Red X persona being cut… and he didn't like it one bit. The belt wasn't glowing; no Xinothium, but Red X had a very large disk on his back that would remedy that in about two hours.

(A/N: I warn you, the serious nature of this chapter is about to go down severely. If you like to think this is a serious work of fanfiction, DO NOT READ ON! You have been warned.)

"What are you doing here, X?" Robin asked, still not taking his eye of the Reaper, still not easing his stance.

"Stole some stuff from a midget," he pointed to the disk on his back," had to get help from a friend to get out, friend needed help with three witch sisters, then my friend made something glow and now here we all are. So who are these guys?" he pointed to Reaper Robin and Speedy," your evil twins or just clones?" he joked. Of course he knew Speedy.

"I am not Robin's clone!" the archer exclaimed, along with the demon. Strangely, they were still in their 'martial arts standoff' position, but Robin was finally starting to shift into something more comfortable. This whole situation reminded him of his talk with Batman. These guys, even though they weren't full copycats or clones, were still partially inspired by him, or even just affected. But he felt some relief in the fact that the other Robin hadn't shown up; the one he really didn't want to meet right now. Nope, he was spared the presence of…

"Robin! Robin! Robin" a parody of himself came flying in. It was as if the Universe had finished Robin's sentence, or just sentenced him, depending how one looked at it. He was, as it turned out, NOT spare the presence of…

"Larry," Robin greeted him, standing normally now, because this was getting just crazy," what are you doing here?" he asked as politely as he could.

"There's an enemy coming, Robin! I'm here to help you fight him! I found out he was the one who helped Red X steal the costume the first time! Isn't that great?"

"Wow… a faerie Robin. Who'd have thunk it?" Reaper was taking a normal stance as well, the sheer silliness of the situation overcoming even him. Only Speedy kept his stance, taking the chance to load an arrow. Red X noticed, but didn't really care. Reaper Robin didn't, either. They were just enjoying the show.

"Yeah, Larry, that's great, but really, whoever turns up, I'm sure me and Speedy can handle it, alright?" Robin pleaded, vainly hoping for some normality to be restored. Where was the Master of All Games when you needed him?

"Haha! You are mistaken, foe Robin! For now you have the greatest supervillain of all to deal with!" another one had entered the fray, this one having taken a raised platform first, so he could be in full view of everyone. His exclamation had lost its impact the moment everyone had looked at him, for he looked… disturbed, but harmless. This particular villain wore a costume inspired by Red X's; boots and gloves, and even a matching cape, with the only exception being that where Red X had black and grey for intimidation, this guy had red and black for sheer gaudiness. He also wore a mask like Robin's, which let everyone see his hair. It looked as though it was cut in the pattern of a broken flower pot, mainly due to the fact that it really had been cut using a broken flower pot as a model. Finally Speedy relaxed his pose and looked as irked/surprised as Robin.

"Oh, Jesus Christ, not him. Please, anybody but him…" he buried his brow in his fingertips, refusing to look up at the figure who had just commanded all their attention.

"Yes! It is I, Speedy, my nemesis: the Red Arrow!" the boy Speedy knew as Suzanne shouted. To add to his argument, the red-clad youth raised his hands and pretended he was addressing subjects of some kind. The other costumed boys then noticed the crossbow he had fixed to his arm. Speedy already knew, for he had dealt with this guy on one too many an occasion.

"Damnit, how many times do I have to tell you, I am NOT your nemesis! You're just a self-absorbed poser who acts like me and tries to copy everything!" Speedy fumed. Being from Steel City, he tended to swear more than his Jump City compatriots.

"Welcome to my world," Robin said to nobody in particular. That was a bad idea.

"What the Hell's that supposed to mean?" Speedy shouted, now red in the face. Reaper Robin was starting to have nervous twitches at all this; blinking one eye halfway every two seconds.

"He's got a point there, Yellow Arrow," Red X added," we all know you're just Robin's clone. Only reason you're not named Robin is he took the name first… you're a Robin clone, face it."

(A/N: I'm not making this up, this is true: if Speedy had been conceived before Robin, he'd have had the title. Robin is named after Robin Hood. Robin Hood had a bow and arrow. Robin does not, Speedy does. What is wrong with this picture?)

"Hey, if anybody's a Robin clone here, it's you! I've got skills with a bow and arrow none of you can match. And what have you got? A stolen suit that you can't even operate without Xinothium!" Speedy retorted. Larry kept himself out of the minefield this conversation was turning into.

"Enough! Now I shall destroy you all with my ultimate weapon of mass destruction and wreak havoc on the cities you once protected…" there was more, but Robin figured it wasn't important at the time.

"Does he always talk like that?" Reaper Robin asked. Speedy solemnly nodded. Red X was impressed at the archer's self-control. The Red Arrow was still ranting about how he was going to destroy them all. Robin turned to more important matters.
"Is this the joker you came to warn me about, Larry?" he asked his floating counterpart, who'd been silently enjoying the thing since he'd arrived. Being spoken to snapped him back to attention.

"No, actually it was," Larry tried, but just then Red Arrow finished his threat.

"… and flushed down for all eternity! Bahaha bahaha haha!" he did his signature laugh and fired his arm-based crossbow at his fellow mask-wearers. The arrow swished through the air, had a very large glowing red tip… and was quickly caught by what looked like a faerie version of Red X.

"No, that's him, right there," Larry pointed at the obvious. The dark interdimensional imp quickly darted to his normal (not that you'd notice) counterpart, arrowhead in hand. He moved too quickly for even the eye to follow, and even as Robin wanted to lunge, Red X already had the tip broken open, revealing three tubes in a very distinct and familiar red.

"What do you know, the kid's got Xinothium. Guess I can just sell this thing then," he pointed to the still heavy disk on his back," and it also means I'm back for real now."

"What the…" Robin mumbled, along with everyone else.

"I swiped this disk from a little genius; it can make Xinothium out of thin air. Problem is, it's slow. Of course, with this…" he loaded his belt, the glow returning to it and all the components connected to it," I can keep going for a lifetime."

The faerie Red X now hovered right beside the real-world one.
"Nice and smooth, just the way I like it," it gloated. It was… disturbing to see.

"Larry?" Robin asked.

"That's Rednax Egac Roinuj, my enemy. He's really strong and really fast. Kind of a jerk, too," came the reply.

"I call him Ronnie," Red X introduced his own comical version of himself," actually he was the one who stole the costume for me the first time we met, figured it would be more interesting. But really, as fun as this bunch looks, I have places to go, things to steal, and something to sell. And I'm guessing you'll be a little too busy to stop me, Robin," he turned around and started to walk off, and for a moment Reaper Robin thought he might actually get to fight again. The shock of losing the belt had subsided, and he had had it on long enough for some of its essence to become permanent. It wasn't much, but it would do. Then, Red X was stopped in his footsteps by a voice with a strange Italian accent.

"Not-a so fast, Red X," yet another warrior came out of the woodworks, and once again no one had any idea where he'd come from. He was standing on the seats of the arena, if that's what it was. He wore silver sunglasses that concealed his eyes, a black outfit with a belt holding a large 'D' shape with a star on it, and very shiny silver boots. It should also be noted that this latest arrival was very, very small. He pointed at the black-clad burglar and formally introduced himself.

"You have dared to enter my domain and steal one of my prized possessions! Now, from the darkest depths of science fiction comes the fury of the intergalactic defender of Justice! The Great Handyman, the Other Boy Wonder, The Genius know as…"

"Dexter?" What are you doing here?" Red Arrow interrupted him at the apotheosis.

"It's Dex-STAR, Mandark!" the hero genius retorted. Mandark, meanwhile, didn't object to not being called Red Arrow, as long as nobody called him by his given name, which was Suzanne.

"I thought I lost you in that meteor shower?" Red X asked.

"Great, him too," Speedy was fulminating.

"You should not have underestimated my-ah mechanical mastery, Red X," Dextar replied. Nobody wanted to know about the meteor shower, so nobody asked.

"You know him?" Robin asked his archer friend. Reaper Robin, meanwhile, was getting shaky from all this…talking.

"Yeah, we go to the same Chinese restaurant. Plus his sister's in the same ballet recital as Bumblebee's sister."

"Is he cool?" Robin continued.

"He's on our side, if that's what you mean," came the reply.

"Well… I suppose this puts us in a very awkward position," Ronnie added, putting up his palms while Larry gave him the finger… his magic finger, not the R-rated one.

Red X turned again to walk away, this time Dextar drew the D from his belt and aimed. Red X stopped.
"This thing'll fetch a pretty penny. If you want it back, you're gonna have to get over here, stop me, and take it from me."

"That-a machine was made for the good of mankind, Red X!" Dextar shouted in reply. Even though he was quite a far distance away, X couldn't risk him being able to teleport and jump up on him, not from this position, even if his own teleportation device was online again.

"Pahaha!" Red Arrow decided to draw attention to himself again," you are both mistaken, for it shall be me who pries Dexter's invention away, and I shall use it to finally destroy his lab and him with it!"

"You know, I've had about all I can take from you," Speedy took aim at the red-clad youth, who was still standing on the platform in the arena.

An old saying came to Robin at that point. He wasn't sure where he'd heard it, or when, or even why, but he knew it nonetheless. The saying is as follows:
"When you're up to your ears in alligators, you forget the original project was to dredge the swamp."

Here he was, off on an errand hoping to discover his identity, and he was quite literally swamped by people who had an identity like his. For those who lost track:
He had to deal with a demonic Robin, Reaper Robin, made of nightmare matter and trauma. Then there was Speedy, who would always be considered a Robin with bow and arrows due to no fault of his own, and apparently he had an evil counterpart, Red Arrow, who'd dropped in as well. Then, of course, there was Red X, a rogue Robin whose costume was now fully operational thanks to Red Arrow's failed attempt to make a Xinothium-based weapon work. Add Dextar to the equation, who was smaller than everyone else, but judging from the look of suit would probably have a lot more tech to compensate.

And lastly, there was Larry, his interdimensional counterpart, who looked a lot like a faerie. And Ronnie, the same thing, for Red X. For the sake of whatever sanity he could muster, he decided to just not think about those two right now.

"Okay!" Robin called out," it's obvious that everyone here has a bone to pick with somebody, so let's just pick an opponent, get some space, and for pity's sake, try not to get in each other's way."

"Oh, are we fighting again? 'Bout time," Reaper Robin chided.

"Don't… you… start," Robin fumed in reply.

Much to his surprise, everyone followed Robin's lead without question. The faerie Robins went straight up to get their battle going airborne, Red X and Dextar flashed a few times before finally teleporting close enough to each other to start brawling on the spectator's seats, while Speedy and Red Arrow squared off on the raised platform in the arena.
Then Robin faced the Reaper. They took centre stage.

"You've lost some of your power," Robin stated. Indeed, the costume of the Reaper now looked darker without the little red contrasts of the belt.

"I've still got enough power to take you on," Reaper replied.

The two charged, full power. The blow landed, and their weapons grinded against each other, bo staff against scythe.

The fight…

Archer Robin's Duel

Even though Red Arrow's projectiles had more speed and power than Yellow Arrow's, the wrist-based crossbow was no match for the longbow in close range, and Speedy's arrows could actually be used in a stabbing motion and not shatter, something Red Arrow had never considered, for he was a coward who preferred to avoid fighting altogether, unless his evil plans demanded it. It should be noted that Red Arrow was not only weak in fighting spirit, but also in fighting body. Put briefly, he was a lanky weakling whose entire martial arts repertoire came down to 'slap in face'. It should come as no surprise, then, that the archers' duel was mostly monotonous. Red Arrow shot, Speedy dodged and returned fire, closing in, and Red Arrow, remembering the meaning of the word 'pain' and recognising it when it was headed towards him, fled, jumping to a higher platform. This kept going for a while, Red Arrow feebly trying to avoid Speedy getting close enough to hit him, and Speedy not even breaking a sweat while making his opponent run for dear life. Then, suddenly, dear life actually showed up. Or rather, a live deer. Red Arrow had tripped backward from the shock, now on his back he looked at what had transpired. A live deer had landed right between them. Red Arrow looked up right in time to duck away from a duck, taking the opportunity to make his escape.
"Okay, who's throwing wildlife?" Speedy angrily wondered as he gazed up, then he noticed his foe was running again," hey, get back here!"

Faerie Robin's Fight

As always, Larry fought with heart, courage, and flying pieces of furniture. Ronnie, on the other hand, fought with cunning, guile and strategically placed though gravitationally impaired wildlife. A deer was flung, dodged and met the riposte of a sixteenth century sofa. A second round of attack in the form of three toilet seats met with a flock of ducks, one of which was black and had a speech impediment, but for the sake of disclaimer length it shall remain nameless. The two flying Robin clones spun around the stones hanging from the ceiling, and closed in for melee. Seeing as they were both evenly matched, they each resorted to the most forbidden and deadly martial arts moves their world knew.

"Got your nose," Larry held Ronnie's mask in a deadly nose-hold. At least, where he figured Ronnie's nose was, it was kinda hard to tell with that funny SM mask he had on. Ronnie returned the onslaught on his nose.

"Got your underwear," the faerie Red X grabbed Larry's underwear, the shock enough to release him from the nose-hold, and Larry cringed when his diabolical opponent raised his Namtab underwear to neck height, a full atomic wedgie in the making, his greatest weakness. Thankfully, he had devised a counter for it after long and arduous training.
"Wedgie Counter Whirlwind!" Larry exclaimed, spinning around so fast Ronnie lost grip. The otherworldly Boy Wonder braved the pain of his underwear, even as his spin allowed it to return to normal. But that wasn't all this wedgie counter did. The sheer speed of it, not to mention the bully's surprise, had allowed Larry to quickly grab his dark counterpart's underwear, and now Rednax was at the mercy of Larry's mighty "Titan Wedgie". Larry conjured an anvil in a fit of classic cartoon violence, and basically held on as the weight on Larry fell down, with him underneath it, and Ronnie's underwear stretching out to ridiculous proportions, even by his standards. The black faerie fell to the floor, his fall slowed down by the elastic, of course. When he landed he interrupted Red X and Dextar in the middle of their techie showdown. They both only commented that Ronnie's predicament 'had to hurt,' before he was swung back up by the very impressive rubber band of his underpants. After that, Dextar and Red X resumed their fight on the stairs of the arena.

Red X vs Dextar: the technology of the future clashing today

Being of a small stature, Dextar had preferred the high ground these stairs provided, giving him enough room to launch a series of flying kicks. Both fighters had a built-in teleport device, and neither of them was too stingy on it, either. They both kept warping around until they were at the perfect distance from each other, and then the weapons started flying. At every move one made, the other would have an answer. A sticky red X met with a golden oily 'D', a heavy-impact 'D' was intercepted by exploding X-shaped shuriken, and when they both realised their suits were evenly matched, they each drew their close-combat weapons, Red X with his upper-hand 4-bladed daggers against Dextars D-shaped brass knuckles. The weapons clashed as they both lunged and blocked and parried, until Red X finally revealed a clean opening to attack.

"Waa Shitaki!" Dextar shouted his now signature battle cry as he pounded Red X in the gut. It didn't seem to faze him.

"Waa Shitaki?" the burglar asked," what was that supposed to be, free judo lesson number five?"

"How'd you guess?" came the reply, along with a grey boot in the stomach.

Thoughtform clone against Boy Wonder: Reaper Robin's real form

Even as the others had started fighting, Robin had felt some vague sense of realisation tugging at the back of his mind. Even as Reaper Robin started attacking again, Robin felt that even though the demon's powers hadn't diminished that much, he wasn't quite so desperate to keep up with him anymore.
"It's no use, Robin," the demon taunted after another swipe to the head," I'm still stronger than you."

"No, you're not," Robin replied simply, letting the sense of enlightenment guide him. He didn't even have to bring up his guard anymore; he could read all of the Reaper's moves like it was nothing. He sidestepped, jumped, ducked, all at the last second, but all perfectly executed. He could see the Reaper's moves before he made them. He could dodge every single attack headed his way.

And then, just like that, he decided to attack. Predicting a cut to his knees, he clipped Reaper Robin's kneecap with a quick swipe of his bo. Anticipating a follow-through with the blunt end of Reaper's scythe being pushed to his chest, he stabbed his opponent swiftly in the same motion he felt Reaper would have done. What was this? Was he using a new power? Was this what it felt like to see through every move of your opponent and copy it?

Reaper Robin rolled away and, even as he grabbed his throwing knives, he was shocked to see a disk coming towards him, too quickly to intercept. He only managed to raise his free arm to the projectile, and was thanked for the effort with a freezing wave of smoke around him. Exactly how it worked, Reaper Robin didn't know, because it was never part of Red X's arsenal nor was it ever meant to be. Still, he managed to use his smouldering anger to break free from the icy prison, thoroughly irked now.

"That was just a lucky shot!" Robin shouted. Reaper Robin was confused. Did they just both say the same thing at the same time? He was pretty sure there was no connection between them that would allow that kind of thing. Yet there it was. Reaper Robin got up and quickly withdrew his scythe, only to find Robin was going through the exact same motions himself. It was like looking at a mirror. He rushed to draw his shorter blades, only Robin already ad his up, in the fighting pose Reaper had planned to take.

"That…" Reaper said," is just plain annoying," Robin finished his opponent's sentence.

The two went at each other, but the result was the same as their last tumble. Robin realised as they fought that even though the Reaper had an essence of a ghost, making him stronger and faster than his human counterpart, Robin's newfound skill allowed him to predict every move and just strike first. It didn't matter that Reaper was stronger or faster, not by this margin. He could see the demon's moves and use them before he did, breaking through every defence even before it was set up. And yet at the same time, it all felt a little off. It was like he wasn't himself, that it was someone else now slamming the bo into the Reaper's face, then kicking him firmly in the stomach. His eyes didn't just take in every move Reaper Robin was going to make, but everyone else's as well. All around him, he could see the fighting, and see through it.

He felt light-headed.

Reaper Robin went to shout at him, but he couldn't hear it. He felt himself being lifted by a light, embraced and covered by it, even. Everything faded away, or maybe it was just him fading. Perhaps all the fighting had caused the cave to reach some kind of critical mass.

In any event, when he could see again, he found himself at some strange event called a 'Comic Con'.

All around him there were stands about people he knew or heard of: Batman, Justice League, Spiderman, and then a few he hadn't heard of, like Animal Man. Most shocking, however, was the stand about the Teen Titans. He walked there as casually as he could, not an easy trick because he was pretty sure he was in shock. Apparently he wasn't the only one wearing a costume, either, so he blended in quite nicely. At the stand, there were toy figures of him and his friends, but none of Juro, which actually wasn't that big of a surprise. He heard two guys debating over whether or not the Robin the show was Dick Grayson or Tim Drake. One guy used Larry's real name as an argument, and Raven's vision when she'd entered his mind. How much did these people know? Did he have no privacy at all?

The reality, or rather lack thereof, struck him at last. This was one those 'what-if' universes that hadn't been destroyed, and he knew now what those defining 'what-ifs' were. What if he wasn't real at all? What if he were fiction, and this was the real world? What if his entire existence depended on the opinion of people whose only defining characteristic had to be that they watched television or read comic books? What if the real reason he couldn't remember was because so many people had different opinions about who he should be? Dear God, and this was just one world. There had to be millions like this, that all had him as fiction of some kind or another. And each world had millions of people in them, and how many had thought of him as a hero, or a character in a story? But this last thought led to a terrifying question: how many stories had he really been a part of? How did they all begin, and more importantly, how did they end?

At this last thought, he fazed through reality again, back where he had left off. The cave was still there, the fight was over, and the good guys had won. Larry had sent Ronnie home crying for his mommy, Speedy had given Red Arrow a beating he'd remember for a good long time, and Dextar had somehow managed to snag his machine back from Red X. Of course, when it turned out he was the only bad guy left, X had made a prudent escape, not wanting to risk any surprises from a bunch of Robin clones.
And Reaper Robin? He'd just walked out unopposed when Robin had disappeared, clearly frustrated at not getting… whatever it was he had planned to get. That was half an hour ago now. Robin had been gone for half an hour, though it had only felt like half a minute.

"Well guys, it's been fun, but-a now I've-a gotta go back to my lab before my seester blows it up… again," Dextar basically said what everyone was thinking, except for the Italian accent and destructive sister.

"You okay?" Speedy asked as they exited the same way Robin had come in. Strange thing was, everyone had apparently come through a different door, that was actually the same door when they went back.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Robin decided not to let anyone in about his newfound insight into existence as they knew it.

"It's crazy, isn't it, us meeting here like this?" Speedy pondered as they finally came out of the cave.

"Oh, I don't know, this isn't so bad compared to some other crazy stuff we've seen," as if to prove Robin's point, Larry came flying by.

"Well, guys, see ya later!" Larry said goodbye, and disappeared into his own crazy world.

"Okay, Robo Dexo 2000, let's go home," apparently, Dextar had come in a giant robot shaped like a rapper, with bling and shades and everything. Its foot opened up to let the pilot enter, and a few seconds later it took off into the sky.

"Fancy set of wheels he's got. Or feet, I guess… I take it he's already an honorary Titan?" Robin asked.

"Yep. That big thing's come in handy a few times. Plus, he's got his own spaceship, which saves us the trouble of building our own. Still lives at home, though," the Yellow Arrow replied, turning to his friend-in-arms," what happened to you in there, Robin? One moment, you're there, the next… you're just not."

"Doesn't matter. Whatever energies are inside that place, they won't go critical anytime soon. Let's just say I had an experience that showed me how small I really am compared to the Universe. Not really a big deal."

"You're sure you're okay?" Speedy persisted, putting his helmet on and mounting his bike, the Flaming Arrow.

"I'm sure. Just have some thinking to do, is all," came the reply.

"Well, I'm off, then," and with that, he departed as well.

Alone at last, Robin put on his helmet, mounted his R-Cycle, and hit the ignition. It wasn't important who he had been, or even if he had been someone before being Robin. He was Robin now, the Boy Wonder. He would be for as long as he had to be, until he had to be someone else, someone better. He contemplated his newfound power as he started to ride the road out of the swamp. Such insight, such speed even thought he didn't really move any faster… he might not be able to control it consciously, but it was a start. It was something for his future.

He rode the country road through the swamp, leaving his past, unknown or non-existent, behind him.

End of Chapter 25

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Author's Notes 2: Yes, it took a long time, no, it won't be that long next time, really. The person who was behnd Red X's mask is Xander Cage Junior, for those who don't know. Xander Cage is the main character of the movie "XXX", and yes, there was a chaosstar in that thing. Also, for those of you who are wondering about Terra's training: yes, it is exactly what you are thinking. That shouldn't be a big surprise, but how the Titans will react when they find out, not to mention Terra herself, that is a big surprise. Also, when reviewing, keep in mind this chapter did not go through the same extensive spell-check as all the other ones, it was kinda rushed, so I apologise for any errors I missed whilst glancing for them.