A/N: Eris, if you're on this chapter first, go back one chapter to find the Mr. Butt one. Just helping out for ya.
On a day that was like any other, Jump City was enjoying the warm sunny day, though no matter how much the sun shines, or the birds chirp, or the smell of cooked and baked foods waft through your nose, one of the few places that can make you feel down in the dumps out of sheet boredom no matter what...is the bank. The only people who are actually happy to be their are ones cashing in their paychecks, and even then it was heavily subdued to just being a mild smile and not droopy and sleepy eyes. In a corner was a place for kids who were so affected by the dreary, boring atmosphere they slept in the play corner instead of playing, even the most hyperactive. But there was one man who wasn't bored out of his mind. He was second in line of a teller booth, and once the guy in front of him moved on, the old woman at the desk said,
"Next." Her tone made you think she was dying inside, and if you spent 30 years working in the bank, you'd probably be dead inside too. The man who came up to her was rather tall and muscular, like the boss of a biker gang given his rough, tough, leather and bearded look. But interestingly, he spoke in a calm, English accent.
"Excuse me, madam, would you kindly hand over all your money in your register?"
"For real? Do you have a weapon or something?" Even though the man didn't see it, she pressed a silent alarm under her desk.
"Oh heavens no." Although as soon as he said that, she shocked the man with a taser.
"Guard, take this guy away. We also need to frisk everyone if they're also suspicious." However, from the biker's body floated out a ghost, a being made of white ethereal energy with everything except his face visible, thus making it seem like his top hat and monocle were floating where a head should be.
"Your electronics are of no use, madam. I am the Gentleman Ghost." Everyone in the bank started to panic and run away. The guards tried to shoot him, but the Gentleman Ghost laughed at their efforts. The woman was quickly able to get the money in her register into a bag and gave it to him with a nervous expression. "Splendid, now I must be on my way. I have other robbery appointments today, and a gentleman must keep to his schedule." The glass ceiling shattered from above, and in came the Teen Titans.
"Not so fast, Ghost. We're here to stop your poltergeist heist!" Cyborg exclaimed.
"The use of the polite language does not excuse the doing of the crime!" Starfire added.
"What are you doing here, Jim Craddock? Aren't you usually fighting Batman or Hawkman?" Robin asked a fairly good point.
"Let's just say I wanted to mix things up a bit after all, being defeated by the same people over and over again tends to be quite dull."
"We'll see about that. Titans, GO!" The titan leader ordered. All of the titans delivered each of their respective ranged attacks, with Beast Boy turning into a T-rex since he doesn't have any inherent ranged moves. However, all of their attacks passed right through him harmlessly, including Beast Boy's jaws trying to clamp down onto him. The back wall was promptly blown up by the attacks before hand.
"It seems your brutish attacks are useless against my genteel form. Now I'll procure my money and-" As soon as he picked up the bag, a birdarang sliced through it and spilled all the dollar bills and coins onto the ground. He growled in response. "Now that was just plain ungentlemanly. Looks like I'll have to punish you brats." Moving quickly, Gentleman Ghost invaded Robin's body.
"Robin?" Starfire asked in concern.
"Robin can't talk right now." The Boy Wonder's body responded in the Ghost's voice, and he threw a birdarang right at the Tamaranean princess, only for Jinx to push her out of the way.
"He's been possessed! We need to get him out somehow!"
"Try if you can." Ghost Robin replied before throwing a random piece of his belt which exploded in between him and the other titans. "Oh, so that's what that does. I should know how the rest of this belt works." But before he could, he noticed and ducked under an energy blast from Cyborg. Ghost Robin retaliated by jumping forward and kicking the metallic titan away. "Wow, and this body is so strong and springy! I could get used to this."
"We won't let you!" Beast Boy objected as he turned into a gorilla and tried to get a hold on his possessed leader, but he rolled away from the lumbering green animal, using agility to his advantage while throwing everything that he could throw in his belt. Explosives, fire, ice, electricity, netting, it was all too much too fast and the shapeshifter had to back away, grunting in continual pain.
"This boy sure comes prepared. Just like Batman." Seeing Jinx trying to get the jump on him with a flying kick, he caught her ankle and tried to throw her onto the ground. But the metahuman landed on her feet, and twisted her body to maintain her momentum to kick Robin in the head. Ghost Robin was also blasted in the back by Raven's black energy, crying out in mild pain. Fiddling around in his belt, he found a few small orbs, and threw them down to create a smokescreen. Raven used her magic to clear away the smoke, but Robin's body was already gone. That is until he came down from the ceiling to strike Beast Boy on the top of his head with his heel, and went on the offense with Cyborg, using his metallic body to keep him at bay.
"Just give it up, man. You may have Robin's skill and gadgets, but he's only human." That indeed make him stop.
"You're right. Maybe I should do an upgrade of sorts." Moving on from Robin's body, he moved into Starfire, an English voice coming from her body.
"You just had to tell a body surfing snatcher to do better, did you Cy?" Jinx questioned with a hint of irritation.
"Oops." Was all he replied.
"Oh my goodness! The power! The strength! Is this what is feels like to be a god physically? I love it! It's like I could defeat both Batman and Hawkman at their best of days! I'm unstoppable!" The Ghost possessed Starfire went on in excitement, but Raven wasn't having it.
"That's not happening." Raven said as she used her telekinesis to keep a hold on Starfire's body, rendering it immobile as he struggled to escape but couldn't.
"Impressive. Maybe I possessed the wrong girl!" He yelled as he jumped from the Tamaranean, to the Azarathian, entering the poor half-demon sorceress's mind, before she could even say 'Don't even think about it.' As he travelled through her mind, he was interested in that while Robin's head was like a series of filing cabinets and Starfire's head was a sugar bowl land so sweet and cuddly one could go diabetic from just being there, Raven's was a series of rocky pathways in a black realm with white dots like a clear night sky. "How...peculiar. Never have I seen a mindscape so...barren. Let's dig a little deeper." Phasing through the ground with a pink glow around him, in this deeper layer of her subconscious, it was an ocean of blood darker than deep red, and in the middle he could see was a red safe. "Oooooh, my specialty. Perfect."
On the outside, each of the titans were wondering what is happening.
"Why is she not attacking us?" Starfire asked.
"Raven?" Robin said her name, snapping his fingers in front of her face, getting no reaction.
As the Gentleman Ghost entered through the safe, he gasped upon the seeing a giant gem the color of ruby.
"Don't mind if I do." He said to himself as he tried to touch the gem, but was shocked. "Ow! That...actually hurt. This is no mere mental block. Seems like I'm going to have to press the matter." Materializing his cane, he pressed the iron tip against it, which started to sizzle before cracking, reflecting on Raven's forehead chakra. The realm he was in started to rumble around him, and from within the gem, a black goo seeped through with angry red eyes. It pushed the now scared Gentleman Ghost out of the safe, and stalked towards him.
On the outside, having gotten bored of waiting, have decided to build a house of cards on Raven's still head with Jinx drawing a thin handle bar mustache and a triangle soul patch. Some of the more easily amused titans chuckled while the more serious ones scanned her while looking at them with disapproving gazes. That is until the Gentleman Ghost was ejected from Raven's body, scuttering away in fright. "Bloody Hell, what in the name of Queen Victoria is in there?!" He asked the titans as Raven became consumed by one of her inner demons, growing taller and slimier with added wings and tentacles as she set her red eyed gaze upon the quivering Ghost, whom drawn his 19th century pistols. "You-you don't scare me! Let me introduce you to Flint and Lock!" He fired his two pistols, and they sunk into her shadowy body, which expanded greatly as they exploded, but all that resulted was her burping out fire and smoke. "Oh bugger." He was then eaten up by Raven, and with a single gulp, the Gentleman Ghost was no longer even that as he screamed down her throat. Her demonic power was so great, his soul was consumed, leaving no sentient trace of Gentleman Jim Craddock in this world, or the next. This demonic Raven then turned to the other titans, and they became just as frightened as Craddock was seconds ago. However, her eyes went from angry to sad as Raven started regaining control as the shadows receded into her body, and the Raven they knew and loved came back. She fell to the ground, but before she hit the ground, Beast Boy caught her in his gorilla form before turning human, laying her down on the ground. The woozy sorceress groaned while holding her head.
"Ugh, what happened? For a second I was completely out of it."
"You just straight up chomped Gentleman Ghost!" Cyborg told her. "But the thing is we don't know if it's as awesome as all get out, or bad like this." He then showed her a recording of her straight up eating said ghost, making her gasp.
"I...killed him?" The half-demon girl sounded mortified.
"Well, you re-killed that old fart, but basically yeah." Jinx shrugged. "And I wouldn't say it was you, but rather whatever has to do with your broken jewel piece there." She pointed to her fellow titan's chakra. Looking in a nearby window, Raven gasped with even more shock. Her chakra was not only cracked, but they even extended into her skin. Just a few millimeters, but still noticeable since they're colored black contrasting with her pale skin.
"Friend Raven, if you are having the trouble with your powers, then we are all the here for you." Starfire tried to give her best female friend a hug, but she backed out of it.
"You don't understand. This is something very personal. Don't bother me." Raven told them before retreating through a portal.
"I hope she's alright. We haven't seen her this scared since Trigon." Beast Boy said with a worried expression, but Robin placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"She'll be alright. And unlike last time, she'll come to us when she needs our help."
Raven entered her room from the portal, and looked into her mirror, which sent her into Nevermore. For as bad as the outside looked, the inside was so much worse. The black sky was cracked with angry red energy seeping through, and the stone ground looked warped and corrupted. Going in deeper, the half-demon titan went to the safe, opened it, and was surprised to find all of her emoticlones using their respective magics to keep the gem contained. Even Sloth, Timid and Anger, who never contribute to any situation. And even with them all combined it looked like they were being pushed to their limits.
"How are you all doing?"
"What does it look like, idiot?!" Anger lashed at the original. "Thanks to that stupid ghost we're having to keep this monster at bay!"
"Please help, I'm so scared!" Timid cried, tears trailing down her face. "I don't want to keep doing this, but it's even worse if it escapes!"
"I must admit, I always accept a challenge..." Brave grunted from mental backlash before doubling her effort. "...but even this makes me want to just put it away forever instead of beating it head on!"
"Even you Sloth?" Raven asked the brown cloaked one.
"Even this is enough to keep me from resting easily. Knowledge helped by reminding me that if I'm destroyed, I can forget taking naps whenever I want."
"Yeah, you really love your naps." The Original Raven rolled her eyes. "Knowledge?"
"Sorry, but this is something even I'm in the black about. You'll just have to find the answer with your friends."
"I can't bring them into this! It's my-"
"This is something you can't do on your own. Just get your friends! Just..." All the emoticlones then screamed at her. "GO!" Raven was ejected from her Nevermore mirror, landing on her back. Her face was sweating bullets and her eyes showed complete and unfiltered fear. She had no help from her emoticlones. Going to a full sized mirror, she looked at her cracked chakra and wounded forehead.
"How am I going to fix this?" Just then her reflection smiled and spoke in a deep voice.
"Perhaps I can tell you how, daughter." Raven gasped again. This is a very gasp worthy afternoon.
"Father?" Her reflection then became her father.
"It's been awhile, hasn't it? Not since you imagined killing your brothers in that dream once."
"You...you know? How? And for that matter, how are you still alive? Me and my friends-my family destroyed you." She asked her father, which he scoffed.
"Please, while I do admit it hurt. A lot. Really painful actually, but you actually thought that did me in? Stars quake at my power while you and your friend's power of friendship just wiped out all of my effects across the globe? You only defeated me because I didn't expect you to be so strong. Sure, it took some time, but my atoms and molecules were able to find each other, let me form back together and come back as...well, smaller than normal, maybe a 7 foot tall human, but I'm still back. And besides, don't you think it's a coincidence that I came back just as your gem cracked?" That got her attention.
"You know what's happening?"
"Well duh, that gem is a prison of your inner demon. Or what I could say is my true daughter in there. The one that takes after her dear ol' daddy." Trigon chuckled. "And now that it's cracked, it can escape, and consume your humanity from the inside until there's nothing left."
"You mean I'm becoming a demonic monster? Like you?"
"Well, you don't have to. Technically I can have two daughters. I can remove your demon, and leave you in two halves. One..." He let her reflection return and showed her a Raven with fair Caucasian skin, a couple of decorative hair pieces keeping her shoulder blade length hair out of her face, a purple jacket and pink skirt and no gem. Raven gasped...again. "...is where you are completely human, normal, social, funny and charismatic. You don't have to worry about suppressing your emotions and the occasional freak accident when that breaks. Two..." With another swipe, this second Raven reflection showed a red skinned, white haired and horned, four eyed, black mistress outfitted demon girl. "...is where I keep your powers, finally getting the daughter I've always wanted. I get out of your hair forever, leaving Earth alone forever if I feel generous enough, and I get your powers to use as my own." Raven looked hesitant, truly hesitant, but her resolve came back strong and she steeled herself by coving up her forehead with her cloak.
"Not happening."
"Seriously? You didn't even think about it for two seconds." He complained.
"You're not getting my powers for your own evil ways, father." Raven further objected, but he shrugged.
"It's your humanity. Just to let you know, each time you use your powers, the crack will grow wider and wider until pow! All that will be left is demon." Her father cackled, the half-demon girl shuddering at the possibility, but she mustn't give in to his temptations.
"Get out of my mirror." Grabbing a heavy book, she threw it at the mirror, shattering the reflective glass, then escaped from her room.
"Nuts. I thought that was gunna work." Trigon complained, before a voice similar to his echoed through the room and mirror shards.
"Your gambit has failed, as predicted. We proceed with the true plan."
"Eh, can't blame a demon for trying."
While the Titans were relaxing in the living room, playing video games or taking care of their little buddies, Raven just barely came into the room, apprehensive on what to do. The sorceress felt her gem, which she could feel the thin line, along with the cracks extending into her skin. She didn't want to do this, but with very little leads, she had no choice. Walking to her friends, she called to them.
"Guys, can we talk? It's important." Noticing obvious signs of distress in her face and voice, the titans gave her undivided attention.
"Sure Raven, what's up?" Robin asked.
"My...father made contact with me. All of the titans...gasped. Except Jinx.
"What? Is there something bad with that?"
"Her dad's like the most powerful, most evilist demon to exist, but didn't we like, disintegrate him to smithereens' with your white magic Rave?" Beast Boy asked.
"He was only defeated because he wasn't expecting for me to be powerful enough to beat him. He's nowhere close to his original power, but even having a body the size of us makes him a threat to this galaxy alone. But that's not all. My chakra here you always see on my forehead, you know it's cracked. But what you don't know is that it holds my inner demon. If it escapes, I'll lose all my humanity. My emoticlones are using everything they have to slow it down. And what's even worse is that there's no book that has the answer. The people of Azarath don't have a solution to a cracked gem because it never happened, so there's no text on how to fix one, and Azarath is gone, for Trigon destroyed it. My place of birth."
"Maybe I could look for a solution on Tamaran?" Starfire suggested. "Although we do not have the crystals of imprisonment, we do-"
"That's not going to work. Think about it. All my life until recent I've looked for answers, some means in which I could nullify my demon side and be more human. Where I can be human as a hero and not worry about hurting everyone and everything I care about." Raven dropped to her knees, hugging her body, struggling to withhold her tears. "And the worst part is, not only have I found no answer to that, not only is there no answer to fixing my gem, it's inevitable. Every time I use my powers, it becomes worse. The crack will get worse and worse until the demon inside consumes me. I'm doomed." The titans were stunned and aghast. Not only was Raven suffering, there was no solution to the problem at hand, not one that is either easy to find, or one that could be found before this supposed deadline before Raven became a full on demon. After a moment of silence and no movement, Beast Boy was the one to go to his girlfriend, and hug her close.
"There there Rae Rae. It's okay."
"It's not okay. I'm going to lose myself and you all might die for it. I should just run away and be somewhere where I'll never hurt any of you." This time Robin spoke to her.
"Raven, when it was your birthday and we found it it was the beginning of the end, did we abandon you? No. We made sure you had a birthday party. When the day Trigon was coming, did we just give up on you and the situation? No. We fought the resurrected Slade, an army of fire demons, and even your dad. If we can beat him once, we can do it again. You're not just a Teen Titan, you're part of our family. My comrade." The Boy Wonder went to hug her as well.
"You are my best female friend." Starfire added as she hugged as well.
"You're like a little sister to me" Cyborg gave the biggest hug surrounding them all.
"You're my girl, Rae." Beast Boy whispered into her ear before kissing it.
"Umm, I don't really have a family thing Rave, but I do like you enough that I'll help out whatever I can." Even Jinx added to the mix as she went into the group hug, if a bit awkwardly. Raven wanted to wipe her eyes, but her arms were squashed under the amount of hugging surrounding her.
"Dang it you guys. You know intense emotions make me dangerous, and you're really not helping in this case." The normally stoic half-demon sorceress Raven was losing her composure, crying and trying to hold back sobs while the lights exploded above and the couch cushions exploded, and this her crack worsened.
"That just means we know how touched and appreciative you're feeling Rae Rae." Beast Boy replied. "No matter what, nothing is going to make us let you go." That is until a giant portal opened up and the titans (physically) let Raven go to gaze upon the phenomena. "Oh come on! We were having emotional moment!" The green changeling complained. From the portal, a UFO came from within, hovering over the tower. And before they could react, people wearing skin tight black clothes burst through the windows, and snatched them up. Some proved trickier like Robin, Raven and Jinx, but they were all captured in seconds.
"Welcome, heroes!" A light shined on the Teen Titans, causing them to yell. But something was missing.
"Jinx? Jinx, where are you?!" Cyborg cried out.
"Oh, this is something that only the five of you should be concerned about." The same voice answered as a pawn piece the size of them hovered towards the team, and showed a little diminutive creature. He wore a black and purple outfit, white gloves, and had a huge light blue head with balding white hair. "Welcome, to my arena." Pressing a buttons, the room was light up to show what appeared to be a high tech coliseum with a digital audience. In one of the corners was Jinx in a crisscross cage, and she looked really unhappy.
"This damsel in distress thing is so uncool. My powers don't work in here." The former villainess grumbled.
"Don't worry Jinx! We'll rescue you!" Cyborg promised.
"Who are you?" Robin questioned the man.
"Oh, just a friend. Call me the Master of Games!" He growled, trying to be theatrical and intimidating.
"Master of Games? But last we saw you, you were taller and looked like a werewolf humanoid." The Boy Wonder pointed out.
"Oh, that's your universe's Master of Games. Each article tends to look different from universe to universe." This one shrugged. "And I happen to the greatest Master of Games, because I'm the only one that travels across the multiverse, enacting ancient battles, supreme showdowns, secret wars, wink wink, all for the sake of entertainment across the multiverse itself! And this time, it's not about heroes and villains fighting each other, but a battle of versions, of every hero and every villain if there's more than one iteration! You may think you're the titans of this Earth, but there are a number of infinite Earths." MOGs showed them pictures of holographic Earths that appeared similar by appearance, but was different upon closure inspection. "And each one is different. The one you have is the Justice League, but another is the Justice Society back in the 1940s-50s. You have two completely unrelated men of Batman and Joker, but in another universe, the person who would become Batman dies, and his parents become Batman and Joker!" Robin gasped.
"That's horrible." He uttered.
"Maybe, but it's quite a juicy detail for me." Master of Games giggled. "And as for you, Teen Titans. In one universe you're known as the Teen Tyrants, evil versions fighting the Brotherhood of Good."
"That is quite boggling to wrap my head around." Cyborg remarked, trying to flip the perspective of the two groups.
"And it just keeps going on and on. Robots, knights, sea creatures like mermaids or whatever, steam punk, everyone are animals, there's an infinite amount of possibilities! And it's all possible thanks to my Worlogog!" MOGs summoned a staff with the end showing an orb with purple roads inside. "This wonderful artifact shows me every possibility, every probability, every potentiality, which allows me to determine which is the greatest version of every hero and villain above all! Just to name a few, Universe 362009 Rorschach, Universe 11292019 Harley Quinn, Universe 6161992 Catwoman and Batman, Universe 12101978 Superman and Universe 7182008 Joker. But, enough about other people, it's time to show you titans, which titans you'll face. Titans of Universe 4232013, meet your counterparts, the Teen Titans of Universe 1162003!" Another light shone on the opposite side of the arena. It was the people in black, until the appearance obscuring clothes de-digitized, revealing the versions of themselves wearing matching clothes that were taller, more angular, and overall better looking artistically. The titans of their universe gasped...for the final time of this chapter.
A/N: Haha, I bet you were getting tired of them gasping a lot in this chapter. So was I, which I was making fun of. But man oh man was this chapter fun to write. Better jokes, a pretty actiony beginning with Gentleman Ghost, and a pretty heartwarming section even Raven couldn't stonewall. Then again the pressure was just like when the original Trigon was coming to Earth. What do you think of this chapter, and Eris, just for sake of conversation, what was your most favorite moments of the season 1 chapters I wrote?
