Chapter 5: Shine On
"What's the matter with you? We sent your bratty sister in the movies and your still walking around with that frown on your face. You gotta learn to live a little Mammoth," Jinx told her teammate.
"Yeah, slug-cruncher, you gotta lay back a little. Don't worry about the little things. That's what I do and look at me," Gizmo said pointing to himself.
Mammoth, Gizmo, and Jinx were walking around the mall in the city.
"Would it make you feel better if we rob this bank," Jinx asked, and once Mammoth nodded, they entered the bank.
Once inside, they began to look around as if they were regular customers. They slowly lurked towards the bank vault. Gizmo took out a laptop-like machine and stuck it onto the vault door. He typed a bunch of digits into the small keyboard, and the screen lit up.
It read: Access Granted … Proceed Now …
The door clicked and unlocked and the three super-villains entered the vault. Inside the bank vault there were many gold carrot bricks along with piles of cash.
"Where to begin," Jinx asked herself while rubbing her hands together in anticipation.
Suddenly the vault door closed and they just noticed that there were two guards near the doorway. They cocked their guns and were ready to shoot. Jinx, Gizmo, and Mammoth raised their hands, making it seem as though they would come quietly, but that was exactly what they weren't going to do.
"Attack Pattern Beta!" Jinx yelled, and Gizmo and Mammoth came in front of her while she did a back handspring.
Wings sprouted from Gizmo's jet pack and he pulled out a controller from his pocket. He pushed buttons on the controller and small beams shot out from two miniscule blasters on the sides of his jet pack. The guards dodged some, but got hit with some.
Jinx began to create hexes and hurled them at the guards. They were only slightly hurt from the blasts since they managed to dodge some like before.
Mammoth came out of nowhere and punched out both of them in an angry, "RAAAWWWRR."
"Are they… Um…" Jinx gulped, "Um… Dead…" Jinx looked horrified.
Mammoth dropped down to feel a pulse, "No, just knocked out."
"Don't cha think you went a little bit far there, Mammoth," Gizmo was so scared he couldn't even call him by an insult.
"Hmph… At least I got my anger out!" Mammoth said with a smile.
At this sight, his teammates smiled back, but Mammoth's smile only lasted a little while because sooner or later a call came saying, "Oh Mammoth…"
The voice sounded like a girl, it was a little high-pitched, and before they knew it, a girl came skateboarding into the bank, looking for her older brother.
"HIDE!" Mammoth told his friends.
She made her way to the back vault and called out Mammoth's name again. Once no one replied back, she screamed, "MAMMOTH! GET YOU BUTT OVER HERE! YOU WERE SUPPOSE TO WAIT FOR ME WHEN THE MOVIE ENDED!"
She had long crimson blonde hair, and on the side of her head was a slim strand of hairs which were held together by a star shaped barrette. She had a girly, childish face, and she looked as though she was the same age as Mammoth. She wore a black shirt that was just above her stomach. Underneath her black t-shirt she had a long sleeve pink shirt. She had light brown, almost tan, pants and dark brown gloves.
Before he could make his sister any more angry, Mammoth came out of his hiding place, followed by his fellow comrades.
"Mammoth, where have you been? I have been looking all over for you. You were suppose to stay near the exit of the movie theater once the Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi Movie was over," She said in an annoyed tone, with her hands on her hips.
"Selinda. I didn't mean to…" Mammoth said, but was abruptly interrupted by his sisters voice.
"Baran, Baran, Baran," Selinda said.
Jinx mumbled lowly, "Haha. Baran. I'll get a lot of mileage off of this one."
Mammoth elbowed her in the side and Selinda continued.
"How many times have I told you not to call me by that name. I call you by your super villain name, so use mine, Shimmer," Selinda/Shimmer said and an evil twinkle went off in her evil glare as she used her villain name, Shimmer.
"Ah yes. Lunch is served," Starfire said with a big smile on her face.
She dropped the plate she was holding onto the table, for everyone to look at. It looked positively gruesome.
"Um. What exactly is lunch?" Cyborg asked looking puzzled while his other teammates looked as if they didn't even want to go near the dish.
Starfire simply smiled even wider and said, "Well it's really a mix of things. There's some mustard. Some pickles, bananas, and mint frosting. And then there's some fruit, cereal, toast, candy, celery, steak, nachos, rutabaga, and tofu. Last but not least, my favorite, zorka berries!" Starfire raised he hands in excitement ready to eat the dish, but then she mumbled, "…and some of that stuff Red Star gave us…"
Alert! Alert! Red lights flashed in the main room. A loud, rumbling sound echoed throughout the tower.
"I'm not really in the mood for lunch today anyway," Raven said.
"Titans Go!" Robin shouted and the Titans went to the door, departing for their destination: The Bank of Perez.
"Stop right there!" Robin shouted pointing to the girl in the room. The guards were knocked out, but all the money seemed to be in place. There was only a girl and a stick, a rock, a leaf, and a flower lying on the ground next to her.
"What happened? The only thing that's wrong is that the guards are out cold," Beast Boy said.
"Oh, I'm sooo sorry," Shimmer said with puppy dog eyes, "I didn't mean to come in. I was playing with my pet rock when he decided to jump into the already opened bank vault. I didn't do anything."
"Then why are the guards knocked out?" Robin asked puzzled, "And what's with the stick, leaf, and flower?"
"I don't know. They were knocked out when I came in. And about the stick, leaf, and flower, me and Rocky were on a scavenger hunt!" Shimmer told them.
Robin sighed and the Titans promptly believed her, so they returned once again to the tower.
"Now who's up for some real lunch?" Cyborg said while putting down a plate of burgers on the table full of starving Titans. He was wearing an apron and a chef's hat
Starfire was eating her own creation, but Robin and Raven began to eat.
"Dude, does 'I'm a vegetarian' mean anything to you?" Beast Boy shouted at his friend.
"BB, just chill. I got your tofu burger right here," Cyborg said while putting down another plate with one burger.
"Thanks," Beast Boy said as he took a bite out of the burger, "Hmph. This doesn't taste like tofu…"
"Because it's not. It's a regular burger that I snatched when you weren't looking and put it on a different plate," Cyborg said between laughs, he was trying not to crack up.
"I'm gonna kill you, man," Beast Boy said while chasing Cyborg around the room.
Ding! Ding!
The sound traveled around the room.
"I believe someone is knock knock knocking on our door," Starfire said, looking puzzled.
"No, Starfire. That would be the doorbell," Raven said.
Beast Boy stopped chasing Cyborg and said, "Dude, I didn't even know we had a doorbell."
The Titans began to follow Robin to the entrance. They were curious to know who could be at the door. Robin approached the door and pushed a button on the wall. The door slid open revealing none other then Shimmer!
"Hey guys, it's Shimmer, long time no see," she said innocently.
"Um… Why are you here?" Raven asked.
"Well after I left the bank, I found out you guys were the Teen Titans, and I was like 'omigod'. I know all about you guys. Your fights with Slade, the betrayal of your friend Terra, your interference with Brother Blood and the HIVE Academy, your second branch: Titans East, Your encounter with Trigon and the end of the world, and your global chase with the Brotherhood of Evil," Shimmer said, a little out of breath.
"That still hasn't answered my question," Raven said.
"Oh yeah, well it's been my dream to join the Teen Titans, so I decided, why not now?" she said.
"Um. Could you excuse us for a sec," Robin said and the Titans huddled over in the corner, away from the door.
"No," Raven whispered immediately.
"Why not? She seems friendly," Starfire said.
"She might end up like another Terra," Raven said, and Beast Boy seemed to wince at the mention of their past friend.
"Or she could be extremely helpful," Robin said.
"Let's see her powers and how she uses them in combat practice. After that, then we can make the decision," Cyborg suggested.
"Agreed," Starfire said.
The Titans broke the huddle and Cyborg, Starfire, and Beast Boy went to Shimmer and explained what she must do in order to become a Titan. Raven stayed back, looking uneasy. Robin was about to meet up with his friends and Shimmer, but he saw how Raven looked, so he went over to her.
"I know you feel uneasy about this, but we should at least give her a chance. I know your still shaken up about the whole Terra thing, but you have to move on, don't live in the past. As long as we're kind and give her a chance, maybe she'll repay the favor," Robin told her and walked away.
Raven mumbled under her breath, "We were kind and we gave Terra a chance too."
Outside…
"Alright. The simulations are ready. Are you ready Shimmer?" Cyborg asked.
"Ready," she said sounding determined.
"Ok. Titans go!" Robin shouted.
The Titans and Shimmer went of to take on the upcoming obstacles. Electrical disks were shot out by small machines that came out of the ground.
"Hah!" Starfire shouted as she threw starbolts at the disks.
"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" Raven yelled as she conjured up a couple rocks and dropped them on a few disks, crushing them.
Cyborg was lifted by Beast Boy and he shot sonic blasts from his cannon, annihilating some of the disks.
Robin stood back to observe Shimmer in combat.
"Haaa!" she screamed. Her eyes began to glow pink. A sparkling aura surrounded her hands while she brought them up, extending them to point directly at the upcoming disks. Almost immediately the disks turned into stones and dropped on the ground. She pulled her hands back into her chest and turned and pointed them out again at a new fleet on flying disks. She repeated this process until all of the disks had been turned into stone.
"Wow," Cyborg said looking amazed.
"Glorious," Starfire said with a smile and going over to hug Shimmer, "Splendid performance, our new friend."
"Yea. You did very good. Your powers are amazing, don't you think so, Raven?" Robin said.
"Sure. Whatever. Let's see how she does against the giant boulders. This time we will not be joining you," Raven said.
"Do not worry. I am sure you will be fine," Starfire said supportively.
The Teen Titans stepped back and Shimmer was ready. Huge boulders were hurled from a machine on the top of a small cliff. Shimmer's eyes began to glow and her hands were surrounded by the glowing aura once again. She concentrated and transformed the giant boulders into giant teddy bears.
She returned to normal and just as she was turning around to take a bow, the rocks on the ground turned back into disks and were shot at her. She immediately went back into battle mode and tried to stop the upcoming disks, when the teddy bears turned back into boulders and started rolling towards her. She was stuck in the middle of two problems. She began to sweat as she tried to concentrate and stop the boulders and disks from hitting her.
Suddenly, the boulders and disks turned black and were levitated up to the sky, where they hit each other and blew up. Raven was floating mid flight. She had protected Shimmer against her impending doom.
"Thanks a bunch!" Shimmer said, but Raven just descended to the ground, looking unhappy.
"Your good with the team, but why didn't you tell us your powers can wear off?" Robin asked.
"I don't know. I thought I had it under control this time," Shimmer said, holding her arm with her other and looking quite sad.
"Well, we've had trouble before concerning concentration and control. I'm not so sure you could join the team right now. If you were to learn to control your powers, you would be able to try for the team again. But I'm sorry Shimmer, you just can't join," Robin said looking almost like he didn't wish to say it.
"Just can't join," Shimmer mimicked, "It's not like it matt's anyway, I'm already on a team. Me and my brother could kick your butts anyway."
"Your Brother?" the Teen Titans asked in unison.
"Yes. My brother and his friends. The ones who robbed the bank yesterday. I quickly turned them into objects to save them from you. Afterwards, I decided to get on the team and be a double agent," Shimmer said with a smirk.
Shimmer's eyes and hands glowed again and she pulled out the rock, stick, and flower from yesterday. She dropped them on the floor and she used her powers to hit them. The stick turned into Gizmo, the rock turned into Mammoth, and the flower turned into Jinx.
"Ta-da. Introducing my brother, Mammoth, and his friends!" Shimmer said.
The Teen Titans gasped and the super-villains held their heads as they spun around, looking dizzy.
"Being in your pocket wasn't fun, but you could have at least moved around a little less," Gizmo said, to dizzy to make a snide remark.
"Ditto," Jinx said.
"Get up you lazy cakesniffers!" Shimmer yelled at them and they immediately got up, ready to fight.
For a minute or two, the two groups of rivals stared at each other in silence, but that was quickly broken once Robin yelled, "Titans go!"
Cyborg readied his cannon and charged straight towards Gizmo. He shot a sonic blast, but Gizmo pushed a button on his controller and wings sprouted from his back pack. He flew up ward and dodged the blast. He charged head-on towards Cyborg but he jumped out of the way and Gizmo got a face-full of dirt.
"Rotten gunk-licker," Gizmo mumbled, his wings were bent and broken.
Starfire and Beast Boy ran towards Jinx, dodging her jinxes, with Beast Boy occasionally transforming into different animals. Starfire threw some starbolts at her and Beast Boy charged her as a rhino. She was taken aback, and when it looked like she was knocked out, she opened her eyes and hurled waves of jinxes at them, knocking them backwards.
"Haha. Suckers," Jinx said.
Robin took out his bo staff and extended it, blocking Mammoth's punches. On one of Mammoth's stronger punches, Robin pushed off his fist using the bo staff, did a backflip, and threw three exploding disks at him. He covered his body and face with his big, muscular arms, but he was still shifted back. Once he opened his eyes, Robin came and kicked him in the face and started to kick and punch until Mammoth was totally beaten up.
"You should know by now, Mammoth, that you can't defeat us," Robin said with a triumphant smirk.
While the other Teen Titans went after Jinx, Raven threw trees at Shimmer who quickly turned them into paper.
"You can't beat me. Everything you throw at me, I can change to stop it from harming me," Shimmer said while grabbing a few pine needles and transforming them into real needles. She threw them at Raven, who redirected them and hit her. Raven charged after her and started to kick her multiple times.
"Ha, you really think your better than me at fighting. I have also inherited my brother's skills," Shimmer said while blocking Raven's last kick. She grabbed her leg and threw her far away.
Raven hit the ground and yelled, "Witch!"
"Look who's calling who a witch," Shimmer said.
Raven's facial expression changed to an enraged frown. She hurled five huge boulders. Shimmer got ready to transform them, but they flew upward before hitting her.
"Ha. You can't even perfect your powers," Shimmer said mockingly.
"Oh really," Raven said as her expression changed to a small smile. Three boulders came back aiming for her front, while the two others came to hit her in the back.
"I know you can't concentrate as well as me, so you would never be able to create this trick, let alone block it," Raven said.
The boulders smashed onto her. She came out completely dizzy and beaten up.
"It's to bad, if you were on the team, I'd be able to help you meditate to have better concentration," Raven said.
"Well, at least we prevented another Terra incident," Robin said.
"Who cares. Bring out the food!" Cyborg said.
"Yes. Thankfully there were enough left-overs from lunch today, so we get to have more for dinner!" Starfire said happily.
Cyborg's stomach grumbled, and he said, "Why? Why me?"
"So, I'm guessing your ok now, Raven," Robin asked her.
"Yea, like you said we can't live in the past. But, I was actually starting to like Shimmer unfortunately…" Raven said with a faint smile.
Robin smiled.
"In order to concentrate your powers, you need to become calm and self-centered," said a low, creepy voice.
The room was dark, only the middle was shone where Shimmer stood.
"Right. Thankfully, I got a lot of information on the Titans while I was with them," Shimmer said.
"Good, good. After this training, you will be able to go back to your little group of friends and you guys will assist me," said the same voice.
"Right," said Shimmer as she began to levitate and close her eyes, "Azarath, Metrion Zinthos…"
She thought to herself, "I will defeat her next time. Now that I know her little trick…"
"Good," said the voice again. A dark figure approached out from the darkness, it was Slade!
"Then things are going smoothly…" he said.