Hello! Back with chapter four. I'm sorry it takes so long to update some of my stories. A lot of them I like more than others, so I always seem to update those more. However, this is one of my favorite stories, because it's part one of the trilogy.
So, thanks to my reviewers!
The Halfa Wannabe, My Eternal Fascade, DannyPhantomLover, Slayer of Souls, ThisIsTheStoryOfAGirl, invisobillsgal x3, Anawiel Dewdrop, Alison x4, Goth Wolf, Wolf-blades-wings, SilverAlchemist1, Liney0420, Johann-son, Faith's Melody, InkBlotted Chakra,
cheetahs-spirit x2: Sam is not in denial, but Danny won't tell her what's wrong, so she's kind of confused.
RavenindaShadows: Your favorite fanfic author? Wow...that's kind of cool. Yeah, I made a mistake about the eyebrows. (Hits self) But, thanks!
BIBeast x5: Yeah, I know. But I think it's really impossible for me to not work on so many. But, I at least update most of them on a monthly basis. I'm sorry it took me so long. And no, there will be no Danny/Starfire, Robin/Sam pairing. It remains D/S throughout the whole thing.
Chapter Four
Locate
Danny was flying at top speed when he spotted the two figures he'd seen earlier that morning down near the edge of the forest.
He signaled to Raven behind him and started to drop down to the ground. Raven's shadowy bird form was trailing behind him closely.
He landed swiftly behind a rock, the Thunder brothers only a few yards away. Raven did the same and lengthened her body, allowing her four partners to become released. Starfire, Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Robin appeared at her side.
"What should we do?" Danny asked.
"We fight them of course, and defeat them again," Robin replied.
"I know that, I meant do they have any specific powers or weaknesses that I should watch out for?" he snapped.
Raven stepped in between him and Robin. "Usually when they use their powers, they can create wildfires in the end."
"And we're right next to a forest," Beast Boy said. "Of all the places to stop."
"I say we come in from all directions so that they're cornered," Danny suggested, watching the two brothers high five each other; they were talking, but he couldn't understand what they were saying.
"That never works. We need to work together," Robin argued.
"I didn't say split up," Danny pointed out.
"Titans, go!" Robin said, bringing out a silver quarter staff.
Starfire and Raven took to the air, flying towards the Thunder Brothers. Beast Boy shifted into a cheetah and charged off along with them.
Danny made a face and turned invisible, jetting as fast as he could to come from the opposite direction. He approached them from behind.
Lightning was the skinny one; he had yellow-gold hair and an orange jumpsuit with a lightning symbol on his chest. Thunder was the larger one and was wearing a blue and purple jumpsuit with a cloud shape on his chest.
Starfire fired first, green star bolts blasting from her hands. The bolts hit the ground near them and bounced back.
"Brother!" Lightning cried, watching the ground explode a few feet away. "The Titans are back."
"But we're just having fun," Thunder said, his voice deep.
"We can't let them think we will harm them," he replied. He held out his hands above his head and saw them approach him. "Friends!"
Raven, Starfire, Beast Boy, and even Danny stopped, but Cyborg and Robin continued forwards fast. Danny did the first thing he thought of and sent a blast of ectoplasmic energy down in front of them to stop them.
"What are you doing?" Robin shouted.
"They're not evil," Danny called back.
"Yes, yes, listen to…him!" Thunder yelled, not exactly sure what to call Danny. Starfire and Raven dropped down onto the ground with the others, Beast Boy hovering as a bird a few feet near Danny.
"We're not here to harm you Titans," Lightning said, beckoning them closer.
"Who are you working for?" Robin demanded.
"We have a new friend, yes, but he is determined to make things right," Lightning said, clapping his hands together gleefully.
"We are simply creating fun," Thunder agreed.
"But you're destroying the forest in the process."
Danny saw movement from out of the corner of his eye and saw something move in the darkness, escaping. Whoever it was, no one else seemed to see it.
"Hey, look!" he whispered loudly over to Beast Boy.
The bird followed his gaze and let out a loud squawk, suddenly falling to the ground in his shock. He changed back to his regular form. "Robin, look!" He pointed into the forest where the man had disappeared to.
Robin's eyes beneath the mask narrowed. "Titans, stay here. I'll ring if I need you."
Danny, however, was listening, but knew that if they didn't hurry, the man escaped. And judging by Beast Boy and Robin's reactions, this guy was trouble. He took off, shooting into the forest as fast as he could, spotting the mysterious stranger not too far away.
"Wait, Danny, no!" Robin yelled. Danny either hadn't heard him or wasn't listening, because he continued to rush towards the shadowed figure. Groaning in frustration, Robin followed, running fast behind him.
Danny launched his hand out, sending a ray of ectoplasmic energy at the stranger. The blast caused a rather big explosion and smoke trailed up from the ground.
"Quite impressive," a dark voice said.
He turned around and gasped. Somehow, the man was now behind him. His body was covered by black and silver armor, his face hidden by a bronze mask that only revealed one cold eye.
"So entertaining to watch," he said, grabbing Danny's throat.
Robin soared in from behind, kicking him in the back. Danny went intangible and he fell forward, somersaulting and standing again once more.
"Saving the world once again, Robin?" he asked, staring between the two boys.
"Slade," Robin hissed.
"Who's your new friend?" Slade asked.
"Back off!" Robin said, pulling out some sort of weapon. "And don't move."
There was a flash of lightning and thunder boomed in the background. In the sudden bright light, Slade seemed to have taken it as an advantage and disappeared.
"No!" Robin shouted. He pressed something up against his belt. "Titans, into the forest. East bound!"
"Who was that guy?" Danny asked.
"Don't let him get away!"
He started running and Danny followed, close behind. They trekked deeper into the woods. Suddenly, something grabbed Danny's arm and he was thrown backwards, up against a tree. Robin continued moving, still looking for Slade, but it was Danny that stared into the bronze mask.
"So…why are you, of all people, joining the Titans?" Slade asked.
"Who are you?" Danny asked, standing on his feet.
"Questions. Well, you do have patience, don't you? You and Robin aren't alike at all, no matter how similar you seem to be physically."
"Who are you?" Danny demanded again.
"What are you?" Slade challenged. Danny didn't answer, squaring off with the masked stranger. Slade's eye changed, almost like he was smiling in triumph. "If you don't trust me, I can't trust you."
"Danny!" someone called in the distance. Danny didn't move.
"So….you're Danny then," Slade said, figuring it out.
"A new member of the Titans?"
"No," Danny said.
"Ah, I see. So, why not? Someone rub you the wrong way? I suppose Beast Boy and Raven would take some getting used to. But they're all quite powerful." Danny didn't say anything, but Slade advanced towards him. He didn't move. "Then again, you seem to have quite a bit of power yourself, whatever you are. But…do you have limitations like they do I wonder?"
In a fast movement that took Danny by surprise, Slade scraped his hand down his shoulder and Danny cried out in pain as something pierced into his skin.
He held out his fist and ectoplasmic energy formed in his palm, and he launched it out. Slade back flipped, dodging every blast.
"I suppose that's a lesson for another day," Slade said.
"Who are you?" Danny asked again, this time, angrier.
A fork of lightning streaked across the sky, illuminating the forest again and Slade didn't reply. When the light vanished, falling back into the clouds, Danny stared out to see that he'd disappeared. He held his hand out, his palm glowing with ectoplasmic energy, so that he could look.
"Danny!"
He turned around to see Cyborg, Starfire, and Sam rush into the clearing. Sam got to him first and threw her arms around him.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
He nodded, feeling so much better now that she was back in his arms. "I'm good…but whoever that guy was got away."
"His name was Slade," a voice muttered. Robin, Raven, Tucker, and Beast Boy came through the same way the other three had and joined them. Robin moved forwards, coming the closest to Danny and Sam. "And I warned you to back off. Didn't you listen?"
"I must not have heard you," Danny stated simply, one hand clenched at his side.
"Well, you really need to pay attention then. Slade isn't someone to mess with when you're unskilled," Robin said.
Danny bit his lip painfully to stop himself from saying the comment that popped into his head. He wasn't unskilled; true, he'd never had any training, but that didn't mean he didn't have any powers, which was more than Robin could say.
"We can't make any mistakes," Robin continued. "Now that the Thunder brothers seem to be working with Slade again, they'll be unstoppable, whether they know it's him or not."
"I think we need to convince them that the man they believe to be their friend is not who he seems to be truly," Starfire suggested. "They must not realize that the man is the same one that tricked them before. Slade."
"I think Starfire has a point," Beast Boy agreed. "The Thunder Brothers aren't bad, they just want to have fun."
"Their fun always turns into something deadly," Robin said. "We'd better get some supplies."
"You're welcome to stay at my house tonight," Sam said. "If you need a place to crash I mean."
Robin smiled. "That would be nice."
"Do we have to share rooms?" Raven asked. "Starfire and Cyborg snore." The two she was referring to both made faces.
"Umm…" Sam stammered.
"We'll be fine," Robin assured her.
The Titans filtered out one by one, Starfire last, bobbing up and down excitedly. Sam took Danny's hand and they followed, Tucker behind them.
Tucker suddenly gasped. "Holy crap Danny! What did you do to your shoulder?"
Danny glanced behind him and saw that the part of his jumpsuit covering his shoulder was completely shredded. It looked as if he'd been bleeding too, but by now, it had dried. Two long, deep, scratches were etched across his shoulder blade.
"It's okay," he said quickly. "I got on the bad side of this Slade guy I guess."
"Why would he want to hurt you?" Tucker asked. "That's what I don't get."
Sam grasped his hand tighter than necessary. "You've never…bled…because of someone." Danny had to admit, she had a point. He'd been beaten up pretty bad before, but only ending in a few bumps and bruises. He really had never bled because of a ghost.
"I'll be okay," he assured her. "We'd better catch up to the others before they eat all the food in your house."
Sam laughed. "Too late."
Despite changing the subject himself, Danny had to admit one thing. Robin was right. Slade was strong and he wasn't even a ghost. He'd been one of the few to actually show a particularly hard resistance.
But there was something different about Slade….So what were the Titans hiding?
Yeah…I realize that I'm kind of making Robin the bad guy here when it comes to little scuttles between the two boys. But, it really gets better and then worse throughout the whole trilogy. But, I like Robin, so don't get the wrong impression on that. I honestly think that it's kind of funny actually because I have a weird sense of humor.
Oh, and a lot of reviewers have been asking me this, but no, Sam and Robin will not have any real romance in this story. So no, there won't be any Danny/Starfire romance. It remains the same throughout the whole trilogy.
Please R&R! Here's your sneak peek!
Chapter Five: Bleak
"What are you so afraid of?" Raven asked.
"Isn't that a good question," Danny retaliated quietly.
"What do you mean?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
"You know exactly what I mean," he said. "I trust you guys, I really do. But, until you tell me who this Slade guy is, that trust can only go so far. Who…is…he?"
Next Updates: Insight View, Fiction 2, Becoming, Adjustment, Sunshine Circle, Show and Tell, 04092015 (New), Flash, Infinity, Modern Day R+J
Lateraina Wolf