Welcome back, everybody. Not reading it isn't going to make me go away. Sorry. Anyway, this chapter would have been up three days ago if it would have let me upload it. Not that it matters. All but one of my reviews are from the same person. This chapter is my first attempt at a fight scene. It's actually one of the very few things I'm happy with so far, but feel free to rip it to shreds if you feel it's worthy. Just let me know how it's going.

The very few of you who read this have no doubt noticed it has not really had any relation to the Titans at this point... that is by design. I needed one to start with. The next arc, which starts around chapter 10 will change that. I promise. At that point this first arc will be optional reading if I even keep it up at all. I have an idea about that, but I won't bother you with it now. Suffice to say it might make it feel a little more Titans oriented.

What to know: The (heavily edited down) mall chase is the result of seeing the Blues Brothers one too many times. Gadriella's 'Knight' is inspired heavily by the hero of the awesome little known PS1 rpg Guardian's Crusade, whose default name is Knight. I even used the words 'guardian' and 'crusade' in the same sentence, if it wasn't already obvious enough. I got to mess around with one of my favorite anime cliches, the "OMG! He's the reincarnation of..." or "OMG! Just like the..." legendary hero. Dunno why, but it's rediculous funny to me when I see that happen.

Finally, this is Julio & Gadriella's run together line...
Gadriella: "You will pay for insulting him"
Julio: "Hey that dog comment was cheap"

That's it. Enjoy the chapter, and keep those reviews coming... or maybe give me one or something.

Titans Interdimensional
Somewhere Between Here and the Moon
World 1-5: Gadriella's Origin

"So this is Om, aye, Gad?" Julio asks, looking up at the nearly 7' tall, muscular, 4 armed, ghostly white furred, heavily armored masked monster before him.

"… Mmmhmm," she nods, wiping her tears away with her forearm.

"I don't know. He doesn't look so tough. I think we can take him. Whaddya say, Gadriella?" he looks over to her, smiling confidently.

Julio's look stops her cold. 'Ahh! That look… his smile and those eyes. The words are exactly the same, too. Just like him.' In her mind's eye, an image flashes over Julio's; the resemblance is more than passing, not factoring in their radically different skin tones or hairstyles, but the expression and the sentiment behind it are the exact same.

A single, barely audible word escapes her lips. "Knight…"

Julio turns his attention back to the monster staring down at him menacingly. "You know, Omster, the oni mask is already a way overdone cliché. And between you and me," his voice lowers to a whisper, "You're not really pulling it off."

Om's massive lower right arm smashes into Julio's side, knocking him into the wall next to Gadriella, upside down. Peeling himself from the wall, he rises back up, the look of fearless determination on his face and his strange wrist gyrations taking Gadriella back once again.

"It's like he's channeling him… this is freaky weird," the elemental spirit is unsure whether or not she said the words aloud or merely thought them, not really caring either way. Her mind drifts back to a little more than eight years ago, watching her 'Knight' as he faced down a terrifying anthropomorphic dog or werewolf-like demon that threatened an entire kingdom.

The scene was the foot of an ancient ruin. Like usual, she had managed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time; she would have been killed had his sword not met the demon's claws inches in front of her face. Once he forced the demon away from her, she found the courage to look up, seeing him for the first time, a child of no more than 14, with the same look of determination that she is seeing now; even his hands clasped together, that same wrist gyration.

He said, "Someone told me I might find you here. I don't know. He doesn't look so tough. I think we can take him. Whaddya say, Gadriella?"

'The battle was fierce,' she recalls. 'It looked like my hero was going to lose… until I finally found some real courage and combined with him. Together we gained the upper hand, severely weakening the demon. Finally, several engineers from the castle made it through his evil army to us, sealing the demon away, presumably for all eternity. I never did find out the demon's name, or his motivation. He seemed to be super intelligent and spoke in human tongue. But that's all I ever found out. Just surviving the ordeal was good enough for me.

'The next day, I joined my guardian on his crusade. He was trying to make it back to his own world, to save it from a terrible evil of its own.'

"You ready?" Julio extends his hand to her, snapping her back to reality.

"Yeah, lets thump this punk," Gadriella growls, once again overflowing with confidence. She takes hold of his outstretched hand, closing her eyes as her body begins to meld into Julio's.

The result is a greenish hued Julio, thorny vines circling his arms, leaves and an occasional flower sprouting from his hair. His fingers are more like talons.

"Whoa," the transformed teen stares at his hands.

"Cool, huh?" Gadriella asks from inside his head.

"Wicked awesome," Julio says giddily.

"He even has the same reaction."

"Same as who?" Julio asks.

"Uhh… I'll explain later," Gadriella responds. "Relax, let my power flow through you."

"Alright, let's do this," Julio cracks his knuckles.

"Oh, well, you're finally ready. 'Bout time, Julio. I've been getting my butt kicked by this guy for the last five minutes while you two have been daydreaming," Warmaker grumbles, Om holding him upside down by his right leg.

"Sorry," Julio and Gadriella mutter sheepishly in unison.

The fusion of Julio and Gadriella take off at superhuman speed in the direction of Om, only to be knocked back into the wall by an energy pulse from one of his hands.

"Oh yeah… it would've been nice to know he could do that," Julio grumbles inwardly as Warmaker crashes into the wall next to them.

Om fires a barrage from all of his hands at the heroes. "That was too pathetic to be true. I know you all are still alive, probably not even hurt. Come on out of the thorny little cocoon my dear Gadriella called forth!" he shouts at the thick dust and smoke.

After a few seconds, the three emerge, Julio and Gadriella separated once again, through a wall of vines and out of the smoke and dust. Warmaker charges straight at the towering monster, dodging several blasts and even deflecting a couple, landing a vicious Ryu style uppercut and throwing an uncountable number of lightning fast punches, trying to break through the defenses of both massive right arms.

No sooner does Om swat the Lieutenant Colonel away like a pesky mosquito than does Julio finally reach him after zigzagging through the blasts fired at him by two of Om's hands, his translucent broadsword kicking up sparks against the metallic armor on his left arms several times before being punched back into the wall, as Gadriella fires several seemingly ineffective barbs into Om's massive upper body, before narrowly dodging an especially powerful bolt of energy that finally brings most of the battered wall crumbling down on top of her.

"Just like the good old days, aye, G?" Om cackles maniacally, knocking Warmaker through another wall.

----

The chase speeds into an exceptionally lively part of town when Sammy finally pulls alongside the sports car as they go careening through a mall.

"This place's got everything," Sammy giggles, expertly weaving through shoppers.

"Is now really the time for that, Wray?" 4-D asks Sammy, mildly annoyed.

"Of course it is, Lea. How often does a high-speed chase go through a mall? Look, Pier 1 Imports," he responds.

She thinks for a second. "Mruh… Curse your superior logic. That is not even remotely fair, you know. I'm not saying it, even if they do happen to be in early this year, cheater."

"Fine, be that way. Can you get that scribble out of my pocket and hand it to me, please?"

"Already got it, hot stuff," she hands it up to him as they crash through a JCPenney's window out into the parking lot. "We have to get 'em before they get to the street!"

"Hot stuff… me likey. Alright, get ready…" he slides to a stop, launching the paper beyond the car. As it rolls over the paper, Sammy shouts, "Now… Scriptor animadverto!"

A brick wall rises from where the paper used to be, sending the car into the air and crashing down on its top as the others and a couple of police cars pull up.

"Unnecessary violence… has been approved," 4-D says, shaking her head in embarrassment. Sammy kisses her on the cheek in appreciation.

Everybody approaches the car to find it empty, save for a note that simply says 'Boom.' on it. Then everybody runs away before it explodes, which it does in fairly impressive fashion after a few seconds.

Before the cops can ask anybody anything, another, bigger explosion goes off several blocks away.

And back to the fight.

----

The fight continues out on the street as a cadre of military personnel and police surround the area as Om pummels Warmaker, Julio, and Gadriella, the latter two continuing to have trouble staying merged; an errant energy blast hits a gas line, blowing the chop shop into oblivion.

"Why didn't it work? I don't get it," Gadriella murmurs.

"I don't think your poison darts broke the skin, Gad," Julio offers. "He looks pretty thick."

"Can we fuse again? It looks like our only shot," Julio says over the loud chaos going on around him.

"We will need a few seconds of distraction to merge again! Scott, Have everybody fire on him!" Gadriella shouts to Warmaker.

With a hand signal, 28 soldiers and cops start blasting away at Om with no effect. He prepares to return fire, but the once again green hued amalgamation of Julio and Gadriella ram into his back with their shoulder, knocking him off his feet for the first time all night.

"Alright!" they shout in unison, managing to hold it together on their fourth try.

"Grr… you're all dead! Just like that dog you called 'Knight'. You'll be joining him soon, Gadriella. So will this actual mutt kid you've found to replace him," Om growls.

"YouHeywillthatpaydogforcommentinsultingwashimcheap, you monster!" the single bodied duo shout in unison, though only the last two words are the same.

Warmaker and Om both stop fighting and try to figure out what the green one just said.

"Wow… that was weird," Julio says inwardly.

"Yeah, when we synch up our words, we better make sure we say the same thing," Gadriella agrees.

"Can we even speak outwardly and independent of each other?" Julio asks.

"Honestly, I'm not sure," Gadriella answers.

"I have no idea what they said. Scotty?" Om hisses.

"No idea," Warmaker responds before jumping the humongous antagonist.

"Alright, punk. Now we're-" they are cut off when they hear Rose shouting from up the block. They turn for away for a second and get Warmaker thrown into them as a reward for their short attention span.

The merged duo stand up as Zee, Rose, Sammy, Pulse 8, 4-D, and Flow arrive on the scene. "Stay back, guys. This is personal," Julio and Rose growl in perfect harmony.

"That would've sounded way tougher if you didn't have flowers in your hair," Rose giggles, holding everyone back.

"Grahhh!" the fearsome Om shouts as he lunges towards the flower powered Julio. "Now you die!!!!"

"Not this night," the voices emanating from the fused duo change all of a sudden, Gadriella's becoming noble and strong, Julio's a deep growl, his still hazel eyes begin glowing green, and a strange new aura of ambiguous disposition and impressive power surrounds him as he dodges a swipe and slashes Om with his katana.

"We can cut him to ribbons until the end of eternity and it won't so much as slow him down. We have to get one of those barbs into him," Gadriella tells Julio while they dodge Om's furious swipes.

"Right, I'm on it," Julio continues juking and dodging until a chance presents itself, sliding between the hulking monster's legs and retrieving a loose barb, barely dodging a slamming fist from the deceptively quick monster, jumping onto and springing off the hand as it rises. Above the monster's head he slashes with enough effort to make Om lift both his upper arms, flipping over and landing on his feet on the other side to 9.8s and 9.9s from the Super Soldiers and his friends… except for Rose, who only gives him a 9.2, much to Julio's dismay.

Before the giant can fight back, the two-that-are-one drive the barb into his gut without turning around, all cool and dramatic-like.

"Urk… guh. What was that?" Om howls suddenly feeling a rush of pain for the first time in a long time.

"Something special… just for you," Gadriella says through gritted teeth. "Hmm, I guess we can speak independently of each other."

"You little brats!" the monstrous creature attacks suddenly, swinging wildly and rushed, his green opposition easily dodging the unfocused barrage of punches and palm thrusts, before finally taking a point blank energy blast, spinning Julio and Gadriella back at least twenty feet and to the ground splitting them apart.

They rise to their feet after only a few seconds, Julio's body language showing much surprise at being able to stand up so easily, apparently unaware of the impressive aura surrounding him or the tattoo glowing through his tattered clothing. Gadriella just smiles as the once mighty Om starts to look desperate.

"Remember our last battle, Om?" her voice remains brave and strong. "I was really weak back then, just a scared little kid. I'm still not very strong, but I am five years wiser and five years smarter. Om, you have no control over me anymore. You're finished."

Julio raises the translucent broadsword, the wind kicks up and the battlefield is suddenly cast in a veil of darkness. "This is the sword of Vulcan. With it, I will defeat you. I call forth the rage that dwells within the darkest depths of my soul… DEMON FIRE!!!!"

His body disappears into a surreal, inhuman shadow, only those piercing green eyes are visible as Julio points the sword at Om, loosing an epically massive stream of barely controlled fire through it that engulfs the charging monster.

As the fire dissipates the light overtakes the darkness once again. The shadows dissipate, and the darkness cloaked phantom surrounding Julio fades as he falls to a knee, breathing heavily, clearly exhausted.

The monster in the oni mask slowly staggers forward from the smoke, badly injured.

"You gotta be kidding me. That was my best shot…" Julio whimpers.

Gadriella swiftly jumps back into the spent warrior, turning him green and naturey once more. "Ready?"

Om launches a final attack, extending all four arms, energy blasts at the ready in each hand, towards the fusion of warrior and elemental 40 feet away. They stop just short of their stoic target forming into one massive yellow orb of energy, Om screaming and laughing maniacally, "I'm taking you with me! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Suddenly the arms are pulled away. Julio and Gadriella look to see their friends, allies, and all the military and police officers pinning them down. The beat down body they share offers up a small smile as thank you, and raises heavy arms up and forward. Together the two voices ring out, "I call forth the remnants of the once mighty forests of ancient times… to revive once more, and protect this land of concrete and steel!"

Giant roots rise up, tearing through the street ensnaring Om. The roots crush and run him through. He goes motionless for a second before dramatically raising his arms skyward and crying out, "NOOOO!!!! Glahrrrrrg-g-g-g-gug!!!!" finally pixelating out of existence.

The leafy green warrior separates back into Julio and Gadriella.

Julio, battered and bloodied and at this point barely conscious falls backwards to the ground, lying motionless. "Ugh, everything hurts. Somebody throw a blanket over me, and come pick me up in the morning."

Gadriella slumps down beside him, tears welling up, dealing more with emotional trauma than physical.

Julio takes her hand, "Be happy. We won, and we're still alive to tell the tale."

"How did you know?" she asks.

"Someone… told me I… might find you here," the prone Julio wheezes.

Gadriella squeezes his hand a little tighter.

"I must say, that was one fine death gurgle," Sammy chuckles, pondering its merits.

"It was decent, but I've heard better," Rose mutters.

"Ow… Wh-What happened? Where am I?" a weak voice from within the roots asks.

"Masaki?!" Gadriella shouts, quickly getting to her feet and running/hobbling to the overgrowth with all the speed she can muster. "Masaki, is that you?!"

"G-Gadriella, w-what happened?" Masaki nervously asks as Zee and Warmaker pull apart the massive roots to reveal a confused and frightened, but very much alive, Masaki.

"Masaki…" Gadriella whimpers. "Is it… really you? I mean, really you?"

"I think so," the look on his face is more confused than ever. "The last thing I remember, I was in the garage, looking at this weird oni mask I found. I guess I must've passed out. Next thing I know, here I am."

Everybody looks at each with expressions of dumbfounded disbelief, save for Zee who stares a hole through the young man.

"I don't know if he's telling the truth, but the evil has been purged from his being," he whispers so only Gadriella and Warmaker can hear.

"But… that was more than four years ago. My mind plays it over and over constantly; every free moment I have, that memory resurfaces to haunt me, to mock me. The night I left his shop, it was really late, but he said he found something interesting he was going to look at before he crashed for the night. When I saw him the next day, it was as if he had become a completely different person…" her voice finally gives out.

"Gadriella, what happened? What did I do? What the…? Gadriella, you're… grown up…" Masaki's voice abandons him when he catches his first glimpse of the beautiful Gadriella. He looks down for a moment in deep thought. When he looks back up at her, it is with terrified realization. A rush of panic forces him to his feet. He tries to find some, any words to say, but his mind is a garbled up mess of fear and panic.

"I am well aware of how scared you are right now. It is to be expected, closing your eyes and the next time you open them it is four years later. I can literally feel what you are feeling. But you must relax. I am going to look into your eyes and see what happened," Zee says in a soft monotone.

He removes the headband to brain searing pain, revealing his third eye looking somewhat bloodshot. "Man that hurts. Okay, now concentrate on the last hours you remember before waking up here… excellent."

Zee watches the images on Masaki's retina come to life around him. It is as if he is physically standing there within the images, yet somehow seeing the events through Masaki's eyes as well. He sees him saying good night to Gadriella, locking up after her. He sees him walk into the office in the back of the garage. Masaki sits down at the desk and goes in for a close look at the mask. The eyes on the mask move and everything goes blurry. With very rare exception, every memory burned into his retinas thereafter passes quickly and is far too blurred to make sense of.

"Okay, I'm finished, Masaki-san," Zee says as gently as he can. "You were possessed by the mask you found. By Om."

"What better way for him to get revenge than by possessing my best friend, so he could torment me anonymously and make me think Masaki was behind it," Gadriella think aloud.

"I'm sorry, G.," Masaki says tears streaming down his face. "Maybe if I was stronger, I could have, maybe overcame its power, at least long enough to have warned you."

"Actually, you were very close several times," Zee tries to ease his pain.

"What?"

"Several times, it briefly became clear enough to see what was going on. The blurriness wasn't quite gone, but it was clear enough to see that every time it happened, it was in the presence of Gadriella," Zee smiles. "Even if it wasn't enough, you did try your best… so don't beat yourself up over it."

Gadriella nods in agreement, smiling.

"Hey," Julio smiles weakly, moving very slowly and carefully over to them, being held up by Warmaker and Rose.

"Sorry about all the trouble, apparently I was possessed," Masaki covers his eyes and shakes his head at how stupid and inappropriate the comment sounded.

"Don't worry about it," the tattered saver of the day winces. "Everybody just needs to sleep it off."

Gadriella looks at Julio and her mind can't help but overlay an image of her 'Knight' once again. 'Just like him.'

Suddenly, the air begins to crackle with electricity. Om's oni mask levitates about twenty yards away, and begins rapidly charging towards a helpless Julio. Without thinking, Masaki, with much more grace than expected from a guy who's been out of circulation for five years, runs up and grabs the katana at Julio's side, stepping between him and the maniacally laughing mask. Staring into the masks eyes, he releases all of his pain and frustration and anger in a single brutal slash.

The mask sits there in midair for a few eternally long seconds. Then a hairline streak of bright light emits from it, expanding until the two halves slowly slide apart.

"Not Again! Gaaaahhhhhhh!!!!" Om screams from within the oni mask as blue flame reduces it to nothingness.

Masaki turns and walks back, paying no mind to the stunned silence and then cheers from the onlookers, looking stunned himself. He stops in front of Julio, nods and hands him back his sword.

"Ain't redemption grand?" Julio asks, grinning.

"It's something, I guess," he responds, mustering a tired smile, and continues towards Gadriella.

"Now what?" she asks.

"I dunno. Guess I'll head to the Science Ministry tonight, get a bunch of tests done, make sure everything is all good. Not like I've got anywhere else to go tonight. After that, it's anyone's guess."

"I'll accompany you; make sure you get there safely. I have nowhere else to go tonight myself. My house is all full of holes… hence our little chase sequence subplot. Night, uh, Jones." She blows Sammy a kiss and goes to help move Rose's stuff to Flow's car.

"Hey, uh, shouldn't we get Julio some medical attention?" Pulse 8 asks.

"Nah, I'll sleep it off. I heal fast," Julio winces giving a thumbs up.

"Not that fast," Zee interjects. "But he'll be back at full strength in about a week or so."

With that, final goodbyes are exchanged and everybody finally heads off in the direction of their respective destinations.

End of chapter 1-5

Julio is not Vulcan, that was his own fire power he projected through the, hence saying it was barely controlled, due to the fact it was a different kind of power being fired through it. Make sense?

I wonder if its worth it... being so different. Not very many people are reading this, according to the Sparrow, because it is so different. She seems to think it's decent enough to warrant giving me a promo, despite my doubts of worthiness, in her awesome story, Through the Bottom of My Glass (go read it, it beyond rocks... and try the cobbler).

Anyway, it begs the question, if I wrote a fluffy Titans romantic drivel story, would more of y'all out there in cyberspaceland read it over this? Just wondering.

Stay safe everybody.