The Coolest Thing To Happen:
The Teen Titans/DragonBall Z Crossover
By
Teen Tyrant
For those who have followed this story so far, I have made an alteration to the timeline. As far as Teen Titans is concerned, this story will definitely take place after season 5, but will ignore the events of Trouble In Tokyo. The reason why is because Robin and Starfire are not together yet in this story, and I have a special ending in store for them.
Chapter 4
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Four Months Earlier
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Titan World
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In the sky over Jump City, the portal began to open. First, the fabric of the sky itself began to swirl like a whirlpool. A glowing blue light began to emanate from the center of the cyclone. As the swirling reached its critical speed, a dark hole opened in the center, surrounded on the edges by that blue light.
Many of the people in the city were awed by this spectacle, which had opened again a few hours after the last time. While many looked to the sky to witness this sight, only a few of them were able to see four small dots that appeared at the center of the vortex. Even so, none of them knew what they were, and were more interested in the swirling vortex itself to think much of it.
Exiting the portal completely, Starfire, in the company of Trunks, Goten and Marron, looked around at the city stretched out below her.
"It is wonderful to be home again! It has been but a few short hours, but even that is too much time away from this glorious place." Starfire happily declared. The young children at her side began looking around at this world they had arrived in.
"Wow. A whole new dimension." Trunks said in awe, as though trying to fit the idea into his head.
"Yeah," Goten said in excitement. "We're like pioneers or something!" He laughed and stared down at Jump City below him.
Marron frowned and turned to her friend. "Goten, how do you even know what a pioneer is?" she asked him.
Goten shrugged. "Lucky guess?"
Laughing a little himself, Trunks turned to their new friend.
"Where to now, Starfire?" he asked the Tamaranian princess. Starfire turned to look at him, then faced the ocean side of the city.
"We must meet up with my friends, the Titans. They have most likely returned to the tower, if they have not already engaged this Frieza in battle. We shall go to the tower first." she said, and began flying toward the bay. The three kids followed after her.
As they headed towards the bay, the children looked around at the city that passed below them, noting the differences from their own world. The buildings were almost all rectangular, and mostly gray. Some of them seemed to be made purely out of windows. There were no dome structures, as was the constant in their own world. All the people were moving around in cars that drove solely on wheels. There were no aircars to be seen. And no animal people. Everyone was pure human.
Trunks turned onto his back, flying while looking at the sky. He noted by the position of the sun, that it seemed to be a bit earlier than it was in their dimension when they had left. Perhaps this part of Starfire's world was in a different time zone than where they lived in their own world. That meant that this day would seem longer than it was, as it was at least two hours earlier here than it was back at home.
Nearing the water, the kids could see a large bridge connecting the two sides of the bay. What also stood out, was a building on a small piece of rock in the middle of the bay. It was a large gray building that was shaped like a T. This had to be the Titans Tower that Starfire had spoken of.
Starfire's smile widened as she approached her home. Although only a few hours since she had last been in it, being in another universe, separate from her home and friends, made it seem much longer. Starfire descended and landed on the rock island in front of the main doors. She figured that she might as well go in this way, and amaze her young friends.
The three children landed behind Starfire, their eyes and mouths open wide as they looked up at the tower before them.
"Now this is one cool looking building!" Trunks said excitedly. Starfire giggled and approached the doors, which slid open to allow her in. The kids followed her into the tower's entrance room, looking all around them with each step they took.
"I like this place." Marron said.
Starfire turned to them. "This is merely the first floor. It is much more amazing at the top floor." she informed them. Starfire approached the elevator and stepped in, motioning for the kids to follow her. Once they were all inside, Starfire pushed the button for the top floor.
Once they arrived and the elevator doors opened, Starfire led them towards the common room, where her friends would most likely be if they were here. She could hardly wait to see them and let them know that she was back and unharmed. She also looked forward to introducing them to her new young friends.
As the door to the common room slid open, Starfire stepped through, her eyes closed and her arms held wide.
"Friends, I have returned!" she shouted happily. She opened her eyes, and her face fell. The room was empty. No sign of Robin, no sign of Raven, no bickering between Cyborg and Beast Boy. Not even Silkie was in sight. Lowering her arms, Starfire stepped further into the room.
"Friends? Where have you gone? It is I, Starfire." she said out loud, hoping that they were all just hiding behind the furniture or something; though she knew better, she wanted to try just on the chance that they could be.
Trunks, Goten and Marron entered the room behind her and looked around in awe once again. The room was very neat. A kitchen area, a long couch set in front of a humongous TV, and a huge wall of windows that showed the bay and city beyond the tower.
Walking down the few steps to the floor of the room, Trunks took off his backpack and set it down on top of the table near the kitchen. Goten also took off his PowerPole and set it down next to Trunks' backpack. Marron immediately ran over to the wall of windows and looked out at the magnificent view, an excited smile on her young face.
Goten, typical for his blood, moved to the kitchen and began scanning the cupboards and refrigerator for things to eat later… not too much later either.
Turning around slowly, taking in the whole room, Trunks voiced his admiration.
"This place is awesome. You Titans sure know how to live." he said to Starfire, who was standing with a troubled look on her face. Looking at the giant TV screen, Trunks moved closer and examined it.
"Man, even I don't have a TV this big, and I'm the richest boy in the world! Well, my world anyway." he said in amazment. He watched as Starfire moved up to the TV as well, and stood in front of the control console that was set into the front of it. Pushing a button, she brought up a camera grid that seemed to cover the whole tower.
"They are not here. Where could they have gone?" she said sadly. She was worried that perhaps they'd had an encounter with this Frieza. If he was as much of a monster as the children had described, she feared for her friends' safety.
Seeing her worried, and for reasons unknown to him, not really liking to see her like that, Trunks decided to help. Closing his eyes, he focused his senses, to try and detect any powers nearby. He sensed nothing in the building, but in the city, he could feel a power greater than any other in range of his senses. There were also many smaller powers nearby, and if he was not mistaken, it seemed that three of them were in combat with the others.
"Do you guys feel that?" he asked out loud to his two companions. Marron and Goten stopped what they were doing, looked back at Trunks, then closed their eyes and focused their own senses. After a moment, they slowly opened their eyes and looked gravely at Trunks, nodding slowly.
Starfire looked back and forth between the children. "What is it that you feel?" she asked. Trunks turned to look up at her, not wanting to worry her, but knowing that she wanted to know the truth.
"We can sense a battle taking place in the city. One of the energy levels we're sensing is really strong. Not as strong as me and Goten, but it's still a big one. It's got to be him. Frieza" he answered her.
Starfire gasped, then turned back to the console. She brought up a display of the homing signal that all the Titans had in their communicators. On the screen, three signals were being displayed in the business section of town, toward the east. It showed the signals of Raven, Cyborg and Beast Boy. There was no signal from Robin's communicator.
Gasping again, Starfire turned and headed for the hallway again, determined to get to the roof and fly to her friends as fast as possible.
"I must aid them. And find out why there is no sign of Robin." she declared, marching toward the door.
Trunks, Goten and Marron began following, serious looks replacing the innocent amazement they had shown moments ago.
"We'll come too, Starfire." Trunks said. Goten and Marron nodded.
"Yeah, if it's Frieza, you're gonna need our help." Goten said.
Starfire turned to look back at them, and smiled.
"Thank you, my young friends. I welcome your assistance." she said. With that, the four young heroes headed for the stairway that led to the roof. Opening the door at the top of the stairwell, Starfire stepped out onto the roof, followed by the three Z-children.
Leaping into the air, Starfire took off at the fastest flight speed that she could attain when still inside a planet's atmosphere. The kids also took flight and gathered around her. All four were ready for the battle to come.
------
Cyborg threw another punch at the Slade minion robot in front of him. His fist smashed into its face and the thing's metal head snapped back. Normally, the robot's face would probably have caved in, but only a slight dent appeared on it. Whatever energy it was that was putting off that pinkish glow had made the minion slightly stronger than usual.
As he pulled back his fist for another punch, three more of the robots jumped on him, two of them grabbing his arms and one on his back with its arms around his shoulders. As they held him in place, Cyborg struggled to free himself. Before he could, the robot in front of him took a few steps back, then jumped forward with its foot out in front of itself. It kicked Cyborg in the chest and the other robots immediately let go as the force picked him up and sent him bouncing along the street.
Standing up and brushing himself off, Cyborg looked up to see the mechanized minions all charging toward him again. Readying himself for another round, Cyborg howled in fury and began his own charge.
Beast Boy's elephant form trumpeted loudly as he swung his tusks back and forth, trying to bash the other four robots who were attacking him. However, the mechanical ninjas kept diving and flipping out of the way before he could hit them.
All at once, the four mechs all lunged forward and each grabbed one of the changeling's enormous legs. Beast Boy's eye's widened as the four robots, each one enhanced with the energy that Frieza had passed into their bodies, pulled the pachyderm's legs out from under him. Beast Boy toppled over with a loud boom, his huge weight cracking the asphalt under him. The four robots immediately leaped upon his downed form, punching and kicking at his leathery hide.
Quickly, Beast Boy transformed into an enormous gorilla, knocking the robots back with a thrust from his huge arms. However, the robots were not thrown back as far as he had expected, based on his previous battles with them. Slade had made them a bit tougher this time around, thanks to Frieza's power. This was turning out to be one bad-looking day indeed.
Raven held the shield she had cast in front of herself as long as she could, but she was weakening quickly. The worst thing was, Frieza was just toying with her. She knew that. He and she were both hovering in the air, about twenty feet from the ground, and Frieza was shooting blast after blast of pink energy from his index fingers at her. Raven's shield of black energy was holding, but only barely, and Frieza was hardly even trying. If he really wanted to, he could have shattered her shield again like he had earlier and finished her off in a second. He was enjoying this game.
Raven gritted her teeth. This was not good. In fact, though they hadn't been fighting long, this seemed to be the worst things had gotten since Trigon had been released. Starfire was gone to who-knows-where, Robin had been captured by Slade's minions and was being held prisoner, this new alien freak in front of her had shown up and seemed to be stronger than all of them, and Slade had formed an alliance with this monster, so he'd have back up even if she did manage to defeat him. To top it all off, Raven had not had any breakfast this morning, not even a glass of herbal tea. She and the others were in a weakened state, especially after the fight with Killer Moth earlier that morning. If she'd had a little energy boost, she might have been able to bring more power to bear for a more devastating spell.
"Azarath. Metrion. Zinthos!" she shouted, firing a wave of her dark energy from her shield. The bolt of black lightning lashed out at Frieza, striking his white and purple hide. A sharp crackle filled the air and Frieza moved back a little, an annoyed look on his inhuman face. He looked like someone who had touched something and gotten a shock of static electricity and didn't like it at all. Raven smirked a little. So she had at least caused the creep some discomfort. Okay, that was a start; it was more than any of them had done to him earlier.
Frieza chuckled. "Hmm. I see we have a little spark after all." he said in his raspy, gender-less voice. "Well, let's see what kind of zap you really have, my precious." he finished.
Raven winced at that word. Precious? If this evil freak was trying to get on her nerves, he was doing a better job than Beast Boy ever did. Raven's eyes widened in shock as Frieza seemed to flash before her eyes and in the next instant, he was right in front of her. Again. Sweeping his left hand in front of him in a cutting manner, he sliced through Raven's shield and lashed out with his other hand, punching her relatively lightly in her face.
Raven was hurled away from Frieza and towards the ground. She smacked into Cyborg just before she hit the concrete, knocking her cybernetic teammate down as well. Rolling a little away from Cyborg as her body settled on the ground, Raven raise herself up on her right hand, massaging her face with her left. She turned her head to look at Cyborg.
"I can't stop him. He's too strong." she said, the worry in her voice unguarded.
Cyborg nodded. "Yeah, and these robots are giving us a tougher time than usual. Slade's modified them to hold some of Frieza's strength. I don't think the three of us are going to last much longer."
Beast Boy came bouncing along the ground, landing next to the two of them. He sat up, seeing hamsters running in their plastic play-wheels circling around his head. He was dizzy from the four robots having swung him around in a circle several times before throwing him. As his vision cleared, he looked ahead at the eight robots that now stood shoulder to shoulder in the middle of the street, their yellow-slit eyes bearing down on them.
Frieza slowly lowered himself to the ground in front of the robots, his arms crossed in front of his chest.
"Well, if that is quite all there is, then I guess it's time to bring this little game to an end." he began laughing manically as he spread his arms apart, hooked his hands like claws and began to slowly walk forward.
The three Titans stood up, each holding a limb or rubbing a shoulder or their face from their beatings. This was getting worse by the second. Frieza was making his way toward them and none of them had the power or skill to defeat him. At that point, all three of them had the same thought on their minds…
Where are Robin and-
"Leave my friends alone!"
Starfire!
Suddenly, a green orb of energy crashed into the ground directly in front of Frieza, kicking up dust and pulverized asphalt and covering the alien warlord in a cloud of smoke. Frieza put an arm in front of his eyes to keep the dust out of them, trying to look through the smoke and dust at a figure he now saw standing between himself and his teenage victims.
Starfire stood in front of the other Titans, her hands imbued with glowing green solar energy. She glared at Frieza with a stern expression, and prepared herself to do battle with him as soon as he was ready to defend himself. She could have attacked him now, while he was at a disadvantage, but that would have reduced her to sinking to his level, and that was not her way.
------
Slade stared at the monitors on the wall, watching the whole scene play out. He turned to Robin's bubble prison.
"Well, well, look who decided to crash the party. Seems your girlfriend is back in the game, Robin." he said with a grin behind his mask, before turning back to the screens.
Robin sneered at Slade and his comment, wondering how he could know that he and Starfire were close enough for many to unofficially consider them boyfriend and girlfriend. He then looked back at the screen himself, thankful for Starfire's return and that she seemed to be okay.
------
"Starfire! You're back! We were so worried about you." Beast Boy exclaimed, happy to see that the girl he secretly considered to be like an older sister to him was back and unharmed.
"Girl, you had us worried sick! What took you so long?! And welcome back by the way." Cyborg said, adding a slight chuckle at the end.
"Welcome back, Starfire." Raven said, a slight smile even gracing her face.
"It is good to be home again. Now, we must deal with this bully and send him back to where he belongs." she stated, taking a battle stance.
The smoke had cleared and Frieza smirked, crossing his arms. He recognized the girl in front of him as the one he had seen being dragged through the portal by the giant insect, the one he passed on his way into this dimension. Another person to "play" with.
Putting out a hand towards the Titans, Frieza said, "Take them."
Suddenly, the robots that had been behind Frieza were now at the sides of the heroes, two to each Titan. In the joy of Starfire's return, none of them had noticed the robots circling around them.
Each robot grabbed a Titan, one grabbing them around their torsos, pinning their arms at their sides and forcing them to their knees, the other grabbing them in a headlock, ready to twist their necks on Frieza's order. Frieza began laughing at how helpless the Titans looked; how shocked that only a moment ago their friend's return seemed to signal a new hope, and the next moment they were helpless once again.
Starfire attempted to break free of the grip of the Slade minions, but she had underestimated their strength. They were not as easy to dislodge from herself as they normally were. And now the one squeezing her neck, while not having cut of her air and blood circulation completely, had cut off enough to weaken her in a few seconds, and now her opportunity to summon the necessary strength was gone. Hearing her friends struggle in a similar manner, Starfire began to fret at the possibility that her return had not changed anything and that it may all end here.
And then, for the second time on what was to be one of the longest and strangest days of her life, Starfire was rescued by someone she technically should have never met at all.
A sudden swish of air and the robot around her neck was simply gone. With her breath and blood flow released, she gasped for fresh air and raised her eyes in time to see the robot that Trunks had kicked away from her smash into the wall of a building on the other side of the street. The mech crashed right through the wall and continued on for an unknown distance.
Hovering about a foot feet off the ground, Trunks turned his head back to sneer at the robot that had pinned Starfire down. Not even turning around, Trunks stuck out his elbow and cracked it against the robot's face-plate. The force tore the robot's head from its body and sent the whole body of the thing sailing away, crashing into a car parked far down the street.
Freed from the grip of her attackers, Starfire looked up at Trunks hovering just above her.
"Thank you Trunks." she said to him with a smile, grateful for his rescue once again. Trunks turned around in the air to face her, his mouth turned up into a smile as well.
"Happy to help." he said to her.
Raven gasped, startled, as Goten suddenly appeared next to her and pulled the robot that had her arms pinned at her sides away from her.
"Bye bye!" he said, and pulling back his fist, he punched the thing and sent it flying into one of the buildings on the side of the street she was closest to. The robot holding her neck let go and turned to face Goten.
The boy smiled at it, then dropped to the ground, putting one hand against the street. He then swept out with his left leg and kicked the robot's feet out from under it. In the split second between the time that the robot's feet left the ground and before its body could fall to the asphalt, in the split second that the thing was hanging in the air, Goten was back on his feet and swung down with his right elbow. He hit the robot in the abdominal region, crushing the systems inside that operated its legs and sending it to the ground faster than gravity was making it fall. After it was lying on the ground, Goten flipped into the air and came down with both feet on the robot's chest, crushing its entire torso.
Raven just stared at all this, stunned. Where did this little boy come from? Who was he, and how the heck had he been able to do that?
Marron flew up behind the robot that held Beast Boy's neck and slapped it on the shoulder, spinning it around to face her.
"Hey!" she shouted at it, before punching it in the chest with her left fist. The minion was picked up by the force and went sailing down the street. No one knew where it landed.
The robot that held Beast Boy's torso let him go and moved around him, as Marron drew back and landed on the ground. The robot charged at the little nine-year-old, her youth not registering in its systems as any reason for restraint.
Marron jumped forward and put out a hand. She let her body dive toward the ground and place her hand against the hard asphalt. Then, like a gymnast, the little noseless blonde girl swung her legs up into the air, drawing one leg in close to her body and leaving the other one out in a kicking position. As the robot bent down to grab her, its metal chin met Marron's kicking foot. The robot was knocked a good fifty feet into the air.
Flipping forward, completing her one-handed cartwheel, Marron landed on her feet again and watched as the robot fell back to earth. Before it could hit the ground in front of her, Marron jumped into the air with a spinning back kick.
"Hee-yah!" she shouted as she kicked the robot again in mid-air. It was launched forward, crashing into the same building that Trunks had sent his first robot into.
Beast Boy stood up, amazed at the show that this little girl had just put on.
"Whoa!" he said in astonishment.
With the robots holding him having their attention drawn elsewhere, Cyborg thrust out with his arms and practically threw the robots off of him. They both stepped back, each one on either side of Cyborg. Using an old Three Stooges technique, Cyborg stuck out both of his elbows, hitting the robots in their abdominal regions. The two robots doubled over from the impact, and as they did, Cyborg brought his fists up to connect with their metal faces. Then, as their bodies snapped back, he put a hand on the back of either robot's head and brought them together, crashing them into one another and damaging some of the main systems inside. With a crackle and a little smoke, both robots fell to the ground as Cyborg smirked and dusted his hands off.
"Boo-yah." he said, feeling better at last.
Starfire stood up and faced her friends. "You are all unharmed?" she asked them, concerned.
Beast Boy answered. "We're a little bruised, but we'll be fine Star. But who are the new kids?" he asked, glancing around at the young ones who had come to their rescue. They were odd but cute looking children; a boy with purple hair, a boy who's hair stood out in all directions, and a girl without a nose. And boy, were they strong!
"These are my new friends." Starfire answered, before turning back to face Frieza. "But we shall have the introductions later." she said seriously, gathering more of her energy in her hands. Trunks and Goten stepped forward and stood between the Titans and Frieza. Marron stayed back, but off to the side a little, ready to dive in if her two male companions needed any assistance.
Frieza had stood watching the whole thing with a sense of amazement and dread. He knew the kind of strength and skill it required to perform the feats he had just witnessed. His universe was full of beings who could have done such things. But now, he stood with his arms uncrossed and held at his side in an uncertain manner, his jaw dropped, as he looked upon the three small saviors of the Teen Titans. And he felt a mixture of shock, anger… and fear.
Staring at Trunks, Frieza's memories went back to a time, many years ago, when a face identical to the one he was looking at now had been the last thing he'd seen before being cut in half with a long, incredibly sharp sword.
"You!" he shouted at Trunks in disbelief. Trunks only grinned.
"Yeah, me. We've never met personally, but I know you met the other me, the one from the future. Didn't work out so well for you, did it?" Trunks asked, mocking his father's old master.
Frieza then looked at Goten and felt the fear again. That face too! So familiar, unmistakable. The face that represented his first defeat on Planet Namek; the face that had caused him to feel pain and fear and shame for the first time.
"You!" he shouted at Goten. Goten nodded, but did not smile, keeping a serious expression.
"You fought my dad and brother, and hurt them bad. You just don't learn, do you?" Goten said to his family's old enemy.
Finally, Frieza looked at the young girl. There were more differences here, but there was no mistaking that lack of a nose, and those eyes. They were of a different color, but the shape of the eyes was the same. The last time he had seen this face, was right before he had destroyed it in an explosion on Namek… his final act of murder.
"And you!" he shouted at Marron. Marron simply prepared a battle stance, in case Trunks and Goten let her have a piece of the action to come.
"That's right. My name is Marron. You killed my father. Prepare to die." she said in a serious tone.
Frieza actually took a step back. All these familiar and damnable faces, here! Back to get him once again! But then, after a moment to calm down a little, Frieza made the connection. These were only children. They may have looked like their fathers, but they were not their fathers. And that leading boy, Trunks his name was if what Cell told him was true, was not the one from the future, the one who'd had many years to attain his huge power.
These were just little kids. He had killed many kids before on many worlds. He would kill these ones now, and enjoy every moment of it, for what their families had done to him. Smirking, Frieza straightened himself up again.
"So, the legacy of the Saiyans pursues me even here. Well, I guess I'm just going to have to squash this wretched bloodline here and now, once and for all. Nothing is going to stop me from creating my new empire in this dimension! This whole universe is ripe for the taking, and all who live in it shall fear the name Frieza!" Concluding this little speech, Frieza dropped into a fighting stance. "And I'll not have you little brats standing in my way as your parents did once before." he finished.
With that, Frieza began to summon the fullness of his power, once the greatest in an entire universe. Pink, purple and gold energy surrounded his body, flowing like fire. Everything from pebbles to parked cars began to levitate into the air and slowly circle around him. The very asphalt of the street he stood on cracked and began to cave in under him, creating a crater that widened with his aura. Pink electrical charges crackled along his body. Frieza's roar as he summoned his energy echoed through the streets. The people who were hiding in the buildings in the area could feel their hair standing on end.
Cyborg's electronic eye scanned Frieza as he powered up, and Cyborg couldn't believe it. The energy readings coming from the alien were like those that traveled along the nervous system in a living body, a person's own electrical charged, only it appeared to be multiplied a million times over!
Raven did not like what she was sensing either. The well of power coming from Frieza battered her mind, and she knew that the alien tyrant could have blown the whole planet into ashes in an instant if he so chose. What could they do against a force of that kind?
Beast Boy's animal senses were going nuts. His ears, nose, the hairs on the back of his neck, all of them were letting him know that bad news was coming.
"Gah! Why didn't someone tell me he had a nuclear power plant up his sleeve?" Beast Boy cried out.
Starfire was also concerned with this display. While she may have been able to take Frieza on in a battle of pure physical strength, her starbolts were no match for this level of energy.
Trunks and Goten looked at each other and grinned. Then they turned to look back at Frieza and began to slowly raise their own powers.
Frieza's mad howling came to a halt as he witnessed the spectacle before him. The expressions of the Titans were equally shocked. First, the boys' hair began to spike up. After a moment, their eyes changed color, both gaining an emerald green color to their irises. Then their hair suddenly seemed to catch fire as a blondish gold hue covered their hair. Their voices began to rise with their own summoned power, craters forming in the street below them and even more debris lifting up and circling around them than there was around Frieza. Windows on buildings around them began to shatter, and arcs of electricity flashed out from the boys and danced along the surfaces of the buildings closest to them.
Frieza's jaw was as low as it could go, his eyes as wide as dinner plates. The same could be said of the Titans, but their expressions were like that out of shock; Frieza held this expression out of sheer terror. Super Saiyans! Both of these little brats were Super Saiyans! That changed everything. The nightmare had come again; his nightmare.
------
Slade watched the monitors, the scanners displaying the energy readouts from the two boys on the screen, right next to their images. Slade's eye narrowed and beneath his mask, his brow furrowed.
"Hmmm, interesting. Your precious Starfire seems to have brought some new friends." he said to Robin. "The readings coming from them are higher than any I have recorded before. How unique. Look at the way Frieza is shaking. He recognizes them… and he's afraid. This may change things." he said aloud.
Robin sneered at him, then turned back to the screens as well, wondering just what was going on out there.
Who are those kids?
------
Starfire watched as the two boys stood before Frieza, glowing with a golden energy that stirred the air, making her hair flow behind her. The other Titans were gathered around her, watching in equal shock and wonderment.
Before they had returned to her dimension, when they had all sat down in Trunks' home and told some of their stories, she had been told about the Super Saiyan. A legendary fighting form, attainable only by members of the boys' ancestral saiyan race, or half-human half-saiyan hybrids like them. Now she was seeing it before her, and felt awed. Her own species, the Tamaranians, were a warrior culture. But their fighting spirit was not nearly as developed as these saiyans.
Knowing that Starfire was watching, as well as the other Titans, Trunks wanted to make this look as good as possible. Pointing at his enemy, he spoke.
"Alright Frieza. Time for you to go back to Hell. You can either come with us quietly back to our own dimension and let us drop you off at King Yemha's place, or you can go the painful way. The same way you got there the first time. Your choice." he stated, giving Frieza his ultimatum.
Frieza stood shaking a moment longer, then snarled in rage. He would not show fear or weakness to this group of children. Even if they were Super Saiyans, these boys were not nearly as experienced as he was, and he'd had years to increase his power in Hell. He'd eliminate them here and now, then finish with the Titans at his leisure.
Besides, he knew Slade was watching. He could not show any weakness or hesitation, or Slade would not hesitate to undermine him and their agreement.
Regaining his fighting stance, Frieza faced the boys down.
"Well then, lets see what you kids have got. Its time for your spanking!" he shouted.
Goten cringed at Frieza's lame taunt. "Oh man. Did our dad's really have a problem with this guy? He looks and sounds so stupid. Let's take care of him fast so we don't have to be embarrassed about it Trunks." he said to his friend.
Trunks nodded, and smirked like his father. "Right." he said.
In the next second, Trunks had covered the distance between himself and Frieza, slamming his right fist into the alien's stomach. Frieza doubled over, gasping for air and from the pain. Trunks removed his fist and backhanded him with his left hand. Frieza flew back down the street, tearing away a stoplight and knocking a parked car onto the sidewalk.
Frieza came to an abrupt stop as his back hit Goten's elbow, causing his body to double over backwards. Goten withdrew his arm and kicked Frieza at the base of his sinewy tail, causing Frieza to fly forward again, back towards the group of young heroes.
Seeing a chance to hurt their new enemy at last, Raven stepped past Trunks and raised her hands, her eye's glowing white with black bolts of electricity crackling from them.
"Azarath. Metrion. Zinthos!" she shouted, firing an electrical arc of dark energy from her hands like a battering ram. Stepping forward next to her, Cyborg fired with his sonic cannon.
"Boo-yah!" he shouted, delighted to put some hurt on the alien himself.
"Huuaaah!" Starfire bellowed, firing a strong beam of her starbolts as well. All three blasts of different kinds of energy hit Frieza right in the purple spot on his chest, propelling him backwards once again, and also upward at a forty-five degree angle.
The alien warlord smashed through an advertisement sign on the roof of one of the lower buildings, and continued to be propelled backwards, before finally slamming into the side of a tall building. Frieza's body caused the wall to cave in enough to form a dent the shape of his body, holding him in place.
"Alright! Nice shootin'!" Beast Boy congratulated his teammates before turning into a chimpanzee and started pumping his fist. "Ooo! Ooo! Ooo!"
The haze before his eyes clearing, Frieza slowly pulled himself from the building wall. He hovered in the air, looking at his young nemeses over a block away.
Trunks crossed his arms. "That enough for you Frieza? You give up?" he shouted out at him.
Things had changed so quickly, it was beyond frustrating. Now how would his plan work? He couldn't beat even one of those saiyan brats, let alone two of them and a whole group of well trained teenaged superheroes backing them up. He needed to retreat back to Slade's lair. Slade was a cunning warrior, lacking in powers beyond enhanced strength, yet having all kinds of devilish devices and backup plans for nearly any occasion. He would have an idea of what to do.
Turning in the direction where he knew the secret entrance to Slade's lair was, Frieza flew away as fast as he could, leaving a pink aura trail behind him for a moment.
"He is fleeing!" Starfire said in surprise. What the children had told her of their families' experience with Frieza had suggested to her that Frieza was quite aggressive. She had expected him to fight viciously against their new assembled team. But he was retreating already? Why? Cyborg came up with the answer.
"He must be heading back to get help from Slade." the eldest Titan said. Marron looked at Starfire.
"Isn't Slade the man you said was your greatest enemy?" the girl asked. Starfire nodded. She then turned to her fellow Titans.
"Tell me, has Slade made an arrangement with this Frieza?" she asked them.
Raven nodded. "Yeah, he said so. Slade lent him his minions to help him conquer the city. Then when they're done here, the whole world goes next." she said.
Starfire looked around, not seeing the one person she wanted to see again the most.
"Where is Robin? Is he unharmed?" she asked, worry creeping into her voice. Robin had been absent the entire battle.
The other Titans looked at each other, then back at Starfire, before finally looking down at their feet. Beast Boy's ears lowered.
"Star-" he began. Starfire began biting her bottom lip.
Cyborg finished. "Slade's goons took Robin. Frieza said that Slade's got him held prisoner in his lair."
Starfire gasped and took a step back in shock. Trunks and Goten powered down from Super Saiyan and began walking back to the group, their superior hearing allowing them to hear the whole conversation thus-far. Upon Starfire's reaction to the news of her friend's capture, Trunks' face also fell, not wanting to see his new friend so upset.
"We must find Robin! There is no telling what horrible things Slade and Frieza will do to him! We must go at once!" With that, Starfire turned around, reading to fly off in the same direction as Frieza, already prepared to knock the door to Slade's lair off its hinges. She was stopped by Beast Boy's hand on her shoulder.
"Whoa Star! You can't just go flying off to Slade's lair." he said to her. Starfire turned around, her face filled with momentary rage; her eyes glowed green and her teeth suddenly seemed to be as sharp as the teeth of a bear-trap.
"Why not?!" she demanded of him, causing the green teen to feel about an inch high.
"Because we don't know where Slade's lair is." Raven said, supplying the logic and reason of the group.
This caused Starfire to calm down considerably. Raven was right. She had no idea where to begin looking for Robin. Her concern over the abduction of their leader had caused her to act without having any real plan as to what she was going to do, her heart overriding her head. She did that very often, usually causing others to think that she was not as intelligent as she truly was.
She could not afford to be that way now. Robin's life was in danger, their greatest enemy had joined forces with a being more powerful than her team had ever encountered before (with the exception of Trigon perhaps), a plan was being hatched to enslave the earth, the city she now called home could be destroyed in the process of trying to save it, and to top it all off, she had to make sure to get the children home safe.
There was too much responsibility on her shoulders now to let her feelings get ahead of her judgment. For once, she had to limit how much she felt and start thinking clearly about her actions in the trials that now lay ahead.
"You are right. We must form a plan to locate Slade's lair, rescue Robin, and defeat Frieza. He must be returned to his own realm before unfixable damage is done to our own." she said, clenching her fists, feeling extreme anger inside for what Frieza had done. His coming here had allowed Slade to separate her and Robin once again, and this time, she might literally have to fight through hell to get him back. She was prepared to do that, but she was indeed very displeased with the white and purple alien that had caused all this chaos.
Beast Boy saw an opportunity to cheer Starfire up again.
"Well hey, I'm sure it'll be no problem, with these little guys you brought with you helping us out." he said grinning, turning attention back to the three children standing around them.
Starfire's mouth dropped open. She had completely forget in all of this that her new young friends had yet to be introduced to the Titans.
"My apologies, I forgot the introductions. Friends, these are Trunks, Goten and Marron," she said, pointing out the respective children. "They are my companions from the dimension I was pulled into earlier. They are here to help apprehend Frieza and return him to his realm." she informed the team.
The kids waved at the Titans shyly, Goten even blushing a little. Beast Boy stuck out his hand and gently shook with each of the children in turn. Cyborg also stepped forward and put out his hand.
"Nice to meet y'all." he said. He shook Trunks' hand.
"Whoo. That's quite a handshake you got there, little man!" he said, smiling. Trunks smiled back.
"Thanks. I'm the strongest boy in my universe." he stated matter-of-factly Cyborg's eyes went wide.
"Is that so? Well, it sure will be interesting fighting next to you." He then turned to Goten.
"Goten, right? Wow, your grip is almost as strong as his." he said. Goten grinned.
"Thanks. My dad's the greatest champion in the world where I come from!" he said gleefully. Cyborg was again impressed. He then turned to Marron and chuckled as he shook her little hand.
"How about you, little lady? What's your story?" he said with a smile. Marron smiled back.
"I'm a cyborg like you!" she said happily. Cyborg's eyes went wide again.
"Say what?!" he said, shocked. He then scanned the girl with his cybernetic eye. Indeed, the readings he got showed that she was partly mechanized. Not nearly as much as he was though. She had a few wires going here and there in her body, a few gears and some kind of small generator that seemed to only function as a backup to her heart, but beyond that, the rest of her was human. But there was something odd; none of the mechanized parts of her seemed to have been placed there from outside her body. It was as if they had always been there, naturally.
"How did you become a cyborg?" he asked her. Marron answered him.
"My mom was made a cyborg a long time ago, even at the cellular level." she said, seeming a bit confused by the words "cellular level" as if she didn't quite know what that meant. Understandable, considering that she was only nine years old.
"When she was pregnant with me, some cyborg pieces were placed in me too. I was born like this." she informed him. Cyborg looked shocked for a third time.
"You're a natural-born cyborg?!" he said, not believing it, yet seeing it to be true. Marron nodded, confirming this.
"Well, this is all really… weird." Raven stated.
Goten giggled. "Trunks and me are half human and half saiyan. The saiyans were the strongest fighter race in the universe." he said proudly. Trunks also grinned at this.
"Yeah, all of our dads have fought Frieza before. That's why we came, so we could finish the family business in a way." he said, chuckling. Starfire smiled at them.
Beast Boy's eyes were wide now. "So, you guys are half alien?!" he asked. They nodded. Beast Boy grabbed his head.
"Too weird!" he exclaimed.
"And I have told them about us." Starfire said, letting her teammates know that the children had been brought up to speed about how it was in this dimension.
Trunks nodded. "Cyborg's half robot, Raven's half demon, Beast Boy can turn into any animal, Starfire is an alien princess, and you're friend Robin is a normal human who's got abnormal fighting abilities. Gotcha." he said.
Raven nodded. "So, we all know each other now, who we are fighting, and what we need to do." she said.
The group of seven young heroes looked around at each other. A red-haired fifteen-year-old Tamaranian princess, a purple-haired eleven-year-old human/saiyan hybrid, an eighteen-year old African-American cyborg, a spiky-haired ten-year-old human/saiyan hybrid, a fourteen-year-old half-demon empath, a noseless nine-year-old natural-born cyborg, and a green-skinned thirteen-year-old changeling.
Facing off against an alien from another dimension who was technically supposed to be dead, and a beta-human criminal mastermind with several hidden plans and agendas.
Ready to attempt the rescue of their solely human but hardly helpless leader and to send the alien villain back to his dimension and his afterlife.
All here, now, in one place, at one time. They all looked around in amused disbelief at the circumstances that had led to this point.
Finally, Trunks shook his head, shrugged, and said, "Well, this is the coolest thing that's ever happened."
That's all for this chapter. I am going to attempt to get a couple more chapters done in my other major fic before updating this one again, but don't worry, as this project is my most ambitious and I will continue it for as long as it takes until it is finished. Those of you who have read this far, please review. See you next time!