The Coolest Thing To Happen:
The Teen Titans/DragonBall Z Crossover
By
Teen Tyrant
Chapter 5
xxxxx
Titan World
xxxxx
"We'll have six pizzas. Two all meat specials, one vegetarian, one plain cheese and two pepperoni." Cyborg said to the waitress.
The group was at the Titans' favorite pizza restaurant, the one shaped like a slice of pizza. Since the Titans had not had a chance for breakfast that morning thanks to Killer Moth, and Trunks and Goten's monstrous Saiyan appetites were already talking, it was decided that before going to search for Slade's new lair, a big brunch for everyone was required.
Starfire predictably objected, stating that the search for the lair (and Robin) needed to begin immediately. But her teammates remained calm and reasonable, pointing out that they would need to eat and regain their energy before charging off for what was sure to be one of the hardest battles they would ever fight. Although reluctant, Starfire realized the logic in the statement and gave in.
The waitress, a pretty young brunette with her hair done up in a ponytail, nodded as she wrote down the order on her pad. Then she placed the pad and pencil in her pocket and placed her hands on the table, looking around at the Titans and the three cute little kids that were with them.
"Listen guys, everyone here is pretty nervous about what people are saying on the street. They say there's some new villain in town and that some extreme stuff is going down. That swirly light in the sky and then the explosions a few blocks over. Nobody's freaking yet, but they're not too far off. Frankly, I'm a bit nervous myself. Is any of it true?" she asked.
The Titans took a breath and nodded.
"Yeah," Cyborg said, "It's true. Some crazy stuff is going on and it's probably gonna get worse. Tell everyone you know to stay off the streets. In fact, as soon as our order is in, you might want to tell your coworkers and customers to get outta town for a few days. We don't know how bad it's gonna be or how long it's gonna take for us to settle this one."
The girl's eyes were as wide as they could go. She nodded nervously, then went back inside, leaving the young heroes on the second floor balcony. Trunks turned to look up at Cyborg.
"That's probably not going to be enough, you know. There's a good chance that some major portions of the Earth could be fried. Frieza might even try to blow up the planet if he feels he's going to lose. He's done it before." the boy said, gravely.
"We know." Raven said. "We just want to try and keep people as calm as we can. It helps if they think there is somewhere they can go to reach safety. There's no sense in letting a panic get started."
Trunks shrugged. He turned to Goten and Marron in the seats next to him.
"If Frieza does try to blast the whole planet, we're going to have to do whatever it takes to stop him. Goten, you and I are the only ones stronger than Frieza, so next time he shows his ugly face, you and I attack him right away. Got it?"
Goten nodded in understanding.
"Take him down as quick as we can. Got it."
"I just hope I get to fight a little." Marron said. "I've never been in a real fight before. I didn't even know how to fight when Majin Buu showed up, and this is my chance to be a warrior too!" She formed her small hands into tight little fists, excitement and anxiousness in her voice. The others smiled at her.
"You'll get your chance for a fight, Marron. I mean, you already did a good job with those robots." Trunks said with encouragement.
A smile appeared on Starfire's face, which had been missing its signature smile since learning that Robin had been captured.
"Indeed Marron, you shall have a chance to prove yourself in battle. Your first encounter with Slade's minions has already shown the potential within you." she complimented the girl. Marron began to blush from the praise.
"Aww, thanks Trunks. Thanks Starfire." she said shyly. Starfire continued to smile at her new young friend's bashfulness.
"It is true, Marron. You remind me of myself when I was very small. I too was eager to show that I was ready to be a warrior. You are just as I was then, or like a little sister that I might have had." Starfire chimed. Marron blushed even more. Trunks and Goten tried not to laugh.
"So tell me little guys," Beast Boy began. "You really think you can take Frieza? I mean, he took us out easy, he's blown up whole planets and he's dealing with Slade. Seems pretty bleak to me."
Trunks looked over to the green teenager with confidence.
"I know that Goten and I can take him. We're Super Saiyans, and we're stronger than Goten's dad was when he first became one, and he was able to beat Frieza at that level. I'm sure Frieza's been training in Hell, but he's not a Saiyan, so his power isn't going to be that much greater than when he was alive."
Beast Boy still didn't look convinced.
"Yeah, but he's working with Slade on this one. We've all dealt with Slade before and we know for a fact that he doesn't fight fair. I don't think it's going to be so simple." he stated gravely. Trunks didn't have any comment on that.
"No matter what deal they've made with each other, it all hinges on Frieza's willingness to accept Slade's assistance. Frieza's power is going to be at the center of any offensive strategy they use." Raven said, informing the others of what she had already realized.
"We've already seen an example of it with Slade's robots back there. They were much stronger than we've ever seen them because of Frieza's power. Somehow, Slade charged them with it. Who knows what else he'll be able to do as long as Frieza chooses to work with him. If we can take Frieza out, we'll be able to handle Slade as we've always done, especially if we can do it before he's borrowed huge portions of Frieza's energy."
The others around the table nodded at the wisdom of Raven's words, knowing that she was very correct.
xxxxx
"I can't believe this is happening! Those damned Saiyan brats have followed me here! How could this happen? I can't ever get away from these cursed Saiyans!"
Frieza was pacing back and forth in front of the monitors in Slade's layer. The many screens kept replaying the whole incident over and over with certain screens showing a different aspect of the battle. One showed the swiftness with which the three children had defeated Slade's minions; another showed Trunks and Goten powering up and the stats on the energy output they gave off; another still showed Frieza getting blasted by the two boys and then the follow-up from the Titans. Just looking at them filled Frieza with rage and embarrassment and he cursed all of their fathers for the aggravation that they continued to cause him.
Slade, for his part, remained perfectly calm and still, watching the images on the screens with an almost academic interest, as if it were a documentary about the behaviors of his favorite type of animal. It was making Frieza even more frustrated that he wasn't saying or doing anything about the situation.
Robin observed the two from the confinement of his dome, his hands pressed against the curved inner surface. He had a slight smirk, relishing how flustered Frieza had become due to his easy defeat by a pair of kids who were clearly helping his team out in his absence. He may end up being rescued sooner than he had originally thought. However, Slade's apparent calm was the one thing concerning him.
Frieza was powerful, no question; several orders of magnitude more powerful than the entire Titans team combined. He would likely be able to go toe-to-toe with Superman himself, which was likely to happen if he achieved victory here in Jump City. But despite Frieza's enormous power, it was Slade who Robin knew was ultimately the real threat.
He had convince Frieza that he would need to outthink this world's defenders rather than simply tackle them head-on with brute force. This was a very correct assessment. Already, without the rest of Earth's heroes becoming involved, Frieza's power was gaining him little in just this one city, thanks to the trio of gifted children. But Slade's cunning and intellect, while equal with Frieza's own, was already used to being physically inferior to many defenders. He relied on his wits and resources to commit his acts of evil. If Slade were to figure out a way that Frieza could defeat his team and their new allies…
Frieza suddenly stopped pacing and turned to face Slade, his tail whipping violently behind him.
"Well? Aren't you going to say something? You claim to know these Titans like the back of your hand! Don't you have any ideas on how to turn this situation back to our advantage? I can't battle two Super Saiyans and worry about the Titans at the same time!" Frieza raged.
Slade still held his calm and did not turn away from the screens to look at Frieza, but still answered him.
"Keep your head cool, Frieza. We haven't even begun to unleash the true potential of our alliance." the cycloptic man said.
Frieza frowned in confusion and frustration.
"What do you mean by that?" he demanded.
Slade finally turned to face him.
"Passing some of your energy into that group of robots was merely a test. I needed to know for certain if I would be able to harness the energy you gave and use it to our advantage. Now I know that I can, and that is where the answer lies."
He walked around Frieza and to the door on the far wall. This was where he had told Frieza that he had a stockpile of various weapons and other nasty technological marvels. Curious despite the situation, Frieza followed.
Entering the room, Frieza saw that it was a pretty large area, like the hanger that his various spacecraft used to be stored in at his old base. It was very dark and although lights came on automatically, they only came on directly above Slade, lighting the space he was currently occupying and the space directly in front of him, while the space he just left as he walked forward went dark the moment he stepped away. It was as if the lights were following him. Because of this, Frieza could see very little of what the room contained, but he could make out the hulking forms of large machines, vaguely humanoid in shape, suggesting that it was an inactive army of robots, as well as other weapons and vehicles here and there, judging by the dark shapes.
Frieza followed Slade nearly to the very back of this chamber, until Slade stopped at a metal desk that seemed to be used as a work station. Upon it, various tools and devices were scattered. Reaching down, Slade picked up one particular piece of equipment. It was a metal ring, about four inches wide and half an inch thick, with the hole in the middle looking just wide enough to fit an arm through. The outer edge appeared to have lights and some digital displays that were currently dark, since the device did not appear to be active. To Frieza, it looked like some type of bracelet.
"This, Frieza, is how you will defeat the Titans and those children they brought with them." Slade said to him. Flicking a small, almost invisible switch along the inner edge of the device, the lights and displays turned on, glowing a cool blue.
"What is it?" Frieza asked, genuinely interest.
"It is a power amplifier." Slade explained. "When attuned to an individual's particular energy signature generated by their nervous system, it can heighten a normal person's strength, speed and endurance nearly five-fold."
Slade stuck his foot under the desk and put its weight down on something hidden beneath it. Sliding his foot back out, he brought with it what looked almost like a satellite dish, but was triangular instead of round. It had the same type of stem coming out of its center that a normal dish would use as a transmitter, but Frieza did not think that this was the device's function.
Slade slipped the metal ring over the top of the stem and knelt down to push a button under the edge of the dish. A high-pitched whine filled the room for an instant, and then Frieza's ears adjusted and it was gone.
"It is charging now. It will probably be some time before it is ready. An hour or two, maybe even more. But once it is ready, you will be able to wear this amplifier in battle against the Titans and the Saiyans. Based off of the readings I took during their transformation, you should be able to defeat those two boys even at Super Saiyan strength level."
After saying this, Slade stood up, turned towards another wall on the far left side of the room and walked on, the light above them going off as Slade stepped away. In spite of the darkness, Frieza stared down at the charging amplifier bracelet a moment longer.
This was why he had decided to go against his own nature and play things small and slow at first instead of just blasting away at this planet as he would have in the good old days. Slade had known something like this would happen and he'd been ready for it. In a few hours, Frieza would be able to augment his power higher than he'd ever had it before. And he had not even been up to one hundred percent of his maximum power before. He'd been at around sixty percent of his power when those brats had shown up and the ease with which they defeated him told him that even charging up to his pinnacle level would not have changed the outcome and it would only have put him at risk of destroying his body with the output of power.
But, if he were to use this amplifier even at sixty percent of power, never mind his maximum, the possibilities were endless. Things were changing very fast, what with his arrival in this world, his alliance with Slade, the appearance of the children of his old enemies and then his swift defeat, all within a mere handful of hours. He did not want to jump the gun again and begin seeing victory in this bracelet already, but he could not help but imagine the tide turning back to his favor once again before the end of this most interesting day.
And then, once he had defeated the Saiyans, the Titans, and used Slade's knowledge of the rest of this world's defenders to defeat them… well then, he wouldn't need Slade anymore.
Turning around, Frieza followed the light source in the distance until he found Slade standing near the far wall. Coming to a stop and standing next to him, Frieza found himself facing three large glass tubes set into the wall. Each tube was at least twenty feet tall. The one to his far left was filled with granite, the one in the center was filled with a clear liquid that seemed to be some kind of nutrient solution, and the one on the right was flashing and crackling with a constant flow of electrical power. Within the center tube, the silhouette of a human could be seen floating in the liquid, while the tube on the right had some sort of small square object suspended in a bubble of static.
"What are these?" Frieza asked.
"A diversion, to keep our enemies busy while the amplifier charges." said Slade.
Written at the bottom of each tube, where the glass was set into metal, was a name: Cinderblock on the left, Plasmus in the middle, Overload on the right.
"I'll need to borrow some more of your power, Frieza," Slade said, "And I'd like you to tell me everything you know about those children who were helping the Titans."
xxxxx
Cyborg, Raven, Beast Boy and even Marron, who had seen this several times before, all watched in awe and not a little disgust as Starfire, Trunks and Goten ate the pizzas that had arrived only a few moments before. The four of them had managed to grab their pieces, four for Cyborg and two for the others, each of their respective favorite pizza types. Then, the remaining three proceeded to eat all the remaining slices of all six pizzas at an alarming rate, wolfing down entire slices as if they were going to run away from them.
Trunks and Goten, being half Saiyan, always ate this way, as Saiyans possessed appetites that went far beyond anything a human could experience and seemed to have black holes inside their bellies instead of stomachs. Starfire, being Tamaranian, actually had nine stomachs and so could consume gigantic quantities of food herself with an almost savage look on her face as she did so. The Titans had only seen her eat this way once before and it was not a sight they welcomed. Marron had seen her two best friends eat this way for years but it still nearly took away from her own appetite.
At one point as the three consumed the food, Starfire and Goten both reached for the same piece of pizza at the same time, their hands hitting each other as they made to grab the slice. For a moment, the two glared and each other with animal ferocity flaring up in their eyes. Then recognition set in and the two laughed for a moment before Starfire yielded and allowed Goten to claim the piece.
If anyone had been looking at Trunks for the brief moment that this exchange took place, it would have appeared to them that Trunks seemed to lean slightly closer to Starfire and glare at Goten with that same animal ferocity. However, no one had been looking at him.
Within roughly a minute and a half, all of the pizza was gone except for the slices that the four onlookers still had on their plates, untouched. Trunks and Goten patted their bellies, smiling with contentment. Starfire looked at her staring friends and was puzzled.
"Friends, are you not also going to partake of the delicious pizza?" she asked.
The four others realized that they had not yet taken a single bite and decided that since the three overeaters were now satisfied, for the moment anyway, it was safe to begin enjoying their own lunch. They ate much slower, enjoying their food and allowing their bodies to absorb the energy given by the sustenance at a gradual pace, so that the few slices that they were each able to grab before the rest of it began disappearing would be sufficient to prepare them for the struggles ahead.
Raven was the last to finish her meal and once she had done so, the seven young people sat back in silence, each thinking to themselves what they could contribute to a plan of action to rescue Robin and take the fight to Frieza and Slade on their own terms, rather than the villains'.
Once the waitress that had served them had returned to collect their plates, was given payment by Cyborg with an extra tip and an additional warning to leave Jump City soon, everyone leaned in to discuss what they were going to do.
"Alright," Cyborg began, "We need to get going on a rescue mission for Robin. Anybody got any ideas of where we start?"
Starfire opened her mouth to speak her opinion, but before she could utter a word there was a low rumble that echoed across the city; the familiar sound of a building collapsing.
The teens and kids immediately jumped out of their chairs and ran to the railing of the pizza parlor's 2nd floor balcony, looking across town where the sound had emanated from and a cloud of dust could now be seen gathering.
"What was that?" Trunks asked, looking between Starfire and Cyborg, on either side of him, for an explanation. It hadn't sounded like an explosion; he was familiar with the sound that would make. This had sounded more like several tons of construct had simply collapsed in on itself… or been toppled over.
"I don't know, but it came from downtown near the park." Cyborg said, scanning in that direction with his eye.
Now they could see people running down the street in their direction. At first it was only a handful, but after a few moments it became a multitude, dozens turning to hundreds as people desperately tried to put distance between themselves and whatever had caused the disturbance.
"We'd better check this out first." Raven said. "I'm pretty sure we know who's behind this."
Beast Boy nodded to her assessment.
"Dude, if Frieza or Slade just trashed the video store, they are so going to be feeling tiger fangs on their-"
"This is no time to be making the jokes, Beast Boy." Starfire said, calmly but firmly, and Beast Boy shut up.
Stafire and Raven took to the air first, with Trunks, Marron and Beast Boy following directly behind them. Goten took a second to grab Cyborg by the top of the shoulders and the he too began to fly after the group with the large Titan in tow.
The group flew toward the spot where the cloud of dust, only barely beginning to dissipate, was located, each preparing themselves for the fight they suspected was ahead. Starfire in particular was eager to battle, not caring whether it was Frieza or Slade who was causing this latest commotion, but ready to throttle either by their slimy, evil neck with her bare hands and make them tell her where Robin was. Arriving shortly at the scene and keeping beyond the edge of the cloud of dust, the group looked down to behold the sight.
It was the video store that the Titans rented from when they had movie nights. Although not a large building as it had only one floor, any collapsed structure of sufficient size could create a rumble like the one they had all felt and kick up enough dust to sustain a cloud as noticeable as the one overhead. The building had more or less imploded on itself, and the reason why was very obvious.
Standing in the debris, having clearly pushed the small building over, were three monsters that the four Titans knew very well. Each were somewhere between twelve and fifteen feet tall and about six feet wide. One was made of plain grey stone and had glowing red eyes. Another was compose of dripping purple sludge and had large green blister-like eyes on the top of its head, positioned just above its large, gaping mouth. The third was made primarily of sparking blue electrical charge surrounding a black inner framework, with a glowing red object like a computer motherboard in the center of its "head", slightly resembling a face. These creatures were Cinderblock, Plasmus and Overload, three monsters that the Titans had faced early on in their careers as a team and who each apparently lived for the sole purpose of creating random mayhem around the city, whenever they were not doing Slade's bidding.
"Uh, what are those things?" Trunks asked, voicing the question all three children were thinking.
"Troublemakers." Raven answered him. "Very large and annoying troublemakers."
Goten set Cyborg on the roof of a building across the street from the scene and Beast Boy landed next to him, changing back to human form.
"Man! Did they have to destroy the video store?" the green Titan complained.
Cyborg quickly scanned the three monsters.
"I think we're in for more fight that usual you guys." the cybernetic teen informed the group, "I'm detecting that same energy field around them that were around Slade's robots earlier. He must have given them a dose of Frieza's power."
True enough, each of them could see a faint pinkish glow surrounding the monsters below, all of who were looking up at the group of seven and roaring a challenge to them.
Starfire narrowed her eyes at the beasts.
"This is clearly an attempt by our adversaries to delay us while they enact some counter-strategy to battle us at a later time. But we shall not play by their rules!" she announced, while the others stared at her in admiration and surprise.
Starfire had never really been one to take any sort of leadership position accept in the most dire and immediate of circumstances, such as when Robin was in imminent danger of losing his life while battling a hallucination of Slade. The other Titans were taken aback by the determination they could see in her face, while three children, not used to working with the Titans, simply waited to act upon her instructions.
"We will defeat these creatures quickly and not give any respite to them. We have no time to play games and speak to them of surrender. We shall knock them unconscious at the first available opportunity and begin our search for Slade's lair." Starfire declared.
She turned her head to look down at Cyborg on the roof below and then to Trunks, who hovered in the air next to her.
"Cinderblock is physically the strongest. Therefore, Cyborg and Trunks will battle him. Goten, you and I shall challenge Plasmus, as I know from experience that he is vulnerable to my starbolts. Raven and Marron shall defeat Overload. Beast Boy, you shall stand ready in case any one of us is injured so that you may take up position and resume the attack. Also, you must keep your senses open in case of a surprise attack by any Slade minions." she commanded to the team.
All six nodded, none questioning her orders, however, Cyborg turned to look to Marron overhead, hovering next to Raven.
"Marron, try to avoid Overload hitting you with his electric attacks. You don't have a lot of cybernetic parts, but the ones you do have may still be vulnerable." he warned the demi-cyborg, and the little girl nodded down to him.
"Thanks, Cyborg. I'll be careful." she said.
The three monsters below took up positions next to each other and assumed fighting postures. They were ready.
Starfire's eyes narrowed even further and glowed green.
"Attack!" she shouted and zoomed straight toward Plasmus, shooting starbolts at him in a wave, Goten flying at her heels. Hole after smoking hole was blown in the purple ooze creature, who roared in rage and pain at the attack. He attempted to slurp himself back into a whole form again, but had difficulty as Goten unleashed a shock wave of kinetic force from his palm. He used no direct energy, as Starfire's own starbolts seemed to get that job done well enough, but the blast of mental energy he applied created a near-gale force wind, blowing Plasmus back, causing small pieces of his whole to fling away and making the reassembly of his slimy pieces nearly impossible.
Raven and Marron flew down to Overload, who immediately fired a blast of electrical current at them. Raven put up a shield of dark energy between them, the electrical blast fizzing out harmlessly over its surface. She then allowed a small hole to open in the shield and Marron immediately fired an energy blast of her own through it. While Marron's energy attacks were like insect bites compared to what Trunks and Goten could accomplish, they were still quite powerful and even fatal to average mortals. As such, the impact of the blast still had a significant effect on the energy creature, as Overload was hit in the chest region and began to flash like a strobe light, a sign of injury on the part of the energy beast.
Cyborg jumped from the roof he'd been set down on and ran at Cinderblock, firing his sonic cannon at the concrete creature's face. Cinderblock put up his powerful arms to keep the blast from hitting him there and charged as well, meeting Cyborg at the outer rim of the pile of rubble he and his partners had created from the video store.
Cyborg tackled the monster like he was playing football and managed to push the creature back a few feet, until the monster got his footing and hit Cyborg in the abdominal region with his rocky knee. Using his own considerable strength, plus the extra power bestowed onto him by Frieza, Cinderblock was able to stop Cyborg's assault faster than he normally would have done, and as Cyborg doubled over from the knee to the stomach, Cinderblock grunted in delight at his newfound strength. He then swung at Cyborg with his left fist. Cyborg ducked and the attack went over his head. He then swung upward with a punch of his own, hitting the rock beast in the face. Cinderblock immediately swung back with his left arm, trying to backhand Cyborg, who again ducked. As he did so, Cinderblock now swung his right arm down in an attempt to pound down on Cyborg. Cyborg crossed his arms in front of him as a shield, taking the fist on his forearms. Cinderblock continued to press down with his arm, forcing Cyborg to his knees as he attempted to push the arm back.
"Is that all you've got?" Cyborg taunted, though clearly struggling to hold back his adversary's fist.
Cinderblock then punched again with his left hand, this time hitting Cyborg straight on and sending him flying back. As Cyborg flew with the impact, his leg was grabbed midair by Trunks, who had been standing back, awaiting his chance to join the fight. Using Cyborg's momentum to his advantage, Trunks swung the large teen around and sent him flying right back at Cinderblock to deliver a punch straight to the stone giant's face that sounded like a mountain breaking open. Cinderblock clutched his face and stumbled back, falling to the ground.
Unable to heal or mount any type of attack due to Goten's kinetic blast and Starfire still raining a steady stream of starbolts down upon him, Plasmus finally had enough. He sunk down and flattened himself out, momentarily creating a giant puddle of sludge, and then sprung upward into the air like a fountain. He hit Starfire midair, knocking the alien girl out of the sky and drenching her in his sludge. The two crashed to the ground, and as Goten ran to Starfire's aid, Plasmus shot a glob of goo at the boy, which hit him in his legs, causing him to stumble forward and fall to the ground.
"Eeewww! This stuff is gross!" Goten whined, attempting to use his energy aura to burn the goo from his legs.
Starfire, more accustomed to being covered in Plasmus's slime, created her own bubble of energy around herself, blasting all of the goo away from her body before turning to glare in rage at Plasmus.
"I do not have the time for this!" she bellowed, shooting rapid fire starbolts at the creature as Goten righted himself and continued the rest of the way to stand at the girl's side.
"Kaaaa… meeee..." Goten began, cupping his hands at his side. A small orb of energy gathered as the boy prepared to unleash a relatively small Kamehameha Wave in an attempt to knock the creature unconscious.
Starfire continued to shoot her starbolts at Plasmus, tearing great gobs of mucus away from his body and not giving him a chance to reform as she continued to increase the magnitude of her bolts.
"Haaaa… meee… haaaa!" Goten shouted, thrusting his hands forward as a beam of bright blue/white energy shot forward and hit Plasmus head on, vaporizing half of his gelatinous body instantly and propelling his remains backward, across the empty lot that stood behind the ruined video store and against the office building on the other side. The beam tore through the building, leaving a smoking hole straight through it as the beam continued on, arching into the air and out of sight. Plasmus, now unconscious and in human form, fell to the sidewalk below.
Raven was using her dark energy to try to envelope Overload in a sphere to trap him, but his own energy output was holding her shield at bay. Marron had flown behind the monster and continued to shoot him with one energy blast after another, but she also had to dodge the creature's own electrical attacks, and due to Overload's energy nature, she would not be able to fly in and attack him physically. As a result, the two girls were making very little progress with the monster.
Beast Boy remained on the outer edges of the battle, practically hopping from foot to foot with the desire to enter the fray and help his friends. He had turned into a hound to sniff out if any sladebots were nearby waiting to attack and had also turn into an eagle to use the animal's binocular vision to see if any threats waited on the outskirts to ambush them while they fought the monster trio. There had been no sign of any other threats. However, he did not want to be the one to defy Starfire's orders while she was currently as pissed off as she was, just in case something did happen and he wasn't on standby as instructed.
However, as he watched Raven and Marron struggle with Overload, he realized how he could lend a hand without defying Starfire's orders. Turning into a cheetah, he ran quickly around the outer edge of the debris field that was all that remained of his beloved video store. Stopping after he had located what he wanted, he transformed into a gorilla and plunged his large ape hands into the rubble, pulling up a large steel beam that had been used for support of the collapsed building.
Like a javelin thrower, Beast Boy pulled back his arm and then let fly with the steal beam, which flew through the air and smacked right into and through Overload, sticking out both sides of his electrical body. With the direct contact with metal going right through him, Overload screamed out in whatever he experienced as pain and began to spark and fizzle.
Realizing what was happening and how the metal was interrupting Overload's energy conductivity, Raven actually smiled a little at Beast Boy's sudden insight and turned to give him a cursory nod. Then, focusing, she used her telekinesis to twist the beam around within Overload's body, so that it was touching every section of his electrical innards. Overload continued to scream in pain and anger as she did so.
Marron was also inspired by Beast Boy's move, remembering that in addition to metal, there was another element that electricity traveled through easily, and that the combination might be too much for the monster. Scanning the area quickly, the little girl spotted a fire hydrant only a little ways away from where the building had stood. Swooping down to it quickly, she grabbed it with her small hands and tore it straight off, sending a geyser of water into the air and soaking her as she jumped back and away as quickly as she could.
Raven used her powers again to create a solid circular surface in the air, tilted at a forty-five degree angle, right above the tower of water. When the water hit Raven's disk, it bounced off and sprayed at high speeds right at Overload.
With both water and metal coursing through his electrical body, Overload simply could handle it no more and finally fizzed out, his motherboard-like face falling to the ground as his body disappeared.
Cinderblock rose to his feet, shook his head to clear his vision and looked around to locate his target. He spotted Cyborg, also getting to his feet from he'd struck Cinderblock head-on, but now the creature spotted the small boy who had caught him flung him back to land the punch. Cinderblock clenched his fist and charged at the boy.
Trunks turned briefly to grin up at Cyborg.
"Watch this." he said simply and turned back to face the monster.
Cyborg simply crossed his arms and settled back to watch, a smile playing at his own lips and his robotic eye recording, having a feeling that this was going to be good and he'd be wanting to replay it over and over later.
Trunks stood his ground as the creature that was literally ten times his size and roughly eighty times his weight bore down on him. Cinderblock dived forward, attempting to squash the purple-haired kid with his rocky bulk, but was quite surprised when this did not happen.
Instead, Trunks put up his hands and caught Cinderblock's full weight, holding the enormous brute over his head with no more effort, it seemed, than what it would take to hold up a pillow. With a flick of his wrists, Trunks tossed Cinderblock lightly into the air in such a way that the giant flipped over and came back down, Trunks catching him on his back and holding him up again.
Trunks then used even more of his god-like Saiyan strength and this time really threw Cinderblock high, a hundred feet or more. The boy then took off from the ground with a flare of his aura and caught up with Cinderblock at the pinnacle of his ascent, flying around the beast's body so that he was directly above him and looked down into his concrete face.
Scowling in a way that would have made his father proud, Trunks put out his left hand, placing it on Cinderblock's should next to where his collarbone would have been on a normal person. The boy then pulled back his right fist and punched Cinderblock right in the face with about a quarter of his strength. The stone monster plummeted faster than gravity's pull would normally have caused and smashed down right in the center of the debris pile below.
Goten, Marron and the Titans all turned away, covering their heads with their arms to prevent dust and shrapnel from getting into their eyes. All turned to look at where Cinderblock had landed, in a crater about three times the size of his body and roughly ten feet deep. Incredibly, the stone monster opened his eyes and, with a great deal of effort that he would not have been capable of if not for Frieza's added energy, began to sit up again.
Suddenly, Trunks landed with the force of a dropped industrial safe, planting both of his booted feet right into Cinderblock's middle. The creature collapse back with a loud grunt, but after a moment, attempted once more to rise, slowly lifting his head up and glaring with red eyes at the little boy who had felled him. Trunks lifted a single foot up off of Cinderblock's stomach, so that the bottom of his boot was pointed at Cinderblock's face.
"Just stay down." he said in irritation and kicked out, leaving the patter of his boot planted on Cinderblock's face and creating a crack that ran from the bottom right corner of Cinderblock's chin to the top left corner of his head. Cinderblock was finally out cold.
Staring down at the monster for a moment longer to make sure he really wasn't going to get back up, Trunks stared around at the rest of the team. Cyborg was giving an approving smile, Marron and Raven were shaking hands and then turning to thank Beast Boy for the assistance, and Starfire and Goten were patting each other on the back for their own victory before Starfire turned to look at Trunks, still perched atop Cinderblock's fallen body, and giving him a thumbs-up. Trunks smiled back and gave his own thumbs-up in response.
Although they were a long way from finished, this particular battle was over.
I would like to say, to everybody who has ever read this story in the last five-and-a-half years and wanted more, you have no idea how terrible I feel about the extreme and completely unreasonable delay between the posting of chapter four and this posting of chapter five. Many, many things have happened to me since November of 2006, when chapter four was posted, and it was these things which ultimately led to the lack of updates. First and foremost, only a few days after I posted the last chapter, I met, for the first time in person, my girlfriend, who is now my wife. We had been speaking online for two months at that time and then met face to face later in the week from the last posting and from there I had an actual relationship for the first time in my life, and this was the main cause of the delay. In addition to that, I also became interested in many other series, the cancellation of Teen Titans was finally sinking in for me and my need to write as many stories for it as I could as soon as I could was wearing down, and although I knew where this story was going to go and more or less how it would get there, the details were difficult to work out. All of these things taken together is the reason for you having to wait so long, but I cannot thank all of you who have still been waiting enough for your patience.
Let me please make it clear, this story has not ever, not once, not for one single day, been forgotten or abandoned by me. The characters of Trunks and Starfire are my absolute favorite fictional characters of all time, and I think about them every day. And I mean this literally; I think about both characters EVERY DAY. Something, somehow, always brings both of them to mind, and ever since the day I came up with this story, it is impossible for me to think about one or the other and not see them interacting together somehow, which is why I began this story in the first place. So you see, in the five-and-a-half years that nothing has been done with this story, not one of the days in those years has gone by that I did not hear the voice telling me in the back of my head to continue this story. It's just been really hard, for the reasons I mentioned above, to get up the incentive and excitement to do so, since I don't feel so bored and desperate anymore. But I know that I will never be at peace until the full version of this story, my special vision, is finally written out and posted for everyone to see.
So let this be proof that no matter how long it takes between posts, this story will NEVER be abandoned by me until it is finished, or unless I die before I finish it. I am back in full fic-writing mode right now and already starting the next chapter of this, so I highly doubt that I will put you guys through another wait like the one you just went through, but now you know that no matter how long that wait might be, you'll still get the rest of this story. This is my promise. Thank you all again for your patience. I hope you enjoyed the above chapter and I'll see you at the next one.