Part 13: Shadowcobra's New Sister.

"What am I doing here?" Shadowcobra asked someone in front of him. He was in the mall and was carrying various shopping bags in his hands. Needless to say this wasn't one of the things he would enjoy. However, said person he was talking to was very persuasive.

And very beautiful.

"Because no one else wanted to come," answered Starfire sadly.

Shadowcobra groaned, And I could be gardening right now…he sighed.

That's right. Shadowcobra was shopping with Starfire.

It all started harmless enough when Starfire saw on the newspaper that they had a 50 percent off sale at her favorite preppy stores there. She was a regular and very popular (if you know what I mean). Needless to say, this got Starfire in a shopping mood.

She just needed someone to go with her.

When she went to ask her friends if they wanted to go to the mall with her, they all made various excuses, including Robin. Starfire was upset for awhile, until Shadowcobra walked into the living room.

For Starfire it was perfect timing.

For Shadowcobra, boy, he wished he could've said no. Unfortunately he couldn't. The reason was that Shadowcobra had ONE weakness: Big Puppy Dog Eyes, in which Starfire was a master of.

The same Puppy Dog Eyes that led to this. Now Starfire was shopping happily, looking through clothes and other preppy stuff, while the Snake Knight of Invisibility was her servant, I mean, the carrier of her bags.

"Are we done yet?" Shadowcobra asked, groaning.

"Not yet," Starfire smiled at him. He groaned again. "Ooohh! How adorable!" Starfire exclaimed as she ran to a different store. Shadowcobra hung his head low and sighed. Dragging the bags, he slowly went after her.

The shop was called Cute Kitten and it had an assortment of (Shadowcobra shudders) pink clothing to choose from as well as an assortment of girly stuff. Shadowcobra went to check her bags at the counter when she ran in, smiling and giggling happily.

Shadowcobra sighed. Why me? Why all the time me? he groaned inwardly

He was just going to wait there until the girl who worked at the counter made a comment, "You should follow your girlfriend in." This caused Shadowcobra to look at the blonde with a 'Are you insane or out of your mind?' look. She continued, "You two make an…interesting couple." She was looking at him up and down, scrutinizing his black clothing. "You could get something a bit brighter."

Shadowcobra snapped, "Just take care of her bags and mind your own business, woman!" He grumbled before following after Starfire.

"Well, excuuuuse me!"

He turned to snap at her again, adding, "And she's NOT my GIRLFRIEND!"

Shadowcobra used his empathic powers to look for Starfire. He lifted up his collar to conceal his nose and mouth. The smell of perfume was everywhere. He then found Starfire sampling some perfume. He walked over to her and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Friend Shadow!" Starfire exclaimed after she turned around. She had a bottle of perfume in her hands. This did not bode well for Shadowcobra. "Try this! The kind woman said it can make anyone smell nice!"

The woman saw Shadowcobra and her eyes turned to a glare. She muttered, "Anyone but a Goth Punk freak!"

Shadowcobra returned the woman's glare with his icy cold stare. Is everyone in this store an absurd blonde? He turned his attention back to stare, "No thank you, Starfire."

"Please?" she gave him a Puppy Dog Eyes stare.

Shadowcobra gritted his teeth. There was no way he could win if she kept doing that. He sighed, "Fine, but make it quick." She squirted him with it and surprisingly, he recognized the fragrance and liked it. "Roses?"

"Yes. This new brand or perfume is called 'Passion of Roses."

Shadowcobra lowered his collar and smelled it. Out of all flowers, roses were indeed his favorite. He gave her a sincere smile, "I think you should buy it. In fact," he pulled out his wallet, "I'll even pay for it," he smiled.

"Really?" Starfire swung her arms around Shadowcobra. "You are so sweet."

Shadowcobra pulled her arms off him. He added, "Don't get used to it." He turned to the perfume lady, "I'll take two 'Passion of Roses'."

The blonde dropped two bottles into a bag and gave it to Starfire. She happily accepted. The perfume lady then whispered to Shadowcobra, "You really know how to make your girlfriend happy."

He didn't even turn to glare at her. His eyes narrowed and he shot back, whispering, "She isn't my girlfriend."

"Well what is she then?"

Shadowcobra ignored her before following after Starfire.

Over the past hour, Shadowcobra had to endure Starfire trying out new shoes, clothing and an assortments of other articles related to girliness and peppiness. He received various comments from the workers like, "You're such a sweet boyfriend." Or, "It's so nice to see young love." As well as, "You look…um…interesting together."

He glared at all of them.

Right now they were looking at handbags and Shadowcobra was carrying bags full of Starfire's purchases. He groaned. "Can we go someplace else?" he told her.

She turned to him, her eyes wide. Was she going to cry?

"Friend Shadowcobra?" she questioned. He rolled his eyes.

"Just call me Shadow, okay? Shadowcobra is when I'm in armor and…"

Suddenly, Shadowocbra stopped talking. He was hearing a strange ringing sound in his ears. His head whipped around, eyes narrowed, looking for the source.

He found it.

In one of the various mirrors in the store was a monster, and it was looking at Starfire hungrily.

The creature jumped out to tackle Starfirte, but Shadowcobra beat it to it by pushing Starfire out of the way, "Watch out!" Shadowcobra yelled, dropping the bags and pushing Starfire down. The monster saw that it lost its chance and disappeared into another mirror.

The commotion earned stares of various shoppers and workers. Of course, it wasn't the monster that attracted their attention but the position the two Titans were in.

Starfire was on the floor, her hair sprawled all over and Shadowcobra was on top of her. Their faces were too close to each other. They both looked at each other, eyes wide and blushed.

An elderly woman working there scolded, "Now this isn't the place for that kind of thing!"

A teenager with brown hair disagreed, "Oh come on! Give young love a chance."

There were other similar comments that were either spoke out loud, mumbled, muttered, or murmured.

Shadowcobra helped Starfire out and then he let her go. At the top of his lungs he shouted, "LISTEN YOU! I AM NOT THIS GIRL'S BOYFRIEND NOR IS SHE MY GIRLFRIED! WE ARE JUST FRIENDS!"

Everyone in the store was shocked. One woman said, "How rude!" earning a glare from the Snake Knight, making her shut up. Starfire had tears in her eyes.

"Starfire. I'm sorry I embarrassed you like that. It's not like I-" Shadowcobra began, only to be cut off by Starfire hugging him.

"You finally admitted I was your friend!" she exclaimed happily as she squeezed tighter.

Everyone else in the store went, "Awwwww" at the scene. Shadowcobra rolled his eyes and grumbled. He then felt that Starfire was holding him a bit too tight.

"Starfire…Choking…Not breathing," he rasped out. She let him go.

"I apologize, friend Shadowco-" she stopped and corrected, "I mean, Shadow." This earned her another sweet smile from the Snake Knight that made her blush. He's so handsome.

Shadowcobra heard the ringing again in his ears, "Excuse me." He ran towards the dressing rooms and into one. He locked the door and took his position in front of the full view mirror.

"ZODIAC FORCE!" the belt and buckle formed around his waist. "SNAKE!"

Zodiac Knight Shadowcobra transformation sequence: He snapped the deck to his belt and the crystal in the buckle glowed purple. Dark purple energy covered his torso, forearms and lower legs to form his armor, gauntlets and boots. Dark purple energy surrounding his head formed the helmet. The faceplate slid close, hiding his face.

He did a pose, "Zodiac Knight Shadowcobra!" he ran into the mirror and disappeared.

Shadowcobra arrived in the Mirror Dimension, riding in his purple Knightrider. The pod shaped vehicles were perfect for high speed chases, especially when the thing you're chasing was a monster.

He rammed right into the thing, sending it tumbling to the ground. Shadowcobra then exited his vehicle. Much to Shadowcobra's chagrin they were in the Mirror Dimension version of the mall. Well, the good news was that he found the monster.

The bad news was that it was a tank with arms and legs.

The monster turned around and growled. It aimed its cannon at Shadowcobra and fired. Shadowcobra quickly jumped out of the way before the missile could hit. The monster continued to open fire on Shadowcobra. Shadowcobra quickly drew a card and pulled out his cobra scepter to insert the card into the head.

"Guard Vent-Cobra Shield!" a purple shield in the form of the back of a cobra shield materialized in front of him and absorbed the impact. The monster, however, continued to open fire.

I need a plan! Shadowcobra thought. Each blast was causing him to stagger back. He drew a card and looked at the image. Perfect! He inserted the card into his scepter, which was in a holster on his belt.

"Add-Vent-Summoning Metalceros!"

A loud growl and grunt was heard as a white blur rammed right into the tank creature, sending it tumbling to the ground. The blur revealed was actually Metalceros, the white rhino with golden horns. Shadowcobra then drew a new card and inserted it inyo his scepter.

"Strike Vent-Metal Strike Horn!" a white gauntlet attached itself to Shadowcobra's right arm. The gauntlet had a protruding golden spike that looked like Metalcaros's horn. At the same time, Metalceros was now standing behind him.

As the tank creature was getting up, Shadowcobra drew the card that would finish this. This time, he didn't insert it into his scepter, but the white gauntlet mounted on his right arm.

"Final Vent!"

Metalceros let out an inhuman roar as it charged behind Shadowcobra. Shadowcbr jumped up and landed on Metalceros, standing horizontally on the rhino beast's shoulders. Metalceros was now stampeding forward, carrying its master like a lance with the Metal Strike Horn acting as the spearhead.

"RHINOCEROS SMASHER!" Shadowcobra exclaimed.

The tank creature took aim and fired at the charging duo. The blasts passed its attackers harmlessly as they came charging through the fray. The monster then turned to run.

Too late.

Shadowcobra smashed right through it, resulting in a huge explosion and destroying the monster. What remained of the tank monster was only a lone energy ball. The energy ball was then absorbed by Metalceros, who grunted with satisfaction.

Shadowcobra leapt out of the mirror and his armor shattered away like glass and disappeared. He opened the door and to his surprise was Starfire, holding up all the shopping bags he had left. He rolled his eyes and smiled. He took the bags and with a wink said, "Let's go home."

Both Titans were in a taxi and Starfire was looking at Shadowcobra funny. He then turned and asked, "What's on your mind?"

"Friend Shadow, why is it that you wished to go with me to the Mall of Shopping when nobody else would?" she asked.

Shadowcobra nervously answered, "It's because you have this look."

Starfire tilted her head in confusion, "Look?"

Shadowcobra explained, "When you look up to me with those large green eyes, you make me feel guilty."

Starfire looked down, ashamed, "I did not mean to make you feel guilty."

Shadowcobra continued, "It's not your fault, Starfire. But, there was another reason why you made me feel guilty." She looked up to him for the rest of his explanation, "You remind me a bit of my mother." Starfire's eyes widened with surprise. "My mother is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. She is like an angel to me. She also had this technique to make me and my father do stuff around the house and not depend too much on our butler…or powers." The technique he meant was the Puppy Dog Eyes.

"Really?"

"There's more. My mother also likes to hug me and your hugs feel a lot like hers," he massaged his shoulders. "I'm also starting to feel that you're growing on me."

"Like fungus?"

"No, like," he gulped, nervously, "A sister."

Starfire eyes widened and she smiled happily. She wrapped her arms tightly around Shadowcobra. Smiling happily she exclaimed, "You are the most sweetest friend in the whole earth, 'brother'!"

Shadowcobra reluctantly wrapped his arms around her. Then he got her to let go before she (literally) hugged him to death.

When they got out of the taxi, they saw the Tower standing majestically in front of them atop their own private island. Starfire said, "Thank you" to the taxi driver and flew off to the Tower, carrying all of the bags.

Shadowcobra turned to pay the taxi driver. "How much?" he asked. The driver shook his head.

"Free of charge!" the man answered, "I owe that girl and her friends for saving me and my family from a burning building that one time."

Shadowcobra raised an eyebrow, "Thank you then," he smiled. "But I do insist I pay you."

The driver, whose name was Merl, said, "Just do one thing; keep that girlfriend of yours happy." The driver laughed and drove off, leaving a shocked and embarassed Shadowcobra.

"SHE'S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!"

To be continued…