Part 31: Men and Their Toys.

Pluto and Cyborg were both in the Tower lab. They were working on some objects that happened to be Draco's dragonhead gauntlet, Shadowcobra's cobra scepter and Pluto's sword. The Knights' decks were also on the table.

"You sure about this dawg?" Cyborg asked the masked dog Knight.

Pluto merely gave him a smile, "Trust me Cyborg. They'll thank me later."

Cyborg raised his eyebrow, "You did tell them that you were going to borrow their stuff, right?"

"Actually, I sorta swiped them from their rooms," Pluto admitted.

Cyborg gave him a blank look.

"I still say they'll thank me later," Pluto said.

"Whatever, pal, it's your funeral."

Shadowcobra was in his room and was looking for something. "Strange, where did I put that deck? I knew I put it here somewhere," he scratched his head. He had been looking for his deck for the past hour. He had even tried to summon it, but something kept getting in the way. That has only happened when he didn't know where the deck was in the first place. After all, he was still new to the Tower, so he hadn't explored the whole place just yet.

"I swear, if Draco is playing with my deck, again, heads will roll, LITERALLY!" he picked up his cloak and put it on. He also lifted up the collar to hide his nose and mouth.

"Maybe I should do some gardening or meditate."

Draco was in his room and it was totally turned upside down.

"Where the Hell is it?" he practically shouted. He looked under the bed, in the closet, even in the trashcan. His clothes, belongings and rubbish were all over the floor and he didn't even find it. Nothing! None! Zilch! He nearly ripped his hair off in frustration. Draco had been looking for his deck for the past hour. The last time he lost his deck, he was nearly eaten up by a few monsters that were out for his blood. Being a Zodiac Knight and losing ones deck wasn't exactly a good thing.

He banged his head against the wall. "Stupid!(Bam!)Stupid!(Bam!)Stupid!(Bam!)" he repeated. "How could I be so stupid? I lost my deck, again!"

Shadowcobra was passing Draco's room when he heard this. Curious, he thought, Draco's Zodiac Deck has also mysteriously vanished, I wonder. It was too much of a coincidence and Shadowcobra never believed in them. Slowly, he knocked on Draco's door. "Draco, are you alright?" he asked.

Draco's door slid open and the dragon Knight swung his arms around the Snake Knight and cried like a baby. Shadowcobra's left eyebrow twitched before he threw Draco off with his telekinesis.

"Don't…touch me…ever!" he said, hissing threateningly. He fixed the ruffles in his cloak. He eyed Draco suspiciously, "What's the matter with you, Draco?"

"My deck! It's- it's," Draco began.

"Let me guess, gone?" Draco nodded. Shadowcobra sighed. "Come on, let's go."

"Go? Where?"

"I think I know where our decks are. Don't ask, just follow me."

"Okay."

When they arrived in the living room, they could see all the other Titans. Starfire was reading some fashion magazines and eating something really strange, Raven and Jinx were playing a game of chess and Beast Boy and Terra were watching TV, chilling. Robin was no one in sight so it was safe to assume he was in the Tower gym, or training room. There was no sight of Pluto and Cyborg.

The two Knights walked up to the two chess playing sorceresses. Currently, Jinx was trying to think of what move to make while Raven was going frustrated. Jinx was white while Raven was black.

"Hm…"Jinx rubbed her chin while thinking. She went to pick up a piece to move it, but put it back down, shaking her head, "No…"

Raven was growing impatient and tapping her fingers on the table while her head rested in her other hand with the elbow on the table. "Make your move…"

"I'm trying okay, don't rush me! Let's see."

"It's been your move for the past 10 minutes and I have better things to do." Raven was getting more and more annoyed and her black aura was surrounding her.

Draco turned to Shadowcobra, "You talk to them."

Shadowcobra sighed and began, "Girls…"

Both girls turned to snap at him at once, "What?"

Shadowcobra was taken back, but he still continued, "Do you two know the whereabouts of either Cyborg or Pluto?"

Raven's expression softened, "Tower Lab," she answered

"Thank you," Shadowcobra picked up one of Jinx's pieces and moved it, "Checkmate." Both Raven and Jinx's eyes widened as they looked at the board. The snake Knight only ignored them while Draco followed.

"Rematch!" Raven said.

The two Knights stood in front of the large metal door of the lab. They walked forward and it automatically slid open.

"Pluto!" Shadowcobra called out as he entered the large lab. Draco entered after him.

"Pluto! Where are you man?" he called. "Man, why is this place so dark?" the dark was starting to scare him.

Shadowcobra retorted, "Can't you see in the dark? You do have feral DNA, you know."

Draco narrowed his eyes, "Of course I can." His pupils then turned into thin slits like cat eyes. He could now see perfectly in the dark. His eyes were even glowing. "See?" Draco grinned.

Shadowcobra rolled his eyes. "Come on," he ordered.

At the same time, two figures were watching them trough special viewing screens. One of them was large with broad shoulders while the other was of average size.

"Ok, they're here," said the smaller person. "They'll love my surprise."

The bigger one replied, "Dawg, I hope you know what you're doing."

The two Knights arrived in a large area in the center of the lab. Suddenly, all the lights lit up, freaking Draco out. Shadowcobra remained calm as always.

Both Pluto and Cyborg jumped out of nowhere and yelled, "SURPRISE!" Draco and Shadowcobra looked at them strangely.

"Surprise…?" Shadowcobra said, curious. "What surprise?"

"Yeah man," Draco looked around, "Where's the party?"

"Just follow us, dudes," said Cyborg as he and Pluto led them to the table. There on top of it were the Knights' decks and their weapons.

Shadowcobra glared at the dog Knight and Cyborg, "So that's where it went." Draco sighed, relieved that he had found his deck. Shadowcobra continued, "So why did you take our decks and weapons without permission.

Pluto smiled, "I'll show you." He picked up Shadowcobra purple cobra scepter. It was half Shadowcobra's height. "Watch this." He pressed a button on the scepter and it lengthened to Pluto's height, becoming a battle staff.

Shadowcobra smiled, impressed. Pluto handed it over to him.

"I made some minor modifications and adjustments to your scepter. It now doubles as a battle staff. Try it."

Shadowcobra did some practice spins, moves and jabs with the weapon. Satisfied, he pressed the same button and it returned to its original length. "Very impressive, Pluto, very…" he hissed.

"Now for Draco," Pluto picked up the red dragonhead gauntlet and gave it to Draco. Draco mounted it over his left arm. He noticed a panel on the side with a set of three buttons: red, blue and green. Draco looked up.

"Um…what are these?" Draco asked, pointing to the buttons.

It was Cybrog's turn to answer, "I saw those little dragon fangs things on the gauntlet so I added a bit of something to make them more useful. Press the red button." Draco did and the large fangs extended right past his hand.

"Woah!" Draco said, surprised.

"I call it the Dra-Claws! Very sharp and can slash and cut through almost anything. Made of titanium" Cyborg said proudly.

"Cool!" Draco said as he did a few practice slashed in the air. "Nice!"

"Now try the blue button. But point to that target first," Cyborg continued to instruct. Draco did as instructed and the claws shot forward and struck the target, dead center. The claws were connected to the gauntlet by a cable. "I like to call this one the Dra-grapple Claw option. Press the green button to return to normal."

Draco went to the target and pulled the claws out. He pressed the last button and the cable wound back and secured the claws to the gauntlet with a snap. The claws/fangs also reverted to their original length. "This is sweet!" Draco exclaimed.

"Yes…sweet," Shadowcobra said sarcastically. He asked, "Why did you do this?"

Pluto replied, "I guess since we are now crime fighters too and not just monster slayers, I guess we needed some gear, so I modified our stuff. Plus, I wanted to surprise you guys." He smiled.

"You sure did surprise us, man," Draco grinned.

"And you couldn't do it before was because…?"

"I was suddenly inspired. Sides, I didn't do it all alone, Cyborg helped me out."

Cuborg smiled proudly, patting Pluto on the back. "You bet!"

"You've been working on this for awhile now, huh?" Shadowcobra asked.

"Just for the last two weeks."

"I see." The Snake Knight went to pick up his deck. He glared at the two, "Next time, don't touch my belongings," he warned them before he hid his scepter and deck in his cloak. A portal of shadow energy formed under him and he disappeared into it, creeping the others out.

"What the hell?" Cyborg scratched his head. "Is he always that grumpy?" he asked Draco.

Draco picked his deck up and said to Cyborg, "He's just like that sometimes. You'll get used to it," he smiled before leaving the lab.

Cyborg shrugged, "Hell, I'm used to Raven, but two of them?"

Pluto laughed at the last statement.

After Draco and Shadowcobra left, Pluto picked up his sword. Cyborg was looking over his shoulder.

"So, why didn't you tell them about the sword, dawg?" Cyborg asked.

"You'll see, Cy, you'll see," he smirked. He reached under the work table and took out a box. "Now for our next project…"

To be Continued…