1 April, 2001

1:29 AM

Main Room, Titan's Tower, Jump City, California.

"For the time being, you guys can stay here," Robin announced. "We have open rooms throughout the Tower, so make yourselves at home."

Cyborg yawned. "We'll help you get started in the morning. For now… I'm going to catch some shuteye. 'Night y'all…" He pressed his hand to a console next to the door. "Security's all set."

"Okey dokey," Mario nodded.

Starfire floated limply to a pair of sliding doors. Already half-asleep, her form seemed more like an amber ghost in scant purple sheets. Her green eyes and amber eyelids were both heavy on her, and she simply disappeared behind the metal. Robin slowly ambled towards his own abode. With his shoulders slumped, Cyborg shuffled to his own laboratory/room. Beast Boy stretched, then slinked off to his quarters. Raven was the last of the Titans. She looked cautiously at the three newcomers, and she phased through the walls without a word.

Link, who carried Fox in from the previous encounter, carefully set him down on the Titans' round black sofa. Sighing, Link surveyed his surroundings. Cold, metal walls encased the room. Outside the window, there lay unnatural lights in the city, wholly unfamiliar to him. Everything was so angular. Nothing was earth-bound anymore.

Link wore a face of skepticism. The people he had just met, they were all… futuristic. They were far beyond his time. He turned his attention to Mario, who gazed out at the silent night ahead of them as well. They exchanged glances, and then they looked behind them at the now-slumbering Fox. The vulpine creature's helmet had broken following the brawl with the Titans, leaving his head of reddish-brown fur to be visited by the soft moonlight. Fox curled up like a dog on the sofa, despite all humanoid regalia on his person.

Mario hummed. The whole situation was too good to be true. Immediately after winding up in an unknown area, these strangers have offered to lodge him and two others for a night. Did they have some other motivation for keeping them in their home? Mario tapped his foot. Glancing back to Link, he noticed the elfin boy sitting with his back to the window, holding a blue object to his mouth. It was shaped somewhat like a potato, and had a number of holes in it. There was an extension from its center, and Link held that piece to his mouth. He blew, granting the red-capped teenager a soft song. Its melody was ethereal, old, yet somehow timeless. Mario kept listening as he sat down on the other end of the sofa. He pulled his cap over his eyes, resting his hands atop his slightly plump belly. He tried to remember his task at hand: free the Castle. Yet, at present he could do no such thing. He rubbed his stubble. Somehow he had grown younger again. As Link's song floated into his ears, Mario lulled into sleep.

Link continued to play, his eyes closed. He rocked gently to his own tune, letting its soft rhythms reverberate across the metal-encased room.

His song ended. Setting it and his hands in his lap, he once again stared out at the cityscape that the Tower overlooked day in and day out. The green-capped boy sighed. He recalled the events that occurred just before he entered thisworld. He just fought off hordes of Bulbins, expecting to see and do battle again with their monstrous King. And then, without warning, he was shoved here.

Something flashed in blue eyes.

Yellow haze.

Faceless black demons.

Piercing howls.

Inhuman shrieks.

"LINK!"

A rustling of a thick cloak.

A chameleon-shaped helmet.

Deranged laughter.

"LINK!"

The elfin boy panted. He grasped his chest. In a tired, frustrated voice, he uttered to the night, "What does this mean?"

0=0

In the morning the Titans arose. Robin was the first out, and immediately began his own preparations for breakfast. Cyborg and Beast Boy were the next, both heading towards the refrigerator with frantic expressions on their faces.

"No way, man! We are not having tofu waffles again!"

Indignant, Beast Boy shoved Cyborg aside with a gorilla's meaty arm. "Dude, tofu is the only way to go! I've decided to be a vegetarian, and you and your meat brigade can shove it!"

Link was still shaken from his thoughts from a few hours previous. "Morning, guys."

"Link, was it?" Robin mentioned over the sound of his cooking eggs. The white-skinned elf nodded. "Good to see you're well. You guys had it rough last night."

In the midst of a wrestling match between the android and the changeling, Starfire herself walked in. "Greetings, new friends! Might you like to partake in some nectar?"

Link scratched his green-capped head. "What's nectar?"

With his eyes widened, Robin shakily said, "S-she means mustard."

"Right…"

From the couch, Fox groaned.

"He is awakening!" the alien exclaimed.

"Good," Robin began. "Hope he's not aggressive at the moment."

Rubbing his furry head, Fox sat up. "Where… where am I?"

Putting down his breakfast implements, Robin cautiously approached the vulpine hero. "You're in Titan's Tower. Who are you?"

"Fox… Fox McCloud…" He winced. "Who… are you?"

Without a second thought, Robin responded, "I'm Robin, and we are the Teen Titans. Are you from Earth?"

Frowning, Fox said, "No."

Robin narrowed his eyes. "Then where?"

Fox sat up. "Are you familiar… with the Lylat System?"

0=0

Samus walked through the streets of Jump City cautiously yet aimlessly. Countless citizens passed by her without a second glance. She was in her full armored regalia, standing tall and bright orange. Her armor shone in the morning sun, and her arm cannon glinted in the eyes of many.

"Aren't these people frightened?" She uttered. "I could be dangerous." She looked above at the concrete jungle. "So… is this what Earth is like? It's quaint."

A faint hum could be heard from above. Gasping, Samus aimed her arm cannon up to the morning sky.

There was nothing.

An airborne ripple.

As Samus got into a battle-ready stance, citizens finally began to take note and watched her warily. Her gun pointed upwards. The ripple expanded. Samus fired off a pair of small beams at the ripple, but they disappeared. The people gasped. From the ripple emerged a gigantic leaf, flailing like a dangling human hand.

Within her helmet, Samus' eyebrows furrowed. Is… is it stuck?

Large, over-exaggerated spitting noises emitted from the ripple. Small brown pellets showered the streets as the citizens screamed and scattered. Samus grit her teeth and fired her cannon at the storm of what looked like mud fell to the ground. Her orange shots impacted some, but were unfazed by the energy. They fell all the same. As they splattered across the asphalt and concrete, they rapidly grew tree-like, with long stalks, and culminated in a large, spherical bulb on each stalk. Each of the bulbs divided in half, revealing that each bulb was a head of… something with multitudes of sharp teeth. In moments each bulb-beast-thing rose from its respective pile of goop and dripped brown globules of saliva.

Disgusting, she thought.

The bulbs bared their teeth and began inching closer and closer while gnashing their mud-covered fangs.

They lunged.

0=0

"So you're a pilot?" Beast Boy piped up from atop the stove. "On top of being a fox?" He frowned. He looks really familiar…

Blinking, Fox now stood in their midst. "That's right. I'm part of a mercenary team back in my galaxy."

Standing by a counter alongside Beast Boy, Cyborg asked, "So what brings you here? Our airspace doesn't have very many intergalactic invasions, much less a war."

Fox narrowed his deep blue eyes. "I followed my wingmate into what seemed to be a portal, hoping to save him. But," he looked distressed. "I ended up here and out of contact with the rest of my comrades, too."

"Do you have any leads on where they might be?"

"As soon as I crash-landed here, I tried opening communication lines with them, but they all failed, every single one of them."

Robin crossed his arms. "Well, we'll help in whatever way we can. I'm sure that—" Red lights flashed as sirens blared.

Descending from above, Raven merely uttered, "Where's the danger?"

Rushing to the computer, Robin quickly input several keystrokes. "Seems to be on Main Street and Third. It's affecting a large area."

Cyborg hopped over the sofa. "Who is it this time?"

The changeling shrugged. "All the major ones we've put behind bars."

Robin brought up an image. Puddles of mud littered the streets, and in the center of it all was a lone, orange figure.

"Clayface…?" the android inquired.

Calmly, Mario walked over and squinted at the photograph. "No. Piranha Plants…" He hopped up to the window. "Let's go," he called out as he jumped all the way down and onto the bridge leading away from Titan's Tower to the mainland.

"Since when did he give orders?" Beast Boy puzzled.

0=0

Samus did her best to blast away hordes of creatures. She grit her teeth beneath her visor. "There's just no end to these things! I blast them down, and then they rise back up!" She charged up a beam, aimed, and fired at a dangerously close one. It was about to clamp down on her arm cannon, but was blasted apart into globules of mud. She jumped up and somersaulted over a trio of bulbous mouths, firing her weapon at point-blank range. A green light on the back of Samus' left hand glowed, and she flicker her wrist towards an approaching maw. A thin surge of electricity shot out from the light and latched onto the beast. It froze. Samus pulled her arm back, yanking the muddy creature from its muddy roots and into the air. Samus grinned. She thrust her arm up, hoisting the creature up by an electrical thread, and then violently and swiftly urged it across multiple lines of muddy creatures.

Mud merged with mud, however, and the warrior's efforts were wasted. She recalled the electricity, ready to fire again.

Snarling, she pointed the light at another creature, latching another beam of electricity onto it. As she did so, a bulbous head latched its jaws onto Samus' arm cannon. She narrowed her eyes and tried to twist her arm towards the beast's maw. She grunted. "Damn it!" As she struggled, she found herself immersed in muddy jaws and muddy roots around her feet.

She was one step behind. Samus' left handed beam retracted. Some creatures trudged into the way of the beam, interrupting its course between Samus' hand and its muddy comrade. Grunting, she tried to jump up and free herself, but the oozing mouths pinned her down. She was trapped.

"Perfect. I'm being beaten by muddy weeds," Samus grumbled.

The monsters closed in.

A bright blue beam washed over her arm. "What?" she uttered.

A pair of green balls of energy impacted the muddy creatures clamping on her arm cannon.

Fireballs soared down and burnt away the ones that entwined her legs. Now free, she somersaulted forward, generating a field of serrated orange energy. She plowed through the air and the creatures ahead of her, obliterating them. She uncurled, planting orange-armored boots to the asphalt. The warrior's arm cannon widened, revealing trenches of purple electricity in its form. She began charging electricity at its muzzle and aimed it at an approaching plant.

"Titans," a distant voice called out, "GO!"

Robin soared down on a grappling hook, brandishing his bo-staff. He swung at a Piranha Plant about to bite Samus' head. "RRRAAAAUGH!" It was knocked backwards into another creature, which he promptly kicked with a steel-toed boot. "YAAH!"

As the Boy Wonder pummeled from behind, Samus fired off a ball of pulsating purple plasma, which promptly shocked a nearby plant and caused it to convulse and writhe in muddy agony. After a few seconds it disintegrated. Grinning beneath her visor, she charged up another to repeat, running down the street in the process.

Beast Boy charged in as a gorilla, swiping his meaty fists across hordes of muddy plants. He grasped one bulb in each hand and smashed them together, causing the mud to converge and wrap around the green beast's hands. He morphed into a kangaroo and swiftly kicked the opposition away. The combined muddiness collapsed into another of their kind, and they all sloppily reformed, baring ever-dirty teeth.

Meanwhile, Starfire charged in with blazing emerald eyes. She flung a pair of starbolts down to the ground, igniting a pair of muddy plants. "HAA! HAAA!" As they burned, they cried out in plantlike… agony, and slowly incinerated. The Tamaranian charged two more bolts and hurled them at more muddy monsters. Not every shot made their mark, but the creatures had to begin swerving their leafless stalks to and fro to avoid being preemptively fried.

"RAAUGH!" Cyborg merely obliterated waves of Piranha Plants with blasts from his sonic cannon. However, just as the beams bathed the creatures in sonic fury, more and more popped up from the sloshing remains of their brethren. They grew more intelligent, too, and just as with Starfire, the creatures soon were able to dodge the beams with relative ease.

At the top of a building, Mario simply tossed fireball after fireball down to the fray. "How did-a so many get-a here?" A spitting sound. A puddle of mud landed behind him from above. He brought both hands together and formed a large ball of orange flame, launching it at the rising stalk of mud. It incinerated with a gurgling howl.

"Azarath Metrion ZINTHOS!" Raven chanted. She extended a black energy-encased hand towards a group of advancing plants. Behind her, a pair of cars were covered from bumper to bumper in the same energy, being flung out to the heart of the crowd, crushing them into mush. "How do we stop these things?" The sorceress formed a black shield just as another group lashed their bulbous heads at her robed figure.

Link busied himself beheading several muddy plants in an instant upon the asphalt. He spun about on one foot, cutting down a single wave that bared their muddy teeth. The heads that fell splashed to the ground, where muddy roots absorbed them. Just as soon as the elven warrior slashed, the creatures re-grew their severed parts. "These aren't anything like the Babas in Hyrule…" He backflipped to avoid a lunging maw. In midair, in one quick motion he sheathed his sword, holstered his shield, and pulled out a bow and a sparking arrow. "They're more like Chus…" Squinting one eye, he let loose the projectile, striking the base of several Piranha Plants with a harsh explosion. To himself he noted that they weren't really like plants like Mario said earlier.

Fox stood atop a building opposite Mario. He whipped out a pistol and fired off precision, rapid fire laser bolts at random mud creatures. "Come on…" He shot down another. However, just as he guns one down with beams of light, another steps… oozes in its place. He growled. He turned, aimed, and fired at a descending mud puddle. "There's just no end to these guys!"

Beast Boy morphed back into elf form to gawk. "Dude, he's a good shot." Promptly, he was tackled by a charging mouth. "DAAH!" As the creature bit down, the changeling morphed into a bear, slashing up its muddy maw.

0=0

"I'm quite impressed, Bowser. Your army of Piranha Plants is proving quite durable," Slade mused. He pressed his fingers together in thought as he sat atop his darkened throne. The scant amber lighting gave no hint to Slade's companion save a very large silhouette. "Though I admit that they are not quite… aesthetically pleasing."

All the despot earned in response was a frustrated growl. "But with that stupid plumber they're going to make it such a cakewalk!" Ignoring the snide remark, Bowser then uttered under smoky breath, "Petey's doing a sloppy job, too..."

"Patience, Bowser. Patience."

0=0

Samus blasted a plant with purple plasma. It writhed, it shook, and it tried to bite. Samus jumped away, planting armored feet into the goopy craniums of two adjacent mouths. Thrusters in her back activated, and she somersaulted up and away from the fray. They just don't stop… She charged up electricity in her cannon's muzzle and looked around for a target. As she did so, she pointed it towards a pulsating, warbling, congregating mass of mud. She gasped. The two creatures she had just kicked down sloshed towards the mud pile, imprints of Samus' boots still intact. She fired at one of them, but it did not flinch. It didn't even convulse like it would have previously. It moved sloppily along the concrete like so many of its brethren.

Link was the first to bear surprise at the spectacle. He had just cut a stalk in two, and both pieces—the bulbous head and the roots—began messily marching past the green warrior without a thought to attack. He was just about to strike with his sword, but nothing struck first. Purely reactionary.

In like manner each of the Titans found their opponents breaking combat. Each and every one of them regrouped at an intersection before the putrid mass, gaping.

The Titans and their companions simply watched as the ooze writhed together in muddy glory. As the last of the plants joined in, the mass coiled up around itself like an upside-down tornado. The young heroes watched in awe (or horror) as the apex grew to the height of a skyscraper… up to the flailing leaf above.

Robin pointed. "Titans! Whatever it is, don't let it reach that thing!" He fired a grappling hook up to a building side as the flight-capable Titans took to the skies. Cyborg took point and aimed his sonic cannon up at the tip. Samus and Link did likewise with her own arm cannon and his bomb arrows. Mario found an alley between a nearby skyscraper and a shorter building and jumped from wall to wall. Upon landing on the shorter building, he hopped up on powerful legs and landed on the side of the skyscraper. He then vaulted off and landed squarely in the writhing mass. Mario charged fire in his palms and grunted as he planted them into the mud.

Nothing happened.

…To the creature, that is. From underneath Mario the creature formed a tentacle and without grace… promptly shoved the red-capped hero off and into the building side.

Cyborg fired beam after beam of sonic fury. The blue blasts seemed to have little to no effect on the creature, though. The concentrated sound waves managed to penetrate the goop through to the other side, leaving a gaping and dripping hole. The android pumped his fist and gleefully shouted, "Boo-ya!" Then his jaw dropped and his one human eye widened.

The giant mud tentacle's hole closed up with a sickening sound, then produced another tentacle, like a branch, and propelled it towards the titanium Titan. It quickly flicked away the android like a finger swatting a pesky insect.

Chanting quietly, Raven thought it her turn. Her eyes glowed a hot gray as she sat cross-legged in the air. Her robe billowed, and a pitch-black bird flew from her center. The bird spread its wings as if experiencing flight for the first time, and swiftly darted into the tower of mire.

A flash.

A hazy yellow sky.

"Merge light and shadow…

..eate Twil…"

Inhuman shrieks.

"LINK!"

A darkened castle. A poisoned moat.

"No one's home!"

A cave, lit with iridescent blue.

"Death to the Hunter!"

A meaty, dark blue hand. A slow-motion slash.

"RAAAAAAWWR!"

A single, emblazoned eye.

Robin's echoing voice. "Slade…"

Blue.

Crates leaking blue.

A red-eyed army.

"Go and do not falter, my child!"

A flash.

Raven was driven to the ground. Her bird-like soul self rushed back to her in a defeated squawk. Beast Boy floated down as a hawk, morphed back into elf form, and quickly asked, "Raven, are you alright?"

The sorceress rubbed her head. She groaned and uttered with a frown, "Yes, I'm fine…" She paused. "What was that?"

"I don't know, Raven, but we can't stop it!" Beast Boy cried. "It keeps reforming and reforming… it's like clay!"

Silence. Then Robin found himself sliding backward on steel. "Then we'll have to burn it down. Mario! Starfire!" He called. "Now!"

High above, Mario stood at the edge of the roof of a skyscraper. Starfire floated on the opposite side of the beast as its rising tentacle flailed in muddy majesty. He narrowed his blue eyes as he formed blazing orange fire in his hands. She gathered fiery green energy in her hands as the same lit her eyes in righteous fury. He brought his palms behind him, allowing the fire to grow to encompass his arms in a flaming orb. His eyes burned with yellow light as the Tamaranian's starbolt grew to immense sizes. With a feral yell, Starfire unleashed her giant, green fireball. "RRRAAAUUGH!" It exploded against the towering mud tentacle, creating a cloud of putrid smoke. She held her position in midair, examining her handiwork.

When the smoke cleared, she saw the mostly unharmed state of the mire. The area she had just attacked sprouted a muddy branch and struck her gut. She flew back with a grunt.

Mario took his turn, forcing his palms forward. "Oh yeah!" The two fireballs in his hand surged as twin dragon heads, spiraling around each other like a fiery drill. "Mario Finale!" the capped teen cried. As the twin heads rammed into the tentacle, it was forced to slide backwards on its wide, muddy roots. Starfire cleared out of the way as it slammed into the building. Steam rose from the creature's side and it writhed in what seemed to be… pain. Mario himself doubled over in exhaustion. "Mama mia…"

The tentacle halted its leaf-bound ascent and reached down to grasp Mario in its muddy clutch. He grunted and struggled, but the last attack did its number on the hero. He was too weak to break free on his own.

Robin growled, hurling explosive discs near the tentacle's tip. They ignited, but the muck stood (squirmed?) firm. Starfire followed suit, flinging bolt after bolt at the same location. Cyborg rushed in, firing his sonic cannon in concert. Samus and Link launched projectiles in like manner. However, all their efforts proved to do just about nothing, as the tentacle writhed just as awkwardly and mushily as before.

Instead of releasing the boy due to being attack, the tentacle instead threw Mario down to the ground. Cyborg panicked for a brief second before catching him in widespread titanium arms.

The tentacle then shot up to the sky and the dangling leaf. Robin called out, "NO!" Without heeding the voice, the speed of the muddy appendage grew immensely. In no time at all it reached the leaf, coiled around it, and tugged it through the portal.

The leaf was attached to a green body. It seemed to be wearing… some manner of underwear, red with white polka dots. Below that was a pair of ridiculously stubby legs (which one can only assume were legs), but on the opposite end of the body was an enormous, bulbous head. It was spherical, like the creatures from before, but it had color. Vivid color. The pattern adorning its "underpants" also covered its head, and a ring of yellow flower petals circled the back of its head, making it resemble some really strange kind of sunflower. Green lips framed dagger-like teeth lining the mouth. It jumped (somehow) out of the tentacle's grasp and onto the top of the appendage itself. It roared, loudly and proudly. As it did so, a flock of tentacles emerged from the tentacle's side, aiming to wrap themselves around each hero.

All except Robin and Link succumbed to this. The Boy Wonder hastily pulled out a staff, twirled it, and batted away a muddy tentacle. "I've dealt with freaks like you before…" He produced a taser. "And freaks like you don't like electricity!" He stabbed it into the advancing appendage, making it writhe in awkward spasms, but altogether it did very little. Robin continued to swing his staff in multiple directions, halting each advance of the tentacle.

Link worked in similar fashion, brandishing his blade and slashing the limb at every progression. One attempt found itself rushing past the blade, but met a metal shield. It then split itself at the point of impact, coiling itself around both the green-clad hero and his shield. Gritting his teeth, he angrily spun in the air like a steel cyclone, slashing up the tentacle.

0=0

"You're working too slowly, Petey!" Bowser called from beside Slade's cold throne. "I don't want to have to send the rest of the Koopa Troop just to get rid of these pipsqueaks!"

Slade rested his masked head on his knuckles. "It seems to me that you aren't familiar with the concept of faith." The two were watching the action from multiple viewscreens, up to and including the giant Piranha Plant's ungraceful entrance.

He was met with a growl. "He's a dimwitted beast… I can't have much faith."

Darkly, under his breath, Slade replied, "Much like someone I'm familiar with."

"What was that?!"

0=0

Link and Robin stood side-by-side as they launched explosives up at the plant up above. Though without warning, a flock of tentacles emerged from the main one and blocked the waddling Petey from harm.

Robin was struck with realization. "It's that plant! It's controlling the mud!"

Nodding, Link prepared three bomb arrows. He held them against his bow, aimed them…

...and was stopped by another bouquet of mud. It flung Link skyward, towards the gigantic maw of the overgrown Piranha Plant. Mouth open wide, Link fell into a very unsightly abyss.

"LINK!" Robin yelled. Below his feet marked the remnants of split tentacles. They sprang to life, enveloping the Boy Wonder's feet and reconnecting with its base. "Huh? WHOAA!" Dazed, he flew up high, but regained his focus in a critical moment.

It was too late. Petey swallowed him as well. It pat its belly with a leaf, as if just finishing a feast.

"No…"

The only sound then was Starfire's scream.

"ROBIN!"