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DISCLAIMER:I own neither Danny Phantom nor Teen Titans. Nor do I own the dialogue lifted from The Ultimate Enemy.
Chapter 17: The Truth
Raven saw a plump balding man address a crowd from a podium. "As most of you have probably forgotten, you will be taking the Career Aptitude Test on Saturday."
Flash.
Raven saw a human Danny with a reddish-orange-haired teenager in a kitchen. "Okay, I get it! You're brilliant, and I'm stupid, and I'll never be able to get as high a score as you! So far, I'm not even qualified to scrape the grease off the Nasty Grill!"
Flash.
Raven saw Danny Phantom hold up a folder in the air. "Hello, great future!"
Flash.
"I'm his friend, not his mom. He wants to cheat, he can cheat."
Flash.
"I've been charged with the task of eliminating your future, so that never happens." There was the image of the evil Danny destroying buildings and cars while people screamed and ran away.
Flash.
"Man! If this is what we have to look forward to, I'm definitely not taking the C.A.T." There was a destroyed city and three teens in the middle of the street.
Flash.
"I have a really bad feeling I'm the one responsible."
Flash.
"Sam, Tucker? It's not possible! This is a trick! You can't be alive!"
Flash.
"The big explosion at the Nasty Burger; you, Tucker, Danny's family. And it was all your fault!" Raven saw a red-suited dark-skinned young adult angrily accuse Danny.
Flash.
Raven saw the chilling sight of the evil Danny address Danny and his two friends. "You know, if I had an ounce of humanity left in me, this would be a very touching little reunion. But of course, I surrendered my human half a long time ago."
Flash.
"Sam, Tucker – RUN!"
Flash.
"Strange how one massive fireball of highly combustible condiments can ruin your whole future."
Flash.
"It doesn't matter if I go back in time or not. I'll never turn into you! Never!"
"Of course you will. It's only a matter of time."
Flash.
Raven saw a strange mechanical ghost with a second face in the abdomen area. "You're responsible for the horrible things that happened to your world and ours."
Flash.
Raven saw Danny address a grizzled old man with weary grayish-blue eyes. "What happened to you?"
Flash.
"All you wanted was to make the hurt go away. I honored your wishes."
"What happened to my human self?"
"Some things, my boy, are better left unsaid."
Flash.
"Maybe that's all anybody needs…a second chance."
Flash.
"Don't worry; I won't turn into that. Ever! I promise…"
Flash.
"What are you gonna do, waste me? What happens to you then?"
"You don't get it, do you? I'm still here! I still exist! That means you still turn into me."
Flash.
Raven saw the evil ghost split into four. "Your time is up, Danny. It's been up for ten years."
Flash.
"What makes you think you can change my past?"
"Because I promised my family!" Raven saw Danny unleash a powerful attack that threw the other ghost back.
Flash.
"I guess the future isn't as set in stone as you think it is."
Flash.
"You've given everyone else in your life a second chance. Why not you?"
Flash.
Raven saw Danny Phantom kneeling over an injured girl on a rooftop in a rainstorm. " 'You…can't escape the inevitable.' "
"He's free?"
Flash.
Raven saw the older ghost from before standing up on a rooftop. "Ironic, isn't it? You defeated me here…and we meet again."
Flash.
"You can't escape from the facts, Danny. When are you going to learn?"
"That may be true but even if you are me, I won't turn into you. When are you going to learn?"
Flash.
"Are you afraid you'll snap and kill me? Oh right. I forgot. You can't because then you'll die. Kind of defeats the point, doesn't it?"
"If I'm still here, doesn't that mean nothing happens? It means you don't die. It means you still turn into me. It means that everyone else dies."
Flash.
"He's not here anymore, is he?"
Flash.
"It looks like I don't need you after all. But that doesn't mean I can't make your life a living hell."
Flash.
"Just because I don't need you anymore to exist doesn't mean you're scot-free, Danny. You can turn evil.
"And you know it's true. Deep inside, you're scared of me. You're scared of knowing what you could be. Knowing that one bad choice could be your downfall. Accept it."
Flash.
Raven saw the evil ghost being overcome by the familiar bluish-white of Danny's Fenton Thermos. "The doubt and despair will turn you evil. It's only a matter of time."
Flash.
Raven saw a ghost girl floating with Danny in a small confined space. "You don't want to change. But you've already changed. You can't stop it. It's already done."
Flash.
Raven saw the evil ghost's face looming over her, laughing cruelly. "Ah ha ha ha! Hahahaha!" He stopped to smirk at her. "Miss me, Danny?"
Still smirking, the evil ghost lifted a black gloved hand and fired a powerful green ecto-blast at her.
"Aargh!"
She was forcefully thrown out of Danny's mind and fell back several feet, shivering. Her eyes were wide as she struggled to absorb the implications of what she had just experienced in Danny's mind.
"Raven…" Danny crouched before her, his face ashen and his blue eyes stricken. "Are you all right?"
Inhaling shakily and rather noisily, Raven got up abruptly, her hands clenched into fists. She needed to get away. She needed to…
"I…I need to think."
Raven didn't know where she was headed until she burst onto the roof. Then only after she had inhaled deeply for several seconds did her head clear enough for her to think.
Then it began hurting all over again.
No wonder Danny had never wanted to say anything. No wonder! On a scale of one to ten – one being good and ten being bad – Danny's secret was easily an eight or a nine, maybe even a ten.
It was horrifying…but she understood. After all, finding out that you were supposed to help your demonic father destroy the world did earn you some points. And it was very similar to Danny's dilemma. Very similar.
'I have to tell him.'
Oh yes, she did… She'd promised him after all.
But it didn't answer her question about what she'd tell Danny regarding his future. He was obviously worrying himself sick over it and her running out on him couldn't have helped. She'd be surprised if he wasn't panicking at the moment.
'Maybe he'll understand after I tell him. He's worried that he can't change the future…but he can.' Raven tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, feeling the wind brush against her. 'All I can do is try.'
It was so peaceful now. Raven closed her eyes and stepped onto the ledge of the roof, letting the wind billow through her hair and clothes.
She felt so free…
It was only right that she give Danny this same freedom.
Lost in her thoughts and the wild wind, Raven never noticed the black and white blur diving into the ocean.
Danny was sitting on the side of the wall of the tower, hugging his knees to his chest. A bitter wind nipped at his cheeks and swept his white hair back. The sideways view was slightly disconcerting but gave his busy mind something else to focus on other than what he had just done.
What he had just shown Raven.
How could he have done something like that? How could he have shown her everything from A to Z? Including what his friends didn't know? How could he?
Easy… He didn't want to deal with it alone. He'd dealt with it by himself for far too long. And the pressure and despair had weighed him down so much that he couldn't even act normally.
But why hadn't he told his friends? Why? They were his friends. The ones that had been with him from the very beginning of his journey as a half-ghost. The ones that had never left his side even once during his very tumultuous two years as Amity Park's ghostly hero. The ones that had forgiven him for every foolish act and every thought of stupidity.
His friends…
'They couldn't have understood,' Danny reminded himself, closing his electric green eyes. 'They didn't know…didn't know what he was – is capable of. But then I didn't tell them.'
He bit his lip, scrunching his eyes even tighter together. His ghostly glow flared brightly before he managed to control his rocky emotions and exhale shakily. His eyes opened slowly and he let himself drop off the tower and towards the rocks that bordered this side of the tower.
'They couldn't have understood…'
Danny free fell until only a few feet above the craggy rocks. He angled out his dive and skimmed the surface of the ocean, watching his reflection fade in and out of focus. It settled down as he drifted further away from the Titans' tower.
'I'm glad…' Danny realized with a jolt of surprise. 'I'm glad that I told her.' He dropped a gloved hand into the water, letting it slide through the element as he continued flying. 'But…' His teeth clenched and his eyes screwed shut as he suddenly plunged into the freezing water, barreling through the clear ocean at such a speed that his surroundings blurred. 'But why did she act like that? Why?'
"I…I need to think."
"R-Raven?"
"…It's okay, Danny. I…I just really need to think."
She'd practically run out of the room before he could say anything else. That was it. Just an "I need to think" and she'd left without a word of reassurance.
Danny abruptly stopped his flight and punched a craggy rock into bits. He didn't notice the green energy that left his fist. 'She said she'd understand!' His feet hit a large piece of the rubble from the rock; he immediately kicked it into dust. 'She said she'd understand!'
He opened his eyes, just realizing that he'd closed them before punching the innocent rock into smithereens. Blowing out a stream of bubbles, he flipped over to float aimlessly through the water on his back, staring vacantly upwards. A large gray fish swam lazily above him, ignoring the halfa in its midst.
'She only needed to think…'
Danny covered his face and curled up into a ball. Then blowing out another stream of bubbles he exhaled his last bit of oxygen, knowing that he would need to come up soon now that he no longer had any more air in his system. Still, he let himself sink down to the sandy floor, not minding the ever increasing pressure as he ventured deeper into the ocean.
He lay there for a long while until he noticed the ever increasing pain growing in his chest. A stray thought crossed his mind. 'How long have I been down here?' He placed his feet under him, preparing to push off. 'Long enough…'
With an explosion of sand Danny blasted out of the water and into the sun, feeling the rays warm his face. Water trickled from his hair into his face and he whipped his head back and forth, letting a thousand crystal drops fall back into the blue expanse. Inhaling deeply, Danny filled his lungs with much needed oxygen.
He was much calmer now but still apprehensive. It was a good thing that being in his ghost half meant that he could hold his breath as long as he had oxygen in his lungs. He still had to exhale but at a much slower rate than the average human.
Unconcerned, Danny drifted in the air on his back, letting the sun dry him off. When he felt sufficiently dry enough he decided that it was time to head back.
'Where am I?' Danny looked around him, trying to determine how far away he was from his temporary home. He couldn't see the tower anywhere; for all he knew he was in the middle of nowhere, hovering above an endless expanse of the ocean.
"I know I didn't fly that long," Danny murmured, disconcerted. He shaded his eyes, trying to see if there were any black dots on the horizon. "Where the hell is that tower?"
He wanted to be back there. And then he was. Danny stumbled in the air, blinking in amazement at the tower that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
No… Not out of nowhere.
He had teleported inadvertently. He had simply wanted to be there and he was, without any conscious act on his part.
This was getting too confusing for his taste.
'What is up with my powers?' Danny stared at his gloved hands. For a moment they were too bright to stare at. Then they faded back to their normal hue. "Huh," he muttered. "Freaky…"
Swallowing out of nervousness, Danny flew back to where his room was. He'd expected to get there in a couple of minutes at the leisurely pace he was flying at. Instead, he got there in thirty seconds and nearly rammed into the window. As it was, only his intangibility reflexes saved him from an ungraceful splat.
Danny braced to a halt inside his room, scratching the back of his neck as he pondered the recent development. If he'd flown so fast at that moment without realizing it, what did it mean for how fast he had been flying/swimming in the ocean?
He frowned as the math slowly worked out. 'No way… So that means I really was in the middle of nowhere.' Danny looked at himself in the reflection of the room's only light bulb. The distortion made his ghostly features look strange. "What is going on?"
It was a horrible mess. But it had been worse before. Even Danny could tell that much from the bags of rubbish lying at the side. There was a fine coat of dust covering everything and many of the things made out of glass, even the windows, were gone. The result was a permanent wind that kept blowing through papers and dislodging the lighter weights in the living room/kitchen.
"Danny!"
He flushed when Starfire dashed over to him. He was the one responsible for the damage. So why did she seem so happy to see him?
"Raven was asking for you," Starfire continued, oblivious to Danny's thoughts. "She did not stay to help us do the cleaning up for she said you and she had the unfinished business."
Danny's head jerked. Had he been gone that long? He looked for the clock but saw that it lay in pieces on the kitchen counter…next to the remnants of the poor sink.
"What time is it?" Danny asked uncertainly.
Starfire started, "It is—"
"About five," Danny finished after a glance outside, garnering a curious look from Starfire.
"Dude!" Beast Boy popped out from under the couch, completely dusty. "How'd you know? The clock's broken." He pointed unnecessarily to the sad state of the clock.
"Yeah." Cyborg emerged by the sink; he looked rather wet. "Starfire didn't even say."
Danny shrugged, uncomfortable under the scrutiny. "I've always wanted to be an astronaut," he said as an explanation.
Robin jumped down from somewhere Danny couldn't ascertain, landing next to the ghost teen and causing him to flinch in surprise. He was nodding decisively. "That explains it. It's a useful skill to have," he complimented.
Shuffling his feet, Danny changed the subject. "Um…you said R-Raven's asked for me?" He cursed himself for the stutter. 'Nice going, Fenton. Now they'll know that something's up.'
Starfire studied him for a long moment.
Danny squirmed slightly. "What?"
"You need not worry," the alien stated.
Danny started at that. "Worry?" He gave a nervous laugh. "Oh no, I'm not—"
Beast Boy cut him off. "Don't worry about it. Raven won't bite…"
Danny thought it sounded rather like he'd left off a "much". "It's not that…" He couldn't help but flush again as he saw the cracked plasma TV. It was swinging in the wild wind.
Beast Boy saw the look. "And don't worry about the TV either. Cyborg's wanted to get a new one anyway."
The Titan in question came up behind Danny. "It's true. This'll just put a jumpstart in my plans."
"There's…just so much," Danny confessed, shooting a glance at an overstuffed garbage bag. "Even the windows are gone and it looks like they've been pulverized into dust." He rubbed the back of his neck, scuffing the ground. The dust looked suspiciously shiny. "It's all my fault."
"That it is," Robin agreed charitably, earning himself glares from his friends. "But like Beast Boy said, I wouldn't worry too much about it. We've had worse."
Danny had trouble believing that. "Okay…"
"Seriously," Beast Boy spoke up. "If you're upset about a loss of control, I'll let you know that the same thing happened to me after I got exposed to a vat of dangerous chemicals." He grinned bashfully, lifting a shoulder.
Danny inclined his head. "That's part of the reason," he admitted.
"Is it because of what you and Raven talked about?" Starfire shrewdly guessed.
Danny bit his lip and nodded slowly.
"Whatever it is, Raven will understand," she assured him. "She has gone through much."
"All of us have," Robin muttered. That earned him a conk on the head from Cyborg. "Ow!" He rubbed the spot, scowling.
"I'm just worried about my future," Danny said in a low voice.
"The rest of us are, too," Starfire responded.
She clasped her hands together, her thumbs flicking each other nervously. "I once saw a disturbing one of my friends," she continued, her eyes fixated on her thumbs. "It's what would have happened if I wasn't there." Her eyes closed. "Robin was working alone; Cyborg couldn't leave the tower; Beast Boy was in a carnival side show; and Raven…" Here her voice dropped. "…Raven had lost her sanity."
Danny's eyes widened. "What?"
Starfire's green eyes met his own and she smiled sadly. "It was not a good future. I was scared it would come to pass…but the future Cyborg told me it was only because I had disappeared…disappeared into that future." She reached out and took Robin's hand, her smile happier now; Robin was also smiling. "I don't have to worry now because I changed it."
Looking at their intertwined hands, Danny missed Sam. He missed her vibrant and sarcastic personality; she always knew how to lift him up…even though she hadn't been particularly successful at that lately.
Still, Danny could see how similar Starfire's story was to his own. Yet he was unable to say anything as Raven appeared then.
"Oh good," she said, standing at the top of the stairs, the wind making her cloak billow around dramatically. "I've found you."
"This is my room." Raven let Danny in before closing the door behind her. "Ignore the mess. I haven't gotten around to cleaning up the books." Even as she said this, her magic was closing books and putting them on bookshelves.
Even though Danny was surprised to see this, he was more preoccupied with the many queer and fascinating objects Raven had accumulated. He was particularly taken with a pair of masks – one sad and one happy. It reminded him of the lectures Mr. Lancer had given on the Greek actors.
Raven allowed Danny a few more minutes before starting to speak again. "I promised you that I would tell you my story."
Danny snapped his eyes back to her figure. She was by a desk that had a mirror attached to it. Her reflection showed her looking down. Curious, Danny went up behind her to see what she was looking at.
It was an ivory mirror. The strange thing about the mirror was that there was no reflection, just empty black. An involuntary shiver traveled down his spine as he recalled being trapped in that same black in his recent nightmares.
Raven noticed. "Are you all right?"
Danny mentally shook himself. 'Geez, Fenton, get a grip! They're just nightmares!' He inhaled before answering, "Y-yeah. I'm listening."
Raven gave Danny a long considering look. "I was born on a different world; the world called Azarath," she finally said. "My mother and father were from two different races. My mother was a human and my father…"
Danny saw four red eyes blinking at him from the mirror. "Agh!"
Raven had her eyes closed. "…my father was a demon."
As she said these words, Danny found himself sucked into the mirror. "Aaaahhh – ow!" He'd landed on his face on something hard and cool. Picking himself up, he found himself staring at Raven's feet. "Er, Raven?"
"I probably should have warned you." Raven smiled apologetically, watching Danny climb to his rather shaky feet. "The mirror that we were standing by in my room is a portal into a reflection of my mind."
"Okay…" Danny turned in a full circle, absorbing his surroundings. It was unnaturally dark and yet he could see himself and Raven as clearly as if it were day. They were on a craggy stone path that seemed to be suspended in the darkness like the stone slabs in the Ghost Zone. Every now and then Danny could see what seemed to be arches on the pathway. "It's…nice."
Raven stepped over to the edge, looking into the blackness. "You don't have to lie."
"I'm not." An incredulous raised eyebrow from Raven made Danny quickly add, "Okay so I was stretching it a bit. Seriously, though, it reminds me a lot of the Ghost Zone so it's kind of familiar. Minus the green. And the floating doors." Danny realized he was going off track. "Anyway, you were saying?"
Raven gave a small smile before looking out again into the blackness. "When I was born a prophecy was made that after my sixteenth birthday I would destroy the world. My father would use me as a portal…and I would inadvertently be the cause for the destruction of the world."
"That's crazy!"
"Is it?" Raven smiled at him wearily. "In order to escape my fate, I left Azarath and arrived on Earth. I'd meant to spend my days alone but instead found my friends and joined the Titans. I never told any of them about my past. They still don't know the full story."
There was a long silence as she seemed to collect her thoughts. "On my sixteenth birthday Slade came to claim me on my father's orders. Robin probably told you about him."
"Slade? Yeah, he did. Sounds like a real nice guy."
"In any case, I tried to fight him. It only resulted in Slade branding me as the jewel that would be the portal for the world's destruction. He showed me a vision of the world turned to rubble, with my friends turned to stone in the middle of it."
Danny swallowed thickly, rubbing his arms. A sudden cold seemed to have hit him.
Raven didn't appear to have noticed. "Robin promised me that they would do everything to fight the prophecy, even though I warned him it was useless. Eventually, despite my friends' best efforts, it did come to pass. My father entered Earth through me and laid waste to the planet in a mere few hours."
Suddenly, out of the blackness, a large face with four glowing red slanted eyes emerged. The face was red skinned and the mouth was filled with fangs. The hair was white and framed the face. It snarled once at Danny.
"Aah!" Danny leaned backwards in alarm and fell over.
Then, the face disappeared.
Danny stared blankly at the space it had been in. "Huh?"
Raven had a hand on her arm and her eyes closed. "Don't worry. Whatever images are here is just what my mind makes up. What you just saw was my father."
"Your…" Danny swallowed. "…father." He climbed to his feet, wiping his forehead with an arm. "You said he destroyed your world. How…?"
"My friends again." Raven had a rare warm smile on her face. "Robin refused to give up and joined forces with Slade and the rest of the Titans to try and fight my father. They found me as a small child and almost completely amnesic. Even at that small age I kept insisting it was impossible to defeat him. It wasn't until I saw the courageous efforts of my friends that I garnered the courage to muster enough power to defeat my father."
Danny had crouched down on the edge of the stone path next to Raven. "So your friends helped you."
"If it weren't for them, this world wouldn't exist. You'd probably be dead or fighting my father."
For some reason, a shiver ran up Danny's spine thinking about that. "Your dad…"
"Trigon."
"Trigon…he was an evil demon, wasn't he?"
"One of the worst," Raven agreed.
"And this prophecy…" Danny sounded uncertain. It sounded too much like Clockwork and his viewing mirrors.
"Meant absolutely nothing after it actually happened. I thought I couldn't change my future and accepted it at the last moment." Her eyes closed. "It's not something I'm proud of. I practically gave up; only my friends kept fighting for me and for the world."
"So you changed your future, even though it was already predetermined."
"No, Danny. Our futures are what we want them to be. Prophecies are just maybes, things that might happen."
"Yours did happen."
"Because I let it," Raven said simply. "If I hadn't…if I'd fought against it…it might never have come to be."
'Like me and my future.' Danny looked down at his shoes. 'If I hadn't promised my family I wouldn't turn into him, it might actually have happened. If I hadn't fought…if things had turned out the same way…' He voiced his thought quietly, "You and I are really alike."
"We are, aren't we." It wasn't a question. "And it should tell you that your future isn't set in stone, no matter what your future self says."
"But then…why do I still have the powers that he has? The ghostly wail…ecto-electricity…" Danny swallowed. "Why would I have them if I can change the future?"
Raven looked like she was choosing her words carefully. "Your ghost half is in your genes and your powers develop as you grow and become stronger. Like muscles, you can make them stronger or weaker, depending on how you use them. When you're small…" She paused for a moment. "…you're weak and can't do much because you don't know how. But as you grow you become more used to using your body. And depending on what kind of sports you do, your body becomes specialized in certain avenues."
Raven brushed a hand through her hair. "You'll develop these powers as you get stronger."
"Did you ever think that maybe you're developing these powers because you're getting stronger? That we're getting stronger?" Danny blinked as the memory filtered into his brain. His ghost half had stood before him then…
"Danny?" Raven looked at him concernedly.
"Wait…" He sounded dazed, remembering more and more of the conversation that he'd had with his ghost half.
"Vlad didn't have all his powers when he first became half-ghost. He got 'em as he grew in strength."
"Control will come naturally," Danny said slowly, repeating what his ghost half had said before.
"Exactly," Raven said, slightly confused. It was slightly off topic but Danny had been gazing off into space mere moments before. "Danny?"
"So it's just because I'm getting stronger. Not because I'm turning into my future self." Danny seemed to be figuring things out.
Raven tilted her head forward in acknowledgement, still wondering what had caused this breakthrough for Danny. "So you understand?"
Danny smiled, looking like a great weight had been lifted off his shoulders. "Yeah. I think I do…"
The next day…
"Oh, oh! A little more to the left, Danny!"
"No, to the right!"
"Aargh! Why are you guys helping him?"
Cyborg and Danny were playing a racing video game on the brand new plasma TV Cyborg had somehow managed to get in the short span of the time since the last one had been destroyed. It was securely fastened to the wall and the wind that was still rushing through the living room/kitchen was unable to budge it. The windows that had been around the TV were replaced, as was the clock, sink, and mini-fridge. The many other windows had yet to be replaced, though.
Back to the video game…
Currently, Danny was winning by a nose hair. The rest of the Titans were at his back and egging him on to win much to Cyborg's disgruntlement.
Cyborg suddenly managed to get the lead after a hairpin turn. "Hah! Who's the better one now?"
Danny grinned and rammed right into Cyborg during the next turn, sending the half-robot's car flipping right over the edge.
"Wha—? No fair!"
Danny flew – figuratively – over the finish lane and leapt to his feet in triumph. "Yes! I won!"
"Great job, man, but watch the controller!" Beast Boy warned.
Because Danny had earlier mutated one of the controllers and completely wrecked it, he was only allowed to play under the condition that he put them down when he became too emotional. Raven had told him that even if he couldn't feel the ecto-electricity now, emotions played a large role in controlling powers. So far, he hadn't mutated anything.
"Ah…right." Danny placed the controller on the couch before giving Beast Boy a high five. "That was awesome! I've never played a racing game like that before!"
"Man, Cyborg!" Beast Boy turned to his friend. "You got owned there!"
"I was going easy on him!" Cyborg claimed.
"At a personal new best?" Beast Boy pointed to the time at the top left corner of the screen. "You've never gone that fast! Just admit it: Danny's better!"
"It'd be so much easier if I could actually race the car myself!"
While Beast Boy and Cyborg kept arguing back and forth, Cyborg's remark had actually stirred an old memory in Danny's brain about actually being in the game to take care of Technus.
"What are you thinking?" Raven asked, recognizing that far off look in Danny's eyes as a sign that the teen was thinking.
"Huh?" The rest of the Titans collectively looked over from the spat between Beast Boy and Cyborg to see what Raven was talking about.
"This is going to be fun," was all Danny said. He then grabbed Cyborg's controller and started a new game.
"Fun to rub it in?" Cyborg snatched the controller back. "Don't get so cocky. This time I'm going to win."
But before the game could start, Danny paused it on his controller.
"Hey! What's the deal?" Cyborg protested.
"You can't race without the game being on," Robin said, wondering what Danny was playing at.
"Yeah, I know." Danny transformed via a bright flash of bluish-white light. "But what I have in mind is so much cooler."
Without another word of explanation, Danny grabbed Cyborg, turned both of them intangible, and phased into the TV.
The rest of the team was stunned silent for a long moment, staring at the screen which still showed a paused video game.
"Okay…" It was Beast Boy who spoke. "Am I the only one who didn't get what just happened?"
Danny was discovering that phasing into a TV to play the game was very different from phasing into a computer. Luckily for Cyborg, he knew what he was doing and they appeared in the video game with no problem.
Once he was on stable ground Cyborg immediately peeled himself away from Danny to demand, "What the hell was that?"
Danny grinned at him. "Look around you."
It took Cyborg another moment to register that he was in the digital world and among the cars he had only dreamed of racing. "No way…"
Danny laughed at the awestruck look on Cyborg's face. "You said you actually wanted to race the cars, right?"
"But how is this possible?"
"Actually," another voice said, "I'd like to know that, too."
"Yagh!" Cyborg stumbled backwards at the miniature screen above them that showed the rest of the Titans peering in.
Danny was only mildly surprised, having expected something like that. "Okay. That's new."
"You've done this before?" Robin asked, his voice echoing.
"Just once when chasing after Technus. It was a really cool experience but I haven't done it since." Danny shrugged at the incredulous looks they were shooting him. "You've gotta admit, actually being in a role playing game makes it unfair for the other players. Especially if you've got ghost powers."
"I never thought about that," Cyborg said as Starfire squealed, "How chivalrous!"
"Er, thanks, Starfire." Danny turned to Cyborg. "Just hop in your car. Then we can get going."
"Oh man…" Cyborg stepped up to the car he had previously only been remotely controlling. Tears shone in his eyes. "This is like a dream come true."
Danny grinned and hopped into his, a green and black race car with an open top. Cyborg's was blue and white and covered.
"So…" Cyborg reverently opened his door, slid in, and closed it. "What are the rules?"
"No holds-barred race?" Danny offered. "Any and all powers acceptable?"
Cyborg frowned. "You'll cream me with your powers!"
"All right…" Danny pretended to think. "I'll just stick with my basic ghost powers. How about that?"
"Sounds good to me," Cyborg agreed, not knowing what kind of powers Danny was talking about.
"Okay… So intangibility, invisibility, flying, and ghost rays are good to go," Danny said cheerfully.
"Yeah," Cyborg agreed. Then it seemed to register what Danny had said. "Hey!"
"You've got all your gadgets!" Beast Boy's echoing voice reminded the half-robot.
"All right!" Cyborg grinned at Danny. "This time, you are so going down!"
Danny shot him a wink and gave a thumbs up to their audience. "You can play it!"
With a loud blare, the game was on. Cyborg immediately floored his car, gaining the edge on his opponent. "Booya! This is awesome!"
Ghostly laughter floated around him. Danny materialized next to Cyborg, neck to neck with the half-robot's car, showing that he had just turned invisible.
He gave Cyborg another grin and shifted a gear, pulling ahead suddenly.
"Oh. Bad idea," Cyborg muttered, noting that a turn was coming up. He gave his car a little more gas and transformed his right arm into a cannon.
The moment the two entered the turn, Cyborg unleashed his attack.
"Ha!" The blue attack hit the halfa's car dead on, knocking it right over the edge. "Yes, baby! I've still got it!"
"You have got good aim. I'll give you that much." Danny rose up, driving next to the street. "But you probably want to check to be sure I'm down for the count."
"What the—!" Cyborg gawked at the sight. "You're flying!"
"Yep." Danny curved with the street, lifting his left hand, which was flaring green. "And so are you."
"Huh?" Cyborg didn't appear to register the mild threat until Danny's ghost ray hit him on the side and tipped him rich over the edge of the barricade. "Agh!"
'That was more powerful than I meant to make it,' Danny thought, slightly confused. 'It shouldn't have tipped him that far over.'
While falling, Cyborg experienced a sudden displacement and abruptly found himself about ten meters behind Danny and still racing. From experience, he knew that he had two lives left.
He transformed his right arm back into a cannon and fired directly at Danny's behind. Because he'd been absolutely quiet and hadn't said a word, he didn't expect the car and Danny to turn intangible, allowing the sonic shot to shoot off into the distance.
'How did he?' Cyborg mentally ran over everything he'd done. 'There's no way he could've known I'd do that unless he's psychic!'
Danny, of course, wasn't psychic at all. The whirring of the cannon had alerted him to Cyborg's intentions and he'd simply gone intangible. This was turning out to be more fun than he'd thought. He had to do this with his friends once he got back.
The aggressive revving of the engine behind him informed him that Cyborg was getting impatient. The course they were on was almost finished and the Titan wasn't eager to lose again.
Maybe a small taunt would get him more fired up…
"Hey, Cyborg!" Danny called over his shoulder. "Did you know that this is my first time actually driving a car? Never really had to before since I could fly everywhere."
That did the trick, as Cyborg cut the next turn so close that he caught Danny up.
"Race to the finish?" Danny asked, not taking his eyes off the track.
"You bet! Except it's not gonna be much of a race!" Cyborg aimed his cannon again at Danny.
Danny acknowledged the challenge. "Wicked!"
Then, moments before the finish line, as Cyborg shot and Danny turned intangible, their world went black.
"Are they…inside the TV?" Robin gaped at the screen, where Danny and Cyborg had very clearly reappeared.
"What the hell was that?" They all jumped at hearing Cyborg's voice come from the TV.
The white-haired ghost on screen grinned. "Look around you."
Cyborg did and seemed stunned. "No way…"
Danny laughed. "You said you actually wanted to race the cars, right?"
"But how is this possible?"
"Actually," Robin murmured, "I'd like to know that, too."
The sound of Robin's voice seemed to startle Cyborg, as he let out a yell and stepped backwards in alarm.
Danny simply looked mildly surprised as he looked right at the onlookers. "Okay. That's new."
Robin, being the boy wonder he was, caught onto the insinuation. "You've done this before?"
When Danny answered affirmatively they all gaped at him. He simply shrugged. "You've gotta admit, actually being in a role playing game makes it unfair for the other players. Especially if you've got ghost powers."
As Cyborg talked and Starfire squealed loudly about Danny's chivalry, Beast Boy muttered enviously, "I wouldn't care. It'd be awesome being in Kingdom Hearts."
"Danny's got a streak of fair play about a mile wide," Raven said in response to Beast Boy. "He wouldn't take advantage of something like that ability because he'd be more in control than the other players. This is different as they're both in the game."
"So not fair," Beast Boy groaned, watching Cyborg hop into the car. "I want to do that."
"Ask him then," Raven suggested unthinkingly.
The two players were in the middle of outlining the conditions of their race. Danny was saying, "I'll just stick with my basic ghost powers. How about that?"
Raven remembered the talk she'd had with Danny about ghost powers and sighed as Cyborg quickly agreed. "He has no idea what he's getting into."
"What do you mean?" Starfire asked.
Danny answered the question for her. "So intangibility, invisibility, flying, and ghost rays are good to go."
"Oh." Starfire seemed rather subdued. "That doesn't seem particularly fair," she added softly, seeing Cyborg's stunned surprise as he fully realized what he'd gotten himself into.
"I said Danny has a wide streak of fair play but he does like to have fun," Raven said as Beast Boy encouraged Cyborg. "Playing tricks and confusing his opponents are two ways to do so."
They saw Danny give Cyborg a wink before looking back at them, giving a thumbs up. "You can play it!"
Before any of them could reach for the controller, the game started. They turned around to see who had done it, keeping half an eye on the race. They were surprised to see that it was Wulf, who had woken from his nap.
"Loud," he said in a guttural voice. He continued in Esperanto. "Aŭd li diras 'play' tial mi faris." ("Heard him say 'play' so I did.")
Naturally, the only one who understood was Beast Boy. "You know how to handle a video game controller?" he asked, surprised. He almost missed the surprise Cyborg had when seeing Danny suddenly appear next to him.
"Press play." Wulf held it out, demonstrating. "Simple." He gave a shrug.
"Whoa!" Robin exclaimed. "Wasn't that overkill, Cyborg? You have no clue if he's going to survive that!"
"What?" Beast Boy looked at the screen and saw that Danny was missing. "What happened? I can't believe I missed that!"
"Fantoma estos monpun," Wulf asserted. ("Phantom will be fine.")
Sure enough, Danny popped up next to Cyborg, flying next to the track.
"See?" Wulf grinned wolfishly.
The Titans – except for Beast Boy – glanced among each other, not sure what Wulf had said before except that it had been about Danny.
"Man!" Beast Boy gripped Raven's arm so tightly she winced. "Danny just knocked him straight off!"
"Cyborg did the same to him," Starfire said. "And he is uninjured."
"But has two lives left," Robin observed. "I wonder what happens when they run out."
They saw Cyborg try to launch his failed sneak attack on Danny.
"Is he psychic?" Beast Boy asked, confused. "Cy didn't make a sound!"
"Cannon loud," Wulf commented. "Phantom heard."
"That makes sense," Raven said. "I wonder what other talents he has."
"Did you know that this is my first time actually driving a car? Never really had to before since I could fly everywhere."
"That was mean," Starfire said, hugging her arms. "He was…rubbing Cyborg's face."
"Fantoma estas fama por liaj humuraj rimarkoj en batalo," Wulf said. "Estas lia metodo por ..i ekscitaj liaj oponantoj." ("Phantom is famous for his witty remarks in battle. It is his way of exciting his opponents.")
As he was the only one there who understood Esperanto, Beast Boy was relegated to the role of translator.
"Well, it seemed to work," Raven said. "Cyborg is back in the race."
"And about to fire again!" Robin pointed out unnecessarily, leaning forward.
"Danny can see that happening!" Starfire said, also leaning forward.
"They're almost at the finish line!" Beast Boy gushed, his fingers digging into the couch. Raven had moved in order to spare her arm the agony.
Then, all of a sudden, the video game abruptly shut off. The screen flashed black and the turned on again to an emergency news broadcast.
An announcer with squinty eyes and a really big mouth stood there behind a desk with Jump City in the background. "We interrupt your program to bring this emergency news broadcast. The dangerous criminal Mumbo Jumbo has escaped and is on the loose." Next to the announcer's head were two photos: one of an innocent looking balding guy and the other of a blue-skinned masked man with a devilish grin and black top hat. "Caution is advised. The criminal is considered armed and dangerous."
"We have to go after him!" Robin said immediately as the screen turned black again.
"What about Danny and Cyborg?" Starfire said worriedly. "They are still in the TV!"
"How are we supposed to get them out?" Beast Boy started inspecting the TV. "We're not ghosts!"
Their dilemma was solved as Danny exited the TV with Cyborg in tow.
"Sorry," he apologized, letting Cyborg go. "I didn't expect that to happen."
Starfire glomped both of them. "You are all right! We were all worried!"
"Erk…" Cyborg gasped. "Can't breathe…Starfire."
"There's no time to celebrate, though," Robin said, standing by his girlfriend as she stepped back hurriedly and apologized. "Mumbo is on the loose."
"Mumbo?" Danny raised an eyebrow, rubbing his sides as he did. "Seriously? And they have trouble keeping a guy named like that locked up?"
"He's a dangerous criminal," Robin said with a slightly defensive tone.
"Who apparently needs to be locked up in the loony bin," Danny muttered. "We going then?"
"We'll be going. You're staying," Robin said. "Mumbo is our business."
Although he really wanted to object, Danny could see the sense in what Robin said. He was about to let the subject drop when a stream of cold air forced its way past his lips, giving the impression that he was smoking. At the same time he felt horribly cold.
"What is that?" Beast Boy asked.
"M-my g-ghost ssse-ense," Danny stammered, blowing out more blue air. "B-but this…" He coughed, expelling out the last of it. "…is new."
Raven's eyebrows disappeared into her hairline. Now that was interesting. Why would his sense suddenly change? "How new?"
"I first noticed when Wulf appeared. Then it really made an appearance with that ghost."
"So only after the Puppet King," Raven mused.
"Do you have a reason why?"
"Maybe. I need to think some more."
"But first, we've got that Mumbo Jumbo to take care of," Cyborg said, looking at something on his arm. "He's downtown."
"Mumbo Jumbo," Danny muttered disbelievingly. "Now I've really heard it all."
"All right, Titans," Robin announced, "move out!"
"I'm coming with," Danny declared. "I'll handle the ghost."
"Mi estas rezultanta ankaŭ," Wulf said, standing directly over Danny. ("I am coming as well.")
"Fine," Robin allowed. "You know what to do."
Danny and Wulf shared a glance as the Titans left the living room/ kitchen. Then they both flew out of the tower via the windows.
Although the Titans knew where Mumbo was, they would have to look for the ghost.
Thanks to Starburstia, Midnayuki, Hyperpegasi, Shiva the Sarcastic, Copa-Phantom, Serlenia, Aqua-Princess of Imagination, PinkPanther123, Datara, Garnet Sky, fadedphantom, SpartanCommander, Ookami-242, Samara, Biisaiyowaq, Leo112, AgniFox, iamnuff, Pichicha123, SpiderPhantom, foxglove66, 15dragondream, hypersreak, Sin - NaMe, LaZella, beastboyzzzz, xKROWEx, Brad W, and Kung-fu Blaziken for reviewing the last chapter! I have never had so many reviews for one chapter before. Thanks so much!
Samara:(evil laugh) Guess you'll have to find out! ;) Cliffie here isn't much better.