Teen Titans – Side Stories and After – Snippets; Foxes Upon Foxes and Magical Girls Galore

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GOOFY PIECE WHERE YOUNGER TWEENS AND KID AMI ARE AT DAMIAN'S MANOR FOR THE WEEK WHILE OPENING UP A MAGICAL BOX IN THE EVIDENCE ROOM OF GRANDPA WAYNE'S. HIJINKS ENSUE AND THIS IS RIGHT AFTER PART TWO ARC. THE KIDS ARE STILL YOUNG TEENS AND AMI IS STILL ELEVEN, AIDEN AND DAMI AND ANNA ARE BARELY SIXTEEN, WHILE AVA CURRENTLY IS LEARNING ABOUT HER ROLE IN THE SNOWY BARREBS RIGHT BEFORE NEW GEN FESTINATIONS ARC. SO THEY HAVE POWERS, BUT UT GETS MESSY WHEN DAMIAN FINDS OUT HOW MUCH HE CAN'T STAND HIS FAMILY. ( Based on Jumanji)

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YOUR TURN TO PLAY

/

"Why did you invite them here, father?" Damian stomped into his caregiver's study to complain about the darnedest of things.

"Dick and Kori needed to have a long discussion with the guardians and Titans. Their family can't all participate since Roku still wasn't completely banished."

"So, they came here to cause even more destruction." Concluded the grandson of Ra's Al Ghul. "Anna won't be joining us, will she?"

"She is taking over for Ava, so she is going to show up." Bruce looked at his wrist watch and scratched his head. "I'm going to need to head back to the office –

"Let me come along. Timothy will be fine with handling Wayne Industries,' affairs, beside Lucius." Damian proposed with a nod to his betters. "Those children are supposedly too. Dangerous. Your father's home could be destroyed by the time they –

"You said that about Jonathan, and Stephanie. You can't just let them be? Look." Bruce got up from his seat and explained as best he could face to face with his young son. "They won't bother anyone and they are our family. I made a vow to not turn anyone we trust away from that door. That part isn't up for you to decide."

"But! Anna is a menace and so is that cartoon loving freak, Amelia…They both –

"I know you have trouble dealing with women. Look at how we are constantly living, Damian." Bruce put a hand to his son's stiffened shoulder. "Just, be a good host for as long as I know you can. Anna and the others are just like you. They have high expectations placed onto them and have only family and friends to turn to in the toughest moments. I'll be gone and back by supper. Have Alfred save me a plate if you could." Bruce removed his hand, snatched up his briefcase and cell phone before heading towards the door exit and ushering Damian to follow him down the hallway.

"It is not women, father…yet brainless children I do not understand fully…" Dami muttered to himself as he took off to seek the stairwell, both headed to the main entrance of the manor.

Bruce had learned a bit more with each crease he fastened upon his brow, each child he took in to save from a life of woe and lack of clarity in their everyday experiences. First it was Dick Grayson, then Jason Todd and later his replacement; Tim Drake. Stephanie Brown was dismissed from the role, and that lead to Cassandra Cain becoming a Black Bat or something stupid and convoluted like a comic strip dropout. There was Duke, who was Batwing or something of that reasoning. A future Robin that didn't count. Kate Kane who was Bat Woman currently and well before them all?? BAT GIRL. Now Oracle or Barbara Gordon, his father's very first unofficial partner without equal status at the time, who tagged along for experience.

Who else, you might ask? The current and best Robin.

Damian, Al – Ghul Wayne. That's who. He didn't care that Dick had been a temporary Batman when he was still wearing those ugly Christmas colors. He's swapped to a grey, black, red and silver addition since then as he was certain that traditional shades of Capitalism's qualms with today's society could rot –

"Your guests have arrived, Master Bruce."

"Go let them in, Alfred. I'll meet you in just a second." Bruce had Alfred tend to the man's extended family, while Damian in his day clothes frowned up at his father who understood far too little.

"Remember. They just gained their abilities and don't want anything to change as much as we all do, so treat each of your cousins with respect as you would any of our own family of "weirdos." Got that, Dami?"

"Yes, father." Dami sighed and relented, until he'd have the opportunity to bust those brats for causing a riot in his abode.

"Good, make sure to leave room at the table for Dick, he'll be coming up to see everyone once his shift is over. It's his vacation too, so try to be polite. Your brother is dying to see you too."

Dami clicked his tongue, thinking of how that prodigy might pinch his cheeks if given the chance. Next time, hugs were strictly off limits. Grayson just melted whenever he saw the poor kid wallowing, as if he needed to fix a problem that didn't require his "unique" ability to mediate between the bats.

Dumb hippie, the lot of them infecting his father with their pacifistic integrity. It was mortifying!

Ruffling his son's hair, Dami grunted and swatted the older adult's hand away. "I'm too old to be coddled, father. Go to work. I'm fine here with Pennyworth." He insisted, so Bruce shrugged and stepped out.

Not before greeting and hugging his three grandkids with a reserved chuckle for later's meal. Damian saw this and made a gagging sour face before Alfred swatted him on the skull. Right where Bruce's reassuring touch had since lost its effect over his good mood.

/

Dami sat on one sofa in the den while his three trouble making teen cousins sat on an opposite lounge directly across from his own.

"So…. how's Gramps and the…family" Aiden tried to break the ice, yet icy as Dami was, Anna saw that he was too busy strategizing his next move.

"Hey, cuz." Anna bobbed her head to the annoying imp.

"Yes, Grayson."

"You still like to play chess?"

/

Dami had a brilliant idea, so terrific in fact that his eyes lit up not at the idea if chess but….

Of another game that they could play.

Constantine had loaned Bruce a board game that was survival and quest themed. For evidence…of course!

It could manifest objects similarly to the book of Mani – whatever but not as powerful. If you drew a card that read "you've wandered upon a family of meerkats "you'd grow a longer neck or ears for that turn, then the next person would go. It was just something silly to make the game more realistic., He'd never put them in any real danger, but to scare them out of his house in one throw of the die?

Was worth a shot.

"I'll go fetch my additional games we can play…they are in my room. Stay right here."

Zipping off, Dami went to the locked evidence room only a few floors over from the bat's basement. The majority of boxes had collected dust, yet Dami had memorized the correct order of each crate as he clicked off the lid and lifted out the rectangular item with a devious smirk. "Now, you'll see why no guests should bother to play my games. You'd surely lose." He blinked, verifying that he was sounding more like an Al – Ghul….

Shaking his head, he hurried back to a yawning Ami, and Aiden with Anna who were trying to be as polite as they'd been brought up to be.

It was no more than an extra ten minutes as Dami shut the door, keeping it locked up since this…would be more than enough to pass the time.

He rushed to the curtains and shut them, putting on the side table lamps as he searched for the low standing table between their seats to set his board game.

"Obscure…. what is that? Latin?" Anna turned her head sideways to read the cover of the box. The funny thing was that this…didn't look like a new board game or a board game for that matter…

It came in a wooden decorated box that had a regal design, and out of the box was a cloth map in worn linen and pieces of metal and wood shaped as animals…

"Is this from your mom, Damian?"

Ami was sure to ask, being the daughter if a science geek and a well-read former playboy. He hoped to be able to let her down gently as he carefully answered the grade schooler's question.

"My father travels from time to time. No, this is a…an antique, Amelia. You'll see it us very much a modern Candy – Lane or even Uno – Dos." (Copyright.)

"So, is it age appropriate?" Aiden scratched his hair and picked up a wooden lion from the pile of small pieces. "Each player much chose a piece to perform for them." Damian recited from the small scroll paper of instructions that he squinted to read in Swahili.

"The board must be set up; nothing must be out of place. Well, shall we start? Who hasn't chosen an icon to represent their –

"Hold up." Anna took the scroll away from Dami with a swipe. "This isn't in English. I hope you know Swahili as much as Astarte taught us. She's a queen from the time this stupid thing was made."

"So?" Aiden scoffed and scoped out the start of the game on the linen mat as Dami smoothed it out for the blonde. "It's old. Picking up sticks and Bears – care is old. Does that mean you forfeit, Grayson?"

"I…. YOU'RE ON." She grabbed a falcon made of pewter and set it beside her brother's totem.

"I'm ready to make you eat those words, little prince."

"Same here, princess." Dami smirked back, Aiden ducking his head to sit beside Ami as the youth didn't know which totems being to pick.

"Um… aha! EYE EYE!!"

"You must be mistaken." Dami grunted and snatched up the scroll from Anna quickly. "There is n –

The heroes looked to see a white wooden animal with one long finger and bulbous eyes. Anna gawked and Aiden chuckled at the luck this kid could pull. "It's magic!" Ami grinned, holding the piece up proudly as she placed it beside her siblings, Dami flushed by the last pieces…

A wolf, a cheetah, a crocodile and…. that was…a plant??? (Joke from Constantine life in the real-world series I did. Dami got manipulated by a nymph daemon inside a wide-spread illusion when he swiped one of John's tomes and ended up in danger. Bruce never wanted that memory to come again, so he had John erase it. Now, it's just an Easter egg from other fics I did.)

Dami gulped, trying to avoid…

"I choose…the Crocodile. Its stealth is impressive for a beast of its ability."

"Are we done? What about the die? The hour glass or something, and cards! –

"I'M GETTING TO THAT." Dami huffed and set his silver topped croc onto the mat impatiently. "Cards …. we have to go by the –

"Here they are!"

Ami dove in and…why was it so hot…

"OUCH!"

Anna gripped Ami's finger to look at it, the pre – teen whimpered as her sister tried to observe the small prick with her own judgmental eyes. Those eyes soon fell back onto Dami with great ire.

"Ah, is this thing cursed?? Did you pull out a cursed relic??"

"Never! It was…. just let me read!"

"Oh, that's why. Ami, this box has staples. Be careful."

Aiden's words had the Wayne boy pausing, unsure of that was a valid explanation.

Dami looked inside, there was no way…

Had it, really been magic?

"THE RULES." Anna seethed and dared to eye Damian over if he were fibbing to them. "What's next."

"Next…the cards are called "outcome cards." He read and swallowed a little. Anna was onto him. Served him right fir pulling out an East African scare tactic!

"There are more than thirty in total…and…"

"And, what?" Ami sniffed.

Dami read the line as his grip attempted to steady. "And, growing. You will be victorious only once you have made it to. The last square…alive…"

"Cursed."

"It's a survival game, Annie." Aiden teased and went to look at the deck before shuffling it.

"Can I do it, big bro?? Please! I'm super lucky with things like that."

"There is no such concept." Damian rejected the idea of magic, mostly because it was to religious belief and lacked logic as the modern sciences had proven time and time again. There was not a thing called luck, only probably and basic fate. Death and life. That was it.

"Just let her shuffle. Don't spill them on the floor, Ami." Anna warned the youngest, her handle on the things as warm and loving as kneading a pastry dough to create something marvelous.

Dami groaned as he awaited the deck to be returned to its spot on the mat. "It said "everything where it is supposed to be" so don't mess with the rules." Anna warned her family.

"There is no such –

" Yello? WE just fought an evil half demon and my freaking brother is actually related to the sane creep we sent packing. Magic here isn't your kind of magic, but if we say it is." Anna picked up the die from the place Dami had sneakily rested it by. "Then you'll just have to except that you're not the smartest being in the universe anymore."

She let the die fly; it first landing on a six before flipping unexpectedly to land on a one.

"WH –

"AS I was saying." Dami thought this was just probability at work, yet Ami bit her lip and pouted. "We can't get mad. The animals don't like loud noises."

Aiden river a high brow as Dami frowned and waved for Ann to pull a card.

"Ones don't pull cards it says."

Dami blinked.

Aiden nodded at the characters, not seeing the big picture "Huh…yep, it has a sym –

"It says exempt from drawing an outcome. Wait one turn to roll again." Anna grunted and sat back; the room as dull as it was until Aiden pulled his turn up from rolling a four.

"You are walking through a clearing, when you soon hear a roar from above you."

"Roar?"

"Not a squawk?" Ami tilted her head to ask.

Dami shook his head, hand going out…. until he saw eyes stop a large piece of furniture by the mantle.

"DON'T. MOVE."

Anna's eyes lit up with her sweet redemption as she pointed to Dami with a showy grin. Her win! It was a cursed board game!

" Aha!"

" Shhhh !!"

The roar grew as the animal stalking them had its tail brush past Aiden's shoulder.

"LION."

"Mew…?"

"No, Ami." Whispered Anna with her body as thought as a breadstick. About to crack…

"I can distract-

The die turned as the kids saw it fly up, earning a new side as the thing flopped, revealing that and a card too, as it "magically" revealed its face to them on both. Die and card.

"YOUR TOTEM HAS ARRIVED TO GUIDE YOU. DO NOT LOSE THIS LESSON."

"I. WAS. RIGHT."

Aiden shivered as the big lion muzzled his ear, wet nose rough and his skull?

So very, very fragile.

"They won't hurt us, if it's here to…protect him." Dami gulped and fumbled for the scroll. "It never said –

"Manifests the player's outcome." Anna muttered. "You missed the fine print, my butt."

"I…I thought it was-

"Illusion or not…. can we leave the –

" Aah !"

The lion roared in Aiden's poor ear; his fuzzy teen head already this close to rolling, just like the die Dami was still holding onto.

"I'LL GO." Dami growled like the beast who was busy breathing hot air over Aiden's blonde spikey locks. "It's an illusion, which means we can't get hurt…it was supposed to be thrilling to play, I thought."

"Haunted board games are still a form of bullying." Ami bobbed her head to add. "Did you want to –

"MY ROLL!" Dami let the die go as it landed on a seven, the card there for his fated outcome as the young Wayne did not hesitate to draw.

"The river is wide and the currents have not steadied. You are about to meet your guide for braving its watery home world."

"What –

The squeeze on Anna's arm as Ami screamed in a high voice and stood up on the couch, had Dami's eyes darting to look down.

Water was pooling below them and rising quickly. They would have to open a window!

" Gah! I thought you were on our side!"

The lion batted Aiden without using its claws, big as bear paws as he just acted as if this were a dog. Not a predator from eons ago in time, whil Dami moved himself over to see over the side, at the back of something with warrior plates. He gasped and sat up, his arms round him as he gritted his teeth. "It is just a trick, not magic –

"It's a curse, Dami. You have to play the entire game and lose with us to get out. Thanks a lot!!"

A tail of a shark's might shoved Anna's sofa as both floated without sinking, both small boats inside the decent sized room that had become a wading pool for Damian's totems ally of the cards.

"Tell your dinosaur to not rock the boat, idiot!"

"I won't!" Damian spat as the croc mimicked his unease while Ami tried to warn them about their tempera and the deck's other rules.

"TOO LOUD!" She shouted, the lion roaring out, as Aiden was batted back and the animal moved to terrify Ami.

"M -MY TURN!" She whispered until the cat reclined back against the back of the sofa. A miracle it had not tipped them over in to the water with Dami's new guide to this death trap board game.

"The die rolled a five this time as Ami took a deep breath, moved her piece and took a card from the deck on the table top.

"You've just been rewarded another turn abd your guide is…happy to see you visit it in the canopy??"

"Oh, heck-

"No!!"

"AMI!!"

She shot up into the ceiling on a tree branch as one formed out of plain air, must not covering the ground as Ami opened her eyes to see a lemur of a sort looking at her upside down.

"Eye eye- kun!" She giggled as the thing and she were almost too cute to stare at, even the lion seemed content as Aiden breathed a sigh. Anna called to Ami to come down, but she just giggled and waved back.

"I'm fine! Eye eye says I should trust it!"

Damian crunched out his hair in hand and bawled his fists, bellowing out an angry growl. "This…is crazy!! There is no way we can fix things directly before Pennyworth finds out…"

"Then." Anna swiped up the die, content on seeing Dami learn his lesson for now. "Play the game, see if magic is all voo – doo, cuz."

/

She rolled another one and slapped her thigh disappointedly.

Aiden shook his head and the lion let out a sound akin to almost a laugh. Dami saw the croc roll onto its belly as he held his and couldn't stop laughing. Ami pouted and felt that it was unfair of everyone to be treating her sister so rudely.

"Can she roll again –

The lion roared and Aiden had to rub his ears with a groan. "Ow…do what he says. He's the king…so loud…."

"No, we go turn by turn. Right, prefect?" Anna was not a gambler, but she did have the gall to risk everything for her family. After facing a dragon lord and a plethora of demon creatures from another dimension, she deserved some of the credit.

"Suit yourself." Dami cockily shrugged and Anna passed the die to Aiden, who was sure he could live with skipping a turn. Not getting to move his legs was the least of his worries. Or losing his head.

"Rolled an e…wait…is that!"

The die jumped up and ANOTHER symbol had entered the dodecahedron of die. "A baboon face…monkeys, right Ami?"

"YSH!"

Aiden looked up and slapped his brow, the lion's tail swishing by the entertaining face of a girl with a piece of fruit in her mouth. Men and monkeys or lemurs. How interesting…

"Where did…don't eat the interdimensional food! You know the rules."

Ami groaned and handed her never even bitten treat her companion as it stuck a rather long finger into the mango with ease.

"Cool!!" Ami was delighted, yet the rest were appalled by the creature's…. disposition.

"Never speak of this, again …got it? We were trying to tame the wild child that was, Ami. If they find our bodies…"

"Shut up and finish your turn, dummy." Dami ignored Anna's dirty looks as Aiden hunched his shoulders and read from the card he'd pulled.

"Monkey see, monkey doo…can this monkey get a hold…of you…no nono!! I'm not! -

The tail of a rather obnoxious beast from the same trees as Ami started to multiply, the lion getting touch as it rose to sway at the tail that was attempting to drag the blonde into the trees and out of its reach.

"Join us, Aiden! We have mangoes!!" Ami waved a fruit around as Aiden failed to get free, Anna helping the lion unlatch the tail as the primate went head first…into the lion's jaws as it tore the perp into a new hat.

The prey's entrails made Anna feel sicker than during their last run in with a demon in Jump…

This, was getting too real.

"I…. almost got molested by a –

" Afforget it!!" Anna tried to get up, yet the croc shook the boat, making her sit as the animal still ruled this duel.

"WE ARE GOING TO DIE." She panted. "Call your dad! Somebody!! Aiden! Call, mom…now –

The lion bowed its head and growled at Anna; her anger fused together as her eyes lit up –

"DON'T! I'LL ROLL!" Dami tried to have the two back down. Aiden's minor strength was useless to this future navy cadet.

/

"The boat that carries you home is setting for shore, yet the beach is quite dangerous if you don't tread light…."

"Crap. The terrain of water shifted as the illusion became a water way now drained in Africa, the animal or this time it spoke of…was actually…"

Another part of the card lit up as the words changed.

"This thing is playing with us! No fai –

"Aand, we are happy to play, king Leo? Right, guys??" Aiden gasped and the team nodded, the lion content with not having to "guide" its young spectators in the right direction.

"Drought hits the area and you are stuck on a rocky terrain. The hyena wanted to cross and now…they can."

"Where are they??"

The crocodile was swift, the lion did not move as the cackling brats evolved from sand. Three of them sniffed about for fresh reserves.

Meat, as Anna glares at Dami.

"YOU HAVE THE SHITTIEST LUCK." She stated, before getting up to trying to get the die to Ami to fix Dami's stupid roll.

"AMI!"

The aye – aye came instead, rolling the piece as it was able to and tossing it to the board while Ami snoozer out of harm's way in the tree tops. "It says…ah, wild move. It is a symbol that can redirect an outcome of the previous roll to fall into their favor…what does that mean??" Aiden didn't know as Ami snapped her fingers and put a finger to her chin. "I want…. Dami to have a turn after me."

"You…are not playing correctly."

"Because you have to be brave and try something new, silly." Ami grinned and swing from one branch as it kept her aloft with her totem animal to gleeful come along for the ride.

"Trust the magic!!"

"MAGIC THIS, MAGIC –

"Roll, Dami." Aiden directed the boy's reluctant cousin. "Roll if you think we could be full of it, or if you just can't understand what magic really is!"

The roll was as for one, the crest of a beast that with pride, dropped to the floor and soon was of four lions.

"Holy…"

"You have rolled army of kings. These lions will destroy a previous outcome and its result, your turn will come again. Be grateful and bow to the king of beasts."

Dami saw the lion and for some reason, it wasn't a terror. A revered creature, but…

He nodded to it as it went after the hyena and nipped, clawed until they'd run off hobbling into that illusionary world.

"LOOK!" Ami gasped and pointed to the board.

"We're doing it, you guys are playing like a real family!"

/

It was maybe an hour later or so and Alfred heard not a peep so far of "I want snacks" or "what video games does Damian play" or even "can I hear about your war stories, Uncle Alfred."

Thinking this just a way to pass the time, he still was wary about how Damian…oh, did he tie up his cousins and shove them in the cabinet?? Was Ami being traumatized and did Anna burn out like a battery powered lighter??

"I will not tolerate that, and if young Master Da –

The door to the den? It was never locked, as he tugged and heard…. a bout of laughter. Shattering glass came after, and running to get a key, he decided to knock instead. Loudly, with a frantic bang.

"MASTER DAMIAN. YOU'VE NOT SPOKEN TO ANYONE ELSE IN OVER AN HOUR! I DEMAND TO KNOW WHAT ALL THIS ROUCCUS IS ABOUT!"

The falcon by Anna was knocking over things as the floor finally was cleared of dirt, the croc more docile since Dami had some control of his emotions- yet Anna was no falconry expert.

"WHAT WAS THAT BLASTED CRASH?? MUST I CONTACT ALL OF YOUR PARENTS?? OPEN THIS –

Anna panted and saw the lion raise its jaws to growl at Alfred's balding sheen from the doorway.

"Down boy! He's family-

"If we stop the game, we might end up…trapped!" Ann shut the door and locked it back up. With a heave the teasing falcon was her exact opposite. "Eh, so…." She nervously chuckled as the jester of a totem seemed to just relax inside the chaotic environment.

"When did Alf say he was serving food?"

/

Alfred called up Zee, who right away had a knack for illusions and popped the lib back onto the box of curious African animals. Ami wailed over the loss of her dear Aye – Aye kun, yet the strangest thing did come of their teamwork and just, playing. Anna and Dami actually talked a bit…nicer, as Dick sipped his bisque and waited for someone to throw the first punch. Zee stayed as well and went over the theory of animal medicine having great power if one believed in this totemic message as the kid's had been made to. A lion was a leader and noble to its environment. It never took too much, yet it was wise enough to know how to receive the lion's share. Aiden had been like its…. Protégé, learning this lesson as if the cards of his fire energy had chosen the animal due to the chosen abilities. Ami was carefree and also easy to frighten in times of worry. She had her energy and fortune that followed as a goddess of joy and the sun. The Aye – aye embodies this nature because it could think on and off the ground, not one to worry as this forest had to have been its home in some whimsical past.

Anna's falcon was to the air and that was not her element, earth and fire. Her anger and determination did not let her stray as Dami was the same with water over wood and a more unpredictable believability. The crocodile digested the answers of life and rolled with the punches, understood yet was a true hunter in the water. Not one to throw the first punch or cause a fight if it was unneeded. Water off the duck's back as he relaxed and bit into his lavish bread with a grin. "You'll have to tell me if your commanding officer wipes the floor with you on day one." He teased Anna, who was going to be joining Antares as a reserve member to a special team…she'd explain it later. Right now, Aiden looked about ready to hit the sack, Ami as giddy about their day as Alfred was relieved to know that the crash was all managed through an illusion by a magical board game.

" Udanganyifu wa giza wa maeneo ya giza; kwani mwisho wa safari yako lazima ubadilike na wewe."

Aiden and Ami saw as Bruce didn't know what it meant, until Zee brought a hand up to translate the message from that great beyond.

"The dark illusion of dark places; as the end of your journey must change with you."

"The totems…. they were real?"

"The game you saw was a way to train young soothsayers and shaman to understand their gifts. In the past, this was like…a virtual simulation."

"Not…magic?"

" By magic." Zee told Ami who grinned happily at the answer. "As medicine, but don't think you only can have one. It was a test and it wasn't as culturally, appropriate in these times, but the game chose you. You went and fixed a problem together so…. lesson learned?"

"With what? Coveted relics?? Master Bruce! This was no such victory, despite the fact Damian should never ha –

"I'm sorry, everyone. To you especially, cousins…I behaved very poorly to you. It was unnecessary to do this, maybe it was…what did need to happen."

"Lucky break, then?" Aiden nudged Anna.

"Or, fate. Magic isn't a thing. It's a feeling. You got it, so go with it." She smiled to Dami, who nodded, Bruce wondering if he should have asked John for more relics like this one.

"I have a confession to make." The billionaire's head lowered as he just…had to tell them.

"I KNEW."

"What."

Dami's lip quicker, while Ami dropped her spoon with a dramatic gasp.

"Grampa Wayne…that's…. you are sure –

"I am. John told me that you…. had to be more careful, Damian. The image we saw of you with our fight with Cobb terrified me, so John caught wind of my plight and offered me a remedy …something like a life lesson but a bit drastic. I tried to get the others to keep Dami in the house on the same day as your kids' visit and stocked the item in the same place that I had dubbed it back then as evidence."

"It was a cursed board game, father?? What sort of trick did Constantine-

"I asked him for it, Damian." Bruce held up a fork to have the boy seat himself. "The last few family gatherings; you nearly traumatized Ami, dunked Aiden in the courtyard fountain and had a water balloon fight….in a koi pond! Anna was lucky not to break her legs when you tripped her on the stairs-

"That was you??"

"I thought you could fly…because of Koriander." Dami turned his head.

"AND HAPPI – HIPPO?? HE WASN'T FLOWN OFF INTO OUTER SPACE???" She shrieked.

"Your quadruped was…. taken by the many takes of my blade. I ran out of equipment."

"Dami!" Dick had to step in, but Anna instead had her words to riot.

"I replaced it for her stupid birth date! I have no regrets!" He put up his hands, feeling quite offended even if he was the one to blame for Happi losing his life to Dami's Shimitar.

"Oh…you are so gonna find out what having the gloves off actually means, you little demon headed idiot !"

Dick shook his head as Zee and poor Al went to save Dami from getting clawed up by Anna's falcon – attack. As in, a fight at the supper table.

Courtesy of Mr. Wayne as Dick just continued to sip his last bit of soup. Bruce groaned into his hands and really had majorly –

"Master Damian! Do not throw your grandmother's good China at your cousin!"

"I COULD WIN! WHY THE HELL SHOULD I BE THE ONLY LOSER HERE??"

"SAME HERE, BRING IT!"

/

Later after the fight had ended and Dick had stepped in with his award-winning voice of an audiobook narrator, Bruce went away to the Batcave to open a new link.

The screen of one; John C was there as he was busy with Chas finishing off a few rounds around the city. Demons and all.

"Zee says the trip was worth the mention. Any chance the dream team if finally, back as mates like they were as tots, Bruce?"

~ I messed up, John. They passed…. but, I didn't. ~

"Damian wasn't sharp enough to fish through your lying eyes. Bugger." John sighed and wagged his finger at the bat. "It's not polite to interrupt a shaman. Didn't that mean anything the last time I said it? Damian was going to go to learn to be at peace with the monks in the Himalayas, right? Why didn't he stay?"

~ Emergency came up, I think a call just came through. I'm putting you on hold, John. ~

John frowned as the screen flipped to Damian, his dark green eyes still as frustrating to see as they were at age ten. "Father, you really had me to see rather clearly about how I could have been…a little nicer. It just, doesn't feel like it's myself." He told the man, Bruce considering those words and smiling a bit by how they made perfect sense. "Anna may be your new rival, Dami."

The boy squinted at his screen with his mouth in a fine line. "She's not a warrior –

"Not yet. I heard she wanted to join a metal unit with the US Naval unit run by Santiago. Are you still turning down the offer from me. Those mountains are still there." Bruce reminded. "I think, you want to change, even if it doesn't "feel" like you can."

"That's what Grayson said too." Huffed the current boy wonder. "That changing won't mean I'll be weak or any different."

"When you turned sixteen you were…kind of."

"And? What about that terrible trio? They are…. never angry like me."

Bruce sat back and watched his son's anguish evaporate. "I ..I was the one?"

"It was just, because you weren't getting much out of traditional methods. It was that or a soul – trip and I'm against psychedelic drugs."

"You'd never!"

"NOPE." Bruce shook his head. "That was you and only you. I'm proud of you Dami, so go apologize to Ann as your final lesson for tonight."

The boy's eyes softened, just a bit. "I will try my best to change, for you as well. Yet only as I need to be." Dami concluded. "I'm the real Robin, by blood and son of the Bat. I have what it takes. Good night, father."

"Night, son."

/

It was a few weeks after the events in Ava's world. Things were getting better and Dami was ready to find it in him to join the Titans in California. Turns out, he'd needed vitamin D for a very long time to improve his mood, so when he got some sand in his eyes, he looked back on what was most important and soldiered on without forgetting to breathe deeply.

A crocodile was cunning, quick and quiet, yet it knew how to show up and grow up, even if it stuck to its territory. Now, this was his home as Anna again waved goodbye. His new relationship with the prodigal Zee was…to be expected since they were about the same age. He'd shown a different side to himself and all it took was a cursed "magical" board games to show him the way to true dedication. In being called, a hero and real live boy wonder.

As well as one awesome older cousin to a bunch of half alien chosen elemental protectors of the earth. Yet, who was going to judge?

/

In monumental pain from my chronic hell of a stomach so…. yeah, if any this was cute and I do use medicine cards from time to time. Not the falcon that was just a reverse Anna and Ami overcomes her fears later in New arc through being positive. Hope you liked it! It took place after new years part two and after new destinations arc with Ava.