Author's Note: Back with another update. Thanks for all the support in the first chapter so far.
Now, before we begin, I'd like to clear up a little bit of confusion. Yes, the scenes that Wally witnessed in the Speed Force is a reference to all my other fanfics in my Teen Titans series, but I seem to have neglected to say what they are. So below is my final list of fanfics for my Teen Titans series made up of crossovers between DC characters and Cartoon Network shows.
*Robin 10 (Robin (Dick Grayson)/Ben 10)
*Gems and Lanterns (Green Lantern (Jessica Cruz)/Steven Universe)
*The Wonder Saturdays (Wonder Girl (Cassandra Sandsmark)/The Secret Saturdays)
*Infinity Flash (Kid Flash (Wally West)/Infinity Train)
*The Raven of Crystal Cove (Raven/Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated)
*Blue Beetle Rolls Out (Blue Beetle/Transformers: Animated)
That is my decision. Enjoy this chapter as well as the future of this crossover series. Any and all comments are welcome.
"Okay. Let's recap everything that happened." Wally said pacing around the wasteland ground. "I raced against a tornado to keep it from destroying Central City. But I seem to have run too fast and entered the Speed Force. Then, some weird ghost guy appeared trying to talk to me, but I couldn't make out what he said before some large, armored monster appeared and knocked me out of the Speed Force. And now, I'm here in the middle of nowhere right next to a train that's been driving by for the past five minutes! Seriously, does this thing even have an end?"
Wally stopped pacing to look at the train. He turned his head to where the train was coming from hoping to see an end, but there was none. The train reached out farther than the eye could see either way.
"You know what? It doesn't matter." Wally sighed. "Barry told me about this. Sometimes, speedsters can go so fast, they enter other universes. I don't know which universe this is, but all I have to do is run back into the Speed Force and I'll be home in no time. No problem."
Wally stopped for a moment to adjust his mask before running at lightning speed. He circled around creating a ring that blew wind everywhere. After a minute though, Wally slowed down and stopped with a confused reaction on his face.
"Okay. Maybe one problem. Gah, what the heck is happening? I feel like I'm slower than before. I can still run quickly, but not quickly enough to get back to Central City. So how do I…"
Wally stopped talking to himself when he heard a rumbling noise coming from behind him. The minute he turned, three black creatures crawled out of the ground. They looked like giant cockroaches with wings and antennae, but they had dog-like legs. Wally gasped in fear as they started to approach him.
"Uh… I don't suppose you guys are friendly?" Wally asked with uncertainty.
One of the roach-dog monsters gave a shriek before extending its wings. It tried to tackle, Wally, but he managed to rush right out of its way.
"I'll take that as a no." He said as the rest of the monsters circled in. "Okay. This is getting too freaky. What do I do?"
Wally looked around until he saw the train that was still passing by. He looked back at the roach-dogs considering his options. "Weird, seemingly-endless train or wild bug monsters? …Train it is." Before another one of the monsters could jump him, he ran as fast as he could onto the back of one of the train cars. There was a door with a gold handle shaped like an unusual infinity symbol. He grabbed the door by its handle and turned it over. The door opened afterwards and he rushed right in.
When Wally entered the train car, his eyes widened to the sight of what he saw around him. He expected to find the ordinary inside of a train car; maybe some crates. But instead, he was standing in what could be a whole different world. Right before him, he saw what appears to be a city that was only half-complete. But the weirdest thing he noticed was the occupancy. Instead of humans, the streets were full of turtles walking around and doing things that normal humans would do. There were also a few corgis helping them.
"Well, this is without a doubt the weirdest thing I have ever seen." Wally said. He walked down the street cautiously until he heard a voice coming from his right. He turned to see a house that was missing a wall. Inside, there was a family of turtles. The one portrayed as a father was mixing soup in the kitchen while talking into a phone with a cut wire.
"Ah, yes, Chief. I'm just making the ol' desayuno for the family. Slow-cooked lettuce with a side of turtle juice. It's like regular juice, but for turtles." The papa turtle noticed Wally finally and scowled at him. "Hey! Do you mind?"
"Uh, sorry." Wally said confused. "I'm just trying to find out where I am exactly."
"You're right next to my house, that's where you are!" The papa turtle said before turning his attention back to his phone. "No, no. I wasn't talking to you. I was just talking to this weird kid who's looking at my family like he's never seen turtles before. Nothing to worry about, I hope."
Weirded out by the turtle who scolded him, Wally turned and looked around seeing other turtles and corgis passing by. Just then, the sound of a horn echoed catching Wally's attention. When he turned, he saw a group of turtles approaching him. The one at the center was an elderly turtle with glasses and a crown on. The rest were large, muscular turtles carrying giant spoons.
"And this just got weirder." Wally said.
"Announcing his supreme excellency." One of the turtle guards said. "Please, extend your neck in adoration." He and his counterpart reached their necks out as far as they could. Though he was confused, Wally complied and did the same.
"I am Aloysius the Third." The turtle in the crown introduced himself. "Emperor and Unifier of the Hard and Soft-Shelled. Pray tell, how may I address our guest?"
"Um… My name's Wally. Or Kid Flash, if you will." Wally said. "I'm sorry. I'm just trying to find out what the heck's going on."
"What do you mean?" Aloysius asked.
"I don't know." Wally said. "One minute, I'm home in Central City. And the next thing I know, I find myself on some strange train that seems to have entire worlds on the insides of the cars. I don't know the first thing about what's happening."
"OH! So you're 'new' new!"
That voice didn't come from Wally nor the turtles. They looked up and saw a blue monkey sitting on a chair which sat sideways on a wall. He wore a gold-and-purple outfit with the letter "G" on it. He removed himself from his chair and leaped down in between Wally and the turtles.
"I'll take it from here, your highness, if you don't mind." The blue monkey said.
"Very well. Take care." Aloysius said before turning around and leaving with his guards.
"And now, there's a talking monkey in a Star Trek uniform." Wally said.
"Oh-ho-ho! I am no mere monkey, my fellow primate! I am… Gleek!" The monkey stopped and posed dramatically as if he was putting on a show. He received nothing but a blank stare from Wally.
"I'm sorry. Your name is…"
"Gleek!" Gleek repeated putting on a different pose. "I am the Train's very own superhero! I go from car to car helping any passenger and denizen in need. And that includes you, Mr. Kid Flash. I take it by your uniform that you are a fellow superhero too?"
"Well, yes… But right now, I keep getting more questions and no answers." Wally said. "For starters, what kind of train is this?"
Gleek gave him a curious look. "Odd. If you JUST got onto the train, then you should have been briefed by One-One's videos."
"Who's videos?" Wally asked.
Gleek shrugged. "Well, I don't know how you missed them, but I'll be happy to let you in on the basics of the Train over coffee. How do you drink coffee?"
After a pause, Wally finally sighed and accepted. "Cream with 37 sugars. Really."
Gleek lead Wally to a local café with an upside-down coffee bar. The turtle who worked there brought two cups of coffee for them while Wally just kept staring at the weird landscape.
"Do these guys not know their buildings are kinda twisted?"
"Eh. It's weird, but they make it work." Gleek said. "So you don't know the first thing about the Train?"
"Not a clue."
"Well, allow me to tell you all I know. You see, the train's been around for a really, really long time. No one knows who built it or why, but one thing's for sure: it's got a certain feature to it."
"What kind of feature?" Wally asked.
"The kind that reaches out to your world." Gleek replied. "Humans who come to this train normally have problems going on at home. Maybe you had a fight with someone you loved. Maybe you gave up on your dream. Maybe you lost something valuable. All the passengers start off that way."
"But I don't have a problem back home." Wally said.
"If you're on this train, that means you do." Gleek said. "Anyway, the Train provides a way to help passengers get over their problems. Each car has a whole different world with a bizarre set of rules. There's a spa car, a circus car, a snow car, a castle car. New ones get made and added all the time. That's why this train is so long. All passengers have to do is go on a journey through these cars until they figure out how to solve their own personal problems. Once they have it all figured out, they go home."
"And how do they get to go home?" Wally asked.
Before answering, Gleek took a long sip of coffee. "It all has to do with the number on your palm."
"Number?" Wally asked looking at his gloved hands.
"Yeah. All the passengers are given glowing, green numbers on their hands that shift according to their progress. The closer you are in figuring out your problem, the lower the number goes. And once the number reaches zero, a portal back to your home opens up. So let's see how you're starting. Right hand, please."
Nervously, Wally removed his red glove and revealed the hand that concealed it. But as soon as Gleek saw the palm, he had on the most confused expression.
"What the banana-jama…" Gleek gasped. "Where's the number? There should be a glowing, green number here! But there's nothing! It's just an ordinary hand!"
"What does that mean?" Wally asked. "I can't go home?"
"I… I don't know." Gleek answered in an unsure tone. "This doesn't happen. You were supposed to be brought to the Number Car after you got on the Train when it appeared in your world. There, you were supposed…"
"But I didn't." Wally interrupted.
"Didn't what?"
"I didn't get on the Train in my world. It never came to my world."
Gleek's eyes grew wide as dinner plates. "Excuse me? If it didn't come to you, then how did you get here?"
Wally sighed. "I don't know all the details, but here's what I do know. You're right. I am a superhero. I have super speed. And I appear to have run so fast, I stumbled into the wasteland outside surrounded by big bug monsters. The Train was driving by, so I hopped on."
Gleek was even more surprised. He stared at Wally as if he was looking at the secret of the universe itself. "You mean to tell me… that you got on the Train… completely by accident?!"
"I… guess so." Wally answered.
"Oh, man." Gleek said slumping onto the chair he sat on. He took a very long sip of coffee draining it completely. "This is completely nuts."
"You're telling me." Wally said leaning on the table. "So what do I do?"
"I don't know." Gleek said. "This kind of thing has never happened before."
Wally stopped to ponder for a bit. "Okay… This is a train, right? Trains have conductors. Does this train have a conductor?"
"Well, yeah." Gleek said. "His name's One-One, a quirky, little robot who manages the entire Train. What's your point?"
"Well, maybe if we go to this One-One and explain my situation to him, maybe he can help find a way to go home without a number." Wally said.
Gleek's eyebrows were raised. He turned away from Wally and mumbled to himself. Wally leaned in to try to listen in on what he was saying, but quickly, Gleek's head popped up and he displayed a happy smile.
"It's perfect!"
"What's perfect?" Wally asked.
"Don't worry about that." Gleek said climbing up the table and approaching Wally. "Just know that I will do everything in my power to help you. Even if I have to be on my hands and knees before One-One and beg him to take you home, you can count on good ol' reliable Gleek. Because heroes must help those who need it!"
"Well, that's nice. Thanks." Wally said.
"One thing though." Gleek said. He grabbed Wally's red glove and put it back on his hand. "You better keep that covered up."
"What? Why?"
"Buddy, no one in the entire Train has heard of a passenger without a number. It's unthinkable. It's insane. It may draw some unwanted attention."
"I see." Wally said. "So can we go?"
"Oh, sure." Gleek said. "It may be a while to get to One-One, but we've got all the time in the world."
"There's one thing I don't get." Gleek said as he rode on Wally's shoulder as he walked through the city. "If you can run so fast, you can just enter this world, why don't you just run back home the same way?"
"I would if I could, but I can't." Wally said. "I don't know why, but I seem to be slower here. I think something else might be siphoning energy from the Speed Force and slowing me down."
"Is that possible?" Gleek asked.
"I don't know. It's never happened to me before." Wally said. "But a friend of mine, Barry, says he had a similar problem before, being trapped somewhere and too slow to escape it. Apparently, his arch-enemy was taking Speed Force energy for himself and making sure he didn't get enough."
"Well, whatever's going on, I'm sure One-One can fix it. Ah, there it is." Gleek pointed at a college building. At its center, there was an archway, but no sign of a door.
"What happened to the door?" Wally asked.
"This car is a bit unfinished. Long story. Not important." Gleek said. "Right now, let's just…"
"HELP!"
Wally and Gleek both looked back to see a turtle running towards them. He tripped and fell down acting afraid.
"What's going on?" Wally asked as he rushed to the turtle and helped him up his feet. "What happened?"
"They… They came from out of nowhere!" the turtle panicked. "They started stealing and wrecking our things. They just showed up and attacked for no reason."
"Who's 'they'?" Wally asked.
As if to answer Wally's question, a bunch of children's laughter was heard from down the street. He and Gleek looked afar to see a couple of kids taking various things from the turtles and corgis while using makeshift weapons to knock over trashcans and blowing holes in walls.
Gleek gasped. "Oh, no! Is that actually them?"
"You know them?" Wally asked.
"Not personally, but I've definitely seen the remains of their butchery in other cars." Gleek said. "They're… the Apex."