Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction / Fan Fiction ❯ Despair ❯ Chapter 7

It seems that not everyone likes the idea of Slade being so powerful. Don't worry, I don't plan on having him fly around or shoot energy blasts during his fights. I just did that to explain his enormous strength and to give him a way to beat Gohan into submission. I mean, how many people can pick up a rock and turn it into a diamond just by crushing it in their hand (you won't know what I'm talking about if you haven't seen the episode Terra)? I said it once and I'll say it again, Slade won't be using energy blasts or flying in this fic. If I have him do so I will say so ahead of time

 

Slade has decided to head for Tamaran to recruit himself a new army and Gohan has tipped the Titans off to his apparent plans. Has Slade told Gohan everything? Or did he expect Gohan to let the others know so that he could lure them into a trap? Or maybe he has something totally different in mind. Who knows?

 

“Are you going to be okay Star?” Robin asked her with concern. He knew it must be hard to have Slade heading towards her home planet with someone like Gohan at his side. Chances are that the planet would already be under his rule by the time they got there.

 

“I….will be fine. It just saddens me to think that my home planet may be devastated before we even get a chance to reach it.” She felt Robin put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

 

“Don't worry. Even if Slade manages to take over, we'll find a way to beat him. I promise.” Starfire sniffled a bit, saddened at the idea of her people being used for the pleasures of a man such as Slade. Robin's comforting words helped her out a bit though and she cheered up immediately.

 

“Thank you Robin, you do not know how much that means to me.” Robin smiled and was about to speak but the sky outside quickly grew to an unnatural darkness and Lightning began constantly striking the ground. The strange thing about it being that all the lightning was striking the exact same spot on the ground, though it was obviously quite a distance away.

 

“Dude, I thought lightning wasn't supposed to strike the same spot twice, let alone twenty or thirty times.” Best boy said astounded at the sight before him. An explosion could be heard from the other side of the city as a blinding light forced everyone to cover their eyes. Just as quickly as it had begun, the phenomenon was over and the sky was once again clear and blue. An alarm sounded and Robin ran over to the console below the main screen and began rapidly typing.

 

“Titans! Trouble! There's been an explosion in the industrial district. Let's go!” Everyone hurried out their front door and Terra summoned a boulder which Cyborg got on and Star levitated while holding on to Robin. Beast boy turned into an eagle and they all flew off to the source of the explosion. It only took them a few minutes to get there and when they did they were relieved to find that there was only minimal damage and no one was hurt. The Titans readied for battle, Cyborg readying his cannon, Robin pulling out his bo, Terra summoning a boulder, and Raven grabbing a lamppost with her power. Beast boy landed a moment later and returned to human form. There was a rather large cloud of dust and debris. Within the cloud they could hear three voices.

 

“Finally we're here. Can we eat now?” The voice sounded cheerful and almost childlike.

 

“Will you stop complaining about your stomach?! We have more important things to worry about right now, like finding out where we are.” That voice sounded gruff and almost sinister.

 

“Aw but Piccolo, I don't think I've ever been this hungry in my entire life.” The first voice whined.

 

“Will you think about something other than your stomach for once you clown?! Sometimes I wonder how you mange to last a whole fight without being incapacitated by your own gut.” The last voice sounded arrogant and impatient.

 

“Don't forget why we're here, we need to find him so we can get back.” The second voice said. The Titans could see three silhouettes walking in their direction through the cloud. The first figure stepped out of the cloud and Raven barely held back the shock she felt at seeing him.

 

“That's Piccolo.” She thought to herself. She was again shocked at the next figure that came out, he was equally as tall as Piccolo and had hair that stuck out in all directions. She recognized him to be Goku but wondered briefly how he could be there if Slade was heading towards Tamaran. It was kind of curious to her since she learned that he was Gohan's father but then found out the same about Slade. She was yanked out of her thoughts however when the third figure whom she recognized as Vegeta stepped out and Starfire squeaked in terror. She turned to see that she had hid behind Robin and was visibly shaking.

 

“What's wrong Star?” Robin felt her shaking form trying to find shelter behind him.

 

“The short one.” Was all she said as she pointed at the stranger with hair that stuck back like a flame.

 

“What about him?”

 

“That is Vegeta. He is the prince of the Saiyajins and the most ruthless and feared of them all. Many of my friends have fallen when they defended planets that he cleared.” Fear was replaced with anger as Starfire remembered the pain that was dealt to her and those she knew due to the merciless Saiyajin. Her normally cheerful eyes lit up with fury as she flew at top speed towards Vegeta. She was stopped in mid flight however when she was enveloped by a black sphere. The sphere carried her back to Robin and the others before dissipating.

 

“What are you thinking Star? We don't even know why these people are here and you rush off and attack them. That's not like you.”

 

“I do not need to know why Vegeta is here. He is a deadly threat and must be removed.”

 

“You should know by now that we never make aggressive actions towards someone unless they're in the middle of some wrongdoing. Besides, how do we know that we can even beat any of these guys? For all we know you could start a fight and get us all killed. You can't just rush into battle without a plan like that, it could lead to disaster.”

 

“I am sorry. You are right as usual Robin. I will not do that again.”

 

“Good. You guys just back down. I'll go and talk to them.” He cautiously walked towards the strangers and held up his hands to quell any potential violence.

 

“You'll have to forgive my friend there. She's been under a lot of stress lately and hasn't been herself.”

 

“It's alright. We're not here to cause any trouble. Is there a reason you guys were standing there waiting for us though?”

 

“Yeah. We protect this city and we saw your little explosion so we came to check it out.”

 

“He he. Sorry about that. We were hoping to appear in a non-populated area. So, you guys are heroes huh?” Robin nodded in confirmation.

 

“We're the Teen Titans. I'm Robin and that's Cyborg, Beast boy, Raven, Terra, and Starfire. Who are you guys?”

 

“My name is Goku and that's Piccolo and mister attitude over there is Vegeta. Look, I'd love to stay here and talk but we're looking for someone. Since you guys are heroes maybe you've seen him?” Goku pulled out a photo and showed it to Robin. It was a group photo that consisted of Goku, Piccolo, Vegeta, several strangers and Gohan with Gohan being circled in red.”

 

“Yeah, that's Gohan isn't it?” Goku's face brightened up and he smiled happily.

 

“Do you know where he is?” Robin nodded. “Then can you take us to him?” Robin shook his head.

 

“Sorry, he isn't on Earth right now. We were just about to get a spaceship to follow him in when you guys showed up.”

 

“What's he doing up in space?”

 

“You don't wanna know.” Robin said grimly. “I don't know if you can come with us or not. The ship we're going to get may not be big enough for all of us.”

 

“That's alright.” Said Goku. “We've got our own ship we can use. Just lead the way and we'll follow you.”

 

“Alright then. Let's go.” Robin turned and headed back in the direction of the other Titans. “Alright guys false alarm. They're looking for Gohan so they're going to be following us to Tamaran.”

 

“Wait, did you say Tamaran?” Vegeta asked.

 

“Yeah, that's where Gohan is headed right now if he isn't already there. He left early this morning.”

 

“It's been awhile since I've been to the planet Tamaran. I find the place quite relaxing”

 

“You will not be going to Tamaran. I know who you are Prince Vegeta and I know of the horrible acts that you have committed and I will not allow you to harm my people.” Starfire levitated into the air as she said this and charged her starbolts.

 

“Well now what have we here? If it isn't Princess Koriand'r of Planet Tamaran. You don't have to worry about me doing anything to your people. I just want to hurry up and get Gohan back so I can go home and train.” The Titans all got surprised looks on their faces when they heard about Star being a Princess.

 

“Oops, perhaps I…forgot to mention?”

 

“Did you know about this man?” Cyborg asked Robin quietly.

 

“Just leave me alone.” Robin said with a hurt look on his face. He pulled a small remote out of his utility belt and moments later his R-cycle showed up and he got on. “I need to think so I'm taking the long way back. You guys will probably get there before me so tell Batman I'll be there shortly if he's already there.” Robin then sped off before anyone could say anything.

 

“Robin.” Starfire said with a sad look on her face.

 

“Did I just reveal a little secret? You have all of these friends and you didn't even tell one of them? That's rich.” Vegeta laughed at Starfire's predicament, which reminded her of what she was about to do so she once again charged up her starbolts.

 

“I know of all of the deceit that you are capable of. Do you think I will just trust your word? I will make sure myself that you do not do anything to my home planet.”

 

“Back off Star. He hasn't done anything to show that he's aggressive so just settle down.” Cyborg took control of the situation since Robin was away. “Besides, we need to get back to the tower so we can get ready to leave. Do you guys have a way of following us?”

 

“Yeah, we can fly.” Goku said as he levitated off the ground to prove his point.

 

“Good cause We didn't exactly drive here. Alright guys let's go.” Terra and Cyborg hopped on the boulder that she had summoned earlier and Beast boy transformed into an Eagle again and Raven floated up before they all took off toward the tower followed by Goku, Piccolo, and Vegeta. When everyone got to the tower a ship could be seen sitting on the roof. Cyborg led the way into the tower and up to the roof.

 

“Wow you guys really have a nice place here.” Goku commented as they made their way through the commons room.

 

“Thanks. The city funds it so that we can have a base of operations. Things are much easier that way.”

 

“What kind of villains do you fight anyway?”

 

“Oh the usual. Psychopathic madmen, space aliens, guys with big weapons. Just like the heroes in the comic books basically.”

 

“So you guys fight basically every threat that comes to Earth?”

 

“Oh no we just protect this city. The Justice League fights the real big threats”

 

“The Justice who?” Cyborg couldn't answer though as they had finally reached the roof. They walked up a flight of stairs and Cyborg opened the door at the top and they made their way out. Batman was there waiting for them.

 

“It's about time you showed up. Where's Robin?”

 

“Robin has said that he needs time to think so he went off on his own for awhile. He said that he will be here shortly.”

 

“Hmm… Who are your guests?” Batman eyed Piccolo, Goku, and Vegeta suspiciously.

 

“They are to help us in our quest. The one who sent the message is our new friend Gohan and these people know him and wish to see him.” Batman nodded in response.

 

“One question. Who exactly is Cell? I heard Gohan mention someone named Cell. Care to explain?”

 

“So, Cell is still alive is he? We'll just have to do something about that when we get back.” Vegeta smirked in anticipation.

 

“Please excuse his behavior, the only things he thinks about are fighting and eating.” Piccolo said agitatedly. Batman nodded again. Starfire, who had barely been containing herself thus far stepped up to Vegeta, glaring at him.

 

“For the sake of my friends I will not fight you now but know this. If you do anything that will endanger my friends I will not hesitate to attack you. This is your warning.”

 

“Well now, if you want a fight that badly you could've just asked. I haven't had a good spar in a while.”

 

“Back down Vegeta. We're here to get Gohan, not fight.” Goku said, uncharacteristically serious. Vegeta growled in annoyance, but complied anyways. Everyone turned around when they heard the door open behind them, revealing Robin.

 

“Robin you are here!” Starfire shouted while running towards Robin. “I thought that you would be mad at me when you…” She was cut off however when Robin brushed past her and walked up to Batman.

 

“How many people can this ship fit?” He asked. Batman looked at him curiously after witnessing his little display and quirked an eyebrow.

 

“It can carry up to nine people. Is there some problem that you need to work out? The last thing you need is to have to take on a planet's entire population and have a problem with one of your team members on top of it.” Robin sighed at seeing the look he was getting from Goku, Piccolo, and Vegeta.

 

“I wish you hadn't said that.” He murmured through clenched teeth.

 

“Why are we going to be taking on the planet's population?” Goku asked.

 

“Well the thing is, Gohan went up into space to help conquer the planet Tamaran.”

 

“What?! Gohan wouldn't do something like that. I trained him for a year, I know what he's like and I know he wouldn't help enslave a planet.”

 

“There's a reason he went. You see, our arch nemesis Slade forced Terra and Beast boy to work for him and Gohan joined with him instead so that they could go free.”

 

“Then why isn't he back here with you guys if they're free now?”

 

“Because Slade can take them back at any time. We were working on a way to free them when we got a message that Slade and Gohan were going to Tamaran. Anyways, we'd better get going. We want to get there as quickly as possible and make sure nothing bad happens to those people.” They all turned around and got their first good look at the ship. It looked almost exactly like what NASA would use except that it was all black.

 

“As you can see we got this one from NASA. Obviously we made some modifications to it so that it would go faster and so that a team could be out in it for extended periods of time. You'll find the rooms in the back where the cargo hold used to be. Oh and try to bring it back in one piece, we don't have a lot of ships.” With that Batman turned and exited through the door behind them. Everyone piled in as a hatch on the side had been opened and a ramp had been extended to the floor. They found themselves in the living quarters which were bigger than was expected for such a small craft. They walked along a cramped corridor that was just big enough for two people to pass each other. On the right and at the end of the hall was the door to the cockpit and along the wall in front of them were about three of the rooms. They looked to be a decent amount of room apart so it was assumed that they were of a good size. At the left end of the hall was a fourth bedroom. Everyone turned right and filed into the cockpit which had enough seats for everyone. Four of the seats were the stations for controlling the ship. In the front of the cockpit were the pilot and navigator stations. Behind the pilot's seat was the weapons station and behind the navigator was the defensive station. The other five seats were set back a little from the others but still left plenty of room to move around as the cockpit was of a comfortable size. Robin sat in the pilot's seat, Starfire took the navigator's seat, Cyborg took the weapons seat, and Beast boy took the defensive seat. The ship they were in wasn't a whole lot different from their own T-ship so they were able to figure out the controls fairly quickly. They began pushing different buttons and flipping different switches and the ship hummed to life.

 

“Main engines on line.” Said Robin.

 

“Navigation systems on line.” Star reported.

 

“Defensive systems ready to rock.” Said Beast boy.

 

“Weapons systems ready to go. Now let's get this show on the road!” Shouted Cyborg excitedly. Everyone else took seats and buckled in and the shuttle lifted up off the ground and shot up into the atmosphere at a blinding speed. Once they had left the atmosphere, Starfire set in the coordinates and Robin put the ship on autopilot. After flying for a while Robin looked over at Starfire and noticed that she had a forlorn look on her face. He had a pretty good guess so he pushed a switch on his console which turned on artificial gravity. He unbuckled and walked over to her.

 

“Star, we need to talk.” He said. Her face immediately lit up.

 

“What is it you wish to talk about Robin?”

 

“I mean alone.” Starfire looked confused for a moment but unbuckled herself anyways. Robin lead her out of the cockpit and into the first bedroom on the right. It didn't sport much in the way of decoration, only two beds, both on the far wall of the room which was about fifty square feet in size. On their left was the door to a small bathroom and between the beds was a dresser with a lamp on it. Robin walked over to the lamp and switched it on, illuminating the entire room. He sat down on the bed closest to him and motioned for Starfire to do the same. When she had done so he spoke up.

 

“Listen Star, I'm sorry for running off like that but it was kind of upsetting for me to find out that you were hiding something like that from the team, from me.” Starfire hung her head in shame as she immediately knew what he was talking about.

 

“I did not believe it to be an important issue Robin. Does that change something about me? Does it make you not like me as much?”

 

“Whoa Star wait a minute. First off I'll always like you just as much as I do now. I may start to like you more but I'll never dislike you. Especially because of something like that. Secondly yes it is important. Being a princess is a big part of your life, it's nothing you should want to hide from your friends or teammates. Don't you trust us Star?” Starfire got a shocked look on her face.

 

“Of course I trust you Robin. I trust all of my friends and especially you. However if it is a matter of trust then perhaps you do not trust any of us at all.”

 

“What do you mean Star? What've I been hiding from you?”

 

“Yourself.”

 

“Myself? What are you talking about? I don't hide anything from you guys.”

 

“Are you sure of that Robin? What about the Red X?”

 

“That was a mistake Star. One I intend to never make again.”

 

“And what about the real you? The rest of the team knows much about each other and yet none of us knows anything about you. Even Raven shares more about herself than you do.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“We all know each other's names. Beast boy is Garfield Logan, Cyborg is Victor Stone, you know that I am Koriand'r, Terra is Tara Markov, and Raven is Raven. We do not however, know your real name. None of us has even seen your true face. Is there no one underneath that mask?” Robin was speechless. Everything Starfire said was true, but he shook it off and looked away from her.

 

“No Star, there is no one under this mask. I have no secrets. I am Robin, nothing more, nothing less.”

 

“I would be inclined to disagree. I believe that there is more to you than just Robin. Robin is a fighter of crime. He is a detective that will stop at nothing to take down his enemies. You are much more than that.”

 

“You don't understand Star.”

 

“I would like to understand Robin, I would like to know the real you.” Robin sighed and looked at her again.

 

“The person you want to know, the person behind this mask died a long time ago Star. I guess I can tell you a little bit about my past though. I was born Richard Grayson of the flying Graysons. My family worked in the circus on the trapeze. We were the crowd favorite for many years. We were so good that we didn't bother to use nets when we performed our stunts. One day when I was eleven, my parents were performing and I was watching them. They were in the middle of their act and they were doing great as usual but the wires holding them up broke and they fell. They both died as soon as they hit the ground. The police investigated and it was found out that they were sabotaged. Bruce Wayne found out and took me in. Later I found out that he was Batman and trained with him. It was then that Richard Grayson died. No, Richard Grayson died when my parents died. Until I became Robin I had no identity, I merely wandered the streets trying to find the people who had killed my parents. After Batman found me I became Robin and I have never been anyone else since then. You see Star? I couldn't have been Richard Grayson then and I can't be him now. Robin is a crime fighter, Richard Grayson was not.”

 

“Then perhaps you should bring him back.”

 

“I can't Star. It's been too long. I've forgotten how to be anyone but Robin.”

 

“Can you try and remember? If for no one else then do it for me.” Starfire put her hands on both sides of his face and made him look her in the eyes.

 

“You are such an unhappy person Robin. It is unhealthy for someone to hide everything like you do. Please, at least when we are alone, allow your true self to come out.” Robin allowed himself a small smile.

 

“Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to try.”

 

“I would like to ask one more thing of you.”

 

“What is it?”

 

“Allow me to remove your mask. Just this one time I would like to see your eyes.” Robin desperately wanted to say no but couldn't bring himself to do so.

 

“Alright Star.” He put his hands on hers and guided them to the proper place on his mask. If one pulled at anywhere but the exact spot, the mask would just pull on his face like a second skin. Robin helped Starfire remove first the left, then the right half of the mask and allowed it to fall to the bed. Starfire was struck speechless by what she saw. After a time she found her voice and even then could barely find any words.

 

“Why Robin? Why would you hide such beautiful eyes from the world? From your friends?” Starfire found herself lost in the most beautiful brown eyes she had ever seen. Buried deep within those eyes however was a deep sorrow and intensity such as she had never seen. It almost made her want to cry. There was a light knock at the door and they could hear Cyborg's voice through the door.

 

“You Robin you in there?”

 

“Yeah. What is it Cyborg?”

 

“Just thought you'd like to know that we've arrived.”

 

“Thanks. Star and I'll be out there in a minute.”

 

“Alright.”

 

“Listen Star, you can't tell anyone about this okay?” She looked like she was about to protest but decided against it and nodded instead. Robin picked the mask up and put it back on before standing up. He extended his hand to Starfire who took it with a giggle. As soon as Robin stood up he found that Starfire had pulled him into an embrace so he returned the gesture. They stood there for a few seconds before Robin pulled away.

 

“Let's go. We've gotta save your planet from Slade.” Robin turned around and switched the lamp off before turning towards the door. They both got there at the same time and Robin gestured for Starfire to go first.

 

“Ladies first.” He said while taking a bow. Star giggled and walked out into the hall. Robin followed suit, closing the door behind him and bathing the room in darkness.

 

So what do you think? Did I put it on too thick with Robin and Star? I hope I didn't bore anyone with the lack of action in this chapter. Please R&R.