The Red Titan

Chapter 2 An Encounter of the Mad Sort

(2 Months After the Events of the First Chapter)

"Alright team! It's training day! First we will have hand-to-hand lessons, then we'll have two people team pairings on the obstacle course!" Robin jeered in an excited tone. Starfire was tired but didn't let it show, Cyborg and BeastBoy simply fist bumped at the 'two people team pairings' part. With six members it was always him and Cyborg as partners now. Raven sat in front of the large landscape window meditating, while Arde was sitting on the sofa reading. "Everybody out!" Robin yelled as he headed for the elevator. Arde put down his book and walked towards the door, Raven followed soon after.

(Outside)

"Alright, Cy here made a new program that will match up the competetors for the hand-to-hand practice. So. Who's first?"  Boy Wonder asked his cyberkinetic friend. Cyborg pulled out a small handheld device and pushed a button. Whirring and clicking could be heard as everyone awaited the results. "Looks like the first match is Arde versus Robin." Cyborg said trying to hide the excitement in his voice. During the two months that he had been here, Arde had not had to fight one villain hand-to-hand. He had decomissioned Cinderblock in under 10 minutes, which was quite the feat. Not only that but during a fight with Billy Numerous he had destroyed all of them single handedly with his magic. "Alright Arde, are you ready to beg for mercy yet?" Robin asked mockingly as he took his stance. The other Titans backed away to gve them room. Arde kept quiet, as he took his own stance. His apparel had changed quite drastically, he still wore red, but they had insisted that he get rid of his coat. Now he wore black spandex like pants and a shirt of the same material that had a large wicked looking 'T' emblazoned on it. On his left hand was a black glove, on his right was a similar red one. He still wore his black combat boots. Starfire had insisted he get a haircut, so now instead of his usual mop of hair he had a simple cut. His hair only slightly draped down into his eyes. Robin waited a few moments before charging his friend. Arde didn't move as the Boy Wonder quickly closed the distance between them. Robin had begun to raise his fist to punch him when he fell to the ground. He couldn't feel his arm anymore. "Hey! No magic Arde!" Robin fumed holding his limp arm, "I didn't use magic." he muttered offended that his friend thought he would disregard the rules. "Cyborg?" Robin said looking for a comformation. " I understand what you must think dude, but the video replay doesn't show him using any form of magic.." he replied walking over to Robin. "Look." he said giving Robin the device. Robin peered down at the video that was playing before him. There he was charging Arde like he remembered, he glanced over the image of Arde expecting to see a red flash that would be magic but he didn't. All that was seen was a sudden blurry movement by Arde and Robin was lying on the ground. "What the..." Robin muttered under his breath. "How did you do that? Show me." he stated. "Alright." Arde had Robin stand infront of him. "Raise your fist." he instructed, Robin did as he was told. "Like this." Arde took a step forward with his right leg and slid it into his left, while Robin was confused from his sudden loss of balance Arde took his right hand slammed it into the joint of his shoulder causing his arm to temporarily go numb. "I get it now. Thanks for teaching me that, it could come in hand later." Robin said . "Alright, Cy, who's ne--" Robin began but was cut off as a shadow enveloped the entire island. "Hello again duckies!" a voice called from what seemed to be nowhere. "Mad Mod." Raven muttered beneath her breath. "Mad who?" Arde asked looking back at the empath. "He's a crazy guy with a cane BeastBoy answered from near Cyborg."Oh. " Arde said accepting the simple minded answer. Robin looked up expecting to see Mad Mod hovering above them somehow. Instead of this he saw instead a large Gothic style building. "Guys move!" Robin yelled as he saw the building began to drop down on top of them. Arde instctively went to Raven's side to make sure she was safe. BeastBoy tried turning into a cheetah and running to safety before he realized that the building was just as large, if not larger than the entire island itself. The Titans could do nothing but try and shield themselves as the giant building came down upon them. The last thing Raven saw before it went completely black was Arde looming above her, trying to protect her.