I'm so sorry this chapter is so late! I've never gotten such a bad case of writers block before. Hopefully the chapter is still a good one. I think it turned out better than I was expecting.
To Gabrielus Prime: I completely agree. So much awesome do those two things contain.
To FelynxTiger: Best game ever! I loved every bit of it, and no game has yet to compare in my book. Glad you liked last chapter. It's one of my favorites so far, even if there is very little action in it.
To Soulfulbard: Thanks, and I really loved writing those scenes. Many random laughing fits did my roommate have to endure while it was in the making. I love how you worded that, by the way: "getting comfy" with Happy. I'm glad to hear Zippy is liked. I wish I could have one.
To Wolfgirl666: She would know he was lying, but she can also tell he meant no harm by his complaining. I know what you mean about Lust, that will be an interesting chapter to write. And thanks, I work hard on this grammar. I's speaks da good eng'ish :D
To Taeniaea: thanks, I hope it continues to be cool.
I have such plans for the future! So may ideas in my brains! Each of the boss fights will get more difficult as the story progresses, understandably. Strangely enough, I have to say Rude is one of my favorites, the Rude in this, anyway. The final fight I have in her temple is one of my favorites.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, to my great sorrow. Oh well. On to the story!
BB Centered POV:
The team spent a good hour or so searching for the first three ghosts. They had found the first down the second hallway they searched on the ground floor. It had been the green one, and, before it would show itself to let them fight it, Starfire and Beast Boy had to solve a puzzle. It was like a larger version of those little games where one had to complete the picture by sliding the mixed up blocks, but it was impossible to pick them up. If Raven hadn't been there to give hints when Starfire seemed to get stuck—there was no way Beast Boy was solving it—they would have been there for a while longer; there were a lot of blocks.
The ending picture had been some sort of elaborate drawing where words were hidden in the image of a seven headed hydra. The words looked like they were in another language at first glance because they were all deformed, but, they were actually in English. They said, "Seven in One"—whatever that meant. Raven said the image was different and the words shouldn't have been there. She continued by saying that her subconscious must have put them there as assistance for later. Once the puzzle was solved, they had to fight the humanoid snakelike ghost, which was fairly simple compared to the puzzle. Fights were easy in Beast Boy's opinion. Puzzles: not so much. The ghost would occasionally shoot a small burst of green fire at them from the torch in its hand and would charge at them some times, flailing the torch in front of it. It took them a few minutes, but Starfire, Beast Boy, and Zippy defeated it.
The group of now three companions returned to the center room, returning the green flame to its original place. They then moved on and found the next ghost, the blue one, in the left hallway on the second floor. They had to solve a similar puzzle as before. The image was of an intricate seven point pentacle with a circle surrounding it, and the group was given the hint, "One is All". The fight was practically the same as the first, but the ghost had ended up singing a large portion of Starfire's hair. To say she didn't take that lightly would be the understatement of the year. They returned the flame to the center a few moments later.
The third ghost, the orange one, was at the end of the last hallway on the second floor. After solving another, larger puzzle, the group was greeted by the image of what looked like some sort of ancient city. In the canter was a broken castle, and flames were present everywhere throughout the city—a little creepy. The words in this one were not hidden in the image. They simply appeared at the top once the image was completed. "A Kingdom Without a King Falls to Ruin" was the hint.
"Well, that's helpful." Beast Boy said in a sarcastic and dry tone.
"I thought I was supposed to sound like that." Raven replied similarly. "These should make sense later. Maybe they're hints for a future fight.
"So we gotta' fight a hydra in a giant city where a star thingy comes in somewhere?" Beast Boy asked confused. This was why he didn't do puzzles.
"I don't think they are meant to be taken so literally." Starfire put in.
"What other way is there to take it?" Beast Boy asked, genuinely confused.
"It all depends on context, so you won't know until you are actually confronted with the problem it is referring to." Raven replied.
"Hmm..." the changeling said in thought. He supposed that made sense, so all they could do now was push on. "Okay, so where do we find the last ghost thing? We've looked through all these rooms now."
"Perhaps we should return to the center room? Maybe we will find a clue there." Starfire asked, and Zippy squeaked his agreement while Beast Boy nodded in thought. With that, the group returned to the center room, only to find it a tad darker than before. Cautiously glancing around, they stepped farther in, waiting for something to happen. Beast Boy had never been a fan of silence, and this was driving him crazy! Why wouldn't the ghost just show itself and fight them face to face? Mano-a-mano! Okay, so maybe it wasn't a man—actually, Beast Boy didn't know what it was—but still! He was brought out of his silent ramblings when a rapier barely missed his head, only because Zippy had whacked it to the side with his tail, and the fourth ghost sailed past him.
"Hooah!" Beast Boy breathed out in alarm. That was different. Since when did these things use swords? "Uuh, t-thanks, Zippy." the changeling stammered, very grateful to their new friend, and Zippy chirped in response.
"It would appear we have found the last spirit." Starfire added as she eyed the ghost's sword warily. If it could vanish like the others had, this could be a very... interesting fight. Beast Boy almost did a double take. Weren't they supposed to solve a puzzle first? Where was their puzzle? Funny, since it was Beast Boy who was grumbling about having to solve them, or watch Starfire solve them, in the first place, and now he would almost prefer them. Almost. Both super teens readied their weapons and Zippy took higher into the air, waiting for the ghost to make the first, or rather second, move. After a moment of simply watching them, almost as though it were sizing them up, the ghost complied, shooting a two foot wide purple fireball at them from out of its torch.
Rorden Thalmus centered POV:
Rorden Thalmus stood silently as the dragon kin before him explained the situation. They had searched everywhere for the girl, it had said. They had even found her once, only to lose her moments later. It had taken the Monarch a day to prepare everything and find the most likely location the girl had run to: the forest they now stood near. These creatures had had two days to find her, yet they had nothing. Rorden scoffed silently at there incompetence. Why his Ladyship kept these creatures around was beyond him. They seemed only to take up space and oxygen. No matter. Now that he was here with some very special help, things would go much smoother.
He waved his hand to shoo the dragon kin away, something it gladly consented to, and turned to those following him.
"Release them." he said curtly, and the nearest acolyte nodded, hurrying over to two large cages at the back of the small procession of cult members who had come along. Inside were the creatures that would find the girl. They specialized in such things. With long snouts and narrow bodies, these six foot monstrosities looked like some mixture of lizard and ant eater. Scales covered their bodies with the odd patch of fur here and there, and their shadowed eyes revealed soulless red irises with no pupils.
The acolytes looked terrified, but they need not worry. These beasts were hunters, trained only to track their targets. With their help, this search shouldn't take long.
With a creak, the large cage doors were released from their hinges, allowing them to fall forward. Anticipation in the Monarch grew as the cage doors slowly fell. If he himself hadn't been trained in the magical arts, he would have sworn something cursed them to fall at unnaturally slow speeds. Finally, they hit the ground with a loud clank, and the sound was like the gunshot that starts a race. As soon as it sounded, the creatures ran from their cage, disappearing into the forest in a matter of seconds. Rorden smiled.
They were one step closer to their goal.
BB Centered POV:
"Whoa!" Beast Boy awed, staring dumbfound at the room before them. It was easily over fifty feet high and wide, and the changeling couldn't even see the end of the room in the lower lighting, light only given off from a few skylights. The entire floor was checkered in black and white, each one more than a meter in height and width, and square chunks of the ceiling were missing. Crevices and holes in the walls and floor showed where traps would likely spring from if anyone got too close. He and Starfire walked down the short staircase—Zippy was sitting on Beast Boy's head with his tail coiled loosely around the changeling's neck—but, the instant they stepped foot on the checkered floor, they were alarmed to see the ceiling began closing in on them. Alarmed, the two stepped back onto the stairs, and in a few seconds, the ceiling, which was actually a large platform meant to squish them, landed on the ground. They were safe on the stairs, though, as the platform only landed on the checkered floor. What was odd that the holes in the ceiling coincided with a few of the tiles, giving someone a place to stand safely when the platform hit the ground.
Okay, now this was eerily familiar. What was all this from? Beast Boy had definitely seen it before. Doom? No, that wasn't it... Secret of Mana? Nope. Anyway...
"Wow, Raven, you did a really nice job." Beast Boy said matter-of-factly as he looked around the room. These defenses were quite nice, he had to admit. That didn't mean he wanted to be going up against them, but beggars couldn't be choosers, right?
"Uh, thank you." Raven replied, unsure of how to respond to that because they had to go up against them. The defenses didn't protect her mind from the larger demons, like Naðra, but they did work well against lesser demons and other mages fairly well. Or, in this case, Starfire and Beast Boy. And now Zippy.
"Watch out." the sorceress warned as the platform began to rise, drawing the trio's attention forward once again. Six stone snake statues, that they could see, had risen in a few of the empty squares but these ones used bows instead of scimitars. Once the platform was high enough to allow line of sight, the statues took aim and let loose their large, spear sized arrows.
Beast Boy shrieked as one went right over his head, only due to the quick reactions of Starfire, who had tripped him, and he landed on the stairs. Both he and a very wide eyed Zippy, clamped tightly to his head, breathed heavily from their near heart attacks.
"We must move quickly!" Starfire said urgently, sword already drawn as Beast Boy got to his feet, and the statues cocked their next volley of arrows.
"Alright. Uh, you should probably stay on my head, Zippy." the changeling said to his new friend, whom he didn't want crushed by the falling ceiling. Zippy nodded his consent eagerly, apparently having no thoughts of leaving in the first place as he was still holding tightly to Beast Boy's head. With that, Starfire and Beast Boy, his shamshirs now drawn as well, hurried onto the checkered floor just as the statues released their arrows. The statues farther back had missed enough that the arrows weren't an issue, but the other four were problems.
"Break them!" Starfire said as she cut an arrow just in time, sending it just enough to the side to miss both her and the changeling. Beast Boy reacted quickly, cutting the next one with both shamshirs. The final arrow, they sidestepped, still running towards their targets. What they hadn't noticed, or what Beast Boy hadn't noticed, was that the ceiling had started to fall once again. Starfire stopped him mid run, though, by outstretching an arm and nearly close-lining him.
Only when the ceiling was dangerously close did he realize why she stopped; they were under a safe spot. In the brief seconds before the platform landed, three arrows were sent their way. One went wide, and Starfire managed to cut the second two in one sweep, but a noise caught Beast Boy's attention. It was a slight whistle from their left. No, it was a series of closely nit together whistles. His eyes widened when he realized what it was, but Starfire hadn't noticed it. Acting instinctively, Beast Boy put himself between Starfire and the trap, resulting in six ninja stars embedding themselves in the back of his pleather armor. He stumbled against the new wall they had, thanks to the platform, gritting his teeth, and Starfire looked at him alarmed.
"Are you alright?" she asked worried.
"Yeah, fine. Could you just,-" he tried reaching behind himself to pull the ninja stars out, but wasn't having much luck. "I can't seem to get them." Starfire gasped at the sight of the six weapons in his back. "It's alright, they barely broke the skin. This armor rocks, Rae!" he said cheerily as he glanced upward.
"Sorry, I didn't warn you about the traps." was Raven's response. "They're motion detecting, and they don't just shoot ninja stars. There's poison darts, swinging guillotines closer to the walls, and tiles that fall down large pits when you step on them."
Before she could explain any further, the platform began to rise, prompting Starfire and Beast Boy to ready themselves and Zippy to tighten his grip on the changeling's head once more. As soon as there was enough room for him to move through, less room needed than for the others, Beast Boy ran for the nearest stone statue, the platform being a shield from the tall enemies.
He ran out from the side, making it nearly impossible for the statue to aim at him in time, jumped, and caught himself by digging one sword into the statues chest. The second blade quickly followed. The changeling then shut his eyes tight, waiting for the statue to start shaking to get him off, or maybe for it to punch him. Nothing happened. When Zippy spoke, in the gurgly, non-worded way he did, Beast Boy looked up to see the statues eyes weren't glowing anymore.
"No way!" the changeling exclaimed. That was easier than expected. He then looked back at Starfire to see she had moved as well, a few more of the spear arrows in the ground or cut in half. He followed the trail to see Starfire heading for another of the statues. Before she got there, she threw her sword at the statue! Why would she do that? The sword cut right through the snake's head, embedded down to the hilt, just as the other archers released their arrows. Beast Boy was about to call out to her in warning when she turned on the spot and simply punched the shaft of the arrow, breaking it in half.
Oh yeah, she didn't need a sword.
Starfire centered POV:
The last room had proven more difficult than the others they had seen. By the end, all three companions had numerous cuts from the spear arrows and traps in the room; Starfire had nearly been cut in two by one of the swinging guillotines. Beast Boy had nearly fallen down one of the hidden pits. He had luckily caught himself on the side, but the ceiling had almost landed again. He had ended up bracing himself in the pit, feet on one end and hands against the other, in order to keep his fingers from being crushed. Needless to say, by the end, the group needed a break.
Now, about a half an hour later, they had entered a room similar to the dome in Happy's domain, only this one's only source of light was a few small skylights that appeared throughout the temple, and the walls were overgrown with vegetation. The largest skylight seemed to put a spotlight on the short, black pedestal that indicated the center of the domain.
"So, you finally made it." came Raven's echoed voice, but the sneer in the comment, told the trio it was not actually Raven who had spoken. Now they simply had to find Brave, or rather Pride, who had yet to appear. "Aah! I've been dying for a fight!" the girl continued with a laugh. Starfire continued to search the dark room for the tainted counterpart, but she refused to show herself.
"Okay, well, where are you, then?" the Beast Boy asked in a challenging voice as he readied his shamshirs. Starfire and Zippy simply stayed quiet and kept watching their surroundings for any movement, both ready for an ambush.
"Behind you." this time, Pride's snide response came from directly behind them, and the three companions' eyes widened in shock. Starfire was the first to react, throwing a powerful backhand behind herself at Pride's head. The green clad mage twisted under the attack and threw a swift left hook at Starfire's head in return. The alien girl easily blocked the attack, Pride's fist colliding with a steel gauntlet instead of it's intended target. The alien princess then smirked, grabbed Pride's wrist, and aimed a front kick at the girl's torso, Her foot went right through the mage, though, as the sorceress dissipated into black fog, the confident smirk never leaving her face.
The next thing the trio knew, she was standing at the center, a hand on her hip as she continued to smirk at them. Her attire was similar to Happy's, though the cloak was green, the snake designs a brighter green. They almost seemed to glow in the low lighting of the room, and that made Starfire wonder what the low lighting was for. If it wasn't for stealth, then what?
"Wow, nice reaction time, Star." Beast Boy complimented the alien princess, a slightly dumbstruck expression on his face after the very fast paced skirmish that just occurred. Zippy held a similar amusing expression on his face.
"Yes, this should be interesting." Pride said with an evil laugh, and Starfire turned to face her as she began to walk forward. It looked like she started to flicker before numerous copies of herself slowly began emerging, all of them carrying that confident smirk. Seven. There were seven. Starfire had a bad feeling about this.
"Uh, this could become... tricky." the alien girl stated nervously standing back to back with Beast Boy as the seven Pride's slowly surrounded them. Just when it appeared as though things couldn't become more complicated, blades of dark energy materialized on the fists of all seven green-clad mages.
"Don't hold anything back." came a message from the real Raven, and Starfire nodded. She wouldn't be able to if they wanted to get out of this alive.
At the drop of a pin, all seven Prides charged forward, closing in on the three companions in the blink of an eye. Starfire, sword still sheathed, strafed to the side to avoid a lunge from one of them and threw a powerful fist into the mage's stomach, effectively knocking the wind out of her. The alien warrior then threw the mage into one of the approaching Prides, but three were then attacking, forcing Starfire to go into a defensive style to avoid losing any limbs to the dark blades they used. Practically being the same person, the Prides were rather difficult to combat. They worked as perfect unit, even trumping the Titans in their timing. This was not going to be easy.
This fight proved to the alien princess the suspicions she had had when facing Happy's tainted form. Each emotion seemed to favor a certain type of combat and ability. They also did not appear limited to using Raven's dark energy, leading Starfire to wonder what exactly their teammate was actually capable of. The Titans had once seen she was capable of more sorceress-like capabilities, but she had never seemed to pry too much into the practice after she had been betrayed; that's all Beast Boy would say on the matter. All this brought that idea into question. Did she really delve no deeper into sorcery, or was it the opposite?
Happy appeared to specialize in the long range manipulation and alteration of physical structures, namely earth, but she hadn't used Raven's normal magic to alter the ground, nor had the controlled earth been illuminated by a yellow glow as Terra's had possessed. Brave, while she was using blades of Raven's dark energy and a close range fighting style definitely recognized as Raven's, she had managed to create copies of herself, and they were clones that could actually land blows. Starfire assumed creating actual physical copies was herder than simple apparitions or images.
Each emotional embodiment seemed to show specific capabilities, and, while the styles alone became somewhat predictable over time, combining them into one, Raven in this case, created a mixed style. This begged the question. How much of their friend's potential were they actually seeing on a daily basis?
As Starfire continued to combat the now 4 Prides attacking her, she knew she and Beast Boy would not be able to use a similar tactic they used last time. They would likely have to incapacitate the girl before being able to complete, or even start, the array, given there were seven enemies in this fight. But, now the clues previously given all made sense to Starfire. 'Seven in one.' There were seven copies of one being. 'One is all.' There was one real one. Finally, 'a kingdom without a king falls to ruin'. Starfire assumed that meant defeating the real Pride would cause the others to vanish.
'Will defeating the real one destroy the others?' she mentally asked, the distraction causing her to get cut, once on the left side where the armor did not extend to and once in the right shoulder due to similar reasons. She gritted her teeth and punched the attacker square in the face, sending the girl flying a few feet backwards.
'Yes, it will.' Raven replied, keeping the answer short so as to distract Starfire as little as possible. The girl nodded in response, but then the Prides outmaneuvered her. Two managed to swerve and hit the backs of her knees with identical sweeping kicks, forcing her knees to buckle, and a third then delivered a powerful knee thrust to Starfire's chin, sending her sprawling backwards. The alien girl rolled a few times before regaining her bearings and skidding to a stop on her hands and knees. Before she could get up, though, the fourth Pride was waiting for her and delivered an energy infused kick to Sarfire's gut, sending the girl flying fifteen feet into the air.
Starfire managed to regain her bearings quicker this time, turning herself in midair, and she threw a powerful punch downwards at the Pride that had jumped after her. The blow met Pride's knee, one she had aimed at Starfire's gut once more, and the force seemed to momentarily stun the girl, giving Starfire the time to deliver a double kick to the girl's face, sending her crashing back to the ground. All of this happened right before the apex of Starfire's flight, but she could no longer control herself in midair, not with her powers gone. So, when the three other Pride's appeared around her, the alien warrior could do little to defend against the triple onslaught. In a matter of seconds, she was sent flying back downwards, crashing forcefully into the ground that awaited her, forming a small crater on impact.
"Starfire!" Raven and Beast Boy shouted in unison, Beast Boy getting his arm slashed from the distraction. He cried out in pain and was forced to return his attention to his own fight, Zippy continuing to help both of his companions, using his tail to attack the Prides from the sky and sending the occasional fireball at them.
Starfire rose from the crater, nearly collapsing again when she stood on her now injured right leg, and her right shoulder felt as though it was dislocated. One of the Prides had cut her left temple just above her eye, and the blood that flowed from the wound forced her to keep the eye closed. This was bad. Glancing at the changeling's continued battle out of the corner of her eye showed the alien warrior that his tactic involved parrying or evasion, never assault. He didn't want to attack them because they looked like Raven. This fight definitely wasn't going well.
Looking back at the four Prides advancing from the front, Starfire noticed something. Their eyes were different somehow. Darker, as though they didn't reflect any light. The dim lighting made it extremely difficult to tell, but Starfire could also discern that their skin held a similar feature. Light didn't reflect off of them like it would a person! None of these were the real one! Starfire was sure of it!
That made up her mind for her next course of action. Setting her jaw and gritting her teeth, Starfire forced her right shoulder back into it's socket, swallowing the scream she wanted to let out at the pain. She then immediately sprinted, but not forward. She ran sideways, heading towards Beast Boy's fight. One thing had definitely become clear to Starfire throughout the rather short fight. Pride was toying with them like a cat before it kills a mouse. They had to end this!
The four fake Prides ran after Starfire, one actually catching up to her fairly quickly. Starfire, who had had enough of them by this point, rolled beneath the sweeping attack of the clone's blade, and, upon landing on her feet again, unsheathed her flamberge at an upward angle. She prayed her theory was correct as the blade cut right through the girl's torso. The green-clad mage looked shocked before thankfully dissipating into a cloud of black smoke; Starfire didn't know what would happen if they actually killed the real emotion.
The other Prides didn't seem to falter at the loss of one of their comrades, chasing after Starfire without losing pace.
"Beast Boy!" she hollered as she approached the changeling's skirmish. At the sound of her being so close and approaching, Beast Boy flipped over the horizontal sweep of one Pride's blade and jumped off of her shoulders. He landed next to Starfire, who stood back to back with him once more as the now six Prides surrounded them, Zippy circling overhead as he waited to assist.
"I can tell them apart." the alien princess whispered to the changeling.
"What?" he asked, confused. He apparently hadn't made the connection between the clues. After pinpointing the real Pride, the one to her left and Beast Boy's right, she briefly explained.
"There's one real one. The one to your right." she whispered back. Beast Boy didn't really know what she was talking about, but he decided to go with it. She seemed to know what she was talking about. With a brief nod, it was them who made the first assault this time, both of them running for the real Pride. The others quickly followed after them, Zippy diving to join the fray as well, while the real Pride eagerly accepted their challenge.
Beast Boy lagged behind a little, allowing Starfire to send a powerful downward strike at Pride, who jumped back to avoid the attack that crushed the tiles it made contact with. Beast Boy then jumped over a crouching Starfire keeping up the onslaught and keeping Pride preoccupied with blocking as he began attacking for the first time during the fight. While he did that, Starfire turned her attention to thinning the crowd, no longer concerned with holding back on the clones.
The alien warrior ducked under a horizontal sweep of a dark energy blade and then threw herself backwards, colliding heavily with her attacker and effectively paralyzing the girl momentarily from the force of the impact. She then spun on her heel and cut the girl through from the left hip to the right shoulder. The clone dissipated into black smoke, but the other four Prides were quickly attacking once more.
A kick to her face sent Starfire sprawling backwards, but she quickly turned the movement into a roll, straining her injured right shoulder in the process. Once back on her feet, she blocked a series of quick swipes, mostly having to use her free hand or the hilt of the flamberge to allow enough speed to block. But something was off. They were less coordinated now. Why? Unless... could it be the clones drained a substantial amount of energy from the real one? Quickly glancing at the fight between the real Pride and Beast Boy, Starfire noticed the mage's movements were just as fast as before, but she was mostly defending and used moves that took as little energy as possible. She was getting tired! She may have been toying with them at first, but it didn't seem like she had intended for the battle to take this long. Her name said why. Pride.
Countering the next attack of the fake Pride knocked the girl off balance, and Starfire took the opportunity to cut her at the shoulders with a horizontal arc, effectively dispelling a third clone. Adrenaline driving her actions, and keeping her standing, Starfire then punched the clone to her left and then immediately kicked the clone to her right, sending both tumbling to the ground. She then rolled under the blade attack of the third clone and sprinted for Beast Boy and Brave's fight. Zippy then sent a fireball at the clone she had avoided, distracting the girl from following. Starfire made a mental note to thank their new companion later.
Brave, having more combat experience in the art of using blades, had managed to turn the tide of her and the changeling's battle, and it was now Beast Boy who was on the defensive.
Since Zippy couldn't fight three on his own, one Pride clone jumped at Starfire as she neared the pair, intending to land a double heel kick in an attempt to get her attention away from the real one, but the alien princess turned, caught the clone's feet with her left hand and threw her backwards.
"Help Zippy with the clones." Starfire told Beast Boy simply as he and the real Pride separated momentarily, and he nodded; they both knew he didn't want to be the one to take her down. With that, they went in opposite directions again. Starfire closed in on Pride, who attacked without pause. They traded blows for blocks and dodges for counters, Starfire once again using her free hand and the hilt of her sword in the fast paced combat.
At one point, Pride lost her balance due to a counter of Starfire's, and the alien princess punched her in the gut, knocking the wind out of her and making her stumble backwards from the force of the blow. Brute strength had never been Raven's specialty. It was Starfire's. As the alien warrior stalked forward, intent on finishing the battle, she stabbed her sword into the ground, burying it half way.
"You would punch your own friend?" Pride asked with an evil smile as she got up and swung her energy blade at Starfire's head. It was now obvious that the use of her clones was tiring her out because her attacks were becoming noticeably slower. Starfire blocked the blow and punched the girl hard across the face.
"You are not my friend." she replied flatly as she delivered another punch to the face, knocking the mage back a step. "You only aim to harm people." Another punch and another step. "You are the reason my friend does not want to ask us for help." Another. "And you are the one who will pay for all of this!" With that, she landed a forceful kick, once again to Pride's face, sending her flying a few feet backwards. She slid a few more feet before skidding to a stop. She didn't get back up. Exhaustion from the battle finally catching up with Starfire, she fell to one knee, clutching her right arm in pain.
"Star!" Beast Boy said concerned as he hurried forward to her, helping her sit on the ground.
"I-I am alright. I simply need to rest." she reassured him, breathing heavily as she rested her arms on her knees. He nodded hesitantly before his gaze moved to Pride's unmoving body. Since they were no longer being attacked, Starfire surmised her assumption had been correct and the others had been taken out when the real Pride had been.
"So, d-did you..." the changeling started to ask, but Starfire shook her head, knowing the question he couldn't finish.
"She has merely been rendered unconscious." Beast Boy sighed audibly at that as Zippy landed on his head once more; he too looked tired and had a few bleeding cuts on his small body.
"Hey, Zippy. Thanks for all the help." Beast Boy said, tired yet cheerful
"Agreed. That battle may have ended differently without your assistance." Starfire added, and the little dragon chirped at them in response, bringing a smile to Starfire's face. He was so cute!
Beast Boy's attention then turned to the platform at the center of the room.
"Alright, I'll get started on the circle thing." he said as he hurried over, taking out the chalk and stack of papers.
I have officially decided that Starfire is full of awesome. Just saying. Hope you guys liked the chapter, even if it was late.
*Actiony voiced announcer speaks* What will happen when our companions visit Rude's domain next? What unexpected twists will unfold as their journey continues? Find out next time on Dragon Ball Z! Er- I mean Teen Titans!
See you all next chapter! Please review if time permits.