The Titans and the Lost Boy- Acceleration
Chapter 12
This is a bit of a short chapter, but hopefully you won't hold it against me. I wanted to make sure JSB got to read one last chapter before he vanishes to whatever place he is going that won't allow him internet access. Well that and everything that needed to be said in this chapter was.
I would like to apologize for my air headed portrayal of Shampoo, it wasn't my intention, she's a good character and all, just not integral to the story, so I didn't put a lot of thought into her. Writing bad English isn't nearly as fun as writing fancy or convoluted English like for Kunou or Starfire.
On the other hand, I completely stand behind my portrayal of Ranma. He is the most arrogant SOB to walk the planet. But that's just who he is, saying he wasn't arrogant would be like saying Ryouga wasn't depressed or Mousse wasn't blind or Cologne wasn't old. It is his greatest flaw but also his greatest strength. His unparalleled belief in himself and the fact that he can overcome anything is the only thing that gets him through some of his fights. I hate to disagree with someone that likes my story, but I just had to say my piece.
Oh, and anon.
I'm waiting for my pie.
"I am sorry friend Ryouga, but I must do my utmost to thrash you soundly," said the beautiful alien girl before him, almost apologetically.
I am sorry friend Ryouga, but I must do my utmost to thrash you soundly - I am sorry friend Ryouga, but I must do my utmost to thrash you soundly - I am sorry friend Ryouga, but I must do my utmost to thrash you soundly.
The words rang through his head, bouncing and rattling through his skull, brief flashes of myriad colors filling his mind's eye. Déjà vu of the most imposing kind had just rocked his mind to its very foundations. He had heard those words before! But where? When? Why?
DAMMIT ALL TO HELL!
With a roar of fury, the fanged warrior slammed his fists into the road before him, smashing the pavement to pieces. He then tore one of the largest sections before him from the very ground itself and lifted it above his head.
"SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUTUP!" he yelled. The words had conjured strange feelings that he had nearly forgotten over the past few days. For some reason, the alien girl's threats of violence didn't frighten him; they had made him want to smile in amusement.
Starfire was already moving back from his display of rage driven might, opening the space between them.
With a heave he sent the mass of infrastructure flying at the girl in purple. It flew straight and true, but detonated only halfway there, falling victim to a burst of emerald plasma.
"Ryouga! Why are you so angry? Never have I seen you in such a state!" pleaded the girl from across the intersection, still displaying her spiteful concern for him.
The lost fighter charged at her recklessly. His mind was so clouded with rage he could barely see straight, but he didn't know why, it wasn't like this girl was Ranma! Why was she deserving of his anger? What had she done?
He could still hear fine though. The sound of steel twisting and tearing brought his mind back into focus. Ryouga quickly dropped to the ground, sliding painfully on his already mightily abused chest like he was stealing home.
The sports car swung over his body, missing by less then a foot. He quickly rolled to the side and pushed himself into the air with his arms alone as the car then smashed jarringly into the ground where he had been. He landed a dozen feet away, taking a moment to gain his senses.
Starfire stood before him, her hands dug through the hood of the now uninsurable red car. With very little effort she lifted the car up and out of the crater, holding it to her side like . . . hmmm what exactly would be a good metaphor for swinging a car around? Ryouga couldn't think of one at the moment, not surprising considering even he had never seen anyone do anything like that.
The Tamaranian didn't give him any idle time to come to terms with what he was seeing, already winding up the car behind her.
"HAAAAAAA!" shouted the girl, straining as she swung the car through the air, pitching it in his direction at speeds it probably wasn't designed to travel at under its own power.
Wow, pretty and powerful, Robin sure was a lucky guy . . . huh? Never mind, no time for that now. Heh, he'd play along for a bit, see what his opponent could really do.
Rather than dodge the rush hour traffic, the lost boy set himself, digging his feet into the fracturing ground and bracing his shoulders as best he could.
WHAM!
He skidded back several feet, struggling to stop the car from committing a case of vehicular manslaughter. Maybe that hadn't been one of his better plans; he felt the metal frame of the vehicle twist and warp in his grip. Eventually he came to a stop, now holding the sedan in his arms; a quick heave had the car over his head.
"No thanks, I've already got a ride! HYAA!" with that he returned the errant automobile with all the strength he could muster. Parts of the car ripped off and flew to the winds as it tore through the air towards the fire haired Tamaranian.
Said girl floated up several feet in the air, awaiting its return as he had for her first throw.
When the car approached her, flying level to the ground, wheels down, looking strangely like someone was trying to run over the floating girl, she spun wildly and kicked it, right in the front bumper! The front of the car collapsed entirely under the force of her strike, all the remaining windows shattered brilliantly and the vehicle shrunk to half its original length.
The kick also launched the now much denser hunk of vaguely red scrap flying back in his direction.
A smile somehow wormed its way onto his face. Damn she was good! He never got to cut loose like this back in Nerima! Heh, there was no way he was gonna catch the mass of scrap metal this time though, there were a few too many jagged pieces of metal sticking out of it for his liking.
With a flick he removed his belt and sent a tiny surge of chi into the fabric. The belt snapped straight into his trusted sword. He remembered long ago swearing to never use the weapon again . . . but that seemed like a really stupid thing to have done now. It was easily his deadliest weapon.
SLASH!
Flash!
A vertical slash of his sword cleaved the entire body of the vehicle in twain; both halves already beginning to separate and fly by him harmlessly . . . wait a sec, flash? Where had that flash sound come fro-
His question was answered as the two sections of the car began to separate before him, a bright emerald light shone through the widening gap of the two pieces, obscured only by the nearly translucent fluid that sloshed out from the cleanly severed gas tank . . .
"Oh my." he muttered in a resigned voice.
BOOOOOM!
Jinx flipped nimbly, avoiding another of tendrils of inky darkness that were trying to ensnare her. Okay, she was officially freaked now! She sent off another hex, this one causing a section of the building beside her to collapse on the demonic beast that was chasing her.
A burst of black energy dashed the wall to pieces, scattering them away from Raven's crimson eyed form. Heck, the girl hadn't even slowed down; she was still twisting through the air like some nightmarish serpent, spewing ebony telekinesis everywhere. The Titan's eyes, all four of them, still burnt a fiery red.
Of everything, Jinx would have to say that the eyes creeped her out the most, which was saying a lot at the moment. The alley didn't leave a whole lot of room to maneuver, but it did help her to dodge. She leapt from the ground, narrowly avoiding another talon of ebon, and then pushed off from one of the walls, sending herself higher into the air, triangle jumping from wall to wall trying to stay ahead of the enraged Goth behind her.
Sheesh! Most of the time her and Raven were pretty evenly matched, they had fought enough times to get to know each other's methods of combat pretty well. But now? Now the dark Titan was like a Force of Nature . . . minus the Nature part!
"Jeez Rae! Did you wake up on the wrong side of the crypt this morning, or is it just that time of the month!" she quipped to the creature chasing her.
"JIIIINX!" came a distorted and unearthly reply.
Stupid! Why did she say that! Didn't anyone ever tell her not to taunt angry demons . . . it seemed like pretty common sense advice! She spun in mid-air, pirouetting quickly and launching a pair of blade like hexes. The bursts of pink energy severed a pair of fire escapes, the metal twisting and collapsing onto the coiling Titan behind her.
With that the pink haired sorceress dropped to the ground and started hoofin it as fast as she could, trying to gain as much ground as possible while Raven freed herself from her newly formed iron prison.
Oh yeah, Jinx and Nabiki were gonna have a few words about this plan, that was for sure.
Starfire winced badly as she saw Ryouga land from his unexpected fifty foot flight. She felt a little bad about that. It was a bit of a dirty trick, detonating the car's gas tank with a Star Bolt when it was right in front of him. But then, she could not afford to play around with him, the lost boy was far too dangerous to take lightly.
She wondered if he was badly hurt by the expl-
"RRAAAUUUGHHH!" roared the fanged martial artist, surging to his feet nearly a hundred feet away.
She smiled a bit at that; he was just as resilient as she had remembered him being. It was too bad that he was likely going to try to induce severe bodily trauma to her.
"SHI SHI HOUKODAN!"
A large sphere of crimson and azure energy hurtled in her direction, digging a foot wide furrow in the ground as it traveled. The destructive orb crackled with energy, overturning cars that it passed and sending asphalt scattering like hail. The sound of its passage was a terrible wailing that assaulted her delicate ears.
As quickly as she could, the alien girl brought her fists together beside her and gathered as much of her own energy as possible. Righteous Fury poured into her mind, fury at Jinx for twisting their friend so, fury at the people that had used Ryouga to abduct Robin, fury over being forced to battle a person whom had become so close a friend to her.
The already large Star Bolt at her side doubled in size instantly, crackling with green lighting of its own now. So powerful was it now, that she had to spin around completely before she let it go, sending it careening into the oncoming sphere of negative energy.
The four foot sphere of negative chi collided with the three foot sphere of positive chi exploding apocalyptically, a blast of rainbow energy with enough force to bowl over both combatants, both nearly fifty feet away from the epicenter. Every window on the street for a whole block in every direction shattered from the shockwave. Several cars were sent into the air from the blast, landing up to twenty feet away, now burning heaps of metal.
Starfire shook her head painfully, slowly sitting up. What by the name of X'hal had happened?
"SHI SHI HOUKODAN!"
What! No, she wasn't rea-
BOOM!
She cried out in agony as the destructive energies of the Lion Roar Shot tore through her body, the blast sent her flying through the air to land painfully on the roof of a nearby SUV.
"SHI SHI HOUKODAN!" came a third shout of the esoteric attack. This time she recovered quickly and flew to the skies, leaving the vehicle below her to be crushed to scrap metal by the sphere of chi that tore into it. Starfire quickly spotted the lost boy, already powering up for another attack.
Did he think he could defeat her with his chi attack? Certainly his Lion Roar Shots were individually stronger than one of her Star Bolts, but then, the lost boy could only throw one at a time.
Most unfortunate that.
"HAAAAAAA!"
flashflashflash
"HOLY CRA-"was all that she heard of his critique of her rebuttal to his attacks. After that he was drowned out by the rapid fire explosions that shredded the landscape around the unfortunate human. Any hope of returning fire was lost to the fanged fighter; he was reduced to a frantic mad scramble to avoid the dozens of projectiles that she rained down on him.
The Tamaranian had to admit, the lost boy was quite nimble. He was somehow managing to avoid her attacks, despite his inability to fight back. She wondered who would tire first, as long as she was under the sun's life giving rays, she could fight almost indefinitely. But she also knew of Ryouga's inhuman endurance from their long days of fighting back in the Amazon village.
A loud buzzing sound cut through the sounds of the explosions below. No, it was more than that, a large number of things buzzing, almost as if a hive of the bees was nearby! Movement caught her eyes; a swarm was coming her way! A dozen yellow and black discs flew up at her from the ground, flying erratically and curving around as if seeking her out under their own power.
It was her turn to begin dodging, twisting and turning in the air, desperately avoiding the deadly weapons. She destroyed as many as she could with Star Bolts and employed the most intricate aerial maneuvers she could manage to avoid the rest.
SLASH!
Agghh! A bandanna slashed her left arm just below the shoulder, a spray of green blood flying like rain. She clutched the wound, biting her lip to hold in the gasps of pain. A brief look revealed the cut was not too deep, but it burned like fire. She bravely swallowed the pain and began scanning the ground; she was still in the middle of a dangerous battle.
"No!" she gasped. Where was Ryouga? She had lost track of him somewhere! The bleeding alien spun around frantically trying to locate her opponent.
Wait! At the base of that building, a set of holes that had not been there before, leading up the side of the building alternating left and right. She followed the path up, up … until her sight was filled with Ryouga Hibiki, flying through the air at her!
The crazed boy had run up the side of the building while she had been distracted and launched himself at her!
WHAM!
"OOOF!" the air left her lungs in a rush as his stone hard shoulder slammed into her stomach. The inertia of his flight and the power of his attack sent them both flying to the ground below. They crashed to the pavement, his shoulder crushing painfully deeper into her stomach as he used her to absorb most of the impact of the landing.
Tears filled her eyes, the pain was incredible, her back felt like it was broken, her arm burned and her stomach was cramped painfully. She wanted to curl up into a fetal position and just whimper until the pain went away.
The Tamaranian was denied even this, pushed back down painfully and straddled by the aggressive boy above her. She looked up at the boy now sitting on her stomach, his right arm cocked back threateningly. She silently giggled to herself; the position they were in, it would have caused the lost boy to pass out from a nose bleed when she had first met him. He had been so delightfully shy.
She did not know why she had thought that, having her skull crushed by one of her friends did not exactly strike her as being terribly intimate.
Perhaps one just thought of strange things when death came for them.
Raven let a surge of dark power incinerate the wrought iron bars that confined her; they vanished with barely a sound. She took a moment to regain her senses, the rage that had driven her this far was nearly gone. So far from Ryouga, she was no longer being affected by his tainted emotions.
The dark Titan was still pretty ticked in her own right though, and Jinx really seemed to be afraid of her like this. Perhaps she'd keep up appearances for a while longer until she had really given the H.I.V.E. sorceress a lesson in the ethical treatment of wandering martial artists.
Jinx had widened the gap a bit, but she was still in sight further down the alley. With a mere thought, the dark Titan was flying down the enclosed space at terrifying speed, her cloak trailing her menacingly. Errantly she willed a nearby dumpster into the air even as she flew. Raven then launched the refuse receptacle down the alley, where it crashed loudly before the fleeing villain.
The explosion of garbage knocked the young witch onto her back, giving Raven all the time she needed to catch up. She stared down at her opponent, her own anger still burning hot.
The demonic Titan was about to begin her lecture to the pink haired villain, when suddenly the girl jumped to her feet and unleashed a massive wave of pink energy that filled the entire alley.
Raven gasped, covering her face as best as she could . . . a moment passed and she didn't notice anything. So tentatively she lowered her arms and looked at the girl before her, raising one eyebrow questioningly.
"Hah! Now you can't call for back up!" bragged the grounded sorceress, pointing to Raven's sparking and sputtering communicator. Raven rolled her eyes at that.
"Neither can you Jinx, you destroyed your own communicator too." she droned, pointing back to the girls own sparking and sputtering device.
The girl's eyes widened in shock as she tore the yellow box from her belt and looked at it. A sheepish look then spread across her face.
"Heh heh, oh yeah . . . um . . . oops?" muttered the cat eyed girl in embarrassment.
Raven rolled her eyes in disgust once more. It was time to finish this.
"Tell me what you've done to Ryouga, now!" she demanded of the girl that she towered over.
"Pfft, whatever Queen of the Fashion Don'ts!" rebelled the spunky villain. Said criminal then launched a trio of pink hexes in her direction. One directly at her and the other two at the walls to her sides. Rather than see the effects, Raven decided to take the easy way out, raising ebon shields before all three missiles and stopping them from hitting anything. Raising three separate shields at once like that had once seemed impossible, but now it came to her easily.
The dark Titan then raised her own hand, a massive talon of black energy rising up from her own cloak to mimic it. With a simple wave of her hand, the gigantic talon slammed to the ground, each of the claws surrounding Jinx and caging her in. Seeing her quarry now trapped, Raven lowered herself to the ground and brought her fiery gaze to bear on her captive.
"You are going to tell me what I want to know Jinx. Where is Robin? What have you done to Ryouga, and most importantly, why were you making out with him?" she growled loudly.
Jinx grinned mischievously at that. "What's the matter Rae? Jealous?" she asked teasingly.
The dark Titan growled again, slowly closing her fist, causing the shimmering claws of darkness to close in tighter around the villain in training. Perhaps a different approach was in order.
"What's the matter Jinx? Can't get a boy to like you without mind control?" she asked, twisting her words mockingly. She returned Jinx's wide grin with a fanged grin of her own.
Raven nearly fell backwards at what she saw next. The young sorceress seemed to deflate at her childish question, all of the fight draining from her instantly. But what really shocked Raven was the raw emotion that filled the girl's unique cat like eyes. Sorrow, regret, envy, they swam around in the villain's large pink orbs.
"Go back to hell Titan. Everything's just so easy for you isn't it Raven? Friends to support you, countless fans to cheer you on, a boy that really cares for you! Why should you be the only one to get what she wants?" demanded the emotional sorceress.
Raven recoiled more at the girls words . . . w-were those tears running down the villain's cheeks? She didn't even get the chance to argue with the girl.
"Do you think I wanted this?" yelled the tearful girl angrily, swinging her arm wildly.
Raven could only stand, dumbfounded.
What was going on here?
Ryouga stared down at the beautiful girl beneath him. Beaten, broken and bleeding, she was powerless before him. He smiled cruelly at that. His fist was already raised, when it landed, the alien would be no more, she was resilient, but still only flesh and blood. He almost felt like laughing madly, dark emotions were swimming through his mind, urging him to finish the job.
He looked into the girl's large green eyes. They stared back at him, filled with defiance, but also sadness, sadness for him, not for what was about to happen to her. Damn! Why did she have to be so damn noble? He clenched his eyes closed and looked away; he wouldn't need to see her to finish her from this position.
"Any last words Titan?" he asked, it seemed cliché, but it also seemed like the right thing to say for some reason. He slowly opened his eyes and looked at her again.
The fiery haired Titan gazed at him piercingly, slowly her lips parted.
"Did you not once say that it was dishonorable to fight with girls?" she asked weakly.
OH . . . MY . . . GOD! What had he done! He looked at the girl beneath him, her arm steadily oozing green blood to the ground below her. A mass of bruises forming on the once smooth skin of her midsection. The lost boy recoiled in shock at the works he had wrought.
What had come over him! He had brutalized an innocent girl! He had never attacked anyone but Ranma with such ferocity, and certainly never a girl! Ryouga gazed at the girl below him, preparing to apologize for his terrible sin . . .
FSSSHHHHHHHHHH!
The optic beams slammed into his chest like nothing he had ever felt before! The heat vaporized his shirt instantly and burned his skin harshly. The power of the beams sent him flying up, up soaring into the sky riding the beams like a roller coaster. He could only cry out in pain until the beams finally subsided, leaving him suspended several dozen feet above the street.
CRASH!
Idly he looked up from the newly formed crater that surrounded him. His chest hurt worse than he could ever remember, repeated impacts and burns had left him in a terrific amount of pain.
Maybe, just maybe, chivalry was overrated.
Slowly and painfully, he dug himself out of his crater and returned to his feet. He saw, not too far away, Starfire struggling to do the same. Apparently his journey had been mostly vertical. The lovely alien girl was in just as bad shape as he was, clutching her arm and standing unsteadily.
To hell with honor, it was time to end this!
"Starfire, Prepare to Die!" he snarled, letting his rage consume him completely. He started to stagger forward, his powerful will and angry chi pretty much the only things keeping him moving at this point.
She only shook her head sadly at that. "Do you not remember me at all dear friend?" she asked in a resigned voice.
His only response was a loud growl and a sloppy haymaker. The girl was in no shape to block his attack; rather she glided back out of his range. Trying to buy time while she recovered obviously, he wouldn't give her the time.
"You have truly forgotten everything that we had learned under the Elder Cologne." she continued, still smoothly gliding just beyond his reach. He only pushed himself harder at that, ignoring the screams of his abused muscles. She was trying to confuse him again! How had she known who Cologne was?
Punches, kicks, elbows, all flew with reckless abandon, but she avoided all of them calmly.
"You do not even fight with the same level of skill you possessed when we first began our own training, your actions are unfocused with rage." she scolded him lightly, critiquing his fighting style. How dare she? How dare someone like her claim that he was a poor fighter?
"I apologize most profusely for what I must do friend Ryouga, but you leave me no choice." she told him, sincerity in her voice. What was she talking about? She wasn't in any better shape than he was? How did she plan to beat him now? Her eyes and hands were ablaze with her own energy . . . something seemed slightly off though.
The usual green energy of her energy seemed pale for some reason . . . almost tinged bluish, but why would that be happeni-
It all clicked! Avoiding his attacks, leading him on – he felt her energy, it was by no means cold, but compared to his boiling chi; it was an arctic gale!
NO! He had to ge-
"Flying Dragon Ascends to the Heavens Blow!"
He watched her fist rise, almost in slow motion, the greenish/bluish glow surrounding it starting to spiral up as she twisted her fist just so. His mind nearly shut down from the shock. How on earth had she learned one of the Amazon's most sacred techniques?
He would get no answers, for his world quickly dissolved into howling winds and pain.
"- and most unusual of all, earlier today in the heart of Jump City, a large tornado touched down. While short lived, meteorologists hypothesize it was at least a category three phenomenon. Experts are still puzzled as to how such a freak weather pattern could have formed –"
Click.
"Heh, awesome dudes! That's the first time one of our fights got time on the Weather Network!" cheered Beast Boy.
He then winced and pressed the ice pack against the massive black eye that adorned his face. And that was after Raven's healing as well! Man, Ryouga was a jerk! And what kind of guy can knock out a rhino with a single punch? It just wasn't natural. Still, considering how things had gone, he had gotten off extremely light.
The shape changer looked over to the other side of the semi circle couch. Starfire was lying on the couch, wrapped in bandages and being tended to by Raven. She was looking way better than when Raven had first brought the girl back, appearing in a bubble of darkness from the floor.
He growled again at that. Friend or no, Ryouga really worked her over, the only consolation was that some miracle had allowed the Tamaranian to defeat the double crossing snitch. Some how she had managed to use that Hiring Shonen Hunks move that Ryouga had learned from Cologne. How, he had no idea.
"Star, how did you do that?" he asked his quickly recovering team mate.
"Yeah Starfire! When I saw that tornado I thought the whole world was goin crazy!" asked Cyborg, disbelief still in his voice. The large Titan sat at the table, a wide array of parts and tools before him. He appeared to be putting the finishing touches on the new panel to replace the one the lost boy had destroyed.
Starfire giggled slightly at that, before wincing in pain. "Ouchies. I was able to learn the Flying Dragon Ascends to the Heavens Blow the same way that Ryouga himself learned it, by helping another train in the technique. I was also privy to the Soul of the Ice training just as Ryouga was. I had never thought to have been able to use the attack, my energy is naturally hotter than most humans, but when I noticed just how incredibly hot Ryouga's chi was, it seemed like my only chance of survival." admitted the girl.
Raven raised an eyebrow at that. "You sound like you weren't certain it would work." she asked the bedridden Titan.
Starfire blushed cutely at that. "I must admit, there were many things that could have gone wrong, ranging from the technique not working, to the move backfiring completely and drawing us both into the winds instead of just him. It was a risk, but one which I was unable to avoid."
Beast Boy shook his head at that. "Sheesh Star, you're makin the rest of us look bad, first you have super strength, can fly and shoot star bolts and eye lasers. But now you can make tornados too! Man, that just isn't fair!" he whined comically.
"Heeheehe-owie! Friend Beast Boy, please desist from the deployment of humor, my anterior morflorks become inflamed when I laugh." pleaded the injured girl.
Raven rolled her eyes. "The day that Beast Boy can deploy humor is the day I hang up my cloak." she muttered dryly.
"Heeheehee-oooh! Please stop friends . . ."
"Yeah guys, it's time to get serious, we got major problems here." stated Cyborg, walking over from the table to join them. He was flexing his right arm experimentally, testing the replacement parts he had used.
"Which ones are you talkin about? The fact that Robin is missing, Ryouga's a bad guy or the fact that you just found out that your skull is potentially explosive?" grumbled the emerald changeling. Things were looking bad, real bad.
Cyborg waved his hands, unconcerned. "Don't worry bout my brains, all I gotta do is replace the composite panels with metal plates and I'll be fine. I won't look so sleek, but at least I won't have to worry about losing my head . . . literally." explained the mechanical genius.
Heh, well that was good, if Cyborg didn't have to worry about getting blown up, then he could probably handle Ryouga for them in the future, he was made of some pretty stern stuff.
"Something seemed strange about that fight though, if it weren't for the fact that Ryouga was wearing the same costume from the lab heist, I'd swear this was a different group entirely. The first attack was well thought out and perfectly executed, this one was an incredibly reckless brawl that didn't seem to have any purpose at all." explained Cyborg.
Beast Boy nodded at that, the fight had been totally messed up, sure Ryouga was good and Jinx was pretty dangerous too, but four on two? Why would they go from diabolical genius to school yard bully, picking a fight with them? Sure it had turned out closer than the changeling would like to admit, but they had beaten to two Hive students . . . hmm he was pretty sure they had anyways.
"Hey, whatever happened to Jinx anyway? You chased her off and we didn't see you until you got back here with Star." he asked the cloaked Titan tending to the Tamaranian.
"Y-you didn't . . . eat her, did you?" he asked somewhat nervously.
Raven arched an eyebrow, obviously considering his comment to be rather inane. "Jinx is alive, if that's what you're asking . . . well, I don't know about." she muttered the last bit quietly but Beast Boy still caught it. What was that supposed to mean?
"So what is to be our next course of action Cyborg?" asked Starfire quietly.
The largest Titan looked over his fellow teens, lingering on Starfire and Beast Boy himself.
"We recuperate." he stated simply.
Jinx dragged herself up the stone steps of the church and lurched to her secret room. A few moments of trudging allowed her to collapse on her familiar mattress. Quietly she dug her face into the soft fabric, the lingering scent of Ryouga was still present and she relished it silently.
"Nice place you have here, I'd think about some brighter colors if I were you though."
The pink haired sorceress rolled over and sat up quickly, bringing up a hotly glowing hand to bear on the owner of the voice.
Said owner did not appear to be overly concerned. Rather Nabiki buffed her nails on her shirt calmly, leaning casually against the stone door frame.
With a huff Jinx dropped her hand and flopped back face first into her mattress. "What do you want?" she inquired, muffled by the fabric which she was speaking into.
"I just wanted to check up on my fellow classmate, see if you were okay or not." came the irritatingly insincere voice.
She let out a sigh and rolled over to face the brunette. It seemed unlikely that the girl would leave if she simply ignored her, as much as she wished it would work that way.
"Your concern touches me really; I'm fine, so beat it." She informed her erstwhile companion.
The Tendo girl smirked knowingly. "I can see that . . . Sooooo did you have a good chat with Raven?" she asked.
What? How had she known about that? "What are you talking about Nabiki; I was a little to busy trying to stay alive. Your little plan backfired pretty badly, Raven wasn't startled, she was psycho!" she replied bitterly.
The cocky girl started examining her nails. "Yes, I suppose that could be one way the situation could be construed. Personally I happen to have a slightly higher level of respect for your intelligence than the Headmaster or our fellow students." droned the mercenary girl.
Jinx cocked her head at that. "What do you mean by that?" she asked, curious as well as nervous.
Nabiki twirled her hand slightly. "Oh I don't know; the fact that instead of standing and fighting with Ryouga, you led off the one Titan that could have really stopped the lost boy in his tracks. The one Titan that also happened to be involved in the little love triangle the Headmaster created." mused the standing girl.
"Then you lead the girl down a series of alleyways where our aerial surveillance lost track of you. Once again, something that could have happened by coincidence. But then your communicator also failed; something that the people monitoring you said would happen from time to time due to your chaotic powers. But me, I don't really believe in coincidence, especially when they pile up like that." explained the mastermind in training.
Jinx decided to try to play dumb. "I don't see where you're going with this Biki, you wanna spell it out for me?" she asked slowly.
Nabiki rolled her eyes at the display. "Fortunately for you, everyone was too busy watching Ryouga get his fanny handed to him by that orange haired girl, she was just full of surprises that one. So no one else bothered to notice you vanish down the alley, or fall out of communication, heh seems like no one else really cared what happened to you." said the brunette, shrugging absently.
The young witch grumbled a bit at being dismissed like that, even if it sounded pretty close to what would have happened.
"But me, I happen to think very highly of you, so I made sure to pay attention to you. As I said, a slightly more suspicious mind would think that you led Raven off for a purpose, perhaps to deliver some form of message or ask for help of some sort. Luckily for you, no one else shares my appreciation for you, so I doubt anyone else would come to the same conclusions . . . well not without my help at any rate." mused the middle Tendo sister, letting her last statement linger in the air semi threateningly.
Heh, so that was it, the girl was going to blackmail her. If she didn't play along, then Nabiki would accuse her of plotting with the Titans, something the girl wouldn't have much trouble proving if she pointed out what she had noticed. Heck, it didn't matter if it was true or not, the Headmaster would likely destroy her just because of the possibility of her being a traitor.
She let out a resigned sigh. "Fine Nabiki, what do you want from me?"
Nabiki smiled widely at that. "Absolutely nothing Jinx. In fact, you've already done what I wanted you to do. Just keep on the path you've started and everything should work out just fine." Answered the young woman cryptically, yet proudly.
"Excuse me? What the heck was that supposed to mean?" she asked, now utterly confused. If Nabiki wasn't going to blackmail her, then what was going on?
"I've got a pretty good idea how you feel about what's been happening with the lost boy lately, it's kind of sweet, in a sappy way. That's the only reason why I'm the only one that pieced together what happened between you and Raven. Heh, and I was only bluffing, I could only guess what you had actually done in that alley, I didn't know for sure until you practically admitted that you had done anything." snickered the cocky girl.
Dammit! She hated it when people did that!
"But if you know how I feel, then why did you let me go on that mission in the first place, hell, why didn't you just report me to the Headmaster?" she asked, still extremely confused.
Nabiki just smiled wider. "There are bigger plans going on here than you can even imagine, let's just say that graduation is coming sooner than anyone anticipated."
With that the diabolical girl turned to leave the room. But one thing was still bothering Jinx, something Nabiki had mentioned earlier.
"Where is Ryouga anyway?"
Gizmo grumbled to himself again. He'd probably have been pseudo swearing to himself, except that it had been Nabiki that had asked him to do what he was currently doing. Said thing he was doing was scanning the city, trying to find their fellow student that had apparently gotten lost in a tornado of all things.
The diminutive scientist had no idea what the heck Nabiki had been talking about, he'd been out all day actually setting up the equipment for the next weeks events. So unfortunately he'd missed the big fight earlier on, he heard the brawl had been something to see. Still, it was pretty smart of Nabiki, using the terminally losing it Ryouga to distract the Titans so they couldn't accidentally stumble across Gizmo's work.
Heck, Gizmo wasn't even sure he wanted to find the vanished boy. Ever since the Headmaster had "chatted" with the martial artist after he had captured Robin, Ryouga had been getting increasingly erratic and violent, even to other students. Sure Gizmo knew it wasn't the guy's fault; he was getting jerked around by the Headmaster more than any other student at the whole academy.
It was just too bad about Jinx was all. Gizmo still worried about his partner in crime from time to time and he knew that she really liked the Japanese boy. A lot of the students had actually gotten on pretty well with Hibiki; he was actually a pretty decent guy most of the time. But since he'd started losing it, now Gizmo wasn't sure that it was completely in Jinx's best interest to stay involved with the new student.
Hmm, but then considering what he had heard happened during the fight, there was a chance the guy didn't even survive. Getting blasted, beaten and the blown away in a tornado? What the heck are the odds of that? From Nabiki's description, Ryouga had been in pretty rough shape even before he got tossed away in the massive air funnel.
Oop, his scanner just picked up the frequency of the communicator they had given the brainwashed student. The tiny scientist hit the boosters on his jet back and started making his way to the source of the signal. Either he would find the guy, or at the very least his corpse, one way or the other he'd be able to get back to work on his original project soon enough.
He soon found himself floating over a nearly abandoned section of the city, a heck of a distance from the fight earlier on. The street was a mess, a large crater taking up large space in the center of the road between run down buildings. An exposed water main was spraying water into the air.
But where was Ryouga? The crater was empty, and there was no way that Gizmo was going anywhere near that water main to get a closer look, that was one thing he was certain of. Odd, he pulled out his scanner and started narrowing the search area. Hmm, the signature was coming from somewhere close by.
Ah, over there, down that alley. Slowly he glided over, keeping one nervous eye on the small geyser behind him while checking his small gadget. He quietly glided into the dark alley, switching on a small light on his harness to light the way. The small scientist's search finally came to an end, though not the way he thought.
His device lead him to a small huddled form lodged between a dumpster and a garbage can. Just a kid, probably only eight or nine, not too much younger than Gizmo himself really. Whew, what a smell, the kid reeked like he was bathing in garbage. Which didn't seem too far off, the long shirt the boy wore was obviously several sizes too large and it looked like it had been tossed out days ago.
What Gizmo did notice was the small hexagonal device tightly clasped in the boy's hand. The kid must have found it near the crash site, then crawled in here and fell asleep. But that didn't explain where Ryouga had gone. The kid looked to be in pretty bad shape too, Gizmo almost felt bad for him, lying there in the alleyway.
With a sigh, he took a candy bar from his back pack. Maybe if he offered the boy some food, he'd tell Gizmo if he'd seen anyone that looked like Ryouga.
"Hey, hey kid, wake up." he whispered loudly, not wanting to scare the kid too badly.
The boy started slightly at his voice, and began to wake up. Slowly the kid opened his eyes and looked at Gizmo. The tiny villain was about to offer him the candy when-
"Gizmo? What's going on? Where on earth am I now?" muttered the small boy.
Gizmo recoiled, how the heck had this kid known his name! Hey, the kid looked kinda familiar, and sounded pretty familiar. He took a closer look at the filthy boy before him. There was one thing that he had missed earlier, an article of clothing he couldn't believe he hadn't noticed.
The boy had a black and yellow bandanna tied around his neck.
Nabiki, Gizmo, Kasumi and even Mammoth looked through the large window into the medical ward where the restored Hibiki was recovering in one of the hospital style beds. Jinx was already in the room, sitting by the boy's side and holding his hands tightly. It didn't take a genius to see that something had changed with the lost boy.
"Heh, I can't believe I forgot about his curse, I mean I knew he had one, I just never connected when I saw the kid." chuckled Gizmo, slightly embarrassed at his minor oversight. Nabiki smiled and patted him gently on his bald little head.
"Good work Gizmo, he might be a directionless idiot, but he's still one of us." she told the boy happily. She then gave the other two people with them a look.
Mammoth waved his hand dismissively. "Yeah yeah, if we say anything bout you bein nice, they'll never find the bodies." he muttered well naturedly. Kasumi giggled happily at that.
Kasumi took a step forward and raised one of her hands to the glass before them all. "He looks so happy now, almost like the past several days had never happened." she observed cheerfully.
Nabiki nodded, looking back into the room. Ryouga and Jinx were still talking, holding hands and smiling. The lost boy even had that cute embarrassed look he usually had around cute girls, smiling goofily and rubbing his hand through the hair at the back of his head. Gone was the bitter anger and rage that had controlled him lately.
Jinx seemed to be especially giddy over the reversion back to his normal self. At first the girl had been livid when the lost boy had been brought in, considering the level of injuries he had suffered in the fight. But Nabiki knew just how stubborn and durable the boy was, she knew he would be all right eventually, he was just like Ranma like that, too dumb to know when to quit.
More important to Nabiki was the fact that Ryouga seemed to have shaken off the latest attempt at the Headmaster's mind control. That boded well for Nabiki. It looked like the harder the Headmaster tried to push someone, the quicker they built up a resistance to his power. And someone with a temper as bad as the Headmaster's seemed like someone that would push much harder than was needed in any given situation.
It was unfortunate that the repeated psychic attacks by the Headmaster appeared to be damaging the lost boy's memories. But then it was probably for the best, she doubted that Ryouga would want to remember the fight he had just been in now that he was back to his normal self, or at least closer than he had been.
Still, Ryouga's recovery, both mental and physical, could definitely prove to be a good sign for her own future plans.
In a few more days she was sure her pawns would be ready to move again.
Raven slowly glided back to her room. She had tended to Starfire as best she could; her poor friend's injuries had been fairly severe. Raven still couldn't believe that Ryouga had been the one to do such things to her best friend. Still, she couldn't place the blame on him, not if what Jinx had said was true.
"Do you think I wanted this?" yelled the tearful girl angrily, swinging her arm wildly.
Raven could only stand, dumbfounded.
What was going on here?
"Do you think that I wanted to force Ryouga to like me? I-I love him, I really do and he loves me too! But it's not real; it's all just a mirage." Jinx confessed; her voice thick with emotions. The confined girl sank to her knees, tears still flowing.
Raven didn't know what to think. Jinx loved Ryouga? But how? When did that happen?
"I doubt you believe me, you probably think I'm just trying to play you . . . well that was what it was supposed to be. The old use your friends against you game plan." muttered the girl tearfully.
The pink eyed girl continued. "I-I didn't think he'd get under my skin like he did, I mean sure he was nice enough when I first met him, but when the Headmaster made him like me, it was like nothing I'd ever felt before." admitted the girl sadly.
The violet eyed Titan knelt before the ebon prison surrounding her rival. "You can't force someone to like you Jinx, it isn't right." she explained gently.
She had to lean back away from the angry snarl that Jinx unleashed at her. "You think I don't know that? Every day I knew that what I was doing was wrong, and every day I didn't care! I felt loved for the first time I remembered, can you imagine what it's like going your whole life alone and then suddenly having someone care for you so much it hurts?" pleaded the captive girl.
The dark Titan thought back to her nights under the stars, sitting silently with the lost boy back in the Amazon village. Sharing her thoughts with him and sharing his as well. The quiet chats and just being close to each other, it had been very different than anything she had shared with her other friends.
"More than you know Jinx, more than you know." she whispered quietly.
The girl looked back at her in angry denial. "Pfft, whatever Titan."
"Why are you telling me this Jinx? Why tell me that you and Ryouga are in love, why lead me away from everyone like this?" she asked, although she was starting to get an idea of what was happening already.
Jinx glared at her, harder than before.
"Because he doesn't love me! He loves you, you pasty-faced Goth loser!" spewed the angry girl. Raven thought of referring the pasty-faced Goth sorceress to the age old case of pot versus kettle, but decided to keep it to herself.
"I can't stand it anymore! What the Headmaster has been doing to Ryouga is too much for me! It wasn't too bad when he was just altering his memories a bit, Ryouga was still himself for the most part, sweet, caring and kind of goofy. But now-now the Headmaster is destroying Ryouga just to make his more dangerous!" the girl explained, disgust evident in her voice.
The girl then collapsed completely, burying her face in her hands. "I-I can't deal with it anymore, I can't let him keep suffering just so I can pretend to be happy. Everything good that he's given me, it's all an illusion, but the pain he's feeling, every drop of it is real." Raven could see the tears falling from between the fragile looking girls fingers.
Raven was touched, honestly and truly. She had always considered the young sorceress to be a selfish and thoughtless delinquent. But now she wasn't so sure, Jinx was really torn up about this. Raven knew without a doubt that Jinx truly loved the lost boy, loved him enough to let him go, she just needed some outside help with that last part.
It was so romantic and tragic . . . and a little ironic. Starfire had told her about Ryouga's tragic love for Akane. How the boy had loved her so completely, but that the girl he loved, loved another. Jinx's situation seemed to parallel the lost boy's own tragic tale. It was terribly sad to the dark Titan.
"What can I do?" she asked the pink eyed girl quietly.
Jinx looked up at her one final time, the faintest glimmer of hope in her eyes.
"Save him, save him from me."
Raven dropped to her bed heavily and flopped back, not caring if her cape wrinkled or not. She felt terrible for what Jinx was going through. But at the same time, the girl wasn't exactly innocent in all of this either, she had brought it on herself. Still, Raven wished there was some way to get out of this without any party being hurt too badly.
Unfortunately Jinx hadn't really been that helpful, sure she wanted to get Ryouga away from the H.I.V.E., but the girl had no idea how to go about it. Jinx couldn't go against the Headmaster's wishes, not directly anyway, and Ryouga was apparently the Headmaster's favorite new toy.
That thought roused the dark Titan's anger once more. How dare that man do those terrible things to Ryouga? To her Ryouga! He would pay for his crime, that was certain, the Titans, and more importantly, she herself would make him pay!
She let out a loud sigh; she was still pretty worked up from the day. Maybe some meditation would help. She crossed her legs and started to bring the lessons from Cologne to her mind. Hmmm . . . her eyes slid to the top of her dresser. It had been awhile since she had really had an introspective moment. A quick thought had her mirror floating over to her, cloaked in black energy.
She held the smooth glass mirror before her, marveling over the length of time that it had gone unused. To be honest, she hadn't really felt the need lately, her new styles of meditation had left her much more centered and at peace, as well as increasing her abilities.
Still . . . she flipped the mirror over several times. What the heck, she decided to see how things were going on inside her mind. Maybe she just needed a different perspective on things to find the answers she was seeking.
Maybe even six or seven different perspectives.
The Headmaster looked on, pride prominent on his features. Nabiki was running the class through her next ingenious plot. It would likely take the remainder of the week to set up, but that was just as well considering Ryouga was still recovering from that last fight.
He was still somewhat disturbed that the boy had lost the fight, but Nabiki had assured him that everything was going according to her plans. She told him that she was just using the lost boy to gauge the Titans and see what their abilities were. Considering the completely unknown power that the alien girl had used, it appeared to have been a wise idea.
This next plan looked to be even more fiendish than the first. It seemed possible that if everything went well, they could very well have the rest of the Titans in their possession by the beginning of next week. Yes, things were going quite well.
"Tendo Nabiki! I demand to know why I have been pitted against the least worthy of our remaining opponents. I am the unrivaled Blue Thunder! Rising Star of the Hive Academy! It is my right to battle with the most powerful of our prey, for only they are worthy of my blade!" yelled the irate kendoist.
The Headmaster groaned and leaned back. It seemed he was in for yet another round of "Explain it to Kunou". It did get tedious after a time.
"Dammit Kunou just sit down and shut up! I'm tired of you giving me grief every time I lay out my game plan!" yelled the frustrated girl.
Heh, well that was different, it looked like even the ice queen could only put up with the swordsman so long.
The kendoist complied with her slowly, trying mightily to hide his blush as his classmates snickered at him behind his back.
"Look Kunou, just be happy you're even in this plan, okay? You all know your roles, so you're all going to be helping Gizmo set up the equipment and then you'll be running through your parts. Everyone got that?" asked the mercenary Tendo.
Gizmo, Kyd Wykkyd, Angel and Bumble Bee each nodded, all a part of unit one.
See-more, Instigator, Private Hive, XL Terrestrial and Billy Numerous nodded, forming unit two.
And finally Mammoth and Kunou nodded, forming two thirds of unit three.
Jinx and Kasumi would remain behind this time, to guard Robin and make sure no one snuck into the base while the bulk of the students were out.
The Headmaster smiled again, yes, things were definitely going according to plan.
Nabiki looked over to the smiling face of the Headmaster. She could barely contain her own smile at seeing it. It was only a matter of time before she made her move now. Just a few more pieces needed to be moved into place. But if things kept going the way they had . . .
Yes, things were definitely going according to plan.