Chapter Twenty: THE WAR BEGINS!
This is what happens when you have writers block for two weeks, when it goes away, it's hard to find a place to cut off for the next chapter!
Disclaimer: I don't own this. At all. I don't get paid for this. I write this to entertain and to get better at writing, as well as occasionally vent my frustration by having villains get beat on. So don't sue me! Seriously, I have nothing worth taking at the end of the day. Nothing worth a day in court and lots of money.
"Kimimaru, how are things going?" Zenaku has his hands on the control panel in a large communications room. "Kimimaru come in!" He raises his voice, "Blackfire?"
No answer.
"Carnage?"
Nothing.
"Gizmo?"
"What is it crud-brain! I'm trying to get away!" the rude little boy yells at him through his Communication device in his ear. Hands free and all.
"From what?"
"Those stupid heroes! Malchior ditched me and they already caught Dr. Light! I'm on my way back."
"Take a breath." Zenaku turns around and waves his hand, speaking with a loud voice. "Gizmo!" a swirl of black energy materializes before him, it fades and reveals the short back-pack wearing criminal genius.
"How? How did you do that?"
"I've been picking up some new powers. I need them to make a good impression."
"On who?"
"Thats not important, what happened to your group?"
"Well we were taking everything we could, and then those snot-head Titan's came to stop us."
"Yes, I know that, Malchior, how did he disappear. What happened to him?"
"I don't know you idiot! Thats what I've been telling you, he was fighting that guy with the Straw Hat, and then he was gone. Even that crud-munch-in hero seemed confused!"
"Dr. Light may be a loser, an idiot, and useless except for a temporary distraction in his current state, but I didn't go through the trouble of bringing Malchior back to this dimension and giving him additional powers for him to just disappear. I've put in too much effort to lose powerful soldiers so early." Turning back to his computer screen, Zenaku sees that Carnage, Blackfire, Kimimaru, Malchior, and Private Hive are all off the grid, he can't even sense them with his powers. Which could only mean that someone has removed them from this dimension, as that is the only way to get away from his sensing ability, time travel, or dimensional travel. "It wasn't the nameless hero, and that hated girl wouldn't do anything to get in the way of her student's learning, so who could be taking my soldiers out of the game?" See-More, and Billy Numerous had already been captured, and the clones he had sent to help Venom were being taken down systematically by the Titans. Even though it was all a distraction so Blackfire could capture that nameless hero without any interference, and so they could replace someone very important. Someone whose presence in would make his current plan go smoother, but the replacement could take place already, because the tracking device on them was gone, and the clone he had used to attack him was unable to find him. But before anyone else could get captured he had to... "Gemini, are you in position?"
"Yes Sir."
"Objective achieved, Everyone, return to base."
Somewhere in San Francisco...
"Regal!" Stay yelled as she franticly searched the doors and rooms for the Duke. Against Nightwing's orders, she had used her powers to chase after the clone that had attacked Regal. She wasn't going to let the spiky haired idiot tell her what to do. "Regal! Where are you?"
"St..Stacy..."
"Regal!" Stacy ran down the steel-plated hall towards the voice. And when she saw him she was horrified. Regal seemed to be limping, he right leg was bleeding, and his outer clothing was black with burn marks on his skin as well as holes burned through his clothing. "What happened?"
"I fought her off as long as I could, but then the clone disappeared after blasting me with her laser eyes."
"Lets get you back to the Tower.."
"Thank You, Stacy.."
Outside Titans Tower, thirty minutes later.
"I don't understand what happened, we were fighting those ninja and then, Mana just disappeared without a word." Supergirl explains,
"And that bone guy was gone in a flash of light as well." Zoro agrees.
"And Tiger as well." Beast Boy chimes in.
"Spider-man and, what did he call himself, Carnage? They vanished as well." Nightwing says.
"No, I'm Spider-Man." A black leather-clad man with WWI style goggles on, a leather mask, and a grey spider-symbol steps out of the shadows. The Spider-man of the Noir universe.
"True" a swirl of blue energy forms right beside Supergirl, and Chamie appears. "but there is more than one Spider-man and more than one version of your universe."
"I knew that,"
"I see you've already introduced yourself." Cyborg comments.
"Sanji is gone as well, along with that man with HIVE written on his Shield." Nico Robin continues.
The heroes go inside the tower, and up the elevator to the top floor.
"AHH!" Starfire screams, "What happened here?" her reaction is natural to seeing the burning hallway,
"Look out!" Using her super-ice-breath, Supergirl quickly puts the flames out exhaling forcefully.
"Look for Tyler!" Chamie yells as she vanishes without a sound.
On the roof there were burn marks on the ground, no fire thankfully, but...
"Tyler!" Chamie calls, frantically looking around, she quickly disappears again.
"Tyler!" Supergirl yells out as she uses her superhuman vision to try and pick up X-ray, infrared, or any type of radiation from Tyler's body.
"What happened to him?" Raven was in Tyler's room, it's unscathed, and nothing seems to be out of place, more than it usually is anyway. She phases through the door, heading back to the others.
"So he's missing too." Nightwing says, as he watches the Straw Hat Pirates run to their ship to look for Tyler. "What is going on!"
"We're back!" Stacy exclaims as she helps a limping Regal into the living room. "Why's everyone in such a hurry?" She lays Regal on the couch. "And where is Orihime?"
"She's helping the search." Nightwing sounds irritated,
"for what?"
"Our friends." Starfire says.
Supergirl runs inside "He's not at the Tower or the island, which means..."
"He's not in this world anymore, and neither is Mana." Raven interrupts.
"How do you know?" Supergirl asks,
"You should be able to sense it too, though not to the same degree. Empathy is part of my powers, I can sense the emotions of others, until recently I've never really used it, but it's been steadily getting stronger all day, and until about an hour ago, Tyler was here, and he was angry,"
"How angry?" Stacy questions.
"Extremely."
"And now?" Supergirl presses.
"The closer I am to you, Mana, Tyler, and Chamie, the more I can sense, and sometimes feel, your emotions, and I can barely even sense Tyler and Mana right now. Also could you calm down and not worry so much, it's hurting my head." Raven continues. "My empathy power has increased, but mainly for you four."
"You don't think he was kidnapped do you?" Supergirl asks.
"there would be more damage if that was the case. He'd fight as hard as he could." Chamie answers.
"How can we be sure?" Raven is back into a meditative position.
"Because thats what he was trained to do." Chamie turned and went back outside. "If Zenaku's allies are disappearing as often as our own, then it's possible someone else is the cause."
Valhalla, Heaven for Warriors and Fighters. (Tyler's POV)
The armor clad girl's voice booms across the room as she speaks. "Before the fights begin, you will have a few hours to prepare and to arm yourself. And you may ask us for assistance in constructing weapons if you want to do so."
Who is this girl? That steel plated skirt must be from the Roman era or earlier and she wears a cloth shirt obviously home-made, yet she wears a mask like Kakashi. Why does it feel like she is trying to change her voice, like she is hiding something. Why does she feel it necessary to hide her face, when none of her friends do. Thats a mystery for later I suppose. "Mana!" Where is that magic wielding girl?
"Huh? What is it Tyler?" she's already looking at the walls, trying to decide what she could use.
"Uh, Never mind." I go over to another section of the wall, and examine everything there, swords, spears, and random chunks of metal, not all of which I recognize. As I look around, I notice a group of crystals of varying shapes and colors. I go over to them, a black one catches my eye. I pick it up, looking intently at it. Holding it in my hand, running it through my fingers, I feel as if this stone...
"Interesting you would be drawn to that, Earth boy." Where'd she come from! The girl wearing a ninja-mask on her face must be a real ninja, or I'm just oblivious to my surroundings.
"So what if I am? It's shiny. I like shiny." Its not a lie, but it's not the reason I picked it up either. "Tell me, what type of crystals are these?"
When she doesn't answer, I look up to see she has turned away.
Rather than chase after her, I simply pocket the black crystal, and a few of the other ones. It's time to get ready for a fight.
"Wait," NOW WHAT! "Those crystals, you wanted to know what they can be used for?" Oh, now she answers my question. The mask-wearing girl pulls out a strange piece of metal, it has a cylindrical shape, and is thin enough to easily be held in the hand. "They can be used to make one of these. Which you can do here if you wish."
Examining the object, I realize what it is. "Wow, I could go for that."
"Then follow me."
A FEW HOURS LATER...
"The first fight will begin soon!" the Ninja-mask-wearing girl announces. "Everyone prepare yourself! Each of you will pick a stone from those on the center table."
I wait until everyone else picks their stone. I see the other villains here, Private H.I.V.E, Red X, Carnage, as well as a man dressed in all black clothing, with an arcane symbol on his back, an upside down pentagram... could it be... picking up the last marble-like object, I hold it in my hand.
"If your stone glows, you are the first one to fight." I look to my stone, to see that it is not glowing. Good, I'd hate to have all my tricks seen so soon.
"Looks like I'm the one who gets to serve the meal first." Sanji! Alright! Lets see which poor soul gets to fight against the pirate chef of the seas!
"Hehe, finally, I get to unleash carnage upon a new victim!" The red-symbiote wearing homicidal axe-making/wielding, remorseless killer says, a huge smile of razor-sharp lips that look like hardened, red, slimy steel. "Can I eat him after I kill him?" Sanji better not die.
"No, the most important rule of this tournament is, that while it is a fight to the finish, it is not a fight to the death, upon defeating an opponent, or upon their surrender, the fight is over, and the loser will be sent back home. Unnecessary brutality will not be tolerated."
"You shouldn't have even invited this guy if you wanted to avoid casualties." Spider-man shakes his head as he speaks.
"Your next! Spider-man!"
"You've heard it from one villain, you've heard it from them all, I'm always next on crazy people's hit list." Turning to Sanji he says, "Just remember what I told you!"
"rarr! What did you!"
With a flash of light, Sanji and Carnage were gone.
"I hope everyone isn't too worried about us." I whisper to myself.
SANJI VS CARNAGE!
"I don't know who you are punk, but your about to get massacred." Carnage roars, his literally sharp lips becoming more prominent. "I haven't killed anyone for a long time, and even if I can't kill you, I'm sure they won't mind if I break any bones..."
"No crap-alien is gonna beat me! I'm the chef of the Straw Hat Pirates, and I'm their second strongest fighter*!" Seeing that Carnage can make sharp blades from his symbiote, Sanji removes his outer suit, revealing a plain blue dress shirt. "I won't lose!"
"And I'm a servant of chaos! The chaos of the universe." Carnage lets out a huge scream at Sanji, which would normally remove an average human's hearing for a few hours. But this story isn't about the average guy.
Removing his tie, Sanji looks up to see that they were in what looked like a coliseum, with screaming people in the stands, unlike the Roman coliseum, it wasn't made of stone, but what looked like steel. But Sanji really lost it when he looked upon those in the stand. "LADIES!" Sanji's eye takes the shape of a heart as he dances at the sight of Valhalla's women.
"What the hell are you doing!" Carnage roars, solid red blades extending from his fingertips, he leaps at Sanji, hoping to catch him off guard.
"Shut up!" Spinning around, Sanji delivers a powerful blow to Carnage's head sending him to the ground. "there is no need to be rude around the ladies."
"You know what you - HEY!" Before Carnage can continue his vulgarity, Sanji attacks, smoothly trying to kick his foe in the gut, he continued to kick at the 20% alien, 80% psychotic killer, all evil man.
"Collier!" Sanji puts more force behind this kick as he aims for the murderer's neck, and as it connects, an audible cracking of bones can be heard.
"OWW! THAT HURT!" The Symbiote moves more around Carnage's neck, the sound of bones cracking and moving, "But not very much!" A tendril made of the Symbiote lashes out at Sanji like a whip, attaching to him. Then it begins to drain energy from him, but not just any energy, his life force!
"What are you trying to do," Barely flinching; Sanji only winces in pain before grabbing the tendril with his left hand, and pulling it off of him. "Is this some sort of power-stealing ability?" He casually throws the tendril away.
"I don't know why you seem to be fine, but now I have something to use against you, my Symbiote may be able to drain life force if I want it to, but, it also reads the memories of my opponents. Now I know everything there is to learn about you, Sanji!"
"Doesn't matter to me, I'll still fry you up." Pulling out a box of cigarettes, Sanji takes out one and lights it, "But you don't seem like you'll make a healthy meal."
"Heh, when I beat you, and then kill you later, I'll make sure to take good care of 'Nami-swan'" Carnage's symbiote begins to move on his skin, an axe forms in his right hand, and sharp blades form on each of the fingertips of his left, "The universe is chaotic, so therefore, I am necessary! My murders help the chaotic nature of life! I am the only one who understands how the universe truly works! But, that doesn't mean I don't need to slow down and have some fun! right!"
Sanji just stands there, looking down, but it seems like his entire body is growing red, "No one, No one, threatens to hurt my Nami-swan! NO ONE! I'M SO ANGRY I COULD EXPLODE!" Flames seem to pour out of Sanji as he spins rapidly in the same position, flames and sparks flying from him.
"He's not, actually going to explode is he?" One of the spectators yell.
"Oh come on! I'm not going to allow you to use flame on me!" Carnage charged at Sanji axe and claws ready. "DIE!" with his speed, Carnage's attack connected, cutting deep into Sanji's chest. But it didn't slow him down any. "What! You should have at least tried to dodge it!"
"No, I shouldn't, because I am going to deliver, the finishing blow! Diable JAMBLE!" Leaping into the air, "Extra Haché!" Sanji launches a fierce barrage of flaming kicks at the alien-human team, covering it with burn marks!
"GAH!" Flames, weakness of the powerful alien symbiotes.
"And to finish!" Using the now flaming and running Carnage as a stepping stool, Sanji jumps up in the air again, now spinning forward with all his speed. Carnage continues to try to get up, and run, as the Symbiote reacts violently to the heat, sporadically lashing out with tendrils without direction and sense. "Concassé!" coming back down, Sanji is just in time to slam his flaming foot into Carnage's raised head! Lighting it on fire as well, and creating more bone-cracking sounds. The Symbiote continues to burn. Weakened by the flames, the strength of Sanji's kicks, and the shock and panic of the symbiote, Carnage falls to the ground, and doesn't get up, the Symbiote is shrinking away, almost flowing into its host's body, leaving it burning.
"No! I need my, power..." the psychopathic serial killer Cletus Kasady, host of the Carnage symbiote, the offspring of Venom, has been beaten.
Sanji's leg returns to normal as he listens to the cheering fan-girls in the crowd. Chanting 'SANJI! SANJI!' to him, grabbing his suit, he takes a bow as he fades away.
Back at the waiting room!
"SANJI DID IT! He beat that Psychopathic jerk to a pulp!" Mana cheered for her friend.
A small sphere of light glowed where Sanji had been standing before, and Sanji appeared inside it.
"Sanji! Your cuts, just let me…" Mana ran over to him, concentrating her magic in his wounds, for only having been studying heal magic for a few days, she did a surprisingly good job, his skin was like new, and she even fixed his shirt with it. He put his suit on and then a heart appeared in his eye,
"Thank you so much!" he said, taking Mana's hand and kissing it. She quickly pulled it away, but unlike most girls he'd ever met, she didn't slap him, but she did do something worse.
"What would your dear Nami say if she saw you like that?"
"NAMI! I MUST WIN THE PRIZE FOR HER!" Sanji was on his knees, his hands up like he was praying or something.
"Thats what I thought." Mana laughed,
"The next match will now be decided!" The ninja-mask and shoulder armor wearing girl said, calling everyone's attention to her. Everyone then pulled out their stones in anticipation.
Without warning, Tyler's started to glow, and he frantically looked around, too see. "Mana?" he whispered, "No, I-, I can't!" Before his protests could be addressed, he felt himself being pulled through space...
MANA VS TYLER!
"I can't fight her!" Tyler protests, "Anyone but her! Please!"
"Would you be quiet!" Mana slaps Tyler upside the head, causing him to yelp with pain.
"Hey!" Rather than get mad, Tyler simply sits on the stone cold floor. "I, won't fight you."
"Fight me? I don't want to fight either."
"What!"
"But... Somebody owes me a rematch!"
"You don't mean..."
"That's right! It's time to duel!"
"Wha... Oh NO YOU DON'T!" rather than have to duel her again, Tyler whipped out a card from his coat.
"We won't duel with cards, we'll duel the same way they did when the first shadow games began. With only one monster each, in a fight to the finish!" Mana continues.
"Wait, what?"
" I summon the one and only! Dark Magician!" as if lightning had hit the ground, Mahad appeared between the two of them, wearing, not his usual Dark Magician attire, but a big blue hat, one would wear to the beach or on a fishing trip, it was large enough to double as a miniature umbrella. He was sitting in his swim trunks in a poolside chair. He must have been at the beach.
Snapping to attention, he jumped to his feet. "Mana! I'm on my Vacation!" He yelled at his apprentice. "Can't I have a break once in a while?"
"I imagine that not having to deal with Mana is a vacation." Tyler mutters.
"What did you say!" Mana shot back.
"Well since I'm here, I might as well fight." Without changing his clothes, Mahad/Dark Magician's purple staff appeared in his hand.
"wait, just wait!" Tyler frantically searches through his many pockets in order to find something he could use. "I Summon Red Eyes Black Dragon!"
"Then lets do this! Combined Dark Magic Attack!" Without warning, Mana transforms into her Dark Magician Girl form.
"What! So you did just want a fight? Red Eyes! Lets Fly!" Tyler jumps on the dragons back, and the two of them skyrocket away from the attack. "Equip trap! Metalmorph!" Slapping the card on Red Eye's head, impermeable metal starts to cover the dragon's body giving it additional power. "Red Eyes! Attack!" The magical-metal imbued monster roars as he shoots his flames at the Magician duo.
"That won't work! Magic Cylinder!" With a wave of their wands, two large cylinders that look as though they belonged in a circus appear, one absorbs the flames, and the other immediately shoots them back.
"Activate Trap! Barrel Behind the door!" Tyler jumps down in front of his dragon, a jewel covered pistol with Egyptian symbols materializes in his hand, and the flames pour into it. Aiming carefully, he pulls the trigger, shooting the flames back at the Dark Magicians.
The Magicians easily fly out of the way, but Mana's leg does catch on fire.
"Ah! Put it out!" with a wave of her wand, the flames are gone.
Tyler focuses on Red Eyes' back, and he seemed to shimmer in the light like an illusion before he becomes solid again, riding the dragon. Shimmering is so useful!.
"Since when can you teleport!" Mana demands.
"I don't seem to recall ever saying I couldn't teleport." Tyler answers, "Red Eye's! Attack! INFERNO FIRE BLAST!"
"Earth to Tyler!" Tyler turns around in time to get down and avoid having a heavy magic staff collide with his face.
"Mana cut it out!" Tyler yells, grabbing Mana's shoulder, he focuses his thought on the ground beneath him, causing the two of them to shimmer in the light and disappear.
Within seconds, they were shimmering back into focus, standing back on the ground. "Cut what out! Mahad! Get him!" Mana's teacher gladly obliges, but before he can attack, Tyler pulls out a trap card.
"Spell-Binding Circle!" Tyler calls out, a magic..err, circle appears, freezing the Magician in place.
"Spell Binding Circle!" Mana repeats, waving her wand at Red Eyes. A larger circle forms around him.
"Why do you insist on fighting me when I don't want to h-OWW!" Before Tyler could finish his sentence, Mana slaps him. "What was that for!"
"If you can stop me, then do so!" Mana slams her magic staff into Tyler's gut like a baseball bat, sending him flying across the coliseum.
Tyler stays on the ground for a moment, his eyes shut tightly. He begins to think maybe it would be easier to give up. But, he can't, whatever it is preventing his emulation powers from working, he needs to get it fixed. And soon. Winning this tournament might be the only way. "Stop you? I can do that."
"What's the matter Tyler? You messed up once and now you won't fight me?" Mana yells, directing a bolt of lightning at Tyler, who takes it without trying to move. "Wait, No!" Mana suddenly is quiet as she runs towards Tyler.
"You don't want to hurt me though either." Tyler was on his feet, but he didn't look too good.
"No, What I want is for you to stop acting like everything is fine when I can feel it's not! If your having a problem, talk to me!" Mana grabs Tyler by his shirt.
"Everything is fine." Tyler retorts, not fighting back.
"Liar!" Mana yells, pushing Tyler down. "Your lying to me, and everyone else! I've always been able to hear your thoughts. But lately, you've been hiding your thoughts from all of us! You won't talk to anyone, and you've spent every day we haven't been fighting bad guys in your room! And worse, even though you bury your emotions as much as you can, ever since yesterday, I've been able to feel what you feel. Even though it's just a small thing, you won't tell anyone why your feeling this way, or why you feel you need to hide it."
"Hide what?" Tyler coldly shoots back.
"your anger, your fear, your frustration! Just because you bury it doesn't mean I can't feel it!"
"Fear? Anger? Frustration? Of course I feel those things."
Kneeling down beside Tyler, Mana asks. "Tell me why."
"What?"
"It irritates me that you won't speak to the one person who is usually inside your head anyway."
"It's weird."
"What."
"You, being so serious. I've never seen it before."
"Sometimes you need your friend to tell you the truth, even if it hurts. Now I need you to tell me what is happening, so I can help, thats why I begged you to summon me again, so I could help you."
"I... I'm afraid that I won't be strong enough to protect everyone. I'm angry because I'm so weak. And I'm frustrated that I'm not getting any stronger. I... don't want to let anyone down. I hate myself for not figuring out what Zenaku is after, not being able to catch anyone. I mean look at me, I'm getting my butt handed to me by my friend simply because I don't want to use my rage to win against you. My arrogance is what has prompted my powers to work before. And now, I don't think I could fight Zenaku or anyone on my own. I'm so weak..." Tyler couldn't lie anymore.
"What are you talking about? You beat that Doomsday creature all by yourself!" Mana questions.
"No I didn't. I simply helped to trap him. If those people hadn't been there, I would be dead. I still haven't figured how to deal with him permanently. I mostly just got beat on."
"What? But still there must be something you've done right!"
"I nearly betrayed and killed you to save myself."
"You were just tricking Zenaku."
"I was, but for just a moment, I thought about how easy it would be, to be just like him."
"But you ignored it and did the right thing."
"Yes, but that feeling is still there, I could, so very easily, fall."
"You won't, you will get stronger, you won't let anyone down, you will stop Zenaku. If anyone can protect what he cares about, its you. And I" Mana takes Tyler's hand. "Will help you. And I'm sure everyone else feels the same."
"No they don't. Ever since I showed up, they've been hit with one problem after another. Who would trust or help me now?" Tyler says without even thinking it.
"Tyler! Wake up! These people care about you, they want to help you, to be your comrades. Your friends."
"I... I'll do my best then, I just, need to push myself, a little harder." Tyler relents. "even if I rely on everyone to help me."
"You can win on your own strength too. And I'm gonna let you prove it." Mana began to fade away as she went beck to the realm of duel monsters, "Your going to win this tournament, Tyler. Do it for your friends."
As her card appeared in Tyler's hand, he spoke aloud. "some times, having your friends smack you around a bit, is all you need. Thank you, Mana."
Meanwhile, in the waiting room.
"Tyler, what the heck is wrong with you! You spent half the fight just sitting with Mana. What did you say to convince her to give up?" Tiger asks
"I didn't convince her to give up," Tyler retorts, "She convinced me, to keep going." Tyler lays on the ground, waiting for the next match. Lucky for him, the only sound from the battle that was heard was the announcer's chatter. Seeing as he and Mana were being pretty quiet.
"the next combatants will now be chosen."
Tiger looks to his stone, hoping that he is next. He was getting pretty bored, however, he won't be the next to fight.
"the match is decided!" Tyler looks up to see who it is. The man dressed in all black and grey, with arcane symbols he recognized, but where from?... On his back there was an upside-down pentagram, and on his sleeves, circles, with three fused triangles on the left and right sides. This symbol was repeated all around his sleeve. The other competitor, was Private HIVE in his usual yellow and black attire. The two combatants were engulfed in light, taking them to the Coliseum.
The magical projection of the fight appeared over the table. Zooming in on the combatants.. watching the fight...
Suddenly Tyler realizes where he's seen the second symbol from.
"Impossible!" Tyler;s head shoots off the floor as he whispers. "A Sith? Theres just no way..."
Private HIVE Vs ?
"Hey! Who are you?" the usual question for someone you have never met.
"Me? Oh, I guess this form doesn't exactly make my identity too obvious, but it's also the point. My name is of no importance. Now, give up." Lightning begins to sizzle between his fingertips, and then shoots out at HIVE, who barely blocks it with his shield.
Tyler, watching the fight, whispers, "Force lighting,"
"If I win, I can trade the prize to Zenaku for the new powers he said he would give me. I won't let you stop me!" HIVE ran at his opponent, punching at his face with a jab from his right fist. Only for his opponent to easily catch his punch.
"is this really the best you can do? Is your only power your empty threats? Or perhaps you'd like to try again?"
"Well, there was one thing I haven't tried yet." A small metal sphere falls from HIVE's other hand, rolling on the ground under his opponent. Ripping his fist from the grasp of his enemy, he jumps back, just in time to avoid the majority of the explosion. "Did I get him?" as the dust and smoke faded, the man stood in the exact same position as he had before, completely unaffected.
"are you done?" gee, Private HIVE needs to find a new place to buy explosives, maybe Tiger could give him a hand?
"I'm not gonna give up yet!" HIVE stood up to attack again, but as he did, his enemy was already and inch from him, his hand on HIVE's head.
"Thats too bad, I'm going to end this," The man punches HIVE in the gut sending him flying into the wall. He then stretches his hand out, and clenches his hand, as he pulls it back towards himself, sending Private HIVE flying towards him, landing on his face. A ball of fire appears in the man's hand, and he waits to see if his opponent, will stand again. When he doesn't, he simply turns around and walks away. "Pathetic." he says with a smirk.
TRANSITION!
"What the hell?" Tyler breathes, "who is this guy?"
"He's one of our new members." Blackfire answers. "And a heavy hitter at that."
"Does the heavy hitter have a name?"
"His name, is Malchior." Blackfire says, "Believe it or not, he's actually a..."
"Dragon." Tyler cuts her off. Already knowing what Malchior is.
"Yes, how did?"
"Raven told me. She was the one who had the book before he was, released permanently by the Brotherhood of Evil."
"Isn't it great! Zenaku was able to make him stronger than ever!"
"Yes, thats just, wonderful." Sarcasm, oh how sweet it is.
'Zenaku helping him explains the new human form and warlock powers, but I wonder how he managed to give him Force powers?' Tyler thought to himself.
"the next match is decided!"
"What? Who is?" Tyler sees Blackfire and Regal disappear. "Come on Regal, put that alien girl in her place!
Blackfire VS Regal!
"I'm sure Zenaku will accept you as a present when I beat you. After all capturing you is one of our goals."
"I don't really want to be here you know, I want to get back and help Stacy, I was taken from the middle of a fight. I need to help her. Especially with Mewtwo knocked out. I just hope I'm not too late."
"Time passes the same here as back on earth, Your already too late. You should have given up at the beginning."
"What?"
"But it doesn't matter, unless you choose to forfeit, you have to fight me." Blackfire demands.
Horrified with the thought that anything could happen to his ward, Stacy, he raised his hands in the air. " I would like to give..."
"I don't think so!" Blackfire, like a bullet, flies at Regal, Attempting to simply run him over.
Without even thinking, Regal defends himself, kicking at his assailant.
"Nice try!" Blackfire swats away the Duke's kick, and shoots him in the gut with a starbolt, sending him sliding across the ground, still on his feet.
"Why do you insist on fighting when there is no need!" Regal demands, dusting himself off, fighting through the pain of the attack.
"Have to test my new powers some how!" a black web shoots from her wrist, attaching to the Duke's handcuffs, she then flies up high above the ceiling, and pulls with all her strength, pulling Regal skyward by his arms, but he uses this opportunity, to counter-attack.
"EAGLE DIVE!" At the moment he was higher than Blackfire, He swung his leg towards her, and with the force greater than a falling brick, he kicked her with all his might, Sending her shooting down with him!
"Nice try!" Blackfire coughs, shooting black webs at Regal's face, who easily blocks it with his shackles. Before Regal can look again, Blackfire grabs Regal's leg and swings him around, flinging him into the ground first. She then manages to catch herself in the air. She breaths heavily, but only for a second. She quickly regains her composure.
"I already said, I remove myself from this tournament!" Regal declares to the screaming fans. "For a personal reason." Blackfire prepares to barrage him with starbolts, but...
"STOP! Blackfire of Tameran! If you continue to attack, you will be disqualified! Regal Bryant has chosen to forfeit his position in the tournament!" The ninja-masked girl appears standing between Blackfire and the Duke.
Back in the viewing room...
"Well, that was anticlimactic." Tiger says what everyones thinking, "Why did he give up like that though?"
"He's probably worried about Stacy, unnecessarily so too, she can take care of herself, mostly, and Nightwing and Starfire are with her, there shouldn't be anything to worry about." Tyler answers.
"The next match will be between Tiger and Kimimaru!" The Masked Ninja Girl, as Tyler had taken to calling her, was back, and in an instant, the aforementioned fighters were gone.
TIGER VS KIMIMARU!
"I'm just want to warn you," Tiger pulls out a giant hammer from his new 'Pocket of Infinite Stuff!' (TM!... in the Tiger-verse only.) "This one, packs a huge punch!" grabbing the bottom of the oversized hammer, he swings it at Kimimaru, attempting to finish it in one hit.
"Pointless." Kimimaru, using his ninja speed, easily avoids the attack,
"No, It's all part of the plan!" Tiger reaches into his pocket, and pulls out; "Stupid fish bowls! I can't get rid of them!" he drops the hammer and repeatedly pulls more and more fish bowls out of his pocket, until a pile of them lay at his feet.
"Are you serious?" Kimimaru asks, clearly expecting something more spectacular.
"Just a minute, the pocket is acting up!" giving his magic pocket a smack, he reaches in again and pulls out.. "BAZOOKA TIME!" he quickly aims the Rocket Launcher which clearly reads 'US ARMY' on the side, at Kimimaru. Pulling the trigger, the pressurized exhaust prevents Tiger from hurting himself.
"KA-BOOM!" the weapon's sound was enough to nearly deafen Tiger, but he quickly recovers, looking to see if Kimimaru was still alive, much less conscious.
"What an interesting machine." Tiger, by instinct, picks up two of the fish bowls. He spins around, holding them in his hand and aiming where Kimimaru's head might be, and surprisingly, he hit's his mark. Shattering the glass on Kimimaru's head. Who quickly jumps back to avoid the second one.
"civilized, no, useable, yes." Tiger says, pulling a new weapon out of his pocket. "Now for the fun part. MINIATURE NUKES!" Tiger shot one mini explosive after another at the sound ninja. Quickly turning the coliseum floor into craters.
"An explosives expert huh, too bad I specialize in close combat!" Tiger spins around, pulling a new weapon out to defend himself from a now bone-spike covered Kimimaru. Something as indestructible as Superman. His calculus textbook!
"Text book Shield!" The text book temporarily grew in size, perfectly blocking a sword made of Kimimaru's bones. "Huh, I don't remember it growing bigger before. Better make the best of it!" Giant Textbook Attack!" Picking up the now massive text book, he hit Kimimaru over his bloody (yes, literally) head, putting his face down in the dirt.
"You do have some skill it seems. But I won't lose!" Lifting his hand up, a sharp bone shoots from the back of Kimimaru's hand, and into Tiger's shoulder, causing him to drop the giant textbook, a paper falling out of it, which Kimimaru promptly stabs with his bone sword, causing the textbook to go back to normal size.
"Oww." Tiger calmly says. "You lose.." a click is heard before Tiger drops a grenade at his feet, quickly slipping a Special Gel in his mouth. Before Kimimaru can jump up...
"KA-BOOM!" more powerful than the nukes Tiger had used before, the grenade leaves a crater the size of two vans in the ground.
"Gasoline, I've been pouring it on the ground beneath me the entire fight." Tiger breathes, his clothes burnt and tattered, but... "I'm okay," he yells to the cheering crowd. "I still have one Health point left!" He pulls out another special Gel, and swallows it without chewing. "not sure why this always works, but I'm glad it does."
"It's not over yet!" Kimimaru was on his feet. His curse seal was active, a multitude of lines growing over his body. Holding his hands in front of him he attacks. "DRILLING FINGER BULLETS!" Tiger dives to avoid the attack, scooping up his hammer, he swings it hard at Kimimaru, and sends him flying into a wall. And whips out some duct-tape.
"Duct-tape Technique! Duct-tape entrapment!" With his high-powered Duct-tape, Tiger wraps his opponent up, preventing him from moving or attacking, at least it's supposed to. But Kimimaru was ready for him, without warning, he uses the substitution jutsu, replacing himself with one of the bone swords he had left lying around.
"I'm done fighting such an insane opponent," Kimimaru coldly says.
"Me too!" Tiger seems to have been pocketing anything he can, he pulls out a hard metal folding chair. He runs at Kimimaru, Slamming another bone sword out of the way before smashing Kimimaru's head with it, again sending him flying. But the hardened bones in the ninja's skull refuse to break.
"I have no time for such trash." Kimimaru breathes, the lines of his curse seal now spread over his body. Blades of bone sprout over his entire body. And, using all his ninja speed, he charges at Tiger.
"I didn't want to have to do this but you leave me no other choice." Tiger stands firm, waiting for his opponent, and just as Kimimaru is within striking distance... "Gotta go!" Tiger takes off running, reaching into his pocket, he pulls out a katana in a black case, which was actually a Zanpakutô. He pulls a metal talisman wrapped around the handle off with a metallic string and throws it on the ground, his spiritual pressure and speed skyrocketing in the process. Tiger reveals the sword, unsheathing the Zanpakutô, he declares; "COMBUST! NOXAP!", Tiger touches the blade, causing it to shatter into ten small pieces, that turn into flames. Keeping the hilt in his hand, He swings it down, and the ten growing flames converge on Kimimaru. Exploding into one giant fireball. After about a minute of letting the ninja burn, Tiger holds the hilt of his Zanpakutô with the top facing up, the flames shoot back to the hilt and reform the blade. He sheathes his sword, picks the Talisman he had dropped back up, and wraps the steel-enforced thread back around it, sealing 97% of his spiritual pressure with it. (He needs the other three percent in order to see Hollows and fight back without his Zanpakutô.). He then collects the things he had used putting them back in his 'Pocket of Infinite Stuff'. Then, just to put Kimimaru in his place, he picks up the barely living ninja up and puts him in a trash can.
Back in the Viewing room...
"Wow, just, wow." Tyler didn't have anything else to say, the sheer illogicalness of it all was pounding in his skull. He thought he had grown used to Tiger's random insanity, but, he was wrong. Tiger really out did himself this time, he had destroyed everything inside the fighting ring, knocking down walls, cracking the ground beneath them, nuking the ground beneath them into nothing but craters. And still managing to beat Kimimaru without killing himself with said nukes. You would have thought it was a missile testing site, except that for Tiger, everywhere is a missile testing site.
"what's wrong with that kid?" Blackfire questions.
"Tiger is crazy, but at least he knows that destruction happens when your favorite weapons are things that go boom." Tyler explains, still trying to process the entire fight in his mind.
Tiger reappeared in the room. Grinning from ear to ear. Without him seeing, Sanji hands Tyler some money, an angry look on his face.
"Also, since when do you have a... wait, I seem to remember you having that in the Tiger-verse... So you found a way for it to go with you as well?" Tyler inquires, causing Tiger to turn towards him.
"It's part of my soul. It has to go with me. Don't you know that?" Tiger immediately responds.
"The last fight of round one will now commence!" The Ninja-mask-girl announces as Spider-man and Red X get pulled to the stadium...
Spider-man VS Red X
"Lets make this quick, I have places to go and people to steal from." Red X, master thief, impatient as always.
"Then you better just give up, because I can make jokes at criminal's expense for hours."
"Then I guess I just have to beat you fast!" In the blink of an eye, Red X disappeared. Spider-man, without hesitation, jumps up in the air, avoiding two, sharp, X-shaped throwing weapons as he does. As if he'd performed it a million times, he shoots out a web from his wrist just as Red-X becomes visible again.
With a strong pull, Red X's feet are suddenly where his head is supposed to be. And vice versa.
Red X quickly pulls his face out of the dirt, teleporting out of sight.
"You do realize that all I have to do to win is let my spider sense guide me, right?" Although no one is there, Spider-man delivers a powerful punch in front of him, connecting to Red X at the exact moment he re-materializes. Sending the thief flying across the torn up colosseum.
"How, can you predict my attacks?" Red X was back on his feet, seemingly unfazed by the hits he had taken. Disappearing again, Spider-man spun his body around, blocking a kick from Red X with his hand, and quickly picking him up and throwing him to the ground. Red X was gone again though. But Spidey shot small balls of webbing upwards, hitting several of the X-ninja stars and webbing them to Red X's cape. But the thief wasn't done yet. Spidey heard the faint sound similar to a buzz saw before he dodged another attack. X-shaped blades spinning on the back of Red X's hands. Not seeming even a little tired, Red X continues to attack.
"So what powers do you have other than a strange taste in clothes? Regeneration? High pain tolerance? Or maybe your like a human energizer bunny that just keeps going and going and going..." Spidey was a talented combatant to be trying to strike up a conversation while blocking and avoiding the stream of attacks and throwing weapons.
"I told you, I'm just a thief. And I happen to train everyday to make sure I'm in top form, and another thing, I'm not the one who designed this suit. Whats your excuse,"
"Oh come on! This suit is classic! You don't mess with a good thing!"
"My thoughts exactly. No need to rebuild the suit, when it already does such a good job." Spidey turns on the offensive, landing an uppercut to Red X's jaw.
Picking himself up off the ground, Red X is right back to his assault.
"It seems pulling my punches isn't the best idea. But I'm sure that our hosts will heal you after, so I guess there is no need to hold back," Spidey shoots another web from his left web shooter, this time it connects to X's torso, he pulls with his left hand using all his strength to bring the acrobatic thief in for his close up. He slams his right fist into Red X's face, trying to cause a concussion with minimal bone breakage. "Sorry, but next time, you may want to be prepared for a fight against someone with real powers. Being a thief back in New York would require it." relaxing his body a bit, Spidey walks away.
Back in the waiting room...
"Good to know that works." Malchior quietly whispers. Tyler turns his head as he hears, but quickly looks back to their host.
"So, he rigged it so that Red X would lose easily. But why?" Tyler then notices a small object in Malchior's hands. "Something he took that he shouldn't have perhaps?"
"The first round is complete! The second round will consist of three one on one battles, they will occur in random fields of battle. And simultaneously. Now go!"
You Wanted it, you asked for it, and now... Your not going to get it, instead we have this; Tyler Vs Tiger! (Tyler's POV)
The scene is a desert, complete with cactus plants and tumbleweeds. Looking like the stereotypical scene for an old western-style showdown at sundown. But it was high noon here, and the sandy, american-west desert must be the only place the tournament's hosts could think of that wouldn't be missed too much if Tiger decimates the surrounding old buildings, as they need to be knocked down anyway. Although there is plenty of dirt, it was more of a rocky desert than a sandy one. I just hope I don't go insane before I can win.
"So are you ready to face the randomness?"
"Are you ready to face my new powers?" I put up my fists, knowing that I'm still unable to use emulation.
"Come on, your not even supposed to be out of bed, even worse you want to fight? There is a fine line between illogical and just plain stupid."
"You know what, I think you need to be shown, this." As I breath deeply, I place my hands together, "To Battle Senshisuru!"
^Have you calmed down yet?^ I hear my sword/soul bound to my own soul/girl yell in my head.
"Yes, Yes I have."
^And your not going to try to hurt me again?^
"It was not my intent to..."
^It doesn't matter the intent, if your angry like that don't call on me to help you, I need you to be calm in order for my powers to be effective.^
"I promise to make it up to you as soon as I can, but can I get a little help here?"
"Okay, but just be prepared for my plans for you..." At last Senshisuru bursts forth from my right hand, the chain sticking in the back of the hand, but rather than feel pain from having a piece of metal sliding inside my hand, I feel warmth spread through my body, like you would sitting by a warm fire, or in a hot tub, speaking of which, I wonder if Nightwing will let me install one in my room at the tower?
^Hello? Anyone awake in there?^ Thank you for reminding me where I am Senshisuru.
Tiger reached into his back pocket, pulling out his most powerful weapon, a hand gun, loaded with bullets with the explosive force of a miniature nuclear missile. Fortunately they don't leave that nasty cancer-causing radiation behind. Just a lot of fire, and destruction. He aimed the gun at me, knowing full well it wouldn't work. Rather than wait for more pointless talking, I attack.
Grasping the handle of my Zanpakutô, I charge at Tiger, who pulls the trigger of his nuclear pellet gun. I duck down, as a bullet narrowly passes over me, I continue to run straight ahead, running past round after round of nuclear pellets. "Senshisuru! Controlled Spirit Lightning!" Lightning surges forth from Senshisuru as she responds to my request, I place my left hand over the Zanpakutô, I force my own spiritual pressure into it. Keeping the force of what is usually a ranged attack inside the sword.
^Tyler, we really need to practice more.^ Senshisuru complains
"I'm sorry if I've been busy for the entire two weeks I've been able to talk to you for." I answer, thinking of how ridiculous training would be with all the stuff that keeps happening to me. I slash upwards with Senshisuru from beside Tiger, hoping to cleave his Nuclear pellet gun in half sideways, but before I can, he pulls out a calculus textbook, which he tosses in front of him, and it just happens to get in the way of my attack. Instead of cleaving through the evil book with no effort, all I manage to do is hit it like a base ball, knocking it into Tiger's hand, which in turn sends the nuclear pellet gun flying from his hands.
"Impressive, you might actually be able to beat me in a fair fight." Tiger is smiling, why... "Too bad I'm not logical enough for that."
"And too bad I'm not stupid enough for it." I duck my head down, spinning my body counter-clockwise, "Leaf Whirlwind!" Lets hope I'm strong enough!
I wait for the feeling of Tiger tripping backwards, but it doesn't come, instead I spin the complete distance without hitting him.
"Haven't you mastered the flash-step technique yet?" Tiger was now the same distance away from me as he was at the beginning of the fight.
"No," I really do need to train more, I always get tired easily from using flash step.
"Tyler?"
"Oh hey Sanji." I say absent minded, before having a realization. "Sanji?" I look to the pirate chef. "But I thought..."
"no, we've all been here the entire time." Blackfire too, what is going on?
"Has anyone else noticed all the minions around us?" Taking time to look around, I see about fifty Slade-bots, the same amount of the yellow HIVE Cyborg rip-offs, and thirty men dressed in black cloaks, each with either a tattoo of an upside down pentagram on their face or the same symbol on their cloaks, blood red in color for both. Leave it to Spider-man to notice what I wouldn't.
"Well, shoot. It's gonna be a long day." I complain
Blackfire and Malchior jump away from me, Sanji, Tiger, and Spider-man. Standing at the head of the army of robots and evil Warlocks.
"So, the war begins. Tiger, you may want to go get your gun."
"Thats a good idea."
"Blackfire the remorseless. Looks like we get to fight one more time." I say, holding Senshisuru in my hands, still charged, I communicate mentally with her, 'Senshisuru, please help me.'
^I have and idea that just might get your main powers back for you, but I'm not gonna tell you unless you promise me...^
Zenaku's villains bar... I mean secret base.
"A simple teleportation highjacking spell, and now they're surrounded by the Dark Warlock guild and a collection of our robots. Hmm, I suppose I'll have to give them more of the underworld when I become the Source." Zenaku looks at the screen in front of him, cameras locked on the remaining combatants of Valhalla's tournament. This was the perfect chance, and he had to take it. "Gemini, have the target ready in three hours, I'm sure I'll be back by then. Terra, the second target is back and your the closest, I'm sending you the program for the tracking device, find him and capture him, the heroes must not find him! " Zenaku is able to communicate his orders without anything more than his powers. "Vecarzah!"
"We live to serve you lord Zenaku." Vecarzah, leader of the most powerful clan of evil warlocks in his world, and loyal to nothing but the future Source of all Evil, appears behind Zenaku, stepping out of flames that rise from the ground, and then fall behind him as he bows before his future king. A tattoo of a black 'Z' on his hand.
"Double the number of soldiers, the longer the brat is distracted the better."
"Yes my lord," Vecarzah turns into fire, which soon faded along with himself.
A woman, with black clothes covered in several upside down pentagrams and other arcane symbols on her dress walks into the room. "Have you obtained the Grimoire yet my lord?"
"I have it right here." Zenaku makes a motion with his hand, a old, large brown book with a demonic symbol of an upside down pentagram and skull on the cover, appears on the table beside him. "Tonight is the perfect night, for the Votum Sanguinis. And at last the full power of the underworld will be mine to command."
ELSEWHERE
"how strange." Duke Regal Bryant was back at the spot he was at before he was dragged off to that tournament, he looked around, he was worried that Stacy and everyone else was captured.
"Wondering where your friends are?" Regal turns towards the female voice.
"You, Terra?" It was Terra wearing her usual hero outfit. "How did you get here, and where is everyone?"
"They're all looking for you." Terra says,
"I have to hurry, Stacy could be in trouble. I have to get back to the tower." Regal runs past Terra, heading for the stairs.
"Yes, about that." a black tendril shoots out from Terra's shirt, slamming Regal in the back of his neck, causing an instant concussion. Her clothes begin to change to reveal an all black costume, and then changes to an all black and silver version of Terra's usual costume, this wasn't the Titans Terra, it was her literal evil twin. "I can't let you do that." She had an evil smile on her face. "I'm in position Zenaku!" soon, shadows surrounded Evil-Terra and her prisoner, taking them back to base.
San Francisco Penitentiary for Superhuman Criminals.
Before Tyler or Chamie, or the Straw Hat Pirates, or the Heroes of regeneration, or Spider-man, or Ninjas and Soul Reapers found them selves at Titans Tower, before the Titans had traveled to Japan, and before they had bested the Brotherhood of Evil, before they had fought the creature with the power to transformed into whatever it touched, before it escaped them, one woman had come incredibly close to capturing the Titans. In their own nightmares. She had of course, like so many before her, been beaten, but the Titans had never caught her. She had managed to escape, but she was present when the Titans defeated the Brotherhood. But today fate would make her free. Free to scare as many people as she wanted. Her name is Phobia, well, thats her villain identity anyway.
In the female side of SFP, she had been placed in solitary confinement, due to her track record of trying to use her powers to scare the guards. She was treated as well as any criminal in the american justice system, but no one with a pulse and a brain was allowed to get too close, for their own good. In her dreary orange prison clothes, the short black haired (And pushing forty) villainess sits on her bed. Wishing she could get out of this forsaken place.
Her wish was granted, as a meteor crashed through the ten-inch steel roof and stopped just short of the floor. Only it wasn't a meteor, it was alien technology, it was a yellow lantern unique to the Sinestro Corps, masters of fear. Without waiting for Phobia to respond, a small ring within it begins to speak.
"Angela Hawkins of Earth, you have a great ability to inspire fear in your enemies. Welcome, to the Sinestro Corps." Angela feels the ring snap to her ring finger on her right hand, and she raises it in the air, reciting the Sinestro Corps oath as the ring sends it directly to her brain.
"In Blackest day. In Brightest night! Beware your fears made into light. Let those who try to stop what's right, burn like his power, Sinestro's might!" Phobia's clothes turn yellow and a 3-D version of Sinestro's symbol appears above her chest, now covered by a yellow and black body suit. The standard uniform of the Sinestro Corps. "Now I can make the Titans fears truly come to life! None shall stand before the might of Phobia!" The power battery fades into a separate dimension, it won't appear until the one wielding the ring calls for it, Phobia shoots up from the prison as all the alarms go off, and within seconds is gone...
Meanwhile, at Titans Tower.
Stacy sits beside the sick bay, worried about her friend Mewtwo. It had been almost three hours since she had brought Regal back to the tower. And both were still injured.
Supergirl is outside on the roof, using her X-ray vision to look for their friends, but she hasn't seen any of them yet, and she too is beginning to worry.
"Supergirl." The Kryptonian teen turns to the voice, too see that it's Raven. "They'll be okay."
"You don't know that!" She snaps at the half demon. "For all we know, they could have been captured by Zenaku, or worse."
"Yes, but yelling at me isn't going to help."
"Oh, I'd have to disagree on that." a demonic voice says to the two of them. The girls turn to see.
"Zod? But your.."
"Apparently he got out. Again." Raven dryly answers.
Zod is different now though, instead of prison clothes or the all black he usually wore, he was sporting a neon red outfit, with a 3-D, red version of his crest on the outside of it. "And its all thanks to this." He held up his left hand, A red ring on his forefinger. "And I intend to use it kill you, and your cousin." after sitting by the sun for a few hours, he usual powers had returned as well.
"Supergirl!" Superman, flying towards the Tower, at full speed, collides with Zod. "I've already called the Justice League, get your friends!"
"I told you that you would bow before me!" Zod's ring glows before pure red energy bursts forth from it striking down Superman and holding him down on the ground. "You and the rest of the house of EL!"
"Well, I guess now is a good time to attack the Titans as well." this person was glowing yellow, and points her ring at Raven. Phobia, newest member of the Sinestro Corps.
Lloyd barrels through the door to the roof, and yells. "Double demon Fang!" Two blue slices of wind head for Phobia, who creates a wall of yellow energy to block it, she then turns to him.
"Ahh, your fear, I can see it now, you fear being too weak to keep the peace you've created. And for good reason." Lloyd backs away as Sheena, Genis, Raine, the King of Tethe'alla, the Pope of Tethe'alla, and several random NPC's appear before him. "You fear you made some incorrect decisions am I right?" Mithos, Kratos, Phobia could see it, all of his fears, fear of failing his father, fear of failing everyone, fear of having the new world he tried to create being ripped apart by his own failures.
"Stay away!" Lloyd was on the ground. Voices of discouragement in his head.
"You didn't think things through." the Kratos apparition says, "The fragile world you've made could be ripped apart so easily."
"Where have you been Lloyd." Genis speaks to him. "our home was destroyed when you were away."
"The king isn't as good as he says," The Raine apparition states. "How could you allow him to live after all he's done to the half elves and to our friends."
"Leave Him ALONE!" The normally quiet Colette had jumped between her friend and Phobia,. Her wings on her back, and weapons in hand, but she won't have a chance to strike, not yet.
"And what is it that you fear?" The yellow light of Phobia's ring shines on Colette, intending to reveal her greatest fear, but..
"Compassion and hope detected, killing target with force best course of action."
"What!" Lloyd jumped to his feet, another of his fears attacking him, losing a friend. He snatches up his swords, and dives at Phobia, with no form, blinded by his fear, acting not out of courage, but desperation, his mind already affected by Phobias power, trying to kill her.. but turning her ring on him, Phobia blasts Lloyd off the tower with pure yellow energy.
"Lloyd!" Colette flies towards her falling friend but...
"Going somewhere?" Yellow energy blocks her path, and entraps her in a box of yellow light.
Just then, a small blue light crashes through the yellow prison and stops just short of the Tower roof, floating in front of Colette.
"Colette Brunel of Symphonia, you have strong hope in your heart. Welcome to the Blue lantern Corps." the light says, actually a Blue Lantern power ring, it snaps itself to the chosen' finger, and downloads the Blue Lantern Corps Oath into Colette's brain, who recites it.
"In fearful day, in raging night, with strong heart full, my soul ignites! When all seems lost in the War of Light, look to the stars, for hope burns bright!" the blue light of the ring surrounds Colette's entire body, but rather than give her a new costume, it instead turns all her clothing shades of blue.
"Blue lantern detected, powerless without the presence of a Green lantern" Phobia's yellow ring informs her.
"Then I better kill her before one shows up!" creating several blades of yellow energy, she aims a strike at the Chosen.
"So, Sinestro is desperate for new soldiers I see, you haven't even been trained yet have you?" a green energy whip appears from nowhere, grabbing Phobia and flinging her away from Colette. Hal Jordan, Green Lantern of sector 2814, and member of the Justice League, points his ring of will at Phobia and binds her in his green energy. "Sinestro's rings may weaken new recruits of the Green Lantern corps, but veterans like me don't have to worry about a simple color."
"Hal, I think she gets it." Barry Allen, The Flash, runs up the side of Titans Tower, carrying an unconscious Lloyd in his arms, he places him down, turning into a gold and red blur, he speeds at at Phobia, knocking her out with one super-fast punch. "Lets make this quick." without warning, Phobia disappears as darkness surrounds her.
Zod vs Superman, Supergirl and Raven.
"Kneel before Zod!" Zod shoots wave after wave of his heat vision at Superman, but is having trouble keeping up with his three opponents, even with his fancy new jewelry. Supergirl flies towards him again, punching him in the face, and Superman follows up with a hit to his gut.
"Supergirl! I told you to get your friends!" Superman demands.
"the three of us can take him!" Supergirl flies around a red laser from Zod's ring and kicks him hard, and as if it was all according to plan, Raven envelops him in her magic, and slams him against the ground.
"I'll get you Superman, I'll" A giant rock lifted by Raven slams down on Zod. And Supergirl flies down to him, going through the rock, and begins to beat on him, but she is quickly blasted away.
"Colette, was it? Yes, if you could just aim your ring at the red guy down there and focus, that would be great. The ring should be telling you what to do already right?" Hal instructs.
Colette nods as she aims her ring at Zod, and breathes deeply. A blast of blue energy shoots down at Zod, her hope weakening the power of his ring of Rage.
"I'll kill you all myself!" Zod jumps up, apparently not weakened enough. But he suddenly is taken by the same clouds of darkness Phobia had been stolen by.
Titans Sick Bay.
"Stacy!" Regal jumps from his bed, and grabs aforementioned girl.
"Regal! Your all better! And your taking me somewhere?"
"We can't stay here, these people aren't your friends, we aren't at Titans Tower."
"What? Of course we are! What are you?"
"We need to leave, now!" Regal breaks down the door to the stairs and begins running down them. Stacy still in tow.
"I don't understand. Why?"
"Zenaku has all your friends under mind control, and he was going to do it to me too. We need to leave."
"What?"
As they head out the front door, a portal appears in front of the two, as they fall through it, everything goes black.
?An unknown, strange location.?
"Regal?" Stacy whispers weakly as the world becomes visible to her. She tries to stand but meets resistance on her feet and hands, she looks down to see that she is chained down to the floor.
"Yes Stacy." Regal stands before her, on the other side of prison bars. Standing beside him are Zenaku and Carmilla.
"Whats happening?" Stacy asks "Why.."
"Because the real Regal has been dead for months. I killed him myself." Zenaku declares. "He died only days after you came to Titans Tower."
"Liar! He standing right there!"
"Am I?" Contorting and twisting, Regal turns back into... "My name is Gemini, I've been pretending to be Regal for the past four months" Gemini pushes her black hair out of her face.
"No! He's not dead! He can't be!" Stacy screams.
"Yes, he is actually, I kept this to prove it too you." Zenaku pulls out a pair of handcuffs covered in blood, they were identical to the ones Regal always wore, and a bloody Exsphere, also the same as Regal's. "He fought valiantly, but he was no match for me!" Throwing the handcuffs and Exsphere into the cage, Zenaku, Gemini, and Carmilla leave, and Stacy jumps at them, the chains tighten as she tries to break them.
"No..." Stacy slumps down on the floor, tears flowing from her eyes.
Up in Zenaku's War room.
"You think we were too hard on her?" Gemini asks.
"No, her spirit must be shattered in order to for me to steal her powers easily." Zenaku says, "And what better way than making her believe her beloved Duke is dead. Even though we have him right here!" He motions to Evil-Terra who is dragging an unconscious Regal by his foot.
"I imagine I can't take him to the usual holding facility." Terra coldly says.
"No, I have a special place for him." Zenaku holds up what looks like a ruby jewel, with no gold, silver, or markings on it. With a flash of light, Regal was dragged into the stone, and Zenaku places it around his neck. "The Master of Games' amulet will be the perfect place to imprison him. He might as well be useful right?" Zenaku looks towards his allies and with a wave of his hands, yells out. "Phobia! Zod!" Dark clouds appear in the middle of the room as the two mentioned villains materialize before the others. "Now, this is interesting, So Zod, would you like me to re-extend my offer? Or perhaps I should just go to your new boss? Oh wait, I already did, thats why those rings are even here. I told Atrocious and Sinestro to send rings to earth, and in exchange, I would help them destroy the Green Lantern Corps. As long as the new lanterns of both corps in sector 2814 would be loyal to me."
"Why should I join you? I've never even heard of you!" Phobia yells at Zenaku. Who turns to her.
"I thought that you would be grateful that you new ring helped release you from prison."
"How did you?"
"I told you, I asked Sinestro to send rings here. It's all part of my universal domination plan." Zenaku interrupts.
"Well, then, lets get on with it." Blood complains, "We have more than enough firepower to beat the Titans by now don't we? Even with their new allies."
"Do not underestimate them, they have a long track record of winning against the odds." Slade says with his cold voice.
"Today our war with the heroes begins, but we have a few more people to ally ourselves with."
Zenaku walks away from the assembled villains. "There are a large number of villains we need to break from prisons around the world, I'm having your orders sent to you as we speak. Now go!" Zenaku's body turns into a cloud of darkness, and is gone.
Meanwhile, on a planet far far away, at this exact moment.
Apokolips. The realm of the God of Evil himself. Darkseid. Fire literally shoots up from the ground of this red planet devoid of plant life and beauty. These fire pits fuel the machines that create weapons of war for Darkseid's soldiers. Darkseid himself looks on as his soldiers mobilize for an invasion. An invasion of where you ask? Why Earth of course. The heroes of Earth had been a thorn in his side for far too long, and it was time to crush Superman and the rest of those heroes for good.
"Lord Darkseid! All hail Lord Darkseid!" Darkseid turned to see one of his most loyal servants. An elderly woman with grey hair, wrinkles on her mean face. Granny Goodness. Her job was to train Darkseid's Female Furies, the elite guard and most powerful warriors available to Lord Darkseid. But make no mistake, this elderly lady was one of the gods of Apokolips, and while not as powerful as Darkseid, she was strong in her own right as well.
"How much longer?" Darkseid demanded.
"Your soldiers are ready to depart now my lord but..."
"Tomorrow, tomorrow is the best time to attack, my lord... a war has begun between the humans as we speak, the best time to strike is while they are fighting among themselves..." A lewd man, wearing an orange cloak over his head, covering his face, speaks.
"Desaad is right, it will be easier to crush them when they are fighting each other and are disorganized." Darkseid had an amused look on his face. "I want every soldier armed with the best weapons we can make, tomorrow, Earth is mine."
"TOMORROW, EARTH BOWS TO DARKSEID!"
Back on Earth, Metropolis, Kansas. Lexcorp main building, Lex Luthors office.
"Mr Luthor, you have a guest here who wishes to speak to you." Lex's phone says as his secretary talks through it.
"If it's the press tell them to come back later, I'm busy." Lex Luthor, wealthy industrialist, and bald guy.
"It's not the press. He's from... Zenaku Industries?" the secretary says this as if she is asking a question.
"Tell them they have five minutes and to hurry up!" Zenaku was already through the doors.
"My name is Zenaku, and I'm not here to talk to you about business transactions." Zenaku removes his hood, motioning to the lights and cameras, they all shut off.
"Then what do you want." Lex, sitting at his fancy desk, places his right hand on the underside of it, grabbing a nine millimeter handgun. But not revealing it. "I'm listening."
"Just so your aware, I've shut down all the recording devices in your building. If any of your guards try to come in here, I will not hesitate to kill them myself."
Bending towards his phone on the desk, Lex pushes a button. "Miss Graves, don't bother with sending the guards. I'm perfectly okay." Lex releases a button on his phone, "I'm listening, intently."
"I understand you provide funding for and are the leader of a group currently calling themselves the Injustice League?"
"So what if I am?" Lex retorts.
"I have a proposition for you. Me and my associates seek an alliance with the Injustice League."
"What kind of alliance?"
"One that could bring an end to the Age of Heroes. And a new age, one where Lex Luthor and the Injustice League rule this entire universe."
"Whats in it for you?"
"I get a little revenge. We all would of course, but thats the primary motivator for me."
"I would like to believe you could do all this, but I'm going to need a little evidence of your power first."
"Oh, I can arrange that."
"Good."
"Tomorrow then. I'll send you the coordinates." Again transforming into darkness, Zenaku disappears.
"Miss Graves, Cancel all my appointments for today. I'm taking the rest of the day off."
"Yes, Mr Luthor."
Pushing some buttons on a wall of his office, a hidden door opens. He walks through it, revealing high-tech weapons and several Kryptonite rocks. Sealing the door behind him, Lex turns to a computer screen, typing in several command codes for it. "Injustice League, looks like our plans have been moved up. I'll send you instructions on your communicators. I'm calling an emergency meeting. Show up, or miss what could be at the very least, a spectacular show."
TO BE CONTINUED!
Hope you enjoyed that.
Phobia is a character that was only featured in the Teen Titans Go comic books, although she appears in mainstream DC comics as well.
The Source of All Evil isn't literally the one person all evil comes from. It is just a title for the leader of all the evil forces of the Charmed Tv series universe. However, by becoming the Source of All Evil, the being has their powers vastly increased. And gains the authority to vanquish (read; kill) any demon or evil being from that universe and claim their powers as their own. As well as command demons and warlocks and other evil beings from that world, to fight and combat anyone they choose too. Basically they become king of hell and get a huge power boost as well. So, if Zenaku gets this power on top of what he already has, well, you'll have to keep with me and find out!
Malchior is a one-time enemy of the Teen Titans from the episode Nevermore. But he's got a serious upgrade from Zenaku since then. Despite only showing up once as the main villain, he's arguably one of the Titans most powerful enemies. I mean, he's a dragon. Duh.
The Lantern Rings are from DC comics and so is pretty much anything else thats new in this. With the exception of the Warlocks.
Poor Stacy, now she has a hard time from RBL (Regal Bryant Lover) and me... But next time, she's gonna get some serious butt-kicking revenge!
Also, Sanji says he's the Straw Hat's second strongest fighter, but I would say that Zoro is just slightly better, but Sanji would never admit it.
Anyway, Please READ AND REVIEW! PLEASE! I provided an Extra-long chapter, now it would be great for those who haven't reviewed this at all, to review. (You know who you are.) PLEASE.