Caged Wings

Chapter Twenty: Rivals in Combat

Raven was sitting in her room, re-bandaging her wound on her side. It had been a week since the incident at the temple. She saw it was healing nicely, it was only a minor scratch. She sighs and looks up. She never seen Dimus for a week straight. She wondered why.

Just then, she looks over and sees him sitting on her chair. Raven's eyes widened, "Dimus! Where have you been??"

Dimus gets up and grabs her arm. Raven's eyes widened as she let out a gasp. He looks down at her wound. He growls a little, "What happened?"

Raven then says, "I....I got into a little mess up at some temple last week."

Dimus looks over her wound once more, "You haven't healed it?"

Raven chuckles, "I can only heal small wounds....not big ones."

Dimus nods, "I see. Are you alright?"

Raven nods, "I'm fine. Now answer my question. Where have you been? I haven't seen you in a week!"

Dimus finally lets go of her arm and sits on the bed with her. He smiles at her, "I had to go out of town for a bit. Family matters."

Raven nods, "Oh. I see......you could've told me at least."

Dimus smiles again, "I'm sorry. I didn't want to worry you.....but I guess I did the opposite of that."

Raven chuckles, "Yeah. You did."

Dimus smiles, "You free tonight?"

Raven nods, "Always am."

Raven then finishes bandaging her side as Dimus says, "There's a new event tonight. You're to be expected."

Dimus then hands her a card. Raven then tightens her bandages and places a shirt on over her bra. She then takes the card and looks at it. Raven nods, "I'll be there."

Dimus smirks, "Tonight's special. This is the event of the month! So you have to be there!"

Raven nods again, "Okay. Like I said, I'll be there."

Dimus leans forward and whispers, "Don't let me down."

He then kisses her lips. Raven then kisses back. Dimus then parts the short kiss, "I gotta go, love. I'll see you tonight."

Raven nods and whispers, "Okay."

With that, Dimus hops out the window. Raven then gets up and looks out the window, watching Dimus take off.

As the day got darker, Raven then puts on her usual outfit and packs her black backpack with another outfit. She then flings it over her shoulder and goes out the door. She then sees Pheonix carrying cans of paint inside. Pheonix stops, "Where're you off to?"

Raven smiles, "Work. What's with the paint?"

Pheonix looks at the paint cans and smiles, "Oh. I just finished painting the rest of the house."

Raven nods, "Oh. That's.....that's awesome."

Pheonix chuckles, "Yeah. It was hard work, but it was worth it."

Raven nods again, "I bet. Well....better go before I'm late."

Pheonix nods, "Alright. Have a good night at work."

Raven smirks, "Thanks....I will."

With that, Raven runs off.

As Pheonix went to go in, Serenity comes out and watches Raven leave. Serenity then walks passed Pheonix. Pheonix raises an eyebrow, "Where're you off to?"

Serenity turns, "I'm gonna follow Raven. I find it suspicious as to why she never told us her job!!"

With that, Serenity leaves. Pheonix sighs and shakes his head and goes in the house.

As Serenity followed Raven, Evan appears beside her. Serenity's eyes widened, "Wha-what're you doing here?"

Evan replied, "Following Raven like you are. Don't think you're the only one whose worried about her."

Serenity sighs, "Okay. But we have to keep quiet so she can't see us."

Zero appears with Coslotus, "Hey."

Serenity's eyes widened, "Huh??"

Evan's eyes widened as well, "What're you guys doing here?"

Zero sighs, "I was dragged here!"

Serenity's eyes widened, "Coslotus dragged you?"

Coslotus sighs, "You never know what might happen."

Serenity shakes her head, "Let's just go."

The group then goes and follows Raven.

After a short while, Raven arrives at a back alley. Evan's eyes widened, "A back alley? This can't be good."

Serenity whispers, "Come on."

They all go into the alley and see Raven knocking on a black door. The door opens and she walks inside. There was a sign that had said Barbarian's Inn. Serenity gulped a little as the group followed along. After the door closed, Serenity knocks. A shift was heard and a pair of yellow eyes were seen in the small door window. As soon as the door opened, everyone's eyes widened. Standing before them was a big muscular devil man. He swung his tail back and forth as he made a glaring look. He says in a dark sinister voice, "What business do you have here?"

Serenity shoke a little. She then studders, "Oh....umm....friend of Raven's?"

The devil man's eyes widened, "You mean Raging Raven? By all means....come on in! Any friend of hers is a friend of mine!!"

With that, the devil man steps aside. The group then looked at one another. Evan mutters, "Raging Raven?"

Serenity just shrugs and walks on in. Everyone then follows. Once inside, everyone looks around. The place was filled with brutes and concubines dancing for viewing pleasure. There were fights at at least every other table. There were also drinking contests being held at a few tables. Nothing but drunken brutes wandering this place. The place smelled of booze, blood, and the possibility of vomit. Serenity covers her nose, "Yuck!"

Evan rubs his nose with his sleeve and focuses on Raven's scent. In the center of the entire place was a big white ring that was the same size as a stage. Evan grunts, "Why would Raven work at a place like this??"

Serenity places her hands on her hips, "That's what I like to know!!"

Zero looks out into the ring, "Hey, isn't that her in the ring?"

Everyone looks, "Hm?"

Raven was standing in the ring, wearing loose white pants with a tight black muscle shirt. Her hands were wrapped in white bandages, while she stood in bare feet. Raven cracks her neck and jumps short paces side to side, getting ready for something. Serenity's eyes widened, "Wh-what's she doing up there??"

Everyone then looked around, seeing people giving money out to some guy collecting it. Some voices shouted, "I bet on Raging Raven!!!"

Other voices shouted, "50 grand on Raven!!"

Evan raises an eyebrow, "Why in hell are people betting??"

Zero looks to the ring, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say Raven was getting ready to fight. This is a place where you watch people fight and bet on who you think would win."

Serenity's eyes widened, "WHAAAAT????!!"

Music began to play as the announcer came to the center of the ring. The song that played was Go To Sleep by a rapper called Eminem. The annoucer then said into a microphone, "Alright everyone!! Now that all of you have placed your bets, let's introduce the contenders!!!"

The announcer turns to Raven, "In the left corner!! Standing 5,5 in height and weighing around 160 lbs. Our current champion!! The shamanic Raging Raven!!"

The crowd cheered louder than ever as Raven steps to the center of the ring, beside the announcer. Raven cracks her knuckles and then her neck. She then jumps side to side once again, bracing herself. The announcer smirks, "And in the right corner!!! Standing 6,9 in height and weighing 290 lbs. The historical dino fighting for the title!! The Three Horned Tryco!!!"

There was loud footsteps coming onto the ring. Everyone gasp at the sight of the creature. It was a giant muscular triceratops creature. He had muscular arms and legs. His whole body was a dark shade of green as he had glowing red eyes. He smirks as he cracks his knuckles. He stands in the center of the ring, looking down at Raven. Raven looks back up at him, her eyes showing a sign of no life. They both put their fists together. The announcer goes to them, "Okay you two. Remember, anything goes! Is that clear?"

Raven says coldly, "Yeah."

Tryco smirks, "Yeah. I got it."

They then punch down lightly on one another's fists, showing a sign of being prepared. The annoucer looks at both of them. Raven glares at Tryco, while Tryco smirks. He whispers, "If I win this match.....you're MINE!!!"

Raven says nothing. Her eyes go darker in coldness. The announcer says, "Ready....."

Tryco makes a kissing face at Raven and then gives her a sick and twisted smirk. Raven could feel her chills twitch her, ready to make her snap from anger. The announcer then announces, "Let the match BEGIN!!!!"

Raven then pushes Tryco's fists and punches his gut as hard as she could. Tryco's eyes widened, "G-guh!!"

He then spits out blood and takes a step back. Raven then jumps and brings a round house kick to his face. Tryco takes another step back as his head snaps to the side from Raven's kick. As soon as Raven lands on her feet, she then brings multiple punches to Tryco's gut again. Everyone in the crowd was going wild, swinging their money in the air. Tryco then smirks at Raven. As she went to throw her next kick, Tryco grabs it. Raven gasps. Tryco smirks and chuckles. He then lifts Raven up in the air by her leg and slams her down onto the ring with a big bashing sound. As soon as Raven lands on the ring, Raven's body arches up and lands onto the other side of the ring.

Raven staggers to her feet. She shakes her head to snap out of it. As soon as Raven went to look at Tryco, a giant fist came to her face. She flew in a fast spinning motion and landed on her stomach. She gasps for air.

Serenity's eyes widened as she screamed, "RAVEN!!!!"

Raven spits out blood and smirks. She began to laugh. She then spits out a tooth from the back of her mouth. She then staggers to her feet, still smirking. Tryco's eyes widened, "Huh?"

Raven sighs, "That felt great! Care to try again?"

Tryco then growls in anger and charges at her with another punch. Raven grabs it with both hands, "Impressive. Now it's MY turn!!"

Raven's hands then glew purple. She then pushes Tryco back and runs at him. She then repeatedly punches Tryco's gut. Over and over again Raven went. Her movement was faster then ever before, and for that matter, stronger too. Raven then jumps into a spinning uppercut to the jaw. Tryco goes flying upwards into the air. Raven then grabs Tryco's arm and slams him hard onto the ring. A big booming sound was heard. Everyone gasps and cheers louder. Raven then flips and lands onto Tryco's massive chest. She then jumps on his gut, causing him to spit out more blood. She then lands herself onto his throat. He lets out a painful gurgling moan. Raven then began to crush his throat with her foot. She smirks and says in reference to Tryco's earlier comment, "You're MINE right now!!"

She then kicks him in the face. Hikari jumps up and down, "GO RAVEN!!!"

Everyone looks. Serenity says, "Huh? Hikari?? Where'd you come from?"

Hikari smiles, "From the front door!"

Sith pops up smirking at the match, "So......this is what Raven's been doing. Not a bad job or pay."

Serenity's eyes widened as she pointed to the ring, "You're encouraging this???!!!"

Sith nods, "Uhh.....yeah. Me and her were born to fight no matter where we go. So it's only fitting."

Hikari smiles, "Plus it's fun to watch!"

Serenity yells, "I can't believe you guys!!!"

Coslotus then says, "What's the big deal? She can take care of herself."

Serenity shouts, "That's not the point!!"

As Raven walks away, she says, "This fight is over."

Tryco gets up and roars. Raven stops and looks. Tryco then slaps her on the side of her face. Raven falls to the ground. Tryco then kicks her side while she was down. Tryco's kick had landed on Raven's wound. Raven's eyes widened as she let out a loud scream. Evan's eyes widened. He growls and yells, "RAVEN!!!!!!!"

As he went to run up onto the ring, Zero grabs him, "NO!! You can't interfere!!"

Evan roars as he struggles, "I DON'T CARE!!! I'LL HAVE THAT BASTARD'S HEAD!!!!"

Raven looks up and sees Evan. Her eyes widened as she saw the others with him. She growls in anger as she thought, "They....weren't suppose to be here!!!!"

Raven gets up and grabs Tryco's foot before it even hit her. She then pushes him back. He then lands back first onto the ring. Tryco turns over on all fours and tries to get up. Raven then grabs his neck and whispers evily, "I win!!!!!!"

She then snaps his neck with a very loud snap. Tryco falls down dead. Raven stands and spits out more blood. She started to bleed from her mouth on the side of her lip. The announcer's eyes widened, "Once again!! Coming out on top and still Master of the Ring!! Raging Raven!!!"

Everyone cheered and applauded louder than before. Raven then lifts up her shirt a little ways and looks at her wound. It was worse than before. Blood came through her bandages on her side. She sighs and she pulls her shirt back down. A guy came running with a load of cash in his hands. Raven swipes it from his hand, "Gimme that!!"

Raven then counts it as she leaves the ring. All of her friends then came running to her. Serenity yells, "Raven!! What were you thinking?!! This is where you've been coming to work all this time?! This is your new job?!"

Raven growls, "So what?! None of you had no business coming here!!! Part of the deal was no one was allowed to know!! And now because of you........I'm gonna have to pay for it!!!!"

Serenity yells, "Well sorry if all of us were worried about you!!! You think none of us noticed when you came back with bruises!!!"

Raven growls, "I'm not listening to this!! This is nothing but bullshit!!!"

Evan then grabs Raven's shoulders as she went to walk away, "Raven! You could've got yourself killed out there!"

Raven sighs, "Look. I know you guys mean well.....but I've been fighting long before I found you guys. So I know what I'm doing."

Serenity then says, "But still!!"

Evan then says, "You said Dimus was the one who found you this job?"

Raven nods, "Uh-huh."

Evan then lets Raven's shoulders go and balls his hands into fists. He growls, "Th-that's not right!!"

Raven sighs, "He knew I love to fight, so he recommended me here."

Hikari smiles, "That's cool!!"

Serenity looks to Hikari, "You're not helping!!"

Raven sighs, "Look, I'm doing this job whether you guys like it or not. Part of the bargain was no friends!!"

Serenity's jaw drops, "Whether we like it or not?! Carrie!! You shouldn't be fighting!!!"

Evan then sees Raven's wound. He then looks at her, "You're willing to give up your flesh and blood in return for money?"

As Raven went to reply to that, the announcer was heard from the ring. The announcer had said, "And now for the two on two matches!!!! For this first round.........the prize is $200, 000!!!!!!"

Raven turns around and looks into the ring. Her eyes widened, "A single match isn't even worth that much!!"

The announcer then says, "We're willing to take any takers. As long as it's two people willing to work together!!"

Raven whispers to herself, "Gotta have that money!"

She then looks around, "Uhh....."

She then looks at Zero. She then runs right up to him, "Zero! You can be my tag team partner!!"

Zero's eyes widened, "Whaa?! Why me?!!"

Serenity's eyes widened, "You're gonna fight again?!! After your wound got re-opened??"

Raven sighs and ignores Serenity, "Because......you're a martial artist and you'd be the best at this."

Zero shakes his head, "Oh no no no no no! I c-can't! I-I've been trained to not fight in this manner! I've been taught to fight in honour and disapline! I've been taught to protect!"

Raven smirks, "Well this is honour! And this is disapline! We're giving it to the opponents! Come on! It's for a shit load of money!!"

Zero shakes his head again, "N-no! There's no way I c-can go through with that! No! I'm not doing that!"

Raven goes up onto the ring. The announcer then says, "We seem to have a contender! And it's none other than our very own Raging Raven craving for more!!!"

The crowd then cheered into a loud frenzy. The announcer then says, "And your partner is?"

Raven looks to Zero, "Come on!! Please?"

Zero crosses his arms and closes his eyes, "No! I'm not doing it!"

Raven puts a hand on her ear, "I can't hear you!"

The crowd was louder than before. Zero shouts, "What?"

Raven shouts, "I couldn't hear you!!! Speak louder!!"

Zero sighs. He then walks right into the ring and walks in front of Raven, "I said I'm not doing this!"

The announcer then says, "And we have our team!!"

The announcer then asks, "Whose your partner?"

Raven replies, "Zero Amano."

The announcer then says, "Our first team!! Raging Raven and Zero Amano!!"

Zero's eyes widened, "Wh-what?!!! NO!!"

Raven smirks, "Sorry. It's done!"

Zero's eyes widened as he then realized where he was, "Y-you mean to tell me.....that you tricked me into coming into the ring on purpose??!!"

Raven chuckles, "You actually thought I couldn't hear you? Come on, Zero."

Zero shakes his head, "No! Nah-uh! I'm not doing this!! I can walk away anytime I want to!! Which is right now!!"

As Zero went to walk away, a big shift was heard from the ceiling. Zero looks up and sees a cage being inclosed on them. He then sees they were locked in. Zero balls his hands into fists, "Great.....!!"

Raven's eyes widened when she saw they were about to take part in a cage match. The crowd then roars louder with cheers. Serenity then puts a hand over her mouth, "Oh no."

Hikari jumps up and down, "This is gonna be soo cool!!!"

Evan then balls his hands into fists once again, feeling useless. He thinks to himself, "Be careful, Raven....."

Another song began to play. It was called Foxy Foxy by Rob Zombie. The announcer then says, "Okay....now to introduce Raven and Zero's opponents!"

Zero goes beside Raven and growls, "I can't believe you dragged me in here!!"

Raven sighs, "Get over it. It's for a good cause."

Zero's eyes widened, "Good cause? You think hurting people for money has a good cause??"

The announcer then says, "Introducing the Tag Team Champions!! Thazar and Bolder!!!!"

Two big guys then stepped into the ring. Thazar was big and blue. Muscle on top of muscle. Bolder looked the same, only chestnut brown. They both smirked and cracked their knuckles. Raven's eyes widened and she took a big gulp, "I-I didn't know these guys were gonna be so buff!!!"

Zero's eyes widened, "For $200, 000, you thought our opponents were gonna be weak?!!!!"

Raven looks at Zero, "Yeah."

Zero shakes his head, "I can't beleive you!!"

He then points his finger at Raven, "You're not gonna hear the end of this!!"

The announcer then shouted, "Let the match begin!!!"

The two big guys then walked towards Zero and Raven while they were still bickering. They finally notice them. Zero sighs, "I'm not gonna get out of this am I? Fine.....I'll fight.......we're gonna talk more about this when we get home though!"

Raven nods, "Deal."

The guys then go in for a good punch. Raven blocks it while Zero ducks and thrusts in a good kick to his gut. They both step back as the crowd got louder as the music went on. Hikari shouts, "GO RAVEN AND ZERO!!!"

Raven smiles at Zero, "Nice kick!"

As Thazar went to punch Raven, Zero gasps, "Look out!"

He then pulls Raven towards him. Raven then lands into Zero's chest as he then blocks Thazar's punch with his knee high in the air. Raven's eyes widened as Zero's arm was wrapped around her, holding her tight. Raven then looks up at Zero as he then pushes Thazar back and punches his stomach with a big bashing sound. Zero then glares at Thazar, "Now I'm pissed!!"

Raven then leans back, "You're mad over some guy trying to hurt me?"

Zero nods, "Uhh....yeah I am. No one gets away with trying to hurt my friends!!"

Raven's eyes widened when she sees Bolder try to strike Zero from behind. Raven then turns them around them and switches position. Raven then blocks it with her hand and throws a good round house kick. Bolder then goes flying right into the cage wall. Thazar then gets back up as Zero goes into a dragon-style stance.

Bolder then shakes his head to snap out of it. Raven then goes into a stance as well. Zero and Raven were now back to back. They both look at one another with a nod. The enemies then charge at Raven and Zero. They both glare at them with determination. Raven then jumps at Bolder and knees him in the chest. He goes flying back again. Bolder then smirks and began to do multiple punches to every direction of Raven's body. Raven's eyes widened as she then quickly blocks every one of them.

Thazar then takes a swing at Zero. He then grabs his fist with his hands and flips him over on his back. Zero stands there and waits for Thazar to get up. He does so. As soon as he does, Zero then backflips himself into the air and brings a kick under his chin. Thazar tumbles back and spits blood out. Zero lands on his feet and runs at him. He then began to punch his gut over and over again.

Bolder then lands a punch on Raven's shoulder. She yelps in pain. She then goes to kick him, but her leg gets grabbed. Raven's eyes widened, "Huh???"

Bolder then swings her against the cage wall over and over again like a baseball bat. Finally, Bolder then swings Raven onto the ring floor hard.

Evan's eyes widened as he surged with anger, "RAVEN!!!!"

He growls in anger as he began to shake, feeling helpless.

Bolder then throws Raven across the ring. She lands right into Zero from behind. They both fall into the cage wall. Thazar and Bolder stand there laughing. Raven and Zero shake their heads to snap out of it. Zero spits a little bit of blood. Raven feels the side of her forehead begin to bleed. Zero then gets up and grabs onto Raven, helping her up.

Thazar and Bolder charge at them. Raven jumps and kicks Bolder to the chest, while Zero runs and punches Thazar in the gut and then in the face. Raven then kicks Bolder in the back as he fell. He goes flying in the air. Raven jumps up and Zero grabs her. He then spins her and tosses her into the air. Raven spins a double kick to Bolder's face. Bolder then falls, knocked out cold.

Zero then jumps as Thazar ran at him, and stomped onto his face. Zero then flips and grabs his shoulders, doing an air cartwheel. Zero lands on his feet and launches Thazar onto the ring hard, knocking him out. A big bash was heard as soon as Thazar landed onto his head.

The crowd goes wild and clap. Hikari shouts, "YEAH!!!"

The announcer's eyes widened, "I never seen anything like this folks!!! Your new Tag Team Champions are Raging Raven and Quicksilver Zero!!!"

The crowd comences into a raging riot of cheer. The announcer then gives them two big bags of money. One to Raven and the other to Zero. The cage then opens up and Raven and Zero leave to be with their friends. Hikari jumps up and down, "That was cool!!! We HAVE to come back here!!!"

Serenity places her hands on her hips, "We are certainly not!"

Hikari smiles, "Well I am!!"

Clapping was then heard, aside from the cheering crowd. Dimus came walking towards them, clapping, "Bravo. Magnificent!!"

Raven's eyes widened, "Dimus?"

Dimus smirks and stops clapping, "That was quite a show. I'm proud of you."

He then kisses Raven's cheek. Evan began to shake more with anger. He growls, "You!!! You have some nerve showing up!!"

Dimus smirks, "And why is that?"

Evan yells, "You recommended this to Raven!!! As a result, she's hurt and marked up from fighting!!!! You don't even care that she has to draw her own blood for money!!! Some boyfriend you are!!!"

Raven's eyes widened, "Evan!!"

Dimus smirk fades, "As a matter of fact.....I do care about Raven getting hurt. It was her choice, and I respect her decisions."

Evan growls, "Bullshit!!!"

As Evan was about to go at Dimus, Sith holds him back. Dimus then makes a serious expression, "Let's all go outside."

Dimus then leads the way as everyone follows. Serenity then notices Coslotus was missing. She looks to see him giving money to strippers as they danced. Serenity's eyes widened, "John!!!"

She then grabs him and drags him out.

Once outside, Dimus turns and looks right at Evan. Dimus smirks, "You got something to say to me, say it."

Evan then says, "Okay, here's what I got to say....."

With that, he walks up to Dimus and lands a punch to his face. Raven gasps, "EVAN!!"

Dimus then smirks, "Is that all you've got?"

Evan growls and yells, "I'm so sick of you vampires thinking you can take advantage of people!! In my opinion, I don't think you even deserve Raven!!! Not one bit!!!"

Raven's eyes widened at his words. Dimus begins to chuckle, "Alright then. Who, in your eyes, does deserve Raven? You? Heh heh, don't make me laugh, Lycan!! You're nothing but a filthy, snarling animal!"

Raven's eyes widened even more, "DIMUS!!!"

The clouds in the sky shift and reveal a full moon. Evan growls as he began to change, "That's it!!! I'M GONNA KILL YOU!!!!"

He then jumps at Dimus and they both land into a building. Dimus then throws Evan back, making him land into a car. A huge dent could be seen. Raven places her hands over her mouth. She then shouts, "STOP IT!!!!!"

Evan gets up, now transforming fully. He growls as he stands on his hind legs, getting ready to fight.