Alright readers, heads up.
For those of you who want to contribute to the chapter where Control Freak fights everyone inside the TV Dimension, start doing so soon, because it'll be taking place sometime after the Tournament of Heroines chapter (despite how that one takes place at the start of Season 3).
Basically anything that has appeared on TV, be they TV shows, anime, cartoons, etc. will be noted for tabulation. That doesn't guarantee anything being included, but there's a chance that it will since I'm trying to add some variety to that chapter.
With that said, here's the start of the chapter.
P.S.
To whomever keeps asking me when the next chapter's coming out (and you know who you are): Don't. I look for actual Reviews to see what people think of my story, only for a third of them start with "When" and end with "next chapter come out?" I'm looking for actual intelligent comments, and seeing over a dozen like that... It's very depressing and makes it hard to remain motivated to continue writing this story.
Anyway with that said, here's the chapter. Enjoy.
"Fire beats Wood," Raven said throwing a card with a flame onto it over a card with a tree on it.
"But Water beats Fire," Cyborg countered.
"Sun dries up Water," Beast Boy cut in.
"Thunderstorm blocks out Sun," Robin cut in.
"But Wind blows away the Thunderstorm," Terra interjected lastly for that round, a grin pulling at her features. At the moment the team was in the living room playing a new TCG that had come out, Clash of the Elements. While it wasn't uber popular like Magic the Gathering or Yu-Gi-Oh!, it was one of those things that friends could play together for the heck of it. Starfire herself had laid the Tree card down to overcome Cyborg's Rain card, and as for Vent, well, he was off in the "Danger Room" practicing with a new fighting style. Given the circumstances, the brunette had leant his Clash of the Elements deck to Terra, letting her get to know the team a bit better since the two of them knew one another well enough.
"I'm out," Raven sighed in defeat with raised hands.
"Me too," Beast Boy sulked with ears drooping.
"I wish to… go the fish?" Starfire asked looking at her hand with a wide smile, Raven and Beast Boy looking at her cards from over her shoulders.
"Uh, you want to fold, Starfire," Beast Boy instructed.
"Fold? That is good? I am victorious?" Star asked joyously, the two shaking their heads in response which in turn caused her to sulk.
"Sorry guys, looks like I win this round," Terra said as she was about to sweep up the won cards over to herself.
"Ah-ah-ah, little lady," Cy interrupted as he placed his hands over hers. "How can you win if I've still got one card?" he asked holding up a single card. "Come on, girl, you know you want to play me for it. Winner take all, one last round."
"Sorry, but Vent loaned me his deck in confidence, and I'm not risking you pulling out some one-in-a-million joker card and losing his," Terra huffed with a small glare, Cy flinching at having been caught so easily.
"We're just going to scramble up the majority of the cards before re-distributing them anyway," Raven interjected. The next moment there was a sudden white flash of light, Robin and Beast Boy disappearing from her left side.
"Huh?" Cy asked in confusion as he looked around, only to disappear in a white flash as well, the card that was in his hand sliding down onto the table, revealing it to be the one-in-a-million Meteor card.
"This part of the game?" Starfire asked.
"Uh…" Raven returned shrugging her shoulders.
"So… Does that mean Iwin?" Terra asked bashfully, rubbing the back of her head.
Elsewhere somewhere in the universe, multiverse, alternate reality, or somewhere inbetween, Robin, Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Ventus -wearing only gray sweats and blue sandals with a bokken in his hands- suddenly appear within a large atrium-like room, the starry night sky vivible through an oddly-shaped hole in the roof, the upper part of the room divided into eight segments by spires that met in the center at a large golden disk at the top. Further down there was a circular balcony with groups of six windows divided into two facing out into outer space as well, below that being three doors between each spire, totaling twenty four in a massive atrium-like room. All in all it looked like some grand hall mixed between the modern-day contemporary and past medieval style.
Another flash suddenly ripped through the room, an equally-confused Aqualad, Gizmo, and four other teenage males appearing. One had short red-blond hair, a domino mask like Robin's, a sleeveless red tunic marked with an S over his heart, matching wrist guards and pants, a yellow belt on his waist, quiver on his back, and boots with platformed heels on his feet. The next wore a black outfit trimmed with red, his skin appearing to be transparent with his body filled with fire. The last was very tall, muscular, and broad-shouldered, his head resembling that of a wildabeast with a thick black mane going down his neck, with armor visible beneath his outer garments; he wore a sleeveless dark blue tunic and pants with a plated silver guard around his head, neck, and waist, his feet covered in armored boots. The fourth figure was a lanky teen, his frame built more for speed than anything else; His attire consisted of a red and yellow jumpsuit, yellow covering the upper part of his body and face exposing the lower half of his face, light blue eyes, and his swept-back red hair with red lightning bolt emblems on the sides, a red lightning bolt emblazoned across his chest, red covering his hips and legs, his boots yellow, forearm-length red gloves.
Beyond that, yet another flash ripped through the room, a just-as-equally confused Static and Gear, along with two additional figures with them. The first was a tall semi-muscular teen, though his human identity could not be deduced because he was covered head-to-toe in black spandex with a metallic sheen, insectoid shin guards on his shins and feet, light blue spots on his thighs, his upper chest and shoulders covered in blue armor, as was his jawline, the top of his head, and the angular crests around his red-lensed yellow-pupiled eyes, what looked like a blue kuwagata beetle latched onto his back with two legs wrapping around his sides while the last two held onto him above his shoulders. The last figure had black hair, his left eye red while his right was blue, his built thin but muscular' his attire consisted of biker shorts, a blue medical gown, his feet bare, and oddly enough a straightjacket worn backwards with a few of the clasps around his neck holding the garment in place.
"Welcome, champions all!" a booming male voice suddenly said, startling the fourteen gathered male heroes, their eyes going to a dais that was at least fifty feet tall, steps running up to it. The figure was humanoid and powerfully built, gold bands on his biceps, wrists, and shins, as well as a pleated black and bronze loincloth-like garment similar to that worn by Roman soldiers held in place by a golden belt. The chest and face were gray, while the arms and legs were white, black short stubble atop his head, his ears coming out into points, with eyes yellow and irises crimson like Ventus' own. Around his neck was an octagonally-shaped ruby held in place by a simple black band. "I am the Master of Games, and you are hereby invited to compete in the Tournament of Heroes! The Tournament of Heroes, a friendly competition between the world's greatest young champions," he announced as the jewel around his neck glowed white, the radiance filling the room before the team was placed in what looked like a jumbo screen.
"Robin - the combat-equipped, kung-fu-trained one-man army," he announced as a clip of Robin backflipping across a building with the Jump City skyline appeared, the spiky haired teen throwing a couple of disks towards the viewers, which exploded before he launched himself through the smoke and aimed a kick at the camera.
"Hot Spot – a human flamethrower with a fiery temper to match," he announced as a clip of the fire-filled teen appeared, the pyromancer releasing a barrage of fireballs towards the camera.
"Cyborg – the high-tech teen fighting machine," he announced as Cyborg's arm appeared on the screen before it transformed into his sonic cannon, which he fired at the camera before leaping at the lens and throwing a fierce punch.
"Aqualad – a water-breathing telepath with mastery over surf and sea," he announced as a clip of Aqualad using his telepathy to summon a pair of whales displayed on the screen.
"Wildebeest – four hundred pounds of primal heroic fury," he announced as the wildabeast-like hero appeared on the screen, lifting a car over his head on a city street before throwing it.
"Gizmo – the nasty little boy, with the really big brain," he announced as a clip of Gizmo leaping down with his spider legs extended showed, a pair of laser blasters extending from his belt before firing.
"Beast Boy – a quick-witted changeling who can turn into any animal," he announced as Beast Boy transformed into a fierce-looking tiger before lunging at the screen.
"Speedy – the agile archer with an unstoppable arsenal of energy arrows," he announced as a clip of the Robin look-alike blowing the head off a giant robot terrorizing the rainforest appeared on the screen.
"Static – the human third rail with the power of an electric transformer at his fingertips," he announced, a clip showing Static blasting bad guys with his electromagnetic powers while flying on his Static Saucer, launching what appeared to be a static grenade at the camera before it changed perspectives.
"Gear – his brain trumps his opponent's brawn every time," he announced as a clip of gear facing off against a massive hulking meta-human appeared on screen, the lanky teen throwing a grenade-like weapon that quickly wrapped the approaching creature up with metal tendrils before dropping it to the ground like a sack of potatoes.
"Kid Flash – the teen faster than a speeding bullet and more agile than greased lightning," he announced, a clip of Kid Flash outracing bullets and weaving about a room almost too fast for the eye to track playing.
"Blue Beetle - the alien-powered teen with a legacy he can and will surpass," he said as a clip featuring the blue and back beetle-themed teen appeared, his forearms turning into massive blue-armored blasters as he shot at several off-screen enemies.
"Crazy - the lucky teen who doesn't suffer from insanity, but enjoys every second of it," he announced as the backwards-straightjacket-wearing teen with heterochromatic eyes was shown escaping from what was clearly a mad house with a wide grin pulling across his face, threatening to rip the collection of muscles in half across his skull. Tucked under his arms for some reason were a watermelon, firecrackers, and a bottle of chocolate syrup.
"And Ventus - the tortured teen with a grim past, but a bright future," he announced, a clip of the brunette generating a silver cyclone around himself, which parted in front of him at the end of said clip. The next moment there was another flash of light, the teens finding themselves back in the atrium-like room and facing the Master of Games (Master of Games) once more.
"Fourteen brave and worthy champions, but only one shall win," he finished.
"So…" Beast Boy said with big soulful eyes. "Does the winner get some kind of really cool prize, like… maybe… oh, I don't know… a moped?" he asked, thoughts of him in France with a thin moustache, red beret, a black and white striped shirt, and a baguette under his arm zipping back and forth on a motor scooter while wooing a horde of love struck women appeared in his mind's eye.
"I have no moped, shape-shifter," the Master of Games answered causing Beast Boy to deflate considerably. "But rest assured. When the Tournament is complete, there will be magnificent prizes. And, of course, the winner shall prove that he is the greatest young hero on Earth. However, any who do not wish to compete need only say the word, and I shall return you home at once," he said reassuringly, the jewel around his neck glowing.
"Um… Master of Games, sir," Vent said getting his attention while trying to be polite about it, hoping not to accidentally offend the guy and get his head inflated to the size of a beach ball. Potentially-speaking.
"Yes, hero Ventus?" the otherworldly being asked.
"Um, I was kinda in my training clothes when you pulled me in, as you can plainly see by my current attire," he said motioning to the sweats he was wearing. "Would it be possible for me to change into a more… battle-appropriate attire?"
"It is not outside my power to do so," the Master of Games stated. "Simply picture the outfit you wish to have in your mind, and it shall be given."
"So wait, I can just imagine myself up a costume, and you'll give it to me?" he asked, Master of Games nodding in return. "Well… Alright then. Hmmm…" he said thinking, the Master of Games's amulet seeming to respond to the brunette's thoughts his clothes began glowing. The next moment there was a flash; when it cleared he was in an entirely different outfit than the sweats he had on before. He wore straw-braided sandals on his feet, blue pleated hakama that stopped just above his ankles, an off-white martial arts gi, and a billowing green scarf around his neck that went past his waist wrapped loosely around his neck. Mussing up his hair a bit and wooden bokken at his side, he then looked exactly like-
"Yoichi from Asu no Yoichi?" Speedy asked out of nowhere.
"You watch anime too?" Beast Boy asked surprised.
"Doesn't everyone?" the Robin-lookalike asked in return.
"Now that the detail of hero Ventus' attire has been finalized, you need only discuss who will compete amongst yourselves," the Master of Games announced, the gathered tens grouping together and entering a quick sotto-vice discussion on the offer, Robin stepping forward once everyone was in agreement.
"Looks like we're in – all of us," Robin announced.
"The challenge is accepted. The Tournament begins! Prepare for competition!" the Master of Games announced as his jewel glowed at the end of the line, followed by a huge white flash that whisked him away from the area, leaving the gathered teen heroes to converse amongst themselves.
"Aquadude! What's up?" Beast Boy asked thumping the Atlantian's arm. "Ready to watch me claim all those prizes?"
"No," Aqualad replied dryly with a little snort. "But, after I win, I promise to let you have my autograph."
"Hey, what's he doing here? He's no hero! I thought this was a Tournament of-"
"What's the matter, Robo-Wimp?" Gizmo sneered and cutting Cyborg off. "Afraid I'll kick your stinking can?"
"Just try it!" Cy growled, red laser beams striking between their faces as opposed to bolts of lightning. Elsewhere, the teen hero known as Hotspot sniffed the air disgustingly.
"What's that sme-" he asked before he found Wildebeest glaring down at him. "Oh," he chucling nervously, but a menacing short cut him off, causing the flame-filled teen to sweatdrop.
"Speedy. I've heard you're good- real good," Robin said shaking Speedy's hand.
"Robin. Likewise. Great to finally meet you," Speedy said returning the sentiment.
"So, what are those arrows made of?" he asked pointing at the quiver.
"Polarized matrices of high-energy electrons," he said pulling one out, which Robin gazed at eagerly.
"Right. Same technology that packs the punch in my electric discs," Robin said pulling out one of his. "How do you overcome the quantum-entanglement problem?"
"Static! Gear! How's it going guys?" Vent asked coming up to the two.
"Vent, how's it hangin'?" Static asked as both he and Gear bumped fists with the pseudo-cosplaying brunette.
"Things are good. I'm back in my own house, and things are starting to get back to normal," the brunette said before facing Richie. "Oh, Gear, we got that icebox built. Works like a charm."
"Sweet. I was also able to adapt the tech in your T-Comm.s and apply them to our Shock Boxes," Gear said pulling out what looked like a metal walkie-talkie with yellow and black hazard stripes across the top plate, which he flipped back to reveal a rectangular screen and a few buttons underneath. "Live video chatting works like a dream, and plus, it's completely hack-proof."
"Cool," the brunette returned before facing the teen heroes known as Blue Beetle and Kid Flash. "Hey guys, come on over here. Don't be shy," he said motioning them over, the two shrugging their shoulders before walking over. "Kid Flash, your outfit bears striking similarities to another superhero out there. The two of you related?"
"I neither accept nor deny those claims," the red-head said in a cocky tone.
"Didn't hear a no," he said before facing the Blue Beetle. "So what's your story?" he asked. Looking at him upclose, the black part of his suit wasn't a jumpsuit at all, but an efficiently-segmented suit of armor designed to conform to his every movement.
"Me? Oh, nothing fancy. Just found this little guy here in an abandoned lot and bam, instant superhero for the next generation," he said with a smirk and crossed arms after motioning to the beetle-like construct on his back.
"Is that thing onyour back secretly plotting world-domination or something?" the black-haired teen known as Crazy suddenly asked from behind the Blue Beetle as he tapped the construct on the teen's back, causing him to screech since last he checked, the resident mental patient was on the other side of the room.
"Dude! How'd you do that?" the armored hero demanded.
"Simple. I walked," Crazy replied with an ear-to-ear grin, eerily similar to the one from the clip where he was escaping from the mad house.
"Static! Long time no see!" Robin called out after geeking out over how his lookalike overcame the quantum-entanglement problem.
"Yo! Robin! It's been ages," Static said high fiving Robin. "See you've changed your costume and your hair though. You look more like-"
"A teenager?" Robin cut in.
"Yeah, what you said," Static returned. "Still, no offense intended, but you're still as short as ever," he said patting the spiky-haired teen on the head. While he himself had grown a few inches over the past year, Robin was still as short as he remembered. The teen looked like he was about to protest his "vertically challenged status", but a familiar voice cut him off before he could.
"Champions! Round one! Face your opponents!" the Master of Games said from all around before a flash of light ripped through the air, the collective of teens being whisked away to different arenas. Be they different worlds, times, or places, they did not know, but then again, they didn't really need to know.
"Cyborg versus Crazy!"
"Kid Flash versus Gizmo!"
"Robin versus Gear!"
"Aqualad versus Speedy!"
"Wildebeest versus Blue Beetle!"
"Beast Boy versus Static!"
"Ventus versus Hotspot!"
"Let the contest… begin!" he announced as the fourteen heroes were scattered in pairs.
Cyborg vs Crazy
FIGHT!
This guy looks kinda familiar, Cy thought to himself as he faced his opponent, who at the moment was smiling in an all-too-familiar grin. They were standing across the deck from him on what looked like a Spanish Galleon, however, the purple alien skyline and pair of cyan moons said otherwise.
"Avast ye scurvy dog. Aiaiaiaiaiaiaiaia!" Crazy cackled as he suddenly withdrew a scimitar from a nearby barrel before lunging at Cyborg like a maniac, the cyborg extending an inactive chainsaw from his left arm and batting away the bladed weapon a few times before bringing his right fist towards the insane teen. "Alley-oop!" he called out as he vaulted over the teen's forearm and dismounted behind him, running into the ship's interior with Cyborg in hot pursuit.
"Yo, have we met before, 'cause you seem really familiar," Cy said stepping below deck, his shoulder-light on as he swapped his ocular implant to infrared, his synthetic eye scanning the darkness before he tracked two heat signatures off to the side. Wait, two?
"Hey Cyborg! Look at this cool candle!" he said holding up a red cylinder with a rapidly-burning wick. "Dee-na-mee-tay. Must be Italian," he said pointing at the writing on the side.
"That's not a candle! That's-"
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!- went the interior of the ship, the two teens flying up through the grate before landing on opposite sides of the deck above, Cyborg rubbing the aching side of his face. At the same time his artificial eye was comparing the face of his opponent to everyone he'd seen before it suddenly dawned on him.
"Yo! You're that Insanity guy from HIVE!" he cried out in shock as the facial-recognition software he'd been running had finally found a match. It took a while because all he could get on the guy was his big toothy smile, but that coupled with the facial structure and vocal patterns and he eventually got the match. As to why he was here was anyone's guess.
"Yeah. But don't tell anyone," he said looking around. "It's a secret," he whispered the last word with emphasis.
"Riiight…" Cy said before whipping out his new shoulder-mounted missiles and fired them at the clearly-insane teen, only for him to lean around them like the Matrix. "Aw come on!" he cried as he fired his sonic cannon at the teen again, nearly catching him in mid-stride had he not tripped on absolutely nothing, the beam of concentrated sound waves sailing harmlessly above his head before he broke out into a sprint, rubbing his sore face. "Oh you've gotta be kidding me," Cy grumbled to himself as he followed the psychotic teen to the bow of the ship, coming to the sight of him tying one end of the rope around the backside of a cannon, holding onto the other end of the rope which was looped over the halyard.
"Look. Another candle," Crazy said lighting another stick of "Dee-na-mee-tay" and using it to light the wick.
"You're insane!" Cyborg cried as the wick whittled itself down.
"Thank goodness for that because if I wasn't this would probably never work. Kya hahahahahahaha!" Crazy cackled as the cannon fired its cannonball, the cannon jerking back and causing the rope overhead to yank him high into the air. It was at this moment that Cy saw that the cannon had blasted the mast straight down the middle, the wood groaning as it dropped straight down and impaling the ship, causing the deck boards to groan in protest before the ship began to split, Cy running towards the bow as fast as his legs could carry him as the ship began to break all around him. "YAAAAAHOOOOOOO!" a crazed voice suddenly cried from above, the cyborg hazarding a look over his shoulder to see his opponent riding the mast and swinging a cowboy hat around like he was at the rodeo, all the while steering the mast towards-
-WHOOOOM-
-him, the teen groaning in protest before his head rolled back.
"Winner… Crazy!" the Master of Games announced as a bolt of lightning suddenly struck the cyborg, whisking him away to parts unknown.
Robin vs Gear
FIGHT!
"Just because your Static's friend doesn't mean I'll take it easy on you," Robin said brandishing his bo staff in preparation for the fight.
"Same here," Gear returned as he began juggling a couple Zap Caps in his hands, the polished metal glinting beneath the light of a shining blue comet in the sky. At the moment the two of them were on what looked like a gyrating ring-world in the middle of space, said comet providing the only source of light, which was magnified against the polished building-sides around them. "So bring it Boy Wonder!" he shouted throwing a zap cap at Robin while he himself shot off into one of the building's balconies, Robin's gut feeling telling him to throw his arms in front of his face as he backpedaled, which served true as the thing suddenly detonated in a giant flash, and would've blinded him had he not clamped his eyes shut. Looking around, he tried to spot his white and green-clad opponent among the buildings abound, the sound of footsteps behind prompting him to bring out a birdarang before he chucked it over his shoulder, a startled yelp meeting his ears as Gear narrowly dodged his projectile.
"Gotcha," Robin smirked as he fired off his grappling hook into where he heard the yelp, the area's reduced gravity accelerating him through the open air faster than Earth-based gravity would allow. Spotting his opponent, he rebounded off the wall before flying into a kung-fu kick to his opponent's face, the taller teen sent tumbling through the air for a few seconds before he reoriented himself, only to fly off in one direction with his rocket-powered skates. In response, Robin leapt after his opponent, kicking off the walls as he followed not too far behind. Firing his grappling hook when his opponent ascended to one of the higher platforms, he dismounted to meet his opponent on what looked like a large landing pad, his opponent taking up a fighting stance. However, given that Gear appeared to have no formal martial arts training, Robin couldn't help but feel a little overconfident. "So, you decided to stop running, eh?"
"Hey, no time like the present," Gear said off-handedly, waving his hand in a 'bring it' manner seen in every kung-fu movie ever. Narrowing his eyes at his opponent, the Boy Wonder ran at his opponent with a pair of billy clubs in hand as he lunged at his opponent. "Backpack, now!" Gear shouted after chucking another Zap Cap at him, leaning forward and allowing the mechanical contraption on his back to leap at him like a giant mechanical flea, the Boy Wonder deflecting the Zap Cap back at Gear while the mechanical contraption known as Backpack pinned him to the ground with a loud -CLANG-, its pointed feet digging into the metal landing pad beneath it, pinning Robin while his opponent became wrapped up in the metal tendrils of his own restraining device.
"Tch. Should've seen that coming," Robin said as he arched his back, trying to get out from underneath the mechanical device pinning him to the ground, whereas Gear struggled on his own, slowly loosening the coils around him systematically. Made sense that the guy who created the device would have a way of getting out of it if turned against him. Seeing how things were playing out, Gear more likely to get out of his bonds before him, Robin flicked his wrist and brought out a birdarang before chucking it at his opponent, who with a yelp ducked under it and nearly losing his balance, the weapon sailing harmlessly past him after he let himself drop onto his ass.
"Ha! Missed!" Gear said getting out of his bonds a few seconds before Robin would have, only for the thrown birdarang to sail back through the air and nail him in the left temple, cracking his helmet and dropping him onto his right side, the Boy Wonder freeing himself from beneath Backpack's pointed metal feet, ripping a quartet of holes in the landing pad before he chucked the backpack-like device away, an eyebrow raising in surprise when the thing twisted itself in mid-air before landing on its feet like a cat. Bringing his billy clubs together into a bo staff, Robin lunged at the now-recovered gear and threw him to the ground. "AAAAAAH!" Gear cried as the end of the spiky-haired teen's staff headed for his visor intent on cracking his head open, only to stop an inch away.
"Do you surrender, or do I have to smack you around a bit more?" Robin asked with a smug grin, the blond-haired teen looking around before sighing in defeat.
"Fine. I give. I'm not exactly combat practiced," the teen sighed.
"Winner… Robin!" the Master of Games announced, a bolt of lightning striking Gear and plucking him away from the spiky-haired teen.
Kid Flash vs Gizmo
FIGHT!
"Aren't you a little young to be in this line of work?" Kid Flash asked the diminutive teen jokingly as the two strafed around one another, Kid lacing his fingers behind his head while Gizmo strafed his opponent in a brisk jog. Having such short legs was a real bitch in its own way.
"I'll have you know I'm fifteen you jack-muncher!" Gizmo growled before he tapped a button on one of his controllers, four spider legs folding out of his pack and lifting him into the air. "Eat lasers!" he shouted as two laser cannons began firing laser disks at the kid, only for him to disappear in a yellow-and-red blur and appear on the other side of the platform they were on. As far as the eye could see there were flat circle-shaped metal platforms seemingly floating around by their own power, varying in size and distance from one another.
"Show me your moves," Kid taunted… tauntingly, having stopped on the opposite side of the platform Gizmo was on, the teen whirling around and firing more lasers, only for his wily opponent to zip around the platform they were on before running straight beneath Gizmo, leaping to the next platform using his momentum before sitting on his haunches and yawning. "Come on kid. You're gonna have to do better than that if you wanna win that prize."
"I haven't even started yet!" Gizmo yelled before he leapt into the air, his spider legs retracting with bat wings folding out in their place before he rocketed off at Kid Flash, the teen still sitting on his haunches before he disappeared at the last moment. "What the? Where'd he go?" he asked as he flew around, finding no trace of his opponent. "Really, how hard it is to find a guy in bright yellow and red spandex?"
"Hi there," Kid suddenly said over Gizmo's shoulder. "Mind if I borrow this?" he said patting at his opponent's chest before pulling a controller off the retractable cord.
"Not agAAAAAIN!" the tiny terror cried as the control of his flight path was suddenly wrenched away from him, the two flying wildly in circles and death-defying maneuvers, the mechanically-inclined teen trying to reach over his shoulder and regain control, only to suddenly be pulled back and be launched straight upwards, the teen screaming when they suddenly pulled a 180, their flight path taking them straight to the ground.
"Come on squirt. Let's see who screams first," Kid Flash said as he lead them straight down into one of the floating platforms.
"Aaah! Aaaah! Aaaah! Aaaaa! AAAAAAH!" Gizmo cried as they neared the metal disk, only for Kid Flash to pull up at the last second and save them from becoming a greasy smear. "Oh thank goodness," Gizmo sighed in relief.
"Don't thank me yet. I don't plan on losing to a squirt like you," Kid Flash returned before grabbing the roots of his opponent's wings and crouching with his feet on his opponent's back, suddenly pushing off and pulling Gizmo's wings straight up, his body held parallel as the next platform they were flying towards cut through Gizmo's wings, the little teen flailing his limbs wildly as he tumbled through the air, whereas Kid Flash skidded to a stop as he peered over the edge, his opponent heading towards the abyss below before a bolt of lightning suddenly struck him, whisking him away before a booming voice shouted-
"Winner… Kid Flash!"
Aqualad vs Speedy
FIGHT!
Speedy and his opponent found themselves over a large expanse of water, a large number of circular stone platforms rising out and forming a ring, which he and his opponent stood on the opposite ends of. At the earliest opportunity, Aqualad dove into his element, swimming towards his opponent before Speedy drew an arrow from his quiver and let it fly, the projectile exploding in the water which Aqualad dodged, only to have to swerve around a hail of likewise projectiles that came at him. When it became apparent that his initial barrage wouldn't work, Speedy ran in the opposite direction from his opponent, leaping from one platform to the next, Aqualad slinking around each one in a winding pattern in case his opponent tried firing at him over his shoulder.
After a minute Aqualad was almost on top of his opponent who turned to face him with an arrow ready. However before the Atlantian could drag his opponent into the water, or the archer take a shot at his opponent, the stone platform Speedy was standing on as well as all the other shuddered before they ascended, Aqualad getting a face-full of stone pillar, whereas the archer got the high ground. Sighing and thinking himself safe for the moment, he was caught by surprise when his opponent suddenly rose up in a pillar of water that shot up right next to him, his opponent's silhouette visible within the pillar of water before Aqualad lunged out at him and grabbed the sides of his face, twin torrents of water snaking their way around his arms before they accumulated themselves around the archer's face. While Aqualad's intent was to make his opponent yield, due to the fact that fighting out of water wasn't really his forte, he was however caught by surprise when his flailing opponent grabbed a blue-head arrow from his quiver before stabbing it into the rising pillar of water, Aqualad suddenly letting go as ice creeped up from the impact point before he found himself frozen solid. He was after all drenched in water.
"Winner… Speedy!" the Master of Games announced as the archer took a greedy breath of air, tapping at his opponent to ensure he was okay only for his opponent to disappear in a white flash of light.
Wildabeast vs Blue Beetle
FIGHT!
"No hard feelings if you lose, alright?" Blue Beetle asked his much larger opponent, only to get a stubborn grunt in return. At the moment they were in the middle of an abandoned, war-torn city district, the green alien sky showing them they weren't on Earth. "Not one for words? That's cool. I prefer letting my actions talk for me anyway," the black-and-blue-armored teen said holding his arms forward, chitnous insect-themed blasters forming over his forearms before he took aim at his opponent, Wildebeest's instincts taking over as he stomped to his immediate left, a hail of basketball-sized energy bullets peppering the ground he stood at a moment before, the humanoid ungulate smashing through what appeared to be the entrance to a shopping mall, Blue Beetle following behind as to not lose sight of him. The alien language on the signs abound showed they definitely weren't in Kansas anymore. Looking around, he found no trace of his opponent, which confounded him. "Now how could something as big as a semi just disappear?" he asked himself, the beetle-like construct on his back suddenly beeping at him. "What is it, boy?" he asked looking over his shoulder, the spinally-grafted artificial intelligence beeping and clicking at him once more, the armored teen nodding his head slowly before he whirled around and blasted the planter directly behind him, the hulking form of Wildebeest soaring into the air away from the blast before landing behind him with a heavy -THUD-, the armored teen whirling around for another blast, only to find himself on the receiving end of a brutal mule kick that sent him sailing through the alien trees in the planter, crashing through a kiosk, and coming to rest face-first in a fountain featuring humanoid fish people. "Okay. Maybe I bit off a little more than I could chew here," he admitted to himself as he rubbed his throbbing head, the device on his back beeping incessantly at him a moment later. "Alright, I know I messed up. Stop beeping at me already," he growled to the chattering device grafted to his spine.
"Graah!" Wildebeest growled as he plowed through the planter and kiosk as though they were made of paper mache, lowering his head before lunging towards Blue Beetle, the armored teen vaulting over his opponent's head before rolling over his opponent's back, breaking off into a sprint before he leapt into the air and began flying around on a pair of black-and-blue glass-like mechanical dragonfly wings.
"Float like a butterfly~" Blue Beetle said as his forearm cannons folded back into his body, light blue pads appearing on his fingertips. "Sting like a bee~" he said as light blue lasers energy bolts from his fingertips at his opponent, who rushed around to outrace each one. "While I'm up here, you can't catch-" he was about to finish in a sing-song tone, only to get caught head-on by a flying kiosk, thrown courtesy of his opponent, who huffed with the equivalent to his smile on his bestial face as Blue Beetle dropped out of the sky and fell to the floor with a light -crunch-. "Okay, maybe I was asking for thAAAT!" he cried when he suddenly found Wildebeest falling towards him, arms spread out before the blue-armored teen was flattened by a massive body slam that shook the alien mall to its foundation. Lifting himself from his opponent, Wildebeest raised an eyebrow when he saw instead of a flattened Blue Beetle, that instead he had landed on what appeared to be a large blue beetle-like shield, with four light blue eyes staring back at him. A moment later the shield folded itself back into Blue Beetle's forearms, the teen jumping up at him with a shout of- "Shoryuken!"-, his forearm encased in a rocket-powered gauntlet that struck him in the chin and sent him reeling. "Ye-heah! That was so awesome!" he whooped enthusiastically, his opponent shaking his head as he got back to his feet. "Alright big guy, the kid gloves come off," Blue Beetle as he got into a staunch stance, the suit's musculature increasing fivefold, putting him on more level ground with Wildebeest, large black and blue-plated gauntlets appearing on his forearms and making his hands more proportionate to the rest of his body. "Well… Technically the gloves are back on, but you know what I mean!" he amended when he realized his witty banter was made null by the addition of gloves when he said such gloves were off.
The only response from his bestial opponent was to snort before charging at his black-and-blue-clad opponent, the two lunging at one another before engaging in a contest of pure strength. Though Blue Beetle was proportionately smaller than Wildebeest, their strength was still equal in terms of raw power. In weight however, Wildebeest still outweighed his opponent, and so Blue Beetle was slowly losing ground as his opponent muscled his way forward. Thinking quickly, Blue Beetle willed the talons on his feet to grow, digging them into the dirt as he fortified his position, only to fail when his opponent began head butting him repetitively, the smaller hero's grip interlocked with his opponents and his head began to spin under the onslaught.
"Why does this keep happening!-?" Blue Beetle cried to himself. His next sentence was cut off when Wildebeest head butted him again, the humanoid teen human faltering as his opponent let him stumble back, his bulk-up cutting down leaving him in his original build. However his moment of reprieve was cut off when his opponent hoisted him into the air above his head, holding him there for a second to snort before dropping him onto his shoulder and slamming his opponent into the ground back-first with a gorilla press slam.
"Winner… Wildebeest!" the Master of Games announced as the Blue Beetle's eyes spun around in his skull, a bright flash of light whisking him out of the foot-deep crater his opponent put him in.
Beast Boy vs Static
FIGHT!
"Dude! You're Static!" Beast Boy gaped at the sight of his opponent. Said opponent had become somewhat world-renowned due to his workings with Batman, Superman, and even the Justice League as a whole over the years on more than one occasion. Suffice to say, he was one of the more famous young heroes, due to the fact that he wasn't even a part of the Justice League yet, but had worked with them frequently.
"Yeah, I know," Static returned as he brought out his collapsed Static Saucer, taking note of his location as he did. The place looked like it was an undisturbed part of the rainforest, and at the moment they were in a large clearing. While this meant there was no metal for him to manipulate, he'd just finished playing the inFAMOUS series, so at the very least he wasn't completely helpless like he would've been before. He only had to be careful not to burn through too much juice, since there wasn't anywhere he could charge himself up if he used too many "moves". 'Course, he did carry a couple juice-filled Zap Caps for just that purpose. Thankfully he had a couple on him when the Master of Games pulled him into this game.
"Hey, what's it like working with the Justice-YOW!" Beast Boy was about to ask, only to have to jump away from a concentrated bolt of lightning that left a scorch mark where it hit. "Aaaah!" the changeling cried as he had to leap away from another lightning bolt, Static recreating Precision, though to the electrokinetic's woe, using it did not slow down time for a few seconds when he used it. Then again that was a game mechanic with no bearing on actual electrokinesis, so he could understand. Changing into a cheetah, Beast Boy began to run around the field as fast as his feline frame would carry him, Static's attacks missing after a while, causing him to give up on that means of attack.
Electromagnetically ascending into the air above the clearing, Static was well aware that his opponent could transform into other animals; Even without reading about the Teen Titans, what other power could someone called Beast Boy possibly have? His opponent failed to disappoint after diving into the tree line, bursting out of the canopy in the form of an eagle and diving at him with a screech. Waiting until the last possible second, Static released a Megawatt Hammer at point-blank range, making the changeling look like he'd stuck a fork in the toaster when he wasn't supposed to, the changeling dropping to the ground with a low -plop-.
"I guess it's a good thing that Beast Boy is the Teen Titan's equivalent to Yamcha," Static noted to himself as he looked at the downed changeling, now back in human form and tongue lolling out the side of his mouth as he twitched occasionally.
"Winner… Static!" the Master of Games announced as he whisked Beast Boy away with, ironically, a bolt of lightning.
Ventus vs Hotspot
FIGHT!
Rubbing his eyes clear, Vent looked around to see that him and his opponent were in what looked like a twenty foot-diameter drainage pipe suspended below the ocean, currently dry -the pipe, not the ocean-. Given the appearance and style that the material was arranged in, they were most likely beneath an alien world. There appeared to be a few circular and rectangular panels along the floor, and since he couldn't see underneath it, it was entirely possible that there were all sorts of unsavory surprises stashed down there, given tunnels like the one he was in right now were often used to let people get into places they shouldn't.
"Hey uh, Hotspot was it? Quick question and don't take it the wrong way when I ask, but in the past few months were you approached by a red-headed man named Pyro?" he asked deciding to get such a thing out of the way. "Guy was tall, lanky, talked about world conquest and probably had a scar across his chest."
"No such man has approached me," he stated plainly.
"Alright… You aren't the villain type are you?" he asked.
"No. Why?"
"Just making sure a certain problem doesn't get any bigger," he stated. Pyro may want backups for his world-domination plan, given humans with elemental-manipulation abilities are rare. I have to keep track of who may end up under his flag as much as I can. Justice League is stretched thin as it is, so while I can let them know, it'll most likely fall on me and the others. The brunette's thoughts were then cut off as Hotspot's arms flared up, the pyrokinetic teen then throwing a gout of flame in his direction. Drawing his bokken and letting his baggy clothes catch the rising wind, he sailed above the attack before he landed on the ground once his opponent's attack ceased. "Third Taichi…" Vent said as he drew his sword back, shaping the wind around it as he prepared to swing. "Falcon!" he cried out as he threw the end of his blade forward, willing the silver blast of wind to take the shape of a falcon in flight, the attack striking Hotspot's chest and sending him backwards when the shaped force of air detonated on impact. Sweet! It worked! the brunette cheered to himself. Of course, I'll probably just stick with the other techniques unless I want to be showYYY! he cried to himself when his opponent flipped back onto his feet and chucked a fireball at him, sending him running when his opponent began to send more at him. A few seconds later, alarms began to blare through the tunnel, the circular and rectangular panels rising to reveal formally-collapsed walls and pillars of steel that began to obstruct portions of the tunnel, the brunette quickly taking cover behind one of the latter.
Peeking around the corner, the brunette yelped before ducking back behind his pillar just barely getting his hair singed by an oncoming fireball. Given, he's faced a pyrokinetic before, but he was more focused on control, whereas Hotspot's type of pyrokinesis seemed to prioritize on power. Watching the shadows on the floor to track his opponent's movement, given he was lit up like a camp fire, literally, he quickly leapt off to the side, flying in a corckscrew as his eyes scanned the entirety of the tunnel around him a few meters in every direction before slamming his back against a wall of steel, a gout of flame narrowly singing his hakama before he gripped his bokken, shaping more wind around it before facing the wall away from his opponent.
"First Taichi: Hurricane," he muttered to himself as he dragged the wind-bathed piece of wood an inch away from the floor in an upwards motion, sending a Demon Fang-esque wave of air across the ground which ran up the wall, arcing above the ceiling overhead before sailing down the wall behind him, his opponent throwing his arms forward to counter the attack with his own, only for the fang-shaped wave of air to snuff out his flames and throw him into the air, the brunette yanking himself around his wall to capitalize on his opponent's loss of bearing. However, Hotspot was no slouch, as instead of succumbing to his unexpected flight, he quickly turned his momentum into a rotational force, his legs in a split as he spun while his flaming arms acted as a pair of afterburners, creating two horizontal wheels of both feet and flame that whirled towards the brunette. Quickly shaping air around his sword as sweat furrowed at his brow, the brunette raised it above his head before throwing the end to the ground with a shout of- "Seventh Taichi: Whirlwind"-, the implied whirlwind rising up around him and clashing with his opponent's attack, the rushing air drawing the fire from his opponent's arms, his legs beating against the winds before he readied to catch himself in a handstand, only to land flat on his face due to the fact that his flame-arms had been extinguished; the fatal flaw of converting any part of his body into pure flame. Looking up to his opponent who was about to strike him with another wind-enhanced blow, he quickly got to his knees before desperately leaping up into a flaming head butt, hoping to give himself enough time to re-ignite his arms before converting the flame back into flesh and bone. His opponent on the other hand fell onto his back and threw his legs upward, catching Hotspot in the chest and throwing him over his head and into the wall behind him.
"You're better than I have been led to believe," Hotspot said as he rolled onto his side and got to his feet.
"If that came out of your mouth because I happen to be cosplaying, then dick move man. Dick move," the brunette said with narrowed eyes.
"My apologies, I meant no offense," Hotspot returned, sending a rush of power to the remainders of his forearms before reigniting them into twin jets of flame, his arms reforming as he lunged at his opponent, drawing one fist back which he ignited before sending a flaming palm strike to his opponent's chest.
Once again, Vent let his baggy clothes catch the wind and carry him off to the side, literally flying by the seat of his pants as he leapt around Hotspot's fireballs, all of which only managed to singe his clothes and stain them black, though no definite hits were made. As Hotspot then released a gout of flame at his opponent, Ventus quickly ran up the side of the wall with a tailwind at his back, pushing up along the peak of the tunnel, and though he attempted to pass the tunnel's arc, his current momentum was not enough, and so he began to fall. However, Ventus quickly reoriented himself before drawing his sword behind him and funneling more wind into it. Seeing this, Hotspot quickly drew back his fist while rings of fire began to converge around it. It was after the brunette fell ten feet that his opponent leapt up at him, his fist flying forward while the brunette threw his weapon forward as well, the two attacks colliding and ushering forth a massive cloud of smoke as a deafening -BOOM- cut through the air.
"Winner… Ventus!" the Master of Games announced after the smoke cleared, the brunette standing over his unconscious opponent, who was revealed to be a dark-skinned teen with a near-shaved scalp, before the loser was whisked away in a flash of lightning, the brunette then disappearin in a flash of light.
In a bright flash of light, the winners from the first round, Robin, Kid Flash, Speedy, Wildebeest, Static, Ventus, and oddly enough Crazy, all appeared in the atrium-like arena once more.
"Speedy! All right, you won!" Robin whooped.
"Looks like Gear didn't though," Static said seeing that his sidekick was currently missing.
"Well played, young champions. You have survived Round One," the Master of Games announced.
"Survived? What happened to the losers?" Robin demanded.
"Yeah. What happened to Beast Boy and Cyborg?" Vent asked noticing neither had advanced either.
"Peace, heroes," the Master of Games chuckled. "Survived is merely… an expression. Beast Boy and the other losers have returned home safely," he said, causing Robin, Static, and Ventus to nod their heads, though uneasily. "But think not of the vanquished, my champions. Now you must rest, for tomorrow you face… Round Two!" he announced as a flash of light took the seven heroes out of the room, leaving only himself, a smile pulling at his face. "Oh, what a marvelous game. No matter who is victorious… I win all the prizes," he said as his gem gleamed, muffled and panicked voices crying out from within it.
"Good luck today. May the best man win," Speedy said the next morning after he and the remaining seven had eaten a breakfast of, well, whatever they asked for really. The Master of Games was surprisingly accommodating. On another note, his statement caused Wildebeest to snort, causing him to rescind his comment. "Sorry. May the best… champion win," he amended, the colossal wildabeast-like… teen, nodding reluctantly.
"I wonder what the prize will be," Crazy chuckled to himself.
"You gotta be fast on your feet to win this thing, and no one's faster on their feet than me," Kid Flash said still munching on some turkey bacon. Pig bacon was too fatty and made him less aerodynamic if he ate too much of it. While not as good as the genuine article, at least it wasn't half bad either.
"You'll need more than speed if you wanna get past me," Robin said jabbing a thumb at himself.
"Yo, Static, no hard feelings alright?" Vent asked.
"Right back at'cha," Static returned.
"Greetings, remaining champions," the Master of Games greeted as he appeared on the dais. "Due to the uneven numbers of our remaining fighters, while four of you will be paired up into normal bouts, the remaining three will be placed into a three-way fight to the finish."
"Sounds fun," Crazy cackled.
"Yes… Fun," the Master of Games said with a grin before his pendant flashed, the seven teens finding themselves squared off against one another once more and in a new variety of locales.
"Robin vs Kid Flash!"
"Crazy vs Speedy!"
"Static vs Wildabeast vs Ventus!"
"Let the contest… begin!"
Robin vs Kid Flash
FIGHT!
"My uncle told me all about what you and Bats are all about. You don't have superpowers, so you compensate with gadgets. All of which I can outrun quite easily," Kid Flash started out with a proud look.
"So you say," Robin responded. Kid Flash wasn't as much gloating as he was simply being a headstrong teenager, something the Boy Wonder caught onto while looking around the field. They appeared to be atop a metallic Mayan-style ruin, one flight of steps descending into the forest from his right, a ruined altar in the center stopping his opponent from a dead-run across the field. Then again he could jump over or go around it, so that was only a minor inconvenience if anything. There were a few patches of moss here and there which could also serve as hindrances.
Reaching into his belt, Robin drew a trio of discs from his pocket, colored yellow, blue, and green, before chucking them at Kid Flash, whom dodged them when they exploded, covered the floor with ice, and released a stunning electrical shockwave in that order. Scowling at how easily his opponent dodged, being used to hitting his targets spot-on with how many hours a day he practiced, Robin then drew a pair of birdarangs before letting them fly, Kid Flash simply ducking under them, then standing there with his hands on his hips as the birdarangs headed for the back of his head on the return trip… and passed right through him.
"What the?" Robin gaped as the two birdarangs returned to his palms.
"Don't forget, I can vibrate my molecules to pass through solid objects, and vice versa," Kid Flash said with a smug grin as he stopped vibrating. "Come on bird boy, just save us both some trouble and give up. I'm going to win that prize."
"If there's anything you should know about me, it's that I don't give up either," Robin returned, not letting his opponent get to him and cause him to make mistakes. While the Flash himself tended to make witty banter on a near-constant basis as he fought bad guys, it wasn't that he was purely overconfident like most people thought. It was that the rapidly-formed quips could be used to great effect to make an opponent cease to think logically, thus making them easier to defeat. If you followed the same logic applied to the time that he accelerated his heartbeat to make it look like he was flat lining to a cardiograph, then it made perfect sense that he could accelerated he neurons in his brain to think faster as well.
Apparently, the same applied to Kid Flash as well.
Of course, heh, Kid Flash wasn't the only one who could make his opponents do something stupid.
Bringing out a handful of exploding pellets in each hand, he tossed one handful into the air while letting the other roll across the ground, Kid Flash running around them with ease dodging the plethora of minimized explosions. Robin did this a few times until he was almost out of pellets, backpedaling slightly until his opponent ceased dodging.
"Well, while this has been fun and all, I'm going to aim for that prize now," Kid Flash quipped. "Whatever it is," he thought to himself before dashing at Robin from the far side of the temple's peak, Robin readying a bo staff as he stood his ground, Kid Flash charging forward at above-highway-speeds before Robin did something completely unexpected.
He stepped to the side and held his foot out at the last moment like a child, Kid Flash tripping over the extended leg and eyes widening behind his mask as he saw that he was now tumbling towards the stairs.
"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!" THUD " . . . Owwww…" Kid Flash groaned weakly when he finally got to the bottom of the steps with said -THUD-, laid out flat on his face like a freshman after a frat party and bruised up pretty well from his… trip. Pun somewhat intended.
"Winner… Robin!" the Master of Games announced as a bolt of lightning struck where Kid Flash had landed, a bright flash of light then whisking Robin away as well.
Crazy vs Speedy
FIGHT!
Looking around, Speedy found himself in a sealed room, the decor reminiscent to an upper-end Japanese inn; Tatami mats on the floor, Shoji screens forming the walls, and thick wooden pillars holding the wide room up, though no real exit was visible. The room was about sixty feet wide, forty long, and twenty high. The light was a bit dim, but not too much so since the paper walls let some light in from the outside. Overall, the place looked like the setting for a tight-quarters battle in some Feudal era-set anime.
"Ooh. Nice floors," Crazy noted as he rubbed the woven Tatami mats, looking up to see Kid Flash readying an arrow at him. "Yow!" he cried as he lifted his hands to block, the Tatami mat deflecting the arrow over his head and into the ceiling, much to the two's surprise. "Ha! Floor shield!" he whooped as he dropped the mat before running off, Speedy firing another arrow, Crazy picking up yet another Tatami mat and shielding himself with it, only for a big scorch mark to be made by the exploding arrow. Stepping back and grabbing another mat, Speedy continued to fire arrows at Crazy, who lifted the Tatami mats to continue deflecting the arrows away from himself, his back meeting the wall after a few minutes. As Speedy notched another arrow, Crazy patted at the ground to grab another mat, only for his hands to meet the unpadded floor beneath. "Eh heh… Ran out of floor," he said nervously before Speedy fired another arrow at him, the psychotic teen being caught up in an arrow-launched net.
"Got you," Speedy said with a satisfied smile as Crazy continued to flail about madly, only to somehow by sheer luck to untangle himself from the net before accidentally chucking it back at him, trapping him in his own net. "Okay, what the hell?-!" he demanded as he watched his opponent to continue flailing about, actually taking a minute to realize he'd gotten out of the net with an-
"Oh. I'm out," he said after finding himself out of his confines.
"You've gotta be kidding me," Speedy grumbled to himself before he grabbed a hidden blade from the heel of his boot and began to cut his way out, his opponent emptying his pockets of all form of random stuff, most of which looked like it belonged in a prank shop. Finally cutting himself free, his domino masked eyes widened when a blocky rubber chicken came at him, feeling like a brick hit him across the front of the face as he was sent flying back, his opponent grinning like a crazy person. Which he was.
"Ah, physical comedy. The best remedy for, well, anything," Crazy chuckled. "Hey look, I'm a poet and I didn't even know it."
"Now… you're just starting to get on my nerves," Speedy grumbled as he rubbed his sore jaw. Were it not for the rubber packaging, what was most likely the brick inside would've left a pretty big mark. "Alright, you wanna play that way? Let's play," he said notching several arrows before letting them fly, his opponent wailing in fear and spinning around, the arrows somehow missing him.
"Heh. Guess I'm just born lucky," Crazy said with a wide grin, Speedy's eyes narrowing as he continued to fire arrows at his opponent, only for the arrows to seemingly dodge him.
Hold on… I remember seeing a scenario like this somewhere before, Speedy thought back to his leisure time back in Japan during training, a smile forming on his lips a minute later before he notched four more arrows before letting them fly. All of them missed Crazy completely as he lazily walked forward, the orange-haired teen then bringing out a fifth arrow, the casing bursting when a green boxing glove inflated, and was then sent at the psychotic teen, missing him by a small margin before he rose to full height with a face-splitting grin on his face.
"Missed me, missed me, now you gotta kiss-" -WHAM- Crazy was cut off as he was suddenly struck with a boxing-glove-arrow from behind, his face smacking into dirt beneath the Tatami mats. "Eh? How'd you do that?"
"Unneroneous. Metal bounces off itself," Speedy said quoting one of the light novels he'd read during training in the far east.
"Metal? But there isn't any metal in-" the psychotic teen said looking around before his eyes landed on the four arrows embedded throughout the room. "Heheh. I see. I may be lucky, but I guess I'm not that lucky," he chuckled.
"Yep. Looks like I win this round. Unless you want to go some more," he said priming an explosive arrow, having found a way around his opponent's inexplicable ability to manipulate probability into his favor. Just because the arrows dodged him, didn't mean the bouncers would.
"Nah. I'm good," the crazed teen said hopping to his feet and dusting his pants off, a bolt of lightning suddenly striking him before teleporting him away.
"Winner… Speedy!" the Master of Games announced before the winner was whisked back to the atrium.
Static vs Wildebeest vs Ventus
FIGHT!
"EVERY MAN OR WILDEBEEST FOR HIMSEEEELF!" Vent cried as soon as they landed, the startling cry causing everyone to scatter in all directions. The current battlefield was a desert-like field with rock outcroppings jutting up across the landscape, with what appeared to be Jupiter floating in the sky several miles away, showing they were possibly on one of Jupiter's moons. As for how it was capable of sustaining a breathable atmosphere for the contestants to breath with… Magical dimension-bending pendants could do anything nowadays.
At that time all contestants hid behind their own outcroppings, due to the fact that in a three-way fight, someone always ended up having two fighters attack them until the numbers got back to even. As each teen pondered what move to make next, a sudden gale wind that came out of nowhere suddenly lifted the layer of dust across the ground into the air, the dust storm blinding Wildebeest while Static lowered his blue-tinted shades to cover his eyes. It was when the dust began to settle that Wildebeest's animal instincts told him something was hunting him, the ungulate looking over his shoulder in time to catch a silhouette lunging at him through the dust.
"Eighth Taichi: Squall!"
BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM!
"Uwoooooh!"
THUD
"Huh?" Static said as he raised his shades and looking toward the source of the -THUD-, looking to the side of one of the outcroppings to see Wildebeest laid out on his back, eyes spinning in his head while the silhouette of Ventus disappeared back into the dust storm that came back up. Flying up on his Static Saucer and lowering his shades as he ventured out, he looked around to catch his opponent's moving silhouette moving through the dust, a pair of silver orbs looking at him before being jerked to the side, Static looking over his shoulder in time to see four hundred pounds of wildebeest heading right for him, the electrokinetic teen flying up out of the way before the silhouette of Ventus used Wildebeest as a platform to leap up at him.
"Yoink!" Vent snapped as he plucked the Static Saucer out from beneath the dreadloch'd teen's feet, dropping him to the ground with a startled-
"Uwaaaah!" he cried as he fell to the ground on his back. "Dude, I just got jacked," he yelled before a loud -snort- came from behind him, the electric teen turning around to see Wildebeest scraping at the ground with his feet before he charged at him. "Yaaah!" Static yelped as he rolled over to the side, not wanting to get flattened. Looking over his shoulder, his jaw nearly hit the floor when he saw the brunette assume a sumo stance in the wake of the four-hundred pounds of "primal heroic fury", resembling a David vs Goliath scenario. To his further shock however, the brunette instead of taking the attack head on leapt atop his opponent's neck grabbing his horns and yanking back on his opponent's head, causing him to rear up like a wild animal before his massive hands slammed into the ground.
"Yeee-hah! Get along little wildebeest!" the brunette whooped as his opponent tried to shake him off, only for the opponent to jerk him around, right towards-
"Watch where you're going crazy-ass!" Static cried out as the brunette nearly flattened him with Wildebeest.
"Sorry! My bad!"
"My bad my ass!" Static huffed before charging another Megawatt Hammer and launching it at the stampeding "teen's" rear flank, striking it and causing him to yelp shrilly as his hands went to his scorched pants seat, the brunette taking the opportunity to flip his opponent head-over-heels, rolling away after he wedged his opponent's horns into the ground.
"Heh, you mean his ass," Vent quipped as Wildebeest arced his back and forced himself to his feet, shaking the slab of earth that his horns were stuck through off the top of his head before snorting in the two's direction, padding at the ground before he stomped off towards the two faster than his girth would imply before nailing the two with a double lariat, catching them across the chest and sending them both sprawling across the ground. "Hey… Static… How about we call a truce for the next five minutes so we can resolve this problem, then start beating the crap out of one another?" Vent said tossing his opponent his Static Saucer back.
"Give me a moment to think on it," Static said dryly, Wildebeest stomping his foot onto the ground and sending a rising fissure of stone right towards them, throwing the two into the air, Static orienting himself on his saucer while the brunette kept himself afloat with his baggy clothes. "Moment over. I'm in," he grumbled. Honestly, guys who were as bull-headed as Wildebeest were usually the hardest to deal with.
The two quickly split off into opposite directions, Wildebeest snarling between the two when he realized the three-way fight became a two-against-one, stomping off towards the brunette since he looked the weakest. That one hit was as much an irritant as a bug bite in all honesty, catching him by surprise if nothing else. The two circling around Wildebeest as he awaited one of them to move so he could retaliate, Static charged a Megawatt Hammer before chucking it at Wildebeest, who leapt over it and let it fly towards the brunette before he lunged at Static. However, what he wasn't counting on was for the brunette to encase his wooden sword with wind before deflecting the attack back towards Static, the attack barely clipping Wildebeest's underbelly before the dreadloch'd teen punched it back at Wildebeest, hitting him face-first and causing him to convulse as he dropped to the ground.
"Think he's out?" the brunette asked as he walked up to Static, his opponent springing up suddenly and narrowly impaling the brunette on the end of his horn. "Yow-what-the-fuck!" the brunette yelped as he raised his wooden blade before jabbing it between his opponent's eyes, which began spinning around in their sockets before he once more hit the ground. "Okay this is starting to get just ridiculous!" the brunette wheezed. "How can we be sure he's down this time?"
The next moment a lightning bolt struck the KO'd Wildebeest, whisking him away from the battlefield leaving only the aerokinetic and electrokinetic.
"That answer your question?" Static asked as he floated back up onto his Static Saucer, getting some distance from his opponent who in turn created a cyclone around himself, lifting his body into the air, the two circling one another.
"Hey Static. Something you should know if you don't know it already," Vent announced across the now-empty battlefield. "Oxygen makes for an excellent electric insulator."
"Why are you telling me…" Static asked before it suddenly dawned on him. "Dude! You tricked me!"
"It was either that or face Wildebeest on my own, and to tell the truth, he's just a whoooole lot out of my weight class," the brunette returned plainly.
"Guess you really were the apprentice of a supervillain," Static returned as he flexed his fingers, waiting for his opponent to leave an opening.
"Ex-apprentice!" the brunette shrieked in return. Honestly, how hard was it to add one little prefix to a word when throwing it in a person's face, huh? "Ex! Honestly, how hard is it to remember that?" he asked as he let his bokken drop from his hand before nailing the pommel with his knee, sending it flying like a missile towards Static's feet and once again knocking the saucer out from under them, the teen flailing about as he headed for the ground.
"Shoryuken!" the brunette called out as he nailed his opponent under the chin with a rising wind-powered uppercut, sending him flying through the air before he landed on his back, seeing stars, and not the ones in the sky… Space… You know what I mean.
"Winner… Ventus!" the Master of Games announced as Static was whisked away by a bolt of lightning, the brunette wiped some sweat from his brow, bishounen sparkles glittering through the air before he was whisked away by a flash of light.
"Well played, young champions. You have survived Round Two, the Semi-Final," the Master of Games announced.
"We going to have to wait another day, or can we start right now?" the brunette said with a smirk.
"While a part of me would like to watch that, you are all tired, and it would not do to have you fight in such a manner," the Master of Games announced. "Please, rest now, rearm yourselves, and tomorrow… the Final Round!" he announced as once more he cast the remaining champions away, a grin pulling at his face as he now looked down at the medallion at his neck. "Gizmo, Gear, Hotspot, Aqualad, Static, Blue Beetle, Cyborg, Beast Boy, Wildabeest," he cackled to himself as he rose up on Gizmo's spider legs which emerged from Gear's Backpack, a ball of fire in his hands swirling before it was extinguished by water and then electrolycyzed by a ball of electricity, his right arm being replaced with Cyborg's own while his left was replaced with Blue Beetle's, the two then being replaced by a powerful pair of gorilla arms, counting off his new collection of powers aside from Kid Flash, Crazy, and Wildebeest. "With these eleven heroes in my grasp, my powers have reached new heights," he cheered to himself as he thought of what Kid Flash, Wildebeest, and maybe Crazy's powers would do when combined with the prior nine. "If I weren't so refined, I'd be practically salivating at the thought of my next two prizes," he said as a large smile pulled its way across his face; most likely Crazy's whether he knew it or not.
Final Round
Speedy vs Ventus vs Robin
FIGHT! the Master of Games announced as the next morning, Speedy, Robin, and Ventus all appearing on the final battlefield after a hearty breakfast, the three top contenders for the Champion of Champions title rearing and ready to go. The battlefield they on was in the middle of space over a lifeless gray moon, somewhat resembling Final Destination from Smash Brothers in shape but not composition.
"May the best man win," Ventus offered as he drew his bokken, readying himself into the fictional kata of the Soaring Wing, Divine Wind Style.
"I intend to," Robin returned with a smirk drawing his bo staff.
"Hey, you may've been trained by Batman, but I'm no slouch either," Speedy countered as he notched an arrow. As the three readied themselves, instead of lunging at one another like a pack of wild animals, they instead remained where they were, waiting for either of their opponents to make a mistake they could capitalize on; whoever went down first would determine who fought who in this final bout.
It was when a random piece of rock shattered against the other, that the imaginary starting bell in the three of their heads went of, Robin, Speedy, and Ventus toward the center of the platform with weapons readied. Meeting in the center, Speedy swung his bow at Vent, who lashed out with his sword at Robin, who sent out a kick towards Speedy, a real-life game of rock, paper, scissors sending all involved reeling back when the attacks connected, getting back to their feet as they slid back in the low-gravity environment.
"Should've seen that coming," Speedy said as he rubbed his jaw.
"Me too. Must be getting sloppy without a real fight," Robin said rubbing his side.
"I think we're all getting rusty. But I got something to remedy that," the brunette said as he brought out an exploding disk and arrow from behind his back, the two's domino masks widening as to how he managed to get them in the middle of the three-way struggle that only lasted a second. But hey, you don't make the coin to last long in Gotham without fast hands.
Lazily tossing Robin's exploding disc onto the middle of the platform, he then twirled Speedy's arrow in his hand before throwing it like a dart at the disc, the combined explosion of the two sending cracks across the platform, which spread past the three's feet before the entire platform collapsed, the three sent tumbling through space towards the desolate moon below. Robin acted quickly in the desperate fall, bringing out his grappling hook and… hooking it onto a falling stone, pulling himself up onto it, Speedy doing the same with a grappling arrow. Vent on the other hand sky-dived like he'd been doing it his whole life, and given his powers, that was a possibility. Being the first to meet the ground, Vent rolled across the landscape and came to a stop, dusting himself off as Robin and Speedy leapt off the stones they were riding on to avoid a rocky landing, finding themselves in a large crater the size of a football field across.
"Are you fucking insane? You could've killed us all!" Speedy cried out as his hand went to his quiver, making sure the brunette wasn't hiding any more of his arrows on him. A sentiment which Robin presumably shared, because he was patting his belt down as well.
"Die? Hah!" the brunette laughed haughtily in return. "We're teenage guys with our whole lives ahead of us! We're bulletproof!" he laughed haughtily with his hands on his hips, laughter bellowing across the crater and rebounding off the rising walls, echoing back in all directions and slowly raising the two's ire until the two looked to one another, nodding before readying their projectile weapons. "Wha ha… Hah… Oh boy," the brunette chuckled nervously as he found Speedy readying what appeared to be a trio of heat-seekers, while Robin readied a trio of exploding discs; one freezing and two exploding if the color coding was correct. "Bad day bad day bad day bad day bad day! Ahh! Ahh! Ahh! Ahh! Ahh!" the brunette cried as he furiously dodged the exploding discs sent at him, barely leaping over the explosions, though the heat-seekers still tailed after him. "This is so bad kharma from tricking Static like that!" he cried as he ran, Speedy sending exploding arrows his way trying to trip him up, while Robin sent ice discs at the ground where he was running, only for the brunette to quickly form blades of wind under his feet and skate across the ice, heat-seekers still behind him before he whirled about and stood his ground. "Fifth Taichi: Lull!" he called out as he swung his bokken downwards, a dome of air rising up around him and rebounding the heat-seekers into the air where they exploded.
"No way that guy's human," Speedy gaped at the display.
"Preaching to the choir on that one, buddy," Robin returned. "Oh crap here he comes!" he cried out as the brunette suddenly ran at them, swinging his wooden sword over his head like a fucking maniac.
"AIAIAIAIAIAIAIAIAIAIYAAAAH!" he cried as he swung at them wildly, his crazed movements impossible to read as he caught both Robin and Speedy on the arms, hips, and chest a few times before they wisened up and split apart, Robin throwing an exploding disk while Speedy launched a like arrow, the brunette flipping sideways in a Zero-G dragon corkscrew as the two projectiles narrowly hit his spinning chest and back, the two's eyes widening before the other's attacks detonated, sending them flying in opposite directions, the brunette landing on his feet and smirking widely. "Booyah!"
"Geez, who trained this guy? Deathstroke the Terminator?" Speedy grumbled as he notched another exploding arrow, modding the timer so it would explode shorter after firing.
"You don't know the half of it," Robin grumbled as he reached into his belt and ready another exploding disc, only to remember just how well that went the last time he tried. However, Speedy didn't seem to get the memo as he launched another trio of heat-seeking arrows at the brunette, who then took off into a sprint before raking his sword across the ground, a wave of wind kicking rocks into their path, causing them to detonate mid-air. With that done, the brunette rushed headlong at Speedy, who backpedaled and steadily fired arrows of different types; exploding, boxing glove, freezing, and net arrows were all dodged by the brunette until the teen's eyes widened, his foot getting caught in a small crater and getting wedged between a pair of rocks stopping his retreat. His opponent, bearing down on him from above, had an arrow directed at him, only for the brunette to corkscrew with his hand darting out, his hand finding home around the arrow's fletching. The brunette landing in a roll behind him, then smirked over his shoulder before throwing his sleeve up, Speedy's brow raising in confusion before his eye went to his quiver, one more arrow than he remembered present, with one less in the brunette's hand. Eyes widening, he attempted to throw the quiver away from himself, only for it to go off in his face, a chain reaction causing his remaining payload of arrows to go off right in his lap, a massive cloud of smoke rising along with the many pained cries of the archer. A minute later, a bolt of lightning whiskied the archer away signaling it was down to just him and Robin.
"Well now, it's just you and me," the brunette said lowering his sleeve and dusting himself off. Given that heroes rarely carried weapons capable of killing people, even if the archer's supply of arrows had all gone off at once, it was at the least possible he was okay.
"Yeah… it would seem so," Robin said getting a breather in. "Hey Vent, there's something that's been bugging me for a while, so I'm just going to put it out in the open. Is there a reason you use your powers to copy moves from anime and video games? I mean, not that I really have anything against it because when it works out just right it looks pretty cool, but I'm just worried that in the future people won't be able to take you seriously as a hero unless there's a… valid reason for it," Robin asked leveling his bo staff at his opponent.
"Well, since we're friends, I don't see why it would hurt," the brunette admitted with a shrug of his shoulders. "I guess the simplest way to put it is that if my powers were like clay, they'd be easier to shape if I had an image of the end result in my head beforehand. Rather than trying to go towards the end result freehanded, I'd have a… mold, to work with."
"So it's to help you manipulate your powers then," Robin mused. "Like Starfire and Raven's emotional states with theirs."
"That's about it, yeah," the brunette admitted. "Also, before we have our fight, there's something I want to get out in the open too," the brunette then said, Robin's brow raising at that. "In a way, I can understand why you were angry at me when you found out I was Slade's apprentice, so you don't have to worry about it anymore. I forgive you man."
" . . . Heh, I never thought I'd hear those words come out of your moth after I pretty much chased you out of your own town," the spiky-haired teen chuckled.
"Don't get too sappy on me now. Just because I said I understand you doesn't mean I forgive you," the brunette quipped. "That and I'm not about to hand over that prize, whatever it is, to you without a fight."
"Same here!" Robin said twirling his bo staff above his head before rushing at the brunette, who at the same time lunged forward before the two brought their respective weapons together with a loud -CRACK-, blurs of silver and brown whooshing through the air between them before Robin held his staff out in a block, the brunette stabbing through it with a blast of pressurized air on the end of his weapon before the teen grinned, twirling the broken halves of his staff before holding them out like billy clubs, swinging at the brunette who flipped over his head before blocking the next weapon again, backpedaling as Robin's dual weapons picked and prodded at his defense, trying to find a way in. Taking a deep breath, the brunette's eyes flashing before Robin felt the air around him thin, quickly inhaling as much air as he could and backpedaled before Vent ended up suffocating him, only to be blown back by a violent gust of wind that sent him skidding back, his metal-plated shoes digging trenches in the ground before the gale ceased, the brunette charging at him once more. Whipping out his grappling hook, he quickly launched the end towards the brunette, who blocked the attack with his weapon only for the line to wrap around it, the Boy Wonder giving a firm tug and yanking the weapon out of his hands, causing the brunette to shake his wrist as he cringed, Robin throwing the weapon to the side. "Well then, looks like it's just you and me," he said figuring now it'd be hand-to-hand combat. Since his prior defeats, he'd been training himself in new styles, making himself stronger and faster.
"Actually…" Vent said as his body began to release a thin silver glow. "It's just me," he said with a smirk before he clenched his fist and drove it into the ground in front of him, a wave of air kicking up the dust around them before it was whipped up into a spiraling dust storm, the Boy Wonder bringing his hand up to his face to block the dust from his mask as he looked around for his opponent.
Tch. Guess I underestimated him a little, Robin thought, having not thought that his opponent would whip up a dust storm to level the playing field once again. Wondering just why his opponent would pull something like this, his eyes widened behind his forearm as he realized he was going for his wooden sword. Whirling about on his heel, he caught a glowing silhouette moving through the dust storm before it once again disappeared into the dust, the sound of wood being removed from the ground meeting his ears before a blackened figure leapt over his head, body parallel to his own.
"Sixth Taichi…" a familiar voice said from behind, the Boy Wonder looking over his shoulder to see his upside-down opponent having already reared his sword arm back right as the dust began to settle. "Chilling Wind!" he called out as he brought the end of his sword down on Robin's neck, the compressed air around it detonating and sending him whirling across the ground, his head spinning from the force of the attack. If it were any stronger and he were any weaker, it could've easily snapped the Boy Wonder's neck like a dry twig. However, it seemed more directed towards the muscles in his shoulders than his neck, so while it would bruise, it was most likely meant to disorient.
"Jesus Christ, are you trying to fucking kill me?" Robin shrieked. Just because Vent was his friend didn't mean he wouldn't bitch about it. Of course he'd never use that word, but you know what I mean.
"It's meant to incapacitate," the brunette argued.
"Incapacitate my ass," he grumbled as he rubbed his aching neck, finding it hard to orient himself with how his head was ringing.
"Don't let your fangirls hear you say that. They may take it the wrong way," the brunette chuckled.
"Ugh, don't remind me," Robin groaned, while secretly he was reaching into his utility belt. His hand pulling out a disk, from one of the compartments before he chucked it at the brunette, who raised his bokken to block. When the flash of light cleared, the brunette's sword was covered in ice, as were his hands and forearms.
"I'd ask why you gave me the cold shoulder, but I think I'll leave the crappy banter to you," the brunette said as he shook his arms attempting to crack the ice from within. The main reason bad guys always escaped from icy prisons was because they could still generate enough leverage to do so, so for Vent to do so was just a matter of that.
"Hey I put a lot of thought into that!" Robin growled in return.
"Really? No matter how you do the math, it all adds up to you going down? That's gotta be one of the cheesiest one-liners I've ever heard," the brunette replied back, referring to their first battle against Cinderblock in the Jump City Maximum Security Prison.
"Oh like you could've done better," Robin quipped as he readied his bo staff and swung the end at his opponent who, weighed down by the ice covering his arms, was struck across the side of the face and sent rolling across the ground, rolling to his side before shakily getting to his feet.
"Back then, even nothing would've been better than that butchering of the English language," the brunette returned as he flexed his jaw and cracked his neck to the sides, giving his arms another flex before he threw them to the ground, shattering the ice around his arms and freeing himself, though his fingers were a bit numb.
Don't let him get in your head, don't let him get in your head, don't let him get in your head, Robin chanted to himself trying not to let his opponent get inside his head.
Don't let him keep you out of his head, don't let him keep you out of his head, don't let him keep you out of his head, the brunette chanted to himself as he continued to try and get inside his opponent's head. "Hey Robin!" he called out catching the Boy Wonder's attention from his mental chanting. "Here's mud in your eye!" he shouted as he threw the content of his hands at the Boy Wonder, who raised his arms up to block.
"GYAH!" he cried when a fist-sized rock collided with the space between his legs, his hands cupping his throbbing anatomy as he fell to the ground chin-first. "Dick move man… Dick move…" Robin groaned, knowing he'd never hear the end of it if word ever got out he got knocked down by such a cheap trick.
"Yeah, well, them's the brakes," the brunette said offhandedly. "But hey, no hard feelings, right?" he asked, getting no real reply in return apart from his opponent's groaning before he was whisked away by a bolt of lightning, a flash of light then carrying the brunette off the battlefield as well.
"Well done, Champion of Champions. Victory is yours," the Master of Games announced as the brunette found himself back in the atrium.
"Yeah. So, I'm supposed to win some kind of prize?" he asked sheathing his bokken at his side.
"I did say there would be prizes, young champion," the Master of Games said as he descended the dais steps. "However I did not say, that they were for you."
"What are you implying?" Vent asked with narrowed eyes.
"You may be the winner," the Master of Games said as he kneeled down to eye level with the brunette, holding up his octagonal ruby amulet. "But the losers are mine to keep," he finished as thirteen panicked cries were heard from within the medallion, Vent's eyes widening as the implications suddenly hit him. "And with all their powers at my command, no one will defeat the Master of Games!" he cackled as he suddenly rose up on Gizmo's spider legs, his right arm becoming Cyborg's while his left formed into a re-sized version of Blue Beetle's, Wildebeest's horns sprouting from his forehead, his face becoming like Hotspot's a second later and Robin's belt forming around his waist over his own. "I am… invincible!"
Come on Vent, this guy's got the power to manipulate time and space. He wouldn't be selfish enough to… However if he'd go this far for power, then he just couldn't resist the prospect of- "Really? And how can you be invincible if you don't have me? The Champion of Champions? The greatest young hero on Earth?" Vent asked with a cocked head and a taunting half-smile that would've made even Robin proud, the statement catching the Master completely flat-footed before he lowered himself to Ventus' level, pacing around him on Gizmo's robotic legs.
"Hmmm… You are quite skilled," the Master mused.
"Then maybe, this game isn't over yet," Vent smirked.
"No… No it is not!" he agreed.
"What do you say to one last round? Winner take all?" the brunette asked drawing his bokken, the Master of Games smiling as he rose to full height.
"Yes! The fight to end all fights!" the Master of Games said as his eyes glowed brightly alongside the amulet. "Ventus versus the Master of Games! Let the contest begin!" he said firing a pair of flaming eyebeams at the brunette, who backpedaled to dodge before leaping out of the way of a rushing jet of water that left cracks in the pillar as it followed him. When the brunette began using the wind to carry him around the room, the Master of Games upped his game and began firing Speedy's arrows, Cy's shoulder-mounted missiles, and Blue Beetle's energy rounds at the brunette, who leapt over Cy's cannon blast, swept away Speedy's arrows with a gust of wind, and spun his bokken like a propeller to stop the blue-colored energy rounds from hitting him, his weapon singed in a few places when the barrage stopped.
"Ha! Is that the beast you can do? I've been on obstacle courses with live ammo tougher than this," the brunette taunted, hoping to make the Master of Games more angry, and more sloppy. This seemed to have worked, because he soon sprouted Blue Beetle's dragonfly wings from his back, leveling Wildebeest's horns at him while jets of fire erupted from his hands and sending him forward, creating a wicked combo that would've flattened the brunette had he not leapt over the raging monster in time. He was about to attack him from behind, however Gear's backpack -which was connected to Gizmo's spider legs- sounded off some kind of alarm, and so the brunette had to abandon his earlier plans when the Master of Games began throwing Robin's birdarangs at him. Dodging three with ease, the fourth one found home in his left shoulder with a wet -squelch-With a pained grunt he removed it with a powerful tug before he rushed at his opponent with bokken in hand, using it to deflect a wave of water sent at him from his opponent's mouth before the Master of Games retracted Gizmo's spider legs, dropping to the ground before disappearing in a blur of Kid Flash's speed before suddenly appearing behind the brunette, who was able to turn around just in time to catch Static's "taser punch" to the chest. Couple that with Beast Boy's gorilla strength, and he was thrown halfway across the room, tumbling to a rough stop as arcs of electricity leapt across his form, causing him to convulse wildly, unable to move by his own power.
"Looks like you lose," the Master of Games said triumphantly as he stood over the paralyzed brunette's prone form.
"In your dreams," the brunette chuckled before managing to flick his wrist, a blood-tipped birdarang leaving his hand from his sleeve and finding home in the Master of Game's pendant. Though he tried to lean back, the edge of the right wing scraped against it deeply, a bright flash of light releasing both Kid Flash and Beast Boy who dropped beside the brunette.
"Thanks for the save man," KF noted, Beast Boy rubbing the back of his head before an enraged Master of Games released a gout of flame from his mouth at the three and got back onto Gizmo's spider legs, KF grabbing Vent while BB took off to the side as a jackrabbit.
"Hey Kid Flash. Bring me over to Beast Boy, I have an idea," the brunette said from over the red-head's shoulder, Kid Flash nodding as he zipped around the Master of Game's sonic cannon and electric blasts before running over to jackrabbit-BB and grabbing him by the scruff of his neck, the brunette holding up an ear and whispering something to him. A moment later the rabbit nodded in recognition before the three disengaged, Beast Boy gaining a confident smirk as he rushed at the Master of Games head-on.
"I may not be able to combine animal traits like I want to, but I can do the next best thing," he said turning into a cheetah mid-stride, rushing at the Master of Games in his form's peak speed of 75 mph before lunging at him, suddenly transforming into a rhino mid-leap and slamming into the Master of Games's chest with the force of a freight train, the pendant flashing brightly as he was forced to release Gear. Before he could retaliate, he saw Kid Flash run up the side of the wall and up to the top of the atrium, kicking off and flying straight towards him with gravity's aid and a gleaming constellation of a winged horse at his back before he yelled-
"Pegasasu Ryuusei Ken!" he shouted as he threw his right fist forward, a flurry of punches breaking the sound barrier eighty-five times in a couple seconds bombarding him, the last strike nailing his pendant with a loud -CRACK- before he flipped back, Speedy being released and the backlash causing the Master of Games to stagger before the brunette lunged at him a moment later, sword poised.
"Sonic Thrust!" he called out sending the end of his blade into the Master of Game's pendant once more with another -CRACK-, this time releasing Robin, leaving him with only Cyborg, Wildabeast, Hotspot, Aqualad, Gizmo, Blue Beetle, Static, and Crazy. "Robin, glad to have you back," the brunette panted as he fell to one knee. "Speedy, you too."
"Thanks for the help. We'll take it from here," Speedy said drawing his bow, the exhausted brunette moving off to the side as Robin, Beast Boy, Speedy, Gear, and Kid Flash got into battle stances against the Master of Games.
"No! This fight was supposed to be between myself and Ventus!" the Master of Games roared.
"Tag in!" the brunette cried as he ran by the five with his right arm raised, the team tagging themselves in.
"Looks like we've just been tagged in," Gear said before chucking one of his Zap Caps through the air at the Master of Games, a dozen metal coils wrapping around him and causing the interdimensional being to struggle for a moment before breaking free, which was all Kid Flash needed to zip in and bombard him with a flurry of hand and foot-given blows, tiger-BB rushing in and slashing him across his pendant before releasing Cyborg. As this was going on, Speedy took aim with one of his arrows, a low whirring noise emanating from the cylinder-shaped head as the Master of Games released gouts of flame, torrents of water, laser blasts, and electric shocks haphazardly, jackrabbit-BB and KF zipping around all the attacks with Cyborg blasting him with his sonic cannon. It was when Gear lobbed an exploding zap cap at the Master of Game's abdomen that his amulet bounced up into the air, Speedy's eyes narrowing and the arrowhead colored red before he launched it through the air with a loud -thwip-, the energy-packed weapon sailing into the mystic artifac with a loud -SCHWUNK- and embedding itself there, chaotic energies dancing around it before Robin leapt through the air, his foot driving the projectile full-on into the pendant.
"NOOOOOO!" he cried as a tremendous amount of light poured out from the stone, the interdimensional being crashing helplessly to the floor as the remaining heroes and Gizmo got to their feet, the Master of Games's necklace slowly going out, his ill-gotten powers now lost to him. "I lose," he said simply before disappearing in a flash of light and smoke, his necklace -clink-ing across the floor before coming to a stop at Robin's feet.
"As far as I'm concerned, you're all honorary Titans," Robin said passing everyone there who didn't have one their own T-Comm.
"Cool!" Gizmo awed after getting his, only for Cyborg to snatch his out of his hand a moment later.
"Yo, gimme that! You're not a good guy, remember?" he asked with a smug grin,.
"Scrum-buffing toe-jamming gunk-eater," Gizmo muttered.
"Man I'm beat. I don't think I can take another tournament like this," Vent huffed tiredly as he tried to fix his hair. Static electricity tended to bring that about.
"With that game guy gone, I don't think we'll have to worry about it," Kid Flash said casually as he spun his T-Comm. on his finger like a basketball. A small, plastic basketball anyway.
"Come on guys, let's warm up the magic stop sign necklace and head home," Crazy said simply, earning varying looks from the rest of the group before Robin simply held up the medallion.
"Well dudes, it's been fun," Beast Boy said stretching.
"And if you ever need us, you know how to reach us," Robin said as the gem began to glow.
"Right back at you," Speedy returned before the fourteen teen heroes disappeared in a bright flash of smoke and lightning, the Master of Game's necklace clattering across the floor before it began to glow by its own power. A few seconds later, twelve more blasts of lightning and smoke appeared, Starfire, Raven, Terra, and nine other young women looking around at their new surroundings.
"Welcome, champions all!" a booming voice echoed from atop the dais. "I am the Master of Games, and you are all hereby invited to compete in the Tournament of Heroines!"
"Raven?"
"Yeah?"
"I have a bad feeling about this," Star muttered worrisomely.
To be continued…
Disclaimer:
Do not own Magic the Gathering. Do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!. I do not own any additional DC Universe heroes shown. I do not own Samurai Harem: Asu no Yoichi. I do not own Pirates of the Caribbean. I do not own Katanagatari. I do not own Saint Seiya. I do not own the Tales of- series.
The character Crazy is an OC created for use in this story for me by Gui.
Author's Notes:
Well, this is my story's version of Tournament of Heroes. I tried keeping it as original as I could, though I kept the fight between Speedy and Aqualad the same for story-telling purposes. Some of you may argue who should've won which fights, but since I'm the one who's written this story in the first place, I decided to the best of my abilities who should win which fights and how. That and it's my story so nyah!
For the Soaring Wind Divine Wind Style Taichi (the last word I'm assuming means "Technique"), since there wasn't a wiki page for those moves (which by the way, Vent is feesably capable of performing when channeling his powers through a blunted weapon), I had actually had to compile the information myself after watching all the episodes, so the moves should each have done what they were supposed to do.
On note of the execution of the Pegasus Meteor Fist (Pegasus Ryuusei Ken) that Kid Flash used, I watched the first episode and it said there were 85 hits in a single second, and that they all exceeded the speed of sound. Kid Flash may not've been able to do it up to that spec, but it was fun to write for. For those of you that may argue about KF watching anime in his off time, like I said before: Nyah!
Anyway, the Tournament of Heroines chapter will be similar in structure to the Heroes iteration, though the content of the chapter itself will be as different as I can make it. Hope you enjoy it. I haven't read any of the other "Tournament of Heroines" fanfiction before, so if the structure is similar to those, then it's purely coincidental.