CHAPTER SIXTEEN: ARENA

Even though he could not feel it, Donovan Wallace knew the air was hot. It was not the normal heat of the tropics but the kind of warmth generated in the after glow of atomic detonation. As his gaze swept across the barren landscape, it was difficult to picture this place as it once was, when his only basis for comparison was so much devastation.

No one could speak.

The brief moment of camaraderie shared by them during the journey here had disappeared into the radiated sand and nothing spoken could articulate the horror of what lay before them. Donovan could only stare. He stared because he was relatively new to the extraordinary life he had stepped into and nothing before that had prepared him for this. From what Donovan understood of Kooey Kooey Kooey, this island has once been a paradise of balmy trees and white sandy beaches. It was home to a race of simple people who lived far away from the eccentricities of twentieth century.

The land before him was now home to no one.

The island had been completely flattened. Beneath him, his feet crushed sand that had been fused into glass where he stood. What had once been a lush tropical jungle of tall coconut and palm trees were unruly stumps of black jutting out from the charred earth. He was certain that if he started shifting through the grainy surface of the ground, it would yield the bleached bones of Kooey Kooey Kooey's past residents. Suddenly, he felt insufferably hot inside his suit and wished he could get back to the Bug so he could discard it.

"Are you okay?" Ted said to him in concern. The young man looked decidedly unsettled by what he was seeing. Ted could hardly blame him. It was unlikely if the new General Glory had experienced anything remotely like this as a policeman.

"I'm fine." Donovan nodded. "Thank you. Its just a little difficult to deal with first time out."

"You never really get used to it." Ted answered. "You think your enhanced abilities can help you overcome anything and then when you see something like this, you find out how truly helpless you can be despite all the wonderful things you can do."

Donovan met his gaze and realised Ted was not speaking hypothetically but from the heart. It made Donovan feel comforted to know that even a veteran was having trouble dealing with what they were now seeing on the island. "This was not your fault Beetle." Donovan replied. He did not know Ted well enough to address him by his real name. "Dreamslayer did this."

Ted nodded but that did not make him feel any better.

"General Glory is right Ted," Zatanna placed an arm on his shoulder. "We were powerless to stop this until it was too late."

Even through the face plate of her suit, he could see the concern in her eyes. She really did care for him. Ted thought to himself. "What do you need from us?" He asked deciding that it was time to get to business. If Zatanna could bring some life back to this island, Ted did not want to waste any more time. They needed to rebuild this place and then lure Dreamslayer here for a final showdown. Dreamslayer had been a thorn in their sides for too long and it was time to extract it once and for all.

Zatanna took a deep breath. "How many of you have actually been to Kooey Kooey Kooey?" She asked her companions.

"I have." Ted answered.

"Me too." Booster replied, trying to keep memories of their ill fated casino resort out of his mind at the same time.

"I was here." Guy added his voice to the throng. He too was thinking about the casino resort but his memories of it were not the source of embarrassment. Tora had been attacked by a Man of War jelly fish and had it not been for his timely arrival she might have been lost to him even sooner.

"Don't look at me." Sigrid remarked as Zatanna's gaze moved to her. "I never even knew the place existed until now."

"I did." Beatriz answered before Zatanna could ask.

"I know," Ted replied with a grin. "I remember the bikini."

"We all remembered the bikini." Guy said with a similar smile of mischief.

"Grow up." Beatriz retorted smacking his shoulder lightly and Zatanna rolled her eyes in resignation. Trust this bunch to find humour in everything, even now.

"Enough children." Zatanna said sounding older than her years. "I want you to empty your minds." As she said it, she looked up at Ted. "Don't even think about it."

"What?" He looked at her innocently.

"Being a smart ass." Guy declared in case he did not know.

"But it was so perfect." Ted protested. However, he knew this was not the time for humour. Laughter was Ted Kord's defence mechanism and when he was afraid. He tended to become relentless in his timing for levity "I am putting my charming side into neutral."

"That's one way of putting it." Boosted quipped in response.

"Enough already with the vaudeville," Zatanna said good naturedly. "I need you people to close your eyes and concentrate. I need you to focus all thought on your memories of Kooey Kooey Kooey. Replay them in your mind if you have to but continue the flow of images. I need this images to focus the shape of the energy."

Those involved in the exercise closed their eyes obediently as she instructed them. Their memory of the island was all she had to work with and no other thoughts could interfere when the spell came into effect. Zatanna was confident that the heroes could accomplish this quite easily. It required a disciplined mind to be able to do some of the things of which they were capable. Contrary to popular belief it was not easy to learn how to fly or be able to direct a blast of flame to a specific object. These things had to be learnt as a child learns to walk its first steps. These were minds who were used to setting goals for themselves and staying true to purpose. Linking their hands together, their individual memories were siphoned and allowed to flow like a river into a collective consciousness.

Zatanna did not require physical contact to enter the collective. Her sensory powers were much too advanced for that requirement. However, she did close her eyes as she felt herself slip out of her body and entered the fabric of a more malleable reality...

**********

A burst of sunlight flashed in her eyes and Zatanna was forced to squint. She immediately raised her arm to shield the sun from her face. Once the bright spots faded away from her vision, she lowered her arm, now prepared for the sudden change of illumination. The glare of the sun had been so powerful because its light was being refracted from the white sands of the beach. Zatanna's gaze followed the iridescent blue of shoreline meandering into the distance.

Zatanna dropped to the ground and removed her glove before digging her fingers into the almost powder fine sand. She rubbed the sand into her fingers, marvelling at its unspoiled perfection. This was an island that knew nothing of industry or commerce and thus remained unaffected by the pollution of the nuclear age. She took a deep breath of salt air and allowed it to fill her lungs, enjoying the idyllic paradise for a brief moment. Zatanna wondered how much of this beautiful island was real and not a product of their collective wishful thinking. People tended to exaggerate an object's virtue especially after they lost it. It made no difference to her whether this image was true or not because her powers were untainted by such things. Magic enabled irrelevancies to be burnt away when one invoke its powers.

She was about to begin when suddenly, she heard someone crying.

There was not supposed to be anyone here!

In shock, she spun around and surveyed the landscape. To her surprise, there was a young boy sitting on the beach behind her. She knew with certainty that he had not been there. The child appeared to be an islander and was no more than seven years old, she estimated. He was looking at her with soulful brown eyes and wiping away his tears as she approached. Zatanna walked towards him with caution even though she sensed no malice from the boy, merely his lament. His sobs had diminished into loud sniffles by the time she reached him and he stood up awkwardly to greet her.

"Are you here to help me?" He asked.

"Who are you?" Zatanna asked instead of answering her question. When she had resurrected Metropolis, nothing like that had happened. She was still somewhat shocked by his presence and even wondered if this might have been a trick of Dreamslayer.

"Are you going to help me?" He whined, proving that he could be as evasive as she.

"I don't know how." Zatanna replied honestly, genuinely perplexed by this occurrence. "Are you hurt?"

His gaze moved across the beach and into the lush jungle flanking the beach. "Yes, it hurts." He nodded meekly. "My skin and my insides burn." He said rubbing the skin of his thin forearms. As his palm moved over his skin, Zatanna saw blisters and burns rising to the surface. In a moment, she could smell burnt flesh.

"My god!" She dropped to her knees, trying to help him but not knowing if her magic could work in this place.

"They're all dead." He descended into a fresh bout of tears. "They're all dead. I'm alone now."

It was impossible this child could survive the nuclear inferno that had swept across the island. Despite what she knew of sorcery and magic, that fact of science could not be denied. The boy should be dead. "Who are you?" She insisted again, knowing the answer explained everything.

"They're all dead." He repeated distantly. "I'll be alone again. Like I was alone before. I don't like to be alone." He turned and looked at her. "I was so alone before and then they came and then I wasn't alone any more."

Zatanna did not understand. "I need to know who you are to help you." She said firmly, trying to pierce the veil of the boy's thoughts so that he could respond to her question.

"I hurt." He replied. "I burn. The fire from the sky made me burn and now my insides are burned too."

His words were cryptic. She knew the landscape of Kooey Kooey Kooey was the product of the Crusaders collective consciousness. However, this child was not apart of their memories. Was some other entity manipulating this child? She could not sense duplicity in its being but the agony he spoke of was real. It radiated from him with such force that she was forced to erect a shield to protect her own mind. There was no one on the island besides them and she was capable of determining and alien influence from a great distance. The only way their consciousness could have been invaded was through physical contact and there was no one else with them. Their bodies touched each other and the island beneath their feet. The island beneath their feet....

Zatanna eyes widened in realisation. "You're the island?"

"I burn." He said with renewed intensity. More of his skin was becoming blistered, until the wounds crept beyond his arms and started appearing on his legs and his torso. His hair disappeared, to be replaced by a burnt scalp pocked by ugly red wounds and singed hair follicles. "The others are gone but I'm left burning."

"You are the island." She declared and the words escaping from her lips made her want to weep too. That the island was this boy was not impossible. People often spoke of a place having character and personality never realising that sometimes it so happened that a place awakened from its sleep to gain consciousness. In the realm of the Dream King where she had recently chanced a visit, there was a place called Fiddler's Green. It was alive as a person might be alive. Like this island was alive.

When the Crusaders had formed the mental bond that created this image for her, they had unknowingly allowed a fifth mind to join their collective. The island who was wounded and in pain had reached out to them in order to ask for help. It manifested itself as the most symbolic representation it was capable of producing so that Zatanna could understand.

"I took them wherever they wanted to go," the boy/ island continued." Now they are gone and there will be no voices who speak when you leave."

Zatanna's heart went out to the waif even though she knew that he was not real. Everything about his physical appearance was an illusion because he was an image for her benefit. "I can help you." She said taking his blistered hand in his. His wounds were deep and he looked up to her full of helpless need. "I will make the pain go away." She whispered. She wondered if the others knew about the island being sentient. It was a question for another time she decided. For the moment, she had more important considerations.


"ytuaeb remrof sti ot dnalsi siht erotseR." She spoke the incantation that would take away the boy's pain.

A great wind enveloped them as the words left her lips. It encircled them both, blowing sand into the air. The boy wrapped his arms around her. "I'm scared." He said frightened.

"Don't worry little one." She held him close to her. She could smell his burning skin in her nose despite the sand and wind. "Just hold on to me and it will be over soon." Holding him like he was her own child, Zatanna felt his terrified breath in her ears and his grip tightening around her body. She focused her formidable powers on the image of Kooey Kooey Kooey held in the minds of her friends, reinforced by the desire to heal the child of all his wounds. Both were potent desires within herself and she kept her eyes closed because she did not want to see until it was done.

*********

In the real world, Sigrid and Donovan were party to an amazing transformation. While their friends held their ground in a collective trance, the newest members of the Crusaders were very much anchored to the waking world. Despite their unfamiliarity with magic and mysticism in any shape of form, both were aware that this task Zatanna was asked to complete had to run its course, whatever the outcome. The trance that had captured their friends could not be disturbed for that too was an integral part of the process.

A great wind had rushed up at them with little or now warning, chasing away the clouds that hung over the island with grey intent. However, the wind showed no signs of abating as it circled the island like a loss bird trying to find its bearings. With each gust of its powerful breath, newly formed glass began cracking on the ground. The wind battered down on the charred soil and fused sand relentlessly. As each grain was unearth and washed with the gale, the landscape began changing.

"My god!" Donovan exclaimed, pointing to the ground in astonishment. "Look!"

Below their feet, the sands of Kooey Kooey Kooey were slowly turning white and unspoiled as it had once been. Dead stumps that no longer had any chance of life, began sprouting. New growth was forcing its way out of the charred wood, stretching towards the sky against the howl of the wind. Green saplings struggled upward, reaching for the sun as they strengthened and hardened into seasoned trunks that bent gently with the wind.


The forestation travelled on the breath of the wind moving across the landscape. A lush, tropical jungle sprung into existence virtually before their eyes with astounding ease. The winds seemed to carry the spores of life, scattering them into this barren wasteland in order to give it a second chance.

"I don't believe it!" Sigrid exclaimed, half mad with the euphoria of the moment. "Its beautiful!" She laughed happily.

"Its more than beautiful!" Donovan joined her in her happiness. "Its life Ice Maiden, its life!" The earth was heaving. The spine of the island, flattened by the atomic blast earlier, rose into mountains that fell quickly to the greening process. Within seconds, Sigrid could see a veil of mist forming in the depths of the jungle. She had no doubt that there was no longer any danger of radiation poisoning.

Kooey Kooey Kooey was beautiful again.

**********

"Thank you Zatanna." The boy/ island spoke pulling herself away from Zatanna.

Zatanna opened her eyes and saw him standing before her, a smile living wide on his face. There were no signs of injury on any part of him and he was as healthy as he had been when she first happened upon him. Without being present to witness it herself, she knew Kooey Kooey Kooey was restored. She had succeeded. Somehow, it felt sweeter, seeing her success manifested into this boy's happy smile.

"I was privileged to help." She said with a faint smile.

"I don't hurt any more." He answered. "You made me well again." He came forward and embraced her hard. There was so much feeling in that one act that Zatanna was touched beyond measure. She did not know why but this moment affected her emotionally, the way nothing had in such a long time. For the first time, since her days with the League had she felt such purpose in what her life could mean to those she aided. Zatanna returned his hug and planted a kiss on his forehead as he drew away again.

"You must bring the bad man here." The boy stated.

"You know about him?" Zatanna looked at him with surprise and quickly rose to her feet.

"Yes," he nodded. "I know of him from you and the others here."


By the others Zatanna assumed he meant Ted and the rest of the Crusaders. "We need to stop him." She answered honestly. "We must do it here because of his arrogance. It will make him angry if he thinks his destruction of you was undone."

"He made me alone." The boy declared, a hint of fire inside his eyes. "He took the others away."

"Yes, he did." She nodded softly. "We need to bring him here to end his evil. Do you understand?"

"Yes," the boy nodded slowly. "I understand. You may bring him here but he will not leave."

Zatanna looked at him. "We will do what we can."

"I will make petition to the Green." The boy stated.

"The Green?" She did not understand. What was the Green?"

"I will make petition to the Green and he will help us." He said evasively. "The bad man will not leave this island again."

*********

"Zee?" She heard Ted's voice in her ears.

Zatanna opened her eyes and saw herself staring into the concerned face of the Blue Beetle. She also noticed that he was not wearing a radiation suit.

"Zee are you alright? Come on gorgeous, talk to me." His voice was firm and strong, yet she could see the underlying edge of worry in it.

"I'm okay," she managed to say as she shook the disorientation out of her head. His hands was on her shoulders still, trying to steady her as she made her return to the waking world. The other members of the Crusaders were standing around her, wearing similar expressions of concern over her welfare. For the second time today, Zatanna was touched by the gesture.

"You did it Zatanna." Guy Gardner replied smiling widely. His gaze moved over the beach before them and what she saw hardly surprised her, although seeing it did swell her chest with pride.

"Its so wonderful." Sigrid added. "You guys missed the best of it. General Glory and I got to see it happen. It really was magical."

"Thanks," Zatanna said, examining the restoration. The island was as pristine as she had seen it inside all their minds. Kooey Kooey Kooey was devoid of life but she was capable of nurturing it. Soon, wildlife would return to this island. Nature often found a way to exploit prime real estate for its charges. In that way at least, nature was not very different from man.

No one was wearing their radiation suits. No one felt the need for it. The island's rebirth had filled them with a sense of purpose and a determination to see nothing like this happened again. With that in mind, Zatanna remembered that their tasks were far from complete. "We don't have much time," she said quickly, returning to a more serious note. "Guy, I've know how to bring Dreamslayer down but I'll need you to plan the strategy."

Guy looked at the others before returning his gaze to her. "Tell me what you need and I'll find a way to make it happen."

It was time to finish this.