Teen Titans
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The Chronicles of Exile and Pyro
Chapter Two: The Proving Grounds
Pyro retied to the roof of the tower to meditate for the rest of the night, even though the storm raged on. No one knew why he meditated, or why he preferred to meditate in torrential storms. A ball of fire surrounded him, hues of red, yellow, and orange. His meditation helped him get his thoughts of the day in order, as well as to keep certain emotions in check. He doesn't get to meditate as often as he wished, and the demand isn't as serious as Raven's is, so he passes to do other things. On his thoughts this night, his plans on going through the training course. He heard the stories from the others on the capabilities of Mad Mod's holographic school, and deep inside him, he wished for Mad Mod to capture him, just to see how he could handle someone who's mental ability is a match for some of the greater minds out there. He knew how tough the course could be, and he was one who likes a challenge occaisonally. The reason he told Robin to make it as hard as he could was for another attempt to impress Raven, whom he had grown secretly 'fond' of in the period of time since he joined the Titans. They were alike in more ways than she realized, and fear kept Pyro from really saying anything, strangely enough. In the secrecy of his room, Pyro practiced some of the magical ability inherited from his mother, who was a mage in some of the darker arts herself. Pyro could levitate things and move them about to an extent, but he had nothing comparable to Raven, with her seemeing limitless power.
The fire around pyro unified in color, and it dissapated. Pyro stood up, a nearby flash of lightning created a strange shadow on the top of the Tower. A grin crossed his face, he felt more confident about this now. I can do this. I've fought hordes of enemies before, so this should be easy. And besides, I have someone to fight for! Pyro thought to himself, his grin turning into a smile at his last thought. He took his sword, and jammed it into the roof, stepped back a few feet, held his hand out and muttered something under his breath. A crimson aura surrounded his hand, then his sword. He slowly moved his hand up, and the sword shakily followed, but it soon stilled. His eyes narrowed in concentration, and the sword began moving itself around, slowly shlashing through the air, and after a few moments of this, he slowly brought the sword to his side, where he grabbed it, releasing it from the magical energy and sheathing it over his shoulder. He walked over to the door leading down stairs, stopped for a moment to quickly dry himself off with a momentary burst of flame, then walked downstairs to him room to sleep.
Pyro woke up around Nine-Thirty. Normally, he didn't sleep in this late, and he knew it was all over for breakfast. He knew Beast Boy made too much Tofu, in a vain hope of convincing someone else to share with him. He walked down to the living room in whate he normally wore to sleep, a long sleeve shirt and hunting pants. His hair badly tied back, with a few strands over his face, but most of it under his shirt, as usual.
"Pyro! Just the man I wanted to see! Care to check out my latest creation?" Beast Boy cheerily asked.
"What did you screw up now?" Pyro asked sleepily. Beast Boy gave him a sour look, then whipped out a plate of what appeared to be Pigs-In-A-Blanket, but the hod dog part was colored differently.
"I call it 'Tofus-In-A-Blanket!' Try it!" Beast Boy said exuberantly. Pyro reluctantly tried one, and after the first bite, his face contorted.
"BB, You have to cook these things first, not mildly warm them!" Pyro said unhappily. Cyborg snickered.
"I still can't believe you keep trying that horrible stuff!" Cyborg said.
"Cy, I've eaten worse, trust me. BB just needs to cook these things first."
"I DO cook them!" Beast Boy practically shouted.
"All right then, when you think they're finished, take a TV break. You might be suprised." Pyro replied. Beast Boy huffed at him, and stormed off. Pyro walked over to the couch and hopped over into it. Robin and Cyborg were playing a fighting game.
"Pyro gets the winner!" Cyborg said, hoping to get him to play for once.
"No he doesn't. How many times do I have to tell you, I ain't no good at those kind of games." Pyro replied.
"Then what are you good at?" Robin asked.
"I have Gran Turismo 3, and Ace Combat 4, both of which I'm unbeatable in."
"Is that so?" Robin challenged. "I'll take you on in GT3 after we go through the training course today."
"Your funeral." Pyro casually answered. He yawned, then went up to his room to change. He looked over several outfits before making his decision on a black duster, flexible black pants and a black and white button-up shirt, and his trademark sword within easy reach on his back. He didn't always wear black, but it was one of his favorite colors, and not just because of Raven. He had other clothes, as well as a tan duster, and a never before worn black cowboy hat. He carefully tucked his hair under his shirt and went back downstairs, twenty minutes later. He was surprised to find the others waiting for him.
"And I thought it took a long time for girls to get dressed!" BB shot at Pyro.
"At least I actually try to make myself look decent, instead of wearing the first thing found on the floor." Pyro threw right back, thumping him in the nose as he went by.
"You didn't rent that old heap again, did you, Robin?" Cyborg asked.
"What old heap?" Robin asked back, not getting what Cyborg was talking about, and he didn't look too pleased.
Later on, all but Pyro were flying there in an old Vietnam-era Huey helicopter, and Pyro was voluntarily flying escort duty. The titans weren't sure about whether the helicopter or Pyro in mid-flight was louder. Thankfully, Pyro was keeping his distance. Soon, they arrived at their destination, the same place Mad Mod had kept them for their "reeducation." The Teen Titans had found it quite useful for a new training course after Terra had laid waste to the original. With some modifications and relocation of the control room, they had a new and up to date training center. This time, Pyro was the first to run through, and the others waited in the control room, watching him. Pyro waited on one side, ready to begin.
"Are you sure about this? It's not gonna change what we think about you just because you want this to be a bit easier." Robin said
"Yes I'm sure! Leave the safety locks off and all that! Besides, you're gonna be controlling it from up there, aren't you?" Pyro replied. Robin said nothing in return.
"Begin Session, Stage One." a bland computer voice said. The lights faded for a moment, then came back, revealing a large tiled room, each plate having three sets of numbers.
"I thought he said he would make it hard..." Pyro said as he began running to the other side. He didn't get too far before he suddenly found himself flung into the air straight into an acidic pond with spikes jutting out of it. He escaped death by jamming his sword into a wall and hanging from it. He threw himself back up to the surface, and his sword followed. He looked behind him to see that he had set off dozens of traps by accident. He began walking forward, but stopped as he was surrounded by several strings, towering high into the ceiling.
"What the...?" Pyro started. He watched as the strings suddenly started spinning around and forming themselves into a rope, descending from the ceiling. He stepped out just in time as one of the strings cut into his pants and into his leg, drawing blood. He just so happened to step into another tile that blasted away, and sprayed everything within a few feed with acid. Pyro just managed to get out of the way and to the door, as a pair of laser cannons blasted away at him. He opened the door, jumped to the other side, and slammed it shut. The lights came on to reveal another bare area. This time, Pyro thought, I know better.
Pyro jumped, and a loud roar ensued as he started to fly across the rather large room. Suddenly, a large pillar came out of the ground, right in Pyro's flight path. He wasn't expecting this, so he slammed into it. He quickly recovered and took off again, barely missing each pillar as they jumped at him. Pyro normally kept his body rigid as he flew, but this time, he had to move more than his feet to get by the pillars. Pyro was barely moving fast enough to stay in the air, and several times he was forced to provide some downward thrust to stay in the air. A few moments passed, and Pyro finally reached the next door. He opened it, stepped inside and closed it.
"Will this be the same for everyone?" Exile asked.
"No, it'll be different for each person. Different stages are used to focus on different abilities. The first two I used just to mess with Pyro." Robin replied.
"You call that messing with Pyro?" Raven asked. She didn't see what was funny about it.
"Stage Two, Level one. Begin." The computer voice said again. Close to fifty Slade robots appeared out of nowhere, some sporting laser guns, other not. They all attacked at once. Pyro pulled out his shotgun and began fighting with the robots, letting loose a blast when there were more than one grouped together, sending them flying. Pyro eventually weeded out the ones without lasers and holstered his shotgun as he dodged laser shots. He then quickly whipped out his silver revolver and shot six times, and four robot heads exploded. Oh crap! I completely forgot about what was wrong with my gun! Pyro thought as he reholstered the revolver and swung around his big sword. He deflected laser shots as he spun around, quickly working his way to the robots. He started running and slashing until he got to the door. It was locked.
"Gaah!"
Pyro started running at thr remaining robots, swiping the sword to deflect laser shots, and took out two of the remaining seven out with the deflected shots. He finished the others off with a good slash to each from his sword. He then quickly ran over to the door. It had unlocked to much of Pyro's relief. He opened the door, walked inside, and shut it.
"Stage Two, Level Two. Begin." The computer voice said again. It seemed to pyro that three times the number of Slade-bots came out this time, all wielding a weapon of some sort. Baseball bats, swords, a few trash cans, a urinal, and various other things that could be potentially used as weapons. Pyro decided to exercise a little bit of his power by causing an explosion in a groups. sending the Slade-bots flying. Their numbers now reduced to something now less than sensible, Pyro began fighting with his big sword, occasionally sending some Slade-bots into the air. This particular section took quite some time, until Pyro started to feel winded, and set off an explosion strong enough to rock the control room, and vaporize everything near Pyro. He then went over and checked the door. He opened it, entered the next room, and closed it.
"Stage Two, Level Three. Begin." Once more the voice said. This time, Slade-bots began pouring out of six holes in the walls, and they didn't stop coming. Pyro took his sword and threw it as hard as he could. It went around the room like a boomerang, occasionally dipping low and sending torsos into the air. Pyro caught it when it came back, and he then promptly threw it into the air. He then began fighting the Slade-bots in hand to hand. A few moments after throwing his sword straight up into the air, Pyro looked up, and suddenly shoved a Slade-bot a few feet in front of him. The sword came straight down the middle of it, and the two halves fell over. Pyro was quickly running out of room to work with, so he decided to make some. He stomped his foot with quite some force, sending out a ring of fire out that blasted everything away. He pulled his sword out of the ground and threw out a palm to one of the holes, causing an explosion there. The hole was sealed by debris, but Slade-bots kept coming out of the five remaining. He caused several more explosions to go off within the ranks of the robots, clearing the room partially enough for Pyro to see two more holes. He sheathed his sword and threw out two hands, causing two more powerful explosions to seal two more holes. Pyro fought his way to another hole, jumped up high and jammed his sword in to the wall. He hung there a moment, then mentally commanded his sword to open. The resulting shockwave piled debris over the hole, leaving two more unsealed. Pyro quickly commanded his sword to close, and the two halves of the blade slid together shut, hiding what was underneath before anyone could see anything. Pyro then ran over to one of the other holes, slashing along the way. He jumped up high just before he got there, and slammed down the blade into the ground. The resulting shock crumbled the floor, creating a chasm right at the hole. Slade-bots were pouring out of the hole into the chasm, flailing comically as they fell. He did the same thing to the last hole, and finished off what remained on the surface. Pyro stopped to rest for a moment, and surveyed the damage to the room. Craters and robot parts were everywhere, large chunks of debris at four of the holes, and two chasms if front of the remaining two. He laughed at the ceaseless number of Slade-bots falling into the chasms. Pyro walked over to the door and tried to open it. It was locked.
"What the...?"
"Pyro! Seal off the two remaining entrances, then you can move on." Robins voice crackled from an earpiece. Pyro held a finger on part of it and said "But I like my new fountains!" He sealed the two remaining and walked over to the door and opened it. He stepped inside and closed it and was greeted by a hovering screen.
"Is this necessary?" Pyro asked. He got no response, so he punched the button that had '100 strength' on it.
"Final Stage, Boss battle. Begin." The voice said, with a hint of finality. a horrendous smell battered Pyro, and the lights flickered on, revealing Plasmus.
"Who's idea was it to make a giant crap monster?" Pyro asked, holding a finger to his earpiece. For a second time, he got no response.
Up in the control room, Robin laughed at Pyro.
Not so special now, are we? Robin thought to himself.
"We have a hard enough time fighting him all together! What makes you think he can handle Plasmus all by himself?" Cyborg chided Robin.
"I wasn't the one who pressed the button."
Pyro ran at Plasmus, avoiding his viscous fists as they lashed out at him. When he got close enough, Pyro jumped onto his head and jammed his sword down into it and held himself up on it for a moment. He mentally commanded it to open itself and shut, using the extreme force of the blade opening to split Plasmus into two halves, splattering on two sides of the room. With another thought, Pyro set the remains on fire, hoping to burn him away. The smell of Plasmus burning was so strong that it even reached the control room, and Pyro saw Beast Boy holding his neck and pointing at it before falling over. Pyro didn't need the hint to know what to do. The fire immediatly went out, and the scorched remains pulled themselves back together.
"Uh oh..."
Time passed, and Pyro had tried almost everything he could do except for a few things that he didn't want the titans to know he could do yet, along with vaporizing Plasmus out of existence. Plasmus had managed to nail Pyro hard a few times, but he usually made him miss, but Pyro was beginning to tire. He made a mistake for the first time, and he became painfully aware of it when Plasmus threw himself at Pyro, slamming him into the wall. He fell down, on the brink of unconsciousness. He watched Plasmus change his direction as he saw the Titans and Exile in the control room. He began making his way over there, and Pyro slowly pushed himself up.
"I'm not done yet, turd-ball!" He said. Plasmus turned his head to see Pyro, just as he threw the sword right at him. It impaled him, disappearing entirely inside his body. Once more, Pyro commanded the sword to flash open and close, and Plasmus exploded again. Pyro felt something inside him stirring, A side of himself that he never knew he had. He felt the power that his mother had and had passed on to him through the bloodline strengthen itself. He watched part of Plasmus for a fist and prepare to swing at the window, and he felt the power grow stronger. The then felt something take over his body. He didn't realize it, but his eyes began glowing a crimson color. His right hand rose up, and it formed an aura around it the same color of his eyes. He then began to say something semi consciously.
"Raserei... Steuerung... Stärke!" He finished, and all of a sudden, all of Plasmus formed into a ball, and an arc between Pyro's hand and the ball of Plasmus formed with what sounded like a clap of thunder. With an evil grin, Pyro yanked on the arc, hard. The Plasmus ball went flying across the room, into the wall. Pyro yanked again, sending him hard into another wall. Pyro repeated this process a few more times in different directions, until he completely lost his presence of mind and forced the ball to become smaller and smaller. A voice started to break through into his head, calling his name. No, it wasn't his name, only his nickname, merely a distraction, Pyro unconsciously thought, and he brought around the small ball, and slung it as hard as he could, breaking the arc at its apex.
"PYRO!" A voice yelled into his earpiece. The voice brought him back, snapping his consciousness back to normal, the lights going out in his eyes. He looked and saw Plasmus slam into the wall, and the ooze that formed his body run into a puddle of whatever he was. Pyro looked dumbfounded towards the control room, everyone in there but Exile looking at him as if he were God himself.
"What... What just happened...?" He asked softly.
"What just happened out there?" Raven demanded as Pyro entered the control room.
"I dunno. What did happen?" Pyro asked, annoyed at Raven. Robin pointed at a screen playing a replay of what Pyro unconsciously did.
"I've never seen you do anything like that before, Pyro. Why didn't you tell any of us that you could do this?"
"I've never seen me do that before either! I didn't even know I could take it that far!"
"'Take it that far'?" Star repeated. "Please explain."
"Honestly, Yes. I admit I can do something like that. I can do a little bit of what Raven can do, but it's nowhere near as powerful as what she could do. I can manipulate small objects to a certain extent, but don't expect me to start throwing cars around anytime soon."
"You seemed to throw Plasmus around pretty easily." Cyborg quipped.
"Just don't ask me to do it again, because I don't think I can. ...Dammit... I feel like I lost my mind back there, and it came back as a train..." Pyro said. The others except for Exile didn't seem to understand what he was trying to say.
"He's telling the truth. That is not something he can normally do." Exile said.
"You should listen; he knows what he talking about." Pyro said, holding a hand to his head. "Does anyone have any aspirin?" He asked, not really expecting an answer. He left the room for a moment.
"Alright Exile, It's your turn. I've got it set up to focus on stealth and speed." He said, handing him an earpiece. "Tell me when you're ready, and good luck!" The areas where Pyro went through disappeared, and a clean white room remained. Exile pushed a button signaling he was ready.
"Exile," Robin whispered through the earpiece, "Just so you know, the room is covered by cameras, there are lasers near the floor, and there are two-" He was cut off.
"-Armed guards, yes. My objective is to reach the door?" Exile quietly asked.
"Yes. Without being detected by the bots. All the lasers and cameras are linked to them, and they're programmed to watch out for you. Go whenever you're ready" Robin answered.
The room shifted around a bit, and soon presented Exile with a large ballroom sized area, with several large pillars all over. Detection lasers and cameras were placed on some of the pillars, and two Slade-bots stood by the door with thermal blasters. The lights dimmed to a very soft glow. "Perfect..." thought Exile. As the Titans looked on, Exile's image blurred out, and it was anyone's guess where he was. The Sladebots began their patrol around the room. A small tapping sound in a corner of the room was quickly fired upon by the bots. As they approached, they found nothing more than a small metal sphere that had been bouncing in the corner. Realizing they had been deceived, the bots hurried back towards the door. "Very crafty..." murmured Robin to himself. In another corner of the room, the masked ninja saw his goal. About 100 yards away was the door, next to which was a green button, which he figured he needed to hit to shut off the detection systems. Between the two, however, was an intricate grid of lasers. Exile noticed a flaw in the design. Towards the top of the grid, 25 feet above, was a larger opening. The Titans watched a 3D map of the room show a blinking red light, locating his earpiece. "He's in front of the grid..." said Cyborg.
"Yeah," replied Beast Boy, "and I'm sure he's seen the opening, but how's he plan on getting up there? He can't fly..."
"OK, Exile," whispered Robin into the earpiece "how do you plan on getting up there?" His tone carried a bit of arrogance, but he was curious to see if the new guy could pull this off. The ninja looked around at the pillars surrounding the grid. "A shadow can go where it pleases, Robin…" Every set of eyes in the control room followed the red beacon as Exile skillfully and quickly leapt from pillar to pillar, going higher with each kick. Before they knew it, the black blur was through the grid, and landed silently on the other side. Exile pushed the green button, and the bots and grid deactivated. In a small prep room, Exile's earpiece came to life again.
"Very nice, Exile!" called Pyro, "Next up, you've got a room of the same size, same structure. But this time, there aren't any lasers. All you gotta do is defeat every enemy you come across in the room and the door will unlock. Got it?"
"Are the enemies to be defeated, or killed?"
Pyro sweatdropped. "Uh, well, they're just robots. Don't worry about it. We just want to see your full potential here. Is that OK?"
"Very well, I shall do my best."
"Give 'em hell, Exile." And with that, the earpiece fell silent.
Before entering the next room, Exile noticed there was light emanating from under the doorframe. He would not have the advantage of darkness this time. I should, he thought to himself, go about this another way. Stealth cannot be an option here. Perhaps misdirection can…
Exile's fist pounded the green button in the small, dark chamber. The door shot open, and just as it did, his eyes widened a bit. 20 Sladebots noticed the intruder, and all simultaneously fired at the doorway. A huge explosion rocked the doorway, but as the smoke cleared, they did not find a body. Each bot quickly scanned the room, trying to find their target. One pointed to the upper corner of the room, and they all began firing. Exile quickly jumped to another corner, and began moving around the perimeter of the room, dodging blaster fire with grace and speed. I was hoping I would not have to use these just yet… thought Exile, reaching behind himself with both hands as he ran. Suddenly, the target stopped. Exile froze as the twenty bots stared him down. Ten aimed their blasters at him, and fired. Exile quickly dodged to one side, and opened his hands to his sides. Just as fast, he shut them into fists. Between each of his fingers were small, black, triangular spikes. "Holy crap!" Exclaimed the on looking Beast Boy, "Did he just grow those out of his hands or something?"
"No," replied Pyro, "those look like the tips of throwing knives… this ought to get good…"
Exile's image blurred out again, and reappeared over the crowd of bots. Before any could react, Exile's body seemed to hover in midair for a brief second, as he released the blades with two powerful swings. 6 bots fell, with the knives stuck in their foreheads. The others prepared to fire on the airborne ninja, but he disappeared again. "Such speed and precision he has!" exclaimed Starfire.
Landing on the far side of the room, Exile turned and looked back at the remaining 12 bots. Robin decided to have them approach Exile another way. Typing a few commands into the computer, Robin disabled their blasters, and pushed their speed and hand-to-hand combat abilities to their fullest potential. Exile's earpiece crackled as Robin informed him of the change.
"Well, they sure as hell can't hit you at range. Let's see how you fare up close and personal… I've maxed out their agility and melee skills. Good luck!"
"HOLD!" commanded Exile. Robin's finger stopped just above the final button to reactivate the bots. Aww man! thought Cyborg. Why's the new dude wimpin' out on us? He was kicking butt! His question was soon answered, and each set of eyes in the room widened as Exile gave them a request. "Give them each a melee weapon of some sort." Six sweatdrops appeared back in the control room.
"Uh… ok man." Robin nervously responded. He punched in a command, and a small portion of the wall opened, revealing a collection of standard swords. Each robot walked to the wall and took one. Robin, thinking this may be a bit much for Exile, turned a dial back a few notches, reducing their overall abilities. The speaker in the control room then relayed Exile's voice.
"Robin, I ask that you not change their abilities to anything but their fullest. I want them to act exactly as they would outside of this facility. Training against a weak opponent does not hone one's edge." Exile stood in wait as each robot assumed a powerful stance with their weapons.
Robin did not respond, but turned the dial back to its highest setting, thinking to himself, I can't believe I'm doing this… Exile remained still as the robots quickly surrounded him. Looking around him at the 12 ready bots, Exile finally crouched slightly, and swung his left hand out, revealing the handle of his weapon. His right hand rested lightly on the handle, and he stayed there in wait. After holding off for about 30 tense seconds, three robots charged Exile from the left, right, and back, each with their swords held over their heads, ready to cut the ninja in half. Just before they reached him, a quick flash was seen, and each robot froze. Exile remained in the same position, and five seconds later, all three of the robot heads fell from their bodies. "Robin?" Exile asked into his earpiece, "Would you disable the lights? I would like to try fighting them in darkness." Robin couldn't find words to respond with, but pushed a switch, and the light was gone. A high-pitched tone could be heard as each of the robots engaged their night vision capabilities. Pyro and the Titans kept an eye on the 3D map, showing a beacon representing Exile and the remaining 9 robots. The 9 white dots converged quickly on the red. Slashes and sparks flew left and right. Exile was able to keep up for a while, but soon found himself overwhelmed by the onslaught of robots. A hard thud, followed by a pained grunt prompted Robin to turn the lights back on. Exile was seen slumped in a corner, bleeding and bruised. One robot lowered his leg, having been the one to kick Exile into the wall. The others lowered their swords, Exile's blood dripping from some of them. Slowly, he rose, obviously in bad shape. "Exile!" called Robin through the earpiece, "You OK? You don't look too good…"
"I underestimated them. It was foolish of me, undisciplined, I should know better… Keep the lights on, but send them again, with the same abilities." Exile stood, ripped his torn cloak off, and flung it to the corner. "I will defeat them. I must."
The nine robots charged again. Exile gritted his teeth, and ran right back at them. He decided it would be better to concentrate on each individual robot instead of the group. He parried the first robot's sword, and kicked him away, but quickly realized it would not be wise to charge them head-on. Deciding he needed time to think a new strategy out, he jumped to a corner of the room, and waited there. I am going about this all wrong. I have to find a way to use them to my advantage… Exile then noticed the spacing of his enemies. They were quite close together. That's it! I can use them against themselves. Exile swung his sword out to his right, then left, and sheathed it. His earpiece exploded with Robin's voice conveying everyone's question, "Exile! What the hell are you doing!"
"This is going to slow me down. I will retrieve it later…" Exile then took off the earpiece, and placed it on the floor. Concentrate, Exile. He thought to himself, you did this before, when you trained with the Iga ninja clan… you can beat them with misdirection. In a flash, he was nowhere to be seen. Sensors and cameras could not find the rapidly-moving ninja, nor could any of the robots, as they scanned every inch of the room, slowly backing into one large group at the center of the room.
Perfect.
The ninja then took notice of the lights in the ceiling. Several small bulbs illuminated the room. The robots' heads jolted in different directions as half of the bulbs were quickly destroyed by well-aimed throwing knives. The room was darkened considerably. "You know, he could've just asked," said a slightly annoyed Cyborg, "I spent hours installing those new dimmer bulbs!"
"He's taking control of the situation. The robots would adjust more easily to the situation if you dimmed the lights through the controls" Raven calmly explained.
Now!
Every robot's attention was directed to the front of the room, as the ninja reappeared about 10 yards from the robots, walking towards them with pure seriousness and determination, but still bleeding from his earlier wounds.
"What is he DOING?" Exclaimed Beast Boy, "He's suicidal! Those bots are gonna shred him! It's nine against one!"
"Not necessarily…" chimed in Raven. That earned a raised eyebrow from Pyro and a glance from him in her direction. Raven kept her attention focused on the screen. Just then, all but one set of eyes, Raven's, grew quite wide. At the same time, the robot controls and sensors went haywire, as their target was dramatically changed.
A slight flash appeared around Exile, and suddenly, there wasn't one ninja approaching them, but five! All walking in step and making the same movements. The robots quickly regained control of themselves and spaced out. Just as quickly as the ninjas appeared, all of them were gone. Exile reappeared behind one of the robots, and a robot behind him swung his sword, but only cleaved the head of his partner as Exile sped out of the way of the blade. Exile repeated the rapid movement, and used it to dispatch all but two robots. Finally, he stopped about 20 feet from the remaining two robots, walking towards them very slowly, very deliberately. One took a step back from the advancing, bruised, bleeding, ninja.
"No. You will not evade death." In a flash, Exile was past both robots, as each fell without their heads. Exile sheathed his weapon, calmly returned to the dropped earpiece, and replaced it. The first voice heard was Robin's.
"Hey, uh… you need a break before the last room? You look like you're in pretty bad shape." Robin punched in a command, and a small floating drone with a red cross floated towards him, opening its top to reveal a large assortment of medical supplies. "I can also send our resident doctor down if ya need." Raven rolled her eyes as the others chuckled to themselves.
"Swordsman!" chimed in Starfire, "please allow yourself some time to heal! You will require all your strength for the final room!"
"I thank you for the offer, but do not need your supplies." Exile walked toward his discarded cloak. Holding it up to about shoulder length, he unsheathed his weapon, made a series of quick slashes, and returned it to its casing. A few small strips fell from the tattered cloak. Exile knelt to them, and tied them around his wounds. "Man," said Robin "I hope he knows a good tailor. That was a nice looking cloak."
With makeshift bandages around his arm, knee, and shoulder, Exile rose and walked to the final prep room. "So, will I also be fighting this Plasmus, as you call him?"
"Nope. You've got someone else, dog." Returned Cyborg. "You get Cinderblock: An eight-foot tall concrete giant with a really bad attitude. You can punch and kick him around a little bit, but I don't think your sword is gonna help you much; this sonofagun has some tough skin."
"Very well. Where may I put my sword? I would rather not drop it in the room, else it be used against me."
Cyborg keyed in a command, and another drone approached Exile just before he reached the prep room. It was shaped like a long, thin, box. Nearing Exile, it opened, and beheld a red silk-lined interior. He detached the sheathed sword from behind him, and placed it gently in the box. The drone beeped twice, shut its lid, and floated up to a small opening near the top of the room. "I have your word that the sword will remain in your protection?"
"Yeah man, no problem. It'll be right up here with us." The drone entered the control room; Pyro approached it, and spoke into the microphone connecting them to the ninja's earpiece.
"Hey, Exile, you mind if I take a look at your sword? I can clean it up a bit for you if you want. Those robots can sometimes 'bleed' some nasty stuff on a blade, if you know what I mean."
"NO!" came the return. "The sword is not to be fully unsheathed. Withdraw the blade, blood must be tasted." Pyro slowly opened the drone's lid, and carefully removed the sheathed weapon. Wow, Pyro thought, this thing is really light! No wonder he can move it so well… He slowly slid the weapon halfway out of its sheath, and noticed a few small Japanese characters carved into the blade near the handle. Pyro made a mental note to ask Exile what they meant after training. Beast Boy peered over Pyro's shoulder at the weapon. "Oooooh, it's really shiny!"
"Yeah it is. It's a straight katana, but I've never seen one this nice before. This must've been crafted by a master. It's a thing of beauty." Pyro reached into his pocket, removed the cloth he used to clean his own sword, and held it to Raven. "Hey, can you clean this off first? I'd hate to use this old dingy rag on a weapon this nice." Raven said nothing, but took the cloth in her hand. Her eyes and hand glowed white, then returned to normal as she handed the cloth back, slightly brushing his hand.
"Here. Don't make a habit of this. I am not the team Laundromat."
"Hey, thanks!" Pyro looked at the cloth; it was much cleaner. He ran it along the blade, wiping off just a few small drops of oil from the Sladebots. Man, most times when I chop through them, a bunch stays on my sword. This thing must be ridiculously smooth. Well, that, and I suppose it helps that he moves fast as hell. Pyro finished the cleaning, and slid it back into the sheath. All eyes were again on the screen as the bandaged Exile approached the final prep room and entered. Robin was about to ask him what level of ability he wanted Cinderblock at, but was stopped by Exile's voice.
"I won't be healing any more than I am now. It is time…" With that, he pounded the red button labeled 100.
"Hey!" called Robin, "listen to reason! You're in no condition to take him on at one hund-!"
"Open…the door." He crossed his arms and waited for the door to open.
"Look man," Cyborg said turning towards Robin, "ain't no one gonna stop this guy right now. Just open the door." Robin sighed, and pushed the button as everyone looked on. Exile entered a huge, empty square white room, a few steps away from the door, which shut behind him. Suddenly, a mechanical grinding was heard, and Exile shifted his eyes about the room as some of the panels of wall detached and turned around. As they reset themselves in the wall, Exile noticed Robin's discs covering the panels. His attention was returned to the middle of the room, as part of the floor dropped away. The stone leviathan known as Cinderblock was brought up into the room by way of a rising platform.
"Exile, please! Do not bring more harm to yourself!" called Starfire through the earpiece.
The ninja sighed, but remained firm. "Pain is a state of mind, and I do not mind pain…" With that, he removed the earpiece, dropped it to the floor, and stood ready for the battle.
Cinderblock came charging at his wounded target. His massive fist came crashing down, and obliterated the floor, sending dust and debris everywhere. As it cleared, Cinderblock roared as he did not find the ninja underneath his fist. He looked behind him, and there he stood. "Fool…" Cinderblock whirled around and swung again, but never connected. Now the ninja was aside him, still with arms crossed. Exile took a second to notice one of the discs on the wall. A red R was emblazoned on it. These ought not to be run into… maybe I can use them against my opponent. Exile's image vanished as Cinderblock swung at him again. A throwing knife suddenly zipped by his head. As Cinderblock's eyes followed it, the blade buried itself into one of the discs. An instant later, it exploded, taking several other discs with it. Exile had not expected such a large explosion, and several pieces of shrapnel sliced into his arms and chest. He stumbled back a few steps, as Cinderblock fell, having been knocked down by the explosion. Both slowly returned to their original positions. I cannot continue this fight much longer. It must end before I do. Exile thought. Figuring the walls were his best weapons, he jumped to the mined wall furthest away from Cinderblock. I'd better be fast enough to pull this off…
Cinderblock rose and turned to face his target again. The shards of metal in Exile's body were causing some bad bleeding, but he was managing to hold pose, and concentrate only on his opponent. He may stop if he realizes I'm gone before he attacks. I will have to move at the very last second… Exile knew that would be tough. His body was wearing out from the fights, and the lesions and injuries certainly didn't help. Cinderblock growled as he faced his target. Exile could feel the mines lightly brushing his wounded skin. This was as close as he could get. He only hoped Cinderblock's momentum would carry him right into the wall. Cinderblock came rushing at the ninja again, preparing to slam him right through the explosive wall. Exile waited until the concrete goliath was 3 feet away. This is it… Exile's image blurred out, reappeared back by the far explosive wall, and assumed a defensive stance. Cinderblock couldn't stop in time, and ran right into the wall. Every mine on the wall went off in a colossal detonation that shook the entire training facility to the very pillars supporting it on the ocean floor. Cinderblock exploded into thousands of pieces that pounded Exile's body.
As the smoke cleared, Exile dropped his defensive stance, bleeding from his torso and arms. Amidst the rubble, he found Cinderblock's head, still growling at the ninja who had outsmarted him. "I've followed you, Cinderblock. I've borne witness to your horrors. You've caused the Titans, and the people, too much pain. You shall cause no more…" Cinderblock roared defiantly as Exile picked up his head.
"Wait! What the hell is he doing!" screamed Robin.
"No way!" said Beast Boy.
"Oh man…" said Cyborg.
"No!" exclaimed Starfire.
Exile turned to face another unexploded wall, and hurled the monster's head. It exploded into a fine powder. "It's over..."
Robin and the others could do little more than stare at the ninja in the room below. "How could he do something so heartless?" cried Starfire, about to break into tears. The same question seemed to be on everyone's mind.
Pyro thought for a minute, and then broke the silence as he faced the Tameran. "Starfire, Exile is almost your polar opposite. A ninja's heart needs to be just as cold as his blade. They won't kill if they don't have to, but when their mission requires it, they must never hesitate. He has done what we could not. We have always held back when fighting our enemies, so as to avoid anyone's death. It is almost as if we were denying our own desires. Exile remained true to his mission."
Raven had been taking in what he said, and raised her eyebrow, rather impressed with Pyro's answer. She turned back to look into the room, and saw Exile sitting cross-legged on the floor, amongst Cinderblock's remains. Before anyone could ask what he was doing, Raven spoke up. "Pyro's right. Look at him, unstoppable and merciless in battle, but pious in the aftermath. The warriors of Japan believe that all living things become one with the Buddha after death, and they must always respect the Buddha. It is an interesting kind of morality. Watch, when he returns, he will act as if it never happened…"
They returned to the Tower,and like Raven said, Exile acted as if nothing had happened. Pyro decided to take some time alone, and went to the beach by Titan's Tower. There, he meditated for a while on trying to better understand his abilities that seemed to come out back at the training session. Time passed, and he dropped out of his meditation. He tried picking up a small stone and hurling it as hard as he could out into the water.
'Plip!'
"Dammit..."
And ideas suddenly hit him. He looked around carefully, then picked up a rather large boulder and heaved it into the water.
'PALOOSH!'
"You'll never get any better doing that." A condescending voice said. Roughly feminine, and Pyro recognized it immediately.
"How long have you been watching me...?" Pyro asked. Raven was one of the few people he could really 'sense' the presence of. He just hadn't been paying any attention, and Raven could shield herself if she wanted.
"Long enough." She replied. Using her power, she picked up a good sized rock, and sent it to Pyro.
"Catch!" She said. Pyro threw out a hand, and used as much power as he could, but he couldn't stop it. Instead, it hit him straight in the chest, causing him to loose his balance and fall over. He landed just inches from the water.
If I had landed in the water, I would SO be taking her with me, tight suit be damned. Pyro thought. He knew that the heavy clothing he was wearing could have caused him some trouble in the water. He shoved the rock off of him, then flipped himself back up.
"I figured you would know that I'm not that good at this yet. Mind not throwing anything else at me?" Pyro asked.
"You aren't going to get much better but just throwing stones." She replied, her tone more serious.
"Maybe... Maybe not." Pyro said, his tone still somewhat joking.
"If you can be serious about it, I can help you develop your powers, but you have to be willing to practice every day."
"I know that." Pyro's tone leveled out. He took his big sword, looked for a large rock, and found one. He put it on top of it, setting it up so that the handle stuck in the air at an angle, then stomped on the handle, sending it flipping, straight for one of the windows of the tower. Pyro seriously concentrated on it, and slowed it down a good bit, but in the end, Raven had to intervene. Pyro released it, and Raven sent it back to him.
"Thanks," He said, resheathing the sword. "Maybe tomarrow, then?" He said, with a slight smile.
"We'll see." Raven replied, walking back to the Tower.
"Later!" Pyro said, just before an insanely loud rumble filled the air. Raven looked up and saw Pyro swiftly gaining altitude, then turn towards the city, contrails pointing in his direction.
Pyro flew on for a while, letting the feeling of wind hitting his face at a few hundred miles per hour comfort him. He found his distination and circled a few miles above it, allowing himself to slow down natrually, before suddenly dropping out of the sky. Several feet before he would hit the ground, he arrested his fall with a strong blast of jet propulsion. He couldn't help but to smile at himself as he noticed the startes from the other pedestrians. He swiftly crossed the road and found himslef in front of a store.
"I think this is it..." Pyro said, consulting a note in his pocket. "Hot Topic...? Strange name, but whatever works." He said to himself before walking in. He nodded at the girl behind the counter as he walked in, and began browsing the contents of the store.
Wow... Lots of dark gothy stuff. I admit I like black, but ...wow... All sorts of stuff here, even energy drinks? He thought to himself, looking at a can of some kind of energy drink. From what he could discern, it was cherry flavored. One of the few fruit flavors he didn't like.
Cherry and strawberry... The human obsession over these two fruits boggle the mind... One seemingly standing for innocence, the other for sensuality. I just don't get it. Pyro pondered to himself, on the topic of fruits. He soon worked his way over to the clothing line, and found a few items he liked. One of them, a long coat, looked a bit expensive to him, considering that the longcoat he had he partially made himself. He skipped over it and found a few shirts he liked. He picked them up, went to the counter and paid for them, neither person exchanging words. He left the store, crouched down a moment, then jumped, the rumble from the afterburners shaking the windows of the store. He flew slowly at first, attempting to cram the merchandise in some pockets of his duster, then sped up heading to the Tower.
He arrived there, went to his room, put the clothing up, then abruptly left for the garage. He passed by the others doing their afternoon thing, and they didn't even notice him. Once he got to the garage, he pulled the covers off of his car, the '67 Shelby GT 500, looking a bit better now. a few fender replacements and a new hoodgave it the colors of the primer rainbow. Somehow, none of the glass was cracked anymore, and the dashboard looked only a little bit sunworn. The tires were still dry-rotted, and the wheels dirt encrusted. One of the few things Pyro enjoyed about it at this point was the poor exaust system. It was the loudest thing in the city. The occaisonal backfire didn't help, either. He didn't drive it much, as it still needed much interior and exterior work. Pyro never replaced the glass in it, and it was all pretty messed up on it when he bought it. When he started it, he was suprised to notice that it sounded better than before. He could tell now that the car had a stroker motor in it now, and it just sounded rough now.
"Definitly not stock, and damn, I've never even touched the motor! I guess the guy was serious when he called it a 'toned down Christine'..." He said to himself. He shifted it into first, and revved the motor. He messed with the shifter a bit, and all it did was rev.
"Shift into gear, dammit!"
It finally caught, and it rumbled out of the garage. He drove slowly for a minute, rolling down the window, and looking for Cyborgs secret tunnel he used to drive his car to the mainland. He found it, and drove in. The sound echoed loudly through the tunnel as Pyro accelerated, the widn whipping through the interior. He knew the sun was starting to set, so he flipped on the headlights. three of the taillights didn't work, so he was also planning to stop by an auto parts store. He soon found the grocery store he was looking for, and parked the car next to a handicapped zone, as it was the closest to the store. He walked in, got what he wanted and left. He set the items in the passenger seat, which before had part of the spring poking out, but now it didn't.
When he returned to the Tower, It was just after nightfall. He put the stuff up he bought in his room, leaving out a slender tall can. He brought it with him to the living room. While en route, he read the can.
Skurge Energy Drink; For The Vegetarian in Everyone. Yeah, right. There's a reason why I don't like Terran salads. Stupid green leafy fauna... Pyro thought. He entered the living room, and called to Beast Boy.
"Hey, BB! five bucks says you can chug this in less than a minute!" Pyro said. Beast Boy took the challange, and Pyro threw him the can. He did indeed chug the contents in less than a minute, but the results were a bit more than Pyro expected. After enough time to digest some of it, Beast Boy became thoroughly annoying to everyone. He even made the usually semi-hyper Starfire look look sleepy and worn out. BB ran up the wall and around the room, seeming charged with a thousand volts of electricity. Now he was a ground squirrell, and had pretty much seen everyone at every angle.
"Remember the microwave scene in Idle Hands? I think he's actually going faster!" Pyro remarked. Cyborg and Pyro were chasing him around the room, and Pyro just managed to catch him. He held him up by the tail, and BB clawed like mad, and by pure reflex, he got thrown into the wall. BB just bounced off and kept going.
"You little...!" Pyro started, massaging his hand. BB seemed to have the energy of the Energizer Bunny, rearranging Robin's hair, much to his dismay, then taking refuge in Starfire skirt -which resulted in a big scare when Pyro tried to stop BB with a rubber bullet and missed, putting a hole on the edge of her skirt-, then BB dissappeared up the stairs.
