High up in the sky over Jump city, the air was alight with what would seem to those below as fireworks. Bright green and purple bursts of light that seemed scattered throughout the sky in a beautiful display. Up higher, the display was still beautiful, but the starbolts were deadly, hurled by the Tamaranian sisters as they dueled high up in the clouds.
Blackfire hurled bolt after bolt at her sister with the rapidity of a machine gun, and Starfire zoomed upwards, ducking and dodging, zig-zagging back and forth through the air so that her sister could not lead her targets. Still, a number of calls were remarkably close, and a few bolts passed dangerously close to her body. Still, for the most part, she'd managed to elude them, and even return a blast or two of her own.
However, a power gap between the two combatants was quite obvious.
The nature of both girl's powers, brought out by the experiments of the Psions, was the same. They both absorbed yellow sunlight through their skin, stored it within their bodies, and could now channel it into blasts from their hands or eyes. They were equally strong, equally fast, and equally as skilled at maneuvering in mid-air, a skill all Tamaranians had from birth. But the biggest distance was the sheer amount of power Blackfire commanded, having done all but fly into a sun to absorb more yellow rays and increase her powers a hundredfold. As such, she could take anything her little sister threw at her, and easily match her blow for blow.
Despite this, she was very pissed off.
"Where did you get those!" demanded Blackfire angrily, taking a moment to recuperate from a long blast of energy, which Starfire had dodged aside. "Those gauntlets belonged to..."
"Dariand'r," replied Starfire, floating before her sister, her expression defiant. "A gift from my K'norfka, who said I was the true Ruler of Tamaran whether I wore the crown or not."
If looks could kill, Starfire would've been obliterated by the anger-filled gaze Blackfire just gave her.
Worse, Blackfire's looks were capable of killing.
Two bright beams of amethyst shot from her glowing orbs and rocketed towards her younger sister, but they were met in mid-air by an emerald blast of similar nature as Starfire released her own powers to counter her sisters. The two began to encircle one another in the air, their gaze never leaving one another, as they soared ever higher, nearly to the very top of the darkshield.
Finally, Starfire's blast cut short, and she was forced to jerk her head out of the way as the Blackfire's blasts ripped clear over her shoulder, missing her tanned skin by scant inches.
"That crown is mine," said Blackfire, clenching her fist and glaring down at Starfire angrily. "My power is absolute now. You cannot stop me. And when I am doing conquering this pitiful planet for Tartarus, I will return home to conquer Tamaran and rule with an iron fist!"
Blackfire's rant was shocking enough, for Starfire still had yet no idea of the depths of madness her sister had sunk into, the strength of her delusions of grandeur. But that was not what caused her eyes to widen, her mouth to open in a silent gasp.
She didn't know.
Another burst of amethyst blasts shot after Starfire, and she ducked and dodged, weaving in and out of the clouds as she continue to engage her sister, all the while allowing her mind to wrap around the awful truth. Blackfire was being used, being manipulated, by Tartarus. Or they themselves did not know about the destruction of Tamaran. But it didn't matter now. Her sister was fighting for a lost cause.
"Sister, stop this!" shouted Starfire, parrying a bolt with her hand and slapping it aside so it flew harmlessly off into the distance. "There...!"
Her statement was cut off in mid-sentence as Blackfire slugged her little sister hard across the face, sending the redheaded girl flying through the air. Starfire instinctively spread out her arms and legs to halt her flight, then lifted a hand to rub her sore chin. Blackfire had nearly broken her jaw.
"Shut up!" roared Blackfire, launching herself forward, slamming blow after bone-crushing blow into Starfire's stomach. "Shut up you worthless pathetic stupid bitch...!" she roared, rearing back her hand for an especially powerful punch...
... only to have it caught in mid-swing by a small but strong hand.
Blackfire looked up in shock, and Starfire glared up at her, her eyes burning emeralds. She reached forward and grabbed Blackfire's arm with her free hand and swiftly spun a circle, hurling Blackfire over her shoulder like an accomplished martial artist. The flip sent Blackfire hurling through the air. She managed to reassert her power, however, and flew back up. The two sisters eyed one another warily from a short distance away now, aware of the dangers of engaging one another once again.
"Not bad sis..." remarked Blackfire. "I thought you didn't know any alien martial arts."
"I do not," she replied, her voice quiet yet commanding. "Nightwing taught me that move. It is Aikido."
The dark-haired princess frowned lightly. "Robin's an alien, sweetie. They all are. This isn't your home. It never will be. Although I'm willing to make this debate academic because soon," she said, powering another pair of starbolts "you won't need a home. You'll need a tomb!"
"You are wrong, sister. This is my home," replied Starfire sadly. "And it may well be yours as well."
"What're you talking about?"
"You have not heard."
"Heard what? Are you stalling, sister dearest?"
"... Tamaran is gone," said Starfire simply.
The shock of it hit Blackfire as deeply as it did Starfire. She'd loved her homeworld as much as her little sister, though with far less care. She saw it as her home, but also saw it as her destiny. To rule, to command, to be respected and feared by all the people who had mocked her as a child, who had passed her by because of her freakish looks to her prettier siblings. To learn that her home was gone...
Angrily Blackfire shook her head. "You're lying, sister... I suppose I should be proud of you, but this is hardly the time to start."
"I never lie, Kormand'r," replied Starfire darkly. "Galifore raised me better than that."
Blackfire's eyes narrowed darkly at the use of her real name. She hadn't even used it herself in ages. She much preferred Blackfire. Much more... powerful, to her mind. Fearful. Everything she desired. "Galifore was a fool. And a weakling. If you learned from him, that explains why you can't beat me now!"
Now it was Starfire's turned to be angry, and her anger shone through both her eyes like twin emerald suns. "X'Hal forgive me," she whispered, gathering her strength. "For what I must do."
Starfire shot forward like a rocket, dodging aside the kick from Blackfire she'd seen coming a mile away and zipped underneath and behind her. Blackfire only barely had time to spin around in mid-air to catch a stone-shattering punch right to her stomach that sent her flying through the air. She swung out an arm to slow her descent and glared back up at her little sister. It had been the first real hit she'd made all combat. Blackfire coughed, sucking in air. The blow had left her winded.
Starfire hovered overhead, cradling her fist to her bosom, idly rubbing her wrist. She almost looked... ashamed.
"I am sorry, sister. I do not wish to hurt you... but I cannot let you go on hurting others either."
Blackfire's eyes opened wide. "You've been holding back!"
A simple nod from her little sister was all the answer Blackfire needed, and with a mighty roar of anger she charged forward, hurling amethyst starbolts like a woman possessed, Starfire nimbly dodging aside as she shot across the air, trying to put distance between the two of them. Bolts were exploding on either side of her as she zig-zagged back and forth, trying to keep from doing so in a pattern, lest Blackfire anticipate her next move. But starbolts kept firing from her sisters hands, moving as fast and proving every bit as deadly as Gordanian missiles. Starfire wasn't entirely sure how long she could elude the blasts, as she swooped down and then arched back up into the air.
But Blackfire was growing very, very tired of her little game. She was getting royally angry, and anger fueled her power. Holding her hands above her head she conjured up a starbolt of bright glowing purple, filling it with her power and letting it grow... and grow... and grow some more... until a ball the size of a boulder made of pure energy floated in the air above Blackfire's hands, casting a amethyst glow upon the city of Jump and her little sister.
The redheaded princess glanced up in alarm.
"I always was better," sneered Blackfire, as she gave a mighty cry and hurled the ball of amethyst fire down at her sister, determined to obliterate her in one final blast. There was no way Starfire could dodge such an attack, nor counter it.
Starfire watched in horror as the purple globe descended towards her, falling, but she instinctively thrust up her arms to block, knowing full way she'd be annihilated by a direct hit like this. There was no way to stop it. Starfire closed her eyes, fully expecting to be obliterated...
... but was shocked, instead, as something gently hit her and knocked her fully out of the way an instant later, just second away from being destroyed as the ball of purple fire flew past her and shot over the skyscrapers of Jump City, slicing down into the water and exploding in a brilliant burst of energy so bright that Starfire was forced to once again shield her eyes.
When she re-opened them, she saw something that nearly made her weep in joy.
A big beautiful butterfly hovered before Starfire, the color of silver and pink. There could be no two such creatures in all the world.
"SILKIE!" she cried out, hugging her beloved pet close. Silkie had saved her. He was a faster flyer than his mistress now, and she'd come back just in time to save her from certain death.
A cry of rage above them interrupted their reunion, and perhaps Starfire was counting her grubvars before she'd earned them. Blackfire was speeding down at them like a cruise missile, spouting out obscenities in Tamaranian, Centaurian and, surprisingly, Galangan. Starfire understood maybe one-third of the words but was glad she couldn't caught the rest because Blackfire was pissed off beyond all measure.
Gently as she could, Starfire pushed Silkie out of the way and stood before him protectively as Blackfire came to a screeching halt mere meters away in mid-air, grinding her teeth together so fiercely she was spitting sparks.
"WHY... WON'T... YOU... DIE!" roared Blackfire.
Starfire's mouth set in a firm frown, she glanced over significantly at Silkie, then back at her sister. "Because, I, sister, have friends."
Blackfire couldn't even come up with a decent retort in any language and just spat out a cry of frustration, thrusting out both her hands, blasting at Starfire at point blank range with her starbolts...
... which fizzled and splashed harmlessly against Starfire's skin as if they were water. Starfire didn't even flinch, he expression still grim.
"What!" cried out Blackfire, looking at her hands in shock. She thrust them out again, but this time she couldn't even conjure a tiny light. No starbolts. No power.
I used it all up in my last attack, she realized abruptly, sucking in breath in a gasp. That little bitch KNEW!
"My friends have done more than save my life," said Starfire, floating towards her sister, advancing on her as emerald bolts of energy coalesced between her clenched fingers. "They have taught me many things. They have shown me many things both wonderful and useful. Especially Raven. She taught me one very important lesson, sister," said the True Princess of Tamaran, raising her hands and pointing her powerful starbolts at Blackfire. "She taught me that emotions can be powerful... but it is control that will help win your battles."
And with that, Starfire struck, blasting away at Blackfire, who was now the one on the defensive, dodging aside blasts as the red-headed Princess gave chase and allowed her sister no quarter and no more mercy, as she had before. She had no choice but to win the battle. And win she did, blasting low underneath her sister, forcing her upwards, then zipping along her flight path and slamming her fist hard into Blackfire's jaw, sending her soaring through the air to come crashing down to Earth in a most painful fashion, leaving a crater the size of a football field in her wake. For one horrifying moment, Starfire feared she may have killed her sister, and soared down to check on her.
Battered, blackened, burnt, and decidedly beaten, Blackfire groaned in agony, shifting, unconscious, in the center of the crater.
Starfire was victorious.
"Praise X'Hal," she whispered. "And thank you, all of you... who stood by me in spirit," she said, addressing her friends. Promising herself to thank them in-person the next opportunity she had. When all of this was over.
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The landscape of the mind varied from person to person, no two were alike. Some were bright, cheerful places, filled with memories and feelings of joy and pleasure. Others were structured, orderly, organized, or as barren as a wasteland. And some minds were dark, deadly places where it was unwise for a telepath to tread, lest they risk a terrible fate befalling themselves.
In the regards of having a dark mental landscape, Raven would've even managed to outshine the Batman, had it ever come down to a formal competition.
Malchior glanced around, taking in the peculiar sights. Raven's mind was indeed a dark one, filled with black skies and red stars. The ground underneath them was a series of rocks, suspended in the middle of nothingness, forming a rough path. Where they ended, none could say, not even Raven. But they led the opposite way back to the Forbidden Door, the only way out of Raven's mind once you were inside. Crimson lightning crackled in the distance, and the air seemed filled with tension. A foreboding aura settled over both combatants.
However, the dragon turned sorcerer was far from afraid or surprised. Though he did not fully understand yet what Raven had done, he had learned of other dimensions in his study of magic. Places sorcerers could travel to, visit, where the laws of reality were not the same as those on Earth. Some mistook some of the darker dimensions for Hell. Or perhaps, they truly were.
"A lovely place, fair Raven," he intoned graciously, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "A summer home?"
Raven, on the rock just before his, merely stood there, her expression calm but guarded, her stance one of classic defense. Arms upraised to block attacks, legs spread, ready to move her the instant she was ready to. Her eyes, however, were closed.
"Oh Raven... it is impolite to not answer someone."
"You'll find out where we are soon enough," replied Raven, opening her eyes.
Something about her eyes... disturbed Malchior.
They were devoid of fear.
Malchior frowned, not used to seeing a lack of fear from his enemies, and his hand came up, glowing black as he lashed out with a black energy whip where Raven stood. She leapt up and backwards, levitating to slow her flight, allowing her to float from one stone completely to next. Fortunate, for the one beneath her had just been sliced in half, and crumbled into fragments, falling down into the nothingness far below them.
"Perhaps if you tell me where we are, and how to leave, I'll spare your life, Raven," intoned Malchior, lifting himself up with his stolen powers, floating over towards Raven. He smirked wickedly behind his scarf as he grinned down at her. "What do you say?"
"I'd say you should get used to the décor... 'cause you're never leaving," she replied calmly.
The dark sorcerer growled darkly, filling his hand with a blue-white ball of energy and hurling it at Raven. Again, he missed, she dodged aside. This continued for a short while as they moved along the path. It was slowly begin turned to rubble by Malchior's attacks, but so far he'd yet to actually hurt Raven. Through it all, Malchior was grinning. Something about this place, this... world... has made me stronger, he realized. My powers are stronger here. More powerful. Oh, foolish girl. Again you make a fatal mistake.
Finally, they came to the end of the pathway and Raven leapt clear as three black claws lashed out and destroyed the final stone, and she landed in a crouch on the wider expanse behind her. A wasteland of rock and black trees. And the long gravel path leading towards the Forbidden Door.
"Giving up?" he asked mockingly.
"Hardly. Evening the playing field."
He laughed aloud at that. "Oh? How do you intend to do that, sweet Raven? Steal your powers back?"
"I don't need Anger," she replied. "I have power of my own. And you've stepped onto my turf now. Which means I am at the advantage."
He smirked cockily. Did she know so little of what she said? Aloud he said "Let's test that!" before hurling a black ball of energy towards her.
Raven smirked, took exactly one step backwards...
... and Malchior's attack fizzled as it slammed fully into a stone wall, that didn't so much rise out of the ground as fly out of the ground to neatly separate the two combatants. Malchior's crystal blue eyes went wide with surprise. Then narrowed in fury. A second and then third wall rose up from the ground, and many more past them. An entire labyrinth had risen out of the ground to cut off the dark wizard from his prey.
"You think these tricks will save you!" he shouted angrily. He drew himself up, flying up into the air... only to be rewarded with a mighty shock to his system and a fall back to earth when he reached the top of the labrynth. No going over. Growling darkly, he filled his hands with black fire and sent out a mighty blast at the far wall. To his annoyance, it was unmarked. He cursed in draconic, and cursed again, finding his smaller throat and tongue unable to produce the truly venomous words.
"I will find you, Raven... and when I do, you will die. I will not waste my time here."
Giggling came down the corridor to the right, and Malchior whirled, giving chase, his eyes glowing a faint crimson as he pursued his prey.
The former dragon ducked down one corridor and another, pursuing the laughter. Always Raven was a few steps ahead of him, and he caught no sight of her as he pursued her. He was beginning to wonder if it even was Raven making the noise. She'd never laughed before, never giggled. Not even around him. He wasn't positive how she would sound. Still, he pursued it, if for no other reason than to escape the damnable maze.
Finally, he was rewarded, coming to an intersection to find Raven...
... but was it Raven? This girl, though bearing the same features, was clad entirely in a pink version of Raven's leotard and cloak, so bright a color it was almost painful to look at. Malchior hesitated, confused by her tactics. She couldn't be trying to disguise herself, it was obviously her... what was her ploy?
"Caught you at last, little hare," he said, taking a menacing step forward.
"Little Raven," she corrected, turning to face him, a huge, overly happy smile on her face. Her grin was so wide it looked on the verge of splitting her head in half. "And I'm sorry, Mister Meanie Dragon, but you didn't caught us."
"We caught you!"
Malchior only barely had time to whirl around as the new speaker hurled themselves into the fray and slammed a booted foot against his jaw, sending him hurling into the far wall. Growling, Malchior pushed himself upright, filling his hands with black energy... but his eyes opened wide with shock as he saw his new opponent.
Raven. But clad in green. And as he watched, the pink entered his field of vision as well, and he glanced back and forth between them in shock. Ravens! Many of them! She had duplicated herself! Or did all those in her dimension look as she did! What was going on!
Roaring, Malchior decided to end the questions and simply settled for his favorite tactic.
Burn first, questions later.
Bolts of black energy hurled themselves from his fingertips, as the green-cloaked girl grabbed the pink one and ran down an adjacent corridor. As before, all attacks against the walls met with no damage, but he did manage to slice a gash in the green one's cloak. These ones could be hurt, at least. They could burn, they would die. He pursued after them, and to his welcome relief they led him to the mouth of the maze. He leapt into the air and soared forward, lashing out with black energy, preparing to ensnare them both and rip them to shreds. But a third Raven appeared then, launching herself at him from her hiding spot behind the entrance to the maze. He had not seem her until far too late, her fist catching him in the face and sending him flying backwards. For such a little thing, she had a respectable punch.
This Raven was grey-clad, and seemed more timid than the others. She even shrunk back as Malchior stood again, beholding all three of them.
"That was for breaking Raven's heart," said the grey-clad one, trembling fearfully as Malchior approached.
Malchior rubbed his forehead where the girl had struck him, growling darkly. The crimson gaze of his eyes grew brighter, nearly obscuring the crystal blue color beneath. "You'll pay for that, wench."
"You're the one who needs to pay!" came a voice from above.
And there... there was Raven. The true one, near as he could tell. Or at least, the only one who looked like the Raven he'd seen last outside of this infernal dimension. Clad entirely in white. Her expression was, as always, calm, but she had a hint of vindictive smirk as she descended to the ground before the others like her. More joined them, floating in from the sides or appearing from up underneath the ground. Orange, brown, yellow, purple. Malchior growled darkly. One Raven or a hundred Ravens, it would make no difference. He had her power.
As he watched, Raven's white cloaked flowed outwards and engulfed her lookalike sisters, and then flowed back around her, with them gone. It was just the two of them now.
"I see you escaped the maze," she said. "Not many can do that."
He chuckled darkly. "Aren't you scared, little Raven?"
"Scared?" she asked incredulously. Then threw back her head and laughed. "Of you! You're a fraud! A two-timing, back-stabbing lizard stuck in the body of their own worst enemy. Oh, I am petrified," she said mockingly, clutching her hands to her bosom in mock terror.
Malchior's eyes went wide at the insult, then narrowed again. Black energy crackled around his frame as crimson filled his gaze. "You..."
"You stole my power," she said. "But it is MY power. You'll never control it," she replied haughtily.
"It is mine now!" he roared at her, tearing the scarf from his face. Rorek, the wizard it had once belonged to, was handsome enough. But Malchior's evil within twisted the features, brought the lips up in a cruel sneer, narrowed the eyes with pure hatred.
And, as Raven watched, they flashed pure crimson.
Almost, she thought.
Quickly she conjured up her own powers, meager that they were. Black energy shot from her hands and sliced at Malchior, who leapt up and out of the way. But he had no been their target, and she scooped up great handfuls of earth, rock and dust and hurled them up, creating a smokescreen so she could vanish from his view. Malchior dropped back down to the ground, growling darkly, his eyes darting this way and that, his white hair whipping about his head like a dozen angry snakes as he searched for his prey.
"Show yourself, harlot!"
"Sure! Over here!" her voice cried out. He couldn't pinpoint it. The smoke was interfering with his vision, and his ears weren't as sensitive as they would have been as a dragon. Roaring darkly, he lashed out with his hand, using his own powers to disperse the dust. His eyes flashed crimson again... lingering this time before reverting to normal.
There!
There was Raven! Standing in front of a rock, partially crouched around the side of it, and looking at him in surprise. He'd caught her off-guard! Malchior wasted no time, and lashed out with a black energy whip. He couldn't possibly miss... he'd slice that pretty head clean from her shoulders for all the trouble she'd given him...!
But to his shock, the attack didn't connect. Or rather, it did, but not with Raven. For it wasn't Raven. A large mirror, which shattered as Malchior's attack hit, the shards flying in all directions. He threw up a hand to defend his face from the flying shards, glancing about. The mirror had been angled, so that meant the real Raven...
... he turned, spotting her exactly where he'd predicted she'd be. Standing beside a rock, using it and the angle of the mirror to conceal herself and create the illusion she was elsewhere. Only she was hurling herself towards, him, arm outstretched, and tore at the pouching hanging at his side. Malchior lashed out, but she'd already moved back to safety. Malchior growled darkly, reaching up and tugging a stray shard of glass from the back of his hand. His red blood, or rather Rorek's, bleed to the ground from the wound. It stung unmercifully.
"Nice trick," he said grudgingly, hissing in pain as he clutched his hand to his chest.
"I didn't learn everything I know from you," she replied, opening the pouch and emptying out it's contents into her hand. The crimson chakram he'd stolen, plucked right from her forehead. "Just how to seal you up in a book. Is it comfy between two leather covers?"
Malchior angry cry split the sky, or so it seemed. Black ravens abandoned the trees as his power surged. So powerful, he felt. Like his energy was limitless. An aura of black energy coalesced around his form as he grinned, lifting his head. His eyes had gone entirely crimson and pupil-less, and his teeth were sharp and pointed, like the fangs of a monster. And then, as Raven watched, two more crimson eyes sprang into existence on his forehead above the first pair. His anger was reaching a fevered pitch, and his powers were rising along with it.
Good, thought Raven.
She stared hard, thrusting out her hands, and opened an invisible pathway between herself and Malchior. In that moment, she unleashed her power. He had stolen Anger from her, and a great deal of her power, but not all of it. That last bit she'd clung to, resisted. But now, to win, she gave it to him. Fed it to him.
Malchior grinned in triumph, his powers growing stronger. Black tendrils of energy lashed away from his body, crumbling stone and reducing the landscape to rumble. Crimson thunder split the skies. The earth trembled beneath him. Glorious. He was very nearly a dragon again. So enwrapped was he in his newfound power he hadn't noticed the changes. His eyes predominantly among them. A crimson cloak had also sprung to existence around his shoulders, and now fluttered about him in the whirlwind of power he'd conjured unthinkingly. His gaze descended from the sky, and he turned it upon Raven, grinning triumphantly.
She'd collapsed, exhausted, drained, with no more power. Power she'd so foolishly given him! Power she'd enhanced by bringing him here! Fool of a mortal!
"And now, sweet Raven... you die..." he said, raising his hands, filling them with power.
"No... you do," she replied.
He laughed aloud at that... at first. That was before a bright beam of crimson shot from his body, splitting his armor down the front of his breastplate. He gasped in shock, slapping his hand instinctively over it. Another beam of energy shot from his back, from one of his shoulderblades. And still another. He could feel them starting all over his body. Raw energy pouring forth. He barely had time for one last roar of defiance, his head arched back as crimson energy poured from his mouth and all four of his eyes. The lines spread, grew, as crimson energy traced cracks along his armor and then his skin, and he gave one last shriek as his entire body seemed to do nothing less than explode. Fragments fell around Raven, but quickly dissipated, swallowed by the realm of Raven's mind. Her realm. Her turf. Her powers.
Where Malchior had once floated, now floated a new figure, emerged from the shattered remains of Rorek's body. Another Raven. But one clad in crimson and bearing a hate-filled, four-eyed gaze. She glared down at her counterpart.
"It is over," said Raven.
Anger, though defiant, reluctantly nodded her head. And her body dissolved into crimson energy that poured into Raven, as the two become one once more, and Raven became healed. All her aches and pains vanished, her body restored to full health. To say nothing of her spirit. Anger, once the most prominent of her emotions, now stood on equal ground with Happy, Timid, Brave, and all the others. Being separated had indeed weakened Raven, but not the part she had first thought. Anger had been the one weakened. Without Trigon to fuel the dark emotion, it's power had diminished. And Raven's other emotions had grown stronger. Now, they were equal, and her control absolute. She could feel.
Naturally, her first feeling was one of completion. And maybe even a little self-satisfaction.
One last thing to do, she realized.
Raising her hand, she opened her palm holding her chakram, the one obtained from Malchior. The gemstone which was, coincidently, the exact same one resting in her forehead at that moment. Raising her voice, she intoned the words to use her magic, activating a spell she'd only ever dared use once before, to rescue Cyborg from the past. Now, as then, she opened a swirling one-way portal to the appropriate destination. Curling up her finger and holding the gem in the palm of her other hand, she flicked the gemstone into the portal, watching as it vanished from view.
Full circle.
What once had been empty, had then been full. And now was whole. Wrapping her ivory cloak around herself, Raven floated up and headed towards the Forbidden Door and back to her friends.
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Author's Notes:
Blackfire's knowledge of alien martial arts was noted in 'Sisters,' but I figured by now Starfire would've been taught a move or two by Robin. Raven's "lesson" comes from 'Switched,' where the two girls had to learn to control one another's powers (both fueled by emotion). X'Hal was mentioned briefly in 'Betrothed.' The majority of Raven's mind comes of course form 'Nevermore' including the Forbidden Door, the floating stone pathway, the Labyrinth and of course the multiple Ravens (Happy, Timid and Brave, primarily). Raven's mirror trick was primarily inspired by 'Bunny Raven' as was her use of trickery to outwit another foe with superior magic. Next time: Nightwing and the Ravager duel to the end.
TDR3RD: I wrote each fight on a different day so I could make each the best it possibly could be, and I'm glad you enjoyed my hard work.
Yomioiri-Wolfdemon: Ooh-kay, right, uh-huh. GoGo was cute and all, with the schoolgirl outfit, but nobody can compare to delicate yet deadly O-Ren "Cottonmouth" Ishii. No one.
Todd fan: Work good. Fun better. Enjoy, relax, put your feet up, you've written enough for ten people already.
Scathac's Warrior: I considered that, and it's under the Fanfic special section under alternate endings. Also includes alternate ending where Beastboy let's Deathfang fall to his death.
Elrohirthewriter: Of course they're stubborn. They're playing for high stakes, it's not like those HIVE brats who cut tail and run when it's no longer any fun.
Anwen: Okay, frequent updates, but only 'cause you asked oh-so-nicely.
Comet-hime: Well presumably that answers your question about the chakram. Yay, piccies kewl! Draw as many as you like.
Snea: Well, as you can see, Malchior got everything he deserved, didn't he? Meanie. Each member of Tartarus will get a fate both fitting and deliciously ironic. I do so love poetic justice.
Kokuryu: An interesting idea, but I plan to end my stint into the DC-verse by the end of this story, and move on to writing for anime's and other shows. But please, if Ravager inspires you, feel free to use that. I'll continue to read, and eagerly anticipate 'Future Storm.' Feel free also to make use of Dove, who you will see later. You'll know why.
Blackbird: You guess correctly, for it will indeed be most intense a battle. A shameless plug indeed, but go right ahead. Only way to get reviews is to get exposed. Any starving artist will tell you that.
ViciousAssassin: Glad you're enjoying the fights and eagerly anticipating the fights to come. It does indeed rule when the good guys win, does it not?
Piccolo999: Family Lost is indeed a good series, and was some of the greatest inspiration for the Blood whom I have been writing about. Still, I like the show's Blood, he has his moments as a villain. And he certainly isn't half as annoying as the likes of Kitten or Grkksclech.
LoCaD: Neither did Blood. Ouch. I'm glad you're both enjoying the fights and are surprised by what I'm doing with the characters. I try to keep my audience on it's toes.
Ultimate R-Man: Oh please save that salute, I have not yet begun to fight… er… I mean write. Wait until the end of chapter twenty, if you would. Or the story itself.
Ray1: Classic anime fight formula. Tell 'em something that breaks their resolve or ticks 'em off, then rip 'em a new one.