Hello! My name is ExuseGirl, here to tell you what's been taking Slushie so long for she is cowering in fear of angry reviewers! She didn't get spring break as fast as you people and was stuck with a horrid History Project. Plus, she just wanted a few other Raven-rooters before the final battle of the first round and she had a birthday and such…. C'mon, not everybody's like Rhea Hiryuu.

Now to do her mail:

I have to thank desert-tiger for the Aqua-plushie idea for Slushie, so thank you desert-tiger.

Luna, BatGirl is blonde, so I would suggest any other people to bug her about that because it will be the death of her, I suppose. If you must, check out CerisaTempest's review which, supposedly, explains it all. So please cease bothering her about that.

Sorry teen-cremosia-titan and Hekatie and all the other Terra fans, it would just seem awkward for three titans to win (looks towards "Winner Take All")… Yeah, but don't worry, Slushie plans on using everyone equally (like a chappie with what happens in the pendant) although as Rowlingfan and teen cremosia-titan have noticed, it is leaning a bit toward Rae and Lilith.

Now the final battle of the first round! The duel of shadows! The fight to the finish! The chapter that will be the current death of this fanfiction writer!

Duel: Raven vs. Bat Girl

Arena: Haven of Ebony

Alternate Title: A Dazed Confusion

Chapter 8 Raven vs. Bat Girl

It was uneven darkness. The aspect was visible to the deep abyss of Raven's shallow eyes. It was uneven, but still beautiful, like paintings and sculptures….beautiful yet not quite the same as reality. She admired it like a work of art. The shadows wrapped around her seamlessly together like the threads of a tapestry or the muscles that make the heart. They had voices. They sang. They wept. Yet, they are still not pure. 'Nothing is pure these days, not even darkness,' Dark Raven reminded her.

'Quiet…' Raven reminded Anger, herself.

'Just saying….' muttered Anger again in the back of Raven's head defensively.

If this was the arena, Raven thought. Then it was probably most fitting for her. She was not, however, so sure for her opponent, Batgirl, who, like Robin, has not powers but an assortment of gadgets. From what was heard from Robin's rants, she would probably be most like him; the reason she became a heroine was to get attention from Robin. Reminded her of a certain crazy fangirl by the name of Kitten….than again also Starfire….and a lot of people, she guessed. Whoa….

Raven's thoughts were interrupted as she heard someone's exceptionally loud voice.

"Why's it so dark in here? What are they trying to make me, blind? I'm a Cali Girl, you know, SUN and lots of it! Sheesh, it's like the BatCave in here!"

A rough scratching noise rang in Raven's ears to the right side of her as someone struck a match. A warm light balanced on the stick and bounced to what seemed several candles around the room.

"That's better, way past comfort zone, but better…" sighed BatGirl. She glanced at Raven as if first noticing the dark teen was there. "Oh! Hi!" she smiled.

"Hi…" said Raven way past her little comfort zone.

"I am soooo sorry. You probably want to start the battle now. I just need a teensy-weensy time to brush up on my mascara…" smiled BatGirl embarrassed.

"Oh no, it's all right. Take your time…" said Raven.

BatGirl turned and got out a tiny mirror and started to apply her eyeliner and such while Raven didn't know what to do and decided to sit down and meditate.

"I'm ready now…" said BatGirl. Raven turned and placed her legs firmly on the ground.

"Sorry about that, but I needed the time. Oh, but don't underestimate me! I'm not ditzy like Aquagirl or Wondergirl. And, like Clay said, who can resist Robin, I know you can't…"

Raven narrowed her eyes. Was this girl actually suggesting…..

"Just don't underestimate me…" repeated Betty before Raven murdered her. "I'm not like the others. I take things seriously. If you want 100, I give 100. That's my motto as an artist, and I take that motto seriously, hon'."

Raven looked up slightly impressed but satisfied.

Betty cracked her knuckles and formed into a Robin-like stance. Raven answered by bringing her dark hazed hands toward her body in a form used a lot in her home, Azarath.

The stage is set. The actresses are ready. And, as the demon in Raven licked her lips; a gesture unbeknownst to Raven herself at the moment, the hunt is on.

Once an unknown clock struck twelve, Bat Girl made the first move, grasping one of the various trinkets on her belt which opened revealing a long pole. With a loud ear-ringing war cry she ran blindly to her opponent.

'That's Robin-like, definitely Robin-like,' thought Raven as she prepared to deflect the blow.

However instead of striking Raven with the pole, she placed it firmly on the ground and used it as a pole vault leaping over the titan and landing crouched down on her feet at the other side finishing this with a fast low spin kick tripping Raven.

Raven, on the floor, groaned but looked up with wide eyes as Bat Girl was falling toward her to do a heel-drop kick. This time, Raven concentrated to- where? Anywhere, she hurriedly decided and started to sink deep into the ground. Bat Girl landed on her feet and looked around by the light of the candles.

She looked down where Raven's forehead and white shining eyes emerged through the shadow underneath Betty's boots. Two of her hands also emerged with a dark aura brandishing a long, unlit candelabrum which she spun over her head tripping BatGirl.

"Ooof," Bat Girl replied falling on her butt. "Everybody is thinks their soooo cool flying around…and the powers…I never asked for any of this….of the magic…and the scariness…zero powers…life sucks…" she grumbled to herself while getting up and rubbing her sore ankles.

"Azarath Metreon Zinthos," chanted Raven while BatGirl was distracted. She felt the cold, warm sensation again flowing in her heart now surging through her veins and into her palms. All this dense demonic energy was concentrated into the dark aura above her wrists and her eyes lit up brightly immediately. She extended her arms around her toward many of the unlit candelabras which also began to glow the same dark color as her hands and levitate up into the air and floated above her head. Then Raven just pointed them toward BatGirl with a little momentum and let go causing them to careen towards the little dark knight.

They all landed and stuck deep into the ground around BatGirl caging her.

For a moment Betty was still mumbling about life and junk and didn't even notice she was trapped. When she did, she looked around at the long bars extremely surprised.

"You really think this is all that it takes?" she mumbled at Raven.

Raven, midair, shrugged. "I tend to do what I can with what I have where I am."

"Nice one," Betty chuckled and her hand reached towards her belt once again and grabbed what looked like Robin's grappling hook but pink and released it into the darkness where it grabbed something.

BatGirl watched as the thin but sturdy wire pulled her self out of the cage. She did not expect Raven's face forming in the shadows and Raven's dark-empowered hands clasped tightly around the hook. Betty totally forgot about her.

With one hand Raven gave the rope a strong tug sending BatGirl towards her, and the other, with all its dark and power, to send BatGirl flying.

"Nice…" replied the grounded BatGirl.

"Just let your gadgets do the talking…" replied Raven moody due to the excessive dialogue of this battle.

BatGirl reached towards the belt and tossed some disks towards Raven.

Raven just dodged them with a toss of her head. Watching Robin made this just too easy, but to her surprise the disks headed back towards her.

Once she dodged the attack from behind, they spun around and continued to follow her.

"They follow you, or more precisely, your intense magic," explained Betty.

Raven summed up their range, and with an "Azarath-Metrion-Zinthos," pulled up a piece of flooring to barricade her. Once the disks hit, they erupted.

"Oh yeah, and they explode to…" explained Betty once again.

It was very difficult for Raven to continue evading these disks as she has already tapped into her emergency power. If she just-!

Raven's thoughts were interrupted by one of the disks that struck her behind her hood and exploded. The collision made her fall dizzily to the ground.

With her optic nerve damaged, she once again entered into the dark, dark abyss of unconsciousness. However, in the deep darkness before she slipped into her inner mind, she remembered a seeing a light. A candle in the darkness. The light was roughly in the form of a young boy in his teens perhaps. He looked at her with awe and disappointment.

"If lack of energy is all that is holding you back…" he replied narrowing his eyes.

"Who are you?" Raven solemnly replied and started biting her lip in pain. Anger. For some reason, she was writhing in a pool of anger.

The boy took a step back in fear. Nothing new, was Raven's immediate thought. With a motion of his hand, energy flowed through Raven's blood.

Meanwhile,

"Raven? Are you Okay?" BatGirl said while she poked to the motionless titan. "I guess I won…" she said sitting up and smiling. A crackling noise from behind her told her otherwise….

Raven sat up from the ground, and briskly swiped the dust from her costume. A shadow was cast over her eyes by her lowered head and a trickle of blood ran down her hair.

"….I guess not," BatGirl stated before remembering this little trivial thing called "chivalry" and asked if Raven was okay.

The dark teen did not answer.

In truth, she was fighting this anger in her mind. Her dark side persistently wished to take control, but her lighter half forbade it. The lighter half won, her anger gave in for the sheer reason that she did not know why she was in such anger. It was so trivial and pointless to an overwhelming power.

Raven looked up, her eyes normal and wide instead of red and doubled.

"Look, I'm sorry about this," she replied to the caped crusader. "But something happened, and I'm really confused right now… So I'll have to end this quick."

Raven placed her right hand around her other's wrist allowing it to enlighten with jolts of dark energy. Then, she swiftly reached towards Betty. The hand went through BatGirl like thin air and traveled down her spin. Betty shivered voluntarily and fell to the ground asleep.

Raven looked towards her hands as BatGirl begun to fade. How did she do that? She certainly didn't know how to do that before. She sighed. All this confusion is giving her a splitting headache.

She looked towards the dark around her.

'Who was that boy?' she commanded a reply from the shadows.

They cowered in fear and respect, but obeyed in a strange song in a strange language.

'Searching his cold thoughts

Running away from darkness

A dazed confusion

Savage memories burn true

Guilt flows through pools in closed eyes'

Raven nodded. And somewhere, that same boy glanced towards the Master of Game's Dome, his back against a lamp post, in as much confusion as the daughter of Trigon.

………………………………………………….

My, who is that guy? Well, there you have it! All wrapped up in a nice black bow. Not the best effort, but… yeah that was her best. Must thank Slushie's friend "Lauren" who does not wish much info about her only that she wrote that lil' poem up there called "Running from Darkness" while Slushie wrote one about a little blue beetle. Guess which poem made the chapter?

Here are all those crazy, wonderful fans no Raven: Muggle Buddy, desert-tiger, nevermoretheraven, ravensisforever0498, Febreese, KaoriNeko, FREE MONEY! WOOHOO, Darkend Water Angel, RabidPumpkingMonkeyGoddess, beebop999999, Hekatie.

Sigh, what else to say..hmmm… Oh yeah,

THE POLLS ARE OFFICIALLY CLOSED!

I repeat,

THE POLLS ARE OFFICIALLY CLOSED!

But that doesn't mean you do not have to review… now I'm off to find Slushie…