Oh, man. Sorry for the very late update! I hope you didn't forget about my story here! Anyway, enough chat! Let's get this on the road!
DISCLAIMER: I...don't...own...TT...or...TMNT...ok?
Chapter 9: Comparing Training.
It had been a few weeks since the turtles had joined the Titans, and they had made a name for themselves. The entire city new who they were, and they had several fans. The turtles could finally go out in public whenever they wanted, and, far from terrifying the city, they were swarmed by fans asking for autographs, even wearing bandannas just like them. Even magazine articles about them were noticed by the turtles. They regarded this in their own special ways. Raphael thought it was cool, but wished he wasn't swarmed everywhere he went. Michelangelo loved every moment of the attention. Donatello was curious at how they could accept them so easily, and Leonardo was honored that they did accept them. Even Splinter could walk in public, and he regarded this with wonder. It had been so long since he had ever walked free.
"It sure is interesting how the whole city knows us." said Leonardo, stepping into the elevator down from the roof, having finished their morning training. "Even more interesting is how they accept us so easily."
"Yeah, well, when you get attacked by supervillains daily, and saved by superheroes twice as much, I guess it's easy to accept stuff like that." replied Raphael. "That's probably the reason."
"Whatever the reason, it sure is cool!" exclaimed Michelangelo. The turtles all agreed wholeheartedly, and rode the elevator down to where the Titans were. They had apparently gotten used to waking up this early now, as they were not nearly as tired and grumpy as they were in the first days. It was a typical morning, and the Titans had settled in for breakfast.
"Hey guys, finished training?" said Robin.
"Yeah, another brisk morning workout to help you get started." said Donatello. "You guys really should try it out."
"Thanks, Donny, but we have our own way of training." replied Cyborg.
"Really? What kind of training?"
"We'll show you later, and we can compare. How's that sound?" asked Robin.
"Sounds cool to me!" said Michelangelo, sitting near the table, and eating his own breakfast.
"Alright, then. We'll go behind the tower at around noon." said Cyborg.
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"Well, here's the training course." said Cyborg, showing the turtles the multiple objects made for presenting new dangers and obstacles. The turtles stared on.
"Interesting tactic of training. How good is it?" asked Leonardo.
"We'll show you. One by one." said Robin. "First up today would be...Starfire."
All the others stepped behind a large rock that jutted out further than the rest, which had a control panel imbedded in it. Starfire stayed down below. "I shall do my best, and impress our newest friends." she said. The others wished her good luck. Cyborg started the course and the timer.
Starfire's eyes glowed green, as she took off above the laser fire of the first rounds of the course. Firing starbolts at the first two, she destroyed them, and passed inbetween the next two, to cause them to destroy each other with their blasts. Next came volleys of boulders being launched at her, which she destroyed with numerous starbolts and eye blasts. Now came small droids that would attach to you, and give you a nasty electric shock. The problem was the droids were extremely quick, and had powerful jumping skills as well. Starfire did well, but did receive some electricity burns from droids that did get to her. The final section was customized to fit each Titan, and Starfire faced a robot that fought much like her sister, Blackfire. This was to train her in utilizing her own skills in any Tamaranean way possible. She took the longest here, but with a chance eye blast, shut down the robot. Cyborg stopped the timer.
"3 minutes, 43 seconds. Not bad, Star." he said.
"Glorius! That was indeed quicker than the last time!" she exclaimed.
The turtles studied the course, having watched each detail closely. "Well, it would seem to be a very effective way of training." said Leonardo. "I have a proposition. Why not try out our training, dueling against each other, and we can try your training course. What do you say?" he asked, extending his hand.
Robin, always up for a new challenge, shook his hand. "Deal. We'll try yours today, and you'll try ours." he said.
"Excellent. Let's get started, alright?"
The Titans agreed and headed to the roof, while the turtles stayed down below. They waited until they saw Robin signal from above, and the training began. Below, on the training course, the turtles decided for each of them to tackle one part of the course, all simultaneously. Leonardo took the drones, but his steel swords attracted bolts of lightning without them having latched on to him. Donatello smashed around the laser firing turrets, but was having trouble. Raphael took on the robot made for Starfire, but always had trouble when it went too far airborne. Michelangelo had the boulders being tossed, and wasn't faring very well. His strength allowed his nunchakus to smash the boulders, but it wore them out to the extreme. All the turtles were having quite a handful with this course.
Meanwhile on top of the tower, the Titans had their own difficulty training. Since there are five Titans, they had to match themselves against each other unevenly. The sparring was: Raven vs. BeastBoy, and Starfire vs. Robin vs. Cyborg. There seemed to be hesitation on some Titans' parts, particularly on BeastBoy, Starfire, and Robin's parts. They hesitated only for a few moments, for their not-so-hesitant comrades were on the offense, and the fighting began. Raven shot tendrils of black magic at BeastBoy, who morphed into a hawk, and flew above her, then turned into a gorilla, with his arms over his head, although he brought them down with less force than he normally would. Raven picked up rocks from below the tower, and shot them at BeastBoy, who swung at them, smashing them one by one. On the other side of the roof, Cyborg swung a powerful blow to Robin, who back-flipped away, and threw a Birdarang, but it was hit when a shower of starbolts from the air came down. Robin and Cyborg took some blows, but they weren't very powerful starbolts. Cyborg shot his Sonic Cannon at Starfire, but she shot an eyebeam out, which collided with the Cannon, causing a stalemate between beams.
The sounds of arduous training could be heard for a long distance into the city, and it went on for quite a while.
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The turtles and Titans met in the common room, to discuss the benefits of this new type of training. All where looking tthe worse for wear, but they had the unmistakable looks of invigoration. Leonardo, covered in bruises, steeped up to talk to Robin, who was cut and scraped all over.
"Well, it was fun, but I think we'll stick to our own brand of training." said Leonardo.
"Yeah, those are my thoughts exactly. It may have been a chance to learn of our own strengths and weaknesses, but we could cause far too much damage to ourselves." replied Robin.
"Yeah, and you can't get by Raven, she has no weaknesses!" yelled BeastBoy, who was sporting several cuts. Raven, the least damaged of the Titans, could be seen smirking under her hood.
The Titans and Turtles laughed at this, and went to fix themselves some nourishment. Being beaten almost senseless will work up an appetite. Soon, all was normal in the common room, with BeastBoy, Cyborg, Raphael and Michelangelo playing another video game, Raven and Donatello reading their own genre of book, and Starfire fixing Robin some new Tamaranean food. After a while, an occurence interrupted the peace. Raven went up to fix herself some herbal tea, and Robin voiced his opinion about something.
"Hey, Raven." he said. "Is your cloak lighter?"
Raven froze for a second, then tried to sound nonchalant, even though the rest of the room had gotten silent to listen in. "Is it? I haven't really noticed." she said, though with a little worry hidden deep in the monotone.
"Yeah, I think it is. But why? The last time that happend was when Malc--" he was cut short by a death glare from Raven, and quickly changed his sentence. "--I mean, when HE came around." he finished hurriedly.
"Raven fixed him with a cold stare, and said, in a tone that suggested this is the last word, or your last breath, "As far as I'm concerned, that damned dragon got what he deserved, and I believe you have no right to be prying me for information, Robin." And setting down the cup she was going to use, she walked out from the room, obviously headed towards her own room. BeastBoy could be seen staring after her.
"Did we...miss something?" asked Donatello.
"Well, it was like this. Apparently, Raven was reading one of her books, and--" said Robin. BeastBoy had already gotten up silently, not caring if anyone else noticed, and followed the direction Raven headed. He ran to make sure he caught her, and did indeed catch her before she got to her room, although only one corridor away.
"Raven!" he called out.
"Leave me alone." she said.
But BeastBoy wouldn't leave her alone when she was unhappy like this, not after his recent realization of his feelings.
"Raven, please. Just listen to me." he said, grabbing her shoulder. She shook his hand off, and turned around to face him.
"Listen to what? Are you going to tell me I'm too sensitive, that I need to loosen up, and then you'll tell me another dumb joke?" she said. BeastBoy could tell there was extreme sadness behind her words.
"No, Raven. I just want you to know...I'm here for you."
"What?"
"If there's ever a time you feel sad, lonely, unhappy...please, just talk to me. You may not know it, but I have had extreme heartache in my lifetime. I can relate to at least some of your pain. Please believe me." he said.
She looked into his eyes for a long time, and he could see he was talking serious. She didn't even know he could be this serious. She thought about rejecting his little offer then and there, but something inside her spoke up.
'Raven, don't even think about rejecting him!' it called.
'Oh, Affection. It's you.' thought Raven. 'I can't deal with you right know. I'll talk to you later. Don't worry, I won't reject him.'
'You'd better not!' said Affection, and disappeared.
"A-Alright, BeastBoy. I'll come to you next time." she said. BeastBoy brightened up his expression. "But let me ask you something. Why are you suddenly taking such an interest in my feelings?" she asked. BeastBoy's face blanked for a minute, but he tried to recover in a calm manner.
"Uh, b-because I really...care about you. Y-You're my best friend, Raven." he said. 'At least I didn't tell her I love her right here and now. That would have been a disaster!' he thought.
Raven put her hood down, and BeastBoy could see some tearstreaks on her face. He felt an extreme pain in his stomach: sadness for the girl he loved, mixed with hatred for the ones who caused her pain. He said nothing, though.
"O-Oh, well...thank you, BeastBoy." said Raven, with a little embarassment hidden in her voice. Suddenly, only slightly aware of her action, she walked forward and pulled BeastBoy into a hug, blushing quite a bit. "You're my best friend, too...BB." she said in a gentle whisper. She let go of him, blushing, and walked towards her room. "I need to meditate now. I'll...join you later, okay?"
"O-Okay..." said BeastBoy, standing still as a statue, looking as if his brain had shut down. Only dimly aware of what just happened and where he was going, BeastBoy headed back to the common room.
Raven was walking to her room, and was sharing Affection's thoughts.
'He thinks we're his best friend! This is great!' Affection was saying. Smiling, Raven felt the same way, but knew she had to meditate to control these feelings for now.
Outside, several boulders were enveloped by the purple colored energy of Affection, and melted.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Well, I do hope this makes up for the long wait! Hope you liked it a lot!
Don't forget to R&R!