Author's Notes: I felt so mean for talking about Star in that way in this chapter, but hopefully fellow Kory fans will forgive me – I'm not saying it because I don't like her! However, I've noticed that increasingly she is perceived as being stupid/ignorant of even simple things.

I felt worse for Tara in this chapter, though. I want to give her a break! And I'm sure she wants to give me one too – arm(?), leg(?), maybe? No thanks, Tara, I've all ready got stitches!

In other news: The time draws near when the gloves to come off for Terra and Blake! Finally!

The Training Grounds had recently been upgraded, with almost a dozen changes. Of course Blake knew what they were, and how to perfectly execute her drills, so there wasn't any reason for the others to explain anything.

However, Robin went through it anyway – just in case Kory had forgotten how to do it. Just because she didn't natively speak English meant that she was stupid, ignorant, and couldn't do a thing for herself, you know.
"First you launch yourself off of the start pad," He explained, "and follow the pathway that loops around the Tower. We highlighted the path by painting a yellow strip along the ground because Starfire kept getting lost. There'll be a lot of obstacles along your way so keep an eye out for them. We'll be timing you, but also judging you on your abilities. Speed isn't everything, and we want you to mauver through each obstacle – not skip any."

Blake nodded. Robin folded his arms against his chest, smiling.
"You want someone to show you how it's done?" Raven asked
"Well maybe..." Blake shrugged her shoulders, even though she really didn't need it, but by doing so allowing a window to open for plot advancement.

"I'll do it!" Tara piped in, raising her hand as she spoke. Before anyone even made a move she ran up to the platform, and set it up for her run.
Terra launched herself off of the starting platform in a fashion similar to that of a dive. During her fall she summoned a piece of earth to land on – and some funky BGM – something she did expertly.
Time: 4 seconds.
The first obstacle presented itself immediately, when several pillars of rock lifted themselves out of the ground to form columnar obstacles for her. Terra was impressed with herself as she narrowly avoided any of them, and weaved out with no damage done at all.
Time: 15 seconds.
The second challenge was very much the same – avoiding being hit by various things that sprung out of nowhere, and it became clear that the course was now either completely designed around defensive skills, or that it was now divided into the two separate sections of defence and offence. At the start of the fourth challenge, and a time of 36 seconds the offensive drills began.
Terra split her vessel into halves, and while she remained on one half, she caused the other to fracture into more pieces that flung themselves at the targets popping up left, right and below. As she wasn't familiar with the new target positions, she missed a few, and headed to the next course.
Time: 45 seconds.
Clay pigeons flew at her, and Terra once again halved her rock disk, and hit most targets with shards of that rock. The rest of the course continued much the same, with Terra dismounting herself from her rock (now the size of her palm) gracefully, and letting that rock drop into her hands as she stuck a pose.
Final Time: 1.03.

"Pretty good, huh?" She smirked proudly as she approached the others, who were all grouped together in a circle. They were probably commenting on her progress. It hadn't been too long ago when she'd completely hopeless at this very course. She was sure it was harder now than it had been when she'd first tried it, and she was proud to think of her dramatic progress.
She beamed at her friend's (and Blake's) backs, allowing herself to daydream a little, and imagined the compliments they'd give her in just a few seconds.

"So it's settled then," Garfield stepped back as Tara approached them, accidentally bumping her against the shoulder, "Rae'll take her 'round."
"Great!" Blake and Raven squeaked simultaneously, clenching their fists beneath their chins and grinning, while making a 'squee!' fangirl noise.

Tara raised her eyebrows, looking surprised: "What's going on?"
"Where did you go? We were just discussin' who'll take Blake around the course." Victor answered.
"Huh?"
"You know – show her the ropes."
"Well, I..." Tara's eyes shifted back to the course. She'd all ready done it, and...to say the least it would have to be offline for a half-hour while they reset it. Oops.

"What the-?"
"Who did this!"
"How awful!"
"What happened!" Kory's eyes widened. It was strange because Kory wasn't being her usual dumb self – nobody knew what was going on, or had been going on. Only Tara winced slightly as the others looked around for the culprit. She didn't want to be caught as having been the one responsible for ruining the training session. As much as she hated Blake, she didn't want to disappoint the others, so she participated in a quick search of the premises – "looking for the real 'evildoer'".
It really wouldn't have been hard for the others to realize that it had been Tara. Honestly. She was the only one who had been absent from their chat, and she was the only one sweaty, a little dirty, and she had the rock still in her hands. However, since nobody was paying much attention to her, she thought she'd gotten away with it.

That was until Victor looked over at her again. Tara felt his eyes on her, and dropped the stone like it was hot coals. She then beamed widely at him, in an attempt to distract him.
"Whuzzat ya got there?" He approached. And Tara looked nervously from side to side. Had she been caught?

Victor's words had caught the attention of the others, and they moved in. Tara trembled slightly in her shoes, and cringed again. She just knew they would be mad at her, and if they had thought that she was sabotaging Blake's run on the course. Well, okay, she would have to put sabotage on her 'to-do list', but she really did only mean to show off a little, not to make the others angry. This didn't make sense!
Robin picked up the rock and inspected it. His eyes then moved up to meet Tara's (Well, behind the mask you can't SEE Dick's eyes, but Tara just imagined that was what was happening when he raised his head again).

"What's this?" He asked, though it was difficult to tell wether he was angry, or just genuinely asking her if she knew.
"Uhm..." Tara leaned backwards only slightly. Then she had an idea. She placed her hands behind her back and summoned for the rock in his hands to suddenly launch itself upwards, and away into the bushes, "...what are you talking about?" A little sweat formed on her forehead, as she looked nervously at him. She doubted it would work, and it didn't. Robin's eyes (or rather mask) narrowed, and he held up his empty hand.
"Terra." He began, "I want to-"

"Aah!" A stranger's voice interrupted him, and everybody turned in the direction – forgetting all about whatever it was they'd been speaking of. Tara struggled to hide her relief as Jinx hobbled out of the nearby bushes holding her head – which had a large bump on it. Apparently she'd been struck by a suspicious falling stone, but the Teen Titans never found that out, with the exception of Tara, who thanked her lucky stars.

"What are you doing here?" Blake stepped forward, taking a pose and pointing directly at the villain. Her allies appeared from behind her.
"What the heck did you do that for?" Jinx winced as she tended to the big bump on her head.
"We haven't even done anything yet!" Her short companion, Gizmo, added.
"Oh, you've done it now..." Blake's eyes narrowed and she pulled out her magic wand, "...Expeliarmus!"
...
...and nothing happened.
"It didn't work!" She exclaimed, shaking her wand energetically, "They must have advanced abilities in the Dark Arts!"

"Do you have any idea what she's talking about?" Jinx, who had fully recovered, whispered to Gizmo. He only shrugged – very confused.

"It's so on now!" Blake took a fighting pose, "I'll beat you to a pulp!"

"And who is she?" Jinx asked Gizmo again. Again, he shrugged.

((To be continued))

Author's Reflection: This didn't turn out as I'd originally thought! I always had Tara running off and ruining the training run for Blake by accident and then when Vic found her with the stone, she distracted him and kicked it away, but then when I had the sudden thought to bring Jinx and co. into the story I couldn't do it any other way. I hope that because of this the story isn't too hard to understand. It was difficult to write Tara's thought process and experiences in this chapter from a point of view that you didn't sypmathize with her too much, and yet you didn't think her a total cow (If you're a Blake fan, that is) either.

I like the idea of a hero/heroine going into battle, yet the enemies have no idea on who he/she is. I also intentionally added the Harry Potter reference there, as in the original profile she has powers from multiple unrelated universes. I figured "Hey, I had to use this!", and once again, the villains have no idea of how to react to it. When I was writing Jinx, Gizmo and Behemoth (though he doesn't really appear beyond assumption), I had more of the GO! cartoon in mind. Hopefully that helps for the next chapter, when there will be action.

As I mentioned at the starting notes, I've got stiches in my right arm at the moment. I keep moving to scratch it all the time, which has added probably a little more distraction.

Until next time