Legacy of the Tamaranian
Chapter Seven

There it was. The door of the temple. The cloaked figure examined the markings, and tried to decipher them. But somehow he, (or perhaps she, as we cannot tell beneath the cloak), could not. He had taken the time to learn the Tamaranian language... But this writing was in an ancient dialect.

No matter, though, as the cloaked figure recalled a rumor. That rumor was that only a Tamaranian would be allowed access to the temples. Oh well, it was worth a shot. Now, his best option would be to proceed to the race's home world of Tamaran and wait for the so-called "Titans" there...

0000

"Flog'nard b'len y'tro tis't all'gar!" Starfire jokingly cursed Collin in her native tongue as she tackled him and gave him a light tap in the gut. Of course considering Tamaranian strength, a light tap was to a human the equivalent of getting shot by a high-velocity paint ball.

"Ouch!" Collin yelled. "OK, that served me right."

Robin arrived shortly after and helped Starfire to her feet. "That was low, man," he growled at Collin.

"I know, I know. At least Cyborg thought it was funny."

"Heh. That I did," said Cyborg.

"Well. We're here now," Robin announced craning his neck to look up at the massive temple in front of them. Chasing Ragnarök down had taken them all the way across the massive bridge, and now, the five stood in awe of the temple's height. "Star, you can get us in, right?"

Starfire nodded. "This way."

Starfire lead them around the temple to a massive gate that must have been 50 feet high and perhaps 70 wide.

"How do we get in?" Cyborg asked.

Kori said nothing, but rather walked over to the gate and held up the device her sister had given her as she died: the key to the Temples of X'hal. She placed it in a small indention in the door and spoke. "Fas n'dar X'hal, T'kak Basta Koriand'r gaf Tamaran!"

Whatever Kori had said into the door, the key began to glow, and the markings on the door did likewise. Then a faint rumbling started and gradually grew more pronounced as the doors slid away. The path was opened.

The five Titans walked into the antechamber of the temple, with walls lined with what appeared to be silver, and floors of polished stone. It reminded Robin out of something from Indiana Jones, as though the walls were covered in shiny metal, there were vines growing through the cracks in the ceiling and floor, and the silver had tarnished after centuries of neglect. Perhaps it wasn't silver, then, but something like it.

0000

"Nice place. Roomy." Arsenal said as he followed Cyborg in. The walls must have stretched over 200 feet up to the ceiling, and that was just the antechamber. Suddenly, a voice echoed throughout the room, and Cyborg understood it (as he had recently learned the Tamaranian language while under the influence of the Max-7...)

"Warning. The temple security has detected non-Tamaranian life-forms within the holy area. Activating temple security."

If the Titans had been outside, they would have noticed that an enormous power beam had been shot from the top of the temple, signaling the defenses in on the other planets of the solar system. But they were too busy fighting off the giant vines that attacked them, spewing forth from hidden doors throughout the temple walls.

0000

Starfire flew up and started blasting at a group of vines that had entangled Robin, and Arsenal let loose some tachyon arrows, shredding and burning others. The five Titans retreated from the tall but narrow antechamber into a much larger chamber ahead of them, where the vines continued to attack. Cyborg and Ragnarök stood back to back, blasting vines with their Earth Moving and Sonic Canon, while Kori and Robin took turns basting them and cutting them with Birdarangs. Robin chose to hack rather than throw, as he only had a limited number of them. Cyborg quickly found sonics pretty much worthless against the vines, and instead activated his buzz-saw.

"Speedy.. I mean Arsenal!" Robin yelled over his shoulder. A vine lashed at his face and Arsenal cut it down with a buzz saw arrow. "Do you have any fire-based arrows?"

Roy dived to the ground and came up with, of all things, a huge combat knife, standing next to Robin, who was still hacking. "Yeah, But we'll need to get out of here first. They're napalm."

"Cyborg," Robin yelled, "I need ideas!"

0000

Victor, who had been listening to Roy and Tim's conversation, stopped cutting long enough to look around, and it was a good thing he did, because a plant resembling a Venus Fly Trap lashed its "head" at him where his back had been a second ago. He grabbed it and crushed it with his left bionic arm. Then he surveyed the area. The door the Titans had entered through was now completely blocked with evil plants. They had taken some steps down from there, and were in a depression in the floor with stairs going up in a circle around the room, only three steps but about 6 feet higher than they were. And on the far from where they had entered, there were three doors, one facing north, one northeast and one northwest...

Starfire flew up, but was grabbed by a vine that hurled her to the northwest door, breaking it open. "I say we go through the door Star just made and let Roy use the burn arrow from that room," Cyborg said.

And so the five went, Collin last, as he was farthest, but before he could get to the door, a vine lashed out at him and he caused a spike of rock to shoot out of the ground and cut through it and some of it's friends, and then started pelting them with rocks until he could get close enough. He turned to go through the hole, when a vine grabbed him around the waist. "Argh!"

"Ragnarök!" Robin yelled.

"Collin!" said Starfire at the same time.

"Robin, get you grapple-gun out!" Suddenly, a missile shot forth from Cyborg's shoulder, exploding at the base of the vine cluster trying to rip Collin in two, and he quickly launched himself away, hacking with hastily-formed rock blades. "Booyah!"

Robin shot him with his Bat-Grapple, snapping around the collar of his armor and reeling him in. "Now, Roy!"

Arsenal grabbed an incineration arrow from his quiver and set it in his bow. Collin slammed into a jagged piece of door that Kori had not knocked off, removing it and probably leaving a painful bruise, but it left the room free of Titans, and Arsenal let the arrow loose. It flew into the center of the room, by some miracle not being stopped by a random vine and crashing into a vine cluster in the middle, spilling napalm everywhere, which immediately flared up, burning the vines..

"Get down!" Cyborg yelled, coving the door while everyone else dived. His molybdenum-steel body could take high temperatures, and he used himself to plug the room so the Titans would not be burned by backdraft.

After what sounded like a wail of agony from the vines, they stopped moving, all charred to a crisp.

Robin, Star, and Arsenal all stood up, and Cyborg stepped away from the door with a slight limp, caused by melting of certain wires. That could be repaired though. "You OK, Collin?" Robin asked.

"I think so," he said, "but my ribcage feels like a watermelon after that guy from Mail Call gets done with it..."

"Right. Can you walk?" Robin asked.

"I think so." Collin replied.

Cyborg looked around again, this time noticing they were in a small hallway with Tamaranian writings on the wall. He tried to translate them, but they made no sense. "Star, what's with these walls? They say 'You stopped choosing the correct highway.' And this one over here says 'Only the motherly may embrace.'"

"No, Vic," Kori said as she walked over. "They are in an ancient dialect of my people's native language. This one says that we've chosen the right path, and this one says that only the righteous may enter."

"Your language has changed a bit over the years, then," said Arsenal.

"Yes. Much of our ancient culture was lost with the 25-Septar War."

"Um, forgive me, Starfire," Collin said, "but exactly how long is a 'septar'?"

Kori walked over to the door and examined it. "About two Earth-years," she said absently. "It ended fifty years ago, and my people were forever changed."

"Is that why there aren't many cities on Tamaran?" Robin asked.

"No, there were never many cities," she answered, opening the door, which led to another hall, this more brightly lit than the last. "We're getting closer."

Cyborg took up the rear, so he saw when Collin walked up beside Kori, and he seemed nervous... So Cyborg took the liberty of listening in.

"S... Kori," Collin started."

"Yes?"

"I was wondering if there was any chance you big temple of X'hal on Tamaran could have perhaps been destroyed by the meteor. You think maybe..."

"Not a chance," Kori cut him off. "My ancestors feared bombardment from space, and since that would likely hit the cities, they built the temple on the other side. It seems they were wise in the long run."

Cyborg heard the most awful dread in Collin's voice when he replied, "Yeah, it seems that way..."

0000

"Man, Clash of the Planets was a total rip-off of Star Wars and you know it!" Impulse yelled at Beast Boy, whose skin had finally lost its pink shade after Raven had suggested a shower.

"C'mon, Bart," Gar countered, "They were both released in '77... What if Clash came first and Lucas copied it!"

"Star Wars premiered in May, CotP didn't start until the new season of shows began in September. It's a rip-off."

Gar felt a vein throb in his forehead. "Well, Star Wars totally copied CotP on the 'main villain being the hero's father' thing!"

"That 'revelation' didn't' happen until season four, episode one, and you know it. Season four premiered in September of 1980... four months after Empire Strikes Back!"

"Guys," Raven said as she entered, "I can feel your tempers flaring from the rooftop, please calm down!"

"Sorry." Bart and Gar said in unison.

"Did anyone get the mail today?" Raven asked, looking at Beast Boy.

"Um... I thought it was Robin's day."

"But Robin isn't here now, so you need to go get it. I got it yesterday. And make sure you check for bombs or hostile puppets this time."

"Right."

0000

Gar returned shortly later with a hand full of letters.

"OK, here we go. For Robin. Robin. Robin. Three for Starfire too. Bills. Taxes. Junk mail..." Something caught his eye. "Hey!"

"What?" asked Bart.

"Someone from Viamount Brothers Studios sent me a rather hefty envelope! I bet they want me to be the macho male lead in their next blockbuster!"

"Not likely," answered Raven.

"OK. Not a blockbuster--even better!" Gar said as he studied the letter. "They're offering me the part of 'Tork, the green alien dude' in the upcoming new series Space Trek 2022!"

"Oh, for the love of...!" Bart rolled his eyes. "You and your stupid, stupid rip off science fiction."

"What do you mean?" Beast Boy shot back.

"Space Trek is an obvious rip off of Star Trek! They don't even hide it like Clash of the Planets tried... TREK is in the name for crying out!"

"That doesn't mean anything!"

"I hope Paramount sues. Plagiarism is..."

Beast boy cut him off, "Stealing from one person. If you steal from a bunch of people it's called research!"

"Fine. You win. But..."

"ENOUGH!" Yelled Raven. "I can't take this arguing. Calm down, or go outside. It's still early."

"Raven, it's three in the morning."

"Fine. I'm going to go check on Thunder and lighting. Can you please refrain from killing each other."

And she left.

0000

"Killing each other? Dude, this was just a friendly argument, right?"

Bart looked over at the Gamestation. "Yup. Wanna mangle for a while?"

"Dude, I'm so tired of Mangler Brothers."

"How bout Mech Racer?"

"You're so on!"

0000

"We, thank you for you hospitality, Raven." Thunder said, looking up at her.

"Indeed." Lightning felt his neck, where the collar had been. "You wouldn't believe how bad it was under that monster's control."

"Actually, I think I can imagine," Raven replied. "So, why were you back in town?"

"Truthfully, we were looking for our father. But that is not your concern. We will leave first thing tomorrow and continue our search."

"Your father..." Raven said absently. What is it and fathers lately? Tim's father had recently been murdered. Galfore, who had practically been Kori's father since her parents had died, was recently turned into a pile of ash on Tamaran, or at least so indicated Robin's last transmission. And Grant's father Slade was working with Raven's own father, the demon Trigon... "Is there any way the Titans can help?"

"No, I don't think so. He was military. And metahumans and military have historically not mixed well." Raven knew it was an excuse, and could tell there was another reason, but she decided not to pry. Thunder sat down on the bed that Raven had provided him."It is best we get some rest, now. We leave at dawn."

0000

"What is it?" Arsenal said in amazement, looking up at the big statue that dominated the room Kori had led them to.

"It's the guardian of the Catalyst. It is something like what we would call an angel on Earth."

"Whoa." Cyborg chimed in, "There is a massive energy reading coming from a point about 150 feet up on that thing. Could that bee where you Catalyst is?"

Starfire flew up, the room's musty smell growing as she ascended, until she found herself staring at the 'jewel' on the guardian's necklace. The green Catalyst. Carefully, she removed the ancient device and let herself fall back to the floor.

"Here it is, my friends. The first of the Tamaranian powers." She held it out for the remaining five Titans to see.

"What? That's it? It's so... small." Robin blurted.

"Yes, it is small, Tim, but it wields immense power, as do all the Catalysts."

"She's right, Robin." Cyborg leaned over to study it with his electronic eye. "It's generating twice as much per second as one of my power cells."

"What powers it?" Collin asked.

"Huh?" Robin eyed him quizzically.

"Well, unless the Tamaranians have figured out perpetual energy, something has to be generating that power."

"It takes it's power from all foliage, Collin. From the plant life of this world, it draws energy."

"Oh. Good enough for me."

The Titan's exit was pretty uneventful, except the room in which the plants had been burned stank so much that both Roy and Collin had thrown up. After leaving Verden, the team next went to Olowa and retrieved the Prism Catalysts, having to battle sand monsters that went down without much of a fight. Fearing the perpetual darkness of Coris, Starfire had decided to go to the outer reaches of the system and retrieve the red Catalyst from Holoth third. The planet was in the outer reaches of the system, and had required all the Titans to suit up in special thermal gear, except for Kori who could even survive in a vacuum.

"How can you stand wearing that miniskirt?" Robin asked as he shivered and staggered up beside Starfire.

"My species can survive even the cold of space, Robin. This is as nothing to me."

"Then why don't you burn up on Earth?"

"We have a very high temperature range compared to humans."

"Hey, guys, there it is!" Collin announced, pointing to a distant mount that appeared no different than the rest of the area in front of them.

"How can you tell?" asked Arsenal.

Collin pointed to his threat assessment goggles. "They're the only thing on this planet that has a readable power signature."

"Cyborg?" Robin indicated to Victor.

"...He's right. How the heck do you think we got so far away? I thought I was landing right next to it."

"It must have been those uber-gales that kept blowing the ship around," Roy said.

"Should we turn back and get back to the ship and fly closer, or walk the distance in this cold." Collin asked.

Robin thought a moment. C'mon, Tim, he thought to himself, you're the leader. You have to know what to do.

"Well?" someone asked.

"We press on. If we take off in the ship, we''ll just get blown around again. I can't believe this planet has such a turbulent atmosphere, but it does. We have to stay below those gales and walk."

"I was afraid you'd say that," complained Collin and Cyborg simultaneously.

0000

The walk didn't take nearly as long as they'd thought, or else the numbness of their bodies made them oblivious to the passage of time. Either way, the five eventually made it to the entrance, and again, Kori let them in the same way she had on the previous two worlds.

And like on Olowa, the defenses were active and waiting for them when the door opened. But instead of sand creatures, they were ice monsters, with some sort of metal endoskeleton encased in a jagged body of ice.

Robin stepped out in front, with Ragnarök and Starfire on his right, and Cyborg and Arsenal on his left, in a V formation.

"Titans, GO!" Robin leaped forward, basing some ice men with his bo staff. One ice being formed his own weapon, which vaguely resembled a sword, and began trading blows with Robin. He countered high and tried to strike low, but the ice being blocked and stabbed a him. Robin backed up and deflected the blow, and then thrust the weapon forward himself, smashing into it's face. But not far enough, as it kept coming. "Crap!"

The other titans were having a bit more luck, as they attacked with enough punch to get through the ice and break or damage the metal endoskeletons. "Take their computer things out!" Cyborg yelled to Robin.

"Right." Robin hurled an explosive disk into a group near the back, and then covered himself in his cape as steam and ice shards flew everywhere. "OK, Bad idea."

"Hei-yah!" Starfire yelled, hurling starbolts into their heads, destroying their electronic brains. And in her own language she yelled, "I am a Tamaranian princess! You should not be attacking me."

But in her tongue, the temple security computer replied "You should not have brought in the outsiders. You are a traitor to your people."

Speedy found it easy enough to smash their faces and CPUs with his tachyon arrows, but found that his knife was pretty much useless against them since they were so durable. For that reason, Collin was acting as back up. The planet didn't have an earth that wasn't frozen, but he had brought a knapsack full of clods, rocks, and sand from Verden and Olowa, so he was using that ammo to form blades and bullets to fight the rock creatures at close range while Roy handled the distant ones with his arrows.

"Back off, guys," Robin said, and the quintet fell back into the antechamber that all the temples conveniently possessed.

"What now, fearless?" Cyborg yelled.

"Remember that attack we discussed last night?"

"Yeah."

"Now's the time to bust it out!"

"You mean the Ragnarök Sonic-Boom Arrow-Bolt Special?" Collin yelled.

"We never agreed on that name, but yes." Robin said.

Ragnarök formed a small spear out of the rocks and dirt he had brought, while Kori charged a starbolt and Roy primed a thermal arrow. Cyborg charged his Sonic Cannon as well, and Robin stuck an explosive disk on the back of Ragnarök's spear.

"RASBABS, GO!" Collin yelled, hurling the spear, which plowed into the center of the room the simultaneously hit with a Sonic Cannon blast, a starbolt, and Roy's arrow.

BOOM!

The room lit up, and when the flash was over, water leaked into the antechamber and the whole troupe of ice men lay melted on the floor of the second room.

"Quickly," Robin ordered, "Bash all their CPUs before new ice freezes on them!"

0000

Back on Earth, Raven sat on the roof, trying to meditate. So far so good. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos. Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos..." Suddenly, fire's erupted all around her.

WHAT YOU HAVE CONCEALED, YOU SHALL BECOME!

"No!" Raven yelled back. "I am not going to help you!"

Just as suddenly, she was back in her room, sweat dripping off of her. It had been two days since she'd last heard from Robin, and she was beginning to be nervous. And then there was her father, constantly threatening to erupt forth from her, using her has a portal to Earth to "end" the world of mortals. No pressure, right?

Nobody understood her, here either. Gar... his father had saved his life. Bart had never met his, and she couldn't talk to Mas and Menos because they didn't speak Azarath, Latin, or English... Only Spanish.

"Trevor," she whispered to herself. And she didn't like where the train of thought was taking her.

Thanks to fanfic author Jedi-and for coining the Tamaranian time measurement "Septar." Go read his Titan's fic "Flashing Lights and Sounds" Chapter ten is awesome!