Chapter 13: Battle For The Universe, Pt. II
It was another beautiful spring afternoon in Titans Tower. Raven was in the lounge section of the main room, delving her thoughts into one of her favorite novels. Beast Boy and Cyborg were playing the typical 'Race Track Nebula 2' on the giant monitor/window which overlooked the vast lake. They began to argue over the game, and Beast Boy was technically winning. Now as if out of nowhere, Cyborg pulled a victory in the end.
Standing up and dropping the controller, Cyborg told Beast Boy, "Boo-yah! In your face! You thought you were gonna win again? I think not!" Beast Boy simply shrugged as Cyborg continued to yell triumphantly at him along with victory dancing, in a very strange fashion.
Robin was off to the side of the kitchen, listening to music. He stood in front of the large stereo, silently, as his black hair blew due to the vibrations of the sound.
Starfire emerged from the sliding door, questioning, why she was home once more. Only yesterday she had been kidnapped by Blackfire. After she had fallen into a deep sleep in her prison cell, she had no recollection of what had happened afterwards and how she had arrived at Titans Tower once more.
Noticing Starfire, Robin said, "Come on it, Star. Do you wanna cook us breakfast?" Robin smiled, and Starfire smiled back, even bigger. Her eyes went wide and glistened at the request to cook her friends breakfast.
But, suddenly, Starfire realized something wrong. Something very wrong. She had not been dressed in her usual attire, but a black suit, with steel pants and sleeves. She had a slave cresent atop her head as well.
In the prison cell, on Blackfire's ship, in her control room, Starfire awoke from a once marvelous dream, panting and gasping for breath. She looked down and realized she was still in her slave outfit.
She looked up, to see the door open, and Blackfire standing in front of it. Her eyes were a solid red color, as if she was to hurl some starbolts.
She smirked, "Well, sister. How pleasant of you to join me after such a deep slumber. Raise up, because today is your day of graduation!"
Starfire gasped, and Blackfire cackled, reading a starbolt on one of her fists.
(Fade
to song)
When
there's trouble you know who to call
Teen
Titans!
From
their tower, they can see it all
Teen
Titans!
When
there's evil on the attack
You
can rest knowing they got your back
'Cuz
when the world needs heroes on patrol
Teen
Titans GO!
With
their superpowers they unite
Teen
Titans!
Never
met a villain that they liked
Teen
Titans!
They've
got the bad guys on the run
They
never stop 'till the job gets done
'Cuz
when the world is losin' all control
Teen
Titans GO!
1..
2.. 3.. 4.. Go!
Teen
Titans!
Back, within the rebel's spaceship, Val-Yor stood on a platform on the main landing platform. Robin, Raven, Cyborg, and Beast Boy stood beside him. He talked out to the vast army of Vernathians and Tamaraneans in front of him.
"Here is the plan," Val-Yor said, "With Sunfire out of commission, I will now lead this fleet of rebels. We will go for a head strong attack, destroying Blackfire's spaceship."
Val-Yor now turned to face the Titans, "You will aide us in weakening the ship, and in it's final hour, you will quickly go inside and save your friend."
Val-Yor once again turned to face the audience, "I will take my own ship, and rebels with team up and use the ships in the lower landing platform. Alright move out."
"Yes sir!" the rebels exclaimed and saluted to their new battle commander. They began to march single file, down the fleet of stairs that lead to the lower landing platform.
For the last time, Val-Yor turned to face the Titans, "Once you go inside to save Starfire, get up there and leave as fast as you can. It should be easy, because most of the troops will be fighting our army. Just slip right under Blackifre's nose." Val-Yor smiled and the other Titans returned a smile, a little weary about the mission.
The Titans ran over to their T-Ship and assembled within it. Val-Yor ran into his spaceship, which was parked right next to the T-Ship. It looked like a large silver bullet or torpedo.
The garage doors lifted u, and both ships took off into the depths of space.
-----
"You see, sister," Blackfire said, pacing around her throne room. Starfire was back to being completely locked up in her cell, listening by the cell's window, grasping the iron bars.
"When you had been enslaved by the Gordanians back when you were younger, you arrived at Earth for the first time. Earth, as you may know, is protected by a large intergalactic force field. Once you had arrived onto Earth, you broke that link or connection the Earth had to protect itself," Blackfire explained.
"Now, with you breaking the link, it gave creatures, otherworldly creatures, the ability to walk on the 'sacred and protected by the gods' ground," Blackfire continued.
"With Tamaran destroyed, you may wonder why I have decided to do this. Well, the Earth will be my new Tamaran, and I will be the Supreme Immortal Ruler," Blackfire said triumphantly.
In order to make it untouchable to those who oppose me, I will first have to wipe out the human race, and bring my Gordanians, Psion, Locrix, and any other servant races who still are loyal to me," Blackfire continued on.
"Now, the link, yes, you my sister. The link will have to be broken. It is your graduation day, as we called it on Tamaran. You will be sacrificed to X'hal, making my 'new' Tamaran Empire untouchable!" Blackfire exclaimed. She cackled afterwards, and Starfire gasped.
"You would not!" Starfire shrieked.
"Oh yes I would!" Blackfire said evilly, "Oh, and say 'hi' to mama and papa for me once you reach, well you know where: Blackfire laughed maniacally. Starfire began to weep silently.
Suddenly, the spaceship began to shake, and Blackfire had to struggle to prevent herself from toppling over. Soon, two Gordanians came rushing through the doors into the throne room.
"Lord Blackfire, we're under attack," one of the Gordanians said. Blackfire immediately ran over to the large window, and saw a fleet of silver ships being lead by Val-Yor's spaceship and the T-Ship. They continued to fire red blasts at Blackfire's mother-ship.
"Lead an assault group out into space, including the Locrixes and half of the Gordanians. The other half, along with the Psions, will be battling with the main blasters and cannons of this ship. Go spread the word, now!" Blackfire screamed, and the two Gordanians left.
Blackfire looked out into space again, "They just don't stay down!"
"They are the Teen Titans! They will not be defeated by the likes of you," Starfire said, viciously.
"But they don't have you, my sister. Without your knowledge of the universe, they are nothing in a battle in space," Blackfire said. They ship began to shake more and more, but not as violent as the first hit.
"They don't have my power either," Starfire said, smirking, "HAH!" She broke down the door with one of her starbolts. Blackfire shielded her eyes as smoke began to cover the prison cell.
Out of the dust, came Starfire, with bubbling, glowing green eyes and fists. She held out a small stone in one of her hands.
"X'hal's tear!" Blackfire screeched, "How did you get it back? Ph'yzzon made sure you didn't have it when he kidnapped you!"
"Robin made sure to give it to me, before he left yesterday," Starfire said.
"Well, I guess you'll have to learn to stay in your cage, you rat!" Blackfire shrieked, readying her red starbolts. Starfire began to shoot a handful of large, hot starbolts, which Blackfire dodged by flying.
They threw starbolts back and forth, screaming at each other and dodging a few at the same time. They began to sweat and pant a bit as the fight continued. The room was beginning to fall apart from the constant beating of the starbolts.
The sisters finally stopped feuding, and they nearly passed out in the process.
-----
The Titans were busy, directing the T-Ship out of the way of danger. Dodging blasts, twisting, and turning, all of this maneuvering seemed to dizzy Beast Boy.
"Hey, guys, can we slow down a bit?" Beast Boy said, looking a bit nauseous.
"No time, BB, we have to save Star, remember?" Cyborg said, pushing a control stick to fire blasts at Blackfire's ship.
They were approaching Blackfire's ship, faster and faster. They had to continue moving, to dodge the blasts coming from the ship. They had finally approached the lower landing platform of Starfire's sister's ship.
They entered and stopped their vehicle. They stepped out and Robin raced towards the door to enter the main ship.
He looked back at them, "Come on guys, we gotta save Star!" He continued to run up the stairs leading to the main hallway.
They began to run down the otherwise desolate hallways, besides the troops who were in a rush, who didn't even notice them.
They came to a room, where the Gordanians were having a small tactics meeting.
"There is no way they're not gonna notice us," Cyborg said, doubtfully.
"Yeah, but we have to think of something," Robin said, "I got it." He ran down the hallways, back from where we came and crossed a corner. All the Titans could here afterwards were the sounds of kicking and punching.
"Hey, guys! Come over here!" Robin shouted from the end of the hallway. The Titans ran around the corner to see three beaten up Locrixes, and one which was now waving to them.
"He must've gotten Robin," Cyborg said, readying his sonic cannons, "Let's get 'im!" The other Titans readied for fight, while the Locrix began to move his arms, worried.
"Guy's its me," Robin said. His voice was muffled from the inside of the Locrix's shell.
"Get in these other ones, and hurry. I think some more Gordanians are coming," Robin said. The Titans shrugged and got into the Locrix, by opening their main head plate.
And soon enough, they were walking, very clumsily, back down the hallway, reaching the room where the meeting was held. The Gordanians looked at them oddly as they walked through the room, and left into the next hallway.
Once outside, Beast Boy lifted up the head plate, revealing his small, green head, "Finally, it's crowded and musty in there." Beast Boy began to fan himself with his hand.
"No, we should stay in these," Robin said from inside the Locrix, "Just in case we run into another predicament."
Beast Boy sighed, "Oh, man." He returned back within the body of the Locrix. They continued down the long hallways, until they came into the chapel room, where they had last faced Ph'yzzon. They popped off the head plates of the Locrix and hoped out of their disguises.
Instead of being empty, two figures stood in the middle of the room. As the Titans walked towards them, they had realized they were both Blackfire and Starfire.
"Ah, yes, the Titans. How marvelous to see you again! Well, actually, you are no longer welcomed here, and my sister and I will make sure of that," Blackfire said, readying her starbolts.
"Are you ready sister?" Blackfire asked Starfire.
"Yes…" Starfire said, reluctantly readying her starbolts as well.
"With this," Blackfire said, holding up X'hal's tear, "I will destroy you, Titans."
"X'hal's tear!" Robin shouted, surprised, "Give that back to Starfire. It's hers!"
"Finders, keepers," Blackfire said, "And I will keep your destroyed bodies as well, for remembering the day I became Galactic Empress!" She shot a dozen starbolts at the Titans.
"Titans Go!" Robin shouted, as they split up, jumping to evade the blasts.
"We can take her," Raven said, readying some of her black magic, "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" The ground below the flying Blackfire, began to build up, and swallow Starfire's sister. It didn't move for quite some time, until a red explosion happened, revealing a barely scratched Blackfire.
"It's not just I who you will be taking," Blackfire said, snickering. Starfire began to throw starbolts at the Titans, dismally.
"Starfire?" Robin shouted, puzzled and confused.
"I'm sorry…" she said, shooting more.
"Put in more enthusiasm than that, sister," Blackfire said, "Like this! Hah!" She shot multiple blasts at Raven, who was pummeled into the wall by her. She was buried beneath the rock that had collapsed from the wall.
"I'm sorry girl," Cyborg said, readying his two sonic cannons.
"No I am the one who should be sorry," Starfire said, pummeling Cyborg with dozens of starbolts. The ground beneath him finally let out, sending Cyborg falling to the ground beneath. He yelled as he fell farther and farther.
"You'll pay for this, Blackfire," Beast Boy said, morphing into a giant, dog-like beast from Tamaran, with sharp teeth and red eyes.
"Don't make me laugh," Blackfire said, shooting red eye lasers at Beast Boy who was being backed into the wall. He was hit in the head and, before turning back to normal, he was knocked out.
"Now it's time for the sister double defeat!" Blackfire said, "Now sister!" They both shot a beam of starbolt energy along with laser eye beams at Robin, who was backed into the hole Cyborg had fallen into. He didn't even put up a fight.
His last word was a screamed out, "STARFIRE!"
"Aw, he still cares, even after you betrayed him," Blackfire said, sarcastically sympathetic.
"Just be quiet," Starfire said, looking dismal.
"Aw, is little-bitty Starfire annoyed because of your betrayal?" Blackfire said, in a baby-like tone.
"Shut up! I had no choice!" Starfire said as tears began to form under her eyes.
"Yes, sister, you did have a choice," Blackfire said, "But, your too loyal to your friends. My motto is to trust no one!"
"You were going to kill them if I hadn't agreed," Starfire wept.
"True," Blackfire said, "Threats can help you persuade people." She began to smirk, as she flew down to the ground and walked into her throne room.
"Come along, my little pet, there is still much to do," she said. Starfire looked back at her fallen friends one last time, and against her own wishes, she followed her sister. Once in her throne room, Starfire had noticed her jail cell was moved directly into the window.
Blackfire stood at the window, looking at the battle, "We're losing you know. It's a good thing your jail doubles as an escape pod, or we may have to die like everyone in this ship."
"I will not come with you," Starfire said, stubbornly crossing her arms.
"You have no choice," Blackfire said, "You cannot stay, because you and your friends will die if you do."
"I don't care anymore," Starfire said as more tears began to roll down her eyes.
"You're going to die either way, sister," Blackfire said, walking over to her, "It's just your friends will live if you make the right choice."
"But, you will rule the galaxy and we would have lost!" Starfire screamed.
"True, true. But, blood is thinker than water, Starfire," she said, "Try to hide from it, but you cannot escape the truth. I am your sister and that is absolute."
"Starfire…" Starfire said, "That was the first time in a while when you finally called me by my name."
"You see, I do care," Blackfire said, "Now, come with me." Blackfire held out her hand. Starfire, regaining a bit of hope, reached out for her hand and nodded.
Together they approached the jail cell and Starfire entered. Blackfire flew out of the room, and came back in, carrying the knocked out Titans. She promptly threw them into the cell, and entered herself, shutting the iron door.
She tapped the ground with her foot, and a small control panel appeared, along with a large window in the front wall of the box. Blackfire pushed a button, and the cell began to move.
It crashed through the window of the throne room and was off into space, headed for Earth. Blackfire steered the ship, dodging the blasts that seemed to be coming from the battlefield.
It seemed that no one could see them leave or move through the battle.
"Cloaking device," Blackfire said, and Starfire, at once, knew why they weren't able to be seen. They continued a set path through space, until they had finally reached the only planet Starfire was able to call home.
They landed on top of Titans Tower, and Blackfire opened the door, and walked out.
"Com on out," Blackfire said, signaling Starfire to leave the ship, "And bring your friends out too." Soon enough, Starfire emerged, placing the Titans on the ground.
"You wouldn't want them to miss the end of the world, would you?" Blackfire asked, "I thought not. Now, hop onto the top of the jail cell's roof. We must begin the ritual at once!" Starfire began to fly up to the cell's roof, realizing she could not carry all her friends away without being stopped by Blackfire.
Starfire hovered on her back, above the jail's rooftop. Blackfire flew up next to her. The clouds and sky were now turning black and red, while the waves on the lake around Titans Tower began to grow higher and crash harder.
"And now, lets just hope the gods accept you," Blackfire said as her eyes went red without even charging her starbolts.
"Goranda smoogle shmeiler karvas martin X'hal noior!" Blackfire shrieked, wiling her arms around and moving around a bit. Starfire suspected she was doing an odd ritual dance of some sort. She was so involved, she didn't even know that X'hal's tear had dropped from her pocket.
Starfire immediately reached for the stone and smiled. Her eyes went green as she shot a bubbling, glowing green starbolt at her sister, who was hit and fell into the lake.
Starfire ran over to her friends and began to shake them, "Wake up! Wake up! She will return any moment! I need as much help as I could." She finally gave up, as she heard the water move, signaling Blackfire was flying back to the top of the tower.
Starfire had taken the gifts the Titans had received from the Warlords of Okaara. She stood up to face her sister for a final battle.
"How dare you! You should be honored to die for your gods! I suppose I should teach you some respect!" Blackfire screamed, shooting multiple starbolts, which Starfire dodged, flying up towards her sister.
"No, it will be you who will learn your lesson," Starfire said, shooting a laser eye beam at her, knocking her down, but she still maintained enough balance to keep her in the air. She came at Starfire shooting multiple starbolts, which Starfire blocked with her hands.
Starfire screamed as she shot more starbolts, sending Blackfire to the ground. She picked up a nearby pipe and pushed it against Starfire's neck, pinning her up on the side of the prison cell. Starfire gasped for breath.
"It's no use sister, I am your superior!" Blackfire said, and maniacally cackled. Suddenly, Starfire took a starbolt and shoved it into Blackfire's abdomen, releaseing her hold on Starfire.
With her chance, Starfire grabbed a hold of Blackfire's flailing hands and kicked her in the gut. She took her and held her hands, so she wouldn't let go as they fell off of the tower.
They reached the ground, and Starfire let go, letting her sister crash into the rocky shore of the Tower. Starfire dusted her hands, when a red beam came from where Blackfire had fallen. Before either of them could realize it, Blackfire's energy beam had destroyed X'hal's tear, which was held in Starfire's hand.
"No!" Starfire and Blackfire screamed in unison.
"You'll pay for breaking my precious gem!" Blackfire snarled.
"Your gem? It was mine to begin with," Starfire said, "And you are the one who has broken it!" Blackfire shrieked and throw a barrage of multiple starbolts.
Starfire covered her face with her arms, but nothing hit her. She looked around once Blackfire had stopped, to see all the starbolts floating around her.
Blackfire scrunched her hands, and the starbolts came together and exploded on Starfire. Starfire fell to the ground, almost knocked out.
Blackfire approached her sister, laughing. She picked her up and held her under the neck.
"Hurts, doesn't it? It hurts to know you could never defeat me!" Blackfire said, throwing her into the ground once more.
Blackfire kneeled down to look Starfire into the face, "Just do yourself a favor and stay down. My plans are ruined anyway. You'd only be helping yourself."
"No!" Starfire screamed, shooting laser eye beams directly into Blackfire's own eyes. Blackfire screeched in pain as she stood up and fell backwards.
"My eyes! I can't see!" Blackfire screamed. Starfire got up and stood over her sitting sister.
"Please, sister, do me a favor and stay down," Starfire said, hitting her with the most powerful starbolt she could charge. Blackfire was knocked out before she could see what hit her.
Suddenly, Starfire heard a noise, and looked up to see a ship, a ship that Starfire had only seen once before. It was long and only colored silver, black, and red. It landed right next to Starfire and her knocked out sister.
Two creatures came out, that Starfire recognized as the two red-armored Centauri police.
"Thank you, Starfire," one of the policemen said, "For capturing Blackfire for us once more." The other one took the unconscious Blackfire and threw her into the ship.
"Your welcome," Starfire said, smiling, even though her body was aching all over. The two policemen entered the ship, and Starfire waved as they departed.
"Ugh," Starfire said as she flew up to the top of the Tower. She looked at her friends who were still knocked out and picked them up. She began to walk, tumbling almost to the door.
Once she had actually reached it, he body gave in, and she passed out in front of it.
-----
When Starfire awoke, she was in a small hospital room with four other beds, where the other Titans were laying on, awake. Sunfire and Val-Yor were sitting at both sides of her bed. Galfore was standing by the door, and after realizing Starfire was awake, he ran over and hugged her.
"Koriand'r!" he cried.
"Galfore! Oh, have I missed you," Starfire said, breaking the embrace, "What will you do now? Tamaran has been destroyed!"
"Oh, don't you worry. Val-Yor was gracious enough to let the Tamaraneans stay at Vernathia, at least, until Sunfire and I find another planet to call Tamaran," Galfore said in an unworried tone.
"Wow, you had quite the battle huh, sis?" Sunfire said, "But ultimately, Blackfire is in jail, and that's where I will hope she stays for a long time…"
"Oh," Starfire said, finally noticing something, "But, where is Ph'yzzon?"
The others looked puzzled, and Val-Yor said, "Well, he was working with Blackfire from the beginning, so we fought him, and Raven… And, Raven… Well, Raven… Um…"
"I turned him into a book," Raven said, calmly.
Starfire looked a little puzzled but simply said, "Oh."
"Yeah, it seems he's the reason why this had all begun," Sunfire said, "Well, anyway, I am better, thanks to Val-Yor here, and I wanted to ask you something."
Starfire signaled him to keep going, "So…"
"I wanted to ask you to come with Galfore and I to look for a new Tamaran," Sunfire said.
"Oh," Starfire said, looking dismal, "Well, as much as I'd love to do that, I have a new family. Ours is pretty defective, so all I have is you and Galfore. But that's not enough. I need to stay with the people who need me. The people I need. I'm sorry…"
"No, it's fine, really. I hope our paths will cross once again, my sister. Come Galfore we have much to do," Sunfire got up and Galfore nodded, and the both of them left.
"You did a good thing back there, stopping Blackfire, even if you may have held back a little bit, because she is your sister," Val-Yor said. Starfire nodded.
"Well, that is what makes you and your sister two completely different people. You have power, but you hold it back, but more importantly you have a golden heart," Val-Yor said, pointing to Starfire's chest, "And that is why you won."
"I believe I should go and leave you time with your team," Val-Yor said, getting up and leaving the room. Starfire sat up to look at their team.
"Sorry I had to beat you guys up," Starfire said.
"It's fine," Robin said.
"But why'd you do it!" Beast Boy screamed, holding an icepack on his head.
"Because I was going to be sacrificed by Blackfire, and you would've been too, if I hadn't agreed to her," Starfire said.
"Then you did good, Starfire, you did good," Robin said. Starfire laid down on the bed again to sleep for the night, looking forward to the bright day she would spend with her friends when she awoke in the Tower.