Hello boys and girls and welcome back to The New Teen Titans. So far my summer has began with an ok start, not much activity so I've had some time to work on finishing the story. I'm sorry to say I didn't really use that time well as I spent most of it focused on my next story. But now I'm getting back in gear and working only on this. But before that lets get through the reviews. Alright Mr. D 91 keep shelling out those errors they can only help me after all and I'm glade you liked the chapter in spite of them. Valda, I will be using your character don't worry, she just comes really lately in the story, but I think you'll be happy with where I've put her. Neko Saphira and Mortal Guardian, thanks for your reviews as well. All right then without further ado I give you chapter twenty-five of The New Teen Titans.
Chapter 25: Sibling Rivalry: End
"I can't believe this," came the anguished voice of Alakazam echoing down a long dirt tunnel. Earth surrounded the Titans as they journeyed down a large tunnel system that hadn't been there that mourning. About a half hour ago they had saw Black Bird dart into the park and ten minutes later they found a huge hole in the ground, leaving twenty minutes to wander down it to the point they were at now. Android led the way with her arm in front of her, generating both a light and some sort of tracking system, blue dots indicating the group and a beeping red dot some ways away from them. "We must be the first people in history to lose a sixteen foot black magic monster," Alakazam said in a half joking tone as she held her hat in her hands and fiddled with it at the back of the group.
"We're the first people in history to ever see a sixteen foot black magic monster," Android said with a laugh from the front. Coming to a split where the tunnel diverged. Android glanced at her arm and turned towards the one on her left but quickly changed her course to the one to her right.
"Could you explain this to me one more time?" Rave said as he came up along side Android and glanced around at what could be seen of the tunnel.
"Well according to Alakazam Black Bird thought it be a good idea to turn into a giant monster and hunt down her brother." Android said as she rolled her eyes.
"I told them it wasn't a good idea," Alakazam said as she plopped her hat back onto her head and slumped her shoulders.
"No, not that," Rave said as she shock his head vigorously and then placing a finger to his lips he asked, "I mean why did she kiss me?"
"Umm," Android drawled out as she became very uncomfortable.
"Where are we?" Mystic asked from so far back that Android's light only just touched him.
"According to my specks of the city we're about 50 meters below the sewer system and getting lower," Android said, happy to change the subject. Her arm reacted to what she said as a 3D image of the city appeared with the dots showing the Titans moving downwards some distance below the buildings of the city.
"Ew," Alakazam said as water dripped from the tunnel roof and landed beside her. Android smiled absentmindedly as Alakazam asked, "If we could track our members then why didn't we just use your arm to find Beast Lad?"
"Well due to the method of their transformation's Beast Lad's communicator fell off but Black Bird kept hers," Android said shrugging her shoulders, "simple."
"How far away would you say Black Bird is?" Rave asked as he continued to look around at the unsettling rock walls.
"Really close it looks like," Android said as she glanced at her arm to see the red and blue dotes almost overlapping. As Android spoke the team walked into an area where the tunnel walls suddenly disappeared from their view. Lighting up his own hands Rave shot off a couple rave bolts and they hit wall a second after firing them. The room lit up to reveal a huge cavern at least the size of a football field. Rounded in shape there were tunnels all other the place, little holes dug into the walls of this huge place. To spite Rave's powers ability to light up such a huge area the entire cavern wasn't lit, the top of cave still couldn't be seen.
"How deep are we now?" Alakazam asked as she gazed in wonder at the huge area.
"Two miles," Android said as if she had been holding her breath.
"How'd we miss that drop off?"
"Where did you say Black Bird was again?" Rave asked as the team all joined at the entrance to the tunnel they had just come from.
"Well I thought we were right on top of her," Android said as she popped out of the astonished daze she was in and tapped the screen on her arm twice, turning it 3D. The dots shifted from over each other to show the blue dots standing a long ways below the red dot. "I guess she's on top of us."
The Titans eyes all simultaneously slowly moved upwards towards the sound of flapping wings where they landed upon Black Bird descending from the ceiling. "Told you this was a bad idea," Alakazam said, her voice creaking on the word idea.
The team's minds were quickly yanked away from the monster in front of them as large dirt covered hands moved to the arms of Mystic and Rave and with one mighty shove both men went flying in opposite directions. There, where the Titans had just entered, stood Beast Lad in all his monstrous glory. Spotting his sister hovering in the air he braced himself on the sides of the tunnel and let loose an enormous howl that could have only been roughly explained as sounding like some kind of drowning bear. Black Bird returned the howl with her own screaming shriek, causing all the Titans to once again cover their ears.
With a mighty push Beast Lad launched from the ground towards Black Bird with his claws ready to sink into her flesh. Closing her wings in front of her Beast Lad hit them like he had just run full force into a brick wall. Opening her wings again Beast Lad went flying back and banged against the roof of the tunnel he had just entered from, rocks falling down from the impact and covering the entrance.
"What should we be doing here?" Alakazam asked as she looked nervously towards the two monsters fighting in front of her.
"Stop this from spreading to the city," Rave said as he lit up his hands and launched a rave-bolt at another entrance causing that one to cave in as well.
"You heard him, pull something out of your hat and lets go," Alakazam said to the two non-monster magically powered Titans.
"Do I look like I can pull something out of my hat?" Alakazam asked as she waved a hand over her non-blue features. "I gave all my powers to Mothra over there. I couldn't pull lint from this thing."
"What about you?" Android asked as she turned her head up to look at Mystic.
Standing in front of an entrance Mystic banged his hand against the side of the cave wall and the rocks crumbled down over the stone doorway, "I can help."
Meanwhile Beast Lad picked himself up off the ground and shook the dirt from his monstrous head. Opening his four eyes slowly he began to growl and bare his rows of shark-like teeth. This time Black Bird launched towards Beast Lad with her long legs in front of her, talons ready to grab him by the throat. Ducking under his sister he reached up and grabbed her legs, quickly slamming her into the ground with force. He pounced and was about to drive his fist though her face but his winged sister grabbed his arm and used her other hand to scratch his muzzle. Using her long legs she then kicked the monster off from on top of her and sent him banging into a wall.
Beast Lad stood once again and quickly ran on all fours towards one of the many entrances he had carved out. Knocking Rave out of the way he ran through one of these doors that caved in behind him and locked the Titans in the room with Black Bird. Not able to follow after her brother Black Bird lifted into the air and surveyed the area to find a way to attack. But her search was stalled when the sound of digging and scratching coming from somewhere nearby. Tuning around in the air she looked to where the sound was coming from. Suddenly Beast Lad broke through the dirt across from where Black Bird hovered in the air and flung himself towards her. Connecting with her midsection they both went tumbling towards the ground. With a bang that shook the cave Black Bird hit the ground and a creaking sound was heard as one of her wings bent on an unnatural angle. They quickly began to brawl on the ground, rolling around and exchanging blows like two angry children.
"Something's not right," Alakazam said from where she stood away from the action. Squinting she noticed that when Black Bird screeched Beast Lad with her talons black magic did go from him to her but at the same moment black magic flowed from her to him. "She's not taking any of his powers. They're too equally matched!"
"So what should we do?" Rave asked as he paused in his blocking of another entrance way.
Alakazam was befuddled with this question but Mystic broke her silence, "We can withdraw our power."
"We can?" Alakazam said in disbelief but quickly said in a slow manner, "Oh yeah, of course we can." Closing her eyes Alakazam began to focus but was stopped as Mystic moved his hand in front of her as if he was blocking her from moving forward. Opening an eye Alakazam looked up into Mystic's eyes and realized exactly what he meant, "Oh I see."
"Ah you see," Android said with as much sarcasm as her circuits would allow, "that's great, umm...mind informing the rest of us?"
"We have to wait till Black Bird has the advantage," Alakazam said as she looked up at Rave
"Why wait," Rave said as he lit up his hand with a rave-bolt and launched it towards the brawling monsters. The bolt connected with Beast Lad's side and he flew off of Black Bird. Bearing his teeth Rave shouted, "Titans GO!"
Before the Titans could even reach the duelling monsters Black Bird had already bolted upright to continue the fight. One of her wings was bent at an odd angle and she turned her head to look at the fractured limb. With some force she bent the wing out straight and it cracked back into place without any pain registering on Black Bird's face, then again nothing registered on the emotions black magic ball her head had become. With out any more distractions Black Bird picked up into the air with a flap of her wings and in the same flap she bolted head first towards Beast Lad. The brother beast in this situation had only just got up and was shaking off the hit when Black Bird's shoulder connected with Beast Lad's midsection and drove him into the wall of the cavern. Acting with the same quickness that had allowed her to pin Beast Lad she pulled back her hand and drove it towards her brother. But he was too quick and ducked the blow, Black Bird's fist imbedding itself in the wall so deep she couldn't pull it out. Beast Lad began to pound at her midsection like a boxer, his sister helpless with her arm stuck.
"Mystic, Android!" Rave yelled, giving them commands without having to say more then their names.
Both nodded and snapped into motion. Mystic bravely ran right up to The Beasts and grabbing the shoulders of Beast Lad threw him with some force away from his sister. At the same moment Android aimed her cannon at the rocks surrounding Black Bird's hand and fired, displacing the rocks just enough to get her hand free though rock still remained on most of it.
Beast Lad in the meanwhile was unfazed by Mystic's throw and was up and aiming to attack the giant with all the force he could muster. But he was stopped before he could begin as the rock on Black Bird's hand was removed when she banged it against Beast Lad's head like a mallet. It had the same effect to as Beast Lad became dazed and wobbled a bit. This gave Black Bird the perfect opportunity to jump onto his back and rap her arms around his neck, choking him as he wobbled back and forth in his huge Beast form.
"Now!" Mystic shouted as he closed his eyes and the same purple light that had shot into Black Bird just a while ago shot back into him. Alakazam quickly followed suit and the blue energy returned to her, giving her back her magic and complexion.
With a sudden implosion of magic Black Bird reverted back to normal. She gasped inwardly as suddenly she went from a giant monster ready to snap her brother's neck to a small figure that looked like a rag doll hanging on to Beast Lad's neck for dear life. Before she could even focus black magic flowed from Beast Lad. This time it was much more then a barley noticeable spark, it was a whole wave of energy jolting from Beast Lad and into Black Bird with such force that dust picked up in the room and surrounded the two twins. Suddenly there was an indescribable sound like thunder and a wave of dust and black magic sent all the Titans to their bottoms.
When the dust cleared Beast Lad laid collapsed on the ground in human form and Black Bird stood over him, black magic shining from every crack in her body. "So much power," Black Bird whispered. Then the magic was gone and Black Bird crumbled to the ground as the world went black.
She woke up a few hours later to the sound of the steady beep of a heart monitor, well actually there were two heart monitors beeping in stereo, her and her brother's. "Get the number of the truck that hit me?" Beast Lad asked in a hoarse voice as he turned his head with some effort to look to where his sister lay in the bed beside him.
"Actually I think that was me," Black Bird said, her voice mimicking the painful whisper her brother's was.
"What happened?" Beast Lad asked as his face twisted in confusion.
"You turned into the Beast so I decided to do the same by using Mystic's and Alakazam's powers to boost my own," Black Bird explained. "Then I went and we fought as two monsters till we both ended up here."
"Makes sense," Beast Lad said as he turned his head to look up at the florescent lights of the sickbay's ceiling.
"Oh and I kissed Rave," Black Bird said as a large smile speared across her face.
Beast Lad turned his head so quickly he could have gotten whiplash and said, "No way."
Meanwhile just outside Rave and Android stood on the other side of the two-way observation mirror. "Looks like they'll make a full recovery," Android said as she skimmed over a clipboard.
"Good," Rave said absentmindedly as his gaze never faltered from where they lay upon one of the female occupant of the sickbay.
"You going to talk to her?" Android asked as she flipped the sheets on her clipboard.
"She's talking to her brother," Rave said as his gaze once again never moved his voice just above a whisper.
"I'm sure Beast Lad would give you some time-," Android began but she was cut off by Rave.
"Do you realize we got distracted again?"
"Come on we couldn't just leave Beast Lad like that," Android said as she shook her head at her leader's little ramble.
"No of course not," Rave said as he finally pulled his gaze away from Black Bird and began to walk away from the sickbay. "But that's one day that we came no closer to finding our parents," Rave began before his voice went harsh as he finished, "one day for Slade to plan."
Hundreds of miles across and down the original Titans sat still in their glass prison, all looking more board then in danger. "Got any twos?" Gar asked as he Vic and Kory all sat around the table with cards in their hands.
"Go fishing!" Kory said excitedly as she held two cards in front of her face.
The peaceful game was interrupted as Slade sauntered into the room, his demonic features more prominent then last he appeared. The cracks around his horns larger and the horns themselves larger in length and width. "Slade!" Dick yelled as he ran to the glass as soon as the villain entered the room. "What do you want from us? Why are you keeping us here?"
"Because I like to see you squirm," Slade said as he snickered to himself in his duel demonic voice, "and because I can't wait to see the look on your faces as one of your own children betrays their friends and family." With that Slade began to laugh, the Titans stunned silence making it the only sound in the room.
"They would never do that," Dick said as he banged a fist against the glass, "never!"
Slade paused in his laughter and came as close to the glass as he could to stare Dick down, "just you wait and see."