Say Your Name
Part Four
The Master of Games had the worst timing in the world if you asked Raven. Robin had just kissed her and not five seconds after she was taken from his arms to compete in a ridiculous tournament. She could still feel Robin's heat under her fingers. Furious was not a strong enough word to describe Raven's mood. It became painfully obvious to the other heroines that Raven was so angry she couldn't see straight.
There were eight 'heroines' in all, standing before the Master of Games with varying looks of displeasure across their features.
"Heroines! Who amongst you will prove herself to be the greatest champion of them all?"
The girls blink rapidly as they realize they'd been separated by the Master of Games' voice.
"Will it be…"
A spotlight shined over Starfire's head. "Starfire! The Tameranian powerhouse with a devastating array of eyebeams and Starbolts!" Starfire laughed nervously.
"Raven! The mysterious mistress of darkness and the strongest mystic sorceress of this world!"
Raven narrowed her eyes. "Whatever." Terra rolled her eyes. Suddenly a light beamed over her head.
"Terra! The gifted Geomancer who's skills makes her enemies quake with fear!"
"Actually… I kind of like this guy!" Terra gave a quick peace sign.
"Bumble Bee! The junior Justice Leaguer who floats like a butterfly and stings like a Bee."
Bumble Bee sweated dropped. She had seen that one coming a mile away.
"Jinx! The acrobatics hex-weaver with a unique arsenal of spells and tricks!"
A vein throbbed in Raven's head. Since when does being a girl who can fight qualify you as a heroine? She's a bad guy! Jinx and Raven stared each other down. Something about the situation was ringing terribly familiar.
"Sakura Chloe! The master martial artist who's giant boomerang can topple any villain!"
"I know we're not supposed to like this guy… but it's kind of hard not to." Sakura said, stepping forward.
"Blackfire! The Tameranian princess who wields an impressive physical strength and battle fury!" The spotlight beamed over Blackfire's head. She blinked twice. The Master of Game's sweat dropped but continued.
"Or Celine Fletcher! The super genius who's Firefly cannon and keen sense for strategy has defeated an innumerable amount of foes!"
"He seems to know an awful lot about us…" Celine muttered.
"Who amongst you is the greatest of the female champions? I have selected the preliminary rounds, let the games begin!"
Each of the girls shifted their eyes from one fighter to another. They huddled close together, turning their backs to a confused Master of Games.
"So we're all aware that this tournament is a trap right?" Celine asked.
"Yeah, but how do we get out of it?" Bumble Bee responded.
"If we say we don't want to compete, he'll just lock us away in that crystal of his." Sakura stated. "Speedy told me all about it… we're just going to have to go through with it."
"Right, when I win the tournament, I'll smash his crystal!" Terra proclaimed.
All of the girls stepped back. The huddle was broken and it was obvious that no one foresaw Terra's prediction as the outcome of the tournament.
Sakura pointed a finger at Terra. "You? What makes you think you'll win? I've beaten you before! I can do it again! I'll win and rescue everyone!"
"Whoa! Who says you can beat me? We've never fought!" Celine shouted back to Sakura.
"Excuse me, but I believe I'm going to win… you do-gooders will just have to wait to be rescued… If I feel like it." Jinx replied, both her hands were pressed against her hips.
"I believe I, too, am capable of being victorious!" Starfire responded.
The cat fight that ensued left the Master of Games stunned. I thought the heroes had huge egos… This might be easier than I thought… they'll exhaust each other and become totally susceptible to my control.
The feminine voices continued to shriek and yell. Rather randomly an energy beam was shot into the air. The vein in Raven's head throbbed as her fist shook. "ENOUGH!" Raven finally shouted, her form quadrupling in height. The other girls froze in mid-sentence and stared in fear. Raven returned to her normal size and smoothed out her hair is if she hadn't been on the verge of demon siege. "Whoever wins, wins… it doesn't matter. We need to fight the tournament and do it quickly… I'd like to go home… NOW!"
The other girls nodded. Raven was distinctly unhappy; to the other competitors it looked like she could defeat anyone in the world… to get back to her Boy Wonder.
The eight competitors turned to the Master of Games.
"Can we get this over with?" Raven asked.
"Oh right… yes! Champions let the first round commence! The first challenges are:
Jinx vs. Blackfire!
Terra vs. Bumble Bee!
Starfire vs. Raven!
Celine vs. Sakura!"
The eight girls eyed each other. "That's… an odd combination." Celine stated. The other girls nodded.
Terra nudged Starfire with her elbow. "I guess this is your opportunity to defend your claim on Robin."
"What do you mean Terra?"
Raven turned stark white. Terra gritted her teeth. "I thought you saw… weren't you in the kitchen just now when Raven kissed Robin?"
"Terra!" Sakura and Celine shouted. The older girls slammed their hands over Terra's mouth, though her ability to say anything else that would have made the situation worse was unlikely.
Starfire turned to Raven, hurt apparent in her eyes. "Raven…"
"Heroines! Ready for battle!"
Four different battle arenas were occupied. Jinx and Blackfire found themselves in a Roman coliseum. Blackfire floated to the sky and found that despite the appearance of infinite sky, there was a barrier keeping them in.
An electric shock told Bumble Bee when she had flown as far into the wooden thicket as the Master of Games would allow her. The heavily forested area had more than enough space for her to hide unnoticed, but plenty of earth for Terra to heave.
Raven and Starfire couldn't have had a more appropriate battle scene. Their high grass field was filled with fallen white feathers, like they were left behind by an angel. The sky was a dark blue and all the trees in the distant background were bare of leaves. The moon hung overhead, beams of moonlight dancing across the delicate fallen feathers, making them shimmer gently.¹ Raven had never seen anything so dark and beautiful. It would have been romantic if her companion was someone else and not an understandably perturbed Tameranian powerhouse.
Celine and Sakura were in a small white room; no obstructions, no place to hide. Celine held her Firefly at her side and watched as Sakura readied her weapon. Sakura smirked and Celine smiled.
"Now just because we're roommates, don't think I'm going to go easy on you." Sakura teased.
"I wouldn't expect anything less. Ready?" Celine pulled her Firefly across her shoulder, the scouter dropping in place.
"Ikuzo." (Let's go.)
Celine dug her heel into the ground beneath her and steadied herself. She'd seen Sakura's fight style before, any second now…
Sakura dashed forward, arm dropped back. She dropped into a crouch before catapulting herself into the air and unleashing her hiraikotsu.
Right on time… Celine took aim. The Firefly charged, the blue sonic waves gathering and pooling at the cylinder. Half way to its course, the hiraikotsu was interrupted by the Firefly's sonic blast. Sakura watched her weapon sail off course as she landed. She smirked.
"Looks like you've lost your weapon." Celine said, "But my Firefly is still ready."
"Bring it." Sakura taunted. She charged at Celine. Celine fired in rapid succession, changing Sakura's path with every blast. Each one was a second too slow. Sakura dodged and weaved until one blast came head on. She quickly generated a barrier. The blue beam fazed right through it. The shot caught her in the chest. Three more quick bursts whizzed in; the first skimmed her shoulder, the second one she dodged and the third struck head on, hurling the black haired fighter halfway across the arena. She landed on her back stunned.
"Booyah." Celine whispered coolly. The Omicron stepped a few steps forward. "Did you not think I'd prepare a barrier dissipater? I made the new obstacle course remember? I've seen you fight, but you know nothing of what I can do."
Sakura groaned and struggled to sit up. She made it to her elbows before she raised a hand to brush her bangs out of her face. She huffed, the pain in her chest was searing.
Celine dropped the Firefly to her side. "Don't tell me a few blasts is all it takes?"
Sakura catapulted to her feet. She drew her hands into fists. "Come on roomie… show me what you got." Celine steadied her feet for another round.
…
Back flips and simple tumbles was all it took for Jinx to dodge Blackfire's blackbolts. Jinx leaped and flexed her abilities to dance about Blackfire's righteous fury. It was much better than the hand to hand they had started with. Jinx's face bore the bruise of Blackfire's right jab. A quick retaliatory echo wave² had pulled Blackfire back to the air and Jinx preferred it that way. While she couldn't fly, the further away the black haired girl stayed away, the easier it would be to weave her magic.
…
Starfire and Raven hadn't moved a single inch. Starfire stared at Raven and Raven waited: for a scream, waterworks, Tameranian curse words that didn't make sense, something… but nothing was happening. Raven was not going to be first one to say anything.
…
Back at the tower, no one had thought to turn off Sakura's sauce. It burned unattended as the male Titans were locked in several small arguments, which combined, made one massive fight. Cyborg was pointing a menacing metallic finger at Robin. Beast Boy, Aqualad and Speedy were looking frantically for some sign of the missing girls.
"You! And Raven! You! You kissed Raven!"
Speedy and Aqualad collapsed against the couch. Aqualad looked an inch away from crying. "I can't believe it! I was about to tell Blackfire I liked her!"
Speedy raised an eyebrow. "I hope you don't think anyone's falling for that."
Aqualad fumed. "I was! I said 'Blackfire, I li—' then she disappeared!"
"Something tells me you're stopping at 'like' had nothing to do with her vanishing."
"Shut up!"
Beast Boy continued looking around, unable to find any traces of the girls. "You guys! The girls are missing! We need to stop fighting and find out what's going on!"
"Yeah!" Cyborg shouted, "Like why Robin kissed Raven!"
Aqualad and Beast Boy turned to Robin. "You kissed Raven?"
"Yes. Why are you making such a big thing about this?" Robin asked. "We need to find the girls!"
"What about Starfire?" Cyborg asked.
"What about Celine?" Robin replied. "And Sakura and the others? My relationship with Raven isn't the important factor now."
"Relationship? You're in a relationship? When did this happen?" Cyborg yelled.
"About the time when all the girls vanished! Cyborg, the girls are missing!" Robin crossed his arms over his chest, not in the mood to defend himself against Cyborg's obliviousness.
"Robin is right! Where do you think Sakura and the others could have gone?" Speedy asked.
"Since when we you so concerned with Sakura? You guys are always fighting!" Cyborg replied, angry that his tantrum was interrupted.
"Are you blind? Robin likes Raven, I like Sakura, Aqualad likes Blackfire… and we're all concerned about them… I think the bigger question is why aren't you concerned for Celine?" Speedy poked Cyborg with a righteous index finger.
Cyborg looked blue in the face for a minute, before emphasizing their size difference, yelling down at Speedy, "Celine can take care of herself against an-y-bod-y…"
The reason for the girls' disappearance donned on all of them with the tail end of Cyborg's sentence. The male Titans turned to each other. "Tournament of Heroines". Behind them, the lid for Sakura's sauce bubbled off.
…
The fight wasn't going her way. Bumble Bee wove through the leaf litter, trying to stay out of Terra's sights. The girl was good and apparently had something to prove. Bee dodged and danced through the clutter, trying to stay out of the light.
Terra waited, cleaning out her ear with her finger. She wasn't going to chase Bumble Bee. She knew an ambush when she saw one. After a few minutes, she became bored. She was ready to stomp deeper into the thicket when a distinct buzz erupted near her head. Bingo. Just as Bumble Bee was preparing a Bee sting, Terra clapped her hands together and squashed her. Bumble Bee fluttered to the ground, Terra watching amused until a bolt of lightning zapped her defeated foe.
"Winner! Terra!"
Terra dusted off her hands and exited the arena.
…
Blackfire shot eyebeams at Jinx as she made a diving approach. Her hands were clutched, ready to land a punch when she was close enough… Just like Jinx anticipated. Jinx flipped away from the path of eye beams, landing with her back to the charging Tameranian. When Blackfire was inches away, Jinx turned slightly extending one hand. Blackfire barely had time to blink when the hand directly in front of her face unleashed a cyclone of pink energy waves. The power of the shot knocked her back nearly twenty feet. The head on attack was enough to take the blue eyed girl down. A bolt of lightning and she was gone.
"Winner! Jinx!"
"Hmph! It was nothing." Jinx pivoted her head, "Goodbye." and walked smoothly to the exit.
…
"You're making this too easy!" Celine shouted as she continued to chase Sakura with her sonic blasts. Twice she had stopped Sakura from regaining her weapon. Celine kept her scattered, unable to begin an assault tactic. She could see that all the dodging was taking its toll on the other girl. "Quit! Go home to your pretty boy!" Celine laughed.
Sakura's movements changed, it became apparent to Celine that she was on the offensive again, weaving herself closer and closer. Celine tsked and waited. Sakura slid in sharply from the right, rushing in deliver an uppercut. Just as her extension began, Celine's boot shot out and caught her in the chest. The shoot fazed Sakura, but had done exactly what she needed. Celine had off-balanced herself, by the time she could reposition the Firefly, Sakura would already have sealed the fight.
Sakura recovered quickly and as Celine prepared to fire another shot, Sakura shifted all her weight and drove a shoulder into Celine's breadbasket. The attack knocked Celine over, the Firefly sliding across the floor, out of her reach. Celine could only watch it for a moment before she realized that Sakura had leapt into the air, ready to drive both her feet into Celine's body. The roll was just quick enough to pull her out of immediate danger, but wasn't fast enough to prevent Sakura from leaping again, grabbing the girl by both shoulders, before sinking her feet into Celine's chest and pushing off, catapulting them in opposite directions³… taking Celine out of the fight. Sakura landed on both feet and watched the lighting bolt take Celine away.
"Winner! Sakura!"
A door opened up to her right. Sakura grabbed her hiraikotsu and exited.
…
It had been Starfire who started the fight. She had lunged forward, tackling Raven. Both long hair girls grunted with the exertion. The two rolled until Raven could boot Star in the stomach, separating the girls by about five yards. Raven pulled herself to her feet, just as Starfire did. She could see the energy building around Star's hands. If she was going to survive this fight, she couldn't let Starfire act on that rage.
"Starfire! Please stop! Listen to me!"
"You are not a good person!" Starfire yelled.
Raven recoiled, her regret apparent on her face. Inside her head, in that annoying voice that belonged to her knowledge, Raven knew she should have expected this. Starfire was going to be mad that Robin and Raven were… Robin and Raven, she just wasn't prepared for Starfire to be mad at this moment. In her heart of hearts, the last thing she wanted was to make Starfire sad.
In her mind of minds, she knew that Starfire wanted reprisal.
"Star! I never wanted to hurt you… but I'm not going to apologize for the way I feel!"
"He was my…" Starfire dashed forward, righteous fury running through her eyes as eye beams shot at Raven. Raven's shield repelled the blasts and an energy claw stopped Starfire's assault.
"Starfire please!" Raven yelled as the Tameranian girl slid across the ground, knocking feathers into the night air.
Starfire charged again, a punch amplified with a starbolt hurled Raven to the ground.
"You have done a bad thing!" Starfire shouted, her eyes losing their furious glow.
Raven pulled herself up. Her hair was pulled weakly by the wind. As the delicate air twisted the strands, she could see that it was doing the same to Starfire. Star reached a hand up, keeping her long hair out of her eyes.
"Starfire… I… I wish things could be different… that we both didn't care so much for Robin."
Starfire's eyes watered as she watched Raven extend a hand to her. Starfire wanted to be mad at Raven; she wanted to be able to have the fight of the cat with her about who belonged to Robin and who Robin belonged with as well… But she couldn't. No matter how she felt, it was ultimately Robin's decision who he liked, who he dated, who would be the one to which he devoted his affection… who's company he preferred exclusively.
She might have seen it coming, if she hadn't been looking the other way…
She had wanted to believe that her relationship with Robin… wasn't changing. She had devoted herself to understanding the situation of her sister and Robin was devoting himself to understanding Raven.
But it was hard to let go of him… without a fight.
…
Sakura sat in the waiting room thinking the situation over. Terra and Jinx were standing beside her as she evaluated their circumstances.
"So we're dealing with the Master of Games who now has Bumble Bee, the smartest woman in the world and a Tameranian is his control." Just then, the fourth of the doors that lead from the arena opened.
"Two Tameranians." Raven said as she approached the remaining competitors. Raven didn't look any worse for wear, but two of the three other fighters knew that she could hold her distress better than most.
Sakura drummed her fingers against her knee. "Right now, he's dangerous with Celine's strategy and Star and Blackfire's power…"
"Congratulations, you four heroines have proven yourself most exceptional competitors!" The Master of Games' voice boomed through an unseen speaker. "Prepare for the next round!"
"Next round? Already? Don't we get a break?" Sakura yelled.
"What's the matter Sakura, getting tired in your old age?" Terra asked.
"Can it." Sakura replied.
Two of the four doors the victors had exited from disappeared.
"The next round begins:
Raven vs. Jinx!
Terra vs. Sakura!"
Terra blinked. "Oh my."
Sakura smirked, clutching her weapon. "Oh my indeed… At the end of this round he'll have two Tameranian powerhouses, the Bee, the genius…"
"The Sorceress." Jinx stated.
"You wish." Raven replied.
"The geomancer." Sakura stated.
"Ha! That crystal will hold you nice and tight Sakura! If it can compensate for your ego!"
"It's only ego to those with no confidence, kid."
Both pairs of fighters stepped to their respective entrances. How they knew which one was correct would in time become a mystery, even to them.
End of Part Four
A/N
¹ Tekken 5 battle arena – Moonlight grassland
² I don't know what her moves are called. Again, I exercise my rights to make up names.
³ Tekken 5, Lei Wulong's default catapult throw… it's really cool to look at, really difficult to describe.
Anyone wanna guess who's going onto the finals?