And I have returned again for another exciting installment of Raven's Game! Hooray! The final battle with Dark Fall rages on, and every one of our heroes is facing their own challenges. You saw what happened to Starfire… sad, huh? Well, the story must go on! I don't own Teen Titans, Squee!

Raven's Game 3: Final Shadow

Part 16 – Last Hero Standing

How long had the battle been raging? Beast Boy was already beyond his limits, but he couldn't stop. God, they never stopped coming. He must've taken down close to three hundred of them by now. His muscles ached and he constantly gasped for breath. He was sore from all his animal transformations, and the blows he'd received here and there were starting to add up. After he'd dispatched the closest group he turned into a hawk and flew to a nearby rooftop. Tumbling and falling face down, he lay there breathing for the longest time. Turning human again he groaned and actually shook as he tried to force himself to his feet. He got to his hands and knees with a lot of effort. He peered over the edge of the rooftop, groaning when he saw how many there still were. Red spirits, zombies, or whatever the hell. They were all the enemy… He looked up and outward towards the main body. If it decided to attack anytime soon, he'd be toasted. He was so tired… ohh… Beast Boy fell unconscious from exhaustion. The poor green teen simply had no more to give. Cyborg was probably no better off…

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Starfire was down, Raven sensed. She could feel her emotional anguish. She probably found Robin, and… she'd killed him all over again. Pursing her lips and trying to hold back her emotions out of habit, Raven swooped through another group and dropped more of the tiny bottles. Explosions of magic followed her wherever she went, and she landed. They kept coming in her direction, like mindless zombies. Heh, let them come. She was ready for them. When they were very near she reached within her cloak. Her eyes suddenly widened and she parted her cloak to have a better look. She'd run out of magic grenades. "Shit." Raven hissed, conjuring magic on her hands. She blasted a dozen or so away, and severed their strings of magic. "I guess I'm down to using my magic again…" She'd made all of those tiny bottles to buffer her use of her powers. She would need all the power she could muster to fight Dark Fall itself. Its army, though powerful, was not her target. The creature was. Raven flew and stopped in midair. What was that loss of aura she'd suddenly felt? She glanced over to one side, seeing a dot of green amongst all the rain and gray. It was Beast Boy! She dove through the air and landed near to him. Turning him over, she cradled his body to her own.

The green teen was shirtless, and all of his 'stripes' were in plain view. Cuts and bruises dotted his body, and a little bit of blood seeped from his temple. Raven watched his head loll lifelessly back, but saw his chest rising and falling. He must've passed out from pure exhaustion… Raven couldn't blame him. He'd done all he could for her. All for her. She'd started it all… and now it was up to her to finish it. She bent and kissed his forehead, pulling him under the stairwell's tin roof. At least he would be out of the rain… Slowly running her fingers through his hair, she stood at last and advanced again.

Raven flew out over the crowd of red spirits again, firing wave after wave of black magic cutters. Shaped like disks, the black magic projectiles flew randomly through the air and severed thread after thread. The whole time, she felt the strength growing in her breast. The ghosts… they were with her… even then… But it wasn't time yet. They weren't strong enough. Not yet… not yet…

Raven could almost literally feel Starfire's pain. She'd had to leave her mate behind, too. Although, hers was relatively safe on that rooftop. None of the red demons seemed to possess enough intelligence to look for him there. They only seemed to wander aimlessly until they spotted a Titan. Then, they'd follow that Titan until he or she were destroyed. The white-clad girl saw beams of blue light going this way and that, and knew that's where Cyborg was. She turned to see Dark Fall still staring silently at her. It's eyes narrowed slightly, and the red threads jolted again. It was pumping them up, making them stronger than they were. Streetlights and windows started exploding by themselves, and Raven flew higher so she wouldn't be hit with any debris. The very air was heavy with dark magic, far darker than Raven's own, and twice as powerful. God, what was she going to do…?

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Cyborg teetered on a hillside curb, grabbing a lamppost and swinging about, launching a counter offensive. Wave after wave of the red ghosts kept coming. He was wearing down though. His battery wouldn't last much longer under all this stress. "C'mon!" He roared to the next challengers. "I got enough butt-whoopin' for all of ya!" He arched his beam cannon, knocking some off of their feet. Leaping high and smashing a dumpter he tossed it to knock more away as he snapped threads here and there. Rage was all that kept the metal man going now. The thrill of battle would keep him going only a few more minutes…

"Damnit, Dark Fall." Cyborg hissed, clutching at his arm. His main beam cannon had just overheated. He'd have to use the other one know. "Why don't you fight us yourself!" He shouted to the black sky. Roaring his battle cry he split the very street he stood on with a single punch! The ground shook like an earthquake as the crack raced down the street and spread open like a gaping maw. His mechanical body was getting dings and cracks, but the super hero just wouldn't stop. He didn't know how to give up, and he wasn't going to stop now! Countless of the enemy were falling, but it still wasn't enough.

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Grazed by an arrow Raven somersaulted spectacularly, forming a long black blade of magic with her hands. Striking her opponent from behind and straight down the middle, she stood dramatically. The vorpal-slash made her opponent pause, and then simply fall into pieces. Slashing through spirit after spirit, threads were snapped and severed and ripped from their owners. The dark girl paused, gasping for breath. Her hood had fallen back, and her hair was already heavy with rain. She tossed droplets into the air as she spun around to face a new crowd of spirits. Raven wiped her mouth of just a tad of blood, putting up her hands. All of the others were down, and Cyborg was almost out of power. She wasn't tired yet. Not at all…

Flattening herself into a straight line, Raven shot through the crowd like a missile, spinning with her conjured blades of magic. Thread after thread of magic was severed, but when she stopped she found another cut on her body, this time on her upper arm. Passing her hand quickly over it to stop the bleeding, she refocused on her enemy. Squeezing her burning eyes shut for just a moment, "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Raven threw both arms upward and an entire three story building was outline in black. Possessed by her dark magic it was ripped out of the ground and smashed into the crowd of red devils! The ground shook and the resulting explosion sent smoke for several blocks. As though it wasn't dark enough already… Raven stood there, letting her black aura fade again, though still poised for battle. No point in wasting magic on a visible aura! Gotta conserve power, gotta conserve… The smoke cleared soon because of the rain, and even more of Dark Fall's army was lumbering around the corner. Raven's eyes narrowed in revulsion and she took to the skies.

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Cyborg groaned, throwing himself into a side alley. Hell, how was he going to fight with no end to his enemies? Checking his power read-out on his arm, he winced. The little indicator was way past red. He'd have to find a hiding spot soon and… hope for the best. Just as he found an empty dumpster and had shut it over himself, he felt his power cell dying. "Good luck BB… Raven… Star… fire…" His red eye blinked… blinked… went out.

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Raven was growing desperate. How many more would she need? For every enemy slain, one more was added to their side, but would it be enough? Her enemies were bolstered by any deaths or innocents spotted in the area. Her cloak had torn when a lightning-fast sword had almost run her through. She'd escaped from that with a minor cut across one of her shoulder blades. "I finally get to wear white, and then get it blood-stained…" Raven grunted, throwing up her hands and dissipating another enemy. The line of black magic pierced its body and broke the thread on the other side. Leaning on her knees and gasping for breath, she watched the next wave come. How many more, damnit! Raven suddenly stood bolt up. "Its… its ready. The hurricane…" Her pupils shrank into tiny dots, and she slowly started flying upward. Her flight was shaky, but steady and purposeful. She knew just where she was going.

The Teen Titan Raven was making her way towards Dark Fall. Its army had a huge dent in it, but swarmed throughout the city none the less. Beast Boy lay unconscious on a rooftop. Starfire had been buried in rubble during the battle. Cyborg's power cell had run out. Robin was dead. Raven… she was all that was left. The only hope left for Jump City, no, the whole world. Her hair, brutally cut to the way it was by her magic, flared this way and that in the chilling rain and howling wind. Water dripped from her chin, feet and fingertips. She was soaked to the bone and shivering, but that was the least of her worries now. Raven stopped high up in the air, face to face with evil.

"I think you've done enough damage." Raven said, her cloak flaring in the wind. Dark Fall stared into her soul with its giant red eyes. Eyes that would make the average person wet themselves. Raven's purple, lilac orbs stared evenly back at its red. There was a long silence, aside from the wind and rain. "Stop this storm and fight me." Raven said. "I can tell its you causing it."

Instantly, the rain and wind was no more. Dark Fall's eyes narrowed, and quite suddenly a mouth was visible. A giant, gaping maw of enormous teeth dripped neon green ooze. Just inside the ring of teeth was another ring of teeth, and another, and another. A slimy, living tongue flashed about like a wild snake, just waiting for her to blink or make a fatal mistake. The white-clad girl said nothing, only stared with cold neutral eyes.

"Not backing down, huh?" Raven said. She could already feel it swelling in her breast. The awesome power that had been gathering… ohh… how long could she hold it back? She had to wait, wait for just the right time. She licked her dry lips, pulling her hood down and brushing her hair out of her eyes.

Just then a bloodcurdling, sonic scream pierced the air! Male and female at the same time, Dark Fall's nightmare mouth screamed at her from a mere fifty feet away. Raven defended with both arms, her hair and cloak flaring like a banner. When it was over she resumed her stance, though a little shaken.

Raven's eyes narrowed dangerously. "I'm not your dentist. Shut your trap!" A nearby building was wreathed in black and pitched itself directly into Dark Fall's maw! Teeth broke, skin tore and the huge tongue sprayed blood for a full block. A huge red mark had been painted down part of main street. The monster writhed, thrashing and spitting out debris. Raven conjured a spherical shield around herself, and was battered by chunks of the building. Smoke and falling material rained for a quarter of a mile, even killing a few of Dark Fall's army. It let out a horrid blast of a roar, its shapeless form bubbling and churning like living mercury.

Raven could feel it swelling in her heart, ready to burst free. How powerful had they made it? God, not yet! "No more games, eh? Are you ready to fight me seriously?" Raven taunted it with a neutral voice, flying backward and downward at a steady pace. Dark Fall regarded her very closely. She wanted to fight directly? Just her? No challenge there at all. But, if she wanted to play… they would play. It had always enjoyed a good game. Dark Fall's black aura began to compact itself inward. The smokey presence it usually had was fading, making it look like a living mound of ooze. It was getting smaller, more definable now. It was getting ready to fight her one on one… not! It lashed out with a lightning fast spike of pure shadow, the same it had impaled her with in the first game.

Raven heard the gross sound of parting flesh.

She coughed, and saw blood hit the pavement she was standing on. She reached slowly, and touched her lips. Her fingers came away red. Her vision slid in and out of focus as she looked down at herself. Her white outfit was so red… why? She could hear her heartbeat in her temples. Her head felt very heavy all of a sudden. She let it sag forward, wondering why she was so tired all of a sudden.

Raven had a spike of black shadow piercing through her abdomen, all the way through her, and into the pavement behind her.

"Well… shit…" Raven coughed again, a bit of blood coming out of her mouth. The coppery taste made her wince, and it was only then that the pain hit her. She inhaled harshly in pain, gripping the projectile tentacle that had gone through her. Dark Fall's eyes narrowed in amusement. Humans. So easily damaged. So easily killed. "The… joke's on you, Dark… Fall…" Raven actually smiled a little as she sagged forward. "Soul… hurricane…"

Holy crap! What's gonna happen next? Is Raven dead? Did I kill her off at the last second? What was this "hurricane" she was talking about? And what did she mean, the joke was on Dark Fall? I just love suspense, don't you? Leave me a review, and let me know what you think!