Chap. 11

Training Continues

"I'll go." Lisa answered, as she stepped forward. "OK. We've already got something prepared for you too." Brett replied, as he moved over to the control panel, and twisted a few dials. Suddenly, the room began to shimmer around them, almost as if it was basking in a heat wave. The steel walls disappeared, and a purple desert sky replaced them. A large canyon wall, as well as a long pathway appeared in front of the Elementals and future Titans. "Whoa, I never heard about this." Eddie said, as he looked around in wonder. "Tamarian holo-emitters. They're not as realistic as the ones we used for your parent but they cover a much bigger space. One of Robin and Starfire's wedding gifts from Galfore." Sara explained. "Who?" Katie asked. "Basically, he was Starfire's 'nanny', but he could also rip out spines with his bare hands. Star crowned him emperor of Tamaran after she won the right to rule from her sister Blackfire. Fun dude." "I'm sure." Lisa muttered. "So what exactly is this?"

"This, is the Acverian desert, from Tamaran's eastern quadrant. It was one of your dad's favorite training courses, after we got the emitters installed." Brett explained. "Basically, all you have to do is get from here to the other end of the canyon within the time limit." "Sounds simple enough." Lisa said. "You'd think so, wouldn't you?" Brett said cryptically. "Get ready kid, you only have ten minutes. On your mark, get set, GO!"

Lisa almost instantly began to sprint down the canyon pathway, leaping past the rocks and obstacles with ease. Her father's agility and her mother's alien strength had given Lisa a superhuman speed and agility, that even the great Batman would not have been able to emulate at his peak. As the group watched, she came across a large rock formation that blocked the pathway across the canyon. But barely giving it a second glance, the young girl leapt to the side of the canyon, bounced off the wall, swung across a branch that cropped out from the upper level of the wall and landed on the other side of the formation, running again the second that she hit the ground.

"Wow, she's halfway done in only three minutes." Sara said in amazement as she looked down at her watch. "Robin never even did it that fast." "True, but Robin didn't have some alien strength and endurance to keep him going this long." Brett said. "You know, this is cool and all." Terra asked suddenly. "but shouldn't she have to do more?" "Yeah, this seems way too easy." Rivers agreed. "Don't worry, your sister should be meeting a challenge right about now." Brett said.

As the bat spoke those words, the ground suddenly began to shake, as though in the grips of an earthquake. Lisa stopped, as she looked around to see if any of the rocks were going to come loose and bury her. But what did come down was much worse then any kind of rock. A huge purple form suddenly blasted forth from the side of the canyon wall in a wave of rock and dust. Lisa shielded her eyes, and then when the dust finally cleared, she looked up in horror at what had emerged. The creature was a gigantic purple worm, oozing pus from its huge six-story body. Its large circular mouth glistened with teeth and they gnashed back and forth, in anticipation of food. Lisa began to back away, but then Sara yelled out, "This was your dad's favorite part. Don't worry, it can't really hurt you." Since the worm was a hologram, that seemed plausible, but as it suddenly lunged forward, it's huge frame casting its shadow over her, Lisa began to doubt that statement.

As the worm attempted to throw it's huge body on top of her, Lisa quickly rolled out of the way, just as the impact of the huge body waved over the ground. Moving quickly, Lisa grabbed a nearby rock and hurled it at the creature, aiming right for its face. The rock landed in the creature's eye, puncturing it almost instantly. The huge creature threw its head back and howled as the blood from its wounded eye ran down its face. Lisa watched it and laughed as it howled in pain. But as she gloated, she failed to notice the worm's tail raising up behind her and moving towards the canyon wall. Suddenly, it slammed into the upper wall, spilling a huge mess of rock and dust down onto the girl. Luckily, Lisa did hear the impact and was able to leap away before the rocks hit, but she misjudged her leap and hit an outcropping on the outer wall with a sickening smack. She fell to the ground like a stone, clutching her shoulder in pain. The worm, seeing this out of the corner of its good eye, turned to face her, it's mouth working overtime at the prospect of food. Lisa tried to get up and run, but she slipped on a loose stone and fell back down, just the worm's approaching face cut off any place for her to run. As it opened wide and prepared to swallow her, Lisa began to scream in fear.

But suddenly, the worm vanished, as did the desert. Lisa looked up at the steel walls of the training room and the others standing by the control panel. As she got to her feet, Brett shook his head and said, "All you had to do was get past the worm and run four feet and you would've been done. What happened?" "Hey, that thing was huge! What was I supposed to do?" Lisa yelled back, as Eddie came over to check on her shoulder. "Cut her a break, Grampa. That thing was really big." Bart said. But the bat refused to back off. "I know it was huge. But I've fought bigger things then that with absolutely nothing and still managed to get past it." "It was trying to eat me!" Lisa yelled, as she pulled her shoulder away from Eddie and stomped up to Brett. "Besides, I blinded the damn thing, didn't I?" she said right to the bat's face. "That wasn't the point. You weren't supposed to kill it, just get past it. And you could have done it, if you hadn't taken that wasted minute to gloat over it!" Brett cried back. "You could have run past it when it was blinded and gotten to the end. Instead you fed your ego and it was able to trap you and almost eat you." "What do you think we're here for?" Lisa snapped. "To learn how to run away from everything?" "No, you're here to learn how be a hero, and sometimes that means looking at the bigger picture and letting things go. That includes knowing when to leave your foe and do what's more important." Lisa was still angry, but she had no words to respond to that. Brett shook his head and said, "Look, other then that you did fine, but we're going to talk more about this. Now get back in line."

As Lisa angrily walked back to the group, Brett motioned for Martin to come up. Looking reluctant, the dark-skinned boy did just that. Standing by Brett, he waited to get his task. But Brett had something different in mind. "I'll be honest, you were probably the hardest one to figure out kid." He said. "Your powers seem to be a combination of Jinx and Cyborg. You can affect probability just like she can, but it seems to be limited to the substance and shape of your body." "In English please?" Martin asked with a touch of impatience. "You can turn your body to metal, and shape it into any kind of form you want." Brett said curtly. "Now, I don't really know how to deal with that, so what I'm gonna do with you today is try to figure out what you can do." "And how do we do that?" "Simple. You do whatever I ask you to unless you are physically incapable of doing it. Now then, turn to steel."

Martin's face took on a look of stupefied surprise. "You expect me to just do it?" "I expect you to try. Imagine it happening and it probably will." The bat replied. The look of surprise intensified on the boy's face, but Brett's took on a look of such grimness that Martin sighed and tried to do what he had been asked. In his mind, he pictured molten metal, flowing and churning over his body. Suddenly a wave of coldness swept over his body, and when Martin looked down, his entire body had become glistening steel. Even his dreads were metallic, glistening bronze, except for the pink ones, which had somehow kept their normal color. As he looked over his transformed body in amazement , Brett observed as well, though with more attention to detail then the boy. Suddenly, with one deft motion, Brett drew his sword and lightly, but quickly, slashed along Martin's side in a wave of sparks. "Hey!" Martin yelled, as the bat looked over the effect. "Do you feel any pain?" he asked calmly, seemingly unaware of Martin's annoyance. Martin shook his head in response, but an angry look still colored it. Brett ignored it. "Hmm. Even your nerve endings are hardened. Good. Now then, you see that big weight over there?" Martin turned and nodded, noticing the large cylindrical weight that according to the label, was over six hundred pounds. "Your dad and Starfire used it for training. Go over and lift it, but only with one hand."

Again, Martin gave a quizzical look, but only for a brief moment when seeing the no questions- look on Brett's. Walking over to it, he bent down and placed his left underneath it. His face tightened, as he expected to probably tear some kind of muscle lifting the weight. Sighing, he finally gave the weight a tug with his hand. However, as he pulled up, the weight not only went up, but it literally flew upwards, with amazing speed. As Martin watched in shock, it shot all the way to the ceiling and actually embedded itself there. The boy turned to see the others, even Brett, staring in amazement. "Damn, I didn't think you were that strong." The bat said simply. "You must've done a hell of a lot of weight training or some kind of athletics." "Well, Dad had me go out for track a couple years ago. I took up shot put and did pretty well with it." "Shot put?" Rivers said questioningly. "Wait, you're not the guy who smashed the chem. lab windows and most of the beakers last year were you?" Martin tried to shrug, but the fact that he looked away made it all too clear that he was. "Dude, thank you!" Rivers said gleefully. "I got about three more days to study for my exam because of that mess. I never would've passed any other way." "You're welcome, I guess." Martin replied.

"Well, that's not too surprising, knowing Cy." Brett said. "He always did want to go back to athletics, but he never could, even with my holo-emitters." The bat paused for minute then asked, "Do you like doing it?" "Yeah, it's pretty fun. Why?" "Just curious. Now then, we know some of how you can change your body. Let's see how you can do with shapes. Have you ever seen the diagrams of your dad's old sonic cannon?" Martin nodded. "All right, see if you can shape your arm into it." This time, Martin gave no questioning looks, only closed his eyes and tried to do what he was asked. His right arm quickly began to change, to flow like molten metal. It molded and shifted, until it became an exact replica of Cyborg's sonic cannon. "Cool." Bart said, as he came over and looked at the device. "Hey, no touching." Martin said, pulling his arm away. "Hey, I just wanna see it." Bart said. "Yeah, well, look from over there." Martin snapped. "Hey what's your problem?" "I don't want you touching it and setting it off or something." Martin said.

"I'm not stupid. I wasn't gonna touch it." Bart snapped back, growing a little angry. "Right. Just like you weren't gonna tell the class about what your sister shopped for last weekend." Martin said back. "It was an accident! And why do you care so much? Do you like her?" Bart shot back mockingly. At that, an angry expression grew on the boy's face, and his other fist began to change, clumping together into a mace. Without thinking, Martin began to bring that fist up, and would've brought it down onto Bart, had Brett and Sara not stepped between them. "We don't have time for a pissing match here." Brett said, looking directly at both boys. "Especially with powers you can't fully control yet." "Bart, get back in line and Martin, you learn to control yourself." Sara said angrily. Both boys did as they were told, but not before exchanging one last angry look at each other.

Thankful the crisis was averted, Brett turned his attention back to the matter at hand. "Now Martin, we're going to see how well that cannon actually works. Eddie, Terra, if you wouldn't mind." Eddie nodded at the request, but Terra seemed confused. "Just wait." The dog told his daughter. Closing his hands into fists, the Knight concentrated and turned them into stone. Then suddenly, they separated from his wrists and flew over to the spot right in front of the boy. As Terra watched, Eddie's wrists seemed to grow out and spread, only to reform themselves into a perfect pair of furry hands. Flexing them once, Eddie nodded his satisfaction and turned back to his old hands, now floating in the air. "Give the boy a target." He said to Terra. It was then that she finally understood. Nodding, she raised her hands towards them and using the material that she had been given, caused them to change into a pair of target circles. "Well done." Brett said. "Martin, you know what to do." Nodding, Martin pointed the sonic cannon towards the target and tried to fire it. It took him a few tries but finally, Martin was able to send out a sonic burst and destroy the first target. Smiling, he then turned his attention back towards the other target and destroyed that as well. "Good job Marty." Brett said as he clapped the boy on the back. "Looks like you can create any kind of working weapon you want. Most impressive." "Glad you approve. Anything else you want me to do?" "Sadly no. This was just about learning the range of your powers. We'll have a better system for you next time, but for now, that's all. You can de-armor and go back." Martin nodded, and returned his body to its normal state.

"So, we're down to just one." Brett said, as Martin rejoined the others. "Katie, step forward." Brushing her hair back, the young girl stepped in front of the others, as her grandfather came forward. "Do you know why I saved you for last Katie?" he asked. "Not really." She answered, looking down at the floor nervously. "Because your powers are the ones we have the best understanding of." He answered. "Therefore you are the easiest for us to instruct." "Oh." She said. "Oh? That's all?" Brett replied. "Well, I guess I figured that I wouldn't be too difficult for you to work with." Katie explained, still not looking up from the floor. Gently reaching underneath her chin, Brett pulled her up to face him. "You misunderstand." He explained. "What I mean is that we know how help you control them. That doesn't mean you won't have a difficult time learning. You are the easiest for us to instruct, but your powers are the hardest to control." "Isn't that an oxymoron or something?" Katie asked. "I guess that does sound a bit odd. Let me show you."

Motioning for her to follow him, Brett led Katie over to the wreckage of the targeting droids from River's session. Reaching into the piles, Brett pulled out a large circular device. "This is the droid's neutron power core. Even thought it was destroyed, this is still active." Brett explained. Placing it down in front of Katie, he said, "I want you to levitate this. But if you drop it from too high, it'll explode, due to it's unstable core." "Uh, how high is too high then?" Katie asked nervously. "About six feet. Now, just forget about that, and try to do this."

Katie nodded, and closed her eyes. Reaching out towards the device, she concentrated on moving it. The black aura slowly began to surround the device, as Katie put her powers to work. When the device was fully covered, it began to lift into the air. It went up one foot, two, then stopped. Katie opened her eyes, and seeing her work looked at Brett. But all the bat said was "Higher." "But I can't lift it anymore.' Katie said. "It's too heavy." But again the bat said, "Higher." Sighing, Katie closed her eyes and tried. She pushed her powers, trying as hard as she could, but the device only went up another inch. " I told you." She said, opening her eyes again.

"I think I know how you can do it." Brett said. "You need a mantra." "What's that?" Katie asked. "Your mom had one. Its basically three words, repeated over and over, that you put all your focus on. It really helped her control her powers. Hers was 'Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos', but you can make it anything you want." "Anything? Why not those words?" "Well Raven picked them because she had a connection to each one. Azarath was where she was born, Metrion was her middle name, and Zinthos was her favorite teacher. Yours could be something along those lines." Katie thought about it for a minute, and then smiled as she thought it up. "OK, let me try again." She said, as her eyes closed and then she began to chant her own mantra. At first, she whispered it to herself, but then it began to grow in power. "Pasadena, Arella, Altros." Katie chanted over and over, as she kept her hands raised. Slowly, the device began to rise up again, faster then before. It reached six feet in a minute, but it continued to rise, faster and faster, until it was almost at the ceiling. "Katie stop!" Bart yelled out. His sister opened her eyes, saw where the device was headed, and in a panic dissolved the aura. The device stopped its flight, but then it began its descent. Katie tried to regain her control, but she was too panicked to do so. The device fell at seemingly super speed, falling at an increasing rate towards the floor and certain destruction.