The park was alive with children playing and young couples picnicking. Cyborg tilted his head back inhaled the fresh air through his nose.
"It's a beautiful day! There's only one thing that could make this better." Cyborg said, reaching down and opening the barbecue he stood over. He pulled out a giant mound of ribs and sat down at the table, where the rest of us ate. "Man, I love picnic food!"
Cyborg downed the baby-back ribs while Robin had a burger.
"Agreed, Cyborg. This tangy yellow beverage is truly delightful!" Starfire said, returning back to her sipping.
"Um... Starfire..." I said, clearing my throat. "That's mustard."
"Is there more?"
I chuckled and finished my salad.
"All right..." Robin said, setting down his half-eaten burger, his appetite gone. "Ciela, why don't we get started on some training?"
"Okay." I said. We stood up and headed to an open area.
"When facing against an opponent, you need to know who it is you're up against. Most importantly, their weak points." Robin said. He held out my arm to the side. "The body is filled with major arteries and nerves. Joints have a good way and a not-so-good way of bending. This alone may help you with taking down your opponent."
As an example, he twisted my arm around and pressed it against my back. I cried out in pain.
"I didn't know there would be visuals." I winced. Robin released my arm, and I shook it out and rubbed my shoulder.
"If you want to learn, you have to dive right into the action. You have to understand what it is that you're going to deal to your opponent." Robin said. "Show me a fighting stance."
"Uh..." Slowly and sheepishly, I placed my right foot back and crouched slightly. I brought my fists up to my face. "Is this okay?"
"Close..." Robin tucked my elbows in and lowered my fists away from my face, leveling them with my chest. "You'll leave your torso wide open with your hands up in front of your face. This will help you to better protect both." Robin held up his hands, palms facing me. "Throw a punch."
I hesitated, then lightly drove my fist into his hand.
"Okay... you'll have to do better than that." Robin said, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, I don't want to hurt you." I said.
"It's fine. You can't take fighting lightly. And you're punching wrong." Robin readjusted my fist, resting my thumb outside of my fist and draping it over the bottom of my index and middle finger. "Your thumb was inside your fist. If you threw a punch at something hard, it would definitely break. But don't clench it too hard or else you'll cut off circulation. With the most basic of punches, or a Front Punch, you need to align your first two knuckles with the bones in you forearm so you don't hurt yourself. Punch at an angle with your wrist tilted down slightly. Doing so will decrease the chance of you injuring yourself, and your punches become more powerful." Robin held up his hands again. "Now, punch."
"Uh..." I went cross-eyed from all the information, but I slowly followed each step: clenched my fist, positioned my thumb and arm, then drove my fist into Robin's hand, much harder than the first time.
"Very good. Keep going." he said. I obeyed, and dealt consecutive punches to his palms. When I started to slow down, he yelled words of encouragement that fired me up and kept me going.
"All right, take a break." Robin said after perhaps one hundred punches in a row. I panted and shook out my hands. "Very nice. I doubt you'll have to deal so many punches like this, but practicing like you might will help you to build strength and endurance. You're coming along nicely."
"Thanks." I said, sucking in one more deep breath. "Maybe I can become just as good as you in a couple of training sessions."
"All right, slow down. Don't let it get to your head. You still have a lot more to learn."
"Robin! Ciela!" Beast Boy ran towards us. "We've got trouble."
"Training's done for today. Let's see you put it into use."
I nodded, and the three of us headed back towards our picnic sight. Cyborg laid on the ground, shut down. His blue circuitry was gone, replaced with black.
"What happened?" Robin said.
"We were playing football, then all of a sudden, this happened." Beast Boy said.
"Look, he's coming to." I said.
Cyborg's mechanical eye flickered on, and he opened his other.
"Cyborg, are you all right?" Robin said. He and Starfire helped him stand.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Cyborg said.
"What happened?" Raven said.
"Something must've gone wrong with my systems." Cyborg said. He pressed a button on his arm, and he pulled up a screen. "Aw, man. My power cell's dying."
"Dying?!" Starfire said.
"It's only a battery. It happens every couple of years. I'll be fine."
"You should go home and charge back up." I said.
"Right. I'll see you guys later."
When Cyborg was out of sight, our communicators went off.
"Trouble." Robin said. "Titans, let's go."
We headed to a jewelry shop, where Mumbo, a crazy magician that uses his techniques for mischief, was robbing the store. He escaped into the junkyard to examine his treasures.
"Show's over, Mumbo." Robin said.
"Now, Robin, I'm sure there's a peaceful solution here..." Mumbo said. Two bombs appeared in his hands and he threw them. "But who cares about that?"
We ran out of the way. One of the bombs exploded near my feet, and the mound of dirt I stood on collapsed. I gasped and rolled down to the bottom of the junkyard.
"Ugh..." I said, shaking dirt out of my hair.
"You all right?" a voice said, and a mechanical hand appeared in my view. I looked up at Cyborg, accepted his hand, and stood up.
"What are you doing here? You're supposed to be at the Tower." I said.
"But you knew I'd be here instead, right?" Cyborg said. He turned around, displaying the giant battery strapped to his back. "I got this external battery pack."
"Right, but I also know what happens because of your stubbornness. Don't say I didn't warn you." I climbed up the mound of dirt and crept towards Mumbo.
Cyborg blasted Mumbo with his cannon. As he ran towards the magician, Mumbo pulled a long piece of fabric from his hat and tied up Cyborg with it. Robin dove at Mumbo with a kick, but Mumbo reached into a pipe next to him. His hand reappeared through another and caught Robin by the cape. As he was occupied, I charged at him. With a grunt, I clenched my fist and drove it into his cheek. Mumbo cried out in surprise and flew back into a mound of garbage. The garbage collapsed on top of him.
"Looks like you're applying yourself well." Robin said.
"Yeah." I said, catching my breath. "What's next for training?"
"Presto!" Suddenly, my shoelaces were untied and grew ten feet longer. They wrapped around my ankles and yanked me off my feet. I cried out as my shoelaces flung me across the junkyard, causing my shoes to be torn off as well. I landed in a pile of trash.
"Yuck." I said, picking a banana peel out of my hair. "Hopefully this doesn't carry into my world..."
"Cyborg? Cyborg!" I heard Robin call. I climbed out of the garbage, found my shoes, and gathered with the other Titans. A garbage truck drove by with Mumbo steering it.
"Thank you, you've been a lovely audience!" he called as he pulled out of the junkyard.
"Titans, he's got Cyborg!" Robin said, and the four Titans chased after him.
"Wait, he's not..." I said, but the Titans were already gone. I sighed.
I found the Titans investigating the garbage truck that Mumbo was driving, which he had crashed into the curb.
"Cyborg is not inside the truck of dump." Starfire said.
"And his signal is jammed. This doesn't make sense. Why would Mumbo want to kidnap Cyborg?" Robin said.
"He doesn't." I said. "And he didn't. Despite our requests, Cyborg didn't go home and change his power cell. When he landed in that garbage truck, his battery ran out of power and died. He was deposited into a lower part of the junkyard, where he was taken by an alien named Fix-It."
"Then we should go and find him!" Beast Boy said.
"No. Cyborg can handle himself. You guys should take care of Mumbo first. I... don't think he's that far from here." I said, looking over their shoulders.
The streets were awry with Mumbo's tricks: a parked bus disappeared in a puff of smoke and reappeared in the middle of the street a few feet away, a jumping mailbox spewed bunnies from its mouth, and an unconscious woman floated through the air with three hula hoops surrounding her.
"Good luck." I said. "By the way, break his wand; it'll break all his spells. After you defeat Mumbo, then you can go and find Cyborg. By then, he'll be okay."
"And what are you going to do?" Raven said.
"I have some training I need to improve on." I said, rubbing my knuckles. "That punch I dealt really hurt. I'll see you guys in the next episode." I turned to Raven. "Good luck."
Raven raised her eyebrow. I waved and headed towards the Tower.
I positioned the training dummy, checked to make sure the gauze wrapped around my hands would assuredly prevent injury, and tightened my ponytail. I tied back the excess fabric of my shirt. I took a deep breath, struck my fighting stance, and started to punch the training dummy.
Left, right, left, right. Each order, the desired fist obeyed. I aimed at multiple parts of the dummy's body: the head, torso, and face. The sweat started to build after only a couple of punches, and I felt the soreness from the training I experienced earlier today. Regardless, I kept pushing myself.
In fact, as I continued to punch, I began to place other peoples' faces in substitute to the dummy's bland, blurred one. Each punch I dealt, I imagined them as the faces of my torturers in the real world.
My breathing picked up from adrenaline and anger.
"Why don't you go to a gym or something?"
"What did you eat for lunch: a dumpster truck?"
"Is the big baby going to cry?"
"Who would ever want to love a creature so wretched?"
"Typical for Fattella..."
"Fattella..."
"Fattella..."
With an angry cry, I launched one more punch into the dummy's face as hard as I could. The dummy lurched back and crashed to the ground. I took deep, panting breaths as I stared at the dummy through tear-filled eyes. I crouched down and lifted the dummy back up in its standing position. I looked at its face and chuckled when I saw it was caved in a little bit. I guess I can pack quite a punch...
I looked up at the large mirror that covered the entire wall opposite of me. I stared at my body, still mesmerized at the sight. I walked over to the mirror and gently placed my hand on it.
Why couldn't I look like this in my world? None of this would've happened if I didn't have the body that these clothes really fit...
I pressed my sweaty forehead against the mirror. I remembered Robin's words from the last episode. You have to stand for what's right, even if it means standing alone. Maybe it's time for me to fight back... and not just against the physical people...
I looked back up at my reflection, when suddenly, my vision started to fade to black.
I guess I'll have to see if I actually put that into use.
