Titan Tamer of The Swordsman
Chapter Twenty Two
Only Human
A/N
Karsap: Time for the next chapter.
Yuki: Only Human? Is this about Cyborg again?
Kotemon: And another villain?
Karsap: Well technically two, but more on that later. But for now Yuki do the disclaimer.
Yuki: Okay! Karsap doesn't own Digimon or Teen Titans, but he owns Me Yuki Hata.
Titans Tower-Day
The city of Jump, a relatively peaceful metropolis that may or may not be the target of unnatural attacks from extraterrestrials, evil Digimon, super powered villains. To help with those attacks that seem too much for the local police department, there is a team of teenage superheroes and one Digimon that has dedicated itself to protect the city.
This team lives in a giant T on an island in the bay, a few miles off the coast of the city. One could only wonder what goes on past the metal door, behind the steel and installed defense system. Well, if you really think about it, one thing would definitely come to mind: Training.
Inside the Tower Gym, Robin was busy pummeling a fighting dummy with various martial arts moves. As he continued laying waste to the wooden doll, Starfire flew over him, followed by a barrage of lasers, which were being fired by several small flying spheres. Flipping onto her back, the auburn-haired Titan threw a handful of starbolts and turned one after another into scrap metal. Stopping in midair to look back at one explosion, she soon saw three more spheres fly through the cloud of smoke, resuming their attacks. In an attempt to avoid getting shot, the Tamaranean bailed.
Back on the ground, Raven was in the middle of meditating as Starfire flew around her. "Azarath Metirion Zinthos!" The powerful mage chanted. As she spoke the incantation, three long, thick stone poles appeared and sent them flying toward her orange teammate, who weaved neatly through them. The training shooters, however, crashed into them head on and exploded as a result.
On the other side of the gym, Kotemon was standing in a ring and holding onto his bamboo sword as enemy holograms materialize as the Digimon slashed one of the enemy holograms with his Hothead attack before dodging a slash from one of them before punching another hologram into the others with his Thunder Kote, destroying them all. He looked over at Yuki as the Tamer looks at The Big Book of Classification of Demons and found another Demon or in this case two Demons that peak his interest, "Huh the next prince of hell is a demon called Asmodeus, a demon who wants everyone in the world to be sexual deviants and only think of weird sex stuff all day long but this demon is the only one gain the represent the sin of Lust from his mother Lilith who was Adam's first wife, created at the same time and from the same clay as Adam on the sixth day of Creation however Lilith and Adam couldn't want submit to other, with nether one of them willing to compromise Lilith then fled from Eden she then said out loud God's real name, and in doing so Lilith thus became a demon of Lust." Yuki finished, 'A human becoming a demon for punishment that's harsh.' he thought.
Meanwhile in a different part of the gym on a readout panel on the wall, a set of bar graphs, a human outline, and the number 002 next to the letters "BST BOY" was on display. On a nearby treadmill, a green turtle was moving ever so slowly-the number on the panel was the speed in miles per hour. Soon, the digits on display began increasing to 005 then 006; a result of having transformed into a green bighorn sheep and moving faster. Next, the readout quickly increased from 032 to 038 just as he transformed into a cheetah and really got serious.
As a wrecked laser sphere bounced across the floor, Starfire touched down in front of the treadmill and looked off in another direction to see what her other companions were doing. Across the gym, she saw large metal slabs being loaded onto an enormous sled.
Underneath this massive amount of weight, a grunting Cyborg was straining to hold the immense burden aloft. His right forearm panel showed a reading of 93% and separate bar graphs marked R and L-power output from each side of his body and overall power. It soon ticked up to 95% as he groaned under the load, sweat pouring down his face.
"Just a... little more..." The determined bionic grunted as another weight was added to the stack.
Curious to see his friend's workout regime, Robin stopped attacking the dummy and crossed the gym to watch. "Come on, Cyborg, push!" He encouraged once he reached his destination.
"What't it... look like I'm doing?" The weight trainer growled.
Soon after, the masked Titan was joined by Beast Boy Yuki (who closed the book he was reading.) and Kotemon, while Raven floated over. "Punch it, Cy!" The green teen cheered as Starfire then joined them, "Straight through the roof!"
"Wow go Cyborg!" The Tamer cheered, "Yeah keep going!" the Digimon joined in
"Yes! Inform that large mass of metal who is the boss!" Starfire added in an attempt to also invigorate her companion.
The resident Goth wasn't exactly keen on the whole idea of encouragement, but soon gave into the feeling as well, "Uh... go, Cyborg." She said.
His voice screaming as loud as his muscles, the target of the encouragement put every bit of effort he could muster into keeping the pile up. Now, all the other Titans cheered at once, but his panel notched up to 100%, with the R and L bars indicating full power.
"It's no good! Shut it down!" Cyborg cried as his body began shaking under the weight.
"No way, Cyborg! I won't let you quit!" The Boy Wonder stated, hoping to push his friend beyond his limits, "Come on, push!"
"I can't!" The African teen shouted as his body began shaking badly.
"Yes, you can!"
"No... I... CAN'T!" Cyborg roared. His knees finally started to buckle, and with a yell of agony, he collapsed and was thrown clear of the sled as it crashed to the floor. Lifting his head, he glared up and found Robin extending a hand to get him vertical; Beast Boy leaned into view holding up a judge's scorecard with a 9 on it.
"I give you a nine for the dive-" The green teen said, "but a two for the landing." He finished as Beast Boy pulled out a card with a 2 on it.
His spiky-haired leader threw him a dirty look, complete with a throbbing forehead vein, and Beast Boy quickly back off. Cyborg then stood up, ignoring the proffered hand, "Nobody asked you." He said sourly as he shouldered his way past the three. As he walked off, they stared after the departing armor-plated back with obvious concern.
Inside the hallway, an angry, frustrated Cyborg walked before a concerned Robin quickly ran up from behind to reach him. "Cyborg! What happened back there?" The concerned Boy Wonder asked.
"Get off my back." The angered bionic shot back as he kept walking.
"I'm on your side, remember? I was just trying to get you to kick it up a notch." The masked teen defended, causing the larger Titan to stop in his tracks.
"I don't have another notch! I'm not like you, okay? When I say I can't, I can't!" The metallic Titan shouted angrily. He took a couple of steps off down the hall, then stopped and sighed wearily. "When I was an athlete-when I was human- I loved pushing my limits." The sullen teen began, "Getting stronger, faster, better, just by trying harder than I ever had before. My coaches would always tell me to give a hundred and ten percent. And I always did." He explained, looking over his shoulder to regard his shorter comrade.
"You still can." Robin reassured.
Cyborg took a second before responding, "My muscles are mechanical now. Limits are built in." He said as he held his hands up in front of him, "No matter how hard I try, a hundred percent is all I've got."
"I didn't know."
"Well, now you do." The frustrated bionic returned before striding off down the hall.
In the Ops Center, in an attempt to cheer himself up, Cyborg was playing some sort of fighting game on the GameStation by himself. On the screen, two large robots, one blue and the other yellow, charged at each other and began trading punches. After a few seconds at close quarters, Blue was able to throw Yellow to the ground. In the kitchen, the other six Titans(Yuki putting The Big Book of Classification of Demons in his and Kotemon's room) watched with concern. The lone gamer payed them no mind, but kept hammering at the controller buttons with a very sour look on his face.
"Whoa. And I thought Raven looked grumpy." Beast Boy quipped. This comment caused a sweat to drop down said girls' temple.
"Our friend is more dismal than the swamp moons of Mulwark. Measures must be taken." Starfire said before walking over to the couch. Popping up with a massive grin behind her angered friend, the orange alien tried her best to cheer him up, "To replenish your heart with warmness and cheer, I offer a traditional Tamaranian folk song." She happily stated. Sucking in a huge breath, the resident extraterrestrial let out an insane shrill wail at eardrum-shattering volume. As she "sang" her head inflated before shrinking a few notches.
As a response, Cyborg yelled almost as loud, but much angrier, causing his head to inflate as well. "STARFIRE, CUT IT OUT!" He shouted, leaving the normally bubbly Titan frozen with her hair blown back from her head. On screen, the yellow robot did a victory dance over the blue robot as "Cyborg:1 Atlas:1" flashed, with the word "WINNER" in red below them. Now he growled angrily at her as veins throbbed all around him, causing her to duck out of sight.
As the video game combat resumed, Beast Boy put himself in front of the screen with a broad grin. The one he was trying to cheer up was not amused in the slightest. "Okay, dude." The green comedian said as he held up a cookie, "Keep your eye on the cookie." He tossed it into his mouth, leapt high, and quickly changed into a whale to shoot the snack from his blowhole. Becoming an elephant next, he sucked the cookie into his trunk before dropping to the floor in human form except for his nose. It quickly retracted, and allowed him to stick out his tongue with the cookie sitting neatly on it. "Ta-da!" The living circus act cheered.
This proved to be very ineffective as Cyborg boiled over, turning red from the bottom up as veins popped all over his face. He wrapped one huge hand around the green joker's head, causing his eyeballs, tongue, and cookie to protrude between his fingers; steam rising as well due to drool touching the red-hot surfaces. The next thing Beast Boy knew, he was flung backward, and crashed down behind the rest of the group.
"You're supposed to laugh!" The changeling groaned from the ground, "What do I have to do, make it fly out my-"
"Let me try." Raven spoke as she made her way to the couch. Once she got there, she tried to say something, but all that came out was, "Uh..."
"I don't wanna talk about it." The cybernetic Titan quickly interjected.
Completely shot down, without even a chance to help, the mage walked back and regrouped with the other Titans.
In another attempt to cheer up their depressed friend, Starfire popped up in front of the two with something that looked roughly like an alien set of bagpipes in her hands. "Tamaranian folk songs are even more cheerful when accompanied by the gorka pipes." She explained.
"Uh, Starfire! Maybe he just needs some time alone." Robin suggested, seeing as all other attempts at cheering up their friend failed, "Yeah Robin's right." Yuki added "Cyborg's really look he's not up to cheering up." Kotemon said. "Come on, guys." The Boy Wonder ushered the other three out of the Ops Center, nudging the instrument as he did so to produce a small noise of air being forced out.
Cyborg did not even budge from his spot on the couch as the two robots traded blows on screen. "Aw, you picked the wrong day to come online and mess with Cyborg!" He said to himself, "'Least I can still push myself in cyberspace."
Back on screen, the blue robot slammed the yellow one into the dirt, finally finishing it off his opponents as the message "Cyborg:2 Atlas:1" with the word "WINNER" flashed.
"Boo-yah!" The victorious teen cheered as he planted both palms on the window, "I don't know who you are or where you're from-but, Atlas, I just kicked your virtual butt!" With a yell, he swept to his feet and whirled onto a lighted stage, complete with microphone on stand; he stopped at this, doing the spits and a victory dance. "Go, Cyborg! Yo, Cy!" He sang as he knocked the mic stand over, sending up a squeal of feedback, and knelt as Beast Boy slid in to drape a towel over him.
On the screen, words accompanied by an angry voice spoke; "No one defeats Atlas! I demand a rematch."
The victor stood, shaking off the towel, and picked up his controller to peck out a reply. "Anytime, anywhere." He said as the words appeared on screen.
"How about here and now?" The voice from the game said as the words were typed out. As soon as the last word was spoken, the letters went red and melted away, as did the entire screen. When the view cleared, the reason quickly became visible-an enormous red-and-yellow robot, looking much like the character Cyborg beat, with a large red A at the waist and the glowing muzzle of a blaster in place of the right hand. It perched at the sill of the ruined window.
As Cyborg stood stunned in the glowing shadow, the left hand shot in and hauled him up. "Atlas is ready." The larger robot stated, "Let the rematch begin!" At the robots' word, the cybernetic Titan was flung through the hole, sending him sailing out screaming and splashing down off the island shore. After he got to his feet, his robotic opponent leapt down to face him.
"You do not want to start with me, man, especially not over a stupid video game." Cyborg stated evenly.
"Atlas never loses." The robot shot back with a determined grin.
"First time for everything." The African Titan returned with a determined smirk of his own.
Both fighters rushed at each other. Atlas raised both fists with a roar and brought them down on the water surface, creating a line of waves that extended ahead and behind. Cyborg was thrown backwards, but soon moved in again with a string of body blows that forced the opponent to give ground. This came to an end when one of his fists was caught in a huge yellow hand and pushed aside; Atlas grinned down at him before delivering a haymaker of his own. The impact sent waves spreading over the bay in all directions.
As the sounds of the brawl spread through the air, the rest of the Titans gathered at the windowsill. "Cyborg?" The fearless leader of the team questioned as he peered out through the hole.
"Looks like he went out for some air." Beast Boy added when he reached the window. Looking down at the fight, the team noticed their metallic friend trading blows with a mysterious yellow and red robot.
"That doesn't look like getting some air." Yuki quipped as Kotemon gulped.
"Titans! GO!" Robin ordered. In no time flat, they were over the sill and charging toward the shore to help out their companion. But before they could reach the fight, a barrel-chested fellow descended in front of them, using a jet pack on his back, to block their approach. He wore shorts, a long-sleeved blue jersey, matching cap, and a tool belt, along with one bandage on his left cheek.
"Sorry, folks, can't let you interrupt the master. This match is one on-waah!" Before he could finish his sentence, the irritated Boy Wonder got a double handful of fabric and threw him to one side, clearing the path for him and the other Titans to charge again.
Atlas threw another punch that dumped Cyborg into the water on his face; before he could stand, though, he was seized and thrown against the rocky slopes near the shore. Just after he slumped to the ground, the robotic giant wrapped a set of fingers around him and sent him flying. The yelling Titan sailed up, clearing the Tower completely, and landing with a loud splash on the other side of the bay.
"Goodbye, loser." The victorious robot gloated. But to his surprise, something exploded in his face, causing him to recoil.
"Hope you came looking for a fight," The giant metal being heard as he reoriented himself, "'cause you definitely found one!" Looking forward, Atlas saw the multicolored Titan leaping toward him and releasing several exploding disks. Raising both hands, the dual-colored robot blocked them easily without receiving any damage from them.
Soon after, Starfire flew around him while, firing a barrage of starbolts at him. Unfortunately, these attacks proved to be ineffective as well as he was completely unfazed by them. A grin crept across his face before a huge wall of water, influenced by Raven's power, cast a shadow over him. Floating up above the crest, the magician sent the tsunami crashing down on their opponent.
The water drained away, leaving the robot still standing and grinning, but an approaching yell from a certain energetic changeling caught him by surprise. Looking up, Atlas saw the green wonder sailing toward him and transform into a whale mid-flight before crashing down on the robot like a few hundred tons of bricks. Broad smiles from Robin, Starfire, Raven, Yuki and Kotemon emerged on their faces as they looked at their now-over sized colleague. But to everyone's surprise, his vast bulk was slowly hoisted into the air by the presumed flattened enemy. Chuckling savagely, Atlas threw the mammal hard toward the island.
Resuming human form on the fly and yelling all the way across, Beast Boy dropped neatly into Robin's arms.
"Humans provide no challenge." The unscathed robot taunted. The right fist retracted into the arm to expose a blaster, and a shot ripped toward the six spectators, who scattered before it hit. "Mechanic! Refit!" The jet pack wearing man flew over and quickly switched out a forearm panel on Atlas' arm.
"Looking sharp out there, Atlas." The mechanic complimented as the retracted fist extended, "Keep up the good-" Unfortunately, the combatant paid him no mind and dashed back into the fight.
With a landing on the shore, and five blasts from the cannon, one by one the other Titans rolled backwards-each now imprisoned within a large, yellow spherical force field. "No challenge at all."
Inside each of the spheres, the trapped heroes were trying their best to break out. Beast Boy swiped at the sphere walls as a tiger, Raven released dark energy, Starfire shot starbolts at point-blank, Yuki and Kotemon was sharing the same sphere with the latter was attacking the walls with his Thunder Kote attack, and Robin was trying to punch his way out; however all were fruitless efforts.
Atlas stepped onto the island and was met by a glare from the team leader, "But you will make amusing trophies." A sonic cannon blast connected high on his shoulder. The captor glared back and found Cyborg now on the shore, his weapon locked and loaded.
"Let 'em go!" The defender growled. As a response, the yellow robot pointed his own blaster and fired. The shot struck the bionic Titan's arm and knocked out the cannon; he raised the smashed muzzle to his face and stared at it in disbelief.
"Hold! Atlas will defeat you-but later, in a fair fight. No weapons, no friends." Atlas stated as he held up his left hand.
"No! We finish this now!" Cyborg demanded.
"As you wish." The colossal robot held up his cannon muzzle against Robin's sphere-ready to make good on the second condition for that fair fight.
"Cyborg! We'll be all right!" The masked Titan shouted, hoping to buy some time for his friend. "Get your strength back, then get Atlas!"
Thinking it over in his head, the underdog Titan reluctantly agreed as a platform resembling one corner of a boxing ring descended to the ground. The mechanic stood behind the post, operating the flight controls, and brought the rig behind the giant mechanical being.
"The old stadium. Sunset." Atlas stated as he sat down in front of the post. "Come, if you dare, and I will let you have your friends back."
At the victors' last words, the platform, and the six captives, dematerialized, leaving a grimly determined Cyborg alone.
After his defeat, and the loss of his friends, the cybernetic Titan made his way back to the gym inside Titans Tower. Refitting the circuits in his shoulders, arms, and head, each snapping a panel into place, Cyborg smacked his right fist into his left palm to work himself up for the upcoming fight. Once he prepared himself, he headed for a door with a look of ice-cold fury. Before he reached it, though, he stopped and looked back over his shoulder to his weight sled. This proved to actually diminish his resolve somewhat as his mind thought back to his cybernetic limits, but he headed out the door to rescue his friends all the same.
Jump City Stadium
After his victory over the African bionic, Atlas took his trophies to a run-down football stadium on the other side of the city. The sky had finally darkened as the sun set, leaving the moon to light the atmosphere. Inside the stadium, each of the six Titans' spheres had been mounted atop a large gold trophy cup, making them actually resemble, well... trophies.
Among the trophies, Atlas' mechanic was at the base of Robins' stand, making a few last adjustments to fix it into place.
"You can't hold us here forever!" The angery Boy Wonder shouted from inside the sphere.
"Now don't be a sore loser." The barrel-chested fellow shot back, pointing his wrench at the distraught teen, "Atlas is just better than you. Better than all of us." He explained, a form of affection accompanying his tone.
Starfire was getting irritated inside her sphere and decided to voice her opinion of this so called 'Atlas,' "Your Atlas is nothing but a... ZOLWARG TUBEK-PLIXING ZORDMORKER!" She yelled. As she shouted these Tamaranean obscenities, her head grew a few notches.
"Yeah! What she said." Beast Boy added, with a defiant stare on his face.
"He's not that great, he just got lucky against Cyborg." Yuki stated with arms crossed in front of him, "That's right as soon the both of us is out and Yuki Digivolve me into Asuramon that Atlas will be sorry." Kotemon added as the Digimon pressed on the sphere.
"You watch your tone!" The mechanic shouted as he floated off the ground to face the captured team, "Atlas is the greatest. He deserves your respect, and there's no way of breaking out of those spheres." He pointed at them threateningly.
After a brief pause, Raven, who was sitting with crossed legs inside her sphere, finally spoke up, "So... do we get bathroom breaks?"
This quirky question caused the handyman to grit his teeth, but before he could shoot back an answer, the voice of his master caught his attention, "Mechanic!" The red-and-yellow machine shouted. The mechanic looked over and saw the robot sitting on his floating platform near one of the locker room entrances a short distance away, "Buff me."
"You got it, champ." The floating human grinned before he flew over and plied a rag on the broad metal back of the fighter. As he did so, he tried giving a few words of advice for the upcoming fight, "Now remember, that Cyborg's got a decent left hook." He informed. "So keep an eye out for-"
"Never tell me what to do." Atlas icily stated, swiveling his head around to look down at him, cutting the smaller organic off.
"Heh... yeah, uh... sure thing, chief." The mechanic stated nervously as he back away.
"Yo, Goldilocks!" A challenging shout caught both opponents attention. As they turned to look in the direction the voice came from, sure enough, they saw Cyborg approaching them from the other locker room at the far end of the stadium. He walked unhurriedly to the middle of the field before stopping and jerking his head from side to side to loosen up his neck. "Let's do this!" He yelled.
A smug smirk stretched across the metal face of his opponent, "I did not think you would come." He stated, smugly, "Humans scare so easily."
"I'm only half human." The bionic Titan shot back, pointing at himself with his left thumb.
"And half of nothing is still nothing." Atlas discriminated, menacingly. "Mechanic!" The giant machine motioned to his forearms, signaling for his buffers to be removed. "I want a fair fight, human, so I shall willingly forgo my arsenal." He explained as the shorter handyman removed the panels from both arms.
"Say, Tool Boy!" Cyborg shouted, irritation oozing from his voice, "While you're at it, why don't you shut off his big fat mouth?"
This comment definitely hit fighter and trainer where it hurt. "Nobody talks that way to-" The short grease monkey tried to defend his master, but Atlas had other plans.
Before he could finish, the red-and-yellow robot jolted out of his seat and sprinted across the grass, releasing a yell as he made his approach. The white-and-blue cybernetic Titan did the same as he charged his oncoming opponent. Once the two combatants were close enough, they hurled themselves into the air towards each other.
On the sidelines, the six living trophies stared in awe as they watched the two trade blows. As they watched, Robin noticed the jet-pack wearing handyman float toward them as he watched as well. "You respect Atlas." The trapped Boy Wonder said, "Does he respect you?"
"Quiet human!" The mechanic quickly shot back, not even regarding the question he was asked.
Back on the field, things weren't exactly working out in the resident bionic teens' favor. Coming down with an angry growl, Cyborg fetched up in the cheap seats of the stadium after having been thrown through several rows of them. After coming to a stop, he looked down towards the field and saw Atlas barreling straight up the stairs.
Once the robot reached his opponent, he delivered a massive hay-maker that sent not only the bionic Titan, but also a massive chunk of concrete through the stadium's upper level, leaving a thick cloud of dust that surrounded the area. When the cloud disappeared, Atlas saw Cyborg hanging over the edge of the new hole by his fingertips.
As the massive machine stood waiting on the steps, the cybernetic bruiser hauled himself back through the hole and raced down towards his foe with a growing snarl. The hit he delivered sent the giant robot to the turf, where he crashed down on his back. But the assault didn't stop there; Cyborg leapt from the steps, both legs braced for a high-powered stomping attack, and slammed into his antagonist with a resounding sonic boom that reverberated throughout the entire stadium.
"Yeah!"
"All right!"
"All right, Cy!"
"Mess him up!"
"Teach him a lesson!"
"Kick the butt!" All six captured friends cheered in support of their companion.
As the Titans cheered, the short mechanic glanced back at them with an annoyed expression before cheering for his master. "Go, Atlas! Take him down!"
Back on the field, Cyborg and Atlas slowly circled each other before rushing in to trade more blows. The Titan dodged under a roundhouse punch and fired a string of body blows, but was stopped when his larger adversary grabbed his left fist. The bionic teen only had a brief moment to register the disbelief before being whisked off his feet and flung down hard, destroying the ground beneath Atlas and revealing a hole that led to the support structure beneath the field.
Now lying at the edge of the new hole, Cyborg was promptly yanked back up, and hurled into the far wall. After colliding with the wall, the young Titan stood where he hit, very badly dazed, and fell to all fours after a long moment. Not giving him any respite, Atlas rushed him where he stood. Delivering a devastating kick, the red-and-yellow machine sent the bionic teen crashing through the wall, leaving him sprawled on the sidewalk.
Atlas grinned broadly down at him, and it took only a moment for this taunting look to get Cyborg fired up again; he jumped onto his feet with a loud growl and rushed back through the wall. When he met his opponent, both fighters were covered by a thick moving cloud of dust. The spectators watched as the melee moved from one side of the stadium to another, causing thick plumes to rise from different spots throughout the arena.
After the melee settled, both brawlers were staring at each other some distance apart as they tried collecting themselves for another go. As he tried catching his breath, a beeping drew Cyborgs' attention down to his forearm; the power readout stood at 96%. He looked up in alarm and saw the dual-colored robot moving in fast once again. A huge punch sent the distracted Titan flying, but he soon recovered and dealt a high jab to the robot's chin. The exchange of blows continued, but Atlas soon got the upper hand and sent the bionic staggering backwards under the assault. He tried coming back with a right hook, but the much larger machine caught the swing easily.
Soon after, both fighters were grappling, with Atlas slowly gaining the high ground and pushing Cyborg back and making his feet grind against the dirt. Feeling himself finally reaching his limits, the struggling teen glanced back over to his right forearm, only to confirm his suspicions as the readout labeled both arms exerting 100%.
This didn't escape Atlas' notice either. "It seems you have reached your limit." He smirked, "But Atlas has power to spare." Showing the extent of his strength, the towering robot increased the force of his grip and pushed Cyborg down to one knee, then released a menacing chuckle as the Titan tried with every scrap of his strength to stand again. Finally deciding to end the fight, the dual-colored machine reeled back his right arm and delivered one final punch that found its mark on the African bionics' jaw, sending him through a graceless arc.
All six captured teens stared with eyes as wide as saucers as they watched their friend fall to the ground, helpless to do anything.
The only human who wasn't staring with wide-eyed horror was the short mechanic, "Atlas!" He cheered as a huge grin grew across his face.
Cyborg hit the turf face first after receiving that powerful strike. With no energy left to fight, the destructive brawl that had destroyed much of the rundown stadium had finally drawn to a close with the victor towering over the prone teen. "No one defeats Atlas." The massive machine stated evenly as he turned and began walking away.
Finally getting some strength back, the defeated cybernetic teen propped himself on his elbow and turned to face the retreating form of his rival. "Fine. You win." Cyborg admitted, dejection oozing from his tone, "Now let my friends go."
Only one word was uttered from the hulking robot; "No."
His response caught everyone flat-footed, even the mechanic was shocked by this sudden change of heart. "But, boss..." The floating grease monkey tried to speak to his master as he passed by him and sat on his platform, "...you said that..."
"Your friends will remain as my trophies," Atlas stated, cutting off his servant, "And there is nothing you can do about it."
At the news of their fate, Starfire gasped as the others tried desperately to encourage their friend to continue the fight. "Cyborg!"
"Please!"
"Don't!"
"You can't give up!" Beast Boy, Raven, Yuki and Kotemon all pleaded.
"Get up, Cyborg! Get up and fight!" Robin shouted with as much force as he could, "You can still beat him!"
Still tumbled on the ground, the disheartened Titan gave a reproachful look at the group for a moment before turning away to look at his energy readout. It still showed maximum power exerted on all fronts. "No. I can't." Cyborg muttered quietly, not even looking back at his friends; he couldn't dare to show them his face after failing them.
"Fool!" Did you actually believe you could defeat Atlas?" Said robot asked rhetorically, already knowing the answer, "I am all robot..." As he explained, the platform he, his servant, and the other Titans were on began sinking into the ground; it appeared as though they were on an elevator that lowered to an underground level of the stadium, "...and you are only human."
The bulking bionic shot the red-and-yellow machine a very bitter, yet beaten expression as he finished. The five captives stared in wordless amazement as they were carried past the level of the field and passed into the shadows beneath the stadium. The last thing they saw was their comrade giving them a look of complete and total defeat.
Deep underground in the stadium's locker room, which had deteriorated as much as the rest of the facility, the sound of a video game was heard as well as the tapping of buttons on a controller. The source of the noise was a big-screen television with the villainous robot sitting in front of it tapping away on a controller. Behind him were several drums of oil, some crumpled like soda cans; in face, the entire setting gave off the weird vibe of someone who spent a lot of time in their basement. On the television, the same fighting game Cyborg was playing earlier that day was showing a yellow robot deal a finishing blow to its opponent, smashing it to pieces, and standing erect in triumph.
"Victory!" Atlas cheered as the words "GAME OVER" slid onto the screen, "Atlas wins again! Derrick Wyatt from East Gotham City, I dominate you." He said as he pointed to the screen before finding another match and resuming his fighting.
Behind the hulking robot, on the other side of the locker room, the six captives watched with bored expressions on their faces. Beast Boy then turned into a bighorn sheep and rammed the wall of his sphere, then tried to chisel out as a woodpecker, then morphed back into the bighorn to try and bash his way out again. Failing in every attempt, the green teen resumed human form and let out a groan as he staggered woozily inside his containment sphere before passing out; the attempts left him with quite a beating to his head.
"Give it a rest." The blue-cloaked mage sighed in annoyance, "You're starting to repeat yourself."
"Plus, you're only going to get hurt if you keep trying." The Tamer added as he and the Digimon leaned against the wall with former's hand.
"But we must discover a way out." The auburn-haired alien argued, getting her fellow trophies' attention. She attempted a right kick to the sphere, but only got a sore foot for her trouble and began hopping around on the other as she nursed her injury. "Ow... ow... ow..."
"There is no way out!" The short mechanic shouted as he floated over to the trophy stands, "Now be quiet, humans! Master's trying to relax!"
"Coming from the guy shouting..." Yuki uttered under his breath.
"I am not human." Starfire and Kotemon both replied, icily.
"But you are." The masked leader pointed out, "You should be on our side."
"I'm on the winning side." The mechanically experienced man reasoned, "Atlas is the greatest. No one can defeat him. No one!"
There was one thing that came to Robin's mind at that moment, after seeing how this so called master acted toward his servant, he needed to ask, "If Atlas is so great, why does he treat you like a loser?"
This one question was able to bring pause to the mechanic. The man who was preaching the greatness of his master finally found himself speechless with no answer for the Boy Wonder. The only thing that got him out of his thinking was Atlas calling for him. "Mechanic! Oil!" The machine ordered from his chair in front of the big-screen.
"Coming right up, boss!" The jet-pack wearing man said with uncertainty. Before flying off to tend to his masters' needs, the mechanic glanced back at the leader of the Titans. As he floated away, Robin only stared after him, with the only things concerning him being his team's welfare and the assistant's state of mind.
The night shined with the light of the moon. It seemed as though the city was deserted, or maybe it was the deserted part of the city that was surrounding the rundown stadium. On these lonely streets, one person, more alone than ever, was trudging along the sidewalk.
"How could I?" Cyborg asked himself as he continued walking down the sidewalk, passing a long row of windows on a building's first floor. His slouched over posture didn't help his mood. "They were counting on me... I just couldn't do it. Atlas was right." The disheartened bionic stopped walking and faced his reflection, "I am a loser."
Much to the surprise of the Titan, his reflection drew itself to full height and spoke in a strong voice. "So that's it, man? You're just gonna give up?" The reflection asked, incredulously.
"What else can I do?" The defeated teen asked as he straightened his back, "I gave everything I had. A hundred percent."
"Give more." The reflection shot back. "Your friends are in trouble. You have to go back. You have to win!"
"I can't win. Atlas is stronger. Atlas is faster." Cyborg returned, it was as though he no longer had the heart to fight. "He's just a better robot."
"But you aren't all robot." His reflection argued. "Half of you is human, and that's the half that can beat him!"
When the reflection finished its' pep talk, it was as though a light went off in the cybernetic Titans' head. The only thing that knocked him out of his thoughts was a beeping that came from his forearm panel. Looking down at the screen, Cyborg saw that the readout showed 50% power output overall and the same on the bar for each side on his body.
"Time to take it up a notch." The bionic stated. With determination restored in his soul, the re-energized Titan hurried back to the stadium where his friends were waiting for him.
Back in the underground locker room, Atlas was still playing contently in front of his big-screen. After another victory, the giant robot picked up an oil drum that was placed by his chair, chugged the whole thing, and then crushed it against his head. With the flat disc that was once an oil drum in his hand, he tosses it behind the chair, almost hitting the short grease monkey.
"Mechanic! More oil!" The red-and-yellow machine demanded. Without a second thought, said expert with machines flew over and handed him another drum. Quickly seizing the drum from his servant, Atlas threw the viscous liquid back, but promptly spat it all over the shorter man. "This is cold, human!" The self proclaimed master complained as he wiped his mouth, "Bring me warm oil!"
The human in question hung his head and looked over at the captured Titans. After looking them over, his eyes fell upon the spiky-haired leader, whose narrowed expression spoke volumes to the man. Understanding the message, the man lowered his eyebrows and eyed his 'master' with a dirty look. "Get it yourself." He finally stood up for himself.
In a twinkling, the mechanic found himself in the enormous shadow of his boss once he had gotten to his feet. "What was that?" Atlas menacingly hissed as he hauled his servant up by his collar. "No human tells Atlas what to do." On his last word, the machine threw his servant across the locker room, where he slid across the floor before fetching up against the wall head first, next to a doorway. After collecting his bearings, the mechanic sat up, and groggily rubbed his head.
"You sure about that?" A familiar voice called out from the shadows, catching everyone's attention. To everyone's surprise, Cyborg emerged from the shadows from within the doorway and made his way into the room. The look on his face said it all as he thumped his left fist into his right palm; he was ready to pick up right where he left off. "I'm human, and I'm telling you to let my friends go."
From within the trophies, Starfire gasped happily at her friends' renewed firmness, while the others cheered for him.
"Cyborg!"
"Yes!" Both Beast Boy and Robin exclaimed as the mechanic quickly backed up and stood in front of the trophies, hoping to get himself out of the battle zone.
After the shock of the return of his defeated foe, Atlas took a few steps toward the half-machine teen and eyed him with an angered look. The tense standoff ended when they charged toward each other, growling and snarling in rage. When they finally connected, to everyone's surprise, the yellow robot was seen sliding backward across the floor, crashing into the television. Cyborg stepped up to the downed robot and gave him a sly smirk, as if to rub in the fact that he's not messing around anymore.
Without a moment's hesitation, Atlas quickly got to his feet and punched at his shorter opponent. The Titan dodged easily, grinning all the while, but was caught off guard by a big uppercut. The force of the blow was enough to send the bionic Titan crashing up through the dirt of the field above the locker room, and leave him to land well down the length of the stadium.
Getting to his feet, the once airborne cyborg looked up and gasped. In the air, a roaring leviathan was descending at a rapid rate with its' full weight ready to drive him underground again. Cyborg quickly dove out of the way just as Atlas came crashing down; the impact sent up a thick curtain of dust, which cleared to reveal the massive robot embedded to his waist in the playing surface. He turned to face the African titanium teen, smiled, and climbed out. Behind him, the elevator brought the mechanic and the Titans up to the sidelines, where they watched the fighting commence. The former was now very unnerved by what he had seen, heard, and had been done to him.
"He doesn't respect you. He doesn't even like you." Robin crouched down to get closer to the shorter man as he spoke, "Why do you serve him?"
With a look of sadness, the grease monkey replied, "I have no choice. Atlas is stronger than me."
"No, he isn't." The Boy Wonder reassured the man, "Atlas needs you. You're the one who fixes him. You're his strength. Without you, he's nothing and he knows that." The young leader explained, "That's why he pushes you around. Atlas is afraid of you."
On the field, Cyborg backed up before his opponents' advances, dodging a couple of punches, and catching a giant yellow fist with his left hand-just as easily as his own attacks were foiled time and again in their fight earlier. Raising his right arm and balling its fist, he ejected if from his shoulder; it rocketed straight at the red-and-yellow robots' jaw and landed a thundering uppercut that lifted him off his feet. Atlas landed in a half-sitting position and rubbed his jaw as the titanium bruiser walked up.
"Still got energy to spare?" He asked mockingly as he reattached his limb.
"Plenty." The downed villain hissed. Before Cyborg could react, Atlas yanked a buried electric cable out of the ground and thrust the sparking free end against his opponents' chassis, causing him to scream in agony as circuits shorted out all over his body. Smoke rose from him as he collapsed to the ground. Behind him, the mechanic floated over and watched in horror at the display of cheating while his master stood up and approached him. "Mechanic! Concussion blaster! Heat cannon! Now!" The massive machine ordered as he held out both arms toward him.
The long-suffering man looked uncertainly toward him, then to the groaning, medium-well-done Titan, and finally made up his mind. After so much abuse, he had finally had enough and floated to his boss' face. "No." He refused evenly.
"Then stay out of my way!" Atlas shouted as he shoved his floating servant to the ground, not even regarding his well-being. He quickly rushed across the field and stopped in front of the trophies. Pressing a button embedded in the platform they were on, he causes a panel to pop up from beneath it. He smiled nastily as the panel rose to greet him, but his expression quickly gave way to bewilderment as he looked from one side to the other; he had no idea which weapon was which, nor did he know how to install them to his arms.
"Let's see how far you get without my help!" He heard his former servant shout behind him. Turning around he saw the mechanic floating in the air as he brought out a control device from his tool belt. After pressing a button on it, the force fields holding the Titans on the trophies began to disappear one by one. This caused the long-suffering servant to smile grimly as his former master backed away from the now freed team.
"No!" Atlas screamed before making a break for the stadium exit.
Not wanting to let their once captor escape, the five released Titans sprang into action. "Titans! GO!" Robin shouted before firing a grappling hook into the air and swinging away on the line.
"Alright Kotemon time to go Ultimate." Yuki said as he took out his D-Arc and the Matrix Digivolution card
*Cue DigiModify! Blank track*
With that said Yuki whirls the Matrix Digivolution card around catching it in his hand he then swipes the card through the D-Arc. "Digi-Modify..." as he shouted letting the data of the card run through it, "...Matrix Digivoltion!"
*Cue Digimon Tamers~Digivolution Theme (US)*
The words MATRIX DIGIVOLUTION appeared on Yuki's D-Arc and it begins the Digivoultion process with Kotemon shouting "Kotemon... Digivolve to.. Asuramon!" and the Ultimate picked Yuki up and flew toward Atlas. Beast Boy became a hawk to charge alongside the other three fliers as they made their pursuit. The spiky-haired leader touched down in front of the stadium entrance to cut off the robot's escape.
"You wanted a fair fight? That's what you're going to get." He stated forcefully, staring the larger robot down.
"Five against one? This is a fair fight?" Atlas asked, trying, and failing to find the high ground of the inevitable beat down coming his way.
"You're right, that wouldn't be fair." Yuki spoke from behind the larger robot. Turning around, Atlas saw him and Asuramon standing right behind him with their arms crossed.
"But we're not fighting." Raven added as she floated next to her teammate.
"Think of us as referees." Beast Boy finished as he placed his hands on his hips, accompanied by a floating Starfire who landed next to him.
"It's just you and me." Everyone heard one final voice speak up. Looking in the direction of the voice, they all saw Cyborg back on his feet and recovered from the shock he was given. He worked his head back and forth, limbering up his neck. Atlas cracked his knuckles as he turned to face his opponent. The last pop from his hands had barely died away when one bionic punch after another rocked the metal giant from head to toe. Cyborg's power readout quickly rose to 93%, and the other Titans cheered him on as Atlas slid past. Their cheers died away to make room for one more voice.
"Yeah, Cyborg! Take him down!" The mechanic added to the encouraging comments, gaining him a quick smile from the masked leader.
Another roundhouse dropped Atlas like a rock near the wall. The winning cybernetic teen stepped closer to inspect his work, but soon found himself facing one very angry, charging enemy. They locked arms and grappled, the dual-colored machine grinning savagely down at the shorter fighter. Beeping from the forearm panel drew the teens' attention where he saw the power level increase to 98%, throwing a scare into its owner, and causing his knees to give.
"What's the matter? Running out of steam?" Atlas taunted as he continued pushing the bionic back, the six onlookers staring with hope in their eyes for their friend.
"Push, Cyborg! You can do it!" Robin encouraged his friend, trying to get him to push beyond his limits.
The struggling combatant poured every bit of strength he could muster and was met by a derisive chuckling from his foe. With all his power, the readout on his forearm now read 100%, his energy having reached full capacity, yet never yielding one bit.
"You have reached your limit." The hulking leviathan stated as he pushed Cyborg down to one knee, "You cannot win."
Finally having enough, Cyborg pushed. He continued pushing and straining his body to the very edge of its' limit and them continued pushing. "Yes... I... CAN!" He roared with new found strength. This bit of exertion was enough to finally break his limits; the panel's covering cracked as the readout quickly notched up to 130%.
Atlas' eyes went wide in sudden surprise, and the titanium Titan regained his footing. With a scream as tortured as his muscles, he lifted the huge metal body over his head and threw it down the field where it smashed into the abandoned trophies. With the victor decided, everyone cheered wildly.
The result of the crash created a new hold in the field surface. The Titans walked up and looked down to see the red-and-yellow machine lying half-buried in the wreckage of the locker room. "No more. I am defeated." Atlas admitted hoarsely as he stretched his hand out to the group. "You... are a better robot."
"No. I'm a better person." Cyborg stated without a second thought. This entire experience made him realize something important; he made his mechanical parts special, not the other way around. Once he finished speaking to his defeated foe, he and his teammates walked away, leaving the now freed mechanic to walk up to the crater by himself.
"Mechanic... refit." Atlas said weakly.
"Ah, do it yourself." The newly empowered grease monkey barked back as he removed his tool belt. He threw the belt into the hold, where it landed just outside his ex-masters' reach. He tried to get it but gave up with a weary groan.
With the enemy defeated, and the Titans freed, the team made their way out of the destroyed stadium where they noticed the sun was rising over the horizon.
"And the winner by technological knockout, the Mechanical Maniac, the Bionic Bruiser, the one, the only, Cyborg!" Beast Boy announced as a referee would do with the victor in a boxing match. As the Titans and Asuramon now De-Digivolve back into Kotemon made their way out of the facility, the green teen held said winner's arm aloft, before Starfire ran up and gave her taller comrade a big hug.
After releasing her friend, the orange-skinned alien backed up next to the resident mage, "I shall express my gratitude with a Tamaranian folk song." She gleefully announced. Remembering how the first one sounded, the boys recoiled in fright. This did not stop her windup, though, as she sucked in a breath and got ready to sing.
Thankfully, Raven slapped a hand over her mouth before she could let out the first note. "Way to go, champ." She congratulated with a smile, this act of kindness was rewarded with a relieved sigh from the boys.
As the team made their way down the street, Robin pulled his cybernetic friend back for a quick word. "Guess we better get you a new one of those." He said, pointing to the damaged power readout on his friends' forearm.
Looking down at the screen, Cyborg noticed the displays had all gone dark, signifying it as completely shorted out. "Don't need it anymore." He said, "My body may have its limitations, but if I put my mind to it, there's no limit to what I can do." He added as he and the Boy Wonder made their way down to street to catch up to the rest of the group. "After all, I'm only human."
End of Chapter
Wow that was kinda long sorry to keep you waiting again what do you think of the chapter. What happens next? Find out next time on Titan Tamer of The Swordsman. R&R