Teen Titans – Video Games Are Fun
12. Chapter 11: The Forest Temple
Mail Call!
TDG3RD – Hi! Ya' know what I noticed? You're almost always the first to review. Do you really like this story that much? I don't see why, but I'm not gonna complain! Yeah, Star and Robin can be pretty oblivious… all the live long day! But, they're finally together. But, like with all relationships, results may vary! Satisfaction not guaranteed!
Korey – Okay, thanks! I don't quite get your review, so if you could elaborate, just a little, that would be wondrous. Mostly, I don't understand the "…"s. Well, keep reading, and keep reviewing. I hope you like this chapter as much as the others… or more would be even better!
Sunkistgurl10 – Thanks for the review! I don't know why I did that bank thing, but it got the job done, didn't it? Odd, huh? Everybody thinks she was just being dimwitted and stuff, and yet, she got exactly what she wanted… maybe it wasn't as stupid and desperate as we all(including myself) thought…
Hell Boy right hand of doom – Dude! This is really weird! Whenever somebody focuses their entire review on telling me to update soon, I take a really, really, really long time to… do… that! Well, thanks for the review, and I have a really, really good excuse! I promise!
Warprince2000 – Dude! I'm glad you're liking this here thingy so far, and I hope I haven't lost you by making you wait soooooooooooooooooooooooo long! I have a really good excuse… and here it is!
My excuse for not updating for sooooooooooooooooooo long:
First, I had a bad case of writer's block. But, if that had been the only problem, you'd already have another ten chapters. Sadly, my computer completely crapped out, then after being computerless for two and a half weeks… or was it three… whatever, I finally got it bck… and got sick myself! So now, my computer's botter, and so am I, so here's the next chapter without any further stalling, 'cause the writer's block's kinda back… but here it is anyways. Hope it doesn't suck!
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
Raven's POV
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
"What the hell!" I almost shouted as a wolf-like creature rushed me. I tried to levitate away, but I only made it a few feet from the door and collapsed. Once again, I can't use my Azarathian powers…
"Raven!" Beast Boy shouted as he slashed the wolf across its side, killing… or at the least, knocking it out instantly. He began to run toward me. But, when I looked up, I knew that it was my turn to save him.
I lifted my hand and pointed it at the other wolf rushing up behind Beast Boy, and shouted "Fire!" as to summon my new powers… which I had no trouble using since they're activated by anger. A fireball flew from my hand and slammed the beast squarely in the face. Beast Boy had jumped to the side as to dodge the attack. The idiot thought that I had been aiming at him.
I quickly stood as he finally reached me. "What happened?"
"I can't use my powers" I replied with a slight shrug. "At least, not my normal ones."
He stared at me, probably baffled as to how I could remain calm at such a discovery. "And, you're not freaking, because…"
"… because, I don't freak" I replied in an almost joking tone. "Plus, I can still fight, so I'm satisfied." I walked away from him toward the doors that would lead into the deeper recesses of the temple.
"Hey, Rae-ven!" I turned back to face him. "Just wait a sec. I've gotta grab something."
I nodded, and leaned against the wall to wait.
BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB
BB's POV
BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB
I wrapped my hands around a vine hanging from the wall, and quickly thanked the goddesses(that's what you thank in this world) for making tunics have short sleeves. I turned my arms into those of a gorilla and began to climb the ropes. The massive muscles of a gorilla had absolutely no trouble carrying my lightweight body up the vine all the way to the top of the weird tree thingies.
At the top, I walked slowly across, as to avoid falling, and did a quick jump from one branch to another, and continued my slow progress. Finally, I reached a tiny treasure chest and popped it open, finding that it DID holda key as it had in the game. Who the hell put's a key in a treasure chest on top of a tree?
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
Raven's POV
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
I waited quite a while for Beast Boy to finish climbing trees, and nearly smacked him when I found out that he had done it for a KEY! As a matter of fact, I did smack him.
We passed through the next room, killing some strange hanging spider thing on the way. Beast Boy had muttered something about not being sure whether that had been there in the game or not… not that it matters. This is a real dimension, not controlled by the decisions made by some video game designer! God, he'd better get over it soon!
My train of thought was quickly cut off when we reached the next room. I was just so astounded by how useless it all was that I couldn't even think about anything else. There were four differently colored torches… or should I say… four identical torches with differently colored flames, with some kind of platform thing in the center. I took a step toward the center of the room, but stopped again, as a ghost appeared in each of the torches, seemingly capturing their corresponding flames on torches that they held, and floating out of the chamber through the four corners. This was followed by the platform thing sinking into the floor. "Well, that was stupid."
"That's what I said the first time I saw it" Beast Boy replied quietly, gesturing for me to follow him.
He led me to an arch that should've contained a door, but instead held a massive blue block… identical to the one in that weird tomb wher I had chased the ghost!
"Okay, here's the plan…"
"You've got a plan? That's a laugh."
Beast Boy glared at me. He should've learned by now that his glares are and will never be a match for me. But, he continued. "You've gotta play the Song of Time to get rid of this block. You should be able to figure out what to do from there. You're smart like that." I was slightly surprised by his words. Although they held some slight annoyance, they were very genuine.
I nodded and positioned the ocarina to play. I played the song and waited for it to take affect. For about a second, nothing happened. But then, a blue light enveloped the block, seemingly removing it from existence. I wasn't phased in the slightest, as I deal with magic on a daily… more like hourly basis. I approached the door and was just about to open it when I realized that I didn't know what Beast Boy was planning for himself. "What will you be doing?"
"I've got a quick little fight in another room" he replied with a grin as he drew the Master Sword.
"Shouldn't I come?"
"Nah. It's better if we split up and cover more ground" he replied, his grin only widening.
"Okay" I said with a shrug. "Just quit it with the grin. The top of your head's going to fall of if you keep it up." With that last little remark, I went through the door, as to uncover my part of this temple's mystery.
BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB
BB's POV
BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB
As soon as she had gone, I turned to my destination. I passed through the door and prepared for the biggest test of my skill yet.
I waited for a second and was both pleased and slightly upset to find myself surrounded by a pair of freakishly large skeletal creatures, which I shall refer to as "Stalfos" from this moment forth.
I immediately focused my attention on one and drew it away from the other. I got the hookshot prepared and waited for it to attack. It leapt at me, performing a sort of leap slash. I dodged the attack with a practiced roll. The best moment of my life was the moment that I started training in human form. I was glad to see that this Stalfos remained true to its RPG counterpart, for it seemed to have lost track of me during its attack. I quickly rushed up behind it and lobbed its skull clear off.
Peeking at the other from the corner of my eye, I was pleased to see that it seemed to be convinced that my attention was completely taken up. Wrong! I released the hookshot in the direction of the idle skeleton and was jerked roughly over to its temporarily stunned form. As soon as I was in range, I tore off its sword arm and used its own sword to impale… the other one that had charged blindly toward me. This immediately eliminated the one, leaving just one defenseless foe. Knowing that these creatkures didn't have the brains to surrender, I simply rolled away as the second swung its shield at my head. God, what I've been doing today would've even impressed the great traffic light, himself!
Knowing that my foe would never lower its defenses, I took a new approach when it charged me with its upraised shield. I dropped so that I was laying flat on the ground, and it passed right over me. I immediately jumped back to my feet and spun around slicing it through the torso. And, that was all it took for it to drop… dead… again… I guess. I glanced over to the center of the room as a small treasure chest formed there.
"Dude!" was all I could think to exclaim at that little development. It's kinda funny where the game makers were right and where they were wrong. Suddenly remembering one reason that I had come here alone, I whipped out my communicator. Yeah, so I still have it. Is that a crime? I turned it on and looked at my time. "4 minutes and 32 seconds. Take about five seconds to watch a tresure chest magically appear and exclaim gleefully. Damn! That's a pretty good time!" Maybe I should actually start trying in the opstical course at the tower…
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
Raven's POV
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
I looked around at the room that I was in. Really, it was more of a courtyard than an actual room. By this, I mean that there was no ceiling, which was quite pleasing. After having killed some kind of piranha flower with a quick fireball, I had begun to float about, looking for my next destination. I soon noticed a niche in a wall and flew to it, and in fact, there was a door hidden in it. Normally, one would've had to climb up a wall of vines to reach it, but I'm… well… me!
I passed through the door, to find that it had sealed itself behind me, leaving me in a small dirt room consisting of nothing but that door, another one across from it in a similar state, and some weird floating skull engulfed in blue flames. Due to the fact that my father had utilized demons similar to this, I knew exactly how to destroy it. As it bounced across the room toward me, I picked up a stick from the previous room. Did I mention that I had picked up a stick? Well anyways, I smacked it sharply with said stick, instantly extinguishing the flames, as well as snapping the stick in half, rendering it useless as well. I only have one chance. I charged up a fireball and shot it at the skull just before it had relit its flames, quickly dispatching the minor annoyance. As expected, the doors unsealed upon its… re-death, but a treasure chest also formed nearby. It was rather large, so I decided that it would most likely be important.
I opened the chest to reveal a piece of ragid paper. I almost threw it away until I noticed that it was a map of the dungeon. After studying it and marking the rooms that I had been in, I rolled it up and inserted it into another one of my many hidden pockets.
In the next room, I saw that there was another balcony a short distance away, across a small gap. I'm not sure whether I would've been able to make the jump, but I was lucky enough to find that I wouldn't have to find out. I was in another courtyard, so I simply floated over to the other ledge. But, when I landed, I was rather agitated to find that the ground shifted under my weight. I'm not fat! am I? Oh, nope. I was on a switch. This switch seemed to activate what as far as I could tell, was just a bunch of noise. I looked around in every conceivable direction, and finally noticed that a well was draining… and I knew my next destination.
To my chagrin, I found that the well only yielded a small key, and led back to the first courtyard. After sighing and marking the locations off on the map, I realized that there was nothing more than to return to the main chamber, and to Beast Boy.
When we were reunited, we shared what we had each obtained on our personal little jaunts. When Beast Boy revealed that all he had gotten was a key, I smacked him across the head. Then, I smacked him once again because I had gotten a key as well. Then, I smacked him once more when he showed me a locked door which one of our keys would be used to open. When he had asked what that had been for. I replied with "That was for defying reality and being right too many times in one day."
BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB
BB's POV
BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB
"There's a chest on the wall" I heard Raven say incredulously from behind me. "As if everything else isn't enough, there's a CHEST on the WAL!"
I just laughed and gestured for her to continue following me.
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
Raven's POV
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
We reached a room consisting of multiple staircases and paintings with one of the ghosts from earlier in it. The weird part… ha! The weird part was that when we approached the paintings, the ghost would fade from view. I just ignored it, assuming that it was just another puzzle to come. I was slightly disappointed when we reached another door, and rather than dealing with the paintings, we just went onto the next room. Is it just me, or are there a lot of useless things in this place? And… why is Beast Boy drawing his sword?
BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB
BB's POV
BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB
I swung my sword upwards to block the attack aimed at my head as soon as we had entered. Although I hadn't been phased in the slightest, Raven wasn't as lucky. She had fallen back against the wall with a slight gasp. But, she too quickly recovered and prepared for battle… with nothing. There was only one of the skeletons, and I was taking care of it quite nicely… if I do say so myself.
Immediately, I had lead it away from Raven, once again glad for its lack of brains. It soon resorted to its default strategy of leap slashing you. I once again rolled out of the attack's path and countered while it was disoriented. But, rather than worrying about taking out limbs, I decided to deliver the fatal blow right off. When it finally fell dead, a platform descended from above, covering up a hole to the room where I had fought my first two Stalfos, as well as revealing another two of which.
Now for the teamwork. I rushed one, jumping forward, and leaping back, basically taunting it as to get to attack me. At the same time, Raven dodged attacks from her own skeletal foe. Comedically, both of our foes leap slashed simultaneously, allowing us to deliver our final… and ONLY blows to the demons. Mine was a simple horizontal slash, rendering the spine, thus causing the bones to crumble one-by-one. Raven's deathblow was a fireball which completely engulfed her foe destroying it as well. With both our enemies withered, yet another chest appeared before our eyes.
I opened the chest and was quite pleased to find the infamous Fairy's Bow with a full quiver dwelling withing its sacred… pine.
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
Raven's POV
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
I waited for Beast Boy to retrieve the contents of this new chest and became quite angered when I heard him humming to the tune of "We're Gonna Paint a Wagon" from the Simpsons.
I stomped over next to him and glared into the treasure chest. What I saw made many puzzles from earlier, which we had ignored, click into place. We needed an arrow for them! I reached into the sacred pine… and nearly screamed when I found myself joining into Beast Boy's humming… and sholdered the bow and quiver.
"Can you use that?" Beast Boy asked me, finally deciding to end his tune.
"Of course" I replied indignantly. "Archery is a major Azarathian pastime. It's good for concentration." I went back to the door from which we had come. The way I figure it, it's better to finish up where we've been rather than go further and get even more off track.
When we returned to the room with the stairs, I remembered the paintings and took aim at the one at the top of the steps right in front of me. After being certain of my trajectory, I cocked an arrow and fired expertly, hitting the painting dead center. Said painting seemed to catch on fire and disintegrate. I repeated the process with the other two paintings, finding that I had to target them from slightly more of an angle as to keep out of the ghost's vision. But finally, I had all three paintings torched, figuratively speaking… I think, and we were ready to take on the ghost itself.
Back at the bottom, I aimed an arrow at the ghost as Beast Boy did what he's best at. He distracted the restless spirit so it would focus on him and not on avoiding my arrows. After I hit it with about three arrows, it finally began to ignore Beast Boy. It attacked me repeatedly and I couldn't even begin to aim, let alone cock an arrow. So, the roles of Beast Boy and myself were suddenly switched as I dodged the spirit's attacks until Beast Boy pierced it with the holy blade. After it died, the flame it held flew over to a torch near the door, lighting it. I didn't see the point until Beast Boy spoke next.
"The torch in here's somehow connected to the one in the main chamber. That one's lit too." Taking his word for it… just this once, I continued to follow him, for that's all I can seem to do in this place… follow…
We went against another spirit that utilized almost the exact same strategy as the first, and another that used some sort of timed block puzzle. Then, after defeating that one and passing through the final door, we finally found ourselves back in the main room staring down at the purple spirit who hovered directly over the sunken platform thing. P.S. The sideways chest apparently held a key that opened the door to the final chamber.
We leapt down to spirit. I had thrown Beast Boy so that he would land on its other side. We had it surrounded… for a second at least. It suddenly split into four replicas of itself. I drew my bow once again and noticed that one of the spirits had done a quick little spin. I decided that, due to a lack of a better strategy, I should aim for that one. When I let my arrow fly, it missed. The spirits were circling me, and no matter what Beast Boy did, he just couldn't seem to get any of their attentions. So, another strategy entered my mind… for later. The ghost and all of its little replicas rushed me. I was able to dodge two of them, but couldn't get past the others. Their attack was quite painful, but it was the only real hit I had gotten the entire time I had been in the temple and I had to just tough it out.
When she reappeared, I took aim instantly. I then shot my arrow, using a strategy from the only video game I'd played… before this whole incident that is. The game is known as Alien Invader or something like that. You get a little laser thing and have to shoot down all the alien ships. I could never seem to get that last one until Terra of all people had told me her technique. "Don't shoot where they are" she had told me. "Shoot where they're going to be." And, I did just that. I did that then, and I did it now… and I hit… then and now!
Unlike her sisters, this one took six arrows to defeat and never dropped this single strategy. In essence, she was actually the easiest in some ways. When she was defeated, I couldn't help but say it. "Take that you stupid alien bastard." And, I shouldered my bow, waited for the platform to rise, boarded next to Beast Boy, and descended to the lowest level of the temple.
A/N: I'm sooooooooo sorry! That was pitiful! I mean, I think that my writing style has improved, but it wasn't nearly long enough for all you guys… if any of you even remain. I'll try and get another chapter in everyday through Monday, because of a beautiful vacation and a loss of writer's block. Basically, expect to get another four or so chapters in quick succession!
And, now for the musical reference from the Simpsons. I don't know all of the song's words, but I think the first two verses'll explain everything.
Oh, we're gonna paint a wagon!
We're gonna paint it good!
We ain't braggin!
We're gonna poke that wood!
Oh, we're gonna paint that wagon!
We're gonna paint it fine!
We're gonna use oil based paint
'Cause the wood is pine!
Oh! So pine! Woo hoo!
Read the last line of the song and the last word each character thinks before they start humming and all will be understood.