Part 25: Battle Royale
All was peaceful at the Titans' campsite. Well…as peaceful as you can get with a martial artist, a cyborg, a changeling, a mad scientist, a Vampangel, an Orphenoch and a necromancer. They were all sitting around the fire.
"I swear to God that if I hear anyone sing "Kumbaya" one more time, I am going to throw that guitar in the fire and beat you to death with it!" Ichijyo hissed in an agitated tone. He'd had to endure 30 minutes of Takada, Gar and Victor singing 'Kumbaya M'Lord, Kumbaya'. "And not necessarily in that precise order!" It didn't make sense, but would you make sense if you were annoyed by your friends' constant (bad) singing?
"Fine," Takada sighed, not wanting to irritate, agitate or annoy his friend Ichijyo. He put the guitar down.
"How about some scary stories?" Gar suggested. "You probably know some scary stories, Ichijyo."
Ichijyo raised an eyebrow at this. "What is that supposed to mean, Gar? Was that a crack?" he glared at his disguised green friend.
Gar put his hands up in defence, "Didn't mean anything by it, dude! Just, well, want to know if you know any scary stories. Lighten up!"
Ichijyo chuckled. "Don't worry, Gar. It was only a joke."
"You never joke that often so it's hard to tell," Ryuki said as he sipped a can of soda.
"I think I can tell a scary story," Tim said.
"Does it involve bats and caves?" Ichijyo joked, earning a glare from Tim. "Sorry, but that was a joke."
Craig looked up into the dark night's sky. The stars were shining and twinkling high above the clouds. He then closed his eyes, listening to the sounds of nature and the spirits. With his abilities in necroplasmic energy manipulation, which was entirely different from ectoplasmic energy, Craig had the uncanny ability to not only communicate with spirits, but to manipulate them as well. He opened his eyes again and took the Aries Deck out of his pocket, staring at the crystal and the Symbol of Aries that was inside. He never thought of becoming a Zodiac Knight. He never knew about the War of the Knights to become the One, but now he did and he had to wise up. Sooner or later, he had to fight Ryuki, Ichijyo and Takada. He looked at his new friends and smiled as they joked about, sitting around the campfire.
"So, scary stories?" Vic inquired. "Who wants to start first? Ichijyo?"
Ichijyo grinned as he leaned over and the light of the fire cast shadows on his face, making him look menacing. "The stories I know will scare the socks and pants right off you."
Vic backed away, and so did most of the others. "Okay, dawg. Not that scary," he said nervously. Ichijyo smirked and crossed his arms.
"That's okay. Though I enjoy frightening people to the point of petrifying them, I'll try to make it not so scary-and Takada, NO howling."
"Nuts!" Takada snapped his fingers.
"And that goes for you too, Gar." Gar snapped his fingers as well.
Ichijyo told his story and the others listened. The shadows around him danced with the fire, creating the perfect atmosphere. The sounds of owls hooting and crickets chirping also contributed to the already eerie mood.
"One night, a group of campers, much like ourselves, were camping out in the woods, much like this one. They had heard the rumors and stories that the place they were going to go camping was haunted because a lot of people committed suicide there. Of course, they had no other choice because, like us, there was no other place to camp. They set up the camp site; pitching up the tents and gathering firewood for the campfire. By the time they were done, it had already gotten dark. There was no moon and no stars. In fact, the night was so completely shrouded in darkness that you could barely see your hand in front of your eyes even if you held it up directly to your face. They had dinner, told stories and sang (annoying) camp fire songs and finally went to sleep." The others listened as Ichijyo told his story, captivated by his words and expressions.
"One of them had to go to the bathroom," Ichijyo continued, "So, he got out of the tent and went to the bushes nearby to 'relieve' himself. As he was doing so, he heard a faint whispering sound. Dismissing it as the wind, he ignored it. However, the whispering grew more and more distinct, forming words." Ichijyo smiled, amused that he could sense the arising anxiety in his friends. "He then zipped up and looked around. He then looked up and saw…"
Suddenly, something made a loud BANG and scared the crap out of them. Gar screamed like a girl and Ryuki was ready to burn down the forest if he didn't calm down. Tim had a Bo-staff ready, Vic activated his cannon, Takada's hands crackled with electricity and Craig let loose a shot of necroplasm that blasted a tree in half, much to Ichijyo's chagrin.
"Dudes!" Gar shouted. "What the heck was that?"
"Sounded like gunshot," Tim concluded.
"No, ya think?" Vic commented sarcastically.
"Maybe somebody went hunting?" Takada gulped.
"But this place prohibits hunting of any kind," Craig clarified, his hand close to his Death Buster gun.
Ichijyo closed his eyes. He had dispatched several of his shadow agents in the form of bats, snakes and any small animal he could imagine ranging from small reptiles, insects and mammals. He was going to see through their eyes for their eyes were his and vice-versa.
"You idiot!" Kat hissed as he grabbed Grant by his suit. Her goggled eyes were staring at his masked ones. "You just gave away our position, you trigger happy lunatic!"
"Not my fault one of my guns went off," Grant defended.
((It's also isn't your fault that you had to light a cigarette and mistook one of your small guns to be your lighter!)) Joey Jericho Wilson glared at his brother, his eyes glowing green on black. That remark was meant to sound sarcastic.
"If you guys don't keep quiet, we'll give away our position anyway," Rose said to her girlfriend and brothers. They (Tartarus) needed to use stealth to ambush the Titans. Unfortunately, the element of surprise was probably gone by now thanks to Grant.
"Do you really have to smoke that now?" Kat said as she placed a hand over her nose. She had a sensitive nose and she hated cigarette smoke; it made her sick.
"Don't like it, tough!" Grant blew a smoke in her face and she was ready to lose it. Fortunately, Rose held her back before she did anything she would regret…well not presently, but she may regret it sooner or later. "Deal with it!"
Joey sighed. No matter how many times Kat had 'punished' Grant, he would still constantly set off her already short temper. He liked Kat and he liked his siblings, but he sometimes wished that he was an only child.
They were nearing the Titans' campsite. It was only a matter of time before they claimed victory and…
"You can stop sneaking around now," the smooth voice of Ichijyo said. "We know you're there, so you can just get out and show yourselves." Tartarus did the classic anime 'face plant on the ground' maneuver with large beads of sweat showing up on the back of their heads as they fell over in a heap.
"Well…TARTARUS, SEND EM TO HELL!" Kat screamed as she and her team launched themselves out of the bushes and into the open. They let out a united battle cry, brandishing their weapons. Well, those who had weapons anyway. Standing in front of them were the Titans, fully clothed in their uniforms (well, Vic/Cyborg didn't have a uniform, but you know what I mean.) and ready for battle.
Kat was curious, however. She asked, "Okay, how did you know we were there?"
Shadow answered without words as a bat made out of shadows latched onto his outstretch arm and hung upside down from it. It was one of his shadow agents.
"I should've known. Your Shadow Agent trick again."
"It's how I know things. Of course, that gunshot I heard was a dead giveaway," Shadow smirked.
Kat stepped on Grant's foot. "This is all your fault!" Grant hopped on one foot and held the one she stepped on.
Shadow rolled his eyes, "Can we just get this over with? We all know what the four of you want so let's just settle this once and for all." He pulled out his Zodiac Deck. Draco, Pluto and Mortuary did the same. The Deck of the Snake, Draco, Dog and Aries shone under the moonlight and the light of the fire.
"My sentiments exactly," Kat grinned as she and her team pulled out their own Zodiac Decks. The Deck of the Cat, Aquarius, Cancer and Taurus held an eerie glow as well.
"You sure you want to…?" Robin began, but was silenced by Shadow's eyes. He nodded. "Good luck."
All 8 Zodiac Knights, four from the Titans and the latter four from Slade, stood in front of the T-Car windows and threw out their deck holding hands. Their Zodiac Belts were summoned as they prepared their transformation calls
"EMPOWERMENT OF…" They called out together
Ryuki: "THE ZODIAC DRAGON!"
Ichijyo: "THE ZODIAC SNAKE!"
Takada: "THE ZODIAC DOG!"
Craig: "ARIES!"
Kat: "THE ZODIAC CAT!"
Grant: "TAURUS!"
Rose: "AQUARIUS!"
Joey: ((CANCER!))
They slid the Zodiac Decks into their belts simultaneously.
"HENSHIN!" They shouted out together in unison
Robin, Cyborg and Beast Boy watched as the armors encased their respective wearers. Red, purple, dark blue, brown, black, green, light blue and gold energy swept over the Zodiac Titans and Tartarus' bodies. Now fully clad in their armors, they leapt into the T-Car's windows and into the Mirror Dimension.
Up above the trees, a gold and crimson clad figure watched the Knights enter the Mirror Dimension. His cape hung down his back before it wrapped around him and he disappeared. However, he did leave behind a golden feather or two.
"Hey, what's this?" Beast Boy asked as he picked up a golden feather. It then exploded into a mass of gold dust. "Weird…"
8 Knightriders, color coded for their respective Zodiac Knights, raced through the crystal Mirror Tunnel towards their destination. They would do battle and no one was interested in taking any prisoners.
It wouldn't be a simple 1 on 1 or 4 on 4…it would be a battle royale and every man, or woman, for him or herself.
This was going to be intense, with a capital 'I'.
The Knightriders and the Zodiac Knights who rode them leapt out of the portals at the same time, which were located on the Mirror Dimension portal of the T-Car and stopped in the Mirror Dimension version of the campsite. It may have looked the same, but it wasn't. It was similar yet different.
The 8 Zodiac Knights stepped out of their vehicles and prepared their weapons. It was Zodiac Titans VS Tartarus…a fight to the finish.
Someone had to issue the challenge first.
"BY THE CODE OF THE ZODIAC KNIGHTS, WE CHALLENGE YOU TO A ZODIAC DUEL!"
"BY THE CODE OF THE ZODIAC KNIGHTS, WE ACCEPT!"
"DUEL!"
The battle was on as they all ran into the woodland area. This was WAR…NO prisoners.
With a howl of fury, Pluto swung his sword down upon Scizzors, who blocked with his Scizzor Slashers, the shears mounted on his left forearm and also his card reader. Pluto was then shot by ARMS, twice before the gunman got shot by Draco and Mortuary with their DRA-Blaster and Death Buster. Both Copycat and Aqua intervened by lashing out with their weapons. Mortuary ducked under one of Aqua's metallic fans as Draco rolled out of the way from his twin sister's whip lashes. Shadow then ran at both Copycat and Aqua, swinging and jabbing his staff at them.
This was a free for all.
Very chaotic.
ARMS punched at Shadowcobra, but the Knight of Invisibility turned invisible before elbowing ARMS in the back upon reappearing. ARMS then turned to shoot at Shadowcobra, point blank, which sent the purple armored Snake Knight flying. Shadow hissed and flipped back to his feet. He shot a black shadow ball at ARMS, who countered by first blocking with the T-Car via his 'magnetic personality' before throwing it at Shadowcobra. Shadowcobra leapt over the T-Car as it came flying towards him. The other Knights dodged the flying vehicle as it crashed into a few trees, thrashed. Thankfully, it wasn't the real T-Car and hopefully wouldn't reflect what happened to the real T-Car in the real world. Shadow drew a card and slid it into his staff. "Sword Vent!" Grabbing the Snake Coil Saber, he slashed down upon ARMS.
Copycat decided to go hand to hand and flame to flame with her brother as both their hands were engulfed in flaming red fire. She slashed and swiped at him as he punched and kicked back. He may not want to fight, but Draco did not want to be beaten, and neither did Copycat. The Cat Knight then copied ARMS magnetism and raised the T-Car high into the air and dropping it on her brother. Draco raised his hands up and obliterated the T-Car with a powerful fireball. If Cyborg knew Draco had done that, he would never let Draco hear the end of the possibility of it ever happening to his 'baby'. He then manipulated the campfire and sent the flames at her, only for her to dodge them. Thankfully, nothing caught on fire as Draco extinguished them before a whip lash hit him in the chest and sent reeling by a drop kick from his twin sister.
Mortuary was doing fairly well…so far. Aqua was using her Zodiac Power, which was aerokinesis, and using air currents to push Mortuary back. Mortuary shot her with his Death Buster, but she danced her way around the shots before kicking his weapon out of his hands before slashing at his chest with her fans in an 'X' pattern. Sparks flew as he fans made contact with his chestplate. He groaned. Why hadn't he used his Zodiac Power?
Because he didn't know what it was. He blasted at her with his necroplasm, but she danced her way to safety before slashing at him again.
Pluto and Scizzors fought with so much ferocity. Pluto had no idea that Scizzors was the boy Eri was, or had been, dating, but Scizzors knew who Pluto was all too well. The Cancer Knight turned himself into liquid metal to avoid from being stabbed and then wrapped himself around Pluto. Pluto let loose an electrical charge that repelled Scizzors the Cancer Knight before he charged and slashed at the Crab Knight, who countered with his shears.
Copycat lashed her whip at Shadow, but he slipped into the ground as a shadow before moving towards her and rising up in front of her. Copycat was shocked, but grew even more shocked as an energy blast smashed into Shadowcobra, sending the Snake Knight crashing into the bushes. Looking to where the blast missile had come from, she saw ARMS wearing his Giga Cannons. The barrels of his cannons were smoking.
Draco then activated his Dragblade and then ran at his sister, slashing at her with it. Copycat dodged and avoided each swipe and slash while lashing at him with her whip. The whip cracked on the ground and Draco jumped up to pin her down. However, she kicked him in the chin with her heel before kneeing him in the side. She then grabbed his arm and flipped him over her body, sending him crashing to the ground. He used the Power of Capricorn and several stone spikes rose up to impale her. She teleported out of harms way before narrowly dodging the spikes her brother was throwing at her.
Aqua was now close to a body of water and using her hydrokinesis to attack Mortuary relentlessly. He could not get close enough to use his melee combat skills, so he had to resort to his necroplasmic blasts. She was attacking so quickly, he didn't have time to concentrate in order to use his much stronger skills. He drew a card from his deck, but it got blown out of his hand before he could use it as a blast of water slammed right into him and smashed him against a tree.
Shadow ran in a zig-zag pattern to avoid ARMS' blasts. The Knight of Invisibility tried to go invisible, but that was useless with ARMS' heat scanner. Shadow blasted at ARMS, but the Knight of Taurus had activated his Guard Vent, a shield, to protect him from Shadow's blast. Shadow instead slashed down with his sword, slicing the shield in half before kicking at ARMS' chest.
Copycat's whip wrapped around Draco's neck. He grabbed at it and tried to pull it away from his throat before he suffocated. He pulled harder, but so did she. He also tried to cut it, but to no avail. He then activated the Power of Scorpio, and freed himself by turning into sand before going at his sister to blind her. A blast of wind from Aqua scattered his sand body before he reformed. He drew a card and slid it into his gauntlet. Copycat drew a card and slid it into her whip.
Draco: "Strike Vent!"
Copycat: "Copy Vent!"
Draco's Dragon Knuckle, which looked like his Dragon Flame Cannon, but smaller, adorned his right forearm. A copy of it formed on Copycat's forearm. He sent several large boulders at her. But she smashed them to bits with her Dragon Knuckle. He then charged and punched at her with his Dragon Knuckle.
Mortuary fired a powerful blast of necro-energy at Aqua while she was helping Copycat and sent her into the water. He looked proud of himself, but Aqua rose up on a tower of water and sent several water bombs at him. They would've hit, but Mortuary was as agile as a gazelle and dodged. Not only that, his Zodiac Power finally activated, creating another duplicate of him. He looked confused and so did Aqua as she thought she was seeing double. Mortuary then duplicated some more so that there were now 10 of him and only ONE of her. The Morts charged at Aqua, shooting with their Death Busters and necro-energy as she desperately blocked with her fans, air shields and water shields.
Draco and Copycat's Dragon Knuckles slammed into one another, but only hers shattered like glass as he had activated his super strength. He then smashed his fist into her stomach, and sent her flying. She flipped and landed on her feet. With a burst of incredible speed, after she slid a card, "Speed Vent!" into her whip, she ran at her brother and slammed her fist hard into his face. His helmet cracked at the impact. He then countered with a roundhouse kick to her solar plexus and then head butted her.
"Add Vent!" Shadow summoned Genosnaker and the giant cobra spewed out acid that melted ARMS' Giga Cannons. Undeterred, ARMS drew his gun and fired, charging at Shadow. Shadow kneed the gunman in the gut before giving him an open palmed strike to the chest followed by a chop to the back of ARMS' neck. ARMS, however, was able to endure and remain standing before tackling Shadowcobra onto the ground and punching him in the faceplate repeatedly before shooting him in the face. He missed and only shot the ground as Shadow sunk into the ground as a shadow and rose up to kick ARMS in the back.
Cancer had Pluto in a chokehold and the Dog Knight was forced onto one knee. Cancer wanted to snap Pluto's head off with his Cancer Claws, but the Dog Knight drew a card and slid it into his sword. "Nasty Vent!" Darkwing's wings spread out and knocked the Crab Knight back before it flew into the air and released its powerful 'Supersonic Screech'! It affected Scizzors and forced him to close his ears. Unfortunately, it affected all the others as well and disoriented them for a second.
"Shoot Vent!" ARMS grabbed the rocket launcher and started shooting Shadow like crazy, who turned intangible to avoid the rockets. Aqua was finishing off the Mort copies before she got kneed in the face. Mort had his Gazelle Stabber on and the dual drills were spinning. He struck at her, but she dodged.
It was chaotic as the Mirror Dimension's forest was laid to waste by the Zodiac Knights' fight. Such disorganization had to stop now.
Draco and Copycat blasted at one another, but they missed and got the trees instead. Pluto and Scizzors were slashing at each other with their weapons relentlessly, trying to score a hit on one another as sparks flew. Scizzors activated his Strike Vent and clicked his large claws before trying to snap them at Pluto. Pluto dodged and Scizzors sliced a tree in half with his Cancer Claws. He went after Pluto who took to the air via Darkwing.
But who was going to stop them?
A mysterious armored figure drew a card that held the image of a clock on its face. He slid the card into his ornate staff. "Time Vent!" Suddenly, all the Knights became still, as if they were frozen or petrified. The figure stepped into the light, or at least as much light as possible at night. His armor shimmered and glowed, revealing him to be none other than Zodiac Knight Libra, the First Knight and Guardian of the Zodiac Knights. He then quickly and systematically struck the Zodiac Titans and Tartarus. With a wave of his hand, he restored time. The teenage Knights were flung off their feet and sent to the ground. All of Mortuary's duplicates disappeared too.
"Ow…" Draco groaned.
"Hey!" Mortuary exclaimed. "What gives? What's going on?" Various other exclamations rang around the group, mostly out of fury and dissatisfaction and others out of curiosity.
Libra's voice echoed, "ME!" All of the other Zodiac Knights turned their attention towards Libra. They stood at attention. Only a few Knights knew of him, but none knew him personally.
"I am Zodiac Knight Libra, and I am here to JUDGE you."
If they knew of his TRUE power, they would know that they were nothing compared to him.
"Let the judgment begin!" he tapped his staff on the ground.
A bus on its way to New York drove into a tunnel. There was extra focus on one individual, dressed in a black shirt, grey jacket, brown cargos, a cap with a spider on it and headphones attached to an MP3 player. He was bobbing his head to the music as he folded an Origami paper crane. Afterwards, he took out a lighter, flicked it open and set fire to the crane. He dropped the crane to the floor of the bus and stood up. As he made his way to the other passengers, he changed into another creature.
He was an Orphenoch.
The passengers panicked and screamed as he began his massacre, killing each and everyone on the bus with out mercy, ruthlessly taking their lives. There was screaming and the bus lost control. The bus crashed in the tunnel, but everyone inside was already dead before the accident. The paper crane had been completely burnt. The Orphenoch, now in human form, stepped out of the bus like nothing had happened as he casually folded another paper crane. It was either he had forgotten about the people he had killed or plain didn't care. In any case, this guy…this monster…was dangerous.
To Be Continued…
Next chapter is Part 25: Tests and Judgments.