Part 62: The Big Gazelle Brawl

People were panicking as the monsters suddenly leapt out of the windows in hordes…I mean, herds. They looked almost deer-like, with large horns and antlers as well as hoofed feet.

Ichijyo immediately recognized them. "GAZELLES!" he shouted.

Actually, they were Megazelles, Negazelles, Gigazelles and Omegazelles. They were basically of the same species but very different. The term 'Gazelles' was enough to summarize what they were.

The Gazelles began to randomly attack the guests left and right and didn't seem to be stopping.

"Guys!" Leo began, pulling off his bow tie, "You go and change! Ichijyo, Takada and I can handle this!" Leo yelled out, punching a Gazelle across the face.

"You sure?" Tim asked.

"Positive!" Leo shot back, throwing his fists out rapidly at a few Gazelles stalking him.

"We can handle it!" Takada added, flipping a Gazelle over his back, and into a table, sending it crashing into splinters.

"Trust us!" Ichijyo finished, kicking away at a Gazelle in range.

"Right!" Tim agreed as the rest of The Titans followed him backstage, intending to change into their battle gear. Jen and Rachel seemed the most hesitant but followed Tim's orders anyway.

"Okasan, you should get out!" Leo told his mother and pointed to two of the bodyguards. "You two! Get my mother out of here safely, now!" he commanded and they complied, escorting Mrs. Hasuma safely out the back door. "That goes to you two!" he shouted at Megami and Eri.

"Like we're going to back down!" Eri snapped and shot out a white plasma beam into several Gazelles approaching from behind Leo. Leo stood stunned. "I learnt a new trick," Eri grinned.

Megami was using her super power, super speed, and was literally running circles around a few Gazelles, sucking them up into a funnel and then dropping them back down. She powered up her hands and blasted the falling down monsters with her Moonbeams, destroying them. Ichijyo stared stun at his sister.

"How?" he began to ask.

Megami tilted her head and beamed. "Eri's not the only one with new tricks up her sleeves."

Ron and Kim were both facing off against several Gazelles circling around them. They first ducked the Gazelles' spear stabs before leaping over them.

"Wonder if those upgrades Wade's been working on can be used," Kim said.

"Let's find out!" Ron shouted back, pressing a button on his watch. Kim did the same thing.

Quick as a flash, their clothes changed into identical battle suits. Kim's was the familiar metallic white with blue power stripes while Ron's was the complete opposite, all black except for the red power stripes in the same pattern as Kim's.

Ron took out an extendable Bo staff from the back of his belt and jabbed it into the chest of one Gazelle. Km was doing fairly well as well, using her skills in martial arts and cheerleading she expertly dodged before retaliating with a flurry of punches and kicks.

Somehow, Bruce, Clark and Dian had found the time to change into their costumes. Lois had been told to get out and run by Clark and safely escaped with the rest of the guests before there were any fatalities.

Batman only had his gear, gadgets and gizmos assisting in his fight while Superman and Wonder Woman used their super strength to crush the skulls of the monsters. Batman was too engrossed in his fight that he did not notice several Gazelles advancing on him. The Gazelle, however, fell after a green and silver disc with an R emblem blasted its head off. Batman turned and a shadow of a smile formed on his face.

The Titans had arrived.

"TITANS! GO!" Robin ordered and the heroes all went on the attack.

Starfire blasted the Gazelles with her Starbolts while Raven assited with her magic, chanting, "Azerath Metrion Zinthos," to crush the Gazelles in a claw of her black magic. Jinx hexed the chandelier, causing it to fall and crash down on a few unlucky Gazelles. Cyborg was having a field day as he used his sonic cannon to blast holes into the monsters' chests. Terra was ready and summoned up two earth golems and had them smash the Gazelles with their mighty fists. She also skewered several Gazelles on a large stone spike. Beast Boy morphed into a large wooly mammoth and either stabbed at or trampled over the Gazelles with his mighty feet and tusks.

Robin and Batman were both back to back. Both of the former partners nodded knowingly and fought the Gazelles as a team. Superman blasted a few with his heat vision, burning them to death. Wonder Woman was fighting using all of her Amazonian strength.

Kim and Ron were fighting and working together as the famed Team Possible. Rufus had hidden himself safely inside Ron's leg holster.

The Knights were in civilian form and were openly using their powers on their monster opponents.

Overall, the battle was chaotic.

Meanwhile, Kat and her friends were outside with the rest of the guests. They were standing behind a yellow police line as officers of JCPD did their thing: crowd control.

"Let's go," Kat commanded. "Let's get into the action before those pigs take us in for questioning."

"I agree," Grant nodded. "A police station is the last place I want to be."

"Added with the fact that daddy would throw a fit if he ever found out," Rose added a comment.

Joey was quiet and agreed to Kat's idea.

"Team Tartarus, let's go!" she ordered.

Back inside, The Titans, the League and Team Possible were able to drive the Gazelles away. However…

"It's not over," Leo said, taking out his Zodiac Deck.

"I concur," Ichijyo agreed.

"One hundred percent guys," Takada grinned.

"Don't leave us out, guys!" Eri snapped irritably.

"Yeah!" agreed Megami.

All 5 teens stood in front of a window and shouted out their individual transformation calls.

"ZODIAC FORCE!"

"DRAGON!"

"SNAKE!"

"DOG!"

"RABBIT!"

"VIRGO!"

Energy fields color coded for their owners projected from their belts and swept over their owners, encasing them in their corresponding armor. Once stood 5 teens now stood Zodiac Knights.

"ZODIAC KNIGHT DRACO!"

"ZODIAC KNIGHT SHADOWCOBRA!"

"ZODIAC KNIGHT PLUTO!"

"ZODIAC KNIGHT MOON!"

"ZODIAC KNIGHT VENUS!"

"ZODIAC TITANS!" Draco, Shadowcobra, Pluto, Moon (Megami) and Venus (Eri) yelled out.

Zodiac Knight Moon was clad in pink and white body armor designed after a rabbit complete with a pair of rabbit ears attached to her pink helmet and a blue visor.

Zodiac Knight Venus was clad in white, gold and black body armor with a white cape, split in two, hanging from her shoulders. On her hip was a white scabbard with a rapier like sword that had a golden handle attached to it. Her helmet was white with a golden tiara and a black visor.

Ron saw this and whipped out his Zodiac Deck as well, calling out, "ZODIAC FORCE! MONKEY!" his energy rose up over his body, transforming him into his armor. ZODIAC KNIGHT ANIMORPH!"

At them same time, a familiar foursome of teens stood in front of another window, not far from the scene.

"ZODIAC FORCE!"

"CAT!"

"AQUARIUS!"

"TAURUS!"

CANCER!

The energy fields rose up and covered them in armor as they swept over the teens.

"ZODIAC KNIGHT COPYCAT!"

"ZODIAC KNIGHT AQUA!"

"ZODIAC KNIGHT ARMS!"

ZODIAC KNIGHT SCIZZORS!

"TEAM TARTARUS!" Copycat, A.R.M.S (Grant), Aqua (Rose) and Scizzors (Joey) shouted together.

At once, all the Knights entered the windows, chasing after the Gazelles in the Mirror Dimension.

The ten Zodiac Knights simultaneously exited their Knightriders and stared at the huge herd of a thousand Gazelle types monsters and nodded in agreement. They may be adversaries and may be again after this, but for know they were allies. They all drew out their weapons at once. Draco got ready with his Dragauntlets already in Dragclaw mode, Pluto drew and got ready with his Hound Sword, Shadowcobra got ready with Cobra Scepter, now extended into battle staff mode, Copycat drew out her whip, Aqua took out her metallic fans, Scizzors right arm changed into a sharp blade, ARMS had his gun out, Venus drew her rapier, Megami got ready with her fists and Animorph's battle staff materialized in his hands.

With one united battle cry, the Zodiac Knights charged and went on the attack as the Gazelles came on them to.

The odds were 100 to 1. Not very good, right?

Back in the auditorium, things were not so tidy. The Titans and the League were busy cleaning up the mess, explaining what had gone down. Mrs. Hasuma was okay and strangely calm as she looked at the windows with a knowing look. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Batman.

"How are you doing?" he asked, genuinely concerned.

"I'm fine," she told him, but he was unconvinced.

"Your own children are beyond the mirrors fighting monsters alone," he told her, "How can you be so calm?"

"Because I have faith…and they are not alone," she told him, looking at the Titans who were helping to tidy up the mess the Gazelles caused when they attacked. Even Kim Possible was helping out, calling in a few favors. Superman and Wonder Woman had left after the attack and Lois was covering the attack by interviewing several of the eyewitnesses. "Impressive really, isn't it Bruce? The younger, newer, generation of heroes," she said, "So young, so much energy, so much spirit," she admired. "Reminds me so much of Kyousuke."

"Batman?" Robin came up to the two, "Sorry for interrupting."

"What is it Robin?" Batman asked gruffly.

"Could it be possible for no one to find out about this?" Robin asked his mentor hesitantly.

"Why?" Barman demanded an explanation.

Robin sighed, "Awhile back, Shadow explained to me about the monsters in the Mirror Dimension."

(Flashback…)

"Why can't we tell people?" Robin demanded firmly, slamming his hands on the table. Shadowcobra was sitting opposite him and had his arms crossed.

"What would be the point?" Shadowcobra asked back. "It isn't like anyone is going to believe some story about monsters coming out of mirrors."

"There's proof! You, Draco and Pluto can show them!" Robin retorted.

"And then what? Cause unnecessary panic?" Shadowcobra leaned closer so that his blue eyes met Robin's masked ones. "Listen, Robin. The reason the Mirror Dimension is a secret is because it is a necessity. You have a valid point and you have a good reason for wanting to do this." He narrowed his eyes. "However, if you accomplish this, you may cause panic and paranoia. People will stat destroying every glass window and mirror they can find. Of course, the monsters can past through ANY reflective surface. So, even if you warn them and they try to do something about it, there is no way to stop it. The monsters will keep coming through using the surface of a car, polished metal, even a small puddle." He sighed, "My point is that we don't want the citizens of Jump City, much less, the world to find out about this and cause panic. Believe me, keeping this a secret is the best thing to do. Trying to keep it a secret was a hard task altogether."

Robin eyed Shadowcobra skeptically and nodded.

(End Flashback…)

"If anyone was to find out about this, there would be chaos and mass hysteria," Robin concluded.

Batman seemed in thought. But, there were already too many witnesses who saw the Gazelles came out of the window. How was Shadowcobra going to cover this up? He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to see Mrs. Hasuma, smiling.

"Ichijyo-kun has his ways," Mrs. Hasuma said cryptically

Back in the Mirror Dimension, the Knights all drew out their Final Vent cards at the same time and slid them into their respectable card readers.

"FINAL VENT!"

"RAPID RABID RABBIT ATTACK!" Moon shouted as she executed her attack with her monster partner, Hopstar, and began running around the Gazelles at a speed rivaling that of The Flash. She created a vortex that sucked the creatures in. The vortex then dissipated, allowing the monsters to drop back down. Moon and Hopstar were ready and performed rapid fire punches and kicks that that pulverized the Gazelles that came in contact, reducing them to smoking peaces.

SCISSOR CLAW ATTACK! Volcancer brought it claws together and its master, Scizzors, used the aforementioned appendages as a spring board to catapult him into the air. Scissor then rolled himself into a ball and began rolling back down at high speed, pummeling the Gazelles to oblivion.

"TORRENTIAL TERROR!" Aqua shouted as she got on top of her Dolpheen, surfboarder style, followed by a raging tidal wave right behind them. They flew right past the Gazelles and the monsters were engulfed by the wave, either being drowned or ripped to shreds by the powerful torrent.

"DARKHOLE CRASH!" Shadowcobra went into a flying drill kick that slammed the Gazelles before him into the dark hole in the centre of Genocide's chest. They were immediately crushed inside by the immense gravity.

"DARK NOVA CRASH!" several Gazelles blew up upon being skewered by Copycat and her Techno Panther.

"MISTY SLASH!" Whitewing, Venus' giant swan, flapped its wings behind half a dozen Gazelles and blew them straight at its master who was holding her Swan Glaive in a ready stance. When the unlucky Gazelles got in range, they were immediately slashed to pieces by Venus' precise swings.

"END OF THE WORLD!" As the trigger happy lunatic he had been known, ARMS let loose with a powerful barrage of ammunition being fired by Gigataurus from its arm cannons, leg cannons and chest missiles as well as the small gun barrel in its forehead. ARMS at the meantime was pulling at his trigger, allowing the ammo to pour down hard on his targets, mainly the Gazelles.

"HEAVEN'S DROP!" Animorph threw his battle staff high up into the air before gravity pulled it back down and the weapons weight, length, size and width matched that of a large Redwood tree and totally flattened his targeted Gazelles into pancakes.

"DEADLY IMMORTAL'S DRILL!" Pluto leapt into the air and pointed the tip of his lance down. His Darkwing Cape wrapped around him in a spiraling motion before he dropped back down as a rocketing, flying corkscrew, destroying the Gazelles he fell upon.

"DRAGON COMBUSTION KICK!" Draco leapt into the air, quickly being followed by Dragonzer. Draco then extended his right leg out, allowing the soul of his boot to be engulfed in pure red hot flames as Dragonzer used a burst of its own fire breath to shoot its master back at the aimed Gazelles, destroying the dozen in a single explosive blow.

Let's just say the battle was over as none of the rogue Gazelles was left

However, the battle was far from over.

Copycat stood cockily with her arms folded and her team of Knights behind her. ARMS' trigger finger was getting itchy, Aqua was flipping her sharp metallic fans absently in her hands and Scizzors stood stationary, not saying a word.

Moon, Venus, Draco, Shadowcobra and Pluto were still exhausted but still had their weapons out. They had fought as allies moments ago, all because of a shaky alliance brought about to face a common opponent. The Gazelles were all gone and the only opponents left were each other. Shadowcobra glared hatefully at ARMS.

"Who's your new crew?" Draco asked.

"Well, well. Looks like introductions are in order," Copycat smiled. "These are my new teammates. Their names are Aqua, Scizzors and you've already met ARMS," Copycat indicated to each Knight as she said their names, "Together, we are known as Team Tartarus."

Tartarus…the prison of the Titans in Greek mythology.

As the two factions started to charge, they felt a strange tingling sensation. They stared at they hands and at each other. They were fizzling and their armors were beginning to vaporize as the small particle specs began to rise up into the air.

They were running out of power and time.

Copycat rewrapped the whip around her waist and motioned to her team. A.RM.S. was reluctant but was dragged by the horns to a nearby exit portal.

The Zodiac Titans watched as Team Tartarus disappeared from sight. No doubt out of the Mirror Dimension and to who knows where. They took the hint and turned back, intending to leave the Mirror Dimension to a more safer atmosphere.

To Be Continued…

Chromedragozoid: How was that? Good? Bad? Mediocre? Tell me and I'll fix it. The fashion show, thankfully, was a success. Too bad the after show dinner didn't happen and there was no dancing. Oh well. Anyway, how is Shadowcobra going to fix this? Will there be a cover up? Copycat has her own team, Team Tartarus. Obviously it was Slade's idea. Well, Please Read and Review!

Sayonara and see you again!