(A/N):Well well, I'm back after a short hiatus involving work to bring the next chapter of FIRS. For all you fans of my other works, don't be worried, I will definitely be getting back to them...Just needed some time to gather some motivation; surprisingly, that I received from my new favorite anime/manga 'Sword Art Online'. If you haven't checked it out, I highly suggest you do so, and please tell me what you think of me doing a fic on it. Hope you guys can come to see and enjoy my vision for this episode as much as I had fun reading it.

Proving Ground

Exiting the medical bay, Jason walked on in silence and with a forlorn expression. Yet to break the tense quiet, a voice rose up saying,"I'm sorry."

Batman looked over towards the immortal occultist, patented glare in place, "What was that?"

"I apologize. I know next to nothing about this boy, and yet I dragged him here of all places."

Superman was quick to input,"It's alright, Jason. We know you didn't mean anything by it."

A nod was the response before the verbal answer came. "I..I just didn't know where else to go. Normal hospitals wouldn't have known what to do with him, and what if he turned again? I couldn't handle the possibility of him going demon in a building full of innocent people."

A snort came from the dark knight,"So you figured you could drop him at our doorstep?"

"Bruce-"

"No Clark, this is too far. How do we know that Circe hadn't brainwashed him, or that he won't transform in the center of our base? I know where you stand on this, but that boy is a bomb I don't want to be near should it blow."

Thung!

The group turned towards the sound, and saw a flash of bright red light. Watching as it died down, the occultist gasped aloud,"Oh no..."

Zatanna and J'onn watched in morbid fascination as crimson lightning trailed arcs across his body as it changed before them.

Blonde hair bled into a strawberry blonde, seeming orange in color, and grew to a stop near the base of his spine. Though where one alteration stopped another began as he had 5 tails of ghostly aqua colored flames flailing about as the fires covered his body in the shape of a fox outline. These weren't the only things either, as more of his body was changed. There was nothing as dramatic, however, as his eyes.

Blue faded to slitted and dilated scarlet as his sclera went from white to black. Overall, the form before them brought fear into their hearts, even as J'onn tried to get another psychic reading on the unstable child.

Keyword is tried.

"Zatanna?"

"Yes?"

"We need to get space, now!"

Too bad the warning came too late.

Grrrrraaaaahhhh!

The group was racing towards the door as they heard a bestial roar, and on pure instinct, they all separated. Good thing too, for as they did, the medical bay door came flying at them with the speed of a bullet train.

"Woah! Would now be a good time to say I told ya so?!"

"Flash!"

The speedster looked to see the dark knight scowling at him,"Get the other league members in the tower."

"Seriously?!"

"!"

A massive force of concussive wind bellowed from the medical bay area, almost knocking everyone down from its raw power. Flash glanced at Batman with a mock salute, as he stood rigidly at attention.

"Roger that!"

In a burst of light, Etrigan was once more present. It took all but a moment for the hellfire demon to notice something-"This..this cannot be right."

The man of steel asked,"What's wrong?"

"The boy's demonic blood wasn't at the level it is now when I saw him last. Also, when he fought the witch, he only had one tail. Something is amiss, we must hurry."

The boy walked out from the infirmary, eyes closed, but his new altered appearance alone was enough to jolt the heroes into inaction.

An unnerved Superman voiced his thought aloud,"That can't be the child still, can it?"

The dark knight nodded solemnly, "Looks to be."

The Demon Prince decided to speak as well,"It matters not whether his appearance has changed, this is dangerous. When he battled the witch he only had one tail, for him to have more now, and to be going berserk...there is more to this transformation than what we originally came to believe."

Oooooaaaarrgh!

"Either way, we've got to stop him immediately."

Superman dashes in, but a tail swipe sends him away, leaving Etrigan and Batman to engage. Turning his attention on the duo, the kyuubified Naruto raises an arm, and with the cloak mimicking the action...a gigantic claw of chakra launched towards Batman. Preparing a counterattack, Gotham's hero leaped to his right as he flung a group of batarangs at the youth while Etrigan exhales a mid-sized fireball at the boy. An explosion rocks the area from the combined power of electrical batarangs and unholy fire, yet before the smoke fully settled, a glowing claw slammed into the Bat sending him flying into a wall a fair distance away.

"What manner of beast are you?" The son of Belial couldn't help but ask as his senses picked up yet another change to the demonic entity before him.

The smoke dissipated, revealing the strawberry-blonde shrouded in a cloak of living flames, if the writhing streams of crimson were anything to go by. A low growl came from the teen before he charged, only to go flying backwards when he was tackled by a rocketing superman.

"-hn...John! Wake up!"

With a start the green martian awoke from his position against the medical bay's wall, shaking his head, he spoke.

"That boy...The things he's endured...Never have I seen someone with such raw power or strength of will."

Zatanna looked over to the battle taking place outside and said,"Then if that's the case, we will have to help him out, no?"

Naruto stands against three heroes of the justice league, yet a the transformed youth started sniffing before a snarl floated from his throat.

Others were present now.

"Woah, that's new. What the heck happened when I was gone?" Flashed asked as he sped his way to his allies side, with the other leaguers not a second later. A black haired woman wearing a red halter top, black leggings, and an oceanic colored jacket with stars on the shoulders. This was Diana, princess of the Amazons, and Wonder Woman of the League.

An auburn haired woman with white wings flies in; her attire that of a yellow and olive colored halter top cut off to show her midriff, with matching olive leggings, and boots. Coming to land beside her female companion, she was seen to be wielding a silver mace attached to a belt hanging from her waist. This was Shiyera of Thanagar, Hawkgirl of the League.

Lastly, an african-american male floated down to land beside Etrigan as well, his outfit was of a black and green leotard with an insignia in the middle of his chest. His only possession was a ring on his right hand, this was John Stewart, Green Lantern.

As the new members joined the others, they surveyed their opponent. Diana turned to Hawkgirl,"What is that?"

Her reply was simply a shrug of the shoulders, and,"It's not a new housepet, that's for sure."

Her green lantern comrade faced batman and spoke,"So, what are we dealing with?"

Seeing the Bat's scowl deepen, the former soldier knew that was a bad sign, even before he replied.

"I don't know. But, it has an energy barrier of some sort that blocks out all forms of attack other than physical blows. It also can extend to great distances, so be careful, other than that I haven't gotten anything else."

Flying up, the man grinned as he powered up his ring,"Then, it's time we got you some more info."

Before anything else could take place, J'onn and Zatanna came out from the medical area, a little dazed but ready for combat. Flash, well, flashed a smile before commenting.

"Well now, looks like the gangs all here! Let's do this!"

Green lantern fires off a hand of energy, which is countered by a flaming claw of Naruto's own. The man of steel deeply inhales, releasing a torrent of freezing breath at the boy, but the cloak melts it before it even solidifies around him. Hearing the flap of wings, a kyuubified clone grows out of the orange-haired youths back, swiping at the Thanagarian. The clone dissolves as the Nth metal mace collides with it's head, yet it knocks the woman away allowing Naruto to rush Superman. Diana cuts his charge, Flash creates mini-tornadoes to launch at him, Zatanna casts a lightning spell, and Martian Manhunter sends a psionic pulse at him. John breaks off as the amazon retreats while the metropolis hero using heat rays and Etrigan threw another set of fireballs from his hands.

Boom!

The resulting explosion rocked the entire base, and left a massive cloud of dust and smoke.

The red speedster sighed as he asked aloud,"Did...did we get him?"

In response, a beastly roar resounded through the area. The concussive force of it was strong enough to instantly vanquish the smokescreen present, and then enough so as to push every hero a good distance back off the ground. Getting up, the group was stunned...

"W-what power..."

"The heck was that?!"

"Did that thing just roar? Geez, makes you wish Canary was here huh?"

"Even so, we have to stop this thing."

Flash looked incredulously at Batman,"Are you kidding me? This thing is as fast as I am, as strong as Supes and Diana, and is smart enough to multitask while facing all of us simultaneously. What about that says we can take this thing down?!"

The rhyming demon preforms a flamethrower attack, which was taken advantage by Bats to fire with an electric batarang assault. Yet the attack did nothing, even worse, the cloak slowly began to warp around the boy. The scarlet flames became awash in blue coloring, which shocked Etrigan.

"It-it can't be! Foxfire!"

"Um, not to sound confused here, but what's foxfire?" came from the ever sarcastic red theme hero.

"It is a form of magic manipulated only by the Japanese kitsune, or fox. Most are of a divine entity, yet this one seems to be of demonic origin somehow. That's why my attacks haven't injured it in the least, it's be aiding him!"

Surprise captivated the league members, but no more so than when suddenly the boy began screaming, as if in pain. The five tails spread themselves out on his backside, as out of the azure flame, another tail started forming.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!"

"This doesn't look good, Batman, any ideas on how to stop this thing?"

"Absolutely none."

"Aaarggh!"

Almost complete with the tail, the group watched as the boy fell to the floor, cloak dispersing from around him.

Slowly, the band seemed to relax from the stances, and approach the teen. Others, were simply to shocked to move.

"What was that? Did that really come from that boy over there?"

"I don't really get it myself, but, that boy just fought all of us to a standstill. If he has that much power, I really don't feel like fighting him again."

(A/N): So, what'd ya think? Let me know in review, and I'll be uploading my other stories as well later on this weekend. Have a great day, and remember, your words give me inspiration to continue. R&R.