Opening File: Hall of Heroes Sparring Chamber
The Sparring Chamber in the Hall of Heroes is a unique area of training, usually meant to allow fighters as strong as Major Glory, Valhallen and even the Infraggable Krunk to go all out while minimizing the possibility of collateral damage. It is built to resemble an arena but also capable of changing its environment into several different 'biomes', including grasslands, forest, fire, ice, geyser fields, stormy mountains, desert, an ocean and beach with a wooden ship, city ruins, gravity arenas, and a swamp. The arena also has artificial weather effects, such as thunderstorms and an artificial sun. In all matches, the central octagonal part remains the same regardless of the biome.
The arena is capable of manipulating even gravity itself as a way of forcing the fighters to adapt and is seen as a perfect method of training. By increasing the gravity of the arena the fighters are forced to train and adapt to the pressure through simple exercises like jogging, shadow boxing and even light spars. It is believed Krunk can even handle gravity settings a hundred times the natural gravity of Earth, thus forcing the Justice Friends to continue updating this feature with additional gravity Dust. Training in heightened gravity is also a perfect method for training and enhancing Aura control, using it to better adapt to the increased gravity, improving control and enhancing one's own Aura reserves and even the natural muscles.
The Sparring Chamber in the Hall of Heroes is so effective at keeping the Justice Friends in top shape and even improving the training of other Huntsmen to the point that almost all the Huntsmen Academies has a similar training area.
Close File
Xxx
"It's a good idea to work out every once in a while, even if you're not into sports, being a solider or training for the Olympics. Working out at least half an hour keeps you healthy and can make things easier when you have a job outdoors instead of a cushy job at some desk. Even I get off this chair sometimes to do a fun which counts exercising." TOM remarked as the file closed.
"Does flying around space with a jet pack or in a star fighter really count?" SARA asked, appearing next to TOM.
"It does in my book." TOM chuckled.
Xxx
"Well I'll be, that be young Doyle?" Scotty let out a laugh when he saw a familiar face. "I haven't seen the lad when he was a wee small one."
He remembered him when he was just a boy who came along with the Alhberg family who visited his homeland. Scotty and Lodin were great friends and had a lot in common, fighting, games, drinks and great laughs. But also have wives who try to keep them from causing too much trouble. Lodin had a mixed heritage from Scotland from his side of the family and the Vikings considered Scotland longtime allies with both the Dragons and Gargoyles. One time he remembered was when the boy and the chieftain's daughter were by the lake, he attempted to eat the haggis until the Loch Ness came after them and Scotty explained what it was really made of.
"And you haven't changed a bit." He and his team alongside Raven meet another group of people and a young redhead approaching him with her hand on her hip. "Good to see ya again."
The Scotsman realized who she was and smiled. "Wha... Erika? By Macbeth's crown, you've grown so much! You look so much like your mother. And as beautiful as me daughters, how's your old man?"
But he could not help take notice of the way she was dressed, leaving her jacket open and having her bikini top exposed to show off her... assets. How in bunnie blazes did Lodin tolerate the way she dressed was beyond him as he'd never let any of his daughters do that to catch a cold. But of course he kept it to himself to avoid an argument.
Erika sighed and shook her head. "When I got home he was just fighting along with every idiot on the island until I came to end it."
"She's even punched her dad in the guts for that as well." Yara added.
Hearing this made Scotty laughed and held his gut. "Your dad said you'd take after your mother. Now look at ya, a strong leader to be a chieftain as well."
"Actually, Ross is our leader of the team." North pointed to Ross who nodded and raised his hand up. "But what brings you lot here?"
"Well, to answer your question we are with this young lady who is actually being taken from her place against her will." Extor spoke to explain.
"Wait, so you're from another reality too?" Yara asked the girl in the blue hood that caught everyone, even Artemis as well.
Raven nodded. "Yep, I was told about you and that guy calling himself Superboy but none I heard off from my world, so possible there might be more than world."
"We're not exactly an open team." Artemis shrugged, looking at Raven. "Who are you?"
"I'm Raven. A member of the Teen Titans." Raven answered.
"The Teen Titans? Can't say I ever heard of you guys." Artemis replied. "My team is stationed in Mount Justice at Happy Harbor. Where are you guys?"
"Jump City." Raven answered. "There are five of us. Me, Starfire, Beast Boy, Cyborg and Robin."
"Hold up, Robin?" Artemis raised a hand. "As in Batman's sidekick?"
"Is there any other Robin?" Raven asked rhetorically.
"Yeah, our Robin. The one who leads our team." Artemis answered. "And Beast Boy as in Garfield Logan?"
Raven's eyes widened slightly. "You know his real name?" She didn't find out his real name until a few years after the Titans were formed when they encountered the Doom Patrol and the Brotherhood of Evil.
"Sure we know him. Not sure who Cyborg and Starfire are." Artemis replied. "So we got two Robins?"
"Unless we're not from the same universe." Raven stated.
"And will find out more now we nearly have everyone." Extor said. "It will be quite fascinating to know more about these worlds you came from."
Meanwhile up in the stands, the three Elementals were showing their Pearls the arena. After a few days the Pearls had finally emerged from their gemstones and found themselves a little out of place. The kids introduced Ice and Candy Pearl to Monty and Jennifer the two decided to allow the Pearls to stay with their respective Elementals but first they needed a new name to better tell them apart. The Pearls were confused as they had no need for other names since they could easily tell each other apart but it was insisted since being given an Earth name would be so much easier for them.
"So this is a sparring chamber for Earth's warriors?" Ice Pearl asked her Elemental who nodded.
"Not just any warriors, Elsa. This is for the greatest of Earth's heroes." Nigel answered, having chosen to name his Pearl Elsa, after one of his past lives and the former Queen of Arendelle. The name seemed to suit her and she had no issues with it since it was given to her by her Elemental.
Although Abby had been against having a servant in the beginning she knew that her Pearl was only doing what she had been made to do and after sorting through her feelings back in the Special Zone she decided to see if she could help her Pearl become a little more than just a servant. First step was giving her a name like Nigel had done.
Though when she had a little trouble picking out a name Nigel came up with one that just flashed out of nowhere in his mind: Anna.
After thinking it over Abby thought it fit and agreed. As for her Candy Pearl she had no issue with the name as long as her Elemental liked it which would be another issue to work on for another day. Right now she was just looking forward to some relaxation after a few long couple of days. As for Ed, he was holding Nester in his arms, sitting next to Slime Pearl who he had yet to give a name to.
At least not a good name.
Of course they would have to wait as Superboy and Doyle faced each other down in the arena with Capital G deciding to be the referee.
"All right. This will be a good clean match. Limited use of weapons is allowed but if I suspect one of you is in mortal danger I will end the match." Capital G stated.
"No need to worry." Doyle had removed most of his weapons except for his jetpack. "No missiles or bombs on me. Just the basics."
Connor clenched his fists as the arena activated. Everyone watched as the arena shifted, the floor opening and instead of a single circular chamber it was now a forest with tall grassy fields, the ruins of a single city, complete with shattered windows and rubble along the pavement and a small river with a hot spring and some Dust crystal growths.
"Nice set up." Keanu remarked, watching from the audience with everyone.
"I'll say. All of its real?" Artemis asked. "How do you keep something like this up and running?" They didn't have training areas like this in Mount Justice or even in the Watchtower.
"I imagine the Hall of Heroes has a dozen backup generators for something like this. The importance of this is to make the fight as real as possible while adding multiple terrains, forcing the combatants to adapt to each new environment in a short amount of time. This includes not just surroundings but even the weather and the gravity." Extor surmised. "It is not just about those, it's about adaptability and taking into of every detail of your surroundings in the midst of fighting. You are expected to hunt for Grimm in such places so you have to learn to take everything into account."
"It's not just that. Training areas like this can be used to enhance the body's strength, thanks to the nifty Gravity Dust." Keanu said before quieting down as the fight started.
(Don't Stay by Linkin Park Starts)
"Begin!" Capital G announced.
Or at least it should have started but Doyle stepped back, vanishing into the tall green grass. Narrowing his eyes Superboy realized that the Doyle planned on using the surroundings against him. Launching himself forward Superboy slammed a fist into the ground, creating an explosion of dirt and a shockwave that tore through the tall grass. However when the cloud cleared the grass was gone and so was Doyle.
His super senses screamed at him and he looked up, spotting Doyle who was flying down with his jetpack, slamming into Superboy with both feet, knocking him face first into the ground. Using the young hero as a spring board Doyle kicked off of Superboy, landing perfectly on the ground a few feet away. Growling Superboy spun around, charging at Doyle and launched over a dozen punches. Doyle stepped back, dodging each punch and noticed his Aura flaring from even a glancing blow.
Best not to get hit.
Ducking under one punch, Doyle put one hand to the ground and use it hold himself up as he delivered a kick Superboy's chest. The clone staggered back and Doyle shot forward with his jetpack, slamming into Connor and both flew into the hot spring area where Doyle dropped Connor over a small geyser. As soon as he landed on the geyser it exploded, causing Superboy to cry out in pain but he stepped up, disorientated but was otherwise unharmed. Growling a bit more he looked up at the aerial Doyle and jumped up, shooting up like a rocket as he tried to grab his opponent.
Doyle twisted and spun out of the way, delivering a spinning kick that sent Superboy flying back down with a loud thud but this time he managed to land on his feet.
"Connor's allowing his temper to get the better of him again." North observed as the fight continued. "He needs to rein his emotions in better or he'll get sloppy. Perhaps I should try and teach him a bit of meditation when this is over."
"Perhaps but Doyle is still in his element either way. He's a specialist when it comes to aerial combat which he picked up from training with me and my parents." Erika pointed out. "And he's smart enough to see Connor's strength and avoid it."
Artemis was quiet as she observed the match, seeing Connor was having as much trouble against Doyle as he did in spars against Black Canary. Superboy got up after having missed Doyle again and saw that he was in the ruined city area.
Looking around he suddenly got a crazy idea…
POW!
POW!
POW!
With absolutely no restraint Connor started punching his way through the buildings, causing them to collapse, leaving behind piles of rubble that kicked up clouds of dust into the air. He didn't stop there as he even started pounding at the ground itself, sending dust and rubble flying everywhere.
"What's he doing?" Wally asked.
"What's that Plank?" Jonny whispered to his wooden 'friend'. "He's trying to trick Mr. Doyle."
"A brilliant move on Mr. Connor's part." Extor mused. "He can't catch Mr. Doyle if he sees him coming so he's trying to use the environment to his advantage like Mr. Doyle did."
"Slick move." Rino smirked.
"Does anyone even say 'slick' anymore?" Raven muttered before focusing back on the fight.
Doyle flew above the dust cloud covering the area, smirking confidently. "Nice try kid but I'm not as dim as you think. All I have to do is remain of the cloud where I can see every angle of where you might pop out of."
A dark figure shot out and Doyle spun out of the way, seeing that it was not Superboy but a large rock. Looking back down Doyle spotted several more rocks flying up and hastily avoided them.
'So that's his plan! He's using the dust as cover to try and hit me with anything he's got.' Doyle dodged another incoming rock. 'Clever. But once the dust cloud clears he's-'
CLAP!
There was a clapping sound and followed by that was shockwave that blasted the dust cloud right at Doyle who covered his face. The invisible shields around the arena protected the audience from being hit by the cloud but it gave Superboy all the time he needed. Launching up from the ground Superboy shot up, grabbing onto Doyle and both fell to the ground, skidding into the forest area again. Superboy grabbed Doyle's jetpack, ripping it off and throwing it away.
Just Doyle got back up Superboy delivered a powerful but also light punch that sent him flying back.
"So that was his plan all along." Scotty chuckled. "He distracted Doyle long enough until he was right under him and then used the dust cloud to blind him with that mighty clap."
"Maybe he's not as temperamental as you were afraid, North. He pulled his punch considerably." Ross mused. "Even with Aura protecting him, Connor's punches are not something I'd run the risk of feeling."
"Perhaps so, Ross." North nodded.
Artemis managed a small smile seeing Superboy turn the tables on his opponent. Looks like all those sparring sessions with Black Canary were paying off.
(Don't Stay by Linkin Park Ends)
Xxx
"So this is how it ends: on a cold checkered floor, by a pile of soiled linens, wearing an eyepatch." Star muttered, lying on the floor of the laundry room, moping. She looked at a poster on the wall. "Embrace a princess mentality, wash away your individuality"!?" She gasped in horror and then got angry. "Embrace this!"
Star smacked the poster with a broom, before giving up and crying. Seeing Star sob, Pony Head began to rake the poster with her horn while laughing. In the process, the makeup disappeared and her hair and personality returned to her former self.
Star looked at her happy to see her back.
"Heh heh heh, heh heh heh ha ha! Oh, yeah! That feels so good! Waoo! Ahhahaha. HAHA!"
"Pony Head? You're back!" Star cried and happily hugged Pony Head.
"Oh, you know it! Now let's go destroy something else! I don't even care what it is."
"Waaaaaaahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaa!" Both girls heard Marco scream.
"Oh, hold up. I'd recognize that girly scream anywhere. That's Earth Turd!" Pony Head said, easily recognizing Marco's voice.
"Yep, Heinous got him..." Star trailed off.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Isn't he your best bestie?"
"Yeah!"
"On Earth. I'm still your best bestie overall, right?"
"Come on!" Star grabbed Pony Head and ran out of the room.
"Waaaaaaahaaaaahhh! GYAAA!"
"Open that vent!"
Pony Head's horn spun like a drill and Star used her to open the vent before crawling in.
"AOOHOHO-No-no-no-no-no!..."
"Keep screamin', Marco!" Star muttered.
"Proper throne posture..." Marco spoke in a girly voice before letting out a disgusted yell.
"Yes, we are extinguishing that rebellious spirit." Heinous spoke.
Star kept crawling through the vent. She stopped when she saw Marco being brainwashed and screaming.
"Eyaaahaaa! Make it stop! Ahhhhahahaha! Ohhhoahaa!"
Star blasted off the vent cover with her wand, then jumped out. "I'm blastin' our way outta here, Marco, ya cool with that?!"
"Where did she get that wand?!" Heinous shouted.
Star turned the hat into a giant butterfly that bursts through the safety glass, then she released Marco. "Gotcha, Marco, now let's get the heck outta here!"
"Are they gonna let me keep the dress?..." Marco asked wearily.
The butterfly flew closer to Ms. Heinous. "No, shoo shoo shoo shoo shoo, go away! Ah!" Clovers began to appear on Ms. Heinous' cheeks as she tried to bat the butterfly away.
"Your cheeks!" Gemini shouted.
"No, no, stop it, stop it! You saw nothing!" Ms. Heinous jumped into the chair and held her eyelids open. "A princess always maintains her poise."
Xxx
Marco was being held up by Star and Pony Head, and they were running through the halls. "I'm glad you're back to normal, by the way."
"Aw, you too! Now I can make fun of your ugly dress!" Pony Head laughed.
"Star! Marco!"
The three looked up ahead, watching as Dipper ran up to them, followed by Mabel and Double D.
"Aw I get to make fun of two Earth Turds in an ugly dress!" Pony Head laughed even louder.
"Ugly? Girl, you trippin." Mabel wrapped one arm around her brother. "My brother's dress is stunning and brings out the princess in him."
"Can I please be changed back now?" Dipper asked politely but with a tint of desperation in his voice.
"We destroyed the crystal so we can portal out." Double D suggested.
"Right!" Star held up her dimensional scissors and a second later they were gone.
Xxx
"If your elbows are on the table, you belong in a stable. Ah, there. All better."
Ms. Heinous picked up Marco's bobby pin. She picked a book called 'Black Metallurgy and Ores of the Multiverse' off of the shelf. She dropped the bobby pin into a boiling test tube, the liquid in which turned green, meaning that it originated from the Earth dimension.
"Hmm, I will find the rebel-rousers responsible for this and annihilate them! Annihilate.. that's the verb I've been looking for!"
Xxx
With Doyle thrown across the ground, slowly getting up and grunted after taking the heavy punch but luckily his Aura took the blow. Fortunately he decided to avoid using his weapon to show after testing his theory of the young hero's strength.
"Gotta admit, kid, for someone who has no aura you sure pack a punch." The bounty hunter said, giving him a compliment as he got on his feet.
Superboy nodded but kept his guard up for whatever trick he may pull. "Thanks, but what's with the smirk on your face?" The Kryptonian asked, noticing his grin.
"Because, just because I said about not using my weapon for this round to make it fair, I didn't say anything about pulling a trick when up against someone who was trained by Vikings."
Before the Kryptonian clone could respond to what he was on about until it suddenly hit him when his enhanced hearing caught the sound of a roar and wings flapping. He turned his head to the side to see the Rumblehorn that flew out of the clouds and rammed straight into him, taking the hit with his arms crossed forward to block and was thrown across the room, landing into a rock and ended up buried in it. Stryker landed beside Doyle and looked towards the superhero.
Connor grunted and pushed a rock off him. "Ok, that I didn't see coming." Guessing he had to put some effort and remember it next time.
"Dragon!" Ed jumped from his seat in excitement to see another dragon.
"Wait, he's got a dragon!?" Abby was shocked and even her Pearl, Anna beside her was intrigued about it.
And she wasn't the only one as many were stunned to see this.
Wally almost spat out his drink when he saw the large dragon. "Whoa! I didn't think there were any dragons!"
This even caught Kevin by surprise to see a living dragon, not wanting to sound excited but now interested to see how this will turn out. In the meantime Raven's eyes widened at seeing a dragon and it stirred up…uncomfortable memories.
'Remember it's not…Malchior.' Raven blocked out the feelings that came from the mention of that…dragon's name.
Needless to say Raven has not had a very high opinion of dragons since then. However as she looked on Stryker and Doyle, her empathic abilities told her that this dragon was much different from Malchior. There was intelligence in its eyes but no malice, no deceit but there was a look of fierce protectiveness towards Doyle.
This was not like Malchior at all.
Connor got back up, staring at the dragon for a second before he settled into a fighting stance.
"Is this allowed?" Yara suddenly asked.
"What do you mean?" Erika asked.
"These sparring matches are supposed to be one on one but Doyle brought in Stryker. Doesn't that make it two on one?" Yara asked.
"Stryker is Doyle's partner and companion. He's always close by, even if Doyle is just in sparring match." Erika pointed out. "But I do get your point, Yara."
"Doyle has never been one to play by the rules, even in simple sparring matches." Ross stated. "It's likely he knew Stryker was close by."
"The same can be said for Moonlight." Erika muttered to herself, knowing her dragon partner would be close by as well even if she told her to wait outside.
Capital G seemed to get the idea as well as he landed between the combatants. "Doyle man, you know these matches are supposed to be one on one. Bringing your dragon in here like this is a fine way to get disqualified."
"I thought these fights were supposed to be as real as possible. Last I checked, most real fights don't go fair." Doyle retorted. "Stryker is just making this fight as real as possible."
"That's fine with me." Superboy spoke. "I know fights don't go fair so I'm not going to complain."
"You want to keep going?" Capital G nodded and sighed when Superboy nodded. "Fine but step out of line like that again and I'm calling the match."
The hero stepped back while Connor faced down Doyle and his dragon.
"You face a dragon before?" Yara glanced at Artemis.
"Not yet." The green archer shook her head. "I've seen a lot, including ghosts but this is new even for me."
"Stryker is a Rumblehorn dragon. They are very strong but they can temper that strength with how smart they can be. They can even detect disaster weeks in advance and are good at sneaking up on people. No surprise he's partnered himself with Doyle." Erika crossed her arms. "Good stealth, tracking and is dangerous to fight head on."
"Artemis, you want to step in?" Ross asked the blond archer. "You can step in now if you want it to make things even."
"I think I'll sit back on this one." Artemis replied. "Connor thinks he has this under control so I'll let him do this himself."
Stryker roared and shot forward, slamming into Superboy who held his arms out to catch the dragon by the horns. He skidded back, crashing into several trees before managing to himself and the dragon back. Stryker opened a mouth and released a fiery blast that sent Connor flying out of the ring. The Human-Krypton hybrid grunted as he hit the ground and looked to see his shirt was scorched and burning.
Again.
"You know if you have a policy on the clothes here I need to know." Connor muttered as he stood up. "Because I keep running out of shirts."
Doyle chuckled as Stryker landed in front of the young annoyed hero. "I know a few guys."
"Connor Kent has fallen out of the ring." Capital G stated. "Winner is Doyle."
The first match was over and though he technically lost Connor wasn't upset about it. If anything he was just glad to see he was getting better and hoped he could find some fire proof clothing.