Chapter 25 Big Triggy

What started out as a sparkle grew into an enormous light, strong enough to blind yet beautiful enough to draw in. Raven poured all of her positive emotions into this light, this power that was hers and only hers. The light, which now took on the form of a raven, shot towards her double. The tentacles it touched turned whiter than snow, and the color crept towards the body of the beast. Said beast's face morphed into a look of panic; it even let out pained shrieks as the light overtook it. Regardless, Raven still pushed forward. She let every positive feeling under the sun guide her power.

Soon enough, the beast retreated. It let go of Raven's arms and crept back into Raven's gem, leaving no sign that it had even been present in the first place. As for Raven herself…she looked weak. Her eyes remained shut, and her body looked like it was going to crumple like a piece of paper. She fell to the ground, hitting it with a clunk. Raven could barely tell if she was breathing.

"Raven?" Raven flew over to her unconscious doppelganger. Worry overtook her; was it too much? Had her power actually harmed her double as opposed to just helping her? She knelt before Raven's body, worry transitioning into fear faster than she knew how to deal with. She was just about to pick Raven up…

When she got pushed back. It happened so suddenly that Raven honestly had the air knocked out of her. She stood up, disoriented and confused, and looked at her double. What met her eyes was a sight that made her heart skip a beat. She gasped as she saw a holographic hand, bigger than a pickup truck, tightly grip the shadowy sorceress. The hand, transparent and blue, nonetheless had details that Raven recognized. The band around the wrist. The claws; long and sharp enough to stab someone in the heart.

Raven shook. This was a dream, right? This had to be a dream; a nightmare of some sort. That would make the most sense. After all, the hand belonged to a being that she had defeated, a being that was dead and lost to the world. The fact that he was back…

Raven backed up. She readied her powers; she was going to fight back against this monster. She had done it once, so nothing was stopping her from doing it again. She could prepare her purification power; sure, doing it twice in a row was more than likely going to exhaust her. But if it meant fighting back against this monster, this demon, then it would be worth it. The fate of the world meant more to her than her physical well being.

So, she outstretched her hands. The black aura surrounded them, but that wasn't the main power she was going to use to attack. She took a deep breath, mentally preparing herself for the return of the white raven.

"Azarath…Metrion…"

Unfortunately, before she could say the word "Zinthos," another hand shot up from the ground. In a swift, painful motion, it grabbed hold of Raven. She struggled against it, desperate to escape.

But there was no escape this time…

…

"RAVEN!" Beast Boy screamed. He had already been concerned for her when she had transformed into her demon form, but now? Now, seeing her in the grasp of this mysterious, scary looking hand made his blood run cold. He had to get to her! He didn't know who the hand belonged to or what the owner planned on doing to the two Ravens, but instinct told him it would not be good. After all, when was the last time a mysterious, scary, evil looking hand indicated that good things were on the way?

"That thing has my Rae rae!" He put on a bold face. "Don't worry Mama; is is gonna save you!" He transformed into a tiger and scratched against the front of his cage. When that didn't work, he transformed into a bull and rammed his head against it. Still, that produced no results. He then transformed into an elephant. Yeah, an elephant. Elephants were the largest animals to walk on land; surely, transforming into one would break the cage surrounding him!

Unfortunately, no such thing happened. All that Beast Boy experienced while he was in his elephant form was a claustrophobic feeling as all sides of his body pressed against the crystalline walls. He grunted in frustration as he morphed back into a human. "Darn it! Ding dang darn it!"

By his side, he could here Robin yell out the words "Cyborg, NOW!" In a swift time interval, Cyborg extended his arm and let a high pitch, screeching ring carry throughout the arena. Beast Boy heard a crack, signifying that the crystal cages holding the serious Titans shattered. He watched in awe as they jumped out and landed on the floor.

"Woah!" Robin said. He turned toward his own Cyborg. "Cyborg, any idea how….the other you managed to do that?"

"I think he put his glackale neek in his borrtho morg and tradbicased it!" Starfire pointed out. Honestly, that explanation left Beast Boy more confused than anything else. He turned toward Cyborg, wondering if his best friend was able to glean anything from that message delivered in Tamaranian.

"Those all sound like words!" Cyborg proclaimed. He made two sets of speakers emerge from his shoulders. "Let's give it a shot!"

With that, music played from the speakers. Starfire and Cyborg both danced to the (admittedly catchy) beat. Robin, however, just facepalmed. For once in his life, Beast Boy actually didn't blame him. They were in the throws of a dangerous situation, and all the others did was dance?

Honestly, Beast Boy didn't know why he was shocked; this display was a perfect showcase of his team's lackadaisical approach to all things serious.

So, with nothing else to do, Beast Boy watched the serious Titans. Robin pointed to the Master of Games, floating outside the forcefield. "GET HIM!" Without any other words, without any jokes or questions or even bats of the eye, Starfire, Beast Boy, and Cyborg joined Robin in jumping up on top of the Master of Games. They managed to get him out of his chair and onto the ground. Robin put his foot on his chest, pinning him to the floor. The others gave him aggravated looks; Starfire's eyes even glowed with the green light of Tamaranian energy.

"Okay," Robin said, leaning in closer to the Master. "What exactly is going on here?"

"And how do we cause it to cease?" Starfire asked, the determination in her voice to even impress Beast Boy.

Unfortunately, the Master of Games was far from impressed. "Ah well," he said, smirking as he did. "That was fun while it lasted." In the blink of an eye, he teleported into the forcefield enclosed arena. The serious Titans tried to go after him, but just like with what happened with Raven, the forcefield buzzed and didn't let them enter.

Then…the Master of Games laughed. His eyes glowed yellow as his arm transformed into a big, brawnier, redder appearance. Beast Boy gawked when he saw horns protrude from his head. He got goosebumps seeing the Master's body transform in a similar way to how his arm did, into a red, burly figure with goat hooves for feet. Seeing all this happen, it occurred to Beast Boy what the identity, the TRUE identity of the Master of Games was. He felt a lump form in his throat as he thought about it.

Please don't let it be true, he thought. PLEASE don't let it be true! I'll do anything you want me to universe, just PLEASE don't let the Master of Games be who I think it is! Unfortunately, the universe was ambivalent to Beast Boy's internal pleas. With one last laugh, the face of the Master of Games morphed into the form of a certain four eyed demon.

"Hi there!" he said in a deep, booming, singsong bass.

The eyes of all the conscious Titans grew wide. "TRIGON!?"

"That's right!" Trigon said, still sporting his singsong voice. He pointed at the serious Titans. "You mortals fell for the oldest trick there is; a ringed sporting event!"

NOW Beast Boy felt physically sick. His eyes darted back and forth between the Ravens and Trigon. Slowly but surely, he formed a hypothesis as to who the hands holding the Ravens belonged to. Said hypothesis only made him feel even sicker.

"Goofy Titans!" Robin shouted up at them. "Is that the Trigon from your universe?"

"Sure is!" Starfire said, wearing a smile that was honestly concerning consider what the situation was.

"Yeah, he's a total pain!" said Cyborg. "One time, he gave me a puppy for a hand! Which sounds awesome, but was actually…"

"Then…" Robin cut off Cyborg. He pointed toward the hands. "Could…that be…!?"

As if those were magic words, the hands started turning from holographic to solid. Beast Boy grew sicker and sicker as he watched them, turning a deep, deep red. Once they were completely filled in, four eyes opened up from beneath the floor. The entire stadium shook as the being…nay, the monster holding the Ravens rose from the floor. All the goofy Titans gawked as it rose, getting taller and taller. Soon, it overtook the entire arena. Or rather, he took up the entire arena.

"THE OTHER TRIGON!" everyone yelled.

"That's right!" Trigon exclaimed, the most sadistic form of joy present in his voice. "Isn't he just magnificent? Doesn't he make shivers run up and down your spine?"

Beast Boy almost threw up. "Why yes," he whispered. "Yes he does."

Cyborg, however, just laughed. "Maybe he would if he had both of his legs!" It was when he said that that Beast Boy noticed that Trigon's right leg hadn't fully formed. Trigon wobbled, as if he too just noticed this very strange fact.

"Little Trigon," Trigon said. His voice was so chilling, so deep, authoritative, and evil that it put Trigon's voice to shame. "What is the meaning of this?"

Trigon just waved his hand dismissively. "Oh, know need to worry. You just haven't absorbed enough of my daughter's demonic energy yet." He laughed as he looked at the Titans. "And you kiddos better fear the day that he does. When he is fully formed, Big Triggy and I are going to take over this entire multiverse!"

"Yes," Trigon said, his cadence causing everyone in the arena to quake. "I immensely look forward to that day."

Robin and the other Serious Titans, in a show of desperation, rammed against the force field again. When that didn't work, they kicked and hit it, doing their best to make the force field crack by any means necessary. "Raven!" Robin yelled.

"Don't worry, Ravens!" Beast Boy yelled. "We're all gonna rescue you!" He morphed into a T-rex and rammed his head against the field. Still, it didn't budge. Not even one crack formed in its surface.

Trigon laughed. "Aww! You serious Titans are adorable!" He held up his staff. For the first time, Beast Boy felt interested in it; it had a pink orb on it that glowed with a…paranormal light. "Well, your efforts mean nothing to me!" A beam shot out of the orb. He traced the perimeter of the stadium, and before everyone's eyes, the floor glowed pink as well. Trigon let out one more giggle as he waved at them. "Toodle Loo!" With that, both Trigons sunk into the ground. Beast Boy's heart rate spiked as he saw the Ravens go under with them.

"Raven!" he yelled. "No! No no no!"

Unfortunately, things would only prove to get worse instead of better. When the pink light cleared, a timer started in the middle of the arena floor. The entire stadium shook, causing everyone to tremble in fear.

"The stadium's gonna blow!" Robin yelled.

AN: I hope you guys are enjoying this so far. The arena fight has remained faithful to the original, but I promise there are going to be some much more significant deviations from here on out. Including the guest appearance of a certain reality bending character...