Challenges

[Celadon's Penultimate]

 Power Level: Teen Titans (Cartoon Network version). Powerful, but still with some work to do. Sound good? Or, is that too vague?

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

That's okay with me.

[Zaleramancer]

I'm willing to use the character I made for the Amalgam RP.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

I got a few I think I could use.

I'm not picking battleground, I got to do that with Phi.

[Zaleramancer]

Large Abandoned Modern City?

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

Sure.

[Celadon's Penultimate]

 Sounds good to me.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

Rain was enjoyable. A thick enough cloud, and it basically meant early sunset. Though it was still 10 minutes away Ugly Artie felt that now was the time to wake up.

The stone of his skin gradually slaked, softened, turning from it's cold gray to chalk white. He did his nightly stretches, beating his wings, rubbing the sleep out of his sinewy arms, his legs, and his tail.

A little glow appear in his eye. "Good night Artie." came a small voice.

"Good night Ray." he replied.

He looked out over the ruined city from his perch in front of what looked like a municipal building.

[Zaleramancer]

Sizzle.

Devi frowned, her expression as serious as it was possible for her cherry red face to get. This was a serious matter- something of grave importance.

How many ways could she could cook pigeon.

There were not precisely many sources of protein in an abandoned city. Cats were way to much trouble. Never stayed dead long. Dogs were far to ropey. And let's not even get into the elephants.

So, it comes back to pigeon.

Now, she crouched over a fire in a blasted look apartment, rotating a plucked pigeon over what looked like a bathtub filled with fire.

Devi sniffed the pigeon and sighed.

No, this wouldn't do. She needed a side dish.

Placing the pigeon down near what looked like a toasted bed, she bounced upwards clacking her sharp teeth together.

Time for a little shopping. The demonic girl bounded over to a pile of clothing. From it she pulled a pair of loose fitting, tight waisted pants and a sleeveless shirt.

Both were, from her personal experience, fire proof.

Well, except for the sleeves.

But they were no longer a problem.

As personal ritual dictated, she examined her personal appearance in her mirror. It was a hand held, plastic thing made for small girls.

But a mirror was a mirror.

She liked to think that her red-skinned features were perky and pixie-like, that her goat-like horns added an element of exotic mystery to her countenance, and that her inky hair cascaded from her head like a raven-winged waterfall.

No one had dared to contradict her.

Or at least not been reduced to a crispy pile of ashes afterwards.

Enough time spent on this silly nonsense. Time to eat.

She bounced out of the window and started climbing down the fire-escape.

[Celadon's Penultimate]

BAMF!

Two prim black shoes made stumbling footfall on the wet concrete. Amara Styx brushed the dirt off her red dress, brushed aside her stark white bang, and tossed raven-black hair over her shoulder. She heard a few raindrops pitter-pat on the shoulder of her dress, and without looking up, telekinetic power spread as an umbrella-dome over her head.

Looking down at her teleportation device, Amara turned a dial, setting it to 'Danger Only'. She gave a resigned sigh, on realizing that neither Bugsy nor Troy were anywhere to be seen. This had to be the third time this month that her sweaty hands had cause her to put in the wrong teleportation destination. These coordinates were for planet Aarth-90X2, not Earth-90X2...she'd have to see Techne later about this stupid QWERTY keyboard setup.

Though, for now, she figured she might as well check out her surroundings. She and the boys were just off on a routine recon anyhow. If they needed her, she was sure they'd call.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

The beating of wings assaulted Amara's eardrums, and with a creaks of metal something landed on a nearby streetlight, old and in disuse.

It was about the size of a large chimpanzee, hairless, naked, it's skin leathery and mottled grey and covering sinewy muscle. It's wings were the size of it's body, and crisscrossed with veins. A long, dexterous tail hung down from the streetlight, and the tips of it's fingers and toes glistened with pale claws.

The worst, however, was it's face. The long, bat like ears, the mouth full of mismatched teeth, and the small, nubbish horns on it's skull game the creature a face truly only a mother could love. It perched on the streetlamp, stood, struck some sort of fashion model pose, and screeched into the night.

"WREAAAAAAAAYAA!!"

It's left eye lit up, softly, and a timid little voice wrung out.

"Ugly Artie would like to welcome you to his territory, and extends his hospitality."

The creature shifted pose, mimicking bodybuilders.

"RYAAAAAAAAAAAA!!"

"Ugly Artie would like to inform you that it is customary for those accepting Ugly Artie's hospitality to pay a toll to him, Ugly Artie."

The pose shifted again, the creature covering the bottom of it's face with a wing as though he were the phantom of the opera and pointing down at Amara.

"GRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!"

"Ugly Artie would also like to inform you that those unwilling to pay this token sentiment of goodwill have had it taken out their ass, by him, Ugly Artie."

[Celadon's Penultimate]

Amara blinked; calling out to the voice, she responded, putting both hands on her hips and growing defiant, "Hm. So you speak for that thing, huh? Well, tell Ugly Artie that I say, he can go eat dirt and die. This butt hasn't been kicked in a good long while, and I'd rather like to keep it that way, thanks very much. And from the looks of that face, he's been getting his share of beatings, too..."

The young girl's irises glowed deep, fierce red, the same red as the aura that now surrounded her head to toe. With minimal effort, she lifted up slow, until she hovered a foot off the ground.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

"Hooooo, you wouldn't believe it sister." The gargoyle says, dropping his pose.

"Artie! Presentation!" the light blinked.

"Come on buddy, look at those eyes. We ain't intimidating this one,  especially not with that. I told you the posing put it over the top."

"The poses are great!" the light says angrily. "It's not my fault you can't screech to save you life. What was that first one even?"

"Fair point, Ray." Ugly Artie says, considerately nodding his head. "As for you," he says, pointing back at the girl. "I've had my butt kicked by demons, werewolves, ghosts, fairies, vampires, and other gargoyles. But I don't think I've ever had the pleasure of having it kicked by a human, even the ones who float. And seeing how Ray did use the 'take it out of your ass' line-"

"It's a good line!"

-"now I have to beat you down, or take a hit to my respect."

He crouched and launched himself with startling agility, bringing his leg down in a overhead kick.

[Zaleramancer]

Devi scaled down the fire escape and began looking for something edible. Perhaps mongoose. Mongoose was tasty.

She whistled jauntily as she turned around the corner.. to see a gargoyle drop-kicking a floaty-glowy girl.

Awww.

No point in even considering them. Gargoyle tasted like concrete and eating humans was just too.. off putting.

But she'd always enjoyed a good fight.

Glancing around the empty street, she caught sight of a stop sign still anchored into the ground.

With a happy hum, Devi hopped over to it and held up a hand.

An arc of white-yellow fire danced from index finger to thumb as she began heating the sign near the bottom.

A few seconds later, a sharp twist and a bit of leaning, a few twisted shrieks of metal giving way..

Now.

Previous experience had taught her that people who glowed and floated were never good news.

"BONZAI!"

She pirouetted into the fight, stop sign swinging towards the glowy-girl.

[Celadon's Penultimate]

This creep couldn't possibly be serious. She'd have to tell the guys about him, when she got back to base.

"Welp..." Amara quipped, extending her hands like a maestro on the verge of directing an orchestra, "Looks like you're about to add 'human' to your repertoire of species that can kick your butt."

Without another moment's hesitation, she reared back her hands, over her head, and her telekinetic umbrella expanded outward into a bouncy telekinetic bubble.

[Zaleramancer]

And was promptly send bouncing backwards by some sort of invisible bubble.

Stupid lousy floating people.

She frowned.

Welp, time to set her on fire then.

Hefting the stop sign in one hand, she held up the other and allowed a coiling blast of heat, smoke and fire to explode outwards towards the glowing girl.

It smelled faintly of burning pinewood.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

He bounced off, like off some sort of bubble. He flipped in the air and landed in a crouch in front of her. He reared back and- wait, was that smoke?

He felt the heat coming before the fire reached him. "RAY!" he called.

Ray did as commanded, dispersing from the gargoyles eye socket and filling his body with light, light the same wavelength as the sun. Instantly his body hardened into a grey stone.

[Celadon's Penultimate]

The young telekinetic groaned. Why did people from other planets never just smile, wave, and offer you to stay for dinner? And that one time they did, it was a ploy to enslave her and other kid heroes for some weird child army.

Her life.

Amara sighed at the thought, and brought down her telekinetic bubble, reaching that psychic power into the ground instead. A minivan-sized slab of concrete peeled up like a flimsy wooden floor board, and received the fiery attack with a fiery burst. Then, it peeled back further, snapped free of the ground like part of a candy bar, and went sailing through the air toward the demonic girl.

The gargoyle would receive a quick telekinetic bolt to the gut.

[Zaleramancer]

Devi braced the stop sign in front of her bu- Oofh.

She flew backwards into a dumpster.

Why is the air made of vermillion pixies?

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

Artie's stone skin fended off the psychic blow.

He resumed his origin form in time to see the girl slam some other girl into the trash.

"We gonna ask a toll from her, too?" He asked.

"Shut up and go." the Lumen said in his head.

"Alright. SHINING RAY!" he shouted, lunging forward. Ray obeyed instantly, the gargoyles right hand transforming into stone for the Lumen's inner light..