From the T-Ship, I survey the scene before me. A mesmerising aurora lights up the sky, illuminating Doctor Light and his machine, and one large, cerulean crystal shines under the stars. It is held in place by the mechanism the villain supposedly created, and he stands beside it proudly—and also vastly in the open.
"Brilliant, if I do say so myself," Doctor Light monologues, seemingly still unaware of our presence. "My dazzling creation will transfer the energy from the sky into my suit!"
The villain pushes a button on a nearby panel, and eight circles on the platform flicker alive with a vibrant yellow colour. The crystal turns green—as a result of the blue-yellow combination, more than likely—and rainbow light begins to stream from it. The energy flows through a transparent tube, connected to Doctor Light's suit.
"Soon, I'll have all the power of the Northern Lights at my fingertips! And up here at the Arctic Circle, no one will ever come to stop me!"
I chuckle at the irony, content that there's no way he can hear me, as the T-Ship speeds across the plain. Doctor Light's expression contorts to that of disappointment and surprise as he spots our vehicle, instantly recognising it.
The T-Ship comes to a stop and Robin's compartment opens, revealing him to our adversary. "Wanna bet?"
I hop out of the ship, and the others do the same. "The Teen Titans," Doctor Light sneers, glaring down at us. "Even you will be no match for my enhanced powers."
He throws something—I have no idea what—but Raven protects us with an energy shield. "Doctor Light, why do you even keep trying?" she asks, huffing.
"If at first you don't succeed..." The villain turns a knob and two more tubes appear above the crystal. They begin to pump more energy into the villain, and he grins down at us condescendingly.
"That can't be good," I grumble.
Raven's shield dissipates, leaving us all free to attack. I jump into the air and shoot pellets of water out of my skin, attempting to sever the energy connection. Doctor Light sees this, however, and blasts me back, breaking my own connection and sending me flying.
The three boys attack together, running up to Doctor Light. By holding out both his hands, however, he directs a large, yellow beam towards them that they're forced to avoid. I hold out my hand and the ice rises before them, suffering the majority of the blow in case they can't dodge in time.
I rise to attack once more, but before I'm even given the chance Doctor Light extends both hands. The yellow blast hits me square in the chest and my back hits the snow, which does little to soften the blow.
"Don't we normally beat his butt by now?" Beast Boy asks, poking his head out from a giant crater.
"And to think, I'm not even fully charged yet!" Doctor Light replies, still standing with the machine.
"I'm putting your machine out of order!" Robin throws two explosive discs, but the villain wields a rope made entirely of energy; it slices through the Boy Wonder's weapons and leaves them scattered on the ground.
"It looks like your weapon is the one that's out of order!"
Cyborg steps forward, hand on his sonic cannon. "Sound trumps light every time!" He fires the weapon and it hits the yellow circle in the very middle of the machine. It cracks and so does the crystal, but nothing seems to happen as a result.
"I devised the synthetic diamond myself!" Doctor Light states. "It's built to withstand a force a thousand times greater than you could ever give!"
We watch as the crystal continues to crack, slowly reaching its limit. Doctor Light doesn't see this, however, and continues to extract its power.
"Your machine can't take any more!" Robin tells the villain. I can't help but wonder why he would inform him of this.
It doesn't seem to matter, as Doctor Light doesn't listen. "Illuminating theory," he says, readying another blast, "but I have the definite advantage!" As he says this, the crystal explodes. It sets off a chain reaction, and the rest of the machine breaks down as well. "... Or not."
"Look out!" Robin shouts.
The ice beneath our feet begins to crack, and Raven holds a dome out to protect us all—presumably from the debris. My eyes turn a pale blue and I hold my hands out, slowly bringing the ice back together. The effort's not enough, combined with the act of keeping an eye on Doctor Light in case he tries something.
"The ice is gonna give!"
Raven's shield fades away as the ground gives way beneath Doctor Light. He glances at us nervously before letting out a scream as he falls down the forming glacier; the tube that was connected to his suit is stripped from him and the wires sizzle from the energy being emitted.
"Whoo!" Beast Boy says, breathing a sigh of relief. "That was close."
As he finishes this sentence, the cracks begin to edge towards us. They instantly appear underneath us, freezing for a moment. "You just had to say it," Raven mutters, and then we fall.
"Hey, watch where you're going!"
"I'm following you!"
I know I can't do anything in the way of pulling the glacier back together, much less without squishing us all in the process. I manage to pull a thick layer of snow in between where we're all about to fall, but it takes all my focus. The snow softens the blow, but when I hit it face first it feels like a brick wall.
"Everyone okay?"
I look up, spitting the snow out of my mouth. "What are we gonna do?"
"Well, can you do anything?" As Robin asks the question, I reach my hand into the snow and push through it. A river lies a few metres below, and I know falling into it is almost inevitable. "Ember?"
I let out a small noise as I look up. Robin peers down where I was looking and his eyes widen ever so slightly. "Um, no. Not without crushing us to death."
"Well, I don't think we've got any other options right about now," Cyborg replies gloomily, "other than going for a swim."
I stand up, brushing the snow off my shoulders. "I can freeze the river over?" It comes out more of a question than a statement. Raven nods at me and I add, "Grab on to something."
I wait a few seconds before finally dropping the layer of snow. With laser focus, I hold my hands out and blue energy hits the river, instantly creating a thick layer of ice. I land on my feet this time, the energy from the soles of my shoes slowing me slightly before I land, but the others aren't so lucky.
"Where are we?" Starfire questions, pinning a strand of hair behind her ear.
I'm in awe at the sheer beauty of our natural surroundings—it's not quite enough to take away my confusion at how it's possible, though. My jaw drops to my feet when none other than dinosaurs storm onto the scene, and Beast Boy taps Cyborg on the head from his shoulders.
"When are we?"
Cyborg looks down at his forearm panel and frowns. "We're not in the Stone Age. It's still present day."
"And we've still got to find Doctor Light," Robin adds. He walks over to the grass and begins to discard his jacket, leaving it on the ground. Cyborg, Raven, and Beast Boy do the same thing, leaving a large pile of clothes.
"Which direction?"
"He was standing across from us when the ice gave way," Cyborg voices. After looking around, he takes off in a certain direction, leaving us to follow. "He should have landed somewhere over—" The robotic male parts the bush in front of him, gulping. "Oh, boy."
Several dinosaurs turn toward us at the sound of the rustling bushes. Two or three turns into an entire mob, and they stare down at us hungrily, licking their chops.
"Beast Boy, perhaps you can communicate with them," Starfire suggests.
"Yeah," I add nervously, "I don't plan on being a prehistoric creature's dinner." I take a cautious step back—I don't want to alert the animals to any sudden movements.
"Uh..." Beast Boy crawls in between our legs and I stop moving as he gets to the front of our formation. "... nice dinos?"
The dinosaurs roar back before resigning themselves to a soft growl once more. "Hey, genius, I think she means try it in their language."
Beast Boy nods before taking Raven's advice and walking forward. He turns into a dinosaur—the same kind as the ones in front of us—and begins to converse with one of them. Eventually, he turns back into a human and walks towards us rather dejectedly.
"What did they say?" Robin questions, suspicion etched onto his face.
"Well, they want to eat us."
"Great," I grumble. "Just great."
Starfire gasps and the ground begins to quake as the dinosaurs rush after us. Instead of running, however, my hands pool with searing fire and I throw a few fireballs at the dinosaurs' open mouthes. They snarl and charge at me, but I jump up at the last minute and land on one's back, fiery skin setting it alight.
"All right!" I look over to see Cyborg trembling, the confidence in his voice now void. Several dinosaurs line up against him and he walks back slowly, trying not to aggravate them more than he needs to. "Not all right!"
Starfire flies over him and shoots starbolts, obscuring my view. I throw in some fireballs and the animalistic screeches coming from the general of the dinosaurs indicate that I've struck my targets.
"Ugh!" Starfire whines. I look up to see her covered in dinosaur saliva, and she continues, "Enough with the spitting, please!"I fill my hand with warm water and land next to Starfire, rinsing her with water. "Thank you," she says, addressing the animals as she repeats, "but please stop!"
The other Titans join Starfire and I and we back away from the dinosaurs, who clearly have us outnumbered and outgunned. From above, a man swings down, holding a tiny girl with pink hair in his grip. He holds her by the hands like a sword and I stare up in confusion.
"What is he doing?" the alien princess beside me asks.
"It's okay. He's not gonna hurt me," the girl says. To my utter surprise—though I suppose it shouldn't surprise me by now—the girl's body begins to crystallise, and as one of the dinosaurs bites at her, its teeth fall to the ground and she remains unscathed.
The large man uses her crystallised form as a weapon, striking the dinosaurs one after one. They keep coming until only around four remain, and they speed away before they get hit. The man turns to us and the girl jumps out of his grip, reverting her skin.
"Now that's what I call teamwork," Robin applauds, grinning and stepping forward.
"Gnarrk and I go way back," the girl explains, smiling happily as a result of the compliment, no doubt. "I'm Kole."
"We're the Teen Titans," the Boy Wonder states as an introduction. "I'm Robin. That's Raven, Starfire, Ember, Beast Boy, and Cyborg." As he says my name and gestures to me, I smile and wave.
Cyborg pushes through all of us. "Nice to meet you, Narrk."
"It's Gnarrk," Kole corrects.
"Gnarrk," Cyborg repeats. "Caveman, huh? Nice to meet you." The Titan's hand changes from his sonic cannon to his metal hand, but this freaks Gnarrk out. He groans and jumps back, sitting above us on a thick branch or log.
"It's okay. Calm down," Kole reassures. She turns to us when he doesn't come down, a guilty look on her face. "Sorry. Gnarrk's not so good with people from the upper world."
"Don't worry about it," I tell her.
"Neither is Raven," Beast Boy jests, looking back at the cloaked girl. Her eyes flare white in warning and Beast Boy's mischievous grin fades instantly, replaced by a look of fear. Starfire laughs and Robin steps forward to Kole.
"Thanks for helping us out."
"No problem," she says. "What brings you down here?"
"Uh, gravity," Beast Boy jokes once more.
Raven narrows her eyes at the back of his head before looking at Kole. "We fell in after Doctor Light," she amends.
"Have you seen him?" the shapeshifter questions. "Skinny guy, glows, big light bulb on his chest?"
Kole tilts her head. "Mmm, I think I would've remembered that."
"Well, nice to meet you, but we'd better be going," Robin says. "We've got a criminal to catch."
"We can help," Kole offers, "but do you have time for dinner first? Just picked a lovely bunch of cocopolinos."
I blink away my confusion, jutting my head forward. "I'm sorry, cocopolinos?"
"I'm sorry." I'm immediately grabbed by the shoulders, and Cyborg turns me away from the group. "Ember, the girl said 'dinner'," he presses, staring right through me.
I shrug, removing myself from the mechanic male's grip. "I never declined the offer, Cy," I say. "I'm just curious, s'all."
"It would be rude of us not to partake in the bounty of this land," Starfire states.
"As long as it's vegetarian, I'm in."
"You got enough for six more?" Robin asks.
"We've got plenty to go around," Kole replies. She turns to the left and begins to walk off. Gnarrk finally jumps back down and follows her as she calls behind to us, "Come."
~~~
Gnarrk pushes through a set of bushes in front of us, revealing a well-constructed treehouse. I nod my head softly, impressed with the level of detail applied to Gnarrk and Kole's home.
"Welcome to our home!" the pink-haired girl chirps. She runs in front of us before turning around, gesturing to a wooden table with wooden stumps as chairs.
"Here's the living room. Upstairs are the bedrooms..." Gnarrk jumps up to the area secluded by the tree. Each bedroom has a wall made of bamboo to separate it from the other and outside—there's only two, as expected, since I don't think they'd be expecting visitors—and a door made of bark.
Cyborg's stomach growls and he stares down at it dismally. Kole takes notice of this and moves on with haste. "And over there's the kitchen." She points towards a wooden hut with a roof created from various flora, and begins to walk towards it. "Dinner'll be ready in just a minute."
Gnarrk walks in behind the girl and she jumps into his arms, turning into a crystal. The caveman aimlessly waves Kole around and several coconut-like foods fall from a tree built into the kitchen.
"Want any help?" I question, Starfire and Raven either side of me. "I can pull some more of... those, out."
Gnarrk brings Kole down on one of the fruits, slicing it in two. She reverts her form and smiles at the three of us. "Nope. We've got everything under control here."
"You got any lights?" Cyborg asks from behind. I turn around to find the three boys already seated at the table.
"Sorry," Kole says, sitting up. "We're pretty low-tech down here."
Cyborg pulls a bunch of nuts and volts out of his chest compartment and shoots Kole a reassuring smile. "It's okay. I got an extra battery, and a light bulb."
As the mechanic male sets to work illuminating the dining table, I turn back to Kole. "Okay, what can I do?" I flash the pink-haired girl a warm smile and she opens her mouth to reply, but I cut her off. "And please don't say that I don't have to help, because I want to, if you'll have me."
"You really don't have to, but if it's what you want, I guess I could use the extra hand." Kole shrugs and moves around the kitchen gracefully and I watch on for a few more moments before stepping in. Instantly, I feel like I've invaded her home and space and contemplate leaving. I sigh and shake my head before stepping in.
"All right, what can I do?"
Kole turns to look at me. "Uh..." She glances around, eyes landing on the fruits she and Gnarrk picked from the tree. "You can cut those. Hold on, I'll give you something to—"
The hostess stops short when she looks up to me. As she spoke, I had pulled a sharp rock shaped like a kunai into my hand and covered it in ice. "This okay?"
Kole nods, and I walk forward to start preparing the food. Once I'm done, I haul the load onto a makeshift plate and hand it over to Kole, who walks out of the kitchen. Starfire and Raven had been busying themselves with other jobs, and they walk out when Kole and I do.
I look up, and there's no light. "Dinner by moonlight is just as nice," Cyborg hums. Gnarrk holds his hands over his head, cowering from the broken lightbulb. I gauge from Cyborg's cautious approach, Gnarrk's reaction, and the way in which the glass is broken and scattered that the caveman was the one to break it.
"It's okay, Gnarrk," Kole consoles, then to us: "Gnarrk has had bad experiences with the modern world. Technology scares him. That's why he stays down here and never goes to the top." She sets the plate down and I take a free seat next to Robin. "Dig in."
We all do just that, and soon chewing and hums of delight are the only sounds heard. I take my time, savouring the delicious food, and lean on the table with my chin resting against my crossed arms once I'm done.
"Mmm... delicious!"
"Seconds?" Cyborg asks.
Kole smiles. "Knock yourself out."
By this point, only two people are eating—Cyborg and Gnarrk. The other six of us watch them curiously. "Looks like we've got an eating contest," Beast Boy declares. "My money's on Cyborg!" This catches Robin and the others' attention and they turns his heads towards the shapeshifter, whilst I'm busy disguising a snort. "Well, if I had any money, it would be."
I turn my attention back to the two boys as they continue to eat. The contest lasts for what feels like an hour, and my eyelids begin to droop. I faintly register someone leaning close to me and think nothing of it, but I'm startled back to life when that someone burps loudly in my ear. I almost fall off my chair but Robin's well placed hand on my back keeps me upright.
"Cyborg!" I groan loudly, the exclamation muffled as I rub my eyes with my hands.
"Dudes and dudettes!" Beast Boy exclaims, as Gnarrk's dinner comes back up and he's forced to duck under the table to attend to it. "The new underworld eating champ!"
The shapeshifter holds Cyborg's hand up and Kole high fives him. "Wow! I've never seen anyone eat more than Gnarrk." This comment in particular seems to tick the caveman off, and he pushes back his chair before storming off. Kole stares after her friend, before announcing, "I've gotta go after him."
"I didn't mean to upset him. Maybe I should go with you," Cyborg offers, but Kole puts this idea to bed.
"No. I should go alone."
"And we really should be looking for Doctor Light." Robin's hand leaves my back as he stands up and I watch him intently.
"Go," Kole says. "Gnarrk and I'll catch up."
Kole runs off without hesitation, leaving the six of us by ourselves. I stand up, hands planted firmly on the table. "All right," I say, looking between my friends who are still seated. "Are we going or what?"
~~~
We're well on our way in the direction Cyborg predicts is the surface. Every now and then he looks down at his forearm, and every now and then we have to make detours due to dinosaurs or trees, but this time is different. Something seems to blind me and I cover my eyes, only to look and see a yellow display in the sky that could only be a result of one person—the person we're pursuing.
"Guys, look!" I exclaim, tapping Robin's hand and pointing at the lights.
"Doctor Light!" Raven states.
"It's coming from Kole's place!" Cyborg adds.
Robin doesn't need to issue the command, but he does anyway. "Titans! Go!" comes the shout, and we all rush towards Kole's abode.
Since we know where we're going and we have the light to guide us, it doesn't take all that long to reach the treehouse once more. I swear there's a slight shimmering in the air and skid to a stop before Gnarrk. I can't help but wonder where his female companion is.
"Where's Kole?" Robin asks, voicing my thought. With a grunt, Gnarrk points past the shimmering.
"Do not fear, Gnarrk," Starfire tells him. "We will help you rescue your friend."
Beast Boy turns into elephant form and strides towards the forcefield—I'm forced to assume that's what the shimmering is—with no sign of stopping. He tries to ram through the wall, but is thrown back through the air instead. I hold a hand out to catch the shapeshifter and lower him to the ground slowly.
"There's no way through Doctor Light's force field!" he exclaims.
"Then we'll have to find another way out of here," Robin replies, before turning to our new friend. "Gnarrk! Can you help us?" The caveman snorts affirmatively, and Robin nods in acceptance of this. "We've got to stop Doctor Light before he reaches the surface."
Cyborg's eyes widen in alarm. "His machine! With her powers, there's no telling what he can do."
"Then we better stop him," I drawl, "before it's too late."
~~~
Gnarrk spins through the air, jumping from branch to branch as if he were Tarzan. I follow him, allowing the vines to be drawn to my hand, almost magnetised to my touch. My five teammates venture closer to the ground—the boys run, with Raven and Starfire in the air.
"This is fun," I gasp, my words barely audible.
"We're almost there!" Robin shouts from below.
Starfire flies over him, and I look back to meet her gaze as she shouts, "Hurry!"
Gnarrk jumps onto a branch and turns around, stepping out of the way before I slam into him. He lets out a shout of his name and stares at the others, and I get the rough idea of what he's trying to convey: danger.
"Anyone know what he said?" the mechanic Titan asks.
Beast Boy gasps and my breath hitches as his leg gets stuck in the mud. Robin and Cyborg don't react quick enough, and they too begin to sink. "Tar pits!"
I'm already on my way to the three boys before Beast Boy's shout, but the two female Titans get there first. Starfire begins to pull Robin out but Beast Boy clings to her, dragging her down as well. Raven flies towards them, but Cyborg grabs her before she can make it and pulls her down with him.
Fully aware that I'm not strong enough to pull all five Titans out of the tar pit with my bare hands, I stop mid-air and choose instead to rely on my powers. My eyes turn brown and I extend my hands, letting out a sharp cry as the pit hollows out, revealing my friends inside. The mud seeps from their bodies as it recedes towards the edges of the tar pit, and they waste no time in stepping out.
Cyborg spits out murky water, creating a puddle next to him. I walk over to him and the cloaked girl and offer my hand to the latter, which she graciously accepts. "Aw, man, I got goo in my gears," the boy whines.
Once Raven's up, I walk over to Cyborg and move his hand, depleting his system of the foreign liquid. "Yeah, you're welcome."
"Let's go see if we can find Kole."
Robin jumps up—I hadn't had the time to check that he's okay, but his willingness to continue with the mission gives me a good idea—and runs in the direction of the Kole and Doctor Light. Instantly, I leave Cyborg to follow the Boy Wonder, and the rest of the team, as well as Gnarrk, joins us.
After a while, I resume my old routine of flying through the vines, finding it exhilarating. Robin, Cyborg, and Beast Boy run side by side, with Starfire and Raven once again flying behind the trio. Gnarrk still leads me through the forest, having presumably lived his entire life inside its confinements.
The six of us enter a tunnel of ice, and I let go of the last vine in the forest to fly through the air. "I can see the Northern Lights!" Starfire exclaims, pointing ahead.
And the alien princess is right. We exit the tunnel to meet several colours dancing in the sky, and if I didn't know better I would have deemed it beautiful. Of course, the light has to come from somewhere, and my gaze lowers to see Doctor Light's machine serving as the source for the light emission.
"There's Doctor Light!" Beast Boy exclaims, eyes wide as he points at the mechanism.
We all run towards it, and slowly the perpetrator for Kole's kidnapping is made visible. The ice cracks softly under us and I run at the back of the pack to make sure no true devastation is caused to Kole and Gnarrk's home. My eyes temporarily turn white as I seal the cracks that threaten the team.
Cyborg shoots his sonic cannon but Doctor Light's beam is stronger; it pushes the teen back with ease. Raven cleverly bypasses several shots fired at her, but the second she tries to block rather than dodge, she's thrown back as well.
Starfire's eyes flicker green and her fists ignite with green energy. I join her as my eyes and hands turn red with a searing flame, and we both charge. Doctor Light holds a hand out and grabs Starfire effortlessly as she tries to melee, holding her in place as he turns his attention towards me.
I dodge several blasts and fire some balls of fire, but Doctor Light deflects them with his own pools of yellow energy. He throws Starfire's hand in the air and shoots two different beams towards me, catching me between a rock and a hard place as the alien princess is thrown at me. When she hits me, our bodies sprawl and my legs are hit by the energy beam as I'm sent back.
Now on my stomach against the ice, I push myself up with my palms and look up, eyes widening at the sight. A large, yellow beam sweeps through the six of us, halting any potential attacks and forcing us to defend ourselves. I sink into the ice, thankfully going far enough down to be safe before coming back up.
I grit my teeth and my eyes flare blue, ice picks flying into my hands. I begin to charge, but a green rhinoceros slams into me from the side. A grunt of pain escapes my lips as I lose my weapon, fruitlessly throwing it in Doctor Light's general direction before hitting the ground.
Smaller yellow beams rain down on us like hail, and I pull ice up from in front of me before running back. The other Titans join me in a large crack of the ice, all of us panting as we seek refuge. I look over to see Gnarrk sobbing out of fear—more than likely of the outside world—and shake my head.
"This is my shining moment!" Doctor Light shouts from afar. I can hear the buzzing of his machine and the energy that he no doubt holds at this moment. "Finally, I will defeat the Teen Titans!"
An explosion sounds from my right and I flinch, before looking up over the edge of the ice cautiously. The other Titans do the same, and we all watch in unison as Doctor Light enjoys his victory way too much. Suddenly I want nothing more than to rip that smug smile off his face.
"We've got to shut down that machine!"
"And how do you suggest we do that?" I question, glancing at Robin pointedly. "We can't even get near Doctor Light without our butts getting blown into tomorrow!"
The villain almost floats through the air, the smile now a full-fledged grin. I'm left wondering just how many times he's dreamed of this moment, but conclude that the answer's probably enough to be noted as slightly creepy.
Doctor Light chuckles and blasts exactly where we are, Gnarrk suffering the greatest damage. He dives out of the way before running away, and I'm almost paralysed with the fear that he's abandoning us—and Kole. I run in the direction he went before my hand's grabbed, and Robin holds me tightly before ushering us both out of the way of another blow.
"What's he doing?" I hear Robin whisper.
"What?"
The Boy Wonder points past the villain, towards where Kole is. Now, Gnarrk's there with her, desperately trying to pry her from the machine's grips. "Over there. We have to distract Doctor Light."
I nod softly, hovering in the air and grasping Robin's hands in mine. "Okay. Hold on."
Robin does exactly that, and I lift him into the air towards the criminal. Doctor Light's preoccupied with Beast Boy and Cyborg, but turns to the two of us when he's blasted them back. I swing Robin around, sending him towards the villain, but he's blasted back right into me after a few moments of watching.
"Gnarrk!" Cyborg shouts. I watch as he digs into his parts and grabs a spanner, throwing it through the air towards the caveman. He grabs it and walks back to Kole nervously, tapping the spanner against the palm of his hand.
Doctor Light finally senses something's wrong, turning towards his machine. I blind him by covering his eyes with snow, but he quickly removes it and glowers at Gnarrk. "Get away from there!"
Gnarrk's predictably blasted away quickly, but he gets back to his feet with the spanner in hand and rushes back to the platform, avoiding Doctor Light's shots. I watch in awe as he lets out a cry, smashing through the machine and landing inside. Slowly, it begins to explode, but not before the light in the tube attached to Doctor Light fades.
The caveman reappears at the top of the machine, smashing through Kole's holds. Once he's gotten rid of them all, she reverts to her human form and hugs him tightly. The pair break apart and Gnarrk grabs ahold of the tube, still attached to the villain, before pulling it off him.
"You may have stopped my machine, but you cannot stop my suit!" Doctor Light shouts. He turns his hand and a beam hits the snow in front of us, bringing it up into the air. I quickly part it to allow the team sighting on the villain once more. "I already have all the energy I need!"
Now, Doctor Light has eight people charging at him at once, and he combats this by blasting us all. After regaining my breath, I turn to Robin as Cyborg and Beast Boy attack.
"Can we run his energy out?"
"Maybe," Robin hums. "Or maybe Kole can do something to help."
I nod before turning back to the fight. Robin jumps into the air towards Doctor Light, battling him with his staff. Doctor Light blocks his attacks with a transparent, shimmering shield, which breaks the staff in two. The Boy Wonder holds them like escrima sticks but the villain encases him in a yellow dome, and the boy's hisses of pain fill my ears painfully.
"ROBIN!!" I scream.
My feet dig into the ground before propelling me towards Doctor Light, and he's too focused on infliction more pain on Robin to see me. I tackle him to the ground, releasing Robin as I punch the criminal. He catches my third or fourth fist before throwing me over him, my back slamming against the ice, before standing up and continuing this motion.
After what feels like forever—my back and chest both ache from the constant collisions with the ice—I'm thrown into the air and suspended by the same yellow ball that encased Robin earlier. I find myself unable to move as Doctor Light grins maniacally, chuckling as more energy runs through me.
I grit my teeth as my eyes turn a combination of blue and brown, and a thick layer of ice and earth forms around my body like a moulded chrysalis. It prolongs the pain Doctor Light's trying to deliver until I can work out a more effective solution, but it turns out I don't have to.
I drop to the ground with a hiss, my body late to move. I instantly look up, the only thing on my mind being Robin. He suffered the same as me, if not worse—since he isn't a metahuman with powers to protect him—and the only thing playing on my mind is where he is and how he's coping.
I stagger to stand and see him already walking towards me, and my body lags before speeding up in my endeavour. Like old people, we struggle to move, but I recover before Robin does and begin to run towards him, enveloping the Boy Wonder in a tight hug.
"You okay?" I ask, the question muffled against his shoulder.
"I am now." He pauses, and I swear I hear his breathing pause for a split second. "Are you?"
I laugh softly, nodding into his neck. "Yeah," I breathe.
We pull apart as Cyborg runs over to Kole and Gnarrk, smiling in front of the latter congratulatory. "Way to go, Gnarrk!" he shouts, still mispronouncing the caveman's name.
"GNARRK!" we all hastily correct.
"Way to go, Gnarrk," Cyborg repeats, this time saying the caveman's name correctly. The two high five, grinning to each other.
"Thanks for your help in capturing Doctor Light," Robin says, pointing to the cuffed villain behind us. Raven stands beside him, it being her powers that bind him. "It could be that some other people might come looking for you. Call us if you're ever in trouble." The Boy Wonder holds out a yellow communicator for Kole to take.
Kole picks the device up, examining it in awe. "Cool!" she wonders aloud. "But I don't think we'll be needing this. Gnarrk and I are going back home where we belong. Who's gonna bother us down there?"
I smile, placing my hand over the communicator to secure it in her grip. "You never know. Better safe than sorry."
Kole smiles up at me, but Cyborg begins to steer me away from the pair. "We better get going," he explains, upon seeing Kole and Gnarrk's confused faces. "Just got another alert."
"Oh?"
"Yeah," Cyborg confirms, looking down at me with a knowing smirk. "You and Raven up for babysitting?"