It's been many a month, but here is the first chapter of Changeling + Vampire, the remake of Changeling and Vampire. Go on in and give it a shot!
Chapter I: Changeling + A New Start
Garfield Mark Logan, or Beast Boy as nearly everyone knew him, was wandering the streets of Tokyo, grumbling to himself, rather out of character, but he'd had a rough time recently.
He was one of the Jump City Teen Titans, the 'First Five' as several of the newer Titans called them. Other than himself, there was Robin, the leader with a massive side-kick complex, overly gelled hair, and a costume in the colors of a traffic light. There was also Starfire, the red-haired, green-eyed, orange-skinned alien who was the epitome of optimistic. Not to mention Cyborg, the half-robot engineer who enjoyed meat, cars, and bad jokes, or Raven, the empathic half-demoness from another dimension who's fond of reading, herbal tea, and waffles.
Quite the motley crew, to say the least. They were a total mess at first, barely able to function without an argument or a choice backhanded compliment, but that soon changed and they become something more than a team. A family, something Beast Boy had wanted for ages. Starfire had become an older-sister, someone who he could talk to and rely on. Cyborg was a just as reliable older brother, who was always there, though for pranks or meat-vs-tofu arguments or backing each other up, it was a roll of the die sometimes. Robin was at times another older brother, when he wasn't obsessing over Slade or training or the mission at hand. And Raven… well, she was something special.
He wouldn't admit this for fear of his life, but he'd had a crush on the empath. If he had to guess, it happened when he and Cyborg had been trapped in her mind, when they met her emoticlones, the beings that stood for each of her emotions. He had met Happy, Timid, Brave, and Rage (Who had tried to kill them while in the shape of Trigon, Raven's demonic father) during his romp, before being halted by the true Raven. She had accepted her emotions temporarily, giving her a boost in power that allowed her to defeat Rage.
Of course, he had put these thoughts out of his head after countless times being thrown out windows, insulted, and who knows what else? In an ironic twist, the day he decided to ignore these thoughts was the day he met Terra, the geomancer whose true allegiance was twisted by confusion and fear.
She had betrayed them to Slade because she was scared of her powers, but she sacrificed herself to save them from an erupting volcano, turning herself to stone in the process.
A while after that, Raven's birthday came up. Why that was worth noting? Because her father, the immortal demon Trigon, had used her as a gateway to Earth, and he had almost destroyed/conquered the planet (Beast Boy had no idea which, considering either way the planet ended up looking like hell). Luckily, Raven managed to combine with her emotions yet again, this time either killing Trigon or sending him back to his own world.
And as if that wasn't enough excitement for one lifetime, soon after 'The End' the Brotherhood of Evil began to strike, using subtlety, deception, and distraction tactics to take out the Titans one by one. They even defeated the Doom Patrol, Beast Boy's old team, before finally catching Robin, leaving the remaining Titans without a leader. That is, until Beast Boy took up the mantle, leading the few remaining Titans against a force that gave them trouble at full strength. Through his natural leadership ability (being an alpha in many different forms really was useful), the team freed the frozen Titans before beating the everliving crap out of the Brotherhood.
After winning the battle taking place under Paris, the Jump City branch returned home, only to find a strange creature that could absorb the consistency and strength of any material it came across. Another thing that Beast Boy saw was Terra, not a statue anymore. Naturally, this made him curious, so he went to were the statue had once been, only to find it had gone. Beast Boy's theory was that when they kicked Trigon off of Earth, everyone that was stone (Trigon's presence made everyone freeze as if Medusa was about, with the exception of the Teen Titans because of Raven's sacrifice) returned to normal, even Terra, who was frozen in a different way.
Terra pretended to be someone else as the green changeling blew off his team to help her remember, which became pointless as she finally snapped, letting him know that she was indeed the Terra he remembered, but she wanted a normal life now.
"Things change Beast Boy. The girl you want me to be is just a memory." Those were her words before she vanished into a crowd. Beast Boy had thought about her words, reclining on the bay of Titan's Tower that night, having helped the Titans finish off the strange creature that afternoon.
And then a pink and blue ninja called Saico-Tek blew up quite a bit of Jump City and Titan's Tower. Yeah, weird even for them. They interrogated him and found their way to Tokyo in search of Brushogan, the person who was in charge of the dichromatic shinobi.
And that right there is why a green changeling from California (Technically Africa, but you know what I meant.) is wandering around in a strange city whose language he didn't know, trying to have an idea that would help his team find the illusive man they hunted.
"Damn kid, he's late…" A voice complained, making Beast Boy jump into the air nearly three feet. When he turned to face the speaker, he was shocked to see that there was a bus on his left, but the driver was what interested him. He wore a stereotypical bus driver's uniform, but the hat was tipped low to shade his eyes and… were they glowing white?
"Hey dude, what's going on?" Beast Boy asked, implying the man's eyes, but he seemed to think he meant the current situation.
"I was supposed to pick up this kid, Tsukune Aono, to go to Youkai Academy. But he's late, and the Headmaster is expecting a student from here to be at the academy in about an hour." Something didn't feel right about this 'Youkai Academy', but maybe that was the changeling's curiosity. Or it could be the odd Bus Driver and the way he was looking at him.
"Uh, do I have something on my face?" He asked, starting to feel more and more unsettled about the Bus Driver. Maybe he had some tofu on his face…
"Just some green, and fangs. What's your name kid?" He asked, genuinely curious about the strange boy in front of him. However, the changeling bristled slightly at the mention of his skin and fangs.
"The name's Beast Boy. What's yours?" He resisted the urge to grind his teeth. Something about this man rubbed him the wrong way.
"Say kid… What do you think about school?" An odd question, and Beast Boy noticed that the Bus Driver had completely avoided the question of his identity.
"I dunno, never been. I've been in the hero business since I was little." Well, with the exception of a brief stint as an unwilling criminal, but he didn't like talking about that.
"Never been to school? You need an education don'tcha?" The Bus Driver seemed shocked at the declaration.
"I don't think so. I can read and write, plus the hero biz is where I'm needed. I've kinda saved the world a few times." Beast Boy enjoyed a good brag once and a while, but he knew enough about responsibility to stay humble for the most part.
"That's an impressive resume kid, but what about when you need to retire from the hero business? When you need an actual job? You can't stay a hero forever; you may want to settle down sometime." Unbidden, an image of Raven floated into his mind, which he repressed. As much as he was loath to admit it, the Bus Driver had a point.
"Fair point dude, but I'll have to consider it another time; I need to help my teammates find this Brushogan guy." His loyalty to his team outshined the small temptation of going to school and learning. Maybe he could sign up for a few classes at Terra's school back in Jump…
"Your team can handle themselves. Do they really need your help?" The changeling drooped. He recalled the time he ran away, accidentally getting kidnapped by a giant stone alien with the mind of a baby. The entire team took nearly a day to notice he was missing, and that's because he was annoying them before he left.
"Once again dude, you have a point. I think they might actually be better off without me for a while. What can you tell me about this school you're taking a kid too anyway?" He tried to stamp out the feeling he was betraying his team, instead focusing on his curiosity.
"Well kid, as I said, I need to get nearly any kid to the school soon, I've got spare uniforms and supplies in the back, if you want. It'll give you an opportunity to educate yourself, and who knows? You may enjoy yourself." Before Beast Boy knew what he was doing, he nodded and walked onto the bus. "Excellent choice kid. Now, can you fix your skin color? It's a bit conspicuous, and believe me, you don't wanna stand out at Youkai Academy." The changeling nodded at the words and focused for a good minute, before his skin became a pale color, and his hair lightened and shifted to brown. He made sure to keep his green eyes, keeping something familiar about himself as he let the lone fang sticking out from his mouth lower back to the rest of them and his ears rounded. He looked at himself in a mirror the Bus Driver handed him.
"Woah, I look normal." He was almost overcome with emotion, seeing how he would've looked without Sakutia. He let out a teary smile, now knowing why Cyborg was so deep in thought when he put on the holo-rings and became Victor Stone. That was how he originally looked. "Alright dude, I'll get the uniform on and everything. How long until we get there?" He asked, stamping down his emotional overload. He could lose his crap once he was away from people, he had at least that much self-control.
"About half an hour. Gives you time to get acquainted with things." The Bus Driver went silent after that, so Beast Boy went into the back. Lo and behold, there was indeed a uniform for a male student. As the changeling pt on the tan slacks, white button-up-shirt, red tie, and green blazer, he wondered at why it fit him so perfectly. He pulled the Titan Communicator from the silver belt of his Doom Patrol uniform, before shrugging and strapping the belt around his waist, replacing the Communicator inside, for nostalgia's sake he supposed. There were also plenty of the usual school supplies, so he stored them in a convenient dark green backpack.
Once he had everything, he walked back up front, just in time to see them go through a tunnel. Suddenly there were a ton of lights, and Beast Boy was wondering whether he had unintentionally exposed himself to a drug. But before he could question it, it was gone and the bus was sliding to a halt (Had he really been back there half an hour?).
"We're here kid. But be careful, this is one scary school." Well, that was reassuring, the changeling thought as he got off the bus and looked around. It reminded him of how Raven's Happy emoticlone had an area that looked like where air fresheners came from, except this was Halloween incarnate. Blood red sea, sky darkened with bats (even one who said something like "Whee!"), dead trees, and a curled cliff like something from the Nightmare Before Christmas.
"These guys sure are enthusiastic about Halloween." He murmured to himself before he shuddered a bit. Something here was making his instincts act up. They sang in his blood, some telling him to run, the others to stay and show himself as alpha. He willed them to the back of his mind. Now he could swear he could hear someone. They were… screaming?
"Look out please! I lost control of the bike!" He turned his head, just to find a bike tire planting itself in the small of his back, launching him forward. With a crash, whoever was riding the bike ended up on top of him. "Oh. You caught me." The voice, now identifiable as female, said in a surprised tone. Looking up, the changeling's jaw dropped. A girl his age, with pink hair and green eyes, was on top of him.
"I guess I did. You okay miss…?" He asked, looking her over for injuries. She wore the same uniform as him, with the exception of a yellow plaid skirt instead of tan slacks, and she wasn't wearing a tie. Instead she wore a silver cross around her neck, with a ruby in the center.
"Oh! I'm alright. I just have anemia, so I get dizzy and weak sometimes. I'm Akashiya Moka, and you are?" She still hadn't moved, so Beast Boy was now questioning whether she was kinda oblivious. Probably, but that's not a bad thing, Starfire is pretty oblivious as well after all.
"I'm Garfield Logan. Nice meeting you Moka." And he meant it, despite the way she had run into him. He was going to ask her to get off, but he was stopped by her next comment.
"You're hurt! I'm so sorry!" She pulled out a handkerchief and began dabbing at his face. Apparently he started bleeding a bit when he flew across the ground. Before he could comment on anything, he noticed a dazed look on her face… and were those fangs? "I'm sorry… but you see, I'm a vampire." Now he was shocked. Vampire? This shocking turn was proven when she bit his neck, piercing the skin with ease as she began to drink his blood.
Now Beast Boy was shaken a bit. A vampire was on top of him, sucking his blood. Wait… maybe she just identified as a vampire? Yeah, that would make more sense…
As anyone who knows him could say, Beast Boy was a fan of horror movies, especially old-timey ones like Dracula, so the thought of meeting an actual vampire was both exciting and terrifying.
"Kapuchu." Moka cooed a bit, releasing his neck. "That was delicious, the flavor seems to just keep changing!" Then her eyes widened and she jumped back startled. "I'm sorry! You probably hate vampires!"
"Hey, I don't have anything against vampires, so long as they don't turn me into a thrall or drain me dry or anything." She seemed to calm down a bit.
"I wouldn't do that… so does that mean we can be friends?" She asked, a hopeful look on her face now. It was similar to an expression Starfire used to get what she wanted on occasion, so that Logan (He introduced himself the wrong way, at least to Moka, so she thinks his name is Logan Garfield) couldn't say no even if he wanted to.
"Of course Moka, I'd love to be friends." He was telling the truth, Moka seemed nice, and being friends with a vampire would be fun, so long as she didn't kill him. She smiled happily and bounced up and down, almost smacking herself in the face with the rosary.
"Yay!" She seemed to think for a moment before her eyes widened. "We're gonna be late!" She rushed off, Beast Boy keeping up with her sprint decently enough. The blessing of being a superhero, he supposed.
There was an orientation in the gymnasium, where he somehow lost track of Moka, despite her having pink hair. He groaned about that before picking up his schedule, discovering that his homeroom was with a Miss Nekonome. He looked the schedule up and down. Seemed pretty basic with a Homeroom, Math, English, History, Phys Ed, and… what was HR? He actually didn't have trouble finding the class, and he took a seat near a window as everyone else began filing in.
"Hello class, I am Nekonome-sensei, and I will be your homeroom teacher, nya!" A blonde that Beast Boy could tell was kinda feline said, walking into the class. "Now, shall we begin?" Before she could continue, Moka ran into the room. Almost immediately, there were many stares in her direction, be they lecherous or jealous was up in the air, considering the changeling's instincts were still fried.
"Sorry I'm late! I got lost." She panted a bit, obviously contrite with herself that she was indeed late.
"Its okay, just don't let it happen again, nya?" At the pinkette's nod, she continued. "Alright Ms. Akashiya, there's a seat near Logan-san by the window." Wait, she knew his name already? He thought they were expecting that Aono guy, Tsukune or something. Moka looked in his direction and immediately launched herself across the room to tackle him.
"Logan! We have the same homeroom!" The stares were now directed at the changeling, and he didn't need his enhanced instincts to know they were plotting his death.
"Ahem, nya!" A coloration similar to her hair appeared on Moka's cheeks as she jumped off of Garfield and into her seat in an impressive display of gymnastics. "Now that we're all in our proper seats, I feel I should remind you of our curriculum. As you know, this is a school for monsters." Wait… What had she said? Monsters? His brain flashed back to Moka saying that she was a vampire… He barely heard that the place was built out of necessity, a safe haven where monsters learned to live in harmony with humans.
"Why should we do that?" A teen whose piercings and expression screamed 'tough guy' commented, sneering as if he had smelled something sour. "We're stronger than humans; we should just kill them and be done with it, except for the women…" He trailed off, and a malicious smirk appeared on his face. Shudders ran down Beast Boy's spine, and he knew that this guy would be trouble.
"Human's outnumber us on a massive scale, though many a Youkai shares your sentiments Saizou-san." Ms. Nekonome (Or should he refer to her as Nekonome-sensei?) answered, surprisingly not freaking out due to what Saizou had said. "Now, as I was saying, it's impossible for anyone but Youkai to be here, human or otherwise, but if they were, they would be immediately executed!" Nekonome-sensei said, still cheerfully. She obviously didn't see how nervous the changeling was getting. He wasn't technically human, but he was pretty sure he wasn't a Youkai either!
"Speaking of, I smell something strange… Kind of like a human…" Now Logan gulped even more. Was his scent going to do him in? He had noticed how everyone had a specific scent about them, like Moka's light scent of herbs, with an undertone of blood so faint he could barely sense it. Saizou smelt… dirty, with a different type of 'blood-scent' on him. While Moka's was faint, Saizou's was heavy. It was obvious that he was one to rip someone's arm off for shits and giggles.
"Don't be silly Saizou-san! Of course, maybe you're just hungry, since its time for lunch!" With that, everyone nearly flew out of the room. Logan left with Moka following close behind, though he was unaware of many of his surroundings.
What would he do? Was this worth risking his life? He didn't believe so, but how would he break the news to Moka? She had seemed so happy when he accepted her as a friend…
"What's wrong Logan? You look off, and you nearly ran into the vending machine." Said pinkette looked at him in concern, and he blinked his green eyes only to see he had been about to walk into a vending machine. Shrugging, he pulled out some coins (Wait, didn't he have some American money with him when he got here? Where'd these coins come from? Were they the monster world's currency?) He inserted two as prompted; selecting what looked to be a normal cherry-cola. Moka followed suit immediately, though she selected tomato juice. A blood substitute, he guessed.
"Just thinking… Maybe this isn't the best place for me to be; maybe I'd be better off leaving and going to school in the human world…" The change in Moka came quickly. She went from worried to some combination of angry and upset.
"You can't! You see… I hate humans. I went to one of their schools for a few years, and everyone treated me like a freak. Whether it was for my pink hair, my brain, or because they didn't believe that I was a vampire, they took whatever reason they could to ostracize me." What the pinkette made sense to Beast Boy, most humans aren't exactly the most forgiving of what they view as different, he knows that better than most. Still, the way she said this made him think that she hadn't experienced Youkai being vindictive like she had humans.
As if on cue, Saizou, the tough-guy from class, lumbered up, glaring at the shapeshifter. If more intimidating people hadn't done that, he may have been scared. But Youkai or not, the only thing Logan was worried about was getting caught as someone who wasn't a Youkai.
"Heya Moka, why not ditch the loser and hang out with a real man?" He asked, a cocky smirk on his face.
"No thank you, I'm fine hanging out with Logan." Said changeling nearly deadpanned. He had guessed Moka was oblivious, but this was a bit ridiculous!
Saizou growled, randomly throwing a punch at Beast Boy. The attack surprised him, and he could barely react quick enough to lean backwards, the fist less than a centimeter from his face.
"Woah dude! Was that necessary?" He asked, noticing that the air around them seemed to be getting heavier. What was going on?
"Why you smug son of a bitch!" Saizou then swung with his other fist, which the changeling ducked under. He smirked a bit, and he couldn't help but aggravate his enemy.
"Language language." He tutted in a faux teacher voice, jumping backwards a good two yards to avoid yet another punch.
"I'll kill you!" Saizou charged at him, readying a haymaker. Beast Boy grinned. At the last moment, he leaped to the side, so the enraged Youkai ran straight through a vending machine (which scattered cans everywhere. The students praised whoever had done this, taking advantage of the free drinks), along with the wall behind it. He looked dazed, with swirls replacing his eyes. As he walked away from his foe, Logan said only three words.
"You missed dude." He set off for the roof where he could think for a while, maybe even meditate for a bit, wouldn't Raven be proud of him? As he left, he didn't hear or see Saizou get up, once more growling. He grabbed a can of tomato juice with his super long tongue, before crushing it with his jaw, the crimson liquid splattering on the ground ominously.
With the Titans
Things had gone to hell very quickly for the remaining Teen Titans in Tokyo, Japan. Beast Boy had vanished, and no one had heard anything from him all day. When they checked the communicator, all they received was a notification that read 'NO SIGNAL', which was odd. The communicators were hooked up to a network of satellites, along with the connection they shared that Cyborg had designed. The only explanation was that the wayward Titan had either turned off the communicator, somehow broken it (It wouldn't be the first time), or he was no longer on the planet.
And since they were down one Titan on such a strange case, Robin was, to put it simply, flipping shit. The only way it would be worse is if Slade was involved somehow.
"Where is he?! Of all the times to go on a misadventure!" He had been ranting for a good hour, which had coincided with the time Raven had been attempting to meditate.
"Robin, would it help if I used my soul-self to search for him?" The empath sighed. She herself was curious as to where the changeling had gone, and if it shut Robin up, then she was killing two birds with one stone (Given her hero name and Robin's, this analogy gave her a small amount of morbid fascination, if not amusement).
"It may help. Give it a try Raven." And so she levitated a few feet into the air, softly chanting her mantra for a moment, as a black essence in the shape of a raven flew into the air.
As 'she' flew, she projected her aura, searching for the familiar feel of Beast Boy's. She felt traces of it, where he had been, but now there was no trail to follow. Wherever he is, she couldn't find him. She focused, and a portal materialized that she flew into.
The area her soul self was in was basically the physical manifestation of every connection Earth has to another dimension. While plenty of them needed a specific ritual to enter (take her home, Azarath, for example), if Beast Boy was in another dimension, the closer to the portal the better, she could at least 'feel' him. Maybe even get a read on his current state of well-being. She focused as hard as she could on the familiar feel of Beast Boy's aura (She could only describe it as jovial, with a hint of darkness that she assumed was the Beast). After a minute, she felt something. It was definitely Beast Boy's aura, though it was darker and angrier then she remembered. Perhaps something on the other dimension had awoken the Beast within?
With Beast Boy
Beast Boy was upset. Wrong, he was pissed. After daydreaming on the roof for an hour or two after his conversation with Moka and the subsequent attack by Saizou, he had heard a terrified scream coming from the forest. Tracking it by shifting into a Barn Owl and using his hyper-sensitive hearing, he came across the cause of his righteous anger. Moka had her back to a tree, fear in her bright green eyes as Saizou loomed over her, though he looked different. Now he was about 8 feet tall, and had bones sticking out of his body like pieces of armor. And his tongue was now disturbingly long, nearly touching the ground. He was leering at the vampire, and it was obvious what he was planning to do.
"The hell're you doing?!" Beast Boy half shouted as he shifted back to his human form, jumping down in between his friend and Saizou. Monster or not, he wouldn't let something sick like this go without one hell of a fight.
"Logan!" Moka was both relieved and worried. From what he had said to her earlier, she had guessed that the reason he wanted to leave was that he was human. She didn't know what to make of that currently, but she did know that he would die if he fought the orc.
"The puny runt's back… I was just about to show Moka-chan here what a real man's like, but I can teach you a lesson first." Logan glared at him, recalling villains he had fought before. This Youkai reminded him way too much of Adonis and Johnny Rancid. The mere thought of what he planned made Beast Boy more than willing to beat the everliving crap out of him.
He couldn't even make any jokes. The feeling of spitting bile was nearly overwhelming, but the urge for justice made him focus.
"Come on then runt. I'll let you get the first hit." Saizou was arrogant. That would be his downfall. Logan shifted into an emerald cheetah, making the two nearby Youkai gasp, before speeding towards Saizou. As he got close, he stomped his front right paw into the ground, turning his body in a 180 as he shifted into an Ankylosaurus, swinging his now weaponized tail at the orc, smacking him in the chest and using his inertia to launch the Youkai flying into the distance, leaving a trail of broken trees.
"Moka, are you okay?" He asked, shifting back to his human form, turning to the pinkette, concern in his green eyes.
"But… you're human." She said, shock evident in her tone. Her guess had been proven wrong in a rather spectacular fashion, and now she didn't know what she was dealing with.
"I used to be… But that was a long time ago. Now I'm something else. Something in between man and beast. I'm Beast Boy." His skin and hair transitioned back to their normal verdant shade. He looked at her, half-expecting scorn in her eyes. Instead he saw acceptance, which shocked him.
"But… if you're not human, then why would you leave Youkai Academy for a human school?" She was obviously confused by this, which made Logan smile a bit, she was actually concerned for him.
"Because I'm not a Youkai either. I'm closer to Beast then Man, but I'm not a Youkai, I don't belong here." A roar echoed through the forest being followed by heavy and fast footsteps that shook the Earth.
"You runt! I'm not done with you!" Saizou roared in rage, his legs moving like pistons as he readied his fist, barreling out of the forest at massive speeds.
Acting quickly, Logan shifted into a hare and hopped out of the way, watching with blank white eyes as the frieght train that was Saizou continued on his path, barely skidding to a stop before running into a tree.
"Chill Saizou, I've won this." The changeling said, surprised at himself for hoping that he wouldn't accept the cease-fire. He wanted to teach this guy a lesson he would never forget, but he felt it would be fair if he gave the hulking brute a warning.
"No way in hell you sonuvabitch! I'm gonna kill you!" Looking at Saizou, Logan noticed that there was a large dent in the orcs bone armor where the Anklyosaurus tail had struck him. Perhaps he could hit the same place again…
This time when the orc charged, Logan was ready, tensing his muscles in preparation. But then the blood pumping through his veins ran cold.
Saizou was running at Moka, not him.
Time was of the essence, and he could feel it begin to run in slow motion. Seeing Moka's face slowly become terrified filled Logan with the kind of will that allowed him to control the Beast during the End. Energy coursed through his muscles, and he jumped into the fray, tackling Moka to relative safety.
His eyes widened when he saw the silver plated rosary that was in his hand. It was Moka's. Did he accidentally pull it off her? Did he break it? All questions halted when he felt a vicious outpouring of energy, a killing intent so deep seated that he had to take a breath in order to not pass out due to the new thickness in the air.
Turning to look at the source, he realized that it was Moka… sort of. Her facial features seemed more aristocratic, her posture was that of a noble, her pink hair had turned silver, and her green eyes had shifted to a deep blood red. This was what she had meant, this was a vampire.
Well, let me know what you think of the remake by leaving a review! Keelah se'lai and all that jazz!
