Hey guys. next chapters up. i'm gonna try and make it weekly thing to get these stories out. i'm thinking every either Wednesday, or Thursday depending on my work and school schedule. Hope you guys are enjoying the story and i am just getting started.

Chapter 3

The Duel

"I am known as Goryo, and I am here for your destruction." With a flourish of flames, the black armored man bowed to them all. Raven noticed that the whole time his eyes flitted between herself and Robin with intrigue. He was interested in them above the other Titans, clearly. The empath could feel Garfield's jealousy oozing off him. Clearly he had noticed the man's gaze.

"Now that we have the introductions out of the way, while I would enjoy defeating you all at once, I challenge you to a duel Robin. A little duel between two martial artists. The stakes are such, I will suppress my powers and it will not be to the death. I merely wish to see if you are as skilled as I have heard. No interference from your allies. If you manage to defeat me, I will go quietly to jail, or a holding cell in your tower. Do you agree?"

Robin stepped forward preparing to fight. "Why should I trust you'd keep your word? You came into town smashing everything around you and hurting innocent civilians. What makes you think that I am naïve enough to believe you wouldn't attack me with your powers and attempt to kill me immediately, let alone go quietly when I defeat you?"

"I see no injured civilians. The guards I knocked out may be walking funny for a while with headaches, but no permanent harm was done. As you can see I have been more than accommodating since your teams' arrival. I could have attacked you immediately upon your arrival and taken out at least 2 members before you and Cyborg arrived. I chose to wait. If you do not accept, I will destroy you and your team. This is your only chance to beat me. So I ask again… Do You. Accept."

Robin turned to look at his team for a silent vote. BB wouldn't take his eyes of the man. Rage and jealousy seething from his very being as he shook his head. It was no secret that since Terra had abandoned him all those years ago, he had become a very protective boyfriend. Seeing this man eyeing his lover understandably drove him to anger.

Cyborg had his typical stoic expression as he too shook his head at Robin. His best friend had been there to see Robin accept duels from madmen the world over. He knew better than most how to size up an opponent and didn't like Robin's odds. He readied his cannon and turned back to the man in black.

Starfire's eyes expressed everything for him. She was scared of his choice. She knew he would accept the challenge regardless of what the others said. She loved her betrothed and didn't want to see him get hurt as Slade had done so many times in the past. His pride wouldn't allow him to decline a direct challenge; especially if there was a chance it would prevent harm to his team and future wife.

Raven didn't even seem to register what was going on amongst the teammates. Her eyes were locked on the man ahead of her. Her usual battle stances abandoned as she kept examining every inch of the man. She was locked on him for reasons that Robin couldn't even guess at. He silently thought to himself, "What's on her mind?"

Raven couldn't pull her eyes away from this man. His aura was so similar to hers that she couldn't focus to on anything else. "Is he one of my father's old minions? He doesn't bare the marks that would show him to be slave of Trigon's. He is a dangerous being, with a great deal power. We need to find out who he is before we try to engage him. I don't want a repeat that happened when Slade returned as Trigon's tool."

Robin turned away from his team and smirked at the dark warrior ahead of him. "Deal. No one gets involved. Just us. Don't be upset when I am dragging you out in chains after I beat you Goryo."

"Beloved, please be careful. We don't know what this thing is capable of." Starfire whimpered barely loud enough her lover to hear. She was terrified of what may come and didn't want him hurt.

Robin turned to her and gave her a quick peck on the cheek, then turned back to the warrior. He walked to the center of the street just down the stairs from him with a grim look on his face. He had to be on his guard. This man was powerful and couldn't be trusted. He prepped a few tools on his belt immediately, just in case.

Goryo walked to the base of the stairs as well. He kept his gaze on Robin, everyone else ceased to exist to him. He stretched his shoulders with every step. The inferno surrounding him died down till only a mild shift of the air indicated his body's elevated temperature. His gaze was intense. To the four onlookers he seemed as though he was attempting to rip Robin's soul out through his eyes. They bore deep into the boy wonder.

"Now; to finish the terms. I lose, I surrender unconditionally. I win; I would request any books that you may possess on ancient summoning rituals. Before you through any accusations, I merely request ones with historical facts, not the magical rituals themselves. I am searching for… some information. And of course I leave unmolested by your team, which goes without saying. Are these terms reasonable?"

"No. you won't beat me, but even if you do, my team wouldn't allow a criminal to leave. The only thing you'd gain is bragging rights saying you beat me. You're going to jail whether you like it or not." Robin smirked. "This will be your first and last mistake challenging me. You're gonna rot in jail."

Goryo smirked behind his mask. "We'll see about that."

Both combatants assumed battle positions and eyed each other over. Each subtle movement was caught and examined as they began to circle one another. Each step was calculated meticulously. Each breath counted, each turn of a head or wrist checked. Robin charged first.

His first move was to throw a right punch at Goryo's midsection with a roundhouse following immediately. The punch was blocked with the left arm as he ducked below the kick and threw a leg out to attempt to trip the boy wonder.

Robin responded with a roll to the side and resumed his assault. Punches and kicks began to fly at an incredible speed. The entire time Goryo did nothing more than block and dodge his opponents attacks. The both separated with a back flip. Neither challenger was even winded yet. Robin couldn't help but feel a thrill run up his spine. This guy was good, no doubt about it. He was going to have to step up his game to beat him. The warm up was over.

"Very good Robin, it would seem you're as good I've heard. I suppose it's my turn isn't it?"

With speed that caught everyone off guard, Robin included, Goryo closed the distance. He threw a punch straight into the boy wonder's midsection and caught his arm and threw him over his shoulder straight into a car which slid a few feet from the force of the impact. Goryo resumed his stance, "Please don't stay down, I didn't hit you that hard… yet."

Robin dislodged himself from the car as he attempted to catch his breath. If it wasn't for his body armor that punch would have shattered a few ribs. Robin assumed a more limber stance; he wasn't going to be caught off guard again.

"You got lucky, I dropped my guard. That won't happen again." Robin charged with everything he had.

As the battle commenced both fighters began to move faster, delivering more punishing blows. As the Titans looked on they saw their leader fighting with a fire in his eyes he hadn't had in years. Each blow that was countered was followed by 2 more. Each punch was blocked slower and slower, until a pair of boots collided directly with Goryo's face. He took a step back as his head jerked back hard.

Robin wasted no time in following up with a series of gut punches that cause Goryo to slide back as his body was assault with dozens of bone crushing blows. Robin's coup de grace was a flying kick. As his foot went for the final blow on his opponent, he seemed to flow out of the way. Robin soared partially past him as his momentum threw him forward. Goryo caught him by the back of the neck and slammed him face first into the ground with earth shattering force.

Goryo stood up straight, and merely stood over the now unconscious hero. He kneeled down and gently checked his pulse. Before anyone could react he turned Robin over and picked him up.

"He's unconscious. I believe he'll have a concussion after this and a broken nose, but there is no permanent harm."

He walked over to Starfire and placed him gently into her waiting arms. "When he wakes up, tell him his technique was nearly perfect, he just needs to work on his fluidity and stopping power. His former teacher apparently forgot to tell him that."

He turned to walk away. To everyone's surprise it was Raven who called out, "Stop! You aren't leaving here. You are still under arrest."

He stopped in his tracks, and turned to look at the sorceress. After a few seconds of deliberation he shrugged and assumed a battle stance. "If you intend to arrest me, you're wasting your time. I am leaving, and I expect to see someone leaving those books I am searching for here tomorrow at sundown."

With that he disappeared in a wall of flames. Cyborg and BB charged forward attempting to catch him before he could escape. They merely charged into open air as the man ceased to be there.

"DAMN IT! Where'd he go?! Why'd we let Robin fight him alone? We knew he couldn't take him. DAMN IT!" Cyborg shouted and slammed his fist into the ground, creating a small crater in the process. As he looked up he saw a note on the ground. On it was scrawled a strange message, in a language that wasn't in his memory banks.

"Raven, can you read this note? I think this guy left this note for you. It looks like the writing in some of those books of yours."

Raven walked over as Starfire held Robin's unconscious form in her arms with tears in her eyes. She took the note out of his hands and looked it over for a minute. As she read and translated it in her mind her eyes changed from focused to slightly confused, to alarm.

"Well don't leave us in suspense sweetheart, what does it say?" BB asked anxiously.

"It's written in two different languages. The languages of Hell and Azaroth. The first I can only partially understand. The Azaroth message says, this is only the beginning. I will be back, and I will not be so merciful."

She looked over at her best friend and saw her eyes filled with fear and sorrow for the man in her arms.