Talthas/Baruzar took a step back to create some distance between his opponent. He then buried his knee into Beastboy's stomach. The exiled Titan grunted as the strike forced him back a good nine feet.
Beastboy had no time to counterattack as his masked former friend pulled a laser pistol out with his right hand and pointed it at him. The changeling leapt backwards, feeling the heat of a laser graze his right side, growling, he performed another jump backwards, landing on the steel railing. Quickly and with impressive balance, Beastboy ran on top of the railing to his left, barely keeping ahead of the barrage of laser blasts Baruzar was firing at him.
Realizing that he was running out of railing, the former Titan jumped off the railing, maneuvering himself so that he was about thirty feet above Baruzar's head. Beastboy extended his right hand and summoned his druidic power, bringing a spiked vine up from below Baruzar. The vine swatted the laser pistol out of his hand, causing his former friend to curse.
The masked villain responded by leaping up after him. Instinctively, Beastboy swung his clawed left hand at him and realized his mistake too late. Baruzar phased right through him in smoke form and solidified just above him. The changeling was facing down, body parallel to the ship's deck and Baruzar took the opportunity to plant both feet into Beastboy's spine, sending the pointy-eared former superhero into the deck.
Beastboy barely had time to register he had slammed into the floor of the ship when he felt a massive weight push him through it, he crashed into another steel floor in the patrol boat's interior, bouncing his head off of the floor as he landed. Stars danced across his vision, but he stood up and angrily shook them off, not wasting another moment, the former Titan sprouted his wings and with one flap he was airborne again.
The changeling darted through the hole he had made through the deck, Baruzar was still hovering in mid-air, the masked villain must've been the heavy weight he had felt. Reaching out with his right hand, Beastboy fired a blast of golden energy at him. Of course his masked former friend went into his smoke form and the blast passed harmlessly through him. Baruzar materialized and was about to make his move when he was forced to go into smoke form again as Beastboy extended his right leg in a fierce jump-kick, aiming for his face.
Baruzar let the changeling phase through him, then solidified and twisted around, the green morphling mirroring his action. The masked terrorist sought to plant his right boot into Garfield's sternum, but the green man had quick reflexes, bringing his forearms up in a cross pattern to absorb the kick. Beastboy smirked then, and Baruzar had an instant to get a bad feeling before a giant pterodactyl constructed from yellow energy dive-bombed him from above and to his left.
The flying creature slammed into Baruzar with it's beak, puncturing his left shoulder and causing him to grunt in pain. He hit the patrol boat's deck shoulders-first, sliding across the metal deck as the pterodactyl removed it's beak from his shoulder and promptly vanished. The masked villain clutched his left shoulder in pain, that bastard changeling had become craftier in their time apart. The energy blast the ex-Titan had fired at him must've been remolded into that pterodactyl once his attention was diverted.
Beastboy landed about fifteen feet in front of Baruzar, he had him hurting which was good. Still, finding ways to land hits on the masked bastard was proving to be difficult. His timing had to be almost perfect or he would make no progress.
Baruzar reached for his waist, where he had a belt full of pouches, tools and throwing weapons. He pulled out a shuriken about the size of his hand and flung it at the changeling. Beastboy brought up his makeshift wooden left arm and blocked the projectile with the back of his left hand. The former superhero then brought his right hand forward to return fire with an energy blast.
Predictably, Baruzar let the blast phase through him, but in the interim, Beastboy was making a mad dash for the masked villain, rapidly closing the distance between them. The changeling was planning on making his move as soon as Baruzar went on the offensive again, he just had to be a little patient.
Seeing Beastboy quickly closing in on him, Baruzar released two more shuriken at the emerald-skinned young man, aiming for his chest and head respectively. The morphling slid under the sharp projectiles, closing the remaining distance between them and catching the masked terrorist by surprise. As quick as he could, Beastboy swept out with his right leg, hoping to take his opponent's legs out from under him and leave him open further to attack.
It was not to be, Baruzar managed to go into smoke form half a second before the former Titan's leg connected. Beastboy completed his rotation and when he was facing his former masked friend again, he found Baruzar's right foot swiftly approaching his face. The tip of the masked villain's boot connected with the bottom of the changeling's jaw, knocking him off of his feet.
Beastboy couldn't even cry out in pain as the blow had knocked his teeth together and prevented him from opening his mouth for a second. Recovering quickly, the changeling did a back-flip and landed on his feet. He was just in time to see Baruzar going on the offensive this time, not good.
The azure-masked man took a few running steps and jumped into the air, he reared his right fist back and sought to bring it down on the changeling's head. Instead of trying to dodge, Beastboy struck out with his own right hand. Although Talthas connected with his right hook, nailing the exiled Titan on his left cheek, Beastboy was able to connect with his fist as well, hitting the masked terrorist at the bottom of his jaw, snapping his head back from the impact.
Both combatants leapt away from each other, dropping into fighting stances as soon as their feet touched the deck. A single crack appeared on the bottom part of Baruzar's mask, but he ignored it. There was a discolored spot on Beastboy's left cheek, but despite the pain it brought, he had a grin on his face.
"Do you plan on trading hits until one of us drops?" Baruzar remarked "Such a straight-forward strategy, but I'd expect nothing less from you Garfield."
"Why not? I've always been able to take hits better than you Baruzar." Beastboy replied, the masked villain narrowed his eyes.
"That was before, I'm a different person now." He responded. The changeling gave a slight shrug.
"So am I." The green pointy-eared man said. Talthas/Baruzar snorted and prepared for his next move when a sudden burning pain in his stomach forced him to his knees. The masked villain's eyes widened in surprise, were his limbs heavier? Why did his stomach hurt so much? Just what the hell was going on?
"Looks like it's finally taken effect." Beastboy announced, his face a stoic mask. Baruzar glared up at him from his knelt position.
"What's taken effect? What have you done?" Baruzar demanded, the fire in his belly was spreading.
"The cloud of dust that I threw up to conceal my movements had another purpose." The changeling explained. "For one, it wasn't dust at all, but very tiny spores, spores filled with poison, they've infiltrated your body."
"But my smoke form...!" Baruzar started, but stopped as he started coughing.
"Normally yes, that stupid smoke form of yours would have rendered the spores useless." Beastboy concured, his eyes narrowed suddenly. "But have you forgotten? You've been solidifying yourself to trade hits with me. And you only need to take just one breath for the spores to do their work."
"You bastard! So all those times you were exchanging punches you were trying to get me to breathe these in!?" The masked man exclaimed, Beastboy nodded.
"Pretty much yes, I imagine turning into your smoke form requires a lot of focus. A focus that you can no longer achieve now that the poison is coursing through your system. Am I right Baruzar?" He asked frostily, Talthas/Baruzar answered with his silence. "Thought so. Well dude, it's ass-kicking time." Beastboy's right hand curled slowly into a fist and he cracked his knuckles. "Let's see just how many hits you can take!"
The first hit came from nowhere, an uppercut to Baruzar's already sore jaw, knocking him a few feet in the air. Beastboy then jumped into the air, performed a forward somersault, maneuvering just above Baruzar, who's body was parallel to the deck. The former Titan then kicked downwards with his right foot, hitting the masked villain in the sternum and crashing him back down to the deck spine-first.
Beastboy kept the pressure on, raising his right hand above him and with a mighty roar summoned a giant triceratops constructed from yellow energy. The huge dinosaur fell on Baruzar horns first, driving him into and through the deck, through the inside of the ship's hull and out the bottom.
The police patrol boat groaned from the damage and began to break apart. Beastboy calmly landed on a piece of floating debris no larger than a small car, he was about to dive in after Baruzar when the masked man suddenly broke through the water's surface thirty feet in front of him.
Titans Underground Base, Jump City
Exact Location Unknown
It was movie night and all four Titans were currently glued to their big TV screen in their underground base. The defenders of Jump City were attempting to take one day and relax, forgetting all the problems that were being thrown their way for one night. They definitely needed the stress relief.
And it was working, they had had a great dinner thanks to Cyborg, Starfire picked the movie, which was based in a medieval fantasy where a group of adventurers had to destroy a magical amulet in order to save their lands from a great evil. So far it was pretty good, even Raven was taking glances at it while reading her book.
"I don't get it, why does the halfing have to carry the amulet? Shouldn't the wizard do it? He's stronger." Cyborg stated, he was seated all the way to the right on the U-shaped couch, Starfire sat to his left, followed by Robin and finally, Raven.
"The amulet also carries the essence of the dark tyrant, you know the bad guy trying to doom their world? If the wizard took the amulet, the tyrant could control the wizard and that would be bad for them." Raven explained, Starfire put a finger to her chin.
"Hmm, how strange. On my planet, amulets and medallions signify a person of royalty, they never harbored evil spirits inside them." The Tamaranean mused, Robin turned to look at Raven.
"Do such amulets really exist?" He asked the cloaked Titan, Raven nodded.
"They do, some can suck the soul right out of your body. One has to be very careful when handling items infused with magical energies." She responded, Robin whistled in amazement.
"Remind me not to take any amulets from your room then." The masked Titan replied. Raven nodded.
"That would be wise boy wonder." She agreed.
"So I still don't get it, why is the halfing the only one able to carry the amulet?" Cyborg repeated his question, causing a vein to throb on Raven's forehead.
"Because he's the only one in the group that is pure of heart, the dark tyrant can't influence him as much." Raven explained in her monotone.
"Oh." Came Cyborg's simple reply, and they resumed watching the movie in silence. After a good five minutes, Robin's communicator suddenly chimed.
The Titan's leader immediately stiffened, he had set his communicator to alert him if there was any news about Beastboy. Finding him before the Justice League, specifically the Green Lantern was very important. However their green teammate had hidden himself pretty well. Robin was certain Beastboy had fled to Africa, it made sense. However Africa was a big continent and finding him was proving to be more difficult than he thought.
Robin quickly produced his communicator from his belt while the others looked on anxiously. Text scrolled across the communicator's screen which Robin read, his eyes widened under his mask as he quickly ran up to the console in front of the TV and started typing furiously.
"Aw man! The epic battle scene just started!" Cyborg whined, but the rest paid him no heed. The screen shifted to show the tattered remains of a cruise ship, a news reporter was frantically talking about the ship's destruction and how some sort of masked terrorist was spotted near Cape Town, South Africa.
"Robin why are we watching this?" Starfire questioned.
"Keep watching you'll see soon enough." He responded grimly, the others continued to watch as the camera shifted to another boat, this one a police patrol boat, it was in shambles and sinking fast. Near the sinking ship however were two figures, each standing on a small piece of debris floating in the ocean. One was the masked terrorist the reporter was talking about, and the other...
The other had green skin...
"Looks like Beastboy is on the radar again." Robin said aloud. Cyborg and Starfire stared wide-eyed in astonishment, Raven was already pulling out her communicator.
"We need to get in touch with Herald see if he can take us there, we should also notify any available Titan that can get to Cape Town right away. There's no time to waste!" Raven stated, her voice unusually animated. Robin shook his head.
"Herald is on a mission, he's not available." The Titans' leader informed her, the dark girl's eyes furrowed into a glare and she turned towards Cyborg.
"How soon can the T-ship fly?" She asked him, Cyborg shrugged.
"I can probably get it up and running in about twenty minutes or so why?" He inquired, Raven didn't respond she turned and headed towards the exit of the base's common room.
"Could you have it ready in fifteen minutes? We need to get to Cape Town right away." She responded, the sliding doors of the common room opening for her as she exited. Leaving a confused Cyborg.
"I don't get it, why the rush to get to Cape Town? I mean I know the grass stain is there and all, but it's not like we have to leave right at this moment." The bionic Titan stated. Robin was still typing on the console, trying to get more information on the situation.
"She's concerned for Beastboy." Robin replied, "Because if we know where he is then the Justice League does too now."
"And so does the Green Lantern." Starfire added with a forlorn look on her face.
A/N: Thinking about discontinuing this story, I think I made a mistake and lost people's interest with the long hiatus and the lack of Titans interaction.