This is a work of fanfiction. I do not own Teen Titans or any DC comics alluded to in this story. Kenkaku and his swords are mine, however.
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Waves of Fate
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"text": spoken English
"text": spoken Japanese (translated or flavor text)
"text": war cry, English
"text": war cry, Japanese.
text: thoughts
-text-: stressed word
text: printed or typed English
text: printed or typed Japanese
'text': sound effect
Japanese flavor text will be in a glossary at the end of the chapter.
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Kenkaku awoke with Kanesada propped up against his shoulder and Muramasa behind his back. He was sitting against the end of the couch in a position stolen from Battousai. Light was just starting to come through the windows of the main room as he yawned and looked out to sea, smacking his lips.
Time to get up.He stood and put Kanesada's saya into the fitting on his left hip, the wandered to the kitchen-like area to make something to eat. After all, his duffle had been lost in the hovertank incident, so he had no more of those nasty energy bars. It was safe to say that he wasn't particularly broken up about it. He opened up the fridge, and to his great delight found…
DR.PEPPER! The wave man was well and truly addicted to the wonderful soft drink. That and sushi. It was really too bad that he never seemed to have the money to get either. He did a little happy dance and set out three cans. Time to feed the addiction, thought Kenkaku happily, drinking a can as he rummaged through the rest of the fridge in an attempt to find something appetizing and without mold. He polished off the first can with no luck, and immediately started on the second. Well, the cold pizza didn't look bad. In fact…Oooh, five cheese pizza blanca. Yummy. He pulled out the four slices and started munching, still rummaging through the fridge. He didn't really eat much on the road, and he was damn hungry. He took another swig of Dr. Pepper and closed the fridge. Nothing appetizing and edible left.
He was on the second-to-last slice and just cracking the last can when Robin walked in. "Morning, Kenkaku."
"Ohayou." He lifted his can in greeting.
"Oh, damn. You got the pizza, didn't you?" asked Robin.
Kenkaku smiled sheepishly. "Hai."He held out the last slice in offering.
Robin waved away the piece. "No, you got it fair and square. I'll just have some cereal."
Kenkaku finished the second-to-last slice and started working on the aforementioned last slice. "Wheaties, ka?"
Robin, though he knew very little Japanese, caught the meaning. "No. Lucky Charms. The Breakfast of Titans." He brought out the garish box. "For obvious reasons, I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone outside this tower."
The ronin mimed zipping his lips, smirking.
"Anyway, I thought we'd help you get some replacements for what you lost saving Raven today. Crime has been pretty quiet, with the exception on the theft yesterday. And if you wouldn't mind telling me about your powers and such when Raven is up to translate? Assuming we're on at least decently friendly terms. Maybe a demonstration too?"
"Shua."The swordsman nodded his head, then took another swig of Dr. P.
Robin nodded towards Raven. "I saw you two last night." At a smile from the ronin, he continued. "I think that's the first time she ever picked up at video game controller."
Not too surprised, thought Kenkaku, though her competitive spirit sure did surprise me. We'll have to stop by the bookstore when we go to replace my stuff. I still owe her the info on that book, and after the number of matches she gave me, I think I owe her at least the book.
---
Raven looked out across the landscape of her mind, dreary place that it was. Suddenly, a her in a multi-colored cloak and leotard sprang up.
"Who the hell are you? LSD me?"
"No, stupid! I'm Competitive Spirit! And anything you can do, True, I can do better!"
"Including suppressing a number of emotions that run wild?"
"Never tried it before, but I bet I can do it better than you!"
True Raven smirked. "Tell you what. Why don't you get some practice in on Rage before you move on to all of the menagerie? Rage is certainly a challenge."
"For you maybe!" CS warped off.
That should keep Trigon out of my hair for a while, considering that Competitive Spirit should be able to draw on all of my aspects, mused Raven. She walked off across the landscape of her mind, never noticing the her that followed in the shadow. Not until she had left her mind for the waking world did the stalker-like aspect reveal itself. It had a cloak of red.
---
Raven sat up from where she lay on the couch, only to be greeted by two males.
"Good morning!"
"Ohayou."
She grimaced at the crick in her neck. "That's debatable. Please tell me we have tea."
Kenkaku stopped drinking from his steaming cup, having switched over from Dr. Pepper after a fourth can. "Anou, un, we do, but it's not your herbal stuff, Raven-san." He held out a second cup. "Sencha, ka?"
"Dozou."He gave her the cup.Raven sipped at the green tea. Not her favorite, but a fairly close second. "Domo arigato, Kenkaku-san."
"Douitashimashite."The ronin went back to his cup.
Robin let the exchange go on in Japanese without understanding most of it. He caught a few words, but nothing that would let him join in. With this opening, he decided to fill Raven in for the plans. She, surprisingly enough, went along with the idea without any resistance. "Well, I'm going to go off and see what the deal is with the other Titans. They need to be up by now." He walked out of the room. "See ya."
"Ja na."
"Ja ne."
Kenkaku looked over at Raven, surprised. "Do you like Japanese better than English or something?"
Raven shrugged. "It -is- a much more logical language. And in my opinion, the culture that spawned it is more interesting."
The ronin nodded. "Considering what's hanging off my belt, it'd be slight hypocrisy to argue that point. Besides, I agree with you. You still want to hear about the book?"
"What book?"
"You know, the one I bribed you with to play Kengo?"
"Oh, that book. Just show me at the mall. Which reminds me. I owe you a motorcycle, don't I?"
"Iie."
"But your old bike was destroyed…"
"It didn't go into the lake, did it?" The wave man smiled good-naturedly. "My old steed died for a good cause." He leaned back and looked at the ceiling.
Mercifully, this caused him to miss the slight tinge of pink that shot across Raven's cheeks. She pulled her hood up. Get a damn grip on yourself, Raven! He's nice and all, but he's a ronin, a wave man. He'll be gone soon. Besides, it's a moot point. You can't be with anyone. And even if you could, why would he want to be with you? Or anyone, for that matter? Relationships would be baggage for him.
"Anyway," he said, bringing his gaze back to her, "I'm not saying a…what's with the hood?"
Raven didn't answer. She was saved from further questioning when Cyborg, Robin and Starfire walked in. Outside of Cyborg, they were all in casual clothing, even if Robin's mask was still on.
"Well, we're ready to go!" boomed Cyborg. "To the T-car!"
"Beast Boy was having an 'ahem' nice dream," explained Robin. "We decided to leave him." Starfire shuddered.
Raven took a last drink from her cup and stood up. "Well, let's get this over with." Kenkaku rose and headed for the elevator. Raven went to change.
---
Kenkaku's mouth gaped as he looked at the Jump City mall. "Next time I'm in a motorcycle chase, I'm going through here."
Raven, wisely, did not translate this. "Naze?"
"So I can beat out the Blues Brothers."
Raven sweatdropped. The other Titans just looked on at the untranslated exchange in bewilderment. Robin snapped out of it first. "Okay Titans. We aren't here to get a huge PR boost. We're here to shop. So here's the plan. Cyborg will set up an initial distraction, as he's the most noticeable. The rest of us will try to sneak in. If that doesn't work, Starfire and I will join Cyborg. Raven, Kenkaku, you guys are going in last. You are after all, the least noticeable, and Kenkaku needs this trip the most. A translator too." The Titans and Kenkaku nodded. He removed his swords from his belt and placed them in the back of the T-car reluctantly. Robin noticed the metahuman's hesitation. "Do you take those with you -everywhere-?"
Kenkaku smiled sheepishly, nodding. He closed the T-car's door and Cyborg locked it. Suddenly Kenkaku dashed forwards and grabbed Robin's bo. The staff extended in his hands, and he pointed to it, smirking. Raven raised an eyebrow. "Guess ronin-boy here isn't the only one."
Robin had a shocked and slightly pissed look on his face. Shocked at Kenkaku's discovery, and slightly pissed at Raven's quip. Just keep cool. Remember the blackmail material, he thought, trying to keep calm. He's pretty good if he spotted my staff though, he thought more rationally as he caught the bo, Kenkaku having lobbed it back at him. He put on his commanding face as he stowed the collapsed weapon. "Okay Cyborg. Go in and cause a distraction. Starfire and I will come in a minute or so later from the same direction. If we're clear, I'll call Raven on the com and tell her so. If not, a different ingress is advised. Titans! Go!"
The three 'distractions' moved off leaving a sweatdropping Kenkaku and a sighing Raven behind. "Do you always do this when you come to the mall?"
"Far too often for my tastes. Come on, let's go."
They walked towards the mall.
---
Robin sighed as he and Starfire peered in at Cyborg. Though he had a small crowd, it was nowhere near big enough. There went his mall-time with Starfire. He pulled out the communicator. "You guys had better take another way in. This one is about to be packed." He closed the communicator. "Okay Star, let's go."
"Glorious!"
Robin sweatdropped. "No, not quite."
---
Raven and Kenkaku simply walked into another of the mall's doors with a minimum of fuss. None of that "Oh my god! It's Raven," crap, but rather more of an "Oh my god! What a bish!" crap. Kenkaku was not particularly happy with being glomped by a rather young teenage girl who knew a minimum of Japanese. He didn't even bother listening to her broken attempts to communicate. "Raven-s…" He got an idea. "Raven-chan, help!"The half-demon looked at him like he had lost his mind. "Play along!"
Raven put on her best angry face and grabbed the shoulder of the fangirl. "Hands off my boyfriend, tramp."
Raven's best angry face was quite a good one. The fangirl melted under it, releasing Kenkaku and backing off. "Gomen nasai!"
The wave man rolled his eyes. "No need to kill her koishii," he said as he put his hands on her shoulder. "Shall we go?"
"Un."The metahumans walked into the mall, leaving the thoroughly frightened fangirl behind.
As soon as they had gotten a ways into the mall Kenkaku turned around and stared at the door. "Kami-sama, do I hate fangirls!" He ran his hand through his long brown hair. "This stuff can be more trouble than it's worth."
"So why don't you cut it?"
"Hell no. I happen to like it. And the general consensus is that it looks good. Ronin aren't without hearts you know. Wandering just generally gets in the way of a relationship. If I ever settle somewhere…" He left that unfinished. "Ah, who knows. Ain't like the future is set."
Raven blinked a few times before changing the subject. "So where are we going? Clothing store?"
"Bass and Pro Shop."
"Why?"
"Duffle."
"But you need clothes, so…"
"DUFFLE," said Kenkaku firmly.
---
The two Japanese-speaking teens walked out of the outdoors store, one with a smile on his face and a duffle on his back, the strap across his front, the other with a glare for the shop and the sheer number of survivalists it contained.
"Hey, I didn't know it would be a sale for survival gear today!" apologized Kenkaku as they walked.
"Whatever. Clothing store so we can get you into something that isn't threadbare, then to the book store, so you can show me that book. For your sake, a bunch of people had better die in it."
"I thank Kami-sama for him giving me my particular taste in books. Hey, I'll even buy you a anthology of H.P. Lovecraft to make up for -that-." He pointed back at the store, filled with survivalists that didn't know how to treat teenage girls.
"Why not? Better than flowers and candy."
Kenkaku raised an eyebrow at that. They had reached the clothing store that Raven had pegged for comfortable, durable clothing, with a little style thrown in. Kenkaku wore some very somber colors. Black, dark blue, dark green, and dark gray pretty much summed up what he was willing to wear. He picked out a number of plain black, and dark blue t-shirts, along with a few long sleeve shirts in the same colors, pants in dark green and dark blue, and a dark blue motorcycle jacket, eschewing the old leather jacket style. His was made of more modern materials. He figured that those would do for clothing outside of some generic boxers, which he grabbed when Raven wasn't looking and buried in the pile.
Raven looked over the pile of clothing. "No costume?"
"Never really had one. Though…" His eyes scanned the store. "Yeah, maybe."He picked out a pair of pants made out of the jacket's material, but colored in black with dark gray trim. A matching jacket went with them, with a place for a patch. He picked up a silver shirt but rejected it. "Hell no. I'd blind myself with this." He chose another dark blue T-shirt simply for color variety before choosing the last of his clothing. A pair of predictably black and dark gray combat boot/sneaker hybrids, and a pair of Birkenstocks. To Raven's curious glance he replied: "What? They're comfortable."
"Anything else?"
"Um, maybe a pair of patches for the jackets."
"How about socks?" she asked as she held up an economy-sized bag.
"Yeah, those too," replied Kenkaku as he scratched the back of his neck embarrassedly. He and Raven went the front to pay, only stopping to get a pair of patches of the same style with different color schemes. Each was a stretched hexagon with trim with the kanji ken on it. One was mostly black with dark gray trim and the kanji stitched in sliver and the other was primarily dark blue with the trim and kanji in black. Three guesses as to which one was intended for which jacket, and the first two don't count.
Raven put everything onto a business credit card for the Titans. Kenkaku took the duffle that had left at the counter, and stuffed most of the clothes into it. He left out the dark blue jacket, a pair of dark green pants, and a dark blue t-shirt along with the boots, a pair of socks and of course, the appropriate undergarment. Some quick work with some thread and an application of telekinesis bonded the black and blue patch to the jacket. Kenkaku then changed into his new clothes, his old threads occupying a trash can, his belt the sole remaining survivor of his previous outfit.
"Ah!" He stretched and slung his duffle over his back, the strap going across his chest like a bandoleer. "To the bookstore, milady?"
"Let's go."
---
Robin and Starfire finally broke away from the crowd as it dispersed to a level that Cyborg could manage to entertain easily. "Hey Star?"
"Yes Robin?"
"You want to get a bite to eat?"
"I think I would like that very much."
As the human and the Tamaranian turned to walk off, their hands brushed against each other. It would've been the perfect time for a 'to hell with it' moment. But instead of clasping hands, the two merely blushed, looked away, and continued walking.
Cyborg watched as the two missed the opportunity and sighed, before turning back to the crowd and keeping their attention on him. If he could keep the crowd occupied a little longer, maybe, just maybe they could get another moment like that.
And TAKE it! growled Cyborg mentally. He was getting sick and tired of watching the two of them dance around it. Hmm, maybe switching through my arm weapon modes will keep their attention. He suited action to though, cycling through the sonic stun cannon/disruptor, the low-yield plasma rifle, the laser rifle, the charged particle cannon and the multi-barrel autocannon. The first was a mode for both arms, the second and third, left-arm weapons, and the last two were right arm weapons. He did not show off his missile weaponry.
But even as he was entertaining the crowd, a fat nutjob with a remote was plotting to make life miserable for him and the rest of the mall's population.
---
Raven and Kenkaku walked out of the B. Dalton with a number of books. As promised, the swordsman had bought her a -very- nice anthology of H.P. Lovecraft's work, along with showing her Koushun Takami's Battle Royale, which she immediately bought a copy of. Kenkaku got a copy of Battle Royale himself, as he had lost his old copy in the hovertank incident, along with his old duffle. He also bought a copy of a historical fiction set in the Meiji Revolution. Predictably, these went into the duffle.
"You seem to have good tastes in books, Kenkaku-san."
"I should hope so. Oh, and for your information, Battle Royale is also both a movie and a manga." The two of them headed out to the car to stow their purchases.
"Really? We should watch it for a movie night."
"You might have a wee bit of trouble getting it past Mr. Red Breast."
"Ah, if we both…"
"I'm not a Titan, Raven-san."
Stupid! raged Raven at herself. "That's true. I forgot."
"Everyone's entitled to a few mistakes, Raven-san. At least you aren't making them in battle." They had reached the car. Raven unlocked it and they put their purchases in. "Hey, Raven-san, want to cause a stir? Let's go back in wearing uniforms."
She pointed at her casual attire, a pair of blue jeans and a long sleeve dark purple turtleneck. "I don't exactly have the costume on."
He smirked. "You've got the leotard on with the sleeves hiding the rolled up half gloves. And I'm willing to be that you've got an extra cloak in the car."
"Well, yes, I do. But there's no need to…" She was cut off by the sound of screaming. Kenkaku was already changing. "What's the point of changing?"
"Riding outfit will protect me better. I didn't just pick it for it's resemblance to Kanesada. Mind you, that was a major factor." The two outfits were easily switched, Raven busy finding her cloak and getting rid of the casual clothes. Kenkaku had only grabbed Kanesada when Raven grabbed his arm and shadow warped him to the scene of whatever had happened. Well, at least he had the only the katana, rather than only the bokken.
What greeted him when he and Raven emerged in a service hallway was a scene straight out of the mind of someone that seriously needed some medication. Mannequins were marching around with bladed weapons from a swords shop, directed by a few sets of overly showy samurai armor, presumably also from the sword shop. A Suncoast nearby provided a number of characters from old black-and-white movies, and a number of TV shows. Kenkaku wasn't particularly happy with seeing the bandits from the Seven Samurai, but was glad not to see Alf. The Big Bird worried him though. Especially considering it was holding a naginata. So did the Elmo with a nasty-looking kris knife.
He shook his head and looked at an Electronics Boutique. Miniature Battlemechs came stomping out of it, still around seven feet tall, a little shorter than Cyborg. So did Jak from Jak II and Ashelin from the same game. And in the middle of all this floated a fat man with Cheetos-stained fingers with a phaser in one hand and a remote control in the other. To Kenkaku he looked as if he was a strange impression of both Baron Harkkonen of Dune and Mickey from the Sorcerer's Apprentice. An unlit lightsaber hung from his very long belt. He laughed maniacally.
"I'm officially freaked out now. Who the hell is that?"
"His name is Control Freak. He can animate objects with that remote of his, and make fictional characters real."
"So I gathered. That looks like far too much firepower to handle on our own. Going to call the others?"
"Oh yeah."Raven pulled out the communicator. "Titans. This is Raven. Control Freak is at the mall. Kenkaku and I are on the scene."
"Cyborg here. I'm coming."
"Beast Boy. Why does this have to interrupt my breakfast?"
"Shut up and get moving!" yelled Cyborg.
"Where are Robin and Starfire?" interjected Raven.
"Getting some alone time if my plan worked right," answered Cyborg. "I didn't plan on Control Freak being here."
"Robin with his communicator off?" asked Beast Boy disbelievingly. "No way."
"Deretto baka are the same the world round."
"What'd he say?"
"Lovestruck fools are the same the world round. I agree. Nothing short of dragging the fight past them will get them into it."
"Beast Boy, when you get in position, tell me. When I give the signal, we all attack at once. That includes you, Kenkaku."
"Youkai."Kenkaku popped Kanesada and placed his hand on the tsuka, ready to iaijutsu.
"Roger," translated Raven.
"Beast Boy here. I'm on the roof. Ready to come through the skylight."
"Okay. TITANS! GO!"
'RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!'
Cyborg opened up with his autocannon as Raven and Kenkaku dashed out of the hall. "AZARATH, METRION, ZINTHOS!" Shards of glass from smashed store windows glowed black, then streaked through the air, cutting into the suddenly real bandits. Black blood spurted from their wounds, then they faded from existence.
'SHING!'
Kanesada made its battle debut in a blindingly fast iaijutsu. The ronin followed up with a series of slashes that seemed to leave shining trails behind. Bladesong filled the air. A small knot of the mannequins burst into pieces. As more crowded around him he focused his ki and…
"KIAI!"Kenkaku got it right this time. A wave of invisible force pulsed from him, knocking the blade-wielding clothing dummies backwards.
'CRASH!'
Beast Boy burst through the skylight in the midst of a twinkling hail of glass shards. He roared in his tiger form and attacked Jak and Ashelin. Too bad both of them had guns. Jak pulled out his Vulcan Fury while the female elf-like being pulled her pistol.
'ZAP, ZAP, ZAP!'
Yellow pistol blasts missed the emerald tiger. The barrels on the VF gun started to turn, firing slowly at first, but building in speed and the noise of the drive motors.
'TUK…TUK…TUK, TUK, TUK, TUKTUKTUKTUKTUKTUKTUKTUK!'
'WheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN!'
Beast Boy ran from the sapphire onslaught of the weapon, mewling all the way as the grin on the goateed elf's face grew more disturbing. Not to mention the orange rodent on his shoulder. Daxter's taunts were certainly a pain. Too bad that the two furry ones couldn't meet under better conditions. They'd probably get on just fine…much to the dismay of the Titans and Jak.
Cyborg, meanwhile, was busy with the Battlemechs. He might be a walking arsenal, but the mechs were though up as war machines. Not good odds when outnumbered. He was willing to bet each was more heavily armed than the exo-suit from the ship. Fortunately, he was a Mechwarrior fan. He knew their weaknesses. But a Vulture, two Mad Cats and an Atlas were nothing to sneeze at.
'PSSSSSSSSHOW!'
130 LRMs shot at him. This probably won't be pleasant, mused Cyborg as he rolled to the side, employing his built-in jammers.
'TWZANG-KUNG!'
No, he decided as the Atlas's Gauss rifle shot trashed a store behind him instead of him, not pleasant at all.
"HA HA!" laughed Control Freak as he hovered above the strange tableau, "Having fun, Titans? Nothing personal! Just a job to do! Must get money for my search for Ultimate Truth! You understand."
As Cyborg traded weapons fire with Mechs, Beast Boy ran from elvin weapon fire, Raven threw debris at her black-and-white enemies, and Kanesada destroyed all of its wielder's mannequin foes, Kenkaku yelled something. Lost in the sounds of the fight, had it been translated, one would have distinctly heard "Forty-two!"
---
Meanwhile, in the movie theater, Starfire rested her head on Robin's shoulder as the movie played on, their hands intertwined.
---
Japanese Flavor Text:
Ohayou: "Good morning."
Hai: "Yes."
Ka: "?"
Shua: "Sure."
Anou: "Errr/Well."
Un: "Yeah."
Sencha: "Green tea."
Dozou: "Please."
Domo arigato: "Thank you very much."
Douitashimashite: "You're welcome."
Ja na: "See ya." (Male speak.)
Ja ne: "See ya." (Female speak.)
Iie: "No."
Naze: "Why?"
-san: "Mr./Mrs./Ms." General use honorific.
-chan: "Little/Dear." Used for little siblings, between female friends, and from boyfriend to girlfriend. Guess which one Kenkaku was using? Honorific.
Gomen nasai: "Pardon me." (I'm very sorry.) (Strong.)
Koishii: "Beloved."
Kami-sama: "Lord God."
Deretto: "Lovestruck."
Baka: "Idiots/Fools."
Youkai: "Roger."
Kiai: Battle cry.
Hand-to-hand Weapons:
Bo: Quarterstaff.
Naginata: Japanese polearm. Basically a short sword on a stick.
Katana: Samurai sword.
Bokken: Wooden sword made to emulate the katana. Training tool.
Jitte: Also known in some forms as the sai. A metal rod with a handle and at least one cross piece with another rod on it. Used for trapping and breaking swords.
Rapier: Light weight dueling sword for thrusting and small cuts.
Lightsaber: If you don't know what this is, you have been living under a rock…on another PLANET!
Projectile/Beam Weapons:
Autocannon: Auto-loading cannon. Gatling gun.
Sonic cannon: A device firing high-frequency sound waves. Can do vibrational damage or knock a person out by interfering with the inner ear.
Laser rifle: Fires a laser blast. (Comic style.)
Photon cannon: Souped-up laser rifle.
Plasma cannon/rifle: Fires a bolt of plasma. Splashes on contact. Amount of plasma fired determined by yield.
Charged particle cannon: fires a packet (called a bolt) of electrons or protons at something.
Phaser: Star Trek energy weapon. Can either stun or burn.
LRM: Long Ranged Missile
Gauss rifle: Railgun.
Metahumans:
Teen Titans:
Robin
Real name: Timothy Drake
Genetics: Caucasian
Superpowers: None
Martial Arts: A unknown form of hand-to-hand combat involving use of a bo.
Weapons/Equipment: Extendable bo, Birdarangs, discs which can carry multiple payloads, grappling hook, communicator.
Vehicle: R-cycle
Other skills: Good pilot, fair biker, amazing detective, gamer
Position: Leader/Martial Artist
Cyborg
Real name: Victor Stone
Genetics: African-American/Bionic
Superpower: Enhanced robotic strength, detachable controllable limbs
Martial arts: Brawling
Weapons/Equipment: Sonic cannons, laser rifle, low-yield plasma rifle, particle cannon, autocannon, various missiles and rockets, grappling hook, various scanners, jump jets, communicator.
Vehicle: T-car
Other skills: Mechanical genius, good at keeping morale up, gamer
Position: Second-in-command/Heavy weapons/Brawler
Starfire
Real name: Koriand'r
Genetics: Tamaranian
Superpowers: Alien strength, flight, starbolts, eyeblast
Martial arts: What Robin might've taught her.
Weapons/Equipment: Communicator
Vehicle: None
Other skills: Boundless joy, naivety
Position: Air Combatant/Den Mother
Beast Boy
Real name: Garfield Logan
Genetics: Presumably Caucasian, screwed up by an African disease.
Superpowers: Changeling. Can be any living creature, but will be colored green.
Martial arts: None
Weapons/Equipment: Communicator
Vehicle: None
Other skills: Jokester, gamer
Position: Comic relief/Shape-shifter
Raven
Real name: Unknown.
Genetics: Half-Caucasian/Half-Demon
Superpowers: Telekinesis, Shadow warping, weak empathy, healing, various other magics.
Martial arts: Basic avoidance fighting.
Weapons/Equipment: Communicator
Vehicle: None
Other skills: Meditation, unreliable foresight, logic, intelligence, gamer
Position: Sorceress/Voice of Reason
Unaffiliated:
Kenkaku
Real name: Unknown
Genetics: Roma (Gypsy)
Superpowers: Above average resistance to temperature extremes, high G-force tolerance, ki control, ability to enter a bullettime-like mode by speeding up self, perceptions and reflexes. Anyone of these can be activated individually.
Martial arts: Touki no Fenikkusu kenjutsu and iaijutsu, Kiaijutsu.
Weapons/Equipment: Kanesada and Muramasa (legendary enchanted katana and bokken respectively), duffle bag and whatever might be in it.
Other skills: Meditation, intelligent, smart, adaptable, demon biker, good solo pilot (okay with passengers), gamer.
Archetype: Drifter/Speed swordsman
Kanesada and Muramasa (as explained by Kenkaku):
My true power comes from Kanesada and its brother, Muramasa. Kanesada is a katana that was given by the emperor to the very first ronin. The blade is 29.5 inches long and moderately curved. The tsuka is 11 inches long. The tsuba, menuki, fuchi kashira, and tip of the saya are made of dull gray steel with a subdued phoenix motif. The same wrapping the handle is a dull gray like the steel, as is the flat cord wrapped near the top of the saya. The ito wrap is black, like the majority of the saya, giving the sword a decidedly evil and downcast look when sheathed, but the habaki is bright brushed brass, almost looking golden, and the blade is a wonderfully polished flawless piece with a very distinct hamon, said to be the most beautiful blade ever forged. I can believe it.
A number of enchantments were put on the blade. It was made immutable, fated never to change in any way, no matter what happened to it. This made it unbreakable, and never to change from how it was when presented to that fateful first wave man. Secondly, the Kanesada will affect both the natural and supernatural the same. This makes ghostbusting possible, and makes zombies into a simply eradicated problem. Thirdly, the Kanesada can cut or stun, depending on the will of its wielder. If desired to cut, it will to the best of its considerable ability, if desired to stun, the same. I've cut through rock spires with the blade. It is no normal sword when it comes to power. Next, and most importantly, it will be the property of the one that can wield it. There will only ever be one at a time. If anyone but the owner tries to wield it, unpredictable things will happen. No guarantees on what, or even if it will be survivable. The blade is etched with deep, soot-black kanji saying something to this effect near the hilt on one side. And finally, it is bonded with a bokken known as Muramasa. The bokken may be used by anyone the owner of Kanesada wishes, but it will not cut. Outside of that, the enchantments on Kanesada apply to Muramasa as well, including the level of power it can put out and its immutability. Though Muramasa looks like a simple bokken of polished Japanese Maple with a dull gray steel tsuba with the same design as Kanesada's, when taken in hand it feels exactly like an unsheathed Kanesada, down to actually feeling Kanesada's ito wrap.
That's all I know about them, all I was told, and have learned.
A/N: Well here's another chapter. Nice and long too. I decided to give some extra background info this time to lay down the assumed laws of this world. The plot is progressing nicely, and we should have some wicked action in the next chapter.
By the way, concerning the Japanese, the somewhat controversial point in this story. I've decided on a new pattern. If two Japanese speakers are alone, the text will be plain italicized english. If there is a non-fluent person in the conversation, expect flavor text. If there are only non-fluent speakers, the text will be all Japanese. Therefore, Kenkaku will not talk much when Raven is not around. It might shock some of you to know this, but I am not fluent in Japanese. However, I am fluent in fanfiction, as well as the lost language known as review replies. So drop a review with you email in it, and get a nice thank you from me. Now review before I sic Kenkaku on you. Ja na!
