H-District. What was once a run-of-the-mill suburban area of Jump City has been left scarred from battle. The roads were ravaged. Homes were wrecked. Property was pummeled. The scenery was partially destroyed to prevent its entire annihilation; to make peace, we must make war. And thus the Teen Titans have waged a furious war against a liquid entity named Osmosis for what may have lasted no longer than fifteen minutes because of the intervention of Katatz, the lone survivor of Arcania. Where five heroes struggled to defeat one adversary, one alien warrior had annihilated Osmosis to protect the region.

"Any sign of Osmosis anywhere?" Robin questioned his teammates.

"No, man. I'm telling you, that Hadouken wasted that guy!" Cyborg shot back towards his leader.

"So…" Raven began to speak. "What are Katatz's intentions for helping us?"

"Here's your chance to ask Kazee himself," Beast Boy responded, "Because here he comes."

"And he looks as though he is urinated," Starfire added.

"Star… It's 'pissed'." Robin replied.

With what could be best described as a fire in his eyes, Katatz approached the Titans.

"Uh… Way to go. You beat Osmosis." Robin nervously said as he scratched the back of his head.

"This isn't a victory!" Katatz exclaimed.

"Dude, what are you talking about? Without you, this place would be rubble." Beast Boy replied.

"This region already is rubble." Katatz responded. "Do you not see the blatant scars that exist because of the battle with Osmosis? The demolished architecture… tell me you do not see that!"

"We see it," Raven calmly retorted. "And the entire region would've been obliterated if it weren't for you. Buildings can be rebuilt…"

For a moment, there was silence. But Raven's remark struck a chord deep within the Arcanian.

"Fight me…" the Arcanian coldly challenged.

"You're kidding, right?" Robin questioned.

"No." Katatz reacted. "The attitude you are displaying is unbecoming of a hero. Heroes should be willing to accept challenges of combat! Heroes should not permit the destruction of lives and surroundings at all! This planet's denizens and even this planet's evildoers revere you. You have a reputation on this legendary planet. Earth, the home planet of the most legendary of heroes whose feats extend for lightyears. Your attitude towards the evils you face and your manner of confronting evil is not heroic!"

Cyborg was next to respond with, "Do you think we want people wrecking shit in Jump City? No! Do you think we want to feed into someone's expectations of us? No! There are casualties in this line of work. And it's our job to limit those casualties if we can't stop everything indefinitely!"

With only more fuel added to the fire, Katatz retaliated with, "Carelessly involving these structures and those who utilize them help you in your 'line of work'! The hero is supposed to protect and serve, not endanger and annihilate! And if you cannot grasp that fact, then I will usurp your duties as this region's heroes!" Katatz proceeded to activate his dual energy swords and ready himself for combat.

"It's ironic." Robin said. "You critique our inability to protect these surroundings to the grain, yet you wish to challenge us seemingly right here and now."

"You may lead me to a different battlefield if you so wish." Katatz responded.

"Then follow us. I know a place where we can settle this dispute." Robin replied.

Cyborg directed the rest of the Titans to his T-Car. Almost immediately after boarding their car, they began to drive off. Inside the T-Car…

"So where are we going?" Cyborg asked Robin.

"Take us to the outskirts of the city. We'll do this at the canyons." Robin responded.

"Hey, you mind telling me why we're gonna fight this guy?" Beast Boy asked.

"Katatz thinks that we're not suitable heroes for Jump City." Robin replied. "He gets this assumption because we weren't capable of defeating Osmosis, all while damaging the H-District in the process."

"Don't forget, we didn't exactly save the day when Malodor attacked, either." Raven added.

"We would've beaten Malodor and there was a chance we could've defeated Osmosis." Robin retorted. "But when Katatz got involved, we didn't necessarily get another chance, and that's why he looks at us as unsuitable heroes. So the plan is to beat Katatz and show him that we're for real."

"Will he be able to follow the T-Car to the desert?" Starfire inquired.

"I think so. Afterall, he made haste at the pizza parlor without any of us noticing." Robin answered.

"Don't remind me of the pizza parlor." Beast Boy moaned as he held his empty stomach.

As the T-Car drove towards the desert, Katatz followed close behind as he dashed on the rooftops.

'Titans, I will relieve you of your duties as heroes.' Katatz thought to himself. 'This planet needs a hero that can overcome any obstacle and any evil. It is evident to me that you five cannot do so…'

The Arcanian boy continued to trail the Titans until they found themselves in a canyon-populated region. Trenches and plateaus were noticeable as far as the eye could possibly see, and Katatz knew that this would be the battlefield when the T-Car came to a halt, enabling the Titans to vacate from the technologically advanced vehicle.

The Titans got into a line formation and gazed at a battle-ready Katatz.

"We don't wanna have to hurt someone who isn't causing problems in the city, so I'll give you one last chance." Robin pleaded. "Stop your coup."

"My uprising has a just cause!" Katatz responded with vigor. "I will defeat you."

"Have it your way." Robin responded. "Titans, go!"

The Titans and Katatz charged each other. From a glance, it seemed as if Starfire would make the first attack, which ultimately became a flurry of starbolts; all of which Katatz managed to avoid by phasing out of the path of each individual blast. And with an amazing display of speed, Katatz positioned himself directly in Starfire's face. The positioning came as a shock to the Tameranian girl, but a brief yet cold stare from Katatz was all that was administered to her. And just as fast as he appeared, he vanished. As he phased in close to Cyborg, Katatz delivered a hefty dropkick to the cybernetic Titan.

As Cyborg tried to recover from the attack, Robin jumped into the fray. With an opening attack of a roundhouse kick, the Boy Wonder booted the Arcanian in the temple. Katatz tumbled backwards as Robin chased. Katatz made his way to his feet as he noticed that Robin had jumped into the air, and the Arcanian warrior managed to dodge the leading Titan's quick downward kicks. Robin touched ground and went for a leg sweep, which Katatz easily dodged with a small jump. Robin chained another roundhouse kick to his sweep, but Katatz stopped the attack with his forearm and shrugged the Boy Wonder away, leaving Cyborg the time to get a retaliatory power punch that forced the Arcanian back several feet.

"Boo yah!" Cyborg's victory cry rang loud. "And here's some more gifts; courtesy of Planet Earth!"

Cyborg went on the attack like a predator attacks its prey. Several heavy punches from the technological Titan crunched into Katatz's body.

"If this is how you're gonna be a hero, then the city's doomed." Cyborg taunted while he attacked.

As Cyborg went for a hook punch, Katatz caught his fist. Putting a halt to Cyborg's assault, Katatz disappeared again and reappeared behind him. Applying his legs to his back, a forceful leg shove from Katatz sent Cyborg careening into the wall of a nearby plateau.

With Katatz focused on the follow-through of his attack, he was taken off-guard by a pillar of earth that impaled him from behind while in mid-air. The pillar itself was enraptured in dark energy. But that made little difference when Katatz did a backwards flip-kick to split the post in two, breaking Raven's control of the earth. Control was lost only for a short time, as the dark sorceress gained control of the two shafts of rock and smashed Katatz with them. The manifestations of the ground shattered on impact, however, and Katatz successfully shielded himself from the attack. Raven drifted a short distance away from Katatz out of shock, but the Arcanian merely shrugged and darted off towards his next target; Beast Boy. Starfire flew next to her bewildered dark comrade.

"Okay, why didn't he attack me?" Raven asked.

"Perhaps it is the same reason he did not attack me." Starfire replied.

"I just don't get it. He has no problem battling everyone else, but he doesn't even lay a finger on us." Raven added. "If he wants us defeated so badly, wouldn't he have made some sort of attack against us?"

"I think I may know why we are not being targeted…" Starfire began to hypothesize.

As the two female Titans conversed, Katatz made his charge towards Beast Boy.

"So, you like things fast and furious, huh?" Beast Boy cracked before he transformed into a cheetah.

The two foes dashed towards each other at about the same speed. As Beast Boy went to claw at Katatz, the Arcanian blocked the attack by catching the forelegs of the cheetah and tossing him over his head. Beast Boy landed and charged again. But as the changeling got in a close enough proximity to his opponent, he changed into a squid. Katatz's eyes widened as Beast Boy prepared to attack. Using two tentacles to maintain balance, Beast Boy used the other eight to repeatedly lunge at Katatz. Fortunately for the Arcanian, he was able to dodge the tentacles until he got a firm grip of all eight of them. The bad news is that after constricting Beast Boy's tentacles, the squid shot an inkblot on Katatz's face. Temporarily incapacitated, Beast Boy transformed into a Tyrannosaurus Rex and used his tail to impound the Arcanian into the hard ground. The ground split due to the impact, but as the ground broke apart, Katatz was not so easily broken, as he lifted the massive dinosaur up above his head and chucked Beast Boy back towards the regrouping male Titans.

"Dude, he is not kicking our asses like this…" Beast Boy said as he reverted back to his human form.

"Looks like we're getting pretty ass-kicked to me, BB" Cyborg responded.

"Our previous attacks didn't work." Robin said. "On the plus side, however, we're faring better against Katatz than we did against Osmosis. If we attack all at once, we will probably subdue him. So let's get moving!"

'Perhaps I am underestimating my opponents. After all, they're not so easily defeatable, or I would have been victorious in this battle by now.' Katatz thought. 'I believe that Robin and Cyborg will be easier to defeat. It is Beast Boy who I will have trouble faring against. I have no knowledge of the animal life on this planet, and he appears to have the ability to change into any animal at will. … Then there are Starfire and Raven. My religious beliefs may bar me from combating them, but they do not share the same restriction, but they will probably not propose too much of a threat.'

Meanwhile, as Starfire and Raven conversed with each other…

"Are you sure he's Arcanian?" Raven asked.

"I am having the hunch that he comes from Arcania." Starfire answered. "He dresses in the attire of an Arcanian warrior, and his blast of light… I am certain that he is Arcanian."

"If what you say is true, it looks like I'll be getting my hands dirty." Raven responded.

Katatz braced himself as Robin, Cyborg, and Beast Boy simultaneously charged the Arcanian. Beast Boy once again morphed into a squid and helped contribute to a 14-limb barrage of fists, feet, and tentacles. For the most part, Katatz was able to dodge their assault, until he was lashed from behind from one of Beast Boy's tentacles. With his defense broken, Katatz was pummeled.

"We have the upper hand! Don't let up!" Robin ordered.

"You have no choice…" Katatz muffled from within the entanglement of bodily limbs.

A forceful shockwave of energy freed Katatz from the beatdown and flung the male Titans in different directions. Robin regained himself in mid-air, while Cyborg did so along the ground. Katatz had effectively, yet unknowingly defeated Beast Boy, despite his previous fight analysis. Robin tossed a birdarang towards Katatz, but the Arcanian fired a small energy blast to destroy the birdarang.

"Keep your eyes on the birdie!" Katatz heard Cyborg exclaim.

'Birdie? Where's a birdie? What's a birdie?' Katatz thought to himself as he looked around aimlessly, only to bear the full force of Cyborg's photon beam. "A diversion… I should… have figured…"

Katatz yelled as he tried to push back Cyborg's beam. He eventually forced the beam to a different route, freeing Katatz from the attack. His white shirt and red undershirt had been disintegrated. After tearing off the remnants of his upper attire, Katatz spit a wad of blood and fired his own mighty energy blast at the cybernetic Titan. But before the beam could make contact, a dark barrier appeared before Cyborg and deflected the attack. As the shield dissipated, Raven appeared in front of Cyborg.

"Raven" Cyborg commented. "Man, what took you so long to do something?"

"One of the reasons we lost to Osmosis is because we didn't know our enemy." Raven answered. "So Starfire and I took some time to put two and two together and figure something out that can win us this fight."

"What did you discover?" Robin asked his teammate.

"I learned that you should leave this fight to me." Raven responded as she walked towards Katatz.

'I have severely underestimated my opponents in this fight.' Katatz pondered as he began to power up.

"No matter how much you power up, you will still lose," Raven's cold voice said.

"Great, a female wishes to challenge my power…" Katatz said.

"As a matter of fact, I do."

"Do not take this the wrong way. I would love to combat you as I did your teammates, but I am bound to the Divine Presence. My religion bars me from battling you."

"If you want to usurp our hero status, you will have to defeat myself and Starfire, let alone fight against us."

'She has a point. Raven and Starfire, although female, are still Titans, and I have sworn to defeat them today. Forgive me, Oh Holy One. I must do this…' Katatz regained focus and prepared himself to fight.

With an upward thrust of his arm, Katatz used his energy to kick up a cloud of dust around Raven. Katatz went on the attack, dashing into the dusty cloud, but as he went for a punch, there was nothing but dust particles. A downward kick from Raven changed that, although Katatz did block her attack. Katatz acted quickly and assaulted the dark sorceress with a barrage of quick punches, but using her dark power, she was able to deflect his punches. And a surge of power shot the Arcanian out of the dissipating dust cloud and away for several yards.

'So, she utilizes dark power.' Katatz thought to himself.

Katatz cupped his hands and channeled energy. Raven had seen this attack before; Juu'co Juu'co Miedotat. It was the attack that Katatz used to vanquish Osmosis. Raven began to channel some of her power as a white orb appeared in the Arcanian's palms.

"In the battle of light and darkness, light always wins." Katatz said.

"The light only makes the darkness stronger." Raven shot back.

From the sidelines…

"That girl has fuckin' lost it!" Cyborg commented.

"I am certain that Raven knows what to do." Starfire replied.

"If I was her, I'd stop trying to be the loner and let my team help. For fuck's sake, she's always shutting us out of everything!" Beast Boy exclaimed.

"There's nothing we can do now." Robin said. "Katatz is about to use his most powerful attack. It's all in Raven's hands now."

On the battlefield, Katatz had finished gathering energy.

"Be purified by light! Juu'co Juu'co Miedotat!" Katatz screamed as he fired his attack.

"Starfire, you better be right about this. Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" Raven chanted as she fired a dark wave.

"Get out of there!" Beast Boy hollered. "His Kamehameha will eat your beam for breakfast!"

But as the two beams collided, just the opposite occurred. On impact, Katatz's attack seemed to shatter as Raven's beam drilled through it, and ultimately impaled the Arcanian.

"De… mon…" was the last words to come from Katatz's weakened voice as he hit the ground and lay motionless.

Slowly, but surely, the Titans gathered around the defeated alien.

"Whoa… how did you…" Beast Boy's question went interrupted.

"He was right. The light usually does conquer the darkness." Raven explained. "But some darkness is meant to overcome the light. The dark power of Azarath is the Achilles Heel of an Arcanian."

"So, will Katatz ribbit because of your attack?" Starfire asked.

"No. And it's 'croak'." Raven corrected.

"So what do we do with him?" Cyborg asked.

"Let's bring him back to the Tower. We have to get some answers from Katatz." Robin said.

"That's not all we have to get. We need food!" Beast Boy bellowed.

"There's stuff at the Tower, so let's get moving." Robin directed his team back to the T-Car.

Cyborg lifted the defeated Arcanian over his shoulder and put him in the T-Car. In moments, they left the canyons.