"Ya know, I'm really starting to think this ain't such a good idea," the voice of Cyborg was heard through the walls of Titan's Tower.
"We have this under control. So don't worry." Robin reassured his teammate.
The sun fell below the horizon in Jump City, and the Titans returned to their home and base of operations, Titan's Tower. They had returned with the spoils of battle; an unconscious Katatz. Having defeated the Arcanian in an arduous battle in the immediate past, it was time to learn the alien's intentions. Afterall, a powerful ally in battle that goes the way of the heretic and battles those he allied himself with is enough to cause suspicions to arise.
"So, do you have any idea who this guy could be, or any of his motivations?" Cyborg asked his leader.
"Your guess is as good as mine." Robin responded. "We'll just have to wait for Raven to finish her psychoanalysis. It sure is taking her awhile to find everything we need."
"Why wait for Raven?" Beast Boy interrupted. "I have it all figured out!"
Beast Boy dragged a bulletin board from seemingly nowhere. As Robin and Cyborg stood by dumbfounded, Beast Boy began to hypothesize.
"Alright, it all started with a rift in the space-time continuum that threw Kenshin Himura onto Planet Vegeta, the Saiya-jin Homeworld." Beast Boy hypothesized as he followed the timeline using the bulletin board. "The Saiya-jins found Kenshin kicking ass at an alien arcade, but then the Covenant invaded Vegeta. But the Saiya-jins ghetto stomped their scaly asses. After taking two Covenant energy swords, Kenshin said 'Hiten Mitsurugi Style! Space Pod Theft!' and booked Vegeta. Then he crashed on Earth and created a new persona for himself; Katatz. And the rest… sorta follows on it's own."
As a mechanized door opened, Beast Boy's hypothesis was shot down when Raven said, "As usual, you're dead wrong".
As Beast Boy felt defeated, Robin and Cyborg approached their dark female comrade.
"So what's the verdict?" Cyborg asked.
"And why did this take so long?" Robin was next.
"I would've finished earlier, but his mind is honeycombed with thoughts and memories." Raven replied. "It took me awhile to sift through his subconscious to get the information that was important."
The four Titans entered the medical room. Inside, there was equipment that one could see at a typical hospital, mostly machines to determine and display vital signs and diagnostics of both the mind and body. Hooked up to the machines was Katatz, still in a state of unconsciousness from his previous fight.
"I'm surprised Star isn't here to hear about what Raven discovered." Cyborg said. "You'd expect her to wanna know the inside scoop on an alien."
"Hey, you try dragging her away from those documentaries she watches." Beast Boy replied. "It's like trying to separate cookies and milk; it ain't happening."
"We can let her in on the details later, but only if we know the details now." Robin responded. "Raven, what have you learned about Katatz?"
"A lot." Raven answered. "More than we need. It turns out that Katatz is the sole survivor of a planet called Arcania. His entire race was obliterated by bestial invaders that he comes to know as Xeno. Unwillingly, he was exiled from Arcania to avoid being another casualty."
"These Xeno must've been a hell of a force." Cyborg commented. "We've beaten hordes of enemies, and Kaze took it to us in that last fight."
"He would've defeated us if he had not exhausted himself fighting two previous back to back fights immediately before fighting us." Raven added.
"But…" Beast Boy responded, "He was going strong and you took him out."
"Probably because of an elemental advantage." Robin said. "Raven's power seemed like the perfect counter to Katatz's. But if he was fresh, maybe we'd be out of jobs."
"While we're talking about our fight, did you find out why he wanted to fight us so bad?" Cyborg asked Raven.
"Katatz was true to his word." Raven replied. "He honestly thought we weren't suitable defenders of the city. Earth was legendary to the Arcanians. To them, Earth is the Planet of Heroes and Villains. They look at our heroes as chivalrous and almighty entities that can thwart any force of evil. After arriving on this 'fabled' Earth, he believed that the legends his people told were true. And that's why he had such high expectations of our abilities."
"It's almost sad." Beast Boy responded in a sorrowful manner. "To think that his beliefs of Earth were dashed, only after having been here for maybe a couple hours at tops."
"Folk tales are one thing, but reality is another." Raven responded. "That's just the way things are."
"Well, we know what we need to know." Robin said. "C'mon team. Let's let Katatz get his rest." And with that said, Robin exited the medical room.
"I'm gonna go down to the crash site and see if I can salvage his ship." Cyborg said as he was on his way out. "Who knows, we might learn something useful out of Arcanian technology."
"Yeah, I'm outta here. Monkey Madness is almost on…" Beast Boy said as he left Raven alone with the unconscious Arcanian.
The Azarathian sighed. But as she made her way towards the exit, she heard a faint voice. It came from Katatz. "Demon…" was all to come out of the unconscious Arcanian's mouth. With only that slight distraction behind her, Raven left the medical room.
'No one…'the Arcanian thought to himself in his state of comatose, 'should see my past…'
With his final thought, Katatz entered into sleep.
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"I believe one more push ought to do it, ma'am."
This ma'am was sweating bullets. This was not an easy thing to push, but the pressure of pushing this rested on this woman's shoulders alone. Madly, she screamed out in pain, until the pressure was relieved.
"Well, that is over with. Ma'am, with the blessing of the Divine Presence, greet your son for the very first time."
The infant was wrapped in a white sheet and handed to the loving mother. The culmination of her pregnancy was now lying in her arms.
"Oh, my little kuzo…" The mother softly said down to her crying child.
Mother and child snuggled with each other, until a small beam of light began to emit from the baby. Numerous beams then emit from the same source, until in moments, a giant tower of energy enraptured the hospital.
The Arcanian sick house was left in shambles. What was once a structure to protect and rehabilitate the people was now a graveyard covered in debris. The area wasn't entirely dead, however, as the faint sound of crying was heard, although muffled from the debris.
Moments passed, and a man with graying hair and dressed in purple garments arrived at the decimated hospital and followed his ears to the sound of muffled crying. He traced the sobbing to its source and found the same infant that annihilated the hospital only moments ago. The younger Shojo lifted the child from the wreckage and placed the infant in his arms.
"There is always that one in the million chance that someone like you will be born into the world." Shojo said as he looked at the infant's teary, yet sparkling blue eyes. "The annihilation of this facility is the Divine Presence's way of telling you 'You are my agent, and an incredible power is our gift to our newest chosen one'."
Shojo took flight, with a firm hold on the baby.
"It is a shame. The Divine Presence leaves no instruction on how to control your power." Shojo softly spoke. "If I had not discovered you, you would have had to dedicate half of your life to harnessing the powers you were bestowed. But I will teach you to wield your strength, teach you what I know, and otherwise give you the opportunities that I never had."
The flight came to a close as Shojo reached his house. Touching down on the ground, he entered the infant through the gateway towards the rest of the child's life.
"I will name you Katatz." Shojo said. "The name will fit the lifestyle I will place on your shoulders when it is my time to ascend into the Spirited World, and you become a hero."
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Katatz cracked open his eyes. He took a look outside the window of the medical room. It was sunrise.
"Fitting… that I recollect on my past on the night after my arrival on Earth." Katatz spoke with the softness one would expect from someone waking up.
In moments, Katatz rose from his bed and left the medical room. Outside the medical room, Katatz found himself in a blue hallway. Following it to a mechanized door, Katatz entered the main lobby of Titans Tower.
"Unreal…" Katatz said to himself as he ventured the lobby.
Katatz took everything in. The lobby of Titans Tower included a state-of-the-art media region, a decent kitchen, and an amazing view of the bay below the tower. Katatz was more fixated on the natural aspects of what Titans Tower had to offer.
"The moment I have landed on Earth, I have been in endless combat." Katatz softly spoke. "I never had any opportunity to see any of Earth's marvels… like this bay."
As Katatz was fixated on the view, the mechanized lobby door opened and Raven entered the lobby.
"You're quite the early bird." Raven said.
"What do you want, demon?" Katatz asked as he shifted his focus from the view to the dark sorceress.
"I know you hate me for beating you with dark power, but the name-calling isn't necessary."
"You are what you are."
"And I'm certainly not a demon."
"Tell that to my beliefs…"
"Isn't that what I'm doing now?"
"I am not convinced that you are being truthful." Katatz proceeded to look towards the bay again, but this time with scorn on his face, which he didn't particularly want to show Raven. "You overcame my strength with dark power; bastardizing my belief of 'light overcomes the darkness'. Then, while I was unable to defend myself, your clan took me here and you proceeded to probe my mind without my consent for information I would have gladly given to you if you had only asked! That is demonic, at least… character-wise."
"We couldn't risk anything. We needed to know your intentions for your actions yesterday. We had to know you."
"Well congratulate yourself. You know me now. You know everything about me; particularly what people like you should not know!"
Raven stood in awe. The two stood in silence as Katatz let out a heavy sigh, then faced Raven once more.
"Perhaps I am being overzealous…" Katatz said. "You know what I expected from Earth. This planet was merely a legend before I actually crash landed on it. After landing here, I thought that the other legends my people have created about Earth were also true." Katatz took a short pause as he examined Raven, causing her to blush somewhat. "It turns out those legends were false."
"Not entirely." Raven responded. "You're letting one day here affect your entire outlook of Earth. You might be surprised at what else you'll notice while you're here."
"You are right." Katatz replied. "I have had a night to think about my outlook towards Earth; towards the Titans."
"You've thought it over in your sleep?"
"Yes. I once thought you all were not fit to protect this region of Earth. Defeating me in battle did not distort that thought like I believed it would. But I later acknowledged the fact that although Shojo, a legendary hero amongst my people, trained me, I was, and still am, a novice in regards to being a hero. But you have experience in this field. You knew long before I realized anything that heroism is a demanding role. And for this, I wish to apologize."
"Don't worry about it."
The mechanized doors to the lobby once again opened. This time, Cyborg entered the room. After letting out a heavy yawn, Cyborg said, "Shit, it's 6:15. You're usually not up until around eight, Rae."
"I woke up early. It's no big deal." Raven responded. "Besides, you usually sleep in until one in the afternoon."
"Yeah, but I know at least one argument in here that woke me up." Cyborg said in a seething tone.
"Heh… sorry. My fault." Katatz apologized.
"Well, since you're up and running, Kaze, I want you to follow me." Cyborg requested.
"Kaze?" Katatz asked.
"He's not talking to me. He called me 'Rae'." Raven sarcastically said.
"Ah…" Katatz confirmed as he followed Cyborg out of the lobby.
In the hallways…
"So, where are you taking me?" Katatz asked the metallic Titan.
"I salvaged your ship last night." Cyborg answered. "Real fucked up from the landing, but I gathered what I could. I hoped I could learn something about Arcanian technology as I repaired it, but I just couldn't fix it up."
"You asked me to follow you just so you could tell me that?" Katatz questioned.
"Nah. I thought you'd be more interested to know what I made out of your space pod." Cyborg responded. "After all, it's gonna be for you."
"You're giving me a gift after forcing you into combat?" Katatz continued to ask as he and Cyborg boarded an elevator.
"Raven gave us the inside scoop. Your intentions were good. Misled, but certainly not evil." Cyborg said as the elevator took them to the bottom of Titans Tower.
After exiting the elevator, Cyborg led Katatz into what could best be described as a garage. The T-Car, R-Cycle, and the B-Ped were all here, as well as a plethora of mechanical equipment. Cyborg led Katatz to a structure that was covered by a white sheet.
"Kaze, this is my way of telling you 'Sorry for messing with your tech'." Cyborg said as he took off the white sheet. "Check out the K-Craft. Using what I learned from your ship, I made a motorcycle that uses propulsion instead of wheels."
Katatz's jaw dropped. His sleek and silver vehicular gift was truly a piece of work.
"Ha! I take it you like it." Cyborg said.
"It is… unbelievable." Katatz responded. "Unfortunately, I do not know how to operate this new machine."
"No prob! I'll show you after the team breakfast." Cyborg reassured. "I'm sure that'll be any minute, because I bet you woke everyone up when you were arguing with Raven. You're welcome to join us if you want."
As Cyborg and Katatz got on the elevator again, Katatz said, "I'd be glad to finally break my fasting…"
