Chapter 3

With four of the Titans down and dark clouds of the inferno smothering the day sky, the ruined village became a hellish arena for the two feral monsters.

The werebeast didn't skip a beat, for once he sized his opponent up, he growled one more time before charging ahead on all fours; its sole instinct was to protect Raven.

His speed tackled the the bigger creature off of the sorceress, and a violent wrestle ensued, buying her just enough time to crawl out of harm's way; the strength to simply phase or fly away had yet to return. When her powers did come back soon after, she took the split-second chance swoop over to her friends.

She first went over to Robin, whom was the first to come to. When she tried to help him up, a searing pain in his side pushed him back down.

"I think it broke some ribs." He grunted.

"Let me see it."

Removing his hand from that spot, she saw blood running down from his gash and immediately used her healing powers to treat it. Before he knew it, the bleeding stopped, the wound closed up and his bones underneath not longer felt fractured.

"Thanks, Raven, I can always count on you." When he looked over her shoulder, his eyes shot wide beneath his mask as he now saw two creatures battling it out. With a second glimpse, he immediately made out who the other creature was. "Is that... Beast Boy?"

Raven looked back to him, and as she watched them trade more blows, she drew out various emotions that blazed from the green beast like a wildfire — what she got out of it was pure carnivorous and territorial instinct, neither that seemed human for him.

Had the beast taken control again?

The two teammates watched with great worry as the berserker got the better of Beast Boy and rammed him with its antlers. The beast gripped them to avoid having his abdomen pierced by its sharper point, but couldn't stop its larger mass from pushing him backwards into the shadows of the jungle. Having vanished from their sight, more trees were heard timbering as they got demolished, along with pained roars.

"Beast Boy!" Robin cried. "We have to help him!"

"No!" Raven argued as she lifted him off the ground on her shoulder. "I have to help him."

"But—."

"You're still not fully healed. You need to stay and make sure the others are okay."

"But—."

Before Robin could argue further, Raven glowed her eyes red as she stared him down. He recognized this as a warning from the half-demon not to push the matter any further, so he sealed his lips.

Once she realized he got the message, her eyes returned to normal. "Good." That was all she said.

Right after, a flash of lightning dented the sky, accompanied by a boom of thunder.

"Great." Raven glowered at the sky, now furrowing with thick grey clouds; she hated rain.

"At least it'll put out the fires." Robin pointed out as he limped over tend to Starfire. "Be careful, okay?"

"I will."

(SCENE BREAK)

With water starting to pour down heavily, the two beasts continued their onslaught in the thick of the wild, the werebeast now on the defensive for a change.

He had to use the trees, the vines, the rocks and just about anything within this habitat just to avoid or shield himself from his attacker whenever he could help it; while he was certainly faster, the berserker seemed far stronger.

Everywhere they took their battle, destruction laid in their wake, frightening off all nearby critters.

Beast Boy no longer possessed the thought of a thinking human — the only thing left on his mind was to mutilate this other monster, by whatever means.

Closing in for another round of strikes, the beast ducked and dodged the berserkers claws and antlers while simultaneously getting in a few swipes of his own; its scaly flesh wasn't as hard as it appeared as he left some gashes on its back and face.

The berserker countered this by capturing one of wrists between its jaws and thrashed its green challenger all over the place, the latter howling in pain from its teeth as its body took the impact against the trees, the hardening dirt and the glistening wet rocks — its bite was harder than a bear trap's, threatening to rip his arm off.

His hand was thankfully still intact when the berserker threw him down a steep and slippery slope, but the beast lost track for where he was as his vision spun as he tumbled violently to the bottom, almost blacking out completely.

As the beast lifted its head, it quickly noted the immense blood seeping from the bite — chunks of flesh and meat were chowed off, and he could even see bits of bone inside.

Hearing the distant roar of the other creature at the top, the beast picked himself up, using his other arm to support most of his weight, and carried off while they were out of each other's sight — he wasn't fleeing from the fight, but rather, the green animal needed its time-out to recuperate.

This wasn't over... not by a long shot.

(SCENE BREAK)

Raven encased herself in a spherical energy shield to protect herself from the storm as she soared over the infinite layers of trees to find her green friend — it seemed to take forever, the way this was going, though it wasn't going to be any easier down there either.

She needed a way to connect to him faster, and then stopped in mid-air, memories of Robin's phantom encounter with Slade rushing back to her. She remembered how she used their psychic connection to peer through his eyes; if she could do the same with Beast Boy, she should be able to discover where he is.

Changing to a lotus position, she heaved in some deep breaths to relax her mind, sharpening her focus on that one goal.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos."

An unseen force began pushing her long hair up off her shoulders, like it was being lifted by the low gravity of being underwater.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos."

A white aura, the shape of an actual raven, spawned from her body and circled her floating form.

"Azarath Metriom Zinthos."

The spirit animal dove down into the jungle and spread its wings as it glided between the rocky terrains, the intertwined bushes and the other unpredictable formations of this natural habitat; everywhere it passed through, its glow illuminated the dark corners, revealing critters that were hidden there.

Soon enough, Raven was following a trail of chaffed branches, larger-than-normal footprints and... blood. The rose liquid stuck out among the green, so she traced it thoroughly, believing it to be Beast Boy's.

The blood trail led her to a swamp where, hunching right there with his feet in the water, his back turned to her, was Beast Boy — he was still in his beast form.

It took her only a minute to link their minds together, and once she accomplished that, she reopened her eyes to find them peering through his — the first sight she was greeted with was his shredded arm as he licked at this wound.

"Beast Boy!" She spoke in telepathy.

The beast perked up, hearing this strange voice in his head.

She continued, glad that he responded. "It's me, Raven. I've connected our minds so I could find you. Are you okay?"

The beast only grumbled, and she wasn't sure if this was the animal or the person answering.

"I'll take that as a so-so."

From his location, her eyes followed his as they both surveyed the area. The water was muddy, yet very even on the surface with raindrops rippling the clean reflection.

As the beast looked down at his own face, Raven shared his fear, his pain and his sadness; she could swear the human part of him was reflecting back to either that Adonis incident or that confrontation with Trigon's demon army when he took that form once more and never since until now to protect her.

"That's a nasty wound you have there. I can hopefully fix it up once I get to you." She was confident in her abilities, but this injury he had was ghastly, the worst she had ever seen; it left her unsure as to whether her magic alone could fix it completely.

"I know you're in there somewhere, so if you can hear me, I need you to stay put."

Any guarantees of whether he would comply to her began to drench when she heard the same snarl of that berserker with his ears — it was close.

The beast turned to the source of that noise, and right behind him, revealing itself from the shade under the leaves, was the other creature — it found him.

The beast stood up on his hind legs to growled at his challenger, inviting another round. As the two monsters clashed yet again, Raven was shocked out of her psychic connection.

Back in her own body, the empath jetted in the direction of where she believed her friend was; she allowed her feelings to guide her, much like a Jedi would, according to one of his stupid movies.

"Hold on."

(SCENE BREAK)

The beast continued to hold his own as best as he could, but due to his injury and waning stamina, he was at a serious disadvantage.

Everything he threw at his foe, he was knocked back, thrown off or forced to endure another combination of punishment.

At the same time, the berserker grew increasingly frustrated as his opponent continued bouncing back after each blow, refusing to stay down.

They were both exhausted at this point, although the beast had the more dangerous case with swelling in his chest that still lingered.

Panting like a mutt, his eyes moved to the berserker's antlers, and a malicious idea drew itself in his head as malicious grin stretched wide on his face.

Not liking that look one bit, the berserker lunged forward, which was exactly what his opponent wanted as the beast capitalized by vaulting onto its back, and with a strong grip of both hands, snapped off one of its antlers from its stem — the bone-crunching sound echoed louder than the monster's agony.

Another streak of lightning, close to where they are, blinded the scene for just a split-second as the beast held up the broken piece and thrust it downwards, like a sword, into its back, impaling it right through its spine; the thunder that followed amplified that devastating blow.

But he wasn't done, not just yet.

Rolling the berserker on its back, still with own antler lodged in, the beast stared down his opponent, now with its own blood leaking down its face from its stump — gone was that ferocity, replaced only with resignation.

The beast tightened his fists until they were solid as rocks, the claws of his fingers pumping blood out of his palms, and proceeded to bombard his downed enemy with a flurry of hammerfists, much like a crazed ape.

Slowly but surely, the hard exterior of the berserker's face was giving way with each hit — its flesh and the meat underneath felt like it was being reduced to paste while its skull dented and caved in, much like an eggshell.

The pain and anger only served to empower its brutality — it hungered to dominate as the true alpha.

"STOP!" cried a female voice.

The beast halted his onslaught to see a pale but elegant woman floating just above the water, her upside-down reflection painting a perfect symmetrical picture.

Raven cupped her mouth to hold in a gasp at the graphic sight that laid before her.

There, at the edge of the ravaged swamp, Beast Boy was covered in scars long enough to dice him if they were as deep as they appeared, especially the hands that were completely reddened, but not with own blood.

The body he stood over was that of the berserker — its head was completely oozed in a dark red puddle, its head bashed in beyond recognition as pieces of what looked like its brains were scattered everywhere like it had been put under a tenderizer.

Raven was left even more uncertain whom she was facing now.

(TO BE CONTINUED)

Author's Note: Where do they go from here? The beast pretty much 'Lucilled' the berserker with his fists. Do you think this story should be rated M because of the violence? Ratings and genres may change depending on which direction the story takes.

daniele583: To answer your question properly, the reason I had Beast Boy dream of his parents instead is because I plan to touch down on his past a little.

Morgan: I just found that story you mentioned but decided not to read until I finish my own story. This story, however, won't go the way you think. ;)

Tune in until next time to see how Raven resolves this situation. Feel free to leave a review and question, and I shall respond to them in the next chapter.

Cheers!