Dark Titans – Arc 1 – Red XX?

Chapter One

Enjoy if you will, Tolerate if you won't.

Ryouga leaned back, trying to get comfortable while he gazed at his lone companion. She stared back at him impassively, as she had done for all of the time he had spent with her over the past week. At this point, he was just willing her to say something to him, to tell him something, anything. But no . . . she wasn't in the mood to talk to him yet, nor would she be for the foreseeable future.

No, Terra was just not a great conversationalist . . . not that he could blame her, what with being a statue and all.

Frankly, he wasn't even sure what he was doing here anymore. He had been sitting here for a week straight, and he still wasn't any closer to figuring out what the heck Cologne had meant when she said that Terra here contained some great, world-altering secret. He hadn't been able to figure out what she had done to Terra yet either. She had done it so fast and it had been so subtle, that he had missed it completely. He was pretty sure it had something to do with the Bakusai Tenketsu, but that was about it.

Well . . . there was one reason that he knew he was still here. He was still here, everyday, almost all day in some cases; trying everything in his power to help Terra, because he knew how much it meant to Beast Boy. He shook his head slightly; he could definitely sympathize with the boy, losing a girl that he cared for so much in such a way. He knew that if anyone said they could help him find Jinx, he would do anything they asked, no matter what the cost.

"Heh, and I thought I had seen hell because of Ranma. I'm not sure I can even imagine what you must be going through now, because of that Slade person," he whispered silently.

Gingerly, he rose to his feet and moved closer to Terra, carefully examining her left hand for, perhaps, the hundredth time. Yes, this was pretty much what had gotten everything started a week ago, the very same night of Cologne's departure.

It was very hard to discern, even under close scrutiny, but it seemed as obvious as the sun to him now, just as it had to Beast Boy then . . .

A tiny spider web of cracks that had somehow spread to encompass her delicate fingers.

The Lost Boy leaned against the counter, a bittersweet smile on his face as he shared a cup of tea with Kasumi. It had been several hours since they had dropped Cologne off at the airport and left Beast Boy with Terra back in the cavern, yet neither of them could bring themselves to sleep yet. He wasn't sure about his companion, but he was filled with a kind of nervous energy himself.

The prospect of starting a new life was as terrifying as it was exciting. Certainly, he was used to seeing new and unusual things on a daily basis in his travels, but the point of his travels had always been the same; to find Ranma to punish him, or to find Akane and try to express his feelings, ineffectually, yet again. But now, now that was in the past and he was trying to forge a new path for himself. For the first time, true uncertainty about what he was going to do with his life ran through his mind.

Combine that with Cologne's departure, one less tie to his past; as well as the tragic story that Beast Boy had told him only hours ago about Terra's life . . . So many anxieties were building up, and that didn't even bring into consideration the situation between Raven and him, or the lingering question in his mind as to the fate of his lost Jinx.

Frankly, he wasn't sure how he was going to sleep for the next week, considering all of the things running through his mind at a hundred kilometers per hour. His musings were derailed, as he felt a soft hand grasp his own. He looked up into the gentle eyes of Kasumi, as she stared at him with a world of compassion in her gaze.

"You really need to relax, Ryouga. You look tense enough to bend steel." A quiet giggle escaped her lips at that. "This is supposed to be our chance to start new lives, and you look like your expecting the sky to start falling."

He smiled slightly at that, just enough for a fang to peek over his lip. He lowered his free hand to cover hers and squeezed gently, very careful not to hurt the delicate girl. Looking at the smiling young woman before him, he suddenly felt a bit silly.

"I'm sorry, you're right of course. It's kind of ironic, isn't it? Me, the one whose life was a constant stream of pain and disappointment, am afraid to leave my old life behind. And you, who actually had a happy life, a wonderful home and a loving family, you're excited and happy to be here. It's a bit ridiculous, isn't it?"

She frowned a bit at his words and squeezed his hand again. "Not at all, Ryouga. It's perfectly understandable that you would be worried about this, but I know that you're brave enough to face what's coming, even if you don't have any idea what it might be." Her smile returned once more, lighting up the room a bit. "That's part of the reason that I'm so calm now, because I know that you'll be here to help me, no matter what."

He – he didn't know what to say to that. He felt his chest tighten slightly at her words, the only other person that had ever said anything like that to him, that had ever put that kind of faith in him, had been Jinx . . .

He was saved from trying to find a suitable response, when the elevator slid open and a rather bedraggled looking Robin stumbled out into room not too far from where they were sitting. The slightly younger teen looked around somewhat sleepily for a moment, before his eye mask covered eyes finally settled upon the pair of them.

"Oh my! Are you all right, Robin?" The concerned Tendo woman quickly rose from her stool and moved to fuss over the young hero.

Ryouga chuckled to himself in amusement as he watched Robin weakly try to ward off the lovely brunette's caring ministrations. The boy looked a bit rough, but it was obvious that he wasn't seriously injured in any way. But then, what could you expect after going a few rounds with Happosai? Not even Ranma could escape those fights without having at least a few feathers ruffled. He was just glad that Robin's persistence hadn't gotten the old master angry yet.

"Okay, okay, that's enough. I'm fine, Kasumi, I promise, it's just a few bumps and bruises," assured the young bird. After ineffectually waving his hands a bit to shoo the young medico in training away, Robin shuffled over and pulled up a stool to sit with them. Almost immediately, Kasumi glided over and poured him a cup of tea.

The masked boy then looked his way, glaring slightly and pointing his stirring spoon at him accusingly. "And why is it again, that you aren't out there helping me to take that old goat down?"

The fanged boy shrugged and smiled helplessly. "I think it has something to do with your stubborn, martial artist's pride; the fact that Cologne told me not to interfere with your "training", and the fact that even if everyone in this tower teamed up to take him down, all we would do is make him angry? Does that sound about right to you?" he asked, enjoying himself slightly more than he needed to.

Robin groaned slightly, before nodding. "Yeah, that sounds about right. . . . So, what are you two still doing up anyway? It's nearly morning, you know?"

Ryouga looked to the clock in surprise, he hadn't realized that much time had passed. "Heh, I guess I lost track of time. It's hard to sleep with so much stuff running through my head, it's a little distracting."

Robin nodded in understanding, only to wince slightly at the minor gesture. This, of course, brought on another set of concerned examinations by Kasumi, which the boy fended off once again. The exasperated expression on Robin's face, and the impish smile on Kasumi's, was enough to make the Lost Boy chuckle yet again.

After finally sitting his would be savior back on her stool, Robin dropped back onto his own seat and took a sip of his tea. "I can understand how this can all be a bit overwhelming. A lot of harsh things have happened to both of you lately, most of them beyond your control. But I want you to know that we'll do everything we can to help you adjust. Both of you have friends here, never forget that."

Kasumi smiled sweetly at his words. She then ran a delicate hand through the boy's spiky hair, reminding Ryouga very much of a mother at that moment. "That's very sweet of you, Robin. I'm certain that we'll settle in fine, with so many caring people here to help us." For just a moment, Robin leaned into her hand, his eyes closing blissfully, but it ended just as quickly, when the boy seemed to remember where he was.

Since he didn't want to embarrass the guy, and he wanted to add his own two cents in, he spoke up. "Yeah, I'm sure we'll be able to pull our own weight around here. If Kasumi learns how to fix everyone up, she'll be a great help. And I can train you and Starfire when we're not out fighting criminals."

Robin chuckled at that. "That would be a pretty good help. I'm not sure how much I'd consider chasing the old man around to be "training". It should be interesting to see how the combat training goes now that we have someone like you around," cheered the young man.

The lovely brunette nodded to herself, seeming to come to some conclusion. "I think that I should continue my training as well, Ryouga. I don't want to be a burden if anything happens here at the tower. If it's not too much trouble that is," she asked, an imperceptibly timid tone in her voice.

This seemed to surprise the vigilante with them, for some reason. He turned to peer at Kasumi a bit owlishly. "But, Kasumi, I thought you said you weren't a martial artist?"

"Oh my, no. I haven't trained seriously for a long, long time," responded the older girl.

Ryouga decided to explain that a bit, before Robin got too confused. "Kasumi hasn't trained in her family's school, but the Hive Academy had mandatory combat classes. Heh, I was actually teaching a few of them after a bit. Kasumi might not have been in the Advanced Evil and Anarchy course with me, but she didn't have any trouble with the rest of the curriculum." He blushed slightly, as Kasumi looked his way, smiling widely at his support.

A sudden thought struck the Lost Boy. Hmm, yeah, it had potential. He looked to Robin, a sly look forming on his features. "You know, I was planning on focusing more of my time getting Starfire up to your level, since you are getting the added workout of training with Happosai. Maybe it would be a good idea if you took on most of Kasumi's training. That way, I can focus on you and Starfire with more advanced lessons and you can train her how you see fit?" he suggested happily.

His two companions considered his suggestion for a moment, both of them seeming to warm up to the idea quickly. Robin looked about ready to make a comment, raising a finger and opening his mouth, when suddenly all of their communicators started beeping at the same time.

"Hmm, that's odd. Who else is awake to be contacting us on the communicators?" mused their, as odd as it sounded, leader.

Curious, they all opened their communicators to see who it w-

"AAAAIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEE!"

The high-pitched wail pierced their ears so suddenly that Kasumi actually dropped her communicator in shock. Ryouga nearly crushed his, which would have really ticked him off. The only one that seemed to keep his bearings, was the Boy Wonder. He instantly determined who it was and replied harshly.

"Beast Boy! What's wrong? Are you in trouble?"

Ryouga finally regained enough of his senses to look at the tiny view screen on his own communicator. The small device revealed Beast Boy's tiny face to him, a look of utter anguish on his features. The boy's next words didn't instill him with any more confidence either.

"You guys gotta get down here! It's Terra, there's something wrong with Terra . . ."

Ryouga felt his heart seize up at the look that covered Beast Boy's face, he never wanted to imagine seeing that much pain on anyone's face again.

". . . I think she's dying!"

Ryouga stood next to Beast Boy, a hand resting on the younger man's shoulder; partly to comfort him, partly to hold him back as the others continued their investigation. The boy hadn't calmed down much, not even when Robin had led Kasumi, him and the other three Titans down into the cavern that housed Terra's statue. Kasumi stood on the boy's other side, holding his hand gently while Starfire was pressed up against Beast Boy's back, her arms wrapped around him in a sympathetic hug. The look on the gentle alien's face was almost as devastated as Beast Boy's.

Ahead of them, clustered around Terra, were Robin, Cyborg and Raven. The largest of the Titan's was scanning her statue with the various sensors housed in his arm. Raven was slowly moving her ebony encased hands over the stone surface, as if searching for something. Robin was looking over Cyborg's shoulder, contemplating the readings as well.

Honestly, Ryouga was feeling a bit useless, watching the three Titans doing all the work while all he could do was watch helplessly. He imagined his companions felt exactly the same as he did, judging by the looks on their faces.

Finally, after a little over ten minutes, Robin, Cyborg and Raven ceased their various scans and moved back to speak to them. The downcast expressions on their faces didn't instill any of them with confidence at that point. Beast Boy broke free from all of their reassuring holds and ran forward a few steps to meet them. He then grabbed the masked boy's shoulders and squeezed them tightly.

"Robin, is she okay? What caused her statue to start cracking like that?"

Cyborg quickly grabbed the changeling's shoulder and looked him in the eye. "BB, it's alright man, she's perfectly fine. There are only a few superficial stress fractures on the fingers of her left hand, and they don't seem to go below the surface. I don't know what caused them to appear so suddenly, but they aren't spreading anymore," explained the larger teen in a soothing voice.

Robin gently removed the boy's hands from his shoulders after that. "Aside from those small marks, we can't see anything else that has changed. We also have absolutely no idea what could have caused it either, nothings changed since the last set of tests we've run." The Boy Wonder looked just as frustrated as Ryouga himself felt at that moment. He didn't want to think how bad Beast Boy must have felt, so clouded with uncertainty concerning Terra's welfare.

Raven nodded imperceptibly, gliding forward slightly. "I can't sense any obvious changes either. She doesn't seem to be in any danger of degenerating, but I couldn't find any possible catalyst that could have caused even this minor change," she muttered in a low voice.

The emerald skinned teen seemed to consider her words for a moment, before slamming a fist into his open palm. "It must have something to do with what Granny did before she left! She did some weird thing where she touched Terra, but nothing happened right then." The darker Titan's eyes narrowed at his explanation.

"Cologne, one of the most learned and wise martial artists on the planet, comes here and does something to Terra. Then, only hours later, this starts to happen . . . And you don't consider the possibility that the two events are connected until now?" she asked, disbelief lacing her words.

"Hey, lay off the guy, Rae. BB just saw Terra's statue starting to crumble right in front of him. I'd say he has every right to be freaked out right now." The cybernetic teen glared at the Goth, while squeezing Beast Boy's shoulder reassuringly. He then looked to the younger hero himself. "Of course, it might have saved us all a lot of mental anguish if ya had told us that Cologne had somethin to do with this, BB. Granny ain't no fool, I'm sure whatever she did was a step in the right direction . . . heh, too bad none of us have any idea how to figure out what she did."

Suddenly, Ryouga felt pinned down, as a pair of bird named heroes suddenly slid their gazes his way. Raven looked at him; serious consideration in her expression, while a knowing smirk began to slide onto Robin's lips.

"Maybe none of us can figure it out," began Robin.

"But I'm certain that a master of the Bakusai Tenketsu might have some ideas on how to proceed," finished Raven, beginning to smirk herself.

The Lost Boy groaned inwardly, as he suddenly found himself on the receiving end of Beast Boy's pitifully hopeful gaze. Yeah, maybe if he was actually a master of the technique, or if he even had any idea of what the old Ghoul had done. Sure, she had said that Terra's statue contained some life-altering secret, but frankly, he couldn't see any more in the statue than Raven could at the moment. Heck, probably less than her, what with her having strange demonic powers and all.

Still, the look on Beast Boy's face was really pitiful and really hopeful . . .

He looked around uncertainly, matching stares with everyone present. Kasumi and Starfire wore expressions that nearly mirrored Beast Boy's. Cyborg seemed overjoyed that they finally had a solid lead to helping Terra after all this time. Robin also had an optimistic look on his face, though it was a guarded optimism that seemed to suit him so perfectly. Only Raven seemed to be maintaining her carefully neutral expression.

It's not like he didn't want to help the stone girl, he definitely did. He just didn't want to attempt and fail, he'd likely just make everyone feel even worse than if he hadn't tried at all. Still . . . one last look at the green teen's pleading expression made his decision for him.

"Fine . . . fine, I don't know how, but I promise I'll do everything I can to save her . . ."

How could he do any less?

And that was pretty much what he had been trying to do this entire time. As gently as he could, he ran his finger over hers, trying to sense anything there that was out of place. It had taken him several days to actually build up the nerve to actually touch the petrified girl. Half out of fear of breaking her, half out of embarrassment about touching a girl like that. Still, even Cologne had had to touch the statue to sense anything, and her senses were several orders of magnitude more acute than his own.

Even with contact, he still couldn't discern anything noticeable though. Once again, he began to pace around the girl, ducking under her arms with the practiced ease earned from the hours of pacing he had done already. Hours and hours of staring at nothing but stone was starting to wear on his patience. He still wanted to help her, if only because her story was so ironically familiar to him, but his lack of progress after so long was starting to frustrate him. It hadn't even taken him this long to master the Bakusai Tenketsu!

After a time, his mind began to wander as he continued to pace around the statue. What did he know about the Breaking Point Technique anyway? How did it work, why did it work, what were the principals again? He had used the technique more on instinct than anything else for the longest time; perhaps it was time to revisit the basics.

That's what Ranma always did, wasn't it? He didn't just learn a technique, the pigtailed boy literally broke it down to it's component elements, learned everything about the technique and how it worked. That in-depth knowledge let the overly clever martial artist innovate and improve his techniques, sometimes literally on the spot. Maybe that was what Ryouga himself needed to do? He had never delved too deeply into his own techniques, really.

Heck, if he had bothered to really sit down and think about the Bakusai Tenketsu when he had first learned it, he would have realized right away that it wouldn't have worked on Ranma like he had intended. And asides from perfecting the Shi Shi Houkodan, what else had he really done with the technique since? Sure, he could always push it to become more powerful, but that was more a matter of forcing his emotions, not manipulating the technique.

He had heard that Ranma could actually perform a Dual Mouko Takabisha, something that Ryouga had never even considered. Sure, each attack would only be half power, but depending on the circumstances, it could be a very useful technique. Ranma had also learned how to perform a horizontal Hiryua Shoten Ha, his unearthly mastery also extending to that technique as well.

Yes . . . perhaps it was time that he took the time to analyze his own techniques in just such a manner. Sure, he had beaten Ranma in their last fight, but that had only been due to his conditioning, not to any innovative improvement in his fighting skills. He held no illusions that Ranma wouldn't be able to overcome his new level of protection by further improving his techniques, just as he always had.

He looked up, just in time to notice himself about to step out of Terra's cavern completely. He cursed himself for his weaknesses, before spinning around angrily and locking his stare onto Terra once more. Not taking any chances, he moved a few steps closer to the unmoving girl, and sat down once more.

So . . . what did he know about the Bakusai Tenketsu? Hmm, well, as everyone knew, it worked on inanimate objects, generally stone. He had managed to get it to work on wood, ironically when he was a toddler at the time, which used to be living. That seemed to contradict the first thing he knew, which meant it required more thought. He also knew that the breaking point of an object wasn't an actual, physical point. It was a metaphorical point that he could only see with his minds eye.

He remembered, keenly, his first battle with Ranma, using the technique. He had struck at Ranma a number of times, but even his missed attacks had set off explosions from where they had randomly struck. And yet, he had still seen the points on Ranma, hence why he had aimed at them, which also seemed to contradict that first point. But . . . those hadn't actually been breaking points, had they? No, now that he thought about it, he'd really been aiming at key points in the other boy's chi flows; places where several of the meridians crossed or joined together. None of his attacks had hit, but if they had, it likely would have been more akin to hitting a pressure point than exploding his limbs.

He also knew that the technique relied on him using his chi, of focusing a tiny amount of it through his finger and into his target. So . . . then what was the difference between injecting a sliver of chi into a rock, into a board, or into Ranma? An unliving object, a once-living object and a living object.

The answer was obvious right away, Ranma's chi flowed, much like a river does. You drop a glass of water into a river, and it is simply swept away. The meager amount of energy used in the Bakusai Tenketsu wouldn't have any effect on something with such a malleable chi flow. He briefly toyed with the idea of forcing a much greater volume of chi into the Bakusai Tenketsu . . . but the mental image of Ranma actually exploding wasn't nearly as attractive as it once was. Nor was the much more realistic image of his finger exploding from him trying to force so much energy to such a tiny point.

Still, the potential was there, but that was a thought for another time.

So, the thing which made the unliving stone and the once living board similar, was the fact that their chi was static. After all, a rock didn't possess any chi flow, it just possessed the same ambient chi that everything possessed. And though a board may have once possessed a chi flow, after the wood died, so to would the elasticity of it's chi. Thus, when one injects even a small amount of alien chi into the fixed chi of the rock or board, it broke. It made him think of a stone mason, even with a tiny chisel and hammer, someone that knew how the rock was formed, how it behaved, could split even a massive boulder with a single, small strike.

So it would be more accurate for him to say that the Breaking Point didn't work on inanimate objects, but rather objects that possessed a static chi. That seemed to open the technique to a much wider array of materials than just stone and wood. Perhaps he would even be able to figure out how to apply it to metal in time, though he had never considered it before. After all, metal has been refined and purified, so it doesn't possess the obvious and natural breaking points that stone would. Of course, the image of detonating a steel door, and being pelted with hundreds of shards or razor sharp steel . . . it didn't exactly fill him with confidence.

Still, the potential was there, but that was a thought for another time.

Absently, his eyes began to slide from Terra to wander around the room aimlessly. Yes, everything possessed chi; it surrounds us, penetrates us, binds the world together . . . heh, kind of like the Force. All living things generated chi, and with practice, people such as himself and Ranma could come to manipulate it . . . He was starting to drift off of his original train of thought there somewhere . . .

He looked at the ground, right beneath him, counting the number of breaking point he could see, just within his reach. This far down, it was a lot of bedrock surrounding him, so the chi that suffused the entire area was pretty uniform. He chuckled as a stray thought a stray thought flitted through his mind. Way down here, in the womb of the earth, it was almost like the whole world had it's own chi.

Hm?

Slowly his eyes slid back to Terra's statue . . . Terra . . . terra . . . stone . . . earth . . .

Gears began to turn in his head; suddenly he felt an almost oppressive weight settle on his mind. As if there was some huge, ponderous . . . thing, hanging just out of reach.

Terra . . . stone . . . earth . . . rocks . . . terra . . . chi . . . earth . . . Earth . . . Terra . . . Earth . . .

Earth?

Slowly his eyes began to slide back from her statue to the ground before him. As his eyes traveled, breaking points began to make themselves known, tiny nexi of chi, tiny points of light that symbolized the crossing of several lines of chi traveling through the bedrock. Slowly his eyes slid back to her stone feet. Did the breaking points around her statue seem to be just a slightly brighter shade than those around him . . . or was it just a trick of the light?

The overwhelming sense of impending . . . something, began to press in around him. It was almost like someone, somewhere was trying to tell him something. It was like the answer was just sitting on the edge of her perceptions, heck, on the tip of his tongue . . . it was so close he could taste it . . . Just a little . . . bit . . . mor-

His entire train of thought was utterly destroyed, when his communicator chose that very moment to begin blaring out a series of nearly deafening beeps. He literally collapsed to his side, nearly feeling his heart seize up at the unexpected sound after countless hours of perfect quiet and solitude.

Letting out a rather nasty curse at whoever it was that disrupted his work, he flipped open the small hexagonal device and glared at the tiny view screen. The tiny face of Robin appeared on the top half of the device, a rather unusual expression on the younger hero's face.

"Titans! Code Red, converge on my signal. Now!"