Yeah, got wrapped up in learning how to skate that I almost forgot about this, that and I lost my inspiration. Hopefully it's up to scratch, even if it's slightly shorter. Yeah. Read and review. Thanks all my readers and especially all that have reviewed. Yeah. Now lets do this. The song that Beast Boy and Yoh teamed up to sing was "Gotta Knock A Little Harder" from the Cowboy Bebop O.S.T Future Blues.
Session 07 - Never Sleep Alone...
Last time on Dual X's:
Leyna gave him a smile in return as she asked "Would you mind if I asked you something?"
Xavier answered "Shoot."
"Where do the Titans stay here in Jump?"
"Easy, just go to the bay and you'll see their big T on a small island, it's kinda hard to miss," Xavier replied before the ring of a cellphone distracted him.
X-X-X-X
'Secret Agent BB, your mission, if you choose to accept, is to sneak inside Yoh's room and raid his video game stash, ensuring a silent and unnoticed getaway.' Beast Boy thought to himself as he moved towards Yoh's door in exaggerated stealth, rolling in front of the door to the opposite side, making sure to look around quickly. Once he was sure it was safe, he transformed into a fly and slid under the door frame.
The first wave of sound crashed into him, disorienting him as he flew around the room woozily. Beast Boy managed to snap out of it, flying to the high corner of the room and watching the smoke that seemed to hang in the air. He looked around for the source of both sound and smoke, finding Yoh on the corner of his bed with a pretty old blue bass in his hands. BB looked around and noticed that it was a duplicate of the black bass on the wall, except this one was battered and had cigarette burns on it.
Beast Boy watched as Yoh played, his fingers dancing on the strings quickly. Yoh stopped playing, pulling a lit cigarette from his mouth and blowing another cloud of smoke upward before taking one last drag from the cigarette and putting it out on the bass. Yoh started to play again, this time it was a song that Beast Boy had heard many times before on the radio and it was easily identified when Yoh started singing slightly.
"Happiness is just a word to me, and it might have meant a thing or two if I'd known the difference" Yoh's voice drifted off as he lit another cigarette, taking a long drag and blowing it towards the corner where BB still hid.
'Emptiness, a lonely parody and my life, another smokin' gun, a sign of my indifference' Beast Boy sung in his head as he watched Yoh.
Yoh seemed to skip the next few lines that BB had sung, while still playing his bass. "Always keepin' safe inside, where no one ever had a chance to penetrate a break in. Let me tell you some have tried but I would slam the door so tight that they could never get in." Yoh took another drag, as if waiting for the next few lines to be sung out by someone else.
"Kept my cool under lock and key and I never shed a tear, another sign of my condition" Beast Boy followed through, this time flying down next to the bed and returning to his normal form to sing the lines. Yoh looked at him with a ghost of a smirk before continuing his playing.
"Fear of love or bitter vanity, that kept me on the run, the main events at my confession," Yoh sung out as he passed the lit cigarette to the changeling who took it without pause and took a long drag from it.
"I kept a chain upon my door, that would shake the shame of Cain, into a blind submission," Beast Boy sang, the smoke slowly exiting his mouth through each word.
Yoh followed through with the next verse "The burning ghost without a name, was calling all the same, but I wouldn't listen."
"The longer I'd stall, The further I'd crawl, The further I'd crawl, The harder I'd fall, I was crawlin' into the fire. The more that I saw, The further I'd fall, The further I'd fall, The lower I'd crawl, I kept fallin' into the fire, Into the fire, Into the fire." Both Beast Boy and Yoh sung the two verses of the chorus together, their voice in sync.
Before they could get through anymore of the song, they were interrupted by banging on the door.
"Yoh! Hey, Yoh! Are you okay in there? There's smoke coming out of the room," Robin called out through the door.
Beast Boy seemed to be worried as he quickly tried to stub out the cigarette in his hand.
Yoh only smirked, pulling out another from a pack in his pocket and lighting it up as he walked towards the door.
"Hey, Y-" The door opened before Robin could finish calling out again and there stood Yoh, dressed in gray jeans, a black wife beater and to top it off, a cigarette in his mouth.
"What's up, Big Bird?" Yoh asked, blowing the smoke out in Robin's face.
"I saw smoke coming out of your room and I wanted to check up on you," Robin responded as he waved away the smoke from his face. "And I also came to tell you that you can't smoke in here, either."
"What's the beef?" Yoh asked as he took another drag from the cigarette, just to annoy Robin.
"Because it leaves a smell and it's bad for your lungs," Robin responded as he snatched the cigarette from Yoh's mouth and crushed it underneath his boot.
"So is drinking, yet I don't say squat to you," Yoh casually stated as he leaned against the door frame. "I have my problems and you have yours, so why don't we keep it at that?"
Robin only glared at him, wondering how he figured out something that everyone else hadn't caught on. "Whatever, just don't burn the place down."
"Chill out fearless leader, why don't you come in and have a drink with me?" Yoh asked, smirking as Robin looked at him. "I have a killer drink, I guarantee that it'll slap you going down," Yoh added in a sing-a-song voice. After a few moments, Robin shrugged and followed Yoh inside the smoky room.
He caught sight of Beast Boy, giving him a nod before catching a seat on a big red and black bean bag chair close to the punching bag that Yoh had in the middle of the room.
Yoh walked over to the desk, opening several drawers until he found what he was looking for with a loud "Yeah." Held in his hands was a glass bottle with the word Siete carved into it, an greenish purple liquid inside the bottle and a shot glass. "A friend of mine, Elna, taught me how to make this and I guarantee that you'll like it," Yoh said as he shook the bottle with a flourish before pouring out a shot and handed to Robin.
Robin held the glass, swirling the contents before taking a sniff of it. "Come on, Toy Wonder, just take it like a man!" Yoh said, while BB was making funny faces at him as well. Robin swirled it one more time before draining the glass in one go.
"I call that a Vicious Streak," Yoh said as he watched Robin.
Robin gagged, made a face, and had a coughing fit, doubling over as the liquor went down his throat. He ripped off his mask, eyes watering as he struggled to speak "W-w-what t-the... hell's ... in that...?" he asked wheezing.
"What? Does it burn?" Beast Boy asked, giggling at the sight of Robin choking and gasping. Yoh smirked, placing a cigarette in his mouth and just when he was about to light it, the alarm sounded.
Robin stood up, placing his mask back on before running out of the room while yelling "Titans! Trouble!" slightly hoarse.
Yoh stood up, placing the bottle of liquor back on the desk and followed Beast Boy out of the room.
X-X-X-X
Once they arrived on the scene, Yoh took one glance and walked off to the sidelines.
The enemy line up consisted of Mammoth, Gizmo, Private Hive, and Seemore, who were all in the process of robbing the bank for all it's worth. Robin yelled out his little battle cry "Titans Go!" and they rushed into the battle.
"Hmm... Shouldn't you be with your teammates?" Yoh said, startling the person that had tried so hard to remain concealed.
"I could ask you the same thing," Jinx replied, walking to sit next to Yoh.
"They don't need me, so I just chill out right here and talk to you, how about that?" Yoh said, leaning against a pole that was leaning drunkenly because of the fight. "Come on, relax, I didn't turn you in when you went on that trip through the fair with Cy, why would I now? Seeing as you're not breaking any law being around."
Jinx was surprised. This was the man...ahem... teenager that had taken out Private Hive and threatened to kill both of them at Jump City park. She swung at him, putting centrifugal force onto the hit.
SLAP!
"Aww... that hurt!" Yoh said, rubbing his cheek, where Jinx slapped him. "What the hell was that for?" Yoh asked, giving Jinx his masked glare.
"You owe me for the park incident," she informed him cooly.
Yoh smirked at the memory, "Oh yeah, I remember now, you were pretty soft," he said, causing Jinx blush. "Anyway, so what'cha doing here?" Yoh asked.
"I don't know, I just don't... I just don't want to do this anymore, y'know?" Jinx answered, the blush fading away.
"So why don't you quit?" Yoh asked, sitting on a bus stop bench close by, patting the seat next to him.
"I don't know, but I don't want to do this," Jinx answered. "All I see is stealing, fighting the titans and getting caught just so we can break out, steal again and get caught again. It's just a pointless circle and I'm tired of it. I want what you have, I want friends, I want to be able to go somewhere and have people not be afraid of me. I want to be able to be with..." she cut herself off at the end, another bright blush spreading across her face.
"Cyborg, right?" Yoh teased, watching as Jinx didn't deny it and turned redder. "I understand what you mean, so I say just go for it. Quit." Yoh pulled out a cigarette from a pack in his pocket, lighting it with his favorite chrome zippo lighter.
Jinx stared at him, "Quit? That's all that you have to say? Just quit?" She looked at him incredulously.
Yoh took a drag of the cigarette, blowing the smoke into the air in rings before answering "Yeah, quit. That's all there is to it," He took another drag of his cigarette before Jinx snatched it out of his mouth.
"Ay, now that's not right," he said.
"Since when does a titan smoke?" She asked before taking a long drag from the cig.
Before Yoh could give an answer to that, Mammoth came hurtling through the air making both Yoh and Jinx move from the bench as he crashed into it.
"Hmm... Mammoth, was it?" Yoh asked as he walked over, nudging him with his boot. "Did you have a nice trip?"
Before he noticed, Mammoth latched onto Yoh's leg, getting up and hanging him in the air. "You might wanna put me down, it'll hurt a lot less," Yoh said as he pulled another cigarette from his pack and lit it up.
A pair of lampposts fell down, colliding with Mammoth's skull. Quickly followed by another pair, which produced a loud groan from the huge villain before he collapsed on the ground.
"I told you," he said with a smirk as he took another drag. "Thanks Jinx."
Jinx stood there, cig still in her hand, staring at the fallen form of Mammoth. She took another drag before she nodded and said "Yeah, I feel much better now."
"Yoh! Hey Yoh, where the hell were you?" Robin strode into view with the other titans, yelling at him. The titans took one look at Jinx, then got into their fighting stance.
"Jinx, give up peacefully."
"Robin, relax, she's ok." Yoh said, flicking his cig at Robin, making him step back.
"She's a criminal, and that means she's not ok," Robin retorted, gritting his teeth.
Yoh sighed, stepping forward. "She's not a criminal, at least, she didn't break any laws during this run. She's been talking to me the whole time," Yoh told him, watching as Robin seemed to think on that.
"Alright so she didn't commit any crimes, but why is she here?" Robin asked, curiosity in his voice as he watched the pink punk rocker take a drag of her stolen cig.
"She's been talking to me about quitting the Hive," Yoh answered, before strolling over to Raven and gently tugging on her arm. "If you don't trust Jinx, let's have Raven check her out," Yoh suggested, leading Raven to Jinx.
"Alright!" Cyborg cheered, watching as Raven slowly placed her hand on Jinx's shoulder. Her eyes started to glow the strange white and Jinx's eyes started to glow pink in response as both stared at each other.
"She does want to leave the Hive and..." Raven trailed off, watching the others of her team. "Come one, tell her the rest," Yoh said conspiratorially.
Jinx watched them before she slowly said "I wanted to know whether you guys had any room left at the Titans tower for a stray like me."
If Cyborg hadn't been dancing in happiness over Jinx's first declaration, the second would've made him start doing front flips. Robin stood there, watching with his mouth hanging open for the world to see. Here was one of the villains that they constantly fought with on an almost daily basis, asking to join the Titans.
It took a few minutes to actually decide on an answer suitable for everyone to hear. "No," Robin stated, his masked gaze cold as he watched Jinx's shoulders fall in disappointment.
"I should've known better than to ask that," she muttered, taking a last drag of the cig in her mouth and then flicking it away onto the streets.
She turned to walk away when she heard "Come on, it was just a joke, you can join." Robin called out, a wide smile on his face.
Yoh gave her a smirk before walking over to Raven, clasping her hand in his and both walked off down the street.
"So um... how do we do this?" Jinx asked nervously, wondering whether listening to a guy dating the gothic princess of Titans tower, was the right thing to do or not.
"We'll settle this at the tower," Robin said, leading them all away towards the T-car, where it was parked.
"So, adding yet another stray to the team?" A familiar yet hated voice spoke.
Robin turned around, quarterstaff twirling in hand as he yelled out "Slade!"
"Bravo, Robin. I must say, I almost thought you forgot about me," Slade said as he stepped out of the shadows of an alley.
"What do you want, Slade?" Robin asked, venom almost dripping from those words alone.
"Quite simple really, I'm just here to talk to Red X," Slade answered with a chuckle, walking closer to Robin with his arms held behind his back.
"We can take him," Beast Boy said, his glare directed at the masked villain.
"Red X isn't here and the only thing you'll do is talk to the police," Robin yelled as he charged at Slade, swinging his quarterstaff with enough force to break concrete.
"You know that I'm talking about your Red X, the one that lives in your tower," Slade said, dodging every single blow that Robin tried to land on him.
"What... the... hell...do...you...want...with...him?" Robin asked, in between grunts as he continued attacking Slade.
Slade laughed, ducking from a decapitating swing then flipped away fast, avoiding a sonic cannon blast and a flurry of starbolts.
"Oh well, I'll just have my new underling talk to him," Slade answered candidly before detonating a smoke bomb on the floor and disappearing with a laugh.
Robin was furious. Slade had been standing in front of him and yet again he missed him.
"Robin?" Beast Boy called out, watching as Robin turned with a wordless snarl. "I think we should go look for Yoh and Raven, since Slade said something about a new underling and all that."
Cyborg accessed the tracker on his arm, "Their tracers are about 4 blocks away, let's go."
Robin gave one last look towards the empty street before following the rest of the titans.
With Yoh and Raven...
Both Yoh and Raven had been walking down the street quietly. But all that changed when something or rather someone came charging through a building wall towards them. Yoh managed to grab Raven and flip away to safety as the person crashed through the spot they once occupied.
Yoh landed across the street, setting Raven down as he looked at the new arrival. It was a giant of a man, the size of Cinderblock, yet this one was human, mostly if humans grew in that size. Covered in rust red armor, the figure was a walking mass of muscles, his head covered by a dome of metal with eye holes and a mouth hole cut into it. "Who the fuck are you supposed to be?" Yoh asked, watching the giant shake himself off.
"Don't you know who I am? I'm the Juggernaut, bitch!" Juggernaut, as he identified himself, yelled out.
Raven watched the scene wondering whether she and Yoh would be enough to take down the Juggernaut.
"So fucking what," Yoh answered "What the fuck do you want, juggle nuts?"
"I'm here for you and the bitch right there!" Juggernaut answered, suddenly running at Yoh.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" A car hurtled at the charging giant. He proceeded to shoulder through the car and continue his run at Yoh.
Yoh stood his ground, his tapping his right foot "Come on, Come on!" he yelled. He quickly pivoted on his left foot, swing his right foot in a vicious kick at the metal man. His foot hit with a loud clang that sounded through the street; Juggernaut charged right through the kick, his tackle sending Yoh into the air flipping.
'What the fuck was that?' Yoh thought as he picked himself off the floor, slightly dazed. He pulled out four of his knives, running to help Raven, who was now trying to keep the giant at bay with her power. Pulling back, he launched the knives as he pulled off a jump kick, only to see his knives bounce off the armor with a clatter.
"Get the fuck off," Juggernaut snapped as he slapped Yoh away and punched through Raven's shield, sending her flying into a wall where she slumped, out cold and out of the action.
'Okay, now this is gonna be hard' Yoh thought as he picked himself up yet again, drawing two more knives and twirling them in his hands. "Who sent you, juggle nuts?"
"It's the Juggernaut," the colossal man yelled, launching himself at Yoh once more. This time, Yoh decided that he was going to have to play hard to bring Juggernaut down. So he stood his ground again, his arms glowing as he concentrated his chakra into them.
The Juggernaut ran at him once more, this time swinging his tree trunk sized arms at Yoh, who disappeared in a blur. "Where'd you go?" Juggernaut asked, looking around for his opponent.
"Comin' at ya," Yoh yelled, his fists punching into the Juggernaut's back. The massive man toppled forward, falling down to the ground as Yoh landed on his feet breathing slightly heavy. "Took more than I expected to bring him down," Yoh muttered as he lit another cigarette.
And for the second time in the day, his enemy got the drop on him. Before he knew it, he was hanging by his foot, the Juggernaut holding him in the air. "Don't you know who the fuck I am? I'm the Juggernaut bitch, I'll fuck you up," he sneered into Yoh's face. Then he swung Yoh into the ground repeatedly, with enough force to break it then he swung him into a couple parked cars. Yoh was battered and bleeding as he hung by leg, glaring at Juggernaut.
"I swear I am going to enjoy peeling that tin can off you when I get out of this," Yoh spit out.
"I doubt that," was all he heard before a massive fist collided with his face bring him darkness.
Juggernaut gave a raucous laugh, slinging Yoh over his shoulder then walking towards Raven. Before he could reach her though, a sonic blast and a beam of green energy collided with his back making him stumble and turn away.
"You must be an ass, I'm the fucking Juggernaut," he yelled as he turned around.
Standing there, was Cyborg with his sonic cannon smoking alongside of Starfire, Beast Boy and Robin. "You're going down, tin man!" Robin called out before yelling "Titans Go!"
Beast Boy transformed into an ape, rushing at Juggernaut with an animal roar. Before he could get near, Juggernaut caught him with a solid punch to the head bringing him down to the floor.
"Beast Boy!" Cyborg yelled, watching the changeling lay on the ground with a bloody face. "You'll pay for that!" he yelled, transforming his left hand into a second sonic cannon and revealing the mini rockets beneath his shoulder panels. With a wild cry, he fired all his weapons at Juggernaut, who stood in the path of the attacks. A loud explosion threw dust into the air, temporarily blocking out the titan's line of sight.
"Is it over?" Starfire asked as she hovered near the dust cloud, her hands glowing green because of her starbolts.
Before anyone could answer, Juggernaut came rushing through the cloud, tackling Starfire and sending her flying. Robin watched as Starfire landed in a crater, her body battered with one attack.
Both Cyborg and Robin charged in recklessly, their attacks wild and uncoordinated in their anger. The Juggernaut had little trouble bringing both down, laughing as he kicked away the nearly unconscious Robin.
Raven had regain consciousness during the fight and watched as the colossal man take down every single titan. 'How am I going to bring him down?' She asked herself as the Juggernaut neared her.
"Use your psychic abilities on him once I peel away his helmet," She gasped, a hand blocking out the sound as she whispered into Raven's ear. Raven turned to see none other than Cross kneeling close to her.
"How do you know this?" Raven asked.
"I've made it my hobby to study my possible enemies," Cross answered. "Will you help me then?" Raven nodded, watching as Cross quickly jumped towards the Juggernaut.
She twirled in the air, her knives flashing in her hands as she flung them at the helmet. They didn't seem to be having an affect on Juggernaut, who started taking swipes at Cross.
Cross flipped away, pulling her last pair of knives out. She ran at the Juggernaut, who in turn, ran at her. She jumped over his left arm, plunging the last pair of knives into a small space between the Juggernaut's helmet and body armor. With a loud crack, the helmet popped off.
"My helmet!" Juggernaut yelled, trying to pick it up off the floor.
Raven had her chance, but before she could do anything, smoke covered the area as the sadistic voice of Slade called out to her "I'm sorry, but I can't let you play with him any further, farewell."
Once the smoke cleared, only the battered and beaten titans remained. "Thanks for the..." She turned around speaking, only to see that Cross had vanished. Taking the team home was her task now.
Titans Tower... 4 hours later...
"Thanks for coming this quick," Raven said as she opened the front door to allow the Titans East to walk inside the tower.
"Of course, anything for friends, considering what happened today," Bumblebee answered. They headed towards the medical bay, where everyone lay in various stages of healing.
"Who the hell did this?" Speedy asked as he examined Robin's bandaged form.
"Someone named Juggernaut," Raven answered from where she stood, running her hand slowly through Yoh's hair. "He was working for Slade."
"What? That lunatic is back?" Aqualad asked, leaning against the doorway.
"Yeah, so it seems, but for now we wait until everyone gets better," Bumblebee said as she ran a hand across Cyborg's damaged body.
"So what are we going to do with the Hive girl that's currently in the tower?" Speedy asked.
"She's one of us now, so just leave her be," Raven answered as the Titans East gave a collective shrug, turning to leave the medbay.
"Just make yourselves at home," Raven called out as the Titans East walked out of the medbay.
A weak groan from Yoh startled her. "Wha... Did anyone get the number of the truck that hit me?" he asked groggily. Raven gave a small laugh as she said "Truck? That was a tank."
"Oh, so she has jokes?" Yoh snapped back with a laugh that turned into a groan of pain.
"Why don't you heal yourself? You did it for me," Raven asked with concern as she grasped Yoh's hand in hers.
"Well, I can only wipe away your fatigue as well as heal small cuts and bruises, yet nothing major," Yoh responded, his body glowing for 30 seconds before going back to normal.
"What do you mean by wipe away fatigue?" Raven asked curiously.
"I mean that I can remove your exhaustion, yet not too much or you can die, your body collapsing without knowing why," Yoh answered, his eyes slowly fluttering closed.
"I can try to heal you again, but your body resisted my normal methods the first time," Raven told him as she placed her hands on his head.
Before Yoh could even ask what she was talking about, she released a burst of magic into him. Yoh felt like his entire body had been dumped into a frozen lake, surprise etched in his face while he gasped out loud. "What... was...that...?" he asked, panting as if he'd been running a marathon.
"That was another way of healing that I learned, yet as you can see, it's extremely unpleasant," Raven said, swaying on her feet a little before Yoh managed to pull her onto the bed. "It also takes a lot of energy from me, tires you out and gives you an appetite once you're over it." "Shh... just go to sleep," Yoh whispered to her, stroking her hair now.
"I've never been happier than with you, Yoh," Raven said, her eyes slightly closed as she dozed off in his arms. Yoh gently drew his hand across her face, caressing her cheek before giving her a kiss on the forehead.
"You don't know how much you mean to me, and for you to be with me. That gives me the greatest feeling in the world." Yoh whispered softly as he watched Raven's lips curl into a smile as she slept in his arms.
Outside the Tower...
"You think he's alright?" Leyna asked, worry etched on her face.
"He will be anyway." Cross answered as she sat on a rock outcropping.
Leyna sighed before steeling herself for what she was going to do. She stepped forward and rung the doorbell, nervously chewing her lip. ' I just want to talk, they can't deny me that, right?' she thought as the door slowly opened revealing the figure of Aqualad, with Bumblebee standing at his side.
"Can we help you?" Aqualad asked politely, giving Leyna the usual male once-over. 'Good thing Speedy didn't answer the door' he thought to himself.
"Yes, I'm here to talk to Yoh," Leyna said as she tried to be as sweet as possible.
"Yoh's not feeling good at the moment, so you might have to come back," Bumblebee answered for Aqualad.
"Can I see him, please? I'm an old friend." Leyna pleaded.
"Sorry, but you can't, now if you'll excuse us," Aqualad told her, starting to close the door.
"Please, don't do this, I really need to talk to him," Leyna said as she held the door open.
"Look, get it through your head, not now. Some other day maybe, but not today." Bumblebee snapped with an air of finality, giving Leyna the whole hands on hips stance and everything.
Leyna gave a sigh, "Can you just give him this, please?" she said as she picked up a black guitar bag and handed to Aqualad.
"Sure, now good-bye." The door slid shut.
Leyna walked back to where Cross waited, wordlessly they both started back the way they arrived on the island.
X-X-X-X
Yeah... That's it. Sorry for the long wait, it's just that... well... yeah. Hope you enjoy. Read and Review, though. And Thanks for all that have still reviewed. Yeah.