Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans, its' characters, places or character personalities. That is why I try to recreate them while telling my own story.
A/N: I apologize for how short this chapter is compared to the others, but after all, having just one scene make up an entire chapter is something I've never tried before.
Mind and Body Chapter 13: Sharktooth
Zedeth's wide shoulders were hunched as he squeezed out of the teleporter's iris, his head sandwiched against his chest. Once outside, he spread his arms wide—encompassing all four of the soldiers in front of him—and roared again in relief. He took a step forward and picked up one of his minions.
"Oh, gross," Robin said in disbelief.
"What?" Oracle's voice said urgently through the comm-link, "What's gross? What's going on?"
"That leader, or whatever he called himself," Robin said with a gulp, "He just popped off the head of a minion and ate it."
"…oh come on," she replied, "What's really going on?"
"I'm serious," he replied as Zedeth started approaching and dined on his soldiers, "I can't make this stuff up."
After another look, they realized that not only was Zedeth eating his soldiers, but with each bite he grew larger. He was almost on the verge of picking up two soldiers at a time with one hand when he arrived, but instead of attacking he stopped and took a huge breath. "Yuck," he muttered, "I have never liked the taste of Oxygen."
Despite being numb with fear, Robin couldn't help but ask, "But oxygen is one of the essential parts of water…why would a fish hate it?"
Zedeth snorted and said, "Maybe on this pitiful planet, but our home-world's seas are made of methane. You see how we might be superior."
"Are we seriously talking philosophy with aliens?" Cyborg whispered harshly.
"Shush," Bumblebee replied, "he's giving us time to plan."
"There's no need for that," Starfire said with a groan.
"Whaddaya mean?"
"Just listen."
Zedeth breathed out of his gills and began speaking.
"I am Zedeth, the Shark's Tooth, the eater of God, the user of men…"
As Zedeth continued to extol himself, Hotspot asked, "What the Hell is he doing?"
"It's called the 'Lurgensta'ad'," Starfire said painfully, "It's a ritual of the Tunites where anyone of any status has to recite everything of significance that they have ever done before an important battle, and then recite what they would be known for if they win the battle they are about to enter. The Elders of their race can take a week to finish."
"You're kidding, right?" Robin said in relief, obviously hoping she wasn't, "So we could leave him to talk to himself and have plenty of time to evacuate everyone in the city?"
"Unfortunately not," she replied, "If anyone that was there at the beginning were to leave, they'll immediately fly into a rage."
"Oh. How long do you think it'll take this guy?" Robin asked.
"Most generals will take a number of hours."
Then Zedeth's voice broke through their conversation, saying, "And the soon-to-be owner of the Energy-Beast!"
Starfire blinked and laughed.
"What?" Argent said in irritation, "you like being called a 'beast'?"
"Actually no, I don't," she replied, "but to my knowledge, no General has a Lurgensta'ad of only 5 minutes: I didn't realize how weak a Tunite had been assigned to my transportation."
Zedeth stared at her with blood-shot eyes and screamed, "I AM NOT WEAK!"
"By your own standards, you are," Starfire said with a smile, and she quickly threw a starbolt at his face.
As the smoke cleared, they noticed that he was only irritated. "How did you…," Robin began to ask.
"Did you think that the Supremes would send someone that could be hurt by starbolts after a Tamaranean?" Zedeth asked in amusement. He then swung a massive fist at Robin-who jumped high into the air-and went through the plane's corpse like he was punching cardboard.
Starfire dove to about the same height as Robin's jump and let off another blast as Bumblebee sent a bolt of electricity at the behemoth's face. On the ground, Hotspot was using his fire, Argent was using her plasma, and Cyborg was using his sound cannon, all aimed at Zedeth's chest.
Raven, Beast Boy and Cael were all flying towards Jump City with a vague weight on their chests. Ever since Starfire had disappeared, there was a sense of danger hanging over them.
Beast Boy was fluttering around their heads and alternating between saying, "Hurry" and squawking in falcon. His agitation increased—and his articulation got worse—with each mile they flew.
"I don't get it," Cael said, "I know I'm worried, but what are you doing, Beast Boy?"
"Instincts," Raven said with a little more melancholy than usual.
"Instincts?" Cael said in confusion.
A loud squawk interrupted them and Beast Boy tried to make a break for it. Raven immediately intercepted his desperate flight and caught him, soothing his fear with a soft hand on green feathers. "Shh, shh, shh," she said quietly, "It's okay Beast Boy, it's okay. You know that it's safer when we know we're approaching danger. It's alright—take a deep breath."
Beast Boy took a deep, shaky breath and said wryly, "You're brushing the grass with your feet Rae: are you moonlighting as a lawn mower now?"
Cael blinked at the rudeness of the comment from his usually polite friend, but Raven smiled and rose back up to join Cael. "It's all right now, he has it under control."
Although Cael took her word for it, he couldn't help but notice a tremble in Beast Boy's wings as they continued towards the city.
The blast of their concentrated powers was twice as powerful as they expected, but even though it threw Zedeth a couple city blocks away, he just seemed to get right back up again.
"Everyone," Cyborg said in irritation, "Stand—or fly—back. I think I need my cannon at full power for this one."
"You been holding out on us, Big Guy?" Bumblebee said with a smile.
"Are you disappointed?" he said with a tight grin as he turned the dial on his elbow to 11.
"No, relieved," she said in reply, "But why didn't you at least show it off earlier? I might have joined the team if I knew."
"You mean you'll join?" Robin interrupted.
"No," Bumblebee said, "I said I 'might have'. Besides which, I was talking to your colleague."
"I'm still not so sure I wanna work with the guy," Cyborg said, "But the reason I didn't crank this baby up to full power before is that it'll shatter a lot more than I'm comfortable with."
"Why tell us this now?" Argent said in curiosity.
Bumblebee groaned and tossed small chunks of beeswax to everyone, saying, "Earplugs!"
They had barely gotten the wax into their ears before the blast came. It gushed forth with such power that every window within sight shattered completely. The beam of invisible energy seemed to warp their vision as it slammed into Zedeth's head. As the mind-bending sound of Cyborg's cannon became audible, Zedeth began screaming in an odd counterpoint that combined with the cannon to crumble the tarmac beneath their feet.
Cyborg turned off his cannon and smiled at the awe written on everyone's face. "That…," Robin said slowly, "That was AWESOME!"
However, Zedeth had stood once again, panting, "That was…unexpected…," he said in a dark voice, "but as you can see, not even that could harm me." What am I saying? He thought as a drop of sweat dripped off of his face and across his giant teeth, If we had been underwater, every Tunite soldier within a mile of the epicenter would be dead or unconscious.
He charged then, letting his great weight hopefully put a little fear into his smaller, but scrappy opponents.
They all scattered again, but he swiftly adjusted the aim of his punch and managed to catch the sound-wielding humanoid upside the head. There was a satisfying crunch as the metal gave slightly, but it also pained his hand so he changed targets to the closest girl: the one with light for a weapon.
Argent gulped at the sight of an unconscious Cyborg, but managed to set up a wall of hard light before Zedeth got to her. The giant, scaled fists pounded away at her shield like battering rams, forcing her to her knees.
Cyborg had been a comforting presence for the little time that she had been around—his apparent endurance being a good gauge of danger—but seeing him helpless and unmoving sent a chill of uncertainty through her spine.
Her moment of uncertainty let Zedeth break through her shield, as less of her concentration was applied to its' construction.
As Argent stared in shock that anything could break through her shield, a thin, metallic rope whipped around Zedeth's arms and started to tighten. As Zedeth struggled, Robin appeared from behind him, tightly clutching the other end. After a momentary impasse, Zedeth broke loose with a roar, grabbed the ends dangling in front of him, and swung Robin in a circle before letting go and allowing him to collide with the incongruously pleased Argent.
Starfire managed to trip him up before Zedeth reached her teammates, but in the process knocked herself down as well, where she watched as Zedeth toppled back to collide with the charging Bumblebee.
It was absolute chaos as everyone struggled to get up, and the first to do so were the last two to get hurt.
"You overgrown fish stick!" Bumblebee said angrily, "Can't you even fall correctly?"
"I do not fall!" He shouted angrily.
"Then what was that just now?" she shouted from a safe altitude, "a reverse head-butt? We can call it a Butt-head!"
Zedeth roared again and tried to jump and catch her. Bumblebee took the opportunity to fly a couple blocks away and continue her insults. "HA! You're about as fast as my grandma's runs!"
"Eeew," Hotspot whispered to Argent as Zedeth flew into a rage, "that is not a pretty picture." Argent laughed quietly as everyone tried to untangle themselves.
Zedeth began to rampage at Bumblebee's words, his fists smashing through concrete walls with no sense of direction before charging the source of his aggravation. He was so much faster than before that Bumblebee had hardly any time to zip to the side before he appeared at her old position, having cratered the ground there for a good 3 meters.
As Bumblebee stared in numb shock, Zedeth spread his hands wide and started to slam them together with her in the middle….
Raven arrived with her companions at that moment, encasing Zedeth with black energy in the instant that it took to analyze the situation. As Bumblebee recovered her wits, the others slowly stood up and stared at the new trio in confusion.
"Friend Raven!" Starfire said in joy, "You got here in time!"
"I don't do 'friends'," she said seriously, "not until I know them well. Does this…fish deserve to live?" she asked, changing the subject.
Starfire's eyes grew flinty, and Raven realized she had asked the wrong person. "Oho noo," Starfire said darkly, "I do not know of any that deserves that less."
"Er," she said awkwardly, glancing towards the emotionless, appraising face of Cael and Beast Boy's silently trembling, feathered body before turning back to the group. "What about the rest of you? What do you think?"
Robin shook his head clear and said, "Well normally I would say we should know the enemy's circumstances before making a final judgment but…." he trailed off as Raven narrowed her eyes in concentration.
"What's wrong?" Robin asked.
"What's going on over there?" Oracle said faintly over the comm. link.
"Quiet," a small voice said from seemingly nowhere, "She's concentrating."
Surprised, Robin addressed the disembodied voice, "What is she concentrating on?"
"The fish's thoughts, of course."
"She can do that?" Robin said in awe.
"Robin, report!" Oracle said, Come on, what is it? Tell me what's going on!" but Robin was too wrapped up in the strange situation to reply, and the others followed his lead.
"Shh," the voice said again.
Bumblebee's eye twitched, "I don't take orders from a voice without a body."
"Hey!" Oracle said.
"A communication device is just fine!" Bumblebee quickly reassured her.
The voice laughed and said, "All right then, what kind of body do you prefer?"
"Human," Bumblebee said.
"Preferably male," Argent added, "And hot."
Hotspot looked like he couldn't decide whether he wanted to hit himself or his silver-skinned companion. Oracle groaned over the comm. link.
"Sorry," the voice said with a little regret, "but at the moment human is impossible. Is chimpanzee close enough?"
"Chimpanzee?" Robin said in confusion.
"All right," Oracle said then, "I'll stop asking what's going on out there if you promise to tell me everything when you get back."
"Will do," Robin said in distraction, but forgot all about his half-hearted promise when a green hawk fluttered to the floor and was suddenly changed into a chimp. "S-so that's what you meant," Robin said, his entire body numb as the rest of his friends stared at the green animal in shock, "You're a shape-shifter."
"Ooh, ooh, ooh!" Oracle said excitedly, "Did you say shape-shifter? That would be a great addition to the team!"
"Except that he can't become human, apparently," Robin replied.
"Oh," Oracle said quietly, as if thinking about something, "Well…a green shape-shifter with one form that's off-limits is still really good."
"Mmm," Robin said, unsure. I wonder how she does it? He thought to himself.
Raven jerked slightly at the strength of his thoughts.
All she's doing is stare at nothing in particular, Bumblebee groused.
She better not be planning on taking my Robin, Argent mentally snarled.
…Who is this clown, anyway? Hotspot thought.
Raven shook her head. How could all of these people have such strong minds? "Do you mind putting your thoughts on hold?" she muttered, "I'm trying to concentrate."
They all stared at her.
Now I REALLY want to know. Robin thought.
Okay, maybe not JUST staring at nothing in particular. Bumblebee thought.
At least she knows where I stand now. Argent thought.
Oh crap, she heard me call her a clown? Hotspot thought.
The thoughts came with such a rush that Raven tensed, her hand involuntarily closing. Zedeth, trapped in the energy, could only open his mouth with a silent wail as his body began to contract in on itself. With a flat boom his body imploded, killing him instantly.
Raven stumbled and put her hands to her mouth in an effort not to throw up. Zedeth's body now looked like a shapeless mass of scales and flesh as all of the blood in his body rained down on top of it.
"No," she said sadly, "That wasn't supposed to happen." She stared in horror at her own hands, and swore that from then on, she would never use the black energy directly on an opponent.
But it wasn't just her fault—she reminded herself—as she turned to the others standing in shock and said, "That is what happens when you do not do as I ask. Do not attempt it again, or someone else may fall prey to my power and I don't want that to happen again."
All they could do was nod.
Coming Soon on Mind and Body – So the gang's all here. When will Cyborg wake up? Will Oracle learn something she didn't want to? Are there any petty crooks smart enough to use Jump City's current state of upset…yet dumb enough to commit crimes under the noses of our favorite heroes? Found out next, in Chapter 14: A Bird of Omen.
A/N: I have a couple more shout-outs to new viewers to accompany this chapter! bk00 discovered M&B a little bit before the last chapter was uploaded and swore up and down that he WOULD be reviewing EVERY chapter. I just wanted to thank him/her (I can never tell which online) for keeping to it. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.
The other shout-out is to TalatheWolf, who is actually a friend from before I started my account at . We have many of the same interests and I hope that will continue for a long time!