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Cyborg: Aw yeah, baby! More reviews! Keep em' comin'!
Raven: Well, it's not surprising what with the sudden plot twist of me and Terra reconciling. And by the way, I'd like to commend the author for slipping a Halo reference in a Teen Titans story.
Beast Boy: Yeah! That was cool. For those of you scratching your heads, the original Halo game began on a starship named the Truth and Reconciliation.
Robin: Beast Boy, cut back on the video games. Seriously. You know way too much about them. Anyway, thanks for the reviews everyone. Good to hear that the story's entertaining.
Starfire: Beast Boy... Do I look the "hip?"
(Everyone turns to see Starfire in ripped jeans, wearing a fishnet shirt under a T-Shirt that says "Can't touch this," over the chest area.)
Everybody: Beast Boy!
Beast Boy: Crap! Theme song while I hide!
When there's trouble you know who to call. Teen Titans!
From their tower, they can see it all. Teen Titans!
When there's evil on the attack
You can rest knowing they got your back
'Cuz when the world needs heroes on patrol, Teen Titans GO!
With their superpowers they unite. Teen Titans!
Never met a villain that they liked. Teen Titans!
They've got the bad guys on the run
They never stop 'till the job gets done
'Cuz when the world is losin' all control
Teen Titans GO! Teen Titans GO!
If your heart is black you better watch out
You cannot escape the team
When they catch you there won't be any doubt
You've been beaten by the teens
Beaten by the teens
Previously, on Fused...
So...friends?" Terra asked. To Terra's absolute and utter shock and amazement, Raven reached forward and dragged Terra into a hug. Terra's brain slowed way down, processing the information that Raven, the girl that she half-expected would kill her, was hugging her.
Raven released the poor, confused geokinetic. She laughed again at the look on Terra's face. She looked down at Beast Boy and said "I guess love really does make you do crazy things." The words were barely out of her mouth when a sudden burst of energy flooded her head.
"Raven?" Terra cocked her head. Raven put a hand to her gemstone. "Terra, what color is my chakra gem?" Raven asked slowly. Terra looked up, ready to answer "Red." But when she looked, she saw it glowing, and not glowing red.
"Er...It's green, Raven. And glowing." Terra said uncertainly. Raven's eyes flew open. Her face lit up, animated. Her lips curved up into a smile large enough to possibly stunt her face permanently. "Uhm...Raven? You look like someone told you you've won a million dollars. What gives?"
Raven grabbed Terra by the wrist. 'Oh shit. This is where she kills me. I knew it," Terra thought. But instead, the Azarathian asked, "Do you trust me?" Terra furrowed her eyebrows. "Sure," she replied. Raven was breathing heavily.
"Terra, my gemstone can sense souls. Especially strong ones. I... I feel cold. My chakra is telling me that there's a soul nearby, and that it's very weak. Somewhere in the recesses of the mind, in a 'cold' place. And if it's green..." Raven finished excitedly. Without waiting for Terra's response, she took one of the blonde's hands in hers, and placed the other hand squarely on Beast Boy's forehead. "Azarath Metrion ZINTHOS!" She chanted.
"...Where are we?" Terra asked.
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"We're in Beast Boy's mind. Well, sort of. It's kind of hard to explain," Raven said. They had disappeared from the med lab and teleported into what looked like a jungle or rainforest. Terra took in the scenery, noting that all of the animals in the surrounding area were green. "Makes sense," Terra thought.
"Oooookay. So kind of like his version of Nevermore?" Terra ventured a guess.
"Similar, but not exactly. We're in what is supposed to be Beast Boy's spirit world. Everyone has a spirit that courses through them just like they have emotions. Nevermore is a rather special case, really. Most people don't have physical embodiments of their emotions. They exist in me for the purpose of control. Everyone, however, has a spiritual existence." Raven explained.
"Wait. You said supposed to be. Why isn't it? And why is his spirit existence a jungle?" Terra asked, utterly bemused.
"To answer the first question, the part of oneself that makes a person...them... has two parts. Spirit and soul combine to form a person's essence and aura. That's the part my powers can pick up on. As to your second question, it should be rather obvious," Raven said with a shrug.
"Well, no offense, but you're the one that's the expert on all this spirit and soul weirdness. Call me stupid, but I am not seeing it," Terra said, confused. Why would it be obvious?
"Okay, I'll give you a hint: your spirit world would consist of a rocky mountainside. Mine is set in a recreation of my home in Azarath. Robin's is the Batcave. Understand now?" Raven asked with a smile as they began to move through the forest.
"Oh... It's a physical representation of who we are? Where we feel most at home? That explains it. Beast Boy morphs into all sorts of different animals, so his spirit world is a jungle," Terra realized. She returned Raven's smile, proud of herself for figuring it out.
"Very good, Terra. Now, let's pick up the pace. If I'm correct, Beast Boy's soul will be in the form of a child version of himself. He'll be scared and lost. We need to bring him back and unite him with his spirit. I can do that. But we need to find hi-" Raven was cut off by a sudden rumble in the ground.
"Wasn't me," Terra said in answer to the look on Raven's face. What is was, however, was quickly apparent. A venerable army of Trigon's hellfire demons materialized from the ground. "Oh, great," Terra groaned.
"You guys again? Man, you are seriously picking the wrong people in the wrong place at the wrong time to fuck with," Raven said with a smirk.
Terra spun to face Raven. "Raven, what will happen if I use my powers? Will it hurt Beast Boy? Or do my powers even work here?" She asked, worry shining through her voice.
Raven thought. She really didn't know, but what she did know was that if they didn't defeat the opposition, Beast Boy was cooked. "I don't know, but we'll have to risk it. Since Robin isn't here..." She smirked, "Titans, GO!"
The two girls flew off in opposite directions. Terra had made brilliant use of her powers, creating a pair of stone boxing gloves while creating a storm of stones. She spun and swung left and right, utterly destroying any and all within reach.
A few feet away, Raven was having similar success. She was all black magic, flying above her enemies and dropping Azarathian energy bombs on the demons. Occasionally she swooped down to rip a trail through the army. But she was slowly wearing out. She couldn't keep herself afloat and keep up the attacks forever. So, she landed and surveyed the battlefield. She grinned as she saw a medium sized tree branch close by. She flew it over to herself and grabbed it. "It's not exactly Robin's bo staff, but the general idea still remains," Raven smirked to herself. And suddenly, she become Azarathian Robin, throwing discs of Azarathian energy blades and using that branch to do moves that would do the Boy Wonder proud.
Terra chanced a glance over at Raven's battle. Seeing the branch and just general Robin imitation technique gave her an idea. "I might not have a whole lot of skill with a staff, but..." She remembered back when she had fought the Titans. Given, Slade helped with it, but she had created living soldiers from stone. Smirking, she took the idea to the next level.
Terra ground the rocks into clay and began to shape it. Soon there were living clay replicas of the other Titans. "Attack!" Terra ordered. Clay Cyborg rushed forward and began to fire rocks from his cannon, while clay Robin grabbed a staff made by Terra and jumped into the fray. Terra gave herself a mental pat on the back at her work and jumped in herself.
Raven had seen what Terra had done. "The girl's creative, I gotta give her that," She thought as her "staff" cut through another bunch of demons. But all the creativeness in the world wasn't helping the fact that they were losing by numbers. Raven was already starting to physically tire out, and Terra wasn't far behind. They needed a miracle.
Robin opened the med lab door to check on Raven, Terra and Beast Boy. Seeing only Beast Boy, he scratched his head. "Uh...where did they go?" He wondered to no one. It wasn't like Raven to abandon an injured friend. He was about to leave when he felt it. A sudden, strange feeling that felt oddly like desperation. At the same time, he realized that he could feel a...weight in the air. He didn't know how else to describe it, but it felt similar to the feeling he got when Raven teleported him.
"Ok, I am really not liking this," The Boy Wonder said, sitting down. Robin had a connection with Raven. She had teleported somewhere, he knew that. He was also pretty sure that she was in trouble. Had Terra attacked her? Or Slade? Speaking of whom..
Slade had gone, telling Starfire only that he would be back. He, too had felt the strange feelings. Unlike Robin, however, he knew exactly what they meant. "The girl's gone after him. If Trigon catches her there, it's game, set and match," Slade thought as he entered his old lair. He had come searching for something that would be useful in their upcoming battle with Trigon. After a few minutes, he found it. It was a simple book, with a front that read "Hell's Fire." Grasping it, he took off back for the Tower.
Robin had called a team meeting by the time Slade returned. "Where were you?" The spiky-haired teen inquired. "Retrieving this," Slade stated simply, laying the book down on the now-fixed common room table.
"Hell's Fire?" Cyborg read the title dubiously. "It is a book filled with powerful spells relating to demons," Slade explained calmly. He held his hand up to stem any floods of questions and continued. "Raven and Terra have disappeared, correct?" Slade asked Robin.
"How did you-" Slade cut him off. "Raven has sensed his soul. Apparently, the boy is not completely gone. Do you recall when Trigon first attempted to return?" Slade asked. Everyone nodded. "Beast Boy is in a somewhat similar position to what Raven was in. A small part of his soul remains, despite the brutally powerful attack Raven delivered," He explained. Starfire's eyes widened.
"So we can still save friend Beast Boy?" She said, voice full of hope. "Perhaps," Slade nodded. "Raven has transported herself into Beast Boy's spirit. I suspect she has taken Terra with her. With this," He held up the book, "we may be able to follow them in."
"Wait. Entered his spirit? You lost me. If Beast Boy's spirit is intact, what's keeping him from waking up?" Cyborg asked. Given, he didn't know his spirit from his microchips, but...
"I can answer that," Starfire supplied. "I have studied much with Raven about the spirit. One's personality, what makes them themselves, is made of the spirit and soul in unison with one another. If the two are separated, they must be reunited," She finished.
"Correct. And if we hurry, we may be able to catch up to them before it is too late. What Raven has failed to realize is that Trigon will not have left Beast Boy without leaving something behind," Slade said grimly. "If I am correct, Raven and Terra could be being ambushed even as we speak by Trigon's army. There is a spell in this book that should be able to get us in. We must, however, find them on our own."
"Shouldn't be too hard. If they're in a fight we'll see black stuff and a bunch of rocks flyin' around," Cyborg said with a chuckle. With a look at his teammates, he nodded. to Slade. Robin and Starfire followed suite. "Alright, let's get it on then!" Cyborg said.
Slade, Starfire, Robin and Cyborg stood beside Beast Boy's barely alive body. "Alright, everyone. Link hands and let your energy flow," Robin said, reading from the book. He then began the spell. "Azarath ze ma zaku, iso cume metrionos. Zinth des zerg du MOZA!" He finished. And with a flash of white light, they were gone.
"Whoa. Nice jungle," Cyborg commented as they landed. "Whoa! That monkey was green!" The mechanized Titan yelped as the creature ran past him.
"All the animals here will be. We're in Beast Boy's spirit. It reflects what makes him himself, remember?" Slade reminded him. They progressed forward until they heard a commotion. Looking at each other, they ran forward to see a scene similar to what Slade had predicted. Robin looked at Slade and said "You're good." Slade simply laughed and leapt up into the trees.
Raven was backed into a corner. She was physically and mentally worn out, barely able to protect herself. Terra was trying to keep fighting, but it was a losing battle without Raven's help Terra's clay Titans lay in pieces on the ground, and the two teenage girls were pressed back against the same mountain of rocks Terra had used to create them. One of the demons drew his sword back and went for Terra's throat. He didn't make it, though. With a loud TWANG the sword fell to the ground as its master died.
The demon army shifted its attention to the trees, where the projectile had come from.. Robin caught his Birdarang and jumped down from the tree. "Sorry boys, but Beast Boy's coming with us," He said, drawing his staff. Starfire flew up behind him, starbolts at the ready.
Raven and Terra grinned. Using the temporary lull in action to her favor, Raven jumped over to Terra and healed her wounds, then proceeded to do the same for herself. She looked to Robin and said "I need a few to rest after I heal people. Someone cover me, ok?"
Robin nodded and looked to Starfire. She smiled. "I shall protect her while she recovers he strength," She said. Her eyes then glowed green as she flew out and caught Raven by the arms, taking her out of the action into a nearby tree.
"Titans, GO!" Robin jumped forward, bringing his staff down hard. He spun around, imitating Raven's attacks from earlier.
"Robin, heads up!" Terra yelled. Grabbing a few rocks, she placed one on Robin's left side and hovered one to his right. Getting the idea, Robin wall-jumped up the floating one, at which point Terra rose the wall on his left so he could jump off onto it. He kept wall-kicking this way until he was high enough into the air to launch a flurry of concussive discs onto the battlefield. As he fell, Terra slanted the walls as to create ramps for him to slide down. Once on the ground, he gave her a thumbs-up and went back to fighting with his staff.
Cyborg was all sonic cannon. Demons fell left and right as he blitzed them. Jumping in the air, he let loose a series of heat-seeker missiles, each finding a target and destroying not only said target, but 3 or 4 other soldiers surrounding it.
Soon, Raven and Starfire entered the brawl and it ended quickly. "Thanks for the save, guys," Terra said, breathless. It had been a long fight, and the opponent's weren't holding back.
"Yeah, thanks. You figured it out, huh?" Raven looked to Slade, amused. "Who else? Have you seen the boy?" Slade replied.
"Not yet. But Trigon must not want Beast Boy around. Maybe he's afraid of him? If Beast Boy's holding a key to beating Trigon... We gotta get going, quickly. You guys in?" Raven asked the group.
"Why the hell else would we be here?" Robin asked with a smile.
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