Chapter 17: Love hurts The rosette slowly approached the shape-shifter with graceful, taunting steps. The shape-shifter watched past her swaying form at the distance that kept increasing between her and the unconscious Terra.
He just needed to transform into an animal fast enough to reach her, before she could get to her first.
Cheetah it is.
His eyes wandered over to the communicator on the floor.
But what if she wasn't bluffing?
What if his friends would really be blown up, if he tried to move his way out of this mess?
And suddenly he felt like he was balancing the whole Titan Tower on his shoulders – was this how Robin must have felt when he became Slade's apprentice?
His eyes wandered to the pink cat that reduced the distance between them and he realized that this time, he had to make a decision!
And he chose his friends!
With that thought, Beast Boy morphed into a cheetah and charged at the pink menace before she did the same. Right before reaching her however, he morphed back as his hands reached out for the yellow device on the floor.
His face fell in slow motion, as Nya-Nya snatched the device right from under his nose, sending her leg against his head and causing him to tumble sideways before he came to a painful stop against the wall.
He got back up on his feet when he saw the dangerous female already looming over him. "I never thought I would hate cats," he said before he morphed into a T-Rex, letting out an angered roar.
The green dinosaur swung his gigantic tail, but his size also made him slow and the pink cat evaded the attack by jumping on the rail of a staircase to her left.
The dinosaur opened his large mouth and decided to swallow the cat whole but the pink girl jumped off the staircase, causing the dinosaur to get metal in his mouth instead before spitting it out.
Realizing that the dinosaur might be too slow for any offence, Beast Boy morphed into an ostrich and charged at the unmoving threat. Nya-Nya held out her hand that held his communicator and the ostrich stopped mid-sprint before morphing back to human.
His eyes were glued to the blinking screen as a beeping sound echoed through the hall.
Did…she activate it?
"Toki, karera wa teokure ni naru koto o rikai surudearou ka?" the girl spoke with confidence and she relished in his fearful expression. She shut off the device before the changeling received his translation and closed the space between them. Beast Boy tore his eyes off his enemy's face before they landed on the unconscious Terra.
And suddenly he felt ashamed.
Terra wasn't scared of death, but she wasn't scared of fighting her enemies either – even if it was through his words. But it was ultimately her choice to risk losing everyone she loved if it meant protecting them. Robin wasn't afraid of losing his team along with himself if it meant to free them from his enemies clutches. In an act of hope and rage, Beast Boy let his fist fly towards her face, only for her to catch it.
"Anata wa kono koto o kokai shimasu," his enemy spoke, her words seeming to linger in the air.
Meanwhile Robin, Cyborg and Starfire were still waiting for Raven and Beast Boy to arrive so they could finally eat dinner since Cyborg insisted on pizza instead of Tamaranian alien stew.
"Can we commence with the eating?" Starfire asked for the 3rd time now.
"This time, I have to agree with Star. My stomach might look metallic on the outside but even metal can't wait for 2 hours," Cyborg said, twiddling his knife in his large hands impatiently. Robin's thoughtful expression softened. "Alright but let me check on them before I start," their leader said while pulling out his communicator.
He activated it with the push of a button…and suddenly beeping sounds echoed through the tower.
"Is it my systems or do I really hear something?" Cyborg asked.
"I hear the strange noises too," Starfire added and looked around, in search of the source. "Could there be something wrong with our communicators? Or the Mainframe computer," Robin wondered aloud when his eyes opened wide and Starfire and Cyborg looked at him in confusion.
"What is it?" Starfire asked and saw that Robin stood up.
"I hope our security system hasn't malfunctioned again," he murmured and went out of the common room, Starfire and Cyborg following him like little ducklings.
But the after a few minutes of scanning, the mainframe computer and security systems showed no signs of problems.
They passed the hallway back to the common room when Robin noticed that the noise was loudest in Beast Boy's room.
"This is one of Beast Boy's lamest pranks," Cyborg groaned as Robin went inside to examine the changeling's room.
And suddenly Cyborg's human eye opened wide in shock. Stuck on the edge of Beast Boy's door was a small circular object that closely resembled a bug – but the red blinking light suggested that it was something else.
And as the blinking increased in pace, Cyborg stormed into Beast Boy's room. "Robin! We have to get out now! There's a bomb!" he shouted panic-stricken.
"What?"
Not shortly after…half of the tower burst into flames.
The grip of the enemy was strong but yet it was clear that she was holding back.
Beast Boy let his other fist fly forward as well but was beaten to it when her knee suddenly found itself lodged inside his belly.
With a quick pull, the dazed boy was swung towards the wall, but he just managed to land on his knees.
He got up on his feet in time to see the girl launching another attack at him and morphed into a dove. Unfortunately, he didn't get far when the cat caught up fast and slammed the bird brutally against the wall.
The bird vanished and Beast Boy struggled to sit up when he felt a shadow spread over him.
Nya-Nya stood over him, an expression of pure joy on her face. How could he beat her?
He saw her vanish when Brushogun died…so why was she still here?
His thoughts were interrupted when he saw her crouch down to his level and he tried to move but she had beaten him up to a point where every move hurt – not to mention that his shoulder began to protest again.
And suddenly his instincts began to protest as well.
The changeling closed his eyes, not wanting to let rage control him again – he would save his friends but not in this way.
But the thought of seeing her lifeless before his feet was intriguing – the thought of letting her have a taste of her own medicine. The thought of torturing her…
"No!" the shape-shifter cried, clenching his hands as if to stop them from moving by themselves.
And fear mixed with his anger, feeling the exposed skin of his ripped gloves. "Tokiniha, kontororu o ushinau koto wa sore hodo warui kotode wa arimasen. Subete no nochi ni wareware wa ryoho tomo tanoshi jikan o sugoshimashita," the feline murmured with intrigue. His eyes snapped open and he was faced with cat eyes staring back at him.
And he wondered what he saw in Tezumi in the first place.
The girl let a smile play on her face. "Soshite, tokiniha anata wa jibun no hon'no o shinrai shinakereba narimasen," she said in that same tone of voice, her eyes glancing at the tears in his suit.
Beast Boy let a frown appear on his face, hoping she would stop coming any closer to him. Too bad that she was neither timid nor easily intimidated. "Naze son'nani shinken'na nda? Watashi wa kantan ni monogoto o toru no ga suki dakede wa arimasendeshita chi tte imasu," she whispered, ignoring the hateful stare the shape-shifter shot at her. "I'm not falling for your smooth talk anymore," the changeling growled, the pain intensifying as he tried to move away from the approaching girl.
She stopped his movement as she grabbed onto his tattered suit before pulling him forward. "Ikagen'ni shite! Bisuto o shimashou!" the soft feel of her words couldn't hide the cruel, hard intentions she directed into his ear.
What used to fill him with joy and anticipation now filled him with anger and disgust as her fangs continued to try to persuade him silently into giving in to his instincts.
"I'm not…turning…into that anymore," he said, struggling to keep himself under control.
She lifted his head, placing a finger under his chin and the changeling felt his control slipping quickly. "Watashi wa ima anata o settoku shimashita ka?" His eyes widened as Tezumi gave him a smile…before his hand lashed out at her face, successfully throwing her off balance as he engraved a gash across her right eye.
He managed to stand in time to see Tezumi charging at him and he instinctively shot out his foot towards her face. Unfortunately, she saw it coming and grabbed the foot in one of her hands before shoving the boy against the wall.
Another hand joined the first, before gently bending it until it wouldn't anymore.
The changeling shot out his fist, despite the pain that was still present but the girl was quicker, once again gaining help from her knee that had quite forcefully rammed into him.
His arm grew limp as he jolted forward but the Asian never removed her grip from his foot that began lowering until it reached the level of her waist.
And for a split-second, Beast Boy thought that she had given up.
But the feline's smirk erased the flicker of hope the young Titan had as she probed his foot playfully until she was sure that he wouldn't be able to move it beyond a certain point. "Anata ga genkai ni tasshite kita yo ni omoemasu. Watashi wa dobutsu ga kowareta ashi kara kaifuku suru koto ga dekiru monodarou ka?" Nya-Nya smirked.
With that, her hands began moving in slow motion before Beast Boy's painful screams drowned out the nasty cracking sounds coming from his foot. His tormentor's smirk widened only. "Hai! Sore de oshimai! Watashi no tame ni himewiwoageru!" she cried excitedly, her hands continuing to move towards an unnatural angle.
Beast Boy forced his eyes to open so he could find his aim. The blurred image of Nya-Nya's face appeared in his vision and gathering all his energy that he had left, he shot out his fist, catching the pink feline in her jaw.
He felt something remove from his foot before he fell against the wall and collapsed. The young Titan tried to catch his breath as his foot continued to throb with pain. His eyes shut from exhaustion and he clearly felt traces of tears on his face.
His eyes snapped open as suddenly, a hand grabbed his face and he came face to face with the pink girl. "Now…I'm convinced…that cats have nine…lives," Beast Boy gasped and a smirk appeared on his face, greatly intriguing the cat that faced him.
How could he possibly have hope in this situation?
"Watashi wa Tokyo de watashitachi no chisana deai irai, kono yona tanoshimi o motte imasendeshita," Nya-Nya murmured, her claws tracing along the gash from their previous encounter. "Watashi wa anata o korosu koto o yaku teru yona zan'nen," she said before her tongue trailed along that same gash in a gentle manner.
"I can't believe…I thought of you as my girlfriend," the shape-shifter chuckled in mockery before she forcefully lifted his head, leaving his throat exposed to her.
Her claws pressed against it and Nya-Nya spoke with triumph in her voice.
"Sayonara…"
He just needed to transform into an animal fast enough to reach her, before she could get to her first.
Cheetah it is.
His eyes wandered over to the communicator on the floor.
But what if she wasn't bluffing?
What if his friends would really be blown up, if he tried to move his way out of this mess?
And suddenly he felt like he was balancing the whole Titan Tower on his shoulders – was this how Robin must have felt when he became Slade's apprentice?
His eyes wandered to the pink cat that reduced the distance between them and he realized that this time, he had to make a decision!
And he chose his friends!
With that thought, Beast Boy morphed into a cheetah and charged at the pink menace before she did the same. Right before reaching her however, he morphed back as his hands reached out for the yellow device on the floor.
His face fell in slow motion, as Nya-Nya snatched the device right from under his nose, sending her leg against his head and causing him to tumble sideways before he came to a painful stop against the wall.
He got back up on his feet when he saw the dangerous female already looming over him. "I never thought I would hate cats," he said before he morphed into a T-Rex, letting out an angered roar.
The green dinosaur swung his gigantic tail, but his size also made him slow and the pink cat evaded the attack by jumping on the rail of a staircase to her left.
The dinosaur opened his large mouth and decided to swallow the cat whole but the pink girl jumped off the staircase, causing the dinosaur to get metal in his mouth instead before spitting it out.
Realizing that the dinosaur might be too slow for any offence, Beast Boy morphed into an ostrich and charged at the unmoving threat. Nya-Nya held out her hand that held his communicator and the ostrich stopped mid-sprint before morphing back to human.
His eyes were glued to the blinking screen as a beeping sound echoed through the hall.
Did…she activate it?
"Toki, karera wa teokure ni naru koto o rikai surudearou ka?" the girl spoke with confidence and she relished in his fearful expression. She shut off the device before the changeling received his translation and closed the space between them. Beast Boy tore his eyes off his enemy's face before they landed on the unconscious Terra.
And suddenly he felt ashamed.
Terra wasn't scared of death, but she wasn't scared of fighting her enemies either – even if it was through his words. But it was ultimately her choice to risk losing everyone she loved if it meant protecting them. Robin wasn't afraid of losing his team along with himself if it meant to free them from his enemies clutches. In an act of hope and rage, Beast Boy let his fist fly towards her face, only for her to catch it.
"Anata wa kono koto o kokai shimasu," his enemy spoke, her words seeming to linger in the air.
Meanwhile Robin, Cyborg and Starfire were still waiting for Raven and Beast Boy to arrive so they could finally eat dinner since Cyborg insisted on pizza instead of Tamaranian alien stew.
"Can we commence with the eating?" Starfire asked for the 3rd time now.
"This time, I have to agree with Star. My stomach might look metallic on the outside but even metal can't wait for 2 hours," Cyborg said, twiddling his knife in his large hands impatiently. Robin's thoughtful expression softened. "Alright but let me check on them before I start," their leader said while pulling out his communicator.
He activated it with the push of a button…and suddenly beeping sounds echoed through the tower.
"Is it my systems or do I really hear something?" Cyborg asked.
"I hear the strange noises too," Starfire added and looked around, in search of the source. "Could there be something wrong with our communicators? Or the Mainframe computer," Robin wondered aloud when his eyes opened wide and Starfire and Cyborg looked at him in confusion.
"What is it?" Starfire asked and saw that Robin stood up.
"I hope our security system hasn't malfunctioned again," he murmured and went out of the common room, Starfire and Cyborg following him like little ducklings.
But the after a few minutes of scanning, the mainframe computer and security systems showed no signs of problems.
They passed the hallway back to the common room when Robin noticed that the noise was loudest in Beast Boy's room.
"This is one of Beast Boy's lamest pranks," Cyborg groaned as Robin went inside to examine the changeling's room.
And suddenly Cyborg's human eye opened wide in shock. Stuck on the edge of Beast Boy's door was a small circular object that closely resembled a bug – but the red blinking light suggested that it was something else.
And as the blinking increased in pace, Cyborg stormed into Beast Boy's room. "Robin! We have to get out now! There's a bomb!" he shouted panic-stricken.
"What?"
Not shortly after…half of the tower burst into flames.
The grip of the enemy was strong but yet it was clear that she was holding back.
Beast Boy let his other fist fly forward as well but was beaten to it when her knee suddenly found itself lodged inside his belly.
With a quick pull, the dazed boy was swung towards the wall, but he just managed to land on his knees.
He got up on his feet in time to see the girl launching another attack at him and morphed into a dove. Unfortunately, he didn't get far when the cat caught up fast and slammed the bird brutally against the wall.
The bird vanished and Beast Boy struggled to sit up when he felt a shadow spread over him.
Nya-Nya stood over him, an expression of pure joy on her face. How could he beat her?
He saw her vanish when Brushogun died…so why was she still here?
His thoughts were interrupted when he saw her crouch down to his level and he tried to move but she had beaten him up to a point where every move hurt – not to mention that his shoulder began to protest again.
And suddenly his instincts began to protest as well.
The changeling closed his eyes, not wanting to let rage control him again – he would save his friends but not in this way.
But the thought of seeing her lifeless before his feet was intriguing – the thought of letting her have a taste of her own medicine. The thought of torturing her…
"No!" the shape-shifter cried, clenching his hands as if to stop them from moving by themselves.
And fear mixed with his anger, feeling the exposed skin of his ripped gloves. "Tokiniha, kontororu o ushinau koto wa sore hodo warui kotode wa arimasen. Subete no nochi ni wareware wa ryoho tomo tanoshi jikan o sugoshimashita," the feline murmured with intrigue. His eyes snapped open and he was faced with cat eyes staring back at him.
And he wondered what he saw in Tezumi in the first place.
The girl let a smile play on her face. "Soshite, tokiniha anata wa jibun no hon'no o shinrai shinakereba narimasen," she said in that same tone of voice, her eyes glancing at the tears in his suit.
Beast Boy let a frown appear on his face, hoping she would stop coming any closer to him. Too bad that she was neither timid nor easily intimidated. "Naze son'nani shinken'na nda? Watashi wa kantan ni monogoto o toru no ga suki dakede wa arimasendeshita chi tte imasu," she whispered, ignoring the hateful stare the shape-shifter shot at her. "I'm not falling for your smooth talk anymore," the changeling growled, the pain intensifying as he tried to move away from the approaching girl.
She stopped his movement as she grabbed onto his tattered suit before pulling him forward. "Ikagen'ni shite! Bisuto o shimashou!" the soft feel of her words couldn't hide the cruel, hard intentions she directed into his ear.
What used to fill him with joy and anticipation now filled him with anger and disgust as her fangs continued to try to persuade him silently into giving in to his instincts.
"I'm not…turning…into that anymore," he said, struggling to keep himself under control.
She lifted his head, placing a finger under his chin and the changeling felt his control slipping quickly. "Watashi wa ima anata o settoku shimashita ka?" His eyes widened as Tezumi gave him a smile…before his hand lashed out at her face, successfully throwing her off balance as he engraved a gash across her right eye.
He managed to stand in time to see Tezumi charging at him and he instinctively shot out his foot towards her face. Unfortunately, she saw it coming and grabbed the foot in one of her hands before shoving the boy against the wall.
Another hand joined the first, before gently bending it until it wouldn't anymore.
The changeling shot out his fist, despite the pain that was still present but the girl was quicker, once again gaining help from her knee that had quite forcefully rammed into him.
His arm grew limp as he jolted forward but the Asian never removed her grip from his foot that began lowering until it reached the level of her waist.
And for a split-second, Beast Boy thought that she had given up.
But the feline's smirk erased the flicker of hope the young Titan had as she probed his foot playfully until she was sure that he wouldn't be able to move it beyond a certain point. "Anata ga genkai ni tasshite kita yo ni omoemasu. Watashi wa dobutsu ga kowareta ashi kara kaifuku suru koto ga dekiru monodarou ka?" Nya-Nya smirked.
With that, her hands began moving in slow motion before Beast Boy's painful screams drowned out the nasty cracking sounds coming from his foot. His tormentor's smirk widened only. "Hai! Sore de oshimai! Watashi no tame ni himewiwoageru!" she cried excitedly, her hands continuing to move towards an unnatural angle.
Beast Boy forced his eyes to open so he could find his aim. The blurred image of Nya-Nya's face appeared in his vision and gathering all his energy that he had left, he shot out his fist, catching the pink feline in her jaw.
He felt something remove from his foot before he fell against the wall and collapsed. The young Titan tried to catch his breath as his foot continued to throb with pain. His eyes shut from exhaustion and he clearly felt traces of tears on his face.
His eyes snapped open as suddenly, a hand grabbed his face and he came face to face with the pink girl. "Now…I'm convinced…that cats have nine…lives," Beast Boy gasped and a smirk appeared on his face, greatly intriguing the cat that faced him.
How could he possibly have hope in this situation?
"Watashi wa Tokyo de watashitachi no chisana deai irai, kono yona tanoshimi o motte imasendeshita," Nya-Nya murmured, her claws tracing along the gash from their previous encounter. "Watashi wa anata o korosu koto o yaku teru yona zan'nen," she said before her tongue trailed along that same gash in a gentle manner.
"I can't believe…I thought of you as my girlfriend," the shape-shifter chuckled in mockery before she forcefully lifted his head, leaving his throat exposed to her.
Her claws pressed against it and Nya-Nya spoke with triumph in her voice.
"Sayonara…"