A/N: So yes I'll be taking some creative liberties with the Tamaraneans. I do like the powers they were portrayed with in the Teen Titans animated series. There'll be some other things added but there'll be an explanation for them eventually.
John grunted as he landed hard on his back. Not long after the fight started did John learn that Tamaraneans fought dirty. Not only that but they were much stronger than he had anticipated. It was not just physical prowess but the fact that each of them had a completely different ability from the other. It reminded John of the metahumans back on Earth.
Ph'yzzon not only possessed superhuman strength but he was able to duplicate himself. He was using the ability to land cheap and dirty hits. Zirral wasn't as physically strong as Ph'yzzon yet she had a more annoying ability to go against as a Green Lantern. She was able to absorb energy and project it back by powering up her own energy blasts. So far none of them had been able to land a single strike with their rings because of this. The last Tamaranean was a much younger female. John would guess she was only in her early twenties, though he also knew not to assume ages when it came to alien species at this point. This Alisand'r was extremely powerful. John knew for certain that even Superman would have issues facing her. She possessed both super strength and super speed. On top of it all she seemed to be invulnerable as she easily shrugged off any hit thrown at her so far.
"You're..." John said through gritted teeth as he slowly sat up. "You're a bastard."
Ph'yzzon smirked, tilting his head to the side. "My, my such sweet things you say. Care to actually fight or are you finished already?"
"We're just getting started asswipe!" Kilowog exclaimed as he charged at Ph'yzzon. Just as he was about to strike the Tamaranean, a orange and purple blur plowed into Kilowog and sent him flying into the ruins of the city they were fighting in.
Alisand'r smirked as she alighted next to Ph'yzzon, "You need a little patience there big guy."
"I don't know about him but my patience is just about done," John unleashed an energy beam at the two Tamaraneans. Predictably Zirral jumped in front of the blast and threw her hands out. Her hands glowed as she absorbed the blast. She smirked as John scowled. Though John's scowl quickly turned to that of a smirk. John knew the energy blast wouldn't do much due to her ability. If they wanted to fight dirty, so could they.
Boodikka leapt out with a kusarigama construct. Just as she was about to strike she was blasted by Zirral as she expanded the energy she had just absorbed. The attack sent her careening into one of the dilapidated stone statutes. It crumbled on top of her before she blasted the rumble away. She immediately winced and placed a hand over her right shoulder.
"This is just great," he sarcastically muttered to himself with a frown.
Off in the distance John heard a blast and knew that Kilowog had as well blasted his way out. Boodikka slowly flew over and landed next to John. Only a moment later Kilowog flew over and alighted next to the two. The Bolovaxian cracked his neck and lightly growled as he glared at the Tamaraneans.
"You give up now?" Alisand'r asked in a cocky tone as she snickered.
Kilowog scowled as he punched his palm, "Yeah right poozer. That barely tickled. Maybe try throwing a punch for real next time."
"Listen," John quietly said to the two. "I know we wanted to go in with teamwork and all that jazz but it isn't working."
Boodikka nodded, "We need to separate them, face them one-on-one."
"So I take the big guy?" Kilowog asked.
"You're better off taking the girl," John replied as he glanced at the Tamaraneans. "She's the strongest out of the three of them. Out of the three of us, you can endure her hits the best honestly."
Kilowog smirked as he punched his palm again, "I'm going to enjoy this."
"So you got Ph'yzzon?" Boodikka asked John.
John shook his head, "He's yours. I'll take Zirral. She's the only one I can go toe to toe with when it comes to physical combat without the ring. She's not as strong as the other two. I think I can hold my own with her."
"Alright then, round two poozers!" Kilowog took off at a breakneck pace and tackled Alisand'r, causing the two to crash into the rubble behind them.
Ph'yzzon sighed before shrugging, "I suppose we can continue to humor you. You're giving us some nice exercise for a change little Lanterns."
Boodikka quickly formed two dagger constructs. Zirral fired energy blasts from her hands. John blocked the attacks with a wall construct as Boodikka followed up by throwing the two daggers directly at Ph'yzzon. Zirral was about to shoot the daggers down but Boodikka blasted the ground, causing dirt and dust to fly up. It blocked their sight. One dagger grazed across Ph'yzzon left bicep as the other landed directly into his right thigh.
Ph'yzzon hissed in pain as he ripped the construct out of his thigh. He then scowled as he flew towards Boodikka, "You bitch!"
"You cowards thought you could fight us dirty and not expect the same in return?" Boodikka asked of them as she formed another kusarigama.
Ph'yzzon duplicated himself once and both threw a punch at her. Boodikka crossed her arms and dropped her construct to instead create a shield around her arms to hold back the attack.
"You can't hold out forever, Green Lantern," one of the Ph'yzzons mocked. The two Tamaraneans once again closed in and put more force into their punches. "Eventually your ring will lose its charge and die."
Boodikka ducked under the punches and leapt backwards. Predictably Ph'yzzon and his duplicate charged after the Bellatrixian. Boodikka as well ran towards them and quickly slid on her shins between the two as she created yet another kusarigama construct. Boodikka hooked the handle of her scythe on the legs of the Ph'yzzon on her right and swung the ball of her chain at the legs of the Ph'yzzon on her left. At the speed she slid, the attack flipped the Tamaraneans forward.
Boodikka used her ring to push backwards to give her momentum as she spun to her feet and turned. She swung her scythe cutting the one Ph'yzzon in half through the waist while he was in the air. Boodikka then wrapped the chain ball around the last Lantern's leg and pulled on it with all of her might, flinging the Tamaranean off in the distance. Boodikka quickly followed after him.
John smirked as he looked off in the direction the two had gone off in to, "Nice throw, they won't be back here any time soon." He then looked over at Zirral, "And neither is your other little friend. It's just you and me."
Zirral shrugged, "Your funeral Green Lantern. I'm not as weak as I look."
"We'll just see about that," John stated as he floated into the air. "I don't intend on dying anytime soon."
John then waved his arm to unleash a green energy shockwave. Zirral effortlessly absorbed the shockwave into her left hand. She was surprised to see John follow right behind his attack with a fist construct that punched her in the face. Zirral righted herself and rubbed her chin.
"Not a bad move there. I almost felt that," she complimented with a smirk. "Now let's see how you handle this."
Zirral flew at him and tried to punch him. John just ducked under the punch in time and then tried to punch her in the side. It felt as though John had punched a brick wall. John shook his sore hand and in doing so he got punched in the face. He was thrown back against the side of a destroyed building and he slumped to the ground. John slowly sat up and shook the stars from his vision. He looked up to see Zirral flying towards him. Getting up as fast as he could, John went after Zirral with another punch. Zirral reached a hand out to grab John's fist but the Green Lantern ducked under it by rolling on the ground. He got up on his feet and kicked Zirral in the back. John's foot now hurt a bit but he was able to push Zirral to the ground.
Zirral recuperated faster than he expected and grabbed him by the ankle. The Tamaranean swung John over her head then slammed him against the ground on his back, knocking the wind out of the Green Lantern and threatening to break his back if not for his power ring protecting him. Zirral did this several times until John managed to get his bearings with the constant pain and motion. The Green Lantern let Zirral bring him up again but with his other foot, John kicked her in the face. She let go of his foot out of surprise and rubbed her face.
John swiftly landed on his feet and then went to charge after Zirral again.
Boodikka flew through a collapsing building as several Ph'yzzons followed close behind. She went through the hallway as the building tilted over to fall. Debris and dust fell which decreased her visibility. Despite the situation this was exactly what she was hoping for. Boodikka fired a blast straight ahead and she disappeared into the dust cloud that kicked up from the blast. The Tamaraneans followed through and exited out of a hole in the building. The Green Lantern had vanished from their sight. Behind them the building impacted the ground causing the ground to rumble as it finally gave in and collapsed.
"Where did she go?" One of the Ph'yzzon duplicates asked.
"She has to be close by," one of the others replied.
"Closer than you might think," Boodikka announced to them.
The Tamaraneans turned around and saw Boodikka come at them with two sword constructs. She swung the blades as she approached. The duplicates had no time to react before they were severed by Boodikka's blades.
Suddenly, Ph'yzzon got in a lucky shot and hit Boodikka in the back with an energy blast. She cried out in pain from the attack. The area of the blast was burnt off revealing some of her skin and some smoke came off around the blast mark. The attack shocked her system and made her sword constructs vanish from her hands. Ph'yzzon smirked as his hands glowed again as he prepared to blast her once more.
John struggled out of the headlock Zirral had him in and, once he was free, lunged to grab her around the neck. He was nothing but a feather compared to Zirral's strength and the Tamaranean ripped him off and pinned him up against a wall by the shoulders. She then punched him right in the stomach. John fell to his knees and tried to gasp for the air that just got hit out of him.
Zirral knelt next to him and sneered, "Look at you. You're nothing but a pathetic, little Green Lantern. Give up already and leave with your life and dignity."
John gritted his teeth as he struggled to catch his breath. He didn't know why he was struggling more so with the Tamaranean's words than the actual physical blows. He knew this whole war could just be a futile endeavor by the Guardians. Honestly he could care less about the outcome of the war. He just wanted to get back to Earth. His only end goal in all of this was to get back to Shayera. If he didn't make it out of this alive he wouldn't ever see her again. He would never...
John shook his head and scowled. He couldn't think like that. John knew he was going to get back to Shayera. If this whole destiny stuff was real than he just had to. He wasn't about to let something like this bring him down so easily.
Zirral shrugged as she turned away from him, "And I suppose that's the end of that. You Green Lanterns are so weak it's pathetic."
John staggered up and flew at Zirral with a battle cry. He lit up his ring and brought it up in a fist. Zirral turned around in time to see the green fist before it hit her square in the jaw. She was blown back and only stopped when she had crashed through the wall of a partially intact building.
Zirral staggered out of the wreckage, rubbing the side of her head, but she didn't have any time to recover as John flew like a dart at her and punched her in the face several times. Then he brought Zirral's head down and kneed her in the face, causing her to stumble back. John created a chain and wrapped it around the stunned Tamaranean. The Green Lantern whipped the chain up and down and Zirral went with it, getting slammed straight into the ground.
John finally let go of her and created a mace construct to crush Zirral with. Just as he had swung the construct at her, Zirral grabbed the mace and crushed it within her hands. Then she quickly flew, grabbed John by the shoulders, and then headbutted him. She then kicked the stunned Green Lantern in the chest, knocking him back down to the ground. John shook off the strike and flew back up into the air.
John panted as he wiped the back of his hand against the corner of his mouth. He looked down to see blood speckled on the back of his gloved hand. He then looked up at the Tamaranean and scowled.
Zirral in return smirked before lightly shrugging, "What? I told you to just give up. I'm hardly getting warmed up."
John just continued to scowl. He knew she was bluffing. Not only did he manage to give her a nose bleed but she was as well lightly panting. It was a bit of a consolation to him that he knew that he was beginning to tire the Tamaranean. John flew at Zirral once more and threw a punch at her. Having learned from before, Zirral grabbed his fist. John was expecting to get punched in the face. He was more confused than anything when Zirral just smirked. The Tamaranean's eyes then glowed purple and the Green Lantern's vision went black.