Disclaimer: Come on, if I owned them, would I really be sitting here writing stories on FanFic?

Rating: T

CHAPTER 1: "A Certain Moment"

The Titans were in Jump's central park, celebrating one of their many victories over a villain that threatened the city. Robin, Starfire, and Beast Boy gathered around the picnic table as Cyborg grilled up a fairly large amount of jumbo hot dogs. A few of them were tofu-dogs for Beast Boy. Cyborg had became so accustomed to the changeling's refusal to eat meat that it became natural for him to have a substitute on hand when ever he cooked for the team.

Raven situated herself under a near by tree. She sat back against the thick trunk of the old oak with her herbal tea in the grasp of her hands. She welcomed the cool the shade the tree provided on such a hot day and she pulled the cowl of her cloak down to feel the light summer breeze brush against her cheek. Raven actually liked being at the park. It offered a decent amount of respite, unlike the operations room back at Titan's Tower. It's just that this peace was often ended abruptly sooner or later…

"How's my favorite empath doin'?"

She stared out into the distance for a brief second before turning her head around to see Cyborg leaning against the tree, supporting himself with his right arm and his left hand on his hip. He presented a big grin on his face as he looked down at her. Raven said nothing…

"Wanna join us for lunch, Rae?"

"No, I'm fine," she said before turning to her tea and looking at the reflection of emotionless face that stared back at her.

Cyborg's grin turned into a disappointed frown. He was about to ask if she was telling the truth before she spoke again, as if anticipating him.

"Really," Raven reassured with a tone hinting to him that he should not continue on the path he was currently on.

"Aw! Com'on!"

Raven shrieked and fell over on her side in shock. She peered over to her right to see her green friend sitting cross-legged next to her. 'How long has he been there?' she wondered. She studied his innocent expression.

She just had to ask him. "How long have you --"

"We know you don't like doing these things all that much, but you should come eat with us." He paused for a moment before looking back at her slyly. "You know you want to try one of my signature 'Flame-fu' dogs," he said smugly, wiggling his eyebrows and grinning widely.

Raven sighed. 'Better to avoid an argument than start one, I suppose,' she resolved. She certainly did not want things to heat up now.

"Beast Boy, I'm fine… Really. I just want to be alone," she said in a tone of finality. Beast Boy didn't even notice.

"How come you always want to be alone?"

Raven's eyes closed and twitched in annoyance. Her jaw tightened noticeably. She couldn't help it; she was getting angrier.

"Why don't you ever want to just have some fun?"

She shot him a death glare. "I. Don't. Do. Fun," She stated, her volume increasing with each word along with her aggravation. He just looked back at her incredulously.

Fortunately for the little grass stain, Cyborg had spotted the volcano that was dangerously close to erupting in his face. He reached down and grabbed Beast Boy by the arm and then forcefully yanked upwards so that he was standing next to him.

Cyborg leaned down to get closer to Beast Boy. "Man, you know better than to push the girl like that," whispered into his pointed ears so Raven could not hear. Cyborg put his hand over the younger boy's mouth before he could respond.

"We'll see you after lunch," Cyborg said, turning back to Raven with his previous smile. Then Cyborg walked away, dragging Beast Boy behind him like a mother would her tumultuous toddler.

Beast Boy did not like this. His pointed ears flattened as he reluctantly let Cyborg haul him back to the picnic table, knowing better than to challenge the intimidating half-metal man.

"What's got her so pissed? I'm just trying to get her to be a little more social…" he justified himself, but then trailed off for a moment. "Why is she always avoiding us?" he asked, not really looking for someone else's input.

Cyborg supplied an answer anyway. "Why do you care? It's not like this is anything new." Although his response did encourage further debate, his inflection implied that the conversation was already over.

They reached the table and Cyborg began handing out paper plates and set a large platter of at least two-dozen hot dogs in the middle of the table. Beast Boy sat in silence with his arms crossed and furrowed eye brows.

Robin's mouth started watering in anticipation of delicious food he would soon be inhaling. Starfire looked upon the magnificent meal with glee and immediately pulled out an oversized canister of mustard. Cyborg stood at the edge of the table smiled proudly at his perfect franks and crossed his arms triumphantly. However, Beast Boy remained frustrated at Raven's refusal to join them. He made glance back at the old tree and the blue figure underneath its branches.

"Glorious, friend Cyborg! I will take six of Frank's Furters!" Starfire announced and then put on an ear-to-ear smile. The alien was blissfully unaware of her mistake.

Her friends looked over at her questioningly, but knew what she meant because she constantly mixed up "the Earth words", as she liked to put it.

Robin held up his finger, taking the responsibility of correcting her. "Uh… Star, I think you mean 'Frankfurter'. Besides, you can just call it a hot dog."

Starfire simply nodded in response and blushed slightly.

Robin smiled and he started putting the hot dogs on her plate. He always thought she looked so cute when blushed like that...

The slight interruption hadn't made Beast Boy forget the frustration Raven had caused him. He usually respected her decisions when a minor dispute such as this one occurred. It happened enough times for this to be routine in their awkward relationship. However, this felt different. Raven was known to avoid her feelings (that much was made apparent after the Wicked Scary incident), but this refusal seemed more on a personal level, as if she was hiding from him. But the weird part of it was she hadn't said anything that made it seem this way. Yes, she did not partake in social events because of Beast Boy's antics at times, but the thing of it was that Beast Boy could not think of anything he had done to provoke her. Maybe it had something to do with what happened the day before… He only asked her to join them for lunch. She did kind of owe it to him. Then Cyborg's last comment came to mind: 'Why do you care?'

'Why do I care?' he mulled. Beast boy contemplated on the thought for a moment.

"Yo! BB! You gonna eat your dogs or what?" Cyborg called over to his currently spaced-out friend.

His concentration was broken and he snapped back to reality. "What? Oh yeah! Hit me up, Cy," he replied eagerly, his hunger finally getting the better of him. Cyborg promptly slapped three of the vegetarian's "specially prepared" hot dogs down on his plate.

Beast Boy's inability to sit still for extended periods of time also applied to his mind as well. So, involuntarily, he took his mind off his concerns as the aroma his "Flame-fu" hot dogs filled his senses. At the moment, eating his fill was his only concern.

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Raven's empathic abilities allowed her to feel Beast Boy's frustration towards her. She tried to ignore it. Why was he so frustrated with her anyway? He would usually let the matter rest once she reached a decision.

She closed her eyes, pulled on her cowl and took one more sip of her now cold tea before setting it on the ground next to her.

But then again, she would usually let the matter rest too and go back to what had her preoccupied before. She was still recalling the minor dispute in her head. And that's what it was: minor. Or at least, that's what it was supposed to be. So why was she still weighing it over in her mind?

Awkwardly enough, what had occupied her thoughts before the "minor" dispute had also concerned Beast Boy. Her thoughts kept falling back to a certain moment the day before…

XXXXXXXXXX

The alert sounded throughout out the tower just a little after the sun had started its decent from the sky. All five of the young heroes met in the operations room to receive the low-down on the situation.

Raven sat at the main computer and typed with unmatchable speed, bringing up the details on the distress call. A map of the city popped up onto the screen and a familiar name appeared next to a blinking dot.

Robin folded his arms. "Looks Plasmus is on the loose again," he said and looked at where the dot was. "He's down town in the industrial district. We'll follow the signal until we catch up with him."

"How many times has Plasmus escaped from prison? You'd think they'd be able to contain him by now," Raven stated, disparaging Jump's authorities.

"I agree with Raven," Starfire said, "Doing battle with the Plasmus is becoming most tiresome."

"Not to mention totally nasty," added Beast Boy as a shiver of disgust ran up his spine. Cyborg nodded in agreement.

After all comments put aside, Robin rallied up his team. "Right then… Titans, GO!"

They raced out of the tower. Cyborg and Beast Boy jumped into the T-Car. Cyborg engaged the vertical thrusters and small winglets extended from the sides of the vehicle to allow it to fly over the bay. Raven and Starfire took to the skies, Starfire carrying Robin until lowering him down to the hiding spot where the R-Cycle rested.

The five heroes raced through the streets, trying to find Plasmus as quick as possible. For a villain who was able to be taken down without too much difficulty, he was still known to cause some significant damage to the city.

Robin spotted the familiar trail of magenta-colored globs on the road. Using his communicator built into his helmet, he contacted the others. "Okay, team, we should be coming up on Plasmus any minute now!" And as Robin had predicted, they found the slime monster no more than a minute later.

Cyborg brought the T-Car to a skidding halt, followed by the R-cycle in the same fashion. Raven and Starfire landed in front of the vehicles as the boys rushed up to join them.

Beast glanced up at a large sign that read "WATER TREATMEANT PLANT" and then looked back down at the monster which was casually walking towards the sign.

"Dudes, he's going into the Water Treatment Plant!" he shouted.

Raven rolled her eyes. "How could you tell?" she asked sarcastically. Beast Boy narrowed his eyes at her.

"I think we all know how to handle this one," Robin said. "Move out, and make sure he doesn't get a hold of anything in there. It'll only make him stronger."

With that, they all began their charge.

Plasmus was just about to smash through the front doors of the large building, but a sudden explosion on his back stopped him dead in his tracks. He whipped around just as more of Robin's disks exploded in his face, sending the disgusting goo flying everywhere, but the villain quickly reformed.

Cyborg followed up Robin's attack by charging at Plasmus. "I hope you didn't eat already…" he shouted at Plasmus as he closed the distance, sprinting for a driving blow. Just as his fist broke the liquid-like surface of Plasmus's stomach, Cyborg fired off his sonic cannon, creating a giant hole in the belly of the beast. Cyborg dived through the gap before Plasmus had the chance to regenerate and confine him within the slimey mass.

"…Because it looks like you just lost your lunch." Cyborg smiled at his clever remark.

Starfire took advantage of Cyborg's attack and bombarded the creature with a barrage of Starbolts, catching him off guard again.

Plasmus let loose an earsplitting screech as he blindly swept his arms in the air. He managed to swipe Starfire before she could get out of range. The glob-like arm made full contact with Starfire like a fly swatter and sent her hurtling towards the ground with full force.

Luckily, Robin caught her in his arms before she struck the concrete. She looked up at him with a thankful glitter in her eyes, but then she frowned and said, "Why is it that when ever we do battle with the Plasmus I become covered in 'the goo'?" she asked. She made awry face at the substance that covered her body. Robin just looked into her eyes and gave her light smile before setting her down on her feet gently and heading after Plasmus, his bo-staff extended.

Meanwhile, Beast Boy stood by on his guard, waiting for an opportunity to make his move. "Come on, come on, come on, come on," he kept repeating to himself.

Robin sliced down the center of the creature with his staff, knowing that Plasmus would reform again in a matter of seconds. (The only way to stop him was to knock him hard enough that he would go unconscious.) Robin had seen Beast Boy waiting for an opportunity; he had merely drawn Plasmus's attention to give Beast Boy his chance.

Robin winked at Beast Boy through the slice he had made in the monster before continuing his swift attacks.

"Thanks, Robin," Beast Boy said to himself. He would have to thank him later.

Beast Boy turned to Raven, who was using her dark magic to throw large objects at Plasmus. "Hey, Raven," he called over to her, "Cover me!" Raven nodded.

The changeling morphed into a rhinoceros and immediately bolted at Plasmus.

Raven flew close behind Beast Boy, but she didn't see why he needed her cover when Robin was doing fairly well on his own keeping the mass of goo occupied. It was just as this thought passed her through her mind that she saw Robin fly backwards, covered in sludge. Plasmus turned to see the oncoming attack. He shot the nasty slime from his arms right at the green rhinoceros. Raven reacted quickly and put up a field of dark energy in front of Beast Boy. He continued to charge, using Raven's shield to his advantage to gain speed. Plasmus could do nothing to avoid it now.

Raven released the field of energy not but a millisecond before Beast Boy rammed the monster with such a force that would have shattered Plasmus's skeleton, had he had one.

The others retreated from the blast, but to their dismay, the globs of slime scattered quickly and ended up blanketing them anyway.

A small, bald man, who had been knocked out cold, was revealed from the sludgy mess. He no longer posed a threat… for the moment.

And finally… silence.

Raven surveyed the scene from the air. Globs of the goo were scattered about on every near object, and every Titan. She shuttered. "So… nasty," she said before landing next to Cyborg, who was anything but happy.

Cyborg frowned immensely as he watched goo drip down between his eyes and off his nose. He gave Beast Boy, who had resumed human form, a malicious eye.

"You sure made a mess outta him," he said, emphasizing the word 'mess'. There wasn't a hint of humor in his voice, however.

Beast Boy looked back at him nervously and scratched the back of his head. "Heh, at least we won," he said, laughing uncomfortably. Beast Boy was covered the most with the sludge, having been the one to smash right into Plasmus. His green skin was hidden behind mask of magenta.

Robin wiped at his uniform to get the slime off. "Although I wish that had ended… cleaner, I have to say, Beast Boy, you did a pretty good job." Robin was impressed with his current tactics. He gave his green teammate a satisfied nod. "You've been really showing what you've got these past few missions."

Beast Boy was rarely praised this way by Robin, but then again, he was rarely the one to bring down the enemy with his first and only move.

"Thanks, Rob," he said, winking and giving his leader a thumbs up as a way of silently thanking him for earlier.

Unbeknownst to them, the sleeping man that was Plasmus had stirred a little…

Beast Boy was in the process of turning around after accepting on of Starfire's over-gracious compliment only to stop abruptly, surprised by the violet eyes that were staring back into his.

What really scared him was that she was smiling… happily.

But upon closer inspection, he saw the mischievous glint in her eyes. That mischievous glint she always had when she smiled at him that way. The one she always had when…

'Oh no,' Beast Boy thought frantically.

"Wow, Beast Boy," her voice sounded genuinely impressed, but Beast Boy knew better. "Good job. I never thought it was possible, but you finally managed to become more of a mess than your room," she said, smiling and still sounding completely innocent. How did she always do that?

What she did next took Beast Boy by surprise even more. She reached out and he recoiled as if anticipating a blow to his face, but she simply pinched a chunk of sludge off his nose and dropped it on the ground in front of him. She turned around and walked away without another word. In his moment of triumph, she had still found a way to bring him down… again. 'Man she's good,' he couldn't help but think.

Robin and Cyborg both were resisting the urge to giggle like little school girls as they smiled at Beast Boy.

Beast boy looked down at his feet. "Yeah, yeah, laugh at poor old Beast Boy. Don't mind him, he doesn't care."

(The slime began to move…)

Starfire walked over to the sullen green boy and smiled at him sympathetically.

(It began to group in a puddle around the man…)

"Fear not, Beast Boy. I disagree with Raven. I do not believe this mess can compare to the most displeasing atrocities in your room."

(The puddle thickened and enveloped the man…)

Robin and Cyborg stared at Starfire, wide-eyed.

(The puddle began to rise from the ground as the sludge congealed together…)

That was the breaking point. Unable to contain themselves anymore, Cyborg and Robin burst into hysterical laughter.

(A head slowly formed from the slimey mass…)

Beast Boy hung his head even lower.

(The creature began to emerge from the mass…)

Realizing her mistake, Starfire could not find the right word to correct it. She looked away from Beast Boy in embarrassment.

(The lime-colored eyes opened and looked at the five teens…)

Raven joined the boys in a fit of laughter after failing to suppress her amusement. The bulb in a goo-covered street light Beast Boy was standing under burst with a black aura around it.

(The arms and torso began taking shape from the sludge…)

Finally, Robin, Cyborg, and Raven began to settle down, having been worn out from laughing so hard.

(The body of the creature had totally emerged…)

Just as they were calming down, more goo dripped onto Beast Boy's head from the street light above him, sending the trio roaring in laughter all over again.

(Plasmus was back once more, but instead of attacking his currently occupied foes, he reduced himself to a stream of slime and slid through a sewer drain before they could notice him…)

"Okay… team… I think… we should… hand Plasmus over to… the authorities," Robin said in between laughs.

The Titans finally regained their composure and walked over to where the sleeping Plasmus lie, or rather, where he should have been lying.

They froze in their tracks and Starfire released a shocked gasp as they looked upon the spot where the culprit should have been.

Robin whirled around, desperately trying to find the escapee. "He woke up! Titans, split --"

He was cut off by a metallic crash. "He's in the plant!" Robin shouted. The team took off, not needing to know what to do next.

Cyborg yelled aggressively as he punched the lock off the steel doors that led into the plant and kicked them open.

The sludge monster was at the other end of the building with an empty waste barrel in his hand. He scooped it down into the untreated sewage water and then lifted up to his mouth and used it as a mug to guzzle the nasty fluid.

The Titans watched with a horrified disgust as Plasmus grew larger and bulkier. The monster let out what would have sounded like a laugh if it was human.

The only word Beast Boy could form was a drawn out "EWWW!"

"Bring him down before he gets his hands on anything else," Robin gave his orders and he again charged at Plasmus like before with his bo-staff twirling as he approached the creature.

"Let's try not to end this like last time," Raven said, eyeing Beast Boy as she flew off to assist Robin.

A few punches and blasts were exchanged before Plasmus was backed up against a railing. He looked behind himself and saw the raw sewage flow. With an inhumanly grin, he dove backwards into the flow.

Robin ran to the railing and looked down in disbelief. Plasmus was growing larger, and undoubtedly stronger, with the vile mixture fueling him.

"We really need to hit him hard. NOW," Raven said to Robin. He nodded knowingly and the team stood back. Starfire gathered energy for her Starbolts while Cyborg charged his sonic cannon while Robin had several high-explosive discs ready to be thrown.

They estimated that would be enough, so Raven and Beast Boy stood back on the ready because they did not have anything to blow the monster to bits. They would have to make sure Plasmus did not get away if this attack failed.

A loud gurgling erupted from sewage and an extremely enormous Plasmus leapt out. He had grown twice his normal size, with a semi-liquid residue dripping off his body.

At that instant, Starfire, Cyborg, and Robin made their move. They fired the weapons at Plasmus, but he was too quick and effortlessly moved to the side and reduced himself to a stream of slime and slipped past the three dumbstruck Titans.

The next person he spotted was Raven. The sudden gain in power made Plasmus even more of a mindless beast on a rampage. He shot a stream of sludge from his chest and it grabbed hold of Raven's legs before she could register what was happening. In the blink of an eye, she was pulled into Plasmus's mass. The surrounding toxin prevented Raven from breathing, and if any of the "new" Plasmus went down her throat she would surely choke to death, if not be poisoned by it.

"RAVEN!" Beast Boy screamed her name, fear resounding from his voice. The fear of losing a teammate, a friend… Raven. The fear of losing her

Raven could barely hear the faint call of her name. The shock of being pulled into the creature began to wear off and she finally realized she needed air. Fast. She began to struggle.

Plasmus seemed to be fighting her inside himself. Raven could feel her self being tossed around… No, she was being beaten around and she couldn't get an opportunity to concentrate. All of this struggling made holding her breath even harder.

And all the while, the raging Plasmus swept violently at the other Titans, hindering their attempts to get to Raven.

The monster shot globs of goo out from himself. The thick masses hit Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg as they all came up for another attack. They were immobilized, but Beast Boy swiftly avoided the globs, both anger and fear driving him forward. In cheetah form, he sprinted at Plasmsus. Using his powerful hind legs, he launched himself into the air at full speed. In mid-flight he morphed into an armadillo and curled up into a ball as he broke the surface of Plasmus's "flesh". The creature shrieked in a deafening tone.

Inside, Beast Boy held his breath and blindly groped around, searching for Raven. He fought against the tumbling Plasmus was causing inside himself. Beast Boy pushed through the sludge, not daring to open his eyes, knowing that it would not bring any helpful or even healthy results.

Then he felt something. It brushed lightly across his glove. He moved his hand back to where he felt the object. He grabbed it, but realized it was anything but flesh. It was something Plasmus had absorbed from the sewage. Beast Boy certainly did not want to know what that could have been.

Suddenly, he felt something grip his ankle. It tugged forcefully. Plasmus was trying to pull him out!

'I am NOT leaving without Raven,' he thought angrily.

Beast Boy fought against the tug as hard as he could. Almost instinctively, he reached as if to grab hold something. Then he did grab something. It was a hand. A hand that was not grabbing back.

Beast Boy began fearing the worst. He decided to let Plasmus pull on him now that he was tightly gripping her hand, but he could feel resistance from where she was.

Was Plasmus intentionally sparing him? Why hadn't he done the same to Raven? Why had he decided to kill her?

'Oh no you don't! You are not going to TAKE HER!'

If she wasn't so sure she was hearing his conscience, she would have thought he was screaming directly in her ear. She grasped back at the hand that was grasping hers, and then she felt it at least double in size as the grip became even stronger. She still not dared to open her eyes to see her rescuer. However, they were still struggling to move. She hadn't had a breath of air for far too long. Each second was the second she thought she wouldn't be able to last any longer. She didn't know how much longer her savior could last either.

Once again, the hand clinging on to hers squeezed even tighter, becoming almost painful to her. She could feel herself slipping from consciousness. Was this the way she was going to go?

'Raven! Please don't give up! Not now! You've gone through too much to give up now! Please! PLEASE DON'T GIVE UP!'

She snapped back. In her mind, she recited her mantra. 'Azarath, metrion, ZINTHOS!' Her soul-self was released by her dark magic and she faded…

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Robin and the others watched in stupefied amazement as the monster struggled with itself for a few minutes that felt like forever. And then the creature began to bloat profusely.

And as before, the goo exploded in a frenzy that scattered everywhere, revealing a small man and two others.

Robin grinned when he spotted the black figure re-entering Raven's body. She had once used this move before on Plasmus. It happened the day Raven fulfilled her prophecy before she had even told them that The End was coming. Raven assumed the lotus position in mid-air and she chanted her mantra. A dark-energy figure that looked like Raven flew right into Plasmus, causing him to explode and knocking out the man that became Plasmus whenever he was awake. After that, she simply smiled, brushing her violet hair out of her slime-covered face and asked, "Who wants pizza?"

Robin smiled at the memory and he worked his way out of the remaining slop and looked over to Cyborg and Starfire who were doing the same. They both had faces of mixed emotions. Robin couldn't tell whether they were amazed, relieved, or still disgusted.

The three made their way over to the scene. The man was in a peaceful slumber, snoring softly and completely unaware of the havoc he created.

Beast Boy and Raven both lay sprawled out on the cold ground in a layer of sludge. They were holding each other's hand, their fingers gently laced. Raven looked as though she was down for the count, but Beast Boy stared at the ceiling with empty eyes.

Beast Boy sighed. "I think we got him this time," he said softly and smiling weakly.

Robin returned a weak smile. "I think you two--"

"Raven! Let's go!"

A/N's:

That's it for the first chapter. Don't you love cliff hangers? I don't where I'm going with this, but I thought this was pretty good for just starting out.

It's one of those "It's my first fic so don't burn me" type of feeling that I'm having right now. If you're going to criticize me, please be CONSTRUCTIVE so I may better my writing. It never did anyone any good to put someone down when they are just trying to get good at something.