Beast Boy went to mingle immediately after getting into the living room, while Raven preferred to keep to herself and meditate over in a corner. Proper meditation was…impossible. There was too much noise, too much talking… Robin and Speedy's conversation had gone from weaponry to training methods. The fighting robot games turned into racing spaceships. Starfire had joined in a conversation with Bumblebee. Cyborg and Beast Boy were the ones playing the games. And Aqualad was coming over to talk to her.
"So how have things been going?" he asked her.
She opened one eye to peek at him for a moment before closing it again.
"Mostly quiet and calm meditation," she answered.
"Oh. Of course. I hear you really like to meditate."
"It's a necessity in my life."
He cleared his throat and continued, "Have you ever tried meditating by the shore? It's beautiful at sunset and I could whip up some calm waves."
Beast Boy's voice practically rang in her ears at that point.
"Oh-ho-kayyyy thanks for the offer but she's clearly not interested and Cyborg's been begging for you to play Crash Landers with him so if you could just move along…"
She opened her eyes to see Beast Boy turn Aqualad around and push him towards the couch.
"What was that about?" she asked.
"I don't want him around you."
"Why? I was about to say no."
"I trust you, it's him I don't trust."
She took a deep breath. "Is this because you both have a thing with sea creatures that nobody else does?"
"No," he scoffed.
"Look," she said, "I'm not in the mood to deal with male insecurities. I just want to meditate in peace."
"Male insecurities? I'm perfectly secure! I know my lady won't go out with anyone else but I don't want him trying any funny business…"
"Well whether you like it or not, they're all staying with us until their tower gets rebuilt. Mas and Menos still have that crush on Starfire but you don't see Robin going around acting crazy jealous."
"They're still kids. Kids! Of course he has nothing to be jealous about. But I bet if Speedy—"
"He still wouldn't care. At least not as much as you. Besides, try to look at it this way; Aqualad is an Altantian, he isn't even human."
"Neither am I but you don't seem to…" His voice trailed off and he smiled nervously. "I-I meant because of…my powers. Animals. And um…dinosaurs. And well pretty much any other extinct animal too. And alive ones, even. You've seen it."
A confused expression crossed her face and she was skeptical at the same time, but it all disappeared as soon as Robin walked in front of the TV and announced, "Thanks to having some extra hands, we'll be doing combat practice a little early today. It'll give us a chance to see what they can really do, and it'll give them a chance to see what we can really do. All Titans, outside!"
They all felt like a marching band as they approached the outside obstacle course in an orderly fashion of two lines each, one for each team.
"Titans, today is our lucky day," Robin said as he moved up to the controls. "We got a new obstacle course."
"You're welcome," Cyborg added.
"So, when do we start?" Bumblebee asked, stepping forward to accept the first challenge.
"First, I'd like to add that this time, the course is different. It's full of new surprises and thanks to Cyborg, it's able to repair itself after you're done. But, since it is a surprise, we can't have everyone knowing about it. We have a special waiting area that hides the whole course while someone uses it. And when that person is done, they'll stand away to the side. I'll work the controls. Everyone else, into the waiting room," Robin explained.
Each Titan, aside from Robin, turned back to go inside a large metal box built into the side of the little cliff.
"Bumblebee," Robin said. "You first."
She walked out of the box and the door closed. Only a light on the ceiling illuminated the box. Raven was taking the time to meditate. Speedy was preparing his arrows. Aqualad stood awkwardly as Beast Boy cast a cold glance at him every few seconds. Mas and Menos talked to each other; nobody knew what they were saying. Cyborg was working on his diagnostic scanners and the speed at which his sonic canon would come out. Starfire floated quietly around, constantly looking as if she was debating on whether or not she should talk to Raven. Almost each Titan kept themselves busy preparing to show their skills to the others, going so far as to polish and primp and make themselves look new, fresh, rested, and fully ready for any challenge thrown their way.
Eventually the door opened again and Cyborg's name was called. He went out and the door closed.
Everyone except Raven and Starfire grumbled about how he got an unfair advantage since he built the course and knew exactly what to expect and exactly how to take it out. And sure enough, it took very minimal time for him to complete the course.
Speedy's name was called next.
"We appear to be outnumbered by the boys," Starfire said to Raven.
She simply grunted in reply and levitated closer to a corner in the back.
Muffled sounds of small explosions were heard from outside.
"Speedy's arrows are indeed formidable," she continued. "Which do you think holds more power? My starbolts or his explosive arrows?"
"I wouldn't know. I haven't seen him enough to tell," Raven mumbled.
"That is true for me as well."
Beast Boy was called out next, which left a wide opening for Aqualad to woo Raven. And Starfire, seeing the opportunity to join in a three-way conversation with Mas and Menos—despite the language barrier—gladly took it.
"Raven," Aqualad said, leaning against the wall she was hovering near. "You never got to answer my question about meditating at the shore."
On the other side of the door the course didn't even seem to exist. The terrain was ravaged and looked like a herd of wildebeests stampeded over it.
Way off to the side were the previous Titans, sitting and resting against the cliff side under the controls, and watching Beast Boy. If he messed up even in the slightest, they would see it.
"Ready!" Robin shouted.
Beast Boy took a quick stance not meant for endurance, but for speed.
"Go!"
Seemingly out of nowhere, a net catapulted towards him and in that same split second he reacted by transforming into a snake and slithering through the mesh. It was an impressive move that proved his fast thinking had quickened over time.
Off to the side, Cyborg grunted. His sonic canon blasts could only tear so much of that net. The rest he had gotten tangled up in. However he got out of it, though, would have to wait.
In a mere instant many poles with heavy balls tied to a string popped out from the ground. The snake grew slightly larger into a monkey. He hopped onto the first ball and used his arms and tail to keep climbing, swinging, and jumping until he reached the top of the poles, where he became a flying squirrel and glided from one pole top to the next until that section was cleared.
This time it was Bumblebee who seemed to have had a little trouble with that part.
The poles behind him sank back into the earth only to be replaced by new, larger poles in front of him that shot out of the ground randomly, in and out repeatedly. A small animal would never do the trick without hurtling into the sky, and he had to go fast.
He shapeshifted into a hawk and attempted to maneuver himself over and though the poles. No animal he could change into had the perfect ability to pass this with ease. It took him longer to complete than the rest of the course, but he managed.
And just as in an actual fight, this course allowed for no breaks. A robot duplicate of scientist Chang rose from a metal chamber in the ground and 'prepared' for battle with what appeared to be two guns minus the triggers. They started to glow red.
Beast Boy morphed into a triceratops and stomped forward, charging with the next step and lowering his horns. With a speed that belied his size, his armored head took damage from robot Chang's laser arms while his horns pierced the robot. One upward thrust of his head sent it flying behind him, ripped from its stand. The lasers 'died' with the robot.
This time a long rail rose up from underground with a little red flag attached to the nearest end. Speed.
The flag hardly gave him time to think before shooting off. His next animal was a cheetah, the fastest land animal on the planet and one he had to be careful when using. The timing had to be just right. Cheetahs overheated quickly, which made them sprinters, not racers.
About midway to the end of the rail, he began to tire out. He couldn't keep up to catch that flag and he had no long-range weapons to help. His only weapons were the claws, the fangs, and the brute strength of animals. He would probably have had a chance at that flag if the rest of the course hadn't worn him out first.
He slowed to a stop and began panting. He watched the flag hit the other end of the rail and morphed back into a human, knowing it was over now.
"You did well, Beast Boy. That was the last section," Robin said.
Beast Boy shrugged and stretched as he made his way over to the others who had or hadn't completed the course.
Aqualad's name was called.
"So how'd you guys do?" he panted.
"None of us passed, not even me! And I built it!" Cyborg replied.
"I almost had the flag but my arrow hit the rail and bounced off it toward me," Speed said.
Bumblebee clicked her tongue. "If I had monkey powers I could've gotten past the balls of death. Shrinking down? Big mistake."
Beast Boy nodded. "Yeah, I had a lot of trouble with the up-and-down poles. I think I could've caught the flag if I didn't have to go through so much first."
And in perfect timing, he wasn't the only one. A loud yell came through the air and everyone looked up.
"Looks like Aqualad just learned how to fly," Beast Boy laughed.
The man collided with the ground with an audible, "Oomph!" Everyone flinched.
"That's gonna leave a mark," Bumblebee said.
"If he thinks it hurts now, wait until tomorrow," Speedy agreed.
Aqualad came over to join them as Starfire was called next.
Beast Boy watched the door close, knowing Raven was left alone with two Spanish-speaking twins. In one sense he was glad it was quieter and lonelier in there. In another sense he was wishing Mas and Menos were called before him, so he could be there with her instead of them.
The sharp sounds of Starfire throwing well-aimed starbolts began.
Inside the waiting room, Raven couldn't meditate and the twins couldn't stop talking. It was tiresome, it was dull, and all three of them wanted to leave.
Mas and Menos were both getting too amped up. They were too energetic and released it through speed. Without being able to move around, that raw energy built inside them. Their chattering became faster and they were getting a little too loud. In a room with no one in it, it started to feel like everyone was coming back, one by one.
"Just ignore it. Block it out," Raven muttered under her breath. "Somehow…"
But no matter how hard she tried to concentrate, three things kept nagging at her: Mas, Menos, and what Beast Boy really meant when he said he wasn't human. He walked like one, talked like one, acted like one… His sense of humor was questionable but… What did he mean? Of course he was human. Right? Even though Aqualad had all the same traits as a human, he was meant to live underwater. Humans were not. Beast Boy was not.
Was it possible that he really did think his powers made him so different that he couldn't classify himself as a human? Maybe there was a slight chance of it but…her powers came from her father, and she was a human from a different place. Starfire was born with her powers; she was the only nonhuman Teen Titan on the main team. Robin had no special powers but he managed to use martial arts and weapons in perfect sync to pack a perfect punch, and he was a human. Cyborg was half robot with built-in weapons and other technological capabilities, but he was still a human. So…why did Beast Boy think he was anything else? And if it was true what he said about his powers making him nonhuman, why did he joke around about everything? Why wouldn't he ever take things more seriously more often?
Then again, there was one more thing she had overlooked about him. There was something…else in him, something primal, untamed. She had seen it more than once. It begged to question how that ever got inside him to begin with.
The more she thought about it, the more she realized she didn't know much about him at all. She thought she knew him inside out. The whole team thought that. None of them ever could've guessed he had something hidden that, for all she knew, could be of huge importance.
The one light on the ceiling burst. The whole room became dark and she knew if she were to stay here and try to use her powers on the obstacle course, she could lose control of them as worry and distraction consumed her.
"Mas, Menos!" Robin's voice called, leaving her alone.
She had a choice. She could use this time to meditate and try to reconstruct her focus, but Mas and Menos defined speed. She wouldn't have enough time.
She flew up to the ceiling, made a warp, and passed through it to end up in her room. Combat practice could wait.