Not A Second Time Chapter 4: Losing It All

Moon Comix: now, here they are, Robin, Starfire and Cyborg!!!

Robin: thank you, it's a pleasure to be here tonight

Cyborg: hello everyone in da house!

Starfire: may I sing my planet's national anthem?

Moon Comix: how long is it?

Starfire: only 18,000 verses

Robin: only?

Starfire: yes, that is the shortened version

Cyborg: please tell me that every verse is only one word

Moon Comix: ahem!

Robin: oh, right, Comix doesn't own Teen Titans

Starfire: but he has purchased possession of Sonic

Cyborg: and Dark Reflections and their songs

Moon Comix: thanks guys, and girl, last time I didn't put in a disclaimer, I got sued for eighty-six cents!!!

Cyborg (sarcastically): oh, the horror

Starfire: oh, that is the use of sarcasm!

Robin: someone help me! I'm stuck in a room filled with crazy people!!!!

Moon Comix: and on an author's note, when Beastboy has transformed and he has lines, he's thinking them to himself. He's not like Garfield the Cat… or is he…

All in the office: ENJOY!!!!

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"So, who want's to guard the truck first?" asked Red X as he fired a couple of 'x's at the leader of the Titans. Robin jumped up, pulled out his staff and swiped at the masked enemy. X just jumped down past him and ran into the wreckage of the truck, passing Raven and Beastboy in the attempt. Starfire flew down as Cyborg pulled up in his car, stepping out.

"Come on," said Robin, growling, "I thought he was gone but now he's stolen from me twice! And this time he's not getting away."

Robin led the assault on Red X. X was sorting through the many crates, trying to find the zinothium. The people sending the substance were smart, placing multiple crates as decoys while only one held the prize. X opened another crate and was about to open another one when he was hit with a birdarang. He grunted and threw a random gadget at Robin. He swore under his breath when it missed and Robin lunged at him with the staff but Red X just caught it in his hands. The two men struggled with the staff as starbolts rained around them. Raven tried to lift them apart but they were struggling too tightly so she told Beastboy to ram them as a ram. Red X and Robin both saw BB coming and they both jumped apart.

"So, Titans, you gonna try again? Or am I going to finish this quickly?" asked the masked villain and he motioned for Robin to come at him. The masked hero did so and soon it was a free-for-all fist fight with feet and weapons included.

"Yo man, this can't be good for Robin's health," said Cyborg as he blasted at X with his sonic cannon, "all this anger, it's just sad…"

"Now, if this is the best you can do…" said their enemy and he fired an x at Cyborg's feet trapping him instantly, he then fired one at the weapon to block it up, "… then I'll just have to find new playmates!"

"We're still not finished, dude, we haven't even started," said Beastboy and he transformed into a gorilla, trying to hit X. X jumped over the towering mass and kicked him in the back and firing another weapon to fix Beastboy to the wall.

"Take this!" cried Starfire as she dropped Robin behind Red X. Then the princess and the leader kicked their opponent at the same time. Red X growled in pain and kicked round in frustration, knocking them both back. He then fired at Starfire and she was pinned to the floor by many small xs and kicked at Robin again. Raven flew over to him and fired a few boxes at Red X. They all hit their mark and Red X launched himself at Raven. As he came to punch her, they locked eyes and Red X missed, allowing Raven to kick him in the back into a box. He moaned as he got up but chuckled as he picked up the zinothium.

"Well, chuckles," said X to Robin, "I guess I win this round, see ya at round two!!!" And before anyone could do anything, he had teleported away.

"Wait! Where's Sonic?" yelled Beastboy, still struggling with his binds, Raven ran out of the truck.

"I'll find him, you wait here and get them out," said the spell-caster and she took off. She flew above the area until she saw a speck of zinothium coloured red. She flew down quickly and soon came to Sonic covered with zinothium, "well, are you okay?"

"Yeah, now that my knight in shining armour has come," joked Sonic as she bewitched the stuff to come off him, "thanks."

"Make that knight in blue cloak," corrected Raven and they ran back to the others, who had just gotten out of the sticky situation themselves.

"Come on, let's go get some pizza," suggested Cyborg but Robin shrugged him off, "or not."

"You guys go, I'm going back to the Tower," said Robin and he hopped on his motorbike and zoomed away. Starfire looked at the others and sighed.

"I shall be the one to help friend Robin," said the Tamaranian and she flew off, "you should purchase the pizza and consume it!"

"Come on, I'll buy," said Sonic and he whispered to Cyborg as he went passed him, "can I borrow some money?"

----

"Sonic has the ball, dodges Beastboy, shoots, the crowd is silent and… GOAL!!! THE BUZZER HAS SOUNDED AND SONIC HAS WON!!!" Sonic pretended to blow kisses to a crowd of people as Beastboy grumbled, "aww, come on, B, it's just fun!" Sonic and Beastboy were standing on the roof, which had been turned into a basketball court, playing a game.

"Yeah, but you don't have to rub it in, dude," said Beastboy as he motioned for Sonic to pass the basketball to him, "come on, one more round."

"No way, man, I cream you every time," said Sonic as Beastboy took a shot and Starfire came up the steps with Robin.

"Who is shoving cream up their nostrils?" asked Starfire, nervously, "for I have never done it! I especially did not preform the cream in nostril ritual when I first arrived on Earth! Oh look, a butterfly!"

"So, who wants to play?" asked BB, passing the ball to Robin, "please! Sonic's really good and I wanna beat him, dudes!!!"

"Who's better than Beastboy?" asked Cyborg as he and Raven came up onto the roof too.

"Do you need to ask?" said Sonic and Raven at the same time and they both grinned at each other. Now that everyone was on the roof, Beastboy got an idea.

"Dudes! Why don't we have a game! Three on three," said the shape-shifter and everyone considered it, "ok! I get Cyborg and Robin!"

"Oh man! I'm stuck with the girls!" moaned Sonic as they both glared at him, "I mean," his voice changed into a rather immature voice that made him sound like he really liked the position, "I'm with all the girls! We'll beat you into the ground!"

"Correct! And then you shall be the ones to hand over the green paper to mend the ground that we have forced you into," called Starfire as Raven and Sonic sweat-dropped, "did I state wrong?"

"Um… I think it was an expression," said Raven, monotonically, "so… no one will have to pay for anything."

"Come on!" said Beastboy, trying and failing to spin the ball on his index finger, "let's play!"

Cyborg stood in the middle of the roof, the ball in his hand, and he threw it up for Robin and Sonic and the former knocked the ball to Beastboy who had just turned back into a human from a bird and caught the ball, running up the pitch, dribbling the ball. The green teen took a shot from outside the key and smiled as it was about to go into the ring but Raven's magic blocked it and threw it to Starfire, who caught it and cheered in glee yet she dropped it. Cyborg caught it, stuck it in his cannon and shot it over to the goal hoop. It circled the rim once and fell in.

"GOAL!!!!!" cried Beastboy, jumping up and down.

"Boo ya!" cried the goal scorer as he hi-fived Robin, "beat that!"

"Okay, you wanna play rough," Sonic's eyes narrowed, "you'll get rough." Cyborg threw the ball up again but this time Raven flew up and slapped it to Sonic, who caught it, blasted Beastboy with his powers, leap-frogged over Robin and slam-dunked it into the hoop at the other end, "I think I beat it!"

An hour later, both Titan teams were drawing at 50 points each and everyone was tired, but they still needed to finish it. Cyborg threw the ball up one more time, Sonic and Robin going at it again, the leader slapped it to Cyborg who passed back. Robin ducked under Starfire, dodged some of Raven's magic and leapt for a slam-dunk. But Sonic had other ideas. He jumped up, grabbed the ball and flipped over Robin, dribbling it down the court and sliding under the ursine Beastboy. He was about to score when one of Robin's nets surrounded him, swearing and cursing. As Raven got him out, Robin passed to Beastboy who threw it down the court, Starfire intercepted and passed to Raven who passed to Sonic. The sound master caught the ball and leapt at the ring, Robin trying to catch him. But it was too late. Sonic pressed the ball through the hoop as Cyborg called the end of the game. Starfire and Sonic jumped up in glee and Raven smiled to herself before Sonic came up to her and gave her a huge hug yelling, "WE WON!!!" About thirty seconds later, Sonic realised what he was doing and put Raven back on the ground, "well, um… good game." Both Titans were blushing and when everyone was staring, Raven walked downstairs.

"Preferably, I would have enjoyed meditation," said the goth and Beastboy and Sonic watched as the others followed her down. When everyone was gone, Beastboy punched Sonic on the arm lightly, laughing.

"Dude! You like Raven!"

"What!?! No! I do not like Raven like that!" said Sonic, defensively.

"You dig her dude!" laughed Beastboy, throwing the basket ball at the hoop, "Sonic and Raven, man, I'd hate to imagine the kids from that combination." He would have said more but Sonic had hit him with a sonic blast, knocking him to the ground. Both of them laughing, Sonic held out his hand to the changeling and pulled him up, "seriously, she's dark and you're happy, the kids would be tormented!"

"Nah, there would just be half of the kids like her and half of them like me," laughed Sonic and they were holding on to each other to stay standing, "and the mini-Ravens would have my power and the mini-me's would have her power."

Beastboy couldn't help it and he fell to the ground, in fits of laughter, and Sonic went to pull him up again, but Beastboy's hands were flailing around.

"Ah, stuff you," said Sonic, walking off, "I've got stuff to do."

"Like… ha, ha, ha… snogging Raven!"

----

"How are you coping?" asked Cyborg as he and Sonic entered Beastboy's room a couple of hours after the basketball game. The changeling in question was reading a comic book and every so often, he would glance over at the picture of him and Terra on his bed side table.

"With what?" wondered a confused Beastboy.

"Well, what am I talking about when I ask about coping?" said Cyborg and Beastboy knew instantly.

"I'm fine, I'm just waiting for you guys to find a cure," said Beastboy and he went back to his comic. Sonic, however, pulled the comic from his hands and threw it over his shoulder.

"Um… I was thinking, we were all thinking this… but, maybe you should try and… you know… find a new girlfriend," said Sonic and before he knew it, Beastboy had punched him in the cheek, sending him to the floor, "knew you would do that."

"What are you saying, that I should get some closure!" screamed Beastboy, "that I should just forget about the love of my life! WELL FORGET IT!!!!!! I know that Terra's alive and that she's waiting for me to save her!!! I'll do it by myself if I have to!!!"

"You don't have to, man, we'll help you," said Cyborg, "We're just trying to help."

"Well don't," said Beastboy, turning over on his bed so he was facing away from them, "just leave me alone and find that cure!"

"I don't know what to try, man," said Cyborg, "I've tried everything I can think of, but nothing's worked."

"WELL IT HAS TO WORK!!!" yelled Beastboy, throwing his pillow at him, "make it work… please."

"We'll try little man," said Cyborg as he left a crying Beastboy on his bed, Sonic following, "we'll try."

-----

"Is everything set?" asked the master as his servants knelt in front of him.

"Yes, master, the Titans shall fall by their own faults," said Slade, "we have collected and tested every component. We cannot fail."

"The position, machines and cells have been placed," said Karth, "and soon we shall release him into the city, to gain their attention."

"Very well, now go, I want to see all six Titans at my feet, begging for mercy."

-----

It was three in the morning and Robin had heard the alarm, no one else had, and he was glad about that. Red X was striking again and Robin wanted pay back. He had stolen the suit from him and the belt again and now he had at least two tubes of zinothium in his possession.

"You're going down, X," said Robin as he wheeled his motorbike out of the garage and onto the road, where he hopped on and sped off.

Ten minutes later, Robin had stealthily made his way into the zinothium lab EGA and spotted Red X taking a tube that was hovering in mid air, "this'll do nicely."

"Put that tube back, X, or I put it back for you!" said Robin as he jumped over at his darker half, kicking him in the cheek. Red X dropped the zinothium and Robin picked it up, "you won't be needing this."

"So, you found me, Chuckles," said Red X and Robin expected he was grinning under his mask, "but I will be taking that."

Robin pulled out his staff with one hand and swiped at Red X, who made the X on his gloves extend to block it. They struggled with this hold for a few moments before Robin made a round house kick to X's cheek again. X ducked and made an uppercut to Robin's chin. The Boy Wonder landed on the control for the once hovering tube and pressed a button causing the hovering to begin again in the centre of the room. He smirked as he ran for the centre, jumping as he went but X had other ideas. He jumped up under Robin, grabbed the zinothium out of his hands and flipped over him.

He landed on the ground saying, "better luck next time, Chuckles!" and he teleported away. Robin slammed his fists on the ground in anger before returning home, disgruntled and disappointed.

-----

"The Dark Reflection" cried the radio as Cyborg drove along in the T-Car, Sonic sitting in the front, Raven and Beastboy in the back, "of the sun."

"Not one of Dark Reflection's best songs," said Raven, critically, "but it does the job."

"Come on!!! Put it to Maroon 5!!!" whined Beastboy, "please!!!"

"NO!!! We should be listening to Gorrilaz anyway," said Cyborg, "I don't know why we're listening to Raven's music again."

"Because I can change the CD from the back and I can destroy the T-Car in a single breath," said Raven, closing her eyes to listen to the music since 'Evolution' came on.

"Oh yeah," said Cyborg, angrily, "that's why."

They continued to drive, listening to the music, until Cyborg saw a person standing right in front of him and he squealed to a halt, "HEY!!! GET OFF OF THE ROAD YOU…" Cyborg stopped when he saw a black cape, black spiky hair and a white mask, "Robin?"

'Robin' heard him, turned around and slammed his bo staff into the bonnet of the car before jumping away, kicking a few people down as he went and even smashing a car window. The four Titans sat stunned at what they saw.

"What the hell is he doing that for?" asked Sonic, finally.

"Do you think he's working for Slade again?" asked Raven but Cyborg was looking at his arm.

"I have nothing wrong inside of me, neither does Sonic, so it can't be the same threat as before with the probes," explained the metal dude, "so what gives?"

-----

"What the hell are you pulling, man?" yelled Cyborg as the four Titans burst in on Robin and Starfire playing Monopoly at the tower, causing them to jump.

"What?" wondered Robin, surprised and a little scared.

"You attacked the T-Car," said Raven, "it was a bit shocking."

"You're lucky it wasn't my car or I would have killed you," said Sonic, grabbing a soda and sitting down beside Robin as if nothing had happened. He wasn't good with intense situations, "what's on TV?"

He began to flick through some channels but stopped, surprisingly, at the JNS, the Jump News Station. The reporter was talking and a picture of Robin was hovering beside her, "this just in, the leader of our beloved Teen Titans, Robin, former apprentice to superhero legend, Batman, was found attacking his team-mates and countless people on the streets of Jump City. He even went as far as using his countless array of gadgets to freeze, melt and destroy parts of major buildings in our city. Has Robin finally cracked? And will the other Titans follow after him into a carrier of crime?"

Sonic switched it off and all eyes turned to Robin, yet it was Starfire who came to his defence, "Robin has been teaching me the ways of Monopoly all the time you were out, it could not have been him."

"So, what, you have a twin brother that we don't know about?" asked Beastboy sceptically and Robin shook his head.

"No, it must be a robot, or something," he said but Raven got rid of this theory.

"He was real, and he was you. It's as simple as that," said the goth before retiring to her room, "I'll search by meditation."

"No, we need to find out who, why and where." Robin began to type on the computer and nodded to Cyborg, "it's time we try the FCS plan."

"Dude, we didn't even do that for Slade!" said Beastboy to a slightly grinning Robin, "let me guess, I have sky, right?"

"Wrong," said Cyborg, "you get the sea."

-----

In two short hours, everyone was ready for the FCS plan. Robin and Cyborg pulled out of the garage and drove away as Starfire and Raven took off from the roof, leaving Beastboy and Sonic. Beastboy was dressed normally but Sonic was wearing a completely black, full body diving suit which Cyborg had edited so that it would heat him up as he swam. He also had a small device that transferred the water around him into oxygen and stronger flippers which made him go ten times faster when in the water.

"I can't believe I get to do this!" cried Sonic as he stood on the roof, putting on his goggles, " see you in the water." And with this, Sonic jumped off the roof and dived into the cool waters below, remembering what Robin had said.

"With the FCS plan, we need to tackle the three terrains of the city, land…"

Cyborg turned a corner and drove slowly around the dodgy end of the town, keeping his eyes peeled.

Robin drove past Slade's old bases, hoping to find a clue, but when he found nothing, he got back on his bike and began to ride again.

"…sky…"

Raven flew around buildings, sky scrapers and, at one point, a low flying airplane, searching for anything suspicious,

Starfire saw Cyborg drive below her and flew in the opposite direction, looking for the other version of her friend.

"… and sea."

Sonic swam beside a green hammer-head shark and grinned under the breathing device. He didn't notice the shadow pass behind him.

Beastboy changed from a hammer-head to a squid then to a dolphin. He nodded to Sonic and they swam in different directions.

"We search until we find the person pretending to be me. And then we stop them."

----

"Everything in place?" asked Slade as Karth jumped down from a high ledge, "are the cells ready?"

"Yes, and so are our 'friends'," chuckled Karth, his voice rasping.

"The Titans shall fall and he will be ours again," said Slade and they both laughed.

----

"Hey, have you seen Robin around here?" asked Cyborg as he pulled up beside a drive in diner, shocking a couple of people. One of the waitresses skated over to him.

"Sorry, but we haven't seen him, the last I heard, he was over in that area," she pointed at a tall building in the centre of the city and Cyborg groaned.

"Thanks," he said, "I'll have a large fries and some onion rings, please."

----

Starfire was flying, scanning the high places when she heard a beeping of her communicator, "Starfire, what is the situation?"

"Star, you need to check out the tallest building in Jump City," said Cyborg as he ate an onion ring, "the Wayne Enterprises Building."

"Of course I shall," she said before saying bye and flying over to it, standing on the large 'Y' and thinking to herself that she was glad that they had replaced the oversized letters in which she had a part in destroying. She circled the building a few times, and seeing nothing strange returned to the 'Y'. Suddenly, she was hit from behind and fell to the roof of the building.

"Huh?" she wondered before a Slade-Bot jumped down to face her, she blasted it but was soon surrounded by more. They all pointed their guns at her and she secretly pressed the button on her communicator to contact Raven.

"Raven," came a voice but Starfire didn't answer.

"What are you doing here?" asked Starfire to the bots but they continued to stare at her. And then she heard a communication being played through them.

"Hello Starfire, not going around with Robin now?" Slade's voice issued through the lead bot, "or are you too ashamed of the trouble he's caused.

"That's Slade!" said Raven, panicking, and she followed her communicator to Starfire's location. She had switched off the voice and suddenly saw Starfire move quickly towards the coast, "what's she doing?"

The demon increased her speed and found that she was only a mile away from Starfire. And so, in a couple more minutes, the two flyers were side by side.

"Why did Slade attack you?"

"He did not; it was merely his Slade-Bots. But I have news!" she smiled at her friend, "I know where Robin is, the bad one."

"That's good, should we tell the others?" asked Raven.

"Perhaps… but I am unsure."

"Why?" said the shocked girl in the cloak.

"Because I am not sure if the Robin we are aiding is the actual Robin."

-----

"De dum, de dum," thought Beastboy, the Jaws theme in his head as he was swimming at top speed at as a great green shark. He saw nothing as he swam, but that doesn't mean nothing was there. Beastboy sensed movement behind him and turned around, spying nothing and he was hit from behind.

Behind him was about ten Slade Bots, all of them pointing a gun at the green shark. BB thought about the best way to face them and turned into plankton, swimming around them. He then turned into a green whale and destroyed most of them, two of them getting away.

"Good," said Beastboy, turning into a minnow and following them, "I've always loved a chase."

Meanwhile, Sonic was surrounded by about a dozen Slade-Bots, a couple of the HIVE robots and a machine that was new to him. It was human shaped but instead of arms it had one cannon that looked similar to Cyborg's and one the other it had a strange stump that looked like it could open up.

"Bring it," said Sonic and they all attacked him. He blew up a couple of the Slade-Bots, threw one of the HIVE bots into the other one and went to kick the strange one. It blasted at him with the cannon and just as Sonic got close enough, a hand shot out of its chest and grabbed him. Sonic growled before he noticed something come out of the stump. He only had a couple of seconds before he felt a small pain and he blacked out.

-----

"Cyborg, I think Raven and Starfire have found something," said Robin as he chased after the small purple and yellow dots on his bike, "follow their signals."

"Okay man, meet you there," said the image of Cyborg and he shut off. Robin followed the signals until he was directly under them.

"STARFIRE!!!!" cried Robin and the two girls looked down and flew to greet him, "what have you found?"

"A group of Slade's robots attacked me and now I know where we may discover the evil Robin," said Starfire and Robin grinned.

"I knew it would work, lets go!" said Robin and he shot off in the direction Starfire and Raven were going. Raven turned to Starfire and asked the thing they were both thinking.

"Which Robin was that?" asked Raven and Starfire shook her head, "I can't tell either. Come on, we should catch up to him."

-----

"What the…?" wondered Beastboy as he came to a small opening where the Slade Bots went into, "better follow."

They swam for some distance before they began to rise from the water. Beastboy watched as they erupted out of the water and landed on something above him so he followed to find the Slade Bots gone and multiple machines against a wall. He was standing on a large circular rock, about as big as a football pitch which was connected to a wall of the cave he was in. The machines were leaning against the wall and Beastboy noticed three more people with him. Two were standing and the other was limp. Slade and Karth threw the semi-conscious Sonic, who was back in his normal superhero clothes, in the centre of the rocky platform.

"Dude!" cried Beastboy and he ran over to get his friend, "what did you do to him?"

Slade answered him politely, "we did nothing, our robots, however, did do something."

"Hey, green boy… my back hurts," said Sonic, weakly and he struggled to stand, "they ambushed me… and then… these guys… ah." His legs buckled down and he fell back to the floor. Beastboy steadied him upright and faced the two cloaked people.

"Bring it on!" said Beastboy although one fist was clenched and the other arm was supporting Sonic and the fact that he had just swam a few dozen miles spoke otherwise. Slade and Karth made no attempt to attack.

"We are not the one's who shall fight," said Karth as a large door opened above them, the remaining Titans dropping through, landing in a fight stance, "but now that everyone is here, we shall explain."

Slade and Karth walked over to the machines at the side of the cave. There were five that were the same, a sixth, smaller one and a metal door. The five machines were portable holding cells and all of them looked specific for something and the last one had some levers and a large red button on it.

"Now, through this door your challengers await our orders and here are the rules. You shall fight these challengers and if you lose, you shall be placed in these cells," said Slade, motioning to the large machines.

"And if we refuse?" said Robin as Raven healed Sonic so he was back to normal but Karth was prepared for that.

"There are multiple bombs placed around this cave," said the dark man, "if you do not accept, you shall all die."

"Don't think we have a choice, man," said Cyborg and Robin sneered at Slade, "we accept."

"Now, Slade and I shall be above, watching with this machine," said Karth and Sonic stared at it, recognition on his face, "open the door."

The door opened and five figures walked out, surrounded by smoke and when the smoke had cleared, they saw who they were up against. Robin, Cyborg, Starfire, Sonic, Beastboy and Raven stared at Robin, Starfire, Sonic, Beastboy and Raven, most of them in different costumes yet they looked exactly like themselves.

"Uh… is there a giant mirror there?" asked Beastboy and everyone stared at him.

"These are exact clones of you," said Slade, "collected from your DNA. Robin's I already had, so was Sonic's. Starfire and Raven's were collected from Mumbo and Beastboy's was the tooth he lost."

Everyone looked at their clones in shock, marvelling at the handy-work that Slade and Karth had crafted. Each clone looked almost exactly like the original.

The evil Robin had changed out of the normal Robin gear and was in the armour Slade gave the original Robin. Evil Starfire was dressed with a black and grey version of Starfire's clothes and a black tattoo of a flame alone her arm. Evil Sonic was dressed in a black version of his costume and had a small moustache. Evil Beastboy was green with flaming red hair and his eyes were black and grey while Evil Raven looked exactly like the real Raven, but her eyes were grey instead of purple and she had the Mark of Scath on her face and arms.

"Where's my clone?" wondered Cyborg as Slade and Karth moved the smaller machine onto a hovering platform and began to float up to a small viewing stage above them.

"This brings around the second part of this plan," said Slade and he pushed the button on the machine and the Titans grabbed their heads in pain, except for Cyborg who shut down automatically, "all of your powers and machinery have been cancelled." Beastboy gasped as the pain was too immense. It felt like a part of him was being ripped out from the very structure of his body and soul. He felt worse than the time Terra had left him, both times. He found himself on the ground, down on one knee when the pain left him and saw that Raven and Starfire were in positions similar, Sonic was holding his knees, panting heavily and Robin was holding on to a still Cyborg, also panting.

"Hey!" cried Sonic, "what about their powers?!"

"We're immune," said Evil Starfire in perfect English, "and we can kick your butts with your powers."

"Cyborg?" wondered Robin and he tapped the unconscious machine on the back, "this isn't fair!"

"Get me the name of the guy who said life was fair," said Evil Robin and he jumped at Cyborg, kicking him beside the holding cells, "and I'll kill him."

The battle began instantly. The Titans had regained themselves quick enough to block the first attack. Sonic and Beastboy teamed up to take on their evil counterparts, punching at them if they got too close. Raven ran around, punching, kicking and dodging Evil Raven, occasionally dodging dark attacks thrown at her but Evil Raven eventually teleported around her and put her in a head lock.

"You know the best thing about being better than you?" asked Evil Raven as Raven struggled in the head lock, "I can feel emotions. I can love him without blowing him up!"

And with that, she threw Raven into a confused Starfire and the Evil Starfire hit them both with an eye beam, causing them both to fall to the ground. Beside them, Robin was in combat with his evil twin; he kicked at his head, punched at his gut and then pulled out a freeze disk. It flew through the air and came into contact with Evil Robin's face, doing nothing. Robin grumbled and threw another disk at him, again nothing happened and it just hit Evil Robin in the face.

"Tut, tut," laughed Evil Robin and he pulled out a disk, "lesson one: listen to when you're being put at a disadvantage!" The disk hit Robin in the right leg and froze him to the ground, "Lesson two: Everything's better than the original," he kicked our hero in the chin and Robin was sent to the ground, "and lesson three: I'm just better than you."

Robin felt a sharp pain in is gut as Evil Robin brought his armoured foot down but rolled over before it could happen again and he jumped up, kicking at his foe.

Sonic and Beastboy had split up and were facing their evil counterparts separately. Sonic and Evil Sonic stared at each other for a few seconds before Sonic jumped up and flipped his way over to Evil Sonic who hit him with a blast when Sonic aimed a kick at him.

"Now I know how hard they are," said Sonic as he picked himself up and ran away from Evil Sonic over to the wall. Evil Sonic began to give chase before he realised what was happening, Sonic had jumped up onto the wall and propelled himself off it, slamming into Evil Sonic and taking him to the ground. When he got there, he began to punch Evil Sonic repeatedly, the foe grinning as he did this.

"What the…?" said Sonic when he noticed this but then he felt it. The sonic build up. The same build up that he usually used on his hands or feet but this was different. It was more powerful and it had covered his entire body. Before Sonic could do anything, he was thrown into BB who had just ran away from a green raptor with red down its back.

"Dude, this is too easy," said Evil Beastboy as he turned back into human form, standing beside Evil Sonic as they looked down at their prey, "you think so?"

Evil Sonic nodded before turning around and blasting an oncoming Robin. He then nodded to Evil Beastboy and he turned into a turtle, Evil Sonic picked up the turtle, surrounded it with the sonic build up and threw it onto the pile of Sonic and Beastboy, throwing them in opposite directions.

"This isn't working," said Robin as he picked himself up just in time to save Starfire from falling, "we need to try something different. TITANS! REGROUP!!!" In a couple of seconds, all five of the fighting Titans were standing together, in a fighting position, waiting for orders, "what are we gonna do?"

"We could try not getting our butts kicked," said Beastboy as he noticed the clones coming ever closer.

"We battled each other against Trigon's clones of us!" exclaimed Starfire, "we could try that."

"Great idea, Starfire," said Robin and everyone got ready, "Titans! Go!"

Sonic leapt over to the Evil Beastboy and tried to punch him as Robin swiped at the Evil Raven with his staff. Evil Starfire dodged an attack from Raven, Evil Sonic grinned wildly as Beastboy tried to weakly punch him and Starfire battled Evil Robin. The bad thing about this plan was this: it didn't work. Even against someone else, they didn't stand a chance without their powers and because of the fact the clones had powers, they would get beat by the things God had given them.

The Titans tried to fight for about ten minutes before it happened. Robin fell to the ground as Evil Raven circled him before lifting him up with her powers and dropped in a cell, one that was supposedly made for him.

"Robin!" cried Starfire, giving the Evil Robin a chance to attack her, sending her flying into Beastboy who was hit with a sonic blast.

"Dude! We've just lost Robin, are we screwed?" he shouted, picking Starfire up from the ground, as Sonic flipped past him, dodging punches from an Evil Kangaroo Beastboy.

"Yeah," he grunted as he flipped and landed on his feet again, landing a square punch on Evil Beastboy's cheek as the tail whipped round and hit him in the side, "we're screwed."

If they were doing badly, it was nothing compared to Raven. She needed her powers if she was to have a chance. Raven was the physically weakest member of the team and she knew it so the best she could do was dodge Evil Starfire's starbolts and eye lasers. Evil Starfire realized that Raven was no threat and went to join Evil Beastboy take down Sonic.

"Sonic! Behind you!" cried Raven and Sonic jumped out of the way so his foes hit each other. She would have yelled more but Evil Raven came up from under the ground behind her and got her in a headlock again.

"Raven, Raven, Raven," taunted the clone, "I wonder what you have in your head… oh wait, I know. It's him; the one that you love yet could kill with a single breath. Maybe I could take your place, love him for both of us. I could laugh at his jokes, cry at his hurt and love him."

"You…" Raven would have said more but Evil Raven threw her to the ground, "urgh…"

"This is too easy," said Evil Raven and flew over to hold Starfire's arms as Evil Robin threw a freeze disk at her, covering her entire body, "I'll put her in her cell." And with that, she used her powers to roughly throw the frozen Starfire into her cell, the ice shattering off her.

"Huh…? What happened? Friend Robin!" She noticed her leader in the cell next to her, unconscious and not moving, "FRIEND ROBIN!!!"

"Titans!" cried Beastboy, everyone staring at him, thinking it weird that he would take over as leader, "regroup!"

Sonic jumped over Evil Robin as he ran at him, helped Raven up and ran over to Beastboy, the three scared at being surrounded by five evil Titans, all armed with powers, "so, what's the plan?"

"Raven?" asked Beastboy weakly as he jumped to one side, dodging a sonic blast. Raven, one arm around Sonic's shoulders, gasped as an Evil Lemur Beastboy grabbed her hair and pulled it down.

"Uh… my emotions," said Raven and Sonic punched the lemur off, "if I feel, one… strong enough… my powers should come through."

"You heard her BB, get an emotion up!" yelled Sonic and he jumped over to the wall, laying Raven against it, whispering to her, "right, I'm gonna leave you here, shout if anyone comes near you, but I'll try and keep them away."

"Wait…!" said Raven as he ran off but Sonic just turned to her and winked, giving the thumbs up, kicking Evil Beastboy as he ran at him.

Beastboy was fighting Evil Starfire, Evil Robin and Evil Raven and he was trying hard. He was doing quite well but couldn't get many hits in, since two were flying and the other was throwing everything at him. Meanwhile, Evil Sonic and Evil Beastboy were teaming up on Sonic, and they were battering him. First, Evil Sonic would hit him a few times from a distance while Evil Beastboy would make small monkey fists connect with his face, then Evil Beastboy hopped over to Evil Sonic, who surrounded him with the charge and Evil Beastboy rammed into our Sound Master as a bull. He screamed out in pain and fell to the ground, the charge still in his system, it hurt him so much, he thought he would die. But would he?

-----

"Hmph, this is Titan Tower," said a shadowy figure as he landed on the roof, "I might as well place it on the roof."

He was carrying a giant flat object that was almost as large as him and he placed it on the side of the stairway, it melting into it on contact.

"If all goes well, it shall sit here for all eternity. Yet if Slade and Karth fail, it better work," said the figure and he flew away, leaving his hidden surprise behind.

----

"Leave him!!! Try your hand on me!" cried Raven as she held her arms out in front of her, "Azerath Metrion Zinthos!" Nothing happened and Evil Raven saw these pitiful attempts, "Zinthos! ZINTHOS!"

"Hold him," said Evil Raven and Evil Starfire hit Beastboy with a couple of starbolts and Evil Robin held him down. Evil Raven sent out her soul self and it flew directly at the small green man and the Evil Boy Wonder, the latter jumping out of the way just as the soul self hit Beastboy, causing him to scream out in pain and fall limp. Evil Starfire then flew him over to the cells, where two were waiting empty. Evil Raven then watched as Raven ran over to Sonic and half carried him over to an edge where no clones visible were waiting. She didn't see a small green spider nearby.

"Are you okay?" asked Raven as Sonic held his head, "that was a powerful attack."

"Just give me a sec," said Sonic as Evil Raven motioned for no clone to move.

"Sec's up," said Evil Beastboy as he transformed and pushed Raven over the edge, so that she plummeted to the water far below. She was pulled to a stop by Sonic's firm hand.

"Raven! Are you okay?" shouted Sonic and Raven stared back at him, unable to speak. But then she saw Evil Raven floating above them and she found her voice.

"Let me go! Protect yourself!" yelled Raven, trying to let go but he had a tight grip, "she's above you!"

"I don't care!" said Sonic, emotion welling in his eyes, which one it was, Raven couldn't tell, "I'm never gonna let you go, do you understand me? Never!"

Raven watched as he struggled to pull her up and in seconds, they were back, kneeling on the large rock they were fighting on, the clones watching them.

"Do not move," commanded Evil Raven, circling the entire battle field, "let us see what they do."

"Anger's a powerful emotion, right?" said Sonic and Raven nodded, "then I'm gonna get you angry!" He looked around for inspiration, "I tore up that book you were reading for the fire!" Raven looked at him skeptically, "Dark Reflections suck! I think you have a crush on Beastboy! You're Beastboy's brother!"

"Uh… it's not working," said Raven, "and in case you haven't noticed, I'm a girl."

"Yeah, I was trying to get you mad! Um… you're no use to the Titans, we're kicking you out! I hate the fact that you can't feel emotions, you witch!" He then gave up verbal insults and just began to poke her in the same spot repeatedly, "can you use magic yet?"

"No, you're just annoying me," she said but then she thought, "You couldn't make me angry anyway."

Evil Raven nodded to Evil Sonic who held up his right arm and pointed it at Raven, saying the only thing he ever would say. His voice was the exact opposite from Sonic's, it was dark, low and filled with spite, "this is how you make her angry." With that, he focused all his energy into a single sonic blast and threw it at an unsuspecting Raven.

It.

Was.

Hellish.

It was as if the loudest banshee was inside her head, screaming at the top of her voice. The pain was unlike anything she had ever experienced before, it felt like she had died and was being punished for her actions and relations with Trigon.

"Aaaaaaaaah!!!!" she screamed out, clutching her head, tears falling down her face, "please… make it stop…" She then fell from her kneeling position to a lying down one, twitching and screwing up her face, "please… I can't take it."

"You know," said Evil Raven, landing in front of Sonic and the pained Raven, "I could make everything stop, if you wanted me to."

"Rae!" yelled Sonic, but when she screamed in pain as an answer, he turned to the clones, "you filthy, little S.O.B! I'll kill you!!!"

Sonic then leapt at his evil clone and tackled him to the ground, punching him in the face, rapidly and violently. Evil Beastboy was about to jump into the fight but Evil Raven stopped his movements, as Evil Sonic threw him off and shot a couple of blasts at him, all missed. Beastboy watched in horror at the squirming mess that was Raven and Starfire tried her hardest to wake Robin up, yet Sonic still fought bravely, punching and kicking Evil Sonic whenever he could, yet he stood no chance really against the sonic powers. And still, he fought, he fought for Raven, he fought for the Titans and he fought because he could, into himself, he swore to fight until his lungs were empty and his heart was still.

"You can't win!" cried Evil Raven, Evil Starfire laughing an uncaring laugh, "we are better than the originals, we can't lose."

"Son… ic?" moaned Raven, shaking uncontrollably, she sat up, shockwaves of pain occasionally running through her, "what…?"

Everyone but Beastboy were too focused on Sonic and Evil Sonic to notice her standing up, they didn't think she would after five minutes of silence. And then it happened. Sonic jumped at Evil Sonic again but the evil one was ready. A blast, the same kind of blast that had hit Raven, was fired and hit Sonic square in the face. He had a split second look on his face, one of shock, before he was thrown back, to the other side of the rock, his clothes tattered and torn, one glove destroyed, his hair all over his face and when he landed, he was unmoving. Raven took one look at this and the anger that she had been waiting for erupted from her soul.

"NO!!!!!!!!" two cries echoed around the place, one from Beastboy and the other, much louder one, from Raven. Everyone faced the half demon and saw the all too familiar quartet of red eyes on her face.

"Is this good or bad?" wondered Beastboy as Dark Matter formed around Raven's entire body. There was three seconds before she screamed out in a harsh, voice that was similar to the one she used against Dr. Light, the first time.

"This has gone on long enough! You hurt my friends! You hurt them, and you almost killed one of them! For this…" the aura grew, "… you shall pay."

Then it exploded from her and covered the entire area they were in hitting everything except the body of Sonic, her friends in the cells and herself. Her body was glowing a bright, blinding white which stood out heavily against the black. But she didn't just destroy, she healed Sonic from his injuries and he opened his eyes.

But on the topic of destruction, the first thing to be destroyed and to be hit was Evil Sonic, followed by Evil Starfire and Evil Robin, the machine that blocked the powers and machinery, Evil Beastboy and finally Evil Raven. Everything that was hit was destroyed except Evil Raven, who just absorbed the Dark Matter and stopped the power flow, causing Raven to fall to the ground in a crumpled heap.

"Huh, who shut me down?" moaned Cyborg as his eyes opened, he then spotted the trapped Titans, "what the…?"

"Raven!" cried Sonic, running over to her, "it worked! … Rae?" She was still, unmoving and had no pulse when Sonic checked so he turned to the evil version, "what did you do to her? YOU KILLED HER!!!!"

"Get us out! Quick!" cried Beastboy and the metal man smashed Robin's cell first, picking up the limp teen.

"I did nothing, do you not remember about her powers," smirked Evil Raven, "she has fallen in battle, the first Titan to do so, I believe. Oh wait," she stared at the newly freed Beastboy, "I forgot about Terra."

"You…" Beastboy began to run forward but he was stopped by a quick blast from Sonic to his feet.

"Then make me the third," said Sonic, his arms shaking, his left still pointing towards Beastboy's feet, "finish me off then."

"Friend Robin!" cried Starfire, "what is wrong with him?"

"I could," said Evil Raven, floating closer to Sonic, "but I won't."

"Hold him," Cyborg said, giving Starfire Robin's body, "I'll get Raven."

"Why not!" yelled Sonic, "ARE YOU SCARED?!?!? ARE YOU AFRIAD OF ME?!?!?!?"

"Dude," whispered Beastboy, "you do care about her…"

"Because I couldn't let myself," said Evil Raven, coming even closer, so they were about a foot apart.

"Where did Slade and Karth go?" asked Starfire, looking around and spotted that the watching platform was empty, "they have escaped once more."

"What?" asked Sonic, now confused, "you let the others attack me!".

"Come on!" cried Cyborg, "we should get out of here."

"I may have been grown from Raven's DNA yet I was genetically modified so I would hate all Titans," she was now mere inches away from Sonic's face, "but her feelings for you are strong enough to get through it, so I could allow you to have pain, but I could never do it myself," she was directly in front of it, he could feel the smallest breath, "but I can use those feelings. And I will."

Then, the most shocking thing that day happened. Evil Raven grabbed both of Sonic's cheeks and pulled him into a tight kiss. He couldn't get away, he couldn't get out so they could all watch in horror as she kissed him. Thirty seconds later, she let him free and he stumbled backwards.

"I may see you again soon," she said and dissolved in front of them and was replaced with a small, soul Evil Raven which flew into Raven's heart. Raven then suddenly opened her eyes slightly and then closed them.

"Dude, come on," said Beastboy, walking up to Sonic and tugging on his tattered sleeve, "we need to get out of here."

"You shall go nowhere," came Karth's voice, "you may have destroyed our clones but you shall still be destroyed!"

There were a couple of explosions and rocks began to fall from the ceiling, landing at Sonic's feet, bringing him around.

"Come on," urged Beastboy again and they all ran to the door which the clones had come through. Cyborg was about to use one of his cannons to blow open the door but Sonic barged past him, surrounded his entire body with the charge and the door exploded. Everyone as shocked as he took Raven's body from Cyborg and continued to run, anxious to get her to safety.

-----

"Two have fallen, Slade," said the man as he stepped over Karth's dead body, "I hope you do not end up like them. You have been the best."

"I shall not fail, master," said Slade and he walked out, leaving his former comrade behind.

-----

Two days after the fight, Robin was walking around, weakly, aided by Starfire, yet he couldn't save the city. So, on days like these, he, Sonic and the still unconscious Raven were in the Tower alone.

"How is she faring?" asked Robin in the afternoon and he handed Sonic some soda and some leftover pizza.

"She's much worse than you," said Sonic, "she's gone into," he choked before continuing, "comatose." He then went into a fit of violent coughs, mixed with tears, which he got rid of before Robin could see.

"And how are you faring," asked Robin, "You need to get some medical help. You haven't slept for two days and if we hadn't brought you food and water, you would be dehydrated."

"I'm fine!" said Sonic, "Raven's spell healed me."

"Yeah, but you still need to get checked over, we don't know what that…" he chose his words carefully, "incident with Raven's clone did to you."

"I'm fine!" yelled Sonic and he coughed again.

"No, you're not. I'm sorry about this," said Robin and he gave Sonic a karate chop to the back of the neck, forcing him unconscious, "I'm really sorry, Sonic."

He woke up thirteen hours later, in his room, yet still in his tattered clothes. Obviously Cyborg had moved him from the floor since Robin wasn't strong enough. Sonic cursed as he got out of bed and walked over to the door, not putting anything on his feet. He pushed the button, it slid open and he came face to face with a Slade-Bot, which was destroyed with a flick of his wrist.

"Did ya get it?" asked Cyborg as he, Starfire and Beastboy ran along the corridor, "a batch sneaked in and that was the last one."

"Yeah, I think I blew it up," said Sonic and he stretched his arms before pushing past the trio in the hall, "where's Robin?"

"He's in the infirmary, he's still weak and a 'bot hit him and he's trying to take it easy. I don't know what that clone did to him!" said Cyborg and Beastboy smirked as he caught up to Sonic, whispering.

"We had to literally drag Star away from him," Sonic laughed at this and he felt better.

"So what did you do to me?" asked Sonic, turning around, and Cyborg explained that they just checked him over and that he was fine, just tired and slightly dehydrated, "I'm going to see Raven."

"Nothing's happened, dude, she's still, you know… um… hibernating," said Beastboy, like Robin, choosing his words, "but you guys need to heal up, it's hard just the three of us! Mad Mod almost got us this time, but I didn't get that accent again." He fake-pouted.

Sonic just ignored him and walked on, the others running after him. It was just then, the siren went off and Beastboy groaned, "Well, we gotta go, take care, 'Kay?"

"Yeah, yeah, just go," said Sonic, obviously in a bad mood, which was unlike him, "I'll see you off the roof."

The four Titans made their way up the stairs and Sonic waved weakly as Starfire took off and Cyborg rode on a Pterodactyl Beastboy. He continued to wave until he said, "what do you want, Slade?"

"My, my, still the same," said Slade and he stepped out from a large object on the roof, "always down do business."

"What the hell do you want?" asked Sonic, turning to face him, "speak or get off my house."

"I came with a proposition; you can come back to us…" Slade began but he had to sidestep a sonic blast.

"I'm a Titan, and I always will be," said Sonic, anger burning in his eyes, "if you wanted me, you should have used that bloody clone you made."

"We did, and only the original can work," said Slade, "you could have been great with us, power, money, anything you want."

"I want to be free," said Sonic, "I want to get away from you and your pathetic master, Darke…" he would have finished the sentence but Slade threw a small bomb at his feet, causing him to cough again.

"You are not worthy to speak his name!" snapped Slade, his cool manner slipping for a few seconds, "you ungrateful brat."

"Well at least I'm ungrateful with friends," said Sonic, "now get off my Tower before I hurt you."

"Very well, Sonic, you could have been great with us," Slade repeated.

"I'm a Titan, nothing else," Sonic also repeated. Slade jumped off the side and Sonic went down the steps, running to the infirmary. There, Robin was sitting on one bed, staring at a still unconscious Raven, "has anything happened?"

"No."

There was an awkward silence where they looked at everything but each other, "um… thanks," said Sonic finally, "for, you know, getting me to rest."

"Um… no problem," said Robin and he finally looked Sonic in the eye, "we're not in a good situation. Half the team down and crimes at an all time high."

"Yeah… and one of our team's in a coma," said Sonic, staring at the form of Raven. They had removed her cloak and her belt and put her in the normal 'coma position', "she looks so different, doesn't she."

"Yeah, she's always been one of the strongest," said Robin, hopping off the second bed, "always been the one left."

"But, you know why she's like this, don't you," said Sonic as they walked out of the room to get a drink, "It's her powers."

"Cyborg told you, didn't he?" asked Robin, "Because we're the only ones that know about that. Beastboy would have blabbed, Starfire couldn't take that kind of information and Terra… well, she wasn't around long enough to find out."

"So Raven doesn't know?" said Sonic and Robin nodded, "why?" It's her body."

"Um… I don't know, but I think I'll have to tell her after this, but what gets me is that she's even in this state!" exclaimed Robin, "I'm glad, but with the amount of power that she used, it should have killed her."

"The clone, that revived her to this state," said Sonic, remembering the kiss, "she went into her heart and that got her back. For about two minutes, she was legally dead."

"Well, we should just hope she wakes up soon," said Robin as they got the drinks, soda's funnily enough, "come on, Gamestation?"

"Nah, I think I'm just gonna read," said Sonic and Robin watched as he walked into Raven's room, coming out with a book of poetry, "its 'The Raven' and other poems… it makes me feel better, you know?"

"Yeah, I know," grinned Robin as, for the first time, he saw Sonic sit down behind a book like Raven does. The leader then decided to play one-player and try to beat Sonic's high score.

"Go right," Sonic randomly said after about an hour of play, "not left, right." Robin knew he was grinning behind that book.

"Thanks."

-----

Twelve days later, it happened. As Sonic sat by Raven's bedside, he heard the beeps of the heart monitor increase and go faster, he dropped the book of poems and stared at her face, hoping that today would be the day. He was alone in the Tower today, Robin recovering about ten days beforehand, so he opened up his communicator and called Beastboy.

"Beastboy here, what's up," Beastboy's face appeared on the screen and then he ducked as a beam of light appeared over his head, "watch out Cyborg! Sorry dude, so what's up?"

"Raven's heart rate! It's increased!" Sonic half yelled, "I think she's waking up!"

"Dude! No way! We'll fini…" Sonic cut him off, shutting the communicator lid as Raven made a small moaning sound and her left fingers moved.

"Raven!" cried Sonic, smiling widely, "can you hear me?"

"Of course I can…"whispered Raven weakly, "you're yelling in my ear."

"Raven!" Sonic scooped her into a large hug and she began to cough, "oh… sorry."

"What happened?" asked the newly wakened Titan as Sonic let her lie down again, "I remember healing you and that's it."

"You went into a coma for two weeks," said Sonic as he couldn't stop his grinning, "and you've just woke up!"

"I gathered that."

"FRIEND RAVEN!!!" cried Starfire as she burst through the door, running up to Raven and pulling her into a bone shattering hug, "you have awakened!"

"Where's the others?" asked Raven after saying hi to Starfire.

"Oh dear!" cried Starfire and she flew out of the room again, flying past the window.

"She left them behind, I think," said Sonic, "can you stand?"

"I don't think so," said Raven as she rolled over, "and I know it sounds weird, but I need to sleep."

"Sure, I'll carry you to your room," said Sonic and he picked her up, superhero style, and carried her through to her room, setting her on her bed, "night."

"Sonic," he had began to walk out but he turned around to look at the goth, "thanks."

"No prob!" he grinned and winked at her and walked away. That was before he realized his clothes were back to normal, he didn't fix them over the two weeks he was waiting for Raven to wake up. He was confused at first but then he realized what she had done for him, "thanks Raven." She didn't answer, she had already fallen asleep.

-----

"What are you doing about this, Slade?" asked the man as Slade knelt in front of him, "all your ideas have failed."

"We shall strike at his other identity, my lord, and expose him," said Slade and he got up and walked off, "and I assure you, I shall not fail. If I do, I'll take away the thing that means most to him."

"Very well, Slade, you have ten days," said the man and he sank back into a large pillar.

-----

"Raven, we need to talk," said Cyborg, one day after she woke up from her coma. Raven looked up from her meditation on her bed to see Sonic, Robin and Cyborg standing in her room, Robin leaning on the door frame and Sonic looking everywhere but her, "it's about your powers."

"What about them?" Raven asked as she floated over to them, "what do you know that I don't?"

"Well… when we fought the clones, it proved the fact that your powers can be used even with blocks," said Robin, now off of the door, "but you did that with Trigon, didn't you."

"Yeah, well, your powers, it controls weather you live or die," said Sonic, still not looking at her and her eyes widened under her hood, "if too much power comes out, so does your life. Which is why you were in that coma."

"What?" said Raven, a book hovering in the air, "my powers can kill me?"

"Yeah," said Cyborg, "but you shouldn't hide them away, you just shouldn't use them as much as you did in that cave. One of the main reasons Sonic took that curse off you when he had just joined the Titans was because if he let you go on, you could have died."

"Thank you," said Raven, sinking onto her bed, "thank you. For telling me."

Cyborg and Robin left but Sonic walked over to Raven and put his arm around her, "it'll be okay, right Rae. I'll make sure you're fine, I'm not going anywhere."

-----

A week later, everything was pretty much back to normal. Raven was back on her feet, thanks to her magic, and she was as sarcastic as ever, Beastboy was joking around with Sonic and Starfire was being taught by Robin about the Earth Culture. Cyborg was, of course, making his baby better. Except for today, because today was a special day.

"So, who should we call first?" asked Robin, grinning widely, "random or someone we know?"

"Huh?" asked Sonic before Beastboy and Cyborg grinned at him, "what's this about calling?"

"We have one day a year where we prank call a whole bunch of people!" said Beastboy excitedly, "everyone has to make one call, except Raven."

"No, I'll join in," said Raven and she put down her book, "I'll go first." She took the phone from Robin and dialed a number, then put it on speaker phone. It rang a few times before a familiar voice came on the line.

"Who dares call the awesome-ness of CONTROL FREAK?!?!?!" came Control Freak's voice and Beastboy choked, "answer at once or be struck with my Level 6 Mace!"

Raven put on the perfect office voice and began to talk like she did this everyday, "hello. My name is Rachael, and I work at the Jump City TV station. We have looked back on the films of your expertise and we wanted you to come down to the station and give us some ideas." Beastboy had to stifle his laughter and there was a gasp from the phone.

"Oh my god, um… yeah, sure… what do I have to do?" asked Control Freak, not worried about his 'awesome-ness' anymore.

"Well, the only day we have free is 'Dress Up Day' which is next Wednesday, so you'll have to come into the station dressed up like a gorilla with banana's coming out of your butt, or something like that," continued Raven and everyone was in silent hysterics.

"Of course! I'll be there, bye!" He hung up and everyone fell about laughing, cutlery flying over their heads because of Raven's power.

"That was great!" yelled Cyborg as Starfire picked up the phone, ready for her shot.

The phone rang both on the box and in Robin's pocket so he answered his phone, "uh… Star, you dialed my number."

"I need to ask if you have Prince William in a can because you must release him immediately!" she then hung up and burst into laughter, "that was glorious! I am thrilled!"

"Uh… way to go?" said Raven as Robin sighed.

-----

"Azerath, Metrion, Zinthos," Raven chanted, sitting above one of the large rocks at the bottom of the Tower. Sometimes she needed a change of scenery, and today, the day after the prank calls incident, she enjoyed listening to the water, "Azerath, Metrion, Zinthos."

"Oh man, this is awkward," came Sonic's voice from the base of the Tower and Raven whipped around to see him, in swimming shorts and no shirt, "uh… I thought you were on the roof."

Raven blushed under her hood, glad he couldn't see her, "I wanted to hear the water. What are you doing here?"

"Um… ever since the clone mission, I like to swim in the morning," Sonic was also blushing, heavily, "so… um, can I swim now?" Raven nodded and he jumped into the icy cold water, immerging seconds later, "ah, that's nice, wakens you up."

Raven tried to concentrate, but she was unable to keep her eyes of the swimming form of Sonic, who was now walking on the shallow part of the water using his hands. She couldn't help but lower her hood and staring, smiling to herself.

After about an hour of swimming, Sonic got out of the water and walked up to the Tower, turning to Raven, "could you lift me up to my room?"

"Yeah, sure," she muttered and used her magic to lift him up, "which one?"

"To the left!" called Sonic and he stepped into his open window, "thanks Raven!"

"What am I going to do?" asked Raven as she went back to her meditation.

-----

Later that night, the alarm went off. Red X was attacking and trying to steal from a lab named EGC. All six Titans appeared in front of him, ready to attack and he turned to see them.

"Well, well, they're all here," said X and he ran off, the Titans giving chase.

They were in a long, dark corridor that looped around the main lab. It had many places to hide, and corridors shooing off it, which were darker than the main one.

X fired a sticky X at them and it hit Starfire, sticking her to the wall. Robin looked back before they continued to run, X dodging gadgets, sonic blasts, cannon fire and magic as he went before he just disappeared. They all stopped before Sonic, who was at the back of the group, yelled out and they saw Red X dragging him off. Robin went to help but before they knew it, Sonic had been dragged into the darkness. All they could hear were the screams of battle, some rustling and then nothing. Red X suddenly teleported behind them, kicked Cyborg in the head and continued to run, Robin growling before continuing after him.

They now appeared in the main lab, a round tall building with many tubes of the precious zinothium stored inside.

"I feel like a kid in a zinothium store," said Red X and he jumped at one of the walls, propelling himself off onto the other side.

"Titans! Go!" cried Robin and he leapt at X, who dodged and got barraged with Dark Matter.

"It's always the cute ones that hurt ya," said X and he ducked under Raven and stuck Cyborg to the floor. He then sent some small 'x's at Beastboy and cut him on the arm, and for some reason, Red X gasped but recovered himself, "nice aim, X."

"It won't be nice for…" Robin was about to retort but a giant smoke bomb filled the room, everyone was coughing, "what the hell?"

When the smoke cleared finally, Red X was gone and instead a Slade-Bot, repeating the words, "Meet me at Jump City Stadium, meet me at Jump City Stadium."

-----

"Well, Slade, we're here… well most of us," said Robin as only the five original Titans walked into the stadium, "what did you want?"

"Are you not wondering where Sonic is?" asked Slade, who was standing in the centre of the stadium, "are you not worried about his position?"

"What do you want?" repeated Robin and Slade chuckled.

"I came to show you: Red X!" Slade held his arms in the air and a large cross came down from the ceiling. Only when the cameras were pointed at it and it appeared on the large screens did they realize that Red X was attached to it, like he was being crucified.

"You tied up your own ally?" asked Starfire, "this is a strange strategy."

"He is more your ally than mine, much more, but, aren't masks a bit rude," said Slade, evilly.

"You're one to talk," yelled Red X from the cross, "I bet you wear that to sleep!"

"Now, I bet the question on your lips is: who's under the mask? Isn't it? Well, now I shall show you!" Slade shouted and suddenly, Red X was released from about twenty five foot and he fell to the ground in a crumpled heap. Slade walked over to him and held the back of his head, "Titans, I present to you… SONIC!" Slade forced the mask off of Red X and in his place was Sonic, the man that they had gotten to know so well.

"No!" cried Raven, tears appearing in her eyes. Cyborg and Starfire were gob-struck and Beastboy seemed to be whispering 'Dude!' over and over again to himself. Robin, however, wasn't convinced.

"Nice trick, Slade, what did you do? Plan with X to kidnap Sonic and after you let off the bomb, you would switch the suits," Robin snorted, "you need to do better than that."

But anyone could tell from one look at Sonic's face that that wasn't what had happened. He was wearing one mixed expression, horror mixed with anger and a dash of hatred.

"You…" Sonic spoke at last, every eye on him, "you… weren't supposed to find out… this way."

Slade was pleased, so he shoved Sonic's head into the ground and began to walk off, "have fun."

"You…" Sonic got off the ground and tackled Slade to the ground. He punched him with a charged fist once and then got off him, picked him up and threw him onto the ground, "YOU SHOWED THEM!!! I'LL KILL YOU!!!! I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHY I WAS INVOLVED WITH YOU IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!!"

The Titans watched as Sonic tried to beat the crap out of Slade and he probably would have, too, if Robin hadn't thrown a birdarang into the fray, letting Slade get away.

"What did you do that for?" yelled Sonic, about to run after him, but Robin stood in the way, punching him in the mouth. Sonic fell to the ground, groaning, and he felt his lip burst, "Robin…"

"I trusted you," Robin said, hatred now in his eyes, a look of disgust on his face, and as he stared Sonic down, Sonic realized why Robin was the leader, "I trusted you and you threw it in my FACE!!!" Robin lunged at Sonic, the prey rolling over and jumping up, "I let you into my tower! I gave you food, clothing, my trust!!! And it didn't mean a thing to you!!!"

"Robin! You don't understand…" began Sonic but Robin cut him off.

"Get out of my sight." Sonic obeyed and ran off as fast as he could, but he turned back to them.

"I… I didn't mean for you to find out like this," said Sonic and he stared at the stream of seats floating above him, surrounded in Raven's uncontrollable magic, "don't get too down Rae."

"GET OUT!!!" cried Robin and Sonic ran off, picking up the mask on his way.

-----

Raven flew in front of everyone else, getting to the Tower first and went straight to her room where she locked the door and burst into tears. Instantly, things began to fly everywhere, nothing was on the ground, so she tried to meditate. It actually began t work until, a few hours later; Beastboy opened the door and tried to calm her down.

"Raven, are you okay?" he asked and Raven clenched her hands in anger. Everything came flooding back.

"Get," she said, "out."

"Raven, you need to talk," said Beastboy and he stepped closer to the dark girl.

"Don't come any closer."

"Raven, you can't act like this," said Beastboy, reaching out to touch her shoulder. It was a fatal mistake.

"Touch me," she said, tears falling freely, "and I'll kill you."

"Rae," Beastboy began but as soon as his hand came into contact with the grieving girl, she snapped. The four red eyes appeared again and Dark Matter appeared around Beastboy's neck, sending him flying into a wall.

She was in the raspy, dark voice again, "I TOLD YOU NOT TO TOUCH ME!!!!!!! I SAID THAT AND YOU DIDN'T LISTEN, LIKE YOU NEVER DO!!!!" Things were going wild now and she slammed Beastboy into another wall, causing him to grunt, "I TOLD YOU!!!!! HE'S GONE AND I WANTED TO BE ALONE!!!!" she tightened the grip of the magic and Beastboy began to choke.

"Raven…" he said, choking, "Rae…"

"I TOLD YOU!!!!" she screamed again, tears still falling. Beastboy struggled some more, "YET THIS IS THE WAY I GET YOU TO LISTEN!!!!"

"Rav… en…" his eyes closed and his arm fell before Raven realized what she was doing. She snapped back to normal and Beastboy dropped to the floor.

"Beastboy! Are you okay?" she asked when he sat up coughing, "I'm sor…"

"Never mind Raven, I miss him too."

-----

Two days after Sonic had been uncovered, Raven was having another restless night, twisting and turning because of bad dreams. In her dream, her father, Trigon, his hand had clamped around her mouth and he had pulled her up from the Tower, high into the sky. She tried to scream, but she couldn't, and Trigon began to laugh.

Raven was even more scared when she opened her eyes and found herself on the roof, a hand clamped around her mouth. She used her magic to surround the person holding onto her and a figure in black clothing flew over her head. Only after two minutes did she realize it was Sonic, in most of the Red X uniform, just not wearing the mask.

"You!" cried Raven, powering up her magic, "you traitor!"

"No, Raven! I can explain!" he cried, dodging a spell thrown at him, "it shouldn't have happened like this!"

"I can't believe you! This is worse than Terra!" whispered Raven and she began to sink into the ground. Sonic rushed over and grabbed her hand, pulling her back up, "let me go! Robin's going to hear about this."

"Raven! It's still me! I'm still Sonic, I'm still the person that you got to know, I'm still the person that saved your life!" he yelled, still holding onto her wrist, "please Raven, look at me, please. I'm not a criminal, I'm just… like you. Misunderstood."

"It worked on me once before, it won't again!" she cried, loose things flying everywhere, "just leave me alone!"

Sonic didn't let go of her hand, he just stared at her violet ones, "Raven. Please, don't call for Robin. Please! Can't you trust me?" there was something in his voice that couldn't let Raven say no. She shook a bit and then sank to her knees.

"I can trust you," she choked out, "I can trust you."

"Thank you," he sank to her level and lifted her chin with him hand, "hey, don't look too down."

"But you betrayed us!" she said.

"No, you just don't know the whole story," said Sonic, looking away from her, "believe me, I'm not your enemy." He paused before saying, "hold on, I'll be back in a sec."

He ran over to the other side of the Tower and jumped off, shooting something at the wall. He came back, minutes later, carrying a struggling Beastboy. He dumped the green teen on the ground and said, "shut up! Do you want to get busted?"

"Sonic! Red X! What are you doing here?" exclaimed Beastboy and Sonic flicked him on the top of the head, "ow!"

"Just calm down, man, I'm not Red X, well… I am, but not right now!"

"Beastboy," Raven stood up and walked over to them, "he's not our enemy."

"Raven! What the hell is going on?" asked Beastboy and the other two sighed. Soon, Beastboy was informed at the fact that Sonic wasn't evil, he wasn't trying to hurt the Titans and that he wanted to stay in contact with those two.

"This is the only way, I won't come every night, you just have to make sure no one else finds out," said Sonic and he walked away from the other two, "the reason I stole the zinothium? I can't tell you right now, too many unwanted listeners, but it's for you guys, okay. But you can't know, otherwise you could unwillingly tell Slade."

"We wouldn't!" cried Beastboy but Sonic shook his head, "come on, dude, you can tell us."

"No, he can't," said Raven, "if Slade knew we knew, he could torture us until he forces it out of us. And you would crack first."

"Thanks Rae," he checked the time on his communicator, "crap, almost one. I have to go, and don't try calling me, it's switched off. See ya later."

And with that, Sonic disappeared.

-----

Three nights after the first visit, Raven felt herself being forced up to the roof again. She prepared herself for attack but then just realized it was Sonic again, Beastboy was already on the roof.

"Hey guys, anything happened?" asked Sonic when everyone was okay.

"Nothing much, Robin's just very angry, he's annoyed with everyone, Starfire hasn't left her room and Cyborg's trying to make everyone feel better," said Beastboy, "it's mayhem, dude."

"And what about you guys?"

"Well… I'm trying to act normally," said Beastboy and he looked at Raven, who shot him a look saying 'don't you dare', "and I'm not sure about Raven."

"Well, I've been moving non-stop, I haven't had much time to sleep, or eat!" exclaimed Sonic, "and I'm lucky that neither Robin or Slade have found me, or I'd probably be in worse shape than this."

-----

"Your time is up, Sonic, and soon, I shall have you and your power," said the man and he pressed a button, ready to see the reaction.

-----

Suddenly, something behind them exploded and began to drag them in. The stairway had blown up and in its place was a mini-black hole, slowly pulling them towards it. Below, they heard the shouts of Robin, Starfire and Cyborg, trying to find out what the problem was.

Raven screamed as she flew towards it, Beastboy ran after her, turning into an elephant and sat in between Raven and the vortex, but even he was slowly moving towards it. Sonic ran up to get Raven and he pulled her to a safe distance, yelling for her to strap herself to the object with her magic. He then ran back to get his other friend, who was struggling to stay away from the black hole.

Sonic grabbed onto a large pole and called to Beastboy to change, to grab to his hand. Beastboy obeyed and grabbed onto his hand with the trunk, changing into a human and the trunk changed to a hand.

Beastboy cried that he didn't have a good grip and he held onto Sonic's hand with his other one, yet when he let go with the first one, he found himself flying through the air, screaming. Sonic let go of the pole and ran towards him but it was too late. Beastboy entered the vortex, it closed and disappeared into the air.

"Damn it!" cried Sonic, slamming his hands down on the ground, "he's gone!"

"Sonic, what now?" asked Raven and he stood up, staring at the city.

"You stay here and tell the others what happened, don't tell them about me. I'm going to get him back. And I know the only way how."

-----

Moon Comix: well, what did you think?

Cyborg: hey! Now Sonic has no home!!!!!

Robin: how many of us had near death experiences in this chapter

Starfire: glrod frong yingle blorn, there, the Tamaranian National Anthem

Moon Comix: um… please review (holds up stake) reviews make the vampires go away

Nice Men in White Coats: Yes, Moon Comix, the vampires (drags Moon Comix off)

Moon Comix: Starfire, Cyborg, Robin!!! SAVE ME!!!!

Nice Men in White Coats: who's he talking to? It's an empty office!

Comix Out