New Guy Naga
Chapter 10: Some More Changes
After their little fail at espionage, all the Titans were both curious, and nervous, as to what the papers would be saying about them.
Each of them sat around the folded paper as if it would tell them the secrets of the universe.
When Robin unfolded the editorial, they all knew that it wouldn't be anything good.
"Who can we Trust"
"Yesterday, the Titans finally came out of their house after their three-day hold up in their 'T' shaped fortress. However, they had been in disguise." Two pictures were below the caption. One of the Titans with their holo-rings on, the other after they took them off. "It seems that the heroes we all know don't seem to trust us enough to let us know that they're in our presence. What's more, is that the level-headed leader Robin, has anger management issues, as he punched a bystander in the gut for no apparent reason, and even used his teams new pet for some 'fun destruction,' using him to create an earthquake which could've severely hurt someone. Thankfully, no people were physically damaged, though we can't say the same for any emotional or mental trauma."
"I can't believe the garbage these people make! What do they expect, going out in disguise is the only way we could do anything!" Beast Boy said.
"Reason is wasted on the reasonless. If I wanted to hurt someone, I'd make it rain fire. 'Pet,'" Naga said in disgust as he dug into a piece of leftover fish.
"Those little punks are lucky I didn't put my sonic cannon up their butts."
"Friends, do not let the worded paper bring down your spirits. I believe that this situation calls for an early Blorthog."
"What-thog?" Naga whispered to Raven.
"The Tamaranean friendship festival."
When Starfire left to get her Blorthog things, Naga's back became engulfed in flames and crackled with electricity.
"Sheesh dude, if you don't want to celebrate you can just hide in the bathroom," Beast Boy joked.
"It's not that, my back's been itchin' like crazy, and setting myself on fire is the only thing that can get rid of it."
It didn't stop at his back. Naga was starting to act odd, even for someone like him.
The most noticeable change was that he was starting to act more savage during training. While fighting a training droid that took the form of the Cironiellian Chrysalis Eater, some urge came over him, and he drove a lightning infused blade through the robot's mid-section.
When he got over what came over him, his only explanation was that it, "just felt natural."
After Robin told him to go inside and get cool down, he turned to Raven and Beast Boy.
"What do you want us to do?" Beast Boy asked.
"I think his powers are starting to affect his sanity. I want you two to restart his training."
They were brought out of their conversation when an oven came flying out of the window and nearly hit them.
When they got up to the common room, they found claw marks all over the walls, the sink was smashed, and the couch was on its side, on the other side of the room.
"My sofa!" Cyborg screamed.
They noticed a strange glow from underneath the overturned piece of furniture.
Raven mentally lifted it, to reveal Naga.
He was curled up with his knees to his chest, blue flames shooting off of his body.
Raven attempted to use her powers to soothe the pain he was in, but as she got near him, the flames sent out a heat pulse, throwing them all back.
When he stood up, Naga's body was becoming more reptilian. His fingernails had sharpened. The skin on his arms had partially turned to scales. On his feet, where a human's nails would grow, the toenails were replaced by the kind of nails that would be found on a theropod dinosaur. The last part of the transformation was the most gruesome.
Out of his back sprouted a pair of bat-like wings. A single finger stuck out from the top, with four long fingers pointing down. The framework was dark red, but the skin between each frame was pitch black.
Naga's eyes glowed with dark lightning, which dissipated as he went unconscious where he stood, the dragon wings receding into his spine, leaving two large tears in his clothes.
After hooking him up to the med-bay, they found that along with the arms, the areas on his back where the wings grew out of were also changed to scales, and the snake mark on his side had grown wings.
When they felt that he would be alright by himself, they went back to clean up the living room.
"Dude's, is it just me, or does all our favorite stuff have a habit of being destroyed?"
"Way ahead of you BB, that's why I made these." Cyborg held up a jar with what looked like insects inside of it.
"And we're looking at what?" Raven asked.
"Self-replecating nano-bots. These little guys will be able to fix anything." He poured some of the micro-bots onto the couch and after about 20 seconds, the sofa was as good as new.
In a few minutes the room didn't look as if a burning human had stood in it.
"Now all we have to do is figure out what's up with Naga."
"I have a theory, but... nevermind, it's stupid," Raven said.
"Raven, after everything that we've seen, I'll be willing to believe that tiny fairies live in my ear," Cyborg said.
"I need to get something from my room." After about five minutes, Raven returned with a large book in hand.
When she opened it, it was filled varying charts and diagrams. The words of the book were written in other-worldly runes and shapes, with their English equivalents written beneath them. At the bottom of the page was a picture of a snake and an arrow pointing to a dragon.
"This is just a theory, but I think that Naga is in a state of transcendence, going from an ordinary snake to a dragon."
"It would explain the wings and claws, but what about what happened during training today," Robin said.
"I'm not so sure about that."
The next day, Naga had woken up to find himself strapped to a bed in the med-bay.
Is it just me, or do we seem to have a habit of waking up here, Airheart said.
The first thing he saw when he woke up was that his toenails had turned into dinosaur claws, though the foot structure was still like that of a human's foot.
After burning away the straps that bound him, he noticed that his arms were covered in scales, along with parts of his back.
The clock on the wall read 3:03 a.m. He walked out of the room, hoping that a walk would be able to help him think straight.
All the way back in Cyborg's room, he had his monitors synced up to Naga's life support systems, so he would be alerted when he woke up.
When he got to the med-bay, he found that Naga was gone.
For some reason, Naga felt himself drawn to the empath's room, as if some unseen entity was telling him that the answers to his questions were awaiting him there.
However, he was a ways away from Raven's room, and Cyborg had already gotten there and told Raven of the patient loose in the Tower. Both of them went off to alert the others, but while they were gone, Naga had made it to Raven's room, where the door was slightly opened. Ignoring Beast Boy's advice of never entering Raven's room without permission, he made his way in.
After searching all over the Tower, the five convened in the common room. On the monitor was several images of various parts of the building. The only parts that weren't monitored was each of the Titan's rooms. Knowing that it was their only other option, each of them went back to their rooms, hoping to find Naga there. He was nowhere to be found. They finally checked in his room, nothing.
Each of them went back to their rooms to rest.
Naga had played a dangerous game. He had invaded another person's room, one who was half-demon no-less, and used her magic mirror without her permission, and while she knew about none of it. (It's Nevermore all over again).
Once again, he found himself waking up in a pasture under black skies. He knew it was crazy, and probably a long-shot, but he had a feeling that Knowledge might have been able to help him.
The first emotion he met was Timid, still sobbing on the same rock that she was on the first time he was there.
"Um, Timid, I was wondering if you could tell me, where I can find Knowledge."
The gray emotion just continued to sob where she sat.
"Are you all right?" he asked. He still got no response.
Maybe I should handle this situation, Marina told him.
Soon Marina's consciousness washed over Naga.
Speaking with her soothing voice, Marina tried to make conversation with Timid.
"Please tell us, what troubles you dear?"
"Everyone hates us, even you."
"What makes you think we hate you?"
"What he said to Starfire, about how it's doesn't seem possible for us to be accepted, and how Inferno tried to destroy us when you found out about my... heritage."
"Do not worry about Inferno, it takes him a while to get used to someone, and he does mean well, even if he tries to slice a person's head off to do it; and what Naga said about you and the others was only out of anger towards humanity. Please, take it from me, you and the other Titans are quite possibly the closest thing to a family he's had in a long time." And with that, Marina used Naga to give Timid a warm hug.
"Now if you'll excuse us, we really need to find Knowledge." Marina let Naga back into his own mind and he went off looking for the yellow clad emotion. Meanwhile back at Timid's rock, the gray emotion had stopped crying, while in the Tower, Raven was feeling slightly better for some reason.
Out of nowhere, Naga found himself pinned on the ground by none other than the emotion who was the exact opposite of the emotion he was looking for.
"Told ya' I'd get a rematch!" Brave said, still pinning Naga to the ground.
"Look Brave, I'm not here for any rematch, I'm here to find Knowledge," he said.
"I'll tell you where you can find her, if you fight me."
"How 'bout this: you get off of me, tell me what I need to know, and I'll do what I want to," he said dryly.
"Nice try kid, but it ain't gonna work."
"Fine, what stupid idea for a rematch did you have in mind." he said sarcastically.
"Good ol' fashioned mano a mano," she said as she helped him up off the ground.
She eventually led him to a giant Roman style colosseum.
They both took their places at opposite ends of the ring.
Both of them lunged for the other, blocking the other's punches and kicks.
Finding an opening, Naga tried to land an axe kick, but Brave crossed both her arms to block it. She then performed a karate chop to his leg, which he parried.
After about half-an-hour, both of them were exhausted from the constant fighting.
"Can... you... just tell me... where I can find... Knowledge!" panted Naga.
"Fine... keep going east... and you'll find a library... that's her place."
Naga followed Brave's instructions and continued eastward. He came upon rows of shelves of books, some of which were floating in the air.
He found Knowledge sitting at a desk, studying what looked like a Sumerian scroll.
"Good to see you again Naga. I suspect your here over recent events," she said without taking her eyes off of the ancient texts.
"Yeah, I was thinking that maybe you can tell me what's going on."
"Well my knowledge on this sort of topic is a bit limited, but I believe that I may have an explanation. By the way, thanks and tell Marina I said thanks for her talking to Timid." She pulled out the very same book that Raven had shown the others.
"The most logical explanation is that you are spiritually evolving from a snake, into a dragon. It would explain why the areas on your back turned to scales when you grew wings."
"But why are my arms covered in scales?"
"I believe that along with being able to grow wings from your back, you can grow them out of your arms. Try it."
Naga rolled up his sleeves and concentrated on his arms. His index, middle, ring, and pinky fingers on both hands elongated, while his thumbs became only slightly longer and all became much more bony. Soon both his arms were dark red. Black skin membranes started to form between each finger. Tearing through the sides on his shirt and trench coat, connecting to his side.
After the task was completed, Naga changed his wings back into arms.
"As for your behavior on the training field, it may have been some sort of side effect of the ascendance, which was only strengthened by your dislike of insects; although I do believe that little side effect has passed. Also, with your evolution, I believe that your level of emotional awareness with snakes has now been broadened to reptilian creatures in general. Also, with these new wings, your flight speed will be unparalleled. Although you will need training, of course," at this point Naga had stopped listening after "your flight speed will be unparalleled," and grew his wings out of his back and had taken off and was soaring through Nevermore on his wings.
After he travelled for what seemed like miles, he found himself back at Knowledge's libraray.
"Wait, how did I end up back here?"
"Well we're beyond the earthly realm. The laws of physics apply only if Raven wishes them to. You may have travelled so fast that you ended up back here, or I could've sent my whole library to your location, you can never tell which. It's no different from how you made a stone bridge appear from nowhere when the others were in your mind. Huh, it's interesting, I've noticed that you and Raven share certain... similarities."
"What! No way! Me and Raven couldn't be any more different."
"No, the similarities are really quite startling. The clearest being, you both share a, well I guess you could call it a kind of... multiple personality dissorder. Raven has us, and you have the Guardians."
At first he dismissed the idea of him and Raven being similar, but then he started to actually consider it. A lot of Raven's emoticlones shared general personality similarities with the Earth Guardians:
Airheart and Rude both enjoyed the misfortune of others.
Marina was an optimist like Happy.
Timid and Frostbite were both A-class pessimists.
Brave and Sub-Terror were both stubborn and eager to punch first and ask questions later.
If Rage and Inferno were able to become friends, there'd be no telling what they'd do.
Knowledge and Darkvolt were both level headed and liked to stay neutral in conflicts.
"As well as that, you were both thrust into, um, eventful lives, because of things beyond your control. Raven's... parentage, and what with you being a vessel and all..."
Knowledge stopped, noticing that she had clearly gotten Naga into some sort of depression.
"Food for thought though right, eh heh heh heh."
"Well, thanks for the information, I'll see ya' 'round."
Before he could leave, Knowledge ceased him by the arm.
"Uh, I was wondering if I could speak to Darkvolt and the others. You see, because the Guardians were sealed away before any form of text was invented, there's no written history of them, even among the tomes of Azarath, I doubt even Azar herself knew of their existence; so I was wondering if I could do a little impromptu Q&A session with them."
I don't see the harm in telling her about ourselves, why not? Marina said.
Naga agreed and Knowledge lead him over to a desk.
Knowledge searched through drawers all over the desk until she pulled out a small wooden chest. Inside it was an ink bottle and a journal, that was surprisingly blank.
"This is quite possibly a once and a lifetime opportunity, I'm documenting about something that is probably unknown to anyone else across multiple dimensions," said Knowledge on the edge of her seat.
She took out a loose piece of parchment. Taking the ink bottle, she poured out the liquid onto the piece of paper and instructed Naga to place his palm on the spot.
She then told him to place his ink covered hand on the first page of the empty journal.
When he did so, the ink left his hand without leaving a mark, and started to form itself into words and even a picture of the six creatures, of Naga's mark, and of the six pillar seal that the Guardians had placed themselves in.
"What just happened?"
"This is no ordinary ink, this is a type of ink that when it makes contact with the flesh, will then write down the knowledge of a specific subject that the writer knows about. Now I just need to make a copy, one for here, and one for the real world, though the process will require your assistance."
Knowledge lit several candles and placed the journal on a chart with the cycles of the moon on it.
Interlocking their hands for the ceremony to work, Knowledge started uttering ancient words that Naga had no idea of what they meant. Soon the book became encased in a blinding white light. And just as quickly as the ceremony began, it ended, leaving an exact copy of the book next to the original.
When Knowledge placed her newest edition on a shelf she handed the copy to Naga to take back into the real world.
"Naga I hope you know how happy you've made me. Oh, and I also hope you don't judge us on what's going to happen next." She pointed to what was behind them.
An angry Raven with dark energy coming off of her hands in waves. Meanwhile, Rage watched the spectacle while sitting on a cliff, an evil smirk adorning her face.
"She must've realized your presence here when the book was made," Knowledge said.
"Your gonna get it now Fro-do!" Rude yelled before falling on her back laughing.
"Not so fast!" Brave had tackled Raven to the ground.
"Don't worry, I'll handle this," Knowledge told him.
Knowledge went over to the still fuming Raven who was being held back by Brave. She told Raven of all that had happened since Naga's arrival, and of what she had told him about the similarities between him and herself.
After listening to reason, Raven seemed to calm down, though she was still upset about the unwanted intrusion.
"Booo!" Rage said from her perch, clearly disappointed at the lack of flying body parts.
Following her back to the forbidden door he tried to make some sort of conversation.
"Look, I know you're mad about me coming here and all, but, well, Knowledge wanted me to give you this." He handed her the copy of the book that he and Knowledge had made. "She says it's supposed to be one of only two."
Like Naga, Raven was dismissive of the thought of she and him being the same in any way. But after listening to herself, literally, she started to think about the possibilities.
"Thanks, it's not every day that Knowledge gets to do something like this. So Marina talked to Timid huh?"
"Wha', oh yeah, I think she was able to get through to her."
"So Knowledge told you about the evolution process?"
"Yeah, but to be honest, the scales are going to be something I'll have to get used to, and the claws too," he said while looking down at his saurian claws.
"Hopefully this is where the metamorphosis stops, our house probably can't take another beating."
"Sorry about that," he said in a little chuckle.
When they went through the forbidden door the next thing they knew, they were back in Raven's room. The clock on her nightstand read out 6:30 a.m. This would usually be around the time that she would get up in the morning.
Deciding to get a head start on the day, Naga followed her into the common room. She offered him some herbal tea, which he accepted out of politeness. When the liquid hit his lips, he had to fight the urge to spit it back into the cup.
"Not your thing huh?"
"What gave me away," he said as the reluctantly swallowed the beverage.
He handed her back the mug, which she poured down the sink.
For himself, Naga made scrambled eggs. He offered to make some for Raven, but she politely refused. After eating, he hid the egg scraps and cleaned out the frying pan so Beast Boy wouldn't jump all over his back.
She grabbed one her books, took a seat on the couch and started reading. Meanwhile he grabbed a Playstation 2 controller and started tearing through as Sakon on Ultimate Ninja 4.
"You wanna play?" he asked handing her a controller.
"No thanks, I prefer not to lower my brain cell count."
Naga's curly hair started to tickle his wicked brain as a plan formed in his twisted little mind.
"You're right, you couldn't handle something like this."
"Can't handle brainwave halting neon lights, right."
"Hey, everyone's got to know their limitations."
Are you gonna take that from him, Brave said.
You twisted little monster, Airheart commented.
"Hand me a controller."
With a grin playing across his face, Naga did as she asked.
"But this is just to show you that I am more than capable of handling something this trivial."
"Whatever you say," he said sarcastically.
What have I gotten myself into, Raven thought as she had just realized that she had been the subject of reverse psychology. She was like a lion trying to live in the ocean. She had no idea of which character was stronger, she was lucky that she knew what the "X," and triangle buttons were for. Going for broke, she decided on using Tayuya.
Naga once again chose Sakon, though he was using him in his Second Stage Cursed Mark mode.
Within minutes, Naga was able to take down the unskilled Raven.
"This doesn't prove anything." Raven said indignantly. "Obviously you were going to beat me because I've never done this before," she added.
"Maybe not, but it does prove that you don't have to be stupid to be a victim of reverse psychology."
"I'll show you that anyone can play these stupid things. C'mon another round."
Dance puppet, dance, Airheart said, his voiced filled with wicked glee.
This time Raven had chosen Shizune, and Naga chose Possessed Gaara.
When Raven saw her opponent character's severe lack of speed she felt that she could wipe Naga's smug grin off of his face. However, what Gaara lacked in speed, he more than made up for in pure power and devastation, and once again the empath lost.
That's it! I'm drivin' this thing!
"C'mon! This time I know I'll beat your ass!" Raven said with Brave's confidence.
Time to get serious Naga! Sub-Terror told him.
Raven decided to go with Might Guy, while Naga had chosen Kisame.
With Brave controlling Raven's actions, Naga was forced to stay on the defensive.
Soon Raven was able to put Naga's health bar past the half-way point. This however, meant that he was able to use the reversal jutsu: Water Style: Infinite Sharks, which put their health meters at equal points.
To keep distance between his character and Raven's, Naga kept using the Water Shark Shotgun technique and bomb kunai.
Soon Kisame's health bar was still in the yellow zone, though it was borderlining on red, whereas Guy's health was already in the red.
However, Raven was able to open the eighth gate and use his awakened jutsu: Morning Peacock.
Using his lightning speed, Naga was barely able to interrupt what would be the final blow.
Throwing a chakra seal, Naga cancelled out Raven's ability to use the substitution jutsu, and was able to pull-off the Water Style: Shark Attack Jutsu, which ended the battle.
Raven had taken back control of her mind from Brave and regained her calm demeanor. Though she still preferred reading, she had to hand it to Beast Boy and how he found these games interesting, but she would never tell anyone.
"There ya' are blood stain!" Cyborg said as he entered the room.
"Tell anyone about what just happened, and so help me, you'll need a team of surgeons to help you," Raven whispered to Naga on her way to the kitchen.
"So where've you been? We must've checked the whole Tower three times over looking for you."
Raven nodded her head, letting him know that he could talk about his excursion into her mind.
Although she had given permission to talk about it, he only gave the basic overview of what happened, out of respect for her privacy.
"Man, I'm surprised your even alive, I expected Raven to turn you inside out, then feed you to Silkie." Raven looked at him with an annoyed glare.
"Hm, trust me, if it hadn't been for Brave and Knowledge's intervention, you'd need to be measuring me for a new tux, and a casket."
"Speaking of clothes, we really gotta do something about those rags you're walking around in."
While trying to keep up with the events around him, Naga had forgotten about the holes in the back of his clothes, and the ones on the sides.
"Don't worry, I got this covered."
Pulling out the self-replecating micro-bots, Cyborg poured some onto Naga's clothes, mending them.
"And because these guys are self-replecating, you'll never run out."
"Thanks," Naga said in awe.
Soon Robin came in, followed by Starfire.
"Friend, you have come back to us!" Starfire said as she held Naga in a death grip.
"Where were you?" Robin asked.
"Let's wait until Beast Boy shows up; I don't want to re-tell this story twice," he said as he pried himself from the alien's grip.
When Beast Boy walked into the living room, Naga told them about everything Knowledge had told him. Everything except what she said about the similarities between him and Raven.
"So will we be expecting any more surprises, or is this where it ends?" the changeling asked.
"I think that this is where the changes stop. But to be honest, I've actually gotten used to the claws."
"Okay, okay, Naga's back, but we still have training to do. C'mon guys, down to the course," Robin said.
Today's training would be specifically for Starfire, Raven, Beast Boy, and Naga. The four Titans that could fly.
Their task was to fly through airborne rings, while being pursued by flying attack pods.
On Beast Boy's run, he mainly used his flying squirrel form to use each ring as a platform for another take-off. When confronted with the battle probes, he landed on the head of the lead probe, causing the other's to open fire on him. Fortunately for him, he was able to jump off before a laser blast could hit him, destroying the probe he was on. He continued the process on the other probes until he crossed the finish line.
Starfire was able to flawlessly complete the course without a single shot even grazing her hair.
When confronted with the drones, Raven sent out her soul-self, which deactivated one robot wave the robots. When a second wave of robots came out, she encased them in an energy dome and crushed them.
Naga had slightly more difficulty when flying the course; mainly because his wings made him more of a target. When one of the probes flew close to him, he grabbed it, filled it with electricity, and launched it back at the others, exploding like a grenade from the overload, and taking the other drones with it. To keep more probes from coming out, Naga sent out a lightning pulse from his wings which destroyed the station that they came from.
"Okay, good run guys. Now this next training segment is just for Naga," Robin said.
Then from out of nowhere, a red, yellow, and purple blur started running in circles around them. When it stopped it revealed Más y Menos, along with Kid Flash holding Jinx bridal style.
"Hey Double M!" Cyborg said.
"Hola Cyborg," the twins said, giving the metal man a double fist bump.
"Hey Jinx," Raven said dismally. She still hadn't forgotten the time when Jinx, Mammoth, and Gizmo had taken over the Tower, and she broke into her room.
"Hey Rae, I'm still sorry about the whole, ya' know, breaking and entering thing."
"Naga this is Jinx, Kid Flash, and Más y Menos. They're supposed to help train you," Beast Boy said.
"I called them in last night," Robin said.
"But why's she here?" Naga asked while pointing to the ex-con.
"Someones got to keep an eye on this idiot," Jinx said while ruffling KF's hair.
"Hola Sr. Naga," Más y Menos said.
"So what are supposed to help me with?"
"Speed training. We'll see if your faster than the fastest boy alive, but I highly doubt that," Kid Flash said
"Get used to being the second fastest boy alive," Naga said while taking a predatory stance.
"Preparon a perder!" Más y Menos said, which translated to, "prepare to lose!"
"Here are the rules: this race is running only; so that means no flying, swimming, or burrowing. Two, no dirty tricks. Three the race will be ran around the perimeter of the city, and because of recent... publicity issues, you will have to stay on the fringe of city limits.
Each of the speed demons stood at the edge of the beach.
Before they could begin, the Titans East arrived. Bumblebee flew in on her wings, Aqualad came out of the ocean, and Speedy flew in on a red, arrow-shaped jet.
"Sorry we're late," Bumblebee said.
"Bee, I thought that just Más y Menos were supposed to be here, not that I don't wanna see you," Cyborg fumbled.
"You think that we were going to miss out on the race of a lifetime? I don't think so."
"Aquadude, $50 that says Naga beats Más y Menos."
"Make it $100, and you've got yourself a bet," Garth said, confident that the twins would win, though really just more interested in seeing the fish eater lose.
"I'll take a piece of that action, but let's make it interesting. $200 on my boyfriend," Jinx said while waving 200 big ones in front of the two.
Raven just rolled her eyes. Apparently pointless wagers weren't guy exclusive.
A giant monitor appeared out of the ground with three red dots, six yellow dots, and one green dot. Cyborg turned his finger into a flare gun, and as the countdown made its way to the green dot, he fired it off. Signifying the beginning of the race.
When the four took off, a huge dust cloud followed by a wake splash followed their departure. To the naked eye, the four would just be red, yellow, and black blurs, but the giant monitor, which was using a Titan's satellite soon displayed an image of the four to show their progress.
None of the racers were gaining any distance from the others, although Naga did when he started running on his hands as well as his feet, increasing his speed. "So long suckers!" he yelled back.
However, KF and Más y Menos weren't going to roll over so easily. Pushing themselves even harder, they started to catch up. Naga knew he would have no competition if he could use his hydromancy to displace the water beneath his feet, but he remembered that this was a super speed only contest. However, if there was one thing that he learned from Airheart, was how to find a loophole.
While still keeping his feet on the ground, Naga started shooting lightning out of his limbs to gain an advantage.
Soon they came upon the still charred remains of the seaside warehouse. Fortunately, the fire that the Brotherhood of Evil started was so intense, that the area was deemed beyond repair, and so no one was there. The city was planning on tearing the old buildings down and building new ones in their places, though it took some time for the city council to even decide on whether they should. Taking advantage of the lack of people, the four heroes decided to take a shortcut.
This was where Naga cringed, the twisted alleys and sharp turns required a lot of fast thinking, which was where his opponents excelled at. At one point, Naga missed a turn, and instead ran right through a building, still in the race, but losing a lot of momentum. He soon found himself behind KF and MM, who were both tied for first.
After regaining his momentum, they found themselves heading into the forest. This was where Naga would gain his advantage. Because of his enhanced vision, he was able to see a path through the thick trees and avoid the thick roots sticking out of the ground.
Soon, the back of Titan's Tower could be seen as they rounded the corner of the bay.
"¡Más y Menos, sí podemos!" The twins started to pull ahead, followed by KF and Naga.
If Beast Boy, Jinx, and Aqualad got any closer, their eyeballs would be touching the screen of the giant monitor.
The finish line came closer and closer, and each racers were in a three-way tie for first place.
Running predatory style, Naga was starting to gain a lead against the other two, who forced themselves to go even faster.
Más started to hold Menos by the feet to give them a four foot lead.
As they crossed the finish line, each of them were just a blur.
"So who won?" Jinx asked.
"It was obviously Más and Menos," Aqualad said.
"Do you have sea water in your ears? Naga easily beat both of them!" Beast Boy said.
"Let's find out." Robin turned on a stilled image of the photo finish.
Each of them looked to have crossed at exactly the same time.
"Increase visual graphics and enhance image," Cyborg said to the voice activated computer.
The image cleared up to reveal Naga's right hand millimeters across the finish line. Más holding Menos crossing second, and Kid Flash just nanometers behind in third.
"And the winner is... Naga!," Cyborg said.
"I am on a role!" Beast Boy smugly said as he took his $300 from a disgruntled Aqualad and Jinx.
Jinx went over to comfort her boyfriend.
"Fue un placer a la raza le," the twins said, which would translate to, "it was a pleasure to race you."
"Naga, next time, be ready to lose," KF said with a friendly smile as he shook Naga's hand.
"Don't count on it lead foot," he said, returning the smile.
"Well, I guess it's time for us to leave," Bee said.
"Oh friends, why not stay and, hang out for a while." Upon hearing the suggestion, Más y Menos both had comedically huge hearts for eyes as they oggled the alien girl.
For the rest of the day, the two Honorary Titans, Titans East, and West Coast Titans spent the day hanging out in the Tower.
Multiple times, Naga had purposely caused Aqualad to turn red with fury by eating leftover fish he had in the fridge and offering some to Speedy.
Cyborg, Más y Menos, Beast Boy, and KF were in a four-way slayer match on Halo, with the twins acting as one team, and Jinx cheering on her boyfriend.
Raven read one of her ancient texts.
Robin and Starfire both just relaxed on the couch.
They were brought out of their reverie when the alarm went off and the room was filled with red light.
"We've got trouble across the city. It's the H.I.V.E. Five! Titans go!"
Across Jump City, the H.I.V.E. were looting from virtually every bank they could find.
They all convened with their loot downtown, where they were met by the collective Titans.
"Crud! No one said anything about Titans East showing up!" See-More said.
"Well if it isn't little Miss Traitor."
"I can't believe I ever hung out with you idiots," Jinx said as she eyed her former team with contempt.
"H.I.V.E. Academy, destroy them!"
Author's Note: I'd like to give a shout out to fman13, who encouraged me to work on the relationship development for Naga and Raven. I'd also like to thank BlueTitan, for writing the story "Quality Time," which I am a huge fan of, that gave me the inspiration for certain parts of this chapter. BlueTitan if you're reading this, I would like to know when you will update the story with a new chapter.
Almost the end. If you have any requests, ideas, or questions for the story, review or private message me and I'll get back to you. Also, if my translations are off, review me with the right ones and I'll fix it.