"Robin, are you there? Robin, come in."

"I'm here."

"I think we need a change of plans," Logan said. "It seems that nearly all the X-Men here are interested in seeing you Titans. And we wouldn't want to impose on you by storming your Tower in such great numbers. Perhaps you'd like to come over to our Institute instead?"

"Hold on a minute." Logan heard Robin conferring briefly with his friends in the background before addressing him through the communication device again.

"Yup, they're OK with it."

"Good. You want us to lead you here?"

"Raven said she can be our guide this time."

"Alright. See you there."

Raven carefully kept her face expressionless and neutral as she flew on towards the place that had once been her home, with Nightwalker flying next to her, the other Titans riding in the T-car. From where she was, she could still sense her friends' partially suppressed excitement and anticipation at the thought of sparring with the X-Men. Nightwalker was still in a less than good mood, his eyes cold and distant.

"I think it's going to be a good idea if I don't participate in this…this match," Nightwalker said. "Or else I might end up brutalizing someone needlessly."

"That's your choice," Raven replied. "No-one's forcing you to take part in this. But, don't you think your foul mood is lasting way too long?"

"Is it?" Nightwalker asked stiffly, and Raven gave up. It was almost impossible to deal with Nightwalker when he was in this kind of rare foul mood. Best to leave him along, she thought, until he had calmed down.

All too soon, the familiar sight of the Institution loomed up before Raven's eyes. Raven sighed and halted, gesturing to Cyborg to stop while she and Nightwalker descended onto the ground. "Here we are," she announced.

"Whoa!" Cyborg's eyes were almost bulging out of his head. "That is one big mansion! This house is COOL!"

"Not as cool as ours!" Beast Boy protested.

Raven pursed up her lips, ignoring their banter, and headed over to the front door, ringing the doorbell. It was opened almost immediately by Jean, who smiled and ushered the Titans into the mansion. She was not along, and in seconds, Raven found herself set upon by the many other mutants who had not yet seen her after her disappearance. Question after question was launched at her like a missile, and poor Raven did not have fun at all trying to satisfy their insatiable curiosity.

"Alright, alright, that's enough." Logan finally came to Raven's rescue, clapping his hands sharply. "Don't you bother Raven like this. Go to the training ground and warm up if you want to take part in the match."

"Will Raven be fighting too?" Jamie asked curiously.

"Perhaps or perhaps not," was Raven's brief answer.

Ten minutes later, every single Titan and X-Man could be sighted in the extensive training ground, supervised by the senior mutants, Xavier himself amongst them. Raven caught the Professor looking at her, and didn't fail to note his intense, watchful expression.

Are you going to fight too?

Depends. You?

No.

"Alright. Who wants to go up first?" Scott asked.

"I will!" Beast Boy immediately volunteered.

"Typical BB," Cyborg remarked.

"Then I suppose I'll go up too," Bobby volunteered.

"Oooh, this is going to be good," Starfire grinned, rubbing her hands gleefully.

Bobby and Beast Boy moved to stand opposite each other, both of them eyeing each other warily. At a nod from Xavier, Scott gave the signal to start, and the two boys leaped into action, eager to start. Bobby made the first move, trying to ice Beast Boy. Beast Boy immediately responded by morphing into a tiny fly, moving well out of the way. As Bobby turned from side to side, trying to spot Beast Boy, his green opponent suddenly turned into a huge lion behind Bobby, pouncing with full force. Bobby only managed to escape the attack by sliding away on an ice slide.

"They're both good, aren't they?" Terra whispered to Cyborg.

Cyborg grinned, showing off his white teeth. "My guess, thought, is that Bobby will eventually kick BB's butt completely," he said mischievously.

"Cyborg!"

"What?" he asked innocently. "I was just pointing out the facts!"

Glaring at him, Terra elbowed Cyborg hard.

In the end, Bobby won by a close margin, not kicking Beast Boy's butt as Cyborg had predicted. Looking comically dejected, Beast Boy accepted Bobby's helping hand and shook it, groaning. Bits of ice were still stuck to him, much to Starfire's amusement.

"Told you Bobby would kick his butt," Cyborg murmured to Terra.

"I heard that!" Beast Boy said, with mock anger. "And I did not get my butt kicked! I only lost by a close margin!"

Starfire cheerfully volunteered to go up next, along with Amara. Cyborg pumped his fist in the air and loudly cheered on Starfire, of whom he had always been very fond of. Opposite him, the younger mutant recruits put up a cheer of their own, their voices almost drowning out Cyborg's.

Within seconds, a ferocious barrage of magma balls and starbolts went flying in opposite directions, the impact stirring up so much dust that it seemed impossible for either girl to see each other. Starfire had the obvious advantage over Amara, being able to fly and release energy blasts from both her hands and her eyes. Amara was superbly quick on her feet, and armed with cunning tactics, but Starfire was just as quick, and had the air advantage as well. It didn't take too long for Starfire to be declared the obvious winner.

"Good work, Star." Robin smiled at the alien proudly, and Starfire blushed slightly.

"Now, who's up next?" Scott asked.

"Bring it on." Cyborg grinned as he stood up and crackled his knuckles. "Who's up to challenge me?"

"I will!" Ray announced.

"Ray's going to be a tough one for Cyborg," Robin whispered to the Titans. "One zap and…" He stopped and grimaced.

"And they're both impulsive, to make things worse," Raven muttered.

The matches went on and on for some time, the X-Men getting more and more eager to challenge the Titans, who were undoubtedly the finest fighters the X-Men had ever seen. Only Raven and Nightwalker refused to take part, and merely sat back to watch.

"Whew! This sure is tiring," Cyborg commented after finishing a match against Samuel. Sweat was rapidly dampening his forehead. "But this rocks!"

Finally, the last match was completed, between Starfire and Jubilee, with Starfire winning by a narrow margin. Raven breathed a sigh of relief; so far, no-one had commented on the fact that she and Nightwalker had not participated in a single match. As she and Nightwalker got up to leave, however, Beast Boy decided to open his big mouth after all.

"Hey!" he called out. "Raven, Nightwalker, you two haven't fought yet! Aren't you going to show us your skills?"

I could strangle him for this! Raven fumed.

Nope, you'll just forgive him again, like you always have.

"We're not fighting," Raven replied.

"Oh yes you are!" Cyborg grinned. "We Titans have seen you in action so many times before, so you have no excuse not to fight. Come on, you know you want to."

"We don't," Raven replied curtly, not knowing whether to be annoyed or amused at this point.

"You're not going anywhere till you've picked an opponent," Cyborg drawled.

"I can easily teleport us away."

"Oh, come on, Raven," Starfire pleaded. "Just one fight? Please?"

"Do we have to?" Raven grumbled.

"No harm in that," Terra pointed out.

The expression on Scott's face said otherwise, but this time, he wisely kept his mouth shut.

"Come on, X-Men!" Cyborg hollered. "Who here wants the honour of fighting with the amazing Raven and Nightwalker?"

There was immediately a very long silence on the mutants' part. It was only too evident that none of them looked forward to fighting someone like Raven at all. Then Robin solved the problem by saying, "If none of you mutants wants to fight Raven, what about a match between Raven and Nightwalker?"

"Yesss!" Beast Boy shouted. "Now that's a great idea! You guys really ought to see the way they fight each other during training sessions!"

Raven glanced at Nightwalker, eyes raised. Nightwalker looked as if he wasn't too sure whether to smile or frown and be angry.

Well? Raven asked. You're going to agree to this or not?

It's fine with me.

Fine. Let's do it, then, just to keep them quiet.

"Raven…"

"Alright, alright. Give us some time, won't you?" Raven frowned slightly as she fished out the two necklaces Karzor had given to her. "Nightwalker, here." She handed him the other necklace, and Nightwalker slipped it on without a word.

"This is gonna be good," Cyborg said gleefully, watching as Raven and Nightwalker took up position in the middle of the training ground. "Can't wait to see what they'll pull off."

"Won't they get hurt?" Kitty asked anxiously.

"Nope. Not at all," Terra replied calmly. "See the necklaces they're wearing? It renders them immune to each other's powers, so they can unleash their full strength without hurting each other."

"Where did they get them from? We ought to have something like that too," Amara said.

"They said it was a gift from their old mentor."

"And who's their old mentor?" Rahne asked curiously.

"Don't really know. That part is still a mystery even to us," Robin answered.

"Alright, get ready." Fighting back his discomfort, hoping fervently that nothing was going to go out of control again, Scott raised his arm and signaled to the combatants. "Get ready!" he called out. "One, two…began!"

Deafening cheers arose from both sides as the two Titans prepared to stage what was bound to be the most spectacular battle yet.