A/N: Well, loyal readers, your baring with me when I was taking a week at time to update, your enduring of my humorless inside jokes and your acceptance of my long, boring author's notes when you JUST WANT ME TO GET ON WITH THE $#! STORY ALREADY is about to pay off. This is the third and final chapter of Teen Titans: the Next Generation. Do not worry, for my characters and I will return (no matter how hard you plea) in March in a series of one-shots, although I'm already told you that.

Now, to answer your reviews:

Murakio: Well, as you can plainly see, I am currently updating, tough I'm sorry if it's a little late. Also, I personally think that the "big red button" part was some of my better work. The works of Lemony Snicket and one scene from the book Sidekicks (Read it dude!) inspired it. BTW, I looked at some of your work, and… You're not a RaeRob shipper, are you? Even if you are, I'll still accept your reviews.

K9 the First: Wow! I have a frequent reviewer! Here's your complimentary beverage, and thank you for reading with us. P.S. It's okay about the not-having-posted-any-work thing. I was in a similar situation once, and look at me now!

Maraina85: Well, I never really thought of myself as evil, though I do laugh evilly when I'm mowing the lawn, and I'm finishing off the last patch of grass…

But in any other department, evil-wise, my good buddy ElfKingofDemons is much more skilled.

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans. I do, however, own my OCs. I realize some of them are similar to characters other author have put in their fanfics, but I thought them up months before I actually typed this. So, technically, my guys are the originals, and I should be suing you for stealing them from my subconscious! Ha-ha!

I'm obviously boring you, so, as Timmy Turner would probably say it: "Let's get fictional." (FANfictional, that is! Ha ha… I kill me.)

Secret room/cave underneath 882 Pacific Rd., Jump City suburbs, NY

4:47 p.m. Friday, September 7, 2025

The two costumed figures, now revealed to be Mr. and Mrs. Grayson, spun around. "Kids!" they shouted in surprise. "What are you doing here?" asked Kerri, "And, why are you wearing spandex." "I would like to ask you the same thing!" responded Mr. Grayson, stepping forward in his black-and-blue uniform. "Well, except for the spandex part." He added sheepishly.

Meanwhile, Robin was glancing at his parents, then to the costumes behind the glass, then to the car, then to his parents again. His expression was by pure excitement, amazement and complete loss of bladder control. "Oh… My… Gosh…" he said breathlessly, "Sweet honey mustard! My mom and dad are Titans!" He pointed excitedly at his slightly surprised mother and father. "You're Starfire and Robin!" "Actually, it's Nightwing now." Mr. Grayson corrected. This, of course, only exited Robin further. "This is so… This is so…" he gasped, "I need oxygen." With that, the young redhead sat down on the floor, panting.

"Can someone please tell me what the heck is going on here?!" asked Kerri, confused and slightly annoyed. "Explanation shall come soon enough." Said Mrs. Grayson assuringly. "But first," she added, turning to her husband, "I think that we should inform the others of what has happened." "Good idea Kori." Replied Mr. Grayson, taking out a small, round communicator-thingy and flipping it open as his children stared in amazement. "Hey, Cy?" he said into the device, "It's Nightwing. We have an identity breach class C, so we'll be coming over to sort things out. You should call up Gar and Rae; they'll have to give up the act too. Yeah, they should probably bring the twins. Well, see you soon!" And with that, Mr. Grayson closed the communicator and pocketed it.

"Well kids," he said, turning to Kerri and Robin, "It looks like we're gonna be taking a little trip to old Titan's Tower. Robin stood in speechless awe, but Kerri had noticed something odd in her father's via-communicator conversation. "What did you mean, 'Rae and Gar'? Don't tell me Aunt Raven and Uncle Garfield are involved in this too!" "All shall be explained in time." Replied her dad mysteriously, stepping into the Driver's side of the black car. "Now who wants to go for a ride?"

One ride in the Nightwing-mobile (or whatever it's called), which revealed just how vehicles get from the mainland to the island that the tower is on later…

"That was amazing!" said Robin, stepping out of the car, "I mean, I never would have thought that cars got to the island that way!" A few minutes later, the Graysons found themselves in the main room of the tower. Inside, they had met the Logans. It seemed that Hamlet and Daxter were just as confused as Kerri and Robin.

As the younger members of the group sat down on the sofa in front of their parents, two very noticeable people walked into the room. The taller of the two was a man with dark skin, a bald head and about seven feet in height. But the most prominent thing about him was that about 85 of him was completely mechanical, including about half of his head. The shorter one was a girl, about 15 in age, with similar skin and long, dark brown hair. She, also, had mechanical body components, but they were limited to her arms, legs and one of her eyes. "Kids," said Mr. Grayson, "This is Cyborg." The man, obviously Cyborg, waved at them good-naturedly. Robin, recognizing another Titan, might have hyperventilated again if it weren't for the fact that his father kept speaking, diverting his attention. "And this," Mr. Grayson said, continuing, "Is his adoptive daughter, Betty." The teenaged girl flashed a "victory" sign, grinning. "And we…" he continued, sweeping his arms and indicating the other adults in the room, "Were the Teen Titans." "We're just the 'Titans' now." Mr. Logan explained. "We found that, once we reached our twenties, the whole 'teen' part got a little inaccurate."

But, once again, Robin was not paying attention to what the people were saying as much as the people themselves. He had been looking from one adult to another, and finally spoke up. "Wait a minute," he said, "If you were Robin," he pointed at his dad, "And if you were Starfire," he pointed at his mom, "And since you were obviously Cyborg…" he said, pointing a Cyborg, "Than how can you be Beast Boy?" he finished pointing at his uncle. "I mean," he continued, "How come you're not green?"

"Good question!" replied Mr. Logan, a smirk spreading across his face. "You see this?" he asked, pointing at a silver ring on his left hand. "Hologram generator." He explained, turning a knob disguised as a gem. Instantly, his average, tan complexion was replaced by one of light lime, and the normally yellow hair on his head and chin became dark emerald. Also, his ears were now pointed and a small, fang like tooth protruded from his lower lip. "And besides," the now-green man added, "It's 'Changeling' now. The name 'Beast Boy' just wasn't accurate once I turned 18."

"And how can she…" Robin continued, gesturing toward his "aunt", "Be Raven? I mean, I always noticed the chakara (personally, I thought it was just a fashion statement), but isn't her hair supposed to be violet? It's black!" "There's this nifty little thing," the woman in question answered dryly, "Called 'hair dye'."

"But how come we're not green?" piped up Daxter, slightly disappointed by he and his brother's normal skin and hair. Mr. Logan shrugged. "I guess the 'green gene' is recessive." He said, tugging lightly at his oddly hued skin, "I was blonde before the whole 'mutation' thing, so I guess it was those genes that got passed on."

"Speaking of genes…" said Mr. Grayson, a funny look coming into his eye, which you couldn't really see since he was wearing a mask, "We think that, due to your… Unique heritage, you…" he gestured at Hamlet, Daxter, Robin and Kerri, who were now getting very excited, "Might have powers too." "And we were thinking…" said Cyborg, walking up next to Mr. Grayson, "That, since we certainly not in our prime anymore…" "I resent that!" interrupted Mr. Logan, crossing his arms begrudgingly. Cyborg continued right along. "You might be able to take over as the Teen Titans. You know, after school and stuff."

"You mean, we'll get costumes and super-names and stuff?" asked Kerri, starting to get interested. "But we don't have any training!" pointed out Daxter, "And besides, there were always at least five Titans! There are only four of us!" "Hey, don't think I won't be in this team too!" said Betty, stepping forward. "And besides," said Mrs. Grayson cheerfully, "We will be most happy to help you train."

"So you're saying," said Robin, shaking with excitement, "That I'm a half-alien, with potential superpowers, who is going to be part of the coolest crime-fighting organization in the world and is going to get to have an almost uncomfortably tight spandex uniform and a so-cool-it's-almost-geeky name? This… Is… So… Awesome!" And with that last word of excitement, Robin threw his hands into the air. Almost immediately, his normally normal-blue eyes glowed a bright, abnormal-blue, and in his hands formed two blue balls of energy that then shot into the air and through the ceiling.

In the brief, stunned silence that fallowed, everyone stared, surprised, at Robin, while Robin himself look disbelievingly at his hands. Finally, with a grin, he turned to his sister and said, slightly menacingly, "You should listen to me more."

And so, for the next few weeks, Kerriorda'l and Robin Grayson and Hamlet and Daxter Logan went secretly to Titan's Tower after school to train, and gradually their powers were revealed: Robin had the possession of light blue Tamaranian starbolts and slightly enhanced strength. He decided to give himself the name Bluefire, for the reasons that I just mentioned. Kerri had the power of flight and had increased strength as well. She also adopted the use of gadgets much similar to the ones Robin (the first Robin, not Bluefire-Robin) used to use, and called herself Nightingale (she was the only one of them to wear a mask or cape). Hamlet could change into any animal, all of which had a purple hue, and Daxter had flight, telekinesis, mind reading and all that other psychic stuff. They became, respectively, Shifter and Shadow (they later admitted that they could communicate with each other telepathically before all this, but thought it was just a twin thing). Betty, of course, did not need to have her powers revealed, but as you don't yet know what they were, I will tell you that they were super-strength, sonic cannon and all of the other stuff that Cyborg could do. She took on the name Bionica

Also during that time, they found out that their parents hadn't been fully retired, but instead would only come out of hiding when there was some sort of super-criminal activity that the police couldn't handle. This didn't happen very often, since most of the major villains had been put in jail long ago. But recently, there had been repeating crimes of that kind, with no obvious source. In fact, it had been to go to one of these that Mr. and Mrs. Grayson had been preparing to do when Kerri and Robin found them. Now, all of this information is rather random, and normally not needed for the telling of the story, but it just so turns out that the origin of the crimes will soon become vital to the plot, and I thought you should know about it.

(A/N: Cliffhanger! Well no, not really, I just wanted to tell you that for the rest of the story the characters will be referred to by their super-names. They will go back to their regular names when they are in their secret identities, or whatever. Just wanted you to not be too confuzzled. Anyway, on with the show.)

It was a normal Thursday at the Tower. Nightwing was at the crime-activity monitor, scanning the city limits; the other adults were training in the training room (what did you think it was for, baking cookies?), Nightingale was reading a book to pass the time, Bluefire was playing videogames with Bionica (and losing two games out of three), Shadow was trying hard to meditate without fidgeting and Shifter was dozing on the coach as a violet-furred Boston terrier.

Suddenly, the all-too-familiar-sounding alarm went off, and in a few seconds both generations of Titans were in the main room. "A bunch of robots are robbing the bank." Said Nightwing, "It looks just like the other crimes that have been going on recently." He turned to the others. "Okay, here's what we're going to do. We…" he gestured at himself and the other adults, "Will go and investigate. And you…" he pointed at the kids, "Will stay here and watch us via the monitor. Understand?" Everybody nodded. "Okay then!" the black-haired man said, getting up from his chair, "Titans, go!"

And so, the original Once-Teen Titans ran out of the room, leaving their slightly bored prodigy behind. There was a long, awkward silence, finally broken by Bluefire, who said what was on everyone else's minds: "So… Who's gonna be first on monitor duty?" "I'll do it." Replied Nightingale tiredly. Eventually the others went back to their earlier activities while their teenaged friend watched the five gray dots that represented the robots and the five red, orange, green, purple and blue dots that represented their parents move around.

Nightengale was just beginning to get bored when the two groups of dots met. At this she perked up, because even though watching a bunch of multicolored dots on a computer screen was rather dull, watching them fight was better than nothing. But when the dots representing the Titans entered the square representing the bank, the dots representing the robots almost automatically fled down the thick line representing the street towards the area on the screen representing downtown, causing the dots representing the Titans to chase after them. Nightingale watched, confused, as the dots chased each other over rooftops, and eventually toward a large, abandoned warehouse. Here the robots seemed to lose the Titans, slipping inside. One by one, the Titans entered. Nightingale, feeling a foreboding sensation, quickly used the computers sensors to scan the building. The readings showed abnormal levels of electricity, and suggested the use of high-tech machinery. Nightingale's eyebrows furrowed, and her gut told her that her fears had been realized. "It's a trap." She said, immediately turning the heads of her friends.

The Titans entered the warehouse's front door in single-file, Nightwing leading and Cyborg bringing up the rear. They found that, instead of opening into a vast storage room, the door lead into a long, steel-walled passageway. They crept along silently for a few minutes, until Changeling, trying to break the silence, unwittingly said the four words that no hero should ever say: "It's quiet. Too quiet." Instantly, the floor beneath them gave way and they were all sucked down a narrow, vertical tube. But you already knew that was going to happen, didn't you?

Meanwhile, back on the ranch (though it's really more of a tower), the respective children of the Titans watched in shock as the dots representing their parents started to fade, indicating that the people that the dots represented were underground. "What'll we do?" asked Bluefire, worry etched on his face. "We'll save them, that's what we'll do!" responded Nightingale, pounding her fist into her open hand. "But how?" queried Shadow, "We've only been through a few weeks of training!" "We can handle it!" replied Bionica optimistically, "I mean, come on! It can't be that bad a villain if he chose such a non-sinister hideout as a warehouse!" "But even if we could defeat him," interjected Shifter, his normally monotone voice showing hints of concern, "How could we get there in time?"

Suddenly, a metaphorical light bulb appeared over Bionica's head. "Fallow me!" she shouted, sprinting out of the main room and down the hall. "What is it?" asked Nightingale as she flew (literally!) after her robotic friend. "We're gonna get some help from my big sister!" replied Bionica, a smile spreading over her face. "Oh, I didn't know you had any siblings!" said a surprised Bluefire. "Well," answered the girl, taking a key out of her pocket, "Only in the loosest term of the word." And with that, she pressed a button on the key's chain, triggering a distant "whoopwhoop" sound.

The Five heroes awoke to find themselves unharmed, but fastened to harnesses similar to the ones from Mad Mod's chairs. Before any of them could react, a low, menacing voice came from a platform in front of them. "Well, it appears that my guest have awakened." On the platform appeared the silhouette of a tall man. "I see that my plan has worked perfectly." The shadow continued, putting his hands behind his back and rocking on his heels, yet never showing his face, "My robots have drawn you out of hiding with their petty crimes, and now we are reunited. I assume that you remember me?" At these last words, a look of horror swept over Nightwing's face, but before he could say anything, the figure waved his hand dismissively. "Oh no, Slade is dead and gone, I assure you." He turned around, still staying in the shadows. "Still don't remember me? Well, let me jog your memories then."

Without warning, a long, metal rod rose up from the man's back, then folded and touched the floor, forming a giant, mechanical, spider-like leg. Than another one did the same. The legs began to lift the man into the air, increasing his already impressive height. Another leg was added, and, finally, the last leg extended with a menacing swoosh. The legs began to move the man they were supporting around to face the terrified captives. Suddenly, the legs brought the man forward, into the light, revealing a bald, pug-nosed face grinning with an evil malice. "Remember me NOW, snotmunchers?!"

"And you've been driving for how long, now?" asked Bluefire at approximately 100 decibels, trying to make himself heard over the screeching of tires as he clung to his seat in the T-car. "About a month." Responded Bionica, nearly avoiding collision with a street sign, "Why do you ask?" "Just wondering." Answered the terrified redhead. The others were at a lack for words. In Nightingale and Shadow's case, it was because they were too scared to. In Shifter's case, it was because the velocity had flung him to the back, and was now plastered, in cat form, to the rear windshield like a cruel pantomime of a Garfield "Stuck On You" doll.

"Gizmo!" exclaimed Cyborg, staring dumbfounded at his captor, "You're… Tall!" "What can I say, I had a growth spurt." Replied the villain proudly, "And to think, after all these years, I'm finally a solo evil-genius. It seems working in a team was just slowing me down. It doesn't seem to be working too well for you, ether, seeing as you're about to be obliterated!" The bald villain, as if to laugh, but suddenly turned back to his prisoners, a look of concern on his face. "Um, this is the part were I'm supposed to laugh maniacally, right?" he asked. "That's what most villains usually do about now." Replied Changeling, slightly bored. "Oh, okay then." Said Gizmo, embarrassed. He than threw back his head and cackled evilly, a good improvement from his high-pitched giggles from twenty years ago.

"So, anybody have any escape plans or something?" whispered Nightwing to his team while their nemesis continued to chuckle to himself. "Just one." Replied Raven in an equally hushed tone. She turned to Gizmo and said, "Alright, you've got us. We fully recognize that we have no chance of escape and are doomed…" "Darn right you are!" interrupted Gizmo. The violet-haired woman continued, "But we just want to know one thing: how did you do it?" At this, the villain puffed himself out proudly. "Well, it wasn't easy." He began, "First I had to set up this lair, which was a lot harder than you'd expect…" "This should buy us plenty of time." Said Raven quietly to her comrades while Gizmo started to drone proudly on about robot A.I., or something like that.

One hour later…

"And how, you may ask, could I possibly build such a powerful laser, in just a year?" Gizmo ranted, immersed in his own world, "I'll tell you how! By working at it twenty-four hours a day! Sure, it was costly. Sure, I had to steal from only the best sources. But that's the price you have to pay if you want to destroy a team of highly trained individuals, such as yourselves!" By this time, Changeling was dozing lightly, and it looked as if Starfire would soon fallow. Even Raven was starting to consider reminding Gizmo that he supposed to have killed them by now, just to make him be quiet. However, she had not, and it looked as if the evil genius had forgotten them altogether. However, Gizmo was just getting into how he made the pneumatic tubes that had delivered them into his grasp, he stopped short, a look of comprehension dawning on his face. "Waaait a minute…" he said slowly, "You caught me monologing!" The look of surprise on his face turned to amusement. "Aw man," he said, almost chuckling, "I always told myself, back in the Hive, 'Gizmo, when you're older, and a successful supervillain, you'll be to smart to fall for that old trick.' But hey, look at me now!" The hairless fiend turned, laughing, to a control panel featuring several menacing dials. "So, now that that's over with," he said sinisterly, turning one and charging up a very large and painful looking laser, "Any last words?"

"Yes, actually." Came a voice from far above Gizmo's head. Everyone in the room looked up in shock to see the source of the noise, Nightingale, perched in the rafters along with Bluefire, Shadow, Shifter and Bionica. "Stay away from our folks." And with that, the new generation of superheroes leaped down upon their stunned foe.

"What the crud?!" exclaimed an astonished Gizmo as the kids began their attack. Bionica was the first to strike, firing her sonic cannon at the bald man. But as soon as it was fired, it was deflected by a shimmering-green force field generated by the villain's backpack-thingy. "What's the matter?" taunted Gizmo, "Your puny toys can't stand up to my superior tech?" "Tech this!" Shouted Bluefire as he released a barrage of starblots at the surprised villain. "Get it?" The boy asked, turning to his sister, "It's usually 'take this', but I changed it to…" "Yeah yeah, I got it the first time." Answered Nightingale, slightly annoyed.

Shadow was the next to attack, using wave after wave of black energy to knock Gizmo off his feet. Suddenly, the voice of his twin entered his mind, via telekinesis: Try to hold him down! were his exact words. Will do! was Shadow's reply. While his genetic identical struggled to keep the villain in place, Shifter's small, ten-year-old body transformed into that of a musk ox, charging at full speed. He easily knocked Gizmo several yards.

Just as everyone thought that the battle was over, Gizmo, breathing heavily, pulled a small device out of his pocket. It had a button on it. The button was big and red. This was, of course, the remote activator for the laser, made obvious by the appearance of the button, and the fact that it was labeled "remote laser activator". He was just about to push it and give this story a very bad ending, when suddenly, an exploding disk, courtesy of Nightingale, flew through the air and hit its target, engulfing Gizmo in a cloud of smoke. When the smoke cleared, a charred Gizmo was standing, holding onto the air where the handheld device used to be. He let out a disappointed "Aw crud." And collapse to the floor.

One release of the original Titans and call to the police later…

"And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you meddling, snotmunching kids!" shouted Gizmo as he was loaded into the back of a police car. Nightwing turned to face his children. "Well kids," he said proudly, "You done good." "Th-th-thanks, Dad." Said Bluefire, his oxygen supply being forced out of his lungs by his mother's bone snapping hugs. Nightingale was being put trough a similar treatment, and so were the others, although not as painfully as the Grayson siblings.

"So… Does this mean that we're official, part-time full-time any time Teen Titans now?" asked Bluefire hopefully. "You're darn right it does!" answered Cyborg jovially, handing them all communicators. Bluefire squealed with delight.

"Well, now that truth has won and justice has prevailed…" Changeling began tentatively, "Who's up for some pizza?" "I dibs last slice!" Came the roaring reply from Nightingale, Bluefire, Shadow, Shifter and Bionica.

A/N: It's finally done! Sklee! I do the victory dance of the fanfiction author! Anyway, now that I'm done with this, I plan on making a series of one-shots with the same characters. But you'll have to wait until March, 'cause I'm leaving for a month-long vacation for Florida on Jan. 27! Whoo hoo! Sunshine state, here I come! So make sure that you send in your truckloads (please?) of reviews early, or I might not get them! Well, anywho, this is Lizard Lad, signing off.

P.S. Don't Flame!