Almost a year ago, the Titans met a young metahuman girl by the name of Terra. A girl gifted with, among other things, the ability to move the earth as if it was a part of her, to control rock and stone and make it shake and shudder at her command. However, beyond this she had a number of talents that endeared her early on to the Titan's.

Among these was an incredibly sense of humor and appreciation for other's sense of humor.

Like Beastboy's.

Previously unappreciated for his sense of humor, thought of as something of a joke by the Titans, even if they did not say it aloud, Beastboy was glad at least to have someone who appreciated his humor and even return it to him. As such, Terra and Beastboy instantly bonded and started spending a lot of time together when they were both Titans. In particular, during a trip to the park when they would play Frisbee. Or rather, Terra would throw a Frisbee and Beastboy, in the form of a dog, would catch it and bound back to her, and they would laugh and smile and be so very happy together...

... and Raven would sit on the side-lines, generally under the shade of a tree, and watch them. She had a book in hand, she could easily claim she'd been reading the last passage... for the ninetieth time. But she'd been watching Beastboy and Terra. And envying them. And in particular, envying Terra. Wishing, not for the first time, it could have been her playing Frisbee with Beastboy.

And now, the roles were reversed.

Beastboy was the one on the sidelines, sitting in the sand with his knees drawn up to his chest and his arms wrapped around them. Idly he watched as Aqualad made some comment (he was too far away to properly hear) and watched Raven chuckle. Not a full blown laugh, but more than he'd ever seen from her. Well, the regular her at least. The pink-clad Raven had laughed plenty. She'd found him funny. But it didn't seem like the regular Raven did. Especially not now. She was having too much fun as Aqualad did his best to try and teach her how to swim. Of all the Titans, she and Cyborg had never learned. Well, Cyborg had in a previous life but nowadays if he got near water he sank like a stone, too heavy with all the mechanics that kept him going. And Starfire had found a very willing and attentive teacher in Robin. Especially after the first time Robin had seen her in that purple bathing suit she'd bought. But Raven had never bothered to learn...

... until now. When Aqualad had suddenly come across them and decided to join them for a day at the beach.

Fumes nothing. Beastboy's hair was on fire and his eyes were glaring such pure hatred at Aqualad he was surprised the taller teen wasn't knocked flat on his back, if not completely incinerated.

Beastboy frowned darkly, and allowed himself to listen in on their conversation. His pointed ears were loosely anchored against the sides of his head, not unlike a dog's, and he could swivel them to a certain degree to allow better hearing in a certain direction even without shapeshifting. He could also wiggle them, which some girls seemed to love. Especially Terra.

Raven, however, was a different story.

She'd always been a different story.

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"Oh come on Raven I thought you were doing fine," said Aqualad generously, as Raven spluttered and spat out a mouthful of water. "Come on, you just need to relax and float there, your body does the rest."

"Forget it," she grumbled, wringing out her long purple locks. "If I haven't learned it by now there's no point in continuing. It's not important." She started to trudge through the waist-deep water back towards the shore. Aqualad gave pursuit.

"Hey come on you were doing good, just one more..."

"No..." she shot back at him, not bothering to turn her head.

"But..."

"I said no!" she said darkly, throwing out a hand. A wave of black energy washed through the water and sent a small tidal wave right into the surprised Aqualad. However, to his credit, he barely flinched as the water splashes over his body and washed around him. He quirked an eyebrow, an amused smile on his lips.

"Word of advice, Rae," he said, crouching down into what could be surmised as a combatic stance. "Never get drawn into a water-fight with an Atlantean!"

So saying, Aqualad scooped up his hands and, using them and his entire body, sent a slightly smaller wave crashing right back at Raven, knocking the lavender-haired sorceress clear off her feet and into the water. She emerged spluttering for air but smiling none-the-less.

"Alright alright I give..." she said, throwing up her hands in mock surrender.

He smiled back, offering her a hand to help her back to her feet. "Now come on," he said. "You were showing real progress a minute ago."

She sighed and reluctantly admitted defeat. "Alright, alright... one more time. Then I'm heading in. I'm seriously starting to get tired."

"Fair enough," he replied. "Okay, like before... lie flat on your back, and relax... arms stretched out, and just float..." Aqualad instructed his student, allowing her to float on the water. Still, she wasn't doing much better now than when she started. Some instinctive part of Raven's subconscious wouldn't allow her to relax. Ever. It was making floating hard. "Here," he said, an idea coming to him. He knelt down beside her, placing a hand flat on her back to help keep her afloat. "Just relax, I'm keeping you up for now... when you're relaxed I'll remove my hand and let you-...!"

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?!"

The shout startled both Raven and Aqualad, causing the former to splash back down into the water for the umpteenth time, and the other to stumble backwards in shock as Beastboy came barreling down to the waterside, spitting fire and brimstone, or so it seemed. "Get your hands off of her!"

Aqualad was, to say the least, startled by the tone of Beastboy. He'd never seen him quite so... well, angry at him. The worst he'd ever seen had been a year and a half ago, when they'd first met, and that had been at most mild irritation because of his competitive nature. But this... this was something new. The black-haired Atlantean stood angrily, biting back a sharp retort for Beastboy to mind his own damn business, and was about to offer an apology and an explanation that he was, in all honesty, only trying to teach Raven how to swim as best he knew how (teaching surface dwellers wasn't his forte, after all) when suddenly...

... the little beach party was crashed by yet -another- unwelcome guest.

A roar split the air, and Raven, Beastboy and Aqualad turned with equal shock as a great wave washed over the three of them, knocking Raven and Beastboy into the shallows and Aqualad a short distance from them as a great behemoth arose from the watery depths. A giant black squid, or so it seemed, of great size, nearly twice that of the T-Sub. Unlike its normal brethren this squid had a mere four tentacles tipped in vicious barbs and a great mouth on the side of it's head filled with razor-sharp teeth not unlike a shark's. Not two, nor three, but four eyes rested above the mouth of the great squid, each glowing with a red malevolence as it peered down at the young heroes. Another roar from the great monstrosity split the air.

"A Kraken!" exclaimed Raven in shock.

"A what?!" shouted Beastboy and Aqualad simultaneously.

Another roar prevented Raven from answering. Well that and the fact that one of the now-identified-as-a-Kraken's tentacles had lashed out, big enough and fast enough to crush them all of they weren't quick enough. Beastboy lunged towards Raven to knocked her out of the way, but he wasn't moving fast enough. They'd be crushed.

Aqualad, however, had beaten the shorter-legged metamorph to the punch, it seemed. He moved a lot faster in water than Beastboy did, and he even managed to scoop up Beastboy under his other arm as he rushed forward and grabbed up Raven, making a dive out of the way to avoid the Kraken's tentacle. The great crash send up waves of salt water and sand but none of the Titans were injured by the attack. Just badly shaken.

"Thank you," said Raven, as Aqualad gently set her back down on her feet.

"Yeah, thanks," grunted out Beastboy, getting back on his own darn feet and brushing some imaginary lint off his shoulder. "Come on, let's give this thing the old one-two!"

"Wait!" shouted Raven, flinging up a hand. But Beastboy didn't hear her as he charged at the Kraken in the form of a ram, giving a leap to clear the water and slamming his great horns right into the things side, knocking it back. However, any damage he dealt was negligible, as the Kraken lashed out with its tentacle and swatted Beastboy aside as if he was a fly. He found himself buried face-first in the sand and had to yank himself back out again, spitting out sand that had somehow found its way into his mouth.

"Ptooey!"

"Stay back! You can't fight this thing!" Raven shouted, her voice tinged equally with fear and anger. "It's from the same dimension as the Ravager!" An ebon glow surrounded her hands as her powers subconsciously started to power up.

"The Ravager?!" cried out Beastboy fearfully.

Well did the Titan's remember the Ravager. He had been their first foe faced as a team. Back when they'd first been drawn together by a mysterious telepath and told they were needed to save the world. And, indeed, the universe. They'd saved all of Earth from a terrible demon from a nether dimension. A demon who, Raven had later admitted, was her own father (after Cyborg and Beastboy's disastrous trip through the looking glass). A creature of unparallel evil and power that sought the utter destruction of all dimensions beyond his own. Earth had been the next step for him, but at the time, he'd needed to work through intermediaries and minions to achieve his ends. And at that time, against a fledgling team of Titans, his minion had been the Ravager.

A two story high scorpion-spider hybrid with the same black skin and four red eyes as the Kraken. Beastboy could immediately see the resemblance now that Raven had told them of their foe.

Big, ugly, four eyes.

Yup. Definitely a family resemblance.

Good thing Raven took after the mother's side of her family in that regard.

And if -that- was true then they were seriously in trouble. The Ravager had been a tough foe for all of the Titans. And worse, Raven's magic wasn't particularly powerful against creatures from her dad's home dimension. She'd be out of her league.

"We should re-group and get the other Titans," said Raven, ignoring the inner musings of Beastboy as she made her way towards the beach chairs and umbrella she'd set up earlier. Where she'd left her Titan communicator. Beastboy had left his behind. He hadn't been expecting trouble.

"What's she talking about? What's a Ravager?!" asked Aqualad. Another tentacle lashed out at him from the shore but he was more than amply prepared this time and flipped up and over it with the grace of an acrobat.

"Trouble. Big trouble!" summarized Beastboy, not having time to give their companion the full details right now.

"Azerath... Metrion... Zinthos!" intoned Raven, chanting the words to fuel her magic. The black auras engulfing her hands shot out like a beam and struck the Kraken full between the eyes, knocking the great beast back into the water, letting another swell of water rise up as the beast vanishes temporarily from view.

"Did we get it?" asked Beastboy.

A monstrous tentacle was the reply as it swung out of seeming nowhere, grabbed a hold of Beastboy by the ankle and flung him full force into the startled Aqualad, sending them both tumbling through the sand.

"Answer your question?" grunted Aqualad, angrily shoving Beastboy off of him.

"Azerath Metrio Zinth-ackt!" cried out Raven as her incantation was cut off, a great tentacle wrapped around her throat, cutting off her vocal cords and making it hard to breathe. The Kraken's tooth-filled mouth curled back into a grin.

"Enough of that, little spawn," it hissed darkly.

Aqualad's eyes widened in shock, mostly because of Raven's predicament, but also partially because of the way the Kraken identified her. Still, it didn't slow him a second as he shouted out "Put her down!" However, at almost the exact same instant...

"LET GO OF HER!"

Beastboy roared and charged forward on all fours, shifting into a great gorilla that knuckled its way across the sand and slammed a fist into the side of the Kraken with slightly less force than a battering ram. The Kraken gave another earth-shaking roar, this time genuinely mixed with sweet pain, and lashed out at Beastboy, who caught the tentacle in his great hairy gorilla arms and growled back at the Kraken.

"Not this time," he roared, hauling backwards on the tentacle, trying to tear it out by the roots. The Kraken struggled mightily, and in its thrashing about it released Raven, previously hanging several feet above the ground by another of it's tentacles. Aqualad was quick to catch her before she hit the ground.

Raven, coughing for breath, peered up at Aqualad, who watched her with some concern, gently setting her down on her feet. "You alright...?" he asked.

"Fine..." she coughed out, still trying to suck oxygen into her starved lungs.

Beastboy, nearby, risked a glance back over his shoulder to see if Raven was alright... and saw her with Aqualad. A critical mistake. It allowed his concentration to waver. And in that instant, the Kraken grabbed up Beastboy's arms and legs with all four of it's tentacles and hauled him high up into the air. Beastboy, startled, gave out a cry, shifting back to his regular form, and the Kraken reared back like a baseball pitcher and hurled Beastboy as far as the eye could follow off into the horizon. Thankfully off towards Jump City and the water, rather than the opposite direction. At least he'd have a semi-soft landing.

"Keh keh keh," laughed the Kraken wickedly, turning its attention back to Raven. Aqualad, seeing she was still trying to gather herself together, took up a defensive stance in front of her. "Out of my way," hissed the Kraken, lashing out with it's tentacles. Aqualad batted them aside... though with some considerable difficulty. He may've been one of the strongest Atlanteans in existence (second only to their King, truthfully) but this demonic squid was easily that strong and far larger. Worse, four tentacles allowed it to move in unpredictable ways as opposed to the two-armed opponents he was used to fighting. Unable to properly predict what was coming, Aqualad blocked two tentacles but allowed a third to slip past him and slap him upside the head like a sledgehammer, sending him face-first into the sand.

"Aqualad!" cried out Raven. Growling darkly she lashed out with her hand, grabbing up great fistfuls of sand and hurling them at the Kraken.

"Keh keh keh," it laughed wickedly, as the sand brushed against it harmlessly. "You hope to defeat me with your father's magic, little spawn?"

The Kraken hissed out a single, dreadful word that, although unknown to Raven, somehow sounded offensive. Whatever else it was, it was certainly magical. The sand dropped down in seconds, her power controlling it dissipating.

"No..." she gasped out, raising her hands. She tried another spell... but it too failed her. The Kraken had somehow sapped her strength.

"Now you're coming with me, little spawn," hissed the Kraken, lashing out with its tentacles. Two grabbed Raven's arms, pinning them at her sides and digging in their sharp talons as the third grabbed her legs and the fourth wrapped around her neck to prevent her from speaking, not wishing her to enact a counter-spell to the Kraken's counter-spell. That done, the Kraken lifted her up and dragged her, still screaming, under the water and the briny depths of the ocean surrounding Mofire Island.

Raven's only salvation lay unconscious on the beach in the sand and nearly a hundred yards out at sea on the water, respectively.

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"WHAT?!"

"It took Raven," grunted Aqualad, clutching his aching head. He'd taken a nasty fall, after all. And Beastboy's shouting wasn't helping. He'd swam ashore shortly after the battle had finished, finding a missing Kraken, a missing Raven, and an unconscious Aqualad. He'd helped the older, dark-haired boy up and brushed off some sand, helping him as he came to, and then immediately started asking questions. This had been his reaction.

"We have to go after her!" he shouted, running down towards the water's edge, morphing into a dolphin. He stopped abruptly, however, when Aqualad grabbed his tail and held him in place.

"Don't be stupid! The three of us couldn't defeat that thing and now it's got Raven. We should call for back-up," he said, reaching down to his belt. Like most Titans, he kept a communicator in his uniform and most all times. In case of emergency. Titans East would be ready to roll in less than ten minutes with their own T-Sub. Cyborg had been a rather dutiful supplier to the fledgling Titan team.

It'll take too long! said Beastboy telepathically, swatting his tail out of Aqualad's hand. I'm going now, with or without your help! So saying the great green dolphin smoothly leapt up and dove into the water without so much as a backward glance at Aqualad.

Idiot, Aqualad muttered in the back of his mind. However, he quickly dove into the water. Beastboy was going to need some back-up against the Kraken. Especially if they were heading underwater. And most of the other Titans wouldn't be of much help anyway. Not underwater.

So it was up to them to rescue Raven.

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Author's Notes:

Again, still no comic references. However, the story does contain a large number of references to my first Titan story 'Secret Origins.' While reading of the former is not necessary to understand the plot, it certainly wouldn't be a bad idea (I have no shame, I know) for more details about a creature similar to the Kraken. Again I apologize if this love-triangle is badly written or portrayed. I'm trying to keep them all as in-character as possible but I feel I'm failing miserably. The reference to Cyborg and Beastboy's trip "through the looking glass" was of course referring to the events of 'Nevermore.' Oh yes, and before proceeding I should warn you that italics primarily refer to inner-thoughts and/or telepathy, since BB and Aqualad won't be able to talk to one another in the convention sense. Next time: Can Beastboy and Aqualad put aside their differences and save Raven? Or will the Kraken destroy them all?

Dragonblond: Believe me, seeing Raven in a bikini would be satisfying to the guy in me, but I'm realistic. We're lucky to get her in the bathing suit at all. I am glad you enjoyed Beastboy winning the chess, most people seem to think Raven would've beaten the pants off him. I do hope you enjoy the triangle and I write it well.

Yomiori-Wolfdemon: Not the best film I've ever seen, certainly not. I do hope you won't kill me though, for what I do to BB. Believe me, all is planned. And I am a fan first and foremost of the core five Titans, not the honoraries or the East gang.

Falling: Quick as Kid Flash, promise.

Todd Fan: Season, you mean? Yes I know we're starting season four and I eagerly anticipate it and more of Raven's daddy. Should be fun.

VeelaChic: Working on it as much as I can.

Greg867: I would consider, were I able to find it. May I suggest you log on for you next review? In any case do enjoy the story, though I hope you'll view Aqualad more sympathetically. He's not that bad of a guy, ya know.

Cherry6124: Myself as well, as you can no doubt tell from my previous stories. But I do hope you enjoy the story anyway.

Mephisto2022: Soon as I can, given that I am still a part-time student and a part-time worker. Got obligations.

Dancingirl3: Yes already!

Staticsponge123: Aiya! I'm updating I'm updating!

Hybrid Illusions: I'll forgive ya since you're new. And your review is off, but mostly by length, and I appreciate long detailed reviews like yours. Keep 'em up. I do hope you enjoy the story. As for Cyborg, it was a smidgen ooc but he was trying to be overly silly. Not like he would really send flowers. We all know Raven… what? Uh, may want to check the couples in my profile before you read on. Do enjoy though.

ViciousAssassin: Well well well look who's here. And Raven may be telepathic but she's not very powerful. But still, you're right, she should've checked. Ah well, her loss. Or maybe she wanted to lose? Hmmmm? Actually, I showed Cyborg and Robin's bet but specifically neglected to mention Starfire. The end of my story will clear that up. Heh.

Dust-in: Well Beastboy was an only child but I see what you mean. Hope I do these three justice.

Princess-Raven-Dark: Quick as humanly possible.

Ray1: I used to be the same way, they were incredibly cute together. But after the evidence presented in 'Beast Within' I can't stick to my guns. Raven/BB for me. I do hope you enjoy the story though.

Inuyashastwin: Plenty more to come, believe you me. Do enjoy.

Benny2000: Hope you are still enjoying it, now that the humor has been pushed aside for action.

Seth Turtle: Raven in a swimsuit has been something I've always wanted to see, but we likely won't since she, and the other Titans, are in uniform 24-7 (even in their frickin' sleep!). Pity. Glad you like the story. I am unworthy of such praise.