Disclaimer: Own Teen Titans, I do not. Own Xander Blade and all other
original characters, I do. Isn't that great? (
To all who read this, forgive the taking-so-long-to-update-ness. Like I say, I'm busy. ON TO THE STORY!!!!!!!!!!!!
Chapter 5: Training Day
It was 5:45 in the morning and the sun was just rising. Raven awoke from her sleep, hungry and tired. She had locked herself in her room the night before and didn't get anything to eat. She was barely to get into a sitting position as she rubbed her head. She was having a strange headache, but the feeling was strangely familiar. It was the exact same pain she felt after she had that dream about Xander the day before. She staggered to her feet and walked to her mirror. After seeing how messy her hair was, she took out a comb and began combing it back into place. As she straightened out her locks, she wondered if Beast Boy was still mad at her...
'Do they know you're here?' Akujin asked.
"No", said Xander calmly. He had returned to the warehouse where he was staying before he had met the Titans. He was slowly walking around and gathering his clothes into his large black duffel bag.
'I don't want to sound like a father or anything', Akujin said, 'but I think it would be healthy for you if you had some friends again.'
"The last time I had friends", Xander replied, "they died. And it was my fault".
'Do you have to tell yourself that everyday?' Akujin asked.
"If that's what it takes to keep innocent people safe", Xander replied monotone-ly, "then yes".
'Just give it a try' Akujin said.
"No, Akujin," Xander replied getting annoyed, "I see no reason as to why I should stay. Therefore I will not".
'There's Raven' Akujin said 'you could stay for her'. Xander stopped immediately and looked at his sword.
"I don't know what you mean..." he said.
'Come on, man, don't lie to me', Akujin said, 'she guessed your name in a single guess and you were totally interested in her. I saw the way you looked at her'. Xander looked away and began collecting his clothes again. 'I seem to have hit a nerve' Akujin said amusingly.
"You didn't hit anything," Xander said in an annoyed tone.
'What are you so afraid of?' Akujin asked. Xander paused again.
"You know damn well what I'm afraid of", Xander replied. "I can't stay. It'll end up the same way, just like I did before".
'But it could be different this time' Akujin said as he tried to convince Xander to stay 'Come on just give it a shot. If not to stay for romance, then at least stay to protect her. Those damn specters are still here and they're going to need your help to stop them'. To this, Xander couldn't say no. He let out a big sigh.
"Fine then", he said, "let me just get my stuff together. But the second that things there get too dangerous, I'm getting the hell out".
'Deal', Akujin replied, 'now hurry and get your crap together'.
"Don't rush me or I'll snap you in two", Xander replied.
'That'll be the day', Akujin replied sarcastically.
The Titans had gathered in the dining room for breakfast. Everyone, except Raven. She hadn't come out of her room yet.
"I wonder where Raven is" asked Starfire as she ate her pancakes and ketchup.
"Who cares?" said Beast Boy as he ate his tofu eggs and tofu bacon.
"You're STILL mad?" Cyborg asked with a mouthful of waffles. Beast Boy ignored Cyborg and continued eating his breakfast silently on the other side of the table.
"You gotta let this thing go, man!" Cyborg yelled. Beast Boy quietly got up and walked through the doors that led to the living room. Cyborg clenched his fists and grit his teeth in anger. Just as he was about to get up to go and pound the crap out of Beast Boy, he felt a hand on his shoulder. Cyborg looked behind him to see Robin.
"Let it go, Cy", Robin said, "We can talk to them both after training today. They both know how important practice is, and they'll come whether they're mad at each other or not." Cyborg sat back down and began to eat his waffles really fast. Robin sat down next to Starfire and looked at her breakfast.
"I think pancakes go better with syrup, Star", he said.
"I beg to differ Robin", she said with a smile. A smile also found its way onto Robin's face. This was what he liked about her. Sure she was a little strange, but the way she was about her strangeness. She was so comfortable with it. Being around her also mad him more comfortable, among other things.
'At least one of our couples isn't dis-functional' thought Cyborg. Just then, Xander walked into the room. He was wearing a simple red shirt that had fire symbol on the back and baggy blue jeans. He wore the same shoes from the day before and had Akujin on his belt. No one noticed though that he didn't have his wings sticking out of his back. His back was perfectly clear, no signs of any wings at all. He went to the table and sat down.
"Hey, Xan! Where you been?" Cyborg asked.
"Went to go get my stuff at the warehouse where I was staying", he answered. "By the way, I was kinda wondering...um..."
"You need a place to stay and you were wondering if you could crash here for a while?" Robin said.
"Yeah...that's what I was gonna ask", Xander replied.
"I don't really have problem with it." Said Robin. "If you really need a place to stay, you're welcome here. It's the least we could do to pay you back for helping us out."
"Thanks", Xander said. He got up and began to walk away when he turned around to speak to them again. "Look, I know that...you don't exactly trust me. I've been pretty mysterious to you all and you don't know a thing about me. You have every right to be suspicious, but please hear me out. I'm not here to hurt anyone or to betray anyone. I just wanted to say that". He walked through the door leaving the teens a little shocked.
"What was he talking about?" asked Cyborg.
"He's either got very sensitive hearing or really great deductive skills", Robin said.
"After all I've seen him do, I would not be surprised if he had both", Starfire said.
"I think the question now", began Cyborg, "is whether he's right about what we think about him".
"He did save Raven", Robin said, "but still...we know almost nothing about him except his name".
"He doesn't seem dangerous", Cyborg said.
"We thought Blackfire was not dangerous, and look what happened", Starfire said. There was a long silence, until Robin spoke.
"Those specters were hella strong", he said. "He was a big help when we were loosing. But I can't shake the fact that I'm missing something about him."
"All we can do now is try to get more out of him", said Cyborg, "and who knows, he could make a good Titan". This was something that all of them could agree on. Xander was strong and having him on their side would really help them out.
"How 'bout we invite him to training?" Robin said. "I'm interested in the guy's powers". Another thing they could all agree on. For the time they all agreed, without saying it, that they'd trust Xander. But as much as they liked him, they were still careful not to get too close to this still mysterious man.
11:33 A.M.
The Titans, this time all of them, and Xander had gathered at their outside training field where they were going to have their training session for the day. Cyborg was at the main computer getting the obstacle course started. Starfire, Robin, and Xander were having a light conversation to the side. Xander was very excited about the course and had a big, goofy grin on his face the whole time. Raven was meditating on the rock behind them. She looked at Xander and remembered that strange dream again. She still didn't know what it meant because she hadn't asked Xander about it yet. But what was she going to say? That she had a dream with him in it? As she continued with her thoughts, she saw Beast Boy on the other of the field skipping rocks across the water. They hadn't spoken to each other since yesterday and unless one of them apologized soon, they wouldn't be talking to each other any time soon.
"You guys are gonna love this", Cyborg said excitedly, catching everyone's attention, "I built this new course myself".
"When do you have time to build an obstacle course?" Xander asked. "Hell, when does anyone have time to build an obstacle course?"
"When the T.V. broke" Raven answered in her normal monotone voice. Xander glanced to look at her and she immediately looked away. He looked a t her for another 3 seconds before he gave her a big smile and looked away. This caused Raven to blush a little. It was then that she caught herself. 'Why am I blushing?' she thought to herself.
"So, who wants to try it out first?" Cyborg asked. Beast Boy silently walked up to the starting line and looked at Cyborg.
"Set me up, Cy", he said in a tone that wasn't his normal tone. It was a sad and somewhat cold tone. Cyborg was caught off guard, expecting Robin to go up first. But after getting his focus back he faced Beast Boy.
"Alright, BB", he said, "you know the drill. Wait for the green light and go through the course. Cool?"
"It's cool", Beast Boy replied as he got into a ready position. He looked up just as the red light above him turned from red to yellow. The two other yellow lights activated and 3 seconds after the last yellow light, the green light activated Beast Boy sprinted into Cyborg's course.
The first part of the course activated. 15 laser cannons appeared 60 yards ahead of Beast Boy and began firing, separately at him. Beast Boy immediately morphed into a falcon and began dodging the shots, avoiding them by mere centimeters. When he was 30 yards from the cannons, they began to fire faster. Beast Boy instinctively began flying and avoiding even faster. When he was 15 yards from the lasers, they lasers dismounted and began hover around the area. As they flew around, they continued to aim and fire at Beast Boy. Beast Boy was doing barrel rolls and swerving left & right to avoid the blasts. When he flew over a red line on the ground, the lasers stopped firing and flew back to where they were mounted at before.
"Good job, BB!" Cyborg said, "You cleared the first area! You're coming up to the next one!" Beast Boy morphed back into his normal form and continued running towards the next area.
"Bring it on!" he yelled back as he was running. Cyborg pushed one of the buttons on his control board and 3 large disks rose out of the ground. One of the disks was launched upward and as it was falling back down, it changed in position so that it was flying parallel to the ground. It flew towards Best Boy, who morphed into an armadillo and rolled under the disks. Suddenly, the other two disks began rolling on the ground at high speeds. They rolled in place for a while before rolling toward Beast Boy. Beast Boy morphed into a raptor and began running to meet the disks. He dodged the first disk and then dodged the next one. Just as he thought he was safe, he saw the flying disk coming back. He jumped over it and morphed into a cheetah. He began running at top speed to the next area, when he heard one of the rolling disks coming at him from behind. He started to pick up the speed when he saw the other rolling disk coming at him.
'Gotta time this just right' he thought as he continued running forward. Just when it looked like the disk was going to cut him in half, Beast Boy dodged it. He looked behind him to see the two disks swerve and avoid hitting each other at the last second. He looked forward, just in time to come face to face with a wall. He hit the wall hard and morphed back into his normal form. The others flinched as they watched Beast Boy slam into the wall.
"I think even I felt that", Xander said, causing everyone to let out small laughs.
After regaining his composure, Beast Boy got up and looked behind him. He freaked out when he saw all three of this disks coming at him. He quickly morphed into a gorilla and climbed the wall that he ran into. He got over the wall and heard the disks hit the wall and get stuck. He then morphed into a triceratops and charged through the remaining walls. When he got through all of them, he looked up and saw 5 androids standing in battle positions. An 11-foot wall surrounded the area, making a small circular arena. An energy barrier formed a dome shaped roof above Beast Boy.
"You gotta beat these guys in order to get to the last area!" Cyborg yelled to Beast Boy. Beast Boy nodded and charged at the androids. 4 of them dodged, but the last one grabbed Beast Boy by the horns and held him above its head. Suddenly, Beast Boy morphed into a whale. Unable to carry the weight, the robot was crushed by Beast Boy's tremendous size. He morphed back into his normal form.
"One down, four to go", he said. The other robots surrounded him from four different sides and charged at him at the same time. He morphed into a gorilla again and did a twister spin in place, knocking the charging robots back. He quickly grabbed one of the nearby robots' legs and swung it above his head. After swinging it over his head a few times, he threw it to one of the other robots, knocking them both out. He was then grabbed by one of the other robots from behind and slammed into the grabbed by a backwards suplex. After the droid slammed Beast Boy into the ground, it grabbed his legs and began to swing him, tornado style (the way Mario swings Bowser in Mario 64). After 3 complete swings, the droid let go of Beast Boy's legs, flinging him into the other droid. The robot kicked Beast Boy in the face right before it was hit, sending Beast Boy flying back to the other droid. Luckily, he was able to turn into an eagle and fly upward, just barely avoiding a drop kick from the droid.
After flying upward 9 feet, he changed into a pterodactyl and dived down, talons first. He started clawing and slashing at the droid, who blocked each of the shots. The droid saw an opening and grabbed one of Beast Boy's legs. It slammed him into the ground before throwing him into the wall. He morphed back into his normal form.
"Come on, Beast Boy," yelled Xander, "you can do better than that!" The other Titans were also cheering him on, even Raven. Beast Boy struggled back up and taunted the other two droids to "bring it on". The robots took karate positions before charging at Beast Boy. Just when the robots kicked him up-close at the same time, he ducked and did a 360-degree sweeping, knocking the both down. He then jumped, changed into a T-Rex, and landed on the two robots, crushing them both. He morphed back to his normal form as the walls began to come down.
"Last stretch, Beast Boy!" Cyborg yelled, "Make it count!" Beast Boy sprinted out into the last stretch of the course. As he ran, the ground began shake. Pillars started to rise out of the ground everywhere. Beast Boy morphed into a cheetah, picking up speed and avoiding the pillars at the same time. When the pillars stopped rising, and a 100 yard pit appeared in front of him. Multiple platforms appeared, floating above the pit. Beast Boy's speed was already a lot and he wanted to stick to the ground as much as possible (even as a bird, flying was still tiring). So instead, he became a gazelle and started hopping across the platforms, still maintaining his speed.
"He's tired" Xander said.
"How can you tell?" asked Robin.
"If he weren't tired, he would've just flown over the pit", Xander replied, "Flying with wings is tiring. Trust me I know." Beast Boy continued leaping across the platforms and when he cleared the pit the ground suddenly became uneven, as in crooked, rigid cliffs. Beast Boy morphed into a mountain goat and began leaping from cliff to cliff, going up and down depending on what cliff he jumped. He finally cleared the cliffs and all that was left was the ending stretch. Beast Boy became a cheetah and sprinted all out to the finish line. When he crossed the line, he rolled on the ground, morphing back to his human form. He laid on the ground, panting and sweating when the others walked up to him.
"Good job, Beast Boy", Xander said.
"Thanks...new guy..." he replied weakly. Robin stuck out his hand and Beast Boy grabbed it. Robin pulled him up, and that was when Raven and Beast Boy's eyes connected. They immediately looked away from each other. But they didn't have looks of anger, just looks of shyness.
"Umm... good job", Raven stuttered out.
"Thanks, Raven" Beast Boy replied without looking at her.
'They're on their way', Akujin said to Xander. Xander grinned.
"That was one hell of a run, man!" Cyborg said, "How you feelin'?"
"Like my arms are gonna fall off." Beast Boy said walking up to Cyborg, "You really know how to make a killer course, Cy. What's my time?"
"I clocked you in at 6:49", Cyborg said, "a pretty great time. At least it will be until I hit that course." Beast Boy laughed.
"We'll see, Tin man, we'll see", he replied. After Cyborg set everything up again, Robin took his turn, then Raven, then Starfire. On Cyborg's turn, Robin operated the machine while Cyborg went through the course. When he finished, he found himself the same way everyone else was after the course: tired and barely able to stand.
"Yo, Robin!" he yelled, "My time?"
"5:47, Cy." Robin answered. "That beats the hell out of our times."
"What did you expect?" Cyborg replied as he stood up straight and struck a muscle man pose, "The best only deliver the best." He immediately fell over out of exhaustion. Beast Boy went over and helped him up.
"Like I said, man," Cyborg said as he struggled to remain standing, "the best of the best."
"Hey, Xan", Robin said, "your up". Xander was staring at the ground and looked up in confusion when Robin called him.
"What? Ha?" Xander stuttered, "Oh, sorry. I was lost in thought."
"Well stop thinking and get out there, it's your turn" Robin said. Xander took Akujin off his belt and placed him on the rock beside him. As he was walking towards the starting line, he turned toward Cyborg.
"Hey, Cy", he said, "Would you get mad if I...messed up your course a little? I know you worked hard on it and all, and I...well...I just thought I might ask you first...you know...for approval."
"Relax, dude," Cyborg replied, "the metal I used to make the course is really freakin' strong. I doubt you'll break anything. But if you want, you can go on and try."
"So...is that a yes?" Xander asked.
"Sure, go crazy", Cyborg replied. Xander gave a nod for thanks and continued on to the starting line.
"Maybe now we'll be able to see what he's really made of", Robin said. Xander walked up to the starting line and got into a ready position. He looked up and watched the lights turn from red, then to yellow, and after the last light went from yellow to green, he sprinted into the course. The lasers activated and began firing at him. He kept running towards the beams, maintaining the fast speed he was running at, dodging the beams by just inches. He was so fast that it seemed as though he wasn't moving from out of his path. It seemed like the beams just went through him. The Titans watched this with wide eyes.
"The dude is just barely avoiding those beams", Robin said.
"Is he even moving?" Beast Boy asked. It was then that he noticed how Raven was watching Xander very, very closely, almost to the point of falling forward. This began to stir emotions of jealousy inside Beast Boy. How did she feel towards Xander and HOW THE HELL DID SHE GUESS HIS NAME?!?! It was driving him crazy.
The cannons began firing faster at Xander, but he continued to run at the same blinding speeds, dodging to avoid the beams. When he got close enough, the cannons dismounted and began to hover around him. It was then that Xander began charging energy in his hands and, instead of dodging the beams; he started knocking the beams back at the cannons with his hands. Some of the cannons exploded when they were hit with their own reflected lasers. When Xander was 10 yards from the line to the next area, his wings energized on his back. First they appeared in the form of black energy, but the energy quickly disappeared and his black wings took their normal form. He began flying backwards, cupped his hands in front of him and began charging energy. Just when he crossed the line to the next area, he fired multiple energy balls at the remaining cannons. Each ball hit its mark, causing all of the cannons to malfunction and fall to the ground. The Titans freaked out.
"OH CRAP DID YOU GUY'S JUST SEE THAT? THAT WAS FREAKY! DID HIS WINGS JUST APPEAR OUT OF NOWHERE? WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?" Cyborg yelled out in one breath.
"Cyborg, please, you are breaking my ear drums!" Starfire yelled.
"I'M SORRY, BUT HIS WINGS! THEY JUST POPPED OUT!" Cyborg yelled again, "THEN HE STARTED SHOOTING ENERY AND THEN"
"CY, SHUT UP! WE GET IT ALREADY!" Robin yelled.
"Be quiet", said Raven calmly, "he's getting to the next area, Robin. Don't forget your job." Robin then remembered that he was on the control panel. He looked up to see THAT Xander was about to reach the disk area. He activated the disks and the three of them began to roll/fly toward Xander. Xander flew under the flying disks and did a barrel roll so that he went in between the other two disks. He turned to face the disks as they came at him again. He landed on the ground and stood right in the path of the rolling disks.
"Get out of there!" Raven yelled. This surprised everyone, even Raven. 'Did I just cheer for him?' she wondered. But Xander didn't move. He stood in place as the disks got closer and closer. Just when they were about to slice him, he caught the two disks with his hands. The Titans jaws dropped. Xander smiled as he saw the third and last disk coming at him. He ran toward the flying disk, still holding the two that he caught.
"Is he crazy?" Beast Boy said. Xander flew up, avoiding the disk. He flew behind the disk and sliced it in half by using the disk in his right hand as sword. He then used the disk in his left hand to slam the disk halves into the ground. He tossed the other disk to the side and flew on to the next area. As he was flying, the series of walls appeared in front of him. He stopped and landed back on the ground.
"Gotta rest my aching wings", he said. He jumped on top of the walls and began running along the tops of the walls ninja-style. To the untrained eye, it seemed as though he was running on air. But upon closer inspection, one could see that his feet did touch something: the tops of the walls that he was running over. The tips of his toes touched the tops of the walls for brief moments as he skillfully and speedily ran along the tops of the walls. When he got to the last wall, he did a front flip off of it and landed kneeling-on-one-knee style. He looked up and the robots were there, waiting for him in fighting positions. A smile appeared on Xander's face.
"This will be fun", he said. One of the robots rushed to him and punched him in the face, causing him to fly into the wall that was now coming up. "Very, Very fun", he said as he got back on his feet. "Alright, robo dumbass, you've got the power. Now let's see if you can keep up". He ran towards the droid that attacked him. The droid threw a punch at Xander, which he was easily able to dodge. He ducked down close to avoid the punch and quickly came back up with an uppercut to the droid's chin, sending him flying vertically. Xander jumped up, grabbed the robot's leg and threw it back down to the ground. Before the droid hit the ground, Xander did a downward flying kick to the droid's back (that's the side facing him) causing the droid to hit the ground harder and putting it out of commission. Xander got up and faced the other four droids.
"Who's next?" he asked. The smile had disappeared and his face was now dead seriousness. He stared at the robots with a glare that was cold as ice. When the Titans saw this, all of them took a small step back.
"Did you see that?" Starfire asked, "His eyes, they were so...cold". All the others could do was nod in agreement.
The other robots were now surrounding Xander in an attempt to do the same move they did to Beast Boy. But before they could charge at him, Xander charged and shoulder tackled the droid in front of him causing it to stagger. He then ran to the next droid and punched it in the gut and while it was hunched over, he elbowed it in the back, sending it face first into the ground.
"He's not getting back up", Xander said. He than heard the footsteps of the other two droids and turned around to face them both. Just when they were about to punch him, he jumped and flipped over them so that he now stood back to back with the robots. He quickly turned around and grabbed the droid on his right. Right after grabbing it, he threw it into the other droid, causing them both to hit the wall. He turned to the droid that he had caused to stagger earlier. He ran to it and began to punch it in the stomach furiously. After punching the droid 14 times in the stomach, he sent it flying into the wall with a soccer-style slice kick. After knocking out that droid, he returned his attention to the remaining two, which had gotten back up and were now in fighting poses.
"Hey, Cy", Robin said, "which button makes them stronger?"
"You sure you wanna do that?" Cyborg asked.
"Just tell him which button it is!" Xander yelled. "No offense, but I'm getting pretty bored!"
"Hey, he asked for it", Robin said.
"Fine, but I hope you know what you're dealing with", Cyborg said with a shrug. "It's the green knob over the lever on the left, Rob". Robin found the knob and turned up the level of the droids. Back on the field, the droids took different fighting poses.
"Excellent", Xander said, "this should be really interesting". The droids then rushed at him and began to attack him in synchronized fashion. They were doing the exact same moves as each other. But for each punch and kick that the duo threw, Xander was able to execute a corresponding block. The site of this amazing display of martial arts ability awed the Titans but completely hypnotized Robin. The fight was a flurry of punches and kicks that were only seen as flashes. This went on for a long time, until the droids were able to break through Xander's defense, sending him flying into the wall. The two droids then jumped up and came down, feet first, on Xander. They showered him with kicks until he was able to knock them off. He stood panting, leaning on the arena wall. Blood trickled down his cut brow.
"I warned him", Cyborg said.
"Wait", said Robin, "he's not done yet". Xander looked at the droids.
"Is that all you got?" he said to the two droids. The duo took battle positions again and charged at Xander. Xander stood still as the droids got closer. Then, when the droids were close enough, they both attempted to punch Xander. Just when the fists were about to hit him, Xander caught the fists and smiled. He did a thrust kick to the droid on the right, sending it flying backwards into the wall and knocking it out. He let go of the other droids hand and it began to attack him furiously. But this time, instead of blocking and getting pummeled, Xander dodged the blows with rolls and back flips. His face remained serious as he continued dodging the droids attacks, until...
"There!" he yelled as he rolled under a punch and knelt facing the left side of the droid. Before the robot could react, Xander charged his right hand with dark energy and punched it in the side. The robot flew into the wall, its side blown open by Xander's punch. The arena walls came down and the Xander sprinted off into the last area.
When the pillars started shooting out of the ground, Xander stretched his wings and started flying through the area. When he cleared the pillars, the pit opened up and the platforms appeared. Xander landed and began running ninja-style across the platforms. He cleared the pit and started flying again. He flew all the way to the finish line where he rolled on the ground out of exhaustion. The Titans went up to him.
"Hey Xan!" Cyborg said, "That was freaking awesome! High five!"
"Settle for low five?" Xander said as he lay on the ground. He put his hand up and Cyborg gave him a low five.
"Xander, that was an amazing run", said Starfire, "you did very well".
"Yeah", Robin said, "That was mind-blowing! You gotta teach me how to fight like that!"
"Let me catch my breath first", Xander said jokingly, "and thanks for the congratulations"
"You deserve it, right Beast Boy?" said Robin. He looked around and saw Beast Boy staring at the ground. "Yo, Beast Boy" Robin said. Beast Boy woke up from his zoning out-ness.
"Oh...sorry. Yeah Xan! That was the most bad-ass thing I've ever seen!" Beast Boy said.
"Something on your mind, BB?" Cyborg asked.
"No, I'm cool", he replied with a smile. It was then that Raven floated over.
"Good job, Xan", she said. If her hood weren't on, everyone would've seen her blush.
"Thanks" Xander replied. He started to get up when Cyborg held out a hand and helped him up.
"Well, that was loads of fun", Xander said, "Can I go again?"
"No way!" Cyborg yelled, "You totally wrecked it!"
"You said I could" Xander replied calmly.
"Yeah, Cy", Robin said, "you did".
"I didn't think he'd do it so much", Cyborg said, "oh well...I DID say he could. Guess I underestimated you".
"Most people do", Xander said. He walked back to the rock were he put Akujin down and picked up his sword. After Cyborg had the course returned under ground, the Titans began to walk back to the tower, joking and laughing. Raven stayed behind and stared into the sunset. Beast Boy slowly walked up behind her.
"Hey, Rae," he said, "I just wanna say...uh...well...I just gotta say...I'm sorry". Raven didn't look back. "I know you're mad at me. You have every right to be mad at me. I know that I'm an idiot. I'm sorry for being what I am. I'm really sorry. If you never forgive me, that'd be fine. Just know that...I'm sorry". He began to walk away.
"Wait", Raven said, "I'm...sorry, too. I know that I'm hard on you with all my insults. I'm sorry for that. I know that I go too far sometimes. I should be the one apologizing". Beast Boy turned around slowly.
"Well, you wouldn't have to worry about apologizing if I didn't take everything seriously", he said. "It wasn't entirely your fault though, Rae," Beast Boy said, "I had a lot on my mind and I...I was just being an ass...I got mad at you for no reason...I'm sorry"
"Still, I know I gotta cut down on the insults" she replied, "I'll try to cut down. For our...friendship." Those last few words shocked Beast Boy and put a smile on his face.
"So...you're not mad anymore?" Beast Boy asked. Raven gave the best smile she could and nodded. The two continued to watch the sunset, their feelings for each other stronger than ever. But amidst all the feelings she had for Beast Boy, Raven couldn't stop thinking about Xander. The way she cheered for him on his run. She couldn't possibly like him, she loved Beast Boy. Right?
That was the end of chapter 5. Sorry I took so long to update. Stay tuned for chapter 6. Xander's old enemies start to reappear. How will this affect his new life? Read and Review.
To all who read this, forgive the taking-so-long-to-update-ness. Like I say, I'm busy. ON TO THE STORY!!!!!!!!!!!!
Chapter 5: Training Day
It was 5:45 in the morning and the sun was just rising. Raven awoke from her sleep, hungry and tired. She had locked herself in her room the night before and didn't get anything to eat. She was barely to get into a sitting position as she rubbed her head. She was having a strange headache, but the feeling was strangely familiar. It was the exact same pain she felt after she had that dream about Xander the day before. She staggered to her feet and walked to her mirror. After seeing how messy her hair was, she took out a comb and began combing it back into place. As she straightened out her locks, she wondered if Beast Boy was still mad at her...
'Do they know you're here?' Akujin asked.
"No", said Xander calmly. He had returned to the warehouse where he was staying before he had met the Titans. He was slowly walking around and gathering his clothes into his large black duffel bag.
'I don't want to sound like a father or anything', Akujin said, 'but I think it would be healthy for you if you had some friends again.'
"The last time I had friends", Xander replied, "they died. And it was my fault".
'Do you have to tell yourself that everyday?' Akujin asked.
"If that's what it takes to keep innocent people safe", Xander replied monotone-ly, "then yes".
'Just give it a try' Akujin said.
"No, Akujin," Xander replied getting annoyed, "I see no reason as to why I should stay. Therefore I will not".
'There's Raven' Akujin said 'you could stay for her'. Xander stopped immediately and looked at his sword.
"I don't know what you mean..." he said.
'Come on, man, don't lie to me', Akujin said, 'she guessed your name in a single guess and you were totally interested in her. I saw the way you looked at her'. Xander looked away and began collecting his clothes again. 'I seem to have hit a nerve' Akujin said amusingly.
"You didn't hit anything," Xander said in an annoyed tone.
'What are you so afraid of?' Akujin asked. Xander paused again.
"You know damn well what I'm afraid of", Xander replied. "I can't stay. It'll end up the same way, just like I did before".
'But it could be different this time' Akujin said as he tried to convince Xander to stay 'Come on just give it a shot. If not to stay for romance, then at least stay to protect her. Those damn specters are still here and they're going to need your help to stop them'. To this, Xander couldn't say no. He let out a big sigh.
"Fine then", he said, "let me just get my stuff together. But the second that things there get too dangerous, I'm getting the hell out".
'Deal', Akujin replied, 'now hurry and get your crap together'.
"Don't rush me or I'll snap you in two", Xander replied.
'That'll be the day', Akujin replied sarcastically.
The Titans had gathered in the dining room for breakfast. Everyone, except Raven. She hadn't come out of her room yet.
"I wonder where Raven is" asked Starfire as she ate her pancakes and ketchup.
"Who cares?" said Beast Boy as he ate his tofu eggs and tofu bacon.
"You're STILL mad?" Cyborg asked with a mouthful of waffles. Beast Boy ignored Cyborg and continued eating his breakfast silently on the other side of the table.
"You gotta let this thing go, man!" Cyborg yelled. Beast Boy quietly got up and walked through the doors that led to the living room. Cyborg clenched his fists and grit his teeth in anger. Just as he was about to get up to go and pound the crap out of Beast Boy, he felt a hand on his shoulder. Cyborg looked behind him to see Robin.
"Let it go, Cy", Robin said, "We can talk to them both after training today. They both know how important practice is, and they'll come whether they're mad at each other or not." Cyborg sat back down and began to eat his waffles really fast. Robin sat down next to Starfire and looked at her breakfast.
"I think pancakes go better with syrup, Star", he said.
"I beg to differ Robin", she said with a smile. A smile also found its way onto Robin's face. This was what he liked about her. Sure she was a little strange, but the way she was about her strangeness. She was so comfortable with it. Being around her also mad him more comfortable, among other things.
'At least one of our couples isn't dis-functional' thought Cyborg. Just then, Xander walked into the room. He was wearing a simple red shirt that had fire symbol on the back and baggy blue jeans. He wore the same shoes from the day before and had Akujin on his belt. No one noticed though that he didn't have his wings sticking out of his back. His back was perfectly clear, no signs of any wings at all. He went to the table and sat down.
"Hey, Xan! Where you been?" Cyborg asked.
"Went to go get my stuff at the warehouse where I was staying", he answered. "By the way, I was kinda wondering...um..."
"You need a place to stay and you were wondering if you could crash here for a while?" Robin said.
"Yeah...that's what I was gonna ask", Xander replied.
"I don't really have problem with it." Said Robin. "If you really need a place to stay, you're welcome here. It's the least we could do to pay you back for helping us out."
"Thanks", Xander said. He got up and began to walk away when he turned around to speak to them again. "Look, I know that...you don't exactly trust me. I've been pretty mysterious to you all and you don't know a thing about me. You have every right to be suspicious, but please hear me out. I'm not here to hurt anyone or to betray anyone. I just wanted to say that". He walked through the door leaving the teens a little shocked.
"What was he talking about?" asked Cyborg.
"He's either got very sensitive hearing or really great deductive skills", Robin said.
"After all I've seen him do, I would not be surprised if he had both", Starfire said.
"I think the question now", began Cyborg, "is whether he's right about what we think about him".
"He did save Raven", Robin said, "but still...we know almost nothing about him except his name".
"He doesn't seem dangerous", Cyborg said.
"We thought Blackfire was not dangerous, and look what happened", Starfire said. There was a long silence, until Robin spoke.
"Those specters were hella strong", he said. "He was a big help when we were loosing. But I can't shake the fact that I'm missing something about him."
"All we can do now is try to get more out of him", said Cyborg, "and who knows, he could make a good Titan". This was something that all of them could agree on. Xander was strong and having him on their side would really help them out.
"How 'bout we invite him to training?" Robin said. "I'm interested in the guy's powers". Another thing they could all agree on. For the time they all agreed, without saying it, that they'd trust Xander. But as much as they liked him, they were still careful not to get too close to this still mysterious man.
11:33 A.M.
The Titans, this time all of them, and Xander had gathered at their outside training field where they were going to have their training session for the day. Cyborg was at the main computer getting the obstacle course started. Starfire, Robin, and Xander were having a light conversation to the side. Xander was very excited about the course and had a big, goofy grin on his face the whole time. Raven was meditating on the rock behind them. She looked at Xander and remembered that strange dream again. She still didn't know what it meant because she hadn't asked Xander about it yet. But what was she going to say? That she had a dream with him in it? As she continued with her thoughts, she saw Beast Boy on the other of the field skipping rocks across the water. They hadn't spoken to each other since yesterday and unless one of them apologized soon, they wouldn't be talking to each other any time soon.
"You guys are gonna love this", Cyborg said excitedly, catching everyone's attention, "I built this new course myself".
"When do you have time to build an obstacle course?" Xander asked. "Hell, when does anyone have time to build an obstacle course?"
"When the T.V. broke" Raven answered in her normal monotone voice. Xander glanced to look at her and she immediately looked away. He looked a t her for another 3 seconds before he gave her a big smile and looked away. This caused Raven to blush a little. It was then that she caught herself. 'Why am I blushing?' she thought to herself.
"So, who wants to try it out first?" Cyborg asked. Beast Boy silently walked up to the starting line and looked at Cyborg.
"Set me up, Cy", he said in a tone that wasn't his normal tone. It was a sad and somewhat cold tone. Cyborg was caught off guard, expecting Robin to go up first. But after getting his focus back he faced Beast Boy.
"Alright, BB", he said, "you know the drill. Wait for the green light and go through the course. Cool?"
"It's cool", Beast Boy replied as he got into a ready position. He looked up just as the red light above him turned from red to yellow. The two other yellow lights activated and 3 seconds after the last yellow light, the green light activated Beast Boy sprinted into Cyborg's course.
The first part of the course activated. 15 laser cannons appeared 60 yards ahead of Beast Boy and began firing, separately at him. Beast Boy immediately morphed into a falcon and began dodging the shots, avoiding them by mere centimeters. When he was 30 yards from the cannons, they began to fire faster. Beast Boy instinctively began flying and avoiding even faster. When he was 15 yards from the lasers, they lasers dismounted and began hover around the area. As they flew around, they continued to aim and fire at Beast Boy. Beast Boy was doing barrel rolls and swerving left & right to avoid the blasts. When he flew over a red line on the ground, the lasers stopped firing and flew back to where they were mounted at before.
"Good job, BB!" Cyborg said, "You cleared the first area! You're coming up to the next one!" Beast Boy morphed back into his normal form and continued running towards the next area.
"Bring it on!" he yelled back as he was running. Cyborg pushed one of the buttons on his control board and 3 large disks rose out of the ground. One of the disks was launched upward and as it was falling back down, it changed in position so that it was flying parallel to the ground. It flew towards Best Boy, who morphed into an armadillo and rolled under the disks. Suddenly, the other two disks began rolling on the ground at high speeds. They rolled in place for a while before rolling toward Beast Boy. Beast Boy morphed into a raptor and began running to meet the disks. He dodged the first disk and then dodged the next one. Just as he thought he was safe, he saw the flying disk coming back. He jumped over it and morphed into a cheetah. He began running at top speed to the next area, when he heard one of the rolling disks coming at him from behind. He started to pick up the speed when he saw the other rolling disk coming at him.
'Gotta time this just right' he thought as he continued running forward. Just when it looked like the disk was going to cut him in half, Beast Boy dodged it. He looked behind him to see the two disks swerve and avoid hitting each other at the last second. He looked forward, just in time to come face to face with a wall. He hit the wall hard and morphed back into his normal form. The others flinched as they watched Beast Boy slam into the wall.
"I think even I felt that", Xander said, causing everyone to let out small laughs.
After regaining his composure, Beast Boy got up and looked behind him. He freaked out when he saw all three of this disks coming at him. He quickly morphed into a gorilla and climbed the wall that he ran into. He got over the wall and heard the disks hit the wall and get stuck. He then morphed into a triceratops and charged through the remaining walls. When he got through all of them, he looked up and saw 5 androids standing in battle positions. An 11-foot wall surrounded the area, making a small circular arena. An energy barrier formed a dome shaped roof above Beast Boy.
"You gotta beat these guys in order to get to the last area!" Cyborg yelled to Beast Boy. Beast Boy nodded and charged at the androids. 4 of them dodged, but the last one grabbed Beast Boy by the horns and held him above its head. Suddenly, Beast Boy morphed into a whale. Unable to carry the weight, the robot was crushed by Beast Boy's tremendous size. He morphed back into his normal form.
"One down, four to go", he said. The other robots surrounded him from four different sides and charged at him at the same time. He morphed into a gorilla again and did a twister spin in place, knocking the charging robots back. He quickly grabbed one of the nearby robots' legs and swung it above his head. After swinging it over his head a few times, he threw it to one of the other robots, knocking them both out. He was then grabbed by one of the other robots from behind and slammed into the grabbed by a backwards suplex. After the droid slammed Beast Boy into the ground, it grabbed his legs and began to swing him, tornado style (the way Mario swings Bowser in Mario 64). After 3 complete swings, the droid let go of Beast Boy's legs, flinging him into the other droid. The robot kicked Beast Boy in the face right before it was hit, sending Beast Boy flying back to the other droid. Luckily, he was able to turn into an eagle and fly upward, just barely avoiding a drop kick from the droid.
After flying upward 9 feet, he changed into a pterodactyl and dived down, talons first. He started clawing and slashing at the droid, who blocked each of the shots. The droid saw an opening and grabbed one of Beast Boy's legs. It slammed him into the ground before throwing him into the wall. He morphed back into his normal form.
"Come on, Beast Boy," yelled Xander, "you can do better than that!" The other Titans were also cheering him on, even Raven. Beast Boy struggled back up and taunted the other two droids to "bring it on". The robots took karate positions before charging at Beast Boy. Just when the robots kicked him up-close at the same time, he ducked and did a 360-degree sweeping, knocking the both down. He then jumped, changed into a T-Rex, and landed on the two robots, crushing them both. He morphed back to his normal form as the walls began to come down.
"Last stretch, Beast Boy!" Cyborg yelled, "Make it count!" Beast Boy sprinted out into the last stretch of the course. As he ran, the ground began shake. Pillars started to rise out of the ground everywhere. Beast Boy morphed into a cheetah, picking up speed and avoiding the pillars at the same time. When the pillars stopped rising, and a 100 yard pit appeared in front of him. Multiple platforms appeared, floating above the pit. Beast Boy's speed was already a lot and he wanted to stick to the ground as much as possible (even as a bird, flying was still tiring). So instead, he became a gazelle and started hopping across the platforms, still maintaining his speed.
"He's tired" Xander said.
"How can you tell?" asked Robin.
"If he weren't tired, he would've just flown over the pit", Xander replied, "Flying with wings is tiring. Trust me I know." Beast Boy continued leaping across the platforms and when he cleared the pit the ground suddenly became uneven, as in crooked, rigid cliffs. Beast Boy morphed into a mountain goat and began leaping from cliff to cliff, going up and down depending on what cliff he jumped. He finally cleared the cliffs and all that was left was the ending stretch. Beast Boy became a cheetah and sprinted all out to the finish line. When he crossed the line, he rolled on the ground, morphing back to his human form. He laid on the ground, panting and sweating when the others walked up to him.
"Good job, Beast Boy", Xander said.
"Thanks...new guy..." he replied weakly. Robin stuck out his hand and Beast Boy grabbed it. Robin pulled him up, and that was when Raven and Beast Boy's eyes connected. They immediately looked away from each other. But they didn't have looks of anger, just looks of shyness.
"Umm... good job", Raven stuttered out.
"Thanks, Raven" Beast Boy replied without looking at her.
'They're on their way', Akujin said to Xander. Xander grinned.
"That was one hell of a run, man!" Cyborg said, "How you feelin'?"
"Like my arms are gonna fall off." Beast Boy said walking up to Cyborg, "You really know how to make a killer course, Cy. What's my time?"
"I clocked you in at 6:49", Cyborg said, "a pretty great time. At least it will be until I hit that course." Beast Boy laughed.
"We'll see, Tin man, we'll see", he replied. After Cyborg set everything up again, Robin took his turn, then Raven, then Starfire. On Cyborg's turn, Robin operated the machine while Cyborg went through the course. When he finished, he found himself the same way everyone else was after the course: tired and barely able to stand.
"Yo, Robin!" he yelled, "My time?"
"5:47, Cy." Robin answered. "That beats the hell out of our times."
"What did you expect?" Cyborg replied as he stood up straight and struck a muscle man pose, "The best only deliver the best." He immediately fell over out of exhaustion. Beast Boy went over and helped him up.
"Like I said, man," Cyborg said as he struggled to remain standing, "the best of the best."
"Hey, Xan", Robin said, "your up". Xander was staring at the ground and looked up in confusion when Robin called him.
"What? Ha?" Xander stuttered, "Oh, sorry. I was lost in thought."
"Well stop thinking and get out there, it's your turn" Robin said. Xander took Akujin off his belt and placed him on the rock beside him. As he was walking towards the starting line, he turned toward Cyborg.
"Hey, Cy", he said, "Would you get mad if I...messed up your course a little? I know you worked hard on it and all, and I...well...I just thought I might ask you first...you know...for approval."
"Relax, dude," Cyborg replied, "the metal I used to make the course is really freakin' strong. I doubt you'll break anything. But if you want, you can go on and try."
"So...is that a yes?" Xander asked.
"Sure, go crazy", Cyborg replied. Xander gave a nod for thanks and continued on to the starting line.
"Maybe now we'll be able to see what he's really made of", Robin said. Xander walked up to the starting line and got into a ready position. He looked up and watched the lights turn from red, then to yellow, and after the last light went from yellow to green, he sprinted into the course. The lasers activated and began firing at him. He kept running towards the beams, maintaining the fast speed he was running at, dodging the beams by just inches. He was so fast that it seemed as though he wasn't moving from out of his path. It seemed like the beams just went through him. The Titans watched this with wide eyes.
"The dude is just barely avoiding those beams", Robin said.
"Is he even moving?" Beast Boy asked. It was then that he noticed how Raven was watching Xander very, very closely, almost to the point of falling forward. This began to stir emotions of jealousy inside Beast Boy. How did she feel towards Xander and HOW THE HELL DID SHE GUESS HIS NAME?!?! It was driving him crazy.
The cannons began firing faster at Xander, but he continued to run at the same blinding speeds, dodging to avoid the beams. When he got close enough, the cannons dismounted and began to hover around him. It was then that Xander began charging energy in his hands and, instead of dodging the beams; he started knocking the beams back at the cannons with his hands. Some of the cannons exploded when they were hit with their own reflected lasers. When Xander was 10 yards from the line to the next area, his wings energized on his back. First they appeared in the form of black energy, but the energy quickly disappeared and his black wings took their normal form. He began flying backwards, cupped his hands in front of him and began charging energy. Just when he crossed the line to the next area, he fired multiple energy balls at the remaining cannons. Each ball hit its mark, causing all of the cannons to malfunction and fall to the ground. The Titans freaked out.
"OH CRAP DID YOU GUY'S JUST SEE THAT? THAT WAS FREAKY! DID HIS WINGS JUST APPEAR OUT OF NOWHERE? WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?" Cyborg yelled out in one breath.
"Cyborg, please, you are breaking my ear drums!" Starfire yelled.
"I'M SORRY, BUT HIS WINGS! THEY JUST POPPED OUT!" Cyborg yelled again, "THEN HE STARTED SHOOTING ENERY AND THEN"
"CY, SHUT UP! WE GET IT ALREADY!" Robin yelled.
"Be quiet", said Raven calmly, "he's getting to the next area, Robin. Don't forget your job." Robin then remembered that he was on the control panel. He looked up to see THAT Xander was about to reach the disk area. He activated the disks and the three of them began to roll/fly toward Xander. Xander flew under the flying disks and did a barrel roll so that he went in between the other two disks. He turned to face the disks as they came at him again. He landed on the ground and stood right in the path of the rolling disks.
"Get out of there!" Raven yelled. This surprised everyone, even Raven. 'Did I just cheer for him?' she wondered. But Xander didn't move. He stood in place as the disks got closer and closer. Just when they were about to slice him, he caught the two disks with his hands. The Titans jaws dropped. Xander smiled as he saw the third and last disk coming at him. He ran toward the flying disk, still holding the two that he caught.
"Is he crazy?" Beast Boy said. Xander flew up, avoiding the disk. He flew behind the disk and sliced it in half by using the disk in his right hand as sword. He then used the disk in his left hand to slam the disk halves into the ground. He tossed the other disk to the side and flew on to the next area. As he was flying, the series of walls appeared in front of him. He stopped and landed back on the ground.
"Gotta rest my aching wings", he said. He jumped on top of the walls and began running along the tops of the walls ninja-style. To the untrained eye, it seemed as though he was running on air. But upon closer inspection, one could see that his feet did touch something: the tops of the walls that he was running over. The tips of his toes touched the tops of the walls for brief moments as he skillfully and speedily ran along the tops of the walls. When he got to the last wall, he did a front flip off of it and landed kneeling-on-one-knee style. He looked up and the robots were there, waiting for him in fighting positions. A smile appeared on Xander's face.
"This will be fun", he said. One of the robots rushed to him and punched him in the face, causing him to fly into the wall that was now coming up. "Very, Very fun", he said as he got back on his feet. "Alright, robo dumbass, you've got the power. Now let's see if you can keep up". He ran towards the droid that attacked him. The droid threw a punch at Xander, which he was easily able to dodge. He ducked down close to avoid the punch and quickly came back up with an uppercut to the droid's chin, sending him flying vertically. Xander jumped up, grabbed the robot's leg and threw it back down to the ground. Before the droid hit the ground, Xander did a downward flying kick to the droid's back (that's the side facing him) causing the droid to hit the ground harder and putting it out of commission. Xander got up and faced the other four droids.
"Who's next?" he asked. The smile had disappeared and his face was now dead seriousness. He stared at the robots with a glare that was cold as ice. When the Titans saw this, all of them took a small step back.
"Did you see that?" Starfire asked, "His eyes, they were so...cold". All the others could do was nod in agreement.
The other robots were now surrounding Xander in an attempt to do the same move they did to Beast Boy. But before they could charge at him, Xander charged and shoulder tackled the droid in front of him causing it to stagger. He then ran to the next droid and punched it in the gut and while it was hunched over, he elbowed it in the back, sending it face first into the ground.
"He's not getting back up", Xander said. He than heard the footsteps of the other two droids and turned around to face them both. Just when they were about to punch him, he jumped and flipped over them so that he now stood back to back with the robots. He quickly turned around and grabbed the droid on his right. Right after grabbing it, he threw it into the other droid, causing them both to hit the wall. He turned to the droid that he had caused to stagger earlier. He ran to it and began to punch it in the stomach furiously. After punching the droid 14 times in the stomach, he sent it flying into the wall with a soccer-style slice kick. After knocking out that droid, he returned his attention to the remaining two, which had gotten back up and were now in fighting poses.
"Hey, Cy", Robin said, "which button makes them stronger?"
"You sure you wanna do that?" Cyborg asked.
"Just tell him which button it is!" Xander yelled. "No offense, but I'm getting pretty bored!"
"Hey, he asked for it", Robin said.
"Fine, but I hope you know what you're dealing with", Cyborg said with a shrug. "It's the green knob over the lever on the left, Rob". Robin found the knob and turned up the level of the droids. Back on the field, the droids took different fighting poses.
"Excellent", Xander said, "this should be really interesting". The droids then rushed at him and began to attack him in synchronized fashion. They were doing the exact same moves as each other. But for each punch and kick that the duo threw, Xander was able to execute a corresponding block. The site of this amazing display of martial arts ability awed the Titans but completely hypnotized Robin. The fight was a flurry of punches and kicks that were only seen as flashes. This went on for a long time, until the droids were able to break through Xander's defense, sending him flying into the wall. The two droids then jumped up and came down, feet first, on Xander. They showered him with kicks until he was able to knock them off. He stood panting, leaning on the arena wall. Blood trickled down his cut brow.
"I warned him", Cyborg said.
"Wait", said Robin, "he's not done yet". Xander looked at the droids.
"Is that all you got?" he said to the two droids. The duo took battle positions again and charged at Xander. Xander stood still as the droids got closer. Then, when the droids were close enough, they both attempted to punch Xander. Just when the fists were about to hit him, Xander caught the fists and smiled. He did a thrust kick to the droid on the right, sending it flying backwards into the wall and knocking it out. He let go of the other droids hand and it began to attack him furiously. But this time, instead of blocking and getting pummeled, Xander dodged the blows with rolls and back flips. His face remained serious as he continued dodging the droids attacks, until...
"There!" he yelled as he rolled under a punch and knelt facing the left side of the droid. Before the robot could react, Xander charged his right hand with dark energy and punched it in the side. The robot flew into the wall, its side blown open by Xander's punch. The arena walls came down and the Xander sprinted off into the last area.
When the pillars started shooting out of the ground, Xander stretched his wings and started flying through the area. When he cleared the pillars, the pit opened up and the platforms appeared. Xander landed and began running ninja-style across the platforms. He cleared the pit and started flying again. He flew all the way to the finish line where he rolled on the ground out of exhaustion. The Titans went up to him.
"Hey Xan!" Cyborg said, "That was freaking awesome! High five!"
"Settle for low five?" Xander said as he lay on the ground. He put his hand up and Cyborg gave him a low five.
"Xander, that was an amazing run", said Starfire, "you did very well".
"Yeah", Robin said, "That was mind-blowing! You gotta teach me how to fight like that!"
"Let me catch my breath first", Xander said jokingly, "and thanks for the congratulations"
"You deserve it, right Beast Boy?" said Robin. He looked around and saw Beast Boy staring at the ground. "Yo, Beast Boy" Robin said. Beast Boy woke up from his zoning out-ness.
"Oh...sorry. Yeah Xan! That was the most bad-ass thing I've ever seen!" Beast Boy said.
"Something on your mind, BB?" Cyborg asked.
"No, I'm cool", he replied with a smile. It was then that Raven floated over.
"Good job, Xan", she said. If her hood weren't on, everyone would've seen her blush.
"Thanks" Xander replied. He started to get up when Cyborg held out a hand and helped him up.
"Well, that was loads of fun", Xander said, "Can I go again?"
"No way!" Cyborg yelled, "You totally wrecked it!"
"You said I could" Xander replied calmly.
"Yeah, Cy", Robin said, "you did".
"I didn't think he'd do it so much", Cyborg said, "oh well...I DID say he could. Guess I underestimated you".
"Most people do", Xander said. He walked back to the rock were he put Akujin down and picked up his sword. After Cyborg had the course returned under ground, the Titans began to walk back to the tower, joking and laughing. Raven stayed behind and stared into the sunset. Beast Boy slowly walked up behind her.
"Hey, Rae," he said, "I just wanna say...uh...well...I just gotta say...I'm sorry". Raven didn't look back. "I know you're mad at me. You have every right to be mad at me. I know that I'm an idiot. I'm sorry for being what I am. I'm really sorry. If you never forgive me, that'd be fine. Just know that...I'm sorry". He began to walk away.
"Wait", Raven said, "I'm...sorry, too. I know that I'm hard on you with all my insults. I'm sorry for that. I know that I go too far sometimes. I should be the one apologizing". Beast Boy turned around slowly.
"Well, you wouldn't have to worry about apologizing if I didn't take everything seriously", he said. "It wasn't entirely your fault though, Rae," Beast Boy said, "I had a lot on my mind and I...I was just being an ass...I got mad at you for no reason...I'm sorry"
"Still, I know I gotta cut down on the insults" she replied, "I'll try to cut down. For our...friendship." Those last few words shocked Beast Boy and put a smile on his face.
"So...you're not mad anymore?" Beast Boy asked. Raven gave the best smile she could and nodded. The two continued to watch the sunset, their feelings for each other stronger than ever. But amidst all the feelings she had for Beast Boy, Raven couldn't stop thinking about Xander. The way she cheered for him on his run. She couldn't possibly like him, she loved Beast Boy. Right?
That was the end of chapter 5. Sorry I took so long to update. Stay tuned for chapter 6. Xander's old enemies start to reappear. How will this affect his new life? Read and Review.
