Review response:

xino - Thanks for th review. I should have a chapter devoted mostly to the JLU with in the next five chapters, I'm just trying to get a good side story for them.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans or any DC character. I don't own Mega Man or his friends, but apparently Cadmus does. However, I do own Ghost Blade, Spirit Fire and Soul Drive.

Note: Don't be upset if the Titans obstacle course isn't the same as the one in the show.

P.S. If you haven't noticed by now, I only use the hero names when they're wearing their costumes.

Ch 15. Loving Stone

Cyborg starred down at the panting Gizmo. "You failed badly."

Nightwing looked up from the control panel. "You got 5:12, Gizmo. Not even Beastboy got that bad."

"Hey!" Beastboy piped in.

Gizmo's breathing calmed and he stood up straight. "No one can do it quick the first time!"

"Terra did it in 1:56." Beastboy objected.

"She's..." Gizmo began, but realizing that everyone knew the kind of comment he was about to make and the pain beginning to emerge from Beastboy, he changed his direction. "She's a special case."

There was a short pause before Nightwing pressed the reset button. "Jinx, you're up."

Cyborg and Gizmo walked to the others as Jinx took her place at the start of the obstacle course. "Good luck." Cyborg cheered to Jinx as the count down clock began.

The moment the clock hit zero, Jinx was off.

The first field she came to produced disks launchers. Jinx hexed each exploding disk and had them malfunction. On the second field, she did her best to stay balanced as the fists came out of the ground, but was sent stumbling every now and then. Because Jinx had no method of getting over the giant hole of the third field, she just ran around. As she came to the fourth field's guillotine like doors, she hexed them to stop, but not before leaving her only enough space to crawl under. After losing a lot of time because of crawling, she raced for the finish line.

"2:37." Nightwing called out.

Cyborg rushed over to Jinx and scooped her up in his arms. "You beat BB and Star."

"Supergirl." She looked up at Nightwing. "You can only fly on field three or to lift yourself up after you've fallen. Just so you know we only have this rule so it's fair for those who can't fly."

"What about super speed?" Supergirl asked.

Nightwing smirks. "The ground is uneven through the entire course and the fists are randomized. Kid Flash's best is 1:59." Nightwing looks down for a second. "Take your place."

Supergirl walks over to the starting area and is off as soon as the counter hits zero.

Supergirl knew she wasn't allowed to fly and obviously figured her super speed was more or less useless, so she paced herself and used her other powers. She melted the disk launcher with her heat vision, she avoided the fists as best as she could, but had to knock one down. Because she was allowed, she flew over the hole as fast as possible and landed a little past the edge. She punched through the guillotine doors and headed for the finish line.

Starfire squealed with joy as Nightwing called out two minutes and two seconds. "You have done very well, friend Kara." Supergirl smiles at Starfire as they walk back to the others.

"Valere, you're going to have to wait some time while the course repair it's self." Nightwing informs.

"It's okay." Valere responds. "I've got to rearrange a few things on me in preparation."

Valere, wearing all black, undid the clasps of the armlets he was wearing and tossed them to the ground. He untied the sash holding his ninja-to and dropped them next to the armlets. He removed his mask and goggles from a secret pocket in his kimono and tied them to his head.

At this point, Valere had attracted the attention of most of the Titans, however, it wasn't until after he had removed his kimono did he capture the full attention of Starfire, Jinx and Raven. Valere was bare chested.

"Friend Valere is sexy, yes?" Starfire asked, practically drooling over Valere's extremely toned chest. She continued to watch his muscles flex as he replaced his armlets.

"I'll never agree with you more then now." Jinx responded. She slowly turned to give an evil smile to an emotionally hurt Cyborg.

Raven blushed a little when she noticed that Starfire had caught her staring at Valere.

Only Supergirl didn't appear to care for Valere's physique.

Valere tied his sash at the ends of his sheath and then tied the sheath across his back. He stretched a little and then looked up at Nightwing.

"The course is ready." Nightwing said.

Valere took his mark and took deep breathes as the clock counted down. The moment the timer hit zero, Valere took a second to grab several shuriken out of a pocket on the side of his army pants.

Valere bolted ahead and hopped across the uneven terrain with such speed and grace that he appeared to be gliding over the ground. He didn't even wait for the disc launchers to appear before throwing his shuriken and when they did appear, not one throwing star missed it's intended target. He sped on to the second field.

Valere didn't detour from his course when the ground in front of him started to shake, he stepped right on it. The fist shot straight up and propelled Valere clear over the other fists. His descent began as the ground opened up under him.

Valere shot his arms out to his sides and in front of him. A grappling hook shot out of both his armlets and embedded themselves at the half way point. He swung down, into the hole, and back out. He was a short way away from the edge, so he disconnected the lines and was once more airborne. He landed running and sped onto field four.

Valere passed under the first guillotine door without trouble. However, with the second door, he jumped up and cut the door's cord. The door slammed to the ground and Valere hopped off of it. As he neared the last door, he drew his sword and cut though it. He landed, running again, and continued on.

Valere realized that he was going to beat the course record by a second and he could feel all the positive anticipation within everyone watching. Everyone wanted to see if he'd beat the record, except one. One person didn't want him to.

Considering the person who set the record wasn't among those watching him, he reasoned that there had to be a good reason behind this negative anticipation. So, he would have to lose two seconds.

Valere stumbled and everyone noticed.

He fell forward into a roll and came to his feet running. He had lost two seconds.

Valere crossed the finish line with 1:57. Sweat dripped from his mask and goggles as he removed them. Starfire flew up to him and hugged him excitedly. "Friend Valere, you have beaten everyone here. Good work, yes?"

The others came up to him. Raven spoke next. "Congratulations. You're the best here."

"I deserve no recognition of this type. I wasn't able to beat the record." Valere stated honestly.

"Lately, you've done the best." Nightwing pointed out. "But, what I want to know is what made you fall?"

"I fell on my own accord, because it took me less time to do then to try and regain my balance." Valere answered. "But, I stumbled because I got sidetracked."

Valere listened to everyone's comments, but he was paying most of his attention to Beastboy. He was radiating a sense of relief.

Valere was going to have to find out the connection between Beastboy and this Terra.

(--- --- ---)

Possibly for the first time in his life, Beastboy wasn't arguing with Cyborg about supper, or food in general. He wasn't even anywhere near the organic/mechanical hybrid for that matter. In fact, that last thing on his mind was food.

He was sitting down on a small beach on Titans Island. He was thinking about Terra again. Lately, she was all that seemed to be on his mind.

Beastboy was finally pulled from thought when his keen hearing picked up on humming. He turned around to find Valere walking up to him and humming.

"Raven's told us the little she knows about your powers and I'm sorry for distracting you." Beastboy apologized.

"You didn't distract me." Valere responded. "I just told everyone that so they wouldn't ask me why I choose to lose those two seconds."

"Huh?" Beastboy was confused, but got it eventually. "Why'd you do that?"

Valere shrugged. "You didn't want me to beat Terra's record, so I didn't." He smiled evilly. "However, I think you own me an explanation."

Beastboy seemed hesitant, but caved reluctantly. "Terra's statue still stands in a cave, but that record is the only thing that's still reminds us everyday of her. I don't think we'll ever be able to help her and without that record, I'm afraid I'll forget her."

"You loved her, didn't you?"

Beastboy looked at Valere and it was apparent that BB was on the verge of crying. He slowly nodded.

A faint smile appeared on Valere's lips. "I'd like to meet her if you don't mind."

A faint smile also appeared on Beastboy's lips. "Alright, but not right now. We've got to go eat supper."

The two turned towards the tower and started back, but with Beastboy around, silence doesn't last. However, it was not a joke that escaped his lips. "What was that song you were humming?"

Valere smiles. "It's a lullaby that I wrote for my little sister when she was a baby. I sang it to her every night when she went to bed."

"You loved your sister a lot?" Beastboy more stated then asked.

Valere closed his eyes. "She was the only one for me to love while I was growing up."

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