I don't own Teen Titans! On with the show! Just to stay in the time frame thing I'm doing, chapter three takes place the next day!

BARCODE

Chapter 3: Food

11:00

OUTSKIRTS OF JUMP CITY,

FOREST REGION

His green eyes came open. He was covered with mud, shrouded in the foilage of the forest. It was day, but the canopy of trees kept it darker, like twilight when the sun was going down. He slowly stood on aching legs, licking at the wound on his forearm. He'd barely escaped the blast of the bomb, and had scampered into the forest as a cheetah. Speed. He'd needed something with speed and that's what he'd gotten. Now, he was normal again. Or was he normal? He was in the shape that he'd woken up in, but was that how he really looked? What did he really look like? He sat and pondered this on a log for a long time.

He was still pondering when he heard a deep growl. He stood immiediatly, looking around. His emerald eyes flashed back and forth, searching like a predator would for another predator. The growl was louder, closer… he looked down at himself. His stomach was making noise. Hungry. This thought came to his head and he grabbed the nearest tree. It was about as big around as a pool stick, and he chomped into it. He spat it back out with a disliking grunt, spitting and hissing with annoyance. He was hungry. He wanted food. He knew that much… but… what did food look like?

Suddenly, a sweet scent found his nose and he looked straight up. Above him was a banana tree. Dozens of golden bananas hung above him, and he quickly decided that was what he wanted to eat. Whether it tasted good or not. The bright colors attracted his eyes, and the sweet scent attracted his nose, and he began to drool as he started climbing. When he got as high as he wanted, he reached for them… reached… reached… reeeeeeeached……

Raven was walking through the forest, a small hiker's bag in her hand. Robin had insisted they all take one, just in case anything should happen. "No sign of him, Robin." She said into her communicator. "Any luck?"

"No." Robin's face appeared on the communicator. "Cyborg?" The communicator went split-screen and she saw Cyborg's face too.

"No way, man. This forest has to be like a hundred square miles. If he ain't lookin' for us, there's no way we're gonna find him." Cyborg shook his head, still looking all around.

Raven had told them what she'd seen last night at the military base, and they'd believed her only because they'd both seen the green tiger. Otherwise, they probably would've called her crazy. "Remember what I said. Kind of skinny, green, and one tooth that sticks out." Raven said.

"Man, how're we supposed to find some dude who's green in the woods?" Cyborg wanted to know. "He could 'prolly stand three feet away from me and I'd walk straight past him!"

"Use your heat scanners, then." Raven said, slightly annoyed that he hadn't thought of that.

"Oh… yeah… uhm… Cyborg out." He closed his channel on the communicator, and Raven rolled her eyes.

"Keep your eyes peeled. We don't know if he's friendly or not." Robin's face disappeared from Raven's communicator, and she flipped it shut. Right. Robin had insisted, after hearing about this 'green boy' she'd seen, that they come search the surrounding area. And, of course, the surrounding area just had to be a freaking green f –

Something crashed down on top of Raven with a cry! Raven threw up all her defenses, dropped her bag and bolts of black energy formed on her hands as she scrambled to get up! It was the green teenager from the night before! She'd found him! He was sitting there, rubbing his head with pain, then he stood. "I got one word for you, jolly green whatever-you-are." she said as she watched him pick up the bananas that had fallen with him. "Clothes." Being a teenager but also being Raven, a light blush crossed her cheeks when she stared at him. But, at the moment he seemed more interested in the bananas he'd gotten from the tree above. Sitting down on a nearby log, he dropped them all aside from one and bit into it. He paused for a moment, staring at it after he'd spat it out. It didn't taste good at all! "Oh for the love of–" Raven levitated a banana, which he found fascinating, and peeled it. Picking up another one, he followed the suite and sucked it down!

"Ahhh!" he said happily, picking up a second. Then, looking at her, he paused and stood up. Raven tensed automatically as he came forward, towards her. "Ahhh?" He said. Raven blinked at him, unsure of what he wanted. "Ahhh!" He stuffed the banana in her mouth before she could do anything about it! She staggered, spitting it out.

Seemingly satisfied that he'd returned the favor, he went back to his fruity pile of a meal. He ate a few more and she watched him with shock and fascination. It was like on TV when you watched one of those 'missing link' shows. But this was for real! And he was green! She couldn't seem to find her communicator, even though it was right in her pocket… he was so… primitive! But he couldn't be! …Could he? Why? "Wait… he spoke a little back at the base…" Raven held her chin between her thumb and pointer finger. She knelt in front of him, across from the pile of bananas. He offered her a second, but she waved her hands and he dropped it again. He seemed halfway intelligent. He understood universal sign language, at least. "Who are you?" she asked.

"Ahhh?" He offered her a banana when she spoke.

"No. Not banana. You."

"Ahhh?"

"You."

"Ahh?"

"Who?"

"Ahh?"

"Are?"

"Ahh?"

"You?"

"Ahhh!" He made to stuff another banana in her mouth but she blocked him and the other bananas exploded because of her powers! "AHHHHH!" He jumped back with a terrified scream! His meal had exploded all by itself! Was the rest, the part he'd already eaten, going to explode too? We he going to explode?

"Sorry… I guess…" Raven wiped some banana off of her cloak, standing again and coming near him to try again. "Here, try this." She reached into her hiking bag and produced a granola bar. "Mmmm… see? Eat this." She held it out for him to take. She watched his nose work itself and he leaned in, reeeeeally close to her. He was nose almost to nose with her… Raven actually found herself blushing. A five foot six, green, naked teenage boy was taking a reeeeeeally close look at her face, sniffing her. "The lavender incense…" She realized after a moment. "He's smells the incense on me…" She looked into his deep green emerald eyes. She could see instinctive intelligence there. A sort of cautious curiosity, like a small child would have when approaching a large dog. It bordered fear and interest at the same time. He leaned closer, looking closely into her eyes when –

"Raven! We heard screaming!" Robin and Cyborg burst from the thicket! Raven turned in surprise, unable to find words to say. "Did you find him?" Raven turned back to the green … where had he gone?

"You… just missed him." Raven said flatly, her hands falling back inside her cloak. She looked around for a few moments, then pulled her hood up to shadow her face. They searched for several more hours, fanning out in a random direction. She was the only one to notice, even when they were heading home for the day, that her hiking bag was missing. Oh well, they'd be back tomorrow anyway. Robin wanted this guy, who or whatever he was. And, it seemed, whenever Robin got an idea into his head, it stayed there.

THAT NIGHT…

B–407 sat at the top of the canopy of leaves. They were strong enough to support his weight, and he had dumped everything out of the hiking bag. He'd learned from the banana, and had 'peeled' the granola bar out of it's packaging so he could eat it. It wasn't as good as the bananas, but it was okay, he decided.

Sitting Indian style he went through the things he'd discovered. He'd snitched the pack from the gray, dark person he'd met to find out more about different things. There was a little circular thing with a red arrow inside. And, no matter how much he turned it, the arrow always pointed in the same direction. compass, to those that can't take a hint He soon grew bored with it and found a little rod with some strange liquid inside. The letters 'GLO-ROD' were written on the side, and he studied them. He shook it a little, tried to bite it open, then gave up and whacked it against his knee. Crack! The glow rod came to life! He cried out, dropping it. It glowed a bright green, illuminating everything for maybe ten feet around him. Absolutely awed by it, he stared at it for a long time. Happy that it would help him see in the dark, he kept it in his lap as he rooted through the other things. Licking the wound on his arm again, he came across something with more writing on it. 'THE ABSOLUTE IDIOT'S GUIDE TO CAMPING,' it read.

FLASHBACK SO THE AUDIENCE WILL REMEMBER SOMETHING

"You said he was complete." Mr. Logan gestured with his silver lighter before pocketing it.

"Physically yes! What're you getting at? All we've programmed him to be capable of is basic reading skills!" Kathari cried desperately.

END OF FLASHBACK

"Thhhhhhhh-ee…" he said aloud. "Ab….absooooo….looooooote…." he soon grew bored just trying to read the front, and opened it. To his annoyance, there was more of the lettering inside. He looked at the pictures instead. He saw people inside, and tilted his head. They weren't green like him. But peach colored. Mud colored. And one was kind of tan like wet sand. Were people all different colors? That person he'd seen a few hours ago was a sort of pale grayish sort of color… maybe so! (He suddenly didn't feel so bad about being green.) He shrugged his shoulders, turning a few more pages. He saw several people sitting around a campfire… bugs of every shape and size… ways to set up a tent… birds of all sorts… everything that had to do with camping. Tilting his head the other way, he closed the book and set it aside. Going back to his glo-rod, he waved it around, making shapes in the air and laughing to himself at how fun it was. Then, the stars caught his eyes. He stared at them almost drunkenly, dropping his glo-rod. They were beautiful… He lay on his back with his book, half-eaten granola bar, glo-rod and a few other things, staring up at them. Little dots up in the sky, glittering at him… they really were…… beautiful………

He slid off to sleep.

So… have I still got people interested? I hope so, because the story's not over yet! He doesn't even have his name yet! Will Raven tame B-407, or will Robin and Cyborg find him first? Find out in the next chapter! Review if you would please, so I know this story's being read by other people! Thank you!