Chapter 4

The scene played through my mind again. My neck—kicked and bruised. First glimpse. Hands sliced open. Toes broken. Other nasty stuff.

All of this thinking was making me sick, and at the very worst time, because I was fighting an enormous freaky-guy made out of blocks that are usually used for construction, AKA cinderblocks.

Well, you have to admit, it's an original idea.

I morphed into an ape, punching the concrete monster with all my might. Bad idea.

I let out a grunt of ape-y pain and fell back.

C'mon, Beasty. You've seen worst.

Starfire zipped forward, her hands blazing with green energy, and socked the creature with much more success than an ape. The dent in it was staggering, and I had to smile. I began forward, transforming myself into a cheetah. Faster, faster, faster—speed felt like all that mattered. And the hunt. Can't forget about that.

Of course, I didn't make it. Raven smashed the concrete creep with a telephone pole, cracking it's arm. Which reminds me: who pays for all this stuff?

Finally, on opposite ends, Robin and Cyborg initiated a classic. The disc whirled towards Cinderblock, and the beam of energy…beamed. There was a blast of light, and the stone thing lay there, crumbling. Ouch.

Cyborg laughed. "Alright, we got 'em! Group hug!"

A look of horrid uneasiness overtook the entire group.

"Just joking. You guys take life waaaaay too seriously. Let's go back to the Tower."

"Yeah, I think we can order some pizza if you guys want," Robin said, beaming.

"Tacos." My announcement was sudden, and extremely unexpected. One: I hadn't spoken in days, and two: when it came to pizza, no one had the guts to challenge the Red Bird of Pappa John's.

"Uh…no Beast Boy. Pizza. Everyone agree?"

Starfire flew over to Robin while Cyborg walked to me. Raven stayed in the middle, frankly not really giving a damn.

"We have pizza every day."

"That's because we get it for free! Wayne Enterprises owns Pizza Palace, remember?"

"Meaning?"

"They back us financially," Cyborg explained. I raised an eyebrow in annoyance. "You always said for me to handle the money stuff, didn't you? So I do. But I still want tacos!"

"Can we not settle this with peace? Robin and I shall take the pizza, while the rest of the group will have tacos."

Everyone nodded in mutual agreement, and the deal was made.

---

The plumber exploded. You can't blame me, though. That's what you get when you have a video game crossover between Gundam and Mario. Exploding pumbers.

"Is this game not rated 'M' for mature audiences? I believe only Cyborg is old enough to be playing this game of violent sewage examiners."

"No one actually listens to that ESRB crap." I murmured, transfixed with the game. "Now leave Beast Boy alone. He must play game." I made a fake zombie moan and looked back on the couch. Raven was sitting there, reading a book of Grimm's darkest fairy tales. Starfire was on the couch too, only staring at the video gaming.

"Don't look at me," Raven said, sounding emotionless.

My character, without my own doing, leaped off of a cliff and I shot a dirty look at Raven, who was reading her book like nothing had ever happened.

I killed Sandpipe Gundam twice, discovered the Plumber Zero system…twice, and eventually killed Quatre Reberba Wario.

"This is the worst crossover game ever," Raven finally admitted. "It has no plot except for violence. The only spoken lines are 'I have to kill you now" and 'Ouch-a!', and the game looks like my little sister could play it!"

"But you don't…have a little sister."

"I know."

The doorbell rang, interrupting this most urgent conversation.

"Pizza. I'll get it!" Robin exclaimed. The taco-lords (me, Cy and Raven) had fortunately already eaten. Tacos.

He dashed to the door, an enormous grin on his face. Raven stared at him with an odd look on her face.

"What, do you like him now?" I muttered. My giant robot's head fell off as I said this, then an enemy Gundam picked it up. Pulled the pilot out, and ate him. Robin was walking back in. Raven was rolling her eyes at the game and trying desperately to read the book up into this point, but when Robin walked in she had the same look as when he left.

I turned away.

"Hey, Star! The pizza's--"

I turned my head immediately. Robin screamed as the pizza box and everything ten feet of it were engulfed in a cloud of fire. I watched in pure terror as the smoke cleared. There was low breathing noise coming from what looked somewhat like Robin.

"I can't breath," I admitted. "I can't…"

Raven looked at me, worry in her eyes. Did she know this was going to happen? "Breath." The panic attack ended, and she turned to Robin. "I'm going to heal him. Call the hospital."

"What was the…Robin!"

Tears streamed down.

The Titan codenamed Robin was out of action, and could be forever.