To the people who thought Beast Boy's goodbye to Terra was abrupt: Remember, it's been at least a few years since Terra's betrayal. Beast Boy's had plenty of time to go through denial, anger, acceptance, and whatever the other two stages of loss are. It might be hives and dry cough. Anyway, Raven's presence acted as a catalyst for this, so he was able to rebound relatively quickly. Don't worry, he still feels for Terra, as will be indicated soon.

That said, it's time for the Mox Ruby, and red mana means one thing: Lots of fight scenes!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Teen Titans, Magic: the Gathering or Styrofoam. I also don't own the source of a certain battle cry used in this chapter. (See afternote.)

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Raven's words, instructing Beast Boy on the futility of reminiscing on Terra, were interrupted by a kiss. Beast Boy watched over his shoulder as the albums were folded, spindled, and mutilated by her surprise and joy. He pulled back, and told her, "I know. Terra will always have a place in my heart, but you are the person I love, Raven."

"Then, why-?"

"I was just saying goodbye." He gestured behind her, and she turned to behold the wrecked photographs.

Gasping, she said, "You didn't have to do that."

Beast Boy shrugged. "I wanted to. Now what do you say we go get the next Mox?"

Raven nodded, but held up a finger. (A/N: The index finger, you sillies!) "Just one thing before we do. That whole 'place in my heart' speech, where'd that come from?"

Beast Boy smiled and rubbed the back of his head. "I heard it that time Robin had the flu and Star made me watch soap operas with her."

Raven gave a ghost of a smile. "I was worried for a second. I thought you were actually becoming articulate." She went back to the doorway, turned, and said, "Come on, the others are probably waiting for us."

"Be there in a second." As Raven walked down the hall, Beast Boy whipped out his dictionary, flipped to 'articulate,' and read. A few moments later, he rushed out of the room, shouting "Hey!"

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After Raven and Beast Boy happily argued the breadth of his vocabulary, the Titans set off for what had unofficially come to be known as Terra's Cave. However, the term 'cavern' would better describe what they entered. The narrow tunnel that had led to the subterranean alcove had been widened in to a series of grand chambers that housed several armies worth of humans, humanoids, and blatant nonhumans alike. The ones who had excavated these catacombs were still at it: dwarves with pickaxes and drills, green-skinned humanoids with rocks and hammers, even strange beasts that looked like the offspring of a jaguar and an alligator that spat explosive bursts of fire at the walls, leaving molten shrapnel in their wake. All could just be seen in the distance as the continued to expand beneath an unknowing city.

Within the areas they had already cleared, life thrived. More of the pumagators nosed about, barbarians sparred and drank, and all sorts of combat and carousal were taking place, with a population so large that the unknowing observer might think the inhabitants had lived here for centuries, if not millennia.

Starfire was first to recover, gasping with joy. "This greatly resembles the feast hall of the palace on Tamaran!" Her eyes misted over with nostalgia. "I can almost hear the gorka pipes…"

Cyborg nudged Beast Boy. "Hey, BB," he said, "I think I see your grandpa!" He pointed a metal finger at one of the green-skinned beings. With the skin coloration and pointy ears, combined with the baldness, warts and general decrepitude, they did indeed look like elder versions of the shapeshifter, albeit with noses a toucan would be proud of.

Raven set her mechanized friend straight. "They're goblins. They've practically evolved to destroy anything they get their hands on, and to be total annoyances." She paused, her gaze alternating between Beast Boy and the innumerable goblins in the grand area before the heroes.

Beast Boy's ire rose as this continued. "Hey, at least I don't have a banana sticking out of my face!"

"Uh, guys…" Robin began.

"We do know you're gonna go bald, you know," Cyborg noted.

"Hey! That was only one possible future." The changeling protectively put his hands to his scalp. "The fate of my hair is not set in stone!"

"Guys…"

Starfire joined the debate. "Friend Beast Boy shall lose his hair as he ages, but not to the extent that those creatures have." Beast Boy's face brightened in hope. "I would estimate only eighty percent of his scalp was hairless when I followed Warp to the cold, unpleasant future that will hopefully not take place." The shapeshifter's expression fell to remorse once more.

"Titans!" Robin called. The others finally paid attention to him. "Incoming!" Indeed, a swarm of the bald beings the other four had been discussing were charging towards them, grinning maniacally and brandishing unpleasant-looking chunks of metal.

As per the laws of narrative, someone, in this case Cyborg, looked at Robin and said, "Why didn't you say so?" After this nod to convention, the Titans assumed combat stances, prepared to plow through the charging green tide.

Plow they did. Starbolts sent a dozen goblins flying at a time, bones broken and limbs in disarray. Dark energy cleaved through the pests like a hot machete through Styrofoam. Sonic blasts literally made goblinoid heads explode from auditory abuse. Green cleaved through green as an elephant effortlessly charged through the ranks. Even a humble bo staff sent the creatures sprawling. Soon the Titans emerged virtually unscathed, an impressive pile of twitching and moaning corpses-to-be behind them.

Starfire nervously looked back at the heap of bodies. "Should we not feel guilt for ending so many lives?"

"They were just magical constructs, Star," Raven reassured the alien. To prove her point, the dying bodies quickly dissolved into a huge inferno, which in turn soon dissipated into nothingness. "See? Red mana losing focus."

"Aye," said an unfamiliar voice, "but we not be goin' tha' easily. Righ' boys?" The Titans turned to behold a significant number of bearded, axe-wielding figures before them. They would've been even more intimidating if they weren't each about three and a half feet tall.

Starfire crouched down to coo to one of them. "Oh, you are simply adorable! I must take you home and perform the overmaking apon you!"

The little man was rather unnerved, assuming this was some sort of bizarre big-folk torture method. He nervously swung his axe, and would've split open the princess's rib cage had Raven not pulled her back.

"Don't underestimate them," advised the empath. "These are dwarves. Six feet of skill and attitude concentrated into a body about half the size."

"More 'n six feet, missy," boasted the lead dwarf. His eyes narrowed. "Enough o' this jawin'! Attack!" With that cry, the dwarven army charged forth. Unlike the goblins before them, the dwarves had more to offer in battle than sheer numbers. Their use of tactics and terrain advantage enabled them to flank, surround, and separate each Titan.

Realizing the team was being split up, Robin called, "Star! Raven! Beast Boy! In the air, now!" as he parried a dwarven axe with his own Birdablade. (A/N: The sword he makes in "The End pt. 2 by connecting two Birdarangs.)

The three flying Titans tried to gain altitude, but each was met with a suddenly formed dwarven pyramid. The apex dwarf of each formation leapt on to a Titan, pestering (and, in Beast Boy's case, plucking) the flyer until he or she landed, even more distance put between the harassed hero/ine and any teammates.

(A/N: Warning: Lots of line breaks in quick succession coming up.)

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Robin watched in horror as his teammates fell from the sky, more separated than ever. Before his guilt could really hit, however, he noticed that his adversaries had stopped their assault. Looking around, he saw that the dwarves he had been fighting were arranging themselves into a circle, with him at the center. He stayed strong, assuming a combat stance for whatever challenge came next.

A low chuckle came through Robin's feet rather than his ears. Two identical warriors, human height and sporting fur-lined samurai armor, approached the Boy Wonder, each on the periphery of his vision. The chuckler, whirling twin serrated blades, boomed, "We fight, Seitaro?"

His twin nodded, brandished his naginata, and replied, "Yes, Shujiro. We fight." With that, the two charged the ever-ready teen.

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Distracted by unleashing a technological arsenal on his diminutive adversaries, Cyborg hadn't noticed the other Titans were blocked off until it was too late to do anything. At first, he thought the circle of dwarves was being formed due to intimidation, since he'd whipped out his energy chainsaw. (See "Mother Mae-Eye") Soon, he realized he was mistaken, as a storm cloud manifested itself in the upper reaches of the chamber. Lightning flashed through the nebulous haze, then collected and struck at the point Cyborg had been a moment ago. He wasn't harmed, but was still shocked to see that a the bolt had apparently contained a living person.

Decidedly female, her armor seemed designed to titillate as well as it protected. The mechanoman was further surprised when, upon closer inspection, her iron gauntlets and boots were in fact growing out of her flesh, each melding with the other about the elbows and knees. He couldn't analyze her astonishing anatomy any further, though, because she gave a harsh battle cry and rushed towards him, electricity crackling across her metallic hands.

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As she came to a harsh landing, a dwarf having unhooded and now attempting to decloak her, Raven muttered to herself, "Never before have I felt more hatred towards cheerleading," before telekinetically repelling her harasser. It was then she noticed a circle of dwarves forming around her. "What now?" she asked worriedly. Her answer was a piercing shriek from the upper reaches of the cavern. A blazing bird dove from there, thermally charged talons poised forward and aiming at the empath. Raven sighed. "I had to ask."

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After throwing off a dwarf who kept exclaiming, "Let's see who overmakes who!" Starfire noted the circle of the small humanoids surrounding her.

Looking around nervously, she saw one of them approach her, being treated almost reverentially by the others. "Who are you?" she asked.

The venerated dwarf sneered, flexing his joints with several audible pops. "I, missy, am mos' likely the las' thing ye'll ever see." With that, he drew a double-headed axe that was nearly as tall as he was, swung it speculatively, then, crying "T'dr'duzk b'hazg t't!" charged the alien.

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An incongruous green blue whale landed in the midst of a cookfire where a particularly interesting saga was reaching its climax. After shifting back to human form, Beast Boy frantically brushed off the embers that threatened to set his uniform, then noticed the circle of dwarves closing around him. What he didn't know was that this circle was somewhat wider than similar ones surrounding his friends, one of the reasons being that anyone who saw the changeling's signature Cetacean Slam move was always a little cautious afterward. The second reason made itself readily apparent as it burst out of a nearby rock outcropping.

The beast landed in the circle, much to relief of those near it. It was best described as muscular, carnivorous mix of ape and tortoise with a shell made out of cooling lava. Beast Boy could tell the substance was lava because several vents on the thing's back were still enthusiastically venting the stuff. Its mouth glowed with the volcanic fluid residing within. The changeling knew only one word could best describe his situation: "Dude…"

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That's right, folks! I just pulled a quintuple cliffhanger! Cybermuffins go to people who can guess any of the specified creatures that attack the Titans. You have seven opportunities: The first wave of goblins, the anonymous dwarves, and each Titan's personalized foe. Virtupie to the person who knows what Starfire's personal foe's battle cry means, and where it's from. Hope you enjoyed the action. Why not review and tell me how you felt? Online pastry is at stake!