I sincerely apologize for the belated update. I am scum. Yes, quite literary scum, but scum nonetheless. This humble scum promises that the next and final update will be on schedule.

Now, for the answers to last chapter's trivia: Aside from Trigon, the Satanic offspring consisted of (In order of appearance): Lucifer Jr., subject of the Rolling Stones song "Sympathy for the Devil," Beelzebub, Lord of the Flies, Him, of Powerfuff Girls fame, Little Nicky, from the movie of the same name, Rakdos the Defiler, guildmaster of the Clan of Rakdos and obligatory inclusion from Magic: the Gathering, and Martha Stewart. Oh, you know she's evil.

Enjoy the next-to-last chapter, everyone!

DISCLAIMER: We, the personalities of Overactive Mind, in order to form a more perfect fan fiction, establish justice, preserve ownership rights, provide for the common entertainment, promote high-quality television, and secure the blessings of comedy to ourselves and our posterity do disclaim and relinquish all rights to Teen Titans, the Metroid video game franchise, Dragonball, Volkswagen, the Rolling Stones, Little Nicky, Martha Stewart Enterprises, and any and all Judeo-Christian scripture.

ILLMISSYOUALLILLMISSYOUALLILLMISSYOUALLILLMISSYOUALLILLMISSYOUALL

A wintry Cyborg-sent Ice Spreader met a massive blast from Starfire. As the subzero missile met the white hot plasma, there was a massive flash of light, reminiscent of the one emitted by the currently absent Robin. This one, however, carried with it a much different effect.

After the flash dimmed, an observer could see that both the Chozo-powered mechanoman and the berserk Tamaranean were encased in thick ice, as was much of the area around them. Starfire was still airborne, a chilly pillar supporting her in place of boundless, mad glee. For a moment, all was quiet, the creak of ice in the summer sun the only sound.

Then, the icy casing around Cyborg began to recede, as though being drawn into the Cyberia Suit. In fact, the frigid crystal was being absorbed and reconverted into blue mana by the Mox Sapphire. As the suited teen eased himself out of his brief period of cold storage, the mighty column holding up Starfire began to hiss ominously, steam pouring from cracks along the cryogenic chrysalis atop the structure. A massive boom ripped through the area as Starfire explosively emerged from her icy prison.

The girl was unrecognizable from the being that had entered the casing, making her far more recognizable as Starfire, Princess of Tamaran. Her hair was largely back to its familiar russet tone, with only the tips still the Super Saiyan-ish blonde. As Cyborg watched, the last bit of blonde faded from one strand, allowing it to fall from its hirsute spike and fall into Starfire's face. The aura of concentrated heat that once surrounded the girl was no more, as evidenced by her shivering and tooth-chattering, both throwing off the air of menace she was trying to give, still locked in a battle stance.

Cyborg's state of intrigued analysis was broken only when the Tamaranean gave a wordless battle cry and dove at him, Starbolts charged in each fist. He readied his arm cannon, but was interrupted by a cry that was carried not by so mundane a medium as atmosphere, but the celestial fundament itself:

"STARFIRE!"

With this thundering call, the air above the two combatants distorted, briefly opening to reveal a realm of ineffable, non-Euclidean beauty. From it emerged the angelic Robin, diving like a humanoid peregrine falcon. She did not spread her wings as she neared the ground, instead using all her momentum to slam her Pearl-enhanced Birdablade into the ground between Cyborg and Starfire. From this impact arose a shimmering, iridescent barrier, spreading in every direction to form a seemingly infinite plane.

Starfire, unfortunately, was also in the middle of a dive as this happened, as ended up smashing into this energy face first. Both her skull and the barricade held, and she slid down it with a sound like a wet finger dragged down a window. Rising, she proceeded to deliver a very painful-looking series of blows and blasts to the wall, which never even reacted to these strikes.

Cyborg readied his cannon for when the barrier would inevitably fail, but Robin lowered his arm. "She's gonna break through at some point!" insisted the suited one.

"No," replied the Angelic Warrior. "Wait and watch, my friend. You will see."

Cyborg easily noticed the unusual harmonics and echoes of that voice, one that was more implanted directly into the mind rather than going through the ears. "Robin?" he cautioned.

"In part," replied the angel. "We have reached something of a compromise, a symbiosis, if you will."

"Just promise me you'll take off the Mox Pearl after this is over." There was an uncomfortable pause, marked only with Starfire's assault on the protective plane. "One of you better say something."

"I will." This reply came only with the slight echo that appeared to be part of Robin's angelic form. Robin couldn't see Cyborg's face behind the suit's visor, but she could feel the look he was giving her. "I needed the Mox Pearl's knowledge as well as its power to pull off that trick," Robin rationalized. "It was the best way to ensure we could save Starfire with minimal energy to any party."

The half-bot sighed. "I guess you're right. Just don't risk your own awareness next time you pull a stunt like that."

"Agreed." With that, the two turned to see Starfire's progress. The alien lay on her knees, exhaustion clear on every part of her body. She still weakly beat the boundary between her and her teammates, but soon slumped to a prostrate position. As the last bit of blonde faded from her hair, the princess lapsed into merciful unconsciousness. Robin sheathed her sword and removed the Ruby from Starfire's neck. Spreading her wings, the angel turned to Cyborg and proclaimed, "I'll get her back to the tower. You clean up the place." With that, she flapped off.

Cyborg looked around. Ice as far as the eye could see, and then some. He sighed and said to the Sapphire, "I don't suppose you could take care of this?"

ATTHEJUNGLEFIGHTATTHEJUNGLEFIGHTATTHEJUNGLEFIGHTATTHEJUNGLEFIGHT

The fight between beast and demon was proving to be something of a stalemate. Whenever the demon tried to snuff the beast's life force, the Mox Emerald regenerated it. Whenever the beast attempted to smash the demon to pulp, the smaller, agile being was able to dodge the clumsy blows. Death hexes were deflected by keratinous growths. Tail swings were risen over. On one very memorable occasion, a loogie the size of a Volkswagen Beetle was barely deflected telekinetically. Each breathing heavily, both combatants now charged one another in a final gambit for dominance in this battle of both life and death made flesh.

It was at this point the Mox Ruby hit its exhaustion point, sending a feedback pulse to each other Mox. In the case of its allies, the Emerald and Jet, this feedback was negative, resulting in a massive drain on their own mana supplies. In order to conserve their power and maintain sentience, each reflexively shut down all spells they were maintaining. What all this gobbledygook means for Beast Boy and Raven is this: They turned back into Beast Boy and Raven.

Thus, the mutual lunge for the throat turned into a tearful embrace. Each held the other tightly, protectively, never wanting to let go…until they opened their eyes. That was when both teens realized they were clad solely in their underwear, at which point they promptly released one another and averted their eyes from each other, blushes ripe on both sets of cheeks.

"Um," Beast Boy muttered awkwardly, "how exactly did this happen?"

"Not entirely sure…" returned a reddened Raven.

FLASHBACKTHEFIRSTFLASHBACKTHEFIRSTFLASHBACKTHEFIRSTFLASHBACKTHEFIRST

Raven paused as more and more cognitive power slipped out due to the Emerald's influence. "I'm hot."

Desperately trying to keep her train of thought on rapidly melting tracks, Raven concentrated harder than she could ever remember Since she was drawing all available brainpower into this thought process, that span was about ten minutes. Because of this, she didn't notice as her body automatically divested itself of excess clothing to ease the uncomfortable heat, namely, her cloak and leotard.

FLASHBACKTHESECONDFLASHBACKTHESECONDFLASHBACKTHESECOND

"Raven…" Beast Boy growled, his voice much deeper than usual as he and Emerald battled for control, "I won't be able to fight it much longer. Run. Get the others. HURRY!" This final cry was more howl than shout.

"No," she said adamantly, despite the tears welling in her eyes. "You helped me when the Jet overwhelmed me." Raven rose, black aura enshrouding her hands as power glowed from her eyes. "I'm returning the favor."

It's your funeral, chorused the Emerald, as it finally broke Beast Boy. Screaming with pain and rage, he expanded, Spandex-rippingly changing into the Man-Beast. Indeed, the Emerald had such total control, even the smidgen of concentration needed to convert the uniform along with the rest of Beast Boy was gone. The changeling's mind was barely able to change his boxers before totally succumbing to the greater psionic presence.

BACKINTHEPRESENTBACKINTHEPRESENTBACKINTHEPRESENTBACKINTHEPRESENT

"So…" Beast Boy began again, "should we call the others?"

"That depends," drawled Raven, indicating her quick recovery from embarrasment. "Do you know where your communicator is?"

"Uhh…do you?"

"Yes, actually."

"Really?" In his excitement, the changeling turned to face Raven. "Where?"

"Eyes forward, buster!" she snapped. "It's in my cloak. Let me get it."

Beast Boy waited patiently for her to retrieve the device. Once he heard her sit back down, he'd figured out what had been bothering him. "Hey, Raven?"

"What is it?" she asked, though calmly.

"How did you know I was looking at you?"

LETSLETTHEMSORTTHATOUTLETSLETTHEMSORTTHATOUTLETSLETTHEMSORTTHATOUT

Robin swooped into the Tower common room, Starfire in her arms. Laying the alien on the couch lovingly, Robin's hand moved to the Mox Pearl. Hesitating for a moment, the angel looked at the gem, then at Starfire a few times. Finally, she lifted the chain attached to the Pearl, removing the gem. The white magic quickly faded from Robin's form, which transitioned from shapely angel back to svelte, but male, human.

Once his Y-chromosomes were restored, Robin breathed a sigh of relief. Starfire then began to stir, and he rushed to her side. "You alright, Star?"

"I believe so," she whispered sleepily, "I am merely very tired."

"Then rest," Robin said gently.

"Robin?"

He knelt down again. "What is it?"

She answered with a brief, sweet kiss on the lips. "You make a very beautiful female," she collapsed back on the couch, "but I prefer this Robin." With that, she fell back asleep, leaving the Boy Wonder stunned and speechless.

ANDBACKTOTHEPOOLANDBACKTOTHEPOOLANDBACKTOTHEPOOLANDBACKTOTHEPOOL

"Rassafrassin', gender-hoppin', self-important, paranoid little stoplight thinks he can just fly off with his girlfriend and leave me to do all the work." So Cyborg grumbled as chunk after chunk of ice was reabsorbed into the Sapphire. His dark mutterings were interrupted by a familiar face popping up on his visor. "Hey, Raven," he sighed, "what's up?"

"We kind of need a ride back," replied the image.

Cyborg paused. "Now I hope nothin' happened to my baby."

"Well…"

"If you let that grass stain drive the T-Car-"

"No, nothing like that-"

"He played with the buttons, didn't he? Man, he's worse than Starfire…"

"Actually, we just ran out of gas." Raven's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Now, are you going to keep insulting my boyfriend, or are you going to pick us up?"

"I'll pick you two up," Cyborg replied, "but only because you admitted BB's your boyfriend." He stretched out this last word to obscene lengths, but his laughter was interrupted by an observation. "Hey, Raven, is that a bruise on your neck, or-"

"Raven out," snapped the empath, cutting off the communication. She rubbed the hickey fondly. "He noticed," she said, turning to the changeling, "you owe me ten bucks."

"I heard. So what do we do until they get here?"

"Hmm, let's see." She tapped her bottom lip thoughtfully. "Two scantily clad teenagers in the middle of a hot, humid jungle, alone for an indefinite but brief period of time…" Beast Boy's eager grin grew wider with every passing phrase, "Let's do something I know you'll love." His smile now put his head at risk of falling of his shoulders. The empath lay back on the clearing's still lush grass. "Want to watch the clouds?"

Beast Boy opened his mouth, closed it, considered opening it again, and finally laughed and laid back so his head was next to Raven's while their bodies moved in different directions. "Sure."

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Well, just one chapter left to wrap things up, then this epic is over and done with. Send reviews, people, it's almost your last chance! Oh, and as trivia, guess what I based the disclaimer on!