At that moment something awful came out from behind the bushes and trees of the dense food.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HH!"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HH!" cried a strange, very green boy emerging from the plant life.

"What the-?" Robin began taking a step back.

"Who are you?" asked Starfire to the boy cowering before them.

"What are you?" asked Cyborg.

"Well whoever you are, get back, there are wild animals in the forest, and they are headed this way," Robin warned.

"Yes, terrible horrible beasts are headed this way! But never shall you fear, we will protect you," Starfire said.

"Wait, where are those animals anyway Cyborg?" asked Robin.

"I'm not sure, hang on yall," he replied.

Turning off sonic cannon, Cyborg flipped open his built in arm scanner. Who was this little green weirdo and where were those animals? After receiving the first scan results, Cyborg was skeptical. He had a theory, but he wanted to be sure. Scrunching his face and furrowing his brow, Cyborg ran another scan. When the results came back, Cyborg smiled. 'Yet another weird event to add to this very weird day', he thought.

"The animals are gone," Cyborg concluded," and before yall ask, just lemme finished," he added, noting the baffled faces of his friends, "the animals are gone, because they were never really here in the first place, after running another scan, I picked up some pretty weird results, they animals came from that guy," Cyborg stated, pointing at the green figure which emerged from the brush.

"My scanners picked up a weird DNA code on this guy. He's some kind of changeling, shape shifter, or something. The only question left is why he was following us."

Poking the boy's shoulder, Starfire asked, "Who are you green one? Why are you following us? Why did you have those strange earth animals follow us as well?"

"No Starfire, he doesn't have any animals, he is the animals," Robin said mimicking Cyborg's words. He hoped he sounded smart to Starfire when he spoke. Directing his words to the green boy this time, Robin said, "Hey, didn't you hear her? Who are you and why are you following us?"

At the sound of the friends' voices, the green boy tucked himself into a tighter ball, instead of answering their questions.

"Yo! Green bean, anyone home!" Cyborg shouted, waving his arms about.

Instead of tightening up further, the green boy laughed. Slowly, he untucked himself from the ball he was in, wildly glancing around, seeming in fear of something, or someone. The boy sat upright and tucked his knees to his chin and wrapped his arms around himself.

"H-hi, I'm, B-beast Boy," he said meekly, casting his eyes to the ground.

"Hello Beast Boy! It is most glorious to make your acquaintance; do you wish to be my friend?" Starfire cried, extending her hand to give him a hand shake.

"Eeep!" squealed the Beast Boy, throwing his arms over his head.

Sadly, Starfire pulled back her hand, "Do I offend?" she asked.

Putting a hand on her shoulder to comfort her, Robin shook his head no.

"It's alright Starfire," he said to her, "the guy is scared is all. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to ask him to be your friend… we still don't know why he was following us."

"Yeah, why were you following us, you little grass stain?" Cyborg asked.

Laughing again, Beast Boy took his arms off his head and wrapped them around himself once more.

"Haha, good one tin man," he said with a smile.

"Ha, thanks little dude, but I can't say the same for you. Tin man isn't exactly original," answered Cyborg with a smile.

Elbowing Robin in the sides, she whispered "Friend Robin, this Boy of the Beasts seems comfortable in Cyborg's presence; perhaps we should let him to the questioning, yes?"

Standing on his tiptoes to be on eye level with Cyborg, Robin relayed this information to Cyborg in a hushed tone. Then noting the suspicious gleam in Beast Boy's eyes, Robin said loudly, "I think Starfire and I are going to get some food, we're getting kind of hungry. We'll be back in a few."

Unable to lie well Starfire said in a strained, "Yes we shall go retrieve the proper nutrients for healthful consumption."

"Oh thanks yall, I was getting kind of hungry myself!" Cyborg said with a wink.

After Starfire and Robin left, Beast Boy let out a heavy sigh.

"Phew, that guy in the mask was starting to creep me out," he said.

"Oh he's not so bad, after you get to know him. But hey, what do I know, I just met the guy today!" Cyborg laughed.

"Haha, you're funny, man. It feels like I've known you for years! Well actually I did know a guy like you, a while back, his name was Robot Man. That was so totally awesome! But you, you're amazing!"

'This guy goes from being a cowardly human ball, to being a human chatterbox, jeez. I better find out why he was following us before Robin and Starfire get back,' Cyborg thought.

"I'm cool? Come on man, you were just three different animals in a row a few minutes ago! So uh, what was up with that anyway?" Cyborg asked.

"Oh, sorry about that man," Beast Boy replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck, something he tended to do when he was nervous, "but I just parted ways with my family, the guys from the Doom Circus, (A/N bear with me ;D ) I didn't have anywhere to go, and I'm used to being in groups. I saw you guys in the woods and turned into different animals so I could track you guys. I wanted to say hi, but uh, I'm not exactly the bravest guy in the world."

"Wait, you were in the Doom Circus, I recognize you man! You're the human circus dude! I saw your show back when…" Cyborg said trailing off.

'Back when I was human,' he mentally finished.

"You saw my show? Wow, that'so totally sick… dude," Beast Boy said with a wide grin.

"Well anyways, why us? Couldn't find anyone cooler?" Cyborg joked.

"You guys were the first people I could find, and I uh….I.." Beast Boy said, his turn to trail off this time.

"What is it man?"

"I came to warn you…"

"Wait- what? You came to 'warn' us? About what?"

"I came to warn you about the witch, the word is, there is a princess around here, and the witch is out to get her," Beast Boy whispered in an ominous tone.

"Princess? Well we don't know nothin' about no princess, so I guess we're safe."

"Well that's good. I'd like to be safe too… living in fear isn't exactly the most amazing life out there, you know?"

"Well hey little man, why I don't I take you up on what you said earlier?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well you wanted to join our group, right?"

"Dude, totally!"

"Then welcome aboard! We are trying to help Starfire get home, and well, it's gonna be pretty crazy. But with your shape shifting, I bet you could transform into lots of animals that are good at tracking," Cyborg said.

"You mean it? So we're like friends right?"

"Well….I'm a cyborg, I'm not human anymore. I don't have a heart, I don't know if I would make a good friend."

"That's bogus dude. I've only known you like ten minutes and I think you'd make a totally badass friend."

"Seriously man?"

"Duh!"

"Friends then, "Cyborg said with a wide grin. His new friends were great, but Robin definitely was more into Starfire than him. And Starfire, while Starfire was nice, Cyborg had to admit, the girl was odd.

"Dude, that's awesome!" Beast Boy yelled.

"Booyah!" Cyborg exclaimed.

Then the two sealed their new found friendship with a high five.


Meanwhile, somewhere wandering in the woods was Robin and Starfire. Walking side by side they searched for food. After a few minutes of walking, Starfire began plucking berries from a bush. Robin smiled. He was working up the courage to tell Starfire how much she meant to him. Not that he liked her… Did he?

'She's beautiful,' he thought, 'but she's also so much more than that. If it wasn't for her, I'd still be in that garden protecting crops! She's kind, she's thoughtful, hell, when we thought we were going to be attacked she was definitely brave. She makes me feel smart, even if I'm some brainless scarecrow. She's—'

"Friend Robin?" Starfire inquired, interrupting his train of thought.

"Yes Starfire?" he replied eagerly.

"I have found berries, do you think that they are proper for consumption?" asked Starfire, holding a hand full of berries.

Being a scarecrow, Robin became an expert on vegetation. If he had a brain, then this is all the information it had ever retained. Plucking one from her hand, he examined one, and then popped it in his mouth.

"They're perfect. Where'd you find them Starfire?"

"I found these curious orbs of consumption on the vegetive life over there," Starfire said pointing behind Robin.

As she took a step in the direction of the berry bush, Starfire's stumbled on a root on the ground and fell forwards. As quick as Robin's reflexes were, they weren't quick enough. As Robin extended his arms to catch her, the two made impact and Starfire came crashing to the ground, on top of Robin.

"Sorry!" they both cried at the same time.

Starfire looked down at Robin, and for a brief moment, Robin's masked eyes locked onto Starfire's emerald green eyes. The world seemed to slow down as Starfire lifted her hand to Robin's face. The soft wind blew Starfire's long red hair, and Starfire's eyes searched Robin's mask for any sign of emotion. Gently her hand came up to the side of Robin's face at the base of his mask.

"Friend…why do you wear this? What are you hiding behind there?" Starfire asked softly.

Her words entranced Robin, and starring into her eyes, Robin's heart stopped. He was lost for words, of all the moments for his nonexistent brain to fail him. Robin racked his mind for words, something, anything! He wanted to impress her, but his mind failed him.

"Robin…?" she asked, leaning in closer.

"Yes, Starfire…?" he breathed craning his head forward.

In that short moment, their lips for inches away. Robin could feel Starfire's breathe on his, and Robin longed to close the gap between them. Robin leaned in ever so slightly and his lips brushed against hers. Starfire let out a small gasp of surprise and looked down at him. Her eyes twinkled with an innocent glow.

"Friend Robin, what are you doing?" she whispered, their lips brushing ever so slightly as they spoke.

"I—uhm, nothing.. I was just-I um, I wasn't doing anything" Robin sputtered.

"Nothing? Does this mean nothing to you Robin?" she exclaimed, widly searching his masked eyes.

"No! I didn't mean it like that, I just meant that..."

"Meant what?" she demanded.

"I don't know..." he answered truthfully.

Slowly, Starfire dropped her hand and flew off of him over to the berry bush.

"Oh…perhaps we should collect the berries and return to our friend," she said softly as she turned away from him.

Robin slapped a hand on his head. What had he done? He was given a moment with Starfire and he ruined it. Angrily, he got up and brushed himself off. Before Robin could apologize, Starfire flew off, hands full of berries, and unknown to Robin, tears in her eyes.

"She wouldn't have been interested in someone as brainless as me anyways...I'm not good enough for a girl like her..." he whispered as the wind blew, carrying his doubts with it. Then he ran off to catch up with her.