Who knew his head contained so many Beast Boys?

As soon as he closed his eyes and started chanting, the screaming started back up, like he had tuned in to an audio channel. Trying to disregard it, he stubbornly kept on, and between that and the sedative Cyborg had given him, he was able to keep it at bay.

"Rocks on the water, rocks on the water, rocks on the water..."

I'm good at this! Dude, I could do this all day.

Beast Boy's chanting stuttered a moment before it picked up again. He was thinking the words, he was saying the words – where was the other voice coming from?

I wonder what Raven's doing.

Another one?

I bet I look stupid, sitting here. Who cares?

No matter how much Beast Boy tried to focus on the chant, his own thoughts intruded, with comments and questions and observations. It was better than the screaming but it wasn't helping him block them out, and he wasn't making any effort on focus. And the harder the tried to concentrate, the louder the rogue thoughts in his head got.

Eventually, one of them started to help.

Raven wants me to concentrate. The only time I ever feel like I'm concentrating is when I'm about to morph. Is there any way I can feel like that, and not change?

The screaming, his own voices talking to him, the constant chant – it was starting to feel very crowded in Beast Boy's head. But he slowly relaxed into the feeling of the wonderful seconds before a shift where he felt like his entire being was balanced on sharp point, ready to spring or fly into a different shape, a different reality –

Here.

It took everything he had to keep chanting, hold the feeling, and not change, teetering on the brink – he had never tried to balance himself here before – his own voices were surrounding him, chattering in amazement, wondering how long he could stay like this, what his mantra would do for him now –

One voice became more distinct, drowning out the others, even eclipsing the more-distant screaming. It was deeper than Beast Boy's usual voice, and sounded unfamiliar. As the other voices became more blurred, it got more distinct, coming closer and closer.

Beast Boy realized what it was in the bare instant before a face reared up before him, over twice his size, with green fur, curled lips and sharp teeth. The face of an ape, only more savage, more bestial, more powerful. Its white eyes blazed like stars and it opened its mouth and emitted a roar that blasted Beast Boy backwards, throwing him out of own mind, reducing the screams to a smear of sound against his thoughts and shattering his concentration completely.

"LET ME OUT!"