I know, I know. You can yell at me all you want in the reviews. Just keep in mind that I haven't forgotten about this story, I've just been very busy lately. Rest assured, this fic will not go unfinished. If there's one thing I can't stand, it's unfinished fics.

By the way, I did the little 'Templar Poll' in the last chapter, and thanks to everyone for your feedback! Most answers came down to 'I like all of them.' The only two who were actually singled out were Eutonos and Evad. I'm not that surprised, since you saw more of them than anyone else. I asked because they were my own, and I just realized that I could write an original story with them if I wanted! However, you won't see too much of them after this chapter. (You'll see why soon) I try not to use OC's too much, as they can be a turnoff for readers.

Anyway, enough of my rambling. On with the story!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 13: Welcome Party

The rest of the day passed rather awkwardly for both Beast Boy and Raven. Not much was said between them, but there sure were a lot of blushes, stolen glances, and awkward pauses. If the rest of the team had noticed, which they probably did, they didn't bother to ask them about it. And Beast Boy was thankful for that. The last thing either of them needed at this point was people prying, and Raven would probably need a lot of time to think this over. While Beast Boy was borderline heartbroken, until Raven actually said 'no', he knew there was some hope. Even still, with his head once more being filled with a flood of thoughts and emotions, the rest of the day seemed a blur, and finally the next day came. This was also the day in which the Templar would finally be able to go home.

After packing their things (and Worek making sure he had written down everything he'd learned), the Templar were ready to go back. They had to go back to the location they'd come in, and the Titans all decided to accompany them for safety. Even Jinx, after some convincing from Cyborg, decided to tag along. Once they had arrived at the still-ruined site of the building, goodbyes and handshakes were exchanged.

"Well, it was nice meeting you," Robin said as he shook Eutonos's hand.

"Likewise," he replied warmly. "I'm sorry we couldn't have met under better circumstances."

"It couldn't be helped," Robin said with the faintest trace of a grin. "But it's been fun. Good luck."

Off to the left, Beast Boy and Evad were still saying farewell.

"Dude, you were a great partner. Sorry ya had to leave so soon," Beast Boy said as he shook hands. "I'll miss you."

"You too. Remember those tips I told you!" Evad said with a wide grin.

"I definitely will! Just remember mine!" Beast Boy said back.

The gray-cloaked mage turned timidly toward Jinx. "I uh, I'm sorry we got off to such a bad start."

The pink-haired villain rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Whatever. Just be glad you're leaving so soon, otherwise I might hold a grudge."

He perked up a little. "So, does that mean…you forgive me?"

"Yeah, consider yourself forgiven. But if you ever run into us again, don't be surprised if several 'accidents' happen to you," she said with a mischievous grin. He gulped nervously but managed a smile all the same.

Once everyone was done, the Templar leader pulled the pyramidal crystal out of his pocket.

"Alright, here it goes," he said. He gently held out the small thing in front of him while everyone behind him watched curiously. He placed his other hand over it, and started reciting an incantation in a language none of the Titans had ever heard. "Exerkomai, kai hada!" he said forcefully. Nothing happened at first, but not two seconds after he recited this, the crystal started to hum and then glow a faint blue color.

"Pros Pantara, Basilon!" After he said this, the crystal glowed brighter, and soon a bright blue ray shot out of it. The ray stopped in midair and became a small glowing orb, which quickly exploded outward and became a large, swirling vortex. Behind, everyone stared at it in awe.

"That's fancy," Beast Boy murmured under his breath. The tall templar turned around and addressed his crew.

"Everyone ready?" he asked. Just then, a loud sound from behind interrupted them. It sounded almost like a cross between a rumble and a growl, and it sounded like it came from the portal. Everyone turned their heads toward the portal, and before anyone could say anything, the sound happened again, only louder. "That's odd," Eutonos said as he looked at the portal curiously.

Just then, Beast Boy's animal instincts kicked in, and they told him something was very wrong.

"Guys, what's going on?" he asked out loud. The sound came again, only this time it was more like a roar, and it didn't stop.

"Something's wrong! Something's amiss!" Eutonos said loudly as he motioned for everyone to get back. Suddenly, the portal in front of them shifted from a bright blue to a dark, bloody red.

"Titans, get out of here!" Robin shouted. But it was too late, just then a huge whirlwind kicked up out of nowhere and started sucking everything around into the portal, including the teenagers.

Evad and his brother were the first to go. Being taken off guard and having nothing to grab onto, they were sucked screaming into the portal. Eutonos, showing an amazing amount of calm, managed to grab onto a support beam and take hold of Worek, but his grip was quickly slipping. Phanos had tried to grab a hold of something, but he was quickly pulled in. Jinx was picked up off her feet as well, and would have surely been sucked in had Cyborg not suddenly grabbed her. As the seconds passed, the wind became even stronger. Robin was taken by surprise, and his footing slipped.

"Robin!" Starfire shouted. She instinctively reached out to grab a hold of him, but in doing so she lost her grip on Cyborg, and she and Robin were both dragged in.

Meanwhile, Raven had tried to summon up a shield to protect them, but the sudden pick up in strength had knocked her off balance. Her concentration was broken as she instead desperately tried to find something to grab onto. When her search came in vein, she was pulled, nails scraping, toward the swirling vortex. It would have been the end had a gloved hand not shot out and grabbed her. Raven looked up to see Beast Boy holding onto her firmly while the other hand held onto an idle cable attached to the wall.

Eutonos tried to keep his grip on the beam, but as the wind kept tugging. A large piece of plaster flew up and hit him squarely in the back of the head. It wasn't that much, but it was enough to send him into a daze and loosen his grip. That was all it took for him and Worek to be sucked in. Now, only Cyborg, Jinx, Raven, and Beast Boy remained.

Beast Boy's mind raced with what to do. 'Transform into something big, you idiot!' his mind shouted. But if he did that, he could lose his grip on Raven! Alas, he didn't have much time to debate. The wind picked up force again, and the cable he was holding onto ripped out of the wall. At the same time, the beam Cyborg held onto ripped from its already-loose seams. With nothing else to save them, the remaining four were all sent screaming into the swirling abyss.

Beast Boy felt as if he was being thrown across the universe at a billion light-years per second! Everything seemed to be one big glowing blur. He wasn't even aware what was going on, he just wanted it to stop. And stop, it did. Almost as soon as he was sucked into the portal, he felt himself drop and hit the ground – hard. Around him, he could hear the groans of his comrades as they too recovered from the shock. He looked to his right and saw the prostate forms of Jinx and Cyborg. The first thing he noticed after that was that it was very dark – it had to have been night, and they were definitely outdoors. The ground he was on was kind of rocky, but it was definitely natural. Off to the distance, he heard the sound of running water, like a river of some kind. Wasting no more time examining the ground, he looked up, and to his sheer surprise, saw a pair of hairy, clawed, wolf-like feet standing on the ground in front of him. Beast Boy looked up apprehensively, and immediately regretted it.

It was almost pitch black, but a yellowish light from several blazing torches lit up the place. That light revealed that they were surrounded – on every side – by things. He's never seen anything like them before in his life. Whatever they were, the closest thing that came to his mind was a hyena. Actually, that's what they looked like – giant hyenas that walked on two legs. That wasn't the strangest part. All of them were wearing clothes or armor of some kind, and they all carried various menacing weapons that ranged from swords and axes to spears and things he didn't even recognize. Despite their animalistic appearance, the sadistic, hungry intelligence behind their eyes indicated they clearly weren't animals. The one nearest him stood over him menacingly. They were all in some kind of low valley or pit, and surrounding it were stony pillars that jutted out from the ground. Above them all was a starless sky, but the only light came from hundreds of circling red eyes.

Now scared out of his wits, Beast Boy frantically looked to his left, this time he saw Eutonos, and Starfire and Worek lying next to him. The templar leader looked up and around, eyes widening immediately. The look in his eyes told Beast Boy that he had a lot better an idea of what was going on than him, and that didn't make him feel better at all. He looked around frantically to find Raven, but couldn't see her among the darkness and mass of bodies.

"Wha-Where are we?" he asked out loud. Just then, a cold, piercing laughter echoed in the night air around him. It was low and menacing, and laced with malice and sadism.

"I know that laugh," Eutonos muttered fearfully, his eyes widening even more, and looking afraid for the first time since Beast Boy had seen him.

"Very good, Eutonos. Still the wise one, I see," a sinister voice said. The Titans didn't hear the voice in their ears so much as in their heads. Beast Boy's heart started pounding rapidly as the terrible voice spoke. He looked around to see where it was coming from, but couldn't see anything.

"Calabos," Eutonos muttered hatefully. At that, Beast Boy's heart leapt. Calabos? The towering, black, fanged monstrosity he had seen in the vision?

"How did you-" the templar leader started to ask, but he was cut off.

"Never use another sorcerer's tools, Eutonos. Especially one who used to serve me," the voice said mockingly. "You of all people should know that." It gave another sinister laugh, which was accompanied by the high-pitched, hyena-like laughter of all the surrounding creatures. "But no matter. Now that I finally have you where I want you, I'll be able to get you out of my way once and for all. Oh, I see you've brought friends with you, too. Pity they'll have to suffer the same fate as you."

"NO!" the templar shouted desperately as he propped himself up. "Let them go! They aren't your enemies. They aren't your concern-"

"How compassionate of you. But you should have known better than to get them involved with you in the first place."

The templar narrowed his eyes and scowled. "Calabos…you can kill us, but you'll never win."

The voice laughed a third time. "As usual Eutonos, you're only half-right." There was a short pause, as the creatures around them got ready to spring. By this time, Robin was already getting to his feet, and so was everyone around Beast Boy.

"Kill them."

Beast Boy didn't need any more initiative to get to his feet. He did it just in time too, for just as he moved, a sharp spear pierced the ground where his head had been. He sprang to his feet instantly and faced his attacker. He didn't give the 'thing' time to strike again, for he quickly connected his fist to the side of its face. Living around Robin for so many years had taught him a few things. Unfortunately, all this did was seem to make the creature even angrier. When it swung again, Beast Boy narrowly dodged it. This time, he went straight for the big guns and morphed into a sasquatch. He punched it again, and this time knocked it out.

The next few moments became absolute chaos. Robin didn't even have to shout "Titans, go!"; everyone had already started fighting back. The dark night air was filled with flashes from Starfire's starbolts, Jinx's pink magic, fireballs, lightning, and a torrent of punches and kicks. It almost became one big light show as the Titans and their companions desperately fought off the tidal wave of attackers. They were mostly divided, and nobody really knew where anyone else was. Every time they struck an attacker down, a new one seemed to pop up. Beast Boy didn't know how many there were, but their chances didn't look good.

Robin had taken out his staff and was furiously knocking down the creatures. He was easily faster than any of them, but their sheer numbers were perilously close to overwhelming him. Just as he landed a harsh blow on one's jaw, he felt something strike him from the back of the head. It was hard enough to send him to the ground and into a daze. As he looked up, he saw one carrying a menacing club with a spike on one end. The creature turned the club so the spike end was facing him and prepared to send it crashing down on his skull. Robin started to move, but an ice blast coming out of nowhere sent the creature flying off. Robin felt a hand grab his collar and pick him up, and he turned to see Worek with a grim smile on his face. Robin returned the smile, and the two went to fighting off the creatures side by side.

Cyborg and Jinx were fighting together as well. They were doing pretty well for a while, but then Cyborg noticed something up above. The red eyes that Beast Boy had noticed earlier were still circling overhead, but now they were starting to descend upon them.

"What the he-" Cyborg was cut off as one swooped down on him at an impossible speed. As it descended, the light revealed its body. Whatever it was, it looked like something straight out of nightmares. It was humanoid in shape, but it was coated in brown fur and had two large, bat-like wings extending from its back. Its head ended in an elongated crest, and was flanked by two long, pointed ears on both sides. Its large, bulging eyes weren't completely red – they had two solid back pupils in the center, but they were still enough to creep him out. It had no mouth, at least none that he could see. The long, menacing claws that its hands ended in added to its ghastly appearance.

Cyborg didn't have much time to study it, since it was swooping down straight at him, claws bared. It let out a high-pitched screech as it flew toward him, and Cyborg had barely enough time to move out of the way to avoid it tackling him head on. He didn't escape unharmed though - it swiped at him with its claws and sent him to the ground.

"Cy!" Jinx cried out in concern. She would have rushed to his side had she not been fighting for her life. Luckily the metal man got to his feet by himself, but he now had a nice long scratch along the right side of his metallic chest. As he looked up again, he saw the creature flying back towards him.

"Oh no you don't!" Cyborg shouted at it. He raised his hand and let out a blast from his sonic cannon, hitting the creature square on. It rolled and came to a stop just inches from his feet.

"Nice aim," Jinx complimented from his side. "You alright?"

He flashed her a cheerful thumbs up. "Nothing a buffer won't fix." Jinx flashed him a smile before they resumed fighting.

Raven unfortunately had landed alone and was forced to fend for herself. Not that it was a hard task for her, though. The first thing she did was summon a shield around herself to block the oncoming attackers. The utter chaos had made it incredibly hard to concentrate, but luckily for Raven she had years of practice at this. Gathering her energy, she uttered her mantra, and the shield became a wave of dark energy that lifted several creatures off their feet and flung them away. It didn't take her long to realize that even though all the Titans seemed to be holding their own, they were vastly out-numbered. She had to find a way out of this, and fast. Just then an idea occurred to her. She could try to phase-shift everyone out of here. It would be very hard, but it was the only way out of this. But first, she had to find out where everyone was.

Raven lifted herself into the air, dodging several blows as she flew up. She quickly scanned the ground for everyone, but unfortunately she also had to deal with the flying creatures. She saw two coming at her top speed, but she quickly countered by raising a black barrier which they painfully crashed against. Unfortunately, Raven didn't have time to notice the other one flying at her from behind. She had no idea how these things could possibly fly so fast, but didn't have time to contemplate it when one smashed into her. Raven tumbled forward, doing an aerial somersault. She managed to regain her balance, but this time was struck by another one before she could react. This one landed a sharp blow across her side, and Raven let out a yell of pain when the claws pierced her skin. Then, another one collided right into the back of her head, hard. Raven suddenly felt herself go dizzy as the mixture of pain, darkness, and confusion became too much for her, and she fell.

Beast Boy still held his own, and in bear form landed a crushing blow that knocked two attackers to the ground at once. He morphed back into human form, and just happened to glance upward. He finally spotted Raven, but to his horror saw her unconscious and plummeting to the ground. And then, something within him stirred….

Raven hit the ground, hard, and she felt a sickening crack as she landed on her arm.

'Damn, I think I broke it,' she cursed in her head. Her entire world was still a daze, perhaps thankfully for her as it lessened the pain. Even still, she was awake enough to see the clawed feet approaching her. She didn't have to look up to know that they were getting ready to kill her. When she tried to back up, she hit a rocky wall and realized she had landed in front of one of the stony pillars. She was as good as cornered.

No! She wouldn't go out this easily! Raven anxiously tried to gather her focus and summon up her powers when a loud 'THUMP!' snapped her out of it. Raven looked up again to see two huge, green pairs of clawed feet standing in front of her. She followed the feet upward and saw a huge green animal staring down her attackers menacingly. It was Beast Boy, and he had turned into the Beast.

"Beast Boy…" Raven muttered quietly as she saw the green behemoth.

The Beast stood over Raven protectively, and he let loose a terrifying roar that even scared Raven. It seemed to scare the creatures too, for she saw them slowly back off. One of the more brave (or stupid) ones lunged forward to attack, but with his lightning reflexes and massive strength, the Beast sent him flying back into the crowd with one swipe of his massive paw. The others rushed forward to take him down, and the Beast went into a frenzy. He was big and strong, but he was also fast and agile, and he knocked down one after the other in his effort to protect Raven. None of them stood a chance, and anyone who got to close fell victim to the Beast's attacks. One of the flying monsters swooped down and raked the Beast's side in a swift attack, leaving a red gash along his side. The Beast yelped in pain from the attack, but when it dove again, the Beast grabbed it and smashed it against the rock before dealing with the rest.

Suddenly there was a loud blast, and the entire scene was lit up like the Fourth of July. All heads turned to see Phanos in the center, surrounded in a mass of flames like a human torch. The sudden light was blinding, and all the attacking creatures shielded their eyes, giving the teenagers a little time. Eutonos and Worek ran up to join him.

"Eutonos, we have to get out of here!" the red mage shouted from behind his flame barrier.

"I know!" The earthmover looked around. "There's a river nearby! You can use it to escape!"

"What do you mean, 'us'? What about you?" Worek asked.

"I'll hold them off while you and the others escape!" the earth mage shouted.

The water mage's eyes widened. "What? No! You can't defeat them by yourself!"

"I know! But there's too many of them! You'll have to go without me! Get the others and fight your way toward the river while I hold them off!"

"But-"

"Just go, damn it! That's an order!" Eutonos ordered angrily. The others paused for a moment, then grudgingly obeyed. With that, the earth templar turned and grimly faced his attackers. He lifted his axe in front of his face, and a green glow briefly surrounded him as he activated his earth shield. Then, he gave a menacing battle cry as he charged into the crowd.

The two brothers, Evad and Lekim, were fighting together when they saw Worek call them from afar.

"Brother, let's go!" Lekim ordered as he downed on with a bolt of lightning. Evad obeyed, and sent several attackers back with a gust of wind, enough to give them time to lift off. The two flew upward into the air, but Lekim suddenly gave a cry of pain. Evad turned and to his horror, saw a large arrow sticking right out of his brother's side.

"NO!" he shouted as he watched his brother fall. He quickly swooped down to catch him right before he hit the ground. One of the flying creatures dove at him, but he sent it smashing through a rock with a sudden gust of wind.

"Just go. Don't carry me, just go-"

"Like hell I am!" Evad said angrily. He hoisted his brother up and flew into the air again. This time however, he found himself swarmed by more flyers. He tried to fend them off, but carrying his brother and fighting them had proved to be too much, and both were soon overwhelmed.

Robin, Cyborg, and Jinx were busy fending off their attackers when suddenly Starfire swooped down from above.

"Friends, we must leave!" she shouted.

"Where are Raven and Beast Boy?" Robin asked loudly as he downed another with a bird-a-rang.

Starfire flew off in search of the other two, and found them together, with the Beast still protecting Raven. Raven saw her coming, and had now just gotten to her feet.

"Starfire, go and get the others out of here!" Raven ordered.

"But Raven, how will you be able to escape?" she asked.

"I'll try and phase-shift us out of here! Just go! You can't take all five of us, so go!" Raven ordered roughly. Her voice held so much authority and determination that Starfire was forced to nod and go back to the others. As Starfire flew back, she spotted Worek down below and heard him shouting something. She couldn't really make out what he was saying, but she saw him motion toward the river just a short distance away from the pit. She nodded, understanding what he was saying.

"Robin, let us go!" Starfire shouted. Without even waiting for him to agree, she reached down and grabbed his wrist. She in turn grabbed Cyborg, who took hold of Jinx so she wouldn't be left behind. With her alien strength, Starfire rose into the air and flew off. Following Worek's advice, she spotted the nearby river and followed it down, away from the chaos. The flying red-eyed monsters flew after her, but she held them off with green blasts out of her eyes, with Cyborg and Jinx lending their support. Down below, the remaining two templar fought their way through the crowd of monsters to the riverbank. After looking in apprehensively, they took a deep breath and plunged into the dark rapids.

Raven meanwhile was still nursing what she was sure was a broken arm. She had briefly considered trying to heal it, but that could take a while and would use up her powers. She decided she'd have to fight through the pain and make do with one arm for now. The Beast was still holding his own, but there were still many of them and Raven was sure it wouldn't be long before he got tired. She immediately went to work in getting them out of there.

A loud roar of pain interrupted her thoughts. When Raven looked at him again, she gasped when she saw a spear sticking right out of the Beast's stomach.

"Beast Boy!" Raven cried.

The Beast howled in pain, but he didn't let up. With a mighty thrust he pulled the spear out and swung it like a baseball bat at the offender, who was thrown back with a loud crack.

"Down," a chilling voice ordered from the darkness. It was the same one they heard earlier. The Beast suddenly froze and gripped his head. He struggled and squirmed as if he was fighting some invisible force. "I said get down!"

The Beast then doubled over and looked like he was in pain. Raven felt whatever he was feeling too, and she gripped her head as pain pierced her, and her body seemed to lose control. She watched helplessly as the Beast shrank before her eyes and became the small, writhing form of Beast Boy. He let out a small cry of pain and clutched his stomach, which still had a gaping wound.

"Beast Boy!" Raven rushed over to his side as she fought back the pain. Beast Boy let out another cry of pain as she cupped his head and propped him up. He was bleeding pretty badly, and Raven knew he wouldn't make it she didn't do something quickly.

"Rav-en…!" Beast Boy said between sharp breaths.

"I can heal you. Just hold still!" Beast Boy silently did his best to obey. For some reason, the beasts around them weren't attacking, but Raven didn't really care at this point. Ignoring her own pain, she gently laid him down, and lowered her good hand over his wound. A soft blue glow surrounded the wound, and it slowly started to heal.

Unfortunately, the creatures chose now to spring. The beasts quickly closed in on the two helpless teens, and wasted no time in grabbing them. Raven didn't have time to finish, as Beast Boy was torn away from her before she was done.

"No!" she shouted. Despite her pain and broken arm, she fiercely fought against the beasts and toward him. She reached out for him and grabbed his hand, and he tightly gripped it in his own. Raven fought hard not to let go, but found it harder and harder as they were tugged apart. Finally it was too much, and their hands slipped apart. "Beast Boy! NO!" Raven shouted as she watched him be dragged away by the horrible monsters. The monsters seemed to find this amusing and only laughed at their desperation. It was then that Calabos's chilling voice spoke again.

"Bind them," he ordered. Raven could do little to fight as she felt ropes wrap tightly around her arms and legs, before a gag on her mouth finished the job. "Treat their wounds. I don't want them to die…yet," the unseen demon ordered.

Beast Boy cried out in pain again as he felt one of them smear something on his wound. Surprisingly enough, the pain started to subside, but that relief was quickly dashed when one of them opened his mouth and forced a burning liquid down his throat. It tasted awful, and coughed and sputtered as it went down.

"Hee hee! Typical child! Can't take his medicine!" one of them said in a mocking, animalistic voice.

Beast Boy would have muttered a sarcastic retort, but a sharp blow to the back of his head ended that right away. The last thing he saw before blacking out was an unconscious Raven being dragged away.

"Make sure Raven is unharmed."

Starfire was still carrying her friends away, not once abandoning the river. She became desperate however when she didn't see Raven or Beast Boy catch up to them. The horrible flying monsters never stopped pursuing them. Just then, the horrible realization dawned on Starfire that her friends might not have made it out.

"Oh no…" she said sadly. She wasn't sure how long she flew, but it felt like an eternity, so long in fact that the sun had started peaking up over the hills. It was until now, probably due to the sunlight, that the creatures stopped their pursuit and turned around.

"Do you see them?" Robin asked Cyborg.

"No…I can't see a dang thing!" he replied.

"Star, let us down!" Robin ordered. Starfire complied, and she descended until the touched the ground again.

Robin cursed loudly as he kicked a small rock into the river. Nobody wanted to say anything. They only let the cold reality sink in. Raven and Beast Boy were as good as captured.

"We have to go back there," Robin said.

"Are you crazy? You saw how many there were back there!" Cyborg retorted. True he wanted his friends back as much as Robin, but right now, going back in guns-a-blazing was not the brightest option.

"Well what do you think we should do, huh?" Robin asked angrily. His reply came in the form of a jet of water shooting up out of the river. All four heads snapped back in shock. The jet water subsided, but not before two forms were flung out onto dry land. One was wearing a red cloak, the other an azure cloak.

"Ugh…I hate that," Phanos moaned as he weakly stood. The water mage next to him didn't say anything as he stood up as well. Worek briefly shook the water off himself and stood face to face with the Titans. Dripping wet, a small, sad smile formed on his face.

"Welcome to our home," he said sadly.

Dun dun dun!!! Well I'm sure you all are pretty confused right now. Where the heck are they? How did they get there? How the heck do they know Raven's name??? Rest assured, everything will be explained. I don't know how long the next chapter will take, but I'll try to have it out ASAP. I don't know why, but I'm considering combining chapters 11+12, even though that would make the chapter over 30 pages. Whatever. As usual, please read and review! Reviews keep an author happy and keep this story going, so don't let up! Thanks to everyone who have been reviewing so far; keep it up!