Once again, sorry for the wait. Fact is, I had a case of severe writer's block on this chapter, because this was one of the few parts of this story that I hadn't planned out well. I hope it turned out okay.

By the way, after some debate, I decided to post the new TT story I'm working on! It will be posted shortly after I put the next chapter up, which should be rather soon. Thanks for your patience, and double thanks to those who are still sticking with this story!!!

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 20: Tiger Paw and Falcon Claw

Starfire tried to peer through the bushes without being seen, but it was hard considering there were so many of them and so little cover to hide under. She was caught between two choices – follow them, and risk losing the other Titans, or go back to the Titans and lose their trail, and possibly any hope of finding Raven and Beast Boy. As she trailed the beasts, her inner turmoil grew, and she knew she'd have to make a choice soon.

However, she didn't have much longer to think. She was almost too busy debating to notice the sky seemed to be growing darker, and they were coming upon a huge row of trees. By the time Starfire did notice, she almost gasped at the sight. It definitely was an earth-like forest of some kind, but it was unlike any she had ever seen. The leaves and bark of the trees all seemed a darker shade than they would have been. The sun was shining elsewhere, but a dark cloud seemed to hang over this single spot. Even though it was daylight, the air underneath the treetops looked practically dark as night. On top of it all, a greenish mist seemed to hang over the canopy in wispy patches. Overall, Starfire had a very strong sense of foreboding about the place, like the entire land itself was evil.

"This way," she heard one of the gnolls shout. The rest of the pack followed the leader close behind toward the line of dark trees. They traversed the single path until they reached the edge of the forest, and entered without a single hesitation. Starfire watched in shock as the darkness seemed to just swallow the pack whole, like a norblax swallowing its prey. And just like that, they looked like they had disappeared into thin air.

Panic rose in Starfire's chest, and she realized that she was now in serious danger of losing them. Once she was sure it was safe, she flew out from her cover and headed toward the line of trees. As Starfire neared the dark edge though, she felt increasingly nervous and apprehensive, like every positive emotion inside her was leaking out like water through a sieve. The closer she got, the worse she felt. Finally, she yelled out in surprise when she dropped (rather painfully) to the ground without warning. Thoroughly alarmed, Starfire looked around to make sure nothing was coming after her, and then examined her body to make sure she hadn't been shot with anything. When she found nothing, she attempted to fly again, but couldn't even manage to lift an inch off the ground.

Starfire started to worry even more. Her powers, which had just been working fine, now appeared to have vanished altogether. She tried one last time, and was met with no success. Now powerless, her instincts told her that venturing in there would be a very bad idea. She now had no choice but to go find her teammates. The alien turned around and was forced to do something she wasn't very used to doing: walking. She hastily ran away from the menacing line of trees, and found that foreboding feeling gradually fading away the further she got. Just then, an idea occurred to her. She decided to try flying one last time, and was surprised when her powers of flight worked as normally as they had before. What had caused her to lose her powers?

As confused as she was, Starfire had a very good idea of what had caused it. Turning around, she flew back toward the forest, only much closer to the ground this time. Once again, right when she reached the line of trees, her powers stopped working, and she dropped to the ground again. Now she had no doubt in her mind: the forest, for whatever reason, was causing her powers to stop working. After sprinting away from the dark woods, Starfire lifted into the air again, and flew fast as she could to find her friends.

Cyborg grunted. "Well, our communicators are out of the question. This place has got no satellites, so we won't be able to contact them. My GPS won't work either, obviously."

"So we're stranded on some who-knows-where planet and have no idea where we are or where our enemies went?"

"Don't worry Rob, we're going to find them," Cyborg assured his uptight leader. "Anyway, where are our 'tour guides'? I haven't heard anything from 'em."

"They're both looking at some map, trying to figure out where we are," Robin replied as he stared off toward the horizon, probably looking for Starfire to return.

"Good. All power to 'em," Cyborg said.

"Not scared of getting lost, are you Cy?" Jinx teased.

"No, man! I'm just…I wanna get them back, you know?"

"We all do," Jinx said reassuringly. "Just out of curiosity, how long are your batteries going to last you?"

"I packed a couple spares, so I should have enough for about a week. If we don't get 'em back by then, who knows. I really could use that electric guy here right now to recharge them for me, though."

Meanwhile, Robin sat by himself on a rock near the river. He absent-mindedly stared into the rushing water for a while, lost in his plans. A rustle from behind snapped him back into reality and his head turned. Behind him were a patch off tall grass and bushes in front of the line of trees. He got up and looked closer, trying to discern what was making the sound. He took a step closer to get a better look, and that was when something furry – and very large – emerged.

Robin suddenly found himself staring eye-to-eye with a large, brownish-orange tiger. At least, it looked a lot like a tiger. The only differences he could tell were that it had a ridge of fur running down its back, and its two front fangs were longer and stuck out of its mouth. It was almost like a saber-toothed-tiger, except the fangs weren't as long or thick. The beast eyed him with what looked like either anger or suspicion, almost like it thought he was a stranger encroaching on its territory.

Robin instinctively reached for his staff, but the animal lurched forward and growled, causing him to halt. Robin had great reflexes and speed, but he wasn't sure he wanted to test them on this animal. Plus something told him that one slightly threatening move on his part would provoke it. He very cautiously backed away and tried to signal for his friends, but they weren't paying attention. Robin backed away a little more, making sure he was away from the stream. When he tried to reach for his belt again, it bared its teeth at him.

"Easy," Robin whispered, hands raised and sweating. "Nice kitty..." The large cat snarled loudly, causing him to jump in surprise.

"Guys…guys…" Robin called quietly, but they didn't hear. As he backed away, the cat started slinking toward him.

"Easy, easy," Robin whispered desperately, hoping it wouldn't pounce. Very slowly, he began reaching for his utility belt. "Nice kitty. Nice kit-"

Before he could react, the cat pounced on him. The teen leader practically screamed like a girl as the cat collided, rolled, and pinned him to the ground. Cy and Jinx turned their heads at the noise, and both jumped when they saw the animal.

"Woah!" Cyborg shouted, then quickly shut up, not wanting to provoke it more.

"Just stay calm, guys," Robin cautioned with the huge animal on top of him. The beast looked down on him menacingly, fangs bared and growling. It pinned him down so hard he couldn't move, and its claws were dug into his skin so far they came perilously close to drawing blood.

"It's a friggin' tiger, dude!" Cy whispered.

"No crap, genius," Jinx remarked. "Hold on Robin, I'll get rid of it for you."

Jinx raised her hands, but then gasped as she felt a pair of large talons grip her shoulders The mage gave a surprised shout as she was lifted by a large, brown bird that resembled an eagle.

"Jinx!" Cyborg called. "Hold on, I'll get you down!"

Jinx tried to break free, but she was suddenly dropped by the bird and fell twenty feet into a pile of bushes. The bird proceeded to swoop down and started pestering her as she struggled to get free. Now unsure of whom to help, Cyborg decided to go for whoever was more important at the time.

"Hang on, Jinx! I'm coming!" he shouted as he ran over to help.

"Hey! Cy, wait!" Robin called as his mechanical friend ran off, but another snarl from the tiger shut him up. While he was relieved that the tiger-like animal hadn't mauled him yet, he was also very confused. It wasn't behaving like a typical animal. And for some strange reason, Robin couldn't shake the feeling that this animal was getting some comedic pleasure out of watching him squirm underneath it.

"Guys!" they heard someone shout. All heads (including the animals) turned to see Worek, with Phanos following close behind, rushing toward him. In his right hand he held what looked like a ragged map. Both of them stopped and stared agape at the scene in front of them. Phanos shook his head and rubbed his eyes when he saw Robin being pinned down by the tiger.

"Wait a minute…" he stuttered. "Are you…"

Robin watched in amazement as the tiger on top of him seemed to smile and then, to his utter bewilderment, started talking!

"Oh, Phanos! It's you!" it said in a deep, yet strangely feminine voice. The beast bounded off of him, and pranced toward the red templar. Behind it, Robin gave an immense sigh of relief.

All the teen titans watched as the tiger morphed and became, to their shock, a young girl! She had straight, shoulder length blonde hair and green eyes. She wore a leotard-like piece of leather that covered her entire torso but left her arms and legs exposed. Her shoulders were padded, two wrist guards and fingerless gloves adorned her arms, and two calf-high boots protected her feet. On her back was slung a bow and a quiver of arrows, and two daggers hung at her waist. When she spoke again, it was in the voice of a normal teenage girl.

"What are you doing here?" she asked as she sauntered up and stopped very close to him. "Come back to see me already?"

"Hi, Aalya. I, uh…" the red templar stammered as his face turned the same color as his cloak.

"Wait, who's she?" Robin said, now having recovered from the shock of almost getting mauled.

Worek leaned forward and whispered in his ear. "Aalya. She and he met a while back…has the biggest crush on her, and she knows it. He just doesn't want to admit it."

Meanwhile, the brown eagle that was pestering Cy and Jinx stopped and soon became a human too. This one was also a girl, similarly dressed to Aalya, except she carried a shield and javelins. She had brown eyes, her hair was dark green, similar to Beast Boy's, and was held back in a ponytail.

"Wait, who are you now?" Robin asked.

The maiden smirked and bowed her head. "Talia, at your service. I'm her friend."

"And you're going to be in a world of pain if you don't apologize for dropping me in about two seconds!" Jinx threatened as she emerged from the bush.

"Alright, alright!" Cyborg shouted, feeling as though he was about to go crazy. His outburst was just enough to prevent Jinx from getting into another feud with a complete stranger. "Who are you two? Where are we? What the hell is going on here?!"

"Calm down, these are friends!" Robin shouted to him. "At least I think so."

"And, you are?" Aalya asked with a hint of suspicion.

"It's okay, they're friends," Phanos told her. "They're just…not from around here."

"I'd say so. Nice outfit," she said while eyeing at Robin. Her eyebrows arched in an unmistakable sign of feminine disapproval. "Is it customary for men to dress like girls where you come from?"

Cyborg and Jinx both burst out laughing. Robin was not amused, and sent the two a death glare. Unfortunately, it had absolutely no effect.

"See man, I told you! Chicks do not dig the spandex and traffic colors!" Cyborg said between fits of laughter.

"Chicks?" Aalya asked in genuine confusion. "So he does it to impress baby birds? That would explain it." This only made Cy and Jinx laugh harder. Meanwhile, poor Robin was blushing furiously out of anger and embarrassment.

"Alright! That's enough!" Robin finally shouted. "We've got more important things to worry about!"

"He's right," Worek said. "Look Aalya, we're very happy to see you again. But what in the world are you doing all the way up here? Shouldn't you be in your forest?"

"Forest?" Robin asked.

"Yes. They're a matriarchal race that inhabits Greenleaf: a forest south of here."

"And we are one with nature. We don't cut down trees or make stone prisons to live in," Aalya said with a hint of pride and accusation at the same time, causing Phanos to shoot her a dirty look.

"Matriarchal? So you guys are some kind of Amazons?" Robin asked.

Aalya scoffed then eyed Robin again. "What? We're not 'Amazons', we're Zamoans! And you are a male who dresses like he wants to get robbed and have his throat cut by bandits!"

"Oh," Robin muttered, while Cyborg chuckled again.

"Wait - Zamoan?!" Jinxed asked in surprise. "How do you spell that?"

"Look, that's not important," Worek said. "Look Aalya, we're happy to see you again, but we can't stay and talk. We're on a very important mission right now, and we can't delay!"

"And what would that be?" Talia asked.

"In case you didn't notice, three of our team aren't with us, and we're far away from our home."

Aalya looked around. "Oh yes. I was wandering where your teammates were. Where are they?"

"They've been kidnapped. By Calabos," Robin interjected. "And he's got our friends, too."

Aalya and her friend paled considerably. "Are you serious? That's terrible!"

"Yes, and we've got to get going or we're going to lose them! It's a pity though, because Eutonos and Evad were our best trackers."

"Then we'll go with you," Aalya and Talia said in unison.

"That's very generous of you," Worek said. "But we don't want to drag you into this."

"Look!" Robin interrupted. All heads turned to see a green streak in the sky zooming toward them. Starfire had returned.

"Star, did you find 'em?" Cyborg asked from below. The alien princess landed, and as she did, everyone noticed her crestfallen expression.

"I found them, yes. But Raven and Beast Boy were not with them." As she touched down, she took notice of the two newcomers. However, any question she was about to ask was interrupted by Robin.

"But where were they? Where were they headed?" Robin asked. Starfire took a breath, and proceeded to tell them the story, of how she had found the monsters who kidnapped Raven and Beast Boy, and how she had ran into the dark forest that took her powers away. When she was done, everyone eyed her with a mixture of shock and curiosity.

"Dark forest?" Worek repeated. "They went through Bane Leaf! We have to find them!"

"Wait - what the heck is Bane Leaf?" Cyborg asked.

"A cursed place," Phanos explained. "Very few venture there. It was tainted long before Calabos even existed, and nobody's attempted to purge the evil from it since."

"We'll come, too," Aalya said again.

"We don't want to drag you into-"

"You're not dragging us into this, we want to go!" Aalya said. "Calabos is our enemy too! He killed our people and burnt our homes down! Our queen now wants his head on a pike! You asked me earlier what we were doing up here, and it's because we were chasing him to find out where he was striking from. In fact, there's a whole squad of us far north of here, trying to track him down. Talia and I had to stay behind in case we had to relay a message back to our homeland."

"Look, we can't! If we don't get there in time, we could lose them forever! We've already fallen way behind!" Phanos protested.

"All the more reason for me to come with you!" she practically yelled. "You already said you two have lost your best trackers, and I guarantee I can track better than any of you! If you try to find them yourselves, you'll never make it in time. I can show you the quickest rout there. Plus, you've never even been through Bane Leaf before. You have no idea what lurks in there, nor do you know any safe paths. I can help you make it through quickly and in one piece, if you give me the chance. So what do you say?"

Everyone hesitated to give an answer. Worek looked at Robin, who looked back at his teammates. All three nodded in approval, and Robin then did the same.

"Alright," Worek said. "Fine. I hope you're right."

"I know I'm right," Aalya said confidently. "Now, I believe you had something to say earlier?"

"Oh, right." The blue-cloaked teen pulled out his map and pointed to a place on the dried parchment, near the river they were next too. "I was going to tell them earlier that we finally figured out where we were. We're in the eastern region of Adura, and north of us are the mountains. Unfortunately, Basilon's far west from here, so getting any help from my homeland is out of the question."

"I see," Aalya said. "Well, it's good you found us, then. We know these lands better than you do."

She pointed to another spot on the map.

"…And Bane Leaf is right here." Her finger was over a very large swath of trees drawn on the map. The word 'beware' was rather comically written underneath the name of the forest. "With my help, we should be able to make it by sunset, but we have to alert help, first. Talia, you should go ahead of us and find the others. We'll meet up with you once we've crossed the forest."

The green-haired girl nodded in agreement, and a moment later, a large brown eagle took off from the spot where the teens were gathered. The bird gave one final seer before it disappeared into the sky.

"Alright," Robin said to the Zamoan warrior. "Lead the way."

A good five hours of walking, with Starfire flying close behind, found the teens at last coming upon the edge of the evil-looking forest. Now that it was later in the day, it seemed even more intimidating. The dark line of trees stood like an imposing wall, with a single, small path running into it.

"Too bad we couldn't arrive here earlier. This place is even worse at night."

"I thought you said it would be safe!" Cyborg exclaimed.

"Safe? It's never completely safe. But as long as we stick to the path, there will be nothing we can't handle. It's the deeper parts of the forest you really want to avoid. No telling what lurks there," she said while grinning mischievously. Cyborg looked down and sighed loudly.

"My powers...they don't feel like they're working right!" Jinx said, sounding concerned.

"Like we said earlier, the place is cursed. All of you will feel them drained here. Don't worry; it's that way for almost everyone who encounters it the first time. It'll get better the more you get used to it."

"So, how long will it take to go through it?" Robin asked the Zamoan warrior.

"We have a few hours left to travel before nightfall, then we rest. After that, it will be probably at least another full day."

"Great," Cyborg groaned.

"What's the matter, Cy?" Jinx teased. "Not scared already, are you?" The human part of Cyborg's face seemed to darken.

"Me? Nah. I mean, sorta. I'm just a city boy, you know? Not much for hiking." When he heard the mage laugh, he sent her a glare. "Are you scared?"

Jinx scoffed. "Me? Course not. Now buck up and be a man, for crying out loud." She playfully shoved him, and he couldn't help smiling.

"Ready, Star?" Robin asked, trying to fulfill his role of 'protector' toward her now that he was her boyfriend. His alien girlfriend nodded shyly, yet smiled all the same.

"Well, no sense standing here. Let's go," Aalya said, leading the pack. Right before they entered, she halted and turned to face the rest. "And by the way, when the sun goes down, just ignore the eyes, they're harmless. Just don't bother them, and they won't bother you."

"Eyes?!" Cyborg asked, mouth hanging open. Without replying, the Zamoan smirked, turned around, and continued on. Everyone behind her groaned and grudgingly followed her in. All that is, except one.

"You coming Cy, or what?" Jinx called. The metallic Titan stood behind uneasily, watching everyone ahead of him.

"Man, if I chicken out, I'll never hear the end of it," Cyborg mumbled to himself. Trying to shake the intense uneasiness this place caused in him, Cyborg took a deep breath and followed them in, the darkness swallowing them whole.

I've always felt that you can't have a fantasy without having a creepy dark forest! I'm sorry if this chapter seemed to focus too much on the OC's - it kind of a necessary evil. But don't worry, the next one's going to be almost exclusively Titans-centered.