CHAPTER 2: THE AGE OF THE DINOS

Beast boy looked around, his face showing confusion, indignation and wonder.

"Hey! Can somebody tell me what's going on? Why do people never tell me anything?" Beast boy cried as he walked towards them.

"We're in the Cretaceous period, fool!" Monsieur Mallah looked at him in disgust and thinking of him as very slow and dumb.

Beast boy however, continued to look confused.

"We just traveled 145 million years back into dinosaur country!" cried Raven exasperated.

"Actually," the Brain looked at a special type of watch Mallah held out for him to see. Apparently it told exactly the date they were in as he continued, "we traveled 120 million years back."

"Cool!" Beast boy jumped up and down in excitement, "So you built a Time-travel Machine!"

"No, duh!" Raven felt like hitting him.

Just then, the thumping of feet grew louder and louder. Also, there was another mighty roar which sounded much, much closer to them. It sent chills down everyone's spine.

"What was that?" Beast boy squeaked, terrified.

"Sounded like a dinosaur hunting. We better get out of here before -" but Raven's sentence was cut off as she tried to dodge a herd of velociraptors charging towards them.

Raven fell to the ground as she was knocked down by one still running to join its herd. That was when the thick jungle foliage was pushed further to the side to reveal a huge grayish-white Spinosaurus roaring loudly.

Raven turned pale, well, paler than usual. The Spinosaurus's eyes scanned the area and apparently lost sight of the raptors so it lost its interest. Instead, it focused its attention on Raven, who was directly in front of the huge carnivore. She swallowed as she locked eyes with the ancient dinosaur and hoped for the best.

The Brain and Mallah had ran away somewhere deep into the jungle. Beast boy snorted, the cowards …

He turned his attention back to Raven and saw her backing away slowly, still on the ground. The Spinosaurus was edging closer and closer to her, baring its sharp, knife-like teeth. He had never seen her so afraid before. Well, I guess trying not to get eaten by a dangerous creature about ten times the size of you would take some getting used to.

Luckily for her, she had Beast boy, someone who can actually become that size. Confident, he gritted his teeth and morphed into a Tyrannosaurus Rex. He roared loudly, causing the other carnivore to snap its head towards its new enemy … which was surprisingly green.

Beast boy used its hesitation to an advantage, he charged bravely and gave the Spinosaurus a good head - butt. It stumbled back, roared and snapped its huge teeth at Beast boy.

Raven stood up quickly and raised her hands, glowing with her dark energy. She was now ready to fight.

"No way, Raven!" Beast boy quickly morphed back into himself after throwing the dinosaur back a couple of metres. It crashed into a huge rock and bits and pieces of it rained down on its spines and head, "This fight is mine!"

"Yours? Why is it yours? I can help!" Raven frowned.

"Well firstly, you can't turn into a dinosaur!"

"So?"

"And we all know that a girl is no match for a big dino like the Spinosaurus!"

Raven's eyes flashed red as she quivered in anger, "So I can't fight because I'm a GIRL?"

"Yeah, that's basically what I said." shrugged Beast boy, "'S nothing personal!"

And he changed back into a T-Rex again when the Spinosaurus got up. But this time, Beast boy was knocked down by its sharp claws. When Beast boy got up and tried to bite the dinosaur, it swung its powerful tail and knocked him into a couple of trees which gave way under the weight and crashed to the ground too.

"You should know," Raven smirked at the sprawling Beast boy, "that in Jurassic Park, the Spinosaurus defeated the T-Rex!"

Beast boy morphed back into a human and squealed as he tried to dodge the Spinosaurus and its swiping claws. Nevertheless, he said, "I don't need your help! Aaaaah!" Beast boy jumped and managed to save himself in the nick of time from the jaws of the Spino.

"Fine." Raven shrugged, flew up and sat atop of tree branch, folding her hands across her lap and appeared to be admiring the scenery around her, oblivious to the fight below.

Beast boy had turned back into a T-Rex again, and this time, he did manage to bite the Spinosaurus successfully a couple of times with his powerful jaws. Yet, he was no match for the powerful muscles of the Spino's tail which had tripped him again.

Beast boy turned once again, into a human and rolled over to avoid the claws of the dinosaur which were trying to spear him on the ground. He jumped up and started to run.

"RRRAAAAA -VVVEEEEEN! HEEEEEEELP!"

Raven brushed imaginary dirt of her lap and admired her fingernails.

"AAaaah! Raven! It's trying to kill meeeee!" Beast boy jumped up and down from the ground, waving his arms wildly to attract the girl's attention, but was soon chased again by the Spinosaurus.

Raven let this go on for another half a minute before Beast boy's cries became shrill and annoying. Sighing, she asked, "Need my help now?"

"Yeeees! YES! YES! YES! AAAAHHH -" Beast boy had to take cover as the Spinosaurus's claws just hit the huge rock it was thrown into just now, and with Beast boy underneath it, the bits of rock came tumbling down right on top of him.

"Hey you!" Raven hit the Spinosaurus with one of her dark energy bolts.

The Spinosaurus turned around to find a massive tree trunk surrounded by Raven's dark energy, thrown at it!

Taken by surprise, it fell backwards and landed on the ground. It landed on its back and had difficulty standing up. Raven lifted the rocks that had crushed Beast boy underneath and dumped them onto the dinosaur. She didn't want to kill it, just trap it for a while.

As the Spinosaurus struggled, she flew to Beast boy who was trying to sit up. He was holding his head and looked very, very dizzy. Fortunately (Or maybe unfortunately), he was still alive. At the last minute, he had transformed into a turtle and hid himself in the shell. Still, Raven could tell that he had hit his head.

"Raven?" he tried to focus his eyes on the approaching figure but all he could see was the colour blue. "I see stars. Is it night?" He asked weakly.

"Get up." Raven pulled him to his feet where he swayed for a minute.

Then, he fell to the ground.

Raven sighed. This was going to be a long day.

"OK, we've got all the parts. Even the wires. Do you think you can rebuild this thing?" Robin dumped the rest of the broken machinery on the floor.

It was five in the morning and Starfire, Robin and Cyborg had just come back from the warehouse. Each were carrying heavy scraps of the machinery. They had spent quite a lot of time searching through all the debris for all the broken pieces, even right down to all the knobs and screws. All three were exhausted. Mentally and physically.

"I don't know …" Cyborg gave a yawn. "I guess I could try …"

"I shall be in the kitchen. I think we need more liquid of the beans of the coffee." Starfire began to flew lethargically to the kitchen, almost falling asleep on the way.

Cyborg and Robin began to work. Starfire assisted with bring them food, helping to melt metals together with her Starbolts and most importantly, bring them lots and lots of coffee.

At seven in the morning. Robin declared it was time for a short break.

"I thought …" Starfire yawned loudly, "you wanted to rescue …" she blinked her eyes sleepily and then mumbled something incoherent. A second later, she dropped to the couch and fell asleep, right there and then.

"You know, we should all get some sleeeep …" Cyborg looked at Robin pleadingly.

Robin sighed. It was no use going on like this, he had to admit. Everyone, including him was so sleepy that they can't even screw on the screws properly. And once, Cyborg had drifted off to a semi-sleep trance and mistook the wires as noodles and tried to eat them. He decided that they would operate better after a good long nap and nodded at Cyborg to show his consent.

Cyborg smiled weakly in relief as he laid himself on the floor and fell asleep there, apparently too tired to drag himself to his room.

Robin looked around at the Tower. It felt odd without Beast boy or Raven here. It just felt like a part of home was missing and it wouldn't be complete until they returned. He looked back at the half-built machine. Then, he looked back at his friends, sleeping peacefully. He'll get them back, he promised them silently.

Pushing back all thoughts of sleep and fatigue, Robin gathered all his willpower and began hammering on a nail.

Robin grunted as he worked. He was tired, sweaty and was getting nowhere. As a result, he was getting even more frustrated with himself every passing minute. He did heed Cyborg's instructions correctly after all, what could have gone wrong?

Cyborg, before dozing to sleep, left a string of instructions for Robin and Starfire to follow, well alright, perhaps they were more like explanations on how he though the Time-travel machine operated but -

Robin had understood everything. He understood clearly on how it worked, and how it was to be fixed. Yet, when he tried turning the knobs, nothing lighted up!

Furious, he kicked the table and immediately regretted it as he jumped back, holding his throbbing toe and trying to stifle a yelp. Unfortunately, Cyborg was stirring up and so was Starfire.

"Robin?" Starfire rubbed her eyes and stretched, "Did you not have a good rest?"

Cyborg sat up slowly from the floor, "Yeah man, what time is it?"

Robin muttered, "Eleven."

Cyborg opened his two eyes and the first thing he was the Time-machine in front of him. He stared at it in shock, he was pretty sure he left it half-completed! But now, it was looking as good as new! A miracle!

Then he realised, Robin must have stayed up all night … and day to finish this!

"Robin! You fixed this all by yourself?" Cyborg turned to congratulate the spiky-haired boy but he looked not only tired, but dejected.

Robin shook his head sadly, "It won't work."

Starfire went to press one of the knobs, then tweaked on the others, "Robin is right. Why will it not work, Cyborg? Has he not fixed the strange Time-machine correctly?"

Cyborg looked around and smiled, "He did, Star. But due to fatigue, he forgot the switch." Then, Cyborg walked over to the main power outlet and switched it on. Starfire went to one of the knobs that read "ON" and pressed that. There was a strange whirring sound and the machine lit up with life.

"I'll make a engineering genius out of you yet." Cyborg chuckled as he ruffled a bewildered Robin's hair.

Thank goodness Beast boy was light. Raven thought to herself.

After the attack from the Spinosaurus, Beast boy had fainted. Then, it started to rain. And just when things couldn't get any worst, Raven saw a bright streak of lightning tear the dark sky followed by a loud clap of thunder.

She had to find shelter fast or they'll both be toast … literally.

And so, she had to carry Beast boy and fly through the rain at the same time. She reminded herself to thank him for being vegetarian because honestly, if he wasn't, Raven didn't think they'd be able to make it.

After a few minutes of flying drenched in the rain, Raven finally spotted a cave and she stopped directly in front of it. She daren't go in for fear of it already being occupied with something else. She had read in her dinosaur book that when it rains, dinosaurs sometimes seek shelter in caves too. Wary, she knocked on the cave walls and waited for any reply.

She heard the echoes of her knock but nothing else. Feeling a bit more brave now, she walked in slowly. The cave was in absolute darkness and there was this eerie feel about it.

"Hello?" she cried.

"Hello? Hello? Hello? Hello?" came her echo.

Satisfied that there was nothing else inside other than her and Beast boy, she walked further in and put him down, letting him lean against the cave walls. Then, she went outside again to collect some dry wood. That was difficult as it was raining a storm outside and everything was soaking wet. Still, miraculously, she did find some dry wood as she flew up to the middle of the trees were it was the most dense there. The thick leaves had provided good shelter and kept some of the branches still quite dry.

Raven took those under her cloak and hurried back to the dark cave. There, she laid the wood carefully in a pile and blasted her magic on it, efficiently, lighting a fire. Then, she took out her cloak and laid it right in front of the fire to dry. Looking around, she saw big pieces of stone and cut out two stone bowls by shaping her dark energy into sharp knifes.

She went near the entrance of the cave and filled the bowls with rainwater and carried them back in. Using the excess wood she had, she built a sort of tripod over the fire and placed one bowl on top for the water to boil.

As time passed, she would exchange the stone bowls so that she would have clean, warm water to use.

Finally settling down to rest, Raven, grateful for the light and warmth, huddled closer to the fire and waited for the storm to stop.

Suddenly, there was a huge blast of light and Raven jumped up. What on prehistoric Earth … ?

To her surprise, a huge circle of light opened up in front of her and Robin stepped out from it, followed by smiling Starfire. Both looked tired and weary but Robin looked ready to collapse. Both were also carrying large khaki-coloured backpacks.

Raven could hardly believe what she was seeing. Had they accidentally teleported themselves to the past too?

"Friend Raven! We are so glad to see that you are alive and well!" Starfire flew over jubilantly and hugged Raven.

"Not exactly well, but yes, I'm alive." Raven managed a small smile.

"Where's Beast boy?" Robin asked.

Raven pointed to a small heap of purple and green on the cave floor.

"What happened?"

"No, Robin. I want to hear how you got here first."

Starfire cut in and told her about how Robin had stayed up while everyone else was asleep just to fix the Time-machine and rescue them. Raven managed another small smile for Robin too. It was good to know that she had such wonderful friends. Starfire also said that Cyborg will remain back at the Tower to control the machine.

Then, Raven got them to sit in a circle around the fire and told Starfire and Robin how they got here. She told them everything that had happened since Beast boy had accidentally pushed them both through the machine's silver surface. By the time she had finished, her throat was feeling quite dry and Robin was sound asleep, his head on Starfire's shoulder. Raven took a sip out of one of her stone bowls.

"Poor Robin. He must feel so tired." Starfire smiled at him. Then, she took out a thick blanket from one of those backpacks and laid Robin on it gently. She then proceeded to stroke his hair softly, unaware that Raven was watching them closely.

Raven wondered how it felt like to have someone care so much for you. Feeling awkward, she shifted uncomfortably.

"So uh … Starfire, why is it that we're not going back to the present?" Raven cleared her throat.

"Cyborg said that the machine can only power for one trip because the city is still out of power. We had to shut down everything else in the Titans Tower to just get the machine to work. He said that we must wait before enough power is generated for a return trip. So therefore, we will be here for a while." Starfire said it all in one go and came out breathless at the end.

"Is that why you both brought those backpacks?" Raven questioned.

Starfire nodded, "Robin and I have packed all the supplies we need." then, she looked to the entrance of the cave, "The rain has not stopped pouring."

"Storms can last for a long time in dinosaur ages." Raven sighed. It might come to a shock to some but Raven does not like storms as much as the next person.

"In that case, I think it would be best if we all get some sleep." Starfire smiled. The short nap she took wasn't enough, she still needed another couple hours before she was fully recharged. And she could tell that Raven needed a nap too, it was obvious from the dark eye circles that are just beginning to form …

Raven nodded in agreement. It was the only thing they can do after all. Starfire tossed Raven two thick blankets and she gratefully took it. She laid out one the ground for her to sleep on and covered herself with the other.

Turning her head to the right, she saw Starfire and Robin just sharing one blanket. She wondered if they were cold as they had nothing to cover themselves. But then their arms were wrapped firmly around each other, keeping each other warm with their own body heat.

An emotion sprang up right from the bottom of Raven's heart and she couldn't help but smile at the two. She knew it would only be a matter of time before Robin proposes to Starfire. Thinking of Robin's blushing face and bashful expression when he proposes, made her chuckle.

She turned her head to the left this time and saw Beast boy, lying on the cold stone floors.

Guilt washed over her like a tidal wave. She stood up and took the blanket she was covering herself with and laid it on the ground. She was about to carry Beast boy when she noticed how frighteningly cold he was. He was probably going to start sneezing non-stop the next day if she didn't do something about it.

Closing her eyes, she lifted Beast boy's purple shirt and left it in front of the fire. Luckily, his shorts were almost dry and she didn't have to do anything else. She shifted the blanket nearer to the fire and laid Beast boy on it, still keeping her eyes shut.

Then, she took her now fully-dried purple cloak and laid it over him. It was warm from the fire and she watched as Beast boy automatically moved his hands to tighten the cloak around himself. She felt a certain warmth overcome herself and it wasn't from the fire.

Raven eventually laid back down on her own blanket and faced her friends. Strangely, she wasn't feeling cold despite having nothing to cover herself with. Looking back at Beast boy and what she'd done had left a comfortable feeling of warmth inside of her. And after a few minutes, Raven finally fell asleep with a tiny smile on her face.

A/N: Chapter 2 completed! I hoped it wasn't too prehistorically inaccurate. Please tell me if you spot any errors or if you have any suggestions to make. Right now, it's 6.30 AM on the dot and *YAWN* I'd best be getting some sleep myself too. I can't believe I managed to stay up all night to write this!

Please review! : )