CHAPTER 3 : DEEPER INSIDE THE JUNGLE …

Raven woke up at dawn. Or was it dusk? She decided dusk as it just seemed most likely. How she wished she had a watch with her now to tell the time, but she doubted that it would have worked anyway. Unless of course, it was Mallah's watch.

Looking to the entrance of the cave, she saw that the great storm had been reduced to heavy rain. It's not much but at least the lightning and thunder had stopped. Raven, upon sitting up, had also noticed something else - her stomach growling.

She had missed breakfast and lunch. She cast a glance at Starfire and Robin. They were still asleep and Beast boy was still out. Raven, feeling absolutely ravenous, crawled to Starfire's bag and opened it, hurriedly rummaging inside for food. Even one of her strange Tamaranian dishes would taste good now.

"Raven?"

Startled, she immediately dropped the bag as if guilty. "Beast boy?"

"Where are we?" the changeling sat up slowly, "And why does my head hurt?" he groaned, holding a hand to the right of his skull.

Sighing, Raven pushed all thoughts of food back and went over to him. "Remove your hand."

Raven peered at his skull. There was no dent, no blood, just a few scratches and a bruise. Easy, she decided. She then placed both hands over his bruise and scratches and poured healing magic into it. When he was fully healed, Beast boy was grinning all over his face.

"Hey, the pain is gone!" he cried happily, "Thanks!"

Raven pushed a stone bowl of water towards him, shrugged it off and went back to her food foraging, but was disturbed by another question.

"Raven, do mind explaining why Starfire and Robin are here?"

Hanging her head, Raven paused and quickly recited everything that had happened since Beast boy had fallen unconscious to the ground.

"Cool!" he remarked, his eyes wide. "I can't believe we'll be able to get back home soon! I was starting to think I'll never see my favourite TV shows again, or eat pizza, or beat Cyborg in video games, or -"

Now was the time to turn herself off to Beast boy's rambling. Smiling to herself as she found a slice of blueberry pie, she bit into it, savory the sweetness and moisture of it all. It was the best thing she's tasted all day. And she polished it off with just three more bites. Still hungry, she dug out some bread and cheese and munched on those happily.

"Dude!" Beast boy's eyes widened and his stomach let out a growl, "Can you please give me some of that? Please? Please? Please? Please?"

"Comherefrugeddidorseff! (Come here to get it yourself!)" Raven spoke with her mouth full but she could care less.

Beast boy practically hopped out and sprinted there, then immediately ducked on under Raven's cloak with a squeak. "Raa -veen! Where's my shirt? It's fffrreeezzzing!" he shivered.

Raven looked embarrassed, "Sorry. I had to take it off for it to dry. I gave you my cloak that I had dried earlier for you to use as a blanket."

"Oh, ok." Beast boy said awkwardly.

That's when Robin sat up and looked around. He was awoken by voices. When he saw that Raven and Beast boy were up, he asked for some food and between mouthfuls of cheesecake, Beast boy began to explain what happened while Robin listened patiently and nibbled on some crackers.

When that was all cleared up, Starfire woke up and was asked to join dinner around the fire. Though, the "fire" was now reduced to tiny ambers and ashes. So Raven stood up and volunteered to find more wood.

She created a sort of arc above her head that sort of resembled the top of an umbrella using dark energy and ventured out into the rain. But a few minutes into the woods, she noticed that something was not quite right. Or heard … to be precise. For there was the sound of voices talking in hushed whispers somewhere on her right.

Raven was sure there weren't any humans during the Cretaceous age, so where had those voices came from? Listening more carefully, she was able to regconised those voices. It was those of The Brain's and Mallah's! She had wondered where they'd gone and prayed that any predators might've been able to finish them off. Seems like her prayers came unanswered …

And they must be close nearby if she can hear them whispering, though, their whispers were more like just talking softer even if they tried to control their volume.

She flew up to avoid stepping on anything that may have given her away as she followed the direction of their voices. As the voices got louder and louder, she could now hear snippets of their conversation.

"This doesn't make sense! I swear they were here just a moment ago!" came an exasperated Mallah.

"So where are they now?" the Brain asked, furious.

"I don't know!" Mallah growled.

"You have to! Or how are we supposed to get back?" the Brain cried.

Raven could hear that they were obviously arguing over something, perhaps that was why they were so loud. Finally, she spotted them, taking refuge under a tall tree with wide branches, although, it wasn't much of a shelter. The tree was already wet to its bark and was dripping on them both.

Raven descended and crouched behind a clump of bushes just behind the tree. A twig snapped from under her feet but thank heavens, it was so wet, it hardly made a sound. She also hoped that the rain would help cover up any noises made with the heavy raindrops. Raven released the arc over her head, her arm was getting tired for holding it there and the bush was simply not tall enough to cover her makeshift umbrella. Black against bright, lush green would stand out clearly, even in the rain.

She sighed as drops began to hit her face, she hoped Starfire had brought along dry clothes, towels and shampoo.

Then, she remembered that she was here to spy, and so, she lifted her eyes just a little over the bush and watched closely. The Brain and Mallah were apparently trying to fix something. But the raindrops were blurring Raven's vision. All she could see was the colour silver and something huge and circular.

And then, it hit her, the Time-machine! That must be what they were building! Or trying to built, for something had obviously gone wrong.

"Grrr … We'll just have to find them, then!" Mallah snapped.

"How? In this rain?" returned The Brain.

"We're already soaked to the skin already! We might as well just sleep in the rain tonight!" Mallah said impatiently.

"It's not the wetness I'm bothered by, fool!" The Brain yelled, "It's the visibility! We may be able to see the crystals even if they're just in front of our noses!"

The crystals! So they were trying to find them! Apparently, Mallah had lost the crystals and Raven knew, the machine would not be completed unless they were found. But how had they found the rest of the materials here? She doubted dinosaurs had steel at this time, in this place.

"Then we can't do anything until the rain's stopped." sulked the gorilla.

"Search your bag! Maybe you had brought extras." ordered The Brain.

Mallah pulled out a big, black knapsack from behind him. Raven asked herself how come she never noticed Mallah had it on when the Titans were fighting him. But of course, she was too busy fighting the robots and his body was so big, it could completely conceal the bag if he had it on his back. There were so many reasons, and Raven guessed they brought along spare materials to build the Time-machine. She noticed that when they were transported, the machine didn't go with them. So even if they had traveled to the correct place and time, they'd have to build another Time-machine to travel back.

"There's nothing inside." Mallah stopped searching and angrily threw the bag into the rain.

"If you haven't went to go fill your ridiculously large stomach, none of this would have happened!" The Brain said disdainfully.

"It's not as if you weren't looking for food!" fumed Mallah.

"I told you to stand guard while I find some nuts!"

"But you were taking such a long time! And with my arms, I can find food much quicker!"

"I was already returning back when you left! If you only had the patience to wait for a while longer …"

"Then what? You came back empty-handed!"

Raven stood up to leave, she couldn't stand squabbles. Mallah and The Brain were so preoccupied with their argument that they didn't even see her come out from the bush and fly straight up in the air. She started flying back to the cave.

On the way there however, Raven's harp eyes caught sight of something shiny on the forest floor. She stopped, descended, and picked up the shiny object, it was a shard of crystal. The same that had been used for the rim of the Time-machine and exactly what The Brain and Mallah wanted! She was about to pocket the crystal when she heard a a sort of guttural, half-grunt, half-roar behind her.

Jumping just a little, she turned around and came face to face with a greenish dinosaur (much like Beast boy, she can't help thinking) that was about the height of an adult. After a moment, she realised that she had recalled this dinosaur, Stenonychosaurus or its most commonly known name, Troodon, in her dinosaur book.

It was the smartest dinosaur around, though, would be considered the dumbest compared to a modern bird. Still, its intelligence was impressive for its time. Not only that, but the Troodon was extremely fast and had huge sickle-shaped claws that could easily kill any prey.

Raven took a step back slowly, and cautiously. She reminded her to slow her breathing, make it less heavy and make no sudden movements. A Troodon was carnivorous and she hoped that this one wasn't too hungry at the moment. That's when she noticed its beady eyes, which had the best vision around, trained onto the crystal in her right hand.

At that moment, Raven realised that there were a whole bunch of crystals at its feet! It must have found them when Mallah and The Brain left it unattended and because it sparkled and stood out so clearly against the dark forest floor, the Troodon must have felt curious and decided to take the crystals for itself!

Raven had to think of a way to get help. These crystals could be their only hope of getting home! She knew that Cyborg already had a Time-machine but she just couldn't wait to get out of the prehistoric life. At the least, she had to tell the Titans what the Brain and Mallah were up to and stop them before they find the crystals with the Troodon.

But she had to push that aside first, now, she had more important matters at hands like the fact that the Troodon's eyes were flicking all over her and back to the crystal with much curiosity. Then, it just simply stared at her. Obviously, it wanted the crystal but Raven wasn't sure if she should give it the precious rock.

"Aha! So you've been taking our crystals!" Mallah suddenly fell from above the treetops and down, in front of Raven. But he wasn't talking to her, he was talking to the Troodon!

"Take it back!" The Brain said, emerging from behind a few bushes.

"You … how did you know …?" Raven started.

"We tracked down fresh footprints in the mud, just before it was washed away by the rain." said The Brain as if it were obvious.

Raven understood what he meant. A Troodon's footprints were very clear as they had a large curving toe on their legs.

Suddenly, there was a shriek and roaring. Raven turned her attention to the dinosaur which was desperately trying to fight back Mallah as he attempted to take back the crystals. Raven had to step in, whatever happens, she couldn't let The Brain and Mallah fix their machine and go back to destroy the world.

"Is Raven back yet?" Beast boy whined. A hour had gone by and the embers were continuing to dim. Night came surprisingly fast as the world turned darker and darker. Not to mention, colder and colder, and that was why Beast boy was whining. There was no wood, which meant no fire to keep him warm. He wrapped her cloak more tightly around him. It was the only protection from the cold and even then, he was still quivering slightly.

"She is taking a very long time …" murmured Starfire, whom Robin had an arm around.

"Too long." Robin remarked, he wondered if she had ran into any trouble. He certainly hoped not, for in these times, the last thing they needed is for one to get attacked by … whatever that was out there.

He contemplated searching for Raven. There could be a lot of reasons for why she was taking so long. She couldn't find dry wood, she wanted a rest along the way but he had to admit, none of the reasons were good. He was just trying to deny the one worrying thought in his mind - Raven was in trouble.

Then again, she was Raven. Raven. The girl who single-handedly (okay, with some help) defeated Trigon, her demon father which tried to destroy the world. She was the girl with the amazing ability to move any objects around, create powerful shields, form various tools (knifes, swords etc …) with her great dark energy, and she even had the ability to stop time.

Oh and not to mention, she had defeated the most biggest carnivore in dinosaur history which was 55 feet tall and weighed 16 000 pounds - the Spinosaurus.

He'll give her another fifteen minutes, if not … well …it's time to go exploring.

A/N: The March hols are over, sadly … I wish our break was longer, now it's back to school. For those who are wondering why after writing my first story, I took such a long time to write the second, well it is because I am writing and finishing the whole story and will just upload every chapter in one go when I'm done. Also, going back to school doesn't help either. SIGH!