Raven had taken up a fighting stance, waiting for the thing to come out. There were more roars along with howls and the sound of something solid scraping against the wall. Raven was confused until they came out into the open.

"The Crystal Wolves," She gasped. They were supposed to be just a legend, a myth. She watched in terror as the four multicolored wolves circled her, snarling viciously. Raven was now afraid. The Crystal Wolves were supposed to be the most dangerous animals in the universe. Each one a different color with a different abilities and attributes, all of them were deadly. The blue one had extreme speed, the green one looked like a porcupine with large spikes sticking out of its back that could be shot like missiles. The red one was the size of a small car and could set itself on fire, and the pink one was the most dangerous of them all. It had the power of telepathy and could read the mind of its victims. That meant that no matter what she tried to do, the wolves would always know. She decided that if she could take out the pink one first then the others would be easier to beat.

"Well, well, well, what do you know; the Crystal Wolves are not a myth after all," shouted the old man chuckling. Raven wasn't paying attention to him, she was focused on surviving. She sent a blast of dark energy at the pink wolf but it dodged it with extreme ease. This went on for a while, Raven would be dodging the wolves attacks while trying to take out the pink one but had no success. She had no idea how she could beat them, but the pink wolf did, and that was the problem. How could she beat something that knew what she was going to do before she did? Raven had stopped paying attention for maybe half a second but the wolves had taken advantage of it, she suddenly felt a searing pain in her side as one of the green wolf's spikes tore through her. She fell to the ground clutching her side. She could feel the warmness of her blood soaking into her leotard and covering her hand as she collapsed. Raven could hear her mother gasp at the sight of her lying helpless in a pool of her own blood on the cold, stone floor. Raven's sight began to dance in darkness while she could here the sound of the wolves closing in on her slowly. She knew that she couldn't stay conscious for much longer but could pull one last, desperate attempt to survive. When the wolves were within a few feet of her she unleashed her avatar. A large, shadowy black raven sprang from her body and entered an enraged frenzy. It attacked the wolves without relent, smashing them to pieces. Even with the pink ones mind reading ability they were doomed. The raven's speed put the blue one to shame and it was shadow, so nothing the green one shot at it could hurt it. It sliced through them like they were made of putty. Raven heard the clatter of crystal on the floor and smiled. She had survived the first trial, but was it for nothing? She knew that the council would not save her and the use of her avatar had drained her even more. Her only hope was for he mother to save her; unfortunately she was still chained to a chair with guards on either side. It would take a miracle now. Raven had only one thing on her mind as she slipped into darkness

"I love you mom."

Raven opened her eyes to the glare of the sun beaming through a window. She was lying on the bed in Titan Towers infirmary; she was tired of being here. This had not been her only trip to this room, though she wished it would be her last. Then she remembered what had happened and stood up in bewilderment. How had she gotten here, and who had saved her? Or was she dead and this was just how she perceived it. She walked out of the room to find herself hit directly in the face with a wad of the most disgusting, crusty, smelly socks she had ever seen

"Beast Boy," was her first reaction. This was not heaven, she could tell. There was no way that this would happen there, heck this couldn't be hell either. Having Beast Boy around was too cruel a punishment even for there, she had to be alive. So the question now was how. She took the pile of socks off her face to find herself facing a very sheepish looking green boy.

"Ha, ha, hey Raven, you're up." He was quivering a little, and with good reason. The last time he had hit her with a stankball she had gone off on him and had chased him around the tower, blasting him with his own socks. But this time she was some what glad he had hit her. It meant that she was alive.

"Yo, Raven," she heard from behind her. She turned to find a seven foot Cyborg crushing her in an enormous bear hug. "It is good to see you up. It's been nearly a week since you appeared in the middle of the living room."

"A week! I've been out cold for a week," she exclaimed. This was terrible. Her mother was still living in the tower until she completed the trials or failed. She hadn't failed so her mom was safe, but still, a week? Had the injury and the use of her avatar really drained her that much? She suddenly felt very hungry and her stomach growled loudly.

"Looks like some body's hungry." Cyborg smiled. "And by the sound of it you're starving. This is the perfect excuse to make some barbeque!" He rushed of down the stares with BB chasing after him shouting

"And don't forget some tofu for me." Raven walked down the stairs slowly, bracing herself for Starfire's reaction. She was bound to nearly kill her with a hug, followed by a barrage of questions that she probably couldn't answer. When she entered the living area she was greeted by the sounds of Cyborg and Beast Boy arguing about what was and was not going to be cooked on the grill, and of course Starfire was shouting.

"Friend Raven, you are o.k.! I had begun to worry that you would never wake up." She followed that up with a bear hug as Raven had expected.

"Uh, Star, can't, breathe," She said in a strained voice. Starfire let her go and Robin walked over from the couch.

"What happened? Why did you just appear in the middle of the living room covered in blood?" He was stareing at her quizzically.

"That is a long story, which I will tell you after lunch." She walked over and grabbed some of the ribs that Cyborg had made. She began to scarf down food like her life depended on it. She finally finished when all the ribs were gone and she felt full. The rest of the Titans were strewn across the room, eating their lunch or resting after eating too much. Raven walked over to the couch and sat down next to Robin who was finishing up his hamburger.

"So, you gona tell us what happened," he asked.

"Yes, after you tell me what exactly happened when I reappeared back in the living room." Robin glared at her before starting

"There isn't really much to tell. You appeared unconscious in a swirl of your black energy bleeding profusely. That's about it, now it's your turn." He was staring at her intently, waiting for her answer. Raven sighed and began to speak slowly.

"I returned to Azarath in order to save my mother from execution. Well the head of the council is an absolute douche bag, so I had to agree to do what is probably the most dangerous thing in my life in order to save her. The bleeding you saw was a result of one of the three trials I have to go through in order to save her. I still have two more to go and I plan on completing them." She gave the rest of them, especially Robin, an icy stare that seamed to say try and stop me. All of them got the message; and they had the same reaction,

"You gota let us help Raven."

"Indeed friend Raven, we have to help you with these trials that are dangerous enough to wound you so."

"If you're going back, were coming with you."

"You should have had us help you in the first place, then this wouldn't have happened."

"NO," She shouted. She sunk into the floor and then reappeared behind them. "I will not put you in harms way, besides, you can't even go to Azarath. Only those who are from there or have the magic abilities to get there can. None of you qualify. And I have to do these trials on my own, it's in the rules. Now I appreciate all of your concern, but that wont help me right now. I need to get back to Azarath and save my mother." She stormed off to her room, leaving her fiends stunned. She had never done something like that before, just told them off because she had to do something alone. It was usually Robin who was the person who said they had to do things alone and Raven who convinced him otherwise.

Raven had finished creating the pentagon again with the symbols and candles in place. As she sat down to begin chanting a large, shadowy hand appeared from a vortex above her and dragged her slowly in while she screamed. Cyborg came bursting in with the others on his tale.

"That didn't sound good," he said.

"Well there's nothing we can do now." Robin reminded him. "She's off to who knows where?" But someone did know, and they were not pleased. They wanted Arella to die, and Raven along with her. But for now, they would just wait in the shadows and see what happened. Because after all, the girl had gotten injured on the first challenge, and the second was even harder.