The both of us, as if we were both aware of the other, in synced timing leap from the roof. Once we hit the ground, we then immediately began to high-tail it to the middle school with Sammie and Raven right behind us, passing by a panicky preschool on the way. We arrived at the parking lot of the middle school to see Blackfire, a Tamaranian with long, black hair who I would later discover is the older sister of Starfire. She was fighting my younger brother, Ximenez, and he was losing, badly. At only thirteen years old at the time, and therefore too young to Change, all he had to fight with was the physical strength of his human form. Normally that wouldn't be too much of a problem, due to him still having enhanced strength, speed, and stamina due to his lycanthropy, but Blackfire, much like her younger sister, was equipped with super alien strength, star bolts, flight, and probably other abilities I wasn't aware of.

He was locked in hand-to-hand combat with her as the teachers and students of Douglas Middle School escaped in a panic out the back of the school. She eventually delivered a swift kick into his chest, sending him flying backwards into the school wall. Dust encircled him as broken bricks flew off of the wall due to his impact. When the dust cleared, my brother fell to the ground onto his hands and knees. His shirt was shredded to ribbons as it hung loosely from his body, and his jean shorts had tears along the sides of the thighs as if he was the Hulk after turning back into Bruce Banner. His skin was covered in cuts and bruises, his right eye was blackened, and his mini afro was covered in dust. If it weren't for the fact that he was indeed a werewolf, Blackfire would've most definitely killed him long before getting to that point. Blackfire then prepares to fire another star bolt at him when my younger self springs into action. With a roar, he opens his jaws and begins charging his dark energies for a "Shadow Ball" attack as if he were a Mightyena. He then releases it from his jaws with perfect timing as it collides with Blackfire's star bolt in midair before it reaches Ximenez. Irritated that someone interfered with her attack, she turns to her left towards my younger self, who responded to her glare with a snarl.

"So you were the one I needed all along", said Blackfire with an evil grin.

"You want me? Come and get me", my younger self responded, paying no actual attention to her comment. Blackfire accepts my challenge by firing another star bolt. He dodges the blast and charges into a full sprint at Blackfire. He lunges at her as hard as he could with his claws tracted and sharpened for attack. With a smug grin on her face, Blackfire simply leans backwards slightly to where it's just enough for him to just miss her. However, as he passes her face, he swings his right back paw out and lands a lucky kick against the side of her face. The young wolf then turns back at her upon landing to see her picking herself up off the ground. She looks up at him and glares as her eyes burn light purple. She didn't appreciate his counterattack. She then screams in anger as she shoots off the ground and barrels into the wolf's back, pushing him face-first into another of the school's walls. After the collision and the dust had cleared, she pins his face into the bricks with one hand while twisting his arm behind him with the other.

"Looks like I win", she said confidently. It was at this point that Sammie rushed at her from behind. When she approached her, she rose to her hind legs for a moment and sank the claws of her right paw into the right side of Blackfire's collar bone. The rogue alien screams in pain as she's then jerked backwards enough to where Sammie could then use her left paw to pull Blackfire's head to its left side, which then exposed her neck, allowing Sammie to sink her fangs into it. When her grip was loose enough, my younger self jerks his left elbow backwards, slamming it square into Blackfire's nose. The blow to her face was enough to push her back away from him, allowing him to leap straight into the air and land behind her and Sammie, still with Blackfire's neck in her jaws. Once I was out of the way, Sammie then uses her jaws to toss the alien girl behind her and towards her brother. The black wolf then leans backwards as if he was imitating choreography from the "Matrix" series as Blackfire is thrown over him. As she passes he then does a backflip and kicks the back of her spine, which combined with the force of Sammie's toss, sends her flying into a truck that was parked in the parking lot prior to the fight. A large dent appears on the passenger side's doors as she crashes into the vehicle, setting off its emergency alarm in the process. Blackfire then falls to the ground.

As she lay still with her face in the concrete, the two wolves slowly close in on her, growling as if to warn her not to get up. A few moments later the alien slowly rises to her feet, her face covered by her hair as she hung her head. To add to this creepy zombie vibe she was giving off, she begins to chuckle in an "evil" fashion. She then lifts her head and reveals her face. Not a single scratch on her face. There were tears in her clothes due to Sammie's claws and fangs, but her face, and skin in general, had no evidence of any damage of any kind. A look of shock and a bit of worry washes over the two wolves' faces.

"What can I say? My people are more resilient", says the alien girl preparing to fight back. Her two hands begin to glow as she prepared to blast another round of star bolts, but something was different this time. Her blasts were originating from the two jewels on her gloves (much like the gloves Starfire wore, they revealed her hands, but stretched up to her elbows as if they were sleeves. The two jewels on her gloves were located on the backs of her hands). As her eyes glowed light purple as per usual, her left hand began to glow white, and her right began to "glow" black. She then fired a black star bolt at Sammie, sending her flying backwards a few feet.

"Sammie", cried the black wolf as he looked back at the unconscious blonde wolf.

"She's fine, but I'd be more concerned about myself if I were you." Blackfire then fired a blast of white energy from her left hand at the unconscious wolf. My younger self stood there frozen, not sure what to do next or what was going on. "Now rise", said the alien as she motioned her right hand upward as if she were controlling a string puppet. Sammie then rises onto her four paws with her back turned to my younger self. The black wolf cautiously approaches his sister just as Blackfire says, "turn and face your opponent." Sammie then turns to her brother and snarls an angry snarl, much to the black wolf's surprise. The black wolf then turns back at the alien and begins to growl.

"What did you do to her?"

"Attack", says the alien as she points at him, completely ignoring his question. The blonde wolf immediately obeys her command as she lunges at the black wolf. She tackles him as the two of them roll over each other wrestling to try to pin the other to the ground, while Blackfire cackled in delight. Unfortunately, Sammie was the victor as she pinned my younger self onto his back with her on top. "Finish him", shouts Blackfire as if she was the announcer in a game of "Mortal Kombat". In response to her mistress' command, Sammie clamps her jaws onto the black wolf's throat. As blood began to leak from his throat, my younger self lay there unsure of what to do next, though his paws desperately tried to free his throat from his sister. He knew not how to free his sister without hurting her, but she was trying to kill him regardless.

"Ximenez", cries my younger self as he looks over to his brother for help. The even younger boy simply looks at his dying brother and stares. He then turns towards the side of the building leading to behind the school and runs. "Ximenez", I cry again as my brother kept running, without any intention of stopping. His cowardly attempt to escape came to a halt, but only due to Blackfire's interference.

"And where do you think you are going?" Blackfire then hits my brother with another black star bolt. The young preteen werewolf screams in pain as he is thrown onto his stomach due to the blast.

"No", I shout as I kick Sammie in her groin. The blonde wolf yelps and then whines in response. With her grip on my throat loosened, I manage to throw her off of me and run to my brother.

"That was a dick move", said Raven who stood beside me on the sidelines as we watched.

"Hey, desperate times", I said in response, but with a serious voice.

"Ximenez", my younger self screamed as he trotted over to his unconscious brother.

"Now rise", repeated Blackfire. Just as Sammie did before, Ximenez immediately rises to his feet in response to her command. Blackfire then fires a white star bolt at my brother, forcing an unexpected side effect. My brother began to Change. As the Changing process began to occur, he immediately dropped to the ground and screamed bloody murder as he writhed in pain. Since his body had not yet matured enough, the Change was forced and unnatural, and it was killing him. With no further commands from her mistress, Sammie lowered her rear to the ground as if she was a dog that had been told to sit. I stare down at my brother in horror as I dared not touch him or use my dark powers to try and stop the Change for fear of killing him faster. I could feel my stomach being tied in knots as I saw Ximenez, who at that point was about halfway through the Change, gargling and choking on his own blood. Scared and angry, I turn back to Blackfire and roar at her. "Don't get your tail in a knot. I still need him." She then fires several more white star bolts at my brother, which helped him speed through the rest of the Change. At last the Change was complete, and my brother stood before me as a young werewolf with dark brown fur and light purple eyes, the same color as Blackfire's aura-like powers.

"Shit just got real", my current self said as I watched my younger self get double teamed by his two younger siblings. It was at that moment something strange occurred. The world of my "memory" started to accelerate slightly. My younger self, my siblings, the fight, Blackfire, the surrounding environment, everything began moving quicker as if we were inside a VHS tape and somebody hit the "fast forward" button. Raven and I look at each other and shake our heads almost simultaneously as if we were silently asking if the other had anything to do with the world accelerating, while at the same time saying, "it wasn't me". We look back at the fight to see, though still accelerated, that it was now me versus my two siblings, and now Blackfire as she decided to join in the fight.

"Any chance you're catching what's going on", asked Raven as she couldn't truly keep up with the fast moving people as they sped around the parking lot blasting, barking, biting, and clawing at one another.

"I am. In a few seconds I'm going to Change into somebody you might recognize", I said as I pointed my claw at the battle. Moments later, my younger self Changed into his beast form.

"Wait, the Beast was real", asked Raven in reference to why my beast form resembled the Beast from the respective Disney Princess movie.

"No, that's just one of my forms. A story for another time." Raven then turned to me as if she was going to say something, but I cut her off as I continued narrating my past. "Now here comes Christian", I said as I pointed out at the grassy plains across the street from the middle school. Raven turned just in time to see another pitch-black werewolf rush in and join the fight. Though it was hard to tell through the accelerated chaos, I explained that Christian was fighting on my side. I look around me and Raven's observation point and notice that the battlefield was starting to spread wider. "Come", I said simply as I Changed into Gizamon and flew into the air. Raven followed me without question, probably being used to me giving her vague information at that point. We fly across the street and hover over the edge of the grasslands that Christian appeared from and continue to watch.

With the battle now consisting of three werewolves, and both a rogue alien and a large monstrous animal firing star bolts and dark energy at one another, there were explosions, flying debris, and property damage everywhere you looked. Eventually the battle resulted in the middle school catching on fire, and without anyone paying any actual attention to it, the fire eventually finds a way to spread to the grassy lawn of the middle school, and then to the trees that sat in between the middle school and preschool. With the threat of a fire in addition to five super beings leveling the middle school in a five-way grudge match, the preschool begins to evacuate the children through the far exits of the building in an effort to avoid the fighting as much as possible. It was then that there was a flash of a white light. When the flash had passed, the world below had returned to normal speed, but the fight had progressed further without us seeing it, as if the flash was a transition tool as if we were watching a random cartoon show.

"Does your life always have to have elements of television and movies in everything you do", asked Raven sarcastically.

"Apparently", I respond for being just as confused as she was.

The fight below had started to die down a bit as everyone was beginning to tire out. My younger self had returned to his wolf form by this point. Blackfire, now finally being tired herself, fires another star bolt at me. My younger self dodges as he continues to charge at her. Both Ximenez and Sammie lunge at me from head-on, as if to protect their mistress, but Christian made quick work of them as he quickly tackles them out of my way. Blackfire, now unprotected, fires a barrage of star bolts at me, trying to ward me away. Unfortunately for her, my younger self escaped her assault untouched thanks to his ability to teleport. He eventually teleports himself close enough to Blackfire that he bit his jaws down onto her left hand. The alien screams in pain as she begins to pummel the wolf's neck with her free fist hoping to loosen his grip.

"Let…. me…. go", she screams as she delivers a kick to his chest from underneath him. The wolf is then flown off of her as her glove is ripped in the process. Blackfire and my younger self are thrown through the air away from each other as one of Blackfire's jewels, the one ripped from her glove, disappears into the rubble of the middle school. My younger self slowly rises to his paws to see an even angrier Blackfire, her entire body encased in her light purple aura, preparing to strike him. "You're going to wish you'd never done that", she screams as she draws back her right arm as if winding up her star bolt like a pitcher winds up for a fast ball. Suddenly a large blast of wind crashes into her from behind the black wolf and throws her backwards. Blackfire then becomes unconscious as she crashes into the ground on her stomach. My younger self turns behind him to see Sammie closing her jaws having completed her "wind" attack. She then rushes over to her brother and begins to lick the dirt and blood from his throat, whining apologetically as she did so.

"What was that she just did", asked Raven in reference to my sister's attack. I then opened my jaws and exhaled as hard as I could, to the point where you could see the wind shooting from my jaws with incredible force. Once I had completed my demonstration, I look back at Raven, who had a look of confusion on her face.

"It's just a trick I taught my Pack."

"So, are brick houses your kryptonite, are is that just a myth from the fairy tale."

"Hardy har har. Make jokes if you want, but it's a useful trick to have. Besides, where do you think the inspiration of the Big Bad Wolf came from?"

"The Big Bad Wolf was real?"

"Though the fairy tales are pure fiction, the wolf that inspired those stories, is very much real."

"Is", asked Raven. I ignored her question as I motioned towards everyone below us. My younger self and Sammie had just walked over to Christian and Ximenez.

"Is everybody okay", I asked.

"You're welcome, by the way", said Christian smugly.

"I'll take that as a "yes"", I responded sarcastically. "And you", I asked my brother. He simply nodded his head, but kept his eyes looking at the ground. My ears then twitched as I heard Blackfire groaning behind me, struggling to regain consciousness and rise to her feet. While I was already looking in her direction, I noticed that the fire started from the battle had spread to the preschool, which was still being evacuated.

"Go help them. Get them out of here", I said as I turned back to the other three wolves. Without question, Sammie ran towards the preschool. "Evacuate the high school as well", I shouted to her as she ran off. I turned back to the other two to find my brother starting to walk away. "Ximenez", I asked trying to figure out where he was going. When he heard me say his name he looks back at me for a moment, then hauls into a sprint, away from the school district. "Ximenez!"

"Ah, we don't need that wuss weighing us down anyway. Now let's behead this royal bitch!"

"You should really go help Sammie evacuate everyone."

"Hmmmm. How about, no", he asked sarcastically as he began walking around me and towards Blackfire.

"Christian….", I growled at him.

"Save your breath. I'm only here to claim another victory in battle. When it comes to saving these worthless humans, you're on your own."

"There's more to being a werewolf than simply fighting."

"That's your opinion."

"No, it's fact. Just because you're a mutant, doesn't mean you're any superior to the humans."

"In what way are we not superior?"

"Nobody is superior to anybody!"

"Says the wolf who your precious Sammie calls, "Alpha"."

"I never asked to be called, "Alpha"."

"Well I never asked to be a creature whose strength knows no equal. Looks like we both got what we deserved."

"Sometimes I feel you don't even deserve your powers."

"Oooooh, is that a challenge?"

"I have no desire to fight you."

"Aw, whats the matter, Fernando? I didn't scare you already did I?"

"I'm not scared of you."

"Perhaps not of me, but you are of Bigby." My younger self's ears lowered slightly upon hearing his name. I, myself, did as well. "Aha! I knew it! The mighty "Prince of Darkness" is scared of someone. How does it feel to be knocked to the levels of us commoners?" My younger self simply snorts in response as he walks up to Christian. Christian then turns to face him as they both looked each other in the eye, only inches away from each other. Christian then begins to flash his fangs as a growl rumbled in his chest. My younger self stands there silent for a moment, and then proceeds to walk around Christian towards the disoriented alien behind him. "Huh. Ferdinand the Werewolf, off to sit quietly and smell the flowers. That's always been your problem, always so quick to run from a fight. No wonder Bigby kicked you out."

"He didn't kick me out", I began as I looked back at him. "I left willingly."

"Perhaps it's better that you did. You know, after starting a mutiny and all."

"Rey and Maury left on their own terms. That wasn't my doing."

"Well they certainly wouldn't have left if you had just kept your head down and did what you were told to do."

"Well excuse me for refusing to be a part of your little gang."

"Humans have gangs. We have Packs."

"Yet what Bigby has is clearly a gang."

"So we terrorize a few humans from time to time. Big deal, it's what we do. It's in our blood."

"That's where you're wrong. It's not. I left the Pack not because I couldn't follow orders, but because I refused to be a monster. It's difficult enough coexisting with humans as it is, and I refuse to contribute to the problem. You want to be a mindless drone for a glorified bully, that's fine, but leave me out of it." Christian snarled at my younger self in response to his comment. "You do whatever you want", I said as I turned back and walked back over to Blackfire.

"With pleasure", Christian growled under his breath as he crept over towards me, my back still turned to him. I could hear Raven breathing faster as she and I watched in suspense.

"Relax", I said as I pointed at my ears as if to indicate to listen. It was at that moment that the echoing sounds of sirens could be heard. Upon hearing the promise of police officers arriving, Christian then turns back towards the grasslands he entered the fight from and begins to run towards them. From the safety of the tall grass, Raven and I heard him growl something to himself under his breath again.

"The next time you cross paths with me, old friend, will be your last." Christian then turns and disappears further into the plains.

"How right you are", I said as I turned back at my younger self, now standing over Blackfire. He nudged and proded at her with his paws and nose as four police cars and a fire truck pull up to the edges of the middle school and preschool parking lots. The police officers all immediately move to their positions, that is, they all stepped out of their vehicles, drew their guns, pointed them at my younger self, all with the exception of the one officer with the megaphone that yelled, "freeze! Power down and put your hands in the air!" Before the young wolf could even think to respond, Blackfire's eyes shoot open as she immediately rolls onto her back. She then does something completely unexpected. "Hey Raven. Remember that dick move I did earlier?"

"Yeah".

"If you liked that, then you'll love this", I said sarcastically in reference of what was about to happen.

"Lover, please. Why do you do this to me? Have I not done for you everything you've asked of me and more? Why do you attack me? Why do you destroy a harmless school? Those poor, poor people…. why do you do such a thing", asked Blackfire in a fake and very squealy and whiny voice as she pretended to play the victim.

"Say what", asks the shocked werewolf that stood over her. After hearing all that they needed to hear, the cops began to open fire at the accused werewolf. My younger self instinctively surrounds both himself and Blackfire with a protective forcefield made of his dark aura as bullets bounce right off of it.

"Whoa. Yeah, that was a dick move, too", said Raven.

"Oh, trust me, it gets worse. There's one last piece to this story", I said in response as I lifted my index claw up to the sky. It was then that, out of seemingly nowhere, a flash of green appears in the sky as what appeared to be a green comet came barreling down towards the earth below. The comet crashed into the middle of my forcefield and the cops' gunfire, causing another small explosion. The blast was enough to send all five emergency vehicles flying backwards and shatter my forcefield. My younger self, Blackfire, and the police officers all screamed in shock as we were all tossed backwards like rag dolls. When the dust cleared and the green glow had died down a bit, another alien girl emerged, the one who I would later meet as a Teen Titan, Starfire.

"You must be Starfire", said my younger self as he approached her. Starfire responded by shouting something in Tamaranean as she pointed her palms at him. "Easy, Princess Starfire, my name is Fernando, and I mean you no harm." Blackfire responds to this by calling out to Starfire in Tamaranean, causing Starfire to respond back to her similarly. I didn't know what they said to one another, but I could guess that it was based on lies, because without having any idea on how to speak or understand Tamaranean, Blackfire had the clear advantage, so it didn't at all surprise me when Starfire then decided to attack me. With my younger self already being worn out from fighting one Tamaranean, he was in no position to fight another. Starfire lunges at the young wolf and punches him in the abdomen. Having the air knocked out of him was more than enough to stun him, giving Starfire the perfect opportunity to grab him by the throat, fly him up a few dozen feet into the air, and hurl him into the high school, further away from the where the gunfire had just taken place. The amount of force in her throw was not only enough to crash me through one of the building's brick walls, but it also brought a small portion of the school building itself to the ground. To make matters worse, the high school was not yet completely evacuated, so we would later discover that several people were fatally wounded by the collapsing building.

"Well I guess that's it", I said expecting the white light to appear and bring us back to Titans Tower. Much to my surprise when Blackfire and Starfire flew over to the rubble of the high school, and the "memory" continued. "That's odd."

"What's odd?"

"If this is a world of my memories, then we shouldn't still be here. Starfire just knocked me unconscious", I said as I pointed to the pile of bricks I was buried under.

"Hold that thought", said Raven as she flies over to the high school. This time I followed her. We land in the parking lot next to the rubble. Teachers and students were still fleeing the area in panic. The two alien sisters began conversing with one another as they approached my unconscious body. Though neither I or Starfire could understand what was being said, their facial expressions and tones of voice told us enough. Blackfire was continuing to play victim, while her little sister hung onto every word and tried her best to comfort her. When they reached the pile of bricks, they began moving the bricks as they attempted to dig me out. When they finally found me, I had returned to my human form due to the crash, Starfire grabs me by the front of my shirt and pulls me up to her. She then proceeds to holler at and shake me as I dangled from her grip, unconscious and still. Blackfire then looks up at the roof and gasps. Starfire drops my younger self and looks up to match where her sister was looking.

Up on the roof of the high school were two more mutants. One was big and covered in black fur. He had claws on his hands and feet, but they weren't completely Changed into paws. They looked moreso like claws had just sprouted from where his human fingernails once were, though his big toes on his feet, which are the foot's equivalent of thumbs, were raised further up as if his feet were Changed into paws. He had a snout, but it wasn't defined as it was simply a wolf-like nose sitting in the exact same place a human one would be, and he had mane-like fur around his face, chin, and neck. His eyes were a light lime green, his canine teeth were sharpened, and the clothes he wore over his fur were in shreds. This mutant was a werewolf, whose breed had been simply named, due to their appearance being both gender specific and the inspiration of one of the world's most well-known monster stories, wolfman.

The other mutant had the body, arms, legs, hands, and feet of a human man. He was dressed completely in black leather, with red hot rod flames on his pants and the back of his jacket. Humans wouldn't be able to tell him apart from any other human, except for his face. Though the rest of his body was in human form, he had the head of a jaguar, as indicated by the fact that the jaguar head snarled and roared, which made it easy to tell that it wasn't simply a man in a mask. Believe it or not, this mutant was also a werewolf. He and members of his breed are called nahuals, werewolves who when they Changed, only Changed their heads and grew claws on their hands and feet. What also makes them unique is that they and one other breed don't necessarily become wolves when they Changed. Since the origins of this breed date way back to the ancient Aztecs, nahuals (it depended on the individual) can become wolves, jaguars, leopards, coyotes, or bears. In the case of this particular nahual, he was a jaguar.

The two werewolves leapt down from the roof, causing the two aliens to back off from their unconscious young friend. They snarled a warning to the both of them as they both stood between their opponent's and my younger self who laid on the ground behind them. The aliens responded by radiating their powers over their bodies.

"Who're those two", asked Raven as the four super beings squared each other off.

"Old friends of mine. That's Rey, and Maury", I said as I pointed my claw at the nahual and wolfman respectively. The two muscular werewolves continued to growl and snarl as the two alien girls stood there waiting, eagerly expecting something to happen.

"Aren't they going to say something", asked Raven impatiently.

"If you're referring to the two big guys, I doubt it. In their wolf forms neither of them can speak. Hell, Rey in particular can't speak English at all." As if he knew we were talking about him, the jaguar-headed werewolf, as if on cue, steps forward and simply points behind the alien girls and snarls. It didn't matter that three out of the four individuals in this exchange couldn't speak English, the message was clear enough to where you'd have to be blind and/or deaf to miss it. Rey was clearly telling them to leave. Blackfire then steps forward and prepares to attack, but stumbles as she was still weakened from her fight with me. Starfire then catches her sister and politely restrains her from trying to fight anymore. Blackfire then looks up at Starfire with an annoyed look on her face as if she was about to say something, but is interrupted as the police officers, the two that managed to walk off Starfire's crash landing, fired a round of tranquilizer darts at the four super beings.

Though they fired multiple darts, they only managed to hit two of their targets, Starfire and Maury. Starfire had a few darts hit her in the back as she blocked her sister with her body, while Maury got shot similarly as he was using himself as a shield to protect both me and Rey. Blackfire and Rey take advantage of the situation as Blackfire escapes by flying away using her unconscious sister's body to literally shield herself, while Rey hurls a large chunk of what used to be a brick wall at the two officers. The two men scream as the force of the toss was enough to wound one of them further while killing the other (my ears twitched at the sound of one of their necks snapping the wrong way upon impact). With the cops down for the count and the aliens fleeing the scene, Rey then grabs the unconscious Maury and younger me, each scooped under one of his arms, and bounds up and over the school building as he makes his escape.

"Should we follow", asked Raven in reference to how the pacing of this trip down memory lane was going. I looked around at the unconscious police officers, the destroyed buildings and cars, and the fire that was slowly dying out only because it was running out of things to burn before I answered her.

"No, what happens from here on doesn't matter. Rey'll take care of it."

"In that case, what about the jewel?"

"Jewel?"

"The one that you ripped off of Blackfire's hand." In all of the craziness of the fight and the weird memory dream world I had forgotten about that. Before I could even wing a response, Raven then flies off back to the devastated middle school. Seeing as how we were both still hanging around despite my younger self being unconscious therefore technically ending this memory-like sequence, I flap my wings and fly after her.

Raven apparently was even more eager to find that jewel than I was as indicated by the fact that by the time I arrived to the middle school, she was already there moving large amounts of rock and brick with her dark powers, large enough to where I was thoroughly impressed. Granted she was using her powers and not physical strength, but just like physical strength, with telekinesis and other mental powers, you had to train your mind to handle lifting something large and heavy just as you would train your muscles to handle the weight of something heavy. Also, like physical muscles, if your mind is weary or overworked, its overall strength also becomes weary. So with all of that said, seeing Raven as she easily lifted large amounts of solid rock and brick and tossed it to the side without so much as even chanting her mantra to motivate or boost herself to do so was more than enough to impress me, or at least make me more attracted to her than I already was.

"Wow, you're much stronger than you look", I said as I trotted up to her.

"What's that supposed to mean", she asked with a raised eyebrow as she looked back at me. I then begin to panic a little as I just realized how I might've said something sexist or otherwise insulting rather than the intended compliment.

"Oh, well, what I meant to say was…. that is, you kinda look like…. not that that's a bad thing…. I mean most women…. no, that's not what I meant", I babbled like an idiot as if I had never held a conversation with another person before. My paws nervously pace from side to side as my dialogue was all over the place trying to form an intelligent thought. "This is all coming out wrong! Let me try that again….", I began as I somehow managed to trip over my own paws after apparently getting them tangled up due to my nervous pacing. I fall forward and land on my stomach with my neck and chin extended out. My two front legs were pressed underneath my body while my back legs were crisscrossed as if I were sitting Indian style. I guess I'll just lie here and die in shame, I thought to myself as I said, "ow", in as pathetic and sarcastic a voice as I could muster. Though I was too ashamed to look up at her, I could hear Raven laughing at my stupidity. I lowered my ears in response.

"That. Was. Priceless", said Raven as she squats down in front of me.

"If by "priceless" you mean "stupid"", I said, again, sarcastically.

"No, it was cute", she says as she lifts some of the fur of my mane that fluffed over my face as I fell out of my eyes. I then look back up at her and lock onto her eyes. I then get a familiar feeling of being unable to resist being drawn into her as I felt myself Change back into human form, lift myself onto my hands and knees, and move my face closer to hers as my eyelids once again started to feel heavy. I was close enough to where I could feel her breathing on my face when a heard the sound of rock being blasted. My eyes shoot open enough just in time to see a blast of Raven's dark energy strike the rocky pile of rubble, just as our powers did to the roof of Titans Tower on the day we met. Raven and I awkwardly pull away from each other as we notice the shine of something white coming from the spot where the rock was blasted. We walk over and look down to see that we had found the jewel that Blackfire left behind. I reach out and grab it as the two of us squat back down for a better look at it. The jewel was white and in the shape of a pentagon. It also had black lines running through it that evenly divided the jewel into five equal "panels".

"Interesting", I said as I turned the jewel in my hand to see the other side of it.

"What happened to the jewel after they left?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know? What do you mean by that?"

"I mean as I said. I don't know what happened to the jewel. It wasn't until we were transported here via some weird memory wormhole that I even knew that Blackfire left a jewel behind. I was so angry at Blackfire at the time I guess I simply forgot. Plus, in my defense, it was the least of my problems at the time", I said as I rose to my feet and looked around at the devastation of the Douglas School District.

"The roof still looks pretty sturdy", said Raven behind me as I turned back to see her rise to her feet. I cock my head a little confused at what the purpose of her bringing up that fact was. She then responds by floating up towards the roof. I walk further out of the building and turn back around to get a better view of her on the roof. She walked over to one edge of it and sat down with her legs hanging off, just as she was that night we spent together. She looks down at me and then pats the ground beside her with her hand. Having clearly understood the message, I teleport from the parking lot and onto the roof beside her. Raven jumps a little at the quick and sudden movement of my maneuver. Upon seeing her do this, I chuckle a little, and she does as well. That moment of laughter didn't last long however, because the view from the roof only gave me a better look at the damage. I look out over the district in silence, playing with and moving the jewel around in my hand. Through the corners of my eyes, I could see Raven looking at me with a look as if to say, "are you okay?".

"Now you see?"

"See what?"

"The origins of my feud with Starfire. Half of it anyway."

"Any chance you know what any of that was about?"

"Unfortunately I still find myself with very few answers. The only new source of information I have is this jewel, which managed to slip my mind for all these years. I may possess it for the moment, but you and I don't truly exist in this memory. As for where the jewel is now, I have no idea."

"Well, maybe I can help."

"Oh really", I ask sarcastically, but playfully.

"Really", she responds with a raised eyebrow.

"And how pre-tell do you plan to accomplish this?"

"Well, we can just talk. Maybe we will stumble across something." It wasn't much of a plan, but I had to admit, I liked the idea. After reliving one of the most intense memories of my life, being confused and conflicted about the Tamaranean sisters, plus the countless other issues and problems I was facing in "the real world", just taking another minute to just relax and talk sounded nice. Besides, I probably needed to vent a little. Not only that, I was with Raven, and it didn't appear that we were going home anytime soon.

"That actually sounds nice", I said in response.

"Mind if I ask a few questions?" I chuckled a moment before responding.

"You know, you probably have more questions than I do."

"Is that a "no"?" I simply shake my head and motion my hand towards her as if to say, "go on ahead". Raven then began with her questions. "That boy from earlier, the brown wolf. He's your brother, isn't he?" It was then that I could myself holding back a growl at the mention of my younger brother. For the sake of not taking out my frustration on Raven for my issues with my brother, I take a deep breath before answering her

"Ximenez Adams is his name. And yes, he's my brother, the only sibling I have by blood."

"No offense, but he kinda looks like you." The wording of her sentence was kinda weird, but I could tell she was trying not to upset me with the fact that my brother and I looked alike. With the age difference between me and my brother only being a little over a year, growing up, most people couldn't tell us apart, which was really quite annoying, especially since we weren't twins. It also didn't help that he shared the same hairstyle as me until high school, and that Mom dressed us in the exact same outfits until I was twelve.

"No, it's okay. It's pointless for me to try to deny it. He and I have always looked alike, especially when we were kids." It was then that I remembered something that Blackfire had said. So you were the one I needed all along, I repeated to myself remembering Blackfire's words. Raven then interrupts my thoughts to interject, as if she could read my thoughts.

"Blackfire said something about "needing" you."

"Yes, you're right. Not sure how I missed that little detail. Then again I was thrown through a wall soon after that." Raven chuckles a little, despite it being a weak joke. I was appreciating her efforts none-the-less. "Actually, if she needed me but instead found Ximenez, I can understand why."

"Why is that?"

"Though I didn't find out about it until after Blackfire's rampage, my brother had apparently been passing himself off as me to her."

"Well that doesn't make any sense. How did nobody notice that he tried to switch your names?"

"Let me rephrase. He tried passing himself off as the Prince of Darkness. He took advantage of the fact that people were always mistaking one of us for the other, so he justified his lie by saying that the Prince of Darkness was named Ximenez and not Fernando. I guess Blackfire found out the truth and simply didn't take it well."

"But what was the point? Why did he try to pretend to be an Elemental?"

"Perhaps I should tell you the whole story from the beginning." I then went on to tell her about how Blackfire first appeared in Box Elder. It was December 31st, 2008, when the afternoon sky lit up with a light purple light, and what appeared to be a shooting star shot across the sky. It crash-landed somewhere in the forest on Radar Hill, but no meteorite or anything of that sort was ever found. Later that day, my brother apparently ran into Blackfire at a New Year's Eve party (it was interesting that my parents allowed him to go to a party on his own at the age of thirteen, but me being almost fifteen at the time was stuck at the house watching the ball drop in my room). Not sure how they got to that point, but somehow they wound up sharing a kiss at midnight, and my brother came home that night claiming he had his first girlfriend. From then, up until the day she attacked the school, Blackfire dated my brother, though my brother did everything he could to keep his relationship with her a secret. Hell, I only found out about her to begin with because the night he came home I read his mind.

Much like my relationship with my mother, my brother and I were never very close, which was fortunate for him, seeing as how he managed to pretend to be me for about three months without me finding out about it. Now of course I ran into him and Blackfire more than once, and he sarcastically introduced me to her the first time, but because I could care less about the girls he dated, I never took interest in the relationship to find out more. Besides, in my defense, it was also around that same time that I was dealing with Bigby and the Pack he dragged me into. With all of that said, because I never exchanged any meaningful dialogue with Blackfire, she never witnessed any of my shadow powers, nor did she receive any information or hints to imply that I had them, giving my brother the perfect window of opportunity to trick and manipulate Blackfire.

"So what I'm hearing is, your brother led a girl on to believe that he was somebody that he wasn't for three months."

"That's correct."

"Um, no offense, but he's…."

"A dick. You can say it. I won't get mad at you. His little stunt resulted in the first of many of his crazy ex-girlfriends. Then again, I'd be pretty angry, too if somebody tricked me for that long."

"That may be true, but you're forgetting two things. One is the jewel. The other is Blackfire. I don't think it's merely a coincidence that Ximenez pretended to be an Elemental to impress the same girl who apparently was looking for the same Elemental in the first place." I then look back down at the jewel in my hand.

"Well it's pretty clear what the other one does. Seems to be used for mind control", I said remembering how Sammie and Xavier both became Blackfire's attack dogs after being blasted by the black jewel.

"What about the one in your hand?"

"If I had to guess, I think it's some sort of power boost. When Blackfire used it on Samantha, her attacks seemed more vicious and overwhelming. Then again, I'm not sure what happened with my brother. He was forced into becoming a wolf earlier than his own body would allow."

"Perhaps it's possible that the jewels only work on your kind. Werewolves, I mean", said Raven somewhat defensively as if she felt I was going to comment on her sentence that would be considered questionably racist if it were ever taken out of context. To be fair, I had just finished making a sexist comment earlier so it didn't bother me. Besides, I knew she was better than that anyway.

"Does such a thing like that even exist?"

"You tell me. You're the werewolf here."

Predators, I thought to myself as I remembered the two times Germany had visitors from other planets, which wasn't that much longer after Blackfire visited South Dakota.

"Are there any pieces you're leaving out or forgetting", asked Raven as if she knew I was going over the pieces in my head, and she was right. Right after she and her sister attacked, there were reports throughout the state of South Dakota of three police departments getting blown to bits, killing several officers and nearby civilians in the process. No evidence or witness reports were ever reported or recorded. I didn't realize it then, but now I had my suspicions about what really happened. The pieces were starting to fall into place, but I needed to research and find out more about the events that followed Blackfire's visit.

"I think I'm starting to…." I began as I turned to speak to Raven. It was then that the jewel in my hand began to glow, much brighter and stronger this time. The white light slowly began to envelop us as it got stronger, giving me the most annoying feeling of deja vu. "*Sigh, nevermind", I said in frustration just as the light completely engulfed us, causing me to black out yet again. I then woke up to the sensation of dropping and landing on my rear. "Okay, that hurt", I say to myself as I adjust my eyes and look around. I was back on the roof of Titans Tower sitting Indian-style just as I was before that whole memory world bullshit happened. I turn to look behind me at my tail to see that it was flinching, like when you balance your leg by the ball of your foot and the muscle begins to shake after tiring out. Oh yeah, I forgot about that, I think to myself as I remembered that I was trying to show off by balancing by my tail. I pulled out my communicator that hung from my jeans and checked the clock on it. It was 8:30 am. "Damn, all that happened in….", I began as I looked up at Raven, surprised that she was still meditating. Her eyes were still closed, she continued to levitate, and she continued to chant her mantra, Azarath Metrion Zinthos, as if nothing happened over the past 2+ hours. Before I could get too far into thought about it, the door from the stairway was kicked open, scaring the dog shit out of me.

"Boo-yah", screamed Cyborg as he kicks open the door. The sudden break in silence apparently scared me enough to where, without even thinking, I instinctively rowl like an alley cat that just had its tail stepped on as I jump to Raven's side, Changing into Lobomon in the process, and began hissing at the source of the noise before even knowing who or what caused it. My spazzing, also being sudden and loud, also startled Raven as she yells in shock before falling on her rear having lost concentration of her meditating. Beast Boy, who was with Cyborg, was the first to speak.

"Uh dude, since when were you part cat?" Upon hearing him say that I did a quick look-over of myself. Though I was in wolf form, I had automatically assumed the defensive battle stance of a cat, as indicated not only by the fact that I was hissing, but also because my back was arched, my tail was erect, one of my front paws was held up with its claws tract as if I was preparing to claw at the air, and every single strand of fur along my back and tail stood up enough to where everyone could see it. I look over at Raven, who was to my left, as she sat up and looked at me as if she was just as surprised as the others were.

You don't remember, I asked in my head as I had just told Raven that I was part cat. Embarrassed and not knowing what to say next, I lower my rear to the ground to sit. Beast Boy then snaps his fingers to indicate he suddenly had an idea as he then runs up to me on my right side.

"Hey, guys! Check it out. Cat-Dog", chuckles Beast Boy as he wraps his left arm around my neck and motions towards me with his right hand. I respond to his bad pun by Changing into my lion form and roaring at him. For comedic effect, he morphs into a rooster yet again, immediately causing Raven to sneeze. I then cloak one of my paws in my aura and slap the green chicken in the back of the head. It then morphs into a green ferret. The other Titans chuckle as the force of my attack was apparently enough to force Beast Boy to morph.

"Well alright then", chuckled Cyborg. "Think you can do that again?" Without responding I slap my paw against the back of the ferret's head, causing him to then morph into a warthog. We all chuckle again, except for Beast Boy. "One more for good luck." I hit the pig again, causing him to morph again. The warthog morphed into an armadillo for a few seconds, and then quickly morphed back into his "human" form.

"Alright, alright, I get it", exclaimed Beast Boy as he waved his arms.

"Can we eat now", asked Raven impatiently as she rose to her feet.

"Aw yeah", said an excited Cyborg at the mention of food. He then rushes over to Raven as he links his left arm with her right arm. I immediately noticed a look on her face that said something along the lines of, "forget I asked". Cy then grabs at Beast Boy's purple shirt as he rushes both him and Raven towards the doorway and down the stairs. After the three of them disappeared from my line of sight, I began thinking to myself in my head about what had just happened.

Did I dream all of that? But it felt so real. The town, my old house, the schools, my memories, the jewel, all of it? All of it was a dream? I then remembered that during the course of that dream that I had almost kissed Raven not once, not twice, but three times. GOD DAMMIT, I yell to myself in my head as I let out a roar in frustration. It wasn't loud enough for the others to hear, but enough to blow off some steam. I then pant for a moment to catch my breath, and then Change back to my wolf form once I had calmed down enough. *Sigh, oh well. Guess better to kiss her in the real world than in a dream. My thoughts about the disappointing truth about what had happened within the past few hours were interrupted by my stomach as it growled at me in anger. "Well first thing's first", I said as I trotted over to the doorway and made my way downstairs.