Not A Second Time Boom Chapter 6: In The End

Moon Comix: So…. Who likes this story? I know I do…. And its ending cries sniff, a guy sure likes this story

Sonic: do you still hate me?

Robin: yes, you stole my punching bag

Starfire: make peace, not fights!

Sonic: this was a nice story

Robin: just as long as Starfire doesn't eat any more sugar!

Beastboy: man that was a cool time

Cyborg: shut up man, or we'll talk about that time you were on a sugar high!

Raven: or the time you said you would cheat on your baby

Cyborg: touché

Moon Comix: can we move on?

Raven: in other words, Comix doesn't own Teen Titans

Cyborg: but he does own Sonic and Dark Reflections and their songs… and the big bad guy that you'll finally learn his name

Moon Comix: yeah… I've been dragging that out, haven't I? And I like cheese.

Raven: what does that have to do with anything?

Beastboy: read and enjoy peoples!!!!

Everyone in the small office: LAST INTRO INTERVIEW!!!!!!!!!

----

"Finally, it's over," he said and he landed on the ground as silent as a mouse, his goal in front of him. He smiled to himself and reached forward, his prize almost in his hands until…

"Titans! Go!" cried Robin, his staff already it's full length and ready to fight. Behind him, the two flying figures of Starfire and Raven and crashing through the newly broken wall was Cyborg and Beastboy.

"Not now," muttered the boy, retracting his hand from the goal, "I don't want to do this."

Starfire shot at him with Cyborg, they knew that he was the enemy but they didn't know who he was exactly. Until he stepped out of the darkness. When they saw his face, Starfire flew off in the other direction, tears falling to the ground. Cyborg lowered his gun, a shocked expression on his face. Raven and Beastboy glanced at each other, not knowing how he had gotten there and Robin growled and got ready to attack him with everything he had.

The one they were facing was Red X.

"X! How did you escape from prison?" cried the leader, not acknowledging who it was under the mask.

"Look, I don't want to do this," said X, trying to reason with them, "just let me have this, please, I can't tell you why."

"We're not falling for this one," cried Robin angrily, "TITANS! GO!"

Robin jumped at Red X, trying to hit him with the staff, but X just grabbed the staff and threw it into the back wall, attaching it with one of his many gadgets. Cyborg then shot a few times at him before X stuck one of his trademark 'X's on the gun.

"Azerath, Metrion, Zinthos!" cried Raven as she lifted X up into the air and flipped him upside down. She flew over to him and whispered, "sorry," before punching him in the face. Causing his mask to fly off his face.

"No, Rae, I'm sorry," said Sonic, the one under the mask, "I shouldn't have lied to all of you. But now I just want to talk."

"You gave up that right when you betrayed us," said Robin, angrier than they had ever seen him and he pulled out a birdarang, "Now how did you break out of jail and why?"

"Well, I may have not had my belt, but I just used my powers," said Sonic wincing a bit, "nice punch Rae, and why, I've told you already, I can't tell you!"

"Because your boss will beat you?" asked Beastboy, improvising quickly, "because you'll blow up if you say your plan? Because weird zombie freaks have hypnotised you to forget?"

Sonic shot a wink at BB and continued, "no, because they'll find out and stop me." Sonic then got his leg free of Raven's hold, kicked the girl in question and landed on the ground in time to catch her, he placed her down, grabbed Beastboy and threw him lightly into Robin, "sorry, guys!"

Sonic picked up his mask, put it back on, and ran out of the chamber, but not before grabbing his prize, a tube of zinothium. The hall was quiet and there was no one in it for a while until Starfire was standing in front of him.

"Friend Sonic," she said, "I cannot let you pass here. I will have to call the police and they will take you away to the bad men and women holding bay."

"Star, I don't want to hurt you."

"Just try!" she cried, tears still trailing down her face, "I have been betrayed many times, first by Robin, then by Terra and now by you! I will not let you go!"

Star fired starbolts upon Red X with so much strength that he was pounded into the ground, leaving an imprint of himself behind. He then jumped up and stuck Starfire to the wall, running away afterwards. Robin jumped into the hallway, the other three Titans behind him, and threw two birdarangs at the running form. They all heard metal on metal and Robin pounded his fists into the ground.

"SONIC!!!!"

----

"He mentioned a plan! WHAT IS IT?"

"I don't know, master, he has not mentioned it at all before hand," the man in a black cloak said as he kneeled in front of the grand man, "but I will find out, don't worry"

"YOU BETTER!" cried the first man, "or else you will meet the same fate as the other two. Is your mask where your mouth is?"

"I won't fail, come Cinderblock," said Slade and the giant, stone monster stomped behind him.

----

"We let him get away!" cried Robin as he slammed his fists on the lounge table, leaving a mark, "that's the last time; I'm going to take drastic action!"

Beastboy and Raven watched as the masked hero walked into his room and then they looked at each other. A nervous look on their faces.

"Uh, guys, have you seen Star?" asked Cyborg, "I haven't seen her since the mission, shouldn't she be making some sort of weird pudding or something?"

"I think she went onto the roof," answered Raven monotonically, "something about clearing her head."

Cyborg nodded at her and began to start up a new game of Hyper Racers 2, stopping when he saw the high score, "damn, everywhere we look it reminds us, doesn't it."

"Not for me," said Raven and she walked into her room. She may not have said it but Beastboy spotted a single tear fall from her face. When she had left the room, Cyborg held up his broken controller, a sad look on his face.

----

"Maybe if we just forgave him?"

"No, Star. What he did was wrong! We trusted him and he threw that in our faces!"

"But we forgave Terra, did we not?"

"That was different, she wasn't fighting us at the same time as pretending to be our friend! And what's worse is that he's become the exact opposite of what I am! He's the dark side of me; he's something I wish I could destroy!"

"But Robin…"

"But nothing Starfire! He betrayed us and he will never gain our trust again."

Robin didn't even look as the red head ran from his room, in tears once again.

----

Sonic was breathing heavily as he ran through the sewers, a belt full of zinothium in his left hand, his mask in his right, groaning at his current situation.

"Damn it!" he yelled, slamming his hand with the mask against the wall, "why did I slip up? Is it fate? Was it meant for them to find out?"

"I guess it must have been," came a voice from the shadows. Sonic hastened to put on his mask and belt again when the figure in a cloak came from the shadows, "if not, I would not be here to take you away. Cinderblock."

The giant, stone man burst through the wall behind Red X and swung his fists to hit him. X jumped up and landed on his head, kicking him down to the ground, he then cut a large red X into his back.

"So everyone knows that Red X beat your worthless bodyguard," said the teen and the cloaked man growled, "come on then, not so tough without your friends, huh, Mask Boy. Your master dealt with them, did he? I thought that Karth would survive longer than you, but we can all be wrong sometimes."

"Shut up!" cried the man and he threw something towards Red X. X coughed and when he stopped, the man in front of him was grinning, holding his belt, "you aren't the only thief here." Red X jumped at the man, punching him in the chest but he gasped as he hit armour, jumping back, "tut, tut, tut, bad form, X."

The teen growled as he stretched his arms out in front of him, he yelled as a force was shot out of his hands, hitting the man and throwing off his cloak.

"You won't take me Slade."

"Oh, I think I will. I think I will"

----

"No! Let Terra go! Let her go… now!"

"Of course."

Beastboy was woken up to those words and a hand clamped over his mouth. He tried to scream, he tried to see where he was going but the kidnapper must have covered his eyes. He felt himself going up, the was wind on his neck and then he saw the roof. The hand was removed from his mouth and eyes and he was able to speak and see.

"You know, Sonic, it's not very nice to do that anytime you want to talk," muttered the changeling, rustling his hair and wiping his eyes.

"It's not Sonic, it's me," came a familiar, monotonic voice and Beastboy turned to see Raven, standing there and staring out into the night, "something is wrong."

"What? What is it?"

"Sonic's in trouble, I know it,"

Beastboy was standing now, "so… are you saying we need to go help him?"

"Yes."

"How are we going to find him?"

"By asking the one who showed us who Red X really was."

"What about the others?"

"I've left them a note, hopefully we won't need them."

"Or hopefully Cyborg goes for his midnight snack."

Raven just stared at him cynically before lifting herself off of the roof. Beastboy mumbled a bit before turning into a green eagle and flying after her.

----

"So you have him?"

"Yes, he is lying in the cell as we speak," said a kneeling Slade, "he was easy to take out so soon after a battle with the Titans, yet he put up a slight fight."

"He always will, he was trained for that."

"When he awakens, Cinderblock and I will force the information out of him, but if he does not give the information for two days, I will bring him to you."

"You always were the best servant, Slade, but don't end up like the other two."

"I won't master."

----

He was walking through the small tunnel from the surface, looking for the large, yet thin, strip of ground. The only way to get to it. It was a few silent minutes before he saw it. A statue with fresh flowers at its feet.

"Yes!" he exclaimed quietly, walking ever so slowly towards it. He was almost there until…

BANG!!!!!

From behind him and from his side came a giant explosion. When the dust cleared, he saw two large figures, one a giant made from stone, the other a giant made from sludge of some sort. Cinderblock and Plasmus.

"Bring it on!" the boy cried, ready to throw one of his many tools at them before he realized his belt was missing, "lets fight natural then!"

The boy got ready to shoot something from his hands when…. Nothing happened! He gasped as Plasmus came up to him and grabbed him.

"TAKE THIS!!!" yelled the boy and kicked him, getting his foot stuck; he kicked again with his other foot, getting that stuck too! Plasmus had him caught and to his horror, he watched as Cinderblock knocked off the statue into the giant pit below.

He didn't even have time to scream before Plasmus shut his eyes forever.

Sonic woke with a start, normally he would have sat up, bolt upright, but he found he was bounded by three large, leather straps. It was only a nightmare, he realized, but a nightmare that could come true. Unless he got out of here.

"LET ME GO, SLADE! LET ME GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

----

"You can't find him?"

"For the last time, no!"

Raven and Beastboy had been searching since the night before, it was lunch time and they had nothing.

"Come on, let's get some pizza," suggested Beastboy and Raven had to follow, "I'll buy."

While Beastboy ordered their meal, Raven meditated. She had worked herself hard over the past twelve hours and was tired.

"Hope you don't mind vegetarian," said Beastboy, four minutes later, as he placed a large pizza in between them, "forgot to bring more money."

"That's okay, thanks," muttered Raven as she came out of her meditation and picked up one of the slices, "not bad."

"See, I keep telling people but do they listen…?" joked Beastboy, earning a small smile from Raven, "do you think that they've found the note?"

"I don't know, if Cyborg or Starfire found it, they would be here right now, but if Robin…"

They both thought about what their leader would think about them looking for Sonic and shuddered. They continued to eat their pizza in silence and when they had finished, they felt both refreshed and saddened.

"Raven, Raven! Come in friend Raven!"

The two teens stared at the communicator around her waist and wondered what they would do, "should we answer it?"

"No," said Raven, walking off without him, "let's go."

Beastboy had no other choice but to follow the girl, wondering if it was a bad idea to turn off the tracking device in their communicators.

"Okay, you better be right."

----

Sonic was blasted with another shock of electricity, screaming out in pain. He wanted to give in, but he couldn't, he couldn't risk it. Slade was laughing, so loud that he could hear it over his screams, and taunting him. Jeering him.

"You could have been great, Sonic, but you threw that all away, all for some stupid friends. Now, you either talk, or die."

"NEVER!!!!!!!!!!" screamed the boy, his eyes blinded with rage, "GO DIE IN HELL, SLADE!!!!"

For that comment, Sonic was blasted with another, stronger, shock. He couldn't help it. He screamed, louder than ever before, and passed out. Slade paced around him, thinking.

"We take away your belt, we chain down your hands so you can't shoot us, and we take every precaution necessary. You have been through things that every other slave of us would have confessed a while ago. Yet, you still protect this, this agenda of yours. Why? And what is it?"

"Slade" came a voice, "has he told you yet?"

"Not yet, master, but soon, soon."

"You have two days, Slade, two days before you feel my wrath."

Yes, master." Slade turned back to the boy on the table, "so, Sonic, shall we dwell into your mind. Maybe to make you talk, we must go for the bird."

"You lay a finger on her," growled Sonic, his face twisted in hate, "and I will make sure you die slowly." Slade just laughed and sent another jolt of electricity his way.

----

"Why would they go without us?" pondered Cyborg as they prepared to search the city, "I mean, why tell us that they're looking for Son…" he was cut off by a look from Robin, "Red X, when they left around midnight? And why look for him anyway?"

"Friend Raven."

"Maybe they've been communicating with him somehow," said Robin, getting angry and throwing his Birdarang into a wall, "I did hear something on the roof about a couple weeks back. That must have been him! I've been so stupid!"

"Friend Raven!!!!"

"No, we've been us," Cyborg sighed and changed his right hand into his gun, pretending to aim at the window.

"FRIEND RAVEN!!!!!!!"

"Give it a rest Star, she won't answer," said Cyborg, again, "BB won't either."

"But why?" asked Robin, more to himself, "They know that he's the enemy, they know that he betrayed us."

"But, then again, did we give up on Terra? Beastboy never did, a part of all of us never gave up on her, even when she tried to kill us."

"Maybe it's the same thing. Maybe….."

"Let's go man, come on. I'll drive."

Robin and Starfire followed the large boy into the garage, the sound of the T-Car sounding seconds after.

----

"Maybe this one?"

"I don't think so."

"What about here?"

"No."

"Here?"

"NO!!!! Now stop asking me that!"

"Or what? You'll 'Mumbo, Jumbo' me? Don't make me laugh!"

The Once Amazing Mumbo was sitting in a dry, dark, cold prison cell with Dr. Light. Or Dr. Light-Headed as he was known by the guards. And, once again, they were trying the bars to find the fake one.

"How do you know there even IS a fake bar?" Mumbo sighed, leaning on his top bunk.

"I saw it on T.V" said the Dr., "why is it so dark in here?"

"I may not have my wand…"

"Or your hat!" called one of the other inmates, Punk Rocket.

"Or my hat, but I WILL throttle you if you continue to talk like that!"

"I'll be the one to throttle you if you don't be quiet" said a monotonic voice and they both screamed to themselves. Raven and Beastboy walked up to their cell and Dr. Light cried out loud, tears almost forming on his face.

"Yeah, well what do you want missy!" sneered Mumbo, grabbing the bars and shoving his abnormally large nose into their faces, "if it's information you want, you're asking the wrong magician! So Alaca-scram!"

"Beastboy." Raven clicked her fingers and in a flash, BB had turned into a mouse, got into their cell, changed back and held Mumbo up to a wall.

"Where's Slade?" Beastboy yelled, thumping the magic man against the wall when he shrugged, "where is he?"

"We don't know," said Dr. Light, coming out from his bunk, "we haven't seen him since Mumbo took you on last," Beastboy dropped Mumbo and the next thing he knew, the Dr. was on the wall, "but we saw Plasmus the other day! We did! He stomped past our window, holding some electrical equipment."

"Fine, that's all we need," said Raven and she turned and walked away, however, Beastboy stayed still on the spot, talking to the guard, "what are you doing?"

"Come on! We need to see something," Beastboy lead her to a cell at the very back of the prison. A special cell. A cell that had recently been blasted into smithereens, "Sonic's cell."

They looked around the walls and were immediately shocked. Almost every piece of rock, stone, wall and bars that they had found were covered in white chalk. Raven lifted a few up and saw multiple 'T's, 'B's, 'R's and 'S's. There were arrows, 'X's, the written word 'zino…' and a small drawing of a person standing on a rock.

"What is all this?" asked Beastboy, picking up a stone that had the words 'Teen Titans' on it, "what was he doing?"

"I don't have a clue," said Raven, "but I think it has something to do with Terra."

----

"So Sonic, are you ready to talk?"

"I don't mind spending everyday."

"What?"

Sonic muttered some more words that made no sense to the masked man until he moved forward some more.

"She will be loved. She will be loved," Sonic was whispering, senselessly, and Slade punched him in the cheek, "she will be loved!" That last line was shouted and surprised Slade a little, causing him to stumble.

"I thought you could stand more than that, but I was wrong."

"You always were, Slade, you always were," Sonic said, snapping back into sanity, "and even if you were always right, you would never understand all of my clues! Even Beastboy would have figured them out!!" Somewhere up above them, Sonic swore he heard Beastboy shout 'HEY!'

"So… you've been leaving me clues…. How clever. But I WILL find out what you have been doing and I WILL stop you."

"You are a lot like Robin, you know that… even if you're evil and he's good."

"Shut up, fool, you could have become one of us… but you went for the hard way. You will talk soon."

"Don't hold your breath!"

----

"We've already told your friends everything we know!" cried Mumbo as Robin slammed him against the wall of the cell, "STOP ANNOYING US!!!!!!!"

"Yes, we told them everything we knew about Slade and they took off at the speed of light!"

Robin dropped Mumbo and walked out to Starfire and Cyborg and the three walked out of the prison, wondering where their friends were.

"Why were they asking about Slade?" wondered Robin and they got in the T-Car, "I thought he and Karth were dealt with at the same time."

"What ever he's done with Raven and BB, we're gonna stop 'im," said Cyborg, "right, y'all."

"Yeah, Cyborg, yeah."

----

"So, how do we track down Slade? He went into hiding since the clone incident."

"We track down where Plasmus went and follow from there," said Raven as she meditated on top of a building, "he broke into the highest security jail!"

"And stole electrical equipment? From a jail?"

"They only have an electric chair….. Oh my god!" cried a shocked Raven, "Sonic's getting shocked!"

"DUDE!" yelled Beastboy, "I know where to find Slade! Remember that report that said some ELECTRICAL wires were un-hooked from under the city, Slade's base must be under the ground! Under the place where the electricity hasn't been working!"

"Beastboy, you're a genius," smiled Raven and she followed the green hawk to the place he was talking about. None of them noticed the T-Car down below.

----

"I sense something. Are all the entrances guarded?"

"Yes, master, all is secure."

"Good work, Slade, now, you have more work to do."

The masked man walked down the hallways of the underground base until he reached the cell in which Sonic was hiding.

"Well Sonic, this time together has been shocking to say the least," smirked Slade.

"Har, har, did you think that one by yourself?"

"Not one of your wittiest comments, but it will do. Personally, I liked that one you told me a few months back about the evolutionary scale and how I was at the bottom."

"You figured it out yet?" spat Sonic, still struggling with the straps holding him down, "cause I'm sure the Titans have!"

"My dear boy, the Titans don't even care that you exist!" laughed Slade, "hasn't that gotten into your head yet?"

Realization hit him. Maybe they didn't care about him? Slade laughed again and walked around him.

"Ready to talk."

"Never."

"Disappointing, I will be back soon." The man walked away leaving Sonic strapped to a table.

It was quiet for about twenty minutes, Sonic's least favourite sound, but there was some movement in a corner of the cell.

"Who's there?" asked Sonic, a hint of fear in his voice, "I can defend myself!"

"Not strapped down like that," said Raven, her pale face looming out of the darkness.

"Raven!"

"Come on, dude, you let them strap you down!"

"BB!"

The green boy changed into a tiger and clawed away the straps holding Sonic in place and the teen stood up from the bed.

"Thanks guys, you got the clues then?"

"Yeah, we did! All thanks to Raven!"

"Who did you pick on?"

"Mumbo and Dr. Light."

Sonic laughed, something he hadn't done for a while, "I'm sure they were a hoot. So do you know what my agenda is yet?"

"No, but we soon will."

All three teens gasped when Slade stepped into the cell, followed by Cinderblock and Plasmas.

"Um…" Beastboy was unsure what to do, "Titans, go?"

"Good enough for me!" cried Sonic and he charged at Slade, his fist surrounded by his sonic charges, and landed a punch right in the masked man's chin, "that's for attacking me!"

Raven, however, was taking on both Plasmus and Cinderblock, shooting both of them with her black blasts. She shot at Cinderblock, jumped on his back and fired at Plasmus again. She then flew in between the two giants and they ran at her.

"Too easy," she smirked and when they were inches away, she flew up and her enemies crashed into each other, "Azerath, Metrion, Zinthos!"

Sonic gave up on trying to punch Slade and joined Raven's fight, wondering where Beastboy was. He fired at Plasmus, a giant hole forming in his stomach, and grabbed him around the slimy waste, trying to throw him into a wall, but Plasmus covered Sonic in the purple slime, causing him to choke and struggle.

"You might need this, dude!" Beastboy ran back into the cell, the Red X belt in his hand, but he was tripped over by Slade.

"Clumsy me," said Slade as he brought out his staff, "do you think you can handle a big boy?"

"Bring it on."

Slade yelled and swung his staff at the changeling but the green teen turned into a humming bird and flew behind Slade, changing into himself.

"Remember this form?" asked the changeling and he transformed into a bear, slashing Slade's chest armour and clawing at his face. Slade gasped for a second before grabbing the bear in a bear hug and throwing him over his head.

Meanwhile, Raven had detached Sonic from Plasmus and had somehow wrapped Cinderblock in the slimy enemy. Sonic grinned at the goth before picking something off the ground. He attached it to his waist before running towards Slade, Raven levitating after him.

"Heyaa!" cried Sonic before shooting some red stars at the man, who was trying to cope with a boa constrictor, but received a punch in the gut. Raven had snuck behind him and contained his feet in a black box, causing him to trip over. The three of them were beating him. Sonic was shooting his Red X weapons, Raven was throwing rocks from the walls and Beastboy was clawing at him as an eagle. They thought they were winning until…

"ENOUGH!!!" a rattling voice boomed through the underground cave, throwing the teens off Slade and causing the man to get stronger.

"You children never stood a chance against me," shouted Slade, stepping up to the pile of teens, 'NEVER!!!"

"But maybe we did," came a voice all three of the teens wanted to hear, "but we haven't had that chance yet."

A starbolt came from the door, hitting Slade in the face, followed by two cannon fires and a birdarang. The remaining three Titans ran into the cell.

"Are you okay?" asked Robin, directing his speech away from Sonic, "we came as soon as we saw you above the T-Car."

"Better now that you dudes are here!"

"Come on," said Raven before flying over to Slade, who was walking towards the place the Titans came in, "Azerath, Metri… Oof!" she was hit with one of Slade's weapons, getting knocked towards the ground, only to be caught by Sonic, "are you always gonna save me?"

"Only when necessary," smirked Sonic as he let Raven down, "come on!"

Sonic ran after the man, followed by Robin and they found him in a giant underground cave.

"Slade, it's the end of the line!" cried Robin as the two boys ran and jumped at exactly the same time and kicked the man in the face. Then Robin and Sonic jumped over to the man and punched him in the stomach.

"I didn't think you would let me play the hero," said a smirking Sonic as he slipped on his Red X mask, his voice changing into the gruff Red X voice halfway through the sentence.

"But it doesn't mean you don't know how," said Robin, not showing any form of emotion on his face. Robin and Red X then turned to see Slade standing up, groaning as he did, and they both threw a gadget at him. Robin throwing one of his disks, Red X trying to stick him to a wall.

"You boys STILL can't beat me!" yelled Slade and he jumped up, un-sheathing his staff, and hitting Robin's legs, tripping him. He then went for Red X and hit him in the stomach again.

"That's gotta hurt!" came Cyborg's voice from the entrance to the cave and he fired his cannon at the man.

"NO!" screamed Red X and Robin in unison, "this one's mine!"

He helped Robin up and they both did a roundhouse kick into Slade's abdomen, followed by punches to the mask. Slade then pulled out a small, sharp object which he threw at their feet, causing an explosion to knock them off balance. Before the smoke cleared, Slade burst through and hit Red X with his shoulder, leaving Robin completely alone. Red X and Slade went into an all out battle, no gadgets, no powers, just fists and kicks. Red X grabbed Slade by the shoulders and rammed his head into the mask.

"Note to self," gasped Red X, grabbing his head, "never do that again."

Slade took this opportunity to ram Red X in the shoulder and again in the face. Raven gasped and went to fly into the fray but she was held down by Cyborg.

"The boy said to leave him, so we leave him," said Cyborg, no smile on his face now, "it's all about pride."

Raven gave up and landed her usually moody look on her face. Meanwhile, Robin had joined in and had wrapped his arms around Slade's neck, hanging on his back. Slade was struggling to get him off while Red X took this opportunity to kick Slade in the chest and the face.

Slade through down a small circular object and the entire room was filled with smoke. When it cleared, Slade and Red X had vanished and Robin was spread-eagle on the ground.

"Dude! Where's Sonic?"

"RED X's gone, Slade probably took him, come on, let's find them. Cyborg, Starfire, come with me, Raven and Beastboy, go check the cells," Robin ordered and they all split up, Cyborg and Beastboy exchanging a look.

"Sonic? Are you there?" called Beastboy as he and the goth looked around the cell that he was in before.

"He must be in a cell with tighter security," said Raven, "come on."

Meanwhile, Robin, Starfire and Cyborg found themselves in a larger chamber, one with high walls and a large pillar of stone.

"What do you think it is?" wondered Cyborg.

"I will say that it is a large pillar consisting of stone," said Starfire as she charged up a couple of starbolts.

Both boys sweat dropped, "uh… thanks Star."

The three surrounded the stone as the Tamaranian flew up to the top, "there are strange markings on top of the pillar," she moved her hands over them and they began to glow, "what the…?" she turned to face the others, "that's the correct term?"

Robin nodded as Cyborg brought out his gun. The pillar began to shake and a glow of light flashed out of it, causing Starfire to fall to the ground, Cyborg used his free hand to catch her. The front part of the pillar began to shrink into the ground and when the three Titans saw what it had become, they gasped.

"Now, Titans, try your hand against me!"

----

Sonic groaned, he tried to lift his hand up to his head but he found it was chained to the ground. His Red X suit was on the ground in front of him and he was in his normal Titans uniform. A couple of minutes of silence before a saw it. A green mouse.

"Hey BB," he gasped, realizing that his throat hurt, "could you help me up?"

The changeling in question transformed into himself and used one tiger claw to pick at the chain, only to find that it was electronic and could only be opened with a certain laser.

"Sorry, dude, I can't get it un-done," the green boy said and Sonic groaned.

"Fine, I need you two to do something," said Sonic as Raven came into view, "around my neck, there's a small pendant, can you take it out and take it to the tower. Wait for two days, if I don't come back in two days, open it and read the note inside. Do what it says and don't come for me. Please, this is important."

"Okay," said Raven, unsure, and she reached around his neck and untied a small chain and gasped, "Sonic! This is your guitar! We can't take that!"

"You have to! It has the note in it! Please, just take it and go!"

"Okay, dude, goodbye," said Beastboy and he punched the prisoner's shoulder lightly. Sonic tried to get his hand up far enough so BB just leant down and received a punch in return, "it was fun."

"Yeah," moaned Sonic, "see ya Rae. It's been nice knowing you."

Raven didn't know what to do so she just smiled weakly at him and shook his hand, "bye." It was enough for Sonic, who smiled back in a way that caused her to blush slightly.

And in a flash, Raven had teleported herself and Beastboy to where the other Titans were. Sonic sat in silence for a few more minutes before he heard something and smiled, "why don't you just destroy me now, Slade?"

"Because I like my prey live and kicking!" cried Slade and Sonic's chain dropped off, "now stand up and fight."

"With…" Sonic coughed violently, "pleasure."

Slade and Sonic both jumped up and tried to kick each other at the same time, Sonic faring worse than Slade, and Slade pulled his staff out again.

"Take this!" cried Sonic and he fired one of his sonic blasts at the armoured man. He continued to fire again and again until he could barely stand.

"You still need training," said Slade, getting ready for another attack, the blasts doing hardly anything, "you would have if you accepted my offer."

"DIE!!!" yelled Sonic and he kicked at Slade, using his charges to surround his foot, "just leave me alone!"

"Oh, I will now," sneered Slade, sarcastically, as he dodged the kick, "yet I think that you will be the first to die."

"JUST GO AWAY!!!!!!!!!!" screamed Sonic and he fired blast after blast of sonic charges, each one stronger than the last. He fired and fired until Slade growled and ran out of the cell. Sonic took a minute to catch his breath and ran after the man, but when he reached outside of the cell, Slade was no where to be seen.

"Now to take out the big boss."

Meanwhile, Robin was thrown back from his opponent just in time for a newly materialized Beastboy to catch him.

"DUDES! What's up?"

"Him," said Robin and he pointed to a man standing in the middle of the room. The man was tall with dark hair, the hair was spiky on his right side but it covered his face on the left side. His one eye visible was bright red and glowed brighter than a towering flame and his nose was pointed and short. He wore armour, much like Slade's, except it looked much better and harder. And by the looks of things, he had taken down the three Titans single handed.

"Who are you?" asked Raven as she powered up a spell.

"I am the Darkening, your worst nightmare," said the man, a grin appearing on his face.

"Be careful! He will change form!" cried Starfire before she was hit with a fireball.

"Oh, you mean this?" Darkening laughed and he transformed into a giant man of flame. Raven gasped and Beastboy transformed into a turtle and hid in the shell, he had seen the man before and hated every second of their first meeting. Darkening transformed back and grinned, "that is only an illusion. My real form is this. This is the form that will destroy you."

"He's a demon, or something, and he whopped our butts!" moaned Cyborg.

Raven and Beastboy got into fighting stances and was about to fight until someone jumped over them.

"Ah, Sonic, we meet again… I do hope that this time we fight, you will prove to be more of a challenge!" said Darkening.

"Sonic! You're alive!" cried Beastboy, joy in his voice.

"You didn't think ol' Sladey would have defeated me. Now… Titans! GO!!!" cried Sonic and Raven and Sonic attacked. Beastboy ran over to Cyborg and tried to get him up.

"Cy! Get up! Come on!" Cyborg got onto his knees and Beastboy ran over to Starfire and did the same to her. When she got up, the changeling went over to Robin and eventually, all the Titans were ready to fight.

"He stole my line, didn't he?" sighed Robin and he jumped to attack Darkening.

Raven tried to lift the Darkening with her powers but before she could finish, she was hit with a ball of darkness which knocked her off her feet. Sonic and Cyborg jumped in front of her and both shot at the same time, both hitting Darkening yet doing nothing. Starfire flew down on top of the new foe and covered him with starbolts, yet Darkening continued to walk forward. Beastboy transformed into a hawk and dived down on Darkening, trying to scratch his eyes out, yet the man grabbed him by the neck, hit the green bird with a small black ball and threw him over into the cavern wall.

"It's time for you to go down!" cried Robin as he threw three birdarangs at his enemy, one wrapping around his wrist and it surprised Darkening. Robin began to reel in the wire and flew above the ground, kicking his foe in the face. Darkening staggered a bit but got up soon and regained himself.

"Time for you to see my true power!" he cried and when he finished the sentence, Beastboy stood up, his eyes red instead of green, "now… attack!"

Beastboy jumped at Raven, growling and turning into a gorilla, slamming his fists down where Raven was a couple of seconds ago. She then trapped him with her powers but he broke out, sending her flying.

"Beastboy! What the hell are you doing?" screamed Raven and Beastboy chased her in the air as a pterodactyl.

"He is possessed!" cried Darkening as he dodged some of Cyborg's punches, "possessed by my power!"

"Not for long!" cried Sonic and he jumped over to help Cyborg; he fired three blasts at the man and punched him in the abdomen, "you may have forced me to work for you but I NEVER want to see you breathe again!"

Sonic grabbed him and tried to throw him into a wall but Darkening shot something at Sonic's feet, causing him to fly off at one angle and groan, but he still called to Raven, "he has something inside of him! Try and get it out!"

Raven nodded as Starfire came over to help. The alien rammed into Beastboy and slammed him against the ground, holding him in place.

"This may hurt. Metrion, Sheek, PARTILOS!!!!" cried the half demon and Beastboy screamed in agony, glowing black all over, and in a couple of seconds, the screaming stopped and Beastboy fell, not moving.

"No!" gasped Raven, wondering if she had put too much power into her spell. However, there was no time to waste so Raven took one last look at Beastboy and flew back into the battle.

Cyborg grabbed Starfire by her feet and spun round, releasing her when they had enough speed and she flew into their opponent, knocking him over for a second but the man retaliated by throwing a large icicle at her. She stopped in mid air and saw the blade of ice coming towards her heart and did what she always did in those kinds of situations. She screamed.

"STARFIRE!!!" yelled Robin as he jumped in the way of the attack, trying to get his cape up in time. The cape only deflected half of the damage and Robin fell down, some of the ice sticking out of his stomach.

"Robin!" the others cried as Starfire flew down to where he was lying.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, fine Star, just… ugh… know I… care…," his eyes closed and Starfire laid his head against the floor gently.

"You shall pay!" cried the Tamaranian and she flew over to the sneering man, starbolts flying from her hands and eyes. Darkening raised his hands to shield himself but Cyborg and Raven got behind him and held his arms back. The man took every shot fired at him and roared in pain. Yet, he was still able to throw Cyborg and Raven off into Starfire.

"Everything we throw at this guy gets sent back at us!" cried Cyborg, changing his hand into the gun again and firing, causing all of them to jump out of the way of another ball of darkness.

"Then we do the same to him," said Raven and she flew above Darkening, taunting him to throw something at her. He chose a ball of flames and when it was inches from her face, she brought up a shield and deflected the ball back at him. The ball hit her back too, but never the less, the ball did some damage to the man. Sonic took this advantage to fire some of his blasts but ended up having to dodge another ball of darkness.

"He's still too powerful! What do we do, Sonic?" asked Cyborg and Sonic realized something and ran off, "hey! Where're you goin'?"

"I'm getting something! KEEP HIM BUSY!!!" cried Sonic as he ran out of the cave. Cyborg just sighed and continued to shoot, but soon the Darkening had jumped over Starfire and ran into Cyborg, punching him in the stomach and kicking him in the head. Cyborg groaned as his foe grabbed his arm, pulled it behind his back and twisted. Cyborg yelled in pain as the arm came off at the shoulder; a few stray wires were hanging down. Cyborg was then thrown into a near by wall and slid down it, not moving.

"Three down," smirked Darkening and jumped for the girls, "three to go!"

As Darkening was about to complete his jump, a red X came out of no where and gave him an electric shock. He roared in pain a bit and saw where it had come from.

"Sonic!" cried Starfire but she was soon hit with a streak of lightning, sending her into Raven. The boy in question, back in the Red X suit, extended the X on his glove into a knife and jumped at Darkening but, even though he hit the skin, no mark was made.

"What the crap!" yelled Red X as he was thrown onto the ground. Starfire flew to help him up but the man intercepted her and pinned her to the ground. She fired off an eye beam right in his face but he didn't falter. Raven threw some stuff at him and Red X fired off some stars but he made the small black ball that had taken over the changeling's mind. Red X used the teleportation device and rammed Darkening, causing him to drop the ball into the ground.

"You okay, Star?" asked Red X and the alien nodded, flying off after Darkening. Raven had picked Red X up and threw him at Darkening, ramming him to the ground but the man threw him off and jumped into the air, dragging Starfire down to the ground and slamming a ball of darkness into her face. She screamed but she soon fell limp.

"Damn it!!!" cried Red X and fired off three stars, Darkening dodging all of them.

The grown man jumped at Raven and tackled her to the ground, the girl crying out as she hit the cold stone. Darkening wrapped his hands around her neck and began to squeeze, "does this bring back memories, dear Gem!!!"

Red X yelled and rammed Darkening, allowing Raven to fly up to safety. Red X flipped away from Darkening as Raven landed behind Red X. "What do you want?" cried Raven, ready to set up a shield.

"I want what he has," said Darkening, "zinothium, with it, my powers can increase over 100 times!!! I could take over the planet and the universe!!!!!"

Raven stood confused so Sonic, who took off the mask that hid his face from the world, explained, "zinothium is so powerful, it can enhance someone's magical power when handled correctly, so imagine how powerful he could get."

"But if he kills you, he won't find them!"

"No, he can read my soul, but only if I die, so if he kills me, he will still find the zinothium."

Raven gasped and powered up her magic but Sonic stuck his hand out, "no, Rae, take the others and get them treated, this is mine."

"But…"

"NO! Just go! I have something I need to do." He paused before whispering, "I'll never forget you," said Sonic and Raven took one glance at him, tears welling in her eyes, before everyone else in the cave was engulfed in black magic, "now it's just you and me."

"Why don't you just tell me where you hid it? I may spare the bird," asked Darkening in a sneering voice before jumping at him but Sonic just ran out of the cave and up onto the surface. Darkening groaned and ran after him. When Darkening got up to the surface, Sonic was already running down the deserted streets, it was late at night. Shooting some fire balls and ice daggers at the running target, Darkening continued to run, but began to run faster than before.

"Damn it," said Sonic as he saw Darkening closing up on him, "let's pick up the speed," and he too began to sprint faster. He ran for about five minutes before spying it. His goal. He jumped into an underground passage and heard Darkening follow, knocking a few rocks in the process. After a couple of seconds of running, Sonic found it, a thin strip of ground and at the end, a statue. Sonic grinned as Darkening stepped behind him and something formed in his hand. Sonic jumped over the back of Darkening and kicked him, sending him to the floor. When Darkening stood up, Sonic's hands were glowing, one out on each side, and he grinned.

"You've been a wonderful enemy, let's give you a round of applause!" cried Sonic and he slammed his hands together, sending a shockwave of energy flying in all directions and Darkening flew over the edge of the strip of ground. Sonic stepped cautiously to see if he was dead but was hit in the face by a fire ball. Darkening jumped up onto the ground and threw Sonic onto the edge; the boy landed, got up but was then struck in the arm with an icicle. He groaned as he was kneeling on the ground but he wirily got back up.

"I preferred you when you were a silent minion! Time for you to die!" cried Darkening and threw an energy ball at him. Sonic ducked and it flew over his head. Right in the direction of the statue.

"NO!!!" cried Sonic and he used the teleportation to get in front of the ball, the boy growled in pain and fell to the ground, his Red X suit smoking, "arg…"

"So this is what you want to protect," smirked Darkening, "well, before I destroy you, I will make you watch me destroy this."

"NEVER!!!" Sonic jumped up and tackled Darkening, throwing him to the ground and pulling something out of his pocket. A small glass jar with red liquid and a small piece of paper, "this is what will destroy you."

"What do you mean?" asked the enemy and there was no hint of fear in his voice.

"When I do this," Sonic un-buckled his Red X belt and tied it around Darkening's arms, attaching something to it, and standing back, "activate the bomb, and throw this down, the spell will be activated."

"What?"

"To activate a spell, you just need the blood of a demon, and guess what the red stuff is!" smirked Sonic and Darkening struggled to pull out one of his arms, succeeding seconds before the jar left Sonic's hand, "say goodnight!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" screamed Darkening and he let fly three giant attacks of pure evil, all extremely powerful, as soon as the jar hit.

Sonic heard the explosion but was blinded by the flash of the attacks and the spell. He hit the ground with a thud, his arm hanging over the edge.

"Wha…? I'm back?" Sonic heard a gasp and someone falling before a couple of footsteps.

"Hey, kid, are you alright?"

Sonic looked up weakly and the new person got a good look at him. His Red X suit was in tatters, not one piece of fabric was larger than his hand, the gloves were barely hanging on, and his hair was askew. Sonic's arm was on an angle and his forehead was bleeding slightly. The person grabbed him around the waist and pulled him up, causing him to groan and grunt in pain meaning a few ribs were broken.

"Good, it worked, heh, tell them it was fun while it lasted…" he murmured before everything went black.

"Kid? KID!!!"

----

The day after Raven had rescued the other four from almost certain death; everyone was back on their feet. Cyborg was back to normal, having repaired his arm himself. Starfire and Beastboy were fine too, only Beastboy would sometimes grab at his heart occasionally but Robin was the worst. He had a large gash in his stomach and had to change the bandages every two hours, which Starfire helped him to do. Robin and Starfire walked into the lounge, after changing the bandages, and the boy spotted Beastboy take the small guitar off of Raven to have a look at and something clicked in his mind.

"You!" he cried, pointing at Beastboy causing everyone to stare at him, "YOU WERE SEEING HIM!!!!"

Not caring about the pain, Robin marched over to Beastboy and picked him up by the collar of his suit, the guitar dropping. Raven used her powers to bring it to her before it hit the ground and got ready to break them up.

"Dude! What are you talkin' about?" asked Beastboy and Robin knocked his head back against the wall, "ow!!!"

"At night! YOU WERE MEETING WITH RED X!!!!" cried Robin and Beastboy swore, "WHY???"

"Cause he's our friend!!!" said BB and his head was knocked back against the wall again.

"YOU WERE GIVING INFORMATION TO THE ENEMY!!!!" shouted Robin and Beastboy growled.

"We. Weren't. Giving. Information. To. The. ENEMY!!!!!" cried Beastboy and he turned into a gorilla, throwing the leader across the room. Robin grabbed onto the back of the couch and threw a birdarang at the green teen. It was about to hit Beastboy when Raven stepped in.

"This is exactly what Darkening wants!!! He wants destruction and you're just helping him!" said Raven and she turned to Robin, "he wasn't the enemy."

"Yeah, well to me he's better off dead," said Robin and everyone stared at him. He just walked to where the bedrooms were when he was thrown back by a black power. Raven slammed Robin into another wall and growled at him with bared teeth.

"Take that back," said Raven, her eyes glowing and many things floated up behind her, "now." Her voice was quiet and very dangerous.

"Let go of me," groaned Robin and Raven moved a couple of books closer to him, "let go!" He was about to punch her when a starbolt hit their arms and blew them apart.

"Friends do not fight with friends!" cried Starfire, tears in her eyes, "no matter what!!!"

"That's not how Robin sees it," muttered Cyborg as the two involved in the most recent fight went their separate ways, "why can't he be here now to help us. He was the peace keeper."

"Yeah, without him, we're falling apart."

----

Cyborg and Robin were playing the Gamestation as Raven walked in, the small guitar in her hand, the same place it had been for the last two days. Beastboy and Starfire were arm wrestling, the green teen losing every time.

"Dude! How do you do that?" wondered Beastboy as in two seconds, Starfire's arm had pinned BB's.

"It is merely the action of my limb attacking your limb and striking it on the table," stated Starfire before opening the fridge and pulling out her newly made Cake of Garten, slicing a piece for everyone.

"Pass," said everyone at the same time as Raven sat on the couch, still looking at the guitar.

"Yo, Rae, you haven't spoken to us for about a day, what's up?" asked Cyborg as his Mega Monkey slammed Robin's Mega Monkey into the floor.

"Sonic told me to open the guitar after two days… it's been two days, but I don't want to destroy it."

"Just forget about X," said Robin, still in his normal hating mood, "he's just a traitor."

"That traitor saved your life!" yelled Raven, coldly, and she stormed out of the room, down the stairs to the outside of the island, light bulbs exploding as she passed, she only spoke again when she was outside and screamed as loud as she could, "AND NOW HE'S DEAD!!!"

The water in front of her turned black and rose in front of her in a large pillar. It crashed down, back into the bay, and water flew everywhere, drenching the rocks she levitated in front of her. She broke down on the rock island and cried, rocks flying everywhere, and didn't move until she heard something.

Footsteps were walking towards her. She gasped and spun around saying "Sonic!" but was disappointed when Beastboy walked over to her. He had obviously spotted the rocks from the tower and came to see what was wrong.

"Raven, its okay," said Beastboy and he pulled her up, bringing her into a large hug, "we're all suffering."

"NO!!!" she fought with him but he held on tight until she stopped fighting, "Robin doesn't care! Neither does Cyborg or Starfire, NONE OF THEM!!!"

"They do, they all do, they care but they have different ways of showing it," said Beastboy, patting her back, "but we all care. No one cares as much as you, though."

"He just showed me a side of me no one's ever seen before," sniffled Raven, pulling away from Beastboy, "and I'll miss him."

"I know, Rae, I know. Now come on, let's go inside, and tell Cyborg he needs to change some light bulbs."

Raven laughed and Beastboy led her inside, up the stairs and into her room, where they sat and talked for a few hours. They didn't mention their friend that they had lost. It was very late at night when Beastboy left the room, yet when he stepped out, the corridor got unusually dark. BB wondered what the problem was but when he heard Rae's tears, he understood.

----

It was almost five weeks later and Raven hadn't destroyed the guitar. She now wore it around her neck like a talisman everywhere she went and before she walked through to the lounge, she would walk past his room to see if he was in there. He was never sitting on his bed, or playing his guitar. Some days she would walk up onto the roof and wish he was there to join her in the mornings. But he never was. Part of her had accepted that he would never be here to join her in the mornings again.

"Mornin' Raven," said Robin as she sat down with her tea, "what's up?"

"Nothing, I'm just depressed," said Raven as she opened a book she left on the table. The others came in, Cyborg and Beastboy laughing about something. Starfire had flown in, took one look around and began to make something.

"I've always wondered, how does Star get all her alien ingredients here on Earth?" asked Beastboy and Robin shrugged.

Cyborg started the Gamestation and all three boys grabbed a control. Raven shut off all sound until there was a giant BANG at their front door. Everyone dropped what they were holding. Books, game controls and strange wooden spoons hit the ground as Raven and Beastboy ran down the stairs to the front door, the others walking slowly behind them.

The goth looked at the comedian before opening the door. There was a great flash of light in the dark entrance hall and in the centre of the door stood Sonic.

"Oh my god, DUDE!!!" yelled Beastboy and he ran out to hug his friend. Sonic was back in his Titan's clothes, something black in his hands, and groaned slightly as the green boy hit him and laughed as he ruffled BB's hair. Raven walked slowly up to him.

"Hey, you miss me?" asked Sonic, detaching himself from the changeling to hug Raven. She stared for a moment and then ran into his arms, a smile and tears on her face.

"GUYS!!! GUYS!!! IT'S SONIC!!! HE'S ALIVE!!!" cried the boy with elf ears as the other three came into view of the door. Starfire gasped in joy and flew at break-neck speed to hug him, Cyborg laughed as well and ran out but Robin continued to walk normally.

"So what happened?" asked Cyborg when Starfire had gotten off of Sonic.

"Could I tell you over a drink of water?" grinned Sonic and the two boys laughed, "oh yeah, I brought a friend… can I introduce you?"

"Of course, a friend of my friend is a friend of me," said Starfire, looking around to try and find the friend.

"Who's the friend, Slade? Jonny Rancid? Gizmo?" accused Robin, his arms folded and side facing Sonic.

"Actually, she's above you," said Sonic and they all looked up as one, eyes bulging when they saw who.

"Hi guys… did you miss me?" an innocent voice said when she landed, smiling slightly.

"TERRA!!!"

----

Beastboy's arm had not left Terra's now non-armoured shoulder all the way up to the lounge and when everyone had sat down, Sonic began to speak.

"So, Beastboy was knocked cold, Robin took the ice in the stomach," Robin winced as he felt the place it hit, "Cyborg's arm was on the ground and Starfire was hit in the face with a ball of darkness. I told Raven to get out of here with you guys, to get you treated, while I dealt with Darkening."

"It was hard to leave you alone," said Raven as Sonic nodded, knowingly.

"I led him onto the streets and into Terra's cave," started Sonic but Robin interrupted him again.

"How did you know where Terra was?"

"Beastboy, he told me about her, and… I snooped around a bit," Sonic smiled sheepishly at this, "so, I led Darkening there and we fought but I got the better of him. I tied the Red X belt around his arms, activated a bomb and threw down a jar with Raven's spell and blood and he was used as sacrifice for the spell that brought Terra back from her stony form."

"Wait, explain what you did with the spell," said Cyborg and Sonic sighed.

"After a fight with Beastboy, Raven showed me the spell in a book and I… I took it. And this was a different kind of spell, this spell could be used by anyone if, and only if, the person has some of the demon's blood. Rae, remember that night on the roof when I 'accidentally' cut you, I actually got some of your blood in a jar."

Raven remembered that night well, it was cold and the roof was slippery. (A/N: the first part of the flashback is from the actual chapter, the other part is what happened)

"How's things here?" asked Sonic as Raven and Beastboy stood in front of him, "anything wrong?"

"Robin's just crazy," said BB, "you messed him up, dude."

"Starfire's crying all of the time and Cyborg's just staying out of the wa…" said Raven but Sonic told her to be quiet and extended the 'X' on his left hand. Raven gasped as it cut her hand, blood splattering out.

"Argh!" cried the half demon and Sonic ran over to help her. He bandaged it up, by taking the hem of Raven's robe, but before he did, he secretly pulled out a tiny jar and captured a couple of drops in it.

"Sorry, Rae, I wasn't looking," said Sonic…

"But which spell of friend Raven's did you activate?" asked Starfire as Raven snapped back into reality, realizing something.

"The Sacrificial Spell," said Raven to four confused faces, "it's a very dangerous spell that I wouldn't have used. You need one thing to bring back something else. Like a life for a life."

"Exactly, so when I blew up the belt, the bomb triggered the zinothium and the spell was activated, bringing back Terra!" exclaimed Sonic and Beastboy gave Terra another hug.

"But you still have a lot of explaining to do," said Robin, "like why you stole the Red X suit!"

"Okay, this may take a while, so get comfortable," joked Sonic and Cyborg got up and brought back a packet of chips, "I never knew my parents, I don't even know if they know me now. The only thing I remember is being with a group of other kids and Karth came to see us. They took ten of us in and trained us under Darkening, trained us to be thieves, warriors and deadly. This was when I was around five and they started easy but increased the training. I couldn't take it, but I couldn't fight them. I was the only one that survived past fifteen, Darkening killed all of the others, he killed my best friend there in front of me! But I still continued, hating every bit of it. Eventually, they told me I was trained enough and that they had a mission for me, to steal the Red X suit. They told me that if I ran into you to tell you that I was working alone and that after I got the suit to steal the zinothium locater. You understand?"

Everyone nodded and he continued, "So, I found the locator, got the small bit of zinothium but you got the belt. When I got back, a failure, they beat me terribly but still gave me another mission. I couldn't go straight away and I began to train more. Until one day when everything just… stopped," Raven looked away, knowing, "that's when Sl…" Sonic spotted Beastboy's face and decided not to say that name in front of Terra, "the third servant of Darkening came in, I went on this mission, not as Red X, but I failed again, terribly. That was the first time I fought Darkening and he almost destroyed me. It was too much so I decided to leave. I remember that night well, it was the time I almost died, and that's when they began to chase me. I left six months ago and that's when the Red X attacks stopped, right? These cloaked men started to chase after me, and I came to you. That was six months ago, and you let me in. And I'm thankful for that!" cried Sonic, spying Robin's face, "you saved my life when you did that! So, I was living here fine until three months and a half ago, when I found out about Terra and the zinothium labs. That's when my plan went into action. When I found out about the zinothium, I stole back the belt when you weren't looking and pretended to get kidnapped or go one way to get Red X when we went after him. It all fell apart when you found out who I really was, and I couldn't tell you, it would have endangered Terra. So I continued to steal the zinothium. Six times in total, six times I stole behind your back. Until that last time, before I was found by the third servant, I went to where I had stored my zinothium and inserted every single piece of zinothium I had into the belt. The rest, as they say, is history."

"Wow, you've had a hard time," said Robin, his heart taking over and finally acknowledging Sonic as a friend, and Sonic grinned sheepishly.

"Wait," realized Raven, "the tickets, for the concert… did you steal them?"

"Um… yeah, I wanted to do something nice for you and I knew that you really wanted to go… when Beastboy was distracted, I snuck behind the counter and got you those tickets," mumbled Sonic, "also, I was the one that hacked into Beastboy and Terra's file, Cyborg, sorry."

"It's okay," said Cyborg, "wouldn't expect anything less from Red X."

"But… I think it ended for the best. I mean, I, sorry, we, in a way, destroyed Darkening and you guys got Terra back," smiled Sonic.

"Wait, when that third guy," Robin had caught on, "came in, was it before or after Trigon destroyed the Earth?"

"After," said Sonic, "that's what I meant by 'stopped'."

"So how did you pull that off? That night we found you out. You were in two places at once…" said Robin.

"One of Cyborg's training bots. I found one about my hight, put it in the Red X suit and made it attack you," cried Sonic, "Then I just got into the suit when it tackled me. But it's over now. Darkening's plan failed and I'm free."

"So, you are staying with us, correct?" asked Starfire but Sonic stood up.

"No, Star, I can't stay…" he said to many cries of 'what?', "I need to go and, you know, explore, and get all this behind me."

Everyone else stood up, Raven last, and Sonic said, "well, I guess this is goodbye."

Robin walked over and the two clamped hands, "travel safe, and sorry for accusing you."

"It's okay, stay good too. And before I forget, here," Sonic handed Robin the tattered Red X suit and the useless belt.

"See ya, man, and when you get back, I'll have beaten your high score on Hyper Racers 2!" chuckled Cyborg and Sonic punched his shoulder, lightly.

"See y'all!" joked Sonic.

"Hey, that's coming on great!"

"And you can keep my car, as a gift," said Sonic as Cyborg laughed.

"I will miss you, friend Sonic, may I give you one last hug?" asked Starfire and Sonic nodded, giving Starfire the opportunity to squeeze his lungs out.

"Bye, Star, have fun on Earth," wheezed Sonic as he was placed down on the ground. After he was placed down, Starfire ran off as Beastboy and Terra came over to him now.

"Dude, you better come back," said BB, grinning at the boy, "it'll be different without ya!"

"Yeah, you too, I'll miss the sound of chaos," said Sonic as he hugged his friend and turned to the girl he just freed from a stony prison, "and you! You better take care of him, you know, he does mean something to some people."

"Thank you, again, for getting me out of there," said Terra as the two hugged, "see ya."

Sonic turned to say bye to Raven and found the goth to be missing. Down fallen, he turned to the others to find his guitar held out in front of them.

"We thought…" began Robin.

"… that you'd, you know…" said Cyborg.

"… That you would wish to play on your journey," finished Starfire, all three of them smiling.

"Yeah, songs about us!" grinned Beastboy.

"I'll have 'She Will Be Loved' perfect when I come back," smiled Sonic as he strapped the guitar on his back and a small bag of stuff the others had given him, it was probably filled with clothes and food, "have you seen Raven?"

"She went onto the roof, or something," said Terra, "saw her go."

"Thanks, I'll go see her, be back in a sec," said Sonic, running up the stairs onto the roof. When he was there, he saw a meditating Raven, no noise coming from her, "hey."

There was no answer so Sonic tapped her shoulder, "Rae, you in there?"

"Why are you leaving?" snapped Raven, back in her gothic, dark self.

"I need to! I mean, I've just killed a guy! Plus, you'll have Terra," said the boy and Raven stopped meditating. She turned around, very angry, "Raven?"

"You just killed someone, what does that matter?" shouted Raven, rocks beginning to fly up from the ground, "WE'VE ALL BEEN AROUND DEATH!!!!! Cyborg almost killed Brother Blood!!! Beastboy was the last person to see Terra before she was enclosed in stone!!! Starfire lost her parents!!! Slade almost killed Robin multiple times, and the other way around!!! I KILLED MY OWN FATHER!!!!!! I may have hated him but I still killed him, how can you say anything to me about death. Not when you know nothing about it. I was the reason you died!!! I was the reason everyone on this planet died!!! I almost killed the others once! Every freaking time we face someone powerful, we almost die! Do not talk to me about death." Raven was now breathing heavily, tears streaming slowly down her face, "do not talk about what you know nothing of."

"Raven, I know that you've been around death, practically all your life, but I need to do this. This is a new thing for me and you could deal with it because you have the others."

"And so do you!" yelled Raven, a few tears in her eyes.

"Not the way you do… let me do this, it's for the best," said Sonic, lifting her head up to stare into her eyes, "Raven, I need to do this. Trust me."

"But… but… you're my best friend, when are you coming back?"

"I don't know, but soon, I'll come back soon." Sonic smiled, weakly and she looked back at him, "I won't leave you forever."

Raven sniffled before smiling sadly at him and untying something from her neck, "here, your other guitar."

Sonic took it from her, put it in his pocket, then pulled something from his pocket and placed it in Raven's hand, "here, something to be remembered by."

Raven smiled again, putting the thing in her pocket, and walked down the stairs, followed by Sonic.

"Guys, it's been great, I'll call you when I get the chance and I will be back," smiled Sonic and he shared hugs and hand shakes with everyone again and everyone yelled goodbyes as he walked down the stairs and onto the rocky island they lived on. Everyone turned around to go onto the roof but found that Raven was gone again.

----

Sonic was whistling the Dark Reflections song, 'Evolution', as he walked onto the road connecting the island and the mainland, guitar on his back. He didn't hear the footsteps behind him until he was tapped on the shoulder.

"Miss me already, Rae?" asked Sonic before he even turned around and turned to see a smiling goth.

Raven leaped at the boy and gave him a large hug, larger than any he had received before, "thank you, thank you so much."

"No prob," said Sonic as he began to pat her back, "and don't worry, I'll be back soon."

Sonic gave her one last squeeze and she took off to the roof where the others were waiting. They watched as their friend walked over the road and only moved when he vanished from sight. Raven stayed last, remembering that he had given her something. She took it from her pocket and looked at the tiny guitar. She smiled, took one last look at the road and walked after the others.

"So, BB, who was he, really?" asked Terra as they walked down the stairs, "he never told me much, just his name and that he knew you guys."

"His name was Sonic, and he changed our lives in so many ways," began Beastboy.

"Sonic was a fun-loving human boy and he had a power, one that he loved," said Starfire.

"Yet, his power had hurt too many people…" said Cyborg.

"For him to be caught," completed Robin.

"By who?" asked Terra, her eyes shining with the glow of a curious child.

"Well," said Raven, "it was late, on a stormy night, and he was running along the street, being chased, and he jumped into the lake around the island."

"So, here I was, setting up this brilliant prank…"

"Brilliant! It was everything but!"

"Be quiet Cy, so I was setting up my prank when there was this giant bang on the door…"

To Be Continued

----

Terra: yep! I came back!!!

Cyborg: that was a bit of a twist, but it explains a lot

Sonic: NOW do you believe me? Slade took your punching bag!!!!!!

Robin: yes… I need it, you wanna come?

Sonic: yeah, I'll get the corkscrews both of them laugh evilly

Moon Comix: man, im gonna miss this

Sonic: it has been cool

Raven: I liked that guitar… can I have it?

Beastboy: Rae, you ended up with it!!!!

Raven: oh yeah…

Starfire: I propose a group hug

Raven: sure, why not

Terra: I guess my spine could take it!

Robin: I'm in!

Cyborg: Everyone now!!!

Beastboy: one more as a group

Sonic: this I will miss

Moon Comix: let's do this then

All eight of them have a giant group hug

Beastboy: Don't forget to review!!!!! Cause if you do…. You might get a SEQUEL!!!!!

Cyborg: and, as well as the sequel, you get COOKIES!!!!!!!

Moon Comix: Hope you liked it!!!!!!!

Everyone in the story: BYEBYE!!!!!!! JOIN US NEXT TIME!!!!!!!!!

Author's Note: Thank you all for reading this story, it has been a pleasure to write and I hope's it's been a pleasure to read. I'm just writing this for the competition I held. The titles of the story and the chapters were actually all titles of songs. I'll put them below for you.

Story: Not A Second Time by The Beatles

Chapter 1: New Beginnings by Good Charlotte

Chapter 2: Rocking the Suburbs by Ben Folds

Chapter 3: Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For by U2

Chapter 4: Losing It All by Shannon Noll

Chapter 5: Misunderstood by Robbie Williams

Chapter 6: In The End by Linkin Park

Author's Note: Sadly… no one participated! Guys!!! Come on! At least take part in the sequel!!! Thank you again, and keep an eye out for the sequel… and please review and tell me what you thought. I want to thank all who have read this story and all who have reviewed! Thanks!

Comix out!!!!