The Hybrid

The Wait Ahead

Raven saw a... well... raven. It panted heavily as it landed on the ground. It had weird greenish pants that stopped at the beginning of his stalky legs and stopped at the end of his body. "Whew! Sorry, sorry, sorry," He quickly said in a very quirky sounding teenaged tone. "Had to get some vultures off of my back."

"Literally speaking?" Lief smirked, raising an eyebrow. "They wouldn't happen to be female ones, would they?"

"Hehehe," the raven awkwardly grinned while rubbing the back of his head with his wing, "Anyways, Uchawi sent for me?" The bird saw Raven and his eyes lit up. He flew past the elephant, mandrill, lions, and hyena to gaze at the human closer. "Whoa! The Hybrid?! Awesome! I didn't know that humans were so pretty." Raven's eyes widened at the compliment. "Oh! Sorry, sorry, sorry. I didn't mean to... um... hello, my name's Edgar, Edgar Allan." He nervously stammered. Raven could only slightly smile at the goofy raven's mannerism. "What's your name?"

"Raven."

"I know what I am, I'm asking what your name is," Edgar cluelessly replied. Somehow that put a wider smile on the teenage girl. Groot laughed loudly.

"Edgar, this is Raven, the Hybrid. She needs to find these Animalists," the elephant explained, giving him a scroll.

"Oh... wow, that's a lot of places," Edgar sighed, "Well, we better get to it. Oh! Not before some food! Mama Ada?" The raven cutely asked. Ada rolled her eyes with a smile. "OW!" Edgar cried as Uchawi whacked him on the head.

"Stop thinking of your stomach for a moment," Uchawi scolded.

"But it's the most important part of me," He whined.

"We have some food in the back," Lief replied, cheering up the raven. As the bird followed the lion, Verloor spoke with Raven.

"I'm sorry if Ed's personality is a bit... much," he said. Raven only smiled.

"Actually, I think he'll be fine," She replied. In the small moment that she met Edgar, he seemed... very much like Beast Boy. Raven went into the tree to see the bird eating a large assortment of food: mostly bread and worms. Raven rose her eyebrow. She didn't think that ravens would be as big as Ed was. (A raven's wingspan is somewhere around 3-5ft). As Ed finished, he walked a bit labored, rubbing his belly.

"Whew, that was good. I don't think I'll be able to fly for a while," Ed burped.

"Oh, you better be able to," Verloor said sternly, picking up the bird by his whole body.

"HEY!"

"Ed, this is serious business. Please don't mess this up!"

"Okay, Okay, geez! What's wrong with you?" Ed asked as Verloor put him down, "You weren't this doom and gloom before."

"Ed," Ada sighed, knowing he hadn't been around for a while, "Things have changed and... this is...world-class importance."

"So be on your guard," Verloor harshly said, leaving the tree. Ed rubbed his wing that Verloor was rough with.

"What's his problem?" Ed cluelessly asked. Ada, Lief, and Groot were all sadly silent. Raven walked up to Ed and sat down next to him on the ground.

"His... He led a rebellion that ended up going against him, taking his wife's life," she explained.

"Mrs. Blom is... dead?" Ed's face spoke horror and sadness. His wings grabbed his head in great distress. "I'm such a jerk! No wonder he's this way."

"He didn't use to be?" Raven asked Lief.

"Verloor used to be much like Ed. Well, a bit more formal," Lief replied. The lion shook his head. "This isn't getting you any closer to your objective. Your journey must start quickly."