Wow, this story took off a lot faster than I ever thought it would! And to think I almost thought about giving it up! Silly me! O:-) So this will be the last chapter. I'm really excited about my next work, which will be called 'Vampire Heart' and will be have a darker, much different tone and style than this. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
"Squiddly...Spooch?" Starfire asked slowly. Robin nodded, his facial expression resembling that of a man who had just taken a swig of sour milk.
"Squiddly Spooch." he confirmed.
"What in the name of Dale Earnhardt is a squiggly spoof?" Sandy demanded to know.
"Uh...well, they're like this cult, right?" Beast Boy replied. Raven cocked a curious eyebrow at this. "A cult?" she asked. "What kind of cult exactly?" Beast Boy just shrugged his shoulders, still finding the whole ordeal confusing. "They're these weird dudes who drive around in a van and they think I'm sort of alien space king warlord who's going to take them to the moon so they can live happily ever after or something."
Raven's cocked eyebrow arched slightly higher. "A cult? That's not a cult. A cult is Brother Blood and H.I.V.E., a cult is the Followers of Scath. These sound like a bunch of nerds with too much time on their hands." the wise empath scoffed.
"That maybe so, but they are our only choice, whether we like it or not.." Robin said, his voice lowering an octave "...and I really don't like it."
"Perhaps you are being too hard on the Squiddly Spoochers?" the ever cheerful Starfire offered. "I am sure they are most pleasant once you get to know them." Robin just shook his head softly "Star, I think even you would find these people annoying."
The now united Titans wished Sandy a good bye, Raven politely thanking her for the clothes, even though the empath knew as soon as the clothes left her body they were going straight into a bag and from there straight to Salvation Army. Robin gave Sandy his phone number to contact him with an estimate on the final cost of fixing the door. The Boy Wonder apologized profusely for his rash actions, Sandy saying she understood. "I know what it's like to be a yungin' and in love. Makes you do all sorts of crazy thangs."
As the young super heroes made their way down the drive way out of Sandy's line of vision, Pa finally woke up.
"Guhh...hnnfgggh...mah head...I had the weirdest dream, hun..."
Sandy just smiled as she kissed her husband on the forehead. "I'm sure I wanna hear all about it."
"There they are." Robin said for a distance, pointing at the Squiggly Spooch van.
"You have to be kidding me." Raven said, her eyes rolling back. "This is our ride back to the Tower?"
Beast Boy, who had been holding Raven's hand on the walk back, let go and ran ahead of the group to introduce themselves to Stringy Haired Man and his companions.
"Dudes, I mean...my loyal subjects. May I present to you my friend Starfire and my beautiful girlfriend, Raven."
"You are such a suck up." Raven said quietly to Beast Boy, her face a half smirk. Beast Boy just grinned back at her "Hey, I tell it like it is." he said smiling.
Without warning, Tin-Foil Hat Man grabbed Beast Boy by the wrist and led him behind the van, his face a pale sheet of white. "I need to speak with you, Master..." he said, his voice wavering slightly. Beast Boy was irritated, not only because of the sudden pulling to behind the van and not only because he was pulled away from Raven, but because this whole night had been one big disaster and the sooner they can get back the Tower, the better and this was not helping.
"Duddde, what is your deal?" the steamed changeling demanded. Tin-Foil Hat Man gulped down his saliva, his pasty white skin having broken down into a cold sweat. "Master...you...I mean, we have a problem."
Beast Boy took a deep sigh. "And what's that?"
"You...you brought...girls." Tin-Foil Man croaked, his voice tainted with slight disgust at the utterance of 'girls'. "You didn't say anything about bringing girls for the Great Journey..."
"Dude...they're girls. It's not like they're gonna bite you or something."
"But...but Master..."
"No buts dude! If you wanna go on the Great Journey with me, then the girls come along. Got it?"
Tin-Foil Hat man frowned in a defeated manner, like a young boy who was told by Mommy he had to kiss creepy Aunt Gertrude. Grudgingly, he made his way back to the group of the others, the remaining two members of Squiddly Spooch keeping their distance from Raven and Starfire as if they had the plague.
"Ok, now can we PLEASE go back to the Tower, I mean, the Royal Palace?" Beast Boy asked, his own patience fraying like the ends of an old rope. "As you command, master." Overstuffed Pillow Man said, shying away from his arm even brushing against Starfire. Starfire raised a curious eyebrow before leaning over to whisper to Raven.
"Friend, please explain why the Squiddly Spooch people do not wish to make contact with us."
"Because we're girls." the empath said with a flat matter-of-fact tone. This only served to confuse Starfire more. "But what does our gender have to do with them approving of us as friends?" she wondered.
"They're nerds, Starfire. Nerds are scared of girls." the empath replied.
"But in the past, have you not stated friend Beast Boy is a nerd?"
"That's different."
"But how so?"
"It's...a long story." Raven finally said, not wishing to take the time to explain everything to Starfire. The crimson haired beauty just nodded softly, still confused, but not wishing to probe further.
Overstuffed Pillow Man slid open the side door of the van, revealing two worn out, long leather seats which were surrounded by a sea of empty soda cans, moldy bags of Cheesy Poofs and rancid pizza boxes.
"I think I'm going to need a rabies shot after this ride." Raven groaned. Beast Boy gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "It's cool, babe. We'll be home in no time." Raven smiled gently back at him. "I'm sure we will...and don't call me babe." Beast Boy just chuckled to himself, knowing full well Raven detested pet nicknames.
The four Titans filed into the Squiddly Spooch van, with Tin-Foil Hat man driving, Stringy Haired Man in the passenger seat and Overstuffed Pillow Man in the first seat in the back. Sitting next to Overstuffed Pillow Man was Robin and Starfire, though with Starfire wishing to respect the wishes of Overstuffed Pillow Man, the Tammaranian had decided to take refuge by sitting in Robin's lap.
The Boy Wonder was definitely not going to argue.
In the furthest rear seat sat Beast Boy and Raven. Raven was still dressed in Sandy's farm girl outfit, her head resting on Beast Boy's shoulders. Sitting next to her was her bag of muddy clothes, with the changeling's arm wrapped around her.
"Gar..."
"Yeah Rae?"
"If we ever do this again, from now on, let's just order pizza."
Beast Boy smirked to himself, giving Raven soft a kiss in her lavender hair.
The van ride back to the Tower was painfully silent. None of the members of Squiddly Spooch said a word to any of the Titans, not even Beast Boy. Starfire had long since fallen asleep in Robin's arms, the Boy Wonder softly stroking her ruby hair in the moonlight. Raven was still awake, though her eyes were closed, attempting for some impromptu mediating that she hoped would make time go by faster.
It seemed to work, as she felt she had barely closed her violet orbs when the unsteady voice of Tin-Foil Hat Man croaked "We have arrived at the Royal Palace, your majesty..."
Raven opened her eyes and breathed of sigh of relief seeing the monolithic Titans Tower standing firm and tall in the night air. "Home, sweet home..." she thought. Robin gently shook Starfire to wake the sleeping Princess up. Stirring from her slumber, Starfire wiped the sleep from her emerald eyes and smiled big when upon glancing at the Tower.
"I never thought I'd be so happy to be back home..." Robin said as the Titans made their way out of the Squiddly Spooch van. "Indeed, it most glorious to have returned to our dwelling." Starfire added.
Raven made her way out of the van and yawned slightly, her bed beckoning her for a restful nights worth of sleep. She made her way to the front door and turned to take Beast Boy by the hand, but noticed her jade skinned beau was busy talking to Overstuffed Pillow Man.
"Make it quick, dude..I'm way tired."
Overstuffed Pillow Man frowned, his sad face that of a little boy who's puppy had run away. "Oh Mighty One, we have done your bidding...we have ventured into the Forbidden City of the Unclean...we have returned you to your Royal Palace...and yet...yet we feel unfulfilled. As if what we were doing was meaningless somehow..."
Beast Boy sighed deeply at the mis-guided nerd.
"Dude...life is full of stuff, ya know? But that stuff shouldn't be chasing after little green men and such. Get a life, dude. There's more to it then aliens."
Overstuffed Pillow Man swallowed his spit hard. "Mo-more to life than Squiddly Spooch? I'm...I'm not sure about that, Master..."
"Call me Beast Boy."
"Yes Beast Boy." the words rolling off Overstuffed Pillow Man's tongue like he was learning a new language for the first time. "Is it worth it though to try these things you speak of?"
Beast Boy glanced over at Raven who tapped the invisible watch on her wrist, but the sly grin on the corner of her mouth let him she wasn't upset.
"Dude, trust me...it's totally worth it."
Beast Boy said goodbye to Squiddly Spooch and gave them his permission to use him as a job reference for when they swore they'd apply for a job at Bloaty's Pizza Barn.
The tired and worn out Titans made their way to the hallway right outside of OPs, the two couples exchanging pleasantries before retiring for the night. Robin noticing his bedroom door was open slightly.
Raven had just punched in the key code for her bedroom door to open, a blissfully weary Beast Boy behind her, when they both heard the sound of a girl giggling from Ops. Raven cocked an all too familiar eyebrow as she glanced at Beast Boy.
"That doesn't sound like Sarah..." she said.
Curious too, Beast Boy morphed into a housefly and buzzed his way into the Ops room and flew around attempting to locate the source of giggle. What he found he was not prepared for...
"Rae, you have to come check this..." he thought, his girlfriend picking up the telepathic signal and making her way to Ops. As soon as the door to Ops slid open, the empathic girl froze in her tracks in shock.
Cyborg had apparently acquired a Batman cowl and cape from a local costume shop and was chasing Jinx around, who had exchanged her outfit for Robin's uniform, complete with mask.
"Get back here!" Cyborg ordered playfully. "Get back here and get yourself some of my Bat luvin'!"
"Holy seductive super heroes, Batman!" Jinx giggled, staying just out of Cyborg's reach to tease him. The two made their way around the couch and past the kitchen area right in front of a confused Raven, her look of bewilderment painted on her face. Cyborg and Jinx both stopped dead right in front of the pale sorceresses, both of their eyes wide as saucers.
"Oh...hi there." Cyborg said quietly. "Home from dinner already?" Raven didn't reply, just stared back with her eyebrow cocked at a sharp angle. Next to her, Beast Boy morphed back into his human form, laughing hysterically at his friend's choice of attire.
"Duuudddeee! This is classic."
Jinx blushed a deep shade of red, glancing at the floor as she was unable to make eye contact with Raven.
"My Sarah, you've changed." Raven said flatly to Jinx, her icy stare making Cyborg's stomach turn in knots.
"Sarah?" the reformed honorary Titan said accusingly. She wheeled around to confront Bat-Cyborg, pointing a damning finger at the cybernetic Romeo. "You told me Sarah and you broke up!"
Cyborg began to sweat profusely. "Hehehe,...umm...oops?" he offered, shrugging his shoulders. With no warning, Jinx raised her hands and sent a mighty blast of her own energy towards the metal Titan, with him just dodging in time for his right hand to come in contact with the blast, exploding upon impact.
"Awww man! That's gonna take me all day to repair!"
"Serves you right, you jerk!" she fumed and stormed her way out of the tower, clutching her black outfit in hand, right through the Ops room door and past a confused Robin.
"Did...I just see Jinx in one of my uniforms?" he asked while scratching his head. "And what happened to Cyborg's hand?"
Raven just sighed, massaging her temples. "Ask Cyborg. He'll be happy to tell you." and with saying this, grabbed Beast Boy's wrist as they made their way to bed.
THE END