Welcome to the sort of sequel to Half Way! I say sort of becuase the events of that story are only briefly mentioned and this story really requires no knowledge of that one.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Titans Characters. Do I really need to say this every time?
Anyway, I hope you enjoy!
The Team walked through the amusement park gates.
"Alright guys, same deal as last time." Robin started as he and Cyborg began clipping the thin bracelets on everyone's wrist, "Don't use your powers or otherwise the bracelets will be able to tell us. If you do, that's three weeks dishes since only two didn't seem to work out so well last time." He throws a glance at Beast Boy and Raven, The unlikely pair who had broken the rules last time.
"Aside from that," Cyborg took over, "Have fun, meet at the car at close."
Once again, Starfire and Robin ran off alone. These "Hero Breaks." to the amusement park seemed to have been happening a lot more since the two got together. The remaining members formed a group of their own.
"So what do you guys wanna do today?" Cyborg asked, briefly putting a hand on both of his friends shoulders. Beast Boy stared intently at his map.
"Hey, they have a vegan restaurant here!" Cyborg faked a gag.
"I already like the other park better!" Beast Boy looked at his map again.
"Dude, there's laser tag! I say we go to the restaurant, then check out laser tag."
"What kind of amusement park has a vegan restaurant and laser tag?" Raven chimed in.
"Uh, the best one." Beast Boy took the lead, "Come on friends. Vegan cuisine awaits."
Cyborg flipped his menu side to side as if it would change what he was seeing.
"Miso soup? Portabella Mushroom? Roasted Beet and Walnut Salad?" Cyborg threw his menu and his hands down on the table, "What is this place?" Their waitress came by their table. Her name tag said Ashley.
"Are you ready to order?" she asked. Cyborg was sure he would never be ready to order. Beast Boy on the other hand...
"I have the Tofu Wrap please." He said like he had just answered on the final round of Jeopardy. The server looked to Raven.
"A garden salad."
"Ok, And for you sir?" She stared at Cyborg.
"I'll haveā¦" He closed his menu in a look of defeat and handed it to Ashley, "The Vegetarian Nachos."
"Alright. I'll be right back with your soda refills. And was it water for you ma'am?"
"Yes."
"Thank you." Beast Boy said as Ashley was walking away. Cyborg looked at Raven.
"How can you be so calm? I thought you said you didn't eat fake meat?"
"There's no fake meat in a salad."
The wait for the food was agonizing. At least, it was for Beast Boy. Cyborg was conflicted about whether he ever wanted the food to come. Raven, as usual, seemed indifferent. Beast Boy began to look at every plate of food passing by to see if it was his. Eventually, Ashley arrived with their food all at the same time. Beast Boy practically began eating his tofu wrap right out of her hand. Raven gingerly poked into her salad. Cyborg sat frozen. The plate of nachos in front of him. They appeared normal enough. Tortilla chips topped with cheese, beans, jalapenos, and diced tomatoes. He slowly raised a chip to his face and took a cautious sniff. Next, he opened his mouth and took the smallest bite. He gave it a moment then swallowed. It wasn't bad. In fact, it was good! Cyborg shoved that chip and several more down his throat until he noticed the smug look on Beast Boy's face.
"What are you lookin' at." He said through a mouthful; cheese dripping down his chin.
The group left the restaurant feeling rather satisfied.
"And you had doubts." Beast Boy started, "Race you to Laser Tag?" Before Cyborg even had the chance to respond, Beast Boy was already weaving his way through crowds towards the aforementioned laser tag. After he saw Beast Boy stumble a few times, Cyborg relented and began a light jog behind Beast Boy. Raven's pace remained unchanged. Beast Boy turned around and saw Cyborg running behind him, so he sped up. This ignited Cyborg's more competitive side. He was going to put the green bean in his place. He caught up as they were making their final turn. The laser tag building in sight. Cyborg overtook Beast Boy.
"Ugh, If I could turn into a cheetah this would so be over!" the noise of laser tag got louder and louder. Cyborg just barely out of arm's length. At this rate, he would win. Beast Boy dove at Cyborg's legs in a last ditch effort, taking the metallic teen to the ground, his hand mere inches away from the entrance. They both looked up to see Raven was already in line. They took their spots behind her. She turned around.
"Hey, I guess I won."
"How'd you beat us?" Beast Boy and Cyborg asked in unison. Apparently, there was an alternate path, that in their mad dash, they had completely missed.
"Whatever. Just don't think you'll be beating me now. I'm the laser tag master." Beast Boy said as they approached the front of the line. When they arrived, an employee named Brett asked how many were in their group.
"Three." Beast Boy said.
"And do you want to be on the same team or separate?" The three heroes all glanced at one another and at the same time said,
"Separate."
The teams were split into three colors with four vests for each color. Beast Boy went right for a green one. Raven grabbed a blue one. Leaving Cyborg with Red. Beast Boy looked at the small screen on his gun, seeing each vest-gun combo came with a name.
"Destroyer. Sweet. What name did you get Cy?"
"Quickdraw. Raven?" Both boys listened for the answer. Raven looked at her screen and was instantly disappointed.
"Princess. Of course."
Cyborg and Beast Boy walked into the arena at the same time with Raven trailing close behind them.
"I hope you like 2nd place B, cuz it's the best you're gonna get." Cyborg said before running off. Beast Boy went in the opposite direction. He found a place with some good cover and began waiting for the game to start. A bell rang and his suit lit up, signifying the start of the game. Beast Boy began to see other collections of colored dots moving around. He shot at any not in his team color. Hitting nearly every one. He noticed a silhouette wearing blue approaching from his right side. Not able to get a clear shot, Beast Boy decided to avoid the silhouette by going down a nearby corridor. Any enemy he saw was swiftly met with a green laser. That is, until he heard a familiar voice.
"Booyah!"
Cyborg locked eyes with his green friend then they both dove for cover. They exchanged fire but neither was hit.
"Ok Cy, on three we both jump out."
"Alright, you start."
"One."
"Two." Cyborg said, gripping his gun a bit tighter.
"Three!" Beat Boy shouted.
They both leapt out, determined to be the victor. Eyes locked, Guns aimed and... both of their vests flashed to signify they had been hit. Their message screens both said,
"Hit by Princess." Raven stood to the right, gun still pointed up. She would later describe the looks on their faces as "priceless." Without saying a word, she disappeared back into the shadows.
The game lasted another few minutes or so and then everyone headed back and returned their vests. The results for the previous game were shown on a screen in the lobby. Green team was shown on the board first.
"Aw yeah, top scorer." Blue team was shown next and although Cyborg only had the second highest score on his team, The team had a higher overall score than green. Cyborg gave Beast Boy a taunting look.
"Whatever, I still got more points than you."
Red team came on the board and blew both other totals out of the water. Raven being the top scorer of the entire game.
Cyborg and Beast Boy both walked out of laser tag mildly disappointed. Raven trailed a little bit behind them. They walked for a while, but then the boys stopped dead in their tracks.
"Uh, why did you two stop?"
Cyborg and Beast Boy were both staring straight ahead. Raven looked forward.
Ring Toss.
The two boys both slammed a dollar on the table and quickly began throwing the plastic rings.
"Yeah! Better luck next time Cy!"
"No way, best two outta three!"
"You're on! Hold this Raven." He said handing her the prize he had just won. Cyborg beat Beast Boy the second match and Beast Boy won the third.
"You made have beaten me at this but there's no way you're beating me at that game." He said pointing towards the infamous glass bottles.
"Hold these Raven." Two more stuffed animals flew at her. Cyborg threw his ball, easily knocking down every bottle. Beast Boy knocked down all but one.
"Booyah! Ready to admit I'm the Carnival Game King?"
"No way, that was one game! Let's go do the mini bowling thing now"
"Hold these Raven!" They said once again. At this point, Raven decided to not bother following them any more. She found a nearby bench and took a seat. She watched Beast Boy and Cyborg zip from game to game, Plush animals piling all around her. Raven pulled a book out of her bag and began reading. Plush toys continued to cover the bench.
"Wow, did you win all of these?"
Raven looked up to see a little girl.
"Uh, no." The boys ran by again dropping off several more toys, "They did."
"They must really like you to be winning you all this stuff."
Raven chose to ignore that comment.
She noticed the girl eyeing one of the animals. A large blue bunny.
"Take it."
"Huh?"
"Take it. It's fine."
"Really? Thank you so much!" She excitedly grabbed the rabbit and sprinted away, presumably to show it to someone. Raven didn't know what Cyborg and Beast Boy would do with all of these, so she figured better that a person have it who would actually use it. She started to read again, but she didn't get very far. The same girl came back.
"Hi. This is my friend. She really wants a toy, and it's just you have so many and..."
Raven didn't look up this time. She simply waved her hand to tell them to go ahead. Soon, news spread of "The Nice Blue Hood Girl" who was giving away toys. The plush animals began to disappear nearly as quickly as Beast Boy and Cyborg could win them. For a while, Raven tried to immerse herself in her book to ignore it all. This proved to be a fairly successful strategy. However, her book didn't last forever. Raven read the final page and Cyborg and Beast Boy still weren't done with their stupid competition.
"There has to be something we haven't played yet!" Beast Boy and Cyborg plopped next to Raven, holding a map to their faces.
"I don't see anything!"
"Why does it matter?" Raven interjected.
"Me and Cy are tied right now. If we don't find another game..."
"Here's one!" Cyborg excitedly pointed at the map, "Whack-a-mole. It's close by too." Cyborg and Beast Boy shot off the bench towards what was likely to be their last game of the night. Raven followed. The two boys ran to the game and Cyborg slammed money down.
"Two, please" They were handed the large foam mallets. There was a brief countdown and then the game began. The moles started off slow but they quickly sped up. The thumping of the mallets getting louder and louder.
"Cy, When I win, I'll think I'll give you the prize for this one."
"Keep dreaming Green Bean. There's no way you're beating me at this." The two moved at lightning speed, Sending the plastic rodents back down the holes nearly as they appeared. They barely even noticed when the timer reached zero.
"Time's up." The game attendant needed to say. The two competitors stopped and look up at the screen, both positive they had bested the other. Bold White Letters appeared.
"This game's winner is... Machine Number 8"
"What!" They both looked around the corner created by the machines to see Raven at the end of the row, hammer still in hand.
"This is fine." Cyborg started, "It doesn't matter Raven beat us. We can still figure out which one of us did better."
"Sorry. Our machines only announce the winner. There's no way for you to see your score."
Both mouths opened in shock. They backed away slowly and found their way to a bench. They needed to sit down. A minute later, Raven walked to the bench.
"Here." She stood above them holding two large stuffed chickens. This was all it took for the boys to be smacked back into reality. It didn't matter who had won. They smiled and took the chickens.
"We acted like real jerks today Raven." Beast Boy started.
"We shouldn't have gotten so caught up in our competition and shouldn't have left you alone and..."
"We're sorry." They said together. Cyborg took a look at his watch. Time to meet at the car. He pulled Beast Boy off the bench and the three began walking as the nightly fireworks went off.
It hadn't been the day any of them had intended, but they were together and that's all that mattered.
Fun Fact: This was originally going to be Amusement Part 3 and I had something completely different for Part 2.
Anyway, As always, let me know what you thought.
Later!
