I have to say this now, because I have no idea when this is going to get to you at the time of typing, but November 13, one year ago, is the FFnet anniversary of Universal Roadtrip! (The real anniversary was a month or two ago, on a day I can't exactly remember). And, believe it or not, we're almost finished! Lessee...one year gave...60 chapters, including this one (WOW! I never knew I was writing something that long!), so in about two or four more months, this should be over and you can get back to your lives, whether they exist or not. Of course, then I'll be able to actually GET to my ever-growing bin of other fanfics! Yay!

Here's the one-year, 60TH chapter! Not to mention, my 100,000th published word:)

Oh, kay. I'm stuck with a Terra lover and a Terra hater. Let's just say she'll be back for like, an hour or four, but she'll have to leave again for continuinity reasons. I'm a Terra neutral, but there is NO WAY i'm leaving Terra with BB. HE IS WAVEN'S! (cough) Okay. And if where you're thinking is Jeremie's dorm from Code: Lyoko, you're thinking right, dude(ette)... Pimpin, eh? Fo shizzle, yo...what did I just say? Oh, and superdork-please stop sending me chain letters. They're fun-but they get annoying after a bit.
Chapter 15: Exodus

the rest of the day

The beam traveled silently through the vacuum of time and space, narrowly missing a few peanuts along the way...

For the rest of the day, our heroes prepared. Nonstop.Robin was able to hack into Jack Fenton's computer database (it was actually quite easy. It asked for a password at every page, and it was always 'GHOST'.) and retrieve information on ghosts, how to capture them, and stuff. Cyborg worked together with Tucker, Cosmo (for magical reasons only), Wanda (to watch Cosmo), and Beast Boy (he just stared at it happily) to reconstruct a few of the ghost inventions from the blueprints on the database. They were actually able to construct some pretty good copies-improved, actually.

Sam, Danny, and Timmy were devising some offensive strategies ("Okay, we know humans and robotic stuffare intangible in the Ghost Zone, but we don't know about fairies, half-demons, Tamaraneans, or shapeshifters..." "But what if they chase us into the real world? Unlucky break there..." "Hey, what's that thing? And that? And that?"). Raven stood a few feet from the action, contemplating. Should she help, or should she just scream and blow everything to peices? It was a hard choice, for her. Helping was the right thing for a Titan to do, but it would feel good to see that stuff shatter...

It was another late night. By ten, they were mostly ready. Clothing, snacks, blueprints, and well-made copies of the Fenton Thermos, Grappler, Phonesand other assorted stuff were safely packed in sports bags. Everyone was armed with knowledge of ghosts and their strengths andweaknesses (let's just say Danny was more tired than anyone else...). They were motivated, they were strong.

They needed sleep.

"Okay!" Robin said, stomping his foot on the floor. "We all need sleep for tomorrow! Everyone, BED!"

Beast Boy groaned. "Aw, c'mon! We just started!"

"Do you want to look restless for Terra?" Danny arched an eyebrow.

"It gives the illusion that I've been searching without rest for her."

"Then maybe you can stay up later than the rest of us. Everyone else, bed."

"Ugh." Everyone stomped off to bed, restless for the day to come.

Well, cept Raven. She worried herself to sleep almost immediately.

that morning
Day 13 of Urtrip (yep, it's warpping up! Sorta...)

You bet it was an aburpt awakening.

At six am, everyone was asleep, even those who had set alarms. You see, the clock that did the beam was exact. Every clock in the entire tower was exactly two minutes slow. (If I had to explain why the Titans did this, I'd have to launch into a long speech that would annoy you to tears.). So, when the beam of soft red light engulfed the Tower, half of our heroes were asleep, and the half that weren't were only barely awake, studying their clocks eagerly.

So, as you can imagine, there were a lot of screams as several of our heroes, still in their underoos (that's my slang for pajamas, not that other meaning), were dissolved into nothing and beamed through light years of endless...darky stuff.

The last to go was Beast Boy. He wasn't asleep, at the very least, he had prepared for this day. You could tell, because he was wearing an ugly brown blazer over his Doom Patrol jumpsuit, carrying every single bag, and had a HUGE smile on his face as he was beamed, even though pain seared through his every atom.

Fora halfhour, Danny, Sam, Tucker, Timmy, Cosmo, Wanda, Robin, Raven, Starfire, Cyborg, and Beast Boy (hey, that's a lot) soared thoughtlessly and selfawarelessly through space. It's impossible to exactly describe the feiling unless you experience it. Think of those really tiny beads. Now get them in a bag, and throw them across the room. After your mom/dad/wife yells at you, pick them up. This is pretty much what it's like.

Then, it was over. It was different this time, for Danny. Last time, it had been unbeliveable darkness for ages. Now, it was a light, airy feeling as he felt his atoms rearranging, and then a soft flump as he landed on some famillar tile.

"That was...different." He got himself up as several other flumps sounded behind him, and gasped in consternation.

He was back to his own dimension. Back in 2-D. He was in his dad's basement, exactly as he had left it a week and a half ago. Other than a couple layers of dust, the place looked absolutely normal.

"Hey guys...guys! We're home, we're normal!" He couldn't hide his happiness as he whirled around to the others getting up.

Sam and Tuck, as you could guess, looked exactly as you would expect them to look if you just walked over to your TV and put on some DP. Same with Timmy and co, they were back to normal too. (Cosmo had actually not woken up at all during the entire transaction, much to our heroes' amusement). The Titans...not so much. Robin's eyes looked wierd. Cyborg looked a little klunky. They all looked kinda disfigured and outsized in some way. It just didn't look right.

"So...Terra's here?" Beast Boy said, shedding his blazer after a few odd looks. "Don't see why. Not too inviting. Kinda...flat."

"Speak for yourself." Raven was staring at Robin's hair. "So, this is where this dumb Portal is?"

"Yeah, it's over there," Danny said, pointing to it. "Wow. It just hit me...We haven't been here in over a week. And we've ignored almost every call from Dad. You think they're worried?"

"Actually, they haven't called at all. Wierd." They all stood blinking for a moment.

Robin finally broke the still silence. "Well, better get going. You said there was some ghost zone traversion vehicle somewhere around here?"

"Oh, the Spectar Speeder? Yeah, it's in the storage closet. Haul it out, will ya?"

Robin shot him a nasty look, and then he and anyone else willing to lug a 10-ton vehicle across a room walked to the closet. Sam was about to join them when Danny noticed something different about her. Herright arm was scarred and bruised, as though it had been burned. He was about to ask her about it...then an answer burst on him!

"Sam, you...took off your cast," he said. "I mean, you've had it on since the whole mutation thing...and, well..."

"Yeah," Sam said, sitting down. "I...didn't think I needed them anymore -ow-. I can take it. It's...a lot better now than it was back-hey, what's that on your ear?"

Danny blushed and clasped his hand over his ear. "N...nothing..."

Sam's eyes narrowed. "Take it away."

"Augh." He removed his hand. There, just visible in his lobe, was a flesh-colored stud. Remember when those dudes pierced his ear in Book 2?...

"You kept it open?" Sam shouted, aghast. "You said it was stupid!"

"After we got to Jimmy's universe, I realized it was pretty neat," Danny said, blushing redder. "So...I bought these from the nearest store and hoped you wouldn't notice."

"It's not that I don't like them," Sam said. "They're a nice representation of breaking free from the crowd. But I don't think your parents will agree..."

"Your 'parents' don't agree with anything you do. You have no problem." (Remember that explanatory paragraph?)

"That's me. This is you."

"True..." Before this conversation could continue, Robin stepped between them, panting.

"It's...out," he breathed. "Can...we...go..."

"Yeah." He got up, reluctantly, and walked over to the Speeder. Then he realized something. "How are we going to cram ourselves in there?"

"We will simply have to manage," Starfire said. "Our only concern is the safety of Terra."

"Yeah. People, pile in." They did. It really was cramped-there was a lot of groaning until Danny and Robin got themselves situated in the front seats, Beast Boy turned into a bird and sat on the dash, and Cosmo and Wanda poofed themselves into a drink and cup and set themselves in the cupholder. Even then, it was a bit squishy.

"Hold on, everyone," Robin warned. "This is gonna be rough." Everyone took deep breaths for no reason, and drove headfirst into the green vortex...

A little bit of a transfer chapter...but it explains some stuff.

-SP