Hello, everyone! I sincerely apologize for being this inactive. For some reason, it's hard to commit to writing regularly even though I enjoy it a lot. I seem to be unable to come up with words as fast as my ideas come.
This was a pretty random story and I had no clue what to title it, but the Titans are chaotic and this story, I think, does a good job of showing that. This should be a fun read!
Thank you all for your patience and happy reading!
"Come on, guys, you don't have to keep giving me death stares in the rear view mirror," Beast Boy whined, his green hair about three shades darker with the water dripping off of the ends.
"Actually, yes. Yes, we do," Raven replied sarcastically, her own hair close to black and looking to be twice as long as it had before, heavy with the river water.
"Hey, guys- no pointing fingers," Robin reminded his agitated friends, holding a towel over his eyes instead of his usual mask, which lay across his lap to dry. "What happened wasn't any of our faults- we all kinda lost it there..."
"I agree with Robin," Starfire piped up, trying to lighten the mood a bit with a large towel draped over her shoulders. "It was not all bad, anyway, and I enjoyed spending time with you all- is that not what matters?"
"Y- yeah- yeah, y'all work that- th- at out," Cyborg replied dismissively, his body jolting with electric blue sparks flickering from his metal joints. "My body- body can o-only get wet to a c-certain -ex-ex-extent in its regular form. It's gonna- gon- take-take me ages to dry out all this wa-water from my systems! And y'all bet- bet- better not get my seats soggy," he added pointedly.
"I'm pretty sure we're past that point..." Beast Boy shifted in his own seat to reveal a large damp spot beneath his body.
Cyborg eyed the area scornfully. "Thanks for the butt-print, BB."
"At least we learned something." Robin's voice was slightly muffled behind the towel.
Raven cut in sharply, interrupting him. "Yeah- never to go canoeing again."
"Okay, everybody got their life jackets?" Robin called to his teammates, who were just beginning to exit the life jacket station, buckling themselves in as they approached Robin.
"Yes, we are all prepared!" Starfire called brightly, making her way to the canoe that Robin was standing by.
It was a sunny day at Oyster Creek, a nature park about an hour from Titans Tower. For the past couple of days there'd been an influx of attacks on Jump City- all of which the Titans had been able to stop, but it didn't mean they weren't absolutely drained, and the swarming paparazzi whenever they set foot even two inches from the Tower weren't helping either. So after the team had made sure that the perpetrators were completely subdued and locked tight away in prison, Robin had suggested they go on a recreational outing- free from their uniforms and conniving bad guys, and now here they were.
"Uh-" Beast Boy waddled over to the two next, eyeing his bright orange life jacket with disdain. "I think mine's a little too... big."
Big was somewhat of an understatement- the changeling's jacket looked like it was going to burst, inflated to at least three times its original size and far bigger than Beast Boy actually needed, his arms suspended awkwardly at his sides.
Cyborg, free of a life jacket due to his size, took one look at his green friend and cracked up. "Ha! You look like a beach ball!"
"I feel like a beach ball," Raven deadpanned, arriving to meet the rest of her friends. "Why do we even need these things, anyway? Most of us can fly, Robin's more than capable of swimming if he gets in a bad situation, and Cyborg's hands can turn into propellers."
Robin sighed good-naturedly. "The goal today is to not have to be the Teen Titans, remember? It'll look weird if we just suddenly start floating and turning into birds and propelling and whatnot. To be honest, I'd rather not be recognized today."
Raven arched a brow, unamused. "So you'd rather not be noticed at the cost of our lives. Good to know."
"I am certain that we will have a lovely time and we will not end up deceased," Starfire answered cheerfully, flashing a bright smile in Raven's direction. Then she turned back to Robin questioningly. "Although I have never maneuvered such a vehicle myself..."
"Don't worry, Star- I don't think any of us have," Beast Boy replied reassuringly.
"Yeah, because we all had horribly traumatizing childhoods and therefore didn't get to do normal stuff." Raven folded her arms the best she could across the life jacket.
"Yeah... actually, boats kinda suck," Beast Boy agreed.
"Oooookay." Robin gave the others an odd look before straightening up. "That reminds me- do we have the oars?"
"Yep!" Cyborg whipped out six oars from behind his back, all of them in one massive metal hand, and tossed one to each of his friends, keeping two for himself.
"Great- looks like we're all ready. The only thing to do now is push the boat into the water and get moving." Robin turned to face his friends. "These things are actually pretty heavy, so you'll probably have to put your oars in the boat before-"
"Hyyyah!" Suddenly there was a big splash, and the Titans' boat was already beginning to drift in the blue water. Blinking, Robin turned around to see Starfire, parked behind the space where the canoe had just been, dusting off her hands and already heading into the water. "Come along, friends, or our boat will leave us behind!"
The other Titans were silent.
"Uh- okay, then." Robin began to wade into the water, his teammates wordlessly following behind.
Getting into the canoe in the water was a process. Starfire and Robin took the first of three rows in the boat, which went smoothly overall, but when the alien had begun to settle she realized she'd forgotten her oar on the shore, forcing her to fly back, get it, and race back to the canoe without being noticed. Then Raven and Beast Boy climbed into the second row, which wasn't so bad except for Beast Boy practically rolled into the boat and almost knocked Raven over the side, after which it took around three more minutes for the changeling to finally get settled. And lastly, Cyborg climbed into the last row, oars in hand- but his weight nearly tipped the entire canoe over, the frantic rowing of the others being the only thing preventing them from capsizing.
Finally, after a brief lesson from Robin teaching his friends how to use the oars, the group was prepared to take off, the boat pushing off the shore and venturing into the water.
It was peaceful, silent for a few minutes as the Titans rowed, the water growing deeper and the shore growing further away; everyone seemed somehow thoughtful.
Of course, however, with the Titans, such peace never lasted long.
"Beast Boy. Are you aware that you've been throwing water on me for the past ten rows?"
Raven's lap was indeed drenched, her grey leggings darkened into a shade of black. Beast Boy, though, didn't seem to be paying much attention, and instead was peering over the side of the canoe with an odd look on his face. "Dude, I think I just hit a fish."
Cyborg arched a brow. "What makes ya say that?"
Beast Boy wordlessly dragged his oar through the water to bring a shiny bleeding fish to the surface, cringing as he nudged it away.
Raven glanced over to Beast Boy's side of the boat, the corners of her lips turning down in disgust. "Ew."
"Hey, it's not my fault I can't see my freaking arms over this life jacket. I feel like a beach ball, dude!"
"Friends, we have only just arrived," Starfire reminded her friends, turning her head to the side to see them behind her. "We should not be terminating the marine life already."
"That's all Beast Boy," Raven said pointedly.
Following Raven's words, however, was a low rumble in the distance, making Cyborg look away from the water and into the sky. "Uh- did y'all just hear that noise?"
Robin nodded, his expression austere. "Yeah- sounds like thunder."
The sky grumbled again, and the sunlight vanished suddenly, replaced with slowly moving grey clouds. It wasn't long before the team began to notice tiny disturbances on the water's surface- raindrops.
Starfire scrunched up her nose upon feeling a raindrop slide down her face. "It appears our outing will need to be cut short," she mused, wiping the wetness from her skin.
"Pity. Oh, well," Raven shrugged, making it clear she wasn't bothered in the least by the interruption. "We should start rowing back before the rain gets any harder."
"For sure," Cyborg agreed. "Besides, Beast Boy smells like sweaty socks when he gets wet."
"Dude- it's my natural musk. Deal with it," Beast Boy retorted haughtily, rolling his eyes dramatically at the half-robot.
"Well, it's nasty," Cyborg scoffed. "Anyways, let's work on turning this thing around."
There was a noticeable pause.
"Forgive me if this is a foolish thing to ask," Starfire interjected, "but do we know just how to turn 'this thing' around?"
More silence with the exception of the increasingly heavy rain, the raindrops slapping the water's surface.
"Of course." Raven groaned, reaching for her cloak- but she'd forgotten that she hadn't brought it today. "Well, now we'll all wind up with pneumonia. Happy?"
"Raven, relax," Robin told her. "It's just a little rain- we've made it through much worse. Maybe if we all row with really strong strokes in the opposite direction, we can turn the canoe around."
"Just reminding you guys that I'm still a living beach ball," Beast Boy chimed in curtly, trying the best he could to point at himself. "No way I'll be able to reach around and row."
"Fine. The rest of us will compensate." Robin nodded at the rest of his teammates. "Take an oar and let's get moving."
The others murmured in assent, and took their oars in hand. But just as the Titans were beginning to set off, an abrupt gust of harsh wind blew against the team, pushing the canoe out further into the water.
"Yo, did we just get pushed by some air?" Cyborg looked around, perplexed. "We ain't even start rowing yet!"
The wind began to pick up again, pushing the rain diagonally and making the water ripple. By now, the team was becoming pretty wet, the moisture darkening their hair and making it stringy.
Starfire, at the head of the canoe, was already feeling the effects of the growing storm- her long magenta hair being blown backward straight into her face. "Friends! It appears my hair is preventing me from seeing the oars..." Statfire trailed off, shaking her head this way and that to try and move it out of her eyes, but the wetness of her hair only allowed it to stick to her skin.
"It is also blowing into my face," Raven informed her dryly, swatting at the damp strands of hair.
"Guys, seriously, try and focus," Robin urged his team, attention focused on rowing. "We definitely don't want to be out in the water if this storm gets any worse."
"Is it just me," Cyborg piped up from the back of the boat, "or is all this rowing doing absolutely nothing?"
It was true. Even with the group rowing as best as they could against the wind and rain, the canoe didn't seem to have turned even a little.
"So do we just start swimming?" Beast Boy queried, and he began scooting towards the edge of the canoe. "I mean, it would totally be faster than-"
He was cut off swiftly by a series of alarmed yells from his friends- forgetting that his life jacket was several times its necessary size, and he had almost tipped the boat over. Eyes widening, Beast Boy quickly made his way back onto the bench, pressing himself into an agitated Raven.
"What do we do now?" Starfire asked, voice muffled as she was still frantically brushing her hair out of her face.
It was a good question. The friends were drenched now, and the rain and wind were only intensifying. To make matters worse, the person in charge of the canoeing had called in everyone who was in the water a while ago when the storm first arrived- but the Titans hadn't heard him while bickering amongst themselves.
Robin leaned forward to see past Starfire, scanning the water for a few seconds before returning to his usual position. "Well, we can't call for help, obviously - nobody else is still on the water."
Beast Boy gestured forcefully at the water. "Hello? Swimming? Is anybody hearing me here?"
Raven turned to give the soaking changeling a stony glare, effectively shutting him up, and was about to talk when a violent gust of wind suddenly shoved the canoe forward, sending the Titans reeling backward and toppling on top of one another. Meanwhile, as they were untangling themselves from the pile they'd been reduced to in the boat, the wind continued to push it until the canoe was moving at a steadily increasing pace down the water.
After peeling Raven off of him, Cyborg managed to sit up despite the wind beating at his body. "Uh- y'all, this is not good."
Robin was helping Starfire back up to her seat, and the alien was looking around the water when she did a double take. "It is indeed not good- and we have lost our oars as well." She pointed behind the boat, and upon following her finger, the other Titans saw the six oars floating in the water unattended- having fallen out when the wind hit and knocked them all over.
Beast Boy surveyed the scene as best as he could, scooting awkwardly around the canoe. "And is it just me, or are we really, really picking up speed?"
"No, it's not just you." Leaning forward, Robin squinted to look in front of the boat, but his vision was blocked by the pouring rain. "I can't see anything."
"Are we having fun yet?" Raven questioned sarcastically, water streaming down her face.
"Dude, there's probably a waterfall or something at the end of this river!" Beast Boy exclaimed frantically. "Whenever this happens to the guys in the movies, it always ends with them falling down one."
"Does this look like a movie to you?" Cyborg retorted from behind the changeling.
"Okay, guys, nobody panic," Robin advised. "The wind shouldn't pick up any more than this, and since the notion of a waterfall is absolutely ridiculous-" Robin shot Beast Boy a sardonic look- "we'll probably reach the other side of the river pretty soon. Just hang in there."
"Sure. Let's just hope we don't die of pneumonia before we get there," Raven added dryly.
"Why do we not simply fly back to shore?" Starfire wanted to know. "Nobody is around, so we would not be recognized."
"Well, Robin and Cyborg can't fly, and we can't just leave them behind. We could have Beast Boy change into something large that flies and carry them, but Cyborg and Robin's weight combined would be too much for him, probably. Even if all that weren't an issue, we wouldn't be able to get anywhere with the rain and the wind combined. We would be flying blind while enduring pushback from the wind. The risk would be too great," Raven explained.
"Hey! I could totally carry Cyborg and Robin, no problem!" Beast Boy protested.
"Did you not hear anything I just said?"
Starfire nodded slowly, still facing forward. "I understand..."
"Hey! Dudes!" Beast Boy shouted suddenly. "Is that land up ahead?"
Hopeful, all of the other Titans leaned forward, peering through the rain to see if there was finally an escape from this catastrophe. Cyborg, however, after catching a glimpse of the alleged land, seemed uncertain. "I can't really tell if that's land or not... it looks more like a decline, if that makes sense."
"Decline?" Robin looked again, this time closer. "Oh. Oh, no."
"'Oh, no?' What's 'oh, no?'" Raven demanded.
Starfire turned around to look at Raven, her expression wary. "Well... it seems we are about to travel down a waterfall."
"What?!"
"See?" Beast Boy yelled triumphantly. "See, I told you guys! I knew it! I was right!" His proud expression, however, quickly faded into one of horror. "Oh, crap. I was right."
"Congrats," Cyborg told him, his voice strained.
As the canoe came closer to the waterfall, the sound of falling river water grew louder. "What are we waiting for?" Beast Boy shouted over the noise. "We gotta get out of this thing before we fall over that thing!"
"We are just as useless in the water as this canoe is right now," Robin asserted loudly, also struggling to be heard over the water. "All we can do is brace ourselves!"
"Really?" By the way Beast Boy's voice instantly became more sheepish, the other Titans could tell something was about to go wrong.
Robin let out an exasperated sigh. "Alright, what did you do?"
"Nothing!" Beast Boy replied quickly. "It's just that... uh... the wind is kinda pushing me out the boat and I think I'm gonna fall-"
Before he could finish his sentence and before the other Titans even had time to react, Beast Boy rolled over the side of the canoe and hit the water with a massive splash. The second Beast Boy's body left the canoe, the boat itself toppled over, taking the Titans with it. Luckily, the force of the wind blew the canoe a few inches away from the teenagers' heads just seconds before it hit the water- with an even larger splash that sent a huge gush of water flying into the air and onto the Titans.
"Bro, did you just capsize us?!" Cyborg hollered furiously, making Beast Boy cringe into his overinflated life jacket. "We're about to go over a waterfall, and you capsize us?!"
"My bad, dude- I told you this wind was pushing me out! Don't say I didn't warn you!"
Starfire, treading water as fast as she could, started looking around with an increasingly panicked expression. "Friends?"
"Lot of good that warning did us," Raven shouted over the pounding rain. Newsflash- warnings are usually issued before something bad happens."
"Friends!"
"Okay, guys- it was an accident and it happened," Robin countered. "There's no need to jump all over Beast Boy-"
Beast Boy threw his arms in the air. "Thank you!"
"Friends!"
Finally, the other Titans stopped their arguing and turned toward Starfire. However, it was far too late- just as the alien had gotten their attention, the group was already falling over the waterfall.
Screaming ensued as one by one, they all tipped over the edge of the water and plummeted downward. The roaring waterfall and the howling wind only added to the chaos, pushing the Titans through the air until they all hit the water with massive splashes. Each of them temporarily went under besides Beast Boy, whose life jacket served as a buoy. He awkwardly bobbed on the water's surface, until his friends, gasping and coughing and spitting, fought their way out of the water.
It took a few minutes for everyone to regain their composure, but even after they'd pulled themselves together, everyone remained silent in utter shock, trying to process what had just happened.
Finally, Robin: "Uh- everybody okay?"
There were murmurs of assent followed by more silence.
All of a sudden, a massive shadow was cast over the group, seeming to snap them out of their trances. It was first met with surprise before alarmed shrieks followed upon realizing what it was- the canoe joining the group below, dropping down toward the teenagers at an alarming pace. They barely managed to swim out of the way before the boat hit the water with a deafening slap, throwing a huge wave of water at the Titans before sinking below the water's surface.
The group watched the boat go under in silence, staring at the spot where they had been mere seconds before. And then Beast Boy, sheepishly, turned to his friends and said: "My bad."