Chapter 9...yay! Please read 'n' review! I was on sort of a writer's block for this one :-( It's kind of a pointless chapter...

"Hey Vic! What's taking so long?" Gar asked. After a few clunks and thunks, Vic got out with expression mixed with surprise, shock and fear.

"What's the matter, Vic?" Gar asked.

"Are you alright?" Rachel asked. Vic waited for a moment before he said:

"Guys...the Machine's gone."

"You what!?" everyone else shouted at once, even Rachel. The Machine was gone? How? Who stole it?

"Are you sure you checked properly?" Richard asked. Vic nodded miserably.

"Yeah I did...oh no...What's my dad gonna say?" he said. "He's gonna kill me! That machine was worth loads!"

"Maybe somebody stole it to sell it!" Gar suggested.

"I didn't look very expensive Vic. No offence." Rachel added.

"It was Rachel because that sort of hi-tech stuff is not very common!" Vic said like it was the most obvious thing in the whole world.

"Oh no!" Kori gasped. "What are we going to do?"

"This is bad..." Gar said. "And dude...you need a name for the machine." After a few seconds Vic said:

"You've got a point..." Vic said.

"You're thinking about the name for something you've just lost?" Rachel questioned. "Goodness sake..."

"I know!" Gar said. "We can call it Dimension Taker!"

"Gar, that's a stupid name." Richard commented.

"Eh, it'll do." Vic shrugged. "Ok, back to the situation! Who would want to the steal the machine?"

** ** ** ** **

The dark corridor was silent if you didn't count the footsteps walking along. Someone was humming to himself cheerily as he walked.

"Shoo bap bap...shoo bap bap..." he said aloud and he started to do little movements with his feet. His little dance was interrupted by a sudden beeping.

"Huh? What's that?" he asked himself. He looked up at the ceiling of the corridor but there was nothing suspicious there. He squinted his eyes, so he could focus more clearly. Then he spotted a small, flashing red light. It wasn't very obvious but yet the person had found it.

"What's this?" he said and he stood on his tiptoes to try and identify the object. But it was too high up. This was no surprise since he was quite short anyway. Suddenly, his body started change and after a few seconds, he had morphed into a green bird. He flapped towards the red light and was looking at it even more closely than before. He couldn't recognise what the object was but he did know this wasn't something that would be helpful so he just knocked it off with his beak and then morphed back into a human. As soon as he did, he smashed his foot on top of it.

** ** ** ** **

"Are you sure you can't find it, Victor?" someone asked Vic. Vic nodded.

"Yeah, I can't find it dad! We looked all over the house but we still couldn't find it!" Vic explained. Vic's father rubbed his chin in thought.

"Do you really need it?" he asked. Vic nodded.

"Well..." he sighed. "I can make it again but it could take months."

"Oh man..." Vic groaned. "Well guys, it looks like we're stuck with a mystery."

"Scooby Doo!" Gar whispered and he and Richard smirked.

"I'm sorry this happened, Vic." His father said, putting his hand on his shoulder. "If I see it, I'll tell you." Then he walked out of the lab.

"Vic, would you mind telling us all the things that machine could do?" Rachel asked.

"Dimension Taker!" Gar reminded. Rachel ignored him.

"Well..." Vic said, trying to remember. "It could take you to dimensions and also let you control that dimension." All of them went wide-eyed.

"Control!?"

"Yep!" Vic nodded. "You could pause and fast-forward time in that dimension."

"That's it?" Gar said, disappointed.

"Well yeah!" Vic said. "Do you know how hard it is to actually control a dimension?"

"Um...no dude. I never took Technology." Gar said.

"Well, I think we should go now." Richard said.

"Yes. We should." Kori said, without looking at Richard. "Goodbye." She left the lab. They were all quiet for a few seconds.

"She's still mad?" Vic asked. Richard nodded.

"I'm going to try and fix this." He sighed and he left too. The three of them were left alone and were quiet until Rachel spoke.

"So what about the tutoring?" she asked Gar.

"Hmm...round my house?" he suggested. Rachel nodded.

"Ok. We'll see you tomorrow Vic." Rachel said.

"Have fun with your tutor session!" Vic smirked, adding emphasis to the word 'fun'.

** ** ** ** **

"Kori! Kori! Wait up!" Richard was yelling after a fast-moving Kori. She had her arms crossed in an angry manner and was not taking notice of his continuous calling of her name.

"Kori!" Sighing, Kori stopped and turned around. "What is it?" Richard was breathless when he finally caught up with her and he had to take a few moments to regain his breath.

"Ok, I know you're mad but please! I can explain!" Richard pleaded once he was breathing regularly again.

"How?" Kori asked. "I saw it with my own eyes. Now I'm going to go home and perhaps forget about the events of today." She started walking off but Richard wasn't defeated just yet.

"I only kissed one girl Kori! I tricked the rest of them!" Richard shouted after her which consequently, made her stop.

"You tricked them?" Kori asked in a hopeful voice. He nodded, glad that Kori was listening.

"Yes! I made them kiss a fish and no one noticed..." Richard smirked at the memory.

"Oh..." Kori said, feeling foolish. "Sorry..."

"About what?"

"For giving you the cold shoulder without giving you a chance to explain..." Kori hung her head.

"It's ok Kori!" Richard reassured, putting his hand on her shoulder. "Do you want ice-cream?"

"Ice-cream?" Kori looked up, with a confused expression on her face. "Why?"

"Because an ice-cream truck's coming," Richard said, indicating a van in the distance which was making the well-known tinkling jingle. "What flavour?" Kori giggled and Richard tried not to think about how cute it sounded.

"Um...vanilla and a flake...but it's a bit late for ice cream..." Kori said uncertainly. Richard shrugged.

"Who cares? Everyone loves ice-cream." He said. The van stopped in front of them and a smiling man's face appeared.

"Now what would you kids like to have?" he asked in a Texas accent. They decided not to point out that they weren't kids and they were in high school.

"Caramel for me and Vanilla and a flake." Richard answered. They were quickly given two ice-creams.

"How much?" Richard asked.

"It's on the house for such a cute couple like you!" the man said in a jovial tone. "See ya!" The van drove off in the distance which didn't give Kori or Richard any time to say that they weren't a couple.

"Um...should I walk you home?" Richard asked after a moment's silence.

"If you want." Kori replied.

** ** ** ** **

Kori dumped her school bag in the corridor which she'd pick up later. She made her way to the lounge while licking her ice cream happily. Her sister Koma was there and she was looking at the T.V. with a bored expression on her face. She lazily flipped through the channels without even glancing at them.

"You're eating ice-cream?" Koma scoffed when she noticed Kori in the room.

"Yes. You're never too old for ice-cream Koma." Kori replied as she looked at the T.V. Koma just rolled her eyes and continued flipping through channels. After a moment of Kori's licking and Koma's flipping, Koma spoke up.

"I need your autograph." She said blankly.

"What?" Kori was surprised.

"Well, everyone's thinking that you're the actual Starfire from Teen Titans." Koma started.

"Yes...carry on..." Kori said.

"And since everyone loves that show and it just so happens that there's a cute boy in my class who loves Starfire..." Koma trailed off and Kori stopped licking her ice-cream.

"So you want me to give you an autograph which you'll give to that 'cute guy' and then he'll take you to the dance?" Kori guessed. Koma was shocked at Kori's excellent guess.

"How'd you know?"

"Lucky guess."

"Ok, ok, so will you?" Koma asked. Kori thought for a moment.

"You can get the autograph if you pay for it." was Kori's reply.

"What?!" Koma spluttered. "Why!? You're my sister!"

"Koma, me and my friends have to work at this Teen Titans Comic Con for extra credit. It will bring money to the school and there's a stand were one of us signs anything people want us to sign. It's on a rota so when I'm at that stand, you can go get autograph from me." Kori said.

"I am so not going there!" Koma said, horrified. "It's for weird obsessed freaks." Kori frowned but didn't say anything because that was true for one person (Mary).

"Well...then you're not getting it." Kori said. She definitely didn't want to be taken advantage of by her own sister!

"Ok fine...I'll ask Brad to go get it himself..." Koma mumbled. "But make it free for him? Then he'll ask me out." Kori sighed.

"Fine...so his name's Brad?"

"Yeah." Koma said and continued to watch whatever she was watching. Kori slipped out of the room, grabbed her bag and went upstairs.

** ** ** ** **

"Mum! Dad!" Gar was yelling. Rachel had just left as she had finished tutoring Gar for today. Gar had enjoyed it a lot- more than he thought he would but he wouldn't say that to Vic or he'll keep teasing him. He ran into the lounge.

"What is it, sweetie?" his mother asked in a voice you used usually to speak children. "How was the tutoring?" Gar was used to her talking like that to him and said:

"It was good. Can I watch T.V.?" he asked abruptly.

"Well, we're watching the news right now Son." His father said.

"Please?" Gar whined.

"Well..."

"Please?"

"We're watching T.V..."

"Please?"

"The news can be educational, Garfield. Do you want to watch it?"

"Please?"

"Not right now..."

"Please?"

"Garfield, now come on..."

"Please?"

"Garfield! Listen! We're watching the news and-"

"Please?"

"Ok, fine!" his father gave in slightly irritated by Gar's continuous pleading. Gar happily jumped onto the sofa and put his feet up onto the coffee table. His mother wrinkled her nose.

"Feet off the table, Garfield." She requested and Gar reluctantly took his feet off the table. Then both his parents left the room, mumbling about that they should be more assertive with Gar. Gar relaxed on to sofa contently (then put his feet up), and switched the channel. Teen Titans was almost starting and Gar was anticipating the next episode of Teen Titans. Then there was an advert which caught Gar's attention:

Do you like Teen Titans? The T.V. asked.

"Yeah dude!" Gar said to the T.V., even though there was no possibility that it could hear him.

You want more episodes?

Gar nodded.

Then come on and go on .com! Where you can vote on your opinion of the Teen Titans!

"Dude...it only just started..." Gar mumbled to himself.

Because if we get enough votes, they'll be a marathon next week with ONLY teen titans!

Gar gaped at the T.V. A marathon? Wow! Gar made a mental note inside his brain to go on the website and vote.

Vote quick because the voting closes on Sunday at Midnight!

"Hmm...Only four days to vote?" Gar mumbled to himself. "That's awkward...they'll never make the shows fast enough..." Gar decided he wouldn't think about that any further as he was not complaining about the quickness of Teen Titans episodes. After the advert, the show started and Gar leaned on the sofa slightly because of the anticipation.

** ** ** ** **

The next day (Thursday)

It was quite early in the morning when Kori had arrived in the school. It was a habit to her now and she was planning on asking Karen to perhaps get a prom dress for her. Perhaps that dress she lost was in the lost and found...oh well. She bought it for hardly any money anyway...but it was such a good dress...Kori was wrapped in her thoughts so much she didn't notice Karen who was trying to talk to her.

"Hey! Kori! Hey! Girl! Are you there?" Karen waved her hand in front of Kori's face which was when she finally noticed Karen.

"Oh hi!" she said brightly. "Sorry, I didn't see you."

"It's ok!" Karen said. "Now, I was wondering what are you going to wear to the dance?"

"Well...I don't know yet." Kori said sheepishly.

"You don't!?" Karen was shocked. "You need to get a dress, now!"

"Well I did!" Kori started. "But I left it behind when we were behind chased by fans! I can't risk going there again."

"So...?" Karen said expectantly.

"Well I was hoping if you could buy my dress-"no sooner when Kori had said that, Karen had squealed happily.

"Yes! YES! I can't wait! We need to get you the perfect dress with the perfect shoes and the perfect amount of make-up and everything has to be perfect!" Karen exclaimed excited.

"Wow, really?" said a sarcastic voice. Rachel was standing next to them.

"Oh, hi Rachel!" Kori greeted. "We were just talking about the dance."

"Ok then...I'm leaving." Rachel turned around but Karen grabbed her arm.

"Oh no you don't!" Karen said playfully. "We're all going to the prom whether you like it or not!"

"I don't really want to." Rachel said blankly. "I'm not really that into dresses."

"Oh please! You'll look great in a dress! Gar will be head over heels for you!" Karen encouraged.

"Why would I want him to do that?" Rachel asked though she already knew herself.

"Need I explain?" Karen asked. "Because he likes you! Right, so I'm going to get you both dresses today! You don't even have to come with me."

"Well...it's sounding slightly better." Rachel admitted.

"Great!" Karen said happily. "Ok, so you'd look great in a dark shade of blue..."

"Oh look! I need to go!" Rachel said, trying to stay out of the conversation.

"Why?" Kori asked.

"I need to tutor Gar." Rachel replied.

"Ok then. Go and enjoy your time." Karen said and let her go off. "So would you prefer emerald green or lavender purple?"

"I'm not sure..." Kori said. "Both are my favourite colours."

"Green will match your eyes but purple will look so good on you!" Karen said. "Oh wait, here he comes." Kori was confused.

"Who's he? Vic?"

"No, you're date." Karen said, smirking.

"Hi." said Kori's date or Richard.

"Hi." Kori said, not knowing what to say. What Karen did next, didn't help at all.

"Well I'm just going to leave y'all by yourselves and find Vic." Karen said. "Bye Kori!" she walked off leaving both of them alone.

"So err...did you watch Teen Titans last night?" Richard asked trying to break the ice.

"Oh yeah! I did!" Kori nodded; glad they found something to talk about. "It was like the time you and Vic got into a fight."

"Yeah, in 5th Grade." Richard said. "The show's getting weirder every day." Kori nodded.

"And it's only three episodes in." Kori said. "Do you think it's based around us?" Richard shrugged.

"I have no idea but I'm not going to worry about it now." Richard said. "What I am going to worry about is the stupid Comic Con we have to do today." Richard groaned.

"I really, really hate her..." Kori said scathingly. "She's worse than Kitten!" Richard's eyes widened.

"What did you just say?"

"She's worse than Kitten." Kori repeated.

"I never thought I'd hear that." Richard said. "Wow..."

"Never hear what, Richard?" someone asked. It was Roy who was walking over to them.

"That someone was worse than Kitten." Richard said. Roy's eyes widened and he pretended to have a heart attack from shock.

"Seriously?" Roy said. "Who's the girl?"

"Someone called Mary Holden." Kori said, spitting out Mary's name.

"Who's she?" Roy asked.

"One word: Stalker." Richard stated. "You don't want to meet her."

"Depends. Is she hot?" Roy asked unhelpfully.

"Roy!"

"Ok, ok! I'm joking!" Roy said. "In what way is she a stalker?"

"Well..." Richard started. "She first was insisting my name was Robin-"

Roy sniggered and Richard ignored him.

"-then she asked me if I wanted to go to the dance with her, then she was staring at me through Vic's car window and started chasing us, then she was on one of my mansion's window and she brought along a couple hundred fans, then she was looking through my underwear drawer and to top it all off she kissed me." Richard shivered and turned slightly paler. Roy was astounded.

"I don't want to meet her." He said plainly. "I'm gonna go and see if there are any hot chicks I can flirt with." Roy ambled off. Kori was unhappily reminded of that unpleasant experience even though she wasn't the actual person experiencing it. Kori and Richard were again quiet. Why were when they were alone, they had nothing to say?

"So...are you looking forward to the dance?" he asked awkwardly.

"Yes...it's still in a few weeks though." Kori said. "Um...so..."

"So..."

"Hey!" someone called at them. Jenn was walking up to them with a rota in her hands.

"Hello Jenn." Kori smiled at her, very thankful she had come along.

"What's up?" Richard asked casually.

"Well, I finally managed to decipher the stupidly small print on the stupid rota." Jenn said. "And I've figured out what stands you're at today."

"Thanks Jenn!" Kori said thankfully. "I think I've misplaced mine..."

"I threw it in the bin." Richard said.

"Right..." Jenn said, raising an eyebrow. "Well it looks like Kori's got Superheroes Signing, Richard's got Autograph Animal, Rachel's got Drawings with your Favourite Hero, Vic's got Photo with your Favourite Hero and Gar's got to be at the Kissohero." Jenn looked sympathetic for Gar even though he wasn't here.

"Poor Gar..." Richard said. "I feel his slobbery pain." Kori giggled.

"It's great to know in advance..." Kori said.

"Mmm...have you seen Wally?" Jenn asked.

"Why? You miss him?" Richard teased.

"Like you can talk!" Jenn said. "What about you and Kori? I just wanted to know where he was so I could ask him how much people he's got recorded on his data thing..."

"Uh...ok..." Kori said, decided not to pester anymore as she was already blushing.

"I'll see you guys later then." Jenn said and walked off in a fast pace.

** ** ** ** **

Lunch

The six of them didn't get much attention as they expected but it didn't mean they didn't get any attention at all. Some girls waved eagerly at Richard/Gar and some boys punched Vic on the shoulder in a way which implied they were best friends. Boys sent flirting looks at Kori and Rachel which made Richard and Gar slightly annoyed with them (I can't imagine why!) and 'Bad' boys (also known as the wannabe rappers) flirted with Jenn which creeped her out. Wally wasn't too chuffed about that either so everyone was glad when Lunch came around. While Kori was heading towards Rachel's, Vic's, Gar's and Richard's table while holding her lunch tray, she suddenly felt her feet catch something. Kori felt herself falling over and she fell smack-down on the floor with a loud thud. Her lunch tray had gone flying and had hit someone on the head but Kori was already on the floor to notice who. Her nose felt broken and painful and she could feel blood escaping. She could also hear laughing and people mocking her which brought tears to her eyes. Who could do such a horrid thing? Sniffing, she got up and wiped her nose which left blood on her hands. Everyone was staring at her and she was feeling humiliated. She was expecting to see Kitten laughing at her, but instead saw Mary Holden smirking her head off and her friends were copying her. Kori never knew she was that mean! There was silence in the hall but it was interrupted when someone shouted:

"Starfire! Shoot her with your starbolts!" someone hissed. This just made Kori annoyed and infuriated.

"Kori! Kori! Are you alright?" asked a concerned voice. Kori looked up (she had been looking at her feet) and saw Richard. She wanted to lie and say yes but instead she just shook her head.

"Who tripped you over?" Richard demanded. "Who?" Kori glanced at Mary who was now having an angry expression on her face. Richard turned to her with and looked furiously at Mary who just cowered.

"Yes! Go punch her in the face!" the same voice hissed but Richard ignored it.

"Do you want a tissue?" Richard asked. He didn't need an answer and gave Kori the tissue anyway. Chatter started up again when everyone realised no fights were going to start so they weren't the centre of attention anymore. Kori wiped her nose but blood was still pouring out of her nose so Rachel came and offered to take her to the Girls' Toilets. Richard was about to ask if he could go when Rachel gave him a look and Gar and Vic laughed at his stupidity.

** ** ** ** **

Kori washed her face continuously so there was no sign of dried blood left.

"All gone?" she asked Rachel. She nodded.

"That Mary is so vicious..." Rachel said. "Come on...we should go now." Kori was confused.

"Why?" she asked.

"For the ridiculous Comic Con we have to do." Rachel said and Kori groaned.

"I don't want to go..." Kori said. Then she fell silent. Rachel raised an eyebrow.

"Are you dreaming about Richard again?" she asked wearily while Kori blushed.

"No-No! Of course not! It's just...he sounded so caring..." Kori said dreamily. "You should've seen the look on Mary's face!" Rachel shook her head but was smiling slightly.

"I've gotta admit-you two are cute." She said.

"We are?" Kori said, blushing even more. Rachel sighed.

"You better stop being so obvious. I'm so glad Richard's blind when it comes to true love." Rachel said. "I so don't want to tell Gar my feelings..."

"Ooh!" Kori giggled and they both made their way out of the Girls' Toilets. "You guys are even cuter!"

"Kori!"

"Don't deny it!"

"Let's just stop talking about this." Rachel said.

"Trying to get out of the conversation?" Kori teased.

"No, Richard, Gar, Vic and Jenn are a few metres in front of us." Rachel said.

"Eep!" Kori squeaked and immediately shut up when she saw them.

"Hi. Are you ok now, Kori?" asked Richard. Kori nodded.

"Yeah...should we go in?" Kori asked.

"No, the Principal said we need to be exactly on time." Vic said, rolling his eyes. "So thirty seven more seconds." Kori and Rachel exchanged glances.

"Right...so..." Kori trailed off.

"So did you guys watch Teen Titans last night?" Jenn asked them all.

"Yeah! Dude! It was funny!" Gar exclaimed. "Four feet tall and cheap hair jel! Ha! Perfect description of you Richard!" Richard glared at him.

"I'm not four feet tall! I've grown!" Richard insisted.

"By an inch!" Vic sniggered. "You're still shorted than Kori!"

"HEY!" Richard said a little loudly. "Only by a centimetre!"

"But you still are!"

"Grr..." Richard 'grr'ed. "What about you Gar? You're shorted than Rachel!"

"W-W-Well! It's only by a centimetre!"

"That's exactly what I said you idiot!"

"Dude! I-"

"Excuse me!" The Principal's voice boomed at them. "Stop arguing! Now you need to change into your uniforms! Jennifer, please go to the 'Drawings with your Hero' stand." Jenn obediently opened the Hall's doors and went inside. The Principal shoved a large box at the five of them which caught them by surprise and shouted:

"You have two minutes! Get changed now!" the Principal ordered. The five of them quickly went over to their respective toilets to get changed.

Sorry...this was kind of a pointless chapter wasn't it? At least I put some Robstar in it! :-) Hopefully, the next chapter will be slightly better! Please read and review!