I enter through the doorway of the living room to see the other Titans emptying large paper bags, each filled with Chinese boxes full of food. Most people would have no more than two or three bags of food. However, the Titans weren't normal people. They were six young teenagers (mostly), and one of the teenagers in question was Cyborg, who was a bottomless pit when it came to food, so it didn't really surprise me all that much to find that the guys came home with fifteen bags of food.
Did I just say, "home", I asked myself in my head. It wasn't exactly a weird word or anything, but it was the first time I referenced the tower as being my home. I then began juggling that idea around in my head as I wondered if it was weird to think that, and if so, why it felt weird to say. I had been living there less than a week, so it seemed a bit weird that I was already referring to that place as home. My inner thoughts were interrupted by the Titan that recruited me.
"Yo! Wolfman", shouted Cyborg as I shook my head as if to snap myself out of my thoughts. I turn to my right to see him at the wall that the doorway was in standing next to some kind of security panel. "Would you like to do the honors?"
"Do what exactly", I asked as I trotted over towards him.
"You'll see. But first….", started Cyborg as he then reaches out at me. Before I could even react or comprehend what was going on, he yanked out a strand of my fur from the side of my neck. I couldn't help but yelp at the sudden stinging feeling.
"You are not harmed. It was merely a hair", said Starfire as she floated by carrying a few more bags. Her eyes were closed and her face had a smug look on it. Though it was merely a dream created from my memories of when I first met her, I was still pretty ticked at her and her sister. Also, I hadn't forgotten about the little mini-match I had with her before all of that even happened.
Why you arrogant, stuck up, little…., I began in my head as I could feel a roar building up in my chest. I released it early when I felt a familiar pain on my tail. I turn behind me to see that Silkie, once again, was chewing on my tail. I instinctively growl at him, when Starfire starts again.
"Don't you dare", she warned as her fists and eyes began to glow green. I turn back to her and growl for a moment, but wince as Silkie had adjusted his grip and his teeth sank back into my tail.
"Then get your little grub a teething ring or something", I say angrily as I wag my tail trying to shake him off. Silkie responds by biting down harder, causing me to yelp again. Without even thinking about it I buck my back as if I was a bull at a rodeo, kicking Silkie off my tail in the process. Once he hit the ground, I charge at him and whinny as loud and aggressively as possible, like a stallion that some ranch boys are trying to break down. Frightened by the sight of a large wolf now wilin' out like a mad horse, Silkie shrieks and tucks its head towards the rest of his body. My intent was simply to frighten the grub, not to harm it. I simply wanted to let him know that my tail wasn't a toy. However, Starfire didn't quite see it that way.
She let out a battle cry as she fired yet another star bolt at me. I respond by rising to my hind legs and cloaking my right arm with my aura. I then used my aura-covered arm as a shield to deflect the blast. When the smoke had cleared I look over to see a familiar sight, an angry Starfire, fists and eyes burning green. As she floated over towards me, I heard her growl as she gritted her teeth at me.
Is that all you've got? If so, then bring it on, I thought to myself as I then showed her a real growl as I pounded my chest like an alpha silverback. When I felt my point was made, I returned to all fours, but did so to where my front legs were held up by my fists, again, like a silverback. Starfire then begins to pull one of her arms back as if preparing to strike, so I respond by lowering my body and rotating my shoulders to prepare to lunge at her. Out the corner of my eye, I noticed that Silkie had retreated and hid under one of the restaurant booth seats off to the side, probably sensing that shit was about to get real. I was just about to make the first attack when one of the other Titans became either brave enough or stupid enough to willingly walk into the crossfire.
"Dude! You're also a horse and a gorilla", asked Beast Boy as he steps in front of Starfire and faces me. Starfire and I immediately calm down upon seeing Beast Boy's intrusion.
"No, it's just imitation."
"You can imitate other animals? Cool! Do it again", said Beast Boy as he then morphs into an elephant. Starfire then is pushed out of the way by the large mammal's rear as she was too close to him when he morphed, and he in turn wasn't paying attention to her. Beast Boy then stomps his foot, lifts his trunk, and then trumpets. I respond similarly. I stomp my paw, scrunch up a bunch of the muscles in my throat and open my jaws. I could sense the looks of shock on the faces of the other Titans as they witnessed an elephant's cry escaping from the jaws of a wolf.
"Duuuuude", said Beast Boy as he morphs back to his human form.
"That's quite the talent", added Robin, now joining Cyborg's side. Raven then floated over to his right.
"Oh, we've got to do that again", exclaimed Beast Boy as he prepared to morph. He then jumps into the air and morphs into howler monkey. The monkey then lowers itself to all fours as it lifts its rear and tail in the air and hollers its signature holler. Sensing the pattern in this game, I mirror the monkey's movements and holler as well. Beast Boy, still very much amused by my ability to imitate goes on to morph into a crocodile, a falcon, a moose, and a monitor lizard. Beast Boy, now thinking this was a competition, morphs back into his human form and scratches his chin, trying to think of animals I couldn't imitate. He then snaps his fingers when he came up with an idea. "I've got it!"
"Got what", I ask as I lower myself to the ground to sit.
"The ultimate test", began Beast Boy as he dramatically moved his hands and fingers like he was sprinkling pixie dust all over the room. "The trials of all trials. The most monumental challenge ever imagined…."
"Just get on with it", pleaded Raven now becoming as impatient as I was. Beast Boy then did his weird "everybody's a critic" face as he glared at her out the corners of his eyes. He then immediately returns his gaze back to me and continues.
"If you can imitate into these next three animals, then I'll just walk away. You in?"
"Bring it on", I reply. 'Cause it's not like you're gonna ever leave me alone if I don't, I thought to myself.
"Alrighty. Animal number one….", begins Beast Boy. He then morphs into a large ape-like creature. It towered over me at a height of eleven feet. It had a sort of pointed head, a terrible underbite, and hair on the sides of his face which I guess would've been the equivalent of sideburns, except that it hung rather loosely due to its length. It took me a minute to identify the animal he morphed into, but once I did, there was no denying it. I had only seen this animal once before, but due to the lore behind it, nobody ever believed me.
"You know of all the places you could've been, I gotta say, Jump City was the last place I expected to run into the legendary Bigfoot", I said sarcastically. Beast Boy simply responds with a mighty roar. It was a bit of a challenge, but after pounding on my chest like a gorilla again to hype myself up, I successfully managed to imitate the sasquatch's roar, much to Beast Boy's disappointment. He then morphs back to human form again.
"Okay okay okay, this one I know you can't do." He then morphs into this weird six-legged animal with an even worse underbite. It stood at about six feet tall on all sixes (never thought I'd ever have to use a phrase like that), had small, but angry-looking eyes, and its body in my opinion kinda reminded me of a cross between a hippo, a hairless Wild Mutt from "Ben 10", and a Trapinch. This animal was even more bizarre-looking than the last one.
"What is that? What even is that", I ask as I look to my right at Raven, Robin, and Cyborg. Without saying anything they all just point over to my left at Starfire, who wasn't as amused as the others to say the least. I then made the assumption that their pointing at Starfire, who as expected said nothing to answer my question, meant that this green six-legged animal I was looking at was something native to Tamaran, or at least native to a planet other than Earth. However, much to my surprise when I discovered that imitating its cry was much easier than the sasquatch. Whereas the sasquatch sounded like they spliced James Earl Jones' deep voice with a very, very quiet roar and then lowered it by ten octaves, this alien animal's voice wasn't that far off from a generic bellow you would get from various species of Earth's mammals. In any case, I successfully passed Beast Boy's second challenge, so it was on to the grande finale.
Beast Boy, once again defeated, then returns to his human form to taunt and hype up his final challenge. As for how or what he said to do so, I don't really remember. I just remember kinda zoning off and tuning him out up until he morphed. When he did finally begin to morph and I came to, I remember the feeling of intimidation bubbling up inside of me as I looked up at Beast Boy as he towered over me. It wasn't so much the choice of animal he morphed into, it was moreso that this was the first time I had ever been in a situation where I was opposing this particular species of animal. Usually, in situations in which this animal made its grande appearance, I'm usually on the opposite side of the board, so having it towering over me for the first time was truly quite surreal. I remember my ears lowering and me backing up slightly as I quite literally got caught in this enormous monster's shadow. This moment of surrealism came to a quick close as Beast Boy, now twenty feet tall and like a dumbass, hits his head on the ceiling which was only fifteen feet from the floor. A reptilian groan escapes through his teeth as he stumbles for a moment trying to shake off the feeling of dizziness that came from the blow to his head. It was then that I remembered that I was more than familiar with this species of animal. Beast Boy morphed into this animal with the intent of seeing if I can imitate it. What he didn't know was that I didn't have to do any actual imitating, my roar would come naturally.
Having regained its balance, the large, green lizard adjusts its body by spreading its legs farther apart so that it could crouch under the ceiling. It then takes a deep breath, and releases a monstrous roar so powerful that you could almost feel that Beast Boy was declaring his dominance of the Earth 65 million years ago. Even I had to admit it, that roar gave me goosebumps, but I sure as Hell wasn't going to tell him that. Hyped and pumped up by Beast Boy's challenge I began to Change, or at least I tried.
Lobomon digivolve to…., I began in my head. Much to my disappointment when I discovered that I still lacked the ability to Change to my ultimate form. Thanks, Doctor Light, I think to myself as I roll my eyes in frustration.
"What is the matter? Does the king of tyrants stump you", asks Starfire sarcastically as she motions to Beast Boy's dinosaur form.
"Not a bit", I respond to her confidently. Just because I couldn't Change into the animal I wanted to, didn't mean it still wasn't a part of me. I then rise to my hind legs and draw in my arms in a manner that mimicked those of Beast Boy's current form. I then lower the top half of my top forward so that my head, spine, and tail were parallel to the floor. I then spread my paws apart, stomping as I did so to sort of "get into character". It didn't matter that my Change had failed, I was just as much of a prehistoric reptile as Beast Boy was, and I was determined to prove it regardless of my current canine form. "Jurassic Park" ain't got shit on me, I thought to myself as I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Upon my exhale I opened my eyes and released as big, as loud, and as powerful of a tyrannosaurus roar that I could muster that I quite literally managed to upstage Beast Boy's roar, to the point where the very room shook, and dust fell from the crack in the ceiling caused by Beast Boy's noggin. I remember the looks of shock and awe as the Titans had just witnessed a six foot tall werewolf roar bigger and louder than the twenty foot tall tyrannosaurus rex that stood in front of him. Beast Boy then morphs back into his human form to join in with the other Titans, with the exception of the still unamused Starfire, in applause.
"Dude, that was awesome", exclaimed Beast Boy.
"Nicely done", added Robin. Cyborg simply let out one of his signature "boo-yah!"'s. I look over to Robin's right to see Raven clapping with a small grin on her face. Feeling energized, confident, and powerful, I return to my human form and give a bow as if I had just given an award-winning performance.
"Man, did you see that? It was almost as if he was a real….", said Beast Boy as he trailed off. I noticed him staring at something in my direction, so I then step to my right and look behind me to see what he was looking at. When I couldn't find anything I returned my gaze back to him. It was then that I noticed that it was me he was staring at. In fact all of the Titans were staring at me. Even Starfire floated over towards the others to join in.
"What", I ask suspiciously.
"Your uh, your uh….", began Beast Boy as he pointed at the side of his head.
"Spit it out, Beast Boy!" Cyborg then opens a drawer, pulls out a spoon, and tosses it to me.
"This is a spoon", I said with the spoon in my hand as I pretended to be Percy Jackson as if he were quoting one of his funnier lines, "this is a pen".
"Your eyes….", began Cyborg as he pointed to his own robotic, red eye.
"They're different….", finished Starfire. I then use the spoon to look at my reflection to see what they were referring to. Through the distorted reflection, I saw that my brown eyes, though they were yellow a moment ago, were currently orange. Not only that, they kinda looked like my snake eyes, in the sense that they were more reptilian-like than mammal-like.
I too was shocked at the sight of my orange eyes, but not in the sense that it had never happened before, because in actuality it was a normal part of my mutation. With the ability to Change into various animals and forms, my eyes often Changed colors as well. When they turned yellow I became Lobomon. When they turned green I became Mambamon. When they turned blue I became Patheramon, and sometimes Ursamon. They turned red when I became Arachnimon. And orange meant Tyrannomon, my ultimate form. However, seeing as how I had just tried Changing into him mere moments ago and failed due to my powers still being too weak to complete the Change, it seemed rather odd that my eyes had Changed from brown to orange, especially considering that I never intended them to.
I then open my mouth and rotate my head so I could see my teeth. They were still flat and in human form. I then close my eyes and try to Change into Tyrannomon again. I then open my eyes to see that not only did I fail to do so, but I watched as the orange in my eyes faded back to their default brown color. I then blink my eyes as if they were like a switch trying to turn my eyes orange again. I growled a little when I saw that they were still brown. I then went down the list of the eye colors of all my other forms, blinking and Changing my eyes as I did so. First red, then green, then yellow, then blue. I blink once more to try to Change my blue eyes orange, but they turned brown again.
Dammit! I was SO close, I yell to myself, frustrated once again with the knowledge that I still couldn't use the majority of my powers yet.
"Dude, you okay", asked Beast Boy. I immediately "fixed myself" to where I wasn't angry anymore, or at least made an effort to not make myself appear angry.
"It's all good, guys. Just my powers acting up again is all."
"Good, 'cause now we can eat."
"Hold it, BB. I still have to show Wolfman what I've been working on." Upon remembering my interrupted conversation with Cyborg, I rub the side of my neck in reference to the hair he yanked from it. Cyborg then walks over to the security panel from before. When he reaches his destination, he turns to me and says, "you comin'?"
"What am I even doing", I ask as I walk over to the panel to meet him.
"This meal's kinda big, so we're gonna need a bigger table." I raise an eyebrow in response to Cyborg's very vague, if that, description of what he wanted me to do. It didn't take me long to realize that he wasn't going to tell me what I should be doing. I was actually prepared to read his mind to get the information I needed, but then that's when I had a thought.
Hang on, Fernando. You don't really need to read his mind, I thought to myself. As a mutant with both magical and psychic abilities, one of the things I have to always keep in mind is the concept of boundaries, and when is crossing those boundaries too far. It was one thing for me to read the mind of Liv's partner and her daughter in order to return an infant child home to her parents, but it was a completely different thing to read Cyborg's mind simply because I wanted backstage sneak peek at this "surprise" of his. And no, I'm not always a saint or perfect when it comes to restraining myself from reading other people's minds, but even then, I at least minimized it to reading their current and present thoughts, and usually only doing it with strangers, like when I was at the stoplight waiting to cross the street after Rancid had mugged me. Those were just everyday people that I never had really any intention of getting to know or interacting with them. Cyborg on the other hand was different. He was a teammate.
Though I hadn't been a Titan for even a week yet, it still didn't change the fact that I was a teammate of his. As a Teen Titan, I was to live, train, and fight alongside Cyborg and the others as a team, and part of being a team is learning to trust and bond with each other, and it wouldn't be fair of me to read their minds and have access to all of their thoughts, but then go to great lengths to keep myself distant from the others. The Teen Titans may not have been members of my Horde, my Pack, or even the Elementals, but if I was to live alongside them, I had to learn to treat them as I would any of my other associates. I taught Asia, two of my sisters, an ex-girlfriend, and several other mutants about having integrity when it came to their gifts of mind-reading, so it was time to practice what I preached.
Besides, it was Cyborg. If Beast Boy or Starfire had asked me to do this, then I probably would've sensed foul play. Cyborg on the other hand seemed sincere and probably the most friendly, welcoming, and genuine among the other Titans, second only to Raven. If I was to put trust into any of the Titans other than Raven, it would've definitely been Cyborg.
Having decided to not read his mind, I step forward towards the panel for a closer look. The panel itself wasn't all that big, and that was based on the fact that the borders of the panel were only two, maybe two and a half, inches away from the outline of a right hand in the center. However, with that said, in the free/blank space around the hand, there were a great many buttons, levers, and switches. They were all labeled, and most of those labels described some high-tech equipment, like the "city radar" button.
These guys don't mess around, I thought to myself as I started to draw a vague picture of how the Titans operated as far as monitoring crime in Jump City. After looking over what felt like thousands of buttons and such, I eventually come to one that read, "table". Seems simple enough, I thought to myself as I pushed the button. When nothing happened, I looked over towards the hand outline and noticed that it was glowing red, which indicated that I had to confirm or approve my decision. I then raised my right hand and pushed it towards the outline, but then stopped when I had an idea. It came to me when I remembered that the hair that Cyborg yanked from my neck was from when I was in wolf form. I was curious as to how well this computer system could pin-point my DNA.
I then focus my powers into my right hand and undergo what I call a Branched Change. To put it simply, I was essentially trying to Change into multiple forms at the exact same time. It took a lot of energy and a but of strain to pull off, and I dared not ever try to do so completely, but for what I could safely do, I Changed four of my five fingers into fingers from some of my other forms. I kept my human thumb, but from my index finger to my pinky, I "borrowed" fingers from Lobomon, BeastLobomon, Pantheramon, and Gizamon respectively. When my Branched Change was complete, my right hand had four fingers and claws from four different animals on it, complete with fur. The human eye couldn't tell that the fur on each finger were from different animals except in the case of BeastLobomon, who was the only one of the four with brown fur, but I could see the differences in the fur and how they unnaturally blended on the back of my hand, as if my body was confused as to what I was trying to do. I look up at Cyborg, curious to see if he witnessed what I just did. He simply grinned and nodded his head, as if he knew that I was challenging the legitimacy of his system. With that, I pressed my deformed hand onto the outline and watched as a green bar scanned it from top to bottom. A generic female computer voice then began to speak.
"Scan complete. Titan identified. Access approved." I then noticed a strange quiet rumble in the floor. I turn around to see that the sofa was slowly disappearing into the floor via a mechanized trap door. Once the sofa was completely submerged, the floor closed shut for a moment. I could still hear mechanical noises shifting and moving things around under the floor. After about half a minute or so, the floor opened up again, and from it came a rather large, round table, with the Teen Titans logo (that letter "T" that seems to pop up everywhere in the tower) on it. The floor also brought up six chairs. Nothing fancy, but they were still above standard.
"Well alright then", began Cyborg as he swatted me on the back. I cringed slightly upon the impact his metal arm left on my spine. "Let's eat!" Upon hearing him say that the other Titans immediately began to gather the containers of food and bring them to the table, except for Raven, who paused for a moment to look back at me before floating off. I hesitate for a moment upon seeing her do so, but then begin to walk over to join the others. I take about two steps forward when I notice that I was still walking on two legs. I then look down at myself and realize that I was still in my human form.
Whoops. I almost forgot, I thought to myself as I placed the spoon I still had in my hand on the kitchen counter and lowered myself to the ground. From a crouched position, I then Change into my wolf form and trot towards the table. Though I wasn't expecting anyone to have a jump scare upon seeing me as a wolf at this point, I did however notice that everyone was a bit shocked and confused as to why I took the time to Change back into my wolf form before joining them for breakfast, especially Starfire, who I could tell still felt that I didn't trust the Titans. I ignore the stares however and make my way around the table to find me a seat. I then noticed Raven take a seat on the far side of the table I was aiming to sit at. Immediately after that, Cyborg takes the seat on her right, causing me to increase my stride a tad. I was aiming for the seat on Raven's left. I don't know if it was to make up for all that non-existent time I wasted in the weird memory world, or if it was because of the confidence boost I got from Beast Boy's challenge, but either way, I was determined to try and start over and break the ice with Raven there and now. Just was I was so close to the seat next to her that I could've lunged onto it, Starfire then runs some interference by blocking my path, but did so with her back turned to me to make it look like she didn't see me, but I knew better. I immediately come to an awkward halt as Starfire then proceeds to take her seat next to Raven, pausing for a moment to cut a glare at me from the corners of her eyes. I remember the feeling of the world slowing down again as I glared back at her, resisting the urge to growl at her. Starfire was completely aware of what she was doing, and so was I.
In the animal world, this would be the moment where two males of just about any species would glare at one another during the calm before the storm, with the storm being the fight over a mate. The only difference in this case was that Starfire didn't see Raven as a potential mate, she was simply guarding her friend. However, we were still fighting over Raven, so the heat was on just the same. Just when I tracted my claws to prepare for attack, I randomly look past Starfire at Raven. It was at that moment that she looked to her left, as if she could sense that I was watching her, and made eye contact with me. It was then that her voice rang in my head, saying what she had said earlier when she broke up my argument with Robin a few hours ago: "we just ended one fight. Now is not the time to start another like a couple of idiots". Upon remembering her words, I then made the decision to turn the other cheek and find myself another seat.
This is far from over, I thought to myself as I continued my path behind Starfire and Raven around the table. I then settle for taking my seat next to Cyborg. I didn't trust myself to sit next to Starfire or Robin without being dragged into another fight. Robin, as expected takes a seat next to Starfire, while Beast Boy sat in between him and me. The table was almost completely covered in takeout containers full of Chinese food. I was zeroed in on one container in particular, a large bowl-sized cup with a plastic lid on top. The smell of Chinese-style curry chicken tickled my nose and teased my stomach. I then flicked my serpent tongue, not only to enjoy the smell further, but to prepare my tongue to stretch across the table just as I did when Raven made pancakes, because I could tell, especially since I was sitting between Cyborg and Beast Boy, that this was going to be a "first come, first serve" brawl for the food.
"Oh wait", exclaimed Beast Boy. "I almost forgot", he said as he reaches in the center of the table and grabs a much smaller paper bag. He then turns it over and dumps out its contents, which we discovered were six individually packaged fortune cookies. It was at that moment that I heard a familiar "cooing" sound. Resisting the urge to look around the room for that dove I knew wouldn't be there, I then notice that one of the cookies was sort of "calling out to me". I can't really explain it, except to say that I could sense "something" about one of the fortune cookies specifically, and that I couldn't help but grab it. It was like I was being drawn to it, like I was supposed to have it, but I didn't know why. Thinking that I was simply reaching out and grabbing a cookie, the other Titans then reach out and claim one for themselves.
"I say we crack these cookies open first", continued Beast Boy.
"Oh, come on! Can't we just eat already", complained Cyborg.
"I am confused. These are cookies, yet you crack them open like eggs", asked Starfire. I almost facepalmed upon hearing her say that, but didn't upon remembering that it wasn't her fault that she didn't know what fortune cookies were.
"They're not really cookies, Starfire. We just call them that", explained Robin.
"Oh, so it is similar to how Earth's nuts of dough aren't truly nuts, correct?"
"At least she's learning", said Raven sarcastically.
"Yeah, Star. You crack 'em open like this", began Beast Boy as he tore off the wrapper and opened his cookie. "And then, you get a fortune", he said as he unfolded the small piece of paper that fell out. Once he had opened it, he began to read aloud. ""Only beauty can tame the inner beast". Well, I'm a beast inside, and I'm pretty tame, so that must mean I'm beautiful", said Beast Boy with a cheesy grin. I didn't have to look at the other Titans, I could feel that they were just staring at him with sarcastic looks, as was I. Beast Boy then responds as his grin is replaced with his "everybody's a critic (EAC)" face. "Nobody say a word."
"How delightful! I shall go next", said a now easily amused Starfire as she opens her cookie. ""The thing that troubles you the most, will soon know inner peace". How wondrous", chuckles Starfire as she completely brushed over the fact that her fortune was kinda deep. Robin, sensing a pattern, was the next to open his cookie.
"Hmmmm. "Trust is a two-way street". Seems pretty straight forward. Who's up next?"
"How about you, Raven? Why don't you open your pastry of fortunes", pleaded Starfire. Raven then rolls her eyes as she reluctantly opens hers.
""Patience is the key"." Raven then looks up at Beast Boy, who responded to her stare by waving his right hand as if to say, "hi" while bringing back his cheesy grin. "Guess I'm doomed." Cyborg and I snicker in response to Raven's joke as Beast Boy's head and right hand droop forward for comedic effect.
"My turn, then", said Cyborg as he crushes his cookie open in his hand. He then removes the fortune from his palm with his free hand and dumps the crushed pieces of cookie into his mouth. He waited until he finished chewing and swallowing before reading his aloud, which for him took no time at all, as if he had decided to swallow the cookie whole instead of chewing it. ""You will not be forgotten". This fortune makes it sound like I'm a toy or something."
"Coming soon to a Toys R Us near you", began Beast Boy as he pretended to be a dramatic announcer on a radio commercial. "The new Cyborg action figure, batteries not included", said Beast Boy as he reaches behind Robin's back and pretends to pull a cord from it.
"Boo-yah", exclaims Robin. He and Beast Boy then fist-bump in recognition of their successful execution of a joke.
"But don't action figures require neither strings nor batteries", asked Starfire. Cyborg, Raven, and I immediately bust out laughing, though Raven made efforts to restrain her laughter to a minimum. I think I speak for us all when I say that Starfire is the last person we were expecting to ruin one of Beast Boy's jokes, which made the process of her ruining his joke even funnier.
"New guy's up next", said Cyborg as he swatted me on the back again. I cringe once again in response. I then tear off the wrapper from my fortune cookie, but then pause when I notice everyone looking at me, which made me nervous.
Calm down, Fernando! Don't be nervous! Why are you nervous, I thought to myself as I hoped to not say or do anything stupid. I then clear my throat as I opened my cookie and began to read. ""Reading is fundamental"." I then flip my fortune to the other side as if expecting there to be more. "I guess that's it."
"Well, that was lame", began Cyborg. "But whatever, let's eat!" Cyborg then reaches over and grabs the curry chicken I was spying on earlier. The other Titans respond by darting to get their fair share before he and Beast Boy devoured everything. I was just about to reach out and snatch the curry chicken from Cyborg, but then I heard that dove again, except this time it was immediately followed by the sound of a girl laughing. I look at the other Titans as they continued to gather food and eat. As expected, none of them heard it. The dove then cooes one more time, and the girl laughs a second time. I then look down at the fortune I still held in my hand. The text still read, "reading is fundamental".
"Reading is fundamental", I repeated to myself in my head. It was then that the fortune, as if it was alive and heard my thoughts, materialized a single eyeball, illustrated from the same ink that the fortune was written from, at the top of the fortune, above the text. I blink my eyes a few times, as if I was going crazy and needed to confirm that what I was seeing was real and not an illusion. The eyeball then adjusts its gaze slightly and looks up at me and blinks back. It was then I remembered a girl I met back in high school due a similar situation. "Kendall", I asked in a whisper. The eyeball, clearly having a mind of its own, blinks once again in response. The text then fades away on the fortune, but then is immediately replaced by a new fortune. I look back up at the other Titans for a moment, before reading it. Fortunately for me, they were all preoccupied in their meals. I look back down at the new fortune and begin to read to myself. "The lone wolf of darkness will die, when the autumn moon appears in the sky". Upon reading that my heart dropped, because I knew what was going on. I knew that eyeball looked familiar, and it was. It was Kendall's trademark, which lets those of us who know of her powers know that she's involved somehow. I guess she was warning me of something to come in the near future, with the emphasis on "near". The moon was just full three days ago, so according to her prediction, I had less than a month to live. This is bad. Really, really bad, I thought to myself.
My mind then begins to race as I thought of the fact that I was going to die. At the age of twenty-one, I was going to die. How was I going to die? Where was I going to die? Should I notify my friends and family? How do I do so without endangering them, since Doctor Light was still on the loose somewhere? I then thought about how my early death would affect the Elementals. We were already three Elementals down, the last thing we needed was a fourth one to die, especially considering that unlike Taiyo and Ryan, I had no children of my own to carry on the legacy of the Elemental of Darkness. Upon thinking about how I had no children, I then thought about how little time I had left on Earth to spend with Raven. Even worse, how I was going to die a virgin.
This is just all kinds of wrong, I thought to myself as I resisted the urge to either cry or flip the table with all my might. Kendall's eye then blinks again as it and the new fortune fades away, and the original fortune, "reading is fundamental", returns. Oh, come on! What kind of Harry Potter bullshitory is that? As if they could hear my thoughts, Kendall laughs once again, and the dove cooes once again. "Glad you two think this is funny", I muttered.
"Hey, Wolfman", said Robin, snapping me out of my thoughts. "You gonna eat anything?" I look back at the table and notice that in the short time I spent reading my fortunes, Cyborg and Beast had already made a significant dent in the mountain of food they brought back. I then fold up the fortune and shove it into my pocket.
"Yeah. Save some for me", I said unenthusiastically as I grabbed a box of steamed rice and a pair of chopsticks. After all, this is going to be one of my last meals.