Fan Fiction ❯ Blueberries ❯ Blueberries ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
Don't own Teen Titans. Duh.

Blueberries

The flourescent lights overhead in the hall gave an almost oppresive atmosphere as Raven walked slowly, deliberately, as always, into the main room.

"Oh, good morning, Raven! How was your rest last evening?" Same, cheerful ol' starfire.

"Fine. Leave me alone." Same, moody ol' Raven.

"Duuude! Have you played that new Hypnotic Labyrinth game I just bought? It's sick! You can cast cool spells on people and..." Same, annoying ol' Beast Boy.

"Yeah, dog, I could hardly get past the second level. Good thing I saved my game." Same ol' Cyborg.

"Crap. Sorry, dude, I think I accidentally erased it."

"You..." Cyborg almost began crying, until Robin interjected.

"Guys, we have more important things to worry about. My information tells me that Slade has operatives imbedded in some of the city's major networking companies." Same, uptight ol' Robin.

"My score, holy disco ducks, my score..." He began to sob.

So, obviously, everything was the same as always, right? Unfortunately, there wouldn't be much of a story then, so I'm afraid it wasn't. As always, Raven got her herbal tea, and, as always, Beasy Boy and Cyborg argued over Beast Boy's newest delicacy: tofu pancakes with tofu eggs on the side. But unlike every other day, Raven, on a whim, decided for once not to go straight back to her room. If, perchance, the TV station supervisors suddenly decided to show something with a minimum of substance, she certainly did not want to miss such a historic event.

Sitting on the sofa, she was disapointed to see Beast Boy and Cyborg competetively deuling each other in Labyrinth Hypnotist, or whatever it was called.

"Duuuude, I so kicked your shiny metal ass!"

"Ha! I say, Ha! Your scrawny little green butt is mine, my friend."

"Bring it on, Tin Man."

"Oh, it's on, man! It's on like there's no tomorrow."

"You're not even a teenager, anyway! What are you doing on the Teen Titans?"

"Oh, no you didn't..."

Raven scoffed in annoyance. These idiotic plebeians didn't deserve to be called superheroes. Argue and play video games, that's all they did. Those little superhero missions they did were just interims between more boxing matches and day-long sessions of Clown Deathsquad II: Revenge of Bobo and three week naps. And naps, she forgot that. So, arguing, eating, watching TV, sleeping, and blowing up zombie clowns were their only real abilities. Very admirable.

She got bored with her book, Verses of Tragicomic Melowdrama , and glanced up at the television. Beast Boy was hypnotizing Cyborg's character, and psychadelic swirls of color rotated around on the screen, supposedly representing Cyborg's character's hypnosis. She rolled her eyes at the cheesy effects until, for some reason, she felt very tired.

"You are getting sleeeepy..." Said the cheesy voice. Then everything went black.

"Dude, what's up with Raven?"

"Who cares? You erased my score. Why would you do something like that? I thought we were friends..." Cyborg began to tear up again.

"Dude, get over it. And I'm sorry, it was an accident, but I think there's really something wrong with Raven."

"She does look kinda funny, doesn't she?"

"Dude, she looks like a zombie.'

"Without the decomposing flesh and brain-eating urges, of course."

"Whatever. But I think we should find Robin."

"Helloooo in there..." Cyborg talked into Raven's ear, poking her slightly in the shoulder.

"Dude, I... I think we hyptnotized her."

"Hypno- What are you talkin' about?"

"Well, it was on the game and she must o' been looking at it and..."

Cyborg picked up the box to the game, and began to read the back of it.

" 'May cause undesired altering of psychophysical states of consciousness. FCC representatives suggest users look away during the dramatic hypnosis sequences during gameplay. Not for epileptics of children under age 13...' "

"Holy crap! We hypnotized Raven! What do we do?"

"Maybe try to get her out of it?"

"How?"

Suddenly, the old wizard-like character on the game said: "The spell shall wear off... You are waking up now..."

Raven's eyes opened, and she glanced around the room.

"Crap," She muttered. "I must of fallen asleep." She saw Beast Boy and Cyborg standing over her.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing." Cyborg, said innocently, whistling.

"Yeah, nothing goin' on over here." He turned to his half-robot friend. "Let's go play some more video games, buddy."

"Riiigght...You just sit there, Raven. Me and B.B. are gonna play some more video games."

"Joy."

Again, Beast Boy started hypnotizing Cyborg's character. Again, the colorful swirls appeared. And again, Raven was oddly getting very tired.
"You are getting veeerrry sleeeepy..." Said the wizard. Again, everything suddenly went black.

"Dude, she's doin' it again."

"I know. Let's see what happens if we do somethin' to her." Cyborg walked over to Raven, scratching his chin, thoughtfully.

"Okay, Raven." He said. "Can you hear me?"

"Yes."

"D'you hear that? She's talking all drowsy and monotone. She's hypnotized, she's hypnotized! Ain't this cool?"

"Dude, that's how she always talks. What do we make her do?"

"Um...I know." He turned to Raven. "Raven," Cyborg spoke in a slow, spooky voice like the man in the game. "the next time you here the word 'blueberry,' you will start laughing uncontrollably."

"Dude, why are you talkin' like that?"

"It's how the guy in the game does it."

"Oh. Well let me try."

"No, sir. One at a time. Let's see if it worked. The spell shall wear off now. You are waking up..." The creepy wizard voice again.

Raven opened her eyes once more.

"Ah, damn it. I keep falling asleep." She saw Beast Boy and Cyborg standing over her again.

"What ?! Why do you keep looking at me like that? What is your problem?"

Cyborg cleared his throat and stood up straight, trying to look serious.

"Blueberries."

Raven had a blank face for a moment, then, suddenly, she doubled over in laughter. Tears poured our from her eyes and she rolled on the floor. Her face was red and flushed from laughing as she sat up on the sofa again, trying not to giggle. God, she was giggling!

"Blueberries."

Again, Raven was on the floor, holding her stomach, trying to catch her breath. After a couple minutes, she sat up again. She blushed and looked very embarrassed.

"Blueberries."

They continued in this pattern for a couple more hours. Finally...

"What is going on?" Raven asked, trying not to laugh.

"I...I don't know, Rae." Said the changeling, putting an arm around her shoulder. "maybe keeping all that laughter deep down inside of you ain't healthy. It had to all come out sometime."

Beast Boy motioned for Cyborg to come to the other side of the room, for a private "conference." All Raven saw was Beast Boy whispering into Cyborg's ear and Cyborg kept nodding. And smiling, she noted, he was smiling, too.

"Something is up." She muttered under her breath. She stood, turned, and started walking out of the room. Behind her, she heard some buttons being pressed and the beginning of the wizard's hypnotism started.

"Hey, Rae, look at this!"

"What now?" She turned and looked at the screen. Those swirly ribbons of color were spinning again. So pretty, Raven thought as she stared at the screen, like a Pink Floyd music video. Once more, everything went black.

She stood there like a statue, staring blankly into the screen.

"Okay," Said Beast Boy, rubbing his hands together with a giddy expression on his face. "Every time you hear the word 'blueberries,' you will..." He glanced around nervously, and then cupped his hand to her ear, whispering. Cyborg couldn't make out what he was saying, but he knew his shapeshifter friend's diabolical scheme. He almost laughed out loud at the thought of it. He couldn't wait until lunch time.

"...The spell shall wear off now," Beast Boy said. "You are waking up..."

Raven opened her eyes.

"Not again !"

***

The T-shaped tower was filled with the...er..."aroma" of tofu pancakes. Beast Boy smiled maliciously as he flipped another of the pancake-shaped discs in the air with the skillet. He couldn't wait till his plan would be put into operation.

"Lunch is ready, y'all! Come and get it!" He waited a moment, then yelled. "You, too, Raven."

He could almost hear her roll her eyes from the kitchen. Hear her... I mean see her roll her- Whatever, he could amost sense her roll her eyes from the kitchen. There, that's better. Anyway, Starfire was the first to appear.

"Why, good afternoon, Beast Boy. What have you heated on the cooking mechanism today?"

"The best. Tofu pancakes!" He proudly laid out a large platter of the wierd looking frisbees on the table. He could almost hear Robin groaning from the hall.

"Eh...Why are there tiny dots in the pancakes?" Starfire asked innocently.

"You mean pseudo -pancakes." Interjected Cyborg, staring at the plate in mock disgust. He might even be willing to eat one of these non-food items if he could see Beast Boy's plan work. It had better work, thought the half-robot.

"Oh, joy. Tofu pancakes again. For lunch." Obviously, all that laughing didn't have any nice residual effects on Raven's personality.

"Whatever," Said Robin, sitting down at the table. "I'd eat Starfire's pudding, I'm so hungry."

Everyone froze, looking at him.

"I mean...why wouldn't I? It's so good, it is, and...tasy, Star, it's really tasty. Why wouldn't I want to eat it?" He chuckled sheepishly.

"Oh, my!" Starfire grinned. "If I had known you cared so much for my puddings, I would make them for you every day!"

"Oh, I....can't wait." A fake smile plastered itself of his face.

"Oooh, Raven..." Beast Boy raised an eyebrow surreptitiously. "Why don't you try some of my...blueberry pancakes? Hmm?" He held out the plate for her. She looked at it absently, for a moment, the turned a deep red.

Cyborg suppressed a chuckle from across the table.

Raven's eyes got a sleepy look, and she stared down at the table. Her breathing became loud, shaky, and labored. Her fingernails dug themselves into the tablecloth, and closed her eyes, a tiny grunt escaping from her lips. She chewed on the inside of her lip to keep from moaning out loud. She seemed to stiffen up slightly, and she started to grunt like that every few seconds. She started panting, her ears grew red, and her eyes were squinted shut. She squirmed in her seat, and licked her lips. Suddenly, her body became rigid, and she ripped a hole in the tablecloth. The television suddenly exploded, and the glass windows suddenly shattered. A few dishes that were drying in the sink flew across the room. She inhaled sharply and, very slowly, exhaled, her whole body convulsing slightly.

All of the Titans were looking at her with blank faces.

"Um...I...I mean, I..." A loud gulp could be heard. She started to explain, but shook her head and ran out of the room.

"What the..." Robin could hardly speak, and Starfire raised an eyebrow, speechless. Beast Boy and Cyborg were guffawing over their plates.

"Dude! That was great!"

"Yeah, that was funny." Cyborg laid a hand on Beast Boy's shoulder. "You know, B.B., I like you. I don't care what everybody else says."

"Well, I'm a likable- Hey, wait a minute!"

Robin gave them a look that prompted an explanation.

"What in the world is going on? What just happened to Raven?"

Beast Boy was the first to speak. "Well, what did it look like, Rob? Obviously, she loved my pancakes so much that she-"

"I'm serious Beast Boy. What did you do to her? I'll not have the risk that that happen while we're fighting somebody. Whatever you did...undo it."

"Fine, fine. But we can't until we get a new television. The thing we used to hypnotize her was on the game."

"You hypnotized Raven?" Asked Starfire, just shaking off the shock of watching Raven...you know.

"It was by accident, I swear! Once we figured out how it worked, we just kind of...used it for an experiment." Said Cyborg

"I never thought it would work." Beast Boy said. "I didn't even know if Raven could have...one of those."

"Well, you'd better go apologize. I'll get down to the Sav-Mart and buy a new TV. Though it will set me back quite a bit on my search for Slade."

"Do we have to?" B.B. and Cyborg said simultaneously, pleading.

"Go."

Once they had left, Starfire spoke up.

"Did what my senses are telling me just happened with Raven...just happen?"

"I think so, Star. Anyways, I gotta go get that TV."


***

"Come on, Rae, you gotta come out sometime!"

"Leave me alone!"

Cyborg spoke. "Raven, we know what happened, and we know how to turn it off."

"What are you talking about?"

"Just open the door, and we'll tell you."

The door opened.

"Tell me what?" She still looked flushed, but she pulled her hood up to cover her face.

"That every time we say 'blueberries,' you-"

"Oh, God..." Raven leaned against the door frame to keep from falling. She started the whole panting and grunting thing again.

"Whoops..."

"Idiot! You said it again! Now we have to apologize twice! Cyborg, you're such an idiot."

"Look who's talkin', green vegetable! I'm not the one who thought it up."

"Why, you overgrown tin can!"

"Oh no, he didn't!" And Beast Boy ran throught the halls of the tower, a green blur running away from a shiny, metallic blur.

***

"The spell shall wear off now..." The voice on the game said. "You are waking up..."

Raven opened her eyes.

"Well?" She looked to Cyborg. "Did you un hypnotize me?"

"Yeah."

"Good." Raven walked up to the entertainment system, popped out the Hypnotic Labyrinth Gamestation disc, and walked back to her room.

"Well," Said Cyborg, scratching the back of his head. "I guess we don't have anything to do anymore, now that Raven's gone."

"Well, I wouldn't say that." A sneaky smile appeared on Beast Boy's face. "There's always Starfire..."