Part 1: Screeches and Beaches and Whales.

"Wahoo, the beach, the beach!" screamed Impulse from his seat on the supercycle. In it were all the members of Young Justice save for Secret. Slobo rode along side on his bike.

"Why didn’t Suzie come along?" asked Robin.

"Oh, she's lost in Another World,” said Empress.

"You mean she's exploring other dimensional planes?"

"No mon, she’s watching it on TV, she's addicted to the soap operas."

"Screw you losers, I’m going fishing." said Slobo, "I betcha there's a good fishin' spot just south of that volcano.” A tackle box and a few fishing rods were attached to the back of his cycle as he roared off.

"Volcano? Hmm..." said Robin. He spied the beach in front of him. "Well, what do you know, when the supercycle wouldn't respond after we left we left for the beach, I figured that it would take us somewhere where we were needed. Instead we end up traveling halfway around the world, to go where had intended on going in the fist place, the..."

"...Beach, the beach, Wahoo!" screamed Impulse again.

Cissie leaned out of her seat in the back of the cycle and squinted, her eyes widened suddenly. "A beached whale."

Impulse cocked his head in Cissie's direction. "Ok, one more time. The beach! Yahoo, the beach!"

Cissie shook her head, "No, no, no, a beached whale."
Impulse shouted, "Ok, loud as I can do it, a beach wail. Yippee, the beach! Wahoo, the beach!"

Kon turned, annoyed at Impulse, "Geez, enough with the wailing and hollering, it’s enough to drive someone batty. Well except for Rob, he's driving and sort of batty already."

Cissie started again to holler, "A beach..."

Kon cut her off, "Will you stop encouraging him."

Impulse caught a glimpse of it from the corner of his eye, he pointed at it shouting, "A beached whale! A beached whale!”

Kon didn’t hide his annoyance, "Will you shut-"

"Actually, two beached whales, from the readings that the cycle is giving me," said Robin, "We're headed toward them now. Good eye, Ciss."

Cassie commented as the whale came into clear view below the supercycle, "I only see one, are you sure?"

"Positive, two life forms." replied Robin, as he landed the cycle on the higher up on the dryer sand of the beach.

Superboy flew out of the cycle and approached the whale. "I only see one too."

Impulse stared quizzically, "One, two? - Twelve huh! I think maybe you need glasses Kon."

Superboy ignored him and continued to approach the whale. "The supercycle might be acting up again, but I think we should be able to save this One." He placed his hands on the whale and gently began to push: applying his tactile telekinesis

Robin called out from behind him, "Careful Kon, I think she's pregnant."
Kon looked puzzled, "How can you t-" and he stopped himself short, "Oh right makes sense. Ok, nice and easy mamma."

Slowly the whale started moving away from them. Once it got to the deeper waters it began to rouse its self and was quickly gone beneath the water.

"That was totally righteous mon, saving endangered species. Chalk one up for mother earth." Empress roared, "That was a humpback."

"Really!” said Impulse, "I wonder if they called it that because it has a hump on its back? Nah, can't be, it's probably Latin or something."

"Probably." said Kon, his voice laced with sarcasm.


A short while later they are on the beach.

Cassie moaned looking around in desperation. "There's no place for us to change into our bathing suits."

"You could try change in the water, you could try the sea." said Superboy.

"Try the sea? Try the sea, my ass,” replied Cass.

"I wasn't trying to see your ass," replied Superboy in protest.

"I never said you were... Holy Hera, the supercycle just transformed itself into a change room!"

They stared in amazement as two booths popped up, out from under the seats. One had a door with a picture of a man. The other had a door with the picture of a woman in a skirt. Tentatively Cassie approached the booth and opened the door, "Hera, it’s got full plumbing and everything."

"Well isn't this convenient." said Robin. As they headed inside, Robin turned to Kon El; "You were trying to see her ass, weren't you? That's why you asked about those goggles."

"And if this dammed so called "super" cycle hadn't wrecked my plan."

A short while later they are on the beach, in their swimwear.


"I am enjoying this,” said Cassie as she lay down on her beach blanket, "no adults, summer break, gorgeous afternoon, hot tropical beach!"

"You brought lots of sun block right, Cassie, I mean otherwise I’ll be like totally freckled, and burnt, you know I don’t tan well?"

"Yes, Cissie it's right here," she said tossing her a clear white tube.” You could have left some of your stuff at our justice pad, so you didn't have to borrow mine all the time."

"That wouldn't feel right Cass, I mean if you moved out of your boyfriend's apartment you'd take your toothbrush wouldn't you?" Cissie started to spread the lotion on her legs.

"I don't know what I would do, because I’ve never moved out of my boyfriend's apartment, because I’ve never moved into my boyfriends apartment, because I don't have a boyfriend. Geez Ciss, it's like, a totally different situation. I mean it's not like you broke up with Young Justice, because there is no young justice, there’s "just us", just us here on the beach, I mean you're still friends with all of us. Right?"

"Cass, it's exactly like I broke up with Young Justice, I mean no matter how much I try to avoid the super hero thing, whenever I’m with you guys, bam, I'm right back in there, sometimes I think it's like a relationship I can't break off." "Well we're not doing anything too super heroic right now. We're just sitting here in the sun working on our tans."

"Yeah, working on our tans, I wonder how long this will last?"

"Stop being so cynical!"

Cissie sniffed at the lotion she had been spreading liberally over herself and a glare of anger came over her face. "Stop being cynical? So why does this sun block smell like insect repellent?"

Cass looked away in guilt, "Whoops! Sorry.”


"Watch this." said Kon, as he touched the water he pushed it back; huge columns of water were pushed forward. They began to crest in on themselves, forming into...

"These are the best waves for surfing, Kon,” yelled Anita atop her yellow surfboard, as she crouched in the cone of water.

"Heads up!" yelled Robin, gaining speed, he whipped by Empress, and then suddenly his red surfboard veered upward, as he was thrust in the crest of the wave. He was thrown upside down into the crush of the breaking water disappearing from site.

"Wha wha wha wipe out," yelled Kon in a high-pitched voice. He then stood back in amazement, as he saw Robin, still on his surfboard, caught up again in the cones spiral.

Anita came up to him on her board. "That was amazing! How did you do that?"’

"Dumb luck, I lost total control, I went one way the board went the other, I collided with it when I got caught in the wave's current. I managed to get on top of the board, and the next thing I know, I’m back in the spiral, pure accident! Ya see, this is my first time on a surfboard."

"Get out! No way!"

"You can't surf in Gotham harbor. I picked up skateboarding, it's kind of the same, well, similar at any rate."

Superboy stopped his TK with the water and flew to where Robin and Anita were waiting in the water, floating on their boards. "Man that was awesome! How did you do that? Wait, I bet you do all that stuff, huh, skiing, rock climbing, at near professional level, you and Batman."

"Yes Kon that's sort of true," replied Robin earnestly.

"Well don't let it go to your head, but that is some of the most bitchin' boarding I've ever seen. You’re a real surfer bird."

"Why thank you, Kon."

"Word! I'll get another cone going." He flew off.

"How come you didn't tell him it was dumb luck?"

"Why then, Anita, it wouldn't be lucky at all"


Impulse laid a towel down on the sand in front of Cassie and Cissie and proceeded to lie down. He took out his sunglasses and put them on "Hey guys!" he said, "Well girls. Not to say that you're not one of the guys, guys. It’s just that you're not guys, you're girls. You're girl guys."

"Wazza?” said Cassie waking up, "Girl Guides. Not again, I don't wanna sell any cookies."

Cissie looked up questioningly "I thought you were building sand castles."

"Yeah, it's finished" he said pointing an intricate castle with a moat, a drawbridge, two towers and a thick exterior wall. It was also the size of a house. "Got the metal and chain and stuff from stuff they had under the water. They have a few sunken wrecks just offshore."

Cissie stared in amazement. "That's incredible Bart! Like the moat, nice touch."

Bart lay his head down on the towel. "Why thank you, Cissie."

Cissie replied, "You're welcome Bart. Say what's with you? You just going to lie on the beach and do nothing? That isn’t your style."

"Actually I didn't think it was either, it’s just that if I remain unfocused, I have absolutely no trouble just sitting down doing nothing."

"Unfocus your thoughts?"

"Yeah, ya see if I think about lots of stuff, doesn’t matter what kind of stuff, just wonder about it. I don't focus on anything long enough to get bored by it. It's riveting really, doing nothing."

Cassie seemed interested by this, "So letting your thoughts wander, fills you with wonder."

Impulse contemplated this, "Yeah! I wonder why? I wonder why I wonder? I even, wonder why, I wonder why I wonder? Wonder Girl. Hmm…"

Then from nowhere a giant bug, that looked like a cross between a locust and a spider and was about the size of a pig, leapt out in front of Cassie's bath towel. Cassie let out a bloodcurdling scream at the site of the creature.

Out on the ocean, Superboy grabbed up both Robin and Anita in his arms, upon hearing the scream in the distance. He flew toward the site of the castle on the beach.

The remaining air bled from Cassie's lungs. She kicked instinctively at the creature. There was an audible crunch as she sent it flying into the sand.

Cissie had already jumped to her feet in readiness. Bart lay on his beach towel, eyes closed beneath his sunglasses, a look of total serenity on his face. "Wow! Good one, Cassie. Now that's what I call a beach wail!"

Suddenly they saw them on the horizon. Hundreds of locust\spider creatures headed toward them, coming out of trees in the distance. Both Cassie and Cissie saw them at the same moment and screamed together.

"A harmonized duet of beach wails! Kind of like the ones we rescued, those were the best ones yet!" said Impulse, perfectly oblivious.

Superboy landed among them, dropping Robin and Empress to the ground. Robin asked, "What's going on?"

Cissie pointed to the trees in the distance. The creatures were pouring out of the forest. They seemed to be swarming gathering greater and greater numbers. "Giant bugs!" she said at last.

Impulse had his hands beneath his head, his eyes still closed, beneath his sunglasses, "Don't be silly Cissie, you guys, girls, girl guys, you know what I mean, aren't bothering me in the slightest."

"Impulse!" said Robin abruptly, "She means we're going to be attacked by giant bugs!"

"Really?" said Impulse, at last stirring himself. In the next instant he was on his feet and looking strait ahead at the giant bugs swarming towards them. "Well damn me."

Kon added, "Don't you mean "dumb me?"

"Kon, I don't think you’re dumb. I mean you’re not the brightest, but dumb?" "Why you..."

"Enough, of this," interrupted Robin. "What exactly are we dealing with?"

"Well," started Cassie, "one of them attacked me, or was about to... I think... so I defended myself before it had a chance to. I kicked it over there." She pointed at the insect. "I kicked it pretty hard. I might have killed it."

Impulse leaned over the creature. Its insect shell was beaten in and green slimy ooze was leaking from it, but some of its limbs were wiggling nonetheless. "It's still moving a bit."

"Man, that thing is gross." Cissie recoiled, "I should have known! I can't even go to the beach with you people without getting attacked by giant bugs!"

"Tough bugs, I could've busted concrete with that kick. Those look like wings on its back. How come they don’t fly?"

Cissie optioned, "Maybe they’re not wings?"

"There are a lot more of them coming this way fast. We best find a defensive position of some kind. A barricade, a fortress, an impenetrable wall.... and fortunately, it looks like we have structure that meets those requirements right here." Robin looked toward Impulse’s sandcastle. "Impulse just how sturdy is it?"

"What do ya expect Robin. It's only a sandcastle, I didn't use much cement and there's only one layer of steel reinforcement from the hulls of sunken ships."

Cissie pointed, "There in one of the towers, are those arrow slits?"

"Well," said Impulse, "I wanted to make it look authentic."

"All right everybody inside now," commanded Robin. They all ran\flew off toward the castle. They crossed the moat, over the drawbridge and were about to pull it up when Anita called out:

"Where's Cissie?"

"Great Hera! There she is by the supercycle," shouted Cassie. "She’s reaching inside for something. They’re almost on top of her...” She didn't complete the sentence before she flew off to rescue her.

Cissie stared at the wretched creatures before her. "Ya know maybe I should die my hair dark, or even, heaven help me, wear a dark haired wig, because then I wouldn't be blond, and maybe then I wouldn’t do these dumb things."

“Raise the drawbridge now," Robin shouted. "Cass can always fly Cissie in over the wall.” Kon raised the drawbridge hastily.

The creatures approached the cycle, which Cissie had her back to. As they drew near it, several of the bugs closest to one particular side of the cycle started smashing themselves headlong into the cycle. Cissie stared at the hideous creatures as they surrounded her. “Stay back! Stay back, I’m warning you! Brilliant Ciss, threaten the dumb insects, like that’s going to work. ” Miraculously they stopped short in front of her, refusing to go further. “Well what do ya know. It worked!”

Cassie dropped between Cissie and the bugs. Where she landed the creatures were in frenzy. They clawed at her with their pincers. They threatened to draw her into them. Cissie quickly pulled Cass back against her, out of the way of the creatures. "I got hold of you! Take off already, this is one instance where we can't afford a delayed flight!"

With that they flew into the air, Cissie atop Cassie's back "What did you go back for? What was so damn important that you had to risk your life to get it?"


Shortly, they are safely inside the walls of the castle.

"A bow and arrows! You won’t leave a tooth brush but you hide bow and arrows?"

"What was I supposed to do take them home with me?"

"That’s what I would've expected you to do, yes." She stopped and observed Cissie open a package and take large pointed metal cylinders, which she began attaching to the arrow shafts. "What are you screwing on your arrows? Some trick cryo cylinders? That would slow 'em down."

"No, these are filled with explosive, powerful explosive."

"Oh," Cass seemed surprised. "I can see why you didn't want to take that home, so you put it in the supercycle's endlessly expansive compartments."

"No, I put it in there after I first joined. I just never took it out, till now"

Robin stroked his chin contemplatively. “For some reason they seem to be avoiding Cissie, and why did they keep slamming themselves into the cycle?”

Cass’s eyes widened in sudden realization, "Wait! The insect repellent! I accidentally gave Cissie insect repellent instead of sun block."

“Oh so that's why she smells so bad,” said Bart. “I figured it was because she hadn't showered in a while.”

Cissie glared at him "Thanks a lot Bart."

"Why, you're welcome."

“Actually it's me you should be thanking,” said Cass, “I mean, because you looked at things so cynically, you thought my screw up was a bad thing, when it was a really good thing, otherwise you might have been torn to pieces."

Impulse nodded in agreement. "And that's a good thing... Not you getting torn to pieces, but the fact that you smell so bad. I mean otherwise you'd be, like, dead, and then you'd really smell bad!" he motioned to Wonder Girl," I’d thank her."

Cassie nodded, “Thank you, Bart.”

Impulse bowed slightly "Why, you're welcome Cass."

Cissie turned to face them, rage was pouring out of her face. "Thank you?!? Thank you??? THANK YOU!!!”

Impulse bowed, " Why, you're welcome, you’re welcome, you’re welcome, and thank you for your thanks, it’s very polite of you."


“I knew it; I should have trusted my instincts. I knew it looked too small for a volcano,” said Robin.

“You mean the volcano we past by when we flew in. The one with the forest all around it destroyed, from what gotta be an eruption, and you, who are trained by the world's greatest detective, say it’s not a volcano.” said Kon skeptically.

"It’s not a volcano. It’s more like an anthill,” Robin pointed out.

“Say what?” said Kon perplexed.

“For really big ants,” continued Robin.

Cassie butted in, "So you're saying we shouldn't make a mountain out of a molehill."

Impulse raised a finger in the air, "Actually, I think he's saying we shouldn't mistake the giant anthill outside for the volcano it appears to be."

"Thanks a lot Imp- wait a second... What am I thanking you for? I mean, perfectly good sarcasm is completely lost on you," Cassie raised her arms in exasperation.

"That’s not true, it's not lost on me." Bart protested. Quickly he turned to Kon and whispered to him, "What's sarcasm mean?"

Kon whispered back into his ear," Really?" said Impulse with interest, "No kidding!!"

"Well I’m pretty good then aren't I?" said Impulse out loud, his hands at his hips as he faced Cassie. "Considering I was able to bring you to reach sarcasm!"

End of Part 1
"A Beach Tale"