"What the actual fuck is that?" Jason asked, poking at the mysterious... thing with a stick.

The... "thing" was a squishy, slimy, pale looking glob, rooted into the ground. It jiggled angrily with every stab from Jason.

"Don't poke it!" Dick exclaimed, fighting Jason for the stick. Jason held on, hissing at his older brother like a cat, trying to bite him.

Tim and Damian just watched on in amusement. Cass, unseen by all of them, had found 3 more of the strange things, and seemed to be having a staring contest with the biggest one. In fact, there were many of them surrounding the clearing they were in.

"It's so squishy!" Duke exclaimed, having somehow (they're in the woods. It's pretty self explanatory where he got the stick) gotten another stick and proceeding to poke it as well.

Dick gasped in betrayal, now trying to wrestle with him as well, "Duke! Stop it!"

Tim pulled a camera out of nowhere, and began to videotape the argument, zooming in on the squishy thing as well.

"It kind of looks like a blobfish." Damian mused aloud, squatting down to get a closer look.

He just so happened to bend down right as Jason jabbed it particularly hard. The "thing" began to wiggle, and a strange gurgling sound began to emit from it.

"What the f-" Dick started, before being interrupted by the "thing" suddenly exploding, sending gross pink goop all over everyone. Cass was the only one safe from the slimy substance, having had the forethought to step behind a tree.

"Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. Ewwwwwwwwwwwwww." Jason said repeatedly, shaking his hands desperately to rid himself of the goop.

"Jason for the love, shut up!" Tim shouted, wiping at his face with his sleeve, only spreading the substance further. "Ugh, this is nasty."

"Hey, guys-" Duke started to say, going unheard, as Jason glared at Tim.

"Don't tell me to shut up! You shut up!" Jason snapped, cracking his knuckles.

"Boys, please." Dick began, trying to stop the fight before it could start.

Duke tried again, "Guys-"

"Both of you imbeciles should shut up." Damian announced. Jason and Tim made eye contact, before turning in unison towards the youngest of their group.

Dick sighed. "Oh no."

"Guys!" Duke shouted, right before Tim and Jason launched themselves at Damian. Dick was trying to pull them off of each other, but got hit in the gut, making him join in the battle as well.

"Fuck this." Duke whispered, joining Cass behind the tree.

He moved just in time to avoid getting splattered by the rest of the "things" which had begun to wiggle when they got splattered by their fallen brother.

It was as if a runaway firework found all the others. One goes off and the rest follow suit. Soon, every single one of the "things" had exploded, coating the 4 arguing brothers in its slime.

They stopped fighting immediately, staring at their bodies in shock. Tim was looking mournfully at the camera, which had also been covered.

"I tried to warn you." Duke said, stepping away from the tree.

"Oh you did?" Dick asked, a tone to his voice that only Cass picked up on.

"Yeah. Repeatedly." Duke said, unknowing of the danger he was in.

Dick took a few steps forward, so he was in front of the other 3. Behind his back, he signed 3 simple words, unnoticed by Duke, who was glancing around at the slime everywhere along the forest floor.

Get 'em, boys.

Tim, Damian, and Jason all smirked, and as one unit, moved forward.

Cass rolled her eyes, climbing into the tree, popcorn in her hands (nobody knows where she got it from. It's Cass, don't question it.), a camera appeared next to her to film the fight.

Duke looked over just in time to be tackled by all of his brothers, now also covered in the goo.

"Guys, no!" he protested, laughing as Tim began to tickle him.

...

Bruce stared at his children, who were dripping slime all over the ground.

He sighed, rubbing at his temples.

"Cassandra, you're my favorite," he stated before turning away.

"I fucking knew it!" Jason whisper-shouted.

Cass smirked. The 5 boys made eye contact, before tackling their father.

Alfred shook his head in amusement, walking away.

...

Meanwhile, across the land, however many miles away, Roy was sleeping the day away.

"Is he seriously still asleep?" Dinah asked her husband, who was stuffing his face with 3 sandwiches, all different flavors.

"Uh. yhitnso." He answered, mouth full of food. She scrunched up her nose in disgust.

"Swallow, then speak, you pig." she said.

Oliver swallowed the bite of food, taking a large gulp of apple juice before saying again, "Yeah, I think so. Do you want me to wake him up?"

Dinah thought for a second, before shaking her head. "Nah, let him sleep. He deserves some rest. He's been having nightmares lately."

"Has he told you about them?" Ollie asked, scratching at his beard, leaning back to pop his back.

Dinah just shook her head. "No. I don't want to push him either. Last time didn't end well."

Her husband grunted in agreement. They fell silent, both caught up in thoughts on how to help their son.

...

"Sooooo. Where we goin'?" Stephanie asked, trailing behind the large family, who were each carrying something in a large backpack.

She was ignored by everyone but Diego, who glanced behind himself to smile at her.

"Wherever the road leads."

Stephanie snorted. "How poetic."

"I know, right! Maybe I should write a book? What would-"

"Quiet down back there." Devin ordered, doing nothing to hide his disdain for the teens in his gruff voice.

Diego fell silent immediately, turning away from his new friend, who frowned.

"Someone's grumpy." Steph muttered underneath her breath. Diego bit his lip to hide his grin.

...

"I'm going to go explore!" Roy announced, lacing up his combat boots and shouldering his bow.

"Wait!" Dinah exclaimed, hurrying toward him. "Take dinner with you!"

Roy sighed, shaking his head in amusement. "Yes, ma'am."

Dinah narrowed her eyes at him, but said nothing as she thrust a lunchbox into his hands. "Be back at a reasonable time, please."

Roy chuckled, saluting in agreement as he walked towards the garage. "I'm commandeering the Chariot."

"Don't crash it." Ollie called out, from where he was lounging in a chair.

"No promises!" Roy responded, disappearing behind the door.

Dinah listened to the sound of the Chariot starting up, and then driving away, wrapping a hand around her stomach in a self-hug.

Ollie watched her face, brow furrowing in worry. "What's wrong, birdie?"

Dinah glanced over at him, biting her lip. "Just a bad feeling is all."

Ollie smiled sympathetically, gesturing for her to come closer. She did so, and he pulled her down onto his lap, hugging her close.

"He'll be fine. Roy's smart. He knows how to take care of himself." Ollie kissed Dinah's forehead, pulling her closer.

Dinah sighed, nodding. "Yeah. You're right."

"Of course I am. I'm always right!" he said, smirking. He tried to dodge the smack, but there was no escaping the vengeance of Dinah Lance Queen.

...

Roy whistled quietly as he walked along the natural path. He wasn't sure what had made the path, but he was confident in his ability to protect himself. He was a master at archery, not to toot his own horn, of course. It's true though.

The path he was on was beautiful, with luscious plants and various creatures scurrying away from his loud footsteps. He had been wandering around for the past 2 hours now, just looking around and studying everything. He even came across a clearing full of pink goo. It was very strange, but in every spot where the goo seemed to originate, a pale pink snail laid sleeping. He tried to pick one up, but it had a killer grip on the ground.

He shrugged it off and kept walking.

He made it about 100 and then everything got quiet.

He knew enough about the woods to know that when it gets quiet, something is wrong. Only people who've never been around trees before think it gets loud.

He was on guard as soon as he realized how eerily quiet it was. Not a single critter so much as moved. The only sound was the occasional rustle of leaves because of the wind, but even that was fainter than usual.

He drew his bow, quickly preparing an arrow, glancing around every which way as he did so. He was in a terrible spot. Should he risk moving? Or stay?

He took a few steps forward, ears strained to hear any inconsistencies.

And that's when he saw it.

It was a strange looking creature, with 4 cat-like yellow eyes, staring at him hungrily. It had weird, oily-gray skin, stretched thin over putrid bones that popped up randomly here and there. It stood on all fours, with rough, bone-like claws clutching at the earth, its tail swishing behind it, making a weird chattering sound as it did so. It was disgusting.

"What. The actual. Fuck are you?" Roy whispered in astonishment.

That was apparently enough incentive for the creature to open its impossibly large jaw, showing off an array of sharp teeth, as it let out an awful screech.

It jumped for him.

Roy stumbled backward, firing off an arrow on pure instinct alone, just barely missing the alien (dinosaur?) thing.

His back hit a tree and he knew full well a large bruise would be there by the end of the day.

If he made it to the end of the day, that is.

The creature jumped for him again, and Roy thrust out his arm to stop it from getting his heart. The teeth sunk deep, and Roy couldn't help the anguished scream he let out.

...