Brewing
Sorry about Pride's Stu-ishness and the whole THE STORY IS ABOUT TEH AWSUM PRIDE thing that went on. However, yeah, he won't be appearing in another story of the Legendverse variety, so I had to give him an arc. I'll try as hard as I can to dumb down his stu-ishness. Please tell me if I'm succeeding or failing.
Underground Area, Somewhere in Florida...
The Titans had found the Dragon energy surprisingly close. It was in a series of underground caves close to where their base was. Robin had already given the order for Cyborg and Gauntlet to go with Titans East, so their numbers were lower.
"I do not like this. Dragons are considered powerful beasts of horrifying abilities on Tamaran." Starfire said, providing a light for the tunnel.
"Tamaran has legends about Dragons?" Savior asked, walking in-between her and Raven.
"Well, of beasts similar to Dragons in your Earth culture. They are more like a feline than most of your Dragons are." Starfire answered.
"Dudes, hold up. I hear something down that way." Beastboy said.
"Change into an animal and try to pick up a scent." Noel ordered.
Beastboy transformed into a bloodhound and sniffed as deep as possible.
"Well, other than something close to five pounds of hair gel, I can smell something bizarre down that same way." Beastboy reported.
Savior raised a brow at the comment but chose not to reply. There were more important things to do than crack down on jokers. Beastboy continued down the way, following the scent, Starfire still lighting the way. Savior pulled out his communicator and activated it.
"Robin. Savior here. We're currently heading for the Dragon's den. Beastboy has picked up a scent and is hot on the trail. We'll take it out soon."
"You should show more respect for Dragons, White-" Pride started.
"Shut UP, Pride! Okay, Savior, your report has been taken into account. Titans East is heading for Toronto, while Cyborg and Gauntlet are a few minutes behind them." Robin reported.
"You never explained why Cyborg and Gauntlet had to go with Titans East." Savior stated, an understood question in the sentence.
"Pride suggested they go with them because East is heading for a Dragon a lot tougher than the one your facing. They'll need more members." Robin answered.
"Why are you doing what Pride says? He could easily be lying." Savior said.
"Taokii is the one leading the invasion. I doubt Pride wants Taokii to win. They hate each other." Robin said.
Beastboy turned to the others and hushed them.
"Beastboy has found the Dragon's den. We're going in to attack now." Savior said, shutting off his communicator.
Titan's Tower...
"Robin, something's wrong. Taokii switched the Dragons a few seconds ago. They're going in after the Wyvern. Not the Amphithere. This is NOT GOOD." Pride said.
"How bad can it be?" Robin asked.
"That Wyvern is a lot more powerful than the Amphithere. I'm not sure they'll survive." Pride said.
"What can we do?" Robin asked, turning to Pride.
"I... wait. There's a few others behind the Titans. They're in the caverns now. Holy crap." Pride started, laughing.
Den of the Wyvern...
Beastboy looked around the corner first, then immediately shrank back and turned to the others.
"That is not a Mexican Amphithere. THAT is a Wyvern." Beastboy said, his eyes as big as dinner plates.
"Pride lied. Damn it. We'll still have to go in there. We have about 2 hours before the invasion actually starts. Was the Wyvern awake?" Savior asked.
"No. But I'll bet it's about to wake up." Beastboy said.
"Why do you say that?" Starfire asked.
"Because its heart beat is increasing and it's shuffling about the cave." Scalpel answered for Beastboy.
"Yeah, that." Beastboy said, changing back into his normal form from the bloodhound.
"Okay, let's get together our strategy." Savior said.
Titan's Tower...
"Robin, this is J'onn. I have sent out the teams. Deathstroke is leading 3 others after one of the Leaders, somewhere in South America. Flash and Kid Flash are going after the Dragon in Europe. Wonder Woman is headed for the second one in Europe. Viridian and Metatron are after one in Africa." J'onn reported.
"Taokii switched up one of the Dragons-" Robin started.
"And ADDED ANOTHER ONE. One I haven't even SEEN BEFORE." Pride interrupted.
"The Titans West are going after the Wyvern, unfortunately. They're getting help from an unidentified source which will remain unidentified because Pride refuses to say. They're still getting help, so that doesn't matter right now. Back to business. There's another Dragon leader in Africa. Southern Africa, rather than Northern. Could you pull together a few fighters to knock it out?" Robin asked.
"I will try." J'onn said, turning off the view screen.
"Now, for the thirtieth time, who entered the caverns after my team members? Because if they do more harm than good, I'm holding you responsible." Robin demanded.
"Oh, they'll help. Bullets are very effective against Dragons. Especially at point blank range." Pride snickered.
Den of the Wyvern...
Scalpel was listening for the Wyvern, to learn when to strike. Its heart rate slowed down again, along with its respiration. One thing was for certain: it was a far cry from being fully alert.
"We've gone over the strategy several times. Remember, stay quiet until the signal is given." Savior whispered/ordered, creeping about the cavern wall, heading for the Wyvern, followed by the others.
Savior crept in front of the Wyvern, posed for battle, several Shimmer strands slowly emerging from his arms, each aimed for the Wyvern.
Starfire flew up above the Wyvern, her hands and eyes giving off her signature green glow.
Raven's hands put off an obsidian energy that reached out and grabbed several stalactites above the Wyvern, but didn't snap them. Not yet.
Scalpel was next to the Wyvern's shoulder blade, his glaive poised to stab into it.
Beastboy was behind Savior, focusing on the Wyvern.
Titan's Tower…
"Robin, I have sent Bushido, Argent, and four members of the Gun Gang after the South African Dragon. The rest of the Justice League is scanning the skies, waiting for the invasion. Citizens have all been told to stay inside their homes or work places, wherever they are… The Watchtower has detected the Dragons. They will arrive on Earth in approximately 37 minutes. I shall activate the Watchtower's laser cannon. With luck, that should take out a few dozen Dragons before they can reach Earth." J'onn reported.
"Good. To my knowledge, the teams have all been synced perfectly. They should be fighting now. I can only hope they're doing all right." Robin said.
"Only one of the Dragon's energy signals is erratic. Titans East and the other two are engaging the Amphithere." Pride reported.
Robin looked grimly out the window as the sun went done. J'onn had minimized the line. Night was falling…
"Do the Dragons have shadow manipulation abilities?" Robin suddenly demanded, whirling on Pride.
"No. Nothing like mine, in any case. They do, however, get stronger at night. I know, Robin. Night is falling. That's Taokii's plan. Send the army when it's strongest and the heroes are quicker to exhaustion. It's always been his plan. If the heroes are too exhausted by the time the Dragons are at their weakest, what does it matter? They're dead already. Simple as that. But hey, you have Superman. Last time Manik was alongside him, he fought through the entire night and never exhausted. This universe has at least three Kryptonians, each capable of wiping out several hundred of the Dragons." Pride said.
"Several hundred Beta Levels?" Robin asked, wary.
"What, isn't Beta above Epsilon? I was never good with the system." Pride shrugged.
"Several hundred Gammas sounds right. I'll relay the information to J'onn. How do you screw up that much?" Robin asked.
"I never bothered to learn Greek. So sue me." Pride replied, shrugging again.
Robin sighed and pulled up the link to the Watchtower.
Toronto, Underground Caverns…
"Hey, where's Aqualad?" Cyborg asked.
"He's pretty much useless for this mission. We have him stationed at East Tower, where he can take down information for us." Speedy replied, an arrow strung on his bow.
"I didn't even know Toronto had underground caves." Bee said.
"It's a plot-related thing, so there has to be. Here's a pamphlet on it. Oh, and here's one about how Asta thinks I should sweep Raven off her feet." Gauntlet said, pulling out two pamphlets, one of them obviously poorly hand-drawn.
I DO NOT.
"What are you talking about, it's all right-" Gauntlet began, before being interrupted.
SHUT UP, GAUNTLET.
"But, what about the-" Gauntlet started again, holding up the pamphlet, which was reduced to ashes.
I'M GONNA' HAVE TO HURT YA'.
"Awwwwwww. I worked for hours on that." Gauntlet moaned.
WHY DO I HAVE TO WORK WITH THESE CONDITIONS? SCREW IT. I'M GOING TO MY NON-EXISTENT TRAILER. YOU'LL HEAR FROM MY AGENT (i.e. ME) IN A WEEK…
"Wow. You found the Dragon by breaking the Fourth Wall. Repeatedly." Bee said.
"Bah. It's not as good as killing an army of bots with a Mentos commercial." Cyborg said, waving it off.
DAMMIT! WELL… THE DRAGON'S AN AMPHITHERE AND IS UP ALREADY. HAH! THERE GOES ANY ADVANTAGE YOU HAD! … WAITAMINUTE! GACK! ARGH!
The caverns rumbled as feathery wings lifted one ton of muscle, tooth, and claw off the ground. The rocks tumbled and shook as a mighty roar boomed from the Amphithere.
"Oh shit." Cyborg said.
"Weren't we supposed to fight something less birdy and more scaly?" Gauntlet whispered.
"Maybe you did something to… anger God?" Cyborg suggested.
"Well, by technicality I did, I suppose. I mean, Asta's the god of this story." Gauntlet shrugged.
"Guys, if you don't mind, we have the child of a lizard who got too friendly with a bird to deal with here." Speedy said, pulling back an arrow, aiming for the gullet of the Amphithere.
Cyborg held both Sonic Cannons up high, aimed for the feathery dragon. Bee zipped towards the Amphithere at Bumblebee size, to avoid detection.
Mas y Menos sped up the cavern wall and shot off, slamming into the Amphithere as it flew for Speedy. It roared again and snatched Menos with one of its claws, smacking Mas with his tail.
Speedy shot several explosive arrows for the Amphithere. A second before they hit, Cyborg fired off several sonic blasts that produced a similar effect to the Sonic Boom Maneuver he and Robin had planned out. The Amphithere flew back a bit, reeling from the explosions. It then spread its wings to the max, flew as high as possible, aimed for the group, and shot down for them, blasting fire as it flew through.
Bee was sent flying to the ground, coughing and covered with soot and a partially burned suit. Against all odds, there was no fan service. Yeah, I know: shock, awe, and disappointment. Get over yourself.
"What'd you try to do?" Speedy asked, stringing a silver arrow.
"Tried to COUGH kill it from the HACK inside." Bumblebee answered.
She got up to her feet and dusted herself off. Gauntlet looked over at her, then looked back at the Amphithere, disappointed. His namesake shot a line of yellow energy that hooked the Amphithere.
Lesson time kiddies! A ton of muscles mass, flying through the air at over 40 miles an hour is snatched by a teen whose probably only 150 pounds wet. What will happen? Is it A) the dragon will stop, B) the teen will go flying, or C) the dragon's neck will snap?
If you answered A or C, CONGRATULATIONS, YOU'RE AN IDIOT!
Gauntlet was sent soaring through the cave, the energy dissipated, and he slammed into the cave wall.
"OWIE!"
Speedy let the silver arrow fly, piercing one of the scales of the Amphithere. It hardly noticed. Speedy began stringing another one, hoping the Amphithere wouldn't take interest in him.
Cyborg had climbed up a stalactite and locked onto the Dragon. It was headed towards him, after Gauntlet screamed. He let go of the rock formation and fell onto the Amphithere's back, getting an annoyed roar from the Dragon. He reared back his left hand, traded out the hand for a sharp implement, and stabbed into the Amphithere's spinal cord area.
It screeched in pain and anger at having scales and flesh pierced. Cyborg kept his left hand in the body of the best, transformed the hand into a sonic cannon, and blasted the Amphithere internally. It screeched again and fell to the cavern floor, getting pierced in several places by stalagmites.
It gave a piteous moan, trying to raise its head one last time. It barely managed the feat, but it did manage to look into Gauntlet's eyes.
"DOINK!" Gauntlet shouted, forming a hand with the index finger pointing out of yellow energy and poking the Dragon in the eye.
The Dragon roared in pain again, and it finally fell over it, dead.
Mas y Menos raced back to the group, speaking rapidly in Spanish. As the author of this story doesn't KNOW Spanish, no quotes for you!
"Cyborg here. The Amphithere is down and out. Although we should have fought the Wyvern, but it doesn't matter. A Dragon is dead. How are the others doing?" Cyborg reported.
"Savior and the others are preparing to attack, last I heard. That was five minutes ago. Pride reported another Dragon of a type he hadn't heard of before. It should be taken care of, though. Pride said not to worry about Savior and the others, as they'll be getting help. No details as of yet on that because Pride's an ASSHOLE. Tell Titans East to get back to their Tower, where they can receive more information faster. You and Gauntlet report back here." Robin answered.
"Alright then! Come on, Gauntlet! We're going back to base." Cyborg said, waving for Gauntlet to come.
"What about my team?" Bee asked.
"Get back to your Tower, like Robin said. We'll keep you posted there, alright?" Cyborg asked.
Bee nodded and flew out of the caverns, followed by the rest of Titans East.
REIGN