Author's Note: Welcome back, one and all, as I humbly submit the next chapter for your reading pleasure.
avp5 – Thank you, I have put a great deal of thought behind Levous' character, and I hope to meet with your approval when he finally explains everything to her.
– I'm not sure if I'm making him seem more powerful than he is, but yes, there are definitely going to be some major consequences for him pushing himself so far.
Rise of the Dragon – As Two Fall, One Will Rise
It had been a long day… and it wasn't even past noon yet. Forget the fact that she had woken up sharing a bed with Levous, it happened before and he didn't seem to mind, it was win-win. Starfire peeking in and seeing them sleep together, though irritable, was still manageable, as was the interrogation from her friends about what exactly happened the night before, not that it was any of their business. No, those sorts of things were normal, especially in comparison to battling the inter-dimensional bastard who had broken her heart once before, watching a cat-sized green dragon grow to the size of a small house right before her eyes, and finding out that Levous was not only part Elemental, but also part Dragon.
"Should have just stayed in bed." The violet hair sorceress thought as Levous dashed towards Malchior, or as he had been calling him Cimorahl, while holding her in his arms. A flurry of lightning bolts shot passed them as they raced across the roof, each one meeting with a green ball of fire that was produced by the dark dragon in question.
"Ah, so Cimorahl is the reason you summon my powers then?" The thunderous voice from within Levous' mind asked, amused.
"Hold on tight." Levous instructed Raven, paying no mind to the arrogant personality, as they neared the edge of the roof and jumped with all his might, launching them at Malchior.
"Ignore me all you wish; just now it is my power that will save you."
"My power, not yours." Levous snapped back quickly.
"Again I will say, I can fly." Raven replied, but still she did as he asked, wrapping her arm around his neck as they soared through the air.
"No need to split scales, this power is ours, and you are forced to use it."
"Pitiful." Malchior scoffed, as he raised a clawed arm ready to swat the two away.
"Maybe I just like having your arms around my neck." Levous replied jokingly, ignoring the black dragon's presence momentarily; a comment with set Raven face ablaze and heart racing.
"Do you mind, I'm trying to focus here." The white haired sorcerer thought.
"Very well, proceed."
Just before they were in arms reach of the foul dragon, Levous flipped over, and with a single beat of his wings hurled them both downward away from the black claws that threatened to slice into them. "Aero, now!" He said, as he launched a bolt of lightning form his mouth up at Malchior, hitting the evil dragon in the jaw, which stunned him long enough for a much larger bolt to crash into his chest.
The attack seemed to rattle Malchior for a moment, as he began to fall towards the ground, but he shook off the shock and turned his freefall into a dive as he chased after the part-dragon sorcerer and half-demon sorceress.
"Such insolence!" Malchior thought, as he brought his claws back, ready to strike.
Levous wasted no time righting himself and began to ascend towards the ebony scaled beast, adjusting his grip on Raven to free a clawed hand. Malchior flipped around, whipping his tail down upon the two to, again, try and swat them out of the air, but Raven could free as they rode to winds that were being pushed aside to allow the offending whip to fall carry them around it. With a mighty roar, Levous brought an open palm, clawed thrust up into the vile villain's chin, releasing an electric charge from his hand as his claws pierced the thin aubergine scales that vainly tried to resist the attack. Malchior's descent halted momentarily, the force of Levous' attack resounding through his body, as the ivory haired part-dragon delivered a swift spinning kick to the side of the dazed dragons face.
"This… cannot be…" Malchior thought in stunned disbelief. "I cannot lose… only…"
"If you would be so kind." Levous said to Raven, motioning to Malchior, who began to resume his descent to the unforgiving ground below, with his free hand and a large shadow passed over head.
"It would be my pleasure." She said, as a satisfied smile crossed her face. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" She cried, as her eye lit up with their brilliant white and she pointed one of her hands at the being that once broke her heart. A giant talon of obsidian light appeared and grabbed the great beast, holding him in place until a green scaled tail flashed passed, shattering the talon as it wretched Malchior down towards the ground. The emerald scaled perpetrator then unleashed a hail of lightning down upon the falling dragon, ripping massive holes into the ebony wings.
"I cannot be defeated by anyone… only…" The dark dragon thought as he crashed into the icy ground, not even a thin layer of snow left to inconsequentially cushion his fall. A cloud of icy and dirt hung in the air for a few moments, obscuring view of the defeated villain, that is until a sickly green stream of flames erupted from the cloud, revealing the enraged visage of Malchior. "ONLY ROREK SHALL EVER BE THE ONE TO DEFEAT ME!" He proclaimed launching himself with great speed at the trio that stand against him. With a heavy two legged kick, the dark dragon knocked Aero away and flung himself over Levous and Raven towards the side of the Tower. While in mid flip, Malchior coiled his tail around the two, constricting tightly as he sinks his powerful claws into the Tower's side.
Levous was able to wrap Raven with his wings, but the crushing power of the near-berserk dragon was too much and they both felt the sting of Malchior's attack. "You so much as look at me wrong and I'll crush these two." He said looking at Aero as electric charges danced around the jaws of the massive emerald beast. "I've got you both right where I want you now, 'sweet' Raven." The foul dragon said, laughing sinisterly as he tightened his grip and moved the two in front of his face. Levous and Raven strained under the pressure of Malchior's attack, but after constricting that little extra, Raven could not stifle the cry of pain that escaped her lips.
Levous' eyes widened at Raven's cry and malice toward the vile beast that dare harm her filled his eyes. "That bastard!" He thought, and instantly the cursed marks covering his body began to intensify as he strained with all his might, wrenching open the tight coils of Malchior's tail, but Raven had already passed out from the pain. "Not a cry more!"
Malchior's eyes widened in shock at the display of raw power, and quickly readied more of his trademark flames when all of a sudden, something came crashing through the window of Titans Tower and slammed into him so hard, not only did he loosen his tail, but the concrete he so firmly held onto ripped out form the Tower itself.
As Levous watched, no more stunned than Malchior himself, the foul beast plummet towards the ground, there was a swift rush of air as something moved past him. He looked up to see; well he wasn't sure what his eyes were seeing. There hovering a few dozen feet up was a four winged forest green creature of fur and scales. The creature let out an unearthly roar, one neither animalistic nor draconic, but somewhere in the middle. At first, he recognized the creature as Beast boy's 'Beast' form, but the wings, long tail, quadruped-esque hind legs, and short obsidian spikes running down his spine and forearm and two decidedly longer ones that protruded from his head told a different tale. It was then Lev also notice he was holding something, a figure of blue and black with purple hair.
"Raven!" He exclaimed, looking down at his now empty arms.
"Ignorant child! Be on guard!" The thunderous voice bellowed.
"Beast boy? What are you-" He began to asked, looking back up to the transformed teen when there was a sudden pain in his chest. "Huh?" A stunned look crossed his face, as this new Draconic Beast was now face to face with him, and was Lev looked down, the jade creature's clawed hand halfway in his chest.
"Raven…" He thought as she slowly reached out and tried to grab he hand.
"LEVOUS!" Raven's shrill scream filled the air as his eyes went dim and his body, pulled by the weight of the curse tattoos and himself, slid off Beast boy's hand and fell limply towards the ground, the four words the Draconic Beast said echoing in his mind.
"You are not worthy."
"They've bedded one another." The Beast said as Beast boy watched Raven exit the room, dragging Starfire behind her.
"Nothing happened, they said so." He replied, though he couldn't help but feel doubt, even if they do anything, their scents covered each other.
"How can you be so sure? It would not be the first time she's lied for our sake."
"I trust her."
"But not him?"
"I have to, for now."
"Why do you wait? You're near full strength, we can takeher back."
"She's not an object!"
"No, she'd our mate! You understand, do you not?"
"Of course I do, she not just a friend to hung out with, a special girl to share my life with, or someone to be intimate with, she my teammate, my soul mate, the other half of my existence. She's my mate in every sense of the word."
"And yet that creature believes he can take her from us."
"I'll never let that happen."
"But you are."
"What are you talking about?"
"This wasn't the first time they spent a night together, or did you believe she had slept on all those books all those months ago."
"Back then too?"
"Are you blind? Her room hadn't been touched since the night before."
"Earth to BB! Come in Beast boy!" Cyborg's voice broke the changeling's thoughts as he yelped in surprise.
"Dude, you don't have ta yell." He protested, clasping his ears.
"I've been asking how you're handling this for a couple minutes now." The armored teen replied. "Must be serious if it's got you thinking." He joked.
"The offer to hex him still stands." Jinx said, smiling mischievously.
"You're gonna hex him… after last night?" Cyborg asked, paling as he recalled Levous appearing before them while they tailed the two on their 'not a date'. He didn't threaten them; he merely 'suggested' that they find better ways to occupy their time, but something about his tone and disposition had the two spying Titans cowering in fear for a few moments.
"On second thought, never mind." The pink haired hex caster said, turning white as a sheet.
"I have to work past this, you don't have to worry about me." The green changeling replied, smiling emptily at his friends.
Starfire re-entered the room and floated over to Robin, apparently wanting to finish a talk the two were having earlier which caused him to turn a shade of red as bright as his shirt.
"Come on BB, maybe getting' stomped at some Game Station will cheer you up." Cyborg offered, leading Beast boy towards the couch.
"You know, it never ceases to amaze me at how similar we were." Jinx said shaking her head. "Gizmo and Mammoth loved that stupid video game console almost as much as they loved committing crimes."
"They may be criminals, but they're still teenage boys." The cybernetic teen replied, grabbing the remote and turning out the jumbo screen and loading up a game.
"They also liked the exact same games you guys do." She remarked, seeing the title screen for some racing game pop up on the screen. "Did we really end up as criminals just because of how we were treated as kids?" The pink haired former villainess pondered, grabbing her arm in insecurity and staring at the ground.
"Here B, you do some warm-up laps." Cyborg sighed, jumping over the back of the couch and crossing the room to where Jinx stood. He placed a heavy hand on her shoulder, drawing she to stare up into his grey and robotic eye with her coral, feline-esque one. "It's the choices we make that decide how we turn out." He said in a calm, supportive voice and with his trademark, reassuring smile. "Our environments can cause us to make some bad choices, but it's never too late to turn over a new leaf."
Jinx smiled at the support the cybernetic teen showed, and placed a hand atop his, which by comparison looked so small and fragile.
Before she could thank him for his help, the Tower shook, as if something crashed into it, and the sound of lightning ripping through the air echoed past the room.
"What was that!" Robin asked, running to the computer console.
"It sounded like it came from the roof." Cyborg replied, crossing the room with Jinx as the others grouped together.
"Is that not where friend Levous and Raven are?" Starfire asked with the utmost concern.
"Levous, Raven, come in." Robin said, pressing a button on the console. "What's going on up there?"
There was no reply, and only static could be heard over the communicator.
"Uh guys, were we suppose to get a blizzard?" Beast boy asked, looking out the window. The other turned to see what he could be taking about, only to see a wall of swirling snow to thick to see past. As if the situation couldn't have gotten any more confusing, the tip of a long, reptilian tail swung past the window, and the wall of snow suddenly dispersed. A roar pierced the silence of the room, a roar so loud it rattled the windows and shatter a few glasses within the cupboards.
"Titans! To the roof!" Robin order, as he began to run towards the door only to hear the echoing, insane laughter of a familiar villain.
"You can't leave yet, you are merely the audience, so sit back and enjoy the show." The voice said as a flash of light blinded the Titans for a few moments.
"Mumbo!" Robin shouted angrily as he tried to shield his eyes from the light, only to find he couldn't move his arm, or any other part of his body for that matter.
When the light faded, the adolescent heroes were all sitting on the couch, with popcorn, candies and treats of all kinds around them as they stared out the window.
"Oh, we're getting to the best part." The insane magician said, appearing on the couch in the middle of the Titans, grabbing some popcorn and throwing it into his mouth. The teen vigilantes tried to protest, and demand what the deranged villain wanted, but even their mouths were paralyzed. "I can't have you talking during the show, it's just so rude." He replied to the muffled shouts and scream with a demented smile.
The five heroes and one villain watched as a rain of lightning bolts streamed past the window, followed by a beast of black and purple that all the Titan's, Jinx excluded, recognized immediately as Malchior, the dark dragon.
"That bastard! How dare he show his face here!" Beast boy thought in outrage, his eyes taking on a reptilian shape as his fangs sharpened and his muscles tensed at the sight of the offending dragon.
"Another to try and steal our mate away?" The Beast asked. "Is that creature capable of defending her?"
"He'd die before allowing anything to happen to her." Beast boy replied, having no choice but to believe in Levous' power, if not for anything else, but for Raven's sake. He could feel something stirring within his body, something powerful.
Malchior raced past the window again, dodging the lightning attacks again as he gained speed.
"It seems the foe is too powerful." The Beast concluded, and that is when another voice called to Beast boy, one from within even the Beast himself.
"That child is weak, but I can provide the power you wish to protect the girl." It said, as the scent of ozone filled the air and Beast boy felt his arm twitch.
In seconds, the foul dragon reappeared, further away from the island, diving towards the sea, dragging an unfamiliar green dragon, slightly larger than Malchior himself, behind him and tossing the creature into the frigid waters, where the beast floated stunned.
"Where did that come from?" Beast boy wondered as Malchior disappeared back towards the roof. "That wasn't…"
Beast boy's thoughts trailed off, but then the piercing cry of his violet haired crush banished all other thoughts. "LEVOUS!" He could hear the concern and dread in her voice, it was a tone only used when…
"So the creature has perished." The Beast said solemnly.
Oh, I love a good heroic tragedy, don't you?" Mumbo asked, cackling madly.
"Pity, I wished to kill that damnable child myself." The other voice said, though it seemed the Beast was unable to hear it.
"I have to protect her!"Beast boy thought, not caring about whether Levous had actually died or not, there would be time to consider such things later, right now, Raven took priority. He clenched his hand into a fist as he began to strain against Mumbo's magic.
"CIMORAHL!" Levous' defiant cry rang through the room. "YOU'LL NEVER HARM HER! I SWEAR IT!"
"Ah, it appears he is alive still." The other voice said, seemingly pleased.
"Boo, when the hero falls he should just stay down." The magical villain heckled.
"ENOUGH!" Levous' voice carried strong through the room, as a flare of green flames blew past the window.
"If we stay here, his heroics will only deepen her affection for him." The Beast warned, and in the distance, the green dragon slowly clawed its way to land then appeared to go around the Tower.
"If you use my power, not only can you save her, but you could win her affection as well." The other promised, and Beast boy didn't care about the dark thoughts and radiantly from the presence.
Malchior fell past the window again, daze for an attack by the looks of it, but quickly righted himself and ascended slowly back towards the roof.
Several more lightning attacks pushed the foul dragon back from the edge of the roof, and he was now in view of the Common Room's massive window again as Mumbo stood up and walked over to it to get a better view.
"Oh, this looks like fun, come on, get a better view." The evil magician said, waving his hand and pulling the heroes to him. "Oh, you there, the double-crosser, be a dear and bring me my popcorn would you?" He asked, sending Jinx back to grab one of the over sized bags of popcorn from beside the couch.
From this angle, the Titan's could see Malchior preparing to swat what appeared to be a winged Levous from the air when saddening, Levous turned and thrust himself down towards the ground, avoiding the dark dragon's attack and sent a bolt of lightning from his mouth into the foul beasts jaw as another, larger bolt hit him in the chest, knock Malchior out of the air was he began to fall.
"They're beating him?" Beast boy thought as he watched Malchior turn his fall into a dive. Levous avoided the tail-whip of the large ebony beast and brought a scaled arm up into the creature's chin, sending a lightning bolt into the wound. "How did he transform? I thought he was an Air Elemental thingy." When an obsidian talon grabbed hold of Malchior's dazed form, he saw Raven, embraced by Levous with her arm around his neck. "Raven!"
"Already she clings to him." The other voice stated.
"She is ours!" The Beast declared, snarling at the sight as the huge green dragon swooped down and lashed at the helpless Malchior with a mighty spiked tail, shattering Raven's spell, followed by a hail of lightning bolts and sending the dark dragon down into the unforgiving frozen ground.
"No! The evil dragon strikes down the heroes in this performance!" Mumbo said angrily.
"I won't let him take her!" Beast boy said.
"ONLY ROREK SHALL EVER BE THE ONE TO DEFEAT ME!" Malchior declared as a flash of eerie green flame shot past the window. In the span of only a few second, a dark blur kicked the imposing green dragon away, and snatched Levous and Raven out of the air as the purple underbelly of the foul dragon filled the window.
"You so much as look at me wrong and I'll crush these two." Malchior said looking at the emerald dragon as electric charges danced around the beast massive jaws. "I've got you both right where I want you now, 'sweet' Raven." He said constricting his tail after moving to two in front of his face, Raven could not stifle the cry of pain that escaped her lips.
"Much better, wouldn't you agree?" The insane magician asked, turning to the Titans.
"He seems incapable of protecting the girl." The unknown voice commented.
"Give me that power, and I'll protect Raven myself!" Beast boy demanded, not able to watch any longer.
The cursed marks covering Levous' body began to shine brighter as he visibly strained with all his might, wrenching open the tight coils of Malchior's tail, but Raven had already passed out from the pain.
"As you wish." The voice said darkly as a bolt of great pain shot through Beast boy's body.
He collapsed on the ground in a heap of pain, but couldn't utter a sound as his body began to change into Beast form.
"What's this?" Mumbo asked, turning to Beast boy, "You're supposed to be paralyzed, there's no intermission, so just hold it." He said as the fur covering Beast boy's body began to reseed, giving way for emerald scales, and obsidian spikes. Two sets of wings burst from his back, the top two larger than the bottom, a tail sprouted from his tailbone, and his legs changed to a quadruped form. "This can't be good." The villain concluded, wide-eyed as forest green beast before him lunged forward, sinking his sharp obsidian claws into his gut and slamming him not only into the window, but through it and into the gut of the Malchior.
Both Malchior and Levous were stunned as the dark dragon released his hold on the two heroes in his tail, and fell once again to the ground, but Beast boy paid them no mind as he rushed up past Levous, snatching an unconscious Raven from the stupefied Sorcerer.
"Raven, you're safe now." Beast boy thought, looking at the lovely girl, but then his body let out an unearthly roar, one neither animalistic nor draconic, one he had not commanded it to make.
"I shall take the prize now." The other, unknown voice stated with a chuckle.
"What are you doing!" Beast boy demanded. "Give me back my body!"
"Raven!" Lev exclaimed, having realized what had happened, drawing the creature's attention.
"Now I shall take that bastard life!" The overpowering persona announced, ignoring Beast boy's protests and swooping at Levous, clawed hand drawn back.
"No! Levous watch out!" Beast tried to warn in vain.
"Beast boy? What are you-" The winged sorcerer began to asked, looking back to Beast boy's new form, but it was too late as the hostile force controlling the changeling's body pierced his chest. "Huh?"
"Levous! No, not like this!" Beast boy muttered in horror. "Wh-what have I done!"
"LEVOUS!" Raven's shrill scream filled the air as the impaled body slid off Beast boy's hand limply.
"You are not worthy." The Draconic Beast scoffed as he watched the newest Titan fall helplessly towards the ground. "Neither of you are."
Author's Notes: Thank you all for reading this, I cannot tell you how appreciative I am for your time. Also, I have a bit of an announcement to make. As much fun as I am having writing this story, I am going to have to slow the posts slightly I believe, for it is time for me to stop postponing re-working my other Bleach based Fanficton 'Hitting the Mark'. I'm not entirely sure as to how I will work a schedule around this, but I guarantee to see this story through and keep the updates as frequent as possible.
Until I post again, farewell.