Chap. 8
Battlefield Mind
Brett and Sara felt the separation happen, as their minds left their bodies. For an instant, it felt as though they were completely free, all sense of mortal being gone. Then they sensed the dark mind they had to enter. There was a sensation of movement, and then, they entered….
Trigon laughed once again, as he sent a wave of rubble at the heroes. As it slammed into their weakened forms, he knew that they would soon be destroyed. Then he could finally take this world and seek his revenge on those who imprisoned him. Yes, soon I shall have it… he thought, but then he felt something in the corner of his mind. Whirling around, he looked the form of his daughter. He peered inside the girl's mind and saw what was happening. He shook his head angrily; amazed he had allowed himself to forget about the Knights. That fool of the Shadows think he can save her, does he? The demon thought. He shall learn once again that none can oppose the will of Trigon! Slowly, the demon's own eyes began to cloud over, but not before he had done one other thing to deal with his enemies…
The Knights felt themselves come together again, and they opened their eyes to a strange empty land. They stood on a huge piece of floating ground in an empty sky. "This looks like what Beast Boy and Cyborg told us about." Sara mentioned as she looked around. "Yeah, but I don't think that was part of it." said Brett, as he pointed to a large flaming statue of Trigon. In fact, as they looked on, the Knights saw that behind the statue, there was a huge pile of burning books. "He has gotten strong." The bat muttered. "Maybe, but we have stop him. There are no other options now." Sara replied. "No, there is one other." Said an all-too familiar voice. The two warriors turned, to the form of Trigon walk towards them.
He had shrunk to the size of a man, but he seemed just as powerful as he had before. "You can die at my hand." The demon finished. "Why would we do that?" Sara snarled, as she and Brett prepared for battle. "Oh, you will find it far easier then you think." The demon smirked. Anger etched on their faces, the Knights reached for their weapons,.. only to find nothing there. Not allowing themselves to panic, they prepared to draw their powers manually, but even that was denied them. "Brett what's going on? Why are our powers not working" Sara said, a hint of fear in her voice. "I-I don't know. This worked before." Brett stammered, his own voice filled with worry.
Trigon just laughed. "Fool, your powers worked before because this was still Raven's mind then. She allowed you the use of your powers, because she controlled this world. But that is no longer true. I control this mind now, and whatever I wish will come to pass. If I want you powerless, it shall be. You are not strong enough to surpass my will. Now then, prepare to pay the price for your foolishness, Knights!"
Robin and Starfire looked at the Knights, wondering what was going on inside their minds. The two figures had not moved since their eyes had glazed over, they stood as still as statues. The only good thing that had happened so far was that Trigon had entered the same state. All three stood staring at the figure of Raven, who hovered in the air like a puppet on strings. Everything had stopped, as thought the fate of this day was completely dependant on whatever would happen in this battle of the mind. "Do you think that they can win?" Starfire asked. "I don't think that there's any other option right now." Robin answered. Suddenly, a voice yelled out, "Hey, can you give us a hand?" The two heroes whirled around to see the others attempting to pull Beast Boy and Polar out of the rubble. They quickly ran over and helped pulled them out. The two heroes came out bloody and unconscious, but still alive. "Oh man, what are we gonna do when he wakes up?" Whimpernel moaned. "I've never seen any kind of power like this." Cyborg added. "We can't even hurt him, how are we supposed to win?" "And what's with them?" Heatstrike snapped, pointing to the figures of the Knights. "They're trying to save us." Robin answered, as he attempted to bind Polar's wounds. "How, by staring at him?" the young hero muttered. "No, by fighting him in Raven's mind and trying to save Raven." The boy wonder answered. "What? Brett said Raven was dead." Bartman exclaimed. "Brett believes that the reason he could not kill Raven is because a part of her mind reached out to him." Starfire explained. "That's crazy!" Neuron cried. "What better options do we have?" Robin snapped back. "None of us seem to have any effect on Trigon. This may be the best chance we have."
The others looked at themselves then, seeing their bloodied bodies and torn costumes. They knew that Robin was right but it all seemed insane. "Is there anything we can do?" Heatstrike asked, his earlier anger forgotten. "Help me with these wounds and pray nothing else happens." Robin muttered. "Too late." A voice said from above. The heroes looked up, and saw a familiar figure leap down from the sky and land by them. "Slade." Robin snarled. "Temper Robin. Fighting me won't do any good. But if you want, I came here to bring out something you can fight." The heroes looked behind him and gaped in horror. Crawling out of the hole in which Trigon had made escape was an army of demons. Fire seemed to jut from every orifice of their body, and their faces were masks of pain and suffering. Slowly, each head turned and focused on the last group of heroes. Slowly, each one grinned at their prey. "We are so dead." Cyborg exclaimed.
The two Knights were completely overpowered. Trigon held all the cards; they had nothing. But they did the one thing that could always be counted on to do. They charged on, battle cries on their lips. Brett reached the demon first and tried to land a hard right. But the demon caught his hand and with a swift clench, shattered the bone. Brett howled, clutching his wounded hand, just as Trigon blasted him back.
But as he fell, Sara took his place. The fox attacked the demon in a whirlwind, clawing, biting, and kicking almost every second. But the wounds she opened healed just as fast as she could make them, and the demon felt no pain. After a few moments, he grabbed her leg, and violently threw her up, and then brought it down upon his knee. There was an audible snap as the bone broke and Sara's screams joined Brett's. Trigon only smiled, as he seemed to feed on their pain.
"We can't hold them off much longer!" Neuron yelled, as yet another demon was thrown back by his electric bursts. "We've got to!" Bartman yelled, as he continued to battle. "We can't yet them get to Sara and Brett, or we're completely screwed!" "Hate to say this, but I don't think they're doing much better!" Cyborg cried out. Bartman turned, and what he saw horrified him. The Knights were becoming a bruised and battered mess. Bruises lined their faces. Sara's leg seemed to jut at an angle, and blood was trickling out of her mouth. Brett's hand was a crumpled mess, and as the boy watched, the bat's left arm actually popped out of his socket. Bartman had fought many things in his short career, but this was the first time he was truly terrified. Because the fate of the world was completely dependant on two people, and there was absolutely nothing he could do to help them do it. Perhaps this really was the end-times. And as he looked up and saw the clouds feeling the sky, saw Slade blast Robin with demonfire, he began to believe that it was.