As Starfire screamed a blinding light cut through the darkness. The card in her hands disintegrated in a shining sparkle of lights like a sparkler, and she jumped back in surprise.

The hag screamed, a hissing shrill cry, before retreating. Starfire ran from her and backed up against one of the damp cavern walls.

From the shining lights burst forth a great, white bat. It flew at the hag, spitting poison gas. Starfire was reminded of one of Beast Boy's handheld games where the bat-looking monsters used magical powers like 'poison sting' and 'absorb'.

The bat circled the cave making no noise as its soft wings beat the air. It soared through the darkness like a bright star, and Starfire was hopeful once again. The poison gas clouded the small space, and for a moment Star feared that it would hurt her as well, but the great bat made sure to keep the cloud focused on the witch.

As the bat attacked, the witch screamed again, her skin bubbling where the poison gas touched her. Her white, blind eyes were sizzling in pain, and Starfire had to look away. She shut her eyes tight and put her arms in front of her face to shield herself. The screaming went on for a while, the acrid smell of poison wafting through the air. Then, finally, the screaming stopped.

Starfire opened her eyes and lowered her arms just enough to see the bat which hung gracefully from the ceiling, the poisonous cloud dissipating through the skylight.

Starfire panted against the wall, shaking. Above her the Bat rustled its wings gently, barely making any sound. She smiled up at it, grateful and relieved that she was able to summon monsters. Especially since this monster-bat turned out so helpful. It gave an eco-locating chirp in response.

In the oasis there was no witch, no hag, no ghouls. There was only a shining pool, green marshy plants and trees, and the smell of clear running water.

Starfire smiled wider when she realized that her starbolts and flight ability were revving back up. The power coursing through her kissed her beneath her skin, and she hovered a few feet above the cavern floor just to be sure.

"Glorious!"

The bat chirped again and fluttered its wings at her, letting itself drop from the ceiling and fly around her in joy.

With a whoop and a holler, Starfire and the beautiful white bat made their way out of the cave through the skylight into the setting sun.

In the glorious new light, Starfire had to shield her eyes.

She wasn't sure where she was going, nor where she'd end up, but she flew anyway toward the castle, hoping that Beast Boy would be alright with his first challenge.

Beast Boy was not doing alright with his first challenge.

...

In fact, he was now starting to worry that if this was how all three challenges were going to be, he'd made the wrong choice after all.

A massive white and golden gargoyle bore down on him from above. The beating of its wings could kick up small wind currents at its feet, and Beast Boy struggled to keep up; to keep from losing his footing.

Beast Boy and the gargoyla had been fighting for what felt like forever, but the fight had only just begun.

I'm glad Starfire beat her monster, but damn this thing is tough!

Beast Boy's T-Rex form roared, his reptilian tail thrashed at the dirt and scrub beneath him. His teeth gnashed at the stone monster before him, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't scratch it's skin. His jaw was beginning to hurt with the failure of it.

Beast Boy found it more difficult to sidestep the gargoyle's strikes as a T-Rex, and opted for a hawk instead. With a quick flap of his wings he was here one second and gone the next.

Beast Boy perched in a large pine tree to reassess the situation and to catch his breath. Without his team, without Robin, he'd have to size this thing up and make his own decisions about how to take it down properly.

The gargoyle's white eyes searched the area for him. The monster was made from glorious white marble, the same stone, in fact, that the Witch's gross, blind eyes were made from. The beast before him was also gilded with golden lines through his wings and on his claws. It was probably the prettiest monster he'd ever fought, standing at least three stories tall with a wingspan the size of a commercial airplane.

The gargoyle shone in the sunlight and roared a gravelly roar that shook the earth beneath its feet.

If that old squirrel could see him now, he'd probably scold him too for getting into a fight that was tearing down the forest. Each swipe of the gargoyle's stone claws was felling trees and bushes every which way.

Beast Boy flew at the gargoyle, attempting to catch it off guard, but because he couldn't do any damage as a hawk, he morphed back to his humanoid form and clung to the back of one of the gilded wings.

"It's not my fault that this thing is the size of the statue of liberty!" Beast Boy yelled out loud, arguing with no one. "Maybe if it weren't so freaking huge, the forest wouldn't be stomped flat!"

The gargoyle was rightly irritated with the joy-rider on his back, and he fanned his wings vigorously to try and knock Beast Boy off. It was probably the most nauseating ride Beast Boy had been on, but he learned something from it. The great gargoyle couldn't get his stone arms behind him, probably couldn't even scratch his back.

Beast Boy, now shaking like a leaf, crawled his way up the beast's back and dug a fist of bear claws into the monster's neck. Balancing one of his daggers in his mouth, he reached into his pocket for the deck of cards with a human hand.

There has to be something to take this thing down.

If it wasn't his brute strength and T-Rex teeth, it would be one of the cards.

Beast Boy shivered when the gargoyle roared. It screeched like nails on a chalkboard. He shuffled through cards, pulling this one and that one out.

'Assassin's Blade': Pass, he thought. There's no way that's cutting through.

'Dark Shadow': I don't think being invisible is going to help me now.

'Purple Miasma': Like this thing even has regular lungs. Besides, this card has Friendly Fire, meaning it'll probably kill me, too.

While he was taking a rodeo ride on the back of the monster, he felt himself start to slip. He stowed away the cards and took off again as a hawk, flying low and out of the gargoyle's vision. He perched himself in a thicker tree and told himself to be more clever this time.

Safely hidden by the boughs, Beast Boy did use 'Dark Shadow', allowing himself to stay there and catch his breath, turning back into a human as he did so. It used up some card casting points to play, but it made him feel better. He took out the stats journal and assessed his situation:

Hero: Beast Boy

Level: 9

Skill: Rogue/Assassin

Strength: 150

Stealth: 350

Critical Hit: 375

Health: 437/850

Stamina: 321/600

Card Casting Points: 1,520

Items: etc.

He shivered at his meager health bar. When he hit level 10, he should have 1,000, but for now he was at half until he healed up.

He searched the bag, just in case and found a few potions or a revive. He held onto the revive, fastening it around his neck in the event he did actually "die" in this fight. It cost him 200 points to play 'Dark Shadows' because he wasn't a mana based character, and he doubted that the card he needed was going to come cheap. He ran his hands through his hair. He'd need those points for the rest of the boss battles, and right now he was kicking himself for wasting any.

"Damn," he whispered.

There had to be something.

He frantically checked every card: 'Golem's Army', 'Tentacle Wraith', 'Wizard's Cap Trap', 'Falling Star'. Nothing seemed like it would work. Finally, and miraculously, Beast Boy stumbled upon an awesome-looking card near the end.

'Deep Sand': Trap Card. Renders enemy immobile waist-up, after 2 turns/5 minutes, the enemy is hardened to the spot. Warning: No effect on flying creatures.

Beast Boy gulped. The gargoyle clearly had wings, though he hadn't seen him fly off of the ground. That didn't mean that it couldn't fly, of course, it just seemed highly unlikely at this point.

He pulled out the card, quietly summoned it for 500 card casting points and prayed.

Beneath the gargoyle, quicksand appeared, swirling and roiling like a tan-brown sea. It snaked up the ankles of the great stone beast, and Beast Boy was sure that it would work.

Even though he hadn't seen the monster fly before, the gargoyle, now understanding what was happening, began to beat its massive wings. The colliding sounds of stone wings against a stone back was deafening. It was as if a mountain were having a fight with itself, and the roaring of stone crackling together was piercing.

Beast Boy's heart sunk, and he pulled his hood over his pointed ears to block out the noise.

I'll have to keep looking, he thought desperately, but he wasn't sure any other card was going to work. He had spent all those points; he was so sure that this had been it!

Suddenly, very, very loudly, one of the gargoyle's wings snapped off. Beast Boy blinked, realizing a little too late that the wing was going to fall right on top of him.

He quickly flew away, a small sparrow beating its soft little wings much faster than the gargoyle could, and he made it out with all of his tail feathers. The dust cloud that arose from the fall of the stone wing was huge, clouding everything in the arena space.

Beast Boy took the opportunity to become an elephant that fell upon the gargoyle's head, helping it sink lower and lower into the quicksand.

It's gotta be about five minutes by now! Beast Boy thought to himself. He was quickly running out of stamina. It should be stuck soon, it has to be!

He became a blue whale now, really forcing the stone monster to get its ankles caught in the sand, then its calves and finally the knees. Just as he was exhausted from changing and morphing, the gargoyle was in up to its waist.

He'd done it.

The monster screeched and screamed, thrashing against its sandy prison to no avail. The sun was glinting off of its single remaining golden wing. Beast Boy wondered why it didn't freeze up in the sun, but realized quickly that the sun was actually setting. The golden gargoyle, instead of freezing up in the sun, was beginning to crackle and break in the darkness, as though it was a gargoyle of light and not dark.

When the sun finally set over the tall remaining trees in the arena, and a sliver of moonlight began to rise over the horizon, the gargoyle froze, and slowly and quietly turned to dust.

"OH YEAH!" Beast Boy exclaimed loudly.

He frantically checked his journal stats, worried he was in the danger zone, but after examining it, he realized he only lost another hundred health points.

One of the potions fixed him right up, and he earned a "candy" from the fight that granted him more points for summoning cards for later. He was extra grateful for that.

Beast Boy grinned from pointed ear to pointed ear, and set off on the path, leaving the dusty mess behind him.