Chapter Thirty-Two

The Big and Ugly

Winterwing was a wolf divided.

He knew that Raven was going off to face Sanath, and the big winged wolf wanted to go with her. Not for her sake, but to avenge his fallen wizard. However, despite his best efforts to the contrary, Winterwing had started to identify with these humans, and a wolf was by nature a pack creature. Even flying ones had the natural instincts of a pack animal. The pack needed him; therefore he must go with them. He could no more deny this instinct than he could swim through the earth like the sea. Not to mention the fact that Beast Boy was already there…fighting Sanath for Raven. It was something an animal could understand, a battle to win a female, and even though they all would deny it and come up with excuses (as humans often will), Winterwing could tell what this was truly about, and that was something he could not interfere with. However strong his need to rip out Sanath's throat his nature and instincts told him that this would be a wrong thing to do. He hated it, and wanted nothing more than to ignore his instincts.

Had he been human he would have. Had he been a man he would have turned right around and followed Raven into battle and made sure that he took down that treacherous slug Sanath. He would have avenged that wonderful boy who had taught him that not all humans where smelly apes with barely a brain in their thick skulls (though Winterwing still wondered about many). But a wolf is not like a human, no matter how much Winterwing wanted to go he knew he could not. So he followed the Titans, prepared to fight with them.

He only hoped Sanath would die, so he could give his grave a salute from his left hind leg.

He looked up at the sky, which had quickly become cloud covered. He did not like those clouds. They felt bad and wrong, not at all like normal clouds. He felt that the monsters had somehow produced them. It would make sense if they did, seeing as how they could not stand direct sunlight.

Winterwing's thoughts where interpreted by a sudden attack of Uglies. They dropped down on the group screeching and howling hungrily. Lightflight, who was soaring above them, scorched as many as he could from the sky. He tried not to lower his flame to much. He was afraid he might fry his companions. Still, the dragon's efforts thinned the Ugly ranks and gave the Titans an easier time of it.

"Don't stop to fight!" Robin bellowed. "Just get to the portal. We can take care of them after it is destroyed!"

Winterwing growled and leaped over a group of Uglies, slashing with his fangs as he went. He kept his wings folded tightly along his back to prevent them from getting torn by the Uglies. He ducked and weaved and dodged. Occasionally he would get a grip on an Ugly throat and tear, but he never slowed down to do the job properly.

Lucky for the Titans the Uglies were strangely like sharks. Whenever one of them was badly wounded a group of its fellows would pounce and attempt to consume him. They were cannibals, and it was clear they did not care what they at as long as they ate. This greatly helped the Titans, but this also caused quite a bit of chaos, and it was hard for the team to keep track of each other in this swarm of horrible ugliness.

"There it is!" Robin bellowed. Winterwing looked and saw what appeared to be a kind of alter with your standard swirling mass of interdimensional swirling galactic looking stuff. You know what I mean. The previously mentioned ominous clouds where emanating from large stick like protrusions circling the edges of the thing.

"Ready! There should be a big one right about-"Robin said, but he was interrupted, right on cue, by the appearance of a large claw reaching out of the portal. Like a demented swimmer exiting a pool a huge Ugly emerged from the muck. About five seconds later the wind changed and the Titans where hit by the smell. Fourteen buses full of manure would have paled in comparison to the big Ugly's stench. It seemed to be caked with more muck then all the landfills in America. Every disgusting thing in the world, from cow dung to human blood to plain old mud covered it like a second skin. It was clear that this thing did not understand the meaning of the word "bath". The other Uglies fled to a safe distance, mainly to avoid getting stepped upon.

The giant Ugly spread its feces-dripping wings and leaned towards the Titans. It gave a chuckle, as if it were not at all impressed.

"When I sensed intruders I was sure the green-eyed dragon was coming for us, but instead I see a pack of morsels waiting to become my next meal." If halitosis could be an attack then this guy had mastered the art. Heck, you could see the remains of its last meal sticking in its teeth and decaying. Winterwing tried not to throw up. "I had hoped to meet her in combat, but I suppose eating you will have to do."

"What are you yammering about?" Robin growled. Normally he would not have asked, but the words "green-eyed dragon" had caught his ear. Hadn't Raven mentioned that the dragon in her dreams had green eyes?

"You don't know her? She is the bane of my people and our most dedicated enemy. Her allies call her Malachi. Stupid little dragonbitch is always butting her snout where it does not belong. We would have taken over much more territory if she where dead."

"What do you mean?" Arcktos growled and quite literally too.

"What do you think I mean little hors d'oeuvre? What do you think my kind are here for? Do you really think we are here to help that fool, Sanath?" The creature's grin was so wide its teeth would have gleamed in the sunlight, had they been clean enough to shine or if there had been sunlight. "We care not for that fools cause. When we are done with his help we will sweep over this land. We will consume every living thing we see, and what we cannot eat will destroy. What we cannot destroy we will spoil, until this entire world is nothing but a useless lifeless lump in the cosmos."

Starfire gasped "Why would you do such a horrible thing to this beautiful land?"

"That is what we were made for, little lunch." The Uglier replied. "We are Destruction and we are Death. We are Plague and Pestilence. The Four Horsemen dwell within us, and we are one with them. We bring the end to everything and everyone, and all will fall before us. None save the green-eyed dragon has defeated us, and no one else can."

"We've dealt with your kind before." Robin snarled "We defeated Trigon-"

The monster threw back his head and laughed "TRIGON! Some worthless little spirit demon?! The source of all evil he calls himself, but he is the least of all Demon Lords! Fool! Trigon is but one beast! We are as Legion, for we are many and everlasting! Defeat one of us and it will just be reborn again! How can you possibly hope to stand against us?"

Now, although Lightflight was indeed a novice when it came to battle, he did realize the value of a sneak attack. While the villain was rambling on, as they will do, the big dragon had circled high in the air. Floating behind the monster he aimed and dove. Just as the last word left the Uglies mouth Lightflight slammed into the monster. Several tons of pissed off dragon is not something you can ignore.

Lightflight's claws tore into the big Uglie's back. He breathed fire at the creature's neck in an effort to finish the creature quickly. The creature roared and leaped backwards. At first the Titans thought the thing was startled, but then it slammed its back against the wall, with Lightflight still attached. It slammed Lightflight into the wall repeatedly, shaking the earth as it went.

Lightflight had never once in his life battled anything bigger than a temperamental night horse. He was not a fighter, and although dragons are indeed very powerful creatures all that power amounts to nothing if you do not know how to use it. The Ugly, on the other had, knew how to fight. It had been born fighting, killing and eating its nest mates moments after it was born. You don't grow to be a big Ugly by being weak, because the weak Uglies where always eaten by their stronger brothers. The big one knew much more about battle then Lightflight, and it was proving it.

Somehow Lightflight managed to scramble away from the wall. He launched himself into the air with three mighty flaps. On the third he turned around and prepared to face it. The big Ugly soared upwards as well and smashed into Lightflight, sending both of them through the air. Lightflight took a deep breath and let loose with fire in the monster's face. The creature replied with a breath of greenish gas that emitted from its mouth that chocked Lightflight's throat and clogged his nostrils.

While Lightflight sputtered and hacked the Ugly tore at his wings and sides. They were just above the canyons in the air, blood and dirty fur and scales raining down on the Titans. At first they could only stare at the scene above them, until finally Robin snapped out of it and remember what they were supposed to be doing.

"We've got to help him!" Robin took out a pair of exploding disks and prepared to throw, but Arucules put a hand on his shoulder.

"I'll take care of it; you take care of the portal." The big minotaur was staring at the big Ugly with a strange look in his eyes. Robin just could not place it, but maybe that was because minotaur facial expressions are a little strange. Comes from having a bovine head.

Robin thought about objecting, but Arucules did have a point. If they did not take that portal down and quickly then more monsters would be born. It needed to be taken down, and it needed to be taken down now.

So when Arucules flew (apparently he had the same powers of flight that Raven did) upwards to the fighting giants, Robin did not say anything. He turned his attention to the portal.

Up close the thing looked like a giant black stone tree trunk with a swirling mass in the middle. Its "roots", which for some reason looked a lot like pipes, stretched from the thing and up the walls of the cliff. It was black in color and it oozed red…stuff. It looked diseased and disgusting, kind of like the Uglies themselves.

The Titans aimed their various weapons at the thing. Sonic cannons, starbolts, pink hexbolts, explosive disks and plain old arrows shot towards the thing but did no damage at all. Their combined powers did not even scratch the thing.

Cyborg squinted at thing for a second then ran up to it.

"What have you found?" Robin asked.

Cyborg ran his hands over the thing and then pressed a certain spot down. A panel fell to the ground revealing what looked like circuitry, except for the fact that the circuits had glittering gemstones imbedded in strange patterns and hooked into the wires. Cyborg scrutinized the thing, and then grunted in surprise.

"This is weird. It looks like some sort of machinery, but I can't figure out the power source. This thing shouldn't be able to run." He said.

"It looks like A First Dragon design. See these gems." Winterwing indicated a gem with a paw. "This would be the power source you are looking for. Both magic and technology combined, like what the First Dragons did. Needs both magic things and science things to work it."

"Great, wonderful. Now how do we smash it?" Jinx growled.

"Best way is to be like the Dragons. Combine a power of magic and a power of science to the insides and it will blow up." Winterwing growled. "But we will need a lot of power to do it."

"Right! Jinx, give me a hand!" Cyborg aimed his sonic cannon and fired at the exposed circuitry. Jinx followed in suit. The object started to shake and tremble, but it did not give.

"We need more power!" Robin growled.

"Starfire, you are an alien, correct?" Winterwing asked. Starfire nodded "You can provide more science power…but we still need some magical power."

Robin gritted his teeth. If only Raven was here with her powers!

Winterwing turned to Robin and stared at him with his golden wolf eyes. Being stared at by a wolf is a very interesting experience, and it can be rather unsettling.

"Prey-Bird…you are Raven's familiar. You can channel her powers. If you tap into her powers you can provide the magic."

"But she doesn't have her powers!" Robin said "And even if she did I don't know how to channel them! I barely know how they work!"

Winterwing snarled "Fool! You are connected to her soul! Her powers are a part of her soul! Even if the power is no longer in her body that does not mean that it is not still a part of her soul. You can still access it!"

"HOW!" Robin snarled.

"You don't know! How can you not! It is an instinct all familiars have the moment they connect with their wizards!" Winterwing stepped towards him "Search inside yourself and find the part that is connected to her. Follow it the source and find the power inside. Use it."

Robin closed his eyes and concentrated. He thought that, if he recalled the way Raven's mind felt when it had touched his. He tried to remember how it felt to wield her power against Trigon. He began to feel Raven's mind again, and through it her power. He followed that feeling, even though it was cold and dark and unsettling.

When he opened his eyes the others saw a white glow, the same one that was in Raven's eyes when she used her power, shinning beneath his mask. They looked at his hands they saw Raven's dark magic surrounding them. It was faint and kind of weak, but it was there.

Robin felt that he did not have much to work with here, whether that was because of his inexperience or because Raven's power was currently in the hands of a nutcase no one could tell. He seemed to concentrate for another second, and then Robin pointed a finger at the thing and shot the narrowest and concentrated beam he could. He hoped that he could get a little boost by concentrated the power he had. It was worth a shot.

Starfire faced the thing and sent a beam of starbolt energy towards it (even though she did not really understand how her being an alien equated into "science power"). She was soon followed by Cyborg and Jinx.

This time the tree thing not only shook, but it started cracking and crumbling. The red oozed started to flow even faster and harder, and Robin had the feeling he knew what it was.

It was not tomato juice; let's just put it that way.

A huge shadow appeared over the portal. The Titans looked up to see Lightflight being pushed through the air towards them by the big Ugly. Arucules was flying around the monster, shooting it with his horns at every opportunity like a humming bird mobbing a condor. They came crashing down on the portal, the big Ugly tearing at Lightflight's neck with its teeth.

Boulders were dropping from the cliffs. Arucules flew down towards the Uglie's tail. He grabbed it and stretched it out. He then shot his horn beams in a place where the sun did not shine.

No one, not even a monster, can ignore an attack up its anus. The creature roared, released Lightflight and turned to Arucules, who still had the Ugly by the tail. The Ugly and the minotaur stared at each other for a few moments. Both gazes could have melted steel.

Arucules knew that the place was coming down on their ears. He bellowed "You kids get out of here. You too, gator purse!"

Lightflight, who was in no position to argue, quickly took flight. The Titans, however, wanted to stick around. They where not in the habit of abandoning allies.

"Arucules! It's coming down!" Robin bellowed. "Let's get out of here!"

"I can handle this! Get moving!" the minotaur was still focused on his foe.

"But-"

"GIT!" the old warrior finally tore his eyes away from the big Ugly and shot his horn beams towards the Titans, who finally took the hint.

The big Ugly took this opportunity to wrench Arucules high into the air and swing him around. Arucules snarled and bit the creature on its tail tip and ripped off a good chunk of it. The Ugly breathed its green gas at the minotaur, but he simply launched himself from the tail towards the thing's head. Golden beams of Arucules' spirit energy shot from his hands like little blades, creating little puncture marks on the thing's face. Arucules shot over the beast's head and landed behind it, even though he had still managed to inhale some of that nasty smelling bad breath. He gathered energy into his hands and shot it with a ball of golden light. The Ugly turned, snapping and biting, but for a guy as old as Arucules the minotaur sure could move. He dodged most of them, until the boulder slammed onto his leg and crushed it. He had temporarily forgotten that they where surrounded by falling rocks, a mistake he would have never had made in the old days.

For a moment Arucules remembered that there had never been a senile Makhar, because the first onset of this disease was usually accompanied by the snap of a monster's jaws.

The big Ugly went in for the kill, but like Arucules it had forgotten the boulders, or perhaps it thought itself immune to them. Whatever the reason it failed to notice the big sharp one that fell from the sky like the wrath of some god (probably Zeus because it was a bit like a stalactite and vaguely thunderbolt shaped) and struck it through the neck. The creature ended falling an inch from Arucules' face, dead before it hit the ground.

Arucules struggled to free himself from his own boulder. He knew he could not die yet! Raven does not know about it! He thought I can't die now, or it dies with me! This world could end if it is not complete!

Arucules freed himself from the rock and started to fly. He flew low to avoid the rocks that where still falling towards him. It seemed like the entire canyon was collapsing in on itself.

He had almost made it to the end. He could see the Titans now. They had managed to escape and they were giving the canyon considering looks, as if they were planning on coming back for him!

Stupid kids.

He almost made it. He was just ten feet from safety when the entire thing caved in. A boulder struck his left shoulder, then his right hip. Then three little ones slammed into his back and brought him down.

He was buried under a ton of rocks.

Winterwing howled as only a wolf can when he has lost a friend or packmate. A sound full of loneliness and pain. The big wolf bounded to where he had seen Arucules fall and started digging and moving rocks. He knew that Arucules was strong, but he was afraid that not even the powerful minotaur could survive this. He was soon joined by the others, who also started to dig. Lightflight, who was now felling very stupid and useless, landed awkwardly on his injured and bloody wings. He gingerly started to dig as well, making sure that if he did uncover Arucules that he would not hurt him with those sharp claws.

Just when they thought that the minotaur was lost they uncovered him.

He was alive.

But he might not be for long.

Arucules struggled to stay conscious, to stay alive. He could not die yet! He had to stay alive! At least long enough to see Raven again! He needed to tell her!

This thought was still echoing in his head as the darkness came and took him.

And what of the rest of the battle, the one between the combined forces of Nazlar, Warriors and orcs against the Ugly army?

Well, usually in stories like this one the Forces of Good are heavily outnumbered by the Forces of Darkness and have to rely on Our Heroes to save the day at the last minute. Fortunately for the Forces of Good that was not the case this time. The field was equally matched…until the portal went down. The cloud cover that was keeping the Uglies alive in the daytime went with the portal. The sun then shone nice and bright on the field and within minutes the Uglies where reduced to bubbling puddles of goo, and quite nasty goo too. All that was left where the few Halfbloods who where a part of Sanath's rebellion. These guys surrendered very quickly, mainly because of the fact that the orcs were the ones surrounding them.

Let's pause a moment to say this about orcs. They are very large and very muscular, like wrestlers on steroids, only orcs don't need chemical aids to be huge. They also have a tendency to go through enemies like fifty thousand masked maniacs with chainsaws. They also ride very big things that look like a combination of a rhinoceros and a wolf, very hairy and very mean (and no, these don't have fangs or claws. Don't need fangs or claws either. They have horns…Very. Big. Horns). Now, if you are looking at several hundred of these big green guys on their big hairy mounts with their big shiny axes looking at you like you are lunch, you might be very inclined to surrender as well.

Not to mention the fact that quickly coming up behind the orcs, it is very unwise to be in front of a berserk orc, where several pissed looking Nazlar helped. And the armored guys with the lances where very persuasive as well.

The Halfbloods surrendered. And that basically ended the battle. There where a few losses on both sides, but not that many. It was, in fact, the most anticlimactic battle in history.

If only more battles where like that.