-Passing Judgment: Playing by the Rules-

-Rush It-

"Took you long enough," Malchior announced to the glaring Raven who had apparently taken flight to keep up with the dragon. Landing in the clearing, wanting so bad to mouth off however keeping quiet when she heard an ungraceful thump behind her.

Looking back and looking down, blinking when she saw a spent Trent crouching on the ground, panting like a worn out dog, looking ready to cough out his own lungs. He gulped and looked up to Raven, grinning and chuckling out of breath he carefully got to his feet and Raven will admit, she was impressed that he was able to run the distance and still have the strength to stand. In fact, it was almost inhuman of him to keep up with Malchior at the pace he had taken off. Trent huffed, "That … was fun …"

Malchior raised a brow and looked down at Trent in wonder as he stood a top a fallen eroded stone ruin, "Fun? You look ready to pass out."

Trent laughed and wiped the sweat from his brow, "True … but that's the reason why it was fun … I needed it."

Raven turned away and began to look around at the broken, buried, and nearly non existent ruins that were being eaten away by the jungle. Literally vines here, bushes there, trees popping up everywhere. The only thing to signify that there was really any civilization here was the mountain side building that laid hidden beyond the current of vegetation. Beautiful … but when Raven took a closer look and noticed something out of place … tire tracks, she frowned, and spoke to Trent who was still trying to calm his racing heart down as he observed the tire tracks himself, "Malchior was right … Lance was here alright."

"Yeah …" he responded distantly and with little too no emotion, Raven dared to glance up at him, but when she did he had already turned to walk up to the entrance of the hidden temple, "… so how do we know where the second checkpoint is?"

"We have to go in," Malchior informed, jumping down from his perch standing next to Raven who stood beside Trenton, the three of them staring into the darkness that was the entrance – which looked ready to collapse at any moment, "find some clues and fit the pieces together."

Raven furrowed her brows, "Hold on, if we established that every checkpoint was represented by the artifact needed to find the map itself … why would we? Couldn't we just go to the point where the Wolf's Fang was forged or where it was found?"

Malchior sighed exasperatedly, "My dear, don't you think I would have suggested such a thing already? If I even knew where the Fang was forged and found I'd tell you."

Raven picked up on the irritated vibe from Malchior and shot him a deadpanned look, "Well then … what good are you?"

On the side, Trent cleared his throat, trying not to laugh as he turned away and tried to – in vain – cover up a growing smirk. Malchior narrowed his eyes on the human, but turned back to Raven and sneered, "And then you wonder why so manypeople are attracted to your oh-so charming personality."

"Well excuse me, but how many people even know who you are?"

"Love," Malchior growled, but it wasn't threatening at all, in fact, it sounded a lot like a hatchling challenging another his age, "I don't cry for anyone else's attention, just yours. Now if we're done here, let's move."

Raven narrowed her eyes on the dragon who lead the way into the crumbling temple, leaving Raven to huff and follow after Trent who entered the temple as well. The odd trio began to study the odd scriptures on the walls where the light from the outside world still hit it. Trent beginning to squint when the light was starting to thin out, being human he didn't have the advantage Raven and Malchior naturally had under darkness.

So with the sunglasses he usually kept with him within his pocket, he took it out and put it on and almost immediately the UV-lights on the corners of the glasses turned on and the dark lens cleared up. The little bit of light slightly started Malchior in the front of the group, looking back at the human he raised a brow at the odd glasses and Trent just shrugged. Raven observed even more of the ancient text and frowned, her voice echoing within the darkened tunnel as she asked quietly, "I don't see how this place pertains to dragons, this is the Cat's Temple … wouldn't that mean only cat lovers come here."

Trent yanked off some vines that began to grow on the wall. Wanting to get a better look at the text engraved in stone, he raised a brow and jerked his head back, "That's not supposed to be here …"

Raven stood beside him and tried to see what he saw, but all she saw was hieroglyphs that she didn't understand the mean of to begin with. So out of curiosity asked, "Well it is … so what's the problem?"

"We're in India," Trent glanced down at Raven, feeling a bit awkward when she jerked her head back to the wall in order to avoid his gaze. He cleared his throat and focused on the mission at hand, "meaning we should be seeing their ancient language here … but this? It's from another place on this planet; problem is I can't remember where I've seen it before … got any idea's Princess?"

Silence …

At first Trent didn't think anything of it … maybe she was still shaken by their earlier encounter, but when he looked down at Raven he found her staring off to where Malchior was supposed to be standing. He followed her vision and saw the dragon stopped at a sort of wall just standing stalk still as if paralyzed with fear. Raven silently crept up beside the dragon and looked up to him, noticing that he was glaring at the ground. She opened her mouth to address him, but he snapped up a hand and covered her mouth, holding up the other to gesture for her to be silent. Raven followed orders, but couldn't understand what he was trying to concentrate on.

Using her senses she tried to hear what he was hearing … but all she was picking up was the silence and the sounds of the jungle right outside … nothing else. So she went on to using her aura … spreading it out and searching for something else that might be there. She gulped when she felt a sudden pulse of strong magical energy come up from under them. Raven looked up to Malchior when he slipped his hand from her mouth, he looked down at her and they both glanced at the ground.

Trent joined them, and stared at the ground, but raised a brow, "You know, as much as I think dirt is fascinating to stare at … I'd like to know what the hell is going on."

"…" Raven took a breath, and whispered, "There's something under us."

"Getting somewhere …" Trent looked up at Malchior, "… so I take it that's a bad thing?"

Malchior scoffed and looked down the split hallway, going left, and then going right, "Depends on how you look at it. If we haven't have found the ring and activated its hidden map, but we found this place first and we felt the magical pulse … then we'd have a problem, because it could be potentially lethal. But, if the ring was activated and came here already then that would mean the party with the map is being lead to the second location … and the checkpoint was already activated."

"There's a major possibility that this is about the checkpoint," Raven informed as she stared down the left side hallway, glancing back at Malchior for confirmation the dragon nodded and the three went down the left hallway, "but then again … I don't know, X, you're the famous Treasure Hunter. What do you think?"

Trent eyed the sarcastic sorceress for a moment, but sighed and answered as best he could without retorting to her method of speech, "In a place like this, dealing with a potentially great treasure? I wouldn't be surprised if we meet up with something big, bad, and ugly … no doubt something to deter followers like us from those with the ring."

The three stopped at the end of the hall and turned the right corner to stare at a set of stairs which just lead to an even darker level of the temple, Raven, Trent, and Malchior all looked at each other. Trent gestured for Malchior to go first, "Ladies first."

Malchior sneered, "No I insist, you first."

Raven gave the two of them bored looks and preceded down the creepy stair way by herself, "Fine, I'll go first Mr. and Mrs. Spook."

Blindly she took her first step, and when she did the ground beneath her feet gave out, too scared to gain control of her power she screamed and disappeared from the dragon and the thief, both whom tried to grab her before she vanished into darkness. Trent screamed for her, "Raven!"

THUNK!

"Aahhh …" Raven seemed to groan in pain.

Trent gulped and prepared to go in after her, calculating the distance down by the sound of her drop and her voice, "Raven! I'm coming in, hold on –!" Just when he was about to jump in the ground sudden came back up and prevented him from even talking to her. The stairs looked without disturbance, Trent tried to push it back down, but it didn't budge, panic gripped his heart, something that he's never felt for anyone besides Lance, "Shit! Raven! Raven … can you hear me?"

"…"

Trent thought he heard something; even Malchior leaned down closer to try and pick up what they guessed Raven had said. Malchior shouted through the stoned ground, "Come again, what?"

"… Fine … go a head … meet you later …"

Those were what they heard; Trent got back to his feet and stared at the ground in disbelief, "Is she serious?"

Malchior growled, already not liking where this was going as he stared down the rest of the way into the temple, "Apparently so … let's go, the faster we move, the faster we'll find her."

Trent nodded in agreement and proceeded down the stairs with little to no fear at all, Malchior watched him, and glance back down the hall they had come from. Narrowing his eyes when he had thought he sensed and saw something move … he raised a brow and took it as the trick of the darkness … it often plays games with the mind. So making sure he didn't loose the human he went down the stairs after him.

--

Raven gulped and held onto her ankle, having sprained it from the fall, she hissed and tried to never mind the pain as she began the process of healing it. Looking around she sighed and grumble, "Great … now what …"

Gritting her teeth she flexed her ankle and concluded that it was safe for her to get up and walk the tunnel, but when she tried to stand on her feet she only succeeded in bumping her head, "OW! Damn it!"

Glaring at the low level ceiling, Raven stayed crouched on the ground and huffed, looking back and looking forth, looking side to side. She realized that she had at least four different directions to go and if she wanted to get back with Malchior and Trent, she'd had to pick the right one. The only problem was … which tunnel? Trying to using her aura to spread it around and search for them, trying to map her location – their location – Raven grumbled when she felt that stronger force blocking her reading, Well … if this isn't bad enough I don't know what is … she thought to herself and gulped.

Not believing what she was about to do … sitting back on the ground she used the Beast Boy method of direction, "Eenie, meenie, Minie … moe … okay … the right side tunnel it is …"

Doubting … seriously doubting herself, Raven stayed hunched over and began to make her way down her right tunnel, feeling the walls for any signs of another booby trap … possibly another trap door. Raven navigated down the tunnel until she reached a small chamber with a ceiling high enough for her to stand. Dusting herself off, she jumped back and away from the tunnel when she heard a heavy brick literally roll its way over to block the way she had come through.

Raven sighed and figured she wasn't going back there again … looking around, she raised a brow when she found herself in an empty spider-webbed-littered-dusty-slightly lit room. The sunlight was coming from a crack in the ceiling … too small for her to get out, but big enough for anything else to come in. She further observed her surroundings and frowned when she noticed the obvious … There's no doorways out … that's never good …

The sound of another tunnel opening caught Raven's attention and she turned to see where it was, but by the time she saw the light of the exit it was gone and was replaced with a snarling pissed off tiger. Raven backed up when the beast snarled and roared threateningly at her, holding up her hands she backed up, but that was a bad idea for another tunnel opened and other tiger came pouncing out from behind her. Jumping away, but coming close to the first tiger, Raven maneuvered around them and found herself backed into a corner. The two stalking predators snarled and roared at one another as if arguing about who was going to get the first bite, Raven gulped and tried to calculate what to do, Oh … this is really … not … good at all …

Without warning both the tigers jumped for her, ready to tear her to shreds, Raven leapt to the side – or how far she could jump considering the room was so small. Leaning up against a wall, she cried out when one of the tigers got lucky and scrapped her bare back. The pain was intense enough to drop her to her knees, shakily reaching a hand back to feel it, she winced, but when she saw the tigers' blood-thirsty eyes. She immediately ducked and rolled ignoring her pain.

She flipped her hair back and gritted her teeth, running to another corner to dodge another tiger, she pressed against the wall when the second reached up and nearly cut her down to side. Acting out of instinct her eyes flashed white and an aura spike blasted the cats away, knocking them against the far wall and thus knocking their interesting in her out of their system. They groaned and growled and followed their chains back to where they came from. Scrapping the heavy stone in a rhythmic fashion, Raven panted and watched as both door ways opened and they stuttered their way in.

Raven blinked and gulped, trying not to let the pain of her bleeding back get to her she closed her eyes, and wiped the sweat from her forehead, They're trained … this temples not abandoned … but it'll explain the energy … ahh … trying to bring herself back to her feet, she choose to go into one of the tunnels and was glad this one she didn't have to crouch down in order to get through it.

--

Having been walking for a while and feeling like they were getting no where, Trenton glanced back at the dragon who was surprisingly lagging behind. Not really bothering with him, just wanting to find Raven and make sure she was alright. Trent continued the long hall trek, but was stopped when Malchior snatched a hand to his shoulder and pulled him back, whispering quietly, "Do you hear that?"

"What?" Trent silenced himself and listened closely to their surroundings … silence … all accept for a strange rushing sound. Water was the first thing that came to mind, but that was natural for an old place like this to have a bit of water coming from the cliffs, however, Malchior was making a big deal out of it so he concentrated, "It's just water …"

"I know …" Malchior frowned, "but you didn't here the walls moving?"

Trent cursed himself for being so careless, rushing water … old creepy temple with booby traps, Trent gritted his teeth when the water sounded like it was getting closer … the problem was he didn't know from which way it was coming from. Until he stared down one corner and was scared senseless when he saw a white river about to plow the two of them over. "Oh SHIT! MOVE!"

Running without looking back, Trent followed the curves of the hallway they were in, Malchior close behind, with the water literally nipping at their heels. The dreadful sound it made whenever it slammed into a corner the two had rounded. Trent began searching for ways out, or some form of cover, but when he jumped down a flight of stairs and took a hard right he was knocked flat on his back when he crashed into a stone wall. Malchior stopped and stared in disbelief at the wall as Trent jump back to his feet. The two of them turned to see the white water rushing down upon them.

Seeing no other choice, both Trent and Malchior braced when the water came down and slammed them back into the wall, the force by which it hit shattered the eroding stone wall and flushed the both of them into a different sector of the temple. Holding their breaths for as long as they could tumbling and being thrown about the current like rag dolls until the water drained away, Trent and Malchior found themselves scattered.

With Malchior groaning and rolling onto his side, then on his hands and knees, he hunched over and wrapped an arm around his sides. Slathering up the nasty old water, dirt and saliva in his mouth he spat it out and coughed when he breathed through his noise and excess water went down the wrong way. Crimson eyes stared at the muddy ground, trying to get his head to catch up with his body he coughed a bit more and sighed, then proceed to look around for Trent.

"Trenton!" Malchior muttered, coughing a little more, he sat up on his knees and smoothed back the damped hair that fell in front of his eyes. Looking around he narrowed his eyes when he found that he was in a part of the temple that appeared to be bridged over an underground canyon … big enough for him to morph and navigate through it. The problem was … Trent wasn't anywhere to be seen. Carefully getting to his feet and making his way to the edge of the broken bridge he looked down and shook his head when the drop was too far for anyone to survive.

The possibility that the human could have gone over was great … Malchior was just about to determine that Trenton Bou was gone, when he heard something moving from behind. Turning his attention back to the doorway he had come through, he spotted a shattered part of the wall up against a rock and with a harsh budge the piece fell and Trent looked up at him with a dry expression. Which was in total contrast to the rest of the damp body, "No, don't move … I'm fine, how are you by the way?"

Malchior ignored the sarcasm and walked up to the wall that had shattered when the water hit it, observing it, then observing their surroundings as Trent got to his feet all on his own, the human sighed and leaned against the wall and glared at Malchior, "What the hell you lookin' at?"

"The reason why we were flushed out of the temple," Malchior glanced over his shoulder, taking off the dragon tail that his hair was in, he began to gather it all back up and neatly put it back into place, "something triggered that flow of water … and where there's that much water, there has to be more of it. Meaning we have to keep moving, and watch where you step, you could set off another trap."

Trent scoffed and spat out the bad tasting water in his mouth, watching as Malchior walked to the edge of the crumbling bridge; the dragon crouched and without effort jumped across the large gap over to the other side. Looking back to Trent he raised a brow and challenged him, "Think you can jump it?"

Trent wiped his mouth of the water that dripped off his face and his hair, his glare growing darker by the second as he pushed off the wall and took off in a sprint. Without even thinking he jumped the gap and landed in a roll, stopping in a crouch before Malchior. He got back to his feet and scowled, "You wanna say that to my face now?"

Malchior chuckled and turned to continue on the trek through the temple, "I could have honestly cared less, people like you don't impress me one bit, which is why I can't find what exactly is it that Raven sees in the likes of … you."

"Hold the fuck up," Trent scowled, "now I know you're not going to stand there and say this shit and think I'm just gonna sit here and take it. What's your fucking agenda anyway besides being told to follow us around by Zak."

The dragon raised a brow and looked over his shoulder to Trent, "Zak … that's an interesting name, what makes you think –"

"Cut the shit, I'm arrogant not fucking stupid … I know you don't want to be here as much as I don't even want you here, so what do you want with Raven?"

Malchior tilted his head in thought, trying to decide whether or not to string the human along for a while more … but figured that it wasn't worth the effort and wanted to see how well this one could handle the truth, "From the moment I spoke to her I always thought she was an interesting girl – still is … and I know you think so too … point being … we can't both just "think" she's interesting now can we? The days waning … I think it's a good idea we keep moving if we're going to be able to find her."

With that, Malchior turned and left Trent to his thoughts, feeling the hot glare burning holes into his shoulder, the dragon smirked, knowing full well that this conversation wasn't through with yet. He was just about to disappear into the new tunnel, when he heard something extremely unbelievable.

"X!"

Trent stopped; Raven … he thought in disbelief and looked over the edge of the broken bridge, down into the canyon where he thought he heard her voice. Though as he looked Malchior appeared beside him and both guys spotted a waving arm from a ledge of the canyon not too far from their perch. It was Raven, Trent felt a breath of relief escape his otherwise frustrated chest in seeing that she was still alive, "Hey there Princess! Want us to come down and help ya out?"

Raven sighed tiredly, her back pulsed with so much pain, cringing when she lowered her arm from waving; she nodded and couldn't help to smile at the sound of that stupid nickname. She never knew she'd be so happy to see Trent or Malchior again, alive and well … although, from her perspective, they looked like they went for a little swim. Calling up to Trent she shouted, "If it's not too much trouble!"

Without needing to be told twice, Malchior jumped off the edge and fell to Raven's ledge, Raven immediately backed up to give him room, and was surprised that even with the distance he was still able to pull off a smooth landing. Standing before her, the dragon frowned when he smelt her blood, heavy, and by the looks of her condition, pale and exhausted, Malchior stepped up to her, "What's wrong?"

Raven bit down on her lip when Malchior turned her around and got a glimpse at the gashes on her back, "I … uh … ran into some trouble. Two tigers to be exact, Malchior, I don't think we're alone."

Malchior scoffed, "You don't have to tell me what I already know love … let me take care of you first."

Malchior ran a claw along the edge of one of the cuts, squeezing Raven's shoulder comfortingly when she hissed in pain, running his claws along all the edges of her scraps. The magic he used to heal her working almost immediately as he tried to make this process as painless as possible. Raven tried not to show it hurt and continued to talk to him, "Ahhh … uhhh … um … Did you two – ow – uh, did you two find anything useful?"

"… Not really … we were looking for you."

Raven tisked and shook her head, "Never mind me, Lance is the one in trouble, I can very well – AH! Take care of myself! Did you do that on purpose?"

Raven glared over her shoulder when one of Malchior's claws accidentally slipped into her wound, the dragon smirked and chuckled, "Sorry, my fault you were moving … there … all done …"

There was a tingle in her back, but other than that, the pain began to subside and Raven felt a lot better because of it, facing Malchior, she glanced up where she knew Trent was waiting for them and looked back down at Malchior with a frown, "We're running out of time … we need to know where to go next if we're going to be able to catch Lance before he jumps to the gateway into Dragon Trove."

"I know," Malchior nodded, and held out a hand for her to take, Raven did so without hesitation and shuttered at his chilling smirk, "so let's go up shall we?"

Without warning Raven was jerked skyward in a single bound, suddenly appearing on Malchior's back, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck to keep herself from falling as Malchior scaled the canyon. In a matter of seconds he was back on the bridge, sliding Raven to her feet and standing up on his own. They both looked around for Trent, and stood perfectly still when sharp pointy objects were pressed against their throats. Trent, who was supposed to be waiting for them, was now on his knees, hands bound in front of him with strong vines, and with a look of utter irritation on his face as he stared up at Malchior and Raven, "Took ya long enough to join the party."

Raven gulped, "What's going on?"

The jungle dwellers glared at her, and in their native language told her to shut up and pressed their tip ever closer to her neck. Raven reframed from breathing for a moment as the sharp point nearly pierced her skin. Glancing at Malchior the dragon bared his fangs and snarled at the humans that dared to threaten him – actually, threatened Raven, but that didn't cross her mind. Looking down at Trent she saw the natives take a firm hold of his chin and turned his head side to side, getting a better look at him.

Raven narrowed her eyes when they spoke to each other and gestured to their eyes, Lance and X have the same colored eyes … they look similar … could these people be making a comparison between the two …? The natives seemed to be arguing about something, and then they pointed to Malchior who dared anyone of the humans to poke him again, Raven looked up at the man holding her still. He was joining in on the argument; Malchior said that Jylin has another dragon …

Without warning, one of the natives threw down his spear and seemed to give up on the argument, pointing at Raven, Raven yelped in surprise when the native behind her yanked her hair and forced her to look up at the one pointing at her. His English surprisingly well for a man that never seen civilization, "You … come looking for treshah!"

Raven shook her head, "No … no, you got it all wrong! We're looking for a boy –"

"A boy!"

More ruckuses, Trent glared at the natives and threw in his two cents, which wasn't such a good idea when he opened his mouth, "The men the kid was with are – ah!"

A spear was pressed against his neck, chocking down his words as he felt his skin almost split open, the English speaking native glared, "You – no – talk!" he turned back to Raven, "You ansah question! Wha – you seek?"

"The little boy …" Raven gulped, gritting her teeth when the man holding her hair pulled harder, "… he-he's headed for the treasure … his life is in trouble, we need to get him back."

"So … you wish to know where he is?"

"Yes … please, it'll help very much."

"…" more chit-chat amongst the natives … Malchior, Trent – not that he had a choice – and Raven all silenced themselves as the English speaker quieted everyone and returned his wild eyes on Raven, "… you … tame tigers … only the Kali-Kanti can do such thing … so we honor you with … Fire-Dance …"

Trent raised a skeptical brow and discreetly pulled away from the spear, eyeing the English speaking native he asked hesitantly, "So what? You're bustin' out the grass-skirts and dancing in a circle?"

Malchior dropped his head and shook his head in disbelief, "You … idiot."

--A Few Minutes Later--

Deep in the heart of the Cat's Eye Temple where the lava flowed within the center of what look like a built arena that was filled with the natives that apparently lived in the temple. With floating platforms – Raven, Malchior, and Trent finally figured out what was causing the power surge – drifting back and forth some higher than others over the boiling lava. A top of the highest platform, closest to a small vent towards the outside word, was Malchior and Trent, cuffed down to the platforms with strong magic that not even Malchior could break.

Each on either side of the arena, Trent tried his best to slip his hand through the chains, ignoring the pain when it began to cut into his flesh, but a flash of energy prevented him from going all the way. Meaning all his hard work, no matter how many times he tried, was all for not. Cussing till he was black and blue, he looked over his platform to observe the fact that he was hovering over the side of the arena that was carved into a fierce tiger. While over on Malchior's side, surprise – or not – he was over a dragon.

But Raven?

She was on the bottom staring up at the two in worry, the cuffs on her wrists prevented her power usage and the task bestowed upon her seemed impossible, "The Fire Dance … you just had to ask huh X …"

Looking over her shoulder to the man who pushed her to the edge of the platform, Raven balanced herself and gulped, Okay … okay … looking up to Trenton and Malchior she frowned and bit down on her lower lip, I can figure this out … it's just jumping platforms … right? She spoke too soon, before she knew it parts of both Malchior and Trent's platform began to crumble, Trent, not paying any attention nearly fell into the pit. If he wasn't so flexible and quickly rolled onto where it was stabled he would have been fried at that moment.

"Holy shit!" Trent steadied his rapidly pounding heartbeat before daring to look over the edge to Raven, "Hey! Princess! A little help if ya don't mind!"

Raven gritted her teeth and cursed under her breath, "Shit …"

I have to start somewhere … she thought hesitantly and praying that nothing fishy would happen leapt across the edge of the arena to one of the floating platforms. Rolling and stopping in a crouch at the edge, she felt it begin to shutter under her weight and her worst fear was realized. No! Malchior noticed and shouted her warning, "Raven! You have to jump! … NOW!"

Catching on to what he was talking about, Raven saw a drifting platform and just seconds before hers collapsed into the lava pit, she leapt to another one, but it was too high! Ending up having to dangle over the edge with little to grasp a hold of, Raven held on for dear life and tried her best to get up, gritting her teeth and dangling over the pit she eventually pulled herself up, but her troubles weren't over yet. The platform began to vibrate, groaning in irritation she stood up and looked for the next platform, but as she did, once again Malchior and Trent's perch crumbled away.

It forced Malchior to stand up and lean against the dragon carved wall with what little space he was provided, Trent once again nearly fell down, but leaned against his side of the chamber and glared at the thinning edge. "Shit, shit, shit, shit!"

Again, trying to slip his hand through the chains, never caring about his peeling flesh, he growled and bared the pain, becoming far more determined when he heard Raven cry out for having barely grasped another platform. Trent felt the pulse of energy about to push his hand back into the chain, Please … please god … if there was anything I'd ask of you … it's to help me out here … please … clenching his eyes closed he felt the energy build up and burst forth to keep him locked … but something weird happened. Another energy surged countered the curse to keep him chained, allowing him to finally slip free! With his hand a bit shaky from the pain, he quickly moved onto the next and found that this time it wasn't so hard.

For reasons unknown to even how he slipped through the magic, he looked over his edge and yelped when Raven popped her head up and nearly hit him, as she climbed to his little perch. It took a moment for Trent to realize that it was Raven before he began to help her out, "You know … even if you got up here … it wouldn't – have mattered because I was chained to the wall."

Raven took a deep breath when she was finally hauled onto solid ground, panting and looking just about ready to fall over and die, she looked up at Trent, "Oh … really … and … how … may I ask … have you gotten free when my cuffs prevent me from using my powers …?"

More panting, she was just so tired, Trent smirked and shrugged, "Who knows, now let's get you out of those things and help the lizard across the lake."

"Right …" Raven sat up and watched as Trent finally had the flexibility to reach for his lock pick in the Red X belt, taking it out he worked on unlocking the ancient cuffs. Clicking one off and quickly working on the second one, he smirked when he heard it snap but cried out when he touched her bare hand and a spark of black energy shocked him away from her. Problem was … it didn't come from Raven because she pulled away as well. Thinking that it must have been a side effect from the cuffs, Raven knew it was something far more unstable … and … much to her fear … unbelievable.

Not wanting to say anything, Raven got to her feet and looked across the pit to Malchior and gasped when another part of his platform crumbled and it forced him to use his claws to cling onto the wall. Levitating off the ground, Raven used her power to float Trent along side her as she took off for Malchior and sent a slash of her magic to cut off the chains. All around them the crowd roared in outrage for no blood has been shed, and those with spears began to throw them in order to kill at least one of them.

Once freed, Malchior dropped from his wall and in mid-air morphed into his true form and roared loud enough to rattle even Trent's brain. The humans in the arena changed from outraged to fear and screamed. The chaotic sounds bounced off the tightly enclosed space. Malchior snorted black smoke and scooped Raven and Trent onto his back as he soared up … up … and out of the shaft. Spinning out and roaring in triumph – and relief with the breath of fresh air. On his back, Trent, behind Raven, noticed something orange and black headed their way, and he sat up, "HEY! Dragon! TO YOUR RIGHT!"

Malchior heeded the warning and glanced to his right … Raven did as well and she gasped in horror when she saw the T-ship about to come into a head on collision with them! Almost immediately Malchior climbed in altitude to escape the collision, but as he did, the T-ship dove down, and Beast Boy at the side of the ship got a very good look at Raven. In fact, his forest green eyes and Raven's violet orbs locked for the shortest of seconds before Malchior took off in the opposite direction.

Meanwhile …

Aboard the T-ship, Beast Boy shook his head in disbelief as he looked back to try and see if he could possibly see Raven again to verify that it was her. Then, Robin came on the com, "Report, is everyone alright?"

Starfire sighed in relief, "I am undamaged … but, what on Earth was that?"

Cyborg huffed, "Whatever it was, I got a lock, it's headed to South America … Rob?"

"…"

Starfire blinked slowly and asked, Beast Boy still staying quiet, "Robin … whatever it was … I do not think it belongs here on your world … I think we should pause this search to take care of that creature."

"… I don't know … it didn't look like it meant harm."

"It would not hurt to at least be sure …"

"…"

Beast Boy gulped and shut off everyone else's communication to speak to Robin by himself, "Robin … I know this may sound kind a crazy … but I – I thought I saw Raven on that thing …"

"… Dragon …" Robin corrected silently, "… it was a dragon … and I'm willing to bet that was Malchior too."

Beast Boy furrowed his brows in confusion, "How? Why? I thought that Malchior dude was bad news?"

"Maybe … but with what's been happening so far … I'm not taking the chance." Beast Boy was about to argue a bit more with Robin, but his leader reconnected him with everyone else, "I'm going to go follow that thing … you guys stay here and find out what you can."

Cyborg raised a skeptical brow, "You sure that's a smart idea Rob?"

Robin looked back to Beast Boy who eyed him in confusion, not understanding how Robin could travel by himself and not bring the rest of his crew with him. Or even how he could think that Raven's in league with Malchior the evil dragon! Whatever was going on in his leader's head, Beast Boy would never know … and often times he just didn't even want to know.

When the mask looked away from him, Beast Boy saw him nod to himself as if convinced that what he planned was right, "Yeah … Cyborg you're in charge, Titans! Separate!"

Starfire gulped, not at all enjoying this idea much, she whispered through her mouth piece, "Good-luck Robin …"

--

"…"

Trent leaned closer to Raven when he heard her whisper something incoherent, hoping that she'd repeat it, she didn't and he risked asking her to, "What?"

Raven gulped and clenched her eyes shut and gritted her teeth, "… He saw me …"

"Who? Robin?" Trent raised a brow and shook his head, "Unless he wanted to crash the ship, I highly –"

"Not Robin!" Raven suddenly snapped, and brought a hand to her face, covering it she sighed and whispered calmly, "Beast Boy … Malchior!"

The dragon looked over his shoulder, "Yes?"

"Where are we headed?"

"South America."

Trent raised a brow, "Why?"

"The natives, their language did not belong in India … if I remember correctly I thought I had heard it spoken somewhere there."

Trent could have slapped himself for not realizing the obvious from the beginning as he was observing the scriptures. "Great …" Trent pouted and glared off the side of the dragon to the rushing tree tops, "… just great …"

Raven ignored the thief, "Are we flying through the night?"

Malchior nodded, "Might as well if we hope to loose the Titans and catch up to Lance."

Supportively, Raven patted the side of his long neck, "Alright … just take it easy Malchior."

"You're ever been to South America?" Trent asked curiously.

Raven shook her head and looked over her shoulder to him, "Have you?"

"Yeah, beautiful place … but not for the faint of heart …"

"I'll keep that in mind."

--

Disclaimer: O.o … you serious? Come on I highly doubt anyone on this site really owns the Teen Titans, gimme a break.

A/N: No excuses, I had finals and life right now sucks eggs, but I won't bore you with the details so ... see you guys in the next update.

L8r daez