War was very appropriately named. He thrived on battle, enjoyed it. It gave him a pleasing rush to slaughter his way trough champion after champion before the world they fought for collapsed into sheer chaos. Countless victories he had under his belt, and his patience had been lost along the way due to the endless winning streak. If he couldn't quickly finish off his opponent and move to the next one, anger consumed him.
But now he fought against one who was also very well trained to fight, but fought to keep peace. Where War had lost his patience many millennia ago, Leo held it at the very core of his being. Having learned a long time ago that it was that patience that kept him calm and undeterred. It was that patience that let him clearly see openings given to him. Like now.
Leo's jaws snapped shut around the handle of that battleaxe as it came down towards him, stopping it cold in it's descent. For a moment they struggled with it, Leo trying to rip it out of War's hand and War refusing to let it go, before the turtle finally had enough of that and changed tactics. He shifted his body around and used his weight to his advantage as he gave a mighty tug. Suddenly caught off balance, the large robot followed that pull and found himself slamming hard into the ground. Leo placed a paw onto the downed herald then wrenched his head up sharpy, finally taking the axe with him. Leo looked at the bot long and hard, then deliberately bit the weapon in two and let the pieces fall.
In a fit of rage War was able to slap the paw off of him and came back to his feet. "You will pay for that! Do you have any idea how many champions I have slain with that weapon!"
The look Leo gave him in return hinted very strongly that this champion really didn't care.
But just because he now had no weapon didn't mean he wasn't dangerous. Leo found that out when the strange mount came to it's master's aid, slamming hard into the dragon to push Leo away from War. Fire followed from it, keeping the dragon away as War remounted. Leo took the quickest way he could to avoid that blast, he took to the air and the hot stream passed under him.
"Fool! Not even there are you safe!" Came the taunt as the hybrid creature lifted up after him.
But it wasn't safety Leo was going for. On the ground dragons were powerful, but still slightly clumsy because of their size. Dragons weren't made to fight on the ground, they were made to fight in the air. Leo's wings flared once he was high up and he hovered and spun his body around to face the charge coming from below. This time when fire came his way, he met it with his own blue flame. Blue quickly collided with red and then rapidly pushed the other fire back towards the beast that spawned it, forcing the duo to break off it's charge.
War narrowed his eyes at his adversary. "You are indeed powerful. But I have done this many of times, you will fall."
Leo did just that, he fell. Those large wings came in close to his body as he dove forward and he let gravity take over as he plunged down. His front claws and teeth found holds on both mount and rider as he forced them down with him, slamming them into the ground with tremendous force. Once again the earth shook as their combined mass hit hard enough to leave a crater.
Mikey still faced off with Death. The herald known for ending lives, and manipulating them after their demise, dealing with the brother who lived his to the fullest. She out of all of them understood how much destroying the families would crush these disgustingly noble souls and did try numerous times to get to those small, soft and weak individuals...only to be foiled by this strange creature time and time again.
And he had the nerve to taunt her!
Even now as his family fled into the relative safety of the forest behind him he blocked her way towards them. That long dragon tongue came out with a strange sound accompanying it as that long digit flopped up and down.
"Did he just raspberry her?" Came a stunned voice from the woods. "He just fucking raspberried her...idiot..."
"Aw come on Aunt Cris. You didn't expect otherwise did you? Daddy will still be Daddy, even if he is a dragon."
"But...fucking raspberries?!"
The only answer to that was the girl's childish giggles.
They all dared to mock her! Her normally calm patience was severely being tried by this champion. Then he did this 'raspberry' thing again, this time crossing his eyes at her.
"I will make all of you suffer endless deaths for this!" Death finally snapped.
Mikey's head twitched back and forth as he mocked her threatening words with his dragon mouth, then rolled his eyes, very unimpressed. Over all he really didn't feel very intimidated by her. She was big, had magical powers and a creepy looking horse thing, but she was also very overconfident...and that was asking for Mikey to take up the challenge to knock her off of her pedestal. He also noticed she took herself very seriously, and that gave him the means to do it. While his brothers fought with teeth, flames and claws, Mikey fought with what he did best. His sense of humor.
"You insufferable thing!" Death actually stomped her foot on the ground as her hands gathered more of that dark energy.
He just stomped his four paws in an overdone mocking version of her temper tantrum, then easily hopped out of the way of the next energy attack. Much to her screaming frustration.
"Will you stand still!"
In came another blast, and that one he also dodged. He looked over his shoulder as it took out the unoffending treeline, then looked back at her...and did another raspberry.
Death's next frustrated scream shook the birds from the trees two miles in every direction.
Her mount came to her then, looking at Mikey with hatred before it let out a roar as she mounted again. Mikey watched calmly as it did, sniffed with disdain, and roared right back. Much louder and with much more force, knocking them both back over with the power of his vocals alone. Then he turned and sat on them.
Donnie watched amused as his brother's backend bobbed up and down from the struggling pair trying to get up again, Mikey's head turned and watched them before a large dragon grin formed, then there was the loud, unmistakable rumble of a dragon fart. Then he formed an air bubble around it and held it there.
"Oh good god!" Cris bellowed out. "That is just disgusting!"
Donnie agreed, even did a dragon facepalm before his attention was turned back towards the last of the four heralds. Pestilence this one was called. And it seemed his name was also well earned. The mere presence of him was already being seen. Trees, grass, bushes, all began to look sickly and diseased if touched by him. Pestilence was turning everything around him into a sickly plant graveyard. Even a poor squirrel that had the misfortune to use him as a bridge to a safer haven rapidly lost it's fur and broke out in puss filled sores before it just died from whatever ailment had struck it.
Pestilence was everything Donnie stood against. This turtle had spent a lifetime trying to cure various ailments unleashed on his brothers, mate, and even countless civilians who never even knew he existed. Anything that all the crazy scientists they had faced over the years came up with, he had to find a way to stop it before it got out of hand. This alien in front of him mocked all of those efforts. Donnie didn't take too kindly to that.
From what he had observed from the squirrel, he too should have grown sickly and passed from the land of the living. But he didn't. Time and time again he rammed into, bit, hit and tail swiped this thing in front of him and he still remained the same. Not even a scale withered away. Pestilence tried to destroy life around him, the earth itself resisted those attempts. Always finding a way to cleanse itself from even the greatest contaminations. Pestilence's power had no hold over him.
"Why do you not wilt away?" The obviously confused herald asked as Donnie came in yet again. "How do you resist?"
Donnie answered by slamming his paw into the ground, sending a boulder up out of the earth and used his tail to slam it into the evil thing in front of him. He calmly watched as Pestilence and mount crashed through the forest, then followed. The trees and plants that were damaged by the blight effect returning back to normal as the dragon of earth passed, leaving the forest just as clear as it was moments before.
Famine. The herald representing starvation. This was something more than on a food level. He relished sucking everything sustainable he could out of any planet along with Pestilence, leaving everything barren, then watched in amusement as it's population slowly and painfully succumbed from the lack of nutrients. Some even eating their own kind just to stay alive for a few more pitiful days.
Fire, normally a destructive force, came into use here. It also had the potential to fill any area it strikes with nutrients needed to grow new life from the ashes. It also got rid of the things that weren't needed in any given area for it to flourish. Thick layers of dead vegetation that took too long to succumb to the decomposition process, weeding out underbrush that hindered the efforts of new growth to sprout up. Even cleared out areas of diseased forests. It also was very helpful in knocking around power hungry, world killing slimeballs like this one.
Raph had by now also taken to the air, barrel rolling out of the way of the stream of fire aimed at him. It followed him as he easily guided his bulk across the sky. Then it bended, flowing towards the turtle dragon as he circled around. Raph then took that hot mass, turned it into a ball and threw it back. Following it as it sped back towards the mounted Famine. Even as the mount struggled to stay aloft after receiving that hot missile, Raph came in low over Famine's head. Out came a forelimb, guided by years of smacking his little brother, and connected solidly with the head it was aiming for. Famine was launched from his saddle and tumbled towards the ground as Raph flared his wings and pulled up and out of the way of the mount's sharp teeth and claws.
The large red banded reptile then banked sharply, fully intending to finish this herald off before he even hit the ground. That plan hit a large snag when the mount came to protect it's rider, crashing into Raph and they both hit the ground rolling. Raph managed to kick the stupid thing off, and right into Famine who was trying to use that scuffle to his advantage.
Raph gave out a slightly annoyed snort as he rolled back to his feet and stared them down.
"Will nothing stop them?" Famine sputtered by this point.
"I do not know! They fight like none before them have!" War sputtered.
"They have been well prepared for us." Famine grumbled as the dragons closed in on them again. "It seems the god who blessed them knew what they were doing."
"The balance is strong in all of them." Pestilence agreed.
Death wiped the disgusting smell from her face, she tried too anyway. "Patience. The stalker still works on his task. All is not yet lost for our cause."
War looked towards the skies then, an evil grin forming at the sight of the fireballs rapidly heading towards them. "And the Chaos Lord deemed it necessary to send us aid. Let us see how well you fight now as you are out numbered!" He roared at the dragons.
They looked up at the fire storm, then at each other, then at the heralds. Then they all shrugged their massive dragon shoulders. Okay, if that's how they wanted to play. Raph was the first one off of the ground, making a beeline for the closet ball of fire. Unflinching he grabbed the thing as it sped through the air, his claws digging in deep as he flung himself on top of it, then tore the pod open from the outside. Then tore open the purple eyed robot inside before hoping off of his ride, slamming his tail into it hard enough to send the broken thing heading towards the heralds. They scrambled to get out of the way of the impromptu missile, eyes wide as the dragons easily took even these numbers on.
"He should have sent more reinforcements..." Pestilence winced a particularly hard hit.
Death silently agreed, then wondered if she should take this time to go help her pet with his task. When she tried to go for the forest however, she found her way suddenly blocked by the ruins of another debris ball that had used to be a transport pod. The roar aimed at her from the blue banded dragon clearly told her that he wasn't going to let her near them however. The stalker was on his own as she now faced the dragon's fury.