Let's Try Again (Paige & Nornir later)

Kale seemed to question whether he should speak during this time or just let the silence overtake them. His gut churned as he held her hand and beat at an erratic pace. "So do you like being a Titan was it a challenge to join their ranks?" He said just to end the silence, and inquire how she came about joining this team.

The one called Hotwire was the second Titan he ever met, other than Yang and Energy Warrior. She seemed rather annoyed by this fellow, but given the situation and the fact that they were on the same team he couldn't see why. It was clear he was trying to see where she was going with this and she quickly got back on topic. She thoroughly explained her training exercises. Now this was something that interested Kale. "I scaled the tower until I reached it's top and met with Yang, who was impressed with my earlier battle with a bigger man that could rip apart the strongest buildings with just his fingers...."

Kale would've continued, but there was a problem. The entire time they had been walking there were more and more locust around them. This wasn't an issue at first, because they were in the mesa and many insects lived here, but the more they pressed onward the more these things began to rally and circle them until Brave began to sense danger from their intent. As soon as he stopped speaking, the locust all flew into the air and stormed around them. That's when Kale noticed the bones of another animal they had been feasting on. It looked to have been killed while in mid movement, had the locust done this or was it killed by something else?

The insects grew in number as they flew together form many different places into a cloud that blotted out the sky. At least 43,000 in number and definitely too many to fight. "Run!" Kale suddenly yelled out as the death cloud flew towards them like a tsunami wave.

kale was surprised to see Energy Warrior so afraid. He had never seen her react in this way. Where was the female champion he had grown to admire. In any case they had to retreat. Except, they had run into a dead end. A large mound of dirt separated them from safety. Kale could see the look of terror on Jenny's face and as the bugs flew forward to devour them, he pressed her against the mound and covered his back and arms with rock scales. The bugs bashed and battered against his body, but were unable to fully penetrate it. "Don't worry. I'll protect you. You still need to show me when the right time to kiss a girl is." Kale smiled with on eye open as he gritted his teeth. More and more bugs were covering them now and gnawing at his hide, but he wasn't going to quit now.

Kale smiled as Jenny's eyes began to glow. He was nearly completely covered in the bugs by now, but the insects could not stop his teeth from brimming through and showing Jenny how proud he was of her. "I'll hold them off and clear the path! I'm am Kale Salem of the Teen Titans!" Kale said proudly, as he took a deep breath and the rocks in the area began to levitate and shake as if an earthquake was rumbling the area.

"ROAR OF THE STONEHAVEN!" Kale barked out. Then a huge funnel of rock filled dragons breath erupted from his mouth like a volcano and sliced through the locust swarming around them, freeing up enough space for him to blast a hole through the mound they needed to escape through. It took a few seconds, but finally his roar tore through the mound and gave them a clear exit to the other side.

Following this attack, Kale relinquished the rest of his magic power to hold off the invading insects. The dragon mage punched his fists together causing the rock scales on his body to all break off and then swirls around him like a twister as he yelled out. The scales sliced through the locusts that drew near like a blender. Soon all the bugs around them had been shredded to pieces, but Kale was oh so tired after this and could barely stagger towards the exit he had made while more and more of the 40,000 insects flew towards them. It was like a child trying to stop the ocean, and the wave of insects was coming back wash over everything and devour their flesh.

Jenny would awaken some while later. The tower was in view, all that was left now was to cross the bay. The mesa was far off from the tower however, at least half dozen miles.

As she peered up she would see Kale's face looking onward. She was in his arms and he was walking as if he had been running a marathon for three days. The teens clothes were shredded all over with little holes as if termites had gotten to them, but in actuality the locust had eaten through them. His face seemed tired, but still he kept walking. Never losing sight of the tower. "Don't worry Jenny...Were going..Home."

"No. Far from it." kale said, somberly. "This was supposed to be a date by Earth standards and from my research human dates don't end with near death." He felt he had to establish this because dragon courting traditions involved much of this. He spoke in a painful tone, as if just using his voice pained him.

Kale weakly smiled to her response and as they reached the shoreline, he looked out at the sparkling water reflecting the fresh moonlight, giving the bay a clear radiant hue. He pressed his forehead against Jenny's and spoke quietly. "So is this a good time to kiss you?" He asked.