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|The Better World|
Chapter one: ~
"End of practice today, my sons." Splinter's voice stopped Donnie and Mikey, who were sparing together in their sewer home; in the space, which had been cleaned out only a few months ago to make room for a sparring area. His other two sons were sat amongst the trash and furniture that made up the perimeter of the sparring area. Leonardo was sat, cross- legged at the side and Raphael was sat on an old armchair, twirling his Sais. They were both watching their brothers fight until Splinter called it off.
"You have done well, today. That was a very good practise. I suggest we now retreat to our rooms for the night." Splinter started to leave for his room, which was a lone compartment in the broken-down train. "Goodnight, my sons." They each bowed to their Master and said their 'goodnights' before the door to Splinter's room was shut and they were left on their own.
"Hey guys," Mikey grinned, walking to the kitchen. "Who wants a mid-night snack? I got left over pizza!" He pulled out a cold, slightly gone-off pizza. His brothers gagged.
"I think we'll pass on that one, Mikey." Donnie put a hand on his stomach and shook his hand at Mikey, making his way to the compartment he and Leo shared.
"Mikey, put that away. It'll give you food poison." Leo muttered, half-joking. He followed Donnie who had disappeared into their room. "Night Mikey, Raph." He shut the door behind him.
Mikey turned to Raph, who was in the doorway to their room. He held up the pizza. "You sure? It's the double cheese one!"
"Mikey, throw that damn thing away before it starts growing." Raph said, disappearing into the dark room. The sounds of a few bedsprings groaning were the only noise in the abandoned sub way station. Mikey shrugged, looked at the pizza and had second thoughts. He opened the over-flowing bin and dropped it on top; it fell off the empty food packets and onto the floor. Mikey shrugged and went to bed.
"Night, Raph." Mikey said cheerily as he shut the door. His brother, who was on the top bunk, grunted tiredly. That was fine by Mikey. That was Raph's way of saying 'goodnight'. Mikey shrugged again and climbed into his own bed; the springs groaned as they took his weight. He didn't close his eyes, but stared at the bottom of his brother's bed, thinking. He wasn't at all tired, but sometimes he never was. Master Splinter sometimes praised him for his extra energy. Mikey smiled. Sometimes when he wasn't tired he liked to talk: But unfortunately the only one to talk to at this time was Raph and he was usually tired. Sometimes Mikey couldn't get a word from him. When he's tired he's grumpy. But Mikey tries. Dares. But by the sounds of the slow breathing, he could tell his brother had already fallen asleep. Mikey sighed and turned over. He frowned as he heard the soft and almost silent hum of electricity in the wall, which meant, as he had so often heard, that Donnie was on his computer. Usually his brother didn't stay up this late, but then Donnie did get carried away with things sometimes. _____________
"Donnie, will you turn that thing off? I'm trying ta sleep and it's not easy with you drummin' on them keys." Leo moaned in his pillow, facing the wall with one arm drooped over the side of the top bunk.
Donnie pounded on the keyboard. "Uh huh. Whatever you say, Leo." Of course that was just an automatic response from Donnie when he was too busy to think about his answers. His drumming and clicking of the mouse continued.
Leo groaned and buried his head in the pillows.
A small knock came on their room door and Leo looked up as the door was pulled open with ease, trying to sound silent. Mikey's head appeared from around it.
"Ugh, Mikey." Leo moaned. "Whadda ya want? You should be in bed; we all should be in bed. Go away, I'm tired." He pulled the pillow over his head. Sometimes Leo could be a bit grumpy when he was tired as well. Though no way near as so as Raph.
Mikey tiptoed in and went over to stand behind Donnie, who had turned around to see who was at the door. Though now he had returned back to the computer screen.
"What ya up to, Donnie? I could hear this thing through the wall." Mikey bent over his brother's shoulder, staring at the screen.
Donnie glanced at the keyboard, than at the screen before explaining. "I found something on the internet. At first it seemed like an empty page, but as I clicked and wrote stuff on it, things began to appear on the page. It's starting to look like a treasure map, only without the 'x marks the spot'. It even had little dots as beings. At least, I think they are. It's lick every time I write something, say 'forest', a forest will appear or something that begins with 'f'. Pretty remarkable. I've never seen anything like this on the Internet before. It just opened itself on my screen." Donnie's fingers were a wizz of motion as they skimmed over the keyboard.
Mikey gaped. "Coooool." He knelt down next to Donnie. "Type in 'dragon'."
Donnie's hands moved again as the word 'dragon' flashed across the screen. A second later a horrible beast appeared on the screen and flashed. It began to minimize to the size of the other dots. It was placed in the castle. Mikey gorped. That dragon was exactly as he pictured it in his mind. Not one detail was different. Maybe it was because his image might have been the most common appearance of a dragon, but maybe it wasn't. Mikey shivered with fascination.
"Mikey..." Leo moaned tiredly. "Go back to bed, please..." He stared at Mikey, telling him with his eyes that if he didn't go back then Master Splinter would hear about it in the morning. Mikey understood that look.
"Alright..." He backed off from the computer. "I'm a- going."
"Wow!" Donnie breathed from the computer, obviously staring at something good enough to make him say that.
Mikey rushed forward again. "What?! What?!"
Leo groaned and gave up. "Alright!" He hissed. "If you're stayin' in here Mikey you keep your voice down. You might wake Master Splinter up."
Mikey nodded to his brother in blue and returned his gaze to the computer screen. "What is it, Donnie?"
"This egg just came up on the computer." Donnie pointed with the mouse arrow to a lightly coloured egg, which seemed to be pulsing. The contents of it could just be seen and even though Mikey had only seen it for a few seconds, he could tell it was growing, changing.
"Woooww..." Mikey whispered. "What did you type in?"
"Nothing. I didn't type in anything." Donnie lifted his hands, palms upwards, in a shrug.
"What's this? A pyjama party?" A sleep-filled voice said from behind them. They all turned to see Raph rubbing his eyes and looking at them curiously.
"No. Mikey was just going to bed... Weren't you, Mike?" Leo tried once again to get his brother in orange to go back to his room. But Mikey didn't even appear to have heard Leo.
"Donnie found somethin' cool on the internet!" Mikey said, turning back to the screen. He grinned. "And besides, we don't wear pyjamas!"
"Ha, ha." Raph growled, sarcastically.
"Go back to bed, Raph." Leo laid back down from sitting up. "And get Mikey to go with you."
"What you doin' up anyways, Raph?" Mikey asked, hopefully diverting Raph from Leo's order.
"Oh, the usual. My brothers can't keep their mouths shut even when its night, so, you know, kinda wakes me and I get angry." Came the reply, which sounded very angry indeed.
Maybe that wasn't such a good question to stop Raph from forcing me back to bed, Mikey thought, biting his lip and praying Raph wasn't too mad otherwise he might wake up with a very sore arm or head. But luck was with Mikey. Raph seemed too tired to be in the mood for punching and his brother walked to Donnie's bed where he sat down, head bowed sleepily.
"Heh, heh - hey, Raph. Look what Donnie found on the computer." Mikey quickly tried to change the subject.
Raph looked up slowly to the computer screen, not very interested. "Amazing..." He lied.
Donnie, who had been looking at the different species and information on this new Internet world, stopped clicking and typing and was silent. So was everyone else and the only loud noise was the hum of the computer.
"Whassit Donnie?" Mikey frowned, bending lower.
"It said my name." Donnie blinked.
Mikey looked at Leo, who shrugged. Mikey turned back to Donnie. "What said your name?"
"One of these creatures, here. My name appeared in a little speech bubble. Wait, lemme bring this thing up on full screen." He moved the mouse over a few little dots until he found the name of the species of the thing, which had said his name. Mikey knelt down so he could see closer, but when he did so he knocked the desk and the mouse cursor moved over to land on the castle - just as Donnie pressed 'enter' on the keyboard. Donnie didn't have time to say anything; Mikey didn't have time to say sorry: Before they knew it, they were each surrounded by a visible aura, a bright light, which glowed and flashed before diving into the screen, they felt themselves being pulled - and then they were gone from Donnie and Leo's room. ______________________________________________________________ _________________________
Bright light. Bright light. Nothing but bright light. And then there was solid ground beneath them. The bright light began to fade quickly. They were left, blinded by the bright, white light; eyes trying to adjust to the darker shades. They were disoriented. Their heads spun and their bodies hurt. They couldn't move. They couldn't think. But like the bright light, it was all disappearing... Going back.
Mikey blinked. His body was beginning to respond to the orders that he had been trying to tell them since a few seconds ago.
Leo swallowed. His throat working for the first time in a few seconds of complete stillness.
Donnie moved. He was aware of his whole body feeling like he had been beaten, but was not weaken. His skin tingled.
Raph coughed. The first sound he had heard in them few seconds. It made his ears ring with pain and his throat scream.
Their eyes at last began to focus and adjust to the new light. They began to gain their wits and realise they were no longer in Donnie and Leo's room, but somewhere else. Somewhere with grass and trees. A jungle or forest it seemed and looked like they had fallen into a clearing. Fallen? Appeared from thin air? Popped out from the ground? They didn't know. Their heads where still spinning and it hurt to think. They looked around and then at each other. Mikey was sat, sprawled, hands out behind him, supporting him; Raph was on his side, one arm bent under him in a funny angle and the other holding his front torso up; Leo was on his stomach and appeared to be in pain; Donnie was standing, looking about them all as if nothing bad had happened to him when he had... Been brought here.
"What the heck..." Donnie said slowly, looking around. He saw his brothers on the floor and realised he was the only one standing. He rushed over to Mikey, who was the nearest, putting a hand on his brother's arm. "You okay, Mikey?"
Mikey froze for a second before frowning and then looking up. "Yeah, I am. But I don't think Leo and Raph are."
Donnie helped Mikey get up before rushing over to Leo. A cool breeze blew through the clearing and it seemed eerily quiet.
"Leo. Leo, you okay?" Donnie helped his brother to turn around and sit up. Leo winced in pain and put his hand on his stomach.
"Oh man, I think someone's put a knife through me..." Leo groaned, face screwed up.
"No. There's no knife in your stomach, Leo. You must have landed on it funny. Or... Pulled a muscle or somethin'..." Donnie frowned. Where the heck are we? And what happened to Leo?
"Donnie... Where are we?" Leo asked, his face unscrewing slightly now the pain was fading. He looked about the clearing.
"I don't know, Leo... But we're gunna find out. Can you stand?"
Leo frowned and attempted to stand; Donnie helping his brother get to his feet. Once upright, Leo began to wobble so Donnie had him lean his weight on him.
"I'm fine, thanks Donnie." Leo smiled his appreciation. Then he and Donnie looked up to see where Mikey and Raph were.
"Hey, Mikey. How's Raph?" Donnie called, one arm on his brother.
Mikey helped Raph to his feet, who groaned in pain.
"Erm. Not too good. I think it's a broken arm." Mikey said, looking at the bloodied mess of Raph's arm, which was resting at his stomach.
"Nah. Just scratched it..." Raph winced.
Donnie and Leo made their way over to their other brothers. Donnie examined Raph's arm, who growled again that it was just a scratch.
"Just a scratch?" Donnie snorted. "Looks like you snapped the two bones in you're lower arm clean apart." He shook his head. "Whadda mess..."
"Hey Leo. You alright?" Mikey watched his brother in blue, who seemed to be having trouble staying upright from the pain.
"I'll be fine, Mikey. Thanks..." Leo reassured him. Then he turned his eyes on Raph. "How's he don', Donnie?"
"Well, apart from the loss of blood, the danger of an infection and the fact that his bone had pierced the skin and is now sticking out... I'd say he'll be fine for an hour or so."
Raph groaned and pulled his arm back.
"Where are we? What happened?" Mikey looked around, like Donnie had done, through the trees and up at the sky.
Donnie thought for a minute. "We must be..." He said slowly. "... Inside the computer."
All three looked at him, frowning. "What?" They all said in unison.
"Well, maybe not in the computer, but inside that world I was creating. I hit... The enter key and. We ended up here. The cursor landed on the castle so we must be in that world. God knows how though..."
They stared at him and then around the clearing.
"How d' we get back out? Back home?" Mikey asked, looking up at the sky which was a beautiful blue.
Donnie shrugged. "I dunno. The way we came in? No. Well, I hit the enter key when the cursor landed on the castle. So, maybe we have to find this castle to get out." He looked at his brothers.
"Yeah, but how do we know where this castle is? I mean, if you're right, then shouldn't we have appeared inside the castle instead of. Here?" Leo asked, slightly bent over from the pain.
"I don't know, Leo. But I do know that we have to get you and Raph some medical help."
Raph growled. "I told you, it's not as bad as it looks. I'll be fine, so quit worrying about me." His arm looked as though someone had rammed a crowbar through it and the bones had snapped and penetrated the skin from the impact. Donnie winced when he looked at it, but he ignored his brother. He knew it was serious.
"There has to be some place here that might be of some help." Donnie more told himself than the others.
"Well dudes, let's get going." Mikey walked over to Leo and indicated with his hand that he would help him move. Leo smiled and leaned an arm over Mikey's shoulder. They walked over to Donnie, waiting for him to decide.
"Okay," said Donnie. "We'll move in this direction." He pointed to the side of him, where Leo and Mikey were facing. They both walked ahead while Donnie waited for Raph to go third. His brother just shook his head and walked off after them in silence.
They walked in quiet for fifteen minutes before Leo had to stop for a rest. Something was wrong with him but they didn't know what. Mikey put Leo against a large tree and sat down himself. Carting Leo tired him out, as Leo was slightly heavier than he was. Donnie stopped next to a thick, grey coloured tree and peered around before settling his gaze on Leo. He didn't look too good.
Mikey looked at Donnie. "Hey dude, I'm starvin'. There anything to eat in this place?"
Donnie shrugged. "I dunno, Mikey. Might be some edible fruit around here but that's probably it."
Mikey stood up. "Good. I'll go find some." He started off into the trees, looking high.
"Don't get lost." Donnie shouted after him. He sat down in front of Leo and studied him. He was almost asleep! "Leo?"
"Um?" Leo didn't even raise his head. His eyes were shut and his breathing quite heavy.
"You really don't look well. How do you feel?"
Leo raised his head and looked at Donnie. Eye lids only half open. "Like hell. I'm so God Damn tired. And my stomach kills, I dunno what I did to it." He put his head back down.
Donnie decided to leave Leo to get some rest. He stood up and looked for Raph. His hotheaded brother was leaned against a tree opposite them, around the other side so Donnie could only see his elbow and leg sticking out. He walked over, silently and looked at Raph. He was wincing in pain; eyes shut tight, teeth gritted together. He wasn't aware Donnie staring at him until Donnie sat down and spoke.
"You should let me look at that properly."
Raph snapped his eyes open and the mask of pain instantly disappeared. He was slightly startled by Donnie's sudden appearance but his frown turned angry.
"Like to sneak up on people, do ya?" He said angrily.
"Only you."
"My arm's fine now go away."
"Come on. Stop kiddin' yourself. I saw the way you were wincing in pain. Just lemme see if I can set the bones straight."
"Yeah right. I ain't letting you touch me."
Raph, come on, look at -" Donnie was interrupted by Mikey's sudden presence. His brother had returned with some funny coloured apple-type fruit.
"Got some!" Mikey plonked himself down next to Donnie and held them out. "These look okay to you?" He was holding what looked like blue, fury apples, slightly purple.
"Erm, to be on the safe side, Mikey; no. Don't eat them." Donnie said, looking at the apples with disgust.
Mikey frowned, shrugged and started on dissecting them instead.
Donnie stood up. ""I'm just gunna check on Leo." He said. He walked around the tree to stare at the one his brother was supposed to be leaning against. He wasn't there. Maybe it was another tree. He checked all the surrounding trees, but no Leo. His brother had disappeared!
~End of chapter one~
Chapter one: ~
"End of practice today, my sons." Splinter's voice stopped Donnie and Mikey, who were sparing together in their sewer home; in the space, which had been cleaned out only a few months ago to make room for a sparring area. His other two sons were sat amongst the trash and furniture that made up the perimeter of the sparring area. Leonardo was sat, cross- legged at the side and Raphael was sat on an old armchair, twirling his Sais. They were both watching their brothers fight until Splinter called it off.
"You have done well, today. That was a very good practise. I suggest we now retreat to our rooms for the night." Splinter started to leave for his room, which was a lone compartment in the broken-down train. "Goodnight, my sons." They each bowed to their Master and said their 'goodnights' before the door to Splinter's room was shut and they were left on their own.
"Hey guys," Mikey grinned, walking to the kitchen. "Who wants a mid-night snack? I got left over pizza!" He pulled out a cold, slightly gone-off pizza. His brothers gagged.
"I think we'll pass on that one, Mikey." Donnie put a hand on his stomach and shook his hand at Mikey, making his way to the compartment he and Leo shared.
"Mikey, put that away. It'll give you food poison." Leo muttered, half-joking. He followed Donnie who had disappeared into their room. "Night Mikey, Raph." He shut the door behind him.
Mikey turned to Raph, who was in the doorway to their room. He held up the pizza. "You sure? It's the double cheese one!"
"Mikey, throw that damn thing away before it starts growing." Raph said, disappearing into the dark room. The sounds of a few bedsprings groaning were the only noise in the abandoned sub way station. Mikey shrugged, looked at the pizza and had second thoughts. He opened the over-flowing bin and dropped it on top; it fell off the empty food packets and onto the floor. Mikey shrugged and went to bed.
"Night, Raph." Mikey said cheerily as he shut the door. His brother, who was on the top bunk, grunted tiredly. That was fine by Mikey. That was Raph's way of saying 'goodnight'. Mikey shrugged again and climbed into his own bed; the springs groaned as they took his weight. He didn't close his eyes, but stared at the bottom of his brother's bed, thinking. He wasn't at all tired, but sometimes he never was. Master Splinter sometimes praised him for his extra energy. Mikey smiled. Sometimes when he wasn't tired he liked to talk: But unfortunately the only one to talk to at this time was Raph and he was usually tired. Sometimes Mikey couldn't get a word from him. When he's tired he's grumpy. But Mikey tries. Dares. But by the sounds of the slow breathing, he could tell his brother had already fallen asleep. Mikey sighed and turned over. He frowned as he heard the soft and almost silent hum of electricity in the wall, which meant, as he had so often heard, that Donnie was on his computer. Usually his brother didn't stay up this late, but then Donnie did get carried away with things sometimes. _____________
"Donnie, will you turn that thing off? I'm trying ta sleep and it's not easy with you drummin' on them keys." Leo moaned in his pillow, facing the wall with one arm drooped over the side of the top bunk.
Donnie pounded on the keyboard. "Uh huh. Whatever you say, Leo." Of course that was just an automatic response from Donnie when he was too busy to think about his answers. His drumming and clicking of the mouse continued.
Leo groaned and buried his head in the pillows.
A small knock came on their room door and Leo looked up as the door was pulled open with ease, trying to sound silent. Mikey's head appeared from around it.
"Ugh, Mikey." Leo moaned. "Whadda ya want? You should be in bed; we all should be in bed. Go away, I'm tired." He pulled the pillow over his head. Sometimes Leo could be a bit grumpy when he was tired as well. Though no way near as so as Raph.
Mikey tiptoed in and went over to stand behind Donnie, who had turned around to see who was at the door. Though now he had returned back to the computer screen.
"What ya up to, Donnie? I could hear this thing through the wall." Mikey bent over his brother's shoulder, staring at the screen.
Donnie glanced at the keyboard, than at the screen before explaining. "I found something on the internet. At first it seemed like an empty page, but as I clicked and wrote stuff on it, things began to appear on the page. It's starting to look like a treasure map, only without the 'x marks the spot'. It even had little dots as beings. At least, I think they are. It's lick every time I write something, say 'forest', a forest will appear or something that begins with 'f'. Pretty remarkable. I've never seen anything like this on the Internet before. It just opened itself on my screen." Donnie's fingers were a wizz of motion as they skimmed over the keyboard.
Mikey gaped. "Coooool." He knelt down next to Donnie. "Type in 'dragon'."
Donnie's hands moved again as the word 'dragon' flashed across the screen. A second later a horrible beast appeared on the screen and flashed. It began to minimize to the size of the other dots. It was placed in the castle. Mikey gorped. That dragon was exactly as he pictured it in his mind. Not one detail was different. Maybe it was because his image might have been the most common appearance of a dragon, but maybe it wasn't. Mikey shivered with fascination.
"Mikey..." Leo moaned tiredly. "Go back to bed, please..." He stared at Mikey, telling him with his eyes that if he didn't go back then Master Splinter would hear about it in the morning. Mikey understood that look.
"Alright..." He backed off from the computer. "I'm a- going."
"Wow!" Donnie breathed from the computer, obviously staring at something good enough to make him say that.
Mikey rushed forward again. "What?! What?!"
Leo groaned and gave up. "Alright!" He hissed. "If you're stayin' in here Mikey you keep your voice down. You might wake Master Splinter up."
Mikey nodded to his brother in blue and returned his gaze to the computer screen. "What is it, Donnie?"
"This egg just came up on the computer." Donnie pointed with the mouse arrow to a lightly coloured egg, which seemed to be pulsing. The contents of it could just be seen and even though Mikey had only seen it for a few seconds, he could tell it was growing, changing.
"Woooww..." Mikey whispered. "What did you type in?"
"Nothing. I didn't type in anything." Donnie lifted his hands, palms upwards, in a shrug.
"What's this? A pyjama party?" A sleep-filled voice said from behind them. They all turned to see Raph rubbing his eyes and looking at them curiously.
"No. Mikey was just going to bed... Weren't you, Mike?" Leo tried once again to get his brother in orange to go back to his room. But Mikey didn't even appear to have heard Leo.
"Donnie found somethin' cool on the internet!" Mikey said, turning back to the screen. He grinned. "And besides, we don't wear pyjamas!"
"Ha, ha." Raph growled, sarcastically.
"Go back to bed, Raph." Leo laid back down from sitting up. "And get Mikey to go with you."
"What you doin' up anyways, Raph?" Mikey asked, hopefully diverting Raph from Leo's order.
"Oh, the usual. My brothers can't keep their mouths shut even when its night, so, you know, kinda wakes me and I get angry." Came the reply, which sounded very angry indeed.
Maybe that wasn't such a good question to stop Raph from forcing me back to bed, Mikey thought, biting his lip and praying Raph wasn't too mad otherwise he might wake up with a very sore arm or head. But luck was with Mikey. Raph seemed too tired to be in the mood for punching and his brother walked to Donnie's bed where he sat down, head bowed sleepily.
"Heh, heh - hey, Raph. Look what Donnie found on the computer." Mikey quickly tried to change the subject.
Raph looked up slowly to the computer screen, not very interested. "Amazing..." He lied.
Donnie, who had been looking at the different species and information on this new Internet world, stopped clicking and typing and was silent. So was everyone else and the only loud noise was the hum of the computer.
"Whassit Donnie?" Mikey frowned, bending lower.
"It said my name." Donnie blinked.
Mikey looked at Leo, who shrugged. Mikey turned back to Donnie. "What said your name?"
"One of these creatures, here. My name appeared in a little speech bubble. Wait, lemme bring this thing up on full screen." He moved the mouse over a few little dots until he found the name of the species of the thing, which had said his name. Mikey knelt down so he could see closer, but when he did so he knocked the desk and the mouse cursor moved over to land on the castle - just as Donnie pressed 'enter' on the keyboard. Donnie didn't have time to say anything; Mikey didn't have time to say sorry: Before they knew it, they were each surrounded by a visible aura, a bright light, which glowed and flashed before diving into the screen, they felt themselves being pulled - and then they were gone from Donnie and Leo's room. ______________________________________________________________ _________________________
Bright light. Bright light. Nothing but bright light. And then there was solid ground beneath them. The bright light began to fade quickly. They were left, blinded by the bright, white light; eyes trying to adjust to the darker shades. They were disoriented. Their heads spun and their bodies hurt. They couldn't move. They couldn't think. But like the bright light, it was all disappearing... Going back.
Mikey blinked. His body was beginning to respond to the orders that he had been trying to tell them since a few seconds ago.
Leo swallowed. His throat working for the first time in a few seconds of complete stillness.
Donnie moved. He was aware of his whole body feeling like he had been beaten, but was not weaken. His skin tingled.
Raph coughed. The first sound he had heard in them few seconds. It made his ears ring with pain and his throat scream.
Their eyes at last began to focus and adjust to the new light. They began to gain their wits and realise they were no longer in Donnie and Leo's room, but somewhere else. Somewhere with grass and trees. A jungle or forest it seemed and looked like they had fallen into a clearing. Fallen? Appeared from thin air? Popped out from the ground? They didn't know. Their heads where still spinning and it hurt to think. They looked around and then at each other. Mikey was sat, sprawled, hands out behind him, supporting him; Raph was on his side, one arm bent under him in a funny angle and the other holding his front torso up; Leo was on his stomach and appeared to be in pain; Donnie was standing, looking about them all as if nothing bad had happened to him when he had... Been brought here.
"What the heck..." Donnie said slowly, looking around. He saw his brothers on the floor and realised he was the only one standing. He rushed over to Mikey, who was the nearest, putting a hand on his brother's arm. "You okay, Mikey?"
Mikey froze for a second before frowning and then looking up. "Yeah, I am. But I don't think Leo and Raph are."
Donnie helped Mikey get up before rushing over to Leo. A cool breeze blew through the clearing and it seemed eerily quiet.
"Leo. Leo, you okay?" Donnie helped his brother to turn around and sit up. Leo winced in pain and put his hand on his stomach.
"Oh man, I think someone's put a knife through me..." Leo groaned, face screwed up.
"No. There's no knife in your stomach, Leo. You must have landed on it funny. Or... Pulled a muscle or somethin'..." Donnie frowned. Where the heck are we? And what happened to Leo?
"Donnie... Where are we?" Leo asked, his face unscrewing slightly now the pain was fading. He looked about the clearing.
"I don't know, Leo... But we're gunna find out. Can you stand?"
Leo frowned and attempted to stand; Donnie helping his brother get to his feet. Once upright, Leo began to wobble so Donnie had him lean his weight on him.
"I'm fine, thanks Donnie." Leo smiled his appreciation. Then he and Donnie looked up to see where Mikey and Raph were.
"Hey, Mikey. How's Raph?" Donnie called, one arm on his brother.
Mikey helped Raph to his feet, who groaned in pain.
"Erm. Not too good. I think it's a broken arm." Mikey said, looking at the bloodied mess of Raph's arm, which was resting at his stomach.
"Nah. Just scratched it..." Raph winced.
Donnie and Leo made their way over to their other brothers. Donnie examined Raph's arm, who growled again that it was just a scratch.
"Just a scratch?" Donnie snorted. "Looks like you snapped the two bones in you're lower arm clean apart." He shook his head. "Whadda mess..."
"Hey Leo. You alright?" Mikey watched his brother in blue, who seemed to be having trouble staying upright from the pain.
"I'll be fine, Mikey. Thanks..." Leo reassured him. Then he turned his eyes on Raph. "How's he don', Donnie?"
"Well, apart from the loss of blood, the danger of an infection and the fact that his bone had pierced the skin and is now sticking out... I'd say he'll be fine for an hour or so."
Raph groaned and pulled his arm back.
"Where are we? What happened?" Mikey looked around, like Donnie had done, through the trees and up at the sky.
Donnie thought for a minute. "We must be..." He said slowly. "... Inside the computer."
All three looked at him, frowning. "What?" They all said in unison.
"Well, maybe not in the computer, but inside that world I was creating. I hit... The enter key and. We ended up here. The cursor landed on the castle so we must be in that world. God knows how though..."
They stared at him and then around the clearing.
"How d' we get back out? Back home?" Mikey asked, looking up at the sky which was a beautiful blue.
Donnie shrugged. "I dunno. The way we came in? No. Well, I hit the enter key when the cursor landed on the castle. So, maybe we have to find this castle to get out." He looked at his brothers.
"Yeah, but how do we know where this castle is? I mean, if you're right, then shouldn't we have appeared inside the castle instead of. Here?" Leo asked, slightly bent over from the pain.
"I don't know, Leo. But I do know that we have to get you and Raph some medical help."
Raph growled. "I told you, it's not as bad as it looks. I'll be fine, so quit worrying about me." His arm looked as though someone had rammed a crowbar through it and the bones had snapped and penetrated the skin from the impact. Donnie winced when he looked at it, but he ignored his brother. He knew it was serious.
"There has to be some place here that might be of some help." Donnie more told himself than the others.
"Well dudes, let's get going." Mikey walked over to Leo and indicated with his hand that he would help him move. Leo smiled and leaned an arm over Mikey's shoulder. They walked over to Donnie, waiting for him to decide.
"Okay," said Donnie. "We'll move in this direction." He pointed to the side of him, where Leo and Mikey were facing. They both walked ahead while Donnie waited for Raph to go third. His brother just shook his head and walked off after them in silence.
They walked in quiet for fifteen minutes before Leo had to stop for a rest. Something was wrong with him but they didn't know what. Mikey put Leo against a large tree and sat down himself. Carting Leo tired him out, as Leo was slightly heavier than he was. Donnie stopped next to a thick, grey coloured tree and peered around before settling his gaze on Leo. He didn't look too good.
Mikey looked at Donnie. "Hey dude, I'm starvin'. There anything to eat in this place?"
Donnie shrugged. "I dunno, Mikey. Might be some edible fruit around here but that's probably it."
Mikey stood up. "Good. I'll go find some." He started off into the trees, looking high.
"Don't get lost." Donnie shouted after him. He sat down in front of Leo and studied him. He was almost asleep! "Leo?"
"Um?" Leo didn't even raise his head. His eyes were shut and his breathing quite heavy.
"You really don't look well. How do you feel?"
Leo raised his head and looked at Donnie. Eye lids only half open. "Like hell. I'm so God Damn tired. And my stomach kills, I dunno what I did to it." He put his head back down.
Donnie decided to leave Leo to get some rest. He stood up and looked for Raph. His hotheaded brother was leaned against a tree opposite them, around the other side so Donnie could only see his elbow and leg sticking out. He walked over, silently and looked at Raph. He was wincing in pain; eyes shut tight, teeth gritted together. He wasn't aware Donnie staring at him until Donnie sat down and spoke.
"You should let me look at that properly."
Raph snapped his eyes open and the mask of pain instantly disappeared. He was slightly startled by Donnie's sudden appearance but his frown turned angry.
"Like to sneak up on people, do ya?" He said angrily.
"Only you."
"My arm's fine now go away."
"Come on. Stop kiddin' yourself. I saw the way you were wincing in pain. Just lemme see if I can set the bones straight."
"Yeah right. I ain't letting you touch me."
Raph, come on, look at -" Donnie was interrupted by Mikey's sudden presence. His brother had returned with some funny coloured apple-type fruit.
"Got some!" Mikey plonked himself down next to Donnie and held them out. "These look okay to you?" He was holding what looked like blue, fury apples, slightly purple.
"Erm, to be on the safe side, Mikey; no. Don't eat them." Donnie said, looking at the apples with disgust.
Mikey frowned, shrugged and started on dissecting them instead.
Donnie stood up. ""I'm just gunna check on Leo." He said. He walked around the tree to stare at the one his brother was supposed to be leaning against. He wasn't there. Maybe it was another tree. He checked all the surrounding trees, but no Leo. His brother had disappeared!
~End of chapter one~