OK, So sorry this took so gosh darn long! I finally finished this chapter, and improved it with the fine tuning expertise of Amonrapheonix. Thank you so much! Anyway, enjoy!
Don fell, and fell, and fell. His head felt light; all worry gone and replaced with an airy feeling of curiosity. What was this place? He could see dark colors swirling around him, blurring past him as he descended (or so he assumed, he really couldn't tell). He had no sense of time or being.
Like a slap to the face, he was snapped back to reality when he felt his shell hit something, hard. If cold water hadn't instantly engulfed him and flooded his mouth and eyesight, he would have thought he was dead. All the air was sucked from his lungs on impact, and he tried to take a breath but gagged instead, under the water. In a panic, he began kicking his way towards the surface.
The moment his head reached air, he was immediately forced back down under a surging wave. He kicked up again, needing air like a fish needs water. He reached the surface again, this time inhaling greedily before the waves had a chance to push him back under.
As soon as his brain received oxygen, he began to calm down slightly. He examined his surroundings as he treaded water steadily.
Between the rise and fall of the waves, he caught glimpses of a beach not too far away. He began swimming toward it, only to hear a great splash to his far right, followed by gasps and sputtering. He was trying to look to see who it was when he recognized the curses sloshing out between coughs and gags.
"Mikey!" he called out.
"Donny! Donny where are you?"
"I'm over here!"
"That's not at all helpful!"
Don rolled his eyes. "OK, hold on." He swam towards Mikey's voice and eventually saw his body bobbing above the waves.
"Mikey! I'm right here!" he yelled when he got close enough to his younger brother. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Where are we?" he sputtered.
"I don't know. Lets swim to that island over there."
They set out, kicking strongly against the towering waves. They were only half way there when Don felt a slight tap against his leg.
"Hey, I think I just hit something," he said.
"Maybe the water's shallow enough to stand?" asked Mikey. Don tried to feel for some sort of sandy ground, but reached nothing.
"I don't think so. We really need to get out of this water. Come on, swim faster!" he yelled, panicked.
They began to kick out as fast as they could, each tremendous wave only dragging them back.
"Come on, almost there!" yelled Don. The beach was only a few feet away. He suddenly saw something large and dark rise out of the water.
"What the-"
"Don, there's something under me!" screamed Mikey.
"I know. Its circling us. Just keep swimming don't stop!"
"But wont it chase us?" Mikey breathed out frantically.
"Its going to chase us anyways. Just don't stop!"
They struck out harder and harder until finally the pebbly shore was just within reach. They scurried as fast as they could up the rocks, panting, their bodies shaking from the chilled water.
"It never attacked," Don whispered to himself as he half lifted half dragged Mikey up the beach.
"We're safe!" Mikey yelled. His words poured out along with the water in his mouth, and he sputtered and choked on the sentence.
"Don't get all relieved just yet... Where are we?" asked Don, his mouth gaping open as he took in the environment for the first time.
The extensive body of water stretched out before him as far as the eye could see. Jagged rocks and boulders speckled the shore dangerously, daring anything to get washed upon them. Hearing a squawk, Don spun around.
A massive thicket of towering trees, leaves the size of a full grown man, and caging vines stood before him. Brightly colored birds flew in and out, from branch to branch chirping obnoxiously and snapping at each other.
But something caught his eye, something that wasn't quite right from within the darkness of the trees.
"Whats that?" asked his younger brother, following his gaze.
Don left the question unanswered and stepped forward uncertainly. He had to turn his body to squeeze in between the narrow wall of trees, but he managed to pull his way through. Inside was a small clearing, large enough for Mikey, himself, and the giant thing that laid on the ground.
"What the shell?" Mikey gasped beside him. Dons eyes glowed majestically in the darkness.
"They're bones. Its a skeleton A BIG skeleton," he added as he walked closer to the decaying form. The whole thing was at least seven feet long, not including the extensive tail.
"Its not like any animal species I've ever seen before, but it looks like some sort of crocodile!" he said, pointing to the elongated jaw and massive, curled teeth.
"I don't like this Donny. We need to get away from the water," Mikey panted like he was hyperventilating, backing up slowly until his shell pressed against the trees to the outside world.
"We can't, Mikey, the water is the way we came. Plus, who knows what is in that jungle. We'll get more light if we stay out on the rocks."
"But we're sitting ducks right out in the open! What if something finds us or..or-"
Suddenly, Mikey was shoved forward, and tumbled roughly to the ground by the creatures tail. He screamed as he somersaulted across the tiny, thinly grassed clearing. But before Don even had time to pull out his bo staff, he heard a familiar cackle from outside the thicket.
"Geez Mikey, how about at least tryin' to scream like a man for a change?" asked Raph, his head poking through the trees they had just entered.
"Oh my God, Raph, you nearly gave me a heart-attack!" said Don, hand on chest, trying to calm his snare-drum of a heart. "Where did you come from?"
"Same place you did. Fell through the portal-thingy right after you did and ended up splat in the water."
"Oh," he relied, suddenly remembering how they had gotten there. How could he forget? "Is Leo here too?"
"Yeah, he's cleaning out a cut on his foot, says he thinks he stepped on something sharp in the water."
"Is he OK?" Mikey asked. His head was still spinning and his pride hurt a little from not only screaming like a small girl but also not being able to hear his brother right behind him.
"Yeah he's fine, girly. Its just a small cut."
Mikey scowled.
"Hey what did you find here?" Raph asked as he pushed himself through the trees, finally noticing the corpse behind his younger brothers.
"Not sure. It looks like a giant crocodile to me, but I've never seen one this big! And no, Leather head does not count." Don added.
Raph scoffed. "Well I've seen one, and let me tell you, its not a pleasant memory," he said. He remembered the time him and Leo had stumble upon the giant albino "alli-crock," as Mikey had chosen previously to rename it, in an abandoned sewer tunnel as children. It had been a hard memory to forget.
Mikey's stomach growled unexpectedly, lurching Raph out of his memories.
"Aww man, I'm starving! I was starving BEFORE we started our meditation session."
"Yeah, lets get back to the beach where Leo is and see if we can come up with a plan to get out of here," said Don.
The three stumbled their way out of the trees and down onto the rocky beach where they found their oldest brother attempting to slow the bleeding of his foot with a few tiny leaves he'd found on the edge of the beach.
"Hey Leo, nice of you to join us!" Mikey called as they walked over to him. "Did you two get accidentally sucked in too?"
"Yeah. That thing ate up the whole living room. Plus, you and Donny were already down here, so we didn't have much of a choice."
"What did you step on?" asked Don, coming over to take a look at the cut. It wasn't deep, just a scratch.
"Not sure. There must have been a really tall rock in the water, because we weren't near the shore," he replied.
Don looked down at the thin slice on the sole of his brothers foot. It was straight and narrow. He couldn't help but wonder if it had been from a dorsal fin of the really big fish that was following them. But what were the chances of that, right?
"Hey, we better get moving and find shelter before dark," said Raph. "I don't really want to wait until its pitch black to figure out what sort of creatures live here, besides the seven foot long beast in the woods."
Leo gave his a questioning look, but Raph waved it off. "Tell you later."
"Raph's right. We don't know where we are. Its not safe. Lets see what we can find close by- I don't want to wander too far from the shore," said Leo, digging a shallow hole with his hand and swiping the leaves into it before covering it lightly with the gravel from the beach.
He stood up and stepped gingerly on his foot. The bleeding had finally let up, but it still stung.
Slowly, with only the tiniest bit of a limp, unnoticeable to the others, they began scavenging the edges of the beach and prowling their way through the dense trees for shelter.