Disclaimer:

Unfortunately I don't own the TMNT

Author's note:

This is my very first story. I was simply trying out whether I like writing or not. Please go easy on me! :P
Anyway, I had fun writing this. If there are many grammatical or spelling mistakes, please point them out. English is not my native language, just so you know.

I finally had time to continue this. For a long time I was unsure whether to finish this story at all, but decided for it. I am a very busy person, so please don't push me for updates, but I will promise not to take so long for next chapters.

Oh, how he loved the thrilling sensation of battling mindless, stupid Foot ninja! Not like they were technically mindless, or that it usually was that thrilling, since they were pretty bad at ninjutsu… But hey, he could relate to that. Not the 'being bad at it'-part, that was not what he meant, but more like the part: 'hard part'. The part that said ninjutsu was hard to learn. Although when he thought about it, he couldn't remember ever mentioning that in his mind. Sometimes he hated not having any concentration. Anyway, back to the actual fighting part.

Michelangelo had missed this feeling. It had been way to long since they had actually been out, fighting crime, using their muscles. Heh, he was starting to feel like Raph, his favourite 'brother with the red mask'. Not that he had many other brother with red masks and- FOCUS! He barely escaped a slice of the katana from one of the ninjas, who by the way had a terrible sword fighting technique. Agh! Why had he be the one turtle to have so many concentration problems! He would gladly change his personality with that of one of his brothers anytime! He suddenly thought of Leo's personality that always made him train, lecture, meditate, be boring… be more boring… Okay maybe not Leo. He jumped out of the way for a charging Foot ninja that had plans of attacking him, but ended up attacking one of his fellow clan-members.
That is when an image of Raph popped up in his mind. This image told him about Raph's anger issues, hot-headed actions, more anger issues and especially his anger issues. And his 'image-in-his-mind' of Donnie told him he wouldn't wanna trade personalities with his genius brother either. Because, to be honest, who would want to trade personalities with someone, ending up being interested in stuff you don't understand?

Exactly.

"So… do you guys have personalities or something?" He asked the attacking Foot ninja. If they listened at all they didn't show it. The only 'response' he got was a katana swinging his way. He dodged it with ease, grabbed the attacker and swung him over his shoulder. Mikey shrugged. "Guess not…"

There were only a few ninja left standing for him to battle. All around him were unconscious Foot ninja. Had he really fought that many soldiers already? Man, he really had to get his attention more with the matter at hand. On the other hand… It went well so far didn't it?

"Mikey, watch your back! I'll not be defending you the whole time!" Ah. So maybe he wasn't the one to knock out all those ninja around him. He looked his brother innocently in the eyes.

"Sorry bro, wasn't reaaally paying attention at the Foot. But who can blame me? It's not like they are a challenge anyway…" That was true. At least, that was his point of view. He absentmindedly had already knocked out a whole bunch of them. It's not like Donnie had done all the work for him.

"True, but if you would have been paying a little more attention to your surroundings, you might already have noticed by now that others could be needing our help."

That was the moment Mikey realized it wouldn't hurt to look around indeed. So he did. Donnie was holding up well against his attackers, but given that Donnie was the one helping him out it probably shouldn't have surprised him. Still did so, kinda. After all, who else would need help? If there were some people capable of holding their own in a fight against a bunch of Foot ninja, it were Leo, Raph and of course their butt kicking sensei Splinter. Unless…

He quickly scanned the area, and immediately found himself stupid he had not done that in the first place. A little to his right he saw his two older brothers. Leo of course had made it a little hard for himself. You know, battling some elite guard and all… He probably could use some help indeed. But to get to him, there first were a hell of a lot Foot ninja to battle through. So that is where he found his brother Raph, struggling to get through. Not in the direction of Leo, he saw, but more like in the direction of… Oh… It was that moment that he saw his sensei battling the Mystery Foot Ninja. He looked like almost match for Splinter, especially with the two elite helping him, so yeah. Perhaps he should have been paying more intention after all. He mentally kicked himself.

Very hard.

This one had a katana, ok… so all he had to do was keep him out of range, which, of course, was easy considering the length of his staff. He hit one on the head, swept the legs from underneath one of his attackers from behind… This was great and all, but he really needed to help the others. He just couldn't get through! Pretty annoying. But he was kind of used to being annoyed, since he happened to have a little brother who loved being annoying. Speak of the devil…

"What is black and cannot fight?" this just mentioned brother asked.

Donnie could not help but roll his eyes at this statement and pretended he had no idea at all. "Geez, I don't know Mikey, a Foot ninja?" He dodged an attack and hit one of the ninja in his stomach. The said ninja doubled over.

"How did you know?" Mikey actually looked like he was genuinely surprised. Donatello knew better than that. He gave his brother a look that fitted his thoughts.

"Okay, okay, another one… Let's see… Oh, I know! It's stupid and ugly!"

Rolling your eyes gets old real fast. Instead of that he decided to play along. "Hmm, this one is rather difficult… A Foot ninja?" He kicked the arm of one of the ninja away. Then he saw one sneaking from behind. Yeah, nice try. If could just hit him from the right angle, he could send this one into the Foot standing behind the other. So he did. Of course his math had been perfect.

"Bingo!" Mikey jumped over him to kick a ninja that had attempted to attack him. Donnie said a small 'thanks', which his younger brother answered with a wide grin.

"Donnie, watch your back! I'll not be defending you the whole time!" Mikey said, using the words Donnie had used before when he had helped his brother out. He couldn't help but smile at this. He also rolled his eyes and made a mental note to stop doing that.

Soon after, he of course had to help his orange clad turtle brother who, after his small victory, had not been paying attention.

"Thanks bro, okay… let's see. It's stiff as a board, can't fight-" He was interrupted by one of those ninja that were stiff as boards and incapable of fighting.

"Foot ninja…" Donnie was seriously taken aback by the fact that he still bothered answering. He used his bo as a pole to jump to a spot where a little more Foot were standing. Unfortunately that didn't mean standing out of the hearing range of Michelangelo.

"Yup, you guessed it bro!" Mikey would probably never get tired of this game.

"So what looks and smells like a monkey, has no brai-"

"Foot. Ninja." He was really starting to get annoyed by his brother this time. Come on, how many times does something like this stay funny? He didn't like the look on Mikey's face.

"Nope," Michelangelo one said smiling, "I meant Raph this time!"

Two people reacted to that at the same time.

"I HEARD THAT!" This obviously was the reaction of the mentioned turtle himself.

Donnie preferred a more civilized manner of answering, as he gave his brother a slightly amused, mostly annoyed look. "You've been building up to that one, haven't you?"

He threw off a ninja that had tried out a new approach: jumping on the enemy. Nice try, and refreshing, but unfortunately for the poor ninja, not very effective. Better luck next time.

He took the short time he had to take a look around. Master splinter was still holding his own against the strange ninja and the elite, but he looked like he was getting more tired. He also saw Leo still fighting two of the elite ninja. Donnie frowned at the sight of a large gash in the arm of his oldest brother. That would need treatment when they would get back to the lair.

Right now he was almost standing back to back with Mikey. The latter was breathing slightly harder than usual. He too was getting tired. There were not many ninja left, but then there still was the unidentified ninja and the elite guard. Raph was fighting in about 3 meters distance from them. This brother was favoring his left leg. He would have to remember that for when they were back home as well. He shared a short look with the older of the two brothers close-by. They might not always understand each other's thoughts, but this time they understood each other perfectly.

"Let's get this over with."

This idiotic and pathetic fight had to end right now, or he could not assure that this would end well. For the Foot ninja he meant of course. He did not know how many of them lay unconscious on the floor. What he did know, what that it were a lot more than there were still standing. This of course meant that they could totally win this fight. He did not know why, but somehow they kept having some barrier between him and the strange ninja, the elite guard, his brother and his sensei. It was annoying him very much at the moment.

When Leo and Raph had followed the ninja, they were very concerned it knew about the location of the lair. This appeared to be untrue. Or at least the ninja had passed their lair, without giving it a second glance. Of course the lair was well hidden, so no one who would pass it without knowing of its existence could actually see it. He had mentally reminded himself to give Don a little more credit for that in the future, when they came out of this. If they came out of this. He did not really doubt this. He thought. Hoped.

The ninja had appeared to be female, or so he noticed when he and his older brother closed in on the person. Leo next to him had silently whispered: "Karai." Of course he would know. Somehow his brother was still convinced that Karai was his best friend. Kinda sad really, but he understood. Karai had something about her that made her look trustworthy. She had helped out at several occasions, but there were also times when she hated the turtles with all her heart and wanted them to pay for what they did to her father, blabla. Long story short: You could never know when she was on the good side or the bad. That made that Leo always wanted to see good in her. That made that he, Raph, was the first one to remind him that she didn't always have good in her.

After following Karai for a while they had ended up where they were right now: An open place, with plenty of Foot ninja to send to oblivion. The only nasty thing about this place was the abyss of which he could not see the bottom. The place had been crowded with ninja, it had been a setup. Karai must have known they would follow any person going down into the sewers. Well. There probably was one thing she had not expected. As soon as Donnie had made the call to Splinter, he too had showed up. He probably had heard the commotion and when Donnie called known that we were fighting. That, or he had somehow felt it with his creepy sixth sense.

What this all did not explain was, how he, the one usually most eager to fight, had ended up fighting the simple foot soldiers, while Leo and Master Splinter had ended up in a fight against the elite guard and Karai. It was not fair. No really, it's not like they asked for it. He did not necessarily want to fight the elite guard and Karai, (he wanted to live thankyouverymuch,) but it just did not seem very fair. How did he get the easy part? It really just felt like he did not fight hard enough. Like he got off easy. He knew he could never forgive himself if one of them got hurt. Then he would feel like he could have done more. Heh, he and Leo weren't so different after all.

So what he did was fighting with more strength, visible as anger, to get to his goal. There were only about ten ninja standing. Good. Three for Mikey, three for Don, which meant four for him. Great. He used his sai to dismantle a Foot ninja. That is when he noticed some pain in his right leg. When did that happen? That was not important right now. What was important was that Master Splinter just took a hit to one of his arms. He roared with anger and threw himself upon two ninja that didn't have time to think about what was happening. That left only one standing. He lunged himself at the remaining ninja, but this one dodged. Smartass.

"You shouldn't have done that if you were planning on living longer than today, pal!"

Enraged he threw himself at the soldier. And again the ninja dodged his attack. That was it. This one was going down for sure. He was ready to swing his sai at this clown when the Foot ninja was struck from behind by the bo staff of his beloved brother Donatello.

"You really should learn to channel you anger, you know." Was the only thing his brother said before charging at Karai. If he was surprised to see Karai in the new uniform, he didn't show it. Raphael muttered something of which even he didn't know what. That was not what mattered. As long as Donnie understood that he had the situation under control. Donnie was a smart guy. He'd understand. Now that all the foot soldiers were down, only the elite and Karai were left. Five against five. Finally a fair fight. He spun the sai around in his hands. He prepared for an attack when saw one of Leo's katanas clatter one the floor and heard an icy voice behind him:

"I wouldn't do that if I were you…"

It had been way too easy. Fifty foot ninja, against three turtles, four elite guard and Karai against one turtle and an old rat. How could he ever have expected this to turn out right? Truth was, he never did. From the beginning he had suspected that the elite ninja battling him were holding back. Turned out he was right. He remembered the day on the rooftops. The four of them had easily beaten him, broken him. This time, two of them made him actually think that he could beat them. For a split second he had hope. But right after that he noticed that they let him have the upper hand, because somehow, after all the beating they took, they just wouldn't let him deal a finishing blow.

He had dodged, jumped, dealt some blows, dodged, almost sliced one of their pretty hats in two pieces. Just like he almost pierced one with his katana and almost pushed one over the edge into the darkness of which he could not see the bottom. Yeah right. They were toying with him.

They were supposed to make him think he had the upper hand, because it looked like that, but he hadn't. He suspected that anytime one of them wanted to finish the fight, they could. But what choice did he have? It was not like he could simply walk away from the fight, because then the elite would probably fight one of his brothers. He would never let that happen. Never. He'd rather die.

Them slicing his arm was a mistake on their part. He knew because from that moment they were more careful in their attacks, making it easier for him to block their attacks, to jump over their heads. It was all a game, and he was losing. Fast. He grew tired. He wondered if Master Splinter felt the same way. Master Splinter may be a better ninja, but three against one still is unfair. Not honorable.

Out of the corners of his eye, he noticed that Raph, Donnie and Mikey had defeated fifty Foot ninja. Fifty against three. Not fair, but still they had beaten them. He felt immense pride for them at that moment. That was also when hope had risen within him. Five against five. That was almost fair. You know, if you didn't consider the exercise they had already been through. He and his brother had given everything already. The elite had been holding back so far. They could do it, he knew it. They could win. Unfortunately, that was the moment he had to screw it all up.

He was fighting against the elite with the spear. The one with the trident had gone away to fight one of his brothers. Now it was one against one. Almost a fair fight. Leo could almost land an attack this time on the elite with the spear. Just like he almost was fast enough to dodge the attack coming his way. Almost. But almost is not good enough. The elite had finally decided to make an end to this long-continuing fight. The elite lunged himself towards Leo. This time it was a lot faster than before. This time Leonardo had not enough time to dodge it. The turtle felt the hands of the elite ninja around his neck and the force of the attack was enough for Leo to accidently drop his katanas that slid away from his grasp.

The elite lifted him above the darkness, above the depth. He felt the air escape his lungs, unable to refill it enough for him to breath. He heard the elite tell his brothers to drop their weapons, so that he would live. He saw that they did what they were asked. He wanted to yell at them not to listen, but no recognizable sound came over his lips. All he managed were some strangled cries.

As he could not breathe, he started to panic slightly. His lungs were burning, begging him to breathe in. He could see his brothers and their angry faces, probably telling the elite to let him go, for they had dropped their weapons. He could see how their arms were bound behind their backs. He felt so useless. From this position he was unable to help them. No way would the elite let them go. He had failed them, he had failed his brothers. He had failed his sensei, his father. That was all he thought when the elite indeed let go of him above the abyss. He heard the screams of his brothers, of his father, calling out to him. The last thing he knew was the darkness that surrounded him.

Don't kill me, don't kill me yet, please. He's not dead, not dead (yet), did not kill him please don't kill me!

Seriously, I'm not planning on killing my favorite turtle.