The beast grabbed the back of Don's mask, forcefully lifting his head up. Don felt the tug, but felt too powerless to look. He could feel the beast shaking him a bit, growling impatiently, apparently wanting the turtle to look at it. Slowly Don opened his eyes, seeing that the monster had lowered its head so it could stare Don in the eyes and show him his teeth. It wanted to make him afraid. It would've probably worked, Don would've been scared of the row of sharp teeth just inches away from his face, hadn't his vision been spinning so much.
The audience was cheering again, and it made the beast purr. Actually purr. Don blinked his eyes to keep the world from spinning; it didn't really help, but now he noticed how close the beasts face really was. Its eyes were right there, and Don could hear Mikey's words in his head. The eyes...
All it would take would be just one, good punch…
But Don didn't have the energy. His mind was foggy, and he noticed that the beast had switched from purring to growling as Don hadn't given it the reaction it had wanted upon seeing its deathly teeth.
Don gritted his teeth. The pain made his head clear a bit. Oh, he'd give the monster a reaction.
So he punched, disappointed at how powerless it was. But it hit its target; the monsters eye. It howled, not liking any contact with is fragile eyes, and it quickly moved its face away. The monster let go of him, and this time Don didn't let himself fall. He caught himself with his hands, dragging his wounded leg so both of his knees could touch the ground. The movement caused him to cry out in pain, but he grabbed the leg with his hands, dragging it up with force, since he could no longer move it.
Before he even registered that the teleportation had worked his brothers were already there, helping him to lie down, already trying to stop the bleeding in his leg. Even though they were being careful Don couldn't help but hiss in pain when they moved his leg, but now the position was better and he realized he wouldn't need to move – nor fight – anymore. Don felt dizzy and confused, understanding how Mikey had felt when he had been teleported here.
"Shit, Don…" he could hear his hotheaded brother mutter, and even Mikey had moved closer despite his own wonds. Mikey shouldn't be moving yet, his wounds could easily bleed through the clumsy bandaging he had done, but Don was glad they were all there.
"I had never thought getting on your knees would be so difficult", Don laughed tiredly, feeling like he had to say something. Leo's face appeared into his line of sight, and Don smiled up at him. Leo smiled back, but his smile faded when Don's did too.
"I… I couldn't even beat…" the genius muttered, feeling Raphael's hand on his shoulder.
"What are you talking about, you put up a show bigger than Mikey", Raph smirked, gaining a "Hey!" from Mikey. He patted Don's shoulder. "It's good you're here in one piece. Really scared us, bro."
Don laughed weakly, trying to lift his head to see his leg. "My leg, how bad–?"
"Number 4."
Raph growled, annoyed that he'd have to leave Don.
"You take care of him", he said to Leo, but looked at Mikey. "Or should I say them. You shouldn't be moving, Mikey."
"Aw, such a mother hen", Mikey teased him, dodging a slap.
Raphael was already getting up, but Leo stopped him. Raph turned to look at him, but his brother said nothing.
"Don't look at me like that", Raph said, grinning a bit. He patted Leo's shoulder. "Don't worry about me. Just focus on taking care of Donnie."
Seeing the beast in the middle of the arena made Raphael's blood boil. He had watched this creature almost kill twoof his brothers, and now he could finally pay back. The fear he had felt while watching Don struggling had turned into anger, and anger fueled his energy, which he would pour into this monster more than willingly. Raph walked towards the beast, unable to wait for it to begin attacking.
But as he got closer he noticed that the beast hadn't even noticed his presence, even though it was so impatient before.
"Yo ugly, you're getting it for hurting my brothers", Raph grumbled, but as soon as he did, the beast fell to the ground. With confusion Raph stared at it, watching as blood spread from under it. He then remembered how Don had forced its own claw through its chest, and figured that the beast had lost too much blood. Great, nothing left for him. Raph got close enough the kick it once, but it disappeared from the arena soon after that, apparently dead from the loss of blood.
"Don, dude!" Mikey shouted. He had moved to the window to keep them updated. Leo was still next to Don, trying to figure out how badly Don's leg had been crushed, although the wound worried him more. Don looked towards Mikey tiredly.
"Raph didn't even touch that beast – it just fell and died because of that claw thing you did", Mikey explained, sounding excited, but also disgusted. What Don had done hadn't been pretty. "That means we both got one, great huh?"
Don laughed a bit, looking at the ceiling. "Great, yeah." His leg didn't really feel great, but he was glad to know that the beast was gone and it couldn't hurt Raph. "But it is still 2-3."
"Yeah, but at least we got rid of that dude. The next one can't be much worse, right?"
"Don't say that, Mikey. With our luck it is going to be someone worse than that."
"Rest, Don", Leo cut their conversation, and Mikey turned his attention back to the arena.
The next opponent walked in.
She was about the same height as Raph and looked almost delicate. She was a humanoid, but looked nothing like a human, even though she had beige, scarless skin.
Raphael didn't like the fact that he'd have to fight a girl, but had learned the hard way that he shouldn't underestimate anyone. She looked out of place here, no claws or teeth, no muscle. Perhaps she was here for the first time, too.
But then again, the earlier beast had grown a spike from its shoulder. He couldn't let her looks deceive him.
But as she got closer Raph noticed that she really looked nothing like a fighter. She was afraid, unable to hide it. She had four big, violet eyes, and they were all on Raphael, watching him carefully.
"Please", she said quietly. "Just make it quick."
Raphael's heart sank. He dropped his fists, unsure what to do with his hands now.
"You can just surrender, you know", he said. "I don't want to hurt you."
The girl looked surprised about that, her eyes blinking up at him in confusion. It didn't last for long, her face becoming grim again. "No. I've been here before, I don't want this anymore. I just want it to end", she spoke, hiding her eyes behind her hands. Was she crying?
"Mikey, what's going on? What's the next opponent like?" Leo asked impatiently when Mike had fallen silent. Don was feeling better now that he didn't need to move around, and his leg wasn't bleeding anymore. That didn't mean he wasn't in pain; what wouldn't he do for good old aspirin right now. But he was feeling tired, and as he rested his head against Leo his eyes were only half open.
"It's, um… it's a girl", Mikey said, unsure of how to describe the situation. "Doesn't look like she wants to fight."
Raph opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say. He took a careful step towards the girl, not wanting to scare her. She peeked at him between her fingers, but didn't move away.
"Listen, uh… me and my brothers, we don't want to fight either. We're trying to get away too, we could help you", Raph explained, cursing his luck. The others would've handled this better than him. He had just wanted to take his frustration out on someone, not comfort a girl.
The audience had stayed silent, but was starting to boo at them. At first it sounded like silent muttering, but got louder. The girl raised her head, glancing at the audience.
"Sounds like they're getting impatient", she said, still looking at the audience. She lowered her hands. "Better give them what they want."
She was fast. As in, really fast. Her punch wasn't much, but she had claws, after all. Tiny, sharp claws, resembling the claws of a cat. Before Raph could react by throwing back a punch he had his cheek full of claw marks, and when he punched he didn't hit. She only jumped away, and their eyes locked. She grinned.
Raph touched his cheek, remembering the times Mikey's cat, Klunk, had scratched him. The wounds rarely bled much, but fuck, they stung. Especially now that he had his cheek full of them.
"Nice trick", Raph commented, looking at his fingers. They were a bit red.
"I like it, too", she chuckled. "I rarely get to use it. But the moment I saw you I knew you were a fool."
She moved again and the audience was starting to sound happier. They were obviously cheering for her.
But she wouldn't be difficult to beat; she was fast but fragile. He only needed to grab her and it would be over-
He felt a scratch on his arm, and he swung his fist again, but nobody was there. A scratch, again, this time on his leg, then again, on his cheek, his arm again, his other leg- and every time he turned she had already moved.
Anger started to bubble inside of him – god he hated this, why couldn't he just fight a huge beast like Mikey and Don had, someone who wasn't running away! He felt another scratch, realizing that every new scratch was starting to become deeper than the previous one.
"Alright, scratch that", Mikey said. Pun intended. "She wants to fight. She was just bluffing."
"And Raph fell for that?" Leo asked, not believing what he was hearing. How could Raph afford to make mistakes when they were in a place like this? Leonardo let out a breath – he was nervous and it was making his temper rise. He had to stay calm. He didn't even know what was going on down there, he shouldn't jump to conclusions.
Don seemed to notice how tense he was, and he touched Leo's hand reassuringly. He knew Leo was under a lot of stress, they all were worried for each other, but somehow Leo always ended up taking the responsibility for everything. Don was sure that even now Leo was thinking of ways how he should've avoided all of this, but what worried him the most was the fact that Leo was the last. He couldn't yield because it'd mean they all would be killed, so he knew Leo would get himself killed on the arena in a blink of an eye if getting them killed was the other option. It made him hold Leo's hand a bit tighter.
"Oh yeah, he totally did", Mikey said, and would've been snickering since there was so much he could tease Raph about, but it looked like Raph was having trouble with his opponent. "And he's in… trouble…"
Leo glanced at Don, who nodded at him tiredly.
"Go watch, Leo. If you're up against her it's good for you to see how she fights." As much as Leo hated to leave Don, he knew he was right and got up, switching places with Mikey.
"Dammit, just face me!" Raph yelled when he still couldn't grab the girl. Raph knew she'd have to tire out eventually, but the wounds he was getting weren't just stinging anymore – they were hurting. Besides, there were still two more enemies after her, and Raph was not going to let Leo have both of them.
"Catch me first", she called brightly from his left, but was already gone when Raph tried to lunge for her.
"Oh I'll catch you alright", Raph grunted. "And when I do…"
He received another cut, biting his lip in order to not cry out. He'd have to think, focus…
But it was difficult to think when new cuts were constantly appearing on his skin and stinging pain was all he could focus on.
The girl had to be circling him in order to plant new cuts so quickly. He had no way of knowing where she'd hit next, just knew that she was somewhere there, somewhere around him…
Raph clenched his fist, moving his legs a bit further from each other to get a good position and swirled with his fist out. He made and almost complete turn before his fist connected with soft skin, and he sent the girl away from him. She stumbled on the ground, surprised that he had managed to hit her.
She was holding her side where Raphael's fist had got her, not looking pleased about this.
Raphael walked towards her, and she backed away, not so confident anymore. She didn't stop until the she hit the wall behind her, and Raph cracked the joints in his hands.
He didn't get to do any more than that; she kicked the ground with her legs, sending sand on Raph. Raph put his hand up to shield his eyes, but it didn't seem like the sand was aimed at his face. No, only his hands and legs, full of scratches, got hit. And it didn't take long for him to realize the reason.
"Son of a-", he gasped when the sand made his wounds sting. Brushing the sand away only agitated the wounds, increasing his discomfort. His attention hadn't been away from her for longer than few seconds, but suddenly her claws were pressed against his throat.
"I'm giving you a chance to yield, stranger", she smirked into his ear, pressing her claws against him and making the soft skin bleed. "Do that or die."
"Sorry", Raph said. "I can't do either."
He grabbed her arm just as she pressed her claws deeper, tearing her away from him and slamming her to the ground, not letting go. He almost got an open throat in the process, feeling how blood trickled down his neck, but with the girl in his grip she couldn't do anything.
Well, she could scratch, which was exactly what she was doing; desperately trying to get away and marking Raphael's arms with long but shallow wounds.
"Damnit, stop it already!" Raph yelled, grabbing her other arm as well. "Since you gave me an option, I'll do the same to you." He was hurting all over, so he'd rather give her a payback, but the sooner this was over, the better. "So yield!"
"No! What I said in the beginning was true; I don't want to do this anymore", she growled. They both knew she wasn't strong enough to get free. "Just end me!"
"You can get away from here", Raph growled back. "You have to fight for it, but you can."
Raph kicked her legs from under her, forcing her on her knees. The moment her knees hit the ground her body disappeared. It counted as a yield.
Raph felt exhausted even though he hadn't really moved around that much. His skin hurt everywhere and the earlier need to fight had faded. He'd withstand pain any day, but this annoying stinging was almost worse. He moved his arm around a bit, wincing at the sensation it caused. He touched his neck; the wound was bleeding, but the cut hadn't been as deep as he'd thought. Had the other scratches been bleeding he'd be worried about the blood-loss, but he came to the conclusion none of them were too bad.
He could ignore the pain if he'd just get to punch something.
Leonardo stood silently in front of the window, arms crossed over his chest.
"Leo, you're a horrible commentator!" Mikey whined, leaving Don alone for a moment in order to come and see for himself. They saw how Raph managed the catch the girl, and Mikey cheered. He turned to Leo when he didn't react at all.
"Come on Leo, he won", Mikey said. "Don't look so grim."
"We have no idea what's coming next", Leo said with a stern face. "Those wounds are going to slow him down."
"Wounds?" Don asked, trying to get up, but Mikey hurried back to his side to stop him.
"More like scratches", Mikey corrected his brother. "At least they don't look that bad from here, but there are a lot of them… even Klunk couldn't make him look that bad."
Mentioning Klunk made Mikey feel homesick, but he tried pushing it away. They could worry about getting home later.
"Leo's right, if there are a lot of them, they're going to slow him down", Don said, sounding worried. He wanted to see, but could hardly keep his eyes open. Mikey sat next to Don, lifting his head onto his lap to make him feel more comfortable.
"Well, at leat he looks kind of badass with them", Mikey chuckled, trying to take Don's mind away from the worrying. "It'll help him to maintain his I'm a tough guy -look. Unless I tell everyone he got them from Klunk."
Raph had hoped for a tougher opponent, and his wish was granted. The next guy was big. A bit too big.
He was a humanoid as well, but had a long, dragging tail which looked like it was just a big rock. His legs were thick, almost like two trees. He was obviously very slow, but getting hit by those arms, or that tail- or pretty much by anything the guy had wouldn't be good. Raph got into position, waiting for his opponent to stomp closer. Because that's how he walked; by slowly stomping.
The enemy eyed him, sighing dramatically. "Why must they always be so small? So hard to catch… I don't like boring the audience", he spoke with a deep voice. "So be good and come here."
"Don't worry, I will", Raph growled. First he just had to think of how to beat this… tank. This was a battle arena for battling! Why did he have to think about how to defeat his enemies when they could've just fought? Fists against fists, not fists against this… rock. Yeah, no way his fists would do any good against him.
Still, he had to try. He lunged, having to jump high in order to even hit his torso. And like he expected, hitting him felt like hitting a rock. He hissed in pain, easily dodging the enemy's swing and putting some distance between them again.
"Don't make this so difficult", the enemy spoke, already moving towards him. But he was so slow that Raph could just walk in order to maintain the distance. Now, if he could just figure out what to do…
"Well? What's the next guy look like?" Mikey asked, unable to move to the window anymore, since Don was half asleep on his lap.
"Big", Leo said. "Raph can't hit him."
"Well, he's not going to like that", Mikey answered, twirling the end of Don's mask around his finger.
Leo didn't answer. He had no idea how Raphael could beat his opponent, he didn't seem to have any weak spots. He was slow, but that was about it. Raph couldn't even try to make him run against the walls like Don had done with his opponent. But what worried him the most was the fact that Raph would not surrender, even if someone was beating him into a pulp. Why did he have to be the last one?
Raph was running out of patience; they were just walking around, and the audience was booing again. He had to try something. He slowed down, waiting for the enemy to catch up.
"Getting tired?" the rock taunted, swinging his massive fist. Raphael easily jumped on top of the slow fist, using it to climb on his shoulder. He didn't seem to like that, trying to grab him. Raph avoided him easily again, pressing his arm against his throat, trying to cut out his airway.
But even his neck seemed to be made out of rock, and the opponent only laughed. No matter how Raph pulled it was no use, he couldn't even strangle him, he-
He felt an arm around his shell, realizing with a sinking feeling he hadn't paid enough attention. Strong fingers draped around him, bringing him in front of the opponent's face. Raph struggled, punching the hand holding him. It only made his fingers hurt and the enemy laugh.
"You call this a fair fight, huh?" Raph yelled out in frustration, glaring at his opponent.
He just shrugged. "You tried to strangle me."
"What else could I do? You're made out of rock!"
He laughed again, gripping Raph a bit harder. Raph grunted, feeling how his ribs protested the pressure around him.
He saw how the enemy raised his other hand and turned it into a fist, and could do nothing to prevent him from punching him. It felt like getting hit by a giant rock – literally. Not like Raphael often got hit by rocks, but yeah, this was how he definitely would've imagined what getting hit by a boulder would feel like. Stars danced in his eyes and his face felt numb, and he must've bitten his tongue since he tasted blood.
He expected his opponent to throw him to the ground or something, but as he lifted his head, refusing to just give up even though nausea washed over him, he saw the fist coming towards him again. His vision swam as he was punched again and he spat blood, closing his eyes from the pain. He didn't raise his head again.
Leo hit the window, growling loudly. His eyes scanned the room again – nothing, nothing he could use, no one he could beg to let him fight in his brothers stead – he needed to get out there, at this point Raph couldn't even yield even if he wanted to, the guy would just beat him until–
He punched the window again, again and again, finally leaving bloody marks on it as his knuckles started to bleed, but didn't stop before Mikey was there to pull him away.
"Leo! What's going-", Mikey asked while holding him in place, turning his attention to the at the arena. His grip on Leo loosened and Leo leaned back against the window, while Mikey seemed to be frozen in place. His eyes widened with horror and he couldn't tear his eyes away while the opponent hit Raphael time after time. Leo cursed under his breath.
"Raph", Mikey whispered against the cold, bloodied window. Tears burned his eyes as he numbly watched.
"What's happening?" Don asked, wide awake now and trying to get up again. He managed to sit, but thanks to his leg he couldn't get up. Leo and Mikey were silent now, their postures defeated; Don felt dread wash over him. He forced himself up, desperately wanting to know what was going on, ignoring the pain as he limped towards the window.
He arrived just in time to see how Raphael got smacked against the arena's wall, blood drippling to the ground. Don felt like he suddenly lost the ability to breath- this couldn't be real. Raph couldn't-
Just like Mikey, he couldn't tear his eyes away as Raphael's limp body received a hit after hit, the audience cheering. The cheering was getting a bit quieter, though; Raph had clearly been unconscious for a while, so they were getting bored. No sense in watching someone beat up a dead body.
Leonardo seemed to pull himself together since he pulled Mikey away from the window, pressing his head against his plastron and shielding him from the sight. Mikey sobbed.
