Pony: Chapter four is here! Chapter four is here!
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Pony: Disclaim, Disclaimer Dude! Yay!
Disclaimer Dude: How did I ever get stuck with you... Pony doesn't own TMNT or any references appearing in this story.
Heart of the White Dragon
Chapter Four: Darastrix.
"GET 'ER OUTTA DA LAIR!" with each said word, Raphael took a swipe at Leonardo with his sais, which were avoided.
Leonardo aimed a kick at the mid-section of Raphael's plastron, sending him flying backwards and landing on his shell.
The red-banded turtle leaped to his feet. Raphael's bandana blended as his face grew crimson with rage.
Michelangelo and Donatello both knew they needed to calm their brothers before their next attacks.
Leonardo and Raphael glared at each other with malice and they charged at one another like angry bulls. Instead of meeting with sais like the blue-clad turtle anticipated, his katanas were held back by Donatello's bo staff. At the same time Donatello had halted Leonardo's charge, Michelangelo swiftly leaped onto Raphael's shell while using his toes for a firm grip. The chains of the youngest turtle's nunchakus coiled around the middle prong of Raphael's sais.
"Easy, Raphie-boy." Michelangelo soothed in a semi-comical manner.
Leonardo pulled his katanas from Donatello's bo staff and he sheathed them, signaling he was no longer under fury's spell.
"Raph, calm down." Donatello aided his brother in breaking Raphael's hostilities.
Raphael forcefully threw his arms forward, causing Michelangelo sailing over his head and landing upon his plastron.
"I'm okay, I'm okay." the orange-banded terrapin said as Donatello helped him to his feet.
The hot-tempered turtle placed his sais at his belt and turned to the exit of the lair.
"Where are you going?" Leonardo asked while watching is irritated brother make his way towards the exit.
"Out!" Raphael snarled and he was instantly gone from sight.
Leonardo let out a frustrated sigh before he left to retrieve another cold washcloth.
The sun peeked cheerfully over the horizon, sending a wave of bright colors that gradually washed away the gloom that blanketed the heavens. It smiled upon the world, prepared to watch yet another day go by as it always had for billions of years.
The remaining portion of the Foot assassins regrouped at Winters' tower which served as the Foot Clan's new headquarters. They congregated within the lobby, questioning each other on any information of Karai's whereabouts.
"I thought she was hiding behind a couple of trash cans, but it was only a cat. And it bit me." Satoshi revealed a set of pin-prick holes in his wrist for the entire fleet to view, but they paid no heed. Long ago, the rest of the Foot Clan learned that nothing of interesting or valuable information ever came from the mouths of Masato, Daisuke, and Satoshi.
The fleet dreaded the arrival of their higher rank. For they do not know of what to anticipate when they would face his wrath.
Heavy footsteps echoed within the hallway leading to the lobby as they came down on the polished marble floor. Beams of fresh morning light peeked through the lobby's windows, creating a source of light. A veil of gloom surrounded the approaching humanoid. The light poured onto the figure as he entered the lobby.
The figure barely exceeded seven feet. The behemoth donned a set of dragon armor over his blood-red kimono top and hakama. His face was hidden by a mask made to take the appearance of the head of an Asian dragon. The blood-red dragon on the humanoid's mask menacingly held its mouth open, revealing its pearly white fangs and a snake-like tongue. Golden yellow whiskers flowed gracefully from the muzzle and curled delicately just below the eye holes that showed a pair of soulless gray eyes. A hood of thick fur skinned from a Japanese bear had been dyed the same bloody red as his kimono top, hakama, and dragon mask. A pair of horns that curled like a ram's protruded from under the fur that rested on the giant's cranium. A trio of razor sharp blades were proudly displayed on a gauntlet worn on each wrist like the three claws of the Japanese dragon. The only noticeable weapon he carried was the katana of an unusually long length resting within the just as unusually long black scabbard set diagonally across his back.
"Do any of you incompetents have anything to report?" the behemoth boomed in bitter annoyance.
The accumulation of Foot ninja remained silent. The humanoid clenched his fists. His cold eyes fell upon the Foot ninja placed in the very front. The behemoth raised a finger at him.
"You! In the front!" the behemoth addressed the single Foot ninja, who quickly looked to both sides before pointing at himself questioningly, "Yes, you! Come forth!"
The Foot ninja nervously approached his higher rank and kneeled more out of submission than respect.
"Name?" the humanoid asked icily.
"Huh?"
"Your name, you idiot! State your name!"
"K-Koji. I-It's K-Koji, L-Lord D-Darastrix, s-sir." Koji stuttered out of fear.
"Tell me,... Koji," Lord Darastrix growled, "Has the entire city been thoroughly searched?"
"Y-Yes, m-my Lord. W-We s-searched every b-building... r-rooft-top... a-alley... W-We l-left n-no sh-shadow unch-checked."
"And yet you found nothing?!"
"N-No, L-Lord D-Darastrix."
Lord Darastrix's eyes clouded with thought, then lit up with realization.
"If Karai is nowhere to be found...," Lord Darastrix began in a philosophical tone, "Do you know what this means?"
Koji thought for a moment, but comprehension never came to him, "N-No, s-sir."
The rest of the fleet, too were clueless on what the humanoid was hinting at.
"You fools! It means if Karai cannot be found, then that mutant freak must have taken her with it below the surface!"
"O-oh, w-we u-understand n-now, L-Lord D-Darastrix." Koji informed his higher rank.
"Good. You all are dismissed..." Lord Darastrix dismissed the group of relieved ninja and he exited the lobby.