Ch.4: Raiding The Fortress

The morning in the new world was just as intense as the day before. Joining his brothers in the main room for a meager breakfast of whatever they could find, Raphael immediately braced himself for the worst. Dumpster diving, yum yum!

Doing his best not to throw up seeing a black and green slice of pizza, Raphael looked over to Leo and was about to ask what plans were for today when Hana the witch suddenly stomped in seeming excited and worried.

"Hana what is it?" asked Donatello.

"I've finally uncovered the location of the Turnstone" said Hana " we can use it to end this mess."

"Alright!" cheered Mikey, excited.

"Someone want to bring me up to speed here?" asked Raph " What exactly is this Turnstone?"

"A legendary artifact of unimaginable power" said Hana " able to bend reality to its will. Possessing this magical sphere will allow us to change everything we see around us, and now I know where it is,"

"Where is it?" asked Leo.

"Buried deep under the King's fortress,"


"So that's home sweet home huh?" joked Raphael as he and his brothers gathered outside the large black, pointed palace. Fire danced in its windows as the wind wailed and screamed outside, sending shivers up the turtles shells.

"Definitely a perfect candidate for Haunted Houses Monthly," said Don " Are we sure the Turnstone is in there?"

"If it is" said Leo " it's going to be a challenge to get it out. I say we split up into teams. Don, you keep in contact with Hana and Casey. Who knows when we'll need their help for this,"

"Right" said Don, nodding then grabbed for his youngest brother " Come on Mikey, let's go,"

With that said, the two turtles departed, leaving Raph and Leo alone. After watching his brothers leave, Raph turned to face Leo. The blue-masked turtle didn't seem entirely thrilled on who Donnie had picked to leave with him.

"Why is he so mad at me?" thought Raphael, staring at his brother.

Little did he know, he would soon find out.


"Okay" said Don, as Mikey finished taking out the last Soulless on the West side " now I can open up the gate for us and Casey to go through. Hana should be shadowing Leo and Raph,"

With that said, the purple-masked turtle made his way over to the gate controls and lifted up the door wide, creating a hole in the fortress.

"Okay Casey" called Mikey " you can come out now,"

"Finally" said Casey, emerging behind a pile of rocks, hockey sticks in hand " Time's run out for this lawbreaker, right now!"

Unleashing a rebel yell of 'Goongala!', Casey charged in with Don and Mikey following close on his heels.

The inside of the fortress was just as gothic as the rest. Frozen stills of angry, black gargoyles jutted out of the walls. A huge crater lay in the center of the chamber rimmed with teeth-like purple stones. And a throne stood in the far back of the room, with the souls of the Soulless adorning it like gems.

The king and Chu-Lan were nowhere to be seen, but that didn't mean things were going to be as easy as they looked. Willing to take the risk of inviting the demons wrath, the trio stepped out and began to explore.

"Wow" said Mikey, as he and the others approached the crater in the floor " Look at that thing! I wonder how far it goes?"

"If I had to guess" said Donatello " it looks like it leads straight to the Underworld where Chu-lan and his dad first came from,"

"Freaky" said Mikey " So now what do we do?"

"We're gonna try out the new Soulless formula I've been working on" said Don " It's still experimental, but it should work. Hopefully it will cure everyone who has been infected by this darkness,"

"Then what are we standing around for?!" said Casey, jumping into the crater " Let's end this!"

With that said, Don and Mikey followed the path of their reckless friend, and jumped down into the fiery pit. The sinister glow of giant red eyes watched them from afar, shielded in the shadows.


Meanwhile, over with Leonardo and Raphael, the two turtles found themselves infiltrating the stadium on the East wing of the King's palace. The stadium had become the final fate for many humans when the world fell to flames. Leo remembered this horrible place all to well, for this is where Splinter had died.

Grinding his fists in anger as the memories of the past swirled in his head, Leo stood in the center of the ring seething as Raphael explored the rest of the stadium, looking for their target.

Spotting a door that may be useful, Raphael was about to call out to Leo about his find, when suddenly the whole ground started to shake and the center of the stadium exploded outward, sending Leonardo flying twenty feet into the air.

The blue-masked hard on the right side of the field, his shell saving him from the most damaging of impact. Running to his injured brother, Raph made his way over quickly to help, but stopped suddenly when a familiar figure emerged from the hole, sporting the same black and white armor that still haunted Raphael in his dreams.

"Crimelord," growled Raph, narrowing his eyes in recognition.

"So glad you too Raphael" said Crimelord, looking at the red-masked turtle " I've been waiting for this chance. But you may call me Chu-lan, since that is my true name,"

"I don't care what name it is!" yelled Raph " You turned me into a villain and wrecked everything I cared about! Why would you do that?!"

"Why?" said Chu-lan, as if it was obvious " Because I owed you a very special debt. You may not know it, but you're the one who made this whole future possible. Shall I demonstrate?"

With that said, a dark mist suddenly rose out from Chu-lan's hand and ensnared Raphael in its binding grip. Although the red-masked turtle struggled, he could not break himself of the ever-growing black cocoon. Half his body was soon covered, then only the head remained. Sending one last glare over at Chu-lan, the darkness completely covered Raphael's eyes, and the turtle was lost to the dark void.