Hello again! Sorry I haven't put up a new chapter for a bit—studying for tests and stuff got in the way. But anyways, hope you enjoy my story and please tell me what you think about it 'cause I'd like to know about other people's opinions besides my own! And the story must go on…

Leo slowly became aware of his surroundings as the groggy effects of sleep were just wearing off. The first thing he noticed was the distinct taste of blood in his mouth. Definitely a bad sign. He felt the cold, hard ground beneath him and realized he was in an awkward position, but different from the one he had fallen unconscious in, as if someone had dumped him on the ground and left him there. His senses returned like a wave washing over him, and suddenly he could hear voices above him. His breath hitched when he finally recognized the speaker. It was King! Every fiber of Leo's being wanted to instantly shoot up and take down his hated enemy right then and there, but he knew that the action could put himself or his brothers in danger. He couldn't risk that. He needed to know what situation he and his brothers were in before anything else, for the last thing he remembered was being knocked out by Dagger. His head was pounding mercilessly and his body ached all over, but he kept his eyes shut and breathing steady as he strained to listen to the conversation that droned above him.

"—did not fail you, King. I brought you the creature you asked for." Leo now identified the second voice as Dagger and grew worried. What had become of his brothers? Could Dagger have...? No. He didn't want to assume the worst just yet.

"Dagger, I asked for this one only—"Leo could hear a small shuffling noise and guessed King had motioned to Mikey, which was an enormous relief to him, "—and yet you brought me two of these ugly beings! You should have killed it when you had the chance!"

"No!" Dagger shouted, and Leo barely suppressed a flinch from the sudden loudness. "Eh, no…" Dagger voiced more quietly, embarrassed. "I brought this one to…to keep the other alive. The orange-banded one is weakened by something, and we do not want to drink tainted blood."

"Ah, why did you not just say so?" King replied with an amused tone. "Very well. Once the creature is uninfected, we will kill them both and drink to victory!" This time, it was King's loud yell that Leo fought to remain still by. He was furious, having decided that he would do anything to get Mikey away from these…monsters. And now that he realized what was happening, Leo's fury transformed into panic—if Raph and Don weren't here with Mikey, they either got away…or didn't. He desperately hoped that his brothers were okay.

And relatively speaking, they were. Unlike Leo however, their wakeup was far from quiet. As soon as Raph gained his senses and looked around, he shook Don wildly.

"Wah! Wh-what?" Don yelped as he bolted upright out of his slouched position on the ground. To his relief, he looked up to see Raph kneeling down next to him, with a hand still on his shoulder. But his relief instantly changed into a rising panic from Raph's touch. Don could feel his brother trembling.

"They're gone, Donnie!" Raph cried.

"What?" Don squeaked, his stomach twisting in knots with panic.

"Mike an' Leo, they…" Raph shut his eyes and shielded his face with his hand, "…they musta' been taken when we were out." Raph's loud cry had been reduced to a hushed whisper.

Raph stood up as Don looked around franticly to see for himself. There was no sign of their brothers. "No..." he said as the realization sunk in. He struggled to get a hold of the situation. "But why are we still…alive?" Don asked disturbingly. "I thought Dagger was ordered to kill us."

"It doesn't matter!" Raph yelled furiously. "They took our brothers, Donnie!" He punched the tree beside him, hoping to ease his growing rage.

"We can still go after them!" Don countered angrily.

"Yeah? And how're we s'possed ta do that, huh?" Raph punched the tree again and a pained grunt escaped his lips.

Don huffed, trying to keep his voice under control. "Well if you stop kicking yourself in the shell, maybe we can formulate a plan to rescue—"

"—They could'a killed 'em fer all we know!" Raph exploded and made a move to punch the tree again with a loud roar.

"NO!" shouted Don. He grabbed Raph's wrist and pulled his brother away from the tree with such unexpected force that Raph stumbled backwards and fell to the ground.

"Donnie, what the shell!" Raph raged at Don. He started to get up but Don wrestled him back down. Raph was about to heave Don off with a solid kick to the chest when caught sight of his brother's grave expression and stopped.

Don noticed Raph's stillness and let go. But his still kept his position and his intense stare directed down at Raph. "Now you listen to me," Don hissed in a low voice. "It does matter that we are alive because we will find our brothers, no matter what it takes. They won't be abandoned, whether dead or alive." Raph growled and averted his eyes. Don relaxed a little, knowing his brother had understood him. "Look at me," he voiced in a calmer tone.

"I get it Don," Raph said, his eyes still stuck on the ground beside him. "We'll go and—"

"—I said look at me, Raphie," Don said softly, comfortingly. Raph's eyes slowly left the ground and fixated on Don's face that had pulled into a sad smile. "We'll be together in this okay? So please, no more hurting yourself."

"Yeah, I know," Raph responded in a gentle voice that matched Don's. He sighed and cracked his neck. "Ugh. Remind me to never get on ya bad side." Don faintly chuckled and offered a hand for Raph to get back up on his feet. "So ya got a plan, genius?" Raph asked.

"Well, sort of." Don answered. "It would be a waste to look for our brothers in this huge forest by ourselves. Which means we'll need to…persuade a volunteer to lead us to the 'wolf grounds' that King was talking about."

"Oh, I can help in that department." Raph grinned evilly and cracked his knuckles.

"I thought you might," Don said with a knowing smirk.

"How we gonna locate one'a these wolves, though?" asked Raph.

"Simple," said Don confidently. "Remember when we deliberately tuned our senses to the spiritual plane, we could see Dagger?"

"Yeah…" Raph answered uncertainly.

"And also when King said that entering the spiritual boundary meant we could sense their presence?"

"Uhhh…." Raph gave a stupefied expression.

"Well, if my hunch is correct, we should be able to detect the wolves' spiritual pressure by meditation alone. If we focus, that is." Don looked hopefully at Raph who had pulled his face into a scowl.

"Great," Raph muttered. "More meditation."

"It's the only idea I've got," Don stated as he sat down. Raph dropped noisily beside him. "Just remember Raph, we're looking for a wolf alone. We don't want to get ourselves caught in another big fight." Don and Raph closed their eyes.

After a moment however, the silence was broken by a whisper. "Raph?"

"Hmm?" Raph responded, opening one eye.

"D'you think Leo and Mikey are…you know…" Don trailed off.

Raph sighed and turned to look at Don. "Nah. Forget what I said earlia'. Leo's too stubborn an' Mikey's too stupid to be pushin' daisies early, if ya know what I mean."

Don smiled silently. "Yeah…you're right."

"Of course I am," Raph replied. "So we gonna do this thing or what?"

"Alright, sheesh." Don let his mind wander and tried to grasp that same feeling he had experienced before. Immediately, he sensed Raph's presence and merged his own energy with his brother's, hoping it would strengthen their mystic power. Suddenly, the turtles' vision went blurry as their minds were whisked at an unimaginable speed through the forest. The search was dizzying to a point where the turtles felt nauseous, but they still held their positions, desperately waiting for a sign.

And just as they were on the verge of passing out, a familiar electric sensation caught Don's attention, and he pinpointed the source. Suddenly, he felt his whole body shaking uncontrollably, as if it was moved by some outside force…then he remembered—Raph! At the realization that his brother was responsible for the action, Don snapped awake, breathing heavily. He caught his breath and looked up into Raph's piercing stare with a wide, tired smile. "I…we…we found one."

Raph's stare instantly relaxed at Don's happiness, but a frown still remained on his face. He helped Don up to his feet and said, "Then let's go."

Don nodded to his brother. The turtles made their way through the thick forest, running at a fast pace. After a few minutes in silence, Don turned to Raph. "Did you see—er feel it?" he asked vaguely, knowing Raph would understand what he meant.

"Yeah. It kinda felt sharp an'…uh…" Raph trailed off, unable to express his experience.

"Like a bolt…or electricity…" Don struggled to voice the feeling as well, "…but more intense like—"

"—lightning," Raph interjected.

Don nodded vigorously, agreeing with his brother's insight. "I can still feel it now."

Raph chuckled. "Well good, 'cause we're gonna need that ta find us a nice wolf ta figh—uh, persuade."

"I just hope we'll get there in time," Don said. He sighed loudly and shook his head. "No, I'm sure we'll get there—we have to," he said decisively.

Raph grunted in approval of Don's comment. "Man, those guys will so owe us fer this," he said, trying to lighten the situation. "I bet Leo's gonna freak when he hears that he's not the only turtle with awesome mystic powers and stuff," Raph declared triumphantly.

"I wonder what Leo's doing right now?" Don asked disconnectedly, oblivious to Raph's upbeat attitude.

"Jeez Don, stop worrying! They'll be fine," Raph said desperately. He couldn't help but feel useless in uplifting his troubled brother. How did Mikey do it so well? He hoped the little cheeseball and fearless-what's-his-face were doing as fine as he said they were.

Lost in thought, Raph didn't notice that Don had stopped abruptly ahead and halted just in time before he crashed into his brother. Raph was startled by the sudden change but didn't question it; he could feel a lone wolf's presence, and he knew it was near. He looked into the distance, following Don's line-of-sight. A few trees away stood a brownish gray wolf that appeared to be dozing off.

"Okay," whispered Don, not taking his eyes off the wolf, "this is a delicate situation here. We don't want—"

"Raaaaaah!" With a fierce battle cry Raph cut off Don and raced to the wolf.

Don begrudgingly ran behind his brother. "Why do I even bother?"