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A Most Deadly Game

Chapter 6: Storm

The storm hit just as hard and fast as Leonardo remembered them too.

The first warning was the strange heaviness to the air as the sky darkened with clouds. It was a herald to the oncoming deluge and –even though he knew it was coming- the sudden down pouring of water caused him to pause. There seemed to be no in between, at first it had been the normal humid jungle air, the next it was water falling from the heavens and rolling off leaves and branches above him.

He hated being wet.

Still, being soaked through to the bone meant very little at the moment. The only thing that mattered was finding Donatello. The fear for his younger brother had only been growing the longer he tracked him through the forest. There were several signs that he had stumbled and the sight of blood on the ground where that had apparently happened was enough to make his heart clench.

What was worse was the signs that the hunters were closing in on him. Twice now Leonardo had found the impact holes of where bullets had hit trees about head height to Donatello. He had been a lucky turtle so far but he was obviously tiring judging by the miss steps and stumbles Leo could make out. Eventually, Don would make a mistake, a mistake that would probably cost him his life.

Leonardo did his best to push those thoughts from his mind as he started moving again in the direction he was sure Don was heading. It was going to be next to impossible to track him now that the rain had started. The rain was going to wash away any and all signs of his passing. It may make it harder for Leo to track him but it would also make it harder for the hunters to locate him. This storm was a blessing in disguise and –even though he would rather find him that day- Leo was more than willing to loose Donnie's trail if that meant that the hunters were going to lose it as well.

Donatello had an annoying habit of doubling back on himself and following previous paths he had taken in an effort to throw off his pursuers. It was a good strategy. Leo had lost his trail enough times already that he couldn't even count it on both hands any longer. He had only found the elusive trail again by following the wandering tracks of the hunters as they moved about looking for it. Don's backtracking was quiet possibly the only reason that the hunters hadn't overtake him already.

It was obvious with the way Don was trying to not drag his left foot that something was wrong. There were scuff marks on the ground near the back of his foot like he was hurrying to get his right foot back down on the ground. Leo was willing to bet that Don had either sprained or twisted either his left ankle or knee.

If there was something Leo didn't want to think too hard about it was the amount of blood that seemed to be liberally dribbled about where Don had stumbled. Don had either wrapped a bandage around the injury or his arms were injured somehow. It would explain why there was so little blood between where he had stumbled. The wound could be partially healed but, when he threw his arms out to catch himself, the wound would reopen. It made sense and Leo could only hope that –if that were the case- it was a relatively minor injury.

However, now that the rain had arrived, unless Don broke a branch or came out from behind a tree in front of him there was a good chance that Leo was going to lose the trail completely. He paused for a moment and glanced around at the floral surrounding him. There were no signs that Donatello or the hunters had gone this way. Leo heaved a heavy sign and crouched down, knowing it would be next to impossible to see Donatello's tracks with the water relentlessly falling from the sky and hiding the earth underneath itself. It was something, however insignificant, for him to do and not feel useless.

A threatening rumble of thunder came from overhead followed closely by the crack and brief flash of lighting. Leo ignored the warnings. With all of the tall trees around him, it was highly unlikely that he would get struck by lightning. Perhaps if he climbed a tree and held one of his katanas above his head he would run the risk of getting struck but right now it was more important to find his brother.

Another crack of lightning-

Leonardo froze, all his senses hyper aware as he listened closely. That crack had not been from the storm above him –which rumbled again as if in agreement with his thought- it had been form a rifle or some other matter of firearm. There must be a group of hunters nearby firing at some-

Another gunshot pierced through the wail of the storm.

Leonardo was off, running quickly through the storm, not even bothering for any kind of stealth as he hurried towards the sound of the gunshot. There was a good chance that the hunters were firing at Don. They were close enough to him that it should be the same group that he had also been tracking alongside Don's trail.

He was so focused on getting to where that gun had been fired that Leo all but plowed into a hunter that he didn't see thanks to the poor visibility caused by the oncoming night and the storm. The hunter had been completely taken off guard, saying something in Spanish that Leo was certain a swear or oath of some kind, but he wasn't really paying attention. He was more concerned with putting the hunter out of commission before he could even think of trying to turn the machete or hand gun the hunter was carrying in either hand on Leo.

A quick jab to the throat followed by a knee to his stomach had the hunter dropping his weapons and falling to his knees as he struggled to breath. Leonardo didn't give him a chance to rise. The sooner he incapacitated him the sooner Leo could figure out where Don was. A quick chop to the back of the hunter's neck had him face down in the mud, unconscious for the time being.

Despite the fact that these men were out to kill him and his brothers, it went against every fiber of Leonardo's conscious to leave him to drown in the mud. He grabbed the man by the collar of his jacket and dragged him partially upright against the trunk of a nearby tree, slumping him against it and keeping his mouth and nose high above the ground and any puddles that could potentially form.

Leo quickly ducked behind the tree and pulled his katanas from their sheaths. He could hear someone approaching, most likely attracted to the cussing that the hunter managed to impart before Leo took him out. He would have preferred to drop down on the new comer from above but trying to climb the trees while it was raining was like trying to climb a metal pole slicked down with motor oil. He had learned that shortly after arriving in the rain forest several years ago.

He only had to wait a few more seconds before another hunter came into view. Instead of running to his companion immediately, the hunter scanned the area around the two of them, looking for anything out of place. A smirk broke out on Leo lips and he was silently gratefully that he had gone down to his hidden home to gather up his smock. The muted gray color helped to blend him into the side of the tree he was peeking around with only one eye really visible. The hardest trick to master as a ninja was being able to hide in plain sight.

Not seeing him thanks to his camouflage, the hunter moved to check on his friend and Leo struck. This hunter had been expecting an attack and blocked Leo's arm as he tried to smash the hilt of his sword into the hunter's jaw. For a brief moment the two combatants got to look at each other before they danced apart. Leo already looking for another area to strike and the hunter's eyes grew almost comically wide as he realized who he was looking at.

"Ghost…" he whispered in awe. As Leo moved forward to attack again the hunter yelled at the top of his lungs, "Ghost! Ghost of th-"

Leo pretended to strike with his sword as he kicked out the man's opposite knee. Thrown off balance the man wind milled his arms, dropping the gun in his hand that he hadn't even had a chance to use in favor of trying to remain upright. Leo didn't give him a chance to recover, leaping up he delivered a savage side kick to the man's upper chest, throwing him backward to slam into the tree his companion was still leaning boneless against. He slid down to lay in a heap next to him. Leo didn't bother sticking around to see if the man's cries would bring anymore of the hunters to him. It was time he went to the hunters.

He stayed low, moving in a running half crouch. Using the various planet life around him as cover, Leo easily ran up behind the next nearest hunter and was on him before he even realized that he was being attacked. The Ghost didn't even give the man a chance, striking a pressure point with the hilt of his katana, the man crumpled without even a grunt escaping him.

One of the other hunters had seen Leo's swift attack and opened fire with what sounded like an assault rifle, peppering the entire area around his comrade in an attempt to hit Leo. That would have worked if Leo had stayed put. The ninja had already been moving through the underbrush again when the deafening roar of automatic weapon fire filled the air. Leo's steps hitched slightly in surprise before evening out again. After seeing the remains of the weapons Raph's attackers had been using he wasn't surprised that these hunters were similarly armed.

He put away one katana and reached into the small compartment of his belt where he had a handful surikens waiting to be used. He looped around and came up alongside the hunter, throwing a star when he was about ten feet from the man. It hit the hunter in the back of his trigger hand, causing him to swear but, more importantly, drop the rifle he was holding. His inattention as he tried to remove the throwing star from the back of his hand was all the time Leonardo needed to pounce on him, driving him to the ground where a savage punch to his jaw put him out of the fight.

"Fuacking Infierno!" Leo slowed as he approached a tree and cautiously stood up behind it, wary of anyone being able to see him even in such poor visibility. Using the higher vantage point, he peeked around the tree and saw the outline of two more hunters standing back to back. He could make out one man say something to the other but only pieces of the sentence drifted to him. "Disparar… como… movimiento." Judging by how they both raised their guns slightly in preparation, Leonardo had a pretty good idea of what was said.

Leo flipped his katana back so that the dull edge of the blade ran along his arm and took another suriken from his belt. Taking the tattered edge of his smock in his hand and teeth, he ripped a piece from it. Piercing the bit of cloth with the one of the points of the suriken, he loosely stuffed the rest of it into the small hole in the middle of the throwing star. It wouldn't be the best distraction, but it should be enough to work.

Cautiously, and using every bit of stealth that he had mastered over the years, Leonardo slipped around the tree and approached the two hunters. He made sure to place each step precisely so as to make as little noise as possible and did not move the brush around him anymore than he had too. When he did have to move past a limb, he waited under the man closet to him was looking in the opposite direction. The other hunter he was back too had a very narrow blind spot that Leo made sure to stay in as the two men scanned in the opposite direction as the other.

Slowly, Leo extended the hand holding the suriken and waited for the right moment patiently. That moment came as the hunter was looking back in his general direction. With a flick of his wrist, Leo sent the suriken flying just above the undergrowth. The loosely packed fabric breaking free from the hole holding it and twirled around the suriken as it moved through the air shortly after leaving his hand.

"Alli!" his target cried, causing the man standing back to him to twist around and together they opened fire on the helpless plants and trees before them.

Leo moved as the other hunter moved, quickly slipping around to the men's now unprotected backs. He moved quickly as he came up behind them, jumped between them and drilling the blade of his foot into one man's neck as he slammed the hilt of his sword into the other man's neck. The noise of the gunfire abruptly ceased as both fell to the ground at Leo's feet.

He crouched down, scanning the area around him for anymore hunters or Donatello. He was starting to get worried. While he didn't mind taking out some of the hunters he had been hoping to come across his brother. More out of a need to then anything else, Leo rifled through the backpacks each hunter was wearing, removing various trail rations and a small compact medical kit that he quickly tucked into his satchel. Don would need the medical supplies and Leo knew both of them were going to need the food. He was beginning to get hungry enough that all this activity was making his head reel slightly.

He had just bit into a power bar -taking the momentary break to figure out where Don could have gotten to- when a familiar pained cry suddenly echoed through the night over the storm. Leo dropped the bar and was moving in the direction of the cry without another thought, racing in the direction that he had just heard his brother's voice.

-Break-

Donatello cursed in his head as he struggled to unwind the bolo wrapped around his knees. This was the second time these men had managed to snare him with this kind of weapon and it grated on his already frayed nerves and exhausted mind. He was hampered from freeing himself as his hands trembled in a combination of pain, shock and –even if he didn't want to admit it out loud- just the smallest bits of fear. He was too tired to keep running and with his injuries any kind of fight he tried to put up would just be weak and pathetic.

Despite the noise of the storm overhead, he easily heard the click of a bullet being primed to be fired. He looked up into the blank stare of a gun barrel. Everything seemed to freeze for that one moment and Donatello wondered if he had finally made one mistake to many.

There was a sudden flash as the dim light reflected off of something that came lunging out of the bushes between him and the hunter looming over him. Whatever it was seemed to be no more than a grayish green blur to his tried and dazzled eyes but it had a razor sharp blade that it wielded expertly. Donatello could easily see the blade hit the gun, knocking the barrel up enough that –had it fired- it would have easily gone over his head by several feet.

Not it could fire with the barrel and most of the trigging mechanism cut in half.

What appeared to be nothing more than a swirl of gray fabric carrying a sharp knife quickly stepped between Don and the hunter that was stumbling backwards and reaching behind himself for something, probably the machete these nutcases all seemed to have. The gray blur didn't give him a chance, knocking him back hard and then pouncing on the man, driving him to the ground.

Finally Don managed to unwind the bolo from around his legs and climbed back to his feet. He began to swing the bolo around his hand as if he was preparing to throw it. While it wouldn't be the best hand to hand weapon, it gave him something to fight with at least. Too bad it moved a lot like a nunchaku, he was horrible at using Mikey's weapon of choice.

There was movement out of the corner of his eye and Don turned to see that another hunter had entered the fray. He couldn't see the outline enough to tell what it was but Don was sure that a rifle was pointed at him and -most likely- was either high caliber or an automatic, neither of which he wanted shot at him. He readied the bolo, spinning it a bit faster before letting it fly, aiming for the man's torso area and hopefully the gun. What he wasn't expecting was for the gun to go off at the same time he let go of the bolo.

Expecting the shot to connect, Don was unprepared to suddenly be knocked off to the side. Whatever the gray blur was, it had knocked him out of danger. That had been really thoughtful of it, except that Don didn't have any time to protect his head from the fall. He landed wrong, and even though he hadn't hit his head hard, it was still enough to send his exhausted and battered mind spinning off into unconsciousness. He did recognize the blue banded eyes looking down at him in concern and managed to whisper his brother's name as he fainted.

"Leo?"

Translations (if I did them right) in order of appearance.

"Fucking hell!"

The full sentence that Leo only heard part of, "Shoot as soon as you see movement."

"There!"