Chapter 7

Mating Dance

Tyroth ran through the sewers, hoping to keep his distance until he could figure out what to do, but so far he wasn't having any luck. And it wasn't hard to understand why, he was pursued by a lust-filled April, who had set her mind upon mating with him, with or without his approval, not a common problem.

One of the largest problems of the whole ordeal was that April also produced pheromones that were a very powerful aphrodisiac for dragons. He had felt it earlier, and already been affected by it, but he had been able to fight it off at the time, though he feared that he wouldn't be able to do so for a very long time.

As it was, all he could do was to keep on running, for he didn't want to fight April, but if she caught him, he would have to in order to prevent her from doing anything they would all regret. With her strength being close to his own, she was a very dangerous foe, especially since he didn't want to hurt her in any way, she was his friend after all.

He needed to make her calm down and control herself, but remembering how he was during his own periods of heat, the instinct to mate was very strong, almost overpowering even, but he had managed to break out of it thanks to Sephie. But Sephie wasn't a dragon, so she wasn't necessary affected by his pheromones at all, which allowed her to help him snap out of his heat. With both Tyroth and April being dragons, the longer they were close to each other, the worse things would get, as Tyroth's body would also go into heat, and so far, Tyroth hadn't been able to get through to April.

Taking turn after turn in the almost maze-like sewers, he hoped that he would figure something out soon, and that he didn't end up in a dead end. He might be reasonable familiar with the sewers of New York, but not nearly enough to keep check on where he was at the moment, he could in fact find himself face to face with her at any moment if he took one wrong turn too many.


Back in the lair, Donatello was working overtime to try and solve their current problem, with the help of the anti-mutagen he needed. Thanks to Casey, he had acquired the DNA from April he required, in the form of all the hairs in her hairbrush, of which many of the newer ones still had most of the root left. Cutting up the strains of hairs and placing them in a glass tube, he connected it to a device that would allow him to extract the DNA from the hairs.

As the machine did its job, Donatello returned to studying both April's mutated DNA and the mutagen it self, comparing genetic sequences within both to that of Tyroth's DNA from earlier examinations. This was just one of many things he needed to do, he also had to keep analysing the chemical compounds of the mutagen and their roles in the process of mutation, but once he had April's human DNA, maybe he could start making some real progress on that matter as well.

Looking over the data that he had gathered so far, as much as he hated it he had to give doctor Arden credit. He might be an evil, sick and sadistic man, but he was also a brilliant scientist. The power, and danger, of all his serums, not to mention the complexity of the mutagen, were clear evidence of that. Granted, the man had almost unlimited resources at his disposal, but to manage to create such a powerful mutagenic compound in the short time that Tyroth was their dangerous captive, was astonishing.

Donatello wiped the sweat off his brow with a sterile tissue. The others knew him as a miracle worker, the one who always had the answers to how technology worked, the one that could improvise a smoke bomb in the middle of an alien prison and a battery in an ancient ruin, both times from whatever he had at hand, and the one who would never let them down when time was of the essence. But right now, he wasn't sure he would be able to handle that kind of pressure.

But what choice did he have?

He blamed himself for what had happened to April, and by extent, what was happening right at that moment. He just hoped that he would be able to find the cure before it was too late.

"Man, I wish I had April's help with this." he said to himself.

"Donatello." he heard his master's voice say behind him. Turning around he saw the old rat walking over with a cup of tea, which he placed on the desk next to the turtle.

"Master Splinter?"

"You are working too hard, my son. You must not overexert yourself."

"Sorry, master, but I can't afford not to work hard, not now. April is depending on me, and so are the others as well."

"It is good that you are devoted to your loved ones, but if you continue without pause, you might cause yourself harm or make mistakes. I urge you to at least take a short break to calm down a little before you continue. I took the liberty of preparing some chai tea for you."

Donatello sighed slightly in defeat, but smiled all the same. Splinter only wanted to make sure that he was well, and some tea might be a welcome change from the many cups of coffee he had had as of late.

"I have added a spoon of honey to the tea. Chai is naturally calming, and the honey will give you more energy as well."

Sipping some of the tea, Donatello felt almost instantly that he became reinvigorated. The honey really amplified everything in the tea.

That's when it all clicked.

"That's it! The honey is the answer!" he exclaimed. His excitement over the tea left Splinter very confused.

"Just like the honey amplified the contents of the tea, the dimethyl chlorinide that we added to the sample last night must have amplified the contents of the dragon mutagen!" Donatello said, returning to his computers.

"The truly minimal amount of mutagen that April was exposed to couldn't have been enough to fully mutate her over a single night, if it was then Arden would easily have been able to create plenty more clones of Tyroth from just a few drops of the mutagen! He must have used some form of special equipment to create them so fast as he did, some form of tanks or something to keep them in, to amplify the transformative properties!

If the dimethyl chlorinide could cause this effect on the mutagen, I should be able to apply the same effect to the anti-mutagen, just like April and I theorised! All I need to do is isolate the mutagenic components from Tyroth's DNA, then replace his with April's DNA, and with a sufficient dose of dimethyl chlorinide, I should be able to turn April back to human form!"

"You see, my son, sometimes taking a break is all you need to see things in a new light." Splinter said, even though he didn't understand most of what Donatello had just blurted out.

"Indeed, thank you, master! But I still have a lot of work ahead of me!"


Back in the eastern parts of the sewers, Tyroth kept running as fast as he could. What he had feared had indeed happened, after taking another turn, he had lost his bearings and almost collided with April, loosing much of the distance he had tried to hard to put between them. And while avoiding her attempt to catch him, he did catch a whiff off her scent, and instantly felt how his focus faltered slightly.

With April right behind him, even the smallest of mistake from his side could spell disaster, so he had to be very careful. Unfortunately, there were things that were outside his control, such as the spot that his foot landed being very slippery from moisture, causing him to loose his balance for a second. And that second was all that April needed, for she flapped her wings to give herself an extra boost, more than enough to tackle Tyroth and sending them both into the wall.

Crashing through a hole in the wall, they rolled around on the ground for a while before Tyroth was able to push her away. Taking a quick glance of their surroundings, Tyroth saw that they were in the same old tunnel that they had trained in earlier, but knowing where they were didn't help in any way at the time, for April was back on her feet just as quickly as Tyroth, and she blocked his way.

With no other option, he raised his fists to defend himself, even though he didn't want to fight April. And with both of them possessing a very powerful healing ability, an actual battle could drag on for a very long time, with neither of them being easy to knock out. This also meant that it was hard to injure either one, but that didn't mean that Tyroth wanted to hurt April either way.

But getting hurt was the least of the problems, because it wasn't anyone's goal.

April eyed Tyroth with lustful eyes before lunging at him. The two grappled for a brief second, with Tyroth using April's momentum to throw her away again, but she easily landed on her feet.

"April! Please! Snap out of it! You don't want to do this!"

But she didn't listen, or if she did she didn't react, instead she lunged at Tyroth again, this time tackling him to the ground and rolling around. When they came to a stop, Tyroth was on top, pinning April to the ground, but he quickly got off her and backed away. While he had had her in a good grip, the pheromones were already affecting him more than he wanted, and such a position would only expose him to it even more. He just couldn't restrain her in such a way.

With nothing stopping her, April just kept coming at him, and more often than not, they ended up wrestling on the ground, and more and more, Tyroth's instincts began to take over. He could feel his lust building, his desire for someone to mate with growing stronger every time they clashed.

And not without reason, for while it might not look it, their fighting was very close to how the mating dance of dragons was preformed. The male and female would wrestle to assert dominance over the other, and while it may seem violent and unloving, to the dragons it was little more than foreplay, and once their passion had run its course, they would be very tender with each other.

That was however of little comfort to Tyroth, given his current situation. After another tumble over the ground, Tyroth found himself on his back with April straddling him, and she quickly pinned his arms to the ground.

He was trapped.

It would have been so easy to give up and get it over with, but his dignity wouldn't allow it, nor would his pride. Letting his instincts take over, he was totally focused on being the dominant dragon of this dance.

His tail wrapped itself around hers, and with a powerful yank, she was pulled off from Tyroth, who quickly reversed their position, now pinning her to the floor. Struggling to get free, she just couldn't escape his grip, and looking into his eyes, they too filled with lust, she understood that she had lost, that she was at his mercy. She didn't dislike that, so she surrendered herself to he who was about to mate with her.

But rather than doing what she expected him to, he headbutted the floor next to her, very hard. It had taken a massive amount of will to break through the lust that he had given in to, and while he was still groggy from the impact, he regained enough control to think clearly again, if only for a while.

Getting back on his feet, holding his aching forehead, he hoped that it was over, but he was wrong. When he didn't claim April, a right that he had won, she understood that the dance wasn't over quite yet, and so she pounced on him again, this time she was determined to emerge the victor.

Tyroth had just turned around to face her when she collided with him, pressing him against the wall. Having the air knocked out of him, and still being a bit groggy, he couldn't put up much of a fight when April pressed her body against his. She licked her lips in anticipation, eyeing him hungrily.

Once again starting to loose control to his instincts, Tyroth anxiously looked around for something that, anything, that could help. Directly to his right, he spotted what could be his saving grace, but he had to act swiftly, and he would most likely only get one shot.

As April kept caressing his chest, slowly moving her hands downwards, she felt how Tyroth wrapped his tail around her waist, not wanting to be apart. But with April in a tight grip, Tyroth jabbed his claws right into the power-line beside him, electrocuting both of them. Despite being an old line, it still had more than enough power to knock April unconscious before any form of surge protections could cut the power.

Once the shock ended, the female dragon fell to the ground, leaving Tyroth as the last one standing.

"That stung…" Tyroth grunted, pulling out his now smoking claws from the power-line. Unlike April, and pretty much everyone else he knew, he had been electrocuted enough times in the past to develop a resistance to it. It still hurt him, but he was in a lot better shape after a shock now than before, and it also helped him to clear his mind from the lust, though he did see stars.

But he had to shake it off, he did not know how have much time he had before April recovered, nor how long he would be able to maintain control. He had to do something, and to keep running obviously didn't work well in the long run. Scanning his surroundings, he spotted a pile of steel bars, several feet long and less than half an inch thick.

Hurrying over to them, he started bending them into shape, turning them into tight fitting bonds for April. Twisting the ends of one of the bars together behind April's back, the metal hugged her torso and arms tightly, preventing all movement. Satisfied with the solution, Tyroth repeated it with all the other bars as well, making sure that she wouldn't be able to escape her bonds. It didn't matter how strong she was if she couldn't get any leverage for that strength.

Finished, he moved April into a more comfortable position, and then sat down many feet away from her, beginning to meditate to regain his focus and control while he waited for her to wake up, which took a couple of minutes more.

"Ngh… where… where am I?" April asked ash she regained consciousness. But when she felt that she was restrained, and saw the steel bars wrapped around her, she was just about to panic.

"No need to be alarmed, April." Tyroth said calmly, not even opening his eyes. "It's for your own sake, I promise."

"Tyroth? What's going on? Why am I tied up in… in reinforcement bars?"

"It was the only thing that would be able to hold you, and the closest things I could find. Do you remember anything of the last hour or so?"

"Last hour? But… oh God… I tried to rape you… how could I?"

"It wasn't your fault, April. You were a victim to overwhelming instincts, I've been that too, it's not easy to deal with, not at all."

"I'm sorry, Tyroth… I'm so sorry…"

"I should be the one apologising. I should have thought about that this could happen, and helped you prepare for it. I know far too well how it is to lose control like that. We'll get through this, April, I promise."

"Thank you… But why are you sitting so far away?" April asked, using her tail to change into a sitting position.

"My instincts are still making themselves known, so I want to keep at least a little distance while I try to regain full control, just in case."

"I understand. And I'm guessing that you won't untie me yet."

"Not yet, no. The bars will have to stay on until we can be sure that this has passed. I'm sorry about that, but it's for your sake."

"I understand, and thank you, I guess. So, what do we do now?"

"For the time being, we'll wait for the others to find us."

"Guys! Are you here?!" they heard Leonardo shout through the opening in the wall.

"Speak of the devil. We're here, Leo!"

Shortly after, the rest of the team entered and saw the signs of the dragon's scuffle, as well as April's metal bounds.

"April! Are you okay?" Casey asked, dropping to his knees in front of his mutated wife.

"Yes, I'm fine, Casey. Just a bit sore and tired."

"What's been going on here?" Michelangelo asked, looking questioningly at April's metal bonds. "Are you into that?"

"Now you're really stupid." Raphael said, whacking his younger brother on the head.

"It's just a precaution. I'll tell you more on the way back to the lair." Tyroth explained.

"So, everything is alright then?" Sephie asked, and Tyroth nodded in response. "That's a relief. I was really worried that something might happen."

"It still might, so I would recommend that April and I are kept apart for the time being."

"Sounds like a great idea to me." said Casey. "Thanks for looking out for her, man. And, you know, not letting her, you know…"

"Don't mention it. Can we just head back home now?"

"Sure thing. If both of you are well enough, then let's head out." said Leonardo.

Whew! That was very close to ending badly in many ways. But Tyroth managed to restrain both April and himself enough to avoid it all.
Now it remains to be seen if Donnie's inspiration through tea will lead to a breakthrough.

Also, as with much of this entire story, references to Bloodrayne666's story 'A Dangerous Captive' with the mention of Arden and the clones.
Seriously, go read Bloodrayne666's stories, they're great! And it's her version of Monalisa that I use in all my TMNT based fics.