Ch.10: Enter: The Nightwatcher

"Raph you have to listen to me," said Leo as he and Raph circled around the room with their weapons out "Karia did something to you to make you forget who you are,"

"Liar" said Raph "you and your brothers have always been our enmies and now it's time to finish off you punks once and for all,"

"Fine" said Leo blocking an incoming blow from Raph's sai "if you want a fight...let's fight!"

"Finally," said Raph and lunged in with his other sai trying to stab Leo's chest.

Leo blocked the second sai with his other katana, but the moment he did so he felt himself being flung into the wall behind him. Raph had delievered a heel-thrusting kick at Leo's stomach when the blue-masked turtle was to busy trying to block his sais.

"Clever" thought Leo struggling to get up after his sudden shock "Raph can be considered a dangerous rival when he focuses like that. To bad he did none of that at home. He's got a lot of power to spare even after that attack,"

"Ha" laughed Raph as Leo shakingly stood up "I can't believe you fell for the same trick I used on Karia,"

Instantly snapping his head up Leo asked "What?!"

Realizing what he had just said Raph shook his head and thought "What am I saying? That's no way to talk about Karia. But why did I...?"

The thought stopped in the middle of it's tracks as Rapheal brushed the thoughts away and threw another jab at Leonardo. Leo blocked it but he was thinking at the same time.

Raph had remembered something he actaully did to Karia. If Leo could keep Raph's old memories going, mabye whatever Karia had done to his brother would wear off and he wouldn't have to kill him. Quickly Leo searched his mind for a memory, any memory that could get Rapheal back to his old self.

"Raph!" yelled Leo blocking another sai with his katana as Raph drew closer " remember back to where you pulled that big prank on Mikey,"

Raph stopped in his tracks. His mind was busy trying to figure out what Leonardo was talking about while at the same time his body was still lashing out at Leo. Seeing that the memory had slowed Raph down a bit Leo kept prodding memories at his enraged brother.

"Remember?" asked Leo "Mikey wouldn't stop complianing about his Battle Nexus Championship so you stole his trophy and hid it somewhere in the lair where he would never find it,"

Raph's face broke into a grin and the pictures from the old memory started to flow into his mind. Mikey had searched the lair for about two weeks before Rapheal had the trophy 'magically' reappear in the junkyard as his bros and himself were scavenging for supplies. Boy, Mikey couldn't talk for a week.

"Well he deserved it after shooting off his mouth so many times about being Battle Nexus Champ" said Raph and then his eyes grew angry again " what the...you're the one who's trying to brainwash me! I was never one of you!"

More blows were fired and blocked as the two turtles continued to brawl, truly at equal when it came to pitched combat. Leo was busy thinking of a way, any other way, to get Raph back. Memories were working, but it wasn't enough.

"Master Splinter" Leo called out in his mind "I need your help,"

Back at the turtles lair Master Splinter was busy meditating when he heard Leonardo's voice pound through his mind. Instantly realizing that his son was in danger Master Splinter concentrated to sending a message to his son's recent opponent who he knew had to be Raphael.

"My son..hear my voice,"

Rapheal's attack on Leo came to a sudden stop when he heard Master Splinter's voice float through his head. Leo backed off a bit, his katanas were still out just in case Raph managed to resist Master Splinter's control.

"I am with you...I am with you..,"

Those same three words continued to repeat in Raph's mind and for a moment Leonardo could something in Raph's eyes start to change. Slowly but surely Master Splinter was repairing Raph's memories in order to get his old, foul-tempered son back.

Shaking his head Raph turned to see Leo and then looked at his hands to see his sais still in them. He remebered now. Karia had ambushed him during their second meeting and put him into that gassed chamber making him forget all about his past.

Raph shuddered at the thought of calling Karia his 'girlfriend' now. Karia didn't have to all the trouble of brainwashing him into thinking he loved her because it was already true. But mabye Karia didn't think he felt the same way...mabye that's why she did it.

Shaking his head again Rapheal looked at Leo seeing what he had almost done. Leo was battered and beaten, but luckily still able to stand. Never once in all his life had Raph had been so close to killing one of his brothers. Unless you count Michealanglo.

Long story short Mikey got Raph really aggitated one day and Raph almost beat his younger brother to death with the leg of a table. Lucky for Mikey that Leo had stopped Rapheal's arm before the enraged turtle could unleash any of his cold anger out on the orange-masked turtle.

Remembering how close he came to killing that day only made things worse when Raph reminded himself of what he had almost done in the present. One more blow. One more blow and Leo would have been dead. Finally Raph couldn't stand the pressure any longer. Taking one last glance at Leo the red-masked turtle ran away.

Meanwhile, while that whole thing was happening between Raph and Leo, Mikey and Wolf had reached the mysterious door that had been guarded by the magic security dragon. Wolf pushed the wooden frame of the door hard with Mikey's help the door started to open.

Slipping inside both wolf and turtle couldn't believe their eyes. This place was exactly like one you would find in an old time horror movie. And when I say old I mean old. Everything in the room was made to look like a sacrifical chamber that the Aztecs would use to kill their human victims and seal their hearts away forever in a black, evil-looking jar.

Just so happens that evil-looking jar was what was exactly on top of the alter. The twisted smile of the distorted face of a monster seemed to be licking his lips in search for fresh blood. The mangled beast's eyes were glowing a bright shade of red with a yellow slit splitting the eyes at the center.

"So this is Sakavu," said Wolf observing more of her surroundings.

"Eeew" said Mikey "Karia was going to turn Raph into that guy?"

"Sort of" said Wolf "we need to stop the ceremony so just in case Leo fails Sakavu will be delayed for his release,"

"What do you mean 'delayed' ?" asked Mikey " after we destroy this thing everything goes back to normal right?"

"Not exactly" said Wolf "Karia was talking about stealing Sakavu's powers and transfering the powers into Raph's body so he could still rule by her side but be on the side of evil as well. If the ceremony isn't performed correctly Sakavu will float around and possess any host he chooses to be worthy of his powers. And that's when things get worse...,"

Wolf had more to say but was soon interrupted by the shouts of Foot soliders coming from behind her and Mikey. Grabbing Wolf by the arm Mikey quickly shielded both of them in the darkness of the shadows. The sound of nearby voices indicated that the Foot soliders had arrived.

"Guys" whispered Donatello's voice over Mikey's communicator "what's taking you so long?"

"Got a little company and Karia's just joined the party," said Mikey watching as Karia entered.

"My love has disappeared, my prisoner escapes, and I just now find out that Chapman and about a dozen of Foot soliders were knocked out cold" said Karia "Michealanglo must have alreadly fled with the Wolf. But now Leonardo lays as my prisoner and so he shall remian,"

"She's got Leo!" thought Mikey "what is this 'Rescue the Turtle day'?"

"Don" Wolf whispered into her own communicator " where are you right now?"

"I'm in the basement why?" said Donatello.

"Karia has Leo prisoner" said Wolf " I need you go to control room and find out where he is,"

"I just left there" said Donatello "Karia has bound to put up tons more security around the place by now," Wolf quickly searched her mind for an alternate solution sensing that donatello was right. But for some reason she couldn't think of any other way. Suddenly a new voice broke through her communicator.

"Don't worry. Help is on the way,"

For a moment Wolf and Mighealanglo just stared at each other for a moment wondering who had intercepted their communications until a chain suddenly sprang out of nowhere. Surprised to see the chain coming with such speed and force Karia and her group of ninjas barely managed to dodge it's attack. However, the chain wasn't aimed at them.

"The jar, no!" screamed Karia, but it was already to late.

With a clash the evil-looking jar shattered into a thousand pieces as soon as the chain made contact and drew back into the shadows. Watching the chain fly all the way back to whoever unleashed it in the first Michealanglo saw a gleaming metal figure standing in the shadows.

"The Nightwatcher,"