Chapter 10: I'm Here

As the two mutants walked back to docks so the could sneak onto a boat for Japan, questions were swirling around Caleb's mind. "Well look who it is..." A voice laughed from behind him.

Caleb turned around to see Bruce walking towards him.

"Your not gonna leave without saying goodbye to me are you?" the mutant deer smirked. Caleb just ignored him and continued walking. "I feel for you. It must be hard to have a father that's so ashamed of you that he'd give you away." The older mutant taunted.

This caused something inside Caleb to snap, he ran towards Bruce and punched him in the cheek!

"Oh yeah?!" Bruce challenged and the two started to wrestle. Karai then suddenly realized that Caleb wasn't by her side any more and rushed to stop the fighting.

"Caleb are you OK?" She asked him.

Suddenly Bruce came running into Caleb's side and accidentally knocking Karai into a cage in the process. They could all hear the hound dogs barking in the distance.

"Both of you get out of here now!" Karai called from her cage.

"MOMMY!" Bruce screamed and ran far away, but Caleb was frozen on the spot in terror, just like on the lake! "RUN CALEB!" Karai shouted but Caleb wouldn't move.

"RUN!" She cried and Caleb finally snapped out his trance and ran for the hills.

"FASTER, FASTER CALEB, DON'T LOOK, BACK KEEP RUNNING!" Karai cried, those words caused Caleb to stop in his tracks. Those were his mother's last words to him.

Only this time he was going to stand his ground and fight!

"HEY OVER HERE YOU OVER GROWN FLEABAGS!" He called, this caused the hounds to abandon Karai and chase after the young turtle...

Caleb ran as fast as he could as the hounds chased him through the city.

He suddenly noticed Slash's bridge! This gave him an idea and he ran onto the bridge and began to stomp his feet to get Slash's attention. "Well I guess someone didn't learn their lesson." Slash laughed and got ready to hit Caleb again.

"I learned plenty." Caleb smirked and jumped out the way as Slash lung at him, causing him to hit one of the hounds on the nose...

When Raph arrived at the cage that Karai was trapped in, he pulled out one of his sais and pulled it through the rope that held up the cage. "Where's Caleb?!" He asked the shaking mutant.

She pointed in the direction that ran.

Raph wasted no time and charged to his son's aid, praying he wasn't to late. The sky suddenly when dark and it began to rain hard...

Caleb just kept on running until he finally reached the Lake.

He knew that you should never go on the Lake alone, especially in the middle of the night, but he had no other choice. He ran as fast as he could but the last two dogs were hot on his tail.

Caleb saw the high mountains.

It was very difficult for him before but now he should be able to climb it. He climbed until he had nowhere left to go, good news was that there was only one hound left but now he was all out of ideas.

"CALEB!"

He looked up to see Raph standing on a ridge not far from him. Caleb looked back to see the dog was looming over him ready to attack. He was scared out of his mind and didn't know what to do.

'They must never let fear stop them.' Raph words whispered in the back of his mind.

Caleb mustered up all his courage and kicked the mutt square in the chest, knocking it over the edge of the cliff! Caleb breathed a sigh of relief, his son was safe once again.

Caleb noticed his father's expression and jumped to him.

Raph looked up just in time to see Caleb land perfectly in front of him. "Caleb." The red masked turtle smiled and went to hug his little boy. Suddenly the ground beneath Caleb's feet gave way and he fell!

"CALEB!"...

Raph ran to the bottom of the cliff to make sure Caleb was alright.

But all he saw was his beautiful little boy lying on the ground, completely still. "Caleb, get up." Raph begged as he tried his best to hold back a sob. He had already lost his mate, he couldn't lose his son too.

Master Splinter, Donnie, Karai and Riley soon turned up and poor Riley looked like she could cry a river when she saw her best friend's body.

Raph just slumped down onto his knees and brought his son closer into a protective hug with the boy's head resting on his chest.

"I'm so sorry. I should have been a better father ta ya. I shouldn't have turned ya away like that and I should have been there to protect both ya and ya mother." He cried into Caleb's forehead before gently placing the boy back down and turning to leave.

"Dad." Came a faint whisper.

Raph turned around to see Caleb staring at him with bright turquoise eyes and a soft smile. "I'm here." Raph smiled as tears of joy welled up in his eyes and pulled the younger turtle into a warm hug.

"I'm here."...