Wow, I just had to continue writing the next chapter, the creative juices were flowing. Love all the reviews, keep them coming and I'm glad to see you are all enjoying the story. So..on to the next chapter.
Ch 11. A Fight for a Soul.
Raph, Donnie and Mikey stared at the strange creatures coming toward them. They tore the kimonos off their bodies and pulled out their weapons and met the creatures head on. As they swung their weapons hitting the misshaped shadows, the strange creatures would turn to dust. After swinging his sais at a few, Raph laughed. "Ha, there's no challenge here." He gloated as he turned to face others.
"Uh Raph." Donnie pointed behind him and Raph turned to see dust rising from the ground and begin to change back to the dark shadows they once were.
"Why can't anythin' ever be easy!" Raph screamed. "Donnie, you and Mikey keep those things occupied. I'll take care of that...whatever it is." Raph said as he started running toward Souruita and his brothers continued to battle the strange shadow creatures.
Even in his pain, Leo could see his brothers fighting to get to him. When he saw Raph running toward him, swinging at the shadows, he immediately began to yell to him. "NO RAPH!" Leo screamed. "GET AWAY!"
Raph stared at him incredulously. "ARE YA KIDDIN' ME?!" He roared. "ARE YA TRYIN' TO BE A MARTYR?"
"HE'LL KILL YOU!" Leo yelled at him.
Souruita leered down at Leo. "It is your love for your family that gives you such wondrous energy." He laughed as Leo gritted his teeth in pain. "Your life force will keep me alive for another thousand years."
"NOT IF I HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY ABOUT IT!" Raph screamed at him. He charged at the demon and prepared to jump when suddenly he was grabbed by an unseen force and flung away.
"Don't kill them." Leo pleaded with the demon through pained filled eyes. "You have me. Let them go."
"Such a sacrifice you offer." Souruita sneered. "But even after I'm done with you, I will still destroy them."
Raph flew into Donnie as he swung his bo at one of the shadow creatures. The sudden impact caused them both to fall to the ground and as they attempted to recover, the shadow creature rose from the dust and swung a massive hand toward them knocking them both further away. Mikey was swinging his nun-chucks left and right at the creatures. When he saw Raph and Donnie go flying, he turned to aid them only to get hit by the creature he had just turned to dust causing him to also go flying into his brothers.
As they laid on the ground, groaning and breathing heavily, the shadow creatures began to advance toward them once again. Before they could even stand, they were surrounded by them. As the creatures were inches away from them, Mikey let out a loud scream then suddenly Splinter's voice rang in their ears.
"MY SONS!" Splinter called out. "I am here with you!" He told them. "Focus your energies, surround each other with your chi!"
The three turtles grabbed each other's hands as the shadow creatures descended upon them. They focused and forced their energies around them creating a glowing white light, as the light grew the shadow creatures shrank back toward the trees, screeching in terror and hiding themselves within the darkness.
They stood up and looked back to where the demon and Leo were. Leo was fighting to stay awake but as Souruita continued to drain his life force, he could feel himself slowly losing consciousness and fading slowly from view. He watched his brothers began to advance again on the demon. His eyes turned to look up at Souruita, the demon's eyes were closed and he seem to be growing in size. His mouth was open slightly as the energy he took filled his every senses.
Leo stared up at the star filled sky and watched as the light from the three stars continued to glow brightly. He knew it would be the last thing he saw if his brothers did not stop the demon in time. He could hear them coming toward them but in his pain and tiredness, he could no longer keep his eyes open, the brightly lit stars began to slowly blur before him and darkness soon overcame him.
Souruita smiled down at the slowly fading turtle. "Soon," He whispered, "All of your energy will be mine and then I will continue to walk the earth and get all that I desire." Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the three turtles defeat his shadow creatures, but that did not deter him from fulfilling his quest.
The three turtles, now filled with renewed energy from their chi, once again began to advance on the demon. determined to stop him from taking Leo. "GET AWAY FROM OUR BROTHER!" Mikey yelled at him, trying to get the demon's attention on them and away from Leo.
Souruita, still playing his hands over the medallion turned to look at them. "Begone or suffer his fate!" He told them. The turtles had no intention of leaving and they knew, if they did not defeat the demon, it would would come after them once it was done with Leo.
"I don't think so." Raph sneered at him. He grabbed his sais and ran toward the demon, only to find himself lifted up and flung, once again, toward his brothers. The others parted and watched as Raph sailed past them and slam up against a tree. They turned back toward the demon as it continued to drain their brother and laugh at them.
"My sons." Splinter once again called out to them. "You must find a way to remove the medallion."
"The medallion?" Mikey looked at Donnie and then looked at the silver thing laying on Leo's chest.
Donnie snapped his fingers. "That's it!" He cried. "Raph!"
"I'm on it." Raph jumped to his feet, ran toward his brothers and flung one of his sias toward the demon and Leo. As Souruita put up a gnarly hand to stop the sai from coming toward him, the three turtles once again held hands and focused their chi, this time the glow around them lit the sai allowing it to sail pass the demon's hand and knock the medallion off their brother's chest and onto the ground.
Souruita let out a loud scream as the medallion suddenly lit up and shot out a sudden whirlwind of blue energy. "IT'S NOT POSSIBLE!" The demon screamed out in pain as it fell to the ground, writhing in the dust like a snake as the energy he absorbed was suddenly taken from him. "No, I can't be stopped! I will return and have my revenge on you!" He yelled as he turned and pointed his gnarled hand toward the three turtles before fading into the ground, slowly disappearing from view.
Raph, Donnie and Mikey stared at the spot where the demon had been. They blinked at the medallion as it emptied the blue energy back into the air and fell toward the sacrificing slab where Leo laid. They watched in amazement as Leo slowly began to glow as the blue energy surrounded him. He arched his back as far as possible while the blue energy filled his body and he slowly became whole again.
Leo sat up and groaned as he rubbed his head and looked at his brothers as they came rushing toward him. They wrapped their arms around each other and helped Leo off the slab.
"Come on," Raph said. "We got only a few minutes to get back to where the portal is."
"Wait." Leo looked around. "Where's Tennison?"
"Are ya kiddin' me?!" Raph asked, anger crossing his face. "That guy kidnaps you and your..."
"Leo." Mikey pointed to the dozen or so shadow creatures coming toward them.
Leo's brothers readied their weapons, but Leo put up a hand, an order to tell them to stop, and carefully walked over to the one that was ahead of the others. As his brothers watched, the creatures began to glow a variety of colors and slowly started to change into their former selves which included several different animal and human species. They soon began to realize they could see through them and that it was the spirits of the beings the demon had enslaved while killing the living vessel.
The one directly in front of Leo turned out to be Tennison, his eyes were filled with tears. "I am sorry Leonardo." The spirit's voice echoed throughout the woods. "I saw my mate die a horrible and cruel death. And I began to fear death. In my deepest grief, I gave into the demon with the promise of immortality if I delivered a being of great strength and courage." The spirit hung it's head in shame. "I was told of you from Usagi and knew you would be what the demon would want. I was selfish and greedy. I beg your forgiveness but.." He looked back up at Leo."Will understand if you do not give it." He looked back at the other shadow creatures as they also stood with their heads hung low, shame filling their translucent faces as they too regretted the acts they committed to get what they had hoped for.
"I will forgive you Tennison." Leo said, tears falling from his eyes. "You and the others were tricked by that demon with false promises." He looked at all the beings that stood before them. He then turned to his brothers who were looking at him encouragingly, before turning back to the spirits with a tearful smile. "I think you all deserved to be forgiven." He then looked directly into Tennison's eyes. "Go my friend. Rest in peace."
Tennison place a ghostly hand on Leo's cheek and nodded. Leo felt shivers run up and down his spine from the touch then stood back as he watched his friend slowly disappear with the rest of the ghostly crew.
"Their spirits must have been released when the demon lost the energy he tried to take from you." Donnie said quietly as they watched the apparitions slowly disappear from view.
For several moments no one spoke, finally Mikey turned to Leo, "We're sorry about Tennison Leo." He told him. Leo nodded, still staring at the spot where Tennison had been.
Raph placed a hand on Leo's shoulder. "Come on fearless." He whispered as they started to turn away from the clearing. "We need to get home."
Leo hesitated for just a moment. Finally, looking up at the sky he noticed the stars were no longer aligned or shinning as bright as before. As a single tear rolled down his cheek, he gave one last whispered goodbye to his friend then, taking a deep breath, he turned to follow his brothers to the now opened portal and back home.