The Mutant Ninja Turtles
Donatello's Biography: Part 12
By B.C.
Revelation
Raphael stood frozen as he watched his brother, Leonardo, fighting fiercely against shredder. It was amazing the amount of skill that Leo had acquired. To Raph it looked more like a dance than a fight. Each fighter seemed to move within inches of each other, as though it were pre planned. It crossed Raph's mind to intervene, but he knew, they all new, that Leo was to be the one to do it. He would be the one to kill shredder. It was his destiny. At the thought of this Raph became calm. He said in his head "Leo you sonova bit@#, get that fu@$! You can do it!" Shredder and Leo moved across the second floor of this building, which was more like an eight foot wide walkway that wrapped around the inner walls of the square shaped warehouse. There were crates, ladders, boxes and other random items strewn about all over the warehouse including all ten of the floors. However, no one looked higher than the second floor now. Casey, Mikey, Raph, and even the pale Donny were all watching Leo, whose mind was unexpectedly elsewhere at this time.
What was I supposed to do? Push April off and say "Hey, that's enough!" Maybe it is what I should have done. But I didn't. Things got warm, that was when Raph stood up, and with closed eyes challenged me to one more round. Thank god. Or damn it? I don't know.
What I really don't understand is why now. Why after all this time am I thinking of her now. Here I am, engaged in a deadly battle with the piece of sh%# responsible for killing Splinter, and I'm thinking of April.
A sharp pain in Leonardo's right side throws his thought.
I haven't thought about April in over a year. Since Splinter died I haven't thought about anyone, or anything. I have dedicated my life to Splinter's revenge, and now I have a chance. The beasts are dead, I could hear that Donatello is okay, and all I have to do now is beat Shredder.
His left knuckle breaks as he connects with a wooden beam instead of Shredder.
God damn it! I have to concentrate. If I'm not careful I could lose this battle. Then what? Then a whole year, no, my whole life would be wasted. I know why Splinter only sparred with me. Because he knew that his fighting style and Shredder's are similar. Splinter knew that the one to kill Shredder would be me.
Leo maneuvers a back flip to avoid a sweep. This would have been a good opportunity for a counter but Shredder was too aggressive and too close. If the counter was slow, Leo knew he would have been left dangerously wide open. Shredder knows Leo's style that is certain. He wouldn't block, counter, or even dodge the same way twice.
Damn he's good.
Shredder was using good strategy. Mixing weak and strong punches together to avoid rhythm and pattern, but also incorporating instinct attacks such as hitting the forearm and grabbing at the throat, which is why Leo had two scratches on his neck. Not only was Shredder difficult to predict, but he was strong, fast, and experienced.
Why me? Why now? Why here? Shredder could have challenged us anywhere. We've fought in labs, on roofs, in sewers, even through peoples houses, so why choose a warehouse?
Shredder head butted Leo hard in his cheek. Leo's head flew back and he closed his eyes. For a moment the blow seemed to be a blessing. No thought. No feeling. Leo felt as though he could fall into this darkness, fall deep inside and sleep. Then came a wizzing sound. Leo didn't know what it was, but almost as soon as he heard it, a heavy pain of pressure came to his throat. He couldn't breath. Perhaps I shouldn't. That would be an easy answer wouldn't it. To let go. To fall. Will he be there?
As his senses came back, he opened his eyes to see Shredders foot soaring to his face, but it was too late. Upon impact there was no pain, no feeling, just darkness. In the darkness time seemed to stop. Suddenly Leo could hear everything, Donny's groans from the floor below, Shredder's breathing, and even Michelangelo's tears as they hit the floor. In this, Leo did let go. He let go of pain, regret, doubt, and fear. Then, suddenly, for a moment all was light. He was here.
Leo landed on his side and rolled to the edge of the second floor where the walkway stopped. Leo reached out as he began to fall, and grabbed the edge with both hands, not feeling the pain in his broken left hand. He used all his arm strength and pulled himself up with enough energy to throw himself high enough to land back on the walkway on his feet. Shredder was in the middle of running towards the edge to finish him off when Leo rose up from the edge. The speed at which Leo performed this feat surprised Shredder and his feet searched for stability as he backed away from his opponent who was now only inches away.
Leo's mind was clear, his eyes wide, and his gaze set. Leo knew the outcome of this battle. He knew it would be glorious, and with that in mind, he attacked. He sent a fury of fast precise punches. He sent so many that Shredder found himself in a world of defense. Leo then threw a weak right punch. He made sure it was slow enough to block, but not weak enough to be suspicious. Shredder grabbed it, and twisted it outwards. Shredders intention was to force Leo to retaliate with a straight kick, instead Leo went with it, throwing both his legs in the air at Shredder's head, and they connected. The impact of the blow was so strong it spun Shredder. Shredder saw this as an opportunity for a surprise sweep and did so, but Leo was already in the air. Leo had managed to land on his feet, and had begun executing a jumping spinning roundhouse, heel first of course. Shredder only got a quick glimpse of Leo's foot before it was lodged in his face, which sent Shredder into his own temporary darkness called "near unconsciousness". After falling back, Shredder regained himself and jumped down to the second floor. Leo looked ahead and saw that Shredder was heading for his weapon, a kwandao that Leo had knocked from his hands only moments ago. Leo still had one Katana tied to his back, but he can't use it yet. The moment must be right.
Once on the ground Shredder was only ten feet from Raphael. The weapon was far to Shredder's right. Both Shredder and Raph made eye contact with the weapon at the same time and Raph readied his body to dive after it.
"No!" Leo yelled quickly and darted after Shredder, staying less that a foot behind him. Raph froze, and did as he was told. Shredder picked the kwandao up and swung to his right in a horizontal slash. Leo saw this and kicked the broad side of the blade, which made it fly upwards. Shredder didn't let go, and his arms were thrown upwards as a result. Using the same foot, Leo side kicked Shredder in the stomach. Shredder was thrown back, but was able to bring down the blade at Leo and made a nasty cut across the right side of Leo's face. Shredder landed on his back and gracefully rolled with blow so as to land back on his feet. Leo starred at Shredder while holding his hand on the right side of his face. When Leo removed his hand, he threw a red object to his left. It made little noise and slowly rolled very close to Raphael. Raph looked down to see this red thing that was now covered in the dirt and dust that was overly abundant in this warehouse, only realize it was Leo's eye.
To Be Continued…
Author's Notes:
I would like to start by apologizing to those of you who have been waiting for the next chapter. I kind of forget that people read these, so I lose track, but it is always good to hear otherwise ^_^. As for the reason for the delay, FINALS!, and lots of them. I won't get into it much, but being a Japanese major is serious pain in my a$$, although I love it.
As for the April shot, (I know I sound like a broken record but…) Once again it was a much larger story that was in the original text, and will prove to be more important in the few upcoming chapters. I'm also afraid this chapter will feel a little uneven since I wrote it bit at a time (when I had time). I went through it and I didn't feel it too strongly, but outside critics will always find flaws, so if you find an area you feel is weak or choppy don't be afraid to say so. After all that's why I write here, to find my weaknesses. As always, your criticism is welcome whether positive or negative. Thank you again for reading.