Occultish Occurences
by KC
Disclaimer: Ninja Turtles belong to someone else. Not me.
Chapter One
The night had started out as every other night had for the past few weeks. Michelangelo was parked in front of the television, trying out Donatello's newly repaired Playstation. His small cries of triumph and louder (and more frequent) groans of frustration irritated his slightly older brother, Raphael, who was sharpening the tips of his sais. With an unintelligible grunt he warned Mike to shut up. Half a minute later Mike had not shut up and received a swift cushion in his face. The ensuing commotion caught the attention of the eldest, who was running through endless katas in the practice room. Leonardo briefly thought about breaking up the fight before anything broke, but then he heard the crunch of plastic and wires, and then the cries--
"No no no, not the remote!" Mike yelled.
"You moron, I can't believe you sat on it!"
"You pushed me on it!"
"If you weren't so heavy--"
"You broke the remote again?" Donatello finally noticed what had happened.
Now Leonardo thought about going out and watching the ensuing fight, but he heard their master rustling in his private room and decided to avoid the coming lecture. It probably wouldn't be a harsh scolding. Everyone was bored, and it was hard to come down on them for having a bit of fun. He sighed and put up his swords. Any kind of excitement at this point would be nice.
"But master, it was Mike's fault--!"
"Raph hit me first, just ask Don!"
"Leave me out of this!"
Leo decided to wait a few more minutes before heading back to his room. He leaned against the wall, waiting for the argument to blow over. Suddenly the lights flickered and went out.
Raph's was the first voice. "What the hell--?"
Then Mike. "I'm blind!"
"No, you're not, dumb ass. The light went out."
Splinter's voice. "All of you, quiet. Donatello, can you see if it is our wiring that is at fault?"
"Uh, sure." They heard him start to move, and then caught the loud thump as he fell over Michelangelo. "Ow!"
Splinter just sighed.
"Great job, clumsy," Raph said.
Just as quickly as they went out, the lights came back on. Don and Mike were in a heap at Raph's feet, and Splinter was looking past them at the middle of the room.
"What do you believe caused that?" he asked.
"Something bad just happened."
The three turtles jumped in surprise and turned to see the eldest gathering his "real" swords from his room. Splinter seemed to take little notice that Leo had walked past all of them in the dark.
"Be cautious," Splinter nodded, giving him permission to go out.
"Hey!" Raph cried. "Can't we go?"
Leo smiled. "Well, come on, then."
There was a flurry of activity as Mike tossed Donatello off and all three rushed to retrieve their own weapons. Leo glanced at his master.
"Better now?"
Splinter smiled ever so faintly and nodded. "I know they will ensure that you make few errors in judgment."
"Yeah, but now I have to prevent their errors." In a softer voice, he asked, "What do you think happened?"
"I am not certain." Splinter frowned. "You felt the negative energy, but I believe this is far more serious. Be careful out there."
Leo nodded, walking out. Still, he smiled as his siblings ran noisily after him, catching up after a few seconds.
"Thanks for waiting," Raph said.
Ignoring his brother as he often did, Leonardo just led the way up out of the sewers and onto the street. For a moment, none of them said anything.
Every light in every window and street was turning on and off in rapid succession.
"Wow," Mike breathed.
Donatello was about to say something when they heard two shrill screams from opposite ends of the alley.
"Raph, Don, check the other one out," Leo said, running with Michelangelo to the right.
Raph sighed and looked at his brother. "Ever notice how he always takes off with Mike?"
"It's cause he needs babysitting."
They ran down to the end of the alley, jumping over falling trashcans until they came out the other end. Right in front of them was a tall, dark man bent over a young girl. He noticed them immediately and stood up, letting the girl's body fall to the pavement. Blood seeped out from two small tears in her neck.
"A vampire?" Don gasped. "But those don't exi--" He was cut off by an explosion down the block.
Raph pulled out his sais and readied himself. "Don, go check out that blast. I'll take care of Dracula here."
Though reluctant to leave him, Donatello still took off for the origin of the explosion.
Meanwhile Leonardo and Michelangelo had pulled up short in front of what appeared to be a huge wolf threatening a small woman. They couldn't see her face because of the wolf's body. It snarled and growled, pacing back and forth as she darted left and right, trying to outmaneuver it, until it finally lashed out at her head, knocking her unconscious.
"Damn, that's a big wolf," Mike whispered.
Upon hearing a new voice, the wolf turned and glared at the two turtles.
"Brilliant, Mike," Leo said. "Just let it know we're here." A flicker of motion caught his eye at that moment, and he spared a second to look up. For some reason there was a reddish haze at the top of the building across from them.
"Mike, go up to the roof of that building and see what's up there."
"But what about the--?"
"Let me worry about it," Leo said as he drew one sword. "Go!"
Raphael curled his sais into his fists as his breaths grew shorter. His body was tense, and his eyes narrowed as he watched the predator in front of him pacing back and forth. The vampire's eyes were hardly human, and seemed more insane than not. Staring into its eyes was like looking into a madman's eyes, burning with a hunger he could hardly understand.
The vampire hissed and snarled, sliding back and forth as it tried to get behind him, or at least to his side. Raphael turned very slowly, keeping the monster in front of him. He had no idea how fast it could move, how intelligent or cunning it was, or how strong it was.
Fast, I have to end this fast, he thought hard to himself. The faster it ends, the better. Still, he had to wait for it to strike first. If he lunged without knowing his enemy's abilities, that could be the end of him.
Suddenly the vampire darted towards him with its claws extended, slashing at his face and eyes. Raphael backed up, then ducked down and tried to stab the creature's midsection while it was still clawing at him. His weapon's tip pierced its side and buried itself down to the hilt in the ribs. The vampire turned away so violently that the sai was pulled from his hand, and he rolled backward, hoping that when he stood up he would see the vampire in its death throes on the ground.
No such luck. When he was able to look up again, he found the vampire with a sadistic smile on its face, no sign of pain at all. Its gray hand drifted down to the sai and slowly pulled the dagger out. It stared at the bloodied blade, then tossed it aside. The sai skittered far out of Raphael's reach, into the shadows.
The heart, the heart! Raphael could have kicked himself. He had the opportunity to go for the heart and instead he'd forgotten all about those stupid folktales. I have to go for its heart!
The vampire seemed to read his mind. It started to laugh maniacally, mocking him. Its red eyes blazed out at him over its scarlet stained teeth.
"Yeah, laugh it up, fang-face," Raph growled. "You're gonna be eating that sai in a minute!"
The vampire crouched down, watching him. Raphael took a step forward, and the vampire decided it was time. Its form seemed to flicker and fade, and then its body dissipated into a fine mist that coalesced into one, broad spot and swirled towards him.
Raph tried to back away, but the mist rode on the night wind and curled quickly around him, surrounding him and cutting off any escape. He slashed at the mist, but his hand only passed harmlessly through. Then he heard it again. Its laughter. The mist suddenly reformed behind him, and two iron hands grabbed his shoulders and held him still. Two fangs drove into his throat.
With a snarl, enraged that he had been outmaneuvered, Raphael twisted his one sai in his hand and stabbed it upward behind himself. The hands released, and he jerked around to see that he had hit his mark. The sai was hilt deep in its heart. The vampire flailed and thrashed, trying to pull it out, but it tripped and fell forward, only succeeding in driving it in deeper. It howled in pain and exploded into dust, which blew away in the breeze.
Raph growled to himself and retrieved both of his sais, slipping them back into his belt. He raised a hand to the two marks in his throat, blocking off the small trickle of blood. "Damn," he whispered. "I wonder if those stupid legends are true."
Donatello ran as fast as he could towards the smoking crater left by the explosion. It was impossible to tell what had been there before. A few crumbling walls still stood and a couple of pipes jutted out at odd angles, but mostly there were only piles of flaming rubble. He vaulted over a tall mound of shattered concrete and landed inside the crater, coughing from the smoke.
His eyes narrowed. It looked like someone was walking towards him, out of the smoke. Whoever it was seemed taller than he was, but he was also carrying a staff that twisted at the top. When enough of the smoke cleared away, Donatello could see that the other person's staff had a growth of leaves and twigs at the top.
"You aren't welcome here," the other said.
Don held his staff in both of his hands, ready to attack or defend. "You caused that explosion," he said.
The other person nodded, smiling grimly.
"Why?"
"There was a girl inside who needed to die."
Don's gaze slid past the man and spotted a feminine hand laying palm up in the dirt. He followed it up with his eyes, but it ended at the arm. The rest of her body was missing. He shut his eyes in anger. "You're a monster."
The man pushed the hood of his cape back, revealing an inhuman skull that was blackened as if it had been burned. Horns jutted out at every angle, and fangs hung in his mouth like stalactites in a cave. Even so, it seemed to grin at him. "Can't argue with that."
It lowered its staff and aimed it at him. Now Donatello could see that the plants on the top of the staff were black roses, and the leaves had long since withered. Suddenly a purple glow enveloped the plants, and a bolt of lightning streaked out at him.
"Yikes!" Donatello used his staff to push himself out of the way just before the lightning struck him. Instead it passed harmlessly into the ground. He twirled his bo in a circle, preparing his attack.
"2X=(DY/DX)!" the monster yelled out, and another zap of energy burst out at him.
Donatello rolled out of the way and leaped up again. "What did you say?"
"4(DS/DT)=4GT!"
This time black hail rained down and exploded around him, but he managed to deflect each piece. "That's calculus," Don said. "You're casting spells with math."
Another burst shot out at him, and he was hard pressed to dodge it. He steadied himself and looked up to see the wizard readying another spell. There was no way he could get close enough to hit it. In fact, there was only one thing he could think of, and it was a pretty stupid idea in any case. Still...he knelt, pointed his staff at the creature, and yelled out "E=MC squared!"
His staff lit up like a torch and shot out a blinding ray of light. The ensuing explosion blew him backwards several feet, and when he looked up the only thing left of the monster were a few bone fragments and the dead staff. After a moment, even that dried up and crumbled away.
Donatello glanced at his bo and gasped. Wrapped around the thin shaft of wood were sprouts of ivy and laurel leaves. He gave his staff an experimental swirl, and to his surprise the sprouts clung firmly. "Um, 22?" he said. The vines grew and twisted a little, and a small ball of light began to glow at the end of his bo.
"Cool..." he whispered. "Just wait 'till the guys see this."
His eyes widened. If this was what happened to him, what was happening to them?
Leonardo sized up the wolf crouched in front of him, tensed and ready to spring at any moment. Its paws were easily as large as his head, and the rest of it could have dwarfed a small truck. Its fangs were like pearl daggers dripping with blood, and the eyes...the eyes were the worst. They were almost human.
It lunged and he dived to his right, rolling and drawing his swords as he stood up. The wolf hardly missed a beat. It turned like a dervish and leaped again, paws outstretched to grab him. Leo held his ground until it was right on top of him, then knelt beneath its claws and slashed upward. He felt one of his swords connect with something furry and then get dragged violently out of his hand. When he turned, he saw the wolf biting at something in its chest. With a shudder he realized it was clamping down on the hilt of his blade and dragging it out. It tossed it aside and glared at him.
"Oh, hell," he whispered. "What is that thing?"
As if to answer his question, the wolf's body seemed to...shift. The muscles beneath the fur rippled and changed position, and then the wolf actually stood up on its hind legs. Its front paws and legs turned into humanoid arms and hands, and its legs altered to adapt to an upright position.
"Okay, it's a werewolf," Leo said as calmly as he could. "What kills werewolves? Silver. But where's the nearest batch of silver around here?" He glanced around. He knew this neighborhood. "Weaponry store, they've got some there. But that's two blocks away--"
So start running!
Without wasting any further time, Leonardo turned and raced as fast as he could down the street. Seemingly surprised that its prey wasn't going to stay to fight, the wolf took a few seconds to decide that it should took off after him. Snarling, it broke into a run.
Leo heard the slamming of heavy paws on the pavement, but he didn't need to look back. He could hear the difference in their speeds and knew that if he kept running, it would soon catch him. It was almost on him as it was. He could feel it behind him, its claws reaching out--
He made a hard right into an alley, and he smiled when he heard the werewolf skid on the wet pavement. He'd bought himself a few more seconds. Up ahead he saw the fire escape fifteen feet up in the air. He took a deep breath and picked up his pace. Leap--up onto the dumpster, then another jump--got it! His hands managed to grab the lowest rung and he swung up onto the landing, racing higher. He heard a strange sound to his left, and when he looked aside he saw the werewolf climbing up the wall, driving its claws deep into the bricks and hauling itself up.
"Don't you ever give up?" Leo gasped. He hated running, he was more suited to fighting. At last he made it to the roof, but he didn't dare stop to catch his breath. He darted over the roof, vaulting the space between the buildings, and kept going over the next few roofs. Not too far behind, the wolf was keeping pace with him.
Several minutes into the run, dodging and running over minor obstacles, Leo finally spotted the weapons store. He groaned when he saw that it was across the street.
"Dammit!"
The wolf seemed to recognize his despair and barked out its laughter.
That's it, that's the last damn straw! Leo thought. Bad enough I have to run from it, now it insults me! As he was thinking, however, an idea popped into his head. After all, the werewolf didn't seem to think much of bodily injury...
"Man, I'm glad Raph can't see me now," he mumbled as he ran to the edge of the building and jumped on top of the ledge, turning to face the werewolf. Its eyes lit up in anticipation of dinner. With a roar it lunged at him, claws stretched out.
Leonardo waited as long as he could, then slid out of the way. The werewolf's eyes lit up so comically that he would have laughed if the situation wasn't so serious. As it started to fall, though, he grabbed the back of its fur and held on, riding it halfway to the street. About ten feet from the pavement he jumped off, flipping to the front of the store and running in without worry of being seen. The electricity had been cut off from the alarm and security cameras. Behind him, he heard the thud of a body on pavement and the cruch of bones.
He searched for anything advertised as silver. Outside he could hear the werewolf moaning in pain and pulling itself back together. It wouldn't be long in coming after him once more.
"Come on, come on," he whispered, "where are you?"
Suddenly he spotted a row of daggers in a glass case, under a sign saying they were pure silver. He groaned when he saw how short they were. Even using the longest one would mean he'd have to get right next to his enemy.
There was a burst of glass as the wolf crashed through the window and landed beside him. Leo punched through the glass case and seized the dagger, turning as fast as he could. He still wasn't fast enough. It managed to lock its jaws on his left arm, sinking its fangs deep in his skin. He winced, mesmerized by the blood and pain, but figured that this was his only chance. Twisting around so that he almost dislocated his arm, he shoved the dagger as far as he could into the wolf's heart.
The reaction was instant. It let go of him and staggered back, and now he could see that he'd stabbed the dagger completely into its body, even past the hilt. It growled and howled miserably for several seconds, flailing at him with the last of its strength, and then fell to the floor.
Leo leaned against the wall and sighed, looking at the tears in his arm. As deep as they were, the bleeding had almost stopped, but he'd have to wait to have one of his brothers fix the damage. "Wonderful, just what I needed." He sighed and went to retrieve his lost sword before he would go and find his siblings.
After spotting which building had the purple cloud over it, Mike entered and smacked the elevator buttons a few seconds before remembering that the power was out. With only the moonlight to guide him, he found the stairs and ran up as fast as he could. Twenty flights later, he managed to drag himself up the last few steps, panting and gasping. He kicked open the last door and found a purple mist swirling around a woman in the center of the roof. The violet light made the woman's face hard to make out, especially as she waved her hands around trying to dispell the smoke. After a few seconds of scrutiny he could see it was--
"April?" Mike cried.
April turned and stared at him, auburn hair framing a panicked face. "Mike, get me out of here!"
"I'm coming!" He tried to get close to her, but the mist suddenly coalesced into a solid block, pushing him out of the way. Each time he tried to get closer, it shut him out. Inside the mist, April fell to her knees, gasping for breath. Mike's heart beat faster and he pounded on the block, slowly driving his way through it. A few seconds later it seemed to lose its patience with him and became a distinct, humanoid shape with some wisps of smoke at its feet.
"April, run!"
April didn't argue. She got up and ran for the door, taking the steps two at a time. As she turned the corner she looked back to see if she could spot Mike, and promptly ran into Donatello. They both toppled to the ground in a heap.
"April, what are you doing here?"
"There's something up there, a mist or something, it's purple, Mike's trying to fight it!"
"Calm down," Don said, rising to his feet and helping her up. "What exactly was it?"
"I don't know, it's up there, though!" She finally noticed that his bo had things growing on it. "Hey, what happened to your staff? It's glowing."
Donatello looked up and smiled. "Long story, I'll tell you later. Just get downstairs and wait for us there. Leo and Raph should be around soon."
April grabbed his arm, trying to hold him back. "You're not going up there, are you?"
"April, it's what we do. Now don't worry, we'll be fine." He broke out of her hold and walked up the rest of the stairs, heading out the door.
"Mike, are you out here?" There were still wisps of purple smoke around, but nothing like April had described, and no sign of his brother either. "Great, where did he go?" He turned and looked to his left, and froze.
Michelangelo and the purple mist creature were hovering in empty space a few feet from the roof, hanging over the pavement several stories below. Both seem to be struggling for air and grappling with each other, neither of them seemingly concerned about the abyss yawning beneath them. Donatello ran to the edge of the roof, trying to think of a way he could help his sibling, when there was a sudden explosion of light and a concussive force that blasted him backward against the door.
Not knowing his brother was nearby, Mike could only focus on the mist swirling around him, filling him up until it felt like he became the mist. The creature clawing at him disappeared, and he felt wind rushing by him. He looked down and realized it was because he was falling.
"How do I get myself into these positions?" He was too far from the edge to grab anything. The only thing that would break his fall was a rapid de-acceleration on the pavement. He looked up and decided he would much rather be back on the roof.
A burst of air, a disoriented sensation of spinning, and then he was back on the roof, standing in amazement next to surprised Donatello.
"How...how'd I...?" Mike wondered, looking around. He looked down at Don's staff. "Hey, dude, you've got vines on your stick."
Don smiled and stood up. "Yeah. How did you do that, Mike? One minute you're falling, the next minute you're up in a tornado."
"A tornado? Oh, so that's what I did." Mike concentrated a bit, and a purple fog settled around them. "I was fighting that purple creature, and then he disappeared, and I was falling..."
Don put his arm around Mike's shoulders and started to walk back downstairs. "We can figure it out later. Right now April's on the ground, and we need to make sure she's safe."
Leonardo walked back down the street, trying to find his lost sword. He finally found it lying in two pieces on sidewalk. He looked at it for a moment, then decided it wasn't worth trying to fix and instead went to see if the girl the wolf had tried to kill was still unconscious.
He found her a few minutes later lying senseless on the pavement, her dark hair spread around her head. She was clothed entirely in black with a small white flower embroidered on her back. When he turned her over, he gasped in surprise.
"Lotus?"
Her eyes fluttered open and stared at him for a moment. "Leonardo?" she whispered. "Oh, thank heaven. We're all in danger, you...you have to..." her eyes closed again before she could finish.
Leo sighed and picked her up like a child. "It's all right. I'll get you somewhere safe, and once you've rested, then you can tell us."
He heard soft footsteps running up toward him, and he turned around to see Raphael pull up just a few feet away. Dried blood was spattered around a wound in his neck, but that was quickly healing. Come to think of it, Leo thought, so is my arm. He could hardly feel the stinging from the wolf bites anymore.
"You all right?" Leo asked.
Raph nodded, eyeing Leonardo's armful. "Lotus? Did she start all this?"
Leo shook his head. "I don't think so. I just barely saved her from the werewolf."
"Werewolf?" Raph asked. "Makes sense. I was fighting a vampire. Wasn't in time to save the girl, though."
"That's what happened to your throat?"
"Yup." Raphael looked down the block at nothing. "You know, if all those old stories are true, then..."
"Yeah, I know," Leo said, glancing at his arm. "Did Donatello take off on you?"
"I sent him after an explosion down the street. Didn't see him after that. Mike?"
"On top of a building. They're probably both over there."
"Well, then, let's go."
Leonardo nodded and walked beside his brother to the building. Raphael noticed how slow his brother was moving and stopped, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Leo, you okay? You look exhausted."
Leo shrugged. "I'm just tired. I outran a werewolf for two blocks and then jumped off a roof on top of it."
"Mr. Consummate Warrior ran?" Raph smirked. "Wait'll I tell the others."
Leo just ignored him.
"Look out below!"
They both looked up and saw a purple tornado whizzing down toward them, and they dodged left and right to avoid it. It touched down and dissipated into a fine mist, leaving three figures standing in the center.
"Mike?" Raph said.
Beside him, Donatello wobbled and almost fell over, catching himself on his staff at the last moment. "That's the last time I ride with you, Mike...everything's spinning."
April sat down on the pavement and held her head in her hands. "I know what you mean...I think I'll walk the rest of the way."
Mike looked around at them. "What? That was a smooth ride."
"When you want to learn how to drive," April mumbled, "don't ask me to show you."
"What are you doing here?" Leo asked her.
"I was coming home from work, and suddenly the subway stopped and everyone seemed to disappear. So I took off, and that's when I noticed something was following me. I made it up here, and then I had to start up the building, and it was going to throw me off the roof when Mike stopped it." She glanced at Lotus. "Who's she? Was she attacked too?"
"Yeah, ah...long story. Saved her from a werewolf."
"Donatello," Raph said, "what's up with your staff?"
"You're never gonna believe this." Donatello grinned and held his staff high. "Look, 33!"
"Ooh, simple addition," Raph said.
Then the staff began to glow enough for them to see by.
"Spells are made of math?" Leo asked.
Don nodded. "The higher the formulae, the stronger the spells."
"Well, there went our magic career," Raph sighed.
"What were you fighting?" Mike asked.
"Some tripped out wizard," Don said. "That's what the blast Raph and I heard. Except...I didn't get there in time to save his victim."
"So it wasn't just me," April said. "At least three others were attacked."
As she finished talking, there was a long howl from the end of the street. They all looked down, peering into the darkness, but they couldn't see anything.
"I think we'd better get back to the lair," Leo said. "I don't think the things we faced were the only creatures out tonight."
They all nodded and ran for the nearest manhole, ducking in and closing it above them. As the last one of them jumped down from the ladder, they heard heavy foot steps shuffling around the cover, trying to pry it off. For some reason, it seemed unable, and Donatello whispered something about paws. Leonardo motioned for them to take off, and they silently took off down the tunnels, hoping nothing was following them.
TBC...