Nalong - Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I've said it before and I'll say it again, Man I love being a turtle. Wait… that's not right! I'm not a turtle, just a lowly amateur fanfic author. Let's try this again shall we. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I don't own the TMNT or associated characters. I make no profit from these little stories. Please don't sue. There, that's better. (grins sheepishly)

A/N: To all of you who have reviewed this little piece so far THANK YOU. YOU ARE THE BEST! (Does a little happy-dance)

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"Oh this is stupid!" Raph growled. He was getting annoyed with the goings on around him and decided to try a new tactic. "Here Don." Raph interlaced his fingers.

Donatello immediately recognized his brother's intensions. A two step running start, and one foot planted into Raph's hands gave him enough of a leg up to leap and flip over the panicking prisoners to reach the terminal. Once there he worked at cutting off the gas or opening some door or, preferably, both. Raphael continued to fight his way through the crowd toward the otherwise clear area Donnie now occupied. Almost as soon as Raph reached his brother, a section of the wall slid away revealing another room. Together they hurried to the new room and moved aside in an attempt to avoid the crush of people behind them.

The walls of the new room were completely covered with mirrors. Donatello guessed that their captors were on the other side of that glass. In the center of the room stood a complex configuration of what looked like it had once been pieces of a children's playground. The brightly colored equipment made this whole thing seem that much more perverse.

"What is this, some kind of sick joke?" Raphael growled under his breath. It was just loud enough for Donatello to hear.

"It's twisted alright, though I doubt very much that it's a joke." He responded quietly.

Small colorful globs of clay lay around the room, coating the floor. It was just another brightly colored oddity in this nightmare of a place. Donatello gathered up a couple globs of the clay and tucked it into his belt, Raphael did the same. The crush of people who had followed them through the newly opened door also noticed the clay on the floor and began using it as a weapon against each other. Don and Raph both found the behavior incomprehensible, and for a moment stood gaping at the scene before them. A few globs of clay flew their way and it was time to try to put a stop to this.

"HEY!" Raphael shouted getting the attention of most of the prisoners. "What do you think you're doing? We're all on the same side! This isn't last man standing!"

"We have been told that it is!" One man shouted out.

"How would you know? You only just arrived." Another voice called.

"I know that it is called the Course." Raphael yelled over the ruckus that had sprung up. "Now I don't know about you, but to me, the name and what is standing in front of me implies that this is an obstacle course. Not a fight to the death!"

"Aw, what do you know Turtle!" Raph was getting really tired of hearing that word spat like that. He could understand it from the moron captors, but from other prisoners it was just shocking. Donatello's restraining hand on Raph's shell reminded him to calm down.

"There's nothing we can do for them Raph. If they would rather beat each other up than get out of here alive, then that is the way things will have to be. Let's just try to get through this thing." With that Donatello and Raphael started making their way to the first obstacle. It seemed to be a standard wall, the only concrete in the brightly colored room. Just as they were about to reach it a voice called out to them.

"Hey, wait up!" It was a man's voice and there were five other people with him. "We agree with you. Maybe together our chances of survival are greater."

"Then pocket some of that clay, and let's go." Donatello shouted over the noise of the fighting in a voice only slightly higher pitched than normal. The room was too loud and he needed to shout to be heard, which he couldn't do while disguising his voice, and at this point he didn't care if the guards heard anyway.

Donatello and Raphael assisted the others over the wall before bounding over themselves. It wasn't that high and they could jump to the top easily.

On the other side of the wall they were able to get a better view of the monster play ground. The plastic tubes and walls were covered in various dangers. Several had spikes poking through the sides and others, razor blades running along their length. A few were coated in some sort of chemical. Many looked slick and one false move would result in sliding into the spikes, razors or falling off the course entirely. Under some of the higher sections were pools. Don pulled a small piece of clay from the blob in his belt and tossed it into the nearest of the pools. The group of seven looked on horrified as the piece disintegrated in a matter of moments.

"Acid," Don said in a slightly shocked whisper. He raised his voice a little "Don't fall in the pools."

"Good suggestion." Raph replied with wide eyes.

"MT 824, Careful!" a voice called out as Don started to climb into the first tunnel. The accent made the word 'careful' sound more like 'keh-full' to his ears. It startled him enough to pull back out just in time to avoid a blade that slid up through the tunnel. He watched warily as it retracted and a moment later it sliced up once again. From the reactions of the others they too had heard the shout. Donatello searched for the source, but try as he might he saw no one.

"Uh, I think we'll need to time this one." Don suggested. He waited a moment as the blade sliced up, then leapt through the opening as soon as it retracted sufficiently. Raphael followed on the next pass. The others stayed where they were and made no move to get by the obstacle

"We're expected to go through that?" One man asked incredulously.

"It is an obstacle course, and as I recall we're not meant to survive it." Raphael reminded the man harshly as the blade sliced up once again.

"All we can do is try to get through it and beat the odds." Don added. "As soon as the blade retracts you have a chance to jump through, timing is essential, but you can make it."

A woman in her mid-20's who was standing near the man who had complained shrugged her shoulders and at the next opportunity leapt through the opening of the tunnel and successfully emerged on the other side by Raph and Don. Eventually the remaining people who had followed the turtles instead of fighting with the other prisoners all made it through the first obstacle without anymore problems.

On the other side of the tunnel they came to a junction. Donatello started one way across a rope bridge and Raphael headed the other way toward another tunnel followed by a balance beam.

"Careful MT 811. MT 824 not that way." The same strange voice rang out. Donatello immediately turned around and headed toward Raphael.

"Know what he's talking about Raph?" Don asked as he pushed through the group to reach his brother.

"All I see is this goo on the bottom." He looked to his brother for what the stuff might be.

Donatello had no idea what it was; all he could do was shrug.

"Guess we don't touch it then." Raphael started across the tunnel careful to keep both hands and feet firmly against the sides and avoiding contact with the bottom of the new tunnel.

Donatello followed him, and the group cautiously continued through the Course. The man who had complained earlier accidentally touched the goo on the floor and immediately his hand started stinging. He shouted out in pain, almost dropping completely to the floor. In response the others encouraged him, saying he was almost there and that he could make it. He forced himself across the tunnel and when he emerged on the other side another man ripped off one of his sleeves and used it to get as much of the goo off as possible. The piece of cloth was then discarded into the pool waiting below the next obstacle: a balance beam.

There was no new warning from the strange voice so Raphael figured that it was probably just a balance beam. No problem at all for Donnie or himself, but it might be for these other people. Nevertheless they had to cross it. Raphael started across followed closely by Donatello. About halfway across Don heard a cry from one of the people behind him, the guy in the back he realized. Immediately he leapt into the air and after flipping once landed as silently as a cat, as he had been trained to do, on the beam behind the falling man. Don quickly reached out and caught the guy's hand. Unfortunately in the process of leaping over the group he had also started the woman behind him. Raphael's quick reflexes caught her hand and he carefully pulled her back onto the beam as Donatello did the same for the guy in the back. The two who had almost fallen were just about steadied on the beam when another lost his balance. Both turtles were otherwise occupied and were unable to help the third victim of the beam. He was trying to catch his balance again when an over-correction caused him to suddenly pitch over and fall to the waiting pool of acid below.

"NO!" Don shouted, never releasing his grip on the man he was still assisting. Raphael quickly reached the far side and hurried the other people across. Donatello watched in horror as the once clear liquid below started bubbling and changing color. He averted his gaze and concentrated on the task at hand. Now was not the time to worry about the incident if he wanted to get through this alive. Unlike Donatello, the man he had been trying to assist could not pull his eyes from the scene below. The turtle had tried to pull his attention back to the present, but it was to no avail. Finally Don just picked him up and hurried across the balance beam. Reaching the other side he put the man down and tried to force the image of the bubbling pool to the back of his mind. He wasn't having much success so he closed his eyes against the scene, only to see it in his mind's eye even more clearly. Raphael noticed his brother's distress. He himself had not seen the man fall and had only briefly seen the bubbles in the pool. Don however had witnessed the whole thing and Raph knew his brother was taking the stranger's death too hard. He knew that Donatello would keep his head, but his brother was hurting.

"You can't save them all Donnie." It probably came off harsher than he meant, but he wasn't good that this sort of stuff.

"I know," Don replied. He closed his eyes again and forced his focus back to the task at hand. "Let's get moving."

Raphael nodded and forged ahead. Every so often they were warned of hidden dangers by the strange voice. At junctions Don would go one way and Raph would go the other. The voice always told them when they were headed the wrong way. And they just hoped that they could trust it. The remaining group of six soon came to a long narrow walkway with a new and very slippery substance coating the bottom. The walls were covered in long spikes, and looked as though they would fall away causing an individual who connected with too much force to crash through and fall into the waiting pool below. Donatello intensely hoped that it would not come to that. He didn't want to see that again, and he was sure that the rest felt the same way.

Raphael led the way this time, sliding along the floor as though he were on a snowboard. Donatello followed and the rest of the group had taken customary positions in line. The only ones that really changed places were Don and Raph who took turns navigating each obstacle first.

The woman who had followed Raphael and Donatello most closely lightly connected with the walls and sliced her arm on one of the spikes. Thankfully, she did not fall through the wall, but she was bleeding pretty badly. The next man soon followed and, already missing one sleeve of his long-sleeve shirt he ripped off the other one and tied it tightly around her upper arm in a make-shift bandage. Raphael and Donatello watched in amazement as the next woman slid across and instead of crashing through the wall where her initial trajectory would have taken her, she abruptly turned and came careening off the path right by the four already across.

"How did you… How'd you…wha'…?" Don started eyes wide and mouth agape.

"It's almost, but not quite levitation," the woman answered matter-of-factly.

"Your 'mutation'?" Donatello asked with raised eye ridges.

The woman simply nodded. Moments later the last man crossed. He was the one who had complained at first. Now he was far past that and an uncompromising determination to beat this stupid Course had set in.

Shortly the group came upon a small platform that it seemed they had to climb onto. It appeared to be some sort of very narrow elevator. Donatello could see that, with their shells, it was going to be a tight fit for Raph and himself, but the others shouldn't have a problem with it. "Careful MT 824," came the voice over the loudspeaker. Donatello didn't see any goo, spikes or razors. He figured that the platform had to be some sort of elevator. Warily, he stepped on and crouched down on a hunch. If they had been warned about it then it wasn't a standard elevator.

The platform started to move and as Don had expected it wasn't normal. A second platform snapped into place nearly taking off his head. Don pulled his head down as quickly as he could and it was just in time. The slow downward movement continued for a long time and when it finally stopped he found himself in a new room. Again the walls were covered in mirrors, but this room lacked the sadistic play equipment. In fact this new room seemed nearly empty. To his left a large pool extended across the room and straight ahead was a smaller section of the pool that could easily be jumped to a lower platform. He made the jump and waited for the others to come through. They did so in the normal order, and as they started coming through Donnie jumped to the ground from the lower platform giving the rest space to come through. He approached the door at the far end of the room as soon as Raph made it to the lower platform and the now familiar cry was heard as he neared the door.

"Careful MT 824."

Donatello froze. He didn't see anything, but there was obviously something there or he wouldn't have been warned about it, and the voice had yet to lie to him. He took several steps back from the door. As more of the group exited the elevator he hurried back over to the middle of the room to wait for them.

'Almost levitation' lady came though and hurried over to where Donatello and the two other humans stood while Raphael waited for the last man to come through. She spotted the door and ran to it.

"Yes! A door!" She cried as she raced to it and reached for the handle.

"No, WAIT!" Donatello shouted, but it was too late. She had already grabbed onto the handle.

Electricity shot through her body. Instead of throwing her back she latched on more tightly to the electrified door handle. There was nothing to do for her now. Some little part of Don's mind told him that, based on what happened to the girl, there was probably a current in excess of 25 AC amps running through that door handle. He really wanted that part of his brain to shut up right now.

"Everyone, I need your clay!" Don shouted running back toward the group in the center of the room. They handed over their clay and Donnie took the double fist sized wad and as quickly as he could and formed it into an inch thick pancake. He tore the pancake in half as he reached the woman and the door. Using the clay as insulation, a strong shove ripped her hand from the door. She fell to the floor with a thud, and smoke rose from her now lifeless body.

"Oh why did you have to be so rash?" He moaned softly closing his eyes. He felt an unsure hand on his shoulder and turned to find Raphael there and looking a little uncomfortable. He sighed and pushed the strange girl from his mind along with the man on the balance beam, instead focusing on what he had to do now.

The group, now five in all, stood at the doorway. Don opened the door carefully using the clay and held it open for the others to pass through before entering the next room himself. What he found on the other side of the door shocked even him.

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Ooh, I think that this is a good place to leave it for now, don't you?
See, I told you it was a weird dream.

I watched the H.A.T.E episode this morning and in it I saw a lot of parallels to this story, mostly involving the H.A.T.E. guys. They have a similar mentality to this cult, though their methods were very different. Also it was a Don and Raph-centric episode! That pairing alone makes it one of my favorite episodes ever! WOOHOO! I absolutely LOVE Raph and Don interactions as you have probably noticed, (Raphael and Donatello are the principle characters in Shocking Delight too) it is really too bad that they are so rare!