A/N: - Hello everyone! This is the latest chapter of this story for you. Sorry if this chappie seems a little late – I meant to publish it last night but ended up being in a concert and then being banished to the safety of a friend's house while the rest of my family organized a secret family get-together for my birthday (15 today!!!!). Anyway, hope you like the chapter – make this extra special and review for me!
"Leo!" Raph yelled above the noise of battle. He had to tell Leo about what Splinter had said somehow as Leo and Roshiri were fighting dangerously near the bushes. So were Donnie and Reginald. Raph cursed inwardly and tried to stay central with Ramakha. Mikey seemed to be getting closer to the bushes as well and Raph couldn't warn them easily. He would have to try and reach their minds. But that was nearly impossible to do – it took a great deal of skill and Raph doubted he would be able to do it at the same time as fighting. He ducked another blow from Ramakha and made a return swipe with his Sais, skimming the man's stomach and drawing a little blood. Ramakha launched himself at Raph in pure fury and Raph jumped backwards to avoid being sliced in two. Damn! He thought to himself, I'm by the bushes and trees – the one area of this glade I was trying to avoid getting too close to!
"Guys!" Leo barked, gaining his brothers' attention briefly, "we got company! It was a trap!"
"Crap on a crud!" Raph cursed, kicking Ramakha so he was sent flying backwards into the bushes on the other side of the glade. Four more men had stepped out, dressed all in black with silver gloves, boots and belts.
"I believe we forgot to introduce our cousins…" Ramakha said dryly as he staggered back into the glade, panting heavily as he tried to get his breath back.
"We need to leave here – now!" Leo shouted to his brothers. Even Raph didn't disagree and the reptilian brothers immediately focussed their attentions on getting out of the glade and into the safety of the forest where they could lose their enemies more quickly. The only danger then would be getting lost. But it was a risk they had to take, and Leo knew it. Deep down, he knew their choices left a lot to be desired and that there was a very slim chance of them making it out of the forest totally unscathed, especially considering the current circumstances they faced at that moment, in the forms of eight large men who were all directly related to Shredder.
"So, how are you planning on getting out of here, fearless leader?" Raph asked, sounding as sarcastic as always.
"We fight our way out to the edge of the glade. Then we make a run for it," Leo growled as Shredder's relatives closed in around them. Lunging forwards, the brothers began attacking the men without mercy, knocking them out cold and slowly inching towards the forest. Once all of Shredder's cousins were down, they decided they were close enough to make a run for it and lose the brothers of their dead enemy in the midst of the forest.
"You'll never escape the forest alive!" yelled Roshiri, beginning to run after them, but he was held back by Ronald.
"Let them go – you know how many traps are laid in the forest for unsuspecting snoops around this area. Our brother set them and vowed to kill anyone who refused to work with him after getting trapped in there. And I suggest that we follow the same system. After all, Marcie could be snooping around anywhere – and she would be a glorious catch. Her and her children corrupted our brother and we must avenge him by killing her as well as making sure the green lizards are eliminated."
"But we can't possibly know where Marcie is – she's too crafty – and I know I could never kill an innocent kid…" Reginald blushed furiously with the shame of admitting that he would not go that far to avenge his dead brother.
"Argh, you're hopeless – all of you!" Ramakha shrieked above the noise of his bickering brothers, "We have to kill everyone who ever wronged our brother. He protected us more than our own parents!"
"He killed our parents," protested Reginald stubbornly.
"Why would he kill those who had adopted him as their own? Remember when we found him, almost dead?" Ramakha laughed softly.
"I remember," Roshiri's hushed voice answered, "He refused to let us treat him but accepted the invitation to live with us. He taught us the way to fight and win without fail…"
"And without honour," Reginald once again cut in with a bad word to say about Shredder.
"Keep out of this, jerk…if you can't say anything nice about him then don't say anything at all!"
"But it's true!" Reginald shouted, receiving a hard punch to the stomach from Ronald.
"Anyway," Ronald said loudly, "I suppose you all also remember the day he brought Marcie home, claiming he loved her."
"Ha! That was a knife through our hearts! He was slipping away from us, slowly but surely!" Ramakha's voice was high-pitched, straining to control the anger he was feeling for Oroku Saki, "and she cheated on him!"
"She thought he was dead!"
"Rubbish! She cheated on him and then came back years later with a tonne of kids and expecting another!"
"And he raised them as his own," Roshiri smiled reminiscently.
"Look at us, standing here talking…we should be out there looking for the lizards!"
"Uh, I think you'll find they're turtles," Reginald interrupted his brother again and received an icy glare.
"Lizards, turtles, all the same – big green and ugly!" Ronald's mouth curved into a twisted smile and the four of them ran into the forest, leaving their unconscious cousins behind.
"You think we lost them?" Mikey gasped as he tried to catch his breath.
"I don't know, but we'd better keep running." Donnie replied, leaning against a tree and panting just as heavily as his brothers.
"Well, whatever's happened, we seem to have lost Raph!" Leo looked round anxiously, not seeing Raph anywhere.
"Oh no…what do we do now?"
"I'll go back and find him," Leo sighed.
"Not without us, you don't – remember what happened last time you ran off to find Raph?"
"Yeah, but the chances of Marcie being anywhere near here are small."
"Small, yes, but still possible," Donnie resolutely started walking back the way they'd come, with Mikey and Leo behind him.
"Man, I wish Raph wouldn't keep getting himself into trouble!" Mikey exclaimed as they searched back through the trees for their missing brother, "What do you think has happened to him?"
"He probably just got distracted, that's all," Donnie replied, inspecting a tree, "Guys, I think we're going the wrong way…"
"What?" Mikey looked shocked.
"These aren't the same species of tree we saw earlier – and this one is booby-trapped. If we'd come this way before then we would've fallen into the trap," Donnie poked at a carpet of leaves with his Bo and they collapsed to reveal a pit full of razor sharp spikes, proving his point.
"Uh-oh…"
"Don't worry, Mikey, we'll just head back again."
"Not that…Leo's gone too…"
"What?!" Donnie whirled round, looking for his older brother, "Oh, damn, now we're in trouble. We're all split up. Come on, Mikey – you and I have got to stick together."
"Uh, Donnie?" Mikey said nervously.
"What?"
"Which way do we go?"
"The opposite way to the pit…uh…" Donnie looked around them but the pit seemed to have extended and formed a circle around them, too wide to jump and with no trees nearby that they could climb and swing onto.
"What do we do now?" whimpered Mikey, rushing to the middle of the circle of land they were stood on.
"We stay quiet while I try to figure a way out of this mess. I hope Leo and Raph have fared better.
"Great," muttered Raph, folding his arms grumpily, "why does this seem familiar? Hanging upside down after walking directly into a trap…" he sighed in frustration as he tried to swing up onto the tree branch so he could haul himself up onto it and free himself so he could climb down and find his brothers. Suddenly, he heard a rustle in the bushes and tried to twist his body round so he could see where it was coming from, "uh…Leo? Mikey? Donnie? Is that you guys? 'Cause if it is, this ain't funny!"
"Ah-ha! Found you – now, where are your brothers?" Ramakha stepped out of the shadows in the bushes.
"I could ask you the same question," Raph snarled at the man he had fought against in the challenge in the glade.
"But what good would that do either of us – you're not exactly in a position to fight us. However, if I knew where your brothers were then I could find them and kill them."
"On your own? I don't think so!" Raph snorted. Ramakha growled and swiped at the rope holding Raph up, causing the turtle to fall and land on the ground in an awkward position.
"You should not anger me, lizard, or you will find yourself in several places at once…literally!"
"You wish…" Raph groaned as he got unsteadily to his feet, only to find a sword held to his throat.
"You will accompany me to the HQ and there we will squeeze every last bit of resistance out of you until you feel ready to talk. Then we will kill you and send you bit by bit to your brothers."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because it would hardly be fair for you not to know what is going on…" Ramakha laughed, using the rope to tie Raph's hands together, as his feet were already bound, and drag him along the forest floor, disabling any traps as he went.
