Disclaimer: Alla you fat lards in court should pretty much know the drill by now. And if any lawyers are reading this, come near me and I'll rip yer liver out.
A/N: Okay, sorry about the lack of updates lately. I've been sort of busy and the inspiration was having a hard time making it tothe front door of mymind.Hoo boy, I'm not feeling safe in my own home anymore. That trio of cliffies caused an uproar worthy of an Oscar. So, I think I'll enclose myself in a safe…In other news, the CGI TMNT movie that's coming out in 2007 is underway! If you visit my deviantArt page and go down to my desktop screenshot, you'll see a bit of what it's gonna look like. (grins in bliss) In case you're wondering why you can no longer find Movie Bloopers under my pen name, Rene' informed me of the consequences that would ensue if I didn't remove it. Stupid rules. (sobs) BTW, this is more of a transitional chapter than anything else. So it'll be notably shorter. And you get to see a different side of Leo…(chuckles evilly)
11.
Leo stirred, feeling the familiar roughness of sand chafe at his skin. Belatedly, he remembered what had happened…he and Dakari had plummeted into the ocean and the force of the impact knocked all breath out of his lungs. A few seconds before he had lost consciousness, something warm and sharp had seized his arms. He coughed and attempted to sit up, only to realize that his shell and legs had been completely submerged in heavy, wet sand. The turtle rubbed at his gritty eyes and looked around. He was sitting on the only beach in a small, sparkling cove. Jagged black cliffs and rocks surrounded him, looking as though they were aiming to pierce the sky.
Feeling his aching head as he stared at the star-punctured sky, he noticed the absence of his bandanna, finding only his damp green ears. Summoning what strength he had left, Leo pulled himself up, emerging from the sand with a sucking pop and grimaced when he realized his long tail would be a pain in the neck to get out. His swords were also gone, which made him sigh inwardly. He didn't enjoy hand-to-hand combat that much, but it looked like he'd be doing it for a while. A sort of throb was being emitted from his upper arms, and when he looked at them, he found talon indents.
Abruptly, the turtle felt something nip the end of his tail that derailed his train of thought completely. The sudden sting it brought made him utter an 'ow'. Not wanting to endure more bites, he feverishly began digging his legs out, unearthing sharp bits of mollusk shells and tiny crab-like creatures. He could swear one of them shook its claw at him before scuttling sideways away. Leo had one leg revealed and was busily working the other one out when a soft voice startled him.
"Um, excuse me?" He jumped and looked around, feeling rather foolish that he hadn't sensed her arrival. "I'm in the water," she informed him quietly. Leo looked ahead and spotted her almost completely submerged, not far from when he was sitting. Her green hair was long and flowed all around her petite pale face, concealing most of her features. Innocent gray eyes stared back at him under thin eyebrows. The only part of her showing was her head and arms. "Sorry, it looked like you were trying to find something," she answered shyly.
He nodded stiffly. "I was, actually. Who are you?"
She smiled warmly at him and pulled aside the right side of her voluminous locks. "My name is Rakaera," the girl said.
"Leonardo."
"That's a strange name, if you pardon me saying it, Leonardo. You're not from around here, are you?" An innocent enough question.
He scratched his ear, which had chosen this time to start tickling. "No," he replied slowly.
Rakaera blinked curiously and moved closer to him, long hair trailing behind in the water. "I don't think I've ever seen anyone like you before, Leonardo," she stated. "Has your race been in hiding somewhere?"
Leo pulled his other leg out of the sand. "I'm not from this planet, Rakaera."
Her eyes bulged in fascination. "Really? How'd you get here?" she inquired, propping her chin up on her hands.
"I..." Leo felt a bit hesitant answering her prying questions, so he decided to change the subject. "You seem very at home in the water."
She sighed. "It gets tiring, really it does. I hate having to stay in it all the time. And sorry, I didn't mean to pry."
The turtle smiled wanly. "That's alright, Rakaera. If you don't mind me asking, why are you staying in the water?"
Rakaera glanced at him with a look of disbelief. "Merfikah can't breathe the air you do."
"Mer-what?"
"Merfikah!" she explained. "We have a…a secret colony in the ocean. If my father knew of me talking to a surface dweller, I'd be grounded for a month," she added as a bit of an afterthought. Leo mused, associating them up with merpeople.
"So how do you breathe underwater?"
Rakaera giggled musically, as though it was only logical. "Gills, silly!" A tail broke the water behind her, shimmering wet in the waning moonlight. It was formed like a whale's, only ribbed with bony fingers that extended out of the skin, forming a line of widely spaced talons. "We have gills near our hips," she added, submerging the tail again. "Oh, and by the way…I think I might've found what you were looking for, Leonardo."
He became instantly alert. "Where?" Leo's hopes spiked that it might be Dakari.
The merfikah pointed out to sea. "Buried somewhere in the reefs. Are they two swords?"
Disappointment replaced his optimism. "Yeah."
"You'll have to come with me, though. I can't get them out by myself."
He stared at her. "How can I breathe underwater? I'm not a fish!"
Rakaera beckoned him into the water. "I can help with that. Just come into the water. You'll see." The turtle attempted to stand, but his still buried tail yanked stubbornly on his rear.
"Oh, for cryin' out loud…" He pulled it out like a tug of war rope, straining against the sand that was halting his progress. He finally got it out and found the culprit for the earlier sting. A crab was pinching the skin between two ribs of the fan, glaring angrily at him. Leo gently pried it off and let it go onto the sand, where it scuttled resentfully away.
"Ready?" Rakaera called. The turtle stood and walked into the cool salt water, his legs sloshing around. When it was chest high, he felt Rakaera take his hand. It was soft and cushioned. "When I tell you to, get underwater. You won't be able to breathe pure oxygen anymore. Okay?" He nodded as she gently pushed his head under. His ears detected a muffled word above the surface and he felt her slide under the water. 'Breathe' she mouthed when his lungs cried for air. Reluctantly, he inhaled the water and found, to his surprise, that he didn't start hacking it up.
The merfikah tugged on his hand and began swimming gracefully away from shore. Leo arrowed after her, using his tail to help propel himself along. Small fish darted around him, some dully colored, others shimmering brightly in the moonlight. He barely had enough time to duck a small furry animal that rocketed past his head. It veered around and came at him again, screeching to a halt in front of his plastron. It was a tiny otter-like thing, sleek and lithe. When the turtle reached out to touch it, it readily nuzzled his hand affectionately, making little squeaking sounds.
He smiled and petted it once more before swimming after Rakaera. The otter latched onto his tail with its front paws, squeaking all the while. Leo halted and turned, gently prying it off. It looked mournfully at him and nuzzled his shoulder.
"He wants to play with you." Had he been able to in the liquid, Leo would've jumped from the sudden intrusion into his mind. "Sorry," Rakaera apologized sheepishly. "We only communicate with our minds underwater, since one can't really use vocal cords. All that comes out is bubbles and not recognizable speech." The turtle nodded and endured another pleading nudge from the otter. "He won't rest until you've done at least one thing with him. Ruri are quite persistent. Try enticing him to do some water tricks with you."
Feeling extremely foolish, the turtle did a tentative summersault, watching in rapt amusement as the little ruri repeated it twice in a row, squeaking happily and twirling around. Then Leo swam quickly down to the ridged sand on the seafloor and kicked off powerfully, breaching the water like a dolphin and diving back in. Again, his little performing friend repeated it, more than was necessary in his joy. Chirruping his thanks for the playtime, he rubbed his soft-furred head against Leo's hand affectionately, withdrew, and rocketed away towards the distant cove, leaving a trail of bubbles in his wake.
"That was quite cute," Rakaera commented with a giggle. She swam to a tangle of smooth rocks, writhing kelp, and colorful coral, parting the aquatic plants and slipping deftly inside the forest. Leo found himself being attacked on all manner of sides by pleading ruri the moment he entered, some adult, others juvenile like the one he had so reluctantly entertained earlier. The merfikah laughed at his plight as the energetic, squealing animals mobbed him. "Away, little ones, we don't have time for play." She shooed them away gently and grabbed Leo's hand, pulling him away from the pack of furry clowns. "They get very angry if you openly reject their invites," she explained, "which is why you must always be gentle. No matter their age, they have a child-like understanding of the world and wouldn't understand the tasks we have to do."
Leo spotted one of his swords a bit faster than Rakaera did and made a beeline for it. He wrenched it out of the kelp it had become entangled in when his companion poked his arm and pointed. The other was wedged between two rocks. The task of getting it out might have been easier said then done, as a nasty-looking, plesiosaur-like reptile was dozing right beside it. At Leo's questioning look, the merfikah beside him quietly explained.
"It's a yinru. Normally they aren't easily provoked unless their territory is invaded. In this case, we shall have to do just that." She looked troubled as Leo studied its features. Its back and neck were ridged with a line of bone-ribbed skin that extended down its odd tail and curved around the end to stop at its hind flippers, which were long as baseball bats. Its elongated head was nestled between two mounds of sand. "Female by the looks of it. And a mother. See those black things under her flippers? Those are her eggs. Be careful when approaching her, there's no telling what she'll do."
Silently as possible, Leo moved forward a bit, katana at ready in case something should go wrong. It got uncomfortably silent as he swam, the only sound water in his ears. The mother yinru moved, stirring up sand, and settled back down within a few seconds. The turtle let out his breath, unaware that he'd been holding it. With a swift stroke, he had arrived at his katana. Trying not to make a whole lot of racket, he grabbed the sword and yanked forcefully on it. The resulting screech on the rocks achieved the one thing they had been trying not to.
The mother roared and snapped angrily at Leo, missing his legs by inches. He dodged another hastily aimed bite and forced his tail down, propelling forward. Rakaera grabbed his hand and began swimming toward the distant shore like the devil was after her, sneaking quick glances backward. The yinru had taken up pursuit and was steadily gaining on them.
Suddenly, several brown bullets shot past them, ramming the yinru with squeals of rage. She bit and snapped furiously at the faster ruri but couldn't land a hit in the maelstrom of activity that had stopped her in her tracks. The little furry animals were butting her in the head and chest, but even their blows did no good. Finally seizing one in her jaws, she crushed its back with her saw-like teeth, filling the water with crimson blood. Feeling a strong sense of justice rise inside himself, Leo let go of Rakaera and rocketed back at the furious mother, swords out.
The ruri pack parted in a flurry of bubbles to let him pass. The yinru mother eyed him angrily, clacking her jaws together. Then she lashed out at him, lighting-fast. He was ready, and stabbed the roof of her mouth. Filling the water with grating moans of agony, she recoiled from the sword. Spouting various pained sounds, she turned tail and swam back toward her eggs.
Rakaera grabbed his hand again. "Hurry, we must get to the surface! You're running out of time!" He did find it beginning to get harder to breathe by the second as she dragged him up. They breached the water's surface in a halo of droplets. Leo took in grateful gulps of air as he paddled toward shore. When his feet touched bottom, Rakaera stopped.
"I can't go any further than this," she explained softly, meeting his eyes. "Oh, and I believe this is yours." She proffered a sopping wet strip of blue fabric, something that Leo received with gratitude. A moment of uncomfortable quiet followed.
"Well, I…um, guess I should get going now…"
She nodded. "Yes. Farewell, Leonardo." Rakaera waved at him and plunged back under the water, vanishing from his sight.
Leo was on his way back to shore when he heard a familiar moo of concern. Standing on the shore was Tunali, who was quivering with excitement. As soon as he had gotten out of the water, the teela tackled him to the sand, licking his face happily. "Ow, Tunali, get…off me!" he grunted, enduring the pink tongue with squirms of discomfort. "Please, I can't get up…oh, stop, that tickles!" His resisting grunts dissolved into giggles as Tunali licked the spot between plastron and carapace.
Finally deciding he had done enough, the teela backed away, grinning madly, it seemed. Leo noticed, with surprise, that Tunali had his scabbards. "How on earth did you get those?" he muttered, genuinely confused. "As far as I know, you didn't jump in after me…" The turtle shrugged and took them. Had he been a bit more aware, he would have seen a gleaming, curled, golden-copper feather on Tunali's fur as he mounted him.
Sor cursed and took a defensive stance. "Of all the rotten luck!" he growled blackly, unsheathing his sword. Mikey squinted up at a black form that was currently sitting on the rim of the roof. It roared, showering them with multicolored light as it shook its gigantic head.
"Yes, I'm happy to see you too, Sor Lightblade." A tiny form jumped down (actually, it was more like slid off the creature's head) and landed none too gracefully on the punctured mattress. "Ouch! Good grief, haven't you people heard of heather?" it squeaked, jumping up and clutching its posterior. The turtle froze, recognizing the voice instantly from his dream. It continued muttering curses to itself and wincing publicly as it rubbed its bottom painfully.
"You're Xetyphaes?" he asked in amused disbelief, staring at the diminutive two-foot tall red-robed character who was currently dusting himself off with all the panic of a person covered in parasitic ticks. He could hardly mask his laughter when Xetyphaes' little red cap fell off his head, exposing wisps of thin white hair. He grabbed his hat and jammed it back on his head with a growl, upsetting his too-large robe into slipping off one thin shoulder. He looked more like a version of Yoda gone wrong than an evil dictator.
"Don't act so surprised, demon," he sneered, sticking out his pointed tongue and squinting peevishly at Mikey.
Mike threw his arms up in exasperation. "Why does everybody on this planet think I'm a demon?" he cried. "I'm a turtle for cryin' out loud! A turtle!"
Xetyphaes rubbed his stubby nose and sniffed, obviously having a whopper of a superiority complex to deal with. "No idea what you're talking about," he grunted, mouth curling slightly up at the corners into a sneer, long red ears pointing straight out to the side. "Though she did mention the word turtle."
Kiara began to get a sinking feeling as she counted the dragons around her. "You…" she ground out whipping out a rapier. "What have you done with Bima?" As the magnitude of the loss sank into the group, Iwansi bristled angrily.
He snorted noncommittally and waved her off with a roll of his red eyes. "Oh, Icusi? Nothing much. Rainbou, would you like to show off your daughter?" The large rainbow dragon held aloft in her claws a bloody form that could barely be recognized as a dragon. Claw gouges riddled her sides and neck. Her legs were broken at odd angles. She no longer had a tail, and one of her ears was nearly bitten off. With the growl, the possessed mother threw her fatally wounded child down onto the floor, eliciting several angry gasps from her siblings.
Nobody moved. They were all in shock, horror, as they stared at Bima's bloody crumpled form. "Bima," Iwansi whispered, a tear escaping her eye. "No…oh…" Stricken with grief she let out a long, heart-wrenching wail of sorrow, all of her being trembling at the effort of standing up. Kiara simply stared, wide-eyed, at the shallow rise and fall of the fatally wounded silver-blue dragon on the floor. Xetyphaes chuckled unfeelingly and went so far as to cruelly kick the near-dead, wingless dragon in the back.
Mikey clutched his head in his hands, praying futilely that this was all just a dream and nothing more. "Please…don't let her be dead…" Finally, somebody took action, springing the rest out of their disbelieving daze.
Letting out a bellow of pure rage, Kiyo charged the tiny red dictator, spraying fire and gusts of wind at him. "No words, no curse can describe the hate I feel for you now!" the little green dragon spat venomously, launching into a lightning fast tackle. Xetyphaes casually examined a cuticle and yawned in feigned boredom as Kiyo froze abruptly, struggling, in mid air.
"Nice try, Seiney." He smiled evilly, moving his four-fingered hand in a jerk to the right, throwing Kiyo into the wall by some invisible force. He groaned and tried to stand but slumped in his failed effort. "Who's next? You, Eyayedi?" he inquired sweetly, inclining his head at Iwansi.
She blinked away her tears, spewing roiling black smoke out her nostrils. "I don't care how much power you have, idiot, you will not call me anything but my real name!" Iwansi went invisible in an instant. Mike looked around in a panic for her. In a split second, Iwansi came hurtling out of nowhere, seemingly connecting with Xetyphaes and piercing him with her claws. She passed through him, tumbling onto the ground and flipping back up with a murderous growl of hate.
He did the universal good luck sign at her, enraging the dragon further. "I thought you would prove more of a challenge to capture, Eyayedi, but it seems I erred." To couple injury with insult, he pulled his lower eyelid down and stuck out his tongue. "Bleh!"
She bared her teeth murderously, flattening her ears. "Quit talking like Shakespeare, you numbskull of an—" He cut her off by sticking out his index finger and moving it around in ovals. The yellow dragon went spinning into the wall next to Kiyo, groaning and nearly unconscious.
Aireilei growled in her prone state, clearly fighting whatever control he had over her. "Get…out…of…my mind!" she moaned, thrashing around wildly. Kiara had to let go of her to avoid being impaled.
Xetyphaes grinned maliciously at her. "Ah yes, the famed Kiara! I've been waiting for this day, commander," he declared, holding aloft an ebony jewel that he had pulled from a fold in his robes. It sparkled with a black aura of power before firing off a volley of energy shots. She ducked, jumped, and dodged the first ten but the eleventh smote her forcefully in the leg, eliciting a cry of pain from her.
She staggered upright only to be seized and smacked headfirst by an invisible force into the floor. She collapsed, out cold. Mike positioned his nunchuks nervously, lashing his tail. "And what are you supposed to be?" Xetyphaes sneered, aiming his jewel at the turtle's head. "Some half bred freak of nature? Or perhaps you found a monster costume in the king's closet!" Mike ventured a cocky smile.
"Dude, I've been called worse. Trust me. That didn't hurt one bit."
"Perhaps this will then!" From the jewel in his hand sprung a black griffin, made purely out of darkness. It screeched a battle cry, then charged the turtle. He side-stepped casually as it went crashing into the wall.
"Try again, sucker."
The griffin squawked angrily, beating its wings as it turned around. Mikey leapt up and smacked it in the head as it came sprawling by in another failed charge, getting the brunt of a hastily aimed slash in his side.
"Michelangelo one, crispy-fried black chicken zero!" He did a mocking bow as the griffin disintegrated into thin air. "Anybody else?" He uttered a pained grunt as he was swatted aside by an enormous clawed paw. "Ouch, that's gonna hurt in the morning," he groaned, getting up from where the wall had cruelly stopped him.
"Change of plans, Rainbou," Xetyphaes informed his slave as the mind-controlled dragon lowered her massive head. "Just take Seiney. We don't need the other three." He shuffled over to Kiyo's limp body and lifted him up, grunting since his thin arms (Xetyphaes: "Oooh, LN, you're gonna pay….she's calling me a wimp!" growls "Can I kill her? Please, can I kill her?" is restrained by Yulakai) could barely sustain the dragon's bulk. "Gad, he's heavy!"
Mike fumbled for a shuriken in his belt pouch, clutching his stinging side with the other hand. "Let the midget go!" Three of the throwing stars whizzed at the tiny dictator. They bounced abruptly off an invisible shield and clattered to the floor. "Dude, I'm warning you, you do not want to take Kiyo," he threatened, knowing full well that his goose was as good as cooked by this point. "Leo's gonna have your head—"
"I don't care if this Leo fellow has another Opal Eye; he can't stop me—" Xetyphaes gave a pregnant pause. "—and neither can you!" Mikey felt like a giant fist had dealt a blow to his stomach as he doubled over in pain. He fell forward with a groan onto the floor, out cold.
Sor growled out a curse and raised his sword. "You touch him, and I'll kick your sorry—" Xetyphaes picked up a piece of rubble and pitched it with inhuman strength at the gunghir. It struck him in the gut, causing him to moan involuntarily and fall forward.
"You listen to me, Sor Lightblade," he said, bending over to make the statement all the more humiliating. "You can tell that crusty old coot Tor and Aireilei when she wakes up that there's no way you can stop me from getting what I want. So, sweet dreams!" With that, he held the black jewel in front of Sor's face and blasted him into the crushing oblivion of unconsciousness.
"Oh….ouch…" Mike groaned and blearily opened his eyes. "Hello." With a grunt he got up from his spread-eagled position on the floor. "Man, my neck hurts like shell…" He grabbed his head and jerked it to the right, heaving a relieved sigh when several cracks came from his spine. He blinked and looked around. They were still in the king's chambers…and apparently, he was currently the only one conscious, judging from the other bodies strewn around the room. "That complicates stuff," he grumbled. When he saw Bima's broken form on the floor, everything came back to him in a rush.
Hot tears pricked at the backs of his eyes. "Gosh…I'm sorry, girl, I should've paid attention to where you were," he lamented, kneeling beside her. It was horrible. He doubted that unless she got help quickly, she would never walk again. Her breathing was very soft and nearly undetectable. Only the miniscule rise and fall of her maimed side said she was alive. Belatedly he touched the arrowhead on the chain around his neck, remembering the event three months ago when he had almost died in Don's arms with a mortal arrow wound.
He was pretty sure this was just how his brother had felt when Aireilei had shot him in the chest. Mike squeezed his eyes shut. Where are you guys? he asked no one in particular. He just needed his brothers. Even Raph would be a welcome sight right now. That thought brought a smile to his face. Knowing Raph, he would probably kill Mikey for that comment.
Somebody let out a pained, hacking cough behind him and he slowly turned around. Sor was gradually coming to, but the turtle couldn't stop himself from gasping. The gunghir's face was disfigured by a gash that ran down from the left temple to his chin and across his face. He didn't know how Sor had managed to move with the blood streaming from the wound. "Mi-key…" he moaned, eyes rolling up in his skull, clearly in agony.
"Don't talk." Mikey glanced around for something, anything, with which to bandage Sor's face. The tattered curtains in the corner would have to do. He leapt nimbly to his feet and bounded, not without a pang of guilt, over Aireilei's twitching form and Kiara. Not too gently, he ripped down the drapes and in the process was showered with dust. "Sheesh, where are the maids?" he grunted, rolling up his prize. "I hate this hotel! I swear, I've never seen more horrible service!" Sor gave him a lop-sided grin. "This is gonna hurt, Sor, so…er, bear with me, okay?"
"Don't bother, Mike," Aireilei mumbled, coming to sit next to him. "I'll do it." She listlessly raised her hands and held them over Sor's bloody face. A soft white glow surrounded her. Gradually, the gunghir's face began to piece itself back together. Skin and muscle knitted and formed where it had been blasted away. When she finished, all that could be seen was a large ropy scar extending down the length of his face.
"Thanks," he said quietly, pulling himself up and grabbing his arm with a wince. "I think you should see to Bima now."
"What? Why? What's wrong with her?" In that instant, Sor realized that Aireilei hadn't yet seen her sister's grievous wounds and bit his lip as she turned. She choked in shock, all manner of speech failing her. "…sister…no…" The white dragon was paralyzed, and Mike wasn't sure if she was simply trying to cope or digest the information. She just sat there, wide-eyed and uncomprehending of all events around her. "What have I done?" she whispered, clutching her face in her hands and whimpering.
"You didn't do anything, Aireilei," Mike said, exchanged glances with Sor, who looked stabbed. "It wasn't your fault."
"Are you sure?" she questioned coldly, looking mournfully at him with piercing periwinkle eyes. "Is that really how you look at it?" He nodded, a bit confused. "Then let me point something out for you. If I hadn't been so bent on reminiscing, I would've noticed that she had gone missing! I would've investigated it! And as it is, I nearly killed her!"
"Do you even know who did it, Aireilei?" Her composure turned from sad to stormy. "He…knocked you out with something so you wouldn't interfere. He even took Kiyo, but I'm not sure why." Aireilei's eyes blazed, the very picture of wrath.
"I do," she growled, punching the floor. "He needed a male dragon for his cloning to be complete! Don't you see? My mother is his female dragon, so all he needed was the mate for her!"
"That's sick!" Mike gasped, feeling a bit nauseous. "You mean he'd actually force her child to…with her….eeew…" He stuck his tongue out, disgusted.
Aireilei nodded balefully. "Yes, he would…"
The orange-banded turtle sighed and rubbed his forehead. "And to think I actually laughed at him when I first saw him."
Her face darkened, putting a damper on his stab to humor them. "You laughed at him? It's an unspoken rule that nobody laugh at him. I'm surprised you didn't get off as bad as Sor, if not worse." Sor nodded silently, his long ears drooping.
"Oh, and by the way, you ever tell your mom what a wicked right hook she has?" He winced and slapped a hand on his plastron, feigning pain. Despite the circumstances, Aireilei smiled. "You gonna heal Bima, or what?"
She gently touched her stricken sister's ripped ear. "I can try."
"No way, dudette. You're not gonna try, you're gonna do." He clapped a hand on her shoulder and grinned widely. "Trust me, I know you can do this." Aireilei began with the head, mending the tattered ear and several long scratches. As she worked her way down, Bima's face began taking on some color again. Once her front legs were healed, she stirred. "Uh-oh, she's waking up. Better do her tail fast." The tail had been torn off about a fourth away from the base of the appendage, forming a Minx-like stump. Just as Aireilei was fixing her last leg, she opened her eyes.
"Oh, Claw…that hurts like the Dickens," she moaned. "And I can't feel my tail. Is that a bad thing?"
"Nope," Mikey assured with a smile. "We're just happy you're alive."
"I did get pretty waxed, didn't I?" she sighed heavily, laying her head back down in a pile of springy moss that had taken over the room. Mike slowly opened his mouth to spout something to break the dismal mood, but she stopped him with a glare. "And don't you dare say I should see the other guy." He clapped his mouth shut, visibly deflated. "I know for a fact I didn't do any damage to my mother…"
"Can we all just stop feeling sorry for ourselves and get a move on?" Sor interrupted, rubbing his face.
"Well, gee, who died and made you king, grumpy?"
Just then, a soft rustle came from the door, spurring them to start in surprise and whirl around. There stood Naicro, who looked for all the world like he had just walked in on his execution. "I am sorry," he whispered, green eyes sad.
Mike stared curiously at him. "For what, dude?"
He bowed his head, shamefaced. "Tellling Xetyphaes of your location..."
"No way out? Aw, great! Just perfect!" Raph grumbled. The tentacle thrashed around in the hole, raining rocks down.
Lharom, now in wolfena form, had his hackles raised and teeth bared. "Just our luck that it's a big one too!" His rump was up against the dragon crystal, next to Don. They braced against another small tremor. "Unless one of you have a plan, we're sitting ducks!" The tentacle withdrew, its owner trying a different tactic.
"What's it doing?" Kyrunir squeaked, terrified. Ukeera looked just as scared but being a person who had to deal with a wimp her entire life, she kept her hysteria in check.
"Finding another crack!" Lharom realized, ears perking forward. "Hurry, help me barricade this hole in case it comes back!" He dashed for a large boulder sitting in the corner and pushed up against it with his side. The rock moved about an inch every time he pushed. "Will you lazy bums help me?" he growled, ramming it. Raph shrugged and went to help Lharom push while Don looked around for an exit.
"I didn't even get the chance to swing a sword…" Kyrunir lamented, curling up into a ball. Ukeera growled in a somewhat peeved way.
"Will you shut up, Ky? It's hard enough keeping a cool head with you whimpering every second!"
By now, Raph and Lharom had successfully wedged the boulder into the hole. And almost immediately after Rijinn's shaky sigh of relief, a tentacle shot out of the ceiling and seized the wolfena, beginning to withdraw into the cave again. Lharom's eyes took on a glazed look, one that looked unconcerned even I the face of death. Saesha yelled "No!" and lunged for the disgusting thing, latching onto it with her sharp claws. It gave a low hiss and dropped Lharom on the ground. The purple dragon clung to it stubbornly (A/N: I should've said 'like staticky socks', since that's what I used to encourage my peers with when they were enduring the hang in P.E.) as it thrashed around, clearly wanting nothing to do with her.
Don looked up after a few seconds of it. "What the heck are you doing, Saesha?" he all but screamed in surprise.
"Causing it pain, Donnie!" Raph shot back. "Even you should be able to see that!"
Lharom was gradually regaining his sanity. For a few seconds after being dropped, he had muttered ridiculous rants about the rights of forest nymphs, at which Raph felt compelled to chuckle at. "Causing it pain…yes, yes, that's what we want…not nymphs in burning trees…" He slumped in the middle of his mad mumbling.
"Well, that's one down."
"Raph, quit it!" Don cried, taking an offensive position. "Drag him somewhere safe, he can't stay there for long!"
"Why can't you?" In the next moment, his question was answered as Don whipped out his Bo and charged at the enormous tentacle. He jumped nimbly aside to avoid a blind attempt to smack him away, raised his staff, and dealt the writhing thing a hard thwack that left a pink welt on it. Rijinn regained his composure, bounding toward the tentacle to see if he could do any damage to it. Finding to opening into which he could sink his claws, the red dragon inhaled deeply and spat a crimson ball of crackling flames at the top of the appendage. A shriek like the sound of nails against a chalkboard split the air as his trajectory smote it, slicing it right in half.
He whistled. "Hoo, yeah! Oh, look at me'n my bad self!" Rijinn started doing a bad impression of the Kuzco from the Emperor's New Groove. "I ripped you right out of the air!" He mimed slashing the tentacle in two with his claws. "Oh, I'm a big fat tentacle and I'm stranglin' you to the death! Well, not today pal! Uh-huh!" Then, of all things, he busted out some Egyptian moves and strutted around the cavern.
Raph stared at him. "Remind me why we even showed him that movie," he said to Don, who stood nearby with a look of perplexed disturbedness on his face.
Rijinn's victory dance came to a sickening halt when three more tentacles burst out of the ceiling. "Eeep!" The red dragon dashed away to keep Kyrunir company.
"Wimp," the turtle in red snorted as Saesha took aim. He plugged his ears as the inevitable screech came from above when Saesha melted off another tentacle. Black blood oozed from the wound. "Hah, that'll teach…Oh crap." Raph was in the middle of smirking victoriously when the sizzling appendage grew back in a second's notice.
Don paled. "This isn't good…" At this point, Kyrunir had nearly passed out from fear and Ukeera was valiantly trying to make him get a grip.
"Gee, Don, ya think?"
"We're going to have to find an escape route," he mused quietly. "We can't kill that thing without bright light, and that we don't have. Saesha, can you probe the walls for a weak spot?" The purple dragon nodded grimly, activating her telekinesis, and ran along the wall. "Raph, while she's busy, we need to distract the beihl. Rijinn, get over here!"
The red dragon gulped and made his way warily over to Don and Raph. "Yes?" he squeaked.
"We need your help to distract this thing. If one of us gets caught, you have to incinerate it. Okay?" Rijinn nodded stiffly as the two turtles lunged. Raph was thrown off the tentacle the moment he landed on it and stabbed his Sais deep into its flesh. He hit the large crystal particularly hard, his shell producing a sickening crack.
"Oh…shell, that hurts…"
"Raph!" Don leapt away from the writhing appendage, coming to his brother's aid. "Raph," he said, voice cracking with worry. "Turn around." He did so, painfully. Don probed his shell gently with careful fingers. Once he slipped, and Raph was forced to grit his teeth against the pain. "Sorry," Don apologized quickly. "Looks like you've dented your carapace in a bit."
"My what?"
"Your shell."
"Don, don't you dare give me bed rest," Raph warned, standing up. "You know I'll make your life miserable."
"Yeah, I know."
A deafening boom interrupted them and Saesha tumbled out of a new hole in the wall. "I found our way out," she grunted, falling over. Don took one look at the dragon in the crystal.
"I'm getting a feeling she's not supposed to be in there," Rijinn muttered, staring at her.
Saesha, suddenly on her feet, snorted flames. "She isn't! She just sent me a message! She knows that beihl's in here and just told me it can suck the life out of her too if she doesn't get out of here!"
Kyrunir stood shakily. "Can we just go please?"
"Mmm, yes, I would like to protest for nymphs with you…pot pie? Oh, yes, thanks, I'd love a piece…"
Ukeera shot the mumbling Lharom a glare. "I wish he would just wake up and quit being so ridiculous."
"He's goin' senile," Raph grunted, picking up Rijinn. "C'mon, let's blow this Popsicle stand!"
"Hold it…" Saesha's eyes glowed briefly and the crystal shattered in an explosion.
"Warn us when you're gonna do that!" the red garbed turtle bellowed. The dragon inside lay amongst the rubble, trying to stand.
"I apologize," she grunted. "But being imprisoned for so long has slightly weakened my legs." She stretched her pale yellow body, several creaks coming from the bones. "Ahh, that's better! Now, shall we get out of here?" Nobody answered her, as they were already running into the tunnel. The dragon looked at Lharom, who was still conversing wildly with thin air in his feverish state, and grabbed the scruff of his neck in her teeth. He squeaked a bit.
"Oh, good heavens, this nymph's biting me…"
"Hurry, get in here!" Don shouted, motioning to her over a thunderous rumble. She dragged, half carried the delirious shape-shifter to the tunnel, throwing him inside and hopping in herself. "Help me roll this boulder up!" The turtle indicated a large circular slab of rock and began pushing it with all his might. She dug her claws into the rock, throwing her weight against it and moving it scant feet. Finally, it clicked into place and all light was cut off. "Thanks," he panted, walking down the tunnel. Or, more precisely, up, because it was sloping slightly vertically.
The dragon grabbed Lharom in her mouth again, preparing for a long walk. Several minutes later, they emerged into morning sunlight, half blinded by it. They had just come out of a tunnel through a cliff face. The sea spray spattered them with salt water as they descended to the beach. As soon as he was on solid ground, Kyrunir collapsed.
"I've never had a more horrific experience in my life!" he cried, letting the waves lap at his feet.
"I did," Ukeera muttered. "You were born." Raph snickered.
"That was cold," the turtle stated.
The pale yellow dragon gently laid Lharom on the sand, withdrawing her head in surprise when he leapt up and began clawing in no particular direction. "ARGH! Gimme that beihl's head, where izzee, I'll knock him limb from…limb from…Urk…" Then he collapsed again, leaving his seven companions in complete confusion.
Saesha put a paw on his head. "When the beihl got him, it sucked some of his life force away. He'll be alright, but for right now, his mind is perplexed."
"Yeah? Well so's mine," Raph grumbled. "How'd we get to the beach if we started out on mountains and plains?"
Don sat down to rest. "Well, it isn't that hard to figure out. We must have slid farther than we knew when we entered that cave. And the passages are longer than they would seem in the dark. So, technically…" He faded into Don-speech, which the others readily ignored.
Just then, an urgent call came from farther down the shore. "What was that?"
"A cry for help! It wasn't human, though, more like an animal's…"
"Yeah. Haradrian Lassie, here we come," Raph grumbled. "Where's Timmy? Trapped under a log?"
Saesha clawed his leg as a warning. "I'll teleport over there." And she did, vanished without a trace. A few moments later, she reappeared, only with a teela and person in tow. "Don, take a look at him for me," she ordered, pulling the person down from the teela's back.
Don gasped. "Holy mackerel…"
"What?" Lharom was up again, this time talking sense. He was behind Don in a minute, peering over his shoulder. "Dakari!" he cried.
(grins) Okay, guys, I've brought back Dakari and Leo, safe and sound, so no killing of good guys. However, I do believe I'll get an earful for giving Bima a bit more than she bargained for. See, the thing is, I had forgotten entirely to insert her into last chapter. So, that was the only logical way to explain her absence. Sorry. (shields Naicro) Nobody hurt the elderly dragon! (pets him) And...er, don't kill Xetyphaes either. I still have uses for him. Anyway, please review!
LN