Dear Readers,

I wanted to thank everyone for the awesome comments I got on the first chapter. They were truly awesome! I honestly didn't think I was going to get such a response. I'm so excited!

However, I just posted my second chapter a few minutes ago and I'm a bit worried about the response I'll get. Please continue reading, I promise I won't disappoint you guys (or I won't try to, anyway).

Here comes chapter three just for you!

.: KareBear :.

"Stuck in the Middle with You"

Chapter 3

The night air of New York City was filled with dust, debris, trash and other assorted polluting objects. However, this was all common to this city. What made this night so unusual was how cold and thin the air was. It was the middle of late spring, early summer and normally the air were warm and comfortable to be surrounded by. Strangely, tonight it was almost unbearable, especially to the three cold-blooded reptilians that were scowling the dark city in search of their youngest brother.

The air was not the only thing on everyone's minds. There was also the time frame to think about.

The fight between the two brothers took place at about 10:30 and lasted till about 10:45.

Michelangelo had been gone about thirty minutes, when the three brothers and their sensei literarily sensed that something was wrong.
At around 10:50 they had left and begun their search through the city.Now the thing that was tugging on everyone's brains was that it was now 1:45am. It had been approximately 2 hours and 55 minutes since they began without a single lead or clue to where he might be.
What could have possibly happened in 30 minutes that could make it impossible to track down a single clue to Mikey's whereabouts?

Michelangelo floated in the water for some time, his eyes peering all around him in search of the woman he had been speaking to just a few moments ago. There was no sign of her, or anything else for that matter. The ocean was completely clear of all life and the water itself was a beautiful crystal blue. The water was the purest water he had ever seen, let alone swim in. This also steamed from the fact that he had been living in New York City his whole life and the cleanest water he saw came from April's faucet.

He then realized the obvious.

He was underwater....

...he needed air!!

With this realized, he made a desperate try to get to the surface. His arms stroke against the water with speed and strength unknown, and though normally this would be enough to get him to the surface in no time, it seemed the harder he tried to break to the surface, the further he dropped. Deeper and deeper into the sea he fell, as if he was stroking backwards.

He felt the air slipping away from him faster and faster, and with each precious breath of air he lost, the faster he tried to escape the water that surrounded.

After a few more moments, it was over.

The last bit of oxygen left his lungs.

He felt his eyes grow heavy and tried as his mouth opened and water filled his lungs.

As he closed his eyes, he felt himself rising up.

One lonely looking man, hidden in shadows, and obviously bored, twirled one of his ninja stars around and found himself occasionally yawning.

Suddenly, as quick as a flash, a streak of green came by and went away just as quickly. The ninja stopped his twirling in shock, and before he realized it, had dropped his ninja star.

Upon impact with the cold cement, it clacked and spun till it finally came to a silent stop.

The man became instantly worried and hide himself deeper into the shadows. The green streak returned within just a few moments, and began to cautiously peer around the "empty" ally way. He sniffed the air little a wolf on the prowl and his feet barely touched the ground, let alone make a noise.

The man became worried as he heard the creatures breathing become louder and louder, meaning that he was closing in on his location.

Just as he thought he saw a green hand approach his hiding spot...

"Raph! Raph! Come in, over!"

The hand jerked to a halt and retracted. The man mentally prayed a thank you to the person on the other end of that communicator.

"What is it Don? You got something?"

The voice sounded just a few inches away from his hiding spot. It took everything in his power to stop himself from shaking. Normally, he could take a person down, no problem. However, he had heard about these reptilian creatures of the night, and was told not to encounter them alone.

"I was gonna ask you the same thing." Donatello replied in a disappointing tone.

There was a moment of silence before Raphael responded.

"Hey Don?" he began in a much quieter tone.

"Yea, Raph?"

"Is....this line closed?"

"Yea Raph. No one can hear you, but me. What's up?"

"What..." he began meekly "...what do you think happened to Mikey?..."

"I....I can't be sure Raph. Let's just hope he's okay."

"Yea....this is Raph, over and out."

"Over and out"

With that and a few heavy footsteps, and the green reptile was gone. The man waited a few moments before quietly coming out from his hiding place. With this newfound knowledge, he knew his master would be very pleased with him.

As quick as lighting, he jumped to the rooftop and was off in the direction of a large building that looked like something straight out of Japan.

Michelangelo slowly opened his eyes and peered about. He was still underwater in the same crystal ocean. However, oxygen had been given to him once again and he was in the same place he first started out in.

How could this be?

Did he make it to the surface after all?

Questions ran through his mind, but before he could answer them, he began to feel the air slipping away from once again.

He began to stroke his way to the surface, but before he could begin, something in the distance caught his eyes.

It was tiny, dark blue blur that seemed to be coming closer to him. He squinted his eyes and tried to deceiver what exactly he was looking at. Whatever it was, it was the first sign of life he had seen, and he was hoping it could somehow help him escape the depths of this sea and into the sunlight that shined from the top of the water and fell elegantly on his shoulders.

The blue blur continued still and in only a short amount of time, he could see what it was. He wanted to gasp, but he feared he would let his little precious oxygen escape from him, so suppressed the urge.

The creature was a giant sea turtle.

It swam with top speed till it came about 5 feet in front of him and began to slow down. It was the most majestic looking creature he had ever seen. Large and power, with eyes, as the creature grew close to his side and peered at him, that showed the wisdom of a thousand years.

Michelangelo felt calm as he looked in his eyes, but before long became panicked again as he began to feel the oxygen escaping him.

He went to stroke, when a powerful voice called to him.

"Trust"

Michelangelo stopped and looked at the giant sea turtle, who stared deep into his eyes.

"Trust....you must learn Trust."

Michelangelo started to become nervous, but tried to remain as calm as he possibly could.

"Trust? How? Who do I trust? How is that going to help me now??" he mentally implored the sea creature

The sea turtle flipped its flippers about in an elegant motion and stared back into Michelangelo eyes.

"Trust natures course. Trust others, but must of all, trust yourself."

Michelangelo was silent and began to feel himself losing his conscious to the lack of oxygen, but he hung to the sea turtles words.

"If you can not trust the ones you love to yourself, then you will continue to sink into oblivion."

Michelangelo stopped struggling and felt himself fall. He didn't trust the ones he loved? Did that mean he didn't trust his own family? How could he say that? He loved his family so much! They did have his trust...didn't they?

Then it dawned on him.

It wasn't that he didn't trust his family and the dissuasions they made. He didn't trust his family with showing them his true self. He didn't trust them with the truth about himself.

Just then a powerful current came up from behind him and he felt his body lunge back upwards, back up toward the light and the giant sea turtle. With the current, he felt his lungs fill with oxygen so much that he had to open his mouth and release some of it.

The current eventually calmed down and he gently floated back next to the turtle.

The turtle seemed to smile at him and spoke happily.

"You understand now, correct?"

Michelangelo thought for a moment and nodded.

"The first step to salvation and overcoming obstacles is to realize ones faults. Trust is something you have always struggled with, like this water that surrounds you."

Michelangelo looked around. The water was pure and clean....just like trust should be.

The turtle continued.

"The air in your lungs is the faith you have in that trust. As long as you trust others and yourself your lungs and heart will always be full."

Michelangelo smiled, he knew he was right....but would he be able to trust?

The old sea turtle seemed to hear his secret thoughts and smiled.

"Trust takes time to build, but a few seconds to destroy. However, as long as you have faith in that trust, it can always be rebuilt and every time it is rebuilt, it is stronger then it was before because it is fortified with love."

Before Michelangelo could respond, the turtle flipped his giant flippers for arms. The water twirled and spun around them. The current he had felt pull him up from the depths of distrust began to push him forward with great speed. Together, he and the sea turtle were off. Flying though the ocean with speed unknown. Michelangelo, at first frightened by this sudden change in pace, soon became excited by this wonderful experience. He felt as if he was soaring the skies and felt the excitement boiling inside of him. He gave a loud cry and the oxygen that was in his lungs came flying out. He became a little nervous at first to the lose of oxygen, but like the sea turtle had said, his faith in the sea turtle was rewarded with more air. He laughed happily and cried out as ocean life started to form below him. Creatures and plants of all sizes began to form around him. Soon he looked over and he saw that some creatures, mostly majestic looking dolphins and other smaller sea turtles, were trying their best to keep pace with the two speed demons of the water. He laughed in delight as he reached over and petted the smooth gray skin of a nearby dolphin. This was the most amazing experience he had ever had.

The old turtle smiled at him and began to slowly decrease in speed.

The other sea creatures noticed this and did the same.

However, Michelangelo was still continuing at his same high pace and when he noticed the sea turtle now far behind him, he tried to paddle back, as if something was wrong.

The sea turtle smiled and spoke to him aloud.

"Continue forth to the next stage, my child, and remember the lesson of trust and your own trust."

Michelangelo slowly stopped paddling and closed his eyes as the current slowly swept him away. As he flew farther and farther away by the current that took him wherever it pleased, a small piece of his of his soul seemed to reform around a small portion of his heart and stop the flow of a small amount of his white mist from escaping.

"And you say that they are in search of their own brethren?"

"From what it sounds like Master, he has been gone for quite sometime. The turtles seem to be in search of him, but have come up empty handed."

The flickering candles of a barely lightened room danced in the slightly strong wind that swept calmly throughout the large open room. From the appearance of fabulous draperies, magnificent swords that hung on the walls, and the alter that stood in the front; this seemed to be the throne room of a rather wealthy Japanese lord. However, this lord was not in Japan, but rather in the grungy city of New York. His title of Lord was yet to be achieved, all due to the meddling reptilians that thwarted his plans every time.

The strong man sat himself on the soft with his back perfectly straight, and his hands clutched tightly together. He starred for a long while at his devoted ninja, who had been on watch on the east side of the city when he happened to over hear a conversation between two of his reptilian foes. He smiled to himself and turned to his right, where his faithful commander was awaiting orders.

"Assemble the forces, Hun. Tonight we strike."

Michelangelo's fall to the ground with a rather soft impact.

He barely remembered how he had gotten where he was and looked around his surroundings.

He remembered being swept away in a strong, yet gently current. Gradually, he remembered the water slowly turning to air. Suddenly he felt light shine upon him, and as he quickly opened his eyes, he found that the current of water was now air. He was now falling, but the current of air didn't let up. It gentle guided him down and released him from its grasp with barely a thump.

The air circled him a bit, he laughed a bit as it tickled him and left to explore the world around him.

He was in a valley. A valley filled with a beautiful arrangement of flowers. The air smelled sweet with the assorted buds, and crisp from the Snowcap Mountains not too far in the distance. The sun was shining in all it's wonderful glory and the clouds gently passed by with the warm winds that swept over the land.

He felt like he was in paradise.

For the first time in his life, he was out in the open with no fear or anxiety to hold him back. He was able to enjoy the beautiful sunlight for all its glorious majesty.

He inhaled a deep breath and as he exhaled, he let gravity take over as he fell onto his back.

He closed his eyes and let himself soak in as much sunshine he possible could.

In the distance, he could have sworn he heard the call of a hawk or eagle.

Suddenly he felt the presence of another being, and bolted up.

His eyes darted about until he found himself starring eye to eye with a large golden eagle. He felt himself leap a bit and back a few inches away, seeing how close the creature was to his face.

The creature didn't flinch even after Michelangelo's sudden movements, and began to peak at the ground and cock its head about, looking here and there at nothing in particular.

Michelangelo stared at the creature for sometime, before venturing to lift a hand and see if he could pet it. The bird suddenly starred right at his eyes. Michelangelo halted his hand and looked at him with a hint of fear in his eyes.

"Nice, birdie...."

He tried to venture a little closer with his hand, but upon seeing his hand come closer the bird flapped his large golden wings and took flight. Mikey cringed and looked up after the bird had taken flight.

He stood and watched the bird circle overhead, taking a hand to his forehead in order to shield the brilliant sun and to see the creature better.

After sometime the bird called to him and Michelangelo was taken back.

The bird spoke but one word, just as the old sea turtle had.

"Truth"

End of Chapter 3

WOO! Things are building up on both ends!

It seems some nasty guys have found out about the turtles predicament, three guess who they are and the first two don't count.

Michelangelo still seems to be in his astral limbo, but what will happen to his body and the rest of turtles back in the mortal plane??

Find out next time!

(And thanks a bunch for reading this far guys. Hope you all like it!)