Dear Readers,
Hey everyone! WOW! I can't thank you guys enough for the responses I've been getting on this story. It's really awesome. I just hope I continue getting the approval of all you guys.
I just wanted to let you guys know that I won't always be able to post on such a frequent bases. I really wish I could, but I go to school and my school is all:
"WHAT?? You want to have free time??" Never!"
The reason I was able to have so many chapters up in such a sort amount of time is because I wrote them through out the weekend.
Sorry in advance!
Here's the next chapter for you!
.: KareBear :.
"Stuck in the Middle with You"
Chapter 4
"Any luck, Leo?"
"Nothing yet, Don. You?"
"Nothing down here...Leo, I'm getting really worried. It's been WAY too long for Mikey to be out. I've tried his cell-shell a thousands times, and I'm still getting nothing!"
"Is there any way to track the cell-shell?"
"Tried and that's just what makes me even MORE worried."
"Why?"
"Cause every time I think I'm getting close to him, the signal switches to someplace in the opposite direction I was going!"
"How....is that possible, Don?"
"I really don't know Leo...it's like someone's toying with us so we don't find him..."
"Hmmm...." Momentary silence for contemplation "Keep looking Don, we gotta find him..."
"Roger. Over and out."
Leo stood up top of a long bridge extending to another part of New York not too far away. He closed the phone in his hands and starred at it for some time, his thoughts on other things. He recalled the many times he had scowled Mikey for being so childish. The many times he walked away from him when he could have made Mikey's day worth while by spending just a few moments with him.
He felt a sting inside his chest and wanted to cry; cry for all his faults and his overwhelming guilt. He remembered so many good times with his other brothers, but so few with Mikey. He thought it was just because they were so different in personality. He was the practical one, the leader, and the realist. Mikey was the radical one, the happy-go-lucky, and the dreamer. Now he knew better. A difference in personality wasn't an excuse to neglect ones own family.
He knew that now as he held the phone tightly in his hands.
"...We just have to find him."
He just hoped that this lesson wasn't a lesson learned too late.
With this he slipped the phone back inside his belt, and began his stealthy descent down off the cold steal bridge.
His eyes burned from the light of the distant star. The bird was merely a dark shadow, his golden body glistening at the edges so that he appeared to be a black pearl with gold trimmed edges.
The bird circled and glided in the air majestically as it spoke to Michelangelo in the same matter as all the other beings he had encountered on his adventure; telepathically.
"Truth..."
There was a momentary silence for Michelangelo to contemplate his words, but all he came up with was a big blank.
"What about it?" he called out to the eagle dumbfounded
The bird didn't answer and with a flap of its sparkling wings, some of its brilliant feathers flew off and began to slowly fall to the ground.
The feathers glistened and sparkled in the sunlight and slowly became golden dust. As the beautiful dust touched the ground, it instantly began to turn a dark and scary shade of black. It merged with a few other black pieces and grew into, what appeared to be, shadows of people.
Suddenly, red eyes flashed open from the shadows, and they began to lift themselves off the ground!
Michelangelo backed away in fright, but found he couldn't go too far as the shadows of men were behind him as well.
He doubled back and when he noticed he was surrounded by the dark shadows, he instinctively reached for his nun chucks. He became even more panic-stricken when he found that his weapons were no longer with him.
He heard the call of the eagle above, and looked up, hoping he could tell him what was happening.
The bird only flew up higher and let out a mighty cry that echoed out throughout the distant mountains and through the valley of flowers.
As if this was their cue, the shadows suddenly turned into solid looking men. They looked like ninjas of the night, with demon eyes glowing red.
Soon as blink and they all lunged at Michelangelo.
Michelangelo with a panic expression across his crystal blue face watched as the hundreds upon hundreds of ninjas began to descend upon him.
"Any sign, Scout 274?"
"No, East section 23B is secure sir."
"How about you, Scout 736?"
"I saw the reptile with the blue bandana pass by intersection 473, but nothing else to report, sir."
"Errr...this is taking too long. Parties, report!"
"Party A1, troops 1 through 50. Nothing to report on the East wing, sir, except the occasional spotting of one of the reptile."
"Party B1, troops 50 through 100. Nothing to report underground sir. We've spotted the reptile with the purple bandana several times, but otherwise, nothing to report."
"Party C1..."
"Enough! Unless you have the information we require, report nothing unless an emergency. I want this line clear, is that understood?"
"Yes, sir! Commander Hun!"
Hun closed his communicator shut, but as soon as he did, it began to ring. Out of frustration, he flung open the communicator and yelled into the receiver.
"I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU..."
"HUN!" Hun immediately stopped mid-sentence. He could recognize that voice anywhere. "HUN! REPORT!"
"Please, excuse me Master" he said in a lower, more humble voice. "The parties have reported nothing of importance as of yet. Except for the occasional turtle sighting, nothing has been confirmed with the troops, Master."
"Do not return until you have results."
With that and the sound of a click, the communication line was cut.
Cold eyes glared at the servants that held the communicator for him. With a wave of his hand, the servants bowed humbly and quickly left.
A cold wind blew through the curtains and seemed to call to him.
He knew something had happened.
He could tell by how cold the night air was. The air that seemed to speak to him; the air seemed to tell him that this was the opportunity he was looking for.
He sat in silence and closed his eyes.
The cold winds seemed to be truly speaking to him.
"What is this feeling that calls to my soul?" he asked himself aloud.
The mind blew and tumbled violently around.
"Darkness...you are my ally...guide me and as long as I succeed in my quest, I shall do your will." He mentally spoke to the darkness around him.
And you know what?
It heard him.
The wind blew more violently, sweeping across the candles and taking them out with little effort. The wind blew across the room, and back out into the open.
The dark wind grew strong from the dark intents of the vicious man.
The wind swept high into the sky and took the clouds in its cold hands. It took the clouds and placed them over the only source of brilliant, yet wonderful light.
The moon.
Sweat poured from every fiber of his being.
Silly thing was, the only thing he could think of was:
"How does a soul sweat?"
He laughed, and in doing so caused a fit of coughs to ensue.
The shadow creatures were never ending; every time he seemed to defeat one, three more would take its place.
His body seemed to have become somewhat physical for the fight, which meant he could feel all physical pain. He felt every crushing blow to his body, and every kick to his limbs. The pain stung him and with every blow received, a new sudden and long sensation of something horrible coursed through his body. His sweat mixed with....blood?
It seemed to be blood, except that it was white.
He blinked the tears away from his eyes and jumped up into a hand stand and did a round house, taking out a few of the demon shadows. However, three times as many sprung from their places.
Michelangelo breathed in deeply, but with each breathe inhaled, he felt his lunges cringe in pain. With each exhale; he felt the pain reach out from his lunges to all parts of his body. His right eye twitched and refused to stay open, but still he remained in his fighting stance, even as another wave of ninjas swept over him.
He grabbed the first one and flung him into a group of ninjas to his right. He leaped up into the air and stomped on the man he had flung shoulders. He used his weight to push the man into the ground, and leap with full strength into the man in front of him. He gave him a couple of bunches in the jaw, before upper cutting him in the mouth. He used the same right arm to swing around and slam it into the throat of a nearby ninja. Grabbing the body he had just slammed his arm into for balance, he rose he left foot into the arm and slammed his foot into the forehead of another nearby ninja.
This group would be childs play....if they didn't keep multiplying like they did. For every man he took out, he was rewarded with three times as many ninjas to fight per fighter and a few blows to his slowly failing body.
He felt the sting of his new white blood and sweat come into his one good eye and from it, his vision was starting to fade.
He tried to blink it away, and shook his head in order to concentrate. His face was that of a mouse driven far into a corner.
Scared, but willing to fight in order to survive.
He quickly looked up into the sky, to see the eagle looking down at him with clear, deep eyes.
"Truth..." it spoke to him
"WHAT ABOUT TRUTH!?!?" he cried to the bird in anger for letting him suffer so much in order to learn a lesson.
....Chip....
He heard the ear piercing noise and felt something crack away.
He looked down and saw a piece of himself brake away from his heart, just as it did before. White mist slowly began to pour out and mix with his white blood.
"Why??" he thought to himself as he began to panic "Why is this happening to me?"
The ninjas closed in, eyes glowing red.
"Why is this happening to me?"
The bird starred at him from high above, the light flowing off it's extended wings.
"What is it about Truth that I have to learn!?!" he cried, closing his eyes and let the tears fling into the air as he cried to the bird above.
Just then the demons pounced, and there was darkness.
He had starred at the area for so long, that the sky above the land appeared to be fake.
Far in the distance was a land deprived of all moonlight. The sky seemed to move normally around it, the wind calmly pushing the clouds about, as it normally would, but in one particular spot, the clouds refused to move, depriving a certain area of land the beautiful moonbeams.
He starred at it from one of the rooftops in New York City, but couldn't understand why his gut and some unknown source (something told him that the outside sources was the cold wind around him), told him that there was where he would find the answers he was looking for.
After a while, he couldn't ignore his nagging mind anymore, and flipped up his communicator.
"Parties, stand by."
"Yes, sir?" he heard one of his soldiers respond.
"Has anyone checked out the fields about two miles off of highway 262?"
"No party has been sent there, sir. It's just outside the city limits."
"Who's the closest to that section?"
There were a few moments while the parties found out their exact positions.
"I believe we are, sir. Party 74F. We're on the East board extension."
"Party 74F, I believe we are a mile or so closer."
"What party are you and what is your position?"
"Party 62C. Were on five and Vine, about half a mile to the site, sir."
"Party 62C investigate the site. Party 74F, go and back them up. Understood?"
"Yes sir!"
There was a click and the communication line was cut.
Whatever was over in that foreboding place would be made known soon enough.
He felt his one eye sting as he tried to open it. His right eye absolutely refused to open, but his left eye, with a little bit of difficulty, finally agreed to open.
His eyes filled with fright as he looked around.
Hundreds upon hundreds, starring at him; red demon eyes.
These demon beings were all around him, holding him down to the ground, peering down him and making sure not one inch of his body could move.
He felt a few of them beating him from time to time, the pain not from physical blows, but by their very touch.
He looked all around, desperately trying to find the sun. The sun that the eagle had been flying under couldn't be seen.
He couldn't find the sun, nor the eagle that had spoke of Truth.
All around him was darkness, and the peering eyes of these demons.
He starred in despair into one of the eyes of the demon, as if mentally imploring the being to release him, when something came across his red eyes and flashed across Michelangelo's mind.
"Mikey! Yo, Mikey! What are you doing?"
"Nothing..."
"You playing with those toys again, aren't you??"
"NO! I don't even like toys!"
"Good! Cause if you did, you be a little baby."
He shook the memory violently away and turned his eyes to another one of the demons. He starred at his eyes as well, till another memory suddenly flashed across his mind.
"Michelangelo! Are you reading your comics again??"
"Yea, but..."
"Come on Mikey, you have to grow up sometime..."
He shook his head again, trying to shake away the hurtful memory that had been logged from the far corners of his mind.
He shut his eyes from the peering eyes that starred at him intently.
...What were these creatures that were able to uproot such painful memories?
"False."
Michelangelo immediately opened his eyes as he heard the voice. It was the voice of the eagle that had spoke "Truth" to him just a short while ago.
"False?" he called to the bird, in the hopes he would hear him under the pile of demons.
"They are the guise of the false and the lies in your heart."
Michelangelo had to think about this for a second, but even after some time, he was still couldn't understand what he had said.
"Look into their eyes. They reflect to you the guise of falsehood and lies you have told in order to cover up who you are."
"They're..." Michelangelo had to think about this carefully. "...my memories?"
"They're the memories of lies and times in which you had to hide yourself from others."
"But..." Michelangelo thought aloud. "...why would my own memories attack me?"
"Because to them, you are the truest form of your self they have ever encountered. Lies only exist to cover up the truth. The darkness of these lies attacks the purity that is truth."
This was all too deep for Michelangelo, and he tried to take a minute to comprehend. However, the voice interrupted his thoughts.
"The field that you saw represents your mind. Pure, innocent, and beautiful. The darkness started to form when you began to lie about yourself, in order to shield yourself away. The lies have fore filled their end of the bargain..."
"They have?"
"Yes...they are shielding the true you away from the world. However, is this the way you wish to live?"
"No..." he thought for a moment and smiled as he looked up "...no, it's not."
With that a few of the shadows released him and turned to dust.
"The truth will set you free, Michelangelo."
Michelangelo sighed to himself. He knew what the eagle meant now. He had been lying to others in order to shield himself away from the possible ridicule or misunderstanding nature. He hid himself behind his lies in order to stay safe.
Though it would hurt to show his true self to the world, it would better to be honest then live life as a hurtful lie.
As if on cue, the rest of the shadow demons began to slowly turn to dust and fall gently on the ground.
Mike slowly got up and propped himself with his arms as he watched the dust slowly evaporate into the air and disappear without a trace.
The eagle, which was still high above, cried out, catching Mikey's attention. The bird slowly descended down, taking a few extra flaps as it came close to the ground, and gently touched down.
Michelangelo looked at the bird that had just landed a few inches from his right hand. He slowly, so as not to scare the creature, sat up Indian style. The bird didn't flinch and starred at him with love in its clear eyes. Mikey thought he would try his luck just once more, and lifted his right hand. As the eagle saw him reach out to pet him, the eagle smiled and hopped over next to him.
Mikey pulled his hand back in surprise, but when he noticed that the eagle had bent down in order to be petted, he laughed out loud and happily petted him.
He smiled a bright smile and felt just like a child again as the sun healed his wounds, and the flowers scent calmed his spirit.
He felt free from the lies as the sun of his pure mind shone upon him.
"Party 62C, report!"
"Nothing, but flowers and grass, sir. Also it's so dark, that the team can't see an inch after their nose."
"Keep searching, and no flash lights! This needs to be as secretive as possible."
"Yes, sir."
Again the line was cut, and Hun began to worry if he would be scowled for wasting his time in an empty field.
Not too far away, deep underground in the dank sewers of New York City, a purple bandana-wearing turtles trudged along, hoping to find something. Anything that might help them find their missing brother.
He was following yet another faint signal of his brother's cell-shell, he had given up trying to call the phone an hour ago, and this was his last effort on following the signal. After this, he would have to go back to searching the tunnels one by one.
He sighed and lifted his head.
"This is ridiculous, how could the signal jump around like that??" Suddenly his thoughts diverted back to what was important. "Mikey....I hope you're okay. I thought I was gonna die when I got that....feeling...I can't imagine if...OW!!"
He quickly reverted back his thoughts to reality as his bare green feet stepped on something painful.
He moved his foot away and brought it close to his face. It was a tiny shard of glass. He quickly pulled out the shard and threw it far away. A small trickle of blood began to surface and he was going to ignore it as nothing, when something caught his eye.
He slowly knelt down in front of the glass.
It appeared to be a glass bottle that had been violently stepped on....causing whoever it was to step on it to bleed...the same color blood as his own...
His faced lighten up into a smile, his eyes almost brimming with tears.
"MICHELANGELO!" he cried as he fumbled for his communicator.
As he did so, he touched the blood. It was cold and hard, as if it was shed a few hours ago. He looked up and his eyes followed the blood trail that led far into the distance.
He looked into his communicator with excitement, and was rewarded with yet another response. Just as he looked at the faint signal of his brothers cell shell, it grew more intense, as if it was suddenly brought back to life.
He wasted no time; he quickly stood up and began to follow the trail of blood, as he paged the other communicators.
"GUYS, GUYS Pick up!"
"What is it Donatello, you found something?" Leo responded first as he leapt from rooftop to rooftop.
"Yea! Michelangelo's signal just suddenly started coming in as clear as a bell, and I have his trail!"
"Trail?? What do you mean, Don?" Raph asked as he lifted up a sewer cover and jumped down inside.
"It looks like he stepped on a large chuck of glass. He left a small, but noticeable trail behind."
"I just hope that's the only thing that's cut." Raph seemed to whisper into the phone.
"I hope so too, Raph." Leo commented as he hopped into another rooftop "What do you think could have made him run fast enough for him not to notice he was bleeding?"
"I....don't know Leo. Raph! Call Casey and April, tell them to met us back in the liar."
"No problem, over and out."
"Don, I've got your signal locked on my cell-shell and I see Mikeys. I'll be down there in a just a few."
"No problem, over and out."
"Over and out."
Leo was just about to hop to another rooftop, when he felt something. He quickly stopped just before making his leap. He slowly turned and looked toward the shadowed entrance behind a metal door.
He drew his swords as quick as a flash and starred intently at the spot.
After a moment or two of silence, there came a low chuckle.
From the shadows, emerged Hun.
"Your very skilled, I must say mutant."
"Cut the small talk, what are you doing here?" he said as he made a protective stance and unsheathed his swords and gripped them tightly in his hands.
"No reason. Is it enough if I said...I was enjoying the night air?"
"I highly doubt such things, coming from you Hun."
He chuckled a bit and took a few steps toward the reptilian warrior.
"I guess it's hard to believe coming from my mouth, but I speak no lies. I didn't even bring reinforcements."
"Then what ARE you doing here?"
"Would it be of any interest if I said....we were aiding you in your....search."
Michelangelo laughed as the bird sat happily on his shoulders. They had been walking together, taking in the sights of this beautiful land that flowed for as far as the eye could see.
"So...." Michelangelo asked the bird with a small "...this is my mind?"
"Yes it is" the bird mentally answered back "Your mind has never been polluted by greed, jealousy, or true anger. However, I have seen the lies and sadness occasional slink away into the shadows, but other then that, your mind is very pure Michelangelo."
"Will...will those lies and the sadness every go away?" he asked in a sad tone
The bird looked at him, and a few moments later, flapped his mighty golden wings and took flight high above.
This all startled Mikey, and he took a few steps back and looked into the sky.
The bird circled high above and spoke to him as he flew into the sunlight.
"The sadness will continue as long as you do not reveal truth. The truth will stay hidden as long as the lies continue. It will not ultimately end your sadness...but you will be at better peace with yourself by letting the truth breathe..."
Michelangelo followed him with his eyes until he was no longer visible due to the extreme light.
A flash of light suddenly shot into his eyes and he looked away, his eyes stinging ever so slightly.
He looked back and then looked all around him.
The place was entirely white and the ground was soft...too soft...
He looked down and saw that he was sinking like quick sand into the white.
He tried to scramble his way out, but remembered the words of the old sea turtle and closed his eyes, letting the sand lead devour him, taking him to his next venture.
Next thing he remembered was feeling very cold...
End of Chapter 4
Man, I have to say; writing these chapters is really not taking me as long as I thought it would Yay for me! Hope you all enjoyed. Please RR!