(forcing self to write) (smacks head) What the heck is wrong with me? For some reason, I can't get myself to write this chapter. I have nearly all of it plotted out, but I've been avoiding it. Grr…

Hey, I still made my deadline. That might be because I'm writing this over a month before I posted it, but whatever. And I'm back on track! …Finally.

Now we can get to a long chapter! Yay!

Beta read by Janajyo.

Disclaimer: I could tell you that I own the TMNT, but if I do, I might go to jail for a very long time. Therefore, I simply don't.

&&&&&

New York City. November 26, 2306 AD. 12:18 PM.

Screaming, fearing he'd run in to what he now knew to be a human-eating Ardor, Mike blindly took two steps back, running into the door that had closed partly. Pushed so fiercely, it had hit the wall hard enough to force it back the other way.

The holographic recording still playing, he could hear the screams of the little girl mingling with his own-

"Whoa, Mikey! Calm down! It's just me!"

The voice was familiar. Very familiar. Doing as it commanded, Mikey realized it was his brother. Standing before him, a makeshift bandage attached to his left forearm, Raphael looked anxious, a rare thing to see in him.

With everything that had happened to the orange-clad ninja in these past twenty or thirty minutes, it was a major relief to see him at all. "Raph?" he said.

Before his brother could respond, Mike had moved forward, hugging him. Earlier, when facing his own Ardor, he'd gotten the vague suspicion that he wouldn't be seeing him or any of his brothers ever again. As he'd left this last room, that thought had resurfaced.

The sight of Raph was a major relief for his nerves.

And oddly enough, while on any other occasion, the red-banded turtle would probably protest to such a display of affection, he didn't this time. In fact, after a few seconds of enduring the younger one's tight embrace, he lightly returned it.

His eyes and ears must've found the door Mike had just come out of. "What's in there?" he asked, breaking them apart.

The youngest shook his head. "Dude, you don't wanna know."

With the anger in his eyes, directed not at Mike, but at something else, he could see that, for a moment, Raph did want to know. In fact, he almost headed for the door. That was when he abruptly stopped. Turning his head, he looked at him and nodded in agreement.

If it weren't for the circumstances, Mikey probably would've rubbed this in his face for a good hour or two. It wasn't often someone concurred with him.

Raph came back over to him. "Ya seen Don or Leo?"

Mike shook his head. "Un-uh. I just came out of there." He paused. "I'm taking that you haven't seen them either?"

That anxious quality back in his expression, Raph shook his head.

Once again, Mikey thought of that horrible feeling he'd had earlier…

&&&&&

He'd gone back the way he'd came. Body aching, spirit worried over his brothers, and senses on edge, Leo looked behind him. The Ardor wasn't in sight.

Finding it hard to believe that he'd lost it, the blue-clad turtle looked around before flipping himself back in his original direction, performing the previous action. Nothing… Remembering his first encounter with the creatures, he immediately turned his head up.

A cerulean-white flash illuminated the ceiling at that very second, as if to reflect his thoughts; there wasn't anything above him.

Frowning, Leo slowed down just a little, mind still heavily on guard. His eyes took in every detail- nothing threatening. His ears listened for any warnings- none came. His nose was working to find that heavy trace of blood it had found that accompanied his predator- but it was absent.

It was strange; knowing where the enemy was, even if it was right in your face, for some reason sounded more appealing than having them far away and not knowing.

And then he heard a soft sound coming from behind him. Like a bark.

Flipping around immediately, drawing his katanas even as he did so, what Leo found wasn't what he'd been expecting to see.

Lowering one sword, he stared in disbelief. "Don?"

About ten feet away from him stood the turtle in purple. He nodded. "Hey, Leo."

Suppressing the urge to reprimand him right there and then about leaving, the leader asked him the main question he'd been pondering over, for Don as well as his other brothers- whereabouts still unknown. He put one sword away, keeping only its twin in his uninjured hand. "You okay?"

It took him a few seconds to respond. Leo wondered what he must have seen. "Yeah, 'm all right. You're bleedin'."

After living with this turtle for sixteen years, the eldest knew him backwards and forwards; well enough, anyways. Yet he was acting a little strangely now. Though Leo tried to push the thought to the back of his mind, part of it remained at the head of his focus.

He nodded, watching as Don came closer to him. The memory of the Ardors played themselves out again. "Ran into some trouble. I think those aliens Callis mentioned are here." Leo shivered, recalling how viciously intelligent they were. "They practically ripped me apart! Have you seen them?"

Don stopped about five feet away from him. "Uh-huh." He answered affirmatively.

Leo was about to go into his whole plan of locating Raph and Mikey when he noticed something. Growing up with his brothers meant seeing them on essentially an everyday basis. Because of this, he'd long ago committed to memory the fact that all four of them had brown eyes.

Yet the Donatello before him had green eyes.

Exactly like the ones he'd seen in the two Ardors.

Apparently realizing it had been found out, his tracker shed its disguise and leapt at him, hitting Leo square in the chest. He'd just been trying to process the fact that these Ardors could shape-shift when he had to switch over to defending his life once more.

Throwing the Ardor off of him, Leo heard that barking sound again. Turning back around, he found the face of the creature, smooth and furrowed, framed by thick black hair, was transforming into that of a human face.

Once completed, Leo recognized it. It was one of Callis' servants; one he'd only met briefly. With heavy eyelids covering those peridot eyes, the face of Carl looked up at him. Before, he had seemed uninterested in everything that was going on. Now, his face was twisted in hatred.

"Ya haf put up a hard fight, turtle. But ya made the mist'ke of killin' my kin. Now, not only will ya die, but I will feed upon ya while you're still alive!"

Seconds later, the face had turned back into that of the Ardor. He came at him, mouth wide open.

Shifting to the side, Leo barely escaped with his neck. Simultaneously, he made a fist with his good hand and swung his arm, hitting the alien creature in the shoulder.

It had little, if no, effect.

The Ardor came at him again. Leo moved once more. He knew he couldn't keep this up forever, especially low on the ground. But with the animal's speed, he didn't have a chance to get to his feet.

With every spare second he had, he looked for an opening in the Ardor's attacks, only to find each one in his vantage point close in seconds, forcing him to turn back to the ultimate task at hand: staying alive.

How badly he wanted to take his katana to the creature, knowing what his plans were. The Ardor was reasonably angry that Leo had slain his relative, but he had set out wanting to maim and feed upon the turtle's.

Somewhere, between this current battle and his worries, that strange thought kept passing through his head. You started it.

Suddenly, the beast that had shared an existence in a human body that responded to the name 'Carl' pulled back one of its arms; two claws began to lower themselves closer to Leo's body.

Then, a familiar staff of wood was hooked in the crook of its armpit. Olive green, the turtle before him used the opportunity, kicking the Ardor directly in the chest and sending him back a good fifteen feet or so.

Wasting no time, Leo got to his feet. Katana still in hand, he drove it into the creature's chest without thinking twice, piercing the Ardor to the ground while red blood spilled from the wound.

Two, maybe three twitches. Then all life left it.

Leo stood there for five seconds; breath quick and eyes fixed on the mess before him, hands gripping his sword. There are always other choices; more paths to follow than murder.

He felt a hand lightly touch his shoulder. Turning his head, he noticed Donatello to his left, looking at him solemnly. Leo searched his eyes before breathing out a sigh of relief, matter of his right as an executioner silenced for now. Brown.

Taking his sword out of the cadaver, Leo kept it in his hand. If the Ardors were to come around again, he wanted his weapon beside him. The blue-clad turtle had learned from these battles; he couldn't afford to waste even a second to unsheathe his katanas.

Not seeing anything he could clean it with at the moment, he turned to his brother, keeping his eyes on the Ardor, in case it had other surprises up its hairy sleeve. "You seen these things?"

Don nodded. "Killed one earlier. Leo… you won't believe what they've done- what they do."

Nodding, Leo started moving, both he and Don ready to search for their brothers. "Try me."

&&&&&

The whole way to their unknown destination, Raph kept his hands close to his sais. While he and Mikey occasionally spoke in hushed tones along the trip, he kept his eyes on every nook they passed, in every hallway they moved by and through.

When he would take a second to check on his younger brother, he noticed that Michelangelo was doing likewise.

Feeling anger rising in his chest, Raph forced himself to keep it in check. But the fact that, in only a matter of one, maybe two hours, these Ardors had managed to scare the living daylights out of them; in some instances, nearly killed them, sobered Raphael fairly quickly.

For all they knew, the strange creatures had killed their brothers. The red-banded turtle didn't want to think of that possibility, but the fact that it existed remained.

Leo's a good fighter, and so's Don. They can take care of themselves; they have before tons of times. They'll be fine.

That was, of course, when he heard a familiar and dreaded growl behind them.

Suppressing a sigh of disgusted exasperation, he and Mike turned slightly to see the ugly hairball, snarling fiercely, eyes gleaming brutishly. It was coming towards them slowly, as if waiting to see how its prey would react so it could better plan its assault.

Every time he saw them, Raph couldn't help but discover a deeper hatred for the Ardors.

Fingering the handles of his weapons, he looked at Mikey, keeping an eye on their foe out of the corner of his vision. "What do you wanna do?" He asked him, whispering.

The orange-clad turtle grinned nervously. "Have tea and cookies?"

Raph resisted the urge to smack him upside the head. After all, he knew this was how Mike was dealing with these issues that had just sprung into their life. Nevertheless…

Glaring, he got straight to the point. "I say we split this freak down the middle." He flipped out a sai to emphasize this.

His brother cringed. "Dude… I don't even wanna think about that right now."

Sighing mentally, Raph nodded. The image of the little girl, illustrated for him from his brother, was probably still fresh in Mike's mind; though he hadn't 'seen it', it was on the temperamental ninja's too, along with that memory of the eviscerated man.

He hadn't given Mike all the details on that, for obvious reasons.

"Well I'm tired of runnin'. They ain't gettin' the upper hand on us, Mike."

"I'm kinda getting the feeling that they will when we're dead and going through their digestive systems!"

Now that was something he didn't want to think about. Frowning, Raph lowered his voice further. "Fine." He agreed, grudgingly. "We run. But, if it catches up, we're taking it down."

After a nod from the youngest, the two simultaneously took off, feet rapping on the floor as quietly as possible. Not even a second later, Raph could hear the Ardor's claws tapping against it as well, heading after them in a burst of speed.

Soon, the red-banded turtle felt as if they were going in circles. Or rectangles, considering that that was how the hallways were shaped.

Making sure they didn't take any more left turns, Raph could still hear the Ardor gaining on them. Looking at Mike, who was just a mere inch behind him, he made sure that his younger brother knew what to do.

At the next corner, instead of rounding it, they came to a stop, and, flipping around, drew their weapons. Though he didn't think the Ardor would've cared much about running into them, he'd learned that it really knew the dangers of a weapon- more so, the hazards of those who knew how to use them.

Screeching to a halt, the alien was still unable to get out of reach of one of Michelangelo's nunchuck, catching it right on its ankle.

Hissing the Ardor backed up. Raph would've thought it'd be down- at least limping a little, but it was walking perfectly. It reminded him of an animal that had stepped on a rock. It was sore, but could walk just fine.

Well, that sucked.

Angered, the Ardor snapped its mouth, charging at them again, though slower now. It was planning its movements in order to evade their weapons.

Luckily, this very part of its strategy gave Raph the chance to launch an attack of his own. As quickly as possible, he fired one sai at the target, praying this battle would be different from the one earlier.

Like before, the creature moved to avoid being hit. But this time, it wasn't fast enough. Hitting its knee deeply, drawing blood, his sai flew out of the Ardor's flesh and landed in a wall while the alien went down, howling in pain.

Grinning, Raph was quick to move forward, being careful of his wounds, and claim his weapon before the thing could get back up. By the time he had it, he was surprised to find that it wasn't already to its feet.

This just made his grin grow wider.

Walking over to it, he was just about ready to finish it when Mike grabbed him. Expression serious, he shook his head. "Raph, we aren't murderers."

Every once in a very great while, he and his brothers had killed something or someone. But that was only when they absolutely had to. The creature was more than likely finished for now; at the very least, it wouldn't be chasing after anybody again. Raph had to admit, they didn't have to kill the Ardor.

But that didn't stop him from delivering a hard kick to its ribs when Mike wasn't looking.

Or, so he thought. Grinning once again, he turned to find his younger brother staring at him. Yet, he surprised him by shrugging. "I guess it does deserve that." Walking up to it, Mikey dealt a final blow, knocking it unconscious. "We can put it in 'Leo terms'. We merely 'incapacitated' it. Right, Raph?"

The ninja smirked. "Exactly. It'll probably never walk again, but we didn't kill it."

Even if I wanted to. He had to confess, going through this messed-up mansion, witnessing these evil things; it wasn't half as bad with Mikey here. That was probably the first time he could admit to his little brother easing his nerves.

But the fact that they had yet to awaken from this hellish nightmare just heightened them once more.

That turned out to work to their advantage for, at that point, one more growl resonated in their ears. Only it wasn't from the unconscious Ardor lying on the ground. It came from the left.

&&&&&

As it turned out, Leo had had no more of a jovial time that Donny had. Unfortunately, that obviously didn't calm the purple-clad turtle any, for this implied that these Ardors really were the cannibalistic horrors he'd thought they were.

Occasionally, he and Leo would speak as they continued their search, mostly about what they should do if they encountered another Ardor- or several. But for the most part, they were on the lookout, silently watching each other's backs.

The dreaded thought that their brothers could very well be dead was as sobering as it was frightening. Unfortunately, there was a chance that all they now had left was each other.

Don didn't want to think about that.

Another hallway passed and cleared, he looked down and noticed Leo's leg. It seemed to be coated in layers of red paint. "Did you…?"

Leonardo had told him some of what he'd seen, such as the pool he'd discovered. But Don felt that a few details had been left out.

After all, he hadn't exactly told his full story either. Some things were better not to recall. Perhaps they'd be able to go into this another day, when they could handle it with stronger stomachs.

If they made it to another day.

Merely glancing at his leg, Leo nodded. "Yeah. Didn't really realize it was behind me until I was falling into it." He explained in a low voice.

The purple-banded ninja checked another corridor. "We'll have to keep an eye on it. Those cuts can get infected."

Nodding again, Leo checked behind them. "How are yours?" He asked, indicating to Donatello's own wounds.

With a grimace, he stopped momentarily to check on his foot and leg wound. The bleeding had stopped by now, but they were still sore. "They hurt a little, but I'll live."

Leo looked him over and seemed to, after some time, reach the same conclusion. "All right- but you should keep an eye on those yourself." He said, turning his attention back to the hallways- infinite hiding spaces for the demonic creatures they'd seen.

As if on cue, that sound he'd grown all too accustomed to in the past few hours sounded behind them.

For a fraction of a second, their feet were glued to the floor, eyes widening.

In the next, they were launching forward, taking twists and turns, looking for their pursuer, all the while hoping their erratic actions would lose it.

Guilt laced in his voice, Leo kept his katana close. "I checked that hallway. I swear it was clear."

"It's okay, Leo." Don told him quickly. "Everything isn't always your fault." He assured him.

He wanted to make sure his brother knew that.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Leo turn to him, a small smile of surprise and relief etched into his features.

It quickly turned into one of alarm. "Don, watch out!"

Turning his head back to his left, the purple-banded turtle noticed a black blur racing them across the wall, teeth gleaming in the blue light. He'd barely had a chance to register this when it leapt out at him, hitting him in the plastron and knocking him into Leo.

Slamming into the opposite wall, the two barely had enough time to roll out of the way. Where they had been was now marked with an eight-inch gash in the wall, deep and wide enough to run your fingers through.

Their current position now made running an impossible alternative. By the time they got to their feet, the Ardor would be feasting on their intestines.

That left fighting. Don was tired of being left with this option. While these creatures deserved to have an unhealthy serving of ass whooping delivered to them on a silver platter, it was wearing them out each time.

They had no idea how many of these things were lurking around. Worn down enough, they could very well lose the next battle- depending on whether or not they survived this one. The Ardor currently held the upper hand.

It was a good thing they had their weapons out. Eyes determined, position steady, Leo stared at the Ardor, single and bloody katana before him. If Don knew his brother, he knew that the blue-clad turtle would be drawing his second one the minute he had the opportunity.

Getting up slowly on one knee, Don tightened his grip on his bo staff. The broken end of it reminded him of how strong these Ardors were; he hoped it would suffice.

It charged forward without warning. Leo jumped up while Don crouched down. From his location, he was easily able to ram his staff up into the alien's belly. This affected its momentum, practically bringing it down to the ground at that very second.

Above him, Leo used his katana to slice at its backside. While Don's blow had given him an easier target, it had also changed its trajectory. Instead of seriously wounding the Ardor, Leo ended up only cutting it- like a steak knife's first try on a piece of wood.

Nevertheless, the wound obviously had stung. Hissing, it spun back around, slower this time, as the eldest turtle came down, landing perfectly.

As Don had anticipated, his brother drew his second blade.

They had only enough time to stand before the Ardor was at them again, with less cunning than earlier, however. It was attacking in anger. As it flew at them, the two shifted to the side, letting it pass. Don swung his bo staff hard at it as it did so, hitting it on the backside. Luckily, his staff didn't break.

Before it could come back for the next round, he and Leo had set off again. By no means were they afraid of fighting. They just knew that there was more to come. If they could get away and maintain their strength, they had better chances of defeating these things, not to mention living.

After going a ways, they took the risk of slowing down to listen for their enemy, all the while continuing to back up slowly.

Silence.

And then, he felt something hit him from behind. Not at full force, or any force for that matter, he'd bumped into something. Spinning around simultaneously with Leo, he got a surprise.

Weapons ready, his two other brothers faced them. Immediately, relief flushed their faces; Donny was somewhat aware of the same thing happening to him.

From their condition, clawed and bruised, they already knew of these Ardors. At least, Don hoped there wasn't another threat they had to worry about.

The sound of a second Ardor coming from behind Raph and Mikey settled that debate. Seconds later, their own Ardor made its presence known with a growl.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of a door, hinges screeching. He turned to find Leo holding one open to their right. "Here, everyone get inside!" He told them.

Mike held his hands up. "Dude, so far, doors number one and two haven't worked out too well for us. Trust me on-"

Interrupting him, Leo grabbed his arm. "Neither have doors three and four. But I bet it's a lot better than staying outside."

Once all four of them were in, they closed it immediately. As Leo turned the lock, Raph came up from behind him, holding a chair, and placed it under the handle. He looked at them. "I ain't takin' any chances."

Seconds later, the Ardors began slamming against it.

Turning, Don examined the room. It beat the last place he'd seen. Long and with hardwood floors, he guessed that it had originally been a dining room, or perhaps a ballroom. He couldn't be sure; the walls were completely covered in panes of glass, like a funhouse.

Whatever it had been, now it seemed to serve under an entirely different purpose. Arranged neatly, various technology was placed around the room.

Seeing his expression, Mike stood in front of him. "You might wanna be careful with this stuff, bro. The last thing I messed with didn't exactly do what I expected."

"From what I've seen, nothing's been going as expected. You okay?"

The orange-clad turtle nodded. "Good enough. But Don, I got some weird news for ya."

As they moved around, they went through the process of swapping stories and revealing what they'd learned. Michelangelo's news, however, was the most shocking.

"Callis?" Don asked. "He barely looks like he could be a threat to a little fly, much less anything else."

"I'm telling you," Mikey repeated, "he's so an Ardor."

Examining some of the machinery, Leo shook his head, obviously angry. "Appearances can be deceiving." He nevertheless muttered calmly.

Raph pounded one fist into his hand like a catcher's mitt. "So how're we gonna fight these things?" He asked eagerly. "They shape-shift, they're strong, and real fast. Anyone got a plan to kick the crap outta them yet?"

Leo folded his arms over his plastron and stared at the floor. "It's difficult to make a good plan when your enemy's unpredictable." Donny could tell that he wasn't liking this.

Of course, who would?

Glancing down, Don was intrigued by what he found on the computer monitor before him. It reminded him of one of the big consoles on Star Trek.

At the top of the screen, it seemed to enlist coordinates. A theory that was widely spread about alien races was that, while their languages could be, and probably were, legions apart, species would share the concept of mathematics, at least simple calculations, anyways.

Donatello was starting to believe that this had just been proven, along with some of the higher functions of it, like methods of positioning. Several numbers in the string he'd yet to place, but the last few made perfect sense.

Besides numerals, they were accompanied by degrees. They measured latitude and longitude. Don did the math in his head and realized that the coordinates were about, or possibly, exactly where they were.

Scanning down the rest of the screen, he examined what other mysteries that lay before him. It was a collection of certain lines and markings. Judging by the way certain figures were repeated, he guessed them to be a language.

Looking them over so many times he'd practically memorized them, the curiosity in him begging to crack it, Don was pulled away by a sigh from the leader of the group. "Let's get ready." He said, eyes breaking the room down into a battlefield.

Outside the door, the pounding had become more fierce, almost desperate. He could hear them working on several attempts.

And from the sound of it, they had gotten some friends along to help.

&&&&&

When the noise grew louder, the turtles spread out amongst the room, close enough to help each other, but far back enough to hold the element of surprise.

Mike was a little closer to the door, but well hidden behind some of the machinery. He'd positioned himself so it wouldn't be in the way.

He was not looking forward to another one of these brawls. All he could think about was the fate of that poor little girl. The orange-banded ninja had to remind himself that she'd been defenseless, and he was not, by any means.

The situation began to unfold. Angrily, the Ardors had begun scratching at the frame of the metal door. Since it was wood, it was coming apart easily enough, though very slowly. Yet they concentrated on a particular area; eventually, a hole the size of his fist was made next to it.

In the darkened room, even when the blue light flashed, Mike and his brothers shouldn't have been visible. At least, that's what he hoped.

He watched as a long arm, coated in thick, black hair was placed through the hole. With as much force as it could make, given its limited space, it tapped the chair Raph had put up to knock it over. When it fell, the hand retreated.

There was a click, like a lock being undone. The handle turned, and in came three Ardors at the feet of a wolf in sheep's clothing. Callis looked around the room. "Ya found out our s'cret rather early, turtles." He said quietly. "We commen' ya. Of course, ya also took down sev'ral of our kin. For that, your deaths won't be as peac'ful." Mike noticed how his green eyes shined in the dark like an animal's. Then he bent down. "Let's get dinner ready." He whispered to his 'kin'.

The three animals spread out like wildfire, searching for them. Oddly, they were careful of the computers, gentler around them than the rest of the room, which they spared no mercy.

Then came a loud snarl, which was followed by a war cry from his hotheaded brother. Raph came out, sais moving with their own anticipation. The other two Ardors came to fight him as well, though a little more cautiously.

But they weren't slow enough. From the same side Raph had emerged from, Leo came forth, katanas ready.

Mike, who was opposite of him, watched his brother's back, allowing him to help while he made sure Callis didn't pull any tricks out of his sleeve while Leo was distracted.

The old man just stood there, a small grin on his face. "Do ya really know what you're dealin' with, boy?"

He didn't give Mike the time to answer. Simply rushing forward, Callis began his assault. He was much stronger than he looked, strikes aimed towards the youngest turtle's legs, mostly out of the reach of his nunchucks to strike efficiently. He kept on forcing Mike back until he was part of Raph and Leo's battle.

Donny came out of nowhere, landing on top of an Ardor Mike could feel close to his reptilian skin. Flipping over his little brother, he joined him in helping fight Callis, swinging his bo staff at him.

To both of their surprises, the alien caught it. Before they could recover, he had it out of the purple-clad ninja's hands and in his own. He swung it full force at Mike's right arm.

Crying out, he could feel a bone break. In pain, he dropped one nunchuck and fell to the ground; he could see the remains of Don's staff in front of him- it was in pieces.

Said brother was defending him now. Groaning, Mikey tried to get up and back into the fight- he couldn't let his brothers fight alone.

That's when he felt the claws and teeth of an Ardor cutting into both his good and injured arm. It didn't last long though. He could hear Raphael. "Get the hell off my brother!"

The creature practically flew off Mikey and under one of the consoles.

Gently, but quickly, Raph helped him up. "Ya okay, bro?" He asked.

Mike groaned. "No." He answered truthfully.

There was no time for hugs and kisses. Immediately they were back into the fight.

Behind him, he heard Don yell. Fearfully, he turned, expecting to see his brother dead. Instead, he found that he'd gotten an opening and had kicked Callis square in the chest, sending him back.

Leo and Raph did about the same thing with the other two. Breathing heavily, the four of them prepared for the next attack.

Instead, the Ardors disappeared.

&&&&&

Tensing, Raphael scanned the room, searching for those hairy little demons. He looked at Leo who nodded, seemingly sharing his thoughts.

If they could shape-shift, who was to say they couldn't camouflage themselves too?

Keeping focused on what was going on around them, the four began to back up into the center of the room, so nothing could strike them from behind. Donny behind him, Mike, shaking slightly and bleeding, though not too heavily, to his right, and Leo to his left.

Suddenly, a small spot of the room seemed to shift right before him. Before he could say a word, he could feel a clawed hand strike at him, cutting him open deeply right beneath his plastron.

The pain was intense; he dropped to his knees. The warm feeling of blood spilled down his legs. Looking at it, Raph was relieved that there wasn't as much as there had seemed.

Leo was immediately in front of him, fighting the Ardor, which had since shown itself. He was moving as quickly as he could to block the beast's strikes, keeping them both safe, but Raph could see that he was getting tired.

Don and Mikey, meanwhile, were each dealing with an Ardor of their own. The youngest was doing especially well, considering his injuries.

Groaning, Raph tried to push himself up. That was when one of the creatures blasted forward under Donny's legs, knocking him off balance, and rammed into Raph's own left leg- hard. He heard it crack.

Screaming in pain, he fell back to the ground. Flipping around, Leo threw a shuriken at it. The weapon missed, unfortunately, but it was close enough to drive the Ardor back.

Apparently, during all this, he'd kicked the other Ardor away. Mike had also managed to defeat his- it lay before him on the floor, trying to get up.

Leo took a few steps backward, looking for the only player left.

That's when Raph saw the form of a man appear behind him before it abruptly changed into something monstrous.

&&&&&

Leo heard Raph's warning at the exact same second that he felt the teeth dig into his right shoulder like it was a thick piece of steak. Raising his hand, he prepared to hit Callis, who truly was an Ardor after all with his katana.

He bit down harder.

The pain was intense; he'd never felt anything like it- not even when he'd been ambushed by the Foot. Deeper and deeper the teeth went into his skin. Reflexively, his hands opened, dropping his swords as his knees buckled.

It seemed that Callis had a bad grip on him, though Leo couldn't imagine that with how fixed he was to him with his jaw. But seconds later, adding to his pain, he felt the claws of the alien's hind feet dig deep into his side.

The teeth went even farther, starting inches from his neck and ending near his scapula. He could feel them tear through his muscles, felt them finally scrape against bone; any tighter and he felt the teeth would crush his entire shoulder.

Agonized screams, tearing at the world around him, slowly dwindling down to muffled cries. It wasn't until then that he recognized the sounds as his own.

Pain. So much pain.

Through it, he suddenly became aware of his brothers' attempts to help him. Raph must've given Don one of his sais, for both were armed now. Carefully, so as not to hit their elder brother, Raph was getting ready to slice off Callis' legs and Don to hit him in the spine, if only it would pry him off Leo.

Don didn't even have to do his part. The second Callis felt the tip of the blade in his leg, he released Leo, jumping far back into the shadows and disappearing.

Helped up by Mikey, Raph, barely able to keep his position, and the younger turtle watched out for the Ardor while Leo slowly became aware of Don's presence before him.

"Leo?" Don called out anxiously to him, holding him gently by his good shoulder. "C'mon, Leo, talk to me."

His entire right side was in inexpressible torment; his shoulder sent him in tears of pain at the slightest twinge. Leo felt like he was going to pass out. "…Oh God." He said, not even perceiving his own words, taking in deep breaths.

That's when he heard Raph and Mikey lose their part of the battle, hitting the ground unconscious, but still alive. Don got up, still trying to help him while aiding their brothers, when he was suddenly rammed out of the way, hitting his head hard on the edge of a metal console.

Looking up, worried, Leo tried to fight through the pain to get to him, but felt a hard kick to his ribs that knocked him down to the ground. He felt something give, and then everything went black.

&&&&&

Breathing heavily, Callis looked around at the four still bodies before him and his kin. The battle had been fierce, fiercer than any other he'd known, but they too had fallen.

The alien grinned.

One of his kin approached him, turning into its human form. Ella's skin was bruised, but that was nothing some time in a healing chamber couldn't fix. She looked at him worriedly. "Callis, ya must be careful about your shape-shiftin'. With your sit'ation, ya can only 'ford to r'vert back to your orig'nal form to feed."

In his Ardor form, he could speak telekinetically with his kin. But trapped in this human body, he had to speak in wretched tongue. "It was nec'sary." He frowned. "Take 'em to the feedin' room and get the Trics. We may need 'em. And…" he stared longingly at all the blood oozing from their bodies before sighing, "And clean 'em up- give 'em a shot of Interim. We can't have 'em bleed to death. They must be able to feel, to understan' the pain of being eaten alive."

With a wince, he glanced down at his own wounds. Only on one occasion, once before, had anyone even managed to touch Callis. Now, he was hurting more than he had since the Judgement Day.

He shook his head. "I'll go to a healin' chamber, maybe rest 'n 'cuperate for a little while."

Grinning, Callis headed out of the room as Ella returned to her natural form. "And then, we'll feast."

&&&&&

Okay, first I'd like to say that the part with the Ardor impersonating Don was very difficult to write, so I'm sorry if it sucked. I don't have it in me to make evil turtles, even if that's not truly what they are in the first place. It may have been for only a short time, but it took me thirty minutes to do it!

Oh, and Interim is a small drug I invented. It slows down blood loss and prevents against any further internal damage. It doesn't heal, though. Like Callis said, he just wants to intensify their agony when it comes to feeding time.

Now, if anyone's confused about the Ardors, let me explain. There's a grand total of eight of them, including Callis, who's the leader of them. When they were on their own, Don faced two different Ardors and killed one; Raph faced the same two Ardors and killed the other. Leo faced two, killed one in his chapter, and then killed the other (Carl) in this chapter, with the assistance of Donny. And Mikey only faced one, which is still alive.

So basically, we still have four Ardors left: Callis, and three of his minions. Two of them are Ethan and Ella, and the other's just a lower ranked Ardor.

I'll go into more detail about this in my corner of Stealthy Stories. It will be in my OC profiles.

I hope you enjoyed! Please review!