Time to see what happens. Here's the next chapter. Enjoy.

Please review! All advice, suggestions, and critiques are welcome!

-Katt B.

**DISCLAIMER: WE DO NOT OWN TMNT**

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Strike of the Dragon

PART 2

14

3-7.2: "Raph"

"Ryu!"

"Watch out!"

"We've got to grab her!"

Ryu's body comes tumbling down the shaft towards the boiling waters of the geyser below, twisting the rising steam into intricate patterns in the air with her body as she falls through it. Raph's eyes follow her as she drops like dead weight through the mist faster and faster with each passing second and his heart nearly stops in his chest. He jumps up, kicks off the wall, and flies through the air to catch her mid-fall, cradling her body snuggly against his chest. He kicks off the opposite wall and flips back towards the ledge where his brothers and Casey stand. The second he lands, Donnie is rushing to his side to check Ryu's condition. She's rubbing her forehead and looking around in a daze when he takes her hand carefully to check her pulse; it's racing through the roof.

"Ryu, hey, are you okay?" Donnie inquires. "Ryu? Ryu?!"

Raph slips a finger under Ryu's chin and tilts her head back so that she's looking into his eyes. Her gaze is glazed over for a second, blank, but then she stares back at him in confusion. "Hey, can you hear me? Are you okay?" Raph asks, mouthing the words slowly. Her pause is brief but her expression falls and she shakes her head. Raph sighs and helps her to her feet carefully, "She's still deaf. Something happened back at the farmhouse and now her hearing is gone."

Donnie rubs his chin in thought, "That's weird…April lost her sight…"

"Huh?" Mikey chimes.

The boys turns towards the bubbling water as it rumbles a bit louder and they all share a worried look. "We need to find a way out of here quick or we're going to be boiled alive," Donnie looks up at the top of the hole, "And I forgot my grappling hook."

"Some ninja," Raph rolls his eyes angrily.

Donnie takes a hold of Ryu's shoulders so that she's looking at him and he mouths the words slowly, "Did you come here alone?"

Ryu shakes her head.

"Leo?" Donnie continues and she nods, but then holds up two fingers. Donnie furrows his eyebrows, "Two?"

Ryu scratches her head in thought for a second and then opens her mouth, surprising them all, "A-afril. Afril? Ap-." She frantically presses the heels of her palms into her eyes and then runs her fingers through her hair. Raph recognizes the sign of stress.

"April," Raph cuts in, "She's saying April."

"April's with Leo?!" Donnie freaks out, grabbing his head, "She can't see! Leo can hardly walk! What are they thinking?!"

"Calm down, Don, they are the only chance we have at getting out of this hole right now," Raph rolls his eyes.

"But what about the chimera?!" Donnie exclaims.

"That's why we need to get out. They need our help," Raph takes out his grappling hook, steals Mikey's weapon so that he can connect his rope to the chain, making it longer. He throws a look at Casey who nods in understanding and pulls out his hockey stick, waiting for his turn. Raph tosses the rope into the air, Casey hits it and sends it flying high up the hole and over the edge where it clangs to a stop.

They all hold their breath as Raph gives it a few tugs. The line holds snug.

"Alright, let's go. Go!"

Mikey jumps up onto the line at Raph's command, followed by Donnie and then Casey. Meanwhile, Raph grabs Ryu's hand and pulls her up off the floor where she's found a seat against the rock wall. Wrapping an arm around her waist, he helps hold her up so that she can grab onto the line and start climbing up after the others.

A second later, however, there's a loud screech and the line is whipped violently back a forth. The chimera grips the line in its beak and shakes them all loose from the rope and toppling back down the hole towards the boiling waters below.

Donnie and Casey grab hold of the edge of the ledge they had all been on previously while Raph grabs hold of Mikey as he flies past him and he stops in mid-air so that he doesn't dive into the rumbling waters. Mikey, though, ends up having his butt still hit the hot waters and it sends him jumping up onto the ledge above Donnie and Casey with a squeak.

Raph glances up and searches for Ryu. She's nowhere to be found. His eyes widen in horror, "Where's Ryu?!"

They all start looking around as everyone climbs back onto the ledge.

"There!"

Raph turns at Donnie's scream and finds Ryu scrambling to hold onto the opposite side of the hole, her fingers digging into a small hold on the jagged rocks. The toes of her boots scrape against the wall desperately, but they catch hold of nothing. The rock she holds crumbles between her fingers.

"Ryu!"

"Hang on!"

The rocks give way. Ryu's body falls. She screams, the sound shaking the cave awake. The water breaks under her weight.

"NO!" Raph moves to dive after her, but his brothers hold him back.

"Raph, stop! That water is too hot!" Donnie yells at him.

"Let go!"

"Stop it, Raph! Don't be insane!" Casey grabs the turtle's other arm to hold him in place as well.

A loud, shrill, animalistic scream tears through the cave and the boiling waters flash to life and glow a bright pink-purple that lights up their faces so bright that they're forced to cover their eyes against it. The surface of the water explodes and the light leaves it as it rockets up the hole to the sky high above.

The light explodes and there's a loud cry from the chimera. A few brief moments later, the chimera's long neck comes spilling into the hole, knocked unconscious, and the guys have to dodge the head as it slams into the side of the wall. A few rocks come loose from above and tumble down over their heads.

"Guys, move!"

They all look up as Leo calls down to them, pushing the mutant out of the way of the top of the geyser hole.

"We've got to get out of here!" Mikey exclaims.

"Up! Climb up now!" Donnie points up the mutant's neck and everyone goes to follow his order. They reach the top of the hole just as the beast begins to stir awake again.

Leo helps his brothers out of the hole as they reach the top and Donnie and Casey immediately run to April's side. Donnie gets to her first, pushing Casey out of the way, and gasps, "April, your eyes…"

"Yeah, I can't see anything right now. The creature must be in total darkness," April nods.

"Uh, guys, exploding mountain. Remember?" Raph cuts in. "And we've got to find Ryu."

"Ryu?" April turns in his direction, "What do you mean? Was she with you?"

"She was until she fell into the hot tub water," Mikey points towards the hole, "But then she started her glowy-glowy and shot out of the hole towards the sky before exploding."

"She what?!" Leo looks towards the skies in alarm, "Did you see what happened next?"

"No, a mutant monster was stuffed down the hole, blocking our line of sight!" Raph growls. The beast starts to kick and thrash from its cage in the hole and the mountain begins to rumble, tossing rocks and boulders down from higher up the mountain.

"Avalanche!" Leo pushes April towards Donnie and they all race at top speed down the mountain as fast as they can. They drop from a wide, flat boulder into a short ravine and April suddenly stops.

"Wait. I can see…I can see again!"

"This way!" Leo orders and they all duck down under an overhang as the main wave of rocks come barreling down over them, encasing them in darkness.

Raph pushes the last rock out of his way and finds daylight, followed closely by his brothers and April and Casey. Knowing that his family is okay, Raph starts looking for any signs of Ryu. The last thing he saw was the explosion in the sky…could she still be in the geyser?

"Ryu?! Ryu!" Raph screams at the top of his lungs as he jumps from rock to rock, sliding down in some areas until he finally makes it into the tree line. "Ryu?!"

There's still no answer, none except his own voice echoing right back to him as it bounces off the trees. He stops running and leans over breathing heavily as he plants his palms on his knees.

There's no way she can hear me when she's deaf, he mentally thinks. It doesn't matter, I've got to find her.

"Ryu!" Raph stands straight up and screams even louder. "Ryu!"

His knees finally give out and he leans back against a tree to stop himself from falling over. He squeezes his eyes shut against the onslaught of his thoughts; his memories fly around in a blur too fast for him to pen down. They spin faster and faster until he can't seem to find where one begins and the next begins.

Her heterochromia eyes glaring at him stubbornly. Those soft lips set in a defiant pout. Training together in the dojo until late hours. Challenging each other on the pinball machine until their fingers were sore. Those early morning hours when he sat with her on the couch when she couldn't sleep. Watching her try to hold the weight of all her secrets on her own shoulders as he stood by going crazy. Seeing the pain she went through whenever she lost control of her powers and changed into that other form deep inside herself. Having to suffer through all three times she was hurt and not being able to help…

Just like now…, he thinks. His knees finally give out and he sinks to the ground, sitting with his back against the trunk of the tree and his arms folded over his knees so that he can hide away his face in defeat. I have no place as a ninja if I can't even protect her…my family…, he curses himself.

Cough! Cough! Cough!

Raph jerks his head up…

"R-Raph!"

His eyes widen…

"Ra-cough-ph! Raphael!"

He jumps to his feet and rushes around the tree…and there she is. White hair messed up as if she's been tumbling down a hill, slipping out of the tie she uses to keep it bound on her right shoulder. Dirt patches blot here and there on her jeans and pale green shirt, along her arms and across her cheeks. Something has torn her shirt, leaving it hanging loose off one shoulder, tearing a hole into her jeans along one knee, and her shoes are covered in mud.

"Raphael!"

Her eyes are shut against the wind that whips her hair into her eyes. It's not until she comes further out of the darker shadows of the trees that he can see that there's mud across her face…and it feels like his heart is going to burst.

"Ryu…"

"R-raph…?"

He starts, "You can hear again!" He grabs her by the elbows as she stumbles forward, rubbing the heels of her palms into her eyes to try and get the dirt out of her face.

"Yeah," she grumbles, "It's coming back little by little…my ears are still ringing like crazy…it's kind of annoying."

His hands are reaching up and cupping the sides of her head gently, his thumbs rubbing the mud off her eyelids softly until she can delicately blink open her eyes. It's in that second that their eyes connect that he realizes his face has come nose to nose with hers, his fingers in her hair, her hands hovering in the small space between them. They've both become frozen in time, only the wind moving in song around them. Even Ryu's expression is becoming more shocked by the second; her cheeks are starting to tinge a soft pink under her eyes.

"Uh…" Ryu pulls away quickly and rubs the rest of the mud off her face with a shaky laugh, "S-so…how are…uh…t-the others? Everyone okay?"

"Y-yeah…" Raph watches her, staring at her hands working through her hair to return it to some sort of order, observing the pink slowly leave her face, studying how the wind tosses her shirt around her exposed shoulder. He grasps what he's doing a second later—he's committing her to memory. Every move, every sound, every smell…

Raph reaches forward and pulls her into a tight hug, his stress almost evaporating the second he feels her small form safely in his arms.

Ryu's eyes widen in alarm, her hands hanging in the air confused on what to do. Her who body is breaking out into goosebumps, skin ablaze with warmth; it's almost like being engulfed by embers. She finally lets her hands wrap under his arms and over his shoulders slowly and he tightens his hold around her. He breathes in deeply, smelling the deep scent of the earth on her skin. He always imagined she'd smell like flowers, something a bit more feminine…but this is even better somehow. It matches how strong she is and yet at the same time how fragile she is underneath that rough exterior.

His hand rubs up her back towards her neck and hesitates at her exposed shoulder, the ripped fabric hanging down the back of her shoulder where his fingers stop. He goes farther and brushes his fingers over her skin—that smooth skin tinted just faintly with a soft tan like the sands on the beaches he's seen in pictures. Raph can feel Ryu move closer, snuggling deeper into his chest and burying her face into his shoulder.

He tightens his embrace even more but not enough to hurt her, he knows his strength is a bit past the normal mark, and takes another deep breath. He can feel words building up in the back of his throat, but before he can let them out…

"Raph!"

"Ryu!"

"Where are you guys?!"

"Did you go to get pizza?"

…

"Mikey…really?"

"What? Never hurts to ask. The squirrels can do anything," Mikey shoots back.

"Shut up, Mikey!"

Ryu starts to pull away and Raph releases her just as the rest of their comrades come through the trees. Mikey spots her first.

"RYU!" he wraps his arms around her waist and drops to his knees dramatically, "Why'd you leave us? We were sooo worried!"

Everyone laughs at the younger turtle as Ryu hugs him back, "Aw, I missed you too, little brother."

Leo and Donnie take their turns getting their hugs in before they all make their way back to the farmhouse. Leo lets a laugh go and Raph can hear some of the stress leave his brother's voice, "Bet Venus and Venn are freaking out by now."

"Knowing Venn…yeah, definitely," Ryu chuckles from the back of the group. They all laugh, giving Ryu the perfect cover to disguise the pop of the cork she flips off a small test tube. She makes sure that Raph, the closest to her, has his eyes forward before she tilts her head back and takes a swig of the dark purple liquid inside the bottle.

Eight to go, she thinks, feeling her body instantly react and all the soreness and beatings she's received today suddenly begin to heal themselves.

Author's Note:

Here's a layout of the text affects again:

Italics-any words in this affect are personal Thoughts or Sounds.

Bold-any words in this affect are Computer Messages/Text Messages.

"Bold"-any words in this affect inside quotation marks are Computer Voices.

"Italics"-any words in this affect inside quotation marks are Past words/Emphasizing.

"Bold/Italics"-any words in this dual affect inside quotation marks are Past Computer Messages/Past Text Messages.

Bold/Italics-any words in this dual affect are Voice of the Earth.

Italics/Underlined-any words in this dual affect are Voice of the Spirit Guides.

Bold Underlined-any words in this dual affect are an Unknown Voice.

Again, all reviews, suggestions, and critiques are welcome.

-Katt B.