Donnie
Mikey and I headed after the thief. I didn't want to be in this game forever, no matter how cool it was.
"There he is!" Mikey pointed, spying the cloaked figure. The thief saw us, too, and took off again.
I ran after him. I knew Mikey would have a hard time keeping up, but right now, I needed to get that jewel. I saw the thief go into an alley, as people left that alley. I turned the corner. Nobody was there. I looked around. What?
I then noticed the hem of a dark cloak poking out from the dumpster. I pulled it out, and realized. The old switch. Whoever had been under the cloak had left with the group of people that had left the alley. Damn.
In truth, we had nothing to narrow it down. I wasn't even a hundred percent sure it was a guy that had stolen the jewel.
I thought I felt somebody watching me as I headed back to the others.
"I... I lost them in a crowd." I admitted, holding up the cloak.
Raph cursed, Leo sighed, and Mikey looked scared.
"Guys... What happens if... if we don't find that jewel?" He asked.
"We die trying." Raph replied.
For only having one life left, he was oddly brave. Then, that was Raph. He hid any tidbit of fear he had behind headstrong stubbornness and fearlessness. I wished I could be like that.
We tried to think of what to do next, when more bad guys appeared. Great. Not only had we lost the jewel and all hope of getting home, but we were still being hunted by... Van Pelt? Was that his name?
I growled, and punched a guy so hard he went flying. I grinned. The others were more defenceless, but I? I could fight. Like, I could really fight.
I took three guys down in one blow. I had a mile-wide grin on my face as I beat each guy that came at me. I was the strongest, for once. I had the upper hand over all of my brothers. I was-
"Donnie!" Leo cried, grabbing my arm.
I noticed Raph and Mikey running. I nodded and followed. Even though I was the hero of this game, I couldn't fight all these baddies by myself.
We found a grill into... the sewer system? Maybe. Either way, the underground was our element, our domain. We could lose them.
We all jumped down the hole and closed the top. We held our breath as the bad guys ran over us and down the alley. Somebody stopped just before the grill and picked something up. I held back a gasp as I realized Mikey had dropped the elephant totem.
I couldn't see clearly, but whoever it was wore boots and a long jacket. He growled out "Bravestone!", before following the other bad guys.
We followed down the tunnel underground. I sighed. "I think that was Van Pelt." I told the others.
"You don't think he took the jewel, do you?" Mikey asked.
"No... He wouldn't still be hunting us if he had." Leo replied.
Suddenly, a female voice rang out. "Stop! Freeze where you are!"
We all froze. A blade suddenly appeared in front of me. Mikey gasped and Raph let out a cry of alarm. I swore silently. I should have known. This tunnel was lined with booby traps.
A cloaked figure appeared in front of us and pushed down a lever. The blade trap disappeared.
"You!" Raph cried. I felt my grip tighten on the cloak I held. It wasn't a guy that had taken the jewel.
She nodded. "You followed my trail. Somehow. You also almost led Van Pelt to my hideout!" She hissed.
There was a note in that voice somewhere that sounded familiar. I stepped forward. "We're sorry, but we need what you took from us." I told her.
She laughed harshly. "You need it?! Why? Are you more villains, hoping to take the power of the Jaguar's Eye for yourself?" She demanded. "I have spent months tracking this jewel down, maybe even longer. I will never give it up."
"Wait." I held out my hand. "Can you help us?"
"Help you? Help you what?" She demanded. "I don't even know you."
"Listen, we will tell you what we know, and you can tell us what you know, okay?" Leo tried. "And nobody will attack anybody. Okay?"
She snorted. "Fine. But do exactly as I say, or you'll get killed by the traps."
We all shared a look, and nodded. "Deal." Mikey agreed.
"Follow me. Stay close together." She instructed.
We did, huddling together. Suddenly, she told us to stop.
"The alligator pit." She explained. "And my board is set up on the other side... Again..." She sighed. "I hate having to do this... it's so much easier to walk across..." She looked at us. "Stay."
We all nodded. Raph rolled his eyes.
The cloaked girl walked back the way we had come. We waited. Suddenly, she came running back. I cried out in alarm as she jumped, certain she was going to die and that the jewel would fall into the pit, unreachable.
What I didn't expect was for her to do a double flip, and then arch gracefully like a cat, landing safely on the other side with such ease that I could have sworn she was a naturally born ninja.
The hood of the cloak slid upon her landing, revealing red hair that cascaded down her shoulders. She gathered that hair in one hand and tucked it into her cloak, lifting the hood back over her head and face, before turning and grabbing a plank, setting it across the alligator pit.
"You want us... to walk across... that?" Leo raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, I'm jumping." I announced.
"Suit yourself." The girl replied.
Raph pushed past us. "Hey now, the guy with the backpack goes first, everybody knows that." He moved across the plank, which creaked, but held.
Mikey gulped, and stepped back. "You first." He turned to me.
Everybody stood to the side. I took a running start, and jumped. I made it, but I didn't flip or land gracefully as she had. Instead, I landed on my feet, and then fell forward onto my face. The girl under the cloak snorted. Raph just laughed.
"I'm not risking the plank, either." Leo told us.
"Hang on, now." The girl growled. "He might have made the jump, but you won't."
Leo smirked. "You sure of that?"
"Yes."
He took a running start, and jumped. However, he landed just on the edge, and slipped. Leo screamed, and fell into the alligator pit. The girl shrugged. "I tried to warn him."
"Wait, where's he going to respawn?" Raph asked.
"Respawn?" The girl looked at him.
The sky dinged, and Leo appeared behind me. Mikey looked absolutely terrified.
"It's okay." The girl told him, sensing his fear. "The plank will hold you, I promise. Come on." She held her hand out to Mikey, who took a deep breath.
Slowly, he inched across the plank, and took the girl's hand, letting her help him onto the other side safely.
The girl led us a little further. "Now, everybody duck." She told us.
We ducked. Arrows shot just above our heads. The cloaked girl stood again, and led us to a room that held at least six different tunnels. "This one. The others all end in deadly traps."
She walked down the tunnel, and we followed her. There were three more rooms like that, with tunnels that branched off our path, and another trap. The girl guided us through it, and finally we were climbing upwards. We came out of an outhouse, and then she started climbing a tree. We followed her, Raph and Mikey still having problems.
At the top of the tree was a lavish, huge treehouse. There were candles on almost all of the ledges, and furniture made of wood.
"Wow..." I breathed.
She nodded. "Sit." She instructed. We all sat on wooden chairs and stools.
"You aren't NPCs, are you?" She asked us.
We shook our heads. "And you're not, either." I deduced.
She nodded slowly. "And as such, you are trying to return the jewel to the Jaguar, correct?"
We all nodded. "That's our way home." Leo nodded.
"Perfect..." She snickered. "That's my goal, too." She finally pulled off the cloak.
