A Million Miles Apart
A/N: What's the best thing to do when battling a cold? Rest and drink a lot of tea to help your sore throat? Nah, you write an action chapter for your fanfiction! That's how you battle illness!
Anyway, IT'S PARTY TIME! I have officially made it to fifty chapters! And yes, technically I had it last time, if you want to be a stickler and count the prologue as a chapter, but I don't. There's a reason they're called prologue and epilogue: they are not chapters, they are there to start and finish the story. So I'm counting this as my fiftieth chapter.
And due to this being a sort of milestone for this story, I come bearing a chapter that it a little longer than my usual chapters, and with a bit of action, a bit of drama and a little scary stuff (I hope it's scary for you guys, anyway). So sit back, relax, get a bag of snacks and enjoy my fiftieth chapter of A Million Miles Apart.
And I also wanna say thank you for sticking with this story for this long, thank for your reviewing, favoriting and following!
Let's dive right in!
Chapter 50, All Shell Breaks Loose
Any one of you ever had a busted kneecap before? No? Well, if you haven't, then let me tell you that there are certain things you should not do or you're just gonna make the injury worse. One of the things the doctors would most likely say is: do not attempt to fight a crazy alien princess from a war-hungry planet and instead call for help should she attack you. Another thing they would more than likely say is: do not climb up a rocky, slippery and steep mountainside in an attempt to save your friends, and just call for others to help you do this instead. This is what a doctor would say to a patient with a leg injury. And it is what I would have said to my brothers if it had ended up being one of them. Well, minus the part about the alien princess, but you get my point. And I had done both these things within the span of one hour. Yeah, I would never be accepted into medical school, even if you were to overlook the part of me being a mutated turtle, having human intelligence and walking on two legs. A freak of nature, in other words. A freak of nature who shouldn't be hurting himself further.
But that was exactly what I was currently doing. I was climbing up a steep mountainside and doing my best to both ignore the pain in my leg and to not slip on gravel or a loose rock. Not the easiest task, if you're interested in knowing. Especially now, since Moriah's kick to my knee had made it hurt about ten times more than it had before. I reached up to grab onto a small ledge in the mountain, but it broke from the wall, which in turn made me lose my balance and I lost my grip on the wall. But before I could fall, I managed to grab onto a small tree growing on another ledge and managed to find a foothold. And for a few minutes I just hung there, with one foot hanging over the edge and the other one trying to lean most of my weight on a very small ledge, and one hand gripping onto a thin tree that felt like it'd be ripped out of place any second. I drew a shaky breath and leaned my forehead against the stonewall.
"Ugh, the things I do for my friends." I took another breath and started to climb again. After another five minutes, I finally heaved myself over the edge and sat down on the cold, dirty ground so I could catch my breath. I looked down at the ground and saw that it was about thirty feet down, making me realize that I had strained my leg even more than I thought I had, considering how many times I had almost fallen to the ground, and climbing thirty feet was probably not what Traximus or the Professor had meant when they told me to take it easy and not exert myself so much.
Anyway, after letting myself breathe for a few minutes, I got back up on my feet and started to search for the hole in the ground where Starlee's signal rocket had come from- not the easiest thing to do. Especially when you can't track your friends because of the planet's atmosphere messing with your gauntlet. It was as if the planet was screwing with us because it wanted to make things even more complicated for us.
I kept looking around and pulled my bō-staff from its holster and used it as a walking stick when the pain in my knee became a bit much for me to handle. I considered calling out for my friends, but considering there were Triceratons running around on this planet, that didn't seem like such a good idea.
"How long do you think he's gonna take?" The sudden voice caught me off guard, and I almost gripped the bō-staff to get ready for a fight. But then the words and the voice sunk in and I realized it was Mona. And I'd barely realized it before I heard another familiar voice.
"He'll be here soon, I can feel it. Besides, we contacted him less then ten minutes ago; have a little patience." That was Starlee.
And Jhanna was quick to respond. "We don't have time to be patient, Starlee. The Triceratons might find us any second now, and there's a monster down here that might be hungry for three girls trapped in a cave. We have to get out here- now!" Starlee groaned and I could practically hear her roll her eyes at her sister. I nodded and put my staff back in its holster on my back.
'Yeah, keep talking. That way I can find you a lot faster,' I thought to myself and started to move towards the sound of their voices, watching my step carefully so I wouldn't fall down the hole and down to them. Then it would be even harder to get the piece to the ship. I heard Mona's voice again.
"Jhanna, please, lower your voice. You might agitate the monster if you're too loud." Finally, I saw it. Twenty feet ahead of me, close to a wilted old tree, was a hole, big enough to fit a normal sized car through. I hurried to the hole, kneeled down as close to the edge as I dared and leaned down carefully.
"Girls? Girls, are you there?" I saw them, sitting on the piece of the Black Hole Generator, a big piece of machinery shaped like an arch and so dark grey that it almost looked black. But it might also have been the lighting. The moment they heard my voice, the girls looked up and flew to their feet.
"Donnie! Finally, you found us!" I shrugged and smiled sheepishly.
"Sorry I couldn't get to you faster, but the atmosphere is messing with my tracker, and my leg won't let me hurry that much. But are you guys okay? No one's hurt, right?" Starlee shook her head and cupped her hand beside her mouth.
"No, we're okay. But we would really appreciate it if you help us get out of here as quick as possible."
I nodded and gave them a thumbs-up. "No problem. I'll send the coordinates to Traximus and the Professor. Hopefully they'll have a better time reading them, since they're inside the ship." I pressed on my gauntlet and called up the Professor and Traximus with the ship's com-radio. It took a while because of this planet's bad reception, but they eventually responded and I quickly explained the situation. It was worse after I told the Professor what I had done. The 'Donatello, how could you have been so foolish, going off on a dangerous planet with an injured knee to save your friends without telling any one of us and possibly endangering yourself when you can't fight properly' part. Yeah, he was more than a little ticked that I had gone off on my own without telling them about the girls' situation, but Traximus eventually calmed him down and said they would be there as quickly as possible and told us not to move from where we were. I heard Mona mumble 'yeah, don't worry, we're not going anywhere down here,' and couldn't help but chuckle at that. Once I had ended the call, I turned back to the girls.
"Traximus said he and the Professor will be here as soon as possible. Just hang in there." Starlee smiled and gave me a thumbs-up.
"Good. 'Cause I don't know how long we have until the Triceratons find us." I nodded, and then I finally remembered what they had been saying before. Something about a monster down there. I felt my blood freeze in my veins and swallowed before I looked over at Jhanna.
"Uh, Jhanna? What was that you said before? Something about a monster?" The girls looked at each other with wide eyes, but before anyone could answer, a low roar resounded throughout the cave and an equally low scrambling sound was heard, as if something was moving deep down in the cave system. Mona moved further away from the edge, Starlee gripped onto her arm and Jhanna's hand flew to the sword and gun in her belt.
"Does that answer your question, Donnie?" I jerked back a little when I heard the scrambling and almost slipped on a loose rock and fell down the hole. Thankfully I managed to grab onto a branch on the old tree beside the hole and pulled myself up again. I held onto the branch and tried to breathe deeply for a bit, and then turned back to the hole.
"Has the monster tried to attack you yet?"
Jhanna shook her head but kept her hands over her weapons. "No, but it feels like it's getting closer and closer to us. I can't tell how long it will take before that thing gets hungry and decides to grab a snack." She turned to Starlee and lightly pushed her towards the mountain wall. "Starlee, you should climb up there first." Starlee shook her head and placed both hands on her hips.
"No way, I am not gonna-" she was cut off by another low roar, her eyes widened and she pressed her lips into a thin line to hold back a scream. Her eyes eventually made their way towards the dark abyss and then back to her sister. Jhanna placed both hands on Starlee's shoulders, pulled her closer and almost shoved her face into hers.
"Look, Starlee, you can say what you want about me and my attitude, I don't really care right now. But if you think, for one second, that I am going to let you stay down here with a monster and Triceratons running around, then you are sorely mistaken. Now, go!" She finished her small lecture by giving Starlee a firm push towards the wall, causing her to almost slam her face against the sharp stones. Starlee looked over her shoulder at Jhanna with uncertainty before she turned back to the wall and started to climb. Mona walked up behind Starlee and watched where she placed her hands and feet. My guess was that she wanted to be there and catch her in case she slipped and fell. But Starlee barely got three feet off the ground before... well, it happened.
Out of the darkness of the pit, a giant furry thing came flying towards the girl. It had giant claws on its paws, along with a loud roar that almost made the walls shake. Starlee turned to look over her shoulder when she heard it, screamed in terror and almost let go of the wall, but instead pressed herself closer to it to evade the long, wickedly sharp claws. Jhanna immediately drew her gun and fired at the creature's paw as it got really close to Starlee and it screeched in pain, but still managed to leave a few scratches on her back. Starlee grunted in pain, but tried to keep her lips pressed together so the monster wouldn't hear her.
The arm/leg-thing that came out of the pit drew back a bit, but the monster started to reveal itself more. Three more arms appeared, a thin body and massive head with fangs sticking out of both the upper and lower sides of its mouth, like a few spiders I had seen in books and monster movies. It even had eyes like a spider, several beady black eyes that seemed almost lifeless. Not to mention the thing seemed almost bigger than life, considering it almost hit its head against the ceiling, and it was only visible from head to a little over stomach level. I couldn't hold back a gasp of fear and gripped the edges around the hole tighter out of reflex.
Mona drew her knife and got ready to fight back, Jhanna tightened the grip on her gun and looked over her shoulder at Starlee, who still had a tight grip on the wall and held, frozen in the same place and couldn't seem to move either up or down and stared at the giant monster that had come out of the pit. Jhanna growled in frustration and yelled at her: "Go!" Starlee snapped out of her trance and started to climb again, as quickly as she could. The monster saw that and tried to swipe at her again, but Mona slashed her long knife along the beast's long, skinny arms. Mona's knife left a long, deep cut on its arm, almost cutting the paw clean off. It screeched again and swiped another claw at Mona, knocking her off her feet and into the stonewall. Jhanna cried out her name and jumped in front of Mona, put her gun back in her belt and drew her sword. The monster stared down at her, roared and swiped two claws at her. She dodged one of them and slashed at the other one, cutting it clean off, causing the beast to screech again.
Starlee had finally managed to get high enough for me to grab her around the chest and lift her out of the hole and place her on the ground beside me. I kneeled down behind her and looked over the scratches over her back. Her purple suit, brown vest and black t-shirt were all torn and her blue skin showed a few thin marks with a little blood seeping through. But it wasn't that bad, and after I had covered it with the wraps I had around my wrists, I placed my hand on her shoulder and turned her around to face me.
"Are you okay, Star?" She nodded and bit her lip, clearly a bit shaken. She wrapped her arms around her chest and pressed her legs against it.
"Yeah. I think so." She took a shaky breath, but the screaming and screeching and slashing down there caught my attention before she could say anything and I looked down again. Jhanna was doing her best to fend off the beast, and turned to look at Mona, who was starting to get back up on her feet.
"Mona, go! Climb, get out of here! I'll hold it off, just go!" Mona still looked a bit dazed, but when Jhanna said she would hold off the monster on her own, she seemed to snap out of it a bit and picked up the knife she had dropped on the ground. She pushed her bangs out of her face and looked between Jhanna and the monster.
"No way! I can't just leave you with that thing!" Jhanna growled, swung her sword at the beast's long tongue, which it now had started to use as a weapon, sliced off the tip of it and a fountain of green blood started to spray from its mouth. It howled in pain and Jhanna used it as a distraction and turned back to Mona.
"Just go already!" Mona bit her lip, looked up at the hole and then started to climb. And though she was a bit faster than Starlee had been, she was still slow enough to draw the attention of the monster. Jhanna noticed this, tried to slash another paw off its arms, but she was knocked into a wall and lost consciousness, leaving Mona as an open target. Mona turned in Jhanna's direction when she heard her hit the wall and stopped climbing.
"Jhanna!" But not one second had passed after she had let the scream leave her lips when she realized the monster now didn't have anyone else to focus on and when she turned to look over her shoulder, she saw the monster now gazing at her with hungry eyes and drooling jaws. She gulped and gripped the wall tighter.
Both Starlee and I had our eyes glued to the battle down in the hole, and I knew that neither Jhanna nor Mona would stand a chance against the beast. Jhanna couldn't fight back in her state and Mona couldn't defend herself and hold onto the wall at the same time. "They'll never beat that thing alone," I muttered to myself and then turned back to Starlee. "Stay here. Wait for Traximus and the Professor to find you." Without another word I grabbed my staff and jumped down through the hole. I heard Starlee cry out my name, but I put my focus on the beast, freed the blade in my staff and cut right through the tongue before it could hit Mona, spraying even more green blood from its mouth. And while the monster reeled back, howling like a wolf, I landed on the stone ledge- having to hold back a yell of my own as a jolt of pain shot through my injured my leg- and turned to Mona, who stared at me, stunned into silence.
"Get out of here, hurry! I'll get Jhanna!" She stared at me for a second longer, then nodded and started to climb again. I turned to the monstrous creature, twirled my staff between my fingers and got myself ready to fight this beast off. It let out an enraged roar at me and swiped its claws at me. I jumped back, ignored the pain in my leg, blocked the first attack and whacked its other claw away with my staff. The monster leered down at me and raised its claws and bared its sharp teeth, about to strike again, and before I could do anything to fight back, a laser beam hit it right between in the eyes, leaving a blast mark and a little blood. I turned back to the hole and saw Starlee with a gun, aiming it at the monster with a surprisingly experienced hand. And while the monster roared in pain, she fired another shot at its stump of a paw. Another pained screech, and its focus turned to its arm where even more blood fountained out.
While its focus was elsewhere, I pulled a few shuriken from one of my pockets and threw them at its eyes. And, of course, they hit their marks, since I never missed a target with anything, from a bow and arrow or simple throwing knives. The shurikens hit the eyes, which once again caused the monster to howl in pain.
I heard Jhanna groan and sit up again. She rubbed her head, but her focus was quickly directed to the monster and its roaring and moan. I turned to her, ran over and pushed her towards the wall. "Jhanna, quick, climb!" That was all I managed to say before the monster attacked again and I had to block its claws. Jhanna just sat there and looked at me with glazed-over eyes and stayed on the ground. I noticed this and yelled at her frantically.
"Jhanna, go!" Unfortunately the monster managed to land a hit, knocking me to the ground. I heard Jhanna, Starlee and Mona cry out my name in fear, but I didn't have time to react before the monster wrapped what was left of its tongue around my chest and lifted me up to its face. I almost dropped my staff in shock, but tightened my grip on it before I could and just as it was about to throw me into its mouth, I lifted to staff again and stabbed it straight in the biggest eye I could find in its ugly face, and then jabbed the blade into its neck. It dropped me, forcing me to grab onto its injured arm before I could fall down to the bottom of the abyss, and clutched at its face and neck, roaring in agony. I climbed up on its arm, running until I reached the bloody stump, and jumped back to the ledge where Jhanna was still sitting.
"We gotta go!" I grabbed her and threw her onto my back, forcing her to wrap her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist. She tried to talk, but her voice sounded more and more slurred the more she tried to speak.
"B-bu', wha' about th' B-black Hole G-gen'rator?" I grunted in pain as my leg protested after having been doing so much physically exerting work and blew one of Jhanna's ponytails out of my face as I started to climb up again.
"We'll get it when the others get here! Right now we have the get out of here alive!" I climbed as quickly as I could and tried my best to ignore the pain in my leg and gratefully grabbed Starlee and Mona's hands, letting them pull us up and out of the hole. Mona dragged Jhanna off my back and helped her lean back against the tree, looking over her injuries, especially around her head. She checked her eyes and turned to me.
"Hm, looks like a minor concussion," she informed me before turning back to her patient. "You were lucky it didn't give you any brain damage or break your neck." Jhanna couldn't answer, suddenly looking a lot drowsier, and almost looked like she was about to fall asleep. Starlee crawled over to her sister and gently placed her hand against her cheek and forehead, checking for a fever.
"Will she be okay?" Mona nodded and brushed some of Jhanna's hair out of her face.
"Yeah, she'll be fine. A drop of the fire lily potion and she'll be right as rain in no time." I let out a breath of relief, but then Mona came over to me and started to look over my leg before she glared up at me and slapped me across the face. Either it wasn't a very strong slap or the pain in my leg was so strong that my brain didn't acknowledge the new pain in my face, but either way it was still a bit of a shock. But Mona wasn't finished.
"What were you thinking, jumping into the fight like that? You already have an injured leg! Did you want it to break again?" I placed my hand over my cheek and looked at Mona with half-closed eyes and what I hoped was a very done expression on my face.
"Well, that's one way to thank someone for saving your life." Mona's face wavered between anger and fear, and, to my alarm, a few tears managed to slip from her eyes. She took several deep breaths and didn't seem to know if she wanted to yell at me, hit me again or if she just wanted to cry.
"W-well, no one asked you to-! I-I mean, you didn't have to-! You would've-!" Starlee placed her hand on Mona's shoulder and shook her gently to snap her out of her emotions.
"Calm down, Mona. He just risked his life to save both you and Jhanna, so cut him some slack, okay?" Mona stared into Starlee's eyes, then into mine and went back and forth between us for bit before she pushed her hands over her face and hair and took a deep breath. She didn't say anything for a bit, let her hands rest in her lap and then looked back at me and, lo and behold, gave a genuine and grateful smile.
"Thank you, Donnie, for saving us." Her smile widened slightly and she shrugged lightly. "Even if it was incredibly stupid to do so." I chuckled and punched her arm gently.
"Hey, what can I say? I look out for my friends, even if I end up doing something incredibly stupid." She laughed and looked away from me. Starlee smiled too and nudged an elbow into my side.
"Hey, what about me? Didn't you see how I shot that thing right between the eyes? I totally got him!" Mona laughed and threw an arm around her.
"Yeah, that was pretty cool, Starlee." I nodded and ruffled her hair, making her squirm and try to get away from me, laughing lightly.
"I have to admit, Starlee, I didn't think you had it in you to actually hurt anyone. It was quite a surprise; I'm impressed." She looked at me with a wry expression on her face and folded her arms over her chest. But before she could say anything, we heard loud footsteps coming closer to us. We all looked behind us as saw Traximus and the Professor coming running up.
"Are you alright?" The Professor kneeled down beside us and placed one hand on Starlee's shoulder and the other on mine. Mona nodded and gestured at Jhanna, who was half-asleep. Starlee crawled over to her and took one of her hands in her own.
"Jhanna has a minor concussion, and I'm pretty sure Donnie's leg is worse now than it was before, but otherwise we're okay." The Professor immediately turned to me, but I held up my hands and pointed down to the hole beside us.
"There's no time for that! We have to get that Black Hole Generator piece up and get back to the ship- whoa!" I barely had time to finish the sentence before I whipped out my staff and blocked a throwing knife aimed for my face. Everybody jumped in surprise and turned to the direction it came from. And once again, I felt my blood freeze in my veins. 'Before us was familiar figure with a sword in her hand.
"Moriah."
She came walking up to us, stopping a few feet away and resting a hand on her hip. "Well, I was hoping for a rematch, but it looks like I can get that and grab what I want at the same time. Lucky me." She turned to Starlee and Jhanna, froze a little when she saw that Jhanna was barely conscious, and then turned solely to Starlee. "Starlee, hurry, grab Jhanna and come over here! And Professor Honeycutt, surrender now and I won't hurt your precious little friends." Starlee got to her feet and placed herself between Jhanna and Moriah, spreading her arms out.
"We're not gonna come with you, Moriah! We wanna help Donnie to save Earth!" Moriah rolled her eyes and placed her other hand on her other hip.
"'Save Earth?' Please, Starlee. You're too young and inexperienced to be off D'hoonib. And besides, what can saving Earth possibly do for D'hoonib or the Federation? Now, come on, we're going home!" Starlee's eyes narrowed dangerously and she shook her head at her sister.
"No, I won't! I'm not going to let you drag me back to that life- I was helping Dad kill innocent people! I refuse to go back to that!" Moriah's eyes narrowed and she took two steps forward.
"Starlee, don't defy me. I am your older sister; I know better than you. Now come over here- Father expects us to be home-" Starlee raised her voice louder than I had ever heard and screamed at Moriah at the top of her lungs.
"I'm not coming with you, Moriah! Go away, take your sword and attitude and just go, leave us alone!" Moriah was taken aback by Starlee's loud voice and hurtful words, but before she could come up with a good response, Jhanna looked up from her half-slumber and over at Moriah with her eyes glazed over and slurred speech, which resulted in her not being able to bring the emotion she most likely wanted to her statement. She managed to look straight at Moriah and tried her best to sound firm and strong.
"You're not doing this for Dad, you're doing this for yourself. All you've ever done, you've done for yourself. You don't care about anyone or anything- you just want to look good in Dad's eyes, and that's all it's ever been about." Once she finished, her eyes rolled into her skull and she fell unconscious. Starlee immediately cried out and fell to her side, placing a hand on her cheek. Moriah stared at her, then her face scrunched up in anger and she walked up to us menacingly.
"That's it. You two are coming with me!" Starlee wrapped her arms tightly around Jhanna's shoulders to protect her better, but I quickly got up with my staff, still with the blade out, and swung it at Moriah's face, throwing her off and forcing her to raise her sword and block my attack. I turned to look over my shoulder.
"You guys get the piece and get back to the ship! I'll distract Moriah!" I heard Mona call out my name, but I didn't listen and instead swung my staff at Moriah's legs, forcing her to block my attack again. My interference started to anger her further and she swung her sword at my face. I dodged easily and threw my arm up, making the sword's edge hit the armor on my spacesuit, and I kicked at her knee and knocked her off her feet.
She growled from the ground, flew up and grabbed me by the shoulders, trying to head-butt me, but when she took a step backwards she accidentally stepped over the edge with a yelp and fell from the mountain, pulling me down with her.
"Donnie!"
Starlee got to her feet and was about to sprint over to the edge, but Mona grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her back again. She shook her head at her. "No, Starlee, I'll go and see that Donnie's alright. You stay here with Traximus and the Professor and get the Black Hole Generator!" Mona got up and ran over the edge. Traximus looked down through the hole and saw the piece of machinery on the ground. The monster was lying on the edge, dead from blood loss, but was still twitching slightly. It obviously wasn't a threat anymore, so Traximus jumped down into the hole and landed close the its body. He grabbed the piece, heaved it over his shoulder with ease and was just about to climb up again when a loud thud was heard from the boulder that covered the entrance the girls most likely had gone through, and sooner after was another thud. Then a loud voice was heard from the other side of the wall.
"They're in here! Come on, men; let's blow this up! We have to grab the piece and bring it back to the Prime Leader!" Traximus' eyes immediately widened and he started to climb again. But not even a second later, a loud explosion was heard and three other Triceratons came running through the new hole in the wall. Zog was in the lead and looked around the giant cave frantically before he spotted Traximus, halfway up the wall with a piece of the Black Hole Generator over his shoulder. His eyes narrowed with rage and he pointed his gun at Traximus.
"There, they're getting away with the Heart of Darkness! Stop that traitorous backstabber!" He was yelling so frantically that his voice broke and he immediately started to fire his gun. but he only managed to hit the Black Hole Generator or the wall around Traximus. By the time the others had started to fire, Traximus had managed to climb out of the hole again. He groaned and heaved the piece further up on his shoulder and grabbed Starlee and I by the arm.
"We must hurry; they will be right behind us in seconds!" I nodded and waved over at Mona Lisa, who came running from the edge of the mountain. She looked at us, her eyes huge and full of fear and worry.
"I can't see him! They're both gone!" Starlee's eyes widened and she gripped Traximus' arm in worry, but he didn't think twice about what to do next. He turned to her and Starlee.
"You two go and look for him, The Professor and I will take Jhanna and the piece back to the ship. Now, let's go!" I nodded and threw Jhanna over my shoulder.
"Very well, let's hurry." And with that we split up into groups, running off in opposite directions. Starlee and Mona rushed to the edge off of which Donatello and Moriah had fallen, and Traximus and I ran back in the direction we'd come from. Behind us, Zog came up after us and immediately opened fire. Traximus shoved me in front of him so Jhanna and I wouldn't risk getting shot, hefted a gun of his own and fired right back at Zog and his men. He managed to shoot the tree and it landed on Zog when it fell over. He cried out in pain, growled and fired at Traximus' head, but hit the piece again.
"After them, you idiots! Kill them if you have to, but bring that device back to the Prime Leader! Take that device from them!" Zog and his men gave chase, firing at us mercilessly, and I had to dodge and hide most of my body behind Traximus so Jhanna wouldn't get shot. She groaned lightly, but otherwise showed no signs of waking. I groaned a little and heaved her up over my shoulder again when she started to slip off.
Traximus suddenly grabbed me by the arm and lifted me up before he leapt off the mountain and landed down on the ground again. I cried out in surprise and almost dropped Jhanna completely when we hit the ground, but Traximus grabbed her when she slipped off my shoulder and slung her over his own shoulder.
"We must try to shake them off! Come, we'll run through the woods and take another way back to the ship! Perhaps that will buy us some time- hurry!" He didn't wait for a response, just grabbed me by the arm and ran into the thick forest, and I tried my best keep up with him and not run into a tree or trip over a bush.
"I hope the girls and Donatello are alright," I muttered and looked off into the dark forest as lasers flew around us and set fire to bushes and dead leaves. Traximus grunted in response and dodged another bullet that set fire to more of the sickly foliage. Behind us we heard Zog yell orders to his soldiers to grab the piece, and us so Traximus tightened his grip on me, Jhanna and the Black Hole Generator and ran faster, almost dragging me behind him.
"Kill them! Kill them and take the Heart of Darkness from them! Orders from the Prime Leader!"
Moriah and I tumbled down the mountainside together and lost our grips on each other, falling in different directions. I landed on the hard ground and held back an exclamation of absolute pain, and Moriah landed in a bush. She groaned a little, then flew back to her feet and wielded her sword. I saw her coming towards me with a murderous gleam in her eyes, so I rolled out of the way just as she was about to slash my face. My helmet had fallen off during our descent and the air around me started to cloud my brain. The scent was enough to make my thoughts become unfocused, and I was already tired and had quite a few bruises and wounds on my body from the two earlier fights today. I started to feel the energy drain from my body. But still I grabbed my staff and got back up on my feet. She growled and pointed her sword at me.
"You... you did this! You turned my sisters away from me! This is your fault!" She gripped the sword and swung it at my bad knee, but I placed my arm in the way and it once again hit my amour-clad forearm and I used my other arm to punch Moriah in the chest, making her stumble away from me. While she gripped at her chest, I grabbed the staff and got into a fighting stance.
"No, you pushed them away yourself. They came to me willingly after I showed them a little kindness." Despite my growing weakness, I managed a patronizing tone. "Maybe you should try it?"
She glared at me, but then saw how sloppy my stance was and how my eyes were unfocused. She could see how tired I was and smirked wickedly at me. "Getting tired, are we? Yeah, I can see that, seeing how you're injured and this air is not very healthy. Too bad for you, but don't worry. I'm sure the Wendigo will take good care of you in the life after this." But the words barely left her lips before a low roar was heard throughout the woods. Both of us froze in our steps and scanned our surroundings, but there was just the mountain behind us, so that left the thick, dark woods around us.
I gripped the staff tighter and tried to not shake in fear. "Wh-what was that?" Moriah gripped her sword tighter and looked in every direction, trying to find the source of the roar.
"Hopefully just an overactive imagination..." Imagination? Really? That was her best explanation? I was just about to question her logic, but then another low roar was heard, and something even scarier: footsteps. Loud footsteps that made their way towards us and for every step, the ground seemed to shake under our feet. When I looked in the direction the footsteps were coming from, I saw something familiar that made my blood freeze once again: a pair of glowing yellow eyes. Moriah saw them now too, and her arms fell to her sides as a soft gasp left her lips. The eyes came closer to us and eventually, we saw it.
A large beast made its way out of the trees, about ten feet tall, mostly skin and bones. No, literally, it was almost entirely skin and bones. Its shoulders and upper arms had no skin or muscle and were just bones. Its lower arms didn't have far to go before they looked like that too; only the elbows had a little fur left. Its ribcage was visible, showing its slowly beating heart. The head, face and part of its lower and upper body had ragged brown fur. It had the body structure of a full grown stag and large antlers stuck out of its head. It had cloven feet but its hands looked human, or at least something close to it, with long, skinny claw-like fingers that looked dangerously sharp. Its face also looked like a stag's, but it had humongous sharp teeth and the mouth was covered with dried blood, and it had some fresh blood dripping from its jaws. One had to wonder who or what its latest unlucky victim was. In fact, the whole body seemed to be covered with dried blood and dirt, and it reeked of moldy flesh and death itself. And right now, its yellow eyes were locked on us and it pointed at us with a long, crooked finger.
Moriah moved her mouth but no words came out and she backed away, slowly and carefully. "T-the... th-the... the Wendigo!" She cried and started to run away in terror. My survival instincts also kicked in and I started to sprint away from the Wendigo. I had no idea if this actually was the Wendigo or if it wasn't just another monster that lurked on this planet, but I didn't want to take any chances. The Wendigo started to follow us, but it just walked and didn't waste any energy running. But that, if anything, just made it scarier. Just imagine being followed by someone or something, and you are running for your life and the thing behind you just walks at a normal pace, but still manages to be just behind you. Like no matter how fast you can go, it can always catch you- you speed up and it might actually have to start running, and then you're a true goner. Really freaky if you ask me.
I tried to run as fast as I could, but my injured leg was not on my side and it hurt more and more for every step I took. And suddenly, my foot got caught in something and it felt like the bone jumped out of its joint and a sharp jolt of pain shot through my whole leg and I fell to the ground with a grunt. At first I was a bit dazed, but then, when I realized the beast was right behind me, I tried to scramble back on my feet, but realized my left foot was stuck in a root and when I tried to pull it free it just sent sharp jolts of pain through my leg. I cried out in agony and tried hold back tears of pain. Then I remembered the danger and looked up at the Wendigo that was getting closer and closer to me. I cried out in panic and tried to pull my leg free from the root and clenched my teeth and tried to ignore the pain, but no matter how hard I tried to pull myself free, I couldn't move. The Wendigo drew closer and closer, pointing its long, crooked claws at me. My fear turned into panic and I drew away from it as much I could. Then, something unexpected happened.
Moriah, who had been far ahead of me the whole time, stopped when she heard my scream and turned to look at me. She saw me, my predicament and how close the Wendigo was to me. She looked in the direction she was heading, back to me, and back and forth for a bit. Then she groaned and let her head fall backwards.
"Ugh, Blorg!" Then she over to me and raised the sword before cutting through the root that my foot was caught in, grabbed my arm, threw it over her shoulders and heaved me back up on my feet. "Come on, let's go!" I didn't get a chance to respond- although I'm not sure I would've been able to speak through my absolute shock, anyway- before she started running again and I had to do my best to keep up with her. The Wendigo roared in indignation after us and started to follow once more. Moriah gasped when she heard it and ran faster, and I had to scramble to keep up with her, which was a bit hard to do, but I did my best, pushing the agony to the back of my mind. My life was at stake here.
Moriah eventually saw something ahead of us, let go of me and stopped to look at me. "There are your friends! They'll have to help you from here, I'm going back to my ship!" She turned to ran off in another direction, then stopped and turned around again, pointing at me with an angry expression. "But don't think that this is over, scum!" Then she turned heel and disappeared into the woods, her red hair being the only that was visible for quite a bit. I looked after for a bit, just now being able to process what she had just done.
She had saved my life. Moriah, who minutes ago had been dead set on killing me, had turned back to save my life when the Wendigo was just about sinks its claws into me and turn me into a zombie. Why? Why had she done that, when she had no earthly reason to do so? But I didn't get much time to think about that, because suddenly Mona and Starlee came running through the thick vegetation and up to me, and Mona immediately started checking for injuries.
"Donnie! Are you okay? What happened? Where's Moriah?" I shook my head, grabbed her wrists and pulled them away from my body.
"No time for that, we have to go! The Wendigo is after me!" Starlee and Mona looked at me with wide eyes, then another roar was heard and they immediately grabbed one arm each and wrapped them over their shoulders and helped me hurry through the woods and back to the ship. I looked over at the girls and tried to catch my breath.
"W-where are Traximus and The Professor? Are they alright?" Mona looked at me and tried to shake her bangs out of her face.
"They went back to the ship with the piece. They took Jhanna with them, that's all I know. We were sent to look for you." I nodded and we kept running. And finally the woods started to clear up and I recognized the way back to the ship. Another good thing was that the Wendigo either seemed to have given up on following us, or seemed to have become much quieter because I couldn't hear the steps anymore. But the sight I saw wasn't too comforting.
We finally made our way to the ship after taking a big detour around the forest. We had even at one point ran into that insane man we had met when we first landed on the planet, who had practically begged us to take the piece off this planet. When he had seen that I had it over my shoulder, he had pressed a small leather bag in the Professor's hand and thanked us a million times before he ran off to find his friends and tell them the good news. But we hadn't thought much of it- we just thanked him for his gift and hurried along until we got to the ship.
We hurried inside the ship and The Professor ran into a room, came back with a blanket and put it on the floor and gestured at me to lie Jhanna down on the blanket so he that could look over her injuries. She groaned a little when she was placed on the floor, but didn't seem like she was going to wake up yet. The Professor placed a hand on her forehead and then turned to look at me and pointed to the floor.
"Put the fragment there, then go outside and wait for the kids while I start up the ship!" I nodded, put the piece of the Black Hole Generator on the floor and hurried outside to see if Mona Lisa and Starlee were coming with Donatello yet. They weren't, but Zog and his troops emerged from the tree line, guns at the ready, and pointed them at me. Zog held up a hand to signal 'hold your fire' and then tried to smile ingratiatingly at me.
"Now, now, Traximus. You are a Triceraton, just like us. Remember your roots, and remember that we are your comrades. You have a loyalty to your people, and your leader. Just hand over the Heart of Darkness and I'll tell the Prime Leader that you did it for your people, to reclaim your honor and position. What do you say?" I narrowed my eyes at them and gripped my axe tighter.
"There is no honor in reclaiming the pieces to a device simply to destroy another world. A world full of innocents. And I have a message for you and your honored Prime Leader: To watch the destruction of others safe and from afar, while doing nothing yourself, is the embodiment of cowardice." Zog watched me with wide eyes, then snarled angrily. He narrowed his eyes at me and bared his crooked teeth.
"Well, if that's your choice," He turned to the soldiers behind him. "Triceratons, attack!" They immediately started fire off their guns, and it was hard to dodge their bullets, but I refused to move, because if I did, they would be able to march right inside and grab the piece from us. And I was not about to let go of it now, when we were so close to leaving with it in our grasp. But it was hard to defend the ship from three Triceratons.
"Heads up, Traximus!"
The ship was under attack! Traximus was trying to defend the ship against Zog and two other Triceratons. He seemed to be having a hard time doing it. I removed my arms from Mona and Starlee's shoulders and grabbed my staff.
"I have to help him!" Both Mona and Starlee protested when I started to run towards the fight, but I didn't listen. I ran up behind Traximus, gathered as much strength in my legs as I could and jumped over his head. I cried out,
"Heads up, Traximus!" He looked up from the fight in time to dodge so he wouldn't get my feet on his face, and I threw my bō-staff and it hit Zog right in the eyes. It didn't really hurt him, but it made him drop his gun and he placed his hand over the spot I had hit with my staff. And while he was distracted, I grabbed the small gun I had in my belt, aimed and fired at his eyes. And this time, it did hurt him. He yelled in pain and rubbed his eyes. I landed in a crouch in between him and Traximus and quickly grabbed my staff from the ground. I looked over my shoulder at Traximus.
"Come on, let's handle these guys together!" Traximus didn't look pleased about me being in another fight, but he didn't say anything about it and just gripped his axe and got ready to fight. Zog rubbed his eyes over his arm and then looked down at me, blinking a bit to clear his eyes. Then, when he recognized me, a large smirk spread over his face and he leaned down to look me in the eyes.
"Well, well, well. Lookie what we got here, boys! The rebel terrapin on a mission. How cute! Nice scars you got there, kid! Makes you look like you got in a fight with something big!" He pointed to the three scars running across my face with a teasing smirk. "You won that fight, didn't you? I mean, how could you have done anything else, you little champ?" He then feigned realizing something. "Ooh, wait, no. You didn't. You got severely beaten up, if I remember correctly." He laughed slightly, and the Triceratons behind him started chuckling too. I took a deep breath and gripped the staff tighter.
"Don't listen to him, Donatello. Don't let him get to you," Traximus told me from behind me and I tried to take it, but my anger was starting boil up again. My blood got hotter and hotter and I'm pretty sure my face turned bright red too. Zog saw that, but must have thought that I was blushing and leaned down even further so his face was at the same level as mine.
"How does it feel, freak? To know that you have been marked by the Triceratons forever, and that you will never be as strong or as tough as a Tricerato-" I had finally had enough of his condescension and smacked my staff as hard as I could across his face, making him yelp in pain. I clenched my fist and punched him in the gut, and when he clutched at his abdomen, I gathered all my strength in my good leg and kicked him as hard as I could between the legs. He squealed, just as I had hoped that he would and grabbed at his unmentionables and groaned in pain. The others around me hissed in pain or sympathy. I kept a firm glare on Zog and grabbed him by the collar of his spacesuit.
"Now you listen here, Dino-creep! You can call me freak as much as you want, but don't ever look down on me just because you defeated me that one time! I may have been beaten to the ground back on Filione, I will be the first one to admit that! But I am not giving up until that Black Hole Generator is completely and utterly destroyed! And I am not gonna stand here and let you insult me like that, you hear me? If you have something to say to me, say it. But you would be wise to think about what you say, unless you wish to regret it later. You can tell your dear leader about that, if you have the guts!" I shoved him away from me and he stumbled slightly, but he didn't seem to fazed by it. But I didn't care. I stood up straight, put my hands on my sides and looked him straight in the eyes.
"And for the record, I have a name: Hamato Donatello. You would be wise to use that name, and not call me freak. Keep that in mind." Zog glared at me and aimed his gun at me. But before he could fire, a loud roar was heard and everybody turned to see what it was. Mona Lisa and Starlee had run up to the ship, so it wasn't them trying to cause a distraction. But I knew what it was.
At the edge of the forest, a large being came through the woods and stared at us with almost dead eyes, and when it saw us, it licked its lips and started to head towards us. Zog's eyes widened and he started to fire at the beast crazily, his soldiers immediately following his example. Traximus grabbed me by the arm and pulled me close to his side and waved the girls to him.
"I believe that it is time to leave, while they are distracted." We nodded and hurried inside the ship. But before I walked inside, I turned around to see the Triceratons still firing away at the Wendigo. And before I could stop myself, I saluted towards the Wendigo and the Triceratons.
"Thank you and goodbye, Zerij! I hope I will never see you again!" Zog looked up from the fight, just in time to see me salute at him and the doors close before me. I heard him shout 'NO!' but that was all I heard before we lifted off the ground and started to fly away. I walked into the control room and saw Starlee seated at the control panel, flying the ship away from the planet. Mona was kneeling down beside Jhanna's head and looking her over while the Professor checked her vitals.
I approached them and sat down beside the Professor, gritting my teeth as another jolt of pain shot up my knee. "How is she?" Mona looked up just as she put a drop of fire lily potion in Jhanna's slightly opened mouth.
"She'll be fine. But she's probably gonna need to take it easy for a day or two after such a hit to the head." I looked down at Jhanna's face and saw the color starting to return to her cheeks and her breathing becoming stronger. She eventually opened her eyes and sat up, rubbing her head in pain. She blinked a few times before she looked up at us.
"What... what hit me? Where am I?"
Mona placed a hand on her shoulder, making Jhanna snap her head in her direction. "You're on the ship. We're just leaving Zerij; we got away." Jhanna rubbed her head and pushed her hair up on, then let it fall down again.
"Got away? Got away from who? Moriah?" Mona shrugged and bit her lip.
"Well, Moriah, that monster down in the abyss, the Triceratons and even the Wendigo." Jhanna raised her eyebrows.
"The Wendigo? You actually saw the Wendigo? No way."
Starlee, who'd just put the ship on autopilot, came over to us and sat down beside Mona. "No, it's true! We saw it! It looked it wasn't even alive- like something that died, had been rotting for months and then resurrected again. It was really freaky." Jhanna looked at her sister, then rolled her eyes and lied back down again.
"If you say so, Star." She rested her hand on her forehead. "I'm too tired to argue about that right now." She looked over at me, smiled a wry smile and raised a brow. "You're an idiot, you know that, right? But, thank you. If you hadn't shown up when you did I would've been done for. So thanks," she mumbled, and it sounded like she really had to force herself so say 'thank you', but considering she, like Mona, rarely said these things genuinely, it meant much more when she finally did manage to say it. I shrugged with a smile and looked over at the hulking piece of machinery on the floor. I took a deep breath and finally took it all in.
"We did it. We got the first piece of the Black Hole Generator!" The others smiled and I raised my hand, making the others look at me. I noticed their questioning eyes and hurried to explain. "It's a high five. You smack your hands against mine."
"Oh." Starlee smacked her hand against mine, and the others followed her example. Jhanna pumped her fists in the air and had a big smile on her face.
"We are awesome!" Mona pumped a fist of her own and cried out; 'Yeah!' and Starlee hugged my arm as tightly as she could. She then stuck her hand into her pocket and dug out my tracking devices tightly as she could.
"Oh, and by the way, this thing works like a charm. It really helped us find it, and it also absorbed the Black Matter like it was nothing. Really cool invention, Donnie." I took it and smiled at her.
"Well, thank you. I'm glad it worked," I replied and put the device around my neck. She smiled at me, then Mona gestured at her to turn her back to her, and she started to clean the scratches on her back and then wrapped them. While she did that, I turned to the Professor. "So, where are we going next?" The Professor had walked up to the control panels and computers and on the big windshield a picture of a big red plant showed up.
"I think we should head to Ypsagon next."
Jhanna sat with her legs in tailor position and looked over at him. "Wait a minute, I've heard about that planet. It's nothing but parties and fun every second of every minute of every hour of every day. What could possibly be on that planet that could be useful for us?" The Professor turned back to us and smiled his robot smile.
"I think a wise move is to consult an old friend of mine, known as Pluto Khan. He travels through the galaxy all the time, and is said to know the answer to every question you could ever ask. He knows the universe like the back of his hand. If anyone knows where the last two pieces of the Black Hole Generator are, it's him. And we're most likely to find him there." I nodded and slammed my hands together and rubbed them.
"Well, okay, then, let's go to Ypsagon. Professor, please set the course immediately- we don't want to lose any time at all."
The Professor gave me a thumbs up. "Right-o, Donatello." Mona came over to me and kneeled down beside me.
"And now, if the great hero and Space Captain doesn't mind, I am going to look over his leg. Considering how many fights you threw yourself into today, one can only imagine what damage you did to it." I rolled my eyes at her, but peeled off my Spacesuit and kneepad, letting her look over my kneecap and shins. But while she worked on that, I started to think back on what Zog had said to me, both on Filione and on Zerij. He had called me a freak, he had told me I was weak and worthless and a nothing. And he had beaten me into a pulp.
"Hmph, we'll see who's nothing but a weak, pathetic freak." I muttered to myself. I looked out the window and at space outside as we flew by. "Oh, you'll see, Zanramon. I am going to wipe the floor with you and your entire empire. And I'll show you just what kind of mutant Hamato Donatello truly is. That I guarantee you."
A/N: Well that concludes my first real action-centered chapter. And yes, I know I have a few others, but this is the one chapter I can remember writing where something always happened, with very little breathing room. And I for one am kinda pleased with it, though I don't know how good I am at writing fight scenes. Though, maybe I should have called this the Planet of Monsters and not Planet of Death, since there seems to be nothing but monsters roaming around. Though I hope the build up for the Wendigo was worth this payoff.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please review, favorite and follow! G'night everybody!