Chapter 8-Holding the Fort

Leo's team…

Leo and his team reached the door where they first entered from downstairs just in time to see that there were signs of a breach, with the demon creatures trying to get through the gaps, which they made with their sharp claws, through the big wooden door.

"Hurry! Let's take them out before they break in!" Shouted Leo before he charged forward with his katana in hand and stabbed one of the demons in the chest, killing it instantly, before he backed away to allow Faragi to take out another demon that was about to attack Leo from a gap above him. Raph also took out another two demons, which managed to get in through a gap on the left side of the door.

Despite their efforts, however, when one set of demons were taken down, another set would appear in the same place as the fallen, and the door was also starting to show signs of giving way completely due to the damage and heavy pressure from the gathering demons.

"There's too many of them! If this keeps up, the whole door will break and they'll start piling in!" Faragi pointed out whilst taking out more demons.

It was then that Adam decided to step in. "Stand back!" He said before he summoned his spirit bear avatar to act as a barricade against the door to bide some time for the others to think of a way to keep the demons out.

The Ancient One then saw something at the corner of the room and when he inspected it, his eyes lit up; it was a large and heavy stone statue of a male warrior with a dragon coiling loosely around him as if they were representing their friendship.

"Leonardo, Raphael, Faragi, use this to block the doorway!" He shouted urgently.

The said acolytes rushed over to the statue and began to move it towards the doorway, which was difficult to do at a fast pace due to its heavyweight, but they eventually managed to place it in front of the partially-damaged door after Adam moved out of the way.

The team stepped back to assess their efforts and they saw that the demons were finding it hard to get past the heavily built statue with their small claws, much to their relief.

"Alright, that should keep them from coming in for a while. Let's go see how the others are doing," Leo said after giving Raph and Faragi a high-five.

"Yeah, let's-" Raph was cut off when he heard a familiar voice shout out from the next floor up.

"Guys! Get up here, NOW!" It was Donnie's voice and he sounded panicked.

Leo and the others looked at each other as their eyes widened before they stormed up the stairs.

/

Mikey's team…

After seeing Leo's team off, Mikey went back to the edge of the tower to observe the demon army. It was then that Mikey noticed that the 'Chief' demon was looking up at him and no-one else but him with a cold and blood-thirsty stare, which was making him nervous and causing him to shake and breathe slightly faster.

Donnie noticed his little brother's discomfort and walked over to place a comforting hand on his shoulder, gaining his attention in the process.

"Mikey, you ok? You're looking a bit pale," Donnie asked him softly.

"I…I feel like… that thing… is watching me…as if it's…waiting for me…to make a move," Mikey answered whilst trying really hard to stay calm and not panic.

Donnie looked at him in confusion before he turned to look at the larger demon beast. He saw the way its intimidating eyes looked straight at his brother, but not at anybody else in their team. Donnie then turned to look at Master Splinter, who had also noticed the change in his youngest son's behaviour.

"Master Splinter, what exactly is that thing, and why is it only focusing its eyes on Mikey?" He asked him in concern for his brother's safety and wellbeing.

Master Splinter approached the tower's edge and took a closer look at the large creature since the twilight sky was making it difficult to see from a far distance, and then his eyes widened before turning back to his two sons.

"My sons, that is Dark Fang, the largest Shadow Beast of the Twilight Realm! He is a very powerful creature that has the ability to summon demons from the shadows with his mighty roar, and his sharp claws, fangs and dark fire are to be avoided at all costs!" He said to them with a serious tone before he continued. "I do not know the reason why he is watching you, Michelangelo, but I think that it is because it wants revenge for his best soldiers that you struck down during our last battle…"

"W-What!?" Mikey said as he and the others in his group showed a look of shock and horror after hearing this.

Before anyone could say anything else, they heard Dark Fang let out another mighty roar as he noticed that the entrance was now inaccessible for his minions to get inside that way. Suddenly, some of the demon creatures began to develop bat-like wings and, with a shriek, they took off into the air before heading for the attack on the lookout point.

"Incoming!" Joi shouted out before summoning her spirit hawk avatar to strike down the first few demons, and Torra followed her lead by summoning his spirit wolf avatar to attack those that had landed at the edge of the tower.

Donnie jumped up after activating his chi spirit energy and then used his Cleaving Wind attack to take out around five more of the flying demons, whilst his brother Mikey followed suit and took out two more himself despite the slight exhaustion that was still ailing him from the last fight, which Master Splinter soon noticed and decided to stay close to his son to help him in the fight.

Just when they thought that they could defeat them all, Dark Fang roared again and more of his minions changed from land to flying demons and they began to head towards the top of the tower.

"Man, they just keep coming!" Mikey shouted out as he prepared himself to fight back, even though he was starting to feel exhausted again.

"Donatello, go and call for the others! We will need their assistance, now!" Master Splinter instructed his purple-banded son, who nodded towards him and ran down the stairs to call Leo's team for help. "Guys! Get up here, NOW!"

Soon, Donnie heard the sound of fast footsteps approaching him and he saw Leo and the rest of his team coming towards him at full speed.

"Donnie!? What's going on!?" Leo asked with a firm but worried tone.

"It's the demons; Dark Fang changed them to help them fly up here, and their numbers are growing!" Donnie explained, leaving the others looking at him with confused and surprised looks on their faces, except the Ancient One whose eyes widened.

"Dark Fang!? So that's what that larger demon is! He is able to change his followers into different forms with its mighty roar!" The Ancient One said with a horrified look on his face before everyone ran back up to the lookout point to join the others.

/

Acolytes Reunited…

When they got there, they saw that Joi and Torra were finding it hard to keep up with the attacks made by the increased number of demons in the air, whilst Master Splinter was struggling to keep the flying demons away from Mikey, who was knelt down and sweating due to the exhaustion catching up to him.

Leo's team went into action as Donnie and the Ancient One went straight to where Mikey was to give Master Splinter a hand in protecting him as he regained his strength, whilst Leo, Raph, Faragi and Adam went to join the other acolytes in defeating and keeping the demons away from the tower.

A few minutes later, the demon numbers began to diminish down to only a handful and everyone was showing signs of exhaustion and fatigue, but then they were suddenly hit by an intense quaking sensation under their feet that only lasted for a moment before it happened again.

Raph went to investigate since he was closest to the edge, and what he saw shocked him; Dark Fang was ramming against the tower and backing up to charge again, with his minions joining in. "What da Shell is it doing!?" Raph shouted.

"If this keeps up, it will cause the tower to collapse, with us in it!" Donnie estimated in a panicked tone.

"But what can we do!? They won't give up and Dark Fang keeps summoning more demons each time we take them all down! Why is he doing this!?" Leo questioned.

"It's probably because…he wants me, Leo…" Mikey spoke up in a serious but quiet tone before slowly getting up from his resting spot.

"What…? What do you mean, Mikey!?" Leo asked in shock as he walked towards his orange-banded brother.

"I remember seeing him before in the vision I had a while ago, and I thought that he was only going to appear during the ambush in the forest, but I was wrong; Dark Fang must have stayed in the shadows and watched the battle unfold before I came to save Donnie and Raph from getting beaten to death by his larger minions. I think…he's after me because… he wants revenge and is willing to fight me until I'm dead…" Mikey explained his theory whilst walking from the edge of the tower to where his brothers and friends were standing, before finishing with one last sentence as he looked at everyone with a stern look on his face.

"Well, if he wants a fight, then… I will give him one!" Everyone around him stood in absolute horror as they knew what he was about to do as soon as they see him begin to slowly activate his spiritual power.

"No… Mikey, no! You can't take him and his remaining minions on your own!" Donnie begged his immediate little brother.

"Yeah, so don't even think about it, bro!" Raph said in agreement with Donnie.

"Mikey, remember what I told you before at your rematch against Kluh? If one of us goes down, we all go down, so please, don't do this!" Leo said in a firm and gentle voice to his little brother, who looked at them all with a sad smile.

"It's ok, guys…let's just say that…this is my atonement for my actions back then…If I don't survive this, I just wanna say that…I love you all!" He said with a single tear falling down his cheek before he suddenly dashed passed them at lightning speed and jumped off the edge of the tower.

"MIKEY!" "MICHELANGELO!" "NO!"

Everyone shouted and ran to try and stop Mikey, but it was too late as he was already out of reach and nearly half-way towards where Dark Fang and his minions were waiting for him.

As he fell, however, Mikey closed his eyes and focused as hard as he could before his bodily markings began to glow even brighter to a point where he was surrounded by a bright light. Then, everyone watched as Mikey began to undergo a transformation within the surrounding light before they all heard a powerful roar, which did not belong to Dark Fang…

But it belonged to Mikey, who appeared from within the light not as a turtle, but as a dragon!