Just a warning, I had to write this chapter by ear (the parts in the actual episode) so if anything looks wrong or misspelled in any way then please correct me.
All of them were screaming and yelling as they began to fall off the cliff. They soared through the air and flew towards a tree where their bodies began to slam and smack into every branch it had.
Throughout the chaos Dragan noticed Kintaro's basket was out of Usagi's grasp and reached for him, pulling the basket close to her when she felt it's rope on her fingers and curled into a ball making sure her shield would take the damage instead of them. Due to the strength of said shield, the branches snapped on impact giving her a clear shot down, being the first to land hard on the ground.
Kara tried to jump away from the horse, hoping not to cause it injury, when her eyes widened feeling a tug on her leg. She looked down to see her shoe had gotten stuck in the foot holder and she began to slip her foot out of her shoe when the horse made contact with the first branch. After that, they were tossed around like ragdolls, their bodies hitting every branch possible. Unbeknownst to Kara, who had her arms crossed over her face to protect it, her foot had managed to free itself from the shoe before the last branch and her body had spun around so she was facing the ground. She opened her eyes enough to get a glimpse and looked down seeing the ground and went to reach out for the very last branch to catch herself til her eyes shot open and then everything went dark.
Dragan slowly sat up and looked around at the others.
"You guys ok?" Donnie asked sluggishly as he began to sit himself up, looking to his brothers then Dragan.
"Only broke my skull. Nothing important." Raph groaned, obviously exaggerating his pain.
"I'm ok. Luckily I had ma shield wi me." Dragan said with a sigh of relief. Hearing their moans and groans she knew they were alive and nodded to herself. She turned her attention to the basket in her lap and removed it's top to see a Kintaro with spirals over their eyes. "Are ye ok, Kintaro?" She asked gently knowing he had a rough ride.
"Ugggh, what happened?" Kintaro groaned while Dragan stood to her feet, helping him out of the basket.
"You have your little rabbit pal to thank for all of this, puggy." Raph stated as he began to tear off parts of the armor.
"What were you thinking leading us off a cliff, Usagi?!" Leo threw down his chest piece angered at his reckless plan. "You could of gotten us killed!"
"It's not as if I wanted to plunge over a cliff! And if we would of stayed, we would of surely been slain!" Usagi countered, getting face to face with Leo.
In the background Dragan was watching out for Kintaro, making sure he wouldn't fall as he stumbled around, trying to gain his balance.
"Ha! We could of taken those guys! I should have been leading us!" Leo shouted before walking past Usagi.
Kintaro hunched his shoulders nervously at the two of them but quickly got over it and jumped onto a root to get their attention. "Enough already! Take me to my temple this instant!" Kintaro demanded, throwing his fists at his sides.
"We don't need to take you anywhere, little brat! Come on, guys, I've had enough of these two jerks." Raph ignored Kintaro and began to follow after Leo.
Dragan glanced between Leo and Usagi as they went their separate ways and sighed softly. She blinked when she noticed Kara wasn't around and walked to the other side of the tree to see if she was ok when her eyes fell on a disturbing sight.
"DONNIE!" She screamed in panic, grabbing everyone's attention.
Everyone ran where Dragan was and skid to a halt when they found what caused her screams.
Kara laid unconscious under the body of her now dead horse with Dragan already trying to push the horse off her.
"Ka-Kara..?" Donnie stared in horror before his brain registered what was in front of him, his body jolting into action. "KARA!" He and the others yelled as they ran to help Dragan, pushing the horse off her with all their strength. Kintaro watched them nervously, staring at Kara who wasn't looking very good.
When they managed to get the horse off Kara, Donnie dropped to her side, and turned her over to get a look at her. Usagi knelt down next to him and gently set her down, placing his ears to her chest. He closed his eyes listening for a heartbeat. Hearing the 'ba-dump' of her heart he sat up straight and looked to Donnie. "She's alive but we must get her help immediately. There's a village about a mile away." He stood to his feet, pointing where the village was.
Leo and the others nodded as he and Raph helped Kara onto Donnie's back and began to run as fast as they could.
Kintaro went to yell at them but gasped softly when Dragan bent down in front of him, holding her arms behind her back. "Come on, I'll carry ya." She said with a soft smile, trying to stay calm in front of him despite her teary eyes and quivering lip. He nodded, something telling him to keep his mouth shut as he hopped on to her back. When she felt he was secure she ran after the others, catching up to them quickly despite the weight of her shield and now Kintaro on her back.
Arriving into a small village the guys began to ask around for a doctor and eventually was directed to a wide shop in the middle of town. Ignoring the hushed whispers about them, Donnie burst through the door, calling for a doctor.
An old badger wearing small glasses stepped through from a patient's room carrying a walking stick and placed his finger to his lips to hush them up. "Shh." He whispered quietly, calmly walking towards them, his walking stick gently thumping against the wooden floors. "Now," He began, "What have we here?" He asked and his eyes widened in bewilderment seeing two creatures not like any he's ever seen. "Oh my."
Dragan sat outside with Kintaro to keep him out of the way of the others while Kara was being taken care of.
Kintaro paced around Dragan impatiently, huffing and puffing every five seconds. "Grrr! This is taking too long! We should be at the temple by now! This is all her fault! Stupid, ugly girl getting hurt for being stu-" He turned his head to glance at Dragan during his tantrum and froze.
Dragan was glaring right into his eyes. He gulped nervously as she stared at him, his legs starting to tremble.
"Kintaro, ma best friend is in thare fighting for her life in a place she was unwillingly brought tae. There's a time an place for everything but now is not one o; those times for ye tae open your trap an speak ill o' her. Now sit down an shut up." Despite the calm tone of her voice each word carried venom that warned him to heed her advice.
He immediately dropped to his knees at her side and stared down at the ground, whimpering softly. She glanced down at him seeing tears collecting at the corners of his eyes and she let out a soft sigh to calm herself down.
"I'm sorry Kintaro. It's not your fault ye behave this wye but ye hve tae understand words carry weight tae them. Ye hurt ma feelin's when ye spoke badly about Kara an I will not stand idly by while ye disrespect her behind her back." She turned her head to look at him noticing he was beginning to calm down.
"..I feel it, you know."
"Hmm?"
"Your pure heart. Unlike your ug-Kappa friends," He quickly stopped himself when she gave him a stern look, "You were able to fight off Jei's enchantment. Only someone pure of heart can beat magic that strong."
She stared down at him in surprise, a small smile crossing her lips. "Thank y-"
"I will soon be that strong so it's not as if you're 'that' special." Kintaro finished making Dragan's face drop.
It was a few hours later when the doctor let everyone into the room.
The guys, Dragan, Usagi, and Kintaro shuffled in staring down at the resting Kara who was wearing a white robe with her clothes folded in a neat pile right next to her.
"A few ribs are broken but no internal damage had been done. She is quite lucky to have a similar anatomy as we do." The doctor stroked his small fuzz of a beard thoughtfully as he glanced down at her before turning to the others. "She will need to rest and recover for a week."
"A week?!" Everyone shouted at once causing the doctor to shush them harshly before giving them a nod.
"Uggh..three days top." Kara muttered as she began to open her eyes. "You know what...make it two."
"Kara!" Donnie was the first to rush to her side, holding her hand in both of his.
"I am quite impressed. You had several ribs broken and yet, you have awakened. Most stay unconscious for a day or two."
"I've been through worse." Kara said through gritted teeth while trying to sit up but the doctor used his walking stick to push her back down.
"You must recover. If you seek my help then you must follow my advice." The doctor informed them, glancing at Kara as he made his way to Usagi. "Speaking of recover-" He gave Usagi's side a quick jab causing him to yell out in pain as well as surprise. "You will also stay and rest."
"A week? We have to stay in this dump for a week?! I need to get to my temple now!" Kintaro shouted, stomping his foot on the floor.
The doctor slammed his walking stick on the ground startling not only Kintaro but the guys as well, all of them standing at attention like they would do for Master Splinter. He stared down at the boy but said nothing and walked away while shaking his head. "A week." Was all he said, firmness in his voice as he nudged Usagi along with him to get treated.
Kara sighed heavily placing her palms over her eyes. "I'm sorry guys. I should of been more careful.."
"It's not your fault, Kara. It's Usagi's. He's the one who lead us over that cliff." Leo stated moving to her other side, glaring where Usagi last stood.
"Leo, he acted on what would be best for not only us but for Kintaro; which was getting us aw to safety. Ye should give him more credit." Dragan looked at him with her arms crossed over her chest.
Leo turned to look at her in surprise but blinked when Kara placed her hand over his and gave him her famous grin.
"Don't get so worked up about it. I'll be better in no time, I promise. Don't worry, we're going to get home." She lifted her hand up, balling it up into a fist and held it out to him.
He stared at her for a moment and let out a sigh, a smile crossing his lips, and gave her fist a gentle bump. "Then just focus on getting better."
"I guess we should look around the village and gather supplies and whatever we can." Donnie said before leaning over Kara and kissing her on the lips. "Get some rest. We'll come check on you later." He placed his hand over her head and gave her forehead a gentle stroke with his thumb before standing up.
Everyone got up and left, Dragan taking over watching Kintaro for Usagi while the two could rest.
Usagi reluctantly walked into the room Kara was in, pulling his kimono top over his shoulders, covering his now bandaged chest and sat down across from Kara, leaning against the wall placing his swords against his right shoulder, arms crossed. He had his eyes closed but opened one eye when he heard Kara's voice.
"Just so you know, I don't blame you. We're not from this world so we have no clue what to expect here." She said before yawning and closed her eyes.
Usagi stared at her a moment and gave her a small smile, closing his eyes to rest as well.
It was the third and final day that Kara was willing to stay bed ridden.
Usagi had managed to recover first and walked out of the shed first but that didn't discourage Kara from continuing to try and test her body. Most of the time she'd have to do it in secret or else she'd face the wrath of the not so gentle doctor.
Dragan had entered her room to see the latest punishment received from the doctor; a large bump on the side of her head. A chuckle escaped her mouth and was given a warning glare from Kara which only made her chuckle more. Sitting down at her side, Dragan held her hand up. "Ye just don't know when tae quit, do ya?"
"You know I can't sit still for long. I'm just ready to go home." Kara said with a sigh, staring up at the ceiling. Hearing the door open, both girls turned towards the door to see Usagi enter the room.
"Oh, forgive me if I am intruding." He said with a small head bow.
"Not at all, come on in." Kara began to sit up but Dragan held her down with a single finger.
Usagi smiled at the two girls and sat on the other side of Kara. "I never did apologize for what had happened. I'm sorry. I never did intend to cause injury to you or any of your friends." Usagi bowed his head low.
Both girls looked at each other and shrugged.
"We don't blame you, Usagi."
"Yeah, we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Besides, she's a fighter, she won't let this stop her as ye can tell." Dragan poked Kara's cheek smiling ear to ear while Kara gently swats away her hand.
Usagi stared at the two girls and smiled more. "Thank you, friends. Judging by your skills I was able to witness I can tell you two are strong companions; specially you, Dragan-san."
"Me? How so?" Dragan questioned dumbfounded while pointing at herself.
"When I served under my Lord Mifune I was very passionate about my role in protecting him. He was the one who taught me everything I know. His kindness and strength made me proud to not only serve under him but to always help those in need. You..actually remind me of myself from back then." Usagi scratched his cheek somewhat bashful but the clear smile on his face showed the two girls that he meant every word.
A soft blush crossed Dragan's cheek his words leaving her speechless but she returned his smile just the same.
Kara looked between the two and couldn't help but grin able to sense a bond forming from two honorable swordsmen. She closed her eyes with a sigh only for her brows to crease when she saw a figure standing in the doorway listening in. A small noise crossed her ears making her open her eyes and look in the direction of the door. "Was that...Leo?"
That night Kara and Usagi snuck out of their room and made their way to where the guys, Dragan, and Kintaro were waiting for them.
"Finally, I thought he'd never fall asleep." Kara muttered under her breath.
"We could have knocked him out to save us the trouble."
Kara blinked in surprise and looked over at Usagi, shocked.
He glanced at her and a small smirk crossed his lips. "I was joking."
"..You've been hanging around Raph and the kid too long." Kara squinted her eyes at him before looking ahead and seeing everyone waiting for them.
"It's about time! What took you guys so long? We've been standing here for hours!" Kintaro barked at the two, annoyed to have their plans delayed cause of the two.
"Missed you too, buddy." Kara muttered sarcastically while stretching her arms and back.
"Kintaro.." Dragan stared down at him, giving him a gentle nudge with her foot.
Kintaro turned his head away while grumbling and began to take the lead. "Let's just go already!"
"As you command, your pugginess." Kara faked bow causing the guys to chuckle to themselves and soon they were resuming their journey.
Passing through a forest they came across a sculpture of sorts and Usagi stopped in front of it, bowing gently to it. The guys passed by it curiously and the girls noticed that Kintaro bowed as well. Shrugging, they both did the same.
"The fastest way to the Temple in the Sky is through the Tangled Skyne and over Haha-Yanuaba, the Mother of Mountains."
Kara was trying to listen to what Usagi was saying but her attention was to the sculptures of the praying men. There were quite a few around them and Kara ran up to Donnie and took hold of his hand. "This place is giving me the creeps.." She whispered to him, feeling as though they were being watched.
"T-T-The F-Forest of the Tangled Skyne? B-But everyone knows that place is haunted." Kintaro whimpered while everyone passed by him.
Dragan stopped beside him and placed her hand on top of his head. "Don't worry, Kintaro, with ye an Usagi showin' us the wye I'm sure we'll be fine. Be brave, Kintaro, for me?" She smiled down at him while gently rubbing his head.
Leo glanced back at her and bit his lip in annoyance hearing Usagi's name from her mouth but he ignored them and continued on.
Kintaro looked down, blushing bashfully, when Mikey popped out of nowhere surprising Kintaro to the point of screaming. "Haunted? Saweet! Ghosts are cool, Kintaro! As long as they don't scare you, or try to possess you, or suck your soul out of your body through your belly button! Nothing to worry about." Mikey kept popping around Kintaro, scaring him before he became annoyed and smacked Mikey away from him.
"You're not helping, ugly frog! " Kintaro growled before running ahead to catch up with the others.
Dragan stood over Mikey before holding her hand out to him. "Just don't know when tae stop, do ya?" She said with a chuckle while helping him up.
"Sadly, think all of that happened to atleast one of us in our group..except the belly button thing. Yuck." Kara shook her head in disgust.
"Yojimbo, I demand you take me AROUND the forest AND CARRY ME!" Kintaro shouted.
"Oh I'll carry you, alright, off another cliff." Raph muttered glancing behind him at Kintaro while continuing on.
"Please, no more cliffs. If I see another one it will be too soon." Kara groaned, feeling her sides ache at the word cliff.
Dragan blinked hearing Kintaro yell and stopped, turned to face him, and waited for him to catch up. "Ye can hold ma hand if you're scared, Kintaro." She smiled at him while holding her hand out to him but he shook his head and batted her hand away. "I am not a baby! I am a warrior." He stomped ahead while trying to puff his chest out making her shake her head with a smile and she followed behind him.
Kara was resting on Donnie's back as they dredged further into the forest. Despite how tired she felt no rest came for her for she constantly felt eyes on her, watching her every move. "Guys..I don't like this pl-" She tensed up, clinging to Donnie when she heard Mikey and Kintaro scream and snapped her head in their direction to see Mikey had overreacted to a lizard which lead to him getting slapped by Kintaro.
Leo glanced at Kara then Dragan. Knowing Kara's wounds were still in need of recovery she would have to rest soon. As for Dragan, he knew she wouldn't want to burden the others if she was tired but he could tell by how she was walking that she was reaching her limit. "Look Usagi, we've been walking forever. I think it's time we made camp."
"No. We're in the heart of Yokai territory. We must continue, if you know what's good for us." Usagi glanced around before continuing on, the others following close behind.
"You like calling the guys Kappa, so maybe with them being here we'll be left alone?" Kara questioned as she glanced around curiously. She suddenly froze, a soft gasp escaping her lips when she saw a floating head out of the corner of her eye. When she looked, though, it was gone. "Yeah, l-let's keep going." Kara laid her head on Donnie's shoulder squeezing her eyes shut to calm herself down.
Out of nowhere, crows began to caw loudly causing everyone to stop and look at them, seeing a flock of them in a single tree.
"Is it just me or are thay gettin' louder?" Dragan shouted while covering her ears.
"If they start screaming Nevermore I'm throwing rocks at them!" Kara shouted back, her ears also covered.
When they finally stopped the forest was eerily quiet.
Everyone began looking around, a feeling of dread surrounding them. Kara was the first to notice.
"Donnie." She gently pulled the ends of his mask and he looked around, realizing it as well. "Hey, hold up, guys. Mikey's gone."
Everyone began calling out for him, hoping to find him soon.
Kara closed her eyes to try and find him when a figure shot out from the forest in front of Raph, causing him to shout out. She looked in his direction to see Mikey standing there, smiling ear to ear rather creepily.
Everyone stared at him as he continued to smile.
"What're you smiling about? We don't have time for games." Raph told him, getting annoyed.
"No games, bro. I was just looking for...pizza. Yeah, come on, let's keep going." Mikey continued to smile as he walked away.
"Hurry. We must not stop." Usagi followed after Mikey while Kara and the others stood there for a moment. They all looked at each other, sharing the same feeling that something wasn't right.
The path they were taking had a fallen tree leaning against a boulder, blocking most of their path. Seeing this, Kara slid down Donnie's back so both of them could cross under it with ease. Donnie let Kara go first to watch over her then Mikey was after her.
Donnie blinked when he noticed something strange. "Uh, Mikey, where are your nun-chucks?"
Mikey turned to Donnie, still wearing that smile on his face. "Why do I need nun-chuks when I can use a sword?" He suddenly held out one of Leo's swords and began waving it up and down while giggling.
Kara took a step away from Mikey watching him play with the sword and started to help the others over.
Leo noticed one of his swords was gone and saw Mikey waving it around without a care. "What is wrong with you, Mikey. Give it back. Now."
"You'll just have to get it from me." Mikey hopped on one of the trees, balancing the sword on his nose while standing on one foot and blew raspberries at Leo.
"Why you little!" Leo went to tackle him but Mikey jumped over him and wiggled his butt in Leo's direction.
"Mikey, get back here!" Leo went to tackle him again but Mikey jumped over him again and dropped down on his shell, pushing Leo to the ground, and ran off while cackling gently. He ran towards the others and knocked Donnie down. Raph saw this and tried to catch him but he hopped over him and ran towards and up the tree, literally.
Dragan and the others watched this in shock as he began slapping his butt while making weird noises. Mikey felt a tap on his shoulder and when he turned around he was met with a fist to his face and was thrown off the tree, landing hard on the ground.
Kara stared down at him before she began to climb down the tree. When she dropped down Mikey had poofed into a pile of leaves and a racoon standing on it's hind legs popped up.
"Huh?!" Everyone stared down at it in shock.
"What the heck is that? And what happened to Mikey?!" Donnie shouted as it suddenly vanished. Everyone looked around to try and find it when Donnie let out another shout as the racoon popped into the air above him and landed right on him. It then used it's tail as a spring to bounce towards Raph and threw itself at him, throwing him to the ground before fleeing.
"We must catch it! Hurry!" Usagi shouted as he and the others ran after it.
"What is it, Usagi?"
"Yeah, and explanation would be nice right now!" Kara and Dragan ran close behind Usagi with the guys not far behind.
"It is Tanuki, magical tricksters that can either help or do great harm."
"You better not be leading us into more danger, Usagi." Leo said to him.
Dragan noticed Kintaro falling behind and ran over to him, picking him up. She carried him like a child, holding him close, as she caught up with the others. She began to slow down though when two Raph's ran past her. "What the?!"
"Wait, a second, why do we have two Raphaels?" Donnie called out noticing them as well.
Both Raph's stopped, staring at the other in surprise. "What? A second Raphael?"
"One of them is a disgusting Yokai!" Kintaro shouted, pointing at the two accusingly.
"You freaky imposter! I'm taking you down!" the Raphael on the right shouted before tackling the one of the left, both of them starting to wrestle the other.
"Well..this is new." Kara stared dumbfounded as Raph wrestled himself.
"Think ye can figure out which one is the real one?" Dragan asked her curiously.
"Possibly, I only knocked out Mikey cause he was either not him or ate something that caused his brain to go coo-coo. Either way it was a win-win for me." She crossed her arms and glanced down at Kintaro seeing him concentrating on the two Raph's.
When Kintaro saw Usagi walk up behind the two Raph's he immediately pointed at the imposter. "It's that one! The one on the left!"
Left Raph was met with a bonk to the head by Usagi's hilt and was instantly changed into a Tanuki before poofing away and fleeing.
"Thanks rabbit man, I owe ya. If there's one thing I can't stand it's an impos-" Raph's sentence was cut short when Usagi hot him across the head as well. There stood a Tanuki with the head of Raph.
It squeaked and began to dance around with Raph's head still the same which caused Kara and Dragan to start giggling.
Don't encourage them." Usagi said to the two girls before running after it.
"You've gotta be pulling my plastron." Donnie said out of breath before following Usagi.
Dragan stared down at Kintaro, still in her arms, and smiled before she and Kara followed suit.
They soon arrived at the Tanuki camp which was inside a hollowed out tree. There, they saw Mikey and Raph being cooked over an open fire.
"Oh no.."
"Raph. Mikey" Donnie stared worriedly at his brothers.
"We gotta help them." Leo began to pull his sword out from it's sheath but Usagi stopped him.
"No. Not yet. You will put us all in danger."
"Listen to what he says, lizard fool." Kintaro added, whispering so they couldn't be heard.
"Are you crazy? They'll be turned into turtle ka-bobs."
"Thay know what's best here, Leo. Listen tae them." Dragan said while setting Kintaro down.
"I'm saving them." Leo glared at them before pulling out his sword and charging toward the camp, Donnie following after him. Usagi watched them and let out an annoyed sigh before charging in as well.
"I'll stay here as back up." Kintaro hid behind a tree limb and blinked, noticing the girls weren't moving. "Well? Aren't you going to fight too?"
"I'm gonna sit this one out." Kara said as she began to sit down on the tree.
"Same. We don't know our enemy. It would be irresponsible tae charge in like thay are."
"Plus, we'd miss the show." Kara grinned as mess with the guys.
When it was all over Kara, Dragan, and Kintaro ran up to the others.
"You see Usagi? We had to attack." Leo turned to him while glancing at Dragan.
"No. It would have been easier if we made a simple offering. Which we need to do now." Usagi dug through his sleeve and pulled out a carrot. "I am leaving this." He raised his voice before taking a bite of the carrot.
"Heh, what's up, doc?" Raph muttered causing Kara and Dragan to snicker.
Usagi set the carrot down on a rock and turned to the others. "Does anyone have food for a suitable offering? If we do not, the Tanuki will plague us again."
Mikey nervously kicked his foot against the ground, trying to act innocent.
"I bet the dumb orange one has food." Kintaro pointed at Mikey.
"Whose you calling dumb, puggy?"
"He's right, Mikey. Cough it up." Donnie told him.
"Aww, but I'm down to two slices." Mikey whined but Donnie wasn't having it.
"We'll get you more when we get home. But then again, I didn't mind the show you guys put on." Kara crossed her arms, grinning at Mikey.
"Ugh, fine, make a turtle starve why don't cha." Mikey reluctantly gave in and pulled on his belt, pulling a slice of pizza out and laid it next to Usagi's carrot.
"We gotta move. I don't want to spend anymore time in this forest than we have to."
"You said it, Leo." Kara said as they made their way to the edge of the forest.
Entering the mountain pass Dragan noticed it was quite the drop so she picked up Kintaro and held him close to her. "Try not tae move too much, ok?"
Kara stared at their surroundings in wonder, taking in it's beauty, til they came across a narrow mouth to a cave.
"Ok? What is this, dudes? It's like a giant, sticky loogey!" Mikey poked something on the wall and looked down at his finger slowly moving it towards his mouth while sticking his tongue out.
"Worse. They're giant spider webs." Donnie told him and blinked when he immediately felt Kara cling to him. "S-Spiders?!" She yelped, her eyes darting in every direction. She clung tighter, wrapping herself around Donnie to the point it looked like he was suffocating when she heard Raph yell. "What?! What is it?!" She screamed frantically.
"I don't like spiders, Yojimbo. Especially the over-size kind!" Kintaro complained while looking around.
"Be silent, Kintaro-sama. We must be prepared for anything."
Dragan was trying to pull Kara off Donnie, his face turning as purple as his mask, when all of them heard a cry for help.
"This way." Usagi began leading the others towards the call. While that distracted Kara, Dragan used her strength to pull her off Donnie and dragged her towards the others. Kara protesting the entire way as the entrance grew smaller and smaller.
Usagi and Leo were the first to arrive where the calls were coming from, exiting to the other side where pieces of old, broken boulders and pillars seemingly floated in air due to the thickness of the fog.
Dragan and Kara were next to exit and they looked around.
"Oh, this place is giving me the creeps.."
"Usagi! Help me, please." A cat woman pleaded weakly, trapped in a spider web.
"Akemi? How can this be?" Usagi stared in shock seeing his friend in peril.
"I'll save you!" Leo called out to her, jumping to her rescue.
"Something doesn't feel right." Kara said, growing even more nervous. Despite her fear she was able to keep her mind rational in the situation.
"Be careful, Leo!" Dragan called out after him, sharing the same feeling with Kara.
Usagi looked around, the fog clearing somewhat under them and his eyes widened when he saw a massive spider web. "No, Leonardo, wait!" Usagi shouted to him but Leo couldn't hear him.
Dragan let go of Kara and went to follow after him.
"Please, free me." The woman begged weakly. Leo began to cut her loose. Once she was free she went limp in his arms and he gently set her on the ground. "It's ok now. We'll help you."
"Yes, help me, ninja." The woman said playfully, her arms transforming into thin legs, holding Leo close to her as her lower body began to change into that of a spiders. Her soft chuckles turned into laughter, holding Leo close to her face. "Help meee!" Her voice became deep and she shrieked at him, her lower jaw unhinging, revealing her fangs.
"Let him go!" Dragan shouted as she jumped towards them, kicking the spider woman in the face. She pulled out her sword and shield, standing protectively over Leo while the spider fled from them, shrieking still.
"What..what was that thing?!" Kara screamed, catching up with them.
"Stay calm, Kara. This is where we'll need ye most." Dragan glanced to her friend and gave her a small, reassuring smile.
Kara stared at her and nodded, taking in a deep breath. "Ok, ok." She closed her eyes and took a step forward. Donnie was with them while Mikey, Raph, and Kintaro were a ways away from them. "This is difficult. The ground is too spread out for me to get a good rea-DONNIE, BEHIND YOU!" Kara snapped her head in his direction and went to help him but the spider grabbed him from behind, pulling him close to her with her legs, and threw him into her web below them. She ran over to the edge, hearing his screams, and saw that he was alive. Luckily, his staff was keeping him from falling into the darkened abyss.
Next, it went after Raph, capturing him in it's legs and began to spin him around, wrapping him in it's cocoon web. "Ah! Deja-vu!" He shouted before he was fully wrapped and tossed him in to her web below them next to Donnie.
"Raph! Booyakasha!" Mikey spun his chain and threw it at him but she fled from him and appeared at his side, kicking him down to her web where he landed, now stuck.
Kintaro held his axe close to him as he took a step back, the spider's eyes now on him. "Y-You u-ugly spider woman. I'll-" Kintaro screamed as he was kicked off the edge to meet the same fate as Mikey.
Dragan was helping Leo up when the spider woman suddenly appeared before them. "Ha! You cannot destroy Joroguma." She shrieked at them and swiped her leg but Dragan held on to her shield tightly, blocking the attack. She swiped at them once more and used enough force to knock them back, pushing them down a slope that led to her web.
Dragan gritted her teeth, her feet sliding against the rock as she tried to slow herself down while stabbing her sword into the ground, stopping herself. A gasp escaped her lips when the spider used its web to take away her shield. Dragan glared at the creature and pushed herself off the slanted ground, pulling her sword along with her, and raised it over her head to spider laughed mockingly and spun around, her shield slamming into Dragan's side, and throwing her into the web with the others.
"Dragan!" Leo shouted only to gasp as the spider caught him, trapping him within its cocoon.
"Leonardo! Dragan-san!" Usagi called out to them as he jumped to the spider and stabbed it in it's thorax.
It shrieked in pain, swatting at him with her leg-hands but he jumped away from her attack, his sword ready to attack. She shrieked once more, shooting her web at him, both he and Leo now falling down to the web with the others.
"We're doomed! We're spider food!" Raph shouted, having broken his face free.
"Technically, she's only going to drain our bodily fluids and lea-"
"NOT HELPING, DONNIE!" Raph stopped his train of thought before he could finish his sentence.
"Ngh, wait, where's Kara?" Dragan looked around noticing Kara wasn't with them and began to grow worried.
Kara's eyes darted in every direction searching for the spider woman. She could hear it's chuckles all over the place and when she thought she saw it out of the corner of her eye, it was gone.
"I can smell your fear, young one." Joroguma giggled, stalking around Kara, watching her every move. "It makes your juices all the more delicious."
Kara patted her pockets, hoping to have something to fight the spider off and blinked when she pulled out her phone. The screen was cracked and the battery was low but miraculously, it still worked. Her mind was racing trying to come up with a solution when she remembered.
"Fear. My worst fear. I've faced it before and conquered it once. I can do it again." She clenched her hand around the phone and closed her eyes to calm her mind. Her eyes shot open when an idea came to mind and she began scrolling through her apps.
Her head snapped forward when she heard the spider woman shriek and charge right at her. She looked down at her phone and instantly clicked on the app she wanted. "Come on. Come on." She whispered as it loaded. Just when the spider woman was mere inches from Kara, raising its arms to bring her close, Kara raised her phone high and turned on the flashlight.
It's brightness caused Joroguma to shriek in pain while covering her eyes. "What is this?!" She screamed, backing away from her.
Kara flipped the switch to have the light blink every two seconds which caused Joroguma to shriek more, flailing her arms in a panic. While in her panicked frenzy, she managed to smack Kara's phone out of her hand, it falling between the web and into the abyss.
"Oh no.." Kara's eyes widened in horror and she stared up at Joroguma while she rubbed her eyes. Kara immediately turned around to run but Joroguma wasn't having that. With a shriek she grabbed Kara and threw her into her web with the others.
"I webbed you all like insects and soon I will drain you dry." Joroguma chuckled, lowering herself to her web, making her way towards them.
Everyone struggled to free themselves as she made her way towards them.
"Ah! Here she comes!" Mikey screamed.
"I don't want to be eaten by a lowly bug. Do something, Usagi." Kintaro said in fear.
"Even if you could break free below you lies a bottomless pit!" Joroguma stalked towards Kara, smirking ear to ear. "Your magic is gone now and you will be the first I will feast upon." She chuckled as her face instantly changed into a spiders.
Kara screamed at the top of her lungs as she continued to try and free herself.
"Hey, spider witch! Eight-legged butt face! Yeah! I'm talking to you!" Mikey shouted, trying to get it's attention. When he did though, he instantly regretted it, it shrieking at him while its jaw extended outward. "Heh-heh, just kidding. You don't really have a butt face."
A rock suddenly hit it's face and it snapped it's head in the direction it came from to see another pug child.
"Over here, Joroguma. Come get me."
"What's this?! There are two?!" Joroguma turned to Kintaro then shrieked as it followed the other one.
Once it was gone, Tanuki popped out of nowhere over each of them.
"It just got worse." Donnie whispered fearfully, staring up at the racoon.
The Tanuki giggled as it raised it's dagger and stabbed it into Raph's cocoon, who yelled out in a panic but stopped when he felt nothing. He looked down and saw it made a small cut in the cocoon, enough to let Raph free himself.
"The Tanuki are..helping us?" Kintaro questioned rather confused.
"I guess thay liked your off-" Dragan suddenly stopped short when she heard a rip and looked to see the web around them all was breaking loose. She and Kintaro looked at each other before everyone let out a scream as they fell into the bottomless pit.
The Tanuki then landed on each of them and pulled something from behind their backs to use as a parachute of sorts to float them all to safety. Once everyone was safe and sound on the ground Usagi stood to his feet and turned to the Tanuki.
"Thank you for saving our lives, Tanuki. May the gods honor you." Usagi bowed to them and the girls followed suit, bowing as well. When the Tanuki vanished, Kara dropped to her knees, holding her side in pain.
"Kara!" Donnie moved to her side to see if she was ok. She glanced his way trying to smile despite the pain and blinked when she noticed something shiny. "Huh?..My phone? Haha, awesome." She grabbed it, putting it back in her pocket and slowly stood to her feet.
Once they were out of the catacombs they made camp on the side of a mountain. Kara was laying down on her back, using Donnie's lap as a pillow, already asleep.
He stared down at her, stroking her bangs away gently from her face when he glanced back at Kintaro. "You know, Pugtaro wouldn't be so bad if he wasn't an entitled little jerk."
"Yeah, little loudmouth just needs discipline." Raph said through a yawn.
"I can hear you, turtle fools!" Kintaro told them, glaring at the two.
"Ah, whatever, puggy. Roll over and get some sleep." Raph yawned again and laid down by the fire, Mikey soon joining him. "Right there with you, bro. My shell is tired."
Donnie stared at the two and smiled before looking down at Kara and slowly moved her so when he laid down, she was laying against him with her arm around him.
Dragan enjoying the cool breeze of the night opposite of where Usagi sat and glanced towards Leo as he stood between them. "Usagi..I'm sorry I didn't listen to you sooner. I was arrogant. Thank you, for everything. I'll take the first watch. Get some sleep." He turned to Usagi and smiled.
"Thank you, Leonardo-san." He smiled at him and nodded before moving towards the camp to rest.
Leo sat down next to Dragan and lowered his head with a sigh.
"Is somethin' wrong, Leo?" She asked softly, looking at him.
"Do..do you like Usagi?" He asked slowly, never looking at her.
"He is a honorable an respectable Samurai. I respect his fighting skills an tuition. But I get the feelin' ye are not askin' about that."When he said nothing she closed her eyes with a sigh and wrapped her arm around his, leaning her head against his shoulder, a smile on her face. "You're too adorable, Leo. But I will never leave your side. This, I promise you."
Leo began to blush at her calling him adorable but soon began to relax after she finished her sentence. He closed his eyes and laid his head on hers. "I know." He whispered.
"Leo! Leo! Leo wake up!" Dragan shook Leo and when he opened his eyes she sighed in relief, hugging him close. "Dragan? Guys? It was a dream?.."
"No kidding, turtle dummy." Kintaro told him, placing his hands to his hips.
"You were controlled by Jei's magic." Usagi said to him.
"We all had the same dream and when he destroyed us we woke up." Donnie explained, looking at Leo.
"But why is he messing with us like that? Not cool, yo."
"Perhaps..he isn't gone?" Kara began, placing her hand to her chin in thought.
"Ye don't think he still has a hold o' the guys, do ya?" Dragan looked at her in surprise.
"To be honest, I'm not sure..this is completely different from when we were under the control of Shredder."
"Then we should hurry tae geit Kintaro home." Dragan nodded to Kara then looked to the others.
"Be wary Turtle Ninja. We approach the Mother of Mountains. We are not out of danger yet." Usagi warned them all as he and the others made their way to the mountain.
Dragan turned to Leo and placed her hand on his arm, giving him a reassuring smile.
He took her hand in his and clenched it gently before both of them followed after the others.
You all know the routine! All feedback is much appreciated!