The Evil Inside
Author's Note
I don't think it's been too long since I updated, I hope lol, but I did write this chapter 3 weeks ago but I was on holiday and couldn't update. Anyway, here's the next chapter, enjoy.
Chapter 8: En el Reino de Los Sueños
Leo's POV
Watching Raph calm Mikey down made me think of all the rare times Raph shows this side of him. Most of them happening because of Mikey. Donnie stood next to me and I signalled to him to take Mikey out of the room. Raph turned his head towards me and I silently told him that we needed to talk.
"Come on Mikey." Donnie said as he patted Mikey on the back. "Let's go watch TV and clear our heads." Mikey stood up and followed Donnie over to the TV whilst me and Raph headed outside to the porch.
"Raph … how are we gonna do this?" I asked, worry filling my voice. I leaned on the fence, resting my head on my right hand. Raph walked over and joined me.
"I don't know." He replied. "Demon is keeping so much of this final battle a secret and we don't know what he's planning to do with Mikey." Raph sighed and leant against the wall, crossing his arms.
"Well one thing we know is that Demon's a trickster, he loves messing with people and we know for a fact that he specifically gave Mikey a nightmare just for the fun of scaring him." I answered, realising how much more powerful Demon was than us. "I think the only way we can beat him is to play his game … whatever that may be."
"What I don't get is … why us?" Raph started and I turned my head to face him. "Why is it always us?! Do we have some kind of beacon that attracts every murderous evil thing to us, for us to deal with?! Leo, how are we supposed to stop a freakin' Demon?!"
"That can't-" I began, but a load shout startled us and quickly we turned to the source.
"Guys, we have a problem!"
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Donnie's POV
The TV blasts as Crognard the Barbarian plays. When is this gonna end? When are we gonna finally be safe with nothing out there trying to kill us?
I looked over at my younger brother who was blankly staring at the screen, obviously trying to keep his eyes open. His head suddenly drooped and I quickly lunged forward to keep him from hitting the floor, waking him up in the process.
"Come on Mikey, you did it before and I know you can do it again." I encouraged as I gently lifted Mikey back to his original position.
"I know Donnie, I'm trying." He sighed and rested his head in his hands. "But it's stronger than last time, harder to keep awake."
"We are here for you Mikey and we will help you through this." I brought my younger brother's face up so we were making eye contact. "You are not alone in this otouto."
A small smile formed on our youngest's face as I'd gotten through to him. "Thanks, Donnie."
"I'll tell you what, why don't we watch a movie. You can pick and I'll also go and get Leo and Raph, it'd be like we were five again having sleepovers in our makeshift forts." I offered, smiling and standing up after receiving an energetic nod from my younger brother.
"Now what film do you want to watch?" I asked, Mikey was sitting straight up in his seat now.
"Ooh, ooh, The Avengers! We haven't seen that in ages." He answered practically bouncing up and down in his seat.
"Okay, let me go see if we have it." I walked over to the other side of the room to the bookshelf that was ironically filled with films. As I looked through I realised that we didn't bring The Avengers with us.
"Hey, Mike? We didn't bring The Avengers, what about Iron Man?" No answer. "Mike …?"
I turned to see Mikey slumped against the couch having passed out. I rushed towards him shouting his name as I did so.
"Mikey? Mikey! Come one! Wake up!" I pleaded as I shook him over and over again. He's not waking up! I can't wake him up!
"Guys, we have a problem!" I shouted hoping Leo and Raph heard me.
I sat Mikey back in an upright position and continued to try to wake him but nothing was working. "No, no, no! Come on Mikey! You can do this."
I heard Raph and Leo race into the room, panic evident on their faces. I turned to face them, anxiety laced into my voice. "I can't wake him!"
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Raph's POV
"Mikey!" I called out and we ran towards our youngest brothers. I gently pushed Donnie over a bit so I could join him and began to shake Mikey.
"I'm gonna kill Demon!" I threatened and as an impulse decision, I slapped Mikey across the face in a desperate attempt to wake him.
"Raph!" Leo shouted and for a brief moment I stopped and looked at Leo, expecting a lecture of some sort. He had a scowl on his face and a murderous look in his eyes. "I'll be right there beside you." He growled.
"Me too." Donnie agreed with a grimace that did not hide his panic and worry.
"I'll go get some water." Leo stated and ran to the kitchen, I turned my attention back to Mike.
"We need to wake him up now, for all we know he's already facing Demon!" Donnie exclaimed as I continued to use my best efforts to wake Mikey.
Leo raced back into the room and immediately splashed the cold water onto Mikey's face but to no avail, he remained passed out and didn't even flinch.
"Sorry Mikey," I stated. "Desperate times call for desperate measures."
"Raph, what're you doing?" Leo asked, paranoid as I brought out my sai.
Gently, I placed the blade at the top of his arm and applied pressure. As my sai cut into his skin, a drop of blood ran down his arm.
"Raph, stop!" Donnie screamed and attempted to pull my hand away but Leo stopped him.
Suddenly, Mikey gasped and startled immediately sat forwards, awake. I quickly retracted my sai, leaving a small cut that would not scar.
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Mikey's POV
My eyes shut abruptly and I lost all consciousness. A bright light startled me and I looked to be in the same room again with the light in the centre.
"Ugh, not this place!" I shouted. I've been in this place 3 times already. "Alright Demon, where are you?" However, there was no answer, it was completely silent. Confused, I continued to stay alert.
The floor began to rumble and I was shaken from side to side. What is happening?! It stopped suddenly and a stinging sensation on my cheek replaced it.
"Did someone just slap me incredibly fast or am I imagining this?" I asked myself.
"He-o M-ch-elo, go-d t- s-e y-u ag-in." A broken up voice called to me. I looked around the room searching for the source and my eyes were drawn to the centre where the light flickered on and off.
An image, on repeat, started to appear beneath the bulb and became clearer each time it reset. Until it revealed Demon repeating the same walk towards me but glitching to his original position after 3 paces.
A wave of cold ran down me as if I'd just been splashed with water and the ground shook again. Then suddenly stopped, Demon disappeared and the light turned off.
After moments of standing in complete darkness, listening out for any signs of movement, the light reappeared. This time revealing a normal looking Demon, who had stopped glitching.
"Now that that's over." It stated. "A proper greeting is in order. Hello Michelangelo, it's good to see you again." I just scowled in return.
"Ooh, someone's in a mood. Took a while for me to connect with you before, I've never had that much trouble." It shifted its weight from side to side, as if bored. "Now to do what I came here to do." It pulled out a small dagger and aimed it towards me.
I flinched and squinted my eyes as the small blade penetrated my arm leaving a small cut with a drop of blood draining out of it.
As I looked back up at Demon, I saw confusion written clearly on its face and I understood why. Clenched in its right claw was the knife, he hadn't even thrown it yet.
The light began to flicker again and I felt light-headed.
"No!" Demon shouted, stalking towards me. "It's not possible, they shouldn't be able to do that! Y-o sh-ul-n't be a-le t- go b-a-ck!" It glitched again as it lunged towards me.
My eyes shot open and I immediately sat up. I felt someone pull me into their plastron and through all the muffled sounds, I was able to make out a strong heartbeat.
"What is going on in here?" A wise voice asked. "Is Michelangelo okay?"
I felt someone lift up my face and my dreary eyes were able to focus on the person before me. Tired, I leant into the furry hand, content for a moment.
Donnie bent down in front of me. "Mikey, what happened?"
"Um, well my head's a bit fuzzy. But I remember that I just passed out and then woke up in that room. The ground kept shaking and it felt like someone slapped me and drenched me in water." I explained, rubbing my head.
"Oh, well that was us." Leo said sheepishly and gestured to an empty glass and a puddle on the carpet.
"Yeah, we were trying everything to wake ya up." Raph added, guiltily rubbing the back of his head with his hand.
"Oh, well that explains that then." I replied, smiling.
"What else happened, Michelangelo?" Sensei asked as he sat down next to me.
"Well Demon appeared and kept glitching because it couldn't reach me. Huh, I guess I wasn't fully there yet. Oh, but when it had completely formed it greeted me and then pulled out this small knife. I thought it had thrown it at me because a small cut appeared on my arm. Just … like … that one." I continued, studying the cut on my arm.
"Oh, yeah that was me. I couldn't think of any other way to wake ya." Raph stated, lowering his head a bit. "But it worked, didn't it?"
"Yeah, it brought me back but Demon said it was impossible and that you guys shouldn't have been able to bring me back after me being there." I finished and looked at each one of them.
"Yeah, how did we do that?" Donnie asked and turned to the others. The sounds around me became muffled and I couldn't make out any voices, other than one.
"Michelangelo."
"Go to sleep. All of this will go away if you do and you can finally rest."
Sleep did sound good, I haven't had a proper night's sleep in ages. But I can't because otherwise, I'll have to fight Demon.
"You can fight me now if you prefer?" It stated and a shadow formed in the corner of the room where I was staring, revealing itself to be Demon, grinning maliciously at me.
I felt woozy and drowsy and suddenly the whole situation was funny to me. I laughed. I kept laughing. I felt someone shaking me but I kept laughing. Demon joined in the laughter and walked towards me. I closed my eyes and rubbed them, feeling even more tired than before but still chuckling away.
I opened them and saw Leo walking towards me but he looked weird. His mask was torn and his skin looked tinted. The shaking stopped and my laughter died down to a giggle.
"It's okay, Mikey. You can go to sleep now." I felt unsure, I was told not to sleep. "You are laughing, right? That means that you're happy and that the whole's situation's over." Leo now stood in front of me.
He placed his hand on my head and a chorus of voices whispered 'sleep'. My head drooped once, then twice and then black filled my vision.
A light appeared in the centre of the room and a knife stabbed into my arm.
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Leo's POV
"Mikey? Mikey!" I shouted, desperately trying to get my youngest brother's attention as he stared at the corner of the room.
"I sense a cold presence." Master Splinter observed and studied the room.
"Mikey? What're you seeing? Is it Demon?" Donnie asked, but Mikey's eyes were glazed over and he wasn't responding.
He began to laugh maniacally and kept laughing. Raph started shaking him but he wouldn't stop. It was creepy and looked as though our youngest was losing his sanity. However, his laughter began to die down and he rubbed his eyes.
"Mikey, I don't know what that was about, but don't fall asleep." Donnie advised but Mikey kept giggling and staring ahead of us.
"Michelangelo, my son. Fight this, fight Demon and come back." Sensei pleaded and placed a paw on Mikey's shoulder.
Suddenly we were all pushed back, away from Mikey and onto the floor by an invisible force.
"Um, Leo?" Raph asked and as I looked to him, he pointed near Mikey. Standing there was a ghostly looking me with darker skin and a ripped mask.
"Uh, guys that's not me." I replied, the fake Leo brought his hand up and placed it on Mikey's head. Mikey smiled, his head drooped twice and then he passed out.
"No! Mikey! You need to stay awake!" I shouted but couldn't move. The fake me turned to us and morphed into Demon. It grinned and laughed.
"See ya later turtle freaks." Demon mocked and disappeared like a Cheshire cat leaving only its grin behind last.
"What do we do now?" Donnie asked as we sat up.
"We meditate." Master Splinter started. "Join Michelangelo in the dream realm and help him defeat Demon."
"But how would we find them?" Raph asked, clenching his fist.
"Using your bond as brothers and mine as a parent, we will enter Michelangelo's mind to get to the specific area he is in with Demon." Sensei explained and moved into a meditative position. "Come, my sons, sit and let us meditate to help your brother."
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Author's Note
Well there you have it, the final battle will begin soon and you'll find out the rules of the 'game' in the next chapter. BTW 'en el Reino de Los Sueños' translates from Spanish to English as 'into the dream realm'. Also, the reason why Demon showed more power than it has before was because it got bored with the amount of time it'd spent messing with Mikey; and ended up annoyed that things weren't going its way so it sped things up. -Just to clarify, anyway please follow, favourite and review.
Wolfangel33 xx