Sorry, SO very sorry for the wait on this one, crazy writer's block with this story, but it is good to be back into after so long of having no ideas for it. Hopefully you guys like it, and are having fun with it.
ON WITH CHAPTER 8
(MASTER SPLINTER'S MIND)
The telepathic due froze in shock over the figure that appeared them. It was the absolute worst case scenario that the Hamato Clan and friends had worked so hard to avoid; the Rat King was now in the mind of the amnesiac Master Splinter. On top of that, they've both been captured by the monster who the turtles claimed was dead.
As Rockwell and April tried to stand up from their chains, the simian growled, "Falco."
"Long time no see, old friend." the Rat King snirred as he stepped over to the two of them in an intimidating matter "It's good to know you've been practicing with your telepathic powers. he placed two fingers on Rockwell's chin like a parent forcing a stubborn child to give them eye contact "You always were rather resourceful, if memory serves." then with a chucked, he stood over a finished his statement, "No pun intended."
Rockwell had just about enough, and savagely reached to bite his enemy's hand, "Don't you dare approach me like you're my superior!" the mutant monkey exclaimed in anger. While Rockwell was enraged by the Rat King's presence, the red headed female was terrified. Master Splinter was still without memory and the culprit to his amnesia was now roaming free in Master Splinter's vulnerable psyche. What did this mean for her sensei? What did this mean for the father of her closest friends?
She stammered out the question that was on both of her mind and Rockwell's "No... no, you can't be alive. I overhead Mikey tell Donnie you were dead! They were sure of it!" that was when the zombie like foe turned his attention of the young teenager. He chuckled at her naive nature and explained her "misunderstanding"
"You human welches shouldn't underestimate my species." he replied as he turned his back to his hostages "Once the allies of those pathetic turtles arrived, my entire plan began to crumble within my grasp." he crushed his repulsively long nails into bony palms. "but like the rest of my rodent brethren, I saw an opportunity to retreat and I took it. When the room began to collapse above us, those foolish monsters took their eyes off me to save themselves. That's when I improvised my escape;" he paused for a brief moment and continued with sorrowful tone "I had to sacrifice dozens of my minions to shield me from the concrete's impact." he turned backed around to them to meet shocked expressions "Then I released the surviving rats from my telepathic control so they'd think I've passed on, and wait until Splinter literally let his guard down."
"Playing possum? That's what you've resorted to at this point?!" Rockwell asked pulling on his mental chains to no avail .
The Rat King stared down at former partner with a victorious expression through his deformed, dead skinned face. "Say what you want about my "dishonorable" deceptions, it got me where I wanted, didn't it?" he gleefully held his arms out to brag about his so-called victory
Suddenly, the red-head kunoichi silently gasped to herself with an idea. She looked down at the transparent chains thinking of her plan, and began to execute her plan by keeping her captor talking, "W...what makes you so sure you've won?" she asked quickly. "We're still here, and we'll never let you corrupt Splinter's mind." she exclaimed
The Rat King paused before replied to her embarrassing claims . With a condescending tone of voice, he began monologging as he paced the floor in front of them"Why haven't I won? Splinter's mind is an empty for me to paint in an entirely new image, and my only two obstacles are sitting before like sheep waiting to be slaughtered." he stopped acing as he formed a long, sharp, bladed katana into his hands and gently placed the blade over April's right shoulder, facing away from Rockwell "Speaking of slaughter," he showed a menacing, toothy, blood lusting grin at the sight of April's panic
Dr. Rockwell held his breath in fear. If April's mental form was harmed by another telepathic, then there'd be no conscious mind to return to the young lady's physical body. The only pupil he was ever trusted with would be destroyed forever. With a shuttering gulp, the mutant simian attempted to beg for her life, "Falco..., I swear if you hurt her,..." he tried to express intimidating rage, but it came out as pitiful fear for his friend
"You'll what?" the Rat King smugly asked, tapping the blade on April's skin "Kill me?" he lifted the blade off of the red head's shoulder and took aim for her throat "I'd like to see you try." he rose the sword over his head and prepared for a clean swipe at her vulnerable, thin little neck "After I murder this welsh!" he swung the sword at top speed towards April.
Rockwell shouted in horror, unable to break free "NOOOOOOOO!", but that shout proved to be unnecessary
With a light grin, April screamed in rage, bringing her powers into full capacity. At just the right movement, she summoned a large, thin, shard like shield to rise from the cracked ground floor and blocked the sword. Almost like a trampoline, the impact of his arm over that hard surface repelled him back and sent him sliding ten feet away from the two heroes. As for his swords, it was launched ninety degrees in the air, just as the young warrior intended. Using her weak telekinesis, she barely overcame the strength of the chain's binds to take control of the sword and forced it to land directly on her chains, freeing her from its bindings. While holding the blade in her hand, she gave a shocked Dr Rockwell a "all part of the plan" smile as she slashed his mental chains open as well
As relieved as he was to be free, he turned to April and strictly said, "I'd prefer it if you never take such a risk again." he said as the young telepath stood her teacher up.
"Ha, sorry," she grinned as she turned to the Rat King, lying on his back "Like someone once said," she said mockingly "If it gets the results you want, it works." she twisted the Rat King's own taunts against him as the villain stood up in a battle stance.
(REALITY)
Meanwhile in the physical world, Donatello was waiting for the A team to return with his injured older brother. As he somberly waited for them to come back, the purple masked ninja stood with his shoulder leaning on the wall of the dojo, his arms crossed as he stared thoughtfully at the frozen telepaths. He wanted something to do for his sensei, but what else could he do at this point? Granted, he had his own mental powers, as Michelangelo put it, but they weren't the sort of powers that were going to restore Master Splinter's memories. The worst part of all this was that there was no way to contact April or Rockwell during their mission, their bodies were just paralyzed in place while their minds were having their own little adventure inside his father's mind. The one thing that was bothering the genius turtle the most was himself. Why did he act and feel this way while staying with Master Splinter? Just listening to Master Splinter's break down about not remembering his own life felt more like suffering to watch than a Space Heroes marathon
"but why?" Donnie asked himself out loud. "You're the logical one, Donatello, so why are you acting like Sensei's gone when he was standing right in front of you?" he paced the floor, speaking to himself in the third person. When pacing the floor didn't ease his troubles, he decided to kneel down next to his Sensei, internally hoping he could hear his son's pleas "I always understand something when I overthink it, but I don't even know how I started fearing like you were gone forever." he said to Splinter, despite knowing that no reply was coming anytime soon. "I tried to reach your memories when I hugged you, but I knew that wouldn't do anything." the purple warrior stood up and paced around again "So why did I get emotional when I was expecting you do be so confused?" these emotions were driving the intelligent reptile insane. Of course it would hurt to see his role model and guardian in such a child like state of mind, but how could it hurt so much if he expected that child like behavior? His brothers all seemed totally focused on stopping the Rat King when they left. They seemed very confident that Master Splinter was going to be okay, but why wasn't Donnie?
His time for thinking was up when he heard the stomping of a large footprint enter the lair. Out of impulse, he turned to face the door with his trusty bo-staff facing the dojo's entrance. He was ready for a fight, but that wasn't what he got.
"Donnie?!" a young voice called out, Mikey's voice. With a light gasp, he quickly placed his bo back in his sash as he ran into the main room of the lair. Where he was met by Casey Jones, his brothers and the Mutanimals who all look like they just walked out of a war zone, none of them more than poor Leonardo, who was sleeping in he arms of the eight foot alligator.
"How long has he been out?" Donnie leaped towards them, immediately entering doctor mode once he saw his leader's condition first hand
"Since Mikey called you." replied Raphael as turned towards Leo's exhausted body "He's been moaning and tossing around a lot though." the second eldest brother explained as Donnie examined Leonardo in Leatherhead's arms
"We find him just in time." said the zany, molted bird in a concerned voice "We got separated while fighting the Rat King, and he was practically buried under a sea of rats when we found them." that last sentence struck a cord with Donatello, prompting him to look over Leo's wounds even faster
"Is he gonna be alright, Dude?" asked Casey Jones who was standing next to Slash, Mikey, and Pidgin Pete. "Your bro got the green beat off of him by that Rat King creepy." the freckled faced turtle was insulted on the remark about his leader and elbowed the reckless hockey lover in the chest.
After taking a moment to look over Leonardo's wounds, the young scientist had his diagnosis, "If I hurry, yes." he replied to Casey question as he motioned the caring alligator to bring the patient into his lab.
The phrase 'If I hurry,' suddenly rose quite a few red flags amongst the gang of misfits "If you hurry? What is that supposed to mean?" asked Raph as they all followed the two of them into the med bay. "Leatherhead said he'd be fine." The Mutanimal's second in command nodded to Donatello as Raphael referred to him
"Between all these wounds and being swarmed on by hundreds of diseased ridden New York sewer rats, half of his body has essentially become a doggy door for bacteria. I need to examine him for infections while I'm treating him or he could get really sick." Donnie hastily explained as he pulled out everything from his first aid box.
The hot head's jaw dropped as he looked towards Casey and Slash in panic, which the youngest turtle popped the question, "Wait, are you saying we could lose him?!" Mikey grabbed Donnie's shoulder, desperately demanding an instant response from his closest older brother.
At first, the purple masked ninja was annoyed by his little brother's actions, but quickly realized how poorly he worded Leonardo's conditions, making this additional situation seemed much worse than it was. So he turned towards Michelangelo with a caring, but swift answer "Oh, no no no no no. I'm sorry, I made this sound worse than it is. I just need ten minutes to create a vaccine that'll fight off any diseases the rats may've been carrying, and because you got him home so fast, there's no way we're gonna lose, Mikey, do you understand?" Donnie clarified for his brother, whoo exhaled in relief
"Oh good, he's gonna be fine." the blue eyed ninja reassured himself out loud. Raphael also showed some signs of relaxing after hearing Donnie confirm that his his only older brother was out of harm's way.
"Exactly," Donnie added as he rubbed his brother head with his toothy smile, "Now keep that in mind." he then turned his attention to everyone else "Thank you, guys, but if you could all give me a half hour in here, I'll have Leo feeling better by then." he said, clearly asking the six of them to exit the med-bay.
"Oh, sure."
"Take your time." they all replied as they exited the room. However, before Raph and Mikey made out the door, Slash paused directly in the doorway. Suddenly, he turned around to the genius turtle and asked "Hey, speaking of 'mind,' " he paused, waiting for Donatello to look up from wrapping Leo's wrist in bandages "How's Splinter doing?"
Splinter. That was the trigger word for the most most immature turtles of the four. They were so caught up in the battle and tending to Leo's injuries, they actually forgot about their amnesia fallen father for a while. Raph and Mikey jolted over to Donnie like bullets and questioned their nerdy brother in anxiety
"Oh my gosh, Splinter!"
"Donnie, is he okay?!" they pressured for an answer once again, but that only resulted in Donnie pushing both of them away in order to regain his personal space.
"Guys, guys guys. Take it easy." he requested of them "Right now, he's under a telepathic trance by April and Rockwell. They're in his mind restoring all of his lost memories as we speak." he explained calmly as the other two boys sighed in relief once again
"Thank goodness." said the red masked reptile, wiping the sweat from his forehead "I don't think I could take anymore surprises today."
"Me neither." Mikey nodded in agreement "So, can we sit in the dojo with Splinter?" the innocent little turtle asked with puppy dog eyes
Unable to resist that sweet little face, the tallest of the brothers rolled his eyes with a smirk "Alright, but no matter what, do NOT touch his body, or April or Rockwell's, got it?" he pointed a finger at both of them to make sure they were listening to him. "If you touch of them, it could hurt all three of them very badly."
"Got it," Raph gave his brother a thumb's up as he backed out of the med bay, shoving Mikey out of his way
"Hey Raph, no fair!" shouted Mikey as the two smaller terrapins raced past the one huge one to get to the dojo. Once again, before Slash could take his leave, the intelligent young warrior had a question to ask his brother's former pet. "Hey, uh, Slash?" Donnie stopped him before he left
"Hmm?" the hulking shellback turned around at the sound of his name
Donnie started playing with his fingers, worrying that the question he was about to ask was going to be awkward or strange "You know Rockwell better than we do, being his leader, and all. Do you really think he can help Splinter, especially while teaching April to use her powers?"
Slash rose an eyebrow at the brown eyed ninja in an interesting way. What a strange question, but understandable, considering who's getting the telepathic treatment. Don't worry about Splinter, Donatello. When it comes to telepathy, Doc is the best in the business. Just focus on Leonardo for now so both these problems can be " he said surprisingly with a reassuring tone to Donatello. Now, to Donnie, it was no wonder Slash was leader of Mighty Mutanimals, his ability to give helpful advice was on par with Leonardo's "Trust me kid, now that the Rat King's gone, it's gonna be smooth sailing from here on out"
(TO BE CONTINUED)
I DO NOT OWN TMNT
Please review and let me know if this chapter was wroth the wait