Raph, Donnie, and Mikey had been fighting Rahzar, Fishface, and the Foot Ninjas for a long time now. All three of them were getting exhausted from fighting, as well as irritated that their enemies just won't go away. Even when the turtles tried running away from them, the Foot Ninjas and the two evil mutants refused to leave them.
"Why are they so determined to attack us," Donnie questioned breathlessly as the turtles continued to run over the rooftops, with the bad guys chasing after them.
"They're just slowing us down from getting to Leo," Raph answered, anger steaming in his blood over the villains preventing them from saving their brother. "We gotta lose these morons now!"
"Uh, guys?" Mikey suddenly stopped, pointing at a direction in front of them.
Raph and Donnie both halted to see more Foot Ninjas up ahead, waiting for them.
The three turtles ninjas groaned tiredly.
"Please tell me you got an idea, Donnie," Raph pleaded as the three of them turned to jump off the rooftop and land on the deserted street, unluckily still running.
"I'm working on it!" Donnie responded, but his brain was too consumed with stresses over trying to escape their foes.
Unexpectedly, Mikey stopped again. This time, he was smiling happily. "I got one!"
Raph and Donnie froze to look at Mikey, confused. "What?"
"Follow me!"
Mikey turned to a different direction and ran off. Raph and Donnie exchanged a baffled look, but followed their agitated brother anyway.
Eventually, the three turtles came upon the surface of the waters close by to the sewers. But they did not come empty-handed. Mikey and Donnie were holding bags of dead fishes, while Raph carried a bag of trash (much to his disgust).
"Mikey, are you going to tell us why you had us acquire all these fish," Donnie asked his little brother.
"And why I'm the one who has to carry the trash," Raph added annoyingly, trying to keep the repulsive trash away from his body.
"You'll see!" Mikey said, mysteriously and excitedly.
He started pouring the fishes out of the bag and into the waters. He faced his two brothers behind him. "Ok, go ahead and dump them!"
"But what would that accomplish," Donnie questioned, getting more perplexed by the second. "Besides polluting the water."
"Come on, guys," Mikey grinned encouragingly. "Don't you trust me?"
"NO!" Raph and Donnie instantly exclaimed, frowning down on him.
Suddenly, they heard a far off voice of Rahzar, barking, "I hear them. This way!"
Raph and Donnie appeared hesitant, hearing footsteps approaching. Their eyes moved from the bags in their arms to the waters and ending on Mikey, who smiled kindheartedly at them.
Finally, Raph groaned. "Why does he always do this?"
With that, Raph threw the trash into the waters, the garbage joining the dead fishes over the surface. Donnie's fishes were poured out of the bag and into the waters.
Soon, the entire waters were covered in fish and garbage.
"Ok," Raph turned back to Mikey. "Now what?"
Mikey beamed at the two of them.
When Rahzar, Fishface, and the Foot Ninjas finally caught up, they heard three loud splashes. They came closer and found themselves standing before the waters covered with fish and trash.
"Blech, what a waste," Rahzar commented, throwing a revolting look at the dirty waters.
"Well, it is New York," Fishface pointed out. He kneeled down to take a closer look at the soiled waters. "The turtles must have escaped down below."
"How fitting," Rahzar said. "A natural habitat for the filthy turtles." He turned to the Foot Ninjas. "After them!"
But the Foot Ninjas stood still, looking uneasily at the waters.
"What?" Rahzar demanded. "What's the matter with you? I said after them!"
However, the Foot Ninjas did not move.
Growling, Rahzar grabbed one of the ninjas and pushed it toward the waters.
The second the thrown Foot Ninja landed on the waters, it illuminated with pink electricity, sparks flying out from it and its body moving wildly, crying out in pain. And then, the ninja lay extremely still, floating over the wasteful surface.
This caused all the other Foot Ninjas to take a huge step backward.
Seeing this, Rahzar grumbled.
Until his eyes spotted Fishface.
"Time to take a swim," Rahzar announced gleefully, pushing Fishface unsympathetically into the waters.
Recovering from the shock underwater, Fishface glared at Rahzar through the surface, grumbled rude remarks to himself, then began his search for the turtles.
Rahzar and the Foot Ninjas remained above, waiting.
However, it didn't take long, for Fishface later popped out of the surface, his face filled with fear.
"Run away!" he shouted, his arms fluttering around. "Run away!"
Before Rahzar could respond, a giant head rose up from the surface, stretching its long neck high above them.
His neck was as high as a building. His skin was as pale as the full moon. His face was round in width. His eyes were as black as soot.
And he was staring at the group below him, hungrily.
The sea creature's head dipped down toward the stunned group, his mouth wide open. But Rahzar quickly recovered and instantly slashed the sea creature's face.
Which was a huge mistake.
Now extremely angry, the sea monster cried out into the air and used his head to smash into the two evil mutants and the Foot Ninjas. The group attempted to defend themselves, though the Foot Ninjas were dropping like flies, either by the sea monster's wrath, or from the waters dripping off of the monster.
Far away from the action, the three turtles stood on a rooftop, overlooking the fight with amusement.
"I gotta say," Raph said, enjoying the show. "That wasn't much of a bad idea after all."
Mikey beamed at Raph. "Thanks! Do you think he'll eat them?"
"I don't think it's possible," Donnie answered.
"Who cares," Raph said offhandedly, straightening up. "Now let's go get Leo."
With one last look at the battle, the turtles disappeared.
At long last, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey made it to the Shredder's secret lair. They soundlessly landed on the church's roof, avoiding the Foot Ninja guards, and slipped through the hole on the glass window.
Once they were inside, they scanned the area below them.
The throne room was strangely quiet and empty, with no Shredder sitting on his throne, no Karai, and no Foot Ninjas. No one was really there.
Well, except for one.
"There!" Mikey unexpectedly exclaimed, pointing his finger at something underneath them. Raph and Donnie immediately covered Mikey's mouth, but, thankfully (though suspiciously), nothing happened.
After a brief moment of relief, and releasing Mikey's mouth, Raph and Donnie turned to look at their younger brother's direction.
And their eyes popped wide open.
There, lying on the floor, at the feet of the stairs, was Leo.
Instantly, without even thinking that it could be a trap (since no one was guarding Leo), the three turtles jumped off from the ceiling and landed on the floor, keeping their stealth mode intact.
With their weapons up and their eyes scanning for possible intruders, the three hurriedly sneaked up to their fallen brother.
Once they were close enough to get a good look at Leo, they all froze, horror painted on their green faces.
"What happened to Leo," Mikey asked, unable to believe what he was seeing.
Leo was lying unconsciously face-down, completely covered with bruises and cuts. His body slightly twitch from time to time without warning. There were burnt marks on his arms. His wrists and ankles were heavily bruised. And, worst of all, there were only two large cuts on his bare face.
Leo was visibly wounded before their very eyes.
Donnie and Mikey suddenly went straight for him, falling onto their knees on both sides of his injured body. Donnie pulled Leo over and carefully rested his head on Donnie's lap. He examined his hurt brother, worry and fear over Leo's condition boiling in his brain. Mikey stared down at Leo, looking lost and devastated.
Only Raph stayed where he was. His fists tightening on his sais shook with rage. His eyes shut over his teary eyes.
"Those creeps tortured him," Raph growled, fury blinding his eyes once they've opened. Raising his sais, he turned around and started marching toward the door. "I'm going to teach those low-life bums a lesson they won't forget!"
Donnie was about to shout for Raph to stop when, all of a sudden, Leo started to groan.
That was what stopped Raph. He turned around to look back at Leo. His anger instantly replaced with grief.
"Leo?" Mikey said in a small voice to his unconscious brother, hoping that Leo would open his eyes and say that he was ok.
But none of that happened. Leo returned to silence.
Feeling his strength and motivation to seek revenge leaving him, Raph returned to his brothers and kneeled down beside Mikey, both staring down at Leo with concern.
Raph and Mikey could only wait as they watch Donnie scan over Leo's body, checking Leo's pulse and so on.
"Is he going to be ok," Mikey innocently asked Donnie after a moment later.
"He's still breathing," Donnie finally answered. "His pulse is still there, and these wounds don't look too serious. But we still need to get him back to the lair as soon as possible."
That was the best news Raph and Mikey had ever heard.
They helped Donnie to gently pull one of Leo's arm around Donnie's neck and pulled him up. This caused Leo to moan in pain.
Raph went to take Leo's other arm when a faint noise stopped him.
And it wasn't from Leo.
Swiftly, Raph threw exploding stars behind him, just in time to see Foot Ninjas suddenly appear and charging after them. The first three of them got hit by the stars and exploded, causing the other ninjas to halt, but only for a moment.
"Go!" Raph shouted to his two brothers behind him, spinning his sais threatening at the ninjas. "Get Leo out of here! I'll cover you!"
"Raph, we can't carry Leo over the roofs; it might harm him more," Donnie pointed out, while Mikey, on the spur of the moment, went to wrap Leo's other arm around his neck. "We need to get to the sewers now!"
Raph groaned, but shouted, "Fine, I'll make a pathway through these losers! Just go when you see it!"
Having said that, Raph screamed and charged after the ninjas, who stampeded after him.
With the vision of Leo wounded still fresh in his mind, uncontrollable rage flooded through Raph as he ruthlessly slashed and stabbed every single Foot Ninjas that came in his way. He sliced and kicked and thrust and decapitated the robot ninjas, making absolutely sure that none of them touched Leo.
Once he saw it, Donnie said, "Come on," to Mikey and the two of them began to slowly make their way toward the door, delicately carrying Leo along with them.
Some of the Foot Ninjas saw the retreating turtles and attempted to attack them. But Raph was immediately there and destroyed the robots, giving his brothers a clear getaway.
"Don't worry, Leo," Donnie assured his brother after hearing Leo groan once again. "We're almost there."
"Yeah, hang in there, bro," Mikey said in an attempt to comfort Leo, pulling Leo's arm closer to him. There was no way he was going to lose his brother again.
At last, Donnie and Mikey made it to the door, and almost all of the Foot Ninjas were shattered.
"Raph, let's go!" Donnie shouted to his hot-headed brother.
After stabbing another ninja victim, and stomping its head to make sure it cracked, Raph turned to follow, until his eyes spotted something, his vengeful eyes washed away with sorrow.
There, where Leo was earlier, was his torn, blue mask.
Right away, Raph ran to retrieve it. He held it with care, staring down at it with misery over what had happened to Leo.
His brother.
Raph wrapped and tied the blue mask to his belt with honor. Then, he followed his brothers out the door, smacking at two more defeated robotic ninjas before disappearing into the streets and into the darkness with the other turtles.
Now the throne room was full of ruined Foot Ninjas, scattered all over the floor.
Coming out from the shadows of the room was Shredder and his daughter. They walked forward, examining the damage surrounding them.
Both their eyes turned to the door, where the turtles had escaped through.
"This better work as you've suggested, Karai," Shredder said to her. "If it does, then our plan will finally commence, and Hamato Yoshi will fall."