Alrighty, here's the next chapter! I hope you like it, and please tell me if you do! By the way, if you're confused by any part of my story…well, I did the best I could, and I'm sure you'll get it eventually. Just think like Mikey and everything will be okay. I hope. Aaaaaand it continues…
"Leo, we gotta do somethin'!" Raph shouted over the chorus of growls.
"I know!" Leo yelled back to his brother.
But before Leo could do anything, the dark gray wolf howled, "Wolf army! Attack!" and he wolves jumped up and started to strike the turtles all at once. At first, the wolves seemed to overpower the turtles; they were unlike any enemy they had faced before. The wolves' attacks were unpredictable and ferocious, and their inhuman speed deadly. Soon Raph, Don, and Leo had received some nasty bites and scratches. But the real problem was not with fighting the wolves—it was protecting Mikey. The three fighting brothers desperately tried to stay in front of their grounded brother at all times, but the wolves were too uncontrollable. They couldn't stand in one spot for long. But the turtles would not let anything happen to Mikey and aggressively held back the wolves despite their disadvantage. And before long, the turtles had managed to diminish the wolf army to a point where the battle became a standstill. There were still a good amount of wolves left, but they were weary of attacking the turtles for fear that they too would be defeated like their comrades.
Leo was about to deliver another strike when the circle of wolves suddenly parted, revealing a large black wolf walking towards the turtles. "Silence!" the smaller dark gray wolf said to those in the circle, still glaring at the four turtles. And instantly, their threats ceased.
Gathering up his courage, Leo took a step toward the black wolf. "Look, we didn't want to fight," he said loudly, almost confidently. "We just want to leave—"
"—Leave?" the black wolf laughed cruelly, "Do not talk nonsense to me, you senseless creature. For the very moment you entered our astral domain, your fate was decided."
"Look, pal," Raph fumed, "we came in to ya stinkin' place on our own, and we'll leave the same way."
The dark gray wolf from before snarled menacingly and Raph flinched. "You will address our leader as King, you ungrateful trash," he growled.
"Stand down Dagger," the large wolf, now known as King, said. "It seems you beings are even more brainless than I thought." He looked dissatisfied. "You did not enter our celestial home through your own insignificant power. You came to our realm after crossing our spiritual boundary, or as you mortals perceived it, after entering the clearing."
The turtles' mouths stood open from shock. "But…that was yesterday when…" Leo trailed off.
Suddenly, the dark gray wolf came up to King. "You knew of their presence before?" Dagger bristled. "Why did you not tell me, King? If I had known, I would not have been caught off guard by such measly pests. My army could have ambushed them!" he shouted desperately to King.
King smiled evilly at Dagger. "But it wouldn't have been as entertaining," he answered bluntly.
Dagger gave a wide-eyed stare. "My army is not yours to sacrifice, King. I have lost many comrades—"
"—you still go on about these comrades of yours?" King sneered at Dagger. "When will you learn that as leader, the disgraceful must sacrifice themselves to me? There are no comrades here in our world; only the dead and the strong."
"Wait!" Don interrupted the intense conversation. "How could this make sense!" he cried. "How were we unaware of switching dimensions back then? And why didn't we see you until we focused on the mystic world?"
"So many questions for one so pathetic," King derided as he turned his attention to Don. "We are not in a separate dimension, you fool. As a living being, entering the spiritual boundary only gives the power to perceive our presence. It seems you must possess stronger mystic capabilities than most creatures of your planet, which allows you to see our bodily forms when attentive to the mystic world. But you still physically exist on your wretched mortal world." At that comment, King smiled wickedly. "Well, not for much longer, that its."
"Indeed," Dagger agreed, somewhat calmer from the heated argument earlier. "We wolves are spirits of this scared forest; as gods, all who show disgrace to us must perish by our hand."
"Okay, does anyone's brain hurt?" Raph asked. "I'm startin' ta get how Mikey feels…" Raph looked down at Mikey, who smiled weakly back.
"I still don't understand," Leo said to Dagger, ignoring Raph's comment. "How have we disgraced you?"
"Because—" Dagger stopped, at a loss for words. "It-it is the order of things," he reasoned weakly.
"The reason matters little," said King. He looked to Dagger and his remaining army and motioned to the turtles. "Kill them." At the command, a circle of wolves was formed once more, this time joined by Dagger.
The turtles got into a defensive position, surrounding Mikey again. "Man, this would be so much easier if Mikey hadn't swallowed that nasty river water!" Raph grumbled. Mikey couldn't help but look down with guilt. Raph immediately realized his mistake and looked back at Mikey. "But it's…ah, not your fault, Mikey…I—"
"—Guys, no more dwelling on the past, especially if we want to have a future!" interjected Don as the wolves circled closer.
"Wait!" holwed King suddenly. The circling wolves looked to Dagger, who nodded, and stopped. King pointed to Mikey with his paw. "He drank the sacred water…and still lives!" King said in disbelief. His eyes narrowed and he looked to Leo. "Give him to me, creature. We have lost too many of our kind to that damn river…it is only thing in this forest that dares to resist me." He glared darkly. "Perhaps if we fed your brother's blood to wolves—"
"—Oh no you WON'T!" Raph exploded, raising his sai. "Yer seriously deranged if you think that ya can jus' take our little brother and…" he cut himself off, not wanting to voice what came next.
Unimpressed, King turned to Dagger and said, "Retrieve the strange creature I want—and I expect there to be no failure this time. I will be waiting at the wolf grounds." The turtles watched in silent anger as King walked off into the deep forest.
Dagger broke the silence. "Let us strike a deal, trash. Give me your…so-called brother, and I will let the rest of you leave with you lives. I tire of this fight."
"Never," Leo said in a cold, even tone.
Dagger scowled. "Are you mad?" he roared. "You fight to protect a useless weakling?"
"Hey, Mikey's not weak or useless!" Raph shouted.
"Don't argue with him Raph," said Leo, his eyes still fixated on Dagger. "Just focus on winning this fight."
"Fine then," said Dagger. And without warning, he and the rest of the wolves attacked the turtles once more. As the Don and Raph guarded Mikey from the wolf army's attacks, Dagger pursued Leo ferociously. It was an intense battle, but something felt off to Leo; he sensed that Dagger wasn't attacking with a full force and seemed distracted. But before Leo could take advantage of this, Dagger spoke, "You creatures vex me terribly—" he just barely escaped Leo swords on a downswing, and continued, "—how can you protect that weakened one?"
At the mention of Mikey and his upsetting situation, Leo made a loud cry and managed to nick Dagger's shoulder with his sword. "Because he's our brother!" Leo yelled.
Dagger hissed at his injury but continued his argument. "I have seen—" he jumped high to evade another attack "—many creatures of this world, both human and animal, but none have persisted to protect others at expense of their own life—" he twisted away from Leo's sword when it caught his leg, "—when against our army."
Leo stopped at the depressing comment, as did Dagger who waited for an answer. "Our bond is stronger than that," he said vaguely. He remembered something he had told Mikey a while ago and added, "In this life, we only have each other; if one of us goes down, we all go down."
Dagger snarled, still unconvinced. "But what have you to gain from this bond?" he barked. "In our clan, King says that only the strong are to survive, and that has allowed us to be prosperous and—" he cut himself off with a confused grimace.
Leo, surprised at Dagger's reaction, stared at the wolf apprehensively. "Do you really believe in what King says?" he asked in a low, serious tone. "Your clan may be prosperous, but…" Leo paused, coming to a realization, "…you're not happy, are you?"
Dagger's eyes grew wide at Leo's statement and he backed away as if afraid. He shook his head. "No…" he said in a rough whisper. "I…we…" Leo lowered his swords and started to walk towards the distraught wolf. But Dagger suddenly attacked Leo with a newfound ferocity, shouting, "You lie! It is not so!" Unfortunately, Leo couldn't react in time to block the unexpected attack and was roughly thrust to the ground a few feet away. He cried out at the heavy impact and immediately lost consciousness.
"Leo, no!" came a gravelly shout from the distance. Mikey was charging at Dagger, nun chucks poised above his head. Wheezing, he got in front of Leo and attempted to strike Dagger, who dodged easily. He started to cough harshly from his loud yell, but still held his position.
"You..." Dagger growled. But before he could attack, Mikey fainted, his limp body dropping next to Leo's.
For a moment, Dagger froze from surprise, but was jolted awake from Raph's furious battle cry. Instinct took over and Dagger sprang up in a flash at his new attacker.
"Ahhh!" came a pained yell from Raph as Dagger's sharp teeth savagely clamped down on his arm. "Get offa me you stupid wolf, or I'll cut off yer whole jaw!" he shouted as he desperately tried to wrench Dagger off his arm.
"Hold on, Raph!" screamed Don as he finished off the last of the wolf army. He sprinted over to Raph and swung his Bo staff at Dagger, but the wolf was too quick. Dagger viciously released Raph's arm, letting a spray of blood cover Don's face, and clashed against both brothers. Don lost his balance and he fell to his knees, wiping a hand over his eyes. "I can't see!" he cried. "Raph, I-I can't see!"
Raph got up shakily, holding his bleeding arm in pain. "I'm right here Donnie, just don't—" he was cut off by another brutal attack from Dagger. He crumpled to the ground, also out cold.
"R-Raph?" Don wailed. A sound came from the left of him and he thrust his Bo in blind defense toward the direction, which successfully connected with Dagger's exposed flank. His powerful attack managed to fend off Dagger for a few moments, but the wolf launched himself at Don once he recovered. Don's Bo failed to hit a second time, and he too fell to the ground from a nasty blow to the chest.
Dagger stood above the pile of turtles, breathing hard. His legs gave out and he collapsed to the ground, his eyes still fixated on his enemies. He let out a long howl and waited a few minutes until a small group of wolves showed up. Dagger stood up to greet them and said, "Comrades, we must take the orange-banded creature to the wolf grounds."
The wolves complied and dragged Mikey out of the pile. Most of them left with Mikey, but a few stayed behind, warily eyeing the three other turtles. "What shall we do with them, commander?" one wolf asked.
Dagger hesitated, remembering his conversation with Leo. "We will take the blue-banded one as well..." he wavered as his eyes darted to Don and Raph. His memory flashed the fight between them, their faces desperate, and their attacks almost fatal—all for the sake of their brothers. "…and leave the purple and red-banded ones to me. I will take care of them," he finished confidently.
After Dagger watched the last of the wolves go with Leo, he went to slowly drag Raph underneath a large tree and hid him by the tall shrubs that grew around it. He went back for Don and pulled the turtle's limp body beside his brother. Satisfied, he started to head back towards the wolf grounds. A small moan came from behind him and he whipped around, but the turtles were still unconscious, slumped over one another. He watched the two turtles with an unidentifiable stare—perhaps of anger, or perhaps of jealousy—then silently slipped into the dark forest.