Thank you very, very much to those who reviewed so far and I hope that everyone will enjoy the next chapter. Please let me know what you think! Nothing much else to say, so I'll let the story carry on...
…Don didn't know what to do. Of course Raph had to go after the wolf in a fit of rage, but did he have to crash right into the wolf? It may not have mattered in a different situation, but Raph's brutal stunt made things go from bad to worse. At the moment, said wolf was lying on the ground unconscious; and unfortunately, getting information from him now was definitely going to be much harder. Don muttered angrily to himself as he looked at Raph who had just stood up from his crouched position over the wolf. Suddenly, he noticed something unsettling. "Raph!" he yelled, running over to his brother. "You're bleeding! Are you okay?"
Raph looked at Don and quickly glanced down at his arm. He looked back to the wolf on the ground. "Yeah, guess he nicked me where Dagger bite was," he said, pointing over his shoulder to the wolf.
Don examined Raph's arm carefully. "I should have inspected your arm earlier. You're lucky it didn't get infected, but Dagger's bite along with this new cut still needs to be treated."
"Right," Raph replied sarcastically, "and there jus' happens ta be some medical stuff stuff layin' around in this crazy forest…"
"I'm…I'm working on it, okay?" Don retorted. He looked around, and then met Raph's eyes as soon as he realized what he would do. "Your bandana!" he exclaimed. "I can use it to wrap around your arm. Well, after you clean it, of course. We passed by the river just a minute ago, so we should go there first."
Raph jerked his head toward the wolf on the ground. "An' him?"
"Uh, I guess we can carry him with us…" Don said apprehensively.
"S'long as he doesn't wake up 'n bite our heads off," Raph sneered, bending down to grab the wolf.
"Ah, ah, ah—don't touch him," Don warned. He walked swiftly over to the wolf, and after hesitating a moment, picked him up. Don passed Raph, leading the way to the river, and clarified, "I don't want you worsen your injury."
Several minutes later, Raph's arm was cleaned and tightly bandaged with his red bandana. "Thanks," Raph grunted to Don after he was done.
"Well, at least we solved that problem," said Don. "And bonus, our captured friend hasn't gotten up either. Although I'm starting to worry…What if we can't get him to wake up? And if he does wake up, how exactly should we approach persuading him?" Raph shrugged in response. Don lowered his head and mumbled, "I guess we should have planned this out more."
Raph let out a frustrated sigh. "Why don't we, I don' know, splash some water on 'im? That always works fer Mikey."
"Yeah, and then he'd chase you halfway around New York with his water balloons," Don replied.
"What a knucklehead…" Raph smirked. Don chuckled at Raph's comment and shared a reminiscent look with his brother.
The memory of his youngest brother's antics made Don feel a bit anxious. He really missed his brothers. Shaking his head, Don reminded himself to go about this calmly and rationally. He knew he'd have to pull himself together or else he might never see them again. "I guess brooding won't get us anywhere," he told Raph. "We have to think of something."
"Meanin' that you'll think a' somethin'," Raph sneered at Don.
Don frowned, a bit offended. "You can help me out for once, you know." He groaned. "Let's see, if we wake the wolf up, we could threaten him to get some answers. But he might not talk." Don scratched his head. "And if he's smart enough he could lead us into a trap. Hmm…there are so many possibilities here. Maybe we could…"
Raph tuned out Don's long-winded ramble and tapped his fingers on his knee irritably. After a few minutes, he grew more and more impatient until finally, he couldn't take it anymore. "Donnie, don' bust yer brain overthinkin' things!" he yelled.
Don turned to his brother with an annoyed scowl and said, "It's not as easy as you think, Raph. These wolves aren't as dumb as you think."
Raph crossed his arms and snorted in disagreement, looking down at the wolf who lay between him and his brother. "More like they aren't as smart as ya think. I bet even Mikey is smarter than these flea-brained—" Raph cut himself off. "Mikey…hmm," Raph snickered.
"What?" inquired Don curiously.
"Donnie, I think I have a plan," Raph said with a familiar evil smile. "And we won't even hafta persuade the wolf." Don looked doubtful, but stayed silent. "Ya know when Mikey runs off after he pulls off one'a his stupid pranks on me?"
Don nodded. "So?"
"Well, the best way ta catch Mikey after that is ta make 'im think that he escaped me. And when he comes back to the couch or whateva', BAM!" Don jumped at the unexpected shout. "I catch the little sucker. Get it?"
"Uh…which part?" Don quirked an eye ridge.
Raph sighed loudly. "Do I have ta spell it out fer ya? Look, when that wolf wakes up, he'll probably be freaked outta his mind, right? 'An that means he'll go crawlin' back ta where all his little friends are an'—"
"—Then we can follow him back!" Don enthusiastically finished. "Raph, that's brilliant!"
"Meh, it all comes from practice…" Raph explained smugly.
"Okay, then. I-I guess we'll just...wait," Don said. "Out of sight, of course." He and Raph quietly got up and positioned themselves behind a tall bush. Through the breaks in the leaves, they were still able to monitor the wolf, who still lay motionless beside the river. After waiting a little while, Don couldn't help but fidget with nervousness. Though nothing was happening, the tension grew more intense as every second ticked by in Don's head. He started to have second thoughts.
Raph noticed his brother's discomfort and said, "Don, yer makin' me jumpy with all that twitchin'."
Don looked up nervously. "Sorry Raph, I…I just don't like waiting, doing nothing. I mean, we could be—"
"—Yer preachin' to the choir, bro," Raph interrupted in a low whisper. "I'm itchin' for a fight so I can pay back that Dagger tenfold and get all of us the shell outta here. But—and I can't believe that I'd be sayin' this—we gotta be patient if we want this thing ta work out."
Don chuckled softly. "Coming up with plans and then telling me to be patient? What's gotten into you, Raph?"
"Dunno. I just…dunno," Raph answered uncertainly.
"I guess we just really want our brothers back," Don said sadly.
"An' we'll get 'em. Then kick some wolf butt," Raph responded with a crooked smile.
Suddenly, Raph and Don sensed movement in front of their bush and went still. Through the leaves, they could see the wolf slowly get up and whip its head around confusedly. The turtles did not so much as twitch when the wolf sent several fierce barks into the dark forest beyond him. When the warnings were unanswered, the panic-stricken wolf bounded into the forest at a startling pace. Unbeknownst to him, two turtles with ninja speed followed close behind in the shadows of the trees. They desperately fought to camouflage themselves in the green shades of the forest, though if the frantic wolf had been watching closely, he may have noticed the peculiar white glint of their smiles as they moved closer and closer to the location of their brothers.