Chapter 18: From Bad to Worse

Back within the hideout in the depths of the sewer tunnels, the young human boy, Keno, sat with Master Splinter in the main area, surrounded by brightly lit candles as they meditated together in complete silence; the only sounds heard were the dripping of sewer water from the pipes, and the commotion on the streets above.

Ever since the others had gone to fulfil the Shredders' demands – and to ultimately execute their plan to stop them – Keno had been told to stay behind with Splinter and Dr. Falco where he would be safe from harm. At first, Keno had been very reluctant to simply sit there and do nothing whilst they risked their lives on the surface, but the ninja master had suggested that they meditated instead, to clear the young one's mind and hopefully see the reason for his staying here. It had worked for a little while, with Keno fully relaxing into the meditative state as he sat calmly before the rat master. However, Keno began to become restless, and broke the calming silence with a long, heavy sigh. His ear twitching atop his head, Splinter cracked an eye open as he watched Keno suddenly stand up and pace the floor back and forth, raking a hand through his hair in agitation.

"I can't take this anymore!" the boy growled. "We should be out there helping the guys get April's father back! Not sitting here and meditating! I don't get it! We should just –"

"No." Splinter declared firmly as he too stood up, his form easily towering over the young human boy as he looked down at him pointedly. "You have youth. I have experience. But only those who now fight have both."

Rolling his eyes, Keno let out another harsh breath. "But Master Splinter, I can fight!" he argued stubbornly, "And you're their Sensei, aren't you? You and I could take those creeps down with them!"

It was Splinter's turn to sigh now as he shook his head. This boy, though he had a genuine heart and a sense of justice and courage that was indeed very admirable, he was just like Raphael in some ways, and in others, he was like Michelangelo. He was strong, and his skills were impressive, but he was too young, impulsive and inexperienced to be involved in such a war. He was more than willing to risk his life for the friends he had made and for the people of this city, but he was nowhere near ready to meet the same challenges that his four sons were now forced to face.

Before the boy could voice any other argument, Splinter put a firm hand on his shoulder, further silencing him as he looked up at the larger mutant. "Keno," he began calmly, "the turtles fight because they must. They fight to save Mr. O'Neil, and the many innocent lives of the people of this city. However, that is the last resort for the true ninja. Used unwisely, and it can become a double-edged sword."

Biting down on his lip, Keno lowered his eyes to the floor in thought as Splinter continued. "I know you mean well, child. And I know that I cannot force you to remain here. But this is something even they have never faced before; our presence out there would only hinder and distract them from their goal. We must let them succeed on their own. All we can do is wait and pray for their safe return."

Keno finally looked up once again to Splinter and met his gaze. He could see the slight fear in his eyes, and the hand on his shoulder held tension as it tightened. Despite how well he hid it outwardly, Splinter was anxious for his sons and his surrogate daughter, as well as their other close comrades that, as far as Keno knew, they also considered as family. If Keno rushed off blindly into the fight, he could very well endanger the whole operation. After all, he had almost gotten Raphael killed the last time they'd acted recklessly. He'd learned from his mistake, and the last thing any of them wanted was a repeat of it. Or something far worse.

With his resolve finally made, Keno nodded. "…Alright," he said at last, feeling the subtle way in which Splinters' hold relaxed in relief. "I'll stay down here and wait. But if they ever need the backup…"

Splinter nodded. "…Then we shall be there."

Meanwhile, back on the surface world, time was off the essence as Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo and Karai raced across the rooftops, pushing themselves to their limits as they charged towards Central Park.

They'd heard Dogpound's roar from a mile away, and it didn't make matters any better that they could see that the center of the park fully was fully lit up with decorative lights. They'd forgotten that tonight was Christmas Eve, making it the perfect time for Shredder to launch his new mutant soldiers out for an attack…and shed a lot of innocent blood.

Despite how far they had left to go, they could already see the mutant dogs' outlandishly monstrous form crashing through the trees, which were all knocked down with ease in the process as he ploughed through. "Looks like mutt face is already at Central Park!" Raph shouted out with a low growl as they ran.

At the front of the pack, Leo narrowed his eyes dangerously. "Damn Shredder!" he snarled, "Millions of people are going to be killed if we don't get there in time!"

"Don't worry, Leo!" Karai called as they simultaneously bounded across the gap between two buildings with ease, "Donnie and the others are there. They would've evacuated the area by now, right?"

During the debate, Mikey was already dialling April's T-Phone number as he ran alongside Raph, though his fingers were nearly numb from the cold and trembling with fear. He'd already tried calling Donatello several times within the space of a few minutes, but he'd gotten no answer. Casey was exactly the same. So as he brought the phone to his ear and waited anxiously for April to answer, he silently prayed that it didn't go to voicemail this time. He needed to know that they were okay. They had to be okay.

"C'mon, April," he mumbled pleadingly, his fingers drumming against the phone impatiently. "Come on, come on, pick up, please…"

The heavens must have loved him in that moment as seconds before it went to voicemail, a panicked, breathless yet beautiful voice answered his call. "H-hello?! Who's that?!"

Mikey let out a heavy sigh of relief as he thanked his lucky stars. "April, it's Mikey! Did Donnie bring your Dad back okay? What's going on?" he babbled.

"Yeah, Mikey, my dad's okay," April replied. "He's hiding – whoa! – C-Casey's just sent him back down into the sewers. He knows the way back to the hideout from here using Donnie's T-Phone as a map, so he'll be fine!"

Oh.

Kirby was using the map on Donnie's T-Phone? Well, that explained why he wasn't answering his calls. "Okay, but what about you guys? Are you guys okay?" Mikey asked again, his worries only growing as he heard the sounds of fighting in the background.

"W-We managed to get everybody out of the area, and no one was hurt, but…w-we're not doing so hot out here, Mikey! We ran into –"

Before she could finish, Mikey heard another loud roar echo from the phone followed by a crash, and his eyes widened. "Dude, is that Dogpound?!" he cried.

"Yep! What happened? I thought Shredder said –"

Leo snatched Mikey's T-Phone from his hands as they ran, earning an aggrieved "Hey!" from the younger turtle that he ignored as he spoke into the phone. "Shredder lied, April!" he snarled. "He sent Fishface and Dogpound out anyway and kept us back to stall for time! You guys have gotta get out of there, now!"

The blue clad turtle heard her sigh long-sufferingly through the phone before she responded tiredly, "Easier said than done, Leo; we can't shake him off! Hurry though, Dogpound's going to – oh no, now Fishface has just –"

The line fizzed and crackled, the connection starting to break as a piercing bark rang out before the sound of tearing clothing and flesh was heard. A flood of panic rose up in Leo's chest at April's sudden scream of pain. "April?! April, are you there?!" he cried, but received no answer.

"APRIL!" he heard Donnie shout in the background before the line cut off completely, the phone going dead. Leo cursed as he clenched the device tightly in his grasp. April was hurt and out of commission, and Donnie and Casey were, at this point, totally out-matched.

Things were just going from bad to worse.

"Perfect! Now what do we do?" Raph barked at Leo's side, drawing the leaders' attention away from the phone (which looked as if it were about to be crushed in his vice-like grip) and over to him instead. "We've got both Dogpound and Fishface to deal with now!" This was quickly proving to be the worst night ever for them, wasn't it?

After tossing Mikey's T-Phone back to him before he broke it completely, Leo pondered for a moment over what Raph had just said. Dogpound and Fishface were in the same area at the same time? Perhaps that could work in their favour…yes, it could! In fact, it was closer to what he and his brothers had planned to do from the start.

"Actually," he mused aloud, his brows furrowing in thought as he brought a finger to his chin. "…that's not too bad…"

"What?!" the other three exclaimed. Had Leo lost his mind?

"Leo, what are you saying?" Karai asked. "Do you have a plan?"

To the kunoichi's surprise, Leo turned his head and grinned at her. "I sure do, and a pretty good one at that." He then turned to Mikey, who ran directly beside him now. "Mikey, are those cubes still frozen?"

Shrugging off the bag from his shoulders with care, Mikey quickly peeked inside and nodded. "Yep! Solid, Leo!" he replied with a thumbs up.

Leo nodded back. "Good! With Dogpound and Fishface together, we can turn them back to normal and save the others, killing two birds with one stone! Let's move it!"

Back at Central Park, Donatello and Casey were struggling.

It had been hard enough to fight off the mutated dog on his own, but when Fishface had shown up not a few moments later, the situation had taken a very dangerous turn for the worst. Luckily, the entire crowd of frightened humans had fled for their lives and emptied the park out before the fighting had begun, but not before the two mutants had managed to decimate all the food and toy stands, various small rides and even knock down a few trees. The park was now a disaster area, but they paid little heed of the state of the park as the somewhat one-sided battle raged on.

A furious Donatello took on Dogpound, and Casey took on Fishface. April had received a hard blow to her side, and was now lying unconscious on the grass from where she had slammed into a tree. A small trail of blood was pooling around her small frame, staining Karai's clothing and the green grass with a sickening red hue.

The very sight of it managed to set Donnie off like a bullet.

"You're not gonna touch her again, you overgrown mutt-face!" Donnie roared as he whirled his Bo staff over his head before he leapt into the air and swung it down on Dogpound's head with near murderous intent. However, Dogpound caught the oncoming staff with ease, and then flung Donnie into a nearby tree. The back of Donnie's shell hit the tree with a loud crack, and he slid back down to the ground next the unconscious red haired girl, groaning in pain as he gripped his aching right side.

The crack rang through Casey's ears, and he turned to find the turtle lying motionless on the grass. "Donnie!" he cried out, his eyes going wide. Fishface took his distraction as an opportunity to strike, and he spun his robotic limbs like a helicopter as he kicked Casey brutally in the stomach. The force of the blow sent the human boy flying into the same tree, and he landed limply on top of Donnie, who let out an "oof!" from the added weight.

The two larger mutants chuckled darkly as they loomed over the three fallen heroes. They had truly enjoyed this little melee, but as fun as it had been (as well as too easy) it was now time to end it. "Any last words before you perish, turtle?" Dogpound sneered as he raised his clawed fist in the air, ready to bring it down upon their heads.

Blinking the stars from his vision, Donnie weakly lifted his head and looked up, his dark eyes narrowing with anger. But upon noticing something that the two mutants were oblivious to, his glare was quickly replaced with a devilish grin. "Just one..." Donnie managed to say. "…Booyakasha!"

Dogpound raised a confused furry brow. "What?" he barked. What the heck was that supposed to –?

"BOOYAKASHA!"

Leaping out from the trees, Mikey suddenly appeared, landing on a flabbergasted Dogpound's head before he quickly jumped off again with a hard kick to the canines' snout. Barking loudly in anger, Dogpound rounded on the orange clad turtle, swiping his claws at him, though he missed by inches as the young terrapin danced mockingly around him.

Not far behind Mikey, Raph bolted from out of the bushes as he charged towards Fishface, jabbing him hard in the face with the handle of his Sai. Fishface reeled backwards with a grunt, hissing at the red clad turtle once he regained his balance. Unfazed, Raph spun his Sais threateningly as he pointed the honed tips at the mutant fish as they faced each other, glaring one another down. "Good to see you again, Calamari Boy," Raph taunted testily. "Where were we? Oh yeah, I was turning you into fish sticks!"

Fishface hissed at him again. This boy had the nerve to insult him? Well, two could play at that game. "Actually, I believe I was turning you into Turtle Soup!" he mocked right back.

Rolling his eyes heavenward, Raph only smirked. "Yeah, like I've never heard that one before!" he snickered, and without further warning, he Fishface charged one another, teeth bared and weapons drawn with violent intent, though as they fought, Raph silently thanked the stars above that they'd made it in time. His worst nightmare had been mere seconds away from becoming a reality. And if it were not for Karai's quick thinking, he would have lost his brother, his best friend, and his sister.

But unlike his dream, he'd been able to save them just in time. Now all he had to do was keep this fish out of water occupied until Leonardo could think of a way to get that retro-mutagen into their system without getting eaten.

Sidestepping the fight between Fishface and Raphael, Leonardo and Karai darted across the field and were instantly by their fallen comrades. "You guys alright?" Leo asked, keeping the worry out of his voice as he helped Donnie back onto his feet again.

Stumbling unsteadily for a moment, Donnie managed to give his older brother a weak smile. "Ugh…been better. Thanks for the help," he said. "What took you guys so long?"

Leo smiled back. "We had to take a detour."

Karai moved next to April, quickly lifting up her shirt to survey the damage done by Dogpound. The claw marks weren't deep, and the wounds had stopped bleeding, but if they were left alone for too long they would start to fester. Taking in a breath, Karai looked down at the yellow shirt she was wearing and sighed. "Sorry, princess," she muttered before taking the bottom of the shirt and ripping off a strip, quickly tying it around April's waist tightly. It wasn't much, but it would have to do for now until they could get back to the hideout. Nodding to herself, she turned back to Leo and Donnie as they set Casey back on his feet. "She'll be okay, but you need to get her out of the way," she ordered.

"And what's the plan for dealing with those two clowns over there?" Casey piped up, jabbing his right thumb in the direction of the battle, which from their standpoint, wasn't looking good; Raph was, despite his efforts, getting stomped by Fishface.

His face set firmly, Leo turned to Donnie and Casey. "Okay, here's the plan; Karai and I will handle Dogpound. Casey, you go and help Raph with Fishface. Donnie, you get Mikey to help you get April out of harm's way until we can figure out a way to get the retro-mutagen down their throats. Let's move, team!"

Without further instruction, the group went their separate ways. Donnie waved Mikey over quickly, and the orange clad turtle dove under another swing of Dogpound's arm as he ran over to his older brother, his blue eyes going wide at the state she was in. Between the two of them, they hurriedly but carefully picked up the comatose April and moved away from the battlefield. Once they were hidden safely behind a toppled Hotdog stand, they set her down on the grass, and Mikey gently took her shoulder and shook it in hopes of waking her. "April! Sis, wake up!" he called to her.

To their liberation, April groaned softly as she blinked hazily. "…Mikey? Donnie?" she murmured as her eyes set upon two slightly blurry figures looking down at her.

The turtles let out a sigh of relief as they carefully set her upright again, being mindful of her injuries. "Are you going to be okay, April?" Donnie asked, concern clear in his tone as he laid a hand on her shoulder.

April hissed in pain as she tightly gripped her aching side. "Yeah…I think I'll be alright…" she strained to say through her gritted teeth. "It's just a scratch, it'll be fine." She looked down at the wound, only to find that a strip of yellow cloth was tied around her middle with blood seeping through it. Her eyes widened. "Wait a second…is that my shirt?!" she squawked. That was her favourite shirt, too!

Despite his immense concern, Donnie nodded once as he smiled at her outburst; she was going to be just fine. After all, she was tougher than she looked. Returning his thoughts to focus on the task at hand, he looked over to Mikey. "You still got the bag?" he asked.

Mikey nodded, holding the bag up proudly. "Yep! Sure do, Donnie!"

"Are the ice cubes still frozen?"

Mikey quickly checked, and his smile dropped slightly. "Yeah, but I think they're gonna melt soon."

Muffling a quiet curse, Donnie let out a quick breath. "Okay. If we're gonna do this, then we'd better make it fast!" He put both hands firmly on his younger brothers' shoulders and turned him to face him. He looked him straight in the eyes. "Okay, Mikey, I really need you to listen to me now, okay? This is serious."

After taking in a deep breath through his nose and letting it out again, Mikey nodded firmly at his older brother. To Donnie's surprise, Mikey's face was suddenly very sombre for the first time in a long time; not a trace of his usual jubilant, childlike self was in his expression. Donnie admittedly found it quite unnatural to see his baby brother so serene, but he proceeded.

"Okay," he began, having confidence in knowing that Mikey was finally listening to him. "Here's the plan..."

Meanwhile, Leo and Karai stood before Dogpound as Casey rushed off to help Raph fend off Fishface. Dogpound chuckled at the two of them, cracking his neck from side to side. "Well, well, well, if it isn't the traitorous wench, Karai," he sneered down at the girl. "Come back to beg your 'father' for forgiveness, have you?"

Unperturbed by his insult, Karai only scoffed as she and Leo shared a smirk. "Actually, I came here to get myself a new fur coat," she retorted as she launched herself at Dogpound, her short sword in hand, with Leo closely behind her with his katanas raised.

As a cocky grin spreading across his dog-like features as the two young warriors came at him at once, Dogpound swiped his claws at them both. Leo managed to dodge it this time, but Karai took a direct hit and was sent skidding across the grass. "What a disappointment," Dogpound ridiculed. "And here I thought you'd actually gotten better after all this time!"

"Karai!" Leo cried, and then he rounded on Dogpound with a snarl that rivalled his own as he leapt at him, swords bared and ready to strike him down. However, Dogpound merely smacked the turtle away with a flick of his oversized hand, sending him flying through the air before he crashed into a pile of broken wood. He didn't get up again as he lay there, groaning in pain.

Her eyes wide, Karai scrambled to her feet again as she stared at where the turtle lay half buried in wood. "Leo!" she called. The distraction left her unprepared and unguarded as Dogpound grabbed her around the wait with his larger hand, lifting her effortlessly off the ground. She growled as she struggled in his monstrous grip, bringing up her sword as she stabbed repetitively at his paw, but he remained unharmed by her futile attempts to get free.

Dogpound chuckled. "Look what I have...a new chew toy!"

Karai stared at him in wide-eyed horror. "...you wouldn't dare!" she seethed, her struggles intensifying as she kicked out at him, but of course, April's boots did nothing against his muscular frame. She regretted ever pulling a 'Prince and the Pauper' with the other girl right now; at least her other footwear had hidden spikes.

"Oh, wouldn't I?!" the mongrel laughed as he opened his gaping jaws, ready to bite down on her as she remained helpless in his grasp. Karai squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to see whatever was down this throat.

This was not the prettiest way for her to go.

"LET HER GO!"

Leonardo suddenly flew out from beneath the wooden wreckage and into the air, dropkicking the mutant dog on the head with all the force he could muster. Dogpound let out a high pitched whine as he released his hold on the kunoichi and fell to the ground, groaning in pain. Once he landed, Leo caught Karai bridal style in his arms just before she hit the ground. "You okay?" he asked, looking her over anxiously.

Karai looked to him, her face slightly pale and written with fear after nearly being devoured whole by a giant mutant dog. "...y-yeah," she stuttered breathlessly, "Are you?"

"…Fine." he replied.

They were silent for an awkward moment, with Karai still held in the mutant turtles' arms.

"...I'm still not very good about saying 'thank you'," Karai said at last.

Leo turned to her and raised a playful brow. "And?"

His eyes widened as Karai gave him a quick peck on the lips. "That was it," she concluded with a shrug.

Fishface found himself dumbfounded that a young mutant turtle and a mere human boy could hold their ground against him so well. He was already tiring out from the amount of blows they'd landed on him alone, but he would not be defeated so easily. They were merely children, inexperienced brats that were no match for him. Or at least he hoped they were no match for him; he had no desire to fail Shredder yet again. He'd be turned into sushi for all he knew, or worse.

Raph spun his Sais with a smug grin, and Casey prepared his hockey stick as he turned to his red clad friend. "Ready, Raphie boy?" Casey grinned underneath his hockey mask.

Raph grinned back. "You give the word, Jones!"

Casey nodded, and he and Raph charged for Fishface. "GOONGALA!" the vigilante cried as he swung his hockey stick and sent Fishface flying into Raph's spinning back-kick. "This is so cool!" he bellowed joyously. Aside from his first fight against the Foot Clan three months ago, this was probably the best thing that the infamous hero of New York had ever done in his short 'career'. Seriously, what could be any cooler than fighting a giant, robotic fish-out-of-water? Well, maybe a giant tiger would be pretty awesome too, but what were the chances of something like that ever happening?

Quickly recovering from the blows, Fishface bounded back to his feet, spitting out blood and hissing at the two. "You'll pay for that!" he spat. "Do you think this is some kind of game?!"

The two teens only grinned wider. "Yeah! It's called, 'Fry the Fish'!" Casey taunted, whipping out the stunner from his left glove as he sauntered over to the soon-to-be fish meal, but a shout from their left caught their attention.

"Hey! Fish sticks! Over here!"

The three turned to see Mikey waving the mutant fish over with his hands in the air. He then turned and shook his backside in his face in a taunting gesture. "Come and get it!" he teased.

His eyes popping out and his mouth hung open in disgust, Fishface took the bait as he charged for the orange turtle, snarling and hissing violently. "How dare you, child!" he yelled.

However, Mikey was ready for him as he back-flipped over Fishface's attack, landing on his shoulders. Then he forced the mutants' mouth open by using one foot to open his jaw whilst his left hand held the top of his mouth. "Here's something to cool you down!" he smirked as he took out three ice cubes from his belt using his free hand, and he shoved them right down his throat.

Fishface gagged as the ice cubes were forced down his gullet.

Raph and Casey hissed through their teeth from the side-lines in sympathy. "Ouch...that looks unpleasant..." Casey whimpered. Raph only nodded grimly in reply, glad that he wasn't in his place instead.

With the cubes successfully swallowed, Mikey flipped off Fishface's shoulders and landed back on solid ground, making sure he was a safe distance away from the other mutant as he folded his arms smugly over his chest. "Ha! How's that antidote taste, fishy?!" he mocked.

Fishface let out a strangled gasp as he clutched his burning throat in pain. He staggered backwards and forwards as he tried to regain his footing, but the world was spinning rapidly out of control. What was this? What was happening to him? What had that blasted turtle just shoved down his neck?

As the others stared and waited in anticipation, Donnie crossed his fingers and bit down hard on his lower lip. "C'mon…work…" he whispered, "please work..."

Suddenly, Fishface let out a long, loud and repulsive belch.

Mikey gagged, his eyes crossing as he held his nose in disgust. "AUGH! That's straight nasty!" he cried as he coughed at the abhorrent odour, and the others around him gagged also in repugnance. Seriously, that stunk!

From the other side of the battle field, Donnie gaped in shock, his eyes going wide. "What?! That's not what's supposed to happen! Why's he burping?!" he exclaimed. This couldn't be happening. He and Falco had gone through all the calculations perfectly. What had they missed? Where had they gone wrong?

Blinking in disbelief after his bodily eruption had ceased, Fishface was just as confused as the rest of them, but took that as a stroke of good luck as he slowly turned his head, grinning devilishly at Mikey. "Well, it looks like your so-called 'ingenious' has plan failed, little turtle," he sneered, taking a dangerous step towards the youngest turtle.

Eyes widening, Mikey swallowed thickly as he took an uneasy step backwards. "U-uh, n-no hard feelings, right Fishface?" he laughed nervously.

Fishface shook his head and faked a reassuring smile. "Oh no, not at all..." he alleged ominously. "In fact, I thought it was rather funny. Do you know what else I find funny?"

Before anyone could react, Dogpound suddenly charged at Mikey and slammed his left shoulder into his stomach, effectively tossing the turtle over his shoulder. "WAAH! Hey! Put me down!" Mikey cried out as he pounded his fists into Dogpound's armored back, to which had very little effect as his struggles went unheeded.

"MIKEY!" Leo cried as he leapt for Dogpound, his eyes searing with anger. However, Fishface darted forward and drove his metallic foot into his gut, sending him flying into Raph and Casey as they tumbled to the ground in a tangled heap.

Dogpound cackled as he and Fishface bounded away from what remained of the festival and into the forest, with Mikey still in a tight grip over his shoulder despite his struggles. "So long, turtles!" the canine called forebodingly. "We'd love to stay and chat, but we have some experiments to perform, starting with this one!"

The turtles eyes widened in horror. No…they couldn't...they wouldn't…

"NO!" Raph screamed as he and the others ran after them, moving deeper into the park as they pursued the mutants that had taken their younger brother.

Panicking, Mikey thrashed and flailed about in the dog monsters' grasp, but his grip was just too strong; he wasn't going anywhere. He reached out a panicked, pleading hand towards his brothers. "GUYS! HELP ME, BROS!" he screamed.

Pushing himself to his limits, Leo reached out a desperate hand to grab hold of his younger brothers' as they ran through the thick trees.

He was almost there...just a little closer…

Fate was not on their side that night, for Fishface threw down a white smoke bomb at them that exploded in their faces on contact, blinding them momentarily as they tumbled over one another, falling into the mud. And as the smoke finally cleared, and they managed to untangle themselves from the dogpile they'd found themselves in, Dogpound and Fishface had disappeared.

And they had taken their baby brother with them.

A/N: Oh no, Mikey! Let's hope things go uphill from here on out.

By the way, for those of you who watch Inuyasha, you many have realized that subconsciously put in some of Kouga's famous insults! I loved that show.

Anyways, see you next chapter!