This chapter took a bit longer to edit because I wasn't sure where I wanted to go with it. Thankfully Ravyne kept me on track. Enjoy and give us some feedback. All is welcome.

Review please.

-Katt B.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Call of the Dragon

PART 3

2

3-11: "The Pig and the Rhino"

Ryu sits up out of bed early and moves her gaze around the dark room. Everyone is still asleep, snoring softly into the night as she watches them carefully. Venus is gone, as is Venn. She's late.

Slipping out of bed quietly, she tip toes her way around the scattered forms lying across the floor and through the doorway into the lab. Donnie has fallen asleep at his computer again. That or Venus knocked him out on her way through. Either one.

Ryu shuts the outside door silently before turning to find Venus and Venn's silhouettes at the end of the alley way next to the van. They are huddled close, speaking low, but look up as she approaches.

"I can't believe I'm stuck with-."

"Stop," he covers Venus's mouth with his hand and wraps the other free arm over Ryu's shoulder to draw her into the hug as well. "Listen, I'm going to request to come back as soon as I can but until then, you two only have each other to look after. You are Dragon disciples first and foremost."

The last comment he directs directly at Ryu who keeps her face blank, unsure of how to respond.

"I need you two to look after each other, try to get along. For me," he says at Venus who glares at him before nodding her consent. "Do your best, alright."

"Okay," they say together half-heartedly.

He opens the door to the van and pauses, "Fight hard."

"Die free," they answer.

He smiles one last smile before climbing in and closing the door. The engine revs smoothly before the vehicle backs up and takes off down the street in the dark beyond. Hopefully he would make it to the edge of the city to the pick-up point without any trouble but they don't need to worry about him. He's a Fallen; he's more than capable of taking out a Kraang ship or two alone.

He'll be fine, Ryu thinks with a sad smile. Venus wraps her arm through Ryu's elbow as they both watch the darkness swallow the van and he leaves them as the last line of defense for the city. Time passes for a long time as they stand there while the sun breaks over the building tops, and brightens the city around them.

When it hits their faces, Venus removes her arm, propping her hands on her hips, and sighs, "Guess that's it then."

"Yep," she responds softly.

"We're stuck here."

"Yep."

"Together."

Ryu groans and spins away from her to head back inside, "Why are you so annoying?!"

"Why are you so annoying?! I didn't even say anything."

"You basically just complained that you were stuck with me. How is that not saying anything?!"

"Oh, stop being such a drama queen, ya big baby!"

"What did you just call me?!"

"What's with all the yelling?"

They both look up to see Donnie stirring awake and everyone else stepping into the lab groggily where they have entered in. Both of them point at the other and scream, "HER!"

They all groans and head back to the living room where the cleanup begins. Mikey keeps everyone's spirits high, even Splinter smiles more than he has in days, but eventually there's nothing left to do but talk.

"So what were you two doing out so early this morning?" April asks as she rolls up her sleeping bag.

Venus and Ryu share a look but it's Ryu who answers after a long pause, "We were…saying bye to Venn."

Everyone freezes.

"Wait, what?" Leo stumbles.

Venus drops her eyes to her bag as she packs up her bedding for the day, a sleeping bag with a blue stripe down the center, and leaves Ryu to explain the situation without her. Ryu's chest tightens at the dark look that crosses the girl's face. "He was called back to the sanctuary. The Dragons need him for some emergency."

"What kind of emergency?" Leo presses.

"They didn't-."

"It's private," Venus interrupts, grabbing her bag and going to the bathroom to change into her uniform. Ryu drops her eyes as the tension in the room thickens suddenly; Leo and Venus have never really seen eye to eye so butting heads is inevitable. She just didn't think it would escalate this quickly. Venus has always been head strong, doesn't like to follow orders, but she knows when to and that's to those who have her respect.

There are only few that fall under that category that Ryu knows of and those are the Dragons themselves, Venn, and maybe two other older students that trained them growing up.

Ryu catches Leo's eye, "She's just uneasy about Venn leaving. Give her some time."

Leo seems to accept this for now, nodding as he takes off into the room Donnie is using for his temporary lab. Raph pauses by Ryu who drops her eyes again.

"Did they…were they together or something?" he inquires.

Ryu snickers lightly under her breath, "No. Just really close friends. Believe it or not, Venus looks up to and respects Venn a lot."

Raph's eyes widen a bit in disbelief and she nods in understanding. The bathroom here is pretty large for a public bathroom in such a small pizza shop but there's enough room for three stalls. Venus has taken up residence in the furthest one from the door and Ryu can just make out the outline of clothes hanging over the top of the stall door as she slips in the first one to change into her new uniform; a bit different from her last uniform.

"So you think we'll be able to make it to your base today? The last time we barely made it within a four block radius of the place," Venus calls over the stalls.

"Who knows," Ryu replies, "The Kraang have really bumped up the security in the past few weeks. I wish I could read minds and figure out why."

Ryu comes out a few seconds after Venus has emerged. The dark haired girl is washing her hands and arms in the sink, giving Ryu a few minutes of peace from her constant negative jabs. She pulls on her green top—sleeveless and cut short just under her bust, leaving an open gap that reveals her tattooed torso as the rest of the shirt stretches further up her neck. The same gold-colored threads line the hems of the shirt as her last uniform did.

Her pants are the same colored green, gaps cut into the outsides of her thighs with intricate cut edges lined in similar gold-colored hems. They hug her legs snugly to her ankles and she pulls on her same old brown boots with green buckles that reach to her upper calves. A brown belt circles her waist, two side satchels attached to each hip, and a pair of identical belts circle each thigh below it. She wears a brown glove on her left hand and a brown leather bracer on her right forearm, both covering white bindings that wrap both her arms in full to finish off the outfit.

Venus's uniform is a bit more revealing, which she claims allows her to move much easier. Her half shaved head has been combed, fresh eyeliner painted on around her eyes. A gold necklace sits low on her neck; a wide-necked white shirt covering her torso. The shirt is frayed around the neckline and ends of the short sleeves as if it has been shredded by claws, the ends dyed a light purple color, and then it ties up at the front of her torso right under her bust. Her belly is left exposed to the elements that also reveals three long, thin scars on the left side of her torso. Her hips are covered by a pair of black shorts, under those are long fish-net leggings that cover the rest of her legs, and then black bindings wrap over those. Her feet are covered by knee-high white boots with black leather hems. She has two of her knives strapped onto each hip by three, thin white belts that circle her waist while the last one is strapped to her back by three, thin black belts around her upper torso. She wears black gloves on her hands with a gold bangle, hemmed in white fur, on her right wrist and an iron and bronze bracer with spikes on her left arm.

"Ready?" Ryu asks her as she finishes washing her own hands.

"When am I not?" Venus throws her a look.

As they leave the bathroom, they find the whole group hovering around Donnie and his laptop. Leo is just clicking off the tv to get Mikey's attention.

"Let's get this meeting started," he calls to everyone.

Raph leans against the counter where Donnie is typing away, "Alright, I got things to do and bad guys to mess up."

"Geez, great choice in a boyfriend there, Ryu," Venus gripes to the white-haired girl under her breath.

Ryu glares at her as she goes to drop her bag on the floor across the room, her eyes unconsciously scan the room for Splinter but he's not in sight. Guess he's up on the roof meditating, she thinks. Maybe I could go talk to him…

She cuts the thought short real quick—she has no right to talk to him again. Ever.

"Raph, Casey, and Ryu will go check out the theatre and me, Mikey, and Venus will check out Coney Island amusement park," Leo announces, pulling Ryu back into reality.

"Oh, yeah, boooy!" Mikey cheers. "Thanks, Leo!"

"Wait, how come she gets to go to the amusement park?" Ryu gripes, jabbing a thumb at Venus.

"Stop your crying, you big baby," Venus growls before heading towards the door. "Let's get this done, boys. I want to be back in time for dinner."

…

Ryu kicks at a fallen board from the ceiling, glaring at it angrily. Just what do the Kraang want with earth so badly? There are billions of planets out there in the universe, even more dimensions, so why is earth so special?

A door opens nearby and she turns to find Raph and Casey stomping into the front lobby of the theatre. They don't look pleased at all.

"No luck?" she calls.

"These ooze-specs aren't working right. Maybe I should call Donnie," Raph shakes the goggles in his hands furiously.

"It's not your specs, dude, we searched every inch of the place. Karai's definitely not here," Casey glares at him as he motions back in the direction they had come from.

"Guess that's a no," Ryu mumbles to herself. They stop just outside the doors when Raph does.

"Let's check one last time. Maybe there's a basement or-."

A loud boom shatters the silence, rumbling the ground under their feet and scattering the dirt up in a huge cloud that engulfs them all. They cough up a storm until it disperses and look up. A huge, bulking form stands up to full height and puts its gigantic hands on its hips with a smirk…if you can call it a smirk. It's hard for Ryu to tell; she's never seen a rhino smirk before. Then again, she's never seen a rhino stand up on two legs either.

"What the heck?" Ryu gaps.

"Well, well, well. Comrade Zeck made good on info," the rhino booms with a thick Russian accent, "Turtle here…and strange human friends?"

Casey pulls out his hockey stick, "Whoa! Another mutant? Dude! He's kinda rad!"

"You've got real issues, kid," Ryu growls under her breath as she pulls off her whip from her side.

"Rad…and strong!" the rhino picks up a car, does a twirl on his big foot, and then hurls the mass of metal towards them with alarming speed. Ryu acts on instinct, given only a brief moment to react, and pushes her power out in front of her. The wave builds tall first and then narrows down to a thin vertical line on the front sharply like a knife so that it slashes the car in half. The two pieces hit the ground and fly past them, sending up a spray of bright sparks in their wake as they go, forcing Casey and Raph to duck close behind Ryu to avoid them.

The second they are out of the way, Raph zips around Ryu and pulls out his sai to attack the rhino head on. Leaping into the air and bringing them down on him, the rhino swings his arm wide suddenly. Dampening their hope at victory, Raph is swatted aside easily as if he's just a rag doll and sent flying into the side of the theatre building.

The deafening crack of his shell against the concrete makes Ryu flinch and rush over to him, "Raph!"

She rolls him over, half expecting him to sit up suddenly and let his famous anger loose, but he just lies limply against her legs. Her eyes widen as she checks for a pulse; his heart flutters just faintly under the skin along his neck.

Her sigh is short lived when Casey's body hits the building just behind her a second later, making her jump in shock and watch as the boy slumps to the ground, unconscious as well. Ryu's gaze swings to the rhino warily as he starts to chuckle with a heavy, reverberating voice.

"You next, little girl," he taunts.

Oh, yeah, right!, she thinks, eyeballing the rhinos thick arms uneasily. I'm gonna end up just like them if I don't do this smart. There's no attacking him straight forward—he's too strong. I'm sure he'd be able to weather anything I threw at him directly too.

Licking her lips, her eyes drop to Raph's unconscious face in her lap, Okay, what do I know about rhinos? They're pretty much a ten-foot-thick wall of steel with a temper. That's it. I'm all out.

"You end just like them, little girl," the rhino laughs, "You be bait for others."

Come on, Ryu, think!, she yells at herself as she watches the rhino close in on her with his thick walk. Ryu blinks. Thick walk… He kinda waddles a bit, doesn't he…?

An idea pulls a small smile to the corner of her mouth and she stands up quickly. The rhino pauses at her movement, propping his hands on his hips, "You come quietly?"

Ryu shakes her head, "No. I leave quietly."

With a twist of her ankle, her body spins and sinks into the ground that opens up at her command, and swallows her whole. The rhino stammers a few steps back in alarm, shifting his gaze around in wonder.

"Haha," he chuckles weakly, "She coward. Turtles pick poor comrades." Pulling out a phone from his side, the rhino speaks into it after a second of waiting, "Comrade, Zeck, I have turtle and human. I bring to Coney Island and-."

There's a great roar, an explosion, a scream, and then the rhino is shot high into the sky from the attack. A form covered in rock slams its rock fist into the rhino's chin as it shoots past him into the sky and the blow cracks the protective rock suit around the figure. The rocks fall away as gravity grabs them both again, but she has already begun to call the pieces back to her so that she can form a base to land on before hitting the ground.

Something strong latches onto her small ankle, nearly swallowing her whole calf, and Ryu screams as the rhino flings her towards the ground with such force that the breath is sucked clean out of her.

A second later her body cracks into the ground, splitting the street open into a wide crater and she goes limp. The rhino lands easily on the ground and approaches her wilting form with a heavy sigh and then laughs.

"You good but no good enough to beat strong rhino," he walks away to grab Raph by his belt and fling him over his shoulder with no trouble but then pauses when he comes to Casey. His gaze shifts between the skinny skater and the girl lying in the street a couple of times before settling on grabbing Casey with a tug as well, "He annoys me more."

He disappears down the quiet road and further into the city, leaving Ryu where she lies.

…

It takes a long while, but the healing starts.

Eventually.

It usually begins right after the initial shock leaves the body; it's been different since the first purple vial though. Which is exactly why Ryu doesn't want to have to use another unless she has too. In her current situation, though, she doesn't exactly have a choice in the matter. All the broken bones have mended to an extent, the muscles realigning themselves and threading back together fiber by fiber, the blood vessels surging back into place beneath the skin, but she still can't move. Every time she tries the pain explodes in her body like waves of white hot fire.

Somehow she had found a way to stay out of unconsciousness, just barely holding onto her body as her mind had tried to float right off into the alluring darkness that pulled at her with promises of peaceful sleep. It was the voice again that kept her at bay.

She couldn't understand what it was screaming at her but she heard it all the same; a deafening cry at the back of her skull. A terrified scream, trying to get out its warning from behind the invisible door it was locked behind. Ever since facing the dream realm with those beavers it has haunted her on the edge of her dreams or when her thoughts drifted too far off into meditation. It's going to drive her mad if she doesn't do her best to avoid it at all cost.

And that's why she fights against the pull of unconsciousness threatening to swallow her whole and leave her to the vicious claws of the ghostly voice.

Still, no matter how she fights, somehow it gets through, just as her fingers tips are brushing the top of the next vial around her ankle, hidden away in her boot.

GET UP!

The voice drives her further away from the darkness and into full awareness. It's prefect timing: she's made aware of the presence hovering over her, poking at her.

The dark clad figure jerks away just as suddenly as Ryu jolts up and rushes to back away from him. Her back hits the side of an abandoned car and the exhaustion catches up, making her go limp. The white hot pain bites and rips at her insides that still haven't healed yet but Ryu refuses to fall back into that place between sleep and awake again.

They both breathe heavily as their eyes lock. This time there's a black cloth covering the lower half of his face. She doesn't need to see it; she recognizes his reptile eyes. The pupils shrink back to normal size after the surprise passes over them both. The hood of the trench coat is pulled up over his dark hair and coal-colored skin, his hands mostly covered by fingerless, dark green gloves, and his long, narrow tail lashes cautiously.

Ryu is about to snap at him to bugger off only to have him stand up slowly into a stiff stance and, little by little, back away into the alleyway behind him until the shadows swallow him whole. She watches the spot where he vanishes for a long moment, waiting for him to attack her in her vulnerable state, only for nothing to follow except an eerie silence.

Ryu shifts her gaze to the theatre, finding the cracks in the wall where Raph had hit. The sidewalk is empty. Even Casey has vanished. Realization catches up with her and her anger boils in her blood, pressing the healing process faster with the new surge of adrenaline that is beginning to build up behind it.

"That leather-backed cockroach just left me here!"

…

Venus waits for Leo's fingers to finish breaking through the lock and barely gives him enough time to back out of the way before ripping the doors of the van open and spreading moonlight into the inside. April sits up as best as she can through the gray webbing wrapped around her torso, locking her arms to her sides.

"Leo!" she exclaims happily.

"Hurry up, I'll keep watch," Venus tells the turtle as he climbs in to free April.

"Sorry it took so long, April. I'll have you free in no time," he tells the red head as he works his small knife blade through the gluey webbing around her. As if on cue, the other captives lying unconscious near her begin to stir.

Raph is the first to move to get out of the van, Venus watches him rub the back of his head and wonders what happened to the brick of a turtle to put him at such a slow pace.

"Ugh…my aching…brain…what hit me?" the red-masked turtle groans.

Casey stumbles out after him and grabs his shoulder, "It was a rhino, dude! Right there!"

Venus spins around as the rhino in question starts to stir and climb to his feet, "Guess that snake friend of yours doesn't have very strong venom cause horn-head's getting to his feet."

Leo looks up at her warning in shock, "Already?!"

A dark shape hits the ground near them all and everyone jumps. Venus pulls the blade free off her back and bares it to the attacker's face. A hand shoots out as she swings it around and grips the blade directly to stop her. Venus's eyes calm at the sight of the face before her.

"Where have you been?"

Ryu pushes past her, eyes narrowed into a glare as she grabs hold of the van door and opens it wider so that she can see inside. They all look up at her.

"Get out," she orders. They all climb out once free, rushing a bit faster at the dark tone in her voice, and she closes the doors of the van behind them. Pressing her hands against the metal of the doors, she forces her power through them and into the rest of the vehicle; the van groans as she takes control over every fiber, skipping over all the plastic and rubber and leather, and in seconds the van crushes in on itself with a metallic crack. Ryu keeps crushing it flat until the van is nothing more than a long shaft of crumbled steel that she lifts to rest across her shoulders; it's easily four times her height.

The rhino stands to full height to gaze across the area at the group, "Turtles? Free? I see you all smashed!"

"They're not your problem, meat-head," Ryu cuts him off as he readies to charge them all. He pauses and shifts his gaze over to her as she narrows her eyes further. She picks up the crushed metal shaft off her shoulders and brings it down towards the ground as if she's flipping a thin sheet of paper; it crashes through a nearby carnival stand and splits it in half with a bang.

"I'm gonna say this as clear as I can," Ryu continues, spitting the words out through her teeth as if she's trying to force them to sound calm, "And I'm gonna try not to kill you in the process."

The metal shaft lifts into the air.

"Don't you EVER-," she swings the giant sword to the opposite side and tears through a building. "Leave me lying in the street-," again she swings back to the other side and flattens another stand. "Unconscious," another building falls. "AGAIN!"

With another swing, fueled by ten times as much anger, Ryu bashes the metal sword into the rhino's side like a baseball bat and sends him flying away at high speeds into a building a ways down the park. It folds in on his weight and collapses on top of him with a shutter and a cloud of dirt coughs up from the collision.

"Yay, the fun Ryu's back," Venus grins as she hops up onto a trash can somehow still standing despite the battle and pops a butterscotch lollypop in her mouth. The earth rips up and Venus's trashcan flips out from under her, knocking her right on her butt, "Hey!"

Ryu doesn't even glance in her direct, keeping her glare off at the rhino as he starts to move out of the wreckage.

"That was rude," Venus gripes.

"Sue me," she shoots back. Raising the metal shaft over her shoulder again the second the rhino growls at her, Ryu readies her stance and narrows her eyes. The great hulking beast huffs angrily and charges her head on again. "Go find Karai," Ryu orders to them as she races forward to meet the rhino head on. Just as he's about to swing his giant fist at her, Ryu strikes back with her own weapon and the resulting blow echoes around the area like thunder.

He jerks his fist back with a yell, cradling it against his chest, and Ryu uses that moment to leap up, twisting in the air, and dive head first at the ground a few feet away from him.

She pushes her power out at the earth and it opens up to swallow her whole before the rhino can attack her. He stops in alarm and readies himself for an underground attack again, keeping his eyes to the ground close to him. Raph watches the exchange, grabbing Leo's arm before he can run off after everyone else.

"We can't leave her to take care of this guy," he hisses.

Leo nods, "I agree but Ryu told us to-."

"I don't care what she said. We have to help her."

Leo can't read his younger brother's expression but he can tell that there's no point in trying to argue with him. Raph wouldn't have it. "Alright, then, let's take this rhino down."

"Alright! Let's do this!"

Raph and Leo jump at the new voice and turn to find their youngest brother grinning excitedly behind them. He runs off, whipping out his nun chucks as he goes, before the two can stop him.

Ryu steps out from the shadows around the corner and shifts her gaze across the setting about her in silence. Surely the rhino isn't stupid enough to think she'd pull the same attack twice? He must've moved on by now to search for her. There's no sound of any heavy feet pounding across the ground anywhere near her though.

Surely he's not that stupid…right?, she wonders to herself.

A hissing sound makes her start and spin to her right. Something in the shadows slithers by and heads towards the edge of the pier. Ryu takes off after it without a second thought and pushes her power out in into the ground in front of her so that she can hear any vibrations.

The figure is moving fast; their heartbeat rushing like nothing she's ever encountered before. The edge of the dock opens up before her, the railing forcing her to stop, and she leans out against it to gaze down into the dark waters below. The moonlight from above highlights the choppy waters, glittering across it like jewels.

Ryu sighs in defeat as she turns around to press her back into the railing. Now what? Go home? She's been cooped up in that tiny pizza building way too long. The lair was bigger, it allowed her at least a bit of space and privacy sometimes. It's hard to get that where they are now and it's getting harder and harder for her to avoid running into Splinter alone. He keeps to his meditation most of their free time and uses the rest to train his sons and April but that still somehow, impossibly, doesn't give her any inch to run. And lately that inch is getting smaller and smaller.

Sooner or later she's going to have to face him, sit down and talk, try to come up with some kind of excuse for the way she had spoken to him before she had run back to her home in the mountains.

Ryu drags a hand down her face with a heavy, depleted and depressed sign. There isn't an excuse for the way she had spoken. She just needs to apologize. He deserves that.

Easier thought than said or done, Ryu, she growls at herself.

She suddenly feels a sharp, cool pair of eyes watching her. The feeling is like that of ice—frigid and sharp. Snapping her head up, her eyes find the glowing gaze in the shadows and her body goes tense on reflex. It's the same gaze as before, the gaze of that mutant lizard guy.

He's following her!

Ryu pushes herself up off the railing slowly, refusing to blink and take a chance of letting him out of her sight for even a brief millisecond. She's seen his speed and she knows that in the blink of an eye he could whip out that tail and have her around the neck again in an instant. Instead, in that flash of a millisecond, his glowing eyes zip to the side and the standing hair on the back of her neck forces Ryu to follow his gaze.

A mutant, a large white snake with familiar, though different, armor on its torso slithers slowly out of the shadows towards her. The mutant crouches low, ready to attack.

Ryu flashes her eyes back towards the lizard guy only to find him mysteriously gone and abandoning her to the snake. She opens and closes her fists nervously. Just because she's been planning and rehearsing this moment for weeks, months even, doesn't mean it's easy.

"K-karai," she calls out to the snake as it hisses at her threateningly. Ryu smiles nervously and tries to chuckle to lighten the tense mood, "I know you probably don't remember me…or you do and recall me basically betraying you and all…but you should know that I'm on your side, your father's side."

Karai hisses sharper at the word 'father' and Ryu shakes her hands in a panic.

"No, no! Not the spikey guy! Your real dad, Splinter…uh…Hamato Yoshi."

Karai stills, hissing continuing, but Ryu can see a bit of clarity returning to the snake's eyes. Karai pulls out of her crouch and rubs her head with her snake-head hands.

"Karai, I want to help you," Ryu says a bit softer, taking a measured step towards her. When Donnie had explained to everyone about his retro-mutagen and that it probably wouldn't work on Karai since she was 'special', Ryu had only brightened a bit more. Her plan may get her in heaps and bounds of trouble but it could increase the chance of Karai being turned back into…well…closer to human.

Her eyes scan around anxiously for any signs of Donnie or his brothers only to find no one. Ryu had wanted to wait for Donnie to try the retro-mutagen first before she stepped in since she didn't want to go with her plan unless it was absolutely necessary. Sadly, Ryu can see that she's not going to have Donnie to rely on.

Guess I'll have to go first, Ryu decides. Reaching into the side pack on her belt, she pulls out a small vial and holds it out for Karai to see. The snake eyes it in confusion before looking to her.

Ryu smiles, "I want to help you. I want you to be with your father. I owe you both that."

"F-faaaaa….theeeeer….?" Karai hisses.

"Yeah," Ryu replies as she kneels down and pulls the cork from the vial, "He's waiting for you."

Karai glances at the vial another time in hesitation, but ultimately raises her eyes back to Ryu's…giving a small nod with new determination.

Ryu lifts the vial of shimmering blue liquid.

Side Note:

Bold Underlined-any words in this dual affect are an Unknown Voice.

Author's Note:

We DO NOT own TMNT.

Ryu, along with any other new characters, and our storyline is copyrighted to Katt B. and Ravyne.

Review please.

-Katt B.