Chapter 4

"Booyakasha!"

The monster and the turtles began charging towards one another. It leaped towards them, landing in the middle of a circle they had unknowingly formed in order to dodge it. Its gaze began shifting around the circle of four ninja turtles, staring them down, awaiting for one of them to make the first move.

Mikey was the first to attack. He ran towards it, jumped, and attempted to hit it from above; however it ducked down, sending him falling forward. He caught himself, doing a back flip to recover from his failed try and raced back in to join his brothers. Donnie was using the unbroken end of his staff to try and bash the creature, but within the first swing of it, the creature caught in in between its fangs and tore it from his grasp, throwing it to the side.

That was when Leo went in to strike; he attempted to jab at the creature, but it grabbed Leo's katana with its fangs as well. Leo had prepared for this. Because the creature had grabbed the sword at a certain angle, the blade was wedged sideways between its upper muzzle and bottom, sharpened side facing the inside of its mouth. Leo effortlessly removed his blade from its mouth, slashing open the sides of its face, making it cry out in agony.

Mikey once again attempted a try at landing a blow on the creature. He threw a strike with his left nunchuck, successfully hitting the stunned monster atop its head, making it grunt in pain. Hoping to land a second hit with his right nunchuck instead of jumping back to avoid a counterattack, he swung his nunchuck at it. It caught it between its bleeding jaws and crushed the wooden stick in two.

Raph seized this moment to attempt to stab its other thigh and jumped high into the air, both Sai pointed downwards towards the creature; however, it was expecting this from him. Mikey hadn't fully let go of his broken nunchuck yet, which was still in its jaws. He swung the stunned, orange-banded turtle around and threw him into the air, sending him spiraling towards Raph.

They both collided and flew over towards the other side of the building. Leo and the now weaponless Donnie rushed in to distract the creature, keeping it from finishing their brothers off. Donnie attempted to kick it while Leo swung his katana at its head. However, the creature had its sights locked on one of the others. It let out an irritated roar, shoving passed the others with brute force and sending them scattering.

Raph hadn't fully recovered to his feet yet. He was attempting to climb up when he felt something push him back down. He looked up and to his horror saw the creature looking down at him with its red, menacing eyes and horrifically wide grin. He squirmed to break free from where it had him pinned, but the monster merely pressed his muzzle against his face.

Raph sneered, "How's that thigh of yours? Bet you thought that was entertaining when I stabbed it with my Sai."

"Oh, I did," it laughed, grin spreading even wider now. "I found it so entertaining that I want a souvenir to remind me of it."

"Oh, you'll have a souvenir alright," Raph stated. "You'll have a pretty little scar."

"Mm, I want something more concrete, something I can hold in between my jaws. Like your arm."

Raph stared in horror as the monster opened its massive jaws and then proceeded to clamp them painfully around his left shoulder, teeth sinking deep into his flesh, nearly piercing the bone. He let out a sharp, frustrated cry of pain as it began to pull back on his shoulder. The sound of flesh ripping could be heard as it pulled, paw pressing against his chest to hold him in place.

Raph's eyes were shut tight in pain, so he didn't see the chain slip around the monster's neck. When the pain stopped, he opened an eye and saw it looking down at the black metal chain pulling against its chest and eventually tightening up around its neck. Both the monster and Raph followed the chain and saw Mikey, Leo, and Donnie pulling back on it with all their might in an attempt to remove the monster from their brother's shoulder.

The red-banded turtle knew that this chain alone wouldn't stop it from continuing its quest at taking his arm. He withdrew one of his Sai and twisted it around in his left hand painfully. The creature snorted in frustration, turning its back on Raph and revealing to him the wound he had already left on it. This was the only spot Raph knew for sure the creature was weak. In one longshot attempt to save his brothers' lives and his own life, he agonizingly forced his injured arm to jab his Sai back into the monster's open wound, this time deeper. He didn't stop until the flesh reached the handle.

The monster let out a cry of pain and anguish as Raph backed away, this time leaving the Sai buried deep inside the wound. His brothers let go of the chain and rushed to his side to help him up. He watched as the monster spun around, biting at the handle, hoping to grasp it and pull it out; it only tangled itself in it, falling onto its wounded side and jabbing the Sai even further.

"Let's get out of here!" Leo yelled, pulling Raph by his right arm towards the edge of the building.

"This isn't over!" the monster shouted. "I'll find you, turtles! I'll find you, and I'll kill every last one of you, starting with you, Raphael!"

• • •

The turtles had managed to climb back into the sewers. Broken, battered, and beaten, they dragged their bodies back towards their home, heads hung low. Leo, who was leading them, couldn't find his voice to speak to them. Usually, after a fight had gone sour, he would tell them they would speak to Splinter about what they should do – with the exception of when they had snuck out to stop Baxter Stockmen. However, he was terrified of telling his father figure that this one entity had beaten them this badly.

None of the turtles had been hurt this bad since their first encounter with the Shredder; it had scared Splinter so badly that he forced them to train nonstop for weeks on end. That was until April came to them with information about a plan the Shredder had to destroy their home, and even then, he had filled their heads with so much fear that they had to overcome it when stopping Shredder's disciples.

Now here they were, beaten up and nearly torn to bits. What would he do if he saw them like this? Would he panic and force them to train in order to be prepared to face their new foe once again?

"We can't tell Splinter about this," Leo finally said, lifting his head from its slump.

"We won't have to. He'll just see us and know that we had our butts kicked," Raph stated. He then proceeded to wince in pain, gripping his left shoulder tightly. It felt as if it would fall off at any moment.

"And it's not like we could hide it, either," Donnie voiced. "Especially Raph."

"Dude, he's so gonna make us train longer than he did when he saw we got our butts handed to us by the Shredder," Mikey spoke. "I can't handle that kind of training, man!"

"None of us can," Leo confessed, glancing to his side. "Maybe we could fake that we didn't get injured and say that Raph hurt his arm in a fight."

"And make me look like I can't hold my own? Yeah, no thanks."

"Well what do you want to do? Hmm?! You want to end up training like we did last time!?" Leo demanded, spinning around to face his injured brother.

"Gee, I don't know! I thought you were the leader. Aren't you supposed to come up with all the ideas around here!?" Raph shouted back. He then winced in agony.

"What if we just didn't go home?" Mikey spoke, making Leo and Raph turn their heads in his direction.

"Actually, that would just make Splinter angry," Donnie commented.

"And he'd probably just finish the job that that thing started," Raph added. "So nice going."

"Well, I don't see you giving out any ideas!" Mikey yelled back.

Raph just shifted his eyes to the side, slumping over slightly. Leo gazed over at Donnie. He then asked, "Donnie, do you have any ideas since Raph doesn't?"

"Well, there's always being honest with Master Splinter about what happened and begging him not to make us endure that training again."

"Yeah, because he's going to listen to that," Raph growled.

Donnie glanced over at his injured brother while he placed his hands onto his hips. "Well, Raph, let's hear your idea."

"Yeah, Raph, c'mon, let's hear them," Mikey insisted.

Raph only stared at the ground. He then sighed and looked back up at his brothers. "Alright, we go with Leo's plan, BUT if we say I was hurt the worst, we make it sound like I went down in style. I want to be fighting five huge, over-muscular thugs, got it?"

Leo nodded. "Alright, here's the story we tell him. We were fighting the Purple Dragons when Dogpound and Fishface showed up with a hoard of Foot ninjas. Dogpound and Fishface singled off Raph and, though being greatly injured, managed to defeat them and returned to us. We all dominated over them and headed back down into the sewers to treat Raph."

Raph smiled. "I like this story."

"That… actually sounds somewhat believable," Donnie voiced.

"Yeah, I like that one," Mikey added.

"And we all stick to this story. No one tells Splinter anything different, okay Donnie?" Leo directed his question at Donatello specifically because of his tendency to tell Splinter the truth. Donnie only gave him a big, embarrassed grin.

"Got it."

"Okay, let's head home."

The rest of the way was filled with silence, the occasionally grunt or moan from pain. Upon reaching their lair, they half-walked/half-crawled into it, avoiding to make any sounds at all in hopes of not alerting Splinter. They walked ever so quietly towards Donnie's lab.

Once they reached it, Donnie began working his magic in healing himself and his brothers. Removing a first-aid kit he had put together from a cabinet above the sink he had put in his lab, he began pulling out bandages, ointments, and his alcohol bottle. Limping over to his brothers, he worked hastily to cover their wounds, sticking Band-Aids on less serious injuries and wrapping bandages around the more serious ones. Mikey let out a few cries of pain when his brother applied alcohol to one of his open cuts.

When it was Raph's turn to be medically treated, it took all of Donnie's might just to get him to reveal his shoulder wound. After assuring Donnie it didn't need much treatment and Donnie saying he believed him, Raph removed his bloodied hand and reveal a gruesome sight. Donnie and the two other turtles crowded around to see his injury up close for the first time.

It was tore open almost completely, some green skin limply hanging around that hadn't been tore off by the vicious monster. Spaced out teeth marks dotted his shoulder line around the worse part of it. Donnie sighed when he saw this.

"Raph," he stated grimly.

"Told you it wasn't bad. It'll be healed up in no time, won't it, Donnie?" He stared back at his purple-banded brother in hopes of hearing him say, "Yeah, Raph. You'll be fine." Instead, he watched his older brother hang his head.

"Let's get you stitched up," Donnie sighed, reaching back into his med-kit and pulling out a needle and some surgical thread.

Raph was at a loss of words. He watched as his sibling threaded the needle with white string and began wondering if he'd lose his arm. Would he be able to fight like he used to or would this injury slow him down? He quickly shook the thought away, refusing to believe that this would be the end of his ninjitsu days.

It didn't hurt when the needle pierced through his loose flesh. Even if it had, Raph wouldn't have flinched. He knew he had to be strong for his brothers. Seeing their frightened and anxious faces made him want to be strong. He was the rock for the family, the protector. Now that he was badly injured, he had to keep up his protector attitude.

"What is going on in here?"

Every turtles' eye averted to the door to Donnie's lab. To their horror, Splinter was staring at them from the doorway, a stern look on his face. Leo walked forward and began giving him his false report of the situation while Mikey backed up every word he said. However, he was failing at the job.

"And if you have any doubt that this story is false, it's not. I was there." Mikey and Leo then proceeded to give their mentor a huge grin to hide their panic. Splinter pushed passed them and glared down at Donnie.

"Donatello, is what your brothers are saying true?"

Raph glanced back at his brother to see he had stopped sewing up his injury. He was quivering slightly. The red-banded turtle knew that Donnie was trying to suppress his urge to tell their sensei the truth. In a large sigh, Raph removed himself from where he had been sitting on Donnie's lab table.

"No, Sensei, they were lying… partially for my sake and partially because they're scared."

"Raph," Leo began, but he shot him a look. Leo fell silent.

"We weren't attacked by the Purple Dragons, and Dogpound and Fishface didn't do this to me. We were on patrol when we heard this cry of terror. We went to investigate and found this… thing… I'm not sure if it was a human or an animal or… whatever else it could be. We thought we could take it, but we should have known just by its appearance that we were in way over our heads… I wounded it and managed to get my brothers away from it, but only for a short time. That's when it ambushed us and… ended up doing this to me." He pointed to the massive bite on his shoulder. "It piled on top of me and was going to take my arm completely off. If Mikey hadn't of wrapped that chain around its neck, it would have, too. Luckily, he… actually thought for once and did the right thing. I managed to shove my Sai back into its wound and we escaped."

"Very resourceful of you and Michelangelo, but I am highly disappointed in that you tried to cover up your injuries with lies."

Raph and his brothers hung their heads in shame. "You aren't gonna make us train like you did with the Shredder, are you?" Mikey asked, raising his head slightly to look at his father, his brothers raising their own shortly after he spoke.

Splinter shook his head; he placed a hand on his youngest son's shoulder. "No, Michelangelo. I have learned that instilling fear in you does no good. It only hinders your ability to perform in battle."

Mikey smiled, glancing over at his brothers to see them smiling as well.

"But, I do not want you staying out passed midnight from now on. If you come in contact with this creature, you must return home immediately. Do not try and make combat with it ever again, understood?"

"Ai, Sensei."

"I'll help you out with the rest, Donatello. Leonardo, you and Michelangelo should head for bed and rest."

"Ai, Sensei," Leo said as he tugged on his youngest brother's arm, pulling him away from his father and other two siblings.

• • •

Leo had awoken early in the morning. He climbed out of bed, glancing at the Space Heroes memorabilia clock he'd picked up out of the trash when he and his brothers had gone with Donnie to scavenge for items (which is where Raph had said it had belonged in the first place). Seven in the morning. He had a grand total of five hours of sleep. Perfect. Leo rubbed his tired blue eyes and yawned. He glanced around his room, viewing every Space Heroes poster he had pinned to his walls and viewing all the samurai gear he had.

His head was pounding along with the rest of his body, and for that moment in time, he had forgotten the night before and wondered what had exactly happened. When his memory finally came flooding back a brief moment later, he shouted in shock, "Raph!"

Without even grabbing his bandana, he raced out his room and down the hall to where his younger brother rested. He opened the door to his room only to find the red-banded turtle not to be in his unmade bed. Leo then raced into his living room to find his sibling propped up on the couch, wide awake and watching something on television. Leo sighed in relief, walking down the stairs to great him.

"You're alright?" he called once reaching the bottom.

Raph glanced over his right shoulder. "I guess."

Leo watched his brother stand up, and before he could even turn around, he saw the white bandage placed around his right shoulder and swinging around the front of his body. Raph whirled his body around to reveal the arm brace Donnie and Splinter had apparently applied last night while he and Mikey were sleeping. Leo winced slightly.

"I take it your arm's gonna take a while to heal."

"Yeah, a whole month," Raph growled, throwing the remote onto the couch forcefully. "I gotta go around in this thing for a whole damn month!"

It wasn't like his brother to curse, so Leo could tell he was extremely angry about this whole thing. He observed as Raph let out a frustrated growl. "I'm gonna murder that… that… monstrosity when I get the chance. I'll rip its head off and then… and then…" He kicked the air with his left leg, face twisted into fury.

"I can't even train with you guys!" he screamed. "It's so unfair! I just gotta sit around the damn house and watch TV!"

"It'll give you some time to bond with Spike at least," Leo said optimistically while he forced a smile onto his face in hopes of cheering up Raph.

Raph glared down at the floor. "Eh, that's true. And I can read some of the comics I've been wanting to… Maybe it won't be so bad after all." He looked back up at his brother with a smile.

"Exactly!" Leo chimed, walking back up the stairs towards his room.

"Where're you going?" Raph called out.

"To my room. I'm gonna get dressed and go looking for our missing weapons."

"I don't think that's such a good idea, Leo," Raph voiced.

"It's morning, so that thing is probably resting. I'm sure I'll be fine. I'll just go looking in that alleyway for your Sai and my katana, and if I don't see it, I'll be right back here before I'm missed."

"Alright… but don't do anything stupid. I don't want you to get banged up like I did. Mikey and Donnie can't do patrols on their own, you know."

The eldest turtle only laughed, trudging back up to his room. He began to dress himself, tying his azure bandana around his head and putting on his elbow and knee pads. It was a dangerous risk going out so early when humans were just waking up and heading off to their jobs, but Leo would take the risk. He wanted to find his other sword and hopefully Raph's Sai.

He placed his sword sheathes around his back, buckling them to his belt, and then sheathed his katana. Racing down the stairs, he bid his farewell to his brother and headed out.

• • •

The world was just awakening as Leo dashed over rooftops towards the location he and his brothers had been last night. People were climbing out of their homes and groggily heading towards their occupations. It was strange. Leo wondered that if he and his brothers lived a normal life, would Splinter have a job or continue to remain at home, teaching his sons the ancient art of ninjitsu?

When he arrived at the spot, he jumped down into the alley he had seen that monster throw his sword into and began searching. He scoured through the trash below, taking his search behind a large, faded green trash bin, and then underneath it.

"Looking for this?"

Leo let out a cry of surprise, hitting his head on the bin from where he had flinched. He crawled out from under it, maneuvering around only to find December standing behind him while holding his lost katana in her hand, a half-smile on her face.

"Y-yeah, how'd you—"

"Find it, or know it was yours?" she asked confidently.

"Both, actually."

"I knew it was yours because I saw you using it and your other one the night you helped me defeat those one guys, and I found it when I woke up. It was lying a few tail lengths away from me."

"You sleep in this alley?"

"I sleep wherever I want. Here." She tossed him the katana and he caught it by its handle. Leo then proceeded to sheathe it.

"December, I highly suggest you start sleeping in safer places because—" The turtle stopped when he saw her stumble forward slightly and crying out lightly. He raced to her side, catching her before she could fall to the ground. "You alright?" he asked, placing her back on her feet.

"I'm fine," she stated, pushing him away, only to stumble completely forward, landing on her stomach with a soft thud. She then groaned in pain again.

That was when Leo noticed the warm substance on his hand. Blood. "You're bleeding!" he yelled in surprise.

"Yeah, I accidently stabbed myself on this brown, rusted, metal thing poking out of a building last night when I was asleep." She lifted up part of her skirt on her right side to reveal a deep gash in her thigh, gushing out blood at a fast rate.

"I got it to stop bleeding, but when I moved this morning, I must've opened it again." She seethed in pain while she covered her thigh with her skirt to hide it.

"I gotta get you to Donnie, fast," Leo said while he scooped December into his arms.

"No, put me down. I'm fine, honest!" she argued. She winced in pain when she tried to break free from his grasp. "I can walk when I'm in wolf form, honest."

"No, you're going to see Donnie, even if I have to knock you out to bring you back to him." He threw December over his shoulder and grabbed the ladder to the fire escape to get back up on to the buildings.

December didn't protest anymore. Instead, she allowed Leo to drag her weakening body back to his home.